Historic Buildings of America
BOOKS BY MISS SINGLETON
TURETS TOWERS AND TEMPLES. Great Buildings of the World
Described by Great Writers.
GREAT PICTURES. Described by Great Writers.
WONDERS OF NATURE. Described by Great Writers.
ROMANTIC CASTLES AND PALACES. Described by Great
Writers.
FAMOUS PAINTINGS. Described by Great Writers.
HISTORIC BUILDINGS. Described by Great Writers.
FAMOUS WOMEN. Described by Great Writers.
GREAT PORTRAITS. Described by Great Writers.
HISTORIC BUILDINGS OF AMERICA. Described by Great
Writers.
HOLLAND. Described by Great Writers.
PARIS. Described by Great Writers.
LONDON. Described by Great Writers.
RUSSIA. Described by Great Writers.
JAPAN. Described by Great Writers.
VENICE. Described by Great Writers.
ROME. Described by Great Writers.
A GUIDE TO THE OPERA.
LOVE IN LITERATURE AND ART.
THE GOLDEN ROD FAIRY BOOK.
THE WILD FLOWER FAIRY BOOK.
[Illustration: THE CAPITOL, WASHINGTON]
Historic Buildings of
America
As Seen and Described
by Famous Writers
COLLECTED AND EDITED BY
ESTHER SINGLETON
_With Numerous Illustrations_
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
1906
_Copyright, 1906_
BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
_Published October, 1906._
Preface
In response to requests for a book on American buildings on the plan
of my _Turrets, Towers, and Temples_, _Romantic Castles and Palaces_,
_Historic Buildings_, etc., I have endeavoured to gather here a
number of houses, churches, forts and civic buildings that are doubly
famous for their architectural interest and their association with
historical events and distinguished personages. I have also included
two monuments,--the Washington and the Statue of Liberty.
Of houses associated with Washington, I have selected Mount Vernon,
Fraunces Tavern, the Hasbrook House at Newburg and the Morris-Jumel
house, and to these the White House might be added, since he interested
himself in the plans for it and even made a personal visit of
inspection in 1792.
I have included a few simple houses that are types of the homes of
the past and have become pilgrimage places to those who delight in
reconstructing the social life of other days. Among these, the Whipple
House is one of the best specimens of New England domestic architecture
of the Seventeenth Century extant, and, having been judiciously
restored, is now a museum of antiquities. Other New England types are
represented by the Old Manse at Concord and the Clarke-Hancock house at
Lexington.
The ruins of the Jamestown Tower carry us back to the first English
settlement of the country, and the Cradock House in Medford, built in
1634 (the oldest house in New England), shows us what a house had to
be in the early days of the colonists,--a fort as well as a dwelling,
and a place of refuge in times of Indian attack. Another house that was
also protected against Indian raids is the less-known Carlyle House in
Alexandria, which was built about the middle of the Eighteenth Century.
Other forts are shown in St. Augustine, Sumter and Castle Garden. The
latter also furnishes memories of musical and theatrical celebrities,
gala performances, brilliant entertainments to distinguished guests,
great mass meetings, and shows of the Crystal Palace order.
The Churches of Guadalupe in Mexico and St. Anne de Beaupré in Canada
are shrines that attract thousands of devout visitors and rival in
picturesqueness some of the pilgrimage-places in the Old World.
Two peculiarly individual buildings are also included: the curious
beehive Tabernacle of Salt Lake City and the Palace of Chapultepec,
built in 1785. As this was originally Montezuma’s country-seat, it
carries us back as far as any other scene in the book. The Cathedral
of Mexico is also built on Aztec ruins. It is interesting to compare
this edifice with the Cathedral of Havana, in both of which the Spanish
influence is easily appreciated.
Two of the most admired productions of American architecture will be
recognized in the City Hall of New York and St. Michael’s, Charleston,
which would almost pass for a Wren church were it transplanted to the
Strand. Fortunately it survived the Charleston earthquake. The Mission
Dolores has been damaged by the San Francisco earthquake as this book
goes to press.
To our list of fine architecture should be added Christ Church in
Alexandria, Independence Hall, and the old Boston State House.
It is sometimes said there are no prevailing styles of American
architecture; but even with the few examples gathered here, we are
able to note a general taste. The style favoured by the Dutch William
and Mary of England (who shared her husband’s tastes), is revealed in
many buildings from Boston to Charleston; and the Classic style of the
Eighteenth Century, with its colonnades, porticos, domes and cupolas,
is found everywhere and is constantly imitated, to-day.
E. S.
NEW YORK, _April 23, 1906_.
Contents
THE CAPITOL, WASHINGTON 1
JOSEPH B. VARNUM.
WITHIN THE CAPITOL 8
CHARLES DICKENS.
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA 14
IZA DUFFUS HARDY.
CARPENTERS’ HALL 18
BENSON J. LOSSING.
THE CRADOCK HOUSE, MEDFORD 27
SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE.
FRAUNCES TAVERN 34
WILLIAM J. DAVIS.
WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE 43
JOHN FISKE.
THE MISSION DOLORES, SAN FRANCISCO 53
LADY HARDY.
KING’S CHAPEL, BOSTON 58
F. W. P. GREENWOOD.
SOME BUILDINGS IN HAVANA 68
RICHARD DAVEY.
ST. MICHAEL’S CHURCH, CHARLESTON 78
WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS.
