X THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 



be that in which M. de Lesseps tells at considerable 

 length the story of how, in face of the stubborn and 

 unreasoning opposition of Lord Palmerston and other 

 English Ministers, he carried through his project of 

 making the Suez Canal. The unflagging energy, the 

 indomitable perseverance, the never -failing good- 

 humour with which he met all difficulties and fought 

 against every kind of obstacle, convey a lesson which 

 ought not to be thrown away upon the half-hearted 

 and upon those who are always ready to take no for 

 an answer. But there is another lesson to be learnt 

 from the story which M. de Lesseps relates with such 

 merciless precision. Lord Palmerston opposed the 

 making of the Suez Canal upon four grounds : first, 

 because it was impracticable, as he had learnt from 

 Mr. Robert Stephenson, the engineer, who had not 

 surveyed more than a small part of the isthmus ; 

 secondly, because, even granting that it could be 

 made, it would never pay ; thirdly, because it was 

 detrimental to English interests; and fourthly, be- 

 cause it would impair the integrity of the Turkish 

 Empire, and render Egypt virtually independent of 

 the Porte. As M. de Lesseps points out, the two 

 first objections had no force so far as England was 

 concerned until he came to ask the Government to 

 subsidise the undertaking ; while as to the third, he 

 triumphantly points out that while the English 

 Government is denying the right of the Viceroy of 

 Egypt to make the Canal through the isthmus without 



