Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1857-05-02
WAYS TO THE SOUTH SEA.

w a D III III So III SEA.
1t was sad oversight of NuNEs BALBOA,
when he found the great South Sea, not to
have found some shorter way to ii than about
the southern capes. From his days 10 ours the
water route has remained unabridged The
trader has still to plough his circuitous way
around the protuberance of Brazil and through
the storms Of Coed Hope and the Horn, not
wlihstandlng all the reiterated charges of gal
liant adventure at the ice. blockade of the north
west passage, and all the surveys effected in
the centre with view to ship-canals. Like
great deal Of other unfinished business left over
by our enterprsing forefathers, and which we
of the nineteenth century have taken in hand
and dispatched, this Of finding or making mid
die passage by water 10 the South Sea devolves
npon US. and has grown so urgent that we may
ook-who knows how soon Ito its triumph
ant achievement. The old supersiiion-for
geography as well as gion has its supersii-
lions that the water of the Pacific was so
much higher than the Atlantic as to render an
aqueduct impraciicable, is thoroughly disprov-
ed. There is no such inequality Of rauk 10
prevent marriage. The stubborn range OF
Cordileras raise themselves between and forbid
the banns but that difficulty science stands
ready 10 obviate, either BY climbing, with locks,
over the mountain SUBMITS, or by penetrating
their bowels with tunnels. Railroads, too, scale
their peaks, by means Of aspiring gradients and
decided curves; SO that all the possibilities of
middle passage, whether by water OF rail, are
amply demonstrated. 1t is only left for capital
fnr l., ~
profit of the connection, before it shall be ac-
complished. The road from Aspinwall 10 Pan.
anna has pioneered the way Not inappropri-
aiely might we allude TO BRowyINo's nervous
thought:
" 'Tis in the advance Of individual minds rton
That the slow crowd should ground their expecta-
Eventually to follow-as the sea
Waits ages in its bed, till some one wave
OF all the mutitudinous mass extends
The empire Of the whole, some feet perhaps,
Over the strip Of sand which could confne
Its fellows so long time; thenceforth the rest,
F'ep IN III. .-~~-.~. R,.--s a. ----, ....-
And SO much is clear gained"
The several ihoroug ghfares, completed, con.
sructins, or merely contemplated, are in num-
Der six, namely; the Tehuan,epec Railroad,
the Honduras Railroad, the Nicaragua Canal,
the Chiriqui Turnpike, the Panama RalIoad,
and the Airato Canal. We give the names in
inverse order with their several distances from
the equator. In glancing at the relative mer-
lis of these enterprises, let us begin with
The TEHuANTEpEc RAILROAD.
The Garay grant; who has not heard of ii
How Senor Jose de Garay obtained from Santa
Ana, as long ago as 1912, the right to create
a communication, wet or dry, across this 18th.
mus, with liberal concessions of land powers
and privileges How Garay delayed, and the
American war intervened, stripping Mexico of
vast territories at the Nor,hl How the dis
coveres of gold in California and Australia sug.
gesled that the best possession still left her was
the transit Of this lslhmus, and how they re-
pudlaled the Garay grant, which had passed in
the meantime, through several assignments. in
10 the hands Of New Orleans company and
resumed her rights in all their extentl How
under the more enterprlsng regime Of Gen.
Comoniort, the actual President the work of
constructing railroad has been commenced
with Mexican energy, which may complete it
IN the lapse OF an age or two! The natural
features of the country are more favorable 10
the creation of a railroad than Of a canal. Sc
nor Moro, who surveyed it many years since
with an eye to the latter, found the scheme
practicable, though demanding long series of
locks, the summit elevation OF 6S4 feet above
ocean level having 10 be overcome. Enough
water TO supply these successive locks was found
on the table-lands but the formidable cost of
their construction has probably discouraged the
enterprise, for the present, at least. The New
Orleans Company, organized under the worth
less grant of Senor Garay, had the ground
carefully surveyed in 1851, with view to
railroad, found a choice of available routes, and
a possibility of still better ones being discover
ed. Their search for the latter was, however,
cut short by the interference of the Mexican
Government. The one fixed upon by Major
Barnard, the Chief Engineer, has been adopted,
we believe, by the present managers of the
work.
The greatest height to be overcome by the
track is 1856 ieet above the Pacific waters. The
direction is southwest from a point not far be-
low Vera Cruz; the distance from the Gulf of
Mexico 10 the Bay of Veniosa, on the Pacific
is 1856 miles. The advocates of the Tehuan-
tepec transit claim for it the advantages of trav-
ersng more healthful region than others fur
ther south; of shortening the distance TO San
Francisco from New York by the Panama
route, some 1900 miles OF being remote from
the possessions of European powers, which
command the other thoroughares. 1t is, on
the other hand, objected that the winds and cur
rents of the Pacific terminus are uniriendly TO
the access of sailing craft; an objection, how
ever, equally applicable 10 all the ports contig-
uous TO the lsihmus The local traffic of the
river Coslzacoalcos is certainly OF great value,
nearly eight thousand tons of mahogany hav-
ing been exported thence last year, chiefly to
the United Stetes. Recent intelligence from
Guatemala proves that the confidence Of Presi-
dent Carrera in the railroad enterprise is so
perfect, that he has already chartered line of
steamships TO connect lstapa with Tehuaniepec.
In the mean time, carriage road has been
50 far completed across the lsthmus, as to war
rant Col. A. G. Sloo, the head Of this special
undertaking, in contracting with the Govern
ment of the United States for the transmission