American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1879-11-15
OUR WASHINGTON LITTER
The political rehabilitation Of Washington
4 return of Statesmen and Diplomats-Re-
mccall of life on the Arcnue-A contrast
bet,ceen English and american
Government Offices.
Especial Correspondence of the Ci:izon.)
WAsHINGTON, ID. c., Nov. II.

tSDeClal SOIItspOHdCHCC VI Inc SisiLchsI
WASHINGTON, d. c., Nov. II.
Washington is beginning to reas
sume it's society smile and political
manners. Congress with its numer-
ous nondescript train is beginning
I to arrive. The Executive and his
cabinet have at length ettled down
in their homes. Foreign ministers,
attaches of legation, military and
naval officers may again he seen
driving or promeuading on the
great boulevard that stretches from
the Treasury Department TO the
Capitol. Dashing government ems
ployees. artist ocratic daughters of "A
bankrupt old regime, and stylish
parvenudom, opulent in governs
ment contracts, vie in the display
of Partisan fashions and America n
manners on Pennsylvania Avenue.
In short the political mill, Mann
mons court. and Vanity Fair, have
been again brought in proximity at
the only place where they can he
seen in such development, on this
side of the globe. What are these
20 us or we to them, that we should
read about them and write about
them Has not every American
citizen political sphere in his mus
nicipdlify, county or State And
as for the sphereless sex, or, at
least, those whose sphere is in dis.
pute, have they not social realms of
their own little pent up Uticas Of
fashion, nirrow and provincial they
may call them, but they contain the
germ and the elements of all that
We see i'm Washington, Boston, or
the proudest court of Europe. But
it is well for one, both bodily and
mentally, to get out of his accustom-
ed environment for q little while,
and "a the most eminent investiga
tors have not thought it beneath
them to study the lowliest forms of
life and the most primitive systems
of polIty, the American citizen aud
citoy enne will find their horizon
broadened aud their usefulness eu>
HANGED by studying political move
ments and social tendencies at the
only seat of national government
that is accessible to them. Those
who imagine there is nothing worth
knowing outside their own village
in Virginia, will make greater
mistake than the greatest mistake
of DIR. johnson, for the village
which he mistOok for the world was
London.
The habitue of Washington who
has been away during the summer
will observe but few changes. The
city has grown TO such grand pro.
portions that the addition of Il huns
dred or more houses make no per-
ceDtibIe additlon to the mass. 1t is
only when some new and imposing
building is added, like the annex 70
the Smithsonian Institution, or the
new Government printing Office in
South Washington. which are
about BALI completed, that he ar
chitectural growth becomes c0nspic-
uous. Few capitals have so many
and such splendid public offices as
our own, and on none is so much
money hvlshed for interior adorn>
ment and luxury. In this respect
the contrast between the U. S
Treasury offices and the Bank of
England is striking and suggestive.
In the Treasury Department Offices
are richly carpeted, supplied wit
mirrors, easy chairs, and lounges;
in the other only coarse mating
covers the stone floor, and it r. IL
other respects furnished with little
less severity than a prison. Tie
appearance of the committee rooms
of the Houses of Parliament cons
trast with the chambers of our con
gressiOnal committees as does the
cell of a recluse with a Iady's bou-
dOir.