Union and American. [volume] (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1875-1877, 1876-05-18
suspected The commandment, and


when it could be no longer prevel t
Lted,he chartered on goveJnRent nc.
count vessels enough for the tran,
~sportatinn OF the French inlIabi
SAINTS, experimenting The embark
alton to the least details and To the
moment. HIS courageous conduct
won The applause OF all Europe"
His own government advanced
him to the rank of officer in tie
Legion of Honor. Five govern
ments sent him the ensigns of their
orders, namely, those of Sardinia.
the two Sicilys, Sweden, Holland
and Span. The chamber of com
merce at Barcelona placed his mar.
bic bust in their hall, and the
French inhabitants of Barcelona
caused a gold medal to lie struck
in his honor. Louis Philippe a.
gain promoted him to a higher
grade in his profession, and, ut
length, Louis Napoleon accredited
him Minister Plenlpotentiary at
Madrid. Thus, from the humblest
grade of junior consul, he had
made his way, ut the age of forty
three, to a diplomatic rank only one
degree below the highest.
Happily, his diplomatic career,
so brilliant aud successful, termi
mated in the following year. Sent
to Rome as Envoy, he was more
liberal in his concessions to the
Romans than suited the new
masters of France. As a French
writer puts it. Ale was sacrificed
to a change of policy. and recalled.
NJ. de Lesseps, with equal boldncss
and tact, defended his conduct /:
but he also resigned his office.
Louis Napoleon lost an able diplo.
matist,and the world gained the
Suez canal /; for such an enterprise
must have it at the head Of it n
man Of a certain type, one. of in.
quenchable fre-a Lesseps,
1t was in 1854 that he obtained
from the Viceroy of Egypta form
al sanction of the scheme. Even
this was not obtained without diff.
Guilty and long delay. Robt. Steph-
enson, the great railroad engineer
of England, had admitted that the
canal could be made to pay. But
another great English engineer,Sir
John Hawkshaw, the author of the
late project for the tunneling the
English channel, took an opposite
view, and powerfully influenced the
viceroy in its favor. Hawkshaw's
influence, indeed, vas so decisive,
that, when the cana! was opened,
NJ. de Lesseps introduced the Eng
lish engineer to the personages
present by saying:
"This is the gentleman to whom
I owe the canal"
The Vicery of Egypt then sub.
scribed for some of those shares
which the English government
has recently bought. He also per-
mitted Lesseps to employ Egyptian
laborers OH thetime-honored sys-
tenn of paying them no wages ex-
cept bastinado on the sole Of the
Lord Palmerstone that, chiefly on
the ground, he opposed the canal
and il was incoDsequeuce OF his
circumstances that the Sultan of
Turkey put his veto onthe employ
ment of unpaid labor in digging
the canal.
Here was another case showing
that it is never best, never necces-
sary. to violate justice. Compel
led to adopt the system of paying
a fair days wages for a fair days
work, NJ. de Lesseps went to Eng
land and studied deeply the En-
gl;sh dredging machines. lmprov
ing upon these, he brought to bear
upon the work in hand q lahorer
that can excavate swaMps without
inhaliug malarious disease-thc
Steam Engine, which pulled, pan
ted, dredged, carried, and rammed,
for fourteen years in the sands and
swamps of Egypt, until the canal
was done. 1t was wonderfully
difficult work. Probably it would
I. l.... -. IL L.,.r,