occupied his lonely hours in the Castle of Ham with study and meditation, and produced, as is well known, the best publication that has yet appeared on the subject of the Panama Canal. In this work, which the Revue Brittanique copied entire in 1849, the illustrious author does not hesitate to give the preference to the line through the Lake of Leon. One great advantage possessed by this line is the fact that it can be brought out at the excellent harbor of Realgo.

The summit level between the lake and Realgo is only about fifty-six feet above the lake, twenty-six feet being added for the depth of the canal, the maximum cutting is reduced to eighty-two feet, about one half the depth required on the line pointed out by M. Belly and Thomas de Gamond, which, starting from Lake Nicaragua and passing through the Valley of Sapoa, joins the Pacific at the Bay of Salina. Now it is well known that, in works of this kind, every increase in depth of cutting increases the expense in much more than the direct proportion.

Matters of policy have compelled the governments of the country with whom M. Belly has treated, to accept the line to which public attention has been directed by him and Thomas de Gamond, but this may be changed hereafter, express provision for it having been made in a special clause of the treaty. The question of exact location is left open, to be decided by more careful investigations, which are now being made; for in this particular the Panama Canal is much less advanced than that of Suez, plans for this last, both general and in detail, having been prepared under the direction of engineers of the first class, in consultation with some of the most eminent practical men in Europe..

The length of the canal, following the Sapoa line, will be-along the channel, or by the side of the River San Juan, 109 miles; across Lake Nicaragua, 48 miles; thence to Salina Bay, on the Pacific, 13 miles; making a total of 171 miles. If the canal is to be brought out at Realgo, after passing through Lake Leon, it must, on leaving the San Juan River, cross the Lake Nicaragua for 87 miles, follow the course of the River Tipitapa for 20 miles, cross Lake Leon for 38 miles, and descend to Realgo, a distance of 29 miles; making a total of 283 miles. As far, however, as we can judge from information now before us, the cost on this line will be less than that on the first, work being required only for a distance of about 160 miles, the lakes and rivers being navigable for the remainder. There are already in existence canals of a greater length than 283 miles. The Southern Canal, and the lateral canal of the Garonne, forming together one system, are longer than this. The Erie Canal, which, in the United States, is justly called the Grand Canal, is 365 miles long; and there are others that could be named.

In fine, if the line to the harbor of Realgo be adopted, the Nicaragua Canal may be classed with other public works. It will not cost more, it will cost even less, than some of our lines of railroad; less, for example, than that from Paris to Lyons, which is good stock. The revenue must necessarily be very great. The commerce, which in a few years this canal will furnish passage to, seems almost illimitable. Statistics show that the interchange of commodities between Europe and the basin of the Pacific Ocean, and between the east and west coasts of America are already greatly developed, and yet the progress made is as nothing compared to that promised by the future. Now that Christian civilization is gaining an entrance into the empires of China and Japan, is extending its power

over the populous regions of India and its dependencies, is colonizing with its children the rich and vast archipelagoes of the Pacific; the commerce, which the canals of Panama and Suez will minister to, attains to unheard-of dimensions. I shall not pretend to estimate it, but would refer the reader to the calculations of M. de Gamond, who has shown throughout his work great judgment in this particular. I would also ask the reader to estimate the population, and the variety of natural and manufactured productions of the country connnected by these canals, and to ask himself what must be the commerce that will spring up under the ever-increasing need of production and exchange which affects the whole human race.

The bearing of politics upon this canal must now be examined; that is, how far will it be supported or opposed by the different maritime powers.

We have now to examine the ship canal through the Isthmus of Panama in its political aspects. I do not mean by this that I shall attempt to unfold the changes it will bring about in the political balance of the world. My aim is not so high. I seek only to discover if there be any of the maritime powers whose interests, real or supposed, may be opposed to this enterprise, and how far it may, in consequence, be retarded or thwarted.

I say the supposed, as well as the real, interests; for we take warning from the Isthmus of Suez. Yielding to illusions or prejudices, or to the suggestions of an irritable vanity, States sometimes resist that which is useful to them with as much obstinacy as that which tends to their destruction. Have we not seen the government of Great Britain, represented in succession by two cabinets of different politics, that of Lord Palmerston and that of Lord Derby, who is still in power, heap up declarations upon declarations, I might say, sophisms upon sophisms, against the project of the Suez Canal; which is, notwithstanding, destined to facilitate for England the administration, the commerce, the defence of her vast Indian empire.

