THE MARITIME CANAL OF SUEZ. 243 



as possible the welfare of the labourers. Thousands of voluntary 

 workmen, chiefly Arabs, recruited the staff of the Company's 

 employ'es, and, by uniting themselves with the European workmen, 

 the best results were obtained, so that by the month of April, 1862, 

 the foundation-stone of the town of Timsah was laid upon the 

 sides of the lake. By the i8th November, 1862, the entire length 

 of the channel had been excavated from the level of the sea to the 

 entrance of El-Guisr, thus permitting the waters of Lake Menzaleh 

 to pour in for the first time upon the dry foundations of the 

 Canal to Lake Timsah, and the waters were even carried much 

 further towards Suez, overflowing upon the entire distance of the 

 ground that the waters of the Canal had to pass through, whilst the 

 Fresh-water Canal was likewise forced towards Suez. 



On the 1 8th January, 1863, the Khedive, Mohammed Said 

 Pasha, suddenly died, and the same day, Ismail Pasha, the 

 youngest son of Mehemet Ali^ was proclaimed at Cairo, Viceroy of 

 Egypt. This event naturally awakened considerable anxiety, for 

 although at this period the works of the Canal had been pushed on 

 with activity, yet the actual situation of the Company, owing to the 

 absence of the Firman of the Porte, was still precarious, and the 

 leaders of the enterprise foresaw a crisis, which, at any time, might 

 burst upon them. 



THE OPPOSITION OF TURKEY. 



On the 6th April, 1863, a Despatch was forwarded from Constan- 

 tinople to the representative of the Sublime Porte at Paris, which 

 appeared in all the Journals, declaring, that notwithstanding the 

 abolition of the compulsory labour {corvk) in the whole Empire, in- 

 cluding Egypt, the works of the Maritime Canal, had, by the means 

 of this regime, been thus far prosecuted ; and, in the second place, 

 that, by the Act of Concession, the Company would be able to claim 

 on the two sides of the Canal important territory, comprising on 

 the Eastern side, the frontier of Syria, and that this state of things 

 was seriously opposed. Coijsequently, the Sublime Porte subordi- 

 nated its consent and the issue of its Decree, until the solution of the 

 three following questions: i. The Stipulation for the neutrality of 

 the Canal, a. The Abolition of the forced labour. 3. The surrender 

 by the Company of the clause relating to the property of the 

 Fresh-water Canal, and also the concession of the territory which 

 bordered the two Canals. 



