National Intelligencer

In the evening hours of August 24, 1814, during the second year of the War of 1812, British expeditionary forces under the command of Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cockburn and Major General Robert Ross set fire to the unfinished Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

The front page of the Daily National Intelligencer, featured a written notice calling for citizens to gather on the steps of the capitol in order to defend our country against the British. All the public buildings in the developing city, except the Patent Office Building, were put to the torch. It would be too little, too late.

In the issue of the National Intelligencer of Mar 9, 1822 appeared the following notice:

Masonic Notice - Those members of Congress who belong to the Masonic Fraternity, and those visitors of the city who are or have been members of any State Grand Lodge, are respectfully invited to attend a meeting to be held in the Senate Chamber, this evening, at 7 o'clock to take into consideration matters of general interest to the Masonic institution.

Resolved, That in the opinion of this meeting, it is expedient for the general interests of Freemasonry, to constitute a General Grand Lodge of the United States.

Resolved. That it be proposed to the several Grand Lodges in the United States to take the subject into their serious considerations, at their next annual communication, and that, if they approve of the formation of a General Grand Lodge, it be recommended to them to appoint one or more delegates to assemble in the city of Washington, on the second Monday of February next, to agree on the organization of such Grand Lodge.

Resolved, That if two-thirds of the Grand Lodges within the United States concur in the propriety of establishing their representatives to proceed to the formation of a constitution of a General Grand Lodge it be recommended to them to instruct their representatives to proceed to the formation of a constitution of a General Grand Lodge, to be subsequently submitted to the several Grand Lodges in the Union, for their ratification, and which, being ratified by a majority of them, shall be considered as thenceforth binding on all the Grand Lodges assenting thereto.

Resolved, That the Most Worshipful John Marshall, of Virginia; Henry Clay, of Kentucky; William H. Winder, of Maryland; William S. Cardell, of New York; Joel Abbott of Georgia; John Holmes, of Maine; Henry Baldwin, of Pennslyvania; John H. Eaton, of Tennessee; William W. Seaton of Washington; Christopher Rankin of Mississippi; Thomas R. Ross, of Ohio; H. G. Burton, of North Carolina, and Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, D.D, of Massachusetts, be and thereby are, appointed a committee to open a correspondence with the respective Grand Lodges within the United States and to take such measures therein as they may deem expedient to carry the aforesaid resolutions into effect.

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER, Washington, July 6, 1848 Lengthy bkpg. report: The Anniversary (meaning the 4th of July) Laying The Cornerstone Of The Monument To Washington. Includes the Order of Procession for the ceremony. Pg. 2 has: Mr. Winthrops Address, On the Occasion of Laying the Cornerstone of the National Monument to Washington The Prayer & The Masonic Address.