26o THE MARITIME CANAL OF SUEZ. 



In the East, England finds the largest market for her manu- 

 factures, and, from the East, (for the Colonies are as much interested 

 as the Mother Country in this commerce, which it is essential should 

 be rapid and economical), flows a steady stream of the products and 

 industries of India, China, and Australasia. 



The Canal is not alone valuable to our Merchants and Manufac- 

 turers, but it has especial advantages, in other directions, which 

 cannot be overlooked. 



England rules India, and possesses a great Colonial Empire, so 

 she must have direct communication between the centre and 

 Capital of her Government, and the scattered members of that 

 Empire. 



It was felt, therefore, that in defending Egypt from foes who 

 threatened her ruin, England was defending the Suez Canal, and 

 herein must be found the reason for the popular cry in 1882, for 

 military operations in Egypt, wherein the criticisms of party, and of 

 the small section, to whom all armed intervention is odious, were 

 alike silenced. 



It was natural, therefore, that France was keenly alive to all that 

 related to the security, and prosperity of the Suez Canal. Its illus- 

 trious constructor, Ferdinand de Lesseps, is justly called, one of the 

 glories of France, and she is proud to count him as one of 

 her foremost sons ; and this admiration is enhanced by the fact, 

 that his great genius, was pre-eminently displayed in Egypt ; the 

 country that has always inspired the French mind with traditional 

 pride ; because France has there played an important historical part, 

 and this tradition, it is impossible to efface from the mind of the 

 French people, or to weaken the conviction, that there is a national 

 dignity to be upheld, in all that relates to the great work with which 

 . the name of Ferdinand de Lesseps is indissolubly bound. 



Moreover, there are those in France, and they are an illustrious 

 minority, who saw, and who still see, in the grand scheme of piercing 

 the Isthmus of Suez, the noble idea of Peace, another link added to 

 the beneficent chain which bind peoples together, in order to make 

 them friends and allies. 



A grand idea of Peace ! It has been said that France made 

 War for an idea ; but, it is equally true, that France made Peace 

 for an idea. Peace by the Suez Canal, for by this water in the midst 



