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    the isthmus of and It is Canal Na. 436^u...

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    Interoceanic Communication. The Jirncxio...

    across Daneu Panama . little probable that they would permit a rival to themselves to spring up , when they have the legal power to prevent a result so damaging to their interests . III . —A Railway across the Isthmus of Panama . After three centuries of speculation , and after a number of imperfect surveys of this isthmus had teen made , tie celebrated traveller Stephens , Minister , at one time , of the United States in Central America , obtained for himself and his associates , from the Government of New Granada , the

    right of constructing a railway across this , the narrowest isthmus of America . The annexation of California came just in-time to give eclat aud a practical value to the concession . A railway was commenced in . 1849 , at the height of the " gold fever , " and prosecuted with wonderful daring and energy to a completion in 1855 . No engineering audacity in Europe approaches to that exhibited in this work , which was carried for 23 miles over marshes , in parts of which three 60-feet piles were

    driven atop of each oti ;~ r , before a solid way could be formed for the road ! And this herculean work was carried on while labour ranged from 15 s . to 40 s . a day on the isthmus , and when supplies of all kinds , timber , and every article of use and construction , had to be brought 3000 miles by sea ! This road , from-- Colon or Navy . Bay to Panama , is 40 miles long , and has cost 1 , 500 , 000 / . — "Jive times as much" says its first chief enf ineer , " as it would have cost in the United itates . "

    This road is now in active operation , ami is the main channel of communication between the two oceans . Over it pours the American and ' . British mails , and the passengers and treasure from the western coasts of America to the eastern shoresof the United States , and to Europe . It lias paid 12 per cent , per annum on its capital stock since its opening , besides devoting a large portion , of its earnings to improvements . During the past year ¦ ( 1857 ) , ; notwithstanding the financial convulsions of the period , it carried 31 , 277 passengers , 12 , 780 , 000 / . of treasure , and 06 , 132 tons of freight , besides the ^ English and American mails . Its earnings , for the

    same period , were 417 , 824 / ., or 27 per Cent , gross , and 18 per cent , net , on its entire capital . Its 6 per cent , semi-annual dividend was earned in the first three months of the present year , for which it is estimated the aggregate profits will be not less than 35 per cent . ! Yet the Panama ltailway is destitute of adequate ports . That of Colon is so bad that , in one instance at least , every vessel in it was wrecked , and the steamers lying there only escaped destruction by getting up steam and standing out to sea . The Bay ot Panama is not a harbour , in any sense of the term . The tides rise and full from 18 to 22 feet , and steamers have to lie from four to six miles from

    shore , with which communication cau be had only at half-tide , and in bad weather not at all ! Delay , risk , and dangerous exposure , both to Hie and property , arc the consequences of these adverse conditions . . Furthermore , the isthmus is under the zone of constant precipitation , and consequently insalubrious to the last degree , has but a limited population , and is totally without supplies . It furthermore lies in a very low latitude , so that the voyages from New York to San IVancisco arc prolonged to an average of 24 days and . 0 hours ! That is to say , a traveller frcin New York may reach Aden , at the

    outlet of the lied Sea , or Teheran in Persia , us soon as he can puss from the first commercial city of the United States on the Atlantic , to its lirst seaport on the Pacific ! The same waste of time is incurred in going from England to Vancouver ; the same detour is imposed on all Europe in communicating with the western coast of Mexico , with Oregon , Vancouver , the Sandwich Islands , Japan , jnid China . Ami , however sound the reasons for udopiing the transit across Panama when steam was unknown , ami mules alone were used , they no longer exist , ruul commerce and travel seek for n shorter , speedier , and safer means of reaching the great centres in the Pacific to which Ihoy must for ever teuil .

