in international law and diplomatic publications, including memoirs of diplomatic personages, biographies and maps. It, in connection with the historical manuscripts, has proven a mine of information for writers on American history and diplomacy.

Other bureaus are those of Foreign Commerce, for the compilation and publication of reports from consuls and others; and of Appointments, having charge of the papers connected with applications and nominations to office.

The Department of State publishes annually one or more volumes, entitled "Foreign Relations of the United States." These contain selections from the correspondence of the department with the diplomatic representatives of the United States abroad and with the foreign representatives resident in Washington, and constitute a fairly consecutive history of our diplomatic affairs. It is not, however, complete, as many documents are withheld because of their confidential character. The department also issues quite a number of publications compiled from the reports of consuls, which are of special value to the business interests of the country.

This department, which has done so much for the nation's prestige, deserves more liberal consideration than it has heretofore received from Congress. More adequate salaries should be allowed the secretary and his assistants, and the clerical force should be increased. It is now located in a building with two other departments, and is thereby restricted in its accommodations and dwarfed in its importance. In many

of the countries of Europe there are attached to the Department of Foreign Affairs elegantly furnished rooms, which are used for the sessions of international commissions, and also for official receptions, dinners, and other entertainments for foreign guests. The Department of State does not have a single room which it can place at the disposal of an international commission, and when such bodies assemble in the capital of the nation upon the invitation of our government, they are assigned to rooms in a hotel or a hired house.

Extravagance and display are not to be encouraged in a democratic government; but the people of this country would heartily approve of the erection of a public building expressly designed for this department, with suitable apartments for the reception and entertainment of international commissions, foreign guests, and other like purposes, as well as for the safe-keeping of, and ready access to, its invaluable historic treasures.

CHAPTER V.

THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF WASHINGTON AND ADAMS.

THE new form of government having been provided by the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the responsible duty of setting the government in motion under it devolved upon George Washington as President. It was natural that he should be summoned to this duty, not because as commander of its forces he had been the chief actor in achieving the independence of the country, but because he was among the first to discern that such a constitution was the only hope for its perpetuity, and by his great personal influence more than that of any other man was the Constitution made a reality. No man ever entered with a higher sense of responsibility upon the task which was to tax his wisdom, patience, and reputation to the utmost. In his inaugural address he said that no event could have filled him with greater anxiety than the notification of his election, and that the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of his countrymen called him awakened a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications; and as his first official act he made " fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who presides in the councils of nations, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of

the United States the government instituted by themselves." 1

A member of the first Congress, Fisher Ames, of Massachusetts, in describing the inaugural exercises, wrote: "It was a very touching scene, and quite of the solemn kind. His [Washington's] aspect, grave almost to sadness; his modesty, actually shaking; his voice deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to call for close attention; added to the series of objects presented to the mind, and overwhelming it, produced emotions of the most affecting kind upon the members." The French minister reported to his government: "Every one without exception appeared penetrated with veneration for the illustrious chief of the republic. The humblest was proud of the virtues of the man who was to govern him. Tears of joy were seen to flow in the hall of the Senate, at church, and even in the streets, and no sovereign ever reigned more completely in the hearts of his subjects than Washington in the hearts of his fellow-citizens. He had at once the soul, the look, and the figure of a hero."3

In organizing the executive departments, Washington called to his Cabinet three of his companions in arms, - Hamilton to the Treasury, Knox to the War portfolio, and Edmund Randolph to be Attorney-General; but the first place was reserved to the distinguished civilian who had borne the prominent part in framing the Declaration of Independence, and had done so

1 1 Richardson's Messages of the Presidents, 51.

21 Fisher Ames's Life and Work, 34.

8 2 Bancroft's Constitution of U. S. 363.

much to achieve the independence of the country. Thomas Jefferson, when chosen by the President to be his Secretary of State, was, as we have seen, absent in Paris as minister to France, and pending his return John Jay, who had been made Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was asked to continue in the conduct of foreign affairs, of which he had had charge during the last years of the Confederation.

1

Jefferson's residence in Paris led him to form opinions which had an important influence on his later public career. He became an ardent admirer of the French people and an enthusiastic champion of the French Revolution. He came to entertain an intense hatred of the English people and all things connected with them, except their government, the excellence of which he recognized. In a visit to London he was presented to the king and queen, and he reports, "It was impossible for anything to be more ungracious than their notice of Mr. Adams and myself." He adds: "That nation hates us, their ministers hate us, and their king more than all other men.' 2 Again he writes: the English "require to be kicked into common good manners.' He carried this early formed hatred into his later public life, and seldom omitted an opportunity to show his resentment towards what he termed "the harlot England." But in his old age, after he had been long out of office, he seems to have undergone a change of sentiment. In a letter written to President Monroe in 1823, replying to one from the President about the wisdom of promulgating his famous "Doctrine" against Euro1 1 Writings of Jefferson (Ford), 89.

2 4 Ib. 214.