April 11, 1859.] PIM ON THE ISTHMUS OF SUEZ. 183 



of such a project that, if ever carried out, the other marvels of Egypt 

 would dwindle into insignificance before it. 



Every one must be struck with the grandeur of the idea of dividing 

 two continents so as to enable large ships to proceed direct from the 

 ports of Europe to ports of the East. The realization of such an 

 idea would certainly be quite in accordance with the spirit of an 

 age in which so much has been done to annihilate time and space ; 

 and, doubtless, neither talent, energy, nor wealth would be wanting 

 to make the attempt, could even a chance of success be shown. 



At the close of the last century the great Napoleon attempted to 

 conquer the " Land of Egypt," then, as now, the key to our Indian 

 Empire ; and he was convinced that the permanent possession of 

 that land was the key to universal empire. The measures adopted 

 by him to retain it in his grasp were worthy his genius. To him is 

 due the conception of the canalization of the Isthmus of Suez, and 

 he argued, if a direct means of communication with India could be 

 effected, not even England, with all her wealth and manufacturing 

 powers, could compete commercially with Marseilles, or any of the 

 Italian, Greek, or Austrian ports of the Mediterranean, each of 

 which would have the advantage of being nearly half the voyage in 

 advance of this country, as the following table will show : — 



Distances to Bombay. 



Vid Suez. ' Via Cape. 



Miles. Miles. 



Constantinople 5,400 .... 18,300 



Trieste 7,020 .... 17,880 



Marseilles..' 7,122 .... 16,950 



Cadiz 6,672 .. .. 15,600 



London 9,300 .. .. 17,850 



No doubt the attempt to unite the two seas would have been made 

 had Napoleon been left in quiet possession of the country, but the 

 British, in those old-fashioned days, strongly objected to the occu- 

 pation of a road to their possessions, and therefore summarily ejected 

 the French from Egypt. The idea of joining the Mediterranean and" 

 Eed Sea by means of a canal received, as already observed, its first 

 impulse from the great Napoleon, and, since that period, various 

 plans have been devised to carry out such an undertaking, all of 

 them, however, based on the result of the levellings of the French 

 Savans in 1799, who reported that the Mediterranean was 30 feet 

 below the level of the Eed Sea at Suez. It appears to have been a 

 received opinion of the ancients that a difference of level must exist 

 between any two neighbouring seas. 



The Egyptians no doubt assumed a difference of level, which was 



VOL. III. Q 



