Speeches on commercial, financial and other subjects

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Contents

FAOB

A Ship-Canal, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans : its Value to the Commerce of the United States and other Nations. House of BepresentatiTes, February 15,1 869 11

A Just Bankrupt Law : its Present Necessity, and Importance as a Permanent Act. House of Representatives, June 8, 1862 1 84

Preface

The speeches selected from those of the Hon. Elijah Ward, and presented in this volume, are laid before the public because, they refer chiefly to measures of immediate and practical moment in the national commerce and finances, but yet remaining unaccomplished. Much labor has been spent with a candid and impartial spirit in acquiring the information they contain, and it would be difficult of access, and thus of comparatively little use, unless collected and concentrated. The subjects will continue to demand more and more the attention of American statesmen, until they are finally settled. They include the much needed ship-canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, an extension of our commerce, especially of the markets for our manufactures and agricultural productions, through an American or continental system of trade with Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and other countries, revenue reform and the restoration of our mercantile marine on the ocean, the necessity of a just, uniform, and permanent bankrupt law, the importance of conferring the right of coinage on the Assay Office in New York, a free canal policy in the State of New York as essential to the preservation of her inland commerce and valuable to the nation, a safe and gradual return to a sound currency, redeemable in coin, and the renewal of concord and prosperity in tlie Southern States.

On the whole, the speeches refer more or less directly to commerce at home and abroad as the best means of stimulating production and increasing the employment and comfort of the people throughout the Union. For many years these material interests have been conspicuously neglected in the national Legislature, and it was the object of Mr. Ward to present those views which he believed to be true in regard to tliem without yielding to the prevalent prejudices or supineness of the times.

X PREFACE.

More than any other single sentiment pervading the Bpeechee, is confidence in the belief that ^^ all legitimate interests are harmonious." Mr. Ward holds that the Monroe doctrine, however gratifying to an honorable national pride, is little more than a barren ideality, unless, in an enlightened self-interest, we associate with it a performance of its obligations, including a friendly care for the commercial prosperity of the States we have so far taken under our protection, by extending the exchanges of industry with our neighbors on the north and south, thus promoting such a system of intercourse and of benefits recipi'ocally given and received as will tend to prevent those wars and chronic apprehensions which in the Old World cause the constant maintenance of large standing armies, with frequent loss of life on a scale of stupendous magnitude, and at all times the infliction of heavy burdens upon the people.

SPEECHES

OF THB

HON". ELIJAH TV^RD.

SHIP-CANAL CONNECTING THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS:

ITS

VALUE TO THE COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER NATIONS.

HousB OF Bbpbbsbntativbs, Febroaiy 15, 1859.

At the present time no one public work, of so mnch value to the commerce of the world as the union of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by a ship-canal through some part of the Isthmus of Darien, remains uncompleted. Nearly twenty years have now elapsed since Mr. Ward directed the thoughts of Congress to it. Within that period several additional surveys have been made. The important international enterprise continually receives in an increased degree the attention oi scientific and practical statesmen in all parts of the world, and time demonstrates more and more clearly the accuracv and importance of the facts and opinions expressed in the following speech :

Mr. Chairman: Having the honor to represent in this honorable body a constituency vitallj interested in the progress of commerce, an element which has enabled onr country to attain a high rank among the nations of the world, and to which we must be chiefly indebted in the future for its further growth and increased power, I feel a deep interest in all subjects which seem likely to aid in the development of our commercial greatness, and in maintaining the supremacy we are rapidly acquiring.

Our vast extent of territory, its fertility, mineral and other resoui'ces, the energy of the people, and the great amount of capital employed, are powerful levers in advancing the prosperity of the country ; but the History of the past demonstrates that no one element has had so great an influence in the eirtension of commerce, and contributed so largely to our national wealth, as increased facilities for annihilating space and time by means of railroads and canal communications. The utility and importance of these modes of transportation have been fully tested. Railroads with cars propelled by steam are of comparatively recent origin, having been first used not more than twenty-seven years ago. Within that period England has expended £300,000,000 sterling, and the United States $1,070,000,000, in constructing railroads. Canals attracted the attention of the ancients. The best authenticated accounts of ancient Egypt represent "that country as intersected by canals conveying the waters of the Nile to the more distant parts of the countrj'^, partly for the purposes of irrigation and partly for navigation. The efforts made by the old Egyptian monarchs and by the Ptolemies to construct a canal between the Red Sea and the Nile are well known, and evince the high sense which they entertained of the importance of this species of communication." This work was intended for a ship-canal to connect the Red Sea with the Mediterranean. The same locality is now attracting public attention, and the route has been examined and surveyed and found to present no difficulty that cannot be removed. The French projectors of the Suez Canal contemplate its reopening, or the construction of a parallel line connecting the two seas, which, if carried into effect, would be of great benefit to commerce. Canals have been constructed in Italy, France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, England, and other countries ; but it was reserved for the State of New York to excel them all in connecting the waters of the Hudson with Lake Erie, by means of the Erie Canal.

