INTEROCEANIC CANALS. I2Q 



that he decided to return to Holland, and advised the King to 

 send a Minister to Guatemala with the special mission to 

 promote the undertaking of the Canal. This Minister was 

 General Verveer himself, who arrived in Guatemala in 

 March, 1829, well decided to do all what he could for the 

 success of this gigantic work. 



But it happened that a revolution had taken place during 

 his absence, and General Morazan, had just been elected to 

 power, and was very busy in establishing his government. 

 A long time passed without anything being done, and it was 

 only on the 2ist of October, 1830, that the Federal Congress 

 sanctioned the contract passed between General Verveer and 

 Guatemala. 



When Central America thought that a new era of great 

 ness was going to begin for their country, the French and 

 Belgian Revolutions took place, and in consequence every 

 thing was stopped, and, after the loss of a great deal of time, 

 resulted in the abandonment of the undertaking. 



In 1837, General Morazan thinking that it would be very 

 difficult to induce foreign capitalists to undertake the open 

 ing of the Canal, decided to have it done by the country 

 itself. With that purpose, he instructed M. M. John Bailly 

 and Jose Batres to make a survey of the country. The 

 survey lasted about six years, during which a revolution 

 overthrew Morazan in favour of Carrera, and after all, the 

 survey made by M. M. Bailly and Batres resulted only in an 

 interesting publication published in 1843, in which the out 

 line surveyed is fully shown by them, that of the River San 

 Juan del Norle, the lake of Nicaragua and San Juan del 

 Sur, by the river Lajas. 



After the fall of Morazan, the Confederation was dis 

 solved. The State of Nicaragua proclaimed its independence 

 in 1838. Now the matter of the Canal rested entirely with 

 it. Mr. Pierre Rouhaud, my friend of Granada^ was 

 authorized to go to France and see if he could find capi 

 talists willing to undertake the opening of the Canal, but he 

 did not succeed. Several years after in 1843, Count 

 Hompesch, who presided over the Belgian Company of 

 Santo Tomas, was also asked to take the matter in hand, 

 but he had the same fate as Mr. Rouhaud. In the mean 

 while, Mr. Castellon was sent to France to solicit the 

 protectorate of the Government of Louis Philippe. 

 Mr. Guizot, who had sent Mr. Napoleon Garella to survey 

 the Panama route did not care for the offer of Mr. Castellon, 



