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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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the public debate that has taken p lace on this subject , he affects to be surprised at the opposition which is threatened and has alreidr been displayed m England . Nor does he meet the most obvious objections with other than plausible generalities . For example , the land on both sides of the canal is to remain Egyptian territory ; the fortifications are to be Egyptian ; the Egyptian viceroy , upon the expiration of a term of ninety-nine years ( the Turks are not sick men in their own estimation ) , is to take full possession of the " Canal of the two Seas . " But Great Britain and France have watched
¦ with historical jealousy the politics of Egypt . The first movement of each , in the event of a rupture , would be to forestal the other in taking possession of that country . The reason for this is , says M . 3 > e Lesseps , that Egypt is the direct route from Europe to India . " Were England , upon any crisis that might arise , to take up a position there , the French alliance could not survive that
act . But if , by means of the Suez Canal , the geographical conditions of the world were changed ; if commerce passed by a new route eastwards , the source of traditional rancours would be dried up , Egypt would become insignificant , and no longer exist as an object of European contention . Such reasoning is worth very little . The Suez Canal , instead of diminishing the importance of Egypt , would considerably increase it . The channel , nominally governed by an Egyptian viceroy , would in reality be
controlled by the power which enjoyed for the time the supreme influence in Cairo . Besides , our faith in Turkish " integrity " ought not to expand over the limits of a hundred years . It might well , within a fourth of that period , become a question whether the possession of the isthmus should not accrue to the nation which has most interest in the trade of the regions beyond ; or whether , with the canal possessed _ by rivals , if not byjjnemies , a vast naval station at Aden would not be essential to the
security of India . " We have no belief in geographical monopoly . The East is not our exclusive domain . The Americans have found one way into it , the Russians will find another . But the public opinion of this country will not incautiously sanction a project by which , in Bpite of nominal guarantees , an Oriental highway would be thrown open , and placed under the influence of that power which , during fifty years , has resorted to a jealous , if not a hostile policy in Egypt .
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FISHING FOR THE IRISH SEAS . Limited liability promises to give the most available opportunity for carrying out a very desirable enterprise . It is proposed to establish a company for the purpose oi improving the deep sea and bank fishing on the west and south coasts of Ireland . All the elements for the success of this company are pre-existent : the one thing wanted is nothing more nor less than the enterprise itself . There has been a demand for such an
undertaking almost since the western coast of Ireland , or any coast of Ireland , has been known . In the reign of Elizabeth the value of the Irish seas was recognised , after the tfemi-barbaroua commercial fashion of that period , by the prohibition upon the fishing of foreign vessels without a licence . But ^ . although the fishery was sufficiently valuable / jfor a royal prohibition , it has remained unimproved ; the people who depend upon' it cani scarcely find a subsistence , and it has continued down to the present year the * opprobrium of British civilisation . In fcheilasb year of the seventeenth century the
Americans sought permission to establish a fishery on the Irish coast—permission refused . The Dutch visit our coast , pursuing their prey even up to those grounds where the Irish witness their industry but cannot share it . It was no fancy of an Elizabethan imagination which pointed out the sea as valuable . The wealth that may be drawn from it was known to the Americans at the beginning of the century , and is known to the Dutch in our day ; but recent observations have made it quite obvious that neither Queen Elizabeth nor the modern Republic have known the full value of the fishery . Even the Dutch , countrymen of fish , amongst whom , says Andrew MabveMi , the fish-ofttim . es sit , " not as a meat , but as a guest , " do but half know the abundance of the Irish sea . They are almost as ignorant on that point as the Irish ! It is true that the herring changes his lodging with different seasons , just as a higher animal , the ] British member of Parliament , spends his summer at Brighton or at Hastings , or even goes off occasionally to Paris ; but in some parts of the seas the fish are always to be found , and in the deep seas they are caught earliest and in the best condition . There is employment for the fisher during seven or eight months of the year . Cod and ling can be caught during ten months ; turbot , a floating half-sovereign , haddock , soles , and other fish of value fill up the intervals , to say nothing of a various tribe which would thrust themselves before the fishermen—the basking-shark for his oil , and the lobster , at present frequently wasted for want of the means of carriage . Moreover , practical experiments in France , conducted by Paten" , the eminent chemist , and Pommieb , the celebrated agriculturist , have shown that fish which cannot readily be brought to market , such as the incurable plaice , or the refuse of fish after curing , can be converted into very valuable guano . The seas , then , off those distant shores swarm with creatures that are the natural food of men and materials for enriching an island which is bountiful in climate but thin in soil . The herring in its salted form is familiar to the