on the 4th of March, 1789. The City Hall, which stood at the corner of Wall and Nassau Streets, where the Custom House now stands, had been remodelled for their accommodation, and had received the name of Federal Hall. The first business, after the organization of the two houses, was to count the votes for President and Vice-President. Mr. Adams was the first to receive the official information of his election. At ten o'clock on the morning of the 12th of April, he left his residence in Braintree, and was escorted by a troop of horse to Boston. He was received with the ringing of bells, the firing of cannon, and the shouts of an immense concourse of people. His journey to New York was a continued ovation. At Hartford the manufacturers presented him. with a piece of broadcloth for a suit of clothes, and the corporation of New Haven presented him with the freedom of the city. The West-Chester Light Horse escorted him from the Connecticut line to King's Bridge, where he was met by a cavalcade of the heads of departments, a large number of members of Congress, military officers and private citizens, in carriages and on horseback, who conducted him through the swarming streets to the house of John Jay, in the lower part of the city. The President's mansion was the house since known as Bunker's Hotel, near the Bowling Green. Mr. Adams occupied a very beautiful residence at Richmond Hill.

The question at this time was very warmly agitated in Congress and throughout the country respecting the permanent location of the seat of government. In 1783, the Old Continental Congress adjourned from Philadelphia to Princeton, where it occupied for a time the halls of college. Thence it adjourned to New York, where it assembled in the spring of 1785. The question of the seat of government was brought before the Convention for forming the Constitution, which was assembled in Philadelphia. The Eastern States were in favor of New York. Pennsylvania pleaded for the banks of the Delaware. The more Southern States advo

cated the banks of the Potomac.

It was urged in favor of New York, that "honesty was in fashion" there, and that there was no city in the world so celebrated "for the orderly and decent behavior of its inhabitants." On the other hand, Dr. Rush wrote, "I rejoice in the prospect of Congress leaving New York. It is a sink of political vice. Do as you please, but tear Congress away from New York in any

way." The South-Carolinians objected to Philadelphia on account of the Quakers, who, they said, "were eternally dogging Southern members about with their schemes of emancipation." This question, which was connected with another respecting the assumption of State debts, threatened to "dissolve the Union." One morning, Jefferson met Hamilton on Broadway; and for an hour they walked up and down the crowded pavement, discussing the agitating theme. In conclusion, Jefferson proposed that Hamilton should dine with him the next evening, promising to invite a few other influential friends to talk the matter over. "It is impossible," said Jefferson, "that reasonable men, consulting together coolly, can fail, by some mutual sacrifices of opinion, to form a compromise which is to save the Union."

By uniting the two questions of the location of the Capitol and the assumption of the State debts, a compromise was erected. It was agreed that the government should be permanently estab lished on the Potomac, at a place called Conogocheague, now the District of Columbia; that ten years should be allowed for the erection of the necessary buildings for the accommodation of the gov ernment; and that, in the mean time, Philadelphia should be the metropolitan city. The people of New York were greatly vexed. Robert Morris, senator from Pennsylvania, was quite influential in accomplishing this result. He concluded, that, if the public offices were once opened in Philadelphia, they would continue there, and that Conogocheague would be forgotten. But for the influence of Washington, it is not improbable that this might have been the

case.

The irritation of New York received graphic expression, in a caricature which was posted throughout the city. It represented Robert Morris marching off with Federal Hall upon his shoulders. Its windows were crowded with members of both houses eagerly looking out, some encouraging, others anathematizing, the stout Pennsylvania senator as he bore away the prize. The Devil stood grinning upon the roof of Paulus Hook Ferry-house, beckoning in a patronizing way to Mr. Morris, and saying, "This way, Bobby; this way."

Mrs. Adams superintended the removal of their effects to Philadelphia. She thus describes her new residence at Bush Hill: "Though there remains neither bush nor shrub upon it, and very few trees except the pine grove behind it, yet Bush Hill is a

very beautiful place; but the grand and the sublime I left at Richmond Hill."

For a long time, Congress was not at all pleased with the change, and bitter were the complaints which were unceasingly uttered. But at length the murmurs subsided, and were lost in the excitement of politics and the gayeties of the republican court. The winter presented a continual succession of balls, dinner-parties, and similar festivities. "I should spend a very dissipated winter," Mrs. Adams writes, "if I were to accept one-half the invitations I receive, particularly to the routs, or tea and cards." In the midst of this external gayety, Congress was tossed by angry passions and stormy debates. Both Washington and Adams were assailed with intensest bitterness. Both were accused of monarchical tendencies, and of fondness for the pomp and pageantry of royalty. The Der ocratic party was now rapidly rising into controlling power. Still both Washington and Adams were re-elected, and again on the 4th of March, 1793, took the oaths of office.

