Part 23

Then came the downfall, which has been compared to that of the South Sea Bubble. When the Company went into liquidation, scores of shady transactions came to light. Editors of newspapers and deputies had been bribed to gain their support, and money had been wasted in almost every possible manner. In February, 1893, M. Ferdinand de Lesseps and four other directors were prosecuted, with the result that he, MM. C. de Lesseps, Fontaine, and Cottin, were convicted of breach of trust and swindling, the two former being sentenced to five years' imprisonment and 3,000 francs fines each, and the latter two years and 20,000 francs fines. M. Eiffel, the architect of the great tower of Paris, was found guilty of breach of trust, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment and a fine of 20,000 francs. Nine persons were then charged with receiving bribes, one of whom, M. Baïhaut, admitted that he got 375,000 francs. Three were found guilty, sentenced to imprisonment, fines, and to pay the liquidators of the company the amount of M. Baïhaut's bribe. Charles de Lesseps appealed against the charges of swindling, and these were quashed on the ground that the transactions had occurred more than five years before, thus getting the longer terms of imprisonment and fines of the three principals reduced.

Ferdinand de Lesseps hardly knew what was going on; he was old, feeble, and in a state of apathy and stupor. Pity for his condition prevented the carrying out of the sentence as far as he was concerned, and he died on the 7th of December, 1894. The _Times_, in noticing his death, said the story was a most pitiful one. The blame of the Panama affair must be laid upon the people and the public temper. Bribery and corruption were symptoms of a thoroughly unhealthy state of things. An infatuated public provided enormous sums; when these were spent, more went the same way, and to get these contributions everything possible was done. Lesseps was no engineer, but a diplomatist, planning great schemes and the means of carrying them out. He was the man of the moment in France. He was neither a financier nor an engineer, neither an impostor nor a swindler. He was a man of great originality, of indomitable perseverance, of boundless faith in himself, and of singular powers of fascination over others.

Meanwhile several attempts had been made to get money to carry on the work, one of which was by means of a lottery. But the French people were discouraged, and were no longer prepared to throw good money after bad. It followed, therefore, that although in 1894 a new company, with a capital of sixty-five million francs, was proposed, and that it was announced in August that eight hundred workmen were engaged, it does not appear that anything is being done. If, as has been stated, only a third of the work has been accomplished for, say, thirty millions, allowing for waste of money, it can hardly be expected that double this amount will ever be obtained. What with the heavy floods and rank vegetation, a great deal will have to be done to recover lost ground; in fact, some of the excavations must be filled up by this time. Those who know the country can easily understand that the handsome bungalows, hospitals, and workmen's houses must be overrun by wood-ants, and that the machinery is mostly spoilt by rust. Even if the canal is ever finished with locks, it is doubtful whether it could pay a dividend, as the work of keeping it open by dredging would be very expensive. No doubt it would be a boon to the world if it were finished, but capitalists expect profit, and will hardly be inclined to assist without such expectations.

The Nicaragua canal has been in course of excavation for several years past by an American Company. As finally adopted, it is to have a total length of 169.4 miles, of which 56-1/2 will be through the lake, and 64½ through the San Juan river. There are to be three locks on either side, which may cause trouble in case of a violent earthquake; and then, again, the length of the journey will be against it as compared with that of Panama. It has been attempted in the United States to make it a national work, and the sum of a hundred million dollars is asked from the American Government, or at least a guarantee on the issue of bonds to that amount. We believe that very little enthusiasm for the project has been shown. In August, 1893, the Company was unable to meet its obligations, and a receiver was appointed, since which time we believe the work is being continued, and that it has been decided to complete it as soon as possible. M. de Varigny, in _L'Illustration_ of June the 1st, 1895, gives the following opinion on the work and its political importance:--

"That the Washington statesmen take account of the fact that the cutting of the isthmus is difficult, costly, and, in case of a rupture with England, dangerous, we cannot doubt. But such is the fascination of great enterprises, of grand words and grand theories, that senators and representatives hesitate to oppose the current of opinion that is bearing along the masses.

"The work has begun, and we can only hope that it will succeed. There cannot be too many gates of communication between different peoples. The United States undertake to open this. Can they do it, and doing it, will they give up the advantages they will thereby acquire? The future will show."

INDEX.

