200 WASHINGTON. [CHAP. XIV. 



great, no less than 100,000 dollars had been annually raised by 

 this impost, the money being applied chiefly as an hospital fund. 

 It was contended that the Federal Government alone had the 

 right of imposing duties on commerce, in which light this passen 

 ger tribute ought to be viewed. The Court, however, ruled 

 otherwise. 



It was pointed out to me, as a remarkable proof of the ascend 

 ency of the democratic party in the Federal Government for 

 many years past, that only one of all the judges now on the bench 

 had been nominated by the Whigs. 



One day, as we were walking down Pennsylvania Avenue 

 with Mr. Winthrop, we met a young negro woman, who came 

 up to him with a countenance full of pleasure, saying it was 

 several years since she had seen him, and greeting him with 

 such an affectionate warmth of expression, that I began to con 

 trast the stiffness and coldness of the Anglo-Saxon mariners with 

 the genial flow of feeling of this southern race. My companion 

 explained to me, that she was a very intelligent girl, and was 

 grateful to him for an act of kindness he had once had an oppor 

 tunity of showing her. I afterward learnt, from some other 

 friends to whom I told this anecdote, that, three years before, 

 Mr. Winthrop and a brother member of Congress from the north 

 had been lodging in the house of this girl s mistress, and hearing 

 that she was sentenced to be whipped for some offense, had both 

 of them protested they would instantly quit the house if the mis 

 tress persevered. She had yielded, and at length confessed that 

 she had been giving way to a momentary fit of temper. 



Washington is situated in the district of Columbia, comprising 

 an area of 1 square miles, borrowed from the neighboring states 

 to form an independent jurisdiction by itself. Several attempts 

 have been made to declare it free, but hitherto in vain, thanks 

 to the union of the northern democrats and southern slave-own 

 ers, aided by the impracticable schemes of the abolitionists. 



The view of the city and the river Potomac from the hill on 

 which the Capitol stands is fine ; but, in spite of some new pub 

 lic edifices built in a handsome style of Greek architecture, we 

 are struck with the small progress made in three years since we 



