JUNCTION OF THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 600, 3 May 1851, Page 4

JUNCTION OF THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC.

[From the Times.] The junction of the Atlantic -and Pacific may almost be regarded . as a work com< menced. On the 13th February, 1849, the? Times described the Nicaragua route, urging' the attention of capitalists to its advantages.;' and the American Company,, by whom agents were.subsequently despatched to obtain a concession fiom: the Government ; of that .country, have now not only two steamers upon.the waters of the San Juan for the.purpose of es-| tablishing a.temporary transit, 'bbt have also! a corps of twelve-engineers actively engaged; in the surveys for ;the canal. The head of; the party is Mr. O. W. -Childs, lately chief,

engineer of the State of New York, under whdse charge was conducted the recent enlargement of the Erie Canal. . The'Nicaragua route to California across the Isthmus saves 900 miles, aS compared with Panama, ’and has the advantage of a healthy climate. Hopes seem to be entertained, moreover, that the temporary transit when it shall be fully organised may be accomplished in twenty-four hours. It will commence from Grey Town, ascend the San Juan, and cross the’lake to the city of Nicaragua, where a land journey of only fifteen miles remains to reach the Pacific. The contemplated fare for the passage is 50 dols., including 2501b5. of baggage for each ’passenger. This is lower than >the at Panama, and consequently the saving of distance, and the advantage to health, will be :also accompanied by a more than proportionate diminution of expense. Nothing in connection with the present movements on the Pacific will be watched with more interest than these proceedings. It has-been commonly reported that the number who crossed the Isthmus ’last year was -70,000, and the lowest’estimate was 50,000. The increasing excitement regarding California, and the shortening of the distance, coupled with the removal of inconveniences and dangers, give the stimulus ! of still better -prospects for the future. 'Should everything go, therefore, as smoothly -as appears to be calculated upon, a year or two can scarcely elapse before results may be realised from this new opening more remarkable ’than any that have been dreamed of.

The course proposed for the temporary 'transit is the same as that which was surveyed by Lieutenant Bailey, in 1837, for the canal. The company find, however, that there is every prospect of a large saving being effected by carrying the permanent work to the more northerly terminus described in the pamphlet of Prince Louis Napoleon. Mr. Bailey’s estimate of £4,000,000, for the cost of its construction is in excess, therefore, of that which 'they entertain; and the change of route, which reduces the elevation to be crossed from 487 feet down to fifty-six feet, has also the advantage of bringing them to the port of Realejo, the finest on the Pacific, and about 130 miles nearer to San Francisco.

The charter granted by the state of Nicaragua provides that the canal is to be completed in twelve years. The company are to' have the exclusive enjoyment of it for eighty I five years after the date of completion, and to receive fifteen per cent, out of the net profitsfor a further period of ten or twenty years.' Meanwhile they are to have a monopoly of the temporary route. They are also to have' •the exclusive privilege of steam navigation i and of road making throughout 'the entire State for ninety-seven years, together with ai free grant of eight sections of land of six miles square, to be chosen by themselves, on the banks of the canal. In return for these privileges, the State of Nicaragua is to receive nothing, with the exception of some minor , payments, until seven per cent, shall have been | paid to the stockholders. Of all profits exceeding seven per cent, it is to receive onefifth during the first twenty years, and onefourth thereafter. The minor payments consist of a-year until the completion of the canal, and a donation of £40,000 of its stock.

The most remarkable circumstance in con-, nection with this charter is its favourable nature as compared with that to which the late King of Holland subscribed, at the head of a Dutch company, dti 1830. The limitation to eighty-five or rather to ninety-seven years would-be met by a reserve of 10|d. per cent., which would return the capital in that lime, and with this exception there is scarcely anything to restrict its advantages except the stipulation that NicaraSUa shall nnrticinntn tn the extent of a fifth in all the surplus profits beyond seven per cent. In the charter arranged with the King of Holland, (and which was interrupted only by the Belgian Revolution,) the dividends were to be limited to ten per cent., and the surplus profits were to be applied to pay off.the shareholders, when the entire property in the canal would pass to the Republic. That a cautious and maritime people, like the Dutch, acquainted with all kinds of canal work, should have regarded the undertaking at that period, and under such conditions, as a remunerative one, must be held as a significant illustration of what may now be expected. California, Oregon, and Vancouver’s Island were then virtually unknown; the Australian colonies had scarcely come into existence ; the tonnage of the United States was about one-third its present amount, and China was closed against the world.

