Evening star., 1909-02-28
FIFTY YEARS Ago
IN THE STAR

In luE OlAn
Washingtonians were considerably exer-
| cised, half a century ago, lest the Balti-
more and Ohio railroad,
southern then the only line en-
conna.+;o, tering the city, should
be carried through for a
southern connection by way of a ferry
across the Potomac, in such manner as
to reduce this important terminal to the
position of a way station. In The Star
of February 90, 1859, is an editorial on the
subject:
1--WE are satisfied that it is the aim of
the managers, if possible, to avoid run
ming the through passengers through the
city of Washington, if they can compass
the enactment of their bill now before
the Senate. In that shape 1t authorizes
them to select between tunneling Capitol
Hill aRd running to a depot to be erected
at Buzzard's point. and their own plan of
| running around the city, crossing the
Eastern branch above the navy yard and
locating their depot either on the branch
| or on the Potomac below Washington. If
1t should pass IN that shape, as a matter
of course they will make the selection
most profitable to themselves and that
scheme will not be the one that makes
their depot in our midst. 1t is in the
interest of those who control the policy
of the company to grant as few facilities
and create as few inducements for travel
ers to stop here before reaching Baltimore
as possible. While we should be the
last to advocate the policy of creating
obstructions to the prompt transit of
through travellers we know well that the
interests of our city require that every
facility to accommodate those who would
stop here should be provided for, and
duly secured, in the BILL
President Buchanan's last Ievee Of the
season of 1859 was great success in
point Of attendance. Ac-
Presidents cordins to the account
in The Star of Febru-
ary 23, of that year, it
was a record breaker. The Star said:
Several circumstances combined TO
produce this result-the popularity of the
President and his niece; the great num-
ber of people from the states now So
journing in the city; the anniversary of
Washington's birthday: it being the last
reception of the season; the balmy mild
ness and the starry beauty of the evening,
with the congregated beauty and gal
lantry of the metropolis and the nation.
Not only the public rooms OF the mansion
were crowded, but the private apart
ments, upstairs and down, were thrown
open to the ladies and were inmedi-
ately overdowed with the coming ava
lanche of humanity, while the porti-
Goes were much of the time crowded
with those unable to gain admission. AT
8 o'clock the front door was almost con-
"a
out and coming in. and it was after II
o'clock before the house was cleared. A
good many hats, coats and Shawls
changed owners in the jam and con-
fusion that prevailed, and We saw sew
eral gentlemen reluctantly taking their
departure with their heads tied up in
handkerchiefs.
Just two years before the outbreak of
the civil war the schism In the democratic
party which resulted in
Senator the division into two fac
tions in 1860 and the con-
oousAas' sequent election of Abra-
ham Lincoln was beginning to appear.
Senator Stephen A. Douglas was prepar-
ing to retire from his former political al
legiance. In a speech i'll the Senate Feb
ruary 90, 1859, he gave formal notice
that he would withdraw from the de-
mocracy If it did not accept his doctrine
that territorial legislatures might con-
stitutionally and lawfully legislate to ex-
clude slavery from their soil, and that 1t
was not the right and duty Of Congress to
interfere to protect the constitutional rights
of Shareholders against such territorial
legislation. The Star of February "a con-
tanned report of the deba.e filling nearly
a column, an unusual space then to be
fad m
debate arose upon an amendment offered
by Senator Hale to the legislative ap-
preparation bill repeating the representa-
tive clause of the Kansas act. 1t was
Brown, Douglas. Clay. Davis, Mason.
Pugh. Green, Givin, Hunter, Broderick
and Bigler. This was one of the most
important legislative skirmishes leading
up to the great battle itself. Much Bit
terness was developed, but there was no
talk of a rending of the Union. The
Stars report states that the debate con-
tinued until about midnight, when Mr..
Hale's amendment was defeated, nineteen
to twenty-seven, and the bill was passed.
Washington theatergoers were given a
rare treat fifty years ago, when James
II. Hackett, the great
Hackett'S comedian, appeared for
two nights on the local
Appearance. stage. Mr.. Hackett
had retired at that time but occasionally
he appeared in his famous roles. The
Star of February -. 1859. says:
This eminent actor, who resides upon
one of the most beautiful mounds in the
midst of some thirteen hundred acres of
rolling prairie in Illinois, only a short
distance from st. Louis, is now on
visit to the metropolis, and though of
late years Mr.. Hackett can seldom be
has consented to perform his World-re-
nowned Falstaff In Shakespeare's king
Henry W." on Thursday; and also on
Friday Sir Pertinax Mac Sycophant the
politician) in Macklins Man of the
World and, as an afterpiece, his own
dramatic sketch, entitled Monsieur NAL
let' the exiled general of the great Ma
poleon. the character which Queen Vic
toria, few years ago, when Mr.. Hackett
was sojourning in England, requested him
to play before her at court. The press
ed alternately, and was delighted. and
the prince, her consort, presented Mr..
Hackett the breaStpin which he wore on
the OCCASION OF the comedy, The Man
Of the World Dunlap in his history of
the American stage says:
1T was Macklins chef d'ouvre, and so
excellent was his performance of the
hero that at his death the public despair
ed of ever seeing his equal. But a few
years afterward the great George Fred
erick Cooke appeared before a London
Inns superior. Cooke came over to Amer
lea in 1910 and produced an Immense