In our previous article, we tackled the burrowing of the Suez Canal, and how Said Pasha was convinced of the opinion of his friend Ferdinand De Lesseps, concerning the significance of digging the Suez Canal and its benefits in Egypt, which led him to issue a decree of the first exclusivity contract in November 1854, followed by the second exclusivity contract in January 1856, then the burrowing of the canal commenced in April 1859. The work was accomplished at the hands of Egyptians who paid a hefty price of their blood and lives.
The Canal is Dug by Slavery
The lines of history’s pages tell us of the Egyptians who paid the ultimate price of their blood and lives while digging the Suez Canal. Hundreds of thousands were driven in violence and force from their countries, leaving behind fields, houses, and families bemoaning the loss of their breadwinners, only to fall dead in droves, so much so that Oliven, the chief French engineer, who participated in digging the canal said: “Egyptian laborers would wade through water and liquid mud, which would cover their bodies, while their heads were exposed to the scorching sun, their bodies suffered under hard labor and pangs of hunger and misery and plagues. Egyptian laborers who worked with their entire bodies immersed in water, with nothing but the sky to protect their heads, numbered over a million and a half workers. They were all amazing indeed, full of earnest patience and fortitude! I have known them up close. I sensed that they were descendants of an noble people.”
Digging started in 1859, in the presence of De Lesseps, yet it halted until the year’s end approached, due to the objections of Britain and Turkey. Upon his return, most of the laborers were Egyptians, with far fewer foreigners, who gradually lessened, due to their high wages, and the different climate in which they were working, to the one to which they were accustomed in their countries. Moreover, their customs were different to those of Egyptian workers. Though more workers were appointed to the burrowing task, they were hardly sufficient, leading the company to hold a committee to gather workers, reaching 20,000 workers every ten months. They were all peasants, and had faced a problem with drinking water, so the company imported three condensers to sweeten the seawater.
In 1861, the company established the port of the city of Port Said, and a basin for the port, and a brick factory. However, the drinking water shortage crisis persisted. So the company agreed with Mr. Mohammed Al-Gayyar, an owner of a fishing boat, to transfer water from Al-Matareyya to Port Said. In April, 1861, a sweet water pond was dug from Al-Qassaseen to one of the villages adjacent to Buhairet Al-Temsah [Crocodile Lake], so water reached it in January 1863. In a bid to solve the drinking water problem, the company commenced in April 1864 extending a pipe line for sweet water from Buhairet Al-Temsah [Crocodile Lake] to Port Said.
Egyptian laborers suffered during the digging from the spread of a variety of plagues that caused the death of a large number of them, most famous of which was the Cholera epidemic in 1865 and small box in 1866. This was due to the large number of workers, with a lack of proper health care.
In November 1862, the waters of the Mediterranean Sea reached Buhairet Al-Temsah [Crocodile Lake], and in 1869, the Mediterranean Sea was linked to the Bitter Lakes, then the waters of the Red Sea reached it. Burrowing works ended in August 1869, and it was named the “Suez Canal”. It is mentioned that around 74 million cubic meters of sand were excavated at a cost reaching 369 million French Francs, utilizing around 1.5 million laborers. Those who passed away during the excavations were about 125,000 laborers.
Suez Canal Inauguration Celebration
The Suez Canal was opened in the era of Khedive Ismail on 16th November 1869, in a legendary celebration attended by the world’s emperors and kings. Preparations commenced with paving the Cairo-Suez road, caring to clean the city, supplying foodstuffs to Port Said, bringing ice from Cairo, summoning 500 chefs from Marseille, Genoa and Trieste. In addition, cargo ships were prepared to transport guests from Alexandria to Port Said, and decorations were prepared from early November.
On inauguration day, Egyptian peasants, Nubians and Arabs with their families, spread along the Canal line, in their traditional dress. The Egyptian military and navy lined up along the Port Said harbor and Canal banks, lending a reverence and bedazzlement to the celebration. Three platforms were erected and lined with silk, for the kings and princes, Muslim clergymen and Christian clergymen. Attending the celebration were: Eugenie, Empress of France, Francois Jozef, Emperor of Austria, the King of Hungary, Heir-Apparent of Prussia, Prince Henry brother of the King of Holland, the two Ambassadors of Britain and Russia in Astana, Prince Mohammed Tawfiq Heir-Apparent, Prince Touson, son of Mohammed Said Pasha, Sharif Pasha, Noubar Pasha, and Prince Abd Al-Qader of Algeria. The celebration was of unprecedented proportions. It’s even said that the Empress Eugenie wrote to her husband, Emperor Napoleon III, describing what she saw as a regal celebration, the likes of which she had never before witnessed in her life!
Britain and the Canal
No sooner had the Suez Canal been inaugurated than Britain started to attempt to usurp it, so it could resume its control over the Mediterranean Sea, not to mention its fear that its trade in Indian colonies would be impacted if the Canal remained under French dominion. Britain exploited Egypt’s monetary crisis at the end of the era of Khedive Ismail, for in November 1875, the Khedive sold his share and that of Egypt in the Suez Canal, around 44%, to Britain at a cost of 100 million French Francs, the equivalent of around 39 million pounds, thereby depriving Egypt of its ownership of the Canal. Thus it was that Britain managed to participate in managing the Suez Canal Company, which was monopolized by France till that time. It became owner of 44% of shares, with three members on the Board, giving her a chance to interfere in Egypt’s political and financial affairs. Till it ended with the British occupation of Egypt in 1882, within less than seven years!
Astana Agreement
British occupation of Egypt gave rise to a crisis between Britain and France, regarding how to organize usage of the Canal. The two countries reached an agreement to resort to the arbitration of an international committee in Paris, comprising representative members from European countries, in addition to Turkey and Egypt. The Constantinople Agreement was signed, to arrange the affairs of managing the Canal in October 1888. That agreement is considered an international accord between the following countries: Britain, Austria, Hungary, Spain, France, Italy, Holland, Russia, and Turkey. The agreement dictated the lack of non-partisanship of the Canal.
The agreement included: Passage of all trade ships and military ships, during war and peace, without discrimination based on nationality. The Canal would never be subject to the right of military siege. The agreement stipulated the vow of might nations not to intervene in the safety of the Canal and its offshoots, nor the attempt to block these, as well as not touching the facilities, constructions and buildings, and works pertaining to the sea canal and the sweet water canal.
The agreement also indicated avoiding using any war right to delay navigation in the canal, or the harbors that lead to it, or within a circle of diameter 3 sea miles around these ports, even if the Ottoman State were a party in any military conflict. Moreover, it’s not permitted to leave any war ships in the Canal waters, and the Buhairet Al-Temsah [Crocodile Lake], and Bitter Lakes. They are permitted though to anchor in the harbors leading to Port Said and Suez, on condition that each countries ships not exceed two. Warring nations are deprived this right however. The tenth clause of the agreement, though, allowed affairs to be arranged pertaining to defending the Egyptian state and preserving public safety. Britain exploited this clause to justify its stance during World War II, as did Egypt against Israeli ships following the 1948 war.
Britain accepted this agreement reluctantly, while voicing some reservations, as it was mentioned: “The delegation of Great Britain, displaying this text as the determining basis of securing free usage of the Suez Canal, believes it their right to announce a general reservation towards the acceptance of implementing the agreement’s clauses, in case they are in conflict with the transitional and exceptional phase through which Egypt is passing. France accepted the reservation, which rendered the agreement an “academic proclamation”, until it was removed in 1904, in an amicable agreement between France and Britain, and… of spectacular Egypt words never end…!
General Bishop, President of Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
