THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 91 



very slow to believe this when a great personage dis- 

 appears. Be this as it may be, I regret his death in a 

 double sense : in the first place, because it is a per- 

 sonal loss ; and, in the second place, because he seemed 

 to have shaken himself pretty free of English influence 

 in regard to the canal. 



" His successor, Aali Pasha, is beyond all question 

 the most upright and best informed man in the 

 Empire, but he is extremely timid, and reluctant to 

 take any initiative. The threats of Lord Palmerston 

 after the Congress of Paris will always be ringing in 

 his ears. In any case, I shall be on the best of terms 

 with him personally, and he will have the wish, if he 

 has not, as I fear, the power, to keep his promises." 



To M. Thouvenel, Constantinople. 



" CONSTANTINOPLE, February 6, 1858. 

 "I had a long conversation this morning with 

 Aali Pasha, and explained to him our mutual situa- 

 tion with the utmost frankness, and communicated to 

 him the reports which I had received from Paris, 

 London, and Egypt. Finding that I did not wish to 

 press him too closely, and that I took into account 

 the difficult position in which he was placed, he made 

 no secret of the fact that he was desirous of awaiting 

 the result of the questions which were going to be 

 put in the House of Commons. I handed him the 

 extract of the instructions which the Yiceroy of 