THE CARLYLE HOUSE, ALEXANDRIA 84
INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA 92
D. W. BELISLE.
THE CASTLE OF CHAPULTEPEC 105
THOMAS UNETT BROCKLEHURST.
PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS, OTTAWA 110
LADY HARDY.
MOUNT VERNON 115
ARTHUR SHADWELL MARTIN.
THE OLD MANSE, CONCORD 123
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
THE JAMESTOWN TOWER 132
CHARLES FREDERICK STANSBURY.
NASSAU HALL, PRINCETON 142
CASTLE GARDEN, NEW YORK 144
ESTHER SINGLETON.
MONTICELLO 151
EDWARD C. MEAD.
THE WILLIAM PENN HOUSE, PHILADELPHIA 164
JOHN F. WATSON.
THE CATHEDRAL, MEXICO 173
THOMAS UNETT BROCKLEHURST.
THE WHIPPLE HOUSE, IPSWICH 178
W. H. DOWNES.
FORT MARION, ST. AUGUSTINE 185
IZA DUFFUS HARDY.
ST. ANNE DE BEAUPRÉ, QUEBEC 192
ANNA T. SADLIER.
THE WADSWORTH-LONGFELLOW HOUSE, PORTLAND 199
NATHAN GOOLD.
WASHINGTON’S HEADQUARTERS, NEWBURGH 205
GULIAN C. VERPLANCK.
THE TABERNACLE, SALT LAKE CITY 215
LADY HARDY.
THE NATIONAL WASHINGTON MONUMENT 220
JOSEPH B. VARNUM.
THE CLARKE-HANCOCK HOUSE, LEXINGTON 225
CASTLE ST. LOUIS, QUEBEC 236
J. M. LEMOINE, F. R. S. C.
SUNNYSIDE, TARRYTOWN 249
BENSON J. LOSSING.
THE OLD WITCH HOUSE, SALEM 255
ESTHER SINGLETON.
SHRINE OF GUADALUPE 263
THOMAS UNETT BROCKLEHURST.
CHRIST CHURCH, ALEXANDRIA 268
BISHOP MEADE.
A GLIMPSE AT THE HOUSES OF NEW ORLEANS 272
LADY HARDY.
THE CHATEAU DE RAMEZAY, MONTREAL 277
MAJOR A. C. YATE.
THE CITY HALL, NEW YORK 286
ARTHUR SHADWELL MARTIN.
THE WHITE HOUSE 293
THE WHITE HOUSE OF THE CONFEDERACY, RICHMOND 300
THE OLD STATE HOUSE, BOSTON 305
EDWARD G. PORTER.
THE MORRIS-JUMEL HOUSE, NEW YORK 309
FORT SUMTER 313
IZA DUFFUS HARDY.
OLD STONE TOWER, NEWPORT 320
BENSON J. LOSSING.
ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL, NEW YORK 325
CHARLES HEMSTREET.
FANEUIL HALL, BOSTON 332
EDWARD G. PORTER.
LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD, NEW YORK 338
ESTHER SINGLETON.
Illustrations
The Capitol, Washington _Frontispiece_
The Capitol (Rotunda) _Facing page_ 8
Arlington, Virginia „ „ 14
Carpenters’ Hall, Philadelphia „ „ 18
The Cradock House, Medford „ „ 28
Fraunces Tavern, New York „ „ 34
William and Mary College, Williamsburg „ „ 44
The Mission Dolores, California „ „ 54
King’s Chapel, Boston „ „ 58
Cathedral, Havana „ „ 68
St. Michael’s Church, Charleston „ „ 78
The Carlyle House, Alexandria „ „ 84
Independence Hall, Philadelphia „ „ 92
The Castle of Chapultepec, Mexico „ „ 106
Parliament Buildings, Ottawa „ „ 110
Mount Vernon, Virginia „ „ 116
The Old Manse, Concord „ „ 124
The Jamestown Tower, Virginia „ „ 132
Nassau Hall, Princeton „ „ 142
Castle Garden, New York „ „ 144
Monticello, Virginia „ „ 152
The William Penn House, Philadelphia „ „ 164
The Cathedral, Mexico „ „ 174
The Whipple House, Ipswich „ „ 178
Fort Marion, St. Augustine „ „ 186
Church of St. Anne de Beaupré, Quebec „ „ 192
The Wadsworth-Longfellow House, Portland „ „ 200
Washington’s Headquarters, Newburgh „ „ 206
The Tabernacle, Salt Lake City „ „ 216
The National Washington Monument, Washington „ „ 220
The Clarke-Hancock House, Lexington „ „ 226
Castle St. Louis, Quebec „ „ 236
Sunnyside, Tarrytown „ „ 250
The Old Witch House, Salem „ „ 256
Shrine of Guadalupe, Mexico „ „ 264
Christ Church, Alexandria „ „ 268
Old Houses in St. Charles’s Avenue, New Orleans „ „ 272
The Chateau de Ramezay „ „ 278
The City Hall, New York „ „ 286
The White House, Washington „ „ 294
The White House of the Confederacy, Richmond „ „ 300
The Old State House, Boston „ „ 306
The Morris-Jumel House, New York „ „ 310
Fort Sumter, South Carolina „ „ 314
Old Stone Tower, Newport „ „ 320
St. Paul’s Chapel, New York „ „ 326
Faneuil Hall, Boston „ „ 331
Liberty Enlightening the World, New York „ „ 338
THE CAPITOL, WASHINGTON
JOSEPH B. VARNUM
On the 18th of September, 1793, the south-east corner-stone of the
Capitol was laid by Washington, and a minute account of the ceremonial
appears in the _Maryland Gazette_, published at Annapolis, September
26, 1793. It is mostly devoted to the Masonic ceremonial so usual
at that day, in which “Lodge 22 of Virginia, that congregation so
graceful to the craft,” figures largely with “Grand Master P. J. Geo.
