The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-29 00:00:00

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NEW WORK BY THE AUTHOR OF "JOIIN
HALIFAX."
Now ready, at all the Libraries, in 2 vols., 210.,
MISTRESS AND M
By the Author of
"JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.'"
Hurst and Blackett, publishers, la, (;heat Marlborough-btrcet.

MISS BREMER'S NEW WORK.
Now ready at all the Libraries, in 2 vols., 215.,
GREECE AND 1.'11.F. GREEKS ; beinv the
Narrat;ve of a ANDS
Residen..e and Summer rravel
in Greece and 'ts Islands. By PREDRIKA BREMER.
'Translated by MARY Flown' r.
Hurst and Blackett, 13, Great Marlblrough-street.

ROYAL EXCHANGE ASSURANCE OFFICE,
Royal Exchange, London,
11th November, 1842.
The Court of Directors of the Corporation of the Royal
Exchange Assurance do Hereby give Notice, that their
Transfer-Books will be shut from TDURSDAY, the 1 .111 of
December next, to TUESDAY, the 6th of January following;
that the Annual General Court, appointed by their Charter,
will be holden at their Office on the Royal Exchange, on
WEDNESDAY, the 17th
_of December, at Twelve o'clock at
noon ; anti that a Dividend will be considered of at the said
Court.

ROBERT P. STEELE, Secretary

BOYPI .

ALEXANDRIA, Nov. 17.
The reports currant on the subject of the Vice-
rob y'- health have lately again been unsatisfactory.
For about a fortnight past he has been living at
Djuzeh in complete retirement—indeed, closely con-
fined to his room ; and although it is probable that
many of the statements that have obtained more or
less belief are much exaggerated, yet it cannot be
concealed that anxiety is felt, heightened, without
doubt, by the difficulty that is experienced in ob-
taining trustworthy information. His Highness
has had to undergo a fresh operation, but there is
reason to believe that it has been skilfully per-
formed, and that he will before long be able to re-
sume his-nsual habits. --
Sir Henry. Hulwer- was in consequence-detained
at Alexandria for nearly a week. Meanwhile, as I -
need hardly say, no means were neglected by the
Egyptian authorities to pay him the attentions due
to him as the representative of the British Govern..
ment in the Ottoman Empire. His Excellency oc-
cupied one of the principal palaces in the neigh-
bourhood of Alexandria, the Viceregal equipages
were placed at his disposal, and he was conveyed to
Cairo by one of the Viceroy's special trains. Said
Pasha, it is believed, will have been able to receive
him this morning.
Sir Henry Bulwer shortly leaves for tipper
Egypt, but will first pay a flying visit to the
Isthmus Canal workst To this excursion, I may
add, much less political importance is attached that
would • have been lheease had it occurred two or
• ‘....
three years ago. ludeed, here the general opinion
seems to be that the canal scheme is gradually
drawing on to its natural end. Fears of interfer-
ence on the part opheyrench Governinent have
almost if not quiti disappeared, and the claims
which may' ultimately' be brought against the
Egyptian Government; it may be hoped, will be
treated simply as a commercial question,
A grand fete has lately been prepared by the
company to celebrate with all possible eclat the
admission of the waters of the Mediterranean, or as
it ought more cortatly to be said of Lake Menzaleh,
into the basin oelake Timsah. It has; however,
for the present been deferred on account* the
Viceroy's inability attend.
The construction- of the- rigolel" which form
the channel for the conveyance of the water to the
centre of the isthmus, has been pushed forward
during the past summer by a_ noncentration upon it
of the company's
.whole efforts, regardless appa-
rently of every considration but that of being able • to.,plit forth a fresh sensational announcement.
This -:rigole; it will: be remenibered, constitutes the
result of an' expenditure of nearly half the com-
pany's
.•Being,simply a ditch of no great
width, and with barely 12 inches of water, through..
out the greater part of its length, it can in reality
only by a strong effort of the imagination be re-
garded as a serious step towards the conquest of the
difficulties with which the company has under-
taken to grapple. Excluding even the important__
question of the entrances to Die maritime canal, the
rigole constitutes but a minute portion of half the
work that has to be performed in the Isthmus.
As regards the eonstruction of the harbour of
Port Said, the difficulties with which this part of
the work is surrounded seem still as distant as ever
from their solution ; but on this point we may hope
before long to receive some more authoritative in-
formation. The Viceroy has invited Mr. Hawk-
shaw, the hydraulic engineer, whose name will be
familiar to most of your readers, to inspect the site
of the proposed port and to report upon it. Mr.
Hawkshaw arriveil here by last mail.
Another POIPA, upon which some further light
might be thrown with great advantage to the
shareholders, is that relating to the means there
may be of obtaining a sufficient foundation for the
eib'Jankments of the proposed canal in traversing
Lake Menzaleh. The mud which forms the
bottom of the lake, it is stated, rests
upon a bed of sufficiently stiff clay, but, on
the other hand, we are informed that the latter
is simply a layer of no great thickness ; that
it must be removed to give the maritime canal the
depth of water necessary for the purposes re-
quired; and that beneath it is found a bed of
thin mud in a semi-liquid state, and destitute,
consequently, of the slightest consistency. The
difficulty, if so, must surely be a most formidable
one.

