Part 3

At the expiration of the grant the Egyptian Government will take the place of the Company, and enjoy all its rights without reservation, the said Government will enter into full possession of the Canal of the two Seas, and of all the establishments connected therewith. The indemnity to be allowed the Company for the relinquishment of its plant and moveables, shall be arranged by amicable agreement or by arbitration.

ARTICLE XI.

The statutes of the Society shall be moreover submitted to us by the Director of the Company, and must have the sanction of our approbation. Any modifications that may be hereafter introduced must previously receive our sanction. The said statutes shall set forth the names of the founders, the list of whom we reserve to ourselves the right of approving. This list shall include those persons whose labours, studies, exertions or capital have previously contributed to the execution of the grand undertaking of the Canal of Suez.

ARTICLE XII.

Finally, we promise our true and hearty co-operation, and that of all the functionaries of Egypt in facilitating the execution and carrying out of the present powers.

TO MY ATTACHED FRIEND M. FERDINAND DE LESSEPS, OF HIGH BIRTH AND ELEVATED RANK.

Cairo, 30th of November, 1854.

The grant made to the Company having to be ratified by his Imperial Majesty the Sultan, I send you this copy that you may keep it in your possession. With regard to the works connected with the excavation of the Canal of Suez, they are not to be commenced until after they are authorized by the Sublime Porte.

3 Ramadan, 1271.

(_The Viceroy’s Seal._)

A true translation of the Turkish text.

KŒNIG BEY, Secretary of Mandates to his Highness the Viceroy.

Alexandria, May 19th, 1855.

APPENDIX.

No. III.

INSTRUCTIONS TO MM. LINANT _BEY_ AND MOUGEL _BEY_.

INSTRUCTIONS TO MM. LINANT _BEY_ AND MOUGEL _BEY_,

_For the Scheme of a Maritime Canal from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, and an Alimentary Canal derived from the Nile._

Cairo, January 15, 1855.

Having just finished the exploration confided to us by his Highness Mohammed Saïd Pacha, I think it right to direct the attention of MM. Linant _Bey_ and Mougel _Bey_ to the principal points intended to serve as a programme to the precursory scheme which we have agreed to present, as a preliminary to a more complete report, accompanied by plans, maps, sections, estimates, and other documents in explanation.

1. For the entrance on the Red Sea side; to show what works it will be necessary to execute, as jetties, reservoirs, sluices, &c. if the present port is made use of. To settle the direction of the channel from the present anchorage of the roads of Suez, to the entrance of the Canal.

2. To show the exact direction of the Canal from Suez, to that part of the ancient basin of the Red Sea called the _Bitter Lakes_.

3. To explain how it is intended to take advantage of this basin, and whether, in passing through it, the Maritime Canal is to have one or two banks, or not to have any at all.

4. To lay down the continuation of the Canal as far as the basin of Lake Timsah, which is intended to serve as an inland port.

5. Works to be performed in rendering Lake Timsah fit for the object proposed. To give the length of the quay walls. In its passage through Lake Timsah, the Canal must be excavated of a greater breadth than in the rest of its course, in order to allow the vessels to lay at the quays without obstructing the passage. These quays are to be established, as far as possible, in the neighbourhood of the fresh water canal.

6. Course of the Maritime Canal from Lake Timsah to Lake Menzaleh.

7. The works to be executed along Lake Menzaleh, or in the lake itself, for the course of the Canal.

8. Is the opening of the Canal into the Mediterranean to be at the opening of the ancient Pelusiac branch?

9. To specify particularly the kind, nature, and dimensions of the works that will have to be executed in jetties, moles, breakwaters, reservoirs, retaining basins, &c. in order to obviate the objections made up to the present time, as to the difficulties or alleged impossibilities, proceeding from alluvial deposits on the coast, and the choking up of the opening of a Canal into the Mediterranean. This part of the scheme must be based upon incontestable proofs, exemplifications, and calculations.

10. What is the bulk of water that will enter the Maritime Canal from the Red Sea at each tide?

11. What advantage may be derived from the height of the tides, both in the course of the Maritime Canal, in the basin of the Bitter Lakes, and at the Pelusiac mouth?

12. To calculate for the Maritime Canal at a breadth of 100 _metres_ at the level of low water in the Mediterranean, with liberty to reduce it to sixty-five or seventy _metres_, in those few instances where the necessary excavations and removals would be too considerable. The water line, or depth, is to be calculated at six, at seven, and at eight _metres_, all below the level of low water in the Mediterranean, in order that the Company may choose, according to the expense, that one of the three depths which shall be most advantageous to its interests, combined with those of the navigation.

13. To obviate the objections relative to the difficulties of navigation in the Red Sea and in the Gulf of Pelusium.

14. To make a rough estimate of the _maximum_ of all the expenses, and to state the probable date when the Canal can be opened for navigation.

