DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
405 
 
greatly declined of late. The prizes are offered by government to the competi-

tion of horses of all nations. 
Towards the end of December the extension of'the fresh-water canal from the

Nile to Suez was celebrated at the latter place, with the proper ceremonies.
A 
navigable canal of fresh water over 200 miles long now pours itself into
the Red 
sea, 'staining its waters for two or three miles, a thing unknown since the
days 
of the Pharaohs ,when the products of India were transported by a si m'ilar
canal to 
the European shores of the Mediterranean. This new canal, though primarily

intended for the benefit of the French c.lonies on the line of the Suez maritime

canal, will be of great use to the natives of Egypt, by fertilizing large
tracts of 
what is now desert land, and supplying Suez with an abundance of potable
water. 
Not less than $16,000 have heretofore been paid by this government for the

annual supply of water required by railroad and steamships at the latter
place. 
An unusual number of travellers has gone up the Nile this winter. Among 
the distinguished Europeans who have arrived is Mr. Rouget, of France, the

most eminent living Egyptologist. Mr. Rouget is commissioned by the Emperor
of 
the French to take a photographic copy of every hieroglyphic inscription
and 
painting in Egypt, and to furnish a translation of them. The preservation
of 
these vanishing records will -be a great service to science. It is also worthy
of 
mention that Mariette, a French savant, distinguished for his archaological
labors 
here, has erected and arrainged at Cairo, for the Viceroy of Egypt, during
the 
past year, an admirable museum of Egyptian antiquities, in some respects
not 
equalled by any other in the world. 
While referring to these researches of the French, I may record the mission

of Professor Desjardins of the Ecole Normale at Paris, who, a year ago, came
to 
Egypt by imperial order, to examine the traces of ancient Roman domination

here. The results of his investigation will appear, it is said, in the Emperor's

forthcoming life of Julius Cwesar. 
In announcing, in my last despatch, the appointment of Mr. Charles Marsh
aa 
vice-consul at Cairo, I neglected to mention the reason for tite dismissal
of his 
predecessor, a Levantine English subject, named Robert I. Wilkinson; this

individual having been detected in practices degrading to the character of
an 
officer of our government, and, on having his attention called to the subject,
de- 
clared himself wholly independent of the United States, avowing publicly
and 
repeatedly that he was in correspondence with Jeff. Davis's agent, who, as
he 
said, had promised to make him consul-general of the so-called southern con-

federacy. lHe (Wilkinson) also threatened to raise the flag of the southern
con- 
federacy in one month, and to surrender to said secession agent the consular

archives, which he had removed from the consular office, and which had to
be 
recovered from him by-the forcible assistance of the local police. Whether
his 
declarations were well founded or not, they were used by him (unsuccessfully,

however, with few exciptions) to induce our proteges to withdraw from thejuris-

diction of our government. Ordinarily, I should not regard the attempt to
lessen 
the number of our protegs as a grievance, but, under present circumstances,
it 
certainly shows the disposition of the offender to give aid and comfort to
our 
enemies. Such delinquencies of Mr. Wilkinson, (which are authentically at-

tested,) in my opinion, required his.prompt dismissal, which took place on
the 
20th of last November. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
WILLIAM     S. THAYER. 
Hon. WILLIAM I. SEWARD, 
Secretary of State.