[XXXIII-6] The principal fairs were held at Chalatenango, San Vicente, and San Miguel, in Salvador. That of San Miguel took place in November, and lasted two weeks. There was another fair at the same town about the beginning of Feb., to which, as well as to the former one, large numbers of cattle were taken from Hond. and Nic. In Guat. annual fairs were held in several places; namely, Esquipulas, where large quantities of merchandise were sold; it was also a cattle fair; Rabinal in Vera Paz, for dry goods; Mazatenango, for cattle, cacao, dry goods, etc.; San Pedro Ayampuk; Sololá, for dry goods, fruit, and stock; Quezaltenango and Chimaltenango, for woollen manufactures. In Jocotenango a fair was held every Aug. In later times fairs have been authorized at several other places, to wit, at the hippodrome, near the capital, Salcajá, Santa Cruz del Quiché, Jalapa, Santa Rosa, and San Pedro Pinula. Squier's Cent. Am., 309-530; Guat., Mem. Sec. Fomento, 1882, 38; 1885, 39-40; Pan. Star and Herald, Sept. 14, 1885.
[XXXIII-7] The Am. Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Co. of New York, of which Vanderbilt and White were the chief owners, undertook to construct an interoceanic canal. Their contract with the Nic. govt involved the privilege to the company of exclusive steam navigation in the interior waters, meaning Lake Nicaragua. The company concluded to separate this privilege from the rest of the contract, and succeeded, Aug. 1851, in obtaining from the Nic. govt the monopoly of transit from San Juan del Norte to San Juan del Sur. It is unnecessary to go into details as to how this was consummated; suffice it to say, it was by fostering the intestine war then raging. U. S. Gov. Doc., H. Ex. Doc., 75, 141-5, x., Cong. 31, Sess. 1; Id., Sen. Doc., 68, 84-103, xiii., Cong. 34, Sess. 1; Cent. Am. Miscel. Doc., 45; Stout's Nic., 272-91; Wells' Walker's Exped., 203-5; Reichardt, Cent. Am., 210-11; Scherzer, Cent. Am., 245-6.
[XXXIII-8] The first steamboat used in Nic. waters was the Orus, wrecked on the Machuca rapids; the next, the Director, was worked over the rapids, and plied on the lake for several years, being the sole transport for passengers from San Cárlos to La Vírgen. The increase of the Transit company's business brought the Central America and other steamers. Nic., Corr. Ist., Sept. 5, 1850; Stout's Nic., 65-6.
[XXXIII-9] The particulars of this transaction appear elsewhere. Previous to this, in 1854, there had been serious differences between the gov. of Nic. and the company, about the settlement of accounts, and even then the govt threatened to cancel the charter. Guat., Gaceta, May 13, July 8, 1853; Perez, Mem. Hist. Rev. Nic., 55-6; Id., Mem. Camp. Nac., 27-30; El Nicaragüense, Feb. 23, 1856.
[XXXIII-10] In 1858 the Nic. govt confiscated the company's property, and the next year made the transit free to all nations. However, under a subsequent arrangement between it and the original Transit co., under the name of Cent. American Transit Co., ratified in March 1861, the latter agreed to reopen the route; but failing to do it within the required time, the govt seized all the property, as agreed in the contract. The matter was settled in diplomatic correspond. with the U. S. govt in 1863. Rocha, Cód. Nic., ii. 133-4, 141-2; Nic., Dec. y Acuerdos, 1857-8, 44-5; 1859, ii. 78-9; Id., Gaceta, Jan. 16, 1864. The company renewed its operations, and continued them until annihilated by the overland railway to S. F., in 1869. Lévy, Nic., 434.
[XXXIII-11] Costa R. in 1872 forbade the navigation of the Colorado River by Hollenbeck & Co. Nic., La Union, June 29, 1861; Id., Dec. y Ac., 1861, iv. 57-68; 1869-70, 100-6; Id., Gaceta, Aug. 8, 1868; March 12, July 23, Aug. 20, 1870; Dec. 7, 1872; Id., Mem. Min. Guerra, 1872, 12; Semanal Nic., Dec. 5, 1872; El Porvenir de Nic., May 26, June 2, 1872. Trade between Granada and San Juan del Norte was continued in piraguas and steamers, the former measuring from 15 to 25 tons. There were river and lake steamers. Merchandise was first transferred at San Cárlos, and often in the summer a second time at the Castillo. For some time the steamboat plying in the lower part of the river passed by the Colorado branch because of scanty water in the San Juan.
[XXXIII-12] Costa R., Informe Obras Púb., for years 1876-80; Id., Mem. Sec. Fomento, years 1883-4; Belly, Nic., i. 321; Lévy, Nic., 412; Nic., Mem. Min. Guerra, 1875, pp. x.-xv.; Pan. Star and Herald, Apr. 2, 1881; Feb. 1, 2, 1883; Id., Cronista, Jan. 20, 1883; Salv., Gac. Ofic., Sept. 5, 7, 1876; Presid. Barrios, Mensaje, 1876, 39-60; Guat., Recop. Ley., Gob. Democ., 10-12; Id., Mem. Sec. Fomento, for years 1880-5.
[XXXIII-13] Gold pieces of 10, 5, 2, and one dollar, the first named having the weight of 16,120 grammes. In former years it coined gold ounces with the weight of 25,836 grammes, worth $16, and halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths; silver peso, and its subdivisions worth 50, 25, 10, and 5 cts. Copper one-cent pieces containing 95 parts of copper and 5 of nickel. Silver in coins of 10 and 5 cts in legal tender only to the sum of $100; and cents not exceeding 100. The money coined in Costa Rica in the years 1829-82 has been as follows: gold, $2,351,808; silver, $56,648; total, $2,922,138. Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 41; Costa R., Gaceta, Nov. 21, 1885; Id., Mem. Sec. Hac., 1883, annex no. 10.
[XXXIII-14] There is a nominal money used in retail trade called peso sencillo, worth 80 cents. The old Costa R. doubloon passes for $14.40 only, and the subdivisions in proportion. The new Costa R. piece of $5 is worth only $4.50. Chilian and Colombian condors pass for $9. Lévy, Nic., 370-1, 521.
[XXXIII-15] It paralyzed foreign trade, became depreciated, and caused other evils. Montúfar, Res. Hist., iii. 277. The govt endeavored to retire this coin by a gradual redemption every year.
[XXXIII-16] Foreign coins pass at their true valuation. Very little money leaves Honduras. Hond., Gaceta Ofic., May 20, 1853; Squier's Cent. Am., 272; Wells' Hond., 567-72.
[XXXIII-17] In former times there was the ounce of $16 and its subdivisions, and the silver peso with its subdivisions down to medio real, or 6¼ cents. Most of the silver coin in circulation was the macuquina or cut, which was a nuisance. The government in 1873 ordered it retired, which was in the course of time done. The system established in the law of 1870 found favor with the people as regarded gold coin. Not so with silver; the public clinging to the old denominations, and refusing to accept base metals which this law had also provided for.
[XXXIII-18] Standard of the coin 0.900. Weight of the peso 25 grammes.
[XXXIII-19] Mex. eagle $20; its subdivisions in proportion. Peruvian pieces of $20 and $10, and Colombian condors of $20 and $10, at their face value. Chilian condors of $10, $9.50. German gold piece of 20 marks, $4.93¾. American, French, and English gold coins have their full value; though they generally command a high premium. Further details may be found in Guat., Recop. Ley., ii. 578-82; Id., Gob. Dem., i. 83, 197; Salv., Diario, Dec. 14, 1878.
