conductor and myself following them, we entered a passage which led to
another cellar, contiguous to that in which the papers were printed.
There, sitting round a number of tables, were several young women. These
women seized upon a portion of the papers brought in, and with an
amazing rapidity folded them into a small compass. In a few minutes all
the papers I had seen printed were folded and numbered off by dozens.
Then comes another operation: a man came round and deposited before each
woman a bundle of little paper slips, which I found to be the addresses
of the subscribers. The women placed the labels and the paste on one
side, and commenced operations. A bundle of papers, folded, was placed
before each; the forefinger, dipped in the paste, immediately touched
the paper and the label simultaneously, and the ‘Constitutionnel’ flew
out with a speed perfectly astonishing from the hands of these women,
ready to be distributed in town or country. They were then finishing the
labelling of the papers for Paris circulation; 20,000 copies scarcely
sufficing for the supply.
This was the concluding sight in my visit to a Paris Newspaper Office.
LINES BY ROBERT SOUTHEY.
[_From an Unpublished Autograph._]
The days of Infancy are all a dream,
How fair, but oh! how short they seem—
’Tis Life’s sweet opening SPRING!
The days of Youth advance:
The bounding limb, the ardent glance,
The kindling soul they bring—
It is Life’s burning SUMMER time.
Manhood—matured with wisdom’s fruit,
Reward of Learning’s deep pursuit—
Succeeds, as AUTUMN follows Summer’s prime.
And that, and that, alas! goes by;
And what ensues? The languid eye,
The failing frame, the soul o’ercast;
’Tis WINTER’S sickening, withering blast,
Life’s blessed season—for it is the last.
SHORT CUTS ACROSS THE GLOBE.
THE ISTHMUS OF SUEZ.
That little neck of land which lies between the head of the Red Sea and
the Gulph of Gaza, in the Mediterranean, is the cause of merchandise
circumnavigating the two longest sides of the triangular continent of
Africa on its way to the East; instead of making the short cut which is
available for passengers by what is called the ‘overland route.’ If a
water-way were opened across the Isthmus, the highway for the goods
traffic as well as for the passenger traffic of Europe, India, China,
and Australia, will be along the Mediterranean and Red Seas and the
Indian Ocean. And that highway will be so thronged, that the expense of
travelling by it will be reduced to a _minimum_, and the accommodations
for travellers at intermediate stations raised to a _maximum_ of
comfort.
This state of affairs—analogous to that which occurs in the intercourse
of two towns where there is a round-about road for carts and carriages,
and a footpath across the meadows for foot-passengers only—is attended
by great inconveniences. Letters relating to mercantile transactions are
forwarded by the short cut; the merchandise to which they relate follows
tardily by the round-about road. The advantageous bargain concluded now
may have a very different aspect when the goods come to be delivered
three or four months hence. The seven-league-boot expedition of letters,
and the tardy progress of goods, convert all transactions between
England and India into a game of chance. This fosters that spirit of
gambling speculation already too rife among us.
Again, so long as the route for passengers continues to be something
different and apart from the route for merchandise, the travelling
charges will be kept higher, and the accommodations for travellers less
comfortable than they would otherwise be. Railways, in arranging their
tariff of fares, venture to reduce the charge for passengers (in the
hope of augmenting their number) when they can rely upon the returns
from the goods traffic to make up deficiencies. If merchandise, as well
as travellers and letters, could be carried by what is called the
overland route (of which scarcely two hundred miles are travelled by
land), the passengers’ fares would admit of great reduction; and as that
route would thus become the great highway, frequented by greater crowds,
the accommodation of travellers could be better cared for. Travellers in
carriages rarely reflect how much the amount of charges at inns depends
upon the landlords having a profitable run of business among less
distinguished guests.
As we remarked, when descanting on the Panama route, physical obstacles
to the opening of short cuts are of much less consequence than those
which originate in financial difficulties. Almost any physical obstacles
may be overcome, if money can be profitably invested in the undertaking,
and if money can be got for such investment.
Were we projectors of companies, and engaged in preparing an attractive
prospectus, we might boldly declare that the obstacles in the
construction of a ship canal at Suez are trifling, and that the work
would prove amply remunerative. But being only impartial spectators, we
are obliged to confess that our information respecting the nature of the
country is lamentably defective, and that what we do know does not
warrant any sanguine expectation. Public attention has been
industriously directed from the true line of a ship canal across the
Isthmus of Suez. The late Mehemet Ali—peace to his ashes!—was a humbug
of the first water, and he knew how to avail himself of the services of
kindred spirits. He understood enough of European whims and sentiments
to know what tone of language he must adopt in order to persuade
Europeans he was subserving their views, while he was, in reality,
promoting his own. He talked, therefore, of facilitating the intercourse
between India and Europe, but he thought of making that intercourse pass
through his dominions by the longest route, and in the way which would
oblige travellers to leave the greatest possible amount of money behind
them; and to attain his ends he retained in his service a motley group
of Europeans—the vain, the ignorant, and the jobbing, who did his
spiriting after a fashion that bears conclusive testimony to his
judgment and tact in selecting them.
