ADVANTAGES OP THE CANAL. 41^ 



versations with masters of vessels and other practical 

 men, I am induced to believe that, by reason of more 

 favourable latitudes for winds and currents, it will be 

 considered preferable to \;ie passage by the Cape of 

 Good Hope. At all events, all the trade of Europe 

 with the western coast of the Pacific and the Polyne- 

 sian Islands, and all \ieY whale-fishing; and all the trade 

 of the United States with the Pacific, without the ex- 

 ception of a single vessel, would pass through it; the 

 amount of saving on which, in time, interest of money, 

 navigating expenses and insurance, by avoiding the 

 stormy passage around Cape Horn, I have no data for 

 calculating. 



On broad grounds, this work has been well charac- 

 terized as " the mightiest event in favour of the peace- 

 ful intercourse of nations which the physical circum- 

 stances of the globe present to the enterprise of man." 

 It will compose the distracted country of Central 

 America; turn the sword, which is now drenching it 

 with blood, into a pruning-hook ; remove the prejudi- 

 ces of the inhabitants by bringing them into close con- 

 nexion with people of every nation ; furnish them with a 

 motive and a reward for industry, and inspire them with 

 a taste for making money, which, after all, opprobrious 

 as it is sometimes considered, does more to civilize and 

 keep the world at peace than any other influence what- 

 ever. A great city will grow up in the heart of the 

 country, with streams issuing from it, fertilizing as 

 they roll into the interior ; her magnificent mountains, 

 and valleys now weeping in desolation and waste, will 

 smile and be glad. The commerce of the world will 

 be changed, the barren region of Terra del Fuego 

 be forgotten, Patagonia become a land of fable, and 

 Cape Horn live only in the recollection of sailors and 



36 



