Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-08-19

THE SEAT OF GovERNMKNT.-The New York
Express speculates gravely over an alleged prob
able removal Of the seat Of government to some
point in the Mississippi valley, in twenty years,
when the weight Of the Unions population will
be concentrated in that region. 1t strikes US that
the fears of the Express are utterly unfounded.
No nation Of ancient or modern times has ever
yet abandoned its seat of government such, after
having freely expended vast sums in properly fit
ting it for governmental purposes, except in the
case of the removal of the seat Of the Government
Of the Roman Empire In the days Of its decay,
which was simply the act of an accidental
desPot, resulting in fastening the downfall of his
country's national power and importance, and
atiording warning which has been proftably
needed by every civilized nation from that day to
this. Nations, like all else existing, more or
less governed by certain unwrittcn fixed laws
which eventually rarely fail to assert their suprcn
acy in shaping their several policies and destinles
and neither Of these laws is more universally con-
coded than that which attaches people to the
capital or seat Of government of its earliest annals
But this unwritten law influencing all nations
alike, aside, the rapid progress of our country in
the improvement and cheapening of its means Of
travel in all directions Is insurance against the
success OF scheme that would involve a sacri fee
Of property that has cost the Government of the
United States an aggregate sum equal to its whole
annual revenue at this time, merely to CRAFTY a
sectional whim on the part Of some, and a deter
mination to speculate, Pecuniarily, in govern
mental action on the part OF others.
In February, 1895, we jOurneyed from this city
to Boston In a sleigh, then the only means of
making the trip. The time required was nine
days, and the cost about SIS. The journey NAV
now be made in twenty-four hours, at a cost of
not more than SIS This improvement in the
means of INSTRUMENTATION between Wash
ington and Boston is but type Of what has taken
place in that way everywhere else in the United
States. Thus, Washington city is for all prac-
teal purposes much more emphatiealiy the poiti-
cal centre Of the country, including Cali
fornia, Oregon, and Washington Territory, than
twenty-five years ago; when, to come hither from
st Lons required quite much time and ex-
pcnse and involved far mere Inconvenience than
are now incident to a trip from San Francisco to
this point. Again, ii is utterly inpossi BILE that
parties aiming to effect removal OF the seat of
government can agree upon the point to which to
remove it-confcting personal (pecuniaryl ends
being necessarily at the bottom of their efforts to
effect such change. On the other hand, the in
ducemen's for the old States to combine 20 defeat
any such purposes increase hourly. and are even
now SO strong as that they would combine so
readily upon no other question Of governmental
policy. 1t Is, indeed, utterly impossible that
while the present government lasts any such
change can be accomplished it matters not what
may be the relative population of the great West.
or how active and influential It's specuIators in
the governments action may become