The New York Herald Newspaper, July 24, 1869, Page 3

‘NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1869—TRIPLE SHEET. 3 | TERUANTEPEC. The Isthmus Railway and Tele- graph Lines. = 4/ $I) P| Lueation, Advantages and Fea- tures of the Work. jombayA A ais ame :) B I. The La Sere Grant of 1869 and the His- tory of Its Negotiation. cA Union of the Atlantic and Pa- cific Oceans. Industrial Revolution and “ West- ward the Star of Empire.” Ms L} Fourteen years since and a most important treaty whch had just been negotiated between the gov- e:nment of Mexico and the republic of the United States of Americu, looking to the connecting of thé Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by means of a railroad to be Wuilt across the Isthiaus of Tehuantepec, wai amended and exchanged between the representa~ tives of the two Powers in Washington city. Tha justrument was dated in the city of Mexico on the goth day of December, ta the year 1853, and per- fected in the national capital of tuis coautry on the uth day of June, in the year 1864. It is recorded in the national archives, having been attested on the part of our people by General Gadsden, of South Carolina, Who, a8 will be recollected, on his return homeward from Mexico, when passing the border fringe between tue two countries near to the site of the proposed work, had his scanty baggage overhauled by @ Mexican Custom House officer, to whom he made the memorable remark, “I have nothing in my trunk but my treaty.’? In these nine short words General Gadsden expressed the modern embodiment of a grand, liv- ing and indestructibie idea, aged as the time of Co- lumbus, Who In his sweeping forecast of future pro- gress was convinced that the true route for transit and connection between the Old World—as Spain was then to him—and the Indies was to be found in this directiou, and that the most ready passage te the East irom Europe was to be made by travelling westward. Based on geographical truth and the solld assurances of the law of nature the assertion of Columbus became eternal. Shrouded in the ac- cumulating mist of centuries, extinguished almost at digereut periods in bivod, driven from one land to another by the dissensious of faction and the re peated shocks of civil war, temporarily speculated in by insincere and heartless financiers, and fre- quently traded around as capital by unpatriotic Politicians in other countries besides oun own, the principle proclaimed by Columbus did not die, It hved on m the minds of true and noble men, and stands forth to-day, in the nine- teenth century, after sweeping explorations of the Mexican Gulf, for fraition at the hands of the Amer« ican people and by American enterprise, a kindred claimant for public sapport, as another channel for the universal communion of man, with the great works of the age—the Pacific Railroad and telegraph, the American syi ... of canals trom .the Erie Canal downwards, our vast aud extending network of railways and land telegraphs, the Brunel tunnel, the Mena! suspension bridge, the Mont Cenis tunnel and railway, the Suez Canal and the Atlantic and other deep sea telegraph cables. : Convinced of the vast imporcance of the Tehuante- pec Railroad in the direction tdicated, we present it to our readers te-day, illustrated by the map which tg published in our columns, setting forth its con- nections by steamships and satling vessels with the Pas A aed | oe iw, B == tS Y 1% R oy ¢ N most prominent ports of the world, and accom- sod ry a> Re 3 ; \ panied’ by @ pen-and-ink sketch of its origin and és x7 a i progtess towards maturity. , q THE ISTAMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC, 3 y ws, Rs f 6 } ‘ 4 R q over which the railroad 1s to pass, is tae narrowest portion of the land which separates the Gulf of Mexico from the Pacific Ocean. It measures about 140 miles across, and is situated in fhe States of Oaxaca, Vera Cruz and Tabasco. Its uplands abound in excellent pastures, and ita soll produces at dif ferent points mahogany, logwood, twstic, cotton, drugs of different kinds, indigo, salt, gum and grain, The Gulf of Tehuantepec is classed ag a bay of the Pacitic in Central America. It is bounded by the State of Oaxaca on the northwest, and on the north- east by the territory of the republic of Guatemala, and is situated in latitude 16 deg. north and longi- tude 94 deg. to 95 deg. west, receiving the river Tehuantepec ten miles south of the town. From the wouth of the Coatzacoalco, which discharges itself into the Gulf of Mexico in 18 deg. 8 min. 20 sec, north