The Isthmus of Suez Question
9781465626776
118 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
The Mediterranean ports will profit, it is true, by the opening of the Isthmus of Suez, but England with the 5,000,000 tons employed in her commerce—a tonnage greater than that of all the navies of Europe, including France, united—cannot fail to profit in a much greater degree by the increase of relations which must necessarily result from the shortening of the distance between the points of traffic; to this opening moreover she will be indebted for the inestimable advantage of finding herself in closer connection with her colonies, than another nation whose competition might otherwise be really formidable in the eyes of the upholders of an exclusive system. But on the contrary, England, adopting the policy of commercial freedom, has been seen to favour the attempts which have been made to cut through the American Isthmus, although, if successful, it would bring the United States nearer the British possessions in India and still nearer to Australia. She is not, however, ignorant of the fact that the maritime commerce of the United States, which twenty years ago employed only 1,000,000 tons, now, in 1854, requires no less than 5,400,000, and that this vast tonnage, already larger than her own, is constantly increasing. But England on her part does not remain at a stand-still, and she has done well in showing no fear of the contest. The law of progress has been justified by official statistical documents. The burthen of the English ships built in 1842 was 130,000 tons; in 1843, shipping to the amount of 203,000 tons was built. It is especially since the relations of the United States with the Indian Seas have been extended, that the commerce of Great Britain has in those very regions experienced a still farther developement. Thus, the imports from the Indian Peninsula, which in 1849 amounted to £9,238,000, had in 1853 increased to £13,610,000. Those from China, which in 1849 were £6,200,000, rose in 1853, to £8,300,000. Again, the tonnage employed in the trade between Great Britain and her Eastern possessions, including the other countries in the Indian Seas, to and fro, amounted in 1849 to 967,076, and in 1853 to 1,595,138 tons.
