of a great nation to a project to which the English have especially, in these latter times, drawn the attention of the commercial world and their own Government on account of the special advantages which it offers to England. We have already referred to the writings of the traveller Bruce and those of Captain Rooke. We will now cite other names. Captain James Vetch, of the corps of Royal Engineers, author of a very remarkable pamphlet published in London in 1843, and Mr. Clarkson, Civil Engineer, propose to trace the Canal in a single straight line from Suez to Tineh. The editor of the Engineers’ and Architects’ journal (1844) in giving an account of the labours of these engineers, adopts in starting from Suez, the line of the ancient canal as far as the Bitter Lakes, and from the head of these lakes at Katieh he takes the direction of the Mediterranean in passing by the great lake Sulak el Bardoil. The author adds, “It is hardly reasonable to reckon upon a union of the European powers to effect an undertaking in which England has such a preponderating interest, in the point of view of our domination in India. It is true that all the Nations bordering on the Mediterranean would find large profit therein, but much inferior however to ours.” The Foreign Quarterly Review, one of the most esteemed periodicals of England, in an article where it treats of the cutting of the Isthmus, says that—“the expense compared with the grandeur of the result is so trivial, that it is astonishing that the thing has not yet been done, either by a company or by the Viceroy. The advantages of this undertaking would be immense; for, independently of the great commerce which would be done there, independently of the opening of Abyssinia and of the interior of Africa to the arts and civilization, the Red Sea abounds in natural riches, and the fishermen of the Mediterranean would transport themselves thither in crowds in pursuit of pearls, mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, sponges (the finest in the world), coral, fish oils, &c. &c.” Mr. Anderson in his pamphlet already quoted, says: “In a political point of view, the advantages which the English Government will derive from the Canal are almost incalculable. From Malta troops could be transported to Bombay in three weeks, to Ceylon and Madras in four weeks, and to Calcutta in thirty-five days at most, instead of the four or five months now required by a sailing vessel. Under such circumstances it would require scarcely half the number of English troops for the efficient government of India. The facility for despatching ships of war with munitions and men would thus increase the stability of the British power, while the cost would be considerably diminished.”