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

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We copy the following articles on thiasubjici:
two of the leading Paris journals of oppFrait - Wake.- %AV
which seem to agree wonderfully on one point--the
superiority of a canal to a railroad :
(From the Journal des Debats.)
" 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
t ) Indi, 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 tedious and fatiguing.
If the pi oposed canal is alto to be cut from Cairo to
Suez, certainly the railroad should be preferred. The
canal of the Isthmus cf 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
tri ink•ly inconvenient, being fed by the waters of
t':e 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
titinanes a more regular and uninterrupted com-
munication ; it cannot, therefore, be surprising
:hat 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-
aetres of canalisation, or extensive proportions, between
Alexandt la and Cairo, joined to one hundred and sixty.
:ire 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
ice of the fit s -class East Indiamen, would be a thousand
lines het:er than a railroad. The railroad from Cairo
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
ta 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 arts
W 41001.011 between. Cairo_and lie r`
rungliel4oie-Prip4l3rat =IBS narieireetlauint, frour§esit:44l:
the strand' of Fan= ab ; on the borders of the Mediieit' "'"""-t"
ranean, near the small village of Thynah. Everything
is here suitable—far _the_undertaking. The distance
is
short. From Suez to Thynah, as a bird would fly, it is
only 120 kilometres, and in this space would be in-
dud. d what are called the Bitter Lakes, where the bid
of the canal is now cut by nature, and the lake Men-
•a,tieli 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
east 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
s ni to impede the navigation. Everything, therefore,
is in favcur 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,
rormed 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 Cutts.
The question now is, by whom is this canal to be wade ?
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 their
patronage and their guarantee, so as to make the passage
a complete neutral one.

"INforeover, the work is entirely withill the power of
the Pacha of Egypt, without any fortign 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 an-
coniplish the work. It wc,uld only be a continuation of
what he has before done. M. Le Pere, 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 Suez. 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 inameme
capital to the Pacha, and the right of toll dues would
also bring him an immense revenue. Thus, materially
speaking, the undertaking would ba 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
ez may be caraied into effect, and there is reason to
suppose he will enter into these views.
" While waiting for this desire,d event, which would
remove so many obstacles to general commerce, should
not the Prench 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 passage from Alexandria to
Paris to be shorter by way of England than by Mar-
seilles."

(From the Conytitationnet)
" Tl.e English Government arid its agents, direct or
indirect, 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 nett)* about seeing the commerce of India take
other modes of transport than that of the Cape of Good
Elope, 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 be 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 con munication. Whe.% 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 proposed. He is able to execute this
enterprise with his own means. He has an army habi-
tuated to all the labours of digging and embankment,
and there are capable engineers 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, withoat
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 MURDERER* toT THE
MORMON PROPllET.—Governor 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
I:v.\ less enemies ei: 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 iu 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. WTrits were issued and placed in tie
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
csc tped 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. 1r I had, therefore, killed him,
I should only have achal 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 TUB THAMES.—The pre-
sent spring tides have risen much higher than an.y for
several years past, in consequence of which the !Tzhames
has overflowed its low lying embankments aLove and
below London-bridge, doing considerable damage to pro.
perty situate along the waterside. Severs'a wharfs and
the cellars of numerous licensed victuallers, as well as
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 pedee--
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.—Bristel Gazette.