and yet more efficacious mode than hitherto pursued, viz., by directing a constant and powerful stream of immigration into the country, and making at the same time also, its resources available to the world's trade. After Tunis is annexed to Algeria, Malta loses its present importance, as Gibraltar is losing ground daily on Oran. Gibraltar depends for live stock on the opposite coast; so does Malta. The trade of the one is limited to the smuggling of tobacco and manufactures into Spain; and the other serves as a depot (scala) to the Tunesian and Tripolitan trade-and both places, far from being profitable to the British, are rather sores to their treasury, and will turn worse yet, when they become deprived of the scanty commercial resources on which they vegetate now.

Another problem to be solved by the French Mephistopheles, as Louis Napoleon justly may be called, is to sap England's power in India, on which as it is generally admitted-her commercial supremacy in the Old World is founded; yet not violently, as the great Uncle attempted, but insidiously-say with patronizing the Ship Canal of Suez, and by hindering the completement of the British railroad to Suez. To these intrigues, Sayd Pacha shows himself an able and willing tool. He is now building, heedless of expense, a railroad into the Lybian Desert, apparently for no other purpose than to keep the engineers and work-people, as long as it can be done, from the Suez road, until some other distraction becomes handy.

The wanton and unsuccessful attack made by the British on Egypt in 1814, serves still to the French as a bugbear with their protege; and not less so, the recent acquisition of Aden by the same nation, which opened the eyes of the Governor-General of Egypt to the threatening danger, from a quarter hitherto unsuspected. In fact, the Nile valley is, from the Red Sea, perfectly open to an invading army, which, in less than four days' time, might be hurried bodily-and in a sufficient number, too, for the purpose from Aden, the Indian Gibraltar, to the Egyptian port of Kossier. No doubt, to provide against such an emergency, the Turks finally consented to the Ship Canal, which, it was suggested to them, not only would enable the friendly power (France) to ward off in time the threatened attack from the unprotected coast, but, better still, to retaliate even in advance upon the adversary in Aden or Bombay, before the host of his fleet could reach either India or the Arabian Gulf.

M. Lesseps, the projector of the Suez Canal, asserts in his memoir that the increase of commerce and navigation which the opening of a water communication between the Mediterranean and the Indian seas necessarily will call into life, would strengthen also and consolidate the present Turkish government in Egypt. But I am inclined to believe that rather the contrary will be the case.

It may be observed in all commercial cities of Turkey, where trade is brisk and improving, that the Turkish element recedes as the Greek advances. This is especially the case in Alexandria, where, thirty years ago, but two Greeks (bakals or grocers) were established, and now seveneighths of the export trade of Egypt are in the hands of Greek merchants, who, with a few exceptions, began their career in the Eastern Dorado as cooks, barkeepers, porters, journeymen tailors, &c. A similar proof of innate dexterity in trade and power of mutual assistance, is offered by the Parsee community in Bonibay and Surate, which, in these last sixty years, absorbed all the foreign trade of these important commercial places.

A Ship Canal through the Isthmus of Suez, of course, would benefit infinitely more the next-door neighbors, the Greeks, than the distant French; and no doubt the Slavonians and Italians would not fare much better in the race on such a new commercial arena with their wily and penurious rivals, as it is the case now in the Mediterranean and Black seas, where they are fairly beaten everywhere by the Greeks-their superiors both in commerce and navigation. This Canal will call all the Archipelago from the square-rigged ship to the "Mystik" with Latin sails-into the Red Sea, and thence along the African and Asiatic shores, all over the Indo-Australian shores-no doubt, to the great detriment of Northern commerce and navigation, sharing now almost exclusively in this trade.

This, of course, would hasten the process of Hellenizing Egypt, and finally would render it materially impossible to the rather conservative Osmanlees to manage the reins of government any longer. The Greeks bear mortal hatred to the Osmanlees, (Turks,) and the contempt these latter used to show to the conquered race is now rapidly changing into misgivings and fear-a sign not to be too slightly valued. But if things

just continue to go as they are going now, even without new outlets of trade or any artificial means, it is to be foreseen that Alexandria, at the end of this century, will be again as Greek as it was at the time of the Lagetes, at the beginning of our era.

Can such a denouement be in the interests of the two powers who just now emerged from a costly war with the Emperor-Pope, occasioned by his pretension of a protectorate over his subjects in spe in the defenseless Ottoman empire?

Considering the fact that the Anglo-Saxons of Old and New England command seven-eighths of the trans-oceanic trade, and the continent of Europe with 300,000,000 of people but the balance, the spirit of jealousy of both France and Austria may be comprehended, and also their endeavors to change the current of the world's trade, even should it be without any material benefit to themselves-as now, for instance, with the Canal of Suez, the concession of which by the Sultan is due only to their diplomatic notes. It has to be seen now if they will back it also with their bank-notes, and if they don't, who will. Who is credulous enough to believe a Linant-bey, of "Barrage celebrity," that such a gigantic enterprise will be finished in six years, and at a cost of but thirty-seven millions of dollars?

