Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-07-31
DE LESSEPs.
" Figaro " on his Achievements In Pub
lie and Private Life.

DE, Lesseps' father was Count Math-
leu de Lesseps, of Bayonne, and his
mother was a Spaniard and cousin of
the Montijos. His uncle, Barthelemy
De Lesseps, embarked on La Perouse s
ship, the Astrolabe. La Perouse put
him off on the coast of Kamschatka.
TO carry home news of the expedition.
The journey across Siberia was an
awful one, but it was stroke of luck
for De Lesseps. for the Astrolabe was
never heard from again.
Ferdinand De Lesseps embraced
diplomatic career, like his father and
uncle before him. He was made en-
yOy extraordinary to Rome, but sud
denly resigned one day because his
views did not accord with those of the
assembly on some question. He wrote
to his father, / return to obscurity
without regret" eff God could
have read those words, how He would
have laughed" writes NJ. de Lesseps'
present biographer, the Figaro man. J
In his retirement M. de Lesseps de-
yeloped his hobby of the Suez Canal.
The idea was an old one, as old as the
Pharaohs in fact, but it had been
abandoned.
Needless to give the history of this
great work. De Lesseps went straight
att, and succeeded in an incredibly
short space of time.
The English were terribly opposed
to the scheme, because they were
jealous of France. Lord Palmerston
called De Lesseps "a sort of pick
pocket. But the English abuse in
censed the French, who rallied patri-
otically around De IIesseps One day
a venerable bourgeois came putting up
NJ. De Lesseps three fight of stairs,
and said, as he entered the room:
want to subscribe to your rail-
road across the island of Sweden .
lie de Suede).
But, monsieur, said De Lesseps,
1T is not railroad, it's canal it !
not an island, but an isthmus, and not
in Sweden, but in Suez "
don't care what it is or where il
is, said the capitalist, 50 so long as il
makes England mad
When DE Lesseps went to Egypt he
was quite as much at home as he was
in Paris. He was unpopular at Cairo
| The khedive did not venture to invite
him to audience, but said to him
|" When YOU see me carry this bip cant
in public come and see me in the eve
ming" NJ. De Lesseps has the can,
among his curiosities.
At last the work is done-at cos
of 400,000,000 francs. The inaugura
tion takes place. Six thousand officia
representatives of the civilized worlC
are present. 1t is not a "parterre O
kings" it is a parterre of nations
AT the supreme moment when the
triumphal hotilla is about to sail tn,
length of the canal, word is brough
to NJ. de Lesseps that an Egyptian
frigate had grounded and blocked thu
way. An irremediable disaster AL
Europe is there, aud everybody will
laugh at the canal and its protector
De Lesseps gave the order that tht
flotilla should pass the frigate, nC
matter how. The fotilla managed to
squeeze by some way, and when tht
grounded frigate was passed she free
a salute in honor of the empress O
the French, adding greatly to thu
eclat of the occasion.
France gave de Lesseps the Crane
Gordon of the Legion of Honor, while
England, which had abused him liter
ally like a pickpocket, sent him the
right of the city of LondOn-an honor
shared by no Frenchman living-in ;
massive gold casket.
De Lesseps is Il small man, wei
built and not thick set. though trifC
rounded in front. White hair, wei
combed; parted with mathematical
accuracy. An ordinary forehead
Moustaehe little less white than The
hair. Mouth very vivante Blacl
eyelids. Eyes black and full of tn,
sun. He looks fifty-fve, although tn,
civil record puts him down at seventy
four. His exterior is very attractive
He is thinking entirely Of his owl
ideas, and not at all of yours, when h,
talks, although he listens with polit,
sufferance.
When he was at the hight of hi,
fame he married a very beautiful anC
extremely handsome woman, M lie de
Bragard. He was forty years Older
than she. He said to the Figaro mar
that a life without love was like a
magic lantern without light. By his
| first wife he had two sons, who were
| his cOllaborators in his great enter.
prise. By his present wife he has
seven children, the youngest of whom
is still at the breast, Assuredly NJ. de
Lesseps was sent down here to be q
creator
Like an architect who reserves in q
cathedral niche for his own burial
M. De Lesseps has chosen a place on
the banks of the Suez canal for his in.
terment. 1t is not far from the sea
at place where the canal makes q
large mirror, which reflects the focks
of birds of passage in their flight. The
feathered voyagers of Africa swoor
down to see themselves in the placid
waters, as women go out of their way
to view the reflection Of their forms in
a shop glass. Over De Lesseps' tomb
an Arabic inscription will tell how
the black-eyed Frank made the wa.
ters obey him as he would a drome-
dary.
The device of NJ. De Lesseps-ape.
rum terrum gentibus-will also be
written on his tomb. He hit upon this
superb device in 1853, when he was
crossing the desert now pierced by
the canal. De Lesseps is one Of the
few men of the century who have beer
able to celebrate, living, the realiza.
ton of their dreams.
Missouri takes an old corn-cob
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