I have more than once remarked upon the fact
that the French promoters of the canal scheme have
nowhere met with more determined criticism than
among their own countrymen. A fresh instance is
at this moment afforded by the publication, which
has been commenced at Alexandria, of a series of
papers upon the operations and progress of the
company. They are understood to be the produc-
tion of an engineer lately in its employment, and
the revelations that have already appeared are cal-
culated to excite keen feelings of expectation for
what may yet be forthcoming. The author com-
mences his subject with a notice of the quarries
of Meg, near Alexandria. He quotes in scrupu-
lous detail the repeated statement put forward
on behalf of the company, that the cost of quar-
rying and conveying .the stone to Port Said
fell within the original estimates of 14f. 50e.
the cubic metre, and finally informs us that the ac-
tual cost last year amounted to 481. 61c. per cubic
metre, when conveyed by the boats of the company,
which he states are maintained at an annual cost of
upwards of £30,000. The
stone extracted and conveyedrat maximum
lour tm6Sqa,uoi
y
the past two years he estimated at 0 metres. The quantity required at Port Said is
ado no
duringtt
cubicr
995,000 cubic metres.
will be What, then, asks the author,
the time required to provide the material
for the jetties? Then follows the subject of the
freshwater canal. Here, again, detailed quotations
are made from the official journal of the company,
and its reports upon the progress of the works are
contracted with what was actually occurring on the
Isthmus. He describes the astonishment with which
the statements contained is the Paris papers were
read on the scene of the operations described, and
significantly adds that he needs not explain why it
is that the employes of the company are most
strictly prohibited from supplying either the
public papers or private individuals with
the slightest information upon the progress of
their operations. Some of the works, which have,
been repeatedly announced as completed, have even
yet never been seriously commenced. The official
journal of the company loudly proclaimed that the
fresh-water canal, originally valued at nine mil-
lions of francs, and which had even been estimated
at nearly 18 millions, was in process of realization
at a cost of only two millions. But the existing
fresh-water canal, which is about 26 niileslong and
some 40 feet in breadth, is not that originally
planned,nor can it, on account of the mode in which
it is constructed, ever serve for the purposes re-
quired. Being, moreover, dug in a low level, it
cannot be prolonged to Suez. So far, therefore,
from its having been productive of economy, it will
pit, in all probability, have to be abandoned ; and,
if the designs of the compavy are still to be carried
out, a new fresh-water canal will have to be dug,
originating from the higher leT;els in the vicinity
of Cairo, and at a cost, probably, of no less
um
4;500,000.