"I beg leave to add, sir, that, both from duty and inclination, I shall omit nothing in my power to contribute to your own personal happiness and that of the friends whom, on this occasion, you represent, as long as you may continue among us."

The other ministers, with their secretaries, and the persons attached to their respective missions, were then successively presented to the president. The Russian minister was prevented from being present, by indisposition; but on the 12th of March he was presented to the president, by the secretary of state, and to his address on the occasion, the president replied as follows:-

"I receive, sir, the congratulations which you offer me in your capacity of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the emperor of all the Russias, upon my election to the presidency of the United States, with great pleasure.

"From the epoch which introduced the United States to the world as an independent nation, the most amicable relations have existed between them and the powerful and distinguished monarchs who have successively swayed the sceptre of Russia. The presidents, my predecessors, acting in behalf and under the authority of the people, their constituents, have never failed to use every proper occasion to confirm and strengthen the friendship so auspiciously commenced, and which a mutuality of interests, render so desirable to be continued. I assure you, sir, that none of them felt the obligations of this duty more powerfully than I do; and you can not in language too strong communicate to your august monarch my sentiments on this subject. And permit me to add, that no more acceptable medium of communicating them could have been offered than that of a personage who has rendered himself so acceptable, as well to the people as to the government of the United States."

On the 17th of March, President Harrison issued his proclamation, calling an extra session of Congress, principally on account of the condition of the revenue and finances of the country, to be held on the last Monday, being the 31st day, of May ensuing.

The extra sessions of Congress called by the predecessors of General Harrison, since the organization of the government, were as follows: John Adams convened Congress on the 16th of May, 1797; Thomas Jefferson called the eighth Congress on the 17th of October, 1803, to provide for carrying the Louisiana treaty into effect, but that day was only about three weeks earlier than had been fixed by the preceding Congress; James Madison convened Congress on the 23d of May, 1809; also on the 25th of May, 1813; Martin Van Buren convened Congress on the 4th of September, 1837.

Mrs. Harrison did not accompany her husband to Washington, but remained at the homestead at North Bend, superintending the care of her numerous family, and intending to join the president at the seat of govVOL. II.-30

ernment in the course of the spring; but the family and the nation were destined soon to receive a mournful lesson upon the mutability of human affairs.

From the moment General Harrison was elected president, his heart was filled with gratitude to the people, to whom indeed he had always been devoted. Anxious to fulfil the wishes of his political friends, he received with kindness and attention the numerous applicants for office who thronged the seat of government; and although he would doubtless have been better pleased to have deferred many appointments for a time, yet a considerable number of removals were made by him, and appointments made, in compliance with the views of the cabinet, during the month of March. In the generosity of his heart, he invariably opened the doors of the president's mansion wide to the reception of his friends, and that house was the abode of hospitality and kindness. He indulged his friends to his own destruction. From sunrise till midnight, he indulgently devoted himself to his fellow-citizens who visited him, with the exception of an hour each day spent in cabinet council. It was his habit, after rising, first to peruse his bible, and then to take a walk before breakfast. And afterward, the whole day would be spent in receiving company and transacting business.

On Saturday, March 27, President Harrison, after several days previous indisposition from the effects of a cold, was seized with a chill and other symptoms of fever. These were followed by pneumonia, or bilious pleurisy, which ultimately baffled all medical skill, and terminated his virtuous, useful, and illustrious life, on Sunday morning, the 4th of April, after an illness of eight days, being a little over 68 years of age.

The last time the president spoke was at nine o'clock on Saturday 'night, a little more than three hours before he expired. While Doctor Worthington and one or two other attendants were standing over him, having just administered something to his comfort, he cleared his throat, as if desiring to speak audibly, and, as though he fancied himself addressing his successor, or some official associate in the government, said: "SIR, I WISH YOU TO UNDERSTAND THE PRINCIPLES OF THE GOVERNMENT. I WISH THEM CARRIED OUT. I ASK NOTHING MORE."

He expired a little after midnight, surrounded by those members of his family who were in the city, the members of his cabinet and many personal friends, among whom were Colonels Chambers and Todd, who were the aids of General Harrison at the battle of the Thames, in 1813. The connexions of the president who were present in the executive mansion at the time of his decease, were the following: Mrs. William Harrison (son's widow); Mrs. Taylor, of Richmond (niece); Mr. D. O. Coupeland (nephew); Henry Harrison, of Virginia (grand nephew), and Findlay Harrison, of Ohio (grandson).

The general feeling throughout the country was thus eloquently por

trayed in the National Intelligencer of April 9, 1841, which contained an account of the funeral::

"Never, since the time of Washington, has any one man so concentrated upon himself the love and confidence of the American people; and never, since the melancholy day which shrouded a nation in mourning for his sudden death, has any event produced so general and so profound a sensation of surprise and sorrow.

"So brief had been the late president's illness, that now, as in the case of Washington, there had scarce been time for us to begin to fear, when the stunning blow of the reality fell upon us like the stroke of thunder from a cloudless sky. Men looked aghast, and staggered, as if amazed by something they could scarce believe. But it was true. He who, with beaming countenance, passed along our streets in the joy of his hearthe, the welcome, the long-expected, the desired, on whom all eyes were fastened, to whom all hearts went out; who had within him more stirring subjects of exhilarating consciousness than have met in any single bosom since Washington was crowned with wreaths as he came back from Yorktown, was, on Wednesday last, within one month, one little month,' borne along that same crowded avenue-crowded, not as before, with a jubilant people gathered from every quarter of the country, but with sincerely sorrowing multitudes following his bier. When the words, the president is dead,' met the ear, the man of business dropped his pen, the artisan dropped his tools-children looked into the faces of their parents, and wives into the countenances of their husbands-and the wail of sorrow arose as if each had lost a parent, or some near and dear friend. Could General Harrison now look down on the land he loved, he might, indeed, 'read his history in a nation's eyes;' and those whose bosoms glow and struggle with high purposes and strong desires for their country's good, may learn in what they now behold, wherever they turn their eyes, how glorious a reward awaits the memory of those who faithfully serve their country!"

