The Sun.
London, England, 1825-04-11 00:00:00

he tranquillized—they secretly deprecate the
passing-of the bill, as is natural for these enemies
of England :moreover, they presume that it will
not pass—that faction, or prejudice, or short-sight-
edness will still seize hold of the mind of Parlia-
ment, and that the mill-stone which bears upon,
and presses down the giant force of a people whose
arm their adversaries have had good cause to fear,
may long continue to incumber them. Such are
the real feelings of foreign writers when they
harp upon Irish wrongs. If they really felt fur
the interests of Catholics, as such, would they
have so treated the Spanish Catholics ? If they
really believed that Irish Catholics stood a chance
of relief, they would try to dissuade us from ad-
ministering that relief. Let, then, our Legisla-
tors be wise, and let their enemies be disap-
pointed.

[NEW TIM ES.7, 1
Among the many great undertakings of the
present day, there is no one which strikes a re.
fleeting mind as pregnant with more important,
results than the project of opening a navigahle. -
communication between the Pacific and Atlantic,
Oceans. Many schemes for this purpose have
been suggested, and some circuitous modes of
transit have, in fact, been adopted. A small_
Canal was cut in 1788, by the inhabitaffis .of a
village called Novita, at the suggestion of their.
Rector, a Spanish monk. This canal was sup-
plied by the torrent of Raspadura, which con-
nects the San Juan with the rivulet of Quito. -
one of the branches of the, Atrato. The ,
distance from sea to sea by this course is 250 miles
and some boats have actually traversed it, but
only after heavy rains, the rivers not being navi-
gable throughout at any other time. The Baron
de Humboldt, who has considered this subject
very fully, mentions various directions in which
the communication has been, or might be,' at-
tempted. Some of these include long passages
by rivers, and over mountains, and seem, in-
deed, of no great utility, if they could be effected.
Such is the ascent of the river Colombia to its
source; then crossing the Stony. Mountains, and
descending by the Ounigagah to the Slave Lake,
and by Mackenzie's River to lindson's Bay. In
like manner it might be possible to ascend the ,
Rio del Norte from the Gulf of Mexico, and
then cross the mountains to the source of the Rio
Colorado, which flowes into the Gulf of California. ,
Or by forming
_a road from Lima across the
mountains, two or three days' journey to the river
Guallaga, which falls into the Maragnon, the At-
lantic would be reached in that direction.. The
most general idea has been that of crossing the
Isthmus of Panama, because the continent there
is narrowest ; but that tract of country is wild,
mountainous, and little known, and in all pro-
bability a junction could not there be effected
bat on a small scale, with numerous locks, at
great expence and withlittle convenience. The
isthmus of Tehuantepee in the latitude of
deg., affords an easier communication, and, it: .
fact, a land communication has taken place there,
for the purpose of transporting indigo, and other
valuable commodities, in time of war, from Gua-
temala to Vera Cruz. A Canal here, of about
20 miles, would connect the head ,of the Huafa-
cualco, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico,
with that of Abe Rio de Chimalapa, which empties
itself in the Pacific Ocean. But a still shorter Canal
is necessary at the point, where we understand the
attempt is really to be made, and where the l3aroa
de Humboldt considered it to be the most prac-
ticable. Between 10 and 12 degrees of north
latitude lies the great lake of Nicaragua, 120
miles long and 41 wide, navigable throughout
by the largest vessels, and communicating with
the Atlantic by the river San Juan, 64 miles
long, and capable
,of being rendered navigable,
though not so at present except to flat-bottomed
vessels. On the South side of the lake a cut-is
proposed to be made, about 14 miles in length,
and navigable for ships of large burthen, which
cut will communicate, by the aid of locks,
with the Bay of Nicoya, on the Pacific,.
in latitude 10 degrees. When we reflect
on the wondrous change which was produced
in the commercial state of the world, by the dis-
covery of the passage to India around the Cape
of Good Hope, we may be led to expect that,a
change, not perhaps so complete, but still of
vast consequence, may be made by the pro-,
prosed union of the Atlantic and Pacific. At
the end of the fifteenth century the "Venetian
trade was in its most high and palmy state,'
supplying Egypt and Syria with European
manufactures, and receiving in return the pro,
ducts of the East ; but its foundations all at once
gave way, and' Portugal suddenly rose to emi-
nence and power, by the discoveries of Garna.
In the present instance the change to be content.
plated as probable, has nothing in it alarming to
our own commercial greatness, but, on the con-
trary, as it will owe its execution to British-en-,
terprize, so it appears, calculated to give 'new
vigour to British prosperity. •,

. .
[BRITISH PRESS.j
We have received the Madrid Gazettes of the'
26th and 29th of March. They repreSent the
Royal cause in Peru as sailing onwards in an on,
interrupted career of success ; but as we have
already, we hope, satisfied the curiosity of oar
readers with samples of the mendacity of the
official intelligence of the Madrid Gazette, we chi
not feel disposed to give currency to the weless
fabrications n e have now before us. The Vice,.
roy La-Serna, who, according to his latest hooonri
is styled Conde de Los Ander, gives a pompous
account of the preparations he was making- for
the campaign, which he intended to direct in per.
son against " rebel Bolivar,". over whom be hoped
to triumph" as in the glorious campaign of 11313
over the insurgent Chief Santa Cruz." ' Unfor.
tunately for La Serna's boasting, he . has, .since
he penned these dispatches, found , Bolivar -a
very different person from Santa Cruz. .f The
Viceroy little suspected how soon •• he :and
his valorous troops would be in ". the ribul
Bolivar's" custody. These dispatches; 'which
seem to be published now only to magnify-the
glory of the Patriot victors, state, that after,the
junction of La Serna and Valdez with CaOarap,
the King's army consisted of 14,000 veteran
' troops, well disciplined, with several regh4ents
of cavalry,- of which the Revolutionists were anid