davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-21
l Occupied Treasury
l eo RqulrW eeAt vemD Wen

Virginia terrapins. Maryland crabs, Del
aware canvasback ducks and South Car
DINA ricebrds we're cooked by Monica
and served in style that made the
banker diplomat admit their superiority
to the potages, sauces, entremets, ra-
gouts and desserts of his Partisan white
capped manipulation of caSSerOles."
Eating was not all that was done at
these dinners, and by August, 1912, the
famous treaty of Washington was con-
cluded, by which the frontier line be-
tween the State of Maine and Canada
was definitely agreed to. BY this treaty
seven-twelfths of the disputed ground
and the British settlement of NADIA
waska we're given to the United States
and only five-twelfths of the ground to
Great Britain. But it obtained for the
latter better military frontier and in
cluded certain heights commanding the
st. Lawrence. Provision also was in
Guided having for its purpose the put
ting of an end to the African slave
trade and for the mutual extradition of
suspected criminals.
The old State Department Building
has been gone these many years, but,
thanks to Daniel Webster and Lord
AShburton and to those diplomats who
have followed them, the friendship of
the two great countries remains with
us today.
Another one Of the more important
treaties signed in the old State Depart
ment was the one concluded there on
June Is, 1916, whereby oregon was
given to the United States. OF course
| it was again case of give and take,
and America wisely made concessions
along with Great Britain. However,
war was averted, and incidentally Uncle
Sam secured clean title to an area
nearly equal to six States the size of
New York. Oregon was made a Terri
tory in 1848, but later it was divided
into the States of Oregon and Washing
ton and portion was given to Idaho.
1t was during the heights of this bound
airy dispute that the presidential cam
paign of 1874 took place and in which
| James K. Polk was elected. One of the
| planks in the Democratic platform even
went so far as to declare that "our title
to the whole of the territory of Oregon
| IS clear and unquestionable" as far
north as the parallel of 54' 40', and this
brought about the slogan much used at
that time, "Fifty-four forty or fight!"
xx X X
MANY Of the greatest statesmen OF
our country held the portfolio Of
state while the State Department was
at its old location north of the Treas
ury Building. John Quincy Adams was
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-21
y Making Seen in Tales of Old State Department Home

the first Secretary of State to occupy
this building. Then in order came
Henry Clay Martin Van Buren,, Ed
ward Livingston, Louis McLane, John
Forsyth, Daniel Webster, Hugh S. Le-
care, Abel P. Upshur. John c. Calhoun,
James Buchanan. John M. Clayton, Ed
ward Everett, William l.. Marcy. Lewis
CaSS, jeremiah S. Black and William
II. Seward. OF these, John Quincy Ad-
ans. Martin Van Buren, and James Bu-
chansn later became President, each.
however. serving only one term, John
Quincy Adams being chosen by the
House of Representatives in accordance
y'ith Article H. section /, of the Con-
tuition. Clay. Webster and Cass were
candidates for the presidency but failed
TO be elected.
Webster again sought the Wing noni-
nation at the Baltimore convention in
1852, but there. on the first ballot, the
vote stood: Fillmore, 1873; Scott, 1871;
Webster, 90: necessary for choice, l47
Wooster was keenly disappointed but
bore his disappointment like man.
To his son he wrote:
II confess grow inclined to cross the
seas. I meet here so many causes OF
vexation and humiliation, growing out
of the events connected with the con-
vention, that I am pretty much decided
and determined to leave the department
early in August and either go abroad
or go into obscurity."
During the campaign he was besieged
with requests to give aid to Gen. Scott,
the party candidate. Few of these re-
ceived reply, but to one he wrote as
follows:
"Marshfeld, October IL, 1879.
Gentlemen: received only yesterday
| your communication of the oath of Sep
| TENDER. and among great number of
similar letters it is the only one an
| SWer If l were to do Whist you
suggest 1t would crafty not only you
and your friends, but that great body
of implacable enemies who have pre-
| vented me from being elected President
of the United States. You all know
! this, and now how can be called upon
to perform any act of humiliation for
their qualification or the promotion OF
their purposes?
But, gentlemen, I do not act from
personal feeling 1t is with me mat
| ter of principle and character, and I
| have now to state to you that no earthly
| consideration could induce me to say
anything or do anything from which it
might be inferred, directly or indirectly,
| that concur in the Baltimore nomina-
| ton, or that should give it in any way
the sanction of my appreciation. If I
were to do such act I should feel my
cheeks already scofched with shame by
the reproaches of posterity."
Webster's decisive defeat at Balti
more undoubtedly had much to do in
Fastening his death, for from that day
he broke rapidly and died on october
"a, 1852, at Marshfield, where he is
buried. Of all his contemporaries Web
ster undoubtedly created the most en-
| during work.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-21

