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THE PERRYSBURG JOURNAL. 389 The Fish by which Jonah's Life was Preserved. Doubtless the little readers of the 'Tress" nie. familiar with the story of the prophet Jonah us 1 old us in the Bible. But if any of them ilo not remember it all distinctly let them refer to their Bibles, before reading ;he following account of the way in which his life was preserved. There are two vers".-; which vt. will copy, as they are Iht ohm to elicit your attention. ".Mow the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly, of the Iish three, days and tlnve nights. And the Lord spake unto the iUh and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." This part of the story is very wonderful, and were it not the word of God we should be inclined to doubt iis Irulh. The whole transaction is a miracle wrought directly by Almighty agency, but it will not be wrong for us to enquire if there were, any natural ctiuwi operating, by which it may be more easily understood, and made more probable. The Bible does not say anything about the Li ml of iish mployed. If then, no whale ever visited th' Mediterranean, or if i lie largest whale has not a throat large i nonglt to swallow the smallest man, this would not prove the Bible narrative tin Ulie. The Mediterranean formerly abounded in ;i species of carcharis or dog-fish, and speci mens are found at the. presant day. It is an animal of the shark kind, ami, though smaller than a whale, iis throat and maw will contain, without crowding, a man of the largest size. A iish of this kind has been taken in the Mediterranean in whose stomach was found the body of a man dressed in complete armor. Some have been caught which were from twenty-five to thirty leet long, nine feet around the body, and weighing two tons, or four thousand pounds. The follow ing story is told by the. philosopher Muller f a frigate which was cruising in the Medi terranean, in the year 1758. ' In a heavy storm a seaman fell overboard, and was im rcediately received into the jaws and throat of a carcharis, which was following the ship. Before the. animal sank an ollicer on deck discharged a gun at its head, which taking effect caused the animal to disgorge its prey. The sailor was rescued alive and uninjured, and lived for several years to repeat the tcry of his deliverance." This iish was raptured and weighed exactly 393-1 pounds. Without doubt it was by a fish of this kind that the prophet's life was saved. During the imprisonment of Jonah God could easily preserve him alive, and any nat ural mils- simply could effect his release on the third day. Instead then of the story of Jonah IvMng absurd and ridiculous as some wicked people have said, we see that it is perfectly rational and true. It should make upon our minds a very deep impres sion of the awful power of God, ot the en ergy of his justice, and of the security of his favor. j I i : i ! j i j I j i ' , ; ! j j i Mr. Mansfield's Address. Delivered before the Editorial Convention at Cincinnati, on Tuesday Evening. The speaker proposed to consider " The Moral Rower and Responsibility of the Tress." 1. What is the Press? In popular under standing it means the nkwsiaikr. The newspaper is a ihi.tkj voice. It is the ut terance, through type, of the nets, thoughts, sentiments and feelings of the, human being, spoken aloud in the ears of all mankind ! To do this by mere, mechanical agency, is a modern invention. By this printed voice, the utterance of thought and fact are diffused through the whole earth, among all people and kindred ubiquitous as the air, and pen etrating as the light. This printed voice, gifted with such ca pacites, has become a new element of social action, enlarging thi sphere of thought, and diffusing intelligence with a rapidity which we. deemed impossible. Loved by 'freemen, feared by tyrants, it mingles in the revolu tions of mankind, and battles for liberty against principalities and powers. What ever other characteristics the press may have, this much is certain. It is everywhere claimed as the friend of light, and is every where the rnemy of darkness. j j J j j I This new element of society is the- most effective (dement in the intellectual condi tion of modem States. It has never been properly analyzed by either philosophers or statesmen. The great fact of its influence exists, and we are content to leave to other ages the task of measuring its force, and writing the history of its changes. 1 woidd speak first of the Moral Tower ,of the Tress, and as preliminary to this, let line, state; briefly its history: The first press established was simply a Mews Bulletin, utterly devoid of ei ther opin ion, sentiment, debate or report, other than naked fact, briefly stated. The first English newspaper was publish ed in the time of Elizabeth, in 1553, and was in manuscript. The. first printed one (was the "Polilicus M-rcurius." or Political iM- rcury, and was started in the, reign of Charles 1., in lG.'U, and continued through Cromw( U's time. A copy of this I have ;seen in Mew Haven, Conn". Thus it will be seen that the newspaper jpres is less than three centuries old : estab lished since the Reformation, of which it became the right arm. The first newspapers 1 1 I 11. i . .i 1 1 . . were mueeu ounouns, out the moment dis cussion became free they took part in it, and took car; to keep it so. In that time the press was bolder than at the