The Express.
London, England, 1853-01-10 00:00:00

THE DARIEN SHIP-CANAL

The attention of the leading merchants and .0*
tidbits of Great Britain has been for some months
turned towards a scheme for the junction of the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by means of a ship
canal to be cut through the Isthmus of Darien, -
between Port Escosses on the Atlantic and San
Miguel on the Pacific. The parties who have ao-
corded their support to the project include many of
the most well known commercial, financial, and poli-
tical names, and it appears that considerable progress
has been made in the requisite arrangements. A full
preliminary concession has already been obtained
from the republic of New Granada; a report has been
pinsented by Messrs. Lionel Gisborne and Henry C.
Porde, civil engineers, who were specially deputed to
make a preliminary survey of the proposed route; an
extremely interesting pamphlet upon the sOject has
just been published, written by Dr. Edward
Cullen ; and the whole of the documents and plans
have been privately circulated amongst the most in-
fluential merchants of Great Britain. The routs
proposed is the shortest yet discovered, being only 39 ,
miles across. The concessionaires are Sir Charles
Fox, Messrs. John llenderson and Thomas Brassep
and Dr. Cullen. In the report addressed to these
gentlemen by Messrs. Gisburne and Forde, three
modes of effecting the inter-oceanic communication
aro presented, calculated to cost 12,000,0001.,
7,000,0001., and 4,500,000/. respectively, but for the
two last namedsums only a very inefficient canal could
be constructed, involving the necessity of locks, and
mechanical appliances on an immense scale.
This great undertaking, however, is not to be at
once definitivele, brought ferward for public support.
It appears that its prenioters, duly impressed with
the magnitude of the enterprise, feel the necessity
of proceeding with every possible caution, and thus
we hear it has been determined to have full corrobora-
tion of the surveys and plans before any attempts
made to carry out the project. In this sense, it is
stated a preliminary association will shortly be
brought forward to raise 7.5,0001., which sum will be
applied to depositing the caution money with the
government of New Granada, making a mule road
across the proposed route, and making a second sur-
vey on the most detailed scale. The subscribers to
this fund, it is .stated, will have a prior claim to the
shares in the great ship canal; and as, it is under-
stood, a great number of influential names has
already been placed on the subscription list, only
small proportion of this 73.0001. will be raised from
tho general public. It would appear that the cos-
mopolitan character of the work is to be fully recog-
nised, and that, consequently, the co-operation of the
chief commercial nations of the world will be enlisted
in its support. It is even stated that measures will be
adopted for obtaining direct assistance, probable in
the shape of a guarantee on a portion of the capital.
or the absorption on favourable terms of a pornon of
the shares, from great commercial states, including
more especially Great Britain, France, and the
United States. In accordance with the provision' of
the Clayton and Bulwer treaty, the governments of
Great Britain and the United States will probably
extend their joint protection to any company under-
taking the construction of a ship canal, and Dr. Cul-
len states that the work will most likely' be
united British and American enterprise. or the
present, however, as already stated, only tt prelimi-
nary subscription list is to bu formed, to raise the
comparatively insignificant sum of 73,0001., of which
a large portion will be subscribed by the promoters,
with a view to definitively maturing all the requite
arrangements for this great commercial enterprise.
It is also confidently expected that a more minute
examination of the route will show the formation of
the country to be such that a great reduction may be
made front the estimates hitlicitu formed as to the
cost of the work.