reasonable when we consider that the
trainers of the treaty were trying to de-
fine a boundary of nearly 1000 miles
in extent without definite knowledge
and without reliable maps before them.
AS an illustration, there had been st.
Croix River in Champlain's time and a
st. Croix had been depicted on the
MAPS but no river by that name existed
in 1888. The British identified it with
Magaguadavic. This particular conten-
ton was arbitrated in 1893, in the up
holding of the British stand that the
Schoodic was the St. CroiX, but agreed
with the United States as to which of
the two branches of the Schoodic should
be followed.
Again, in 1917, a commission was
formed to settle the dispute as to the
ownership of the Passamaquoddy Bay.
A more serious difficulty developed in
determining the boundary westward
from the st. CroiX to the st. Lawrence.
Diplomacy seemed of no avail, and even
the award of the King of the Neither
lands, made in 1881, was not acceptable
to the United States. Ultimately the
situation became critical, resulting in
OkIC 6lOOotOOh WdA III 4Oco-oOs HAACAA VAAS
Legislatures Of Maine and New Bruins
wick upheld their rival lumberjackS in
obtaining by force all that the two
countries involved claimed.
The time arrived in 1912 when the
matter had to be settled. Daniel y -
ster was then Secretary of State in the
cabinet of President John Tyler, having
remained there solely for the purpose of
conducting negotiations regarding this
veXing matter, and of all the statesmen
of his time, and even before or after,
none better could have been selected
for this great work than he.
At this period Webster was residing
in magnificent dwelling, still quite ia
miliar to many, which then occupied
the site of the massive building of the
Chamber of Commerce of the United
States, at II street and Connect
cut avenue. This dwelling had been
erected about 1925 by Thomas Swami
who served as United States district
attorney for the District of Columbia
from 1921 to 1888. Later it became the
home of the French Minister, Marquis
de Montholon, and subsequently was
purchased and enlarged by w. w. Cor
coran, prominent banker and philan-
thropist.
WHEN Alexander Barring, the first
w Baron Ashburton, was selected by
Great Britain to carry on negotiations
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-21
New Discoveries Made Volcanic Area Off Alaskan Peninsula

