The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-02-10
De Lssseps' Sentence.

/ Il is greatly to be regretted that man
/ who has been Iooked upon as a benetactor Of
I mankind, and whose fame has reach-i the
/ furthernost parts Of the world. should be
J convicted of crime aad sentenced % impTis-
/ onmenE The sentence that has been i'm
/ posed upon the great engineer, Ferdinand
| de Lesseps, is a severe one. Unless he Is
pardoned. il is probable that he viii end his
days in a convict's cell, because he is already
q very old man and is in Eeebls health His
son Charles, upon whom was imposed
similar sentence, may serve out his term Of
| Imprisonment, and, In another land, il not
his own. do much to wipe out the
! disgraCe which his conviction has fastened
| upon him, but Ferdinand de Lesseps can
hardly have such a hope.
The publication ia this country OF the de-
tails Of the. trial has not been sufficiently
full to justify an opinion as to whether
politics had anything to do with the result
that was reached. The stability Of the
French republic has been threatened by the
Panama scandal, and the pressure in favor
Of Furnishing all Of those who were connected
with illeglumato use Of the Panama canal
funds has been, and still is, very great.
Unless the evidence of wrong doing
against De Lesseps had been convincing,
however, a verdict OF guilty would hardl y
have been rendered. The convicted and
disgraced man still has influential
friends who would have aroused public
sentiment ia bis behalf If there had been a
reasonable doubt OF his guilt.
It is sad to contemplate the unhappy con-
dition- OF a man who, only a few years ago,
was one Of the most famous and influential
men Of the world. When he had completed
the Suez canal the world believed that be
was capable Of accomplishing almost any
engineering feat. When, therefore, be
announced that the difficulties to be over
come In constructing the Panama canal
we're not as great as those which had been
overcome in the construction OF the Suez
canal the world believed him, and there was
extraordinary eagerness to subscribe for the
Panama canal shares. The Suez canal
shares had turned out to be very valuable,
aud it was freely predicted that the Panama
shares would be even more valuable.
1t is clear now that De Lesseps entered
upon the construction of the Panama canal
without a clear comprehension of the
engineering difficulties to be overcome He
had accomplished so much, and had been
iattered SO greatly, that he believed him
self equal to any difficulties likely to be
encountered. Millions of dollars we're spent
before he understood the vastness of the
task he had undertaken. He still believed
however, that with sufficient amount Of
money he could construct the canal
The story Of how hundreds Of millions Of
dollars Of the money the Panama Canal
Company obtained were recklessly spent in
the payment of brides, blackmail and worth
less machinery, and how little was spent
legitimately, is well known. The canal will
never be built probably because the engin-
eering difficulties are too great. and De Les
sepS awaits the end of life in prison and
the French people, who once delighted to
honor him, are Indifferent to his fate