=401. The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty.=—Although the Compromise of 1850 overshadows every other event of the period covered by this chapter, it should not absorb the student’s entire attention. Early in General Taylor’s administration, certain international affairs of importance became pressing. In 1826, the matter of a ship canal across Nicaragua or Panama had been advocated by Henry Clay. “The benefits of such a canal,” Clay wrote, “ought not to be exclusively appropriated to any one nation, but should be extended to all parts of the globe.” In the course of the following twenty years, Jackson and Polk often reverted to the subject in the same general spirit. When John M. Clayton of Delaware entered upon his duties as Taylor’s Secretary of State, he found that the question demanded immediate consideration, for the reason that two capitalists, one American and one British, were contemplating the construction of such a canal across Nicaragua. The result was that on April 19, 1850, what is known as the “Clayton-Bulwer Treaty” was signed in Washington by Secretary Clayton and Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, the British Minister. The treaty provided that the two powers should guarantee the neutrality and security of the canal when completed, and they invited all friendly states to enter into similar stipulations with them, “for the benefit of mankind, on equal terms to all.” This treaty was afterward to be the subject of not a little embarrassment (§ 680). =402. Railways and Steamships.=—The passage of the Compromise of 1850 seemed to promise peace with regard to slavery; but the aid given by the South to attempts to conquer Cuba, especially those of Narciso Lopez,[180] proved to thoughtful minds that sectional strife had been allayed, not completely suppressed. Yet even then American industry and enterprise were forging links of union against which sectional strife could not long prevail. Before 1852, over ten thousand miles of railway track had been laid in the United States, mainly in New England, the Middle states, and the Northwest. The New York and Erie road became a rival of the famous Erie Canal, and its completion in the spring of 1851 was the occasion of a Railway Jubilee, which was attended by Fillmore and his Cabinet. Later in the year, a similar celebration was held in Boston. On the ocean, also, speedier transportation was obtained. The British Cunard Line and the American Collins Line ran races for Europe, and travel was considerably stimulated. On the inland waters navigation increased rapidly; but, owing to a lack of proper inspection, many steamers took fire and great loss of life ensued. The spread of the telegraph over the country also brought distant points into contact in a way that would have been deemed incredible a generation before.