    IV . —A Canal , pia'tho river San . 1 mm and the lakes of Nicaragua , through the Republic ( so-called ) of tho same name . Not less than eight di He rent charters have been conceded , fust and hist , for i \ canal at this , tho most obvious , and probably only feasible point , for a canal between the sens . None of these , however , have resulted in even that first primo requisite—a survey , except , that grunted to an American company , culled the " Atlantic and Pacify

    Ship- Companv , " in 1849 . This company ^ . tfj surveyed the line , and demonstrated its teasioihty , in a mere engineering seme ; but on presentation of the scheme to the capitalists of England , in 1852 , it was rejected , on the irrefragable ground that it could not " pay . " The curious reader will find the details of the survey , and the premises on which the scheme was abandoned , presented in a succinct form in the new edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica , article " Nicaragua . " After the abandonment of the « anal scheme , a new project was started for a transit through Ni-^^

    caragua by means of small steamers up the river ban Juau and through Lake Nicaragua , and by mules over the Isthmus between the lake and the Pacific . This transit went into operation , and notwithstanding its frequent transhipments , and its great and almost deadly exposures and privations , it nearly equally divided the number of passengers , between the seas , with the Panama Railway . The cause of this diversion was the gain , in time , in the voyage between New York and Sau Francisco ; for , while the average of voyages between these two points were , via Panama , 24 days and 9 hours , they

    were , via . Nicaragua , but 22 days 22 hours—that is to say , one day eleven hours in favour of Nicaragua . This route began also to divide the transport of treasure , and would inevitably have obtained the mails , had not the apparition of the filibuster Walker brought its operations to a sudden end . Since that time it has been the prey of rival pretenders , alternately claimed by Gosta Rica and Nicaragua , and granted , with every changing moon , to a new set of irresponsible adventurers , until finally , it is said , it has passed into the control of ^ feuilleiouiste of the Pays newspaper of Paris , and is to be " protected" by Erench vessels of war at both extremities ! Unfortunatelv for this bit of Gallic

    of supplies , or adaptability for the terminus of a great work like that proposed . In both these ports the largest ships may enter -with ease and he in safety ; and in both the Leviathan itself may not only enter , but anchor so near the shore that a biscuit may be tossed from its deck to the land . The line , furthermore , passes through a salubrious country ^ of unbounded resources , adapted to European colonization ; and where , in the language of Dr . Scherzer , of the Imperial Academy of Vieua jffhotravelledthere , " the climate justifies the belief that the world may enjoy the different

    pro ducts of the trop ic * , so essential to civilisation , such as cotton , coffee , and sugar , without the necessity of having recourse , to the abominable institution of slavery ; and that all these products may be cultivated by free labour , through the medium of European colonies , which may be established here , without the least danger to health or risk to life . " But apart from these favourable natural conditions , as regards position , ports , climate , and resources , the work is advanced under political auspices of the greatest liberality . The Grorerament . of Honduras has thrown open the route on terms to

    equal all nations ; constituted the ports at both extremities free ports ; abolished passports and transit dues , and so far as legislation goes—in marked contrast with the narrow policy adopted by New Granada at Panama , and by Mexico at Telmantepec—done all in its power to make the proposed road the great highway of the world , between the oceans . By the terms of separate treaties with England , France , and the United States , the neutrality and freedom of the line" i 3 " guaranteed against all interruptions , from whatsoever quarter the same may proceed ' *—that , is to say , equally against filibuster forays and local disturbances .

    moonshine , Yankee vessels of war are already at the aforesaid extremities , and they will greatly belie > alike their paternity and past history , if they tolerate the tricolor within a round "maritime league" of the shore , or , in fact , anywhere withia reach of " Paxians" and " Long Toms . " A railway at Nicaragua is impracticable p hysically ; as , alter crossing innumerable lagoons in the delta of the San Juan-river , it must ascend the dank , uninhabited valley of that stream 128 miles , and then

    The Honduras route is further distinguished , so far as the organisation , for its construction goes , by being chiefly iii English hands , although both the llnited States ancl France have a voice in its direction / Its seat is in London , and from this centre its operations will be principally conducted . \ 1 . — -A Carriage ~ rodci across the Isthmus of Tebuantepec , in Mexico . A canal was proposed here in the first instance , found impossible , and abandoned . A' railway was next proposed , for which a partial survey was made by Major Barnard in 1851 , resulting in the disclosure of the fact

    turn the lower extremity of that lake , through an unexplored wilderness , 200 miles , to reach the Pacific . A canal , although feasible , demonstrably cannot pay j for only heavy freights would pass through it , while light freights , mails , treasure , and passengers would shoot over an iron truck , far to the northward , and make their destination almost as soon as the heavy vessel would be able to accomplish its tedious up and down lockage from one sea to the other .

