TOWER OF FONTENAY; AND THE HEIRESS OF THE VAUGHANS, 86 INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENTS AND ASSOCIATIONS, LORD BROUGHAM, 87 88 HE immense advantages to the merchant-commerce of Great Britain Twith India, and the great additional security for the permanence of English rule in that vast peninsula which must result, were a ship-canal carried through the strip of sand, shingle, and swamp, not more at its narrowest part than about seventy-five miles in width, which separates the Mediterranean from the Red Sea, and popularly known as the Isthmus of Suez, must be apparent to the least observant person. Various plans for effecting this desirable object have been proposed, discussed, and forgotten during the last half-century, and at the first view of the matter it would seem that we are still as far off as ever from its accomplishment. But this, a little reflection will convince us, is by no means the case. Much indispensable preparatory work has during that period been successfully achieved. The chief difficulties, hinderances, and hazards previously believed to be inseparable from the voyage to Bombay or Madras by the Mediterranean and Red Sea have, by the vigilance and sagacity of the Indian and home governments, and the marvellous progress of scientific discovery and invention, been removed or overcome. That highway of the seas is now sentinelled throughout at every pass, save that immediately by Suez, which commands it; and a matter of perhaps even greater importance the dangers, uncertainties, and delays, formerly incidental to Red-Sea navigation, no longer exist. A few words will suffice to establish these two propositions. On glancing at the map, the reader will perceive that there are three points or keys along the overland route, as it is called, from England to Eastern India, which command, and almost, so to speak, shut it in. These No. 81. VOL. XI. 1 points or keys are Gibraltar, at the entrance of the Mediterranean; Malta, between Sicily and Africa; and Aden, by Bab-el-Mandeb, the Arabian 'Gate of Tears,' at the southern extremity of the Red Sea. Were either of these positions, Malta and Aden more especially, held by hostile forces, it is manifest that, in the event of war, this comparatively short cut to the Indian Ocean would be insecure, if not impracticable. Napoleon Bonaparte well understood this, and it was one of the chief reasons which induced him to declare to Lord Whitworth, previous to the rupture of the Peace of Amiens, that he would rather see the English in possession of the heights of Montmartre than of Malta. It was not before 1839 that the fortress of Aden, which commands the Pass of Bab-el-Mandeb, was by a lucky circumstance, as promptly as audaciously turned to account, taken possession of, and secured by the Anglo-Indian government. In the next place steam has rendered the difficult and dangerous navigation, as it was always held, of the Red Sea, not only practicable during all seasons of the year, but as safe as it is swift and certain. Before that mighty agent of both moral and physical progress had been applied to ship propulsion, it was a common saying amongst nautical men: that there were six months in the year when you could not get out, and six months in the year when you could not get into the Red Sea.' There is no doubt something of exaggeration in this saying, although in the main true enough. This long and narrow sea, 1200 miles in length, and so thickly studded with coral reefs at varying distances from the shore as to render it imperative for vessels of any considerable burthen to keep the clear mid-channel, is swept throughout its entire extent, during the south-west monsoon in the Indian Ocean, by a north-west wind, and during the north-east monsoon by a strong southerly wind. The Red Sea lies between the 12th and 30th degrees of latitude; its main line from Suez to Bab-el-Mandeb is from N.N.W. to S.S.E.; and it is quite plain, therefore, that its navigation by sailing vessels must be always exceedingly slow, if not accommodated to these prevalent and alternating winds. The slight Arab and Egyptian vessels leave the ports of the Red Sea for India during the south-west, and return during the north-east monsoon. Those timid and unskilful sailors, creeping along between the coral-reefs and the shore, and hastily anchoring in some friendly nook, or in the lee of a sheltering highland, at the slightest sign of a gale coming on usually occupy as much time in getting from one extremity of the Arabian Gulf to the other-forty days—as the ancients did. A steamer of fair speed will sweep through in four or five days only, and at any and every season of the year; and thus one main difficulty and hinderance in this route is thoroughly surmounted. Since 1775 the time occupied in the overland journey has been greatly diminished. In that year dispatches were for the first time sent to Bombay from England by the Isthmus of Suez: the winds were favourable, and the task was accomplished in ninety days. Subsequently the distance was traversed in eighty days, and men lifted their hands in astonishment and delight at so wonderful and unexpected a result. In 1835 a bi-monthly steam mail-service was organised and put in operation, and the British public now, every fortnight, receive letters posted in Bombay only twenty-seven or twenty-eight days previously-a great triumph, it must be admitted, and, as we doubt not, the sign and precursor |