12 FEBRUARY 1876, Page 1
Lord Granville told a very good story of the Canal,
to illus- trate, as he said, the French proverb that "Man proposes, and God disposes." Lord Palmerston opposed M. de Lesseps' project, and this so excited the French that they ran to subscribe for shares. One gentleman came to M. de Lesseps for shares in a railway in the island of Sweden, to whom M. de Lesseps replied, —"It is not a railway, it is not an island, it is not Sweden ; but it is a canal, it is an isthmus, and it is Suez."—" Never mind," said this enthusiastic gentleman, "it is to spite the English, and it is all the same." Those worthy people, who thus spent their money to benefit England, which has now four-fifths of the traffic, deserve all our gratitude.
