A
SUCCINCT VIEW
OF THE
IMPORTANCE AND PRACTICABILITY
OF FORMING
A SHIP CANAL
ACROSS THE
ISTHMUS OF PANAMA.

By H. R. HILL.

LONDON:
Wm. H. ALLEN, & Co.,
7, LEADENHALL-STREET.

1845.

W. LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, 21, FINCH-LANE, LONDON.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The following observations were thrown together as the result of communications with several gentlemen locally acquainted with the Isthmus of Panama, and who expressed to the writer their astonishment, that amidst the numerous undertakings, of more or less utility, which science has realised in our time, one so important to the whole commercial world, so easy of accomplishment, and so certain to be productive of ample remuneration to the undertakers, as a Ship Canal through that Isthmus, had not been taken up. The idle objection, that if practicable it would not have been left unattempted for the last three hundred years, they considered, would have no weight in an age in which we have seen accomplished works that in our fathers' time, nay, even within our own memory, it would have been considered madness to propose,—witness steam-navigation and railways. It is not twenty years since Dr. Lardner, the author of a popular work on the steam-engine, then supposed to be a most competent authority, declared in his lectures that the application of steam-navigation to the voyage across the Atlantic was a mere chimera. So it has been with railways. Would not any man who fifty, or even twenty years ago, had predicted that the journey from London to Exeter would be accomplished in five hours, have been deemed a fit tenant for Bedlam? To contend that because a great undertaking has remained unattempted for a long series of years, therefore it is impracticable, is to put a stop to all improvement. At the suggestion of the friends before referred to, the writer is induced to print the following pages, with the hope of drawing to the subject of which they treat the attention of the mercantile and shipping interests. If they awaken an interest in the subject in those quarters, they will not be thrown away, and he is fully convinced that the more the subject is examined the stronger will be the conviction of the practicability of the undertaking.

23, Throgmorton Street,
February, 1845.

A SUCCINCT VIEW, &c.

From the first discovery of the American continent down to the present time, a shorter passage from the North Atlantic to the Pacific ocean than the tedious and dangerous voyage round Cape Horn has been a desideratum in navigation. During the dominion of old Spain in the New World the colonial policy and principles of that jealous nation, to which Central America belonged, opposed insurmountable obstacles to any proposal for effecting this great object; but the emancipation of the Spanish Colonies, and the erection of independent States in their stead, has broken down the barrier which Spanish jealousy had erected. The rulers of these states are not devoid of discernment to perceive that the exclusion of European Nations from the shores of the Pacific would be productive of immense injury to themselves, and that by making their own territory the high-road to the countries which are becoming important marts for the commerce of Europe, they are bringing wealth to their own doors, and increasing their own political importance.

In this, as in most other cases, individual and general benefit go hand in hand; for it cannot be doubted that were such a communication between the two Oceans made through Central America, it would prove of incalculable utility to all nations engaged in maritime commerce,—and sooner or later it will unquestionably be opened. This would be the shortest route from Europe, North America, and the western coast of Africa to every part of the western coast of the New World, to Australia, New Zealand, the numerous islands of the Pacific and the eastern coast of Asia,[1] as will be seen by a glance at the outline map of the world on Mercator's projection annexed to this pamphlet. The advantage of a Canal of sufficient size to allow large vessels to proceed through the Isthmus is therefore obvious.

But by whom is this work to be undertaken? the question is certainly not a British one alone, although the British Trade would derive immense benefit from its solution: it is a question in which the whole commercial world is more or less interested.

There must be either a combination of governments formed to defray so much each of the expense, or the work must be accomplished by a Joint Stock Company of individuals, who will indemnify themselves for their outlay by levying tolls upon those who avail themselves of the communication. As to such a combination of governments, the difficulty of procuring a sufficient grant of public money opposes a great obstacle to the realization of any such project.

To private enterprize chiefly then it must be committed; yet it may reasonably be expected that such countenance and support as the governments of the principal maritime powers can give, will be readily yielded to any association that will undertake the work.

There are several considerations which point out the present as the most auspicious moment for attaining the object in view. The profound peace with which Europe and the whole civilized world is now blessed, the abundance of capital in the money market, the present low rate of interest, and the difficulty of finding investments, are all favorable to the raising of the necessary funds; the immense strides which science has made in overcoming natural difficulties, once deemed insuperable, add to the means of accomplishment, while the growing importance of British Colonies in and about New Zealand, the inevitable impulse that recent events must give to the China trade,[2] and the efforts of all maritime nations to make establishments in the Polynesian Islands will render the Canal a certain source of profit and honor to those who will aid in its formation.

Several parts of the Isthmus of America have been proposed for the communication between the two seas, such as the Province of Nicaragua, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, &c.; but invincible obstacles occur in all those localities, while on the contrary the Isthmus of Panama is beyond doubt the most favorable point, according to the opinion of all the scientific and practical men who have visited that part of the new world.[3] We shall proceed, therefore, to describe that Isthmus as far as is necessary for the present purpose.

The Isthmus of Panama