Washington, its sights and insights [1903]

by Harriet Earhart Monroe

STATE DEPARTMENT

In the department of the Secretary of State one sees the portraits of all the great men who have occupied the position of Secretary of State from the time of Washington down to the present occupant. Most people would be interested in the Huntington portraits of Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, and in a copy of Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of Washington. In the State Department the most interesting are the portraits of Thomas Jefferson, 1789, Washington’s first term; Daniel Webster, 1841 and 1850; William H. Seward, 1861 and 1865; Elihu B. Washburne, 1869; Hamilton Fish, 1869; William M. Evarts, 1877; James G. Blaine, 1881 and 1889; and F. T. Frelinghuysen, 1881. A portrait of Lord Ashburton recalls the “Ashburton Treaty” of 1842, which defined the boundaries between the United States and the British Possessions in North America, and provided for the suppression of the slave-trade.

In the State Department are some of the most precious archives of the nation. Here can be found the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution with the original signatures. Here can be seen the handwriting of most of the rulers of the world during the last hundred years affixed to treaties. One of the most unique of these is a treaty with Japan. The clear Japanese characters cover many pages, the royal signature is at the top, and you read from the bottom. The treaty was brought to Washington by two Japanese officials of high rank, who were charged with its safe delivery on penalty of their lives. One day they triumphantly entered the State Department bearing aloft on two bamboo poles a curiously constructed box, in which was the precious document. They were greatly relieved when they saw it safely deposited with the Secretary of State.

Here are the papers of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson; here are all the flags taken in all the wars in which the United States have engaged.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

The diplomatic rooms are of great beauty. Here Mr. Hay receives foreign ministers, consuls, and special messengers from foreign lands. Here at almost any time can be seen members of some of the thirty-five foreign embassies and legations. Many of these legations own and maintain handsome residences. A statement prepared by District Assessor Darneille shows that foreign governments own over $500,000 worth of real property in the District of Columbia, the estimated value of the land being $330,776, and the improvements $284,500. The French and Chinese governments have recently purchased valuable tracts of land, and will erect magnificent legation buildings which will increase the value of property held by foreign governments to nearly $1,000,000.

Probably the most characteristic feature of both political and social life in Washington is afforded by the presence of these legations. The members are more conspicuous here than at any other national capital in the world, except, possibly, Peking. Not to speak of Asiatic costumes and customs, European manners and morals, if we except those of England and Germany, which are much the same as our own, contrast most decidedly with their American correspondents. Most of the men are pure pagans—cynics and materialists. They look upon a profession of Christianity at its best as a mark of intellectual weakness, and at its worst of hypocrisy. Their own faces, however, do not indicate that they are exceptionally broad-minded or good and sincere men.

I have seen them in public receptions stand on one side and chatter in French, Spanish, or Italian, poking all sorts of fun at the hostess and her entertainment, and then, as she approached, rush to greet her with a mock homage which made my flesh creep. I have heard them declare that “all Americans are cads,” and the next instant prove the less sweeping proposition that “all cads are not Americans” by fulsome compliments to a distinguished Justice or Senator.

They, however, dispense a generous hospitality, and society, which has learned to estimate them by their own cynical standards, and is neither elated by their smiles nor annihilated by their snubs, cultivates them as best suits its own purpose.

The United States supports abroad thirty-eight embassies and legations, consisting of ministers, secretaries, and attachés, besides about one thousand consuls.

The Congressional Directory gives the personal history of Secretary Hay as follows:

John Hay, of the District of Columbia, Secretary of State (800 Sixteenth Street, Northwest), was born in Salem, Ind., October 8, 1838; graduated at Brown University in 1858, and studied law in Springfield, Ill.; was admitted to practise before the Supreme Court of Illinois in 1861, but immediately came to Washington as Assistant Secretary to President Lincoln, remaining with him until his death; acted also as his Adjutant and Aide-de-Camp, and served under Generals Hunter and Gillmore, and was brevetted Colonel; was appointed Secretary of Legation to France, March 22, 1865; retired March 18, 1867; appointed Secretary of Legation to Austria-Hungary, May 20, 1867, where he acted as chargé d’affaires until August 12, 1868; appointed Secretary of Legation to Spain June 28, 1869; retired October 1, 1870; then became an editorial writer on the New York Tribune, remaining five years, during seven months of which he was editor-in-chief; removed to Cleveland in 1875, and took an active part in the Presidential canvasses of 1876, 1880, and 1884; was appointed Assistant Secretary of State November 1, 1879; retired May 3, 1881; in that year he represented the United States at the International Sanitary Congress in Washington, of which he was president; was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Great Britain March 19, 1897; retired September 19, 1898; appointed Secretary of State September 20, 1898.