Life and Times of Washington Part 39

In the systems which had been adopted by the several States, offices corresponding to those created by the revenue laws of Congress had been already established.

Uninfluenced by considerations of personal regard, Washington could not be induced to change men whom he found in place, if worthy of being employed, and where the man who had filled such office in the former state of things was unexceptionable in his conduct and character he was uniformly reappointed. In deciding between compet.i.tors for vacant offices the law he prescribed for his government was to regard the fitness of candidates for the duties they would be required to discharge, and, where an equality in this respect existed, former merits and sufferings in the public service gave claims to preference which could not be overlooked.

In the legislative, as well as in the executive and judicial departments, great respectability of character was also a.s.sociated with an eminent degree of talents. The const.i.tutional prohibition to appoint any member of the Legislature to an office created during the time for which he had been elected did not exclude men of the most distinguished abilities from the First Congress. Impelled by an anxious solicitude respecting the first measures of the government its zealous friends had pressed into its service, and, in both branches of the Legislature, men were found who possessed the fairest claims to the public confidence.

From the duties attached to his office the Vice-President of the United States and President of the Senate, though not a member of the Legislature, was cla.s.sed, in the public mind, with that department not less than with the executive. Elected by the whole people of America in common with the President he could not fail to be taken from the most distinguished citizens and to add to the dignity of the body over which he presided.

John Adams was one of the earliest and most ardent patriots of the Revolution. Bred to the bar, he had necessarily studied the const.i.tution of his country and was among the most determined a.s.sertors of its rights. Active in guiding that high spirit which animated all New England, he became a member of the Congress of 1774 and was among the first who dared to avow sentiments in favor of independence. In that body he soon attained considerable eminence, and, at an early stage of the war, was chosen one of the commissioners to whom the interests of the United States in Europe were confided. In his diplomatic character he had contributed greatly to those measures which drew Holland into the war; had negotiated the treaty between the United States and the Dutch Republic, and had, at critical points of time, obtained loans of money which were of great advantage to his country. In the negotiations which terminated the war he had also rendered important services, and, after the ratification of the definitive articles of peace, had been deputed to Great Britain for the purpose of effecting a commercial treaty with that nation. The political situation of America having rendered this object unattainable he solicited leave to return, and arrived in the United States soon after the adoption of the const.i.tution.

As a statesman John Adams had at all times ranked high in the estimation of his countrymen. He had improved a sound understanding by extensive political and historical reading, and perhaps no American had reflected more profoundly on the subject of government. The exalted opinion he entertained of his own country was flattering to his fellow-citizens, and the purity of his mind, the unblemished integrity of a life spent in the public service, had gained him their confidence.

A government, supported in all its departments by so much character and talent, at the head of which was placed a man whose capacity was undoubted, whose life had been one great and continued lesson of disinterested patriotism, and for whom almost every bosom glowed with an attachment bordering on enthusiasm, could not fail to make a rapid progress in conciliating the affection of the people. That all hostility to the const.i.tution should subside, that public measures should receive universal approbation, that no particular disgusts and individual irritations should be excited, were expectations which could not reasonably be indulged. Exaggerated accounts were indeed occasionally circulated of the pomp and splendor which were affected by certain high officers of the monarchical tendencies of particular inst.i.tutions and of the dispositions which prevailed to increase the powers of the executive. That the doors of the Senate were closed and that a disposition had been manifested by that body to distinguish the President of the United States by a t.i.tle, gave considerable umbrage, and were represented as evincing inclinations in that branch of the Legislature unfriendly to republicanism. The exorbitance of salaries was also a subject of some declamation, and the equality of commercial privileges with which foreign bottoms entered American ports, was not free from objection. But the apprehensions of danger to liberty from the new system, which had been impressed on the minds of well-meaning men, were visibly wearing off; the popularity of the administration was communicating itself to the government, and the materials with which the discontented were furnished could not yet be efficaciously employed.

