St. Mary's beacon., 1858-05-20

In its commencement, too often closes IN sorrow
and disaster.
II. uackay's Account Of Washington.
In the London illustrated News Of February
81, We find this metropolis thus sketched BY
DIR. Mackay, its editor:
Washington. the official and political capital
Of the United States, is beautifully situated on
the Potomac, a wide but not deep river, at
distance of upwards Of $50 miles from the
ocean. 1t IS 226 miles from New York, 1856
from Philadelphia and 40 from Baltimore. and
contains population Of upwards of $4,000
souls Of whom 5000 are free blacks and . 600
slaves. The city is laid ont into wide streets
and avenues-wider than Portland place in
London, or Sackviile street in Dublin. The
avenues, as the principal thorouShfares are
called, radiatc from the Capitol or palace of
the Legislature, as their centre; and are named
after the fifteen original States of the Aslera-
tlon-Pennsvlvania avenue, leading direct from
the Capitol to the White House. or mansion Of
the President, is about mile in length and of
noble width but contains few buildings OF
magnitude commensurate with its uwu stately
proportions. The houses on each side are FOX
the most part Of thir,!-r;Ite size and construc-
tion, and. IN consequence Of the spaciorlsness Of
the roadway, lock even mcaner and smaller
than they are. Washington, with somewhat
unSavury addition which it would offend polite
ears to repeat, was called by late celebrated
Senator the ''city Of magnificent distances" and
well justiiics the title. On every side the dis
tanccS stretch out in apparently intermnable
lines, suggesting to the stranger who walks
through the city at night, when the gas lamps
thow their fairy radiance ut long intervals. a
population Of ut least a million Of souls. But
ut daylight this illusion vanishes The marks
Of good intention and noble design are every
, where apparent; but those Of fulflment arc
nowhere to be found. All is inchoate, strag-
CLING. confused, heterogeneous, incomplete
In the same street are to be found Il splendid
marble edlticc of q magnitude such as would
make it the ornament of any capital in the
world, while opposite, and on each side Of il.
are low brick houses, crazy wooden sheds and
filthy pgstics, suggestive Of the Miiesian cle-
ment IN the population; such street is F
street, in which the Patent Office is situated
and such streets are II and streets, where the
| diplomatic corps and the fashion of Washing
ton have taken up their residence And here
it may I've mentioned that the founders Of the
city seem to have exhausted their inventive ill.,
genuity when they named the principal streets
after the States Of the Union. Having taxed
| .hclr Imagination t. this extent, or having no
Imagination at all, they resorted 10 the letters
OF the alphabet as mode of nomenclature
! When they had exhausted thcse-an easy mat
ter in growing city-they brought arithme-
tic 10 the rescue Of their poverty, rs was done
i'll New York, Philadelphia and other cities
! Thus, In receiving carlS and returning visits.
the stranger may not unfrequentlv find that he
has been called upon by Mr.. Jones, of No 80
| Nlnety-nlnth street; or must visit Mr. Brown,
at No. Third street, or Mr.. Smith, at No. 90
Twenty-SccOnd street. The system has its ad-
vantageS, no doubt, but il is somewhat stiff
and mathematical, and ignores q very cheap
but very effective mode Of rendering honor b.
the great men OF the country. living or dead
the giving of their names 10 the public thor
ouglfares. If Washington gave his name to
the city, why should not the names of other
great Men be given t. its streets?
! Besides It's noble Capitol, with his towering
dome, Washington possesses many elegant pub
| lie buildings, such as the White House, or Ex-
ecutive Mansion. the Treasury buildings, the
Patent Office and the Post Office Were these
cdIfices, which are mostly OF white marble.
concentrated, as they might and ought to have
! been, in the great artery Of Pennsylvania ave-
nue., instead of being scattered over various
| portions of the city, Washington might have
possessed a: least ono street to rival or surpass
the Rue de Rvol in Paris. But the opportll-
nifty has been lost. and can never again recur.
Still, it is impossible not to believe that Wash
ington will yet become the most splendid city
on this continent. 1t has all the elements oi
beauty as we'll OF greatness, both in itself and
in its immediate environs and when it BE-
comes AZ populous as New York, which it is
likely to bc in less than fifty years. the inferior
buildings that line its spacious streets will dis
appear, and its ":uagnifcent distances" will
| be adorneCrWith an architecture worthy Of the
capital Of fifty. or perhaps OF hundred young
and vigorous republics.
! The site of Washington was chosen by George
1 Washington himself, who laid the corner stone
/ Of the Capitol OH the 18th Of September, 1893.
! At that line. and for some years afterwards,
the sittings Of the legislature were held in ,In-
dependence Hall. Philadelphia. The city stands
in the District of Columbia, in territory ce,ie,l
for the purpose by the Commonwealth of Vir-
| ginia and Maryland and covers an area Of sixty
square miles; bui, IN 1886, forty square miles
were restored to the Commonwealth. The de-
sign, as well as the location of the city, l. due
to the genius Of General Washington, under
whose directions the plans were executed by
Major L'Euiant The limits extend from
northwest 10 southeast about four miles and
half, and from east to southwest about two
miles and half The circumference Of the
city is fourteen miles, and tie aggregate length
Of the streets is computed AZ l99 miles, and OF
the avenues. sixty-fiYc miles and the average
width is from seventy % one hundred and ter
feet
The original CApitni Was 80 much damaged
by the British invading force in the unfortu-
nate war of 1914. ti,a, ia the following year it
was found necessary 10 reconstruct IL. IN 1928
It was entirely repaired, and in 1851 being
found insufficient ipr the increasing business Of
tas Easiou. ID Wa dC.s&mised 30 all tFo wiags