:/i!3ROn LIBRARY 
 
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 Published Monthly. Volume 132. Number 2. 
 
 SIXTY-SIXTH YEAK. 
 
 NOV5 1935 
 
 * THE 
 
 NORTH AMERICAN 
 REVIEW. 
 
 EDITED BY ALLEN THOENDIKE EICE. 
 
 February, 1881. 
 
 I. The Nicaragua Canal General U. S. GRANT. 
 
 II. The Pulpit and the Pew OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 
 
 III. Aaron's Rod in Politics Judge ALBION W. TOURGEE. 
 
 IV. Did Shakespeare Write Bacon's Works ? . .JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE. 
 V. Partisanship in the Supreme Court Senator JOHN T. MORGAN. 
 
 VI. The Ruins of Central America. Part VI DESIRE CHARNAY. 
 
 VII. The Poetry of the Future WALT WHITMAN. 
 
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 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 
 
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THE 
 
 NORTH AMERICAN 
 
 REYIEW. 
 
 FEBEUABT, 1881. 
 
 No. 291. 
 
 Tros Tyriusque mi hi nullo discrimine agetur. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 
 
 1881. 
 
COPYHIQHT BY 
 ALLEN THORNDIKE RICE. 
 
 1881. 
 
 *M of Prmek Hart * Co. Nnr York. 
 
NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. 
 
 FEBRUARY, 1881. 
 
 ART. PAGE 
 
 I. THE NICARAGUA CANAL. By General U. S. GRANT. 107 
 
 II. THE PULPIT AND THE PEW. By OLIVER WENDELL 
 
 HOLMES 117 
 
 III. AARON'S ROD IN POLITICS. By Judge ALBION W. 
 
 TOURGEE. 139 
 
 IV. DID SHAKESPEARE WRITE BACON'S WORKS? By 
 
 Rev. JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE, D. D. . . . 163 
 
 V. PARTISANSHIP IN THE SUPREME COURT. By JOHN T. 
 
 MORGAN, United States Senator. ' . . . 176 
 
 VI. THE RUINS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. Part VI. By 
 
 DESIRE CHARNAY 187 
 
 THE POETRY OF THE FUTURE. By WALT WHITMAN. 195 
 
THE Editor disclaims responsibility for the opinions 
 of contributors, whether their articles are signed or 
 anonymous. 
 
Bancroft [ -Jjrary 
 
 NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. 
 
 No. CCXCI. 
 
 FEBRUARY, 1881. 
 
 THE NICARAGUA CAML 
 
 THE construction of a ship-canal across the isthmus which 
 connects North and South America has attracted the attention 
 of governments, engineers, and capitalists, in this country and in 
 Europe, for considerably more than half a century. The allusions 
 to the possibility and importance of such a work made by trav- 
 elers and scientists, almost from the time when America was 
 discovered down to the day when practical investigations were 
 commenced by the government of the United States, had left a 
 deep impression on the public mind ; and the rapid growth of 
 the American Republic in population and wealth, the increasing 
 commerce between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the long, 
 tedious, and dangerous passage from shore to shore around Cape 
 Horn, all tended to strengthen this impression, and to establish 
 the conviction that the interest of the American people in the 
 commerce of the world required a water communication, from sea 
 to sea, across the Isthmus of Darien. It is now more than fifty 
 years since this project first received serious consideration on this 
 continent. Under the administration of Mr. Adams, in 1825, 
 correspondence and negotiations commenced, which have con- 
 tinued up to the present time. Turning from one government to 
 another for aid in carrying out the scheme, the people of Central 
 America soon arrived at the conclusion that they must look to 
 the United States for the completion of the work, and that to 
 them especially, on account of location and institutions, belonged 
 VOL. cxxxn. NO. 291. 8 
 
