The Hawaiian gazette., 1869-03-10

A portion Of the Eastern press has lafterly
had much to say In favor Of a scheme 10 lay
a telegraph cable through the Pacific Ocean,
from California via the Sandwich and other
islands to Japan and China. No notice has
been taken OF the plan for telegraphic CON-
munication with Asia by way Of the North
ern Pacific coast, the Aleutian Islands, and
Kamschatka- Yet this plan Is urged with
some energy by P. Med. Collins. its origina-
tor, who publishes in the New York ESeHiitg
Post a statement of its main features. With
the success of the Atlantic Cable the Russian
American scheme was dropt by the Western
Union Telegraph Company, which had been
engaged in its prosecution. As ocean tele-
| graphy has since proved to be very profta-
Bile and safe, and the establishment OF mail
steam communication with Asia, and the
opening of the Pacific Railroad indicates the
need of a telegraph line direct to Japan and
| China il is natural that the old plan should
be revived. But as Mr.. Collins explains il
now, the land line will not be continued
| through the Arctic solitndes OF Alaska to the
narrow passage Of Behring Strait, but will
be constructed along the Aleutian Islands,
which stretch through milder climate two
| thirds Of the way across the Behring Sea.
With this modification, the difficulty of main
tanning the land line would be much lessened,
and no single length Of cable would need 10
be over 500 miles long. The friends of the
Sandwich Islands line, however, urge that
long ocean cable, with no land breaks. would
be more regular In its operation, and less liza
BILE to accidents involving heasy expenses
for repairs They are justified in this opinion,
to some extent, by the workings of the At
lantic Cable; and yet the line remaining to
be built by the Aleutian Islands and Kams-
chatka would be so much shorter, and the
character OF the Pacific Ocean bottom farther
south is SO little known, that the Collins
project may well challenge favorable atten-
ton Mr. Collins says:
"Under the grants to myself by Russia,
Great Britain, British Columbia, and the
United States, more than one-half Of the
overland line and its connections has been
constructed. First, on the American side up
to within 260 miles of Sitka, In Russian
America; and secondly, on the Asatic side
continuously, except one section on the
Amour River, for the construction of which
all the materials are now on the ground, on
to Europe across the whole of Asia. The
break in the line, as 1t may be stated now,
exists between point on simpsons River,
260 miles southeasteriy of Sitka, TO point
Poseyet), on the Asiatic coast, A. north lat
itnde, and 1872 east longitude from Green
wich, distance of but about 2, 100 miles by
way of the Aleutian and Kurie Islands,
along which II Is now proposed to construct
this link, which will give us a continuous
telegraph around the globe. From Hako-
dadi, in northern Japan, 1t is proposed in the
present plan to lay cables, to Nagasaki and
Yokohama, and from Nagasaki to Shanghai,
thus uniting China and japan in the tele-
graphic system. The distance from Hako-
dadi to Shanghai by way of Nagasaki is
about ], 100 miles The whole plan is now be-
fore Congress, and would have been acted
upon at the last session but for the delay In
the settlement of the purchase of Russian
America The route indicated In the article
referred to is much longer than the route de-
termined upon in my plan. On the route by
the way of the North Pacific, there need be
no section of greater length than 500 miles,
and that section, If advisable, can be reduced
by touching at Kamschatka. The approach
ing completion of the Pacific Railroad, and
our steamers plying between San Francisco,
Japan and China, give US the solution Of the
Pacific Telegraph for who can believe that
commerce, considerations of national neces-
stiles, and American enterprise, will much
longer hesitate to provide the chief agent
In subjecting the vast commerce of Asia to
our rule. With the telegraph completed
from our Pacific coast so as to unite with the
Russian system overland to India and Eu-
rope, connecting China and japan with San
Francisco, we at once divert and direct the
whole tide Of Asiatic commerce from the
West to the East. With this telegraph, Lon
don would have to communicate through
New York and San Francisco, in order to
conduct the commerce of Europe with Japan
and China. The monetary exchanges, the
ideas, and the daily wants of that vast COM
merce would become so engraffed upon our
own commerce and people, that In the future
We would not only command but control the
European trade of the East, and reap there
from what, by position and progress, is our
legitimate right"