The Express.
London, England, 1849-12-05 00:00:00

ISTHMUS OF PANAMA.

'M Dies* has a very intgregting article ea this
orkeel which we corset the following :
ya of the Wham, of Papas has exceed to
;We-b-e
color of political specalaties. California bee
slite the her, and it name fail to be carried
0117. slot
,sjan. Toni te and mem el ideas turned
te this quashes, hat statesmen ateglected
&Joe the United States have become masters of Cali.
tees, tod its extraordinary gables, the Isthmus of
e.,µµ lese wen enestsbered by traveller* sad goods.
se
the MS to the 111 Dorado. Ti. geed am
▪l▪ 111 Aiottpass, so justly turned is every am to
meat et the meens of communicatien,
tbs St means of believe that tits* is money, has r-ndered them
....nap with the transport sorts the is Imes
1110 ports of Chums and Panama The true-
r "sitietpan er twenty leagues requires two er three
th µ boats ea the river, and pertly on
*meg k the begs, which have replaced
swim %and mods of POMO,. A company has been
eosei la the United States fur the comm. ction of a railroad
wdl redeem the journey to one or two hones. In the
w.*-40 t
ef Aarawall the company have obtained from the
ttluremea New Grenada the coaceesion of the line, with
:oumit privileges for fiiteen years; the povernment giving
Mem elm the netessary land in lieu of stonamp,
weerve of tee United States have obtained the
gearsome of this eonermion by *Fetid treaty with
see thumbs; sad it has taken care to stipulate for the
ivy of the isthmus, on far as is possible, without prep
00 MO SO the government of New Grenada.
Tee article is the Dalai then enters into thathatica
sod tesserots of **company and the measures has abroad/
owe. Ilts aphid is tined at five million dollars, tams lime
iota oreepleted in eight years from the date of the MON&
; ad the company have been required to dope*
gala bases es a pu irantee far the fulfilment of the caw
mut. Ten bevies been done, an officer of the GMT**
pegal Eogineen of the United States tray (Cul. Hughes),
w a 'rut to the tetbmus fur the purr:ingot surveying the land ;
labours us just completed, and they completely cos-
t.. all the easements made by the French engineer,
Oarelo,l sent thither by 11. Guisot; who stated
tel the live would be eons rutted without any gri ater de-
new thin 90 metres shove the sea, sad that its length might
be reduced to 74 kilometres. Supposieg naceordfneo Maher gtoradthis le.
ients)
to required than in 90, the expense,
nAtigoot Aver, would not be more* than 16,000,000 fr., in.
dada g asst
to Col, Hughes stimates the espies. at
death the late that would be necessary in the United States.
The eoutruetion of tte line will be united into two parte;
it µice the iatention of the company to commence by mu-
wariest all their efforts on the portion between the
Gorgoas and Panama, which it hopes te complete in eighteen
months. Vie other p •rtion between the Gorgon& sad
curls, Or, rather, the Bay of Limon, will then be thaw
mated. This portion of the road is at pretest trammed by
small Meaner which carries port en up the river from
amens.
The enterprise may be regarded as already in course of
eueutioa. So long as the affair mimed unlikely to become
profitable, it remained • project ; hat now the stream of
traveller' to and from Cal.foreia, united with thou
Eie. lies to Pent end Chili, as well is the
quantity of geode that will be carried, at
Me topsail's' of the United States • prospect of
sadist rotors& For so short a journey it le thought ref,
losable to &mud a high fare. The maximum tariff per-
mitted in France is 10 cents per kilometre ithat isf the sum
at the isthmus be ten times as great, to
say, lfr, per head, or per ton of rods, the r ceiptt will be
7lir. for the journey from one contiaent to the other,
gem each passenger, or each 1,000 kilogrammes of mar-
audio, a moderate sum compared with the preterit *sperm
el pewit. It is manifest ale:oil:tat with the inereuing develop
nest of passergers and goods traffic, consequent upon steam
µDeaths, this route will be adopted by most persons grim
vellum from the United States, and even from Europe so
Chisa, and the Phillippines, and the different islands of the
Praia. Thus the relations of our occident with these
different regions are being =elliptic? with great ralidity
.wry day.
The arias then refits to the proj fo a
ect r a nal, whisk
t ssys it sets aside by the question of expense, which M.
(Arens hie estimated at 130 or 150 millions el
gum, sad by the great engineering difficulties. It
asp, however, that it would be desirable at
sone future period to cut a canal through the Isthmus,
sad misrelate an opinion that the route of the canal shot Id
be different from that of the eel:way, through Central Ame-
rica, hem the month of the Nicaragua to the celebrated port
4 lt.alejo. At the remit moment, lo ,king at the state of
affair., at the present revairements of the trade, it is hopos-
siblc to think of anythiag else than a railway.
This railway—says the article—will not fulfil its object,
Wen It is suds a neutral postage for all nations without
&Section and on aa equal footing even in case of ear. The !
absolute neutrality of the isthmus is indispentable to the
rural interests of commerce. No maritime power should
be permitted to passer itself of the railway to its own exclu-
sive advantage sad the detriment of all the rest. A diplo•
matic contention for this object would be very ad-
irsatseeoue. The company to whose interest it
mast evidently be should be tho find to solicit
this guarantee, and tit. re can be little doubt that it would
be granted ; end It is believed that the company will be du-
pscd to do an, for it was only at its r* quest that the United
tetee government entered into negotiations with New
Grenada on the subjeet. To a y of this nature
the conmeeting parties should not only be New Grenada
sad the United States, but France, England, and eve
Zara, whose territories are bounded on the west as well as
ea the soot by the Paella Ovals. Can should be taken that
the oegotiatioas for the purpose should not be procrastinated
watil it ie tee late, and it is to be hoped, therefore, that MI
reties interested will seamy thmaselves with the (Lucian
without daisy.

