[Foreign Correspondence of the Rural New-Yorker.) 
AN HOUR’S WALK IN TUSCANY, 
And where is that bund who so vauntingly swore 
That the havoc of war and the battle's contusion 
A home and a country should leavo us no more ? 
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution. 
No refuge could save the hireling and slave 
From the terror of (light or the gloom of the grave ! 
And the Star-spangled Banner in triumph doth wave 
O’er the land of the Free and the home of the Brave ! 
0! thus he it over when Freeineu shall stand 
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation; 
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land 
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a natiou, 
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, 
And this be our motto —In Out) is our trust! 
O sav, can you see by the dawn's early light. 
What so proudly we bail'd at the twilight’s last gleaming, 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, 
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming; 
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 
Gave proof through the tiight that our Hag was sill there — 
0 say, dees that Star-spangled Banner yet wave 
O'er the land oT the Free and the home of the Brave ? 
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, 
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, 
What is that which the broezo o'er the towering steep, 
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? 
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam, 
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream — 
Tis the Star-spangled Banner, 0! long may it wave 
O’er the land of the Free and the home of the Brave ! 
solid shot striking the dark walls, and in each 
instance followed by a fume of dust from the battered 
surface, hm man was visibly strinUwu prooiratw on 
the wharf, and carried to the fort,; and several guns 
were dismounted. The walls, too, in several spots, 
were damaged. And while Sumter has certainly and 
manifestly been injured, no loss is yet sustained on 
our part. Fort Moultrie is intact, so far as fighting 
capacity is concerned. The iron battery 0 ready for 
continued work, after a full and fair trial of its 
powers of resistance; also the floating jiattery. The 
practice of our soldiers, as marksmen, has been 
excellent and highly satisfactory to officers of science 
and experience; and, great, satisfaction, at the last 
accouuts, six o’clock P. M., not one man of our 
army has sutiered injury. 
Fort Moultrie huB fully sustained the prestige of its 
glorious name. It fired very nearly gun for gun with 
Fort, Sumter. We counted the guns from eleven to 
twelve o’clock, and found them to he 42 to 40, while 
the advantage was unquestionably upon the side Of 
Fort Moultrie. In that Foil not a gun was dis¬ 
mounted, not a wound received, not the slightest 
permanent injury sustained by any of its defences, 
while every ball from Fort Moultrie left its mark 
upon Fort Sumter. Many of its shells were dropped 
into that Fort, mid Lieut. John Mitchell, the worthy 
son of that patriot Hire, who has so nobly vindicated 
the cause of the South, has the honor of dismounting 
two of its parapet guns by a single shot from one of 
the Columbiads, which at the time he had the office 
of directing. 
The famous iron batteries—the one at Cummings’ 
Point, named for Mr. C. H. Stevens, the inventor, 
constructed 
horse, with his head in an empty bag, draws a jolly, 
brown-faced man, who, with half-shut eyes, hums a 
strain. Out runs an urchin to look at this stwU-s 
. —-•••v ..ui ms iijotiier'.i beds. 
Maternal rage rises; she Hies after him, as fast as her 
scanty woolen dresB will permit her to move, her 
yellow kerchief streaming behind her head. Catch¬ 
ing the rogue up, she holds him iu the air crying 
" Ragazzacchio! inechino!” Naughty boy! had 
child, lie. While she administers resounding re¬ 
proofs, with her hands. They come down like 
wooden mallets, and the little curly-head dangles 
piteously in the air, which he fills with his screams. 
Another turn brings us to a fine road, with hedges 
on each side, white with blossoms. Ask an Italian the 
name of this Dower, and yon hear Fiora di Marchia. 
It is called in England Black Thorn, and bears those 
berries which suggest the common comparison, "as 
black as sloes.’’ There is another wild hedge, they 
call “ May,” with fine whito flowers. The hedges of 
wild roses are thickly budded, and will soou load the 
air with fragrance, rtn some roads, where the 
Acacia grows, and snows its petals upon the roses, 
the effect is very pretty. All along the road-sides 
grows a plant, which we call Indian Arrowhead, 
though these leaves are larger and have more vena¬ 
tions. It is termed here Zambucca, and is used for 
poultices. Shrubs without odor, with pale purple 
flowers of the papilionaceous order, abound on these 
banks. A high shrub, with pretty blue llovvcrs, grow¬ 
ing in whorls, with an odor like sago, is one that is 
much used in dressing and adornlug meats for the 
table. Dandelions here aud there lift their heads, 
like old friends. The disc florets however are not 
full, so they are but poverty-stricken cousins to the 
huge ones which make our meadows glorious in 
June, and furnish ringlets to so many children. 
Daises sow the grass like stars; dear little daises, the 
favorites of our gardens, the gowon of Scottish bills, 
the “ wee modest crimson tippit flower ” of Burns. 
This one just plucked is precisely what in our gar¬ 
dens at home we call la petite Marguerite. 
There are no woods here, or we could find those 
loveliest treasures, Lilies of the Valley. They are not 
very plenty though, except in gardens. In the C'ase- 
ine we find Lilies, Myrtle, Violets, Anemones, aud 
all tender flowers that open to the thrushes’ songs. 
