i:x'c:<'r'j;f'it<«;«;c;j:< mimnim i^AM^kklk^Vl^j^i f »•■■■< ^M'«^'''^«il 'rf '.•'i '^^'MU -/b A '%M«A^'^^ mJ^-^f: :r: k*»;>*Aiy ^i8trict of New Yui^. TO JOHN W. FEANCIS, M.D., LL. D. My Deae Dk. Francis : The following work was planned and its materials partially collected several years ago ; but the feehle and r -carious condition of my health presented its ox»<;ution until the present i^eason ; and now it has been wiitten in such haste and so rapidly prini.^ ; — each day's product of the pen l)eing" returned to me in prOof -sheets the following evening — that I hfivf; had little opporturdi^y for revisjnn or my thought of the graces of composition. From appearances of carelessness, however, you will readily perceive that one chapter, that entitled " The Convention," is exempt. For this I am indebted to one of the most justly eminent of contemporary scholars and men of letters, who kindly consented to assist me, after the book was- announced, and when there was very little prospect of my having sufficient strength to furnish any considerable portion of its contents. For the rest I alone am responsible ; and while regretting that it has so little merit of a purely literary character, I can claim for it the far more impor- tant excellence of a most exact adherence to truth. The subjects treated undoubtedly admitted of easy and striking embellishments of fancy, but it seemed to me that the volume would be, upon the whole, far more accepta- ble if in its preparation I confined myself in even the most trivial details of narrative, delineation, and suggestion, to what was clearly warranted by unquestionable authorities. And of such authorities, fortunately, I have had an ample collection. Besides those which are printed and accessible to every student of American history, I have had in my possession more than two thousand unpubhshed private letters, of which some three hundred were iv TO DR. FRANCIS. by Washington, and great numbers by Mrs. Adams, Mrs, Jay, Mrs. Cusb- ing, Mrs. Pinckney, the families of Wolcott, McKean, Livingston, Boudi- not, Willing, and others who participated in the life I have attempted to describe. It is not so much from a consideration of our long continued friend- ship, my dear Dr. Francis, that I inscribe tc you these pages, as from a desire suitably to recognize my indebtedness to those inexhaustible re- sources of minute and curious knowledge with which you are wont to instruct and delight the attached circle which gathers about you, in the intervals of that severe professional labor from which, after half a century from its commencement, the public, for your eminent abiKties, refuses to relieve you. You have retained to the age of nearly three-score years and ten all your native physical and intellectual vigor, a spirit as inquisitive, a memory as retentive, and a temper as genial and indomitable, as you possessed when the fathers and grandfathers of the new generation were your partners in youthful energy, and the heroes of the first and best age of the republic still lived to instruct the world from their experience. May God long preserve to you these qualities, and, to your friends, your wise conversation and the assurance of your unfailing happiness. K. "W. GRISWOLD. No. 22 West Twentt-Thikd Street, New-Yoek, October 20, 1854. CONTENTS. «♦« PAOH PEACE 1 IKE CGKYENTTON .37 TTTk YE,VT' '^^ ^'SPEKcE .... .77 THE TKDJUl'HAi. PEOtfjftESfe . . . . • .113 THE INAUGITEATION ......... 137 NEW YORK METROPOLITAN 147^ THE EASTERN TOUR 183 THE SEASON OF EIGHTY-NINE AND NINETY . . . .203 REMOVAL OF THE GOVERNMENT 231 SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA 253 THE SOUTHERN TOUR . .329 DISCONTENT AND SEDITION . .341 LIFE IN THE CAPITAL 365 THE CONCLUSION 413 APPENDIX 427 INDEX 457 PORTRAITS. PAINTED BY PAGB MRS. WASHINGTON J- woolaston « THOS. LINDALL WINTHROP gilbert sttjakt 10 ^. " WILLIAM DUER •« ALEXANDER HAMILTON R. earle S5 " JAMES MADISON gilbeet stoart 69 ■ « WILLIAM S. SMITH john singleton copley 91 ^. " JOHN JAY ROBERT EDGE PINE 9 ' no ^ " RUFUS KING JOHN trumbbll ^^^ " R^jXiPll IZARD THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH 139 •* JAMES BEEKMAN. 155 ^ " JOHN ADAMS c. schessele 169 ^ " HARRISON GRAY OTIS edward g. malbone. 183 " RICHARD CATON....^. .robert edge pine 209 ** • THOMAS M. RANDOLPH thomas sully « HENRY PHILLIPS 219 231 WALTER STEWART c. w. peale 253 " WILLIAM BINGHAM gilbert stuart. , " WILLIAM JACKSON gilbert stuart. ROBERT MORRIS c. \7. peale. 294^ 302* 308 - " THEODORE SEDGWICK w. stuart 326 -* » EDMUND C. GENET .• • S5l-» '« LAWRENCE LEWIS gilbert stuart. 369 - THE MARCHIONESS D'YRUJO gilbert stuart 388* MRS. CHAUNCEY GOODRICH 400 " CHARLES CARROLL. John teumbull 411 PEACE. I. At lengtli tlie struggle was ended. After eight years of san- guinary and doubtful war, came peace, at last, witli independence, acknowledgecT by tbe cMef masters of tbe world. On tlie nine- teentK of AprS, 1775, tLt- first blood- oi' ;Jution reddened tlie field of Lexirij,^< 'P. : un the nineteentii 1783, proclama- uoii was made of the treaty signed at Pari«. 'n the second of the following November, the veteran and victorious soldiers were disbanded, by order of Congress, their illustrious Chief having the previous day taken his final leave of them, invoking from their grateful country and the God of battles " ample justice here and the choicest of Heaven's favors both here and hereafter." Eight years of desolating war, though crowned with a triumph which only the most universal and profound patriotism, guided by wisdom almost superhuman, could have accomplished, had brought m theii' train so much suffering ; to so many housejiolds mourning for fathers, brothers, husbands, sons ; and with their conclusion a poverty so general and hopeless, that there was little of that tm-- ^ bulence of joy which a more sudden and less costly victory wouldng have excited. He who, scarred and poorly clothed, laid aside h^^ ^° 2 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. arms, and turning toward tlie liaunts of his cliildliood saw fielda wMcli had blossomed as the rose half obscured with a new wilder- ness, with perhaps a charred and silent ruin in the midst, must have felt keenly what seems now to be so commonly forgotten, the fearful price which had been paid for liberty. But then, lib- erty was secured, and, thankful for this, nearly every one deter- mined to carry content with his remaining energies into a labo- rious private life. On the eighteenth of November the British army retii'ed from New York, and the American troops, still in service, entered from an opposite dii^ection, General Washington and Governor Clinton riding at the head of the procession. These events caused, of course, a general joy in the city, and they were celebrated with the utmost enthusiasm. Governor Clinton gave public dinners", first to Washington and his companions in arms, and soon after to the French ambassador, tne Chevalier de la Luzerne. At the last there were present more than one hundred gentlemen, besides the Commander-in-Chief, with his general officers in the city, and the principal persons connected with the state government; and in the evening followed the most splendid display of fii-eworks, from the Bowling Green, that had ever been seen in America. The next day, the fourth of December, occurred the most sadly impressive scene in Washington's history. At noon the officers of the army assembled, according to his request, for a final parting, at Frauncis's tavern, in Broad street. We have a touching description of the scene, by an eye-witness. The Chief, with his customary punctual- ity, entered the room where his brave associates for so many years were assembled. His emotions were too strong to be concealed. Fillino- a glass, he turned to^them ^nd said : " With a heart full of ■"ove and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly, ish t«hat your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as PEACE. 3 your former ones have been glorious and lionorable." Having drank, lie added, " I cannot come to eacli of you to take my leave, but skaU be obliged if each of you will come and take me by tke hand." General Knox, being nearest, turned to Mm. Incapable of utterance, tke Chief embraced kim, witk tears, and in tke same affectionate manner ke bade farewell to eack succeeding officer. In every eye was tke tear of dignified sensibikty, and not a word interrupted tke eloquent silence. Leaving tke room, Tkatcker continues, ke j)assed tkrougk tke corps of Ligkt Infantry, and walked to Wkitekall, wkere a barge awaited to convey kim to Paulus Hook. Tke wkole company followed in mute and solemn procession, tkeir melanckoly countenances displaying emotions wkick cannot be described. Having entered tke barge, ke turned to kis friends, wko stood uncovered upon tke skore, and waving kis kat, bade tkem a silent adieu.* • * There are some allusions to these scenes ia an interesting letter, addressed to a friend at Albany, by one of the officers -who shared the last march of the revolutionary army. " I sup- pose," says the writer, " JIi-s. Denison told you the ne^vs, up to the time she left. You know all about our marching in. There has been nothing done since but rejoice, so far as general appear- ances go, and for my part, considering that we are finally free and independent, why, good God I what should I care for the looks of the old house — perfectly sacked, and in such a condition that if the little paper in my exchequer were turned into specie, I should not be able to give it the com- plexion it had when we quitted it. After all, since Henry was killed, it 's of no great consequence what we have suffered in property. K he were with me and the girls, why, we could make thing answer, in some way. Do n't suspect I think of placing these private troubles against the public good we have, and which will make up a thousand times to our children all we have lost ana endured. Every body now sees what a great character General Washington is. I have heard a good deal about the leave taking at Black Sam's. Happy as was the occasion, and prayed for as it was by him and all patriots, when he might feel that there was not an enemy in Ajnerica, it brought with it its sorrows, and I could hardly speak when I turned from taking my last look of him. It was extremely affecting. I do not think there ever were so many broken hearts in New York as there were that night. That cursed captain carried off Johnoon's girl, after ^••^ He never would think of such a thing you know. He feels down, down. I am suspicious he , -mil never be the man he was. The Cliief was told the story by General Knox, and he said he sincerely sympathized with Johnson. That is lilce him. He was always touched by every body's misforttmes. I saw him at the French minister's dinner. He looked considerably worn out, but v^ happy, though every now and then he seemed to be thinking what all this had cost, and regretting that one friend or another who had stood the fire had not lived to see the glorious end. As to 4 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. On Friday, the seventeentli of December, lie amved at An- napolis. Two years before, on bis way nortbward, be bad been received bere witb every bonor in tbe gift of tbe city, and bad deligbted tbe people by bis amenity, at a public dinner, and at a ball graced by tbe beauty and finest intelligence of tbe state. He was now met several miles from tbe capital, by Generals Gates and Smallwood, and a large concourse of distinguisbed citi- zens, wbo escorted bim to bis botel, amid discbarges of cannon, tbe display of banners, and every sign of popular respect and ad- mii'ation. On Monday, a dinner was given to bim by tbe members of Congress, at wbicb more tban two bundred persons were present, and in tbe evening be attended a gi'and ball,* in tbe state-bouse, wbicb was brilliantly illuminated. In reply to a speecb by tbe Mayor, just before be retired, be remarked, " If my conduct bas merited tbe confidence of my fellow-citizens, and bas been instrumental in obtaining for my country tbe blessings of p^ace and freedom, I owe it to tbat Supreme Being wbo guides tbe bearts of all, wbo bas so signally interposed bis aid in every stage of tbe contest, and wbo bas graciously been pleased to be- JohnsoD, he is not alone, by a vast many. These scamps could not conquer the men of this countiy, but every where they have taken the women, almost without a trial, damn them ! But as you say, it 's the girls that ought to be damned, who could not hold out against a spruce uniform, nor remember a brave heart. Well, it's their weakness. But I'm in the wrong if one of tliem who has taken a British husband does not rue it, for which, certainly, I shall not care." The unhappy influence of " spruce uniforms," so feelingly alluded to, was no mere fancy, and the public interests were not unfrequently made to suffer as deeply as the feelings of indi- viduals. In August, 1779, Governor Livingston wrote to his daughter Catherine, " The com- plaisance with which we treat the British prisoners, considering how they treat us when in captivity, of which you justly complain, is what the Congress can never answer to their con- stituents, however palliated with the specious name of humanity. It is thus that we shall be at last humanized out of our liberties. ... I know there are a number of flirts in Philadelphia, equally famed for their want of modesty and their want of patriotism, who will triumph in our over-complaisance to the red coat prisoners lately arrived in that metropolis. I hope none of my connections will imitate them, in the dress of their heads, or in the Tory feelings of their hearts." * The ball was opened by General Washington and Mrs. James Macubbin, one of the most beantiful women of the time. ^ . PEACE. 5 stow on me tlie greatest of earthly rewards, tlie approbation and affection of a free people." One more scene, among the most sublime in human history, and not less impressive than that of his separation from his companions in arms, awaited him before his retii'ement to private life. On the twenty-thii'd of December, according to a previous order, he was admitted to a public audience by the Congress, and soon after he was seated, the President, General Mifflin, informed him that that body was prepared to receive his communications. In a brief and appropriate speech he offered his congratulations on the termina- tion of the war, and having alluded to his object in appearing thus in that presence — that he might resign into the hands of Congress the trust committed to him, and claim the indulgence of retiring from the public service — ^he concluded : " I consider it an indispen- sable duty to close this last act of my official life, by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them to his holy keeping. Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the theatre of action, and bidding an affectionate farewell t6 this august hody, under whose orders I have so loi*g acted, I here offer my commission, and take my leave of all the employments of pubhc life." He then advanced and dehvered into the hands of the President his commission, with a copy of his address, and when he had resumed his place. General Mifflin replied, re^dewing in a few words the great career thus brought to a close, and saying in conclusion, " The glory of your virtues will not terminate with your military command : it will continue to animate the remotest ages. . . . We join' with you in commending the interests of om' country to Almighty God, heseeching Him to dispose the hearts and minds of its citizens to improve the opportunity afforded them of becoming a happy and respectable nation. And for you, we 6 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. addi'ess to Him our warmest prayers, tliat a life so beloved may be fostered with all Ms care, tliat your days may be as happy as they have been illustrious, and that he will finally give you that reward which this world cannot bestow." The editor of the Maryland Gazette, a journal which in this period was printed at Annapolis, remarks, after describing these affecting scenes : " Few tragedies ever drew so many tears, from so many beautiful eyes, as the moving manner in which his Excellency took his final leave of Congress. The next morning he set out for Virginia, accom- panied, as far as South River, by Governor Paca, with the warmest wishes of the city for his repose, health, and happiness. Long may he live to enjoy them ! " He arrived at his home the same even- ing, having been absent more than eight years and a half, during which time he had never been at his own house, except inciden- tally while on his way with Count Rochambeau to Yorktown, and in returning from that expedition. Here, for a while, we leave him, surrounded by his family, receiving every day some new homage from his grateful countrymen and from the noblest men of other nations, and occupied with those rural pursuits for which he had longed so many years, that we may take a brief sur- vey of the social condition of our principal cities after the termina- tion of the revolution. II. TuRiSTNG from the most credulous study of the half fabulous annals of ancient nations, to the history of our own country, for the period which is embraced in the memories of many who are still living, our reason falters iit astonishment; we instinctively regard with doubt and disbehef the unparalleled advance in popu- lation, wealth, power, and all the elements of gi'eatness, of those feeble and exhausted colonies, which in 1*783 were acknowledged PEACE. 7 to be independent states, and wliicli now constitute one of tlie first of the leading sovereignties of tlie world. Since Washington resigned his sword, at Annapolis, onr three millions of people have increased to thirty millions, and New York, with its suburbs, which since some of her present citizens arrived at the age of man- hood had but thirty thousand inhabitants, is now the third city in Christendom, likely at the next decennial census to have rank nearest to London, and at no distant period to take from even that great capital her long enjoyed supremacy, in numbers, riches, and magnificence. Boston contained at the close of the war about thir- teen thousand inhabitants, in IT 8 6 fourteen thousand and two hun- dred, and in 1789 eighteen thousand ; the population of New York had increased, when the federal government was inaugm'ated, to thirty-three thousand, of whom two thousand and three hundred were slaves ; and that of Philadelphia to forty-two thousand, of whom less than three hundred were slaves, and these probably for the most part owned by temporary residents. In each of these three cities, and indeed throughout the colonies, there was at the commencement of the war as much refinement of manners, with as generous a culture of the heart and the under- standing, as could be found perhaps in any foreign society. Many of the young men who were then coming forward had been edu- cated at Eton, Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh ; and om' own colleges of Harvard, Yale, Nassau Hall, and "William and Mary, and King's College in New York, were far more respectable for the character and learning of their professors, the judicious thorough- ness of their courses of instruction, and the gentlemanly discipline maintained in them, than is commonly supposed. Schools for young women also were very numerous, and some of them were widely known and most hberaUy supported. The most celebrated of these was the Moravian establishment at Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania, 8 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. where, in nun-like seclusion, were educated a large proportion of the belles who gave the fashionable circles of New York and Philadelphia their inspiration duiing the last twenty years of the century.* In Boston there was undoubtedly more real respectability than in any other town of its population in the British empire. It was the home of the families of Winthrop, variously illustrious from the foundation of the colony, and of Gushing, Quincy, Bowdoin, Dana, Prescott, and others of hereditary distinction ; and here lived the " silver tongued orator " Samuel Cooper, and Samuel Adams, John Adams, Joseph Warren, James Otis, John Hancock, John Singleton Copley, and a great number besides who became honorably conspicuous in history. Except in letters, in which the names of Dana and Prescott have reappeared with additional splendors, Boston has never since, notwithstanding her growth in numbers, magnificence, and means and displays of refinement, presented a more remarkable array of dignified character and eminent abilities. We have some ghmpses of the social life of Boston at the close of the war, in the entertaining memoirs of the Marquis de Chas- tellux, who went the round of fashionable gayeties here in 1782. He noticed the prevalence in society of a certain "ton of ease and freedom," but thought the gentlemen awkward dancers, particularly in the minuet. The women were well-dressed, but with less elegance than those of Philadelphia. The assembly room was superb, in a good style of architecture, well decorated and well lighted — much superior to that of the Philadelj^hia City Tavern. He di*auk tea * " I have seen a remarkable institution for the education of young ladies, at Bethlehem. About one hundred and twenty of them live together under the same roof; they sleep all together, in the same garret ; I saw one hundred and twenty beds, in two long rows, in the same room ; the beds and bedclothes were all of excellent quality, and extremely neat. How should you like to live in such a nunnery?" — John Adams, to his daughter, March 17, 1777. PEACE. 9 at Mr. Bowdoin's and was tliere witli a supper party of twenty of tlie select people of tlie city * Tlje next day, with the Marquis de Vaudreuil, lie dined at Mr. Breck's, where, among some thirty per- sons, he encountered Mi's. Tudor, who knew French perfectly, and was possessed of understanding, grace, and delicacy, and Mrs. Mor- ton, who, besides speaking French, was a poetess of no mean cele- brity. Soon after he attended the Tuesday evening Club, which is still in existence, at the end of more than a century from its commencement ; and calling again at Mr. Bowdoin's, his admiration was kindled at the sight of that gentleman's beautiful grand-daugh- ter, the eldest child of Lady Temple, " an angel in the disguise of * Francis Jean, Marquis de Cliastellux, Ktterateur, philosopher, and soldier, was born of a noble family in Paris in 1734. He was elected in 1776 one of the forty members of the French Academy, and in 1780 came to America, with the rank of Major General, xmder the Count de Rochambeau, and remained here between two and three years. He published Be la Felicite Publique, 1772; Voyage dans rAmerique Septentrionale, dans Ics annes 1780-81-82, in two vol- umes, which were severely criticised by Brissot de Warville ; JEssai sur V Union de la Poesie et de la Musique ; Discours sur Ics AvantagesctDesavantagcs qui resultant pour V Europe de la Decouvcrte de rAmerique ; Discours en Vers addresses aux officiers et soldats des differenfes Armecs Americaincs, traduit de 1' Anglais de David Humphreys, and some other works, besides articles in the Ency- clopedie, &c. He died in 1788. It was but a short time before his death that the Marquis was married, and he wrote to Washington advising him of the happy event. The Chief answered in one of the fe\7 examples of written pleasantry we have from him. "I was," he says, "not less delighted than surprised to meet the plain American words, ' my wife.' A wife I well, my dear Marquis, I can scarcely refrain from smiling to find you caught at last. I saw by the eulogium you often made on the happiness of domestic life in America that you had swallowed the bait, and that you would as surely be taken, one day or another, as that you were a philosopher and a soldier. So your day has at length come. I am glad of it, with all my heart. It is quite good enough for you. Now you are well served for coming to fight in favor of the American rebels, all the way across the Atlantic ocean, by catching that terrible contagion, domestic felicity, which, like the small pox or the plague, a man can have only once in his life, becaiase it com- monly lasts him, (at least with us in America : I know not how you manage these matters in France,) for his whole lifetime. And yet, after all, the worst wish which I can find it in my heart to make against Madame de ChasteUux and yourself is, that you may neither of you ever get the better of this same domestic felicity, during the entire course of your mortal existence. If so wonderful an event should have occasioned me, my dear Marquis, to write in a strange style, you will understand me as clearly as if I had said, what in plain English is the simple truth, ' Do me the justice to believe that I take a heartfelt interest in whatever concerns your happiness.' And, in this view, I sincerely congratulate you on your auspicious matrimom'al connection." 10 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. a young girl." "'^ M. de Chastellux discovered tliat the Americans had the bad habit of eating too frequently, and they made him play at whist, with English cards, much handsomer and dearer than were used in Paris, and marked their points -with, lo^ds d^ors. The stakes however were easy to settle, notwithstanding the addiction of the people of this country to gambling, for the company was still faithful to that voluntary law established in society which prohi- bited playing for money during the war. M. Jean Pierre Brissot de Warville followed in a few years, and was not less pleased than the Marquis de Chastellux with the amia- ble, affable, hospitable people of Boston. Were he to paint all the estimable characters he met in that charming town, he tells us, his portraits would never be finished. The Bostonians were even then somewhat too philosophical in their religion, but they united sim- plicity of morals with that French politeness and delicacy of man- ners which rendered virtue most agreeable. They were true friends, tender husbands, almost idolatrous parents, and kind masters. The grim young republican heard in some houses the j^iano forte, and ff exclaimed, " God grant that the Boston women may never, like those j) J of Paris, acquire la maladie of perfection in the art of music, which y is not to be attained but at the expense of the domestic vii-tues ! " The " demoiselles here had the liberty enjoyed in Geneva, when morals were there, in the time of the republic ; and they did not abuse it. Their frank and tender hearts had nothmg to fear from the perfidy of men: the vows of love were believed;" and wives, to sum up all, were " occupied in rendering theii* husbands happy." * Miss Temple, afterward Mrs. Winthrop, and the mother of the present Mr. Robert C. Win- throp, Avas brought up in Governor Bowdoin's family, and adopted by him as a daughter. With him she lived during the -whole period of the revolution, meeting at his house Franklin and La- fayette, and all the French and American officers of distinction who visited the city. Lafayette was a great admirer of hers, and called often to see her during his last visit to America. She was long the reigning belle of Boston. >,....,/..._/.« PEACE. 11 III. Philadelphia, it will be perceived, was stiU the largest town in tlie country. By general consent it had been regarded as the metropolis, except while occupied by the enemy, duiing the war. The Chevalier de Beaujour, who described it a few years later, denies its claim to be considered the most beautiful city in the world, but admits that it was the most remarkable for the regu- larity of its streets, and the cleanHness of its houses. " It is cut," he says, " like a chess-board, at right angles. AU the streets and houses resemble each other, and nothing is so gloomy as this uniformity, unless it be the sadness of the inhabitants, the greater part of whom are of Quaker or Pmitan descent." Society here, in the middle of the last century, was divided into two classes of families, recognized as of family rank, though family rank of very different kinds. One comprised the Logans, Shippens, Pembertons, Morrises, Wains, Lloyds (of the ancient house of Do- lobran), Hills, "Wynnes, Moores, Benezets, JSTorrises, Peningtons, and a few others of Quaker antiquity, highly esteemed even beyond the circle of their sect for substantial quahties and comfortable regard for domestic ease, but bound, of course, by the essence of their faith, to an abnegation of nearly every thing that belonged to the spirit of the cavalier, and of every thing which illustrates itself in the tastes or shows of life. This was the elder part of the provincial aris- tocracy. Some of them or theu' ancestors had come on " The Wel- come," along with William Penn himself, and whatever had been their rank at home — in many cases it was of unquestionable respect- abiUty — they formed in Pennsylvania sort of " Battle Abbey EoU," and some time before the death of renn had obtained a peacea- ble possession from which the advent of a class more hberal, educated, and accomplished, has never dispossessed their names. 12 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. The deatli of tlie founder of Pennsylvania in IT 18, the increas- ing wealth and civilization of the colony, and the return of the proprietory descendants to the estahlished church, brought from England at a later date, and generally about the middle of the last century, a class of entirely different families. For the most part they were in some connection with the proprietary offices, now grown important. They were with few exceptions of the Church of England, and of liberal education — merchants trained in the honorable principles of a large commerce, lawyers who had pursued their studies at the Temple — and it may be suj^posed were recog- nized at home as people of liberal culture, of social refinement, and " of orthodox principles, both in church and state." Such doubt- less were the Aliens, Ashetons (though this family came earlier), Lawrences, Chews, Tilghmans, Plumsteds, Hamiltons, Hackleys, lughses, Simses, Francises, Masters, Bonds, Peterses, Conynghams of Conyngham, Chancellors, and Maddoxes. These last two, of which the second is extinct in the male line, came in the beginning of the century. Certain of the Shippens, likewise, originally of Quaker affinities, had now in the third generation been so educated in England as to belong more to this class than to the former one, and several families from Scotland, who had arrived in Philadelphia about 1Y40 to 1745, are also to be reckoned in it. These all constitut- ed a secondary formation in the colonial stratification. At a later date the men of the revolution, Bradford, McKean, Biddle, Mifflm, and many, of rank, from other states, such as Major Pierce Butler, Mr. Boudiuot, Mr. Heed, and some others, whom public affairs brought permanently to Philadelphia, were a third class, which comprised a few and only ^few of both the former classes : the Quakers having been geneimly excluded as averse to war of any kind, and many of the provincial gentry as averse to a war with Great Britain. The small number of the older classes, principally of PEACE. 13 the second, wlio supported tlie war, attracted to tlieir new character more tlian the natural influence of thek former colonial standing * IV. EiEQSTEisrT among the Enghsh families of this second class were the Willings, who for strong social connections and great weight * Tlie following document, never before published in a form likely to be preserved, is curious and interesting. It is a copy of the original subscription list to the first city dancing assembly, held in Philadelphia in the year 1Y48. It contains a record of most of the persons then in Philadelphia belonging to the second class of which I have spoken. Some of the names, such as those of Kidd, Mackimen, Sober, Wiseheart, Polyceen, Boyle, Godons, Cottenham, Maland, and Cozzens, are, I believe, hardly now known even to antiquaries in that city. They were probably strangers or temporary residents. A few, like those of Bond, Stedmian, Franks, Inglis, and Levy, are now represented in female lines. But notwithstanding the change often made upon the structure and chances of our society by our transatlantic brethren, it will be obvious that now, at the distance of one hundred and twenty-five years from its date — a^evolution having occurred in the meantime, and a republican commonwealth having taken the place of a proprie- tary and royal province — many of the remaining names still subsist and are well known in the identical form on which they appear on the original subscription list, made twenty-eight years before the Deolaration of Independence. A list of suhseribers for an AssemMy, under the direction of John Inglis, Lynford Lardnor, JohnWallace, and John Swift: Each subscription forty shillings, to he paid to any of the directors on suhscribing. Alexander Hamilton, T. Lawrence, jr., Johtt Wallace, Phineas Bond, Charles Willing, Josopli Sbippen, Samuel McCall, jr., George McCall, Edward Jones, Samuel McCall, sen., E. Conyingham, Joseph Sims, T. Lawrence, sen., David Mcllvaine, John Wilcocks, Charles Stesdman, John Kidd, William Bingham, Bnckridge Sims, John Swift, John Kearsley, jr., William Plumsted, Andrew Elliot, James Burd, James Ilamilton, Eobert Mackimen, William Allen, Archibald McCall, Joseph Turner, Thomas Ilopkinson, Eichard Peters, Adam Thomson, Alexander Steadman, Patrick Baird, John Sober, David Franks, John Inglis, E. Wiseheart, Abram Taylor, James Trotter, Samson Levy, Lynford Lardnor, Eichard Hill, jr., Benjamin Price, John Francis, William Mcllvaine, William Humphreys, William Peters, James Polyceen, William Franklin, Henry Harrison, John Hewson, Daniel Boyle, Thomas White, John Lawrence, Thomas Godons, John Cottenham, John Maland, William Cozzens, The above list is older than the one given by Mr. Watson, in his " Annals." That careful antiquary furnishes the following catalogue of fashioiiable " belles and dames" for the ball of the City Assembly in 1757 : Mrs. Allen, Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Hamilton, Jlrs. Brotlierson, Mrs. Inglis, Mrs. Jeykell, Mrs. Franks, Mrs. Lydia M'Call, Mrs. Sam'l M'Call, sen., Mrs. Sam'l M'Call, jr., Mrs. Swift, Mrs. Sims, Mrs. WiUcocks, Mrs. Lawrence, Mrs. Greame, Mrs. Eobertson, Mrs Francis, Mrs. Joseph Shippen, Mrs. Dolgreen, Mrs. Phineas Bond, Mrs. Burd, Mrs. ChaS. Steadman, Mrs. Thomas White, Mrs. Johnes, Mrs. Warren, Mrs. Oswald, Mrs. Thomas Bond, Mrs. Davey, Mrs. Wm. Humphreys, Mrs. Pennery, Mrs. Henry Harrison, Mrs. Bingham, Mrs. Clymer, Mrs. Wallace, Mrs. Alex. Steadman, Mrs. Hopkinson, Miss Patty EUi.s, Mrs. Marks, Miss Molly Francis, Miss Betty Francis, Miss Osburn, Miss Sober, Miss Molly Lawrence, Miss Kitty Lawre: Mrs. George Smil Miss Nancy Hick Miss Sally Hunlock, Miss Peggy Harding, Miss MoUy M-Call, Miss Peggy M'Call, Mrs. Lardner, Miss Betty Plumsted, Miss Eebecca Davis, Miss Jeany Greame, Miss Nelly M'Call, Miss Eandolph, Miss Sophia White, Mrs. Venablos, Miss Hyatt, Miss Betty Clifften, Miss Molly Dick, Miss Fanny Jeykell, Miss Fanny Marks, Miss Peggy Oswald, Miss Betty Oswald, Miss Sally Woodrop, Miss Molly Oswald, Mrs. Willing, Miss Nancy Willing, Miss Dolly Willing, Mrs. M'llvaine, Miss Betty Gryden, Miss Sally Fishbourn, Miss Furnell, Miss Isabella Cairnie, Miss Pennyfaither, Miss Jeany Eicharason, Mrs. Eeily, Mrs. Graydon, Mrs. Eoss, Mrs. Pete-r Bard, Mrs. Franklin, Miss L. de Normandie;, Miss Pliebe Winecoop, Mrs. Harkly. 14 THE EEPUBLICAN COURT. of botli public and private cliaracter enjoyed an enviable dictinc- tion. The name, tbougb found in Germany, bas become nearly ex* tinct in England, where it originated, and in our own country has hardly been known out of Philadelphia. The family has however in later days given a member to the peerage of Great Britain,* and the wife, fii'st of a count and afterwards of a marquis, of France,f while, without any title, a third has illustrated for a long time the beauty of American women in the metropolis of Europe. The first of this family of whom I have heard, although I be- lieve it is traced much further, was Joseph Willing, of Gloucester- shire, who married about two centuries since Ava Lowre, of that county, the heii'ess of a good estate which had descended to her through several generations of Saxon ancestors, and whose arms he seems J to have assumed, on their marriage, in place of his own. Theu" son Thomas married Anne Harrison, a grand-daughter in the paternal line of Thomas Harrison, § and in the maternal of Simon Mayne. The former was a Major General in the Protector's army and a member of the long Parhament ; the latter was also a prominent actor in Cromwell's time ; and both were members of the court which condemned Charles the First to death. Whether he considered this part of .his ancestral history a good title to con- sideration in a country settled by puritans, in the " dissidence of dissent," or whether he was attracted by the lising commercial glory of this country, I am not sufficiently informed to say ; but having visited America in 1720, and spent five years here, ]VIi\ Thomas Willins: brouo:ht his son Charles over in 1*728 and established him * The present Lord Ashburton, great-graadsou of Thomas Willing of Philadelphia. ■j- La Marquise de Blaisel. jj. " Sable a hand, couped at the wristj^^asping three darts, one in pale and two in sallure, argent." § The late President William Ilemy Harrison, was, I believe, a descendant of Major General Harrison, of Cromwell's army. At the time of his death a copy of an original painting oi' the Protector's friend was just completed for his gratification. PEACE. 15 in commerce in Pliiladelpliia, liimself returning home. Charles, tlie first wlio remained in the country, may therefore be considered the founder of the American family. Few men in a private station have any where enjoyed greater influence or attained to a more dignified resjoectahility. His house, still standing at the southwest corner of Third street and WiUing's alley, though now deprived of its noble grounds, running back to Fourth street * and far onward down to Spruce street, and shaded with oaks that might be regard- ed as of the primeval forests,f is still remarked -for its spacious comfort and its old-fashioned repose. He pursued for a quarter of a century with great success and with noble fidelity to its best prin- ciples the profession of a merchant, in which he obtained the high- est consideration, by the scope, vigor and forecast of his under- standing, his great executive power, his unspotted integrity, and the amenity of his disposition and manners. Toward the close of his life he discharged with vigilance, dignity, and impartiality, the important functions of the chief magistracy of the city, in which he died, respected by the whole community, in November, 1754 — just one century ago — at the early age of forty-four. His wife was Anne, gi^and-daughter of Edward Shippen,J a person of com- * Tlie west end of this lot, fronting on Fourth street, Mr. Thomas Willing, son of the person here mentioned, sm-rendered to his son-in-law and nephew, Mr. Thomas Willing Francis, who built upon it the beautiful mansion now occupied by Mr. Joseph R. Ingersoll. On the southern part, Charles Willing himself built a residence, which has since given place to other buildings, for his son-in-law. Colonel William Byi'd, of Westover, in Virginia. General Washington for Bome time had his head-quarters at Philadelphia in this house. It was afterwards the residence of Chief Justice Chew. •{■ The now venerable buttonwood, standing in front of the old mansion at the corner of Third street and Willing's aUey, was planted in 1749, and is therefore one hundred and five years old. :j: William Shippen, of York, gentleman, h^d three sons, 1, Eobert, rector of Stockport, in Cheshire, and father of Robert, Principal of Brazen Nose, Oxford, 2, William, a leader in Parlia- ment in Robert Walpole's time (the "downright Shippen" of Pope), 3, Edward, born in 1639, who, having by the death of his brothers inherited their estates, came to America in 16*72. In 1695 he wos elected Speaker of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, and under the city charter ap- pointed in 1701 the first mayor of Philadelphia. From 1702 to 1704 he was president of the governor's council He died in 1712, leaving a vast landed estate. 16 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. manding influence in tlie early hi&toiy of Pennsylvania. His son was Mr. Thomas Willing, a man whose \drtues have been recorded with a truth and eloquence which heighten the dignity of even such a character as his.^* V. In all civil wars men of hereditary rank and fortune are apt to adhere to the estahhshed authority, and this was eminently true in the war which led to American Independence. The loyalists were in a large degree people of good condition, accomplished in man- ners as well as in learning, and by their defection the country lost many persons who at the end of the contest would have been among her most useful citizens, and the brightest ornaments of her domestic life. The Fairfaxes, Galloways, Dulaneys, Delanceys, Kobinsons, Penns, Phillipses, Whites, and others, if of the Whig party would probably have been even more distinguished in society than in affairs, though the military and civil abilities which some of them displayed against us, or in foreign countries, showed that they might have nobly served thek fatherland in these capacities, and participated with the most successful and most honored of her faithful sons, in her affections and her grateful rewards. However strongly influenced by considerations of justice, many of them must have shared the feelings attributed by Freneau to Hugh Gaine, on dis- * Tlie following inscription, copied from a monument in Cbrist Cbureh grounds, Philadelphia, is understood to he from the pen of Mr. Horace Binuey: "In memory of Thomas 'Willing, Esquire, born nineteenth of December, 1731, O. S., died nineteenth of January, 1821, aged eighty-nine years and thirty days. This excellent man, in all the relations of private !ile, and in various stations of liiijh public fust, deserved and acquired the devoted affection of his family and friends, and the universal respect of his follow-citizens. Prom 1754 to 1S07 he successively held the offices of secretary to the Congress of Dele- gates at Albany, mayor of the city of Philadelphia, her representative in the General Assembly, President of the Pro- vincial Congress, delegate to the Congress of the Confederation, President of the first chartered Bank in America, and President of the first Bank of the United States. With these public duties, he united the business of an active, en- terprising, anutch ancestors to uproar \ and removal — ^we resumed our peregrinations, nor stopped till we > arrived at the upper extremity of Broadway, at the utmost limit of I the city pavement, where we took possession of the house opposite ^JL^t. Paul's Chapel, now occupied by the Chemical Bank. There was so little choice in regard to situation, that we were fain to con- tent ourselves with this remote residence, especially as the house * Removed withia these few years, to make way for wareliouses. At the corner immediately opposite, -was the residence of one branch of the Lndlows ; opposite to them, in Smith street, was that of the Duyckincks. Proceeding northward, at the corner of Little Queen, now Cedar street, was a family of Beekmans, directly opposite, John Alsop, a retired merchant, a delegate to the first Continental Congress, and father-in-law of Eufus King, who afterwards occupied the house for several years. It was removed some time since, upon the exten'sion of Cedar street. At the southwest corner of Crown, now Liberty street, was the famous retail hardware and fancy shop — as such establishments were then properly called — of Francis Ogsbury, continued many years afterwards by his sons and successors. Returning to King street, and proceeding southwardly, aei'oss Wall, and down Smith street, we come to the entrance of Garden street, in which stood the " little Dutch Church," tne oldest in the city, and the farthest down town. At the upp^a* corner of Smith and Garden streets, was the fashionable haberdashery of Grove Bend ; at the lower cor- ner, the residence formerly of the Clarksons, and afterwards of Colonel Sebastian Bauman, the post- master, a revolutionary officer appointed to that station by General Washington ; there he kept his office, as did his successor. General Bailey. Adjoining were the Kembles, and opposite the Costers. Below, opposite Princess street, as that part of Beaver street was then called, was a branch of the Van Homes, and in that and the small streets and lanes in the vicinity, including that part of Store street, then called Duke street, and Mill street, in which was their synagogue — the houses were princij^ally inhabited by the Jews. PEACE. 31 itself was one of tlie best, as well as one of tlie few to be rented in the city. It was, to be sure, not very convenient, in point of situ- ation, for a town-house ; but then it rejoiced in some of the advan- tages of a country retreat. TLe fields were open to the north, as far as a line ranging eastwardly from Warren street, where the prospect was bounded by those more useful than agreeable objects the Bridewell, the Poor House, the Gaol and the Gallows. Towards the west, however, there was nothing to obstruct the view of the North River, but two low houses at the corner of Yesey street, and the College building, as yet unfurnished with wings, and unadorned with stucco. The ' fields,' as the area comprised in the Park was then called, were* green, but neither inclosed nor planted, and the only trees in sight, besides the young, now old ones, in front of the College, were the striphng growth that peered above the tea and the mead and cake gardens, along the west side of the fields. " Although the streets leading from Broadway to the river had been laid out as high as Warren street, yet they were but partially built upon, and that, for the most part, with houses of an inferior description. ISTofie above Dey street had been regulated and paved ; nor had the ridge, commencing near the Battery, and extending the length of the island, been dug through as far even as Cortlandt- street. Great Dock street, or that part of Pearl between White- hall and Coenties Slip, with the other sti'eets in the immediate neighborhood of Fort George, within which was the colonial Go- vernment-house, had long been considered the court-end of the town ; * but, even before the Bevolution, Wall street was regarded as a rival seat of fashion ; f to which it established an exclusive * Here were the residences of the Van Dams, De Lanceys, Livingstons, Bayards, Morrises, Crugers, De Peysters, and some others of the provincial notabilities. \ In Wall-street were the Verplancks, Marstons, Liullows, Winthrops, Whites, and others ,; who being tories, remained in the city during the Revolution ; after which the Whig families of Lamb, Denning, Buchanan, Van Home, &c., got in among them. Here too Daniel McCormick kept his bachelor's hall, and open house, and Mrs. Daubeney her fashionable boarding-house, for 4 32 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. claim, and maintained it until superseded by Park Place,'"^ or Robin- son street, as it bad previously been called ; whose pretensions in that respect bave, in tbeir turn, become nearly obsolete. Little Dock street, now merged in "Water street, and that part of the original Water street wbich lay adjacent to the Albany Pier, were occupied by the river trade ; wbile tbe remainder of Water street, and suck parts of Front street as bad already been recovered from tke river,' formed tke emporium of foreign commerce. This, in- deed, was tke case as far up as tke Coffee House Slip, and gradu- ally extended to Maiden Lane, at tke foot of wkick were tke Vly Market, and tke Brooklyn Ferry ; wkilst at tke kead of it stood tke Oswego Market, fronting on Broadway. Above, on tke East River, as far as Dover street, tke wkarves were ckiefly improved by our eastern bretkren witk tkeir cargoes of notiQns^ or occupied by our neigkbors fi'om Long Island, witk tkeir more substantial freigkts of oysters, clams, and fine wkite sand. Beyond Dover- street, tke skip-yards commenced, extending, at fii'st, no fartker tkan to tke New, or, as it is now called. Pike Skj). " Crossing from Dover to Great Queen, since Pearl street, and pursuing tke course of tke latter beyond its intersection witk Ckat- ham street,f and along tkat part of Pearl tken called Magazine- gentlemen only^ and "waa generally fiUed ■with members of Congress during its sessions in this city. Greenleaf, the republican printer, planted his batteries so as to command the strong hold of tory- ism, at the corner of Pearl street-j-'under Eivington, of the Royal Gazette — in case the latter should ever recommence his fire, ^ut he took the oath of allegiance to the new government, and was permitted to remain in his bookstore, (afterwards the auction rooms of the Messrs. Hone,) as did his fellow-laborer and neighbor, Hugh Gaine, of the Bible and Crown, who after the di- vorce of church and state on this side of the Atlantic, removed the royal emblems from his sign. * In the mean time, Cortlandt street enjoyed an ephemeral reputation for fashion, from the presence of Sir John Temple, Colonels Duer and Walker, Major Fairlie, and subsequently the British Colonel Crawford, who had been Governor of the Bermudas, but, on a visit to New York, married the widow of Robert Cambridge Livingston, and remained here till he died. f Near the head of Dover street, and at the junction of Pearl and Cherry streets, stands the old family mansion of Walter Franklin, a member of the society of Friends, and an eminent mer- chant, whose wealth was indicated by the dimensions of his dwelling. The late Governor De Witt*Clinton married one of his daughters, and afterwards occupied his house. But it had pre- PEACE. 33 street, we arrived at tlie Kolc\ or Fresli Water Pond, wlience, tlirougli tlie 'Tea- water Pump,' in Cliatliam street, the city was supplied with water for domestic use, distributed to the inhabitants by means of carts surmounted by casks, similar to those now used for mortaring the streets. Nor was this the only use made of the ' Collect,' as it was called in English ; its southern and eastern banks were lined with furnaces, potteries, breweries, tanneries, rope-walks, and other manufactories ; all drawing their supphes of water from the pond. Besides, it was rendered ornamental as well as useful. It was the grand resort in winter of oui' youth for skating ; and no person who has not beheld it, can realize the scene it then exhibited in contrast to that part of the city under which it now lies buried. The ground between the Collect and Broadway rose gTadually from its margin to the height of one hundred feet, and nothing can exceed in brilliancy and animation the prospect it presented on a fine winter day, when the icy surface was ahve with skaters darting in every dii^ection with the swiftness of the wind, or bearing down in a body in pursuit of the ball driven before them by then* liur- lies ; while the hill side was covered with spectators, rising as in an amphitheatre, tier above tier, comprising as many of the fair sex, as were sufficient to adorn, and necessary to refine the assem- blage ; while their presence served to increase the emulation of the skaters." viously been rendered more illustrious as the first residence of General Washington in.this city after his election as President of the United States. It has since been altered, and the lower part converted into shops. In the rear of this, in Pearl street, was the Quaker Meeting House ; and this quarter of the city, as far as Chatham street, was principally inhabited by members of that society. But the more wealthy ones had their establishments lower down, as far as Maiden Lane. Here were the Pearsalls, the Pryors, the Embrees, the Effinghams, the Hickses, the Hawxhursts, the Halletts, the Havilands, the Cornells, the Kenyons, the Townsends, the Tituses, the WiUetts, the Wrights, :;friSiS , J9T11WJ REMOTAL OF THE GOVERNMENT. Theee was no subject before the first Congress wMcli produced a deeper feeling or more warm debate tban that of tlie permanent establisliment of the seat of government. On the twenty-first of October, 1783, the old Congress, insulted at Philadelphia by a band of mutineers whom the state authorities were imable to put down, adjourned to Princeton, where it occuj^ied the halls of the college, and finally to New York, where it assembled in the beginning of 1T85. The question continued in debate, not only in Congress, but in the public journals and private correspondence of all parts of the country, and was brought before the convention for forming the Constitution, at Philadelphia, but by that body referred to the federal legislature. It was justly considered that extraordinary advantages would accrue to any city which might become the capi- tal of the nation, and it is not surprising, therefore, that a sectional controversy arose which for a time threatened the most disastrous consequences. The eastern states would have been satisfied with the retention of the pubhc business in New York, but Pennsylvania wished it to be conducted on the banks of the Delaware, and Mary- land and Virginia, supported very generally by the more southern states, were not less anxious that the legislative centre of the republic should be on the Potomac. 232 THE EEPUBLICAN COURT. Efforts were made to postpone the consideration of tlic subject anotlier year, but against tliis all the soutbern parties protested, as New York in the mean time would be likely to strengthen her influence, and it was contended that the danger of selecting any large city was already apparent in the feeling manifested in favor of the 23resent metropolis by persons whose constituents were unani- mously opposed to it. Dr. Eush, in a letter to General Muhlen- berg, after the passage of a bill in the House of Eepresentatives for the establishment of the seat of government on the banks of the Susquehanna, wrote, "I rejoice in the prospect of Congress leaving New York ; it is a sink of political vice ; " and again, " Do as you please, but tear Congress away from New York in any way ; do not rise without effecting this business." Other persons, whosQ means of judging were much better than those of Dr. Eush, be- heved with Wolcott, that " honesty was in fashion " here, and Mr. Page, a member from Virginia, sagacious, moral, and without local interests except in liis own state, declared that New York was supe- rior to any place he knew " for the orderly and decent behavior of its inhabitants." As to Philadel23hia, the South Carolinians found an objection in her Quakers, who, they said, " were eternally dogging southern members with their schemes of emancijDation." There was another very exciting proposition at the same time be- fore Congress, respecting which the supporting interests were in a different direction ; the Carolinas, Ceorgia, and Vii^ginia, were nearly as much opposed to the assumption of the state debts, as New Eng- land and New York were to establishing the seat of government in such a position that nine of the thirteen states should be north of it; and Mr. Hamilton, setting an example of compromises for the germinating statesman of Kentucky, then a pu23il of the vene- rable Wythe, proposed an arrangement which resulted in the selec- tion for federal purposes of Conogocheague, on the Potomac, now REMOVAL OF THE GOVERNMENT. 