The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-13 00:00:00

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THE SUEZ CANAL.

COMMUNICATION BETWEEN* THE MEDITER-
RANEAN AND RED SEA.
(From L'llluctration, of April 4, 1846.)
" The waters shall fail from the sea, and the brooks
of defence shall be dried up."—lsaiah.
When one casts one's eyes over the Isthmus of Suez,
one is tempted to reproach nature, which has protracted
the Red Sea. between Asia and Africa for 500 leagues,
,%ith a deficiency of force to conduct 30 leagues further
up to the Mediterranean. Why, one is prompted to in•
quire, do we permit an isthmus of barren sands tra-
versed by the camel, that monotous " ship of the desert,"
to the other than a maritime strait, ploughed like the
Bosphorus or the Dardanelles by innumerable vessels
with streams of a thousand colours?
The undertaking of the Suez Canal is one of those
performances in which the principle of association will
have to perform the principal part. It is at the same
time one of those which promises future men the greatest
enjoyments, and tends to awaken in the present
the brightest aspirations. The intercommunication
of the Red Sea and Mediterranean is a work of
harmony and peace; for it tends to the intimate
union of western and eastern civilisation ; that is to
say, of the two great divisions of human existence.
This, moreover, is no new tendency. From time im-
memorial the idea of a canal communication across the
Isthmus has subsisted in the world. Never has man lost
sight of this crowning work—steadily, faithful to the
conviction that it was destined for him at some future
day to repair the premeditated oversight of nature, and
make a maritime wedding between the Red Sea and
Mediterranean.
The Pharoahs, those Titans of ancient times, who
erected the gigantic pyramids—dug lakes of a dozen
leagues in circuit; and converted granite mountains into
monolithic temples, found, it is probable, the junction of
the two seas a trivial operation. They realised the
project of the junction of the Pelusiac or eastern branch
of the Nile by the medium of the Wady Tomilat, or
vale of Goshen ; and by the Bitter Lakes, which were
then contiguous to the Arabic Gulf. An ancient
tradition records that Menelaus, after the siege of Troy,
traversed the Isthmus of Suez in order to visit Ethiopia.
Herodotus informs us that Darius completed the canal
which led from the Pelusiac branch to the Bitter Lakes,
and which had been commenced by the successors of
Cambyses.
When, at a later period, the sands had filled up or
greatly obstructed, the Pelusiac branch, as well as a por-
tion of the Bitter Lakes, it was found necessary td dig or
clear the canal of the Nile from the Wady Tomilat to one
of the navigable branches of the river. This was the
system of communication which existed in the times of
Strabo and the Ptolemies.
In the time of the Fatimite Caliphs, there was scarcely
any other communication between Suez and Cairo but
through the interior of Egypt, by means of the Canal of
Trojan, which traversed the Wady Tomilat, and which
thus united Cairo with the Bitter Lakes. This latter
system was limited to the mere advantage of Egyptian
commerce. A railroad from Cairo might be advanta-
geously substituted for it.
It is sufficiently notorious that Napoleon, at the time
of the French expedition to Egypt, devoted his ambitious
mind to the great enterprise of cutting through the Isth-
mus. According to the project of the French engineers
attached to that expedition, it was proposed to fill the
Bitter Lakes with water from the Nile, taken at its
height in Cairo, and conducted through the valley of
Tomilat. It was also proposed to clear the ancient
Canal of Suez to the Bitter Lakes (thirteen miles and a
half in length), and feed it with water from the Red Sea.
In conformity with this plan, the communication would
have traversed Egypt and the Delta, as in the times of
the Ptolemies. But the chief engineer, La Pere, who
headed the commission of numerous and distinguished
engineers (including Fevre, St. Genic, Chabrol, Devil-
-1 iers
scheme, D u
theeh
en°
additional
Ye. proposed to combine with this
project of a canal proceeding due
north from the northern extremity of the Bitter Lakes,
and terminating on tLe Mediterranean at Tineh, near
the ancient seaport city of Pelusium. For this purpose
he took an elaborate and complete survey, recording in
the most masterly manner all the levels of his projected
line, and the soundings required for the two seaports at
either extremity, which is preserved among the official
archives of the French Government. It may be briefly
remarked that this important appendix to the project
would, if carried out as intended at the time of Napo-
leon's expadition, have effected a direct and permanent
union between the Red Sea and Mediterranean.
During his sojourn in Egypt, however, Napoleon did
no more than revive an ineffaceable idea and aspiration
immemorially handed down from age to age. But it was
the destin) of that great genius to contend with men
rather than with nature, and it was not given to the last
of the now happily extinct race of conquerors to con-
quer the obstacles which the Isthmus of Suez apposes,
uniting the Mediterranean, where he first saw the light,
with the ocean which witnessed his dying moments.
Peace has now reigned undisturbed for thirty years
among the governing powers of the world. Modern
civilisation, which has been charged by some ascetic
spirits with irreligious tendencies, may bo said at this
moment to be accomplishing one of the most religious
achievements. It is everywhere creating new and
humanising modes of rapid communication by means of
railways and canals. Innumerable steam-vessels plough
all the seas of the globe. India and China aro open to
Europeans, and Japan will, on the first occasion, yield to
the resistless sway of the great civilising movement.
Already has the ancient route from India by the Red Sea
been fully established, as far as concerns the transit of
costly wares, letters, and passengers. The passage from
Bombay to London has been reduced to an average of
30 days ; and the desert from' Suez to Cairo, in default
of a railway, exhibits a tolerably good road, regularly
traversed by omnibuses, and accommodated with stations
and hotels.

