Washington's Birthday Part 6

Farewell!... Go!... and make a grateful people happy, a people who will be doubly grateful when they contemplate this recent sacrifice for their interest.

And Washington in his reply said:

At my age, and in my circ.u.mstances, what prospects or advantages could I propose to myself, for embarking again on the tempestuous and uncertain ocean of public life?

The journey went on with similar interruptions. The rule so often laid down by the Virginians afterward that that is the best government which governs least, was certainly well kept until the thirteenth of April. To this hour the adventurous cyclist, stopping at some wayside inn to refresh himself, may find upon the wall the picture of the maidens and mothers of Trenton in New Jersey. Here Washington met a deputation sent to him by Congress. A triumphal arch had been erected, and a row of young girls dressed in white, a second row of ladies, and a third of their mothers, awaited him. As he pa.s.sed, the girls scattered flowers, and sang the verses which Judge Marshall has preserved:

Welcome, mighty chief, once more Welcome to this grateful sh.o.r.e; Now no mercenary foe Aims again the fatal blow-- Aims at thee the fatal blow.

Virgins fair and matrons grave, These thy conquering arm did save.

Build for thee triumphal bowers, Strew, ye fair, his way with flowers-- Strew your Hero's way with flowers.

His progress through New Jersey was everywhere accompanied by similar festivities--"festive illuminations, the ringing of bells, and the booming of cannon." He had written to Governor Clinton, that he hoped he might enter New York without ceremony; but this was hardly to be expected. A committee of both houses met him at Elizabethtown; he embarked in a splendid barge manned by thirteen pilots, masters of vessels, and commanded by Commodore Nicholson; other barges and boats fell in in the wake; and a nautical procession swept up the Bay of New York. On board two vessels were parties of ladies and gentlemen, who sang odes as Washington appeared. The ships in the harbor were dressed in colors and fired salutes as he pa.s.sed. On landing at Murray's Wharf he was welcomed by Governor Clinton and General Knox. It is of the landing at this point that the anecdote is told that an officer asked Washington's orders, announcing himself as commanding his guard.

Washington, with his ready presence of mind, begged him to follow any directions he had already received in the arrangements, but said that for the future the affection of his fellow-citizens was all the guard that he required.

At the end of the day, in his diary, the sad man says:

The acclamations of the people filled my mind with sensations as painful as pleasing.

It was some days before the formal inauguration. The two houses of Congress did not know by what t.i.tle they should address him, and a committee had been appointed to discuss this subject. It was finally agreed that the address should be simply, "To the President of the United States"--a form which has remained to the present day.

The inauguration finally took place on the thirtieth of April.

On the thirtieth at last all things were ready, and the inauguration went forward. The place was at what they then called Federal Hall, in New York, and Chancellor Livingstone administered the oath:

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully administer and execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Const.i.tution of the United States.

A salute of thirteen guns followed, amid the cheers of thousands of people. Washington then delivered his inaugural speech to both houses in the Senate Chamber. After this ceremony he walked to St. Paul's Church, where the Bishop of New York read prayers. Maclay, who was a Senator in the first Congress, says:

He was agitated and embarra.s.sed more than he ever was by the leveled cannon or pointed musket. He trembled and several times could scarce make out to read his speech, though it must be supposed he had often read it before.

Fisher Ames says:

He addressed the two houses in the Senate Chamber. It was a very touching scene, and quite of a solemn kind. His aspect, grave almost to sadness, his modesty, actually shaking, his voice deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to call for close attention.

John Adams had taken his place as President of the Senate two days before. As he did not always in after life speak any too cordially of Washington, it is worth noting that at this critical period he said that he congratulated the people of America on "the prospect of an executive authority in the hands of one whose portrait I shall not pretend to draw.... Were I blessed with powers to do justice to his character, it would be impossible to increase the confidence, or affection of his country, or make the smallest addition to his glory. This can only be effected by a discharge of the present exalted trust on the same principles, with the same abilities and virtues which have uniformly appeared in all his former conduct, public or private. May I nevertheless be indulged to inquire, if we look over the catalogue of the first magistrates of nations, whether they have been denominated presidents or consuls, kings or princes, where shall we find one whose commanding talents and virtues, whose overruling good fortune, have so completely united all hearts and voices in his favor? who enjoyed the esteem and admiration of foreign nations and fellow-citizens with equal unanimity? Qualities so uncommon are no common blessings to the country that possesses them. By these great qualities and their benign effects has Providence marked out the head of this Nation, with a hand so distinctly visible as to have been seen by all men, and mistaken by none."

Whether on this occasion, there were too much ceremony was a question discussed at the time, in connection with the heated discussion as to the etiquette of the new Administration. There is a correspondence between Washington and an old friend, Stuart, of Virginia, who had told him that the people of that State accused him of "regal manners."

