text:  This is the canal by which it is proposed to unite the Rhine the Mayne and the Danube; in other words to make the longest water communication in the world through the heart of Europe; by which the Englishman embarking at London-bridge may arrive at Constantinople in a travelling palace with all the comforts--nay all the luxuries of life round him; his books pictures furniture music and society; and all this while sweeping through some of the most magnificent scenery of the earth safe from surge or storm sheltered from winter's cold and summer's sun rushing along at the rate of a couple of hundred miles a-day until he finds himself in the Bosphorus with all the glories of the City of the Sultans glittering before him