RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



to the 'vile multitude,' without spending a penny 

 and with a high premium, five hundred franc shares, 

 taking care to let it be known that, as is very likely 

 to be the case, these shares will one day yield an 

 interest of 20 or 30 per cent. 



" Why should we not go direct to the public ? 

 The two latest French loans show what can be done 

 with small capitals. "When a principle is sound, its 

 consequences are incalculable. You will say that the 

 Canal Company will not inspire the confidence which 

 a strongly-constituted Government enjoys. My answer 

 is that the junction of the Mediterranean and the 

 Indian Ocean, teeming with such immense results, 

 can be put so clearly before the public that the most 

 prejudiced will be convinced that no speculation 

 could offer a better chance of profit to those who take 

 part in it, and that when it is found that the cream of 

 the profit has not fallen a prey to a few brokers, 

 there will be no lack of shareholders. When they 

 see that the enterprise is entered upon without any 

 preliminary corruption or promises, when they know 

 that not a stiver has been spent in trying to obtain 

 the concession, either in Egypt or Constantinople, 

 and that, thanks to the generosity of the Viceroy, 

 the preliminary investigations have cost nothing, 

 they will regard all this as the best guarantee for 

 the future. 



" You reproach me for not having had recourse 

 to your cash-box, which is open to me with a dis- 



