Evening star., 1932-05-01

Commodore Elliott of whose squadron the
Constitution was the flagship, had bcen making
q tour of the Holy Land with his distinguished
passenger, Ambassador Case, and it seems
that the two old tombs had been discovered
by his party. AT any rate they were found in
the hills back of Berout lsboriousy brought
down to the harbor and safely slowed away
in the capacous hold of the Constitution.
When pick up reference to "old
acquaintance" again the squadron was home
ward bound and temporarily at anchor at
Mahon in the Balearic Isles, harbor known
By name at least to practically every Wash
ington school boy or girl Of 80 years ago from
Arthur Coltons poem which starts
Old IronSides at anchor lay,
In the Hdrbor of Mdhon;
A dead calm rested on the bay,
The Ddue to sleep had gone.
Taking advantage of the temporary inaction,
Commodore Elliott wrote an interesting report
of his recent activities to Hon. Mahlon Dicker-
son, Secretary Of the Navy, which reads in
part follows:
No. 81 u S. S. Constitution,
MAHON, November %, 1887.
I also procured while at Bairout, to
convey home, two marble Sarcophagi,
weighing each. about n tons ornamented
with antique devices. They of remote
antiquity and purchased on private account.
To keep up old associations of my native
State. I have presented one to Carlisle
College, Pennsylvania, TO be preserved
among the treasures of that institution; the
other intend for similar disposal.
Your obdt. servant
]. D. ELLIOTT.
Commanding, U. S. N. F..
in the Mediterranean.
Hon. Mahlon Dickerson,
Secretary of the Navy, Washington.
The disposal of the second sarcophagus
seems to have been a matter not 50 easily
settled, and we may imagine the gallant
commodore's dilemma in endeavorng to place
his precious white elephant in some ap-
propriate situation The National Institute in
Washington foremost scientific organization
Of its time, was finally selected and the
SarcophaguS deposited there and placed
on exhibition with other collections in the old
Patent Office, where it was displayed for
many years with a label indicating that it
was tomb of Alexander the Great
The commodore's gift had string tied to it,
however, in the form of stipulation that,
at the proper time. it should be offered to
Andrew Jackson a final repository for his
mortal remains.
In 1845, Jackson, who had retired there
after his second term as President, lay dying
at the Hermitage and the board of
directors Of the National Institute, deeming
that the proper time had arrived offered the
old tomb to him in formal resolutions which
they asked Commodore Elliott to convey to
him with a personal letter. This done
but the idea, with its imperial associations,
repugnant to old Hickory's' simple
republican ideals that he temporarily
reused from his dying lethargy to write the
following characteristic Jacksonian episte
HERMITAGE March 27, 1845.
"CoMMoDoRE J. D. Elliott,
~ United States Navy.
MY Dear Sir: Your letter of the 18th instant
together with the copy Of the proceedings of
the National Institute, furnished by their
corresponding secretary on the presentation by
you Of the sarcophagus for their acceptance, on
condition that it shall be preserved and in
honor of my memory, have been received and
now before me.
Although laboring under great debility and
aff1iction, from severe attack, from which I
may not recover, raise my pen, and endeavor
to reply. The steadiness Of my nerves may
perhaps lead you to conclude my prostration
Of strength is not as great as here expressed;
strange as it may appear, my nerves are as
steady as they were 40 years gone by whilst
from debility and af1iction gasping for
breath
/ have read the whole proceedings of the
presentation by you Of the sarcophagus, and