New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-04-12
LETTERS OF MRS. SwISSIIELN. No. l.
Visiting Wn-hington-Thc tnpitol-NnT, land
The ~Iavc-Trade-Ro speech.


Washington Correspondence u The Tribune.
lRyi>c HoUsE, Wednesday Ap'!l l0
DEAR Mr.. Greeley Away out ia Western
Pennsylvania, where | was born the )pe used
to talk good deal about Congress and ,le Capitol
They had news from Congreis-specchos made in
Concre sand wonders TO I'll thar were done
there. one could hardly get the men folks 10 chop
oven wood ii there vas any iatenews from the Cap
to, and when they sat down 20 smoke and laid
their feet ~ on the chimney board r. d-y. they
twisted their cigars round TO one corner OF their
mouths, held them Ia their teeth, and through the
little aperture uttered great words of glorious do
ing or terrible disasters Mt Washington Some
times things would get into desperate fix and by
the words that curled up among the tobacco smoke,
one could learn the clouds were about to crow mig
ardly and withhold their rain-that the sun was to
stop shining or want OF gas, aud M bony Lady
moon to lake permanent lodgings in potato pit,
forced to suspend operations tor want Of funds
aud all because somebody was going not
going ~ Washington Is it any wonder / should
get TO think this same Washington a wonderful
place, and feel very curious to see it As the com
mon consent of mankind has assigned to Woman
an extra quantity OF curiosity in lieu of other ina
lienabe rights the RICH. to crafty that curiosity
should be included ia the grant Tor one take it
for granted that it is 50 and hope you viii not OBJ
ject especially as this same inluisit.yeness leads
me TO wonder how the crude ideas of western
woman would look in the columns OF the far famed
Nep York IrtbHHc, beside the finished productions
of the master minds Of the age. You viii respect
this laudable curiosity womans natural right,
nm sure ard so permit me to tell your readers Of
all aud suLdry the wonderful things IN this wonder
fu place.
In the first place you know the Capitol is sub
lime. | never before saw anything the work of
mans hand that struck me with such submity
Coming by the Baltimore Railroad. it suddenly
starts into view, IN the midst of a Wilderness like
the glorious visions Of our prophet poets, on the
desoiate wastes Of our present bleak aud barren
world
Mary land poor Maryland how disc1nsola,e
she lies, with shacklei limbs and cold aud ,oyess
bosom. IL is very wonderful 10 see the old State
lie inactive, with great tracts, as far ~ the eve
can reach, at the very foot Of the Capitol stretch.
ing out in primitive wilderness or exhausted bar
rem wastes. / wondered much bat when saw
an old man stand, with face as black as ebop and
hair as white as snow, with the cringn- aspect Of
vassal, and the coarse aud tattered garments of
slave, ! knew that Maryland, like a second Ra.
che, was weeping for her children and refusing 10
be cOmiOrted not that they are not but that
they wo.se than if they had usycr been. The
poor, Old, desoa,e mother One would think that
at this moment she held ~ her hands ike Jacob of
old, 10 plead, Jos eph IS not and Simeon IS not.
and viii ye take Benjamin alsol' For long wears
she has lain ia an apathy OF grief as the thousands
OF her children have cast themselves upon her bo.
som 10 utter their agony Of prayer 10 the God Of
the oppressed, y no sesmeth not 10 hear MANY
thousands OF them have dragged their manaced
mos away away % retlrn no more md as the
mother lay, the springs oi her bosom have been
dried up by sOrrow fires, and her children are
torn from he. and sent D. seek the susfcnaace she
can 40 longer give. Premature old aye has come
upon her, aud yet II Is not enough. Those who
should comfort her, 1ho sh PA give her beauty
for ashes and he oil Of JOY fOf nOum.Dc a,e seek
Ing 'or another Egypt where her Josephs may be
sold into bondage cattle-market for her Sons and
daughters where their bodies and souls Ike ,h0se
Of the craven Egyptians, may be exchanged for
corn.
These thoughts naturally suggest themselves
after passing through the garden ike plantations Of
eastern Pennsy lyania and then coming suddenly to
an extended waste, reminding one who has seen
BOTH OF the huckeberry districts Of Butler County
rs ne locomotive sped along and set tie trees to
danciug Waiting, whrlDs % the music Of its rail-
road ga!lopade, sat watching for the oyerfowing
barns the h0cks and herds, the troups Of poultry,
green helds, extensive gardens, hot and green
houses, That | supposed must extend far ard vide
for many niles in every direction from 80 famous
city as our great Washington, that Pandora box
from which proceeds al things good and evil, and
cannot well describe my surprise when. as we