The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-12 00:00:00

eventntt arm
LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1850.

Perhaps there has never been a more brilliant
illustration of the advantages arising from the
maintenance of friendly relations even with a state of
the least apparent importance, than that afforded by
our prolonged intercourse with the KING of the
insignificant Musquito territories. Out of that inter-
communication has originated one of those extra-
ordinary documents which are destined to exercise an
almost invaluable influence over the march of civili-
zation. The convention, indeed, which was ratified
on the 4th of July at Washington, a convention pro-
viding for the speedy union of the Pacific Ocean and
the Atlantic, has been pronounced, and with some
show of justice, by the Colonial Magazine, " the
most important diplomatic act of this country."
According to this treaty the Governments
of the United States and of Great Bri-
tain stand pledged to the construction
of a ship canal across the isthmus joining together
the two continents of America. That deliberate
settlement of the question, moreover, while it cannot
fail to promote the interests of the mercantile world at
large throughout all succeeding generations, must also
reflect the highest possible honour upon the statesmen
to whose genius and integrity it is attributable. If
under the Presidential administration of JAMES POLK
the dominions of the Western Republic were enhanced
by the acquisition of such vast portions of the Mexi-
can territory, it was under the rule of ZACHARY
TAYLOR that this remarkable convention was
agreed to with England—a convention which must
open up new and inexhaustible channels of
commercial enterprise, and develope in a novel and
surprising manner the maritime energies of the Anglo-
Saxons. If, again, the removal of the chief difficulties
so long existing in the question cf the Oregon boun-
daries must be imputed to the Earl of ABERDEEN,
at the time when he held the seals of the Foreign-
office, the glory of having :accomplished the solution
of a much more perplexing and important difficulty,
that connected with the possibility of navigating
between the two oceans by means of an artificial
water-course at Panama, must be awarded to the
Noble Lord her MAJESTY'S present chief Secretary in
the Foreign Department. To the vigilant sagacity,
the untiring perseverance, the skill, the decision, and
the promptitude of Lord PALMERSTON must be attri-
buted the fortunate conclusion of a subject which,
from its somewhat intricate and embarrassing nature,
must ctherwise have remained a much longer time
under discussion. Nevertheless, it must not be for-
gotten that a share cf the credit arising out of this
negotiation must be given in all fairness to the two able
diplomatists, who acted on the occasion as the Minister's
plenipotentiaries. Thanks to the ability of Mr. CLAY-
TON, on the part of the United States, and of Sir
HENRY BuLwzn, as the British Ambassador to the
councils of Washington, no obstacles were permitted
to interfere with the rapid solution of a problem upon
which the commercial interests of the two worlds
were more or less dependent.
Before a very considerable time has elapsed the
intention of England and America will have been
carried into effect ; and then will be seen the extra-
ordinary benefits accruing to both from opening a line
of communication, not inappropriately designated the
Dardanelles of the Western Hemisphere. As yet
any large speculation upon the consequences of that
great work would only seem to partake of romance
and exaggeration. Yet a little serious thought can
only serve to assure the most cautious and reflective,
that the dreams of the most extravagant imagination
are in a fair way of being eclipsed by reality. A
new road must be opened to the East fur England.
The idea of the immortal COLUMBUS, fantastic
though it has so long appeared, will at length, in
effect, be realised. To reach the Oriental nations
with the greatest speed, ships will have to leave
the western shores of Europe to proceed
directly acreoss the Atlantic. And although the
gold-running rivers of Cathay, and the jewel-covered
shores of Cipango, have proved fabulous like the dells
of Atalanta and the jasper minarets of Dorado, there
will still remain for " the merchants of Old England,
the Seigneurs of the Seas," as fruitful regions for their
enterprise and as attractive objects fur their naviga-
tion. Speedier access will be, thereupon, afforded to
the Aladdin's garden of California, to the spice
groves of the eastern Archipelago, to the stores
of Chinese tea and ir digo, to the rice-fields of Hindos-
tan and the coffee grounds of Ceylon, to bazaars like
that of Benares, teeming with all the productions of
Asiatic luxury, their silks, and perfumes, and crapes,
and precious stones, and ivory. Instead of having to
encounter the stormy regions of the Cape of Good
Hope or of Terra del Fuego, we shall have
the opportunity afforded us of proceeding directly
across the Atlantic to the islands of the
Pacific, and to the vast majority of our own
insular and continental possessions. The opening
of a ship canal across the isthmus connecting the
two Americas, while it will remove the obstacles
for that yet more gigantic enterprise to which we
have before now repeatedly directed attention, namely,
a grand trunk railway across the northern continent,
will not in any way prevent the accomplishment of
that noble and splendid undertaking. It will, on the
contrary, tend in a great measure to facilitate the
latter work, by accustoming the merchants of both
hemispheres to the western line of communication,
and thereby remove a source of prejudice
that might otherwise remain obstinate, if not
insurmountable. Nor must it be forgotten in
reflecting upon the advantages certain to accrue to
Asia and to Europe, as well as to England and to the
United States, from the digging of this ship canal be-
tween the Pacific and the Atlantic, that other advan-
tages, and advantages too of an enormous kind, must
accrue in like manner to the fruitful countries lying
almost insulated at the back of America.

Having commented in detail upon the beneficen
nature of the communication, an intelligent pamph.
leteer4* observes as follows :

" A diplomatic act of so benevolent and exalted a
character would not have been complete had it been
limited to one lecality ; accordingly, it is declared that
the two Governments, base desired not only to accom-
plish a particular otject, but to establish a general prin-
ciple;' end that the terms of this convention shall be
extended by treaty st'pulations to any other practicable
communication which may be proposed or established,
whether by canal or railway, across the isthmus which
connects North and South America;' and finally—that
which we may look upon as the most satisfactory com-
plement of the transaction—other states aro to be invited
to enter into similar engagements with Great Britain and
the United States, whereby the neutrality and security
of the ship-canal may be established and maintained
with the common concurrence and guarantee of all the
great maritime powers."

* State of the Great Ship Canal Question. Con-
vention between Great Britain and the United States.
Bvo., pp. 24. London; Wilson, 1850.