present is, to consider what common sense and ordinary prudence requires us to do, as things actually stand.

Lord Palmerston is proverbially fond of getting England into hot water. It will be fortunate, indeed, if he gratify his taste during his present administration by devoting his talents to steam. By applying the steam, he may get up to increasing our communications with India; and extending them in the Mediterranean, he will do more to benefit his country, than he did during his last administration, when he put the Syrians, Greeks, and Affghans, the late Sultan Mahmoud and old Mohammed Ali all into hot war in order to cure the political evils of the east. We do not, here, wish to praise Lord Aberdeen by depreciating his predecessor. The noble earl, true to his plan of political rivalry with the energetic viscount, threw cold water on everything. No man in his senses, therefore, thought it was possible to get up steam under his system of frigidity.

The truth is, the people of England must look after their own affairs, abroad as well as at home, if they wish serious attention to be paid to their duties by Foreign Secretaries and distant ambassadors. These gentlemen are too much occupied with court intrigues when out of sight, and with questions of patronage, pence, titles, pensions, and stars, to think of the commercial interests of the British empire or of the people, unless these interests are forced on their

attention by a minister like Sir Robert Peel, or by some decided expression of public opinion. It may still require all the attention of the British public to prevent Lord Palmerston running in at the first diplomatic door through which he can see a fire burning with a kettle on it.

The Improvements now in progress in Egypt must soon increase the facilities of Transport through that country.

The Pasha of Egypt is at present engaged in executing improvements in the channel of the Nile, which, when completed, will rival the most celebrated works of antiquity in grandeur of conception, and form an era in the history of mankind, from the wide extended influence they will produce on the civilization of a large portion of the human race. The work of Mohammed Ali will surpass both the Pyramids and the Lake of Moeris; it will equal the one in the magnitude of the design, and the other in its extensive utility.

The object of this great undertaking of the Pasha is to raise the permanent level of the Nile, above the point of the Delta, to nearly the mean height of the inundation. It is proposed to effect this by throwing an immense dam across the Nile, at this point, with sluices to carry off the superabundant water, as may appear necessary. This dam is called the barrage of the Nile, and it will be one of the wonders of the world in future ages. The plan on

which it has been commenced is to constructia bridge of about eighty arches over the river. Sluices are to be left for the passage of boats into each branch of the river; and the arches are to be closed by gates, in order to afford the means of raising or lowering the level of the water at pleasure. The commencement of the work is alone sufficient to immortalize the government of Mohammed Ali; for, even should this first attempt fail, the execution of the project is so closely connected with the improvement of Egypt, and with the commercial schemes of the Mediterranean nations, that its ultimate execution is certain. Seven thousand men have been working for several months at the undertaking, under the direction of Monsieur Mongel, the able French engineer, who constructed the dry dock at Alexandria.

It would be out of place here to criticise either the manner in which this magnificent work is to be performed, or to examine into the details of the method by which Monsieur Mongel and the engineers of the Pasha are carrying it into execution. There can be no doubt, that though the work is one attended with considerable difficulties in the execution, it is nevertheless an undertaking opposed by no insuperable obstacle. Its perfect execution is a matter of expense; and the judgment of the engineer will be best shown in the calculations by which he renders the means conformable to the end. Probably, experience will show that unless the sur

plus water be carried off by new canals to Alexandria and to the Red Sea, a few inundations will suffice to land the arches of the barrage at Rosetta and Damietta.

It is, however, the fashion of the English in Egypt to criticise and ridicule this work, and we do not wish to fall into the same error. The history of the dry dock at Alexandria may serve as a caution to travellers not to listen to the suggestions of disappointed jealousy or rival speculations. Even our Foreign Office officials may learn a lesson of prudence, and refrain from indulging the spirit of diplomatic prophecy and their own anti-Gallican spleen and envy, at the expense of the barrage and their own ignorance.

Several years ago, the Pasha of Egypt employed Monsieur Mongel to construct a dry dock at Alexandria. The English at that time had no dry dock in the Mediterranean, though they are now employed in constructing one at Malta. The English in Egypt, one and all, though few knew anything about dry docks, declared that the French plan was a bad one, and that the dock would never be finished. English engineers recommended a different plan, and the work really presented considerable difficulties. The dry dock in question has notwithstanding been completed on the plan of Monsieur Mongel. As some filtration goes on through the foundations, the English persist in declaring it is a wet dock. The author of this me

moir has, however, seen the keel of a line of battle ship undergoing repair in it, and consequently in spite of his patriotism, he has resolved not to sneer at it, until our own dry dock at Malta be finished. It is not to be denied, however, that every public work in Egypt is capriciously executed, and generally the latter part completed in a hasty and not very solid manner. But might not the same thing be said of some of the works of that munificent patron of the fine arts, King Louis of Bavaria? The inhabitants of London may have heard of Nelson's column.

There cannot be a doubt that the barrage may be as effectually completed as the dry dock. And should it be once terminated, and all the advantages to be derived from its completion practically illustrated, there can be no doubt that even if it should be swept away in the course of the first summer, a thing by no means impossible,-still the government of Egypt would immediately commence its restoration.

It must be recollected, that the primary object of the barrage, and the sole object in the view of the Pasha, is to augment the agricultural resources of Egypt, and diminish the expense of cultivating the land below the point of the Delta. It would save the expense of constructing and keeping in repair about 40,000 water wheels, and the price and labour of 100,000 oxen, and it would render the labour of 40,000 men disposable for more profit