233 known as tlie District of Columbia. Hamilton and Kobert Morris, botb. strong advocates for tbe financial measure, agreed tbat if some of tbe southern members were gratified as to tbe location of tbe national capital, tbey might be willing to yield tbe other point, and two or three votes would be sufficient to change the majority in the House of Kepresentatives. Mr. Jefferson had not been long in the city ; he was ignorant of the secrets of its diplomacy ; and complains that he was most innocently made to " hold the can- dle " to this intrigue, " being duped into it," as he says, " by the Secretary of the Treasury, and made a tool of for forwarding his schemes, not then sufficiently understood." Congress had met and adjourned, from day to day, without doing any thing. The mem- bers were too much out of humor to do business together. As Jefferson was on his way to the President's, one morning, he met in the street Hamilton, who walked him backwards and forwards in Broadway for half an horn', describing the temper of the legisla- ture, the disgust of the creditor states, as they were called, and the danger of disunion, ending with an appeal for his aid and coopera- tion, as a member of the cabinet, in calming an excitement and set- tling a question which threatened the very existence of the govern- ment. Jefferson proposed that Hamilton should dine with him the next evening, and promised to invite another friend or two, think- ing it " impossible that reasonable men, consulting together coolly, could fail, by some mutual sacrifices of opinion, to form a compro- mise which was to save the Union." The meeting and the discus- sion took place, and it was finally decided that two of the Vii'gniia members who had opposed that measure should support the assump- tion bill, and that, to allay any excitement which might thus be produced, Hamilton and Morris should bring sufficient influence from the north to insure the permanent establishment of the gov- ernment on the Potomac, after its continuance in Philadelphia for 30 234 TIiE REPUBLICAN COURT. ten years, during whicli period public buildings miglit be erected, and sucli other preparation made as sliould be necessary for tlie proper accommodation of persons engaged witli public affairs. Morris liad liitlierto strongly advocated tbe claims of Philadelphia to be the j^ermanent metroj)olis, and he now shrewdly concluded, President Duer observes, that if the public offices were once opened in "that city they would continue there, as, but for the silent influ- ence of the name of Washington, whose wishes on the subject were known, would have been the case. Dr. Green mentions that some person who was in company with the President during the discus- sion, remarked, " I know very well where the federal city ought to be." "Where, then, would you put it?" inquired Washington. The fellow mentioned a place, and was asked, " Why are you sure it should be there ? " " For the most satisfactory of all reasons," he answered ; " because nearly the whole of my property lies there and in the neighborhood." The insolent meaning was, of course, that Washington favored the location of the capital in its present site because it was near his estate. The people of New York were disappointed and vexed at the result, and they exhibited their spleen against Morris, to whorfi. it was in a large degree attributed, in a caricature print, in which the stout senator from Pennsylvania was seen marching off with the Federal Hall upon his shoulders, its windows crowded with members of both Houses, encouraging or anathematizing this novel mode of deportation, while the devil, from the roof of the Paulus Hook ferry-house, beckoned to him, in a patronizing manner, crying, " This way, Bobby ! " II. Captaest Philip Feeisteaij had remained in 'New York ever since the inauguration, and for the greater part of the time had been employed by Childs and Swaine, printers of the Daily Ad- REMOVAL OF THE aOVEENMENT. 235 vertiser, as tlieir writing editor. Througli Mr. Madison, with wliom he had been intimate while an undergraduate at Princeton college, he became acquainted with Mr. Jefferson, who soon discovered his useful qualities. During the agitation of the question of the re- moval of the seat of government the papers abounded with vari- ous articles for or against the several places proposed, and Freneau wrote some pungent paragraphs in favor of New York ; but he was always most successful in a certain kind of familiar satirical verse, and among the effusions of his muse on this subject was the following correspondence : THE PHILADELPHIA HOUSE-MAID TO HER FRIEND IN NEW YORK. Six -weeks my dear mistress has been in a fiet, And nothing but Congress will do for her yet — She says they must come, or her senses she '11 lose ; From morning till night she is reading the news, And loves the dear fellows that vote for our town (Since no one can relish New York but a clown). . . . She tells us as how she has read in her books That God gives them meat, but the devil sends cooks ; And Grumbleton told us (who often shoots flying) That fish you have plenty — but spoil them in frying ; That your streets are as crooked, as crooked can be, Right forward, three perches, he never could see, But his view was cut short with a house or a shop That stood in his way — and obliged him to stop. Those speakers that wish for New York to decide — 'T is a pity that talents are so misapplied ! My mistress declares she is vext to the heart That genius should take such a pitiful part ; For the question, indeed, she is daily distrest. And Gerry, I think, she will ever detest. Who did all he could, with his tongue and his pen, To keep the dear Congress shut up in your den. She insists, the expense of removing is small, And that two or three thousands will answer it all ; If that is too much, and we 're so very poor. The passage by water is cheaper, be sure : If people object the expense of a team. Here 's Fitch, with his wherry, will bring them by steam ; 236 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. And, Nabby ! — if once he should take them on board, The Jionor will be a suflficient reward. But, as to myself, I vow and declare I wish it would suit them to stay where they are ; I plainly foresee, that if once they remove. Throughout the long day, we shall drive, and be drove. . . . Such scouring will be as has never been seen, We shall always be cleaning, and never be clean, And threats in abundance will work on my fears, Of blows on the back, and of cuffs ou the ears. Two trifles, at present, discourage her paw, The fear of the Lord, and the fear of the law ; But if Congress arrive, she will have such a sway That gospel and law will be both done away. For the sake of a place I must bear all her din. And if ever so angry, do nothing but gria ; So Congress, I hope, in your town will remain. And Narmy will thank them again and again. THE NEW YORK HOUSE-MAID TO HER FRIEND IN PHILADELPHIA. "Well, Nanny, I am sorry to find, since you writ us, The Congress at last has determined to quit usj You now may begin, with your dishcloths and brooms, To be scouring your knockers and scrubbing your rooms ; As for us, my dear Nanny, we 're much in a pet. And hundreds of houses will be to be let ; Our streets, that were just in a way to look clever. Will now bo neglected and nasty as ever ; Again we must fret at the Dutchified gutters And pebble-stone pavements, that wear out our trotters. My master looks dull, and his spirits are sinking, From morning till night he is smoking and thinking. Laments the expense of destroying the fort, And says, your great people are all of a sort ; He hopes and he prays they may die in a stall. If they leave us in debt — for the Federal Hall ; Miss Letty, poor lady, is so in the pouts. She values no longer our dances and routs, And sits in a corner, dejected and pale. As dull as a cat, and as lean as a rail ! — Poor thing, I am certain she 's in a decay. And all, because Congress resolve — not to stay ! This Congress unsettled is, sure, a sad thing — Seven years, my dear Nanny, they 've been on the wing ; REMOVAL OF THE GOVERNMENT 237 My master woiild rather saw timber, or dig, Than see them removing to Conogocheague — Where the houses and kitchens are yet to be framed, The trees to be felled, and the streets to be named. In a letter from Pliiladelpliia, dated tlie tentli of August, it is said, " Some of tlie blessings anticipated from the removal of Con- gress to tMs city are already beginning to be apparent ; rents of houses have risen, and I fear will continue to rise, shamefully ; even in the outskirts they have lately been increased from fourteen, six- teen, and eighteen pounds, to twenty-five, twenty-eight, and thu-ty. This is oppressive. Our markets, it is expected, will also be dearer than heretofore. Whether the advantages we shall enjoy from the removal will be equivalent to these disadvantages, time alone will determine. I am convinced, however, if things go on iii this man- ner, a very great majority of our citizens will have good reason to wish the government settled at Conogocheague long before the ten years are expii'ed." On the seventh of September Oliver "Wolcott referred to this rise of rents, in a letter to his wife. " I have at length been to Philadelphia," he says, " and with much difficulty have pro- cui'ed a house, in Third street, which is a respectable part of the city. The rent is one hundred pounds, which is excessive, being nearly double what would have been exacted before the matter of residence was determined." The appearance of Philadelphia was quite as monotonous then as it is now ; but the city contained many fine private residences, and Christ's church had for that time a cathedral aii', and the Dutch church was described as magnificent. The several edifices appro- priated for the use of the federal government were inferior to those in New York, but Independence Hall was endeared to the memories of many of the senators and representatives, who had been mem- bers of the Continental Congress, and ample if not elegant accom- modations were promised for all departments of the public service. ^. if 238 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. ''Philadelpliia is a large and elegant city," writes Wolcott, "but it did not strike me witli the astonisLment which the citizens predict- ed ; like the rest of mankind they judge favorably of theii* own place of residence, and of themselves, and their representations are to be admitted with some deduction." One attraction of Philadel- phia, however, could not well be overpraised ; her markets were perhaps the best in the world ; and we have the testimony of nu- merous travellers to their extraordinary neatness, their order, and the general moderation of their prices. III. The private life of Washington was scarcely less remarkable than his great career as founder of the republic ; indeed it is ques- tionable whether such qualities as have made men eminent in pub- lic affairs were ever before or since illustrated to an equal extent by their possessors in a domestic and household administration. It has been said of Wellington that he would have made but an in- different drill sergeant, but Washington would have been as excel- lent in the lowest as he was in the highest offices, as exact in the performance of humble duties as he was in the execution of great designs upon which hung so much of the well-being of the human race. Some interesting exhibitions of his judgment, justice, and ex- treme particularity, as the head of his family, are contained in the letters which he addressed to Mr. Lear, one of his private secre- taries, respecting the removal of his personal effects from New York to Philadelphia, and the preparation of a new residence for his occupation. Four days after he left New York he wrote him from Philadelphia, "After a pleasant journey we arrived in this city on Thursday last, and to-morrow we proceed (if Mrs. Washington's health will permit, for she has been much indisposed REMOVAL OF THE GOVERNMENT. 239 since we came here) toward Mount Vernon. The house of ]\Ir. Bohert Morris had, previous to my arrival, "been taken by the cor- poration for my residence. It is the best they could get. It is, I beheve, the best single house in the city. Yet without additions it is inadequate to the commodious accommodation of my family. These additions I believe will be made. The fii'st floor contains only two public rooms (except one for the upper servants). The second floor will have two public (di'awing) rooms, and with the aid of one room, with a partition in it, in the back building, will be sufficient for the use of Mrs. Washington and the children, and their maids, besides aftbrding her a small place for a private study and di^essing room. The third story will furnish you and Mrs. Lear with a good lodging room, a pubhc office (for there is no room below for one), and two rooms for the gentlemen of the family. The garret has four good rooms, which must serve Mr. and Mrs. Hyde,* unless they should prefer the room over the work-house, William, and such servants as it may not be better to place in the projDosed additions to the back building. There is a room over the stable which may serve the coachman and postillions, and there is a smoke house, which may possibly be more valuable for the use of servants than for the smoking of meats. The intention of the ad- dition to the back building is to provide a servant's hall, and one or two lodging rooms for the servants. There are good stables, but for twelve horses only, and a coach house, which will hold all my carriages. Speaking of carriages, I have left my coach to re- ceive a thorough repair, by the time I return, which I expect will be before the first of December." The legislature about the same time appropriated for his occu- pation a fine building in South Mnth street, on the grounds now covered by the University. The industrious antiquary, ISIi fohn * Mr. Hyde "was butler, or intendent of tlie kitclien, in New York. 240 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. F. Watson, is entirely wrong in supposing that tlie President de- ^ clined to accept tliis lionse because of " tlie great expense of fur- nisliino- it on his own account." A principal cause of Ms refusal of the .offer of the state government was that he would on no consid- eration live in a house which should not be hired and furnished exclusively with his own means. The commonwealth and the muni- cipahty were both but too willing to relieve him of any drain upon his private fortune for the support of his personal establishment, still cherishing hopes that Philadelphia, notwithstanding the act of Congress for the purchase of Conogocheague, might remain perma- nently the seat of government ; and Washington could not fail of regarding their generous offers for his domestic accommodation as intended in some degree to influence his own judgment or action on this subject. Another reason may be found in the determina- tion of the President to live in a style of the utmost simplicity and modesty that should seem compatible with the dignity of his offi- cial position. Mr. Morris's house was on the south side of High street, near Fifth street. It was three stories high, and about thirty- two feet wide, with a front displaying four windows in the second as well as in the third story, and three in the first — two on one side of the hall and one on the other — and a single door, approached by three heavy steps of gray stone. On each side of the house were vacant lots, used as a garden, and containing trees and shrubbery. Washington directed Mr. Lear, repeatedly, to ascertain what would be the rent, but to the middle of November the secretary had been unsuccessful. He then wrote to him, " I am, I must confess, exceedingly unwilling to go into any house without first knowing on what terms I do it, and wish this sentiment could be again hinted in delicate terms to the parties concerned with me. I cannot, if there are no latent motives which govern this case, see any difficulty in the business. Mr. Morris has most assuredly formed an idea of THE REMOVAL. 241 what ought m equity to be the rent of the tenement in the condi- tion he left it ; and with this aid the committee ought, I conceive, to he as little at a loss in determinino^ what it should rent for, with the additions and alterations which are about to be made, and which ought to be done in a plain and neat and not by any means in an extravagant style ; because the latter is not only contrary to my wish, but v/ould really be detrimental to my interest and con- venience, principally because it would be the means of keeping me out of the use and comforts of the house to a late period, and be- cause the furniture and every thing else would requii'e to be accor- dant therewith ; besides making me pay an extravagant price, per- haps, to accommodate the alterations to the taste of another, or the exorbitant rates of the workman. I do not know nor do I be- lieve that any thuig unfair is intended by either Mr. Morris or the connnittee ; but let us for a moment su]3pose that the rooms (the new ones I mean) were to be hung with tapestry, or a very rich and costly paper, neither of which would suit my present furniture ; that costly ornaments for the bow windows, extravagant chimney- pieces, and the hke, were to be provided ; that workmen, from ex- travagance of the times, for every twenty shillings' worth of wor]£ would charge forty shillings ; and that advantage would be taken of the occasion to newly paint every part of the house and build- ings : would there be any propriety in adding ten or twelve-and-a- half per cent, for aU this to the rent of the house in its original state, for the two years that I am to hold it ? If the solution of these questions is in the negative, wherein lies the difficulty of determin- ing that the houses and lots when finished according to the pro- posed plan ought to rent for so much ? When all is done that can be done, the residence will not be so commodious as that I left in New York, for there (and the want of it will be found a real in- convenience at Mr. Morris's) my office was in the front room, be- 31 242 THE KEPUBLICAN COURT. low, where persons on business immediately entered ; whereas, in the present case, tliey will have to ascend two pairs of stairs, and to pass by the public rooms as well as the private chambers, to get to it. Notwithstanding which I am willing to allow as much as was paid to Mr. McComb, and shall say nothing if more is demand- ed, unless there is apparent extortion, or the policy of delay is to see to what height rents will rise before mine is fixed. In either of these cases I shall not be pleased ; and to occupy the premises at the expense of any public body, I will not." The rent was ulti- mately settled at three thousand dollars a year, and at this rate the house was occupied until Washington ceased to be President.* * In "A Sketch, ia Part from Memory," embracing interesting reminiscences of Philadelphia in the concluding years of the last century, and attributed to that accomplished statesman, Mr. Richard Rush, I find the following sentences respecting this house : " Walking lately down Mar- ket street, from the western part of the city," says the author, " I looked about, after passing Sixth street, for the former residence of General Washington. I thought I had discovered it, though greatly metamorphosed, in a house some half dozen doors below Sixth street, on the south side, which still retained a little of <;Jie old fashion in front, with dentels pendant from the coi'nice ; but, on inquiry, I found that it was not. The mansion of Washington stood by itself It was a large double house ; few, if any, equal to it; are at present in Philadelphia, the house built bj' LIr. Bingham in Third street, near Spruce street, excepted, though that is much cut down from its oi-iginal size and appearance. The brick of the house in which Washington lived was, even in his time, dark with age ; and two ancient lamp posts, furnished with large lamj)s, which stood in front on the pavement near the street, marked it, in conjunction with the whole external aspect, as the abode of opulence and respectability before he became its august tenant. No market-house then stood in the street. To the east, a brick wall six or seven feet high ran well on towards Fifth street, until it met other houses. The wall inclosed a garden which was shaded by lofty old trees, and ran back to what is now Minor street, where the stables stood. All is now gone. Not a trace is left of that once venerable and stately residence, for it had intrinsically something of the latter characteristic by its detached situation, and the space left around it for accommodation on all sides. To the west no building adjoined it, the nearest house in that di- rection standing at a fair distance from it, at the corner of Sixth and Market streets, where lived Robert Morris, one of the great men of the revolution, and the well known friend of Washington. What hallowed recollections did not that neighborhood awaken ! / The career of Washington, his consummate wisdom, his transcendant services, his full-orbed glory, his spotless, matchless fame ! Let no future Plutarch, said one of his biographers, attempt a parallel ; let none among the dead or living appear in the same picture with him. He stands alone. In the annals of time, it is recorded as the single glory of republican America, to have given to the world such an example of human perfection. History has consecrated it to the instruction of mankind ; and happy if republican America shall cleave to the maxims which he bequeathed to her in a paper pronounced, by an eminent English historian, to be unequalled by any composition of uninspired wisdom. THE REMOVAL. 24S In regard to servants, lie liad abeady written to Mr. Lear; " The pressure of business under wMcli I labored for several days before I left New York allowed me no time to inquii^e wbo of the female servants it was proposed or thought advisable to remove here, besides the wives of the footmen, James and Fidas With respect to Mr. Hyde and his wife, if it is not stated on some paper handed in by Mr. Hyde, it is nevertheless strong on my recollection, that his wife's services were put down at one and his own services at two hundred dollars per annum. I have no wish to j)art with Mr. or Mrs. Hyde, first, because I do not like to be changing, and second, because I do not know where or with whom to supply their places. On the score of accounts, I can say nothing, having never taken a comparative view of his and Fraunces's ; but I am exceed- ingly mistaken if the expenses of the second table, at which Mr. Hyde presides, have not greatly exceeded those of the tables kept by Fraunces, for I strongly suspect (but in this I may be mistaken) that nothing is brought to my table, of liquors, fruits, or other lux- uries, that is not used as profusely at his. If my suspicions are un- founded I shall be sorry for having entertained them, and if they are not, it is at least questionable whether under his successor the same things might not be done ; in which case, (if Hyde is honest and careful, of which you are better able to judge than I am,) a change without a benefit might take place, which is not desirable if they are to be retained on proper terms. I say they, for if Mrs. Hyde is necessary for the purposes enumerated in your letter, and the cook is not competent to prepare the dessert, make cake, tified it." 244 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. her Fraunces, besides being an excellent cook, knowing bow to provide genteel dinners, and giving aid in dressing tbem, prepared tbe dessert, made the cake, and did every tbing tbat is done by Hyde and bis wife together ; consequently tbe ser\dces of Hyde alone are not to be compared witb tbose of Frannces ; and if bis accounts exceed tbose of Fraunces, in tbe same seasons, four or five pounds a week, and at tbe same time appear fair, I sball bave no scruple to ac- knowledge tbat I bave entertained mucb harder thoughts of him than I ought to bave done; although it is unaccountable to me bow other families, on twenty-five hundred or three thousand dol- lars a year, should be enabled to entertain more company, or at least entertain more frequently, than I could do for twenty-five thousand dollars." Of tbe style in which tbe presidential residence was furnished an impression may be derived from some further extracts from the same series of letters. The President writes soon after : " Mr. and Mrs. Morris bave insisted upon leaving tbe two laige looking-glasses which are in their best rooms because they bave no place, they say, proper to remove them to, and because they are unwilling to haz- ard tbe taking of tbem down. You will, therefore, let them bave instead tbe choice of mine : tbe large ones I purchased of tbe French minister they do not incline to take, but will be glad of some of tbe others. They wUl also leave a large glass lamp in tbe entry or ball, and will take one or more of my glass lamps in lieu of it Mrs. Morris has a mangle (I think it is called) for ironing clothes, which, as it is fixed in tbe place where it is commonly used, she proposes to leave, and take mine. To this I have no objection, pro- vided mine is equally good and convenient ; but if I should obtain any advantages, besides that of its being up and ready for use, I am not incHned to receive it. " I bave no particular dii^ection to give respecting the appropria- THE REMOVAL. 245 tion of tlie furniture. By means of the bow windows the hack rooms will "become the largest, and of course will receive the fur- niture of the largest dining and di'awing rooms, and in that case, though there are no closets in them, there are some in the steward's room, directly opposite, which are not inconvenient. There is a small room adjoining the kitchen, that might, if it is not essential for other purposes, be appropriated for the Sevres china, and other things of that sort, which are not in common use. Mrs. Morris, who is a notable lady in family arrangements, can give you much information on all the conveniences about the house and buildino-s, and I dare say would rather consider it as a compliment to be con- sulted in those matters, as she is so near, than a trouble to give her opinion of them. " I approve, at least till inconvenience or danger shall appear, of the large table ornaments remaining on the sideboard, and of the pagodas standing in the smallest drawing-room. Had I de- livered my sentiments fi'om here respecting this fixture, that is the apartment I should have named for it. Whether the green, which you have, or a new yellow curtain, should be appropriated to the stau'case above the hall, may depend on your getting an exact match, in color and so forth, of the latter. For the sake of appear- ances one would not, in instances of this kind, regard a small addi- tional expense." In other letters we have the same minuteness of detail as to the proper modes of packing porcelain, glass, and other articles, and such indications of taste as show that Washington perfectly under- stood the proprieties of an effective arrangement of furniture, and was careful that his own home should, in this respect at least, ap- pear to the best advantage. Washington has never been presented as an inventor, and his name probably is not to be found in the Patent Office ; but in the 246 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. following extract lie appears as tlie author of the wine-coaster, an article wliicli for more than a quarter of a century was a necessity on every dinner-table. " Enclosed," he writes to Mr. Lear, " I send you a letter from Mr. Gouverneur Morris, with a bill of the cost of the articles he was to send me. The prices of the plated ware exceed — far exceed — the utmost bounds of my calculation; but as I am j^ersuaded he has done what he conceives right, I am satis- fied, and request you to make immediate payment to Mr. Consta- ble, if you can raise the means As these coolers are designed for warm weather, and will be, I presume, useless in cold, or in that in which the liquors do not require cooling, quere^ would not a stand hke that for castors, with four apertures for so many different kinds of liquors, each aperture just sufficient to hold one of the cut de- canters sent by Mr. Morris, be more convenient, for passing the bot- tles from one to another, than the handing each bottle sej)arately, by which it often haj)pens that one bottle moves, another stops, and all are in confusion? Two of them — one for each end of the table, with a flat bottom, with or without feet, open at the side, but with a raised rim, as castor stands have, and an upright, by way of handle, in the middle — could not cost a great deal even if made wholly of silver. Talk to a silversmith and ascertain the cost, and whether they could be immediately made, if required, in a hand- some fashion. Perhaps the coolers sent by Mr. Morris may afford ideas of taste ; perhaps, too, (if they prove not too heavy, when examined,) they may supersede the necessity of such as I have de- scribed, by answering the purpose themselves. Four double flint l:)ottles (such as I suspect Mr. Morris has sent) will weigh, I conjec- tm-e, four pounds ; the wine in them when they are filled will be eight pounds more, which, added to the weight of the coolers, will, I fear, make these latter too unwieldy to pass, especially by ladies, which induces me to think of a frame in the form of castors." THE EEMOVAL. 247 \ Tliongli Mrs. Wasliington is said by some people wlio liave " written descriptions or memoirs of lier, to have "been a very nota- ble housewife, it does not aj)pear from any correspondence or other documents which have fallen under my observation that she ever did much to relieve the General of the trouble of household affau"S. They evidently lived together on very exce]lent terms, though she sometimes was disposed to quarrel with him about her grand- childi'en, who, he insisted, (and he always carried his point,) should be under thorough disciplinarians as well as competent teachers, when they were sent from home to be educated. On one occasion, however, he writes to Mr. Lear in a manner that evinces his wish to yield to her as much as possible : " As to a coachman," he says, " Mrs. Washington's predilection for Jacob is as strong as my pre- judice and fears are great ; yet in your inquiries after one, ask some- thing concerning Jacoh^ who wanted much, it seems, to return to us, while we were at Philadelphia." In the matter of coachmen and postillions he does not appear to have been very fortunate. He had written back to New York from Spurrier's, in Maryland, when on his way to Mount Vernon : " "With some difficulty (from the most infamous roads that ever were seen) we have got to this place, and are awaiting dinner, but have no expectation of reaching Baltimore to-night. Dunn has given such proof of his want of skill in driving, that I find myself under the necessity of looking out for some one to take his place. Before we reached Elizabeth- town we were obliged to take him from the coach and put him on the wagon. This he turned over twice, and this morning he was found much intoxicated. He has also got the horses into a habit of stopping." And his attention to equipage is illustrated in a communication as to the clothes of his footmen. " Upon examining the caps of Giles and Paris," he says, " I find they (especially that of Paris) are much worn, and will be unfit to appear in with de- 248 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. cency, after the journey from here is performed. I therefore re- quest that you will have two new ones made, with fuller and richer tassels at the top than the old ones have. That the maker of them may have some guide, as to the size, the inclosed dimensions of their heads will, I presume, be sufficient." Mrs. Washington is frequently referred to in his letters, when absent, in a manner which evinces a constant thoughtfulness of her happiness. On one occasion he writes to Mr. Lear, " Furnish ]\ii'S. Washington with what money she may want, and from time to time ask her if she does want, as she is not fond of applying." Again, " I send, with my best remembrances, a sermon for her. I presume it is good, coming all the way from New Hampshire ; but do not vouch for it, not having read a word of it." No one can read these very curious and characteristic letters and not recall with a feeling of indignation those charges of inor- dinate and anti-republican state and splendor, which the imj)ossi- bility of detecting any fault in the administration of weightier affaii'S caused the " democrats " of that time to bruit every where against the great founder and chief of the federal party. No wis- dom or discretion, though these qualities had been imparted in a superhuman prodigality, nor any conduct, even if under the most absolute control of the divine intelligence, could, however, have averted those rabble assaults upon the stainless fame of Washing- ton, which distracted his councils, and occasioned him so much un- happiness. He himself says, in a letter to Catherine Macaulay, " Our wishes were limited, and I think that our plan of living will now be deemed reasonable, by the considerate part of our species. Mrs. Washington's ideas coincide with my own, as to simplicity of dress, and every thing which can tend to support propriety of character, without partaking of the follies of luxury and ostenta- tion." Byron, contemplating this spectacle, erred as greatly as the THE KEMOVAL. 249 simple-liearted hero, in estimating the malignant daring of the yet feeble but rapidly growing opposition to the government. The noble bard exclaims : , " Where may the wearied eye repose When gazing on the great, Where neither guilty glory glows, Nor despicable state 7 Yes — one, — the first, the last, the best, The Cincinnatus of the West, Whom Envy dared not hate^ Bequeathed the name of Washington, To make man blush there was but one ! " VI. The removal of the liouseliold of the Vice President appears to have been conducted under the immediate superintendence of Mrs. Adams, who describes her new residence, called Bush Hill, in a letter to her daughter. " Though there remains neither bush nor shrub upon it, and very few trees, except the pine grove behind it, yet Bush Hill," she says, " is a very beautiful place ; but the grand and the sublime I left at Richmond Hill. The cultivation in sight, and the prospect, are superior ; but the Schuylkill is no more like the Hudson than I to Hercules. The house is better furnished within ; but when you come to compare the conveniences for store- room, kitchen, closets, and so forth, it has nothing like them. As chance governs many actions of my life, when we arrived in the city we came directly here. By accident, the vessel with our furni- ture had arrived the day before, and Briesler was taking the first load into a house all green-painted, the workmen being there with brushes in hand. This was a cold comfort, where, I suppose, no fire had been kindled in several years, except in a back kitchen ; but ag I expected many things of this kind I was not disappointed nor discomfited. As no wood or fodder had been provided, we could 250 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. only turn about and go to the City Tavern for tlie night. The next mornin^- was pleasant, and I ventured to come up and take posses- sion ; but what confusion ! boxes, barrels, chairs, tables, trunks, every thing, to be arranged, and few hands to accomplish it — for Briesler was obliged to be at the vessel. The fii-st oBject was to get fires ; the next to get up beds ; but the cold damp rooms, and the new paint, proved almost too much for me. On Friday we arrived here, and late on Saturday evening we got our furniture in. On Sunday, Thomas was laid up with the rheumatism ; on Monday, I was obliged to give Louisa an emetic ; on Tuesday, Mrs. Briesler was taken with her old pain ; and; to complete the whole, on Thm's- day, Polly was seized with a violent pleuritic fever. She has been twice bled, had a blister on her side, and has not been out of bed since, only as she is taken up to have her bed made. And every day, the stormy ones excepted, from eleven until three, the house is filled with ladies and gentlemen. As all this is no more nor worse than I expected, I bear it without repining, and feel thankful that I have weathered it out without a relapse, though some days I have not been able to sit up. Mrs. Bingham has been twice to see me. I think she is more amiable and beautiful than ever. I have seen many very fine women since I have been here. Our Nancy Hamilton is the same unaffected and affable girl we formerly knew her. She made many kind inquiries after you ; so did Mrs. Bingham. I have not yet begun to return visits, as the ladies expect to find me at home, and I have not been in a state of health to do it ; nor am I yet in a very eligible state to receive theii* visits. [ however endeavored to have one room decent, to receive them, which, with my own chamber, is as much as I can at present boast of having in tolerable order. The difficulty of getting workmen, Mr. Hamilton pleads as an excuse for the house not being ready. Mrs. Lear was in to see me yesterday, and assm'es me that I am THE KEM OVAL. 251 mucli better off tlian Mrs. WasMngton will be when slie arrives, for that tlieii' house is not likely to be completed tliis year. And, when all is done, it will not be Broadway ! If New York wanted any revenge for the removal, the citizens might be glutted if they would come here, where every article has risen to almost double its price, and whereit is not possible for Congress and their appendages for a long time to be half as well accommodated. One would sup- pose that the people thought Mexico was before them, and that the Congress were its possessors. " We have had two severe storms ; the last was snow. Poor Mrs. Knox is in great tribulation about her furniture. The vessel sailed the day before the fii'st storm, and had not been heard of on Friday last. I had a great misfortune haj^pen to my best trunk of clothes. The vessel sprung a leak, and my trunk got wet, a foot high, by which means I have several gowns spoiled; the one you worked is the most damaged, and a black satin — the blessed effects of tumbling about the world." During all the autumn the roads through New Jersey looked like a street in New York on the &st of May ; but the removal was finally accomplished, and the furniture of the public offices and private houses was transferred to the new metropohs. Among women Philadelphia become popular, but the men, especially those of the eastern states, were generally ill pleased with the change, and perhaps little disposed to look upon it in an amiable way. Wol- cott wrote : " The people of this state are very proud of their city, their wealth, and their supposed knowledge. I have seen many of their principal men, and discover nothing that tempts me to idola- try ; I must see and examine before I say much, but I do not expect that a more intimate acquaintance will furnish me with any self- humiliating sensations." Mr. James Monroe, whose " good feeling " was so proverbial, could not refrain from saying, " The city seems at 252 THE KEPUBLICAN COURT. present to be mostly inhabited by sharpers ; " and ^Ii*. Jeremiah Smith, of New Hampshke, remarked in a letter to his brother, " The accomits you have always had of this great and beautiful city will bhnd the eyes of your understanding, as they did mine. The Philadelphians are, from the highest to the lowest, from the parson in ^his black gown to the fille de joie^ or gu4 of pleasure, a set of beggars. You cannot turn round without paying a dollar." But regrets for New York, and uncivil accusations against Philadel- phians for making as much as they could, in an honest way, of theii* victory over that now deserted city, gradually subsided and were lost in the more agreeable excitement of preparing for the season in the gay world. ^ jm3.ia£a: mo. ozaarAanAir. SOCIETY IN PHILADElPHIi. No just exhibition can be given of American society in the days of WasHngton, wliick does not present in considerable fulness a view of society in Pliiladelpliia. The early career of Washington was connected with this city. Here was assembled the Congress of 17 76, and around it, as around a centre, are clustered many memo- ries of the revolution. From Philadelphia the constitution was given to the world. " Here, most of all," to use the language of Mr. Everett, " was the home of Washington ; here he resided for a longer term than he did in any other place, his own Virginia; alone excepted. Six most important years of his life were spent in Philadelphia ; the house in which he lived is known ; his seat in church is still pointed out ; persons yet survive who have felt the touch of his hands upon their childish heads ; and this spot, we may well believe, will be among the last where his memory will cease to be revered, and the last where the love of that union and that constitution which was so near to his great heart, will ever be forgotten." In the present chapter I shall therefore de- scribe with some particularity this former metropolis of our coun- try, its territorial extent and progress, its families who were most distinguished, its religious sects, its professions of divinity, law, 254 • THE REPUBLICAN COURT. and medicine, and, so far as I can, " sitting," as Lord Bacon says, "■' so far off," and witli such lights as I have, whatever made np its social system. The families whose names appear on the twelfth and thirteenth pages of this volume, where, with other records, I have transcribed the lists of the old " City Dancing Assembly," still remained the principal peoj)le of Philadelphia when the revolution broke out. A few adhered to the British cause, such as the Galloways, some of the Aliens, the Penns, and, I think, several of the Lawrences and Bonds, who returned to England. Others, apparently of Scottish origin, whose allegiance to the house of Hanover was never very strong, retired to their seats in the country. This, I presume, was the case with the Grsemes, who resided during the early part of the war at Graeme Park. I am not able to state from any records to which I have had access, to what extent the respectable family of McCall supported the revolutionary cause. Mr. Wallace re- tired to a seat of his called Ellershe, in New Jersey, at which place, or at Burlington, his family remained until his grandsons, in 1797, went back to their residence in Philadelj^hia. There were other families, such as that of Lardner, connected with the Pro- prietaries, whose movements I have not been able to trace. The return of peace brought some change, of course, in the social structure. A successful revolution had been accomplished. Men who before were but little known in the public or social sphere had now become leaders in one, and aspired to be equals in the other. An eccentric loyalist who had left the city in 1YT6, la- ments pathetically on his return in 1791, that on looking over the Directory he " scarce knew above three or four names in a hun- dred," that his " native country appeared almost a desert," and that " the iqMarts made him feel too sensibly the difference be- tween his present and former condition." That portion of the SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 255 provincial aristocracy wMcli derived its importance from a connec- tion with tlie crown, and liad not supported the cause of the colo- nies, had now, of course, lost all its political authority, and in the great field which the acknowledgment of indejDendence opened for ambition and ability, men were " looking into the seeds of time " to see " which grain would grow and which would not." With all this, however, any one acquainted with the state of so- ciety in Philadelphia after the revolution, will perceive that its distinctions rested essentially on the old foundations. The old names had still, as they have to-day, though associated with very little merit of any kind in some who bear them, a prestige which was socially of dominant influence. And on the whole it was well deserved. On the conclusion of the 2:)eace the city was character- ized by a style of life quite as elegant as any which has since pre- vailed, and much more elegant and liberal than any which prevails now. It was the elegance of dignity, moral worth, and the consciousness of gentility. Its wealth, indeed, was chiefly commercial, but its commerce was of a diiferent kind from that of the present age. The " infamous practice of stock jobbing," as it is justly called in the statutes of England, had not diffused itself through the ramifications of trade, or been generally and shamelessly indulged. Commerce, Originating in its true spirit, and pm'sued according to tlie rules of a high moral integrity, was the vocation of the Willings, the Francises, and the McCalls. It brought not less generous nor less sure returns than that of modern dealers ; but its wealth, less suddenly acquired and less generally diffused, had that honorable source, that rejDOse of character, and that stability of endurance, which renders wealth more valuable for the respectability it imj)arts than as a means of material luxury. It is true that the limits of the city, even as late as the period 258 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. of Wasliington's administratiou, were very narrow m comparison witli those wliicli now "bound its compactly built area. Front, Second Third, and Fourth streets, on the Delaware side, were its principal avenues, and it did not from any point extend much west of Sixth street. The city began near where the navy yard is now, and gradually extended north along the river. It is customary to speak of its immense growth toward the north-west as modern. In the main it is so. But Callowhill street, which was named by Penn after his second wife, was one of its earliest thoroughfares, and some of the oldest houses in the city are in this very northern district. The extension towards the Schuylkill has been more recent. At the close of the last century society and fashion were still upon the Delaware. Just before the revolution. Chief Justice Allen's residence was on the east side of Water street, below Market. Mr. Joseph Sims, a merchant of extensive business, who built at a later date the noble residence now occupied by his niece, Mrs. E. S. Burd, on the corner of Ninth and Chestnut, wa,s living between sixty and seventy years ago in Third below Pine. Mr. Alexander J. Dallas, a dashing young lawyer who, without any property, had come hither from the West Indies to try his fortune, was in Front above Pine. The Stockers,' Philipses, Barclays, and other mer- chants of great respectability, though not of high fashion, were in Front not far from Pine ; Mr. Swanwick, for some years the part- ner of Thomas Willing and of Kobert Morris, lived, I think, in Penn street ; Colonel Thomas Lloyd Moore, a military gentleman well kuown in the gay world of that day, — a son of William Moore, President of Pennsylvania — in Pine above Second ; some of the older Binghams, I believe, not far from the same now busy region ; the Eeverend Doctor Blackwell, in the large house in Pine below Third, still standing; Chief Justice McKean nearly opposite, at SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 257 the northeast corner of Pine and THrd; Mr. Eoss, a merchant of eminence whom I mention elsewhere as proprietor of a beauti- ful country seat called the Grange, had erected for his residence the very large house at the corner of Second and Pine ; Mr. John Beale Bordley, with his accomplished daughter, afterwards Mrs, James Gibson, in Union, near Third ; the McCalls, in Second, near Pine ; Mr. Phillips, an English gentleman, of social distinction, at the southwest corner of Spruce and Third ; General Walter Stew- art, at one time, in the aristocratic mansion afterwards occupied by Mr. Camac, and more recently by Mi*. Peter, the British consul, in Third, below Spruce ; Mrs. Bingham, Mi's. Powell, Chief Jus- tice Chew, and Mr. Thomas Willing, in Third above Spruce ; Mrs. Harrison (then lately Miss Sophia Francis), opposite ; Bell's British Book Shop, the fashionable literary mart of the day, was in Thii'd near Pear ; Judge Wilson lived in " Wilson's House," or " Fort Wilson," at the southwest corner of Thii'd and Walnut, — the grounds extending far down Third ; Andrew Hamilton, who had married Miss Franks, a Jewess of some celebrity, at the northwest corner, oj)posite ; Doctor Kush was in Walnut, near Third ; Chie^ Justice Shippen in Fourth below Walnut ; Doctor William Ship- pen at the southwest corner of Fourth and Prime ; and Mr. Charles Biddle, vice president of the state, and father of the late accomplished Mr. Nicholas Biddle, in Chestnut above Fourth. Louis Philippe d'Orleans lodged, at one period, at the northeast corner of Front and Callowhill ; Talleyrand, for a short time, in the same neighborhood, and, with the Duke de Liancourt, Yolney, and Moreau de St. Mery, was taught English by William Cobbett, at the house of a French merchant in Front below Market. Cob- bett himself resided in Callowhill above Second. The post office, kept by Mr. Patten, was in Front near Chestnut, and the Treasury of the United States, during Mr. Wolcot's time, in Chestnut above 33 258 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. Third. General Hamilton lived, I tMnk, in Market above Third. Doctor Franklin, as is well-known, owned nearly a square, in this vicinity ; the entrance to his house being by a court, from Market street, and his gardens running back all the way to Chestnut. In- deed until lYOS Market street, from Third to Fourth, was yet open ground. The University of Pennsylvania, from which Charles Thompson, then a teacher there, had been summoned by the Con- gress of 1776 to be the Secretary of that body, was in Fourth above Market ; and here, about this time, in an upper room, Noah Webster, as a tutor of the college, was teaching with humble fidelity the elements of English. Quite in the lower part of the city, too, were all the places of worship, and the courts of justice. Christ Church and St. Peter 'Sj now a Sabbath day's journey from the homes of those who stiU cling to the, places where their fathers worshipped, were then in the centre of fashion. The church of the Presbyterian aristocracy of that day, " Old Buttonwood," as it was commonly called, from a range of ancient sycamores which grew along its front, was in Market street near Second. The great German Lutheran church, afterwards destroyed by fire, to which Mr. Muhlenberg, Speaker of the House of Representatives, had given a noble organ, (as the best means, it was alleged, of securing the votes of his musical countrymen,) was in Fourth near Cherry. Of the Friends' meeting houses I need say but little. Quite in the eastern part of the town sixty years ago, they remain there still, or have dis- appeared altogether. They have never at any time gone with fashion. The first Baptist church, a secession from which gave to the architecture of Philadelphia the circular edifice in which Doc- tor Stoughton preached, in George street, still stands in a recess from the southwest corner of Arch and Second, surrounded now by lofty warehouses, and invisible from the streets ; an enduring SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 259 tliougli deserted monument of the liberality of tlie denomination. The sect of Socinus, notwithstanding the eminence of Doctor Priestley, had not in the days of "Washington any considerable distinction in Philadelphia/^ The court house in which William Bradford, Ingersoll, and the elder Sargeant, laid the foundations of their professional fame, was over the market place at the cross- ing of Market and Second streets. At the Third street extremity of this square stood the pillory, in which, until the humane efforts of the first named of these eminent persons had procured that beneficent change in the criminal code of America which com- mends his name to enduring gratitude, convicts stood to be pelted by the populace with eggs, or whipped, with lashes on their naked backs, every Wednesday and Saturday. Mr. Stille, for many years the only considerable tailor of the city, had been in Front street near Chestnut ; and although with the arrival of Congress, and the influx of foreigners from the revo- lutions in France and St. Domingo, style and fashion, which then first made a strong invasion on the quaker cuts and colors of Phila- delphia costume, introduced the well-known Charles C. Watson, an artist of higher style, even he did not venture to advance further west than Chestnut below Third. When he died there, a few * The late Bishop White used, by way of showing the impolicy of religious persecution, to tell this anecdote in regard to the rise and progress of Unitarianism in Philadelphia : The sect was founded in Philadelphia so far back as the time of Dr. Priestley, hut never made much progress beyond holding meetings in a small room in Cherry Alley. But Dr. Priestley being a man of mark, one of the Trinitarian divines opened a long continued and severe attack upon the new association. Many years after this the Unitarian body applied to the legislature for a charter. When the biU came up in committee some member asked, *' Who are these Unitarians ? " "They were an obscure sect," replied one of the persons interested in the passage of the bill, " who used to hold forth in Cherry Alley ; and we should have been there yet but for the Rev- erend Doctor ■" "Indeed," said the member, " is Dr. inclined that way ? I am surprised." " He is not at all so," was the response, " but we were very poor, — utterly unknown, and making no converts, tiU he began to fulminate at us, when several members of his own parish hunted us out, and, being pleased with us, never went back to him." 260 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. years ago, lie liad long "been left " high and dry " by the receding tides of fashion, which had swept entii-ely past him toward the Schuylkill. Oellers, who had converted the college of Philadel- phia, in Chestnut just above Sixth, into the City Hotel, had gone much further in the same direction for 1795, than the proprietors of the La Pierre have since done/in going nearly a mile beyond him into Broad street. In 1792 Mr. George Clymer had built the small but tasteful residence in Chestnut street below Seventh, afterwards occupied by Mrs. Sophia Harrison. The President and Mr. Robert Morris had led the line of fashion into Market or High street ; and Mr. Boudinot, recently appointed by Washington Director of the Mint, (the office of which he had established in Seventh street below Arch,) with his son-in-law, Mr. William Bradford, then a judge of the Supreme Court, had gone so far in advance of every thing as to begin the erection of his residence (afterwards occupied by Mr. T. Cadwalader,) at the southeast corner of Arch and Ninth. This however was the extreme west, and on his appoint- ment to the Attorney Generalship, Mr. Bradford, I have under- stood, found himself so remote from the daily walk of the public that he was obliged to come back to Market below Sixth. Mr. J. D. Sergeant, a lawyer of eminence, resided in a fine house which he had built in Arch above Sixth, near the site of the present Arch Street Theatre. In IV 93, and long after, Washington Square was the Potters' Field ; Independence Square was scarcely enclosed, and had at least one wooden structure on the Walnut street side of it ; Chest- nut street was not paved above Sixth, and from Sixth to Eighth, and from Walnut to Chestnut, the lots were almost entirely va- cant. Mr. Breck, in l)uilding about this time his house on the north side of Market, near Eighth, had the whole square to SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 261 Cliestmit street open before liim. And except a large structure on tlie soutli side of Market, above Mntli, built by a Santa Cruz mercbant named Markoe, then so distant and lonely as to be known only as " Markoe's bouse," the ultima tlmle of a fashionable promenade, with another house, perhaps, built by Dunlap the printer, on the southeast corner of Twelfth and Market streets, this last-named street, which was then in advance of every street running westward, had not a residence of any note whatever upon it. In June, 1795, Mr. Bradford, the attorney general, who, with his brother-in-law, Mr. Wallace, then residing at Burlington, in New Jersey, were the owners of large lots about Arch and Mnth streets, writes to him in a letter which is among the papers of the Historical Society, " I should be glad if you would leave your classics and your greenhouse long enough to look after your interests in this city. I am anxious to confer with you. The city begins to make its way in this direction, but we own so much va cant ground hereabouts that we fairly arrest its progress, to our own injury. We must not hold too long, or we shall turn the tide of improvement elsewhere." An ancient house still standing on the east side of Eighth above Locust street, built in 1787, I think by a son of the eccentric Mrs. Duncan, known as the foun- dress of a votive church, and a yet finer structure which has long since given way to the residence of Mr. Henry D. Gilpin, at the southwest corner of Eleventh and Spruce, were in the city's presidential era regarded almost as country places. It is obvious from these details that Philadelphia, now grown to such vast dimensions, covered in that period but a small surface. With a few exceptions, its whole business, society and fashion was east of Sixth street, and much or most of it east of Fourth street. At the same time the style of the better houses was often more elegant than that now prevaihng. They were in better tasta 262 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. Their fronts were generaEy plain, and not made like so many of the ornamented, overcharged and heavy facades of the present day, only to show " how many tastes " their owners — " wanted." Their ground surface was generally much wider, the passage and stairways far more imposing, the grounds behind and around them nore spacious, free and airy, and the subject of much greater at- tention than is possible with the style of domestic architecture now prevalent ; with which, upon narrow lots, houses with ranges of rear buildings exclude at once the vital elements of light and air, and an enjoyment which, whenever attained, to a person of deli- cate sense seems hardly less vital, the fragrance and beauty of fo- liage and flowers. Any one who will look at the fine structures in Front below Pine street, now converted into seamen's lodging houses ; at those in Third from Spruce to Arch ; or at those in Chestnut below Fifth, now occupied by the fashionable shopkeep- ers, Bailey, Levy, Caldwell, and others, will see that in point of size, solidity, comfort, and effect, the better houses of that day