Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-02-21

audience could not keep still, and during the
remainder OF the ceremonies eagerly took ad-
vantage or every opportunity to applaud,
making the wooden shed resound with their
stampings, which could scarcely be checked.
the first vice president of the Washington Mon
of Columbian University: y D'' o. - " 'iS'
Remarks of Mr.. COrcoran.
IL mas been said that the fame of those who
spend their lives in the service of their country
Is oetter preserved by the "unwritten memo
rials OF the heart than by any material monu.
ment. The saying is pre-eminently true Of
the man whom the people of these United States
must forever hold in grateful veneration as the
one entitled above all others to the honored
name OF Pdter fdtriP. Yet the instincts of the
neart 90 put follow the impulses of our higher
nature when, In honor of the mighty dead, they
can ,or the commemorative column or the
s.ately monument, not, indeed, to preserve the
name and fame of an illustrious hero and
patriot, but to signalize the gratitude of the
generations for whom he labored.
ana SO on the 10Th of December, 1899, the
uaS AFTER the mortal remains of George WASH
lngton mad been committed to the tomb at
Mount Vernon, John Marshall of Virginia des-
tlnctlon the office of Chief Justice of the United
states, rose In the House Of Representatives
ana moved, in words penned by Henry Lee, of
Virginia, that a Committee of both Houses of
congress should be appointed "to report meas
ures suitable TO the occasion and expressive of
,me proiound atna sorrow with which Congress is
%
trymen."
, 1t is through long series of years, and through
the Gibbs and flows of much divergent opinion
as to the monumental forms in which the ma
tlonai homage should most suitably express it
sell, that the American people have watched
and waited for the grand contamination which
we are this day met to celebrate. 1t is because
the stream of the national gratitude was SO full
ana oEerhow1ng that again and again it has
seemed toSweep away the artificial banks pre-
pared TO receive 1t; but that, in all the windings
steady current of national feeling which has set
In one given direction, the following historical
memoranda will sufficiently demonstrate.
In pursuance of the resolution adopted by the
House OF Representative on the motion OF
John Marshall, both houses of Congress passed
In, the folioowing resolution on the oath of Decem-
'Resotued, BY the Senate and House of Representa-
ves I the United states of America In Congress as
United states in the Capitol at the city of Washing
ton AND that the family of General Washington be
and that the monument be so designed as to commem.
o@rate @ the great events of his military and political
A copy of this proceeding having been trans
mltted TO Mrs. Washington, she assented. in the
.oiloWing o,Vg touching terms, to SO much OF the
resolution as called for her concurrence:
"Iaught by the great example which have
SO long had before me never to oppose my pri.
vate wishes to the public will, need not, can
not say what sacrifice of individual feeling I
make to sense OF public duty
The select committee (Henry Lee, of Virginia,
being chairman, which was appointed to carry
into effect the foregoing resolution, made report
on the Sth of May, 500, directing that a mar
at the Capital in honor of General Washington,
TO commemorate his services, and to express
the feeling of the American People for their
irreparable loss; and further directing that a
resolution of the Continental Congress- adopted
August 7th 1888, which had ordered THAT an
Equestrian Statue of General Washington be
erected at the place where the residence of Con-
greSS shall be established" should be carried
into immediate execution.
This latter resolution had directed that the
Statue of Washington be supported by "lnar-
ble pedestal on which should be represented
four principal events of the war in which he
commanded in person. and which should also
bear the following inscription:
1.-The United States, in Congress assembled,
ordered this statue to be erected in the year OF
our Lord 1888, in honor of George Washington,
the illustrious Commander-in-Chief of the
armies of the United States of America during
the war which vindicated and secured their lib
erty, sovereignty and independence.
Upon consideration of this resolution, that
part relative to the erection of an equestrian
statue was SO amended as to provide that a
"mausoleum OF American granite and marble,
In pyrarnidal form, one hundred feet square at
the base, and of a proportional height" should
pursuance of this end was not then made but
at a later day, on the first OF January, 1901, a
bill was passed by the House of Representatives
aRBPTapra'ins aRBPee9p 100000 in fnrtheranee of this
In this measure the Senate failed to concur, for
reasons easily found in the political excitements
of that day, while absorbing public questions
which ensued thereafter, and which finally is
sued in the war of 1912, sufficiently explain
why the subject was dropped in Congress for
many years.
In the month of February, 1916, the General
Assembly of Virginia instructed the Governor
of that State to open correspondence with Judge
BushrOd W Washington, at that time the proprie-
tor of Mount Vernon, with a view to procure his
assent to the removal OF Washington's remains
to Richmond, that a proper monument might
there be erected to the memory of the Hero
and Patriot. Immediately OH the, receipt OF
this intelligence in the Congress, then in ses-
sion, the Hon Benjamin Huger, of South Caro-
lima, who had been member Of the Congress of
1899. moved for the appointment of joint
committee of both houses to take action in pur-
suance' OF the proceedings had at the time of
Washingtons death.
This joint committee recommended that a
receptacle for the remains of Washington
should be prepared in the foundation of the
Capitol, and that monument should there be
fell through because, in the meantime Judge
Washington had declined to consent to the re-
moval Of fWashington's remains, on the ground
that they had been committed to the family
vault at Mount Vernon in conformity with
Washington's express wish.
at is his own will, !" added Judge Washing
ton, in replying to the Governor of Virginia
land that will is to me law which dare not
dsobey."
Congress of the United States In 1882, Mr. John
Augustine Washington, who had then succeeded
to the possession of Mount Vernon, made a
removing the remains of Washington from
their hallowed resting place to the site of the
proposed National Monument has been aban-
doned, and properly abandoned in view of the
affecting natural considerations which had
given deep undertone of remonstrance even
to Mrs. Washington's reluctant assent, as ex-
tOrted from her by the CALCULATIONS OF the pub
lie grief in 1899.
1t was precisely at this stage of our history,
when all proceedings initiated in Congress had
been frustrated by the failure to combine opin-
ions on some preliminary condition held to be
indispensable, that the people of this city, If
despairing of the desired consummation through
the concerted action of both houses of Congress,
proceeded to initiate measures of their own look
ing in this direction.
In September. 1888, paragraph appeared
In the National I1tetlige,cer of this city calling
a meeting of the citizens of Washington to take
the matter in hand.
In response to that call meeting of citizens
was held at the City Hall, on the 26th of Sep
tember, 1888. at which were present Daniel
Gales, Jr., Peter Force, ". W. seaton, John
McLelland, Pishy Thompson, Thomas Carber-
ry, George Watterston, and William Cranch,
afterwards Chief Justice of the Circuit Court Of
the District.
1t was at this meeting that the Washington
National Monument Society was formed, Chief
Justice John Marshall, then seventy-eight
years Of age, having been elected its first Presi-
dent, and Judge Cranch, the first Vice Presi-
dent.
George Watterston, who deserves to be sig
naliZed as the originator of the movement, was
the first Secretary, and he served in that capac-
was succeeded by John Carroll Brent, who in
turn was succeeded by DIR. John b. Blake, the
successor of the latter being the Hon. Horatio
King, the present Secretary Of the Society.
Upon the death of Chief Justice Marshall, IN
1885, he was succeeded in the Presidency Of
the Society by ex-President James Madison.
The plan adopted by the Society was to Sc
cure the assistance and unite the voluntary ef