THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. xi 



the Sultan's firman, it is urging him to complete the 

 railway from the Mediterranean to the Eed Sea with- 

 out waiting for any such authorisation. M. de 

 Lesseps reminds his readers, too, that England was 

 very glad to use the route through Egypt lor sending 

 troops to the relief of India during the mutiny, and 

 he is not less successful in showing that the cutting 

 of the canal could not of itself affect the relations of 

 Egypt to its Suzerain. He shows how, step by step, 

 one country after another rallied to his cause, and 

 how, even in England, public opinion came round to 

 him, the series of meetings which he held throughout 

 the kingdom being unanimous in favour of the 

 scheme. Lord Palmerston, however, remained ob- 

 durate, and the English ambassadors at Constanti- 

 nople first Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, and then 

 Sir Henry Bulwer moved heaven and earth to quash 

 the project. But M. de Lesseps, who in this instance 

 at all events showed himself a consummate diplomatist, 

 not only enlisted the active sympathies of several in- 

 fluential persons, such as the Empress of the French, 

 but removed, one by one, the obstacles from his path, 

 and, as we know, brought his work to a triumphant 

 conclusion. Well, I would say that when we come to 

 consider the objections and arguments which are at 

 the present time being urged against other great 

 engineering projects intended to facilitate communi- 

 cation between different parts of the globe, one cannot 

 fail to be struck by their close similarity to those 



