Travels Through North America, During the Years 1825 and 1826. v. 1-2

I was twice in the Catholic Cathedral, the first time on Sunday, October 30th. The desire of hearing good music, decided me on going to this church, and I had no occasion to repent it. At the beginning of the service, I remained standing near the door, but being perceived, was conducted to a pew near the altar. The archbishop was sitting on an elevated chair, under a canopy. The music was particularly good, both in composition and execution. There were ladies attached to the choir, and it was a lady who played the organ. The charity sermon, by Mr. Wheeler, on charity and on the pleasure of doing good, was very edifying. This text had been chosen to move the hearts of the congregation, in behalf of the Catholic poor-school. Several days after, I returned to the Cathedral, in company with Mr. Vallenilla, (attached to the Colombian legation, and who had lately been married here,) to see Dr. Fenwick consecrated bishop of Boston. The church was crowded; it was with difficulty we obtained seats in a gallery opposite to the choir. A mass, composed by Cimarosa, was executed under the direction of Mr. H. Gilles, in a masterly style. I do not remember to have heard such good music for a long time. The best female voices were those of Mrs. French, Mrs. Gilles, and Miss Olivia Donaldson, sister-in-law to Mr. Vallenilla. The ceremony lasted very long. I remained from ten o’clock until two, P. M. and then left the church; the service continued until three o’clock. The archbishop himself officiated, in pontificalibus, with a mitre of cloth of gold and his gilded crosier-staff. He was served by the bishops of Charleston and Philadelphia, who wore mitres of cloth of silver. The first, Mr. England, delivered a long sermon, with a strong Irish accent, of which I did not understand much, except that he drew a comparison between a republican state citizen and a good Catholic: he spoke with much vehemence, and was very declamatory. It is said that this prelate is one of the pillars of the Romish church, in the United States.

I found the society very agreeable in Baltimore; at dinners every thing was unceremonious, and the conversation very instructive and lively; the evening parties afforded excellent music; the ladies in general are very handsome, and sing very well. It was at one of these evening parties, given by Mr. Henry Gilles, that I made the acquaintance of General Bernard and his lady, Baroness Serchenfeld of Bavaria. His acquaintance gave me great pleasure. I found him a very plain, modest and interesting man.

In paying Mr. Thomas my parting visit, I met his father, eighty-eight years old, and in full possession of his mental faculties. I entertained myself a long time with him. Among other topics, he related to me, that he had seen the spot which the city of Baltimore now occupies, a forest inhabited by Indians.

CHAPTER XIII

Stay in Washington, from the 2d until the 15th of November, 1825

On the morning of the 2d of November I received another visit from Mr. de Vallenilla. He showed me a golden medal, which had formerly been coined by the town of Williamsburg in Virginia, in honour of President Washington, and a very well made miniature of that great man, painted by Stewart, to which was appended his hair. The medal was in a box made of wood from one of the trees standing near Washington’s tomb. The medal and miniature were intended by Washington’s family as presents for President Bolivar, and Mr. de Vallenilla was to set off within a few days for Caraccas, in order to present them to his patron, the liberator Bolivar.

In the public stage I left the friendly city of Baltimore, with which I was extremely gratified, accompanied by Mr. Huygens, for Washington, the seat of government of the United States, distant thirty-nine miles. The weather was good and tolerably warm. The stage travelled slowly, and we did not arrive before five o’clock in the evening. The road was principally a turnpike, kept in a very good state. The country belonging to the state of Maryland is for the most part hilly, covered with wood of large-leaved oak and pine trees, appearing but very little settled. The ground is sandy; the fields are planted with Indian corn and tobacco. The country is for the most part uniform; we did not pass through a single decent village. The difference between this country and the northern states is very striking. The houses are a great deal smaller, and of an inferior construction than the worst log-houses in the state of New York. The most of these small houses are inhabited by negroes, who generally had a very tattered appearance. We crossed several creeks over good wooden bridges, and six miles from Washington, near Bladensburg, we crossed the east branch of the Potomac, by two wooden bridges. It was here, that in the year 1814, an engagement between the English and the Americans took place, in which the American militia is said to have displayed no very great degree of courage. In consequence of this affair, the English marched into Washington, and burned the capitol and the President’s house.

