The completion of this truly great military work must, in a great measure, depend upon the decrease of the subsidence to which the soil is liable, and for which it is necessary to pause after every year's addition of pressure, in order to proportion such a resistance as may restore the equilibrium and secure the foundation. When I was here, one of these pauses in the engineering department had place; but it was said, the President had intimated his design of passing the hot season upon this spot, when the works would be vigorously resumed under his inspection.
Sailing up the Elizabeth river, so famous in the gallant Raleigh's story, we reached Norfolk at eight o'clock A.M., when a portion of our living freight was quickly transferred to the Virginia steamer for Charleston; another portion, to which I was attached, being, with similar promptitude, handed over to the Pocahontas ditto, bound for Richmond, the capital of Virginia. In less than an hour we were sailing back through the well-closed harbour of Norfolk; whence, crossing the Elizabeth river, we entered, in a couple of hours, the noble stream now rightly called, after its legitimate sovereign, the Powhatan, but better known as the James's river,—"a great sinking in the poetry of the thing," though Jamie also was a king, "but no more like his brother," &c.
Upon the southern banks rise a constant series of fine bold bluffs, mostly crowned with forest trees of great beauty, now dressed in that rich-coloured foliage so often lauded by poet and painter, but as yet, I fancy, never done full justice to. Scott and Turner, those inspired illustrators of nature, might have done this: as it is, I hope America will, before many years are past, find, amongst her own sons, pens and pencils worthy to give her beauties to the admiration of the Old World.
We arrived off the original city founded in the "Old Dominion," having some passengers to land upon the beach, now almost as wild as when first trodden by the adventurous foot of the bold Captain Smith. Within a few yards of the landing-place stood the first Christian church erected on this mighty continent: I grieve to add, this interesting altar to the true God no longer bears his holy word: a dilapidated, but sturdy-looking square tower of brick, alone remains to mark the site of church and city; indeed, without timely care is bestowed by some gentle, generous spirit, even this most interesting memorial will speedily disappear. At present this forms one of the very few objects to which the term picturesque may properly be applied, existing in the States; and, linked as it is with the recollections of its gallant founders, I confess it laid strong hold of my imagination, absorbing my eyes and interest as long as I could keep it in view.
The low, unhealthy site of this city proved, after a prolonged struggle, the cause, I believe, of its total desertion. Elizabeth Town, its near neighbour and once rival, is, I have been informed, fast verging to a similar condition.
Scattered along the banks on both sides of the river, are several mansions raised in the old times by the wealthy planters of the "Old Dominion," the remembrance of whose liberal expenditure and open hospitality still does honour to their state. These houses have a strong resemblance to the English squirearchical dwellings of the last century, being generally large square brick buildings, commonly flanked by low disproportioned wings; they have all hospitable-looking entrances, and flights of steps made with reference to the number and free access of the visitors rather than in keeping with the size of the house; their steep, many-chimneyed roofs are usually surrounded by a showy balustrade, and their appearance imposing and respectable, bespeaking affluence and good housekeeping.
One or two of these mansions stood upon fine open lawns of some extent, which swept down until their grass mingled with the waters of the gently-flowing river, offering a slope of great natural beauty, studded with clumps of goodly trees; the whole, however, having that most melancholy air of neglect that seemed to say their best days were "the days that are gone."
Under the existing law of the States those days may not be expected ever to return; and such places as are here alluded to cannot be kept up in families whose possessions, however ample originally, must be parcelled out at the demise of each inheritor, until, like poor Sir Lucius, the "mansion-house and the dirty acres" having slipped through the not over-tenacious fingers of the Virginian proprietor, the family honour and the family pictures will alone be left.
In reverting again to the subject of this law, which I confess I have only viewed under its most melancholy aspect, I must add that it is by no means unpopular here, being, in fact, perfectly accordant with both reason and justice, and probably, as far as the commonwealth is concerned, for the best; yet cannot I look without regret on this oblivion of the once gentle of the land, and the scattering of the children of those brave men whose blood and labour redeemed the wilderness, or won it from the savage and his prey.