The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1898-07-21

Six hundred shots minute! What
frightful slaughter must accompany
the use of these terrible weapons,
capable Of throwing such a relentless
hail of death-dealing projectiles!
How destructive of life a modern bat
tie must prove,
Such is the opinion one hears con-
stantly expressed in these days of
Maxim and dynamite guns; yet, sur
prising as it may seem, an investiga-
tion into the facts, coming down to
the bedrock of figures and statistics,
reveals an entirely different state
OF affairs from that usually imagined.
Not only were there more men actually
but also the percentage OF dead was
often far crater than in modern en-
gagements.
For instance, compare the battle Of
Marathon, which was fought in the
year 39l b. c., and is one of the
earliest of which there exists any
authentic record, with that Of Ha-
Shan in the China-Japanese war Of
1894. In the former conflict out of
total of some 10000 troops en-
gagged, nearly 1000 were left on the
field, while in the latter only $50
dead were counted, though the op-
posing forces amounted to more than
$4,000 men; a disparity that seems
incomprehensible when we remember
that throughout the war the Japanese
were provided with the latest types
of guns and ammunition. Some of
the battles of ancient times showed a
proportion of dead or disabled that
cannot be accounted for unless we
accept the view that the wars of
those days were waged in the spirit
of 4 policy of determination pure and
simple, in the belief that success was
not assured until every enemy had
been killed, or captured with a view
to subsequent torture and execution.
Three memorable battles took place
in France shortly after the advent of
the Christian Era, and the story Of
each of them is fraught with intense
interest as marking the successive
downfalls of three powerful nations
that strove in turn to obtain a mas
terry over Central and Western Eu-
rope. Every one was bloody butch
cry.
At Dethmold, A. d. 9, 16, 900 Ro-
man troops under Varus, with some
%, 900 camp-followers, were skillfully
surrounded and cut to pieces by a
large force of TuetOns under Armin-
Jus, not one of the unfortunate de-
scendants of ROmulus, it is believed,
escaping to tell the tale.
Four centeries later, at ChalOns,
Attila, at the head of his villainous
multitude of rapacious Huns, met the
allied forces of Romans, Franks and
Goths, 100000 strong. Attila's S
strength was estimated at fully 7OO,-
600. The night before the great con-
Hict skirmish took place between
outlying pickets, in which over 49,
600 troops were killed, but the fol-
lowing evening the plain was strewn
with the corpses of the slain to the
number of close on to a quarter Of a
million.
The third of the epoch making con-
tests was fought at Tours, in the year
1872, and resulted in the driving back
of the Moors across the Pyrenees,
which they had crossed, under the
leadership of Abderrahman, with the
intention, by one bold stroke of
conquering Farmland and crushing
the rising faith of Christianity that
was striding rapidly through West
ern Europe. At the head of 400, ,OOO
Arab troops Abderrahman arrived at
Tours without encountering the
slightest opposition, and proceeded
to encamp at a little distance from
the ancient Roman city. The thor
oughly alarmed Christians had mean
while assembled under the banner OF
Charles, afterwards Martel, and, with
only 10000 followers, the champion
of Christendom determined to give
battle to the Saracen. The case OF
the Cross prevailed against the
almost overwhelming numbers of the
heathens, and the victory was accom-
plished by the inevitable wholesome
destruction of the vanquished. II we
| believe the accounts of the historians
of the period, Abderrahman and 375,'
600 of his followers were ruthlessly
butchered, while the Christian loss
| was only | 600 men