In domestic annals the most novel event is the completion
of the Great Eastern, the trial of its gigantic engines, and a convivial celebration on board with Lord Stanley for chair- man. So far all looks well for the big ship. She will be able to make a trial of her powers, and test the predictions of her ad- mirers. If, as seems probable, she should achieve the voyage to Calcutta in thirty-three days; and thus make the passage by sea as quick as the passage by land, we do not see how she will have practically superseded the Overland route, nor how she will have solved the Eastern Question ; because we apprehend that the quick transmission of messages by the electric telegraph is as important as the quick transmission of passengers by the big ship. If so, our interest in Egypt, which lies in the direct route of our telegraphic communication, will not be one whit diminished by the success of the Great Eastern. Under no circumstances could we pour thousands of troops across the Isthmus of Suez un- less that Isthmus were in our possession ; but under any circum- stances, short of a state of war with Turkey, we can send tele- graphic messages to India through Suez and Aden. But what- ever drawbacks we make on the prospects of the Great Eastern, her first trip will undoubtedly be a great event in the history of navigation, and the progress of the "grand experiment" will be watched with an. interest not unalloyed by anxiety.
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