THE TWO AFFECTATIONS. There are two sorts of affectation current in the world: the affectation of being better than one really is, and the affectation of being worse. The former is, to my mind, decidedly the preferable sort. Understand me. I do not speak of pretences that go the length of downright deceit in society, hypocrisy in Religion, or treachery about public duties. Such as those I neither justify, nor palliate. But I speak of a courtesy, which to most persons might seem overstrained; of bows, and civil language, and kind behavior, to one whom we do not like; of that politeness to all men, which answers to Lord Chatham's definition of true politeness-"benevolence in trifles." Let this silken behavior be carried somewhat beyond the line of strict sincerity, let it betoken, to common observers, rather more warmth of regard for every one than the observed person feels--let a large majority of them, therefore, charge him, not unjustly, with affectation and it is this which I maintain to be a virtue, in comparison with the opposite sort of affectation. My two friends, Frank Softly and John Blunt, are living illustrations of my meaning, and proofs of my position. By nature, they had dispositions equally, yet not unusually kind, and capacities equally great. their defence, and bring into view those good qualities, which the worst man possesses in some degree. At first, this goodness of Frank's was forced; or, if the reader pleases, affected. But it has long since grown to be a second nature with him. His feelings have taken their tone from his words and behavior-his heart has grown softer, by the softness of his manners-until at length, I hardly know a more benevolent, or a more useful man, than Frank Softly. To avoid the shame of glaring inconsistency, he was compelled to act out the humanity he professed. His smooth manners drew him sometimes into friendly contact with the vicious, which (as he was on his guard against being corrupted by them), he occasionally improved for their good. Opportunities were afforded him, of giving them counsel; which was listened to, because he had the tact to give it delicately, and (above all) privately. Occasions of relieving distress, now and then presented themselves; and he could not wholly neglect them, though his generosity was not extraordinary. He is an agreeable companion, who never wounds the feelings of any,— never puts harsh constructions upon men's conduct,-is never censorious, and never offends any but those who think it a social duty to sit in judg ment upon the characters and actions of their neighbors, and who cannot get Frank to join them in their self-imposed task of condemnation, even where the condemnation is deserved. Nor has his good nature ever led him into vicious indulgencies. He learned, betimes, the importance of knowing how and when to say No: and his kindly mannered refusal of all invitations to drink or game, gave no offence, but sometimes drew off a "fine fellow" from the bottle or cards. I have seen sturdier moralists than Frank plunge into dissipation, because they could not, or rather would not, say No as blandly as he would. : But Frank showed, early in life, a great wish to please. It was owing to some casual impression made upon him in boyhood, by happily timed advice from a friend, or by reading Lord Chesterfield, or, perhaps, by the captivating suavity of a gentleman who used to visit his father. Frank adopted the winning style of manners, partly because he was charmed with the examples of it that he saw, and partly because he hoped it would gain him favor, and promote his success in life. Whatever his motive, he studied and practised the art of pleasing-not by wit, or by varied and rich conversation, which he did not aspire to; but by universal courtesy. Civility to all ages, and classes, was the rule of his conduct. When he grew up, and went forth into the world, where he was obliged to know that individuals he sometimes met with were knavish and in bad repute, he treated them more civilly than any one else did; nay, I fear, was more civil to a wealthy knave than to a poor one-as who is not? A thousand times he has put John affected the rough and surly in his manners. a constraint upon himself, to ask about the health, He so much abhorred courtliness, that he was foror the families, of men for whom he could not help ever giving pain to the feelings of some person or feeling the utmost contempt. I have seen him rise other. There is no telling how many disobliging and offer his chair to an elderly person whose cha- things he said and did to his mother, brothers and racter I knew him to hold in the liveliest detesta- sisters, before he was twenty; though his affection tion. Not only before such people's faces did he for them was perhaps even warmer than usual. As give them countenance; but when he heard them he grew older, principle and reflection, with long assailed in their absence, he would often undertake absences from home, made him learn kinder man John Blunt's ruling sentiment, from youth upward, was hatred of all dishonesty and he justly considered affectation as a species of dishonesty. Unluckily, however, he deemed nothing affectation, but the pretence of being better than one really is: and in his eagerness to avoid that vice, he ran into the opposite one, of pretending to be worse than he really was-like the gentleman satirized by Horace, "Dum vitant STULTI vitia, in