THE GREAT SEAL OF THE from the UNITED founders of STATES. the Republic, is full of THE Department of State is about to provide itself with a new and interest ing piece of office furniture in the shape of a freshly cut "great seal of the United States," to replace the present old one, now so out worn with excessive use as no longer to make the proper impression upon the im portant state papers to which it must be at tached. Provision was made expressly by Congress for the recutting,. to cost $1,250, on the recommendation of Secretary Hay, custodian of that indispensable implement, and the work is now in progress. All the world over seals have been used from remote antiquity to authenticate the signatures of sovereigns and authorized pub lic officers, and no adequate device has yet been invented to take their place. In the entire history of the United States hereto fore only three great seals have been used, a new one of the same general pattern as its predecessor having been cut as each ex isting one became worn out. These three were cut, respectively, in the years 1782, 1841 and 1885. The old worn-out seal now in use in the State Department was that cut in 1885, when Frederick Frelinghuysen was Secre tary of State under President Arthur, after the design had first been submitted to his torical scholars and authorities on heraldry and had been approved by them. Its immediate predecessor, cut in 1841, when Daniel Webster served as Secretary of State under President Tyler, had a notable peculiarity, in that the eagle's left talon held but six arrows, instead of thirteen, as re quired by law, and differed otherwise from the original great seal in several minor de tails of drawing. The evolution of the orig inal great seal, as it has come down to us
interest and deserves particular mention. This first and original great seal, cut in 1782 at Philadelphia, in exact conformity with the provisions of the Act of the old Congress of June 20 of that year, was the result of no end of study, experiment and re vision, and was finally based upon designs, prepared and submitted, as the joint work of Charles Thomson, secretary of Congress, and William Barton of Philadelphia. The report made to Congress by Secretary Thom son and adopted officially by that body reads as follows : "The device for an armorial achievement and reverse of the great seal for the United States in Congress assembled, is as follows: "Arms Paleways (upright stripes on shield) of thirteen pieces, argent (silver) and gules (red); the escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle displayed proper (in natural colors), holding in his dexter talon an olive branch, and in his sin ister a bundle of thirteen arrows, all proper, and in his beak a scroll inscribed with this motto, E Pluribus Unum. "For the crest. Over the head of the eagle, which appears above the escutcheon, a glory, or (gold) breaking through a cloud proper and surrounding thirteen stars forming a constellation argent (silver), on an azure (blue) field. "Reverse. A pyramid unfinished. "In the zenith, an eye in a triangle, sur rounded with a glory proper. Over the eye these words, Annuit Coeptis. On the base of the pyramids the numerical letters, ' MDCCLXXVI/ And underneath the following motto, Nanus Ordo Seculorum" Accompanying this report, and forming
