The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-06-13
Geography-The Reia-
I've Position OF North Carolina. .

=
The Hon. DAVID L. SWAIN. Of the Univer-
a.. - North Carolina, writes letter to
srss,d in Georgia, containing some interesting
s Ito which we Gull for the benefit Of our
H las The ideas of unlimited time and
naMndess space bafde the grasp of the human
;n.sllect.i We feel this inabilityfin relation
even to computed time and measured space.
The distance of the sun from the earth, nine
1--we millions of miles; and that cannon
hall coming at the rate Of four hundred miles
an hour, from the nearest of the fixed stars,
...ord not reach the earth in five hundred and
seventy thousand years, are facts Of this char
ooter That the earth is sphere nearly
q O0o miles in diameter and $4,000 miles In
CONFERENCE.-THE the area of its surface IS
equal in round numbers to two hundred NIL
lions of square miles, one-fourth OF winch i y
land. and three-fourths water-are detaus
which cucumber the memory for time. put
are soon forgotten or inaccurately retained
and from which we derive no distinct DEFINITE
IDEAS. Is there no method by which we may
yain tanqi5le ideas of the comparative extent
81 the surface of the earth, and that portion
of il which we call our country BY resorting
to systematic scale of comparisons, useful
information may be impaired. For example,
the area of the State of North Carolina, in
round numbers, is $4,000 square miles. From
knowledge of its surface, derived from OBJ
seryation, conceptions may be formed, more or
less satisfactory, of its extent. But may not
sucb conceptions be impressed more distinct
w. wildly, and durably, by regarding North
Carolina as Q unit in q system of geographical
computations and comparisons? At the or
sanitation OF our Government, in 1889, our
Territory was million Of square miles, or a
fftieth of the globe. After the purchase of
Louisiana, it was two millions, or t,oe,,ty-
fifth. And at the ratification Of the treaty of
Gaudaloupe Hidalgo, it was three millions, or
about the Seventeenth of the globe. At the
first era, North Carolina was equal to hoen-
tieta; at the second, to, fortieth; and at pre-
sent, to a sixtisM of the Union. The globe
equal extent with North Carolina; into seUen-
which could be divided into sirty States as
large as North Carolina. The State of North
Carolina is equal in extent to the half of Italy,
once the mistress of the world; to the halt of
Prussia, the fourth of France, the JGfM of Aus
tria, the fortisA of European Russia, and the
seusntieM of Europe. North and South Caro-
lima and Virginia, are equal in extent to Eng
land, the most powerful Empire the world has
ever known. Palestine, the most ancient and
interesting of historical nations, similar in con-
fguration to New Hampshire, is about equal
to the extentEof Maryland, and is somewhat
larger than the fifth. of North Carolina.
Greece, as estimated by HEEREN, contained
$4,000 square miles. South Carolina has
2s,ss6, OF. ,ttree.tifths of North Carolina
Greece and Macedonia combined under ALEX
AMBER, were somewhat smaller than North
Carolina. Attica, renowned above all the
Grecian States, and with an intellectual SUI
premacy wider and more durable than the
Roman Empire, was a little triangle of seven
hundred square miles, similar in outline and
equal in extent to the county Of New Han
over, which embraces an area Of a seue,atfetk
Of North Carolina, or a seuea MoasandM part
OF the land surface Of the globe. i ne
These comparisons may be rendered more
impressive and expressive by appealing to the
eye, exhibiting them similar to the manner
that the comparative heights Of mountains
and lengths of rivers are delineated on modern
maps. Assuming North Carolina as the unit,
she and England would be represented by the
central circle, or paralelogram; Prussia, by
including double !; France, quadyupte: and
austria, quantuFle space. A circle, or paral-
telegram, forty times as large asi that repre-
ssntlng North Carolina, will show the relative
extent Of Russia in Europe; sixty times, the
United States or British America; and the ex7
@nor circle, seventy times the extent of North
oaroInaj will delineate Europe. "a nogg ba:o,
a.; me population Of the globe is generally es-
umated at thousand million, or twenty, to
.ne square mile. North Carolina, with "a
snousandth part of the land surface of the
sooe, has athousandth part of the popuIa1
.on, and the average density of each is twenty
me square mile, SO that in both respects,
Noitn Carollnafmay be referred to for compu-
saen and illustrations. The average density
Vi the population Of the United States is some
p pnat more than half; England, twelve times;
russia and Austria, eight times, as great as
mat of North Carolina.
Belgium is the most denssly populated eoun-
Wy on the globe, having 400 inhabitants to the
quare mile, more than twenty times the
average Of North Carolina, and probably thirty
vines g great as The portionof Georgia north
Atlanta. Such devastation in tSei nnpe;i,oh-
SOf1ood Of Brussels, as at Atlanta, wou]d have
produced q spectacle at which the world
"9aia have stood aghast + 1asoa sssr3 isI
-. comparative view of the financial condi-
son Of the country, at different times in orr
history, will exhibit facts not less impressive.
suggestive and instructive. The whole ex,
penss Of the Government during the four
yeafs Of the administration Of JOHN Qu1NcY
.SpAAs, which the South complained of as ex-
ssssgant. was $49, 3ls,2l8, and less than the
h1s"arsth part Of tbs expenditures Of the Con-
yts ,' and Federal Governments, during the
G vu. yearb Of the fraternal strife. The pub
S W. ueet Of the United States was mainly
GATED ssalsd during the three years war with
nsss1 Britain. 1t reached its maximum in
int. The aggregate is greatly less than the
latest latest OF our present national debit The
eo ssef concludes with the remark that, as dis
thu Ss,ssglng as these figures may s EN- TO be at
t;a, afst glance, With the blessing of God, pa
Sor as' energy, industry and frngality at the
nsu NUN, with kindness,a forbearance and mag
IN - ~ n. Nv 49,