614 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



nue leads from the capitol to the 

 President's house, another elegant 

 edifice, built also of free-stone, 

 according to thelonic proportions. 

 This, like its companion, tlie ca- 

 pitol, has been partially de- 

 stroyed by the hand of our late 

 enemy. The barbarous and ab- 

 surd policy of waging a savage 

 and destructive warfare against 

 the productions of art cannot be 

 sufficiently reprobated. We had 

 hoped that at this period of the 

 world, when the lefinements of 

 civilization had introduced a libe- 

 rality of sentiment and generosi- 

 ty of feeling into modern war, 

 such arts of Vandalism would 

 have been avoided. We had 

 hoped, that a nation that had so 

 frequently boasted of her refine- 

 ment, and of the encouragement 

 and protection she has afforded to 

 the productions of human ingenu- 

 ity, woidd have been the last to 

 have cast the firebrand amid the 

 monuments of those arts she af- 

 fects to be solicitous to protect 

 and defend. 



The next object in the city to 

 which the attention is attracted is 

 the naval yard. This establish- 

 ment is at present resuscitating 

 from the smouldering ruins of 

 war, and will, from the attention 

 Government seems to pay it, soon 

 surpass the flourishing condition 

 which it had once attained. They 

 have now nearly completed the 

 line of battle ship, and promise to 

 be speedily able to build vessels 

 of any magnitude less than a 74. 

 There is, perhaps, no situation in 

 the United States better calculated 

 than this for a national establish- 

 ment of this kind. The facility 

 with which materials and muni- 

 tions of war can be procured, the 



depth and excellence of the har- 

 bour, and its security from de- 

 stiiiction by storms and enemies, 

 particularly when the Chesapeake, 

 which is now in contemplation, 

 shall be properly and effectually 

 defended, contribute to render it 

 an essential object of governnien- 

 talattention. In this yard, near its 

 entrance, the officers of the navy 

 have erected a monument to the 

 memory of Wadsworth, Israel, 

 &c., those gallant young men 

 who voluntarily sacrificed them- 

 selves on the altar of freedom, ra- 

 ther than become the slaves of 

 despotic barbarians. This monu- 

 ment, which is of marble, was 

 executed in Italy, by eminent ar- 

 tists. It has not yet, however, 

 received its last polish, and still 

 remains for the hand of the mas- 

 ter. It is a small column of the 

 Doric order, with emblematical 

 embellishments, and crowned 

 with an eagle in the act of flying. 

 This pillar rests on a base, sculp- 

 tured in basso-relievo, representing 

 Tripoli, its fortresses, the Medi- 

 terranean, and our fleet in the 

 fore-ground ; and on each corner 

 stands an appropriate figuie, ele- 

 gantly executed. The one repre- 

 sents Columbia, directing the at- 

 tention of her children to History, 

 who is recording the daring and 

 intrepid action of the American 

 heroes ; the third represents 

 Fame, with a wreath of laurel in 

 one hand, and a pen in the other; 

 and the fouith represents Mer- 

 cury, or the God of Commerce, 

 with his cornucopia and caduceus. 

 These are the principal monu- 

 ments of art which Washington 

 contains. We must noi, how- 

 ever, neglect to mention, among 

 other curiosities of the metropolis, 

 a curiosity 