My associations with mercantile men, and residence in the commercial metropolis, have long since induced me to examine with the greatest attention projects that proposed to develop intercommumcation. The construction of canals in the several States, of lines of railroads leading to all parts of the country, the introduction of our steam marine and the many lines of clipper and other sailing ships, induce me to believe that much more may be done beneficially in this direction. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, and the other sea-coast cities and towns, as well as those in the interior, attest the benefits of railroads and canals, interlinking and binding the Union by ligaments of a cominon interest too strong to be severed. Appreciating the advantages to the country that result from the .home and foreign trade, it becomes important to facilitate that trade m every proper manner.

Witn a view to increase commercial intercourse, by diminishing the travelling distance from the Atlantic to the Pacific ports, the subject of a ship-canal is assuming an importance commensurate with its merits. No project of higher moment or greater magnitude has been presented to the country.

" When in 1513 Vasco Nuflez first beheld, from the heights of Darien, the shores of the Pacific, its near proximity to the Atlantic could not fail to render evident the importance of a water communication between the two oceans. Long and vainly did the Spaniards seek for a natural channel, which might facilitate their passage to the Indies, and when forced to abandon all hope in its existence, they continually directed their attention to tne best means of opening an artificial way. The great utility of such an undertaking became still more evident towards the latter part of the eighteenth century, which witnessed the rising im-

Sortance of Hmdostan, of China, and of the islands of the Indian ^cean, as well as the discovery of Australia and the numerous islands of the Pacific. The length of time required, and the danger incurred, in doubling the two tempestuous capes, by which alone the passage coula be effected, served continually to keep attention fixed on the inestimable advantages which would accrue from an interoceanic communication. V arious points of Central America were therefore surveyed, and plans were proposed for executing this most desirable enterprise ; but the difficulties to be overcome appeared abnost insurmountable, and most of the projects have been tacitly abandoned.

" But within the last few years, the acquisition of California by the United States, and the commercial activity which resulted from the working of the gold fields, so immediately followed by A similar discovery of the precious metal in Australia, and the consequent rapid development of trade with that continent, the extension of commercial enterprise throughout the whole of the Pacific and the Indian Oceans — all concur in rendering the realization of this project indispensable." *

If a passage through the isthmus were made, thousands 01 ships and vessels of all classes with their cargoes would pass throuffh it from and to every clime; it would save thousands of miles in sailing distance, weeks and months of time, and the diflSculties and dangers of the Capes of Good Hope and the Horn be avoided. It would open to our merchants new fields for enterprise and rich markets for their wares and the various productions of the country.

It has been carefully estimated that fourteen thousand miles between New York and San Francisco, and ten thousand miles to China, India, Japan, and the Sandwich Islands, British Australia, the Dutch, English, and French East Indies, New Zealand, the Russian American possessions, the coasts of Central America on the Pacific, Chili and Peru, or nearly in this ratio, may be saved on every outward voyage our ships make, and the same distance on the return. The attamment of such great results would give an extraordinary impulse to the commerce of the United States and other nations.

From the time of the discovery of this continent, a short passage to the East has been constantly desired — a region Columbus was seeking for when he discovered the New World. The commercial history of the past shows that whatever country has hitherto controlled the trade of the East has invariably held, for the time being, the greatest commercial power in the world. In ancient times, Carthage and Alexandria controlled the trade of the land of spices and frankincense. Venice owed her splendor and commercial rule to the same cause. At a later day, when the discovery of the passage by the Cape of Good Hope had been made by tne Portuguese, they held the key to the East The trade with India in silks,

* F. 11 KeUej, Esq., of New Yozk, before the Institate of Civil Engineenii London, I860.

fine cottons, linens, spices, and myrrh, gave to Portugal such a supremacy in Europe, that her rival, Spain, fitted out the expedition which bore the discoverer of this continent to our shores. It did not result in the discovery of the passage so ardently desired, and there was almost as much disappointment felt that a way to India was not found, as there was joy at the discovery of America.

