The Washington critic., 1888-02-01
wAsHINGTON. FEB. l, lsss.
wAsHINGToN THE PLACE.


senator Hoar has introduced bill pro
liding iur celebration of the inauguration
of Washington as the first President OF the
United states. This celebration Is to occur
on the 3Oth pf April, hut Mr.. lloar proposes
that the celebration shall take place at
Washington What has Washington To- do
with the events Of April 30, 1882 The first
President was lnaugurated in this city. The
ceremony which established the Constitution
as q practical, working scheme Of govern
ment, was performed In Wall street.
We are surprised that senator Hoar, who has
usually a lust reverence for historic Incl.
dents and places, should suggest any place
hut New York as the proper one for the com.
ing celebrations which ought to he the
greatest OF All our centenares. New York
Mail and Express
Our esteemed New York contem-
porary labors under an extraordinary
misconception of the nature and OBJ
iects Of the Centennial which Con-
gress i'm its wisdom will ordain TO be
held at the National Capital in the
spring Of 1889.
After all that mas been said and
written on the subject, it is singular
indeed that any newspaper of reputa-
BILE standing should still persist in at
tachmg a merely local and strangely
inadequate significance to this event.
THE first President was inaug-
urated'' in New York. Very true.
But it is something more than the in
auguration of the first President,
simply and of itself, that the country
desires to celebrate.
"The ceremony which established
the Constitution as practical, work
ing scheme of government was per-
formed in Wall street." True again.
But II is not the ceremony" that is
to form the principal theme of our
National Jubilee.
1t is something broader, grander,
far more comprehensive in its scope
than the taking of an official oath, of
which we are reminded by the ap-
preaching Centennial. 1t is the be-
ginning of constitutional gove,aSeent
in the Western Hemisphere-the in
auguration, not of President Wash
ington alone. but of those free insti-
tntions which were first intrusted to
Washington's keeping, and which,
after the lapse of hundred years,
have borne such resplendent and
abounding fruit as to cover almost the
entire continent with their blessings.
1t is the centennial of the greatest
political achievement in the worlds
history that we are to celebrate.
II is matter of national and
international proportions-not local
incident or personal reminiscence-
10 the commemoration of which the
sisterhood of States and the family of
republics patterning from our own,
are invited.
What has Wall street to do with
that any more than any other street
And as the American Government
proposes to celebrate itself-to hold
hien centennial festival over its
wondrous growth and greatness
what place possesses SO peculiar ar
appropriateness for such a celebra
ton as the seat of that Government
the centre of its executive, judicia
and legislative departments-the city
which, of all others, in its noble Capi
tol, in the grandeur of its public build
ings, in the visible workings of it
governmental machinery, best illus
trates the development and success o
constitutional liberty?
There is no reason why New Yorl
should not duly commemorate tn,
ceremony of inauguration which wa
performed in Wall street. 1t is al
occasion worthy of distinguishes
honor. The great metropolis will n
doubt honor it becomingly, and man,
citizens from many places will talk
pride and pleasure in participating il
it, as historic anniversary that de
serves to be patriotically remembered
But the Centennial of the Constitu
ton is of SO much greater, more com
manding, all-embracing importance
as to preclude the idea of its celebra
ton elsewhere than upon the common
ground of the National Capital, wher
citizens Of every section of the cour
Try, setting aside all local or sections
prejudice, may fraternally unite i
votive offerings to the genius Of thei
liberties, as they viii mutually shar
in the advantages To be derived fror
The closer relationships which thi
gathering of the "rhree Americas
sure to beget.