The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-23 00:00:00

THE ENGLISH CHURCH IN
ALEXANDRIA.
(From the Builder.)
The Protestant church being now erected in Alex-
andria under the superintendence of our countryman,
Mr. J. W. Wild, is dedicated to St. Mark, the founder
of the primitive church in Egypt, and is memorable as
the first edifice for the performance of Divine worship,
sem:ding to the rites of the Church of England, per-
mitted to occupy a prominent position in Egypt, and
P eclaim its purpose boldly. The Protestant chapel at
simyrna is within the walls of the consulate ; that at
Constantinople within those of the British embassy, and
the new church of Jerusalem is to be attached to the con-
sular residence, and, like the former, screened from ob-
servation.
It seems that in 1838 the British community at Alex-
andria, desirous to provide means for the regular per-
formance of public worship, held a meeting and deter-
mined on raising a subscription. for the erection of a
chapel. In the following year Colonel Campbell, then
Consul-General, mentioned to Mehemet Ali, the Viceroy
of Egypt, the intention of the residents ; and his High-
ness, with a liberality that deserves commendation, pre-
sented to the community a valuable plot of ground on
the south side of the Great Squire, in the Frank quarter
—one of the most prominent positions in the city, sur-
rounded in part by handsome modern buildings.* The
frontage of the ground is 326 feet, the depth 112 feet ;
and its present money value is considered little short of
1,0001.
The Pasha at the same time expressed a wish thst the
structure should harmonise with the neighbouring build-
ings, and be worthy of the English people.
This took the Committee by surprise, as they had con-
templated erecting a very simple structure, and for
some time the project remained in abeyance, until at last
it seemed probable that the land would be otherwise ap-
propriated. The necessity, however, for a suitable
building became every month more urgent ; the hill de-
velopment of the overland communication, and the in-
crease of direct steam intercourse with Great Britain,
France, Austria, Ssc., led to a great influx of travellers,
and it was seen that the building was required to be of
the character indicated by the Pasha.a The object had
attained a new importance ; the ground was secured,
and fresh efforts made to effect the purpose.
In the first instance, plans were obtained from the
late Cambridge Camden Society, but these were not
considered suitable to the climate or locality, and could
not have been executed satisfactorily by Egyptian
operatives. Mr. Wild was then employed to make a
design, and seeking to conciliate the opinion of the Arab
inhabitants, and to meat the comprehension of the native
artificers, produced 'what is now being executed, and
which, while it agrees in plan and mass with the style of
art used by the early church architects, carries out a
general sentiment of Arabian detail.
The size of 'the building is considerable. A reference
to the plan -shows a nave of 70 feet long, and 30 feet
wide, and 'a chancel of 23 feet long ; a western porch
of 20 by IF, feet, a southern porch 20 feet by 16 feet also,
and a vestry on the other side of the same size. The
whole lasight of the church will be about fifty feet, and
the height of the campanile 100 feet. The latter, how-
ever, is not considered by the architect a strictly neces-
sary feature in the design, and will not be carried up
until the rest of the building is entirely completed.
The foundations have been massively laid for the
whole structure, including the tower and the enclosure
walls, and the main beitaing has advanced to the spring-
ing of the windows. It is proposed to roof in this Tem-
tion, then to add Ole porches and vestry, and to form the
enclosure) walls,
When. the design was first made it was intended to
build the walls of rubble stone ; but the entleo failure of
a large 'and handsome church, nearly completed by the
Roman Catholics in Alexandria, and which has now to
P ailed down and rebuilt with ether materials, at a
grceat expense, determined the committee to adopt the
aathitect's advice, and use square masonry, although of
'.:curse at a much greater cost,
This cost was further increased by the failure of what
-has heretofore been the Alexandrian quarry, namely,
the ruins of the ancient city. The new fortifications
have nearly dried up this source, and have raised
so much the price of the stone so procured, that it
has been found cheaper to import the material from Malta
than to buy it on the spot. The walls are four feet in thick-
ness, and withaut plastering inside. The ceiling is to be flat,
formed into very deep panels by beams of larch wood.
Over it there will be a solid construction to prevent the
admission of heat from the sun. The west front, we
should peeve said, is handsomely ornamented, and has a
large ventral arch.
The) cost of the church is estimated et 6,0001., of
vriaissh only half has yet been raised; so that assistance
Indispensably necessary. The architect says, in a
recent communication to the committee, that " its main
axpense arises from the quantity of materials used, its
height and bulk. The ornamental details are easily
executed, and not expensive. The constructive forms
are simple and economical, if compared either with the
columns and entablatures required in the classical, or to
the vaulting and tracery required in the Gothic archi-
tecture."
Should the building now be stopped for want of funds,
the loss will be serious. After great pains and many
struggles with the authorities a body ot good workmen
has been organised, and the work is going on steadily
though slowly, 'under an able clerk ot the works, who
has not merely to superintend, but to teach the men;
and if the workmen so taught were to be discharged, it
would be almost impossible to re-assemble them.
Locking at the erection of this church 'as an object
of great importance—destined, perhaps, to effect eventful
changes—we do earnestly hope that assistance will be
x.eadered in England. Nor can we doubt it ; for, as the
committee remark in a circular issued in Alexandria a
short time since:—" While the higher motives of spread-
ing the truths of the Gospel, and give them an apparent
root in a memorable soil, will insure the warm adherence
of the public generally, many persons will be moved by
the new course of European communications with India,
and some by reminiscences of the illustrious origin of
Alexandria, and its great fortunes us the metropolis of
Egypt under the Greek dynasty of kings—a city in
which the first version of the ancient scriptures was
executed, and to which tidings of redemption were an-
nounced by the Evangelist St. Mark. Still a main re-
liance must be reposed on the exertions and zealous co-
operation of the wealthier class of the British popula-
tion in India. There are, perhaps, few of its members
who are not likely to benefit at some time by the place
of worship now in construction, so that each person is
personally interested in its worthy completion."

