m± AMERICAN VOLUNTEER, JIHN I. BKITTOS, WTtor fc CARLISLE, FA., JPJ*V OUR FLAG. <> Fofcver jloai that standard sheet! , Where breathes, ike foe but fall's before usl tHill Freedom's soil-beneath our. feet, . Atid freedom's banner waving o.er'us I jgggT The war hews occupies so large a space Jp onr columns to-day, that we aro prevented giving ota, usual variety of reading matter. VThe Harvest .-r-Most of our farmers have finished cutting their wheatand rye, and most of .them, would have had their crops housed had it not been for the laterains. ' The crop is the largest by far that has ever been raised in this county; and the grain is of superior quality. , -j£7* The recent refreshing rains we have had in this valley, have, been of immense bene fit to the growingborn, which has improved 1 wonderfully within the last week. Previous to the rains the corn plants were short anti fears .were entertained that the yield would be small; Now, however, we have every prospect of'an abundant crop. OorThreiMontiis Men.—The term of ■ these men expires in’ a few days, and after ■ the feadiness displayed by them to meet what was then considered an immediate at tack on the Capitol, it is no more than due to them that preparations should be made to ■ 'give- them a fitting reception on their return. ■; jp" that.end a correspondence should-be im ■■ mediately opened with the officers 10-find out the day of their return. . Wo fully except that one-half of them will re-enlist, and every encouragement to do so should be-given them, as they haVe the advan tage over new men in every way. They are well drilled, used to camp life, and consequent. ly of immediate use ; whereas a new recruit ;must ,be put through a regular course of mili tary “ sprouts,”, before he can bo trusted, to . march to meet the enemy. A word to the -'■■Wise is sufficient, and as the Government has * now plenty of means, where before it had 1 none, we hope the required’soo,ooo men may | be raised immediately. There is now but one course.for us to follow, and that- is forward march I. . ' Commencement at Dickinson _ College. . The annual commencement of Dickinson Col lege toot place during last week.' Prof. Hillman'delivered the Baccalaureate; Kev. B; ri'. Nodall the address before the Belles Lettres Society; the Hon. Horatio King, of ■Washington city,,a poem before the,General Union Society, and John Carson, Esq., of Baltimore, the annual oration before the As sociated Alumni; W. P. Willey, of Chancery Hill, Va;, was 'awarded, the gold prize medal, and M. C. Herman, of Cumberland county, the silver medal. There were seven contestants’of 1 the "junior Class for these medals. The gradua ting class numbered eighteen. The valedic tory address, was delivered by J. G. Archer, pf Hartford county, Md. . * The degree of A; M., in course, was con ferred on the following gentlemen, members pfiho class of .1858: Joseph B. Akers, Silas B. Best, John G. Brooking, Daniel W. Frieze, .' Thomas M. Griffith,Wm. H. Griffith, Samuel 0. Hopkins, Jphn IT. Leas, B. C. Lippincott, Joshua A. Lippineott, A.' F.' MulUn, T. S. Re'ese, Joseph P. Wright; on Warren Hol s, den, of the class of 1843, and on Jonathan K. ' Peak, of the class of 1852. < ”, ■ T-ke honorarydegree of A. M. was feonfofred - on Rev; W.H. Brisbane, Rev. A. E. Giba'on, G. P. McFtorlane, E. H. Snpplee and/G. S. Grape. • • -The dojgred of D. D. was conferred on Rev. - Reuben Nelson, Rev. Win.-Mann, Rev. Ed ward Bannister, and-Rev. .Isaac Winner. ; ' Th'e degteo of L. L. D. on Edward Bates, ' r 'Attorney General of the United States. ■' ' Head.— *-J6iiN-D ! ; Mahon, Esq., formerly 01 Carlisle, died at his residence in.Pntsburg, re cently/ Hewas-adistinguishiwpawyer, and studied his profession.-with Judge p.uncan, of that Mr. Mahon , •was admitted to practice; his'-preoeptor, Mr. Pnpcan t was: elevated toHi® gkiprcme Court? ihenish; which he adorned as long ns be lived. Ho transferred his wholo businesa to his then youthful/studentT John D. Mahon. The ro- BponBibi.irty,.-was immense, but .lie did-not shrink-from itrr-hb, dipt ft,l and his eminent success vindicated the highest hopes of. his warmestfriends! ,■ HiV vcry fitat stop Was into = •the front rankbf the profession, Mr. Mahon was. ope of th(Tde rare melfwhom nature sometimes,, but very rarely lf frames in her prydigiality of .gifts. "What,’others .learned by study and upon painful investigation,'so’emed’to flash him clear 'os the;blaze. of day. His per- : . ceptions were intuitive, quick as thought, and ' sepmed almost to exempt him from the drud- < gery of bdoka.. He waa intended by nature i for an orator. Ilia powers of persuasion were i exceedingly great; and in addressing the pd«- ’ sions, the sympathies,- or-tho peculiarities df the dispositions.ofimenV-liehßvor made miai His every gesture was style of- eloquence was the proper word in the! proper place’fbr the his voice was musior - He never mode a'tcdious speech in his life ; »but--how often the court, the jury;- • ond the bar ffelt’regret; aifndst disappointment;' that his. melody bad : ijd(ised so soon';. ■ 'the time ho occupied prps not too short, it only seemed so. In socialintorcourse his obeorful ; ness, good temper, and brilliant conversation al powers amounted to fascination. 1 '"C' -ir BBILUJM’ lICTOBIES IS WEStEBN KIRGISIi. Qon. MgClblian has been tickling the chivalry” of Western Virginiabeautifully of late. Accounts of his doings -will bo found in our summitry of the war nows. . 