538 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



being to assist in the direct defense, or to prevent capture or occupation by a 

 hostile force, the other being the prevention or breaking up of blockades. With- 

 out a canal a blockade at the Capes of the Delaware would close the port of 

 Philadelphia, or blockade at the Capes of Virginia would close the outward 

 commerce of Baltimore and other ports of the Chesapeake. With the canal 

 built where communication would be secure, neither the ports of Philadelphia 

 nor of Baltimore could be closed unless an effectual blockade were established 

 both at the Delaware and at the Virginia Capes. The disadvantage to the 

 attacking party is obvious, while the defending vessels could concentrate at 

 either outlet, and breaking the blockade at one point would open both ports and 

 render the blockade useless at the other outlet. 



When the question of defense is considered in the choice of a route, the 

 elements are rapidity and security of communication. . . . For the purposes of 

 concentration for the defense of the two bays, the Sassafras is superior in 

 regard to rapidity. In this respect there is little or no difference between the 

 Sassafras and the Back Creek. 



For security of communication the Sassafras is superior (to the so-called 

 ' lower routes ' ) , as the entire route from Baltimore to Philadelphia can be 

 protected by shore defenses, and the defense can be made or assisted at any 

 point by gun vessels whose light draught would permit them to keep out of 

 water in which they could be rammed by the sea-going warships. The Back- 

 Creek route in this respect is precisely the same as the Sassafras. 



The commission, of which General Felix Agnus, of Baltimore, is 

 chairman, has given to the matter of a choice between the two routes 

 all the time and attention that its importance deserves. Public meet- 

 ings were held during the month of September, in Baltimore, Wilming- 

 ton and Philadelphia, and great interest manifested, not only on the 

 part of representatives of trade organizations, but by members of con- 

 gress from the states most directly concerned. This interest was, of 

 course, chiefly commercial, and a keen rivalry was developed between 

 the cities of the Delaware and those of the Chesapeake Bay, the former 

 favoring the line of the present canal, while the Sassafras was advo- 

 cated by those who foresaw the great benefits that must come to Balti- 

 more from the adoption of this route. 



The rivalry, keen as it has been, between the opposed interests of 

 the ' Back-Creek ' and the Sassafras routes, has been in all respects 

 honest and good natured; neither side to the controversy having mani- 

 fested any spirit of jealousy or unwillingness to yield to the findings 

 of the commission. 



What that finding may be it is yet too early for conjecture; but 

 in either event, acquiescence will not be withheld, nor all the influences 

 of a united public sentiment, given not ' grudgingly, nor of necessity/ 

 but with generous and cordial assent as to an honest judgment for the 

 public welfare and the nation's good. 