There was certainly then a degree of ceremony observed, reflecting somewhat the pageantry of European courts, which has not since been continued. President Washington every fine day walked out. Two aides always accompanied him, who were kept at a respectful distance, never engaging in conversation: He had three very splendid carriages. He drove to church with two horses, into the country with four; and six magnificent creamcolored chargers drew him to the Senate. His servants wore a livery of white, trimmed with scarlet or orange. Both Washington and Adams were "gentlemen of the old school," reserved and somewhat stately in courtesy. An eye-witness describes the scene presented as Washington opened a session of Congress. An immense crowd filled the street through which he was to pass. As he left his carriage, he ascended the steps of the edifice, and paused upon the upper platform. "There he stood for a moment, distinctly seen by everybody. 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. Not 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 admiration. Every eye was riveted on that form, — the greatest, purest, most exalted of mortals."

Just about this time, that moral earthquake, the French Revolution, shook the continent of Europe. Mr. Adams felt no sympathy with the French people in this struggle; for he had no confidence in their power of self-government, and utterly abhorred the atheistic character of those philosophers, who, in his judgment, inaugurated the movement. He wrote to Dr. Price,

"I know that encyclopedists and economists, Diderot and D'Alembert, Voltaire and Rousseau, have contributed to this event more than Sidney, Locke, or Hoadly, - perhaps more than the American Revolution; and I own to you, I know not what to make of a republic of thirty million atheists."

On the other hand, Jefferson's sympathies were strongly enlisted in behalf of the French people, struggling to throw off the yoke of intolerable despotism. Hence originated the alienation between these two distinguished men. Washington at first hailed the French Revolution with hope; but, as its disorders became more developed, he leaned more strongly to the views of Mr. Adams. Two very powerful parties were thus soon organized. Adams was at the head of the one whose sympathies were with England. Jefferson led the other in sympathy with France.

England proclaimed war against the French republicans; played the tyrant over weaker nations upon the ocean; and, despising our feeble navy, insulted and harassed our commerce. This conduct

swept increasingly the current of popular feeling towards Mr. Jefferson and his party. Upon the retirement of Washington, at the close of his second presidential term, there was a very hotly contested election; and Mr. Adams, by a slender majority, was chosen President; and Thomas Jefferson, Vice-President.

Weary of the cares of state, and longing to return to his loved home at Mount Vernon, Washington gladly transferred the sceptre to the hands of his successor. Henry VII. said of his son, who was eager for the crown, "Alas! he little knows what a heap of cares and sorrows he snatcheth at." John Adams found indeed, as even Washington had found before him, the crown of empire to be a crown of thorns. On the 4th of March, 1797, at Philadelphia, John Adams was inaugurated President of the United States. At

an early hour in the morning, Chestnut Street, in the vicinity of Congress Hall, was densely crowded. The hall itself was thronged, many of the members surrendering their seats to the ladies. Mr. Jefferson first took the oath as Vice-President. At twelve o'clock, Washington entered the hall, followed in a few moments by Mr. Adams. They were both received with enthusiasm. As soon as the oath had been administered, Mr. Adams pronounced his inaugural. At the close of the ceremony, Washington retired, followed by a tumultuous throng, eager to catch a last look of the object of their veneration. Mr. Adams had but just reached his residence when President Washington called upon him, and cordially congra tulated him with wishes for his happy, successful, and honorable administration.

These were stormy days, and it required great wisdom safely to navigate the Ship of State. That Mr. Adams's administration was conscientious, patriotic, and able, will now be universally conceded. In the then divided state of the public mind, an archangel could not have conciliated the hostile parties. The excitement which the French Revolution created in this country, as the community ranged themselves on the side of England or of France, was intense. For four years, Mr. Adams struggled through almost a constant tempest of assaults. He was never truly a popular man. The party arrayed against him, with the Vice-President at its head, was powerful in numbers, and still more powerful in ability. He was not a man of conciliatory manners or of winning speech. After four years of harassment, which must have been the four least happy years of his life, he was mortified by losing a re-election. Jefferson was chosen President; Aaron Burr, VicePresident; and John Adams was left to return to his farm at Quincy. His chagrin was great, so great as to lead him to the lamentable mistake of refusing to remain in Philadelphia to witness the inauguration of his successful rival.

There had ensued a breach in the friendship of these illustrious men, which was not closed for thirteen years. But it is the duty of the historian to record that there was never a more pure and conscientious administration in this country than that of John Adams. Posterity has given its verdict in approval of nearly all his measures. In almost every conflict, it is now admitted that he was in the right, and his opponents in the wrong. Though the treatment he had received wounded him deeply, and he keenly