Toward the close of the session a report on a pet.i.tion which had been presented at an early period by the creditors of the public residing in the State of Pennsylvania was taken up in the House of Representatives.

Though many considerations rendered a postponement of this interesting subject necessary two resolutions were pa.s.sed: the one, "declaring that the House considered an adequate provision for the support of the public credit, as a matter of high importance to the national honor and prosperity," and the other, directing "the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare a plan for that purpose, and to report the same to the House at its next meeting."

On the 29th of September (1789) Congress adjourned to the first Monday in the succeeding January (1790).

Throughout the whole of this laborious and important session perfect harmony subsisted between the executive and the Legislature, and no circ.u.mstance occurred which threatened to impair it. The modes of communication between the departments of government were adjusted in a satisfactory manner, and arrangements were made on some of those delicate points in which the Senate partic.i.p.ate of executive power.

Washington's own views of the proceedings of Congress are expressed in the following extract from a letter to a friend:

"That Congress does not proceed with all that dispatch which people at a distance expect, and which, were they to hurry business, they possibly might, is not to be denied. That measures have been agitated which are not pleasing to Virginia--and others, pleasing perhaps to her, but not to some other States--is equally unquestionable. Can it well be otherwise in a country so extensive, so diversified in its interests?

And will not these different interests naturally produce--in an a.s.sembly of representatives who are to legislate for, and to a.s.similate and reconcile them to, the general welfare--long, warm, and animated debates? Most a.s.suredly they will, and if there was the same propensity in mankind for investigating the motives as there is for censuring the conduct of public characters, it would be found that the censure so freely bestowed is oftentimes unmerited and uncharitable. For instance, the condemnation of Congress for sitting only four hours in the day. The fact is, by the established rules of the House of Representatives, no committee can sit whilst the House is sitting, and that is, and has been for a considerable time, from 10 o'clock in the forenoon until 3, often later, in the afternoon, before and after which the business is going on in committees. If this application is not as much as most const.i.tutions are equal to, I am mistaken.

"Many other things, which undergo malignant constructions, would be found, upon a candid examination, to wear a better face than is given to them. The misfortune is that the enemies to the government, always more active than its friends and always upon the watch to give it a stroke, neglect no opportunity to aim one. If they tell truth it is not the whole truth, by which means one side only of the picture is exhibited, whereas, if both sides were seen it might, and probably would, a.s.sume a different form in the opinion of just and candid men, who are disposed to measure matters by a continental scale.

"I do not mean, however, from what I have here said, to justify the conduct of Congress in all its movements, for some of these movements, in my opinion, have been injudicious, and others unreasonable; whilst the questions of a.s.sumption, residence, and other matters, have been agitated with a warmth and intemperance, with prolixity and threats, which, it is to be feared, have lessened the dignity of that body and decreased that respect which was once entertained for it. And this misfortune is increased by many members, even among those who wish well to the government, ascribing, in letters to their respective States, when they are defeated in a favorite measure, the worst motives for the conduct of their opponents, who, viewing matters through another medium, may and do retort in their turn, by which means jealousies and distrusts are spread most impolitically far and wide, and will, it is to be feared, have a most unhappy tendency to injure our public affairs, which, if wisely managed, might make us, as we are now by Europeans thought to be, the happiest people upon earth."

Anxious to visit New England to observe in person the condition of the country and the dispositions of the people toward the government and its measures, the President was disposed to avail himself of the short respite from official cares afforded by the recess of Congress, to make a tour through the eastern States.

His resolution being taken and the executive business which required his immediate personal attendance being dispatched, he commenced his tour on the 15th of October (1789), and, pa.s.sing through Connecticut and Ma.s.sachusetts, as far as Portsmouth in New Hampshire, returned by a different route to New York, where he arrived on the 13th of November.

