Note 327 — Chapter IX
Reading edition
Ferdinand de Lesseps in his youth was attached to the Consulate at Lisbon, and then, in 1828, to the Consulate-General at Tunis. In the following year he was appointed Vice-Consul at Alexandria, and in 1832 he was advanced to be Consul at Cairo, where he remained for seven years. In 1842, he received the appointment of Consul-General at Barcelona; in 1848 he went to Madrid as French Minister Plenipotentiary; and later on, to an important mission in Rome, after which he retired to Berri (France) to mature his plans for the Suez Canal, which had been the almost constant subject of his thoughts since his residence in Cairo.