The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-03-30

sail upon thai sea in an English
ship-a prayer which was amply full
filed when he issued from the Straits
of Magellan and ravaged the coasts
of Peru In 1878. In the last of al hrs
cruises II was in his ship OF Puerto
Belio tina he died in 1886.
Eighty years later, Morgan. the fa-
nous English ~buccaHeer, gathered a.
large force of adventures and sea
faring rufians. crossed tho Isthfnus
by sailing in small boats UP the
Chagres and thence after a shor land
Journey fallirE upon Panama, which
he took and pillaged, bringing back
his booty to the Caribbean sea. The
city was burned, whether by him or
by the Spaniards remains in doubt,
| and thereafter 1t lay deserted.
The Scotciinnan Who Was Fascinated
! by Panama,
Thirty years after Morgan's raid the
commercial possibilities OF the 18TH
] mus fascinated. q ~Scotchman who had
more thar the usual fervor n less
than the usual caution of his nation
william Paterson, the founder OF the
3anS Of England, led q colony, chiefly
| composed of Scottish people, and well
supplied with Scottish ministers. to a
| place near Acia In the Gulf of Dariera,
| on the Atlantic side OF the Isthnust
4 Ddt6 VI
meaning to. make IT q great center OF
| trade over both oceans.
They went out, however. imper-
| fectly equipped and Ignorant or cii-
matte conditions. Many persisted ron
| disease; King william III gave them
| no the spaniards at last at
! tackled and compelled the surrender
Ut the few who remained. Thereafter
| nobody disturbed the subjects OF the
I Catholic king.
New Panama. planted I'm d better
] cite where the roadstead IL q little
I deeper. although too shallow for the
ocean liners of our own day, continued
to enjoy a certain prosperity. as the
| gateway to ell western South ~ nerica.
| for there was and could DO no land
ira nsit through the ~trackless forests
and rugged mountains that lie along
the coast between the Isthrlus and the
!, Equator. Blu the decline and decay
of the colonial empire of Spain under
the most ill-conceived and ~ill-adn1in-
ltstered scheme of government that
seafishness and stupidity ever COM
| bined to devise, steadily reduced the
Importance OF the city. Nothing was
done to develop the country, which
remained, outside Panama and a few
other ports, In Improbable solitude.
Neither did the extinction OF the
Y YH4G OIL CpAAatt which, NkA1lS A&AGEtE y
because the local governor did not
resist 1t, make any difference. Occu-
pied with domestic broils. the new re-
public, first called New Granada and
now Colombia, had not he capital
nor the intelligence nor the energy to
improve the country or develop the
commercial possibilities of the 18TH
mus. This was a task reserved for
children OF the race which had pro-
I I.Y~x1 X1ra{rm md morgan n. HEH'a 70 E5
THE First American Use of the Istl,rnus
Thus we come down to the events
which have given Panama its present
Importance. In 1886 Mexico was
forced to cede to the United States,
as the price of peace, the territories
which now constitute the States oil
i California, Nevada, Arizona and New
Mexico. Soon afterwards gold was
discovered In California, and q great
thrush of settlers followed. There
was urgent need OF some shorter and
safer route TO San Francisco than the
voyage round Cape Horn or the wag-
ON trail over plains and mountains
from the Missouri.
Three enterprising Americans OBJ
tafned in 1S4s a concession OF this
right to build a railway across the
IIsthmus. The line was opened In
1885, and had, till taken over by tfas
| United States government. paid higher
dividends Continuously ian average
: down to 1895 OF about Is per cen pei
!, annum1 than any other line In thf
J world. Being exposed to no compete
. ton. 1t could charge what fares II
! pleased. A better service OF passen-
| ger steamers began to run from Pan
, anna southwark as well az n~orthwardi
and thenceforward, despite its deadly
( climate. the Isthnnus became u world
highway.
A Question That VIII Have the
Worlds Attention.
4 When the canal has been opened
and the interest now felt in getting
it completed by the appointed da,
/, has ended, hardly less keen will bs
4 the interest in that other question or
which 1men have specialized SO long
: What difference will this new water
way from ocean to ocean make e
world commerce and Herewith also
though probably In a less degree, Il
. world poiiticsy And what difference
to descend to smaller matters, will i
: make to the West Indies, and to thu
, ports of the Gulf of Mexico, and tno
SO much commercially as politically
: to the ~neighboring States of Contra
, and South America
: The new route will doubtless be
! come an important route for the traf
fc In freight from the Atlantic port
! of the United States. and from Euro
: pean ports also. to the ports OF west
erT North America
1T will similarly become the maiz
freight line for goods of all kind
A from both European and eastern