The Athens weekly Georgian. (Athens, Ga.) 1875-1877, July 31, 1877, Image 2

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The Athens weekly Georgian., July 31, 1877, Image 2

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Newspaper Page Text2 THE ATHENS GEORGIAN : JULY 31, 1877. UrsSO-TIJUIvISH AVAIL I AMERICAN GENTLEMEN- KWll.XMl SHOWS HER TEETII. M 'Mrint M or fill rut of ItritUh Troop* «nj Knjci- arrr>—*1a<u>i4 lli>»Hnir Anlmt *• IVrflrfioc* Albion.'’ Constantinople, July 22.—Osman Pasha telegraphs from Plevna, July 19th : 1 commenced a desperate en- g igenient at noon, which lasted till evening. We inflicted loss on the enemy, and forced him from the great er portion of his positions. A second dispatch from Osman Pasha, dated Plevna, 20th, says: Three strong Russian emps attacked our lines. They were routed with innumerable killed, and lost ammunition wagons, a train of artillery, and an immense quantity of arms and munitions. Bucharest, July 2*2.—Tinee Rus sian divisions reintoeed the advanced posts near Yeiii Saga, and after a brilliant engagement occupied that place. The Grand Duke Nicholas’ position at Trinova has been rendered securely reinforced. London, July 22.—Last week’s dispatches do not give a very clear idea of the military situation. Rus sian oflicial news of any movement only comes when the movement is completed. Dispatches from the Turkish side regarding events in Eu rope have been either wholly false or so exaggerated as to he practically worthies*. Whether there Ins been any serious fighting south of the Balkans is still uncertain. 17 London, July 23.—Malta has been reinforced by battalions of the 2d and 13th. Col. Edward’s Royal Engi neers were sent a few weeks ago to Gallipoli to report the depth of wa ter and capability of the town for defense. It is believed the real des tination of the troops is Gallipoli. An editorial in the Time* hopes there will he no necessity for sending troops beyond Malta, though En gland is prepared for nine decided action. The article concludes: “ The way to Constantinople is very tar from being open and might even yet be cloyed with a wrench. While it is easy to understand that there should he a pailc in Constantinople there is no cxduse for a panic in En gland ; meanwhile the Russian au thorities cannot too soon direct their attention to a very diflere. t matter. They will see that the testimony of the foreign correspondents at Shulnia as to the atrocities committed by the Cossacks is a very serious document and they cannot too soon punish the wretches by whom these infamies were committed. Even in heat of battle no State can afford to outrage the feelings of humanity and if Rus sia were to condone such d imes she would be judged much more severely than Turkey.” Beblis, July 23.—Officials at the Russian embassy here threateningly’ declare that England’s open support of Turkey would immediately release the Czar from disinterestered prom ises he made at Lividia and enable him to dictate his own terms of peace The Russian press is furious in its attacks upon England’s “ policy,” and pred’ets serious difficulties. The ,fo>n'inif (7e Si. l’ctersburiy remarks in reference to recent q nations in the English Parliament touching alleged Russian cruelties that Parlia ment sho'dd rppeal to the opinion of General Kemble, who has the Turks at his side and the Russians before him. London, July 23.—A member of the Czar’s stafT was shot. The s»|>- posed intention was to assassinate the Czar. It is understood that five En glish regiments have been ordered to embark immediately for foreign service. In case of disturbances the German fleet in the Levant has been instructed to act energetically in the protection of German interests in the Easts as well as of Russians in Tur key under German protection. History arul Uses of Gun powder. Russia has a population of eigthy- Ive millions and her are a covers very nearly one-sixth of the habitable globe. Just now she is dining on -Turkey. —No man can get rich sitting around stores and saloons. SENATOR BAYARD’S PHI BETA KAPPA AD- DRESS AT HARVARD. I uever reflect upon the breadth and generosity of the underlying idea of our system ot government, with all its manly equities, its constant de mand upon its citizens tor the most elevated sentiments known to our nature, and the opportunities afforded for their exercise that it docs not ap pear to me more end more beyond all other forms of government yet de vised, the most favorable theatre for the exercise of all the qualities that dignify and adorn mankind, and that if penetrated with a true sense of the part which each man among us should bear in such a plan, an American cit izen ought to be in the best sense of the word a gentleman. I have had good reason to realize the exacting nature of the toil and varied occupation of our busy strug gle in American life, and amid what a rush of events we have been carv ing civilization out of the wilderness, emulating with hot impatience the results and accumulations of centuries ot work and thought in the