1 I. York Island, he was attended into the city by the joint CHAPTER committee of arrangements of the two houses, by a numerous concourse of citizens, and by several companies 1789. of the city militia. Introduced into the Senate Chamber by a committee appointed for that purpose, and conduct- April 21. ed to the chair by Langdon, he addressed the Senate in a short but characteristic inaugural speech. "Invited to this respectable situation by the suffrages of our fellow-citizens, according to the Constitution, I have thought it my duty cheerfully and readily to accept it. Unaccustomed to refuse any public service, however dangerous to my reputation or disproportional to my talents, it would have been inconsistent to have adopted any other maxim of conduct at this time, when the prosperity of the country and the liberties of the people require perhaps as much as ever the attention of those who possess any share of the public confidence." After some very high compliments to the senators and to the president elect, and some apologies for himself, as having, though not wholly without experience in public assemblies, been more accustomed to take a share in their debates than to preside over their deliberations, he concluded as follows: "A trust of the greatest magnitude is committed to this legislature, and the eyes of the world are upon you. Your country expects from the results. of your deliberations, in concurrence with the other branches of government, consideration abroad and contentment at home-prosperity, order, justice, peace, and liberty; and may God Almighty's providence assist you to answer their just expectations!" The messenger selected to inform Washington of his election was Charles Thompson, who had filled the place of secretary to the Continental Congress during the whole period of its existence. Having arrived at Mount Ver CHAPTER non in company with two gentlemen of Alexandria, he I. executed his commission in a formal speech, to which 1789. Washington made an equally formal reply, declaring his April 16. acceptance of the office, and his readiness to leave within two days to enter upon it. From the moment it had become certain that the Constitution was to go into effect, Washington had been very warmly pressed by numerous correspondents not to decline that post for which he was so singularly quali fied by the choice and the confidence of the entire nation. The general expectation that he would be president had contributed not a little to calm down the excitement against the new Constitution, and to give to its friends. so decided a predominance in the choice of members of the first Congress. Fortunate, indeed, it was for the nation to possess at this crisis of its fate a man not only fit to fill the office of president, but one in whose fitness the whole people were agreed. Washington desired to proceed to New York in the most private manner, but the flow of veneration and gratitude could not be suppressed. Having been entertained at a public dinner by his neighbors of Alexandria, he was welcomed to Maryland by a collection of citizens assembled at Georgetown. At the frontier of Pennsyl vania he was met by a large escort, headed by Mifflin, recently elected president of that state, to whom it thus again fell to be the instrument of paying honors to the man he had once wronged. A magnificent reception and a splendid entertainment were prepared at Philadelphia, where the Executive Council, the trustees of the University, the judges of the Supreme Court, the officers of the Cincinnati, and the mayor and common council of the city, hastened to wait on the president elect with their congratulations. I. Ascending the left bank of the Delaware, Washington CHAPTER crossed the next day into New Jersey. The people of Trenton remembered the battles fought in their neigh- 1789. borhood twelve years before, and if his reception at other places was more splendid, nowhere was it so graceful and touching. On the bridge across the Assumpink, which flows through the town into the Delaware, the same bridge across which Washington had retreated before Cornwallis's army on the eve of the battle of Princeton, a triumphal arch had been erected, supported on thirteen pillars, twined with evergreens, flowers, and laurel. Beneath this arch, which bore for inscription: "The Defender of the Mothers will be the Protector of the Daughters," were assembled a party of matrons, mixed with young girls dressed in white, and holding baskets of flowers in their hands. As Washington approached they began to sing a little ode prepared for the occasion: Welcome, mighty chief, once more Now no mercenary foe Aims again the fatal blow, Aims at thee the fatal blow. Virgins fair and matrons grave, Build for thee triumphal bowers; Strew your hero's way with flowers! Suiting the action to the words, they ended the chant in strewing their flowers before him. Having crossed New Jersey, Washington was received April 23. at Elizabethtown Point early in the morning, in accordance with a previous arrangement, by a committee of both Houses of Congress, with whom were Jay, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, General Knox, Secretary at War, Samuel Osgood, Arthur Lee, and Walter Livingston, I.. CHAPTER Commissioners of the Treasury, and Ebenezer Hazard, Postmaster General, these heads of departments still con1789. tinuing to act under their appointments from the Continental Congress until new arrangements could be made. A barge splendidly fitted up, and manned by thirteen pilots in white uniforms, had been provided to convey the president to New York; and quite a naval procession was formed out of a multitude of other boats and barges. After a voyage of several hours, the approach, to New York was welcomed by artillery salutes from the battery and the ships in the harbor, At the landing-place at the foot of Wall Street, appropriately decorated for the occasion, Governor Clinton was in waiting, with the principal state officers and those of the city corporation, and a vast concourse of citizens. A procession, headed by a numerous detachment of the city militia, having been formed under a salute of cannon, the president elect was escorted to the house lately occupied by the President of the Continental Congress, and which the new Federal Congress had ordered to be fitted up for his reception. Hence he proceeded to Governor Clinton's, where he was entertained at dinner. The evening closed with a brilliant display of fire-works. As the new Federal Hall was not yet entirely finished, a week elapsed before preparations were completed for administering to the president elect the oath of office. The place selected for that purpose was the outer gallery or balcony of the Senate Chamber, visible for a long distance down Broad Street, which it fronted, thus affording opportunity to witness the ceremony to a large number of eager spectators. At nine o'clock all the churches in the city were opened for prayer and religious services. April 30. A little after noon the president elect left his house escorted by the city cavalry, and attended by a committee I of Congress and the heads of departments in carriages, CHAPTER followed by the two or three resident foreign ministers, and by a long procession of citizens. Having entered 1789. the Senate Chamber, where the two houses were assembled to receive him, he was conducted to an elevated seat at the head of the room. After a momentary silence, all being seated, the vice-president rose and stated to the president elect that all was ready for the administration of the oath, whenever he was prepared to receive it. Upon this intimation, Washington proceeded to the balcony, followed by the senators and representatives. The oath was administered by the Chancellor of New York, Robert R. Livingston, Jay's predecessor as Secretary for Foreign Affairs. As he finished the ceremony, he exclaimed aloud, "Long live George Washington, President of the United States !" to which the assembled multitude responded in long and enthusiastic shouts. Having returned to the Senate Chamber, accompanied by the senators and representatives, and all having resumed their seats, Washington rose and delivered a short inaugural address. He spoke of the conflict of emotions with which he had heard the voice of his country, never listened to but with veneration and love, calling upon him to quit the retreat of his choice, made dearer by habit, age, and declining health, to assume an office which might well awaken a distrustful scrutiny of qualifications in the wisest and most experienced, and sufficient to overwhelm with despair one inheriting inferior endowments from nature, and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration. If in this case his decision had been too much swayed by remembrance of the past, he still trusted for palliation of his error to the partiality of his country. He expressed his devout gratitude to Heaven, and called upon Congress to join him in it, for the good prov |