Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-05-17
ErpausrbIir, Of warnEo EusIuos aud


We have, heretofore, not been nervous
upon the subject Of a quiet trade which we
knew 10 be going on between this city and
Msgofindom, in the materials of private
w~arfare-pistols, to-wit; and should have
continued in this state Of unsound security
but for apprehensions excited by views upon
q cograte matter evidently entertained by
our Contemporary, the gallant and expert
enced militarist of the Commercial. The
PdtcHee, built a gun.boat in 1859, has, &C
cording TO that authority, expanded into. a
sloop Of war; 30 that, while a gun is a gun
aud q boat is a boat, and, therefore, q gun
boat is q gun. boat. This Same gun.boat is
permitted, pyoprio Vigore, to rise to a higher
rate and take on a more imposing character,
progressing grsdually-Be are bound to be-
l~ieve-from a gun-boet to a sloOp, from sloop
TO frigste, and from a frigate to the rank aud
dignity Of a line-of battle ship Of the highest
capacity.
Now if there is concealed in this warlike
machinery an expansive power like that in
dictated by our cotemporary-the existence
Of which 81 it would be presumptious to deny
what, We ask, with new. born apprehension,
is 10 prevent a pistol from growing into a
musket2 We shudder at the thought of the
possibility tina: one of our Kentucky fellow
citizens, with the desire of armed neutrality
strong upon him, going to bed with a re-
volver ii his pocket, may rise in the morn
ing 10 find himself through the process of
natural sccretion, with q full-grown repeat
iUg rife protruding from his astOnished
babiliaments.
Nor are we to suppose that the progress is
10 stop here. Tie rifle Of to-day may swell
TO q howi.zer to morrow, and, in good time,
attain to the magnitude OF a Columbiad.
When the Irishman, called upon in q court
Of justice to swear TO the identity Of a mus
ket, and inquired OF as to his means Of
knowledge, declared that ne had known Il
ever sill ce it was = pistol the bystanders
thought he was iuduigiug e little in that
style Of romance for which his nation is SC
distinguished. But the world grows wiser
as it grows older. There is no telling the
occult powers Of these deadly implements
The important fact that a gun may be dan.
gerous without lock, stock, or barrel, eluding
for centuries the researches of the scientific
and the experiments of the practical, was
left to be discovered by q boy who was
whipped with a rsmrod.
The carly missionaries to the Indians
taught those heather infdels that gunpow,
der was a grain, and advised them to SOW
the stock or hand, with a view to a better
supply Of the harvest. The crop, it is re,
corded, did not appear; which feet has beer
made the occasion Of injurious imputs
tons uTon the yeracity Of missionaries
We incline to q better opinion. VII,
SHOULD we pronounce against Christian me
upon testimony 50 manifestly defective
There are, as every farmer is aware, a multi
tude of causes to prevent termination besid
such az exist in the seed. The Indians wer
not expert agriculturists. The grouHd ina.
have been lily prepared the season improp
erly chosen the soil and climate unsuitable
insects may have fastened upon the GRO
in its tender infancy. There is too wide
field Of contingencies to be covered by III
single feet that there was nothing to harvest
In the light of modern progress we are find
ing the neaDs to vindicate the characters 0
our ancestors. If in the short space of two
annual revolutions of the sun, Il gun.bOa
expands into a sloop Of. war, what vain indi
vidual, we ask, will set himself up to deter
mine exactly what is and what is not within
the competency of natu-e2