108 THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. 
 
 the right to unite with that state through whose territory the 
 canal might run, in its construction and control In 1830, in 
 1831, in 1835, in 1837, in 1839, in 1844, in 1846, in 1849, in 1858, 
 plans were proposed to the governments of the United States, 
 England, and France for the commencement of the work, until 
 the breaking out of the civil war in this country presented a more 
 important topic ior consideration, and overshadowed all ques- 
 tions relating solely to industrial development and international 
 commerce, and ended in results which have given new and 
 vast interest and importance to every enterprise which can add 
 power to the republic and advance the prosperity of its people. 
 Stepping at once into the front rank among the powerful nations 
 of the earth, the United States has entered, as it were sponta- 
 neously, upon a career of development almost unparalleled in the 
 history of the world. By the growth of States along the Pacific 
 coast, by the erection of trans-continental lines of railway, by the 
 occupation of new lands, by the opening of new mines, by increas- 
 ing mechanical and manufacturing enterprises, by the introduc- 
 tion of her products on an amazing scale into the commerce of 
 the world, by her devotion to a system of finance which requires 
 incessant industry among all classes of the people, and the 
 cheapest possible means of intercourse and transportation, the 
 United States has given new and deeper importance to every 
 method by which industry can be advanced and commerce can be 
 promoted. It is during this short period that the value of even 
 the most expensive highways has been proved, that mountain 
 ranges have been penetrated by costly tunnels, and distant seas 
 have been connected by costly canals, and it has been demon- 
 strated that the most extravagant investments in works of this 
 description are remunerative under the vast commercial ebb and 
 flow which characterizes the present age. Of the necessity for, 
 and advantage of, intercommunication of every description, there- 
 fore, there seems to be no longer a doubt ; and it is with this 
 conviction that the United States government is called on to con- 
 sider now once more the value and importance of an interoceanic 
 canal on this continent. 
 
 Of the advantages of this canal to our industry and com- 
 merce it becomes us, therefore, first to speak. In this connec- 
 tion it should not be forgotten that the states of North and 
 South America lying along the Pacific furnish in large abun- 
 those commodities which are constantly supplied with 
 
THE NICARAGUA CANAL. 109 
 
 markets in almost every country of Europe. Of guano and 
 niter the trade is immense. From the ports of Chili nearly 
 400,000 tons of freight are shipped eastward annually. More 
 than 1,000,000 tons of grain are shipped each year from the 
 Pacific States and Territories. There is no doubt that more than 
 4,000,000 tons of merchandise find their way from these regions 
 to the East, and require water communication in order that they 
 may be shipped economically and profitably ; and this is mer- 
 chandise to which railway transportation across the continent is 
 wholly inapplicable. The great wheat crops of California and 
 Oregon, for instance, find their way to Liverpool around Cape 
 Horn at the freight-rate of fifty cents per bushel a rate which 
 would not carry it by rail half-way to Boston or New York or 
 Philadelphia, to be there shipped to its European destination. In 
 addition to the commerce of the North and South American 
 ports referred to, there may be estimated also the advantages 
 which would accrue to the trade of Australia and the remote East 
 Indies bound to Great Britain, and which would undoubtedly 
 add 1,000,000 tons to the freight seeking a passage through the 
 canal. When we consider the time and distance saved by the 
 canal for this vast amount of merchandise by avoiding the pas- 
 sage around Cape Horn, and the importance in these days of 
 rapid transit, and of a ready approach to a destined market, we 
 can readily understand the value of the enterprise to producer 
 and shipper and consumer alike. Leaving out of consideration 
 the dangers and delays of the Cape, we should not forget that by 
 the canal now proposed the distance from New York to Hong 
 Kong is shortened 5,870 miles ; from New York to Yokohama, 
 6,800 miles; from New York to San Francisco, 8,600 miles; from 
 New York to Honolulu, 6,980 miles; from Liverpool to San Fran- 
 cisco, 6,065 miles; and from Liverpool to Callao, 4,374 miles; and 
 we need no longer question the value of an interoceanic canal 
 on the Western continent, as we have long since abandoned all 
 doubt of the value of the Suez Canal to the commerce of the 
 nations of the East. To Europeans the benefits and advantages 
 of the proposed canal are great; to the Americans they are 
 incalculable. Forming, as a canal properly organized and con- 
 structed would, a part of the coast-line of the United States, it 
 would increase our commercial facilities beyond calculation. 
 Interfering in no way with the interests of those lines of railway 
 which connect the Atlantic States with the Pacific, but tending 
 
