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Panama The Uncompleted French Canal
Throughout the nineteenth century, governments and private
investors in the United States, Britain, and France intermittently
displayed interest in building a canal across the Western
Hemisphere. Several sites were considered, but from the start the
ones in Nicaragua and Panama received the most serious attention.
President Andrew Jackson sent Charles A. Biddle as his emissary in
the 1830s to investigate both routes, but the project was aborted
when Biddle abandoned his government mission and negotiated instead
with Colombian capitalists for a private concession.
Nevertheless, Colombia continued to express interest in
negotiating with the United States on building a canal. A treaty
was signed in 1846 between the two countries. The treaty removed
the existing restrictive tariffs and gave the United States and its
citizens the right of free transit of persons and goods over any
road or canal that might be constructed in the isthmus. In
addition, the United States guaranteed the neutrality of the
isthmus and Colombia's sovereignty over it, with a view to ensuring
uninterrupted transit for the duration of the treaty, which was to
be twenty years or as long thereafter as the parties gave no notice
to revise it. Called the Bidlack-Mallarino Treaty of 1846, it was
actually ratified and became effective in 1848.
Because the canal interests of Britain and the United States
had continued to clash, particularly in Nicaragua, Britain and the
United States sought to ease tensions by entering into the ClaytonBulwer Treaty of 1850. The governments agreed specifically that
neither would acquire rights to or construct a Nicaraguan canal
without the participation of the other. This general principle was
extended to any canal or railroad across Central America, to
include the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico and Panama. In effect,
since neither government was then willing or able to begin a canal,
the treaty was for the time an instrument of neutrality.
Colombia's attempt to attract canal interest finally brought
French attention to bear on Panama. After several surveys, a
concession of exclusive rights was obtained from Colombia, and a
company was formed in 1879 to construct a sea-level canal generally
along the railroad route. Ferdinand de Lesseps, of Suez Canal fame,
headed the company. The terms of the concession required completion
in twelve years, with the possibility of a six-year extension at
Colombia's discretion. The lease was for ninety years and was
transferable, but not to any foreign government. The company also
purchased most of the stock of the Panama Railroad Company, which,
however, continued to be managed by Americans.
A ceremonious commencement of work was staged by de Lesseps on
January 1, 1880, but serious earth moving did not start until the
next year. As work progressed, engineers judged that a sea-level
canal was impracticable. De Lesseps, a promoter but not an
engineer, could not be convinced until work had gone on for six
years. Actual labor on a lock canal did not start until late in
1888, by which time the company was in serious financial
difficulty. At the peak of its operations the company employed
about 10,000 workers.
De Lesseps had to contend not only with enemies who hampered
financing by spreading rumors of failure and dumping stocks and
bonds on the market but also with venal French politicians and
bureaucrats who demanded large bribes for approving the issue of
securities. His efforts to get the French government to guarantee
his bonds were blocked by the United States, on the grounds that
such action would lead to government control in violation of the
Monroe Doctrine. The end result in January 1889 was the appointment
of a receiver to liquidate the company, whereupon all work stopped.
Despite the French company's disastrous financial experience,
an estimated two-fifths of the excavation necessary for the
eventual canal had been completed. Many headquarters and hospital
buildings were finished. Some of the machinery left on the site was
usable later, and the railroad had been maintained. Another legacy
of the French company's bankruptcy was a large labor force, now
unemployed, mostly Antillean blacks. More than half were
repatriated, but thousands remained, many of whom eventually worked
on the United States canal.
Data as of December 1987
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