Montgomery County sentinel., 1890-08-08
Mi5ctllamenms.
The Coming Cataclysm,

A 'cataclysm' is delugc From
time immemorial cataclysms of some sort
have been prophesied, but there is only
one well authenticated instance on
record in which the prophet hit the nail
on the head. There have been cata
clysms innumerable since the world be-
gan, but nobody predicted them. and so
far the record of Noah remains unbro-
ken. Prof Jos. Rodes Buchanan, cf
Boston, however, is going to break it
or bust" He has an article in the
August number of the Arena, entitled
1.-The Coming Cataclysm of America
and Europe" in which he predicts all
sorts of dire disasters to this country
and Europe in the course of very
few years. Prof. Buchanan bases his
prophecies partly on the science of peri
odicity, and recalls the fact that he pre-
dicted the civil war, which, by the way,
was predicted by some millions of every
day prophets, and that he foretold u
number of important events in recent
European history After thus Impress
ing us with his prophetic powers he
proceeds to unfold tale which would
harrow up the soul and freeze the blood
if we believed it. Since there is no
possible escape from the dreadful things
he has in store for us, it is gratifying
to our pride to be informed that what
we are going to see and suffer will be
the biggest calamity the world has ever
witnessed, or, to use the Professor 5
own words, the looming cataclysm in
its magnitude and horror will surpass
anything of which authentic history has
preserved record" Prof. Buchanan's q
cataclysm is divided into two parts
political and natural. 'The twentieth
century will be ushered in with increas-
ing agitation and discomfort, says the
Boston seer. "How high the agitation
will rise in the next eighteen years it
would not be safe to predict, but during
that time it will be increased by war
in Europe, which will come on near the
beginning of tho twentieth centurysa and
end in the destruction Of monarchy.
Nineteen years hence war or quasi. war
will appear in this country, and the con-
vulsion will not be arrested until about
1916 The six years prior to that date
will be by far the most calamitous that
America has ever known" The Pro-
fessor kindly refuses to "give a lurid
description of the horrible scene that
rises before him." but he announces that
the conflict "will be labor and capi-
tai war, intermingled with a religious
element of discord, and with a mixture
of the race question from the presence
of powerful negro element confronting
the Caucasian negro-phobia. 1t will be
a dreary triumph Of the destructive ele-
monts, compelling new departure for
the future and more thorough democ-
racy The church as n power will be
thoroughly shattered, for the power in
this revolution has outgrown the old
Bible. The letters of the past will be
shaken off, the marrige relation approxi-
mated to freedom, for the drift of the
future is that way and beyond. Bibli-
cal Christianity is nearing its end. The
twentieth century will witness its ex-
pirlng struggles and the existence Of a
religion in which all that was good in
the past will survive"
As if all this were not enough, ma
ture, also, is ineditating all sorts of evil
things against us, according to Prof
Buchanan. fhe present summer is to
be marked by destructive cyclones, and
by great increase Of mortality from
sickness, "mainly by prostrating and
abdominal diseases, with some tendency
to paralysis" Some twelve or fourteen
years hence, however, "colI seasons
are TO ''crush agriculture" "and greatly
add to our social calamities, )" and in the
midst of all these horrors of wlr and
distress "a terrible climax will be reach
ed in a geological convulsion" which
will shake Europe and America alike.
A great earthquake, followed by an i'm
mcnse tidal wave which is TO sweep the
Atlantic coast, are the natural agencies
| BY which this "climax" is 10 be reached
It will probably relieve ''tbe great mass
Of our continent, and especially its north.
ern portion" to learn that they are com
paratively safe, but we regret to say
that the Professor considers that ''th'
Atlantic coast is doomed In the grea
tidal wave Galveston will be over
whelmed New Orleans may be des
troycd Mobile more than half-blotte'
out Southern Florida submurged =
Pensacola only little less damaged thai
Mobile, Charleston, s. G.. half sub
merged; Norfolk will suffer about "a
much as Pensacola Petersburg an
Richmond will suffer, but not disastrous