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Updated: June 12, 2025
At a later date this affair became a great scandal, dishonest bargains in connection with it were abundantly unearthed, bribery was shown to have been common in high places, and France was shaken to its center by the startling exposure. De Lesseps, fortunately for him, escaped imprisonment by death, but others of the leaders in the enterprise were condemned and punished.
Ferdinand de Lesseps, who succeeded in connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, was the man who, after the lapse of centuries, seriously interested his fellow-countrymen in boring the Isthmus of Panama. Champlain returned to San Juan de Luz, where he remained for fifteen days, and he then proceeded to Havana, the rendezvous of the army and of the fleet.
I first began to take charge of public affairs in connection with an election that took place in the city where I found myself. M. DE LESSEPS opposed THIERS and GAMBETTA. He presented himself as an independent candidate. Was he? I suspected. Already I had my secret agents in every centre of population.
This was followed by the establishment of working encampments in different parts of the isthmus. Although the first steps were thus taken, incredible difficulties prevented de Lesseps from pushing forward with his work.
The Red Cross movement was twelve years old. An International Congress of Hygiene was being held at Brussells, and an International Congress of Medicine at Philadelphia. De Lesseps had finished the Suez Canal and was examining Panama. Italy and Germany had recently been built into nations; France had finally swept aside the Empire and the Commune and established the Republic.
M. de Lesseps gave formal notice early in September that the canal would be opened for navigation on November 17, 1869. The khédive made costly preparations in order that the event might become an international celebration. Invitations were sent to all the sovereigns of Europe. The sultan refused to be present, but the Empress Eugenie accepted the invitation in the name of the French people.
So all hail to Mr. de Lesseps!" "Yes, all hail to that great French citizen," I replied, quite startled by how emphatically Captain Nemo had just spoken. "Unfortunately," he went on, "I can't take you through that Suez Canal, but the day after tomorrow, you'll be able to see the long jetties of Port Said when we're in the Mediterranean." "In the Mediterranean!" I exclaimed. "Yes, professor.
I allude to a company which had for its object the cutting of a ship canal for uniting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. He refused the directorship of that gigantic undertaking, which, after having been abandoned for nearly sixty years, was again taken up, under the name of the Panama Canal, by M. de Lesseps.
"Well, Captain, what the ancients dared not undertake, this junction between the two seas, which will shorten the road from Cadiz to India, M. Lesseps has succeeded in doing; and before long he will have changed Africa into an immense island." "Yes, M. Aronnax; you have the right to be proud of your countryman. Such a man brings more honour to a nation than great captains.
Some modern Egyptian engineers seem first to have conceived the project of a Suez canal; but the man who accomplished it was the engineer and statesman, M. de Lesseps. In spite of all manner of discouragements, he brought the canal to completion, supported throughout by the influence and authority of the khedive.
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