New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-12-14
THE SUEZ CANAL.
EUROPE PROFOUNDLY AGIrATED.


OF JOINT owNERsuIP-TRANCE IRRIIATfp-RUs-
STA prss ,rIsFIED-TnE SULTAN ANNoYED-THE
GERMAN GOVERNMENT CoNCIIIAToGY.
frnoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE rRIhCHh'l
LONDON Dec. "a weeks reflection has wrought
no change in English opinion on the suez '"i'"i
purchase There has been ample time for EXPRESSING
dissent if dissent there were, but scarcely I'LL. VI
such thing is heard. No journal OF influence h's
Indicated a disposition to oppose the ralnca,aon VI
the bargain except possibly she Economist An.'' -
n formal Of much authority in political rs well as
financial matters, and while it approves 'iie P"'-
chase for financial reasons, il suggests some reasons
for doubting its political wisdom. Ii does not
oo no far as TO oppose. 1t merely ADVISES
its headers TO suspend their Judgment till more is
known This happens, however, TO be subject on
which the opinion of The Economist is swayed ny
proiudices on a kindred matter. IFS editor MI
BaRehot is known TO hold strong views respecting
tie possession Of India itself. 1t IS probably not
true that he said il would be worth forty millions
sterling to England TO get out of India and now she
IL paving four millions to help her stay in. But the
current circulation of such remark shows what his
known opinions are, and what allowance must be
made for his criticism transaction based on the
theory of England's permanent possession of her
great Eastern empire. Permanent it s, whether
Mr. Bagehot like il or not, nor is there party,
hardly a public man, who lifts voice in favor OF
its surrender.
What Mr.. Gladstone thinks about the Sucz Canal
purchase is a question nobody has undertaken 10
answer authoritatively In the absence of an
answer political circles themselves with Cos
sip at his expense have heard it affirmed that the
shares were offered TO Mr. Gladstone when he was IN
power for half the price Mr.. Dsraei has now PAID
and that the Liberal Prime Minister refused the
Offer This is story that cuts both ways, but IT
10 1oIo Wit he
it true On inquiry, it proves about half true which
is as much can of stories that start up at
suehmoments and 0oat about in Eeated atmosphere.
There j. reason 20 believe that proposals were made
TO the British Government some years ago by NJ. de
Lesseps and 10 other Governments at the same time,
with a view 10 secure the neutrality OF the
canal. One form these proposals took was that
of a Joint purchase Of the canal by the Powers
most interested in it commercially. Had such l'ur-
chase been made, the share of Great Britain was
computed at two millions sterling, which seems a
very moderate price, ii was already known that
her proportion of the traffic was greater than any
other country's. This, something Ike this, Is the
proposal more OF less conditional i'll form, which
Mr. Gladstone declined. The facts are likely to come
out Def re long in greater detail. Meantime they
keep aAoat a story which, told is quite enough to
oxasperate milder temper than Mr.. Gladst0nes
For the nation ID still in a transport of enthusiasm
No Liberal statesman comes forward TO oppose the
purchase. The ratification by Parliament next Feb
ruary is taeity assented to by those whose OppOei
ton might be formidable. 1t is even said to have
been expressly pledged, communications having been
entered into with Mr.. Gladstone and Lord Harting-
ton on the subcct-perhaps with others also, since
neither Of the two could undertake to speak for the
party very positively. From party point of view,
the Liberals can hardly be expected to like a coup
,i.h Ia hons he Dry a on
place and power All the more creditable to them is
their hearty assent TO what seems to them of public
beneit-an example which other countries might re-
joice 10 initiate. And since they applaud in public,
they may surely be forgiven should il be whispered
in the undcrcurrents of political life that Mr. Disraei
has a genius for safe swagger.
OF Liberal members of Parliament who have been
heard from in public since the announcement Of last
Friday the two most prominent are Mr.. Leenan
and Mr. Fawcett Mr. Leeman approves the pur-
chase. Mr.. Fawcett, like Mr.. BagehOt, thinks the
public ought to have fuller information before
making up its mind aud that Parliament ought to
be summoned soon az possible. Until the two
Houses assemble, the Constitution, in Mr.. Fawcetts
Judgment, is suspended, for Ministers have right
to spend single shilling of public money without
the consent of Parliament This seems little too
doo,fRaire for 80 practical people Us the English,
which Judges broadly and not technically. II we
are to be technical the Is that not shilling
has been spent by anybody but the ROthschIlds who
are generally considered capable of taking good care
of their shl ings. Their profit this transaction is
computed at $1.25OO00.
'CouGuest by mortgngen is what NJ John Le-
monne in The D6bdiS calls the English investment
In Suez Canal shares. He is chagrned beyond
measure by the act Of perhdous Albion, and, like
O true Frenchman. browns his sorrows in al cpl
in for at,a #
Lemoinne's wrath. The manner in which the bar
gain has been consummated without preparation,
without consultation and IN the absence of Parlia
ment reveals the presence of Minister who halls
from the East and who has set mp new Jerusalem
In the City of LOndonp That last touch is a stroke
of genius But NJ John Lenoinne Is
prophet who confirms the proverb lie is held
ia much greater honor in England than in his
own country, where his political INST, adiness las
destroyed most of the influence which he acquired
by his undoubted abilities as q writer His ungov-
eruable vexatiOn this last English success leads
him into strange excuses OF language. good
many things may fairly he said against it from
Trench point Of view, but what sense is there in
cusing England OIL this account of being turucOat
NJ. John LemOlnne. who has been MOnarchist, Re-
publican, and Monarchst again by turns. is hardly
the man 10 bring the charge would he i'll his
more sober moments.
Very different from this is the attitude Of NJ. de
Lesseps, the Frenchman who, if anybody, would
have the night TO feel aggreved at seeing the con
troll of the great work which his genius and energy
accomplished pass into foreign hands. II has long
been French dream TO make Egypt French col
ony. n. dc Lesseps would not deny that such was his
hope, and that political expectations had much 10 do
In promoting the subscriptions of French mouey
with which the canal was built Had these been
the early days of the Third Empire, it may well he
doubted whether NJ de Lesseps the Emperor
would have acquiesced readily in the acquisition of