How The Elite Of A Nation - For The Inhabitants Of Washington
Consider Themselves To Be The Elite - Can Consent To Live In Such A
State Of Thraldom, A Foreigner Cannot Understand.
Were I to say
that it was intended to be typical of the condition of the
government, I might be considered cynical; but undoubtedly the
sloughs of despond which were deepest in their despondency were to
be found in localities which gave an appearance of truth to such a
surmise.
The Secretary of State's office, in which Mr. Seward was
still reigning, though with diminished glory, was divided from the
headquarters of the commander-in-chief, which are immediately
opposite to it, by an opaque river which admitted of no transit.
These buildings stand at the corner of President Square, and it had
been long understood that any close intercourse between them had not
been considered desirable by the occupants of the military side of
the causeway. But the Secretary of State's office was altogether
unapproachable without a long circuit and begrimed legs. The
Secretary of War's department was, if possible, in a worse
condition. This is situated on the other side of the President's
house, and the mud lay, if possible, thicker in this quarter than it
did round Mr. Seward's chambers. The passage over Pennsylvania
Avenue, immediately in front of the War Office, was a thing not to
be attempted in those days. Mr. Cameron, it is true, had gone, and
Mr. Stanton was installed; but the labor of cleansing the interior
of that establishment had hitherto allowed no time for a glance at
the exterior dirt, and Mr. Stanton should, perhaps, be held as
excused.
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