Magistrate, but THE PEOPLE were not here now. I had been absent from the city ever since early in August 1832, and it had undergone a change in its exterior appearance, in the mean time, of some magnitude. Its vacant lots had been built on, in many places; old buildings had been removed, and new ones, many of them large and elegant ones, had been erected in their stead. The improvements about the public buildings: the Capitol, the War office, the President’s house, &c., were considerable, and had cost the nation large sums of money. Besides these improvements, a new building of large dimensions had been built instead of the old Post Office, that fire had destroyed, since I had been here. A new Patent Office, of dimensions quite too large for any use to which the nation ought to devote it, had been built. The structure of this building seemed to me, to be such, that it will fall down in a few years. A new Treasury Office of vast dimensions, had also been built, since I had visited the city. Washington had now assumed more of a city-like aspect, instead of its old one, of a long straggling village. More churches had been built, in various parts of the city, and no disgusting sights of beggars and prostitutes met the eye. These circumstances added much to my satisfaction on my first day’s visit to the seat of Government. I met and shook hands with many old friends, residing either here or in Georgetown. Washington no longer presents the outside of vice, and that circumstance speaks highly of those, who have so zealously laboured to improve the morals, and mend the hearts, of the great mass of the citizens. Their labors must have been great, otherwise such success would not have followed their works. I attended, afterwards, divine service in several of their churches in the city, and once in the Episcopal church, with General Archibald Henderson’s family, at the Navy Yard, but I always found good preaching, and orderly, and even devout congregations attending church. In the streets of the city, I have never seen an intoxicated person, whereas, twelve years since, I have seen fifty such sights in a day. Many of them were Members of Congress! During this long visit of several months, constantly visiting all the public places, I have not seen one Member of Congress, either intoxicated or in any wise misbehaving himself, on any occasion.