Leaving Columbus, the seat of government, in the State of Ohio, on the morning of the twenty-sixth of November, in the stage, in company with six or seven passengers, we arrived at Wheeling, in Virginia, in exactly twenty-four hours. The distance is somewhat over one hundred and thirty miles. We passed over the National road, then in a good condition for travelling on it. Stopping at the Virginia Hotel in Wheeling, we ascertained that we were too late for the stage that would pass over the road to Cumberland, in season for the rail-road cars next morning; and so we concluded to tarry where we were, until next day. Resting ourselves here that day, and laying by sleep enough for the route between Wheeling and Cumberland, we took an early start the next morning, and passed over the Alleghanies during the succeeding night. We travelled some fifty miles or upwards on the ridge of that mountain, which is four thousand feet above the ocean, and on one point it is nearly, if not quite, five thousand feet in height. It was extremely cold, and the snow was several inches in depth. The cracks in the doors and windows of the stage, admitted the piercing cold more freely than we could have wished. We were nine in number, and were quite incommoded and uncomfortably stowed away. The stage driver insisted on stopping at every tavern, that we passed, almost, during the night, and the tavern keepers themselves were quite importunate, and strove to induce us to stop and warm ourselves by their large coal fires in their bar-rooms.
These arts of stage drivers and tavern keepers combined, detained us so long, notwithstanding all our exertions to prevent it, that they produced the effect which it was intended to produce: we arrived at Cumberland, in Maryland, about two hours too late for the cars that day, and so we were detained at that town until next morning. If the tavern keepers at Wheeling and Cumberland could be believed, though we had our doubts, they were excessively offended at all who were concerned in delaying us on our route, viz.: the stage agent at Wheeling, and the drivers and tavern keepers on the mountain, from the top of Laurel Hill, to Frostburgh inclusive. On the last day of December, 1843, we left Cumberland early in the morning, and in ten hours we were safely landed in Baltimore, passing over one hundred and eighty miles of rail-road in that period of time. For such a distance, of continuous rail-road, this is a most excellent road, and the ride is a very pleasant one. Our stoppages were neither numerous nor did we tarry long at any one place. At Harper’s Ferry we stopped to dine, but prefering to take our refreshment in the cars, we were gratified in that way, thereby saving one-half the expense and one-half the usual time of tarrying here to take a regular dinner. The towns through which we passed, between Cumberland and Baltimore, are small ones, but are improving in appearance. In Baltimore I stopped at Bradshaw’s, near the depot, and there found a good, comfortable room, a good bed, and good breakfast for one dollar. Leaving Baltimore in the cars at 8 o’clock, A. M., we reached Washington city, at 10 o’clock, in the morning, on New Year’s day. I had expected to have seen, at least, one hundred thousand people in Pennsylvania Avenue, on New Year’s day, as I saw, on that day fourteen years before. Now, I saw no crowd, no bustle, and heard no noise, and saw no stir. There was, however, as I learned at supper from some clerks who boarded where I put up, a levee of clerks and officers, who were dependants on the heads of Departments, and they called it “a crowd” of officers and office seekers? The nation had increased in numbers, greatly, since 1830, but only one thousand officers attended at the White house that day, whereas one hundred thousand people thronged the Avenue fourteen years before! Such was my impression from what I saw and heard that day. The change was striking, and told the different feelings of the people towards the Captain, from those formerly evinced towards the old General. I leave it to the reader to decide on the cause, but the fact made an impression at the time, and forced the comparison on my own mind, on the first day of the year 1844. Both days, that is, the first day of January 1830, and New Year’s day 1844, were equally fair, and the Avenue was now in a better condition than formerly, made so, at a large expense, by the nation. The officers of the government had doubled in numbers around the Chief Magistrate, but THE PEOPLE were not here now.