128 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



have therefore chosen the 15th of November, the 

 feast of St. Eug6nie, for our first general meeting of 

 shareholders." 



To the same. 



" LA CHENAIE, October 18, 1859. 



" I learn that the Porte, yielding to the pressure 

 of the English ambassador, has despatched Muktar 

 Bey, the Minister of Finance, to advise the Vice- 

 roy as to what course he should pursue in regard 

 to the Suez Canal. If I am rightly informed, his in- 

 structions are to discourage rather than stimulate the 

 Viceroy. You will observe that our adversaries, whose 

 motive is easily guessed at, select the time when the 

 general meeting of shareholders has been announced 

 as about to be held, to carry out a threat which will, 

 as they hope, have the effect of shaking the confidence 

 of our friends and create us fresh difficulties. My 

 letters from Alexandria tell me, in fact, that our 

 adversaries, advised beforehand of Muktar Bey's 

 mission, do not make any secret of their belief that 

 it is all over with the canal, with which the Imperial 

 Government will not have any thing to do, leaving the field 

 free to the opposition of the English agents. 



" As her Majesty the Empress will readily see the 

 significance and gravity of these fresh complications, 

 I shall be very much obliged if you will submit this 

 letter to her. She will see how indispensable to me 

 just now is the support she has already so freely 

 given me." 



