The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1843-09-08
Price Two Cents.
Florida.
Correspondence Of the Hsrsldl

Mumoe and Florida Scenery Rejection on Fic-t-
da as the Iadians' grave yayd-De Soto's Eryedi-
tion 1879 -Ndpoison's conduct pendrng peace, l7ss.
JAMES GORDON BENNETT, Esoi-
"Know ye the land, where the cypress and myrtle.
Are embems Of deeds ths are done IN their cline
Where the Of the vuure the love OF the turtle
Meier melt into sorrow-ne'er madden 10 crime
When the tints ofthe ocesn-the hues ofths sky-
In color tho varied. In beauty may vie
Where the virgins soit a. the roses they twine,
And all, save the spirit OF man, 10 divine -
A few years hence, and the man who shall pre-
sumo to apply these lines to any other cline than
that OF Florida, will be considered a. having turned
Turk, and be expatriated tor his bsrbsrism--and I
do not doubt had the muse OF Byron inhaled her
inspiration here, Florida would have lived IN all iu-
ture time, the land Of romance, and the cline OF
song.
That she is yet destined to furnish rich material
for future literature, who has visited her
Can doubt-tha she is yet destined TO hold distln-
guished rank among the States Of this Union, all
must admit who will take the trouble to acquaint
themselves with her situation, soil and climate.
! Our native writers have been too much accustom-
ed to follow IN the footsteps of their illustrous pre-
decessors and compeers of the old world and franz
ing their writings upon foreign models, laying their
scenes in foreign lands. embodying the history,
manners and customs of other nations and giving
such pre-eminence to the stirring incidents, and
grand events of othercounries, that they have done
great injustice to themselves and their own country.
In what section of the wide universe has ito great
Creator concentrated much OF magnihcence,
grandeur, splendor, and beauty, as in this From
the broad blue lakes of the icy north, to the gentle
streams OF the sunny souh-irom the sounding sur
ges of the restless Atlantic, to the towering and ma
jesc Aleghanies, nature stands among US, one stu
pendous and eternal monument, speaking IN her
silence of sweet beauty and awful subimity, the
goodness, might, and majesty OF her glorious Arch-
tect-furnishing themes and prospects upon which
the mind OF man may dwell for ages, and exercise
his every faculty to its fullest extent The plain, the
prairie, the mountain, and the wood, the roaring
cataract, and the rushing river, has each a Ian
guage of its own, which addressing Itself to the
heart of man. calls for audible ulterance; and
America demands that her poets, her painters, her
philosophers, her sculpors, respond TO that call
So should it be written in the DEGREES OF the mys-
ferrous future that is the fate Of her present chill
dren to be swept from the face Of this fair land the
antiquarian of the race which succeeds, may not
grope in darkness amidst musty records, and deep
buried ruins tor knowledge Of a race extinct; but
read in every volume, and see 1t In every temple
and church, and statute, and monume mt, ne draws
from obscurty to sunlight
You may smile at tne novel tNOuSHt Will WhiCu
close the above grand flourish on the propriey and
duty of our own authors and artists turning their at
tention subjects purely American-and think ''the
gentleman" possesses remark ably vivid imagina-
ton to give birth to such an idea But if you will
remember, am standing on the summit of the
green bank of Lake Munroe, and gazing far as the
eye can REACH over country which scarce fifty
years ago untrodden, except by the wild man
OF the forest, and his forest game, and observing
what the quiet lake embedded in its bowers Of
pamettos, expresses and pnes which rear their tall
heads high in the air above it., and extend their
broad, green leaves like waving arms along its
margin, just they did 200 years ago-but no canoe
Is there, with its dusky maiden or strong armed
warrior, skimming its glossy bosom; the ancient
forests are there-but no rifle cracks among its
branches-nowar-whoopr rises heavenward, from the
deep stiffness Of yonder dark and dense merass-no
frightened deer bounds swiftly by as the glancing
tomahawk just clears his graceful antlers. And
am gazing nations grave The red man, as
he was in his aboriginal greatness and glory is no
more his scattered descendants, deteriorated, en-
ervated and corrupted, are Fastening towards the
region of the setting sun. Alas, for the red man
How soon his sun will set On yonder hill, few
short years ago, his council fires blazed-in yender
shady dell, his victims sang their death song-that
rising ground now yields its rich products to its An
slo- Saxon lord, and empowered amidst clusters Of
orange trees and magnolias, his mansion house
stands on the same spot where the Indians victims
fell.
| No wonder, then, that the idea at such time
and in such a place, should fit across the mind,
that in the centuries yet to come, our race may be
doomed to some great disaster and when we re-
feet upon the facts which the discoveries of Ste
.Lnc L.,a hrou obi md he iuav IfohI
conclusions which the skeletons, and mounds, and
ruins, found in our own land force upon us-that the
Indians themselves, are at least the second race
which has peopled this continent-what would at
first glance appear a mere freak of fancy, on more
close investigation and deeper reflection, may seem
to have some light coloring even of reason.
Florida herself is rich in incidents, and furnishes
in her history and setllement-in her people and
scenery-abupdance of material for romance, poetry
| and philosophy. The history Of the fortunes and
he fate Of the various Adventures from Spain, who
| came here after her discovery by John Ponce IN
l5I2-incIudng the expedition OF De Soto in 1889,
would of themselves constitute work rich in the
| MYSTERIOUS honid and marvellous-her occupation
BY Great Britan-recapture by Spain In l779 and
final sale to the United States in 1919, with the
companyng incidents, connected with which are
The disputes and difficulties Of the United States in
the settlement of her southern and western bounda-
ries, with Spain, France and Great Britain, in the
treaty Of 1888, and the singular conduct Of the
French government in these matters, directed by
Napoleon, Tseyrand and Vergennes-would fur
nish an important chapter in our history, and sug.
,est many singular reflections for the politician and
the dipomatist
Butt promised in my last to give you more parti-
cular description of the countryand also of the To-
cation OF Major Taylor. l think, however, will
again defer that to my next
The HARVEST IN ONEIDA COUNTY The farmers
Of this county have nearly finished the harvesting of