e, and in his rage he broke his cue in half. His
anger was natural, quite apart from financial considerations. In that
respect the purchase has been a brilliant success; for the shares are
now worth more than L30,000,000, and yield an annual return of about a
million sterling; but this monetary gain is as nothing when compared
with the influence which the United Kingdom has gained in the affairs of
a great undertaking whereby M. de Lesseps hoped to assure the ascendancy
of France in Egypt.

The facts of history, it should be noted, lent support to this
contention of "the great Frenchman." The idea of the canal had
originated with Napoleon I., and it was revived with much energy by the
followers of the French philosopher, St. Simon, in the years
1833-37[358]. The project, however, then encountered the opposition of
British statesmen, as it did from the days of Pitt to those of
Palmerston. This was not unnatural; for it promised to bring back to the
ports of the Mediterranean the preponderant share in the eastern trade
which they had enjoyed before the discovery of the route by the Cape of
Good Hope. The political and commercial interests of England were bound
up with the sea route, especially after the Cape was definitively
assigned to her by the Peace of Paris of 1814; but she could not see
with indifference the control by France of a canal which would divert
trade once more to the old overland route. That danger was now averted
by the financial _coup_ just noticed--an affair which may prove to have
been scarcely less important in a political sense than Nelson's victory
at the Nile.

[Footnote 358: _La Question d'Egypte_, by C. de Freycinet, p. 106.]

In truth, the Sea Power has made up for her defects of position as
regards Egypt by four great strokes--the triumph of her great admiral,
the purchase of Ismail's canal shares, the repression of Arabi's revolt,
and Lord Kitchener's victory at Omdurman. The present writer has not
refrained from sharp criticism on British policy in the period
1870-1900; and the Egyptian policy of the Cabinets of Queen Victoria has
been at times open to grave censure; but, on the whole, it has come out
well, thanks to the ability of individuals to supply the qualities of
foresight, initiative, and unswerving persistence, in which Ministers
since the time of Chatham have rarely excelled.

The sale of Ismail's canal shares only served to stave off the
impending crash which would have formed