Part 2

The question of the importance to the commercial interests of Great Britain of cutting through the Isthmus of Suez, has been considered in the most favourable light by the principal men of science, engineers, economists, and public writers of England. I shall quote hereafter the opinions of Mr. Anderson, the present director of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, and of Captain James Vetch, R. E., from their respective works. (Appendix, Nos. 8 and 9.) The fact of the question having been frequently treated with favour by the press, seems to show that it has already been accepted by the feeling of the country; the remarkable extract from the “Papers for the People” in the memorial of the engineers (Appendix, No. 4) will be read with interest. The celebrated novelist, Charles Dickens himself, has not disdained to devote several eloquent pages to a very practical consideration of the project for constructing a canal through the Isthmus of Suez.

It is to be remarked that the English authors who have written upon this question, have, without exception, advocated the direct line from Suez to Pelusium. This view is taken by all the inhabitants of Egypt, and I doubt if the indirect line, complicated as it is by traversing the Nile, would have been adopted by two of my compatriots so distinguished as M. Baude and M. Paulin Talabot, if they had themselves been on the spot before they gave their opinions.

The _Moniteur Universel_ of France, in the Number for the 6th of July, has proved the advantage of the direct track over the indirect one. I refer my readers to that article (Appendix, No. 9).

It is incumbent on me to add, that, although the two tracks may be entertained, theoretically speaking, practically only one is now to be thought of; for the Viceroy of Egypt, who consents to the cutting of the Isthmus, has a perfect right to refuse to allow the whole of Egypt to be cut through. He has, in his written instructions, specially charged me to make known his declaration, which is in the following terms:—

“_After having passed in review the numerous projects submitted to various Governments or to the public for more than fifty years, I grant perfect liberty for the application of those means that science shall recognise to be best to bring the Red Sea and the Mediterranean into communication at any point of the Isthmus, eastward of the course of the Nile; but I declare that I will not authorize the Grand Maritime Suez Canal Company to adopt any track which shall have its point of departure on the Mediterranean coast, to the west of the Damietta branch, and which shall traverse the course of the Nile._”

If it were necessary, reference might be made to the East India Company, the merchants of Australia, of Singapore, of Madras, of Calcutta and of Bombay, the commercial houses of the City, the shipowners of London and Liverpool, the manufacturers of Manchester, the proprietors of iron mines, the manufacturers of machines, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, the directors of banks and of extensive industrial undertakings, the Chambers of Commerce, the proprietors of coal-fields, who in 1854 exported 1,309,251 tons of coal, of the value of £2,127,156, an amount which, immense as it already is, will be still farther increased, and to a considerable extent, by the opening of the Isthmus of Suez.

I appeal to their interests, and leave the decision to their judgment.

Lastly, the objection has been made, that the canal project would not be received with favour by the Turkish Government; but, like every question in which the principle is just, the consequences are infallible; and from whatever point of view we regard this question of the Isthmus of Suez, we see nothing but universal benefit arise from it.

As I have already remarked, I met with no opposition at Constantinople on the part of the Porte. Turkey is aware that the Canal of the two Seas is destined to add to her power and prosperity, by bringing Constantinople nearer by 4300 leagues to the Indian Ocean, and by facilitating the communication with the Holy Places of Arabia, the source of the authority the Sultan possesses over his Mussulman population.

Turkey can rise from her present languor only by borrowing capital and intelligence from Europe. The prosperity of the East is intimately connected at the present day with the interests of civilization in general, and the most effectual means of working its welfare, in connection with that of humanity, is to break down the barriers that still separate individuals, races, and nations.

War and commerce have civilized the world. War will have played out its part with that last effort which is being made under our eyes. The victories hereafter to be gained will be those of commerce only. Let us exert ourselves to open up for her a new route. This object may be pursued and attained—in the words of a great writer—“A travers les orages et les ténèbres de la guerre.” (_Guizot._)

Let us bring the populations of Polynesia, of Australia and China, of the Indies and of Africa, nearer to Europe; let us make them participators in the blessings of civilization.

To accomplish this great undertaking, we appeal to all religious and intelligent men, for it is worthy of their sympathy and co-operation.

We invoke the support of all statesmen, because in the establishment of new and easy means of communication between the two hemispheres all nations are interested. Lastly, we will address ourselves to the capitalists, when they have satisfied themselves of the pecuniary advantages to be derived from the undertaking.

FERD. DE LESSEPS.

London, July, 1855.

APPENDIX.

No. I.

MEMORIAL ADDRESSED TO HIS HIGHNESS MOHAMMED SAID.

MEMORIAL ADDRESSED TO HIS HIGHNESS MOHAMMED SAID, VICEROY OF EGYPT.

The Camp, Marea, In the Lybian Desert, 15th November, 1854.

