The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-08-21
THF DAILY DISPATCH
TNE VIRGINIA. SPRINGS.

MONDAY MOkNIN0s AUou0I Sts 10y.
THE VIRGINIA SPRINGS.
Persons leaving home tor the Virgini'
Springs snd other summer retreats, can nav
the Daily DispAtch mailed to them for an,
length of time they may want II.
WAR.
We are somewhat surprised to see that fht
London Punch that bright genial and Jovia
feformer, whose week day sermons have Ct
fsctsd moro good in the world than great
many sopori6c discourses Of Sundays-nas "a
Ken ground against war. and 10 pouring into
Il the sharp and singing arrows OF its incom
parable satire. II Punch had begun the good
work subsequent to the rupture between Kus
Il. and Great Britain. we could have easii,
accounted for his philanthropy, bat, az It Is,
we feel bound to give him the credit OF dis
interestedness. Punch represents Jupiter %
sending down Hercules again to reform abb :
SEES in the world, and. among the other mon
stefs, whom he encounters, is War, more
terrible beast than he ever slew when On
earth before. The athletic missionary finds
that even his big shiilalah isn't stout enough
to slay the monster, SO he is obliged to begin
with what the Temperance folks call moral
suasion, and instead of beating peoples
brains out of their heads with his club beat
ing brains into their heads by the power Of
reason and argument. 1t was quite IN Keep
inc with the common sense of the presiding
deity of the Heather Mythology to send Her.
cules down on such an errand. one Wouio
think that Minerva would have answered
better, but perhaps Jupiter naturally sup
posed that Minerva could have little influence
among martial people, and so sent down a a
hero, who, by virtue of his prowess' couiu
more easily obtain an audience, ana who' II
he failed to convince mankind by argument
could pummel them into reason Win n"i
knocks. At any rate, Hercules, accoroihs
IN Pinch. was successful, and by dint OF ar
gument, persuasion, and few wen d'rec'-
ed taps of his enormous club, achieved a
greater victory than his triumph over the
Nemaan lion; he drove the grim monster,
War. from the face of the earth; and having
contaminated this, the most prodiglous ana
the most glorious of his labors, returned to
receive the approving smiles OF tRe great
king of gods and men.
1t is pity, we think, that Hercules went
back so soon, for it is obvious that ne had
scotch d the snake, not killed it." Scarcely
has he become comfortably seated at head
quarters, and solacing himselfwith big drink
of nectar, before the gigantic reptile whom
be had slain, more tenacious of life than the
monster in the marsh of Lerna, is up and
kicking; all its hydra heads are in motion
and its forked tongues darling out with re-
doubled fury Come down again, oh Hercules
and this time bring nothing but thy club =
Leave reason and wisdom to the gods, who
are sadly in need of them, and lay about
thee right and left with the only argument
that the thick heads of mortals can compre-
bend. Go directly to the Danube and the
Baltic; dance about among the allied
forces, like a wild Irishman at Denny brook
Fair; crack the skulls of all the Raglans, st.
Arnsuds, Omar Pashas, and their stupid and
savage myrmidons; as for those who sent
them, they must be cracked enough already
Give them all their fill, from Emperor to
private, of the last argument Of kings as
well az gods for nothing but cracked cro'ons
will ever convince monarchs or people of
the suicidal folly and stupendous wickedness
of war.
A practical lesson of this kind, on large
scale, will give point and pungency to the
next sermon of the London week day preach
er. The sore heads of the British nation will
respond feelingly to the future punches of
their pointed humorist. The present war,
which may possibly last ten, fifteen or TWEEN
ty years, will more than satisfy the military
appetite of the people of Great Britain for
the next half century. The commercial men
of the nation, and the payers of taxes, will
become nsuseated at the very name of battle,
and the great heart of humanity grow sick
and faint at the remembrance of human be-
ings manned and butchered; of women vio-
lated of towns burned; of ten thousand hou-
ses hung in the weeds of bereavement; of
the streets filed with widows and orphans,
homeless and beggared by the death of their
natural protectors. This lesson, we say, will
last for at least half century, and, in that
time, the world John Mitchell to the contra.
ry Notwithstanding will make some progress
in benevolence, in common sense, and in an
enlightened appreciation of its true interests.
People win begin to laugh at blockheads with
pulled cheeks blowing all their breath away
on ridiculous flies; and will even scott irreve-
rently at epaulettes and feathers. IA the artif;
cial plumage of human bipeds who have no
aspirations beyond the strut and prowess of
q chicken cock.
THE THREE RICH MEN.
The richest men who have lived of late
years in the u. States were John acob Astor,
Stephen Girard, and John McDonough. In
his late autobiography, Vincent Nolte gives
some peculiar characteristics Of each of these
the second of France, and the third of the
men. The first was a native of Germany,
United States. One peculiarly common to