The Osceola times., 1880-10-09

carefully examined her husbands corre-
spondenCe before she concluded an alli-
ancc with the royal letter writer. Per-
haps, had she found Frederick II con-
deling with Peter III, Europe might
have been spared much misery. and un.
dismembered Poland been vet IN exist
ence to bold the balance between the
northern empires. Nor have We been
much wiser in our generation. The
fourth Cafirc war began about a stolen
hatchet, and the cutting down of flag
s.aH at the Bay of Islands involved us in
the wretched Maori troubles. The Cri-
mean war ostensIbly arose out of the dis
puted ownership OF church key, and as
late as 1854 some men who were consid-
cred wise enough to sit in Parliament
were ready to spend a considerable sum
of money and many lives in order TO set
tie the ownership of some lone-legged
hogs in the Falkland Islands. Porkers,
indeed, have among good Christians been
always a tGarimd cduSd Joii. 1t is hard
ly forty years since Louis Philippe
threatened war against the Texan Re
public because an Irate citizen had shot
the tresspassing pigs of the French am-
bassad0r. As it was, he prevented the
Lone Star sovereignty from floating
their European loan, and thus the king
and the pigs combined fastened the an
nexation of Texas TO the United States
The battle OF the Nile was turning
point in history. Bat it cOulG never
have been fought had not Nelson's fleet
been permitted to revictual at Syracuse,
and into Syracuse it could never have
gone had not the wife of the English
ambassador at Naples been accidentally
aware that King Ferdinand was very
foolish, and his qneen very much the
reverse. States before now have been
ceded through the accidents of ignor-
ance. The Dutch are said TO have ''jock-
eyed" us out of Malacca in exchange for
Java by representing on the map, winch
our simple. minded ENJOYS took for
granted, the one territory rs large and the
other as small; and among the most firm
ly rooted traditions of American dIplo-
macy is one which represents the Eng
hsh commissioner as agreeing TO the
surrender OF Oregon because q country
in which a salmon does not rise TO the
fly cannot be worth much" Laws have
been altered through accidents before
the queens printers boy forgot to de-
liver Lord Beaconstield's amendment to
a bill. Many years ago the Georgia Leg
islature put tax of $40 on "all iackasses,
LAWYERS and DOCTORS" 1t was originally
only intended to apply TO the first, but
was finally imposed on the two latter
also, in order to tickle the grim humor
of an old planter who held the casting
vote in the Assembly.
But if trihes have determined the fate
of laws and nations, accidents equally
small have caused men to follow pur-
slits the results of which have been not
much less momentous to culture and
Father Malebranche de-
voted himself to philosophy after read
ing Rescartes's "LHomme"; Cowley be-
poet owing TO his perusal of
Spenser's "Faerie Queene," and Sir
Joshua Reynolds had never thought of
until Richardson's "rreatiso'
fell into his hands. Uorneille showed
no liking for any literature except the
law until he fell in love and felt
himself compelled to tell the lady so IN
poetry; and Moliere might have remained
making tapestry had not his grandmoth-
er nettled his pride by wishing that he
could be an actor like Monrose. Balboa
might never have discovered the Pacific
had he not been unsuccessful as shop
keeper in IIispaniola, and found it noces-
sary to flee to the mainland. concealed
from his creditors in cask on board
Enciscos vessel and 1t is certain that
had Cortes become a well-briefed lawyer
in Salamanca, he would never have
lived to proudly tell Charles Y that he
had given him more provinces than his
father had left him cities. lgnatius
Loyola was soldier and the Order of
Jesuts might never have been founded
had he not accidently bcguiled the
tedium of inaction necessitated by a
wound with reading the Lives Of the
Saints" Gibbon determined to write
his famous work alter listening to the
monks singing vespers in the Temple of
Jupiter at Rome; and La Fontaine was
stimulated TO cultivate literature
after hearing some verses of Nal
herbe. Men of science have often been
"made" by accidents as seemingly triti-
ing. We shall not repeat the well worn
tale about the apple which set Newton
on the track of his great discovery, for
the story is extremely mythical but 1t is
true that Flamsteed took to astronomy
after having accidentally read Sacro-
boscO's Ode SphGria." Pennant to nat
ural history after seeing Willoughby's
book on birds; Bonnet to the observation
Of insects after studying Reaumur, and
DIR. Franklin always attributed the bent
of his scientific genius TO De Foes "Es-
say on Projects Faraday might have
remained a journeyman bookbinder had
not kindly Mr.. Dance invited him TO
hear Sir Humphry Davy lecture, and
Naucanson only took 10 studying the
of clocks in order to beguile
the weary hours which he had to pass
while attending his mother at confess
sion.
Nor is ii less true that great moral and
political revolutions have taken place
which might often have been avoided 10y
the observance of trlfles. Guicciardini-
for whose veracity Isaac Disraeli vouchcs
has left it on record that so terrified
was Martin Luther when the Emperor
Charles V put hlm under "the BAN that
had he then received some preierment
he would have "renounced his errors"
But the threatening words of Cardinal
san Sisto, the apostolic legate, threw
him into such despair tina, he did not
care, after the insults he had received,
TO make an effort to save himself.
Franklin, in like manner, was so annoyed
at the tone which Lord Granville as
sumed toward him that it is belie,ed
the interview entirely altered the con-
cillatory views with which the agent tor
the colony of Pennsylvania came to Eng
land, and fastened; if 1t did not precipi-
tate. the final explosion. In studying
the chronicles of nations, we see only
the broad prominent events, but not the
secret springs. which are all the time