1869.] "RETIRING INTERESTS" OF COMPANY'S OFFICERS. 211

supply the new immigrants with the goods they wanted, and this business would increase the general prosperity of the settlement. The Company, it will be seen, which had of old opposed colonisation in the interests of fur, was now anxious to aid it.

For all these purposes, "new blood," new officers, were needed in the Company's service. Now the actual officers were, in a way, sharers in the profits and members of the Company, not mere employés, and their consent to the changes was necessary. The officers, like Mr Donald Smith, a member for Manitoba in the Canadian Parliament, were men of weight and importance. They were especially necessary in dealings with the Indians. It was therefore most undesirable to dismiss them, with the fur-trade by way of compensation. They claimed, and had "a moral right" to a share of the famous £300,000, which they did not get. Other claims they had, very strong morally, but not valid in law. To dissatisfy them would not only be unfair and unkind, but, owing to their position in the country, most inexpedient. He calculated, therefore, the value of the " retiring interests" of the officers, and this sum he advised the Company to pay-namely, £100,000.

There was a good deal of dissent among the shareholders, one of whom classically remarked that Sir Stafford's "candid and winning manners" had "made the worse appear the better reason." His ideas ultimately prevailed.

CHAPTER XI.

DIARY OF VISIT TO THE OPENING OF THE SUEZ CANAL, AND GREECE.

IT seemed fated that Sir Stafford's voyages were to be made comparatively late in life. Before his Canadian expedition he sailed the seas of Greece in Sir George Stucley's yacht, the Deerhound. They visited the Suez Canal at the moment of its opening; they beheld

the last hours of French gaiety and glory, before the horrors of the year of dread. They saw the letting out of those waters of strife, the rush of the Mediterranean into the Red Sea; they saw the beginning of evils, we may say, for the East and the West blended their currents irreconcilable, and the war of their ideals. and interests, of French and English interests also, began in that year. It is perhaps more easy to moralise the theme now than it was then. At least the diarist moralised very little. But it seems well to present a few pages from his diary: part of his picture of Gibraltar, of Egypt, of the splendid ruinous ceremonial; and to add certain notes of the brief tour in Greece. At last he saw the old centre of the world's life, the ruined and fireless altar of art, of politics, of democracy. With this preface, his words may speak for themselves, telling their own story of interesting impressions in his own fresh and unaffected

manner :

There is something very strange in this yacht life. One feels so cut off from all one's ordinary life, and from all home interests. Beyond occasionally thinking how all are at Pynes, I never turn my mind to anything in England; and yet one does nothing, and almost thinks of nothing, instead of one's usual avocations. The days are short, and one spends them chiefly on deck, reading a little in a desultory way, and looking at the sea and the sky. When it becomes dark it is hard to read by the dim swinging lamp, which confuses one's sight, and is bad for the eyes; so we play whist a little and chess a little, and stay on deck and look at the stars and the coast lights a good deal. It is a time which ought to be excellent for thinking in, and yet it is curious how little I seem to think. I suspect the ladies are right in saying that a man can do without thinking at all, which they maintain that the female sex cannot. I find myself often in the condition of the jolly young waterman, who " rowed along thinking of nothing at all."

As we rode out, and looked back on the Rock, it seemed as if it were full of sand-martins' holes, the sand-martins

1869.]

SPANISH PRIDE.

213

being, however, neither more nor less than artillery. What a sight a general discharge from the whole face of the Rock would be! Just within our lines we saw the spot where a new and apparently inexhaustible supply of fresh water has been discovered within the last three months, a most seasonable discovery in this singularly arid year. There has been no rain here, except one shower on Monday week, since February. The water is being forced up from the new source to the Moorish tower, high above the town, which can thus be readily supplied. The only drawback is, that it is supposed that the water is too near the cemetery; and there are some searchings of heart as to its salubrity. The road over what is called the neutral ground reads us a lesson as to the relations between Spain and England. Our people were anxious to make it, but to this Spanish pride would not consent. "They would make it," only they didn't. At last the new provisional Government, which is paying much attention to this neighbourhood, and has allowed houses to be built and improvements made near the Spanish lines, contrary to the traditional policy of their predecessors, took up the road question and sent an engineer to make it. The engineer came, saw, but did not conquer the difficulty. He was in want of implements. Would we lend him some? "Certainly," said the Governor, and the implements were lent. The next thing was the material. Could we let them have any stone? "That wasn't in the bargain," said the Governor ; "but you shall have the stone." Then came the portage of the stone. Would we be good enough to haul it for them? We did, and then the Spaniards made the road. Captain Monsell told me that the Governor of Algesiras calls himself also "Governor of Gibraltar, now in the temporary possession of the English." Our occupation must be galling to the Spanish nation; but it seems to be popular with the Spaniards in the neighbourhood, who thrive upon us. We saw some women in the neutral ground filling their stockings with snuff and tobacco, which they had bought duty-free in Gibraltar, and were trying thus to smuggle into Spain !

