Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-12-24
special Washington Correspondence
Removal or the Federal Can5,o,
WASHINGTON. Dnc LII 100.

'""U Un"' "ouid ADVISE you as to the pro.
gress which is being made in regard to tba
removal of the Capital.
BINCKLY IN THE FRONT AGAIN
Mr.. Binckly appears today TO disnr..
with Judge Sargent upon the unconstitp.
tionallty OF removing the Capital Ho
thinks the removal cannot destro,, a.
District of Columbia any more than -
could State, and that it cannot coyrno1
the United States to abdicate from, ON
territory to which national soverejontv bos
once attached.
SOME CONSIDERATIONS IN FAVOR or THE
PROPOSITION.
The proposition that the seat Of coverr.
ment ought to be at, Or as near as possible
to the centre of the country seems, if NOT
entirely, at least very self evident. When
the seat of our Government was, bv tbo
act Of Congress approved July 10Th 1890
fixed where it is at present, this considera.
ton appears to have been the PREVAILING
one, for at that time that point was about
the centre OF the inhabited part Of tba
county. With the exception of a few
weak, struggling settlements West Of the
mountains, the population was then con.
fined to the narrow strip between the sen
shore and the Alleghanics and hardly
anywhere extended inland more than two
hundred miles. The point on the Potomac
fixed by the act of Congress for the seat of
government was about midway between
the seacOast and the mountains. and olso
between the most NortheastwardIy settle
ments in New England and the most
enthusiastically ones in Georgia. Tint
point had, therefore, at that time, the fact
of its central position to recommend it,
and it had little if anything else. If the
population Of the country had extended
then, as it extends now, from the st. Croiy
to the Rio Grande, from Canada to tie
Gulf of Mexico, from the Atlantic TO the
Pacific, no one can for a moment SUPPOSE
that Congress would ever have thought of
fixing the Capital on the Potomac, where
it now is.
Leaving Alaska out of view, the geogra.
phical centre of the United States is pro.
badly in Kansas-but not far from the
fork of the Kansas river, little below
where it crosses the State line between
Kansas and Nebraska. suppose il is fun
ther west than the settlements have yet
extended, and as yet is probably occupied
by nothing but prairie dogs and antelopcs,
with perhaps now and then a few sirag-
Cling buffaloes and Indians But while
this is the geogra phical centre, it is not
and probably never will be, the centre OF
population. The centre Of population at
present must be east, and probably good
way east OF the Mississippi and from the
arid, barren character of the country be
tween the Missouri and the Sierra NeVadas,
this will probably always be the case. This
consideration must have great weight in
locating the Government-for it is obvious
that it ought to be located at the centre of
population, rather than the geographical
centre.
While the question of centralisIa must be
the principal reason, it cannot be the only
one to be considered in fixing the place for
the capital. The questions of health, accessi-
bility and safety from capture must like.
wise be taken into consideration.
is its unhealthiness--placed on the low,
swampy ground between the main and east
branches of the sluggish Potomac it can.
not be anything else than unhealthy.
On the score OF accessibility, Washing
ton has nothing to recommend it, while it
has much to detract from it. The fact is,
that from Boston to Fernandina there is
not another city or town on or connected
with the Atlantic coast so difficult of access
as Washington. It is out of the line boil
of commerce and travel, and it is incapG-
bic OF being brought into the line OF
either. 1t Is place to which, if it were
not the seat OF government, nobody would
ever so much as think Of going either for
business or pleasure; for apart from its be
ing the seat of government, it has not and
never would have either business or means
of pleasure to induce anybody TO visit it,
AS to safety from capture, everything IS
against Washington. In the war Of 1872,
the British did capture it, and burned the
public buildings and archives. IfanotEec
war should break out between us and
Great Britain, there would be nothing to
prevent the same thing from being done
again. A fleet of steamers might at any
time run up and destroy the place, unless
we should do as in time past-keep
large army there continually for It's pre-
lection. Past experience IN this respect
ought to teach US the necessity Of proyld-
ing some more secure place for til seat OF
government.
Of course the Capital, when removed,
must be in the valley of the Mississippi,
and great care must be taken to locate It
in healthy place, and one easy Of access.
It must, moreover, be in place where 1t
will be secured from capture Whether
any place North Of the Ohio will be sulu
GENTLY far from the Canada frontier for
that purpose, will be a question to be con
sidered. 1t will be the duty OF Congress
to deliberate carefully on all these matters,
so that the location fixed upon may be u
proper one, and one where the seat OF gov
may remain for many generations
The great West has already begun to
act in the matter of removing the Capital
and it will continue the action until the
Capital is removed-and that without the
slightest regard to any constitutional
bubbles, for they are nothing but quib-
bles-tha the ingenuity of lawyers can III
terpose against it. 1t feels and will con
tinue to feel more and more that it has
The right to effect the removal; it knows
4 L.