This line possesses additional interest for the political reasons adduced by the Emperor Napoleon III, in a memoir prepared by him when a prisoner at Ham. Arranged with method and prepared with care, this pamphlet bears the impress of a sagacious judgment. “In order,” says the writer, “that the canal should become the principal element of the advancement of Central America, it must be cut, not through the narrowest part of the tongue of land, but through the country which is most populous, the most healthy, and the most fertile, and which is crossed by the greatest number of rivers, in order that its activity may be communicated to the remotest part of the interior. England will see with pleasure Central America become a flourishing and powerful State, which will establish a balance of power by creating in Spanish America a new center of active enterprise, powerful enough to give rise to a feeling of nationality, and to prevent, by backing up Mexico, any further encroachment from the North.” The line selected by Louis Napoleon (although he errs in his statement of distance), has not been improved by the changes in location proposed by subsequent engineers. All these routes commence at San Juan de Nicaragua, and follow the San Juan river to the Lake Nicaragua. From this lake three other routes pass through Lake Managua to Realijo, and to the Gulf of Fonseca. Lake Managua is about twenty feet above the level of Lake Nicaragua. The dry season suspends the flow of water between the lakes, and the question arises whether, even by the aid of a dam, sufficient water can be stored in the smaller lake to feed the summit level on each side of it during the dry season. Col. Childs’ route terminates at Brito; a fifth at San Juan del Sud, and three other variations of route near the same point of the Pacific coast. Col. Childs’ report, which is very complete, was submitted to a Board of English Engineers, and to Colonels Abert and Turnbull, of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, U. S. A. Although the survey was thoroughly and scientifically executed, the route was condemned by these officers, because of the insufficiency of the harbors of Brito, and the small dimensions of the canal proposed by Colonel Childs. The length of the canal was divided into sections, for the convenience of description and estimation of the cost: MILES. FEET. Western division, from Brito to the Lake 18 588 From Lake Nicaragua to head of San Juan 56 500 Slack water of seven dams on the San Juan 90 800 Canal to San Juan del Norte 28 505 ——— ——— Total distance 194 393 The maximum width of the canal was designed to be 118 feet, and the depth 17 feet. The descent from the lake to Brito was accomplished by fourteen locks.