When the Dutch, half a century or more later* (Prescott and Helps), secured a portion of the Indian trade, they, too, reapea the benefits and shared in the immense gains. Subsequently England disputed with Portugal and Holland for this trade ; fierce and bloody wars were waged ; and history now records the unrivalled extent of English commerce, which has vastly contributed to her power. During the last few years we have been disputing with her for this trade, and we have in part succeeded ; but if we desire further gains in this respect, we must place ourselves in a central geographical position by making a passage through the isthmus.

Jfations have made great sacrifices to secure the benefits of this commerce. The most recent illustrations may be found in the late Russian war, which, stripped of its pretended objects and the varied phases of diplomacy, may be regarded as a straggle for the control in the Indies and the trade of that country ; for, by possessing Constantinople, Russia would have had a transit by the peninsula to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, and thence, by channels of commxmication now open, into the Indian Ocean,

It appears to me that no one, familiar with the subject and the sources of commercial strength and power, can justly doubt the importance and utility of an inter-oceanic communication, by means of a ship-canal. The main point to be determined is, whether it is feasible ; has any route been discovered that science, skill, and energy can overcome, within such a cost as to make its prosecution and completion practicable ? While the subject has occupied attention lor several generations, more recent elaborate explorations and surveys indicate only five or six routes as at all practicable. In this connection, engineering problems ai*e not so difficult of solution as to obtain the capital required in the experiments and accomplishment. The routes to which public attention has been drawn are the Tehuantepec, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, San Miguel, Chipo, and the Atrato.

In examining the several routes, my attention has been particularly attracted to the Atrato for its practicability; and more especially, because it can be constructed without locks, and at much less cost, for a canal of the same size, than at any other point. These routes I propose briefly to examine.

The Tehuantepec route commences on the Bay of Vera Cruz, in longitude 21** from Washington, and, crossing the dividing ranges of the water-sheds of the continent, extends to the Puebla of Tehuantepec, on the Pacific. The distance is one hundred and eighty-six miles, and the summit level at the pass of Nisi Correjor is eight hundred and fifty-five feet above the level of the sea. The topographical features of the country are a great general slope from the sea, on either side, to the summit, which is nearer to the Pacific than to the Atlantic.

No water exists at a suflicient elevation to operate a canal with locks, even if locks were not objectionable, as they are, where they can be dispensed with ; and to make an open cut from sea to sea would cost, nearly as I have been able to learn, over a thousand millions of dollars.

The data upon which my conclusions are founded were collected by the Government engineers. This line, although favorable for a railroad — a point which I do not question — still is not, in my judgment, adapted for a ship-canal. Since accurate surveys were made, its practicability, I believe, has not been urged.

The Honduras line lies eastward of the Balize, and runs in nearly a southeily direction across the isthmus known as Baya Honda, from Puerto Cabello to Fonseca. The length of the route is one hundred and siirty miles, and the summit level is two thousand six hundred and eighty-one feet above the sea. Notwithstanding the rivers Humuya and Goascoran interlock, and their head-waters pass one another, still the supply of water is insufiicient, and the great height of the summit would require at least one hundred and sixty locks of great magnitude, and very costly. I therefore consider this line out of the question for canalization ; for a railroad it is practicable.

The Nicaragua route has been very much discussed, and in point of desirability for a water communication between the oceans is undoubtedly next best to the Atrato, but is much inferior to it, for the reasons which I will hereafter present At this place an elevation of one hundred and twenty-two feet nas to be overcome, and, according to the most approved plans, at least thirty locks would be necessary. Water here is abundant on the summit, and at the Atlantic terminus there is a good harbor ; but on the Pacific a harbor must be constructed at Breto, or in that vicinity, in order to make the communication complete.

If the use of locks was not greatly disadvantageous, the Nicaragua line would claim our warmest support ; but the difficulty and danger of elevating great ships to the height of one hundred and twenty -two feet, and then lowering them again every time a passage is to be made from one ocean to another, must be apparent. Locks offer serious objection to such navigation ; each lock of a canal is nearly similar to a dry dock, and thirty would have to be passed each way ; in addition there is the difficulty and uncertainty attending the use of locks, arising from the failure of the gates that enclose them, which, in this case, would number one hundred and twenty, if the locks were single lifts, which are most desirable. The cost of keeping such mechanical structures in repair would be great The risk and injury to vessels from striking against them are to be regarded, and the probability of occasional delay in them, when out of repair, is to be taken into consideration.

