Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 6.djvu/217

 THE

��GRANITE MONTHLY,

A NEW HAMPSHIRE MAGAZINE

Devoted to Literature, Biography, History, and State Progress.

��Vol. VI.

��APRIL, 1883.

��No. 7

��HON. HENRY WILLIAM BLAIR.

��A citizen of the United States, native or foreign bom, cannot help being proud and patriotic as he views the magnificence of the city of Washing- ton. It is laid out for a regal city ; its streets and avenues are wide and straight ; its private residences are palatial ; the public buildings are im- posing, enduring, substantial, massive, beautiful. From every point of view the Capitol is grand ; its dome is fault- less in its proportions ; its interior is perfect. Within its walls are congre- gated the representatives of fifty million people, the senators of thirty- eight states. There the laws for a great nation are enacted, affecting every citizen and every industry throughout our vast territory. Words uttered within those walls are heard around the world. The millions of Europe, from the prince to the peasant, read and ponder. India. China, and the distant islands of the ocean have a deep interest in the debates of our congress.

In the senate chamber are gathered the envoys or representatives of the sovereign states, — senators, men select- ed for their wisdom, eloquence, good- ness, and ability, to guard the vast and varied interests of their constituents, to direct the expenditure of an im- mense revenue ; to improve the con- dition of the American people, and protect all classes in liberty, freedom,

��and equal rights. In that body have been gathered the intellectual giants of the century of America, who have had to meet and settle great constitu- tional questions affecting our national life. Therein have been assembled Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and Benton, Chandler, Wilson, Conkling and Blaine, political Warwicks. That wise and dignified body has ever been the bul- wark of our government, giving strength to its councils and moderation to the enthusiasm of the more popular branch of congress. It has settled definitely the question of state rights, national unity, human slavery, manhood suffrage and equality.

There are great questions yet to be settled by the congress of the United States, questions which over-shadow the past and render gloomy the future ; the disposal of the public lands of our national domain ; the development of our great agricultural interests ; the protection of labor ; the education of the masses ; the national care of wounded soldiers and the families of stricken heroes : the elevation of women to equal rights ; the suppression of intemperance. These are the great questions of the future to be settled by statesmen. Politicians can attend to the privileges and elections, mili- tary, naval and Indian affairs, claims, patents, railroads, post-offices, terri- tories, civil service and retrenchment :

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