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    3fo.436, July 31,1858.] T H E L E A D E ...

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    Interoceanic Communication. The Junction...

    across the isthmus of Darien and-Panama . It is 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 Bailiff ay across the Isthmus of Panama . After three centuries of speculation , and after a number of imperfect surveys of this isthmus had been , made , the 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

    riglt of constructing a railway across this , the narrowest isthmus of America . The annexation of California came just in . time to give eclat and 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 other , 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 49 miles long , and has cost 1 , 500 , 000 / . —~ ' jtve times as much , " says its first chief engineer , " as it would have cost in the United States . " : This road is now in active operation , and 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 has paid 12 per ccnt . _ per annum on its capital stock since its opening , besides devoting a large portion of its earnings to improvements . Duriuj * the past year ( 1857 ) , notwithstanding the financial convulsions of theperiod , it carried 31 , 277 passengers , 12 , 780 , 000 / . of treasure , aud 66 , 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 percent , met , 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 . ! let the Panama Railway is destitute of adequate ports . That of Colon is so bud 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 fall from 18 to 22 feet , and steamers have to lie from four to six miles from shore , witli which communication can be had only at half-tide , and in bad weather not at all ! Delay , risk , and dangerous exposure , both to life , ana 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 l < Yancisco are prolonged to an average of 24 days and 9 hours ! That is to say , a traveller from New York may reach Aden , at tile outlet of the ltcd Sea , or Teheran in Persia , as soon as he can pass from the first commercial city of the United States on the Atlantic , to its first seaport on the Pacific 1 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 , and China . And , however sound the reasons for adopting the transit across Panama when steam was unknown , and mules alono were used , they no longer exist , and commerce and travel sock for i \ shorter , speedier , and safer means of reaching the great centres in the Pacific to which they must for ever lend .

    * V . — - A Canal , via tho river San Juan and ( lie lakes of Niearagun , through the Republic ( so-called ) of the same name . Not less than eight different charters have been conceded , first and last , for a canal at- this , the most obvious , mid probably only feasible point , for a oaunl bcUvccn tho seas . IN one ol these , however , have resulted in even tUat first prime requisite—a survey , except that granted to an American company , called the " Atlantic mid Pacifio

    Ship-Canal Company , ' in 1849 . This company actually surveyed the line , and demonstrated its feasibility , in a mere engineering sense ; but onpresentation of the scheme to the capitalists of England , in 1852 , it was rejected , on the irrefragable ground that it could not c ' 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 tie new edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica , article "Nicaragua /' After the abandonment of the canal scheme , a new project was started for a transit through

    Nicaragua by means of small steamers up the river San Juan and through . Lake Nicaragua , and by mules over the Isthmus between theiake 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 San 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 Costa 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 a feuille tonist ? of the Pays newspaper of Paris , and is to be " protected" by French vessels of war at both

    extremities ! Unfortunately for this bit of Gallic 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 within 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 turn the lower extremity of that lake , through an unexplored wilderness , 200 miles , to reach the Pacific . A canal , although feasible , demonstrably cannot pay ; for onl y heavy freights would pass through it , while light lreights , mails , treasure , and passengers would shoot over an . iron track , 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 .

    V . —A Railway 600 miles to the northward of Nicaragua , through t lie Republic of Honduras , from Port Cortes ( late Caballos ) on the Bay of Honduras , to the magnificent Bay of Ponseca , on the Pacific . Although indicated as early 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 1853 by Mr . Squier , successor of Mi \ Stephens as representative

    of the United States in Central America . A preliminary survey of this line was made iu 1854 , and a final and detailed survey has just been completed , which has been verified by a detachment of Royal Engineers , sent out lor 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 , lrom four fathoms of water in Port Cortes , to four fathoms in the Bay of Pousccu ; and 150 miles long from the head of navigation iu the river Ulna to the Pacific .

    The great and primary requisite , without which , iu the language of Admiral TitzRoy , " permanent success is impossible , viz . ^ ood ports , " is a great and characteristic feature ot this Hondurns route . Cortea himself , who discovered the port which now bears his name , pronounced it the beat then known in America ; aud it , certainly is tho best on tho Atlantic coast between Norfolk and Rio do Janeiro . And as regards tlie Bay of Fonsccu , the lieud-qnartcrs of Drake during his operations in the South Sea , it is not a port alone , but a " constellation of ports , " without a rival in the Pacific Ocean on cither continent , whether as regards extent , beauty , abundance

    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 lie in safety ; and in Both the Leviathan itself may not only enter , but anchor so near / the shore that a biscuit may \ e 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 Vienna , who travelled there , " the clhmte justifies the belief that the world may enjoy the different

    products of the tropics , so essential to civilisation , such as coiton t 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 Government of Honduras has thrown open the route on

    equal terms to 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 Tehuantepec— -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 witli England , France , and the United States , the neutrality and freedom of the line ia ;"• guaranteed against all interruptions , from whatsoever quarter the same may proceed "— -that is to say , equally against filibuster forays and local disturbances .

    The Honduras route is further distinguished , so far as the organisation for its construction goes , by being chiefly in English hands , although both the United States and France have a voice in its direction . Its seat is in London , and from this centre its operations will be principally conducted . . VI . T-A Carriage-road across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec , 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

    that tlie line is absolutely without ports ; an 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 Yentosa , " being its only apologies for harbours on tlie respective oceaiis . And although a company , of " no insignificant pretensions , was then ia existence , having the opening of a railway here as 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 ,

    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 jon by the rivals , until the Sloo grant was in turn declared forfeit , and a third concession made to a ucw organization , having its seat in the city of New Orleans . This grant has been in existence but a few months , but its holders have had sufficient influence at Washington to secure a contingent contract for conveying the United States mails . It seenns , however , that they no longer propose to a railwaybut only wajrffon-roadlooking to t

    open , a , wjsw ** *• * u (» iuj } UUU WlimjT C * WC * ££ K \ JU ~ lU « ltj JUJUJW 4 U 11 V \ J mail transport as tlieir principal sourco of revenue . Judging from the past , and regarding the instability of affairs in Mexico , it may be doubted if even this imperfect moans of communication "will be established at Tehuantepec . At best , however , it can never meet any of tlie great purposes for which a route between tho oceans is required ; and lying behind the peninsula of Yucatan , approachable only by a long detour through a dangerous navigation , without ports , and under a government wliich is strong enough to disturb without being able to protect , it is not probable that this route will ever command tlie favour of tho Atlantio states of

    America nor of Europe , to neither of which does it afford advantages equal to those claewherc presented . Such is a brief outline of the subject of intcroccanfc communication as it now stands . The proposed canals by way of tho Atrato river and across

    3fo.436, July 31,1858.] T H E L E A D E ...

    3 fo . 436 , July 31 , 1858 . ] T H E L E A D E R , 745

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 31, 1858, page 745, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_31071858/page/17/