The New York herald., 1871-03-01

away silently. 1t is being drained away at this
instant. The only wonder which we expe-
rience is at the fact that many more CONNER
cial failures have not already occurred. The
American people have been placed under the
operation of ''ring" tariff system which is
contrary to the spirit of the age, contrary to
the spirit of free trade and in direct opposition
to the intercommunion Of the nations Of the
Earth. The general interests of the country
are being deprecated here by the working
Of Congressional committees, and there is
much danger that our present s'ring" system
will bring us eventually to the feet Of an
aristocracy of money alone. Can the ''ring"
accomplish all this? 1t may be so. There is
danger ever present to nation 80 long as
Millions shall kneel down
And beg OF hundreds what's their own.
The Proposed Dariea Ship Cnual-The New
Route.
From our special correspondent accom-
panying the Darien Isthmus exploring ex-
pedtion, under Commander Selfridge,
Unied States Navy, we publish this
morning with an accompanying map)
some very interesting letters, descrip-
tive of the new ship canal route discovered
between the Calf Of Darien, on the Atlantic
side, and the Gulf of San Miguel, on the
Pacific. From these letters we are strongly
drawn to the conclusion that the great problem
is solved, and that, perhaps, few years
hence, our trading vessels between New York
and San Francisco, by crossing the isthmus
from the Gulf of Darien, will entirely cut off
and save the long. tedious and dangerous cir
cult OF Cape Horn and the South American
Continent.
We have heretofore regarded the Nica-
ragua route as immeasurably the most feasible,
the most inviting and the most advantageous
of all the isthmus routes proposed for ship
canal Between New York and San Francisco
proposed Daren route; and British engi-
neer, Captain Pym, Royal Navy, after careful
exploration of the Nicaragua route, has esti-
mated that ship canal, with locks, may
here be opened between the two oceans
at the small expense of about twenty millions
of dollars. The dividing plateau (that occu-
pied by the great lakes Nicaragua and Mana
gua) is only three hundred feet above the sea
level The distance between Lake Nicaragua
and the Pacific is fifteen miles, which by this
route is all the canal excavation that will be
absolutely necessary; for from the outlet of
the lake on its eastern side (the San Juan
river) the river, by locks and dams, may be
made navigable to the Atlantic for the largest
ships all the year round Louis Napoleon (the
present exile at Wilhelmsh0he) was so fasci-
mated with the commanding advantages of this
route that he said the Power which, with a
ship canal, shall hereafter hold those two
lakes, Nicaragua and Managua, will hold a
dominating naval and commercial position in
the West equal to lat of Constantinople in
the East-that, in short, the little town of
Massaya, between those aforesaid lakes, is
destined to be the Constantnope Of America.
A glance at the map of North and Central
America will be sufficient to convince the
intelligent reader that Louis Napoleon, in his
enthusiastic admiration Of the Nicaragua route
for a ship canal, was not far out Of the
way. But, Notwithstanding the fact that
Commodore Vanderbilt, with his California
line Of heavy draught steamships, has shown
that the harbor on each side of this route is
sufficient for practical purposes, neither of
those harbors is all that could be desired.
The harbor Of San Juan especially is shallow,
open and exposed, and that on the Pacific side
is too contracted for the purposes of conti-
mental isthmus canal and its great squadrons
of commercial ships which, with and after the
opening Of the canal, will always be gathered
at both ends Of the line.
The new route discovered by Commander
Selfridge at Darien amply meets all the re-
quircments of deep, capacious and secure
harbor at both ends of the line, and, we thiuk,
too, of canal without lockages. The Gulf of
Darien, on the Atlantic side, and the Gulf of
San Miguel on the Pacific. each leads into
deep, capacous and secure harbor, and thence
into a navigable fresh water river. 1t is
thought that, although from the mouth of the
Atrato river, on this side, to the mouth of the
Tuyra, on the other side, the route will pro-
badly not exceed one hundred and twenty five
miles, the extent of the route to be excavated
will not exceed fifty miles, and that the
summit level of the dividing ridge
to be overcome will be less than three
hundred feet above the sea, or say two hun
dred above the present river navigation. The