The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-03-25


IN the devices brought into play in order
to achieve their end
Every one who has taken the pains to
acnuaint himself with the history Of the
construction Of the Suez canal is aware
that, In addition to facts which are
placed on record, ana which are exceed
1ngly unpleasant reading; there are many
ugly features in connection with that
magnificent undertaking WI ich do not
even bear being put into print There
We're colossal steals, brides of fantastic
magnitude, and not only tens Of thou
sands Of Egyptian fellaheen lives sacri-
feed, but likewise white men put out
OF the way In order to secure their 81
fence concerning this or that piece OF
vlllalny. So great, however, was the
popular enthusiasm aroused throughout
the civil world by the completion Of the
Suez canal, which was justly described
as. one of the grandest under takings
of the century, that all criticisms as to
the means employed to achieve that sue
cess were silenced. So says .'Ex-At-
tache' in New York Tribune It was the
Same: though In a minor degree, with
the Corinth canal, an undertaking in
which many lost their FORTUNES, others
their lives, and yet others their reputa-
TONS
Intoxicated by the adulation which he
received in connection with the Suez
canal, old Ferdinand de Lesseps, .despite
the eRtreaties of his. + yo eldest sons.
plunged into the wellnigh hopeless enter
prise of cutting through the Isthmus of
Panama. Embroidered by the inpunity
which he had enjoyed in connection with
the Srez canal he resorted to similar
methods of obtaining funds and of blind
ing the authorities as we'll as the public
n V1r o0io fr~ro crrI1o v{t
ever, the scandal became so great that
justice was forced to interfere, with the
result that the entire undertaking COL
lapsed. Thousands upon thousands of
stockholders were ruined, while the cor
tuption, political, administrative and jour-
an undr canned of character as to cause
the French republic to totter on its foun-
dat1ons, and to destroy the confidence Of
the people in almost everything and
everybody that had retained their re-
spect. Had De Lesseps been permitted
only to complete his ditchv across the
1sthlnus the magnit1cence of the achieve.
ment would doubtless. have RELOCATED to
oblivion all that there was liscredita BILE
and dishonest In the methods that he had
used to attain his end, and he would have
enjoyed the same immunity as In connec-
ton with the Suez canal. But, as it was,
he died disgraced ard ruined man, I'M
der indictment for felony, and was pre-
served from actual Imprisonment only by
the chivalry of his eldest son, Charles,
the most honest Of men, who took upon
his own shoulders the entire responsible
tty of his aged fathers financial short
comings, and without murmur offered
himself as scapegoat and ibid time"
IN the penitentiary In the place of him
who used at che time to be styled lie
Grand F'rancais." How terrible was the
fall of the latter may be gathered from
the fact that whereas, as just stated, the
Suez canal is glorified as the grandest feat
OF engineering OF the nineteenth century,
the very name of Panama has become
synonymous throughout the civilized
world for everything that is colossally
dishonest and disastrous in a financial
sense.
If refer to the character OF old Ferdi-
nand de Lesseps, and to it's sad close It
is because there is much analogy between
1t and that of the Russian General An
nenkoff, whose death occurred on Sunday
last. In fact, the general was long known
as the Muscovite De Lesseps, and the
nickname was, all things considered, ex-
ceedingly appropriate. Like his French
prototype, Gen. Annenkoff was a man of
extraordinary charm and geniality. His
manners were SO winning and his con-
versaion 80 persuasive that he often man
aged to convert those who had been most
prejud1ced against him into stanch friends
Ind champions, and to remove the sus-
picions of even those who had been most
firmly convinced of his absence of integ-
rity in money matters. Long after it was
tersburg that he had been guilty; of gross
dishonesty, which would have meant ei-
ther the penitentfary or banishment to the
Island Of sagalien for any parsonage OF
minor rank and charm, he still found high
officials willing to- take up the cudgels
tn, 1o{S 1oH 11P ~ I. .
used to meet him frequently at Paris, an,
though warned against him by people who
knew him, I confess that I was at one
moment completely won over, and dis
posed to ascribe to calumny the stories
whiS1 1 had heard about him. He spoke
English remarkably well, was slight in
build, and reminded me both in appear.
ance and in stature of Field Marshal Lord
Wo.seley.s
Like the late Ferdinand de Lesseps he
has TO record one great feat, namely, the
construction of the Trans-Caspian rail-
road; and. like De Lesseps, too. he came
to grief over the second great enterprise
of the satne kind in which he embarked,
namely. the Trans Siberian lire. The
Trans Caspian railroad. however, entities
Gen. Annenkof to be regarded as one Of
the greatest railroad engineers Of the
century, and had it not been for his al
most incredible dishonesty In connection
with both the Trans Siberian line and the
relief fund Of the famine Of 1892 people
would have remained silent concerning ali
the unsavory features that characterized
the construction OF the great railroad
which has its eastern terminus at Samar.
cerd, the Head Of Islam," as Mecca Is
the "heart,.' that mysterious city of the
Thousand and One Nights In which
Alexander the Great, in fit Of drunken
passion, killed his old friend and COM
rade, Clytus, and which, a fourishing
and magnificent metropolis 1900 years,
ago, remains to-day the greatest center of
commerce in Central Asia. Annenkon's
achievement In bringing this legendary