The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1885-03-14
GhF 9nilg 8nDletin,
SATURDAY, MARCH If, 1855.
the WASHINGTON MONUMENT.


Mr.. Winthrop's grafton, read in his
unavoidable absence by Representa-
tive Long. of Massachusetts, at the
Inauguration of the Washington
Monument
No distinction of party or Of sec
ton prevents our all feeling alike
that our country, by whomsocvcr
governed, is still and always our
country, to be cherished in all our
hearts, to be upheld and defended
by all our hands. Most happy would
it be if the 30th of April, on which
the first inauguration of Washington
took place in 1889, could henceforth
be the date of all future inaugural
tons, as it might be by a slight
amendment of the Constitution, Civ
ing, as it would, much needed ex-
tension to the short session of Con-
gress, and letting the second cen
fury of our constitutional history
begin where the first century began.
But let the date be what it may, the
inspiration of the centennial anniver-
sary of that first great inaugural
must not be lost upon us. Would
that any words of mine could help
us all, old and young, to resolve that
the principles and character and ex-
ample of Washington, as he came
forward to take the oath of office on
that day, shall once more be recog-
nized and revercnced as the model
for all who succeed him, and that
his disinterested purity and patrio-
tism shall be the supreme test and
standard of American craftsmanship.
That standard can never be taken
away from us. The most elaborate
and durable monuments may perish,
but neither the forces of nature nor
any tiendish crime of man can ever
mar or mutilate that great example
of public and private virtue. Our
matchless obelisk stands proudly
before us to-day, and we hail it with
the Civilizations of united and
glorious nation. 1t may, or may
not, be proof against the cavils of
critics, but nothing of human con-
struction is proof against the casual
ties of time. The storms of winter
must blow and beat upon it, the &C
ton of the elements must soil and
discolor it, the lightnings of heaven
may scar and blacken it, an earth
quake may shake its foundations,
some mighty tornado or resistless
cyclone may rend its massive blocks
asunder and hurl them in fragments
to the ground. but the character
which it commentaries and illus
trates is secure. 1t will remain I'M
changed in all its cousummate purity
and splendor, and will more and
more command the homage of sue
ceeding ages in all regions Of the
earth. God be praised, that charac-
ter is ours fogever.
Mr.. Daniel delivered q speech, of
which the following is the perora-
toni
When Marathon had been fought,
and Greece kept free, each of the
victorious Generals voted himself to
be the first in honor, but all agreed
that Miltiades was second. When
the most memorable struggle for the
rights of human nature of which
time holds record was thus happily
concluded in the imminent of their
preservation, whoever else was Sec
ond, unanimous acclaim declared
that Washington was first. Nor in
that struggle alone does lie stand
foremost. In the name of the peo-
pie of the United States, their Pre-
sdent, their Senators and their Re-
representatives. and their judges 60
crown to-day with the grandest
crown that veneration has ever lifted
to the brow of glory him whom Vir-
ginia gave to America, whom Ameri-
ca has given to the world and to the
ages, and whom mankind, with uni
versal suffrage, has proclaimed the
foremost of the founders of an en-
pire in the fist degree of greatness,
whom liberty herself has Amounted
as the first citizen in the great re-
public of humanity. Encompassed
by the inviolate seas stands the
American Republic, which he found
ed-a free Great Britain-uNifted
above the powers and municipalities
of the earth, even as his monument
is uplifted over the roof and dome
and spire Of this multitudinous city.
Long live the republic of Washing
ton-respected by mankind, beloved
by all its sons; long may it be the
asylum of the poor and oppressed of
all lands and religions; long may it
be the citadel of that liberty which
writes beneath the eagles folded
wings, we will sell to no man, we
will deny to no man right and JUS
tice. Long live the United States of
America! Filled with the free mag