Washington, Worshipful Master” of said Lodge. We are also told that
there appeared “on the southern banks of the grand river Potomac,
one of the finest companies of artillery that hath been lately seen,
parading to receive the President of the U. S.” The Commissioners
delivered to the President, who deposited in the stone, a silver plate
with the following inscription:
“This south-east corner-stone of the Capitol of the United States
of America in the City of Washington was laid on the 18th day of
September, 1792, in the thirteenth year of American Independence,
in the first year of the second term of the Presidency of George
Washington, whose virtues in the civil administration of his country
have been so conspicuous and beneficial, as his military valour and
prudence have been useful in establishing her liberties, and in the
year of Masonry, 5793, by the President of the United States, in
concert with the Grand Lodge of Maryland, several lodges under its
jurisdiction, and Lodge, No. 22, from Alexandria, Virginia.
“Thomas Johnson, David Stewart, and Daniel Carroll, Commissioners;
Joseph Clark, R. W. G. M. P. T., James Hoban and Stephen Hallate,
Architects; Colin Williamson, M. Mason.”
A Mr. Clotworthy Stevenson made an address, and the account concludes
as follows:
“The whole company retired to an extensive booth where an ox of 500
lbs. weight was barbecued, of which the company generally partook,
with every abundance of other recreation. The festival concluded
with fifteen successive volleys from the artillery, whose military
discipline and manœuvres merit every commendation.
“Before dark the whole company departed with joyful hopes of the
production of their labour.”
The first object which attracts the traveller’s attention as he enters
Washington by rail is the Capitol.
It is not unusual on the Continent to see a noble cathedral surrounded
by miserable tumble-down structures, many of which are so ancient as
to indicate that the shrine never had an appropriate setting; and this
circumstance makes the surroundings of the Capitol a matter of less
remark to a foreigner than to an American whose first impressions are
that the edifice never will have any buildings around in keeping with
its own grandeur.
As you approach the city from the Potomac, the public buildings all
appear to great advantage, being on high ground and rising far above
the private buildings which do not shock by contrast. It is to be
regretted that circumstances have led to the erection of a large
proportion of the private buildings at the west and the abandonment, to
a great extent, of Capitol Hill, which, at the first occupation, was
regarded as the most desirable.
Mr. Trollope and others have descanted upon the mistake made in placing
the principal front of the Capitol towards the east. But when the
building was commenced there was reason for supposing that at least an
equal part of the city buildings would be on that side. Besides, such
porticos seem to require a level plane or plaza in front, rather than a
descent like that on the west. The advantage of this is very apparent,
since the porticos are naturally selected for all the great ceremonies,
inaugurations and public gatherings. There is abundance of standing
room here for any crowd, however great.
The dome is most appropriately surmounted by Crawford’s bronze statue
of Liberty (itself 16½ feet in height) is 287 feet 5 inches above the
basement of the Capitol, or about 142 feet higher than the old dome.
St. Peter’s at Rome to the top of the lantern is 145 feet higher. St.
Paul’s in London, 73 feet higher.
The Capitol Hill is about 90 feet above ordinary low tide.
The Capitol is 751 feet 4 inches long, which is 31 feet longer than St.
Peter’s and 175 feet longer than St. Paul’s.
As compared with European edifices, there are few, if any, that
have as imposing a front as the three eastern porticos present. Of
course no comparison can be made with Gothic structures like the
Parliament Houses in London. St. Peter’s Church, at first glance,
almost always disappoints the visitor in its exterior; and it is only
from a distance, where you see nothing of the front, that the majestic
proportions of the dome are realized. There is an abruptness in the
manner in which that front rises, with no relief except in a small
piazza, which seems as out of place as the one on the western front of
the Capitol. At the Capitol, the spectator, at a distance of one or two
hundred feet, has the whole structure in all its outlines before him.
Most persons who visit the Capitol for the first time, have their
attention so much absorbed in the extension, that they overlook the
objects of interest in the central edifice. Yet there is no room in the
new buildings comparable in beauty to the old Representatives’ Hall.
The new halls for the Senate and House may present acoustic advantages,
and certainly accommodate the public much better, but no room without
columns can present as imposing an effect as one with them. And such
columns! There is nothing like them elsewhere. That _brecchia_, or
pudding-stone, is too costly to work, ever to be brought into general
use. They cost over eight thousand dollars apiece, and there are
twenty-four of them. And there is no more beautiful piece of sculpture
in the building than the clock in this hall, representing History on a
winged car, the wheel of which forms the dial.
The old Hall, too, is memorable as the scene where all the great
men for the first half century of the Republic figured. Here Clay
presided, Webster made his _début_, Adams died! And how full of
associations with historical names is every part of the cosy old Senate
Chamber, now appropriately occupied by the Supreme Court! Not one
person in a hundred notices the _tobacco-leaf_ capitals of the circular
colonnade between this room and the Rotunda; and still fewer ever think
of going down the neighbouring staircase to look at the _corn-stalk_
columns which ornament the entrance to the room formerly occupied by
the Supreme Court.