contraria currunt." ners to them: but he still sometimes gave deep wounds to them, whom he would have shed his blood to protect. Abroad, where less allowance STEAM-NAVIGATION TO CHINA. was made for "his way" (as he and his apologists Addressed to the Hon. T. Butler King. him a favor, he would be as gruff as most men NATIONAL OBSERVATORY, WASHINGTON, MY DEAR SIR :-Yours of the 21st December, 1847, in reply to mine of the day previous has been received. As it is the text for what is to follow, I take the liberty of quoting it: day, this moment received. It discloses the re"I am greatly indebted for your note of yester markable fact, that in establishing the line of steamers from Panama to Oregon, we have actuIn John, as in Frank, what was at first assumed ally taken a step of three thousand miles on our has now become natural. If John does a kindness, way to China! That California must afford the point of departure for our line of steamers to "his way" often converts it into an unkindness: Changhai, which must consequently become our and it is only by a very few, who best know him, Commercial and Naval Depot on the Pacifie! that he is reputed to be any thing more than a self- Why should it not also become the rendezvous for ish churl. In truth, he is benevolent and public our whale ships, instead of the Sandwich Islands, and the terminus of the great Railway to connect spirited but distress dares not lay itself open to the Atlantic and the Pacific? This great circle him, for fear of the rough treatment that accompa- route from the shores of the Pacific to those of nies his benevolence-as many poor-houses are China, may justly be regarded in the light of an made so uncomfortable as to frighten away all but important discovery made by you-No other perextreme want from applying for charity. And his sons ever having suggested it-I must therefore public spirit sleeps unexercised and unknown, be-beg the favor of you to give me your views respeccause none but his few intimates can keep him com- and also of the Gulf Stream to which you allude. ting it, and the suggestions above more in detailpany, in concerting enterprises for the public good. Most truly yours, A hedge-hog for a bed fellow, is not more unpleasant than John Blunt as a companion to nine-tenths of his acquaintance. Thus his usefulness is perpetually circumscribed, and his happiness marred, by his affecting to be unaffected. (Signed,) T. BUTLER KING." With regard to a current of warm water across the North Pacific to the North-West Coast, from the shores of Asia, and corresponding to the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, I know but little more than what was stated by me in a paper on the CURRENTS OF THE OCEAN, read before the National Institute in 1844, and published in the Southern Literary Messenger, for July of that year. An intelligent Virginian, who had spent some years in France, once told me that he thought the politeness generally practised by all classes there, produced, in time, the kindly feelings of which at first it might be only the counterfeit. And no observer of human nature can help knowing, that the I beg leave to refer you to that paper with the outward demeanor, when long and habitually prac- remark that all that I have since learned, tends to tised, does mould and temper the inward character. confirm the views there taken with regard to such The calmness of the Quaker's mind is admitted to a current. Should it be found really to exist, it be increased by the systematic quietude of his be- will exercise great influence upon the course of havior. The pirate and the wild beast are render-navigation, and consequently upon the commerce ed more fierce by their cries of rage. Ill temper of that Ocean. is always heightened by indulging itself in audible Thanks to the enlarged views of the statesman out-breaks. The Englishman's unsocial surliness at the head of the Navy Department, I am enahas grown, since it was noted by foreigners, and bled to carry out a favorite project, long entertaingloried in by himself, as a national characteris-ed, of preparing from the Log-Books of our menof-war and merchantmen, a chart which shall show the prevailing winds and currents in all parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. tic. I would not recommend any affectation whatever but methinks it is obvious, that as " we do grow like to that we most affect,"--it is better to affect what is good, than what is bad. And I would relieve some honest people of the delusion they are under, in supposing themselves to be at all more honest in pretending to be one thing, than in pretending to be another. The plan is to lay down on this chart the tracks of several thousand navigators, in such a manner as to show at a glance, the winds and currents encountered every day by each. Lieutenant Whiting and other officers have been detailed for the purpose of assisting me in this un dertaking. The sheets of the North Atlantic, pre- | standing at New Orleans, is about 3,000 miles pared by that officer, and already published, have, nearer to China, than he is when he starts from by the importance of their results, attracted the Panama by the way of the Sandwich Islandsattention of navigators, and given the undertaking notwithstanding he will have travelled at least 1,500 renewed impulse. miles to reach Panama. But the great circle from With a liberality worthy of the enterprise of Panama