The Opelousas courier., 1883-03-03
Accidents of History.
tLondon Standard

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Spain for so many generations the lord
ship of the New World, and enabled
her by the wealth she derived from that
source, to become the most powerful
nation in Europe. 1t is well known
that Columbus, dispirited by the refusal
which be met at SO many. courts, DIS
patched his brother Bartholomew To
ask aid from Henry VII, OF England.
But on the way the messenger fell into
the hands of pirates, and by the time
he reached London, he was SO destitute
he had to try to earn the money to
| clotlle himself in proper style before he
could be presented at court. But by
this time it was too late. Even the fact
that Ferdinand and Isabella supplied
the funds to equip the expedition was
mainly due 10 the accident that Juan
Perez de Maichenal, the Queens con-
fessor, happened to be passing ut the
very moment when the weary mariner
was knocking at the door Of the La
Rabida monastery to beg a little bread
and water for his boy Diego, and was
struck with the noble face of the dusty
pedestrian. Had Bartholomew Colon
reached London in time; had Chris
tovaI been by any chance a little later
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the fate of Europe might have been
changed and the destiny of the Anglo
Saxon race altered. Three centuries
later it was again revolutionized, for IN
1906 the English held Buenos Ayres,
and it is no secret that Napoleon was
almost persuaded to abandon Europe
4 as a field for his ambition, and try what
he could accomplish in carving out an
empire among the dissatisfied provinces
of South America. When citizen Bona
parte seemed little likely to sit on
the throne of Louis Capet, he was
on the point of offering his sword to the
Sultan, as at q later period Won Moltke
actually did. 1t is curious now to spec
ulate what would have been the pres
ent state of the Eastern question had
Napoleon carried his intentions into eff
feet, or supposing that Moltke had re-
manned in the Turkish service whether
the Danish war would have been fought
or Prussia's supremacy established at
Sadowa or Sedan.
1t is hardly forty years since Louis
Philippe threatened var against the
Texan republic because al irate citizen
had shot the trespassing pigs of the
French Ambassador. As it was, he pre-
vented the Lone Star sovereignty from
floating their European loan, and thus
the King and the pigs combined hasten
ed the annexation of Texas to the United
| States.
But if trifles have determined the fate
of laws and nations, accidents equally
small have caused men to follow pur-
suits the results of which have been not
less momentofs to culture and ciylliZa-
ton. Cowley became a poet owing to
his perusal of Spencer's Fairy Queen"
and Sir Joshua Reynolds had never
thought of painting until Richardson's
"Treatise /" fell into his hands. Shakes
peare might have. ended his life as a
prosperous wool-comber, had he been a
prudent young tradesnan. Corneille
showed no liking for any literature K
cept the law, until he fell in love and
felt compelled to tell the lady 50 in
poetry.
Balboa might never have discovered
the Pacific had he not been unsuccessful
as a shopkeeperin Hispaniola, and found
it necessary to flee to the mainland, con-
cealed from his creditors in q cask on
board Eucisdo's vessel; and it is GER
tain that had Cortez become a we'll
briefed lawyer in salaman@ he would
never have lived to proudly tell'Charles
Y that he had gwen him o provinces
than his father had left him cities.
Farady might have remained a jour
neyman bookbinder had not Mr.. Dance
invited him to hear Sir Humphrey Davs
lecture, and V%aucanson only took tt
studying the mechanism of clocks to be
guile the weary hours which he had tt
pass while attending his mother at con
fession.
Had Sir james Simpson been success
fuHin his candidacy for the post of
Highland parish doctor, the world nigh
have lost the inestimable boon of chic,
reform for many years and to the wis
discretion which the College of Surgeons
exercised in refusing their diploma t,
Oliver Goldsmith We owe the " Vicar o
Wakefield and the deserted Village.
OF the pressing need of suitable legis,
lation 10 protect the stomachs of tIl
people against adnlterated food, Their
is no question at all. The best class 0
grocers admit il, and advocate legisla
tive aid. WHO knows how many Of tn
mysterious and nslleard of diseases Q
on. Mllrrr tine IRE due to the uutta
ses'ase asiNitefatinB Of The compound
which peoids are compelled 10 inks int
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