present day. The, following statement will show the increase, of the Press in the United States: In 1775 there were 37 " 1810 " " 353 " 18-10 " 2 000 " 1S50 " " 2',500 The newspaper increase has been six times greater than that of the population, and the circulation five times greater. Thus the in crease of the power of the press has been thirty times greater than that of the popula tion. The effect of this is two fold ; it dimin ishes the individual power of a paper, but it has increased the aggregate power beyond computation. We will now consider some of the par ticulars in which the Power of the Press consists. Its first great power is to utter the truth, magna est Veritas ct prevalebit. A truth once given to the people is never lost. Such is the elastic power of gunpowder, that if this globe were a solid mass, and one single grain enclosed within it and ignited, it would explode the whole ; so a single truth jhas sufficient explosive power to tear asun ,'der human society. The multitudinous issues of the. press ena- bio it to iterate and reiterate truth until it 'encircles the world. Another power of the press is to color facts. Whoever announces a fact has the opportunity to give it a coloring; so that though truth may not be violated, a false impression is made upon the reader. This power is very much abused, Another power is to censure evil doers; to inflict the lash of public censure upon those who go " unwhipt of justice." Men, iwho from their wealth and position in soci ety, fear neither the prison nor the gibbet, yet are keenly sensitive when touched by the press. It is a salutary power ; God for I bid that it should ever be lost. Applause. We will now consider the elements re quired Jo make a daily paper. The editor is required to write at a moment's notice, and without preparation, intelligible articles on all, subjects ; a thing which, nobody but an editor ever did. Applause. Next comes the. .Reporter, that ubiquitous individual, who is everywhere, and always prepared to make for a stupid speaker an intelligent and interesting address. Dr. Johnson was once parliamentary reporter for a London paper, lie, made, the member speak with the ore re tundo, but he made them speak good sense and elegant English. It would" bo a curi osity to see a report of Congressional pro ceedings perfectly accurate and impartial, without a reporter to do it into good English and into sense. Next comes the commercial Editor. Next the traveling Editor. Tha London Times once sent out a traveling Editor to investi gate the subject of city sewerage. He trav eled three years without perpetrating a single, article ; but shortly after that the subject came up before Parliament, and the London Times astonished the world with twenty leaders on the subject, proving that they were better informed on the subject than all England beside. . . We come now to speak of the intellectual ability of the press. No power in the world has developed so much intellectual ability as the press. Ap plause.! Under this head, the speaker allu ded to Benjamin Franklin, John Dickinson, the author of the " Farmer's Letters,'' which, he remarked, contributed more than any other thing to the revolution. Allusions were made to the Ontario Re pository, edited by John C. Spencer, and St. Lawrence Republican, by Silas Wright. All New York looked to "these two papers to know whit public opinion was. No portion of the world have contributed more to its literature than newspaper Edi tors and their contributors. The French press is characterized bv pln- quence and imagination: the English press by strength and solidity ; and the American by intelligence and comprehension. Let me ask your indulgence, while. I ad vert to a few of what 1 deem errors of the press. The only legal responsibility which the press feels is the law of libel ; it is respon sible to government and law only as far as it injures individual character. The press has a moral responsibility to the. common sense and common conscience of mankind. It violates this, when it does not adhere sufficiently to truth and accuracy, and when it departs from common justice and common morals, and when it fails in independence; and more than all does it violate this, when in paragraphs clothed in d -cent language it ventures to sneer at the morals and religion of the community. This class of papers (which happily are found only in large cities) has been well characterized as the Satanic Press for if Satan has work to do in this world, and employs means to do it, be assured they are his instruments. Time is coming when the press will be more powerful than ever. Mr. Canning has said that henceforth tho wars of the world are to be wars of opinion. Every sheet that falls from the press is a bomb-shell or a can non ball in that warfare. A Steep Ratlhoad Gkade. The steepest railroad grade in Europe is upon the Pied montese Railroad, between Turin and Genoa. It is near the town of Gleni, and the ascent is one hundred and eighty-five feet to a mile! Experiments which have been made have shown that two locomotives, drawing a train of six loaded gravel cars, weighing altogether 100 tons, ascended the grade at a time when the rails were exceedingly wet and slippery, at a speed of nineteen miles an hour. This is a feat unprecedented in the annals of railroad history. The engines used were of peculiar construction, and were built by a London Manufacturer, after plans