184 RECOLLECTIONS Of FORTY YEARS. 



its coffee, its rice, its sugar, its india-rubber, and 

 much of the mineral wealth which at present is only 

 partially developed. Produce which at the present 

 rate for freight is not readily carried, such as corn 

 and fruit, will then be easy of export ; and as produce 

 is only exchanged for produce, the industry of Europe, 

 receiving a fresh impetus, will send its manufactured 

 articles all over the American continent. 



The task of the Commission of Navigation, much 

 shorter and more technical than that of the two first, 

 was presided over by Dr. Broch, a former minister of the 

 navy in Norway. It comprised several distinguished 

 naval officers, such as MM. de Togores, Linden, and 

 de Marivault, and the heads of several great French 

 and foreign shipping-houses. The report of its inves- 

 tigations, drawn up by M. Spement, a director of the 

 Suez company, reviewed the probable influence which 

 the cutting of the Panama Canal would have upon the 

 transformation of shipping. He considered that the 

 opening of the canal would favour sailing vessels 

 even more than steamers, owing to the advantages 

 derived by the former from the permanency of trade 

 winds in the Gulf of Mexico. Speaking from another 

 point of view, he recalled the fact that among the 

 many schemes proposed, some involved the making of 

 a tunnel, others that of locks. " As regards the tun- 

 nel," concluded the report, " the vessels would have 

 to go through with their mainmasts up, and as the 

 largest vessels, such as the France and the Annamite, 



