The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-15 00:00:00

HI

7-51 _

PROPOSED PASSAGE FROM
CAIRO TO SUEZ.
We copy the following articles on this subject from
two of the leading Paris journals of opposite politics
which seem to agree wonderfully on one point—the
superiority of a canal to a railroad
(From the Journal des Debate.)
"By the letter of Mr. Waghorn to the Pacha of Egypt,
it may be seen that fresh efforts are making to improve
the communication with India by the Isthmus of Suez.
The grand question is to determine whether a railroad
or a canal will be the preferable plan to carry this object
into effect. At this time passengers going from Europe
to India by Egypt land at Alexandria, gain the Nile by
the Mahmoudie Canal; again ascend the Nile as far as
Cairo, and then cross the Deserts to Suez, where they
embark in the Red Sea. The railroad proposed by Mr.
Waghorn would also go from Cairo to Suez, and would
thus save passengers the disagreeable route across the
Desert, which, with all the attempts made to render it
comparatively easy, is still most tediaus and fatiguing.
If the proposed canal is also to be cut from Cairo to
Suez, certainly the railroad should be preferred. The
canal of the Isthmus of Suez has long since existed.
Rendered impassable several times by reason of the sands
which accumulate, and which the jealousy of the Arabs,
whose traffic by canals is injured, prevents them from
clearing away. But the canal in this direction was
extremely inconvenient, being fed by the waters of
the Nile, it was useless except when that river was
high ; and, therefore, the navigation of it was
interrupted for six months in the year. Commerce
demands a more regular and uninterrupted com-
munication ; it cannot, therefore, be surprising
that Mr. Waghorn, and those whose ideas he re•
presents, should be in favour of a line of railroad from
Cairo to Suez. But the time for comparison is ill
chosen. Without doubt two hundred and sixty kilo-
metres of canalisation, or extensive proportions, between
Alexandria and Cairo, joined to one hundred and sixty-
five kilometres of the canal from Cairo to Suez, would
be a most costly undertaking. But it is not the less
true that a canal large enough to take a vessel of the
ize of the first-class:East Indiarnen, would be a thousand
times better than a railroad. The railroad from Cairo
to Suez would be exclusively for passengers and mails,
whereas if a canal of the above dimensions was cut
through the Isthmus, it would be of immense advantage
to the whole commercial world. The obstacles to such
an undertaking are lot insurmountable. There is a
means of cutting through the Isthmus from one side to
the other without the enormous expense of an artificial
navigation between Cairo and Alexandria. This is to
commence precisely at its narrowest point, from Suez to
the strand of Faratnah, on the borders of the Mediter-
ranean near the small village of Thynah. Everything
is here suitable for the undertaking. The distance is
short. From Suez to Thynah, as a bird would fly, it is
Daly 120 kilometres, and in this space would be in-
cluded what are called the Bitter Lakes, where the be d
of the canal is now cut by nature, and the lake Men-
rahleh which only requires deepening. The ground at
this point is level, for in the whole distance there is only
a metre of elevation.
" Again, the Red Sea at Suez being eight metres at
least higher than the Mediterranean, the canal would be
easily fed by the waters of the former. Nothing but
the greatest negligence could ever cause a collection of
a ind to impede the navigation. Everything, therefore,
is in favour of the plan except one thing—the want of a
good port at the terminus in the Mediterranean ; but
this difficulty may be conquered by the improved state
of modern science in deepening ports, and causing good
anchorage in places where formerly it was impracticable.
" This direct canal across the Isthmus of Suez is not
more difficult, if so much so, as that of Mahmoudie,
formed by Mehemet Ali. The formation of a port at
Thynah is a very easy work, and would not be so diffi-
cult as what has been done to form the harbour of Cette.
The question now is, by whom is this canal to be made ?
As it is a work of general European interest, and a work
of the greatest interest to the commerce of the world,
and of more immediate importance than the proposed
communication across the Isthmus of Panama, all the
maritime nations might take the enterprise under the it
patronage and their guarantee, so as to make the passage
a complete neutral one.
"Moreover, the work is entirely within the power of
the Pacha of Egypt, without any foreign assistance. The
Pacha, who has constructed more than a thousand kilo-
metres of canals or large dykes for the purpose of irri-
gation, might without difficulty with his own people ac-
complish the work. It would only be a continuation of
what he has before done. M. Le PIN, who had been
charged by the General-in-Chief to prepare a plan for a
canal across the Isthmus, estimated the expense at only
seventeen millions of francs. But let us call it thirty, or
even forty millions, in consequence of the works to be
done at Thynah and Suoz. The cutting the canal would
bring into cultivation an immense extent of ground which
is now in desert, and which was formerly fertile until
buried in the sand. This would be adding an immenro
capital to the Pacha, and the right of toll dues would
also bring him an immense revenue. Thus, materially
speaking, the undertaking would be a profitable one for
the Viceroy ; politically speaking, it would be of im-
mense value to Europeans. By the Pacha, therefore,
with his own resources, in default of the concurrence of
the maritime powers, the cutting through the Isthmus of
Suez may be caraied into effect, and there is reason to
suppose he will enter into these views.
" While waiting for this desired event, which would
remove so many obstacles to general commerce, should
not the French Government remove another which
presses heavily on our trade with the Levant, and which
naturally occurs to the mind when speaking of the com-
munication with Egypt. We allude to the quarantine
which is maintained by the French Government, though
in a great measure suppressed by the English, and which
has the effect of causing the passaFe from Alexandria to
E n
Paris to be shorter by way of gland than by Mar-
seilles."
(Fran the Constitutionnel)
" Tl'e Engl'sh Government and its agents, direct or
indirec, have peculiar motives for thinking of the esta-
blishment of a railroad. We need not say that these
motives are foreign to a commercial interest. England
cares noth:ag i.bitit seeing the commerce of India take
other modes of transport than that of the Cape of Good
Hope, and does not feel for Trieste so violent a sym-
pathy as to sacrifice to it a portion of the interests of
London or Liverpool. Besides, if the commerce of India
were to pass through Egypt, Marseilles, and even
Odessa, would be as great gainers as Trieste. What
the English Government seeks in the establishment of a
railroad across the Desert is, first, the means of trans-
porting with facility and rapidity, the troops and materiel
of war which may he wanted in India; and, secondly, the
protectorate which the passage of these troops, and the
residence of an English company at the head of the rail-
road, would permit it to exercise over Egypt. The
English Government knows very well that the Pacha
has neither iron, coals, nor wood, and still less the money
which would be required for making and working a rail-
road. The Pacha, however, may and ought to attempt
another means of communication. What the interest of
his power and the prosperity of Egypt counsel is the
construction of a canal. between Suez and Cairo. All
the objections which he has made to a railroad disappear
when a canal is profosed. He is able to execute this
enterprise with his own means. lie has an army habi-
tuated to all the labours of digging and embankment,
and there are capable eng'neeis in his service. A canal
which should join the Nile to the Red Sea would give
considerable commercial advantages to Cairo and Alex-
andria., communicate great activity to the navigation of
the Red Sea and the Nile, and probably fertilise an
extensive zone of desert on the two banks. A loan con-
tracted for the execution of this enterprise, and guaran-
teed by the revenues of the canal itself, might be
effected in aid of the finances of the Pacha, without
depriving him of any portion of his financial inde-
pendence. This is an enterprise which would be profit-
able to England in common with the rest of Europe, and
which ought to be encouraged by all who take an in-
terest in the prosperity of Egypt, and in the progress of
civilisation."

ATTEMPT TO ARREST THE MURDERERS OF THE
MORMON PROPHET.—GOTCI7IOT Ford, of Illinois, ordered
a detachment of troops under General J. J. Hardin to
encamp near Carthage on the 26th ult., intending to aid
the civil authorities in the arrest of the murderers of Joe
and Hiram Smith. The country will applaud this de-
termination of the Governor to sustain the laws. The
law less enemies of the Mormons had planned an attack
on Nauvoo for the massacre of the Mormons on the 26th
and 27th ult., their forces to be collected under the pre-
tence of joining in a wolf hunt ; but Governor Ford, by
a judicious arrangement of his troops, disconcerted their
arrangements, and it was supposed they would not at.
tempt to carry out this wicked project. The Governor
was at Carthage. Writs were issued and placed in the
hands of the Sheriff for the arrest of Thomas C. Sharp,
editor of the Warsaw Signal, and for Colonel Williams,
of the same, both charged with participating in
the murder of the Smiths. The Sheriff came to
Warsaw and attempted to arrest Sharp, but he refused
to surrender himself, and in this resolution was sustained
by the infamous part of the population of Warsaw. The
Sheriff returned and reported his inability to arrest him,
when three hundred of the troops were ordered to marsh
to Warsaw. The troops had not arrived at Warsaw
before the last steamer left, but Sharp and Williams had
escaped to the Missouri side of the river, where they
will find a ',horde of sympathising spirits. Sharp has
issued an address. He says, " I did not help to kill Joe
Smith, for I did not go to the gaol with those who killed
him. If my influence helped to produce the state of
feeling that resulted in his death, why I am, in common
with some hundreds of others, guilty, not of murder,
but of an extra judicial execution. I have the most
satisfactory proof that Joe Smith threatened my life,
and sought to take it. If I had, therefore, killed him,
I should only have acted in self-defence." He acknow-
ledges himself; then, an accessory to the murder before
the fact, and should be held accountable to the law.—
New York paper.
PARTIAL OVERFLOW OF THE TIIAMEB.—The pre-
sent spring tides have risen much higher than any for
several years past, in consequence of which the Thames
has overflowed its low lying embankments above and
below London-bridge, doing considerable:damage to pro-
pertysellanads
the
celsituate f
nailionrg
iier
otuhse
lwi-caetne
sr
es idd
victSueavl
leerrasl, wahsar:,
those of private houses, have been flooded. The damage
sustained is, however, less than might have been ex-
pected. On Wednesday and yesterday afternoon Stoney-
lane, Tooley-street, was partially flooded, and near to
Stanton's lower wharf there was no passage for pedes-
trians. Another high tide was shortly expected.
THE GREAT BRITAIN....—It WAS rather generally
supposed that this vessel would have left Cumberland
basin on the high tides of the early part of this week.
She could not, however, be got ready in time, and her
departure is postponed to the corresponding period of
next month, when it is confidently expected she will pro-
ceed to sea. We understand no doubt is entertained of
there being a sufficient rise of water to carry her out
without difficulty.—Bristol Gazette.