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difficulty avoided capture. In the midst of the ter- reason, it was impossible for the army to leave rible scene of tumult and death, the Commodore those shores and return to France. Thus the succeeded in getting on board a boat, and was victorious French, in the midst of all their trirowed to his ships. More than twelve thousand umphs, found that they had built up for themcorpses of the turbaned Turks were floating in selves prison walls from which, though they the bay of Aboukir, beneath whose crimsoned could repel their enemies, there was no escape. waves, but a few months before, almost an equal The sovereignty of Egypt alone was too petty number of the French had sunk in death. Such an affair to satisfy the boundless ambition of Nautter destruction of an army is perhaps unex-poleon. Destiny, he thought, deciding against ampled in the annals of war. If God frowned an Empire in the East, was only guiding him upon France in the naval battle of Aboukir, He back to an Empire in the West. as signally frowned upon her foes in this terrific conflict on the land.

For ten months Napoleon had now received no certain intelligence respecting Europe. Sir SydThe cloudless sun descended peacefully, in ney Smith, either in the exercise of the spirit of the evening, beneath the blue waves of the Medi- gentlemanly courtesy, or enjoying a malicious terranean. Napoleon stood at the door of his tent, pleasure in communicating to his victor tidings calmly contemplating the scene, from whence all of disaster upon disaster falling upon France, his foes had thus suddenly and utterly vanished. sent to him a file of newspapers full of the most Just then Kleber arrived, with his division of two humiliating intelligence. The hostile fleet, leav thousand men, for whom Napoleon had not wait-ing its whole army of eighteen thousand men, ed. The distinguished soldier, who had long buried in the sands, or beneath the waves, weighed been an ardent admirer of Napoleon, was over- anchor and disappeared. whelmed with amazement in contemplating the magnitude of the victory. In his enthusiasm he threw his arms around the neck of his adored chieftain, exclaiming, "Let me embrace you, my General, you are great as the universe."

Napoleon spent the whole night, with intense interest, examining those papers. He learned that France was in a state of indescribable con fusion; that the imbecile government of the Directory, resorting to the most absurd measures, was despised and disregarded; that plots and counter-plots, conspiracies and assassinations filled the land. He learned, to his astonishment, that France was again involved in war with monarchical Europe; that the Austrians had in

Egypt was now quiet. Not a foe remained to be encountered. No immediate attack, from any quarter, was to be feared. Nothing remained to be done but to carry on the routine of the administration of the infant colony. These duties required no especial genius, and could be veryvaded Italy anew, and driven the French over the creditably performed by any respectable governor. It was, however, but a barren victory which Napoleon had obtained, at such an enormous expenditure of suffering and of life. It was in vain for the isolated army, cut off, by the destruction of its fleet, from all intercourse with Europe, to think of the invasion of India. The French troops had exactly "caught the Tartar." Egypt was of no possible avail as a colony, with the Mediterranean crowded with hostile English, and Russian, and Turkish cruisers. For the same

Alps; and that the banded armies of the European kings were crowding upon the frontiers of the distracted republic. "Ah!" he exclaimed to Bourrienne, "my forebodings have not deceived me. The fools have lost Italy. All the fruit of our victories has disappeared. I must leave Egypt. We must return to France immediately, and, if possible, repair these disasters, and save France from destruction."

It was a signal peculiarity in the mind of Napoleon that his decisions appeared to be instinct

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ive rather than deliberative. With the rapidity |diately spread, and before the light of morning of the lightning's flash his mind contemplated all dawned, the low and sandy outline of the Egypthe considerations upon each side of a question, tian shore had disappeared beneath the horizon and instantaneously came to the result. These of the sea. judgments, apparently so hasty, combined all the wisdom which others obtain by the slow and painful process of weeks of deliberation and uncertainty. Thus in the midst of the innumerable

GREAT OBJECTS ATTAINED BY LITTLE

THINGS.