were quite equal and in some cases much superior to the better houses of this. And these ancient houses, it must be remembered, • we see in a decayed and disfigured condition, mutilated of much of their embellishment, and, most of all, deprived by more recent structures of the grounds, both on the sides and in the rear, which once gave them peculiar dignity and elegance. These houses looked less like the rows of tall, slight, narrow and uniform ware- houses, in which commercial economy has attempted to unite the greatest product of brick with the least outlay of money and the exhibition of the most vicious taste. They told their own story to every one who saw them, and appeared to be, as they were, the homes of well-bred and unostentatious gentlemen, who jDlanted and built for themselves and their posterity. SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 263 II. In that day tliere were no locomotives, and the whole world did not in summer move in masses to the sea or mountain, there in masses to remain, till in masses they returned. Kural or suburban residences belonged to almost every man of any importance in Philadelphia. Mr. Burke considered that much of the misgovern- ment of France arose from the too hard work of the legislators. " In Enofland," he said, " we cannot work so hard as Frenchmen. -^ They w^ho always labor can have no true judgment. You never give yourselves time to cool. You can never plan the future by the past. You never go into the country^ "Who that looks at the mercantile life of Philadelphia or New York, doubts that the constant " stoppages," by which mild name failures and bankrupt- cies have come to be styled in the vocabulary which has usurped the language of drawing-rooms, are because men " work too hard " — never give themselves "time to cool," never "go into the country." Philadelphia was a centre round which, on every side but that of the Delaware, the rural seats of her merchants and gentry were studded. And they were matters of the greatest pride with them. On the north was the country house of one of the ancient judges of the Common Pleas. It seems to have been among his dearest earthly possessions. Hear how he speaks of it in his last will : " Whereas the said place has been some employment to me, in contriving, building and improvement thereon, and as the situation seems to carry prospect of advancement, although as the circum- stances of my family and estate stand at present, I cannot think it convenient and proper to give it to any one of my sons, — yet as it would be a pleasure to me while living to think that any sober, rehgious, and careful descendant of mine might enjoy it, I do 264 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. hereby direct my executors to give to any sucli, my descendant, tlie preference, wlio may be desirous and able to purchase it." The comfortable seat of Mr. Eoberts, a quaker, on the Point road, with its avenues of pine trees, the admiration of every one : Rose Hill, the country residence of Mr. Boudinot, and the scene of the country hospitality of his distinguished daughter, Mrs. William Bradford ; Commodore Barry's, not far off, made interest- ing and memorable as the summer house of General Hamilton, who rented and occupied it during a part of his administrative life in Philadelphia; Cliveden, further west, the rural home of Chief Justice Chew, still in possession of his descendants; and Laurel Hill, since converted by speculators into a cemetery, which con- tinues to bear this name, but, at the time I am speaking of, the hospitable retreat during the warmer months of Mr. Joseph Sims, whose city life was illustrated with an elegance* never equalled in Philadelphia except by that of Mrs. Bingham, were all known for various charms to the more refined and distinguished society of the town. The beautiful place of Mr. Robert Morris was called The Hills. Part of it remains known to this generation as Lemon Hill, and part as Fairmount. It was laid out by Mr. Morris, who built a very large house upon it, with approaches from the rear, the principal front looking down upon the Schuylkill. It was ornamented with extensive greenhouses, and a fish pond, stocked with gold fish. It was from the breaking of the bank of this pond, and the escape into the SchuylkiU of the fijiny tribe who inhabited it, that gold fish have since been so frequently found in this river, and that we often hear it announced by their captors that the gold fish is a native of Pennsylvania waters. It is a denizen, but not a * I have tmderstood from good authority that the value of Mr. Sims's silver plate exceeded twentj thousand dollars. Is there any one in Philadelphia who now owns as much ? SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 265 native. Tlie Hills became, in tlie conclusion of their public his- tory, interesting as the scene of Mr. Morris's confinement, when the barbarous laws which then allowed arrest and imprisonment for debt drove him, on the termination of his affairs, to seek shel- ter from ultimate proceedings in the privilege of the law which declares that " every man's house is his castle." Mr. Morris never spent much time here in his prosperous days. His town house was the scene of constant hospitalities. He withdrew to this country resort in March, 1797, to avoid the final process from the preceding judicial terms of September and December, 1796. The sheriff of Philadelphia, Mr. Baker, was supposed to have committed himself, and to have made his bail responsible, in allowing the defendant to go at large when it would have been easy to arrest him ; and some of those who had suffered most by Mr. Morris's transactions, or who bore their losses with least equanimity, determined to press their suit against this officer and his sureties. It therefore became very important for him to confer with Mr. Morris as to the means of his defence, and Mr. Morris, who with the feelings of an honor- able man was desirous of reheving him from a responsibility whick humanity alone had imposed upon him, received Mr. Baker at The Hills on condition that he would bring no process with him. Here, on a stormy day in March, the sheriff of Philadelphia and the great financier of the revolution were closeted together. Mr. Baker was faithful to his engagement and attempted no arrest. It is painful to add that Mr. Morris was finally ap23rehended by his own bail, upon a " bail-piece," the privilege of a man's house not being held to extend against bail. On the other side of the Schuylkill, about seven miles from town, was The Grange, the noble seat of Mr. Ross, an opulent merchant. Belmont, still known as Belmont Farm, and now a principal dairy of Philadelphia, was the ancient and aristocratic 34 266 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. residence of Judge Peters, and the best representative of an old fashioned English seat that ever existed near the city. Its noble trees had been planted by an earlier generation of the family, and even before the revolution were venerable for their age. This was a frequent and favorite resort of Washington, who in its pleasing shades and in the easy disposition and sprightly parts of its owner, and especially in that gentleman's agricultural tastes, enjoyed with a peculiar relish the little leisure which the affairs of state allowed him. Lower down the river, and nearly oj)posite to Fairmount, was' Solitude, the quiet home of one of the John Penns. It was a sweetly sequestered spot, the jDroperty of a very modest and retiring bachelor, whose literary tastes were here indulged in effu- sions which at a later period were given to the public, in London, in two volumes from the 'pvess of Bulmer. Theii* elegance of paper, typography, and engraving, have not, however, saved them from the fate which attends mediocrity of poetic genius. One of these volumes contains an engraving of Solitude. On the same side, further south, was Lansdowne, originally owned by another John Penn, much better known to the society of that day, and who, wiser than his celibitary kinsman, had hon- ored one of the Misses Allen with the proprietary name. Lans- downe was a fine estate in the time of Mr. Penn, who built upon it a noble mansion ; but its pre-eminence belonged to the e230ch of Washington's administration, when, on Mr. Penn's retii-ement to England, the entire proj)erty passed into the ownership of Mr. Bingham. Extensive imj)rovements of every kind were then made, as well in the principal edifice as in the greenhouses, stables, and other accessories. Lansdowne, while Philadelphia was the metrop- olis, was owned by Mrs. Bingham, and in extent and variety ap- proached more nearly to the seats of some of the English nobility than any other place perhaps in the country. SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 267 The Woodlands, now, like Laurel Hill, converted into a resting place for the dead, was a very charming spot. It extended down to the edge of the river, and the landscape has been frequently rej)resented by artists. It belonged to the Hamiltons, who styled themselves, somewhat pretentiously, though very appropriately, if I am correct in supposing that their earlier history was obscure, " The Hamilton family of the Woodlands and Bush Hill." Mr. Wilham Hamilton, who built the house and decorated the grounds, was a man of great taste in such matters, and embellished his beautiful mansion with such paintings and other works of art as were attainable in that day. His table was the frequent resort of artists and hon mvants of different kinds, of whom he entertained a good many at dinner, usually selecting Sunday as his day of in- dulo^ence. Of Grseme Park, frequented by the educated gentry, a few miles southwest of the city, I have written elsewhere,'^ in a me- moir of its proprietress, Mrs. Ferguson. Willington, the country residence of Mr. Thomas Willing, was upon what is now upper Broad street. A part of it is still covered with the trees planted there by its honored proprietor, and is the same property which, under the name of the Gratz estate, it was proposed in 1854 to convert into a public park. When, having named these places, we refer to the comfortable domicil of the ancient and excellent quaker family, the Pembertons, on the grounds now occupied by the Marine Hospital of the United States ; to Andalusia, about fourteen miles up the Delaware, thus named, in recognition of his large and honorable success in Spanish commerce, by Mr. Craig, its owner, from whom it passed to Mrs. Nicholas Biddle, I have mentioned the chief suburban residences of the time, though not at aU the numerous small and plainer places, like Mi\ Lard- * In my " Female Poets of America." 268 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. ner's, further down the river, Mr. Ball's, at Kichmond, and many others, of no historical importance. They all, however, contributed to give a peculiar character to the society of that time. III. Some account should be given of the learned professions. At the head of the clergy stood Dr. "White, as he was commonly called, the well known first bishop of the Episcopal church in Pennsylvania. His ecclesiastical character has in recent times been greatly mistaken by both the extreme high and the extreme low divisions of his own denomination. He was what in England would be called a low churchman, as distinguished from the ultra school of Laud and Philpotts, but was very far removed from what have been called low churchmen in this country. Even in his day, when the Episcopal church was extremely feeble, and concessions, and compromises with other denominations, were matters to which the temptations were extreme. Bishop White defined what he regarded as the just limits of both, with a distinctness and precision which have made them their safest limits since. To him, and to his moderate views and conciliatory temper, we must ascribe the fact that while the eqclesiastical establishment of England, and the very name of bishop, had become odious in this country, the Protestant Episcopal Church in America departed so very little in form, while departing not at all in doctrine, from the established church in England. As a preacher, he was earnest and persuasive, but he seldom fulminated threats or judgments, and had very de- cided views of the limits of clerical duty. He shrunk from no proper responsibility, but he had too high a sense of courtesy, and too just a regard for even the most delicate of rights, to invade with freedom the atmosphere which every gentleman feels and ac- knowledges as a proper circle for himself and others. He was the SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 269 man of Ms time for liis position. His prudence saved what the zeal of others would have lost, and in the midst of political and ecclesiastical difficulties of the most discouraging kind, he founded that establishment which has grown to be one of the most majes- tic structures of the religion of the republic. His character will grow larger as the perspective becomes more truly fixed by time, and if it were separated from religious parties, posterity would probably place his name after only the names of Washington, Marshall, and Hamilton. He belonged to the same order of men, differing but in the sphere of his action from either. The chief associate of BishojD White in the ministry was Dr. Robert Blackwell, a scholarly and sensible preacher of the English university cast. His sermons, of the homiletical kind, were like those of the higher class of the English clergy in the last century, calculated for educated and thoughtful hearers more than to arouse an indifferent or slumbering congregation. Possessing family rank, most agreeable manners, and a very large fortune, and being withal a man of unquestioned piety, and great propriety of life, he maintained a dignified position, and was extensively de- ferred to by an opulent and worldly class who would probably have deferred to no one else, less blessed with adventitious in- fluence. Dr. James Abercrombie of a somewhat later date — from 1794 — made a conspicuous figure, and by many is still well remem- bered. Educated for the liberal professions, he had been engaged in commerce in Philadelphia ; and though in relinquishing a lucra- tive business for " the order of jioverty," as well as by the general course of his life, he had given unquestionable proofs of his ear- nestness, a certain fondness for convivial pleasure, and a high tone both of ecclesiastical and political sentiment, caused his sincerity to be sometimes doubted by persons who looked no deeper than 270 THE REPUBLICAN COUKT. the surface of things. Following the occasional practice of the Eno'lish clergy of the last century — an example which Bishop White himself apparently did not disapprove — he had once or twice visited the theatre, on " the author's night," which caused scandal among many who every day of their lives may have done something much worse. Then his aversion to the infidel senti- ments suspected to be held by Mr. Jefterson, made him at a later period very reluctant to read the prayers for the President of the United States, prescribed in the Episcopal ritual ; and when in- formed by his diocesan that it was not a matter in the least discre- tionary with him, he comforted his federal friends with the assurance that he had not "prayed," but only "read" them. Not content with provoking the democrats, he had, on more than one occasion, involved himself in trouble with the aristocracy of his parish, by his strict and manly adherence to what he deemed his duty, prescribed by the canons and rubrics of his church. His celebration of the marriage of William Penn, an eccentric great- grandson of the founder of Pennsylvania, attracted a great deal of attention. This gentleman deemed it proper to address a woman celebrated for her beauty, but whose course of life, not less than her origin and associations, rendered it impossible for his friends of either sex to recognize her as his wife. Almost any other of the clergy would have refused, on grounds of prudential regard to their own interests, to perform the marriage office, under circumstances so peculiar ; but Dr. Abercrombie, having used in vain all suitable endeavors to persuade Mr. Penn from so Mai a connection, and finding that there was no legal or canonical im- pediment, married them, considering himself bound as a Christian mmister to do so. The excitement however became so great, and his popularity was so much in danger of being affected by it, that lie was obliged to defend himself in a pamphlet — " Documents SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 271, relative to tlie Celebration of a late Marriage " — to the principles of whicli Bishop White gave his entire approval. There can be no donbt, I think, that Dr. Abercrombie was right, and evinced that a sense of duty was the controlling influence of his conduct ; and the aj)proval of what he had done, by Bishop White, is a fact worth recording, as the clergy are often called on to act in cases like that here referred to, though not often in quite as strong ones. The three divines I have named were ministers of the united parishes of Christ church and St. Peter's, which were the aristo- cratic churches and congregations of the time. At the former the President with his aids attended with regularity on every Sunday morning.* At Christ church were the Aliens, Harrisons, Whites, McCalls, Swifts, Cadwalladers, Cunninghams, Tilghmans, and others of simi- lar consideration. St. Peter's, perhaps, as the newest parish, had the most fashionable congregation of the time. Here the vestry pro^dded pews for two of the secretaries of departments, and here the Binghams, Franceses, Blackwells, Willings, Powells, Chews, and Peterses, were to be seen on fine Sunday mornings when the time came to illustrate the newest fashions of the fall or spring.f * The history of the pew occupied here by Washington has not been always correctly given. It was larger than any which has since been in the church. Colonel White, the father of the bishop, owned a pew here, which on his death went to the bishop, and Mrs. Robert Morris, his sister. When the President came, the bishop and Mrs. Morris surrendered it, and went themselves to one which belonged to Mrs. Harrison, the bishop's wife's mother, and one behind Colonel White's original pew was included by the vestrymen, who placed the other pewholders each one pew lower down. This was occupied by the president during Washington's time. After his retirement the pews were re- stored to their former condition, and Bishop White resumed the one well known as his up to the alteration of the church in 1836. fl hope I am not uncharitable in my historic record. Bishop White used to recount a pleasant anecdote about Judge Peters. The judge had an excellent pew in the middle aisle, nearly under the organ, as that instrument had been originally placed, but he seldom occupied it, or went to church at alL Being a next door neighbor of the bishop's, and on terms of social familiarity with him, he deemed it proper to explain to the head of the church the cause of this unbecoming omission of his religious duties. " I should like, indeed," said the judge, '• to go regularly to church, but that confounded organ over my head gives me such a headache, that I can go only occasionally." 272 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. A mono- tlie otlier Episcopal clergy were Dr. William Smith, provost of tlie University of Pennsylvania, a man of liabits a lit- tle open to observation, but of very fine literary and elocutionary powers, who was generally called upon when any occasion not par- ticularly religious required a sermon. His residence was at tbe southwest corner of Fourth and Arch streets, a fine house, still standing, of which the grounds ran southward to the college over which he presided. Dr. Eobert Andrews, a man of the purest piety and reputation, was also at a later date provost of the Uni- " Organ ? " said the bishop, " I don't think it will disturb yoa now : it was removed about three years since, to the other end of the church." The Rev. Dr. Abercrombie was not quite so passive as the bishop. A cui-ious letter to him from the Rev. Henry Vandyke, dated the twenty-third of Feb- ruary, 1796, presents but a melancholy picture of the piety of fashionable people in those times : and as well on its historical account, as for its honorable record of Dr. Abercrombie's fearless and faithful discharge of his clerical duty, I copy it nearly entire. It appears that Dr. Abercrombie had given offence to one of his parishioners, Mrs. Blackwell, a sister of Mr. Bingham, and closely re- lated to other influential persons in the parish, by some remarks lie had made to Mrs. Blackwell on the subject of Mr. Bingham's attendance at church ; and he now appeals to Mr. Vandyke, who had been present, for his recollection of what was said ; " The appeal you make to my recollection, re- specting the conversation that passed at Dr. BlackweU's between Mrs. Blackwell and yourself,' says Mr. Vandyke, in reply, " I remember well, and as deeply lament. You will, I dare say, remember the conversation that occurred between us upon our return from Dr. BlackweU's, when you so kindly accompanied me on my way home to my lodgings, and that I was strongly apprehensive you had gone too far with Mrs. Blackwell. You will remember that you justified the whole as being a point of duty, in your clerical character. I will, however, give you my best recollection on that unhappy subject. I call it unhappy, because, in its issue, I see it has given you pain. In the course of the evening, you know the conversation turned upon a sermon you had delivered a little before, in the church, which was said to be pointed at certain characters. You replied that your intention was to be pointed, that you designed it for the great ; that there were certain persons among them who belonged to the Episcopal church, and who seldom or never attended there, for whom you had, for several weeks be- fore the delivery of the sermon, carried it in your pocket ; that whenever a proper number should appear you had detcnnined to preach it ; that the sermon was not altogether so proper for the Sunday on which it was preached, as the one you had intended for the day, but finding a group of them, you could not pass it over, having so fair a shot. I do not by any means remember to have heard the assertion you mention respecting your having ^^ got all the Willing family together like a covey of partridges and determined to have a shot at tliem" in these very words recited; but you cer- tainly named Mr. Bingham, General Knox, Mr. Willing and Mrs. Powell, as being those who com- posed the group, and said that by then: being at church on that day you had a fair shot at them ; at least I really understood you so. Mrs. Blackwell, I confess, appeared very much hurt and affected at her brother's being mentioned, and said they would all be offended, and that she should not be surprised if they all left the two churches in which you officiated and went to St. Paul's ; that she was sure Mrs. Powell, in particulikr, would feel herself injured. You replied, that wliat you had SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 273 versity. Dr. Samuel Pilmore was an evangelical cliurcliman, of some sort, wlio, witli Dr. Samuel Magaw, vice provost of tlie uni- versity, officiated at St. Paul's, of wMcli the congregation appea,rs to have Legun in a schism from Christ Church and St. Peter's, in which I believe it still continues. Dr. Ashbel Green, who, associated with Bishop White, was for eight years, from 1792, one of the chaplains of Congress, was de- servedly regarded as the head of the Presbyterian church in the metropolis. He was a man of commanding appearance, and, in his best days, was an effective and sj)lendid orator. His church, the second Presbyterian, was at the northwest corner of Arch and Second streets. Plere the vice president, Mr. Adams, though a Uni- tarian, regularly worshipped, occupying a seat in the pew of Mr. Boudinot, a large square enclosure at the head of the central aisle. Dr. Green's eminence and authority in the Presbyterian church were almost as great as Bishop White's in the Episcopal. In com- mon with the whole Presbyterian body throughout the country, he had been a staunch whig during the revolution, and had himself borne arms in the ranks, in one of the darkest periods of the war. Subsequently he became very intimately acquainted with some of done you considered to be no more than what duty required of you ; that so far from Mrs. Blackwell'a brother, Mr. Bingham, being offended, you had understood that he approbated the sermon ; and as to Mrs. Powell, you had said fuU as much to her upon another occasion at her own house. You then proceeded with firmness to say, that in consequence of open neglect by the great of our church (including the persons you had before named), of the chief duties of our religion, the churches were generally ill attended ; that they held pews which were seldom or ever occupied by them, by which means many serious Christians, who could get no pews at aU, were prevented from filling the churches ; that therefore it was that you had been so pointed ; and, to show that you really designed it in this way, when you came to that part of the sermon which was most particularly applied to that purpose, you had made a pause, and bowed towards them in their seats, so as that they might the more readily take the force of your observations. But you hoped it would not finally produce the effect Mrs. Blackwell suggested. If, however, even that should be the case, you did not doubt that others would gladly take their pews, and that the Episcopal churches, like those of other denominations, would more generally be filled. You forcibly observed that the churches of other denominations were well attended by the great who belonged to their communions, whereas, to the reproach of the Episcopal churches, those persons seldom or never attended at all." 35 274 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. the leading characters in the state, and in his church had at one period ahnost a pontifical supremacy. His voice was heard in its first General Assembly, in his old age he was conspicuous in what is known as the New School controversy, and his name is honor- ably identified with the leading measures which illustrated and shaped the policy of the Presbyterians for more than half a century. While he was chaplain, he noticed the thin attendance of mem- bers of Congress at prayers. Not more than one third were com- monly present. On one occasion he, expressed to a member, who was a professor of religion, his regret at this humiliating inatten- tion, which he was inclined to attribute to the prevalence of free thinking; but he was confounded by his friend's rej^ly: "Will you," said that gentleman, " tell me, on your veracity, whether our attendance is not as good as that of the delegates to your synod or General Assembly at the constituting prayer in the morning ? " He was compelled to admit the justice of the inquiry. Dr. Green resided in Chestnut street, in the house previously occujDied by Charles Thompson, secretary of the Congress of 1776. When he first removed to Philadelphia it was to become the colleague of Dr. James Sproat, a preacher highly esteemed in his prime, but at this period affected by the infirmities of age. During Washington's administration Dr. Green had successively two assistants, one of whom was Dr. John N. Abeel, afterward distinguished in the Dutch church in New York, and the other, Dr. Jacob J. Janeway. At the " Old Buttonwood," or Fii'st Presbyterian church, Dr. Ewing, a divine of eminence, and provost of the University of Pennsylvam'a, was the minister of his day. Until he had some per- sonal difficulty respecting his seminary, when he abandoned the Presbyterian, and attached himself to the E23iscopal church, Dr. Benjamin Eush was the most celebrated member of his cougrega- SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 275 tion, wlilcli included however Mr. J. D. Sargeant, Colonel "Wil- liams (the first superintendent of the West Point Academy), and other most respectable persons. There was a third Presbyterian church under the charge of Dr. Duffield. Of the great German Lutheran church, in Cherry street, Dr. Helmuth, professor of the German language and literature in the university, was long the admired and popular minister. Besides these, the most noted church associations of the metrop- ohs in that time, there was the Baptist church, of which I have already spoken, and one German Calvinist, one Methodist, one Moravian, and one Eoman Catholic. In the Southern Liberties was the Swedes' church, probably the oldest place of pubhc wor- ship in Pennsylvania. The Jews had a synagogue, and the ancient Society of Friends was then perhaps stronger than it has been since. The African church, now so prominent among the ecclesi- astical bodies of the city, was of a somewhat later date."^ * Dr. Robert Blackwell, who lias already been referred to, was originally of Blackwell's Island, New York, which his great-grandfather had purchased, and had been a chaplain in the army. Being a man of very large fortune, fine personal appearance, and singularly pleasant temper and manners, he was a conspicuous character in society. Uniting to his other advantages, great dignity, he was much sought for on the occurrence of fashionable weddings. Slavery then existed in Penn- sylvania, and the blacks, who have always been observed to be extremely " aristocratic," hardly considered that they were married at all, unless the Doctor or Bishop White celebrated their nup- tials. Dr. Blackwell's registry of man-iages and baptisms, which I have seen, beside the mar- riage of Miss Margaret Allen to William Tilghman, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, and among the alliances of the Willings, Francises, Chews, and others, records the marriages of Sylvia to Csesar, Venus to Pompey, Dinah to Cufife, and others, the humblest in the world, to whom as to the greatest, the kingdom of heaven is promised. From the wide hall of his elegant house in Pine street below Third, with its rich chairs and sofas, in which he would array them, the black company would adjourn to his kitchen, where they were sure of some good wine and other hospitable cheer. In due time, too, Sylvia, Dinah, and Venus, were blessed with increase, who would of course be brought to be baptized at his house, and by nobody, of coui-se, but the Doctor who had married their papas and mammas. Notwithstanding his inexhaustible fund both of benignity and good-humor, this " black " business grew a little onerous ; and as he began to observe, it had no relief from the increasing numbers of the white clergy. The old gentleman bethought himself at last of a remedy, and having a very respectable negro fiimily servant, who had been brought up from a child in his house, and was always piously disposed, he inquired q£ him how he would like to take " holy orders." 276 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. IV. The administratiou of justice — tlie great standing interest of society — may generally be taken as an exponent of society itself. In no country, at any time when the courts have been great, and the bar great, has the nation been other than great also. D'Aguesseau marks a splendid era in France, Eldon in England, and Marshall in America. The Declaration of Independence found just admitted at the Philadelphia bar, or preparing for it, several young men of fine parts and accomplishments. The older class, of the second " stra- tification " of the colonial bar, John Eoss, Mr. Francis, Mr. Wil- cocks, Mr. Galloway, and Andrew Allen, had either passed away or was doing so, and Mr. Bradford, Mr. Shippen, Edward Tilgh- man, Jared lugersoll, and William Rawle, were rising or about rising above the horizon. The last names, with those of William Lewis and Mr. Sitgreaves, of Easton, are those which adorned most brilliantly the bar of the capital during the first presidency. Mr. Joseph Reed had died in 1785, and though his powers as an advocate were very considerable, his passion was for political life^ Having considered the matter, the man felt convinced that as Dr. Blackwell had suggested it, he must be " truly called ; " and, putting on a white cravat and green spectacles, he entered in due form upon his divinity studies, for the uninternipted pursuit of which he was allowed a very comfortable room over the coach-house. Bishop White, whose offices were a great deal invoked in the same way, highly approved of Dr. Blackwell's ingenuity, and the Reverend Absalom Jones was in good time ordained by the bishop a. regular member of the Apostolic ministry. Jones had so constantly been present and assisting in a humbler capacity at his master's celebrations of marriage, that he was found, on the first experiment, quite aufait ; and those who witnessed his performance of the cere- mony, found it, in every respect, so " exactly like " Dr. Blackwell's own, that it was sometunes appealed to as conclusive evidence of the equality of the races. From this time, whenever invited to this duty by the blacks. Dr. Blackwell declined on the ground of professional etiquette. Jones, I ought to add, gave fuller proof of his ministry than many of his white brethren have since done. He was very useful among his people in Philadelphia, and is yet well remembered, as his memory also is yet greatly respected, by both whites and blacks, as the first rector of St. Thomas's African Episcopal church, in Fifth street below ^Yalnut. SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 277 and his interests were drawn in tlie unprofitable direction of Penn- sylvania local politics. Mr. Bradford undoubtedly occupied tlie fii'st position in his profession. I have referred to Mm in several places in this book. I cannot mention him too often. In mere law learning, he was probably surpassed by Mr. Edward Tilgh- man, who was one of the most thorough " common lawyers " that England or America ever produced ; and in what may be styled sledge hammer force of logic, he may have been inferior to Mr. Lewis ; but in Mr. Bradford there was a combination of powers, virtues and accomplishments, seldom found in perfect proportion, even when found in combination generally. There was an unusual "completeness of man." On the professional side, full attain- ments, fine intelligence, high natural eloquence, ready and patient capacities for business, with excellent business habits, made him distinguished.' Great prudential qualities, liberal civic and social dispositions, happy relations in domestic life, with delightful man- ners, and an engaging figure, made a beautiful portrait, merely personal. Expanded j)olitical views and sympathies, and the known devotion of his father, his father-in-law, and himself, to the cause of the people, from the beginning of the revolution, stopped the lips which would otherwise have reproached his federal poli- tics, and in the political sphere made him acceptable to all ; while the known purity and fidelity which pervaded his whole nature, and were conspicuous in all its elements, whether professional, personal, or of the state, made him as perfect a character as the history of any country presents. He seems never to have " made a mistake " in any act, great or small, of his life ; and the poets would have said that he " lived in the presence of all the gods." In addition to every personal and professional distinction, Wash- ington's appointment of him to the first law office of the govern- ment gave him, of course, the highest confidence of the public. 278 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. Mr. Edward Tilgliman lias been so well described by anotlier pen tliat I will not attempt to describe liim with my own. His family was an ancient English, one and came to Pennsylvania from Maryland. Mr. Tilghman' s own education in the law was chiefly in the Temple, and in the years 1'7'72 and IT 7 3 we find him an as- siduous attendant in the courts of Westminster Hall, taking notes of the arguments in chancery before Lord Apsley, and of such men as Wallace, Dunning, and Davenport, before Lord Mansfield and the judges of the King's Bench. " There are," says the writer of the memoir from which I get most of these facts, " two very different methods of acquii'ing a knowledge of the law of England, and by each of them men have succeeded in public estimation to an almost equal extent. One of them, which may be called the old way, is a methodical study of the general system of law, and of its grounds and reasons, be- ginning with the fundamental law of estates and tenures^ and pur- suing the derivative branches in logical succession, and the colla- teral subjects in due order, by which the student acquires a knowl- edge of principles that rule in all dej^artments of science, and learns to feel, as much as to know, what is in harmony with the system, and what is not. The other is to get an outline of the system by the aid of commentaries, and to fill it up by desultory reading of treatises and reports, according to the bent of the stu- dent, without muck shape or certainty in the knowledge so ac- quired, until it is given by investigations in the com-se of practice. A good deal of law may be put together by a facile or flexible man in the second of these modes, and the public are often satis- fied with it ; but the profession itself knows the first, by its fruits, to be the most effectual way of making a great lawyer. Edward Tilghman took the old way, and acquired in it not only great learning, l^ut the most accm^ate legal judgment of any man of his SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 279 day, at tlie Ibar of wliicli lie was a member Upon questions wliicli to most men are perplexing at first, and continue to be sc until they have worked tbeir way to a conclusion by elaborate reasoning, lie seemed to possess an instinct, wliicli seized tbe true result before be bad taken time to jDrove it. This was no doubt tbe fruit of severe and regular training, by wbicb bis mind be- came so imbued with legal principles, tbat they unconsciously governed bis first impressions. " In tbat branch of tbe law wbicb demands tbe greatest sub- tlety of intellect as well as familiarity witb principles, tbe chapter of contingent remainders and executory devises, he had probably no superior any where. An eminent judge has said of him, ' that he never knew any man who had this branch of the law so much at his finger ends. With all others with whom he had had pro- fessional intercourse, it was the work of time and consideration to comprehend ; but lie took in with one glance all the beauties of the most obscure and difficult limitations. With him it was intui- tive ; and he could untie the knots of a contingent remainder or executory devise as familiarly as he could his garter.' When this can be justly said of a lawyer — and it was most justly of Ed^^ard Tilghman — nothing is wanting to convey to professional readers an adequate notion of the extent of his learning, and the grasp of his understanding ; for the doctrines upon these subjects are the higher mathematics of the law, and the attainment of them by any one impHes that the whole domain lies at his feet. Mr. Tilghman was also an advocate of great powers — a master of every question in his causes — a wary tactician in the management of them — highly accompHshed in language — a faultless logi- cian — a man of the purest integrity and of the brightest honor — fluent without the least volubility — concise to a degree that left every one's patience and attention unimpaired — and per- 280 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. spicuous to almost the lowest order of understandings, while lie was dealing with almost the highest topics, — how conld snch qualities as these fail to give him a ready acceptance with Ijoth courts and juries, and to make him the bulwark of any cause which his judg- ment approved ? — An invincible aversion to authorship and to public office, prevented this great lawyer from being known as he ought to have been, beyond the limits of his own country. He has probably left nothing professional behind him but his opinions upon cases, now in various hands, and difficult to collect, but which, if collected and published, would place him upon the same elevation with Dulaney of Maryland, or Fearne, the author of the work in which he most delighted. The Chief Justiceship of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania was offered to him by Governor McKean, upon the death of Chief Justice Shij^pen, but he declined it, and recommended for the appointment his kinsman, William Tilghman, who so much adorned that station by his learning and virtues. — It is instructive to record, that the stern acquirements and labors of this eminent man never displaced the smiles of benevolence from his countenance, nor put the least weight upon his ever-buoyant spirit. His wit was as playful and harmless, and almost as bright as heat lightning upon a summer's evening. It always lit up the edges of the clouds of controversy that surround the bar, and sometimes dispersed the darkest and angriest. A more frank, honorable, and gentlemanly practitioner of the law, and one more kind, communicative and condescending to the young students and members of the bar, never lived." Horace Binney, thirty years his junior, was willing to record of himself, that he " regarded it as his greatest good fortune to have been admitted to the familiar intimacy of Edward Tilghman, and to have enjoyed not only instruction from his learning and wis- dom, but an example of life in his cheerfulness and serenity, dm*- SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 281 rino" the vicissitudes of health and fortune which chequered his o -^ declining years." From the same pen we have a sketch of Mr. Ingersoll, who, like Mr. Tilghman, had been^ in part at least, educated in London, and who after his return home enjoyed, for many years an extei> sive practice. " It may not be known to the present age," says the eulogist of Mr. Ingersoll, " but it is an indisputable fact, he had almost two distinct natures, of different qualities, though both of them excellent : his nature in reflection, and his nature in action. In reflection he was, or appeared to be, rather slow, uncer- tain, deliberate — poising and balancing thought against thought, and authority against authority, as if he did not wish to approach the conclusion; and the consequence of it, I believe, was, that while he was generally and for the most part right, if he ever was otherwise, it was because the truth of the conclusion was hurt by the slowness of the process. This was one nature. But when he came into action, he was the most clear, decided, bold, acute, far- sighted man, whom I have ever seen in my life, as it regarded all the purposes of his cause; and he sprang to his conclusion in- stantly and fearlessly, as if he came to it by inspiration. In both of these natures, however different in their character, he was a fine example to the students in his office, whom he permitted to Imow him, and to trace, as it were, the steps of his mind even in its coldest operations ; and often did we hear him, through the glass door of his office on the other side of the way, treading his regular steps across the floor, and soliloquizing the points of an opinion or a cause, for the purpose of giving himself the stimulus which he felt that he requii'ed. When he got before a jury, he was the most dangerous adversary that any gentleman could meet. In my perhaps partial opinion, he was the ablest advocate of the bar before a jury, when he was in his prime and vigor, whether 36 282 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. his cause was good or bad ; aud before the court also, if liis cause was good, or j^robably so." Mr. John Dickenson Sergeant deserves notice for merits which were all his own, and still more so as the father of a son who added new and much greater honor to his name, the late Mr. John Sergeant. The elder Mr. Sergeant did not belong to the "Washing- ton school of politicians ; he was what was known as an anti-fed- eralist, or democrat. The party was then as respectable as it is no\v, but it had not the advantage which it has had almost ever since, of controlling all the offices of the country. It was then a proscribed party. Few who had the manners and associations of gentlemen belonged to it. Mr. Sergeant however was an honorable man, and he was held in deserved esteem both for his abilities and his integrity. He had been attorney general of the state. His death, in 1793, was regarded as a loss to the city and to his pro- fession. Of Mr. Rawle we have no sufficient record, and as he well de- served the best, it is to be regretted that we have not. In the vigor of his powers and the height of his fame he approached, I have often supposed, more nearly to Mr. Bradford than he did to either of the other eminent lawyers I have described. He had less genius than Mr. Bradford, and their characters were marked by such important differences as would naturally be found in men, one of whom had been largely bred in the camp, and the other in the quietism of the ■ community of Friends. But in the purity and gentleness of their natures, in their instinctive delicacy and good- ness, as well as in their habits of business, some resemblance might perhaps be traced. Mr. Rawle's family was one of the best, in most of its lines, in Pennsylvania, and was an ancient one in En- gland. His own legal education had been chiefly in the Temple, and on his return home in 1783 he rose by very fair degrees to SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 283 extensive engagements in the best description of commercial and otlier practice. In July, 1791, he received from President Wasli- ington the office of District Attorney of Pennsylvania, and he prosecuted in behalf of the country the offenders against the au- thority of the federal government in 1^94: and 1798. Though having little taste for political life, he belonged to the party of which Washington was the head, and was always a faithful adhe- rent -to its principles. He survived most or all of his professional contemporaries, and near the close of his career, when he had with- drawn almost entirely from connection with the courts, his excel- lent legal judgment, his thorough- acquaintance with both the statutory and common law of England and Pennsylvania, is proved by what is known in Pennsylvania as the Revised Code, a work for which, without disparagement of his coadjutors, it may proba- bly be said that the state is chiefly indebted to his pen. I have not mentioned Mr. Alexander James Dallas, althous^h in connection with his Reports his name belongs to the bar of this period. His practice, I presume, was considerable, but he did not belong to the school of Washington, nor to that of Washington's friends. His life was so much engrossed with politics that his character and position might be regarded more appropriately in the exhibition of another class of persons. Mr. Samuel Sitgreaves was of Easton, but practised at the bar of Philadelphia, in which city he was compelled to ]3ass much of his time as a senator. I have not the means of estimating his pro- fessional abilities, but they must have been of a high order. His practice was considerable, and he enjoyed unequaled reputation in the district in which he resided, the northeast of the state. He was a man of elegant appearance and manners, and of very lofty pretension and carriage. He had been much in foreign countries, where he was admired for his presence and addi-ess. A few letters 284 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. of his whicli 1 have seen prove that his literary accomplishments were hio-hly res23ectable. He was, with Mr. James Ross, a leader of the federal party, and the regard in which he was held by that party, unequaled by any which has ever existed in any country for the intelligence and purity of its principal characters is a sufficient menjorial of his name. Of Mr. William Lewis I am unable to give many particulars. He began the study of law late in life, and was probably never learned in books. He was of that class of men who need but lit- tle such education. He came, I think, from the country, and re- tained throughout his Hfe many habits and distinctions which, though common at the bars of the cities in our own day, did not then belong to the bar of Philadelphia. He had however great abilities as a lawyer, and as a legal dialectician, I infer, was second to none of his contemporaries. In these short notices I have confined myself strictly to the bar of the metropolis. But the finest legal intelligence of the country was also displayed here. Hamilton, while residing in Philadel- phia, argued some of his greatest cases here. The world knows and admires him as a soldier, a financier, and a statesman, but those best able to speak of him as a lawyer have declared that his fame in this capacity was not less splendid than that to which he rose in other spheres. " That accomplished lawyer," says Chancellor Kent, " showed by his precepts and practice the value to be placed on the decisions of Lord Mansfield. He was well ac- quainted with the productions of Vahn and Emerigon ; and if he was not truly one of the founders of this state, he may at least be considered as amons: the earliest of those who recommended these authors to the notice of the profession, and rendered the study and citation of them popular and familiar. His arguments on commercial, as well as on other questions were remarkable for SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 285 freedom and energy, and lie was eminently distinguislied for ex- hausting every subject wMcli lie discussed and leaving no argu- ment or objection on tlie adverse side unnoticed and unanswered. He traced doctrines to tlieir source, or j)robed them to their foun- dations, and at the same time paid the highest deference and re- spect to sound authority. The reported cases do no kind of jus- tice to his close and accurate logic ; to his powerful and compre- hensive intellect ; to the extent of his knowledge, or the eloquence of his illustrations. We may truly apply to the efforts of his mind, the remark of Mr. Justice BuUer, in reference to the judi- cial opinions of another kindi'ed genius, that 'principles were stated, reasoned upon, enlarged and explained, until those who heard him were lost in admiration at the strength and stretch of the human understanding.' " V. Of the prominent representatives of the medical profession in the capital during the presidency of Washington, it is probable that Dr. Rush will be expected to be first presented. His name , undoubtedly will have a jiistoric and poj)ular distinction when others will have no fame beyond the halls of science, and in them be confined, in part, to the region where they themselves were known. Medical history also will revert to this era as the one in which the principal evidences of Dr. Rush's zeal and abilities are found : the eras of those terrible fevers which appeared, in inter- vals, at the seat of government, near the close of the last century. And his literary qualities were so excellent, his powers of narra- tion and description so great, that his own records of those scenes will long continue to give him fame, and to excite an interest in whatever concerns his memory. Although the chief medical theory — that of the unity of hu- 286 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. man disease — to wliicli his capacities were devoted, was, no doubt, but a specious one, and is now exploded, and tliougli his writings, voluminous as they are, have little authority in medical science, it is almost impossible to believe that his practice, in at least the mid- dle years of his professional life, could have been essentially bad. His manners were insinuating and delightful, his ingenuity unu- sually great, his devotion to his classes and to all whom he could enlist as the advocates of his fame, constant, polite, and adroit. But no power of making the worse appear the better side, no ef- forts for controlling those whose voices and whose activity are used to create public opinion, could, I think, of themselves have given to Dr. Rush the success in his profession which he unques- tionably at one period enjoyed. His methods of treating the great fevers of his time, as much as they were condemned by some prac- titioners then, and as bad as they have been found by many prac- titioners since, must have had a wide basis of truth and api^lica- tion. That his favorite remedies were applied even then indis- criminately and with too much reliance on their efficacy, that his " heroic practice " may have sometimes killed when another's " ars expectandi " might have saved, may be admitted without affect- ing our main position. But, uninfluenced by the dogmas .of the schools, I cannot question that for his day, or for that part of his day of which he bore the heat and burden, his practice was in the main judicious. That he himself was fond of applying it too long, and of over applying it, and so discredited it ; that he maintained it too inflexibly wherein it was right, and too long wherein it was erroneous, should not perhaj)s bring reproach of his views. Those minds are rare in which, with deeply settled convictions, such as become principles, much capacity exists for receiving new impressions, or for a23plying doctrines to new con- ditions. This was eminently true of Dr. Rush, from an origi- SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 287 nal love of theory, and from the strongest personal zeal and affec tion for every thing which originated with or concerned himself. Much of Dr. Rush's fame which the world supposes to he pro- fessional, arises from his connection with our great poHtical actors and actions. Though not a member of Congress on the fourth of July, lYYG, his name is found attached to the charter of our independence, and he felt a j)rofound interest in the conduct of the revolution. He was conspicuous, also, in most other public ajffairs which were agitated in Philadelphia, whether religious, literary, or social ; and as a lecturer or popular writer he possessed a charm of style rarely equaled. This, with his extensive relations with men of learning, his great medical practice, his remarkable powers of address and conversation, and the devotion he inspired from nearly every one who was his friend at all, made him what he must be confessed to have been, a marked character while Philadelphia was the seat of government ; but it would be a violation of truth, and an injustice to those men who were the friends of Washing- ton, and of whom Washington was the friend, to include Dr. Eush in the number. In war and peace he was one of the chief's ene- mies, and after the twentieth of March, 1TT8, Washington had no conjfidence whatever in his friendly professions. The fact of the President's disregard of a man whose talents were so considerable was noted by some observers in that day ; the reasons of it are better understood in this. William ShippcB was now in the height of his professional distinction. He had been for several years Director General of the Medical Department of the army, and was endeared to the President not only by trials which in the war they had shared to- gether, but was especially so, it may be believed, by the fact that in the darkest hour of the revolutionary struggle, that of Con- way's cabal, he defended with success his professional reputation ,288 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. against wliat WasMngton calk " charges of a very heinous nature," by the same individual who almost on the same day spoke of the commander-in-chief as " no general," and quoted with admiration the declaration of Conway that " a great and good God hath de- creed America to be free, or the general, and weak counsellors, would have ruined her long ago." Shippen's reputation was higher as a surgeon than as a thera23eutist. While in Europe, where he spent five years, he had been a pupil of Sir John Hunter, and a resident in his family, and almost an inhabitant of the theatre of William Hunter, and his affinities therefore were naturally more intimate with surgery than with medicine. Unlike Dr. Eush, he wrote but little, and we have not much in the way of paj)ers to prove his abilities ; but we have ample traditionary evidence, and the direct testimony of his associate. Dr. Wistar, the best of judges and the best of witnesses, that they were very high. Shippen was a man of fine appearance and fine manners ; his elocution was admired by every body, when Duche and Whitfield had left the impressions of models never since surjDassed. His social connec- tions were all influential, and he was regarded in the period of Washington's administration with all the interest which could be- long to one who had done a special honor to his country ; for Dr. Morgan had died in 1T89, and Shippen now remained the only surviving founder of the medical school of Pennsylvania, the first established medical college in America, of which he had been not only a father, from 1T65, the year of its creation, but one of the most interested and efficient professors ; and by his fine powers as a demonstrator, and his happy style