The Portland daily press., 1869-11-15

The opening of the Suez Canal which will
take place on the 18th inst, bids fair to still
further strengthen the belief that the great
| carrying trade of the ocean is eventually to be
| performed by steam instead of wind The de-
sign of the canal to shorten the distance be-
tween Europe and Inda instead of increasing
the fleet of sailing ships bids fair to become
another strong agent-in case it should really
prove navigable for large vessels--to drive them
out of the India trade altogether Some OF
| the reasons for this opinion are set forth in a
| letter from Hon. f. A. Pike, of Maine, to the
Portland Daily Adcertiser, written in Liver
pool on the 22d of October. Mr.. Pike says:
1t (the opening of the canaDi is great event.
A canal a hundred miles long, the hundred
feet wide on top, twenty-six feet deep, and
seventy-two feet wide on the bottom, cost
Jog from eighty to hundred millions of dol
lars, is something one don't often see. 1t is
expected it will devote the whole trade of the
east from the tedious passage round the Cane
of Good Hope. The saving in distance is about
seven thousand miles.
Besides throwing out large amounts of tom
mage now engaged in the Inoia trade, by the
saving of distance, sail vessels will suffer from
the difficulty of navigation of the Red Sea
That Sc Is over thirteen hundred miles long.
and is subject to prevalence of winds from
houIu W dklu " luC mOnSOO0S, The
shadows on either side are lilly defined and
the safe way is to keep adirect course from end
to end. SO those tell me who are recently from
there. The India steamers make the run in
six days, but how long it will take sail vessel
on the average, no one knows. 1t has been
suggested that sail vessels might take a tow,
| bu, that would be too much like taking a tow
from Liverpool to New York. 1t would not
pay.
The upshot of the matter will be that the
luda h,tlf all
do he whole of the East India business. That
Is, IT the canal is a success in its whole length
and breadth and depth, of which there is still
some reasonable doubt
Maine shipping will not suffer directly by
this change of trade, because we have no ships
there to be thrown out of employment. Be,
fore the rebellion we had large tonnage be-
tween London and the East but the English
rebels drove us off and we never got back
Now the business itself will soon be gone and
the ships engaged upon it will be crowded
back upon other over-stocked channels of trade
l mention this as one of the many indica-
lions one meets everywhere of the change of
trade into steamers The Mediterranean is
full OF such indications. Steam lines traverse
1t IN all directions and load from its various
ports to different sections of Northern Europe
Almost the only vessels saw at Venice were
Clyde built propellers. The truth is that trade
ereYy,chere NiH hare its conUeniences and is nil
ling to p0y for them. The telegraph is more
and the tradesmau paws millions annually for
its use. The express and steamboat are much
more costly carriers than the sailing packet
but they fetch aud carry with a certainty and
CELEBRITY the packet cannot compass aud SO they
are supported literally We in Maine mustb b.
prepared 10 do the business of the world as the
world wants IL done, and so share 10 the profits
that now enurc exclusively 10 foreign nations
~ we cannot revive the Maine ship as she used
10 be, we can furnish another more 10 its pres-
ent liking, and write now because I would
set our enterprlsing merchants thinking abont
y and not have them waste their euerges on
the Impossible. IL is In the power OF Congress
20 give ns cheap iron, coal aud copper aud
that - al we need Our hong sea coast invite,
"a 60 the sea with irresistible force. All W.
ask OF the law i an equal chance, and We wiz
once more show cur strength aud Ingenuity
Raleigh declared that the people who cnm
maDded the seas commanded the wealth of The
world. Let us not give them up without
struggle.