that has not its appropriate use-nothing, however insignificant it may appear to us, that has not some important mission to fulfill. The living dust that swarms in clusters about our cheese-the mildew casting its emerald tint over our preserves-the lichen and the moss wearing away the words of grief and honor engraved upon the tombs of our forefathers, have each their ap

HERE is nothing, however small, in nature

combinations of the field of battle, he never suffered from a moment of perplexity; he never hesitated between this plan and that plan, but instantaneously, and without the slightest misgivings, decided upon that very course, to which the most slow and mature deliberation would have guided him. This instinctive promptness of correct decision was one great secret of his mighty power. It pertained alike to every sub-propriate work, and are all important in the great ject with which the human mind could be conversant. The promptness of his decision was only equaled by the energy of his execution. He therefore accomplished in hours that which would have engrossed the energies of other minds for days.

economy of nature. The little moss which so effectually aroused the emotions of Mungo Park when far away from his friends and kin, and when his spirits were almost failing, may teach a moral lesson to us all, and serve to inspire us with some of that perseverance and energy to travel through Thus, in the present case, he decided, upon life, that it did Mungo Park in his journey through the moment, to return to France. The details the African desert. By the steady and longof his return, as to the disposition to be made of continued efforts of this fragile little plant, high the army, the manner in which he would attempt mountains have been leveled, which no human to evade the British cruisers, and the individuals power could have brought from their towering he would take with him, were all immediately heights. Adamantine rocks have been reduced settled in his mind. He called Bourrienne, Ber- to pebbles; cliffs have mouldered in heaps upon thier, and Gantheaume before him, and informed the shore; and castles and strongholds raised by them of his decision, enjoining upon them the the hand of man have proved weak and powermost perfect secrecy, lest intelligence of his less under the ravages of this tiny agent, and preparations should be communicated to the al- become scenes of ruin and desolation—the habi lied fleet. He ordered Gantheaume immediately tations of the owl and the bat. Yet who, to look to get ready for sea two frigates from the har- upon the lichen, would think it could do all this? bor of Alexandria, and two small vessels, with -so modest that we might almost take it for a provisions for four hundred men for two months. part of the ground upon which we tread. Can Napoleon then returned with the army to Cairo. this, we exclaim, be a leveler of mountains and He arrived there on the 10th of August, and mausoleums? Contemplate its unobtrusive, humagain, as a resistless conqueror, entered the city. ble course; endowed by nature with an organiHe prevented any suspicion of his projected de-zation capable of vegetating in the most unpropiparture, from arising among the soldiers, by tious circumstances-requiring indeed little more planning an expedition to explore Upper Egypt. than the mere moisture of the atmosphere to susOne morning he announced his intention of tain it, the lichen sends forth its small filamentous going down the Nile, to spend a few days in ex-roots and clings to the hard, dry rock with a most amining the Delta. He took with him a small retinue, and striking across the desert, proceeded with the utmost celerity to Alexandria, where they arrived on the 22d of August. Concealed by the shades of the evening of the same day, he left the town, with eight selected companions, and escorted by a few of his faithful guards. Silently and rapidly they rode to a solitary part of the bay, the party wondering what this move-dimensions of the aperture become enlarged, and ment could mean. Here they discovered, dimly the water runs in in greater quantities. This in the distance, two frigates riding at anchor, work, carried on by a legion ten thousand strong, and some fishing-boats near the shore, apparently soon pierces the stony cliff with innumerable fiswaiting to receive them. Then Napoleon an- sures, which being filled with rain, the frost causes nounced to his companions that their destination it to split, and large pieces roll down to the levwas France. The joy of the company was in- els beneath, reduced to sand, or to become soil conceivable. The horses were left upon the for the growth of a more exalted vegetation.— beach, to find their way back to Alexandria. This, of course, is a work of time-of generaThe victorious fugitives crowded into the boats, tions, perhaps, measured by the span of human and were rowed out, in the dim and silent life; but, undaunted, the mission of the humble night, to the frigates. The sails were imme-lichen goes on and prospers. Is not this a les

