The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-10-04
GREAT WORKS OF THE AGE.

| 1f'tpeFi
GREAT WORKS OF THE AGE.
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! Bridging the Straits from Calais TO Dover.
| Paris Sept III correspondence of London start
| England sncsred ut the possibility or the realiza-
| on the point OF beng accomplished. England--ar
least many representatives OF the s-seadiasty
deny that bridge can ever be thrown across the
| Straits OF Calais and Dover. NJ BoGyat, The cee-
braied engineer who conceived the project OF join
Is on the point OF giving conclusive proof OF the
practcablllty OF his invention. The experiment on
q small scale WHEN has already been made
| at Calais IN presence OF some OF tho adn admins
! traitors and shareholders, has been 50 complete
y success that II VIII be renewed IN u Few
| days In presence OF the representatives OF the
| French and English press. An invitation having
| been forwarded TO your correspondent, detailed
accou mt VIII reach you as soon as tho experiment
| has taken place between Calais and Senlls NJ
Boutet, whose name IS now SO popular. has just
that OF st Servan he intends constructing bri0go
| OF no ess than one thousand yards in longh. II
you consult map you VIII see that st. servan and
| TT. Mal0 are situated on the banks OF the kane
SO constant IS the intercourse between the right
and lett bank that during 1865 ferry,
watch Is at work day and night transported
from one shore TO the other $4,000 persons.
10 construct q railway bridge between these
Localities was long cherished idea OF Nj. Boutet
Ditnculties. however, arose. An ordinary bridge
would have impeded navigation. M, Boutet's dis
covery, however, at once does away with the nece5-
sIty or piles, and That without in any wise compro
missing the strength or durability OF the bridge The
NJ. Boutet's designs 1nis great undertaking wiz
inaugurate new era In the construction Of bridges
A European Railway to Indiu.-."AII Europe
ct One End Of tho Line and All Asin at the
Other.0
From the London Times, Sept. Oil
Some fifteen years ago an Ango-saxon prophecy
was published for the edlcatlon OF the world The
prophet was an eminent English engineer, and The
subject OF HIS prediction was the route between
England and the East. The future was presented
TO US pictOrlaly, or, at least, in series OF half
dozen maps, dated successfully 1880, 1910. 1850,
between the British Isles ana Hndostan. The first
two OF these maps illustrated the past the next the
present. the last three future. II the reader Will
open chart OF the world on Mercator's projection
he Will see that line may be drawn in straight
land alter another. He Will see also, on little fur
ther examination, that there are three water ways
between these two points-onc representing the
long circuit of the African Continents second pass
ing by the Mediterranean ana the Red Sea. and o
third, involving rather more land travelling, by
in the routes taken OF late DAYS. by the
commerce between England and the East
the substitution OF land for water-in other words
OF railways Tor ships. For example, In 1880 the
port sailed all round the Cape, and then up The
Indian Ocean TO Bombay or Calcutta, as the case
about 100 days. In 1850 came those improvements
which gave the new passage Inc distinctive name OF
the "oyerlandn route, though the land journey as
yet bore but q small proportion to the sea yoy.
age The steamer again lett channel port.
but turned eastward through tho Straits OF
Gibraltar to Alexandria, from which place
o land journey across the Desert to Suez brought
the passenger to 6le shores Of the Red sea,
where the sea voyage was again resumed. The time
was thus reduced to hity-six days. Meanwhile
the european Continent had been SO far Tayersed
might be reached, and thus broad angie saved,
since the traveller proceeded in nearly direct line
| from Ostend to Alexandra, and thence onwards as
before This brought the Time to thirty-nine days,
| as 1t stood when the prophecy was uttered. The
future then pretgured by three maps to repre-
sent the periods OF 1855 1860 and 1865. In 1856
| railway along the Euphrates Valley was to open q
communication by land with the head OF the Persian
Gulf thus saving the circuit OF the Arabian PENN
| sula besides which a railway across India was to
connect Calcutta with Bombay. BY this the time was
to be reduced to nineteen days. In 1850 our prophet
carried the European line straight across the Conti
geboifd or ASIA MINOR to join the Eupnrates Valley
line. this would dispense with all the sea passage,
| except between Bussora and Bombay and Srin2 the
time down to twelve days. In 1855 the Persian Gulf
route to be itself superseded by railway along
| the southern shores OF Persia ana Beloochistan
HyderaDad, in Scinde where the Indian lines, then
to be complete, would meet 1t. Thus the whole Jour-
ney became railway journey from beginning to
end, and would be easily performed in ten days, or.
| without sIoppages. IN week.
| We have now only to look at Professor Chenerys
! pamphlet TO see how these sangune, though
| natural, prophecies have remained without Iul.
| nlment. Not only has 1865 passed away, but
| the stage marked out for 1855. There
Euphrates Valley Railway, no railway in Asia Minor,
| no railway in BeloochiStan, no railway even from
! Constantinope to Belgrade Except for the indian
I lines, we stand substantially where we stood
| In 1900; even III lnula tLe Hue from HOlDay 10
Calcutta is not entirely complete. Professor che
merry therefore does well to offer his practical sug-
| gestions Tor carving out Sir Macdonald stephen
from accomplished facts which his precursor could
| hardly dream Of. The great Atlantic and Pacific
| Railway, now actually opened might wei nave up
peared In 1855 a lar more chimerlcal enterprise
than the chain OF lines from Constantinople
! to Kurrachee In those days, too, 1t might
have naturally been doubted what the Ottoman
government might say to such projects, whereas, as
| Professor Cnenery now explains the Porte Is anx-
| totta Tn
Its domnions, and Ii at this moment Intent on con :
Meeting the capital with the European system OF
| lines nor do our advantages end here. FROM the
pioneering OF the United States we have learned
| only how to construct cheap railways but how to
would be intolerable the English system OF loco
| motion; 1t would be no trial at all III Carriages
70 moV eb no'e are 70
length-l,7oO miles from Calais to the Bosp neyos,
1900 more from the Bosphorus to ud-sor.ih
s ssa ya e Ba e. 1s t. svs sA2 -,
| miles OF railway open and Sir John Lawrence recx.
ons that 10000 win sooner or later DO wanted for
india alone, 50 that we need not think much OF the
work required to bring, as Professor Chenery ex-
presses IT, the $50 900 OF Europe into communca-
ton with the 500000,000 Of Asia. We have, Ia fact
now learned how to make railways both chcaply and
| expcditously; we have learned how to adapt the
are keenly alive TO the value OF rapid communication
with India and we know that some, and can believe
to be rayerSed By the PROPOSED Inc viii
daily cooperate in the work. The Turkish gov
crnlnent desires nothing more thar to see the
| necessary lines intersectng Its territories, and
though nobody can exactly answer for Persia ami
Beoochisan, we do, at least. know from experience
that such populations as we should meet with in
| those parts are well acquainted practically with
their own Interests ana rarely unwilling TO strike
| easily make 1t worth the while OF both chiefs and
/ people to furnish the police OF the line for US,
| though we could hardly expect TO encounter foes 80
| Americans.
| Such is the prospect placed by Professor Chcnery
before us, and nobody can pretend to doubt either
| tho importance or the value OF q line which will
| have 'dN Europe at one end ana all Asia at The
oiner.n But what Is to be the cost ana how Is the
! money to be foundf We are told that the Turkish
j government would actually make the line Itself rs
lar as tho Persian Gulf II 1t could but command the
means, and that 1t would cheerfully anu Literally
enter into engagements for the purpose with richer