“By substituting steam navigation between Jamaica and England, the voyage from Great Britain to Peru could be performed in little more than a month.
“The security which will be given to commerce by this prompt communication, the facilities afforded to merchants in realizing the proceeds of their shipments, the consequent increase of trade, the regularity of advices along the shores of the Pacific, so desirable for British commerce,—are points of universal interest. To the squadrons stationed in those seas an immense advantage will also be gained by the facility of communication and the increased efficiency of their operations. The moral influence to be effected will tend to strengthen and sustain the governments of the respective states against the usurpation of revolutionary demagogues.”
We further beg leave to add, on the same very good authority, the following valuable remarks for the information of those who are unacquainted with the localities of Panama, and the difficulties and facilities to be met with in crossing the Isthmus.
“The seasons are distinguished by rainy season and dry season. From June to November constitutes the former; from November to June the latter. During the rainy season, the journey from the Pacific to the Atlantic can be performed in two days; while, in the dry season, twenty-four hours only are necessary: from the Atlantic to the Pacific, during the rainy season, three days are required; and in the dry season it can be accomplished in two days. This difference is owing to the swelling of the river produced by rains. The journey from Panama to Cruces is performed on mules, being a distance of twenty-one miles, over a bad but not a dangerous road. In Cruces, there are canoes of all sizes always in readiness, in which passengers embark, and descend the river to Chagres, the sea-port of the Isthmus, where they re-embark on board the first vessel which suits their convenience.
“The transit of the Isthmus during the dry season is neither inconvenient nor unpleasant: the canoes are covered; provisions, fruits, &c. are abundant along the banks of the river; the temperature, though warm, is perfectly healthy, and there is always personal security. During the rains you are subject to great exposure and consequent illness; but were a good road once opened, and a steamer on the river, there would be no danger at any season, and the journey from sea to sea could be accomplished in eight or nine hours, without the slightest inconvenience.”
ECCLESIASTICAL JUBILEE.
The following authentic document we have carefully translated from the Spanish; and, having already referred to it, (vol. i. p. 132,) we now offer no comment on its contents.
We, Dr. Don Jorje de Benavente, Archbishop Elect of Lima, &c. to our clergy, religious communities, and all the faithful residing in and inhabiting this our diocese.
Forasmuch as our most holy father Gregory XVI, Roman Pontiff, and visible head of the Universal Church, moved by the pastoral vigilance and paternal love becoming a successor of St. Peter, has condescended to grant a general jubilee to the whole Catholic world, with a view that the common penitence and prayer of the faithful may obtain from the Father of Mercies and God of all consolation the cessation of the weighty ills that affect the spouse of J. C.; the supreme government of this republic, always zealous for the exact observance of the holy religion which we profess, has given the corresponding pass to the Brief, which with this object his Holiness has despatched, of which the tenor is as follows: