CHAPTER XXIII.

WASHINGTON. RICHMOND. Baltimore. Charleston. SAVANNAH. PENSACOLA. MOBILE.

The city of Washington is the capital of the federal Union, as well as of the State of Columbia, but is chiefly distinguished for its being the seat of the Congressional Parliament. From its character and aspect, together with its spacious outline and rural scenery, it is ironically designated "the City of Magnificent Distances," "the City of Magnificent Designs," and "the City of the Woods." It is said that it was planned on paper before a single house was erected. The thoroughfares are arranged in parallel, rectangular, and diagonal lines. Those which run in one direction are called from the letters of the alphabet, and those that cross them are distinguished by designations no less simple and appropriate.

Washington is situated on a point of land formed by the fork of the Potomac,--the river which separates Virginia from Maryland,—and is about one hundred and twenty miles from the sea. The Capitol stands on the spot which was the place of meeting and council of the Indian tribes of Virginia when first known by Europeans.

The federal city, as seen from the highest terrace of the Capitol, presents on a clear spring or summer's morning an enchanting panorama, the broad streets or avenues opening below through the trees, the Virginian hills laved by the mighty Potomac, the heights of George Town, and all the varied life embraced within the scene. Here are beheld splendid public buildings, immense hotels, the dwellings of fifty thousand people, church spires near and distant, the half-Norman, half-Gothic Smithsonian Institute, the unfinished Washington monument, carriages, elegantly dressed men and women in all imaginable civilised costumes, the broad stone pathway along the avenue, with a stream of water gushing by its side through a channel cut in the stone, together with the old monument bearing the

names of the most celebrated victims of the revolution,—all these rising above, or beautifully situated amidst the majestic forest trees, or the sea of verdure that surround the city!

Besides the Capitol and the House of the President, &c., described in a former chapter, the city contains several other public buildings of importance, viz., the Patent Office, Museum, Post Office, State Paper Office, and Jesuits' College. The Patent Office is conspicuous among the public edifices of the city for the beauty of its architecture. It is built of white marble, and modelled after the Parthenon at Athens. The model rooms contain twenty-three thousand models; and the patents issued amounted, in 1855, to two thousand.

Among other interesting records and relics in the Museum is the original Declaration of Independence on a large sheet of vellum, signed by the fifty-six representatives of the thirteen original States; the press at which Franklin worked when a journeyman printer in London; a specimen of the hair of each President of the United States, and their autographs; together with several relics of Washington. In the State Paper Office is the original draft of the declaration of independence, in the handwriting of Jefferson, with various corrections and erasures; Major Andre's letters before his execution; and an early number of the "Pennsylvania Gazette," published by Franklin at Philadelphia.*

The Smithsonian Institute, referred to in a former chapter, derives its name and endowment from James Smithson, Esq., of England, a son of the first Duke of Northumberland. After receiving his education at Oxford, he passed a considerable portion of his life in travelling on the continent; and he died at Genoa, June 27th, 1829. By his will he bequeathed his entire property to the United States of America, to found at Washington a college under the above designation-an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge. The United States' Treasury received this fund in September, 1838, and it then amounted to 515,169 dollars.

In the Navy Yard there are from five hundred to six hundred men in the various departments, employed in the manufacture of ordnance, marine engines, chains, cables, anchors, &c., as well as in the ordinary departments of ship building.

• See Welds's Tour of the United States and Canada.

Baltimore is the next city of importance on the Atlantic seaboard, proceeding southwards. This city is the great commercial metropolis of the State of Maryland, the State so called from Mary, Queen of Charles I.; but Annapolis is the nominal capital. Maryland was first settled by Catholics, under Lord Baltimore, and may be regarded as the type of American activity and enterprise in its south-eastern frontier, advancing with gigantic strides in population, luxury, and refinement. It is situated on a commanding eminence, gradually rising from a branch of the Patapsco River. It is fourteen miles from Chesapeake Bay, about one hundred and eighty miles from the sea, and is one of the most elegant and symmetrically-arranged cities in the Union.

In its general aspect it resembles Boston, though its houses and streets display more regularity in their arrangement and architecture. Its trade, however, is less than that of Boston. Flour and tobacco are its principal productions; but the State occupies a respectable rank in manufactures and commerce. The beautiful Chesapeake also adds to its fame; and Baltimore is still more celebrated for its hospitality. The general welcome of old English times is still cherished by her sons, free from the ostentation of an opulence quickly achieved. Baltimore exhibits an example of social life (her negro slavery always excepted) which it would be well for her wealthier sisters to follow. The population of the city is nearly two hundred thousand, dwelling in one compact body.

Richmond is the capital of Virginia, and stands on James' River, one hundred and nine miles from its mouth: it merits no more than a passing notice. The State received its designation in honour of Queen Elizabeth, in whose reign, in the year 1584, it was first visited by Sir Walter Raleigh.

Raleigh is the metropolis of North Carolina, and Wilmington its largest and most important town.

Charleston, in South Carolina, was so called from Charles II. It is one of the few cities of America that resemble English provincial towns, or more properly, perhaps, the suburbs of interior county towns. The greater part of the houses are of brick, and many of them may be termed splendid. Both in its size, its appearance, and its trade, it is said to vie with some of the first cities in the Union. It stands on an isthmus, between two rivers, the Ashley and the Cooper. Its climate is highly insalubrious. Charleston, however, is beautiful in appearance,

resembling an assemblage of villas standing in gardens, which
during all seasons of the year are brilliant with flowers and
fragrant with odoriferous trees and shrubs. The aroma of orange
blossoms, myrtles, jessamines, roses, and oleanders, fills the air.
The divisions of the city formed by the streets are a succession
of small detached villas with their grass plots, enclosed within
elegant iron palisading, shaded by beautiful flowering trees.
Around the green verandahs and porticos which ornament the
fronts of the houses, are seen the most beautiful crysanthemums,
honeysuckles, asters, and gentians, every variety of roses,
japonicas, geraniums, and olives, interspersed with amber-
flowering poplars, and cypress trees pointing their tall spires to
the skies, all alive with humming-birds rapidly glancing in the
sun their brilliant hues of green, purple, and gold, and all
melodious with the song of the mocking-bird. It may be said,
indeed, that plants and flowers of almost every clime display
their tints and wave their foliage in Carolina. The
The very roads
and fields are bestrewed with choice shrubs and flowers.

Savannah is the principal city of Georgia,* but Augustine is the interior emporium of the State. "Savannah," says Miss Bremer, "is the most charming of American cities, and reminds me of the 'maiden of the green wood."" It is, even more than Charleston, "an assemblage of villages which have come together for company." In each quarter is a green market - place, surrounded by magnificent lofty trees; and in the centre of each verdant market-place leaps up a living fountain,-a spring of fresh water gushing forth, shining in the sun, and keeping the greensward moist and cool.

Savannah may be called "the City of the Gushing Springs." There cannot be in the whole world a more beautiful city than Savannah. All nature is here beauty and romance-the realm of Pan. Georgia, with more justice than Carolina, may be called the Palmetto State, as the palmetto is here more abundant, besides many other plants and trees which indicate proximity to the tropics, exhibiting a new face of nature.† The interior of the country in different directions, amidst very considerable cultivation, is clothed with lofty woods, and adorned with clusters of white houses and churches everywhere.

• Georgia was the most recent of the thirteen original States to join the Union, and one of the most prominent in the War of Independence.

+ Homes of the New World.

Florida, divided into East and West, is the flower of the Southern States; the land of which it was said by one of its discoverers, that its "delicious balmy odours made it the fountain of eternal youth." It was discovered by Ponce de Leon, in 1512, who first reduced the island of Puerto Rico. He called it Florida, either because he discovered it on Palm Sunday, or because of its gay and beautiful appearance. He met with vigorous opposition from the natives in his attempts to explore and possess it; but he finally accomplished his desires by effectually subjugating it to the crown of Spain.

Florida continued for more than two hundred years a Spanish province, and was ceded by Spain to the American Government in 1819. In 1822, East and West Florida were formed into an organised territory, not having sufficient population to entitle it to rank as a State. It adjoins the State of Georgia upon the north, and New Orleans and Alabama upon the west-thus extending from the west side of the Mississippi to the frontiers of Carolina and Georgia, and including all the islands within six leagues of the coast. The chief towns are St. Augustine in the East, and Pensacola in the West. The surface of the country is in general fertile, but mostly uncultivated, covered and even choked with a rank luxuriance almost impervious to the eye-the whole surface of the ground concealed by the thick covering of shrubs, herbs, and weeds. The land is also but slightly elevated above the sea, and may almost be considered a peninsula. It is to so great an extent overspread with stagnant lakes and ponds exhaling such unwholesome vapours, as to render it generally insalubrious. Throughout all nature the cessation of motion seems to be the signal for the work of corruption, and corruption is diffusive. In these uncultivated regions it is remarkable also how the active principle of life wastes its force in productions of inferior kinds. In addition to the impervious forests and the vast, superfluous vegetation, the whole country is alive with every species of noxious animal. Legions of ants cover the surface of the ground, the air is often darkened with clouds of insects,-the damp forests and marshes teem with almost every offensive and poisonous creature which the power of a sultry sun can quicken into life. Some clean, cultivated spots, however, are seen at intervals in this wilderness; and it is delightful to observe the contrast between the vast level, woody masses, and the beautiful appearance which nature assumes under the forming hand of industry and art.