66 TWO AUTHORITIES ON “THE EASTERN QUESTION.” 
The Government decided to send an Expedition under Colonel 
Chesney’s command. £20,000 was voted by Parliament, £5,000 by the 
India Board. 
1854-56, second audience of the King; actively employed making 
preparations and building steamers; appointment of Robert Cockburn, 
Lieutenant, R.A. and C. Staunton, Surgeon, R.A. 
Great difficulties were overcome; landing and transporting steamers 
and stores overland to the river. 
The steamer Tigris lost in a hurricane; Lieutenant Cockburn 
drowned, 21st May, 1836; Colonel Chesney proved that the Euphrates 
was navigable, and that this was the then known shortest way to India, 
and he considered that a profitable commerce could be established 
on the bauks ; Chesney’s bravery and indomitable perseverance were 
remarkable, and his survey of the river and of the Red Sea convinced 
M. de Lesseps that the Suez Canal could be constructed, and when he 
introduced General Chesney to the Council at Paris, he said— 
“ Messieurs, je presente Vhomme a qui nous devons le Canal de Suez, 
M. le General Chesney, le Pére du Canal.’—W.H.A. 
REFERENCES. 
Expedition for the Survey of the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Pub- 
lished by Authority. 2 Vols. (Longman and Co.), 1850. 
Narrative of the Euphrates Expedition. (Published in 1868.) 
Life of F. R. Chesney, Col., R.A. By his wife and daughter. Edited 
by Stanley Lane Poole. (Published by Allen and Co., 1885). 