Acosta, Pedro de, explorer of the Orinoco, 43

African slavery, 157

Aguirre the Tyrant, 38

Alfinger, Ambrosio de, searches for "El Dorado," 34

Altienza, Donna Inez de, murdered by Aguirre, 39

Amazon Company, 83

Amazon, expedition of Ursua and Aguirre, 38

American Indian, his character, 1

_Amis des Noirs_, 257

"Angel Gabriel," John Sayers Orr, rouses the negroes of Demerara, 335

Antigua, 165

Anti-slavery party, 289, 298

Apprenticeship, negro, 306

Araby, a leader of bush negroes, 227

Arawaks, their character, 2; Columbus tries to enslave them, 9; the Spanish sovereign's good feeling for them, 9; their treatment by the first colonists, 11; did not lay up provisions, 12; thinks Spaniards gods, 12; refuse to be slaves, 18; die off in great numbers, 18; in Guiana, 23, 75

Araya, Dutch at, 75

Armada, Spanish, 63, 64

Aruba, 277

Aspinwall, 352

_Assiento_ contract to supply slaves, 196

Ayscue, Sir George, reduces Barbados for the Parliament, 124

Bahamas, natives kidnapped, 19; settled by English, 86; resort of buccaneers, 96; captured by Spaniards, 117

Baïhaut, M., bribed by Panama Canal Company, 361

Bannister, Major, English Governor of Surinam, 169

Barbados, first colonised, 85; protests against grant to Earl of Carlisle, 117; result of the English revolution, 117; Charles II. proclaimed king, 122; Sir George Ayscue arrives to subdue the island, 124; attack on Hole Town, 126; the island surrenders, 128; sufferings of a bond-servant in, 151; De Ruyter driven off from, 161; its unique position, 208; negro plots, 213; anti-slavery insurrection, 293; result of emancipation, 328; confederation disturbances, 341

Barker, Andrew, a rover, 62

Baron, a bush negro chief, 229

Basco, Michael de, a buccaneer, 99, 102

Baskerville, Sir Thomas, a companion of Drake, 65

Beaudierre, Mons. de, a sympathiser with the coloured people of Hayti, 259

Berbice, supplies cut off during war, 170; captured by French corsairs, 178, 179; great slave insurrection, 218

Belize, 250

Berrie, one of Ralegh's captains, 74

Berrio, Antonio de, Spanish Governor of Trinidad, 69

Bolivar, Simon, Liberator of Venezuela, 279

Bond-servants, 149

Boyer, President of Hayti, 275

Brethren of the coast, 93

British Guiana, 328, 334

British Legion in Venezuela, 286

Bull of Partition, its terms, 48; disputed, 49; practically revoked, 134

Bush negroes, 225

Buxton, Fowell, 300

Byam, Major, Governor of Surinam, 128

Byron, Admiral, 241, 242

Caciques of the Indians, their position, 4

California rush, 351

Campeachy, Bay of, 96, 200

Cannibals, 20, 31

Canning's declaration of neutrality, 285

Caribana, 75

Caribbee Islands, 20, 85

Caribs, their character, 6; cannibalism, 20, 31; hatred of Spaniards, 20; in Guiana, 23, 75; in St. Kitt's, 88

Carlisle, Earl of, Grantee of Caribbee Islands, 85, 122

Carthagena, taken by French, 178; great fair, 184; attacked by Admiral Vernon, 205

Cary, Colonel, favours the buccaneers, 165

Casas, Las, 46

Cassard, Jacques, the corsair, 179; captures St. Eustatius, 180; Curaçao, 181

Cattle, wild, 21

"Cavaliers" and "Roundheads" in Barbados, 119

Central American Republics, 288

Chagres, 352

Charbon, Jan Abraham, 219

Charles I. and the Colonies, 114

Charles II. declared king in the Bermudas and Virginia, 117; Barbados, 122; his interest in the plantations, 135

