THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT 427 and renewed their allegiance to it as a final solution. By the fall of 1851, practically all influential opposition to the compromise had been beaten, both in the North and in the South. The majority of people had recovered their balance and their sense of perspective, and they were not ready to risk the ruin of the Union. Both sides prepared to let the controversy alone. If no new experiment with slavery had arisen, the storm might have been permanently finished. CHAPTER XL FOREIGN RELATIONS, 1850-1860 During the decade introduced by the Compromise of 1850, a number of interesting and important foreign problems arose, which furnished those who read the newspapers with something to think about besides slavery. Some of these centered upon the project of an isthmian canal. Ever since the days of the Emperor Charles V, the desirability of a waterway connecting the Caribbean with the Pacific had been obvious. Spain, however, never attempted to begin work, and the independent Latin American countries were too nearly insolvent to undertake any such ambitious project. The United States had almost from the beginning been interested, and the acquisition of territory on the Pacific coast naturally intensified that interest. Out of the various discussions and negotiations there gradually emerged certain treaties which bore directly upon the proposed canal. ISTHMIAN DIPLOMACY In 1848 the United States, and New Granada, as Colombia was then called, ratified a treaty covering transit on the Isthmus of Panama. New Granada guaranteed to the United States the right of way across the Isthmus, either by railroad or canal. The United States in turn guaranteed the "perfect neutrality" of the Isthmus, in order that free transit from sea to sea might continue without interruption, and in addition, the "rights of sovereignty and property which New Granada has and possesses over the said territory." This treaty was still in force in 1903, when it was rendered void by the Panama Revolution. Under the treaty the Panama Railroad Company, an American corporation, built the Panama Railroad, along the line of the proposed canal. The second treaty concerning the possible canal was the ClaytonBulwer agreement with Great Britain, signed in April, 1850. It was the product of a rather complicated situation in Central America, where Great Britain seemed to be getting a secure hold. For years she had a colony there, now known as British ISTHMIAN DIPLOMACY 429 Honduras. She also had a protectorate over the Mosquito Indians, in territory claimed by Nicaragua. The boundaries of neither region had ever been defined, and in 1848 the British seized the port at the mouth of the San Juan River, on the strength of the Mosquito Indian claim. Greytown, as the place came to be called, had a peculiar importance, because it was the logical eastern terminus of a canal across Nicaragua. Representatives of the United States had signed treaties with Nicaragua and Honduras respectively, designed to give the United States exclusive control over a canal through this part of Central America. These, however, were never submitted to the Senate. Great Britain, in actual possession of this territory, enjoyed a distinct advantage in any negotiations. The United States, with no foothold there at all, was asking for concessions, and she began the discussions hoping to induce the British to relinquish Greytown, and to admit the United States to a share in the control of the canal. As finally drawn the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty declared in the preamble the intention of the two governments to come to an agreement concerning any ship canal which might be constructed through Nicaragua. Both governments bound themselves never to obtain any exclusive control over the canal, never to fortify it, or to exercise dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast, or any part of Central America, also never to make any alliance with any of these Latin American states for the purpose of securing any unequal advantages with reference to the use of the canal. The second article provided for neutralizing the canal in case of war between the contracting parties. In the sixth, the two governments agreed to invite other states to participate in these arrangements. Finally the treaty bound the two governments to extend this agreement to cover any canal that might be built across the Isthmus of Panama, or the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico. As time went on, this Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was looked upon as an obstacle standing directly in the way of the United States in the pursuit of its interests and rights. In that connection it is worth while to remember that Great Britain was in actual possession of territory, and that the United States was not prepared to drive her out by force. Great Britain withdrew from some of her holdings, in return for the guarantee of equal rights with the United States in any canal. The bargain was not so bad at the time as some of the critics alleged. Although after the treaty was signed Great Britain showed a noticeable disinclination to surrender her hold on the Mosquito Coast, and although she attempted, also after 1850, to seize the Bay Islands, off the coast of Honduras, she finally came to terms. By 1860, the situation had cleared up to the satisfaction of the United States. CUBA In view of the intensity of the "manifest destiny" feeling in the United States it is not surprising that Cuba should have attracted marked attention during this period. Situated as it was, the island commanded important routes of commerce. The South saw in it a possible slave state, and while this factor tended to diminish northern enthusiasm for the annexation of the island, it had little restraining influence on Western sentiment regarding it. After 1848 the newspapers were full of information about Cuba. Between 1848 and 1854 various attempts were made to instigate revolutions in Cuba, for the purpose of bringing the island under American control. "Filibustering" became almost a custom. Under the leadership of a Cuban, Narcisco Lopez, encouraged by the vigorous support of prominent Southerners, expeditions were fitted out in American ports. In 1849 and again in 1850, Lopez tried to upset Spanish control of the island, but both ventures failed. Another attempt, in 1851, also failed, and in the last one in 1854, Lopez lost his life. In 1854 it appeared for a time as though President Pierce might win Cuba by conquest. An American merchant vessel, the Black Warrior, was seized by customs officials in Cuba for violating some inconsequential port regulation. The Secretary of State instructed the American minister in Madrid, Soulé, to demand damages to the amount of $300,000. Before the orders reached him, the authorities had released the vessel. Soulé, a hot-headed expansionist, was determined to provoke war. He delivered an ultimatum to the Spanish government, so drawn as to arouse Spanish pride, and demanded a reply inside of forty-eight hours. Naturally the Spanish government declined to meet Soulé's demands, but Marcy, the Secretary of State, refused to support his over-zealous minister. Shortly after this episode had blown over, Soulé joined with Buchanan, the American minister to England, and John Y. Mason, minister to France, in a declaration known as the Ostend Manifesto. The principle of this curious document was the very simple one that by reason of its position, Cuba must belong to the United States. The United States should offer to buy it for $ 120,000,000. If Spain refused to sell, it would become the duty of the United States to seize the island. Spain not unnaturally refused to agree with this simple reasoning, and again the State Department showed itself more conservative than its representatives abroad, and Cuba remained in Spanish hands for nearly a half century longer. NICARAGUA With the prospect of securing Cuba gone, expansionists turned to parts of Central America as a promising field for the display of American enterprise. In 1856 one William Walker, a professional filibusterer, plunged into one of the chronic revolutions in Nicaragua, and for two years succeeded in playing the rôle first of dictator, and then of president. By the spring of 1857, thanks to his own blunders, not the least of which was his stupid attempt to confiscate the steamers of "Commodore" Vanderbilt's line, he was overthrown. In November, 1857, he made a second attempt, only to be seized and brought home by Commodore Paulding, of the United States Navy. In 1860, in an expedition against Honduras, the venturesome Walker was killed. MEXICO During this period the United States was successful in acquiring only a single piece of new territory, the so-called Gadsden Purchase from Mexico, the treaty for which was signed in 1853. Because the negotiations were carried on at the height of the expansionist fever, when Cuba seemed almost on the point of falling into the hands of the United States, this purchase was hailed in the newspapers as part of a comprehensive scheme of expansion. While the actual accomplishments are plain enough, there were so many accusations and so much mystery surrounding Gadsden's work that no one knows just what was expected. In 1853 there were a few matters concerning which Mexico and the United States disagreed. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo had not been entirely clear as to the ownership of a bit of territory known as the Mesilla valley, about nine square miles in extent, hardly enough to cause serious trouble. Then Santa Anna, back again as dictator, with the title of His Most Serene Highness, had trumped up claims |