The only person convicted in the Panama Canal scandal expresses his feelings about prison and justice.

• Historical letter from the deputy Charles Baïhaut, imprisoned in the Etampes jail, to a friend.
• Four pages.
• In French.
• 13 cm x 20 cm.
• Etampes, August 12, 1893.
• Excellent state of preservation.
• One-of-a-kind.

Excerpts

(...) I had, I admit, in 1886, a moment of failure, when I violated the law. I did not deceive anyone, I did not sell false values, I did not commit any error, I was not a blackmailer, I am not guilty of fraud, I concluded, impartially and without hypocrisy, a free contract: an illegal contract, but not a shameful bargain, an agreement prohibited by the code, but what can explain the conscience, if not by the absurd. That is the guilt.

(...) I will fully reimburse the amount received, the rest of my money will go to the Federal Revenue Service, I will lose my rights, my status, my career, I spent long months away from those I love, I suffered all the abuses and all the tortures, I suffered and cried.

(...) This is my opinion. Let's compare it to others'. Perhaps I could consider myself left out by human society; this society is very difficult to maintain respect in, since it punishes one person without catching all the guilty, since the alleged application of the law is a parody of absolute justice.

The Panama Scandal is a case of corruption related to the construction of the Panama Canal at the end of the 19th century. The aim of the project was to facilitate the movement of goods and people between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, without ships having to circumnavigate South America. In 1879, the Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps, famous for creating the Suez Canal, was chosen by an international committee to begin the 75 km project in Panama.

Begun in 1881, the project quickly fell behind schedule due to tropical diseases and numerous accidents. Lesseps then organized public subscriptions to finance his increasingly expensive project. Under pressure, he diverted some of these funds to bribe journalists and politicians who could conceal the shipyard's difficulties and vote for new laws authorizing a loan. The strategy failed, and the company was liquidated on February 4, 1889, causing the bankruptcy of 85,000 shareholders. The United States of America finally completed the canal in 1914.

In 1892, a journalist exposed the case, placing dozens of deputies and ministers under suspicion of corruption; Charles Baïhaut (1843 - 1917) was the only one who admitted the crime and was sentenced to five years in prison in Etampes, from where he wrote this moving letter.

The unprecedented and extensive content of this letter by Charles Baïhaut is a historical testament to the first major public corruption scandal, caused by the construction of a gigantic project, the Panama Canal, which would definitively change world trade.