Chinese labourers introduced, 327

Christianity forced on the natives, 8, 27

Christophe, a Haytian leader, 269, 274

Clervaux, a Haytian leader, 271

Clifford, Jeronomy, case of, 173

Cochrane, Admiral, 277

Codrington, Colonel, 119

Coffee, 143

Coffee, leader of rebel slaves in Berbice, 221, 223

Coke, John, 84

Colon, 352

Colonies, Spanish, in Hispaniola, 11, 14

Coloured people in Hayti, 257

Columbian Republic, 288

Columbus' opinion of the natives, 6

Confederation in Barbados, 341

Contraband trade with Spanish colonies, 53, 57, 201

Convict labour, 147

Coolies, East Indian, 327

Cooper, Anthony Ashley, 147

Corsairs, 49, 177

Corteso, Juan, an "El Dorado" seeker, 45

Costa Rica, 288

Cottin, M., 360

Cotton, 15, 18, 141

Council for Plantations, 135, 146

Cromwell and the West Indies, 129

Cudjo, a maroon chief, 215

Cuba, 20

Cullen, Dr. E., projector of the Darien Canal, 353

Curaçao, 115, 152, 165, 180, 238

Darbey, John, an English prisoner in Cuba, 171

Darien Canal, 353

Darien scheme, 188

Delgado, Augustine, an "El Dorado" seeker, 46

Demerara, 213, 246, 252, 301

Dessalines, a chief in the Haytian insurrection, 271; crowned emperor, 274

Dogs, hunt Indians, 16; run wild, 22; hunt maroons, 235; hunt rebel negroes, 271

Dominica, 91, 116, 238, 241, 249

_Dominus Vobiscum_, one of the first English vessels in the West Indies, 49

D'Oyley, Governor of Jamaica, 134

Drake, Sir Francis, voyage with Hawkins, 57; raid on Nombre de Dios, 59; great expedition to the West Indies, 63; captures St. Domingo, 64; last voyage, 65; death, 65

Drax, Colonel, 120

Du Casse, a French corsair, 177

Dudley, Sir Robert, 66

Dutch, 67, 75, 84, 86, 115, 129, 166

Edwards, Bryan, 157

Eiffel, M., 360

"El Dorado," the quest for, 23; dangers, 24; germ of the story, 32; Martinez' report, 44

Elizabeth, Queen, 67

Emancipation, Great Britain, 289; France, 310; Denmark, 312; Holland, 313; Spain, 313

Enambuc, M. d', first French settler, 87-8, 116

Enciso, Bachelor, 29

English and Dutch, 67, 68, 114

Essequebo, 213

Everson, a Dutch pirate, 177

Eyre, Governor of Jamaica, 339

Fedreman, Nicholas, an "El Dorado" seeker, 35

Ferdinand and Isabella, kind feelings towards the Indians, 10; grant from the Pope, 48

Fontaine, Father, a Catholic missionary, 134

Fontaine, M., a Panama defaulter, 360

Fourgeaud, Colonel, 227

Franklin, Washington, 294

Free trade, 324

French, in the West Indies, 49-51, 87; company for settling the islands, 116; character of, 167; revolution, its influence on Hayti, effect on the Spanish Main, 276

George of Spires, an "El Dorado" seeker, 35

German knights in Venezuela, 33

Gold-hunting, 11, 15, 23, 29, 73

Gordon, Mr., a Member of the Jamaica Assembly, executed, 340

Grasse, Count de, 241, 249

Grenada, 238

Groenwegel, Commander of Essequebo, 86

Guadeloupe, 238, 251

_Guanin_, 23

Guatavita, Lake of, 32

Guatemala, 288

Guiana, 23, 69

Guianians, 44

Guichen, Admiral de, 241, 249

Güiria, 282

Guzman, Fernando de, 38

Haïti, Hayti, or Hispaniola, its inhabitants, 3; colonised, 11; gold found, 11; almost ruined by becoming depopulated, 21; a resort of buccaneers, 91; under the French, 251; downfall, 257; British invasion, 268; republics and empires, 274

Hall, Captain, exploit of, 206

Harcourt, Robert, in Guiana, 76

Harry, a Guiana Indian, in London, 77, 78

Hartop, Job, a prisoner in Mexico, 58

Havana, ransomed, 50; sacked and burnt, 51

Hawkins, Sir John, first voyage, 53; second, 54; third, 57; final trip with Drake, and death, 65

Hawkins, William, voyage to Brazil, 52

Hennessy, Governor John Pope, of Barbados, 341, 345

Henri I. (Christophe), Emperor of Hayti, 274

Henry VIII. of England sends an expedition to the West Indies, 49

Herera, Alonzo de, 45

Hogs naturalised in Hispaniola, see Haïti

Hondo river, 250

Hood, Sir Samuel, 238

Hoogenheim, Wolfert Simon van, Governor of Berbice, 218

Huten, Philip von, an "El Dorado" seeker, 36

Iala, Father, an "El Dorado" seeker, 45

Indian, character of, 1

Jackson, Colonel, captures Santiago de la Vega, 116

Jacques I. (Dessalines), Emperor of Hayti, 274

Jamaica, Valdivia wrecked off the coast, 30; attacked by Colonel Jackson, 116; captured by English, 131; Spanish attempt to recapture, 133; the first real British colony, 136; progress of, 155; authorities refuse help to the Darien colony, 193; slave revolts, 214; serious negro insurrection, 338

