ticularly against congress, the government of the Union was grossly insulted, and those who administered it were blockaded for several hours in the discharge of their duties, by an armed band. Fearing lest the authorities of Pennsylvania might not be able to furnish adequate protection, it adjourned to meet within a few days at Princeton,-sending information, in the meantime, to Washington, of this outbreak. The latter immediately sent fifteen hundred men under General Howe to suppress the mutiny; but before the detachment could reach Philadelphia, the mutiny was in a great degree subdued, and fortunately without bloodshed.

When once the subject of definitely fixing upon a location for the seat of government was before congress and the people, the question seemed to overshadow all others. Being in session at Princeton, under the circumstances above narrated, it was resolved by congress that a building for the national legislature be erected near the Falls of the Delaware.

The commissioners to lay out a town on the Delaware reported their proceedings to congress, but no further steps were taken to carry the resolution into effect. Some were very strenuous for New York, others proposed some convenient place on the banks of the Susquehanna. To the latter proposition, southern members, among whom was Mr. Madison, were unalterably opposed. All admitted the importance of the step to be taken, involving, perhaps, the perpetuity of the government itself.

At length, a compact respecting the temporary and permanent seat of government was entered into between the friends of Philadelphia, and the Potomac, whereby it was stipulated that congress should hold its sessions in Philadelphia, for ten years, during which time, buildings for the accommodation of the government should be erected at some place, to be selected, on the Potomac, and which latter should become, on the expiration of the ten years, the permanent capital of the nation. This compromise having united

the representatives of Pennsylvania and Delaware with the friends of the Potomac, in favor both of the temporary and permanent locality which had been mutually agreed on between them, a majority was thus finally secured in favor of the project, and a bill which was brought into the senate in conformity with this arrangement, passed both houses by small majorities, though, according to Judge Marshall, these majorities would have been larger, if necessary.

But, as the final compromise briefly recorded above shows, the die was cast, at last, to mutual satisfaction. How this was brought about, Jefferson's graphic, and, it may be, highly-colored portraiture of the closing hour and result of the struggle will give some idea: 'The eastern members particularly, who, with Smith from South Carolina, were the principal gamblers in these scenes, threatened secession and dissolution. Hamilton was in despair. As I was going to the president's, one day, I met him in the street. He walked me backwards and forwards before the president's door for half an hour. He painted pathetically the temper into which the legislature had been wrought; the disgust of those who were called the creditor states; the danger of the secession of their members, and the separation of the states. He observed that the members of the administration ought to act in concert; that though this question was not of my department, yet a common duty should make it a common concern; that the president was the center on which all administration questions ultimately rested, and that all of us should rally around him, and support, with joint efforts, measures approved by him; and that the question having been lost by a small majority only, it was probable that an appeal from me to the judgment and discretion of some of my friends, might effect a change in the vote, and the machine of government, now suspended, might be again set into motion. I told him that I was really a stranger to the whole subject; that not having yet informed myself of the system of finance adopted, I

knew not how far this was a necessary sequence; that undoubtedly, if its rejection endangered a dissolution of our Union at this incipient stage, I should deem that the most unfortunate of all consequences, to avert which all partial and temporary evils should be yielded. I proposed to him, however, to dine with me the next day, and I would invite another friend or two, bring them into conference together, and I thought it impossible that reasonable men, consulting together coolly, could fail, by some mutual sacrifices of opinion, to form a compromise which was to save the Union. The discussion took place. I could take no part in it but an exhortatory one, because I was a stranger to the circumstances which should govern it. But it was finally agreed, that whatever importance had been attached to the rejection of this proposition, the preservation of the Union and of concord among the states, was more important, and that, therefore, it would be better that the vote of rejection should be rescinded, to effect which some members should change their votes. But it was observed that this pill would be peculiarly bitter to the southern states, and that some concomitant measure should be adopted to sweeten it a little to them. There had before been projects to fix the seat of government either at Philadelphia, or at Georgetown on the Potomac; and it was thought that, by giving it to Philadelphia for ten years, and to Georgetown permanently afterwards, this might, as an anodyne, calm in some degree the ferment which might be excited by the other measure alone. So two of the Potomac members (White and Lee, but White with a revulsion of stomach almost convulsive) agreed to change their votes, and Hamilton undertook to carry the other point. In doing this, the influence he had established over the eastern members, with the agency of Robert Morris with those of the middle states, effected his side of the engagement.' Thus it was that the assumption-bill was passed, and thus it was that the far more important measure was enacted, which provided

"That a district of territory on the river Potomac, at some place between the mouths of the eastern branch and the Connogocheague, be, and the same is hereby, accepted, for the permanent seat of the government of the United States." In enduring honor of the father of his country, the name given to the projected city was WASHINGTON.

From the beginning, General Washington advocated the site which was finally fixed upon, and its establishment there was due in a large measure to his counsels and influence. It is related, though somewhat questionable, that during the hot and angry discussion on the subject, in congress, pending the determination of a locality, a person who was in company with Washington remarked, one day,

"I know very well where the federal city ought to be."

