Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

circumstances of maturity, this becomes apparent." On the 14th of June, 1852, a National Agricultural Convenvention was held at the Smithsonian Institution, in the City of Washington, under a call issued by the following agricultural societies, at the instance of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture: The Massachusetts State Board of. Agriculture; Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society; Maryland State Agricultural Society; New York State Agricultural Society; Southern Central Agricultural Society; Ohio State Board of Agriculture; American Institute, New York; Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture; Indiana State Board of Agriculture; New Hampshire Agricultural Society; Vermont Agricultural Society; and the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of American Industry. This convention resulted in the formation of the United States Agricultural Society, whose permanent office is now in the City of Washington.

NATIONAL

PRINTING OFFICE.

In 1860, Congress authorized the Superintendent of Public Printing to negotiate for the purchase or erection of a printing office for the public use. After making the most diligent inquiry, the Superintendent came to the conclusion that his official trust would be best discharged by the purchase of the vast establishment owned by Mr. C. Wendell. In pursuance of the instruction of Congress, he agreed to pay Mr. Wendell $135,000 for his printing office, which is equal in extent to any in the world. This bargain received the indorsement of both branches of Congress in the second session of the thirty-sixth Congress. The immense building which has thus become

national, and in which may be found the most recent and perfect machinery belonging to the typographical art, is directly north of the Capitol, and is generally the first remarkable object observed by persons entering the city on the Baltimore Railroad.

WASHINGTON ART

ASSOCIATION.

The Constitution of this Association provides for its nationality by declaring that artisans of every profession and vocation, throughout the Union, who are interested in the welfare and honor of their country and in the cause of art, shall be eligible to election as members of the Association. The volume of the Constitution contains a long list of members' signatures-names of men eminent in every department of art, science, literature, instruction, invention, jurisprudence, and statesmanship; names also of noble and accomplished women. It aims at the development and fostering of American genius, and has proposed to itself an immense task.

THE

EQUESTRIAN

STATUE OF JACKSON.

The Jackson Monument Committee were authorized, by resolution of Congress, dated August 11, 1848, to receive the brass guns captured by Jackson at Pensacola, "to be used as material for the construction of a monument to that distinguished patriot; " the monument to be erected on such portion of the public grounds in the city of Washington as might be designated by the President; and, by acts of July 29 and September 20, 1850, other condemned brass guns were also granted for the purpose, with the privilege of exchange.

Clark Mills was appointed to execute the statue, and

immediately proceeded to model a design, for which purpose he procured and trained the finest breed and build of horses, and made thorough study of the anatomy and pose of the animal, sparing no labor or care in arriving at the precise nature of his subject. He erected his own foundry, being a natural mechanic, and cast the statue himself.

President Fillmore selected the site for the statue, when completed, in the centre of the square in front of the Executive Mansion, where it was inaugurated, January 8, 1853, the anniversary of Jackson's victory at New Orleans, in 1815.

General Jackson is represented in the exact military costume worn by him,—with cocked hat in hand, saluting his troops. The charger, a noble specimen of the animal, with all the fire and spirit of a Bucephalus, is in a rearing posture, poised upon his hind feet, with no other stay than the balance of gravity, and the bolts pinning the feet to the pedestal. The work is colossal, the figure of Jackson being eight feet in height, and that of the horse in proportion. The whole stands upon a pyramidal pedestal, of white marble, seven feet in height, at the base of which are planted four brass six-pound guns, taken by the hero at New Orleans. The cost of the statue to the government, including the pedestal and iron railing, was $28,500.

THE EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF WASHINGTON.

Congress passed an act, as early as 1783, authorizing the erection of an equestrian statue of Washington at the seat of government, and the minister to France was empowered to engage an artist for the work to be done, in

Paris. Houdon was chosen, and made his estimates of the expense, which he forwarded, by Dr. Franklin, to this government. The work was not executed, and the original idea, of an equestrian statue as a national memorial, was changed, in 1832, to that of the obelisk now in course of construction on the Mall.

By act of Congress, passed January 25, 1853, the sum of $50,000 was appropriated, "to enable the President to employ Clark Mills to erect, at the City of Washington, a colossal equestrian statue of George Washington, at such place on the public grounds as shall be designated by the President." Mr. Mills proceeded accordingly to execute the statue, which was inaugurated upon the site selected by President Buchanan, in the open space called the Circle, on Pennsylvania avenue, near Georgetown. The inauguration ceremony took place on the anniversary of Washington's birth-day, February 22, 1860.

Washington is represented as he appeared at the battle of Princeton, where, after attempting several times to rally his troops, he put spurs to his horse and dashed up in the face of the enemy's battery. His terror-stricken charger recoils before the blaze of artillery, while the balls tear up the earth beneath him; but Washington, calm and collected, evinces all the dignity and bravery of the hero, and the firmness of the commander-in-chief, believing himself an instrument in the hands of Providence to work out the great problem of American independence.

[blocks in formation]

This vast enterprise has cost the nation nearly three millions of dollars. Some of the difficulties of its con

struction may be inferred from the following official description of the country through which it passes: "The traveler ascending the banks of the Potomac from Georgetown to the Great Falls, would conclude that a more unpromising region for the construction of an aqueduct could not be found. Supported by high walls against the face of jagged and vertical precipices, in continual danger of being undermined by the foaming torrent which boils below, the Canal (the Chesapeake and Ohio) is a monument of the energy and daring of our engineers. The route appears to be occupied, and no mode of bringing in the water, except by iron pipes secured to the rocks, or laid in the bed of the canal, seems practicable. Such were my own impressions; and though I knew that in this age, with money, any achievement of engineering was possible, I thought the survey would be needed only to demonstrate by figures and measures the extravagance of such a work. But when the levels were applied to the ground, I found, to my surprise and gratification, that the rocky precipices and difficult passages were nearly all below the line which, allowing a uniform grade, would naturally be selected for our conduit; and that, instead of demonstrating the extravagance of the proposal, it became my duty to devise a work presenting no considerable difficulties, and affording no opportunities for the exhibition of any triumphs of science or skill.”

The conduit is 9 feet in dimension, and discharges 67,596,400 gallons in twenty-four hours. Some idea of the magnitude of the enterprise may be formed by comparing the statement above given with the fact that the Croton aqueduct supplies 27,000,000 gallons, and Philadelphia and Boston are only respectively guaranteed

« PředchozíPokračovat »