James I., friendship for Spain, 82, 114; dispute with Spain about the West Indies and Virginia, 113

Jeffreys, Judge, sends prisoners to Barbados, 150

Jenkins, Captain, and his ear, 202

Jervis, Admiral Sir John, 251

Jews in the West Indies, 239, 245

Keymis, Captain, a follower of Ralegh, 74, 77-9, 81

Kyk-over-al, Dutch fort in Essequebo, 76

Labour difficulties, 14, 137, 321

Lafayette, 260

Lawrence, Captain, an English pirate, 99

Legrand, Pierre, a French pirate, 99

Leigh, Charles, first English settler in Guiana, 76

Lesseps, Ferdinand de, and his Panama scheme, 356

Lolonois, the great pirate, 101

Macatoa, reported a very rich city, 36

Madeirans imported into British Guiana, 327

Maltese imported into British Guiana, 327

Manoa, city of, fabulous residence of "El Dorado," 44

Margarita, 114, 152

Marino, Dictator of Venezuela, 283

Maroons or Simarons, 59, 211, 232

Martinez, Juan de, his report of "El Dorado," 43

Martinique, 116, 182, 238, 251, 259

Mauduit, Captain, murdered in the Haytian revolt, 262

Merrifield, Ralph, one of the first settlers in St. Kitt's, 85

Methodists, 295

Miranda, Francisco, leader of the revolution in Venezuela, 277, 347

Missionaries, Protestant, 295, 327

Montbar, the French pirate, 100

Montserrat, 161, 165, 249

Morgan, Captain (afterwards Sir Henry), the English buccaneer, 102, 177

Morgan, Colonel, 162

Morillo, Marshal, Spanish leader in Venezuela, 284

_Navio de permisso_, 199

Negro slavery, 52, 59, 139, 156, 210

Negroes, free, difficulties with, 329

Nelson, Lord, flying trip to the West Indies, 254; his expedition to Nicaragua, 346

Nevis, 161, 249

New Edinburgh, 192

New Granada, 32, 33, 281, 288

New World, 1

Nicaragua and the canal scheme, 288, 346, 351, 355, 362

North, Roger, a settler in Guiana, 83, 85

_Nueva Dorado_, 70

Ojeda, Alonzo de, 27

Omaguas, reported a rich nation, 36

Ophir, 15, 23

Ordas, Diego de, explores the Orinoco, 43

Orders in Council, 300

Orr, John Sayers, "the Angel Gabriel," creates a disturbance in Demerara, 335

Ouverture, Toussaint L', leader of the Haytian negroes, 268

Oxenham or Oxnam, John, crosses the Isthmus, 61

Oyapok, English colonies in the, 76, 83

Panama, 186, 347, 350

Panama Canal, 347, 353, 355

Panama Railway, 352

Parima Lake, 33

Paterson, William, and the Darien scheme, 188

Penn and Venables, Generals, expedition to the West Indies, 130

Perez, Diego, a gallant Spaniard, 50

Petion, President of Hayti, 274, 285

Philips, Miles, an English prisoner in Mexico, 58

Pirates in the West Indies, 49, 90

Pitman, Henry, a bond-servant, 150

Pitt, in favour of a Panama Canal, 347

Plantations, 143, 154, 291

Pointis, de, a leader of buccaneers, 178

Pomeroon, 75, 161

Pope, The, issues Bull of Partition, 48; acknowledges French rights in the West Indies, 134

Popham, Captain, captures Spanish letters, 69

Porto Bello, its fair, 185; captured by Vernon, 204

Porto Rico, 20, 49

Prince of Orange in England, 252

Privateers, 96, 98

Proclamations to the Indians, 27, 30

Providence Island, 86

Puerto Cabello, 277

Quesada, Herman de, an "El Dorado" seeker, 36

Ralegh Sir Walter, at Trinidad, 66; his "Letters Patent," 68; his interest in Guiana, 69; captures Trinidad, 70; searches for "El Dorado," 72; sent to the Tower, 76; liberated, 77; goes again to Guiana, 78; capture of St. Thome, 79; his execution, 82

