1870.] 



Mr. J. F. Bateman on the Suez Canal. 



135 



the Red Sea at the other, by means of locks, and supplied with water 

 from the Nile, was the best mode of construction. The foreign members, 

 on the contrary, held that a canal 27 feet below sea-level, from sea to sea, 

 without any lock, and with harbours at each end, was the best system : the 

 harbours to be formed by piers and dredging out to deep water. 



The whole of the Members of the Commission, with the exception of 

 Mr. llendel, met at Paris in June 1856, when the views of the English 

 engineers were, after full discussion, rejected, and the report to the 

 Viceroy recommended the system which has since been carried out. The 

 Commission estimated the work to cost £8,000,000. 



Two years from the date of this report were spent in conferences and 

 preliminary steps before M. Lesseps obtained the necessary funds for 

 carrying out the works. About half the capital required was subscribed 

 on the Continent, by far the larger portion being taken in France, and 

 the ether half was found by the Viceroy. Further time was necessarily 

 lost in preparation, and it was not till near the close of 1860 that the work 

 was actually commenced. 



In this interval two " Reports on the subject of the Deposits of the 

 Delta of the Nile" were made by Admiral (then Captain) T. Spratt, R.N., 

 C.B., F.R.S., extracts from which were printed by order of the House of 

 Commons in 1860. They embraced " An Enquiry into the Soundness of 

 M. Lesseps's Reasonings and Arguments on the practicability of the Suez 

 Canal," and "An Investigation of the effect of the prevailing AVave-in- 

 fluence on the Nile's Deposits, and upon the Littoral of its Delta." These 

 documents were dated respectively 30th January and 9th July 1858. 



The conclusion to which Captain Spratt arrived was adverse to M. 

 Lesseps's project. He was of opinion that it would be next to impossible 

 to keep open any harbour to the eastward of the mouths of the Nile ; and 

 he warned " the commercial interest against risking their millions in the 

 undertaking." He contended that the material brought to the sea by 

 the Nile, and which is carried eastwards by the prevailing winds and cur- 

 rents, would accumulate against the piers or jetties proposed to be carried 

 out to deep water at, Port Said, so rapidly and to such an extent as to 

 prevent the maintenance of a sufficient harbour. He thought " the 

 sands of the Nile would mount over the piers of Said," and he did not 

 believe that any amount of dredging would overcome the difficulties. 



It was against such opinions from high authority that M. Lesseps had 

 to contend ; but his confidence in his project and his courage and per- 

 severance never failed him. A.s time went on, he had other difficulties 

 ahead. 



The original concession granted extraordinary privileges to the Com- 

 pany. It included or contemplated the formation of a "sweet-water" 

 canal for the use of the workmen engaged ; and the Company were to be- 

 come proprietors of all the land which could be irrigated by means of this 