All things seem, therefore, to prepare the way for the
immediate solution of an important problem, namely,
the viability (viabilite)
of our globe. The undertaking
of the canal of Suez would augment the value of those
great European railways which terminate at Trieste, or
abut on the Mediterranean. The bankers and capitalists
who have supported or constructed those railways, are
vitally interested in a free communication between the
two seas. That communication constitutes in reality the
indispensable completion of the entire chain of European
railways. It will supply the last link and final rivet to
the system.
What system of communication should be adopted ?
What is the best mode of execution and of management?
After mature deliberation, our opinion is decided that
the communication should be direct, and maritime. The
medium by which the Red Sea and the Mediterranean
should be united must be an artificial Bosphorus. It
must be by an arm of the sea projected across it, that
the isthmus must be pierced. Created by human agency,
the Suez Bosphorus will have the manifest advantage
over the Bosphorus of Constantinople, viz., that of being
governable by locks. The Red Sea is thirty-two feet
higher, as is well known, than the Mediterranean ; four
locks would be amply sufficient for the difference of level.
At the north and south extremities of this great mari-
time canal two seaports are indispensable. The harbour
of Suez must be deepened, and the roadsteads secured
by breakwaters. At old Pelusium (Tineh), on the Me-
diterranean, a harbour should be constructed with jetties.
Such is the principal work of communication. An
idea of it may be readily formed by throwing a glance
over any good topographical chart of the Isthmus.
To this main work, two accessory, but equally neces-
sary, undertakings must be added; one a canal of Nile
water, the other a railway from Cairo to Suez. The
last, however, may be dismissed in a few words. Though
necessary, it may ba transient, and it may be abandoned
or surrendered to the Pacha, as soon as it has accom-
plished its main purpose—namely, of facilitating the
labours and accelerating the completion of the canal.
Provisions, water, tools, and workmen may be conveyed
by it from Cairo to the scene of operations in three
hours, and the rails, which are partially ready, may be
laid down in six months.

canal. This appears to the author
I Itwillpermit theplantation
element to the maritimecana .
tthh:es efruefs.thh ewaßyzantineter
canal Bosphorus.heieg above
thehe
The
~
ofaccessoryt
hithis
artificial
Bosphorus,
a oio isd
es
pan
ednfersreal fresh water
indispensable
s'
themaut
ler.
of the shores
to to
Suez,ile whererth as
fresh
ha
waterP e I u -
e I ache is now constructing, there will
unfailing water level quite adequate to the protrac-
tionf
vegetation, luxuriant
be an
isalsarrrtaign eg picturesquew bi
pointch aot
hst.
sium, t
at present is totally deficient. Then will a short period
nurse up on the two banks of the maritime canal and of
with the hues and redundant with the products of the
ofhteheotthweor
on
oivuthlee
tropics. Then will the wilderness " blossom as the rose,"
the sands be restrained in their encroachments, and the
a broad girdle 0.
the Bitter Lakes rivulets—one
desert conquered. Then will the vessels of all nations
traverse a verdant and smiling countr
3r, through woods
of palm trees and meadows of
.sugar cane and cotton.
Then will the surprised and delighted navigator inhale,
g ,the
as when boatin down the Nile evening perfume of
roses, orange flower, and jessamine.
The fresh water canal, above indicated, •
wall follow the
direction of the Wady Tomilat, where traces f
,o. the
ancient canal are still extant. This valley, duri
dations of the Nile, is often covered with n, 'nun-
water. The
inundation sometimes reaches the Serapeum, a town in
ruins, and distinguished by the relics of ft temple of
Serapis, celebrated formerly fur its cures and for the
salubrity of its atmosphere. The maritime canal would
restore vitality to this import its occupies
ant station, which
a middle distance between two extrernities. There
we may fairly calculate that a city would row up, at
partaking of a commercial and agricultural .h
once
will a • • pc hat
recter. Old Pelusium also gain arise from its
ashes. It will become at once an agreeable point of re-
sidence, and a first-rate commercial city. In this man-
ner will a rPmarkable prophecy be realised—" Then shall
they rebuildshall
the old wastes, they raise up the former
ruined• •
desolations ; they shall repair , the cities and the
desolations of many generations. '

—DEBILITY AND WEAXNESS.--
Ying upon it. `ho was
ExEraIaDoLEIRNATAIIS-ELIESEN.T—'3CI:RE BT HOLLOweVii r'aLs. —sirs.
Mitchell, of Bristol-road Birmingham,. was in that weakly state as
not to be able to dress herself ; besides which, there Was a constant
appetite and digestion very bad, and
hers pirits always greatly depressed. Novr this lady, ere she be-
came so extremely ill, visited various watering piacu,
Sold by all druggists
where she had
np ae
vi ne
ri n f the
the best medical advice, but her case batted the skill of all, and
frriogmht side,h preventing her from I
yet, to the surprise of her family and thends, she is restored to per-
Eitilbll4llll2eUt, 244, Strand, LOllO2llll
Imanadneanttrhreoarlctmhsobryitilolueouwsevoc Holloway's Pills—