On Wednesday, the 7th of April, the funeral of President Harrison took place at Washington, and was attended by an immense concourse of citizens, who thronged to the city from Baltimore, Philadelphia, Alexandria, and other places, anxious to join in the honors and solemnities paid to the memory of the illustrious deceased. The civic and military procession was large and imposing, occupying two miles in length. The funeral service of the episcopal church was recited by the Rev. Mr. Hawley. The body was interred in the congressional burying ground, but afterward removed to North Bend, Ohio, at the request of the family of General Harrison.

All party distinctions were merged in the feeling of respect due to the memory of the honored dead; and throughout the Union, funeral honors and other testimonials of public feeling, similar to those which took place on the death of General Washington, were awarded to the memory of Harrison. At every city, town, and village, in the Union, as the unwelcome

tidings of the death of the president arrived, it was received with every demonstration of mourning and regret, and followed immediately by such marks of respect as the several communities had it in their power to offer. Such legislative bodies as happened to be in session, were among the foremost to demonstrate their sympathy with the general impulse. That exhibited by the legislature of Maryland, in leaving the seat of the state government, and attending the funeral as an organized body, was among the most touching evidences of the kind. The Pennsylvania legislature deputed a number of members from each branch of that body, to proceed from Harrisburg to Washington, to attend the funeral. The legislature of New York adopted such measures as the occasion enabled them to do, to testify their feelings. The respective courts, wherever they were in session, officially united in the general expression, as did also the municipalities of all the principal cities and towns in the Union. The occasion was also appropriately noticed by the clergy of the different denominations.

General Harrison left one son and three daughters, all living at or near North Bend, Ohio. Four sons and a daughter died before their father. All of the sons left children.

In person, General Harrison was tall and slender. Although he never had the appearance of possessing a robust constitution, yet such had been the effects of habitual activity and temperance, that few men at his age enjoyed so much bodily vigor. He had a fine dark eye, remarkable for its keenness, fire, and intelligence, and his face was strongly expressive of the vivacity of his mind, and the benevolence of his character.

The most remarkable traits of General Harrison's character, and those by which he was distinguished throughout his whole career, were his disinterestedness, his regard for the rights and comforts of others, his generous disposition, his mild and forbearing temper, and his plain, easy, and unostentatious manner.

He had a most intimate knowledge of the history, and foreign and domestic polity of the United States; and from the moderation of his political views and feelings as a party man, although firm, frank, and consistent, he was well calculated for the high station to which he was elected, and which it is believed he would have filled with ability, and to the satisfaction of the public, during his presidential term, had his life been spared. His talents, although, perhaps, not of the highest order, were very respectable, and, united with an accurate knowledge of mankind, enabled him to acquit himself well in the various public stations to which he was called. He was a bold and eloquent orator; and he has left on record numerous evidences of his literary acquirements, among which, besides his correspondence and public papers, we may mention his discourse before the Historical Society of Ohio (on the aborigines of the valley of the Ohio), published at Cincinnati, in 1839, which can not fail to please and instruct either the scholar, the lover of history, or the antiquary.

HARRISON'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

MARCH 4, 1841.

CALLED from a retirement which I had supposed was to continue for the residue of my life, to fill the chief executive office of this great and free nation, I appear before you, fellow-citizens, to take the oath which the constitution prescribes as a necessary qualification for the performance of its duties. And in obedience to a custom coeval with our government, and what I believe to be your expectations, I proceed to present to you a summary of the principles which will govern me in the discharge of the duties which I shall be called upon to perform.

It was the remark of a Roman consul, in an early period of that celebrated republic, that a most striking contrast was observable in the conduct of candidates for offices of power and trust, before and after obtaining them --they seldom carrying out in the latter case the pledges and promises made in the former. However much the world may have improved, in many respects, in the lapse of upward of two thousand years since the remark was made by the virtuous and indignant Roman, I fear that a strict examination of the annals of some of the modern elective governments would develop similar instances of violated confidence.

But

Although the fiat of the people has gone forth, proclaiming me the chief magistrate of this glorious Union, nothing upon their part remaining to be done, it may be thought that a motive may exist to keep up the delusion under which they may be supposed to have acted in relation to my principles and opinions; and perhaps there may be some in this assembly who have come here either prepared to condemn those I shall now deliver, or, approving them, to doubt the sincerity with which they are uttered. the lapse of a few months will confirm or dispel their fears. The outline of principles to govern, and measures to be adopted by an administration not yet begun, will soon be exchanged for immutable history, and I shall stand, either exonerated by my countrymen, or classed with the mass of those who promised that they might deceive, and flattered with the intention to betray.

However strong may be my present purpose to realize the expectations of a magnanimous and confiding people, I too well understand the infirmities of human nature, and the dangerous temptations to which I shall be exposed, from the magnitude of the power which it has been the will of the people to commit to my hands, not to place my chief confidence upon the aid of that Almighty Power which has hitherto protected me, and enabled me to bring to favorable issues other important but still greatly inferior trusts, heretofore confided to me by my country.

The broad foundation upon which our constitution rests being the people -a breath of theirs having made, as a breath can unmake, change, or modify it-it can be assigned to none of the great divisions of government but to that of democracy. If such is its theory, those who are called upon