Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-02-03
Our Washington Letter.
WASHINGTON, ID. O., Jan. 81, 1870.


Editor Rutland Herald: had though
OF writing to you, in this letter. on sew
eral subjects among which were my view
concerning Mr.. Dawes speech, the attacl
made upon it and his noble defence; tn,
vote in the House on the abolition of tn,
franking privilege, how it is likely to pas
the Senate, and how it will be likely t,
prove unpopular with the people, land es
pecially with country newspapers,) whe,
1t is found to be tax upon the intelli
gence of the people and tending to lesser
the number of " exchanges" between ed
oltors and the number of "county papers
@ taken now without postage, to say no
thing of the information now impaired t.
the people through public document.
which are "franked" to the constituents
0of every member of Congress. When il
n fails to reduce tie expenses of the de.
partment 100000, but they are found
TO remain about the same from year to
year, after this spasmodic effort at ere
trenchment"; then it will be an unpop-
ular law. But / was not going to speak
upon this, nor do / mean to discuss the
propriety or improperly Of another effort
of the government in this direction in
discharging 80 many men from the va
rious navy yards, but may allude to that
subject hereafter and also refer to the
number of clerks, door-keepers, walters,
messengers, &c, connected with every
department here. Nor will I take the
space in the HERALD to. denounce the
toadyism of some journals in giving such
prominence to Queen Victoria's boy of
nineteen, as to have stereotyped heading
Of Fl. r. H., and with Jenkins nicely,
give all the details Of his walks, talks,
dress, cand sayings when in council with
Gen. Sherman on military matters No,
will not talk of these, but will take the
J., reader down the Potomac short distance,
to Alexandria, Va, where went yester-
day. Landing from the boat, 1 went
with others up the street past the Mar
shall House, a three-story brick building,
made memorable as the place where the
rebel jackson shot Col. Ellsworth in
the early days OF the war. Further up
the street, We turn to the right and in an
old cemetery that is surrounded by high
fence is a brick church with fat, hipped
roof and brick belfry. The north and
west sides are covered in part with aged
vines of ivy. As we enter we discover
that the marks of age, so visible on the
outside, are also to be seen here. The
high gallery with its panel work in front,
columns that support it, the round top
window with 6S glass, behind the pulpit
all reminded us of the old church that we
attended in our boyhood days. But it
was evident that some changes had been
made. The wood work had been painted
OF grained" the high pulpit had been
taken down and platform instituted and
the "pews," which originally had all been
D square pens, with high panel work around
them, were, with the exception Of single
pew, altered into slips with high and
narrow doors leading into them. This
one pew was not altered. 1t is upon the
north side of the house under the gal.
lery and was the one that Washington
owned and in which he worshipped.
AS the rector, the Rev. i. N. McKinn,
@discoursed on the subject of the natural
oand spiritual body and claimed that the
powers of the latter were infinitely supe-
rior to those of the former, could but
think it were possible that the spirit of
0 Washington might be in that assembly of
worshipping people. "The desire of all
nations has come" was tastefully displayed
in evergreen letters over the preachers
stand. 1t was evidently placed there for
Christmas evening services, but could not
fail TO discern in that sentence something
peculiarly suggestive at the time-the first
@ Sunday after the admission of Virginia.
1t was in this church, / think, that the
4, rector, during the war, omitted for a
time the prayer for the President while
conducting religious services. But not
soo now: for that "divine institution"
which degraded man, produced jeaiousies
between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery,
and cursed the very soil of the South, has
been abolished and in its stead have been
instilled better and broader views respect
ing the rights of humanity. There is
greater freedom of thought, word and ac-
ton, and even old Virginia, with all her
proclivities for slavery, can never build
it up again in the Old Dominion. May it
not well be said "The desire of all nations
has come ?"
We will pass from the church to the
hasty view of the "Slave Pen >
before it is entirely demolished
1t was large brick building with
two large wings extending from both
sides of it. The one on the east side is
taken down and the work of taking down
the west wing is already commenced
The lower story of these were partitioned
off into low, short and narrow cells, into
0 which the slaves We're put prior to being
sold. The "house servants" and valuable
negroes were put into the east wing-the
Geld hands and "old worthless niggers'
were put into the west. Over each OF
these was the auction room. We have
, stopped long enough at this place. We
leave, thanking God that the heart-rend.
ing agony that has been felt in those cells
and upon those auction blocks will be
felt end witnessed no more forever in
America.
Two streets further on bring us to the
outskirts of the city and to the cemetery
Adjoining the city cemetery we come tt
the resting place of many hundred Union
soldiers. The graves are all marked with
board or stone at the head-upon these
is the number of the grave and also the
name of the one who il buried there, the
company, regiment and State to which hi
belonged, rs far as was possible to obtair
lnt p,t L.. l. L 4.