[XXXIII-20] There were in 1883 two banks, the Internacional and Colombiano, in the city of Guatemala; both having ample capital for a time stood high. The former, founded in 1878, suspended in 1885. The latter, founded in 1879 by capitalists who were mostly Colombians, has no agencies, and limits its operations within the capital of the republic, and to the sale of bills of exchange on foreign markets. There was also the Banco de Occidente at Quezaltenango with a capital of $100,000; its main object being to assist agriculture and manufactures in the wealthy departments of Los Altos. Its standing was somewhat shaken by its bills having been largely counterfeited in Sept. 1882; but it managed to weather the storm. The Banco de Nicaragua, a bank of issue, loans, and discounts, with a capital of $600,000, has been quite successful. It was chartered in May 1871. The Banco Anglo-Costaricense went into operation at Managua in 1873, with a capital of $100,000, under the management of Allan Wallis. The Banco Internacional of Salvador began business on the 20th of Aug., 1880, and has since been prosperous, excepting in 1885, owing to the war with Guatemala, and a subsequent revolution. However, the results of the first six months were satisfactory. In 1867 the Banco Nacional de Costa Rica went into operation at San José, with a capital of $500,000, and power to increase it to one million dollars, under a contract for ten years between John Thompson and the government. Dec. 1, 1876, the government decreed the statutes of the Banco de Emision, with a capital of $500,000 secured with mortgages on real estate to the amount of $1,000,000. But the stockholders failing to pay in the capital, the government suspended the bank, which had been operating, and ordered the books transferred to the Banco Nacional of San José, which was to redeem all notes of that bank in circulation. The Banco Nacional had been created by a decree of Dec. 25, 1877, with a capital of $250,000. Its operations were not to include the issue of notes. A charter was granted in Jan. 1881, to establish a Banco Hipotecario Franco-Costaricense with a capital of $500,000. The by-laws were approved by govt in July 1881. The bank was to have a branch in Paris. Batres' Sketch Guat., 24; S. F Cronista, Feb. 3, 1883; Jan. 31, Apr. 25, 1885; Nic., Gaceta, Aug. 3, 1867; July 8, 1871; Id., Semanal Nic., Apr. 10, 1873; Pan. Star and Herald, Aug. 3, 1867; Sept. 2, 1885; Costa R., Col. Ley., xvii. 45-50, 51-5; xx. 4-19, 110-16, 295-7, 304-6, 311-12; xxiv. 197-205; xxv. 245-60; Id., 1878, 104-6; 1881, 17-26, 64-6, 143-68; Guat., Mem. Sec. Fomento, 1882, 37.
[XXXIII-21] In 1809 there was a postal service between Guatemala and David in Panamá, via Cartago in Costa Rica, by which route correspondence was kept up with South America. In 1811 a tri-monthly mail was established between Guat. and Mex., Merida, the Windward Islands, and Spain. In 1829 there was a monthly packet between New York and the Isthmus. After that, some sort of mail service was kept up till it became regular with the establishment of steamship lines. In 1844 the first mail steamer touched at Chagres, and in 1845 a line was established between Panamá and Valparaiso. In 1846 a post-route between the two oceans was established under a grant of the Brit. govt. At this time the U. S. contemplated establishing a line of steamers from Pan. to Or. via Cal. The present Pacific Mail Steamship Company was organized in 1847 for that purpose, and on the 5th of Oct. their pioneer steamship, the California, went to sea, followed at short intervals by the Panamá and Oregon. At the inception of the enterprise, success was looked for only from the agricultural resources of the Pacific coast. The discovery of gold in Cal. secured that success. The company kept up the service between N. Y. and Colon, and between Panamá and S. F. via Acapulco and Manzanilla, and later sent ships to China. Niles' Reg., xxxvii. 242; Pan. Constitucional del Istmo, Oct. 30, 1834; Mayer's Mex. as it Was, etc., 369-74; Pan., El Movimiento, Dec. 22, 1844; Seemann's Hist. Ist. Pan., in Pan. Star and Herald, Apr. 17, 1847; Crosby's Statem., MS., 3-10.
[XXXIII-22] Costa R. has been quite successful. The number of pieces received at and forwarded by the main office at San José in 1883 were 1,377,243, against 549,096, in 1880, and 1,172,259, in 1882. In Nic. the service is a source of considerable expense to the govt. In 1861-2, the expenses were only $5,349. In 1881-2, $39,327; the receipts $19,476, leaving a deficit of $19,851. This is owing to long distances and sparse population. In Hond. the exchange of mail matter amounted in 1880 to 937,331 pieces; the expenses of the department, $17,102. In Guat. the aggregate amount of mail matter was as follows: 1880, 835,906; 1881, 1,039,652; 1882, 1,400,043; 1883, 2,111,366; 1884, 2,912,411. The receipts in 1884, $48,342; expend. $46,017. The appropriation for the fiscal year 1886-7 was computed at $58,812. Costa R., Mem. Sec. Gobern., years 1883-4; Id., Guerra, 1880, 1883; Id., Hac., 1884; Id., Gaceta, Feb. 3, 1885; Pan. Canal, Jan. 13, 1883; Id., Star and Herald, July 2, 1881; Feb. 8, 1883; Sept. 9, 1885; Nic., Informe Sec. Hac., 1875; Id., Id., 1883; Id., Mem. Sec. Gobern., 1883; Salv., Diario Ofic., Feb. 18, Nov. 30, 1875; July 12, Nov. 2, 1878; March 5, 1879; Guat., Mem. Sec. Fomento, 1880-5; Id., Presupuesto Gen., 1886, 18-19; Encyc. Brit., xvi. 492; El Guatemalteco, Feb. 2, Sept. 24, 1884; Batres' Sketch Guat., 69-76.
[XXXIII-23] Crosby's Statem., MS., 3-10. At the sailing of the Panamá there were 2,000 persons to embark for S. F.; four steamships to sail for the same destination; namely, Sarah Sands, Carolina, Isthmus, and Gold Hunter. Early in the summer of the same year there were 4,000 passengers waiting for vessels to take them to Cal., in a place which could hardly afford accommodations for 100. Hundreds of deaths occurred. Pan. Star, March 29, 1850; Sac. Placer Times, i., Apr. 26, 1850; Advent. of a Capt.'s Wife, 18; Cal. Courier, Sept. 14, 1850. The steamer W. H. Aspinwall then began to ply on the River Chagres, between Chagres and Gorgona, which did away with the bongos nuisance. Sac. Transcript, March 14, 1851.
[XXXIII-24] 1850-5 were years of brisk business for the Isthmus. Gold circulated so abundantly that few did not handle gold coin. Provisions ruled high. Silver was so scarce that in 1850 a five-dollar gold piece could buy only 40 dimes. Americans said that Panamá was a better place for business than S. F. Maldonado, Anales Polít. Pan., MS., 7.
[XXXIII-25] 1852-66: passengers, 517,852; gold and silver, $849,157,076; paper money, $19,062,567; jewelry, $513,001; 1855-66: merchandise, mail matter, baggage and coal, 614,535 tons. Mail matter averaged 380 tons yearly. Merchandise steadily increased from 10,658 tons in 1856, the lowest, to 93,414 tons in 1866, the highest; and coal from 8,934 in 1856 to 13,418 in 1866. In 1860 and 1861, the coal transportation exceeded 16,000 tons a year. The total tonnage transported across the road in 1856 was 20,053, which increased every year till it reached 107,590 tons in 1866. The largest number of passengers crossed was in 1859, 46,976, nearly 5,000 in excess of 1858; the smallest number was in 1862, 26,420, being 5,280 less than in 1866. The large travel of 1859 was due to great reduction of passage money by steam lines running in opposition. The gold transported in 1856 was $48,047,692; in 1866, $48,234,463; at no other period did it equal these amounts. Silver showed a gradual increase from $9,439,648 in 1856 to $18,653,239, declining in 1866 to $14,331,751. Paper money was transported by the U. S. govt during the war. Jewelry varied from $192,718 to $844,490, but gradually declined. The tariff rates established by the company Jan. 1, 1865, were as follows: passengers, foreign, $25 each, children of 6 to 12 years one half, under 6, one quarter; Colombians, $10 each. Baggage exceeding 50 lb., 5 cts per lb. Merchandise, special rates: 1st class paying 50 cts per cubic foot; 2d to 6th 1½ cts to ¼ cent respectively per lb. All payments in Am. gold, or its equivalent. Otis' Hist. Pan. R. R., 139-45; Bidwell's Isth. Pan., 277-86, 389-93. In 1867, the value of the transit trade in merchandise and treasure over the route was $92,191,980, and 35,076 passengers. In 1872 the road conveyed 194 millions pounds of weight, 2½ millions of feet, besides 215,000 gallons of oil, 13,952 of wine, and 13,952 passengers. Jülfs, Die Seehäfen, 11. 1878-9, merchandise, 314,220 tons; 1880-4, 1,033,596 tons; the quantity in 1884 was 287,243, not including 10,000 tons of bananas, an increase of 71,518 over 1883. 1880-4, passengers, 1,024,128; the number in 1884 was 515,520, an excess of 75 per cent over 1883; the large increase being mainly due to the operations of the interoceanic canal company, and the transportation of their vast material. Pan. Star and Herald, May 2, 14, 1867; May 17, Sept. 5, 1877; June 23, 1881; Apr. 22, 1885; S. F. Ev'g Bulletin, Apr. 12, 1878; Apr. 2, 1884; S. F. Chronicle, Apr. 3, 1884; Superint. Burt's Report, March 7, 1885; U. S. Govt Doc., Comm. Rel., years 1857-77.