I had not formed a great idea of Washington city, but what I saw was inferior to my expectation. The capitol stands upon an elevation, and is to be considered as the centre of the future city. Up to this time it is surrounded but by inconsiderable houses and fields, through which small houses are also scattered. From the capitol, several avenues, planted with trees, extend in different directions. We rode into the Pennsylvania avenue, and eventually came to the houses, which are built so far apart that this part of the city has the appearance of a newly-established watering place. The adjacent country is very fine, and there are several fine views upon the broad Potomac. We passed by the President’s house; it is a plain building,29 of white marble, situated in a small garden.

The president resides in the middle building; the four others are occupied as public offices. They are built of brick.

The plan of Washington is colossal, and will hardly ever be executed. According to the plan, it could contain a population of one million of inhabitants, whilst it is said at present to have but thirteen thousand. To be the capitol of such a large country, Washington lies much too near the sea. This inconvenience was particularly felt during the last war. It has been proposed to transfer the seat of government to Wheeling, on the Ohio, in the western part of Virginia.

Quite early next morning I received a friendly visit from the French minister, Baron Durand de Mareuil, whom I knew in Dresden, nineteen years ago, and afterwards as French minister at Naples, and met him in the same quality at Brussels. General Macomb, commander of the engineer corps of the United States, paid me a visit, and I was much delighted with his interesting conversation. Lieutenant Huygens also came, with whom I rode to Georgetown. This small town is amphitheatrically situated on the Potomac, whose right bank, covered with wood and partly cultivated, presents a pleasant view. Georgetown is separated from Washington, or rather from the ground on which it is to stand, by a small river called Rocky Creek, which empties into the Potomac, over which there is a bad wooden bridge. I returned to Washington with the minister, in order to be introduced to several of the highest public officers, and to the diplomatic body. At first we went to the office of Mr. Clay, the secretary of state, one of the most celebrated American orators. He is a tall, thin man; I found him in mourning for one of his daughters, of whom he has had the misfortune to lose three in a short time. Afterwards we went to see the president, who received us very kindly, and treated me as an old acquaintance. The house of the president, as already mentioned, is built of white marble. In the interior there is a large hall with columns. We were received in a handsomely furnished apartment. Beautiful bronzes ornamented the mantels, and a full length portrait of President Washington hung upon the wall.

From the president’s house we went to the office of the war department, to visit Mr. Barbour, the secretary, whom, however, we did not find, and thence to the navy department, to see the secretary, Mr. Southard. This officer is reputed to be one of the most learned men in the United States. The four offices are all built alike, very plain, with wooden staircases; their interior resembles a school-house. There are no sentinels nor porters; in the building for the war department a woman kept a fruit shop. Even the president himself has usually no sentries, and only during the night the marines from the navy-yard keep guard before his house.

We next visited Baron Mareuil, and I was very glad to renew my acquaintance with his amiable lady. His house stands quite insulated, like a country dwelling. The houses stand generally so widely distant in Washington, that the plan of the city exhibits more streets than houses. We made our last visit to the Russian minister, Baron Tuill, and the English minister, Mr. Vaughan, but found neither at home. At five o’clock I dined at Baron Mareuil’s, who gave a diplomatic dinner in honour of the King of France’s name-day. I found the greatest part of the diplomatic body assembled, and observed the French legation, particularly, was very numerous. It was composed of the consul-general Durand de St. André, brother of the Baron Mareuil, the vice-consul Thierry, the secretary of the legation De Bresson, the Count Ganay, and Mr. De Sonntag, a step-son of the Baron Mareuil, who was attached to the legation, and of Mr. Laborie, who, however, did not appear. Of the Russian legation, I found Mr. De Wallenstein, whom I had known in Boston, and who is very much esteemed and beloved here on account of his sensible conduct and good character, but particularly on account of his solid acquirements and correct views. The president, it is said, entertains a high opinion of him. I saw likewise Baron Maltitz, of the same legation, who married an American wife some months ago, also the Chargé d’Affaires of Brazils, Chevalier Rebello. I also became acquainted with the secretary of the treasury, Mr. Rush, who was for many years ambassador to England, and I met too with Mr. Brent, the under secretary of state. The ladies present, were only Mrs. De Mareuil and Mrs. De St. André. The dinner was truly splendid.

