88 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



for Paris in order to get it ratified. This arrange- 

 ment was concluded by virtue of the instructions 

 which charged me to devote myself " exclusively 

 to the negotiations and relations which it might be 

 desirable to establish with the Eoman authorities and 

 people." 



(Signed) "F. DE LESSEPS." 



I consequently informed the Minister of Foreign 

 affairs that, in consequence of what had occurred, my 

 position would be a false one at head-quarters, that 

 it would be equally so at Rome, and that I must 

 therefore consider my mission as ended, or at all 

 events as in abeyance. 



I was already making my preparations for a start 

 when M. de Gerando, the Chancellor of the French 

 Embassy at Eome, handed me in an open envelope, 

 upon behalf of the chief of the staff of the French 

 army, a telegraphic despatch thus worded from the 

 Minister of Foreign Affairs : 



" PARIS, May 29, 1849, 4 P.M. 



u The Government of the Eepublic has put a stop 

 to your mission. You will be good enough to start 

 upon your return to France as soon as you have 

 received this despatch." 



The orders of the Government found me ready to 



