mense importance of the subject; and a gentleman well instructed in the laws of England, as well as in the political and commercial relations of Great Britain, ought immediately to be charged with the duties of this important Consulate. The East India Company can surely find a civil servant who would be happy to accept the office of agent for the sake of the climate. Nothing would go to ruin in consequence of these changes; for the agency of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Company, the banking business of Messrs. Briggs and Co., and supplying boats and means of transport, would form the nucleus of a very respectable establishment at Cairo. There has been great negligence in the whole sphere of our Consular establishments in the East, and it would be extremely incorrect to suppose that the Consulate at Cairo is inferior to most of our Eastern Consulates. It is the system that requires to be changed, and the root of the evil is in the Foreign Office.*

Projects for the formation of a Ship Canal and a Railway through Egypt.

Two mighty projects for improving the means of communicating with India have been of late fre

A return of all the Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents in her Majesty's service, was published by order of Parliament at the end of last session. It shows the great importance of giving this numerous body a systematic form, education, and organization.

quently discussed. One is the formation of a ship canal from Suez, across the Isthmus direct to the Mediterranean at Tineh; the other is the construction of a railway from Suez to Cairo. Το carry either of these projects into execution, it would be absolutely necessary to commence by forming a canal to convey fresh water from the Nile to Suez. At present there is not a drop of potable water either at Suez or on the lines proposed for the ship canal or for the railway. Projectors may talk of digging a canal of seventy miles in length to let in the sea, or forming eighty-five miles of railway through sandy deserts without a blade of grass or a drop of fresh water, but every body who has visited Suez knows that until the ancient canal between the Nile and the Red Sea is restored, Suez can never become a commercial depôt of any use, and a ship canal to the Mediterranean, or a railway to Cairo would both, if constructed, prove nearly useless. In order to make any project of communication feasible, it is necessary that the country along the line of communication should be converted into a habitable district.

There is no doubt that the ground along the Isthmus of Suez offers very great facilities for the formation of a ship canal from Suez to Tineh. The difference of level between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean at these two places is about thirty-three feet. The length of the canal including the bed of the salt lakes would be about one hundred miles,

and the only serious difficulty would be the formation of a port at the point of communication with the Mediterranean. The enormous expense of forming this port, and the danger which vessels would encounter in making it, are objections which may perhaps, prevent this canal from being undertaken for many years. To the coasting trade of Egypt, Arabia, and Syria, it would, however, most certainly be of considerable use. To Great Britain, and even to the Mediterranean powers aspiring at a share in the Indian trade, it would be of little use. Still, it is a favourite project with the French and Austrians, as the execution of every new project gives them an additional chance of supplanting England in commercial enterprises, when all parties start at the same time in a new undertaking. The Mediterranean vessels which take in cargoes at Mocha, may certainly avail themselves of this route with advantage; and surely our Maltese and Ionian vessels, ought to be able to secure quite as large a share of this trade as the French or the Austrians. At those seasons of the year when the winds in the Red Sea admit of quick passages to the north, some saving of time would certainly be effected to all the ports between Marseilles and Bombay. But the hope enter tained by Austria, France, and Italy, that this canal, if executed, would render their Indian trade totally independent of the London market, would very soon be found to be a delusion. It is needless

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to repeat here, that every advantage to be expected from the construction of a ship canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, will be attained as effectually by the formation of the two branches, of the Nile flowing to Suez and Alexandria, which will be a necessary result of Mohammed Ali's grand scheme of the barrage.

The project of a railway from Cairo to Suez, has met with as much favour among the English, as the ship canal among foreigners. There are certainly no great engineering difficulties in the construction of the proposed line. The length would be less than ninety miles. But a railroad for a weekly transit of passengers and goods, through a desert without a drop of water, is not likely under any circumstances to prove a profitable speculation. When a railroad exists from Bombay to Calcutta, it will be time enough to discuss the details connected with the execution of one from Cairo to Suez. If a railroad should ever be required for the communications between Europe and India, through Egypt; there can be no doubt that it must commence at Alexandria, and follow the banks of the branches of the Nile, which will connect that part with the Red Sea. But it is an idle waste of time to speculate on such a future.

The projectors both of the ship canal and of the railroad have always proceeded on the hypothesis, that they could persuade Mohammed Ali to lavish immense treasures on the execution of their plans,

without any reference to the probable returns. Under favourable circumstances, it was thought either of these undertakings would have yielded returns sufficiently large to keep up the works, if once properly finished. This might perhaps be doubtful with regard to the railroad, but with regard to the ship canal it was supposed to be more certain, as the expenses would be comparatively small.

Mohammed Ali has shown himself far wiser than these projectors. In adopting the barrage as the great work of his government, he will carry into execution the object of their plans, and combine the improvement of the communications between Europe and India, with the amelioration of the state of Egypt and the civilization of the East.

Mohammed Ali's system of government is adverse to the improvement of the communications with India through Egypt.

Mohammed Ali has been an able and intelligent ruler of a Turkish pashalik, but he is not a statesman, and he has a very imperfect idea of the duties of a sovereign. He is only a type of Turkish progress, and becomes great only when Egypt is compared with Greece. He is after all a foreign and Mamlook Sultan, who has laid the foundations of his domination over Egypt in his exchequer, instead of in his army. He governs his Pashalik pretty much as his predecessors did before him; but his ability has enabled him to avail himself of the