The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-29 00:00:00

THE INTER-OCEANIC RAIL WA r.

A deputation of the Honduras Inter• Oceanic
Railway Company had the honour of being received
on Saturday at the Palace of the Tuileries by the
Emperor. The deputation consisted of Mr. F.
Moulton, of Paris; Mr. Joseph Robinson, of Lon-
don ; Dr. Holland, M.D., New York, Physician to
the Surveying Expedition ; and Mr. Robert Rowan

Moore, Secretary to the Company. The deputation

was introduced by Senor Herran, Minister Pleni-
potentiary for the States of Honduras and San Sal-

vador. The interview lasted over forty minutes.
The spokesman of the deputation stated that vari-
ous routes had been from time to time projected,
and in 1854 the Panama Railway had been opened.
Over this line there passed a large and increasing
traffic. It carried about 80,000 passengers and
£16,000,000 sterling of treasure per annum, besides
a large quantity of French and English light goods.
Since the date of the opening of the Panama road
it had paid in dividend 12 per cent. per annum upon
its capital. Last year its surplus, after dividend,
exceeded £190,000, and its sinking and reserve
fund amounted to £242,000. In one day in De-
cember, 1859, 2,300 passengers were carried over
the line at £5 per head. The search for a more
favourable route has led to the discovery of that
across the State of Honduras. This route has been
carefully surveyed under English direction, and
the survey has been reviewed by Lieutenant-
Colonel Stanton, R.E., an officer appointed by her
Majesty's Government for that purpose. The sur-
vey has established the following facts :—That
Port Cortez, on the Atlantic (lat. 15.49 N.), and
Fonsica, on the Pacific (lat. 13.21 N.), are both
first-class harbours; that across Honduras is a
perfectly practicable route for a railway of 220
miles in length to connect those harbours. Mr.
Frantwine, the superintending engineer, reports
that the result of the survey is the establish-
ment of the interesting and important fact, that
there exists through Honduras a perfectly feasible
route for a railway, with natural harbours
at its ocean termini,"the existence of which must be
regarded as a controlling feature in an enterprise
like that proposed, and which derives peculiar im-
portatice from the fact that throughout the entire
extent of Central America there occurs no similar
instance in combination with a route so favourable
as that developed in the survey. Colonel Stanton
reports that the harbours are unexceptionable, and
that the road can be constructed without any sharper
curves or heavier grades than are to be found on
existing lines over which locomotives work without
difficulty. The security and neutrality of the route
and the freedom of the ports are guaranteed in per-
petuity, under all circumstances, by special articles
in treaties with the Governments of Great Britain,
France, and the United States. The words of the
treaty between Honduras and Great Britain, nego-
tiated by Senor Herran (signed Aug. 27, 18561 are
as follow :

" In consideration of these concessions, and in
order to secure the construction and permanence of
the route or road herein contemplated, and also to
secure for the ben( fit of mankind the uninterrupted
advantages of such communication from sea to sea,
her Britannic Majesty recognises the rights of so-
vereignty and property of Honduras in and over
the line of the said road, and for the same reason
guarantees, positively and efficaciously, the entire
neutrality of the same so long as Great Britain shall
enjoy the privileges conceded to it in the preceding
section of this article. And when the proposed
road shall have been completed her Britannic Ma-
jesty equally engages, in conjunction with the Re-
public of Honduras, to protect the same from in-
terruption, seizure, or unjust confiseation, from
whatsoever quarter the attempt may proceed."
The treaty with France, signed July, 28, 1857,
has the same words, and also the treaty with the
United States, signed March 28, 1860. This
road therefore is based upon the principle that
should rule in every commercial route. It knows
no national distinctions in peace or war. It must
be open upon equal terms to all the world, and its
ports free to all the world. (The Emperor here ob-
served that this was the true course for such an
undertaking. The distance of this route between
New York and California is about 1,100 miles, or
more than one-fifth the entire distance of 5,224
miles, shorter than by Panama. (The Emperor
here referred to the map, and remarked that :the
saving was most important.) 0f 40 recorded hur-
ricanes but two crossed the ocean route between
New York and Port Cortez. The saving of time
between New York and California and British Co-
lumbia from the safety of the voyage and conve-
nience of ports, &c., would be not less than five
days. The harbours of the line have in their im-
mediate neighbourhood ample means of supplying
provisions, water, timber, and other materials for
the provision, repair, and building of ships. The
climate on the coast is not unhealthy, and that of
the interior all authorities concur in describing as
most salubrious, and in every respect suited for
settlement by Europeans ; the railway has, besides
its right of way, a grant in perpetuity of 1,400,000
acres. The lands are fertile, and abound in valuable
woods and minerals.

The Emperor then inspected the maps of the
line and ports. He asked at what gradients the
summit was surmounted, and expressed him-
self satisfied with the reply that the ascent
from both the Atlantic and the Pacific
was to a great extent gradual ; that the steepest
gradients upon the line were for five miles on the
Atlantic side, rising from the plain of Comayagna,
85 feet to the mile ; and for 22 miles rising from the
Pacific at a gradient of 95 to the mile, but that these
gradients Colonel Stanton states admit of being very
much improved. _ .

His Majesty stated his satisfaction at the route
being thoroughly international—English, Freneh,
and American. He inquired as to the estimated
cost. It was stated that the directors had received
a tender for the construction of the line for
£2,500,000, and that
for aboutatitcou 40 could be m
amount, seeing
that milesonade for that
the
At-
lantic side the river Hurnaya was navigable.
In conclusion, the Emperor assured the deputa-
tion that the enterprise h s ould have his best pro-
tection.

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERs.—We are
requested to state that the conversazione of Mr. G. P.
Bidder, President of the Institution of Civil Engineers,
wl.l not take place on this evening (Tuesday, May 29), as
originally intended, but on this day week, Tuesday, the
sth June, at 9 p.m.
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