CHAPTER 24

Washington D.C., May 1902

Since the United States Congress has a bicameral system, it was of vital importance that the senate approved the Panamanian route before the House of Representatives held their respective election. If the senate chose Nicaragua in the first round of voting, Panama stood the chance of losing all together.

Philippe needed help. The French Embassy didn’t want to intervene, the Canal Company heads didn’t seem to understand what was happening, and the support of someone who knew how to navigate the American political system was essential. Philippe interceded so that the company would rehire Cromwell under the condition that the Frenchman would keep him under control.

Mark Hanna, whose campaign had received a generous donation from Cromwell, would be advocating the bill before the Senate and happily accepted the offer from Philippe and Cromwell to help him prepare for the debate. The peculiar duo united forces in order to teach Hanna about the tremendous advantages that Panama had over Nicaragua and to help him arrange the materials he would use in his address.

Philippe updated the small booklet he had used in his presentations for the United States the previous year and provided other useful materials: “Senator, the key to persuading people to favor Panama is to list the technical advantages in terms that are easy to understand and to get them to see the risks associated with the Nicaraguan route,” he’d confidently told Hanna.

Cromwell, on the other hand, had prepared a number of questions and answers regarding the Canal Company, which he represented, since he knew that many of the attacks from Morgan, the chief proponent for Nicaragua, would be directed at the company and the way in which the French had managed it.

One afternoon, just before the initiation of the “Battle of the Routes,” as it had come to be known by the press, Hanna invited Philippe and Cromwell to his house to celebrate the end of the preparations. Toasting with punch, he said to them, “Gentlemen, I think the strength of the arguments we have prepared will, without a doubt, convince my colleagues in the Senate of the benefits of Panama being the chosen route… Thank you.”

The materials that Philippe and Cromwell had arranged would be very effective when it came time to persuade Hanna’s colleagues and furthermore, gain votes for the Colombian route. Hanna was particularly pleased with a giant map of Central America where each county was marked with black or red dots. The red dots represented active volcanoes and the black dots were inactive volcanoes. Nicaragua had several red and black dots. Panama had none.

Just then, a miracle occurred. Two weeks before the beginning of the debate in the Senate, on May 14, a telegram from New Orleans went around, announcing the eruption of the Momotombo Volcano in Nicaragua. At the beginning of that same month, the Mount Peleé Volcano on the island of Martinique resulted in the deaths of 30,000 people and destruction of the city of Saint Pierre in a matter of minutes; the event had terrified the American people and the danger of volcanoes was fresh in the senators’ minds.

The volcanoes were a real threat and soon many people began to question if Nicaragua would be a suitable place for construction of the canal. In addition, some newspapers such as the New York Sun asked senators to consider the risk presented by Momotombo.

When everyone was convinced that the eruption of Momotombo would ensure a winning vote for the Panamanian route, Senator Morgan unexpectedly released copies of a telegram from President Zelaya of Nicaragua to his ambassador in Washington, Mr. Corea: “The published reports regarding the recent volcanic activity in Nicaragua are completely false.” The opportunity presented by Momotombo’s eruption to eliminate support for Nicaragua had been eradicated by a cablegram of dubious origin.