What they call Anemones, look very much like our 
Tulips. 
Here we are on the highway again, with its walls 
hiding all view. The sun already gives the Iris hues 
of parting to the western sky, and purplish mists vail 
the mountain tops. The streets are already quite 
dark, as we enter the Porta San Gallo. Arno. 
VVImt n Northerner Saw. 
“Jasper,” the correspondent of the N. Y. Times, 
who has resided in Charleston for the past three 
mouths, and who at last found the place too warm 
for personal comfort, gives a statement which dissi¬ 
pates many of the fictions set afloat by telegraph. 
Uo says: 
At 1!) minutes past (! o’clock precisely, the first 
shot was fired from the Five-mortar Battery on James’ 
Island, followed in quick succession by the Iron 
Battery at Cummings' Point, the Floating Battery, 
Fort Moultrie, and the one at Mount Pleasant. At 6 
A. M., Dr. Uobortaon, an intimate, personal and 
professional friend, hurriedly approached me and 
inquired if Fort Sumter had opened lire. At <>J 
o’clock precisely, the first gun was tired from Fort 
Sumter, directed at Stevens’ Point, and soon tlie 
conflict begtune general on either side. The sun 
rose on as beautiful a morning as the world has ever 
seen, but soon the clouds gathered thick and fast, 
and nature poured forth her torrents as though 
frowning on the infamous spectacle. At times, the 
Fort was completely bidden from view, yet the iron 
hail sped on its murderous work, aud the distinctive 
sounds of shot arid shell could be clearly marked out 
as they cut the thin uir with fearful rapidity. 
Whenever the haze lifted, I could discover the 
sacred flag of our country proudly spreading itself to 
the breeze. Although the shot fell around it thick 
aud fast, yet it seemed to possess an absolute power 
of intangibility, and nothing could disturb it. The 
scene was solemn in the extreme. Even the crowd 
that now lined the wharf forbore, bushed the rude 
jest, and seemed at last to comprehend that war was 
at last inaugurated, and that, too, by South Carolina. 
Dropping for a time the account of my arrest as a 
“ Federal Spy,” let me assure your readers that 
Sumter was not enveloped In flames at any time; that 
the men were not scut out on a raft to collect water 
to extinguish the fire, simply because there was 
plenty of the article inside; that the fort was not 
breached at all, aud that it was not a blackened mass 
jo( ruins when the curtain dropped ou the last act of 
the tragedy. No boat left Morris Island with a 
United States flag for Major Anderson when his own 
was shot away, simply because the Morris Island 
boys had no such flag to oiler. They so hate the 
Stars and Stripes that they would have sooner been 
bitten by the moccasins of their own swamps than 
touch an emblem of the country they have cast oil'. 
It was a pretty telegraphic Action, but very false. 
Major Anderson surreudered Mimply because he found 
that the fort could not continue the siege for any length 
of time. He found that the United States vessels 
were not coming in, and he wished to prevent a 
useless shedding of blood. The paper warriors may 
accuse him of cowardice, but a purer, truer, more 
honest man, does not walk this world. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y., APRIL 20, 1861 
FACTS, SCENES, INCIDENTS, ETC, 
Southern View, 
Capture of Fort Sumter 
As was announced in our last issue, wo this week 
suppress, or condense, certain of the main depart¬ 
ments of the Rural, in order to lay before our read¬ 
ers full accounts of all important, events connected 
with the contest upon which we, as a people, arc just 
entering. It is to be hoped that the necessity for the 
system now Inaugurated will speedily pass away, 
that our nation will again enjoy the blessings of 
quietude, and that, as journalists, our vocation may 
be the description of scenes dedicated to Peace 
rather than the horrors attendant upon War. We 
give below the Southern view of the recent bombard 
rnent and capture of Fort Sumter, as it appears In the 
Charleston Mercury of Saturday, 13th inst. The 
Mercury says: 
We stated yesterday that on Thursday at three 
o’clock P. M- Gen. Beauregard had made a demand 
upon Major Anderson for the evacuation of Fort 
Sumter through his aids, Colonel Chesnnt, Captain 
Lee and Colonel Chisholm, and that Major Anderson 
had respectfully declined, under the circumstances 
of bis position. It was, however, understood that 
unless reinforced he would necessarily yield the post 
in a few days—say by the 15th. An effort was there¬ 
fore made to avoid an engagement, without incur¬ 
ring great risk of reinforcement. At one and a half 
o’clock A. M. Colonel Chesnut and Captain Lee* 
reached Fort Snmter from General Beauregard, and, 
wc gather, were prepared to enter Into any arrange¬ 
ment for non-action as to Fort Sumter, if no assist¬ 
ance were given to the efforts of reinforcement; but 
postponement merely to mature hostile plans waB 
impossible. No satisfactory agreement being pro¬ 
posed, and this being important, at three and a half 
o’clock A. M. Major Anderson was notified that at 
the expiration of an hour the batteries would open 
their fire upon him. The Aids then passed thence in 
a boat to Fort Johnson, and Col. Chesnut ordered 
the fire to begin. 
