Year: 1872




20 'H-'si4 - y ss.a.


1t does not by any means appear certain
that the Suez Canal is as yet to be complete.
and unqualified success. II was always our
opinion-and the opinion has been not unfre-
quently expressed-that the fall Of the French
empire would have, sooner or later, most
damaging effect on the prospects Of the present
Suez Canal Company It was the duty as
well as the interest Of M. Lesseps to put the
best face ON things. This he has done, and
done most successfully. But bubbles will
burst, and the truth, no matter how disguised,
must reveal itself With patience NJ Lesseps
and the Suez Canal Company have waited.
hoping against hope; but now the shoe pinches
so hard that the cry has been raised for relief.
1t is proposed that the original rate of ten
francs per ton shall be charged on the carry
ing capacity of the vessel, instead Of, as for
M erly, on her registered tonnage. The Lon
don Economist, one Of the safest Of guides in
financial and commercial matters, informs us
that the increased charges, provided the traffic
continues as before, will more than double the
receipts of the company. It is admitted byr
the same authority that the company heeds all
1t can earn but the fear is expressed that the
change may cause new diversion Of trade.
1t has been well known from the outset that
but for the enterprise Of British traders the
Suez Canal could never have paid. To large,
and wealthy establishments engaged in the,
Eastern trade the canal offered advantages in
the matter Of time; but the saving in point Of
time very barely covered the large increase of
expenditure necessitated by tue new route,
Already there Is loud outcry among the
British merchants who have made use of the
canal They have gone into large expense in
the way Of ship building and otherwise, in the
belief that the original rates would continue.
Now, all of sudden, the rates are increased,
and 80 increased that their slow and less enter
prising rivals, who have clung to the old ocean
pathway around the Cape, cannot fail to beat
them in the race. 1t is not wonderful
that the merchant traders who have used the
canal should be indignant. It is curious
part Of the new arrangement that the one
authority to be appealed to by the dissatisfied
is the viceroy Of Egypt-himself the largest
shareholder in the concern. The Viceroy is q
man of large views and it is not at all impos-
sible that he, seeing the folly of the new ar
rangement, may compel some such modifca-
tions as will retain the British trade. To us
the question is interesting mainly from the pos
sible circumstance that it may throw the Suez
Canal into the European market In the mar
ket 1t will command lively interest the wide
world over, and it will not be wonderful If it
should put all the great nations by the ears.
England is prepared to take advantage of the
first fair opportunity to make it her own; but
the other great Powers will be slow to allow
such an opportunity to arrive. 1t is impos-
sible come what may of the present difficulty.
that the Suez Canal, already found so useful.
can come to naught Under some one Power
or under joint protectorate it must hence
forth continue to be one Of the great pathways
of commerce.