5. Freedom from duties on its imports.

It was provided that the canal and works were to be finished, save for unavoidable delays, within six years. Native labour was to be employed to the extent of four-fifths of the whole, a special convention settling the terms on which the Government supplied or authorised such labour. The tolls were fixed at 10 frs. per “ton of capacity” (an expression which gave rise to difficulties subsequently), and 10 frs. for each passenger. A contract was made with M. Hardon for the execution of the works, under which the company were to receive 60 per cent. of the prices fixed by the original estimates of the International Commission. The drawing up of the plans, the general superintendence, and the supply of the machinery and stores, were, however, to be left in the hands of the company. This agreement was subsequently cancelled, and the company took the works under its own control, making contracts with four different firms, who undertook to complete the principal undertakings for a total sum of 4,588,800_l._[148] With these arrangements, the canal was fairly launched. From 1861 till 1869 the whole line of the canal was the busiest centre of industrial activity in Europe. The total amount of excavation required was 107 millions of cubic metres. This is a larger amount of digging than has been accomplished in the case of any other work on record.[149] The operations were required to be carried on at the same time with the fresh-water canal from Nefiche to Suez, and with the maritime canal from Suez to Port Said, so that two distinct undertakings were concurrently being constructed. Some details as to the annual progress of the works may here be suitably introduced. In 1861, the works were chiefly confined to digging wells along the line of the maritime canal, to erecting sheds for 10,000 labourers, and providing dock basins, water condensers, forges and workshops, steam saw-mills, and opening a water supply by a canal which should join the Nile to Lake Timsah. In 1862, the eastern mole at Port Said was begun, together with a landing stage 70 yards by 22, in 16 feet of water, and an arsenal dock 160 yards by 135 and 5 feet depth. Seven Arab villages were built, and north of Lake Timsah, a sea-water cutting was continued from Kantara to El Ferdane. A large dredging plant ordered from various makers in England and France was delivered. In 1863, four dredgers and cranes were got to work at Port Said, and south of Lake Timsah twenty-one dredgers were at work, and three others were nearly ready. Provision was made for adding twenty more dredgers, each estimated to be capable of raising 1,050,000 cubic feet per month. The fresh-water canal from Nefiche to Suez was begun, and 24 miles were finished. This canal was 64 feet at the water-line, 26 feet at the bottom, and had 6 feet draught of water. The excavations required were about 50 millions of cubic feet. On the north of Lake Timsah, 18,000 men were at work, digging a trench 50 feet by 4 to 6 feet deep, connecting the Mediterranean and Lake Timsah, and 153,600,000 cubic feet of excavation was done at 0·68 fr. per cubic metre, being within the original estimate, despite the heavy labour of carrying the earth up an incline of 70 feet. From Lake Timsah to Toussoum Plateau on the south, the canal was made 190 feet wide and 6 feet below the Mediterranean level, involving 21,200,000 cubic feet of excavation. In 1864, 20 new dredgers, with barges and accessories, were fitted up, 43,000,000 cubic feet of excavation was done, from Port Said to El Ferdane, and 7,600,000 cubic feet between Timsah and Serapeum, as well as 4,500,000 cubic feet of gypsous stone along Lake Ballah. A large area of land was also reclaimed, in order to provide for new works, quays were extended, and the canal Cheikh Carponti, connecting Port Said with the lake and Damietta, was completed. The fresh-water canal was also completed to the sea, over 55 miles, having occupied thirteen months, and involved 118,000,000 cubic feet of excavation. Corvées, or native forced labour, were abolished, and 7954 European labourers, with 10,806 others, were set to work. In 1865 the general works of the Maritime Canal were extended. In 1866 Messrs. Borel and Levalley got 32 trough dredgers at work along 35 miles of the canal, and the canal from Port Said to Timsah was widened to 325 feet, thus allowing of the formation of strands for the protection of banks from passing vessels, and economising the stone embankments. The Viceroy set 80,000 men to work at the canal from Cairo to Wady, so as to allow of the passage of the Nile waters at all seasons. In 1867, 353,000,000 cubic feet of dredging was accomplished, and long trough dredgers were applied to the work between Port Said and Timsah, which was filled to sea level. The large lake to Chalouf, and the small lake to Suez, were excavated by hand labour. Of the contract of M. Couvreux to excavate 146,000,000 cubic feet, 122,500,000 cubic feet had been completed on 1st June. In 1868 excellent progress was made. Messrs. Borel and Levalley had dredged at Port Said 123,000,000 out of their total quantity of 165,000,000 cubic feet. On the 15th April 1,200,000,000 cubic feet still remained to be excavated in the Maritime Canal. Between Port Said and Timsah, 5¼ miles had been done with 156,000,000 cubic feet of excavation, and at El Ferdane, 3¾ miles had been done with 34,000,000, Couvreux thereby finishing six months in advance of the contract time. The monthly work at this time was 74,500,000 cubic feet, accomplished with 8 elevator