[XXXIII-26] The steamship lines doing such service in 1867 were the following: 1st. The Pacific Mail Co. of N. Y., whose capital in 1847 was $400,000; raised in 1850 to $2,000,000; in 1860 to $4,000,000; and in 1866 to $20,000,000; the lowest estimate of its property being set down in 1867 at $30,000,000. This company has passed through many vicissitudes, as indicated by the stock market. The highest rates attained by its shares were 248 in 1863, 325 in 1864, 329 in 1865, 234 in 1866. Every other year they have been under 200, the highest being in 173½ in 1867. From that time they sank very low, even to 16¼ cents in 1876, the highest that year being 39¼. 2d. Brit. and W. India and Pac. running between Liverpool, W. Ind., W. coast of S. and Cent. Am., and Colon. 3d. Brit. Royal Mail, between Southampton, W. Ind., eastern coast of Mexico, S. and Cent. Am., and Colon. 4th. Brit. Pan., New Zealand, and Australia. 5th. Brit. Pac. Steam Navigation Co., between Pan. and ports of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. 6th. Pan. R. Road Co.'s steamers between Pan. and Acapulco, touching at all Cent. Am. ports. This line finally was merged in the Pacific Mail Co. 7th. Am. Cal. Or. and Mex. Co.'s line running between S. F. and Mex., and between S. F. and Portland, Or., and Island of Vancouver. It was afterward discontinued. 8th. French Transatlantic Co. running between St Nazaire in France, W. Ind., Mex., and Colon. 9th. German line. In 1871 the following arrivals of vessels occurred: steamers, Brit., 84, with 158,579 tons; Am., 25, with 66,813 tons; German, 36, with 42,740 tons; French, 24, with 15,782. Sailing vessels, 56 Brit., 43 Am., 12 German, 4 French, 8 Italian, 112 Colombian, mostly small. Grand total of tonnage, 316,271 tons. Otis' Hist. Pan. R. R., 50-6, 148-60, 169-232; Pan. Star and Herald, May 2, 1867; Apr. 14, 1877; U. S. Gov. Doc., Comm. Rel., 1871-2, 252, 263; Bidwell's Isth. Pan., 353-7. The author of the last-quoted work was British vice-consul at Panamá, and enjoyed leisure and opportunity for gathering facts from many sources, concerning the past and present history of Panamá, as well as on her resources, trade, etc. The arrangement of the book, as he acknowledges, is defective, there being no order—chronological or other—in the information he gives. The description of the social and political condition of the city and country, to the time of his writing, is quite accurate.
[XXXIII-27] Between 1825 and 1830 the expense of conveying a bale of goods overland, including duties and taxes, was $10 or $12.
[XXXIII-28] In 1820 it was deplorable. Córtes, Diario, 1820, iv. 180-2; Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem., 48-9.
[XXXIII-29] It was said that $45,000,000 of English manufactures unlawfully crossed the Isthmus for Sp. Am. between 1810 and 1817. Arrillaga, Inf., in Cedulario, iv. no. 1, 72; Alaman, Hist. Méj., iv. 473-4.
[XXXIII-30] Communication was kept up on the Atlantic side with Jamaica by a Brit. man-of-war which twice a month carried letters and specie; with Cartagena by government vessels bimonthly; and with the same and other points by independent traders. On the Pacific traffic was better along the whole coast. In 1825 the spirit of enterprise was rash. Exclusive of small coasters, there came to Chagres 1 ship, 7 brigs from France, 21 schooners from the W. Indies, 6 schooners from the U. S., and 3 from Cartagena. In 1828, these numbers were reduced to about 20 all together. In the same years the entries at Panamá were respectively 17 and 24 vessels. In 1830 trade was in a state of stagnation. Lloyd's Notes Isth. Pan., in Roy. Geog. Soc., i. 96-7; Niles' Reg., xxxviii. 141.
[XXXIII-31] Bocas del Toro was also made a free port. El Arco Iris, July 25, 1847; Molina, der Freistaat, Costa R., 58-9; S. F. Californian, ii., Sept. 29, 1847.
[XXXIII-32] The passengers from Cal. no longer remained in Pan., but were hurried off to Colon; thus the expenditure formerly made by the thousands of passengers ceased. Many business houses had to close in 1855 and 1856. Later the influx of passengers from Europe, who stop longer at Panamá, helped to support the hotels, etc. Bidwell's Isth. Pan., 263.
[XXXIII-33] A portion of the imports was paid for in remittances of specie, or in bills on Europe, sold from time to time by foreign men-of-war and steamship companies. The amount of exports may be augmented some $100,000 by produce sold to steamship companies. Besides pearls and pearl shells, ivory, nuts, and India-rubber figured considerably among the exports. The recklessness with which the rubber-trees have been cut down has reduced the production in 1886 to an insignificant quantity. The imports from 1856 to 1863 inclusive reached $6,386,135; the exports from 1857 to 1863 probably $5,000,000 or $6,000,000. Data on this point are unreliable. U. S. Govt Doc., Comm. Rel., 1859-61; Bidwell's Isth. Pan., 265-7, 277-8; Pan. Star and Herald, May 2, 1867.
[XXXIII-34] Adopted in 1853. Pan., Crónica Ofic., Aug. 20, 1853.
[XXXIII-35] The national government of Colombia, on the 3d of May, 1861, decreed that the notes of the National Bank, silver coin of the fineness of 0.500, and nickel coin, should be the only legal tender receivable at public offices of the nation, states, and department of Panamá. The enforcement of the decree in Panamá, where the money in circulation is sufficient for all purposes, is deemed ruinous, as the paper thus forced into circulation is irredeemable. There are no manufactures nor products that merchants can send abroad in payment of the articles of daily necessity which are imported. Pan. Star and Herald, May 31, 1886.
[XXXIII-36] Dunlop's Cent. Am., 39-40; Wagner, Costa R., 458-65; Squier's Cent. Am., 457. The exportation of shells on a large scale upon the coasts of the mainland, gulfs, and islands was farmed out in Oct. 1885, to a private party for 16 years, the lessee paying for the privilege as follows: 1st. $1,000 a year during the first six years, and $2,000 a year for each of the other ten. 2d. $6 for every 1,000 kilog. of pearl shells taken out in the first six years, and $8 per 1,000 kilog. the next ten years. Costa R., Gaceta, Nov. 7, 1885.
[XXXIII-37] Findlay, Directory, i. 236. J. Laferrière, De Paris à Guatémala; Notes de Voyages au Centre Amérique, Paris, 1877, fol. 448 pp., 4 sheets, and wood-cuts, is a narrative of a commercial traveller of three journeys to and through the five republics of Cent. Am., in 1866, 1870, and 1874-5, containing general information on their history and resources, agriculture, and other industries, and the character, manner, and customs of their inhabitants. Statistical tables, and numerous cuts of important towns and of natives are accompanied. The style is plain, clear, and concise, and the mode of treatment shows an intelligent observer. In an unpretentious manner the author gives much that is valuable on those countries.