The traffic'that would pass through the canal, estimated now on the basis adopted in 1843, would amount to £1,700,000, or 42| per cent, on the<outlay. In the hands of the most timid this calculation , .could.-scarcely be reduced >to any. point that would-leave the. enterprise other; than a legitimate and 'attractive

one. But the great feature always to be bb in mind with regard to it is, that it woul/k’ so identified with the .progress of the w p that its returns at any one period could n« be taken to limit our ideas of what they Wq u become thereafter. At the present mbhi' 1 for instance, the calculations would be b/u upon the existing tonnages of the various m ritimc powers, and the present position of th* channels of general commerce, but the ah' * ping of the United States, doubles itselfevX fifteen years, and that of Englahd still ibche ses rapidlyand thus, before the expirati** of the twelve years appointed for the feomp) e a tion of the work its principal sources of j n ' come, even if the business of the World went on only in its ordinary course, would b'eheij l ly doubled. The same process would place during evbry similar Succeeding period and hence nothing but a reduction of tolls (which, however, would again produce An in. crease of business) could keep the uhimate revenue from exceeding all reasonable bounds To those who speculate on the inevitable re. suits of the introduction of steam oq the Pacific, who have noticed the propositions alter, dy made in America for the establishment of a mail line to China, and who, aware of the teeming soil of Nicaragua and the salubrity of its chief districts, as well as of the neighbour, ing States, contemplate the rush of colonizaition that must soon give value to all the lauds ’that surround its magnificent inland waters the prospect of the changes to be wrought by -the undertaking will appear still further be. yond the grasp of any of the common concep. tions of past experience. The two governments of Great Britain and the United States have bound themselves h -the enterprise by a treaty of protection. AH the other Powers will accord to it the same advantage. The territory around it will coo. stitute’the first neutral ground, whence, by the pledged faith of all civilised nations, strife must be for ever banished. It is the grand, est physical work the world can witness. The past has seen nothing like it, and any similar fame must be equally denied to the -future, since there will be no more hemispheres to

join. Is it destined, it will be asked, that ia a design whieh must thus stand alone and unapproachable in the records of material progress, England, as an active agent, is to have no part ? From all that appears on the sutface, the answer would be in the affimative; and looking at it as the penalty of a manis is which it was denounced as treasonable to question the spreading of £300,000,0001 year in analogous operations, the humiliation would be as deserved as it would be ineffaceable. Happily, however, it has been averted, Throughout their entire negotiations it bai always been known that the New York Com* pany have desired that the work should be one of co-operation between the two countries, ad in this spirit, although surrounded by violent political influences that would have urged i different result, a promise was given to Sit Henry Bulwer that an equal participation io the enterprise should be offered to this country on reasonable terms. To fulfil that pledge tw commissioners from the company, Messrs. Weite and Vanderbilt, arrived in London on the 5 th ult., and after a short period of negotiation a satisfactory arrangement has been completed. That such has been the case, it must at th same time be stated, is owing to the straightforward and moderate requirements of th New York Company, and to the sagacity and patriotism of our two leading mercantile and also of ths Governor of the Hudson’e Bay Company, Sir Henry Pelly. By course which has been adopted, these parW’i conjointly with others, will possess the po* e! of offering to the British public in due ti® l one-half share of the enterprise, the exe" 1 ® of which power will depend we understst' upon its being demonstrated to the satisfad® 1 of Government engineers that the outlay and income will be such as to wart’ 11 ' the most unquestionable reliance. Tbeo® r | therefore, will not be put forth until ae?" 1 months’further experience of what isp M! ing o,n the coasts of the Pacific shall W enable,d all persons to judge for themself • to the eagerness or otherwise with " should be accepted, and we are dispose ! 'anticipate that enough will speedily trans, j| I to render it certain that the undertaking then be pushed to completion by the acc® ; ulated force ;qf a blended confidence a® thusiasm, such as will more than for all our past delays.