determined pertinacity. These little fibres, which can scarcely be discerned with the naked eye, find their way into the minute crevices of the stone; now, firmly attached, the rain-drops lodge upon their fronds or membranaceous scales on the surface, and filtering to their roots, moisten the space which they occupy, and the little plant is then enabled to work itself further into the rock; the

son worth learning from the book of nature? | at length commanded the world. The little rill Does it not contain much that we might profit near the source of one of the great American by, and set us an example that we should do well rivers is an interesting object to the traveler, who to imitate? “Persevere, and despise not little is apprised as he steps across it, or walks a few things," is the lesson we draw from it ourselves, miles along its bank, that this is the stream which and the poorest and humblest reader of this page runs so far, and gradually swells into so immense will be able to accomplish great things, if he will a flood." By the accidental mixing of a little take the precept to himself, engrave it upon his nitre and potash, gunpowder was discovered. In heart, or hold it constantly before him; depend ancient times, before the days of Pliny, some upon it, you will gain more inspiration from these merchants traveling across a sandy desert, could words than from half the wise sayings of the phi- find no rock at hand on which to kindle a fire to losophers of old. prepare their food; as a substitute, they took a block of alkali from among their heaps of merchandise, and lit a fire thereon. The merchants stared with surprise when they saw the huge block melting beneath the heat, and running down in a glistening stream as it mingled with the sand, and still more so, when they discovered into what a hard and shining substance it had been transformed. From this, says Pliny, originated the making of glass. The sunbeams dazzling on a crystal prism unfolded the whole theory of colors. A few rude types carved from a wooden block have been the means of revolutionizing nations, overthrowing dynasties, and rooting out the most hardened despotisms-of driving away a multitude of imps of superstition, which for ages had been the terror of the learned, and of spreading the light of truth and knowledge from the frontiers of civilization to the coasts of darkness and barbarism. "We must destroy the Press, exclaimed the furious Wolsey, or the Press will destroy us." The battle was fought, the Press was triumphant, and Popery banished from the shores of Britain. The swinging of a lamp suspended from a ceiling led Galileo to search into the laws of oscillation of the pendulum; and by the fall of an apple the great Newton was led to unfold what had hitherto been deemed one of the secrets of the Deity-a mys

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But nature is full of examples to stimulate us to perseverance, and beautiful illustrations of how much can be achieved by little things-trifles unheeded by the multitude. The worms that we tread in the dust beneath our feet, are the choicest friends of the husbandman. A tract of land rendered barren by the incrustation of stones upon its surface, becomes by their labors a rich and fertile plain; they loosen and throw up in nutritious mealy hillocks the hardest and most unprofitable soil-the stones disappear, and where all was sterility and worthlessness, is soon rich with a luxurious vegetation. We may call to mind, too, the worm upon the mulberry-tree, and its miles of fine-spun glistening silk; we may watch the process of its transformation till the choice fabric which its patient industry had produced is dyed by an infusion gained from another little insect (the Cochineal), and then, endowed with the glory of tint and softness of texture, it is cut into robes to deck the beauty of our English wives and daughters. Yet, those ignorant of their usefulness would despise these little laborers, as they do others equally valuable. The bee and the ant, again, are instances which we may all observe-but how few will spare five minutes to contemplate them. Yet, where is the man, sluggard though he be, who would not shake off his slothfulness on observing the patient in-tery over which God had thrown a vail, which it dustry and frugal economy of the little ant? or where is the drunkard and spendthrift who could watch the bee, so busy in garnering up a rich store for the coming winter-laboring while the sun shone, to sustain them when the frost and rain, and the flowerless plants shut out all means of gaining their daily bread; and not put his shoulder to the wheel, and think of old age, and the clouds that are gathering in the heavens? The worth of all the delicious sweets we have derived from the industry of the little bee, is nothing, when compared with the value of this moral which they teach us.