M. Lesseps takes it as granted, that the Canal through the Isthmus of Suez existed once, but he has no positive proof for this assertion. True, the canal has been tried several times, but never was accomplished; so only 300 years ago by Solyman the Magnificent, who for a time had over 60,000 men employed at this work, and certainly did not abandon it with

out reason.

Moreover, a water communication existed between Bilbeis, on one of the Nile branches and Arsinoe, the ruins of which lie about two miles northeast of Suez, on the farthest end of the Gulf. At a more remote period still, when Thebes was the capital of the Nile valley, a similar communication existed also between some small ports on the Red Sea, now unknown, somewhere near the tropical line, and a corresponding point on the Nile River. Sea-going vessels of those times-of rather diminutive size-no doubt passed by these canals and the Nile River, from the Medi

terranean into the Red Sea; so the Greek or Phoenician mariners in Pharaoh Necho's service, who first circumnavigated Africa. This has led many into the belief of a previous existence of a ship canal between Pelasium and Arsinoe (Suez.)

The range of coast from the mouths of the Nile eastwards to El-Arish, and farther still, does not allow any permanent maritime establishmentproof thereof, the inland towns of Rosetto and Damiatte, which, but a few hundred years ago were seaports, and so was Mansoora, too, in the time of St. Louis. This, no doubt, was one of the reasons why Alexander the Great selected the barren shores of the port of Alexandria for the establishment of his emporium. Yet even here alluvion is at work. Ras e teen, or the Cape of the Fig-trees, where the seraglio and government buildings stand, was an island in Julius Cæsar's time, and is now connected with the main by the wide neck of land on which modern Alexandria is confined. Where this neck of land begins to extend, about 1,500 yards from the neat anchorage of coasting vessels, some twenty years ago the ruins of a gigantic custom-house were found, which in all probability originally was erected close to the beach. The eastern or new port of Alexandria is every year filling more and more with sand and mud, and offers but little protection, except to coasting vessels of light draft.

The distance from sea to sea, between Suez and Pelusium-90 miles-is intersected by two shallow lakes or marshes of bitter water, and a branch of the lake, or, better said, Gulf of Menzaleh, as shallow as the former. The dry land consists of calcareous rock, similar to the tract of desert between Cairo and Suez. This shows sufficiently that the projector of the canal, instead of diggers-as set down in his estimate of the cost of the canal-will have to employ throughout masons, stonecutters, and miners, and that the work will take thrice as many years as estimated by him, with a proportionate increase of means, too.

On account of the shallowness of the coast in the vicinity of Pelusium, a twin mole, 6,000 yards in length, has to be projected into the sea to reach a depth of 25 feet of water. This depth, by the rapid increase in the tonnage of sea steamers now-a-days, will be found inadequate for general navigation long before this canal can be opened, and then the question arises, Will the alluvion stop at the head of these moles? The approaches to the canal in the Gulf of Suez are more difficult still, and necessitate the same works as in the Mediterranean.

M. Lesseps has some misgivings himself about the possibility of carrying through his gigantic enterprise, and says somewhere in his memoir, "Should the construction of the canal be found materially impossible, then, of course, it would be abandoned." I suppose not before finances cease flowing. Linant-bey, one of the associates of this gentleman, squandered millions of dollars and over twenty years of time, at the "Barrages," which are yet unfinished, and never will be of use; on the contrary, they are a serious obstacle to the navigation of the Nile-and at the first extraordinary rise of this river will force it into a new bed. Now, M. Linant leaves the unfinished "Barrages" but for the canal, and so will Messrs. Lesseps, Linant, and Mugelle leave the canal only for something better still. This latter gentleman, a military engineer, has made himself conspicuous with the fortifications of Alexandria-say of a place which is entirely deprived of fresh water, and draws its supplies from the distant Nile by the Mahmoodick Canal, which it wants but a marauding party to

destroy effectually in a single night; also the fortifications of the said Barrages are comtemplated by this eminent engineer. These fortifications will be about as useful as those of Alexandria.

Although in 1799 and 1845 the best French and Austrian engineers were appointed to survey the ground through which the canal has to be carried and the range of coast where it has to terminate, still no mention is made in their report of the rocky nature of the soil. This is comprehensible; but not so the oversight of "the unexceptionable anchorage, with water clear, bottom hard and free of making sand; soundings 25 feet, and at a distance of but two miles from the shore, west, but still in the vicinity of Palasium," which it was left to the distinguished engineers and savans in Sayd Pacha's service to discover in the very nick of time, when M. Lesseps was opening the subscription list of his Canal project. But what is more surprising is, that the same lucky discovery should be made simultaneously in Suez road. Now, I am pretty well acquainted with this road myself, and have good reasons to doubt that at the distance of two miles from Arsinoe, i. e., from the proposed terminus of the Canal, such an anchorage, as discovered by the said savans, can be found-as, moreover, Moresby's Chart will decide at once.

