, 1888-02-24
VERY SLIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES.
Instances Where They Have Led to Grave
and Important Issues.

Instances Where They Have Led to Grave
and Important Issues.
1t is stated that when Leopold van
Ranke began to collect facts for his
history, a singular accident occurred in
his native town. A bridge gave way one
morning, and some persons were swept
away in the current beneath. Van
Ranke, who was absent at the time, on
his return inquired into the details of the
catastrophe. 81 saw the bridge fall, ("
said of the neighbors. "a heavy
vain had just passed over it and weak
ened it. Two women were on it when it
fell, and a soldier on a white horse" 81
saw it fall" declared another; but the
vain had passed over it two hours pre-
V1ous. The foot passengers were children,
and the rider was a civilian on n black
horse" Now" argued Won Ranke, "if
1T is impossible to learn the truth about
an accident which happened at broad
MONDAY only t~wenty-four hours ago, how
can l declare any fact to be certain which
is shrouded in the darkness of ten CEN
turtles" To this trivial incident, which
to many persons would have borne no
lesson, was due much of his caution and
impartiaiity.
A few moments consideration will
In hhJ JIG lildI SOlIS u lllt lllOob
momentous crises in history nave hinged
upon very slight circumstances. A glass
of wine, for instance, changed the his
tory of France for nearly twenty years.
Louis Philippe, king of the French, had
n ION, the Duke of Orleans, and heir to
the throne, who always drank only a
certain numbe of glasses of wine, be-
cause even one more made him tipsy.
On n memorable morning he forgot to
count II number of his glasses, and
took one more than usual. When enter
ing his carriage he stumbled, frightened
the horses, and causing them to run. In
attempting to leap from the carriage his
head struck the pavement, and he soon
died. That glass of wine overthrow the
Orleans rule, confiscated their property
of 600, 900, 000, and sent the whole fam
lily into exile.
If Mr.. Granville had not carried, in
1865, his memorable resolution as to the
expediency of charging stamp duties on
the plantations of America, the western
world might still have been under Brit
ish rule. In connection with this mat
ter, there is another slight, albeit re-
markable, circumstance, which may be
told in Thackeray's w words. at
was strange" says he, ''that, in n savage
forest of Pennsylvania, a young Virgin
ian officer should fire n shot, and waken
up n war which was to last for sixty
years, which was to cover his own country
and pass into Europe, to cost France her
American colonies, to sever ours from us
and create the great western republic; to
rage over the old world when extin-
guished in the new; and of all the myr-
a ds engaged in the vast contest, to leave
the prize of the greatest fame with him
who struck the first blow.n
It the nose of Cleopatra had been
shorter, says Pascal, the condition of the
world would AVE been different. His
meaning is, that if Cleopatra had had a
nose short to deformity she would nave
failed to attract Antony, who would not
have beer drawn into the conduct which
eliminated in the loss of the battle of
Actium, which loss made way for the
close of the Roman republic in the inau-
guration of the Roman empire.
Dyspepsia has been the cause of many
momentuous crisis. A leg of mutton is
said to nave controlled the tide of Leip-
sizes battle; and the consequences of the
indigestion of n certain duchess are pro-
verbal.
The great failure of the potato crop in
Ireland cannot be called q slight circum-
stance, yet it was comparatively slight
compared with the momentous changes
which it brought about; for the repeal of
the corn laws was hastened by the potato
famine. As Lord Beaconsield has OBJ,
served: "This mysterious but universal
sickness of a single root changed the his
tory of the world"
Many men nave been drawn to their
destiny by the most trivial occurrences.
Fenimore Cooper became a novelist
through his wife's challenge. One even
ing, while reading a novel, he threw it
down, saying: Il believe l could write a
better book myself" "Let me see you
do it" said his wife, with a smile. In n
few days he had written several chapters
of ~'Precaution," which, when finished,
he published at his w expense. The
novel attracted little attentions; but it
gave Cooper an mixing of his capacity
for story writing, and the Spy" his
next novel, appealed so strongly to the
patriotic ~sympathies of his countrymen
that it became a great success. Haw-
thorne, too, was induced to write the
''Scarlet Letter by n remark of his
wife.
If Cowley had not found the 'Faery
Queen" in his mothers parlor it is Just
possible that he would never have been a
poet. Giotto, n of the early Florentine
painters, might have remained a rude
shepherd boy if a sheep drawn by him
upon n stone had not attracted the notice
of Cimabue. Opie might have persisted
in obscurity if he had not looked over the
shoulder of his companion, Mark Oates,
while he was drawing n butterfly. Had
his friend and companion escaped the
thunderstorm at Erfurt, Luther might
have been n lawyer.-Chambers' Jour
nal.