But the Suez project has not been shaken by the somewhat rusty thunderbolts of Lord Palmerston. It stands good, with equal assurance, against the arguments, remarkable as coming from a man of so much talent, brought to bear against it by the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Disraeli. But the Isthmus of Panama has been more fortunate, having been spared even these assaults, in which more powder is wasted than harm done. The representatives and organs of the whole maritime world have not only given it their sympathy but their approval. The human imagination, fruitful as it is in creating phantoms, has not yet conjured up even a seeming interest opposed to the junction of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean by a ship canal.

England and the United States, the extent of whose commercial marine places them, by a long interval, in the first rank of maritime powers, have shown their earnest desire to have a ship canal through the Isthmus of Panama; not, however, to the exclusion of railroads distributed from point to point, as that from Panama to Chagres, already open; that of Tehuantepec now being built; and that of Honduras, which Mr. Squier, a man of remarkable activity and talent, has been for some years adVocating. England and the United States have many motives impelling them toward the basin of the Pacific Ocean. Both have great possessions

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there. The one has Australia with all its dependencies, and British Columbia, an immense province still unsettled, but where it is said gold mines of exceeding richness have been discovered, which will soon draw there a large population, for mines of the precious metals have an irresistible attraction for man. The other has California whose progress is a miracle, to which the Mexican province of Sonora, also famous for gold, seems soon to be added, and which, once in the hands of the North Americans, will furnish as much gold as the streams of Sacramento and San Joaquim. For both these nations, this canal would be the opening of China and Japan, and in a still higher degree, of the west coast of America, comprising the republics of New Granada, Equador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili to their trade, as well as a part of Mexico. persuaded of the benefits of this canal to the commerce of the world, these two powers, at first looking upon each other as rivals, have each sought to secure an exclusive influence in Central America, or rather in the basin of Lake Nicaragua, in order to control this passage. Led by the power of good sense, no less than by the force of mutual opposition to a clearer understanding of their common interests, they signed, in 1850, a treaty, called after the two statesmen who negotiated it, Mr. Clayton on the part of the United States, and Mr. Bulwer for Great Britain, the main object of which was the establishment of this canal. The official title of the treaty indicates this clearly, being, "A treaty for the purpose of facilitating and protecting the construction of a ship canal between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans." The preamble of the treaty declares that the canal referred to is one to be constructed in the Nicaragua basin. It is proposed, it declares, "to fix the views and intentions of the high contracting parties in relation to certain projects of communication by means of a ship canal, which may be constructed between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by way of the River San Juan, and by one or two lakes of Nicaragua and Managua, ending in a port, or in any other way, on the Pacific Ocean."

Then follows the eight articles composing the treaty, all of whose stipulations develop merely the same thoughts; that is, the canal once constructed shall be held neutral, and to facilitate its construction the two governments grant to it their protection, and will exert all their influence. The third article is in these words:

"Persons, with their property, employed, or to be employed, on this work, shall be protected, from its commencement to its full completion, by the governments of the United States and Great Britain, against all unjust detention, confiscation, seizure, or violence whatever."

The fourth article says:-"The contracting parties will employ all the influence they can respectively exert with the States whose governments possess, or claim to possess, any power or right whatever over the territory crossed by the canal, or near any waters it may be advantageous to make use of, to induce these States or governments to aid the construction of this canal, by all means in their power; and, in addition, the United States and Great Britain agree to employ their good offices, in such place and manner as may seem expedient, to secure the establishment of free ports, one at each terminus of the above mentioned canal."

Finally, the 7th article is as follows:-"As it is desirable no time should be lost in the commencement and construction of this canal, the governments of the United States and Great Britain declare that they

will give their support and encouragement to such persons or company as shall first offer to carry on the enterprise, provided it gives evidence of the possession of the needed capital, the consent of the local authorities, and such conditions and elements as are in harmony with the spirit and object of this treaty."

This 7th article, as we see, secures the good will of the two great powers to the enterprise of M. Belly, in virtue of a well-conceived treaty he has signed with the governments of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

The British Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lord Malmesbury, with an earnestness that does him honor, has notified M. Belly, in a letter since published, of his intention to confer upon him the benefits of the ClaytonBulwer treaty. Assured of the true nieaning of a publication of M. Belly, in which the misdeeds of certain individual citizens of the United States seemed to be laid to the charge of the American nation, and being convinced of the earnest desire felt for their active co-operation, the United States will, we doubt not, follow the example of Great Britain.

