more than two years were ineffectual. In a fit of despondence, while the revolutionary war was pressing, he had been authorized to agree "to relinquish, and in future forbear to use the navi. gation of the river Missisippi, from the point where it leaves the United States, down to the ocean." After the war was ended, a majority of Congress had agreed to barter away for twenty five years, their claim to this navigation. A long and intricate negotiation between Mr. Gardoqui, the minister of his Catholic Majesty, and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, had taken place at New York, in the interval between the establishment of peace and of the new constitution of the United States; but was rendered abortive from the inflexible adherence of Mr. Gardoqui to the exclusion of the citizens of the United States from navigating the Missisippi below their southern boundary. This unyielding disposition of Spain, the inability of the United States to assert their claims to the navigation of this river, and especially the facility which the old Congress had shown to recede from it for a term of years, had soured the minds of the western settlers. Their impatience transported them so far beyond the bounds of policy, that they sometimes dropped hints of separating from the Atlantic States, and attaching themselves to the Spaniards. In this critical state of things, the president found abundant exercise for all his prudence. The western inhabitants were, in fact, thwarting his views in their favour, and encouraging Spain to persist in refusing that free navigation, which was so ardently desired both by the

scenes of which you had taken your leave for ever. But 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 fellowcitizens 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 invisible hand which has led the American people through so many difficulties; to cherish a conscious responsibility for the destiny of republican liberty; and to seek the only sure means of preserving and recommending the precious deposit in a system of legislation founded on the principles of an honest policy, and directed by the spirit of a diffusive patriotism.

"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 patriotic 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 citi-.. zen whose heart will disown them...

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

The president and Congress then attended on divine service.

In the evening a very ingenious and splendid show of fireworks was exhibited. Betwixt the fort and the Bowling Green stood conspicuous, a superb and brilliant transparent painting, in the centre of which was the portrait of the president, represented under the emblem of Fortitude; on his right hand was Justice, representing the Senate of the United States, and on his left Wisdom, representing the House of Representatives.

When Washington commenced his administration, the condition of the United States was so embarrassed as to excite many fears for the success of the new government. The treasury was empty. Large debts were due both by the old Congress and individuals to foreigners, and also from the United States to its own citizens, and from citizens to citizens. Every effort made by the former government to pay, or even to fund its debts, had failed, from the imbecility of the federal system. Great discontents prevailed in the United States, for the party opposed to the new constitution was strong and numerous. Several

of these were elected to seats in the new Congress. Some were clamorous for a new convention, and. the most moderate for amendments of what had been ratified. Two states, North Carolina and Rhode Island, by refusing an acceptance of the constitution, were without the pale of its opera

tions.

Animosities prevailed to a great degree between the United States and Great Britain. Each charged the other with a breach of their late treaty. In support of these charges, one party urged the severities practised toward the loyalists, and that some of the states had interposed legal impediments to the recovery of debts due to British subjects. The other recriminated by alleging, that the British, on their departure from the United States, had carried off with them several thousands of negroes belonging to the Americans; and continued to possess sundry posts within the acknowledged limits of the United States; and that from these posts they encouraged and instigated the neighbouring Indians to make war on their northwestern frontier settlements. Spain, from the circumstance of their owning the land on each side of the mouth of the Missisippi, claimed the exclusive navigation of that river; while the western inhabitants of the United States looked to their country for a vindication of their common right to the use of this highway of nature. The boundaries of the United States toward the territories of Spain in the south, and toward those of Britain in the northeast, were both unsettled and in dispute. The whole regular effective force of the United States, was less than six hundred men.

Their trade was restricted much more than when they formed a part of the British empire. They had neither money to purchase, nor a naval force to compel the friendship of the Barbary powers; and were therefore exposed to capture whenever they ventured to trade in the Mediterranean, the coasts of which offered the best markets for some of their valuable commodities.

The military strength of the northern Indians who inhabited the country between the Lakes, the Missisippi, and the Ohio, was computed at five thousand men, and of these fifteen hundred were at open war with the United States. The Creeks, in the southwest, who could bring six thousand fighting men into the field, were at war with Geor gia.

These were but a part of the embarrassments under which the United States laboured when Gen. Washington was called to the helm. The redress of most of them required legislative interference, as well as executive aid. To point out the particular agency of the president in removing these embarrassments, and generally meliorating the condition of the United States, is peculiarly the province of the biographer of Washington.

Congress having organized the great depart ments of government, it became the duty of the president to designate proper persons to fill them. In discharging this delicate and difficult trust, Washington kept himself free from every engagement, and uniformly declined giving decisive answers to applicants, having previously resolved to nominate persons to offices with a sole view to the public good, and to bring forward those who, up