New Orleans Republican., 1871-07-19

| terprkSe In an0tner sense, tnat Ine IurUue1
north it is located the nearer it will be
to our wharves. Thus, We are first In
favor of Tehauntepec, second we prefer
Nicaragua, thirdly, Darien, omitting all
mention of Honduras and Panama, both
of which routes have been mentioned fav-
orably in this connection We shall not
insist, in the face of engineering reports,
that any particular line shall be selected
because it is nearer to us, but if the same
points are made in favor of all of these
routes, and if they are all put on the same
basis as regards cost and accessibility, it
would be serious desertion of our duty
to ourselves and to the West, if we did
not advocate the location of the canal as
near to the mouth of the Mississippi river
as possible. Our partialities are not fixed
as to the most practicable route of the
canal, but our predictions are certainly
very pronounced in favor of having it as
near home as it can be built.
Mr.. John E. Body, President of the
Central American Transit Company,
writes letter to the REPUBLICAN in which
he seeks to correct an unfavorable remark
which was made in these columns two
weeks ago, in regard to the practicability
of the Nicaragua route. The REPUBLICAN
is very anxious to explain that it merely
discarded the discussion of the San Juan
route until the government engineers
should make report upon the subject,
for if the engineers deny that canal can
be constructed through Nicaragua, then
there would be but little hope that Con-
gress will aid an enterprise which its
chosen experts have pronounced against.
This has not been done in reference to
Darien and Tehuantepec, but the survey
ors have simply stated that the cost would
be enormous at the one, and the supply
of water would be doubtful at the other.
So that actually two of the proposed
routes have already been indirectly con-
demned to the government, although the
engineers have left the door open for new
discoveries. Captain Shufeldt hoped to
find supply of water near Luehel, on
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, from which
the canal might be fed, but at the latest
accounts he had failed in his explorations,
and this he has reported as offering very
great objection to the selection of that
isthmus as the line of the canal Cap
tain Selfridge says that it will cost one
hundred millions of dollars to construct
the canal at Darien, and this he thinks
too high figure to justify the work. So
that the matter stands in doubt as to two
of the three rival routes.
Now, Mr.. Body assures us that the
canal can be constructed through Mica
ragua, with the digging of canal five and
a half miles long through a pass only
forty-six feet above the level of the sea,
at cost of one million dollars per mile.
This canal would let a homeward bound
vessel from the Pacific Ocean into Lake
Nicaragua, a magnificent body of fresh
water, one hundred and ten miles long by
thirty in width. The homeward bound
vessel would have to sail or be towed
across this lake to the San Juan river,
where it would enter upon the canal, one
hundred and twenty miles long, from
whence it would be discharged into the
Gulf of Mexico at the port of Greytown
Considering that there is the greatest
abundance of water on this route, which
is the main reliance of canal, and that
proper hydraulics can always create depth
where 1t has the water, the main point
may be said to be in favor of Nicaragua.
But then it must be considered that the
length of the route is against it, and that
the difficulties of navigating an open lake
liable to heavy seas and considerable
storms are great drawbacks in the estima-
tion of engineers. Then the port of Brito,
on the Pacific, is an open roadstead which
would need large expenditures to make it
safe to the marine that would seek to
trade through its gates.
We only mention these objections to
have them overcome, as they will be, by
Mr.. Body, with the assurance that money
can do anything The same thing may
be said of Tehuantepec and Darien, and
it will thus come to pass that the enter
prise will resolve itself into question of
cost. And in this discussion we shall
feel deep interest, for if Nicaragua is
accepted, it will be much more to our in
terest than if Darien is chosen. But if
Tehuantepec should win the day, we
shall relincuish the San Juan and the
Altrato with great rejoicing in favor of
the Coatzacoalcos Mr.. Body need not
apprehend any enmity in his enterprise
on our part, for if he can squarely win
the day, and will then honestly and
promptly proceed to dig the canal, it
will be worth our while to support any
to pension him quite as gen.
erously as the French have pensioned NJ.
Lesseps.