SECTION OF ORIENTAL ANTIQUITIES. 103 



distance of about 920 miles, the cost of which would be about $36,000,000; 

 that is, estimated at the high rate of $40,000 per mile. Sir William 

 Andrew, in a remarkable lecture delivered before the National Club of 

 London in 1882, states that it is not too much to say that no existing 

 or projected railroad can compare in point of interest and importance 

 with that of the Euphrates Valley. It would be the shortest and cheap- 

 est route to India, saving about 1,000 miles in the distance between 

 England and India, thus reducing the time occupied by the journey to 

 ten days instead of twenty, and it would tend in a great measure to a 

 peaceful solution of the Eastern question, affording an additional guar- 

 anty for the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. It would promote com- 

 merce, civilization, and Christianity, the progress, the freedom, and the 

 peace of the world. 



The Porte had once promised a guaranty of 6 per cent, on the esti- 

 mated expenditure, and I dare say the English Government would be 

 willing to give an adequate guaranty at any time. The advances made 

 by Russia in Asia imperatively demand the construction of an alterna- 

 tive route to India. The Suez Canal might easily be rendered useless 

 through a few dynamite explosions, or the sinking of a ship, for months, 

 and perhaps for a year. 



The section of the Euphrates Valley Railroad between Bagdad an d- 

 Alexandretta would pay exceedingly well. There are about ten thou- 

 sand camels employed now in trafi&c between Bagdad and Aleppo, and 

 the price of conveying goods at present by camels and mules between 

 Aleppo and Alexandretta is from 15 to 25 cents per ton per mile. The 

 local traffic already existing in the country to be traversed would cer- 

 tainly more than suffice to pay the ordinary interest on this section. 

 The opening of the Euphrates Valley Railroad would be a great step 

 towards a recolonization and recivilization of Mesopotamia, looked upon 

 from the earliest times as among the richest countries in the world. It 

 has recently been shown by a most competent person that Mesopotamia, 

 after a restoration of the famous ancient system of irrigition, on which 

 the whole welfare of the country depends, and a national recultivation 

 of the incredibly fertile soil, might yield an annual revenue of five hun- 

 dred millions. That is not based on the imagination of an enthusiastic 

 Assyriologist, but on sober calculations. I mention this simply to show 

 that there are other things to be had in Mesopotamia than Biblical an- 

 tiquities. 



The Babylonian expedition might lay the foundation of a national in- 

 stitution similar to the American school at Athens, and we have al- 

 ready a place in the East which would be most appropriate as the per- 

 manent headquarters of this American school of Biblical archaeology — I 

 mean the American college at Beirut. Thousands of dollars are sent 

 from this country to England every year for the Egypt exploration 

 fund. I can not conceive of any reason why American contributions 

 should go to support explorations under British auspices. If the Amer- 



