New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-01-22
MORE ROUTES TO THE EAST.

MORE ROUTES TO THE EAST.
By degrees the world has come to see how
long -minded was the evil genius OF that specu-
lator who made the Jecker fiction his pretext
for usurpation, and perpetrated disastrous
blunder Just when he calculated on an empire
Such griefs happen to political gamblers, men
who speculate in revolutions and trade with
national calamities and crimes. But who does
not see that if the imperial Propaganda had
been established in Mexico the commercial
scepter of Central America might have passed
into French hands9 This is, perhaps, to state
the case at its worst yet if privileges of the
| Tehuantepec, Nicaragua, and Darien character
were to have been acquired by artful and
underhand bidding, no Que doubts how well
the interlopiDg Europeans could have pursued
a tempting game.
By yigilant and earnest interest III the
| affairs of our own continent it is possible to
prevent the intrusion again of any armed or
unarmed fraud having for its purpose European
domination on American soil. Tehuantepec is
already sure to us by the improved concession
made to Americans by the Juarez Government
| The problem of inter connection by
this route, which engaged the attention of
Spaniards in the Sixteenth Century and which
SO far attracted the mind of Humboldt that he
| thought a canal could be cut between the
sources of Rio del Passo, which flows into the
| Coatzacoalc0s River, and of the Chinapa River,
which runs to the Pacific, is now to be solved
by railroad between the Bay of Campeachy
and the Gulf of Tehuantepec, and perhaps by
| a canal.
The Nicaragua Canal project, as announced
| by NJ. Felix Belly, contemplates capital stock
| of S50,0O0,000, and the cooperation of leading
men in the United States and Europe, includ-
| ing Messrs. Cyrus w. Field and Ferdinand de
| Lesseps. NJ. Michel Chevaler has, however,
interfered with the plans of NJ Belly, the lat
| ter having recently come into possession of
| grant which the Congress of Nicaragua, rs NJ.
| Belly charges, has ratified from party spirit,
and which lacks the indispensable approval of
the Congress of Costa Rca, which NJ Belly
| claims to hold in contract made in 1853 with
the Governments of both Costa Rica and Mic
aragua NJ. Belly lately proposed fusion of
| NJ. Chevaliers rights and his own, allowing to
| NJ. Chevalier the Presidency of a European
board with one million shares, and to himself
the power to establish in New-York an Ameri-
can financial organization. From Northern San
Juan to Brito the Nicaragua route is 1914 miles,
including navigable waters of the San Juan
River and Lake Nicaragua, which reduce the
"isthmus to one-tenth of its whole breadth"
| To these enterprises we should add the ln-
| teroceanic railroads of Honduras and Costa
Rica An iron pier and more than five miles
| of the former road are actually laid; and,
despite some rumors to the contrary, the we'll
| known American representative, Mr. Squier,
has written that its affairs are in prom
| ising condition. The work of grading at the
| Atlantic terminus of the Costa Rican road re-
ports an apparently vigorous progress.
| But the favorite American route Is especially
| and peculiarly that by the Isthmus of Darien.
| Our Government is about to undertake an ex-
ploration of it the expedition now lies in our
port, and its time of sailing has been fixed for
| day, though it is possible that delays may
| still intervene. We present on our first page
| a full and satisfactory account alike OF the
expedition and its proposed work. We need
| here add only that, according to various sur
veys, tho route is from 80 to 81 miles in
| length. The saving over the old routes
| to be effected is immense; and con-
| siderng that the present South American
trade of France and England is a shame
to our enterprise, the vast alteration in
| the worlds traffic to be effected in our favor
|
by the Canal will be more than welcome when
| 1t comes. The passage across the Pacific as
compared to tho dangers of the Red
Sea . is one of the advantages claimed
for the proposed Canal over the Suea
enterprise, and saving of S35,O00,0O0 to a
great portion of the worlds trade is reckoned
another. We cannot over-estimate the import
ance of especially developing the commerce of
our own continent, of familiarizing the new
world with its own resources, and bringing the
great bulk of tho merchandise of Brazil,
Peru, Mexico, the tropics, within the nat
ural and powerful grasp of the United
States. To make Suez Of the Isthmus of
Darien, to control another great highway to
the East, to dominate the American continent
in the interest of peace, liberty, and commerce,
this is dream worthy of practical states
manship