The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-15 00:00:00

A highly influential meeting of merchants and
other persons interested in the communications with
India and China, via Egypt, was held at the London
Tavern yesterday afternoon, for the purpose of consi-
dsring the course most advisable to be adopted in the
present position of affairs between the Government of
the Sultan and the Pacha of Egypt, and the obstacles
interposed by the former to the construction of the
projected railway through the Egyptian pachalic,
with a view to averting the danger which now
menaces the important British interests connected
with our colonies and possessions in the East. Mr.
Samuel Gregson, chairman of the East India and
China Association, presided, and amongst the gentle•
men surrounding him we observed, Mr. Anderson,
M.P., Mr. Aglionby, M.P., Mr. Macgregor, M.P.,
General Briggs, Mr. Larking (chairman of the
Oriental,Club), Mr. Barton, Mr. Foster, (Member of
the Council of Port Philip), Dr. Beattie, Mr. De
Salis, Mr. Briggs, Mr. E wart, Mr. Robert Brook,
Mr. Thomas Fox, &c.
In opening the business,
The CHAIRMAN said it would not be necessary for
him to detain them with a long introductory address,
and he should therefore proceed at once to state that
the overland route through Egypt being in danger, it
was the object of that meeting to take into considera •
tion what means should be adopted for averting so
great a calamity to the commercial interests as the
interruption of that splendid line of communication
with the vast regions of India and China. Any in-
terruption to that communication would be calami-
tous in the highest degree to the interests of Great
Britain, prejudicial to our great Eastern empire-a-he
had almost said embarrassing to her Majesty's Minis-
ters themselves—(Hear, hear) —and distressing to
thousands of families who had their nearest and dearest
relatipns in that part of the world.—(Hear, hear.)
Above all, they must bear in mind that rapid commu-
nication and easy personal intercourse invariably
tended to cement the concord, and promote the civili-
zation, peace, welfare, and happiness of the nations of
the earth. The line of communication with India
and China, via Egypt, had been carried on in the
most satisfactory manner for more than ten years.
It was established by that great ruler of Egypt—that
wonderful man, Mehemet Ali, whose penetrating
mind foresaw that prosperity was sure to accrue to his
country by making it the highway for all the world. Un-
der his successor, Ibrahim Pacha, this state of things
continued still to exist, and up to the present moment,
under his Highness Abbas Pacha, it was not only
maintained in the same satisfactory state, but that
Pacha, emulating the energy of his grandsire, now
proposed to improve the communication, by intro-
ducing into his country the greatest of all modern
improvements—a railway across the desert.—(Cheers.)
The Sultan of Turkey had, however, to the constern-
ation of all parties in this country, interfered and pro-
hibited the completion of that railway.—(Cheers.) It
was contended by the treaty of 1841, which was gua-
ranteed by most of the great powers of Europe, the
Sultan had no longer the power to interfere with the
internal arrangements of Egypt, because upon former
occasions greater works, if possible, had been under-
taken by him without any such interference. The
barrage of the Nile and the fortification of Alexan-
dria, were two great works which had been begun and
completed without authority, or solicitation of autho-
rity, from the Porte. And with regard to the con-
struction of the proposed railway, which was now
the object of his Highness Abbas Pacha, to a question
put to Lord Palmerston on the sth of August last,
that Noble Lord, as Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, answered in his place in the House of
Commons, " That the Pacha of Egypt intended
to construct, out of his own revenues, a railroad
from Alexandria to Cairo, and it was the opinion
of her Majesty's Government that such a rail-
road would be a very wise and expedient under-
taking; and that it would contribute to the prospe-
rity of Egypt, and be advantage to all other countries
having commercial intercourse with that province.
The British Government had entered into n o engage-
ment or guarantee of any sort or kind in regard to the
construction of the railroad; but undoubtedly it was
their opinion, and that opinion had been expressed to
the parties, that the Pacha of Egypt was entitled to
make the railroad out of his own funds, according to
the terms of the firman granting to him the heredi-
tary investiture of the pachalic in 1841."—(Cheers.)