This reminds me of M. Lesseps' authorities in nautical matters in reference to the Red Sea; they are Brace's romantic travels, from some improved French translation no doubt, and a wholly unknown traveling report of a French baron by the name of Escairac de Lautour. Of Moresby, Horseburgh's Directions, Haines, Wellsted, Sheikh Ibrahim, and others, he knows nothing-perhaps because their works are written in a language with which he is not familiar.

M. Lesseps, in his comparing of distances, takes Bombay as the startingpoint. Singapore, for its central position, would be more appropriate, of course; but then the result of his calculations would be less striking, less startling.

These glittering prospects, apparently, are intended for Sayd Pacha and his courtiers. Sayd Pacha, like his father, Mohamet Aaly, is easily led into any scheme which humors his ambition and leads to monopoly-as, for instance, the Suez Canal in the light presented by the French projectors.

Mohamet Aaly, too, left to his offspring a hereditary policy or hobby, viz., the restoration of the Arabian Khalifaat, and the independence from, if not the overthrow of, the Ottoman power. This hobby, thirty years ago, led to all the admired reforms in army, navy, and administrationto the useless fortifications, too, of Alexandria, and to the worse than useless, the worthless Egyptian fleet, in which the revenues of the country were engulfed for years. This hobby it was-but by no means a generous disposition in the character, falsely credited to the Græco-Slavonic Arnaout chieftain, Mohamet Aaly-which created the hot-house cultivation of reforms in Egypt. This hobby cracked Mohamet Aaly's brain ten years before his death, and probably was the cause of the premature end of his favorite son's (Ibrahim) career, whose political tendencies did not suit Abdul Medjid's administration.

By the best intelligence received, Sayd Pacha seems to have lost his wits, too. This, no doubt, is the cause of the late appointment of a Turkish Commissioner to Egypt. Nothing shows better how Lesseps and his associates in the canal scheme know how to manage the weak-minded

Pacha, than the childish proposition they made to him some time ago, viz., to christen the new port to be established on the Mediterranean "Saydopolis!"

The discoveries of Diaz and Colombo were not the direct cause of the great commercial revolution in the fifteenth century, which changed so completely the run of the world's trade. As long as the Portuguese mariners used eight months' time to reach the Malabar coast, following the coast from Mogadore to Mogadoxo, from whence they crossed the Arabian Sea with the assistance of Arabian pilots, a peaceable competition from this quarter would not have been very dangerous to the Arabian monopoly of Indian trade. Violence and mismanagement only brought this monopoly into the hands of the Portuguese, and closed the channel of the Red Sea to the world's trade. The spirit of enterprise in the North lacked but an appropriate field whereon to exercise its expansive power and intellect. The Portuguese and Spaniards found the field, but were too weak to withstand the throng of the Northern intruders, who soon grasped the benefit of the discovery. John Bart, a Fleming, first availed himself of the Western trade-wind; his short voyages of four months to the Malayan Archipelago were then ascribed to witchcraft, and gave rise to the fable of the "Flying Dutchman." Improvement upon improvement followed since in ship-building, astronomy, and nautical art, in the intellectual North. Meanwhile, Southern Europe remained stationary, on account of the indolence of its inhabitants, and their avowed aversion to innovations and progress.

New York, Liverpool, and Hamburg are now the staples of the world's trade and here lies the axis round which the trade moves. The continent of Europe is open in the North by half a dozen streams; meanwhile, its southern shores, from the Rhone to the Hellespont, are hemmed in by rocky mountains. With the exception of some unimportant streams in the peninsulas of Italy and Iberia, there is but the Rhone leading into the interior of the continent, and even this solitary stream is not accessible to sea-going vessels of the smallest sort.

Genoa is contriving at a monster tunnel through the Alps to bring the world's trade back on the old path, now fallen into disuse for three centuries and more; but this is not enough, she has also to provide for exchange goods to India, in order to succeed in her endeavors. Swiss, German, and French manufactures; dried fruits, wine, and salad-oil, are not sufficient to reach the proposed end of attracting the Indian trade into the Mediterranean, even with a canal as wide and deep as the English Channel, and a tunnel to match; and for a special trade only, such gigantic artificial communications are by far too costly. Where are the coals, the iron, and the colossal manufactures depending therefrom; where the lordly oaks and pines for ship-building; the naval stores and provisions to fill the host of vessels India bound? The Mediterranean has no substitute for them.

The African shores, from Morocco to the Nile valley, are hemmed in with the desert sand; so is Syria. On this whole coast, of over 2,000 miles extent, the Nile is the only highroad practicable leading to the interior. The Archipelago, with few exceptions, is composed of rocky and barren islands; the Peninsula of Morea is of the same character; and Asia Minor, with the European provinces of Turkey, are in a greatly neglected and impoverished state. Italy, and the provinces of Russia,