    that the line is absolutely without ports ; ail open river , the Goasacoalcos , with a bar at its mouth , carrying but 11 feet of water and swept by the " Northers , " and a bad and unprotected roadstead , bearing the ominous name of " La Ventosa , " being its only apologies for harbours on the respective oceans . And although a company , of . no insignificant pretensions , was then in existence , having the opening of a railway here a 3 its object , yet under the . discouragements of this partial survey , and those resulting from the political convulsions of Mexico , it permitted the scheme to fall through , and the charter was declared void . A new grant ,

    y . —A Railway 600 miles to the northward of Nicaragua , through the Republic of Honduras , from Port Cortes ( late Caballos ) on the Bay of Honduras , to the magnificent Bay of Fonseca oh the Pacific . Although indicated as enrly as 1540 , and in 1556 determined by ccdula of the Spanish crown , on recommendation of the famous Council of the Indies , as the safest and best route of transit between the . oceans , yet subsequently neglected , owing to the wars with the English and Dutch , and finally owing to the inroads of the buccaneers , it was forgotten , to be revived in 1 S 53 by Mr .

    nevertheless , was made to a Mr . Sloo , under loud announcements of an immediate opening of the line . But this grant was contested by the holders of the old grant , and a bitter and unseemly contest was carried on by the rivals , until the Sloo graut . was in . turn declared forfeit-, and a third concession made to a new organization , having its- seat in the city of New Orleans . This graut has been in existence but a lew mouths , but its holders have had sufficient influence at Washington to secure a contingent contract for conveying the United States mails . It

    Squier , successor of Mr . Stephens as representative of the United States in Central America . A preliminary survey of this line was made iu 1 S 54 , aud a final and detailed survey has just been completed , which hasbeen verified by a detachment of Royal Engineers , sent out for the purpose by the British Government , under Lieutenant-Colonel Stanton , it . E . These surveys have demonstrated the eminent feasibility of the proposed railway , which will be 210 miles in length , iroiu four fathoms of water in Port Cortes , to four fathoms in the Bay of Fonseca ; and 150 miles long from the head of navigation in tho river Ulua to the Pacific .

    seems , however , that they no longer propose to open a railway , but only a waggon-road , looking to mail transport as their principal source of revenue . Judging from i , ) ic past , and regarding the instability of affairs in Mexico , it may be doubted if even this imperfect mcaus of communication will be established at Tehuantcpec . At best , however , it can never meet any of the great purposes for which a route between the oceans is required ; and lying behind the peninsula of Yucatan , approachable only

    J . uc groat and primary requisite , without which , in . the language ' of Admiral Pit ^ Roy , < c permanent success is impossible , viz . good ports , " is a great iind characteristic feature of this Honduras route . Cortes himself , who discovered the port which now bears his name , pronounced it the best then known in America ; and it certainly is tho best on the Atlantic coast between Norfolk and ltio dc Janeiro . And as regards tlic Bay of Fonsccn , the head-quarters of Drake during his operations in the South Sea , it is not a port alone , out a " constellation of ports , " without a rival in the Pacific Ocean on cither continent , whether as regards extent , beauty , abundance

    hy a long detour through a dangerous navigation , ¦ without ports , and under a government which is strong enough to disturb witliout being able to protect , it is not probable that this route will over command the favour of the Atlantic states of America nor of Europe , to neither of which does it afford advantages equal to those elsewhere presented . Such is a brief outline of the subject of interoceanic communication as it now stands . The proposed cauals by way of the Atrato river and across

    The Isthmus Of And It Is Canal Na. 436^U...

    the isthmus of and It is Canal Na . 436 ^ ult 31 , 1858 . ] THE LBADE 1 . 74 j 5 . « J » _ i * 1 *\» « ¦* - * -W . /"^ l — — IM— —— ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ¦

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 31, 1858, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_31071858/page/17/