174 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



a glorious record for his reign, what an inexhaustible 

 source of wealth for Egypt it will be ! The names of 

 the Egyptian sovereigns who erected the pyramids, 

 those monuments of human pride, remain unknown. 

 The name of the Prince who opens the great maritime 

 canal will be blessed from century to century, down 

 to the most distant posterity. 



" ' The pilgrimage to Mecca secured for all time and 

 made easy for the Mohammedans ; an immense impulse 

 given to steam navigation and long voyages; the 

 countries along the Eed Sea and the Persian Gulf, the 

 eastern coast of Africa, India, the kingdom of Siam, 

 Cochin China, Japan, the vast Chinese Empire, the 

 Philippine Islands, Australia, and that vast archipelago 

 towards which the emigration of ancient Europe is 

 tending, all brought three thousand leagues nearer to 

 the basin of the Mediterranean, as well as to the north 

 of Europe and America : such are the sudden and im- 

 mediate results of piercing the Isthmus of Suez. 



"'It has been calculated that the navigation of 

 Europe and America, by the Cape of Good Hope and 

 Cape Horn, is equivalent to an annual movement of 

 six million tons, and that if only half of this was con- 

 veyed by way of the Gulf of Arabia, the trade of the 

 world would realise a profit of six millions sterling per 

 annum. 



" ' It is beyond doubt that the Suez Canal will lead 

 to a great increase of tonnage, but reckoning only three 

 million tons, a tax of ten francs a ton, which might 