whole solid, but composed of mixed ma
terials some of which melt more easily
than Others. The latter are believed to
form tongues of melted matter which
work their ways outward owing to
greater pressure below, and to sort of
kneading process brought about by tidal
strains. This theory assumes that these
rising tongues of molten rock merge into
considerable reservoirs and feed vol
canoes.
Whatever may be the details of the
causes leading to volcanoes, it is force
that has been of the greatest Importance
in building the part Of the earth that
man makes use of. The spectacular
phases of volcanoes are most familiar
the smoking cones of VeSuviuS and
Etna and Stromboli, the tremendous ex-
plovice eruptions of Kraratoa, Katmai,
Mount Pelee, and the Japanese VOL
canoes. But more important in earth
building have been the huge and rela-
lively gentle flows of lava through long
cracks in the earth. Such a flow in
North America ages ago covered approx
imately 100000 square miles of the
present States of Idaho, Oregon and
Washington. A similar outpouring in
another epoch covered nearly a quar-
ter of India. In South Africa, such
flows, congealing one on top of another
have built up huge beds of basalt more
than a mile thick.
Explosive volcanic eruptions, sort
upon which there is a temptation to
look as typical, are really rather eXcep-
tional. The normal procedure is for
lava to flow out quietly as 1t usually
does from the great Hawaiian crater
of Mauna Loa, or even TO bubble away
discharging gases as boiling pot gives
off it's steam. This is the usual pro-
cedure at Kilauea. the other great ac-
tive Hawaiian volcano. Explosive erup-
tons occur when gases become entrap-
ped below the surface or when steam is
formed by rising lava coming into con-
tact with water-laden stone. 1t IS then
that huge 'cauliflower' clouds are
formed. consisting not of smoke as
they appear to, but of dust, ash, stone
fragments and steam. Such. an explo-
sion may blow away a large part of
volcanic cone or even all of it as at
Krakatoa in the East Indies in 1888.
1t is estimated that this greatest of
volcanic explosions of modern times
blew ash 20 miles or more above the
earth. This finely divided material
spread all around the earth in the
tropics and by screening the suns
rays is believed to have noticeably re-
duced the temperature throughout much
of the world for many months.
X X
THE Pacific is notably the ocean of
volcanoes. While vents of recent
activity are absent from the shores of
the Atlantic, save In Iceland and the
Azores, the Pacific Is almost encircled !
by volcanoes from the southern tip Of
South America, northward through |
Central America, Mexico and Alaska
and then down the Asiatic Coast and
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-21

uary IA, 1884, and proclaimed the same
date. This article reads as follows:
"And that all disputes which might
arise in future on the subject of the
boundaries of the said United States
may be prevented, it is hereby agreed
and declared that the following are. and
shall be, their boundaries, viz: From
the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, viz,
that angle which is formed by a line
drawn due north from the source of
ST. Croix River to the highlands; along
the said highlands which divide those
rivers that emptN themselves into the
River st. Lawrence from those which fall
into the Atlantic Ocean, to the north
westernmoSt head of Connecticut River;
thence down along the middle of that
river to the forty-fifth degree of North
Latitude; from thence, by a line due
west on said latitude until it strikes the
River Iroquois or Cataraquy; thence
along the middle of said river into Lake
Ontario, through the middle of said
lake until it strikes the communication
by water between that lake and Lake
Erie; thence along the middle of said
communication into Lake Erie, through
the middle of said like until it arrives
at the water communication between
that lake and Lake Huron; thence along
into the Lake Huron; thence through
the middle of said lake to the water
communication between that lake and
Lake Superior; thence through Lake
Superior northward of the Isles Royal
and PhelipeauX to the Long Lake;
thence through the middle of said Long
Lake, and the water communication
between it and the Lake of the Woods,
to the said Lake of the Woods; thence
through the said lake to the most
northwestern point thereof, and from
thence on a due west course to the
River Mississippi: thence by line to
be drawn along the middle of the said
River Mississippi until it shall interSect
the northernmoSt part of the thirty-f1rSt
degree of North Latitude. South, by
line to be drawn due east from the de-
termination of the line last mentioned
in the latitude of thirty-one degrees
north of the Equator. to the middle of
the River Apalachicola or Catahouche;
thence along the middle thereof to its
junction with the Flint River; thence
straight to the head of st. Marys River,
and thence down along the middle of
st. Marys River to the Atlantic Ocean.
East, by a line to be drawn along the
middle of the River st. Croix, from
its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its
source, and from its source directly
north to the aforesaid highlands which
divide the rivers that fall into the At
lantic Ocean from those which fall into
the River st. Lawrence; comprehending
all islands within 20 leagues of any
part Of the shores of the United States
and lying between lines to be drawn due
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-21