dredgers, 30 dredgers with barges, 22 long trough dredgers, 22 inclined planes, and 7500 labourers. Besides the ordinary work of canalisation along the line of route, very extensive harbour operations had to be undertaken at Port Said and Suez. In the former case, two moles were erected, the western 2700 yards long, and the eastern 1950 yards, and requiring 250,000 blocks of artificial stone, each of 350 cubic feet and weighing 20 tons. A dock basin, 76 acres in extent had to be provided, and another basin, called the Basin de Commerce, of 10 acres extent and 37 feet deep. At Suez, the roadstead had to be dredged, and dykes and embankments constructed, the latter involving the submergence of 2,300,000 cubic feet of stone. The Suez breakwater, when finished, had over 1600 yards of stonework. In 1869, early in the year, the moles at Port Said were completed, and the maritime canal, from Port Said to the Bitter Lakes Canal, was fully open. In March the flooding of the Bitter Lakes was commenced, and they were excavated to the Red Sea, for a distance of 22 miles, by hand, and for three miles by dredgers. Later on, the canal was fully opened. The total length of quays at Port Said is over 3 miles. The inner port has an area of 130 acres, and the outer port an area of over 4000 acres. There are, besides, 120 acres of docks, and 10 acres of channel. Port Said has now a permanent population of over 17,000, and Suez one of 11,000, whereas the total population of the Isthmus in 1859 was only 150 inhabitants. The Suez Canal can boast of having achieved many triumphs. It has abridged time and space in a way and to an extent that no other enterprise has ever before done in the history of the world. It has brought India and Australasia almost within half their former distance of Europe. It has revolutionised the shipping trade of the world. It has brought about remarkable changes in the values of Eastern produce. It has greatly reduced the cost of transport, and it has placed at the disposal of England, France, and Egypt a source of revenue which in its steady upward growth may properly be described as an El Dorado. But, after all, there is one of the phases of this remarkable work which is entitled to quite as much attention as any of these, although the world in general hears less about it. The canal gave an enormous impetus to engineering invention, skill, and enterprise, the effects of which have since then been felt in a hundred different works undertaken and carried out for the good of mankind. The appliances with which the canal was eventually completed were, for the most part, designed specially for the purpose. Until then, no such machinery was available. But the opportunity once found, the men were found who could utilise it. A description of the numerous different descriptions of elevators, dredgers, inclined planes, engines, and other appliances employed at Suez would fill a large volume. Compare some of these mighty machines, with their weight of 500 or 600 tons,[150] and extracting at the rate of a million and a half cubic feet of earth per month, with the _Couffins_, or rude Arab baskets, used by the native fellaheen, by whom the work was begun in 1860![151] The contrast represents the void that divides barbarism from civilisation. The effect of the opening of the Suez Canal has been to reduce the distance between England and the Australian and Indian possessions of the British Crown by distances varying from 545 to 4393 nautical miles, the greatest saving having occurred in the case of the voyage to Bombay. The voyage to India, China, and Australia has been so much shortened that some of the most important of the ports of those possessions are now reached in little more than one half the time that was formerly taken up by the voyage round the Cape.[152] The total cost of the Suez Canal at the end of 1870 was placed on the company’s balance-sheet for that year at 16,613,000_l._[153] At the end of 1886 this amount had swollen, with various items of expenditure incurred in the interval, to 19,782,000_l._ Of the former amount only 11,653,000_l._ were expended in the work of construction proper. The financial success of the Suez Canal has exceeded the wildest dreams of its promoters. The increase of tonnage that has passed through it has been extraordinary. So, also, has been the income and the net receipts of the company. The net tonnage that used the canal in 1870 was only 436,609 tons. Ten years later the tonnage had increased to 3,057,421 tons. In 1885 the tonnage had further increased to 6,335,752 tons, which was the greatest that had passed through in a single year up to that time. In the last-named year the shipping that used the canal was more than thirteen times as much as it had been fifteen years before. The income and working expenses of the Suez Canal have varied as follows, compared with the annual income:— ───────────┬──────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────────── │ │ │Percentage of Working Year. │ Income. │ Working │ Expenses on │ │ Expenses. │ Income. ───────────┼──────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────────── │ £ │ £ │ .. 1870 │ 754,532 │ 754,532 │ .. 1875 │ 1,233,785 │ 717,860 │ .. 1880 │ 1,672,836 │ 682,457 │ .. 1883 │ 2,740,933 │ 758,861 │ .. 