The Daily Dispatch: March 3, 1865., [Electronic resource]

One of the most interesting items of recent foreign intelligence is the announcement that the Suez Canal is finished. This matter, though not concerning ourselves, is one which may prove of vital importance to the long-established domination of Great Britain. The remarkable man who wields the sceptre of France may yet strike a more successful blow at British supremacy by his commercial and geographical enterprises than was ever dealt by the military power of the first Napoleon.

That great undertaking, the Suez Canal, was long a subject of European intrigue, in which the tactic of France finally vanquished those of Great Britain.

The enterprise caused much indignation and a good deal of ridicule in England. But while our own war has been waged, the work on the Suez Canal has been going on, and we have now the announcement that it is completed.--From a sketch which we find in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the reader will perceive, at a glance, the manner in which English interests will be affected by this great work. It leads from the port of Said, on the south coast of the Mediterranean Sea, to the port of Suez, on the Red Sea. Across the latter there is unrestricted passage to the Straits of Babelmandel, through which entrance is obtained to the great Indian Ocean, which washes the shores of Arabia, Persia, Hindoostan and the Burman Empire, and which furnishes passage by the Straits of Malacca to the Pacific Ocean, and along the whole Eastern coast by Siam, China and Japan, clear up to the Russian possessions.

The whole of this immense country has hitherto been accessible to Southern Europeans by passing out of the Mediterranean Sea, through the Straits of Gibraltar, and sailing down the entire western coast of Africa to the Cape of Good Hope, and then northwest to the entrance of the Indian Ocean at the Straits of Babelmandel. England, by its westerly position, had the easiest course to India and Continental Europe, by the natural obstacles to the voyage, were at disadvantages in prosecuting commerce with Southern India. But the opening of the Suez Canal brings Greece, Turkey, Austria, Italy and France almost in a direct northern and northwestern line with this new channel of commerce. It opens to them advantages which they never before possessed, and of which they will not be slow to take advantage. Syracuse may be said to be the port nearest this great gate way to the South. Trieste, Venice, Naples, Leghorn, Genoa, Nice, Toulon and Marseilles may struggle for the rich trade with Malta and Constantinople. --England is left in the rear of commerce, and the French domination over this important means of communication is supposed to bode no good to the fast-anchored isle.

The consequences of this great enterprise upon the destinies of the world may be conjectured. The commercial supremacy of England will be much damaged by continental rivalry. Nations which have slumbered during the race of improvement will wake up, and the pride and commercial haughtiness of the British will be distanced and humbled. In the event of a war between England and France, the safety of the British empire in India would be very much endangered. Whilst John Bull would be sending his transports by the tedious voyage around Africa, the French could send their troops through the Suez Canal by the hundred thousand; and long before the British reinforcements could reach the menaced territories of India, the problem of occupation would be solved.