If we turn from the book of Nature and open the annals of discovery and science, many instances of the importance of little things will start, up and crowd around us-of events which appear in the lowest degree insignificant, being the cause of vast and stupendous discoveries. "The smallest thing becomes respectable," says Foster, "when regarded as the commencement of what has advanced or is advancing into magnificence. The first rude settlement of Romulus would have been an insignificent circumstance, and might justly have sunk into oblivion, if Rome had not

would be presumption for man to lift or dare to pry beneath. Had Newton disregarded little things, and failed to profit by gentle hints, we should perhaps have thought so still, and our minds would not have been so filled with the glory of Him who made the heavens; but with these great truths revealed to our understandings, we exclaim from our hearts, "Manifold, O God! are thy works; in wisdom hast thou made them all."

When the heart of the woolspinner of Genoa was sickening with "hope deferred," and his men, who had long been straining their eyes in vain to catch a glimpse of land, were about to burst into open mutiny, and were shouting fearfully to their leader to steer the vessel back again, Columbus picked up a piece of wood which he found floating upon the waters. The shore must be nigh, he thought, from whence this branch has wafted, and the inference inspired the fainting hearts of his crew to persevere and gain the hoped-for land; had it not been for this trifling occurrence, Columbus would perhaps have returned to Spain an unsuccessful adventurer. But such trifles have often befriended genius. Accidentally observing a red-hot iron become elon

ism.

itations; he was promised a portion with his bride, and on his nuptial day was referred to a large heap of dust and offal as the promised dow. ry. He little thought, as he received it with some reluctance, that it would put two thousand pounds into his pocket.

gated by passing between iron cylinders, sug- | whose carts carried away the dust from our habgested the improvements effected by Arkwright in the spinning machinery. A piece of thread and a few small beads were means sufficient in the hands of Ferguson, to ascertain the situation of the stars in the heavens. The discovery of Galvani was made by a trifling occurrence; a knife happened to be brought in contact with a dead frog which was lying upon the board of the chemist's laboratory, the muscles of the reptile were observed to be severely convulsed-experiments soon unfolded the whole theory of GalvanThe history of the gas-light is curious, and illustrates our subject. Dr. Clayton distilled some coal in a retort, and confining the vapor in a bladder, amused his friends by burning it as it issued from a pin-hole; little did the worthy doctor think to what purposes the principle of that experiment was capable of being applied. It was left for Murdoch to suggest its adoption as a means of illuminating our streets and adding to the splendor of our shops. Had Clayton not made known his humble experiment, we probably should still be depending on the mercy of a jovial watchman for a light to guide us through the dark thoroughfares of the city, or to the dim glimmer of an oil lamp to display the luxury of our merchandise.

These facts, which we have gleaned from the fields of nature and from the annals of science, may be useful to us all. If God has instilled the instinct of frugality into the ant, and told us, in his written word, to go learn her ways and be wise, think you he will be displeased to observe the same habits of economy in us, or deny us the favor of his countenance, because we use with care the talents he has intrusted to our keeping, or the wealth he has placed within our reach? Let not instances of the abuse of this feeling, which spendthrifts in derision will be sure to point out to you, deter you from saving, in times of plenty, a little for a time of need. Avarice is always despicable-the crime of the miser is greater than that of the spendthrift; both are extremes, both abuse the legitimate purposes of wealth. It is equally revolting to read of two avaricious souls, whose coffers could have disgorged ten times ten thousand guineas, growing angry over a penny, or fretting at the loss of a farthing rushlight; but it is a sight quite as sad and painful to observe the spendthrift squandering in the mire the last shilling of an ample fortune, and reducing his wife and children to beggary for

ever.

