The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-06-02

from the first we have seen danger in this Belly
scheme, which, III our belief, aimed neither al
the excavation of ship canals nor at COLOMBIA
ton. The arriere peisee is most probably ex
planned by the Paris correspondent Louis
Napoleon always operates contrarily to his
declarations; and, although it has been asserted
that MIR. Sartiges was authorized to disclaiIn
| all participation of the Emperor Of the French
! in the project of Belly-for the satisfaction O.
| our Government-we, nevertheless, find in that
very fact the best of reasons for believing that
said Emperor cherishes Interior designs on
| Nicaragua. When he was planning the re-es-
| adjustment of the empire, he announced, in a
| speech at bordeaux, that the "EMPIRE IS
| PEACE" while he caused it to be distinctly I'M
derstood through the Monitor of tie Army
that the EMPIRE IS WAR
ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPH LETTER FROM THOMAS
JEFFERsoN.-We have been permitted to copy
the following original autograph letter from
Thomas Jefferson, now in the hands of Judge
| G. W. Thompson, and which has never before
been published. 1t is addressed to Col. Wood,
Governor of Virginia and explains itself:
RIcHMoND, February 81, 1881.
To Col. Wood, Governor Of Virginia:
SIR: We consent to divide the Germans be-
tween Winchester, Martinsburgh and the Berk-
ley Springs, till further notice, as proposed by
| you.
| ! must get the favor of You to know from
Col. Mingen, what sum of money by the fort
night they will have occasion for, and it will be
sent either to the barracks in Albemarle to any
agent whom they shall leave there to settle
their affairs, or to their quarters Tin fact the
meeting of the Assembly on Thursday night is
relied on to furnish us with money, of which
we have not at present one shilling.) / will
send to Baron Steuben the petition from the
nine Germans in the mean time, you viii do
well to leave them, as you propose, under guard
at the barracks. We think our powers do not
extend to the enlisting of the men of the regi-
ment of guards on the terms mentioned in your
letter.
!. &hy. Browne informs me that he sent the
se9S000 to Mr.. James Hawkins three DAYS ago,
, AID will send the like sum by the bearer
s%am, with much esteem, sir,
Your most obedient, humble servant
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
The following postscript we copied from Mr.
Jeferson's own handwriting. AS it has never
before been published, it may help fill link in
the history of the times to which it relates
T. S.-By letter from Gen. Greene, of the
18th, he was on this side the dam at Boyd's
Ferry, and CORVALLIS three miles on the other
side. / am informed, by person who left
Gen. Greene's camp on the 18th, that he had
crossed Bannister and led his main body to
the Halifax G. House, his light infantry on the
dam and that CORVALLIS was busily employed
in making RATS, &C., to cross on. Cornwallis's
strength is $500 regulars and 80 tories Greene's
1000 regulars He had not yet been Joined by
200 militia. hope, however, he will be fully
reinforced in that way. Admiral Graves hav-
ing lost his 74th in a storm, the French are
become superior on the water, in consequence
of which they detached "a and two frigates to
our bay. They lay some days in James river,
and | expect are now gone out to cruise off
the capes, and intercept the communication
between New York and Charleston Wheeling
htelligencer.
THE DECORATIONS OF THE New Carroll
Washington correspondent of the Boston
Adrertiser criticises severely the characterization
of the new structure added to the Capitol. He
says:
The encaustic tiles, for instance, are be-
spangled with heads of Augustus and Tiberus
Caesar, and of Nero, and with pictures of mer-
maids and cupids, utterly incongruous to the
national idea which ought to pervade the en-
tire establishment The chandeliers, also. are
adorned with griffins heads, and figures of
knights in armor. The windows are surmount-
ed with shells and scrolls cast in iron, whose
precise design it would puzzle spectator to
unravel. The committee rooms and the corri-
doris, which are painted in fresco, it is well
known, are covered all over with figures from
the Grecian mythology. In every one of these
instances, however, it was possible to introduce
something peculiarly American in the way of
design, with equal grace and far superior effect
If there are to be portraits at all on the tiles,
let them be of persons famous in American. not
in Roman history, and instead of the cupids
and mermaids, insert Indian figures. In the
same way with the chandeliers and over the
windows the American eagle, or the national
coat of arms, would constitute much more ap-
propriate decoration than any of those in use.
Our great national products Of maize, tobacco.
and cotton, surely furnish material for most
graceful imagery, which has been entirely neg
lected. If there is single object in the old
Capitol which attracts instantly the notice of a
foreign vister, it is the design of the capitals of
the columns in some of the corridors, in which
the leaves of these peculiarly American pro.
ductions are introduced with charming effect.
But in the extension there is no example of i'm
provement of the hints thereby afforded. / can.
not now remember single instance in which
there is anything nationally symbolcal there.
with the exception of the glass panes in the
roofs of the two chambers, which, in the House
are painted with the coats of arms of the vari.
Gus States, and in the Senate with stacks of
agricultural and mechanical implements, etc.
and with the exception also of the tiers of
desks in the reporters gallery Of the Senate, on
each one of which the national coat of arms is
blazoned as gaudily as if it were intended to
compensate for its absence from all the rest of
the building"