were appointed to notify them of their election, Charles Thompson being sent to inform General Washington, and Sylvanus Bourn to notify Mr. Adams.

On the 8th of April, Samuel Alyne Otis was elected Secretary of the Senate.

It was subsequently determined that the terms for which the President, Vice President, and Senators were respectively chosen, did, according to the Constitution, commence on the 4th of March, 1789.

The Senators were classified into three classes-one class to hold for two years, one for four years, and the other for six years; and on the 15th of May the classes were determined by lot. In the first class, fell William Maclay, the compiler of the subsequent journal, and his term expired on the 4th of March, 1791.

It was also determined that whenever a vacancy shall happen in the Senate or House of Representatives, and an election be held to fill the vacancy, the person elected shall not be entitled to hold his seat beyond the term for which the Senator or Representative, in whose stead he was elected, would, if the vacancy had not happened, have been entitled to hold a seat.

The Mayor of the city of New York offered the City Hall as the place of meeting of the Senate, and it was accepted. On the 16th of April, on the part of the Senate, Mr. Langdon, Mr. Carroll, and Mr. Johnson were appointed to wait on the President, and Mr. Ellsworth and Mr. Dalton to wait on the Vice President. A committee was appointed to report on the mode of communication between the two Houses, and to confer with such committee as may be appointed by the House for the purpose.

In relation to the installation of the Vice President, the Senate Journal of April 21, is as follows:

The committee appointed to conduct the Vice President to the Senate Chamber, executed their commission, and Mr. Langdon, the Vice President pro tempore, meeting the Vice President on the floor of the Senate Chamber, addressed him as follows:

SIR: I have it in charge from the Senate, to introduce you to the chair of this House; and also to congratulate you on your appointment to the office of Vice President of the United States of America. After which Mr. Langdon conducted the Vice President to the chair, when the Vice President addressed the Senate as follows:

GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE: Invited to this respectable situation by the suffrages of our fellow-citizens, according to the Constitution, I have thought it my duty, cheerfully and readily, to accept it. Unaccustomed to refuse any public service, however dangerous to my reputation, or disproportioned to my talents, it would have been

inconsistent to have adopted another maxim of conduct at this time, when the prosperity of the country and the liberties of the people require, perhaps, as much as ever, the attention of those who possess any share of the public confidence.

I should be destitute of sensibility, if, upon my arrival in this city, and presentation to this Legislature, and especially to this Senate, I could see, without emotion, so many of those characters of whose virtuous exertions I have so often been a witness; from whose countenances and examples I have ever derived encouragement and animation; whose disinterested friendship has supported me in many interesting conjunctures of public affairs, at home and abroad; those celebrated defenders of the liberties of this country, whom menaces could not intimidate, corruption seduce, or flattery allure; those intrepid assertors of the rights of mankind, whose philosophy and policy have enlightened the world in twenty years more than it was ever before enlightened in many centuries by ancient schools or modern universities.

I must have been inattentive to the course of events, if I were ignorant of the fame, or insensible to the merit of those other characters in the Senate to whom it has been my misfortune to have been hitherto personally unknown.

It is with satisfaction that I congratulate the people of America on the formation of a National Constitution, and the fair prospect of a consistent administration of a government of laws; on the acquisition of a House of Representatives chosen by themselves, of a Senate thus composed by their own State Legislatures, and on the prospect of an executive authority in the hands of one whose portrait I shall not presume 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 those great qualities and their benign effects, has Providence marked

out the head of the nation, with a hand so distinctly visible as to have been seen by all men, and mistaken by none.

It is not for me to interrupt your deliberations by any general observations on the state of the nation, or by recommending or proposing any particular measure. It would be superfluous to gentlemen of your great experience, to urge the necessity of order. It is only necessary to make an apology for myself. Not wholly without experience in public assemblies, I have been more accustomed to take a share in their debates, than to preside in their deliberations. It shall be my constant endeavor to behave toward every member of this most honorable body with all that consideration, delicacy, and decorum, which becomes the dignity of his station and character, but if, from inexperience or inadvertency, anything should ever escape me inconsistent with propriety, I must entreat you, by imputing it to its true cause, and not to any want of respect, to pardon and excuse it.

A trust of the greatest magnitude is committed to this Legislature; and the eyes of the world are upon you. Your country expects from the results of your deliberations, in concurrence with the other branches of Government, consideration abroad, and contentment at home-prosperity, order, justice, peace, and liberty. And may God Almighty's providence assist you to answer their just expectations.

