266 THE MARITIME CANAL OF SUEZ. 



interest than the Company could have obtained elsewhere ; further, 

 that two concessions should be granted to Ferdinand de Lesseps, 

 one, for the construction of the second Maritime Canal, and also 

 for the construction of a Fresh-water Canal from Ismailia to Port 

 Said; and, lastly, the original concession of the Suez Canal of 

 ninety-nine years, as"expressly provided in the Convention of 1866, 

 was to be prolonged for a period, it was believed, of twenty-five 

 years, on the basis of the agreement, that the term of ninety-nine 

 years commenced, de novo, on the completion of the second Maritime 

 Canal. 



These proposals, practically made Ferdinand de Lesseps master 

 of the position, for, with an honest desire to give him full credit for 

 what he had done, and for what he had to offer, they allowed him 

 to ignore the fact that England also had something to proffer, 

 namely, the far wider, and more important claim of a free passage to 

 the East for all ships, at all times, on the payment of a fair toll. 



Moreover, if the Convention had been accepted, it would have 

 for ever stood in the way of conferring on the Canal, that which the 

 Statutes of the original Convention contemplated, an international, 

 as distinguished from a national character, a universal, as dis- 

 tinguished from a private and personal interest ; and, under these 

 circumstances, it is not to be wondered at, that the terms of the 

 agreement were rejected. 



The Provisional Agreement had been submitted to, and approved 

 by, the Board of Directors of the Suez Canal Company, but else- 

 where it met with opposition from the General Shipowners' 

 Society, who declared their preference for an independent Canal, 

 and also by the London Chamber of Commerce, who considered it 

 was inadequate and unsatisfactory, and, further, Lloyd's condemned 

 it in far stronger language. 



In the House of Commons, Sir Stafford Northcote gave notice to 

 refuse sanction to the Scheme, and its general unpopularity, and 

 risk of defeat, compelled Her Majesty's Government to abandon it, 

 and accordingly, on the 23rd July, Lord Granville in the House of 

 Lords, and Mr. Gladstone in the House of Commons, announced 

 that the Cabinet did not intend to proceed further with the Con- 

 vention, and that the proposals would be unconditionally withdrawn. 



The rejection of this Convention with Ferdinand de Lesseps, and 

 the Directors of the Suez Canal Company, was not only an unhappy 



