The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1870-04-23


chanted liturgy of the Eastern church with
difficulty heard.
But if the Nile thus necessarily blends
itself with the history Of the religious
creeds, that have characterized the varying
civilizations of which this earth has been
the theatre. it is none the less intimately
connected with the principal political pow
ers that have held sway therein The Nile
is emphatically the river of empire. Sum-
mon back the successive imperial domino
ton of this world and question them as to
their possessions. Let each in succession
enunciate its realms as the evidences of its
glory: and each will, in its turn, make
mention of tho Nile.
The Asiatic civilization first manifested
itself in the establishment of the Babylon
ian empire; and in course of time, seeking
other fields for its development, extended
from the Euphrates to the Nilotic shores
Ethiopia, under the colonization of Thoth,
or llermis, thus became a power in the
earth: and soon AFTER the nemadic tribes
occupying the land watered by the lower
portion of the Nile, were compelled to ac-
knowledge its supremacy. The kingdom
of Mizraim, or Egypt. thus formed. imme-
diately launched out upon career of en-
pirc. Under its Kings OF Pharaehs, it
enlarged its sway by foreign cenquests, or
aggrandized its power by mighty works at
home. One Of these Pharaohs, known in
history by the name of Sesestris, OF Rham-
ses, triumphed over the ancestral empire
of Babylon, and extended his dominions
until they claimed the Gauges as their cast
ern boundary.
The might of those Egyptian monarchs
was further illustrated by the erection of
the Sphinx and other immense statues,
the temples, and the pyramids whose huge
proportions still exist to strike the veyager
of the Nile with admiring awe, and to
dwarf the architectural displays of later
times into Lilliputian littlcness. But, alas
for the Nile and its on-dwellers. Alas for
the power that strove to vie with nature in
Titanic creations, to laugh to scern the raw
ages Of Time. and to claim for its works
the impress and duration of Eternity
The persian came: and throughout the
realm of the Pharaohs, the armies of Cam
byscs wrought such devastation as an earth
quake does, when risting most wildly in its
career of ruin.
But the Nile was destined to recognize
another lord. The expedition OF Sesostris
against Babylon was fated to a like retribu-
ton in the return of the descendants of
Ceerops and Danaus. Egypt, the child of
the empire of Nimrod, had, in her turn,
sent off colonies to Greece; and now the
dynasty of the Persian was doomed togive
place to that Grecian supremacy won by
the Spear of the Macedonian Alexander
He, flushed with the conquest Of the rest
of the world, and Wanting himself the son
of its mightiest god, the all-powerful
Ammon, claimed the land Of the Nile as
his legitimate heritage. At his death this
portion of his dominions came under the
sceptre of the Ptolemies; and, for nearly
three centuries, the princes of that regal
family, minglng Hellenic grace with the
grandeur that had ever characterized the
genius and spirit of this, their African ac-
QUESTION, secured for Egypt foremost
place in the rank Of the nations.
And to this page in the Egyptian history,
the world must ever recur with grateful
regard. For, in the Ptolemaic annals, we
find recorded some of the brightest names
that ever illustrated the course of scientific
research. Astronomy, the divine lore of
the Chaldeans, found here its most success
full exponent in Claudius Ptolemy and
the kindred science of Geography was
equally. if not, indeed, in a greater degree,
indebted to his Investigations. The math-
ematical sciences, too, were under weighty
obligations to this epoch: and, gratefully.
over the names Of the Samian Pythagoras
and of the Athenian Plato do they still
superscrbe that OF the Egyptian Euclid
And letters, the conserver of every art and
of every science, taking their origin in the
of the Isidian priesthood,
wandered to Greece with Cadmus. and re-
turned from that gifted land, Il talent in
creased thousand fold, to be stored away
in the treasure house of the Alexandrian
library.
Yet. all this sum of benefaction could
not secure permanency to the Ptolcmaic
rule. The dynasty which had come in with
the world -conqueror, Alexander, passed
away in the suicidal signs of the world en-
SLAYER, Cleopatra and the region of the
Nile acknowledged the Roman as it's mas
ter. For more than six hundred years it
continued to share the varying glory of the
Caesars and then fell pray to the Sara
Gems, under whose sway it can recall, as
with its history, the magniticence
of Haroun-al- Raschid, and the knightly
courtesy of Saladin. And, at later day,
since it has been under the banner of the
crescent, it has witnessed the Gallo eagles
winging their victorious flight in conflict
at the foot of the Pyramids, and then,
dropping their pinions in defeat before the
fierce onslaught of the British lion, upon
the waters of the Egyptian river. In the
annals of empire, can any other river pre-
sent so marked, so memorable record as
the Nile?
But. apart from its historic associations,
the Nile has other peculiar claims to be re-
garded as an object of interest to the tray
eler. Its majestic current, through the
last seventeen hundred miles of its course,
presents, among the rivers of the earth.
the unique instance of a mighty torrent
sweeping on with its wealth Of waters, un-
enriched by the offerings of single tribu-
tary. From the moment that it receives
the atfluent tide of the Atbara, or Black
river, it marches on, like warrior-king,
confident of his strength. And yet fear
full contest lies before it-a conflict with
the fell powers of the Desert. On either