Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-08-18
EVENING STAR.
A BRITISH VIEW OF NEW YoRK c1ry

A BRITISH VIEW OF NEW YORK CITY
The London Times has sent a special cor.
respondent to the United States, and here i,
his account of New York:
i would attempt to give description Of
New York, if, in the limits of letter, il
could be done with any success but it would
be as reasonable to attempt to describe Lon
| don In the same space. Sinking all topo-
| graphical details, dates, and history, there
fore, few Of the moro prominent character
| istlcs OF the place are all that can be at pres
ent noted Those who fancy New York q
mere busy provincial and commercial city a
sort OF Liverpcol-will be surprised to find il
a great metropolis, unmistakably a capital,
win many indications OF immense wealth,
| and mono age, even of the age from which IL
dates All is new, growing, and changing, as
| II the city itself partook of the ever extend
ing tendencies of the country. Every reno
walton is on larger and grander scale than
what it succeeds, whether it be a mansion, a
| hotel, or a store. What the last fire spared is
being rapidly demolished and replaced by
something more equal to the requirements of
| the time. The amount Of building now In
progress is enormous, and for the moment
rather inconvenient. In some streets par.
| tlcularly near the business end of the city
every third house appears to have been pulled
down, and in a few months even n native is
| surprised at the change. Brick is becoming
marble with wonderful celebrity and the ma
tive marble, If well selected, is a beautiful
building material; it is as white as that of
the Italian quarries, which supply the statu-
| ary, and which We use for internal decora-
tions, but have not applied like common stone,
| except In the excestionable extravaganza of
the Marble Arch, and this ia but a dlngy ef.
| fair. The smoke and fog of London soon re-
duce everything to hue Of mud and brick, or
In InI NOS L-A.- IL
by stucco. But in the clear air and brilliant
sun of New York the purest material can be
used with the certainty that 1t will preserve
its color
In the whole aspect of the city, as In the
| mode and manner Of life, there is far more of
what We should call " foreign" than of the
specifically English. Except in language, re-
| lIgion and laws-three important exceptions
certainly-our cousins have parted company
from US more widely than We are apt ~ sup
pose, or than is altogether pleasant to cOntem-
plato. The capitol IS mucn more like Paris,
| with dash of Hamburg, than London there
Is relatively larger foreign population than
In our metropolis, having much more political
| and social influence than with US, and the ir-
fuence is distinctly marked The style and
habits OF the most wealthy and populous city
OF the States are, no doubt, very different to
those OF the mass Of the country but it must
have been a strong combination of causes that
could have changed the descendants of the
sober and somewhat stern English Puritans,
who deemed gayety, color, music, and the
theatre the prime snares Of the evil cne, into
population with the characteristics of that
of New York, delighting in outward decora-
| tion, ornament and gliding, which we think so
peculiarly southern. The street fronts blaze
| with gold inscriptions and signs, and the in
| terioTs Of shops are often fitted up in style
we should consider too gorgeous for business
a Erarlah on xuha .,,T
don, has taken root and tiourishes with IA
splendor scarcely equallcd on the Boulevards
Of Paris. The countless omniousses that
make the grand thoroughfare of Broadway al
most impossible, are light and gay in color,
paneled with paintings of flowers and fruit,
and subjects from the French that would
possibly shock the eyes of Clapham; in their
place we should have scale Of charges for
burial in a cropolis-perhaps a wholesome,
but not cheerful reminder. TIE hotels are
planned on scale Of size and fitted with
magni6cence not yet attempted in London or
Paris. Walking through their softly y-csrpeted
corridors, brilliantly lighted, resplendent with
mirrors and gliding, it is difficult to believe
you are not In palace prepared for a fete.
You rather wonder the music does not strike
up from the ball room you seem to be ap-
preaching through such passages. This, how
ever, is the style only Of the ne ewest cr' ations;
others, on a similar scale as to size, are more
sober In adornment-what We should call more
business like
"some American moralists begin to be
alarmed at the increase of luxury in this di-
rection, and denounce this seductive splendor
as likely to destroy all domestic habits and
associations 1t is perhaps, an open question.
We have had the same arguments employed
against the club system In London. The hO-
tel life of America is pretty much the same
thing. but including the ladies also. Whether
r. L.
pie themselves l will not venture to decide.
only know that to a stranger it appears very
agreeable feature.
"There are some things about the Ameri-
can metropolis which, though striking the eye
less than its general lightness and love of or
nament, from the shops of the region of traffic
to the palstial mansions of the Fifth avenue
the Faubourg St. German of the capitol-are
more deserving Of praise and imitation. 1t is
better supplied with water than any other
city in the world-an inestimable blessing in
this climate and the arrangements Of the
streets is so admirably simple it is impossible
to lose your way after q little study of the
plan, though the distances, it must be ad-
mitted, are perfectly Russia. The Broadway
must be measured by miles. Luckily, omni-
bus rates are low, for by an inexplicable ad-
abandoned, the old heavy hackney coach,
uble-horsed and eXtortionate, still holds its
place, and the light handy cab Of London is
unknown. The private vehicles are mostly
open and of the lightest possible build, run
ming on mere rings with thread like spokes-
the most fragile looking things ever put to
gether for locomoticn. With their fast trot-
ting horses, to which the youth Of the city
are much addicted, they fly along with per-
ilOus speed, quite in keeping with the national
viyidness of life-with something, too, Of the
equally national disregard Of it L shall have
to notice many other points in the external
aspects of the city hereafter the subject is
not easily exhausted, neither is it old. What
is always changing requires periodically to be
described anew"