Suez Canal--Vicomte de Lesseps | Autograph letter signed, on the Suez Canal, 1857

Suez Canal--Ferdinand Marie, Vicomte de Lesseps

Autograph letter signed, to Mr Darby-Griffiths, MP

thanking him for sending him a copy of his speech, complimenting him on the clear and forceful way he had set out England's true position regarding the proposed Suez Canal, agreeing that the British Government had made a serious mistake in opposing the construction of the canal, which would have provided great advantages for British trade, referring to Lord Palmerston's "triste campagne contre le canal de Suez", and going on to correct various inaccuracies in Darby-Griffiths' speech about the current state of affairs in Egypt, defending the standards of safety for workers, explaining that it would be easy to divert the waters of the Nile into Lake Pimsah in the middle of the Isthmus, where they already go in the flood season, stating that the difficulties of constructing the canal appear, from research, to be less serious than they originally appeared, and concluding by pointing out the enormous economic benefits the canal would bring to Britain, in French, 4 pages, 4to, 15 September 1857

A letter from the founder of the Suez canal, in which he explains his aims.