as a lecturer, had led it from a humble beginning, with ten pupils, to the eminence it occupied in the closing ten years of the last century, when its benches were crowded by students whose names were counted by hundreds. \ Dr. Wistar was ar character whom it is delightful to remember SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 289 It is praise enougli to say of Mm that lie received tlie eulogies of William Tilgliman. The harmony of his parts, the placid and benignant cast of his tempers, might lead us to suppose that Dr Wistar's reputation was chiefly a moral one, and to doubt whethei his scientific abilities and attainments had been of the best order We know however by most convincing proofs that they were so He had been a thorouo;h student in the foreisin universities, where he passed more than three years, and on his return to America had filled with unusual credit the chair of the professorship of chem- istry in the college of Philadelphia. He was a mineralogist also. But it was as an anatomist that his fame was supreme. His trea- tise on anatomy has been considered so complete and accurate a work that it is still extensively used as a text book in the colleges, and it has quite recently received new distinction in the editorial labors of so fine an anatomist as Dr. Pancoast. Dr. Wistar was not actively engaged in the revolution, but he had been on the field of Germantown, and his humanity and skill were alike con- spicuous in the hospitals there. He belonged by his connections to the Society of Friends, though he never conformed strictly to their discipline. This would have kept him from celebrity in the fashionable world of that day ; but his reputation as a man of science carried him into every sphere. Dr. Wistar's social powers were eminent. On the Saturday evening of each week his house was the resort, not of those mixed crowds of men of every kind of rank, with all sorts and no sorts of education, — traders, physicians, lawyers, litterateurs, and bon vivants — who, at " Wistar Parties," originally established in his honor, are now called together, to eat, drink, and go home ; but of gentlemen of all the Hberal professions, scholars, and such strangers of distinction as happened at the time to be visitors or temporary residents in the city. It was of meetings like these 37 290 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. that Chief Justice Tilgliman says : " Without intending it, our la mented friend would take the lead, and so interesting were his anecdotes, and so just his remarks, that, drawing close to the dying embers we often forgot the lapse of time until warned by the un- welcome clock that we had entered on another day." Of Kuhn, Griffitts, Hutchinson, Dunlap, and other practition- ers of the time we are describing, I need not speak at large ; but of Philip Syng Physic, who filled the most illustrious career in medicine that this country has ever known, I may remark, that while his full fame belongs to a later date, he had even in the time of Washington begun to attract the attention of society, by dis- plays of the promise which was afterwards so splendidly fulfilled. Such was the medical distinction of our ejDOch. The college of Philadelphia was in 1789 in the height of its renown. Dr. Shippen was its professor of anatomy and surgery ; Push was in the chair of the theory and practice of medicine ; Wistar was filling its professorship of chemistry and the institutes of medi- cine ; and Dr. Griffitts that of materia medica and pharmacy. Indeed the course of instruction in that day was more complete than it has been in ours, for it had a separate chair of botany and natural history, of which the accomplished occuj)ant was Dr. Bar- ton, the first American who gave his country an elementary work on the science of vegetable nature. " This," says Professor Wood, the historian of that college, " may be regarded as one of the most interesting eras in the his- tory of the medical school. It was now that Dr. Push took that station which his genius and eloquence afterwards rendered so il- lustrious. It was now that Barton found a field for the display of acquirements unrivalled among his contemporary countrymen ; it was now moreover that Wistar entered within these walls, which the fame of his talents as a teacher crowded with pujiils, and SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 291 sibout wMcli his warm benevolence of lieart and deliglitful ur- banity of manners combined to throw a charm which, amidst all subsequent changes, retained a strong influence over all who had the good fortune, to listen to his instructions." Distinguished as Philadelphia has been for a hundred years as the principal seat of medical science on this continent, was it ever so distinguished, so justly honored, for illustrious men in this de- partment, as it was in the era of the administration of Wash- ington ? — VI, The women of Philadelphia were already distinguished for those attractions which have been celebrated so much and so justly in more recent times. For beauty, grace, and intelligence, the witty Duke de Lauzun confessed that he knew not where they were surpassed ; and the gay Marquis de Chastellux became enthusiastic when describing the dames and demoiselles who gave its life to society there at the close of the war. At the end of seven years, when Philadelphia was made again the centre of affairs, it was found that her coteries had lost in the advance of material interests none of their refinement or spirit, and that whatever rivalry was threatened in commercial and industrial prosperity, none could be apprehended in social elegance. Preeminent at this period in rank and in whatever adds an em- bellishment to the highest station, was Mrs. Ajme Bingham, daugh- ter of Mr. Thomas Willing and wife of Mr. William Bingham, who soon after was created one of the representatives of Pennsylvania in the national senate. Distinguished among the women of the presidential court, Mrs. Bingham was elevated in some respects above them all, in being the centre of a court which was all her own. Her style, her beauty, her influence, the elegance of her house, the taste and aristocratic distinction of the assemblages which 292 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. frequently adorned it, liave become as houseliold words in tlie city whicli was the scene of them, and indeed are historical in the an- nals of the higher social life of America. Considering that she died before she was thirty-seven years of age, that she had passed much of her married life abroad, and that the close of it was away from home, and after illness had withdrawn her for some time from the sphere in which she shone, we should under ordinary circum- stances find it difficult to account for the great traditionary reputa- tion of her distinction and influence, which is found in Philadelphia as fresh almost at the end of half a century as it was at its begin- ning. Her reputation was, in truth, the combined result of several causes. Her beauty was splendid. Her figure, which was some- what above the middle size, was well made. Her carriage was light and elegant, while ever marked by dignity and au\ Her manners were a gift. Sprightly, easy, winning, are terms which describe the manners of many women, but while truly describing hers, they would describe them imperfectly, unless they gave the idea that they won from all who knew her a special measm^e of personal in- terest and relation. Receiving neither service nor the promise of it, every one who left her yet felt personally flattered and obliged ; really exclusive in her associates, she gave to none the slightest offence; with great social ambition at the basis of her charac- ter, no aspirant for the eminence of fashion felt that she was thwarting her aims ; and with advantages, personal, social, and ex- ternal, such as hardly ever fail to excite envy from her sex, such was her easy and happy tm-n of feeling, and such the fortunate cast of her natural manners, that she seemed never to excite the sting of unkindness nor so much as awaken its slumber or repose. Her entertainments were distinguished not more for their superior style and frequency than for the happy and discreet selection of her SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 293 guests, and lier own costume abroad was always marked "by tliat propriety and grace whicli, wliile uniting costliness, rarity and an exquisite refinement, subordinates tbe effect of tbem in a way wHch never invites comparisons. In all this she had had the advantage of a wise and courtly and affectionate education. She owed much, however, to the command of great wealth, and to a combination of friendly and family advantages which her wealth enabled her to illustrate and profit by. In her father's house we may believe that Mrs. Bingham receiv- ed the best instruction which the time and country afforded. Mr. Willing had himself been carefully educated at Bath, in England, and although contemplating probably the career of a merchant, had been liberally trained in classical studies, and had pursued for some time a regular course of legal reading as a student in the Temple. From girlhood the beauty of this daughter had been con- spicuous, and on the twenty-sixth of October, 1T80, being then just sixteen years old, she was married by the Reverend William White, one of the chaplains to the Congress, and afterwards the first bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania, to Mr. Wil* liam Bingham, of Philadelphia, who possessed larger estates than any other person in the colony. As a child she had been much at home in the family of Washington. Mr. Willing and his associate in commerce, Robert Morris, as well as his brother-in-law, Mr. Clymer, were all members of the Congress of I'TTG. To the great credit and well known patriotism of the house of Willing and Morris the country owed its extrication from those trying pecuniary embarrass- ments so familiar to the readers of our revolutionary history. The character of Mr. Willing was in many respects not unlike that of Washington, and in the discretion of his conduct, the fidelity of his professions, and the great influence, both private and public, which 294 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. belonged to liim, tlie destined leader was certain to find tlie elements of an affinity by wliicli they would be united in the closest manner. During a part of the war the head-quarters of. the General were in a house built on Mr. Willing's estate for his son-in-law, Colo- nel Byrd, of Westover, in Virginia, and only sejDarated from his own by the intervening grounds of his garden. In this way, as well as from her domestic relations and immediate connections with the families of Clymer, Francis, Powell, McCall, Ship23en, and others, forming in that day, with the Chews, Aliens, and two or three more, a large portion of the only society with which the Chief was intimate, Miss Willing, even as a young gii'l, was very frequently an object of Washington's notice and regard. Another intimate friend of the family, from abroad, was John Jay, who at the time of Miss Willing's marriage was in Spain, and who soon after wrote to Mr. Bingham, to congratulate him on his happiness, " from the most delicate of all connections, with one of the most lovely of her sex. As I am always pleased to find those happy whom I think deserve to be so," he says, " it gave me very sensible satisfaction to hear that you had both made so judicious a choice, notwithstand- ing the veil which that sweet fascinating passion often draws over our eyes and understanding." Soon after the conclusion of the war, that is, in 1T84, Mrs. Bing- ham with her husband went to Europe. She spent some time in France, and was presented at the court of Louis XVI., where she attracted particular attention The eyes of cavaliers might well be turned to such a representative of a nation whose successful con- test for independence had won the admiration of the world. Mr. Adams and his family were then residing in Paris, and in the diary of Miss Adams, for the twenty-sixth of October, IT 84, it is recorded that the Adamses that day dined with the Binghams at the Hotel Muscovy. " Mrs. Bingham," says the young lady, " gains my love MIS-^oWIimiLEAm IBUM^IElAOiLq, SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 295 and admiration more and more every time I see lier ; slie is possess- ed of greater ease and politeness in lier behavior than any person I have met." Two or three months afterward, describing a dinner of Lafyette's, Mrs. Bingham was again encountered : " She was, as ever, engaging ; her dress was of black velvet, with pink satin sleeves and stomacher, a pink satin petticoat, and over it a skirt of white crape, spotted all over with gray fur — the sides of the gown open ^,n front, and the bottom of the coat trimmed with paste. It was superb, and the gi*acefulness of the person made it appear to pecn liar advantage." Her next sojourn was at the Hague, which was stm an impor- tant seat of diplomacy. From the Hague she passed into England, where her elegance and beauty attracted more admiration than per haps was willingly expressed by the old court of George IH. That the American women surpass those of any other country in beauty has long been conceded. Nothing struck the gallant French noblemen, who came here during the war, so much as the charms of the fairer sex, in almost every class of society. Young John Quincy Adams, soon after his retm^n from Eussia, in 1T85, wrote to his sister, " Since I came home I am grown more indiffer- ent to beauty than I ever was ; it is so common here that it loses half its value." His mother very nearly agreed with him on this subject. "Notwithstanding the English boast so much of their beauties," she says, " I do not think they have really so much of it as you will find amongst the same proportion of people in America. It is true that their complexions are undoubtedly fairer than the French, and in general their figures are good. Of this they make the best ; but I have not seen a lady in England who can bear a comparison with Mi's. Bingham, Mrs. Piatt, or a Miss Hamilton, who is a Philadelphia young lady. Among the most celebrated of theu' beauties stands the Duchess of Devonshire, who is mascu- 296 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. line in her appearance. Lady Salisbury is small and genteel, but her complexion is bad; and Lady Talbot is not a Mrs. Bingbam, wbo, taken altogether, is the finest woman I ever saw. The intel- ligence of her countenance, or rather, I ought to say, its animation, the elegance of her form, and the affability of her manners, convert you into admiration ; and one has only to lament too much dissipa- tion and frivolity of amusement, which have weaned her from her native country, and given her a passion and thirst after all the lux- uries of Europe. The finest English woman I have seen is the eldest daughter of Mr. Dana, brother to our Mr. Dana. He resides in the country, but was in London, with two of his daughters, when I first came here. I saw her first at Eanelagh. I was struck with her appearance, and endeavored to find who she was ; for she ap- peared like Calypso amongst her nymphs, dehcate and modest. She was easily known from the crowd, as a stranger. I had not long admired her before she was brought by her father and intro- duced to me, after which she made me a visit, with her sister, who was much out of health. At the same time that she has the best title of any English woman I have seen to the rank of a divinity, I would not have it forgotten that her father is an American, and, as he was remarkably handsome, no doubt she owes a large share of her beauty to him." In London the Adams family renewed their intimacy with the Binghams, and Miss Adams frequently alludes to her Philadelphia friend : " She is coming quite into fashion here, and is very much admired," she says. " The hairdresser who dresses us on court days inquired of mama whether she knew the lady ' so much talked of here from America, Mrs. Bingham.' He had heard of her from a lady who had seen her at Lord Duncan's. At last, speaking of Miss Hamilton, he said, with a twirl of his comb, " Well, it does not sig- nify, but the American ladies do beat the English all to nothing ! " SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. . 207 On the fcwenty-fourtli of June, 1*787, Miss Adams, now Mrs. Wil- liam S. Smith, writes in her journal : " Mrs. Stewart is an agree- able woman. I think from the observation I have made upon those ladies from Philadelphia whom I have been acquainted with, that they are more easy in their manners, and discover a greater desire to render themselves acceptable, than the women of Boston, where education appears to be better, and they seem to be sensible of their consequence in society. I have seen some good specimens of their brilliancy, first in Mrs. Bingham, and now in Mrs. Stewart." Mrs. Bingham remained abroad about five years. She was every where caressed, and the immense wealth at her command enabled her to maintain a style of hfe without which beauty, ele- gance" or worth, stands every where in Europe, but in England* especially, only a slight chance of recognition. With her husband she had contemplated, before leaving home, the building of a resi- dence, on their return, which might illustrate their taste, wealth and hospitality. The domestic architecture of London and Paris was a subject of special study, and the mansion of the Duke of Manchester, in Manchester Square, London, was selected as the model of the contemplated structm'e in Philadelphia — the dimen- sions of the original being somewhat enlarged in the copy. Soon after they came back to America they built their palatial edifice, so well remembered by the present generation as " The Mansion House," in Third street above Spruce, which was unhappily de- stroyed a few years ago by fire. We have since had in 'New York and Philadelphia a few larger houses, but in neither city, it may be safely asserted, has there yet been any establishment distin- guished every way by taste so truly elegant, and by so marked an * The English sometimes refer in an unamiable way to the influence of the " almighty dol- lar " over our countrymen, as if not aware of the fact that in no other country is money so "almighty" as in England itself. 298 THE EEPUBLICAN COURT. ail' of rank and opulence. Its widtli was spacious, its lieiglit not extended above a third story, and it stood perliaps forty feet from tlie ordinary line of the street, being approached by a cii'cular car- riao-e way of gravel, the access upon both ends of which opened by swino-ing gates of iron open tracery. A low wall, with an elegant course of baluster upon it, defended the immediate front, and connected the gates which gave admission. The grounds about the house, beautifully diversified with walks, statuary, shade, and parterres, covered not less than three acres. They extended the whole distance, three hundred and ninety-six feet, from Third to Fourth street, and along Fourth street two hundred and ninety-two feet from Spruce, to the lot subsequently bought, built upon, and occupied by the late Mr. John Sergeant. On Third street the line extended north toward the house of her father, as far as that of her uncle, Mr. Powell, afterwards of the late Mr. "William Eawle ; so that the whole square, from Willing's alley to Spruce street, along Fourth — filled now by fifty-four fine houses — was occupied only by the houses of her father, Mr. Thomas Willing, her aunt, Mrs. William Byrd, of Westover, another aunt, Mrs. Powell, and her own princely abode.* * Among Mrs. Bingham's admirers, in her girlhood, while she remained abroad, and to the end of her career, was Mr. Jefferson, who in one of his letters to her, written from Paris about a year after her return to Philadelphia, gives in his peculiarly lively and agreeable style a con- trast of foreign and American fashionable life. " I know, madam," he says, " that tlie twelve- month is not yet expired ; but it will be, nearly, before this will have the honor of being put into your hands. You are then engaged to tell me, truly and honestly, whether you do not fiad the tranquil pleasures of America preferable to the empty bustle of Paris. For to what does that bustle tend? At eleven o'clock it is day, c/tea maJawie. The curtains are drawn. Propped on bolsters and pillows, and her head scratched into a little order, the bulletins of the sick are read, and the billets of the well. She writes to some of her acquaintance, and receives the visits of others. If the morning is not very thronged, she is able to get out and hobble round the cage of the Palais Royal ; but she must hobble quickly, for the coiffeur's turn is come ; and a tremen dous turn it isl Happy, if he does not make her arrive when dinner is half over! The torpi tude of digestion a little passed, she flutters half an hour through the streets, by way of paying /isits, and then to the spectacles. These finished, another half hour is devoted to dodging ir and out of the doors of her very sincere friends, and away to supper. After supper, cards; and SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 299 I have said tliat Mrs. Blngliani in some sort maintained a court of her own. Her family connection was numerous, of great influ- ence, and located generally about her, the south-eastern part being then the fashionable end of the town. The venerable abode of her cousin, Chief Justice Shippen, was on Fourth street, opposite to Willing's alley ; the house of another cousin, Mrs. Harrison, was also in Fourth street, opposite the Bingham mansion ; the seques- tered and stately home of her more remote kinsman, Mr. Archibald McCall, was at the north-east corner of Pine and Thu"d streets ; Mrs. Blackwell, her sister-in-law (the sister of her husband and the wife of the Keverend Dr. Eobert Blackwell, whose only daughter her brother George had married), lived in Pine street, below Thii'd ; her connection. Colonel Thomas Lloyd Moore, a very elegant mili- tary man of that time, whose only daughter another brother had married, was not far below, and M. Barbe Marbois,* who had mar- after cards, bed ; to rise at noon the next day, and to tread, like a mill-horse, the same trodden circle over again. Thus the days of life are consumed, one by one, without an object beyond the present moment ; ever flying from the ennui of that, yet carrying it -with us ; eternally in pursuit of happiness, which keeps eternally before us. If death or bankruptcy happen to trip us out of the circle, it is matter for the buzz of the evening, and is completely forgotten by the next morning. In America, on the other hand, the society of your husband, the fond cares for the children, the arrangements of the house, the improvements of the grounds, fill every moment with a healthy and an useful activity. Every exertion is encouraging, because to present amuse- ment it joins the promise of some future good. The intervals of leisure are filled by the society of real friends, whose affections are not thinned to cobweb by being spread over a thousand objects. Tliis is the picture, in the light it is presented to my mind ; now let me have it in yours. If we do not concur this year, we shall the next ; or if not then, in a year or two more. You see I am determined not to suppose myself mistaken. . . . The workmen of Paris are making rapid strides towards English perfection. Would you believe, that in the course of the last two years, they have learned even to surpass their London rivals in some articles ? Commission me to have you a phaeton made, and if it is not as much handsomer than a London one as that is than a fiacre, send it back to me. Shall I fill the box with caps, bonnets, &c. ? Not of my own choosing, but — I was going to say, of Mademoiselle Bertin's, forgetting for the moment that sho too is bankrupt. They shall be chosen then by whom you please ; or, if you are altogether non- plussed by her eclipse, we will call an Assemblee des Notables, to help you out of the difficulty, as is now the fashion. In short, honor me with your commands of any kind, and they shsU ba faithfully executed." * Ante, page 81 ; note. 300 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. ried a sister of Colonel Moore, was in tlie immediate vicinity ; so tliat Mrs. Bingham had only to issue her commands to her own cir- cle of connections to have her halls jBilled with an assemblage every way fit to grace them. I have already mentioned the access to the house ; its entrance was not raised at all, as is the modern style, to a kind of second story, but it brought the visitor by a single step upon the wide pave of tesselated marble, which will be remem- bered even in the more recent history of " The Mansion House." Its self-supporting broad stairway of fine white marble — the first of that description, probably, ever known in America — leading to the second story, gave a truly Roman elegance to the passage. On the left hand, as the visitor entered, were parlors ; on the right, a room designed for a study ; and opposite, separated by a lateral hall, a hbrary. In the second story, on the south, were a drawing- room and card-rooms, the windows of which, looking down on an\ extensive conservatory, adjacent to the lower parlors on the same side, revealed a delicious prospect. Various and extensive domestic offices adjoined the house upon the west. Much of the furniture, in- cluding the carpets, which were remarkable for their elegant rich- ness, had been made in France. The halls were hung with pictures, of which the greater number had been selected in Italy f' and the library was well filled with the best authors of the day. Many remnants of this beautiful furniture are still preserved by Mrs. Bingham's relatives, and are sometimes displayed as illustrations of the truth that the taste of Philadelphia has not increased hi propor- tion to her wealth and population. In addition to this town establishment Mrs. Bingham possessed the elegant retreat of Lansdowne, on the west bank of the Schuyl- kill, formerly belonging to the Penns — a place which she laid out * A fine Magdalen, after Corregio, is now at Mayfield, near Philadelphia, the seat of Mr. G. 11 rhomson, whose amiable and accomplished wife I believe is a niece of Mrs. Bingham's. SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 301 wttli great taste, and at wliicli slie passed her summers. At LotL. places, particularly at Lansdowne, "Washington was a frequent visi- tor. In botli she lived with an elegant hospitality. Her youth, beauty, rank, and wealth, with the frequency, variety, and tasteful richness of her entertainments, made her acquaintance highly de- sii-able ; and her husband's public character, as a member of the national Senate, her father's long and honorable career in the ser- vice of the country, her connexion. Major Jackson's, intimate asso- ciations as one of the private and confidential secretaries of the President, and her own residence in France, England, and oth- er parts of Europe, conspii-ed to draw around her a circle of men and women of the very first class, in rank, elegance, and ac- complishment. Philadelphia was now the metropolis ; all that the United States contained, illustrious in statesmanship, was assembled there, and as the capital of the country it was the residence as well of the several diplomatic representatives of Europe as of numerous truly eminent persons whom choice or vicissitudes had brought to- gether in the new empire, which was becoming a mystery and a wonder and was shattering by its noble example of liberty all the traditional despotisms of the worlds I have dwelt thus long and with such particularity upon the fame and circumstances of Mrs. Bingham, because she was unquestionably at the head of American society, because the style in which she lived illustrated the highest refinement and splendor known in the country, and because its striking contrast from the simple manner in which the President lived showed the utter profligacy of those political agitators who made the cry of an " anglo-monarchic aristocracy," composed of " the executive, the judiciary, and the officers of the government," a senseless, ridiculous and wicked means of organizing the elements of vulgar baseness throughout the republic against the faultless ad- ministration of Washington. 302 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. For wealtli Mrs. Biugliam was tlie most distinguislied of her family ; but her mother, Mrs. Thomas Willing, was hardly less remarkable for beauty than herself, and indeed so much resembled her as to make it a question and almost a dispute among their friends whether the mother or the daughter was the most beauti- ful. A fine picture by Peale, yet in the possession of one of her descendants, renders this very easy to believe. Other members of the "Willing family, in different generations, then all living, were Mrs. Tench Francis, Mi's. Stirling, wife of Admiral Stirling, of Scotland, Mrs. Powell, a lady of large fortune and some literary pretensions, Mrs. Jackson, wife of Major William Jackson, Wash- ington's secretary, Mrs. Dolly Willing Francis, Mrs. Richard Peters, whom as Miss Abby Willing Louis Philippe is said very greatly to have admired, and Mrs. Clymer. Among these, as more especially connected with the court of Washington, it is proper to mention particularly Mrs. William Jack- son. This elegant woman, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Wil- lino-, was the second daughter of Mr. Thomas Willing, and a sister, therefore, of Mrs. Bingham. Though less beautiful than her elder sister, her person and countenance were highly engaging, and she was remarkable from girlhood for the sprightliuess and grace of both her mind and manners. In her earlier years she had of course seen much of Washington at her father's house, and she had some- times been a familiar guest at the table of Mrs. Bingham, where, it is recorded in his diary, he sometimes dined " in great splen- dor." But it is perhaps more in virtue of her husband's history and position, than of her own, that she here deserves especial atten- tion. Major William Jackson for many years held an intimate personal relation to Washington, and was at all times regarded by him with the utmost kindness and esteem. He was born of a good family in Cumberland, England, and had entered the southern Ijsjjzabt,'- ^ SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 303 department of the continental army in tlie very beginning of the revolutionary struggle, that is, in June, ITYS, when he was not yet seventeen years of age. He served with honor in different en- gagements, and in several commissions of important trust, and for several years, under General Lincoln, filled the office of Assistant Secretary of War, which he resigned, greatly to General Lincoln's regret, only when the peace of 1789 rendered it practicable for him to retire from his post without injury to the public service. After the organization of the federal government he was invited by Washington to join him as aid-de-camp and private secretary, and in this situation he remained until the year 1793, when he sailed for Europe upon private business. He appears to have given great satisfaction to Washington, who stated that "his deport- ment had been regulated by principles of integrity and honor," and " the duties of his station executed with ability," and with expressions of " sincere esteem and regard " embraced the oppor- tunity to thank him for all his attentions, and for the services he had rendered him ever since he had been a member of the presi- dential family. It was this near personal relation of Major Jackson to the president which afterwards gave to the lady I am writing of her marked distinction in the circle of the Republican Court. Wash- ington was present at her marriage, in the venerable mansion of Mr. Willing, which, having stood for one hundred and eleven years, has just given way to the so called improvements of modern times.* That whole region of a great city has long since changed * While in Philadelphia last siimmer (1856), pursuing researches respecting the social history of that city, with a view to render this edition of " The Republican Court " as complete and accurate as possible in its delineation of the higher life of our first metropolis, during the administration of our first president, the following paragraphs arrested my attention in The Evening Bullelin. I have not been able to ascertain by whom they were written, but they are so pertinent to my pres- ent subject that the reader will approve my transcribing them. " One of the few survivors of the original first class buildings of Philadelphia is soon to be de- 804 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. its aspects. Elegance no longer reigns tliere, and tlie abodes of rank and fashion are passing — liave passed indeed — into tlie money-getting uses of " men of enterprise." It was on a beauti- ful afternoon in September, in tbe hours towards evening, wbicb business had left to repose and quiet, that, wending through some of the ancient parts of the city, always interesting to me, my steps were arrested by the venerable aspect of this house. It had just molislied, and a successor more in accordance with the progress of the city and the demands of the age wiL he erected upon its site. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company have purchased the ' Wil- ling Mansion,' at the southwest corner of Third street and Willing's alley, and this relic of the sub- stantial architecture of the Philadelphia of more than a century ago, will soon be torn down to make way for a handsome building for the use of the company as an ofBce. The old structure, although so far behind the age, is stiH a fine specimen of a commodious and substantial dwelling. Its wide front, and the spacious hall that runs through the middle of the building, are in striking contrast with too many of the fashionable residences of the present day. The Willing Mansion was begun in 1745, and was finished the following year. It was built by Mr. John Palmer, who was weU known in his day as a bricklayer. It was he who built St. Peter's church and many others of the best structures that were put up in Philadelphia about the middle of the last century. Mr. Palmer, the builder, was the father of the late Mr. John B. Palmer, who was for many years the Secretary and Treasurer of the Mutual Assurance Company. The old mansion was occupied for many years by the Willing family, but for a considerable period, more recently, it has been used for a boarding house. The building itself has been extensively modernized, but its vicinity has undergone still greater changes. Half a century ago there were but four or five buildings upon the west side of Third street, between Willing's alley and Spruce street. Bingham's splendid mansion and grounds occupied a large share of the southern portion of this space, while spacious gardens intervened be- tween the Chew Mansion and the Willing Mansion at the comer of the alley. The Willing property extended westward to Fourth street. At the mansion of Chief Justice Chew, just referred to, Wash- ington had his head quarters at one time. " We are informed by Mr. John F. Watson, the annalist, that the Willing Mansion was built after the form and model of the homestead building of the family at Bristol, England. The door posts and pediments which still occupy their original position in the front of the building are of Bath stone ; they were imported from England all ready for putting up. ]\Ir. Watson informs us that when the mansion was built it was a kind of a country retirement, being beyond Dock creek, and consequently at that period out of town ! To reach the house you went up hill along Walnut street, from the creek, to Third street, and thence again by a narrow, deep-cut road up a greater hill to the mansion. This neighborhood was called ' The Hill,' in old times, but the high ground that gave it this distinction has long since been almost levelled down, while the line of the creek has been filled up. Among the ancient landmarks of the neighborhood is the old buttonwood tree that still stands in front of the Willing Mansion. The writer of this article remembers when a boy, thirty years ago, gathering ' buttonballs ' from beneath the wide-spread branches of this tree, and he remembers, too, marvelling much at how the hitching post at the door had grown into the spreading base of the tree, and how it was held there as fibrmly as though it was part and parcel of the living SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 305 been abandoned to the invader ; every inliabitant had departed ; but the stroke of demolition had not yet fallen upon its walls. Its fine doorway stood open, and I entered. It was a noble mansion, and I could not but regret that the opulent proprietors of such places as these in Philadelphia and New York do not approve the spirit which prevails in older lands, by defying trade and improve- ment, in building up facades like that. of Northumberland House, which shuts off the whole world of London and its Charing Cross from one " home of the Percies," leaving all behind at least to an ancient and honorable possession. As I passed through its ex- tensive halls and numerous apartments I could not refrain from calliag up many a spectacle of which this domus antiqua had been the scene, in the course of that century and more, in which it had been occupied by a family eminently social and long distinguished in the ranks of gentility and fashion. It was in the very room, timber. Tlie base of the old tree had a habit of absorbing and growing around every object that came in its way, and at some future day the bricks grown up into the heart of the trunk may do damage to the saws or axes of those who attempt to convert it into plank or fire-wood. This vene- rable tree, and the one that stood to the south of it, were planted in 1749 by Messrs. Thomas Wil- ling and John Palmer. The southern one became mnch decayed, and was cut down several years since ; but the other tree stiU stands green and erect, although it has been shorn of most of its branches. We presume the sturdy old trunk wiU soon have to share the fate of its fellow, and the mansion they both shaded so long and so faithfully. " The Willing family has for a century and a quarter stood in the front rank of Philadelphia society. We find tlie name among the early merchants of the city, and it is conspicuous in the an- cient records of the city government. In 1747 the name of Mr. Charles Willing first appears as an alderman in the records of the City Council A year later he was elected Mayor of the city, and on his retirement from that office, after a term of one year, we find him presenting to the trea- suiy the one hundred pounds salary yo-5t voted him. This he returned to the treasury in lieu of the entertainment usually given to the corporation by the retiring mayors. In 1754 Mr. Charles Wil- ling was again elected mayor, and in 1763 Mr. Thomas Willing held the same ofllce. Mr. Thomas Willing, who died in 1821, aged 89 years, was probably better known in Philadelphia than any other person of his name. This gentleman, from 1754 to 1807 successively held the offices of Secretary to the Congress of Delegates at Albany, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, her representative in the General Assembly, President of the Provincial Congress, delegate to the Congress of the Con- federation, President of the first chartered Bank in America, and President of the first Bank of the United States. In addition to -all these public duties, Mr. Thomas Willing was an active merchant for a period of sixty years." 39 306 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. Qow deserted and dismantled, in whicli I was standing, tliat, sur- rounded by as many " fair women and brave men " as ever graced sucb. an occasion, William Jackson, some sixty years before, bad given bis band to Elizabeth Willing. It was a November even- ing, and that fine old bouse bad been decorated and ligbted for a festive display. Tbe venerable gentleman wbom I bave so often referred to, its proprietor, and tbe partner of bis bonorable life, were moved by all tbe feeling wbicb attends tbe surrender of a lovely cbild to tbe vicissitudes of a new condition. Washington was tbere ; Kobert Morris also ; and Hamilton, Lincoln, and Knox, in full military dress, gratified witb tbe opportunity to manifest tbeir interest in an event so important to one wbo bad long been tbeir companion in arms. Tbe elegant Count de Noailles was also present. Mrs. Bingbam never looked so magnificently beautiful as on tbis occasion, wben, endeavoring, witb tbe confidence of one more used to sucb circumstances, to lend support to ber younger sister, ber own suffused cbeeks bore witness of tbe gentle agitation wbicb moved ber bosom. Tbere too stood a circle of lovely girls, sisters yet younger tban sbe on wbom all eyes were now turned. President Cbew, long an eminent representative of bis country's justice, looked on witb pleased attention. Tbe venerable Wbite and bis friend Blackwell, associated pastors, sanctified tbe scene. It required some effort to dissipate tbe reverie. In tbat ancient bouse are no more brilliant or joyous assemblies ; " its lights are fled, its garlands dead." One only of that bright assembly now survives ; but tbat survivor is the bride. At the age of eighty- eight the Elizabeth Wilhng of that evening stiU looks out upon tbe city so dear to her for its marvellous and sweet associations, but changed, even more than she herself is changed. Long known as the widow of Major Jackson — her eye as beaming, her form as light, ber step as quick, those who see ber only now would say, SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 307 as they would ever have been in tlie bloom and grace of youtliful maturity — her house the abode of order, taste, and elegant com- petence, herself the object of affectionate interest and service from her children and her friends. Mrs. Jackson is not only the sole sur- vivor of the occasion I have recalled, but the only living repre- sentative of the especial entourage of Washington : of those ladies, I mean, whose husbands held positions near the person of the President. Mrs. Bradford, who survived Mrs. Hamilton, was the last of those whose husbands were in his cabinet ; she was living when the earlier editions of this work appeared, but has since been united to those who went before her.* * Mrs. Bradford died at her seat in Burlington, New Jersey, on the thirtieth of November, 1854-, at the age of ninety years. The rector of St. Mary's, in his address to the graduating class of March, 1855, thus refers to her ; " There are two new graves in sweet St. Mary's Churchyard, to which my heart must ever turn. I have stood at both of them within four montlis. And there were tears of mine mixed with the earth, in both. Pastoral tears. Love's tears. Tears of sorrow. But not of one who ' sorrows as others, who have no hope.' Come with me, darlings, for a moment to their graves. In the grave that we shall go to first, sleeps one who had seen ninety winters. Think of that, my children ! Ninety winters ! She was twelve years older than our nation. She was of patriot blood. And was, herseU", a patriot. Scarcely an earthly blessing, that was not mixed in her fuU cup. Position ; influence ; wealth ; domestic happiness ; troops of friends ; good health, for more than eighty years : what the world calls a prosperous fortune, was never more completely re- alized. And, yet, they did not spoil her. They did not touch the substance of her soul. She only seemed to know them, as the motives for habitual thankfulness. She was the simplest, the humblest, the gentlest, the least selfish, of women. She was the ' little child, of Jesus Christ. In the world, she was not of the world. Or, only, of it, to be a blessing to it. The freest from faults, of any one I ever knew ; she was the most penitential. With a hand that scattered bounties, like the spring ; with a tongue that dropped blessings, like the dew ; with a heart which realized, as far as human nature may, the apostolic portraiture of love ; kind, envying not, thinking no evil, believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things : she, yet, could find no word of David, strong enough to bear the impression of her own unworthiness. In the habitual, lifelong, practice of ' whatsoever things are tnie, whatsoever things are venerable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise : ' the prayer which seemed to her the most expressive of her case and character, was, ' God be merciful to me, the sinner ! ' Thus moulded, and sustained by grace, the purchase of the cross, through her long life; her daily effort, to adorn the doctrine of God, her Saviour, in all things ; the posture, which Llrs. Bradford chose, to die in, was that of His own lit- tle, trusting, child : and, ' Even so, come. Lord Jesus,' were the words, which bore her parting ^irit, to its resting-place, in Paradise." 308 THE REPUBLICAN COUET. VII. Next, probably, in social importance and exhibition, to ]\Irs. Bingliam and the Willings, was the establishment of Mrs. Robert Morris. Her husband's partnership, through thirty-nine years, in the commercial house of the Willings, had been the source of a steady, honorable and liberal income, and 'when he retired from it in 1793 it was with solid opulence, and only to engage in plans of greater, but, as many supposed, not less certain wealth than he had drawn from the India connections in which he had been so long and prosperously engaged with Mr. Willing. Of his public reputation I have spoken elsewhere. It belongs to the history of America ; and the elegant Botta has not in the least exaggerated his services in saying that the country " owes as much to the finan- cial operations of Robert Morris as to the negotiations of Benja- min Franklin." His patriotic services were well known and justly estimated in his lifetime. He was high in the grateful regard of Washington,* and of all those warriors and statesmen who had participated in the private councils of the chief, and knew from what impending ruin the fiscal achievements of Mr. Morris had at times saved our armies. Undoubtedly he was a character of. the * The foUovang incident of President Washington's last levee, on his retiring from the presidency, ■was mentioned by the late Mr. John B. Wallace, who, as a youth, was present, with his father, then a resident of Burlington in New Jersey, on that occasion, and a witness of it. Washington received his guests, standing between the windows in his back drawing-room. The company, entering a front room, and passing through an unfolding door, made their salutations to the President, and, turning off, stood on one side. His manner was courteous, of course, but always on these occasions some- what reserved. He did not give his hand, but merely bowed, which was the mode for that day. Mr. Morris came in, and when the President saw him, entering the room, he advanced to meet him, and shook him heartily by the hand : Mr. Morris, in allusion partly, perhaps, to the day, which may have been cloudy, but more to the event, repeating as he came forward the lines — " The day is overcast, the morning lowers, And heavily in clouds brings on the day— The great the important day." JWmS, MCDBETEIT m(D)IEUEI^o SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. * 309 first class, and "being eminently insinuating and attractive in Lis manners, and having a taste for social display, liis public position and his liberal fortune enabled liim to indulge this disposition with splendor, dignity, and effect. " xVn introduction to Mr. Mor- ris," says a writer, in giving his reminiscences of the time, " was a matter in course with all strangers who visited Philadelphia, either on commercial, public, or private business. It largely dej)ended on him to do the honors of the city, and certainly no one was bet- ter quahfied or more willing to support them. His house was a seat of elegant but unostentatious hospitality, and his domestic affairs were managed with the same admirable order which had so long and so proverbially distinguished his counting house, the office of the secret committee of Congress, and that of finance." His wife, Mary White, a daughter of Colonel Thomas White, originally of England, and afterwards of Harford county, Mary- land, was a sister of the well known and venerable Dr. White, the first Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania. Though not, like Mrs. Bingham, distinguished at this time for youth and splendid beauty, Mrs. Morris was remarkable for her striking and dignified appearance, as may be inferred from the accompanying portrait of her, which has been copied from one by the elder Peale, now adorning the Hall of Independence. So impressive was her air and demeanor, that those who saw her once seldom forgot her ; and it was an incident of General Lafayette's visit to this country in 1824 that, when arriving in Philadelphia, where he was publicly escorted through crowds of admiring and grateful citi- zens who thronged every place to behold him, he instantly, in passing before her door, recognized from his barouche — among the thou- sands who lined the streets and casements and housetops, to see and to cheer him — the tall and venerable person of Mrs. Morris, then standing at her own window. At this time he had not seen 310 THE REPUBLICAN COUHT. lier for nearly forty years,* and, rising to salute her, as lie turned his manly and erected figure towards her house and bowed, with the military grace of France, the plaudits of the people, who un- derstood the incident, seemed as if they would never cease. A proper respect for the sacred character and office of her brother, Bishop White, and not less the dignity of her husband's fame, would naturally have restrained Mrs. Morris from any unbe- coming or excessive devotion to mere fashion, even if she had been inclined to it. But she had a fine taste for the worldly dig- nity of life, and in her house was found a steady exhibition of its most solid forms. Mr. Morris had given up to the President a fine mansion in which • he had lived before Philadelphia became the seat of government, and had taken for himself another, a little above it, known to later times as the Schuylkill Bank, at the southeast corner of Sixth and Market streets. Thoug^h it had not a very striking appearance, it was a fine substantial structure, from its angular position commanding abundance of light, and relieved by extensive edifices in the rear. It was not comparable with Mrs. Bingham's, in elegance of building, grounds, or furniture, but its domestic appointments and the course of life within it were proba bly not much less expensive. The convenient and democratic sys- tem of overcrowded balls and recej)tions by which ladies and gen- tlemen are now entertained by hundreds at a time, and a thousand imperfect social obligations discharged as imperfectly about once in a year, was unknown to the gentry of our early metropolis. The " visiting list " enrolled a very much more extensive and a * Among the public honors given by the citizens of Philadelphia to Lafayette on this visit to America, was a public ball. Mrs. Morris was one of the few still surviving who belonged to the colonial and revolutionary era. To grace and dignify the festival a committee of the citizens specially invited her presence, but she declined the civility on account of her advanced years aud long formed habits of retirement. Repeated solicitations, however, induced a compliance, aud she went in the costume of her day. Being seated on a bench of eminence beside the Mai-quis, her venerable figure and ancient style of dress made a featiure of this brilliant spectacle. SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 311 very different class of names from the list for entertainments. Neighborliood — a near acquaintance from any cause — a special or even a general service of some casual kind — with, many other causes easily conceived, might constitute a good title to a place in the former, but to be included in the latter was a different thing. The social rights and dispositions of the entertainer were justly considered not to be the only ones concerned. It was rightly sup- posed that those who were entertained had some rights also ; not legal ones, indeed, but very delicate and important ones notwith- standing ; social enjoyment had not become a " business matter;" and to invite gentlemen and ladies only to meet all the clients of the host, if a lawyer, or all his patients, if a physician, or to give something like gentility to a grande democrate-socialiste melee^ where, once a year, people of every sort, without regard to class, connection, or character — to education, breeding, or social suita- bility — are herded promiscuously, -merely to gratify a love the hostess may happen to have for common notoriety, would have been considered high treason against society, and destructive alike of its interests, aims, and enjoyments. Dinner company, well chosen, frequent, and elegant, was the style of the time. It was in this style that the home of Mrs. Morris was distinguished. Be- sides its essential household of table-servants, coachmen, footmen, &c., her establishment had its housekeeper, butler, (a fine old Frenchman named Constance,) its confectioner, and all the reti- nue of a mansion in which dinner company is frequently and ele- gantly entertained. Unlike most of the menial servants of that day, in Philadelphia, Mrs. Morris's were all white, and they all wore the Morris livery. As a fitting appendage to this town residence, Mr. Morris had his well known country seat. The Hills, which I describe more particularly in another part of this chapter. 