[XXXIII-38] The information which has reached us for the years previous to 1817 is both meagre and contradictory. One authority has it that Spain undoubtedly received every year till 1809 a net revenue of a little over 50,000 pesos; another claims that a yearly allowance of 150,000 pesos came from the treasury of New Spain. Torrente, Revol. Hisp. Am., i. 23-5; Mex., Mem. Sec. Hac., 1875, 65. In 1812 the Sp. córtes abolished the tribute till then exacted from the Indians. Córtes, Diario, 1811-12, xi. 376.
[XXXIII-39] Including 157,681 pesos from excise, 3,872 pesos from gunpowder, and 256,975 from tobacco. During those five years the tobacco monopoly had sales amounting to 2,920,316 pesos, the expenses being 1,325,869 pesos, leaving a clear profit to the treasury of 1,594,447 pesos, or an average of 318,890 pesos a year. Dunn's Guat., 214.
[XXXIII-40] 'Habia desaparecido durante la esclavitud del imperio.' Marure, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., i. 140.
[XXXIII-41] The public debt amounted to $3,726,144, and the yearly expenses were nearly $900,000, to meet which the revenue was totally inadequate. The several states were in no better condition, inasmuch as the revenue from stamped paper, rum, excise, and other small sources, which had been assigned them, was not enough for their needs.
[XXXIII-42] A security for the payment of the interest and of the sinking fund to extinguish the principal, the revenue from tobacco and customs was hypothecated. Under the contract the interest was payable quarterly together with $50,000 for the sinking fund. It was calculated that the debt would be extinguished in twenty years, and that the interest would come to $482,571. El Indicador de Guat., Apr. 21, May 18, 1826; Guat., Mem. Min. Hac., 1830-1.
[XXXIII-43] A natural result of selling $100 bonds at $30, and paying $100 the next year. The govt was shamefully swindled by the few men who had a share in the transactions. Id., 1846, 51-6. On the other hand, the funds received from the loan were misapplied. Marure, Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am., 142-7.
[XXXIII-44] Direct imposts: Guatemala's sources of revenue were 3 per thousand on the assessed value of real estate, military, and road taxes. Several others existing as late as 1882, such as a tax on sugar-cane, were suppressed. Indirect duties on imports and exports, and port charges paid by ships. Stamped paper, slaughtering cattle, imposts on native flour, salt, inheritances, and endowments, and 5 per ct on sales and transfers of real estate. Monopoly of spirituous liquors, tobacco since 1879, gunpowder, and saltpetre. To these are to be added a number of other means of lesser import, but which in the aggregate yield considerably over $100,000.
[XXXIII-45] From the following sources, namely: direct taxation, $176,908; indirect ditto, $1,916,987; govt monopolies, $1,549,173; special revenue, $323,212; divers and extraordinary receipts, $88,577; contracts and divers negotiations, $2,569,418, being for temporary loans, etc. The total amount of revenue from customs included in the item of indirect taxation was $1,485,280, mostly collected at the general custom-house in Guatemala city; to which must be added $52,793 collected on the frontiers, $3,734 for export duties, and $1,530 for port charges. The revenue from imports in the four preceding years were: 1879, $1,501,729; 1880, $2,008,237; 1881, $211,765; and 1882, $1,679,047. The total revenue from all sources from 1852 to 1862 footed up $8,442,835; from 1863 to 1871, $8,547,529; 1871 yielded only $750,848; 1872-9, $19,571,233; 1880, $4,158,199; 1881, $4,423,964; 1882, $4,131,945. The net proceeds or actual revenue from the sale of spirituous liquors for 1878-83 was $6,178,095; from tobacco, 1879, for licenses, $8,656; 1880, two months, $32,232; 1881-3, $484,263. The total amount of municipal revenue throughout the republic was $485,622 in 1883, and $535,364 in 1884. Guat., Mem. Sec. Hac., 1873, 1880-4; Id., Fomento, 1885.
[XXXIII-46] The outlay in 1855 appears to have been $993,522, including $317,094 applied to payment of the public debt; 1864, $1,130,708; 1879, $4,526,263, as follows: Ordinary expenses, $2,728,457; public works, $27,837; advance to the railway company, $200,000; payment of warrants, reimbursement of temporary loans, etc., $1,569,969; 1881, $7,313,889, of which only $3,333,470 was for expenses; $163,241 was for purchase of tobacco, powder, and saltpetre; the balance to payment of debts; 1882, $6,503,422, of which $3,414,747 was for the actual expenses. Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 84-5; Camp's Year-Book, 1869, 1527; Guat., Mem. Sec. Hac., 1880-4.
[XXXIII-47] In order to be enabled to meet expenses, and payments of the internal debt, the rate of duties on imports was raised in 1873 and again in 1879. It also established an export duty of 12½ cents per quintal on coffee. In 1879, after consolidating the whole debt, 40 per cent of the customs revenue was reserved for its gradual payment.
[XXXIII-48] The interest and portion of the sinking fund were made payable twice a year; viz., April 1st and Oct. 1st. After several deductions, the amount actually received in Guat. was $1,351,069. One of the deductions was of £15,000 for retiring from the London market £20,000 five per cent bonds of the federal loan, purchased at 75 per cent. Samayoa, Apuntam., 1885, 29-37; U. S. Gov. Doc., H. Ex. Doc., Cong. 48, Sess. 1, pt 1, 72; Mex., Informe Sec. Hac., 1873, 24-5; Pan. Canal, Jan. 13, 1883; Id., Cronista, Feb. 21, 1883; Guat., Mem. Sec. Hac., 1880-4.
[XXXIII-49] According to the calculation of the secretary of the treasury, it had become increased on Apr. 1, 1880, to $3,404,967.
[XXXIII-50] Guat. Presupuesto Gen., 1886, 111-14.
[XXXIII-51] The chief sources are import duties and port charges, export duty on woods, tax on spirituous liquors, stamped paper, tobacco, and gunpowder monopoly, etc. Squier, Cent. Am., 271, estimated the revenue in 1856 at about $250,000; but Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 71-3, sets it down at $154,248, and deducting $37,713 for loans and other receipts not belonging to ordinary revenue, and $24,000 for two years' interest on the English debt, there remained $92,535 to meet an expenditure calculated at $116,898. The assembly voted for 1857, $134,253; 1858, $119,852; 1859, $132,912. In 1857 and 1858 $40,000 more had to be added, owing to political disturbances. Wappäus, Mex. und Cent. Am., 306. In 1867 the receipts seem to have been about $200,000, exceeding the expense some $17,000. Camp's Year-Book, 1869, 527. Those of 1869 are set down at about $560,000. Mex., Informe Sec. Hac., 1873, 88. For 1872 they were estimated at $400,000. Am. Cyclop., viii. 791. According to President Soto's message in 1883, the revenue in 1881 was $1,120,175, and in 1882, $1,298,878. Pan. Star and Herald, March 23, 1883; June 2, 1886.
[XXXIII-52] It is understood that President Bogran, in his efforts to diminish the expenditures, reduced in 1886 his own and other salaries. Id., June 2, 1886.
[XXXIII-53] Pres. Soto, in his message of 1883, says that the opinion prevailed in Europe that Honduras had been victimized; he believed that in truth and justice the republic cannot be held responsible for the enormous debt. Indeed, it is of a very questionable origin. It was contracted for the alleged purpose of constructing an interoceanic railway. There were four loans negotiated; namely, two in London, in 1867, for the nominal amount of £1,000,000, issued at 80 with 10 per cent interest; another in 1868 at Paris for the nominal sum of 62,252,700 francs, issued at 75 and 6 per cent interest, and the last in London in 1870, for £2,500,000, issued at 80 and 10 per cent interest. Am. Cyclop., viii. 791; Pan. Star and Herald, March 23, 1883; La Estrella de Pan., Jan. 10, 1884.
