The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-25 00:00:00

PROJRcTED CANAL ACROSS THE

ISTHMUS OP SUEZ.

ALEXANDRIA, Oct. 10.—M. de Lesseps' English re-
port of the Suez canal question has been distributed in
alexandria, but it has failed to remove the existing im-
pression of the impracticability of the scheme. His state-
ments are partial, the difficulties of the undertaking are
not fairly represented, and there are physieal obstacles
which create great doubts as to the means of overcoming
them. He publishes a letter from the Grand Vizier at
Constantinople to the Viceroy of Egypt, in which it is
said that the scheme was under the consideration of the
Ministers ; but M. de Lesseps does not give to the pub-
lic a private letter which was, at the same time addressed
to Said Pasha by Kamil Pasha, his brother-in-law, who,
at the instance of the Sultan and council of Ministers,
urged upon him to abandon the project.
M. de Lesseps has already found it necessary to mo-
dify some of his statistics which appear in his original
letter to Said Pasha of November 15, 1854, for, whereas
in the latter he asserts the yearly traffic by the Cape of
Good Hope and Cape Horn to be 10,000,000 tons, and
, that by bis canal the world's commerce would realise a
yearly benefit of 500,000,000 f, ; in his present transla-
tion of that letter, he reduces these two numbers to
6,000,000 and 150,000,000 respectively, which *thews
how loosely and unadvisedly he is apt to bring forward
figures.
The estimate of 6,400,0001. sterling for the execution
of a canal in a barren country, without inhabitants,
wood, water, or any means of subsistence, is, in the
opinion of all, much two low ; three times that sum
would be below the mark, as it includes harbours,
lighthouses, locks, canals, jetties several miles long,
moles, sluices, quay-wally,reservoirs, &c. Some of the
calculations are based on the cost of works which are
either not completed or not in existence. The barrage
of the Nile, unserviceable) and incomplete as it is,
is put down as having cost 18,000,000 f., but it has
been frequently asserted by the Egyptian Government,
and it has been officially transmitted to England, that
the works of the barrage in their present state have cost
the country 40,000,0001'., or 1,600,0001. sterling, and the
result, instead of being of service, has proved a great
hindrance to the safe navigation of the river. M. Mougel,
the engineer of the barrage, who, with another, was in-
structed by al. de Lsseps to survey the isthmus, venters
to define the breadth and depth of the three canals dug
to receive the waters of the Nile arising from the reflux
of the barrage, and says they are all dug in clay, which
is very stiff in some points. These three canals do not
exist, and it is on their presumed cost that the estimates
of the canal across the isthmus are founded.
The excavations for the canal, it is said, will be mode
in very light ground, but the borings or soundings have
been taken, and the survey held on the line was merely
superficial. In some parts the cuttings are to be 66 feet
deep, and it is not improbable that after the removal of
the light soil on the surface the under strata will be found
to consist of limestone or hard sandstone, removable
only by blasting, yet the estimates of the excavations are
made as if they took place in the Delta of Egypt, where
all is soil or clay, and the expense on the isthmus would
therefore exceed beyond all proportion the expense of
cutting a canal in Egypt. There was ample time for the
soundings to be taken between Nov. 1854, the date of
M. de Lesseps' memorial, and April, 1855, the date of
his report, but it is not unlikely that it did not answer
the purposes of the projectors to do so.
No account is taken of the cost of the conveyance of
fond and water for the maintenance of the workmen,
wieich would be found to be no small item of daily ex-
penditure, considering the nature of the country and the
distance the materials will have to be conveyed, the
nearest cultivated and inhabited land being about 80
miles off, across a desert.
It is stated that where the canal of Suez is to be made
30,000 or 40,000 workmen may easily be obtained, but
no inhabitants at all are to be found in that part of
the country. Egypt cannot afford to send out 30,000 or
40,000 men, for the country is too thinly populated al-
ready, and what would be the sufferings of these people
from the well-known mismanagement of the Egyptian
Commissariat Department ? The principal cause of the
delay in the completion of the railway between Alexan-
dria and Cairo is the scarcity of workmen, for it is a ith
extreme difficulty that 2,000 to 3,000 men can be col-
lected and kept together, and the line crosses the most
populated and best cultivated parts of Egypt. The con--
etruction in 1819 of the Mahmoudieh Canal, which con-
nects Alexandria with the Nile, and passes through cul-
tivated lands, was superintended by Mehemet Ali him-
self, and 18,000 men perished on the occasion, princi-
pally from insufficiency of foo I.
The difficulties of making jetties several miles long
into the sea are passed over by M. de Lesseps with re-
markable facility, and in his pamphlet he makes them as
short as possible. He states the jetties requisite at the
Suez end to be 21 miles long, and on the Mediterranean
side 31 miles long, while any one at all c mversant with
these two points well knows that to insure a safe depth
of 24 feet the jetties must he run out at least 3.3 miles in
length on the Red Sea and 7 miles on the Mediterranean.
The allowance of 15 per cent. of the profits to the
Egyptian Government is unreasonable, as the canal is
eventually to become its sole property ; and it is very
objectionable that the founding members should receive
annually and for ever 10 per cent, on the profits, or
155,0001. sterling.
The director of the Suez Canal Company being ap-
pointed by the Egyptian Government, he will always be
under the control of the latter, and those who might per-
