General Report. Paris, May 5, 1890

To Mr. Achille Monchicourt, liquidator of the Compagnie universelle du Canal Interocéanique de Panama.

Mr. Liquidator, The commission set up by your predecessor, Mr. Joseph Brunet, to advise him on the situation of the Panama Interoceanic Canal, has completed its work, and you will find enclosed an overall report in which the main facts emerging from this study are grouped. (...)

Meeting in mid-October 1889, it examined the documents submitted by the liquidation company, and took statements from a large number of people who had cooperated in the work, either as engineers, contractors or executing agents, or even as advisors. It also heard testimony from the promoters of the project, as well as the authors of the project for the completion of the Canal.

With this initial information in order, it entrusted a delegation chosen from among its members with the task of verifying and completing it on the spot, while the members who remained in Paris continued their technical and statistical studies, while continuing to hear from those who offered them their assistance. The delegation was made up of Messrs Germain, Chairman; Chaper, Cousin, du Chatenet and Lagout.

Having left on December 9, 1889, the Delegation returned to Paris on March 4, 1890, after spending six weeks on the isthmus. It carefully visited the construction sites, checked the condition of the equipment by trial and error (several machines were in operation in its presence), examined the workshops, accommodation and other fixed establishments, and even had a certain number of profiles raised before its eyes for verification purposes. The geological constitution of the soil, the search for construction materials, the prices to be applied to each type of work, the outlets in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the regime of the Rio Chagres and other watercourses were, on the part of the Delegation, the object of investigations as arduous as they were conscientious, and it brought back documents of the highest interest.

It is on the basis of these data that the Commission has been able to indicate the general lines of the project which, in its opinion, would best meet the requirements of a situation which the passage of time and precedents make critical. It has even estimated the cost, but feels it must add that the new company to be formed, if it adopts the same general lines, will have to complete the technical studies, which are far from offering the precision necessary for a definitive project. (...)

The Commission's assessments are far from being consistent with the future originally dreamed of, and are even likely to discourage those who, on the strength of vague promises, had hoped, with a momentary sacrifice, to restore their depreciated capital to more or less its full value. The Commission recognizes this, but it has been charged with informing you of what it believes to be the truth, and it will not hesitate to fulfill this duty.

Yours sincerely

The Chairman of the Commission, Guillemain