DIPLOMATES, DISMISSION OF. 



DISASTERS IN 1888. 



2G9 



of the British minister, Mr. Hammond, remon- 

 strating against the capture of British v. 

 by ships fitted out from United States ports 

 under the authority of this new envoy. So 

 outrageous became the actions of Mr. Genet, 

 and so offensive was his mode of treating the 

 Government, that he speedily forfeited the 

 friendship of Mr. Jefferson, and fell in the 

 popular esteem faster than he had ever risen, 

 and ultimately was deposed in disgrace at the 

 request of President Washington. He had, 

 however, in the mean time married a daughter 

 of Governor Clinton, of New York, and he re- 

 mained here some years after being deposed 

 from his place as minister. 



In Jefferson's administration there was a 

 good deal of trouble with a Spanish minister, 

 Mr. Carlos de Yruga. For some interference, 

 the President requested his recall, and the 

 Spanish Government promptly recalled him 

 and sent another minister to take his place. 

 But he. too, had married an American woman, 

 Miss McKean, of Philadelphia, and as a de- 

 posed minister he remained, rendering himself, 

 however, so obnoxious to the Government that 

 President Jefferson requested him to leave the 

 country. He replied that he received instruc- 

 tions from his King, and not from the Presi- 

 dent. John Quincy Adams, then in Congress, 

 introduced a bill empowering the President to 

 convey out of the country any minister who 

 remained after his recall and after reasonable 

 notice to leave. This action of Congress was 

 reported to the Spanish Government, and re- 

 sulted in a peremptory demand for him to re- 

 turn, which he reluctantly obeyed. 



Mr. Madison's administration was not free 

 from like trouble. The English minister. Mr. 

 Jackson, representing George III, rendered 

 himself so objectionable by outrageous inter- 

 ference in our affairs that his recall was de- 

 manded after a very brief stay. 



The nest dismissed minister was Nicholas 

 Poussin, who represented France. His offense 

 was an insolent criticism of an action taken by 

 the Department of State on some French claim 

 while Gen. Taylor was President and John 

 M. Clayton Secretary of State. His dismissal 

 was very summary. His passports were sent 

 to him in reply to his insolent communication 

 to the Department of State. 



Sir John F. Crampton was the next minister 

 dismissed. He had for some years most ac- 

 ceptably represented England at "Washington, 

 but, as he broke the provisions of interna- 

 tional law by recruiting here for the British 

 army during the Crimean War, his recall was 

 requeued. 



Then came the Catacazy sensation. He suc- 

 ceeded Mr. Stockl as Minister from Russia. 

 He brought with him his wife, and her beauty 

 rendered her so conspicuous that unpleasant 

 memories were awakened of her previous resi- 

 dence in and about Washington before she had 

 become Madame Catacazy, and Mrs. Fish, wife 

 of the Secretary of State, refused to receive 



her. The minister's position was not agreeable, 

 and, as he was very far from being an agree- 

 able person, he soon got into trouble, and 

 eventually the minister arid his surroundings 

 became so objectionable that President Grant 

 requested his recall. 



The latest diplomate in difficulty was Lord 

 Sackville West, the British minister. Up to 

 the date of his blunder he had been one of the 

 most popular of foreign ministers. About the 

 end of October, 1888, he received a letter from 

 one Charles F. Murchison, who represented 

 himself as a naturalized citizen of English birth, 

 and asked advice as to the party for which he 

 should vote. The British Minister replied to 

 this letter, and advised his correspondent to 

 vote for Grover Cleveland and the Democratic 

 party, as favorable to England. This letter of 

 Murchison's was generally conceded to be a 

 trap set to embarrass the British Minister, 

 whose recall was at once requested. The re- 

 quest not being promptly complied with, the 

 Department of State, on the 30th of October, 

 sent Lord Sackville his passports. The inci- 

 dent, happening during a presidential canvass, 

 created much excitement. 



DISASTERS IX 1888. Trustworthy records of 

 disasters are always difficult of access. First re- 

 ports almost invariably place the losses, wheth- 

 er of life or property, at a higher figure than the 

 facts justify ; and the final authentic reports 

 are published, if at all, only in local journals 

 or in court records, where they are practically 

 inaccessible for general reference. The follow- 

 ing list is necessarily taken from many differ- 

 ent, and often contradictory sources of infor- 

 mation. As a rule, no accidents are noted 

 that involve the loss of fewer than three lives. 

 A vast majority of the accidental deaths that 

 occur take place by ones and twos, and are so 

 numerous that space can not be spared to re- 

 cord them. In most cases, it has been possible 

 to give a trustworthy monthly summary of the 

 deaths and injuries caused by railroad acci- 

 dents, the records of these being more fully 

 collated and compared than any other class of 

 accidents. 



January 4. Fire : 8200,000 worth of property de- 

 stroyed m Los Angeles, Cal. 



5.' Railway : broken trestle on the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway, 8 tilled. Fire: storehouse in United States 

 Navy-Yard, Brooklyn, loss ? 200,000. Railway : land- 

 slide near Egrgleston Springs, Va., train derailed, 3 

 killed, 1 injured. 



7. Fire: in Chicago, 111. , loss 500^000. Heavy loss- 

 es also in Louisa Court-House. W. Va. 



9. Railway : collision near Ed-on, Wyoming, 2 

 killed. 10 injured. 



10. Railway : broken wheel near Haverhill, Mass.. 

 9 killed, 13 injured (5 fatally). 



11. Earthquake shocks in Canada. 



12. Earthquakes in South Carolina and Georgia. 

 Blizzard in Dakota, many lives lost. Fire : exhibi- 

 tion building in Columbus, Ohio, 300 valuable dogs 

 killed. Panic in a town in the Tyrol, 8 lives lost. 



13. Fire in Indianapolis, loss $1,000,000 (estimated). 

 Blizzard in the Northwest, many lives lost by ex- 

 posure. 



14. Fire : railway buildings burned at Fort Worth, 

 Tex., loss, $100,000. 