110 THE NOETH AMEEICAN REVIEW. 
 
 rather to stimulate and increase the activity out of which their 
 traffic grows, it would cheapen all staple transportation and add 
 vastly to the ease and economy of emigration from the East to 
 the farms and mines of the Pacific slope. That a canal will be 
 of great benefit to the commerce of the United States, also, there 
 can be no doubt. Meeting as we do a formidable competition in 
 the carrying-trade to foreign ports, we find in our coastwise nav- 
 igation an opportunity for a profitable use of American bottoms, 
 protected by our own commercial laws. A continuous coast-line, 
 including our eastern and western shores, therefore promises an 
 increase of this navigation sufficient of itself to make a canal a 
 matter of the utmost importance to our people. 
 
 In view of these advantages, the question naturally arises 
 with regard to the most feasible route for the canal, both as 
 regards economy of construction and convenience in use. On 
 this point it would hardly seem as if there were room for contro- 
 versy. The difficulties which surround the Panama scheme have 
 been so frequently and so forcibly set forth, that they need not 
 be elaborately repeated here. The floods of this region, caused 
 by sudden and immense rain-fall, have attracted the attention of 
 the most careless traveler, and have perplexed and confounded 
 the scientific engineer in his attempts to provide some method 
 by which to overcome the difficulties which they create. The 
 impassable and unhealthy swamps lying along this route have 
 always been considered unfit for a water-course, and so destruc- 
 Hve to human life that labor and death seemed to have joined 
 . vnds there. The necessity for long and expensive tunnels or 
 open cuts, and for a safe viaduct, has added vastly to the expense 
 of the route when estimated, and to the obstacles to be overcome 
 by engineering. The most careful surveys have always devel- 
 oped a discouraging want of material for construction. The 
 addition of five hundred miles to the distance between New York 
 and the ports on the west coast of the United States by the 
 Panama route over that of any other feasible route proposed, and 
 the long and tedious calms which prevail in Panama Bay, have 
 never failed to create opposition to this route in the mind of the 
 navigator. The enormous cost of the Panama Canal, moreover, 
 has never been denied. Considering the engineering difficulties 
 attending the diversion of the Chagres River, and the necessary 
 construction of an artificial lake to hold its floods, together with 
 the tunneling, or open cuts, to which allusion has already been 
 
THE NICARAGUA CANAL. Ill 
 
 made, the cost of this canal cannot be less than $400,000,000, and 
 would probably be much more including the payment to the 
 Panama Railroad for its concession. No American capitalist 
 would be likely to look for dividends on an investment like this. 
 Turning from the Panama route, therefore, as one which, 
 when practically considered, has but little to recommend it, either 
 as a commercial convenience or a financial success, we are brought 
 to the consideration of the Nicaragua route, as that to which the 
 attention of the American public is most strongly drawn at this 
 time. The advantages of this route are : the ease and economy 
 with which the canal can be constructed; the admirable 
 approaches to it from the sea, both east and west 5 ' the distance 
 saved between Liverpool and the North American ports over that 
 of the Panama route ; and the distance saved, also, between New 
 York and other Atlantic cities and the ports of the United States 
 on the Pacific. The cost of the Nicaragua Canal has never been 
 estimated above $100,000,000 ; indeed, Civil Engineer Menocal, 
 whose judgment and capacity have never been questioned, gives 
 the following as his estimate of the entire cost of the work, after 
 long and critical examination : 
 
