Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-03-02

sANTo DOMINGO CITY, PAST AND PRE-
sENT-soCIAL AND POLITICAL CHAR
IsTICs COCK FIGHTING AND OTHER
ADJUSTMENTS PROGRESS OF THE COM
MIssIoN-THE FEELING ABOUT AN
Observation-Disclosures OF THE ISL
AND-THE HAYTIEN COMPLICATIONS.
SANTo DOMINGO Cry, Feb. ID.
To land at this place is to plunge sud
denly into the past. The walls and bas-
lions frown as from a remote age. CLOSE
to the wharf is the first stone house built
by Columbus in the New World. Nearly
overhanging the landing is the ruined
palace, once the centre of that splendid
| attempt at court which the son of the
dlscoverer made. A little farther to the
left ia the castle where Columbus was
loaded with chains and cast with his
| brother into it's cells. From this very
dock, Cortez, De Soto, Pizarro, Orondo
and their companions sailed for the Indies,
the halls of the Montezumas, the Fioridas,
Peru, and for all the vast territory which
was afterwards crushed by the power Of
Spain. To enter the walls is to step into
the tomb of centuries. Long, low streets
with solid houses, with gloomy inner
courts, upon which great, arched porches
look down, ruined palaces with deeply
corroded facades, churches and converts
with rude architecture, recalling me-
dieval masonry and feudal times,-all
give the idea of an exhumed city. 1t
seems impossible for so many stains and
corrosions to have been produced outside
the damnness of tomb. The living sun
light which plays over everything emily
adds to the ghastliness.
But even the gloom of this great grave
cannot shut out vivid dreams of that old
Spanish glory. Once these walls sur
rounded the metropolis of all that en-
chanted realm which stretched far and
wide for Spain. Here was the centre of
its armies, its naval strength, its civic
| splendor. Rude it was, but glittering
with all that gold and silver and troops
of slaves could bring. Mad with adven-
ture, and drunk always with the wine of
military success, its marching columns
and moving fleets rested not day or night
from shaking these streets or ploughing
the harbor. It was second Rome for
the church. The cross claimed and OBJ
tanned supreme homage. The prudest
rulers stopped to salute and kiss the ring
of its archbishop. The Inquisition was
known and recognized, and over all this
| temporal power and pomp the church
ruled alone triumphant. But this Baby
lon fell, as if in day. The curse of
| heaven seemed to have descended with all
the whitening influence which cause swift
national decay, and this magnifcence
vanished more swiftly than it had been
created, but leaving on all sides the marks
of the curse. The morning and the noon
day were like the glory of this natural
world as each sun marches on to the mer-
idian. It's evening fell, as tropical even
ings do, without twilight and suddenly,
into night, till the former centre of ell
western magnificence, which had sent COL
onies, armies and fleets by scores and
scores, had only five hundred wretched
inhabitants crouohing in the shadows of
its ruins because they were too poor to
| leave.
Subsequently the privateering of many
wars, and the oorrupting wealth which
negro slavery brought, partially restored
the city, and now for hundred years it
has changed little in outward appearance
1t lies about twenty-five feet above the
sea, at the mouth of the Oyama, and on
| its right, or west bank. The streets are
| at right angles, and those parallel to the
river run north and south. The walls in
close trapezoid, the east and west faces
running in the same direction. The sea.
front is half mile in length, that on the
river nearly three-quarters, and the west
ern line about one-third of mile. The
streets are from fifteen to twenty feet be-
tween the narrow and uneven sidewalks,
and are generally smooth and passably
clean. The houses are generally two stor-
les high, and the roofs are fat and paved
with brick. Each house has one great
door. and high grated window into a
large bare, rooms, with dirt, cement! brick
or stone floors. Within, most houses open
out upon porehes supported on heavy COLI
umns. These porches look down upon
courts where sometimes garden, but Of