FERDINAND DE LESSEES AND HIS SUEZ CANAL

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28080, 22 September 1956, Page 3

FERDINAND DE LESSEES AND HIS SUEZ CANAL

I Reviewed by H.AJid.}

Ferdinand de Lesseps. A Biographical Study. By Charles Beatty. Eyre and Spot iswoode. 334 pp. Index. This book was not written purposely to link with a vital present-day question; it became topical while in print The turn of events was fortunate for the author and publisher. But their eo od fortune no more than matches the public s good fortune at the timely appearance of a handbook of valuable information. The bibliography at the end of this new book testifies to the vast amount that has already been written concerning Ferdinand de Lesseps; and the biographer’s task is largely (in the words of the present author) a matter of “unwrapping a personality from so much paper ” The definitive work is that of Edgar Bonnet published in France in 1951, but this is yet to be translated. In the meantime the general reader will welcome Charles Beatty’s able study, for this is more than a mere biography it is the inside story of the Suez Canal 2 and it provides for the man in the street an excellent account of the poetical, legal and financial backpound of the present confused and somewhat puzzling situation. Yet this is primarily a biography and the picture of Lesseps that rands out is that of a man among men. Born in 1805 at Versailles, the amazing fact is that Lesseps was never trained as an engineer. In early manhood he served France as a junior in the diplomatic service, and it was whilst enjoying youthful conviviality with Said Pasha whilst Egypt was at war with Syria in 1834, that he decided to condense into reality the many ideas of a canal across the isthmus that had been current since ancient days. In the face of unabated political intrigue and recurrent crises, only a man of unshakeable will could have carried through the Suez Canal project especially against the hostility of Turkey whose Sultan was Egypt’s overlord, and of England represented by the formidable persons of Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell. It is true that Napoleon 111 lent intermittent support; he wanted the canal built with French money but was nervous of offending England. On the other hand Palmerston believed the scheme to be physically impracticable and suspected Lesseps’ motives. In particular he feared that the canal Eject would strengthen French lerialism by separating Egypt from Turkey. Despite this powerful opposition and in spite even of an Egyptian boycott, on April 25, 1859. Lesseps with only 150 workmen began the excavation of the new waterway. At this fane he still thought of the actual task in terms only of manual work, with men rather than machines, and it is

thl er firH ng ‘k- read that having moved over“ 100 rnmVT* ,°l, earth of l nuiiion to follow) “in token EurS tha . pick to the next seffior The inaS' m ?r=l S ° t i? r ?.! ,gh al! the staff, senior then went to the and the J 5 ® , native workmen, Wn«« h,d 2* ‘t em until the knock m , ade his ceremonial Th J “ p on .the desert's door step.” daunte?T gnitude of the Project never daunted Lesseps, and the story of his prejudice “h vig °£ous battle against prejudice, boycotts, labour riots and lC fi a n ep ? dami ' s ' Political intrigues ? Pd financial obstacles is genuinely fW Pr ,n Sl X. e ? Ut th f battle w J success* that on August 15, 1869 the t E lol 2 el l t arr tved when the two s ‘F® R ? d d the Mediterranean. p ai ® 3olPed - Three months later the m P Eu S eme < a cousin of Lesseps) officially inaugurated the canal. The following year saw the downfall of fi apo il on J a ” d the establishment of the "hird Republic, and as further expenditure was necessary before the canal could be fully usable, a further series of financial crises occurred, until Disraeli profited by one of them to make his famous purchase of shares, bays the author: “What England was now so delighted to purchase had , ei ? on °^ er from the very inception of the canal scheme, to be repeatedly and discourteously refused. Never more feminine, Britannia had a sudden craving for an article which had been in the world’s shop-window for years—since 1854; but had never seemed likely to suit her, and now she wanted no one else to have it.” Lesseps had now become a man of world renown, a public idol, whose reputation stood the highest. In 1879 when he was 74 years old, he inaugurated the Panama Canal project, a scheme which was to develop into one of France’s bitterest political scandals. One of its results was the arrest and trial of the aged Lesseps in 1892 for misappropriation. The trial revealed that the great man was made the scapegoat for an adventure which at the time had not succeeded. His final vindication was the completion and opening of the Panama Canal by the United States in 1915. In the year following Lesseps’. trial, when the revenue from his other worx, the Suez Canal, amounted to 77 million francs, the old man achieved death, aged 89 years. His life had been on p long record of manly struggle and achievement.

Lesseps was indeed a man men, but he was also a man among women, for he was the devoted husband of two wives. His first wife bore him two sons, died in 1853. He married for the second time at sixty-four, a girl of twenty, by whom he had twelve children, his last child being born when Lesseps was in his eightieth year. From frequent quotations from official letters and the documents, it is evident that the author has done an immense amount of reading for this study. In places the treatment of political events is a little tedious, but an understanding of these is necessary for a deeper appreciation of the livelier personal story. On the whole the author has achieved a good balance. He certainly succeeds in transmitting his own enthusiasm for his subject to the reader. Apart from its inherent interest as the biography of a great man, this book can be recommended for its reliable picture of the historical background of the present day Suez Canal question.