1886 │ .. │ 754,567 │ .. ───────────┴──────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────────── The heaviest items on the expenditure side are the interest and charges on capital, the administrative charges, transit, navigation, and telegraph charges, and maintenance of plant and warehouses. The two latter items, with water supply, make up the working expenses, less administration, and they amount unitedly to less than 180,000_l._ a year, or about 7 per cent. on the total gross annual receipts. There is a not uncommon impression that the trade for the East is now carried on almost exclusively with steamships _viâ_ the Suez Canal. Those who are actually engaged in the shipping trade, of course, know differently, but it is not unimportant that the general public should also know the facts, and we have, therefore, taken some pains to ascertain them. ──────────────────┬─────────────┬──────────────┬────────────── │ Total. │ Steam Ships. │Sailing Ships. ├─────────────┼──────────────┼────────────── │ tons. │ tons. │ tons. Vessels entered │ 1,957,000 │ 1,112,000 │ 845,000 Do. cleared │ 3,099,000 │ 1,921,000 │ 1,178,000 ├─────────────┼──────────────┼────────────── Totals │ 5,056,000 │ 3,033,000 │ 2,023,000 ──────────────────┴─────────────┴──────────────┴────────────── From the annual statement of the navigation and shipping of the United Kingdom, we have extracted the foregoing particulars of the tonnage of vessels that entered and cleared from the United Kingdom in 1884, in the Indian and Australian trades distinguishing steamers and sailing ships. As sailing ships cannot make use of the canal, it is quite evident that there must be a use of sailing tonnage to the extent of over two millions of tons a year in the trade between the United Kingdom and her Indian and Australasian possessions. Such a fact is not a little remarkable when we remember that the opening of the canal has shortened the distance to Bombay by 41 per cent.; to Madras, by 35 per cent.; and to Calcutta by 32 per cent.[154] In some cases, the sailing tonnage employed was fully one-half of the whole. The following figures show how the proportions compare for the different provinces of India, as regards entrances into British ports:— ──────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────── │ Total. │ Steamers. │ Sailing Ships. ├──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────── │ tons. │ tons. │ tons. Bombay │ 336,377 │ 327,039 │ 9,338 Madras │ 74,371 │ 32,251 │ 42,120 Bengal, &c. │ 810,946 │ 426,524 │ 384,222 Ceylon │ 18,373 │ 5,483 │ 12,890 ├──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────── Total │ 1,239,867 │ 791,297 │ 448,570 ──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────── The clearances followed much the same course in the same period. Even with India, therefore, about 37 per cent. of all our trade passes by sailing ships round the Cape of Good Hope, instead of going through the canal, thus proving that the shortening of distance and of time is not the only consideration that determines the adoption of one route in preference to another. One remarkable phase of the Suez Canal traffic is the great increase that has taken place in the size of the ships passing between the two seas. When the canal was first put forward by M. de Lesseps, it was seriously argued that all that was wanted was a canal from the Damietta branch of the Nile to Suez, which, “with a very little piling and dredging at either end,” would be accessible to vessels of 300 or 400 tons burthen. Such a canal, it was maintained, “would suffice for all the wants of Egypt, and for all the local traffic of the two seas.”[155] It was also maintained, that as the tendency was to increase the size of the ships employed on the Indian service, the canal would be compelled to refuse the only traffic ever likely to be offered to it.[156] The average size of the vessels using the canal in 1870 was only 898 net tons. From this point a gradual increase of size has taken place, until in 1888 the average size had increased to 1883 tons. The intervening period of eighteen years had therefore witnessed an increase of 109 per cent. [Illustration: M. DE LESSEPS.] [Illustration: MAP OF THE =SUEZ CANAL= AND PART OF LOWER EGYPT.] [Illustration: SECTION OF THE SUEZ CANAL.] Singularly enough, it has been contended that the opening of the Suez Canal has injured both English and Egyptian interests—English interests, because it has economised tonnage, saved time, or in other words, minimised interest on capital, injured our entrepôt trade, and brought about our occupation of Egypt, with all the heavy expenditure, loss of life, and international complications which that fact has involved; Egyptian interests, because the Government of that country has had to pay large indemnities to the Suez Canal Company, and has really profited by the success of the enterprise to a much less extent than it ought to have done, had it not very improvidently sacrificed the royalties to which it was entitled under the original agreement. It is, no doubt, unfortunate that our occupation of Egypt, and the inglorious campaigns in the Soudan, should have been entailed upon us by our interest in keeping open the canal, but the statistics of our trade with the East conclusively prove that the canal has had an important share in the enormous development that has occurred since it was opened. The movement has, however, been aided by other influences, and more especially by the opening of telegraph lines, the improvements that have been effected in steamships and marine engines, the smaller commissions accepted by merchants or agents, the lower rates of freight, the reduced charges for insurance, and many collateral changes, that have all tended, in a greater or less degree, to facilitate commerce and navigation. Whether or no M. de Lesseps and his allies have conferred