The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-12-23

xeNTs AND GRAVES OF HOLLYWOOD GENE
| TzRY-THx CAPITOL AND IT'S ORNAMENTS
THE UNION cEsfETERY-JEFFERsoN pAv1s's
MANSION. .pres
| Correspondence of the Boston Advertiser.
RICHMOND, VA, December 8, 1868.
|, When we opened our windows at the
Exchange Hotel in Richmond in the morn
| ing could have sworn I was in Boston at
the foot Of Copp's Hill, 30 precisely like
sheafe street did q narrow, clean, paved
lane climb the opposite slope. Richmond
rises on an abrupt conicsl hill, with the
broad river sweeping its foot. Il is 30
! bright and beautiful in the sunlight that
one has difficulty to recall Pocahontas, and
In more than one happy spot may wholly
forget that there ever was civil war.
When one stops gazing at magnoliss, hollies,
| and catalpas, at the grand old manors set
in open squares, with broad piazzas, one
begins to wonder that there are no carriages
in the streets-that no ladies with gay
dresses brighten, the walks. But in FIVE
hours of driving did not pass or meet
carriage, nor did see white woman's
face, save three tired teachers going home
to dinner! Our barouche drove first, Of
course, to CANDLES HILL" well-known
bluff overhanging the river and confronting
the town, and the world cannot do much
| more than match the picture spread out be-
fore US. Here the foreground was the re-
built Petersburg bridge, Belle Isle, the
ruins of the United States arsenal, and the
forges where the rebels made all the bar
bsrous enginery of war, and whose gigantic
fires still fash through the night. Beyond
these rose the grandly-planted town, Of
whose position, difficulty of approach,
and natural right to resist, nothing
had hitherto given one any idea. All
around, the country was broken by gaps
and hollows-and no spear of grass grows
on the red and yellow clay. We drove on
to Hollywood Cemetery, where the sar-
oophsgus of President Monroe, claimed by
the State of Virginia, lies beneath an ab-
surdly gigantic bird-csge done in red iron.
Near by, the little boys snd girls Of Vir-
ginis y have raised white marble stone" !"
to the son of their " beloved President.
Jefferson Davis Do not forget, oh north
ern reader, that the rcse-buds lie fresh end
dewy on this grave while you read. Hun
dreds of graves in this enclosure have no
other monument than fresh fowers-and
on one side $500 rebel soldiers lie, marked
only by numbers at the heads of the
trenches. Below we look over the charm
ing rapids of the river, above wave catal-
pas and magnolias, clothed with ivy like
garment. It's hedges were studded with
the red berries Of the holly and the
cressima, and magnificent crimson and
white roses made the cold air fragrant and
suggested warmth.
Everybody has heard Of the capitol in
Richmond, but no dream can exaggerate
the beauty Of its natural position. In the
centre of the city, in the midst of large,
cultivated square, it .overlooks the whole
town in far grander way than Boston
State-house ever can again. From this
southern Doric porch Washington more
than once spoke truth to the reluctant ears
Of Virginia. Before it, once stood the auc-
ton block upon which men were sold be-
low it, sings the river its eternal anthem
and requiem Of freedom and love. On one
side rises the equestrian statue Of Wash
ington, just on the point of sliding hope
lessly from its pedestal, surrounded by the
absurd and inharmonious body-guard of
Nelson, Marshall, Lewis, Henry, Mason,
and Jefferson In the vestibule as we en-
ter is Houdon's statue Of the Father Of his
Country. The halls where treason was
hatched are dreary and dirty enough. Here,
at least, the "trade of government is
ended. The House of Assembly boasts
portrait of Pitt, taken in high-tragedy cos
tune, with naked knees and floating man
tie, that would have been barred out from
the House Of Commons to certainty
Here, too, is the chair of state, shaped like
a sentry box, which George III. presented
to the House Of Burgesses in ITO. Wash
ington sat here only that Jefferson Davis
might succeed him. Aunt Betsey Trotwood
ought to come over to cry " Donkeys !" and
air the cushions This is matched by q
stove sent at the same time, and which now
stands in the vestibule. 1t is one of the
earliest cast-iron structures made by Bal
zero in the good city of London. 1t con-
sists Of three diminishing triumphal
arches, set upon each other, and then
upon spiders legs, to the height of ten
feet or 30. Magma Charta ornaments one
side, enwreathed in laurels-the shield of
Virginia the other. It acted like brazier,
and is now degraded to occasionally roasting
few peanuts for the hucksters. From the
cupola we see the little church where Pat
rick Henry first exclaimed "Give me lib
erty or give me DEATH" 1t has been con-
secrated afresh by the opening there of a
free school for the poor whites under the
Memorial Society. To the north, Nc
Clellan's entrenchments are still visible
monuments of perversity and moral cow
ardice; to the south lie Libby and Belle
Isle. The bright little colored boy Of ten
years who had "taken out lease" to
showths building pointed out in the library
an old portrait of Lord Colebrook, and 8
section Of hveoak tree in which the heart
wood, by curious distortion, plainly por-
trayed human leg. -%
Then We drove out to see the rebel breast
works and the Union Cemetery, passing on
our way by Castle Thunder and Libby, the
former now serving the more innocent pur-
pose of tobacco warehouse. 1.never wish
to be so I" Christian" as to forget the deeds
done here. If do, may perhaps forget
that liberty is Gods gift to all men. In the
Union Cemetery lie 6 1900 Of our dead. Every
grave is doubly numbered on how many,
alas was inscribed the word Unknown"
This s' Potter's Field" was decorated with
the verses Of poem-printed on single
shields and ranged around central flag
staff. They began at the gate, where /
read over the door of the lodge: - -
On Times eternal camping ground
The soldiers tent is spread.
While glory guards, with solemn round,
The biyouac Of the dead
AS / had business at headquarters, /
ended my day by inspecting JEFF. DaVis's
mansion. It was bought Of private citi-
zen by the city of Richmond for the -Presi-
dent Of the Confederate States. How dared
be sit in his "priyate cabinet" with the