Washington telegraph., 1853-08-03
A SeTere Esekssrse,

/ ~ 10 - Il uc tiiiL 4iuuilt efnOn ;iiS beer
sold to spectators. An old woman peddle:
canes at ten certs apiece by the door o
| Washington's tomb; and pretty soon ;
whiriigig and swing will be erected in til;
grounds, saloon opened in the venerable
mansion. and along the piazza, throucl
which, with slow aud dignified step, tn.
best man OF his age used 10 walk for recrca
ton, there viii be line Of smokers and to-
bacco-chewers, with feet up, grzzling min;
juleps an talking politics VIII the specu.
lators be good enough not to use the sarco
phagi, in which are the remains Of the he.
TO and his wife for their contemplate pen.
ny-gctting operations, We h pe that they
won't sell them to Darnum.
Sell Mount Vernon. 1t is akin to that
mean spirit which leaves het resting place o.
our great men unmarked and almost un.
known Itisakin to that disgraccful neglect O
all obligation, all gratitude, which has char.
acterized our National Legislature. Thi:
Dragging country Of ours which glorifes
itself over its territory, wealth, enterprise
and overwhelming limits, has permitted its
old revolutionary soldiers to die in novels,
or starve on beegarly pensions; or sent
them, GROWN old. feeble, blind. to subsist on
the cold charity OF the almshouse Our
Westminster Abbey, our st. Panl's-wlicrc
are they! Where the monuments to our
statesmen. cur generals Briars and this
ties overgrow their graves, Or hide the moui-
deying tablets that mark the spot. II a
commission for a foreign consulship or post
office were paid at the head Of each, and
the whole hungry swarm of office-seekers
set upon the hunt with such prizes in
prospect, not one in one thousand could find
them. The paltry spirit of party refused a
memorial to Clinton; and Legislature who
could not understand or appreciate anything
that did not belong to party denied the tribute
which public gratitude demanded at their
hands. Congress hageles and debates over
the compensation which some of the more
patriotic Of that miscellaneous crowd uay
attempt to make to an old soldier, and
squanders thousands in mileage on useless,
and worse than useless members.
Well, we don't mean to get out of tenn
per; but this exhibition of the remains of
Washington, and the sale OF einaer-pon in
his mansion, is something to get angry
about
We saw venerable man to-day who
had seen and talked with Washington. lie
rccollected his stately presence and had
heard the utterauce of his lips We were
glad to take the hand which had claspcd
that of the great chief, to listen to the inter
esting incidents of bis life at Philadelphia-
to know how he liyed-what was the man
ner of his home lfe-how he looked, talked
and acted We seemed to be gazing on one
of the few solitary links that connect this
generation with great age now passed away.
When the venerable face OF our informant
was lighted UP with the memories of his
youth which were thus called to mind, and
his heart discharged itself Of its burden of
love and devotion TO Washington, we could
understand something of that character
which impressed itself so iudellbly OF the
age in which he lived aud on the men who
were his contemporaries.
Congress quarrels and wastes the public
treasure in the Capitol under the shadow
of the monument that begs its way slowly
towards the skies, and but few miles dis
tant from the scene of his death and burial.
Alas for the gratitude of republics The
grave of Madison is unmarked. almost OBJ
liberated. jefferson lies amid the rank grass
and the brambles; the graves of the gene
rails of the Revolution are, many of them,
forgotten and the country which they have
established and made renowned has consicn-
ed to obscurity the memories Of those men
whose lives we're marked by her ingr attitude
B4Balo nv " AdccrtiSer