Though the tutelary deity of the warlike Hohenzollerns has been taken from the pedestal on which he was proudly placed November 19, 1904, he is nevertheless entitled to passing notice, among the foreign statues which adorn the Capital. This was a gift from the former Kaiser to the Government of the United States as a return courtesy for the many bestowed upon the Imperial brother, Henry of Prussia, during the memorable visit of 1903. Though the ceremonies fell far below the brilliancy which marked the unveiling of the Rochambeau memorial, and did not equal those six years later when the two Polish heroes were uncovered, yet as much pomp as President Roosevelt could command at the time marked the occasion. He made a fine address, and his close friend, Baron Speck von Sternberg, then the German ambassador, made another, and all eminent German-Americans were in attendance. Looking back on the occasion it is marvelous that so keen a political student as Roosevelt conceded so much to the friendship of Frederic the Great or II, as he is modestly called on the statue.

The most biased German biographers of Frederic admit that his reluctance to see Hessians depart for America took root in his anxiety to get those same hirelings into his own army. Nevertheless, while it may not be sound philosophy, or even a just mode of appraisal, it is true that a man is judged by the results of his acts and not by his intentions in performing them. Frederic's action in refusing those last Hessians passage through Prussian soil aided Washington in a critical epoch. No use to argue that eventually the cause of right would have prevailed. It would have prevailed if Lafayette had never come, if Rochambeau had not brought such gallant reinforcement. Yet this calm reliance on the abstract principle of an all-prevailing justice in the scheme of the beneficent Maker of Heaven and of earth, does not conflict with the concrete debt of gratitude

which is acknowledged to France, to Poland, and even to Prussia, not only for von Steuben, but for the cynical friend of Voltaire, Frederic of Hohenzollern. The removal of that statue because of lamentable events connected with the late war did not meet the approval of thoughtful people. It savors too much of that national hysteria which is perpetually working to keep this country in a rôle of mediocrity. The President who placed Frederic II on the exalted eminence before the War College was as great a patriot as he was an historical student. To set aside his estimate is to acknowledge no reverence for past, present or future, and to place the solemn decrees of history on the shifting basis of a political campaign platform.

The most superficial reference to Frederic suggests that pregnant theme of the mercenaries engaged by the enfeebled military authorities of Britain to suppress their "rebellious colonists" to quote Lord North, who hired them. There were 29,166 of these, and since more than 18,000 came from Hesse-Hanau, the name Hessians has been indiscriminately applied to them all. Of this number, 853 were killed, totally crippled, taken prisoner, or deserted their employers to make peace with the military authorities of the colonies. From the burning words of Lord Camden we may learn that the better element in England opposed the enriching of the coffers of these avaricious German princelings. The hiring of soldiers was likened to the slaughter of cattle in shambles, and, as a dastardly attempt to suppress constitutional liberty, was the reproach of all mankind. The experiment cost the ministry of Lord North its existence and also the fabulous sum, for those times, of 7,000,000 pounds sterling. As a military experiment it was most disastrous and was soon abandoned. When Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army, not a single mercenary was under arms, though as an old writer unkindly put it,

"there were some Tories, Hessians and blacks behind the earthworks who were surrendered with the soldiers."

The Capital City moved slowly towards rewarding the illustrious heroes who helped to win the independence, and there are yet debts to be repaid. When the brave De Kalb fell, Congress voted him a statue. It remains to be placed among his colleagues. No bronze has been reared to the commander of the French fleet at Yorktown, Admiral de Grasse. No honor has ever been paid to Beaumarchais the man who sent Lafayette, von Steuben, De Kalb, and eventually the French army under Rochambeau. Perhaps in

time that debt also may be paid and we shall see the friend of Franklin, Beaumarchais, enthroned among the foreign heroes in Washington parks, the worthiest of them all.

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM IN THE CITY OF

E

WASHINGTON.

By JOB BARNARD.

(Read before the Society, February 17, 1920.)

MANUEL SWEDENBORG, the scientist, philosopher

and theologian, was born January 29, 1688, in Stockholm, and died March 29, 1772, in London. Many of his books were printed in London, and distributed to libraries, or sold to individuals. They were written in the Latin language, and were first read by scholars, and it was but natural that the clergy of the Church of England should be among the early readers and believers of the new ideas to be found therein.

Rev. John Clowes, of Manchester, England, learned some of the doctrines the next year after Swedenborg's death; and in 1778, assisted in forming a new church society in Whitefield, near Manchester. For more than fifty years, Mr. Clowes read, translated, and preached new church doctrine in the established church, to the acceptance of his people.

It seems an interesting fact, that Swedenborg's death should have occurred so nearly at the same time that the American colonies became restless, and revolution imminent.

Another interesting fact is, that the first Continental Congress assembled September 5, 1774, was opened by prayer by an Episcopal, who was made Chaplain of the Congress, and who was a believer in the doctrines of the new church, Rev. Jacob Duche, rector of Christ Church, Philadelphia.

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The first new church house of worship in America was built in our near-by city of Baltimore, and dedicated January 2, 1800. Rev. John Hargrove was the Minister of the Baltimore Society when this building was erected; and when Jefferson was inaugurated as President of the United States on March 4, 1801, he, and a committee of his congregation, sent a letter of congratulation to Jefferson, and received a friendly reply from him, dated March 11, 1801.

So it may be said that Democracy, and Swedenborgian doctrine, and the Federal Congress, and Government Headquarters, came to this city about the same time, namely, with the beginning of the last century.

On December 26, 1802, Rev. Mr. Hargrove preached at the new Capitol, before the President and forty members of Congress, and some sixty persons in the galleries, "on the leading doctrines of the New Jerusalem Church;" and again, on Christmas day, 1804, both of which sermons were published, and were the first of the kind ever delivered in this city. (See "Theology pamphlets," Book No. 40, documents numbered 13 and 14, in Congressional Library.) At that time there were several persons here, or in the adjoining States, who had some knowledge of these doctrines.

One of the most active in making the doctrines known, was Mrs. Mary Arnott, wife of John Arnott. She was the aunt of Mrs. Margaret Milburn, who was one of the early members of the Washington Society, when it was organized. The Arnott's lived on 7th Street, near the steamboat wharf. They were members of the Presbyterian Church on South Capitol Street, near B Street, where Rev. Reuben Post was pastor, and John Coyle, Jr., Clerk.

Mrs. Arnott had borrowed some New Church books from Ferdinand Fairfax (the son of Bryan Fairfax, and the father of Wilson M. C. Fairfax), about the time the British were in Washington in 1814, and she became an