At Nicaragua, the cost of constructing a work equal in width and depth would be more than at the Atrato. I am aware that plans have been made, the estimated cost of which would be less than is contemplated at the Atrato ; but these plans propose a canal of much less depth and width, and insufficient to do the trade required. I am confident, from the estimates that have been made — ^and I speak from a knowledge of the case — ^that the

18 SHIP-OANAL.

same sized canal, even with locks, whicli would materially reduce its working capacity, cannot be built at Nicaragua for the same price as at the Atrato.

Upon the Panama route a railroad is now in successful operation. It is undoubtedly one of the most desirable lines, if not the best route, for a railroad crossing the Isthmus ; it is but forty-seven and a half miles long, and good harbors exist at either end. But for the purposes of a canal, its disadvantages may be summed up m a few words. The canal must be f orty-two miles long ; ships must be lifted two hundred and fifty-seven feet. At this elevation there is not sufficient water to feed the canal, and water must be collected in reservoirs in the mountains, and brought sixty-one miles through a trench of more than one hundred and fifty feet deep. Even then, thirty-six locks would be required. If an open cut be attempted, the quantity of material to be removed would be equal to over three times what is necessary at the Atrato, and a lock on the Pacific would be indispensable.

Various explorations have been made at San Miguel under the directions of the engineers of the Government of the United States, Great Britain, Spain, and Holland ; but no line at all proper for a ship-canal has yet been discovered.

The Chipo route has only been surveyed on the Atlantic coast; and the range of mountains (Cordilleras) seems to render it not available for the purpose of a ship-canal at this point.

The proposed route for the Atrato Canal is through an open cut from the sea to the waters of a navigable river, having sufficient depth to float the largest man-of-war and merchant ships; and no locks or other impediments are required. The route to which I refer lies in the Republic of New Granada, in the province of Choco, and may be found between the seventh and eighth degrees of north latitude, and the seventy-seventh and seventyeighth degrees of west longitude from Greenwich. It begins at a good harbor at the mouth of the Atrato River, in the Bay of Candilaria, and thence ascends the Atrato River to one of its affluents.

In the early part of the present century, the venerable

SHIP-CAKAL. 19

and remarkably far-sighted Baron Alexander Von Humboldt, in his "Essais Politique," in describing the various routes that probably existed for forming interoceanic navigation, designated the line of the valley of the Atrato River as wortny of particular consideration. Humboldt came to this conclusion at that early period, from having personally examined this and the other proposed routes : and in his various writings, he urges the merits of this particular line. The transits at Honduras and Tehuantepec, the canoe navigation at the Lake Nicaragua, and the mule path at Panama, however, for many years drew off the attention of commercial men and capitalists from the Atrato.

In 1850, General T. De Mosquera, ex-President of the country, in a work entitled " Physical and Political Geography of New Granada," drew attention again to the vallev of the Atrato, and a citizen of the State of New York (Mr. Frederick M. Kelley), perceiving the vast benefits to be derived to his own city, the country, and the world, from any good route across the Isthmus, but more particularly from any that could be made available for purposes of canalization, learning the views of Humboldt, and all that Mosquera could inform him relative to this locality, determined, in 1853, as a mere matter of public utility, and "vvithout any immediate hope of personal advantage, with scarcely the remotest prospect of self-aggrandizement, to fit out an expedition at his own expense, and have surveys made, to see if the impressions of the illustrious men I have named were founded in fact or otherwise.

The first surveys were made up the river Atrato and Over the dividing isthmus, and down the river San Juan, upon the line of a small canoe-canal, more properly a ditch, that the priests of the mission of San Puebla had caused the natives to dig, many years ago, and through which canoes laden with the gold and merchandise of the surrounding countries passed, at times, at high water, from one ocean to the other. This line did not present such favorable features as were anticipated; but, nothing daunted, three other expeditions, making four in all up to that period, were fitted out with praiseworthy zeal, fey the same individuaL They, however, all merely added to our geographical knowledge of this highly interesting portion of our continent.

The fourth expedition, at nearly the close of the third year of the researches, gave some slight promise of success, having learned from the traditions of the natives that low ground existed near the seventy-seventh parallel ; but, owing to circumstances they could not control, they were compelled to return without making any very important discoveries. The data they furnished, however, were the key to future success.

