Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-03-07
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON.
To the Editors of the Union and American.

l w ASHlNdIONs 41GAOA AVN
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, Gas thu
Snowman says:) The performances at the
| National Theater are about to CON-
mence; the musicians are tuning thelI
instruments, and the curtain will shortly
rise. An immense audience from al
parts Of the country is assembled, all
expectation, but strange to say, the pro-
gramme has not been distributed at this
late hour, and nobody can tell whether
we shall have a comedy or q tragedy,
| We only know the name of the bright
particular star who is about to make his
first appearance in new role. Who the
stock actors shall be, and whether they
will support him satisfactorily, we cannot
tell. The managers at the capitol look
troubled, and are as silent as set
Of sphynx. Andrew j. have taken =
snug seat in the reporters box, and will
watch coming events. Fiddle away and
let the curtain rise. Until then / will
talk railroads and hotels to you. 1t is
useless to tell how l got here, for / did
not come on velocipede or in Prof.
Duvars aerial ship. Ali l remember is
that we had to pay tribute to several no.
tells on the road where we bolted our
allotted quantity of good or Indifferent
food in the legal twenty minutes, and
that we were packed as closely as her.
rings as there was but one train South.
We came here under very prOpitiously
loyal circumstances, as the train ahead
Of US had the Lieutenant Governor of
Alabama on board, and the one who fol-
lowed US contained His Eminence Gov.
Brownlow and suite l shall feel fully
justified to hold up my head pretty high
after that, and woe to the man who calls
me disloyal.
The only observation l made upon the
road is highly important one, and ex-
plains to US poor sinners down South the
cause Of the continual sights and cuffs
we are receiving from headquarters. On
crossing the Potomac | obtained a full
view of the national capital, and OBJ
served, to my sorrow, that the dusky
Goddess of Liberty perched upon its
dome had her back turned upon the land
of the South, and looked patronizingly
upon the land of the Pilgrim Fathers.
Don't you see?
The city looks at this time as it did
during the war, and is filled with another
Grand Army of Patriots from all parts
of the Union, who have come here to
witness the Inauguration, with petition
slyly peeping out of their breast pockets.
The Northern and Western States are
represented by army corps and divisions,
and even the Southern States can muster
full brigades of such pilgrims. Go
wherever you will and you find fa~
miliar faces from Tennessee or Alabama
Some of the hotels have been trans
formed into regular headquarters for
these Southrons, such as the Seaton
House, which is filled up with TennesS
seeans and Alabamians. Rooms are in
great demand, and the price of board
has doubled. Landlords, like
corporations seem to have no souls. Just
think of it. Senator Hendricks, who has
been boarding at one Of our first hotels
for the last two years, and who must
have brought much patronage to the
house, told me that his landlord had just
informed him that the price Of his board
ing would have to be doubled daring in-
auguration week. Wizards Hotel is full
from top to bottom, and mattresses are
spread in all available corners of the
house. A common boarding house in
my neighborhood charges So per day,
and gets boarders at that, and only two
meals day. Every house seems to have
been turned into a clearinghouse, and
several shareholders in one bed are not
uncommon. BY tomorrow, roosting-
poles will be in demand.
President Johnson's last reception took
place last night, and the crowd there was
unprecedented in the history Of Wash
ington receptions: so say the oldest in~
habitants. tried to get into the White
House, but found it almost impossible,
and | dared not risk my new store clothes
in that human maelstrom which was
surging in and out of the Presidents
house. The Chronicle even speaks
quite enthusiastically about it. In fact,
Forney sees the handwriting upon the
wall, and is coming somewhat to his
senses. His paper has assumed milder
tone, and has ceased to be the receptacle
Of everything injurious to the South. 1t
is, in fact, no longer the Southern PO-
ltce Gazette, filled with real and imag-
mary horrors from that section.
Going up to the capitol yesterday, l
saw an immense crowd of negroes with
bags and baskets almost storrning a
dwelling house upon Capitol Hill. On
inquiry, | found it to be the Proyident
Society's Souphouse, where the poor
may find relief. This is all very well,
but found nine tenths of the applicants
to be negroes, and most of them young
and hale men and women, who could
have cleared $500 apiece in the cotton
or corn field, and thus aided US and the
nation in its work of reconstruction. As
it is, the charity dealt out to them tenn
porarily makes them helpless and will
prove a curse to all concerned, and the
men of the nation must be blind not to
see it. 1t was only last week that they
appropriated $4,000 for the poor (mean-
ing negro OF this District. | tried to
induce some of them to go South with
me, and promised them good wages, but
they all scornfully refused. The secret
is that their votes are wanted here and
they cannot be spared, and thus they
must be supported at the expense OF the
nation.
When the curtain rises I will write
again. u.