older nations- The graces of life—those fruits of repose and well earned leis ure—are of gradual growth, and have beefi necessarily postponed until our temple of civil and religious liberty W.13 erected upon secure foundations and our grand experiment of self- control by a free people shall have been well tested. Art, its studies and higher influ ences, I do now underrate, and the great advantages it can impart to its disciples, but pers *n il contact has taught ine how much of that true re finement, delicacy of sentiment and sensitive consideration for the feelings of others, which we justly regard as the best fruit of high breeding and cultnre, can and does exist in the sim plicity of American society, uninstruc ted even by that European example which to some *»f our countrymen seems the necessary imprimator of snein' sip-eess. The- American snob has none of the inducein :nts or excuses of his British ■-J&other, and when he follows in his mtck*nnd gildfc ami vonrfrs his petti ness and vulgarity in imitation ot rank and distinguished station, he sins more against his nature and the hon est simplicity and natural dignity which are akin to rcpuhPcan institu tions, and which may well be worn by every man who lives nnder them, according to their true and manly spirit. It is in our power to create a standard of American character and manhood as lofty as that of any age or nation, and to compel oar repre sentatives at home And abroad to conform their conduct to it. The spirit of true chivalry in all its gen tleness and unselfishness, showing tenderness to the feeble and resist ance to the overbearing, mercy to whom mercy is due, and honor to whom honor is due, can and does exist in America to-day, under the “ hodden gray ” of the laborer and mechanic and threadbare coat of the clerk, or the grave garb of the hard, worked merchant or man of the pro-. | (cssion, as truly as it ever did under : the lu-lmct and chain armor of a j knight errant of the olden time. The American people can j is’.ly demand from those who are delega ted to represent them abroad or at home a punctilous observance of ’hon or and delicate prid- in their private and public conduct, and the moral influence to he obtained by dignified self-respect, intelligence and high personal integrity will far outweigh any attempted competition with the show and glitter of the representa tives of other governments not based upon the principle of voluntary‘and orderly self-control. In truth, it will he found that where American rep- resentativesabroad have drawn oblo quy and just censure or contempt upon themselves or their country, it has been usually caused by sonic ignorant nttcmp{ at ostentatious dis play or the unworthy pursuit of pri vate gain, in both of which the digni ty of their position was forgotten or disregarded, and the fault was not “ Americanism,” hut the absence of it. Who invented gunpowder? No one knows. All agree that its composition and properties were un derstood in remote antiquity. Au thentic history extends but a short way into the past, and it is always difficult to draw the line * separating the authentic from the fabulous. Like some other things, gunpowder, as ages rolled on, may have been invented, forgotten, and re-invented. Certainly in some form it was.known and used for fire-works and incendi ary material long before Imy one dreamed of a gun, or using it to do more than create terror in warfare. And yet it is said that some of the ancients had means of using it to throw destructive missiles -among their enemies—probably a species of rocket or bomb. Nor does it seem, in its infancy, to have been applied to industrial purposes, such as Wasting and quarrying rock, tor thercls evi dence that the people who used, it for fire-works at their feasts, quarried immense blocks of stone by splitting them out of the quarries with ham mers and wedges. Its first uses probably wtfftj con nected with the religious ceremonies of the pagan ancients. An old tra dition taught that those were the most powerful gods who answered their worshippers by firft* The priests, therefore,who practiced upon the credulity of the people, exercis ed their ingenuity in inventing ways of producing spontaneous fire, which they told the people was sent by the gods from heaven in answer to their pravei a Tl e accounts of old writers, still preserve 1 and dating lack to three hundred years before Christ, describe a “sulphurous ami -iuitlani- mable substance” unmistakably like our gunpowder. There • was a cer tain place called t lie “ Oracle of Del phi,” once visited hv Alexander the Gre.it, where this kind of fire was produced hv the priests, and it is said that the Druids, the ifticicitt priests of Britain, also u.