Ferdinand de Lesseps

“ Let us bring the populations of Polynesia, of Australia and China, of the Indies and of Africa, nearer to Europe; let us make them participators in the blessings of civilization.
To accomplish this great undertaking, we appeal to all religious and intelligent men, for it is worthy of their sympathy and co-operation.
We invoke the support of all statesmen, because in the establishment of new and easy means of communication between the two hemispheres all nations are interested. ”

“ The tongues of sand which separate the lake of Thau from the gulf of the Lion, the tongue of earth upon which Alexandria is built, those which separate the lakes Bourlos and Menzaleh from the Mediterranean, are bars of sand formed by the ground swell. The sand bank which separates from the Red Sea the vast basin of the Bitter Lakes, was, without any doubt, a ford elevated by the ground swell, which, in tempestuous weather, ascends this sea with the current of the tides charged with sand. ”

“ The results already obtained from the intimate alliance of France and England, testify sufficiently to the advantages that the European balance and civilization in general derive from that union of the two peoples. The future and the welfare of all the nations of the universe are therefore concerned in maintaining intact, in preserving from any attack, a state of things, which, to the everlasting honour of the Governments that have brought it about, can alone, with time, ensure the blessings of progress and of peace to the human race. ”

“ Everything that results in contributing to the extension of the commerce, of the industry, and of the navigation of the world, is especially advantageous to England, a power which stands foremost amongst all others from the importance of its navy, from the productions of its manufactories, and from its commercial relations. ”

“ If the minimum distances which separate the ports of Europe from those of India, on the one part by the Cape of Good Hope, and on the other by the Canal of the two Seas, be compared with each other, enormous differences in favour of the latter route will be made manifest. These differences become still greater, when it is recollected that, in navigation, a straight line is far from being the shortest way from one point to another, and that navigators only reach their destination by successively following a certain number of courses, which form greater or lesser angles with each other. ”

“ The power in possession of Aden opens and shuts at its will the Red Sea, and if it is true that the influence of nations and governments chiefly depends on the good they can do to their friends and the harm they can do to their enemies, that revolution would be of no slight advantage to England which would lead the principal current of the world’s commerce under the guns of her ships and the batteries of her fortresses. Besides, is it from the naval armaments of the Mediterranean that England [19] has most reason to fear an invasion of India? ”

“ But is the objection very serious at the present time? can the obstacle, which occasions this anxiety, resist the constructive means which are at the disposal of our engineers? We think not. To create a port without the assistance of nature; to put a restraint upon the sea; to reduce it to subjection; to impose upon it an artificial roadstead; and to maintain that roadstead, in spite of the natural causes operating to destroy it: is a problem which has ceased to terrify modern art.
“Let us take the port of Pelusium,—see how easily the difficulty would be removed! ”

“ A project, therefore, which, by severing two continents, proposes to change the whole course of commerce and communication between the eastern and western worlds, and approximate by many thousand miles the knowledge and industry of the west to the ignorance and barbarism of the east, presents considerations of a nature to excite the imagination, and to awaken some of our best feelings in its favour. ”

“ Now is it not evident that the opening of the Maritime Canal will greatly facilitate commercial relations, and tend to lower the price of all merchandize? the 500,000,000 of human beings peopling India and China are still sunk in ignorance and superstition. With steam navigation, which will be developed beyond all conception by the opening of the Canal, these people, brought into daily communication with European ideas, will enter by degrees into the current of science and civilization. ”

“ The prosperity of the East is intimately connected at the present day with the interests of civilization in general, and the most effectual means of working its welfare, in connection with that of humanity, is to break down the barriers that still separate individuals, races, and nations.
War and commerce have civilized the world. [31] War will have played out its part with that last effort which is being made under our eyes. The victories hereafter to be gained will be those of commerce only. Let us exert ourselves to open up for her a new route. ”

“ Looking at the situation of affairs in a general way, it is scarcely to be perceived upon what ground and upon what occasion, those struggles, which so long desolated the world, could be renewed. Is it financial and commercial interests that could cause division between the two peoples? Why, British capital thrown into all the undertakings of France, and the immense developement of international commerce, have established ties between them which become closer every day. ”

“ If Trieste participates largely, as is to be hoped, in the advantages of the Isthmus Company, if her neighbour of the Adriatic finds therein a new life, Great Britain will lose nothing thereby. Has it ever been seen that a capital city, brought into communication with a great market by a railroad, has had to regret the shortening of the distance and the amelioration of its own relations, because some secondary towns on the line were nearer to the market and participated in the common benefit? ”

“ But it seems scarcely to admit of a question, that the power of steam, applied to navigation, will exercise a more extensive, a more rapid, and a more efficacious influence in accelerating the civilization of the world than even the printing press.
Five hundred millions of human beings inhabiting Hindostan and China remain to this day enslaved by debasing superstitions, and sunk in mental darkness and delusion. What a field is here opening to the Christian philanthropist! To aid in the removal of ignorance and superstition by the diffusion of useful knowledge, and an enlightened religion ”