through the Gulf and Louisiana, to China, American ship owners, and in a manner character- as a travelling route, is impracticable, and the next istic of the intelligence of American navigators, step, therefore, is to find a route which is practithe most active coöperation has been promptly cable, and which shall deviate from this as little as and freely granted; so that in the course of this head lands or other obstacles to navigation will adyear, I expect to have the voluntary, but effective mit. When we have found such a route, we can cooperation of several hundred merchant vessels, examine the advantages which it offers-compare making daily, in all parts of the sea, and on their them with other routes that have been proposed, passages to and fro, the requisite observations for and then form conclusions. this purpose. When the facts and materials thus collected shall be brought together, spread out upon the chart and discussed, we shall then know certainly as to this Gulf Stream, and be enabled to form correct ideas as to the prevailing winds and currents in all parts of that broad ocean,-a desideratum of great im portance. By still holding one end of the string at Changhai, on the globe, and carrying the end that is on this side, out into the Pacific, until the string will just clear the Peninsula of California, we shall have an arc of a great circle along which a steamer, with fuel sufficient, might sail all the way from Chili to the islands of Japan without ever having to turn aside for the land. This, therefore, is the shortest route, and the nearest navigable distance to China for all vessels, whether from Chili, Bolivia, Peru, Equador, Central America or the Pacific ports of Mexico. In point of distance, it is the great highway from America to the Indies, and will, hereafter, be called the great commercial circle of the Pacific Ocean. In the various projects which have, from time to time, been proposed for reaching China, partly by rail-road or canal across the Isthmus of Darien, or other parts of the continent, it does not appear that the great circle route across the ocean, has ever been considered. If we examine the course and distance from Panama to Changhai, as they appear on a Mercator's chart-which is the projec- After running along this route and passing Cape tion used in navigation—we shall find the distance St. Lucas and Bartholomew, if we look to the to be about 9,500 miles, and the course to be by right we shall find, at the distance of a few leagues, way of the Sandwich Islands, which are midway the beautiful ports of Upper California, including this route. But on this chart, as on all others, the the safe and commodious harbors of San Diego, surface of the earth, which is a sphere, is repre- Monterey and San Francisco. These ports are sented as a plane, and is therefore distorted. The right on the wayside of this great circle and comshortest distance then between any two places, un-mercial highway. They occupy that geographical less they both be on the Equator, or on the same meridian, is not the straight line on the chart which joins them, but it is along the arc of the great circle in the plane of which they are situated ;-and this are, when projected on the chart, will appear as a curved line. Now, if we take a common terrestrial globe, and draw a string tightly across it from Panama to Changhai, it will show the shortest distance between the two places, and will represent the great circle route between them. And this string, so far from touching the Sandwich Islands, will pass up through the Gulf of Mexico, thence through Louisiana towards Oregon, crossing the ocean several thousand miles to the North of them. The distance from Panama to Changhai, by this route, were it practicable to travel it, is 8.200 miles, or about 1,200 miles less than it is by the way of the Sandwich Islands. position, and present, in the future, those commercial advantages which will assuredly make the most favored of them the great half-way house between China and all parts of Pacific America. The harbor of Monterey is said to resemble the beautiful Bay of Naples. It has water and capacity for the combined navies and ships of the world. The winds here never blow home, and the anchorage therefore is perfectly safe. Merely as sheets of water, however, both San Diego and Francisco are, in the eyes of the sailor, still more beautiful; but San Diego is on the verge of a sterile country, while San Francisco is further out of the way of the great circle route than either of the other two. My enterprising friend Wheelwright has a monthly line of steamers from Valparaiso, touching at the "Intermedias," Callao, and Guayaquil, to Panama. Under your bill of the last session, and by the Now, to those who are accustomed to form ideas energy of the Navy Department in giving it effect, of bearings and distance from maps and charts, Aspinwall & Co., of New York, have the contract and not from globes, this statement may appear for another monthly line of steamers from Panama startling: yet it is nevertheless true, that a person to the mouth of the Columbia river. This line, no doubt, will connect at Panama with Wheel- trade-winds blow, a vessel will average about 150 right's, and with one or more lines on this side to miles a day. From Changhai to Monterey, by the Chagres. The steamers of Aspinwall's line are to touch at Monterey; and Monterey is, therefore, the port