The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-05-17

| opposed to him." With such things in the
green tree in New York, what shall we have
in the drya Mr.. Fenton, perhaps, running a
little one horse Independent ticket against
General Grant for the Presidency, and the
Trombone Justify blowing for Fenton.
The Interoceanic Canal.
The detailed account which we published
on Monday Of the latest operations of the sur
veying and exploring expedition under Com.
mander Selfridge-operations which the rainy
season may by this time have closed-is
deeply interesting. Commander Selfridge
seems to be confident that the question Of the
feasibility of the Napipi route, from Cupica
Bay to the Atrato, has at length been satisfac-
orily solved. The distance from the Pacific
to the junction Of the Napipi and Atrato rivers
is less than thirty miles, and that from the
Atrato to the Atlantic is about one hundred
and twenty miles. The canal if constructed,
would thus be one hundred and fifty miles
from ocean to ocean. In the opinion Of Com
mander Selfridge no insurmountable obstacles
would stand In the way Of competent engi-
neers, and the estimated cost of constructing
the canal does not reach one hundred million
dollars. Even the difficulty Of procuring ade-
quate labor on or near the isthmus might be
obviated by importing it from distance as
was done in building the Panama Railroad.
The letter of our special correspondent is
dated Mays, and, although the brilliant expec-
tations awakened by the news from the noun
tains more than month ago, as to the height
of the ''divide" on the Tuyra and Atrato route,
had not then been realized, but, on the con-
trary, appeared likely to be contradicted, yet
the question of its feasibility had not been
finally determined, inasmuoh as the exploring
party from the Pacific side had not yet
returned to the ship. Energetic prosecution
of the surveys In the immediate Vicinity of the
''divide, which was announced by Commander
Selfridge, after a hasty reconnaissance, to be
only three hundred feet high, had not, how
ever, resulted in discovering the great depres-
sion said to exist in that direction.
But we are still reluctant to abandon the
idea of De Gorgoza, which is favored by so
many old Spanish maps that on or near this
route there exists a passage incontestably
superior to that offered merely hy any greater
or less depression of either Cordillera, as at
Caledonia and Tarena, on the north, and at
Napipi, on the south. The two Cordilleras,
according to De Gorgoza, are quite distinct
they cross In almost parallel lines, and
cave between them the profound valley
Of the Tuyra and the swamps of Cacarlca,
which at an anterior epoch were once
an arm of the sea, making the two
oceans communicate freely and forming-as it
is hoped an interoceanio canal will ulti-
mately form-the natural separation of the two
Americas. From the fact alone Of the cross
ing, In inverse sense, of these two mountain
chains, Is logically deduced the existence of a
feasible passage over what was once COM
continents. A subsequent gradual elevation
which biologists demonstrate to have taken
place In the Andes after the discovery Of
America, and, moreover, as will be easily
understood by all who have been eye-witncsses
of the miraculous rapidty with which, under
the tropics and after an inundation, some one
or another branch of vast river Is obstructed
and disappears, the accumulation of sandy,
muddy deposits and shifting soil, added to the
allnvions of the great river Atrato aud of all
the af1uents Of the actual Tuyra, necessarily
driven back by the high tides Of the Pacific,
have obstructed this little arm Of the sea in
its upper part; and, with the aid of the
powerful vegetation Of burning climate,
have formed this insignificant barrier between
the river Paya and the river Cacarica-sthat Is
| to say, between the Atlantic and the Pacific.
So hopeful are certain European and Ameri-
can capitalists that the praiseworthy energy
| and perseverance of Commander Selfridge
and his companions may yet result in demon
strating by actual survey feasible route for
an interoceanio canal on or near the Tuyra
and Atrato route that ct meeting recently
held In New York their representatives agreed
to consolidate their respective interests, and
30 soon as their hopes shall be justified by the
official reports Of the expedition to act in
concert to promote an enterprise which, if
successful, must prove one of the glories of the
nineteenth century. Meanwhile 1t Is not sur
prising that the discouraging nature Of the
reports thus far received as to other routes
should have revived disposition on the part
of the Panama Railroad Company to interest
the public in canal route by way of the
Chagres river as the shortest and most feasible
route across the isthmus.
/ .s'rf
THE EQSIEE QAsEi---The comedy of en-
panelling jury. In the Foster case con-
tinued yesterday, and seems likely to con-
tinue indefinitely from day to day, like a
Chinese tragedy. Three more jurors idiotio
enough to have never heard Of Or never
formed any opinion upon the case, were aiftei
out of the hundred examined yesterday. This