The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-05 00:00:00

COMMUNICATION WI [II INDIA.

The following paper on communication with India
by way of the Euphrates Valley was read this week at
Dublin by Major-General Chesney, in the Geographical
section of the British Association for the Advancement
Of Science.
Major General CHE6NEY read as follows :—The import-
ance of a rapid communication to India is now an admit-
ted fact by the whole of Europe. In reality it shot ld have
been son considered in past times, nor can it ever be other-
wise so long as India remains a dependencyof Great Britain.
Since I had the honour of addressing the section on this
subject at Belfast, in 1852, the question of our commu-
nication with India by the line of the Euphrates hoe
taken a much higher position than it then occupied in
public attention. But before going cn to the few re
marks which I wish to make to you on thie•snl,ject, I
should like to point out to you the various existing and,
proposed lines of route to India, in order that'you may
have clearly before your mind what it is that lam
unarms to accomplish by this Euphrates- route, of :
you have so often heard. . You all. know cur long. eta
line to India round the Cape. The red line on tbe map
shows you the existing line by the Red Sea and Aden to
Kurrachee and Calcutta. The yellow lines shows the
routes proposed by Sir Rowland Mac tonal I Stephen-
veleteje.,
son, and the one apparently preferred by L rd Pal
werston. It passes, as you will observe, over the
Balkan, the Taurus, and other 'mountain ranges,
quite regardless of engineering difficulties. And the
blue lii.e is that which it has been proposed to carry out.
You will at once perceive that if a direct line be drawn '
along the globe from London to B trnbay or Kurrachee,
it exactly takes in the route by the Va'ley of the Eu-
phrates ; consequent'y this portion of the line has
❑ecessarily formed a part of all the various projects that
have been advanced with a view to feciliteting and
Mhortening our communication with India, with one ex-
ception, brought to my notice in a paper read list year
at Cheltenham, which line is supposed to go from Acre
across the desert to Bussorah. The distances by the two
overland routes are as follows :

EngliKh miles.
From London to the entrance of the Rel Sea 4,37•2
From the entrance of the Red Sea to Kurra-
chee, which will no doubt become the great
port of India in place of Bombay 1,705

Total

6,074

London to tho entrance of the Persian Gulf 4,271
From the entrance of the Persian Gulf t)
Kurrachee

