The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-03 00:00:00

THE ISTHMUS OF SUEZ CANAL.

The subscription list to the Suez Canal is closed,
and in a few days we shall probably be in a position
to judge how far the general public of Europe are
disposed to place faith in the data furnished by the
projectors, whose deductions have been so hotly
contested both in Parliament and by a portion of
the English press. As a commercial enterprise,
the scheme has been looked upon by some as a de-
lusion ; and as an engineering problem, one inca-
pable of solution. On the first point, our readers
who have examined the figures set forth by the
projectors are in a position to form their own opi-
nion, and conclusions drawn from those figures
must of course vary, the elements of the calcula-
tion being to so great an extent guesses. As to the
engineering. question, it is one on which they would
naturally look to be enlightened by practical
men. Now the most pertinacious opponents of
the Canal have for the most part entrenched them-
selves behind vague generalities, and have contented
themselves with denouncing it as an absurdity. Mr.
Stephenson, who was the great authority for such
an opinion amongst laymen might even now have
spoken with some weight on this much vexed ques-
tion, had he not indited that unlucky letter to a
distinguished contemporary, showing that on the
most knotty point—the possibility of constructing a
port at the northern or Pelusiac mouth of the canal,
he was about as reliable an authority as an engineer
would be who betook himself to the top of Prim-
rose-hill and there pronounced on the feasibility of
constructing docks in Woolwich marshes. More-
over, if we remember rightly, this gentleman was
equally convinced of the folly of trying to make
certain docks in the Mersey, which have since
played a very important part in our national com-
merce. Looking at the formidable array of names
on the other side of the question, the balance of
professional opinion leans most decidedly in that
direction. Mr. Stephenson may be right after all,
but, if so, he has only made a very successful guess.
The opponents of the scheme have not adopted the
most practical course, that of opposing the data of
the promoters by other data, and even in some in-
stances they have argued upon singularly incorrect
bases. A few days ago we saw it stated that the
proposed work was to be a canal 330 feet wide at
the water line, 20 feet at the bottom below the level
of the Mediterranean, and having sluice locks at
either end 330 feet long by 70 feet wide, in order to
obtain an additional depth of three or four feetof
water. Now a reference to the Report of the Com-
mission charged with the settlement of the plan
shows that the maximum width of the canal
throughout the greater part of its length is to be
263 feet Ut the water line, the remaining portion,
between the Bitter Lakes and Suez (121 miles),
being 328 feet ; while the minimum depth is to be,
not 20, but 21 feet four inches. The locks proposed
would have raised the level, not 3 or 4 feet, but 4
feet 11 inches ; but theso locks are looked upon by
the Commission as unnecessary, the head of water
obtainable at the Bitter Lakes being more advan-
tageous and economical. Then as to the port at
Tineh, the article to which we refer states that
soundings taken in 1847 showed that a depth of
24 feet could only be obtained at five miles from the
shore. We may reasonably ask who made those
soundings, for a careful examination both of the
bottom and of the coast, by the Inter-
national Commission in 1856, showed that a depth
of more than 26 feet (8 metres) was found at
3,060 yards from the shore, or about a mile and
three quarters. It is not in this manner that the
question should be argued, nor is it consistent with
reason to suppose that a project which proposes to
expend so vast a sum in wages for labour, and for the
culture and irrigation of that portion of Egypt
which is traversed by the Canal, can be disadvan-
tageous to the country, because the undertaking
may be a dead failure, and the French Govern-
ment may think it necessary to despatch an army
to compel the Pacha [to reimburse to the deluded
French shareholders the capital they have unwisely
advanced. Such reasoning is neither prudent nor
dignified, and begets in the minds of foreigners an
opinion that we have some secret and sinister mo-
tive for opposing, per fas et nefas, the execution of
M. de Lesseps' deeign.

For our own parts, we have felt it a duty to
weigh impartially the technical evidence on both
sides, as to the possibility or remunerative charac-
ter of the undertaking, without pretending to de-
cide on matters which we do not consider as within
our competence. At the same time we have ex-
pressed an opinion, which we still maintain, that
England, so far from offering any hostility to the
creation of this new Bosphorus, has a direct
interest in its success. In fact, one
.of the strongest
arguments against the remunerative character of the
undertaking, presented in the article we have alluded
to, is that the navigation of the Red Sea is so perilous
to sailing ships that the majority of them would
still prefer the voyage round the Cape. If this be a
literal fact, although it might make the English
capitalist button up his pocket, it should cause the
English merchant to look with the utmost gratifi-
cation on the progress of the undertaking. Our
steam navy is incomparably the largest in the world,
and we have facilities for augmenting and working
it, such as no other country on the face of the globe
possesses. Our steam communication with India is
not only important at the present time, but is in-
creasing in extent, and, looking at the matter solely
in a military point of view, we apprehend it would
be easy to demonstrate that, had we subscribed the
whole capital demanded, and had we never received
a penny of profit from it, there would have been a
vast pecuniary gain to the nation in the diminished
cost of the Indian war. Far be it from us to blame
those capitalists who may think that, after all, the
most prudent course, where so many doubts have
been raised, is to abstain from taking part in the
enterprise. But we cannot but applaud those in-
dividuals who, having faith in the data placed be-
fore them, come forward with the funds for this
great experiment, which, if successful, must be
of the utmost importance to England, and will in
all probability be at the same time of incalculable
benefit to Egypt. It is something to have
laboured for years, through good report and
evil report, the latter being abundantly active,
to perfect so gigantic a plan. If successful, M.
de Lesseps will have earned an enviable name
in history ; and if the project should prove a failure
he will fail with that honour which attends a man
who has devoted his whole life and energies to the
execution of a work which he honestly believes to
be a great step in social progress. He labours, it is
true, at the outset, under one serious disadvantage ;.
he is backed by no combination of great capitalists,
and no well devised scheme of Bourse tactics. The
undertaking is launched on its own merits, and we
shall rejoice to find that the capital
i has been sub-
scribed. Still more gratifying will tbe should the
ultimate issue of this great undertaking falsify the
prognostics of its opponents, and the problem
which has occupied the minds of men for ages be
successfully solved.—Daily News.

THE LATE MILITARY lEQTJIRY RESPECTING THE
WOOLWICH GAURISON CHAPLAIN.—The result of the
courlof inquiry which investigated charges of intemperance
made against the Rev. W. M. Wright, chaplain to the
Royal Artillery at Woolwich, having been forwarded to his
Royal Highness the General Commanding in Chief, the
clergyman named has been entirely acquitted of the impu-
tations on his moral character, which were unsubstantiated
by evidence. The Rev. W. M. Wright is about to leave
Woolwich, and will succeed the Rev. J. Parsons as garri-
son chaplain at Chichester. Tito Rev. W. Hare, garrison
chaplain at Dublin, will succeed the Rev. W. M. Wright at
woolich ; and the Rev. J. Parsons has been appointed
garrison chaplain at Dublin.
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