The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-13 00:00:00

ANOTHER GREAT CANAL.

The Post says that the successful completion of the Suez
Canal appears destined to give rise to a similar undertaking
nearer home, and already there has been placed before the
public a project under the name of the "Great Western
Maritime Ship Canal," which is to commence at Bridgwater
Bay and terminate at the estuary of the Exe, thus connecting
the English and Bristol Channels, and opening a new route
between the great South Wales coalfields and adja-
cent districts, and the western and southern counties,
London and the Continent, by which the sea pas-
sage will be reduced by nearly 300 miles. In addition to the
great advantage of thus shortening the distance and saving
the time, the long and dangerous passage round the Land's-
end, so perilous to life and property, will be entirely
avoided. The cost of the canal, including harbour and

lock works, it is assumed, will bo £3,500,000, the length
of the canal being 59 miles; width at surface, 124 feet; at
bottom, 31 feet; and 21 feet deep. There will thus be suffi-
cient draught of water to accommodate the largest vessels,
and a port, accessible at all states of the tide, is to be osta-
bllshed on the coast of Devonshire, which will no doubt be
a boon to the shipping interests, there being no harbour
answering that description from Portland to Plymouth.
It is expected that the quantity of coal which would annu-
ally pass through the canal would be 4,261,334 tons, and, if
on this was levied a toll of Id. per ton per mile, a profit of
nearly 5 per cent. on the outlay of £3,500,000 would bo the
result, I.nd if we add the tonnage of coke, iron, and other
mineral and miscellaneous products, it would seem that a
very large revenue ought to be forthcoming. Like the great
enterprise of M. de Lesseps, we believe that the canal now
proposed is but the revival in a now form of an old idea, the
celebrated engineer, Telford, having designed a somewhat
similar work iu the year 1825 ; but the increasing import-
ance to the community of the development of the mineral
riches of Wales gives additional interest to the subject at
the present time.

AN OFFICIAL I?EPORT UPON THE SUEZ

CAIVAL.

The Globe publishes the official report to the Admiralty
on the Suez Canal with directions as to its pilotage. The
following are some passages from it :—A single ship
could pass through in from fourteen to sixteen hours;
and two small ships, entering one at each
end, could pass each other without slackening
speed. But it is imposssible to carry a train of large ships
through in one day. Lake Timsah and the town of Ismailia
are conveniently situated and sufficiently largo for a stop-
ping place ; and doubtless arrangements will be made for
ships to start from each end on one day, for all to meet
and anchor for the night at Lake Timsah, and to
start for their respective ends the following morning.
This, allowing eight hours for passing through each
end of the canal, and twelve hours for remaining at
Ismailia, will give twenty-eight hours for the transit.
With a full moon a handy ship, by entering the Canal in
the evening and arriving at Ismailia in the morning early
enough to join the train of vessels, might perform the
voyage in from sixteen to twenty hours. With
a train of only two or three ships, and no delay
at nights, the transit would occupy about eighteen
hours. There is no doubt that every vessel will cause
more or less damage to the banks on passing, but
screw ships only going five or six knots will hurt the Canal
very slightly, except in the Lagoons, where the banks are
formed of very fine sand. Should a vessel touch the
ground in any part of the Canal, except in the tidal part
of the Suez end, she will sustain no damage,
merely being thrown out of her turn in the line.
In the total 861 miles, 65 may be considered as
quite completed. Throughout the remaining 211 miles
there is either dredging or embanking work still going on.
For five miles in the worst parts of Lake Ballah and
the Lagoons south of Lake Timsah, constant
dredging will be required, until means are
found to keep the banks solid enough to prevent the
waters communicating. In the S6rap6um cutting there is
a rocky ridge of a few yards with only eighteen feet water
upon it, which will soon be removed. Except for about
ten Miles there is twenty-four feet of water throughout

the canal. Vessels drawing seventeen feet can pass
through with ease. When the barrier at SerapOum is re-
moved, the canal will be open to ships drawing twenty feet
The largest ship that passed through the Canal at the
opening was the Peluso, Egyptian yacht, drawing 16 feet,
about 250 feet long. Several ships grounded on the
passage, but all got off again with a little delay. The
grounding was caused more by the desire of the forty or
fifty ships to got quickly through than through any fault
in the Canal.

