THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 235 



Reply of Lord Stratford to M. de Lesseps. 



(Private.) 

 "H6TEL D'ANGLETERRE, February 27, 1855. 



" I write you at an early hour, not only to acknow- 

 ledge the receipt of the documents which accompany 

 your note, but also to ask you to defer till another 

 day your proposed visit. Engagements which I can- 

 not put off make it impossible for me to avail myself 

 of your obliging proposal to-day. 



" You are right in supposing that I am anxious for 

 information, and especially in respect to this or to any 

 other great enterprise which closely touches the inte- 

 rests of more than one State, and which, while being 

 theoretically so seductive, causes a great division of 

 opinion from the practical point of view. 



" You are too enlightened and experienced to com- 

 plain if I do not say more. The various considera- 

 tions which you have touched upon in a manner at 

 once delicate and flattering to myself, are at the same 

 time of too high a political order to be entered upon 

 here. 



" In a position such as mine, personal independence 

 has its limits, and cannot but yield at times to official 

 eventualities." 



To Comte Th. de Lesseps, Paris. 



" SMYRNA, March 3, 1855. 



" My note to Lord Stratford de Eedcliffe was trans- 

 lated into Turkish, and submitted on the 27th to the 