"Where then would you put it, sir?" was the serene inquiry of Washington. "It ought to be located in Philadelphia," was the reply.

Why are you sure it should be there?" "For the most satisfactory of all reasons," was the sinister answer; "because nearly the whole of my property lies there and in the neighborhood."

In stern silence did Washington fasten his eye upon the man who thus dared the insolent insinuation that the president favored the location of the capital in its present site because it was near his Mount Vernon estates; and the offender soon vanished out of sight.

Another little anecdote in this connection will be here given, as showing that no sea is free from ripples." It was for many years traditional in the federal capital, that one man was found not awed by the presence of the great founder of that city. While the president was procuring the ground which was to be the seat of government, he had but little difficulty in obtaining the necessary releases, except in one instance. Mr. James Byrnes was the owner of a lot or tract which it was advisable should be included in the plan. The general had various conferences with Mr.

Byrnes was not at all crushed by this peculiar flanking argument on the part of the general; but, undismayed, coolly turned to him and said,—

"George Washington, what would you have been worth if you had not married the widow Custis?"

It will not do to judge of the nation's metropolis at that day by what it is now. At that time it was desolate in the extreme, with its long unimproved avenues and streets, its deep morasses, and its vast area covered with trees instead of houses. Mrs. Adams, the wife of President John Adams, who first occupied the White House, in writing to a friend regarding the city and the presidential mansion at that period, says: In the city are buildings enough, if they were compact and finished, to accommodate congress and those attached to it, but as they are, I see no great comfort in them. The river, which runs up to Alexandria, is in full view of my window, and I can see the vessels as they pass and re-pass. The house is upon a grand and superb scale, requiring about thirty servants to attend. and keep the apartments in proper order, and perform the ordinary business of the house and stables; an establishment very well proportioned to the president's salary. The lighting the apartments, from the kitchen to the parlors and chambers, is a tax indeed; and the fires we are obliged to keep, to secure us from daily agues, is another very cheering comfort. To assist us in this great castle, and render less attendance necessary, bells are wholly wanting, not one being hung through the whole house, and promises are all we can obtain. This is so great an inconvenience

that I know not what to do, or how to do. If they will put me up some bells, and let me have wood enough to keep fires, I design to be pleased. I could content myself anywhere three months, but surrounded by forests, can you believe that wood is not to be had, because people can not be found to cut and cart it? Briesler entered into a contract with a man to supply him with wood. A small part, a few cords only, has he been able to get. Most of that was expended to dry the walls of the house before we came in, and yesterday the man told him it was impossible for him to procure it to be cut and carted. He has had recourse to coals; but we can not get grates made and set. We have indeed come into a new country.' These and kindred inconveniences were naturally incident to the new order of things; they were only temporary.

As has already appeared, it was reserved to Washington's immediate successor in the presidential office, to be the first occupant of the executive mansion. Nevertheless, the superintending mind and hand of Washington are broadly identified with the conception not only of that elegant building, but of the capitol and other government structures. On the fifteenth day of April, 1791, the Hon. Daniel Carroll and Dr. David Stewart superintended the fixing of the first corner-stone of the District of Columbia, at Jones's Point, near Alexandria; it was laid with all the usual masonic ceremonies, an address being also delivered on the occasion by Rev. James Muir. "May this stone," said the orator, "long commemorate the goodness of God in those uncommon events which have given America a name among nations. Under this stone may jealousy and selfishness be forever buried. From this stone may a superstructure arise whose glory, whose magnificence, whose stability, shall astonish the world." The south-east corner-stone of the capitol was laid by President Washington, September eighteenth, 1793, with appropriate services, principal among which was the act of the commissioners, in their official capacity,

"This south-east corner-stone of the Capitol of the United States of America, in the city of Washington, was laid on the 18th day of September, 1793, in the eighteenth year of American Independence, in the first year of the second term of the presidency of George Washington, whose virtues in the civil administration of his country have been as conspicuous and beneficial as his military valor and prudence have been useful in establishing her liberties, and in the year of Masonry 5793, by the President of the United States, in concert with the Grand Lodge of Maryland, several lodges under its jurisdiction, and Lodge No. 22 from Alexandria, Virginia."

In the summer of 1800, the archives of the government were removed from Philadelphia to Washington, and, the ensuing November, the north wing of the capitol was ready for the first sitting of congress in the new metropolis. John Cotton

gress from Connecticut, speaking of the new city on his arrival there, says: 'I can not sufficiently express my admiration of its local position.'

It was at this session that formal recognition was made of the great national event of the founding and establishment of the national capital, by mutual congratulatory addresses between the chief magistrate of the republic on the one part, and the senate and house of representatives on the other.

A more beautiful site for a large city could scarcely have been selected. On a level plain some three miles in length, and varying from a quarter to two miles wide, and extending from the banks of the Potomac to a range of hills bounding the plain on the east, the new city was laid out. The idea of General Washington was that the capitol should be the center of the city, and that avenues should radiate from it at equi-distant points. To complete his plan, the metropolis should have a million of inhabitants, instead of