-c.l some thing of this sort in their sacrifices, for they $ot only produced v *ndtlen fire, but t/iev alffl ’fnfrr* and lightning, to terrify'bit* people with their power. This must' have been more than two thousand years ago. It is known that the Chinese, on the other side of the world, had gunpowder about the same time, hut they used it chiefly for fire-works, which then, as now, formed the main feature of all their festivals and cere monies. In India, it was early used in war, for a writer who lived about A. D. 244 says: “When the towns of Ind : a are attacked liy their ene mies the people do not rush into battle, hut put them to flight by thunder and lightning ” It is said, too, that, one of thc ~Rom«Kt^wnper-' t ors, who lived just after the cruci fixion of Christ, “ had machines which imitated thunder and lightning, and at the same time emitted stones.” Then, about A. D. 220, there was written a recipe “ for an ingenious composition to he thrown on an enemy,” which very nearly corres ponds to our gunpowder. During the many hundred years that follow, little is recorded until about the ninth century, when there appears in an old book, now in a Paris libra ry, an exact recipe for gunpowder, and a description of a rocket. It is said that in 1099 the Saracens, in defending Jerusalem, “ threw .abun dance of pots of fire and shot fire- darts ”—no doubt some kind of bombs and war-rockets. History affords accounts of other wars about this time, in which gunpowder was undoubtedly used in sonto form. But in 1216 a mo#k, Friar Roger Bacon, made gmqiowder; and it is asserted he discovered it indepen dently, knowing nothing of its exist ence elsewhere. It is not unreason able to believe this, for in those days people kept their inventions to them selves if they could, and news trav eled slowly. Some authors say a Get tnnn named Schwartz discovered it in 1320, and perhaps he did, too, and ns honestly and independently as did Friar Bacon, or the East Indians, or the Chinese. Others iiisist that it was inven ed originally in India, and brought by the Saracens from Africa to the Europeans, who improved it. At any rate, an English gentleman who has made a translation of some of the laws ot India, supposed to have been established 1,500 years before the Christian era, or over 3,300 years ago, makes one of them read thus: “The magistrate slia'I not make war with any deceitful machine, or with poisoned weapons, or icith cannon anil guns, or any kind of fire arms.” St. Nicholas. “ Growlers.” Some people seem to be in their natural element when they are grum bling, snapping, and snarling at everybody and everything; and, if the present does not afford them a text, they make drafts on future pos sibilities of ill. “ Here, Bridget, it is almost daylight, Monday morning; to-morrow is Tuesday, and the next day Wednesday—halfthe week gone, and no washing done yet ” But everybody does not feed on green persimmons. We could tell of a missionary who has been in the far West for twenty-one years. For a great part of that time he has lived among Indians, small-pox, fevers, agues, and cholera, and, although not yet “ fifty,” looks prematurely old. For the last year or two his parishioners have paid him about a dollar a month. But does he rave •md rail nbnu: ihe “ ingratitude of republics?*» Very far from it. He looks at the bright side of things, like a philosopher, or, rather, like a practical Christian. “ I hardly know what it i- to he under the weather, nud think myself greatly blessed, even in earthly comforts. Mv appe tite and dig -stion are good. I weigh about two hundred pounds. I have ret had a chill in twenty years, until two months : go; am never confined to bed, except when asleep. I have done a good deal of hard work and can do a good deal yet, lor a kind Providence has prospered me.”— Halt's Journal of Health. The case is a very unpleasant one, and may be said to illustrate the well- known truth that guilt is sure to betray itself sooner or later. • It is, moreover, a remarkable exhibition of heartless selfishness. The original offense may have been the result of thoughtless impulse, but the consign ment of the innocent child to the hardships of factory life, and the re sort to lies involving a confession of guilt, solely to keep a daughter from her rights, were cooly atrocious. We can recall no, worse example of the kind, except the unnatural hatred of the Countess of Macclesfield to her sou, the poet Savage. She is said not only to have denied him all recogni tion, but even to have prevented his father, Lord Rivers, from remember ing I im in his will, thus doing her best to make the poet Savage in time a type of his name, as he became. It may be said also that it was a tearful task for a daughter to gain her rights through her parents.’ dis grace, but their stubborn denial of the recognition they niiulit have given without much, if any, danger of scandal, doubtless fired her with a sense of unjust treatment, and urged her on to victory.