New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-06-25

pectOly cdlitd upon 10 90 10 sihi Hhhcit 'V''
my ysit to Mount Vernon determined 10 60 oy
sea and TO 90 in a steamer-partly for the sake OF
the voyage, and partly tn avoid the inccn7enence
and fatigue of conveying family Of small children
over the detee.abe railroads which connect Biltl'
more with New-YOrk.
For three or four years a couple Of large steam,
ers, owned by an Incorporated company, have pied
steadily, Summer and Winter, between Boston ana
Baltimore, steamer leaving each city on saturday
and reaching the other city on Monday or Tuesday,
a voyage Of 700 miles. note 70 Mr.. Mears, the
agent If the line a, Baltimore, received courteous
reply, securing state rooms and iaiorning me that
the Joseph Whitney would leave her wharf pre-
csely az O'Clock p. II. on Saturday.
/ took the morning train from Washington 70
Baltimore, and, while purchasing tickets al tae
railroad staten within sight of the capitol had
the pleasure Of witnessing scene chsrmingly char
acterstic of Liberty and Democracy. -Four or h.e
well. dressed, spectabe-lOOkiDg colored people
came to the tlcketoffice, accompanied by distlA-
gushed Member of Congress from Illinois, who
desired to purchase tickets for their journey 10
New.York. He stated 10 the ticket seller that they
were free persons, who had been servants III
bis household for several months and as be bad
broken up housekeeping in consequence OF TIC ap-
preaching close of the session, be wished 20 send
them to their homes in New.YOrk.
The ticket master replied that he could not sell
them tickets unless some responsible citizen Of
Washington would sign bond of indemnity Tor
their value in case they were slaves. The Member
OF Congress pointed out the fact that the tram vas
about 10 start in few minutes, and that there was
therefore, no opportunity to comply with the requi-
,ition for bond He renewed hs personal assur-
snce that they were fee, and that he had known
t0em for a long time. TIE ticket-master stl re-
futed. He was very sorry, but the rule was I'M
perative. Having my own family TO look after l
could not stop TO witness the result Of this appca-
ton of the passport system to a railroad leading
from the National Capital, but have learnt subse-
quenty that after much discussion the indignant
lllnoian succeeded in persuadiDg the railway official
to sell the tickets, by giving his personal recOgni-
zance for any damages that might be incurred by
the railroad company.
/ found the Joseph Whitney largo side-wheel
steamer of thousand tuns, strongly built, and,
with her black, stOut-oOkiDg hull, and red-tOpped
smoke pipe, bearing much more resemblance to the
Briti.h ocean steamers than to the gaily-panted,
frail Looking steamboats, which navigate the waters
Of our Eastern coasts. Her commander, Capt.
Howes was on the wharf receiving the passengers
as they auived-a gentlemanlike person. shrewd,
sensible and somewhat tacturD, with al lnye,era.e
habit of mibdiDg his own business. Like very
large number, perhaps majority OF the command
ers of our cOastng packets, he is native OF Cape
Cod. Though still young man, be has followed
the sea for twenty years, the greater part of the
and Baltimore or Philadelphia He knows the
coast, therefore, as perfectly he knows the ground
around his own hOme-in fact, he knows Il better,
for accidentally discovering, III the course OF con-
versation, that we had both resided for years
in the same city, found the captains knowledge
of the streets and quarters thereof much less exen
sye and accurate than his knowledge of the channels
and shoals and capes and islands of Chesapeake and
Massachusetts Bays. More of his life had been
pagspd on the water than on the land,
Punctually at o'clock, the Joseph Whitney left
her wharf and was soon gliding down the placid
waters of the Chesapeake, i'll company with several
other steamers bound for Norfolk, Richmopd,
Charleston and Savannah. A light breeze from the
south directly in her teeth, did not materially inl-
pede her progress, which, throughout the voyage,
varied little from twelve miles an hour
Few bays in The world equal the Chesapeake in
natural beauty, or in extent of commerce and nayl-
cation. Stretching into the continent for two hum
dred miles in direct line, with its numerous broad
arms and nlets, and the great rivers that flow into
it on the west it offers to the mariner thousands
of miles of shore with harbOrs in countless a6un-
dance. No country could be better supplied by
nature with all the facilities required for commerce
and for shipping. Yet, except at Baltimore and its
immediate vicinity the bay, fancy, presents very
much the same appearance that 10 offered two
centuries and half since to the curious eyes of
Capt John Smith and bis companions. The wooded
hills that skirt its margin slope green and silent to
the cleaning waters, exhibiting few more signs of
civilization thnn they did when the Powhatans and
the ManacOns hunted the deer in their shady re-
cesses.
1t was in 1908 that Capt John Smith, in an open
barge containing fourteen persons, made his first
voyage up the Chesapeake, aud explored its Whole
extent from the ocean at Cape Henry to the mouth
of the Susquehanna, with such admirable exactness
that the map he made was down TO our own times
the original from which the subsequent maps were
copied. He sailed on this excursion 5000 miles,
alternately trading and fighting with the Indians, Of
whom one tribe alone, the Susquehannas, could
bring into the field 600 warriors. - Heaven aud
earth never agreed better, says the adventurous
old explorer, who had seen many lands with his
own eyes" Heaven and earth never agreed bet
"ter to frame place for mans habitatiOD, were it
"fully MANFRED and inhabited by Industrious peo-
"ple. Here are mountains, hills, plains, valleys.
"rvers and brooks, all running most pleasantly
- into fair bay, comprised, but for the mouth,
with fruitful and delightful land. The vesture Of
"tbe earth in most places doth manifestly prove
"the nature Of the soil to be lusty and very rich.
The country is not mountainous, nor yet low; but
"such pleasant plains and hills, and fertile valleys,
lone prettiy crossing another, and watered 80
"yenlently with fresh brooks and springs, no lees
"comnod0ns than delightful
The hills and plains and valleys, the fair rivers
and fresh springs, still there, but the ndustri-
GUS people have yet to make their appearance. TIE
blight Of Slavery is on the land and the glowing an
ticipaOns OF the discOyerer still far from per-
feet realization. The time, however, cannot fail To
arrive when the shores of the Chesapeake shall be
studded like the Hudson, with the cities and vii
lagos of free aud energetic people, and its waters
whitened with the sails OF a mighty commerce.
We Md on bosrd about twenty passengers;
among them an Indian trader from Minnesota or
nsc.tah and a fam of comic actresses from the