- Vois-tu, mon vieux........ relativement à l'Égypte on ne pourra jamais percer l'Isthme de Suez.... si j'étais à la place de Mr. de Lesseps, je sais bien ce que je ferais!...... - Et quoi donc?...... - Je laisserais le Pacha tranquille et j'irais percer mon isthme de Suez dans un autre endroit!.....
- Vois-tu, mon vieux........ relativement à l'Égypte on ne pourra jamais percer l'Isthme de Suez.... si j'étais à la place de Mr. de Lesseps, je sais bien ce que je ferais!...... - Et quoi donc?...... - Je laisserais le Pacha tranquille et j'irais percer mon isthme de Suez dans un autre endroit!.....
Title (alt.):
- Look here, old friend........ respect for Egypt will never be able to dig the isthmus of Suez.... if I were Mr. de Lesseps, I know exactly what I would do!...... - And what then?...... - I would leave the Pasha alone and dig the isthmus of Suez somewhere else!...... Charivari
Description:
A man is talking to his friend about his feelings about the Suez Isthmus and France's activities there in creating the Suez Canal. NAÏVETÉS. (Naiveties) is a series consisting of 4 prints, which appeared in the Charivari between March and November 1859. SUEZ CANAL. One of the ambitions of Napoleon III was to open up the Isthmus of Suez in order to establish direct commercial sea routes between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. Work initiated in 1854 and finished only in 1869, due to British interventions in Egypt. The plans Lesseps used were dating back to 1798, when Napoleon Bonaparte occupied Egypt. It was the close friendship between Lesseps and the later Viceroy Mohammed Ali which eventually made the construction of the canal possible. A private company was formed under the name Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez and more than 50% of its shares sold in France, the rest went to Egypt.. Since Egypt however at that time was still part of the Ottoman Empire, the concessions were subject to approval by the Turkish Sultan. The British put permanent pressure on Constantinople to delay the works on the construction of the canal. At the same time, England was planning a railroad line via the Euphrates Valley (now Iraq) and along the Nile Valley. Cecil Rhodes was planning a railway line from Cairo to Cape town. Eventually the canal was opened on November 16, 1869 in the presence of the wife of Napoleon III with great festivities, including the premiere of Verdi's Aida in front of the pyramids.
Copyright restrictions may apply. For permission to copy or use this image, contact the Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department, Brandeis University Libraries. The following credit line must be included with each item used: Benjamin A. and Julia M. Trustman Collection of Honoré Daumier Lithographs, Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department, Brandeis University.
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Place of origin:
Paris
Notes:
2nd state.
Published in: Le Charivari, November 23, 1859.
Notes (acquisition):
Donated by: Benjamin A. and Julia M. Trustman, 1959.
