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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.
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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.
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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
