THE SUEZ CANAL. 39 a great deal to persuade me that he wilfully sacrificed the interests of those who had entrusted him with their money to personal or selfish purposes. At the same time no fair-minded person who studies the history of the formation of the Suez Canal Company, and of th mode in which its funds were proyjded, /j-c>yja and its shares were allotted, can entertain any doubt " that the management of its affairs under M. de Lesseps was characterized, to use the mildest expression, by the most extraordinary irregularity. The award was of a very one-sided character.

Let me 'cite one instance amongst many which illustrates the extraordinary character of its provisions. By the original concession the Company' was entitled to the ownership of a strip of land on either side the Canal throughout its entire course.

The breadth of the strip was about a kilometre, measured from the centre of the channel. Ismail, in deference to the instructions of the Sultan, had/ '' . , f reduced the breadth of the land in question to sixty I metres. In consequence, the Company undoubtedly* ' ' lost its right to a considerable area of ground. This ground, however, was then, and for the most part still / is, barren desert sand, absolutely valueless for the time / being. For the land of which they were thus deprived — land, too, which had been given as a present — the Company was awarded the extravagant priceof20 per acre. Some years later, the Company required a portion of this land for building wharves along the banks, and applied to the Egyptian Government to