Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, The Philatelic Digital Library Project at http://www.tpdlp.net and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Books project.) THE ISTHMUS OF SUEZ QUESTION. THE ISTHMUS OF SUEZ QUESTION. BY M. FERDINAND DE LESSEPS, MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY. “APERIRE TERRAM GENTIBUS.” LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. PARIS: GALIGNANI AND CO. 1855. CONTENTS. PAGE THE QUESTION SUBMITTED 7 APPENDIX. NO. I. M. DE LESSEPS’ MEMORIAL TO THE VICEROY 18 II. FIRMAN OF CONCESSION 28 III. M. DE LESSEPS’ INSTRUCTIONS TO THE ENGINEERS 52 IV. PRECURSORY SCHEME 58 V. LETTER FROM THE GRAND VIZIER TO THE VICEROY 170 VI. M. DE LESSEPS’ REPORT 174 VII. OPINION OF MR. ANDERSON 182 VIII. OPINION OF CAPTAIN VETCH 204 IX. ARTICLE FROM THE MONITEUR 212 _Explanation of the French Monies, Weights, and Measures used in the following pages._ 1 Franc = about 9½ d. or, 25 fr. = 1£. 81 Livres = 80 francs. 1 Quintal = about 220½ lbs. 1 Metre = 39⅜ inches nearly. 1 Kilometre = about 1093⅔ yards, or nearly 5 furlongs. 1 Hectare = 2 acres, 4712, or nearly 2½ acres. 1 Litre about 1¾ pint. The figures following the denomination are decimal parts; thus: 7 _fr._ 25, 6 _met._ 50 represent respectively 7¼ _francs_, 6½ _metres_. THE ISTHMUS OF SUEZ QUESTION SUBMITTED TO THE PUBLIC OPINION OF ENGLAND. “Aperire terram gentibus.”