— Cincinnati Gazette. PLAIN AND FANCY JOB WORK. IN PRICES. Political Offenses. [New York Nation.] The grand jury in New Orleans have indicted Wells and Anderson and Kenner and Casenave of t’ o Louisiana Returning Board for fraud ulent alterations ot the returns from one of the parishes at the late Presi dential election, and it is said that the trial will produce many and painful disclosures about the connection of these men with the Republican man agers of the late canvass. It is ob jected, however, that to allow the case to go to trial will he a violation of Gov. Nicholls’ promise or agree ment to let bygones he bygones, and pursue nobody for “ political offenses” committed during the late Presiden tial struggle, and generally injudi cious as likely to revive angry feel- ) T A Scottish Law v - >. —*- r A very singular and scandalous case has just been decided by the British House of Lords, which it had reached by appeals from the lower courts. A Scotch Presbyterian elder, a man of wealth and position, named Gardner, married a young lady living in his neighborhood. She presented him with a daughter much sooncr alter marriage than was justifiable. Fearing exposure, the parents con cealed the fact, anil intrusted the child to a prudent nurse. The girl grew, up under the name of Margaret Gardner, and when old enough was put to work in a factory. It was not .until- shahad reached the age of twenty-one that she discovered her parentage and claimed recognition from her father and mother. They were obliged to admit that she was Mrs. Gardner’s child, but affirmed that her real father was a shepherd named Laidlaw. S e refused to be lieve that the wealthy Mr. Gardner would have married a woman sure to bring disgrace upon him, and de clared she would enforce her ii-hts in court. Her parents were alarmed, and offered her one thousand pounds to keep quiet. She refused to do so, and instituted a suit to have herself declared the legitimate child of the Gardners. The first court, a Scot tish one, decided against her. She appealed, and this time gained her case. Then her parents appealed in their turn, and finally, the matter came before the Lords. This august tribunal held that the presumption was in favor of the legitimacy of a chUd born after marriage; that the stories of the husband and wife did not agree, and that the persistent denials of paternity on the part of Gardner, after his wife’s reputation was destroyed, were occasioned by his desire to preserve his church standing It was, therefore, decided that Margaret was legitimate, and the plucky factory girl finds herself vmdicated in her claim to he the oldest daughter of a wealthy land holder. odi*ni! 1,0 roason tor slo PP i HS the prosecu tion that will hoty Water for^opc moment excepi detects in the proof and consequent likelihood of an ac quittal. If the proof is good, Wells and his confederates are no more en titled to impunity, under an agree ment to overlook “ political offenses,’’ than any Democrat who, during the canvass, whipped or murdered negro voters. Their offense is only “ polit ical” because it had serious political consequences, just as a murder or arson might have had. In reality, if guiliy of anything, they were guilty of forgery and fraud of the most shocking kind, and with Wells, at least, the -object was not wholly or principally the election of anybody in particular as President,- but the re ceipt of a good round sum for the election of somebody. The evidence before the House Committee pointed strongly to this, if it did not convict him of it. The only possible argu ment in favor o ‘ the “ political” view of his offenses is the connivance or countenance ivhich they met with from Northern politicians and even from men who do not call themselves politicians, hat moralists. Gov. Nicholls owes it as a duty to the whole country to see to it that if the proof against these men are good, they are pursued tu the utmost limits of the law, so that tluir offense may remain in American history, not ns a precedent for other scoundrels to follow or he put up to, but as a warning and example which will make not only common rascals avoid it, hut political managers frown on it as an expedient not to be thought of, and pious politicians as something by 1 which there is no innocent way of profiting. Him Secured the Services of -A- FIRST-CLASS JOB PRINTER, We arc enabled to turr out as good work as can he done IN THE STATE. We call the attention of all our cit zens to the following Price List: Bill Heads, per Thousand, Assorted, $5. < * ► y i, f f Canary Colored Envelops, Furnished to Merchants and Business Men, with their cards printed on them, At %% PER THOUSAND. LETTER HEADS, $4 50 to $5 PerJThdusand. The late Benjatnan T. Tredick, of Philadelphia, bequeathed $45,000 to public charities, not to be paid howev er until after the death of his wife. There may come a time when every thing bad of Brigham Young will be forgotten, aud he will be reniembered as the great philanthropist who buried twenty-seven mothers-in-law in a do zen years. Common 75cper Hundred, —AND— $4 50 to $5 per Thousand. Fancy Work Proportionately Higher. V2SXT22TG CA.S.X3S, BLANKS, NOTES, Poters, Circulars, Handbills, Pamphlets, etc., Printed in any color desired, and as cheap as can be done in the State. GIVE US YOUR ORDERS SAVE MONEY, And get good work, and sustain a home institution. Call at the ATI) ENS GEORGIAN office, Broad street, Athens,Ga.