The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1852-11-17

lhs policy OF commerce." and not I" the policy Of
conquest" is the policy Of the United States
The spirit OF the age, animated by private enterprise
every day seeking fields for its peaceful iriumphs
and commerce can accomplish throughout the world no
achievements like those which nots its coming. and its
marches up and down the Amazon. and other great riv
ers OF that greatest Of Sheds the Atlantic slopes
OF South America
Men may talk about Cuba and Japan; but. of all the
diplomatic questions OF the day, the free navigation of
those majestic waercourses, and their tributaries, TO
this country The most valuable and important. II sur
passes them all II is paramount.
The country that is drained by the Amazon, il reclaim
ed from the savage the wild beast and the reptile and
reduced 10 cultivation now would be capable of support
ing with its produce the population OF the whole world
Ii is rice country. The yield OF rice is forty
for is reaped five months after planting. and may
be planted al any time OF the year. Thus the Mariner
may plant bushe Of rice TO- dayn i've months hence
he will gather forty from il. Planting these forty, he
may in another five months, gather sixteen hundred
bushels. In ten months the earth yields increase
there OF thousand-fo and more tac
Corn, too, may be planted at any time, and in three
months is lit for gathering Thus the husbandman there
may gather four crops OF corn year. Its
everlasting summer. with perpetual round OF harvests
Il is the policy OF commerce, and is the poll
icy of these United States, to open that river to
and lis valley TO settlement and cultivation and its earth
air and waters the business and Of trade and
traffic
There, upon that Atlantic slope OF South America in
the valley OF the La Plata and in the valley of the ANA
zon, Nature in all her ways has been most bountifu
There the vegetable kingdom displays It's forces in all
their most perfect grandeur and in all their might and
there, the mineral kingdom is most dazzling with its
wealth.
In that region OF country wagon-roads are few turn
pixies unknown, and the first railway has yet TO be built
and though the La Plata drains country nearly large
and many times more fertile than own Mississippi
valley and though that of the Amazon twice great
and its tributaries many times longer, navigabe and
numerous yet the steamboat upon those waters is a
problem almost untried In the valley Of the Amazon
the plough is unknown; and the American axe the
great implement OF settlement and civilization is curl
osity
For more than three hundred years the white man has
been established in that Amazonan basin and for
than three hundred years il has remained bowling
wilderness. The European has made impression
noneno, not the leastupon its forests How long shall
| this continue to be 80
Has diplomacy arts, commerce no charms, by which
its rivers may be opened navigation It's forests
Element its pampas to cultivation
What commerce has done for South America is moth
ing as to what it will do 1t has fringed only the
OF that continent with settlement and cultivation.
The great interior has been touched The heart OF
the country is commercial blank is it TO be reached
except through the powers Of steam and the free
/ OF it's majestic water courses.
i 1t OF this country-of the importance OF settling up
OF sending there the immigrants the steamboat the
and the plough with the messengers Of commensurate
wish to speak.
and what its actual condition. and then will be
abled the better judge the OF policy
which would be best for the commercial nations OF the
earth TO take with regard TO 1t.
The semi-continent Of south America is very nearly in
shape that OF right-angled triangle. Its hypoenuse
D--.G 1( "a. Iau~ n~to~ de fra Catno
Horn to Cape ST. Rogue Here the right angle is formed
with the other leg, which extends from Cape ST. Roqse
in latitude deg south. Cabo La vela Of the Caribbean
4 sea, in latitude IL deg. north.
4 The longer leg is that between Capes Horn and ST
ROGUE il is $500 geographical miles in length The
other leg has only $500; but the hypoienuse, which
stands on The Andes and rests the Pacific, is more
I than 1000 miles long.
This com uraon exercises powerful influence upon
the climates OF South America especially il regards its
heilography The great rivers OF that country. the
mighty Amazon and the majestic La Plata, resuants
of this conhgura,ion In consequence OF having the
sea front which rests upon the short leg in the northern
hemisphere and looking 10 the northeast; and IN conse
ouence of having The searont which rests upon the
long leg in the southern hemisphere to look southeast
the northeast and the southeast trade winds, they
come across the Atlantic filled with moisture, go full
charged into the interior dropping In showers they
20 until they reach the snow capped submits of the
Andes, when the last crop tuht Nciy iow
ture can wiring from them is deposited TO melt and feed
the sources OF the Amazon and the La Plata with their
i tributaries
II The northeast trade winds commence to blow about
the Tropc OF Cancer and coming from the quarter they
do. they blow obquely the Atlantic. They evap
crate from the they 20, and. impngng al right
giles upon the South American shoe-lins that extends
from Cape St Rogue Cabo La Vela they carry into the
interior the vapor thai forms the clouds that give the
rain which supplies with water The Magdalena, the
otonoco and the northern tributaries Of the Amazon
The volume OF water discharged by these rivers into
the sea is expressive OF the quantity which those north
cas-, trade winds take up from the sea- and carrying The
clouds precpae upon the water shed that is drained by
these streams. They but pipes and cutters which
Nature has placed under the caves OF the great water
shed that has the Andes for ridge pole, the Caribbean
Sea and North Atlantic for a cistern.
The trade wind region OF the North Atlantic affords the
water surface where the evaporation is carried that
supplies with rains, dews, and moisture, New Granada,
Venezuela the three Guzanas and The Atlantic slopes OF
i Ecuador.
On the other hand the southeast trade winds
to blow about the parallel OF 30 deg. IS deg south.
They come too obliquely the Atlantic and strike
perpendicularly upon the South American coastline
which extends from Cape ST. Rogue towards Cape Horn
They pass into the interior with their whole load OF mos-
ture, every drop OF which is wruny from them before
they cross the Andes The quantity OF moisture which
is taken up from the sea and rancd down upon this
derfuy fruitful country may be In what the La