312 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. Thougli not a man distinguislied by birth, nor, I believe, of early liberal education, Mr. Morris possessed considerable taste for the arts, and exerted bimself to introduce them into our infant republic. It was by bis encouragement tbat Jardella, an Italian sculptor very well known in PHladelpbia, established himself in America ; and under his orders were made, among other things by that artist, those two fine mezzo relievos which so long adorned the window arches of the Chestnut street theatre — one represent- ing Comedy and Tragedy, and the other the Genius of Music. Some of the most beautiful Grobelin tapestry ever brought from France was imported by him during the revolution of 1792. He was, however, unable to appropriate it, as he intended, to the de- coration of the great mansion he commenced on Chestnut street, and after his death it passed, about the year 1834, into the possession of Mrs. Eichard Alsop, in whose tasteful and elegant parlors it was afterwards exceedingly admired. The reverses of fortune which overtook Mr. Morris's large speculations in landed estates reached their crisis, I think, in the winter of 1796, and after that date his style of social life of course was changed. He retired to The Hills in the beginning of 1797, and at this delightful place re- mained with his family in entire seclusion. His house in the city passed to the occupancy of Mr. Penn. The home of Mr. Morris was west of the presidential man- sion, on the corner of Market and Sixth streets. East ©f it, near the corner of Fifth street, resided General "Walter Stewart, with whom and Mrs. Stewart the family of Washington were very in- timate. General Stewart came to this country from Ireland, and at an early period entered the revolutionary army, in which, on several occasions, he very honorably distinguished himself. By a resolution of Cona-ress medals were ordered to be struck for Gene- ral Wayne, Lieutenant Colonel Fleury, and Major Walter Stewart, SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 313 for tlieir gallant conduct in tlie storming of Stony Point. As a colonel, Stewart is a prominent figure in Trumbull's picture of tlie surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He was lils:li in Wasliino;- ton's esteem and confidence, or his wife, splendid as was lier beauty, brilliant as was her conversation, and amiable and fascinating as were her manners, would scarcely have become one of the most conspicuous ladies of the republican court, from which her connec- tions were so widely separated. She was the eldest daughter of Blair McClenachan, a retired naturalized Irish merchant, of great wealth, who once owned quite a celebrated place at Germantown, whence, as his temper prompted, or his friends, Jefferson, Rush, Dallas, and other democrats, deemed it expedient, he would ride into town to assist in burning Jay's treaty, in gi\dng a triumphal reception to Genet, or any other act of hostility to the Washing- ton party. General Stewart however remained faithful in feeling and conduct to the chief, and was always proud of the considera- tion in which he was held by him. " Walter Stewart," writes Mr. Charles Jared Ingersoll, " was one of the handsomest men of his day ; " and Deborah McClena- chan was already famous for those personal attractions which after- wards commanded so much homage, at home and abroad, when they were married, by Dr. White, on the eleventh of April, liTSl. Washington was unable to be present, but he sent from his head- quarters, at New Windsor, a graceful letter of congratulation on the occasion, and the next year became godfather to their son. When they went to Europe, in 1785, he gave General Stewart let- ters of introduction, and concluded the communication in which they were enclosed, by saying, "Mrs. Washington joins me in wishing you a good and prosperous voyage, and in compliments to Mrs. Stewart.' Tell her if she do n't think of me often, I shall not easily forgive her, and will scold at, and beat her — soundly too — 40 314 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. at piquet, tlie next time I see her." This is one of the few exam pies we have of the hero's playful humor ; it is as neatly delivered as his celebrated letter inviting Mrs. Cochran to a camp dinner. He presents his friend as "a gallant and deserving officer who served through all the war Avith distinguished reputation ; " and Roljert Morris writes of him at the same time, that "his private character is as amiable as his public one has been glorious." From 1785 to lYST General Stewart and Mrs. Stewart were in London, Paris, and the resorts of fashion in Germany and It- aly. Returning to Philadelphia, they lived in a style of liberality and elegance suitable to their large income and cultivated taste. Their house, during "Washington's administration, was much fre- quented by that portion of official and private society which was most distinguished for its attachment to his person and policy. About the time of his retirement from public life, the president sent portraits* of himself — of a size somewhat larger than com- mon miniatures — to three of the ladies with whom his intercourse in Philadelj^hia had been the most unreserved and affectionate : Mrs. Bingham, ]Mi*s. Robert Morris, and Mrs. Walter Stewart. In a note accompanying that to IMrs. Stewart, he begs her to regard it " not so much for any merit of the original as for its excellence as a work of art ; " and declares it " the production of a young lady." The name of the fair artist is not given, but it is evident that he does not refer to Madame de Brehan, whose pictures of him I have mentioned elsewhere, as that distinguished personage was by no means young, when in America, six or seven years before. * These three portraits are probably by the same hand, and are to be reckoned among the origi- nals known to exist of Washington. One of Stuart's finest pictures of the president was painted for Mrs. Bingham. The one now sent to her was accompanied by the following note : " In presenting the inclosed, with compliments, to Mrs. Bingham, the President fulfils a promise. Not for the representation, not for the value, but as the production of a fair hand, the offering ia made, and the acceptance of it requested. " Wednesday, ICth Marcli." SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 311 YIII. The family of Cliief Justice Chew, being a numerous and very amiable one, filled a considerable space in society. Mr. Chew had been attorney general of the province, and also recorder of the city, and he was the last chief justice of the crown. Belonging to the old provincial party, it was hardly to be expected that he would support the cause of the revolution, which deprived him of the highest judicial office, and he was accordingly arrested as a person, if not positively disaffected, at least but lukewarm in the cause of American freedom, and sent during the war among the exiles in Virginia. But his prudence was so considerable, his mild- ness of disposition so pleasing, and his amenity and courtesy so universally acceptable, that he was extremely popular with all parties, and a personal friend and favorite with Washington him- self After the peace he maintained a dignified social rank, and, as president of the High Court of Errors and Appeals, was also a distinguished public character. Having been twice married, in ^he first place to Miss Galloway, and in the second to Miss Oswald, he had a numerous family connection, and most of his immediate descendants being daughters, who were eminent for the same beauty which has graced the family in our own times, (Mrs. Phillips, Mrs. Carroll, wife of Charles Carroll the younger, Mrs. Alexander Wilcocks, Mrs. John Eagar Howard, Mrs. Nicklin, and others,) his town house, a fine old structure in Third street — • built by Mr. Charles Willing for his son-in-law. Colonel Byrd of Westover, and afterwards the head-quarters of General Washing- ton — not less than Cliveden, his country seat at Germantown, now historic as " Chew's House," were the scenes of constant and re- fined though not very ostentatious or costly entertainments. 316 THE REPUBLICAN COUllT. Judo-e Peters witli liis family must be prominent in my records. His name had been long honorably known in both cburcli and state. The Eeverend Eichard Peters, a man of fortune, a scholar and a divine, was for many years the rector as well as a liberal benefactor of Christ church, and the possessor of one of the best libraries ever brought to Philadelphia. Other members of his family were connected with the proprietary offices : his father, I think, though perhaps it was his uncle the clergyman, as secretary of the Land Office. Judge Peters himself is known traditionally more by his jests than by his decisions, for though the latter were good, the former were brilliant.^' His domestic attachments are illustrated by an anecdote related by Mrs. Adams, in one of her letters. While in London, in 1786, he dined on one occasion at the ambassador's. When he entered the drawing-room Mrs. Adams p-ave into his hands several letters which had been received o for him. He carried them to the light, broke their seals, and * Peters was in Congress -when Burgoyne was captiured, an event of which General Gates trans- mitted the intelligence to that body by his aide, Lieutenant Wilkinson. Wilkmson, it appeared, having staid a little too long on the way, to pay his homage to a lady whom he was courting, did not reach Yorktown until after the Intelligence of the capture had been received. Had the news been less agreeabb that body might not have been very amiably disposed ; the occasion, however, was bland and exhilarating, and there was no disposition to withhold from the messenger the ordi- nary tokens of approbation. Mr. Peters took the initiative, and on the morning after Mr. Wilkin- son's arrival, rising in his place, with an air of uncommon dignity, moved vei*y gravely " that as a mark of its sense of Mr. Wilkinson's service, there should be presented to him a pair of silver spurs." Thomas McKean, of Pennsylvania, in a, letter to John Adams, written in 1815, attributes this motion to Samuel Adams, (\Vorks of John Adams, x. 177,) but, according to common tradition, it was by Peters, of wliom it was characteristic. The judge was a great agriculturist, and very fond of ex- hibiting at Belmont the fruits of his skill in that way. One summer day he had invited his friends to partake of a rich water-melon ; but, being very large, his servant, in bringing it to the table, happened to tumble. The melon rolled from the dish, and falling on a marble floor, broke to pieces before the assembled guests. Looking at the fragments for a moment, " Never mind," said the host, nothing disconcerted, " it is but a squash— take it away." Advertising his place for sale, he mentioned among its attractions a " fine stream of water ; " a gentleman who drove out to see the property was 7ery well pleased with it, but thought there must be some mistake about any such " fine stream," as he discovered nothing in that way but a little rivulet so small that it could scarcely bo seen through the grass. " Well," asked the judge, with perfect sangfroid, " how could there be afner stream than that ? " SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA 317 thi'ew them on the table, exclaiming, " Not one from my wife ! I have lost two letters from her. The devil ! I would rather have found two lines from her than ten folios from any one else." Washington, who placed him on the bench, was very fond of his society, and frequently, as I have elsewhere mentioned, drove out to Belmont, his country house, to enjoy an unceremonious and recreative intercourse with him, walking with him sometimes for hours under the dark grove of hemlocks which an earlier genera- tion of the Peters family had planted there. His ancestor, as I have* said, was a rector of Christ church, and Mr. Peters was quite proud of his orthodoxy, though, like Lord Eldon, he was rather one of the buttresses than the pillars of the church — giving his support from the outside. With Mr. Powell, he was sent by the General Convention of the Protestant Ej)iscopal Church, soon after the organization of that body, in 1781, to confer with the English bishops, and to induce them, if they would do so, to grant the episcopacy to the new states. The English bishops, as it appeared, were very scrupulous ; and, afraid lest the church in America might not be so well disposed as the delegates believed, made a great many inquiries of them about every point of discipline, doctrine, and condition. Mr. Peters, who was probably the medium of communication, gave very pleas- ant answers, but they were not always so exact and full on 2)oints of nice divinity, as the bishops desired. " We found him," said one of that body, " a delightful companion, a most well-bred gen- tleman, an accomphshed scholar, and extremely well informed on every possible subject, except upon the one for which he came to England." Q \^V The family of Shippen was rich and eminent. Possessed of no remarkable spirituaHty, nor, perhaps, as a general rule, of the highest order of intellect, its members were yet much and justly 318 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. respected. They were noticeable for those qualities Tvliicli, though insufficient in themselves to confer the best social distinction, may- be said to constitute an excellent element in the ordinary compo- sition of good society. Easy, not apt to be excited, within proper limits fond of property and of all the best things belonging to this world, through a large connection indulging in a constant round of sober enjoyments, bestowing smiles on all and frowns on few or none, they offended not at all, and were universally agreeable. The well known medical professor. Dr. William Ship- pen, I suppose possessed the most genius. Of his rank among men of science I have written elsewhere. His own family influence was large, and his marriage with Alice Lee, daughter of Thomas Lee, governor of Yu'ginia, and sister of Richard Henry and Ar- thur Lee, mad6 his residence (the respectable mansion still stand- ing on the southwest corner of Prune and Fourth streets, after- wards distinguished as the home of Dr. Wistar) a centre and resort of most of the Virginia aristocracy who were brought to Philadelphia in consequence of its becoming the capital. The an- cient family reputation, with Dr. Shippen's medical fame, and the high judicial station of Edward Shippen, so long honorably known as the chief justice of Pennsylvania, gave dignity to all this cir- cle; and with the inherited rank of the chief justice's wife, and the beauty and charming manners in early life, and the affecting history at a aater period, of his daughter, Mrs. Arnold, and the excellent social position of his other daughters, Mrs. Burd and Mrs. Lee, were some of the causes which contributed to the unde- niable elevation of the Shippens in the domain of fashion. In some paragraphs respecting the clergy I have referred to the distinction of Bishop White in that profession ; but, with Dr. Blackwell and one or two of his other clerical associates, he was also a conspicuous figure in the higher society of the city. His SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 319 family was a good one. He received from his fatlier, Colonel Thomas "White, an English gentleman who, as surveyor of Har- ford county, Maryland, had made good purchases of land, a for- tune which was then considered liberal ; and though the bishop lost not less than thirty thousand dollars by being compelled to receive in continental paper what his father had loaned in gold and silver, he was still enabled to maintain an elegant style of living. He inherited from his aunts in England an estate at Twickenham, not far from that of the poet Pope, with which he was perfectly familiar, and which he frequently described. His town residence, a substantial building, erected by himself, and oc- cuj)ied by him till his death, yet stands in Walnut street, and is familiar to this generation. His rural seat called Brookland, a valuable farm of forty-eight acres, close to Philadelphia, upon Is- lington lane, was variously beautiful, and the scene of such summer hospitality as became a bishop and a gentleman. A sister of Mrs. White had married Governor Paca of Maryland, and his own sis- ter, as I have already mentioned, was the wife of Robert Morris. He was in other ways connected with public characters, and bis position as one of the chaplains of Congress,* not less than his high ecclesiastical office, and his well known patriotism, secured for him a wide recognition as one of the leading men of his time in this country. * I do not know wlietlier the following incident is recorded in any biography of Bishop White, but it is one which 1 have from good authority. He was in Harford county, Maryland, visiting his relations there, when he received intelligence of his appointment to the chaplaincy of Congress. His brother-in-law. Governor Paca, who was at this time in Congress, in communicating it to him, rather advised him, on prudential grounds, not to take it : urging for his consideration the fact that if the revolution were successful his generally known approval of it would secure him a sufficient measure of public favor, while, if the British arms triumphed, the fact that he, a clergyman of tha Church of England, and so very specially bound to the government, had joined a revolt, would bring upon him a special measure of severity. But such considerations never weighed with Bishop White. He set off at once for Yorktown, and the first answer Governor Paca received was from the bishop in person, that he had come to fiU his office ! 320 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. The connection of tlie Hamiltons gave a feature to tlie lighter part of fashionable society. The founder of this family, I believe, was Andrew Hamilton, known, even in the middle of the last cen- tury, as the ablest lawyer of Pennsylvania. A mystery is said to have clouded his early history, and it was commonly rumored that his true name was not Hamilton, but, if I am not mistaken, Trent. The behef was that he was sent in ^outh to Maryland, to oversee some estates, but that having a strong intellect, and a turn more liberal, he studied law. He came to Philadelphia from Maryland, and soon rose to eminence in a profession which was concerned much more with his abilities than his bii'th or history. He was an associate of Franklin, and much of Franklin's way of thinking in religion. His son was James Hamilton, for some time a governor of the province. He, or the earliest of the Hamiltons, had taken up large quantities of land across the Schuylkill, which, on the death of the latter, passed, in part at least, to his nephew, William, styling himself " of the Woodlands," around whom the younger members of the family were principally grouped. From his youth, he seems to have possessed a high degree of taste. On graduating, in 1762, at the Academy of Philadelphia, he gave a fete at the Woodlands to his college friends, among whom were young men afterwards known as Judge Yeates, Judge Peters, ]\Ir. Dickenson Sergeant, the Eeverend Doctor Andrews, Bishop White, and others. The beautiful edifice for which his place has since been celebrated was not then erected, and his entertainment was neces- Barily spread in a temporary building ; but its decorations were so elegant and appropriate as to induce a general admiration of it. He afterwards lived in a manner more marked perhaps by ostenta- tion than by dignity. His chariot and four, with postilhon boys, attracted wonder from some, and envy from others, but not having in the character of its occupant any thing remai'kable, to give SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 321 respectability to sucli display, it caused no general sentiment of regard. He owned the large tract on which Hamilton village now stands, and other land in the vicinity, running up to the perma- nent bridge, which, on the advice of Mr. Wilham Cramond, he sold, to relieve himself from some pecuniary inconveniences which his desire to retain landed possessions involved him in. One of his nieces — the daughters of. his brother Andrew, who had mar- ried a Jewess, Miss Franks, as I have stated elsewhere — was dis- 'tinguished by uncommon beauty of figure. Having been admired by many of her own country, she bestowed her hand, at last, very suddenly, npon an Irish gentleman, of slender parts, and lived abroad. She was afterwards separated from him. Another, also distinguished for unusual loveliness, married Mr. Lisle, a broker, who knew very well the art of acquii'ing wealth, but was thought by some persons not to be worthy of so handsome a woman. But before their marriage, as well in vu-tue of their expectations as of their beauty, the Hamiltons gave brilliance and attraction to the evening circle, and made a decided feature in the society merely fashionable. * Major Pierce Butler, a representative from South Carolina to the federal Congress, was deservedly conspicuous in the best society of the city. He was a widower, but maintained an estab- lishment suitable for a liberal-minded gentleman, both in South Carolina and in his home in the metropolis. At his house were to be found the most distinguished representatives of the southern states. He professed to be a democrat, but democrats were seldom seen in his parlor; and the democracy of his day, especially the democracy of his part of the country, far as it was removed from the standards of federal bearing and dignity, was not less re- moved from the democracy of later times. Whatever may have been his political heresies, or his eccentricities, of which he pos- 41 322 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. sessed many, every account wliicli I have lieard or read of liim lias represented him as a high bred gentleman and a man of honor, and as such he was universally esteemed. From a sister of his, who was a charming woman in her youth, as well as from the late Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, with whom I had sometimes the honor of walking through the city in which she had been a leader of the polite world in the days of Washington, and others, be- longing to the distinguished society I attempt to describe, who survived it to my own times, I have heard many agreeable remi- niscences of that period, which enter in some form into the texture of this work. Mr. Elias Boudinot and Mrs. Boudinot, in a sphere not less aristocratic, but somewhat different and more grave, were also emi- nent persons. Mr. Boudinot was originally from New Jersey, the federal pohtics of which state he controlled almost entirely so long as federal politics prevailed at all. He had the distinction of pos- sessing a large fortune, and those liberal social dispositions which displayed it with advantage. His wife, before marriage Miss Stock- ton, was a sister of Richard Stockton, the weU-known signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his own sister was the wife of that gentleman. Mr. Boudinot had been in the continental con- gress of 1Y76, and in 1782 was elected the president of that body. During the war he had been commissary-general of prisoners, and to him Washington had now intrusted the responsible office of giving action and success to our federal mint. He had one child, a daughter, who had been married to one of the most distinguished and excellent men of his time, Mr. William Bradford, the attorney- general, and friend of Washington : a man looked to by every one for what he then was, and still more for the higher distinctions and honors which seemed certainly awaiting him. In this dig- nified circle happiness and virtue were ever united, and during SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 323 tlie residence of Washington in Pliiladelpliia no social connection presented greater cliarms. As at Dr. Sliippen's was tlie centre of the Virginia gentry, and at Major Butler's that of the Carolinas, so at Mr. Boudinot's noble mansion, yet standing at the south-west corner of Arch and Ninth streets, were constantly assembled, as his friends or guests, the most eminent characters of his own state, his own connections also — the Stocktons, Daytons, Wallaces, Og- dens — perfectly known in the society of the metropolis, though residing generally on their domains in New Jersey. And with these families and persons, connected more or less intimately with the fashionable world, Philadelphia had at the same time her David Rittenhouse, John Bartram, Dominie Proud, young Brockden Brown, and others variously famous. IX. The addiction of American women to extravagance in dress has always been remarked by foreigners and by om* travelled country- men. The Count de Bochambeau observed at the close of the war that the wives of our merchants and bankers were " clad to the 4''. tip of the French fashions, of which they were remarkably fond." Brissot de Warville deplores it as a great misfortune that in rej)ub- lics women should sacrifice so much time to " trifles," and that re- publican men should hold this habit in some estimation. He tells us the women of Philadelphia wore hats and caps almost as varied as those of Paris, and bestowed immense expenses in dressing their heads, displaying " pretensions too affected to be pleasing." The Quakers in Philadelphia were relatively much more numer- ous in 1791 than now, and they lived very much retu-ed among themselves; but the Duke la Rochefoucauld Liancourt perceives that " ribbons please young Quakeresses as well as others, and are the great enemies of the sect." 324 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. Of these Quaker women Brissot says, "They are what they should be, faithful to then- husbands, tender to their children, vigi- lant and economical in their households, and simple in their orna- ments ; their characteristic is that, neglectful of the exterior, they reserve all their accomplishments for the mind. Let ns say it — let us not cease to repeat it — it is where such manners obtain that we are to look for happy families and pubhc virtues. But we, mis- erable wretches ! gangrened with our own civilization and polite- ness, we have abjured these manners, and who among us is happy ? " Nevertheless, the Frenchman confesses that the young Quakeresses cui'l their locks with great care and anxiety, which costs them as much time as the most exquisite toilette, and wear hats covered with silk and satin.*^' Such observations give him pain. " These youthful creatures, whom nature has so well endowed, whose charms * During tlie period in which Philadelphia was the scat of government, on the arrival of the spi'ing and fall ships from England, the pavements, all along Front street, from Arch street to Walnut street, were lumbered and scattered, before the doors of importers, witli boxes and bales of English drygoods — the clerks, apprentices and subordinates of the merchants as busy as bees in their several vocations, some with sharp knives and claw-hammers, ripping and breaking open the packages and cases, and others within doors exhibiting the goods as salesmen — altogethei displaying a pleasant bustle of rivalship and comj^etition. The retailers, principally women, were hovering around, mingling with the men, and viewing with admiration the rich varieties of foreign chintzes, muslins, and calicoes, of the latest fashions. All sums of money were com puted in pounds, shillings, pence, and farthings — dollars and cents being unused denominations excejjt in the reports of Mr. Ilamilton. "The first brilliant retail fancy drygoods shop was opened about this time," says a writer in Hazard's Register, " by a Mr. Whitcsides, as it was said, from London, in the true Bond street style, at number one hundred and thirty-four Mai-ket street; and the uncommon size of the panes of glass, the fine mull-mull and jaconet muslins, the chintzes and linens, suspended in whole pieces and entwined together in puflFs and festoons, and the shopmen behind the counter, bowing and smiling, created for a time some sensation." Other shops, however, appear to have been more successful, after the novelty of the show-windows of Mr. Whitesides was forgotten. Two of these were by a Mr. Guest and a ]\Irs. Holland. Mr. Guest, of number thirty South Second street, with a pleasant and smiling countenance, was busy in the mornings among the importers, picking up the choicest fabrics and the best bargains, while the sales at home were conducted by his two sons, and two daughters — handsome young women of the class of " gay Quakers." Mrs. Holland, at number two North Front street, was a person of extraordinary dimensions, and seemed quite too unwieldy for her vocation as principal sales- woman, but she was popular for patient devotion to the varied wants and whims of her custom- ers, and for the-most unfailing and fascinating smiles upon purchasers of even the smallest amount. SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 325 have so little need of tlie aid of art, are remarkable for their choice of the finest muslins and silks ; oriental luxury itself would not dis- dain the linen they wear, and elegant fans play between their fin- gers." He urges the maxim of Penn, that " modesty and mildness are the finest ornaments of the soul," and warns them that theii* choice of delicate linens and rich silks is regarded by others as hypocritical luxury, ill disguised. Among Quakers of the braver sex he discovers that there are some who dress more like men of the world, who wear powder, silver buckles, and ruifies ; they are called " wet Quakers ; " the others regard them as " a kind of schismatics, or feeble men;" they admit them, indeed, to their places of worshipj on Sundays, but never to their monthly or quar- terly meetings. The President and Mrs. "Washington arrived in Philadelphia from Mount Vernon on Saturday, the twenty-eighth of November, and found that most of the public characters were already assem bled, and that the city was filled with strangers anticipating a gay and brilliant season in society. The rules for receiving visitors and entertaining company con- tinued to be very nearly the same as in New York. Respectable citizens and strangers, properly introduced, were seen by the Presi- dent every other Tuesday, between the hours of three and four in the afternoon. The receptions were in the dining-room, on the fii^st floor, in the back part of the house. At three o'clock, all the chau^s having been removed, the door was opened, and the President, usual- ly surrounded by members of his cabinet or other distinguished men, was seen by the approaching visitor standing before the fire- place, his hair powdered and gathered behind in a silk bag, coat and breeches of plain black velvet, white or pearl-colored vest, yellow 326 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. gloves, a cocked liat in his hand, silver knee and shoe-buckles, and a long sword, with a finely wrought and glittering steel hilt, the coat worn over it, and its scabbard of polished white leather. On these occasions he never shook hands, even with his most intimate friends. The name of every one was distinctly announced, and he rarely forgot that of a person who had been once introduced to him. The visitor was received with a dignified bow, and passed on to another part of the room. At a quarter past three the door was closed, the gentlemen present moved into a cii'cle, and he proceeded, beginning at his right hand, to exchange a few words with each. When the circuit was completed he resumed his first position, and the visitors approached him in succession, bowed, and retired. At the levees of Mrs. Washington he did not consider any visits made to himself, and he appeared as a private gentleman, with nei- ther hat nor sword, conversing without restraint, generally with women, who rarely had other opportunities of meeting him. The first levee in Philadelphia was on the evening of Friday, the twenty-fifth of December. Mrs. Adams went, attended by her son, Mr. Charles Adams, and she mentions " the dazzhng Mrs. Bingham and her beautiful sisters, the Misses Allen, the Misses Chew, and, in short, a constellation of beauties." The eldest of these Aliens be- came Mrs. Greenleaf, and according to tradition was one of the most splendid beauties this country ever produced. Mrs. Theodore Sedg- wick, in whom were combined the finest graces of the New Eng- land matron, was conspicuous for a charming face, and an air and manner of singular refinement and elegance ; the magnificent Miss Wolcott, from Connecticut, was the "boast of gentlemen from the eastern states, who would not admit that even Mrs. Bingham was her equal ; and Mrs. Knox, of course, was observed of all obser\- ers. Miss Sally McKean wrote to a friend in New York, " You never could have had such a drawing-room ; it was brilliant beyond MiE^ciPiiiii®iD)'^iEis ^mmcmjJKBJK SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA. 327 any thing you can imagine ; and tliougli there was a great deal of extravagance, tliere was so mnch. of Philadelphia taste in every thing that it must have been confessed the most delightful occasion of the kind ever known in this country." XI. The winter presented a continual succession of balls, dinner- parties, and other scenes of gayety and dissipation. The most sump- tuous dinners were at Mr. Bingham's and Mr. Morris's. Mr. Morris lived at the corner of Sixth and Market streets, near the President, and his house was the abode of a noble hospitality. The great financier who had so admirably managed the pecuniary affairs of the nation, had not yet displayed that incapacity or thoughtlessness in the administration of his own, which was soon to render him a banki^upt and an exile from those scenes of luxmious enjoyment which were dignified by his simple and gracious manners, unfailing generosity, and large intelligence. " I should spend a very dissi- pated wiater," writes Mrs. Adams, " if I were to accept one half the invitations I receive, particularly to the routs or tea-and-cards." Jeremiah Smith refers to the prevailing ]3assion for gambling : he did not think it had any tendency to add to the property or to in- crease the happiaess of its votaries, and therefore was of the com- paratively small number who would not play; but he says it was no uncommon thing in this winter to hear that a man or a woman had lost three or four hundred dollars at a sitting. The dancing at the assemblies, Mrs. Adams informs us, was very good, and the company of the best kind; the room however was despicable, and the etiquette — " it was not to be found." She remembers that " it was not so in New York," but is consoled by the fact that Phila- delphia society is generally agreeable ; " friendliness," she says, " is kept up among the pruicipal families, who appear to live in. great 328 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. liarmony, and we meet at all places nearly tlie same company." A friend of Humpkreys, who was now at Lisbon, wiites to him, " You have never seen any thing like the fi-enzy which has seized upon the inhabitants here ; they have been half mad ever since this city became the seat of government ; and there is no limit to then* pro- digality, and, Ellsworth might say, profligacy. The probability is that some families will find they cannot support their dinners, sup- pers, and losses at loo, a great while ; but generally I believe the sharp citizens manage to make the temporary residents pay the bills, one way or another. There have been a good many delightful par- ties, and I have been at Chew's, McKean's, Clymer's, Dallas's, Bing- ham's, and a dozen other houses lately. Among your more particu- lar friends there is more quiet and comfort, and it is not impossible that the most truly respectable people are least heard of." THE SOUTHERN TOUR. The winter of lYQO and 1T91 was one of continnal and various excitement at tlie seat of government. In tlie Congress it was chiefly remarkable for a succession of stormy debates on the great financial schemes of Hamilton, resulting in the establishment of a national bank, and a tax on ardent spirits. It requii-ed no prophet to foretell the irritation which would be produced by the last measure ; it was an attack on the special interests of the enemies of the ad- ministration, those interests which we may well believe were most dear to them, and its consequences are a familiar part of history. " My health is now quite restored," the President wrote to La- fayette on the nineteenth of March, " and I flatter myself with the hope of a long exemption from sickness ; on Monday next I shall enter on your friendly prescription of exercise, intending at that time to begin a long journey to the southward." To this tour he had been invited by many of the leading characters of the south- ern states, who promised him everywhere as sincerely cordial and enthusiastic greetings as two years before had marked his triumphal progress through New England. The carriao^e in which he travelled was the one in which he usu- ally appeared on public occasions in the city ; it was built by a Phil adelphia mechanic, and is described as a " most satisfactory exhibi 42 330 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. tion of tlie progress of American manufactures." * It was drawE by six liorses, wliicli liad been carefully selected for tlieir handsome appearance and probable capacities for endm-ance. He started from liis residence, in Market street, at twelve o'clock, witk Mr. Jefferson and General Knox, wlio escorted liim into Delaware, and Major Jackson, one of bis private secretaries, wlio was bis compan- ion until be returned to tbe metropolis. At Annapolis, wbere be arrived on tbe morning of tbe twenty- fiftb of Marcb, be remained two days. An accident on tbe Severn caused a great deal of anxiety for a few bours. Tbe vessel wbicb contained tbe President and bis suite entered tbe river about ten o'clock on a dark, rainy and windy nigbt, and soon after struck on a bar, wbere sbe remained until dayligbt. Frequent signals of disi tress were made, but it was found impossible to go to ber rebef On arri\dng in town in tbe morning be was met by tbe entu'e popu- lation, and before bis departure was entertained at pubHc dinners and a ball. Tbe Governor of Maryland, on tbe twenty-seventb, accompimied bim on bis way until be reacbed Georgetown. He remained a week at Mount Vernon, and tben proceeded on bis journey. At Fredericksbm-g be dined witb bis old friends and * This carriage has been carefully preserved by an eminent citizen of Philaclolphia, in a house built expressly for its reception, in Tvhich it has remained half a century. Mr. Watson is mis- taken in supposing it was removed to New Orleans, as mentioned in his "Annals," i. 581, and also in the suggestion that it was a present from Loms XVI., or that it had been the property of Governor Penn. The " state coach " used in New York was built in that city. In this he made his journey through New England. The only other carriage for six horses which Washington owned while President is the one above referred to, built by a Mr. Clark of Philadelphia. Referring to the simplicity of the President's equipage and the modest style in which he travelled, a contemporary journal quoted the following passage from M. Flcchier's oration on the great Marshal de Turenne : " He strives to conceal himself, but his reputation discovers him. lie marches without a train of attendants, whilst every man, in his own mind, places him upon a triumphal car. As le passes by, the enemies he has conquered are reckoned, and not the ser- vants who follow him. Alone as he is, we imagine him surrounded in all places with his virtues and victories. There is something extremely noble in this elegant simplicity ; and the less haughty he is, the more venerable he becomes." THE SOUTHERN TOUR. 331 neighbors, wliom lie was always tappy to meet, and witli whom, Chancellor Wythe informs us, he delighted to recall the scenes of his youth and earlier manhood, which he contemplated, with their associations, with feelings of the tenderest interest. He arrived in Richmond at two o'clock on the afternoon of Monday, the eleventh of April, and an immense assemblage of citizens greeted him with acclamations as he passed along the streets, and the military signal ized his presence with salutes of artillery. In the evening the city was brilliantly illuminated, and the two days during which he re- mained there were surrendered by all classes to a proud enjoyment ; for the Virginians regarded Washington as their especial glory, and exulted in all his triumphs as sharers of his greatness. At Peters- burgh, and at Halifax, Newbern,* Wilmington, and other places in North Carolina, he was received with every possible demonstrar tion of attachment by the authorities and the people. The military companies of Wilmington met him ten miles from the city, and a large proportion of the inhabitants went out between five and six miles to join the procession which welcomed him to that ancient town. The next day he accepted an invitation to a public dinner, and in the evening attended a ball at which there was an unprece- dented display of the fashion and beauty of the state. On his de- parture he was rowed across the Cape Fear river in an elegantly decorated barge by six masters of vessels. * At Ncwbcrn the President attended a public dinner and a ball at the old palace of Gover- nor Tryon, which was probably at th»t time the most splendid residence in America. An en- graving of it appears in Mr. Lossing's " Field Book of the Revolution," from original drawings made by Mr. John Hawks, the architect, in 1767, and preserved by his grandson, the Rev- erend Francis L. Hawks, D.D., LL.D., of New York. On a tablet in the vestibule were some lines in Latin, by Sir William Draper, which the late Governor Martin of North Carolina trans- lated, not very gracefully, as follows: " In the reign of a monarch •who goodness disclosed, A free, happy people, to dread tyrants opposed, Have to virtue and merit erected this dome. Mny the owner and houseliold make this their loved home, Wliere religion, the laws, an^ the arts, shall invite Future ages to live in sweet peace and delight." THE REPUBLICAN COURT TI. Chaelestois" at tMs period was tlie seat of a refined and gener* ous hospitality, and in social elegance was far in advance of any otlier city in tlie southern states * Always conservative, her inhabitants were slow to admit any innovations in manners, and the tasteful and rich costumes of the middle of the century were still worn there- fore by the more respectable classes, though numerous modifications had been generally adopted in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. Milliners and tailors corresponded dii-ectly with the inventors of dresses in London and Paris, and had little regard for the taste of our rej)ublican court. Women preferred the French fashions, and often improved upon them, but Dr. Eamsay assures us that they rarely had resolution enough to follow their own correct ideas in originating styles entirely new. Gentlemen were partial to blue, the product of their staple indigo, and most of them had at all times at least one coat of that color. Pantaloons had been intro- duced and were now worn by some of the younger men, but in a few years they were entirely laid aside, and breeches again adopted, notwithstanding the superior fitness of the more modern garment for so warm a climate. A keen sensibility on points of personal honor gave rise to frequent duels, so that more took place in South Carolina than in all the nine states north of Maryland ; but it was regarded as a consequence of this practice that there was a perva- ding propriety and com*tesy in society. Drunkenness, we have the * Innkeepers, we learn from Dr. Ramsay, complained that this virtue was carried to such an extent that their business was scarcely worth following. The doors of the citizens throughout- the state were opened to all decent travellers, and shut against none. The abundance of provi- sions on plantations rendered the exercise of hospitality convenient, and the avidity of country people for hearing news made them rather seek than shun the calls of strangers. The state might be travelled over with very little expense by persons furnished with letters of introduc- tion, or even without them, by calling at the plantations of private gentlemen on or near th« roads. THE SOUTHERN TOUR. 333 authority of Dr. Ramsay for believing, " miglit be called an endemic vice " tbere, and lie finds for it an apology in tlie qualities of the atmosphere. Periodical races, hunting and fishing, and luxurious and protracted dinners, occupied the attention of old and young, while in dancing and music there was a more common proficiency than in any other part of the country. The Duke de la Eochefou- cauld Liancourt observed that from the hour of four in the after- noon the people of Charleston rarely thought of any thing but plea- sure and amusement ; they had two gaming houses, and both were constantly full ; many of the inhabitants, having been abroad, had acquired a greater knowledge of European manners and a stronger partiality to them than were found in the north, and foreign modes of life were consequently more prevalent. The women were more lively than he had seen elsewhere, and took a greater share in the commerce of society, but without any lessening of modesty or delicate propriety in then* behavior. They were interesting and agreeable, but perhaps not quite so handsome as those of Philadelphia. III. The President arrived in Charleston on Monday the second day of May. A twelve-oared barge, manned by thirteen captains of American ships, conveyed him, with several of the most distinguish- ed gentlemen of the state, from Hadrill's Point, and accompanying barges, containing a band, with instruments, and singers, greeted him with triumphal airs and songs, while a large procession of gaily caparisoned boats gave to the river a brilliant and beautiful aj)pear- ance. On landing he was received by Governor Pinckney, the intendant and wardens of the city, the society of the Cincinnati, and the military of the district, all of whom attended him in pro- cession, amid the ringing of bells, the fii'ing of cannon, and the ac- clamations of the people, first to the Exchange, where he was wel 834 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. coined in a formal address, and tlien to tlie house prepared for liis reception. He remained in Charleston a week, and every day received evidences of the affectionate admu'ation and respect of the people. The merchants were foremost in renderins^ him honor. In their address to him they said, " Were it possible for your fellow citizens to omit doing justice to your merits, the testimony of other nations would evince their neglect or ingratitude — the whole world con- cui'ring in the same opinion of you Sensible of the numerous blessings our country has derived from your wise and judicious ad- ministration, we feel animated with the most lively sentiments of gratitude towards you ; suffer us, then, to represent to you the feel- ings with which we are impressed, by assuring you that we yield to none in sincere respect and attachment to your person ; and we earnestly implore the Almighty Father of the universe long to pre- serve a life so valuable and dear to the people over whom you pre- side." He answered, " Your congratulations on my arrival in South Carolina, enhanced by the affectionate manner in which they are offered, are received with the most grateful sensibility. Flattered by the favorable sentiments you express of my endeavors to be use- ful to our country, I desire to assure you of my constant solicitude for its welfare, and of my particular satisfaction in observing the advantages which accrue to the highly deserving citizens of this state from the operations of the general government. I am not less in- debted to you for your expressions of personal attachment and re- spect: they receive my best thanks, and induce my most sincere wishes for your professional prosperity, and your individual hap- piness." On Wednesday evening he attended the corporation ball, at which there were more than two hundred and fifty women, many of whom wore sashes and ribbons emblazoned with his portrait and THE SOUTHEKN JOUK. 335 witli appropriate inscriptions. He entered tlie room with Governor Pinckney, Senators Izard and Butler, and several other public char- acters, and after being seated a few moments arose, and passing round the rapidly form-ed circle, saluted every lady, " which gave particu- lar satisfaction, as every one was anxious to have a good view of him." The City Hall was elegantly decorated for the occasion. The pillars were entwined with laurels and flowers, and the walls festooned with banners and adorned with pictures.* On Thursday he dined with a large party at Governor Pinck- ney's, and in the evening attended a concert by the Saint CeciHa * While these sheets ai-e passing through the press I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. E. A. Duyckinck for a volume of very interesting " Reminiscences of Charleston," just published by the venerable and accomplished Mr. Charles Fraser, of that city, who at the time of Washington's visit was a pupil in the Charleston College. I have had the happiness of some personal acquaint- ance with Mr. Fraser, and with the dignified circle comprising the club before which his de- lightful memoir was read, previous to its appearance in print. Charleston may well be proud of such a " clarum et venerabile nomen," and may see preserved in this distinguished artist, scholar, and gentleman, a type of her best society in her palmiest days. His present perform- ance is very similar in its character to President Duer's " Discourse on Kew York at the Close of the Last Century." Describing the events mentioned in the text he says : " General Wash- ington's visit to Charleston was made on the twenty-first of May, 1Y91, and amidst every recol- lection that I have of that imposing occasion, the most prominent is of the person of the great man, as he stood upon the steps of the Exchange, uncovered, amidst the enthusiastic acclamations of the citizens. I remember that the place prepared for his accommodation was that large three- story double house in Church street, a few doors north of Tradd street, then owned by Judge Heyward, and said to be superbly furnished for the occasion. He remained here but one week, but it was a week of continual rejoicing and festivity. Every attention that hospitality, public and private, could devise, was shown him, and it must have been very gratifying to the citizens of Charleston to receive from General Washington himself, on h'is departure, the warm acknowl- edgments which those attentions had won from his heart. One of the civilities which he received was a splendid concert and ball, given at the hall of the Exchange. On that occasion the ladies wore fillets, or bandeaus, of white ribbon, interwoven in their head-dress, with the head of ■ Washington painted on them, and the words ' Long live the President,' in gilt letters. Every hand that could hold a pencil, professional or amateur, was enlisted to furnish them. But that which proved the most lasting memorial of his visit was the whole length jiortrait, for which the city council requested him to sit to Colonel Trumbull, and which now adorns the City Hall." Mr. Fraser, it will be perceived, makes a slight mistake in the date, and another in referring to the concert and the ball as having occurred the same evening. Contemporary letters and journals authorize different statements. Some very interesting and carefully studied views of society in Charleston at the close of the Revolution mav be found in Dr. Simms's historical romance of Katherine Walton. 336 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. Society, at whicli tliere was even a greater display of beauty anu elegance tlian at tlie corporation ball. On Friday lie dined with Major Pierce Butler, and on Saturday was entertained witli great splendor by tbe niercliants at the Ex- change. Among the invited guests were the Governor, the sena- tors and representatives of the state in Congress, the intendant and wardens of the city, resident officers of the national and state gov- ernments, members of the South Carolina legislature for the Charles- ton district, and the clergy of every denomination. The toast of the President was, " The commercial interests of Charleston," and after he retii'ed the company drunk with great enthusiasm, " The President of the United States : long may he live to enjoy the praises of a grateful people ! " The President left the Exchange at eight o'clock, and proceeded to the City Hall, to view the exhibition of fire- works. He afterward rode with Mr. Izard to the houses of sev- eral gentlemen, before returning to his lodgings. On Sunday he attended divine service, in the mprning and after- noon, and dined in a private manner with General Moultrie. IV. The President left Charleston at six o'clock on Monday morning, the ninth of May, escorted to Ashley Ferry by a large cavalcade, in which were the Governor, senators, members of the Cincinnati, and many other distinguished citizens. At Perrysburg he was met the next day by a committee from Savannah, and, with General Wayne, Major Butler, Mr. Baillie, and Major Jackson, was conduct- ed on board a richly decorated boat in which the party were rowed down the river, by nine sea captains, dressed in light blue silk jack- ets, black satin breeches, white silk stockings, and round hats with black ribbons, inscribed with " Long live the President," in golden letters. Ten miles from the city they were niet by other barges, THESOUTHERNTOUR 337 fi'om one of wliicL. a company of gentlemen sung tlie popular song, " He comes, tlie hero comes ! " As they drew near tlie harbor every vessel and all the shore were discovered to be thronged with peo- ple. "When the President stepped on the landing he was received by General James Jackson, who introduced him to the Mayor and aldermen, and he was soon after conducted in the midst of a proces- sion through crowds of spectators to the house prepared for his ac- commodation in St. James's Square. The same evening he dined with the' city authorities, and a large number of other gentlemen, at Brown's Coffee House. Cannons were fired during the day, and at night the streets and the shipping were brilliantly illuminated. On Friday he dined with the Cincinnati of the state of Georgia, and attended a ball. On Saturday, accompanied by General Mcintosh, who had been second in command, under General Lincoln, in storm- ing them, he examined the remaining traces of the lines constructed by the British for the defence of Savannah in 1779, and dined with two hundred citizens and strangers under a beautiful arbor, sup- ported by numerous columns and ornamented with laurels and bay leaves, erected on an elevation which commanded a view of the town and the harbor. It has frequently been said of Washington that " no man in the army had a better eye for a horse," and many of his letters show that he was by no means indifferent as to the qualities or treatment of his stud, during the war or afterwards. A tour of nineteen hun- dred miles with the same animals was a severe test of their capaci- ties, and before reaching Charleston he wrote to Mr. Lear that though, all things considered, they had got on very well, yet his horses were decidedly worsted, and if brought back would " not cut capers as they did on setting out." On the thirteenth of May he says in a letter to the same correspondent, " I shall leave this place to-morrow; my horses, especially the two I bought just before 43 338 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. I left Philadelpliia, and my old wMte horse, are mucL worn down and I have yet one hundred and fifty or two hundred miles of heavy sand to pass before I fairly get into the upper and firmer roads." On the way to Augusta he stopped to dine with the widow of his old friend and companion in arms, General Greene, at her seat called Mulberry Grove. On "Wednesday, the eighteenth. Governor Telfair and the principal officers of the state . eft the capital, with a numerous train of citizens, and proceeded five miles toward Savan- nah to meet him, and he was conducted to his lodgings accompa- nied by thousands of people, who filled the air with joyous accla- mations. That dajrhe dined with a large party at the Grove, the Governor's private residence, near Augusta, where Mrs. Telfaii- as- sembled the ladies of the town to meet him at a ball in the evening ; on Thursday he received and answered an address from the people, attended a public dinner, and was present at another ball ; on Fri- day he visited the academy and dined again with the Governor, and on Saturday started on his return, Augusta being the farthest point of his journey. Coming again into South Carolina he was conducted to Co- lumbia by General Winn, Colonel Wade Hampton, and a large number of other citizens, and the next day dined with more than two hundred of the principal men and women of the town and neighboring country at the state house, and in the evening attend- ed a ball. On Wednesday, the twenty-fifth, he dined at Camden, and on the following morning visited the grave of the Baron de Kalb, the places where the British redoubts had been erected, Hobkhk HiU, where General Greene was attacked by Lord Eawdon, and the plains where General Gates was engaged by Lord Cornwallis in 1T80. Passing through Charlotte, Sahsbury, Salem, Guilford, and THE SOUTHEEN TOUR. 339 other towns, in all of wMcli the love and reverence of tlie people were exliibited in every variety of manner wMcli taste and inge- nuity could suggest, lie arrived at Mount Vernon on tlie twelfth, of June. He remained at his seat between three and four weeks, during which he was occupied with his private affairs, and, with Major L'Enfant and others, with the location of the new seat of government, on the banks of the Potomac. On Thursday, the last day of June, he started for Philadelphia, by way of Frederick, York, and Lan- caster, and arrived at the Presidential residence about noon on the sixth of July, having been absent nearly three months, and during that period performed a journey of eighteen hundred and eighty- seven miles. V. This tour was upon the whole very satisfactory to the President. In letters written soon after his return he says it was accomplished '' without meeting with any interruption, by sickness, bad weather, or any untoward accident. Indeed, so highly favored were we, that we arrived at each place where- 1 proposed to make my halt, on the very day I fixed upon before we set out. I am much pleased that I undertook this excursion, as it has enabled me to see with my own eyes the situation of the country through which we travelled, and to learn more accurately the disposition of the peo- ple than I could from any information I have been highly gra- tified in observing the good dispositions of the people. Industry and economy are becoming fashionable in those parts, which were formerly noted for the opposite qualities, and the labors of man are assisted by the blessings of Providence. The attachment of all classes of citizens to the general government seems to be a pleasing presage of their futm^e happiness and respectability." 