William P Faherty Treasury Clerk

- I - I - in in if I so me TWO STATES'IEN. A Treasury Clerk's rt3collcctkm3 of Webster and Calhoun. - The Obser - ratlORS of Fifty Years' service la. Ui State Department at Washing, tou The Godlike Dankl and Ills Peculiarities. Washington Post. "I entred the State Department as a meeseager in 1S55. when Andrew Jackson was President of the United States," said William P. Faherty to a reporter Monday, "and I have remained there ever since." Mn Faherty recently celebrated his eighty - second birthday. lie is a native of Baltimore, where, as a boy, he helped to dir trenches daring the war with England in 13 2. bat has been a resident of Washington slxty - slx years. At eighty - two he stands as straight as the wash - in eton Monument, and his character is as upright as his figure. His eyesight is 'on - dimmed, and a defect in his hearing Is the only evidence of 'his advanced age. He can recall and relate a. number of inci dents illustrative of the individual peculiarities of Webster, Calhoun. Buchanan, Cass and other Secretaries of days ' gone by. He was on terms of intimacy with the most of them, and held by them in the highest esteem. .. - . . MI received my first appointment," con tinued Mr. Faherty, "from Jackson's Secretary of State, J hn Forsyth, in recogni tion of my services to the "Democratic party In Montgomery County, Maryland. It was not long before I complained that X had not enough work to keepmeoccupied, and on that ground offered my resigna tion, but being blantly informed by the. Secretary that I was a fool, I withdrew, my resignation. When Daniel Webster became becretary of State he smt a: mes senger to me to tell me that I was too tall for him,' and that there was a man ready to take my place. .This - is my first recollection of Mr. Webster, bat it d.d not tarn oat so badly after all, for he found a place for the ether man without removing me." "What were Mr. Webster's peculiari ties?" . - - . "I remember him particularly as often borrowing small sums of money from ma, which sometimes he repaid and some times forgot. Calhoun afterward, fol lowing Webster's example, used frequent ly to borrow small sums of money from myself and others, .but, unlike Webster, Calhoun never failed to pay up. I recall an instance of . Secretary - Calhoun stop ping his carriage on the way to a confer ence at the President's house to pay. fifty cents . which he had borrowed the day before to give an old beggar woman. Webster was no teetotaler, bat he knew that I was, and I have a vivid recollection of one night, about forty years ago, when Webster, after delivering an eloquent speech In the Odd Fellows' Hall, in favor of Irish independence. came up to me mviwd ra tr &v so ua iraun swu uru some water with him. Bat the f ondes memory which I cherish is that - nearly the last writrnz done by Webster was an inscription on a printed copy of the great speech which he delivered before the Historical Society In New York. Here it is," and Mr.. Faherty brought forth an age - stained pamphlet. Its in scription: "With Daniel Webster's best wishes to Wm. P. Faherty, was . In the great statesman's own handwriting. , . ".No," continued Mr. Faherty, the re - moTals la the State Department on, a change of . government were never as numerous as in other departments. Mr.. Forsyth used to say that the State Department - had nothing to do with, politics. I remember when Marcy was appointed Secretary of State a very clever Irish fel low, who had been in th s department for some time, said to me that he was sore to go - quick, as ne i baa . threatened to throw Marcy out ot the window . when he was Secretary of War. Bat Marcy was not vindictive, for Instead, of dismissing the young man who had threatened to throw him out of the window, that young' man was tbe very person he selected to go with him on a holiday he was about to take. And I remember another notable instance, ' to show that, men were not pushed oat ; because they did ' not belong to the party in power. Daring the war I myself was a strong Union man. bat my son was a Lieutenant in the Southern army, " and complaint was made to Secretary Seward that I was" a rebel. Weil, instead of kicking me out, Mr. Seward sent far me and asked me if I could not get somebody to. swear I was not a . rebel Of course I got a friend who was ready to give the necessary testimony. And I knew that same Secretary to actu ally do tbe same thing in another case to enable him to retain the services of a mes senger who. was indeed an out - and - out rebeL" .'. - , ' - . tYoa remember Mr. Cass?' : 0 yes; he was one of the finest Secre taries of the whole lot. He was a very generous man, and took delight in giving a helping hand to a young man who need ed and deserved it. He was quick to recognise talent and encourage It. I remem ber one young fellow whom he found hol lering at the door of a traveling circus and put Into a nice situation in the State Department. He raised my salary from $1,200 to $1,400, and when his term of office expired he wrote a magnificent letter to Jud - e Black, bis successor, in my favor." to - as It - I I