CHAPTER XXIV.

PRESIDENT WASHINGTON.

Ir was on April 16, 1789, that Washington left Mount Vernon for New York, where Congress first met, and where he was to be inaugurated president. The country all along the route was eager to see him, and at every place through which he passed there were processions and triumphal arches and ringing of bells. Some of the signs of welcome were queer, and some were beautiful and touching. When he crossed the Schuylkill, there was a series of arches under which he was to ride; and when he came to the first one, a laurel wreath was let down upon his head. The people who arranged that exhibition must have been very anxious as to how it would turn out. At Trenton, where everybody remembered the famous battle he had fought, the women had put up a great triumphal arch resting upon thirteen columns, with a great dome crowned by a sunflower; then, as he rode through, he came upon a company of women and girls who marched toward him, strewing flowers and singing. When he reached New York, guns were fired; and a vast crowd of people, headed by the governor, was waiting to receive him.

Congress had begun its sessions at Federal Hall, which stood where the present Treasury building

stands in Wall Street.

The day set for the inauguPrecisely at noon, the pro

ration was April 30. cession moved from the house where Washington was lodged, through what is now Pearl Street and Broad Street, to the Hall. Washington entered the Senate chamber, where John Adams, who was vice-president and therefore presiding over the Senate, received him in the presence of the Senate and House, and then escorted him to a balcony at the front of the hall. A crimson-covered table stood on it, holding a large Bible. Below, Broad Street and Wall Street were packed with people, as were also the windows and the roofs of the houses near by. They set up a great shout as Washington appeared. He came to the front, laid his hand on his heart, and bowed to the people.

The multitude could see the commanding figure of the great general as he stood bareheaded on the balcony. He was dressed in a suit of brown cloth of American manufacture, with kneebreeches and white silk stockings and silver shoebuckles. His hair was dressed and powdered, as was the custom then. They saw near him John Adams and Robert R. Livingston, the chancellor of the State of New York, and distinguished men -generals and others; but their eyes were bent on Washington. They saw Chancellor Livingston

stand as if speaking to him, and the secretary of the Senate holding the open Bible, on which Washington's hand lay. Those nearest could hear the chancellor pronounce the oath of office and Washington's reply, "I swear-so help me, God!" and could see him bow and kiss the Bible.

Then the chancellor stepped forward, waved his hand, and said aloud: "Long live George Washington, President of the United States." At the same time, a flag, as a signal, was run up on the cupola of the Hall. Instantly cannon were fired, bells rung, and the people shouted. Washington saluted them, and then turned back into the Senate chamber, where he read his inaugural address, in a low voice, for he was evidently deeply affected, great occasions always solemnized him, - and after the address, he went on foot, with many others, to St. Paul's Church, where prayers were read by Dr. Provoost, Bishop of the Episcopal Church, and one of the chaplains of Congress. At night, there were fireworks and bonfires.

Thus, with the good-will of the people and the confidence of all the sections, however suspicious they might be of one another, Washington be

gan his career as president. For eight years he remained in office. His character was now so fixed that there is little new to be learned about it from that time forward; but there were many events that made more clear how wise, how just, how honorable, and how faithful to his trust he

was.

He had been very loath to take upon himself the duties of president, but when once he had been placed in the chair, he let nothing stand in the way of the most thorough discharge of his duties.

Now came into play all those habits which he had been forming from boyhood. As president of the whole people, it was his business to have an oversight of all the interests of the young nation, and, as the first president, he had the opportunity of setting an example to those who were to come after him. It is one of the most excellent gifts to the American people that they should have had for their first president a man so well rounded and so magnanimous as George Washington. There were as yet no political parties, though there were the seeds of parties in the opposite ways in which public men regarded the new Constitution. Washington called to his cabinet men who disliked one another, and who were really as much opposed to one another as if they belonged to antagonistic parties; but they never could draw Washington away from a strict impartiality. He made Thomas Jefferson secretary of state, because he was most thoroughly acquainted with foreign affairs; and he made Alexander Hamilton secretary of the treasury, because he had shown himself the most competent man to plan a way out of the greatest peril which beset the young nation. But Jefferson and Hamilton cordially

disliked each other, and were decidedly of opposite

ways of thinking.

Washington, however, did not rest contented with choosing the best men to carry on the government. In those days, when the country had only a small population, a small area, and a small business, it was possible for one man to know very much more fully the details of government than it is now. His lifelong habits of methodical industry enabled Washington to get through an amount of work which seems extraordinary. For example, he read from beginning to end all the letters which had passed between Congress and foreign governments since the treaty of peace in 1783, making abstracts and briefs of them, so as to know thoroughly the whole history of the relations of the country to foreign governments. He required from every head of department whom he found in office a report of the state of public business. He treated these reports as he had the foreign correspondence, and in this way he mastered all the internal affairs of the nation. result was that he had his own judgment about any matter of importance which came up, and was not obliged to follow the lead of the cabinet officers.

The

There were, of course, only a few public offices to be filled then, and it was quite possible for Washington to know personally most of the men who should be appointed to fill them. He thought