"PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

"assisted by the Grand Master of the Masonic Lodges, in the presence
of many members of Congress, of officers of the Executive and
Judiciary Departments, National, State, and District, of officers
of the army and navy, the corporate authorities of this and
neighboring cities, many associations, civil and military and
masonic, members of the Smithsonian Institution and National
Institute, professors of colleges and teachers of schools of the
District, with their students and pupils, and a vast concourse of
people from places near and remote, including a few surviving
gentlemen who witnessed the laying of the corner-stone of the
Capitol by President Washington, on the 18th day of September, A.D.
1793.

"If, therefore, it shall be hereafter the will of God that this
structure shall fall from its base, that its foundation be
upturned, and this deposit brought to the eyes of men, be it then
known, that on this day the Union of the United States of America
stands firm, that their Constitution still exists unimpaired, and
with all its original usefulness and glory; growing every day
stronger and stronger in the affections of the great body of the
American people, and attracting more and more the admiration of the
world. And all here assembled, whether belonging to public life or
to private life, with hearts devoutly thankful to Almighty God for
the preservation of the liberty and happiness of the country, unite
in sincere and fervent prayers that this deposit, and the walls and
arches, the domes and towers, the columns and entablatures, now to
be erected over it, may endure for ever!

"GOD SAVE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

"DANIEL WEBSTER,

"_Secretary of State of the United States_."

Fellow-citizens, fifty-eight years ago Washington stood on this spot to
execute a duty like that which has now been performed. He then laid the
corner-stone of the original Capitol. He was at the head of the
government, at that time weak in resources, burdened with debt, just
struggling into political existence and respectability, and agitated by
the heaving waves which were overturning European thrones. But even
then, in many important respects, the government was strong. It was
strong in Washington's own great character; it was strong in the wisdom
a