THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 173 



" ' The general of engineers, Gallice-Bey, the direc- 

 tor and designer of the fortifications of Alexandria, 

 had, upon our initiative, submitted to Mohammed All 

 a scheme very closely resembling that of Linant-Bey. 

 Mougel-Bey, director of the dam works upon the Nile, 

 chief engineer of roads and bridges, had also spoken 

 to Mohammed Ali of the possibility and utility of the 

 piercing of the Isthmus of Suez ; and in 1840, at the 

 request of Count Walewski, then upon a mission in 

 Egypt, he was instructed to take preliminary steps in 

 Europe, which the course of political events unfortu- 

 nately cut short. Careful examination will show which 

 of the routes is the best, but as the enterprise has been 

 proved to be practicable, all that remains is to select 

 the most feasible project. 



" 'No operation, however difficult, is now regarded by 

 modern art as impossible. Its feasibility is not doubted ; 

 it is merely a question of money, which the spirit of 

 enterprise and co-operation will soon solve, if the 

 profits which are to result from it are in proportion to 

 the cost. It is easy to show that the cost of the 

 Suez Canal, taking the highest estimate, is not out of 

 proportion with the usefulness and the profits of 

 this great work, which would abridge by more than 

 half the distance between the principal countries of 

 Europe, America, and the Indies. 



" ' Mohammed Said has not been slow to see that 

 there was no work which, as regards the grandeur and 

 utility of its results, could compare with this. What 