chance be inclined to become shareholders must be fully
prepared to meet the disappointments, delays, and au-
noyances which invariably arise from the utter lack of
system in all Egyptian administration, and the Pasha is
always beset by a number of courtiers, any one of whom
ho would name director according is his whim or fancy,
without the slightest regard to his qualifications.
An apposite instance of Ean-ptian mismanagement may
be quoted in the canal connecting Alexandria with the
Nile, by which all the produce of the country is brought
to this port for shipment. Yet the cleaning of the canal
and races ,ary repairs are never attended to, the deposit
of !nal is yearly allowed to increase, and the water is
never let into it in proper time or in proper quantities.
It is an incontestable fact that the sea to the distance of
12 to 15 miles from the coast, extending from Rosetta
eastward to Pelusium, is much too shallow for the navi-
gation of vessels of large tonnage. The constant ten-
dency of this part of the Mediterranean is to form banks
and shallows from the precipitation of the alluvium in
suspension in the immen-e volume of water discharged
fom the two branches of the Nile. The wind generally
blows from the westward ; there is always a strong cur-
rent in the Fame direction, so that the corner where the
proposed canal is to join the Mediterranean will be
always becoming more shallow, and in bad weather
vessels will be in danger from the effects of the shalleav-
ness of the water, the extreme lowness of the coast, and
the lee shore.
The late Capt. Glasscock, who frequented this part. of
the Mediterranean for a protracted period in her Ma-
jesty's frigate Tyne, has reported of the coast extending
between Rosetta and Pelusium, that—
" It is low, treacherous, generally inaccessible, and for
nine months out of the twelve truly unsafe. The prevailing
winds render the coast a dangerous lee shore—no shelter
can be sought by running for a port of refuge, and the
water at a considerable distance from the lend rsatremel
shallow. No prudent mariner would close with the coast
even by day, were the weather not extremely moderate,,
and it would be the height of rashness to attempt its ap-
roach after dark." -
With regard to distances, M. de Lesseps merely looks
to the number of leagues to he traversed, and he
aside all the difficulties of the navigation and the delays
of contrary winds in the Mediterranean and Red Se
Sean.
In 1854 the number of vessels that came to Alexandria,
direct from various ports in England was 191, and their
average length of passage was 47 days, as may be seen
from the printed reports. Without allowing for any delay
whatever, even for the waiting for the high tide of "the e
Red Sea, it would take a vessel at least three days more
to reach Pelusium (which is 200 miles further down the
coast), and to be towed through the canal 90 miles to the
Red Sea, so that a vessel would require 50 days to reach
Suez from England, and she then would ba only half
way to Bombay, and would still have to encounter all
the dangers and delays of a
passage up the Red Sea. The
England, from Alexandria to Enand, owing to contrary
winds, oceupies a sailing vessel on an average 65 days,.
so that it may he taken as a fair average, founded on uri
doubted facts that vessels to and from Suez and England
`,"would occupy by the canal 55 days. At Suez, with 55
days' passage, vessels ate only half-way between England
and Bombay and 115 days are now considered above the
average passage by the Cape between 'England and Bom-
bay or Calcutta, and the latter-named port is 1,785 mike
further front Suez than Bombay.
The Black Ball line of British and Australian mail
packets bind themselves under penalty to make the pas-
sage between England and Australia in 65 days, and,
with the preceding facts before them, would any of these
facts or any vessel bound for China ake use of the Suez
canal!
M. de Lesseps loosely states that vessels from Mar-
seilles make the passage to Alexandn •
a in 10 days. In
1854'48 vessels came to Alexandrit
direct from Mar-
• aeiltee, arid their average passage, is proved by the
printed reports, was just double—eat is, 20 days—and
• the average passage from Alexandria to Marseilles is, on
account of the prevateeee of contrary winds
It thus appears that'. ao advantage-its,gainedsdays.
It di
ntsi.m e
by sailing vessels taking the canal roil% to B 3 ombey, or
Calcutta, much less to China or Anstrdlie.
The returns of thaEaetlndia and Ca'iens Association
show that the yearly aggregate tonnee ao and front
England and India amounts to 1,500,000 tons,
J, de' Lesseps, in his revenue returns, reckons upon
3,000;000 tons passing through the canal: oteSnez., Tl:e
freights between England and India rarely -exceed 60s.
per ton ; for a long period they were as berg !ti
per
quotations eae 21'. 15e. f*Lia,
ton;: bythis mail the
bay to Liverpool, notwithstandin4bieh deana„,p4
:• allergia .Be. per ton, and 101 pefl eon for anClibrage-
'` *a(alties, sd that a vessel of 1,000 tons *burden would;: have
t° fin no less than 441/. nx 44....,Iteriiip to
r. pass
throegh the canal.
. **tee Suez Canal, drawing only 24 feet of water, would
beaiailable only for the small, screw steamers ; none of
the steamers of the Peninsular and Oriental Company at
presenth frequentieg Alexandria and Suez ,could avail
"ely" of ; and, as shown above, it would be too
costly
for sailing . vessels, and would not shorten their
voyages between England and India.
The-amount of tonnage, consequently, passing through
the canal, supposinglimited lecke att. were ever completed,
would be
very
a, and shareholders would regret ever
having embarked
Jaelr money in the enterprise.—Tirece.

1 -
BIDEFORD EXTZNSION RAILWAY.-Thig line is-an-
nounced to be opened fur traffic on the 25th inst , l'n hen
there will be great rejoizin
g 5 i 4
1314e*ci to celebrate
the event. , , i , ~,I ~itnia hi, ~ ~,
~ , 1

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