untry-seat of M.
Lafosse,[1] who had been my companion in our Egyptian journey.

'What do you hear,' I asked, 'of the Empress?'

'Nothing,' he answered, 'but what is favourable; all her instincts and
prejudices are good. Lesseps, who is nearly related to her, has many of
her letters, written during the courtship, in which she speaks of her
dear Louis with the utmost affection, and dwells on the hope that if ever
she should become his wife, she may be able to induce him to liberalise
his Government.'

'And now,' he said, 'tell me what you heard in England about our Canal?'

'I heard nothing,' I answered, 'except from Maclean. He told me that he
thought that the Maritime Canal, if supplied from the sea, would become
stagnant and unwholesome, and gradually fill. That that plan was formed
when the levels of the two seas were supposed to differ, so that there
would be a constant current.

'"Now that the equality of their levels has been ascertained," he said to
me, "the only mode of obtaining a current is to employ the Nile instead
of the sea." "But can the Nile spare the water?" I asked. "Certainly,"
he answered. "An hour a day of the water from the Nile, even when at its
lowest, would be ample." "And what do the other engineers say?" I asked.
"Randall," he replied, "agrees with me. The others are at present for the
salt water. But we are to meet in time and discuss it thoroughly."'

'It is not the opinion of the engineers,' answered Lafosse, 'that I want,
but that of the politicians.

'We are told that Lord Palmerston threatens to prevent it as long as he
is Minister. This makes us very angry. We think that we perceive in his
opposition his old hatred of France and of everything that France
supports or even favours--feelings which we hoped the Alliance had cured.

'The matter,' he continued, 'was to have been brought before the
Congress. Buol had promised to Nigrelli to do so, and Cavour to Lesseps
and Paleocapa. But after the occupation of Italy, and the Belgian press,
and the rights of Neutrals had been introduced, the Congress got
impatient, and it was thought inexpedient to ask them to attend to
another episodical matter. The Emperor, however, did something. He asked
Ali Pasha, the Turkish Minister, what were the Sultan's views. "They
will be governed," said Ali Pasha, "in a great measure by those of his
allies." "As one of them," said the Emperor, "I am most anxious for its
success." "In that case," replied Al