Nov. 9.-I found myself at Valetta when I woke, and

was able to form my first idea of it very favourably. The harbour is very fine, and the town extremely striking. We are lying at the entrance to the Dockyard Creek, at the head of which are the Admiralty offices, the dry docks, &c. Beyond us, on the other side of a headland, is the Mercantile Creek, and beyond that the Great Harbour. Behind us, between us and the open sea, are two smaller creeks. All these are on the left hand of a person entering the harbour. On the right hand is the principal part of the town, with the Cathedral, Governor's Palace, and other buildings. The fortifications are all cut out of the solid rock, and look imposingly strong. The town is clean-looking and highly picturesque, and the harbour is alive with small craft, but is just now quite empty of large ships, our fleet having gone to Port Said. We were much struck by the contrast between this clean, prosperous, busy port, and the dirty, faded dinginess of Cartagena. Here we have living England, there dead Carthage and asphyxised Spain. I don't think any one who has seen Gibraltar and Malta can look with complacency on the ideas of our modern economists of the Goldwin Smith school. The first thing that struck me in the morning was the number and fine tone of the bells which were chiming in the town. The next thing was the number and pertinacity of the boatmen, who on one pretence or other were swarming round our yacht. A short experience of Valetta throws much light upon the natural history of bluebottles, which are obviously Maltese in a state of transmigration. They cluster round one both at sea and on shore, buzz incessantly, and settle on one point as fast as one drives them from another. The Governor said the island was capable in a very good year of producing grain enough for its own consumption. He told us we were popular in the country but not in the town, which he thought unreasonable, as the expenditure of our fleet and army amounts to not less than £700,000 a-year. One cannot look at the crowded town, however, without thinking what intense misery a siege would bring upon them. It would be a very much more serious affair here than at Gibraltar. The Governor said the island was over-popu

1869.]

PORT SAID.

215

lated, and that there was not much emigration from it, though the people would go off to Africa or elsewhere to push their fortunes for a time, usually returning to Malta when anything went wrong with them.

Nov. 16.-Finis coronat opus, after all, and now we have reached Port Said-and just in the very nick of timewe have no more to say in the way of grumbling. The forest of masts which we soon began to see in the distance was a clear indication of our course, and by-and-by we perceived the long low line of the breakwater which forms one side of the harbour, and which consists of large blocks of hewn stone thrown loosely on one another. As we drew nearer we saw that most of the ships were "dressed," -that is, decorated with a profusion of flags, most of them bearing the French and the Turkish colours, as well as their national ones,-an example which we subsequently followed. French ships were greatly in the majority, but there were plenty of Austrian, Prussian, Italian, Swedish, Greek, Spanish, and other vessels, besides of course many Turks. Seeing our English squadron lying rather outside the harbour, we made first towards it, and Sir G. and I got into our boat and went on board the Admiral's ship (the Lord Warden); but found that Sir A. Milne had just gone on shore to learn the arrangements, about which the officers could tell us nothing, having only arrived last night. They said the French Empress had just come, and that the dressing of the ships and the saluting was in her honour. We returned to the yacht, and felt our way into the harbour, soundings being from 5 to 3 fathoms, in which depth we anchored. The health boat soon came alongside, and while our papers were being got ready, the officer told us that the ceremonies were to begin at three o'clock with the "bénédiction des eaux." We got some lunch, and got into our boat about one, and made our way to the Viceroy's yacht, where I sent up my name and Sir George's to Nubar Pasha. We went on board, and Nubar was very polite, and apologised for the hasty reception the Viceroy must give us, as he had to dress for a visit before the ceremony. The Viceroy came up and shook hands with us very graciously, and led us into his state cabin, where