Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-14
DlVIDINGTHE DIOCESE.
Washington Considered an Important Field
for Church Activity.
A Plea to Episcopalians for Division
Relations of the Church to the
Future Warrington.

The question Of dividing the Maryland
Protestant Episcopal diocese is being dis
cussed with much interest by both clergy
and laity. One strong reason urged for the
division is the growing importance of Wash
ington as a center for church activity.
In the last issue of 1.-The Maryland
Churchman," the official organ of the bish-
op. a vigorous plea is made for division by
Rev. A. r. Stuart. The article says:
The growing demand for a fair and speedy
division of the diocese of Maryland springs
from a condition. not a theory. There will
be no long delay in accomplishing a result
SO essential to the church's advancement
when it is clearly seen that the actual pres
ent necessity laid upon loyal churchmen
does force them to be up and laboring to-
gether for the establishment Of the new do
cese of Columbia or Washington. If our
wise and strong men will only look around
them they will see that the day has come
when duty to the church of God and the
American republic emphasizes the need for
a mighty concentration of the church
power and consecrated activities at the
nations capital.
Washington has long ceased to be like
some large scattered thinly-settled village,
Of loud promise and weak performance,
looking to and leaning upon her more solid
neighbor on the Patapsco and rejecting
feebly the brighter prosperity of Baltimore.
With the recent marvellous expansion of
the two great cities. once SO closely identi-
fled in every way, there has followed a
steady but very perceptible growing apart
of the metropolis Of Maryland and the seat
of the federal government. No longer do
we find the same community of interest or
feeling or strength of sympathy binding
years ago. They are becoming more and
more differentiated in the character of Their
Inhabitants in the tone and sentiment and
general habits of their citizens. in their
ruling motives ideas and methods of bust
ness. and in the manifest destiny clearly
awaiting them both.
Baltimore is, even now, one of the lead
ing commercial centers of the country, a
city of vast resources, manifold industries.
commendable public spirit and decided
prominence politically and materially as the
chief city of a great southern state. She
may confidently aspire to equal If not sur
pass. in time. the energy, opulence and far
reaching influence of her more fiourishing
sisters Of the north and west.
A National City.
Washington, on the other hand, with
her notable diversity Of population. num-
bering now nea- $4,000 souls has, unques-
tionably a national prestige and ever in
creasing national. possibilities with conse-
Quent national accountabilities. In this
respect she can have no rival, she can never
be eclipsed, neither can her glory be given
to another, nor can her pre-eminence in the
eyes of the world be diminished as long as
this imperial republic stands crowned with
light and blessed Oh God. Her greatness
and her growth can only be limited by the
greatness and growth OF the most progress
i've If not the greatest of all great nations.
From this time forward the measure OF her
exaltation must be the measure of our su-
premacy as a free, enlightened and highly
Favored people. She has become the people S
pride. the people representative or model
municipality, the federal government is her
munihcent patron, and, as she sits a queen
on the banks of the Potomac, all the states
with one consent claim her as their own,
delight to sing her praises and pour into her
lap their richest tribute, cheerfully rendered.
Science, art and craftsmanship, wisdom,
power and beauty, knowledge. wealth ana
refinement are fast browning Washington
with radiancy beyond compare, wnicn rel-
ders her position not only commanding but
unique. Here are gathered continually the
leaders OF men and lovers of liberty and
light; here are clustering the homes of the
savant. the statesman and the millionaire;
here the author. the man of leisure, the SOL
der, the naval hero and the foreign am
baSSador find a domicile and form a COM
genial society; here the ruler of the land re-
sides, Congress assemblies, and all the busy
departments of great government are GEN.
tered. Here are meeting year by year in
increasing variety and numbers, visitors
from every corner of the continent, from
every country on the face of the globe and
countless popular assemblies, conventions
and representative councils composed of
men of all creeds, professions and national
tiles. Every child in the land hopes, some
time, to visit Washington. Every foreigner
who reaches our shores turns his face to-
ward Washington. No American city is
better known more talked about abroad
than WASHINGTON Even in her still
incomplete and unfinished state, universal
admiration is excited by her public buildings
her broad avenues, her palatial mansions
her noble monuments. her numberless parks
domain.
The Future Washington.
And when in the next century, judging
the future by the past, these United States
Of America shall contain a population Of
2O0,OO0OOO, and a reasonably proportionate
growth shall give to our capital a popula-
ton of over million, what human concep-
ton can possibly overestimate the tran
scendent brightness and ascendancy which
shall then distinguish Washington! Cosmo-
politan in character, worldwide in out
reach. embracing nothing merely local or
narrow, but everything large and liberal
upholding ever. and advancing, the standard
of the great cause of popular government
anu human ireeuoHl-Wno Will forecast the
plenitude of benediction or number the
streams of mental, moral and spiritual help
fulness which shall flow from her to enrich
and fertilize the waste places of the earth :?
Rome when mistress of the world, regal
Rome at the elimination of her power, in
the golden age Of her unexampled brilliancy
and afiuence. was not possessed of such ex-
tensive influence as Washington will boast
and exercise when, a century from now
the height of her grandeur as the busy and
illuStrious capital of the new world shall
have been attained!
The vision splendid. so recently presented