XXIV.

THE NATIONAL WASHINGTON MONUMENT.

"Yonder shaft,

Which States and peoples piled the stones upon,

That from its top the very winds might waft

To distant shores, the name of Washington."

The most interesting fact connected with the Monument is, that it stands on the site where Washington supposed he was to be commemorated. In 1783, Congress passed resolutions directing the Minister at Versailles to secure the services of the best artist in Europe, for the preparation of a statue of Washington, “to be erected at the place where the residence of Congress shall be established."

The Commissioners who planned the Federal City, set apart the place where the Monument now stands, as the site for this statue; and their report, with this provision, was communicated by Washington to Congress. It has been said that the statue by Houdon, in Virginia, was from the cast which Jefferson, then Minister to France, procured, with reference to fulfilling this resolution of Congress; but the statue never appears to have been ordered, probably for want of funds. Like many other acts of the Continental Congress, it was prob

ably delayed in its execution by the uncertainty which existed about a Seat of Government, as well as the embarrassments incident to a government just emerging from a war, and dependent for all its resources on the action of the States.

PUBLIC SENTIMENT ON SUCH SUBJECTS.

In that day they seem to have considered a monument as the only appropriate testimonial of respect to a great man, and voted one where we should now present a sword or a gold medal. After the battle of Eutaw Springs, a resolution was passed directing one to be erected to General Greene, at the future Seat of Government.

This has never been built. In this connection we may mention, that the cannon taken in the battle were presented to him on that occasion, and were appropriately inscribed. General Greene died three years after the war, leaving a family of young children, and an estate embarrassed by the noble efforts he had made to clothe and feed his destitute army. Under such circumstances the attention of his widow was given to more immediate duties, and, though the medal of the Eutaws, and other reliques, were religiously gathered under the family roof, these bulky cannon were allowed to remain at

West Point, where they would be better preserved than in a private house; and it is well they were not removed to the General's residence, as in that case they would have fallen into the hands of their original owners, Admiral Cockburn having made this house his headquarters for several weeks during the war of 1812. The cannon are still to be seen at West Point, and, should the resolution of Congress be ever carried into effect, they would form a beautiful and appropriate accompaniment to the monument. As a further vindication of public sentiment fifty years ago, we have seen that one of the finest squares in the Federal city (that now occupied by the Patent Office) was reserved by the Commissioners for a National Church, in which to hold services of public thanksgiving, and as an appropriate receptacle for the monuments which Congress might erect to the heroes of the Revolution, or other benefactors. Fifteen squares were to be divided among the several States, to be adorned and improved, and receive monuments of celebrated citizens of the States.

These suggestions of the Commissioners have never been carried out, though they appear to have met with general approval at the time. The only place at Washington, besides the Capitol, where monuments have been erected

by Congress, is the Eastern Burial Ground, more generally known as the Congressional Cemetery. It is not, as has been supposed, public property, by far the greater portion being taken up with private burial lots. The only privilege the Government possesses is that of erecting monuments or buying at a certain fixed price.

Over the graves of Vice-Presidents Clinton and Gerry, and Major-General Brown, are handsome marble monuments, but we remember no other memorial erected by Congress, unless we are to dignify with this name that square, tasteless mass of freestone which, under some standing law or rule, is erected for every member of Congress who happens to die in Washington, whether buried there or not. They are all exactly alike, with the same official inscription, as for example: "Hon. John Quincy Adams, a Representative in Congress from the State of Massachusetts, who died on the of February."

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An effort was made at the time of Mr. Adams' death to have this altered, so that a monument more befitting an ex-President should be erected; but it was voted down, chiefly from a feeling that it might be an unwise precedent to erect special monuments where the parties were buried elsewhere. The same sentiments

doubtless influenced the rejection of the Senate bill for a monument to General Taylor.

It would seem that it were wiser to abolish the present practice altogether, except where members are buried at Washington, which is rarely the case; or, if it is to be continued, there might be at least a more tasteful block devised, and sufficient variety obtained by giving to each State a particular form, to answer on all future occasions. The delegates of each State might be allowed to decide upon this, and when a member dies, his colleagues might designate some one of their number to prepare a suitable inscription, on their neglect to do which within a given time, the ordinary official title might be cut upon the stone.

The resolutions of the Congress of 1783 were brought to the attention of Congress soon after Washington's death, and elicited long discussions. Objection was made by some prominent members to the erection by Congress of any monument to an individual, however distinguished, on the ground that it was a bad precedent for the Government to engage in any such undertaking. "If we decline," said Mr. Macon, "to rear one to Washington, no one who succeeds him can expect one reared to his memory. On the other hand, if we erect one, every pretender to greatness will aim at the same dis