has been pleased to favour the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity, nd dispositions for deciding with unparalleled únaimity on a form of government for the security of 'heir union, and the advancement of their happiness ; so his divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this government must depend."

The answer of the Senate was highly respectful and affectionate.

"The unanimous suffrage of the elective body in your favour, is peculiarly expressive of the gratitude, confidence, and affection of the citizens of America, and is the highest testimonial at once of your merit, and their esteem. We are sensible, Sir, that nothing but the voice of your fellow citizens could have called you from a retreat, chosen by the fondest predilection, endeared by habit, and consecrated to the repose of declining years. We rejoice, and with us, all America, that, in obedience to the call of our common country, you have returned once more to publick life. In you all parties confide, in you all interests unite, and we have no doubt that your past services, great as they have been, will be equalled by your future exertions; and that your prudence and sagacity, as a statesman, will tend to avert the dangers to which we were exposed, to give stability to the present government, and dignity and splendour to that country, which your skill and valour as a soldier, so eminently contributed to raise to independence and empire.

"When we contemplate the coincidence of circumstances, and wonderful combination of causes which gradually prepared the people of this country for independence; when we contemplate the rise, progress, and termination of the late war, which gave them a name among the nations of the earth, we are, with you, unavoidably led to acknowledge and adore the

great Arbiter of the universe, by whom empires risc and fall. A review of the many signal instances of divine interposition in favour of this country, claims our most pious gratitude. And permit us, Sir, to observe, that among the great events which have led to the formation and establishment of a federal government, we esteem your acceptance of the office of President, as one of the most propitious and important." The House, equally affectionate and respectful in their answer, say:

"The Representatives of the People of the United States, present their congratulations on the event by which your fellow citizens have attested the pre-eminence of your merit. You have long held the first place in their esteem; you have often received tokens of their affection; you now possess the only proof that remained of their gratitude for your services, of their reverence for your wisdom, and of their confidence in your virtues. You enjoy the highest, because the truest honour, of being the First Magistrate, by the unanimous choice of the freest people on the face of the earth.

"We well know the anxieties with which you must have obeyed the summons, from the repose reserved for your declining years, into publick scenes, of which you had taken your leave for ever; but the obedience was due to the occasion. It is already applauded by the universal joy which welcomes you to your station, and we cannot doubt that it will be rewarded with all the satisfaction, with which an ardent love for your fellow citizens must review successful efforts to promote their happiness.

"This anticipation is not justified merely by the past experience of your signal services. It is particularly suggested by the pious impressions under which you commence your administration, and the enlightened maxims by which you mean to conduct it. We feel with you the strongest obligations to adore the in

visible hand which has led the American people through so many difficulties, to cherish a conscious responsibi lity for the destiny of republican liberty, and to seek the only sure means of preserving and recommending the precious deposite in a system of legislation, founded on the principles of an honest policy, and directed by the spirit of a diffusive patriotism.

"The question arising out of the fifth article of the Constitution will receive all the attention demanded sy its importance, and will, we trust, be decided under the influence of all the considerations to which you allude.

"In forming the pecuniary provisions for the executive department, we shall not lose sight of a wish resulting from motives which give it a peculiar claim to our regard. Your resolution, in a moment critical to the liberties of your country, to renounce all personal emolument, was among the many presages of your patriotick services, which have been amply fulfilled; and your scrupulous adherence now to the law then imposed on yourself, cannot fail to demonstrate the purity, whilst it increases the lustre of a character, which has so many titles to admiration.

"Such are the sentiments with which we have thought fit to address you. They flow from our own hearts, and we verily believe, that among the millions we represent, there is not a virtuous citizen whose heart will disown them.

"All that remains is, that we join in your fervent supplications for the blessings of Heaven on our country; and that we add our own for the choicest of those blessings on the most beloved of her citizens."

While waiting the movements of the Legislature, the President endeavoured fully to acquaint himself with the state of publick affairs, and for this purpose, he called upon those who had been the heads of depart ments under the confederation, to report to him the situation of their respective concerns. He also, hav

ing consulted with his friends, adopted a system for the order of his own household, for the regulation of his hours of business, and of intercourse with those who, in a formal manner, visited him as the Supreme Magistrate of the nation.

He publickly announced that neither visits of business nor ceremony would be expected on Sunday, as he wished to reserve this day sacredly to himself. Other regulations, adopted at this time, were at a subsequent period complained of as partaking too much of monarchical customs. To a friend in Virginia, who had made known these complaints, the President gave the following reasons for their adoption.

"While the eyes of America, perhaps of the world, are turned to this government, and many are watching the movements of those who are concerned in its administration, I should like to be informed through so good a medium, of the publick opinion of both men and measures, and of none more than myself:-not so much of what may be thought commendable parts, if any, of my conduct, as of those which are conceived to be of a different complexion. The man who means to commit no wrong, will never be guilty of enormities, consequently can never be unwilling to learn what are ascribed to him as foibles. If they are really such, the knowledge of them, in a well disposed mind, will go half way towards a reform. If they are not errours, he can explain and justify the motives of his actions. At a distance from the theatre of action, truth is not always related without embellishments, and sometimes is entirely perverted, from a miscon ception of the causes which produced the effects that are the subject of censure.

"This leads me to think that a system which I found it indispensably necessary to adopt upon my first com. ing to this city, might have undergone severe strictures, and have had motives, very foreign from those that governed me, assigned as the causes thereof-I

[1789. mean first, returning no visits; second, appointing certain days to receive them generally, (not to the exclusion, however, of visits on any other days under particular circumstances) and third, at first entertaining no company, and afterwards (until I was unable to entertain any at all) confining it to official characters. A few days evinced the necessity of the two first in so clear a point of view, that had I not adopted it, I should have been unable to have attended to any sort of business, unless I had applied the hours allotted to rest and refreshment to this purpose; for by the time I had done breakfast, and thence until dinner, and afterwards until bed time, I could not get relieved from the ceremony of one visit, before I had to attend to another. In a word, I had no leisure to read or to answer the despatches that were pouring in upon me from all quarters.

"Before the custom was established, which now accommodates foreign characters, strangers, and others, who, from motives of curiosity, respect to the Chief Magistrate, or any other cause, are induced to call upon me, I was unable to attend to any business whatsoever. For 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. This, as I resolved not to neglect my publick duties, reduced me to the choice of one of these alternatives; either to refuse them altogether, or to appropriate a time for the reception of them. The first would, I well knew, be disgusting to many; the latter, I expected, would undergo animadversions from those who would find fault with or without cause. To please every body was impossible. I therefore adopted that line of conduct which combined publick advantage with private convenience, and which in my judgment was unexceptionable in itself.

"These visits are optional. They are made with out invitation. Between the hours of three and four