New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-12-16
DELESSEPS AND HIS WORKS
A NOTABLE CAREER IN DIPLOMACY AND
ENGINEERING.
GREAT SUCCESS AT SUEz AND GREAT FAILURE
At pANAMA-END OF A LONG AND
ACTIVE CAREEE

GREAT SUCCESS SlE1 AMI ~ "'>-
AT PANAMA-END OF A LONG AND
ACTIVE CAREER.
With the resignation of NJ. Ferdinand 40 LessePs
and tho other officers of the moribund Panama Oaha
Company new era must begin in the WORK OF Sc
eurng tnteroceanic transit for ships through the
American Isthmus. Practically too, the acuVe Cd
eeer of NJ dc Lesseps comes 10 an end-a career long
and active beyond ordinary mortal compass ana iu
of such pictresQueness is seldom to DC observed
outside the pages OF romantic fiction. A' MS great
sce Il is not reasonably to be expected that no
will become the promoter of any moro such daring
and dazzling schemes those which have maze MS
past life ilustrious and his name househoid "ord
the world around. NJ. dc Lesseps has been Tor
many wears one OF the most picturesque and inter-
estIng figures on the worlds stage, where he has
played great many parts TO the perfect satisfaction
of himself and of those who have followed him. The
briancy and bodness Of his conceptions, his courage
in adversely, the tenacity Of his purposes, and his
consummate art diplomat have brought him
victory in the face Of defeat and made nations his
friends when they inclined to regard him with
distr,st His father, Count Matthew de Lesseps was
born at Bayonne and as he was equally well &C
auantcd with the Spanish and French languages,
was sent by Napoleon /, to accompany Lucien Bona
parte, his first Ambassador to the Court OF Spain
While in Spain the elder de Lesseps made the ac-
Quantance of Mr. Kirkpatrick, United States Consul
at Malaga, who first introduced him TO the family
noble spanard had two fair daughters, with one of
whom Mr.. kirkpatrick already in love, and II
did take the Count long TO fall In love Win 'he
other. The Scotcb-American Consul and the French
man became brothers in-law and while the son OF
the latter was become Ferdinand d" Duke OF suez"
daughter of the former became Countess OF Montilo
and mother of Eugene, afterward Empress of France
The elder dc Lesseps in 1908 represented the French
Republic In Egypt Bonaparte had Instructed him
10 pick out from among the leaders of the Turkish
troops a man of energy and ability who could be
proposed at Constantinope for the hitherto nominal
dignity of Pacha Of Cairo. NJ. de Lesseps pitched
on Mehemet Ali. the illterate commander of corps
Of Basht Bazouks, and advised his protege as to
short method of dealing with the Mamelukes, who
we're the oppressors Of the Egyptians and the enemies
of France Mehemet, who might have been one OF
Carlyles heroes put the counsels into practice at
the massacre of the Citadel, which Kinglakc so
dramatically described in Z" Eothen.' 1t was when
NJ Ferdinand do Lesseps himself French Consul
General In Egypt that he became intimate with Me-
hemet Alis youngest son, his future patron and
partner.
Ferdinand de Lesseps born at Versailles on
November 10 1905, and after acquiring thorough
diplomatic education by travelling about in company
with his father, entered the Consular service HIM
self and held the post Of Consul at Barcelona, Cairo
and Alexandria, becoming Consul General at the
Egyptian capital and receiving the Cross of the
Legion Of Honor for his heroism and devotion during
the plague. In 1946 he was made French Minister
at Madrid and the following year was sent to Rome
TO effect negotiations between the popular govern
ment and the French army Owing to his too
favorable opinion Of the popular movement IN italy,
he was recalled in disgrace.
TIE SUEZ CANAL.
Mohammed Said of Mehemet All. had now
succeeded the Viceroyaty at Cairo and he invited
the son of his fathers friend to go TO Egypt as his
guest The idea of the Sucz Canal then took pos
NJ De less became
first convert. The Sultan and the English bitterly
opposed the scheme, but the company was formed III
1854 with a capital of S400o0,000. The work was
begun in 1855, was pressed with vgor and enthuSi-
asm, and the canal opened with imposing cere-
monies on November II 1869, the same year in
which the Union and Central Pacific Railroads were
connected at Promontory in Utah. Being her Mns-
man, De Lesseps had the sympathy and active in
teret OF the Empress Eugene in this great enterprise
and 1t largely through her patronage that no
was enabled to carry 1t 10 a successful conclusion.
The Suez Canal passes thrugh a low, sandy plain,
and is about 100 miles long. BY constant dredging
an average depth Of twenysx feet of water is main
taned and ships pass in and out at either end with
out the hindrance of locks The business OF the Canal
has steadily increased. In 1885, no less than 1924
vessels passed through 1t, the gross receipts were
$4,000 900; the shareholders paid dividend
of 17O8 per cent after the sinking fund had been
provided for, and the tonnage of steam and sailing
vessels that passed through amounted to s.o9o.411
tons.
THE PANAMA CANAL
The idea of cutting through the Cordleras, and
providing a waterway from the Atlantic to the
PacSc, at Daren, originated with the
spalHh conquerors but their plans lay for
200 years buried In musty and dusty archives at
Madrid. The speculatons of modern science revived
the idea, and when NJ de Lesseps assembled his
famous Congress in the Low Countries in May, 1s79
variety of competing schemes were submitted to It,
Naturally, he had carefully examined them, and had
come personally TO decision as TO the most prac
tcable line. But the schemes were referred to the
impartial judgment Of that gathering of the most
illustrious savants and geographeis and tho most
audacious engineers The tribunal was constituted Of
men OF all nations, for even China had sent repre-
sentative. Four commits sons appointed to re-
port on the undertaking in its dferen, aspects. NJ
Fontaine, the secretary General of the suez Canal,
proved figures in hand, that annual traffic Of
100000 tons only possible in a canal through
which fifty ships could pass In twentyfour hours
AS 1t believed that that could only be assured in
canal without locks or other drawbacks, cold water
thrown various daring and ingenious concep
tions If they not actually ruled out of court.
NJ. Levasseur had made the calculations as to the
prospects of traffic and their probable development
He estimated the traffic ut $500 100000, or 4,e30,
900 tons Of merchandise as a minimum, based upon
the returns of 1876. Assuming rate of progress in
the future equal to that of the immediate past the
tonnage at the opening Of the canal in 1890 should
have increased by nearly million and half AS to
the saving in distances there could be dispute.
And NJ de Iesseps with the revolution in commercial
routes predicts that the New World Will send US
its woods, its indigo IFS coffee its rice, its sugar,
IT'S india rubber, and much Of the mineral wealth which
n present is only partially developed
The Congress musi have brought bitter disappoin
ment 10 many daring and sanguine projectors. The
choice finally narrowed TO the project Of the canal
through Nicaragua and that of the Panama route
Tho Nicaraguan line had its advantages, and was the
cheaper Of the two by eight millions, as 1t was cal
eulated to cost only S16oo0Qo00 But 1t was much
the longer, both in time and distance; IL would be
difficult and expensive keep in check the luxurance
Of the tropical vegetation; the number Of ships
would be limited by the locks and the gigantic stone