The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1853-07-02
Lieut.. Maury on the Pacific Railroad and
the Amazon.

7
letter is too long for us to publish entire but be.
, irg iraught with valuable Information, we design
giving full digest Of is, hoping that the dis
senuaiun Of knowledge upon these two subjects
will powerfully influence congress in favor Of car.
ry ing out these great measures 10 speaking OF
! the commercial advantages which may accrue 10
u. from the free navigation Of the Amazon, be
thus writes:
Fix your eyes upon the map il you please
anl YOU will see that South America 10, in
shape. a beautiful cornucop,a Consider its
mount aims, that they are away to the west look
at .he number and extent Of ITS rivers that you
may understand how well watered the whole AT.
lantc slope Of that country is, and you will see
that, literally and truly, it 10 destined to be a
great horn Of plenty. lis mouth is turned rlgh,
towards US, ns though it were ready to pour out
Of its vast abundance, an infinite variety ol
fruits. Whenever It does pour them out, it will
empty them into our commercial lap tha, afuro-
said magnificent Mediterranean sea of America.
| Turn steam, the emlgrani, commerce, with
their Influence upon that watershed, and you
will make 1t one vast plantation, which will pro
/ duce for US all that the climate Of India aiiurds
| aud being at our own doors, will want from us.
( IN return, every hing which We Lave to spare
! And, what is 1t that new settlers in new cOUn.
/ try do not want
New York, at great cost Of time and money,
/ has, by means of her Elic canal and other works
OF internal Improvement, well nigh turned the
Mississippi river upside down. She has taken
one of its commercial mouths, at least from the
Bllzr, and placed 1t al Sandy iIrok The Rio
de la Plata Is nearly 10 large as the Mis,issippi
The valley it drains Is proporrionatly as great
and far Hofe fertile, for Is Intcrtropical and a
canal, Of few steps IN length by COMPARISON,
will turn that Mississippi Of the South completely
upside Down, also bringing lts moutb,for all rractl'
cal purposes OF trade and cnmn,rce into the ANA
zon. And the two will ,heD, for macy other
great purposes Of State he taken by the physi.
cal agent. OF the Creator--the winds of heaven
and the currents OF the sea-and brought to the
straits OF Florida, there to be united, IN their
great outlet upsn the high seas, with the mouth
Of our own Mississippi What focus
The Amazon, as It now exists, gives drainage
to SIX nations. 1t Is the natural oulIetto the At
lanllc Of much Of Brazil of most Of Bolivia, Pc
ru, and Ecuador, and of large provinces IN New
Granada and Venezuela.
"Bu, the Empire ha. the strength ard the po.
stlon; she holds the mouth, aud will not let the
Republics so up or come dowa with thei
steamboats,. They are our sisters. They want
Z our sympathy, aGd need our assistance IN their
noble ,iIur,s to introduce the principles oi free
trade Up II the Amazon. From the u.hor hcmIs
| phere thrse nations are stretching their repub,l-
can hands out over their AmaZonian tributaries,
prOcRinlng fur the waters Of that river the free
| dom # the sea-. and inviting the world 10 come
| up with the steamboat and river craft, the axe
aud the emigrant aud open commerce and navI
gatlon wr.h their Amazonlan provinces, the ne
| hest p,dmon, country IN the world A spirit
! hus gone abroad there, and 1t is upon the water,
| OF The Amazon"
| In view Of the vast commercial field lying hid
den within the confines Of the South Am,rlfau
Continent, the L. s. government, sent an cxPe'
diton, some two years ago, into that country, to
explore the rivers, and report as to their avalla
Glty for steamboat navigation In reference IL
this expedition, Lieut.. Maury says:
The party consisted Of but two officers CoUn
dOsery, French otiic,r bad, when engaged II
an exploration Of the same region, been murder
ed but a short time before; yet notwithstanding
/ his. the American ottic.r, when he arrived II
I SIGHT Of the great water shed, determined, witt
| lhe go ahead spirit Of bis couuirymen to divide
the yarty; to send his companion, accompanied
by young Amrrcap sailor whom he had enlls
ted in Lima. into Bolivia and down the Madeira
while he himself, with no one but Peruvian an,
such Of the natives as he might pick up by tb,
way to accompany him, resolved to undertake th'
main stream itself Thus accompanied he de
scended that river on RATS and in dug out
through distance ofthree thousand five hundred
miles and found 1t nayigable for vessels Of the lar
gesr class from the sea to the Andes
That expedition has stirred up the people IL
the Spanish Republics Of the Amazon. The Pre-
sident OF Bolivia has taken the lead in the matter
and proved himself a statesman Of the first or
der. He has thrown the Amazonan provinces .
that Republic open to the commerce Of th
world he has proclaimed the freedom Of the sea
ior the Amazon and it's tributaries; and has oftc
red prl1e Of $40 900 to the master Of the frs
steamer that arrives there from the ocean.
Peru has caught the same spirit she too ha
proclaimed the freedom of the seas for her Anna
Eonian water courses. She is organizing terrific
res there, and has placed IN the hands Of tn
executive 5000, 900 ior the purpose ofencouragn
immigration and settlement.
Ecuador, too, is moving in the same direction
and expect the next mail To bring me goot
news from her and from New Grenada also.
Miller. from Mississippi, is in Bolivia Cust
ing, Of Indiana, is in Ecuador; and j, Ran
dolph Clay, one OF the most accomplished dplC
matsts that has the honor to represent this &c
vernment at any court, is in Lima. These funS
tonarcs are alive to the importance of this snt
jecl. They regard the opening up of the Anna
zon to navigation, trade, and settlement, as on
Of the great questions of the age; and, we ma
rely upon it, they will do their duty there if w
will do ours here.
Richards, the sailor lad whom IIerndon pickle
up IN Lima tn accompany his expedition, wen
with tba; part of 1t, which, as | have said, wa
sent into Bolivia 1t visited Cuzco, and passe
through the Inca country, the classical land @
South America.
Richards had been round Cape Horn amen
the anti scidns. He visited the great qulcksil
yer mines Of HuancaveIica, and walked throug
their magnificent galleries, roofed and tloore
, with cnuabar, and supported by pink stained &C
1 lumns of the same mineral. lie stood upon th
shores Of Lake Tlticaca, and saw the Desaguadt
! ro river, which sometimes emptles into that LAX
and sometimes runs from it. lie assembled I'll
, snow.capped peaks Of that monntaln range iror
= whose sides more than two thousand millions
silver dollars have been taken. He saw the ID
ma, the acuna, and ali paca tanned on one ban'
and feeding wild IN their mountain businesses q
n the other. He descended into the glorious pet
r mont country Of Bolivia which is drained BY I'll
v tributaries of the Amazon. Passing through th
{ region Of silver, he Approached the diamond dl
tric,s and aurifcrous streams of Brazil; and, 4
at one sweep the whole range Of the vcgetab
a . r 1 al