To achieve independence, then, you must prac tise an habitual frugality, and while enjoying the present, look forward to old age, and think now and then of the possibility of a rainy day. Do not fancy, because you can only save an occasional penny now, that you will never become the possessor of pounds. Small things increase by union. Recollect, too, the precepts and life of Franklin, and a thousand others who rose to wealth and honor by looking after little things: be resolute, persevere, and prosper. Do not wait for the assistance of others in your progress through life; you will grow hungry, depend upon it, if you look to the charity or kindness of friends for your daily bread. It is far more noble to gird up your loins, and meet the difficulties and troubles of human life with a dauntless courage. The wheel of fortune turns as swiftly as that of a mill, and the rich friend who has the power, you think, to help you to-day, may become poor tomorrow-many such instances of the mutability of fortune must occur to every reader. If he be rich, let him take the inference to himself. It he has plenty, let him save a little, lest the wheel should turn against him; and if he be poor and penniless, let him draw from such cases consolation and hope.

You are desirous of promotion in your worldly position-you are ambitious of rising from indigence to affluence ?-resist, then, every temptation that may allure you to indolence or every fascination that may lead to prodigality. Think not that the path to wealth or knowledge is all sunshine and honey; look for it only by long years of vigorous and well-directed activity; let no opportunity pass for self-improvement. Keep your mind a total stranger to the ennui of the slothful. The dove, recollect, did not return to Noah with the olive-branch till the second time of her going forth; why, then, should you despond at the failure of a first attempt? Persevere, and above all, despise not little things; for, you see, they sometimes lead to great matters in the end.

THE SUBLIME PORTE. offering a few remarks upon the government

Save, then, a little, although the thought-Norge, which, by common accord, is less and the gay may sneer. Throw nothing of away, for there is nothing that is purely worth- known in Europe and the United States as "The less; the refuse from your table is worth its Sublime Porte," it is not intended to quote hisprice, and if you are not wanting it yourself, re-tory, but rather to speak of it only in reference member there are hundreds of your kind, your to the present period. It is nevertheless necesbrethren by the laws of God, who are groaning under a poverty which it would help to mitigate, and pale with a hunger which it might help to satisfy. Where can you find your prescriptive right to squander that which would fill the belly of a hungry brother? A gentleman, some years ago, married the daughter of a public contractor,

sary to state that the Turks themselves call the Turkish Empire Mémáliki-Othmanich, or the "Ottoman States" (kingdoms), in consequence of their having been founded by Othman, the great ancestor of the present reigning sovereign, Abd-ul-Mejid. They are no better pleased with the name of Turk than the people of the United

THE SUBLIME PORTE.

posed by some to have given rise to the title of "The Sublime Porte;" but this is not correct. It may have once been used as a court of justice, certainly as a place where justice was wont to be executed, for not unfrequently criminals were decapitated there; and among others, the head of the brave but unfortunate Aâli Pacha, of Yanina in Albania, the friend of Lord Byron, was exposed there for some days previous to its interment beyond the walls of the city.

