Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1912-06-07
AN ELUSIVE GREAT SEAL.

fragile basis on which much so-calleo
history rests, even when the events
involved are too recent to warrant q
presumption of confusion in the minds
of the men most actively concerned.
The question whether Mr.. Taft was
or was not present when the Roosevelt
Cabinet discussed the suspension OF
the prosecution of the Harvester trust
will never be settled to the satisfac-
ton of everybody interested because it
must depend so largely upon the ac-
curacy of unassisted human memoir
les. The historian who gives any
prominence to this episode must there
fore content himself with quotations
from the pleadings on both sides OF
the dispute, and leave his readers to
draw their own conclusions.
Such historical difficulties are sug-
gested also by the newspaper an
nouncment published few days ago
of the discovery of the great seal OF
the Confederate States of America,
the existence of which has been
;hrouded in mystery for nearly half
4 century y It's whereabouts
pledged to secrecy by the most SOL
mn Masonic oath'-just why, we are
not informed. The first thing that
must have struck the careful reader
If this news was the discrepancy be-
tween the several versions printed al
most simultaneously. The seal may
&c old, but it's discovery or recovery IS
too new to afford any reasonable
excuse for the representation in one
account that the United States had
purchased it along with lot of Con-
.ederate documents number of years
,go and in another that it had been
riven to Rear Admiral Selfridge at
hat time as a souvenir, IN one that
he admiral had sold it and in another
hat he had presented it to the people
If Virginia, ETC. The single fact OF
Importance which is left in no wise
Uncertain is that the relic under con-
;ideration has passed into the con-
.rol of three prominent Virginians
Who intend to find home for it in
me of the public institutions OF
Richmond.
What lends picturesque interest to
he announcement Of the discovery IS
hat fact, that at intervals since the
dispersal of the effects of the Confed-
.racy in 1865, there have appeared at
east two other claimants Of the honor
If possessing the great seal. The state
If South Carolina received in 1888, as
/ gift from former citizen, what
ourported to be the genuine article.
The donor, or some one in his behalf,
undertook to rehearse its pedigree,
including a story of how it came into
lis possession directly from the
hands of Colonel John 7. Pickett,
commander of the rear guard OF the
Confederate forces defending Rich
nond, who had found it in the office
If the Confederate Secretary OF State
while the evacuation of the city was
IN progress.
Eleven years later another claim
ant appeared in the person of West
Virginian, a descendant of Colonel Al
eyander Boteler, chairman of the COM
mittee on whom the Confederate Con-
gress imposed the task of procuring
seal for the infant republic. This
Boteler seal, like the one which has
lust started for Richmond, was OF Sill
YER, whereas the South Carolina seal
was described as of baser metal.
But with the lapse of another elev-
en- years there was published under
respectable auspices, circumstantlal
account of the flight of the last rem
manu- OI Tile SOIllSuSie&IS SO' ~
from Richmond toward the Gulf.
Their final council, according to
this narrative, was held in May at Abb
beville, S. c., and that evening Sec'y
BENJAMIN asked for a hatchet, and
with it defaeed the great seal of the
Confederacy.
"About II o'clock the same night,
the writer goes on, "the party con-
tinued their retreat + and while
crossing the Savannah River in the
darkness some one suggested that the
seal be thrown overheard. y When
the boat reached midstream 1t was
dropped with dull splash into the
sandy bed of that beautiful Southern
watercourse, where to this day, Its
mission all fulfilled, it serenely rests.
There may have been other accounts
of the fate of the great seal, but
these will suffice to show how easy ii
is when the possible future Importance
of an object or an event Is not IN any
5ody's thought, for the details to be-