 Western Division from Port Brito to the Lake. Distance, 
 
 16.33 miles ; estimated cost $21,680,777.00 
 
 Middle Division Lake Nicaragua. Distance, 56.50 miles ; 
 
 estimated cost 715,658.00 
 
 Eastern Division from Lake to Greytown. Distance, 
 
 108.43 miles ; estimated cost 25,020,914.00 
 
 Construction of Greytown Harbor 2,822,630.00 
 
 " Brito " 2,337,739.00 
 
 Total. Distance, 181.26 miles; cost $52,577,718.00 
 
 A subsequent estimate, based on more recent surveys made by 
 Mr. Menocal, has reduced this amount to $41,193,839 a reduction 
 of $11,383,879 ; and by abandoning the valley of the San Juan 
 River in favor of a direct route to Greytown, ascertained to be 
 entirely practicable, the distance is reduced to 173.57 miles, the 
 total canalization being but 53.17 miles. 
 
 It is well known that the Suez Canal, and, in fact, almost all 
 great public works, cost far more than the estimates made by 
 engineers. But applying this rule most liberally cannot bring 
 the outlay on the Nicaragua route above $100,000,000. The sur- 
 veys of this route, made subsequent to those of the other routes 
 
112 THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. 
 
 proposed, have developed extraordinary facilities for the work. 
 Materials needed for construction are abundant throughout the 
 entire line. The harbors of Brito and Greytown, at the western 
 and eastern termini, are capable of being easily made con- 
 venient and excellent. The water supply from Lake Nicara- 
 gua is free from deposit and is abundant and easily obtained 
 the lake itself being the summit level o* the canal. The 
 rain-fall is not excessive. The climate during the trade winds is 
 delightful. The country is capable of producing all the subsist- 
 ence that would be required by the laborers employed in the con- 
 struction of the canal The local productions are valuable, and 
 such as constitute many of the most important articles of com- 
 merce. In the construction, feeders, tunnels, and viaducts are 
 not necessary. Dependent nowhere on streams which in the 
 rainy season are irresistibly destructive, and in the dry season 
 are reduced to mere rivulets, the canal would always be provided 
 with a uniform and easily controlled supply of water. 
 
 A canal constructed on this route, and at the estimates before 
 us, could not fail to be an economical highway as well as a profit- 
 able investment. Estimating the cost of the canal at $75,000,000, 
 a charge of $2.50, for canal tolls and all other charges, would give 
 a gross income of $10,000,000 on the 4,000,000 tons upon which 
 former calculations have been based. Deducting from this 
 $1,500,000 for the expenses of maintaining and operating the 
 canal, we have $8,500,000 as the net earnings of the work. Any 
 reasonable modification of these figures would give an encourag- 
 ing exhibit. The liberal concessions made by the government of 
 Nicaragua to the Provisional Interoceanic Canal Society indicate 
 a determination on the part of that government to make the 
 burthens of the enterprise as light as possible, and to leave its 
 government entirely in the hands of the American projectors. 
 While in the Panama concession provision is made for the entry 
 and clearance of vessels at the terminal ports, with the delays 
 and annoyances usually attending such requirements, the Nicara- 
 gua concession avoids all interference by custom-house officials, 
 except so far as to prevent smuggling and violations of the cus- 
 toms laws. This concession ]n-<>vi<l-s: "There shall be a free 
 zone upon each bank of the canal, of one hundred yards in width, 
 measured from the water's edge, it being understood that the 
 lake shores shall never be considered as the margin of the canal. 
 Within this zone no illegal traffic shall be conducted, and the 
 
