Siam was first in Asia to praise original Suez Canal
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The opening this month of the New Suez Canal parallel to the existing channel in Egypt recalls the fact that Siam was the first Asian country to congratulate French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps on overseeing completion of the original canal. In Paris on
“I feel it a special honour to be charged by my August Sovereign to deliver to you the insignia of the Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Crown of Siam as mark of His Majesty’s appreciation of the services rendered to commerce and civilisation by your great engineering talents and your untiring energy and perseverance to which is due the successful execution of the Suez Canal, that great work which brings the East and the West into direct and easy communication.
“For this universal service you have already earned the just and universal thanks of Europe and I am proud to belong to a country which takes the lead of the other powers of the Extreme East in expressing its appreciation and recognition of the vast benefits you have conferred upon mankind.”
Sumet Jumsai
