THE STORY OF THE SUEZ CANAL.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1062, 25 August 1882, Page 4

THE STORY OF THE SUEZ CANAL.

•One evening in 1831, while sittin mnder the clear Egyptian sky,a yon®*, officer, named De Lesseps, conceived the project of uniting the Red and Mediterranean seas by a con ■wnuous water way. For years and years after it remained but an idea in his mind like a grain of seed buried <ratber than sown in a barren soil. 'But the germ possessed strong vita lity and refused to be dormant under the most unpropitious influences With a tenacity of purpose which has •seldom been equalled, and perhaps never surpassed, M. de Lesseps deter mined to force his scheme into prominence and face the apathy or, it might be, the o| position of the ruling powers ot the age His first effort was to draw over to his views Abbas Pasha, who vas then master of Egvpt, ■with only a nominal subjection to the ‘Turkish power in Europe. This petty •potentate, however, could be won meitlier by argument nor entreaty,and ‘the project was in danger ot being •strangled at its birth, Abbas was re- : moved by death and succeeded by iSaid P»sha, who had long been an in 'timate friend of De Lesseps. A s was •expected, the new sovereign consented ’to the construction of the proposed canal, and thus the first difficulty was ffiappily taken out of the way'. The next act was to deal with Turkey, which claimed suzerain rights over Egypt. In all probability the desired permission would have been readily •obtained from this quarter, but for the influence of another Power, which ■would have preferred a covert to an •open opposition to the scheme. This was the English Government, which was actuated by a strange misconception of the country’s interest, and distressed by a morbid jealousy of French influence in the East. At this time the Ambassador at the Turkish Court Was the imperious Stratford de Bad •cliffe, who entertained extreme views ■on the injury which such a canal anight bring to England, and left no stone unturned to thwart its construction. In this purpose he sue ceded •only too well. After all the other Powers had expressed their concurrrence the English opposition remain d •stubbornly kivincihle. At •Constantitnople the Envoy had sufficient influ•ence to restrain the hand of the Sultan from the desired signature at home ihe Premier, Lord Palmerston, characterised the proposed canal as the greatest bubble ever sought to he imposed on the credulit of the public Disraeli sneered at i- as Utopian; -Stephenson, the eminent engineer, •pronounced it to he physically impossible ; the Times, witu the usual following of the smaller fry, thundered against it with the assumed infallibility of an oracle ; and when the question was forced to a vote in Parliament by Mr. Boebuck, the scheme ■was vetod by a mojority -erf 228 in a House of 290 members. Yet reason began at length to prevail against all this prejudice in high quarters. De J esseps visited most ot the commercial cities of England, giving lectures on the probable advantages of the canal, and was gratified to see a change •n't o)irnion setting in. The Innia and P. and O. Companies were gained over •to his side, and business men in general became convinced of the fu+ility of the Government objections. •Of more importance still was a change •of representation at Constantinop e when Stratford do Radcliffe was replaced hy Sir H. Bulwer, who w.is moderately favourable to the canal .■scheme. De Lesseps looked in vain fora formal concurrence from the Eng- 1 Dish Government, but seeing the signs -of the times were all in his favour, he •determined to go to work on bin own ■responsibility. The canal, it was ■computed, might be constructed for 18,000,000, which it was proposed to ra.se by a joint stock com any. Bothchilds offered to undertake the financial part of the business for the trifle of L 400,000. De J.esseps, not fancying to be fleeced in this wholesale fashion, resolved to open an office in Paris, and be bis own financier. Tfie success was immediate and complete. With reason, or without it, capitalists unloosed their purse •strings with a charming spontaneity, and the money poured in with a profusion which might have made old Shyloek turn in bis grave with delight Among other curiosities, one stylish person presented himself at the office stating his desire to “subscribe for the railway for the Isle of Sweden.” He was told it was not a railway, but a •canal; not an island, but an isthmus ; not in Sweden, but at Suez. “ ft is all the same to me,” said he ; “ provided at be against the English, I’ll sub.scribe ” It was all the same to De Lesseps, too, who, with this shower of money from wise men and fools, soon had the pleasure of finding that the required L 8,000,600 were fully subscribed in 400,000 shares at L2O each. These preliminaries being over the work of construction was next seriously taken into hand. It was was >ioposed|to commence the canal from the Mediterranean, starting at a point 25 miioe east of the Dam Etta branch of the Nile, and carrying it on to the Suez in tie Red Sea. The route presented iwo special facilities, for the • ine of direction was a trough in the land lying below the level of the sea except in two places where there were elevations of 59ft and 36ft; and the greater part cf the course was covered

with lakes, which, however, with the exception of eight mi’es, were too hallow for the purpose required. The work was begun at the point already indicater' <o March 9, 1859, and the process ot constvuctioi occuuied 10 years. Th • first 29 miles were taken through Lake Meuselah, where a channel ha 1 to be cut under water to the requir d depth of 26 ft with a breadth of 246 ft, the marsh i:self containing only 4ft or 6ft of water. The mainland, was. reached at Kantara where the canal proper had to be excavated for ft. distance of three miles to Lake Ballah, through which the course was confined for another five miles, with the same kind of construe? tion as was required in Lake Meisaleh. Next came a hilly tract for 10 miles, the ugh which a cutting of 50ft had to be made. This last piece of work brought the course up to Lake Timsah, which is reckoned the middle point between the two seas. It is now and was formerly a lake, but when the canal was being constructed it was a dry basin. The waterway had next to he excavated through the plateau ol Sevapeum by a cutting ot 35ft. for the distance ot seven miles, next came the I itter Lakes for another 20 miles of the route. These bad been reached by a considerable bend in the direction, after which the straight course was resumed and continued to Suez through the plateau of Chalouf. This splendid engineering enterprise was finished, as had been anticipated, in 10 years, but at a costof£3.ooo,ooi) above the estimate. On .November 17, 1869, this highway of commerce was declared ready for the ships of all nations. The opening ceremony was graced with a galaxy ot soveriegns suoh as has seldom been brought together on any other occa-iou. On board of the first vessels that passed through this water-way were the Empress of the French, the Emperor of Austria, the (Jrown Prince ot Russia, and the Khedive of Egypt, It was an event worthy of such honour. From the time of the opening up to the j.r - sent time the success ot the canal hj. s been such as to belie the fears of its opponents and more than justify the expectations of its promoters. The amount of traffic it has commanded, and the towns in its course which have been called into existence, have been ;a surprise to every one who takes an intelligent interest in these matters. Port Said, the Mediterranean terminus, which is purely a result of the canal, now contains 10,060 people. Ismaili i, midway between the two seas, where visitors land, has come into existence in the same way, and already shows a population of 6000. (Suez, formerly a sleepy town on the overland route with 4000 inhabitants, has now grown into 25,000. The traffic is steadily inci easing every year, and has already outgrown the conditions unde which the canal was p anm - The toll is l"0f per ton of shipping, and 8s per head for passengers, it i cording to the latest reports 20 pei" cent, ol tne shipping belongs to England. In 1875 the English Government became a huge proprietor in the concern by purchasing from the Khedive 176,602 shares of the total of 400,000 This was wise policy and went a short way towards redeeming the blunder committed in opposing its construction. IStill the face remains for the wonder of posterity that no nation so vehemently opp sed the Suez Canal, and none has profited so much

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