394 THE HOLY LAND. 
CHAP, had himself fio-ured in the Cabinets of its Princes '. 
VIII. . 
^ -^- > The approaching downfall of the Turkish em- 
pire is an event which of course every reflecting 
mind must contemplate with eager anticipa- 
tion ; and every means conducive to this end 
is hailed as an instrument in the hand of God. 
Whether the armies of France or the fleets of 
England occasion signs of its approximation, the 
universal Church of Syria, howsoever distributed 
and divided by sects — Armenians, Georgians, 
Greeks, Abyssinians, Copts, Nestorians, Catholics, 
Syrians, Druses, Maronites, — together with all 
distinctions of Jewish worshippers — Samaritans, 
Karaites, Rahbinists, — are ready to bestow upon 
them their praises and their blessings. Thus, 
if a Frenchman arrive in Jerusalem^, they talk 
to him of the victories of Buonaparte, and the 
prowess of Frenchmen in the Holy Land, as if 
they were preaching for a new Crusade. If an 
Englishman, they lavish commendations and 
benedictions upon the heroes of the British 
Navy ; dwelling with enthusiasm upon the ex- 
ploits of Nelson at Aboukir, upon those of Sir 
Sidney Smith at Acre, and upon the glorious fate 
of the lamented Abercrombie. 
(1) A monk at the Convent of St. Saba, near the Dead Sea, began 
to reveal to Mons. DeChdteauhriand " the secrets ef the Court of Russia.'* 
See Trav. vol. I. pp. 40,5, 406, ZoKrf. 1811. 
(2) As in the recent instance of De Chateaubriand. 