Among the other maritime nations, that which stands at the head, France has at present but a small commercial interest in the basin of the great ocean, in that part at least to which the ship canal of Panama facilitates the access. Her navy is powerful, distinguished as much or more by the knowledge and coolness of its officers, by the courage and skill of its sailors, as by the number and good construction of its ships. But with her, the mercantile marine is in a deplorable state of depression; measures of pretended protection have cru-hed, instead of stimulating and strengthening, it. The French flag holds an humble rank in foreign commerce. Still she has in these quarters some valuable positions. Tahiti will become, when she chooses to make it so, a smart place for furnishing and repairing ships, and a point of conveyance for a multitude of vessels. The Marquesas are not without value; and should she ever learn again the secret which enabled her to found the colonies of St. Domingo and Canada, New Caledonia may be a colony, which will recompense her for a part of the admirable possessions which she lost under Louis XV., and during the wars of the revolution and the empire.

But until this new order of things comes round, her part, in reference to a ship canal, will rather be that of a curious observer of the fortunes, of another, or that of a disinterested arbitress, favoring by the disposition she has of interesting herself in all human affairs, which is, according to the use she makes of it, a virtue or a fault, the construction of a means of intercourse which will be a benefit to the world. The personal sympathy of the French emperor will doubtless be easily gained for this enterprise, for he has, in times past, been its most distinguished advocate. No one, more than he, has contributed to fix the thoughts of the intelligent public of two continents upon the best location for the canal; to him, more than to any one else, belongs the merit of having designated Nicaragua as the place for the canal, and pointing out, upon the map, the line it should follow through the two lakes of Nicaragua and Managua, terminating at Realgo.

It is true, State policy has its inexorable necessities, before which the power of the greatest monarchs spontaneously stops, and rightly so, for the noblest manifestation of power is to resist personal instincts, and to restrain private feelings when the interests of the State require it. But as regards the canal between the two oceans, nothing of this kind is to

be expected. Not only the general wants of mankind, but those of each State in particular; not only well understood interests, but the instructive feelings and prejudices of all nations call for the construction of this canal, and the gratitude of all will be given to that nation which shall boldly take the initiative in it. The almost total absence of French commerce in these quarters, the marked insignificance of French establishments on the Pacific, show clearly that France need not make professions of disinterestedness in all that she may do in favor of this canal. The children of New York and Liverpool, of Washington and London, know that the French flag is scarcely seen on the Pacific Ocean; we need not therefore declare this to the statesmen of England and the United States.

Passing rapidly in review all the commercial States, we can see how great is the interest all the world has in the opening of the isthmus by a ship canal; Rotterdam and Hamburg, Liverpool and New York, the industrious Zollverein with its thirty-four millions of industrious laborers, Switzerland whose patience and economy have naturalized manufactures among her rugged mountains, Austria with her remarkable woolen fabrics, as well as the workshops of Manchester and Birmingham, and the manufactories of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and the mills of Liege and Berviers, will all be benefited by it. Russia needs a ship canal to communicate conveniently with her American possessions, now abandoned to a miserable tribe of savages, but worthy of a better fate, and for the more rapid settlement of the Valley of the Amoor, which she has just, by a stroke of the pen, added to her numberless provinces. Spain wants it, as an outlet for the ever-increasing produce of her magnificent island of Cuba, and to shorten the distance between her and the Philippine Islands, which have, up to this time, added nothing to her power and commerce. Thus there is but one wish in the world, that this project for a ship canal, through the Isthmus of Panama, should be brought down from the clouds of speculation to the solid ground of reality.

The initiative to be taken by the French nation does not demand financial sacrifices of any importance. A moral support, a strongly marked patronage is all that can be expected. It may be that owing to the earnestness and asperity that has arisen in the discussions between England and the United States, relative to Central America, that the presence of a conciliatory and disinterested umpire, such as France may be, will be necessary to the success of the enterprise.

We have as yet hardly mentioned the convention made by M. Belly with the States of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, the only States in Central America having territory bordering on the line of the canal. This may be found in detail in the publications of M. Belly and Thomas de Gamond. It is impossible to deny that it is clear, precise; that all important questions that may arise have been considered in it, and that the interests of the whole world have been cared for in a satisfactory manner. The governments of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, through their Presidents, General Martines and Don Juan Mora, have displayed an excellent spirit and a patriotism at once noble and intelligent. They have not recoiled before anything tending to accomplish the work. The privileges granted to the contractors are such as will attract capitalists. The charter is to continue for ninety-nine years from the date of the opening of navigation; a tract of land two-and-a-half miles wide on each side of the line has been granted; the tariff of passage and freight agreed upon is