The "Prometheus" and the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty

Abstract

IN THE famous treaty of April 19, 1850 Great Britain and the United States agreed to promote the construction of an interoceanic passageway through Middle America on the basis of complete equality and for the benefit of mankind. An American firm, which had recently contracted to build a ship canal through Nicaragua, was given priority to undertake the enterprise on the condition that it show its good intentions within a year's time. Furthermore, as guarantors of the project, the two nations insisted upon the establishment of free ports at the termini of the canal and volunteered their good offices in settling territorial disputes which might frustrate the venture. To conceal wellknown differences on such thorny issues as the title to the Mosquito Shore, the negotiators resorted to the ambiguous wording in Article 1, which was to prove so controversial in later years. By its terms, the United States and Great Britain promised not to fortify, colonize, or settle in Central America; both nations abandoned all pretensions to exclusive control over the Isthmian route; and both agreed not to interfere with the canal project by virtue of any connection which either might have with political entities in the area.2 The first test