396 



NICARAGUA. 



The total value of imports by sea in 1899 was 

 $5,230,105, of which $2,995,741 came through Pa- 

 cific and $2,995,741 through Atlantic ports. The 

 exports were $0,981,472 in value, $3,080,156 by 

 way, of Pacific and $3,295,310 by way of Atlantic 

 ports. Cotton goods were imported from the 

 United States and Great Britain, woolens from 

 Great Britain, knit goods from Germany and 

 France, machinery, tools, and hardware from the 

 United States, earthenware from Germany and 

 France, and preserved meats from France and 

 Italy. The exports of cofl'ee were 45,000 hundred- 

 weight to Germany, 15,000 hundredweight to Eng- 

 land, 15,000 hundredweight to France, 0,000 hun- 

 dredweight to the United States, and 4,000 hun- 

 dredweight to Italy. Rubber was shipped to the 

 United States, gold to the United States and 

 Great Britain, hides to the United States, dye- 

 woods and cabinet woods to Great Britain, Ger- 

 many, and the United States. The export of 

 spirits to Spanish-American countries was 18,737 

 liters, and 20,000 hundredweight of sugar was 

 shipped to California. 



Navigation. There were entered in 1898 at 

 Corinto, the port through which two-thirds of the 

 foreign trade passes, 78 vessels, of 114,161 tons, of 

 which 35, of 57,050 tons, were American and 27, 

 of 40,454 tons, German. This does not include 

 coasters, of which 104, of 62,880 tons, were entered. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 railroads, all belonging to the Government except 

 one short line, connect with steamers on Lake 

 Nicaragua and Lake Managua. They have a 

 total length of 140 miles. A new line connecting 

 with the railroad to Corinto at Masaya has been 

 carried into the coffee-growing district to Jinotepe, 

 and is being extended to Diriamba. 



The post-office in 1890 received 1,370,306 pieces 

 of mail-matter. There are 1,245 miles of tele- 

 graphs. 



The Projected Nicaragua Canal. A modi- 

 fication of the Clay ton-Bui wer treaty of 1850, pro- 

 viding for the joint Anglo-American protection of 

 any canal across the American isthmus, was ne- 

 gotiated and signed on Feb. 5, 1900; but, failing 

 to obtain the ratification of the United States 

 Senate, it lapsed on March 4, 1901. Negotiations 

 were afterward resumed. Great Britain wanted 

 to stipulate that the United- States should build 

 no fortifications on the canal or its approaches, 

 and should covenant to keep it open on equal 

 terms to the ships of all nations in peace or war. 



The commission appointed to make a detailed 

 study of the routes for an interoceanic canal 

 found the Panama and Nicaragua routes both 

 practicable. Nicaragua had the advantage of 

 proximity to the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards 

 of the United States, Panama that of shorter canal 

 transit and less liability of the waterway being 

 accidentally blocked, and also of having part of 

 the work already done, though this was offset 

 by the excavated earth having to be moved again 

 for a canal of wider dimensions than the original 

 plans called for. A settlement with the original 

 Panama stockholders and the new company repre- 

 senting their interests and with the French and 

 the Colombian governments was, moreover, diffi- 

 cult and complicated, and after long negotiations 

 several times interrupted no satisfactory offer 

 was yet received from the directors of the existing 

 French Panama Company. Before the Nicaragua 

 Canal could be constructed under the auspices of 

 the United States Government, not only had the 

 old agreement for its joint protection and control 

 by the United States and Great Britain to be 

 rescinded, but territorial arrangements had to be 

 made with Costa Rica as well as Nicaragua. 



Nicaragua had treaties with various nations, 

 containing provisions relative to the projected 

 waterway, some of which promised concessions in 

 respect to the use of the canal which Nicaragua 

 could not fulfil if the United States had sole con- 

 trol. These treaties, which would prove embar- 

 rassing to both Nicaragua and the United States, 

 the Nicaraguan Government denounced, and also 

 the treaty of 1807 with the United States granting 

 to the United States the right of transit across 

 the territory of the republic by any route, provid- 

 ing for the protection by the United States and 

 the neutrality of all routes of communication, re- 

 quiring Nicaragua to establish free ports at each 

 end of the route chosen, giving to the United 

 States the right to transport troops and muni- 

 tions of war provided they were not to be used 

 against any South American power with which 

 Nicaragua was at peace, prohibiting Nicaragua 

 from imposing tolls on the goods or persons of 

 citizens of the United States or of any foreign 

 country higher than were imposed on the goods 

 or persons of citizens of Nicaragua, and permit- 

 ting the transport of the United States mail by 

 any route of communication. The general pro- 

 visions of the treaty of 1807, which expires on Oct. 

 24, 1902, a year from the date of its denuncia- 

 tion, form the basis of a new treaty of commerce 

 and navigation to be negotiated between the two 

 governments. Secretary Hay and Luis F. Corea, 

 the Nicaraguan minister in Washington, signed 

 an agreement in 1901 by which Nicaragua recog- 

 nizes the right of the United States to construct 

 the canal, and engages to lease the territory 

 through which the canal route passes, including a 

 strip on either side, the lease being equivalent to 

 the cession of the land and sovereign rights over 

 it for so long a period as the canal is maintained 

 under the conditions agreed upon. Freed from all 

 treaty stipulations with any other Government, 

 Nicaragua was able to enter into negotiations 

 with the United States for a new canal treaty 

 embodying the concessions already agreed upon 

 or any others deemed necessary or desirable for 

 the construction of the canal by the United States. 

 The United States, however, was not free to con- 

 clude the necessary arrangements until the obliga- 

 tions of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty were can- 

 celed. The congressional resolutions declared 

 the treaty to be abrogated, but the Government 

 could not annul its legal obligations by one-sided 

 action. The treaty had no term of years to run 

 or provision for its termination by notification on 

 the part of either of the signatory governments. 

 It could only be terminated or superseded by mu- 

 tual agreement without a breach of international 

 law. The action of the Senate made negotiations 

 more difficult with a government pertinacious in 

 preserving treaty rights even when they are of 

 no value except as a diplomatic weapon. A new 

 treaty was finally concluded on Nov. 10 and 

 signed at Washington by John Hay in behalf 

 of the United States and Lord Pauncefote in 

 behalf of Great Britain. Its object was .stated to 

 be to facilitate the construction of a ship canal 

 to connect the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans by 

 whatever route may be considered expedient, and 

 to that end to remove any objection that might 

 arise out of the Clayton-Bulwer convention of 

 April 19, 1850, to the construction of such canal 

 under the auspices of the Government of the 

 United States without impairing the general prin- 

 ciple of neutralization established in that con- 

 vention. 



In the treaty previously negotiated, but re- 

 jected by the Senate, Great Britain stipulated not 

 only that the canal should remain neutral and 