The junction of the Mediterranean and the Red Seas, by a navigable canal, is an undertaking the utility of which has attracted the attention of all the great men who have reigned in, or conquered, Egypt: Sesostris, Alexander the Great, Julius Cæsar, the Arab Conqueror Amrou, Napoleon I. and Mehemet Ali.

A canal, communicating with the Nile, was in existence in ancient times; first, for a period of 100 years, down to about the middle of the ninth century before the Hegira; secondly, for a period of 445 years, from the reign of the first successors of Alexander the Great, down to about the fourth century before the Hegira; thirdly and lastly, for a period of 130 years after the Arabian conquest.

Napoleon, upon his arrival in Egypt, immediately organized a commission of engineers to ascertain whether it would be possible to re-establish that ancient channel of navigation: the question was resolved in the affirmative, and when the learned M. Lepère delivered to him the report of the commission, on the eve of his return to France, he said: “It is an important affair, it is not now in my power to accomplish it, but the Turkish Government will perhaps one day owe its preservation and its glory to the execution of this project.”

The moment has now arrived to realize Napoleon’s prediction. The work of cutting through the Isthmus of Suez is certainly destined, more than any other, to contribute to the preservation of the Ottoman Empire, and to demonstrate to those who have been wont to proclaim its decay and ruin, that it still has a productive existence, and that it is capable of adding a brilliant page to the history of the world’s civilization.

Why have the governments and the peoples of the West combined to uphold the Sultan in the possession of Constantinople, and why has he who has thought fit to menace that position met with the armed opposition of Europe? Because the passage from the Mediterranean into the Black Sea is of so much importance, that whatever European Power might become master of it would domineer over all the rest, and destroy that balance which the whole world is interested in preserving.

Do but establish at another point of the Ottoman Empire a similar, and a yet more important position; do but make Egypt the highway of the commercial world by cutting through the Isthmus of Suez; and thereby you will create in the East another immoveable seat of power; for, as far as the new passage is concerned, the great powers of Europe, from fear of seeing it one day seized upon by one amongst them, will regard the necessity of guaranteeing its neutrality, as a question of vital importance.

M. Lepère fifty years ago required 10,000 workmen, four years’ labour, and from 30 to 40,000,000 francs for the construction of the Suez Canal, but upon a plan which would now be insufficient for the demands of commerce and navigation; and his idea was the possibility of a direct cutting through the Isthmus towards the Mediterranean.

Prior to the year 1840, some skilful English Engineers, who were employed in levelling operations in the Isthmus, had the honour of first ascertaining that no difference existed between the levels of low water in the Mediterranean and in the Gulf of Arabia.

M. Paulin Talabot, one of the three distinguished Engineers chosen in 1847 by a society for the investigation of the Isthmus of Suez,[3] (and who also had important operations in levelling executed by M. Bourdaloue,) had adopted the indirect route from Alexandria to Suez: availing himself of the barrage for the passage of the Nile, he estimated the entire cost at 130,000,000 francs for the Canal, and 20,000,000 for the port and roadstead of Suez.

M. Linant _Bey_, who for the last thirty years has ably conducted canal works in Egypt, has made the question of the Canal of the _two Seas_ the study of his life on the spot itself. He was appointed in 1853 to direct fresh levelling operations, and has proposed to cut through the Isthmus in an almost direct line at its narrowest part, establishing a large inland port in the basin of Lake _Timsah_, and making the channels from Pelusium, and from Suez, into the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, available for the largest vessels.

The General of engineers, Gallice _Bey_, on his part, submitted to Mehemet Ali a proposal for a direct cutting across the Isthmus. M. Mougel _Bey_, director of the Nile barrage-works, and chief engineer of bridges and highways, also submitted to Mehemet Ali the possibility and utility of cutting through the Isthmus of Suez; and, in 1840, at the request of Count Walewsky, at that time an envoy in Egypt, he was instructed to take preliminary measures which political events did not allow to be carried out.

A thorough examination will decide which of the lines is most suitable; and, as the undertaking has been acknowledged to be practicable, it only remains to make a choice. Whatever the operations that may be necessary, and however difficult, they will not intimidate modern art; their success can be no matter of doubt at the present time: it is a question of money, which the spirit of enterprise and association will not fail to resolve, provided the benefits resulting from it are in proportion to the outlay.

It is easy to demonstrate that the cost of the Canal of Suez, admitting the highest estimate, is not out of proportion with the utility and the profits of this important work, which would curtail by more than one-half the distance of India from the principal countries of Europe and America. This result is made obvious in the following Table, drawn up by M. Cordier, professor of Geology:—

LIST OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN PORTS.

