The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-05-21
BALTIMORE.
MONDAY, MAY q, 1860.

There is no city in the UNION which possesses
more picturesque environs than Baltimore.
Casped on three sides by amphitheatre of hills,
which rise one above another in succession of |
easy undulations until they attain, at a distance
ofsix miles from the city, to height of five hun
dred feet above tide water, and open to the South
to the noble Chesapeake Bay, its salubrity is
scarcely less remarkable than the sylvan beauty of
its surroundings. Go where one will he will
meet throughout this suburban semicircle with
delicious bits of inland scenery, and from the
holder eminences with magnificent views of the
City and Bay. Cottages and villa residences
nestle among the foliage of the well-wooded
slopes, where they add to the attractions
of the landscape, of which they form part, and
tempt their owners to forget, in rural quiet and Sc
clusion, the noise and hustle of crowded streets
and the cares and anxieties of business. But pro-
prietary rights in fields and groves even when
their dimensions are limited, can only be acquired
by n few, and the problem TO be solved is how
best to provide similar source of enjoyment to
the many The answer has been so often practi-
cay exemplifed elsewhere, and never more strik-
ingly than under the governments of the old
world that we need but cite what has been done
there TO illustrate what isineumbent upon our own
authorities. They must do as the Bostonians did
wisely years ago; as New York and Philadel-
phia, and Brooklyn and Cincinnati are now do
ing; they must secure 10 the people spacious
Park, before the site which is best adapted to such
purpose is built upon, and while the land can be
had at low price when compared with what it
will bring ten years hence Five hundred acres
is the smallest area that should be set apart for
public pleasure ground, for consideration must
be had to the future wants of our citizens and
any calculations that are based upon what might
suffice for our present population some two hum
dred and seventy-five thousand, would fall far
short OF the requirements of population which, if
it increases at the same rate that it has done dur
ing the last twenty years, will exceed half mil
lion of souls within thirteen years from this time,
and If the same ratio OF progress is continued,
will number a million of inhabitants by
the time the child which is now in the
cradle reaches the first years of manhood. 1t is
possible that events may occur which will tend to
retard that rapidly of growth for which our city
has been distinguished; but it is quite as possible
that we shall move forward at an accelerated pace
There are agencies at work now to conduce 10 an
extension of our material prosperity which were
altogether imperative up TO the year 1890. We
had no Railways then. Our immense coal fields
were not opened. Four-horse teams drawing
heavy ConestOga wagons at an average rate of
speed of less than three miles an hour, formed our
only means of transporting merchandise to the
West, or of bringing back the agricultural pro-
ducts of that fertile region. From the valley of
the Ohio Northward to the Great Lakes and from
the shores of the latter Westward to the Missis.
sippi, was almost an unbroken wilderness. In
less than thirty years the steadily advancing wave
ofpopulation has overlooked all that vast region
and rolling still Westward now beats at the foot
of the Rocky mountains. With this immense field
for commercial enterprise Baltimore possesses fac
ties for communicating that are at all events
equal, and are, in some respects superior to those
OF any other seaboard city, and as the tendency OF
population, since the introduction of Railways is
to abandon the smaller inland towns and concen-
trate upon the great centres of trade, there is
every to believe that our annual rate of in
crease in population will be as steadily maintain
ed IN The future as it has been in the past In
looking forward to this expansion it is wise
economy 10 be prepared to minister to the popular
enjoyment, if in so doing, the cause of good
morals and the health of the community NAV be
thereby promoted. The material prosperity of
every mart of trade depends to q much greater ex-
tent upon its sanitary condition than persons are
apt to imagine. After close confinement to their
business all men desire some relaxation 1t is
necessity of their being. The rich can recruit
I'm tha -bo
rich, it is the duty of the civil authorities to make
suitable provision. How well this is understood
abroad, and how faithfully it has been acted upon
the following facts will show. London has over six
thousand acres of parks and pleasure grounds
either within its own limits or in the accessible
suburbs-where all who choose may ride or drive
or ramble at their pleasure. During the summer
months not less than twenty thousand people
throng those sylvan retreats daily. Paris has its
Gardens Of the Tuilleries, and its Elysian fields
and not far distant the noble parks of Yer
salleS and st. Cloud, and Fonainbleau-all of
which are freely thrown open to the people
Vienna is equally distinguished for the number
and extent of its parks and promenades. In adj
dition to the Bastei ramparts, which formerly
encircled the old town, but which have been con-
verted into promenade three miles in circumfer-
ence, there are public walks laid out on the glacs;
the Volk$gdrten; the fine grounds and gardens
attached to the palaces of Liechtenstien, Rasum-
owsky, Schwartzenburg and Belvedere; and
In the suburbs, there is also park called
the Prdter, six miles in length, traversed by
an equal number Of avenues, and separated
into three divsions-one for horsemen one for
pedestrians, and the broad road between for car
rlages. Munich, which, inclusive of its SUBJ
urbs, does not contain more than one hundred
and ten thousand inhabitants, has "a superb plea
'sure ground covering five hundred acres, and
in the free city of Frankfort the old walls and for
hhcations, which formerly protected the town,
have been RACED 10 the ground the stagnant ditch
es filled, and the area they occupied, together with
the gacis, has been converted into spacious Park
like grounds and gardens. These are examples
which we might well be content to follow. The
little bits of greenery which we call Squares"
however ornamental they may be to particular
locality, are of dimensions too limited to be used
as places OF popular resort, and, in a sanitary
point of view, are comparatively worthless A
Park is what the people require and what they
ought to have-a broad area of flowers and turf
and foliage, where choice may be had between
private walks and public promenades; between
rides and drives, and where all classes of the COM
munity shall be privileged TO breathe the fresh I'M
tainted air. and enjoy themselves, under proper
rules and regulations, as they may think proper.
--~------
The FIRST OF THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONS FOR Or
SERVING THE SOLAR ECLIPSE of July 1sth will leave
New York to-day for Washington Territory. The
Others will follow for Labrador and the Hudsons
Bay Territory at later dates, the proper stations