States are, generally, with that of Yankee: it bears | midst of the capital. At Constantinople the with it a meaning signifying a gross and rude Ottoman government is also called the "Sublime man-something indeed very much like our own Government," Devleti Alich, a word closely bordefinition of it, when we say any one is "no bet- dering on that of superiority and pre-eminence ter than a Turk ;" and they greatly prefer being claimed by the "Heavenly Government" of the known as Ottomans. They call their language empire of China. The Sultan, in speaking of the "Ottoman tongue"—Othmanli dilec-though his government, calls it "My Sublime Porte." The Grand Veir being an officer of the highest some do speak of it as the Turkish. As regards the title, "The Sublime Porte," rank in the empire-a Pacha, of course, in fine, this has a different origin. In the earlier days the Pacha-his official residence is known in of Ottoman rule, the reigning sovereign, as is still Constantinople as that of the Pacha, Pacha Ka the case in some parts of the East, held courts pousee, i.e. the "Gate of the Pacha." The chief of justice and levees at the entrance of his resi- entrance to the "seraglio" of the former Sultans, dence. The palace of the Sultan is always sur-erected on the tongue of land where once stood rounded by a high wall, and not unfrequently de- the republican city of Byzantium, called the fended by lofty towers and bastions. The chief" Imperial Gate," or the Babi Humayoon, is supentrance is an elevated portal, with some pretensions to magnificence and showy architecture. It is guarded by soldiers or door-keepers well armed; it may also contain some apartments for certain officers, or even for the Sultan himself; .ts covering or roof, projecting beyond the walls, offers an agreeable shade, and in its external alcoves are sofas more or less rich or gaudy. Numerous loiterers are usually found lingering about the portal, applicants for justice; and there, in former times, when the Ottomans were ndeed Turks, scenes of injustice and cruelty were not unfrequently witnessed by the passer-by. This lofty portal generally bears a distinct title. At Constantinople it has even grown into one which has given a name to the whole governam not aware, however, ment of the Sultan. that the custom here alluded to was ever in force In that capital, though it certainly was in other parts of the empire of Othman. It is not improbable that it was usual with all the Sultans, who, at the head of their armies, seldom had any permanent fixed residence worthy of the name of palace. Mahomet the Second, who conquered Constantinople from the degenerate Greeks, may, for some time after his entrance into the city of Constantine-stili called in all the official documents, such as "Firmans," or "Royal Orders," Kostantinich-have held his courts of justice and transacted business at the elevated portal of his temporary residence. The term "Sublime Porte," in Turkish, is Deri Alieh, or the elevated and lofty door; the Saxon word door being derived from the Persian der, or dor, in common use in the Ottoman language, which is a strange mixture of Tartar, Persian, and Arabic. The French, or rather the Franks, in their earlier intercourse with Turkey, translated the title literally "La Sublime Porte," and this in English has been called, with similar inaccuracy, "The Sublime Porte."

Long since, the Ottoman Sultans have ceased
administering justice before their palaces, or in-
The office is
deed any where else, in person.
delegated to a deputy, who presides over the
whole Ottoman government, with the title of
Grand Vezir, or in Turkish, Veziri Azam, the
Chief Vezir, whose official residence or place of
business, once no doubt at the portal of his
sovereign, is now in a splendid edifice in the
VOL. IV-No 21.-Y

The title of porte, or door, is used in Constantinople to designate other departments of the government. The bureau of the Minister of War is called the Seraskier Kapousee, or the Gate of the Serasker (head of the army); and those of the Ministers of Commerce and Police are called, the one Tijaret Kapousee, and the other Zabtich Kapousee. These, however are sufficient, without mentioning any other facts, to explain the origin and nature of the title of the Ottoman government, known as "The Sublime Porte."

The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire is known by his subjects under the title of Sultan, which word signifies a ruler; and generally as Shevketlu Padischah Effendimiz, "His Majesty the Emperor our Lord;" and all foreign governments now recognize him as an Emperor, and call him by the title of "Imperial Majesty." The definition of the word Padischah is supposed to be “Father of Kings," and originally was Peder Schah, the In his own tongue first part of it (Peder) being the origin of our Saxon word Fáder, or father. he is called Khan, in Persian Shah, and in Arabic Sultan, all meaning, in extensu, the same, viz. King, Sovereign, or Prince. He reigns over one of the most extensive empires of the world, all possessed or acquired by inheritance from his ancestors, who obtained it by conquest.

Until the reign of the late Sultan, Mahmoud the Second, the Ottoman sovereigns had their residence in the "Seraglio" before alluded to, in the city of Constantinople. Its high walls were not, however, sufficiently strong to protect them against the violence of the Janizaries, and after their destruction the remembrance of the scenes of their cruelty induced the late and present Sultan to forsake it for the safer and more agreeable banks of the Bosphorus. The extensive and very picturesque buildings of the Seraglio are now left to decay; they offer only the spectacle of

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