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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
Philippe Bunau-Varilla was a Frenchman who found a place in the histories of the United States and Panama as it was largely through his efforts that the United States undertook the construction of the Panama Canal. Beginning in January 1901 he spent the major part of eighteen months in the United States lecturing in Cincinnati, Chicago, Boston, Princeton, Philadelphia, and New York and lobbying before the American Congress to secure the adoption of the Panama Canal route. When the policy of the Colombian government threatened to prevent the implementation of this decision, he helped promote a secessionist movement at Panama that enabled the Panamanians to become independent on 3 November 1903.
1 Bunau-Varilla's brother was a director of the company and subsequently Bunau-Varilla accepted a share of the company's profits. This exposed Bunau-Varilla to charges that he was really a partner in the firm in violation of regulations enjoining employees of the De Lesseps Company from going into business as private contractors at Panama. Bunau-Varilla denied the charges and maintained that he took his brother's offer only to enable him to devote his time to the cause of Panama. See Mack, Gerstle, The Land Divided (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1944), p. 327.Google Scholar
2 See Bunau-Varilla's detailed memoirs, Bunau-Varilla, Philippe, Panama: The Creation, Destruction, and Resurrection (New York: McBride, 1914).Google Scholar
3 The original receiver was Joseph Brunet, who was succeeded by Achille Monchicourt (8 March 1890) and Jean Pierre Gautron (14 March 1894), respectively.
4 Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission, 1898-1901, 58th Cong., 2d sess., Senate Docs., No. 222 (Washington, D. C, 1904), p. 212.
5 Georges Emile Lemarquis was appointed representative of the bondholders on 4 July 1893.
6 Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission, p. 58.
7 Bunau-Varilla, , Panama, pp. 140–142.Google Scholar
8 Philippe Bunau-Varilla, “Note sur le Canal de Panama,” unpublished manuscript. The Papers of Colonel Philippe Bunau-Varilla (1859-1940), The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., Manuscripts Division. The manuscript materials used in the preparation of this article may be found in letter box 1, second series, of the Bunau-Varilla Papers. Cited hereinafter as BV.
9 Bunau-Varilla, , Panama, pp. 145–146.Google Scholar
10 Bunau-Varilla, “Note sur le Canal de Panama,” BV.
11 Hotel bill and memoranda, BV.
12 Bunau-Varilla, , Panama, p. 146.Google Scholar
13 Bunau-Varilla, “Note sur le Canal de Panama,” BV.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 As noted, Bunau-Varilla believed that the total cost would be closer to $116 million.
17 Bunau-Varilla, “Note sur le Canal de Panama,” BV.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Bunau-Varilla, , Panama, p. 147.Google Scholar
21 Ibid., p. 148.
22 Ibid. See also Bunau-Varilla, Philippe, “Russia and the Panama Canal: Address in Paris, March 24, 1904,” The American Monthly Review of Reviews 29 (June 1904): 738.Google Scholar
23 Bunau-Varilla to Casimir-Périer, 31 March 1894, BV.
24 Memorandum prepared for Casimir-Périer (untitled), BV.
25 Bunau-Varilla, , Panama, p. 149.Google Scholar
26 Ibid.
27 Memorandum, “Conference rapide avec Mr Burdeau,” 20 April 1894, BV.
28 Bunau-Varilla, , Panama, p. 150.Google Scholar
29 Ibid., p. 151.
30 Bunau-Varilla proposed the construction of a lock canal with a minimum of dry excavation. The design of the locks would permit their removal in stages as the canal summit was gradually lowered to sea level by means of dredging. This would be accomplished without interrupting the traffic at any time. In 1905, the plan was rejected unanimously by the Board of Consulting Engineers, an advisory body appointed by the U.S. Senate to make recommendations concerning the design of the Panama Canal. See DuVal, Miles P., And the Mountains Will Move (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1944), p. 213.Google Scholar
31 Quoted in DuVal, Miles P., Cadiz to Cathay (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1940), p. 109.Google Scholar
32 Bunau-Varilla, Philippe, “Note sur l'achevenient du Canal de Panama,” 15 June 1894, BV.Google Scholar
33 Bunau-Varilla, , Panama, p. 152.Google Scholar
34 Bunau-Varilla to Witte, 6 September 1898, BV (letter box 4, second series).