APPENDIX. 353 



the project at its commencement, says: "I therefore regard as a 

 fortunate occurrence tliis powerful imion whicli is about to be 

 established between French and English capital for the purely in- 

 dustrial and necessarily pacific workiag of the great maritime 

 canal." 



As an indication of the importance of the canal to the tea trade, 

 I may state that, in 1870, 711,000 poimds of tea passed through it 

 for England ; in 1871, 4,010,000 pounds ; in 1872, 22,912,000 

 pounds ; and now nearly the whole crop of both China and India 

 tea destined for consumption in Europe, and a considerable por- 

 tion of that used in the United States, passes through the canal. 



If these statistics prove anything, they prove that an interna- 

 tional ship canal through the Isthmus of Darien, connecting the 

 Atlantic and Pacific oceans, must prove to be of the greatest pos- 

 sible benefit to the whole world, and also that the principal mari- 

 time nations of the earth would find it most profitable to their 

 commercial interests to co-operate in the construction of such a 

 work. Such a work would be too magnificent in its proportions 

 to be undertaken by private enterprise, and it is doubtful if sufii- 

 cient private capital could be mobilized to accomplish it ; but by a 

 co-operatidn of nations it would become a question of a few years, 

 and, imder a joint national ownership, it would be an important step 

 in the march of progress, which will, in the near future, give us a 

 universal system of weights and measures, and ultimately a uni- 

 versal language. These anticipations may be looked upon by some 

 as the visions of an enthusiast, but the statesmen of the world are 

 already looking forward to some of them as likely to be accom- 

 plished in the near future, and the construction of the Darien 

 ship canal would be as important a step toward this commercial 

 millennium as the arbitration between England and tlie United 

 States for the settlement of the Alabama claims was toward the 

 millennium outlined by Tennyson — 



" Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer 

 And the battle-flags were furl'd 

 In the Parliament of man, 

 The Federation of the world." 



33 



