STORY OF THE CANAL

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8165, 20 April 1895, Page 4

STORY OF THE CANAL

One of the miacellaneoui contributions in Longman's Magazine for Febru»r/ deila with the late M. de Lesßepi and the Suez and Panama Canals, from the pen of Mr W. 11. Wheeler, who throws some light on tho secret hiitory of those undertakings, and the dangers and difficulties attondiog them. Though nearer home, the diflisulties of the Sue-? scheme wero very great. The preliminary exploration of the desert was loog and difliculb, and a quotation is given from a description by LeBBeps : " Beyond the animals taken with us for conveyance and food, there was not even a fly in this hideous desorb. At night we opened the cages of our fowls, full of confidence, for we wero sure that the next morning a'l our beas's would come round us, not to bo abandoned in those desolate places where solitude is death. When we Btruck our camp in the morning, if ab the moment of departure a hen had lurked behind, pecking ab' tho foob of ft tamarisk shrub, quick she wou'd jump up frightened on the back of a camel to regain her cage. The Fel ahs whom I took were in constant anxiety, for tho inhab tants of the borders of the Nile have the greatesb four of the desert: In exploration of this desert during two months we experienced j iani storms which penetrated every* thiug."

A'ITIPUDE OP ENGLAND Referring to the attitude of England in (he matter, the writer says thab en b cr.ption lisb for the capital required wtro open d in France, Spain, Austria aud Eng'and. The n'rßt three countries took up the port 01 plotted to them, bub the 200,0. '0 L2O sbares reserved for England were noo taken up, Tho committee of the proposed company wished to assign them to other count ries, but Lessepa objec'ed, He did nob waut England to Lold aloof from taking an interesb in the Canal, believing that when the fallacies which then prevailed were dissipated we should he glad to have our portion. He therefore persuaded the Khedive to tako them, with the view of ultimately disposing of them in England. This anticipation proved to be well founded, as twenty years later 170,000 bhares, belonging bo Ismail Pasha, were purchased for the English Government by Lord Beaconsfield at a cost of L 4 000,000. Truy nob me^ey entitled England to a voice in tho managemenb of the canal, bub if sold would realise more than four times the purchase money, To ra<se the cipital in France, Lesseps first went to the great capitalists ; but on applying to the Rothschilds, and finding they would require a coui« mission of o per cenb. which wou'd have amounted to L 400.000, he at once determined to conduct the operations himself, and to rely on the patriotism of the pclites gens and the contnbut'ons of their small savings, and ho was nob disappointed. There are many amusing anecdotes told of the motives which induced the small capitalists of France to pub their money in this undertaking. One of an old soldier who said, on applying for his shares — " Oh, those English ! I am glad to be able to bo revenged oa them by taking sharoß in the cinal ;" and of anobher who, without clearly understanding whether ib was to be a railway or canal, remarked — " That's all the same to me ; pro. vided ib be against the English, I will Bubiciibe." A great parb of tho money was subscribed on the faith cf De Lesseps nlone. As an illuatrabion of tho way he was regarded in France, an anecdote is told of a cabman who had been enqae;ed to drive him to his office, who on receiving his fare insisted on shaking his hand, saying, "Am nob I ouo of your shareholders?' 1

M. DE LI.SSEPS' PLUCK. The commission which went oub to take possession of the land met with very great opposition from the native cbiefs and Governmonb officials, and on several occasions could only obtain the food and camels they required by force. When they arrived at the last village in Lower Egypb, an officer of the Cairo police, who had been follow, ing the party for several days, seized some of the camel drivers and imprisoned them, and ordered the inhabi tants cob to supply them with food. Upon this De Lesseps became fully aware that if the enterprise was to go on be must let the people know that he was superior to these petty clrefs and Government officials. Acting on hie maxim that in the it'aab you must bo either tbe hammer or the anvil, aid that ib waa necessary to lob them know thab be intended to be the former, he summoned tbe principal inhabitants of the village to hi? tent, and after giving them coffee produced a revolver and placiag six empty bobtleo in a row, broke each successively with a bullob from tbe pistol, and then turning to his guests be remarked : " Bear this in mmd — I have twenty in my band who are all hotter sbotß than I am. While we are in tho desert we shall take every moving mark for a ga/elle."

A tri|)L> alliance— The pawnbroker's Bigo. The woman : I'll be ready in just one «econd, dear. The husband : Then lil have time to run oub and get shaved before we start), lovo. The man who never knows when he is beaten would be perfecbly happy if he could geb rid of the suspicion that) other people may be better informed. A concrete bridge having a clear epan of 104 ft and 26ft wide was recen ly contracted over the Danube ab Munderkingen, in Austria. Stone is scarce and dear there, while good Porbland cement is produced in large quantities. Cat worship is the new fashion in pete. The PrinceB3 of Wales has lovely blue Persians ; the Duchess of Bedford never travels withoubher favorites in well lined basket!, and Mrs Winan has her cciti driven out at Brighton in p »orb of gtorified b»tb <?bnir,