Consoling himself with such reflections he met Dr. Cullen at Panama, in high dudgeon. The Doctor reproached him with having broken his instructions, and required that he should return to San Miguel. Gisborne was recalcitrant. “Feeling satisfied that a ship canal could be made across Darien, he urged Dr. Cullen to come to England, and, as he said he was without money, I offered to advance the passage money.”
This generous offer was accepted. Having found, as he believed, a summit of 150 feet above tide, corresponding with Dr. Cullen’s statement, he submits two plans to his employers. One for a thorough-cut without locks; the other by the junction of two lakes, for which he had found a suitable physical conformity, in remarkable harmony with his prophetic speculations before reaching Cartejena.
The first plan was estimated to cost £12,500,000, or about $62,500,000.
The friends of the measure in London were elated by the representations of the expeditionists.
The Atlantic and Pacific Junction Company was incorporated by royal charter, or act of Parliament. The capital, limited to £15,000,000, was disposed of in shares of £100 each. A deposit of ten shillings on each share was to be made without further liability, forming a sum of £75,000 for preliminary expenses.
A provisional directory was organized, with Lord Wharncliffe as chairman. Upon the publication of their prospectus, a lively correspondence sprang up between the London Times and Sir Charles Fox. The writer of the Times is charged with want of appreciation of the merits of the Darien route, and retorts, that if no one is to question Sir Charles Fox’s views, or even speak of their inaccuracies, there must be an end of discussion.
While this controversy was raging, another expedition was being organized, in numbers and appliances far exceeding any previous attempt, with the same object. England, France, and the United States coöperated with New Granada. Not since the landing of Paterson had so formidable an expedition appeared in that region.
When the Virago entered the Bay of San Miguel, the Scorpion and l’Espeigle, with Mr. Gisborne and Dr. Cullen on board, anchored in Caledonia Bay. The French ship, La Chimere, and the American corvette, Cyane, Lieut. Strain, at the same time joined the expedition, raising the united crews to the number of 700 men.
The Granadian Government, in furtherance of the object of the expedition, had established a depot near the junction of the rivers Savana and Lara. It was confidently believed that the practicability of the Darien route was about to be set at rest forever.
Relying on Mr. Gisborne’s and Dr. Cullen’s reports, Lieut. Strain, with a party of twenty-seven men, two Granadian Commissioners, and ten days’ provisions, pushed forward up the bed of the Caledonia River. Here, taking advantage of an opening among the trees, he examined, with a spy-glass, the range of Cordillera, to find a semi-circular chain 1500 to 2000 feet in height. He concluded that this route could not be that alluded to by Mr. Gisborne and Dr. Cullen. He still pushed forward up arduous ascents. A seaman of the Cyane climbed a tree to reconnoiter the country, and reported nothing but hills and mountains in every direction. For a pathetic account of this unfortunate expedition, the reader is referred to Harper’s Monthly, Vol. X.