The sun., 1890-01-14
A baltimore Orators MASTERPIECES.

The reasons why Washington thinks II
should be the site Of the Worlds Fair were
given by our distinguished contemporary,
Gen. FELIX AdNUs Of Baltimore, in speech
full OF originality and power which he de-
livered before the Special Committee on the
Quadro- Centennial last Friday. After apollo
giving for tho introduction Of little senti-
ment on the ground that he Is from the
warm climate Of France" Gen. AdNUs ad-
yanced the proposition that history should
not be written at county seat, and that
therefore the Fair should be held In the Dis
trict Of Columbia:
when It comes down select site for the National
Exposition l feel 1t would bo mockery 70 go to q
county seat and history 1t could not be done
properly Ybu to-day the educators Of the country.
You are the men who 70 decide how the history Of
your country thAli be written II will bo written In
marble and in the ages to coma though tho stones
may ba dug up and our libraries may be burned and
nothing but these marble stones shall tell who We were
and what We were and generations after generations
TO come OF our great peoples and its capital II we
should have such revolutions and earthquakes a. we
have recorded in the past ages and as have passed
over the heads of the generations OF people on
the north coast Africa how shall the people Of the
future understand that the Capitol OF the nation was
located anywhere else than at the national capital at
Washington. Your decision IL to be wrtton forever
and ever-for all time to come"
From the historical argument Gen. AaNUs
dropped into technicalities. "Suppose." he
said, that the King OF Italy is coming up
the bay, shall there be fired royal salute2
The commanding officer would not dare to
do It unless he had received affirmative Or
ders from Washington. These are the tech
nicalties we should avoid" That is certainly
a novel argument in favor OF the claim Of
Washington. But Gen. AaNUs was not con-
tent to rest his case upon technicalities. He
returned to the historical argument:
Now. Mr.. Chairman. q stated before, countries
write their histories In marble. Warriors especially In
oden times claimed ell greatness ALIIASpER the Great
built library. There It stands as his great
victory CESAR built the wonderful temples of Rome.
and the monuments disclosed to-day that do honor
10 his name NA1oLEoH immortaliEsd himself by the
record his victories; and after four hundred
years Of toll and earneStneS to allow these great build
inEs to be put elsewhere than where Americans should
feel It neutral groundf Its place Is hero"
From history Gen. AGEUs passed by
natural ira nsition into the sister science Of
geography. His argument from geography
Is one of the ablest pieces of reasoning we
have ever had the good fortune to examine,
and 1t Is exceedingly subtle. Persons un-
NUs's geographical excursus three or four
times before they see the connection, the In
innate and necessary connection, between
the Congo and the Gulf Of Guinea and Wash
ington and the Worlds Fair:
I'm your comfortable lives you not think Of IL
but ten years ago young daring bold American
STANLEY is his nAme-crossed the Dark Continent and
struck the ConRo River In the upper streamA He fol-
lowed It and to his amAzsment he came down to the
wonderful Congo valley The history Of the rchnesS
of the andA the richness Of the forest the grand giants
of the forest trees that would hundred feet
and more In the clear the wonderful meadows of rich
mineG the Paradise-liks country. What aid he dor
Why he amazed the crowned heads OF Europe In such
way that they formed Is known the Congo State
Ten years ago. Mr. Chairman, there was not q white
man In that country. To-day there Il u population Of
nifty or sixty thousand men, Ten from there
will be ono million and In hundred yearS from now It
will be- hope the republic of the Congo State, with
ono hundred million inhabitants Then, gentlemen, the
Gulf of Guinea with her beautiful ports with wonder
full wharves and steamers nteaminE to our shoreA
Where will they goto centre Of populAtionf VIII
they 20 q thousand miles out OF the way to reach
Eastern portf No They will seek your Southern
ports-New oreanA Pensacola, Charleston, or sAvAn-
nah and syon our bay. 1t 10 the greatness of
country that mAkesi II easy"
And 1t was the greatness Of Gen. AaNUs
that made it easy for him to ransack history
and geography and to bring forward ALEX
ANpER, CESAR, NAPOLEON, STANLEY, the
Congo, and the Gulf OF Guinea as arguments
that Washington should have tho Worlds
Fair. weak and losing cause has never
found more splendid and original advocate.