THE NICARAGUA CANAL. 113 
 
 customs authorities will watch and prevent smuggling in accord- 
 ance with the provisions of Article 32 [of the concession]. It is 
 expressly understood that every vessel traversing the canal will, 
 whenever the authorities desire it, receive on board a guard [cus- 
 toms officer] appointed by the government, who will, in case of dis- 
 covering their violation, exercise his powers in accordance with the 
 law. 77 The articles of the concession also provide that the " two 
 ports to be constructed and to serve for entrances to the canal on 
 each ocean are declared to be free, and will be recognized as such 
 from the beginning of the work to the end of this concession. 7 ' 
 While the administration and management of the Panama Canal, 
 moreover, are placed in the hands of an independent company, de- 
 riving its powers from a foreign government, and organized on the 
 plan adopted in the construction of the Suez Canal, the commerce 
 availing itself of the benefits of the Nicaragua Canal is protected 
 by the government of that country against all extortion. In 
 Article 42, the concession provides that : " It is understood that 
 the company, in the exercise of the powers here conferred, cannot 
 make other regulations than such as are necessary for the admin- 
 istration and management of the canal, and before issuing these 
 regulations will submit them to the government for its approval.' 7 
 In order to protect still further the interests of those using the 
 canal, it is provided that all sums necessary to secure interest on 
 the funded debts, obligations, and shares, not exceeding six per 
 cent, for interest, and also a sinking fund, shall be reserved; and 
 that u what remains shall form the net gains, of which at least 
 eighty per cent, shall be divided amongst shareholders, it being 
 understood, after ten years from the time the canal is completed, 
 the company cannot divide amongst the shareholders, either by 
 direct dividends, or indirectly, by issuing additional shares or 
 otherwise, more than fifteen per cent, annually, or in this propor- 
 tion, for dues collected from the canal; and when it is discovered 
 that the charges in force produce a greater net gain, they will be 
 reduced to the basis of fifteen per cent, per year. 77 These provis- 
 ions indicate not only the confidence of the projectors in their 
 enterprise, but also the determination of the Nicaraguan govern- 
 ment to guard against all possible injustice to the commerce find- 
 ing a highway there. 
 
 That there are other advantages contained in the concession of 
 the Nicaraguan government, and in the proposed administration 
 and management of the Nicaragua Canal, there should be no 
 
114 THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. 
 
 doubt in the mind of every American who believes in the power 
 and supremacy of his government on this continent. The con- 
 cession is made to Americans, the society is made up of Ameri- 
 cans, the corporators are Americans, and the act of incorpo- 
 ration is asked of an American Congress. Every step of this 
 project recognizes the right of the United States to guard with 
 jealous care the American continent against the encroachment 
 of foreign powers. To this policy no nation and no cluster of 
 adjacent nations, watchful of their own individual or collective 
 interests, should take exception. It is the foundation of national 
 existence everywhere. An American man-of-war, having on 
 board the greatest naval commander of modern times, pauses for 
 forty-eight hours at the mouth of the Bosphorus to recognize the 
 right of an European power to control the waters of the Dar- 
 danelles and the Black Sea. It cannot be supposed for a 
 moment that an American company, incorporated by the Ameri- 
 can government, organized on American soil, would have been 
 allowed to construct the Suez Canal, even if it had established 
 a branch of its enterprise in France and placed it under the 
 supervision of a distinguished and representative French official. 
 And so it is with us. The policy laid down in the early days of 
 the Republic, and accepted from that time to this by the Ameri- 
 can mind, by which the colonization of other nationalities on 
 these shores was protested against, should never be forgotten. 
 The violation of this policy has always roused the American 
 people to a firm assertion of their rights, and cost one American 
 statesman, at least, a large share of the laurels he had won by long 
 and honorable service. The application of this principle even 
 now secures safety and protection to a line of railway spanning 
 the Isthmus, and connecting the eastern with the western waters. 
 The assertion of this principle by a treaty made with Nicaragua 
 in 1849 is accepted to-day by all Americans, people and officials, 
 with entire satisfaction. The rejection of that treaty in order to 
 prevent a collision between the United States and Great Britain, 
 and to preserve unharmed the policy of an administration, is 
 regarded as one of the most complicating and compromising acts 
 of American diplomacy. The accepted and acceptable policy of 
 the American government is contained in the doctrine announced 
 more than half a century ago by President Monroe. It is to be 
 found in the attitude assumed by our government in all the long 
 li|.liii;iiir dix ussion which followed the ratification of the 
 
