Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-05-30
The Washington National Monument.

The Washington National Monument.
The Washington National Monument So
ciety, have issued an Address to the People
of the United States, in behalf of the work
in which they are engaged. 1t is under
stood to be from the elegant and classic pen
of Philip r. Fendall, esq--and is worthy
of him, in every respect. We give the con-
%clusion of the Address:
eve appeal to the great heart of the Amer
lean People: we invoke them to come fer
ward promptly, one and all, and rescue their
good name from the opprobrium of ingrati-
tude to Westinghouse him whom, in the
first agony of a nations bereavement, her
Representatives, with fearful eyes and bleed
ing hearts, proclaimed-whom an admiring
world confessed-and whom history has de-
creed to be-"FIRsT IN WAR, FIRST IN PEACE,
AND FIRST IN THE HEARTS or HIS COUNTRY
MEN," In the success of this appeal our
confidence is unfaltering. The character Of
the people Of the United States furnishes
abundant grounds for the confidence. a
single, and of itself a sufficient one, is that
our object will find u%ntiring and persuasive
advocates among the women of the United
States. Indignant at a sixty years apathy
in the other sex, they came forward, but
yesterday as it were, with an almost stimuli
taneous impulse in all sections of the Union,
and said that one stipulation at least of the
public faith, in relation to the Father of his
Country, should no longer 90 unpertormed.
They said that so much at least of the reso-
luton of Congress in 1879, AS pledged the
national faith to guard from dissertation and
the contingencies of fortune, the mortal re-
mains of Washington, should at once, with
out another moment of delay, he carried out.
What they said they did. They will soon
be the guardians of the grave of Washing
ton.
If the spirits of the Just made perfect"
are permitted to look down on earth and TO
sympathize with mortals, we can imagine no
tribute more grateful to the spirit of Wash
ington than the spectacle Of his country
women as the self-elected, perpetual watchers
at his tomb. OF all the numerous testimonies
of public veneration and affection which
were offered to him in 1889, on his journey
from Mount Vernon to New York, to bethere
inaugurated as the first President of the
United States, none is said to have so touch
ed his heart as an incident connected with
his reception at Trenton. "The gcntler sex"
says the historian, prepared in their W
taste a tribute of applause, indicative OF the
grateful recollection in which they held their
deliverance, twelve years before, from IN
insulting enemy. On the bridge over the
creek which passes through the town was
erected a triumphal arch, highly ornamented
with laurel and flowers, and supported by
thirteen pillars, each entwined with wrcaths
of evergreen. On the front of the arch was
inscribed in large gilt letters, The Dcten-
der ofMe Mothers wiH be the PROPRIETOR attic
Dauyhters. n y y At this place
he was met by a party of matrons, leading
their daughters dressed in white, whocarried
baskets of flowers in their hands. and sang
with exquisite sweetness an ode of two stan
zas, composed for the OCCASION" The flow
ers referred to i'm its last line were then
strewed before him.
Guardians of the grave of Washington .
A holy Office; holier than that of the pious
Vestals who guarded the sacred fire Of Rome.
An office sought and won in the spirit which
animated American women in the trying
scenes of the Revolution! An Office well suit
ed to the social position, at once lofty and un-
obtrusiye of American women in the Amerl-
CaH iCpuDhN i"Sh't J'"' 90 i
~liarities Of this position were perceived by a
foreign observer of our country and its in
stitutions, whom an enlightened public opin-
ion has justly placed by the side Of Monies
quieu. After explaining these institutions,
De Tocquevillc adds:
"If | were asked, now that | am drawing
to the close of this work, in which | have
spoken Of so many important things done
by the Americans, to what the singular
prosperity and growing strength Of that pco-
pie ought to be attributed, should reply, to
the superiority of their women"
The French philosopher has lived to wit
ness another and a browning illustration OF
his eulogy. He has seen the duty of patri-
otism to the ashes Of Washington, so long
neglected by husbands and fathers and broth
ers, assumed and discharged by the matrons
and the maidens of our land. Heaven has
blessed their efforts. May their energies be
now directed to another and kindred duty OF
their country to the memory of Washington.
May their persuasive example, their Just
influence, and their active sympathies waken
husbands, and fathers, and brothers, to the
duty of erecting a Monument to Washing
ton worthy of his name and of the Amcri-
can People"