The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1878-05-18

coins and medals They are eternal jewels.
The places where they turn up are rs surpris
ing as their age. Such an antique lately CamC
into my hands at Ottawa, Ill.,, where a country
imam or pcddlcr had sold it rs Old silver to
dealer in bric-a.brac.
It's date is is 1885, and it evidently Il Ncne
tian medal in perfect preservation. On tht
rim between the two faces are the words J{r
tutc II. tortHi,a Veaetorum-C"y the valor anC
success Of the Ncnitians.'
The diverse is the Venetian lion triumphing
His left paw holds an open book inscribed
Far HJi, Uarce, epangeliSM mcuS ("Peace &c
thee o Mark my evangelStD Beneath his feet
are a Cimctcr, spear and three chains, which
hold captives who are turbancd and kneellng
one bearing the crescent badge another with
hands bound behind his back Other captlycs
are half seen. Behind all is "a warrior wearing
a cap peculiar to the doge of Venice. Above
all are the words, Leoni Uhorj* C'to the lion,
the Avenger,") and below these words an arm
thrust out OF Il cloud and laying crown deco
rated with palm branch on the head OF the
winged lion. Below all are the figures, 1853.
| The reverse shows a wonderful map OF Greece
southwark from Prevesa on the west and Eu-
bora on the east. The names of twenty-five
places are more legiblc than in almost any
modern map. The position Of each city is IN
dictated by something resembling wall and
gate. Over ten cities there rises cross, over
five crescent The outlines OF seven islands
are marked those of bays and rivers, forests
and mountains are still more numerous.
| This medal is Of silver and four and one
halt inches in circumference. 1t weighs two
hundred and siXty'two grains. Its age lacking
only seven years of two centuries, renders il
miraculous that | behold it untouched by
| times effacing fingers. Many letters are deli
cate, but not one is erased. The lioA's nose
was stamped IN high relief, and it has been a
| little snubbcd and fattened. In all other re-
spects we survey this relic with nothing of
that artistic finish marred and nothing of that
polished brightness dimmed with which it
came forth from the mint where all Christen-
dom learned the art of coming.
On the whole, few specimens of the numis-
matte art are more credtablc than the medal
before me. But as an historical memorial it
is far more memorable.
II celebrates the last great triumph of NCnc-
tian arms The war to which it relates was
wagcd between Venice and Turkey for fifteen
years, from 1884 to 90 The Nenetians under
Morosini, who had become world-tamoGs by
defending Caddia ut the close Of the longest
siege recorded in history, invaded Greece. They
first attacked the Ionian islands on its western
coast. They conquered Santa Maura IN six.
t'Nl tIltll Wv u
Next they captured Prevesa and Arta, north of
the Cornthian gulf Afterwards landing on
the Morea, which Turkish tyrants had held
for more than two centuries, they mastered
Navarino, MOdOn, CorOn, and before the end
of two years they had driven the Turks out of
the whole southern peninsula, except Nauplia,
and COrinth. In 1857 they bcsieged the Aero
polls of Athens, and at length took it. In the
annals of arts, this siege will be evermore la
mentable. 1t has damned itself to everlasting
fame In the course of it Il Venetian bomb
falling upon the Parthenon, which was the
Turkish powder magazine, blew out both sides
of the most exquisite architectural miracle
which the world has ever scen,-at once the
glory Of Phdias and Ictinus, and the shame of
all ages since Worst of all, the taking of
Athens was no permanent gain. In few
months MorOsini's forces were so outnumbered
that they were obliged to retire from that city
they had bought so dearly But they held out
for generation IN the Peloponesus.
appear insignificant, in his own time were al
most beyond belief. They were the first foot
hold gained IN the Levant by any Christian
state since the crusades, the first break in the
prestige of Ottoman invincibility The Joy of
Venice was unbounded. The statue of Nor.
osini was set up in the hall of ten" He was
hOnorcd with the sonorOus title of PelOpOnneS-
tdcuS, and the ring and cap of supreme magis-
trate or doge was sent To him while he was
among his soldiers and sailors in Greece
Hence, on the medal, his costume bctokens
alike the warrior and the doge. Indeed the
occasion of stamping it seems to have been his
triumphal career in behalf of the city which
had sent to him, saying: Come thou and rule
over u.s." The history of the car today is on
ly repeating that of Morosini, two centuries
ago.
But neither in an historical nor in an arts
tic point of view is my medal most interesting
IL fascinates me most because it was found
where one would no more look for 1t than that
it should appear dropping down from the
clouds, or picked out of the stomach of a pick.
erel. 1t first met my eye in Central Illinois
not far from the Rock of st. Louis, which was
the Gibraltar of La Sale, and suppose was
discovered in the ground there 1t was not old
when lost or buried. Had it been it could not |
possibly remain today so fresh and new in as
pcct
How came 1t in Illinois, | hold that this
plate of Italian silver may have been sent to
the Italian, Tonti, the officer who discovered
one mouth of the Mississippi on the same day
that La Sale discovered another, and who for
twenty years aftcrward, commanded at the
Rock of st. Louis, near which the medal was
found. Its date was right in the midst of Tonti's
holding this command. 1t showed Italian sue
cesses among Eastern barbarlans Nothing
could have greater attractions for an Italian
who was graphing with western barbarians
More than this, Tonti had himself fought near
Turks,-and like Cervantes, lost hand in bat.
ting there What could he love better than TO
see those iniidels, as on the medal, in CHAINS
and trampled on by the Italian lion =? Nor were
opportunities wanting, for this blazon of Nene-
II.
traders, soldiers, and above all, missionaries,
notable St Cosme whom Tonti escorted for
more than a month, and those sometimes from
Italy, came to him every year. These consit-
erations may serve to strengthen other proofs
which, confess, do demonstrate thinly. Whei
a more plausible conjecture ispreSented, viii /
give up mine. Meantime, however, | havd
reason to prize the Morosini medal, as a mel
mortal of Tonti, and hence, TO the best of my
a al.