THE NATION'S CAPITAL 



By James Bryce 

 Author OF "The AmivKic.w Com mo.wvkai.th," '•Imi-kkssioxs of SofTir A.mkk- 



ICA," KTC, AND AmUASSADOU FROM CiRKAT UriTAIN, I906-I913 



An address to the Committee of One Hundred on the Development of Wash- 

 ington, D. C. Specially revised by Mr. Bryce for publication in the Xational 

 Geographic Maga::inc. 



1HA\'E been asked to give you the 

 impressions of a visitor who, having 

 seen something of the capitals of 

 other countries and having spent six 

 happy and interesting years in Washing- 

 ton, and having grown always more and 

 more interested in your own plans for 

 the adornment of Washington, may pos- 

 sibly be able to look at the matter from 

 a somewhat different angle from that at 

 which most of you have seen it. 



It is, I think, impossible for any one 

 who speaks our common language, who 

 is familiar with your institutions and his- 

 tory, who recognizes how much there is 

 in common between us — your nation and 

 mine — to live here without becoming for 

 many purposes — morally and intellectu- 

 ally, and for jiractically all purposes ex- 

 cept, of course, i)olitical purposes — a citi- 

 zen of the United States. That does not 

 prevent him, I need hardly say. from re- 

 maining a patriotic citizen of his own 

 country. He is exempt from the duty 

 from which, indeed, you are all exempt 

 in the District of Columbia — of casting 

 a \-ote — and from the other duty of get- 

 ling on the platform to gi\-e his ])olitical 

 views to his fellow-countrymen ; but in 

 every other respect his residence here 

 gives him all the advantages which you 

 have, in being able to follow the ins and 

 outs of your politics and to appreciate 

 the surprising changes which the whirli- 

 gig of time brings about. 



Taking so keen an interest as I do in 

 the welfare of the United v^tates, I have 

 often felt it somewhat difficult to refrain 

 from offering advice which was not 

 asked for. I trust that I have always 

 refrained, but in this particular case the 

 observations — I will not call them ad- 

 A'ice — the observations on the city of 

 Washington and what can be done for it 

 liave been asked for, and if you find they 

 are only what you knew before, do not 



altogether blame me, but lay it to the 

 misjudgment of the too kind friends who 

 have asked me to come upon the plat- 

 form. 



AX n)i:AL SITK FOR A CITY 



It is impossible to live in Washington 

 and not be struck by some peculiar fea- 

 tures and some peculiar beauties which 

 your city possesses. In the first place, 

 its site has a great deal that is admirable 

 and charming. There is rising ground 

 inclosing on all sides a level space, and 

 so making a beautiful amphitheater, be- 

 tween hills that are rich with woods, 

 which in many places, thanks to the hard 

 ancient rocks of this region, show bold 

 faces and give much more striking effects 

 than we can have in the soft, chalky or 

 sandy hills which surround London. 

 Underneath these hills and running like 

 a silver thread through the middle of the 

 valley is your admirable river. 



The Potomac has two kinds of beauty — 

 the beauty of the upper stream, murmur- 

 ing over a rocky bed between bold heights 

 crowned with wood, and the beauty of 

 the wide exjianse, spread out like a lake 

 below the city into a vast sheet of silver. 



Besides all this, you have behind Wash- 

 ington a charming country. I am some- 

 times surprised that so few of your resi- 

 dents explore that country on foot. It 

 is only on foot that you can appreciate 

 its beauties, for some of the most at- 

 tractive paths are too narrow and tangled 

 for riding. On the north, cast, and west 

 sides of Washington, and to some extent 

 on the south, or \irginia. side also, al- 

 though there the difficulties of locomotion 

 are greater on account of the heavy nui<l 

 in the roads, the country is singularly 

 charnn'ng, quite as beautiful as that which 

 adjoins any of the great capital cities of 

 r.urope, except, of course, Constantino- 

 ple, with its wonderful T.osphorus. 



7^7 



