31. Fields of Empire

  1.     The London Times in the summer of 1850 threatening Viceroy Sa’id Pasha with the invasion of Egypt unless he scuttled Lessp’s Suez Canal. Ghislain de Diesbach, Ferdinand de Lesseps (Paris: Perrin, 1998), p. 174.

  2.     Lesseps to Dutch Consul Gen., Cairo, Ruyssenaers, Oct. 24, 1859, Ferdinand de Lesseps, Lettres, Journal et Documents pour servir à l’histoire du canal de Suez (Paris: Didier, 1875–1880), vol. III, pp. 235–237; Diesbach, op. cit., p. 179.

  3.     One is reminded of a similar case resulting from the failure to study history, viz., Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson: Vietnam. As for troops, Louis Napoléon currently had 85,000 men in Algeria, 30,000–50,000 in Mexico, several thousand assigned to Indochina and Asia, leaving perhaps 150,000 to protect France’s frontiers, including Alsace. Prussia alone now had 750,000 men available, including their reserves.

  4.     Anceau, op. cit., p. 430. Convention of April 10, 1864.

  5.     Richard Hill and Peter Hogg, A Black Corps d’Elite; an Egyptian Slave Battalion in the French Army in Mexico, 1863–1867 (Michigan State Press, 1995).

  6.     Milza, op. cit., p. 646.

  7.     Milza, Ibid., pp. 645–647.

  8.     Milza, Ibid., p. 648.

  9.     Diesbach, op. cit., pp. 112–113.

  10.   Diesbach, Ibid., Ch. 1–5 for detailed background of his life until 1854; Le Chenaye, op. cit., pp. 114 ff.

  11.   Diesbach, Ibid., p. 131.

  12.   Through the Société d’Etudes du Canal de Suez.

  13.   Journalist Amaresh Misra states “millions,” but provides no documentation.

  14.   Diesbach, op. cit., p. 168, cites Enfantin’s denunciation of Lesseps.

  15.   Diesbach, Ibid., p. 174. Threat to deploy the Royal Navy and army units from bases in Malta, Corfu, Bombay, and Aden. The London Times, throughout the summer of 1859.

  16.   Lesseps, Lettres, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 132 ff.; Diesbach, op. cit., 143, F. de Lesseps to Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire.

  17.   Diesbach, op. cit., p. 175, Lesseps to Sa’id Pasha.

  18.   Diesbach, Ibid., p. 176.

  19.   Diesbach, Ibid., p. 178, Sa’id to Brit. Consul Waine.

  20.   Diesbach, Ibid., p. 178.

  21.   Diesbach, Ibid., pp. 162–164.

  22.   Lesseps to Dutch Consul Gen. Ruyssenaers, Oct. 24, 1859, Lesseps, Lettres, op. cit., vol. III, pp. 235–237; see also Diesbach, op. cit., p. 179.

  23.   Diesbach, op. cit., p. 181.