Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-11-12
MERE TRIPLES
That Have Directed the Fate OF Nations
and IlIustriOus NAVigatOrs and
Writers.
The Accidents Of History-The Industry
Of Fonrnier and Lord BeaeOns-
fields Father.


never took place, and Lord Beaconsheld's
father was the author Of 8 learned essay on
history which might have been enacted. An
equally curious volume might be penned on
trifes which have determined great events.
Ii was but trife which gave Spain for 20
many generations the lordship OF the New
World, and enabled her by the wealth
which she derived from that source 20 be-
come the most powerful patton in Europe.
1t is well known that Columbus, dispiriied
by The refusals which be met at so many
courts dispatched his brother Bartolomeo
to ask aid from Henry VII OF England. But
on the way the messenger fell in;o the hands
of pirates, and by the time he reached Lon
don he was so destitute he had to try and
earn the money 10 clothe himsel in proper
style before he could be presented at court.
| But by this time il was too late. Even the
| fact that Ferdinand and Isabella supplied
| the funds TO equip the expedition was
| mainly due to the accident that Juan Perez
| de Marchena, the Queens confesser, hap
pened to be passing at the very moment
| when the weary mariner was knocking
at the door of the La Rsbida mo-
mastery to beg little bread and
| water for his boy, Diego, and was
| struck with the noble face of the dusky pc
destrian. Had Bsrtolomeo Colon reached
| London in time-hsd Christoval been by any
chance little later or little earlier at the
1 monastery uOOF, lne late Oh Europe might
| have been changed and the destiny OF the
| AngioSa.oa race altered. Three centuries
/ later il was again nearly reveutiouized, for in
| 1906 the English held Buenos Ayres; and it
is no secret that Napoleon was almost pei
susded To abandon Europe as a field for his
| ambition, aud try what he could accomplish
/ IN the way of carving out an empire among
/ the dissatisfied provinces of South America.
When Citizen Bouaperte seemed little likely
to cit upon tine throne of Louis Capet, he
| was on the point Of offering bis sword 10 the
| Sultan, as at later period Won Moltke did.
1t is curious now TO speculate on what would
| have been the present state OF the Eastern
question had Ma poleon carried his intentions
into effect; or, sopposing that Moltke had
remained in the Turkish service, whether the
| Danish war would have been fought or
PrussiA's supremacy established at SadoWa
or Sedan.
The cropping of Louis Wis chin brought
on three centuries of bloodshed, and a sar-
castle remark Of Frederick the Great on
Eliz sbelh Petrovna of Russia aroused that
virtuous empress to take such vigorous
part in the Seven Years. War that at one
time Prussia seemed well nigh stricken unto
| death. Even Catharine II-profoundly sus-
picious of Potsdam after the scandal about
Queen Eliz ibeth"-carefully examined her
husbands correspondence before she con-
cluded an alliance with the royal letter
I Wfitcf. IL Is AOIty ycdIb SLICE LOUIE
| Philippe threatened war against the Texan
republic because an irate citizen had shot
the trespassing pigs of the French ambassa'
dor. As it was, he prevented The "Lone
Star" sovereignty from floating their Euro
pesn loan, and thus the king and the pig'
combined hastened the annexation of Texal
: to the United States. The Dutch are said te
have "iockeyed" us out of Malacca in ex
: change for Jaws, by representing on the map
which our simple minded ENJOYS took fol
granted, the one territory as large and ths
other as email, and among the most firmly
rooted traditions of American diplomacy il
one which represents the English commits
sioners agreeing to The surrender OF Oregon
because a country in which a salmon doe
not rise TO the fly cannot be worth much. ,
} Laws have been altered through accident
because the Queens printers boy forgot t.
deliver Lord Beaconefeld's amendment to
, bill.
But if triars have determined the fate o
laws aud nations, accidents equally small
have caused men to follow pursuits tn,
, results of which have been not much les
momentous to culture and civilization
Father Malebranche devoted himself 10 phi
: losophY alter reading D+scarte's RHomme
, Cowley became a pet owing TO his perusa
OF Spepser's Fairy Queen; and Sir Joshui
: Reynolds had never thought of painiu,
, until Richardson's Treatise fell into hi
4
. life as prosperous wool-comber had b.
been prudent young brakeman; Corneill'
, showed no liking for any literature excep
the law until he fell IN love and felt com
PEELED TO tell the lady in poetry; and Mol
liere might have remained making tapesirl
had not his grandmother nettled his prid
by wishing that he could be an actor lik,
Monrose. Balboa might never have discov
, cred the Pacific had he not been unsuccess
ful "a a shookeeDer in Hisnaniola and fonus
it necessary TO fee 10 the mainland, con
cealed from his creditors in cask on boars
J Eucisdo's vessel, and it is certain that, hat
! Cortez became a well-briefed lawyer il
Salamanca, he would never have lives
20 proudly tell Charles V that b,
, had given him more provinces thai
his father had left him cities. Ignatiu
Lovola was a soldier, and the order O
Jesui.s might never have been founded haC
he not accidentally beguiled the tedium o
,, inaciion necessitated by a wound with read
/ ing the Lives OF ,S1ints. Gibbon determined
to write his famous work after listening L
the monks singing vespers in the Temple o
Jupiter, Rome; and La Fontaine was sti q u
lated to cultivate religion after hearing som,
verses of Malheibe. Faraday might hsv,
remained journeyman bookbinder had no
, kindly Mr.. Dance Invited him 10 hear ST
! Humphrey DAvy lecture; and VaucansoI
! only took to Studying the mechanism o
: clocks TO beguile the weary hours which h,
had to pass while attending his mother a
confession. Had Sir James Simpson beer
successful in his candidacy for the post Of /
Highland parish doctor, the world nigh
have lost the inestimsble boon of chloro
form for many years; and to the wise discre
ton which the college of surgeons exercised
in refusing their diploma 10 Oliver Gold
smith we owe the Vicar of Wakefield and tn,
| Deserted PilLdQe.-L0udon Standard