The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-09-14


valuation or the charter must be continued to the
company in perpetuity. The charter Of the Pa
mama line, it should be observed is only for forty
nine years, at the end of which period the road
must revert to the public Of New Granada; but at
the expiration Of twenty years the government
may take it on payment Of $5,O0O,OO0, or at the
end of twenty years on payment of S2,0O0,0OO,
less than one-third of the cost The charter Of
the proposed Tehuantepec line is for twenty years.
when it must devolve to the governmental bonus
of 100000 to be paid to the latter by the COM
pany on the delivery of the charter 1t is eDcum-
bered with other conditions controlling its opera
tions and burdening its traffic.
Thus, it viii be seen that as regards the extent
and duration of its privileges, the Honduras line
Isthmus 80 Politically speaking it is also
much morGystorably situated The whole line and
both ports arc under the sole jurisdiction of
one State, which has surrounded the concession
with guarantees which place it beyond the dan
ger Of seizure or interruption. BY the recent
treaty with England the line will be placed I'M
der the joint protection Of this country and the
stanced. there is no political contingency tia.
can be thought of which can affect its prosperity.
OF its facilities of construction we have satisfac
tory evidence in the report Of the American
Commission, and in those of Captain Fitzroy. II.
n, and Mr. Kelley, an American gentleman, who
has had a survey Of the Isthmus made at his own
expense, with the object Of constructing shin
canal. Without going infinitely into the details
Of these reports, it is sufficient for us to state
that, notwithstanding the great elevation of the
summit level, (2,400 feet) the aggregate rise
and fail will not be as great as those of the Bos
tor and Albany, the New York Central the New
York and Erie, and many Others of our own
lines. There are no intermediate SUBMITS. The
road ascends gradually through the valley Of one
river and descends through that of another, and
presents none OF the. difficulties which are in
separable from routes crossing district Of
country transversely to the water courses In
addition to this, the longest incline, and conse-
quently the lightest grades is on the Atlantic
side, from which direction the heaviest freight
may be expected to come But to reduce the
question to positive figures, we may state that
feet on the Atlantic declvity, and sixty on the
Pacific. The maximum grades on the proposed
Tchuantepec road are sixty-four feet, not to
speak OF tunnelling. Those on the proposed
Honduras line will not exceed fifty-fve feet. We
take these data from Captain Fitzroys report as
being least likely to incur the charge Of Partially
For the pecuniary prospects of the line we
ara FORT, al laI n, bay
TO conjectural estimates. The returns of the
Panama road viii afford fair basis of calcula-
ton for the returns that may be expected from
the Honduras route. From the report of the
former, it appears that two semi-annual divi-
dends Of six per cept were paid to the Panama
shareholders out of the earnings Of the road for
1855, leaving surplus of three per cent addi-
tonal in the treasury of the company Up to
January /, 1856, the road had paid thirty aud
half per cent on its subscribed capital These
earnings were made on a travel nearly equally
divided with the route via Nicaragua.
Amongst the other advantages which the Hon
duras line will have over its Isthmus rivals are
those OF the greater durability Of the works and
a more convenient and abundant supply OF fuel
Owing to the quantity Of wood employed in the
construction of the Panama line and the moisture
Of the climate the outlay for repairs necessarily
very great. This will not be the case with the
Honduras road, the temperature being so much
dryer and besides this all the requisite materials
as we'll as native labor, are to be found on the
spot. The fuel which is used on the Panama line
is carried from distant ports, but in the case of
the Honduras road there viii not be this difficulty.
as IL is 10 he found in abundance near Fonseca
Gulf.
Whether, therefore, we take the privileges
granted under the charter, Of which we have only
specified the leading one the facilities OF c)nstruc-
ton and fuel, the financial prospects, of theinc,
IT is undeniable that no railroad enterprise has
ever presented itself under more promising aus
pices Fayorably situated as 1t will be FOR COM
munication with North and South America,
Europe, China, India Australia aud the islands
of the Pacific, it is one that will speedi-
ly concentrate upon IL the attention of
capitalists, both here and abroad, and employ
probably some portion of the immense sums
which are being frittered away on bogus specula-
tions offering no real prospect Of return. OF the
vast commercial benefits which II win ultimately
confer upon our continent il IL unnecessary to
speak. They will be apparent to every one who
chooses to give moments consideration to the
subject
OF a similar character, in its prospective inflr.
ence on the desinies Of the other hemisphere, but
involving greater expenditure and covering q
larger extent Of space in its construction, il the
project known as the Euphrates Valley route to
India. OF the immense variety Of schemes elabo-
rated within the last quarter of century for the
purpose Of shortening the communication b.
tween Great Britain and its Indian possessions, 1t
Is curious that although none are older, none
have continued to maintain so strong hold Of
the favor Of scientific men as this. Whilst ill the