Washington's reply, with his usual good sense, answers a good many questions which are bruited to-day. Dr. Albert Shaw, in the _Review of Reviews_, once brought some of these questions forward. "How far is it right for the people of a free state to kill their magistrates by inches?" This is the question reduced to its simplest terms. It was generally understood, when the late Governor Greenhalge died in Ma.s.sachusetts, that his career, invaluable to the people of that State and of the country, had been cut off untimely by a certain etiquette, which obtains in Ma.s.sachusetts, that whenever there is a public dinner the Governor of the State must be present and make a speech. With reference to a somewhat similar notion, Washington says:

Before the present custom was established I was unable to attend to any business whatever. Gentlemen, consulting their own convenience rather than mine, were calling from the time I rose from breakfast, often before, until I sat down to dinner. To please everybody was impossible. I therefore adopted that line of conduct which combined public advantage with private convenience.

In another place he says:

Had I not adopted the principle of returning no visits, I should have been unable to have attended to any sort of business.

In contrast with the simple ceremonies at which a sensitive democracy took exception, we find now that a great nation considers no honors too profuse for the ceremonies which attend the inauguration of its chief magistrate.

FOOTNOTES:

[12] Reprinted from _The Independent_.

WASHINGTONIANA

_Extracts from the Contemporary Newspapers and other Accounts of the Inauguration of our First President in 1789_

From _The Ma.s.sachusetts Sentinel_, May 6, 1789:

New York, May 1. Yesterday the great and ill.u.s.trious Washington, the favorite son of liberty, and deliverer of his country, entered upon the execution of the office of First Magistrate of the United States of America; to which important station he had been unanimously called by the united voice of the people. The ceremony which took place on this occasion was truly grand and pleasing, and every heart seemed anxious to testify the joy it felt on so memorable an event. His Excellency was escorted from his house by a troop of light Dragoons, and the Legion, under the command of Colonel Lewis, attended by a committee of the Senate and House of Representatives, to Federal Hall, where he was formally received by both Houses of Congress, a.s.sembled in the Senate Chamber; after which he was conducted to the gallery in front of the hall, accompanied by all the members when the oath prescribed by the Const.i.tution was administered to him by the Chancellor of this State, who then said--

"Long live George Washington,

"President of the United States;" which was answered by an immense concourse of citizens, a.s.sembled on the occasion, by the loudest plaudit and acclamation that love and veneration ever inspired. His Excellency then made a speech to both Houses, and then proceeded, attended by Congress, to St. Paul's Church, where Divine Service was performed by the Right Rev. Samuel Provost, after which His Excellency was conducted in form to his own house. In the evening a most magnificent and brilliant display of fireworks was exhibited at the Fort, under the direction of Colonel Beuman. The houses of the French and Spanish Ministers were illuminated in a superb and elegant manner; a number of beautiful transparent paintings were exhibited, which did infinite credit to the parties concerned in the design and execution.

April 30. We have had this day one of those impressive sights which dignify and adorn human nature. At nine o'clock all the churches were opened--and the people, in prodigious numbers, thronged these sacred temples--and, with one voice, put up their prayers to Almighty G.o.d for the safety of the President.

At twelve the procession moved to the Federal State House, where in the gallery fronting Broad Street, in the presence of an immense concourse, His Excellency took the oath, the book being placed on a velvet cushion.

The Chancellor then proclaimed him President--and in a moment the air trembled with the shouts of the citizens, and the roar of artillery. His Excellency, with that greatness of soul--that dignity and calmness, which are his characteristics--then bowed to his "fellow-citizens"--who again huzzaed.

From "_History of the Arts of Design in America_," by William Dunlap:

Major L'Enfant was a native of France; he was employed to rebuild after a design of his own the old New York City Hall in Wall Street, fronting Broad Street; making therefrom the Federal Hall of that day (1789). The new building was for the accommodation of Congress; and in the balcony upon which the Senate Chamber opened, the first President of the United States was inaugurated. A ceremony which I witnessed, and which for its simplicity, the persons concerned in it, the effect produced upon my country and the world, in giving stability to the Federal Const.i.tution, by calling Washington to administer its blessings, remains on my mind unrivaled by any scene witnessed, through a long life, either in Europe or America.

From Dunlap's "_School History of New York_":

In 1789, I saw Washington divested of the garb of war, place his hand on the Bible, and swear to support that Const.i.tution under which I have since lived happily half a century. Between the pillars of the old City Hall, in Wall Street, as altered for the reception of the Federal Congress, in view of thousands who filled Broad Street as far as the eye could extend its view, and every avenue within sight of the building, the man of the people's choice was announced to them, as the first President of the United States of America.

Abstract of account in _New York Packet_:

New York, May 1, 1789. Yesterday at two o'clock was solemnly inaugurated into office, our Ill.u.s.trious President.

The ceremony was begun by the following procession from the Federal House to the President's house, viz.:

Troop of Horse a.s.sistants Committee of Representatives Committee of Senate Gentlemen to be admitted in the Senate Chamber Gentlemen in coaches Citizens on foot

On their arrival, the President joined the procession in his carriage and four, and the whole moved through the princ.i.p.al streets to the State House in the following order:

Troop of Horse Infantry Sheriff on horseback Committee of Representatives Committee of Senate President and a.s.sistants (President's Suite) a.s.sistants Gentlemen to be admitted in the Senate Chamber Gentlemen in coaches Citizens on foot