Another expedition was started and intrusted to an explorer, with directions to search in the vicinity of the locality before indicated as practicable. The dense growth of underbrush, and the gigantic forests that cover the entire face of the country, made the work of exploration tedious and difficult : but after an absence of several months the party returned with the tidings that a route had been discovered and surveyed, by which a canal could be made to connect the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans without locks, and at such a cost as to be commercially available. No speculations, however, were gone into ; sober, serious reflection seemed to indicate that, before any public demonstration was made, the surveys should be verified by a Government corps. Years had been occupied, and a large amount of money expended by a private individual to solve this great problenou The surveys being completed, Mr. Kelley proceeded to Europe with the result. I ask to submit, in his own language, his reception abroad. He says :

"I went to England, and submitted my plane and reports to the Royal Gec^raphical Society of London, and to the British Institution of Civil Engineers. I invited the searching criticism of those most competent to judge in the mother country. I went to France, and knowing how deep an interest the Emperor Napoleon had taken in the promotion of similar enterprises, and how profound a knowledge he had displayed of the general subject, at a time when correct views were confined to a very limited circle, I laid my plans and surveys before bis Imperial Majesty, and invited to their consideration, in the most public manner, the highest science in the service of the Government and people of

SHIP-OANAL. 21

France. I went to Berlin, and frankly explained to that illustrious sage, the pioneer of all scientinc knowledge of Central America, the general views which I entertained, and the nature of the evidence bj which they had been confirmed. In those three enlightened countries I was not treated as a stranger. There was a grandeur in the design of which I was the bearer, a dignity in the mission with which I was charged, Uiat won lor me courtesies which, on mere personal grounds, no stranger, going to Europe for the first time, could have anticipated or claimed. From the Emperor of the French, from Lord Clarendon, from Sir Roderick Murchison, from Baron Humboldt, from Ecsar- Admiral Beechy, from Robert Stephenson, Admiral Fitzroy, and the members generally of the Royal Society and Institute, I received great kindness ; and, what was of more importance, they applied to my plans and reports, in a catholic and courteous spirit, but with the rigid exactness due to science and their own nigh reputations, those tests suggested and fortified by their great experience. A friendless and unknown American citizen was treated by these men as though he was a brother, not because he was eminent in science, but because they recognized in him the zeal, the prophetic hope and self-devotion which are ever the handmaids of science." *

The important results thus far attained were brought to the attention of the Thirty-Fourth CongrcBs at its second session. Appreciating the efforts made, and the great results to flow from interoceanic communication, an appropriation was made by the Government of the United States for a verification of the surveys to which I have alluded. Congress authorized the Secretaries of War and the Navy, under direction of the President, to detail officers for the survey and have the verification made. The Navy Department selected Lieutenant Craven, and the War Department detailed Lieutenant Michler, of the topographical engineers. These officers, upon their return, proceeded to prepare their reports ; and the result of the expedition will probably be laid before Congress at the present session. While I am not able to give the detail of the sui-vey, I am sufficiently informed to state that their reports will confirm the physical facts as represented, including harbors, rivers, rock and earth excavation, and the general character and quantity of material to be removed to form the canal, upon ^hich

* Kell«y*B Pamphlet on the Atzato Ship-OanaL the former estimate of the cost of this work was based. This estimate of cost had been computed by several experienced engineers in this country.

By the proceedings of the Institution of Engineers of London for 1858, 1 find that body — perhaps as competent as any in the world to judge — ^indorses the estimate made by our own engineers. I have also seen the written expressions of many able and intelligent American engineers on the subject; letters from distinguished engineers — ^Robert Stephenson, George Rennie, and other English and French engineers of eminence — verifying the estimates made for the work in this country. In April and May, 1856, the Royal Geographical Society, at Mr. Kelley's request, discussed this question at great length, and took very decided ground in favor of the work being done. The President, who was Minister to England while Mr. Kelley was abroad, did all in his power to advance this great measure, and suggested the application to the United States for verification. The French Emperor also appointed a commission to examine the plans and surveys, and they reported favorably to him, and he, I learn, expressed a willingness to unite with England and the United States in building the canal. The plans were submitted to Baron Humboldt, and his approval was obtained.

Mr. Chairman, having drawn the attention of this honorable body to the subject of ship-canals, briefly refeiTed to the various projects, and given a rapid sketch of the Atrato, I will now refer to the benefit which the commerce of this country and other nations would derive through such a channel oi communication from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. I have already alluded to the great saving in travelling distance, and refer to the Appendix for the detail. The first influence felt would be from the supply of a colony of workmen, consuming the breadstuffs, manufactures, tobacco, and other products of the United States, during the construction of the work.