Ship Canal across the Isthmus of Suez [pp. 766-772]

SHIP CANAL ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF SUEZ.
Lesseps the power of forming a company for the construction
of a canal from Suez to the Mediterranean of sufficient dimensions for the navigation of large vessels, with the construction
also of one or two ports, as may be deemed the most advisable. The director or president of the company shall be nominate(l by the Egyptian government, and selected as often as
possible from the stockholders the most interested in the enterprise. The charter of the comnpany extends to ninety-nine
years from the time of the opening of the canal, at the end of
which period it shall revert to the government of Egypt, which
shall enter upon the full possession of the canal, and enjoy all
the rights and privileges of the company. All the work shall
be executed at the exclusive expense of the company, to which,
however, the government will make a donation of all the necessary lands not belonging to individuals, and shall receive
fifteen per cent. of the nett income of the canal, the company
seventy-five per cent., and the founders of the company ten
per cent. The tariff of duties shall be agreed upon by the
company and the Viceroy, and shall always be the same for
all nations, no advantage being ever granted to any one of
them.
American travellers of judgment and intelligence who have
just returned from Egypt think the greatest difficulty in the
construction of this work will be found in extending the canal
into the two seas at a distance sufficient to obtain the depth of
water demanded by large vessels, as on both sides of the
Isthmus the water is very shallow, and the sands were increasing in quantity or shifting their position. One gentleman
judges that the work must be carried about five miles into the
sea. The projector of the enterprise, however, is full of confidence, and recently passed through this city, on his way to
Constantinople, to consummate his arrangements with the
Porte. From thence he will proceed to France and England
to obtain subscriptions to the stock. The work can be accomplished, because it already has been, and the traces of the old
canal remain to this very day, and were seen and examined
near the Red sea by the distinguised American scholars and
travellers, Rev. Drs. Robinson and Smith, some fifteen yeara
ago, and may be found described in their "Researches in
Arabia Petrea and Palestine." It may not be achieved at
once, but the present movement may awaken thought and lead
to a happy and glorious result when the din of war shall cease
to be heard in the north, and Europe and Turkey shall be free
to spend their resources in cultivating the arts of peace. Pyramids and temples, and all the waste of human labor for ages
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