poorest classes of this country . In Ireland , they have scarcely known it ; and even in Great Britain it is used sparingly where it might be used abundantly . The recent turn in medical chemistry has rendered it highly probable that the mixture of fish with other diet would be very beneficial , and particularly to a population which is at all inclined to be sedentary . To speak scientifically , it may be said that a fish diet involves the use of iodine , not as a medicament approximating to poison , but as a legitimate element of natural food , conducing , however , to the activity of those functions which are stimulated by the drug . That fish is nutritive , everybody knows ; that it promotes health , becomes manifest from the most recent observations . On the western coasb of Ireland the fish and the fishermen actually look at each other , but cannot he united in a meal ; and the indolence of tho Connemara or Oladdagh fishermen has become a by-word . There are , however , many reasons why tho poor fishermen of the western coast have been unable to better their condition . "We have already noticed the caprices with which tho fish approach the shore or leave it . They aro to be found in the deeper waters ; but the boat which is suited to shore fishing is not suited to deep fishing . Moreover , the expense is greater , and the poor fisherman is obliged to bo content with one kind of apparatus . It is aa much aa he can do to stand tho wear and tear of a rough coast , although tho dangers have been greatly exaggerated j as much aa he can
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MURATISM IN NAPLES . { From a Correspondent , ') Muratism trying its fortunes onco more in Naples is now much spoken of , und will probably be followed by Bonapnrtism in other parts of Italy , i * wo had to oonsidor tho hypothesis from a gonorni point of view , the question would be reffftrdod . as one of European importance ' 11 ns month , Iiinto I / ucien Bonnpnrto will , by order of ^" f ^ Xt leon . be raised to tho dignity of card » ' £ the same time a mysterious pftinph ] otjms _ been oom
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~^ c ~ r ^ ion 7 on of Ireland , baTlngwto co Jore « r ^ ^ 2 ^ : " . ^^ symo *" uuuHler , R . N . Chapman and Hall .
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do to keep nets and Boats in repair , and even then , perhaps , he has a limited apparatus . He may not be able to fit out or man a boat for long fishing , though he knows that a crew &f four could divide a cargo worth 251 . or 30 Z ~ . when the fish is cured . If the fish , fail for a time , he is out of work ; or should a storm come on , he has not the means of repairing his gear .
One proof that the fishermen are unfortunate rather than idle is proved by the fact that they collect seaweed , which is purchased by the farmers , and neglect the more profitable collection of fish because they cannot always command the market . They are thus at the mercy of middle-men , who are themselves poor , but do supply some kind of medium for bringing the fish to the market
where they are to be consumed . In short , the fishery , to be profitably conducted , ought not to be carried on in detail , but should be undertaken by a body which can occupy an extensive area , and provide the means for pursuing each kind of fishing suitable for particular seasons ; which can secure to the fishermen continuity of income , and can include the means of carriage as well as the
means of collection . Such is the object of the London and "West of Ireland Pishing Company . * They propose to employ vessels of from seventyfive to eighty tons , some of which will be fitted with wells for keeping fish , lobsters , and bait alive ; also a smaller class of vessel , of from twenty-five to thirty tons , for the drift-net fishing . Some of these would also have wells , and work the iu-shore turbot banks with the canoes in the season , and might also trawl
and work long lines , as circumstances direct ; also a class of row-boats , from thirty to thirty-five feet long , for the bay herring and mackerel fishing , or from the islands in light weather ; also for working seine nets , which may be used to great advantage on the west coast , but now are unknown there ; a fore-andaft schooner well-boat , with an auxiliary screw , for transporting fish and lobsters from the fishing-banks or outlying stations ; a curing station , withjmokinghouse , and oil-works , with appliances for converting the refuse into manure , and ice-houses for packing
fish in ice in warm weather . The company will do for the fishermen what the fishermen have been unable to . for themselves . The supply of the means of continuity in the occupation will extend the field ; no kind of prey can escape , and every town is tolerably sure to be occupied . The market exists throughout the country ; but the company has secured connexions in Dublin , Birmingham , London , and other great markets . The data upon which it is proceeding , are for the most part well known . Commander
The facts have been collected by Symonds , of the Royal Navy , who has been professionally stationed on the coast , and has become familiar with its characteristics . Nothing , therefore , can be clearer than that the enterprise is a commercial enterprise , quite certain , wo believe , to pay as a matter of trade , and incidentally performing one of the noblest functions of commerce in improving the condition of all those who are concerned in it , from the poor resident fishermen' to whom it will bring competence and comfort , to every fish-consumer of the country , to whom it will bring increased abundance .
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« iWfc ^ 18 S 3- ] TOPE ^ B . A . 3 > E ? B . iS § P
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 15, 1855, page 889, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2106/page/13/
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