The number of our acquaintances soon increased, and pleasant and interesting parties ensued. At the same time we saw what was remarkable in Washington and its vicinity.

With Messrs. Huygens, father and son, we rode to the navy-yard, which is under the command of a commodore. The commodore was just gone travelling, therefore, we were accompanied on our tour by Captain Booth. In this navy-yard ships are only built and refitted; after that they descend the Potomac into the Chesapeake Bay, and go to Norfolk, where they are armed. At the time of our visit there were but two frigates in the yard, called forty-four gun ships, but mounting sixty-four pieces: the Congress, an old ship, which was repairing, and the Potomac, an entirely new ship, which has been launched, but subsequently hauled up and placed under a roof.

Upon the spot where the frigate Brandywine, which carried Gen. La Fayette to France, was built, the keel of a new frigate was laid, and at the same time the foundation for a house over this new ship was begun. The ground being very moist, this building is erected on piles. Opposite the entrance of the navy-yard, stands a rostral column of white marble with allegoric figures. It was erected by the officers and midshipmen of the navy of the United States, to commemorate the death of their comrades who fell in the attack of Tripoli. The English, at the time of their taking possession of Washington, on the 25th of June, 1814, broke the fingers of one hand belonging to the allegoric figure representing America, and destroyed the stylus in the hand of the muse of history. This inscription has been added to the column: “mutilated by the British.” At the foot of the monument stand two Spanish brass twenty-four pounders, taken by the Americans at Tripoli.

In this, as well as in other American navy-yards, there are several buildings. I found large forges where chain-cables are made, and tried in the same manner I had witnessed two years ago in Newbridge, South Wales. All the old copper taken from the ships is melted, and with an alloy of brass, converted into utensils of every description used on board ships; a steam-engine of fourteen horse-power moves a saw-mill, consisting of two large and several smaller circular saws, as also, machines for block-making, which however, can by no means be compared with Brunel’s block machine in Portsmouth; in the little arsenal are the muskets, swords, &c. I observed a contrivance on the locks of the guns to insulate the priming, and secure it in damp weather. I saw also a kind of repeating musket with two locks, one behind the other. With such muskets, by means of the anterior lock, twelve consecutive discharges can be produced, and these being over, the gun is loaded again like an ordinary infantry musket, and fired by means of the lowest lock. After the anterior lock is fired, all the remaining shots incessantly follow, and cannot be withheld at will, as it is the case with the repeating gun bought by me in New York, already described. It is yet unknown how this successive firing can be obtained. Captain Booth showed me also double screws of his own invention, the object of which is to supply the place of ordinary lanyards for ships. This officer has obtained a patent for his contrivance, and it has been adopted, for experiment, in the frigate Brandywine; in the same navy-yard is a laboratory, under the arsenal, where the necessary fire-works for the artillery are made. The place seemed to me to be ill chosen, since an explosion that may easily happen in such an establishment, might cause most terrible consequences to the navy-yard.

Over the Potomac there is a long wooden bridge, built upon ordinary cross-beams. I measured it, and found it to be fifteen paces broad, and one thousand nine hundred long. My paces being to the ordinary ones in the relation of four to five, it may be assumed that it is about two thousand three hundred and seventy-five paces in length. It required nineteen minutes to walk from one end to the other. Every foot-passenger pays six cents. This bridge astonishes by its length, but not at all in its execution, for it is clumsy and coarse. Many of the planks are rotten, and it is in want of repair; it has two side-walks, one of them is separated from the road by a rail. It is lighted by night with lanterns. It is provided with two drawbridges, in order to let vessels pass. It grew dark before I returned home, and was surprised at the stillness of the streets, as I scarcely met an individual.

Patents of invention are issued from the patent-office; whoever wishes to obtain a patent for an invention, is obliged to deliver a model or an accurate drawing of it. These models are exposed in an appropriate place, where they remain until the expiration of the time for which the patents are granted; they are then put into the lumber-room. Among such models, there certainly is a great number of things of little importance, as for instance, a contrivance for peeling apples; there are also ninety-six models for making nails in different ways, but some of them very remarkable. The most interesting models of machinery seemed to me to be those intended to remove mud from the bottoms of rivers, and canals, or to make them deeper. One of them consists of an ordinary steam-boat; with her they go to the spot where they are to work; arrived at the spot they cast anchor, stop the two water-wheels, and with an apparatus which is moved by the engine, draw the mud from the bottom. According to another model, the same operation can be performed by means of a draw-wheel. A great many models are intended to separate seed from cotton, to beat, spin, and weave it; none of them, however, are reputed to be superior to the known English machines.