15. To accompany the scheme of the Maritime Canal, with a scheme for a Canal of communication, of alimentation, and irrigation derived from the Nile, taking its point of departure between the barrage and Boulak, to reach the _Wady_, and come as far as Lake Timsah. The dimensions shall be so calculated, that, taking into account its fall and its supply, the Canal may water at least 100,000 feddans at the time of the inundation, and from 20 to 30,000 during the low water of the river. In the vicinity of Lake Timsah, with which it will communicate, this Canal is to be divided into two branches, for simple irrigation; the first to be directed towards Suez, the other towards Pelusium.

16. To examine whether the sands of the downs on the Isthmus, will occasion any obstacle to the construction and maintenance of the Canal, and how they may be turned to account by means of the Irrigating Canal.

17. To furnish a _maximum_ estimate of the secondary Canal derived from the Nile, and to state the length of time required for the works.

18. To give an account of the nature and quality of the materials, which can be easily, and without great cost of transport, applied in the whole of the works, and also the localities from whence they are to be obtained.

19. Finally, to furnish an approximate statement of the _minimum_ anticipated revenues, of the grand Maritime Canal, and of the Canal of alimentation and interior navigation.

I do not mean to confine the labours of MM. Linant _Bey_ and Mougel _Bey_, within the mere limits indicated in this programme.

While bearing witness to the good understanding that I have observed to exist between them, and the identity of their convictions, as to the possibility of the communication between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, by a Canal accessible to large vessels, I beg them, in case the opinion of either, upon any question whatever, should not be entertained by the other, to state the difference of their views, and to assign the reasons thereof.

Finally, the precursory scheme, accompanied by an explanatory map, is to be finished as quickly as possible.

(Signed) FERD. DE LESSEPS.

APPENDIX.

No. IV.

PRECURSORY SCHEME OF MM. LINANT _BEY_ AND MOUGEL _BEY_, ENGINEERS TO THE VICEROY OF EGYPT.

EXTRACT FROM THE MEMORIAL OF MM. LINANT _BEY_ AND MOUGEL _BEY_, ENGINEERS TO THE VICEROY OF EGYPT,[4]

By way of Precursory Scheme for cutting through the Isthmus of Suez, by a direct Maritime Canal from Pelusium to Suez.

The enlightened Prince who now governs Egypt, Mohammed Saïd Pacha, wishing to withdraw the question of cutting through the Isthmus of Suez from the uncertainties of theory, and to bring it into practical reality, has granted a firman by which he concedes to the Universal Company formed by the capitalists of all countries, who are freely willing to take part in the undertaking, the construction and working of a Maritime Canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, with an additional Canal for communication and irrigation, derived from the Nile.

Dictating himself the terms of the Firman of Concession, Prince Mohammed Saïd has required that the undertaking shall be complete, and that an attentive examination of the localities be made, in order to profit by all the advantages offered by nature. He has recommended that the shortest track be followed, the least expensive, and that which will admit of the largest ships. His early studies and his experience in nautical art, have perfectly prepared him for the comprehension of all the bearings of the scientific question. He has indicated Pelusium and Suez, as the extreme points of the cutting to be made in that narrow tract of land, which presents a longitudinal depression across the Isthmus, of thirty leagues, and which is formed by the meeting of the two plains descending with a gradual slope, the one from Egypt, the other from the frontier hills of Asia. He considers that nature has herself traced out the communication between the two Seas, in the line of this depression.

Towards Lake Timsah, situated at an equal distance from Suez and Pelusium, another not less remarkable furrow meets the longitudinal depression at right angles; it is that of the _Wady Tomilat_ (the fruitful land of Goshen of Scripture). This furrow still receives, for a considerable length, the overflowings of the Nile, and also appears to form the natural track of a canal of communication, commencing at the river and proceeding to connect itself in the central part of the Isthmus, with the grand line of navigation to be established between the Arabian Gulf and the Mediterranean.

The Maritime Canal will thus be brought into communication with the heart of Egypt, by a fresh water canal, which will receive the same navigation as the Nile, and will serve also for the irrigation of large zones of the desert, exhibiting at present the most wild and desolate aspect.

Upon these data we have been instructed to make a preliminary report.

Before giving the results of our investigations, it has appeared necessary to us to justify the idea of a direct track between the two Seas; for this line never having been executed, although it is the most natural, it might be supposed that whenever the junction of the two Seas has been attempted, such difficulties have been met with, that it has been obliged to be relinquished; but this is by no means the case, as we shall presently show.

