Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1881-06-11
LEssEPs's NEW CANAL.
From the N. Y. In. j

agreement has been cached
the Athens government n M. de
Lesseps, according to which h lat.
ter undertakes to open a ship canal
through the Isthmus OF Corlnth.
Such a water way would constitute
useful supplement to his Suez
achievement, and would 60 far to
cause a complete return of Mediter-
ranean commerce to it's ancient
nels.
A glance at the map will show that
n canal cut across the narrow neck OF
land which separates the Gulf OF
Corinth from the Gulf of Athens
would assure q nearly straight course
from the Italian harbor of Brindisi
to Port Said, the northern entrance
OF the Suez canal. This would mean
q considerable saving of time, even
to steamers, which are forced at pres
emit to make a long detour around the
Morea, while sailing vessels would
escape the dangers that, from the
most ancient times to our own day,
have given notorIety to the cape
which forms the southern tip of that
peninsula. The rounding of that
promontory vas deemed, indeed, so
difficult and dangerous, that after
Brundisium. became the entrepot OF
commerce between Italy and the
Levant, it was customary for vessels
to be unloaded at LechRum-the port
of Corinth OH the Crisean Bay-the
goods being then transferred across
the narrow isthmus and reshlpped at
Cenchre9 on the Saronic Gulf. Ihe
vessels themselves, when Of moderate
size, were sometimes hauled across
on rollers and relaunched in the va
tiers of the Egean.
The fact that the Isthmus of Cor
inth is at the narrowest point only
four miles wide, or, if we take a line
perhaps more favorable to the CON
strnction. Of q canal, not more than
eight, suggested the feasibility OF cut
ting a channel through it from q very
early epoch Of European history.
Owing to their geographical position,
the Corinthians were the first oil the
Greeks in Hellas proper to excel In
commerce, and they were prompt to
profit by the opening of the Nile to
trade which took place in the seventh
century B. g. We may be sure that
those Corinthian merchants who had
witnessed the great works undertak-
en- by Nero, III the hope of connect
Jug the Red Sea with the Mediterrau-
can, would urge upon their country
men at home the much more practl-
cable scheme of linking the Crtsean
Bay to the Saronic Gulf. At all
events, the design was more thar
once seriously discussed during the
period Of Greek Independence, and
an attempt to execute it was actually
made, in the first century of our era.
by Nero. THE attempt miscarried,
but a careful examination of the
ground demonstrates that there is
nothing in the Typographical condi-
tions to render the task II OF in'
superable or even remarkable difficult
ty for modern engineering.
il One of the curious results which
followed the execution of the Suez
canal was the revival OF the long
eclipsed and almost forgotten port OIL
Brlnd1si and It's swift approach to The
position of pre-. emiuence in Mediter
ranean. commerce which 1t occapieC
under the Roman empire, and tt
which it chung as late as the epoch o
the crusades. The piercing of thu
Corinth isthmus would contribute
~ 4utAC1 1huPOtaS w N0o
this port, which could hardly fail II
gain immensely at the expense o
Marseilles, OF Genoa, aud all it
rivals west of the Adriatic. Wit
Trieste, of course, it would not in
t%erfere, for the last named haven
the natural point of shipment 70
that part of central Europe lying cas-
of the Tyrol and of the Elbe. Blu
vessels leaving Trieste are, Of course
as much concerned as those ~clearin!
from Brindisi in avoiding the cir
cuitous and hazardous route aroun
the PelOpOnnesus.
Another interesting effect of @th
new canal will be the restoration Q
Corinth to- something like its oil
prosperity. The present town, W
should remember, does not occup
the site of the city which vas we
nigh ruined III the war of indeper
dence, and totally destroyed by a
earthquake about wenty-threey year
ago. What is now called Corint
would remind the observer rather c
Lech@um, the northern port sof th
old emporium, for it lies not mldwa
between the two seas, but near til
shore of the Gulf Of Lepanto. Eve
the town destroyed in 1858, whic
had been the capital of Achala undo
the Roman empire, and to who's
Christian inhabitants St. Paul &C
dressed his epistles, was not, we nee
not say, identical i'll any respect, e.
cept III site, with the Corinth famor
III the annals Of autonomous Greco
The city, which had been the stanc
ally of Sparta and the implacab
enemy of Athens, was leveiled to I'll
ground by Mummius in LAG b. c.. an
just a century elapsed before its r
building was begun. With the e.
ception, however, of this hiatus
its history, its unrivalled situatio
made Corinth a place of great in
portance, amid all political weiss
tudes, until the trade of Europe wi
India was transferred to the rou
around the CaF6of Good Hope.
was reserved for M. de Lesseps
undo the work of Vasco de Gam
and his new undertaking is, as '
have said, the proper complement