On the 23d of April the committee. who consisted of Mr. Strong, Mr. Izard, and Mr. Lee, appointed on the 16th to report a mode of communication between the two Houses with respect to papers, bills, and messages, reported that they had conferred with a committee of the House, and had agreed to the following report:

When a bill or other message shall be sent from the Senate to the House of Representatives, it shall be carried by the Secretary, who shall make one obeisance to the Chair on entering the door of the House of Representatives, and another on delivering it at the table into the hands of the Speaker. After he shall have delivered it, he shall make an obeisance to the Speaker, and repeat it as he retires from the House.

When a bill shall be sent up by the House of Representatives to the Senate, it shall be carried by two members, who, at the bar of the Senate, shall make their obeisance to the President, and thence, advancing to the Chair, make a second obeisance, and deliver it into the hands of the President. After having delivered the bill they shall make their obeisance to the President, and repeat it as they retire from the bar. The Senate shall rise on the entrance of the members within the bar, and continue standing until they retire.

All other messages from the House of Representatives shall be carried by one member, who shall make his obeisance, as above mentioned; but the President of the Senate alone shall rise.

Read and accepted.

The report of the joint committee was not adopted in the House of Representatives. It appears from the Journal of the House of the 23d of April, that the report of the committee was ordered to lie on the table, and on the 24th was recommitted to the same committee; and that on the 28th of April Mr. Richard Bland Lee, from that committee, reported as follows:

When a message shall be sent from the Senate to the House of Representatives, it shall be announced at the door of the House by the Doorkeeper, and shall be respectfully communicated to the Chair by the person by whom it may be sent.

The same ceremony shall be observed when a message shall be sent from the House of Representatives to the Senate.

Messages shall be sent by such persons as a sense of propriety in each House may determine to be proper.

The said report was twice read; and on the question put thereupon, agreed to by the House.

On the 23d of April, on motion in the Senate, it was

"Resolved, That a committee, consisting of three members, be appointed to consider and report what style or titles it will be proper to annex to the office of President and Vice President of the United States, if any other than those given in the Constitution. Also to consider of the time, place, and manner in which, and the person by whom the oath prescribed by the Constitution shall be administered to the President, and to confer thereon with such committee as the House of Representatives shall appoint for that purpose."

Mr. Lee, Mr. Izard, and Mr. Dalton were chosen.

It would appear from the memorandum of Mr. Maclay, under date of the 8th May, that on the 23d of April, the day on which the resolution on the subject of titles was proposed, Mr. Adams, the Vice President, (this being the second day after his installation as President of the Senate,) addressed the Senate in favor of titles, and that Mr. Maclay replied, resting his objections on the Constitution.

General Washington was met at Elizabethtown, in New Jersey, on the 23d day of April, by the committees of the Senate and House, and was escorted to the city of New York, where he arrived about three o'clock in the afternoon of that day, and was conducted to the house appointed for his residence.

On the 24th of April, the commission of the committee with regard to titles was re-considered in the Senate; and a motion was made

that the words "what titles it will be proper to annex to the offices of President and Vice President of the United States, if any, other than those given in the Constitution," be struck out; but it was negatived. On motion, the words "style or," before title, were added.

On the Journal of the House of Representatives, under date of April 24, it is stated, that "the Speaker laid before House a letter from the Vice President of the United States, enclosing a resolution of the Senate, appointing a committee to consider and report what style or titles it will be proper to annex to the office of President and Vice President of the United States, if any other than those given in the Constitution; also to consider of the time, place and manner in which, and the person by whom the oath prescribed by the Constitution shall be administered to the President; and to confer thereon with such committee as this House should appoint for that purpose. Whereupon, ordered that a committee, to consist of five members, be appointed for the purpose expressed in the resolution of the Senate. The members elected were Messrs. Benson, Ames, Madison, Carroll, and Sherman.

On the 25th the Right Reverend Samuel Provost was elected Chaplain of the Senate.

A letter from Charles Thomson, Esq., dated the 24th of April, 1789, directed to the President of the Senate, purporting his having delivered to Gen. Washington the certificate of his being elected President of the United States, was read, and ordered to be filed.

On the same day the committee appointed to consider of the time, and place, and manner in which, and of the person by whom the oath prescribed by the Constitution shall be administered to the President of the United States, and to confer with a committee of the House appointed for that purpose, report:

That the President has been pleased to signify to them, that any time or place which both Houses may think proper to appoint, and any manner which shall appear most eligible to them, will be convenient and acceptable to him. They further reported that requisite preparation cannot probably be made before Thursday next; that the President be, on that day, formally received by both Houses in the Senate chamber; that the Representatives' chamber being capable of receiving the greater number of persons, that, therefore, the President do take the oath in that place, and in the presence of both Houses. That after the formal reeception of the President in the Senate chamber, he be attended by both Houses to the Representatives' chamber, and that the oath be administered by the chancellor of the State of New York.