the Blackburnian, the Kentucky, the Maryland yellowthroat, and all the other warblers in their directory. Mr. Burroughs in 1868, to make himself a saint with the Audubon Society, wrote of this bird association and at the same time to make himself a prophet wrote:

"There is, perhaps, not another city in the Union that has on its very threshold so much natural beauty and grandeur, such as men seek for in remote forests and mountains. A few touches of art would convert this whole region, extending from Georgetown to what is known as Crystal Springs, 16 not more than two miles from the present State Department, into a park unequaled for anything in the world. There are passages between these two points as wild and savage, and apparently as remote from civilization, as anything one meets with in the mountain sources of the Hudson or the Delaware."

Captain Carbery died May 23, 1863.

The National Intelligencer, May 25, has:

"Thomas Carbery, Esq., one of the oldest and most respected citizens of Washington, died at his residence on Seventeenth street, on Saturday evening, last. Capt. Carbery was at the time of his death President of the Bank of the Metropolis. He was in the seventy-fourth year of his age. His funeral will take place from St. Patrick's Church, F street, on Tuesday morning, the 26th instant, at 10 o'clock, A. M. Requiem Mass will be celebrated."

The funeral service of Mr. Carbery was conducted by the Rev. Father Walter. The pallbearers were Hugh B. Sweeny, William B. Todd, Nicholas Callan, Philip R. Fendall, John Carroll Brent, William Flaherty, Lewis Johnson and Dr. William Jones. The attendance was large and without distinctive religious leaning. Of it were the members of the Boards of Aldermen and Common Council, His Honor Richard Wallach, the Mayor,

16 Crystal Springs, 3 miles from the city on the Piney Branch Road. H. F. Turner & Co., Proprietors. Adv. The Evening Star, 1863.

and Mr. William Dixon, the Collector of Taxes. And of it were the children of the St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum, of which he had been a liberal patron. On the casket was a cross of japonicas-flower emblem of his character, excellence; emblem of his devotion, Christianity. The interment was at St. Patrick's Cemetery. That cemetery has been erased. Thomas Carbery, he rests in peace at Mount Olivet.

"BOARD OF ALDERMEN, Monday 25, 1863.

"The Chair also laid before the Board a communication from the Mayor in relation to the death of ex-Mayor Thomas Carbery; which was ordered to be published with the proceedings of the Board. It is as follows:

"MAYOR'S OFFICE, May 25, 1863. “TO THE BOARD OF ALDERMAN AND BOARD OF COMMON COUNCIL: "Gentlemen: It is my melancholy duty to inform you of the demise of Ex-Mayor Thomas Carbery, which occurred in the seventy-fourth year of his age, at his late residence in this city, on Saturday, the 23d instant, and suggest such public tribute to his memory as may be proper for his long, able, and faithful services to his country in the war of 1812 as captain in the regular army, and to this city as a member of its Councils and Chief Magistrate from 1822 to 1824.

"Though none had the good fortune to be associated with him in his administration of our city's affairs, many of us had the pleasure of an intimate personal intercourse-all the opportunity of forming an estimate of his character, public and private; and I am confident no one will more deeply deplore the loss to our community than yourselves.

"I shall be ready to unite with you in any sentiments of respect appropriate to the occasion.

"Very respectfully,

RICHARD WALLACH, Mayor."

Mr. Pepper, in connection with the same subject, introduced joint resolutions in relation to the death of

ex-Mayor Thomas Carbery, which were read three times and passed.

The estate is estimated to have been two hundred thousand dollars. He gave $2,500 to each of his sisters, Ruth and Catherine, and the family residence. He made several minor charitable bequests. Of the balance of his estate he created a Charity Fund. He says: "This Charity Fund will be very large" and directs his executors to invest and dispose of for the benefit of the Saint Vincent's Orphan Asylum. The heirs thought that either charity begins nearer home or the beneficiary already enjoyed sufficiently his donations and they promptly instituted an Equity Cause (No. 37) for annulment. The Asylum promptly proposed an acceptable compromise. It took $15,000.

The Mayors of Washington, Carbery and the others, appear large men with small affairs. They with the means at hand were laying the foundations of a structure of world-wide admiration.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF GEORGE WASHING-
TON UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D. C.-
FORMERLY KNOWN AS COLUMBIAN
UNIVERSITY AND COLUMBIAN COL-
LEGE, ACCOMPANIED BY A
SKETCH OF THE LIVES OF
THE PRESIDENTS.

BY REAR ADMIRAL CHARLES HERBERT STOCKTON.

(Read before the Society, April 20, 1915.)

The legislative acts concerned with the establishment of the seat of government of the District of Columbia consisted of the Act of the General Assembly of Maryland of December 22, 1788, and the Act of the General Assembly of Virginia of December 3, 1789, and the Act of the Congress of the United States of July 16, 1791, accepting grants of territory conveyed in the two acts of the General Assemblies of Maryland and Virginia just referred to.

Before the final acceptance by Congress of the grants of the two states of Maryland and Virginia and the final determination as to the seat of the general government, President Washington addressed Congress in 1790 in a message treating of the subject of a system of national education. Washington was impressed especially with the fact that the resort for higher education, as collegiate education was then called, to the English universities no longer met the needs of the new nation, and its democratic principles and society.

In his message he said:

"Whether this desirable object would be best promoted by offering aid to seminaries of learning already established, by

the institution of a national university, or by any other expedients, will be well worthy of a place in the deliberations of the legislature."

The Commissioners of the District of Columbia on February 18, 1795, informed Washington in answer to his offer of a gift for a national university in his life time (which was similar to what he eventually left in his will), that subject to his approval they had chosen a site in the District for a national university. I might mention here that the par value of the fifty shares of the Potomac Company offered by Washington as a gift for this purpose were valued then at $22,200. The site referred to which met with Washington's approval was the one bounded by 23d and 25th Streets and E Street, N.W., the Potomac at that time forming the southern boundary. In after years this site was occupied by the Naval Observatory Buildings, and is now occupied by the Naval Medical School and its hospital and residences near by. This site had in the earliest days of the District been proposed as a site for a fort and barracks and used as a camp for troops afterwards and was known first as Peter's Hill after the well-known and still existing family of Peter of Georgetown and the District, and afterwards as Camp Hill. By the filling up of the flats of the Potomac its boundary has been extended to B Street and it now borders the Potomac Park and Speedway.

At a later date, near the close of his second term, Washington, more than ever convinced of the desirability of a national university as a means of higher education, made his last appeal to Congress, in which he said:

"Its desirableness has so constantly increased with every new view that I have taken of the subject, that I cannot omit the opportunity of, once for all, recalling your attention to it."