New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-12-13
THE SUEZ CANAL.
THE PROGRESS OF TIE GREAT OPENING
CELEBRATION.
IRON OUR OWN CORRESPONDENCE


haps earlier but it was at hafpast seven that first
saw the low coast line the long ranges of buildings
and the great feet of ships which the Port Said
of to-day We were just in time for beautiful and
grand spectacle to which half the nations of the
globe and tho four elements contributed their best
| The Aigle, armed steam yacht of the French En-
press had left Alexandria half hour before As
she is fast ship and the Guienne is not, resigned
ourselves to losing the ceremony of her ARRIVAL but
it happened that we were just in time. Perhaps it
was all the more impressive that we saw the whole
from such distance that it passed before us like
| panorama.
THE SPECTACLE OF SHIPS.
Far ont to we approached, far beyond our
course and miles away from the harbor, lay two Aus
| trian irOn-clads. Half way between them and the
heads of the two piers making out seward for Port
Said, fleet of ten great ships of lay anchored.
In the harbOr ITSELF another feet counting by humid
dreds instead of tens and including ships of war and
ships of peace; vessels Of every nation and every
| build. These ships, which 1 thus divide
| into three squadrons, were dressed every one
in dancing flags; flags from stem to stern;
flags from deck to main-tOp flags from the tops up
to the truck, flags from truck to masthead flags
| again from stem to flying jib-bOom, and up along
forestry and shrouds. Never ships so covered
| with flags. Ships and flags lay waiting. From along
the coast line, steaming straight from Alexandria, ly
ing low in the water, sharp black, three-masted,
| side-wheel, armed schooner Of q couple of thou
sand tuns So at half speed steers for tho central
| squadron. The three squadrons lie in . crescent.
| Furthest from Port Said and nearest to q vessel
| coming from the west the iron-clad Austrians.
They begin the salute as the Aigle approaches. The
glass shows MS the Austrian yards manned, and it
needs no glass TO see the clouds of white smoke and
flashes of fire which dart from the sides of the great
ships and presently clothe the hulls and then steal
up tho rigging till tho topmost flag is lost
| in the white wrcathing masses and you
SEQ no longer either ships masts,
| but clouds clingng TO the surface of the sea.
The Agle goes slowly past the guns cease the white
clouds lift, the Austrans are still there, and the
panorama is again complete For moment For
| the Aigle nears the central squadron, which is
| squadron of ten. There are French Prussan, Eng
sh Italian-I know not what else, aud the of
the first squadron Of ten repeats itself broader and
grander, and hiding greater eXpanse of sea, with
the blazing guns and rising clouds of the squadron
Of ten. And the Aigle goes slowly past II she re-
turns the salutes it is from her port guns which
cannot see while their smoke which we might see
is lost in the smoke of the Others 1t clears and the
bow Of tho Aige is turned for the entrance of the
| larbor. Before she can reach the outmOst break
water the harbor and tho ships in tho harbor, and
| the line Of long buildings shore, and the shore
itself have vailed and covered themselves before the
| approaching ship. The sky has come down TO the
sea, and the Aigle plunges into tho white Obscurty
and is lost for the third time from sight Only the
| summit OF the lighthouse, standing one side of
the harbor is still visible sole pilot to the entering
ship Again the smoke lifts, and the brilliant spec
taclc of and harbor and ships unrolls itself once
| more.
| PORT SAID AND IT'S HARBOR.
II is not easy to conceive in moment the vastness
OF the preparations for the festival that begins to-
day; or rather let me say, the vastness Of the work
| of which the ceremonies this week are meant to be
| only kind of hint or symbol. To begin to under
stand the Port Said OF to-day look at the Port Said
| of ten years since. For engineering reasons, this
spot was pitched upon for the northern entrance TO
| the Canal Ono Of the earliest visitors in April,
1852 says in n letter before Imagine belt of
sand from 100 TO $50 yards wide, scarcely above the
| level of tho Mediterranean Sea, which battles it on
the north and of the Lake Menzaleh, which does as
much on the south. If the weather is the least bad,
the waves cover this wretched strip, sometimes from
one side sometimes from the other. It's sole
OF supply are Alexandria, two days journey distant,
inaccessible il tho wind blows hard; and Damette,
40 miles of, equally upproachable in gale. Nothing
| more - And ships of a moderate draught had to
approach nearer.
That was tho Port Said of 1859. To-day tho strip
of sand uphOlds thriving town laid out in streets
and squares, and within its harbor huge three
deckers from all the nayies in Europe lie safely be-
side the great vessels conveying through the Medi-
terrauean the cargoes and passengers from India.
Whatever may have been done or left undone along
the interior line of the canal to Suez it is the simple
fact that here at its beginning, tho promised work
has been well and completely accomplished. The
two piers Of the breakwater project, ono $780, the
other 800 yards into the sea: The access by them
TO the interior harbor is safe and easy Where only
n coastiug brig could anchor In 1859, to-day ships
drawing 20 feet and sail in with keels free fron
the bottom. Thegdredging out OF the basin leaves
nothing TO be DONE 1t is vain to try to count the
multitude of vessels that have entered tho harbor
before us. That they there is the bodily yerlea-
ton of the work achieved at Port Said.
ABOUT TO ENTER THE CANAL.
The Guienne steams slowly in. We still in the
same state Of uncertainty what we are TO do, where
we NAV 90 where we can go, and what place belongs
10 our ship and to us in the festival to come We are
guests of the VicerOy, the Guenne is under his char
ter, but she is big ship. Can she enterf Can she
20 through the canali Or are we to DO transhipped
into smaller craft-we and our luggage which once
already has been fshed up out of the hold for the
debarkation at Alexandria, which We did not after
all have TO make. Other ships are showing us
the way but while We are looking eagerly to follow
down goes the anchor of the Guienne, and there we
are lust outside the promised land. Before we have
time to scod much about it, the signal for pilot IS
aloft and our captain-who is by no means Mephis-
tophiles but tells us all the truth he knowspledges
his word 80 shall go in as the pilot comes to
point out our berth Meantime the Delta slips
mast. n Peninsular and Oriental ship, filed with