In fact, what M. Lebeau says in his _Histoire du Bas Empire_ (tom, xii., p. 490), following Abulfeda, Prince of Syria, historian and geographer, who was living in the year 753 of the Hegira, is as follows:—

“The coast at Farma (a town a little to the east of Pelusium, on the Mediterranean) was only seventy miles (106,000 _metres_) distant from the Red Sea. This space was a very smooth plain, slightly elevated above the level of the two Seas. Amrou formed the design of uniting them by a canal, which he would have filled with the waters of the Nile; but Omar having opposed it, from fear of opening an entrance into Arabia for the ships of the Christians, Amrou turned his thoughts in another direction. There was an ancient canal, called Trajanus Amnis, which Adrian caused to be brought from the Nile near to Babylon, in Egypt, as far as Pharboëtus, now Belbeïs. He met at this place with another canal, commenced by Nechos, and continued by Darius Hystaspes, and the two together discharged themselves into a lagoon of salt water, at the outlet of which Ptolemy Philadelphus caused a large trench to be made, which conducted the waters as far as the town of Arsinoë, or Cleopatris, at that part of the Gulf where Suez now is.

“The whole of this canal, being filled up with sand, had become useless at the time of the famous Cleopatra. Amrou was not deterred by the ancient prejudice, which, supposing the waters of the Red Sea to be higher than the soil of Egypt, created a fear of opening a passage for them; and he made it navigable for the transport of the corn of Egypt into Arabia. It is that which is now called Khalig, which passes through Cairo, but it only goes as far as the lagoon called the Lake of Sheib. The remainder, as far as the Red Sea, is entirely filled up, although some traces of it are still distinguishable.”

We have thought it necessary to quote the entire passage, because it clearly establishes the question of the Canal, and certain facts to which we shall return hereafter.

After Amrou came the Sultan, Mustapha III., _who took great interest in the scheme for the junction of the two Seas by the Isthmus of Suez_, and who intended to execute this work at a time of peace. (See _Mémoires sur les Turcs_, by M. De Tott, Parts iii. and iv.)

M. Lepère proposed, it is true, the track of the secondary canal between Alexandria and the interior of Egypt; but his opinion upon the direct track by the Isthmus of Suez is expressed in these terms:—

“In this project of the Canal of Suez, we have expressly based the choice of the ancient direction by the interior of the Delta towards Alexandria, upon commercial considerations peculiar to Egypt, and upon the fact that the coast near Pelusium does not appear to allow of a permanent maritime establishment. Nevertheless, we think it right to acknowledge, that, waving these considerations, it would still be easy (although, on the contrary, it appeared difficult, and even dangerous, before the invention of locks) to open a direct communication between Suez, the Bitter Lakes, and the Ras-el-Moyeh, continued upon the eastern bank of Lake Menzaleh, as far as the sea near Pelusium.

“We think that a canal opened in this direction would have an advantage _which the interior canal would not_. In fact there might be constant navigation upon it, which would not be subject to the alternations of the rising and decreasing of the Nile. It would be easy to maintain a greater depth in it than in the first canal, by means of a current fed by the immense reservoir of the Bitter Lakes.... I will add, that if I did not perceive some difficulties in excavating, and maintaining at a proper depth, the channel between Suez and the roadstead, I would propose to establish a direct communication of the two Seas by the Isthmus, for the use of corvettes and even of frigates, which would become the complement of this grand and important operation.”

It will be seen then, that M. Lepère himself acknowledged, that the direct track was the most advantageous for the commerce of the world, while the interior Canal was especially advantageous to Egypt. It is evident that with the two Canals, the one direct, on a large section, the other on a small section and derived from the Nile, all interests are most abundantly satisfied.

We will finish these observations by quoting the opinion of two distinguished staff-officers, MM. Galinier and Ferret, who have surveyed and well investigated the Red Sea. They have given a clear, rapid, and judicious analysis of the question.

“It is not in the accomplishment of this project (the interior canal), that the real junction of the two Seas consists. This problem will not be resolved, until the Isthmus shall present a practicable opening, by which all ships may pass without unloading. In order to this, it must be operated upon directly from Pelusium to Suez; on this line the desert is narrower than anywhere else. It is also in this direction, that the great depression of which we have spoken extends, and at the bottom of which the grand basin of the Bitter Lakes is situated. Everything therefore points out this spot in the strip of land for the construction of a canal. Everything, with one single exception, which is, that there is not, they say, any port at the extremity of this line of navigation; that of Suez is partly filled up with sand, and upon the Mediterranean, not a harbour, not a single roadstead, which now affords any safety. Yet more, some travellers have stated, that if it were required to form a port, it would be necessary to contend against masses of sand, which, continually shifted from west to east by a tolerably rapid current, seem to oppose any maritime establishment upon that coast. In fact it is, they say, for this reason that Alexander laid much farther to the west the foundations of the town which bears his name, and which he wished to become the emporium of the world. But is the objection very serious at the present time? can the obstacle, which occasions this anxiety, resist the constructive means which are at the disposal of our engineers? We think not. To create a port without the assistance of nature; to put a restraint upon the sea; to reduce it to subjection; to impose upon it an artificial roadstead; and to maintain that roadstead, in spite of the natural causes operating to destroy it: is a problem which has ceased to terrify modern art.