[XXXIII-54] The chief sources were customs, monopoly of spirituous liquors, tobacco, and gunpowder, stamped paper, etc. The receipts of 1848-56, including $175,419 for loans in 1856, were $3,408,068, averaging $359,183 a year; for 1866-9, $3,224,348, or $806,087 per year; for 1870-4, $4,930,238, or $1,232,560 yearly; for 1875-8, $7,880,316, or an average of $1,970,079. Expenditures: 1848-56, $3,251,802; 1867-8, $1,468,850; 1873-8, $9,269,113. Squier's Cent. Am., 307; Salv., Gaceta, Oct. 31, 1851; March 20, 1877; Id., Diario Ofic., March 24, 25, 1875; March 13, 14, 1878; Costa R., Boletin Ofic., March 14, 1855; Nic., Gaceta, March 23, 1867; Feb. 22, 1868; Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 76; Camp's Year-Book, 1869, 527; Pan. Star and Herald, Apr. 1, 1869; Aug. 29, 1874; May 10, 1875; Feb. 26, 1884; Sept. 29, 1886; Id., Cronista, Jan. 20, 1883; Jülfs, Die Seehäfen, 36; Mex., Informe Sec. Hac., 1873, 88; Salv., Mem. Min. Hac., 1875-9; Laferrière, De Paris à Guatém., 190-1.
[XXXIII-55] The greater portion was Salvador's share of the federal debt; which was augmented by several foreign claims aggregating about $100,000. No interest on the federal debt had been paid since 1848. Squier's Cent. Am., 308.
[XXXIII-56] I find that the republic paid up in 24 years, prior to 1875, $4,833,775 to cover both the federal debt and its own—an equivalent of about a million and a quarter every five years by a population of only 600,000 souls. Salv., Diario Ofic., Apr. 6, Aug. 4, Oct. 28, 1875; Oct. 17, 1878; Id., Gaceta Ofic., Feb. 15, 1878; Am. Cyclop., xiv. 610; Mex., Informe Sec. Hac., 1873, 25; Laferrière, De Paris à Guatém., 191; Salv., Mem. Min. Hac., 1875; Nic., Semanal Nic., Apr. 16, 1874; Pan. Star and Herald, Feb. 26, 1884.
[XXXIII-57] The chief sources of revenue are those of customs, slaughtering cattle, and sales of spirituous liquors, tobacco, gunpowder, and stamped paper. The total revenue of 1845 amounted to $74,911, a sum entirely inadequate to meet the most necessary expenses of the government. The import duty was 20 per cent ad valorem, to which was added 8 per cent. The only export duty was 1 to 3 per cent on gold, silver, and precious stones. A transit duty of 5 per cent was levied on goods passing through Nic. to the other states. Merchant vessels paid 50 cts per ton. The total revenue from customs in 1846 was $51,818; from internal taxation, $3,626; from rum, etc, $24,260. The revenue from tobacco was pledged to the Brit. govt, in order to ransom the port of San Juan del Norte. Other sources were insignificant. Receipts of 1851, $122,686; 1857-60, $1,327,637; 1861-70, $5,665,877. The tariff of imports was modified in Dec. 1868, and increased 10 per cent in Feb. 1870. Agricultural implements, materials for mining, and other articles, were exempted from import duty by a law of Nov. 2, 1869. The revenue from customs became flourishing, and yielded in 1883 $1,275,506, due to the law of Sept. 25, 1879, which raised the duties on several articles, and changed the mode of collecting from ad valorem to weight. It seems that most goods paid no more under the new system than formerly; but much fraud was averted. Imports generally paid 50 per cent ad val. The port of San Juan del Norte and the Mosquito reservation have a free zone, the merchants of San Juan paying a tax in lieu of import duties. Receipts of 1871, $958,922; 1873-80, $8,416,879; 1881-2, $3,351,767, an increase of $951,674 over the preceding two years. Belly, Nic., i. 311; Lévy, Nic., 353-8; Nic., Gaceta, March 6, 1863; March 18, Apr. 29, 1865; Jan. 20, 1866; March 21, 1868; Jan. 2, 23, 30, Nov. 6, 1869; May 27, 1871; Jan. 20, 1872; Id., Decretos, 1869-70, 123; Pan. Star and Herald, Feb. 1, 1883.
[XXXIII-58] Expenses of the supreme powers, $112,548; departments of the interior, $513,069; war, $389,466; treasury, $1,353,612; foreign relations, $762,457; sundries, $109,787. During this term was paid $57,586 outstanding from the preceding, the ordinary expenses of administration; for improvements, $563,918; and extraordinary expenses caused by disturbances. The expenditures in 1846 and 1851 were $106,145 and $173,646, respectively, in both cases creating deficits; in 1859-60, $652,515; 1861-70, $5,316,951; 1871-2, $1,721,355; 1873-4, $1,995,040. Those of the following years kept pace with the increased revenues; but large sums were appropriated to internal improvements, education, and other purposes conducive to the intellectual and material advancement of the republic. Nic., Mem. Sec. Hac., for years 1846 to 1883; and the Gacetas quoted in the preceding note.
[XXXIII-59] She had on the 15th of Sept., 1867, recognized £45,000 as her proportion. Nic., Gaceta, March 28, 1868.
[XXXIII-60] Presid. Cárdenas, Mensaje, Jan. 15, 1885, in Costa R., Gaceta Ofic., Feb. 4, 1885. For further information, see the biennial reports of the minister of the treasury; Lévy, Nic., 358-60; Am. Cyclop., xii. 424; Pan. Star and Herald, Feb. 1, 1883.
[XXXIII-61] From customs, $427,395, which was less than had been expected; liquor monopoly, $200,168; stamped paper and stamps, $63,033; paper money issued, $310,764; the balance from sundry sources. The receipts in specie were $1,046,967. The law of Dec. 10, 1839, first established the sources of revenue for the state govt as follows: Maritime and internal duties on merchandise; purchase and coinage of bullion; sales of public lands; monopoly in cultivation and sale of tobacco; sale of gunpowder, stamped paper, domestic and foreign liquors; postage, excise, confiscation of contraband goods, and fines. Montúfar, Reseña Hist., iii. 272, 570.
[XXXIII-62] A new tariff, to go into effect Jan. 1, 1886, was decreed, subjecting imported merchandise to specific duties, and considerably modifying the tariff of 1877. Gold and silver in bullion, bars, dust, or coin, as also fence wire, lightning rods, machinery for agriculture, material and tools for ship-building, ships, and animals were exempted from duty. Costa R., Gaceta, Sept. 12, 13, 1885; Id., Col. Ley., xxv. 15-47. The following figures show approximately the receipts of the government for about forty years past, to wit: 1845, $132,000—there is no published history of the finances of Costa R. prior to 1845; 1847-50, $1,006,207; 1851-60, $5,956,873; 1861-70, $8,518,636; 1871-82, $30,475,828, less amounts included, which were merely casual receipts, $4,545,277, leaving for actual revenue, $25,930,551. Molina, Bosq. Costa R., 45; Squier's Cent. Am., 470-1; Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 43; Encyclop. Brit. (Am. ed.), vi. 398; Costa R., Informe Sec. Hac., 1852-85.
[XXXIII-63] As near as I have been able to ascertain, the outlay of the Costa Rican treasury has been, for 1847-50, $986,245; 1851-60, $6,637,124; 1861-70, $9,682,265; 1871-82, $32,362,189. Id.; Pan. Star and Herald, Aug. 14, 1886.
[XXXIII-64] 'Se logró la total cancelacion de la deuda inglesa.' Costa R., Informe Min. Hac., etc., 1848, 16.
