Panama fever (84 page)

30    ”as filthy and odorous as any slavers”
Schott,
Rails across Panama
, p. 177.

30    ”We could name many persons”
Quoted in Senior, “The Panama Railway,”
Jamaica Journal
, Jun
e
1980, p. 68.

31    all but two of the fifty American technicians …
McCullough,
The Path between the Seas
, p. 38.

31    31 One railroad historian …
Schott,
Rails across Panama
, pp. 192–93.

31    ”workers who toppled over in the jungle”
Ibid., p. 139.

32    ”a bare-footed, coatless, harum-scarum looking set”
Tomes,
Panama in 1885
, p. 123.

32    in the process publicly flogging the Panamanian official…
Conniff,
Panama and the United States
, p. 28.

33    A forty-foot-deep cut was dug near Paraíso …
Nelson,
Five Years at Panama
, p. 148.

33    ”no one work … has accomplished so much”
Otis,
History of the Panama Railroad
, p. 15.

34    estimates are as high as $7 to 9 million, or $170,000 per mile …
New York Tribune, March.
13, 1855.

36    36 “better class of shop-keepers are Mulattoes”
Panama Star and Herald
, December 27, 1856.

Chapter Five: The Competing Routes

41    41 “It is proved beyond all doubt that Dr. Cullen never was in the interior”
Mack,
The Land Divided
, p. 255.

41    ”mystical and imaginative”
Ripley,
The Capitalists and Colombia
, p. 45.

42    ”The Department has entrusted to you a duty”
McCullough,
The Path between the Seas
, p. 20.

43    ”it [would] one day be covered with sails from every clime”
H. Misc. Doc., 42d
Cong., 3rd Sess., p. 41, quoted in Mack,
The Land Divided
, p. 243.

44    ”the deep cut would probably be subject to land-slides”
Sen. Ex. Doc.
IJ,
46th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 5.

Chapter Six: “Le Grand Français”

47     “We are, gentlemen, soldiers under fire”
Bunau-Varilla,
Panama
, p. 52.

49    ”astonish[ing] the world by the great deeds”
Quoted in Siegfreid,
Suez andPanama
, p. 236.

51”man eminent for originality”
The Times
, July 2, 1870.

51    ”You exercise a charm”
Lesseps,
Recollections of Forty Years
, vol. 2, p. 294.

52    ”will help to wed the whole universe”
Quoted in Siegfreid,
Suez and Panama
, p. 60.

52     “Is it not a glorious thing”
Lesseps,
Recollections of Forty Years
, p. 172.

54    ”Our hope is to fill these waters with all the ships”
Ibid., p. 184.

55    ”You should start preparations immediately”
Wyse to Reclus, February 2, 1878, quoted in Fauconnier,
Panama: Armand Reclus
, p. 105.

56    Four were in Darién …
Wyse, Reclus, et Sosa,
Rapport sur les Etudes de la Commission Internationale d'exploration de L'Isthme Americain
, p. 48.

Chapter Seven: The Fatal Decision

60     “Tragic scenes”
New York Tribune
, May 5, 1879.

60     “Business has been paralysed”
Hugh Mallet to Foreign Office, June 17, 1879, FO 55/269.

63     “involved so much uncertainty”
Menocal, “Intrigues at the Paris Canal Conference,”
North American Review
, September 1879, p. 16.

63     “provide for the whole drainage”
Instructions to Rear Admiral Daniel Ammen …
, p. 11.

63    ”threw off the mantle of indifference”
Quoted in McCullough,
The Path between the Seas
, p. 78.

64    De Lépinay himself, although favoring Panama
Congrès International D’études du Canal Interocéanique,
Compte Rendu Des Séances
, pp. 293–99, 35 5.

65     he claimed that he had investigated its potential
Wyse,
Le Canal de Panama
, p. 191.

65     He also argued that the new lake
Instructions to Rear Admiral Daniel
‘
Ammen …
, p. 19.

67    ”May that illustrious man”
Le Matin
, May 30, 1879, quoted in Anguizola,
Philippe Bunau-Varilla
, p. 38.

68    ”A careful examination of the names of the French delegates”
Menocal, “Intrigues at the Paris Canal Conference.”

68     “relative consideration of natural advantages”
Instructions to Rear Admiral DanielAmmen …
, p. 10.

68     “a comedy of the most deplorable kind”
Johnston, “Interoceanic Ship Canal
Discussion
,”
Journal of the American Geographical Society
11 (1879): 172–80.
Menocal, for his part, was sure
Instructions to Rear Admiral Daniel Ammen …
, p. 21.

69    ”prefigures for us an era of complications and difficulties”
New York World
, January 1, 1880.

70    ”The financial organs were hostile”
Quoted in McCullough,
The Path between the Seas
, p. 102.

Chapter Eight The Riches of France

73    ”Mr. Lesseps’ enterprise”
Star and Herald
, January 1, 1880.

74    ”wearing the diplomatic smile”
Robinson,
Fifty Years at Panama
, p. 139.

74    ”The Canal will be made”
Ibid., p. 140.

75    ”every one of the [city's] 14,000 inhabitants”
New York World
, January 22, 1880.

75    75 “Such an air of neatness”
New York Tribune
, January 22, 1880.

75    ”gave éclat to the occasion”
Robinson,
Fifty Years at Panama
, p. 143.

76    ”unanimous in their expressions of gratification”
Star and Herald
, January 8, 1880.

76    76 “His mind is unalterably made up”
New York Tribune
, January 22, 1880.

76    ”Mr. Lesseps is an accomplished horseman”
Star and Herald
, January 5, 1880.

77    ”as dark as Arabs”
Robinson,
Fifty Years at Panama
, p. 144.

77     “bright with myriad lights”
Star and Herald
, February 7, 1880.

77     dance “all night like a boy”
Robinson,
Fifty Years at Panama
, p. 146.

77     “The engineering difficulties”
Star and Herald
, January 16, 1880.

79    ”vastly to the regret of the people”
Star and Herald
, February 14, 1880.

80    ”Blanchet does nothing”
Wyse to Reclus, January 24, 1880, quoted in Faucon-nier,
Panama: Armand Reclus et le Canal des Deuz Océans
, p. 170.

80     “proper predominance over the seas”
New York World
, January 2, 1880.
80 The
New York Times
thought that the sea-level canal
New York Times
, January 25, 1880.

80    ”All this looks like business”
New York Tribune
, January 23, 1880.

81    ”Now is the time for the Government to make up its mind”
New York Tribune
, February 10, 1880.

81    ”where one is used to working for the civilization of the world”
Fauconnier,
Panama
, p. 167.

82    ”the enterprise of M. Lesseps”
Star and Herald
, February 17, 1880.

82    ”I have offered America 300,000 of the shares”
Star and Herald
, April 21, 1880.

83    ”The policy of this country is a canal under American control”
Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 112
, 46th Cong., 2d Sess., pp. 1–2.

83     “When M. de Lesseps gets ready to leave Washington to-morrow”
New York Tribune
, March 9, 1880.

83    ”President's message assured the political stability of the canal”
Bulletin du Canal Interocéanique
, March 15, 1880.

84    ”In these provincial tours”
Johnston, “Interoceanic Ship Canal Discussion,”
Jour-nal of the American Geographical Society
11 (1879): 172–80.

84    ”few miles of oozy quagmire and jungle”
The Times
, May 3, 1880.

85    ”It is a region”
London Standard
, December 8, 1880.

85    500-franc shares in Suez were now worth
McCullough,
The Path between the Seas
, p. 125.

86    ”Capital and science have never had such an opportunity”
Quoted in
Bulletin du Canal Interocéanique
, December 1, 1880.

86     “At that time they realized the poetry of capitalism”
Quoted in Siegfreid,
Suez and Panama
, p. 240.

88     “The company now has a legal existence and a name”
Star and Herald
, March 12, 1881.

88     “The worry is that it will weaken the United States”
New York Tribune
, December 16, 1880.

88    ”insist on acquiring from Colombia the territory”
Ibid., January 6, 1881.

Chapter Nine: “Travail Commencé”

89    ”Travail Commencé”
Quoted in
Bulletin du Canal Interocéanique
, February 15, 1881.

90    ”Mais, bah!”
Cermoise,
Deux Ans à Panama
, pp. 1–107.

96     The first criticism that Reclus made was leveled at the choice of men
Reclus to Charles de Lesseps, April 30, 1881, quoted in Fauconnier,
Panama
, pp.186-88.

98     Ernst Dichman, did everything in his power
Bennett to Foreign Office, May 11, 1880, FO 55/274; al
so Star and Herald
, May 8, 1880.

98     “all alliances with the United States”
Arthur O'Leary in Bogotá to Granville, April 5, 1
88
1
, F
O
42
0
/36.

98    considered denouncing the 1846 Treaty
Letter from Carlos Holguin, July 9, 1
88
1
, F
O
42
0
/36.

99    ”an alliance against the United States”
Secretary of State Blaine to James P. Lowell, June 24, 1881, “Correspondence respecting the Projected Panama Canal Presented to both houses of Parliament 1882.” British Library microfilm, Mic. A. 19266, FO420/36.

99     “would be glad to see England and France take joint measures”
Letter from Mr. Langley in Madrid to Granville, September 23, 1881, FO420/37.

100     “enable the United States to keep military possession of the canal”
Sackville-West to Granville, January 12, 1882, FO420/37.

100     “manifestly unjust”
Blaine to Mr. Lowell, November 19, 1881, FO420/37.

100    ”Mr. Blaine had overshot the mark”
New York Herald
, January 20, 1882.

101    ”Everyone had his own room!”
Cermoise,
Deux Ans à Panama
, p. 109.

101     “We said goodbye with a certain sadness”
Ibid., p. 128.

103     Only one in ten newly arrived laborers
McCullough,
The Path between the Seas
, p. 133.

103    ”Mr. de Lesseps contemplates making up what is short”
Star and Herald
, March 12, 1881.