340 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. VI. While tlie President was absent in the sontli, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison were making a tour in tlie nortli. Proceeding to New York, and up tlie Hudson to Albany, tliey \dsited tlie principal scenes of Burgoyne's misfortunes, — tlie fields of Stillwater, Sara- toga and Bennington, — and forts William Ilemy, George, Ticonde- roga, Crown Point, and otlier places memorable in our revolution- ary history. IMi". Jefferson amused liimself witli liis rod and gun, and indulged tliose tastes for natural liistory wLicli, if tlie condition of tlie country had not made him a politician, would probably have been his main distinction. DISCONTENT AND SEDITION. As tlie period approached wHen electors of President and Vice President were again to be appointed in tlie several states, Wash- ington perceived with the deej)est regret that it would be necessary for him to allow his name to be used for a second term of four years. Jefferson, Hamilton, and Edmund Randolph, each address- ed him letters entreating a continuance of his administration of affairs. The sincere and earnest appeal of Hamilton was unanswer- able. This illustrious person, who for the greatness of his abilities and the importance of his public services has the highest place in our history, next to his chief and friend, wrote to him, " The im- pression is uniform that yom* declining would be deplorable as the greatest evil that could befall the country at the present juncture, and as critically hazardous to your own reputation — that your con- tinuance will be justified, in the mind of every friend to his country, by the evident necessity for it. It is clear, says every one with whom I have conversed, that the affau'S of the national government are not yet firmly established ; that its enemies, generally speakmg, are as inveterate as ever ; that their enmity has been sharpened by its success, and by all the resentments which flow fi'om disappointed predictions and mortified vanity ; that a general and strenuous effort is making, in every state, to place the administration of it in the 342 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. hands of its enemies, as if they were its safest guardians ; that the period of the next House of Eepresentatives is likely to prove the crisis of its permanent character; that if you continue in office, nothing materially mischievous is to be apprehended, while if you quit, much is to be dreaded ; that the same motives which induced you to accept originally ought to decide you to continue tUl matters have assumed a more determined aspect ; that it would have been better, as it regards your own character, if you had never con- sented to come forward, than now to leave the business unfinished and in danger of being undone ; that in the event of storms arising, there would be an imputation either of want of foresight or want of firmness ; and, in fine, that on public and personal accounts, on patriotic and prudential considerations, the clear path to be pursued by you will be, again to obey the voice of your country, which it is not doubted will be as earnest and as unanimous as ever. On this last point, I have some suspicion that it will be insinuated to you, and perhaps (God forgive me, if I judge hardly,) with design to place before you a motive for declining, that there is danger of a division among the electors, and of less unanimity in their suffrages than heretofore. While your first election was depending, I had no doubt that there would be characters among the electors, who, if they durst follow their inclinations, would vote against you, but that in all probabihty they would be restrained by an appre- hension of public resentment ; that nevertheless it was possible a few straggling votes might be found in opposition, from some head- strong and fanatical individuals ; that a circumstance of this kind would be in fact, and ought to be estimated by you, as of no impor- tance, since there would be sufficient unanimity to witness the gen- eral confidence and attachment towards you. My view of the fu- ture accords exactly with what was my view of the past. I believe the same motives will operate to produce the same result. The DISCONTENT AND SEDITION. ' 343 dread of public indignation will be likely to restrain tlie indisposed few. If they can calculate at all, they will naturally reflect that they could not give a severer blow to their cause than by giving a proof of hostility to you. But if a solitary vote or two should ap- pear wanting to perfect unanimity, of what uioment can it be ? Will not the fewness of the exceptions be a confirmation of the de- votion of the community to a character which has so generally united its suffrages, after an administration of four years, at the head of a new government, opposed in its first establishment by a large proportion of its citizens, and obliged to run counter to many pre- judices in devising the arduous arrangements requisite to public credit and pubhc order ? Will not those who may be the authors of any such exceptions, manifest more their own perverseness and malevolence than any diminution of the affection and confidence of the nation ? I am persuaded that both these questions ought to be answered in the affirmative, and that there is nothing to be looked for, on the score of diversity of sentiment, which ought to weigh for a moment. I trust, sii', and I pray God, that you will determine to make a further sacrifice of yom* tranquillity and happiness to the public good." Washington's re-election was unanimous, and on the fourth of March, 1793, he took the oath of office in the hall of the senate, iu the presence of the members of the cabinet, various public officers, foreign ministers, and such other persons as could be accommodated. In his speech to Congress he expressed the pleasing emotion with which he received this renewed testimony of the approbation of the people. While however it awakened his gratitude for aU those in- stances of affectionate partiality with which he had been honored by his country, it could not prevent an earnest wish for that retire- ment from which no private consideration could ever have torn him ; " but," he continued, " influenced by the belief that my con- 344 • THE REPUBLICAN COURT. duct would be estimated according to its real motives, and tliat the people would support exertions having nothing personal for their objects, I have obeyed the suffrage which commanded me to resume the executive power, and I humbly implore that Being on whose will the fate of nations depends, to crown with success our mutual en- deavors for the general happiness." II. Philip Feekeau had been an intimate friend of Mi*. Madison while they were classmates in the college of Princeton. We do not know at what time he became acquainted with Mr. Jefferson, but it was probably during the summer after the organization of the government, and he appears from the beginning to have concurred in his political ideas. Freneau was editor of the Daily Advertiser, published in New York, when, on the seventeenth of August, 1791, he was appointed translator of the French language for the state department, and he soon after removed to Philadelphia. The place is said to have been a sinecure, as other clerks in the office were familiar with the French language, which was also spoken and writ- ten with fluent elegance by Mr. Jefferson. But Freneau made himself useful to the secretary, if not to the government, by estab- lishing in the following October the National Gazette, a journal in which were given the first examples of that partisan abuse which has ever since been the shame of American politics. In it Mr. Jef- ferson was continually referred to with expressions of fulsome adu- lation, and the public and private characters of Washington, Ham- ilton, Knox, Adams, and their associates, were vilified with unfalter- ing industry and malignity. The late Reverend Doctor Timothy D wight wrote to Oliver Wolcott, on this subject, soon after Wash- ington's second inauguration, " The late impertinent attacks on the chief magistrate are viewed with a general and marked indignation. DISCONTENT AND SEDITION. 345-^ Freneau, your printer, linguist, and so forth, is regarded here as a mere incendiary^, or rather as a despicable tool of bigger incendia- ries, and his paper as a public nuisance. Happily all the writers of this side, whose productions I have seen, take effectual means to disappoint themselves, for the violence of their prejudices, the weak- ness of their arguments, and the indecency of then* sentiments, alike counteract the mischievousness of their designs." That the National Gazette was entii^ely under Mr. Jefferson's control appears never to have been doubted. In his old age Freneau marked a copy of it with the names of the writers of the most noticeable articles, alleging that he himself had tever assailed in any manner the spotless fame of the Father of his Country. To Dr. Francis, who became his physi- cian, he said it was among his greatest griefs that he had seemed to be an enemy of Washington, but that Mr. Jefferson had writ- ten or dictated whatever was reproacliful or calumnious of that exalted character in the Gazette. The pretences for the most vio- lent attacks on the President wfere his reserved manners, which were said to proceed from an affectation of royalty (he had not yet learned to make "bows" in a manner satisfactory to the demo- crats), and his failure to interest himself in support of some de- mand of the army. IIL The French revolution was the most gigantic and appalling illustration in history of the natural depravity of the human race. It was a legitimate and inevitable result of that sham philosophy which a profligate people were glad to accept in place of the stern morality of the Christian religion, and was brought about by the combined activity and determined will of many of the master in- telligences of that age, made skeptical by the corruptions of the church, and infidel by their own defiant pride. Harlequin atheists, 34G THE REPUBLICAN COURT. assuming the title of Christian teachers, and half educated and fee- Lie minded writers of literature, sensible of theu^ incapacity to acquire distinction in the competitions of excellence, are offering among us, as novelties, those sometime obsolete mockeries that kin- dled into a flame of passion the volatile and depraved nation which surpassed all others, first in disobedience and next in contempt of the divine law. Forgetful of the terribly literal fulfilment which France presented of the prophecy that " the nations which forget God shall be turned into hell," there are still found miserable crea- tures willing enough to brave all penalties for the base satisfaction of a transient notoriety. In the days of Washington this class was comparatively much, more numerous, and more dignified in talents and position. The French monarchy had been abolished ; whatever there was of private worth and public respectability in Paris had followed the king to the guillotine ; and it had been decreed by the conven- tion that there is no God. The interest excited in America by the commencement of the revolution became enthusiasm when our an- cient ally assumed the name and form of a republic. A people less honorable and sagacious might well have been carried away by their grateful affections and political sympathies, and in the tumult of conflicting opinion and storm of aggressive action, only the un- erring judgment and indomitable will of Washington, his defiance of foreign and domestic enemies, his immovable disregard of public clamor and private treachery, a sense and temper and justice which seemed above the capacity of human nature, preserved our country from anarchy and from becoming the fear instead of the hope of the world. Less easily appreciable by the common mind than his military conduct, the course which he pursued during this agitation displays his loftiest heroism and constitutes his best claim to the reverence of posterity. DISCONTENT AND SEDITION. 347 , "I persuade myself, " lie wrote to Patrick Henry, "it has not es- caped your observation tliat a crisis is approacliing wliicli must, if it cannot be arrested, soon decide whether order and good govern- ment shall be preserved, or anarchy and confusion ensue. I most religiously aver that I have no wish incompatible with the dignity, happiness, and true interest of the people of this country. My ardent desire is, and my aim has been, as far as depended upon the executive department, to comply strictly with all our engagements, foreign and domestic, but to keep the United States free from po- litical connections with every other country, to see them indepen- dent of all, and under the influence of none. In a word, I want an American character, that the powers of Em^ope may be con- vinced we act for ourselves, and not for others. This, m my judg- ment, is the only way to be respected abroad, and happy at home." But a large proportion of the people, incapable of understand- ing how little the revolution in France resembled in principles our own war for independence, and never pausing to consider whether the inhabitants of that country were fit for self-government, did not doubt the ultimate success of French republicanism, and were easUy led to regard all doubts in others as treason to the cause it- self, and to stigmatize Washington, Hamilton, Adams, and all who sympathized with them, as " anglomen " and " monarchists." The history of politics affords no parallel of the impudent attempt to persuade the citizens of the United States that a conspiracy had been organized among them for the establishment of a kingly gov- ernment. There was not the shadow of a shade of any suggestion of such a conspiracy in all the conduct and conversation of the parties alleged to be the conspirators, and no man of common sense now believes that their slanderers were ever actuated for a moment by any sincere suspicions or apprehensions on the subject. "With intelligence of the declaration of war by France against 348 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. ' Great Britain and Holland arrived M. Genet, tlie fii'st minister of tlie French republic. He landed at Charleston, his journey thence to Philadelphia' was a continual triumph, and his reception in that city such as might have gratified a conquering hero. Instead of receiving him with customary honors, it was resolved a foi'tnight before his arrival that the repubhcans should meet him at a dis- tance from the town and greet him with cheers. Citizen Peter S. Duponceau, secretary of a secret society of Frenchmen, which met at Barney McShane's, sign of the bunch of grapes, number twenty- three North Thii'd street, was particularly active in efforts to insure a demonstration that should strike with terror the " cowardly con- servatives, anglomen, and monarchists," led by the President. Citi- zen Philip Freneau, translating clerk in the department of state, and editor of the National Gazette, restrung his "Tyrtsean Ip-e" to celebrate the glories of the Parisian regicides, and at his office, two hundred and nine Market street, received subscriptions for the " French Patriotic Society." On the second day of May the French frigate 1' Ambuscade came up the river, saluting with fifteen guns a vast assemblage on the Market street wharf, and was answered with gun for gun, amid deafening huzzas. A cap of hberty appeared at her head, foremast, and stern ; her quarter galleries were deco- rated with gill anchors bearing the honnet rouge ; from the top of her foremast floated, " Enemies of equality, reform or tremble ; " from her mainmast, " Freemen, we are your friends and brethren ; " and from the mizzenmast, " We are armed for the defence of the rights of man." L' Ambuscade was a fit precursor of the ambas- sador. At length, soon after twelve o'clock, on the sixteenth of May, three discharges of artillery from this ship announced the approach of Genet, and a great concourse of people immediately started for Gray's Ferry, where he was waiting for them. As he di'ew near, DISCONTENT AND SEDITION. 3J:9 tlie tells of Christ clinrcli were rung, tliougli it could not have been with Bishop White's consent. An address, prepared by citi- zens Dallas, Rittenhouse, Duponceau, and others, was read amid the acclamations of thousands. The minister was equally delighted and astonished at so fraternal a welcome ; and when he read an ap- proving history of all these proceedings in a journal edited by a coniidential clerk of the Secretary of State, it was but natural that he anticipated only a slight opposition on the part of the govern- ment to the so evident wishes of the people.'^ On the same day, however, an address was presented to the President, signed by three hundred of the principal merchants and other men of substance and acti^dty, residing in the city, declaring that nothing was necessary to the happiness of the people of the United States but a continuance of peace, that the highest sense was entertained of the wisdom and goodness which dictated his recent proclamation of neutrality, and that the signers would not * In -what degree Mr. Jefferson -was responsible for the gross abuse of Wasbington in Freneau's National Gazette, and for the vulgar and insolent hostility of that journal to the policy and measures of Washington's administration, "we are sufficiently informed by himself, Freneau's paper continually denied to Washington both capacity and integrity, and three copies of every number were regularly sent to the Chief, who could not forbear speaking to Mr. Jefferson on this abusive conduct of his clerk, and requesting him, as a member of his cabinet, to administer to Freneau some rebuke. Mr. Jefferson tells us in his "Anas " what course he chose to pui'sue. At a cabinet council, he says, Washington remarked that " That rascal, Freneau, sent him three copies of his papers, every day, as if he thought he (Washington) would become the distributor of them ; that he could see in this nothing but an impudent design to insult him : he ended in a high tone." Again, speaking of the President, Mr. Jefferson says, " He adverted to a piece in Freneau's paper of yesterday ; he said he despised all their attacks on him personally, but that there had never been an act of the government, not meaning in the executive line only, but in any line, which that paper had not abused. lie was evidently sore and warm, and I took his intention to be, that I should interpose in some way with Freneau, perhaps withdraw his ap- pointment of translating clerk in my office. But I will not do it. His paper has saved our con- stitution, which was galloping fast into monarchy, and has been checked by no one means so powerfully as by that paper. It is well and universally known that it has been that paper which has checked the career of the monocrats," &c. Freneau at this period appears to have been living in very good condition ; and at his " seat, near the city," we read of his giving entertainments to large parties of democrats, at one of which were the officers of a regiment, the governor of the state, tfcc. 350 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. only pay to it themselves the strictest regard, but discountenance in the most pointed manner any contrary disposition in others. Washington replied with his usual dignity and judgrnent, trusting that the people would evince as much prudence in preserving peace at that critical juncture as they had previously displayed valor in vindicating their just rights. On the eighteenth an addi^ess from the democrats was offered to Genet, at the City Tavern, by Charles Biddle and others, -with tumultuous exhibitions of popular enthusiasm ; and on the twenty- third a public dinner was given at Oeller's hotel, at which the min- ister is said to have sung, " with great energy and effect, a song adapted to the occasion and replete with truly patriotic and repub- lican sentiments." Soon after, the honnet rouge was placed on his head, and subsequently, in turn, upon the head of each person at the table, every one offering, while sensible of its inspii'ation, a "patriotic sentiment." No such "frenzy," to use Mr. Jefferson's favorite expression, has ever since been known in America. Democratic societies were founded in imitation of Jacobin clubs ; every thing that was respectable in society was denounced as aris- tocratic ; politeness was looked upon as a sort oi'lese repuhlicanisme ; the common forms of expression in use by the sans culottes were adopted by their American disciples ; the title citizen became as common in Philadelphia as in Paris, and in the newspapers it was the fashion to announce marriages as partnerships between citizen Brown, Smith, or Jones, and the citess who had been wooed to such an association. Entering the house of the President, citizen Genet was astonished and indignant at percei\ing in the vestibule a bust of Louis XVI., whom his friends had beheaded, and he complained of this " insult to France." At a dinner, at which Governor Mifflin was present, a roasted pig received the name of the murdered king, and the head, severed from the body, was carried round to each of 1^^ MAI© ™o <& IS K' H '2r .« CrjTfTOA' DISCONTENT AND SEDITION. 351 tlie guests, who, after placing the liberty cap on his own head, pro- nounced the word " Tyrant ! " and proceeded to mangle with his knife that of the luckless creature doomed to be served for so un- worthy a company. One of the democratic taverns displayed as a sign a revolting picture of the mutilated and bloody corpse of Marie Antoinette. The extraordinary conduct of Genet, crowned with his auda- cious appeal from the government to the people, is fully detailed in the best histories we have of those times. It was the adminis- tration of Robespierre, the Reign of Terror, which he represented, and for which the democrats claimed the unhesitating and unques- tioning support of this country. The President at length com- plained of him, and he was recalled, but a change of factions hav- ing occurred in the republic of homicides, he did not deem it expedient to return, and, marrying Cornelia Tappan Clinton, a daughter of the governor of New York, he selected a home in that state, and ever afterwards resided there.* * It is but justice to say that this celebrated person was possessed of eminent capacities and accomplishments, and that his official conduct in this country has been defended with ability and eloquence. He was a member of one of the first families of France, and his father was for the long period of forty-five years connected with the ministry of foreign affairs. One of his sisters was Madame Campan, so well known for her abilities and intimate relations with the royal family, and another was the beautiful Madame Anguie, mother-in-law of Marshal Key. The subject of this note was born on the eighth of January, lYGS, and such was his intellectual precocity that when but twelve years of age he received a gold medal-tind a flattering letter from Gustavus III. for a translation of the history of Eric XIV. into the Swedish language, with historical re- marks by himself. He became a member of several of the most distinguished learned societies of Europe, and from his boyhood was employed in honorable public offices, having when only fourteen been appointed translating secretary to Monsieur, eldest brother of the king, and since Louis XVni. He was attached to the embassies of Berlin, Vienna, London, and St. Petersburg, and remained in Russia five years as charge d'affaires. His indignant protest against an order by the empress to leave her dominions, when Louis XVI. was dethroned, won for him a flattering reception by the revolutionary government on his return to Paris, and he was made adjutant general of the armies of the republic, and minister to Holland ; but a belief that he would be more useful in America causred him to be sent .to this country as Minister Plenipotentiary and Consul General. With Mr. Jefferson he was very intimate, notwithstanding the position.of that eminent character in the cabinet of Washington, until circumstances rendered such au intimacy 352 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. During tlie remainder of Ms administration, "Washington and Lis friends were continually occupied in combating the influence of that party which now for the first time became capable of a formidable opposition, and which declared through its journals that it would not permit " the mushroom lordlings of the day, the enemies of Ameri- can as well as of French lib'erty, to vilify with impunity the patri- ots," Robespierre, Danton, Marat, Hebert, Barere, Couthon, Fouquier Tinville, Collot d'Herbois, and the rest of that abhorred, company, of whom the least infamous presented a spectacle more revolting to human nature than any monster ever known in other history. IV. The particulars of the French revolution from day to day filled the journals and formed the subjects of conversation in drawing- rooms and public and private assemblies of every description throughout the country. More than even the distinctions of whig and tory, patriot or loyalist, in the earlier days of the war of In- dependence, feelings for or against the rabble of Paris became the rule of friendship and of every sort of personal relation. AVhat- ever the inherited or acquired social rank, whatever the abilities, education, or manners, of men or women, attaching themselves to the Jacobin side, it would be absurd to say that they were not essentially unworthy and base. The true respectability of the na- tion was in the federal party, and it is a notorious and universally received truth that it continued to be so until that party was over- thrown. Of the federal party Washington was not- simj)ly a mem- no longer useful to the secretary. Genet's charge that he had used to him " a language official and a language confidential," suggests an explanation of what is most questionable in his own conduct. M. Genet was twice married. His second wife was a daughter of Mr. Osgood, the fii-st Postmaster General under the Constitution. lie was taken ill in consequence of riding twelve miles to attend a meeting of an agricultural society of which he was president, and Le^ fore which he was appointed to deliver an address, and died, at his place in Greenbush, neat Albany, on the fourteenth of July, 1834. DISCONTENT AND SEDITION. 353 ber or a disciple, as has sometimes been alleged ; lie was its founder, its head, its front, its very soul. In the smnmer of IT 9 4 occurred the insurrection in the western counties of Pennsylvania. The gradual growth of the spiiit of discontent, which here culminated in organized rebellion, had for many months excited the most painful reflections and apprehensions among wise and patriotic men, in the metropolis, and in all the states. Washington wrote on the subject to Governor Henry Lee, of Virginia, that he considered the insurrection a fruit of the ac- tivity of the democratic societies, and congratulated with him on the fact that as far as his information extended it was viewed with indignation and abhorrence, except by those who had never missed of an o]Dportunity, by side blows or otherwise, to attack the admin- istration. ' When, by a course of action alike energetic and mas- terly, the insurgents were put down, the Chief wrote to John Jay : " That the self-created societies which have spread themselves over this country have been laboring incessantly to sow the seeds of dis- trust, jealousy, and discontent, thereby hoping to effect some revo- lution of the government, is not unknown to you ; that they have been the fomenters of the. western disturbances admits of no doubt in the mind of any one who will examine their conduct ; but, for- tunately, they precipitated a crisis for which they were not prepared, and have unfolded views which I trust wiU effect their annihilation sooner than it otherwise would have happened, at the same time that it has afforded an occasion for the people to show their abhor- rence of the result, and their attachment to the constitution and laws ; for I believe that five times the number of militia that was required, would have come forward, if it had been necessary, in support of them." To illustrate the feeling of the better class of people in this crisis, he says, with a patriotic exultation, that " there are instances 45 354 THE REPUBLICAN COURT of general officers going at tlie head of a single troop ; of field offi- cers, when they came to places of rendezvous, and found no com- mand for them in that grade, tm'ning into the ranks and proceeding as private soldiers, under their own captains ; and of numbers, pos- sessing the first fortunes in the country, standing in the ranks as private men, and marching day by day with their knapsacks and haversacks at their backs, sleeping on straw, with a single blanket, in a soldier's tent, during the frosty nights which we have had, by way of example to others. Nay, more : many young Quakers, of the fii'st families, character, and property, not discouraged by the elders, have turned into the ranks and are marching with the troops." V. Me. Jeffeeson had retii-ed from the secretaryship of state a,nd had no longer an official connection with public aftau'S. He was succeeded by Mr. Edmund Eandolph, whose place in the cabinet was filled by William Bradford,"^' a young lawyer of spotless char- acter and splendid talents, who had pre^dously been Attorney Gen- eral and a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The result of the western insm'rection had an important effect * We linger with delight over a fame so beautiful and unsullied as that of William Bradford, and recall with a sentiment of melancholy that he died just as "his greatness was a ripening." From an interesting memoir of him by the late Horace Binney Wallace, we learn that he was born in Philadelphia in 1755, graduated at Princeton in 1772, was admitted to the bar in 1779, after having served some time in the army, with the rank of Colonel, and in 1780, when but twenty-five years of age, was appointed Attorney General of Pennsylvania. From this position he was promoted in August, 1791, to be one of the justices of the Supreme Court of the state; " but the splendor of his abilities," says Mr. Wallace, " the fame of his devotion to business, of his acute sagacity and sound judgment, and of his stainless integrity, had attracted the regard of that great personage who then administered the national councils, and who had become per- Eonally well acquainted with him during the war of Independence ; and on the twenty-eighth of January, 1794, Mr. Bradford, having previously resigned the office of judge, was commissioned by President Washington Attorney General of the United States He shared in an especial and marked degree the confidence of Washington, who respected a bharacter kindred to his own in the purity of its purposes, and adorned with all the accomplishments that render merit amiable." DISCONTENT AND SEDITION. 355 on tlie tone if not on the purposes of tlie democrats, and tlie feder alists contemplated tlie wise and successful exercise of power on tlie part of tlie executive witli unhesitating and undisguised satisfaction, not more as a vindication and support of law and a proof of tlie self-sustaining capacity of the government, than as a signal rebuke and humiliation of the intriguing faction which had hoped in a dif- ferent conclusion of the matter to find the means of entirely de- stroying the nation?s confidence in Washington and his friends. The feelings of the democrats were of course shared by Fatichet, the new French minister, and in his despatches to the government of the murderers, at Paris, he disclosed some secrets of theii' leaders which excellently illustrate the quahty of their patriotism. " Scarce was the commotion known," says the minister, referi'ing to this re- bellion, " when the Secretary of State came to my house ; all his countenance was grief; he requested of me a private conversation ; ' It is all over,' he said to me ; ' a civil war is about to ravage our unhappy country ; four men, by their talents, their industry, their influence, their energy, may save it ; but, debtors of English mer- chants, they will be deprived of their liberty if they take the shghtest step ; could you lend them instantaneous funds sufficient to shelter them from English persecution ? ' This inquiry astonished me ; it was impossible for me to make a satisfactory answer ; you know my want of power, and my defect of pecuniary means ; I shall draw myself from the affair by some commonplace remarks, and by throwing myself on the pure and disinterested principles of the republic." The reference to " the pm-e and disinterested principles of the republic " must have struck Mr. Randolph as an example of such refined impudence as is rarely exhibited by the greatest adepts in that sort of display ; but the answer was probably conclusive as to the chances of obtaining any money from Mr. Eauchet. 356 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. Before Mr. Randolpli was appointed Secretary of State, Mr. Jefferson informs ns, in Ids "Anas," that lie liad a conversation with the President as to his fitness for that office. The President said, " I do not know what is thought of Mr. Randolph." The retiring premier remarks, " I avoided noticing the last observation, and he put the question to me directly. I then told him I went so little into society as to be unable to answer it." Yet Mr. Jefferson con- fesses in his account of this conversation : " I Icnew that the embar- rassments in his private affairs had obliged him to use expedients which had injured him with the merchants and shop-keepers, and affected his character for independence, and that these embarrass- ments were serious, iand were not likely soon to cease." In the beginning of 1795 Mr. Hamilton, the leader and master champion of the ideas of the respectable classes, resigned his office. The confused and complicated facts of our financial condition, fur- nished from a thousand different sources, had come from his hand solidified and transparent ; and with consummate genius and judg- ment he had so organised the treasury that but little was left for his successors to do except to execute his simple and comprehensive plans. The insufficiency of his salary for the support of a numer ous family was the immediate and perhaps principal reason for his withdi-awal from the administration. He was succeeded by Mr. "Wolcott. General Knox, for similar causes, had resigned a few weeks before, and his place had been filled by Colonel Pickering. The original cabinet was thus entirely changed, and the new one consisted of Edmund Randolph, Secretary of State, " Oliver Wol- cott, of the Treasury, Timothy Pickering, of War, and William Bradford, Attorney General. DISCONTENT AND SEDITION. 357 VI. The relations of tlie United States witli Great Britain were in i^^ a very critical condition, and war witli tliat country was ardently desired by the franco-democratic party, and dreaded in an equal degree by all those who intelligently endeavored to promote om* own best interests. The Jacobins were startled by the appointment of John Jay to be Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of London ; they denounced the opening of any negotiations with " our ancient enemy," and were in a rage that the Chief Justice should have been selected for such a duty. Mr. Jay sailed from New York in April, 1794, and on the seventh of March, 1795, the treaty which he had negotiated arrived in Philadelphia. The President, to pre- vent the preoccupation of the public mind, did not allow its provi- sions to be known by any person except Mi\ Randolph ; yet within two days after, a series of papers was commenced in Bache's pa- per, the new organ of the democrats, condemning it in the most opprobrious terms. As it had not been published in England, and the British minister had not received a copy of it, the President was surprised at these attacks, but expressed no suspicion as to the betrayal of his official confidence. When the treaty Was submitted to the Senate, Mr. Mason, a senator from Virginia, gave a copy of it to the same journal, The Aurora, and the whole country was quickly filled with its denunciation, and with abuse of the President, whom the democratic writers declared to be without any of the qualifica- tions of a statesman, or even of a soldier, and charged with being the tool of England, and with having fraudulently drawn money from the Treasury. "Will not the world be led to conclude," wrote one of these creatures, " that the mask of political hypoc- risy has been worn alike by a Caesar, a Cromwell, and a Wash* ington ? " 358 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. The Chief was cahn and unmoved amid the storm, and, guided by a wisdom and discretion which now amaze the profoundest states- men who contemplate the circumstances under which he acted — administering a novel system of government, without any prece- dents to consult as to his constitutional powers and duties — pur- sued his course to the end, in a manner which was approved by his sense and his conscience, and has since been applauded by the unanimous voice of the nation. VII. * Me. "Wolcott was dining with Mr. Hammond, the British min- ister, at his country house near the city, on Sunday, the twenty- sixth of July. Mr. Hammond had recently married one of the beautiful Misses Allen, daughters of Mr. Andrew Allen, and he found that gentleman present, with one or two Englishmen, who were in the minister's confidence. After dinner Mr. Hammond took Mr. Wolcott aside and informed him that he had just received de- spatches from Lord Grenville, transmitting certain letters from M. Fauchet to the French government, which had been thrown over- board from the Jean Bart, a French packet, on the approach of an English vessel of war, but recovered by an Englishman who plunged into the water after them. Among these papers was the celebrated " Letter to the Minister on Politics," embracing the " precious con- fessions " of Mr. Eandolph, the American Secretary of State. It disclosed the entire policy of the democrats for the ruin of Wash- ington's administration. Eeferring to his previous despatch, in which he had detailed Mr. Kandolph's application to him for money, just before the breaking out of the insurrection in Pennsyl- vania, the minister exclaims, " Thus the consciences of the pretended patriots of America already have their prices ! It is very true, that the certainty of these conclusions, painful to be drawn, will forever DISCONTENT AND SEDITION. 359 exist in our arcliives ! What will be tlie old age of this govern- ment, if it is thus early decrepid ! " Mr. Bradford, the Attorney General, was ill, at his house in the country, where, on the twenty-ninth, Mr. Pickering and Mr. Wol- cott waited upon him, and they there drew up a letter to the Presi- dent, w^ho was then at Mount Vernon, requesting his immediate return to the capital. He arrived in Philadelphia on the eleventh of August, and Mr. Wolcott without delay communicated to him the letter and the circumstances under which he received it. The President concluded not to take any notice of this extraor- dinary revelation until the treaty should be disposed of, and in the mean time, as he could not consider Mr. Randolph guilty unheard, continued to treat him as if nothing had happened to lessen his confidence in his integrity. At a meeting of the cabinet for the consideration of the treaty, Mr. Randolph opposed its ratification ; but his opposition no longer had any influence on the mind of the President, who signed it on the fourteenth. On the nineteenth, while Washington was in conversation with Mr. Pickering and Mr. Wolcott, whom he had requested to be present, Mr. Randolph entered, and as he advanced into the room, he arose and presented to him the intercepted letter, requesting him to read it, and make such observations upon it as he thought proper. The Secretary perused it silently and with composure until he arrived at the passage which refers to his " precious confessions," when he manifested embarrassment, but proceeded to read the rest of the letter with careful attention. He made some desultory and un- connected observations on the several paragraphs, but betrayed no deep emotion. Perceiving however that he was confused, the President requested him to step into another room and consider what he had to say ; he did so, and after a few moments retui'ned, and said he would make his answer in writing. He immediately 360 THE REPUBLICAN COURT resigned his office, promising the public an explanation of his conduct. M. Fauchet had been superseded by M. Adet, and had just gone to Newport to embark for France. Mr. Randolph followed him, and succeeded in obtaining a certificate of his innocence, but it was not regarded by even his own friends as of any importance. Ilis "Vindication" was a long time in making its appearance. In Octo- ber he wrote to the President that it was only delayed for permis- sion to publish one of his letters ; and he was answered that he was at " Hberty to pubHsh any and every private and confidential letter he had ever written him ; nay, more, every word he ever uttered to him or in his presence, whence he could derive any advantage." When at length the pamphlet came out, it was sarcastically de- scribed as reaUy a " vindication," not of his conduct, but of his resignation. Edmund Randolph had been an object of Washington's kindly mterest from his youth ; his powerful influence had caused him to be elected Governor of Vii'ginia ; he had appointed him succes- sively Attorney General and Secretary of State ; and had treated him in every way with unlimited confidence and almost parental fondness. The vulgar and violent abuse with which he was assailed in the disgraced minister's " Vindication," therefore incensed him to an extraordinary degree ; the occasion was one of those in which his feelings for a moment obtained a mastery over his habitual self- control. We have from unquestionable authority an anecdote il- lustrating this, which has not been hitherto published. Upon the settlement of the boundary between Pennsylvania and Virginia, some of Washington's lands fell within the foimer state, and the late Mr. James Ross of Pittsburg, was his agent for the sale of them. He came to Philadelphia to settle his account, and. sending word to the President that he would wait upon him, at his pleasure, was DISCONTENT AND SEDITION. 3.61 invited to breakfast the next morning. On arriving lie found ali tlie ladies — tlie Custises, Lewises, Mrs. Wasliington, and otliers — in tlie parlor, obviously in great alarm. Mr. Ross described tliem as gathered together in the middle of the room, like a flock of par- tridges in a field, when a hawk is in the neighborhood. Very soon the President entered, and shook hands with Mr. Ross, but looked dark and lowering. They went in to breakfast ; and after a little while the Secretary of War came in, and said, to Washington, " Have you seen Mr. Randolj^h's pamphlet ? " "I have," said Wash- ington, and raising his arm, and denouncing in terms of a strong and most emphatic kind its truth, brought his fist down upon the table with all his strength, and with a violence which made the cups and plates start from their places. Ross said he felt infinitely relieved ; for he had feared that something in his own conduct had occasioned the blackness of the President's countenance. The late Chief Justice Gibson had this from Ross himself; and he mentioned it at the house of an intimate acquaintance in Philadel- phia, as showing that, naturally, Washington was a man of extra- ordinary passions and sensibilities, though they were seldom exhib- ited with much vehemence. vm. If it sometimes happened that Washington failed of that self- control which is so difficult for a man of his intensely passionate and excitable nature, his watchfulness and powerful will generally enabled him to conceal his emotions and opinions from the most acute and determined inquisition. While Jay's treaty was under discussion, it was rumored in Philadelphia that a great mob in Lon- don had set the government at defiance, destroyed the residence of Mr. Pitt, and threatened the tower. The day this report reached 46 362 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. the city, the late Dr. Aslibel Green, wlio was one of tlie chaplains of Congress, dined with the President. When he entered the di'awing-room he found the company all engaged in animated con- versation on this subject, and Washington asked him if he had seen any newspaper allusion to it, remarking that he himself had not. Green replied, that as he was leaving his house, a few moments before, he had picked up a paper, just thrown into his entry, and hastily read an article in which the intelligence was recited. The rumor was calculated to produce a profound sensation, and it was of course discussed with much feeling at the table as well as in the drawing-room, but although the President listened to the conversa tion and joined in it with apparent freedom, neither Green nor any one could discover whether he thought it true or false, or wished it to be one way or the other. As little turbulence of soul was betrayed in his manner or his countenance as if the debate had been of some abstract question in philosophy. The democrats, finding themselves unable to answer the argu- ments of the federalists in sup23ort of the treaty, circulated a re- port through the country that the printed speeches of that side were known to be made by Englishmen, who had come over to work in that way, some at five guineas a speech, and some at as high as ten ; but that a speech could be written and printed by them at almost any price. The great speech upon the treaty, the greatest speech ever made in the Congress of the United States before Daniel Webster came into that body, was by Fisher Ames. Ames had written in a hu- morous letter to Jeremiah Smith that his speeches should be com- posed and delivered by some of the ingenious English gentlemen engaged in that business, and Smith had answered that his silence should be permitted, " by me, because any effort will injure your health ; by my friend Harj^er, because he talks all the time him- DISCONTENT AND SEDITION. 363 self ; and by tlie Jacobins, because tliey never like your speaking." He was so feeble tbat it seemed impossible for him to take any active part in the business of the session, and it is doubtful whether he intended, up to the morning of the day when his famous oration was pronounced, to say more than a few words on the subject ; but the exhibitions of ignorance and dishonesty by the enemies of the government compelled him to that sudden and splendid attempt for the honor of his country, which, even in the imperfect and un- worthy report of it which was written out from memory by two of his friends, stands as a sufficient vindication of the traditional fame of his eloquence. John Adams heard it, and gave a graphic account of it in a letter to his wife. " Judge Iredell and I hap- pened to sit together. Our feelings beat in unison. ' My God, how great he is ! ' says Iredell ; ' how great he has been ! ' ' He has been noble,' said I. After some time L'edell breaks out, ' Bless my stars, I never heard any thing so great since I was born ! ' ' It is divine ! ' said I ; and thus we went on with our interjections, not to say our tears, tiU the end. Tears enough were shed. Not a dry eye, I believe, in the house, except of some of the jackasses who had occasioned a necessity of the oratory. These attempted to laugh, but their visages ' grinned horribly ghastly smiles.' They smiled like Foulon's son-in-law when they made him kiss his father's dead and bleeding head. The situation of the man excited compas- sion, and interested all hearts in his favor. The ladies wished his soul had a better body." The friends of the treaty were mobbed, and Mr. Jay himself was burned in ei^gj in several cities. In Philadelphia the rabble, led by some persons of respectable official or social positions, held a meeting in one of the public squares, and passed demagogue reso- lutions against it. The treaty was thrown from the select agitators on a stage to the canaille, who placed it on a pole, and proceeded 364 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. with it to the house of the French minister, before which they per- formed some ceremony, and then to the house of the British min ister, before which they burned it, with huzzas and acclamations. The same was done before the residences of Mr. Bond and Mr Bingham, and the wretches broke some of the glass of the latter gentleman's windows. LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. Feom the note-book of the late Mr. Horace Binney Wallace, of Philadelpliia, I am permitted to transcribe a record of some conversations witli his mother, Mi'S. Susan Wallace, in which that lady — so eminent for whatever is beautiful and noble in her sex — disclosed her recollections of Washington's habits, personal appear- ance, and manners. On the removal of the government to Phila- delphia, Mrs. Mary Binney, mother of Mrs. Wallace, resided in Market street, opposite to General Washington's — the door of her house a few paces further east. It was the General's custom, fre- quently, when the day was fine, to come out to walk, attended by his secretaries, Mr. Lear and Major William Jackson — one on each side. He always crossed directly over from his own door to the sunny side of the street, and walked down. He was dressed in black, and all three wore cocked hats. She never observed them conversing ; she often, vrondered and watched, as a child, to see if any of the party spoke, but never could perceive that any thing was said. It was understood that the aids were kept at regal dis- tance. General Washington had a large family coach, a light car- riage, and a chariot, all ahke — cream-colored, painted with three enamelled figures on each panel — and very handsome. He di-ove 366 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. in the coach to Christ Church every Sunday morning, with two horses ; drove the carriage and four into the country — to Lands- downe, The Hills, and other places. In going to the Senate he used the chariot, with six horses. All his servants were white, and wore hveries of white cloth, trimmed with scarlet or orange. Mrs. Wallace* saw General Washington frequently at public balls. His manners there were very gracious and pleasant. She went with Mrs. Oliver Wolcott to one of Mrs. Washington's drawing- rooms. The General was present, and came up and bowed to every lady after she was seated. Mrs. Binney visited Mrs. Wash- ington frequently. It was Mrs. Washington's custom to return visits on the thii'd day : and she thus always returned Mrs. Bin- ney's. A footman would run over, knock loudly, and announce Mrs. Washington, who would then come over with ]\Ir. Lear. Mrs. Wallace met Mrs. Washington in her mother's parlor : her manners were very easy, pleasant, and unceremonious, with the character- * Mrs. Wallace, widow of Mr. John Bradford Wallace, and sister of Mr. Horace Binney, died on the eighth of July, 1849. The Rev. Herman Hooker, D.D., in an eloquent and appropriate tri- bute to her memory, says: "I cannot speak of her in terms suitable to my conceptions. No praise befits the character or the taste of such a person but a truthful and grateful mention of her virtues. These were so numerous and so marked that any just mention of them will seem to border on exaggeration. She was a model of a woman. Her elevation was such, that seen through tlie distance of a slight or formal acquaintance, it might be mistaken for pride or austerity But there are many persons of even humble condition who can testify with what ease and readi ness she could appreciate the feelings and merits of all. So various were her accomplishments, 80 profound, ready, and discerning her mind, that whether approached by the most humble, the most refined and fashionable, or the most intelligent and learned persons, she was never at a loss to assume any manner, or join in any conversation, suitable to their taste and position. Her mind was conversant with principles, and from these she could start out on any subject, detect its nature, and define its limits. She was always entertaining and instructive. Nothing could be said in her presence which she would fail to appreciate justly. She was severelj'' just — severely conscientious. She had all the impulsiveness of woman, all the sensibilities of a culti- vated nature, yet all were under discipline and right control, and thus added grace, worth, and certainty, to all the virtues of life." Mrs. Wallace was born on Washington's birth-day, 1118, and was just entering society in the last years of his administration. Her husband was a nephew of Mr. Bradford, the second Attorney General of the United States. He was described by Daniel Webster as " one of the oldest, truest, and most valued of his friends." LIFEINTHECAPITAL. 367 istics of otlier Yirgirda ladies. "When Washington retired from public life Mrs. Wallace was about nineteen years of age. The recollections of Mr. Richard Rush on this subject are in agreement with those of Mrs. Wallace. That accomphshed and distinguished gentleman has communicated to me a very graphic account of some interesting scenes, of which he was an observer, about the close of Washington's first administration. Looking upon the old Congress Hall, at the corner of Chestnut and Sixth streets, a few years ago, he says, "I recalled a scene never, no, never to be forgotten. It was, I think, in 1794 or 1795, that as" a boy I was among the spectators congregated at this corner, and parts close by, to witness a great public spectacle. Washington was to open the session of Congress, by going in person, as was his custom, to deliver a speech to both houses, assembled in the cham- ber of the House of Representatives. The crowd was immense. It filled the whole area in Chestnut street before the state house, extended along the line of Chestnut street above Sixth street, and spread north and south some distance along the latter. A way kept open for carriages, in the middle of the street, was the oilly space not closely packed with people. I had a stand on the steps of one of the houses in Chestnut street, which, raising me above the mass of human heads, enabled me to see to advantage. After waiting long hours, as it seemed to a boy's impatience, the carriage of the President at length slowly drove up, di^awn by four beauti- ful bay horses. It was white, with medallion ornaments on the pan- els, and the hvery of the servants, as well as I remember, was white turned up with red: at any rate a glowing livery — the entire dis- play in equipages at that era, in our country generally, and in Phil- adelphia in particular, while the seat of government, being more rich and varied than now, though fewer in number. Washington got out of his carriage, and, slowly crossing the pavement, ascended 368 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. the steps of tlie edifice, upon the upper platform of which he paused, and, turning half round, looked in the dii^ection of a car- riage which had followed the lead of his own. Thus he stood for a minute, distinctly seen by every body. He stood in all his civic dignity and moral grandeur, erect, serene, majestic. His costume was a full suit of black velvet ; his hair, in itself blanched by time, powdered to snowy whiteness, a dress sword at his side, and his hat held in his hand. Thus he stood in silence ; and what moments those were ! Throughout the dense crowd profound stillness reigned. ISTot a word was heard, not a breath. Palpitations took the place of sounds. It was a feeling infinitely beyond that which vents itself in shouts. Every heart was full. In vain would any tongue have spoken. All were gazing, in mute unutterable admi- ration. Every eye was riveted on that form — the greatest, purest, most exalted of mortals. It might have seemed as if he stood in that position to gratify the assembled thousands with a full view of the father of then* country. Not so. He had paused for his secretary, then, I believe, Mr. Dandiidge or Colonel Lear, who got out of the other carriage, a chariot, decorated like his own. The secretary, ascending the steps, handed him a paper — probably a copy of the speech he was to deliver — when both entered the building. Then it was, and not until then, that the crowd sent, up huzzas, loud, long, earnest, enthusiastic." Of the simple manners of Washington and his family we have an interesting account in the Travels of Mr. Hemy Wansey, F. S. A., an English manufacturer, who breakfasted with them on the morn- ing of the eighth of June, IT 94. " I confess," he says, " I was struck with awe and veneration, when I recollected that I was now in the presence of the great Washington ; the noble and wise benefactor of the world, as Mii-abeau styles him When we look down from this truly illustrious character, on other pubhc servants, we LIFEINTHECAPITAL. 369 find a glowing contrast ; nor can we fix our attention on any other great men, without discovering in them a vast and mortifying dis- similarity The President seemed very thoughtful, and was slow in delivering himself, which induced some to believe him reserved ; but it was rather, I apprehend, the result of much reflection, for he had to me an appearance of aftability and accommodation. He was at this time in his sixty-third year, but had very little the appear- ance of age, having been all his Hfe so exceedingly temperate. There was a certain anxiety visible in his countenance, with marks of extreme sensibility Mrs. Washington herself made tea and coffee for us. On the table were two small plates of sliced tongue, and dry toast, bread, and butter, but no broiled fish, as is the gen- eral custom. Miss Eleanor Custis, her grand-daughter, a very pleasing young lady of about sixteen, sat next to her, and next, her grandson, George Washington Parke Custis, about two years older. There were but shght indications of form, one servant only attending, who had no livery ; and a silver urn for hot water was the only expensive article on the table. . Mrs. Washington struck me as something older than the President, though I understand they were both born the same year ; she was short in stature, rather ro bust, extremely simple in her dress, and wore a very plain cap, with her gray hair turned up under it." This description of Mrs. Washington corresponds perfectly with that in her portrait by Trumbull, painted the previous year, and now in the Trumbull Gallery at 'New Haven. Mr. Wansey says her drawing-rooms were objected to by the democrats, " as tending to give her a supereminency, and as intro- ductory to the paraphernalia of courts." With what feelings the excellent woman regarded these democrats is shown in an anecdote of the same period. She was a severe disciplinarian, and Nelly Custis was not often permitted by her to be idle or to follow her. 47 370 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. own caprices. The young gii-l was compelled to practise at tlie liarpsicliord four or five lioui'S every day, and one morning, when she should have been playing, her grandmother entered the room, remarking that she had not heard her music, and also that she had observed some person going out, whose name she would much like to know. Nelly was silent, and suddenly her attention was arrested by a blemish on the wall, which had been newly j^ainted a delicate cream color. " Ah, it was no federalist ! " she exclaim- ed, looking at the spot, just above a settee; "none but a filthy democrat would mark a place with his good-for-nothing head in that manner ! " The public business so entirely occupied his time that Wash- ington had few opportunities of \asiting Mount Vernon. In 1793 however he was there nearly three months, during the terrible pe- riod of the prevalence of the yellow fever in Philadelphia.