[XXXIII-65] The history of these loans, as furnished in the reports of the Costa Rican treasury department, is the following: In 1871, Costa Rica contracted with Bischoffsheim and Goldsmidt for a loan of the nominal amount of £1,000,000, at 72 with 6 per cent interest, and 2 per cent for a sinking fund; however, per agreement of May 5, 1871, the rate was reduced to 56, and only yielded £560,000. Bischoffsheim and Goldsmidt retained £105,000, which reduced the proceeds to £455,000, and this sum was further diminished £42,000, leaving only £413,000, or somewhat less than 42 per cent. A new loan was negotiated in 1872, with Knowles and Foster of London, which appeared as for £2,400,000, but did not exceed £2,226,500, the difference not having been taken up. The negotiation was at 82, with interest at 7 per cent, and 1 per cent for a sinking fund. This loan actually yielded to Costa Rica £598,611 18s. 5d., which is explained thus: Knowles and Foster paid over to E. Erlanger and Co. of London in money £1,576,240 9s. 1d., the difference between this sum and that taken up being £650,259. Erlanger and Co. were the syndics of the loan under the 8th clause of the contract with Knowles and Foster, and had bound themselves to take up £800,000 of it. Under the 3d and 4th clauses, they were empowered to repurchase bonds for account of Costa Rica, though subject to the following conditions: 1st. That the repurchasing should be indispensable to secure the success of the loan; 2d. It was not to be done with the £800,000 Erlanger and Co. were bound for; and 3d. The operations were not to be effected but within 30 days of the issue. This condition was violated. Erlanger and Co. claimed to have repurchased with the money received by them bonds of both the 6 per cent and 7 per cent loans to the value of £1,426,500. The result of this transaction was that the loan, save the £800,000 taken up by Erlanger and Co., was exhausted; and yet it was said, in and out of Costa Rica, that her government had received $17,000,000. Encyclop. Brit. (Am. ed.), vi. 398. The whole yield of both loans was but £1,011,611 18s. 5d., or $5,058,060. Besides the £105,000 retained by Bischoffsheim and Goldsmidt, under the pretext of securing the interest of the 6 per cent loan, the government remitted for interest and sinking fund £135,000, which were taken from the very funds received, and reduced them to £876,611 18s. 5d. Moreover, under an agreement with Erlanger and Co., the government of Costa Rica was authorized to draw on them for £150,000. Its drafts were allowed to go to protest, and the amounts drawn for had to be replaced. The government felt that it had been victimized, and in order to protect the country's good name, after consultation with legal lights of London, established suits at law against the parties. The suit has cost a great deal of money; early in 1877 $373,380 had been paid for expense. Costa R., Mem. Sec. Hac., 1874-7. Should the decisions of the British courts be against Costa Rica, her financial situation should not be deemed very alarming, as is made apparent. The 7 per cent loan, reduced to Costa Rican money at 9 per cent, £2,226,500, nominal $12,134,425.
| Bonds repurchased, £1,026,500 | $5,594,425 |
| Received from Erlanger and Co., and appearing among the liabilities, £598,611 18s. 5d. | 3,262,435 |
| Amount not appearing among the liabilities, £601,388 1s. 7d. | 3,277,565 |
| $12,134,425 |
Accepting the responsibility for the whole 7 per cent loan, it would amount to $12,134,425, deducting $3,262,435, and $5,594,425 for repurchased bonds, the total sum not included in the liability in 1876 would be reduced to $3,277,565, to which must be added $13,517, balance of the 6 per cent loan, making $3,291,082. Advantageous offers were received from Europe to extinguish the debt, which, if accepted, would reduce the nominal indebtedness of $11,990,000 to $2,398,000. This loan was negotiated for funds to build a railway. The road has cost $12,239,296, and its three sections are valued in 1883 at $6,600,000. Id., 1872-5, 1883, annexes 7 and 8.
[XXXIII-66] Pan. Star and Herald, March 29, 1884; Costa R., Gaceta, Sept. 4, 1885. Half a million dollars was voted by congress in July 1886 to the extinction of the internal debt. Id., Aug. 14, 1886.
[XXXIII-67] From customs, $145,000; rum, $24,000; loans, $42,500; received from Spain, $10,000; voluntary and forced contributions, $150,000; judicial deposits, $101,000; papal dispensation bulls, $27,000—were among the items. Lloyd's Notes Isth. Pan., in Roy. Geog. Soc., Jour., i. 99.
[XXXIII-68] Including $4,527, balance from the preceding year; $86,820 of loans; $70,000 from customs; $15,820, duties on tobacco. Id., 98.
[XXXIII-69] The general government decreed in 1849 the suppression of tithes; requiring of the several provinces of the Isthmus to make up the amount which the suppressed tax yielded the previous year. The aggregate was to be applied to cover national expenses. Pinart, Pan. Col. Doc., MS., no. 86, p. 14; Pan., Crónica Ofic., Oct. 23, 1849.
[XXXIII-70] The commercial tax was not to be more than double that assessed in 1885. The general govt on the 1st of April, 1885, established a salt monopoly, and in the same year decreed the reëstablishment of custom-houses at the Isthmus ports. This decree was subsequently suspended. La Estrella de Pan., May 16, 1885; Pan. Star and Herald, Nov. 2, 4, Dec. 30, 1885. The budgets for the ten years from 1867 to 1876 amounted together to $3,018,391, and the appropriations voted for the same year were $3,335,084. The absence of regular accounts for the period 1867-75 renders it impossible to find out what were the actual receipts and expenditures. The revenue from Jan. 1, 1876, to June 30, 1877, was $339,526, and the expenses reached $356,483, though only $274,298 were paid. The revenue collected from July 1, 1877, to June 30, 1878, $218,095; the assembly voted for expenses of that fiscal year $382,841, but the government seems to have paid out only $226,278. For 1880-1 the legislature computed the revenue at $300,628. It had the preceding year authorized the executive to increase the commercial tax 25 per cent. The expenditures for the year were estimated at $316,077. Pan., Mem. Sec. Jen., 1878, 43-6, 48; 1879, 3, 32-3; Id., Leyes, 1879-80, 8, 9, 64-78.
[XXXIII-71] $81,375 of it bore interest at 6 per cent. Pan., Mem. Sec. Hac., 1879, 37. Dec. 19, 1879, the legislature authorized the executive to borrow $50,000 at 12 per cent. For further information, see Pan., Gaceta, Nov. 17, 1870, to Sept. 1, 1881, passim.
[XXXIV-1] See summary of geographical knowledge and discovery from the earliest records to the year 1540. Hist. Cent. Am., i. 68-154, this series.
[XXXIV-2] They thus argued from the first: Quintus Metellus Celer, proconsul of Rome in Gaul, was presented by the king of Suevia with a number of red men, who had been thrown upon his coast. So said Cornelius Nepos, and Pliny repeated it. Now these savages, having no knowledge of ships or navigation, could not have come from America; they were not black, and consequently were not from Africa. There were no people in Europe like them; so they must have come from Asia. But how? Either from the east or from the west; they could not have rounded the eastern hemisphere either by its northern or southern side, for obvious reasons; therefore they must have come from the north-west, and hence there must be a way from Asia north-eastward to Europe, running round the north pole. Upon this logic were staked thousands of lives and millions of money. Dominicus Marius Niger, the geographer, speaks of men who were driven from India through the north sea to Germany, while on a trading expedition. As late as 1160, some strange persons arrived on the coast of Germany. Humboldt thought they might have been Eskimos. Othon, in his Storie of the Gothes, speaks of such arrivals, arguing that they must have drifted in through a north-west passage. Gilbert's Discourse, in Hakluyt, iii. 16-17. Again, Hakluyt finds it recorded that some 200 years before the coming of Christ, the Romans sent a fleet against the Grand Khan, which, crossing the strait of Gibraltar, and steering toward the N. W., in lat 50° found a channel, in which it sailed to the westward until it reached Asia, and after fighting the king of Cathay, returned by the way it went.
[XXXIV-3] Hist. Cal., i. 1-109; Hist. Northwest Coast, i. 1-342; Hist. North Mexican States and Texas, i. 1-201; Hist. Oregon, i. I will add, in this connection, that Juan de Ayola, with 200 Spaniards, in 1535 crossed from the Paraguay River to Peru. Irola, twelve years later, ascended the Paraguay River to 17° S., crossed the mountains to the Guapay River, and succeeded in establishing communications between Peru and her dependency, La Plata. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclop., ii. 90.
[XXXIV-4] They fitted out two vessels, Le Maire advancing most of the money, and going on the voyage as supercargo, Van Schouten as commander. They doubled the cape with one remaining ship in Jan. 1616. The Spaniards afterward completed the exploration, and their forts in Magellan Sound became useless. The straits of Magellan have been, however, used in late years as the transit of an English steamship line.