_
GAM' CIICT.LTT AT BT.A.—The Packet says
"At the Police-court, on Saturday, Frauds Cosine, master
el the Mentor, was summoned by one of the crew named
Askew Johann, a youth 17 years of age, for Veining him
in a most Inhuman and b•rbaress saucer. It appeared
from the Satanist of the winless, which we gine below,
that the complainant shipped en board the &enter seen
sediaary somas on the 6th of August, at Dichibucto. Two
days alter they had sailed defendant went to the complain-
ant at the wheel, sad began to curse his. lie then knocked
hint down with kis fist, sal beat his with a rope's end
After that he beet the complainant every day for • fortnight
wino ha went to the wheel in a
lmost unmerciful
tonermanr
Be errse ill-seed that the: poor ellow was obliged
limit Wow aneems* the ergo, and he was in that 'hu-
Imp Geo knew where he was. A sisal
tea 40 hove Wen
was made fa Wm, but met bong found it was supposed that
be had jumped evesbeord. At length he showed him-
sit to the men, gad they, in order to earns the poor fellow
from further ill-treatment, advised him to Say when he ,
sad each gave him a portion of his food every day to_b-
sist epos. The captain all this time 'epochs he was
drowsed. He resented bidden until they reached 11.11—•
period of tine weeks, end the sufferings he endured, it will
In sees by the following evidence, were dreadful in the el-
tram Willis said—l was chief mate on board the
Stouter. The seater had beat the complainant every day, and
almost every hour. He beat his too bad for say man to
bear. I have men kin throw him oa the deals, and jump
ea his.—H. M. Croft—l was ea board the Stouter. I have
men the master behave very bed to the cotoplainaat. I
ear him kick him, and knock him down, and jump upon
him, end then beat his with a thick rope. I saw him pull
the hair produced oat of the boy's hnd.—The captaie in
his defence, totally denied the eisanltsThe magistrites
decided that the captain must pay • fine of 51., or be im-
prisoned two months in the house of correction. Treis
sue was brought before the magistrates again
ea Wednesday, in consequence of the owner, Mr.
William White, Tensing to pay the lad his
fee the nine weeks that he had been cow
esaled ia the held, which were 6J. 17e. and IL lbs.
for deficiency of provisions. In this investigation the facts
of the ems sae out in • more extended form than be
fore. The complaisant stated that, two days after they
left Itichihucto the seater ill-seed hint in a very shameful
manner, until the blood ran from kis nese. He coati
used this treatment to him every day for a fortnight. The
taptan frequently stated that he had had enough of Hull
crews before, and he would have it out of the Hull
men on thls voyage. At last his ill-treatment became
as cruel that witness could not sleep at night foe the
Pala, sad was afraid he should not live much longer
if he was aimed any more. Os. Sunday night, alter
be had been on deck eight hours, the captain sent him aloft
to rig some of this sails. In consequence of this shameful
treatment mimeos bid himself in the lower hold of the yaws),
between the ends of moue deals. He was so Sleety jammed,
that he could not get in without taking cff some of his
clothes. In order that no one might see him, he was
obliged, from eight o'clock st night until twelve, to re-
main suspended by his hands from some of the deals.
After twelve o'clock he could creep out and lie on the deals.
lie subsisted for forty-eight hours in this situation on the
bread that he had saved the day before be hid himself,
and when the men left their cabin be used to go and
pick the bones they had left. When his bread was gone and
he had nothing to eat, be made himself known to some of
the sea. They advised kis to stay where he was, or the
serer would further ill-use him. He therefore remained
%ere, sad the men fed him by_ each of them giving his a
parties of their provisioas. He cntinued concealed in this
sitarist until the vessel i
arrived n Hull. Mr. White, the
met, admitted that in the position the lad was is, while
he was entailed between the timber, he was liable at Say
laelneat to be crashed to death. Mr. Rollin' oa the part
of Mr. White, said that his client was quite ready to pay
the lad his remuneration for the services he really did
perform daring the voyage, but he objected to do so in eon-
sequence of having received no services from the lad for
aims weeks that he was concealed. It was a question of
hardship by the esptain, and the owner himself was quite en
hmosset mu. The magistrates, however, decided that they
were a opinion that the boy was entitled to the amount
that he eleised."
FLOODS IN THE MIDLAND DISTRICTS.—A corns-
rakes sap: "Is consequence of the recent bsavy rains
the wall. y of the Treat, from its source to its junction with
the Humber, is one inland see, eccationally extending for
miles on either side; and on the banks of the smaller
Sig' NUS, in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Staffordshire. it
h the tame, but to • somewhat more limited extent. The
effect of all this upon the different neighb.uning lines of
railway has been troublesome, causing some risk to the
trains- In eke neighbourhood of BurtemosPon-Trent, on
M°11,41, a portion of the embankment was washed down,
delaying snake of the subsequent trans for a eonedereole
time; and from Monday morales early until Tuesday
merlin, the whole of the traffic upon the Lowish Valley
branch was entirely stopped. Now, however, the broken
portion, of the eiabanksarmt have been repsh.ed, and the
holm bate recoonaeseed running ea seta"