THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 271 



repeated, word for word, the remarks contained in 

 Lord Clarendon's despatch to Lord Cowley, which had 

 evidently been dictated by him, or at all events drawn 

 up under his inspiration. The subject was a familiar 

 one to me, so I was at no loss to reply more in detail 

 than I could to the note which was shown me in Paris 

 the day before I left. I could not hope in a first con- 

 versation, prolonged though it was, to modify or shake 

 the conviction of a man of Lord Palmerston's character, 

 but I was pleased to find that my arguments were 

 unanswerable ; that, despite his facility of speech and 

 lucidity of intellect, he had no serious reply to make. 

 He evidently had in reserve other objections which 

 had not yet been produced. With an air of bonhomie, 

 he went on to say : ' I do not hesitate to tell you 

 what my apprehensions are. They consist in the first 

 place of the fear of seeing the commercial and mari- 

 time relations of Great Britain upset by the opening 

 of a new route which, in being open to the navigation 

 of all nations, will deprive us of the advantages which 

 we at present possess. I will confess to you also that 

 I look with apprehension to the uncertainty of the 

 future as regards France a future which any states- 

 man is bound to consider from the darkest side, un- 

 bounded as is our confidence in the loyalty and sin- 

 cerity of the Emperor ; but after he has gone things 

 may alter.' 



" I then asked Lord Palmerston to examine at his 

 leisure all the questions relating to the political side 



