especially violent in Philadelphia, in such papers as The Aurora, was hushed, and most people could unite in honoring the man who was “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." Despite his exterior coldness, Washington felt deeply the unjust and bitter attacks of his enemies, and the Morris mansion on Market Street was the scene of many an outbreak of indignation and temper. He had abundant reasons for advising in his Farewell Address to beware of the violence of party feeling. In 1800, according to previous arrangement, the Federal government removed its business southward to the new capital. In December, 1799, the State government also emigrated. As early as 1787 the assembly had adopted a resolution that Philadelphia was an unfortunate location" for the capital of Pennsylvania. In 1795 the House, by a vote of thirty-six to thirty-four, decided to go to Carlisle, but the Senate did not concur. Three years later the same voting was repeated, this time the place being Wrightstown, York County. In 1799 both houses concurred in a bill to go to Lancaster, and Governor Mifflin signed it.

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The reasons for this change were various. was toilsome and expensive, there was an element of fairness in distributing it as evenly as possible. The plague had given abundant cause for suspicion as to the general healthfulness of Philadelphia. But perhaps, more than all, the old causes which divided the east from the west and centre of the State, growing out of racial and sectarian distinctions, the causes which divided the sections in revolutionary times, when the United States Constitution was to be ratified, and when national parties were formed, had the profoundest influence. The counties, except those close to Philadelphia, voted unanimously for another capital. There was an evident distrust of the city and its influences, and in the final vote in the lower house, only twenty-four representatives stood up for the metropolis against forty-four for Lancaster.

The fear of the mob, as evidenced in the forcible means used to procure a quorum when the Federal Constitution

came up for consideration in the Legislature, was often given as a reason why free speech could not be secured in the great city. In the opinion of a contemporary writer of credit, this was the chief motive for the change.

This double departure of government was a serious loss to Philadelphia. She had been the most important city of the States, the seat not only of government, but of the best intellectual life, and the best financial and benevolent institutions. Some of this she retained, and her growth in numbers did not cease, but there was hereafter something missing from her life, which she possessed both under the Quaker domination of pre-revolutionary times and the political preeminence which, for a quarter of a century, followed 1775. While containing many excellent people, her corporate history for a long time was comparatively commonplace. Her reputation for "slowness" and conservatism now began to grow, and the country ceased to look to her for good government, for intellectual leadership, or for commercial supremacy.

CHAPTER XV.

1799-1810.

Governor McKean-Federal Mistakes-Duane-Election of 1800Demand for a Pure Democracy-Simon Snyder-State Politics— Gideon Olmstead's Claim-Internal Improvements-Steam Navigation-Stephen Girard-Pittsburg-Effect of the Embargo-Literary Standing of Philadelphia-General Crudeness.

THOMAS MIFFLIN was succeeded as Governor of Pennsylvania by Thomas McKean, who also served three triennial terms. He was now sixty-five years old. He was born in Chester County, of humble parentage, and was educated at the New London Academy. He studied law, and at twenty-eight was elected to the Delaware Assembly, where he served eleven years. He was a member of the Continental Congress from Delaware through most of its existence, and was its president in 1781. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a colonel in the army. In 1777 he was made Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which position he retained till 1799, holding it in addition to his other appointments from both Delaware and Pennsylvania. He was the author of the constitution of Delaware, and a member of the convention of 1790, which produced the constitution of Pennsylvania. His versatile abilities and public usefulness may be judged by this long list of offices, and he was now to round out his public career by nine years in the governor's chair. He was a firm, inflexible, honest, plain-speaking, and at times violent man, and, though a strong Democrat, was far removed from a demagogue, not using doubtful arts to increase his popularity. Yet he had much popular strength, and his opponents recognized it. It is said that a German opposing a bill to legalize life insurance, said, "If we pass this bill, old McKean will get his life insured, and so we shall