No. 321.
Mr. Beardsley to Mr. Fish.
Cairo, December 11, 1875. (Received January 17, 1876.)
Sir: The purchase of the Khedive’s Suez Canal shares by England has been the chief topic of conversation during the past week, and the general verdict appears to be that, financially, the transaction is a wise and judicious one on the part of both England and Egypt, and that politically it is a decisive move by England on the political chess-board of the East. The French express no little chagrin at the operation, and feel that it is a serious blow to their influence in Egypt, but they have no ground of complaint against England, who only purchased on the refusal of the French capitalists, to whom the shares were first offered. Since the fall of the empire the influence of France in Egypt has been on the wane, but the exclusive control of the Suez Canal by a French company and the size and importance of the French colony in Egypt have enabled her to retain a large share of her former influence. She has, however, seen her influence gradually pale before that of other powers, and she has felt her ascendency passing away. Her long and persistent opposition to judicial reform has cost her the good-will of the Khedive’s government, and now the [Page 597] sale of the Khedive’s canal-shares to England cannot be otherwise than humiliating to at least her colony in Egypt. The French colony here, however, are fully aware that every inducement was offered to French capitalists to take the shares, and that England had no alternative between purchasing them herself and seeing them pass into the hands of some European power which might be hostile to her interests in the East. The transaction is significant at this juncture, and is a decisive move on the part of England in the eastern question. At all hazards she will keep open her road to India. This is recognized by all parties, and the popular impression is strong and growing that England is aiming to establish a protectorate over Egypt. Her careful and considerate treatment of Egypt during the past few years, the tenor of her public journals, the decoration of the Egyptian hereditary prince with the star of India by the Prince of Wales in October last, and now, the acquisition of so large an interest in the Suez Canal, are certainly significant facts, and especially worthy of consideration at this interesting period of the eastern question. England would care but little who was at Constantinople provided she was secure on the Nile and could control the Suez Canal, and Russia would care as little for Egypt provided she was safely seated on the Bosphorus. England would hardly go to war again in behalf of Turkey, and it is very doubtful if she could be drawn into a conflict over the eastern question unless her interests in Egypt were threatened. Her policy, therefore, is to strengthen herself here by every possible means, and this she seems to be doing as rapidly as is consistent with good policy. I am not prepared to state officially, but I have every reason to believe, that other important operations are being treated, one by which the floating debt of Egypt will be guaranteed by England. I inclose herewith extracts from the London Mail in relation to the Suez Canal purchase, including diplomatic correspondence between London, Paris, and Constantinople.
I am, &c.,