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

COMMUNICATION WI TII 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 fur the Advancement
of Science.
Major General CHESNEY read FIS fOllO : —The import-
ance of a rapid communication to Melia is now an admit-
ted fact by the whole of Europe. In reality it should have
been son considered in past times, nor cae it ever be other-
wise so long as Indiaresaainsa dependency of Great Britain.
Since I bad the honour of addressing the section on this
subject at Belfast, in 1852, the question of our cprnmu-
nication with India by .the line of the EupbratePhas
taken a much higher position than it then occupied in
public attention.- But before going on to the few re
marks wWch I wish to make to you on this subject, I
should like to point out to you the various 'existing and.
proposed lines of Vonte to India; in:. order that ynn may
have clearly before your mind what it is that lam
anxious to tionomplish by this Euphrates route, of ithich
you have ;o ciiften heard. You al know our Img sea
I.ne to India round the Cape. The red line on the map
shows you the existing line by the Red Sea and Aden ti
Kurrachee and Calcutta. The yellow lines shows the
routes proposed by Sir Rowland Macionall Stephen-
son, and the one apparently preferred by Lord Pei
merston. It passes, as you will observe, over the
Balkan, the Taurus, and other mountain ranges,
quite regardless of engineering difficulties. And the
blue line 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 Bombay or Kiirrachee,
it exactly takes in the route by the Valley of the Eu-
phrates; consequent!), this portion of the line has
necessarily formed a part of all the various projects that
have been advinced with a view to facilitating and
shortening 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 :

English miles.
From London to the entrance of the Red Sea 4,3724
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

6,0774

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

Total
The difference in favour of the Euphrates Valey being
1,1044 rails. 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 fr ini the head of the
Persian Gulf to the same port, or less 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 cafe one in the tarer. 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 sin a sailor, and can apprec;ate 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 passengers 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 down an
electric telegraph line by this route, we niey, 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
uncirtainty and anxiety. I should j ast point out to you
also that the proposed railway will form a elle n of com-
munication with those lines up the valley of the Indus,
&c., now in progress of completion in India, and wdl
thus give us as direct a route as can be had between
London and Labors. 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 Valley route to ludia. No country possesses atem-
ciations of such deep and historical interest as title. We
have here the firsl seat of mankind—the sites of the four
primps ual cities of the bible—the empires of Cyrus the
Great, Cyrus the Younger, and of the great f. Lower of
his step., 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 had passed away, we read of the attempt of
Crassus to conquer the country, and of the expedition
of Traj in 51 years 8.0. Julian the Apostate followed
in tie 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 thei e a most terrfie
hurricane at a spot answering to the present El Kahn
above Anah : 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 record of any
great military expedition in connection with Western
Asia until Napoleon conceived the idea in 1809 of trans-
p irting a force down the Euphrates with a view to the
invasion of India. All his calculations and arratigemect
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 we might do the same at
this moment, and with much greater facility. The
garricous in the Mediterranean might really spare 7,400
--eiz., 3,000 out of the 6,500 at Malta, 2,000 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. Toere 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 diff -rent times for open-
ing communication with India by the Euphrates valley.
That which took the most practical shape was elaborated
by Lieut. Campbell, then of theeß .yal Engineers, in
1843. His proposal and map were iii 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 M'Neill, 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 uec esary finnan
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 !:lo-
sirable, I was accompanied by Sir J. MeNeill, civil
engineer, and two assistant engineers. We reached Con-
stantinople by the route of-the Danube, opened negotia-
tions, and made all preliminary arrangements eat! the
Turkish Government, and then proceeded to Syria in
H.M.S. Stromboli, which was paced 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 es the rest of
his officers and men. We examined carefully the coast
of Asia Minor, where the Taurus touches the sea, in the
hope of finding a practicable valley fur e future line
tbroueh that country, and then proceeded to examine
the coast for a good harbour. That of Alexandretta did
not promise to answer on account of its m 'untains, 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. MiNeill, admir-
ably adapted to form a safe and commodious harbour of
refuge. It will be capable of receiving second-rate lire
of battle ships, and will be as good as, or superior to,
the harbour of Kingstown. The Tut kish Government
has engaged to bear the whole expense of the construc-
tion of this harbour, estimated at from 250,0001. to
300,0001., and to carry out the works by English engi-
neers simultaneously with those of the railway. Tue
spot chosen is three miles south of the river Orontes,
arid 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 smell natural bar
hour, which is a perfectly safe and secure landing plant
for boats, with good holding ground, so that vessels
taking out materials for the censtruction of the railway
could anchor in safety off this larding place. Stone of
the finest quality abounds close to the pant where the
breakwater will abut on the land, and can be quarried
ale ito any extent in the immediate neighbourhood. I
is proposed to construct about 1,000 feet of the b: ea.k-
water in the first instance, and to comf lete each portion
as the work advances, so as to afford shelter and land,
lag wharfs within the first year or 18 months, which