[XXXIV-5] Previously several attempts had been made. Kotzebue, of the Russian navy, went in 1815 to Bering Strait, and the next year discovered the sound bearing his name. Golovnin made a voyage also, but accomplished nothing. The English made a number of efforts, which, if unsuccessful in not attaining the main object, added much to geographic knowledge. Herewith I give the expeditions fitted out in England, or under English auspices. In 1818 two ships, the Dorothea and Trent, under Buchan and Franklin, went to the Spitzbergen waters, but could not advance far. Two other ships, the Isabella and Alexander, under John Ross and W. E. Parry, were ordered to Davis Strait and verified Baffin's exploration of Baffin Bay. Ross entered Lancaster Sound, and reached 81° 30' W. by 74° 3' N. Parry made three other voyages, in 1819, 1821, and 1824, in the last of which one of his ships, the Fury, was wrecked in seeking a passage through Regent Inlet. In 1827 he attempted the polar voyage in sled-boats from Spitzbergen, reaching 82° 40' 30", the farthest point hitherto attained. Capt. John Franklin tried to find the passage overland from York Factory on the west coast of Hudson Bay. He wintered at Fort Chepeweyan in 1819, and in the Enterprise in 1820. In July 1821 he navigated the Arctic sea, east of Coppermine River, a considerable distance, hoping from the trend of the coast to reach Hudson Bay. Want of provisions compelled the abandonment of the expedition, and after severe hardships, and journeying 5,500 miles, reached Great Slave Lake in Dec. 1821. Lyon in 1824 attained Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome. Franklin renewed his land survey of the Arctic coasts, 1825-7. He wintered in 1825 on Great Bear Lake, descended the Mackenzie, and surveyed the coast line westward to Return Reef in 70° 26' N., and 148° 52' W. Meanwhile Richardson and Kendall of his party made a voyage from Mackenzie to Coppermine River, doubling several capes, and completing the survey of the coast through 60 degrees of longitude. Beechey in 1826 in the Blossom explored the coast from Kotzebue Sound to Icy Bay. One of his parties reached Cape Barrow. He waited for Franklin till Oct. 1827, and returned home via Cape Horn. Ross in 1829 tried to find a passage through Regent Inlet, but had to abandon his ship in Victoria Harbor, near 70°. P. W. Dease and T. Simpson in 1837-9 made important explorations between Point Barrow and Mackenzie River; the portion on the east side between Point Turnagain and the estuary of the Back's Great Fish River; and also the south sides of Victoria Land and King William Land. John Rae of the Hudson's Bay Company surveyed a part of the Arctic coast east. In 1845 he surveyed Regent Inlet east and west, found an isthmus between Regent Inlet and the sea explored by Dease and Simpson. Franklin and Crozier were despatched in May 1845 with two stout ships, the Erebus and Terror, well supplied for three years. The expedition sent letters from Whalefish Island, near Disco, and was last seen on July 26th waiting to cross the 'middle ice' on to Lancaster Sound, 220 miles distant. The orders were to proceed to about 74¼° N. lat. and 98° W. long.; thence take a S. and W. course for Bering's Strait, the passage west from Melville Island being precluded. A number of expeditions were despatched in search of Franklin; namely, one under John Richardson and Rae, 1847-9; ships Enterprise and Investigator under Ross and Bird, 1848-9; Herald and Plover under Kellet and Moore, 1848-52; North Star, commanded by Saunders, 1849-50; the Investigator and Enterprise, in 1850, under McClure and Collinson; whaler Advice, under Goodsir; a squadron commanded by Austin, consisting of the Resolute and the Assistance. Capt. Ommaney with two steam tenders under lieuts Osborn and McClintock; several ships sent by Franklin's wife; Rae in 1851; expedition under Edward Belcher, 1852-4; ships Amphitrite and Plover, 1852-5; McCormick in 1852; Rae in 1853-4; Anderson in 1855; and several others, among which deserve mention the American expeditions under lieut De Haven and S. P. Griffin, E. K. Kane, Hayes, Hall, and Schwatka; most of whom made important geographical discoveries and found relics of Franklin's party. It was ascertained beyond a doubt that Franklin sailed up Wellington Channel to 77°, descended by the west side of Cornwallis Island, and wintered 1845-6 at Beechey Island. The wintering positions of the ships were in 1846-7-8 off the north end of King William's Island. Franklin died June 11, 1847, and the ships were abandoned near the above spot Apr. 22, 1848, Capt. Crozier intending to lead the 105 survivors to Great Fish River. Only 40 men reached the vicinity of this river, and all died, according to Eskimo accounts. On this journey Lancaster Strait was connected with the navigable channel along the continent, and the existence of the north-west passage proved. Richardson's Polar Regions, 136-7, 146-9, 151-202; Lardner's Cabinet Cyclop., iii. 176-7, 198-247; Tytler's Hist. View, 133-4, 283-92; Franklin's Narr., i. ii.; Quarterly Rev., xviii. 219; Am. Jour., xvi. 130-2; Encyclop. Brit., xi. 347; xviii. 329-30; xix. 331-2, 335-8; Dictionnaire de la Conversation, xii. 2; xiii. 608-10.
[XXXIV-6] Sent by Capt. Pellet on Barrow Strait, and was guided by a message left by McClure at Winter Harbor on Melville Island.
[XXXIV-7] Nordenskiöld, a Swedish professor and experienced navigator, with the steamer Vega, commanded by Lieut Palander, on the 19th of August, 1878, reached Cape Severo or Tchelyusken, the most northern point of Siberia and of the Old World in 77° 41' N., and steered a south-easterly course, the sea free from ice and quite shallow. Aug. 27th the mouth of the Lena River was passed, the Vega parting company with her tender, the Lena, and continuing her course eastward; she almost accomplished the passage that first season; but toward the end of Sept. the Vega was frozen in off the shore of a low plain in 67° 7' N. and 173° 20' W. near the settlement of the Chugaches. After an imprisonment of 294 days, the Vega on the 18th of July, 1879, continued her voyage, and on the 20th passed Bering Strait. Nordenskiöld, without loss of life or damage to his ship, arrived at Yokohama Sept. 2, 1879. Encyclop. Brit. (Am. ed.), xix. 337.
[XXXIV-8] For canal: I. Tehuantepec, connecting the rivers Coatzacoalcos and Chimilapa. II. Honduras. III. River San Juan de Nicaragua: 3. River San Cárlos, Gulf of Nicoya. Nicaragua Lake: 4. Rivers Niño and Tempisque, Gulf of Nicoya; 5. River Sapoa, Bay of Salinas; 6. San Juan del Sur; 7. Port Brito. Managua Lake: 8. River Tamarindo; 9. Port Realejo; 10. Bay of Fonseca. IV. Panamá: River Chagres: 11. Gorgona, Panamá; 12. Trinidad, Caimito; 13. Navy Bay, Rivers Chagres, Bonito and Bernardo; 14. Gulf of San Blas, and River Chepo. V. Darien: 15. Bay of Caledonia, Port Escocés, Gulf of San Miguel; 16. Rivers Arguia, Paya, and Tuyra, Gulf of San Miguel. River Atrato: 17. River Napipi, Bay of Cupica; 18. River Uruando, Kelley's Inlet. Overland. 1st. Coatzacoalcos, Tehuantepec; 2d. Bay of Honduras to Bay of Fonseca; 3d. River San Juan, Nicaragua, Managua, Bay of Fonseca; 4th. Port Limon to Caldera, Costa Rica; 5th. Laguna de Chiriquí on Golfo Dulce; 6th. Colon, Gorgona, and Panamá; 7th. Gorgon Bay, Realejo; 8th. Gorgon Bay and San Juan del Sur. Nouv. Annales des Voy., cliii. 9-10; Davis' Rept, 20.
