The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1855-03-07
THF DAILY DtSPATGn
WEDNEsDAY HoRNIwo. MARCH :. 1883

INV SSHtVst ------A-----
W1EI:DNEsDAY NoRNINo, mARcH :. 1859
TVS OCEANS UsrrEp.--We have hereto
fore given brief account OF the interesting
,srs~oni an attending the opening OF the Pa
mama Railroad. Judge Bowien. the AMER
c.n minister to Nicaragua, who, made me
.aara.s ON the occasion, is native OF VIZ
mi. Speeches were also made by james
" plate. ESQ.,, Jacob b. Jewett, Esq, James
n sanford, Esq, of N. York, and Jno. Hone
Fac. Of New Jersey, and various appropri.
,,a sentiments offered. The British and
French Consuls were absent from the fes-
tivity s.from causes beyond their control.
From the speeches made on the occasion,
ve gather the following interesting facts -
The road Is the termination of great strug-
vle of more than three centuries for pas
sage through the West TO India. In the
effort of Columbus to demonstrate his by
pothesis that the earth was globular, and that
the true route to the east was through west
srn channel, he discovered to the world a
hitherto unknown hemisphere, but CONT
nent interviewed to check him in his career.
This led to . new struggle, which has con-
tinued for more than three centuries. and in
which every inlet, from the frozen regions Of
the Arctic Sea to Cape Horn, has been pene.
trated. to find passage to India through the
western continent cat the very commence
ment," says Judge Bowlen, .of this mighty
struggle. this Isthmus, where we now stand
and with il the great Pacific ocean, was dis
covered. Balbao, an officer of the crown,
and Francis Pizarro, then a youthful adven.
turer unknown to fame, but who was subse
quently destined to ill SO large space in
the worlds history as the conqueror of Peru
were the first to penetrate the great mystery
that lay beyond the new continent in the dis
covery of the Great Ocean! Formal posses
sion was taken of it, as an acquisition to the
Spanish Crown, by Balbao's marching into
its waters and asserting the dominion OF the
sword over its boundless waves. This dis
covery was made before Cortes had learned
the road to Mexico, and must have been the
first. Immediately upon the discovery of this
Isthmus, advocates arose to vindicate its
claims as the great pass.way of the worlds
commerce. Spain, then in the very zenith
of her glory, made it the route of the COM
MERGE Of her American possessions, and Law.
ished treasures with liberal hand for its
defenses. The cities of Porto Bello on the
Atlantic, aad Panama on the Pacific, sprung
into existence as if by magic, and Europe
rung with tales of her wealth and splendor,
more dazzling and extravaganza than the
widest creations of fiction. They were to
which every daring adventurer sought en-
trance that he might possess himself of their
treasures. And yet this rich commerce was
carried between the two cities on a mere
paved nuls-road. The history of this age OF
the Isthmus fully establishes her claims to
the highest commercial Importance, as her
cities rose upon her commerce alone and fell
only when the continued rapacity of Europe,
stimulated by extravaganza legends, plumber
ed and destroyed it. Spain herself contrib
uted to their fall, by such extravagant pre-
tensions 10 regard to her American posses
sions, that it aroused nearly all Europe
against her, particularly every lawless ad-
venturer. Drunk with her wealth and pow
or, she put no limits to her arrogant assump-
tions, short of locking up the commerce of
the seas. This policy led to the destruction
of her cities along the coast, and the Grip
ping of that commerce upon which they
fourished on every sea- Porto Bello and
Panama were no exceptions to the rule
They fell, and in two centuries from their
foundation, scarcely preserved relics enough
to attest splendor that had once dazzled
the fancy of the world. The golden age of
the Isthmus had departed, but survived long
enough to establish its Importance as COM
mercial highway-as the true route to India.
1t is melancholy truth, which the historian
will record with no pleasure, that after this
period of her greatness, she relapsed back
into a state of obscurity but little removed
from the condition in which her conquerors
had originally found her,
The glory of the Isthmus, however, passed
away, and she remained for nearly a century
and half almost an unknown land, until the
exploration about ten years ago, of the gift
ed American traveller, the late John L. Ste
phens, who, after careful examination. be-
came satisfied both of the practicability as
well as importance of constructing an easy
means of communication between the two
seas. He succeeded in inspiring some of
the merchants of New York with his SAGA.
cious and enterprising spirit, first and fore.
most among whom were VIM II. AspinwaI,
and Henry Chauncey, and who, with Ste.
phens, became the grantees of the right Of
way; sought and obtained from Congress
and from the New York Legislature, the
needed legislative aid; advanced the requisite
funds, and endured the heat and burthen OF
the day. A monument is to be erected, upon
which the names of these men are to be in
cribed.
The advantages of this road, as set forth
by various speakers are, that the distance
between the Indies and the ports of Europe,
is to be lessened at least one-fourth, and the
American Atlantic cities one-third the long
and dangerous navigation around Cape Horn
avoided the whole trade of the western
shores Of the two Americas, brought into i'm.