“ Great Britain, from the vast extent of her commerce and political connections with the East, would, undoubtedly, derive the greatest advantage from it; but most of the other nations of Europe would derive benefit in proportion to the extent of their commerce; and those, having ports in the Mediterranean and Levant, or indeed anywhere nearer to the proposed communication than the ports of Great Britain, would gain more in proportion. ”

“ It has been affirmed that the project of a canal might retard the construction of a railway from Alexandria to Suez, which the policy of England has always considered essential to her Indian interests.
Far from being retarded by the canal project, the railway will, on the contrary, be indebted to this very design, for its speedy completion; for it can only obtain sufficient returns from the activity occasioned by a considerable maritime commerce across the Isthmus of Suez. ”

“ In treating of the navigation on the Red Sea, as compared to that on the ocean, to reach India, we think we have demonstrated that at present, with the means of steam-towing, with the aid of lighthouses, and the knowledge acquired of the winds, the currents, and the coasts of the Red Sea, a sailing vessel will meet with more facilities on this latter, than on the Ocean in the passage of the Cape; but let us admit the circumstances to be equal on either side, by way of the Canal 2000 leagues at least are economised in the passage between Europe and the regions of the extreme East. ”

“ Turkey is aware that the Canal of the two Seas is destined to add to her power and prosperity, by bringing Constantinople nearer by 4300 leagues to the Indian Ocean, and by facilitating the communication with the Holy Places of Arabia, the source of the authority the Sultan possesses over his Mussulman population.
Turkey can rise from her present languor only by borrowing capital and intelligence from Europe. ”

“ It may perhaps not be superfluous to reply to those persons who still believe in the supposed monopoly which they think it advisable for England to retain in her commerce with the East; we have just seen that there is in fact no such monopoly as far as the United States are concerned, and that England does not suffer from the want of it. It is the same with respect to Europe. This state of things has a tendency to increase every day, even with the existing means of communication by the Cape of Good Hope and the imperfect transit through Egypt. ”

“ During the increase of the waters, how could a current of five miles an hour, be crossed by sailing vessels against the wind blowing from the east and south?
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Against this formidable obstacle to the crossing which cannot be avoided, an expedient not less surprising, and still more impracticable, has been devised; the barrage is set aside, the employment of it being too hazardous, and the Nile is to be crossed by a bridge Canal. But can we form an idea of a Canal 8 met. deep crossing a river like the Nile above the barrage? ”

“ A deplorable prejudice, based upon the political antagonism which so long and so unhappily existed between France and England, has alone accredited the opinion that the opening of the canal of Suez, so useful for the interests of civilization and of the common weal, could damage those of England. ”

“ Among these works of the future, it appears to us that the cutting through the Isthmuses of Panama and Suez stand in the first rank, and which multiplying and strengthening the ties by which people of all climates, of all races, of all [122] beliefs are united to Great Britain, will connect for ever the general prosperity of nations with the happiness of our country, their security with its power, their independence with its liberty. ”

“ In calm weather, the sea-current which flows along the coast from west to east has not sufficient force to affect the equilibrium of the beach. Thus, to sum the matter up, the most that can be feared is the accumulation of a small quantity of the loose sand in the Gulf at the angle of the windward jetty. Supposing that even 10,000 cubic metres per ann. should be so deposited, which, according to what we have said, is an exaggeration, it would take 100 years to advance the beach 400 metres, and such an advance would produce no perceptible effect at the extremities of the jetties. ”

“ If we now examine the conditions to which navigation is subjected in the three seas nearest to Suez, that is to say, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Oman, we shall find that in the Mediterranean the winds blow from the north during the greater part of the year, change to the south by east towards the spring, and return to the north, passing by the west and north-west. ”

“ The future alone can show what truth there is in this assumption; we cannot at all conceive the opposition of the Government of a great nation to a project to which the English have especially, in these latter times, drawn the attention of the commercial world and their own Government on account of the special advantages which it offers to England. ”

“ Those who are at all acquainted with the history of Egypt, are aware that the north wind, there called the Etesian wind, prevails during the six hottest months of the year. The two chains of mountains, which confine Egypt to the east and west, compel this wind to follow precisely this northerly direction. It is reasonable to suppose that it would be the same for the Arabian Gulf, if the course of that narrow sea were parallel to the land of Egypt. But the Red Sea extends nearly from north-west to south-east, from Suez to Mocha ”

“ A great part of the Mediterranean fishermen will [162] transport themselves to the Indian Sea, to pursue their occupation, and increase the activity of the navigation in the Maritime Canal.
We may therefore be sure that the cutting through of the Isthmus will increase ten-fold the operations of commerce and navigation; that, as with every undertaking based upon a true principle, the consequences cannot be calculated, and that the idea most exaggerated in appearance, will always be surpassed by the reality. ”

“ But, not to carry our views and our anticipations so far, in a zone nearer at hand, Arabia and Abyssinia, the vast country of the Gallas, the deserts of the [65] western coast of the Red Sea, with their roving populations, attached by powerful ties to the vast circle of traffic which our continent unceasingly creates and feeds—will enter into the pale of the European world. Navigation and industry charged with the supply of immense countries destitute of everything, will take a more extensive range. ”