THE NICARAGUA CANAL. 115 
 
 Clayton-Bulwer treaty ; a discussion in which General Cass, then 
 Secretary of State, declared an analogous treaty as recognizing 
 "principles of foreign intervention repugnant to the policy of 
 the United States"; a discussion in which by negotiation Great 
 Britain was compelled to recognize the "sovereignty of Hon- 
 duras over the islands composing the so-called British Colony of 
 the Bay Islands"; a discussion in which the President of the 
 United States " denounced the Clayton-Bulwer treaty as one 
 which had been fraught with misunderstanding and mischief 
 from the beginning." "If the Senate," said the President to 
 Lord Napier, "had imagined that the Clayton-Bulwer treaty 
 could obtain the interpretation placed upon it by Great Britain, 
 it would not have passed; and if I had been in the Senate at 
 the time, it never would have passed." It is in obedience to this 
 policy that the United States has protested against the estab- 
 lishment by Great Britain of a protectorate in Central America, 
 either on the Mosquito coast or on the Bay Islands. And it is 
 in accordance with this policy that President Hayes, in his mes- 
 sage of March 8th, 1880, declared that: 
 
 "The policy of this country is a canal under American control. The 
 United States cannot consent to the surrender of this control to any European 
 power or to any combination of European powers. . . . The capital invested 
 by corporations or citizens of other countries in such an enterprise must in a 
 great degree look for protection to one or more of the great powers of the 
 world. No European power can intervene for such protection without adopt- 
 ing measures on this continent which the United States would deem wholly 
 inadmissible. If the protection of the United States is relied upon, the 
 United States must exercise such control as will enable this country to pro- 
 tect its national interests and maintain the rights of those whose private 
 capital is embarked in the work. 
 
 "An interoceanie canal across the American isthmus will essentially 
 change the geographical relations between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of 
 the United States, and between the United States and the rest of the world. 
 It will be the great ocean thoroughfare between our Atlantic and our Pacific 
 shores, and virtually a part of the coast-line of the United States. Our 
 merely commercial interest in it is greater than that of all other countries, 
 while its relations to our power and prosperity as a nation, to our means of 
 defense, our unity, peace, and safety, are matters of paramount concern to 
 the people of the United States. No other great power would, under similar 
 circumstances, fail to assert a rightful control over a work so closely and 
 vitally affecting its interest and welfare." 
 
 In accordance with the early and later policy of the govern- 
 ment, in obedience to the often-expressed will of the American 
 
116 THE NOETH AMERICAN EEVIEW. 
 
 people, with a due regard to our national dignity and power, 
 with a watchful care for the safety and prosperity of our interests 
 and industries on this continent, and with a determination to 
 guard against even the first approach of rival powers, whether 
 friendly or hostile, on these shores, I commend an American 
 canal, on American soil, to the American people, and congratulate 
 myself on the fact that the most careful explorations have 
 demonstrated that the route standing in this attitude before the 
 world is the one which commends itself as a judicious, econom- 
 ical, and prosperous work. 
 
 I have formed the opinions expressed in this article, not from 
 a hasty consideration of the subject, and not without personal 
 observation. While commanding the army of the United States, 
 my attention was drawn to the importance of the water commu- 
 nication I have here discussed. During my administration of the 
 government, I endeavored to impress upon the country the views 
 I then formed ; and I shall feel that I have added one more act of 
 my life to those I have already recorded, if I shall succeed in 
 impressing up'on Congress and the people the high value, as a 
 commercial and industrial enterprise, of this great work, which, if 
 not accomplished by Americans, will undoubtedly be accomplished 
 by some one of our rivals in power and influence. 
 
 U. S. GRANT.