The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1855-06-27


personal regard for Mr.. Dodge, our mnste" to
| Spain, and vet we cannot refrain from giving
10 our readers the following specimen of good
natured wit and satire from the Philadelphia
Evaning Bulletin We doubt not Mr. Dodge
would laugh heartily at the humorous play
upon his name.
! Dodge-Was it in serious, sober earnest that
there was written and published in the list of
passengers sailing by the Pacific the following
| flourish? .'The honorable general Augustus
Caesar Hannibal Dodge, minister plenipoten-
tary to the court of her catholic rsaj jesty Isa
bella II. queen of Span his lady, three chill
dren and servant" Or was it a pleasant bit of
humor on the part of some jocose clerk or copy
list? We incline to think it was sober earnest,
and that in this imposing pomp of names
deep political design may be concealed, 1t
may be one of the most ingenious but power
full Joints or levers in the intricate diplomatic
machinery of the Pierce administration. 1t
looks like an irresistible and infallbe new at
tempt on Cuba. Such nice arrangement Of
epitaphs" an array of names, will put
down all further Spanish opposition to the an
nexation of Cuba. How can the court of her
most catholic majesty resist arguments urged
by a superhuman being who is not only an
honorable, but a general not only an honora-
Bile general but an Augustus Caesar, not only
an Augustus Caesar, but Hannibal, and not
only Hannibal, but Dodge?
Well, this great plenipotentiary, for the re-
petition of whose titles we regret we cannot
find space in one number of the Bulletin, has
sailed for Europe in the steamer Pacific, auspl-
cious nsme! 1t did not require more than one
steamer to carry him, which is fortunate, con-
sidering the scarcity Of first class vessels o.
that kind since the war in the east began. The
great plenipotentary goes charged with i'm
portant instructions from the president, which
are the result Of long and serious cogltation and
consultation with the late minister to Madrid,
hon. Pierre Soule, who is supposed to have
failed in the object of his mission, tho acquisi-
ton of Cuba, solely on account of the brevity
of his name. We trust we are not betraying
the confidence reposed in us by the admins
traton when we inform the public of the nature
of these instructions. The president having
discovered the Importance of gfeat name,
looked around among his faithful adheren,s,
who for their Nebraska votes had been invited
not to 60 back to congress. . .r,,.
y He sought the greatest name, and after
slight search became satisfied that there wa5
none equal to that of the ex-senator from Iowa,
whose sponsors in baptism had given him
christian name the heathenish titles of Angus
tus Caesar Hannibal, profxed to the noble name
of Dodge This settled the matter. Dodge
was sent for and was "wllin."9 So he goes 20.
Madrid to get Cuba. His instructions are that
ifhe inds he is not happy in his performance
of the character of ''the honorable general"
he is to try the Augustus Caesar, if that fails
he is to try Hannibal, and if he can do nothing
with that, he is to try the Dodge. This will un-
doubtedly bring Spain down. Her cathosto
majesty will at ouce give up her great crowa
Jewel the queen of the Antilles. The policy
OF the administration seems to be entirely sue
: : med up in onOimposng word-Do2ge?' e
:. A pamphlet has just appeared at Paris, at
n tribued to the eminent journalist Grardin, ia
e which it is declared that, if the freedom of the
v seas and the peace Of the world are to be 5e-
cured. Gibraltar oughtto be dismanted as well
z as Sebastopol. The idea, says the PhadcI~
phia Ledger, seems never to have struck any
one heretofore But having once been sugges-
: ted, its justice appears Immediately.
What Sebastopol is in fact to the Black
sea that Gibraltar is, and even more, to tn
Mediterranean, and as the Mediterranean =
larger than the Euxine, much the greater is
the necessity for destroying Gibraltar. The
adace says "Itis bad rule that will rot work
both ways" England, when she began ,hc
present war, never supposed that the arguy
ments she brought forward in favor of the de-
molition of sebastopof would be turned against
her pet possession, Gibraltar. Yet Sebastonol
has one argument, at least in favor of its pre-
servation, which the British fortress of Gibral-
tar has not for it is built on Russian territory,
while Gibraltar is a thousand miles from En-
land, and erected virtually on Spanish soil
Whatever may b. the case with France,
there is a deal Of inconsistency in the conduct
Of England in this war. We have no desire to
palliate the aggressive policy of Russia. But
Great Britain, for nearly t,so centuries, has been
advancing as steady in the Mediterranean as
Russia has been progressing towards Ctnstar-
stinope. She has seized within that pcrioo
not only Gibraltar but Malta and the Ionian
islands, so that in the event of war, she has
fortified harbors all over the sea, at which to
reft her fleets, an advantage which gives hc~ a
naval supremacy there overany one Medicr.a-
mean power if not over all combined. Nor has
she ever refused a new post in that important
island ocean, if we except Gambia, and that va7
merely offered to her as an evcntuality, and
f not as a territory already IN possession.
England, in a word has successfully e0-
tanned that prcponderous at sea over all other
i European nations, which Russia is charged now
with aiming at on land. Is it astonishing,
therefore, that enlightened men should begin1to
say: Take the beam out Of thine own eye?@
The census Of 1850 shows that the oldest
person living in the United States was TAO. This
person was an Indian woman, residing in North
| Carolina. In the same State was an Indian
aged rs, q negro woman H. two black fe-
males 10 each one muato male 1870, and SC
veral white males and females aged from IC6
to ia. In the parish Of Lafayette, Louisiana,
was a female black, aged 12O. In several Of
the States there were found persons, white and
black, aged from 11O to lis. There wero in
| the United States in 1850, 1855 persons over
100 years. This shows that about one person
in 5000 will be likely to live to that age. There
are now abo4t 2O,OO0 persons in the United
| =. j. L