in the name Of the government of her
majesty Victoria I he wrote to Mr..
Webster, asking him to rent suitable
house for the accommodation Of HIM
self and suite. 1t was quite agreeable
for Webster to be of service TO Lord
Ashburton, since his appointment proved
quite gratifying to the great MaSsachu-
sets statesman, he having become per-
sonally acquainted with the baron when
he visited England in 1889. There
fore, Mr.. Webster rented the residence
1925, H street northwest, erected by
Mathew st. Clair Clarke, clerk of the
HOUSE of Representatives from 1922
to 1884. At the time of its erection it
is said to have been quite the largest
structure of the kind attempted in the
city. However, through financial
troubles, Mr.. Clarke was unable to
finish the house and it was left standing
for some time in an unfinished state.
The rent fixed upon by the owner
was $4,000 for 10 months, with an adj
ditional 81 1000 for any damage which
might be done, and here the British
envoy lived during the negotiations. The
following year it was occupied by John
Nelson, the Attorney General and later
by the Right Hon. Richard Pakenham,
Minister of Great Britain, 1886. 1t is
large double house succeed and painted
to resemble brownstone. 1t stands just
east of st. Johns Church and is still
apparently in good condition.
In the two residences mentioned and
in the Dolly Madison house, now the
Cosmos Club, at the southeast corner
of Fl street and Madison place, details
of the treaty were gone over and dis
cussed by Mr.. Webster and Lord Ash
burton in an amicable way.
In describing the British envoy, Ben:
Perley Poore says: Lord Ashburton
was about feet 10 inches in height and
was heavily built, as Mr.. Webster was.
He had large head, high forehead.
dark eyes with heavy eyebrows, and
clear, red-and-white complexion" He
was then 68 years of age, having been
born in London, october 81, 1774. He
is recorded as having been an English
f1nancier and statesman. For many
years he was commercially engaged in
the United States and Canada in the
service of the great London mercantile
house founded by his father.
Upon one occasion, when he visited
Philadelphia in 1898 as the representa-
tive of his fathers banking house, he
received an introduction to United
States Senator William Bingham, who
lived in that city in great style. Through
the Senator he became acquainted with
his eldest daughter Anne Louisa, then
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-21

through the Philippines and New
Guinea to New Zealand. Among the
islands of the Central Pacific, too. there
are many active vents.
Another important volcanic zone
extends through the Mediterranean re-
gion and the Caucasus, and into the
Himalayas. 1t has even been sug-
gested that this is world-circling east
and west zone of volcanoes, passing
westward through the Azores and the
West Indies, crossing the Pacific zone
in Central America and extending west
ward across the Pacific Ocean.
"One of the noticeable features IN
regard to the active volcanic regions
when map is studied is the striking
way in which they are arranged in a
series OF 'scallops' or 'feStoons.' The
effect is seen most plainly III the VOL
canic chain of the Aleutian Islands that
curves across the mouth of the Bering
Sea.
"Other festoons of volcanoes are
almost as marked. One curves frola
the tip of Kamchatka to the northern
end of the main Japanese islands. The
latter and Ryu Kyu Islands to the
south form two more we'll defined fes-
toonS with their bulges toward the Pa
cific. Sumatra and Java form still
another with the bulge toward TIE
Indian Ocean.
"On the other side of the Pacific, the
mountains along the west coast of the
United States, Mexico and Central
America form one of the most extensive
of the curves. On the west coast of
South America the characteristic curve
is repeated. Even in the HimalayaS,
fairly well inland a curved form to-
ward the nearest ocean is noticeable.
THE probable significance of this
tendency of volcanoes to occur along
'festooned' mountain chains has given
rise to much speculation, and it finally
produced one of the boldest of geo.
logical theories. that of moving CONT
nents. 1t is pointed out that If the
land around the Pacific Ocean, for
example. all tended to flow or slide
toward that basin, the movement could
be expected to result in the building Of
mountains by crumpling of the earth
along the seward side Of the land
Mountains of about the same geological
age-relatively young nountains-do
exist all around that ocean in contrast
to the situation around the Atlantic,
Indian and Arctic Oceans from which
the land is assumed to have moved.
1T is further pointed out that If the
creeping land masses encountered re-
sistance at certain points the movement
would be greatest between such points
and that bulges or rounded tongues
would be formed as is the case when
pitch flows down gentle but rough
grade.
Finally, under this theory, it Is ex-
planned that the advancing land masses,
blowing thier way and crushing into
existing rocks, would tend to produce
fractures along the edges Of the tongues,
and that volcanoes could be expected
to occur there" .-...-..-..
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-21
BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR.

