_The North Sea and Baltic Ship Canal._—This new ship canal is to be international as well as national in its character. It will reduce the sea passage, as compared to the Sound route, by 237 sea miles, shorten the journey of sailing vessels by at least three days, and that of steamers by about twenty-two hours in normal weather, and these advantages are to cost the shipowners 9_d._ per registered ton when the canal is navigable. About 35,000 vessels pass through the Sound annually. It is, moreover, intended to strengthen the offensive and defensive power of Germany. It may, however, be remarked that Count Moltke never from the first gave the plan his cordial support from a strategical point of view, maintaining then, as now, that the money which the canal is to cost would have been more judiciously spent if employed to strengthen the national navy. The Baltic Ship Canal begins at Holtenau, a small village just north of the royal dockyard of Kiel, on the Baltic, and enters the Elbe 15 miles above the North Sea, near Brunsbütte. It will have a total length of 75 to 80 kilometres, as seen on the sketch-map at page 125. Its width is to be, on the water surface, 60 metres; on the bottom, 26 metres; its depth is to be 8½ metres, and its total cost 156 million marks, as estimated. The canal may be looked upon as a mere cutting, in which the water-level is to be that of the Baltic Sea, and there will only be flood-gates or sluices where it enters the river Eider and at its termination in the Elbe; these will be, as a matter of fact, open all the year round. For the convenience of the Royal Marine, rather extensive works will be carried out at the Elbe embouchure, consisting of large and small locks, and eventually a floating basin for at least four large armour-clads, besides coaling stations at either end of the canal. The four railways crossing the canal, as well as the two main post roads, will be carried over it by means of iron swing-bridges; and steam and manual pontoons will serve for the other various crossing-points of the canal. There are no engineering difficulties to contend with, excepting perhaps a boggy portion not very remote from the Elbe. The highest point of cutting is about 24 kilometres distant from the Elbe, and here it will be 30 metres distant from the bottom level of the canal, otherwise the ground to be removed is mostly sand or sandy loam.