Every visitor to the new wings of the Capitol must have remarked upon
the fact that, with the exception of the staircases, the most costly
decorations have been lavished upon rooms which are only accessible
to the public at limited times, or by sufferance of those having them
in charge. One naturally expects to see the results of artistic skill
to the greatest extent in the Halls of the Senate and House, as is
the case in the centre building. It seems well enough that marble and
frescoes should be used in such rooms as those appropriated to the
President and Vice-President and the Senators’ retiring-room, the last
of which, all of marble, is the gem of the building. But why so many
thousands should have been expended on committee rooms, or in painting
corridors which are too dark to be seen to advantage, is not apparent.
The only reason ever assigned is, that it was desirable to experiment
here on different styles of ornament.
There is no marble whatever in the Senate Chamber, and none, except
the Speaker’s and Clerk’s desks in the House. This deficiency is the
more noticed because of the extent to which this beautiful material is
used on the staircases leading to the galleries, which are universally
admired. But here it is remarkable that three of the staircases are of
the same material. The Tennessee marble is certainly beautiful, but so
is the white polished marble of the stairs leading to the west gallery
of the Senate.
Another criticism upon the two Halls is that they are so much alike.
The main difference is that one is smaller than the other. Conceding
that, in certain respects, they had to be alike,--as in the oblong
shape and the flat ceiling for acoustic purposes, and the construction
of galleries so as to afford an uninterrupted view,--there was surely
opportunity for a man of taste to have devised a finish which would
have been more distinctive. One of them might have had some windows
opening upon the outer world. Both are now placed in the interior,
without a window on any side. It is true that they are well lighted
both by night and day through the glass ceilings, and so far as we have
observed the ventilation is good; yet it seems a pity that the rooms
had not been constructed with windows, even if they were not to be
opened.
Nothing in the old Halls was more refreshing to members, or more
agreeable to spectators in the gallery, than the glimpse of green trees
afforded through the windows, and such windows would have been the
more attractive here, opening as they would have done upon the small
porticos north and south. This was Mr. Walter’s plan, as appears by his
report made in 1852.
It is pleasant to perceive that the architect has taken a hint from the
corn-stalk columns, and shown more boldness and originality than is
usual with his profession in departing from the regularly prescribed
orders in regard to capitals and other ornamental work. A fine row of
monolithic columns is to be seen on the floor of the south extension,
under the Representatives’ Hall, the capitals of which are composed of
the tobacco and thistle. The twenty-four columns and forty pilasters
in the grand vestibules are entirely original, the capitals being
composed of corn-leaves, tobacco and magnolias--each of the faces of
the columns, as well as the pilasters, has a magnolia, all different in
form, and all made from casts of the natural flower. The ornamentations
of the ceiling and cornices in the Senate and House are all drawn from
the natural products of the country. In the Representatives’ Hall are
many rosettes composed of the cotton plant in its various stages of
growth. No one can fail to observe and admire the exquisite statues of
Franklin and Hancock, which are appropriately placed in niches opposite
the staircases to the Senate gallery. The landings of the staircases
furnished most appropriate places for large paintings; like that of
Leutze, which improves upon acquaintance and causes every one to linger
as he goes to or returns from the gallery of the House.
WITHIN THE CAPITOL
CHARLES DICKENS
The principal features of the Capitol are, of course, the two Houses
of Assembly. But there is, besides, in the centre of the building, a
fine rotunda, ninety-six feet in diameter, and ninety-six high, whose
circular wall is divided into compartments, ornamented by historical
pictures. Four of these have for their subjects prominent events in
the revolutionary struggle. They were painted by Colonel Trumbull,
himself a member of Washington’s staff at the time of their occurrence;
from which circumstance they derive a peculiar interest of their own.
In this same hall Mr. Greenough’s large statue of Washington has been
lately placed. It has great merits of course, but it struck me as being
rather strained and violent for its subject. I could wish, however, to
have seen it in a better light than it can ever be viewed in, where it
stands.
There is a very pleasant and commodious library in the Capitol; and
from a balcony in front, the bird’s-eye view may be had, together with
a beautiful prospect of the adjacent country. In one of the ornamented
portions of the building, there is a figure of Justice; whereunto the
Guide Book says, “the artist at first contemplated giving more of
nudity, but he was warned that the public sentiment in this country
would not admit of it, and in his caution he has gone, perhaps, into
the opposite extreme.” Poor Justice! she has been made to wear much
stranger garments in America than those she pines in, in the Capitol.
Let us hope that she has changed her dressmaker since they were
fashioned, and that the public sentiment of the country did not cut out
the clothes she hides her lovely figure in, just now.
[Illustration: THE CAPITOL (ROTUNDA)]
The House of Representatives is a beautiful and spacious hall, of
semicircular shape, supported by handsome pillars. One part of the
gallery is appropriated to the ladies, and there they sit in front
rows, and come in, and go out, as at a play or concert. The chair is
canopied, and raised considerably above the floor of the House; and
every member has an easy-chair and a writing-desk to himself: which
is denounced by some people out of doors as a most unfortunate and
injudicious arrangement, tending to long sittings and prosaic speeches.
It is an elegant chamber to look at, but a singularly bad one for all
purposes of hearing. The Senate, which is smaller, is free from this
objection, and is exceedingly well adapted to the uses for which it is
designed. The sittings, I need hardly add, take place in the day; and
the parliamentary forms are modelled on those of the old country.
