582 



NICARAGUA. 



the Nicaraguan Congress, for the purpose of 

 obtaining a joint guarantee from the Central 

 American states which may assist in promot- 

 ing the construction of the Nicaraguan Canal : 



ARTICLE I. The Government is authorized to unite 

 with the other republics of Central America in guar- 

 anteeing that the net profits of the Nicaraguan Canal 

 shall never amount to less than 3 per cent, on the 

 capital employed in its construction, which shall not 

 exceed $75,000,000. This guarantee shall last twenty 

 years from the date on which the canal shall be com- 

 pleted and opened to traffic. 



ABT. II. The Government is consequently author- 

 ized to guarantee a profit of 3 per cent, net upon 

 $20,000,000 of the capital fixed by the previous arti- 

 cle, either in association with other governments, in 

 the event of their guaranteeing the same rate of in- 

 terest on the remainder of the capital, or singly, 

 should the others not agree to act ; but it must be 

 stipulated that the expenses of construction and main- 

 tenance shall not exceed $1,000,000 annually, and that 

 any deficit in the amount of profits which shall have 

 been recognized and paid by Nicaragua will be re- 

 turned by the company from any excess of profits 

 which may be subsequently obtained over and above 

 the 3 per cent, which is guaranteed. 



ART. III. The Government will subject this conces- 

 sion of its guarantee to the conditions it may consider 

 necessary to establish in favor of the republic, and in 

 order to determine the actual cost of the canal and 

 the amount of profits. 



ART. IV. The Government is also authorized to make 

 treaties with the other Central American republics, 

 establishing the aforesaid guarantee, and granting to 

 their citizens the same privileges which are reserved 

 to Nicaraguans by the concession of April 24, 1880 ; 

 and to arrange with the company holding the con- 

 cession, an _ additional contract stipulating the condi- 

 tions containing the collective guarantee of the Cen- 

 tral American states, or that of Nicaragua alone, as 

 the case may be. 



On December 20th Secretary Frelinghuysen 

 made public a letter sent by him to Minister 

 Lowell, concluding the discussion with the 

 Government of Great Britain of the Clayton- 

 Bulwer Treaty. The letter is dated Nov. 22, 

 1883. On the question of the failure of the 

 plan for an interoceanic canal, on which the 

 treaty was based, Mr. Frelinghuysen says : 



Lord Granville raises the point that no time was 

 fixed by the convention within which such interoce- 

 anic communications were to be made. While this 

 statement is correct, it is also true that it was contem- 

 plated that the canal was about to be constructed at 

 the time the treaty was negotiated, and that the survey 

 therefor was then made, and that thirty- three years 

 have elapsed without Great Britain rendering the" con- 

 sideration on which the treaty was based, and this 

 failure, we think, affects the treaty in the same man- 

 ner that a failure by Great Britain to give the consid- 

 eration within a definite time, had one been fixed by 

 the convention, would have affected it. 



In regard to the provision that neither the 

 United States nor Great Britain shall colonize 

 or exercise any dominion over any part of Cen- 

 tral America, Mr. Frelinghuysen says: 



This is a most important provision. It is one of a 

 cluster restraining one nation from having any advan- 

 tage over the other in regard to the police of the canal, 

 such as the provision against alliance, against occupa- 

 tion and fortification, and against taking advantage of 

 any intimacy or influence ; and yet it is claimed that 

 the treaty does not prohibit the existence of a large 

 regularly organized British colony in Central America, 

 while it does prohibit the United States from having 



any possession or colony there. The color for this 

 claim is that, while the stipulation that neither of the 

 two governments should colonize any part of Central 

 America is most conspicuous, the declaration of Sir 

 Henry Bulwer prior to the exchange of the ratifications 

 of the treaty states that " her Majesty does not under- 

 stand the engagements of that convention to apply to 

 her Majesty's settlement at Honduras or its depend- 

 encies." This declaration can not be held to author- 

 ize the subsequent colonization by her Majesty's Gov- 

 ernment of a territory as large as three of our smaller 

 States. The declaration was made not to change or 

 vary the treaty, but of abundant caution that it might 

 not be misunderstood. The meaning of the declara- 

 tion, we think, is that a mere settlement of British 

 subjects for the purpose of cutting mahogany and log- 

 wood at Honduras under Spanish-American sover- 

 eignty was not to be considered a British colony, and 

 thus be a violation of the treaty, and I fail to see how, 

 since the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty, 

 the organization of a colony, with a full colonial gov- 

 ernment under^the British sovereignty, can be looked 

 upon as authorized or allowed either by the treaty or 

 by Sir Henry Bulwer' s declaration. 



The Volcano of Ometepc. A letter from Nica- 

 ragua dated June 12, 1883, said : " The volcano 

 of Ometepe, in Lake Nicaragua, is at present 

 in eruption. On May 1st, at 1 A. M., a frightful 

 and terrifyingsubterraneau jumbling was heard, 

 which lasted between two and three minutes, 

 but no outbreak was visible. On the following 

 day a number of people climbed to the summit 

 of the volcano, to find that the crater had in- 

 creased in size, and was about thirty-five yards 

 in length and three in width, but its depth could 

 not be calculated. Around it were strewed 

 large quantities of stones and rocks, covered 

 with slate-colored mud ; masses of these same 

 materials had poured down in a southwesterly 

 direction, forming a bed three hundred or four 

 hundred yards in length, and ashes were scat- 

 tered in all directions. Two days afterward, 

 May 4th, a series of terrifying eruptions, ac- 

 companied by prolonged rumblings, occurred. 

 At about 2.30 P.M., the earth and rock in the 

 vicinity of the crater were seen -to break, lava 

 poured forth, and from it burst upward a thick 

 column of lead-colored smoke, which sent the 

 terrified villagers flying to the churches, in the 

 belief that the whole island was about to be 

 destroyed. Fortunately, however, no damage 

 was done, as the lava followed a direction 

 where there are no inhabitants, and the ground 

 is not cultivated." 



On June 19th another, more violent, erup- 

 tion ended in the formation of a new crater, 

 accompanied by a prolonged earthquake and 

 an overflow of lava in the direction of Las Pilas. 

 Two days later the mountain was rent in vari- 

 ous other places, and from these rents red-hot 

 lava flowed in all directions. Many boats were 

 sent to the island from villages on the main- 

 land, to save the unfortunate people. As some 

 of the fugitives had sought shelter on a hill sud- 

 denly surrounded by a stream of glowing lava, 

 no help could be extended to them, and they 

 perished in great agony. The island was con- 

 verted by these eruptions into one mass of 

 liquid ignited lava, and thereby rendered en- 

 tirely uninhabitable. 



