Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1858-01-06
ALEXANDRIA, GAZETTE AND VIRGINIA ADVERTISER
A Year OF Mourning.

The year that has Just come 10 a close, ma y
| be called emphatically "a year of disasters
! Its history If painful record OF failure, dis
appointment, and death. On sea aad land, in
all branches Of human effort, in all walks OF
/ life, it has been year OF tragedies. This is
the more remarkable ice it cannot be laid to
tie account of either OF those great fountains
cf human ill-war, pesti!cnce or famine
With the exception OF the India revolt and
toe boodess battles OF the Flowery King
dom, there has hardly been breath OF war
over the broad earth Neither has the grim
angel of The pestllence or the gaunt demon of
famine plagued the earth;-tO the extent OF
the iuhaeuce Of those sources of woe, 1857
was a favored year, and yet along its pathway
We see 10 retrospect the white tombs Of the
dead-iead hopes, dead experiments, dead
heroes.
In the general disaster our own nation has
borne !ts full share--more than its share.
The American diary for 1857, is full OF com
tnercIal distress, mechanical failures, crimes
horrible and yet ubavenged, losses on earth
and ocean, deaths Of remarkable men. To
the great financial re7ulson it is unneces-
sary to do more than allude. Il is a pre-
sent evil which requires to be recalled to
no ones memory. 10 mechanics there have
been seyera! disapp Ontments, interesting par
t'cularIy to those whose pursuits connect them
with that department: Of industry. But two
of them deserve special mention, one for
the universal interest concentrated in the
experiment, and the other Tor the revOlu-
SION it vas expected to occasion 10 mechanics.
We aiiudc to the disappointment in the
laying OF the Atlantic Telegraph cable, and
the failure Of the hot air engine of Mr..
Ericsson.
The success of the latter project would
have been mechanical triumph, second
only to the Invention Of the steam engine, as
it proposed to substitute for steam 10 every
department Of industry, vastly cheaper and
less dangerous agent
81 also have We teen especial sufferers by
great accidents. Through storms, explosions
and fires, the history of land and sea has
been made tragic during this brief interval.
But II is particularly with reference to the loss
we have suffered 10 death of noted men, that
this year deserves remembrance as q year OF
losses. In politics and craftsmanship high
abOVe all stands the late great Secretary of
State William l.. Marcy, in the highest sense
of the word the greatest politician of this
generation--l man whose reputation is but
10 its infancy yet. Then Butler, and Hamil-
ton, and Brooks, all of South Carolina; Rusk,
the soldier statesman Of Texas, McLane of
Maryland, and Bell Of New Hampshire; Ste
YensOo Of Virginia, and the amiable and
patriotic Dobbin Of North Carolina.
TIE country mournS likewise many names
connected with the earlier days of the Repub-
lie. First among these will be recolected the
genial old man eloquent Gusts. Then Lang
don CheVes, ono Of the patriarchs of the
Palmetto State; Mrs. Writ, widow of Wm.
Writ; John Barney, tho admirable CrichtOu
OF the first quarter Of this century, censor
morum ct aryiter elegautarum" Shackel-
ford OF Alabama, who commanded one Of
the companies Of the gallant band muir
dered at the Alamo; Woderstendt who com
manded the force detailed to intercept
the tIllbusteriug expedition of the traitor
Burr, &;,
In the navy, Commodores Newton, Smoot |
and Parker aud the gallant llerndon, and |
Totem and Strain, and most mourned of all, |
perhaps, the interchangeable Kanc-lc lest too soon /
to science and humanity.
Nor has art been without its Victims
From the small family of American artists
West has been taken during the past year;
and Ranney and the gifted Crawford. 10 the
field Of science and letters the grave has
closed over Gliddon and Tuomey, and Girls
void and Ogden, one ofthe pioneers in steam
navigation.
Truly the year that is past was year Of
mourning .--RtrsJ,rg Dem.