, 1861-11-07

CA7ss-THe SHitlessness'' Of Slaseru-Fka
tures Of The Rfgion-A MaTyland Farmer ID
Home The Synpathies Of the Ropze-Hoat
Sannbo is taught to viswt tte Wa'-E5Vect 0ersQ1
oses the Rtomac-1ne rebel Batteries a re6e
Brigade ReaIeso-Fbsey and his blossoms Of re-
5eAto's-Fbrage, de-, dc.
WARRINGTON, Friday, Nov. I, 1861.
The Potomac Is closed. That seems long
ago to have been settled. First the reporters
those early birds always in guest Of verntcula1
prizes in the news item line, declared it
Then they took 1t back to declare it ovel
again.. Day after day the river grew mort
and more constipate the number Of trans
ports below waiting to come up accumulated
the fleet Of vessels above waiting to 60 down
became alarmingly large, headed by the Pensa'
cola, fresh from the navy yard, who lay he1
dark length along in front Of Alexandria, mol
Ventnring to try the issue withrebel batteries
latent once, patent now, and long expectani
Of some river visitor worthy ss their steel' o,
rather " Floyd's steez" since their big guns are
Finally, after all the reporters had wearied
OF saying, what all Washington knew and fell
Is in basket, and in store ~ after the one hun
dred and sixty shells that gave the Reso1ute
and the Rescue with their vessels in tow 60
dangerous q gauntlet; after the Fairfax was
captured, their cometh an official report
1.-THE POTOMAC Is CLOSED"
'tWho hath believed our report e' said the
reporters, JubllaDt at such confirmation from
the commander Of the Potomac fotilIa. II n
not proper to discuss whether the Potomac
ought ever to have been closed. must take
facts as they are, and wait to chronicle that II
1s open again. II it be done by powder and
ball, then it may come In play to query Wheth,
er the ounce Of prevention" might not have
had all the usual relative value that has come
to be claimed Tor 1t by Us civilians. Suppose
We take look down this same river POTOMAC,
There seems to be but one course, If we would
send the fruits Of cur research to the readers
OF the TRIBUNE. To pass down the Virgins
ehore might have the unpleasant result of add
ing to the news items of The Richmond press,
Ny email capture would do them,no good. ]
nave reasons tor ohjecting to pushing my in.
south along the Potomac than where the Left
OF our line, in Heintzelman's division, reets.
near the Occoquan, or say ten or twelve mi1ea
eouth OF Alexandria. That would show us nd
near view Of rebel batteries, save under the
unpleasant and inevitable contingencies noted.
NOT Ii the o:d rule OF so middle coHrse the
safe one" in force, since besides that there Is
of craft ernnaa1 r. raha1 nob1.o " VIC 4eea H
hjars il MT aTact11 -. 4ha haet ;taa anu fax. M
calm contemplation that should characterize
the non-combatant observer Of martial events.
we must go down the Maryland shore. And
Gil We started following in the wake Of Gen
eral slckels, whose Excelsior brigade and Cen
~ aoohers sans e olH1sion went down this road
ss,1 sen nasn 9go: 1ne cay IS glorious Indian
end 4aa,,7. - us set lorto INTO that narrow
1ana ~ WMeh Aeth between the Potomac and the
fGnesapeahe. faass.n Inc Nus Is not the editorial
in1ly, 1oiihnsry, nut expressive OF the persons com
pce1E7lng lne caValcaae OF three, that went out
q washington by tue road that 1eadeth to the
navy 1aid, and thence BY the bridge to the
!Maafy1and shore. The sentry looks sharply at
1n me lniee norsemen, apparently uumili. ,ry
anG eqIoe1tiy go1ten up for the road and eX-
perlenees By The wayeide, for ne have before
US "a nde o. nifty miles.
lne road Wllds up the hill that Is crowned
W. " t4e lohg pr.ck Pile OF buildings, the Hos
RnM ior tae insane, and thence downward
mmong tae river. Ihe eastern shore Of the
Iotomac, as me maps Will show, is broadly
eeIIaIeo Wlth deep bays and creeks, and the
route ls made devious and long by the nature
OF me bold and broken country. We wind
among h1lls, and for the first few miles of the
Ioute pass various military works in progress,
that show their threatening embrasures to the
soutMWaro, II NUMBER, frequency and position,
sufficient guarantee that the enemy, if they
ma1cn up that PiscataTay road, will not
marcn oack agam IN the same order, unless
the retreat be early begun.
Inc hr6t point to be made is the town of
!tifcataWay, sixteen miles south of Washing
ton, in a wide and deep valley that taEes 15e
same name from the creek which theEce flows
INC me fotomac.. cannot take the reader
INTO fu1 confidence in anything like an aae.
fSF
throughout 8 charming and romantic me
1t Is no wonder that the earliest corners saW
and appreciated the beauties Of the ra.
g1on. No riverside on the continent
not even the charming Hudson, can
parallel the delicious glimpses Of landscane
which cbafacte1ize ride down the Potomac.
now stretching far away with the blue river as
q foreground, to the opposite hills Of Virginia a.
its slopes rising tier On tier, and dotted with
the White eneampments: Of onr tronns . ~
gaining BY wide sweep Of the road fo +he
westward the view up the river. giVinr the
magnificent panorama Of which Washington
Is ne centre, with the heights Of George own
and the long range Of wood crowned hills the
background; or again in some winding cove
an apparently lard locked expanse Teffect-
ing in its waters the hillsides gorgeous witt,
autumn hues. Thus much for tI1e natural ~. ~.
fractions Of the route, And this was I'll
!. AH,-for along this whole ride, shutting ont
the view which takes in the capital. Fl man
bas done anything to enhance or improve na.
lure and the Landscape, I failed to see it. There
Is nothing that does not painfully remind one
of the tbriftlessness Of section cursed bv an
institution now, by its own election. at open
issue before the world with freedom and free
labor. ~
,, Ihe region is ofcourse among the Oldest Set
lied sections of the United States The well Wa-
tered garden that Lord Baltimore found and se-
cured to his colony. And it does not look the bet
ter Tor the lapse Of time the husbandman and
Of vacant farmhouses. Rnmesteada
and outhouses fastening to decay, such s11c-
cession Of worn ont fields, the thin soil ton
poor Tor even blade of grass: whole acres,
once farms, turned out to Commons, niIes or'
miles along the roadside once in cultivation
even up 10 scrubbJ pines in no place neat.
lldy FENCES nowhere the evidence of skillfui
agriculture; such are the aspects and the pre-
TTanllang Tn feature Of this section of Maryland.
hnere ,rae. are tracts there that no adventurous
tIoop Of grashoppers would dare cross without
taxing lunch along, whole farms Withont
verdure, save where stinted crops Of corn and
tobacco are eoaxed by unski;lfi11 nroneee ~ ~
The contrabands are nnwaTons ssss "
and we're plenty in the fields gathering s the
corn harvest. Many Of the residents are small
farmers, hiring their three to five hundred
acres, at from twenty-five to fifty cents an
acre from large landed proprietors II mnst
have been in this very section fiat The chears
ful minded hero resided who bade fhe stranger
take notice that he was. moi 20 nonr . noo1ee
be thought he WAS, ufor he i7if mi o1au ~
land" have seen the 0roatnds fnr a;m,;1ar
ankfulness, and doubt If thev Wnnld he anv
for your Illinois farmers.
All this while, as We are making thesa Oh
ser7ationE, We Journey on at a 1T,;at naae az ~.
Fira miles On f%-3@ ~