Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-03-18
wnshInston Corre,poodence.

y When, in an unguarded moment, prom
ised to write to you of the effect of the In
augural Address, meant to keep my prom
Use; but the nextday was such day as is
seen but once in the lifetime of any man
other than traveller in Sahara or a denizen
Of Washington. Such dust clouds They
chased each other down the avenue; they
played at hide-and. seek in the side streets;
they ran up alleys; they invaded houses;
they filed the vehicles that were brave
enough toventure out; they wrapped comely-
dressed men and women in their pulverulent
folds, and when the victims were seen again,
they were asby and gray, like millers fresh
from their labor or pilgrims In Lent. And
dproPoos OF Lent, you Of the PRESS, whose
orthodoxy is SO notable, are aware that upon
the Ash-W Wednesday which begins the solemn
fast of Lent, it is the custom of good Mother
Church to sprinkle ashes upon the foreheads
OF her children, saying, Remember, o man,
that dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou
return" Its In this city the ceremony il is
said, is amended so that the devout ar sim
ply led into the streets from the church, aud
when they are sufficiently besprirl,leA, are
brought back into the sacred edifee. where
the priest says, "Remember man, that
thou art dusty, and through dust and in dust
and with dust shalt thou return to thy last
and usual place of abode"
ou may rely upon the abovR as being
fully as correct as the majority of special
dispatches.
THE GOVERNMENT PAYS.
Now all this might be prevented if the
people Of Washington had any of what is
known as public spirit. The United States
Government has brought water into their
city, and there are plugs all through the
streets. 1t is simply necessary to attach
hose and sprinkle the streets. But the peos
pie, whose streetpaving and street-lighting
bills are mostly betrayed by the Govern
ment, are too lazy to water their streets with
the water that has been given them, and
snxiously await an appropriation to do il by
Congress. l forgot to state that the United
States also pays $4,000 year to support
| the worthless police of this town, who break
into Republican Wigwams when not en-
| gagged in drinking with pimpc and roughs.
In one thing, certainly, the Government of
the United States has been failure. l refer
to the Capital. ''The idea of the fathers
was, suppose, to build up city where re-
fined men and women of means would con-
gregate, to decorate it with fine public build
ings, and to have it sufficiently removed
from direct commercial influences to pro.
| cure for legislators that perfect freedom from
corrupt pressure necessary to purity of po-
litical action. What is the result2
A city that has such fine buildings as the
Patent Office, land there is no finer specimen
ofthat style of building in the world )fauked
and faced by rotten tumble down structures
that seem transplanted from Chatham. street,
New York. society that has its men and
women,of ofdistinctiont, to be sure; but has also
its crowds of roueS male and female pecu-
MARY and matrimonial gamblers. The at
tempt to make this the center of science
and literature for the country has also failed.
The Smithsonian Institute and the WASH
ington Observatory have their Importance,
doubtless. But what are they beside the
libraries and collections of Philadelphia,
New York, Cambridge, Boston2
II we are to separate North and South, it
is to be hoped that by no compromise or
concession, can the North be cajoled into
taking Washington.
TWO CoNFEDERAcIEs.
| And that we are to separate seems to me
each day clearer. We are two people. The
man of the Gulf States and the man of the
Free States are two different men with very
| little knowledge, the one of the other, or
love, the one to the other. Their theories
OF life are utterly diverse; their aspirations
| ana their endeavors. They may be kept to.
| gether by the bond of common selfishness,
but when either party thinks be will do bet
ter without the other, the natural antagon-
ism will rule, and the paper bond that nomi-
nallyunited them, be snapped. These views
are gaining ground here, and recent events
would seem to indicate their adoption by the
Administration.
EVACUATION OF FORT sUMPTER.
The withdrawal of the troops from Fort
Sumter has been, l believe, determined
upon. The military advisers of the Cabinet
| say that it is impossible to re enforce the
| Enrf Nit los Al.
batteries on Morris, Sullivan and Johnson's
Island. They say further, that provisions
must be put in at once, or the troops taken
out. They declare the reinforcement
military impossibility, and say that block
| ade can be kept up and the revenues collected
| by ourGovernment much easier than the re-
quisite thousands of men gathered for the
re- enforcement of a fort of no strategic i'm
! portance. Now this may all be as it is rep
resented. But this is square back-down
from the talk in the Inaugural about holding
and maintaining the property Of the United
States. Then again, we have no direct pub
lished statements from military authorities
confirming the views advanced by the news
paper correspondents. And yet again, it
4 does not seem to me that the storming and
silencing of the batteries about Sumter are
necessary to its reinforcement. Anderson
can set Charleston on fire by red hot balls
from Sumter. You remember Scott sub
dued the Castle of Vera Cruz by bombarding
the town. Can not Anderson silence the
Light house batteries by firing Charleston2
1t is said he has no fuel to heat his balls.
But shells do not require heating, and he has
shells.
Looking at the matter in all its bearings
II would seem that the Administration had
come TO recognize Secession as fact, and
had concluded that as we must separate, it
were as well to do tpeaceably as after long
struggle. In what other light can the order
TO eVaeuate Fort Sumter be regarded2
GUARDING THE CAPITAL.
1t is said that the Texas troops and Major
Anderson and his command will be ordered
to this city. The concentration of troops
here may mean fear of an attack, or it may
mean that this is the most convenient place
for rendezvous. at would be singular"
said one Washingtonian to another, in my
hearing, a day or two ago, sit would be
| singular, if in two months JEFF Davis should
have possession OF. Washington
Should the troops be withdrawn from Fort
| Sumter, should not be surprised if the
| Southern heart, which has been fired up to
such an extraordinary pitch, were to demand
the Capitol, and march heTe-particularly if
Virginia could be induced to secede
ir R0DERIGK RANDOM.
AETEoEDENTs OF Mrs. CORE, THE NOVELIST
I A friend of the late Mrs. Gore sends to the
| AtheHsHnI few notes on the family of that
! brilliant and Unknown parsonage Mrs
| Gore, we are told, was a Miss Moody, of