The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-10-09

II Is amusing isays the London Spectator)
to witness the cheerful alacrity with which
engineers are ever proposing grand schemes
to bridge over the distances on our gioDe'
and the Willingness with which The PuoilG;
give ear to them. Whether 1t be tunnel
fhrouoh the Aims or under the Straits OF
Dover, or cut canals through the lsthmuses
which connect the northern and southern
halye, of the Old and New World, or lay
feIe1ranh cables under the Atlantic ana
Pacific. there is apparently no limit TO Inc
fertility of the engineering mind, or Tue
mingled awe and delight with when Tue
majority Of the people read OF The success
slve schemes which are vcntllatea. AZ Tue
present moment the run is upon raliroao3
30 indis, for which the IullnesS Vi tiihe
SEEMS to have come.
me cutting Of the Suez canal lately
stirred the popular imagination on the SUD-
iect Of Eastern communications, ana no"
the o1eninc of the Mont Cents tunnel has
not only had a similar influence, but IL mas
actually completed in the most eiectiFe
manner through rail"a y communication
with an extreme southeastern point I'D Eu-
rome, on the direct road TO lbdla. IL Is
natural, therefore, that engineers ana the
public should be alike provoked ny the
Europe and the East by the scantlly-peo-
pied regions Of the Turkish and PERSIAN
Empires, which misgovernment and inca
pacity of race have prevented from being
filled up. The missing link is perhaps
create than that which was lately filled up
between the Missouri and the Pacific ; but
the result, as these matters are judged,
With all the East on one side and all + u
rope on the other, will be pr0portiOnaily
greater. and accordingly the schemes pro-
duced are in uneXampled abundance.
vii thara n nr0n0SllS
for Euphrates Valley railway to connect
the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf,
and shorten by week the present over
land Journey between London and India.
But lbesc are the most moderate proposals.
Coustantinople in Il year or two will be
connected with the European system, and
there are about half a dozen schemes TO
Join Constantinople with India, some oil
them TO make q Euphrates Valley line u
section Of the highway to India, and others
TO Iuu through the north Of Asia Minor and
Persia, passing through the Persian capital
of Teheran, aud through Hcrlt and Canda-
hur, on the line by which we have been
tiuph, to expect the future invasion OF
India by Russia, in which so many people
believe. There Is even third class Of
schemes by which India is to be reached
through Russia, the Russians pushing R
branch from their southern railways across
Iuc SuuCuSpNy diu GU St'ihS uS @ iot'o w
Teherau BY which we may get to India as
already described.
And as If all these were not enough, VIC
have grand scheme for Il railway starting
eastward from Trieste, sklrting the Turk
ish coast of the Adriatic, and finally cross
ing the Salonica, from which there would
be short sea passage across the Levant,
and then railway to India OH the route OF
the Euphrates Valley line, to be continued
along the coast to Kurrachee. Mrs. Bur-
ton has also come forward with proposal
this week to vary the ordinary routes sug-
gcs'ed for the Euphrates Valley line by 1
deviation which would "devclop Syria"
and "rcstore Bnlbek and Palmyra 10 their
old importance"
Such Is y most mcagre list of the conf
pe,,n. projects which arc offered, the very
cheapest 10 cost between eight aud ten mil
ions, tie most ambitious lorty millions,
NJ. tie average, which arc strictly limited
10 he construction OF n complete railway
between Conslaniinople and India, be-
tween twenty and thirty millions.