Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-04
RARE STATE PAPERS
Musty Volumes Of Manuscripts
Resurrected at the Capitol.
ALL were PENNED BY PRESIDENTS
The Executive Congressional Mes
sages Of Over a Century.
QUEER CHARACTERISTICS

QUEER CHARACTERISTICS
For the past week or 50 a curious collec-
| ton of old worm-eaten volums, covered
with dust and stained by age, have been
| piled in the file room Of the House of Rep
| re sentatives. Some of them run back into
| the past century, and theyeare all in man
| uscript. The sight of them would bring
envy into the eyes of an autograph collec-
| tor, and the loss of any one of the many
| volumes would raise hue and cry in the
| land. They are the original autograph mes
sages of Presidents of the United States,
and accompanying manuscript documents.
| A resolution was passed by the House
| during the last Congress providing for the
| compilation of all messages of Presidents
| to Congress from the foundation Of the
government. Representative Richardson,
| the author of the resolution, is charged
With the responsibility of having this done,
he being chairman of the committee on
printing during the last Congress, but no
special appropriation was made to meet
the expense. At present one must look
through all the mass of congressional pub
| locations for these messages, or else seek
| the original manuscripts.
| These manuscripts from the time of John
| Adams are kept locked in fire-proof vault
of the House, where they are comparative
| ly safe from fire, and are exposed only to
| the slower consumption of time. Altogeth-
| er there are several hundred volumes. The
| first sixty or seventy of them, covering the
| earlier history of the republic, are of very
| great interest. They are not open to pub
| lie view. and the present opportunity to ex-
anime then. was afforded by their being
brought out of the vaults for the purpose
| of the proposed compilation. 1t was af-
| terward concluded that it would not be con-
| venient nor safe to attempt to set the
| type from the originals and this week they
were again deposited in the vaults, where
they will probably lie for another hundred
years. being disturbed only to add new
| volumes to their number.
Some Very Interesting Documents.
The original manuscript of the declara-
| ton Of the Monroe doctrine" is among
them. The papers and messages relating
to the Aaron Burr expedition; the mes
sages, memorials and correspondence con-
corning annoyance to our commerce which
led to the war Of 1912: the messages and
| correspondence concerning our trouble
with Tripoli. or on every other matter of
| interest brought to the attention of Con-
| gress by our Presidents, are there in the
original manuscripts 1t is a curious col
lection Of old, faded papers, in worm-eaten
| calf bindings, from which history is read
| more Interestingly than from cold type.
The character Of the actors is told in their
writing in way that print cannot dis
close it, and the reader is brought close to
the personality Of the men who have made
history. The character of the writing, the
sort of paper used. the careful OF careless
habits of the writers are there shown.
There is little of that care and uniformity
| in the preparation of the documents which
mark those of the present day. Instead
of the paper of uniform official size, with
proper official heading. and laced to-
gether with silk cord, used for Presidents
messages today. the paper is of various
sizes and qualities. and. in some cases
even scrappy, as authors manuscripts
sometimes appear Most Of the early mes,
| sages have no local date line, having only
the month and year under the signatures
John Adams rather pompously dates his
United States" The others. for the most
part left it to be inferred that the writing
was done at the seat of government.
Jefferson Did Not Care.
The manuscripts of jefferson are pscu.
liarly Indifferent to official formality, and
are even careless in preparation, the die.
ton being the only thing that is not in a
measure slipshod. The d:ction, as all read.
ers of Jefferson know. is direct and force
full. Very ordinary paper. with no headline
and of utterly unofficial sizes, was good
enough for his purposes. The writings are
full of erasures, made with pen and ink
. and not infreQuently new sentences aftel
period are begun with small letter
| w OfQS, phrases, ana even Wn0le sentences
are scratched out with a pen. and the man
!, uscript, with all its imperfections, is sem
en- it's way In some cases the manuscript
r is cut, and in one of the messages concern
| ing Burr'S expedition a statement of six Of
eight lines is corrected by piece of paper
on which it is written differently, being
J pasted with red waters over the part re
, jected after writing.
due to their being burned in the Capitol
But neither Washington nor Adams sent ;
written message to Congress on its first con
vening. They merely delivered addresses
| which were replied to then and there by th
Congress.
The First Message.
The manuscript of Jefferson's apology t
r Congress for departing. for the first time
! from this custom and for sending his frs
e message in writing, illustrates his indiffer
ence as to capitalization.
1t is written on a small, yellow sheet @
:, paper:
December 8, 1901.
. 1.-THE circumstances under which we fin
: ourselves at this place rendering inconveni
: ent the mode heretofore practiced of making
l by personal address the first communication
: between the legislative and the executiv
branches. have adopted that by message
, as used on all subsequent occasions throug
1 the session. in doing this have had prin
cipal regard to the convenience of the legis
;; | lature, to the economy of time to their re
! lief from the embarra ssment of immediat
i answer, on subjects not yet fully befor
them and to the benefit thence resulting t
y the public affairs. trusting that a procednr,
5 founded in these motives, will meet thei
1 appreciation, beg leave through you, Sill
: to communicate the inclosed message wit
the documents accompanying it, to the hon
orable the House of Representatives, an
> pray you to accept, for yourself and 70
them, the homage Of my high respect an
T consideration.
: "(Signed) ''THOS. JEFFERSON.
1.-THE honorable, the Speaker of the Hous
Of Representatives"
From this letter dated the abandonment
f Of the practice of the President addressn
. Congress in person on its first assembling.
President Cleveland's Precedent.
- Probably when Mr.. Cleveland addresse
:. President Dole of Hawaii as his great an
= coed friend,' while contemplating his over
. throw, he had in mind Jefferson's note t