The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-12-10


between Purser Smith and the Captain General Of
Cuba has been satisfactorily arranged, the admins
traton have leisure to turn their attention to Hayti
We expect they will do SO.
Atlantic ana Pacific Ship Canal.-Grs MT Inter-
national Project.
We publish elsewhere in our columns this morn
ing, an interesting document, which has been laid
before the Senate of the United States, embracing
the gigantic prcja Of Mr.. Nathaniel Niles, late
consul to Turin for the construction Of ship can Il
between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, By joiat
stock arrangement among the leading commercial
nations of both hemispherss To this magnificent
proj we call the attention of our readers who are
alive to the necessities Of the age and the tremen-
dous expansion Of the area Of trade in that great
which laves the borders of golden California
on the one side, and the shores of the Central
Flowe,y Kingdom on the other.
The commerce of the Atlantic and the Pacific is
pressing for passage across that mario neck of
the continent conn Getting North and South Americas
and the time for the fullment of the great original
idea of Columbus, of q westward passage to the
East, is at hand. The wants Of mankind canno.
admit Of much longer delay The work must be
done. Finish the Panama Railroad, with dozen
parallel tracks, and it will still be but tenn porary
expedient; and so will be the Nicaragua, the Tehuan
tepec, and the Aivarado, and all other projects,
as long as there is any land trnnsshipme nt, and
breaking of bulk, BY railroad or otherwise.
The great Pacific Railroad, from the Mississippi
river to San Francisco, would, if completed to day.
be Of inestmable value to this Union, in the inter-
change Of Atlanti: travel and merchandise With
tng 4 hop Dc l.,k ehno 60
plirg of that vast and waste expanse of country
between the great plains west of Missouri
and the golden valley of the Sacramento
This Pacific railroad, however, is not built, and
will lot probably be built for quarter Of century
to come. railroad of two thousand miles, through
country without inhabitants, without timber, and
without iron, and crossing the two great mountain
chains Of the continent, is not to be built in day
nor during one or two Presidential administrations
And when completed, though invalua ole and iniis
pen:able sthe connecting ligament between the
two great oceanic extremes of the Union, it will be
wholly inadequate to 1.-THE Of the swelling trade,
east snd west, seeking the transit Of our continent
The worlds mighty and accommodating commerce
will require something more.
ship canal between the two great oceans, some.
where between the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the
Isihmus Of Dsrien will alone meet the requirements
Of the age. There are some other routes Of inter
oceanic communication, above Tehuantepsc and be.
low Darien; but they are wholly unavailable, we
apprebend, for the purposes OF satisfactory ship
caralsay Of one hundred feet, ard twenty-five feet
deep-from the increase of the distance from sea
to sea, an important item, where every mile of
the canal will cost perhaps quarter of million
- all, Ie.b &c D. oboLJ
be the best point for such a canal. if there we're
sufficient basin in the summit level to supply the
locks in the decent to either ocean
But there is no such basin in the Panama or any
other line, excepting the Nicaragua route; and
there the two connected lakes Of Nicaragua and
Leon afford an ample reservoir for any amount Of
ocksge TO both oceans, and in every other respect
the most feasible line for the work Nature has
pointed out the way-she has, in fact, opened the
lire for light steamers from the Atlantic to the
Lake Nicaragua, leaving only twelve miles Of land
to cut through to the Pacific. The estimate Of
Colonel Childs, for ship cana! of seventeen fest
capacity, across by the San Juan river and the said
lake, is thirty millions of dollars. This is a round
sum Of money-too large even, for the reput alton,
credit, and enterprise, of such men as Cornelius
Vanderbilt l. Company. As mere private under
taking, in any hands, it caanot command the CAPT
talists Of Europe. The construction Of some twenty
FIVE miles Of railroad westward from Navy Bay, by
the enerprising capitalists Of the Panama Company
has occupied three years Of the perseverng labor
and at cost in money and human mu sole appalling
to look at, even in these days Of progress, withou
reg ard to the state Of the boilers
No the climate of Central America is, of itself
Ia 10 he
Of any great work, by a private company, re-
quiing thirty millions II dollars as the est
mated basis Of the smallest operations. They
cannot raise the means, nor put the requisite
number Of men to work, to give assurance OF
it's completion within any reasonable limit Of
time. Even one nation cannot Of itself, accom-
pish it. to meet the urgent demands Of trade within
satisfactory limit Besides, ship canal OF Ievep
teen feet depth will not answer for these times,
when ships Of twenty. five hundred tons, aud draw "
ing upwards of twenty feet water, are becoming rs
common as were clippers Of FIVE hundred a dozen
years ago A canal of one hundred fee. in width,
and twenty five feet in depth, will nearly come
up to the mark and such canal will probably cos.
a hundred millions of dollars
a combination Ct the mercantile nations of
the earth can alone venture with such an
enterprise with any prospect ef success; and the
prlitt Of Mr. Niles, in this view is entitled to deli
beate consideration. His plan Is as vast and CON,
rrebepsive as the work itself, for the combined
energies Of three or four such nations as the United
States England, France and Holland are surely
equal TO the task The work ia required by the
civilized ard unciyilized world II is attractive
from the manifest advantages II would confer upon
all mspknJ and espesisliy from the advantages 1t
would give 70 ", 70 81 uubroken stea oshp commu.
iicalion will CalDopia end Oregon, and China, and
Janan, md aii sis. ahd nl,h thc anmeasured an