TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 887 
See spring returning spreads her milder reign ! 
Yet shoots no herb, no verdure clothes the plain, 
No cooling springs to quench the trayeller’s thirst 
From thy parched hills in grateful murmurs burst ; 
Nor, hapless Isle | thy barren shores around, 
Is wholesome food, fair Ceres’ bounty, found. 
Nor even the last sad gift the wretched claim, 
The pile funereal and the sacred flame ; 
Naught here, alas! surrounding seas enclose, 
Naught but an exile and an exile’s woes. 
Nor is this the place even to summarise the modern history of the island, though 
nothing can be more interesting than the story of the Pisan domination, the long 
and tyrannical rule of the Genoese, the struggle of the islanders during four cen- 
turies to regain their independence, the mock kingdom of Theodore, the wise rule 
of Pasquale Paoli, the unfortunate English occupation, and the subsequent conquest 
of the island by France. 
I have endeavoured to sketch, necessarily in a very imperfect manner, the 
physical character and history of the Mediterranean; to show how the commerce 
of the world originated in a small maritime state at its eastern extremity; how it 
gradually advanced westward till it burst through the Straits of Gibraltar, and 
extended over seas and continents until then undreamt of, an event which deprived 
the Mediterranean of that commercial prosperity and greatness which for centuries- 
had been limited to its narrow basin. 
Once more this historic sea has become the highway of nations; the persistent 
energy and genius of two men haye revolutionised navigation, opened out new and 
boundless fields for commerce, and it is hardly too much to say that if the Medi- 
terranean is to be restored to its old position of importance, if the struggle for 
Africa is to result in its regeneration, as happened in the new world, if the dark 
places still remaining in the further East are to be civilised, it will be in a great 
measure due to Waghorn and Ferdinand de Lesseps, who developed the overland 
route and created the Suez Canal. 
But the Mediterranean can only hope to retain its regenerated position in time 
of peace. Nothing is more certainly shown by past history than that war and 
conquest have changed the route of commerce in spite of favoured geographical 
positions. Babylon was conquered by Assyrians, Persians, Macedonians, and. 
Romans, and though for a time her position on the Euphrates caused her to rise 
like a Phoenix from her ashes, successive conquests, combined with the luxury and’ 
effeminacy of her rulers, caused her to perish. Tyre, conquered by Nebuchadnezzar 
and Alexander, fell as completely as Babylon had done, and her trade passed to- 
Alexandria, Ruined sites of commercial cities rarely again become emporia of com- 
merce; Alexandria is an exception dependent on very exceptional circumstances. 
The old route to the East was principally used by sailing vessels, and was 
abandoned for the shorter and more economical one by the Suez Canal, which now 
enables a round yoyage to he made in 60 days, which formerly required from six 
to eight months. This, however, can only remain open in time of peace. It is 
quite possible that in the event of war the old route by the Cape may be again 
used, to the detriment of traffic by the Mediterranean. Modern invention has 
greatly economised the use of coal, and steamers, by the use of duplex and triplex 
engines, can run with a comparatively small consumption of fuel, thus leaving a larger 
space for cargo. England, the great carrying power of the world, may find it more: 
advantageous to trust to her own strength and the security of the open seas than 
to run the gauntlet of the numerous strategical positions in the Mediterranean, 
such as Port Mahon, Bizerta, and Taranto, each of which is capable of affording 
impregnable shelter to a hostile fleet, and though the ultimate key to the Indian 
ean is in our own hands, our passage to it may be beset with a thousand 
dangers. There is no act of my career on which I look back with so much satis- 
faction as on the share I had in the occupation of Perim, one of the most important 
links in that chain of coaling stations which extends through the Mediterranean to 
the further East, and which is so necessary for the maintenance of our naval 