It would now be for the meeting to consider a pro-
posal to be made to her Majesty's Government im-
mediately to take up this great question ; and he
thought, when they reflected how many other and
more difficult questions the Noble Lord the present
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs had overcome
and settled, that the setilement of this question, too,
with his friend and ally, the Sultan, would be equally
easy.—(Hear, and a laugh.) He (the chairman)
longed to see the day when the Sultan, imitating the
example of our gracious Queen, would visit his se-
veral provinces. Most delightful would it be to see
him, the Pacha of Egypt, and Lord Palmerston pre-
sent together at the inauguration of this great rail-
way.—(Cheers, and laughter.) It was universally ad-
mitted by all classes of persons that this was a most
important question, he believed that the present meet-
ing would be followed up by numerous others at the
outports and in the great .manufacturing towns of
the empire, until the question was completely and
satisfactorily settled.—(Hear, hear.) He could not
conclude these remarks without expressing his ac-
knowledgments to that great and influential engine
the newspaper press, for the' able and admirable ar-
ticles that had been published by the leading journals
upon this ,subject during the past week.—(Hear.)
But as these articles had, he presumed, been perused
by most of the gentlemen then present, he would not
further refer to them than to express his brief ac-
knowledgment of the service which they were calcu-
lated to effect.
Mr. BRIGGS then rose and moved the first resolu-

tion
That a safe, speedy, commodious, and economics.
me ans of transit through Egypt has become essential to
the security and good government of our Indian empire
to the extension of commercial intercourse between
Europe and the East ; to the industrial and social im-
provement of Egypt, and is opposed neither to the in-
terests nor the legitimate ambition of any nation on
ear' h."
The Hon. Gentleman said that he had been connected
with Egypt for upwards of fifty years, and that he
had watched the progress of the arrangements for
the construction of the proposed railway with
great interest up to last year, when they
seemed to have approached maturity. The pre-
sent ruler of Egypt, Abbas Pacha, had already
tnacadernised a great part of the road be-
tween Cairo and Suez. He had also erected station-
houses in the desert, had greatly multiplied the means
of transit by the river Nile and by canal for passen-
gers, and was willing to undertake the construction,
at his own expense, of this magnificent railway be-
tween Alexandria and Suez—a work which would give
still greater facilities of communication, and not only
cement the interests of England with those of India
and Egypt, but in a political aspect be of the highest
value and importance to this country as well as to
Egypt.—(Hear, hear.) Abbas Pacha had had to en-
counter many difficulties since the death of Ibrahim
Pacha, and his own investiture with the supreme
power as governor of the country. The course pur-
sued towards him by the Government of the Sultan
was altogether opposed to the convention agreed to by
the European powers who were parties to the treaty
of 1841. And now the whole weight of the opposi-
tion appeared to be directed against this railway. If,
therefore, measures were not adopted to prevent such
a result by those who were most interested in pre-
serving the line of communication with Indio via
Egypt, the Government of the Pacha would lose all
its authority—(Hear, hear)—and be no longer able
to restrain the Bedouin Arabs. Thus the overland
communication would be exposed to risk of interrup-
tion and the greatest possible danger.—(Hear, hear.)
Let those who felt an interest in the question, then,
make an energetical appeal to the Government of her
Majesty to see the due execution of the convention
er treaty of 1841. If we did not support Abbas
Pacha n
s .
considera-
tion with the natives, and in that event there could
e
acha he might lose his authority and his
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political interests of England were looked to—if the
interests
passengers and mails to India, were taken into ac-
count, it was impossible to overrate the importance of
this line of communication.—(l-lear,
,hear.) As re-
spected the question of n
r on- Interference, he (Mr.
Briggs) thought the case ofand Tunis pre-
sented an analogy which should not be overlooked in
the matter, though the Egyptian case
was to England
of far greater importance than the T
could possibly be to France. Yet .
ltunisian question
was found that
when the Sultan threatened to send
afleet to coerce
the Bey of Tunis, whose office had been hereditary
for 200 years, and whose were territories
the best
governed on the coast of Barbary, the French imme-
diately ordered their fleet to Tunis, to
protect the
Bey, thus menaced, in the interest of their possessions
in Algeria. If Abbas Pacha was not supported
this matter, England would lose her consequence in
in
Egypt, and the French interest would become
pre-
dominant, as it had been for years previously in
that
country. The speaker concluded by moving
the re-
solution.