SUEZ CANAL. 



SUMNER, EDWIN VOSE. 827 



constructed with profit. The result of all this 

 was: that M. de Lesseps obtained requisite 

 powers from the pasha; that a company was 

 formed ; that the pasha and French sharehold- 

 ers agreed to furnish the funds; and that 

 the works were commenced, and have been 

 progressing, with a few interruptions, ever 

 since. 



The now canal commences many miles to the 

 westward of Tyneh, near the old Damietta 

 mouth of the Nile, and takes Lake Temsah on 

 the way. As there is scarcely a drop of fresh 

 water to be met with along the arid region to 

 be traversed by the canal, and as the laborers 

 employed in the works must be reckoned by 

 tens of thousands, an important preliminary 

 enterprise has been necessary, to bring the 

 fresh water of the Nile to the villages or en- 

 campments where the laborers are stationed. 

 This has been accomplished, from the Nile at 

 Cairo to a point near Lake Temsah ; from thence 

 iron pipes convey the water along the northern 

 half of the route toward Damietta, while ar- 

 rangements are also being made for convey- 

 ing it along the southern half toward Suez. 

 Another auxiliary work is being constructed 

 in the shape of a service-canal, designed to 

 take men and materials from place to place. 

 It was opened from Lake Temsah northward, 

 some months ago. 



Said Pasha of Egypt, although he always 

 declared that the sanction of the Ottoman Porte 

 was indispensable even for the commencement 

 of the canal, did not debar the director of the 

 company from preliminary works or from em- 

 ploying forced labor. He even became respon- 

 sible for nearly one half of the capital of the 

 company. On his death, the sultan was induced 

 to visit Egypt and examine the works person- 

 ally, and on his return to Constantinople, he 

 declared that he could not sanction the large 

 grants of territory which the company claim- 

 ed, and which would have rendered them pro- 

 prietors of a great portion of the soil of Egypt, 

 and that, further, he could not allow the con- 

 tinuance of forced labor, which had decimated 

 the people by exhaustion and fever. M. de 

 Lesseps declared this order of the sultan con- 

 trary to his treaty with Said Pasha, and denied 

 the right of the sultan to interfere in any way 

 with its execution. The present Pasha of 

 Egypt, Ismail, despatched, therefore, one of his 

 councillors, Nubar Bey, to Paris, to lay before 

 the company and its directors the chief de- 

 mands of the Porte, which were concurred in 

 by the pasha, and to entreat their acquiescence. 

 "When his offers were rejected, Nubar Bey laid 

 the whole circumstances before three of the 

 most eminent French lawyers, Odillon Bar- 



rot, Jules Favre, and Dufaure, who declared in 

 emphatic terms that the Government of Egypt 

 had acted with perfect propriety, and that the 

 canal company was unwise in asking for more 

 than it had thought fit to accord. 



SUMNER, Major-General EDWIN VOSE, an 

 officer of U. S. volunteers, and brevet major- 

 general in the U. 8. army, born in Boston, 

 Mass., in 1796, died at Syracuse, N. Y., March 

 21st, 1863. He was educated at the Milton 

 Academy, Boston, and in March, 1819, was ap- 

 pointed second lieutenant in the 2d infantry, 

 and served in the Black Hawk war. When the 

 2d regiment of dragoons was raised by Gen. 

 Jackson, he was commissioned as its captain, 

 and was for many years employed in service 

 on the Indian frontier, and subsequently com- 

 manded the school of cavalry practice, at Car- 

 lisle, Penn. He was promoted to be major in 

 1846, and in April, 1847, led the famous cav- 

 alry charge at Cerro Gordo ; was wounded, 

 and obtained the brevet of lieutenant-colonel. 

 At Contreras and Churubusco he won much 

 honor, and at the battle of Molino del Key 

 commanded the entire cavalry, holding in check 

 5,000 Mexican lancers. For his gallant con- 

 duct, he received the brevet of colonel, and in 

 July, 1848, was commissioned lieutenant-colo- 

 nel of the 1st dragoons. At the close of the 

 war, he was placed in command of the depart- 

 ment of New Mexico. In 1855, he was pro- 

 moted to the colonelcy of the 1st cavalry, and 

 the following year was in command at Fort 

 Leavenworth, Kansas. In July of 1857, he 

 led a successful expedition against the Chey- 

 enne Indians, and in 1858 was appointed com- 

 mander of the department of the West. In 

 March, 1861, he was appointed brigadier-gen- 

 eral in the regular army, in place of General 

 Twiggs, and in March, 1862, appointed com- 

 mander of the first army corps in the army of 

 the Potomac. At the siege of Yorktown he 

 commanded the left wing, and was engaged in 

 all the battles of the Chickahominy, during 

 which he was twice wounded. For his ser- 

 vices before Richmond, he was made major- 

 general of volunteers, and brevet major-general 

 in the regular army. Upon the reorganization 

 of the army, Gen. Sumner was assigned to the 

 second corps, and in the battle of Antietam, 

 was wounded. Subsequently he was placed in 

 command of the right grand division of the 

 army of the Potomac, but, upon the appoint- 

 ment of Gen. Hooker as chief of that array, 

 he asked to be relieved, and after a few weeks 

 was ordered to the command of the army of 

 the frontier. Upon the way thither he was 

 taken sick, and died after a short illness, at 

 Syracuse. 



