It is not very easy to estimate the important effects of opening this route to the maritime States of Europe.
Lord Palmerston, acting in the interest of England, constantly opposed the design. He at once perceived that the restoration of trade to the Levantine ports would seriously disturb the commercial equilibrium. All the ingenious devices of a clever lawyer in conducting a bad case were employed by English diplomacy in order to arrest the operations of M. de Lesseps.
The first and most valid objections alleged by Lord Palmerston were based on the practical difficulties in the way of execution, and were stated with great force and acuteness. The shifting sands of the Desert would, it was affirmed, soon fill up the canal; and the sand and silt, which from time immemorial had been brought down by the great father of waters, and which swept to the westward by the prevailing winds, would soon fill up any artificial harbor which might be constructed.
That these difficulties were resolutely encountered and overcome, is one of the marvels of this truly marvelous work.
To these objections M. de Lesseps cautiously replied that all questions would be referred to a commission of engineers.
After an examination of all the plans, the commission reported favorably on that which has just been successfully executed. The work found a few friends among the English people and in Parliament.
Lord Palmerston, being interrogated, declared that the scheme was hostile to the interest of the country. His real objection was obscurely hinted. “It is founded,” he remarked, “in remote speculations in regard to easier access to our Indian possessions, which I need not more distinctly shadow forth, because they will be obvious to any body who pays attention to the subject.” He further characterized it as one of those plans “so often brought out to make dupes of the English people,” and he expressed his preference for the communication by railroad between Suez and Cairo. As this railroad can never be more than a passenger route, it is evident that its influence on commerce must always be insignificant.
The work had barely commenced when, through the instigation of the English Embassador, the Sultan issued an order arresting the operations. The plea assigned for this interference was that the authority of the Viceroy was insufficient without the sanction of the Sultan. De Lesseps invoked the interposition of the Emperor, who, with apparent indifference, was watching the proceedings from his retreat at Biarritz.