I was sometimes asked, in my progress through other places, whether I
had not been very much impressed by the _heads_ of the lawmakers
at Washington; meaning not their chiefs and leaders, but literally
their individual and personal heads, whereon their hair grew, and
whereby the phrenological character of each legislator was expressed:
and I almost as often struck my questioner dumb with indignant
consternation by answering “No, that I didn’t remember being at all
overcome.” As I must, at whatever hazard, repeat the avowal here, I
will follow it up by relating my impressions on this subject in as few
words as possible.
In the first place--it may be from some imperfect development of my
organ of veneration--I do not remember having ever fainted away, or
having even been moved to tears of joyful pride, at sight of any
legislative body. I have borne the House of Commons like a man, and
have yielded to no weakness, but slumber, in the House of Lords. I have
seen elections for borough and county, and have never been impelled (no
matter which party won) to damage my hat by throwing it up into the air
in triumph, or to crack my voice by shouting forth any reference to our
Glorious Constitution, to the noble purity of our independent voters,
or the unimpeachable integrity of our independent members. Having
withstood such strong attacks upon my fortitude, it is possible that I
may be of a cold and insensible temperament, amounting to iciness, in
such matters; and therefore my impressions of the live pillars of the
Capitol at Washington must be received with such grains of allowance as
this free confession may seem to demand.
Did I see in this public body an assemblage of men, bound together in
the sacred names of Liberty and Freedom, and so asserting the chaste
dignity of those twin goddesses, in all their discussions, as to exalt
at once the Eternal Principles to which their names are given, and
their own character, and the character of their countrymen, in the
admiring eyes of the whole world?
Did I recognize in this assembly, a body of men, who, applying
themselves in a new world to correct some of the falsehoods and vices
of the old, purified the avenues to Public Life, paved the dirty ways
to Place and Power, debated and made laws for the Common Good, and had
no party but their Country?
I saw in them the wheels that move the meanest perversion of virtuous
Political Machinery that the worst tools ever wrought. Despicable
trickery at elections; under-handed tamperings with public officers;
cowardly attacks upon opponents, with scurrilous newspapers for
shields, and hired pens for daggers; shameful trucklings to mercenary
knaves, whose claim to be considered, is, that every day and week they
sow new crops of ruin with their venal types, which are the dragons’
teeth of yore, in everything but sharpness; aidings and abettings of
every bad inclination in the popular mind, and artful suppressions of
all its good influences: such things as these, and in a word, Dishonest
Faction in its most depraved and most unblushing form, stared out from
every corner of the crowded hall.
Did I see among them the intelligence and refinement: the true, honest,
patriotic heart of America? Here and there, were drops of its blood and
life, but they scarcely coloured the stream of desperate adventurers
which sets that way for profit and for pay. It is the game of these
men, and of their profligate organs, to make the strife of politics
so fierce and brutal, and so destructive of all self-respect in worthy
men, that sensitive and delicate-minded persons shall be kept aloof,
and they, and such as they, be left to battle out their selfish views,
unchecked. And thus this lowest of all scrambling fights goes on, and
they who in other countries would, from their intelligence and station,
most aspire to make the laws, do here recoil the farthest from that
degradation.
That there are, among the representatives of the people in both Houses,
and among all parties, some men of high character and great abilities,
I need not say. The foremost among those politicians who are known in
Europe, have been already described, and I see no reason to depart
from the rule I have laid down for my guidance, of abstaining from
all mention of individuals. It will be sufficient to add, that to the
most favourable accounts that have been written of them, I more than
fully and most heartily subscribe; and that personal intercourse and
free communication have bred within me, not the result predicted in
the very doubtful proverb, but increased admiration and respect. They
are striking men to look at, hard to deceive, prompt to act, lions in
energy, Crichtons in varied accomplishments, Indians in fire of eye
and gesture, Americans in strong and generous impulse; and they as
well represent the honour and wisdom of their country at home, as the
distinguished gentleman who is now its Minister at the British Court
sustains its highest character abroad.
I visited both Houses nearly every day, during my stay in Washington.
On my initiatory visit to the House of Representatives, they divided
against a decision of the chair; but the chair won. The second time
I went, the member who was speaking, being interrupted by a laugh,
mimicked it, as one child would in quarrelling with another, and added,
“that he would make honourable gentlemen opposite, sing out a little
more on the other side of their mouths presently.” But interruptions
are rare; the Speaker being usually heard in silence. There are more
quarrels than with us, and more threatenings than gentlemen are
accustomed to exchange in any civilized society of which we have
record: but farm-yard imitations have not as yet been imported from the
Parliament of the United Kingdom. The feature in oratory which appears
to be the most practiced, and most relished, is the constant repetition
of the same idea or shadow of an idea in fresh words; and the inquiry
out of doors is not, “What did he say?” but, “How long did he speak?”
These, however, are but enlargements of a principle which prevails
elsewhere.
