THE GATES OF THE PACIFIC

Press, Volume XI, Issue 1303, 10 January 1867, Page 3

THE GATES OF THE PACIFIC

Position, aided by facilities of communication, are the keys to political greatness. Without them, English genius for colonization might have been barren of results, and our history little more than a blank since the time of Columbus and Ealeigh. Whatever power possesses the Grates of the Pacific, for example, can threaten our possessions on the North-Western Continent of America, in Australasia, in China, and even in India, and endanger a trade of priceless value to the industry and capital of this country. Then, what and where are the Gates which command the nearest route to those most thriving portions of our empire ? There are two. One is in the possession and under control of our friendly rival, the United States. This is the railway across the Isthmus which separates the Pacific from the Atlantic, running from Colon on the Atlantic to Panama on the Pacific side. The other Gate, which at present exists only in design, is practically in the possession and under the control of England. It opens a route across the State of Nicaragua from Pirn's Bay on the Atlantic side to Eealejo on the Pacific side. Of the two gates, the British presents the greatest physical, as well as the greatest political advantages; and we are glad to observe that the influential meeting, held the other day in the City of London, determined upon measures preliminary to a speedy execution of the design. Admitting without reserve the signal benefits that have accrued from the Panama route, it must be conceded that the Isthmus, which Beems provided by a beneficent Nature to afford the means of passing from one ocean to the other, has not yet been fully utilised. It is true that the Panama Railway is short; but it is excessively dear —so .dear as to be practically closed to many' most valuable departments of trade. It is unhealthy—so unhealthy that none but those who are not effectually acclimatized dare remain longer in the region than the four or five hours required to make the transit. The coast on each side is inconvenient and perilous to shipping. But these drawbacks, which would be fatal to any other railroad, are encountered by hundreds of passengers, and used for thousands of tons of goods, almost every day, in preference to the stormy passage round Cape Horn. The result is an annual return of profit to the fortunate shareholders, of which there is no example in any other railway in the world; for being the road that commands the speediest access to the most distant places on the globe, alike from there the quarters, Europe, Asia, and America, there is no alternative left to the enterprise of the day but to use it. We do not grudge the shareholders the splendid returns they are receiving upon their investments. They are entitled to them, for they bore the heat and the burden, some of them literally, of the days before, and during, the construction of the line. But we contend that the Isthmus is not utilised to the extent that the necessities of the world on each side absolutely require. Nature never intended it as a barrier, but as a bond; and as one route is manifestly inadequate, it is equally manifest that the time has arrived for other portions of the Isthmus to be utilised for that great and beneficial purpose. What power is better entitled to the honors and rewards of such an enterprise than Great Britain ? The opening of this other Gate, then, is the work to which the co-operation of the capitalists of England is earnestly invited. We have briefly described the physical advantages of the Nicaraguan route in naming some of the inconveniences of the Panama route ; and it will be found from the proceedings of the meeting referred to that it offers commeroial advantages in the concession from the Government far superior to those enjoyed by the rival route. There are free grants of land, minerals, and timber, immunity jin certain cases from fiscal obligations, | and in fact all the privileges in the power of a liberal and progressive Government to concede, and the full and rapid development of the resources of the country. The question, then, presents itself in two aspects. These are, the inestimable benefits to the capitalists, who become the owners of this second Gate, from its use in opening the two seas to each other; and the not less direct advantages proceeding from the liberality of the Nicaraguan Government out of Nicaraguan resources proper. Now, as to the natural endowments of the country, they are second to none of the Central American republics. It abounds in all the varied and luxuriant staples of the tropics; all the precious-and useful minerals are found there; and within the boundaries, of the enormous space of more than thirteen hundred thousand acres, the land and all below it will belong to the owners of the second Gate.— " BuUionist," 27th October.