Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1894-12-14
DEATH OF DE LESSEPS,
The Suez Canal Is His Lasting
Monument.

Atthe Head of the Panama Canal Pro-
ject He Was Responsible for the Great
est Financial and Moral Disaster of the
Century.
Count Ferdinand De Lesseps died FRI
day at Lachenaie, near Vatan, France, in
his Goth year.
Count Ferdinand De Lesseps was not
only the best-known and in some respects
the most remarkable Frenchman, but one
of the few remarkable men of any race
this century has produced. AS diplomatist
he made it possible to accomplish the
greatest work of engineering of his time,
and as an enthusiast and promoter he was
responsible for one of the greatest disas-
tiers, financial and moral, ever experienced
by any country The same qualities which
led to success at Suez resulted i'm wreck
and ruin at Panama.
De Lesseps's life from his 10Th to his 5Oth
year was spent in the diplomatic service of
France. Fascinated by the trade advan-
tages and international changes which a
canal through the isthmus of Suez prom
ised TO bring about, De Lesseps secured
from Said Pacha in 1856 the exclusive
right to build and operate a canal in it.
Three years later he had organized the
company and raised the necessary capital.
De Lesseps knew almost nothing of en-
gineering. Engineers opposed the project
as impracticable, the British government
blocked his way for political reasons, and
more than once complications with Turkey
and Egypt threatened to put a stop to the
undertaking. His courage and persistence
finally conquered, and on August 10, 1869,
the waters of the Red Sea and the Medi-
terranean were joined and on November II
OF that year the canal was formally opened,
in the presence of royalty and noted per
sonages from all over the world with grand
ceremonies.
Honors poured in upon him after this
great success. Nearly every sovereign in
Europe decorated him; the empress's prize
of $1,000 was awarded him by the Paris geo.
graphical society, and even the city of Lon
don gave him his freedom. France made
him hero at once. Louis Napoleon deco
rated him with the grand cross of the Lee
gion of Honor, and he became the first
citizen of the empire, as he was of the re-
public until the disastrous Panama col
lapse honors were showered upon him.
He busted himself for some years with new
schemes, one of which was the turning of
the Mediterranean into the desert of Sahara
to make of the latter a vast lake.
Flushed with the glory of the successful
Suez enterprise, in 1879 De Lesseps turned
his attention to the construction of a canal
across the Isthmus of Panama. He was
then 10 years old but he undertook Jour
ney to Panama to explore the proposed
route and negotiate with the local govern
He visited tbiS pountrV lotar IN,
the interests of the venture, and was given
a hearing before a Congressional commit !
tee. His first estimates of the cost of the |
canal were S5O000,00O. The preparatory
force of engineers and mechanics began
work in 1881.
The work was prosecuted at intervals, |
with greater or less vigor, until it was
finally abandoned on account of the diff |
Guilty in procuring funds. Up to 1890, |
the canal had cost something over $780, |
1000 and according to the estimate of |
the special commission appointed in 1889 |
to inquire into the cCmpany's affairs, at |
least $50, 600, 900 more would be required |
20 complete it.
Up to the close of 1880, De Lesseps had |
issued shares and bonds amounting to
S4O0 0000 600 at par and this immense sum
obligations had been taken by the French |
people, who have probably paid him over |
$3.50, 600, 600 in cash. The greater part of
this has come from the peasantry and |
small landowners. He resorted to the |
most unwarrantable financial device in
order to avert the fatal day of bankruptcy,
such as issuing new bonds to obtain funds !
to pay interest on former issues, and as a !
last resort came the notorious lottery
scheme, the legalization of which by the
French Assembly was accomplished only
through the agency of wholesale bribery
and corruption. Finally, on Dec. II, 1888, !
the company suspended payments, and
since then the works at the canal have
practically been abandoned. The investi-
CATION and trial followed. The aged count
was in too poor health to permit of his at
tendance at the trial, and he was kept in
ignorance of all developments in the affair.
He and his son and three others were
found guilty of fraudulent proceedings,
the elder De Lesseps being heavily fined
and condemned to five years imprisOn-
ment No attempt was made in his case,
however, to execute the sentence.
In February last he resigned the presi-
dency of the Suez Canal company and was
made honorary president. An effort was
made to have him expelled from the Legion
OF honor, Dut IL was nnally abandoned,
and to millions of Frenchmen he remained
lie Grand Francois" to the day of his
death.
The immediate family of De Lesseps is
large, and his domestic life was happy
one. His first wife was Mile. Agatha
Delamelle, and they had four children.
His second wife he married five days after
the close of his gigantic labors in Egypt by
no pnaOinU IF tho Suaz Canal IIa uae
at that time GA years old, while his wife
was a creole girl of 1G. They had eleven
children, the last of whom was born in
1885, when the count was in his SD year.