Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1857-02-28

To-day will be generally observed throughout the
country the anniversary Of the birthday OF Wash
ington. Here the military will turn out and the
militia will muster Perhaps other manifestations
will be made.
We rejoice to see the growing attention paid to
the day, and the increasing disposition to celebrate
Il in becoming manner II Is right and proper.
Would that each celebrsnt throughout the Union,
who really feels the emotions Of gratitude and
spect to the father Of his country appropriate to
the occasion, could be induced to contribute the
earnings Of one day to be employed in the compile
ton Of the monument at the City Of Washington,
and in the purchase. preservation and establishment
Of the home and last resting place Of Washington ut
Mount Vernon
TIE monument about which so much has been
said, is at a stand. The sound ofhan,mer or trowel
is no longer heard. No foot but that Of idle curiosi
y approaches the spot. Tie country boasts Of its
progress in wealth and population, and spends mil
lions upon political struggles, yet the monument to
Washington ceased TO advance some time ago.
While the secret Sam" boosted his omnipotence,
he seized npon the monument, and this partIzan
Dissertation brought to dead stop progress which,
sooth 10 say, was even then lingering enough, and
the monument has since stopped short
And Mount Vernon remains less as shrine to
which patriotism may resort, than a source Of
profit by its exhibition as museum. Growing
bluff on the South side Of the Potomac, the Old
House is through the trees, and would be pass
ed unnoticed and unknown, but from the custom Of
the steamboats, the river, tolling their bells as
they pass the Tomb Of Washington No memorial
rises that sacred ground to mark the gratitude of
nation, State or individual No guarantee exists
that the very tomb Of the hero may not become the
property Of Spectators alien to his blood, and enc
mics to the land Of his birth. This state of things
should not exist. When attempts have been made
to purchase Mount Vernon for the purpose Of hav.
ing the title vested in the State Of Virginia. it has
been objected that the present proprietor propre-
tors, bearing the same name with the g. eat man,
displayed disposition to speculate upon his fame
and the desire of the country to do him honor and
thus to exact price totally beyond the intrinsic
value OF the place as piece of proprt No doubt
tho present proprietor displays mercenary spirit
a spirit which would rather make money than CO.
operate in doing his great relative honor. But that
is the great reason why the tomb Of Washington
should be bought out of his control ut any terms.
The nation is surely able to buy it, and it. as has
been SAID, the present Washington displays this
unfair spirit Of speculation, he is not the proper Gus
todan of what morally belongs to the nation and to
the world.
We do not know under whose auspices the Wash.
ington Monument is MT carried on at the present
time. We trust that the time is far distant when
any mere party will be able or willing again to seize
upon what ought to be the business of the nation
and of humanity and we trust, too, that oil without
distinction of party will again take the thing in hand
and finish it. VIZ Journal