Evening star., 1941-02-16

in Roman dress, holding a trunch-
con in his right hand and his head
encircled with a laurel wreath. The
statue to be supported by marble
pedestal. on which are to be repre-
sented. in basso relieve, the follow
ing principal events of the war, in
which Gen. Washington commanded
in person. viz: The evacuation of
Boston, the capture of the Hessians
at Trenton, the battle of Princeton
the action of Monmouth and the
surrender at York. On the upper
part of the front of the pedestal to
be engraved as follows:
The United States in Congress
assembled ordered the statue to be
erected in the year of our Lord
1888, in honor of George Washing
ton, the illustrious commander in
chief of the Armies of the United
States of America during the war
which vindicated and secured their
liberty, sovereignty and independ-
ence.
Resolved, that a statue conform
able to the above plan be executed
by the best artist in Europe. under
the superintendent of the Minister
of the United States at the court
of Versailles, and that money to
defray the expense of the same be
furnished from the Treasury of the
United States.
Resolved, that the secretary of
Congress transmit to the Minister
of the United States at the court
of Versailles the best resemblance
of Gen. Washington that can be
procured, for the purpose of having
the above statue erected, together
with the flttest description of the
events which are to be the subjects
of the basSo relieve"
Put Life Into Project.
Subsequent to the introduction of
this resolution, upon which no COM
plete action was taken, other reso-
lutions and acts followed from time
to time without anything being ac-
compliShed, until finally Mr.. Wat
terston took the matter in hand, and
in September, 1888. put real life
into the project, which finally re-
suited in placing at the west end
of the Mall the great white shaft
as memorial to the greatest
American of them all, the dedica-
ton of which occurred just Sc years
ago. The 22nd day of February
falling on Sunday that year, the
exercises were held on Saturday the
21st.
Here again the city hall played its
part. for it was here in the alder
mems chamber on September 26,
that the Washington National
Monument Society was formed, and
at the second meeting, held on Oc-
tober 81 following, that a consti-
tuition and bylaws were adopted
and the following officers elected:
Chief Justice John Marshall, presi-
dent; Judge William Cranch, first
vice president; the Mayor of WASH
ington, Gen. John P. Van Ness,
second vice president; w. w. Sea-
ton, third vice president; Samuel
H. Smith, treasurer, and George
Watterston, secretary. A board of
13 managers was also appointed, to
correspond in number with the Or
iginal States. They we're: Gen.
Thomas S. Jessup, Col. James Kear-
ney, Col. Nathan Towson, Col.
Archibald Henderson, Matthew st.
Claire Clark, John McClelland,
Thomas Munroe, Col. George Bonn
ford, Roger C. Weightman, Peter
Force, William Brent, esq.,; William
A. Bradley and Thomas Carbery.
Present Board.
Right here it might be interesting
to skip 100 years and say that Pres
ident Franklin D. Roosevelt is the
present president of the society, ex
officio; that the Governors of the
States are vice presidents, ex officio;
Judge Willis Van Devanter, retired,
associate justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States, who died
a few days ago, was the first vice
president, and r. Walton Moore, who
also died quite recently, was second
vice president. Theodore w. Noyes
Is treasurer, and William r. Harr,