With this visit the President had much reason to be satisfied. To contemplate the theater on which many interesting military scenes had been exhibited, and to review the ground on which his first campaign as Commander-in-Chief of the American army had been made, were sources of rational delight. To observe the progress of society, the improvements in agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, and the temper, circ.u.mstances, and dispositions of the people, could not fail to be grateful to an intelligent mind, and an employment in all respects worthy of the chief magistrate of the nation. The reappearance of their general in the high station he now filled brought back to recollection the perilous transactions of the war, and the reception universally given to him attested the unabated love which was felt for his person and character, and indicated unequivocally the growing popularity, at least in that part of the Union, of the government he administered.

The sincerity and warmth with which he reciprocated the affection expressed for his person in the addresses presented to him was well calculated to preserve the sentiments which were generally diffused. "I rejoice with you, my fellow-citizens," said he in answer to an address from the inhabitants of Boston, "in every circ.u.mstance that declares your prosperity, and I do so most cordially, because you have well deserved to be happy.

"Your love of liberty, your respect for the law, your habits of industry, and your practice of the moral and religious obligations, are the strongest claims to national and individual happiness; and they will, I trust, be firmly and lastingly established."

But the interchange of sentiments with the companions of his military toils and glory will excite most interest, because on both sides the expressions were dictated by the purest and most delicious feelings of the human heart.

From the Cincinnati of Ma.s.sachusetts he received the following address: "Amidst the various gratulations which your arrival in this metropolis has occasioned, permit us, the members of the Society of the Cincinnati in this commonwealth, most respectfully to a.s.sure you of the ardor of esteem and affection you have so indelibly fixed in our hearts, as our glorious leader in war and ill.u.s.trious example in peace.

"After the solemn and endearing farewell on the banks of the Hudson, which our anxiety presaged as final, most peculiarly pleasing is the present unexpected meeting. On this occasion we cannot avoid the recollection of the various scenes of toil and danger through which you conducted us, and while we contemplate various trying periods of the war, and the triumphs of peace, we rejoice to behold you, induced by the unanimous voice of your country, en-terming upon other trials and other services alike important, and, in some points of view, equally hazardous. For the completion of the great purposes which a grateful country has a.s.signed you, long, very long, may your invaluable life be preserved. And as the admiring world, while considering you as a soldier, have long wanted a comparison, may your virtue and talents as a statesman leave them without a parallel.

"It is not in words to express an attachment founded like ours. We can only say that, when soldiers, our greatest pride was a prompt.i.tude of obedience to your orders; as citizens, our supreme ambition is to maintain the character of firm supporters of that n.o.ble fabric of Federal government over which you preside.

"As members of the Society of the Cincinnati it will be our endeavor to cherish those sacred principles of charity and fraternal attachment which our inst.i.tution inculcates. And while our conduct is thus regulated, we can never want the patronage of the first of patriots and the best of men."

To this address the following answer was returned:

"In reciprocating with grat.i.tude and sincerity the multiplied and affecting gratulations of my fellow-citizens of this commonwealth, they will all of them with justice allow me to say, that none can be dearer to me than the affectionate a.s.surances which you have expressed. Dear, indeed, is the occasion which restores an intercourse with my faithful a.s.sociates in prosperous and adverse fortune; and enhanced are the triumphs of peace, partic.i.p.ated with those whose virtue and valor so largely contributed to procure them. To that virtue and valor your country has confessed her obligations. Be mine the grateful task to add the testimony of a connection which it was my pride to own in the field, and is now my happiness to acknowledge in the enjoyments of peace and freedom.

"Regulating your conduct by those principles which have heretofore governed your actions as men, soldiers, and citizens, you will repeat the obligations conferred on your country, and you will transmit to posterity an example that must command their admiration and grateful praise. Long may you continue to enjoy the endearments of fraternal attachments and the heartfelt happiness of reflecting that you have faithfully done your duty.

"While I am permitted to possess the consciousness of this worth, which has long bound me to you by every tie of affection and esteem, I will continue to be your sincere and faithful friend."

