however, are by no means the only countries which will be benefited by
the opening of the great river to commerce. Turkey, Southern Russia,
Roumania, and Bulgaria, not to speak of the states of the west of
Europe, will reap advantage from this new departure. England, as the
chief carrier of the world, is sure to feel the beneficial effects of
the Danube being at length navigable from its mouth right up to the
very center of Europe.

The removal of the Iron Gates has always been considered a matter of
European importance. The treaty of Paris stipulated for freedom of
navigation on the Danube. The London treaty of 1871 again authorized
the levying of tolls to defray the cost of the Danube regulation; and
article 57 of the treaty of Berlin intrusted Austria-Hungary with the
task of carrying out the work. By these international compacts the
European character of the great undertaking is sufficiently attested.

[Illustration: THE "IRON GATES" OF THE DANUBE]

The work of blasting the rocks will be undertaken by contractors in
the employ of the Hungarian government, as the official invitation for
tenders brought no offers from any quarter. The construction of the
dams, however, and the cutting of several channels to compass the most
difficult rocks and rapids, will be carried out by an association of
Pesth and other firms. The cost, estimated altogether at nine million
florins, will be borne by the Hungarian exchequer, to which will fall
the tolls to be levied on all vessels passing through the Gates until
the original outlay is repaid.

Very few persons know, says the _American Architect_, what an enormous
work has been undertaken at the Iron Gates of the Danube, where