Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-01-16
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The FSrench in NIexicO.I

'7TT- U
J. The French in NAexicOshi s9as
We should have little apprehension for
the peace of the world from the Mexicatil
imbroglio, were it not for the gigantici
pecuniary interests which underlie the
question-Wbich, as we believe, originally
prompted the French prOtectorate, in Me&-
leo. and which constitute, with sagacious
politicians, the kernel within the shell of
the so-called ''Monroe Doctrihe.p Hidq of
The India trade, from the earliest ages
Of civilization, has made and unmade ma
tions, They have become rich and power-
full in its possession, and have sunk with
its loss. All ancient history attesss this
fact; and in later times the rise and fall of
Venice-the grandeur and decline of the
Dutch Republic, and the gigantic develop
ment of material wealth and power shown,
at the present day, by the British Empire,
are so many illustrations of the 4lue of
the India trade. iJ i9h]l 9A5 1ol sS2s1nsYi
Now the position of the American con-
tinentm makes It the natural halfway house
andmart, not only for the East India trade,
but for the interchange of the great pro-
ducts of the world. In time, unless pre-
vented by civil anarchy, or an unstable
Government, the United States will be the
grand commercial and financial center Of
the earth-more than Great Britain is or
ever has been; and this, for natural rea-
sons of convenience and economy, which
the map itself will explain. lsfg o.
TO facilitate this ultimately inevitable
result, the politicians of the U. s. have
projected various grand railway schemes
to connect the Pacific and Atlantic coasts
and SO shorten the transportation by the
way of Cape Horn many thousand miles.
These schemes, having this grand idea in
view, have been hitherto directed and con-
trolled, first by local considerations as to
territory (that is, the road must run
through national territory, and, secondly,
by sectional considerations as to route-a
Northern or Southern route.
In the judgment of all sound railway
men both the routes heretofore proposed
are impracticable. They must pass through
immense barren wastes, destitute of wood
or water, affording little or no way traffic,
so that it is confidently assumed If either
were built to hand nobody would run it
long for the simple reason that it would
not pay. The business from the termini
could not sustain the expense of such a
road, and though it might be carried on for
time, with the aid of public bounties, the
stockholders, the Government and the peo-
pie would get tired and quit at last.
Lower and shorter routes have been pro-
jected and built across the Southern eX-
tremity of the Continent, but these are
open to many objections which space will
not permit us to name. '.
The grand ultimate route, so conceded by
all the most judicious railway men we ever
conversed with,is one through Mexico pass
ing directly through the capital. From
Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico and thence
to Acapulco on the Pacific, would make a
road about 200 miles long, almost every
rail of which would be paying invest
ment from internal traffic alone.
Now take the shape of the world and OBJ
serve these remarkable facts The 20th
parallel of North latitude runs about a
hundred miles north of Bombay and south
of Calcutta about the same distancesouth
of Canton. 1t traverses the head waters of
the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian and
China seas-penetrates the center of the
Sandwich Islsnd Group, passes within a
hundred miles of Acapulco and within
half dozen miles of the cities, of Mexico
and Vera Cruz. In other words this road
constitutes part of shortest and most dir
ect line of transit possible from the princi-
pal ports of the East Indies to the Atlantic,
and from this circumstance, as well as Others,
must distance all competitors as the great
East Indian highway. 7- H7
To get and keep possession of Mexico is
therefore, to hold and control the most con-
venient and available line of transit, and
we believe this is the grandest considera-
ton underlying the French attempt prac-
tically to possess and hold Mexico; and
this will be the milk in the cocoanut of the
Monroe Doctrine in its practical applica-
tion to the existing condition of that coun-
try. With these views we sometimes fear
the French protectorate in Mexico will not
be easily abandoned, or relinguished with
out the trial of arms Macon (Gd.) Jotan-
al and Messen1er - if ft1l 80 5aH L9i