THERE are still living numerous
people. who remember the old
brick State Department Build
ing which for many years occu-
pied a part of the site now COW
cred by the north wing of the Treasury
Department Building at Fifteenth street
and PENNSYLVANIA avenue, facing north.
It was quite likely built in 1920, for in
that year the State Department took
UP its quarters there, and continued to
occupy the building until 1866, when
the department moved for brief period
to the southwest corner of Thirteenth
street and Pennsylvania avenue north
west, which building later became the
Census Office, and now forms part
OF the site of the Southern Railway
Building, which will soon be turned
over to the Government, the United
States having recently acquired 1t
through purchase.
Evidently those quarters were not
satisfactory, for in October of the same
year the Government leased the new
building erected for the Washington
City Orphan Asylum, at Fourteenth and
S streets, and took immediate possess
sion. In November, 1866, the old State
Department was removed and conStruc-
ton of the north wing. of the Treasury
begun in April of the following year.
1t was sufficiently completed in 1869
to warrant holding there Gen. Grants
inaugural ball.
The site of this old State Department
Building is very interesting one, for
here much American history was made.
Indeed. the KiwaniS Club, in co-opera-
ton with the permanent committee on
marking points of historic interest. is
now planning to mark this site with a
bronze tablet, setting forth some of the
great events which have taken place in
the old building. Undoubtedly all the
treaties with foreign governments from
1920 to 1866 were signed here. amount
ing in all to about 202, with IS separate
countries.
One of the most important of the
ttreaties signed here is the one officially
known as the Treaty of Washington,
but more popularity known as the Ash
burton Treaty, or the Ashburton- Web
'Ster Treaty, because the negotiations
were conducted by Lord Ashburton on
behalf of Great Britain and by Daniel
Webster for the United States Govern
ment.
The controversy was one of many
years standing and involved the boun-
Diary line between the State of Maine
and Canada. Like the determining of
the conditions of so many documents,
the solution depends entirely upon the
Interpretation put upon the phraseol-
ogy used. And so it was with this
dispute. Great Britain drew one con-
clusion and our country quite another.
X X X
THE whole controversy originated in
- the wording of the second article
OF the, treaty of peace between the
United States and Great Britain fol-
Glowing the Revolutionary War, and
which was concluded at Paris Septem-
per 8. 1888; ratified by Congress jan
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-21

only 16 years of age and a divorce. OF
her Mr.. Poore has this to say: She had
just been persuaded by the Count de
Tilly, profligate French nobleman,
to elope with him. They were married,
but the count soon intimated that he
did not care for the girl if he could not
obtain some of her prospective fortune.
He finally accepted 5000 pounds in
cash and an annuity of 600 pounds and
left for France. divorce was OBJ
tanned and Senator Bingham was well
pleased soon afterward when young
Mr.. Barring wooed and won his daugh-
ter"
X X
WHILE the treaty was in the making
both Lord Ashburton and Mr..
Webster gave frequent dinner parties, to
which distinguished members of Con-
gress were invited as guests. Here, 1t Is
said, Lord Ashburton offered his guests
the cream of culinary perfection and
the gastronomic art, with the rarest
wines, while at Mr.. Webster's table
American delicacies were served in
American style. Maine salmon, Massa-
chusetts mackerel, New Jersey oysters,
Florida shad, Kentucky beef, West Vir-
ginia mutton, Illinois prairie chickens,