latitude, and 94 deg. 32 min. 60 sec. Jongitude west (from Greenwich) to the bor of Ventosa, on the Pacific, situated 16 deg. 11 min. 45 sec. norta Jatitude, and 5 a min. 4) sec. west longitude, the distance in a line is 1434, miles. due coast lines on either side have a general direction nearly east and west. In considering the isthmus with reference to its gene- ral topographical features, it may properly be said to comprise three main divisions, more or less dis- taunct in their general characteristics; the first, em- bracing that portion extending from the Gulf to the base of the Cordilleras, and which may be called the Atlantic plains; the second, comprising the more elevated or mountaioous districts in the central ei and the third, includiug the level couatry bor- ering the ocean on the south, and known as the Pae cific plains. THE TEHUANTFPEC RAILWAY COMPANY claimed during later years, as it does to-day, public attention by a concession extending for aterm of seventy years and embracing large tracts of land, which was made by the Mexican government on the €th of October, in the year 1867, to Don Emelio La Sere, authorizing the formation of a company for the purpose of opening interoceanic communication acioss the Isthmus of Tehuantepec by means of a railroad, a carriage road and a line of telegrapi. It was covénanted that the property should remain free from all taxation or government imposis, with the exception of the pay- ment of eight per cent from the net proiits of the undcrtakiig, whenever a dividend was declared, and a per capi’a charge of twelve cents for each passenger brought turough on the line, ‘tbe Mexican Col 9 debated and modified the terms of the deed, and contirmed it by vote on December 23, 1868; the President of Mexico approved it on January 2, 1862, and it was ofMiciaily notided to the world as complete in the Gazette of the government ol Mexico on January 4 in tue same year. Under this grant La Sere formed the Tehuantepec Raliway Com) ‘. It was made up wholly of citizens of the United States, This company obtained an act of incorpo- ration from the General Assembly of the State of Verwont in the yeur 1863, The original deed of con- cession provided that the company should be orga- nized according to the laws of one of the States of the American Union, and the Legisiature of Vermont ¢ being the only one in session at the moment the sancuon of its members was consequently sought. CAVITAL, SHARES AND ‘TITLE. Eighteen millions of dollars, divided mto $100 shares, was fixed as the capital, and the company received from La Sere the assignment of his grant. In the year 1869, on the 2d of March, in compliance with one of the clauses of the grant, the company gave its bound, covering $100,000, lo the executive authorities of the Mexican republic. ‘This bond was accepted and approved by Sefior Don Juan N. Navarro, Consul General of Mexico in the United States, on the 11th of April, 1869, the Consul General taking sach action ander direct instructions from the home government in Mexico city. 1he directors of the company were appointed on the ath of March by the President of Mexico, bape) in coniormity With the thirtieth article of the original grant. In prosecution of the undertaking Col iL Juiuus W. Adams, constructing engineer of the com- pany, prepared a general plan for the construction of the three works enumerated above during the mortith of August, 1863 In this he set forth the line of the Tehuantepec Railway, the carriage road and telegraph route, submit his papers to tie Mexican government for ite examination. Tiese documents were duly scru- tinized and approved on the 6th of January, a Counsel prepared the form of the a jg Ay as of the bonds, which the compaay au thorized to issue for pur} construction, re- pair and maintenance of recat the were adopted. ‘These documenta were submitted for government approval also, and received it on f° 6th day of January ki By virtue of such at the oe was formed. Mr. Marshal 0. Re of New York, with his associate, are the priv- promoters. They called Mr. Simon Stevens, 0: city, to the prestdency of the company. z EARLY iNCEPTIONS OF SUCH A WORK. The ultimate completion of the great work of | Tehuantepec Ratirond may therefore be accepted & a fixed fact; 60 that men of mature age at ae ment will live to run from ocean to ocean by & = avenue of transportation—a day dreamt with progressists of the period even in the time of Diezo, an A} TEHUANTEPEC RAILWAY is connettions by Sleamships and $ ettionyshowing the fi ‘Projet > or on Meércasi Wi