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THE CAPITOL DOME 22 of other pertinent remarks, and concluded by saying, that, in the language of his colleague, to set the Government on wheels, would give play to the worst passions of the worst men, and everything would become game for ambition and intrigue. 6 Mr. GROSVENOR, [. . .] Gentlemen had said, if the Government once began to roll, it would never return. Is this the true and proper Seat of the Government? If it be, how can gentlemen say it will not return immediately after the causes for its present removal cease? It will. e Seat of Government will in such case gravitate as certainly to this position as the needle to the pole. All the arguments, therefore, against the removal, on the ground that it would be permanent, ought to be thrown out of consideration, as they had nothing to do with the ques - tion. Let the resolution take its course and go to a committee. Suppose at the time Congress met, the enemy could have held the place, or was in force on the water, to occupy the place the next day. Would Congress, in such a case attempt to sit here? e question was not, however, whether any exigency would justify the removal from this place, because that principle has been decided long ago by the passage of an act to which he had before alluded; 7 the question was, whether this was such an exi- gency as to require the removal? He saw no reason, therefore, why the adaptation of the question should excite such a feel- ing as appeared to prevail, unless the gentleman were desirous to place their argument on the ground they had unguardedly disclosed, that this was the very worst place in the nation for Congress to sit in. e idea from the gentleman from South Carolina [Samuel Farrow] was singular, who conceived that a removal would be striking our colors. Wait, says the gentle - man, till the enemy come and chases you off! at, said Mr. G., is the dishonor which I dread from remaining, the very disgrace I wish to avoid. You now sit coolly and deliberately; you may remove without disgrace or dishonor. But if this be a point which you cannot defend against an enemy, why talk like children about remaining here and having your head cut off rather than remove? [. . .] To remove from the city temporarily was one of those occurrences in life to which we must submit, and is no more disgrace than the ordering the necessary retreat of an army. If it shall appear folly to remain here, this is the moment to remove. If we are to remain here till the enemy comes, to sit and be dragged from our seats, the President sto - len—and there is nothing now to guard against it; if we are to run all the risks for false honor, let us have no argument; let us say at once we will be self-devoted. is war, gentlemen well knew, might continue for years. If a peace did not take place now, he feared it would be long before it did. What, then, was the condition of the Government in the District? Let gentlemen ask themselves fairly. Were they willing to appropriate the money of the people of the United States to build a capitol, to plant it in this District, where it might be destroyed in twenty days? No, gentlemen said, they would defend it, at an expense of ten or twelve millions; for that much it would cost, so indefensible is this point. Did not the interest of the country, Mr. G. asked, require them to remove to a place of security, where it would not be necessary to expend ten or fifteen millions, or any other sum, in the simple defense of the Congress? 8 W ILLI A M C. DIGI ACOM A NTONIO is an associate editor at the First Federal Congress Project at e George Washington University. is documentary project has pub- lished more than twenty edited volumes of the journals, leg- islative histories, correspondence, and debates of the historic First Federal Congress. In 2014 he joined the staff of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society as associate historian. He is the au- thor of several articles published in Washington History, the Journal of the Early Republic, and in two volumes of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society's Perspectives on the History of Congress, 1789-1801. Notes 1. Annals of Congress, 13th Cong., 3rd sess., p. 312. 2. Ibid., p. 313. 3. Ibid., p. 354. 4. Ibid., p. 372. 5. Ibid., p. 357. 6. Ibid., pp. 315-16. 7. e federal government's temporary removal from Phila - delphia in 1794 to escape the yellow fever epidemic. 8. Annals of Congress, 13th Cong., 3rd sess., pp. 317-18. e Annals of Congress provide the best record of congressional debate for the period 1789-1824, the First Congress through the first session of the 18th Congress. e Annals were compiled between 1834 and 1856 using the best records available, primarily newspaper accounts.