Mr. Thayer to Mr. Seward.
Sir:Since my last despatch, No. 43, nothing of special importance has occurred in Egypt.
As you are already advised, the cotton crop is in great excess of former years; indeed, the value of it is estimated at about two-fifths that of the crop of the United States in former years. But there is a great deficiency in the means of transportation to market, owing to the almost entire monopoly of the freight trains by the Viceroy and his friends, and the absence of steamboat communication on the Nile. Thousands of bales are consequently delayed at the stations on the line of the railroad, waiting week after week for a chance to be taken to the port of Alexandria. At present there is an active demand at $44 per 100 pounds for middling, though at times the price has been as high as $50.
Not long since a rumor that France was about to recognize the southern confederacy caused a reduction in price, and bargains were made on the strength of that report which resulted in very heavy losses to sellers; for no sooner was the rumor circulated than it was disproved by events, which brought the article up again.
The Viceroy is still occupied with his controversy about the Suez canal—a controversy still unsettled, although the works are not interrupted. Among his recent acts indicating a disposition to reforms, is the establishment of prizes for marksmanship among his soldiers, and of races twice a year at Cairo and Alexandria for the improvement of the breed of horses here, which, by the way, has [Page 405] greatly declined of late. The prizes are offered by government to the competition of horses of all nations.
Towards the end of December the extension of the fresh-water canal from the Nile to Suez was celebrated at the latter place, with the proper ceremonies. A navigable canal of fresh water over 200 miles long now pours itself into the Red sea, staining its waters for two or three miles, a thing unknown since the days of the Pharaohs, when the products of India were transported by a similar canal to the European shores of the Mediterranean. This new canal, though primarily intended for the benefit of the French colonies on the line of the Suez maritime canal, will be of great use to the natives of Egypt, by fertilizing large tracts of what is now desert land, and supplying Suez with an abundance of potable water. Not less than $16,000 have heretofore been paid by this government for the annual supply of water required by railroad and steamships at the latter place.
An unusual number of travellers has gone up the Nile this winter. Among the distinguished Europeans who have arrived is Mr. Rougét, of France, the most eminent living Egyptologist. Mr. Rougét is commissioned by the Emperor of the French to take a photographic copy of every hieroglyphic inscription and painting in Egypt, and to furnish a translation of them. The preservation of these vanishing records will be a great service to science. It is also worthy of mention that Mariette, a French savant, distinguished for his archaeological labors here, has erected and arranged at Cairo, for the Viceroy of Egypt, during the past year, an admirable museum of Egyptian antiquities, in some respects not equalled by any other in the world.
While referring to these researches of the French, I may. record the mission of Professor Desjardins of the Ecole Normale at Paris, who, a year ago, came to Egypt by imperial order, to examine the traces of ancient Roman domination here. The results of his investigation will appear, it is said, in the Emperor’s forthcoming life of Julius Caesar.
In announcing, in my last despatch, the appointment of Mr. Charles Marsh as vice-consul at Cairo, I neglected to mention the reason for the dismissal of his predecessor, a Levantine English subject, named Robert I. Wilkinson; this individual having been detected in practices degrading to the character of an officer of our government, and, on having his attention called to the subject, declared himself wholly independent of the United States, avowing publicly and repeatedly that he was in correspondence with Jeff. Davis’s agent, who, as he said, had promised to make him consul-general of the so-called southern confederacy. He (Wilkinson) also threatened to raise the flag of the southern confederacy in one month, and to surrender to said secession agent the consular archives, which he had removed from the consular office, and which had to be recovered from him by the forcible assistance of the local police. Whether his declarations were well founded or not, they were used by him (unsuccessfully, however, with few exceptions) to induce our protégés to withdraw from the jurisdiction of our government. Ordinarily, I should not regard the attempt to lessen the number of our protégés as a grievance, but, under present circumstances, it certainly shows the disposition of the offender to give aid and comfort to our enemies. Such delinquencies of Mr. Wilkinson, (which are authentically attested,) in my opinion, required his prompt dismissal, which took place on the 20th of last November.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.