9Chn scenes or rather results that have taken. pladS in Vlrgjma.of latOi-bonfind thO predlc tiona wB mllde irt .theaC columns, whenwo re forod -to. the fact tllftt the Old Dominion had sececded from the Union. In the Volunteer of April 25, wo said: “ Poou Old v Virginia.— When tho pews reached Reite a few. days since that the Virgin ia State Convention had. voted down the trai tor resolution, a thrill of joy wont though every heart. Everybody was rejoiced at what was regarded noble conduct of a once noble State. But alas, the beat mail brought the news that-the secessionists had.carried their point, and had declared tho Old Dominion out of the Union. Fatal, fatal error. That State will now be the battle ground, and if her cities and towns are reduced to ashes, they have themselves to blame.” So it is. Virginia is. emphatically thebat- tie ground, nnd not only will her towns bo re duced to ashes, but thousands nnd perhaps tens of thousands of her citizens will bite the dust, and those who escape tho sword will be utterly ruined in aprecuniary point pf view. It was a dark day for Virginia when she per mitted her bad men to assemble in State Con vention and pass an ordinance of secession. Every discriminating man could-pi edict what 'would follow'/ 1 Had that State remained true, and treated 'South Carolina and Jbfp, Davis with contempt, the war would have termina ted in sixty days from the date of its begin ning. But, the Old Dominion headed false ||fids, and gave car to her bad men, and tho result is now before her distressed people. But, we were speaking of the triumphs of General McCi.eli.an. Wo hope these trium phant victories may have the effect to open .the eyesof thepeople, not only of Virginia, hutthe whole South. Why should not Virginia lay down her arms ?, It must be evident to -her people now that it is folly to contend against the Government. If Virginia yields, then we may soon expect peace—a peace that will gladden the heart of every one, except, per haps, the Republican vultures who are mak ing the war a matter of gain and speculation. But, if Virginia will not yield—if she will hot listen to reason—then on with the war to the bitter end. Give, McClellan, Patterson, Butler, Cadwalloder, Siegel and our other heroes elbow room; and they will soon occupy Richmond, when Virginia must yield. It is evident the war has now commenced andwill progress in earnest; and instead of daily skir mishes,,wo shall have general battles. Old Gep. Scott is how ready, and will “ advance" steadily hut surely into the strong-holds of the secessionists. ' The faster this Is done, in a pru dent manner; tho’bptter, and the faster the reb els are flogged, the sooner may we oxpoet peace. All honor, then, to our brave soldiers for what they have done; and may they gobn, conquering and to conquer, until the Stars and Stripes again float majestically in every State; in the Uuion—even’ in little contemptible South Carolina. On, to. Richmond/ • Wnp Wrote the Message?—Wo notice that a number of ■ our ootemporarioa are dis- puting as to who wrote the President’s Mes sage. For our part ho think it is the joint production of two or three persons, but Sew ard was not one of them. Evidently Lincoln wrote portions of it himself, lor several para graphs 'are sheer nonsense, and sound very much like the tariff speech the President de livered at Pittsburg in February last. - There is one point, however, in the Mes sage that is odious above everything else, viz: the intimation.that the Chicago Platform is to bo the rule of action which the Executive, and his advisers intend to observe in the ad ministration of the Government. We quote the language of the President upon this point: “f.'No compromise by public Sentiment could in this case be a cure. Not that com promises are not often • proper, but that, no popular government can long survive a marked precedent that those who carry an election can only save the Government from immedi ate destruction by giving up tbo maln point upon which the people gave the election.” Who but Lincoln could have said that a( this time, when the army in the field contains three-fourths and perhaps four-fifths of those who voted against Lincoln, and the Chicago Platform? We doubt whether Horace Gree ly, bigoted as he is, would have given expres sion to the above sentence had ho occupied the Presidential chair. And why did not the President enlighten us as to what ho consid ers the “ main point” of the deceptive Chica go'Platform ? Most of the Republican papers after the election, informed us that the “main point” tobo gained by Lincoln and his friends was the abolition of slavery in all, the States. We do hope Adraiiam will send in a special message,.and inform the “common people” what he considers the “ main point” of his rotten and lying-platform. When we consid er that Lincoln is a minority President, hold ing his seat with a million of votes majority oast against him, it becomes 7iim to talk of the “ main point” of his platform. We consider, then, that Lincoln himself wrote several par agraphs of the Message, The one we have ’ .quoted, and another which contradicts histo ry, are certainly his own. No other man in America could have written them. • “ Place none but Aueuioans on Guard TO-.