St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-02-22

| venerable ex-presldent, John Quincf Adam
at whose death-bed in my official chamhe
beneath this roof, was privileged watche
thirty-seven years ago this very day--hat
been originally designated to pronounce
the cornerstone Grafton, as one WIT
had received his first commission. in thu
long aud brilliant career at home and abroad
which awaited him, from the hands of wash
ington himself In that enviable distinction
certainly have no share; bat may be par
doned for remembering that, in calling upon
me to supply the place Of Mr.. Adams, IL was
borne in mind that had but lately taken the
oath OF speaker at his hands and from HI:
lips, and that thus, as was suggested at the
time, the electric chain, though heightened
by single link, was still unbroken. Let me
hope that the magnetism of that chain may
not even yet be entirely exhausted, and
that may still catch something of its vivify-
ing and quickening power, while | attempt
to bring to the memory of Washington the
remnants OF q voice which is failing, and OF
a yigor which l am conscious is ebbing away.
After giving minute history of the monu-
rnent FROM its first inception 10 its compt-
ton, and the great difficulties encountered,
all OF which were in turn successfully sur
mounted, Mr.. Winthrop said
I'i,siS coron,H opus. The ompletion crowns
the work. To-day that work speaks for itself,
! and needs 10 other orator Mute and hfeless
as IL seems, it has living aud audible voice
/ for all who behold it, and no one can mis-
interpret its language. Nor will any one,
! think, longer cavil about It's design. That
| design, let me add originally prepared by
the Washington architect, Robert Mills of
! South Carolina, and adopted long before
! had any relations to this association, was
commended to public favor by such illus
| trious names as Andrew jackson, John
| Quincy Adams, Albert Gallatin, Henry Clay
| and Daniel Webster. A colonnade encir-
cling its base, and intended as a
sort OF pantheon, was soon dis
! carded from the plan. Its main
| feature, from the first, was an obelisk
after the example Of that which had then
been recently agreed upon for Bunker Hill.
And so it stands to-day, simple, sublime
| obelisS of pure white marble, its proportions,
| in spite of its immense height, conforming
! exactly to those of the most elaborate ODE
lisEs OF antiquity, as my accomplished and
! lamsnted friend, our late minister TO Italy,
! 50 happily pointed out to US. 1t is not in
| deed, as were those ancient obelisks, mon
! olith single stone cut wholly from the
! quarry; that would have been obviously i'm
| possible for anything so colossal. Nor could
| we have been expected TO attempt the impos-
! sible in Difference to Egyptian methods OF
! construction. We might almost as well be
| called on 10 adopt as the eInblems of Amer
| lean progress the bronze Grabs which were
| found at the base of Cieopatra's needle 4.
! America is certainly at liberty 20 present
| new models in art as well as in
| government, or to improve upon old ones
| and, as l ventured to suggest some Years
ago. our monument to Washington will be
all the more significant and symbolic in en-
bodyng, as it does. the idea of our cherished
national motto, PLURIBus UNuM. That
compact, consolidated structure, with its
countless blocks, inside and outside, held
firmly In position BY their own weight and
pressure, will ever be an instructive type of
! the national strength and grandeur which
can only be secured bs the union Of ''many
into one"
But oh, my friends, let US no longer forget,
or seem to forget, that we are here 10 COM
memorate, not the monument but the man.
That stupendous pile mas not been reared for
any vain purpose Of challenging admiration
for itself. 1t is not, need not say it is not.
as a specimen OF advanced art, for 1t makes
no prrtention to that; it is not as a signal
illustration of engineering skill
and science, though that may
confidently be claimed for it, It
is not, certainly it Is not, as the talest eX-
isting structure in the world Tor we do not
measure the greatness of men by the height
Of their monuments, aud We know that this
distinction may be done away with, here OF
elsewhere, in future years but II Is as a
memorial OF the pre-eminent figure in
mo fern or in ancient history, the world over
of the man who has left the Hottest exam
pie u public and private Virtues, and whose
exalted character challenge the admiration
and the homage of mankind-it is this ex-
ample and this charactcr-it is the man, and
not the monument-that we are here 10 COM
memorate!
Nor can any one who hears me require TO
he reminded Of that last scene OF all, when.
in his eight-and-sixtieth year, having been
oyertaken by a shower of sleet and snow. in
the midst of those agricultural pursuits In
which he so much delighted, at Mount
Vernon, he laid himself calmly down TO die
-'not afraid TO CO. as he whispered to his
physician-and left his whole country In
tears such as had never flowed before.
"Mark the perfect man and ehold the up
right, for the end OF that man is peace"
Eighty-tivc years ago Tomorrow, his sixty
eighth birthday, was solemnly assigned BY
congress for general manifestation OF that
overwhelming national sorrow, and for the
commemoratiOn, by eulogies, addresses, SER
mons, and religious rites, Of the great life
which had thus been closed. But long be-
fore that anniversary arrived, and one day
only after the sad tldngs had reached the
seat Of government in Philadelphia, Presi-
dent John Adams, in reply to q message Of
the house Of Representatives, had autlci-
patsd all uanegyrics by declaration. as true
to-day as 1t WAS then, that he was ''the most
illustrious and beloved parsonage which
this country ever produced;'' while Henry
Lee Of Virginia, through the lips Of John
Marshall, he'd summed up and condensed all
that was'felt and all that could be or ever
can be said, in those iinperishable words
which will 60 ringing down the centuries, in
every cline, in every tongue, till time shall
be no more: First in war, first in peace,
and first in the hearts of his countrymenl ~
celebrated philosopher OF antiquity, who
was nearly contemporary with Christ, but
who could have known nothing Of what was
going on in Judea. and VINO, alas did not
always "reck his own rede, wrote thus to
younger friend, as precept for q worthy
life: Some good man must ne singled out
and kept ever before our eyes, that we may
live as If he were looking on, and do every
thing as If be could see it
Let me borrow the spirit, If not the exact
letter Of that precept, and address It 10 the
young men Of ms country: "Reep ever in
your mind. and before your minds eye, the
lofuest standard Of character. You have It.
need not say, supremely aud unapproach-
ably, in Him who spake as never man spake,
and lived as never man lived. and VINO
died for the sins Of the world
TIat character stands apart and
alone But OF merely mortal man the mon