Total
The difference in favour of the Euphrates Valley being
1,104 niilss. The great gain, therefore, is from the
entrance of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf onward.
From the Red Sea to Kurrachee we have 1,705 English
miles ; whilst we have only 702 front the head of the
Persian Gulf to the same port, or Tess than one-half.
In the one case we have the monsoon right ahead to-
wards Aden ; in the other it is nearly abeam to Ormuz
I need scarcely add a difficult and dangerous navigation
in the one case, and a perfectly safe one in the other. It
was this great difference in the open sea distance of the
two lines which made so great an impression on his late
Majesty. When looking at the map he at once said,
"I am a sailor, and can appreciate this great advantage,"
and up to his lamented death he warmly supported the
Euphrates route. The completion of the proposed ar-
rangements would enable us to get over this
distance and carry mails and passengere from
London to Kurrachee in 13 days' and a half, or
less than half the time at present occupied in the
transit by the Red Sea ; while by layi g do en an
electric telegrdph line by this route, we may, in 13 or 20
hours, be assured of the welfare of some friend or relative
in a distant part of India, whose fate is now a matter of
uncertainty and anxiety. I should jest point out to you
also that the proposed railway will form a chain of com•
munication with those lines up the valley of the Indus,
&c., now in progress of completion in India, and well
thus give us as direct a route as can be had bet weep
London and Lahore. But the rapidity of rail, and elec-
tric communication form but a small portion of the bene-
fits which, in a political, military, commercial, and so-
cial point of view, will result from opening up the Eu-
phrates Valle ronte to India. No country possesses asso-
ciations of such deep and historical interest as this. We
bave here the Oral seat of mankind—the sites of the four
primoaval cities of the bible—the empires of Cyrus the
Great, Cyrus the Younger, and of the great follower of
his steps, Alexander, whose conquests and unparalleled
marches of 19,020 miles (according io a careful calcula-
tion which I have made) laid the foundation of that con-
nection of the east with the west which is now under
consideration. The Romans, also, were alive to the great
importance of this territory ; for after the empire of
Seleucus Lad passed away, we 'read of the attempt of
Crassur to conquer the country, and of the expedition
of Traj in 51 years n.o. Julian the Apostate followed
in the steps of Trajan, A.D. 331. He built a fleet on the
banks of the Euphrates, descended the river, and, ac-
cording to Gibbon, encountered theme a most terrfie
hurricane at a spot answering to the present. El Kaitn
above ALA : and it is remarkable that it was apparently
nearly at the same spot that the expedition which I had
the honour of commanding was visited by a similar and
equally fearful hurricane in May, 1836. From the
period of Julian, A.D. 363, we have no recur I of any
great military expedition in connection with Western
Asia until Napoleon conceived the idea in IEO9 of trans-
porting a force down the Euphrates with a view to the
Invasion of India. All his calculations and arrangements
were made for this end. His troops were to have been
transported on rafts, constructed of timber cut down in
the vicinity and on the banks of the river and sea coast.
With a little of his daring wo might do the same at
this moment, and with much 'greater facility. The
garrisons in tho Mediterranean might readly spare 7,400
—viz., 3,000 out of the 6,500 at Malta, 2,A00 from the
4,000 at Corfu, and 2,400 might be detached from the
5,400 men stationed at Gibraltar. 2,400 might go
through Egypt, and 5,000 could be carried in a few
days by Admiral Lyons's fleet-to the mouth of the Oron-
tee. They would then have before them a march of 110
miles, with ample means of transport to the river. Pon-
toons, native rafts, and boats would carry the force down
to the Persian Gulf in less than 15 days. There native
vessels could be found to transport them to Kurrachee
by a safe and rapid navigation at this season. There
have been various proposals at different times for open-
hog communication with India by the Euphrates valley.
Tnat which took the most practical shape was elaborated
by Lieut. Campbell, then of the Royal Engineers, in
1843. His proposal and map were in all essential points
identical with those more recently proposed by the great
engineer, Sir R. M. Stephenson. These and many other
subsequent proposals, both French and English, have
all now become merged in the company of which Mr.
Andrews is chairman, and Sir John a man well
known among you, engineer-in-chief. I was strongly
pressed last year to join in the promotion of my favourite
object of nearly a quarter of a century, and urged to
proceed to Constantinople to obtain the necessary firman
from the Sultan to make all necessary arrangements.
Feeling that with the prospect of a railway a more care-
ful examination of the country to be traversed was de-
sirable, I was accompanied by Sir J. 111.'Neill, civil
engineer, and two assistant engineers. We reached Con-
stantinople by the route of the Danube, opened negotia-
tions, and made all preliminary arrangements with
the
Turkish Government, and then proceeded to Syria in
H.M.S. Stromboli, which was pl iced at our disposal by
Lord Lyons in the kindest possible manner. Nothing
could have been more fortunate for us, since she was
commanded by an officer, Commander Burgess, who
proved himself one of those men who seek opportunities
of doing their country service, and he was warmly se-
conded by Mr. Albert, the master, as well as the rest of
his officers and men. We examined carefully the coast
of Asia Minor, where the Taurus touclies the sea, in the
hope of finding a practicable valley for a future line
through that country, and then proceed! cl to examine
the coast for a good harbour. That of Aie xendretta did
not promise to answer on account of its m muntains,
im-
passable for a railway ; and the ancient harbour of Se-
leucia was also condemned as not affording sufficient depth
of water. But on the southern side of the Bay of
Antioch a spot was selected by Sir J. M'Neill, admir-
ably adapted to form a safe and commodious harbour of
refuge. It will be capable of receiving second-rate nee
of batile ships, and will be as good as, or superior to,
the harbour of Kingstown. The Tuiki,h Government
has engaged to bear the whole expense of the con-true
tion of this harbour, estimated at from 250,0001. ti
300,000/., and to carry out the works by Eeglish engi-
Leers simultaneously with those of the railway. Tue
spot chosen is three miles south of the river Orontes,
and six miles east of the old harbour of Seleucia. The
harbour is proposed to be formed by running out a
breakwater on the south side of the small natural bar
bour, which is a perfectly safe and secure landing plac.
for boats, with good holding ground, so that vessel.
taking out materials for the construction of the railway
could anchor in safety off this landing place. Stone of
the finest quality abounds close to the point where the
breakwater will abut on the land, and can be quantum)
als ato any extent in the immediate ne;gbbourlood. I
is proposed to construct about 1,000 feet of the break-
water in the first instance, and to comi portion
each port
as the work advances, so as to afford o.teltstr and land-
ing wharfs within the first year or 13 months, which