270 DONELSON, ANDREW J. 



EARTHQUAKES. 



which Captain Papineau wheeled his com- 

 pany out of line, declaring he would not coun- 

 tenance such insult. When reported, instead 

 of reprimanding the captain for insubordina- 

 tion, the Governor commended him for his 

 humane consideration. 



DONELSON, ANDREW JACKSON, LL. D., an 

 American politician, editor, and diplomatist, 

 born near Nashville, Tenn., August 25, 1800 ; 

 died in Memphis, Tenn., June 2G, 1871. He 

 completed his studies at Nashyille College, and 

 in 1817 was appointed a cadet at the United 

 States Military Academy. Pie graduated sec- 

 ond in his class in 1820, and received a com- 

 mission as brevet second-lieutenant in the 

 corps of engineers. Soon after, he was ap- 

 pointed aide-de-camp to General Jackson, and 

 went with him to Florida. Having resigned 

 his lieutenancy in 1822, he attended law lec- 

 tures at Transylvania University, Lexington, 

 Ky., and was admitted to the bar in 1823. In 

 1829 he accompanied President Jackson to 

 Washington as his confidential adviser and 

 private secretary. After the conclusion of the 

 President's second term, he continued in pri- 

 vate life till 1844. The Texas question, then 

 the great issue of the country, brought him 

 again before the public. The treaty of annex- 

 ation of that republic to the United States, of 

 April 12, 1844, having been rejected on the 

 8th of June of that year by the Senate, Presi- 

 dent Tyler sent a messenger to General Jack- 

 son, urging him to induce Mr. Donelson to un- 

 dertake new negotiations. He accepted the 

 appointment September 16, 1844, as charge 

 d'affaires to the Republic of Texas, and entered 

 at once upon the discharge of the delicate and 



intricate duties devolving upon him. With 

 great diplomatic tact and signal ability he ac- 

 complished the object of his mission, which 

 terminated, December 27, 1845, with the an- 

 nexation of Texas to the Union. In 1846 

 President Polk appointed him envoy extraor- 

 dinary and minister plenipotentiary to the 

 court of Berlin, and in 1848 to the Federal 

 Government of Germany. Soon after his re- 

 turn in 1849 he enlisted in the effort to secure 

 the settlement of the slavery agitation, caused 

 by the acquisition of territory from Mexico. 

 He was sent as a delegate to the Southern 

 Convention, which met May 6, 1850. On this 

 occasion he delivered one of his ablest and 

 most earnest speeches, taking a determined 

 stand against all nullification and disunion. 

 In 1851 he assumed the editorship of the 

 Washington Union, but relinquished it the fol- 

 lowing year. After the accession of President 

 Pierce in 1853 he entirely abandoned the Dem- 

 ocrats and joined the "American Party." 

 When the convention of that party met in 

 Philadelphia, February 22, 1856, he was nomi- 

 nated for the vice-presidency on the ticket 

 with Mr. Fillmore. After his defeat in the 

 political campaign that followed, he withdrew 

 from public life, and devoted himself to the 

 management of his extensive estates. The last 

 years of his life were spent in retirement on 

 his plantation, near Australia, Miss. It was 

 well said of him that, in every position in 

 which he was placed, he sought, earnestly and 

 faithfully, to do his duty. Of any of our pub- 

 lic men, even those most gifted and in the 

 highest station, could this be said with more 

 perfect truth. 



E 



EARTHQUAKES. A severe earthquake 

 occurred at the Hawaiian Islands, February 

 19th, about 10 A. M. At Honolulu, the walls of 

 a number of storehouses were cracked, and 

 crockery and glassware thrown down, and 

 clocks stopped. There were several violent 

 shocks, each lasting about thirty seconds. No 

 lives were lost. Crews on vessels in the har- 

 bor experienced a sensation as though the 

 ships had suddenly gone on a reef. At Lahaina, 

 the shocks were the most severe that had been 

 remarked in that place for thirty-five years, 

 though but little injury was sustained by build- 

 ings. At Lanai, greater damage ensued, to 

 natural scenery principally. Bluffs and rocks 

 were stricken off into the sea, and the ravines 

 filled with bowlders, trees, and slides of earth 

 torn from the mountain-tops. Several great 

 clefts were opened up in different parts of the 

 island. The same earthquake shook down the 

 belfry of the Catholic church at Ewa, sweeping 

 off the four massive pillars that supported it 

 like pipe-stems. 



The north of England was treated to the 



rare sensation of an earthquake, March 17th, 

 about 11 P.M. An observer at Penrith says 

 that the day had been remarkably calm, and 

 he noticed a heavy suffocating feeling in the 

 atmosphere. The first sign of the earth- 

 quake was a loud rumbling noise as if a heavy 

 wagon were passing over the pavement ; then 

 windows and chandeliers were violently shak- 

 en, and beds, in some cases, rocked like a ship 

 at anchor. The vibrations were apparently 

 horizontal, and in a direction from north to 

 south, lasting three or four seconds. Poultry 

 and cage-birds showed signs of distress by 

 the noise and fluttering which they made. 

 The temperature, which on the previous Tues- 

 day night had fallen as low as 17, suddenly 

 changed, and the minimum of Friday night 

 was 40. Saturday morning (following the 

 earthquake) was remarkably warm, the black- 

 bulb thermometer in vacua reading 92. The 

 shocks were felt from the south of Scotland 

 as far as to the north of Derbyshire. 



M. 0. E. De Ranee, of the Geological Survey, 

 writing of this earthquake to Nature, says : 



