The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1853-04-05
0fnfral lews.
NOrthland.

Will au our hho8eOSe OF the manners ana
customs, the governments laws and religions of
Southern Europe, it is a little singular how great
our ignorance iswith regard 10 similar facts in
the history of those nations that dwelt and even
now do dwell between the North Sea and the
Baltic. Their annals run back to an antiquity
as ancient and venerable, as that which over
shadows France or makes the glory of Spain.
Their chronicles are as brilliant and warlike as
those of the Cid, their romances as gorgeous as
those of Amadis or Charlemagne, their literature
as refined as that of the Nibelungen. These ma
tions that fourished-
= TN Jutland, in Iceland, on Neustria's shore,
Whereer the dark pillows their gallant barks BORE"
were remarkable for the influence they exerted
3 On their own time and on all the times which
have succeeded them. Their discoveries antici-
pated those of Columbus and the Vespucci;
their conquestsA Aexcelled those of Gustavus or
Charles the XII. They were the real founders
of English supremacy and the creators of what
is most noble in France. And yet We know al
most nothing of their names or their history; of
q their literature, their laws, or their religions.
Some few facts sustain themselves, like float
ing islands in the ocean of forgetfulness and an
tiquity, which has swallowed up all minor mon
uments of the Northland, or at least so oblitera-
ted the leaves as to render them ilegible to COM
mon eyes. These facts are tinged with the
deeds mournful interests that pertains to all brave
q of valor done by heroes whose names are halffor
gotten and whose exploits have become fabulous
by this age. The borrows of Scandinavia, with
Z the rough Runic inscriptions found hear them,
doubtless commemorate the high valor and cour-
age of Vikings that lived and drank "kaer long
before the sages of Snorro were committed to
paper or the eddas reduced to writing. The
men that sleep under them emulated the rude
gods they worshipped and labored to depict in
this life their conceptions of the existence to be
spent with Odin and Thor in the inevitable VAL
halla. They fought fierce battles that have not
been sung, qua sdcra cate caret, and did lofty
deeds of arms that died with them. They are
the shadowy forms that tower like pillars of
smoke in the dreams of Fingal and permeate the
entire mythology and literature at Scandinavia.
They were adventures and heroes. Their lit
tie barks first reached and then conquered Ice
land; sailing still further towards the sunset,
they discovered and colonized Greenland; pur-
suing their venturous voyage, the powers of the
Northland penetrated that beautiful bay of the
New England shore, which still bears the name
with which they baptized 1t, the "Vineyard" Of
Rhode Island. Their sails shone triumphantly
in the ports Of every civilized country Of Western
Europe They anchored in London; demanded
tribute at the very gates of Paris; menaced
Spain; passing the pillars of Hercules, they con-
quered the Sicilies; and, finally, in their sword
won kingdom Of Brittany, established reign Of
the truest chiyalry ages before the Crusades were
dreamed of or undertaken. They ravaged Scot
land, and under Hengist and Horsa conquered
England. They made incursions upon the con-
tinent, and penetrated great distances among the
less cultivated and courageous but nevertheless
enterprising and warlike tribes of Germany. In
whichever way they journeyed, they went as
lords and masters; and wherever they abode
they abode as rulers.
Traces Of this olden heroism are still percepti-
ble among the nations that have followed them.
The warke energy displayed by the Swedes
under Gustavus Adolphus, in the Thirty Years
War, was sparkle of the old fire. The martial
spirit that burned so brightly under Charles XII
was scintillation Of the old lustre. The battle
of Copenhagen exhibited the existence of that
ardor and intrepidity which were at their height
a thousand years before. The Breton character
in France, and the Anglo-Saxon in England and
and courage to this source The graces were
won from the sunny shores of the Mediterranean.
Manliness and daring came from the frozen re-
gions of the Baltic and North Seas.
How strikingly does our ignorance of this
Scandinavia, to which we are so largely indebted,
contrast with our knowledge of French and Span
ish, but especially of Roman and Grecian histo-
ry. Of the former, we cannot read the inscrip-
tions and do not know the monuments Of the
latter, we are acquainted with every minute par
ticular. A6 urqem condita, from the childhood
of Romulus to the popeship Of Pho Mono, there
are few events we do not know, few statues we
cannot describe, few authors we have not read
Our children can correct the diplomacy of Peri
cles, the philosophy Of Apaxagoras, or the his
tory of Herodatus. We know how the ancients
of Latium and Hellas lived, and for what they
lived. We can describe their domestic life in a
more minute and critical manner than they ever
did themselves. But we have only some fag-
mentary knowledge of the Northand-its war
like men tlue eyed daughters. Into its remoter
parts we 60 only with speculations; and even
that which is nearer and more proximate beings
to be lost in the cloud that enve!oped what was
earlier. Something Of this owing to accident,
and something TO carelessness, but more than
all else it is attributable to the nature of the
people themselves, who produced many Hec.
tor brave to fight, but never Homer skilled to
record it.
RECIPROCAL BENEFITS OF LAND AND RAIL
RoaDs.-Since experience has fully demon.
strated that Railroads are destined to become
the principal means Of our inland travel and
kaf,n fr1p Al