The New York herald., 1879-09-24

sUPLE SHEET.
tits true. Of pronouncing themselves against the
route advocated by the American Admiral. He again
was quite apparent. a. the routes presented and
selves on the side of Nicaragua
OPINION IEcHSIcAL COMMITTEE
confess that one naturally fails to admit this as
n fact upon knowing that in session held py the
Technical Committee on the 2sth OF May, said body
approved the following resolution
The Technical Committee of opinion that the Inter
Colon and that OF Panama.
OF twenty-eight members present. twenty voted for
twenty. fifteen engineers who stand at the head
OF their profession in Europe; they are men of
plished been connected with some Of the greatest
hydraulic works on the Continent. Among these are
celebrated engineers that constructed the canal from
Amsterdam TO the North Sea: Pascal, well known for
his hydraulic works on the Mediterranean; ;
voistn Bey. chief engineer of the Suez Canal
during its construction professor at the
French school Of "ponts OF chaussees." whose
writings maritime works have become
classical in Europe; Favre the engineer and
tractor OF tho St. Gothard tunnel; Klctz, inspector
general of bridges and roads. the highest rank an
engineer can attain IN France; Huber, the well
known engineer. who of the delegates
from the French society OF civil engineers; Da1bre
president OF the French Academy of Science; La
roche. De Lepinay Giva. &c MI, as has been said.
engineers of the highest learning and professional
Selfridgc. the American officer who deserves the
unique title Of .'the explorer Of the American
lsthmus and whose authority upon such ques
tons is undoubtedly greater than that Admiral
Ammen who was but once ct the Isthmus many
years ago and. we believe. sccidentaiiy. Mr.. Cou-
vreux. the engineer and contractor who made the
improvements Of the Danube and who is now direct
between Ghent and Terneuzen. also voted in favor Of
the Panama route. Such are the men who. accord
ing to Admiral Ammsn. have yielded to the influence
Of Count de Lesseps in order favor the
OF speculating party!
The facts We have presented will afford standard
OF comparison between tho conclusions to be drawn
from the work of the Paris Congress and those to
which we have referred as following from the report
The Admiral concludes that. in view Of his state
ments the government Of the United States ought
consider question of the best route for an inter
oceanic ship canal still unsettled He accordingly
recommends the convocation OF Z international
congress Nobody. we believe. pretends that the
Paris Congress is infallible though everybody will
admit it was qualified in the highest degree to
give decision on the questions considered II the
Admiral Ammen then nothing is more desirable than
the adoption Of the measure suggested by him. BY
extension OF the principle that. all things equal.
two are less liable to in tho Judgment OF
given question than single one. the decisions
present greater moral security than that of For
this reason the work of the congress. If it come
not too late would be heartily greeted by al those
desirous Of seeing the early achievement Of work
SO beneficial to the world at large.
MENoCALs REPORT
Referring to the report OF Engineer Menocal. at
this able engineer has joined hands with Admiral
Ammen in attacking the proceedings OF the Con-
gress Their combined efforts have been directed
to creating the impression that reliance is to be
placed upon its decisions l have already shown
Auenced by other motives than those springing
rom their earnest convictions. Mr.. Menocal .
practical man. considers this argument perhaps
too sentimental. He, an engineer. speaking .
technical question. likes to deal with engineers In
this think him right. and entirely agree with him.
He therefore. upon proceeding TO analyze the vote
given by the Paris Congress. limits himself to that
of the engineers. His argument is not very clear
plainly reveals his intention He gives the vote in
favor OF tho Panama route as follows: Yeas. 70:
nays. .; absentees. 81, and abstentions H. or the
eighteen engineers which figure IN the aHirmative
vote he says
Eight Of these are .. present have been connected
with the Sues Canal and nve not practical engineers
In 1855. when NJ. de Lesseps invited a commission
OF the ablest civil and military engineers Of Europe
to discuss the opening OF the Suez Canal it will be
remembered that the English engineers of the CON-
mission objected to the last the construction of
level canal. arguing that the best solution by
means of locks fed from the waters of the Nile
while tho French and other engineers consulted
were OF contrary opinion. The success of the work
proves who was right 1t is dificult to understand
why the engineers who saw clearly at the begin
ming and who afterward added to their laurels by
the successful completion and efficiency Of the work.
should be less entitled than others to give reliable
opinion on canal matters. One would naturally
clude the opposite from such precedents in their
with the Ave other engineers will not agree with the
qualification given them by Mr.. Menoca Soho
branches OF engineering than that Of canal buildng
but certainly, they have all the required technical
knowledge to judge understandingy the advantages
of the routes proposed. On the whole remarks
OF Mr. Menoca on the votes OF the Congress
anature caculsed to place the public position
judge by ITSELF and as such they ought not to exert
great force the minds OF partial readers were
1t not that with persons not knowing by reputa
ton the engineers he refers to. the OF pointing
apart the eight from Suez, and then the five Others
has certain weight. His process is ingenious ana
original OF the eighteen able ngineers he disputes
q n i'm birfao
Next he that eight OF these figure among q list
OF Continental engineers too well known to include
in the same unhappy list to the first Ave. he
ducts them from the thirteen by the anomalous
argument we have mentioned. He cannot put in
nection with the suez Canal he sees an excuse
to hint at disloyal vote-a fimsy way Of
one-so he adopts it and with due accepts
the remaining ive. The result Is clear to every
reader Of his report-viz.. five clean and competent
votes for Panama, eight against it. Now may
understand tho assertion OF Admiral Ammen that
tho ablest engineers were in favor oi Nicaragua.
Ono report completes tho other and makcs it clear
Mr.. Menocal. however. would have given the public
aproof of his impartiality by explaining something
about the eight votes he thus passes in silence.
THE VOTE FOR THE NICARAGUA ROUTE.
Let us see what the result would have been II he
had called attention the following facts :-Of the
eight four not engineers and three these
are not anything like technical men; one of the
naming four NJ. Kleitz. voted no because he
but We have seen that on the vote Of
the 2sth no voted in favor of tho Panama
route. Out OF the remaining tnree engineers Mr..
Menocal could have remarked (sincs he has
dweed this order of things) that one figures rs
president on list of members of financial COM
pany formed in Paris for the purpose of obtaining
concession from the government of Nicaragua. and
that another is the author OF project wherein he
proposes to overcome the height of los feet OF tho
Lake OF Nicaragua by means of single lock ted
by him. This. according to his process elimina-
ton. would have left one vote out OF tho three
potent ones against Panama We have made tho
last observations simply for the sake of bringing
Mr.. Menocals arguments to the ground of impair
tiality, not because wo have any to believe
that the two engineers referred to moved by
any other motive than that OF their honest opin-
ion, nor because partake OF the views which MIR.
Menocal seems to uphold that the International Canal
Congress constituted in the manner Of our
criminal juries and composed Of those having the
least nowlodge of the prior to its discussion.
Admiral Ammen also says, speaking of the vote
referred to. that there in all total of rs in
favor out of the 1876 in the list For cloaror
prehension may remark that out of these l35
members 2s mover attended the meetings of the