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Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 9, No. 55, May, 1862
Project Gutenberg's Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 9, No. 55, May, 1862, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 9, No. 55, May, 1862
Author: Various
Release Date: April 21, 2004 [EBook #12107]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE
ATLANTIC MONTHLY
A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS.
* * * * *
VOL. IX.--MAY, 1862.--NO. LV.
* * * * *
MAN UNDER SEALED ORDERS.
A vessel of war leaves its port, but no one on board knows for what object, nor whither it is bound. It is a secret Government expedition. As it sets out, a number of documents, carefully sealed, are put in charge of the commander, in which all his instructions are contained. When far away from his sovereign, these are to be the authority which he must obey; as he sails on in the dark, these are to be the lights on the deep by which he must steer. They provide for every stage of the way. They direct what ports to approach and what ports to avoid, what to do in different seas, what variation to make in certain contingencies, and what acts to perform at certain opportunities. Each paper of the series forbids the opening of the next until its own directions have been fulfilled; so that no one can see beyond the