130 NICARAGUA. 



who then thought of Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte r 

 actually imprisoned in the fortress of Ham. 



Mr. Castellon found in the Prince, a person well disposed 

 to the scheme. However, he could not get a decisive reply, 

 and returned to Nicaragua without anything more than a 

 treaty signed with a Belgian Company. 



In 1846, Prince Louis Napoleon wrote that he was disposed 

 to accept the propositions of Mr. Castellon. In reply to that 

 letter, the Nicaraguan Government, sent the Paris Minister to 

 Ham for the signature of a treaty very favourable to the Prince. 

 Three months after, he was free, and immediately, a 

 pamphlet entitled the Canal of Nicaragua or Project of the 

 Junction of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, was printed 

 in London. In that pamphlet he gave a resume of his ideas 

 about the undertaking trusted to his credit and energy. His 

 project was to make use of the river San Juan, the lake of 

 Nicaragua, the lake of Managua and Realejo on the Pacific. 

 It was beforehand called, Canal Napoleone, but the French 

 revolution of 1848, which made Napoleon, President of 

 the French Republic, in the first place, and afterwards 

 Emperor of France, modified all his ideas about the Canal, 

 and it was again relegated for a time. 



In 1849, a contract was signed between Nicaragua and 

 Mr. Brown, the representative of an American Company, but 

 nothing came of it. After Mr. Brown, came the White and 

 Vanderbilt Company, but Nicaragua, before signing the 

 agreement, asked from the American Government to be 

 security for that Company. Mr. Squier, the American Resi- 

 dent Minister in Nicaragua, who had special instructions from 

 his Government to obtain the concession in favour of an 

 American firm, guaranteed the responsibility of the United 

 States. Accordingly, the Vanderbilt contract was signed the 

 27th of August, and ratified by Congress the 25th of Sep- 

 tember following. The next day, the Congress ratified also 

 a treaty of confederacy and goodwill with the United States, 

 to the satisfaction of all. 



• The treaty of the 27th of August was as liberal as the 

 preceding ones. All flags were treated alike. 



Nicaragua reserved for itself the lion's share, which pro- 

 bably had a certain influence on the ultimate want of success. 



That country had stipulated that £2,000 were to be paid 

 to them after the ratification, £2,000 yearly until the conclu- 

 sion of the Canal, and one million of shares, when emitted. 

 Besides, twenty per cent, during twenty years on the nett 



