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vow of allegiance to the Constitution and the Union from every one who approaches it, is a visible testimony—and one not the less grateful to an American eye, as being the masterly production of a native artist[1]—that the government of the country has not been unmindful of what it owes to Washington.
One tribute to his memory is left to be rendered. One monument remains to be reared. A monument which shall bespeak the gratitude, not of States, or of cities, or of governments; not of separate communities, or of official bodies; but of the people, the whole people of the nation:—a National Monument, erected by the citizens of the United States of America. Of such a monument we have come to lay the corner-stone here and now. On this day, on this spot, in this presence, and at this precise epoch in the history of our country and of the world, we are about to commence this crowning work of commemoration.
The day, the place, the witnesses, the period in the world's history and in our own history—all, all are most appropriate to the occasion.
The day is appropriate. On this 4th day of July—emphatically the people's day—we come most fitly to acknowledge the people's debt to their first and greatest benefactor.
Washington, indeed, had no immediate connection with the immortal act of the 4th of July, 1776. His signature did not attest the Declaration of Independence. But the sword by which that independence was to be
- ↑ Horatio Greenough.
