157 
Wheeling, a town containing two thousand inhabitants, built on 
a terrace along a steep and high hill. Thus we left the state of 
Ohio, an important and daily increasing state, which, with the ex¬ 
ception of the bad roads, had pleased me very much. We enter¬ 
ed the state of Virginia, of which a part runs like a wedge be¬ 
tween the states of Pennsylvania and Ohio. In Wheeling we 
took the stage on the great national road to Washington in Penn¬ 
sylvania, which is twenty-nine miles distant. We soon ascended, 
a high mountain, from the top of which we could discover on one 
side the beautiful valley of the Ohio, the woody mountains bor¬ 
dering the valley, and the town of Wheeling with its orchards 
and gardens on the other; a deep valley along which the Wheel¬ 
ing creek runs in a picturesque manner. The national road gra¬ 
dually descends this steep hill, forming the western border of the 
valley, continues in it and goes over a handsome stone bridge 
across Wheeling creek. A neighbouring family who profited 
considerably by the construction of the national road, have erect¬ 
ed at the bridge a monument in honour of the secretary of state, 
(H. Clay,) who was the chief promoter of it in congress. This 
monument consists, as far as I could perceive in my hurry, of a 
statue of liberty, coarsely sculptured in sandstone, placed on a 
clumsy pedestal ornamented with inscriptions and bas relief. 
Monuments erected to living persons have always something sus¬ 
picious ; they generally exhibit that vile adulation to which the 
Dutch give a characteristic name.* I was greatly surprised to find 
such sentiments in this country, and to see them tolerated. The 
national road, which is finished seven years ago, requires consi¬ 
derable repairs, or at least to be kept in better order. Since it 
has been finished nothing has been done to it. The tracks are 
deep, and the road is very rough. The stage we rode in was of 
the description made in the north-eastern states, which are the 
best and most convenient I had met with since October last year. 
We changed horses twice in West Alexandria and Claysville. 
We passed several little places through a well cultivated country, 
over some stone bridges of sumptuous contruction. Fifteen 
miles from Wheeling we left the state of Virginia, and entered 
the state of Pennsylvania partly known to me, and which I now 
intended to cross from its western to its eastern extremity. We 
arrived at Washington at ten o’clock at night, and left there at 
one o’clock on the morning of the 17th of May, the weather be¬ 
ing cloudy. Abandoning the national road, we turned to the left 
towards Pittsburgh, twenty-five miles from Washington. To Can- 
nonsburg, a distance of seven miles, the road was tolerably good. 
* Knopendraayerye. 