Of steam-engines and steam-boats there are a great many models of very singular form, also steam-boats with rotatory motions; they however do not answer the purpose. I saw patterns of railways, and models of machines to draw boats from a lower canal into a higher one, by help of an inclined plane. Then two models of floating covered batteries. One of them was an oblong case, in which is fixed a steam-engine, giving to two long iron bars a rotatory motion. These bars, like two clock-hands, projecting off the deck, are intended to keep off a boarding enemy. A model to compress leaden bullets, in order to give them more weight. A great number of household and kitchen apparatus, fire-places of different descriptions, an earth-augur for seeking water, fire-engines of various kinds, a fire-proof roof, contrived by a German, several machines to make bricks, instruments by means of which, in navigating the Mississippi, trees lying under water can be taken hold of and sawed to pieces without stopping the vessel in its course, machinery to bore holes in rocks, and others to hoist rocks out of water; the machine contrived in London by Perkins to print with steel; models of book printing-presses; models for combing wool, and dressing woollen stuffs; fan-mills; leather manufacturing instruments, and among others, an instrument for splitting hides; a great number of agricultural instruments, namely, a great many ploughs for every kind of soil, invented by Germans; machines for mowing grass, for thrashing and cutting straw. Among the most important machines, I will mention one for making blocks, which is considered not to be inferior in any respect to that of Brunel, in Portsmouth, and another which renders steeping of flax unnecessary, and yet fits it after fourteen days drying to be broken and heckled. For permission to take a copy of the machine, one must pay ten dollars to the inventor. I ordered two copies; one for the Agricultural Society of Ghent, and another to present to my father. Several fine models of bridges, especially of hanging ones, among others, one of the bridges in Trenton, near Philadelphia, and another of that near Fayetteville, in North Carolina; also one of a hanging bridge, under which is suspended a canal passing over the river. Respecting arms I did not find much improvement. There was also a triangle of steel, weighing six pounds, upon which three different hammers struck, to supply the place of church bells. This ringing is said to be heard at a great distance. It has been introduced in several places to assemble the people.

The patent-office is in the same building with the post-office. They pointed out to me two large gilt frames with the arms of France and Navarre. They hung before the catastrophe of 1814, in the house of the president, and contained full length portraits of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, which were presented in 1783, by those unfortunate monarchs to the United States, at their especial desire. Both portraits suddenly disappeared, and it is believed that it happened in 1814, when the English made their unexpected visit to Washington, and burnt down the house of the president.

The patent-office is under the direction of Dr. Thornton,30 who is an able draughtsman. Under Dr. Thornton, a Swiss is employed, whose name is Keller, a very able mechanic, and inspector of the model room, who explained every thing to me. Dr. Thornton was so kind as to accompany me to a sculptor, who, by means of casting a mould upon the face, obtains a striking resemblance, and has made busts of the first American statesmen, &c.

I arranged a party to the Falls of Potomac, with Mr. De Bresson, sixteen miles distant, where we were accompanied by Mr. Huygens, Jr. On the 6th of November, at nine o’clock, we left Washington and went five miles upon a very rough road, along the left bank of the river, which is at first very broad. Both shores are hilly and covered with wood, for the most part hickory and different species of oak. Of the primitive woods nothing is to be seen, for generally the wood is second growth. The banks soon became rocky, and we observed even in the river some projecting rocks. On the left shore they have dug a canal, this, however is too narrow, and only navigable by long boats, resembling the Durham-boats on the St. Lawrence river. In these boats, wood, lumber, stones, especially mill-stones, and the harvest from the upper countries, are carried to Washington.