any substantial advantages on England by their completion of the Suez Canal, it is quite beyond controversy that the English people have not rendered much aid in the promotion of that great waterway. The part which England took when the preliminary arrangements were being made in 1856 is one of which many Englishmen are now a little ashamed. England was invited to co-operate in the project at an early stage. Not only did we refuse co-operation, but we refused it with that species of incivility of which we are occasionally guilty when we have our insular prejudices offended. The canal was first of all, opposed by the British Government, as such. Lord Palmerston was then Prime Minister. On the 8th of July, 1857, he declared the opposition to be—(1) that the construction of the canal would tend to the more easy separation of Egypt from Turkey, and would, therefore, be in direct violation of a policy “supported by war and the Treaty of Paris”; and (2) that there were “remote speculations with regard to easier access to our Indian possessions, only requiring to be indistinctly shadowed forth to be fully appreciated,” which rendered the canal undesirable. How much better it would have been for the memory of genial “old Pam,” if, in announcing his judgment, he had recollected the rule that “you should never give your reasons.” History is rapidly made in the nineteenth century. It is not in the least discreditable to Palmerston that he should have failed to realise how completely his anticipations would be falsified by events. No one at that time could have foreseen that, in less than thirty years from that date, the Suez Canal would not only have become an accomplished fact, but would have become perhaps the most successful industrial enterprise of modern times; that it would have revolutionised our shipping and transit trades; and that our Indian and Australian possessions would have participated in its advantages to an enormous degree. Prescience of this kind is given to few men. But while the lack of this ability to discern the “coming events” which “throw their shadows before” is not common, so neither is the example of the representative of a great nation describing as a “bubble,” and denouncing with all the eloquence and power at his command, an enterprise which has conferred upon his country, as the first maritime power in the world, advantages which generally transcend those that are enjoyed by any other country. But Lord Palmerston is very far from being a monopolist of this discredit. Robert Stephenson was at this time one of the leading English engineers. As the great son of a great father, he enjoyed vast influence, honourably and justly acquired, and employed, with one exception, discriminatingly and in a manner worthy of its possessor. That exception was the position which he took up in reference to the Suez Canal. Appointed to represent England on a commission of experts instructed to report on the question of isthmian transit, Stephenson satisfied himself that the idea of a canal was impracticable, and reported against it. So far, Stephenson was quite alone. His two colleagues on the commission—M. Talabot, representing France, and M. Negrelli, representing Austria—were both in favour of the canal in preference to the railroad which Stephenson recommended.[157] His brother engineers in England appear to have stood loyally by Stephenson. They gave very little countenance to M. de Lesseps or his scheme. Both were, indeed, denounced from platform and press in the most unsparing manner. The leading daily journals, which write in haste, and the sober, scholarly quarterlies, which are supposed to write at leisure and after much reflection, were alike opposed to it. The _Edinburgh Review_ spoke of it as “utterly impracticable,” and urged that, “the available population or resources of Egypt could not execute such a work in a hundred years;” that “an army of foreign navvies would be required to keep in repair such a work, with its locks, viaducts, steam engines, and a floating capital hardly inferior to the original outlay”; that “a vessel in Aden harbour would rather take 3_l._ per ton for England, if allowed to go _viâ_ the Cape, than she would take 5_l._ if forced to go through the canal”; that if the principles on which the _Great Eastern_, was then being built, were sound,[158] there was “an end, not only of the canal, but the Red Sea may again be restored to its pristine solitude, undisturbed even by the weekly visit of the passing steamers”; and, finally, that until different experiences were at command, “the Suez Canal may fairly be relegated among the _questions diseuses_ which may interest and amuse, but can hardly ever benefit mankind.”[159] So also the ‘Quarterly Review,’ which believed the scheme to be “commercially unsound,” and set forth a number of objections to it in categorical form. The great expense of building the masonry harbours at the two outlets of the canal, the difficulties and dangers of the navigation of the Red Sea, the cost of the embankments and the expense of maintenance, the “probability of steamers like the _Great Eastern_ being built to perform the voyage round the Cape to the island of Ceylon in less time than would be occupied in performing that through the Suez Canal,”[160] and the impossibility of ensuring the maintenance of the canal and necessary locks in proper working condition, were marshalled in battle array as a phalanx of obstacles that could not be overcome. But the opponents of the canal went further, and declared that, as a vessel using the canal