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    THE SUEZ CANAL. The reply of the French ...

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    LIMITED HABH/i5nr. We know not -what res...

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    More Dark Hints. To Increase The Politic...

    to save and regenerate the peninsula . That is p recisely wbatstie hfls pretended to do for forty years . And . Count Habti g , an Imperial Councillor , has admitted that she has litteriy and unavoidabl y failed . A singular harmony is observable between 4 foe semi-official programme of the English jRrriter and the plans of the semi-official journalists in France . Check , as far as

    possible , the maladministration of Naples , calm the passions of the Government and people in Tuscany , define the extent of the Pope's spiritual and temporal power ; but frown on revolution , preserve the most cordial relations Tvith Austria , act always in conjunction with " our great ally , " never take a step unless ^ with the sanction and co-operation of the interested powers . That is to say , suppress ¦ t he Liberal party .

    The Liberal party , however , includes the great body of the Italian nation . Say what you will : sneer at the ruined merchants , the beggarly advocates , the convicted attorneys , Who disturb ^ tli e peace of Italy : if the merchants of Italy are ruined , they have been ruined by Austrian monopolies ; if the Liberal advocates are beggars , it is because no honest man finds a vocation in any court out of Sardinia ; if convicted attorneys are among the agitators , they have been convicted by false witnesses and venal judges , to gratify the rapacious vengeance of the Austrian Government . Political and commercial

    restrictionsprohibitions , executions , prisons , scourges , taxes , sequestrations , police , spies , and clergy have made Italy what it is , and against these her best citizens appeal to the justice of Europe ; but with or without the sympathy of Europe , they will endeavour to recover their liberties .

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    The Suez Canal. The Reply Of The French ...

    THE SUEZ CANAL . The reply of the French promoters of this scheme to the objections raised against it in England , has broken down on some material points . The mere cutting of the canal may be assumed as practicable , the isthmus being of a sandy , and not of a rocky formation . It may be conceded , also , though it is far from being proved , that the ports of Suez and Pelusiuni may be rendered convenient

    and safe . But several serious hypotheses of difficulty , involving the failure of the entire project , have only been partially , and by ¦ assumption , explained away . What is to Becure the channel from being choked , the jetties from sinking , the entrances at either end from being barred by deposits of mud , the alluvium of the Nile ? These are suggestions from which the argument of M . Bahtii ^ Ii Temy St . Hilaike glances off to

    less perplexing topics . A Btill more important objection is that connected with the navigation of the Red | 3 ea . " During six months of the year , to state the matter roundly , a sailing vessel cannot < get into the Red Sen , and during the other six months , cannot get out of it . This sort 'Of seasonal navigation was adapted to the pearlier ages of commerce ; nor does it inter' . 'Here essentially with the local coasting trade . 'liut it is a serious obstacle , when considered ^ relation to the vast commercial intercourse

    " now carried on between Europe and India . > or , the practical result is , that , wero the -oanal opened , a morohant vessel could not ' go from England to Indin , and return , Oftener than onco a year , and that thus , though the voyage would bo shortened , the number of voyages would not bo multiplied . We do not Bay that to shorten the hoii voyage ¦ ¦ ¦ Would bo no advantage . It would be an todvantngo , also , to open a lino of maritime Communication to compote with tho Btill perilous route by tho Oupo -, but of all

    enfthusiAsts , projectors , 'and expectant proprietors are the most sanguine , and the most likely to over-calculate ; so that we tmist warn the reader against the logarithmic eloquence of M . Saint HiIiAIBE . The general adoption of the auxiliary screw might facilitate the navigation of the confined field Sea channel . Considering , however , the precautions that hare been rendered necessary by frequent accidents on the Atlantic ^

    the tracing of parallel paths for the outward and homeward voyages of the ocean steamers there is some reason for doubting whether nearly five thousand vessels , propelled by the screw , would choose to pass up and down the narrow Eed Sea annually . These , we admit , are details for future discussion ; at present the question turns upon a point which M . de Lessees , and M . St . Helaibe desire to keep out of view .

    They cannot but perceive that , though their ideas have undoubtedly made some way in the English public mind , neither the Government of Great Britain , nor the Ministers of the Porte , have as yet assented to the practical development of their plan . ] STow , without the recognition of the British Government , and the ratification of Said Pacha ' s concessions to the Sultan , the projectment continues in abeyance . There appears to be some good reasons for their

    reserve . The works are to be carried out by a French Company , with an international proprietary ; the Company is to be named , registered , seated , and governed in Prance . The Grand Maritime Canal is to remain at all times open " as a neutral passage to every merchant ship crossing from ~ one sea to another , without any distinction , exclusion , or difference of persons or nationalities . " In the first place , the guarantee , in its actual

