The wonders of the world

by John Loraine Abbott

The whole cost of the building as it now stands, before the extension, was some two million dollars; but the improvement will cost several millions more. The original structure was commenced in 1793, and had not been completed when it was burned, by an act of vandalism, in 1814; and was not entirely finished till 1828. The grounds around the Capitol, embracing some thirty acres, and forming an oblong on three sides, and a semicircle on the west, are handsomely laid out, and planted with trees and shrubbery, presenting, during the spring and summer, a scene of great beauty. About the center of the grounds, on the eastern front, is a colossal statue of Washington, by Greenough. The material of the Capitol is a porous stone of a light yellow color, painted white. The enlargement is to be of marble.

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE.

South-west from the Capitol, and midway between it and the president’s house, on a gently rising ground, in the midst of a new park which has recently been laid out, stands the Smithsonian Institute, one of the noblest institutions and finest structures in Washington, a view of which is given in the cut beyond.

This edifice is four hundred and fifty feet long, by one hundred and forty wide, and is built of red sand-stone, in the Romanesque or Norman style, embellished by nine towers, from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty feet high, and of different forms. In the building is a lecture-room, large enough to seat some two thousand persons; a museum, for objects of natural history, some two hundred feet long; one of the best supplied laboratories in the United States; a gallery for paintings and statuary; a library-room, capable of containing one hundred thousand volumes; and various other smaller apartments connected with the designs of the building. The institution was endowed by James Smithson, an Englishman, who left his whole fortune, some five hundred thousand dollars, “to found, at Washington, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.” The fund, which is in the keeping of the United States government, yields an income of more than thirty thousand dollars per year; and this increase is divided into two parts, one of which is to be devoted to the increase and diffusion of knowledge by means of original research and publications, and the other to the gradual formation of a library, a gallery of art, museum, &c.

THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT.

On the proposed new park, and between the Smithsonian Institute and the president’s house, has been commenced a colossal monument to the memory of Washington, to be erected by the voluntary contributions of the people. A view of it, as it will appear when completed, is given in the cut.

THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT.

The plan contemplates, as a base, a circular temple, two hundred and fifty feet in diameter, and one hundred feet high, from the center of which is to rise a shaft, seventy feet square, to the hight of six hundred feet above the ground, and to be cased in marble. The base is intended to be the Westminster Abbey of the United States, to contain the statues of the revolutionary worthies, and in the center, (if his family approve,) are to be placed the remains of Washington. The temple, at the base, will be entirely surrounded by a colonnade of thirty pillars, in the Doric style, forty-five feet high by twelve in diameter, surmounted by an entablature of twenty feet, which, in turn, is to be surmounted by a balustrade of fifteen feet in hight. Each state in the union is invited to furnish a block of native stone or other material, with an inscription, which will be inserted in the interior, where the block may be seen and the inscription read in coming ages. A triumphal car, with a statue of Washington, is to stand over the grand entrance, as seen in the engraving. The column, at present, has reached the hight of less than two hundred feet; but if completed according to the original plan, it will form the most magnificent monument ever erected. It is said that there is not a column, either ancient or modern, in Europe, as high as the Bunker-hill monument. And yet, such are the gigantic proportions of the Washington monument, that Bunker-hill monument could be placed inside of it without much impeding the operations of the workmen; and when it is finished, any two of the monuments of Europe could be stowed away within its walls without being noticed from the exterior. The design has been severely criticised; and the great hight of the column, receding so suddenly from so wide a base, has been strongly objected to. But the plan was deliberately adopted after much consideration, and when the work is finished, it will doubtless be approved by the great mass of beholders. Certainly it will attract the gaze of thousands as a monument not merely to a man, but to principles which should be dear to every American. The endowments of the great man whom it commemorates, were peculiarly adapted to the exigency which called them into action. He was brave, but cautious; earnest, yet calm; resolved, yet guarded against rash adventure; a patriot, in whose heart the love of country predominated; a statesman, in whose conduct every public virtue was exemplified; a citizen, whose intercourse with his fellow-men was without reproach. Placed in a position at once responsible and perilous, he felt and was ever ready to acknowledge the overruling providence of God, by whose blessing alone he could succeed. It was not one great quality which formed the character of Washington, but a rare union of many great qualities. These, with unfeigned devotion, he laid on the altar of his country, and for the promotion of her interests he was ready to sacrifice his personal comfort and his life. Wonderfully was he sustained in his self-denying and eventful career, and remarkable was the success which accompanied his efforts. The most formidable obstacles were surmounted, the most powerful opposition subdued; his country was liberated; the battle of free institutions was fought and won; and he, superior to the impulses of mere personal ambition, nevertheless achieved a fame which has no parallel in the world’s history. If he was “first in war,” he was “first too in peace,” and he still remains “first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Such a name should never be forgotten; such an example should never lose its influence.