A hundred years ago
From the 'Spectator', 20 November 1869—The Suez Canal was opened, as promised, on the 18th inst., that is to say, a Russian steamer drawing 17+ feet, and the Empress Eug6nie's yacht l'Aigle, drawing 13 feet, and about forty smaller steamers went through . . . No difficulty seems to be anticipated in keeping the channel clear of sand, but it has still to be deepened, the side channels to enable vessels to pass each other have still to be cut, and there is talk of doubling the width of the main channel. A good deal more money will have to be spent, but all calculations as to the share- holders' chances seem to us premature. At the rates now fixed, 10f. per ton and 10f. per passenger, the shareholders will get very little, but nobody knows yet what amount of tax shippers will consent to pay for the new accom- modation.
The Sultan wants f12,000,000, and is raising it as a 6 per cent. loan at 54, while. according to the reports of Friday evening, his agents are negotiating for a second loan, to be raised by lottery. If any of our readers are tempted by such prices, we would just remind them that the Sultan is absolute; that he has not the first glimmering of an idea that he can ever be in difficulties; that he is quarrelling, as we believe seriously quarrelling, with the Khedive; that a "special claim on Anatolian revenue" is a special piece of nonsense, like a special claim on a debtor's boots; and that the ultimate remedy to which the few able Turks, and all foreign diplomatists are looking, the seizure or taxation of the Vacouf lands—call it the property of the Church—will produce insurrec- tion throughout Turkey. Twelve more millions to Turkey! Does all the money in the world belong to people who can't count?
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