An Inter-oceanic Canal

Sir Henry BulwerBritain

John ClaytonUnited States

CLAYTON – BULWERTREATY 1850

Negotiated to settle issues between U.S. and Britain in Central America and reduce rising tensions.

It was a response in part to pending U.S. treaties with Nicaragua and Honduras that promised U.S. support of their sovereignty.

The situation became the U.S. first significant application of the Monroe Doctrine.

In 1850, neither country was ready to go to war over Central America. Both countries had only recently come out of wars. Britain had ongoing troubles in India. The U.S. had escalating internal tensions over slavery. War would cripple both countries’ overseas trade regardless of the outcome.

An Inter-oceanic Canal CLAYTON – BULWER TREATY 1850

KEY PROVISIONS:

NEITHER COUNTRY would “obtain or maintain” any exclusive control over any canal or enjoy an unequal advantage in its use.

Any canal would be neutral (not favoring any country or company.)

BOTH COUNTRIES would “extend their protection by treaty stipulation to any other practicable communications, whether by canal or railroad”.

NEITHER COUNTRY would EVER garrison “occupy, or fortify or colonize, or assume or exercise any dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast or any part of Central America” nor make use of any alliance or protectorate to achieve such ends.

An Inter-oceanic Canal CLAYTON – BULWER TREATY 1850

NEITHER COUNTRY would “obtain or maintain” any exclusive control over any canal or enjoy an unequal advantage in its use.

BRITAIN

Canal building had always had significant support from the government and the government expected a return on investment.

This provision made a canal unlikely even if it would prove feasible, thus the U.S. could not get a canal which suited the Brits just fine.

UNITED STATES

At this time, the U.S. government never intended to build the canal. Rather it planned to facilitate the ability of private corporations to do the work for their own profit.

The Federal Government did not build canals or roads at this time believing they lacked any constitutional authority assuming they had the money, which they did not. They wouldn’t even bother paving roads!

An Inter-oceanic Canal

WASHINGTON D.C. around 1860

NEW YORK BROADWAY 1860 CHICAGO in the 1860’s

An Inter-oceanic Canal CLAYTON – BULWER TREATY 1850

Any canal would be neutral (not favoring any country or company.)

BOTH COUNTRIES would “extend their protection by treaty stipulation to any other practicable communications, whether by canal or railroad”.

An Inter-oceanic Canal CLAYTON – BULWER TREATY 1850

NEITHER COUNTRY would EVER garrison “occupy, or fortify or colonize, or assume or exercise any dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast or any part of Central America” nor make use of any alliance or protectorate to achieve such ends.

In 1850, while both countries saw a canal as an opportunity, such a project was in the not so foreseeable future.

Britain’s attempts to gain control over the Caribbean Coast had led to the crisis where a U.S. ship was fired upon by a British warship in 1849.

An Inter-oceanic Canal CLAYTON – BULWER TREATY 1850

BRITISH INTERPRETATIONThe entire coast from British Honduras to Costa Rica was exempt from the treaty as this was already undisputed British territory and all of it was a necessary.

The fact that only Britain deemed the matter undisputed at the time (Honduras and Nicaragua certainly felt otherwise) was conveniently ignored by the Foreign Office.

An Inter-oceanic Canal CLAYTON – BULWER TREATY 1850

AMERICAN INTERPRETATION The treaty was an abandonment of the disputed protectorate. Britain retained British Honduras only and could make no future claims in the region.

Neither side responded to the other’s note officially at the time but the dispute would continue.

Legally, the American position was the accurate interpretation.

An Inter-oceanic Canal CLAYTON – BULWER TREATY 1850

VIOLATED

1851. Cornelius Vanderbilt seeks to open a route to California via the San Juan River in Nicaragua. A British envoy at Greytown demands port fees. Both times Vanderbilt refuses.

The second time, the commander of the British warship follows orders from the envoy and opens fire. The ship is interred until Vanderbilt pays. Ultimately Britain appologises for the inconvenience.

An Inter-oceanic Canal 20 years would pass before the U.S. again gave serious considerations to a canal.

Despite his personal experiences in Panama as an Army Captain, President Grant believed a ship canal was vital to U.S. interests.

Between 1870 and 1876, he sent six expeditions to the region to map, survey and evaluate possible routes.

It was the best equipped and most qualified effort to date and surveyed every prior location of record and any others that looked promising.

An Inter-oceanic Canal FINDINGS

- There was no location in Central America where a sea level canal was possible from an engineering standpoint.

- There were only two routes that were feasible from a standpoint of geology, hydrology and engineering:

Panama along the line of the railroad, and

Nicaragua along the San Juan River to Lake Nicaragua.

- Both options required locks.

Nicaragua was preferred. The pass over the continental divide was 155 ft. above sea level, the lowest anywhere by over 100 feet. The general belief was that it had far fewer engineering difficulties than Panama.

An Inter-oceanic Canal THE PROBLEMS WITH A CANAL AT PANAMA

- The tides on the Pacific coast (18 feet and more).

- Labor. There was no source of surplus labor at Panama nor easy access to such a source (labor had to be shipped in.)

- Supply. Panama could not supply food or materials (aside from sand

and gravel) so these would need to be shipped as well.

- Disease. Cholera, Malaria and Yellow Fever had no cure and at this time no one knew how to prevent them. Panama was seen as a death

trap for a large labor project.

- Excavations. The divide at Culebra was a massive spine of basalt, a

particularly difficult rock to excavate. The clay and mud along much of the route was unstable and likely to slide.

- The Chagres River.

An Inter-oceanic Canal THE REALITY OF 1876 TECHNOLOGY

American pessimism was not unwarranted in 1876. Based upon the available and envisioned technology, a cost effective canal at Panama was not possible.

The technology that would make a Panama Canal viable would not be invented and patented until the 1890’s and it has nothing to do with digging dirt or pouring concrete. In 1876, the man who would revolutionize life and make a canal probable had only just entered university in Austria and would soon drop out. His name was Nikola Tesla. His world changing invention: alternating current.

An Inter-oceanic Canal THE UNFOREEN FUTURE FOR A CANAL AT PANAMA

Edward Dean Adams Powerhouse, Niagara, New York 1895

This was the first large scale AC power generation facility to come on line.

Nicaragua over Panama made sense in 1876. The technology that would change the entire equation would not be viable for 20 years and not in widespread use for 30. AC made the 20th Century. It was a desk-top novelty at best in 1876.

And yet, even with plans nothing happened. The survey was a product of the Grant Administration which by 1876 was completely discredited by scandal…

Someone without the baggage would be necessary…