The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-04-23
ew York Correspondence-No. 81.

D1risa and Sue- Caaqis- Their Influence up
"a ErOye Americd. anil tie HalcaiidJ. Islands
~ Mss AHtk0Rys NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
rFRoM oUK Ows CORRESPONDENT.
III New YORK, March, 1870.
be most significant enterprise of recent date
NJ has recently been set on foot in this country
attracted very little attention from the press.
er to the recently organized naval expedition
"a e Isthmus Of Panama for the purpose of ex-
ng and surveying an inter-Oceanie canal
would seem that the opening of the Suez
u .I is 70 mark new era in the commence not
& Of the Old World but of the New World
1t is interesting to trace the probable de-
pment that it will cause. The Old World is
<hsr, more fertile, more PopulOus, more wealthy,
a abundantly supplied than the New with all
v lrees OF nature and Of art. The greatest
+. mercial transactions have always been those
eel Europe and Asia, and are likely to re-
80 as long as the present means Of cOmmu-
ton are in use.
bis vast commerce, until few centuries ago,
carried over the highway of the Mediterra-
a !. and upon the caravan routes that connected
Dpe with the East. The wealth and conse-
csntly the civilization of ancient times were
lly concentrated in the great cities that Occu-
81 these lines of trafic,-especislly IN the
~ i.esI-nea1i cities. The Mediterranean was
~ centre Of the world. 1t was, and still re-
hs, the region where the finest attainment of
t human race, IN greatest number Of directions,
made.
But an entirely new era in the commercial,
consequently in all other, developments of
n Old World was introduced by the discovery
y ships could sail from Europe to India and
na around the Cape Of Good Hope. The
; route was found TO be the preferable one
the consequence was that the nations of
STERN Europe, instead of those Of Southern
Eastern Europe, began to receive the fer
aing effects Of this great stream Of Asiatic
d merce. First Portugal and Spain were
'2ded up by it; then Holland; then the British
a ire; and as these countries grew in strength
riches, the power gradually departed from
III Mediterranean nations The tide of COM
e ebbed away from them, they were no
al in the line of ITS greatest activity, the
7 tire of power passed away to other thrones.
2. Mediterranean ceased TO be the centre of the
14d. The great Kingdoms OF Italy, Turkey,
~ Asia Minor were degraded to second and
Nitrate powers; and the second commercial
h was developed, its power eliminating with
. of the British Empire.
Ihe year 1869 marks the commencement of
third commercial era, in the completion of
Suez Canal. The Suez Canal restores the
y siiterranean route between Europe and the
d. 1t seems impossible to Overrate the signi-
<hce of that work. 1t makes Rome, Greece,
"a. Arabia, again the very centre of the
"a and if it's navigation shall present no OBJ
IS lie il will. to the best of human foresight, re-
the commerce of the world, and with its
y tmeree its greatest mental and spiritual ae-
b, nearly to the old centres from which, for
u centuries, the discovery Of the cape passage
Frted them. The decadeDce of England, the
1abilitatiOn Of Italy, are to be among the
kcts Of these new conditions of trade
But this is not the whole prospective result of
Suez Canal. 1t is as Americans, as New
kers, that We are profoundly interested in
iying the past and foreteIling the future his
y OF these vast currents of commercial devel-
hent, these irresistible movements of human
Pc All OF US are borne like drift-wood upon
eyer-rushlng tide of evolution yet it is
fsant To be conscious of our movement and
.fs not impossible to recognize its course and
f1ency. This new diversion in the currents of
Old Worlds traffic promises to have the most
nite bearing upon the commercial position of
New.
4 the first place, the Suez Canal establishes
u, definitely and finally, as the shortest route
Pronunciation between Europe and Asia. So
'8 as ships sail or steam-carriages run, the
|.he between Europe and Asia is to be con-
F'ed by the routes that directly connect these
= quarters of the globe; it is not to come by
way of America. From the western edges of
at Britain, eastward to the easternmost coasts
China, is less than half the circle of the
lfe The Old World, in other words, lies COM
Al y together. The completion of the Suez
si Gnifes it, establishes its quickest channels
Communication within itself. Our Pacific
way affords 10 longer the shortest route from
and to China. Nor can the construction of
nal through the Isthmus of Darien attract
considerable portion of the European-Asiatic
- The great through route is definitely
TED az l have described. The Suez Canal
O~s America of from the centre of the world.
Pacihe Railroad could not prevent this fate ;
Darien Canal will not remedy it. The suez
places both England and Eastern North
IA ''ea where they were before the African