for the American terminus of the China line. It is in latitude 36° 38', and is one third of the distance, and directly on the wayside from Panama to China; and from Monterey by the great circle to Japan is not nearly so far as it is from Panama, by the compass, to the Sandwich Islands-the latter is 4,500 miles, the former 3,700, or just the distance from Charleston to Liverpool. There is no stopping place, no land, between Panama and the Sandwich Islands; and in the present stage of steam navigation, no steamer can carry fuel for 4,500 miles at a stretch, and pay owners. great circle, a vessel would be for much of the way between the same parallels of latitude that she would be from New York to Liverpool. The prevailing winds are probably the same for each ocean; this, however, is conjecture, but like causes produce like effects the world over; and those physical conditions which make the west winds blow across the North Atlantic require them to blow, at least with equal prevalence, across the North Pacific. The latter is a more open sea and a wider ocean there is less land in it to interfere with the prevalence of winds, to intercept them, to change their direction, or modify their force, and therefore we may suppose that the prevailing winds of the North Pacific are more uniform than they are in the Atlantic. But supposing them equal, one Midway between Monterey and Changhai, and of the New York packets at her average outward immediately on the wayside are the Fox or Elcou-bound rate of sailing, would make the passage by tian Islands, where the Monterey line can have its the Great Circle from Changhai to Monterey in 41 depot of coal. It is just about the distance both days, which is about equal to the passage from Rio from Monterey and Changhai to those Islands, that to the United States. it is from Liverpool to Halifax, where the Cunard line has its depot. Though the lines from New York to Liverpool, Havre, and Bremen, have proved that 3,000 miles are not beyond the fuel limits of steamers. If we suppose the same ratio to hold in the Pacific, which obtains between the outward and the homeward passage across the Atlantic, then the average sailing distance the other way, that is from Monterey to Changhai, would be 57 days by the Great Circle. The trades are favorable for the outward bound trips of sailing vessels from Monterey, and therefore the old sailor adage: "the longest way round is the shortest way home,” will probably continue to hold good for that half of the voyage. By examining the chart or a globe you will see that this route from Monterey lies wholly without the limits of the north-east trade-winds; and therefore so much the better for steamers. Though little or nothing is known of this part of the ocean, except to the enterprising whale-men of New England, yet reasoning from what we know as to the prevailing But you have asked me to consider the best route winds between the same parallels in the North not for sailing vessels, but for a line of steamers. Atlantic, I suppose that this route, under certain The Great Circle is the route for steamers both circumstances, will also be found the best for sail-ways-and supposing the vessels upon the proposed ing vessels. But the "wind and current chart" line to be equal in speed to the "Great Western" which is in the course of preparation, will deter- in her palmy days-and why should they not be mine this point. superior? they will make the passage to and fro between Changhai and Monterey in 26 days, including the stoppage of a day for coaling at the Fox Islands. It has been shown that Monterey is directly on the great highway from Western South America and Mexico to China. This fact is of itself sufficient to show why the preference should be given to it as the American terminus of the line. Intimately connected with this subject, however, Before the navigation of the North Atlantic was as well understood as it is at present, and, indeed, the practice is scarcely wholly abandoned at this day, it was customary for vessels trading between this country and Europe to run down to the south many hundred miles out of their way, in order to get the north-east trades. This was done with the expectation of more favorable winds and a quicker passage; but experience has proved the contrary, and there are but few navigators now, is a rail road from the Atlantic to the Pacific. who, unless they be bound to the West Indies, pursue the "southern route" across the Atlantic. The old practice in the Atlantic, however, still obtains in the Pacific. The Sandwich Islands are within the trade-wind region, and all vessels bound westerly across the North Pacific, are in the habit of getting into the trades and making those Islands. The New York packet ships in their trips to Liverpool average 130 miles a day. Where the A rail road from Savannah and Charleston to Memphis has been already projected and is partly completed. From Memphis to Monterey, the distance by an air line is 1,500 miles. Supposing your proposed line of steamers established to China, and this rail road completed to Monterey, the productions and rich merchandise of China and Japan might be placed in the lap of the great valley of the Mississippi within thirty days. The intelligence brought by each arrival would the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, for the purpose of be instantly caught up by telegraph, and as instant- uniting the two