What is really wanted for the commerce of Europe and India, is a ship
canal across the Isthmus of Suez, by the shortest and least difficult
route. What Mehemet Ali conceded was a land passage through his
dominions by the longest possible route. The natural course of a ship
canal is, in a straight line, from Suez to the eastern extremity of Lake
Menzaleh: the line of transit conceded by Mehemet Ali is from Alexandria
by Cairo to Suez, nearly three times as long. The former line passes
across a low and well-watered region: the latter renders necessary an
interchange of canal and river navigation, and dry land passage across
the desert. The former might be passed in a day without halting: the
latter occupies several days, and includes necessary stoppages in the
inns of Alexandria and Cairo. But Mehemet Ali and his tools directed
attention from the former, and gabbled about railways and other
impracticabilities, and the European public was gulled. Egypt can be
reached any day by a fortnight’s easy and luxurious travel, and yet the
country between the eastern extremity of Lake Menzaleh and Suez is less
accurately known than the Isthmus of Panama.
What we do know, with any degree of certainty about this transit, is
briefly as follows:—The navigation of the Red Sea in the vicinity of
Suez is rather intricate, abounding in shoals, but there is secure
anchorage, and sufficient draft of water for merchant ships of
considerable burden. The Mediterranean off the eastern extremity of Lake
Menzaleh is rather shallow, tolerably sheltered from the west wind,
which prevails for a part of the year, but exposed to the north wind.
Between Suez and the site of the ruins of Pelusium at the eastern end of
the lake, the land is low and level, apparently for a part of the way
between the level of both seas. The low land receives in the wet season
the drainings of the high land on the east, which is a northern
continuation of the mountains between the gulfs of Suez and Akaba. In
addition to this, the land to the westward (northward of the Mokattam
mountains which terminate near Cairo) has a twofold slope,—the principal
northward to the Mediterranean, the secondary eastward to the line of
country we are now describing. Originally, there appears to have been a
branch of the Nile entering the Mediterranean near where the ruins of
Pelusium now are, and those intermediate branches between that and the
Damietta branch.
The first mentioned is now closed, the other two very much obstructed;
but their waters still find a way to the coast, though diminished by
artificial works, and appear to be the cause of the collection of
shallow water called Lake Menzaleh. Here, then, we have sixty
geographical miles of a low country, with no considerable undulations,
towards which the waters of Arabia Petræa flow in their season, and
towards which a considerable portion of the waters of the Nile would
flow if left to fall on the natural declivity of the country. There is
an abundant supply of water for a ship canal. The surface of the ground
is in some places covered with drift sand, but not uniformly nor even
for the most part. The subsoil is hard, clayey or pebbley. The
bent-grasses might be cultivated, as they have been in Holland, to give
firmness to the drift sand where it occurs; and this superficial
obstacle removed, the subsoil is favourable to the construction of a
permanent water-channel. The great difficulty would be the construction
of works by which access to the canal is to be obtained from the
Mediterranean. Apparently they would require to be carried far out into
the sea; and apparently it would be difficult to prevent their being
sanded up by the waves which the north winds drive upon the coast for a
great part of the year.
These difficulties, though great, are not insuperable. The advanced
state of marine architecture and engineering ought surely to be able to
cope with them. By re-opening the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, and
throwing into it the waters which would naturally find their way into
the Tanitic and Mendesian branches, a sufficient stream of water might
be thrown into the Mediterranean at Pelusium to keep a passage open by
its _scour_. We must speak with diffidence about a locality which has
yet been so imperfectly surveyed; but so far as the present state of our
knowledge respecting it enables us to judge, there are no serious
impediments to the construction of a ship canal from Pelusium to Suez,
which would be perfectly accessible and practicable for vessels of from
300 to 350 tons burden; and there is a growing impression among
merchants and skippers that this class of vessels is the best for
trading purposes.
But the great difficulty remains yet to be noticed; the condition of
government and civil security in that country. The isthmus is close on
the borders of civilised Europe, and ample supplies of effective
labourers could be procured from Malta, and the Syrian and African
coasts. But so long as the country is subject to a Turkish dynasty,
could the undertakers count upon fair play and sufficient protection
from the local authorities? And are the jealous powers of Europe likely
to combine in good faith to afford them a guarantee that they should be
enabled to prosecute their enterprise in security?
CURIOUS EPITAPH.
The following curious Inscription appears in the Churchyard, Pewsey,
Dorsetshire:—
HERE LIES THE BODY
OF
LADY O’LOONEY,
GREAT NIECE OF BURKE,
COMMONLY CALLED THE SUBLIME.
SHE WAS
BLAND, PASSIONATE, AND DEEPLY RELIGIOUS;
ALSO, SHE PAINTED
IN WATER-COLOURS,
AND SENT SEVERAL PICTURES
TO THE EXHIBITION.
SHE WAS FIRST COUSIN
TO LADY JONES;
AND OF SUCH
IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
Published at the Office, No. 16, Wellington Street North, Strand.
Printed by BRADBURY & EVANS, Whitefrairs, London.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
Page Changed from Changed to
146 bursting hose), balls of cord, bursting hose), balls of cord,
flat rose, escape-chain flat hose, escape-chain
● Fixed typos; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.
● Renumbered footnotes.
● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
● The caret (^) serves as a superscript indicator, applicable to
individual characters (like 2^d) and even entire phrases (like
1^{st}).