was the thing to do. This artificial mountain was henceforth to take the place of the now suddenly condemned mile and a half wall. In October 1880 the cost of the canal was once more interfered with, and reduced, as if by magic, to 530,000,000f., including unforeseen expenses. We will treat of the vicissitudes through which the estimate of cost of the Panama Canal has passed; but meanwhile we will briefly recapitulate the figures up to that time : Francs. 427,000,000 1,044,000,000 843,000,000 Lesseps' commission, on Feb. 14, 1880 530,000,000 The first estimate does not include unforeseen expenses, and the latter does allow 10 per cent. for lighthouses and unforeseen expenses. In the latter the handling of the Chagres is reduced from 175,000,000f., as per Lesseps' commission seven months before, to only 30,000,000f.viz., 10,000,00of. for the barrage and 20,000,000f. for subsidiary channels to be opened. The total excavation, 72,986,000 cubic metres, is put down to cost 430,000,000f., or less than 6f. per cubic metre ! Never was there a more shameful tampering with figures than that, unless it was at each of the previous attempts to mislead the public. Just imagine that the expenses of administration and interest during construction, on which the company is at present spending 40,000,000 to 50,000,000 francs a year, is put down at 88,000,000f. for the whole period of the construction! But what is the use of analysing the estimate? It was concocted in order to make a fine appearance in the A prospectus that was soon to be issued of the company. The time had come for another brilliant stroke. syndicate had been formed, and £500,000 had been pledged, and a great part of it was now freely spent with the press. The whole "propaganda" of the previous twelvemonth had come to bear its fruit. On November 15 M. de Lesseps issued his first prospectus in the shape of a circular to bankers and to those who had subscribed for shares in the miscarried issue of 1879. He repeats what he has said in his circular of August 14 of that year, and now he asserts that "his previsions" had been fulfilled-that is to say, that the criticisms on the scheme, when first brought out, were unjust. He says that MM. Couvreux and Hersent, contractors of several great works, "are ready" to undertake the construction of the canal for 500,000,000f., or £20,000,000; that the Americans have now recognized that the work to be undertaken has no political bearing, and is particularly for their own benefit. "The full co-operation of great and powerful American banking houses shows the results of my trip to the United States," says M. de Lesseps. He then says that on July 7, 1880, he organized in New York a Comité Américain to "represent the interests of the company in everything that concerns the observance of the neutrality of the canal as defined by Art. V. of the Law of the Concession of Colombia." Thus there were no more obstacles in his way except the possession of funds, which he now asked for. "The universal company shall be constituted with a capital of 300,000,000f. It being estimated that the total expense will reach 600,000,000f., or £24,000,000, the sums necessary to make up the difference will be provided, as the work proceeds, by the issue of debentures, so that the shareholders may benefit from greater profits in the enterprise." It seems incredible that in any civilized country such a prospectus should go almost unchallenged, and yet that is the fact. The Paris Congress had estimated the work at 1,040,000,000f.; M. de Lesseps' engineers, only nine months before, put it at 843,000,000f., with but 10 per cent. for contingent expenses, and with nothing for interest during construction, for expenses of administration, banking, &c. Now, M. de Lesseps does not say that Messrs. Couvreux and Hersent have actually entered into a contract to build the Panama Canal for 500,000,000f.; of course not. They have" declared that the execution of the canal would cost no more "' than that sum. M. Couvreux was, indeed, the partner of M. de Lesseps. He had made him advances of considerable sums of money for him to carry out this scheme. He grew rich in the Suez Canal, and he is a sound business man, whose intent was by no means to build the Panama for 500,000,000f., but to get (1) his own money back, and (2) to sell to the new company dredges and other material suitable for digging the Suez, but wholly unsuitable for Panama, as it has come to happen. And yet M. de Lesseps, quoting the mere opinion of these contractors, has the courage of assuring the French that the Panama Canal would cost no more than 600,000,000f.! The wholesale puffery of the periodical press at the time of applying to the public for money was most nauseous. The Journal des Actionaires announces that the "canal project had been welcomed with enthusiasm in the United States." The Messager de Paris, which a few months before advised the public not to subscribe for Panama shares, now said that it had been "converted " by the "serious studies" made by M. de Lesseps in Panama. (Why, then, did he not adhere to the figures of his own men ?) The Journal des Débats-which in this matter has always been pre-eminent in arithmetical jugglery, and in its unconcern for truth and for the interest of the poor investor-the Débats refers to the "offer "" of M. Couvreux to take up the works at 512,000,000f., to which the editor adds 88,000,000f. for interest during construction, banking, administration, &c. He then adds by a stroke of exaggerated liberality 100,000,000f. more, and on the 700,000,000f., or £28,000,000, bases a calculation by which the shareholder will make about 14 per cent. on his money. The République Française decided that the canal would be made in six years for 600,000,000f., and that the shareholder had before him 15 per cent. on his investment. La Liberté grew ecstatic and biblical, scolding those who had no faith in M. de Lesseps, "who comes before you with the authority of science." The writer's appeal is altogether made from the standpoint of æstheti cal civilization. "Invest in these shares," he says, "and by-and-by you will be proud of your part in opening this work of civilization." More, "the result will be a surprise to those who have but faith in our great fellowcountryman." The Figaro, which at least never expects to be taken up seriously, after drawing a picture of the international commerce passing between the two American continents within seven years, thus leaving M. de Lesseps free to undertake some other Titanic work, makes the homely remark that even the sublime things of this life have their prosaic side, and the prosaic side with Panama is that money is necessary for the marriage of the oceans. Such was the general tone of the French press. All possible agencies worked up "enthusiasm " under the pressure of several millions of francs spent in systematic perversion of truth; and the masses of the French people brought in their savings to M. de Lesseps. He wanted to issue 600,000 shares, or rather 590,000, as 10,000 were at once allotted to the concessionaires: the public showed their faith in M. de Lesseps by subscribing for 1,200,000 shares, or about double the amount offered. Well could M. Bionne sing "Hosannah" to his chief, pointing out the great difference in the situation a year before, when they were starting to Panama with their "commission," and now when they had got their money. The first fight was closed. The number of subscribers was altogether 102,230, and as they subscribed for different numbers of shares up to the total amount of 1,206,609 shares, when there were only 590,000 to be allotted, and as the former subscribers of 1879, as well as the Suez Canal shareholders, were entitled to the whole number they now subscribed for, the greater number of applicants had to be content with but one-third and one-fourth of the number of shares that they asked for. Of the total 1,206,509 shares subscribed for, 994,508 were asked by French people in France, and 212,101 abroad—principally in Spain. No shares were taken by people in the United States, except a few reserved for the bankers appointed by the company. The allotment was made to the 102,230 applicants as follows: |