The national Republican., 1861-01-12
THE CITY OF WASHINGTON.

OF citizens OF the adjacent county OF montgom
cry, Maryland, division, almost exactly equal
in numbers, l33 to l3l, arose upon resolu-
ton to the effect, that if q disruption Of the
Union finally occurred, to which all parties in
the meeting we're opposed, it would then be the
sentiment of Maryland to attach herself to the
Southern Confederacy, or to a Confederacy EN-.
bracing the central slave States, if such should
be formed.
As it may be presumed that the citizens Of
Montgomery county, the value Of whose landed
property depends so largely upon the prosperi.
ty of this Metropolis, are influenced very much
by the considerations, on both sides, which are
being weighed by our own citizens, we take tie
occasion to present some views, upon the as
sumption that the city of Washington has itself
the option of determining whether it will be
the capital of Southern or Northern Con.
federacy. Of course, we have no such option,
in point of fact, but, as matter Of speculation,
it may not be without utility to see how we
should be wise to exercise it, if we did have it.
1t is now more than sixty years since this
capital was lsid out upon q scale Of proper
tons, indicating expectations, on the part Of its
founders, which have altogether failed to be
realized. The early specclations in real estate
here, Of which the traditions survive, could only
have been undertaken upon the hope that
Washington would now be Vienna, or even
Paris. Mr.. Jefferson furnished, for Washing.
ton, plans Of all the capitals Of Europe, but the
ambitious and eccentric Frenchmsn, charged
with the control, rejected them all, for one
more magnificent, better suited to the expan.
sive territory than to the limited population of
the country, and based rather upon its hopes,
than upon its existing present.
Those hopes, so far as the nation is con.
cerned, have been outrun by the fact but not
SO with the early expectations in respect to
this capital. During the first forty years of its
occupation as such, it had only attained pop.
ulation of twenty.seven thousands. The ridi.
cule Of Tom Moores poetry, and the sarcasms
of John Randolph, were but too well deserved.
We had Tiber, but no Rome.
Whatever merits negro slaveholding commu.
mites may have, and however propitious they
may be to the development Of military courage,
or Of craftsmanship, it is plain enough that
they cannot produce great cities. There may
be commerce at certain points, as at New Or.
leans, and Charleston, which will sustain cities
employing q conside able amount of negro
slave labor, but it is not mere commerce which
builds up great cities. 1t is al is and manufac.
tories. Even in New York, commercial as it is,
the number Of artisans is enormous. The city
of Philadelph is chiefly manufacturing. Such
cities may arise on the borders of slave States,
as at Baltimore and St.. Louis, but they only
arise by the expulsion of the slaveholding ele.
ment. Whatever genius the negro may have, it
is not for the fine arts. He is an agricultural
laborer, but rarely an artisan. Great slave.
holding cities are possible, as in the ancient
Roman empire, but not negro slaveholding
cities.
When this location was fixed upon, it was in
the heart of the most densely slsveholding
district in America, and it remained, until re-
cent times, as much Southern town as Nash
vile is to-day. And that and nothing else, is
the reason Of its slow growth.
HWashington was now made the metropolis
of Southern Confederacy, we presume that
no positive law would prohibit the influx of the
capital, the arts, or the citizens of free States
But it is not under the cold shade of an aris.
tocracy of planters only occasionally admit.
ting merchants into good society, as matter
Of policy, as advised by the late Governor Nc.
Dutiie, that commerce will flourish, that manu-.
factories will arise, or that urban populations,
with their ramifcations of skilled industry, will
expand.
The genius of slave States, which runs to
politics and war, may be more manly and more
noble than the genius Of free States, which di.
reefs itself to industrial and material develop.
ment We will offend no mans prejudices by
affirming the contrary. But certain it is, that
the geuius of slave States is not propitious to
the growth of cities. 1t is not from the want of
physical and geographical advantages that the
expansion of Washington has been retarded.
Located upon the majestic Potomac, in the
heart Of a fertile region, with an unrivalled wa
ter power within easy reach and nearer to the
West than any point on the Atlantic, it appa
rently lacks no element of prosperity. But
resources are useless, without the population to
make use of them.
Washington is not to be the capital of a
Northern Confederacy. Iti, to remain, as now,
the capital of the Union, as our fathers made
it. But, doubtless, it is to undergo change,
from the revolution of political power, followed,
as that will be here, by social transitions. And
whatever prejudices may oppose themselves to
- =, a. al. L..
vast increase to our population, our commerce,
and our wealth. The citizens of the free States
will make this their residence, to which they
are attracted by many circumstances, when the
old elements Of repulson cease to exist, or are