8o RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



operation. The unanimous wish of the various nations, 

 expressed with remarkable unanimity by the voice of 

 the press or the deliberations of official bodies, has 

 acquired for the enterprise the sympathy and support 

 of their governments, and the conclusive resolutions 

 passed at twenty meetings in the principal manu- 

 facturing and leading towns in England, together 

 with the manifestations of the Councils- General and 

 Chambers of Commerce in France, have testified to 

 the harmony of the two allied nations, and have 

 isolated the egotistical opposition which in vain 

 attempted to create discord between them. 



" This being so, it is now my duty, as holder of 

 the concession for the work, to proceed to Constanti- 

 nople and negotiate with respect to the Sultan's 

 authorization, which was not, strictly speaking, neces- 

 sary, according to the principle laid down by the 

 British Embassy a propos of the railway from Alex- 

 andria to Suez, but which the Viceroy thought it 

 right to solicit, in order to show his deference for his 

 Suzerain, and to avoid giving any pretext to those 

 who were ill-disposed for justifying their opposition. 

 I may reckon upon being supported at Constantinople 

 by the legations of Austria, Eussia, Holland, Bel- 

 gium, Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, the Hanseatic 

 towns, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, Tuscany, the Two 

 Sicilies, Greece, and the United States. 



" In order to maintain the universal character of 

 the enterprise, I shall address myself to the repre- 



