The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-02-17
The InterOcennic Cnnnl,

Ii Lne treaty WnlCu Elr. CaleO CuSnlnR mas
just nek kotiated with the United States of
Colombia for the construction of a ship canal
across the Isthmu5 of Panama is such as we
have right to expect, MIR. Seward has
achieved success far eolipsing the glory of
his icebergs and earthquakes. The project of
a canal across the little neck of land that
separates the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is
nearly three centuries and half old. The
early Spanish adventures were quick to per-
ceive the immense advantages which must
fellow the cutting away of this barrier; how it
would give them easy access to the wealth of
India and control both of the rich coasts of the
two American continents. Barely forty miles
of land intervening between the two seas-and
yet for those forty miles the tressure-lsden
galleons had to coast along both sides of
great continent and risk the perils of the
stormy cape. In the sixteenth century,
Philip ii of Spain sent two Flemish en-
gineers to explore the isthmus for
proper route; but they encountered in
superable difficulties political reasons
also came up which rendered the scheme
undesirable; and the canal project was put
under ban, and death decreed against any one
who should revive it. In the present century
the plans Of the old Spanish pioneers have
been canvassed over and over again with re-
doubled earnestness. The Government of New
Granada has once or twice taken up the work;
France and Great Britain have entered into it
with zeal; and our own country has devoted
toit extraordinary pains. The surveys of the
tangled and dangerous forests by our Ameri-
can engineers, several of whom lost their lives
in the enterprise, form one OF the most thrill
ling chapters in the history of modern adven-
ture. The task of selecting route is no easy
one, nor will the labor Of building the canal be
by any means so simple as it may seem. The
interior of the country is so absolutely unknown
that the surveyor must examine nearly every
foot of ground in person; there are few records
of previous scientific exploration to guide
him. And though the strip of land between
the two oceans is so narrow, it embraces natu-
raj obstacles which 1t will require the genius
of superior engineers to overcome-obstacles
so great that ii has repeatedly been sought to
avoid them by the choice of long and tortuous
routes through the peninsula OF Central
America. The great trouble is that right
through the isthmus runs the mountain chain
which connects the great ranges of the North
eTn and Southern Pacific coasts. To cross
this range with a ship-oanal involves a tre-
mendous system of locks, cuttings, and enor-
nous tunnels, high enough and wide enough
for the passage of large ocean vessels and
locks require feeders which at high lovels it is
difficult to find. These obstacles, however,
are only such as money and perseverance can
overcome. The work will pay in the long run;
but can the capital be raised to defraY the first
costl The Suez Canal is mere ohild's play in
comparison with a canal through Panama or
Darien.
A canal, however, the interests of the world
imperatively require, and we cannot doubt
that the building of one is close at hand
! Commerce between the United States and the
| Eastern coasts of Asia, and the islands of the
great South Sea, is rapidly developing. The
traffic between Asia and Europe, also, has beer
gradually making highway of the American
continent, even though the transit involves
double transfer of cargo frem ship to railway
and from railway back again to ship. 1t /:
estimated that the saving in money to the
trade of the world by the opening of this cana
will be annually nearly $50,000,000, and tn,
saving to the United States no less thar
$50, 900. The saving in distance in the
voyage from New York to Calcutta will be 400(
miles; from New York to Melbourne, 334C
miles; from New York to Shanghae, $500.
There are questions concerning the neu
trality of the canal in time of war which hav,
been difficult to settle, and we shall await the
publication of the text Of Mr.. Cushing's treaty
with some anxiety to see how they have beef
disposed of. All civilized nations, however
seem yearly more and more anxious to lesser
the horrors of war, and render its burdens a
light as possible to non-combatants; and W,
doubt not that an agreement can be made will
which the contracting parties aud the worlC
at large will be entirely satisfied.