The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-03-02
The Suez Canal.

NJ. de Lesseps has often been asked
how the idea OF making Il canal across
the Isthmus of Suez occurred to him.
Every intelligent child, he says, must
have asked his teacher why the little
neck of land between the Red sea and
the Mediterranean could not be dug
through. The answer to such a ques-
tiOn has always been that there were two
insuperable difficulties-one the differ
ence in level between the two seas, and
the other the shifting sands of the desert,
which would fill up a channel as fast as
it was made. NJ. de Lesseps first began
to inquire seriously into these difficulties
in 1919, when he had retired from a dip
lomatic 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 TO Alexandria, and his father had
represented France in Egypt before him.
By 1852 he had convinced himself of
the practicability of making a 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 more favorable time His OppOr-
tumity came in 1854. One day that year,
when he was busy on a scaffolding, look
ing after the building of a new house on
his farm, word was brought him of the
succession of Mohammed Said to the
vice-royaIty of Egypt.
Said Pasha was an old friend of his.
When NJ. de LesSeps was a consul in
Egypt, Said was a great fat boy, and his
father, Mehemet Ali, annoyed at seeing
this FITNESS increase, had him put on
restricted diet, and used to send him for
two hours day to walk round the city,
to skip with a rope, to row, and TO climb
the masts of ships. The boy made friends
with NJ. de Lesseps, 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 Il
curious instance of how great things and
small are interviewer in the web Of life,
that if Said Pasha had not been fat boy
with severe father, NJ. de Lesseps
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 the new vicerOy, talked
him out Of his fears regarding the in
trusiOn of foreign capital into his coun-
try, gained the respect Of the ylceroy ;
counselors by showing his skill In horse
manship, and finally obtained the long
desired concession on November 30,
1S54.-LOndOn Examiner.
The Story of DOckray's Escape.
Frederick A. Dockray, whose case was
the cause of Minister Cushing's demand
upon the Spanish government for the
former gentleman release and an Observ-
ance of the treaty of 1895, tells the fol-
lowing story of his escape: He says on
November 10 he was informed that the
Spanish al thOrities had remanded him
to his old prison, the convent. Report
ING to the local officials he was told that
they had no information on the subject
Freed from his parole and not yet i'm
prisOned he thought that now or never
was his opportunity TO escape, and by
daybreak next morning was on board OF
an American brig lying in the harbor.
That night he was carried to French
steamer, bound for Marseilles, but was
informed that no passengers would be
taken. On the following evening, 1t be
ing dark and rainy, he endeavored to
board British steamer. While rowing
toward the steamer an open beat shot
close up to him. and one Of the men
said That must be aB American who
| escaped - The next night he got on
| board British steamer, but on arriving
/ at Denia. fifty miles south of Valencia
the captain becoming alarmed, insisted
on landing him. The captain of felucca
| came on board, and, persuaded by ter
! dollars and a bottle Of brandy, consented
to take Dockray on board. The feluccs
| sailed for Gibraltar and encountered :
severe gale, which blew for eight days
| Blown over to the African coast, tht
! felucca put in at Tangiers, in sight o
! Galleys Centa, the nearest approach ht
was to make to his prison house; thence
he went to Gibraltar, where he put MIN
/ self under the protection of the Britist
flag. From Gibraltar he went to Lon
| don, and thence to New York.