* The disease broke out some time in August, but he continued at his post until the tenth of September. He wished to stay longer, but Mrs. Washington was unwilling to leave him exposed in such dan- ger, and he could not think of hazarding her life and the lives of the children by remaiaing — " the house in which we lived," he says, " being in a manner blockaded by the disorder, which was every day becoming more and more fatal." Two days after Wash- ington left Mr. Wolcott wrote to his father, " The apprehensions of the citizens cannot be increased ; business is in a great measure abandoned ; the true character of man is disclosed, and he shows * A Btriking picture of the pestilence in Philadelphia, in 1793, is contained in Brockden Brown's novel of Arthur Mervyn. In the history of that period the names of Stephen Girard, already a prosperous merchant, and Matthew Carey and Thomas Clarkson, are honorably con spicuous. Freueau complams that the physicians of the city fled from the danger — " On prancing steed, with sponge nt nose, From town behold Sangrado fly ; Cainplior and tar, where'er lie goes, The infected shafts of death defy — Safe, in an atmosphere of scents, lie loaves us to our own defence." LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. S71 himself a weak, timid, desponding, and selfisli being — Tlie rav ages of tlie dreadful sickness are extending, with added circum- stances of terror and distress ; many now die without attendance. The kind attentions, the tears of condolence and sympathy, which alleviate pain, and in some degree reconcile the dying to their fate, are frequently omitted by the nearest friends and relatives ; when generously bestowed they are too often the price of life." Among the public characters attacked by the fever were Mr. "Willing and Colonel Hamilton, but they recovered. The officers of government were dispersed, and the President even deliberated on the propri- ety of convening Congress elsewhere ; but the abatement of the disease rendered this measure unnecessary, and near the close of November the scattered inhabitants returned to their homes, and Congress reassembled on the second of December. In 1794, his official duties not permitting him to make more than a flying visit to Mount Vernon, and Mrs. Washington decid- ing against a summer residence in the city, the President took a tiouse in Germantown, where, with his family, he remained during the months of July and August. * IL The old theatre in Philadelphia is described by Mrs. Adams as [uite equal to most of the theatres out of France. It was fre- . i^uently visited by the families of the President and Vice President Juring the seasons of 1791 and 1792. The new theatre, erected in the latter year, was not opened, in consequence of the yellow fever, until the seventeenth of February, 1794. The manager was Wig- nel], who is famous in the annals of the American stage, and he caused the house to be fitted up with a luxurious elegance hitherto unknown in this country. The principal actors were Fennell, Wliitlock, Harwood, I^.Ioreton, Darley, Mrs. Oldmixon, Mrs. Whit- 372 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. lock, Mrs. Morris, and Mrs. Marshall. Fennell had won a bad fame jby his pecuniary extravagance, in Paris, and in Philadelj)hia he seemed to be as ambitious of social as of professional distinction.* Dunlap says " he was the idol of the literary youth of the city, and for a time revelled in the luxury of stylish living." His height was over six feet, and he had a remarkably handsome figure ; his complexion was light, with a blush for every occasion in which a blush could be graceful. He appeared in tragedy and genteel comedy, but was most successful and appeared most natural, ac- cording to Dunlap, in villains. Harwood was a very gentlemanly person, and had married Miss Bache, a grand-daughter of Dr. Franklin. Moreton was a native of New York, and had led a life of sino:ular vicissitudes. At one time he had been a cashier of the Calcutta Bank, in India. He was an excellent actor. Mrs. Old- mixon was the wife of Sir John Oldmixon, who had been celebrated in England as " the Bath beau," the equal in his day of Nash or * In " An Apology for the Life of James Fennell, written by Himself," the actor illustrates his own position in Philadelphia by the following anecdote: "While I was returning one morn- ing from rehearsal at the theatre, where I had been detained beyond my usual time," he says, " a gentleman, whom to my knowledge I had never seen before, called to me by name, ob- served that he was incapable of overtaking me, as I walked so fast, and begged me to stop. I did so till he came up. He then, in the most amiable manner, addressed me in these condescend- ing words : ' Mr. Fennell, I have long wished to be introduced to you, but having had no oppor- tunity, permit me to introduce myself. My name is Miffin : they call me Governor Mifflin. All I shall say to you at present is, that if you will come and dine with me at the Falls (Schuylkill) on Sunday next, I shall be happy to entertain you.' I replied to him, that I would honor myself by accepting the invitation, with the same frankness that made the offer so pleasing to my feel- ings. I attended, and had the pleasure of dining with many of the heroes of the revolution. I had the honor of entertaining five generals and other gentlemen at my house in the same even- ing. We supped; all went well; and we parted about one in the morning, apparently pleased with the amusement of the preceding hours. But the generous governor's feelings did not eni here ; from this day he honored me with intimate friendship. He requested me to breakfast dine, or sup with him, whenever I should be disengaged, with the general privilege of declaring when public business interfered. Our intimacy was founded upon the principle of the visitor'? asking. Are you at leisure ? and the visited saying, Yes, or No ; upon which answer each agreed to enter the house or retire. Never did I acknowledge so cordial a reciprocity of sentiment, un less I may be permitted to consider it as transferred to his amiable daughter and her no less tmiable associate." LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. 373 BrummelL In 1796 it was among tlie news paragi'aphs of a Lon- don journal, " Sir John Oldmixon, wliose equipage was once tlie gaze of Bond street, is now a gardener near PMadelpliia ; lie diives his own cabbages to market, in his own cart ; and his wife, formerly Miss George, sings at the theatre, and retm'ns in the conveyance which brought vegetables for sale from Germantown." The baro- net had ceased to be a leader in the world of fashion, but it is said t^at he still tapped and opened a snuff-box with a grace pecuharly his own. Mrs. Whitlock was a sister of Mrs. Siddons. John Jay writes to his wife on the thirteenth of April, 1794,* "Two even- ings ago I went to the theatre with Mrs. Eobert Morris and her family; 'The Gamester,' a deep tragedy, succeeded by a pretty joiece called 'The Guardian,' were played; the theatre was weU filled, and the performers appeared to give satisfaction ; Mi's. Whit- lock was of the number; she is a favorite, and in some respects with reason ; I do not think her equal to her sister ; it has been insinuated that Mrs. Siddons was envious of her powers — I doubt it." The Chief Justice adds that the company " is said to be com- posed of decent moral people." In various "professional excellence it must have been one of the finest companies ever in this country. Wansey, the English clothier, the evening after his breakfast at the President's, went to see " Every one has his Fault," and " 'No song, no Supper." He describes the theatre as " elegant and con- venient, and as large as that of Co vent Garden. To judge from * This was just before Mr. Jay's appointment as Envoy Extraordinary to tlie Court of Lon- don. In the letter quoted in the text he refers to some affection of Mrs. Jay's eyes, and says, " Tell me whether they have regained their strength and become as bright as ever." This ad- mirable woman's letters to her husband, during his absence, exhibit her careful management of his domestic concerns, and her cordial attention to his friends. Mr. Jay, after the completion of his English mission, was twice elected governor of the state of New York, and Mrs. Jay presided over the reunions at the executive mansion until her husband, in May, 1801, bade a final adieu to public life, and retired to his estate at Bedford, where she found the quiet happiness for which she had often sighed, but which she was not long to enjoy. She died in 1802, and was ouried at the family burial-place at Rye. 374 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. tlie dress and appearance of tlie company around me, and tlie actors and scenery," lie says, " I should have thought mysehf still in Eng- land ; the ladies wore small bonnets of the same fashion as those I saw in London — some of chequered straw ; many had their hair full di-essed, without caps, as with us, and very few had it in the French style ; the younger ladies appeared with theii* hair flowing in ringlets on theii* shoulders. The gentlemen had round hats, coats with high collars, cut quite in the English fashion, and many coats of striped silk." The motto over the stage was, "The eagle suffers httle birds to sing," which Yf ansey explains by saying that " when it was in contemplation to build this theatre the Quakers used all their influence with Congress to prevent it, as tending to corrupt the manners of the people and increase too much the love of pleasure, but they failed, and this motto from Shakspeare was chosen, to celebrate the triumph of the players." The theatre appears to have been prosperous under Wignell, and it was fashionable, though the manager incurred the displeasure of Mrs. Bingham, by refusing on any terms to sell her a private box, and she and her set but rarely attended.* * The venerable William B. Wood, now nearly eighty years of age, has just published an ex- tremely interesting voliune of " Personal EecoUections of the Stage," in which the difficulty be- tween- Jlrs. Bingham and Wignell is particularly stated. Mr. Wood has always merited and enjoyed the fame of a well-mannered and high-minded gentleman, and no member of his profes- sion perhaps ever maintained during a long life a more enviable position in society. Referring to this subject he says, " The business of private boxes came to us with the very opening of the theatre in 1Y93, when Mr. Wignell resisted it under circumstances very trying to him, and which nothing but his sense of the indispensable necessity to the permanent interests of the theatre would have induced him to do. Mrs. Bingham, in her day the chief leader in the fashion of our city, the wife of an early and valued friend of Wignell himself, a lady of great social and family influence, and very extensively connected, proposed for the purchase of a box, at any price to be fixed by the manager. She had passed much of her early married life in France and England, where she was uncommonly admired, and being a woman of exclusive and elegant tastes, was desirous to have the privileges which were allowed in the theatres with which she had been familiar abroad. She offered to furnish and decorate the box at her own expense; but it was an absolute condition that the key should be kept by herself, and no admission to it allowed *o any one except on her assent. Llr. Wignell had many strong inducements to accept this offer. LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. 375 For a long time tlie theatre was rivalled by tlie " grand circus " of a celebrated equestrian named Ricketts, who arrived in tliis country from Dublin, in IT 92. Wasbington and bis family went several times to see tbe performances of tbe Ricketts company. He was j^resent on tbe evening of tbe tbirteentb of July, 1793, wben an incident occurred wbicb Mr. Jefferson refers to in bis " Anas." According to Dunlap's Advertiser, Ricketts, being obbged in tbe middle of tbe performance to drink a glass of wine, was re- quired to give a toast, and instantly drank off a bumper " To tbe Man of tbe People," wbicb was received witb general and loud ap- plause. Mi\ Jefferson says Lear told bim, as an evidence tbat tbe federabsts were in tbe babit of writing in tbe character of tbeir adversaries, tbat tbe day after tbis bttle incident " Mrs. Washing- ton was at Mrs. Powell's, who mentioned to her tbat when tbe He was undertaking a new enterprise. He could name his own sum. It was a certainty. It would gratify an early friend, whose large fortune miglit prove of great value to him. He knew that it was probably the only condition on which he was likely to have either the presence, or perhaps the very cordial wishes of a fair, elegant, and influential woman, whose house was the rendezvous of the distinguished and really elegant foreigners whom the French revolution had then brought here. Her voice in the small world of fashion which Philadelphia then ackn9wl- edged, would be quite potential. He looked at the matter, however, with much more compre- hensive and philosophic regards. He knew that the theatre in a country Hke ours must depend entirely for permanent success, not upon individuals, however powerful, not upon clubs, cliques, factions, or parties, but upon the public alone. That in a country where the spirit of liberty is so fierce as in ours, such a privilege would excite from an immense class a feeling of positive hostility; and it made no difference in his view that the expression of it might be suppressed, which it was doubtful whether it would be, as the suspicion would be fatal. He saw that it must be a cardinal maxim of any American manager to act on the principles of his country's government, and on the recognition of feelings deeply pervading the structure of its society ; to hold, in short, all men ' free ' to come into his house, and ' equal ' while they continued to be and behave themselves in it. The country he well perceived has not, and cannot have any class which, as a body, possess even the claims to exclusive privileges which exist abroad, and which give a prestige impossible and unfit to be asserted or allowed for an aristocracy here ; an aris- tocracy which, with occasional excejjtions, must be one of money merely, the most despicable and poorest of all grounds of distinction. He therefore with great address, and with many ex- pressions of polite regret, declined the offers of his beautiful friend, and stuck steadily to his wisely settled system. The result was just as he anticipated. The lady, though not capable of l-esentment, and expressing her acquiescence in his view as a sound one, scarcely ever visited the theatre again; but the theatre itself was filled by a constant and satisfied pxiblic." 376 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. toast was given tliere was a good deal of disapprobation manifested by tlie audience, many of whom put on tbeir hats and went out.*^' On inquiry he had not found this to be true, yet it was put into one of the papers, and wiitten under the character of a republican, though he is satisfied it is altogether a slander of the monocrats." It is very easy to estimate the value of such a story. The state- ment appeared in what Mr. Jefferson calls a "republican journal," and its editors would scarcely have been imposed upon under such circumstances by a federahst. * The art of pufBng seems to have been as well understood by the showTnen of that day as it is by their successors of our own. In one of the journals appeared the following ingenious account of one of the exhibitions of Mr. Ricketts: "Last Saturday there was at the circus a very splendid company, who all retired highly delighted. Among the rest, two respectable traders were observed to hold a very jDleasant conversation. Mr. T. ' Well, neighbor, you have flattered me to come here to throw away my half-dollar.' Mr. F. ' Have patience, friend, till the per- formance begins.' Mr. Eicketts enters, riding a single horse. T. ' Why, I could do that myself.' Mr. Ricketts stands on the saddle. F. ' Well, neighbor, could you do that ? ' 21 ' No : that may be worth a five-penny-bit to see, but it is not worth my half-dollar.' Mr. Ricketts dances a horn- pipe, in perfect time, to a band of music, the horse in a gallop. T. ' Oh, that's better still I that's worth eleven-pence.' Mr. Ricketts leaps very high, and always comes down on the saddle. F. ' And is not that worth another eleven-pence ? ' T. ' Yes.' Mr. Ricketts rides two horses in a gallop, and leaps over a whip backward and forward several times. T. ' Tliat 's three five- penny-bits — my half-dollar is gone.' Mr. Ricketts throws up three oranges, and keeps them in the air for several turns round the circus, still riding two horses, standing on the saddles, in full gallop; he then jumps roimd, with his face to the horses' tails, and performs the same feat F. ' Now I '11 begin to reckon : tliat 's a quarter-dollar.' Mr. Ricketts throws an orange very high, and receives it on the point of a small sword. F. ' Another quarter-dollar.' Mr. Ricketts hangs by one leg to the saddle, and sweeps the ground with his hands and the plumes of his cap ; then mounts on one foot, and stands on the saddle in an agreeable posture. F. ' That 's another quarter-dollar.' Mr. Ricketts mounts and dismounts a horse in a great variety of modes, leaps over the horse in every direction, in an astonishing manner. F. 'Four quarter-dollars is my count.' Jlr. Ricketts rides with his head on the saddle, and feet in the air, moving them to the music, whilst the horse is at his speed. T. ' I must confess that is well worth a quarter-dollar.' Mr. Ricketts gaUops a horse, standing on the saddle, under a riband stretched from the music-box to a pole erected in the centre of the circus, twelve feet high, that is, nearly eight feet higher than the saddle ; he then leaps over the riband, and on the saddle, the horse in rapid motion. 71 ' Oh 1 I would have given a half-doUar to see that. Another dollar is up of our count.' In short, Mr. T. and Mr. F. at last lost their reckoning, and came away extremely well contented: 'For,' said Mr. T., ' upon a fair statement of accounts with Mr. Ricketts, agreeably to my own valuation, I have come off with three dollars clear profit, exclusive of all the feats I have seen performed of which I did not make any cash estimate.' " LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. 377 On tte mntb. of January, 1793, a Mr. Blanchard made tlie first balloon ascension from tlie United States, and the President, witli tlie members of the cabinet, and an immense company of men and women of all ages, assembled to witness the departure of the aero- naut. It was in the midst of the French excitement, and a bard of the Genet party addressed him in characteristic verses : " Grand Blanchard lorsque tu voleras dans les airs, Va annoncer aux pianettes de I'universe ; Que les Franrois ont vaincu leurs ennemis interieurs, Leur intrepidite a expulce les exterieurs : Penetre dans I'Olimpe, et dis a tons les dieux, Que les Francois ont ete les victorieux ! Prie Mars que les armes de la France, Ne laisse aux tirans aucune esperance." * Wansey says that at this period " Horrowgate Gardens, two miles distant, on the New York road, and Gray's Gardens, on the Schuylkill, were the two tea-drinking places for the city, like Bag- nigge Wells, and the Ishngton Spa, near London." IIL • The United States were visited during the eight years of Wash- u^ ington's administration by many eminent foreigners, some in official capacities, some to observe the working of our new institutions, others in search of the picturesque, and a few perhaps who were of the class whom Sterne describes as " simple travellers ; " but a great majority of the most distinguished were driven to this coun- try by the French revolution. The presence of these strangers was advantageous in many respects ; among them were a consider- * " Great Blanchard I as you wing your way toward the heavens, announce to all the planets of the universe, that Frenchmen have conquered their interior enemies, and that those without have been repulsed by their intrepidity. Dart through Olympus, and tell the gods, that French- men have been victorious. Implore the aid of Mars, that the arms of France may crush the ambitious designs of tyrants for ever." 48 378 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. able number familiar with tlie practical details of various govern ments, and more were liigb-bred gentlemen ; they brought to ua the ideas and manners of a splendid tbougli wrecked civilization, and strange experiences, fruitful of wise suggestion ; to our forming society they offered examples of courtly usages, and to the childi^en of our wealthier families, in several instances, princes and nobles for teachers and associates. Upon our condition they embroidered much of what was most deserving our acceptance in the higher and bet- ter life of the older nations. The earliest of the illustrious exiles from France who landed upon our shores was Chateaubriand, a nephew of Malesherbes. He arrived in New York in 1*790, and after passing a few weeks here and in Philadelphia, ascended the Hudson, and by the great lakes pursued his way to the valley of the Mississipj^i, and finally to the shores of the Pacific. To his wanderings among the grand and gloomy forests of America the world is indebted for the most im- pressive and beautiful displays of his intelligence. Here he wrote "The Natchez," and conceived "The Genius of Christianity." He returned to Em-ope in 1792. Count Andriani, of Milan, also visited the United States in 1790. He was the bearer of an ode addressed to Washington by Alfieri. Andi'iani afterward published an abusive account of American pohtics and manners, which the President characterized in a letter to Humphreys, as " an insult to the inhabitants of a country where he received more attention and ci^dhty than he seems to merit." On the sixth of May, 1793, in the ship which brought back to his native city the celebrated preacher. Dr. Duche, came the Vis- count de Noailles, a brother-in-law of Lafayette, and a brave and sagacious soldier in our own revolution. The same evening he at- tended Mrs. Washington's drawing-room, and it was stated in some of the Jacobin papers that he remained closeted nearly all night LIFE IN THE CAPITAL 379 witli tlie President, as ambassador from tlie exiled princes at Co- blentz ; but so far was tHs from being true tliat be retired to bis lodgings at a very early bour, and never saw bis old commander and friend except in pubHc, so careful was tbe Cbief not to furnisb any just ground of complaint against bis conduct by tbe Frencb faction. AVitb a countryman, M. Talon, tbe viscount bougbt lands and projected a settlement, to be an asylum for tbe exiles, on tbe Susquebanna ; but failing to receive expected funds from Europe, tbe scbeme was abandoned. His means became" very bmited, and Mr. Bingbam, witb wbom be bad been intimate in Paris, gave bim tbe use of some tbird story rooms in a building wbicb stood at tbe west end of bis garden, baving an entrance from Fourtb street. Here on one occasion be gave a dinner to several noblemen and gentlemen, wbo, wbile tbe table was being laid, were obbged to sit in bis sleeping-room, using tbe bed for want of cbaii^s. Tbe viands bad been cooked in Mr. Bingbam's kitcben, and tbe table was at- tended by bis servants. In 1794 tbe tbree most remarkable Englisbmen in America were "William Cobbett, Josepb Priestley, and Tbomas Cooper. Pubbc opinion is still divided as to tbeir comparative respectability, but tbey were all able, ambitious, and persevering. Cobbett began bis career in Pbiladelpbia as a writer of political pampblets, under tbe name of Peter Porcupine, and soon after became a bookseller, at tbe same time publisbing a daily newspaper under tbe title of Porcupuie's Gazette. His Engbsb was admirable for pmity and strengtb, and was used most successfully in invective, of wbicb be was a consummate master. He opposed tbe Frencb interest, wbicb Priestley and Cooper supported. Dr. Priestley was disappointed at bis reception in tbis country. His fame as a pbilosopber, a fine writer, and a political martyr, procm-ed bim only a few dinners, in New York, wbere be landed, and in Pbiladelpbia, to wbicb city be 380 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. soon after proceeded. His son, wlio arrived in America some time before him, had bought lands in Northumberland, on the Susque- hanna, and as " it became necessary, even for the preservation of his celebrity in Em-ope," says the Duke de Liancourt, " to withdraw from a scene where his attempt to attract universal attention had completely failed," he retired to that place, where he occupied him- self with writing for the j)ress, and an extensive correspondence, now and then coming down to Philadelphia for a week's enjoyment of society. Dr. Cooper, who had been one of Priestley's intimate friends in England, and in France had been a partisan of Brissot, also settled in Northumberland. Alexander Barinof, afterward Lord Ashburton, was in Philadelphia about the same time. He married the eldest daughter of Mr. Bingham. The British minis- ter at this period was Mr. George Hammond, who is described as " a fine looking man, stout and rosy faced, wearing a full powdered wig." Oliver Wolcott says he was " a weak, vain, and imj^rudent character, very much in the company and under the influence of sour and prejudiced tories, who wished to see the country dis- graced." He married one of the Misses Allen, a gii-l of remark- able beauty. It was in the spring of 1794 that the exiled Bishop of Autun, M. de Talleyrand, no longer safe in England, sought a refuge in the United States. He brought a letter to Washington from the Mar- quis of Lansdowne, who commended him for the manner in which he had conducted himself during his three years' residence in London. Mrs. Church, a daughter of General Schuyler, and sister of Mrs. Hamilton, gave him a letter to ]\Ir. and Mrs. Breck, of Philadel- phia. " I request," she writes, " that MM. de Talleyrand and de Beaumet may be of the number of those admitted to the pleasure of your acquaintance. Europe has seldom parted with persons of more information, or more inclined to appreciate the meiits and LIFE IN THE CAPITAL, 381 manners of our countrymen." Washington wrote to Lord Lans- downe at tlie end of August, " It is a matter of no small regret to me tliat considerations of a public nature, wliicli you will easily conjectm^e, have not hitherto permitted me to manifest towards that gentleman the sense I entertain of his personal character, and of your lordship's recommendation ; but I am informed that the reception he has met with, in general, has been such as to console him, as far as the state of society here will admit of it, for what he has relinquished in leaving Em'ope. Time must natm^ally be favor- able to him every where, and may be expected to raise a man of his merit above the temporary disadvantages which in revolutions result from differences of political opinion." It has been suggested that this extraordinary character was a native of Mount Desert, in Maine, and some curious facts have been adduced in support of such an opinion. It appears that he had not been long in the coun- try before Mr. Edward Bobbins, afterward Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, discovered him incog, at Mount Desert, wander- ing about without any apparent motive. The older inhabitants of that secluded place thought they recognized in him an illegiti- mate son of the pretty daughter of a fisherman and the captain of a French national ship which had been there about the year 1753. The boy, they said, when twelve or thirteen years of age, his mother being dead, had been taken away by a French gentleman, who declared that he was descended from a noble family in France We may know about this in 1868, when the autobiography of the prince, according to his last injunctions, will be published. He Ije- came a citizen of the United States, and his certificate of naturali- zation was for a long time in Peale's Museum. In Philadelphia he lived at Oeller's hotel, and in New York at the house which had been occupied by the President, at the foot of Broadway — in 1794 a fashionable boarding-house. Though admired for his abilities he 382 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. was hated for the heartlessness which he displayed in regard to the sufferings of his countrymen. One cold day he entered the draw- ing-room, wearing, as was not unusual at that period, buckskin pan- taloons, and took a position on the hearth, close to the fire. The heat Boon caused the leather to scorch and smoke, and the faces of the company evinced the restraint of good breeding struggling against a provocation of laughter. Talleyi'and's quick eye penetrated the mask without discovering its cause, until he seated himself, when his sudden cry of pain compelled the women to flee to other rooms where they might give vent to their merriment. His personal ap- pearance was as remarkable as his character. He was very tall, and had light hair, which he wore long and parted in front ; he had expressive blue eyes, and a sallow complexion ; his mouth was wide and coarse ; his body large and " protuberant in front ; " his legs were singularly small, and his feet deformed. His manner was tranquil and watchful, and in some respects extremely vulgar and repulsive. A woman at whose house, in New York, he frequently dined, said • he would sometimes rest his elbows on the table, supporting his face between his hands, and carry on a conversation with his mouth so full that he could hardly speak ; and he would cut all the meat on his plate into small pieces, pierce them with his fork, until its prongs were full, then thrust them into his mouth, and, closing his teeth, pull out the fork, leaving all its freight in his capacious jaws. It is related by M. Brierre de Boismont that he came near losing his life in this city by the hands of his friend Beaumet. In his old age the conversation in his presence was one day turned to those instantaneous warnings which some regard as communications from the invisible world. "I can never forget," remarked the prince, " that I was once gifted, for a moment, with an extraordi- nary and inexplicable prescience, which was the means of sa^nug my life, "Without that sudden and mysterious inspu'ation, I should LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. 383 not he here to recount tliese curious details. I was intimately con- nected with one of my countrymen, M. Beaumet. We liad always lived on tlie best terms, and in those stormy times, when the expres- sion of friendship required almost a divine courage, something more than friendship was needed to unite persons. I had no cause to doubt his affection ; on the contrary, he had on several occasions given the most devoted proofs of his attachment to my person and interests. We had together quitted England to take refuge in New York, and had hitherto lived in perfect harmony. Wishing to increase our little capital, I had freighted a ship, half shares with him, to try our fortune in the Indies. We were ready for oui* departure, but waited for a favorable wind with the greatest impa- tience. This state of uncertainty appeared to sour poor Beaumet to a most extraordinary degree. Incapable of remaining quiet, he roamed the city with a feverish activity, which, for the moment, excited my surprise, for he was always remarkable for his calmness and placidity. One day he entered the room, evidently under in- tense excitement, although he used great efforts to restrain himself. I was writing letters to Europe. Leaning over my shoulder, he sai(^, with a forced gayety, ' Why do you lose time in writing these let- ters ? they will never reach their destination ; come with me, and let us make the round of the Battery ; the wind may become favor- able; perhaps we are nearer to our departure than we think!' The day was magnificent, although the wind was high ; I allowed myself to be persuaded. Beaumet, as I afterwards recollected, showed extraordinary alacrity in closing my desk, arranging my papers, and offering my hat and cane, which I attributed to the need of incessant activity with which he had appeared overwhelmed ever since our forced departure. We threaded the well-peoj)led •streets, and reached the Battery. He had offered me his arm, and hurried on as if he were in haste to reach it. When we were on ^ 384 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. the grand esjDlanade, lie hastened still more, until we reached the edge. He spoke loudly and rapidly, and admired, in energetic terms, the beauties of the scene. Suddenly he stopped, in the midst of his disordered conversation. I had disengaged my arm from his, and stood firmly before him. I fixed my eye upon him, and he moved aside, as if intimidated and ashamed. ' Beaumet ! ' cried I, ' your intention is to kill me ; you mean to throw me from this height into the sea ! Deny it, monster, if you dare ! ' The insane man looked at me intently with his haggard eyes for a mo- ment ; but I was careful not to remove my gaze from him, and they fell. He muttered some incoherent words, and endeavored to pass me, but I spread my arms and prevented him. Casting a wild look around, he threw himself on my neck, and burst into tears. ' It is true, it is true, my friend ! the thought has haunted me day and night like an infernal flame. It was for that I brought you here ; see, you are not a foot from the precipice ! another instant, the deed would have been done ! ' The demon had abandoned him ; his eye3 were void of expression ; a white foam covered his parched lips ; the crisis had passed. I conducted him home. Some days of rest, bleeding, and dieting, entirely cured him, and, what is the most sino-ular circumstance of all, we never referred to the occurrence." The old minister was persuaded that, on that day, his destiny would have been decided, but for his sudden suspicion of Beaumet, and he never spoke on the subject without the greatest emotion. M. Jean Antoine Joseph Fauchet, afterward Baron Fauchet, who succeeded M. Genet as minister from France, was thu'ty years of age, and had won some applause in Paris as a political wiiter, but was without any very marked social characteristics. John Adams writes, in March, 1Y94: "He is not quite so unreserved as his predecessor ; he seems to me to be in great distress ; he was re- ceived by the galleries in the theatre with three cheers, but the LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. 385 people have not addressed Mm or made mucli noise about him. At the bii'th-night ball he was placed by the managers on the right hand of the President, which gave great offence to the Spanish commissioners ; and it is said Mr. Hammond has left the theatre, offended and disgusted at some popular distinctions there." He is remembered in this country chiefly in connection with his celebrated despatches respecting Secretary Kandolph. He was superseded by the appointment of M. Pierre Auguste Adet, who arrived in Phila- delphia in the summer of 1795. M. Adet was of about the same age, and besides his successes in politics had won consideration as a chemist. Wolcott wrote of him to his wife, " He appears to be a mild-tempered and well-educated man, and no Jacobin. Dupont, ^ who, you know, was here two years ago, is secretary to the legation. Both he and the minister have handsome wives, and this is a good sign." Wolcott thought he would not be violent or troublesome in his relations with the government, but he as well as others were in this respect mistaken. About the end of the year 1194: the Due de la Kochefoucauld Liancourt, after a residence of some fifteen months in England, ar- rived in Philadelphia, with many letters of introduction, and pre- ceded by an honorable and distinguished reputation. He was about forty-five years of age, and Thiers describes him as having been in the earher days of the French revolution, when he was President of the National Assembly, alike eminent for his virtues, great talents, and liberal feelings. His immense estates had been confiscated, but he possessed while in this country an income suffi- cient for the satisfaction of his moderate desires. After remaining in Philadelphia five months he set out on his travels, and in the course of the next three years visited nearly every state in the Union. The families with which he was most intimate in Phila-^ delphia were those of General Knox and Judge Chew. After his 49 386 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. return to France lie published a work on the Prisons of Philadel phia, and an account of Ms residence in tli^ United States, in eight volumes. Louis Philippe d'Orleans, under an assumed name, had taught geometry among the mountains of Switzerland, and, melancholy, gentle, unassuming, and laborious, had been an object of affection- ate interest to all his associates and pupils, none of whom knew his rank or even his country. In 1796 Mr. Gouverneur Morris enabled him to come to the United States, and wrote to his correspondents in New York giving the young prince an unlimited credit while he should reside or travel here. Louis Philij)pe however was too just to avail himself in~ any unnecessary degree of Mr. Morris's gener osity, and had been so familiar with misfortune as to experience little difficulty in accommodating himself to an extremely modest style of living. In Philadelphia he had a single room, over a bar- ber's shop, where he lodged, and on one occasion gave a dinner, at which were present, besides two or three exiles, Mr. Copley, after- ward Lord Lyndhurst, and several Americans. He apologized for seating one half his guests on the side of a bed : he " had himself occupied less comfortable places, without the consolation of an agreeable company." He v/as now about twenty-three years of age, above the middle stature, and had a dark complexion, sunken eyes, and a very dignified deportment. He was intimate with Mr. Bingham's family, and offered himself to one of his daughters. The senator declined the royal alliance : " Should you ever be restored to yom' hereditary position," he said to the duke, " you will be too great a match for her ; if not, she is too great a match for you." In February, 1*797, he was joined by his two brothers, the Duke de Montpensier and the Count de Beaujolais, and the three princes, with a single servant, who had accompanied the Duke of Orleans ever since he left Paris, set out on horseback to see the LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. 387 interior of the United States. Tliey visited Washington at Mount Vernon, and after a tour tlirougli tlie soutli returned by way of Niagara Falls to Philadelpliia, where they were under a necessity of remaining during the prevalence of the yellow fever in the sum- mer of that year. John Singleton Copley, son of John Singleton Copley the paint- er, was Lorn in Boston, and was carried to England when about two years of age, before the revolution. He was now about twenty- four, and was a tranquil and quiet gentleman, rather tall and thin, with light complexion, blue eyes, and courteous manners. He was reputed to be a good scholar, but evinced no such distinguished abilities as would have justified a prophecy that he was to become Lord Chancellor of England. The Duke of Kent, son of George the Third, and father of Victoria, was here at the same time. The British minister who succeeded Mr, Hammond was Mr. Liston. He arrived in Philadelphia on the twelfth of May, 1796. His last diplomatic service had been at Constantinople. Wolcott de- scribes him as an " amiable, worthy man." He was a Scotchman, of middling size, and wore a wig with side curls. On the second of April, 1T95, Mrs. Cushing,* wife of Judge Cushing of the Supreme Court, writes from Philadelphia : " We dined to-day with the President and Mrs. Washington, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Hammond, the Chevalier and Madame Frere (who is truly an elegant woman), Don Philip Jaudennes and his lady, * I am indebted to the venerable and excellent Madame Hammatt, of Bangor, in Maine — a niece of Mrs. Gushing — for the interesting MS. diary of that distinguished lady, and her corres- pondence with many of her dignified contemporaries. Mrs. Cushing always travelled with her husband, on his official circuits, to take care of him. Mi-s. Pinckney writes to her from Charles- ton, under date of July 5, I'ZOS: "Mr. Izard contrived to overset his chair and himself, on his journey home, and dislocated his ai'm. lie says the accident would not have hapj^eued if he haa had Mrs. Izard with him, and that it was in consequence of his thinking of politics instead of the road. So you see, my dear madam, in what a variety of ways your travelling with ilr. Cushing is beneficial to him," 388 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. Mr. and Mrs. Van Berckel, Mr. and Mrs. Eandolph, Mr. and Mrs Wolcott, Mr. and Mrs. Pinckney, and Mr. and Mrs. Coxe. Madame Fi'ere and IMadame Jaudennes were brilliant witli diamonds." The CLevalier Frere was the Portuguese minister, and his wife became very intimate with Mrs. Washington and Miss Custis. Jaudennes was minister from Spain. \ In June, 1T96, Don Carlos Martinez, Marquis d'Yrujo, succeeded Jaudennes as Spanish minister. On his arrival in this country the President was at Mount Vernon, and there the IMarquis paid him a visit. On the fourth of July Washington writes to Pickering, "M. d'Yrujo spent two days with me, and is just gone. I caused it to be intimated to him that, as I should be absent from the seat of government until the middle or latter end of August, I was ready to receive his letter of credentials at this place. He answered, as I understood it, that his credentials were with his baggage on its passage to Philadelphia, and that his. reception at that place, at the time mentioned, would be perfectly agreeable to himself. He is a young man, very free and easy in his manners, professes to be weU disposed towards the United States, and as far as a judgment can be formed on so slight an acquaintance, appears to be well in- formed." He married Sally McKean, a daughter of the Chief Jus- tice of Pennsylvania. She was considered a great beauty. D'Yrujo was afterward conspicuous in Spanish affairs, and his son, the Duke of Sotomayer, born in Philadelphia, became Prime Minister. Phil- adelphia furnished wives for the envoys of France, England and Spain, during Washington's administration, and a large number of foreign ministers have since been married to American women. Volney, the infidel traveller and essayist, with the littleness, malice, and insolence which have almost invariably marked the class of thinkers to which he belonged, inflated by what he calls the " splendid success " of his book on the East, and continually LIFEINTHECAPITAL. 389 piqued at tlie flattering accounts of the rising glory of America 1by otlier wiiters, determined to apply Ids sagacity to tlieir delusions, and "reduce tlieir exaggerated and glowing descriptions to tlie standard of common sense." "WTiile lie was in Philadelpliia Stuart painted his portrait. He liad a peculiarly FrencL. physiognomy, with high forehead, blue eyes, small mouth, invariably a querulous and sneering expression, and was tall, straight, and well formed. He asked Washington (of whose abilities he says, " they would not have raised him above the rank of colonel in the French service,") to give him letters of introduction, to be used on his excursions through the states, and the Chief wrote, " C. Yolney needs no recom- mendation from George Washington." Of Erick Bollmann John Adams wrote to his daughter, in IT 96, " Dr. Bollmann has called on me, and, with an extravagant character for knowledge and capacity, he appears to be an adventurer, with little judgment or solidity." Hamilton says of him in a letter to Washington, after alluding to his attempt to liberate Lafayette, " He appears to have been induced to think that he attempted a service which would strongly recommend him to the favor of thfe country, and as a consequence of it he hopes for some civil employ- ment under our government. He seems to be a man of education, speaks several languages, converses sensibly, is of polite manners.^ and I dare say has the materials of future advancement." Kosciusko, and his young friend and countryman the poet Mem- cewicz, came to this country about the period of the end of Wash- ington's administration. The Duke de Liancourt saw them at the house of General Gates. "Simple and modest," says the duke, " Kosciusko even shed tears of gratitude, and seems astonished at the homage he receives. He sees a brother in every man who is the friend of liberty. Elevation of sentiment, grandeur, sweetness, force goodness, all that commands respect and honor, appear to me 390 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. to be concentrated in tliis celebrated and interesting victim of mis- fortune and despotism. And Memcewicz is, from his noble senti- ments, tlie agreeableness of his manners, and the extent of his knowledge, a person peculiarly interesting." IV. No circumstances during his entire administration caused Wash- ington more painful anxiety than the imprisonment of Lafayette, for whom he felt a most fraternal affection and the sincerest respect. With Prussia and Austria, in which countries his friend was succes- sively a prisoner, the United States had then no dij)lomatic inter- course, and it was not possible therefore for the President to exer- cise in his behalf any more than a personal influence, and this was found altogether unavaiHng. When, in 1795, the wife and daugh- ters of Lafayette left France to join him at Olmutz, his son, George Washington Lafayette, came to America, where he remained nearly two years. With his tutor,- M. Frestel, he arrived in Philadelphia in April, 1796, and the President immediately afterward invited a few friends to meet them at dinner. One of these, Mr. Adams, availed himself of the opportunity to request them to come with Mr. Lear the next morning and breakfast with him. Washington heard of the invitation, in the evening, and sent Mr. Lear to advise with the Vice President whether it would be proper for the youth, in the existing circumstances of his father, mother, and whole fam- ily, to mingle in society ; and he was excused. It was, perhaps, because a dehcate sense of propriety induced him to withdi-aw his ward as much as possible from an unbecoming publicity, that the democratic journals assailed him with the calumny of inhospitahty toward the son of one to whom the nation was so greatly indebted. Mr. Eichard Eush relates a very interesting incident illustrative of th(^. feelings of Washins^ton in res^ard to the misfortunes of his LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. 391 old companion in arms. Mr. Bradford lived on tlie opposite side of the street, next to Dr. Binney's, and the two families were united by an affectionate intimacy. One evening when he happened to be at the President's, and no one else w^as there except the family circle, consisting of the General and Mrs. Washington, one of the private secretaries, and young Custis and his sisters, the conver- sation reverted to the prisoner at Olmutz, and the Chief con- trasted his present unhappy cuxumstances with his former splendid career, dwelling upon his sufferings until the warmth of their an- cient friendship was reawakened, and he became deeply affected, his eyes suffused, his noble features discomposed, and his whole nature shaken. Mr. Bradford saw it ; " and what a spectacle," says IMr. Rush, " to be witnessed by a man whose own bosom was open to the heavings of patriotism and every other generous impulse ! If the great Conde, at the representation of one of Corneille's trage- dies, shed tears at the part where Caesar is made to utter a fine sen- timent, what was that, in its power to stir the soul, though Voltaire has so emblazoned it, to tears shed by Washington over the real woes of Lafayette ! Washington, a nation's founder, and Lafay- ette, his heroic Mend, who had crossed an ocean to fight the bat- tles of liberty by his side ! Magnanimous tears they were, fit for the first of heroes to have shed ! virtuous, honorable, sanctified ! " Returning to his own house, profoundly moved by the scene he had just witnessed, Mr. Bradford sat down and wrote the following simple but touching verses, an impromptu effusion from the heart of a man of sensibility and genius : THE LAjVIENT of WASHINGTOK As beside his cheerful fire, 'Midst his happy family, Sat a venerable sire, Tears were starting in his eye , Selfish blessings were forgot, Whilst he thought on Fayette's lot. 392 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. Once so happy on our plains — Now in poverty and chains. " Fayette," cried he — " honored name I Dear to these far distant shores — Fayette, fired by freedom's flame. Bled to make that freedom ours. What, alas ! for this remains — What, but poverty and chains ! " Soldiers, in our fields of death — Was not Fayette foremost there ? Cold and shivering on the heath. Did you not his bounty share ? What reward for this remains, What, but poverty and chains ! " Hapless Fayette ! 'midst thine error. How my soul thy worth reveres ! Son of freedom, tyrant's terror. Hero of both hemispheres ! What reward for all remains. What, but poverty and chains ! " Born to honors, ease, and wealth, See him sacrifice them all ; Sdcrificing also health. At his country's glorious call. What for thee, my friend, remains. What, but poverty and chains ! Thus, with laurels on his brow, Belisarius begged for bread ; Thus, from Carthage forced to go, Hannibal an exile fled. Alas ! Fayette at once sustains, Exile, Poverty, and Chains ! " Courage, child of Washington ! Though thy fate disastrous seems. We have seen the setting sun Rise and burn with brighter beams. Thy country soon shall break thy chain, And take thee to her arms again. Thy country soon shall break thy chain, And take thee to her arms again ! LIFEINTHECAPITAL. 393 These verses were not written for publication or criticism, and are not to be received as an example of ]Mi\ Bradford's poetical abilities, but private copies of them were circulated, and they were sometimes sung to a plaintive air composed on the execution of Marie Antoinette, which was current in Philadelphia after that melancholy tragedy. Among the women most intimate with Mi^s. "Washington, Mr. Custis mentions in a recent letter to me, besides Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Knox, Mrs. Stewart, Mrs. Morris, IVIi's. Powell, and others who have been frequently referred to in these pages, Mrs. Bradford, Mrs. Otis, and Miss Eoss. " Mrs. Knox," says the Duke de la Roche- foucauld Liancourt, " is a lady of whom you conceive a still higher opinion the longer you are acquainted with her. Seeing her in Philadelphia you think of her only as a fortunate player at whist ; at her house in the country you discover that she possesses spright- liness, knowledge, a good heart, and an excellent understanding." Of her daughter he tells us, that at their home in Maine " she lays aside her excessive timidity, and you admire alike her beauty, wit, and cheerfulness ; " and of the General, " he is one of the worthiest men I have ever known — lively, agreeable, valuable equally as an excellent friend and as an engaging companion." ^Irs. Otis was the wife of the secretary of the senate, and mother of the great ora- tor, Harrison Gray Otis, who was married in Beaton on the fifteenth of May, 1*790, to Sally Foster, daughter of a merchant of that city, at that time a few weeks over twenty years of age. Mr. Otis was not elected to Congress until the retirement of Fisher Ames, in 1797 ; but, with his youthful wife, remarkable for beauty and wit, as well as for an intellectual vivacity, tempered always by an in- describable grace, he was much in metropolitan society during the 50 394 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. entii-e jDeriod of Washington's administration. Mrs. Stewart was tlie wife of General Walter Stewart, who lived in the house next to the President's, toward Fifth street. Miss Ross was the beautiful daughter of Mr. James Ross of Pittsburg, one of the senators rep- resenting the State of Pennsylvania Mrs. Bradford'^ was the only * "The wido-w of Mr. Bradford," writes Mr. Richard Rush, "still lives in an ancient- town on the banks of the Delaware, a beautiful relict of the days here recalled ; her house the abode of hospitality as abundant as it is cordial and elegant ; and fourscore years and more not having impaired the courtesy, the grace, the habitual suavity and kindness, or even that disciplined carriage of the person, all made part of her nature by her early intercourse and the school in which she was reared ; for if Portia, speaking of herself as Cato's daughter and wife of Brutus, coidd exclaim, 'Think you I am no stronger than my sex, being so fathered and so husbanded!' it may be permitted us to say of this venerable relict, once of the Washington circle, and being 'fathered and husbanded' as we have also seen, she could not be other than she is." The late Mrs. Susan Wallace, whose husband, Mr. John Bradford Wallace, was a nephew of Mr. Bradford, described her, many years after the events referred to in the text, in the following extract which I am permitted to make from her diary : " Mrs. Bradford, one of my guests, is a remarkable woman, one of the finest models of mild and courtly dignity this country, or any other indeed, can exhibit. Accustomed from childhood to the best society — the only child of most respectable parents, of family rank — ofiiees of trust and honor were numerous and common to her intimate connexions ; and her happy and much caressed girlhood was passed in an intercourse with per- sons long since the boast of the brightest days of American refinement and patriotism. She in- termarried with William Bradford, a man whose character combined almost every virtue, talent, and accomplishment. With him she commanded a sphere of extensive influence, the just desert of their united excellencies, and lived, as I have heard her say, for more than ten years in the fuU possession of every earthly enjoyment. Well for them they lived as Christian persons ought to live, in constant remembrance of their accountability to God 1 for in the height of eminent distinction, of official station, of favor with the first men and women of the country, and in pos- session of domestic joy and peace — in the moment when they thought not of interruption or disappointment — their well-planned schemes of happiness were laid in the dust. A fever at- tacked INJr. Bradford, and a few days terminated his life. Ilis tender and devoted wife was ovei'- whelmed Avith the agonies of grief, and her kind parents long essayed in vain to restore her to composure and to social intercoursa Time, at last, in connection with religious influences, did its work ill lessening the destructive ravages of sorrow, and for many years past Mrs. Bradford has maintained a position of useful and elegant hospitality to her numerous relatives, and her warm and affectionate friends. She is now in the vale of years, but it is neither rough nor dark. Iler beneficence, urbanity, and social sweetness, shed a temperate light over all her paths, and are gently smoothing the downward road that is to be closed on life, and opened, I trust, to im- mortal peace and joy. No one I believe can anticipate the near approach of death with calm- ness but those who envelop themselves with the illusions of sensible imagery, or that small and highly-privileged class, who, by repentance and faith, have made themselves acquainted with the gracious promises of their blessed Saviour, and rest their anxious, trembling spirits on His everlasting arms." LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. 