38 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

/ Majesty placed the matter in the hands of a commis-/ sion, composed of members of the Imperial Court, of \ whom the Due de Persigny was the most important, / assisted by eminent French legal authorities. The \ terms of their award exceeded the most sanguine \ hopes of the Company. Egypt was condemned to / pay close upon ;3,ooo,ooo for breach of contract.

h?ow this award was obtained, and how M. de Lesseps contrived to finance the Company during its vicissitudes of fortune, are questions which gave rise to much hostile criticisms. Anybody who takes the trouble to examine the official report issued by the French Government concerning the mode in which the Panama Canal was financed by M. de Lesseps, will have little difficulty in forming an opinion as to the causes of the extravagant expenditure incurred in the case of the Canal of y/Suez. It is, however, common justice to say that, m/> \ with respect both to the Canal which succeeded and (ri/ the Canal that failed, there was no evidence whatever to show that M. de Lesseps appropriated to himself any undue share of the bonuses, distributed so (lavishly in all quarters, which were considered likely to render valuable assistance in raising funds for the purpose of his enterprises. Whether the end justifies the means is a moot point, which in the great majority of instances is decided by the issue, whether the means succeed or not in accomplishing their end. That he was unscrupulous in his expedients, I have no doubt whatever, but it would take