would take about three days to get through,[161] would require one day to coal, and another to sail from Pelusium to the meridian of Alexandria, the saving on goods, as compared with the railway, would only be one to two days, while on passengers and mails there would be a loss of four to five days. The British shipping interest have had some reason to complain of the way in which they have been treated from first to last by the Suez Canal Company. It is perfectly true that England did not contribute anything to the building of the canal, but English shipping has provided the shareholders with much the larger part of their revenue. France, which practically owns the canal, only contributes from 6 to 9 per cent. of its income, as against from 75 to 80 per cent. of the whole contributed by Great Britain. The shipowners of the latter country not unnaturally thought, some years ago, that they should have a larger share in the management of the canal, and threatened the construction of a rival waterway if the existing canal were not deepened, and other arrangements made for facilitating the shipping that used it. After a good deal of negotiation between the canal company and the shipowners, a commission was appointed in 1884 to determine what new measures, in respect of works and navigation, should be undertaken to enable the ship canal to meet fully the exigencies of a traffic exceeding 10,000,000 tons per annum. Its report was presented in February 1885. The commission considered three methods of increasing the carrying capacity of the canal, namely:—(1) widening the existing canal; (2) construction of a second canal; and (3) doubling the capacity of the canal by a combination of the first two methods. When the canal was first designed, in 1856, it was supposed that two vessels, being towed, could easily pass where the bottom width was 144 feet, or double the normal width adopted. At the present day, however, when vessels of nearly 200 feet in width propel themselves through the canal, a bottom width of 230 feet has been proposed for the 81 miles from Port Said to the southern end of the Bitter Lakes, where the tidal currents do not exceed one knot an hour, and 262 feet for the rest of the distance to Suez, where the currents often exceed two knots, in order that the vessels may pass each other freely. The cost of this widening was estimated at 8,240,000_l._, supposing the depth of the canal remained as at present, 26¼ feet below low-water of ordinary spring tides, but it would be increased by 975,200_l._ if the depth was augmented to 29½ feet, unless the proposed width could be reduced to 18 feet. The construction of a second canal, within the limits of the company’s lands, having, like the existing canal, a bottom width of 72 feet, widened out to 131 feet through the small Bitter Lakes, was estimated at from 8,200,000_l._ to 8,920,000_l._, with an additional cost of 698,800_l._ if made 29½ feet deep. The third plan took into consideration the different velocities of the tidal currents north and south of the Bitter Lakes. Assuming that the greater velocity might lead to collisions between vessels passing on a single enlarged canal, it would be advisable to restrict the enlargement to the northern portion, and to form a second canal between the Bitter Lakes and Suez. For reasons which are fully set forth in their Report, the Commission decided in favour of the enlargement of the existing canal. The estimated cost of the works, which are now in progress, is rather over 8,000,000_l._ It has been suggested, with some show of reason, that it would be to the advantage of the commerce of the world that the maritime Powers should make arrangements to acquire the Suez Canal, and throw it open, free of any charge or impost whatsoever, to the navigation of all nations, in the same way that the Scheldt and the Sound have been. The canal has hitherto been employed almost entirely for the transport of passengers, mails, and such traffic as will bear a high rate of freight, the charge of 7_s._ to 10_s._ per ton being prohibitory in respect to much of the commerce that passes from the East to the West. The proposal is one that is entitled to every consideration. There is, however, a high probability, amounting almost to a certainty, that the proprietors would demand a very large sum in excess of their original expenditure. The canal has cost from first to last, including financing, some 20,000,000_l._ At their recent prices, the canal shares may be considered as worth about four times that amount. If the property were to be purchased on such a basis, it would require an expenditure of at least 80,000,000_l._, which sum, although by no means impossible, is yet little likely to be realised for such a purpose. If the canal had been taken over in 1880 it could have been purchased for one-half the sum that would now be required to buy it.