Year: 1869




Elsewhere we publish this morning very
full and graphic history of the various efforts
which have been made, from the discovery of
the Pacific by Balboa to the present day, to
find strait or to construct canal connecting
that ocean with the Atlantic. Accompanying
the sketch is map showing the routes which
have from time to time been projected, their
relative positions on the isthmus, a view of the
gulf shore of Mexico and the United States and
the islands of the Caribbean Sea and of the
Atlantic Ocean. The careful perusal of our
article and study of the map will amply repay
the reader in the amount of interest and
instruction they afford.


With satisfaction we see it announced by our
Washington correspondent that the United
States steamer Nipsic has been ordered to the
duty of aiding in the survey of ''the most
direct route across the Isthmus of Darien for
the proposed ship canal, provided for by the
treaty between the United States and the
Colombian government" 1t is true the Senate
of the last named republic rejected this treaty
on the lst of March of the present year; but
| the recent elections there and the defeat Of
the partisans of Mosquera, not less than the
late action of the Panama Legislature in adopt
| ing resolution requesting the Senate of
| Colombia to reconsider the rejection of the
| treaty, lead to the conclusion that within
brief period it will be ratified formally and
finally.


Almost criminally negectful in this enter
-. a
time of President Adams, who, in 1898, could
have taken possession of the isthmus jointly
with Great Britain, and did not, past errors
will be more than rectifed if the present work
is pushed forward to successful termination.
We cannot afford to much longer do without
canal connecting the oceans Our commerce
with South America, China, Japan and the
East Indies is kept confined within the mar
rowest limits for want of short and safe
route to those countries Our geographical
position should command monopoly of the
! trade with Peru, Chile and the other Pacific
nations, instead of which a successful compe-
| tition is kept up by Great Britain The recent
| opening of the Suez Canal brings Liverpool
| and Marseilles nearer to the East than New
! York, whose merchant vessels must cross the
| Atlantic to the Mediterranean before they can
avail themselves Of the advantages which the
| canal offers to all nations. But why should
| they brave the innumerable dangers of the Red
| Sea- when the best route in the world awaits
only the exercise of a proper energy and the
expenditure of ready capital to be thrown
ha rad ipda of tha nj
unvarying in their passage across the ocean to
and from the East Indies, give us supe-
riority over all other countries. With a canal
across the Isthmus of Darien very few years
will find us defying competition in the Pacific
and successfully competing with Great Britain
in the far East, including even her own colo
MES Continued neglect will inevitably occa-
sion decline in our commerce, to the ire
parable injury of some of our most valuable
industries. We have, therefore, the alterna-
tive of either speedily constructing q canal or
of witnessing the mortifying spectacle Of other
nations outstrpping US in race, every ele-
ment Of success in which is on our side. We
must either utilize our advantages or we will
destroy them.


In 1857 our trade with Chile and Peru
was less than eight million dollars while that
of Great Britain was nearly thirty-six million
dollars, and that of France over twenty three
million dollars. This most unnatural dis
crepancy between our trade with the repub-
lies named and that Of two European nations
ia attributable more to the non existence OF
interoceanic communication than to any other
cause. There are few articles manufactured
In Great Britain and France which we do not
manufacture, and which we could not sell as
cheaply as those nations do. That their com
merce with every country reached by the cape
routes, the Panama Railroad and now the Suez
Canal, save the Pacific coast Of Mexico and
the United States of Colombia, exceeds ours
in an overwhelming proportion is a fact as
humiliating as II is incontestable. The Pacific
Railroad, while admirably adapted to develop
ing the resources of a vast region Of country,
possessed OF immense mineral and agricultural
wealth, and to expanding our commerce with
China and Japan, has so far proven an inefec-
tual substitute for canal. Railroads, though