The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1863-03-21

says the New Ork ITtJN,s:
Nspoleon aud the Revolution sacrificed
lO,oOO,UuO of men. The scourge OF Asia,
Genghis Khan massacred 2UG, 900 in ihe
capture OF a province, and during the rel IN
of - years DESTROYED 100000 per annum.
OF the famous host Of Xerxes. numbering
100000, only 5000 escaped destruction
Al Austerlitz, 10000 fell; M Borodino
100000, and as many at Waterloo. Our
war has given occasion for no long sieses,
vet in that cf Paris 10000 people peiished
flom hunger alone European history is
full Of shocking pictures of the horrors
suffered in beleaguered cities, from al! OF
which the war for the Union has seen free
Famine destroyed more lives when Titus
was besieglng Jerusalem than this contest
can possibly require. There Is less sacri
iice Of LIE in modern than in ancient war
fare
The heart OF Europe was so devastated
by the war of lI56, that twenty contiguous
villages were left without single man
beast. Such of the population as had not
perished had been driven bv starvation
from their homes. The Thirty Years War
OF the seventeenth century came nearer
to a war OF determination than any contest
of modern times. The population of Ger
many was reduced from twelve millions TO
three millions, while that of Wirtemberg
sunk from 800, coo to $4,000. In some
districts the population actually died out
SO that over vast tracts of fertile country,
abounding in highly cultivated farms,
there grew up immense forests. But To
accomplish this desolation, it required
thirty years Of uninterrupted carnage.
The North exhibits no indication Of such
a catastrophe as this. But can as much be
] L A.. l. . 4 4
factures are already banished from many
portions of Virginia. In Mississippi and
Louisiana, the desoation is even more
! frghttul. There Is weaping in every
homestead over slaughtered fathers and
sons. Of property, almost every descrIp-
! ton, except the soil, has taken wings aud
| flown away Destitution exists every
! where and increases in intensity rs the
/ war continues.
/ This has been called fast age, but in
! the above the Tribune almost convicts us
/ of slowpess. just TO think-and ism 1t
! mortifyins ?-that those obsolete old ages,
a. far back as Ghengis Khan, and even
XerXes, could beat us 60 ahead Americans
i IN slaughter, rapIne and devastation! Shame
upon our boasts of superior celebrity But
| then we can take some comfort in think.
| ing that we have not been quite as long
about the work of universal destruction as
some of the ages referred to. 1t is true, a
single war-that of l756-so devastated
the heart OF Europe that the human
race died out there. But then the Tribune
proceeds to reassure Us, by showing that
In other Instances, even about those days
it took thirty years to wipe out whole
nations. Now, we have not been tenth
part of thirty years at similar work, and
may flatter ourselves that if we keep it uI
we shall not come out behind the butchers
and ravagers of former times. In fact, the
Tribune speaks hopefully on this point
when it directs our view to the dies ISOLATION
in Virginia, Mississippi and Louisiana
The North, the Tribune is forced to admit
does not yet suffer. But let that print
take courage. Who knows but that the
North will also, by-and by, be ravaged after
the old fashion? Upon the whole, how
ever, we are not yet quite up to the
TriJunes mark. but, no doubt, that paper
will spare no effort to bring US up to it
St Louis Rep.
An Englishman travelling in Kilkenny
came to a ford an6 hired boat to take
him across The water being more agitat
ed than agreeable to him, he asked the
boatman il any person was ever lost in the
passage. "Niver," replied Pat; "me
brother was drowned here last week, bnt
i We found him again the next day.