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162
T H E
COUNTRYMA N.
Tuaywou), ga., march u, isos.
Uncle Dayton’s Catechism.
Elder A. C. Dayton, of the Baptist Ban
ner, has written, for the children, a cate
chism, with the above title. It is publish
ed by James N. Ells, also of the Banner,
a d is creditable to the author, and the
publisher, both on account of its r.eat ty
pography, and its subject matter.
The contents seem to be well-adapted
to the purpose for which the book was de
signed, not being above the comprehension
of very smalj ^children. We think there is
no catechism superior^ and few equal, to
it.
Letter from John H. Gilmer, to a Member
of the Virginia Senate, on tho Position,
and Duties of Virginia, in the existing
State of Political Matters.
We .acknowledge the receipt of the
above letter, from some friend in Rich
mond, and thank him for it, though the
letter is not much to our taste,'and liking
—it being somewhat after the order of
Joe Brown’s state-sovereignty,^and state-
convention nonsense.
The Choral: A Collection of Sabbath
School Hymns. Augusta, Ga. : James
Nathan Ells, Publisher. 1864.
We have before alluded to the neat ty
pography of this little volume. Its con
tents are as good as its typography. Sun
day schools, and families now haye an op
portunity .to supply themselves with one
of the best collections of hymns ever pub
lished, and should lose no time in doing
so. Address the publisher.
Letter addressed to the Hon. Wm. C.
Rives, by John H. Gilmer, on the exist
ing Status of the Revolution, &c.
We acknowledge the receipt, from some
Richmond friend, of a pamphlet copy of
the above letter. What we say about
another one of Mr. Gilmer’s letters,
in another place, is applicable to this.
“The Long Ago.”
The poem called “ The Long Ago,” or
“ The Rjver of Time,” is again going the
rounds of the newspapers, with the follow
ing note, whose authorship is as much un
known to us, as that of the poem itself:
“ The %utboy of the exquisite poem
published below, is generally unknown.
His name has escaped our memory, but
we remember that hg was the editor of
some obscure paper in texas, and about
five years since, was killed by a steamboat
explosion on the Mississippi river. Poor
fellow! he had the ‘vision, and the facul
ty divine,’ whatever might have beep his
name on earth.’'
Agreeable Assurances of His-
torv.•—“Rev. J. J. D. Renfroe, chap
lain of the 10th Ala. Reg., on last
fast day, preached a sermon from the
text, ‘The battle is God’s,’ of which
discourse the following is an extract,
reported by the Richmond Whig :
The author quotes the remark of
Victor Cousin, that ‘History proves,
even when viewed from a human
stand point, that wars always termin
ate just as they should, and that their
results are always full of blessings
for coming generations’—and the fol
lowing passage from Sir William
Temple’s Essay on Heroic Virtue :
‘The second observation I shall make,
on the subject of victory, and con
quest is, that they have, in general,
been made by the smaller numbers
over the greater ; against which I do
not remember any exception, in all
the famous battles registered in histo
ry, excepting that of Tamerlane and
Bajazet.’ In proof of the general
correctness of this observation, the
speaker says the Persian army, under
Cyrus, was but a handful, when com
pared with the vast multitude of As
syrians, over whom they were com
pletely victorious. And afterwards,
these victorious Persians, with an ar
my of six hundred thousand, were
beaten by the Macedonians, who were
never more than forty thousand
strong. The little Athenian army of
ten thousand, fighting for their liber
ty, and independence, as we are,drove
hack and overcome one hundred and
twenty thousand Persians, at Mara
thon. In all the famous victories of
the Lacedemonians, they never had
over twelve thousand soldiers, at any
time, though their enemies had often
twenty times that number. Almost
every one of the celebrated victories
of the Romans, was achieved over far
greater numbers than themselves.
The great Caesar’s armies, whether
in Pharsalia, Gaul, or Germany, weie
no proportion to those conquered by
him. The army of Marins, was nev
er over forty thousand, while that of
the Cimbri, which he conquered,
was three hundred thousand. The
famous victories of Esius, and Balisa-
rius, over the barbarous northern na
tions, were won with numbers aston
ishingly small. The same is true of
the first great victories of the Turks
over the Persian kingdom, and of
the Tartars over the Chinese. In all
the immortal victories of the renown
ed SGanderbeg over the Turks, he
never brought together more than 16,-
! 000 men, though lus enemies often
j numbered over a hundred thousand.
' To come down to jater times, the Eng
lish victories at Cressy, and Agin-
court, so famous in history, were gain
ed with incredible disadvantage in
numbers. The same is true of the
great victories of Charles the VIII.,
in Italy; of Henry the IV., in
France; of Gnstavus Adolphns, in
Germany ; and of Charles the XII.,
of Sweden, in Denmark, Poland, and
Muscovy. The King of Poland,
who had an army of" twenty-four
thousand, was defeated and driven
from his throne, by a force of less
than twelve thousand ; and the Res-
sian army of eighty thousand waa
beaten by him, with aj little army of
only eight thousand. Nor must we
forget the fate of the great Napoleon,
in Russia. He invaded that country
with an army of six hundred thou
sand soldiers, and was finally com
pletely vanquished, and driven out of
the country, although the Russians
had never over two hundred and fifty
thousand men in the field, at any one
time.”
Cities of the Dead.—Whilst rain
is going on in America, the scientific
pioneers of Europe are busily engaged
in the great work of unfolding the
mysteries that have slept for ages in
the bosom of the earth, Pompeii, and
Herculaneum are being excavated
with fresh vigor. Jn eastern lands,
the cities of the dead are also coining
to life, again. The most curious dis
coveries are recently reported. Among
other things, it is stated that amang
the mountains to the northeast of An
tioch, in Syria, cities of early times
have been found abandoned, but not
in ruins, except as the stone buildings
have fallen in the slow decay which
time, and storm make necessary. It
is suggested that these cities are of
the period of the early part of the
Christian era, and that the inhabitants
abandoned them »t the time of the
Mohammedan invasion.— Chattanoo
ga Rebel, f-863,
Can it be True ?—“A North Or*
olina paper throws out the following!
hint : a
We learn that there are dark sas*
pieions as to the origin of the fire, by
which such an immense amount, of
property was destroyed, at Charlotte,
mysterious hints having been thrown
out relative to the matter. Dead men
tell no tales, and burnt records require
no auditing; such are the meaning
words which, we learn, are being
whispered from ear to ear. We know
nothing of the matter, and of course
express no opinion. We learn that
there were over a hundred thousand
bushels of corn consumea.”