Captain Carbery could have bowed to the salutation of Judge for he was a Justice of the Peace. "Equal and exact justice to all men" must he have dispensed. His impartiality has proof in his long and almost uninterrupted service-forty-odd years. His appointments are dated (March 1) 1820, 1825, 1830, 1836, 1843, 1849, 1852, 1855, 1858 and 1861.

Captain Carbery during his mayoralty was ex-officio chairman of the Board of Commissioners instituted by Congress to aid the corporation in draining the low grounds on and near the public reservations and improve and ornament certain parts of them.

Captain Carbery was the Collector of Customs or Collector of the Port from some time before 1827 to some time after 1834. Exactly when and how long like Matthew he sat at the receipt of custom the writer knoweth not.

Captain Carbery was a Commissioner of the Washington Canal for a term which included the years 1843 and 1846. The date limits of this service I cannot give. A detailed description of the canal is in the so-called "Webb's History of Washington." The enthusiasts of the earliest days conceived the utilization of the Tiber and another stream for water traffic. It was built with high hope of commercial success. It was built at great cost, hard obtained. It was next to nothing for commercial use for the city had next to no commerce. As the years rolled by the waters grew more stagnant. In the sultry days it made chills and fever, and in the wintry days made a fairly good skating rink. It was arched and from an open sewer was converted into a covered one.

That "he shall live no longer in monument than the bell rings, and the widow weeps" is not so of Captain Carbery. "Thomas Carbery" is on the inscription on

copper plate covering deposit-recess of the corner stone of the monument. Captain Carberry was of the original organization of the "Washington National Monument Society," October 31, 1833. The officers were: John Marshall, President; William Cranch, first Vice-President; John P. Van Ness, second Vice-President; William W. Seaton, third Vice-President; Samuel H. Smith, Treasurer; George Watterston, Secretary. The board of trustees were: Gen. Thomas S. Jesup, Col. James Kearney, Col. Nathan Towson, Col. Archibald Henderson, Matthew St. Claire Clark, John McClelland, Thomas Munroe, Col. George Bomford, Roger C. Weightman, Peter Force, William Brent, Wm. A. Bradley, Thomas Carbery.

He signed the address, 1846, to the public advising it of the delay because of the failure of Congressional action in appropriating the site on the wall-also advising it of arrangement for receiving contributions.

The building committee was appointed soon after the laying of the corner stone, July 4, 1848. Capt. Carbery was chairman and the others were Wm. A. Bradley and George Watterston. Further on John J. Abert was added to the committee. The duties of the committee

were:

"The purchase of materials and the general construction of the Monument, embracing the employment of labor, skilled and common."

Here is a part of a letter of the chairman:

"Eight or ten days before . . . the laying of the corner stone we had an assemblage, by invitation, of twelve or fifteen of the most scientific gentlemen we could collect to make a last examination of the foundation. Among the gentlemen were Mr. Mills, architect of the Monument; Messrs. Renwick and Cameron, architect and builder, respectively, of the Smith

sonian Institution, and others. On this occasion the most thorough examination was made, and every man expressed the fullest confidence in the foundation, and they declared that it could not be better. The building committee were fully aware of the great responsibility resting upon them in this matter, and... they spared no pains in procuring the best foundation for the Monument. . . If, after all these precausions, any settling should take place, no blame can certainly attach to the building committee; but we do not apprehend any such calamity."'10

Captain Carbery was an incorporator under an Actof Congress, February 22, 1859.

The practical part of Capt. Carbery in the erection of the magnificent memorial must have given him pride. Nothing before his front door broke the view of it. The shadow of the proud temple all but reached that door. In the Captain's time the height was 156 feet; that height is plainly marked.

Daily National Intelligencer, September 13, 1850:

WASHINGTON, September 6, 1850.

I have noticed a statement in various newspapers in relation to the marble now being used for facing the Washington National Monument, which is calculated to mislead the public in regard to the durability and fitness of it for that purpose. Previous to the marble being adopted by the Board of Managers, Thomas Carbery, Esq., Chairman of the Building Committee, and myself, visited the quarries for the purpose of examining it. Large masses of the marble were found projecting above the earth, and, in one instance, covering a space of over one hundred square feet, which had been exposed to the action of the elements for ages. The surface of these was irregular and discolored from the dripping of water and earth over them, but, from cutting less than half an inch into it, its texture was found to be perfectly firm and solid, quite as 10"History of the Washington National Monument and Washington National Monument Society,'' Frederick L. Harvey.