The money difficulty seems to stand in the way of
the Nicaragua Canal, as it did of the canal by Panama. The managers of the undertaking, of whom Senator Edmunds is the most prominent, seem to think a guarantee from the Government of the United States indispensable, and fix L20,000,000 sterling as the outlay certainly required. Ameri- cans, like Englishmen, know what engineers' estimates are, and there is hesitation in Washington about placing such a burden on the Treasury, which will, however, probably disappear before " patriotic " feeling and President Har- rison's strong approval of the scheme. It looks at first sight very wasteful not to buy up the works of the Panama Canal and finish them ; but it is almost impos- sible to do business with French shareholders when they have international ideas, and the people at Washington hold a full control of the water-way to be indispensable to the Union. They are probably right, too, at least if they do not intend, as they now say they do, to create a really powerful American. Navy.
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