ARLINGTON
IZA DUFFUS HARDY
The next day we decided to improve the shining hours--truly and
literally shining in this radiant spring weather of blue heavens and
balmy sunshine--by paying a brief visit to the Capitol in the morning,
and taking a drive to Arlington in the afternoon. It takes a good
many brief visits to see the Washington Capitol thoroughly; but one
appreciates and enjoys it so far better than by “doing” it in one long
visitation, as we see so many tourists “doing” it, with red guide-books
in their hands, or bulging from their pockets. (I must conscientiously
confess, in parenthesis, that we ourselves also carry a _Guide to
Washington_, and, during the inspection of the Capitol, are apt
to refer to it pretty often.) In the endeavour to take it all in on
one day, the eye gets surfeited with pictures and statues, mouldings
and frescoes; the soul sickens at the further contemplation of busts
and bas-reliefs, bronze-panellings and marble pillars; Pocahontas and
Washington dance together dizzily in the confused brain; and Presidents
and Puritan Fathers, William Penn and Miles Standish, allegorical
figures of Freedom and Victory, the Declaration of Independence, the
Landing of Columbus and the Sword of Bunker’s Hill all mingle in a
kaleidoscopic jumble in the wearied mind.
In the afternoon, we take a carriage to Arlington, a beautiful drive
of only about four miles. All the way the great white dome of the
Capitol dominates the landscape. Across the Potomac, from Arlington
Heights, beyond river, wood, winding road and city, we see it soaring
into the intense blue of the sky like an Alpine peak.
[Illustration: ARLINGTON, VA.]
The Arlington Mansion was built by George Washington Parke Custis
(grandson of Martha and adopted son of George Washington). His daughter
married Robert E. Lee, and here the Lees kept hospitable house and
happy home until the disastrous days of war. During the long struggle
the estate was confiscated, and, having been employed as headquarters
for the Federal troops, was eventually turned into a “national
cemetery,” where over fifteen thousand soldiers lie buried.
The beautiful park-like grounds are now a field of the dead. Up the
hillside by thousands and tens of thousands, stretch the long regular
serried lines of tombstones. Here, line by line, in rank and file, at
peace beyond the battle, lies the silent army now. It is so hard to
realize, looking on these squadrons of the dead, still seeming drawn
up in battle array, that every one of those cold white stones strikes
down to the dust that was once a human heart, that throbbed with the
passionate pain of parting at leaving home and love, that thrilled at
the trumpet’s call, that beat high with hope and valour and gave its
life-blood for the victorious cause that it held dear!
One massive granite tomb covers a vault where lie the remains of more
than two thousand of the unknown dead. But the deserted mansion itself
is as sad as any of the tombs that surround it. The grand old house
is empty and ungarnished; its bare floors echo mournfully to our
footfalls; the hall door (the “classic portal, resting on eight massive
Doric columns,” as the guide-book describes it), stands drearily open;
all the world is welcome to enter there. It is not in the least like a
haunted house; there are no corners whence bats might flit at night; no
thick curtain of dust coats the walls, nor dark banners of spider’s web
veil the windows. The lofty rooms are spotless, speckless, carefully
kept and unutterably forlorn. We wander from room to room through a
desolate silence only broken by our own steps; the conservatories are
barren of flowers; the only living thing we come upon is a dog sleeping
in a patch of sunlight. More mournful a memorial than granite slab
or marble cross, more eloquent than inscription carved in stone, the
forsaken mansion stands, a silent monument to the Lost Cause.
As we descend the great staircase, a mighty clatter and babble wake the
hollow echoes, and we meet a gay and rather noisy party, led by our
brisk young New Yorker of yesterday’s Mount Vernon excursion, swarming,
chattering and laughing across the hall. Their happy, ringing voices
strike a jarring note here. Well, we have done with Arlington Heights,
and these joyous ones may ransack the lonely corners of the deserted
chambers at their own sweet will. As we turn for a last look, we hear
the youngest, liveliest and prettiest of the party exclaim, as she
trips lightly into the bare drawing-room:
“Oh, my! here’s a room for a hop!”
We drive back to Washington and return to our hotel in good time for
dinner, to which we sit down, a company of some three hundred, round
tables loaded with every delicacy of the season, and dine to music, a
band playing in the gallery overlooking the dining-room, exhilarating
the spirits and stimulating the appetites of the assembled Sybarites by
stirring strains.
Assassins may shoot and presidents may fall. After a splashing and a
circling in the waves, the current flows on much the same.
“_Le roi est mort! Vive le roi!_”
CARPENTERS’ HALL
BENSON J. LOSSING
On Monday morning I visited Carpenters’ Hall, the building in which
the first Continental Congress held its brief session. Having had no
intimation concerning its appearance, condition and present use, and
informed that it was situated in “Carpenters’ Court,” imagination had
invested its exterior with dignity, its interior with solemn grandeur,
and its location a spacious area where nothing “common or unclean”
was permitted to dwell. How often the hoof of Pegasus touches the
leafless treetops of sober prose when his rider supposes him to be at
his highest altitude! How often the rainbow of imagination fades and
leaves to the eye nothing but the forbidding aspect of a cloud of plain
reality! So at this time. The spacious _court_ was but a short and
narrow alley; and the _Hall_, consecrated by the holiest associations
which cluster around the birthplace of our Republic, was a small
two-story building, of sombre aspect, with a short steeple and all of a
dingy hue.
[Illustration: CARPENTERS’ HALL, PHILADELPHIA]
This building is constructed of small imported bricks, each alternate
one glazed, and darker than the other, giving it a checkered
appearance. Many of the old houses in Philadelphia were built of like
materials. It was originally erected for the hall of meeting for the
society of house carpenters of Philadelphia. It stands at the end of
an alley leading south from Chestnut Street, between Third and Fourth
Streets.
