The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1876-01-27
Letter from Washington.
Correspondence of the journal.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22d, IS,

strips away the veil Of romance, ldealltY
and glory with which we surround our
idols, and brings us back to hard, stub
born palpable facts. From public heroes
down to simple married lovers, all alike
fall under the destroying touch. Jane and
John no longer see heaven in each others
eyes, and George Washington, ceasing to
be the Father Of his country" resolves
himself into stern, selfish, narroWmind-
ed aristocrat, who stole his honors from
the deserving shoulders Of another, and
yaulted into fame and affections that did
not of right belong to him-so say impair
tial history. which is supposed not to lie
any more than figures No more real was
the traditional patriotism of William Tell
Of Joan D'Arc. The boy never 'stood on
the burning deck, whence all but he had
tled;' Barbara Frietche had an existence
only il a poets imagination: and some
other man than Phil Sheridan won the
historic battle of Winchester, that gallant
officer remaining more than forty miles
away" until after the fate of the day was
decided Thus it goes, from chldhood's
hours, when the first blow to our implicit,
anquestioning faith comes in the sacrifice
of dear old kriss Kringie, on through all
the after years when doubt and skepticism
battle tiercely with knowledge, hopes and
belieis-causing sometimes merry laugh
at our own folly and stupidity, and some
times such keen, agonizing throes of pain
as chase all joy, light and happiness for
ever from our lives. As for me prefer
the satisfied ignorance of delusion rather
than the bitter. rude awakening Of knoWl-
the immortal G. Washington was ''tirst in
war" and ''iirst in peace" even it this
same destructive time has shown that he
is not now the First in the hearts Of his
countrymen. because ii he was, | think
they would make one united and deter
mined effort to complete the monument
designed in the first flush of gratitude for
his patriotism and valor, but which still
stands after all these lapse of years, pro
claiming to the world in all its intended
but never finished splerdors how perish
able a thing is fame, or even the remem-
brance of virtues and benefits after death.
The evil men do lives after them,
oft IN J, tI,ai,,
| For the sake of art, however, as we'll as
the nations honor, wish the original de
| signers had been more deeply convinced
that not alone republics but all h;'nan
nature is ungratetnl, and so struck whilst
| the iron was hot, and hammered out
enough "tilthy lucre" to have made this
"trbute OF respect" q glory instead of 4
disgrace and reflection upon our national
pride and energy.
The location OF this pvramidal pile of
marble and granite is one of the most con-
| spicuous and beautiful in the city, near
the banks of the Potomac, and Just south
OF the White House, the surrounding park
! being connected with the extensive
grounds of the Executive Mansion by a
wide and lovely drive and is said to have
been approved of by Washington himself
in the first plan OF the city. The first idea
of thus commemorating the virtues of the
great patriot originated with the CONT
mental Congress in 1888, or at the close
of the Revolution. Seventeen Years after
wards the House branch of Congress
passed a bill providing lor its erection,
| but not until 1915 was the corner stone
laid, OF more than half a century after the
Father of his Country had surrendered his
sword and commission to the Continental
Congress. Six years of labor, and the eX-
| penditure of about a quarter of a million
Of dollars brought the obelisk to its present
state, and there it has rested ever since,
waiting fer patriotism and money enough
to send its white shaft up among the
heaven pointing spires The Washington
Monument which we used to see in oul
| geographys and history, and which is on
exhibition in the national Patent Ollice, is
the original design of Robert Mills, but
not exactly the affair that occupies por-
ton of Monumental Park The model as
prepared by Mr.. Mills, was to have been a
vast circular base three hundred feet in
diameter and twenty feet in height, rest
ing upon this, twenty-five feet from the
outer circumference, were TO rise thirty
| grand columns of massive proportions, be-
ing twelve feet in diameter and forty-iive
feet high, surmounted by an entablature
twenty feet in thickness and two hundred
and fifty feet in diameter, enclosed with a
balustrade still fifteen feet higher, making
one hundred feet as the aggregate heis hi
Of the vast circular foundation from which
was to spring plain shalt seventy feet at
the base and five hundred feet high, max.
ing it, with the exception of the Tower OF
Babel, the highest structure in the world
But the lofty ambitions of our torefathers
have as yet assembled only some one hun
dred and seventy-tour feet where they re-
main suspended like Mahomet's coffin, be-
tween heaven and earth The immense
rotunda formed by the enclosing columns
was to have been again subdivided into
spacious corridors and a colossal gallery
lighted from the entablature above, tol
the reception OF historical paintings anc
statues of the heroes of the Revolution
the sculptured ornamentation of the whole
exterior and interior being Il succession
OF portraitures Of events, incidents ano
characters in our national life Thus far
however, Ill the mementoes Of the pas
and treasures OF art, together with sucf
money as Congress has seen fit to spare
from its many other projects, have gone
to enrich and beautiiy the National Cap
itol, whilst the National Monument Asso