After Washington's return to New York from his tour to the north and east, Mrs. Washington expressed, in the following letter, the gratification and benefit he had derived from his journey. It also presents a delightful view of her feelings and character:

"NEW YORK, _December_ 26th, 1789.

"MY DEAR MADAM:--Your very friendly letter, of the 27th of last month, has afforded me much more satisfaction than all the formal compliments and empty ceremonies of mere etiquette could possibly have done. I am not apt to forget the feelings that have been inspired by my former society with good acquaintances, nor to be insensible to their expressions of grat.i.tude to the President of the United States; for you know me well enough to do me the justice to believe that I am only fond of what comes from the heart. Under a conviction that the demonstrations of respect and affection which have been made to the President originate from that source, I cannot deny that I have taken some interest and pleasure in them. The difficulties which presented themselves to view upon his first entering upon the Presidency, seem thus to be, in some measure, surmounted. It is owing to this kindness of our numerous friends, in all quarters, that my new and unwished-for situation is not indeed a burden to me. When I was much younger, I should probably have enjoyed the innocent gayeties of life as much as most of my age. But I had long since placed all the prospects of my future worldly happiness in the still enjoyments of the fireside at Mount Vernon.

"I little thought, when the war was finished, that any circ.u.mstances could possibly have happened which would call the General into public life again. I had antic.i.p.ated that, from that moment, we should have been left to grow old, in solitude and tranquility, together. That was, my dear madam, the first and dearest wish of my heart; but in that I have been disappointed. I will not, however, contemplate with too much regret disappointments that were inevitable. Though the General's feelings and my own were perfectly in unison with respect to our predilection for private life, yet I cannot blame him for having acted according to his ideas of duty in obeying the voice of his country. The consciousness of having attempted to do all the good in his power, and the pleasure of finding his fellow-citizens so well satisfied with the disinterestedness of his conduct, will doubtless be some compensation for the great sacrifices which I know he has made. Indeed, in his journey from Mount Vernon to this place, in his late tour through the eastern States, by every public and by every private information which has come to him, I am persuaded that he has experienced nothing to make him repent his having acted from what he conceived to be, alone, a sense of indispensable duty. On the contrary, all his sensibility has been awakened in receiving such repeated and unequivocal proofs of sincere regards from all his countrymen.

"With respect to myself, I sometimes think the arrangement is not quite as it ought to have been; that I, who had much rather be at home, should occupy a place with which a great many younger and gayer women would be prodigiously pleased. As my grandchildren and domestic connections make up a great portion of the felicity which I looked for in this world, I shall hardly be able to find any subst.i.tute that would indemnify me for the loss of a part of such endearing society. I do not say this because I feel dissatisfied with my present station. No, G.o.d forbid! For everybody and everything conspire to make me as contented as possible in it; yet I have seen too much of the vanity of human affairs to expect felicity from the splendid scenes of public life. I am still determined to be cheerful and to be happy in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learnt from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circ.u.mstances.

We carry the seeds of the one or the other about with us, in our minds, where-so-ever we go. I have two of my grandchildren with me, who enjoy advantages in point of education, and who, I trust, by the goodness of Providence, will continue to be a great blessing to me. My other two grandchildren are with their mother, in Virginia.

"The President's health is quite re-established by his late journey.

Mine is much better than it used to be. I am sorry to hear that General Warren has been ill; hope, before this time, that he may be entirely recovered. We should rejoice to see you both. To both, I wish the best of Heaven's blessings; and am, my dear madam, with esteem and regard, your friend and humble servant,

"M. WASHINGTON."

Soon after his return to New York, after his visit to the eastern States, the President was informed of the ill success which had attended his first attempt to negotiate a peace with the Creek Indians. General Lincoln, Mr. Griffin, and Colonel Humphreys had been deputed on this mission, and had met M'Gillivray with several other chiefs, and about 2,000 men, at Rock Landing, on the Oconee, on the frontiers of Georgia.

