250 SPOFFORD 



in 1778 was a compromise, so was the founding here of the 

 National Capital a compromise, and the adoption of the Con- 

 stitution of the United States was the greatest compromise of all. 



It is a noteworthy fact that this act of Congress for establish- 

 ing a permanent seat of government, adopted after so long and 

 serious a division of opinion, fixed absolutely no definite place 

 for the site of the capital city. It gave the President of the 

 United States the sole power to select any site on the river 

 Potomac, between the mouth of the Eastern Branch (or Ana- 

 costia) and the mouth of the Conococheague, or about seven 

 miles from Hagerstown, Maryland, which is over one hundred 

 miles, following the windings of the river, from the present 

 capital. It was in the power of Washington, under the pro- 

 visions of this act, to have founded the National Capital at 

 Harpers Ferry, fifty miles west of Baltimore, instead of at a 

 place forty miles south of it. Indeed, a contemporary letter of 

 Oliver Wolcott says : "In 1800, we go to the Indian place with 

 the long name (meaning Conococheague) on the Potomac." 



Washington, however, with that consummate judgment which 

 distinguished his character, selected the only spot in the limits 

 prescribed by Congress which united the advantages of tide- 

 water navigation to the sea, easy access from Baltimore and 

 other cities, and the finest natural sites both for public buildings, 

 and the future wants of a thronging population. The 'mag- 

 nificent distances,' which were long the theme of almost world- 

 wide ridicule, have been discovered to be none too spacious, 

 since the city has grown from a straggling village into a well-built 

 and finely paved emporium for nearly three hundred thousand 

 inhabitants. While the measurements of the city proper exhibit 

 a total of 61 1 1 acres, no fewer than 3095 acres of this aggre- 

 gate are in streets, avenues, and public reservations, which 

 leaves about half the surface of the city to private residences 

 and their grounds. It results that there is a far greater propor- 

 tion of open ground reserved from buildings in Washington 

 than in any other large city, and this secures most important 

 sanitary advantages to its inhabitants. 



This is no place for any description of a capital so often de- 

 scribed. But it is a notable fact in its history that the felicity 



