The great secret of the enviable distinction was,--NAVIGATION. This power led the Tyrians into foreign cities,--it enabled them to give, or receive from, their Allies in the several parts of the then known world, all that was useful or novel, _in exchange for their own exports_, until Tyrus became the nucleus of all intelligence. Upon this treasury of gathered knowledge she improved and increased her power, by retaining what was good, rejecting what was useless. Tyrus stood in the estimation of the world like a majestic Temple, which all mankind had aided in building, but when erected and secure, none of the builders were allowed to enter. If a foreign nation required a naval expedition, Tyrus was the only power to furnish it in every department,--material, shipwrights, pilots, and mariners:--this is proved by the fleets loaned to the Kings of Israel and Egypt;--and the Tyrians never made a voyage for another country, that they were not the especial gainers by the expedition. All discoveries of islands were their own, for they alone could keep or reach them afterwards, for other countries were destitute of fleets. The Naval profession in the minds of the Tyrians was (apart from Religion) elevated above all others;--they regarded it as a peculiar gift from the Gods, bestowed upon them as a National blessing. This was confirmed in their estimation, because, as a necessity, it was associated with the Sublime study of Astronomy. Religion itself was brought to enhance its value,--thence their Temple to Neptune:--the highest attributes of the mind were brought forward to support the science,--thence even her philosophers were helmsmen:--for in the language of the Prophet ISAIAH,--"Thy _Wise men_, O Tyrus, that were in thee, _were thy Pilots_." When a foreign Nation created a navy, without the sanction of Tyrus, then, as before stated, the latter country made war, or crusades against the vessels as they should appear upon the Mediterranean. The "Daughter of Sidon" attempted no _inland_ conquests; she was content that her throne should be on the Seas: and the means she took to conceal her discoveries, and the secret of her ship-building from foreign countries, were as ingenious and determined, as her resolution to have no rival was indomitable.