TRADE AND FINANCE.

SATURDAY EVENING.

As a rule the appointment of a commission of inquiry
into any matter by the French Government affords the
best means of smothering the question in hand, and this
plan we have frequently seen resorted to with success.
The agitation against the treaty of commerce
with England, however, has assumed such im-
portance and extent, that no such tactics can
be adopted in its case ; indeed, nothing can be more
satisfactory to the large party of Free Traders who have
always supported the Emperor's commercial policy than
the prospect of a full inquiry into the rapid progress which
France has made sinco the conclusion of the treaty. If
statistics are of any value at all, and any reliance is to be
placed upon either the English ornench return, the result
of the deliberations of the commissioners must be to con-
firm the treaty in every particular, and to cause the com-
mercial policy of the Emperor to be more energetically
pursued. . .

The question has a great interest for England, ana
although no one can contemplate that any retrograde
movement will take place, still less that the initiative will
be taken by France, who has profited largely by the Treaty,
it may be as well to point out what are the real causes of the
agitation against it. We find that as far as the movement
in France itself is concerned, it is made wholly in the
name of the operatives engaged in the iron, cotton, and
wollen manufactures, and it is probable that the opening
of the market to English competition has caused depres-
sion in those particular industries. With regard to the
wollen trade in particular, we find that pre-
viously to 1860 scarcely any shipments of wool-
len goods were made from this side, while the exports
last year amounted to about 18 millions of yards; that is
to say that a trade of about three millions sterling has
actually been created by the treaty. The great point, how-
ever, to look at is the fact that the trade between the two
countries—both inward and outward—has increased to
about five times its extent in 1860, in the nine years since
the conclusion of the treaty, and it is impossible
to argue that this vast increase has been made in the
trade without a corresponding benefit to the two coun-
tries. So far as figures prove anything, the results of the
movement have been more favourable to France than to
England, as our imports are always largely in excess of our
exports, and were the exchanges settled in a direct manner
they would always be very unfavourabe to us. The settle-
ment, which takes place in a roundabout way, does not
affect the present question. France has been a direct
gainer by having the most remunerative market in the
world thrown open to her, and England has benefitted in
like manner, though not to the same extent.

It must not be forgotten that the agitation against the
treaty on this side has, in particular quarters and where
particular interests were affected, been ceaseless. Certain
industries on both sides of the Channel appear to be
languishing from the effects of the treaty; but this occa-
sional displacement of labour was only to be expected, and
is the natural result of the removal of those protective
duties :which enabled a rotten industry to prolong its
existence. With regard to the silk trade, the only conclu-
sion to be arrived at is that there was a good business to be
done in silk goods, and our manufacturers—notwith-
standing the advantages they had--allowed the opportunity
to escape them, and the trade has accordingly passed into
other hands. Whether this arose from inability or mis-
management will not be discussed here, but the recent
evidence beforo the commissioners abundantly proves that
the action of the trades unions in the silk trade
was of the most suicidal character. Granting,
however, that particular branches of trade, but
limited in number and extent, have suffered
by the increased competition, there can be no
doubt that the general results of tho Treaty have been
most beneficial to both countries, and any return to the
old Protective tariff on the part of France is simply out of
the question. No nation will now consent to pay heavily
for its manufactures, in order that a few lame and sickly
industries may be kept alive. The United States certainly
present a remarkable exception to this, but this is owing
to the peculiar circumstances attending the finances of that
country.

Sir Titus Salt, Bart., and Mr. Isaac Holden have
promised to contribute £l,OOO each to the funds of the Na-
tional Educational League.

The Weekly Register says that the Bishop of Lon-
don has lately refused to ordain two candidates for Angli-
can orders because they believe in the Real Presence.

The Pall Mall Gazette says that at the Council
which her Majesty held at Windsor on Saturday it was
determined that Parliament be prorogued until the Bth of
February.

Mr. James Taylor, of the Britannia Works, Bir•
kenhead, was on Friday fined 20s. and costs in two cases
(40s. in all), in which he had employed boys under 16 years
of age after six o'clock in the PiTntrigt