Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/872

Rh 790 CANAL scale suited to modern times is understood to be due to Napoleon I. who, about the close of the last century, obtained a report from M. Lepere, a French engineer, which however was followed by no result, and it remained for M. de Lesseps, in the present day, to realize what were thought the dreams of commercial speculators, by carrying out the long-desired passage between the two seas. But the post ponement of the scheme unquestionably favoured the chances of its commercial success, for had the canal been completed even a feAV years earlier, comparatively few vessels would have been found to take advantage of it. Masters of sailing-vessels would not from choice have navi gated the Mediterranean and encountered the passage through the canal and the tedious and difficult voyage of the Red Sea. They would undoubtedly have preferred to round the free seaway of the Cape of Good Hope, with all its ocean dangers and excitements, to threading their way through such an inland passage, involving risks of rocks and shoals, protracted calms and contrary winds. But the introduction of ocean-going screw-steamers was an entirely new feature in navigation. Being independent of wind for their propulsion, and being admirably fitted for navigating narrow straits and passages, their rapid and general adoption by all the leading shipping firms in the world afforded not only a plea, but a necessity for the short communication by the Mediterranean and Bed Sea. It was indeed a great achievement to reduce the distance between Western Europe and India from 11,379 to 7628 miles, equal, according to Admiral Richards and Colonel Clarke, R.E., to a saving of thirty-six days on the voyage; and this is the great result effected by cutting the Suez Canal between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Mr Bateman, C.E., who visited the canal as the repre sentative of the Royal Society, communicated to that body a description of the works, in which he gives the following account of the early negotiations of M. Ferdinand Lesseps, who has the credit of having brought the work to a success ful issue : l &quot;The project&quot; of M. Ferdinand Lesseps was to cut a great canal on the level of the two seas, by the nearest and most practicable route, which lay along the valley or depression containing Lake Menzaleh, Lake Ballah, Lake Timsah, and the Bitter Lakes. The character of this route was described in 1830 by General Chesney, R.A., who examined and drew up a report on the country between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. At that time a difference of 30 feet between the two seas was still assumed, and all proposals for canals were laid out on that assump tion. General Chesney summed up his report by stating, As to the executive part there is but one opinion ; there are no serious difficulties ; not a single mountain intervenes, scarcely what deserves to be called a hillock ; and in a country where labour can be had without limit, and at a rate infinitely below that of any other part of the world, the expense would be a moderate one for a single nation, and scaicely worth dividing among the great kingdoms of Europe, who would all be benefited by the measure. &quot; M. Lesseps was well advised therefore in the route he selected, and (assuming the possibility of keeping open the canal) in the character of the project he proposed. &quot;From 1849 to 1854 he was occupied in maturing his project. In, the latter year Mahomet Said Pasha became Viceroy of Egpyt, and sent at once for M. Lesseps to consider with him the propriety of carrying out the work. The result of this interview was, that on the 30th of November a commission was signed at Cairo, charging M. Lesseps to constitute a company named The Universal Suez Canal Company. In the following year, 1855, M. 1 Proceedings of the Roycd^Society, 1870, p. 132. Lesseps, acting for the Viceroy, invited a number of gentlemen, eminent as directors of public works, as engi neers, and distinguished in other ways, to form an Inter- national Commission for the purpose of considering and reporting on the practicability of the scheme. &quot;The Commission met in Egypt in December 1855 and January 1856, and made a careful examination of the harbours in the two seas, and of the intervening desert, and arrived at the conclusion that a ship canal was practicable between the Gulf of Pelusium in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea near Suez. They differed, however, as to the mode in which such a canal should be constructed, The three English engineering members of the Commission were of opinion that a ship canal, having its surface raised 25 feet above the sea-level, and communicating with the Bay of Pelusium at one end and the Red Sea at the other, by means of locks, and supplied with water from the Nile, was the best mode of construction. The foreign members, on the contrary, held that a canal having its bottom 27 feet beloiu sea-level, from sea to sea, without any ]ock, and with harbours at each end, was the best system, the harbours to be formed by piers and dredging out to deep water. &quot; The Commission met at Paris in June 1856, when the views of the English engineers were rejected, and the report to the Viceroy recommended the system which has since been earned out. &quot; Two years from the date of this report were, spent in conferences and preliminary steps before M. Lesseps obtained the necessary funds for carrying out the works. About half the capital was subscribed on the Continent, by far the larger portion being taken in France, and the other half was found by the Viceroy. Further time was necessarily lost in preparation, and it was not till near the close of 1860 that the work was actually commenced. &quot; The original concession granted extraordinary privileges to the Company. It included or contemplated the forma tion of a sweet water canal for the use of the workmen engaged, and the Company were to become proprietors of all the land which could be irrigated by means of this canal. One of the conditions of the concession also was that the Viceroy should procure forced labour for the execution of the work, and soon after the commencement of operations, and for some time, the number of workmen so engaged amounted to from 25,000 to 30,000. The work thus commenced steadily proceeded until 1862, when the late Viceroy, during his visit to this country at the time of the International Exhibition, requested Sir John Hawkshaw to visit the canal and report on the condition of the works and the practicability of its being successfully completed and maintained. His Highness s instructions were that Sir John Hawkshaw should make an examination of the works quite independently of the French company and their engineers, and report the results at which he arrived.&quot; We quote these results as given in Sir John Hawkshaw s report, because they show the nature of the difficulties that had been raised and the soundness of the advice which Sir John gave advice which undoubtedly greatly contributed to the successful completion of the work. The following are given by Sir John as the objections to the work : &quot;1. That the canal will become a stagnant ditch. &quot;2. That the canal will silt up, or that the moving sands of the Desert will fill it up. 3. That the Bitter Lakes through which the canal is to pass will be filled up with salt. &quot; 4. That the navigation of the Red Sea is dangerous and diffi cult. &quot;5. That shipping will not approach Port Sa icl, because of the difficulties that will be met with, and the danger of that port on a lee shore. &quot;6. That it will be difficult, if not impracticable, to keep open the Mediterranean entrance to the canal.