“Let us take the port of Pelusium,—see how easily the difficulty would be removed! Suppose the Bitter Lakes to be filled with the waters of the Arabian Gulf; by the action of the tides alone, more than 700,000,000 cubic _metres_ of water might be turned to account, the velocity of which would constantly scour the channel, and prevent the accumulation of sand at its mouth.

“After all that has been done by printing, the mariner’s compass, steam,—the nineteenth century, by the realization of this vast undertaking, would again change the face of the globe. But, not to carry our views and our anticipations so far, in a zone nearer at hand, Arabia and Abyssinia, the vast country of the Gallas, the deserts of the western coast of the Red Sea, with their roving populations, attached by powerful ties to the vast circle of traffic which our continent unceasingly creates and feeds—will enter into the pale of the European world. Navigation and industry charged with the supply of immense countries destitute of everything, will take a more extensive range. In the wake of commerce, enlightenment and civilization will penetrate, by degrees, that dreary night which envelopes the Mussulman world.”

The advantage of the new track being thus sufficiently proved from a general point of view, we shall now enter into the details of the scheme with regard to its execution. We will begin with the levelling of the line from Pelusium to Suez. These levels were taken by some engineers attached to the French expedition, and the difference between the level of high water at Suez, and of low water at Tineh, was found to be 9 _met._, 90, in favour of the Red Sea. Although this result has been explained by geological and historical considerations, the fact appeared so extraordinary that several travellers came to the spot to verify it. Some English officers amongst others, operating first with the barometer, and afterwards with the boiling water process, were not able to discover any perceptible difference between the levels of the two Seas. These investigations, published in a pamphlet which has come before us, and which were known to the learned world, had occasioned much uncertainty, when, in 1847, a society established for the investigation of the Isthmus of Suez, and at the head of which were MM. Négrelli, Robert Stephenson and Talabot, caused a complete survey to be made by French engineers, under the direction of M. Bourdaloue, well known for his improved methods of levelling, and his numerous labours in that particular branch. These able and experienced surveyors, provided with good instruments, and accompanied by a numerous staff, were formed into several divisions, which operated separately, and thus were able to obtain divers verifications.

To give still greater facility and more security to the operations of the engineers, His Highness the viceroy, who had generously provided for all the requirements of the expedition, condescended to make choice of one of us to direct the whole of the operations, with the assistance of a brigade of Egyptian Engineers and a Company of artillerymen, who assisted in all the operations of levelling and verification.

M. Talabot, the engineer, in a report published in 1847, has entered into all the details of these operations, and has given an irrefutable proof of the results obtained. As these results differed very widely from those obtained by the engineers of the French expedition, it was difficult to believe in so great an error.

M. Sabatier, Consul General of France in Egypt, having been informed of the wish of some learned Frenchmen to have a fresh verification, spontaneously applied to the viceroy of Egypt, and one of us was appointed to undertake it in consequence.

The verification was made in 1853. It resulted in favour of the surveyors of 1847. For, the new levels only differ 0 _met._, 1814, from those of 1847, and give as the difference of level between the station on the quay of the hotel at Suez, and low water in the Mediterranean 2 _met._, 4286, instead of 2 _met._, 6100 found by the operations in 1847.

There cannot be a moment’s hesitation in making choice between the levellings of 1799 and those of 1847 and 1853, for the two latter were taken under the most favourable circumstances by experienced surveyors provided with the best instruments, and were verified several times without finding any perceptible difference by these various verifications; whilst the levelling of 1799 was undertaken in the midst of the vicissitudes and dangers of warfare, in a hostile country, and in a climate to which the engineers were not accustomed. One part of the operations was performed with the spirit level; another rather important portion could only be done with the water level; the surveyors frequently differed; none of the divisions of these levellings could be verified; and if the last operations had been retarded ever so little, the incidents of the war would have made them impossible; the operations had to be performed with rapidity, and the levels taken in long lengths; with frequent interruptions, and without the check of any verification. This is what M. Lepère has stated in his memorial, where he expresses himself thus:—

“Pressed for time, disturbed by the hostile demonstrations of the Arab tribes, frequently obliged to suspend operations, obliged in fine to take a great part of the observations with a water level, with no possibility of making any verification, it is not at all surprising that the able engineers who conducted these operations under such exceptional circumstances should have arrived at uncertain results.” We have therefore adopted the levels taken in 1847 and in 1853, as the only true ones, the only ones that were verified, and the only satisfactory ones. We give an abstract of them in the following table:—

STATIONS WITH THE LEVELS TAKEN IN 1853, COMPARED WITH THE LEVELS TAKEN AT THE SAME STATIONS IN 1847.