[XXXIV-9] A survey made in 1715 was sent to the secret archives of Madrid, where other like documents lie hidden. In 1774 the Spanish officers Corral and Cramer, after inspecting the route reported that a canal of about eight leagues might join the Chimalapa and Malpaso rivers, and establish a communication between the two streams. The Spanish general Orbegoso in 1821 explored this isthmus, and formed a map, which was not published till 1839. In 1825 he showed that it was not easy to carry a through-canal across Tehuantepec. In 1842-3 a survey was made under the auspices of José de Garay by C. Moro and others, to determine the practicability of a ship canal by way of the Coatzacoalcos to the gulf of Tehuantepec. The objections to the route were shown to be the expense of cutting, the uncertainty of water upon the summit level, and inadequate ports at the termini. Garay, however, announced as practicable a canal of the same size as the Caledonia, in Scotland, and was put in possession of lands, etc.; but nothing came of the transaction but diplomatic complications resulting from Garay's transfer of his grant to a foreign company. Finally, the Mexican congress in 1851 declared the grant forfeited. Nouv. Annales des Voy., ci., iii., 8-9; Duflot de Mofras, Explor. de l'Oregon, 119; Reichardt, Cent. Am., 183-4, 188-9; Córtes, Diario, 1813, xix. 392; Robles, Prov. Chiapa, 70; Chevalier, Pan., 61-2; Mex. Col. Dec. y Ord., 115; Id., Col. Ley., Ord. y Dec., iii. 113-14; Bustamante, Med. Pacific, MS., ii., supplem. 15; Mex. Mem. Sec. Rel., 47-8; Rivera, Gobern. Mex., ii. 116; Id., Hist. Jalapa, ii. 362; iv. 211, 225, 236; Dublan and Lozano, Legisl. Mej., i. 738-9; Instituto Nac. de Geog., Bol. No. 1, 30-43, with map and profile; Ward's Mex., i. 311; Liot's Pan., Nic. and Tehuan., 6-12; Ramirez, Mem., 1-108; Garay, Privilegio, 1-28; Id., Survey Isth. Tehuan., 3-188; Manero, Notic. Hist., 51-6; Id., Apunt. Hist., 12-13; Mex. Mem. Sec. Guerra, 1852, 19-22; Id., Mem. Instruc. de los derechos, etc., in Mexican Financier, no. 1, 1-39. In 1850-1 an American commission headed by Maj. Barnard, U. S. Engineers, surveyed the route, who reported it to possess but little 'merits as a practicable line for the construction of a ship canal.' Davis' Report, 5-6. In 1869 officers of the U. S. surveyed the route, and made a favorable report. In 1870 Capt. R. W. Shuffeldt, of the U. S. navy, made another survey, which confirmed the conclusions of the former, to the effect that no extraordinary engineering difficulties existed, as sufficient water could be had from rivers in the Sierra Madre to supply the canal. The route begins about 30 miles above the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos, and after traversing a long distance, rises to a level of about 680 ft, then descends to the lagoon on the Pacific, a total distance of 120 miles. The distance from New Orleans to Hongkong would be 8,245 miles less than by Cape Horn, and 1,588 less than by way of Panamá. Am. Cyclop., iii. 690; Manero, Apunt. Hist., 13-15.
[XXXIV-10] By resolution of the Mexican congress, the contract of the American company was declared void in Oct. 1882, and soon after the govt made an arrangement to have the road built on its own account. Id., Artículos, Soc. Arquit., 7-10; S. F. Call, Oct. 5, 1882; Mex., Diario Ofic., Oct. 10, 17, 18, 20, 1882.
[XXXIV-11] Mex., Diario Debates, 10th Cong., i. 273-1930, passim.; Id., El Noticioso, Nov. 29, 1880; Id., Col. Ley., xxxvi. 320-4; Id., Diario Ofic., June 2, 1881; Aug. 10, 23, 1882; Mex'n Financier, Dec. 13, 20, 27, 1884; Jan. 10, 24, 1885.
[XXXIV-12] The Mexican govt guaranteed in 1885 one and a quarter million dollars per annum for 15 years. Pan. Star and Herald, Jan. 16, 1886.
[XXXIV-13] Gov. Pedrarias Dávila had the outlet of lakes Nicaragua and Managua discovered. His officers Este and Rojas favored the plan of a canal round the falls of the San Juan, and another on the Pacific slope. The project occupied the court and colony for many years. Herrera, iv., iii., ii.; Cent. Am., Extractos Sueltos, in Squier's MS., xxii. 108; Fröbel, Aus. Am., i. 144, 241. The plan not only engaged the Spaniards but the French and English, the latter contemplating the conquest of the country. The royal engineer Manuel Galisteo in 1781, the system of locks being little known then, declared the connection of the lake with the Pacific to be impracticable. In 1791 La Bastide proposed widening the river Sapoa between the lake and Papagayo Gulf, and cutting a canal between that river and the gulf of Nicoya; but the French revolution caused the matter to be forgotten. In 1814 the Spanish córtes decreed the survey and construction, but subsequent political events made that decree inoperative. Saravia, Bosq. Polít. Est., 13-17; Viajero, Univ., xxvii. 180-4; Bastide, Mém. Sur. Nouv. Passage, 1-70; Humboldt, Essai Polít., i. 1-17; Bourgoane's Trav., in Pinkerton's Coll., ii. 498-9; Reichardt, Cent. Am., 169-70; Duflot de Mofras, Explor. de l'Oregon, i. 137; Squier's Nic., 658.
[XXXIV-14] Herewith I give a synopsis of what occurred. In 1823 a franchise was given to John Baily for a house in London, who did nothing, and the privilege was granted to parties in New York, who also failed to carry out the stipulations. Numerous proposals came between 1825 and 1829, which were successively accepted, but neither of them had effect. In 1829 a franchise was decreed to the king of Holland, and there was some prospect of a canal being constructed; but the war which detached Belgium from Holland broke out, and the king abandoned the project. President Morazan then contemplated doing the work on Central American account, and the survey was begun in 1837, interrupted by Morazan's fall, but continued in 1838 for account of Nicaragua. This same year Edward Belcher, of the Brit. navy, suggested the possibility of an artificial communication between Lake Managua and the bay of Fonseca. Baily's explorations along the line from Rio Lajas to San Juan del Sur were terminated in 1843, and their publication furnished exact data on the canal. Meanwhile, P. Rouhand (1839), Viteri (1840), Castellon and Jerez (1842), had unsuccessfully tried to raise funds for the work in Europe. The king of France in 1844 refused his coöperation. In 1846 Louis Napoleon became warmly interested for a time. Great Britain in 1847 seized San Juan del Norte on the north, and Tiger Island on the south. Louis Napoleon turned his thoughts to other subjects. Örsted studied, in 1847-8, for the Costa Rican govt, a canal project which differed from Baily's in choosing a low line south of San Juan del Sur along the Sapoa River into Salinas Bay. Nicaragua in 1848 entered into a contract to build the canal with a house in New York, which, however, surrendered it. Baily's Cent. Am., 127-50; Annales des Voy., cliii. 14-17; clvii. 16-17; Nouv. Annales des Voy., xxviii. (1825), 370-82; xxxii. (1826), 369-74; Squier's Trav., ii. 251-80, 405-20; Id., Nic., 658; Liot's Pan. Nic. and Tehuan., 13-16; Niles' Reg., xxx. 447; xxxi. 2, 72-3; lxiv. 130-1; lxv. 57-61; lxvii. 148; Salv., Diario Ofic., Dec. 16, 1879; Reichardt, Cent. Am., 171-3; Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., xiv. 127-9; xx. 172; Scherzer, Cent. Am., 241; Belly, Nic., i. 84-7, 137; Id., Carte d'études, 35-45; Strain's Int. Comm., 7-8; Garella, Projet, 182-8; Sampson's Cent. Am., 7-18; Marure, Mem. Hist., 1-47; Bülow, Nic., 44-57; U. S. Comm. Rept, 145, p. 230-65; U. S. Gov. Doc., Sen. Miscel., Cong. 30, Sess. 1, no. 80, 69-75; Id., H. Ex. Doc., Cong. 31, Sess. 1, no. 75, 50-326, passim.