1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



397 



a "French lady," like the redoubtable Col. Thom- 

 as, who performed that "brilliant exploit" of trea- 

 son and piracy, by seizing the steamer St. Nicho- 

 las, and is now in durance vile, under the some- 

 what stern supervision of Gen. Banks — but it pur- 

 ports to be a lady — writes : 



"The Northern press decline noticing the dese- 

 cration of the Temple of Liberty, our Capitol ! by 

 their dirty, disgusting soldiery, who make a res- 

 taurant and sleeping-place of it, loll in its Sena- 

 torial seats, spit tobacco juice upon its superb 

 carpets, deface its frescoed walls, and prick their 

 bayonets by way of amusement in its magnificent 

 paintings." 



This, to be sure, was written for a Southern 

 latitude. But even some of your Northern letter- 

 writers did not scruple to talk of "the nails driven 

 by the soldiers into the walls of the Halls of the 

 Senate and House of Representatives," of the 

 "piling up of greasy bacon hams on the superb 

 carpets of the President's and Vice President's 

 rooms," of the "breaking of the magnificent 

 bronze railing of the private stairways for Sena- 

 tors and Representatives," &c., &c. 



Now I know, from personal observation, that 

 there is not one word of truth in any of these 

 stories. The statuary and pictures were all cov- 

 ered, or cased, before a single company of sol- 

 diers entered the Capitol. The carpets were most 

 all, if not all, taken up, and as for driving nails 

 into the walls, let me remind those truthful wri- 

 ters who make such assertions, that they are en- 

 tirely oi cast iron! The magnificent railing — and 

 it is magnificent — is there, as perfect as on the 

 day it was put up. Not a picture, or piece of 

 statuary received the least injury, and, this day, 

 you cannot see, in any part of the building, the 

 least indication that it was ever occupied by 

 troops ! It is really astonishing, considering that 

 there were, at one time, thousands of men quar- 

 tered in the Capitol, that so little injury was done, 

 even to the furniture, which was necessarily in 

 constant use day and night. The care of the sol- 

 diers of every thing, was most creditable to them, 

 and I really believe they felt as much interest in 

 preventing wanton or unnecessary injury, as if 

 the property had actually been their own. They 

 came here voluntarily to protect the Capitol and 

 Capitol, not to commit waste and to destroy. In 

 my judgment that ladi/s description would be far 

 more applicable to her friend Jefi^s troops, than to 

 our Northern heroes. So much for that vile slan- 

 der, come from whence it may. 



We have all along believed in Abraham Lin- 

 coln ; but when we read his message, written by 

 his own hand, out of his own noble head and 

 heart, we all knew certain that the Lord had sent 

 him here to do what he is now doing. He is the 

 instrument in the hands of God, to crush out, 

 squash out, overthrow and annihilate Southern 

 traitors and treason, and Congress is nobly, most 

 nobly backing him up. I have never felt so 

 proud of my Yankee birthright,, as I have since 

 this unnatural, unholy war, was commenced in 

 earnest, by the Southern traitors at Fort Sumter. 

 The way the bone and sinew of the North and 

 West, all Yankeedom in fact, have taken this 

 matter in hind, is refreshing to a Union loving 

 man of Yankee birth ; and the unshaken deter- 

 mination that "Old Abe" shall be backed up till 

 the last piece of hemp encircles the neck of the 



last traitor, is only a foreshadowing of the glori- 

 ous salvation that awaits the thirty-four United 

 States of America. The thing is to be put through, 

 and no mistake. 



There are those who think Gen. Scott is keep- 

 ing the brakes down rather too hard. I have 

 great faith in the Old Hero. I believe that he sees 

 an obstruction on the track that is not visible to 

 us passengers, and it is to prevent a smash-up, 

 that he is delaying the train. But, mark my pre- 

 diction, when the old General does whistle "up 

 brakes," there will be such a rush forward, that 

 secession will hardly be heard of again, this side 

 of the Archangel's trumpet. My opinion is, that 

 we had all better wait the veteran's motion — let 

 the great conductor take the responsibility, and 

 there will surely be no failure. 



So confident are we all here of the eventual 

 success of our cause, that we feel calm and cool. 

 Washington was never less excited than at this 

 time. To be sure, there are immense movements 

 of troops, and at this moment a long train of ar- 

 my baggage-wagons is passing my house. One 

 can scarcely move about the city without seeing 

 regiment after regiment moving forward to the 

 south side of the Potomac, and thousands of 

 troops have passed my house within the past 

 week. But all these movements are conducted 

 with an order, and a quietness that astonishes 

 everybody. Not a loud word is spoken, except 

 the word of command as the glittering columns 

 are required to change direction ; cheerfulness, 

 but determination, marks every countenance, and 

 "we will conquer or die," may be read in the 

 look and movement of every soldier, as plainly as 

 if it were printed in twelve line pica all over him. 



The military movements are such, across the 

 river, as to giv» certain indications of either a 

 battle, or a retreat by the rebels, soon. Our 

 troops are moving forward, while theirs are re- 

 treating. It is expected that they will make a 

 stand at Manassas, but they are so accustomed to 

 running, that I am doubtful if they stop short of 

 Cuba. You remember that I told you, two months 

 ago, that I did not believe they had sufficient 

 courage to stand up to a fair, open fight ; that, if 

 they could, by some sneaking, underhand, cow- 

 ardly movement, murder a few of our men, with- 

 out danger to themselves, they would do it. Thus 

 far my opinion has been sustained by their con- 

 temptible action, and I am confirmed in what I 

 said. 



The country about Washington, in an agricul- 

 tural and horticultural point of view, never looked 

 more beautiful. The late abundant rains, follow- 

 ing the hot weather, have eialivened every thing, 

 and it is a luxury to ride about the vicinity. My 

 garden, of which you know something, is as 

 beautiful at this moment as possible. It would 

 gladden your heart to look at it. 



Ever faithfully, B. B. French. 



Postscript. — The foregoing was written early 

 this morning. Now it is evening, and since it 

 was written, I have seen the glorious news of the 

 great battle of yesterday at Beverly, Va., in 

 which Gen. McClellan routed the chivalry entire- 

 ly, killing large numbers, taking many prisoners, 

 and a large quantity of munitions of war, and 

 showing that when our armies do strike, they do 

 it with efifect. Gen. Scott knows what he is about. 



