Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-05-29
RICHMOND WHIG.
MONDAY MORNING.......MAY 30, 1865.
A TRIP TO NEW YORK.
A CoNTRAsT-THE SCENERY on JAMES RIVER
LOCKED UP IN A sTATE-RooM-THE MEN,
oF-wAR IN HAMPTON ROADS, ETC.
Corresponding Of The Whig.l

NEW YORK, May ZZ, looo'
From city besieged for years and devas-
tated by fire to city rejoicing in the blaze
of civilization, is matter of thirty six hours
travel, and yet it is like the awakening to
new life. From acres of blackened ruins,
endless files of blue-coated soldiery, shops
filed mainly with canned fruits, and from
crowds of emancipated negroes, we step, as
it were in the twinkling of an eye, into the
dazzling splendor Of mighty metropolis,
where there are few soldiers and scarcely
any negroes, where ruins are replaced by
towering business palaces, and where the
shop windows are effulgent with jewels of sill
yer and gold, with works Of utility and art,
with everything that tempts the eye and the
palate or adds TO the comfort and pleasure OF
man. The transition is sudden, strange; the
effect upon the nerves peculiar and not easily
described. All this luxury and splendor is
not entirely novel to us; we remember to
have seen the same things and to have expe-
renced much the same sensations years ago,
ever so many years; we recall them grad
ually, and experience the fact, which seemed
once fable of the East, that we are return
ing TO a lost life. 1t is genuine metempsy-
Ghosts, which does not shock and hardly
startles us, simply because it is fact and
not fiction.
The trip down the James river is full Of
interest to the citizen of Richmond, however
familiar he may have been in times past with
the river scenery. After he passes Chaffin's
Bluff he enters that enchanted land of mill
tary works, planned and executed on the most
gigantic scale, Of which he has heard and
read so much, but Of which he knows so lit
tie, and, may add, Of which he is not likely
to know very much more after he has passed
hastily through it. Such is the tortuosty OF
the stream, so varied and so vast are the for
tihcations, that it is frequently impossible
for the inexperienced eye to tell the Confed-
crate from the Federal lines, and very much
doubt whether the discovery would ever have
been made by the belligerents themselves had
| it not been for the timely admonitions OF the
sharpshooters of the respective sides. Gen.
tlemen who fancy they know something about
defensive war and permanent works will do
well to 90 down the river some fine morning
and take look around. Their little hallu-
cination will soon be dissipated, and they
will be more surprised than ever that the
Confederate forces held these complicated
lines so long against such great odds.
Everybody was anxious to see Butler
canal, and when everybody saw it, everybody
voted il, as the Parisians did the eclipse OF
the sun, a humbug. Since then, it seems, a
steamer has passed through it, and the big
ditch may yet prove useful, in spite of the
world of ridicule heaped upOnit. One thing,
however, nobody considered humbug, and
that was the evidence OF the enormous re-
sources of the United States, as exhibited in
the numerous well-built wharycs, the long,
commodious store houses, and the streets of
comfortable huts, which came into view as
the steamer swiftly descended the stream.-
Uncle Sam is beyond all question rich and
powerful, as all the trebels" on board ad-
mitted. City Point, which is now really a
small city, did not bless the eyes Of your
correspondent, for the reason that he had re-
tired to a state-ro0m to take nap, and,
awaking Just as the boat reached the Point,
found himself, greatly to his chagrin and
slightly TO his alarm, locked in. After fran
tic efforts to get through the sky-light, he
fell back as a last resort upon the reserve
forces of his lungs, and beloved Justify,
"steward stewardess waiter captain
mister you there anybody come and let
me out for Heavens sake |" Finally some
body did let him out, but only in time for
him to catch dissolving view of the shipping
at City Point.
Nothing Of interest occurred while we were
passing Upper and Lower Brandon, and the
ancient tower at jamestown, which is still
intact, unhurt by the war or the Unsuitable
hands of relic hunters. At Newport News
the mast of the Cumberland and the hulk OF
the Congress, destroyed by the Merrimac, are
still to be seen. Quite town has been erect
ed here, and just below it you see the great
pen or stockade which encloses several acres,
apparently, of contrabands, who, at our ap-
proach, swarmed on the beach like bees.
Here, too, we saw the first Monitor and an
iron clad sloop- -of-war. Very soon we were
in Hampton Roads, crowded with craft Of all
sorts, and were speedily on the wharf at
Fortress Monroe, awaiting the arrival of the
Baltimore boat from Norfolk. Old Point
Comfort is now lively and brisk beyond the
conception of people who have not seen it
since the war. The new buildings, which hioe
completely the hotel, the many little tugs,
the monster gun on the fort, the ships-of-war
of many nations, with the small boats plying
to and from them, the long line OF casemates
at the Rip-Raps, the steamboats, from Wash
ington. Baltimore and other cities, all con-
tributed to the pleasing and animated spec
tace. One sight was peculiarly striking
Two war vessels-one French, the other
English-lay almost side by side in the har-
bor. Hard by, with her ports all yawning
and the ugly muzzles of her guns protruding,
Law the iron-clad Dictator, while close at
hand single and double-turreted Monitors,
flying the United States flag, gave as it were
ominous warning to the two strangers. 1t
was also observed that the boats which piled
between the shore and the United States
vessels were more stylish and more numer-
ously manned than the French or English
boats. Here again the wealth and power Of
the Great Republic were impressively dis
played. @
must leave myself and your readers on
the wharf, and defer until my next ludi-
crous scene which occurred on the Bay boat,
and an account of how fearfully and wonder
fully made this prodigious seaport town OF