THE INTEROCEANIC CANAL. 201 



To this I may add what I said in a circular which 

 was published at the time : 



"The arguments of the opposition may be summed 

 up as follows : Upon the one hand the expenses have 

 been exaggerated and the receipts under-estimated, in 

 order to show that if the idea of opening a new mari- 

 time route to trade and to civilisation is good in itself, 

 the enterprise is financially bad. Upon the other hand, 

 an effort has been made to create uneasiness by repre- 

 senting the United States of North America to be 

 hostile to the scheme. The first argument has been 

 met by the able contractor who removed the bed of 

 El-Guisr, at the entrance to the Suez Canal. M. 

 Couvreux and his associates, who. are responsible for 

 the regulating of the course of the Danube, and for 

 enlarging the ports of Antwerp, are at this moment 

 engaged in investigating, at their own expense, the 

 work required for making the new canal. They have 

 determined to undertake to execute the work either 

 by contract or for a royalty, as I may prefer, and thus 

 to leave no doubt as to the real amount of the ex- 

 penses. "With regard to the second objection, I shall 

 solve that myself by an early voyage to America."* 



Heer Dirks, the Dutch engineer who cut the canal 

 which connects Amsterdam with the sea, has ex- 

 pressed his surprise at what he terms "the malignant 

 attacks and anonymous notes inserted in various 



* Note of the Translator. This circular was issued several years 

 ago in fact, before the work of cutting the canal had been begun. 



VOL. II. P 



