192 PIM ON THE ISTHMUS OF SUEZ. [April 11, 1859. 



moans of communication with India has "been abundantly demon- 

 strated by the late stirring events in that country, and, although it 

 is true that the "Overland Eoute" is indeed a stride in the right 

 direction, and calculated 1 believe to maintain a supremacy over 

 any other route, yet it is still in its infancy. At Alexandria itself, 

 for instance, difficulties and delays are met with in consequence of 

 the harbour being open to the prevailing winds, which often blow 

 with great violence. 



The management of the railway from Alexandria to Cairo is most 

 faulty, while the continuation of the line to Suez is positively 

 dangerous, and the roadstead at that terminus inconvenient and 

 tedious for the transhipment of goods and passengers ; but, before 

 entering more fully on that subject, I will briefly detail the rise 

 and progress of the present mode of transit from Europe to the 

 East Indies. 



Very early in the present century attention was directed towards 

 an overland route to India, but it was not until 1823 that any 

 movement of consequence was made. Certain members of the 

 Indian Government proposed to the home authorities to forward 

 mails and passengers by way of the Eed Sea, across the Isthmus of 

 Suez, and thence through France or by sea to England ; but this 

 proposition did not meet with favour. 



After allowing the above proposal to germinate for three years 

 it was again brought forward, but still did not produce fruit. The 

 Government advanced a host of objections against the plan, and it 

 is doubtful how long this state of affairs might have lafeted had not 

 an individual cut the Gordian knot. In 1 827 Lieutenant Waghorn, 

 R.N., turned his attention to the establishment of a "steam com- 

 munication between our Eastern possessions and their mother- 

 country, England," and to his exertions is mainly due the present 

 overland route. Years elapsed before its practicability was ac- 

 knowledged : Lieutenant Waghorn was obliged to test his plan by 

 repeated journeys to and fro, at his own risk and expense, and in 

 the teeth of a determined opposition. A parliamentary committee 

 condemned the project, and the Chairman of the India Company 

 declared " that they required no steam to the East at all." Never- 

 theless, Lieutenant Waghorn at last succeeded in making the feasi- 

 bility of his route to India apparent to the meanest capacities. The 

 following despatch, sent by the Indian Government in September, 

 1836, will show the estimation in which a comparatively rapid 

 means of communication with the mother-country was held in 

 India : — 



" We beg to offer to your Honourable Court our congratulations 