395 cMld of Elias Boudinot, one of tlie most respectable cliaracters of tlie revolution, and she and Mrs. Hamilton and Mi's. Charles Carroll, tlie yomiger, I believe are the only ladies of. oui' Republican Court now living. Mrs. Carroll was one of the daughters of Benjamin Chew. She was not married until after Washington's final retire- ment to Mount Vernon, but she and her sister, Mrs. Henry Philips, were great favorites with the Chief, and were much in his society as gu-ls. The marriage of an elder sister, to Colonel John Eager Howard, of Baltimore, was attended by him at Chew's baronial house in Germantown during the sittings of the Federal Conven- tion in 1787. Mrs. Howard came back to reside in Philadelphia in 1790, when her husband entered Congress as a senator from Maryland. Dolly Payne, born in North Carolina, had been educated ac- cording to the strictest rules of the Quakers, in Philadelphia, where at an early age she married a young lawyer of this sect, named Todd ; but becoming a widow she threw off drab silks and plain laces, and was for several years one of the gayest and most fasci- nating women of the city. She had many lovers, but she gave the preference to Mr. Madison, and became his wife in 1794. Among the accomplished and fashionable men who were at this period in public life were Robert Goodloe Harper, a son-in-law of Charles Carroll the elder, and "VYiUiam Smith, of Charleston, who married a sister of John Butledge. They were conspicuous mem- bers of the Federal party, and had great influence in Congress. Aaron Burr, who was now a senator, lived in style, and gave ele- gant entertainments, but his associates were chiefly politicians. Adams mentions dining with him, and in another letter, written about the same time, says : " Yesterday I dined at Mr. Morris's, where hospitality is always precious. A comj)any of venerable old rakes, threescore years of age, or a httle over or a httle under, sat 396 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. smoking cigars, drinking Burgundy and Madeira, and talking poli- tics, till almost eleven o'clock. This will do once in a great wkile ; not often, for me." Mr. Jefferson also kept a liberal table for his friends, and we have an account of one of his dinners, from the pen of Colonel Trumbull. The artist had been on terms of confidence with Mr. Jef- ferson, in Europe, and continued to be so for some time after his return to America, so that, he says, " when the fii'st mission to the states of Barbary was determined on, it was through him offered to me, and dechned ; but as the French revolution advanced, my whole soul revolted from its atrocities, while he approved of all, or apol- ogized for all ; he opposed Washington ; I revered him ; and a coldness gradually succeeded until, in 1793, he invited me to dine. A few days before, I had offended his friend, Mr. Giles, a senator from Virginia, by rendering him ridiculous in the eyes of a lady * to whose favorable opinion he aspired. On entering the drawing- room at Mr. Jefferson's, on the day of the dinner, I found a part of the company ah'eady assembled, among them Mr. Giles ; and J was scarcely seated, when he began to rally me on the puritanical * " Among many elegant families which at that time graced the society of Philadelphia, wab one particularly distinguished by the intellectual eminence and personal charms of several lovely daughters ; to one of these Mr. Gileg vras disposed to recommend himself. At the same time I was free of the tea-table, and calling one afternoon to beg a cup of tea, I found Mr. Giles in earnest conversation with his favorite, and ridiculing the elder Mr. Adams, and his work, called the Defence of the American Constitutions. A moment's attention convinced me that he was talking at random, of a subject which he did not understand. I therefore watched an opportu- nity to interrupt the conversation, by asking, ' Mr. Giles, is it possible that you can have taken the trouble to read the long work of which you are speaking ? ' ' Certainly.' ' The hrst volume perhaps?' 'To be sure.' 'And the second?' 'Yes.' 'You must have observed, then, that these two volumes are little else than a concise epitome of the constitutions of preceding repub- lics. Ue reserves his own opinions in a great measure for the third volume ; I presume you have read that also? ' Here Mr. Giles lost his patience, and exclaimed, ' Who could wade through such a mass of stuff ? ' I said no more ; but the lady, with one of her sweetest smiles, said, ' I have observed, Mr. Giles, that you have a habit of giving your opinions of men and things in pretty Btrong terms; I hope you are careful always to be as accurately informed upon other subjects as you appear to be upon this of Mr. Adams's book.' " — Trumbull's Memoirs LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. 397 ancestry and character of ISTew England. I saw there was no other person from New England present, and therefore, although con- scious that I was in no degree qualified to manage a religious dis- cussion, I felt myself hound to defend my country on this delicate point as well as I could. Whether it had been pre-arranged that a debate on the Christian rehgion, in which it should be power- fully ridiculed on the one side, and weakly defended on the other, was to be brought forward, as promising amusement to a rather free- thinking dinner party, I will not presume to say ; but it had that ap- pearance, and Mr. Giles pushed his raillery, to my no small annoy- ance, if not to my discomfiture, until dinner was announced. That, I hoped, would relieve me, by giving a new turn to the conversa- tion ; but the company was hardly seated at table, when he renewed his assault with increased asperity, and proceeded so far, at last, as to ridicule the character, conduct and doctrines of the divine Founder of our religion — Mr. Jefferson, in the mean time, smihng and nod- ding approbation on Mr. Giles, while the rest of the company si- lently left me and my defence to our fate, until, at length, my friend David Franks took up the argument on my side. Thinking this a fair opportunity for evading further conversation on the subject, I turned to Mr. Jefferson and said, ' Sir, this is a strange situation in which I find myself; in a country professing Christianity, and at a table with Christians, as I supposed, I find my religion and myself attacked with severe and almost irresistible wit and raillery, and ot a person to aid in my defence, but my friend Mr. Franks, who IS himself a Jew.' For a moment this attempt to parry the discus- sion appeared to have some effect ; but Giles soon returned to the attack with renewed virulence, and burst out with, ' It is all misera- ble delusion and priestcraft ; I do not believe one word of all they say about a future state of existence, and retribution for actions done here ; I do not believe one word of a Supreme Being who 398 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. takes cognizance of tlie paltry affaii-s of tlik world, and to whom we are responsible for what we do.' I had never before heard, or seen in writing, such a broad and unqualified avowal of atheism. I was at first shocked, and remained a moment silent ; but soon rallied and replied, ' Mr. Giles, I admire your frankness, and it is but just that I should be equally frank in avowing my sentiments. Sir, in my opinion, the man who can with sincerity make the de- claration which you have just made, is perfectly prepared for the commission of any atrocious action by which he can promise him- self the advancement of his own interest, or the gratification of his impure passions, provided he can commit it secretly and with a reasonable probability of escaping detection by his fellow men. Sir, I would not trust such a man with the honor of a wife, a sis- ter, or a daughter, with my own pm'se or reputation, or with any thing which I thought valuable. Our acquaintance, sir, is at an end.' I rose and left the company, and never after spoke to Mr. Giles. I have thought it proper to relate this conversation, as help- ing to elucidate the character of Mr. Jefferson, on the disputed point of want of credulity, as he would call it. In nodding and smiling assent to all thfe vii'ulence of his friend, Mr. Giles, he apjDeared to me to avow most distinctly his entii'e approbation. From this time my acquaintance with Mr. Jefferson became cold and distant," VI. At the houses of the principal federalists connected with the government there was a very different style of conversation ; re- ligion was treated with reverence ; the instructions of the past were received with humility, and \dsions of the future were seen through the softening light of experience. The New Englanders clustered about the home of Wolcott. The late Judge Hopkinson, as well known for his " Hail Columbia ! " as the elder Judge Hopkinson, his LIFE INTHECAPITAL. 399 father, for tlie " Battle of tlie Kegs," was tlieii a young man, and in one of his later letters he recalls the cuxle of Wolcott's associ- ates. " During his residence in Philadelphia," he says, " the division of political parties in their social intercourse was more decided than it has ever been since ; his associations therefore were almost exclu- sively with the federal members of the administration and of Con- gress, together with families residing in the city, of the same poli- tics, which then certainly constituted the best society. In his parlor of an evening you would meet more or less company of that de- scription. Leading members of the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives, especially from New England, were habitually there, and sometimes at my house. When I mention such names as Ellsworth, Ames, Griswold, Goodrich, and Tracy, you may imagine what a rich intellectual society it was. I will not say that we have no such men now, but I do not know where they are." Of the Secretary of the Treasury himself, HopMnson says, " He was a man of cheer- ful and even of a playful disposition. His conversation was inter- esting and earnest, but gay, unless the occasion was unfit for gayety. He enjoyed a good joke, and his laugh was hearty and frequent. He delighted in the discussion of literary subjects and the works of distinguished authors, and was particularly fond of poetry. In- deed in his younger days I have understood that he was a poet. He had a good taste in literature with one exception, about which we often disputed, and in which his New England attachments or prejudices controlled his judgment ; he had an excessive admiration of D wight's ' Conquest of Canaan.' His domestic life was most ex- emplary ; his greatest happiness was in his family, with the friends who congregated at his residence. His devotion to the business and duties of his office was severe and unremitting. He possessed in a high degree a very rare qualification — the capacity for con- tinued hard work — and was in every thing systematic and orderly 400 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. His attaclinients to liis friends were strong and lasting, never taxing them witli uni'easonable exactions or subjecting tliem to unpleasant caprices. He was open and direct in all Ms dealings, witliout du- plicity or intrigue in any tMng ; his sincerity was sui-e, he deceived nobody." "VVolcott's youngest sister I have already had occasion to mention as one of the most distinguished beauties of her time. She was afterward married to Chauncey Goodrich, a man of eminent abilities and the highest character. His wife had less beauty, but a countenance of much loveliness, and very graceful manners ; and there were few women who could be compared with her for refined cultivation and intelligence. An anecdote referring to h.er is re- corded as an illustration of the wit of Mr. Tracy, one of the Con- necticut senators. As she was moving with her accustomed ease and dignity through a dance, her figure arrested the attention of Mi\ Liston, the British minister, who exclaimed, turning to Tracy, " Your countrywoman, Mrs. Wolcott, would be admii'ed even at St. James's." " Sir," replied the senator, " she is admired even on Litchfield HiU!" On one occasion Dr. Dwight visited Philadelphia, and was for several days a guest of the Wolcotts. In a letter to the secretary he says, " I thank you, with much affection, for the uniform sincer- ity and hospitality which I found at your house; assure Mrs. Wol- cott of the grateful sense I shall ever entertain of the very polite and friendly manner in which she rendered my residence there pe- cuharly agreeable." Josiali Quincy, who still survives, one of the brightest orna- ments of a departed age, m. the enjoyment of the reverent homage of our own, was also among the visitors of this respectable cu'cle. Mrs. Adams, referring to his arrival in the city, writes, " This young man is a rare instance of hereditary eloquence and ingenuity, in the fourth generation. He comes into life with every advantage I MlM> LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. 401 of family, fortune, and education, and I wish him all the success which such auguries naturally present to him in prospect. I yes- terday, in the presence of half a dozen senators, laughingly ad- vised him to go to the President and Mrs. Washington and ask their leave to make his addresses to Nelly Custis, or her sister, at Georgetown. The young gentleman blushed, and he may have left his heart in Boston; hut I think him tlie first match in the United States." An intimate friend of Wolcott, Ames, Sedgwick, and other New England statesmen, was Jeremiah Smith, then a member of Con- gress, and afterward one of the justices of the Supreme Court, and Chief Justice of New Hampshire. He dressed very carefully, had an intelligent and handsome face, and was a great beau ; but was at the same time diligent in the performance of his duties, and " a devourer of all good books." He had been in love so many times that it would have tasked his patience to give a list of the girls he had been inclined to woo, and every year some new one was the fairest and the dearest. In 1T93 he wiites : "It seems to me now that I never sincerely loved before. God grant that time and ab- sence may have their usual effects.^'' His prayer was granted, and in 1795 he discloses another flame to his friend Fletcher. "Tell Mrs. Fletcher," he says, " that I should have been very happy to have made one of your little family party at Christmas, and that I am confident she enjoyed far more pleasure, surrounded by her children and friends, than Mrs. Dexter at Mr. Bingham's or Mr. Morris's or even the President's sumptuous dinner. I was singularly happy on that day myself ; I dined with a number of my friends at Mr. Wolcott's, and spent the evening in company with a divine woman I have lately become acquainted with, and who is all that woman can or ought to be ; but, heigh ho ! she is as good as mar- ried. I am glad I was informed of that circumstance, else I should 51 402 THE KEPUBLICAN COURT. have been over liead and ears in love. Informed of my danger, 1 find it difficult to restrain my ardent affections. I am glad to find that I am not dried up and congealed, but that my heart is as sus- ceptible as ever. I would rather be a man, and feel as one, even if I suffer by it, than one of your insensible devils." The divine wo- man referred to was Miss Eliza Ross, of Bladensburg, in Maryland, then on a visit to Philadelphia. The case was very serious, and there were no hopes of the lover's recovery. He gave vent to his feehngs in verse, which was perfectly intelligible, though scarcely as melodious as the songs of Anacreon Moore : " To Adam paradise was given, Blooming with all that charms the sense Of fruits, one only was forbidden, And that occasioned sore complaints. How much severer is my fate Than his ! Unjust ! how could he grieve ? He was denied the precious fruit, But I, alas ! deprived of Eve ! Nay, more — severer still my case — A double pain, without alloy — The fruit that I 'm forbid to taste, Another freely may enjoy." Women are changeable, and Miss Ross became Mrs. Smith, after all. A few months passed, during which she returned to Bladens- burg, and managed to quarrel with her old lover ; at least the en- gagement was broken oft'; and in May, 1795, she was again in the metropolis. On the departure of a sister for the country she ad- dressed a note to her rejected admu'er : " I have very few acquaint- ' ances," she said, " and this is the time when the company of a friend would be most agreeable. In you I expect that friend." She was not disappointed. In due time the veteran gallant wrote to his brother that he was a " happy man." On the way to the bride's home he lost his wedding suit, and was obliged therefore to " stand LIFEINTHECAPITAL. 403 up " in his travelling clothes, which was a serious misfortune, as he had been very particular in his outfit.* Elizur Goodiich writes to Wolcott in 1794, introducing Eli Whitney, with his famous cotton gin. He describes him as " a young gentleman who has occasionally resided in my family for some years past, of very fau^ reputation in academic studies, and perhaps inferior to none in an acquaintance with mechanic powers, and those branches of mechanical philosophy which are apphcable to the commerce and manufactm'es of our country. He is on a journey to Philadelphia to lodge a model and receive a patent for a machine which he has invented for cleansing cotton from its seeds." Another candidate for the honors of scientific discovery was Dr. Benjamin Douglass Perkins, the hero of Fessenden's " Terrible Tractoration." John Adams, in February, 1796, thus notices his advent in the city : " There is a Dr. somebody here from Connec- ticut, who pretends, with an instrument made of some kind of me- tal or composition of metals, by a sort of Mesmerian rubbing, or stroking, or conjuration, to cure rheumatisms, headaches, pleurisies, and I know not what. Ellsworth will not say that he believes in' it, but he states facts and tells stories. I expect the heads of all the old women will be turned. They have got him into the Presi- dent's house, among some of his servants, and Mrs. Washington * Smith writes : " Three miles before I reached Bladensburg I had the misfortune to lose my trunk, -with all my clothes, of the value of two hundred dollars. The fastening untied, and some very great knaves happening to live in the vicinity, picked it up before the stage-driver returned to look for it, which was in less than fifteen minutes " A list of the articles constitutiug the bridegroom's wardrobe is given by his biographer, Mr. Morrison, as follows : "A light-colored broadcloth coat, with pearl buttons ; breeches of the same cloth ; ditto, black satin ; vest, swans- down, buff, striped ; ditto moleskin, chequer figure ; ditto satin figured ; ditto, Marseilles, white ; ditto, muslinet, figured ; under vest, faced with red cassimere ; two ditto, flannel ; one pair of flan- nel drawers ; one ditto, cotton ditto ; one pair black patent silk hose; one ditto white ditto ; one ditto striped ditto ; ten or a dozen white silk hose ; three pair of cotton hose ; four pair of gauze ditto ; a towel ; six shirts; twel've neek-kerchiefs ; six pocket handkerchiefs, one of them a ban- danna; a chintz dressing-gown ; a pair of silk gloves; ditto old kid ditto." 404 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. told me a story on Tuesday, before a number of gentlemen, so in effably ridiculous that I dare not repeat it. Tbe venerable lady laugbed as immoderately as all the rest of us did." Perkins went to London, and became famous and ricli. His bouse was crowded witb bishops, lords, and men and women of every degree, thou- sands of whom certified that they were cured of diseases by the metallic tractors. The satire of Fessenden ended the delusion. VII. It was among the offences of the President in which the demo- cratic writers and orators discovered signs of treasonable conspiracy and a determination to engraft upon our youthful republicanism the forms at least of a monarchy, that he had " birth-day odes." It is not stated that an appropriation from the treasury was ever de- manded for the payment of a laureate, and perhaps it was all the worse that so many were willing to sing the praises of Washington without reward. The Chief himself, however, we may readily be- lieve, would have dispensed with such service to be relieved of the necessity of reading the quires of poor but patriotic verses addressed to him. Our poets of that day had no mean opinion of their own abilities, and they were generous iu each other's praise. Humphreys, in a " Poem cm the Happiness of America," written before the close of the revolution, exclaims : " Why sleep'st thou, Barlow, child of genius ? why Seest thou, blest Dwight, our land in sadness lie ? And where is Trumbull, earliest boast of fame ? 'T is yours, ye bards, to wake the smothered flame — To you, my dearest friends, the task belongs, To rouse your country with heroic songs." And Barlow, in his " Vision of Columbus," " With keen-eyed glance through Nature's walks to pierce, With all the powers and every charm of verse. LIFEINTHECAPITAL. 405 Each science opening in his ample mind, His fancy glowing, and his taste refined. See Trumbull lead the train. His skilful hand ^ Hurls the keen darts of satire through the land ; Pride, knavery, dulness, feel his mortal stings. And listening Virtue triumphs while he sings. . . . On glory's wing to raise the ravished soul Beyond the bounds of earth's benighted pole, For daring Dwight the epic muse sublime Hails her new empire in the western clime. . . . Where Freedom's cause his patriot bosom warms. In council sage, nor inexpert in arms. See Humphreys, glorious from the field retire, Sheath the glad sword and string the sounding lyre." And besides tliis " mutual admii*ation society " of Connecticut, tliere were Allen, Ladd, Freneau, Hopkinson, Livingston, Smith, Mar- koe, and some lialf dozen others, who consoled themselves for con- temporary neglect with dreams of posthumous fame. Though Colonel Humphreys must be regarded as the poet lau- reate of Washington, as diligent in the performance of the duties of his office as ever was bard expecting pipes of choicest wine for votive songs, yet there was a " tuneful throng " of the other sex, ever ready to celebrate the hero's virtues and his actions in effusions sufficiently indicative of an anxiety to attract his favorable atten- tion. Our most conspicuous poetesses of that day were Mrs. Fer- guson, of whose unpublished writing there are still two large quarto volumes in the Philadelphia Library; Mrs. Bleecker, of Tomhannik ; Mrs. Warren, the sister of James Otis ; Mrs. Stock- ton, wife of Richard Stockton and sister of Elias Boudinot ; Phillis Wheatley, from the Senegal, celebrated by Mr. Clarkson and the Abbe Gregory as not inferior in hterary excellence to the fairest of her rivals ; and Mrs. Morton, wife of the Attorney General of Massachusetts, to be named in whose verses, her critics said, was to be immortalized. The Boston Mercury, in the spring of 1*793, ad- vised the world that " Falme, ever listening with dehght to the lyre 406 THE KEPUBLICAN COURT. of ' Philenia,' had lately been assiduous in circulating the informa- tion that this favorite of the muse was composing a poem, of the epic nature, in which would he celebrated some of the most striking features of the revolution in this country." This was the first an- nouncement of Mrs. Morton's " Beacon Hill ; " and a contemj)orary bard, Kobert Treat Paine, warmed with the intelligence, addressed to her a congratulatory ej)istle, in which he says -— " Beacon shall live, the theme of future lays j Philenia bids ; obsequious Fame obeys ; Beacon shall live, embalmed in verse sublime, The new Parnassus of a nobler clime. No more the fount of Helicon shall boast Its peerless waters or its suitor host. . . . 'T is here Philenia's muse begins her flight, As Heaven elate, extensive as the light ; Here, like this bird of Jove, she mounts the wind, And leaves the clouds of vulgar bards behind ! " And in conclusion he asks — " What hero's bosom would not wish to bleed — That you might sing, and raptured ages read ? " Mrs. IMorton was not ungi'ateful, and she returned Mr. Paine'a compliments in kiad, amiably describing him as a poet " Who now with Homer's strength can rise, Then with the polished Ovid move ; Now swift as rapid Pindar flies, Then soft as Sappho's breath of love." After the publication of Gifford's satii^e, and Erskine's speech m the case of Williams against Faulder, " Anthony Pasquin " was driven from England by contempt, and " Delia Crusca " by derision, and both found an asylum in the United States — the profligate libeller to become the editor of a democratic journal, and the sick- ly sentimentalist to acquu^e an influence over our fledgling poets not less apparent than that which Tennyson has exerted in later LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. 407 years. IVIi's. Morton, in some " lines addressed to tlie inimitable author of the poems nnder the signature of ' Delia Crusca,' " gi'eeted him in a style worthy of the Florence ]\Iiscellan7 — " Across the vast Atlantic tide, Down Appalachia's grassy side, What echoing sounds the soul beguile, And lend the lip of grief a smile ! T is Delia Crusca's heavenly song Which floats the western breeze along, Breathing as sweet, as soft a strain, As kindness to the ear of pain ; Splendid as noon, as morning clear, As chaste as evening's pearly tear." Dr. Ladd, Mr. Paine, and nearly all our " female poets," in the closing years of the last century, were servile imitators of Mr. Merry, and the late Judge Story began his career as an author in an elaborate performance not unworthy of such a master. VIII. In painting the country was more fortunate. Woolaston, Cop- ley, Blackbm-n, and some others, had produced a great number of admirable portraits before the war, and subsequently there were several artists here of remarkable excellence in the same line. Washington was frequently painted, but there are not many good pictures of him. In 1785 he wrote to Judge Hopkinson, "I am so hackneyed to the touches of the painter's pencil that I am now altogether at their beck, and sit ' like Patience on a monument ' while they are delineating the lines of my face. It is a proof, among many others, of what habit and custom may accomplish ; at first I was as impatient at the request, and as restive under the operation, as a colt is under the saddle ; the next time I submitted very reluctantly, but with less flouncing ; now no dray-horse moves more readily to his thill than I to the painter's chaii\" This was 408 THE KEPUBLICAN COURT. written on tlie introduction of Kobert Edge Pine to liim. Pine had been a "painter to His Majesty," and among Lis sitters inLon don had been Garrick and other famous wits. He came to Amer- ica in 1783 to paint the chiefs of the revolution, for a series of historical compositions, and accumulated a great number of heads and other studies, but never finished any large work of that kind. In a few years Trumbull occupied the field, and by his success per- haps discouraged further attempts by him. He was an irritable little gentleman, and his wife and daughters were also very small. They painted portraits in Philadelphia and gave lessons in drawing there, under the patronage of Robert Morris. Hopkinson men- tions as a proof o^ our subsequent advancement in civilization that Pine brought to this country a plaster cast of the Venus de IMedici, but kept it very privately, as the manners of the time would not permit the public exhibition of such a figure : a fact which may seem strange to those who remember that some of the celebrated women of this period exposed their own finely-developed persons in a manner to shock even young Frenchmen, fresh from the gayest society of Paris ; but it was then the fashion, in London as well as in New York and Philadelphia, to imitate the costume of pic- tures painted in the most dissolute period of English morals. M. Du Cimetiere, a Genevan, arrived in Philadelphia about the year 1760, and lived there nearly thirty years, practising his pro- fession as a painter, and collecting specimens in natural history. "Washington says he drew many good likenesses, from the hfe, and had them engraved in Paris, for sale ; and besides his own he men- tions particularly those of General Gates and Baron Steuben. Robert Fulton painted a poor portrait of Washington in 1782, who in the following year sat at Rocky Hill, New Jersey, to Wil- liam Dunlap and Joseph Wright. Wright's pictm-e was sent to Europe as a present from the Chief to the Count de Solms. LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. 409 M. Houdon arrived from France in 1^85, in the same-sMp witli Dr. Franklin, and, proceeding to Mount Vernon, remained tliere two weeks, in wMcli time lie modelled tke liead of the General for Ms Btatue whicli had heen ordered by the state of Virginia, and is now in the capitol at Richmond. Soon after the inaugm-ation, in New York, Edward Savage, a miserable painter, copied the President's features as well as he could, for Harvard College, and his portrait was engraved by young Edwin, in a very creditable manner, though Savage took the credit of its execution on the copper as well as on the canvas. About the same time Madame de Brehan, sister of the French minister, made two small portraits of him, one of which he present- ed to Mrs. Bingham. The other was engraved in Paris. Trumbull had painted a head of Washington, from memory, in 1780. In the fall of 1789 he returned from Europe, and soon after executed the portrait which is in the New York City Hall ; and in 1792, in Philadelphia, that which is in the gallery at New Haven. The city of Charleston had engaged him to paint a full-length of the President, and he says " he undertook it con amore^ meaning to give his military character in the most sublime moment of its exer- tion — the evening previous to the battle of Princeton, when, viewing the vast superiority of the approaching enemy, and the impossibility of again crossing the Delaware or retreating down the river, he conceived the plan of returning by a night march into the country from which he had just been driven, thus cutting off the enemy's communication and destroying his stores at Brunswick." " I told the President my object," he says ; " he entered into it warmly, and, as the work advanced, we talked of the scene, its dangers, its almost desperation." He looked again as if animated by the feel- ings of the conflict, and the artist pleased himself with a belief that he had transferred to the canvas the lofty expression of the 52 410 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. hero's countenance. But this production did not give satisfaction ; the people of Charleston desired a " matter-of-fact likeness, calm, tranquil, peaceful," and Washington sat again, for such a picture. In 1791 and 1792 Trumhull painted a great numher of portraits, among which were those of John Jay, Temple FranMin, IVIi-s. Wash- ington (with a full rosy face, and in a white dress, and cap — very matronly), Nelly Custis, Sophia Chew, Harriet Chew, Cornelia Schuyler (a sister of Mrs. Hamilton, afterward married to Mr. Van Eensselaer), Julia Seymour, who was a celebrated beauty, and two daughters of Jeremiah Wadsworth. In 1791 Mr. Archibald Eobertson, of Aberdeen, arrived in this country, bearing from the Earl of Buchan an introductory letter to Washinixton, and a box made from the oak tree which sheltered Sir William Wallace, after the battle of Falkii^k, which the Gold- smith's Company of Edinburgh had previously presented to the earl. Mr. Eobertson painted a very good portrait of the President, which was sent to Scotland, by Ikii\Lear,in 1794, and he afterward pursued his profession with success for many years in New York. Giuseppe Ceracchi, one of the most eminent of contemporary sculptors, had conceived in Eome a design for a monument of the American revolution, and coming to Philadelphia, in 1791, he pre- pared a model of it, which was much admii'ed. It was to be of statu- ary marble, one hundred feet high, and to cost but thii'ty thousand dollars. This sum, however, could not be obtamed, and Ceracchi re- turned to Europe, and was subsequently put to death for an attempt to assassinate Napoleon. While here he executed busts of Wash- ington and many other distinguished characters. He invited Dr. Hugh Williamson to sit for one, and that person made himself ap- pear exceedingly ridiculous by the puerile manner in which he de- clined the compliment. In a collection which I have made of more than sixty engraved ^i^^^^plllii llj|||i!i||fl MO^^. (DISiiiaJLlSS (SAmm(S)]lIL. JIILTM , MUHUJCSTT CSEfrJ ■^ . / LIFE IN THE CAPITAL. 411 portraits of Washington published during his hfe — probably the largest collection of the kind in existence — I find three which pur- port to be from paintings by Charles Wilson Peale. One, painted at Mount Vernon in 1770, was engraved by R. Scott ; another, painted in 1780, was engraved in mezzotint by Peale himself; and the third, from a picture dated 1783, was engraved the following year in Paris. Mr. Peale painted fourteen portraits of Washington, but probably not more than four or five of them were from life. His brother James painted two, and his son Rembrandt one. It has frequently been stated that Mr. Wertmiiller, a German, painted a portrait of Washington, from life, in 1783; but there is no evidence that the President ever sat to him. Gilbert Stuart, after a brilliant career in London, established himself for a short time in New York. Soon after his arrival Judsre Gushing, who happened then to be in the city, invited him to tea, and Mrs. Gushing refers to him in her diary as " an extraordinary limner, said to excel by far any other in America." His reputation was so high indeed that everybody who was rich enough to pay his price was anxious to sit to him, and he produced with great rapidity a large number of portraits. But a desire to paint Washington had been one of the chief causes of his return to the United States, and he was impatient to begin his work. His fii'st picture was un- successful, but the second was in every respect masterly, and the artist and the subject were equally pleased with it. Only the head was finished. From this he made more than twenty copies. Of his four or five full-lengths, the first was sent by Mr. Bingham* as * Before sitting for this picture Washington -wrote to Stuart the following note : " Sir : I am under promise to Mrs. Bingham to sit for you to-morrow at nine o'clock; and wishing to know if it is convenient to you that I should do so, and whether it shall be at your own house, (as she talked of the state house,) I send this note to you to ask information. I am, sir, your obedient eervant, Geo. WAsmNGTON. Monday evening, 11th April, 1796." He sat at Stuart's own house, and was accompanied several times by Harriet Chew, (afterwards Mrs. Carroll,) whose convei*- sation he said should give his face its most agreeable expression. 412 THE KEPUBLICAN COUKT. a present to Lord Lansdowne, and tlie last is now in Fanneil IlaE in Boston. A bust of Wasliington was modelled by a Mr. Gullaglier, of Boston, in 1789 ; a mucli better one was produced by Mr. Eccles- ton, of Virginia, in 1796. The last portrait of bim was in crayon, by Sbarpless, drawn tbe same year. Among tlie miniature painters of the time of Washington Ben- jamin Trott held a conspicuous rank ; but, no artist in this depart- ment is deserving of comparison with Edward Malbone, for j)ro- priety and grace, or the details of finished execution. " The Hours " show what capacities he had for composition, but his vocation was for portraiture, and notwithstanding the depreciation of this branch of art by its professors or by others, " the power of animating and dignifying the coimtenance, and impressing on it the appearance of wisdom and virtue, requii-es," as Sir Joshua Reynolds well observes, " a nobleness of conception which goes beyond any thing in the mere exhibition of even the most perfect forms." When Mr. Mon- roe was in London, on his way to France, as minister to that coun- try, Mr. West said to him, " I have seen a picture painted by a young man of the name of Malbone, which no man in England could excel ; " and other critics, of authority as high as that of the President of the Royal Academy, have declared that there are even now in the most famous collections no miniatures comparable to those of our ingenious countryman, whose works continue to be cherished among the choicest treasures of the few families who em- ployed him at the close of the last and the beginning of the present century. The beauties of the time of Washington were for the most part somewhat faded before Malbone was fairly started in his career ; but this volume is adorned by an engraving from one of his works, alike remarkable for fidehty and a simple and chaste elegance rarely displayed in such performances. THE CONCLUSION. I. As tlie second term of his administration drew near its end, many of tlie friends of Washington urged him to continue for another pei'iod of four years at the head of affairs ; but it was impossible to change his purpose of retiring to private life. He was deeply wounded by the profligacy of his enemies, and on the twelfth of June, 1796, wrote to Colonel Humphreys, who was still in Portu- gal : " The gazettes will give you a pretty good idea of the state of politics and parties in this country, and will show you at the same time, if Bache's Aurora is among them, in what manner I am attacked for persevering steadily in measures which to me appear necessary to preserve us, during the conflicts of belligerent powers, in a state of tranquilhty. But these attacks, unjust and unpleasant as they are, will occasion no change in my conduct, nor will they produce any other effect in my mind than to increase the solicitude which long since has taken fast hold of my he^rt, to enjoy in the shades of retirement the consolation of believing that I have ren- dered to my country every service to which my abilities were com- petent — not from pecuniary or ambitious motives, nor from a desire to provide for any men farther than their intrinsic merit en- titled them, and surely not with a view of bringing my own rela- 414 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. tions into office. Malignity tlierefore may dart its shafts,' but nc eartlily power can deprive me of tlie satisfaction of knowing that I Imve not in the whole course of my administration committed an intentional error." With Mr. Jefferson the President had mamtained an occasional and formal intercourse up to this period. On the sixth of July, between three and four weeks after the above sentences were sent to Colonel Humphreys, he addressed to the chief of the democratic party a final communication, in which he says : " Until within the last year or two I had no conception that parties would or even could go the length I have been witness to ; nor did I believe, un- til lately, that it was within the bounds of probability, hardly within those of possibility, that, while I was using my utmost ex- ertions to establish a national character of our own, independent, as far as our obligations and justice and truth would permit, of every nation of the earth, and wished by steering a steady course to preserve this country from the horrors of a desolating war, I should be accused of being the enemy of one nation, and subject to the influence of another ; and, to prove it, that every act of my administration would be tortured, and the grossest and most insidi- ous representations of them made, by giving one side only of a subject, and that too in such exaggerated and indecent terms as could scarcely be applied to a Nero, a notorious defaulter, or even to a common pickpocket. But enough of this. I have already gone further in the expression of my feelings than I intended." This brought the correspondence of the founders and heads of the rival parties to a final conclusion. In the following September, nearly six months before the end of his administration, he published his Farewell Address to the People of the United States, the most dignified exhibition of polit- ical wisdom that ever emanated from the mind of a statesman. It THE CONCLUSION. 415 was generally received by tlie legislatures and the people with the respect which was due to such a display of feeling and understand- ing, from so exalted a character, and it has continued to be an in- fluence and an authority, in the affairs of the nation, second only to the Constitution itself. In December the two houses of Congress came together, and the President delivered, ui person, as was his custom, his last mes- sage, at the close of which he said, " The situation in which I now stand, for the last time, in the midst of the representatives of the people of the United States, naturally recalls the period when the administration of the present form of government commenced ; and I cannot omit the occasion to congratulate you and my country on the success of the experiment, nor to repeat my fervent supplica- tions to the Supreme Ruler and Arbiter of nations, that his care inay still be extended to the United States ; that the virtue and happiness of the people may be preserved ; and that the govern- ment which they have instituted for the protection of their liber- ties may be perpetual." II. The sixty-fifth anniversary of the birth-day of "Washington was celebrated with an unusual but a saddened enthusiasm. Every one felt that it was the last occasion of the kind on which he would be present in Philadelphia, and that the illustrious Chief would him- self see but few returns of it any where. The ships in the harbor displayed their gayest colors ; the bells of the chm^ches every half hour during the day rang merry peals ; and the members of Con- gress and other official characters, with a great number of the most respectable private citizens, waited on the President at his residence to offer in person their homage and congratulations. In the even- ing there was a splendid ball at the amphitheatre. The area usu- 416 THE REPUBLICAN COURT. ally occupied by tlie equestrians was floored over for dancing, and the wliole interior was tastefully and profusely ornamented with, ever- greens, the symbols of his fame, and with banners and inscri]3tions. Upon an elevated platform was a sofa, with a canopy over it, for the President and Mrs. Washington. He did not confine himself to this, but moved about, conversing familiarly with the company, consisting of the foreign ambassadors, members of the cabinet, senators, representatives, and the most distinguished strangers and inhabitants of the city. Jeremiah Smith, writing at eleven o'clock the same evening, tells us that there were present five hundred ladies, elegantly dressed, and a still greater number of gentlemen. " The President and Mrs. Washington," he says, " were in very good spirits, and, I am persuaded, have not spent so agreeable an even- ing for a long time. Every countenance bespoke pleasure and ap- probation ; even democrats forgot for a moment their enmity, and seemed to join heartily in the festivity." A few days before his final retirement the President held his last formal levee. It was attended not only by the beauty and fashion of the metropohs, but by a larger number of eminent men than had ever been present on a similar occasion. The leading democratic journal, " The Aurora," had a few days previously given expression to the feelings of its party in a characteristic article, in which it was alleged that " if ever a nation was debauched by a man, the American nation has been debauched by Washington ; if ever a nation was deceived by a man, the American nation has been deceived by Washington ;" and the poor wretch, Thomj^s Paine, had addressed a public letter to the President, in which he said, "As to you, sir, treacherous in private friendship, and a hypocrite in public life, the world will be puzzled to decide whether you are an apostate or an impostor, whether you have abandoned good principles, or whether you ever had any; "and when a resolution THE CONCLUSION. 417 was offered in tlie House of Representatives, complimenting liim on his approacliing release from tlie cares of government, Andrew Jack- son, who had lately become a member of Congress, witli twenty others, voted against it ; yet at this last levee the respectability of the country was largely represented — the men who were most emi- nent for talents and for honorable actions came, in crowds, to offer a reverence the most sincere and affectionate that ever was yielded to human greatness. On the second of March Washington wrote to his old friend General Knox : " To the wearied traveller, who sees a resting-place, and is bending his body to lean thereon, I now compare myself; but for me to be suffered to do this in peace, is too much to be en- dured by some ; to misrepresent my motives, to reprobate my poli- tics, and to weaken the confidence which has been reposed in my administration, are objects which cannot be rehnquished by those who wHl be satisfied with nothing short of a change in our politi- cal system. The consolation, however, which results from conscious rectitude, and the approving voice of my country, unequivocally expressed by its representatives, deprives their sting of its poison, and places in the same point of view both the weakness and the mahgnity of their efforts. Although the prospect of retirement is most grateful to my soul, and I have not a wish to mix again in the great world, or to partake in its pohtics, yet I am not without my regrets at parting with (perhaps never more to meet them) the few intimates whom I love, and among these, be assured, you are one. The account given by Mr. Bingham and others of your agree- able situation and prospects, at St. George's, gave me infinite plea- sm'e, and no one wishes more sincerely than I do that they may increase with your years. The remainder of my life, which in the com'se of nature cannot be long, will be occupied in rural amuse- ments ; and though I shall seclude myself as much as possible from 53 418 THE EEPUBLICAN COURT the noisy and Ibustling crowd, none would more tlian myself be re- galed by the company of those I esteem, at Mount Vernon — more than twenty miles from which, after I arrive there, it is not likely that I shall ever be To-morrow, at dinner, I shall, as a servant of the public, take my leave of the President elect, of the foreign characters, the heads of departments, &c., and the day following, with pleasure, I shall witness the inauguration of my successor in the chair of government." To this dinner as many were invited as could be accommodated at the President's table. Among them were Mr. and Mrs. Liston, the Marquis and Marchioness d'Yrujo, and the other foreign minis- ters, with their wives ; Mr. and Mrs. Pickering, Mr. and Mrs. Wol cott, Mr. and Mrs. McHenry, Mr. and [Mis. Gushing, Mr. and Mrs. Bingham,* Mr. Adams, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Jefferson, and Bishop White. " During the dinner," says the bishop, " much hilarity prevailed ; but on the removal of the cloth it was put an end to by the President — certainly without design. Having filled his glass, he addressed the company, with a smile on his countenance, saying, ' Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last time I shall drink your health, as a public man. I do it with sincerity, and wishing you * The fate of Mrs. Bingham, so frequently mentioned in these pages, presents an sar, of Trajan, or Alexander, on examining their features, you will still be led to ask what was their stature, and the form of their per- sons ; but if you discover, in a heap of ruins, the head or the limb of an antique Apollo, be not curious about the other parts, but rest assured that they all were conformable to those of a god. Let not this comparison be attributed to en- thusiasm ! It is not my intention to exaggerate ; I wish only to express the impression General Washington has left on my mind — the idea of a perfect whole, which cannot be the product of enthusiasm, which rather would reject it, since the effect of proportion is to diminish the idea of greatness. Brave without temerity, laborious without ambi- tion, generous without prodigality,_noble without pride, virtuous without severity, he seems always to have confined himself within those limits, where the virtues, by clothing themselves in more lively but more changeable and doubt- ful colors, may be mistaken for faults. This is the seventh year that he has commanded the army, and that he has obeyed the Congi-ess. More need not be said, especiallj' in America, where they know how to appreciate all the merit contained in this simple fact.' Let it be repeated that Cond6 was intrepid, Turenne prudent, Eugene adroit, and Catinet disinterested. It is not thus that Washington will be characterized. It will be said of him, at the end of a long civil war, he had nothing with which he could reproach himself. If any thing can be more marvellous than such a character, it is the unanimity of the public suffrages in his favor. Soldier, magistrate, people, all love and ad- mire him ; all speak of him in terms of tenderness and veneration. Does there then exist a virtue capable of restrain- ing the injustice of mankind? or, are glory and happiness too recently established in America, for envy to have deigned to pass the seas? In speaking of this perfect whole, of which General Washington furnishes the idea, I have not excluded exterior form. His stature is noble and lofty ; he is well made and exactly proportioned ; his physiognomy mild and agreeable, but such as renders it impossible to speak particularly of any of his features, so that in quitting him you have only the recollection of a fine face. He has neither a grave nor a familiar air. His brow is sometimes marked with thought, but never with inquietude. Inspiring respect, he inspires confidence, and his smile is always the smile of benevolence." The Abbe Robix, a French priest attached to the army of Eochambeau as chaplain, and evi dently a man of education, refinement, and liberality, gives us the following sketch of "Washing ton in his Nouveau Voyage dans VAmerique Septentrionale, pi;blished in Paris in 1*782. "I have seen General Washington, that most singular man — the soul and support of one of the greatest revolu- tions that has ever happened, or can hapipen. I fixed my eyes upon him with that keen attention which the sight of a great man always inspires. We naturally entertain a secret hope of discovering in the features of such illustrious persons some traces of that excellent genius which distinguishes them from, and elevates them above their fellow mortals. Perhaps the exterior of no man was better calculated to gratify these expectations than that of General Washington. lie is of a tall and noble stature, well proportioned, a fine, cheerful, open countenance, a simple and modest carriage; and his whole mien has something in it that interests the French, the Americans, and even enemies themselves in liis favor. Placed in a military view, at the head of a nation where each individual has a share in tho supreme legislative authority, and where coercive laws are yet in a great degree destitute of vigor, wliere tho climate and manners can add but little to their energy, where the spirit of party, private interest, slowness and national indo- lence, slacken, suspend and overthrow the best concerted measures; although so situated, he has found out a method of keeping his troops in the most absolute subordination : making them rivals in praising him ; fearing him even when he is silent, and retaining their full confidence in him after defeats and disgrace. Ilis reputation has, at length, arisen to a most brilliant height; and he may now grasp at the most unbounded power, without provoking envy or exciting suspicion. He has ever shown himself superior to fortune, and in tho most trying adversity has discovered resources till then unknown; and, as if his abilities only increased and dilated at the prospect of diOiculty, he is never better supplied than when he seems destitute of every thing, nor have his arms ever been so fatal to his enemies, as at the very instant when they had thought they had crushed him for ever. It is his to excite a spirit of heroi.sm and enthu Biasm in a people, who are by nature very little susceptible of it; to gain over the respect and homage of those whose interest it is to refuse it, and to execute his plans and projects by means unknown even to those who are his instru- ments; be is intrepid in dangers, yet never seeks them but when the good of Iiis country demands it, preferring rather to temporize and act upon the defensive, because he knows snch a mode of conduct best suits the genius and circum- stances of tlie nation, and that all he and they have to expect, depends upon time, fortitude, and patience : he is frugai APPENDIX. 42S »nd sober in regard to himself, but profuse in the public cause ; like Peter the Great, he has by defeats conducted hia army to victory; and like Fabius, but with fewer resources and more difficulty, he has conquered without fighting, and saved his country. Such are the ideas that arise in the mind, at the sight of this great man, in examining the events in which he has had a share, or in listening to those whose duty obliges them to be near his person, and conse- quently bsst display his true character. In all these extensive states they consider him in the light of a beneficent God, dispensing peace and happiness around him. Old men, women, and children, press about him when he accident- ally passes along, and think themselves happy, once in their lives, to have seen him — they follow him through the towns with torches, and celebrate his arrival by public illuminations. The Americans, that cool and sedate people, ■who in the midst of their most trying difficulties, have attended only to the directions and impulses of plain method and common reason, are roused, animated, and inflamed at the very mention of his name : and the first songs that sentiment or gratitude has dictated, have been to celebrate General Washington." Joseph Mandeillon, a French merchant and man of letters, established at Amsterdam, -whence he made a voyage to this country, has the following in his Spectateur Americain, published in 178-i : " "Why did I not receive from nature the genius and eloquence of the celebrated orators of Greece and Eome ? Oh that I could but for a moment snatch their pencils to trace rapidly the picture of the greatest man that America has ever produced, and one of the most celebrated that ever existed ! With what energy, with what enthusiasm would I not speak of his brilliant virtuosi who is the man that would be jealous of the homage I pay him? who is the man that would tax me with flattery ? We are no longer in those barbarous ages in which men oflered incense to tyrants, in which they dared to give the name of hero to men addicted to every vice, and whom they dreaded too much to offend. We are no longer in those ages when cruel sovereigns had mercenary writers to palliate their crimes, and to praise them for virtues they did not possess. Our more enlightened age presents to us in history sovereigns and men as they really were ; truth is its character. The public veneration for General Washington is the precious fruit of the sever- est examination of his conduct. Jealous of his glory and the approbation of his contemporaries, he enjoys them without arrogance and without presumption ; and if he does himself the justice to believe that he merits his celebrity, he like- wise knows that posterity, which raises and demolishes statues, will never injure the trophies erected to his memory. The hand of a barbarian only, who cannot read, or a savage ignorant of history, with the stroke of a hatchet would break his statue, supposing it to be that of a despot. But when from the ruins of the inscription they shall collect the name of AVa3hington,the chief of these barbarians orsava^s, instructed by tradition of the American revolution, will be avenged for the outrageous' attempt, and cause the monument to be repaired. On its base will be read, ignor- ance had overthrown it, and justice again raised it up : mortals revere his memory ! Having been the soul aud sup- port of one of the greatest events of the age, it is but just that Washington should pass his days without a cloud, in the bosom of repose, of honor and public veneration. Nature sometimes places the soul of an hero in a feeble body ; but when we speak of the brilliant actions of a man whose features and stature we are ignorant of, we are inclined to paint him as endowed with every valuable gift of nature, and please ourselves with believing that his features bear the image of that genius which elevates him above his fellow men. No person is better calculated to maintain this opinion than Washington. A proper size, noble and well proportioned, an open countenance, soft and sedate, but without any one striking feature, and when you depart from him, the remembrance only of a fine man will remain ; a fine figure, an exterior plain and modest, a dignity insinuating, and firm without severity, a manly boldness, an un- common penetration to seize the whole of things submitted to his judgment, and a complete experience in war and politics; equally useful in the cabinet and in the field of Mars, the idol of his country, the admiration of the enemy he has fought and vanquishe