furnished by the Piedmontese Engineer of the road. Profundity of thought is generally pur chased at the expense of versatility. To be very profound, it is necessary that the in tellectual eye be fixed for a long time on one continuous series of operations; to be versatile, the mind must glance from subject to subject, and brood over none. Profundi ty plunges to the depths, while versatility skims the surface of the sea of speculation while the former is going clown, the lat ter is sporting onward on easy wing. . Catko. Six hundred lots have beer, sold to actual settlers in this town, since they were thrown open to purchasers. It is con templated that several large, warehouses will be shortly erected, and a company in New York has been formed for the purpose of putting up several entire blocks of build ings. The Alton (111.) Telegraph says that the people in that region of Illinois favor the project of a railroad from Alton, to Cairo, and no opposition lias been made.' Evans vine Journal. The construction of a ship exactly like the' Great Republic, lately destroyed by fire,(hasj been commenced at Boston, ' :' ' : After many years o( experimental culture in Cincinnati and neighboring counties, grape culture, has at length become well un derstood, and is becoming profitable. By a recent communication in the Columbian of that city, we learn that within a circle of t-.venty miles around Cincinnati there are 1,200 acres planted with the vine, 800 acres of which were in bearing last year, and pro duced an average of 400 gallons of wine to the ; acre, making an aggregate of 320,000 gallons. Some of the best vineyards yield 00 and 800 gallons to the acre", but others wdiere the "rot"' prevailed did not average over 150 gallons per acre. The season has been verv favorable, and the crop unusually large. The new wine sells at $1 to $1.10 for the best, 75 to 90 cents for second quali ty, and 40 to 50 cents per gallon for inferior. The average yield for a series of years, may be safely estimated at 200 to 250 gallons to the acre, from the vineyards in the vicinity. Change of Gauge Overcome. By a new arrangement of car wheels, they can be accommodated to railroads of different gauges. The Cleveland Herald mentions the arrival in that city of a train of eleven cars, freighted with hogs, which were load ed from Indianapolis, and transported in the same cars from Indianapolis, and 54 miles over the 4 feet 8J inch gauge, .to Muncie, and thence 227 miles over a 4 feet and 10 inch gauge to Cleveland. This is an admirable improvement, and will do much toward obviating the delays conse quent upon the different gauges of connect ing railroads. The Cincinnati Enquirer believes the Mis souri Compromise of 1S20 was unconstitu tional, and therefore is void. Some men had doubts upon this subject at that time. President Monroe laid the subject before his Cabinet, consisting of John Quincy Adamp," John C. Calhoun, William Wirt, and Wil liam H. Crawford, all eminent statesmen, and jurists, and they were unanimous in the opinion that the Compromise was constitu tional. Mr. Monroe concurred with them, and signed the bill. We rather think trie weight of judicial opinion is against the Enquirer, and in favor of the constitution ality of the Compromise. O. S. Journal Wealth of Boston. A single, ward in the city of Boston, (the fourth,) has an as-' sessed valuation of upwards of $60,000,000, . and is probably the richest locality of its size in the United States. This ward is near ly as wealthy as the city of Baltimore, with' 1 170,000 inhabitants. A large meeting was held on the 16th of December, at Brisfol, on the subject of the vote by ballot. The meeting Avas unanim ously in favor of that measure. A similar meeting has also been held in London, with the same result. The surest way to prevail on a young couple to marry is to oppose them. Tell them you " would rather see them in their, graves," and twelve months afterward their baby will pass you twice a day in a willow wagon. Waterville, Maumee City and Perrysburg MARBLE WORKS. THE subscriber having established the Marble, business in "Waterville and Maumee City, mik the inhabitants of tlese places, and vicinities, to give him a cull and examine his large stock of MARBLE. My Marble ia from Rutland and Dorsett, "Vt., anil North Adams, Mass. My stock consists of 3,000 feet,' so that any can have a chance to make a selection. My prices will be one-fourth to one-third less than the people have been in the habit of paying in this section of country. My terms will be cash, or good notes on a reasonable time. . My shop at Waterville, w just north of the School house, near the canal ; and at Maumee City, on Broadway, between the Pearl Mills and the Maumee Woolen Factory in Mr. McNeese's Cloth Office. Those who wish for Grave Stones or Monuments, now is vour time. So rive me a call if do not GIDEON MYERS. GIDEON MYERS. Waterville & Maumee City, Jan. 3, 1854.--48y1 ST11AYKJ), on the 30th of April last, from' tha Big Island, Maumee river, nearly opposite Per rvsburg, A SMALL SORREL MARE, rive years, old, about thirteen hands high, with flowing tail, and a white stripe in her forehead. Any persoji return ing the marc, or giving information where she pav be found, to Mr. B. V. Hollistek, Perry sburg. or to J. P. CLARK, Detroit, will be liberally rewarded; GIDEON MYERS. Waterville & Maumee City, Jan. 3, 1854.--48y1 Detroit, Dec. 1st, 1853.--47tf