country-the hospitality of the heads of the Government-and the corps diplomatique of itself-supplied resources such as could nowhere else be looked for."

XXI.

PROGRESS AND PRESENT POSITION.

SOCIETY.

SINCE Sir Augustus wrote his gossip in 1804-'8, society in Washington has undergone many changes, not to speak of those caused by the war; but the anticipations of the founders in this respect have been realized. It is certainly a peculiar city-differing from all others, in its outward appearance, and in the independence of thought and action which there prevails. People are tied down by no conventionalisms, but live very much as they please, and perhaps nowhere is the judgment so little based upon the style of a house or the costliness of a carpet.

The public officers, who form that part of the population most seen by a visitor, exhibit in their ranks a singular medley of talent, mediocrity, oddity, and misfortune.

The change which takes place on the approach of a session of Congress, after a long recess, has been most aptly compared to that of a great watering place on the approach of a fash

ionable season. Then comes the whole coterie of foreigners, gentlemen attracted by curiosity, political demagogues, claimants, patentees, letter writers, army and navy officers, office hunters, gamblers, and blacklegs. Pennsylvania avenue presents a lively scene in the number of strangers from every section of the country, not excepting a representative or two from the Indian tribes.

It is doubtful whether the elements which contribute to make the winters in Washington so agreeable, would, in a large city like New York, give the same tone to society. For there the Government would not be all in all to the place. Thousands of the merchants and scholars from the great cities, who mingle so freely in Washington society, in their abundance of leisure while there, would be absorbed in their own affairs were the Government in the place where they earned their living. Imagine Saratoga Springs in the heart of New York city! Where, for New Yorkers, would be the annual month or two of abandon which they now find in the congregation that gathers in that pleasant village? You may secure a delightful company for a dinner party in a few hours' notice in Washington, where a week's notice would be needed in New York in order to get the same persons together.

POPULATION.

In other respects it must be confessed that the anticipations of the founders of the Federal capital were hardly fulfilled. In Jefferson's time the population numbered but about five thousand persons. For the first forty years the increase of population only averaged about 550 per annum. From 1840 to 1850 the increase was about 1600 per annum; and from 1850 to 1860 it averaged 2,000 per annum. By the census of 1860 the population was 61,122. There is no doubt that, for ten or fifteen years prior to the war, the place was in a high state of prosperity, and rapidly assuming the proportions and appearance of a large city. What effect the war will have in advancing or checking this prosperity, depends entirely upon its result, for, as Mr. Southend remarked, this city is "the only child of the Union," and must rise or fall with it.

GROWTH-HOW RETARDED.

The main reason for its slow growth during the first forty years is to be found in the uncertainty which so long existed as to its being the permanent Seat of Government.

Having neither commerce nor manufactures

to offer as inducements to men of capital, to remove from places of active business to a city depending for its prosperity upon the apparently unsettled will of a majority of Congress, its population of course had no aids to its natural rate of increase. But the invention of the telegraph seems to have dissipated all uncertainty as to its permanence as a Seat of Government. Prior to that period the Government did little more than keep the public buildings in order, not even inclosing the grounds which connected them, and, as we have seen, even selling them out for a song.

For many years the Pennsylvania avenue was the same slough of mud, with deep ravines, which gave so much trouble to party-goers in Jefferson's time. That President took great interest in the place, as indeed have all the Presidents. But presidential recommendations were little heeded, notwithstanding the fair promises made by Congress, in their reply to Mr. Adams' speech in 1800, when he commended the new city to their fostering care. Mr. Jefferson succeeded in getting four rows of Lombardy poplars planted along the Avenue; but these, though not without beauty in the view from the Capitol, made the road worse than ever by their spreading roots, and it was not until Gen. Jackson's day that an appropriation was ob

tained to fill up the deep ravines, remove the poplars, and macadamize the street. For a long time no improvement, however desirable, could be obtained without a long and angry debate, because there were strict constructionists, who could not find authority in the Constitution. Few would take the trouble to inquire into the circumstances under which the place was established-and to learn that it was planned rather to suit the future wants of the nation than the convenience of the resident population, who could not be expected, in order to connect public buildings, to open and improve, at once, many miles of unusually wide streets, which, in other cities, would have been the work of time, and in proportion as the population increased. It was in fact a plan calculated for the magnificent capital of a great nation, but oppressive, from its very dimensions and arrangements, to the inhabitants, if its execution to any considerable extent was to be thrown upon them. The expense should at least have been joint. It was as if the New Yorkers, when the population was all below the City Hall, had been required to lay out streets around what is now the Central Park.*

Had

* See pp. 60, 68, 70, 71, 72, 75, 76, 82. There is a want of system. The Commissioner of Public Buildings has charge of Government expenditures, while the municipal authorities