86 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



October 10, 1899, upon which date the Maritime concession 

 was declared to lapse. It differed in but few of its essential 

 features from the Maritime concession of 1887. The com- 

 pany paid for it 1100,000, with a promise of $400,000 more, 

 as a pledge of good faith. It bound itself to begin the exca- 

 vation of the canal within two years, and complete the same 

 within ten years. The concession was in perpetuity, and the 

 government bound itself by a declaration that no concession 

 or privilege theretofore granted should, in any manner, 

 " oppose, conflict, embarrass, or prejudice " this one. The 

 free navigation, use, or disposition of all waters in the state 

 were given to the company, which was also to retain ex- 

 clusive control of the management and operations of the 

 canal. The final articles set forth that it is " understood 

 that for the purposes of this contract the Cardenas- M en ocal 

 contract (1887, to Maritime Company) shall cease to have 

 legal existence on the 9th day of October, 1899, and there- 

 fore all the foregoing stipulations shall take effect without 

 further action, declaration, or law, on the 10th of October, 

 1899, or sooner, should Messrs. Eyre and Cragin, their heirs 

 or assigns, obtain the rescission of the Cardenas-Menocal 

 contract. . . . " 



A forfeiture of its concession from Nicaragua was natu- 

 rally the greatest calamity that could possibly befall the 

 Maritime Company, and now the very worst had happened. 

 But the company still had to its credit nearly a year of grace 

 before the contract came to its end, and the company's direc- 

 tors, undaunted by evil fortune, decided to make a final 

 and desperate effort to save the company's life. Their best 

 manner of seeking redress for the outrages which they felt 

 had been perpetrated upon them by a fickle, irresponsible gov- 

 ernment was through interposition of the State Department 

 at Washington. The right of the company thus to fall back 

 upon national protection was found, first, in its national 

 charter, which gave to Congress a privilege of supervision 

 over all its affaire; and secondly, because its concession 

 from Nicaragua and Costa Rica, by virtue of the quasi inter- 

 national character of its provisions, partook, in a measure, 