The treaty commenced with favorable appearances, but was soon abruptly broken off by M'Gillivray. Some difficulties arose on the subject of a boundary, but the princ.i.p.al obstacles to a peace were supposed to grow out of his personal interests, and his connections with Spain.

This intelligence was more than counterbalanced by the accession of North Carolina to the Union. In the month of November a second convention had a.s.sembled under the authority of the Legislature of that State, and the const.i.tution was adopted by a great majority.

We embrace the occasion afforded by the interval between the two sessions of Congress to insert some further notices of Washington's mode of life in New York, as well as of his personal appearance.

The manner of living observed by President Washington has been described in the following speech, delivered by Mr. Stuyvesant, the president of the New York Historical society, at the dinner on the occasion of the jubilee celebration, in the city of New York, April 30, 1839.

"It cannot be expected, at this time and place, that any allusion should be made to the public character of Washington; we are all in possession of his history, from the dawn of life to the day that Mount Vernon was wrapped in sable; and, after the exercises of this morning, if any attempt to portray his political or military life were made, it would only be the glimmering light of a feeble star succeeding the rays of a meridian sun.

"But the occasion affords an opportunity of congratulating the small number of gentlemen present, who enjoyed the privilege of partic.i.p.ating in the ceremonies of the 30th of April, 1789; they will recall to their memories the spontaneous effusions of joy that pervaded the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the people who on that occasion witnessed the organization of a const.i.tutional government, formed by intelligent freemen, and consummated by placing at its head the man in whom their affections were concentrated as the father of their country.

"Washington's residence in this city, after his inauguration, was limited to about two years. His deportment in life was not plain, nor was it at all pompous, for no man was more devoid of ostentation than himself, his style, however, gave universal satisfaction to all cla.s.ses in the community, and, his historian has informed us, was not adopted for personal gratification, but from a devotion to his country's welfare. Possessing a desirable stature, an erect frame, and, superadded, a lofty and sublime countenance, he never appeared in public without arresting the reverence and admiration of the beholder; and the stranger who had never before seen him, was at the first impression convinced it was the President who delighted him.

"He seldom walked in the street; his public recreation was in riding.

When accompanied by Mrs. Washington, he rode in a carriage drawn by six horses, with two outriders who wore rich livery, c.o.c.ked hats, with c.o.c.kades and powder. When he rode on horseback he was joined by one or more of the gentlemen of his family and attended by his outriders.

He always attended Divine service on Sundays. His carriage on those occasions contained Mrs. Washington and himself, with one or both of their grandchildren and was drawn by two horses, with two footmen behind; it was succeeded by a post-chaise, accommodating two gentlemen of his household. On his arrival in the city the only residence that could be procured was a house in Cherry street, long known as the mansion of the Franklin family, but in a short time afterwards he removed to and occupied the house in Broadway, now Bunker's hotel.

"Washington held a levee once a week, and, from what is now recollected, they were generally well attended, but confined to men in public life and gentlemen of leisure, for at that day it would have been thought a breach of decorum to visit the President of the United States in dishabille.

"The arrival of Washington, in 1789, to a.s.sume the reins of government, was not his first entry into this city, accompanied with honor to himself and glory to this country. This was on the 24th of November, 1783, and here again, I must observe, the number present who witnessed the ceremonies of that day, must, indeed, be very limited; on that day he made his triumphal entry, not to sway the sceptre, but to lay down his sword, not for personal aggrandizement, but to secure the happiness of his countrymen. He early in the morning left Harlem and entered the city through what is now called the Bowery; he was escorted by cavalry and infantry and a large concourse of citizens, on horseback and on foot, in plain dress. The latter must have been an interesting sight to those of mature age who were capable of comprehending their merit. In their ranks were seen men with patched elbows, odd b.u.t.tons on their coats and unmatched buckles in their shoes; they were not, indeed, Falstaff's company of scarecrows, but the most respectable citizens who had been in exile, and endured privations we know not of, for seven long and tedious years."