[162] At the same time that the Suez canal route was being advocated with all his wonted energy and enthusiasm by M. de Lesseps, other two routes to India were being seriously discussed. As one at least of these is still on the carpet we may fitly say something of it here. Up to the sixteenth century the best known and the most frequented route to India was that by the valleys of the Euphrates and the Tigris. These two great rivers of Mesopotamia are among the most celebrated in the world’s history. The Euphrates has its source in the northern highlands of Armenia; the Tigris in the southern slopes of the same mountainous region, being fed by many rivers that traverse the boundary line between Persia and Turkey. Almost at the dawn of recorded history, we find that the Assyrians and the Babylonians connected these two rivers by a series of canals. Two of these, constructed parallel to the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, were large enough to be navigated, but the system was constructed mainly with a view to irrigating the surrounding plains, which, for nearly six months, were liable to be burnt up by the scorching sun. As the Arabs and Turcomans gained greater ascendancy in this region, the arts of husbandry were less practised, and the canals and water-courses were allowed to fall into desuetude and decay. Their embankments still, however, remain to attest the remarkable skill, labour, and industry with which, at this early date, the fertility of the soil was stimulated and increased, until the extraordinary productiveness of Assyria and Babylonia became a favourite theme of Herodotus and other historians. Through this region, until the trade of the East was drawn into the newer channel _viâ_ the Cape of Good Hope, European merchants sought an outlet for their trade with the East. Bagdad and Bussora were then great entrepôts of commerce. Mosul and Aleppo were the ancient counterparts of Suez and Port Said. The route was, however, never a safe or a satisfactory one. The Syrian desert, close at hand, claimed many victims. The wild Arab tribes committed depredations on travellers. The “unspeakable” Turk was exacting and intolerant. The journey to India and back lasted for a lengthened period—often two or three years—where it now scarcely extends over so many months. But in spite of all this, the indomitable spirit and energy of the English race led it to establish a secure footing on such ungenial soil, and amid such inhospitable surroundings. An English factory long flourished at Aleppo. A fleet of boats was, in the reign of Elizabeth, maintained on the Euphrates for the use of British traders. When the Levant Company was founded in 1582, it was deemed a veritable Eldorado to have the exclusive privilege of trading with this part of the globe. All this has long ceased to be, but the proposal to have the Euphrates and the Tigris utilised as a trade route to India has been again and again revived. In 1834, the British Government determined to fit out an expedition to test the capabilities of the Euphrates for steam navigation. The expedition was placed under the charge of Colonel Chesney, upon whose recommendation it was adopted by Parliament. It was found that the Euphrates was in some places a broad and deep stream, and in others navigation was impeded by shallows, sandbanks, rapids, and stone dams of large size, built for irrigation purposes. One of the two vessels fitted out for the use of the expedition foundered in a storm, and many lives were lost. The Government, deeming the result unsatisfactory, declined to take any further part in exploring the Euphrates. In 1840, however, the East India Company commissioned Lieutenant Campbell to attempt the ascent of the river. This expedition sailed up the Tigris to within a few miles of Mosul. They found a canal uniting the Euphrates and Tigris near Bagdad, which, however, has long been closed. They also navigated the great canal which is said to have been constructed by the Emperor Valerian during his captivity, nearly as far as Shushtir, and several rivers in Persia. One of the vessels employed on this expedition was for many years afterwards accustomed to make occasional voyages between Bagdad and Bussora, mainly in order that our privilege to navigate the river should be maintained, and our influence in Western Asia preserved. The proposal put forward by the promoters of the Euphrates Valley route in 1856, was to navigate the rivers Euphrates and Tigris from about the latitude of Aleppo to the sea, to construct a harbour at Suedia, and a railway thence to Kalah Jaber. From this point it was proposed that steamers should convey mails, passengers, and merchandise to Bussora, whence sea-going vessels should run to India.[163] The route to India would thus be reduced to 4715 miles, and the time necessary for the journey to less than sixteen days, giving a saving of thirteen days out and nine days home upon the Suez voyage. The cost involved in this undertaking, not to speak of its mechanical and physical difficulties, led to its abandonment, although it is by no means certain that the engineering problems to be dealt with are more considerable than those which have had to be solved at Panama. One serious difficulty, which has been deemed all but insuperable, is the fact that the waters of the Jordan are just sufficient to balance the evaporation from the surface of the Dead Sea, so that if that sea were increased to five or six times its superficial area, as proposed, it would require a much larger volume of water than the Jordan can furnish to meet the deficiency. The project also labours under the defects of climate, a thin population, and an absence of food and water supplies. In the last century the Marquis of Wellesley endeavoured to utilise the Euphrates Valley route; and the House of Commons has been asked to grant sums of money for various purposes in connection with it at different times. In 1871 the House of Commons ordered an official inquiry, with a view to place upon record all the useful information available, including the evidence of Colonel Chesney and others, as to this route. It has not been supposed by the promoters of a railway to India that such a railway would be in any way antagonistic to