It is superfluous to define the motives which would not allow England to see Egypt in the possession of a rival nation without opposing it by the most energetic resistance; but what should also be taken into serious consideration, is, that with less positive interests, France under the dominion of her glorious traditions, under the impression of other feelings more instinctive than rational, and therefore more powerful over the impressionable spirit of her inhabitants, would not, in her turn, leave to England the peaceable sovereignty of Egypt. It is clear that, so long as the route to India is open and certain, that the state of the country ensures the facility and promptitude of the communications, England will not set about creating the most grave difficulties by appropriating a territory which, in her eyes, has no other value than as a means of transit. It is likewise evident that France—whose policy, for the last fifty years, has been to contribute to the prosperity of Egypt, both by her counsels and by the concourse of a great number of Frenchmen distinguished in the sciences, in administrative capacity, in all the arts of peace or war—will not seek to realize, in this direction, the projects of another epoch, so long as England does not interfere. But let one of those crises occur which have so often shaken the East, let a circumstance arise wherein England should find herself under the rigorous necessity of taking a position in Egypt to prevent another power from forestalling her, and tell us then if it is possible that the alliance could survive the complications which such an event would occasion. And why should England consider herself obliged to become mistress of Egypt, even at the risk of breaking her alliance with France? For this single reason, that Egypt is the shortest and most direct route from England to her Eastern possessions; that this route must be constantly open to her; and that, in whatever concerns this mighty interest, she could never temporise. Thus, from the position given to her by nature, Egypt might still become the subject of a conflict between France and Great Britain; so that this chance of rupture would disappear if, by a providential event, the geographical conditions of the ancient world were changed, and, that the commercial route to India, instead of passing through the heart of Egypt, were removed to its confines, and, being opened to all the world, could never be exposed to the chance of its becoming the exclusive privilege of any one.