History of Egypt From 330 B.C. To the Present Time, Volume 12 (of 12) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 308 pages of information about History of Egypt From 330 B.C. To the Present Time, Volume 12 (of 12).

History of Egypt From 330 B.C. To the Present Time, Volume 12 (of 12) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 308 pages of information about History of Egypt From 330 B.C. To the Present Time, Volume 12 (of 12).
triumphal arches were raised.  Meanwhile salutes were exchanged between the batteries and the ships of war in the harbour.  At night there were gorgeous illuminations and fireworks.  The khedive gave a grand ball on his own yacht, at which the Emperor of Austria and all the distinguished guests were in attendance.  The French empress then arrived in Alexandria, and was received by Ismail and Francis Joseph with salutes of guns and the acclamations of the people.  The next day the French imperial yacht Aigle, with the empress on board, proceeded to steam up the canal, being followed by forty vessels.  They reached Ismailia after eight hours and a half, and were there met by vessels coming from the south end at Suez.  On November 19th the fleet of steamers, led by the French imperial yacht, set out for Suez.  They anchored overnight at the Bitter Lakes, and on November 21st the whole fleet of forty-five steamers arrived at Suez and entered the Red Sea.  The empress, accompanied by the visiting fleet, returned on November 22nd, and reached the Mediterranean on the 23rd.

England, the country which more than any other had opposed the progress of the canal, derived more benefit than any other country from its completion.  In 1875 the British government bought 176,600 shares from the khedive for a sum of nearly $20,000,000; and at the present time the value of these shares has risen more than fourfold.  By this acquisition the British government became the largest shareholder.  Of the shipping which avails itself of this route to the East, which is shorter by six thousand miles than any other, about eighty per cent, is British.  In 1891, of 4,207 ships, with a grain tonnage of 12,218,000, as many as 3,217 of 9,484,000 tons were British.

Extensive works were undertaken in 1894 for the widening of the canal.  Illuminated buoys and electric lights have been introduced to facilitate the night traffic, so that, proceeding continuously, instead of stopping overnight, ships can now pass through in less than twenty hours in place of the thirty-five or forty hours which were formerly taken to effect the passage.  These greater facilities postponed the need of discussing the project for running a parallel canal to the East which some time ago was thought to be an impending necessity on account of the blockage of the canal by the number of vessels passing through its course.

By the Anglo-French Convention of 1888, the canal had acquired an international character.  Both the water way itself and the isthmus for three miles on either side were declared neutral territory, exempt from blockade, fortification, or military occupation of any kind.  The passage is to remain open for all time to ships of all nations, whether they are war-ships or merchantmen or liners, or whether the country to which they belong is engaged in war or enjoying peace.  Within this convention was included the fresh-water canal which supplies drinking water to Ismailia and Port Said, and all the floating population about the banks of the Suez Canal.  On April 8, 1904, by the terms of a new Anglo-French Colonial Treaty, it has been jointly agreed that the provisions of the Convention of 1888 shall remain in force for the next thirty years.

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History of Egypt From 330 B.C. To the Present Time, Volume 12 (of 12) from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.