THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 187 



reminding one of Francis L, rushes to the door of the 

 carriage and holds me by the arm as I get out, and so 

 escorts me to the apartments, followed by the chiaous 

 and other servants. The Palace of the Muc afirs was the 

 residence of the Egyptian Institute at the time of the 

 French expedition, and it was there that the commis- 

 sion of savants who had been ordered to report upon 

 the canal used to meet. It was a singular coincidence 

 that after the lapse of half a century these same walls 

 should witness the realisation of a work which had 

 been thought out within them at the bidding of the 

 greatest man of his century. 



" I am informed that I have twenty horses at my 

 disposal, ten for harness and ten for riding, a state 

 coach richly gilt, a barouche, a landau, and a 'my 

 lord ' ! Breakfast was laid for twelve covers. 



"The Viceroy had advised me to lose no time in 

 going to see Mr. Bruce, the agent and consul-general 

 of England, to tell him of his Highness's intention to 

 make the canal, and to communicate to him the docu- 

 ments relating to it. 



" I have a conference of two hours with him, and 

 he told me that though he could not speak for his 

 Government, to whom he would report my visit, he 

 did not hesitate to give me his personal opinion, 

 which was that so long as there was no intervention 

 on behalf of any foreign Power in the affair, and that 

 the work was carried out by means of capital freely 

 subscribed to an enterprise sanctioned by the governor 



