Doc. No. 75. 



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our country to the foremost rank in the scale of commercial importance ? 

 It is impossible to shadow forth, even within the narrow limits of a me- 

 morial like this, all the advantages that may be calculated on from this un- 

 dertaking. I shall, however, add a few particulars, leaving an open field 

 to others, better informed than myself, to enlarge upon. 



On the opening of the canal, the lake of Nicaragua will become the 

 natural point of communication between trading vessels seeking a passage 

 through that channel. Persons acting as intermediate agents in procuring 

 the earliest news and most reliable intelligence will soon be attracted to 

 the spot, to the mutual advantage of outward-bound vessels and those re- 

 turning homeward. These agents will naturally select localities deemed 

 the most favorable for the prosecution of their objects, and become, as it 

 were, the founders of new mercantile communities. The interchange of 

 news will presently be followed by an exchange of goods and produce; 

 large capitalists will be able to survey the two extreme lines of the mer- 

 cantile horizon at once; while merchants on a smaller scale, availing 

 themselves of this intermediate point of communication, wilt barter away 

 their commodities and effect their exchanges without delay: in short, the 

 advantage of position presented by this intermediate market will be such 

 as to induce a great many to establish themselves there, with a view of 

 extending their commercial speculations to every available point of the 

 compass. The superb Carthage and the opulent Athens were not found- 

 ed with more brilliant prospects; New York and New Orleans, which at 

 the present day are the most frequented marts on our continent, must, 

 in a very few years, be forced to yield the palm of superiority to the new 

 city which the spirit of trade will have founded on our own soil, and 

 adopted as her favorite child; this city will become the depository of the 

 produce of every clime, and of whatever owes its existence and perfect- 

 ibility to the progress of human industry; it will become the great focus 

 of intelligence from every part of the world, and the commercial metrop- 

 olis of this hemisphere. 



The opening of this canal will also give a powerful impulse to our agri- 

 culture, because, by affording facilities to exportation, it will encourage 

 the cultivation of those fruits which are indigenous to our soil, and which 

 are greatly esteemed in foreign markets. All the land contiguous to the 

 canal is exceedingly adapted to the cultivation of cotton, the sugar-cane, 

 tobacco, coffee, chocolate, indigo, vanilla, etc.; and, as plantations can be 

 laid out within the immediate proximity of vessels, the cultivators will be 

 enabled to carry on their operations under immense advantages, as their 

 crops could thus be exported directly, without the intervening expenses of 

 transportation, storage, and other commission fees. As to the absolute 

 value that this privileged land would thus acquire, with so many facilities 

 for the transportation of its own produce, it were difficult to form a correct 

 calculation; it is rational to infer, however, that it would amount to mil- 

 lions of dollars, all of which would contribute to build up the fortune of a 

 vast number of our native families, as well as to enrich others from foreign 

 chmes, that would flock to our shores in search of a prosperous and happy 

 country. 



The immediate and natural results of commercial pursuits will be to 

 raise our nation to the dignity of a maritime power, which, in consequence 

 of its geographical position, must ultimately obtain a controlling influence 

 on both coasts of our continent, and become, as it were, the medium of 



