The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-04-30
THE COMET.

! Tor warm weather. We should like to
know whether tho extraordinary weather
nt last winter WAS also owing t" this comet
Wcr" the severe winter 1T - u. and tn.
late spring vi tho last Year. also tho work
of this floating irrhrrg ot tho celestial sca
According {" our Western nunf, tho
comet is bound tn hit tho earth between
wind AMI water the lHtl, rt June next, and
rut II IN th" rrr,liran,rn. which Mayinn
sail Urea, Britain WAY IN lS3l --~"sruddiny
to III" internal r'v,rns with II fair gallo of
winl to its tail" TIL. West is n great
country, certainly, great in philosophers as
we'll rs pumpkins and patriotism. We
trust ,ha, Il The comet ,r's hit the earth,
il ma, stink" il Somewhere in the West
81, in ,ah. II deserves such distinction.
fT Nnr rAr', W" are thankful that this
"Nm"t has mai" Us appearance. aud given
MS AL srm",h,ug triaik about. Nothing is
NOV" benevolent III lie than tho simple
provision wh,rh ia m,.lr for the exercise
" the gift IT th" gah. First We have Il
Wal. then IN election. then II fuss in Kansas,
then dissolution rf Parliament. and now Il
bright prospect rf Il row in Utah, and
comet u real. wilc-awakc, old-f;,sl,ioncd
comet: long, low, rcd, piratical craft,
which Maurv, the look out at the masthead
rt tli" National Observatory, has reported
as distinctly visible in tho Northwest, bear
img down upon us with all sail set, and
travelling with Il velocity compared with
which the speed Of a cannon ball is but the
pace of a snail. We shall expect this com
ct 10 grow larger and brighter every night,
and furnish a fruitful topic of speculation
and delight to astronomers, and of wonder
and awe TO The outsiders. Nobody in this
country ought to have the least alarm about
it; the comet is in more danger than
we are; it it comes near the United States
VIC will annex it,
Comets have always created more or less
panic among the Intelligent inhabitants of
this excellent planet. Mans inward con
viction, thai his moral nature is out of gear,
Is always suggesting that the physical uni.
verse has various screws loose, which NAV
bring the terrestrial machine about his cars.
in an abrupt and ruinous manner. In old
times, there was u supcrstitious fear of
comets, as prodigies, portendng the fate of
governments and nations. When the
light OF philosophy had dispclled the mists
OF superstition, then arose the fear of COLI
sion. A railroad collision, with cars travel
ing at the rates of thirty miles an hour, is
gentle as the kisses of lovers, compared
with such smash up as that of the earth
coming i'll contact with "a comet, each of
the locomotives travelling more than n
thousand miles a minute! Happily, how
ever, the earth has hitherto escaped this
grand catastrophe, though comets have
often passed through different parts of the
solar syStem-24 within the orbit of Mer-
curry, ~ within that of Venus, So within
that Of the Earth, 73 within that of Mars,
and the whole within that of Jupiter
There is not a trace of the PHYSICAL effects
of comets upon this or any other planet, or
any authentic record Of the existence Of
such effects. There arc no known data
from which it would he possible to predict,
with certainty, sucl, thing rs the collision
of a comet with the earth. 1t cannot he
even said, with infallibe accuracy, that on
Il given day, month or even yeara comet will
SO much us cross the orbit Of a planet.
We know nothing of their nature, save
that, though more singular in their form
and varied in their time of appearance,
than the other heavenly bodies, they are
subject to the same laws, moving about the
sun III orbits more eccentric than the plan
cts, proclaiming with the whole host of
heaven, in their mighty and eternal march,
"Thc hand that made" and that directs us,
"is Divine. Dispatch.
Election M England. John Bull has
Just been going through the farce of elect.
ing new Parliament, and "the Liberal (l)
party" has succeeded. This so.caled Liber.
al party has for its head Pamerston, an an
cient member Of the Tory party, and its lib
erailSln consists in denying the right of suf-
frage TO at least six millions of adult Eng.
lislimcn! Yet these white slaves arc made
to believe they ought to be very happy b.
cause they arc not in the condition Of the
negroes Of the United States, or in other
words, they ought TO feel thankful TO The
English aristocr"cy that God did not make
them negroes.-N. Y. Day Book.
-..
Crops an Southern Georgia.-A cores
pondent OF the Savannah Republican
says:
1t is now the goth Of April, and we are
still, it may he said, in the middle of winter
Our low land planters commenced -;,r;uo
IN their cotton seed on the lst of Marcel,
for it is well established fact, that on rich
land you cannot have cotton crop too
! early; since then there have been several
heavy frosts and ono ice, and have no idea
that there is to day, a healthy cotton plant
in the United States. If the cold continues
much longer, presume they will SOW their
fields with peas.
Cotton sSeed.-Thc Savannah Republican
says:
awe understand that a commission house
i'll this city received an order, yesterday,
from Columbus, for ten thousand bushels of
cotton seed. The order was sent in behalf
OF planters in that section of the State,
and Alabama, whose first paintings have
been destroyed by the frost. In view of
tile fact that young cotton is liable to so
many disasters, such immov;dence on the
part of planters may well be wondered at.