The hall in which Congress met is upon the lower floor, and comprehends
the whole area of the building. It is about forty-five feet square,
with a recess in the rear twenty-five feet wide and about twelve feet
deep, at the entrance of which are two pillars, eighteen feet high. The
second story contains smaller apartments which were used by Congress
and occupied by the society as committee rooms. In one of these,
emptied of all merchandise except a wash tub and a rush-bottomed chair,
let us sit down and consider the events connected with that first great
Continental Congress.
For many years a strong sympathy had existed between the several
colonies, and injuries done to one, either by the aggressions of the
French and Indians, or the unkind hand of their common mother, touched
the feelings of all the others and drew out responsive words and acts
which denoted an already strong bond of unity. Widely separated as some
of them were from each other by geographical distance and diversity
of interest and pursuits, there were, nevertheless, political, social
and commercial considerations which made the Anglo-Americans really
one people, having common interests and common hopes. Called upon
as free subjects of Great Britain to relinquish, theoretically and
practically, some of the dearest prerogatives guaranteed to them by the
Magna Charta and hoary custom--prerogatives in which were enveloped the
most precious kernels of civil liberty--they arose as one family to
resist the insidious progress of oncoming despotism, and yearned for
union to give themselves strength commensurate to the task. Leading
minds in every colony perceived the necessity for a general council,
and in the spring of 1774, the great heart of Anglo-America seemed
to be as with one pulsation with this sublime idea. That idea found
voice and expression almost simultaneously throughout the land. Rhode
Island has the distinguished honour of first speaking out publicly
on the subject. A general Congress was proposed at a town meeting in
Providence on the 17th of May, 1774. A committee of a town meeting held
in Philadelphia on the 21st, four days afterwards, also recommended
such a measure; and on the 23d, a town meeting in New York city uttered
the same sentiment. The House of Burgesses of Virginia, dissolved
by Lord Dunmore, assembled at the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg,
on the 27th, and on that day warmly recommended the assembling of a
national council; and Baltimore, in a county meeting, also took action
in favour of it on the 31st. On the 6th of June, a town meeting at
Norwich, Connecticut, proposed a general Congress; and on the 11th,
a county meeting at Newark, New Jersey, did the same; on the 17th,
the Massachusetts Assembly, and, at the same time, a town meeting in
Faneuil Hall, in Boston, strenuously recommended the measure; and a
county meeting at New Castle, Delaware, approved of it on the 29th.
On the 6th of July, the committee of correspondence at Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, expressed its approbation of the measure. A general
province meeting, held at Charleston, South Carolina, on the 6th, 7th
and 8th of that month, urged the necessity of such a Congress; and
a district meeting at Wilmington, North Carolina, held on the 21st,
heartily responded affirmatively. Thus we perceive that, within the
space of sixty-four days, twelve of the thirteen colonies spoke out
decidedly in favour of a Continental Congress, Georgia alone remaining
silent. The Massachusetts Assembly designated the 1st of September,
1774, as the time and Philadelphia as the place for the meeting of the
Congress. Other colonies acquiesced and at Philadelphia the delegates
convened.
“Now meet the fathers of this western clime,
Nor names more noble graced the roll of Fame,
When Spartan firmness braved the wrecks of time,
Or Rome’s bold virtues fann’d the heroic flame.
“Not deeper thought th’ immortal sage inspired
On Solon’s lips, when Grecian senates hung;
Nor manlier eloquence the bosom fired,
When genius thunder’d from the Athenian tongue.”
--TRUMBULL.[1]
On Monday, the 5th of September, fifty-four delegates, from twelve
colonies, assembled in Carpenters’ Hall. It was a congregation of men,
viewed in every important aspect, such as the world had never seen.
Congress was organized by the choice of Peyton Randolph, of Virginia,
as president, and Charles Thomson, of Pennsylvania, as secretary.
The credentials of the various delegates were then presented, and
now came a pause; who should take the lead? What measure should be
first proposed? They had come together from distant Provinces, some
instructed by the power that appointed them, others left free to act
as circumstances should require. There was a profound silence and deep
anxiety was depicted upon every countenance. No one seemed willing to
break that silence, until a grave-looking member, in a plain dark suit
of “minister’s grey” and unpowdered wig, arose. “Then,” said Bishop
White, who was present and related the circumstance, “I felt a regret
that a seeming _country parson_ should so far have mistaken his talents
and the theatre for their display.” But his voice was so musical, his
words so eloquent, and his sentiments so profoundly logical, that the
whole House was electrified, and the question went from lip to lip,
“Who is it? Who is it?” A few, who knew the stranger, answered, “It
is Patrick Henry, of Virginia!” There was no more hesitation; he who
startled the people of Colonial America nine years before, by his bold
resolutions against the Stamp Act, and a few months afterwards by the
cry of “Give me liberty or give me death!” now gave the impulse to
the representatives of that people in grand council assembled and set
in motion that machinery of civil power which worked so nobly while
Washington and his compatriots were waging war with the enemy in the
field.
Two days afterwards another impressive scene occurred. It was the
_first prayer in Congress_, offered by the Reverend Mr. Duché. The
first day had been occupied in the reception of credentials and the
arrangement of business; the second in the adoption of rules for
the regulation of the session; and now, when about to enter upon the
general business for which they were convened, the delegates publicly
sought Divine aid. It was a spectacle of great interest, for men of
every creed were there. In this service their creeds were forgotten and
the hearts of all united in the prayer which flowed from the pastor’s
lips; a prayer which came from a then patriot’s heart, though timidity
afterwards lost him the esteem of his friends and countrymen.
