Dec. 16. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



483 



satisfactory, the officer of the deck pronounces'the 

 stranger "suspicious:" while Jack expresses the 

 same idea by telling his shipmates on the fore- 

 castle, that he " doesn't like the cut of that fel- 

 low's jib" On shore he uses the phrase with a 

 similar meaning, applying it to the external pecu- 

 liarities of countenance or expression, regarded as 

 indications of character. 



" To hang the jib," in the sense of " to look 

 cross," as noted by Halliwell (s. v. Jib), has, 

 perhaps, a similar origin. Vertaub. 



P?'emiums for Babies. — In the window of a 

 silversmith in this city, three silver tea-sets are 

 now on exhibition, which have been offered by 

 the Agricultural Society of Clarke County, Ohio, 

 as premiums for the three finest babies of different 

 ages, born in the United States. Uneda. 



Philadelphia. 



A POLITICAL PROPHET — ELIAS HABESCI. 



There was published at Calcutta, in 1790, a 

 remarkable book bearing for title : 



" The Partition of the Dominions of the Pope, pre- 

 ceded by that of the Ottoman Empire, and hy Consi- 

 derations on Heraclius, the reigning Prince of Georgia, 

 translated from the French MS. of Elias Habesci ; " 



and dedicated, by permission, to the Gov.-General 

 Earl Cornwallis. 



The author, in a style of Junius-like severity 

 and invective, arrives at the certainty that the 

 placid Turk's mission In Europe being fulfilled, 

 he will soon go to his own country : 



"God was pleased," said the Grand Vizier to the 

 Count de St. Priest, " to make use of our sabres to punish 

 the Christians ; and therefore, when it shall please Him 

 to put an end to His wrath against them, and to return 

 them their country, we are ready to obey His holy will, 

 and to retire to our own." 



The prophet shows how, step by step, the Euro- 

 pean powers have been despoiling the Porte ; and 

 predicts, that before long Russia and Austria will 

 make their final coup by seizing upon Constan- 

 tinople : 



" But what will the other Powers of Europe say to all 

 this ? Who knows ? Perhaps they will say as much as 

 they did when three of them shared among them the 

 greater part of Poland — nothing ! " 



Our false prophet, who seems wonderfully fa- 

 miliar with his subject, then goes on to show that 

 neither France nor England will cast their shield 

 over the doomed Turk ; and that the only friend 

 he has in Europe is impotent Rome : 



" Rome trembles," says Hebasci, " when she reflects 

 that there is a power called Emperor of the East and 

 King of the Romans. Get rid of the Turks, and they 

 would very soon be seen in Italy and in Rome ; not to 



take the air, or to lu>ld the bridle of the Holy Father's mule, 

 but to command as sovereign ! " 



Austria and Russia, having pushed the Turk 

 out of Europe, the next question of our prophet 

 is. Who shall reign in the vacant capital ? 



" Whether, politicians and prophets ! shall we give 

 it to the House of Austria or to Russia ? Neither the one 

 nor the other. It would be almost impossible, according 

 to the examples of extended empires, that Vienna or 

 Petersburg could reign over Constantinople. She must 

 have a sovereign of her ovm. But where are we to get 

 him? Neither a Comnene, a Phocas, a Polygnax, nor a 

 Lascaris should be placed upon a Greek throne; they 

 should be left as they are : one at Paris, one at Cham- 

 brey, another at Turin, another at Smyrna, and another 

 at Constantinople — all more or less unhappj'. Therefore, 

 either Russia must place Prince Constantine there, or 

 Joseph the Second will give her one from Tuscany." 



Such were the speculations of Elias Habesci in 

 1790 ; and such the little sympathy he could foresee 

 for the falling Turk in the day of his extremity ! 

 Taking this vatlclnator as an exponent of the pre- 

 sumed indifference of England and France to the 

 threatened annihilation of the Turks, it would not, 

 I think, be foreign to the objects of " N. & Q." to 

 record the prophet's reasoning for their non-in- 

 tervention, if only to contrast it with the actual 

 state of things now the 6rlsls has arrived : when 

 these two generous nations, forgetting their own 

 ancient feuds, have ranged themselves upon the 

 side of the Sultan ; and are now spilling their 

 best blood, and expending their treasures with a 

 liberal hand, to protect the feeble Turk from the 

 grasp of the northern wolf! 



" Who, therefore," says Habesci, " can impede the fall 

 of the superb Ottoman ? France ? England ? I pretend 

 not to enter into the question, whether these powers can 

 or cannot hinder it ; all I assert is, that they will not. 

 With respect to France, that enlightened minister, the 

 Count de St. Priest, after residing sixteen years at Con- 

 stantinople, proves very clearly that it is the interest of 

 France to abandon the Turks to their destiny. He paints 

 them in their true colours; and after producing such 

 incontrovertible facts as ought to render them detested 

 and spumed by all the nations of the world, he concludes, 

 that France ought not only to abandon them, but to 

 assist the other powers in exterminating them, and share 

 the plunder with them. Therefore, France will do nothing 

 for them ! " 



"England," continues this advocate for annihilating 

 the Mussulman, " is too much occupied with great affairs 

 to turn her thoughts towards the Turks. Whether they 

 do, or do not fall, will be a matter of indifference to her ; 

 and whether the inhabitants be of this or that sect, will 

 not concern her : for whoever they may be, her commerce 

 with them will always exist; besides, the trade she 

 carries on with Turkey is not very considerable." 

 Let Alma, Balaklava, Inkerman, and the Pa- 

 triotic Fund be the triumphal reply of England 

 and France to the selfish policy here indicated by 

 this false prophet ! 



I shall be glad of the assistance of " N. & Q." 

 to unmask this Elias Habesci ; he gives the fol- 

 lowing interesting account of himself : 



" I take this opportunity to inform my readers, that I 



