The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-24 00:00:00

THE SUEZ CANAL.

(From the Correspondent of the Times.)
ALEXANDRIA, JUNE 4.

In his statement to the shareholders of the Suez
Canal Company M. de Lesseps appears to impugn
the accuracy of the reports I have sent you at vari-
ous times in respect to the progress of his opera-
tions in the Isthmus of Suez. For the information,
therefore, of those among your readers who may not
have had an opportunity of reading the report upon
the proceedings of the Paris meeting I will briefly
recapitulate M. de Lesseps' own statements of what
has been done, and thus leave you to judge whether
there is any essential difference between us.
According to the printed report, then, dredging
machines and other implements have beensintro-
dueed into the isthmus, workshops have been put
up, dwelling places have been provided for the per-
sonnel, fresh water has been brought, partly by
means of a small canal (une rigole) and partly by
means of earthenware tubing, from Maksara at the
head of the Wadi Toumilat to the shores of Lake
Timsah, and machinery has been erected for the
purpose of raising this supply of water to the heights
of El Djis'r. The above with the addition of the
wooden jetty and tramways at Port Said, forms as
nearly as possible a complete list of all that has been
accomplished in the isthmus according to M. de
Lesseps, not only since the report of last year, but
since the commencement of the company's opera-
tions in 1859.* I have of course confined myself to
enumerating what has actually been achieved, omit-
ting the mention of works announced as about to
be immediately executed, although indeed the latter
occupy by far the greater space in the report before
me. The results above described havebeen obtained
at an admitted expenditu!e of a fraction over
£900,000, not much less than one-eighth of the entire
capital of the company, and one-sixth of the sum
(L 5,200,000) which M. Lesseps declared to be the
maximum amount required for the complete reaiisa-
tion of his scheme. In order now to render the view
of the subject more comprehensive I may remind
your readers of the work that remains to be accom-
plished with the five-sixths of the money still on
hand. There is of course the construction of the
maritime canal itself, 93 miles 10ng,182 feet board,
and 2.6 feet deep ; that of the fresh water canal to
111
run parallel to it, with a feeding canal, forming
means of communication with the Nile ; Lake
Timsah, now not much better than a marsh, is to
be converted into a spacious inland harbour. At
Suez stone jetties are to be constructed, one a mile
and the other three-quarters of a mile in length ;
and finally, at Port Sald the approaches to the
canal are to he formed, and the canal itself is to
be prolonged into the sea by means of two similar
jetties, of the aggregate length, as nearly as I can
remember it, of about three miles to be built of
solid stone upon a foundation of sand. Without
stopping to enter into a consideration of the pecu-
liar engineering difficulties of these undertakings
such a programme must surely appear sufficiently
formidable, and it seems difficult to conceive that
any person taking a dispassionate view of the ques-
tion should not admit that M. de Lesseps' adversa-
ries, as he is pleased to call them, have some solid
grounds for the doubts they express, and they are
entitled to better treatment than general charges of
blind prejudice, jealousy, and interested motives.
That England has interests which would impel her
to oppose the prosecution of M. do Lesseps' scheme
must, I conceive, be freely admitted; but the interests
thereby endangered are, above all, those practically
identified with the peace and prosperity of this
country. Already the latter are becoming seriously
clouded by the addition to the liabilities of the
Egyptian Treasury of a sum that would have suf-
ficed to pay off nearly, if not the whole of its debts,
and by the forcible abstraction of the agricultural
population of the country from the legitimate work
in a manner equally oppressive and unjust. In con-
nection herewith I may mention a noteworthy fact,
of which M. de Lesseps is well aware, that his
bitterest and most outspoken opponents are to be
found among some of his own countrymen in Egypt,
and that their opposition can only be explained on
the grounds—which indeed they freely admit—
that they see the source of their wealth endangered
by the threatened exhaustion of the resources of
their adopted country.

The opinions entertained by the late Mr. Robert
Stephenson as to the practicability of establishing
a navigable communication between the Mediter-
ranean and Red Sea are, at least in England, suffi-
ciently well known. Mr. Stephenson declared that,
although there might be no physical obstacle which
the resources of modern science, aided by a lavish
expenditure of money, might not be capable of
overcoming, it would be impossible to foretell when
that expenditure would come to an end ; one thing
alone being certain—that M. de Lesseps' estimate
would fall infinitely short of it, and that no results
could be looked for sufficient to compensate for the
capital that would be required to produce them. It
is a singular thing that when Mehemet Ali Pasha
had decided upon the construction of the Barrage,
an opinion precisely analogous to the above was
given to him by another eminent English engineer
whom he consulted on the subject. The advice was
disregarded, the bridge of the Barrage was built,
but nothing further has ever been done, and it stands
to the present day an obstruction to the navigation
of the river and otherwise perfectly useless, excep-
ting in as far as it gives occasion to the Government
to levy a lock due from the boats that pass through
it.

Although in some respects foreign to the subject
of the preceding remarks, I cannot forbear refer-
ring to the extracts from the French press appended
to M. de Lesscps' report. These extracts are headel
by one from the Monileur, and are no less thin 26
in number. To an English reader they are cer-
tainly productive of no small amazement, not somuch
on account of the misrepresentation and ignorance,
both equally gross, with which tho views of his
countrymen on the subject of the Suez Canal are
treated, as on account of the extraordinary amount
of unmeaning and rabid vituperation which is here
collected together. Insolence, malice, jealousy,
robbery, hypocrisy are some of the choice epithets
in which the writers deal. It seems incredible
that M. de Lesseps, before presenting his collection
to the world, should not have reflected that it would
be impossible to form a similar one from the modern
press either of England or of any other country, and
that it can alone be sought for among a people who
are incessantly talking of their own highminded
generosity, and who, next to their magnanimous
virtues, pride themselves most upon their pre-emi-
nence in matters of good taste.
The event of the week has been the departure from
Cairo of the annual caravan for the Hedgaz. The
pilgrims were despatched with even greater pomp
than had been displayed for some years past, but an
innovation has been introduced which has caused

great scandal. The " Mahhmil" has from time
immemorial set off from Cairo, borne on high,upon
the back of a glow-moving but stately camel, reserved
expressly for the purpose, and regarded with feel-
ings of -veneration almost equal to the fabric it
carries. This year the framing, with its gold em-
broidered cover, was sent across to Suez strapped
upon a railway truck, an undignified proceeding,
with which the faithful have been so thoroughly
disgusted that a large number have returned to
Cairo and have relinquished the idea of performing
the pilgrimage.
The French frigate Asmodiee sailed for Toulon on
the Ist inst. with the Siamese mission to France.

* The works at Port Said, among others,, were already
announced as being in existence at the meeting of last year,
but the tramways were destroyed by the action of the sea
washing over the narrow strip of sand which separates it
from Lake Menzaleh. The present lines have consequently
been cont.tructed within the last 12 months. M. de Lesseps
informs us that they serve for the purpose of widening the
neck of land referred to, by means of sand taken from the
seashore, and ho acknowledges that as fast as the latter is
carried away it is replaced by fresh deposits.

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