Precisely at 41 o’clock a shell was fired from the 
signal battery on James’ Island, which, making a 
beautifnl curve, burst immediately above Fort Sum¬ 
ter. Within fifteen minutes all the Carolina batteries 
were in full play. Major Auderson, having no oil 
to light up his casements, and the morning being 
slightly murky and drizzly, did not respond until 
broad day. At a quarter before six he opened liis 
fire by a shot at the Iron Battery on CummingH’ 
Point; thou at Fort Moultrie; the Floating Battery, 
located at the west end of Sullivan’s Island; the 
Dahlgren Battery; the Enfilade Buttery, Major Tra- 
pior’s Battery, and Fort Johnson, interspersing his 
attentions by paying respects to the numerous mortar 
batteries, by which he, encased in brick, is sur¬ 
rounded. Hour after hour lias the fire on both sides 
been kept up, deliberate and unflagging. The steady, 
frequent shock of the cannon's boom, accompanied 
by the bias of balls, and the horrid, hurling sound of 
the flying shell, are now perfectly familiar to the 
people of Charleston. 
While the early sun was veiled' in mist, we Baw 
shell bursting within and illuminating Fort Sumter, 
or exploding in the air above, leaving a small thick 
cloud of white smoke to murk the place. We saw 
and the celebrated Floating Battery, 
under the direction of Captain Hamilton—havo fully 
vindicated the correctness of their conception. Shot 
after shot fell upon them and glanced harmlessly 
away, while from their favorable position their Bhots 
fell with effect upon Fort Sumter, and the southeast 
panoopce, under the Are of the Stevens battery, at 
nightfall, if not actually breached, was badly dam¬ 
aged. At this battery the honor of firing the first 
gun was accorded to the venerable Edmund Buflin of 
Virginia, who marched to the rendezvous at the 
sound of the alarm on Monday night, and who, when 
asked by some person who did not know him, to 
what company be belonged, replied, “To that in 
which there is a vacancy.” 
Boats passed from post to post without the slight¬ 
est hesitation under the guns of Fort Sumter, and 
with high and low, old and young, rich and poor, in 
uniform or without, the common wish and constant 
effort waste reach the posts of action; and amid a 
bombardment resisted with the most consummate skill 
and perseverance, and with the most cflioientjappli- 
ances of military art and science, it is a most remark¬ 
able circumstance, and one which exhibits the infin¬ 
ite goodness of an overruling Providence, that, so 
far as we havo been able to learn from the most 
careful inquiry, uot the slightest injury has been 
sustained by the defenders of their country. 
It may be added, and as an incident that contrib¬ 
uted no little interest to the action of the day, that 
from early in the forenoon threo vessels of war, two 
of them supposed to be the Harriet Lane and Pawnee, 
lay just beyond the bar, inactive spectators of the 
contest. 
Fort Bumter did not return the fire of our batteries 
for over two hours, and ceased firing at 7 o’clock 
P. AL 
It is stated that upon the first visit made by Col. 
Chesnut to Major Andeison, the latter asked for 
time. His request was telegraphed to the President 
at Montgomery. In return, President Davis tele¬ 
graphed that if Anderson would promise not to open 
Hre upon the Charleston batteries, when they should use 
force to repiel force, viz., the anticipated invasion of 
Polish and Hungarian Peasants.— The Polish 
aud Hungarian peasants from the Carpathian Moun¬ 
tains, says a young Polish nobleman, “ are among 
the most active and powerful men in the world. 
They live almost entirely on oat-meal bread and pota¬ 
toes. The Polish soldiers under Bonaparte,” con¬ 
tinues be, “would march forty miles in a day and 
fight a pitched battle, and the next morning be fresh 
and vigorous for further duties.” The peasants of 
some parts of Switzerland, who hardly ever taste 
anything but bread, cheese, and butter, are vigorous 
people. “The Bernese,” observes M. Ilaspail, “so 
active and so strongly formed, live scarcely on any¬ 
thing but maize and fresh water.” Those who have 
penetrated into Spain, have probably witnessed to 
what a distance a Spanish attendant will accompany, 
on foot, a traveler’s mule or carriage, not less than 
forty or fifty miles a day; raw onions and bread being 
his only fare. 
Proclamation of Jeff". Davis. 
Montgomery, April 17. 
The Proclamation of the President of the Confederate 
States of America. 
Whereas, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
United States, has, by proclamation, announced bis 
intention of invading the Confederacy with an armed 
force for the purpose of capturiug its fortresses and 
thereby subverting its independence and subjecting 
the free people thereof to the dominion of a foreign 
power, 
And whereas It has thus become the duty of this 
government to repel the threatened invasion ami 
defend the rights und liberties of the people by all 
the meanB which the laws of nations and usages of 
civilized warfare place at its disposal. 
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the 
Goon men have the fewest fears. He has but one 
who fears to do wrong. He has a thousand who has 
overcome that one. 
1 
y He 
j 
