preceded
the opening of the session, an earnest petition ascended for
"the Senior Senator from Indiana," that he might "soon be restored
to his wonted health, and permitted to return to the seat so long and
so honorably occupied."

A moment later, the touching invocation being ended, and the Senate
duly in session, the stately form of "the Senior Senator from
Indiana" promptly emerged from the cloak-room, and quietly resumed
the seat he had "so long and so honorably occupied."

XXXIV
A MEMORABLE CENTENNIAL

GEORGE WASHINGTON LAYING THE CORNER-STONE OF THE CAPITOL--PROGRESS
OF THE REPUBLIC DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY--NOTABLE MEN WHO WERE
CONSPICUOUS AT THE NATION'S BIRTH--CONGRESS HELD AT VARIOUS PLACES
BEFORE 1800--THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FORMED--NECESSITY FOR ENLARGING
THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON--A DOCUMENT BY WEBSTER DEPOSITED BENEATH
THE CORNER-STONE OF THE ADDITIONS--HIGH DEBATES HELD IN THE UNITED
STATES SENATE--PRESENT LOCATION OF THE SENATE CHAMBER--GREAT INCREASE
OF POPULATION, TERRITORY, AND COMMERCE--THE TWO DIVISIONS OF
CONGRESS.

On the eighteenth day of September, 1893, the first centennial
of the laying of the corner-stone of the national Capitol was
celebrated by appropriate ceremonies in Washington City.

President Cleveland presided, and seated upon the platform were
the members of his Cabinet, the Senate, the House of Representatives,
the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Foreign Ambassadors.

The oration was delivered by the Hon. William Wirt Henry, of
Richmond, Virginia, grandson of Patrick Henry. The addresses which
followed were by myself, representing the Senate; Speaker Crisp,
representing the House; and Justice Brown, the Supreme Court. I
spoke as follows:

"This day and this hour mark the close of a century of our national
history. No ordinary event has called us together. Standing in
the presence of this august assemblage of the people, upon the spot
where Washington stood, we solemnly commemorate the one-hundredth
anniversary of the laying of the corner-stone of the nation's Capitol.

"It is well that this day has been set apart as a national holiday,
that all public business has been suspended, and that the President
and his Cabinet, the members of the great Court, and of the Congress,
unite with their countrymen in doing honor to the memory of the
men who, one hundred years ago, at this hour, and upon this spot, put
in place the corner-stone of the Capitol