_Distance to Bombay in leagues_:

_Viâ Suez_ | _Viâ the Atlantic_ | _Difference._ | | Constantinople 1.800 | 6.100 | 4.300 Malta 2.062 | 5.800 | 3.778 Trieste 2.340 | 5.960 | 3.620 Marseilles 2.374 | 5.650 | 3.276 Cadiz 2.224 | 5.200 | 2.976 Lisbon 2.500 | 5.350 | 2.850 Bordeaux 2.800 | 5.650 | 2.850 Havre 2.824 | 5.800 | 2.976 London 3.100 | 5.950 | 2.850 Liverpool 3.050 | 5.900 | 2.850 Amsterdam 3.100 | 5.950 | 2.850 St. Petersburgh 3.700 | 6.550 | 2.850 New York 3.761 | 6.200 | 2.439 New Orleans 3.724 | 6.450 | 2.726

With such figures before us, comment is useless; they show that all the nations of Europe, and even the United States of America, are alike interested in the opening of the canal of Suez, as well as in the rigorous and inviolable neutrality of that thoroughfare.

Mohammed Saïd clearly comprehends that there is no undertaking within his power, which, from its immensity and the utility of its results, could bear comparison with that which I propose to him. What a splendid title to fame for him! What an everlasting source of wealth for Egypt!

The pilgrimage to Mecca henceforth assured and facilitated to all Mussulmans; an immense impulse given to steam navigation and to distant voyages; the countries on the coasts of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Persia, the eastern coast of Africa, India, the kingdom of Siam, Cochin China, Japan, the vast empire of China, with its more than 300,000,000 of inhabitants, the Philippine Islands, Australia and that immense Archipelago, towards which the emigration from old Europe is directed, brought nearer by nearly 3000 leagues to the Mediterranean Sea and the north of Europe: such are the sudden and immediate effects of cutting through the Isthmus of Suez.

It has been calculated that the European and American navigation, _viâ_ the Cape of Good Hope and _viâ_ Cape Horn, may carry on a yearly traffic of 6,000,000 tons, and that on the half only of that tonnage the world’s commerce would realize a benefit of 150,000,000 francs annually, by sending the ships _viâ_ the Gulf of Arabia.

There is no doubt that the canal of Suez will occasion a considerable increase of tonnage; but in reckoning only upon 3,000,000 tons, there will yet be an annual produce of 30,000,000 francs by collecting dues of ten francs per ton, which might be reduced in proportion to the increase of navigation.

After having indicated the financial advantages of the undertaking, let us consider its general political advantages, which we believe to be equally incontestable.

Everything that results in contributing to the extension of the commerce, of the industry, and of the navigation of the world, is especially advantageous to England, a power which stands foremost amongst all others from the importance of its navy, from the productions of its manufactories, and from its commercial relations.

A deplorable prejudice, based upon the political antagonism which so long and so unhappily existed between France and England, has alone accredited the opinion that the opening of the canal of Suez, so useful for the interests of civilization and of the common weal, could damage those of England. The alliance of the two nations which rank highest in the scale of civilization, an alliance which has already proved the possibility of solutions hitherto reckoned impossible by vulgar tradition, will, amongst its other numerous benefits, allow us to investigate with impartiality this mighty question of the Canal of Suez, to form an exact estimate of its influence upon the prosperity of nations and to consider it heresy to believe, that an undertaking calculated to halve the distance between the Western and Eastern hemispheres of the globe, should not be suitable for Great Britain, the mistress of Gibraltar, Malta, the Ionian Islands, Aden, important stations on the east coast of Africa, India, Singapore, and Australia.

England, as well as France, and even more so, must wish to see a cutting through that strip of land of thirty leagues, which no one who pays attention to the subject of civilization and progress can behold upon the map, without feeling the most ardent wish for the disappearance of that only obstacle that Providence has left in the highway of the world’s traffic.

The railway, by itself, is not sufficient; it will never acquire any substantial importance, and will only be assured of its revenues when it has become the auxiliary of the maritime Canal of Suez. The completion of the railway, so useful to travellers, and so justly desired by England, will then become a necessity, and will no longer be a heavy charge upon the Egyptian Government.

Germany will also hail all the efforts for the construction of the Canal across the Isthmus. It will be to her the complement to the free navigation of the Danube. Prince Metternich, who for more than twenty years has interested himself in the cutting of the Canal of the two Seas, and Baron de Bruck, one of the promoters of the investigations made in 1847, saw that in this question lay the aggrandizement of Trieste and of Venice, as well as the opening of important outlets for the produce of the Imperial provinces, and of the kingdom of Hungary, where the projected canal from the Danube to Kustendje, on the Black Sea, in the line of the ancient trench or rampart of Trajan, will facilitate exportation.

Russia will find in the opening of the Canal of Suez a just satisfaction of that national aspiration towards the East which led her on one occasion to extend the limits of her vast Empire to the confines of British India, and, on another, to threaten the integrity of Turkey. The mission of civilization devolving upon the Czar over the numerous tribes of whom he is arbiter, may yet suffice the noblest ambition; the new outlets which will be pacifically thrown open to their activity and to their necessity of expansion, will be more profitable to them than a policy of conquest and exclusive dominion which it is now no longer possible for any one nation to carry on triumphantly.