Reclus, M., a Panama Canal projector, 356

Regapo, Leonard, a Guiana Indian, in London, 77

_Repartimientos_, 15

Robespierre, 260

Rodney, Admiral, 237, 242

Rossy, Sieur du, 116

Route of Spanish trade, 49

Rovers to the Main, 49, 66

Royal African Company for introducing slaves, 149

Rupert, Prince, 124

Ruyter, Admiral de, attacks Barbados, 161

St. Christopher's, or St. Kitt's, settled by Thomas Warner, 84; granted to the Earl of Carlisle, 85; d'Enambuc arrives, 87; divided between English and French, 88; attacked by Spaniards, 114; granted to a French Company, 116; bond-servants in, 153; quarrels between English and French, 162, 177, 207; captured by French, 249

St. Croix or Santa Cruz, riots in, 311, 329

St. Domingo, captured by Drake, 64; attempted by Penn and Venables, 131

St. Eustatius, 86, 161, 181, 238, 243

St. Lucia, 238, 241, 251

St. Martin's, 115, 116

St. Thomas, 239

St. Vincent, 238

Salle, General de la, French Governor of St. Kitt's, 162

San Juan river, 346

Santa Martha, captured by French pirates, 51

Santiago de Cuba, gallant fight at, 50

Santiago de la Vega captured by English, 116

Savile, Henry, his "Libel of Spanish Lies," 66

Sedenno, Antonio, an "El Dorado" seeker, 45

Serfdom, 137, 145

Shelley, Colonel, a "Cavalier" in Barbados, 121

Simarons, _see_ Maroons

Slaves, Indian, 19; negro, 52, 59, 139, 156, 210, 289; white (bond-servants), 146; insurrections, 213, 294, 302; abolition of the African trade, 255, 289; runaways, 210; Registrar and Protector of, 293; emancipation of, 309; reviews of slavery, 289

Smith, Rev. John, a missionary sentenced to death in connection with a slave revolt, 303-6

South Sea Bubble, 187, 196

Spain, character of her people, 9; introducing Christianity, 9; wanton cruelty to the natives, 18; hardiness of Spaniards, 25; their audacity, 30; Spanish claim to supremacy, 114; interference with their trade, 133; Spanish cruelty to prisoners of war, 171

"Spiriting" or kidnapping white servants, 146; made felony 147

Sugar cane, 19, 141

Suicides, 18

Surinam, 161, 165, 167, 171, 179

Sylva, Gaspar de, an "El Dorado" seeker, 45

Tison, Thomas, first English trader to West Indies, 49

Tobacco, 141

Tobago, 115, 238, 251

Toledo, Don Frederic de, captures St. Kitt's, 114

Tortuga, the great rendezvous of the buccaneers, 95, 102, 165

Trade forced upon the Spanish settlers, 53, 57

Transported convicts, 147

Treasure seeking, 23

Trelawny Town, 232

Tribute imposed on natives, 15

Trinidad, 70, 328

Ursua, Pedro de, murdered by the tyrant Aguirre, 38

Utrecht, treaty of, 196

Valdivia, his shipwreck, 30

Van Horn the pirate, 103

Vanderbilt Transit Company, 351

Venables and Penn, Generals, their expedition, 130

Venezuela, the treasure seekers in, 23; her struggle for independence, 277

Vernon, Admiral, 204, 205, 337

Virgin Islands, 96

Virginia, 113

Wafer, Lionel, his journey across the Isthmus, 105

Walker, William, the modern filibuster, 352

Walrond, Colonel, a "Cavalier" in Barbados, 121

Warner, Thomas, founder of the colony of St. Kitt's, 84, 85, 88

Wars, England and Spain, 63, 114, 130; Holland and Spain, 87, 114; France and Spain, 116; England and Holland, 129, 160; England and France against Holland and Spain, 170; France against England and Holland, 177; Spain, England, and Holland against France, 178; England and Holland against France and Spain, 195; England and Spain, 203; England and her revolted colonies, 241; France, Spain, and Holland join in the quarrel, 243; commencement of the great French war, 251; England and the United States, 255

Watts, Governor, of St. Kitt's, 162

Welsers of Augsburg, 33

West India Company of Holland, 87

William III. and the Darien scheme, 194

Willoughby, Lord, Governor of Barbados, 122, 124-8, 164

Wyse, M., a Panama Canal projector, 356

The Gresham Press,

UNWIN BROTHERS,

WOKING AND LONDON.