Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1843-11-10

Marius had defeated the Cimbri, his legions
had to renew deadier battle with the wo.
men and the dogs. The Celts deemed their
dogs Of such importance in war that theyarm-
cd them with collars of pointed iron, with a
breast plate for a shield. Some dogs, ac-
coutred with the latter piece of defensive ar
NOR, and repelling an assault of soldiers on
a citadel, form the subject of bronze discov-
cred at IIerculaneum. Certain Gauls not on :
ly made the dog discharge the duty of a sold
Ter in their war, but squadron of two hun
dred formed the body guard of their king
But it would be endless to relate the multi
tude of occasions in which the dog has been
employed IN the capacity of a warrior. The
instance which most nearly concerns our
selves-for, if Camerarins is to be believed
it was initiated by Queen Elizabeth in Ire
land, who sent no less than six hundred dogs
with the army of Essex-is the use that was
made of them against the savages in Ameri-
ca. Columbus set the example in battle
with the natives Of St. Dmingo, when, with
two hundred foot, twenty horse and twenty
dogs, he routed prodigious army of lndl-
ans. The terrible wounds inflicted by the
dogs upon the naked savages created such a
mic that thenceforward iIey became part
r. Il. 'sctics of American warfare. Not
" =, ."e IL ~ Reproduction Of tho Span
outstanding o. ,d-hounds were in 1895
landed in Jamaica under Lns .Sps 49, IL
attact the Maroons. When tria, '. I'D ..rJ
of them by sham fire, they rushed forw>.
with the greatest impetuosity, dragging along
their keepers, who held them back BY ropes,
and even turning in their ferociiy to bite the
muskets till they tore pieces from the stocks.
Happily, the Maroons hearing of the dogs,
surrendered without blow and the barbara
~ which promised to be stain upon our
name was for once the cause of bloodless
victory. Those who, on that occasion, quo.
ted the position of Paley, that if the grounds
and end of war are justi6able, all the means
that appeared necessary to the end are jus,i-
fable also, forget the limitation made to the
doctrine bv the mortalist himself, who says
the combatants are nevertheless bound to res
pect those conventional laws which the Gus
tom of nations has sanctifed, and which,
while they are mutually conformed to, miti-
gate the calamities of war without weaken
ing its operations. Without this confused
reasoning, it is still enough that the instincts
Of humanity are against such warfare.-'The
heart has its arguments as well as the UNDER
standing is one of the immortal sayings of
Pascal.
When Pie,ro della Vale visited Persia,
during the early part of the seventeenth GEN.
fury, it was the regular mode of execution,
for certain classes of criminals, to cast them
to dogs kept expressly for the purpose. He
saw some Jews, accused of magic, brought
within the view Of these terrible destroyers.
with promise of pardon if they turned
Mahometans. At the sight of the dogs, all
the Jews, except one, preferred apostacy to
death; and as for him. says Della Vale,
whom know not whether TO call constant or
obstinate in his foolish opinion, he was torn to
pieces and devoured by the dogs, invoking
the name Of Moses with his latest BREATH
He had been happy he continued, thus to
die il he had been Christian; but being, as
he was, Jew, these sufferngs served but
to anticipate little in this world his future
hell If the old traveller had written a
treatise on intolerance, he would probably
have produced nothing half so forcible as this
cool reflection of a simple mind infamed by
no peculiar degree of theological ardor.
Ovieda, in his History ofthc Indies says
that criminal who was cast to dog, accus-
toned to eat the condemned, having fallen
on mis- knees, and begged for life, the animal
stopped short, and refused to do his Office
The spaniards taking it for miracle, par
doned the poor wretch; but M. Blaze thinks
that the effect was produced by The eyes of
the man meeting those of the doe, which he
believes, according to a popular notion, to
be method Of intimidating, or, as it is usu-
ally termed, fascinating animals; and he
speaks as if he had tried it with success on
unruly horses.-Sismond relates an instance
OF forbearance stronger and better authenti-
Gated than that which we have quoted from
NJ. Blackstone hounds of the tyran, of
Milan, that were fed on the flesh of man,
taught to chase him for their prey, and al
ready rendered terOcious by scores of vic.
tins, not only refused TO kill boy that was
given them, of twelve years old, but when
the keeper, in consequences of their obs,ina-
cy, cut the throat of the child, showing an
equal repugnance to touch the corpse. In
tins case, at least, may not the phenomenon
have arisen from the tender years ola victim
awakening their dormant affections? The
canine species have peculiar love for chill
dren, though, like all their acquired faculties
it is irregularly distributed.-Howg gently
they treat them, how much they endure from
them Colonel Hamilton Smith saw a child
bite bulldog till he yelled, without mani.
Testing the slightest ill-humor.