The United States of America, whose traffic with Indo-China and Australia has for many years immensely developed itself; Spain with the Philippine Islands; Holland with Java, Sumatra and Borneo; the towns formerly so flourishing on the coasts of Italy; the ports and islands of Greece; all the nations in short which have held or hold a high maritime and commercial position; will hasten to take part in a work which will augment their wealth, or create new sources of it, and to the success of which I believe I can promise His Highness Mohammed Saïd the active and energetic co-operation of the enlightened men of all countries.

(Signed) FERD. DE LESSEPS.

APPENDIX.

No. II.

FIRMAN OF CONCESSION.

FIRMAN OF CONCESSION.

Our friend Mons. Ferdinand de Lesseps, having called our attention to the advantages which would result to Egypt from the junction of the Mediterranean and Red Seas, by a navigable passage for large vessels, and having given us to understand the possibility of forming a company for this purpose composed of capitalists of all nations; we have accepted the arrangements which he has submitted to us, and by these presents grant him exclusive power for the establishment and direction of a Universal Company, for cutting through the Isthmus of Suez, and the construction of a canal between the two Seas, with authority to undertake or cause to be undertaken all the necessary works and erections, on condition that the Company shall previously indemnify all private persons in case of dispossession for the public benefit. And all within the limits, upon the conditions and under the responsibilities, settled in the following Articles.

ARTICLE I.

Mons. Ferdinand de Lesseps shall form a company, the direction of which we confide to him, under the name of the UNIVERSAL SUEZ MARITIME CANAL COMPANY, for cutting through the Isthmus of Suez, the construction of a passage suitable for extensive navigation, the foundation or appropriation of two sufficient entrances, one from the Mediterranean and the other from the Red Sea, and the establishment of one or two ports.

ARTICLE II.

The Director of the Company shall be always appointed by the Egyptian Government, and selected, as far as practicable, from the shareholders most interested in the undertaking.

ARTICLE III.

The term of the grant is ninety-nine years, commencing from the day of the opening of the Canal of the two Seas.

ARTICLE IV.

The works shall be executed at the sole cost of the Company, and all the necessary land not belonging to private persons shall be granted to it free of cost. The fortifications which the Government shall think proper to establish shall not be at the cost of the Company.

ARTICLE V.

The Egyptian Government shall receive from the Company annually fifteen per cent. of the net profits shown by the balance sheet, without prejudice to the interest and dividends accruing from the shares which the Government reserves the right of taking upon its own account at their issue, and without any guarantee on its part either for the execution of the works or for the operations of the Company; the remainder of the net profits shall be divided as follows:—Seventy-five per cent. to the benefit of the Company, ten per cent. to the benefit of the members instrumental to its foundation.

ARTICLE VI.

The tariffs of dues for the passage of the Canal of Suez, to be agreed upon between the Company and the Viceroy of Egypt, and collected by the Company’s agents, shall be always equal for all nations; no particular advantage can ever be stipulated for the exclusive benefit of any one country.

ARTICLE VII.

In case the Company should consider it necessary to connect the Nile by a navigable cut with the direct passage of the Isthmus, and in case the Maritime Canal should follow an indirect course, the Egyptian Government will give up to the Company the uncultivated lands belonging to the public domain, which shall be irrigated and cultivated at the expense of the Company, or by its instrumentality.

The Company shall enjoy the said lands for ten years free of taxes, commencing from the day of the opening of the canal; during the remaining eighty-nine years of the grant, the Company shall pay tithes to the Egyptian Government, after which period it cannot continue in possession of the lands above mentioned without paying to the said Government an impost equal to that appointed for lands of the same description.

ARTICLE VIII.

To avoid all difficulty on the subject of the lands which are to be given up to the Company, a plan drawn by M. Linant _Bey_, our Engineer Commissioner attached to the Company, shall indicate the lands granted both for the line and the establishments of the maritime Canal and for the alimentary Canal from the Nile, as well as for the purpose of cultivation, conformably to the stipulations of Article VII.

It is moreover understood, that all speculation is forbidden from the present time, upon the lands to be granted from the public domain, and that the lands previously belonging to private persons and which the proprietors may hereafter wish to have irrigated by the waters of the alimentary Canal, made at the cost of the Company, shall pay a rent of.... per _feddan_ cultivated (or a rent amicably settled between the Government and the Company).

ARTICLE IX.

The Company is farther allowed to extract from the mines and quarries belonging to the public domain, any materials necessary for the works of the canal and the erections connected therewith, without paying dues; it shall also enjoy the right of free entry for all machines and materials which it shall import from abroad for the purposes of carrying out this grant.

ARTICLE X.