the Suez Canal, which would, in all probability, monopolise the heavy traffic, and still exist as the chief means of communication with Southern India. But, on the other hand, the Euphrates line would benefit the north-west provinces, and, as far as passengers and mails are concerned, would effect a saving in time of at least a fortnight, taking the voyage out and home. The saving in distance would be about 1000 miles in a straight line, and, as vessels proceeding by way of the Red Sea are compelled to deviate from their courses to the extent of 500 or 600 miles during the monsoon months, the saving that might accrue, taking an average of voyages, would be somewhere about one thousand miles each voyage. On the other hand, the railway would always suffer from the fact that two trans-shipments would have to be effected in every case, and this, where the goods are bulky, is a serious consideration. Prior to the opening of the Suez Canal only goods of small bulk were sent to India by way of the Isthmus Railway, although the voyage by the Cape occupied eight days, and it is regarded as probable that the canal would still retain heavy traffic. Besides the Euphrates Valley, two other routes to India have been proposed. One of these aimed at the substitution of the Black Sea for the Mediterranean, and making the terminus of the line at Trebizonde. By the champions of this scheme it is contended that the long and dangerous voyage necessitated by a Mediterranean terminus would be avoided, by making use of the Danube and the short passage across the Black Sea. On the European side, however, there is the liability to having the Danube, or, indeed, the Black Sea, closed, the effect of which would be that the railway would be simply useless, as long as the restrictions remained in force; and on the Asiatic side there would be serious practical obstacles in the mountain ranges near Trebizonde. The Tigris Valley route has also been recommended on the ground that it would open out a better country, and one peopled by more peaceful tribes. Of the respective advantages of the two routes in regard to facilities of construction, it is enough to say that the Valley of the Euphrates is practically flat, and that nothing better could be desired in the matter of level, while it is not easy to say what difficulties the Tigris Valley may or may not present. Mr. Eastwick has visited various parts of the Euphrates route, and he states that the facilities there for making a good road are great, and that in certain districts the local traffic would, in all probability, be very considerable. Another plan was proposed some thirty-five years ago, for forming a water communication between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. This proposal, made by Captain W. Allen, of H.M.’s navy, was based on the knowledge we now possess that the level of the Dead Sea is at least 1300 feet below that of the Mediterranean or Red Seas, and that the Sea of Galilee is, in like manner, depressed to the extent of about 650 feet; so that the mean level of the valley of the Jordan, with its two lakes, may be taken at 1000 feet below the neighbouring seas, and its extent as covering about 2000 square miles. This vast area Captain Allen proposed to convert into a great inland sea by cutting a canal from Acre across the plain of Esdraëlon to the Jordan, a distance of about 40 miles on the map, and another from Akabah, on the Red Sea, to the southern limit of the Dead Sea, a distance of about 120 miles. The summit level of the plain of Esdraëlon may be as low as 100 feet above the sea level, or as high as 200 feet, and from the appearance of the banks of the brook Kishon, near its junction with the sea, and the hills that bound the plain on both sides, the ground is rocky nearly throughout its whole extent at a small distance below the surface. The proposal, therefore, as described in the ‘Edinburgh Review,’ was to dig a canal through a rocky country for 30 or 35 miles in length, and with a mean depth of 80 to 100 feet. A plan has quite recently been put forward for the construction of a parallel canal to that across the Isthmus of Suez, by way of the Euphrates Valley, the Persian Gulf, and Syria. The proposal is to create a navigable highway from Sonëidich to the Persian Gulf, by making the Euphrates flow to the Mediterranean and Antioch. The river from Beles to Felondjah (near ancient Babylon) would be deepened, and the waterway would be carried from the Euphrates to the Tigris by the canal of Saklavijah. Thence the route would be by the Tigris from Bagdad to Kornah, Bassora, and Fao on the Gulf. The author of this proposal[164] estimates that the canal would shorten the route to Bombay by six days, and it would irrigate and restore fertility to a great part of the country through which it would pass. The estimated capital required would be 1,500,000,000 francs (60,000,000_l._ sterling). FOOTNOTES: [138] The immediate cause of this occurrence does not appear, but it is obvious that there would not be much employment for a canal at this early date. The first ship would no doubt be constructed anterior to this period, but the vessels of that day were rude and small. [139] The Red Sea is 1500 miles in length, and, besides being narrowed in its middle channel, is so deep that there is hardly any place where a vessel can anchor. Sailing vessels have to contend with currents that are blowing steadily to the northward for a great part of the year, while for some months there is little or no wind. [140] Herodotus, book ii., secs. 159 and 160, Cary’s translation. [141] Washington Irving’s ‘Successors of Mahomet.’ [142] Rubino’s “Statistical Story of the Suez Canal,” in the ‘Journal’ of the Royal Statistical Society for 1887. [143] ‘Mémoire sur le Canal des deux Mers.’ [144] ‘Quarterly Review,’ January 1856, p. 257. [145] Since then, of course, this difficulty has been conquered by the use of steam dredgers. [146] This letter is reproduced from an excellent article on the subject of the Suez Canal in _Engineering_ of December 7, 1883, p. 52. [147] In 1886 the transit and navigation receipts were over 2,500,000_l._ [148] The following are the details of the contracts for works on Suez Canal:— ──────────────────────┬─────────────────── Dussaud frères, │ Aiton, Glasgow. Marseilles. │ ──────────────────────┼─────────────────── _20th October, 1863._ │ _13th January, 1864._ 250,000 blocks of │ 21,700,000 cubic artificial stone of │ metres of 1 cubic metre │ excavations each (35⅓ cubic │ at 1·35 fr. feet), and weighing │ The plant ceded 20 tons, at │ to the contractor 40 frs. each. │ by the company 10,000,000 frs. │ brings the price 400,000_l._ │ up to 1·60 fr. │ 34,720,000 frs. │ 1,388,800_l._ │ Contract │ afterwards │ cancelled, and │ transferred │ to Borel and │ Levalley. ──────────────────────┼─────────────────── Couvreux, Paris. │ Borel and Levalley, │ Paris. ──────────────────────┼─────────────────── _1st October, 1863._ │ _1st April, 1864._ 9,000,000 cubic │ 24,500,000 cubic metres of │ metres of excavations at │ excavations at 1·60 frs. │ 2·28 frs. 14,000,000 frs. │ 56,000,000 frs. 560,000_l._ │ 2,240,000_l._ Enlargement and │ Continuation and deepening of the │ completion of 53 great El Guisr │ miles of cutting trench, over 8 │ from Lake Timsah miles long. │ to Red Sea. │ │ _Second contract._ │ Transfer of Aiton’s │ contract. ──────────────────────┴─────────────────── [149] We do not, of course, include the Panama Canal, which is not, and may never be, completed. [150] One long trough dredger, set to work in June 1885, weighed 760 tons. [151] It is stated that the number of these baskets used at the trench of El Guisr alone would, if extended in line, reach three times round the world. Of course when the fellaheen were withdrawn in 1864 these baskets were less largely used. [152] The following table shows the principal distances and the saving by the canal:— ───────────────┬───────────┬───────────┬─────────────────────── │ │ │ Saving by Canal. │ │ ├───────────┬────────── Ports. │ By Cape. │ By Canal. │ │ Per Cent. │ │ │ Amount. │ of Voyage │ │ │ │ (Cape.) ───────────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┼────────── │ nautical │ nautical │ nautical │ │ miles. │ miles. │ miles. │ │ │ │ │ Bombay │ 10,667 │ 6,274 │ 4,393 │ 41·2 Madras │ 11,280 │ 7,313 │ 3,967 │ 35·2 Calcutta │ 11,900 │ 8,083 │ 3,817 │ 32·1 Singapore │ │ │ │ (_viâ_ Straits│ │ │ │ of Sunda) │ 11,740 │ 8,362 │ 3,378 │ 28·8 Hong Kong │ 13,180 │ 9,799 │ 3,381 │ 25·6 Shanghai │ 14,050 │ 10,669 │ 3,381 │ 24·1 Adelaide │ 11,780 │ 11,100 │ 680 │ 5·8 Melbourne │ 12,140 │ 11,585 │ 555 │ 4·6 Sydney │ 12,690 │ 12,145 │ 545 │ 4·3 Wellington, │ │ │ │ New Zealand │ 13,610 │ 13,055 │ 555 │ 4·1 ───────────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴────────── [153] This amount was made up as follows:— £ Construction of canal 11,653,218 Transit, estate, and other services 533,552 Management charges (11 years) 567,296 Interest on shares (11 years) 2,673,864 Interest and repayment of debentures 585,118 Banking charges, stamps, loss in bonds, &c. 618,905 ─────────── £16,631,953 ═══════════ [154] “The Statistical Story of the Suez Canal,” in the ‘Journal’ of the Royal Statistical Society for 1887. [155] ‘Edinburgh Review,’ January 1856, p. 245. [156] It was assumed that the canal could not take vessels like the _Himalaya_ and the _Persia_, or indeed any vessel over 350 feet in length. [157] The preference of Stephenson for a railway is not difficult to understand. He had “won his spurs” in railroad construction, and was familiar with every phase of their working and capabilities, but he had had comparatively little knowledge experimentally of canals. He was, indeed, the apostle of the new era—the railway against the canal. [158] It was expected that the _Great Eastern_ steamship would attain a speed of 25 knots an hour, and the proposition that a vessel’s speed is almost in the direct ratio to her length having once been granted, that a class of vessels would come to be built that would be too large to make use of the canal. [159] ‘Edinburgh Review,’ vol. ciii. (January 1856). [160] This seems an extraordinary assumption when we consider that the canal saves in the journey to Bombay 41 per cent. of the voyage by the Cape, and on the journey to Madras and Calcutta 32 to 35 per cent. [161] In 1887 the average duration of the passage through the canal for the whole 3137 ships that made use of it was 34 hours 3 minutes. Between 1870 and 1873 the passage was frequently effected in 12 to 15 hours. [162] The shares rose from a middle price of 306 francs in 1867 to 664 in 1877, 1021 in 1880, 2710 in 1882, and fell to 1989 in 1884, rising again to 2095 in 1886. [163] The distance from Suedia to Kalah Jabar, a small Arab settlement on the Euphrates, was put down at 100 to 150 miles, and the river journey from Kalah Jabar to Bussora at 715 miles. From Bussora to Kurrachee the distance is 1000 miles. The average time occupied in descending the Tigris was taken at seven days, and that of the ascent at twelve. [164] M. Emile Ende, in a communication to the French Academy of Sciences in 1886.