THE SUEZ CANAL.

Thames Advertiser, Volume IX, Issue 2455, 27 October 1876, Page 3

THE SUEZ CANAL.

AN INTEBEBTING- BIT OF HISTOEY.

M. de Lesseps haß often been asked how tho idea of making a canal across tho Isthmus of Suez occurred to him. Every intelligent child, he says, must have asked his teacher why the little neck of land between tho Red Sea and the Mediterranean could not be dug through. Tho answer to such a question has always been that there wore two insuperable diflicul-tiea-ono the difference in level between' the two seas, and the other the shifting sands of tho desert, which would fill up a channel as fast as it was made. M. do Lessops first began to inquire seriously into theso difficulties in 1849, when he had retired from a diplomatic service of nearly thirty years to the peaceful pursuits of; farming. His connection with Egypt was of long standing; he had at one time been French consul at Alexandria, and his fathor had represented France in Egypt before him. J Uy 1852 he had convinced himsolf of the practicability of makinga canal across Suez, and had submitted his plans to the Porte, but the Porte decided that it did not concern Turkey, and he went back to his cattle and his farm to wait for a more favourable time. His opportunity came in 1854 One day that year, after the building of a new house on his farm, word was brought him of the vico-royalty of Egypt. Said Pasha was an old friend of his. When M. de Lesseps was a consul ia Egypt, Said was a great fat boy, and his father, Mohomet Ali, annoyed at seeing his fatness increase, had him put on restricted diet, and used to send him for two hours a day to walk around the city, to skip with a rope, to row, and to climb the masts of ships. Tho boy made a friend with M. de Lessep3, and got secret meals of maccaroni from his servants. This was the beginning of a friendship which led to such memorable results; and it is a curious instance of how great things and small aro interwoven in the web of life, that if Said Pasha had not been a fat boy with a severe father,if. da Lessep's scheme might have been treated by him with as little attention as it was by the Porte, and we should have had no Suez Canal. As it was, he had an admirable introduction to tho new Viceroy, talked him out.of his fears regarding tho intrusion of foreign capital into his country, gained the respect of tho Viceroy's councillors by showing his skill in horsemanship, and finally obtained the long-desired occasion on November 30, 1854.— London Examine)',