Mr. Benj. B. French, Grand Master of the Masonic Fraternity of the United States, then delivered a beautiful and appropriate address, after which he descended to the corner-stone and performed the Masonic ceremonies of laying it.
The gavel used was that employed by George Washington, as Master Mason, in the Masonic ceremonies in the laying of the corner-stone of the National Capitol. A patriotic song, written by Robert Treat Paine, was sung, after which the benediction was pronounced.
The corner-stone was laid at the northeast angle of the foundation. Among the distinguished guests on the stand at the laying of the corner-stone were Mrs. Alexander Hamilton (then ninety-one years old), Mrs. Dolly Paine Madison, George Washington Parke Custis, and others of eminence.
The proceedings are thus discussed in the papers of the times:
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"The day was fine. The rain had laid the dust and infused a delicious freshness in the air. The procession was extensive and beautiful. It embraced many military companies of our own and our sister cities—various associations, with their characteristic emblems; the President and Cabinet and various officers of the Executive Departments; many of the Members of Congress; citizens and strangers who had poured into the city. When the lengthened procession had reached the site of the Monument they were joined by a whole cortege of ladies and gentlemen; and we are free to say we never beheld so magnificent a spectacle. From 15,000 to 20,000 persons are estimated to have been present, stretched over a large area of ground from the southern hill, gradually sloping down to the plain below."
"In a hollow spread with boards and surrounded with seats the crowd gathered. Around two sides of this space were high and solidly-constructed seats, hired out to spectators, covered with awnings, and affording a favorable position for seeing and hearing. A temporary arch was erected, covered with colored cotton and suitably embellished. But its most attractive ornament was a living American eagle, with its dark plumage, piercing eye, and snowy head and tail, who seemed to look with anxious gaze on the unwonted spectacle below. This is the same eagle which in Alexandria surmounted the arch of welcome there erected to Lafayette; and to complete its honors and its public character, it has since been entrusted to M. Vattemare, to be presented to the National Museum in Paris. He is now forty years old."
"The fireworks (at night) exhibited on the same theatre, and prepared by the pyrotechnists of the navy yard, were admirable beyond description. They were witnessed by an immense multitude. The President's reception at night in the East Room was very numerously attended. Thus passed one of the most splendid and agreeable days Washington has ever witnessed."
Objections having been from time to time urged against the plan of the Monument, the Society, early in 1848, appointed a committee to consider them. In April of that year, pursuant to a report of a committee of its members, the Society fixed upon a height of 500 feet for the shaft, leaving in abeyance the surrounding pantheon and base. And this modification continued to be the plan of the Monument until it was again altered at a later period.
The corner-stone laid, the Society began active operations to raise the shaft, which were most vigorously prosecuted. The purchase of materials and the general construction of the Monument, embracing the employment of labor, skilled and common, were committed by the Society to three of their number, denominated a Building Committee.