Five miles above the city, we went over, on a hanging bridge, to the right shore. The chains consist of bars of wrought iron. The bridge itself is of wood, as well as the two cross-beams standing on its extremities, through which the chains are passed; these cross-beams form a kind of entrance, having an Egyptian appearance. The length of the bridge is about one hundred and sixteen feet, its breadth sixteen feet. A rather high toll is paid for passing it; we paid a dollar and a half for a carriage with two horses, for going and coming. The road, passing almost incessantly through a wood, became a little better after we arrived at the other side of the bridge. It was called a turnpike road, but still it continued hilly. We passed but a single inn, and saw but a single country house, which belonged to Commodore Jones, whose daughter became a Catholic and a nun, in a convent at Georgetown; this occurrence produced a great sensation in the United States. Most of the people we met with, were tattered negroes, who humbly saluted us. We were now in the state of Virginia, in the vicinity of the falls; when the road became very bad, we left our vehicle and went on foot through the forest, to see this natural curiosity, whose noise made us sensible of its proximity.

The river runs here over a rocky bed, and is about three hundred paces wide; in the dry season it is a great deal narrower. It forms several distinct falls, none of them above fifty feet high. They recall to memory Glenn’s Falls on the Hudson, between Lake George and Saratoga. We crept about in the labyrinth of broken rocks, not without danger or difficulty, in order to obtain different views of these falls. The sun was shining upon them at the time, and afforded us the sight of several rainbows; we soon felt ourselves richly rewarded for our pains.

In order to avoid these falls, a canal with locks has been made on the right shore. The canal passing through the rocks, is in some places dug down more than fifty feet. We, unfortunately, had chosen Sunday for our excursion; the inhabitants were gone to church, and there was nobody to give us the necessary explanations. There was no vegetation on the rocks about the falls, except some broom and single clover. We saw also upon the rock a creeping cactus plant, resembling the cochineal cactus, with small pear-shaped fruit, which contained a purple-red slimy juice. This plant gave me the first sign of my approach to the south. We returned to Washington by the road we came. Notwithstanding the late season, it was as warm as in midsummer.

The capitol is a really imposing building. When it is once surrounded by handsome buildings, it will produce a fine effect. It is built of white marble, and has three domes; the largest is over the rotunda, and the two smaller over the wings. The capitol stands on an acclivity, and in front is three stories high, and on the back, which is opposite the president’s mansion, four stories high. In front is the entrance, with a portal of Corinthian columns; on the back part there is a large balcony, decorated with columns. The entrance under the portal is a little too low.

In the centre of the building, under the principal dome is a large circular hall, receiving light from the roof. Pictures are to be placed in this hall, under the bas-reliefs. One of these represents the deliverance of Captain Smith, commander of the first English settlement in Virginia, by the Indian Princess Pocahontas; another is an allegory, representing the landing of European emigrants. Behind this hall is a large saloon, contiguous to the balcony, which contains the library of Congress. During the English incursion in 1814, the library was destroyed by fire; the present library has been gradually collected since, and consists in great part of the late President Jefferson’s books. Under the large hall is a small one, supported by three rows of columns, not unlike a family tomb. It receives its light from above, by a round opening in the floor of the large hall, and serves as a passage. It has been proposed to place there the coffin of the great Washington. No principal staircase is yet built, but a great number of smaller ones. The interior is altogether very angular. Columns and corridors are numerous in all the lateral galleries and saloons; the capitals of the columns are mostly of Egyptian taste, and the models seem to have been taken from the “description de l’Egypte.” In the corridor leading to the senate chamber, are columns, the shafts of which represent a bunch of stalks of Indian corn, and the capitals the fruit of the same plant. In the wings on the right hand side from the entrance, is the senate chamber, the offices belonging to it, the office of the president, and session room of the supreme court of the United States. This, and the senate chamber, are built in a semicircular form. In the centre is a place for the presiding officer. The members of the senate have their seats amphitheatrically arranged; every one has a chair, and before him a small mahogany desk. In this wing are hung the four pictures by Trumbull, which are hereafter to be placed in the rotunda. One of them represents the Declaration of Independence: there is a very fine engraving of this picture; another, the surrender of General Burgoyne to General Gates, near Saratoga; the third, the capitulation at Yorktown, and the filing off of the English between the American and French army; the fourth, the resignation of General Washington, and laying down of his commission to congress on the 23d of December, 1783. The portraits are said to be striking likenesses. As to the composition and execution of these pictures, the first makes one think of the pedantic school of Benjamin West, and the other looses by faint colouring. The painter was, moreover, placed under restraint by want of taste in his countrymen for the fine arts, who resemble, in that respect, their English ancestors: the posture of almost every single person having been prescribed him.