THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. A REVIEW OF THE DISCUSSIONS, IN CONGRESS AND ELSEWHERE, ON THE OF ITS PRESENT POSITION AND PROSPECTS. READ (IN PART) BEFORE THE NEW YORK AND MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETIES. ALSO, A NOTICE OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. BY JOSEPH B. VARNUM, JR. NEW YORK: PRESS OF HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE. 1848. THE following pages comprise an article which was read be fore the New York Historical Society in January, 1847. It was also read before the Maryland Historical Society, at Baltimore, and an assembly of citizens at Washington. The interest which was manifested on these occasions induced the writer to enlarge the plan, and introduce other matter not strictly coming within the scope of an historical discourse, but believed to be important to a complete view of the subject. He has, however, for the most part, omitted all such details as would more properly belong to a guide-book; or be invested with a local, rather than a general interest. It is believed to be the first attempt which has been made to call attention to the various questions which arise in the selection of a seat of government for a nation. As such, the editor of HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE deemed it worthy of insertion in that well-known and valuable periodical; and it is now issued in this form for distribution amongst those friends who have taken an interest in the subject. To Lewis H. Machen, Peter Force, John C. Brent, and Joseph Gales, Esquires, he is under obligations for valuable suggestions and facts. That he may have made some mistakes, is not unlikely; but he will have accomplished his object if he shall succeed in inducing some abler pen to develop the easiest and best way of fulfilling the design proposed in founding the city of Washington. |