FINANCIAL OPERATIONS. 



Ill 



of the greatest practical engineers in 

 the world, M. de Negrelli; Italy, 

 M. Paleocapa; Germany, the distin- 

 guished Privy Councillor Lentze; 

 Holland, the Chevalier Conrad ; Spain, 

 M. de Montesino. They reported 

 entirely in favour of the route. A 

 second International Congress followed. 

 The Viceroy behaved so magnificently 

 to the scientific gentlemen of all nations 

 who composed the commission, that 

 M. de Lesseps thanked him publicly 

 for having received them almost as 

 crowned heads. The Viceroy answered 

 gracefully, " Are they not the crowned 

 heads of science?" 



At last the financial and political 

 difficulties were overcome. In 1858, 

 an office was opened in Paris, into 

 which money flowed freely. Lesseps 

 tells good-naturedly some little episodes 

 which occurred. An old bald-headed 

 priest entered, doubtless a man who had 

 been formerly a soldier. " Oh ! those 

 English/' said he, "I am glad to be 

 able to be revenged on them by taking 

 shares in the Suez Canal." Another 

 said, " I wish to subscribe for ' Le 

 Chemin de Fer de File de Suede'" 

 (The Island of Sweden Railway !) It 

 was remarked to him that the scheme 

 did not include a railway, and that 

 Sweden is not an island. " That's all 

 the same to me," he replied, " provided 

 it be against the English, I subscribe." 

 Lord Palmerston, whose shade must 

 feel uneasy in the neighbourhood of 

 the Canal, could not have been more 

 prejudiced. At Grenoble, a whole 

 regiment of engineers naturally men 

 of intelligence and technical know- 

 ledge, clubbed together for shares. 

 The matter was not settled by even 



