The latest suitor
Prince Henry offers bouquets of flowers labeled “Visit of Prince Henry,” “Christening by Miss Roosevelt,” and “Yacht built in America,” to Columbia who is holding a paper that states “British Canal Concessions.” In the background, on the left, John Bull is watching from a small, rocky island.
Comments and Context
In 1902, and especially growing from military and commercial lessons learned from the recent Spanish-American War, public sentiment grew in the United States to build a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The two likely routes through the years were considered to be through either Nicaragua or the Panama region of Colombia. As America drew closer to playing a role in an Isthmian canal, it purchased concessions granted by each of those countries to England and France. Britain expected some courtesies in return, but as Keppler’s cartoon shows, the nascent German Empire (embodied by Kaiser Wilhelm) worked hard to seduce the United States, evidenced by the labels of the bouquets. John Bull, symbol of Great Britain, stands on his tiny home base, jealous and suspicious. In short order it was the French, and her old construction companions, unable to duplicate their previous Suez Canal success, who turned over greater concessions and rights to the Americans.
