The Portland daily press., 1865-11-10
Letter from the Federal Capital.
- y II WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 1855.

Letter from the Federal Capital.
81 X II WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 1856.
To the Editor of the Press: 49, t--.n
GLOW is it" asked an eastern tyrant OF an
Arab whom he met one day, show is it that
during my reign there has been no pesti-
lencep" because" replied the intrepid son
of the desert. sGod is too good to send two
such curses at oncen 3, That the rebellion and
cholera did not come together, is surely a
ground of thankfulness; and though the latter
curse has followed hard upon the former, yet
now, no less than in those days when David
chose the pestilence rather than the sword
is the visitation of God more merciful than the
violence of men. Happily this terrible destroy
er, though it no longer stalks on its mission
of destruction with the strides of man, rest
ing each night days journey westward from
the spot where it broke camp in the morning,
but having already darkened half the cities of
Europe, with its sable pinions, has even now
winged its way across sea to our shores, is
nevertheless an evil against which we are not
helpless. No quarantine or sanitary police, it
is true, can long arrest the progress of this
curse Of God upon the wickedness and the
the uncleanness of men, yet it does not come
upon us with the resistless march of an earth
quake or the inevitable swoop Of the tornado.
Wherever the same conditions, which called
| into exercise this awful scourge, shall demand
| is chastisement, there it will CO. Wherever
vice and filth, degradation and squalor invites
| its lashes, there will fall its blows not lighter
than the crushing stroke of the fail, or more
tolerable than the coiling thong Of the knout.
Remove these causes, and the lowering dam
ger will pass by us as harmless as summer
shower II I II 81 Z
What means will be used to prepare this
city for the presence of our CHASTITY visitan,'
L know not. Those gentlemen Of straw at the
city hall, yclept the city government, win prob
ably do as much to kelp the cholera at bay as
last summers scare-scrows, perhaps somewhat
more. Though the city reeks with filth and
pestiferous stenches, no thoroughly efficient
or adequate measures need be expected till
the meeting of Congress. When the members
of, that body arrive, and find, as they possibly
may, the apestilence here to welcome them,
they will probably take the matter in hand
with energy.
The political atmosphere hereabout is still
quiet. Seldom anything occurs more ex-
citing than the arrival of some notorious
ex-rebel in quest of executive clemency, or
his departure with his pardon well down in his
pocket. So benignly are these contumacious
children OF @wayward sisters, received at the
old national, homestead, so nightly do the
lank bowels of their Uncle Sam move and
yearn towards these returning if not repent
antprodigals, that we shall hardly be surprised
if the bravest attire, and the highest seat at
the feast be accorded them That the per-
jured plotters and instigators of rebellion
the most utterly and atrociously criminal ever
known since the existence of government on
earth, and the blood-stained actors in it
should be allowed every one to escape that
punishment which is not only prescribed for
their crimes by the organic law of the land,
but is approved as necessary by the experience,
and as just by the judgment and conscience OF
the whole civilized world; nay, more, that
those who devised and those who executed the
fiendish system of murder by slow torture,
practised SO generally upon our prisoners in
rebel hands, should, witllthe exception OF one
miserable and, insignificant wretch, be permit
ted to go unwhipped of justice-this, surely, is
| something new under the sun. Whether we
do not carry this sublime magnanimity one
step beyond the sublime, may perhaps admit
of many doubts. II the claims of justice may
| a1x1r 1,o obof -,
as this, might it not be difficult to name one
in which its exactions should be enforced ?
The political atmosphere here is quiet, but
the hull is felt to be ominous. If there's not
soon to break upon us such storm OF con-
ficting sentiments and passions, prejudices
then all these omens are deceptive. If uni
versal amnesty is to be granted, reconstruc-
ton still remains an unsolyed problem. If
despair of indemnity for the past, we cannot,
without the most criminal dereiction of duty,
failto exact security for the future.
The Soldiers Free Library and Reading
Room in this city, which during three years
past has been to SO many soldiers a source of
great pleasure and profit is no longer needed
for its original purpose. It contains more
than four thousand volumes, to which has
been added from various hospitals now discon-
tinued, about three times as many more, MAX
ing in all a collection of at least twelve thou
sand volumes. This has been turned over to
the Freedmen's Bureau, for the use of the col
ored people. The library building has under
gone such changes as are necessary to adapt it
to this great increase of books, and also to fit
it for purposes of education and religious wor-
ship. So noble and worthy charity, placing
SO large collection of reading matter within
reach OF the colored people of the District,
cannot fail to promote intelligence among
them, and to stimulate the already general de-
sire for education. .l'l3 % E4sa
The Stanton Hospital was discontinued a
fortnightisince, and the Douglas last THURSDAY.
The Hardwood, which was once incorrectly
reported as suspended, alone remains in oper
alton. All the rest of that vast system OF hos
pitfalls in and around the city, which but latey
sheltered a number of sick and wounded men
equal to more than half the population of
Portland, has melted away like the armies
which furnished them patients. The build
ings, as well as those connected with the dis
nlantled forts around the city, are being sold
at auction. The poor, and indeed many 9TH
ers, thus enjoy excellent facilities for providing
themselves with the means of erecting COM,
Portable habitations. Much other government
property is also sold upon terms very advanta-
geous to the buyers. ~ s5.f f.,-i TSP.
Population of Large Cities.
@The Boston Journal has taken pains, for the
information of readers by whom the census
table can not be easilv cons,,+od a.. ',n,,olo ~,