oceans. Afterwards, it became ly delivered in New York and Boston. Here the the favorite route by which the Manilla merchants steamers would receive it on board, and in thirteen and others crossed over from Acapulco to the Gulf days more arrive with it in England, thence it of Mexico. would be taken across the channel in a few hours Towards the latter part of the last century, an and immediately communicated through the mag- accidental circumstance gave it fresh importance. netic wires to all parts of the continent. And thus, The Vice-Roy Bucareli observing some brass pieby this route, intelligence might be conveyed from ces in or near the famous castle of San Juan de China through the United States to the people of Ulloa, with the stamp of Manilla foundry upon St. Petersburg and Moscow, and perhaps at no dis-them, wished to know how they were brought to tant day to Constantinople also, within forty-five the Gulf. It was ascertained from the archives of days. I see no reason why the rate of travel over the rail roads, hereafter to be built in America, should not at least be equal to that of the English and European rail roads. I believe the usual rate in England to be about forty miles the hour. Over some roads, it is more. But supposing the rate over the great Atlantic and Pacific rail road to be only twenty miles the hour, the time from Monterey to Memphis would occupy three days. This route has further the advantage of being at once the most central and direct route that has ever been proposed from the United States to China. The distance from Memphis by Monterey and the Great Circle, is only 7 per cent greater than it is by a "bee line" drawn through the air from Memphis direct to Changhai. the Imperial city of Tehuantepec that those heavy pieces had been transported from the Pacific to the Gulf, partly by land and partly by water across that Isthmus. The route from the Pacific being up the Chicapa across the rual-paso, thence by land over the grand Cordilleras to the head-waters of the Coatzacoalcas, which empties into the Gulf. At what sacrifice of money, time and men those pieces were transported is not stated—but it should be recollected that the feat was performed when the Spanish galleons from Acapulco were ballasted with silver and laden with gold. In 1814, the Spanish Cortes actually ordered the canal to be made; but this order produced no other result than a reconnoisance by Gen. Obregoso, which I have before me in the very excellent work of De Mofras, entitled " Exploration de Territoire de L' Oregon, Paris, 1844." Although the General's geodetic report was never completed, it gives, in the language of that intelligent writer, "very correct ideas of the nature of the ground and of the difficulties it presents." If you look to the long and much talked of canal across the Isthmus of Darien to Panama, you will find that a person from Memphis to China by that route would, on making Cape St. Lucas the southern point of the Peninsula of California, be no I have also before me a MS. copy of the survey nearer to Changhai, in point of distance, than he made three or four years ago by Cayetano Moro, was the day he embarked at Memphis, notwith-in connexion with the grant by Santa Anna to Don standing that to reach Cape St. Lucas he would Jose Garay, for connecting the two oceans by cahave travelled upwards of 4,000 miles; and if he nal through this Isthmus. This MS. was obtained should go by the way of the Sandwich Islands, he by Commander McKenzie, U. S. N., at Mina-tïtwould, to reach China, have to perform a journey lan, from one of the assistants of the survey. It of 5,000 miles greater than would be required of was copied by Lieutenant May, U. S. N., by order him on this new route by rail road and Great Cir- of Commodore Perry, and sent here, and is now in cle via. Monterey. the hands of the Engraver for publication. In the progressive spirit of the age, time has become to be reckoned as money; and if there were a canal already cut from Chagres to Panama, the eircuity of the route and the loss of time compared with what is to be gained by the proposed line from Memphis and Monterey, would, in time, cause the abandonment of that and the completion of this, so far at least as raw silk and other small parcels of merchandize for England, travellers and the people of the United States are concerned. With these, and other sources of information to guide me, I have attentively considered the practicability of a ship canal through the mountains of Tehuantepec. From sea to sea, the distance across, in a North and South direction, between the parallels of 16° and 18°, is rather less than 120 miles. By Moro's MS., you can carry 9 feet water 150 miles up the Coatzacoalcas, though other authorities put the head of schooner navigation at the Island of TaThe route across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, canachipa, which is only 25 miles from the Gulf. though not so far out of the way as that by Pana- But taking the most favorable view which gives ma, is nevertheless quite a round-about way; the 9 feet for 50 miles, and commencing the canal at distance by it to China being over 2,000 miles the point proposed, which is about 15 miles further greater than it is from Memphis via. Monterey. up at the confluence of the Malatengo, there reIn 1521, Cortes caused a survey to be made of mains a circuitous distance of seventy odd miles VOL. XIV-32 |