Everything old is new again

The Trans Isthmus rail-port project is up and running (on a limited basis) now, but we forget sometimes that the project itself goes back even before Porfirio’s first (and for a short time profitable) project that functioned from 1907 until 1914 when the Panama Canal largely made it obsolete.

From Millard Fillmore’s first “state of the union” address in 1850:

Citizens of the United States have undertaken the connection of the two oceans by means of a railroad across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, under grants of the Mexican Government to a citizen of that Republic. It is understood that a thorough survey of the course of the communication is in preparation, and there is every reason to expect that it will be prosecuted with characteristic energy, especially when that Government shall have consented to such stipulations with the Government of the United States as may be necessary to impart a feeling of security to those who may embark their property in the enterprise. Negotiations are pending for the accomplishment of that object, and a hope is confidently entertained that when the Government of Mexico shall become duly sensible of the advantages which that country can not fail to derive from the work, and learn that the Government of the United States desires that the right of sovereignty of Mexico in the Isthmus shall remain unimpaired, the stipulations referred to will be agreed to with alacrity.

By the last advices from Mexico it would appear, however, that that Government entertains strong objections to some of the stipulations which the parties concerned in the project of the railroad deem necessary for their protection and security. Further consideration, it is to be hoped, or some modification of terms, may yet reconcile the differences existing between the two Governments in this respect.

Fresh instructions have recently been given to the minister of the United States in Mexico, who is prosecuting the subject with promptitude and ability.

What’s interesting is that the US had just seized about half the country, but that Fillmore was anxious to repair relationships within Latin America (mostly to gain access to resources… but then, that’s been SOP forever) and was not dictating terms, for once in US history.