* The Act of Parliament 6 Geo. IV., cap. 8 provides that
where British subjects abroad shall raise one half of an
amount sufficient for the support among them of a clergyman
of the Established Church of England and Ireland, or of the
Church of Scotland, the Government, at its discretion, may
contribute a like amount to the stipend. In 1840 advantage
was taken of that arrangement to create a salary of three
hundred pounds per annum ; and as a majority of the sub-
scribers were members of the Church of England, the Lord
Bishop of London was moved to appoint a chaplain, who has
nuw officiated at Alexandria since 1841, in a temporary
building little adapted to the purpose.
t The present annual intercourse of British subjects with
Alexandria may be stated as follows, from official informa-
tion :

Permanent Protestant residents (1845)
Travellers in tansit, to and from India
Crews of merchant shipping
Crews of steam and other packets (36 arrivals)... 1,516
Tourist.% tunl others, about

Total ..

6,050

.:i4MON FISHERIES OF ENGLAND

AND WALES.
The importance of the salmon fisheries of England
sand Wales cannot well be overrated ;_and it is gratifying
to observe the efforts making towards their reformation
by the United Association for the Protection of the
Fisheries of the River Severn and its Tributaries. At
the late (the third) anniversary meeting of the members
of that Association, held at the Guildhall, Worcester, a
few days since, J. M. Gutch, Esq., in the chair, the
Chairman presented and read a report of the Central
Committee, from which the following are extracts :
" The principal subject which has occupied the atten-
tion of your committee since the last anniversary, has
been the re-introduction of, and attempt to carry through
Parliament, a Bill to regulate the Salmon Fisheries of
England arid Wales, which was considered by the Com-
mittee vitally to concern the interests of the Association.
This Bill, although materially altered in detail, was in
principle th.e same which was promoted by the Associa-
tion in the ;preceding year. It was introduced into the
House of Commons on the 16th of February by Sir
T. Winnh sgton, Lord R. Grosvenor, and Mr. (now Sir
J. Pakincton, Sir T. Winnington taking charge of it. It
was to be, committed on the 6th of May. In the mean time
many al,terations were suggested, and objections made,
by fislf,ery proprietors, and other persons and associa-
tions in different parts of the kingdom, most of which
the (Jommittee were enabled to comply with, but in
order to arrange matters amicably, and to satisfy all
parties, as far as your Committee consistently could,
without affecting the principle of the Bill, they deputed
your chairman, solicitor, and secretary, to attend a
meeting in London of parties interested in the measure
on the 3Gth of April. The whole of the clauses in the
Bill were gone through seriatim, all parties were appa-
rently agreed as to the alterations to be made, and the
deputation had hoped, from the satisfactory manner in
which the meeting terminated, that the Bill would have
passed without much opposition; however, in this they
were mistaken; there was an objection made by Viscount
Clive, that the proviso to clause 8, in favour of Putt
fisheries, was not sufficiently protective of private rights,
and it was left to his Lordship to prepare a clause in lieu
thereof, which he was to forward to Sir Thomas Win-
nington for insertion in the Bill in Committee. This
clause was inserted in the Bill by Sir Thomas Winning-
ton on its being reprinted, under the impression that
your Committee had sanctioned it; but, to the great sur-
prise of your Committee, on the receipt of the amended
Bill, they found a clause which, instead of being altered
80 as sufficiently to protect private rights, would have had
the effect of nullifying, to a very gnat extent, the prin-
cipal object of the Bill, inasmuch as it proposed to autho-
rise by law all practices by owners or occupiers of exclusive
fisheries that had been in use for the lsst 20 years, includ-
ing every description of means for taking fish, by dams,
weirs, putts, putcheons, and other constructions and de-
vices; whereas it was a most essential object of the Fisheries
Bill to regulate, alter, and amend those very practices,
as to them the decay of the salmon fisheries of England
and Wales are mainly attributable. It was also partial
and unjust. It created an invidious distinction between
the classes of fishermen, inasmuch as it proposed to pro-
tect the higher class of tish.Trnen, or owners and, occu-
piers of fisheries in which stationery machinery is used,
in every improper practice which had obtained the bad
eminence of twenty years standing, and left the whole-
some provisions of the Act applicable only to the com-
mon fisheries, worked by net fishermen, who are in
general poor men of small means. This distinction
stamped the clause as being manifestly partial hi its ap-
plication, and unjust in regard to the poorer class. Sir
Thomas Wesulington And 7QU COlailso9 made rasu