iq6 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



the system of locks, and declared strongly in favour of 

 an open canal on the level, the feasibility of which 

 seemed quite clear if the Colon-Panama line was 

 followed. 



But compelled by its mission to make a choice be- 

 tween the various schemes submitted to it ; the 

 Commission was nevertheless desirous of testifying 

 to how r carefully most of them had been thought 

 out, and to the talent of their authors. "More 

 especially," to borrow the exact words of the 

 report, "to the eminent American engineers and 

 explorers whose admirable researches will remain 

 as a monument in the history of this gigantic 

 undertaking." The Technical Commission also 

 pointed out how the canal should be made, that the 

 curves should not be under \\ miles, that it should 

 be 72 feet wide and 28 feet deep, and that there 

 should be only one canal as at Suez, but with nume- 

 rous sidings to admit of ships passing one another, 

 all the details of execution having been carefully fore- 

 seen and discussed at this Congress, from which those 

 who are now making the canal cannot fail to derive 

 most useful lessons. 



"When the Technical Commission had terminated 

 its works and fixed the figures at which it estimated 

 the cost of making and maintaining the canal, and 

 when, upon the other hand, the Economic Commis- 

 sion had laid before the Congress all the elements 

 required for calculating the transit, the fifth section, 



