: The Isthmus of Suez Question by Lesseps Ferdinand De - Suez Canal (Egypt)

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THE QUESTION SUBMITTED 7

NO.

THE ISTHMUS OF SUEZ QUESTION

SUBMITTED TO THE PUBLIC OPINION OF ENGLAND.

"Aperire terram gentibus."

In the month of October, 1854, I left Europe for Egypt, in consequence of an invitation I had received from the new Viceroy, Mohammed Sa?d, who for twenty years has honoured me with his friendship. I had no mission from my Government. It was in the course of a journey across the Libyan desert from Alexandria to Cairo which I made in company with the Prince, that the question of cutting through the Isthmus of Suez, was for the first time mooted between us. He requested me to draw up a memorial on the subject, and, as my ideas met with his approbation, he issued to the Consuls General of foreign powers a firman , destined to receive the sanction of the Sultan, granting to a company composed of the capitalists of all nations without distinction, the right to construct a canal between the two Seas. Mr. Bruce, the agent of the British Government, was the first of the Consuls General who was informed of the Viceroy's project, so that France and England received intimation of it at the same time.

MM. Linant Bey and Mougel Bey, engineers, who have been engaged, the one for the last twenty, the other for the last thirty years, in the construction of important hydraulic works in Egypt, were appointed by the Viceroy to accompany me in an exploring expedition to the Isthmus of Suez, and to complete, by a fresh examination of the ground, the investigations they had already made.

This expedition was made during last December and January; after presenting an account of it to His Highness Mohammed Sa?d, I gave instructions , in his name, to the engineers, calculated to assist them in the preparation of their report.

In the month of March, MM. Linant Bey and Mougel Bey delivered the precursory scheme , which quite convinced the Viceroy of the possibility of executing this great undertaking in which he has taken the initiative. They establish by calculations and data, which may be verified by any one, that a maritime canal direct from Suez to Pelusium thirty leagues long, one hundred metres wide, and eight metres deep, extending sufficiently far into the two seas by means of jetties, to obtain the depth necessary to enable ships to enter without difficulty, having an inland port in the natural basin of Lake Timsah, and which should be completed in six years, would cost, at the most, 160,000,000 francs, ; or, about half the amount expended on the Great Northern railway from London to York, or on that between Paris and Lyons.

In a journey that I made to Constantinople, I ascertained that the Sultan and his ministers were favourable to the project, and I delivered to the Viceroy a letter from the Grand Vizier, in which he aptly characterized the opening of the Isthmus of Suez by a maritime canal as a work of the most useful and interesting character. His Highness immediately transmitted to the Divan, the documents, maps, and plans necessary for understanding the question of construction, and which were required for obtaining the sanction of the Sovereign.

I was then commissioned to return to Europe for the purpose of calling public attention to the subject and to take measures for organizing the undertaking, on a cosmopolitan basis in accordance with the principles which have from the commencement guided the projectors.

Prince Mohammed Sa?d has declared in his instructions , that the labours of his engineers, who at this moment are engaged in preparing their definitive scheme, shall be submitted to the judgment of engineers, chosen from England, from France, from Holland, from Germany, and from Italy; and that the organization of the Universal Company entrusted with the construction of the Canal shall be based upon the scientific decision of Europe.

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