THE immense advantages to the merchant-commerce of Great Britain Thith India, and the great additional security for the permanence of English rule in that vast peninsula which must result, were a ship-canal carried through the strip of sand, shingle, and swamp, not more at its narrowest part than about seventy-five miles in width, which separates the Mediterranean from the Red Sea, and popularly known as the Isthmus of Suez, must be apparent to the least observant person. Various plans for effecting this desirable object have been proposed, discussed, and forgotten during the last half-century, and at the first view of the matter it would seem that we are still as far off as ever from its accomplishment. But this, a little reflection will convince us, is by no means the case. Much indispensable preparatory work has during that period been successfully achieved. The chief difficulties, hinderances, and hazards previously believed to be inseparable from the voyage to Bombay or Madras by the Mediterranean and Red Sea have, by the vigilance and sagacity of the Indian and home governments, and the marvellous progress of scientific discovery and invention, been removed or overcome. That highway of the seas is now sentinelled throughout at every pass, save that immediately by Suez, which commands it; and a matter of perhaps even greater importance the dangers, uncertainties, and delays, formerly incidental to Red-Sea navigation, no longer exist. A few words will suffice to establish these two propositions. On glancing at the map, the reader will perceive that there are three points or keys along the overland route, as it is called, from England to Eastern India, which command, and almost, so to speak, shut it in. These No. 81. VOL. XI. 1 |