and official dignitaries in Smyrna, the manning of yards, and the firing of salutes; and at three in the afternoon of the 27th of February, we took our leave and went to sea. On the morning of the 28th we came in sight of the Russian camp at Gallipoli. Early on the morning of March 1st, Lieutenant Strong called me and I came on deck. The wind was cold and blowing, but as the sun rose we saw Tenedos and the Troad, and, high above all, the cloudy summit of Mount Ida. At San Stefano, Consul-General Schuyler, General Chambers, and Lieutenant Green of our army, with my dear friend MacGahan-whose death we were soon to deplore-boarded the "Vandalia" and bade us welcome to Constantinople.

ENERAL GRANT'S arrival in Constantinople had been fairly well timed, as it occurred but a few days after the treaty of San Stefano. While in Palestine, notwithstanding our American capacity for obtaining news, we were for some time in doubt as to the course of events. Rumor flies rapidly in the East, and it was somewhat difficult to sift the false from the true. Of course our chief was thoroughly informed as to the nature of events, and we hoped that when the news of peace reached us, at least for a while there would be cessation of strife between Muscovite and Moslem. The journey from Asiatic to European Turkey was accomplished without any great fatigue by our party, and it was on the 5th of March when the General entered

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Stamboul. Immediately on arrival, General Grant was welcomed as usual by the diplomatic representatives of the United States, and all the Americans in Constantinople were eager in paying their respects to our distinguished chief. The usual round of visits of ceremony to our great good fortune were somewhat curtailed, owing possibly to the gravity of the events. The long and hard fight Turkey and the Sultan had made, perhaps tended toward dimin

ishing the usual pomp and ceremony which belong to Oriental receptions. Of course though feeling peculiarly the position of his majesty the Sultan Abdul Hamid, General Grant, with his dislike of grand reviews and military displays, was rather pleased than otherwise that he escaped the usual rounds of warlike pageants. Among the most pleasant of the visits made to General Grant, was that of Sir Austen Henry Layard, the British Ambassador, and a grand soirée was given by this distinguished diplomatist, traveler, and archæologist to the Ex-President, which was attended by all the leading native and foreign officials.

ARRIVAL AT STAMBOUL.

I cannot say that sight-seeing in Constantinople in March was of an agreeable character, owing to the fact that March in this portion of Turkey is of the most disagreeable kind. Ice, snow, and rains prevail, and the warmest and stoutest clothing is necessary. A cold fog blows up from the Black Sea, which is of the most penetrating character. Some of the party felt

the change from the warmer climate of Syria, but in our rapid tour of travel no one I am happy to say had the time to be invalided. Some cities have the great misfortune of being situated in those exact positions which seem to attract war and strife. From the time of Philip of Macedon until almost yesterday, when the Emperor Alexander with his hosts threatened

TERRA
SEA

its walls, Byzantium of

the past or Constantinople of the present has always courted sieges. Here sooner or later will swords again be crossed

and shots be fired, until the Bosphorus becomes the dividing line between two races of a different creed. But our party is so entirely unmilitary, from its chief down, that I must dismiss all warlike souvenirs, save to recall how in the fifteenth century Constantine XIII. reigned here, and losing his life in battling for his throne, the Moslem won Constantinople, and made it the great capital of the Turk.

It

Mingled together in its grandest mosque, St. Sophia shows the relics of Christianity in the midst of Mohammedanism. is not even of ancient times this impress of European thought, for to keep it erect it was renovated only in 1847 by Fossati. Do what they may, save by leveling to the dust the proud dome of St. Sophia, the followers of the Prophet never can change the one great plan of the foundation, symbolic of Christ, which is in the plan of a cross. I do not think that the most ardent worshiper of that Christ ought to feel any degradation in the fact that so memorable a building should be devoted to a religion other than his own. Europeans and Americans rarely appreciate the devotion of a good Moslem. Traveling much in foreign lands ought to induce liberality of thought. Though St. Sophia from its immensity be not crowded, still it has its constant concourse of worshipers. Here are imaums, there

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sheiks reading their Koran, all imbued let us trust with pious thoughts. There is this peculiarity in Oriental adoration that it is indifferent as to the place or surroundings where God or the Prophet is to be worshiped. The Christian usually seeks the retirement of his closet to address there his Maker, while he who turns toward Mecca prays fervently whether he be alone or in the presence of thousands. Above the great mosque is the somewhat flattened dome, which in Justinian's time was all ablaze with gold and mosaics. St. Sophia spoke to many of us rather of the past than of the present. Turk does not care for high

decorative art in his mosques, and much that was beautiful with the miracles of Byzantine art have been covered over -perhaps defaced. Partly church, partly mosque, it still awes one with its grand story. Some day, when no man can say, those four six-winged seraphim, all in mosaic, Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Israel, will shine resplendent, and the