The Congress resolved to sit with closed doors, for enemies were around
them with open eyes and busy tongues, and nothing was to be made public
without special orders. Having no means at hand to ascertain the
relative importance of the Colonies, it was agreed “that each Colony
or Province should have one vote in determining questions.” One of
their first acts was to express an opinion that the whole continent
ought to support Massachusetts in resistance to the unconstitutional
change in her government; and they afterwards resolved that any person
accepting office under the new system ought to be held in detestation
as a public enemy. Merchants were advised to enter with non-importation
agreements; and a letter was addressed to General Gage, remonstrating
against the fortifications on Boston Neck, and his arbitrary exercise
of power. On the 14th of October, a _Declaration of Colonial Rights_,
prepared by a committee of two from each Province, was adopted, in
which were set forth the grievances complained of and the inalienable
rights of British subjects in every part of the realm. As a means of
enforcing the claim of natural and delegated rights, fourteen articles
were agreed to as the basis of an American Association, pledging the
associators to an entire commercial non-intercourse with Great Britain,
Ireland and the West Indies, and the non-consumption of tea and British
goods. In one clause the slave trade was specially denounced, and
entire absence from it and from any trade with those concerned in it,
formed a part of the association. Committees were to be appointed in
every county, city and town, to detect and punish all violations of
it; and all dealings with such enemies of American liberty were to be
immediately broken off. One hundred and fifty copies of the Articles of
Association were ordered to be printed.
An eloquent address to the people of Great Britain, from the pen of
John Jay, and a memorial to the inhabitants of the several British
American Colonies, written by William Livingston, were adopted by
Congress on the 21st. A petition, drawn by John Adams and corrected
by John Dickenson was approved on the 26th. Letters to the Colonies
of St. John’s Island (now Prince Edward’s, Nova Scotia), Georgia and
the Floridas, enclosing the doings of Congress, and inviting them to
join the Association, were also adopted on that day (the last of the
session). At the same time they approved of an elaborate address to the
inhabitants of Canada. This was drawn up by Mr. Dickenson. Having made
provision for another Congress to meet on the 10th of May following,
the first general council closed its session by adopting a second
humble petition to the King and a vote of thanks to the advocates of
Colonial rights in both houses of Parliament.
Congress was in actual session only thirty-one days out of the
eight weeks of the term, the remainder of the time being occupied
in preparatory business. It was a session of extraordinary activity
and a great amount of business of vast importance was transacted,
notwithstanding many unnecessary speeches were evidently made. They
were certainly more to the purpose than are most of the harangues in
Congress at the present day, or, considering the diversity of opinion
that must have existed upon the sentiments of the various state papers
that were adopted, the session would have continued for several months.
We have no means of knowing what harmony or what discord characterized
those debates. The doors were closed to the public ear, and no
reporters for the press have preserved the substance of the speeches.
That every resolution adopted was far from receiving a unanimous vote,
is very evident; for we find, by the subsequent declarations and acts
of delegates, that some of the measures were violently opposed. Many
deplored the probability of an open rupture with the mother country
and refused acquiescence in any measure that should tend to such a
result. Indeed, the sentiments of a large majority of the delegates
were favourable to an honourable reconciliation, and the Congress was
determined not to present the least foundation for a charge of rushing
madly into an unnatural contest without presenting the olive branch of
peace. Such was the tenor of its petitions and addresses; and every
charge of desire on the part of Congress for a war that might lead to
independence rested solely upon inference. Galloway, Duane, and others,
even opposed the American Association; and they regarded the Adamses as
men not only too much committed to violent measures by the part they
had taken in Boston, but that they were desperate men with nothing to
lose, and hence unsafe guides to gentlemen who had estates to forfeit.
And yet Galloway, when he became a proscriptive Loyalist, and one of
the most active enemies of the Republicans, was forced to acknowledge
the stern virtue of many of the patriots of that assembly, and among
them Samuel Adams. “He eats little, drinks little, sleeps little, and
thinks much,” he said, “and is most indefatigable in the pursuit of his
object. It was this man who, by his superior application, managed at
once the factions in Congress at Philadelphia and the factions in New
England.”
The proceedings of this first Congress went forth to the world with
all the weight of apparent unanimity, and throughout the Colonies they
were hailed with general satisfaction. The American Association adopted
and signed by the delegates was regarded by the people with great
favour and thousands in every province affixed their signatures to the
pledge. These formed the fibres of the stronger bond of the _Articles
of Confederation_ afterwards adopted, and may be considered the
commencement of the American Union.
THE CRADOCK HOUSE, MEDFORD[2]
SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE
The object of paramount interest which Medford contains is the
plantation house of Governor Cradock, or “Mathias Charterparty,” as the
malcontent Morton styled him. This house is the monarch of all those
now existing in North America. As we trace a family back generation
after generation until we bring all collateral branches to one common
source in the first Colonist, so we go from one old house to another
until we finally come to a pause before this patriarch of the sea. It
is the handiwork of the first planters in the vicinity of Boston, and
it is one of the first, if not the very first, of the brick houses
erected within the government of John Winthrop.
Every man, woman and child in Medford knows the “Old Fort,” as the
older inhabitants love to call it, and will point you to the site with
visible pride that their pleasant town contains so interesting a relic.
Turning your back upon the village and your face to the east, a brisk
walk of ten minutes along the banks of the Mystic, and you are in
presence of the object of your search.