New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-07-24
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men VINO nrSt Salleu INTO the unknown
sea and struck for the control Of the,
future commerce of the world. And
we may add that in nothing did the
genius and good judgment of Cortez
show itself more strikingly than in tho
selection which he made of the most
available line for his proposed " Roman
Road" Admiral Davis, in his very
valuable report to the Government of
the United States, remarks that, "the
attention of the early discoveries was
drawn TO this isthmus by the remark
able depression of the Coidilleras and
of the Mexican plain, and by the hy-
geographic basin of the Goatzacoalcos
River y and the same natural features
which pointed at Tehuantepec as the
most feasible locality for the construc-
ton of such road as was then the
best possible, now offer, for precisely
the same reasons, the most promising
invitation to those who would build O
railroad for similar purposes.
It is true that Cortez thought chly
of the commerce of Asia and of the
Pacific Islands as likely to employ his
proposed highway bat, in our day,
not only has Asiatic commerce vastly
increased, but the Islands n-such as
Australia, New Zealand, and the Sand
wich grOup-baye developed new and
growing empires of their own, with a
trade beside which the spice" business
of the sixteenth century sinks into in
significance, and at the same time the
west coasts of the two continents, which
we're then comparative Wilderness,
and wholly unknown commercially,
have assumed an importance in the
commercial world of which Columbus
never dreamed. But there were other
minds than that of COrtez busy with
the idea Of inter- oceanic communica-
ton, and all the live routes from Darien
to Tehuantepec were then spoken Of,
as now, by those who had explored
them; it being conceded point that
it was cheaper and safer to trans-ship
goods, if q way could be opened, than to
carry them around the Cape. There
are mountains, it is true,n said the old
Spanish historian; but Spanish hands
and Spanish enterprise can overcome
them" I.r -.
Mr. Stevens concludes his summary
with somewhat remarkable historical
fact, which certainly points a moral"
if 1t does not "adOrn tales
"But no Spanish hands could over
come the impOltic blunders of the En-
peror. There is little doubt that in
! ter-oceanic coming nication would have
been opened in 1929 OF $780, by means
of a Ship Canal or q turnpike across
4 the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, had not
the Emperor, who was greatly in want
of money, defeated all the schemes,
against the advice of the Council of
the Indies, by pawning to the King of
Portugal, who had just married his
sister, the Moluccas, for $4,000 ducats.
! SO, the trade of the Moluecas passing
| for q time out of the bands of the
| SpanIards, there was no immediate
pressure for the completion of this
great work. The opportunity thus lost
of securing ali exclusive transit was
never recovered by Spain but il is
reserved to us of to-day to make the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec the worlds
highway" .r
1t is common proYerb that history
repeats ITSELF" and we may apply it
here, or we may rather say that, since
the worlds surface does not change
from century to century, the same gen.
eral conditions force commercial en-
terprise into prolonged continuance
of its earlier struggles and competi-
lions, varied only by the new elements
which from time 10 time are added by
the course of events. The Asiatic
| trade is to-day, as it has been for
many centuries, the great prize of
commerce, and the aim Of Western
Europe in particular; and, while the
several eastern routes are carrying on
a sharp competition among themselves,
as heretofore, the prospect, now for the
first time immediate, of the realization
of the idea of western passage to the
Indies, has reused the Ole World to
spasmodic energy in various efforts to
reopen and improve the ancient high
WAYS which were closed against them
by the Mohammedans of the fifteenth
century. 1t is conceded that the tedi-
GUS voyage around the Cape of Good
Hope stands no chance in competition
with any or either of the trans-Ameri-
can highways; and the path so persist
emily explored and CALAMITY opened by
the bold captains of Prince Henry the
Navigator of Portugal, and his sue
cessors, is likely soon to be almost
abandoned. 1t has become clear more
over, even to European arrogance and
self-suficiency, that the powerful and
growing commonwealth of the New
World will supervise with jealous
watchfulness, and guard with mana
too strong to be interfered WITH their
own gateways to the Orient; and Eu'
ropean commercial interests, as repre-
sented by their several Governments
LONG since took the alarm and reeog'
nized the inevitable future.
This is tie secret of the Suez Canal,
now nearly ready to take the place OF
the old Egyptian line of the Pharaohs
and Ptolemies: of the various roads
projected from the Bosphorus, and the