Page:Dramatic Moments in American Diplomacy (1918).djvu/259

Rh England and Russia. He commanded the attention of czars and emperors. He hypnotized international bankers. He drew pictures of national glory for the chancelleries of Europe. But he could not raise the Canal from the dead. And then, when human effort failed, fate gave him an opening. It all came about from three things.

1. The trip of the Oregon from San Francisco to Santiago around Cape Horn.

2. The eruption of Mont Pelée and the destruction of Saint-Pierre in Martinique.

3. A Nicaraguan one-centavo postage stamp.

The race of the Oregon convinced the United States that national safety demanded an Isthmian canal.

The unanimous opinion and prejudice of Congress and the people in favour of Nicaragua were shattered by the imminent danger of earthquakes brought home by the Martinique disaster. The final argument that Nicaragua was not a volcanic country was met