    form , is very incomplete ; in the second , its terms are very vague . It is simply an undertaking on the part of the Viceroy of Eturn , who answers also for his successors ; but suppose England and France at war , would the neutrality of the channel close it to the hostile armaments of both nations , or open it to both , or allow one to guard it against the other ? Or , supposing England at war with France and , at the same time , with Burniah , would France enjoy the advantage , by virtue of the

    neutrality act , of shutting up the Indian waters , and forcing England to despatch men and stores round the Cape ? If the canal is only to be a commercial channel , an immense proportion of the benefits promised to England fall to the ground , since it would be of the utmost importance to her to be enabled to send troops and military provisions by the direct route to India . If , on the other hand , the canal be open to ships of war as well as traders , the first chance of a European conflict would send a squadron to Pelusium to

    blockade tho Eastern passage . We do not see any permanent or insuperable objections to the cutting through of the isthmus , if it bo practicable ; but we are convinced that tho project must bo opposed unless tho new Eastern highway iB to l ) o placed under tho united guarantee of tho European powers , with just and reasonable provisions ior tho event of a war . An act of simple neutrality , construed as closing it to all but merchant vessels , would not meet

    tho case . Wo have an ompiro on tho Indian coasts , and facilities of military communication with that empire are as important as the commercial intercuts involved . But for no other Powers do similar necessities exist . Great Britain , it must bo remembered , would , to a grout extent , sacrifico her South African colonies by diverting tho Indian trade from tho Cape to the Hod Sea route . She would ul « o , in all probability , be compelled to

    jiicreafie har forti £ oatione and naval establish ments at Ad « n ioippeserve her predominance on . the ( Eastern Ocean *

    Limited Habh/I5nr. We Know Not -What Res...

    LIMITED HABH / i 5 nr . We know not -what result , aa affectingilegia * lation , two peers expect to produce , When they Protest against a successful measure . If the formality is an affair of conscience , it is intelligible ; but if Lord Ovebstoete and Lord Monteagle , who rose to their peerages under the Unlimited Law : , anticipate from the last outcry of their commercial Toryism any appreciable effect on the parliamentary or public mind , we cannot guess haw they suppose the protestation will act . "When the Q ^ een , Lords , attd Commons set about reforming the law , they habitually do their work slowly , badly , and incompletely . But once done , it is seldom undone . We obtain little ; but what we obtain we keep : unless , indeed , when Mr . Patten surprises us with a Beer Bill , or Mr . WaIiPOIiE with a Bigotry Bill , in which cases , Legislation is , for a moment , jerked off the rails . Even then , however , the working system remains , for tlie most part , unaltered . ! No . ^ one believes , we suppose , that when the Limited Liability has been fairly brought into operation , it will be repealed , or " resolved" against by the Lords or Commons .

    The new act does not bring commercial speculation sufficiently near to the working elasses . It seems to have been framed upon Mr . Be : l : le : ni > eit Kobe ' s notion , that the working classes could find no worse investments than commercial undertakings . Now , what is the fact ? The law permits and encourages a variety of speculations among the working classes which , are almost equivalent to gambling , or else constitute a machinery by which the dexterous rogue may possess himself of the results of an industrious man ' s economy .

    There are the thousands of badly constituted , unsafe , unprofitable Friendly Societies , which exist by forestalling the funds of the future . The Management consumes one half of the income , and bribes the subscribers by paying large bounties on small rates . Then , there are Loan Societies , on a petty scale , by which the working man is accustomed to the worst forms of usury . Scores of existing Building and Land Societies , under wasteful management and ignorantly constructed rules , can look for no success beyond that of a miseutions

    rable Winding-Up . Associative instit are started upon plans just small enough to be lingering failures . But how can the economical working man apply his savings ? There is little to tempt his confidence in tho Savings Bank ; still less in the Three Per Cents ., which might return him five shillings for the eavingB of a year . He wishes to speculate , and he has a right to tho pleasure , only tho law renders it impossible . He needs an inducement to economy . If ho were a French , peasant he could lay by five-franc pieces to purchase a plot of land ; but he has learned to fear tho Land Society ,

    and to despise tho Savings Bank . Xet no alternative remains . Yes , there is one alternative . Ho can bet ; ho can gamble ; and ho does gamble and bet ; and society is supposed to protect him , by keeping joint-stock speculation out of his reach . It fears lest ho should catch at a glittering bubble . Bealiv , society is in tltis case very considerate , for if it makes a difference between the noor and rich , tho difference is in favour ot the poor . -Lno poor , however , do not appreciate it , and would prefer being placed on tho same level with other classes , enjoying tho same wsks , exposed to tho same chances of profit : Another objection to Mr . Lowe s Act ib , that ita protection of commercial eutorprizo

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 21, 1856, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21061856/page/15/