The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1856-04-08
THE DAILY DISPATCH


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Mount Vernon aad Horace Greeley.
Horace Greeley. who paid recent visit 70 sne
tomb Of Washington, sives the following dsscr'p
ton Of the STATE OF things there:
Il cannot be many years-sav six or eiFhe-ance w
former vint yet the march Of rum n .ns ~. hnndrsd
been fearfully rapid. I doubt whether nve nana.su
dollan' worth Of building. fencing repsinnG Sno,s
ting, have been bestowed on the estate snce h
Washington died more than ~ 10 The lsst
800 IS 49,. the plants and shrubbery have sadly
fallen avay the neerohuts and bsrn are vcIy III
and ne Ss re- scr can adequately
Even The new and spacious brick tomb. ne sonInou
tion Of patriotic and opoient fniisoeipnhn .os
s~sesy odd wears ssc-is beginning to cfumbe ewsy.
whssh.r from faulty construction or mere sympstsy
with iii around win not say: The tasteful MARIE ~
s.reophss n which reposs the moit. ,heir
freshness; bur let tn, protecting structure er1m
away and they too must yield to the tooth Mi
The weods which closely approach the tomo AZ M
of fallen decsying trees. well a. fansieo w'n M
sn; the coil OF the garden and level en.;r.
grounds, evidently once fertile ana .s,;
but now is in the last stages OF exhaustion s Lsna,
ty The mansion (which in good part was .inoiy
thrown open usI in little better Pfese''s'on'
He concludes by expressing doubt whether
the house will continue habitable twenty-five years
longer and winds up by pronouncing the general
wreck ian epitome of Old Virginia"
We have reason to believe that the grounds and
dwelling are in the state Of decay and diapdatien,
described by Greeley 1t needed only the appear
snce of tina. obscene bird, the buzzard of the n
Y. Tribune, to cap the climax Of desolation tina,
Mount Vernon presents. Horace Greeley, perch
ed on the sepulchre Of the Father Of his Country
and sending forth notes of evil omen from the sha
dows Of the sacred place A suggestive specta
clei What IN infinite distance between the dead
and the living The most remote planet that Lord
ROSES telescope has revealed In the farof realms
Of ether is not more distant from this dirty globe
than the ilhmitable space which spreads between
the moral nature of George Washington and thai
Of Horace Greeley.
Were II conceivable that the spirit of the Pate,
Paride could stand still In Heaven, and be incapa
BILE of farther Improvement it would be impossible
for Horace Greeley to overtake his standard of mo
raj excellence, If he should proceed In the work
reformation as rapidly IS . comet flashes through
the sky, and continue at 1t till the last star fade
away from the armament Scarcely virtue o
the human character which can be mentioned
patriotism, loyalty, maGnauimity, truth, honor
courage, fidelity, &c, &c.-in which Washington
and Greeley are not sntipodes. And yet this ma,
forces himself upon the attention of the countr.
a. pilgrim to Mount Vernon, and standing in tn
presence of the mighty dead, snsers at the Ian,
which gave him birth, and, from the tomb of thu
patriot whose last prayers were bresthod for thu
Union scatters arrows and irebrands Of sectiona
discord and strife.
He speaks of Mount Vernon in its desolation q
an eptome of Old Virginia. Is this ignorance o.
mendacityf 1t is as unjust to say that Noun
Vernon, in its decay and ruin. is an epitome o
Old Virginia as. to aver that the New York Tri
bune Is an eptone of the morals, manners and in
telligence of New York. But we can tell this phi
losopher, Greeley, that Mount Vernon il an epit
ONE of what the whole United States would be
come II the doctrines and designs of his potica
school should succeed. The cotton fields of the
South, and the manufactures and commerce 9th
North, would be overwhelmed in q common ruin
The great Republic would become but a magnif
cent mausoleum, in which its best and braves
would sleep their last. sleep. The Sun of Liberty
would go down whilst it was yet day, and, amid
the sepulchral gloom, not a living thing be seer
nor a sound be heard, save hooting owls, likt
some which have lately profaned Mount Vernon
coming forth from their hiding places to reve annie
the ghastly darkness.