Part 8 (1/2)
Adams, the American minister at the court of St. James, proposed, in 1785, to place the navigation and trade between all the dominions of the British crown and all the territories of the United States upon a basis of perfect reciprocity. This generous offer was not only declined, but the minister was haughtily a.s.sured that no other would be entertained.
Mr. Adams immediately recommended his government to pa.s.s navigation acts for the benefit of its commerce; but the Confederation had not power or vitality sufficient to take action. Some of the states attempted to legislate upon commercial matters, and the subject of duties for revenue; but their efforts were fruitless, except in discovering the necessity of a strong central power, and putting in motion causes which led to the formation of the federal government.
The earliest efforts of the new government, as we shall perceive presently, were directed to the maturing of schemes for imposing discriminating duties; and the eyes of British legislators were soon opened to the fact that American commerce was no longer at the mercy of thirteen distinct legislative bodies, nor subject to foreign control.
They perceived the importance of the American trade, and of a reciprocity in trade between the two countries. They perceived, also, that the interests of American commerce were guarded and its strength nurtured by a central power of great energy; and very soon a committee of parliament submitted a proposition, asking the United States to consent to a commercial arrangement precisely such as had been offered by Mr. Adams a few years before, and rejected with disdain.
Thus we perceive that, at the very outset, subjects of vast interest connected with domestic and foreign affairs--the preservation of the Union, the allaying of discontents, the liquidation of the public debt, the replenishment of the treasury, the integrity of treaties, the conciliation of hostile Indian tribes, the regulation and protection of commerce, the encouragement of trade, the creation of a revenue, the establishment of an independent national character, and the founding of a wise policy for the government--presented themselves in stern array to the mind of Was.h.i.+ngton, and almost overwhelmed him, by the magnitude of their proportions, with a sense of his impotence in giving general direction to the vast labors to be performed. He had few precedents as an executive officer to guide him, and no experience as the chief of civil affairs. ”I walk, as it were, upon untrodden ground,” he said; but, like a wise man, he asked counsel of those upon whose judgment he could rely.
At that moment the president was without const.i.tutional advisers.
Executive departments had not yet been organized; but in John Jay as secretary for foreign affairs, in General Knox as secretary of war, in Samuel Osgood, Walter Livingston, and Arther Lee, as controllers of the treasury--all of whom had been appointed by the old Congress--he found men of large experience, enlightened views, st.u.r.dy integrity, and sound judgment. With these, and Madison and Hamilton, Sherman and Chancellor Livingston, and other personal friends, Was.h.i.+ngton commenced with courage the great task before him.
FOOTNOTES:
[14] Griswold's _Republican Court_, page 137.
[15] Life of Was.h.i.+ngton, iv. 513.
[16] Address before the Philolexian Society of Columbia College, 1831.
CHAPTER IX.
WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S NOVEL POSITION--THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE--APPEARANCE OF THE DEMOCRATIC ELEMENT IN SOCIETY--THE QUESTION OF A t.i.tLE FOR THE PRESIDENT DISCUSSED IN CONGRESS--THE RESULT--DISCRETION NECESSARY--WAs.h.i.+NGTON ASKS ADVICE CONCERNING CEREMONIALS--RESPONSES--WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S ARRANGEMENT FOR VISITS OF CEREMONY--JEALOUSY OF THE PEOPLE--SILLY STORIES CONCERNING THE POMP OF THE PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT--CUSTOMS OF THE LEVEES ESTABLISHED--GRAND b.a.l.l.s--MRS. WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S JOURNEY TO NEW YORK--HER RECEPTION--HER DRAWING-ROOMS--WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S HABITS OF LIVING.
Was.h.i.+ngton's position was a novel one in every particular. He was the chosen head of a people who had just abolished royal government with all its pomp and parade, its t.i.tles and cla.s.s immunities, but who were too refined, and too conscious of their real social and political strength as a basis for a great nation, to be willing to trample upon all deferential forms and ceremonies that might give proper dignity to, and respect for deserving rulers, without implying servility.
In the convention that framed the const.i.tution, the representatives of the people exhibited this conservative feeling in a remarkable degree; and the extreme democratic sentiment, such as afterward sympathized with the radicals of the French revolution, was yet only a fledgling, but destined to grow rapidly, and to fly with swift wing over the land. Yet the spirit was manifest, and its coalescence with the state-rights feeling made circ.u.mspection in the arrangement of the ceremonials connected with the president and his household extremely necessary.
Already the question of a t.i.tle for the president had been discussed in Congress, and had produced a great deal of excitement in different quarters. The subject appears to have been suggested by Mr. Adams, the vice-president; and on the twenty-third of April the senate appointed Richard Henry Lee, Ralph Izard, and Tristram Dalton, a committee ”to consider and report what style or t.i.tles it will be proper to annex to the offices of president and vice-president of the United States.” On the following day the house of representatives appointed a committee to confer with that of the senate, and the joint committee reported that it was ”improper to annex any style or t.i.tle to the respective styles or t.i.tles of office expressed in the const.i.tution.”
The house adopted the report by unanimous vote, but the senate did not concur. The question then arose in the senate whether the president should not be addressed by the t.i.tle of _His Excellency_, and the subject was referred to a new committee, of which Mr. Lee was chairman.
A proposition in the house to appoint a committee to confer with the new senate committee elicited a warm debate. The senate committee, meanwhile, reported in favor of the t.i.tle of _His Highness the President of the United States of America, and Protector of their Liberties_; but they did not press the matter, as the inauguration had taken place in the meantime, and the house had addressed the chief magistrate, in reply to his inaugural address, simply as _President of the United States_.
With a view to preserve harmonious action, the senate determined to address him in the same way; at the same time resolving that, ”from a decent respect for the opinion and practice of civilized nations, whether under monarchical or republican forms of government, whose custom is to annex t.i.tles of respectability to the office of their chief magistrate, and that, in intercourse with foreign nations, a due respect for the majesty of the people of the United States may not be hazarded by an appearance of singularity, the senate have been induced to be of opinion that it would be proper to annex a respectable t.i.tle to the office of the president of the United States.”
This was the last action in Congress upon the subject, but it was discussed in the newspapers for some time afterward. The excitement upon the subject ran high in some places for a while, and Mr. Lee and Mr.
Adams, the reputed authors of the proposition, were quite unpopular. It gave Was.h.i.+ngton, who was averse to all t.i.tles, much uneasiness, lest, he said, it should be supposed by some, unacquainted with the facts, that the object they had in view was not displeasing to him. ”The truth is,”
he said, ”the question was moved before I arrived, without any privity or knowledge of it on my part, and urged, after I was apprized of it, contrary to my opinion; for I foresaw and predicted the reception it has met with, and the use that would be made of it by the adversaries of the government. Happily this matter is now done with, I hope never to be revived.”
The effect of this movement upon the public mind gave Was.h.i.+ngton a perception of the necessity of great circ.u.mspection in the arrangement of ceremonials, to which allusion has just been made. He also perceived the greater necessity of so regulating his personal matters as to secure the most time for attention to public business; for, immediately after his inauguration, he found that he was master neither of himself nor his home. ”By the time I had done breakfast,” he wrote to Dr. Stuart, ”and thence till dinner, and afterward till bed-time, I could not get rid of the ceremony of one visit before I had to attend to another. In a word, I held no leisure to read or to answer the despatches that were pouring in upon me from all quarters.”
As usual, Was.h.i.+ngton sought the advice of those in whom he had confidence. To Vice-President Adams, Jay, Hamilton, and Madison, he addressed a series of nine questions, and desired them to reflect upon and answer them. These all had reference to his intercourse with the public: whether a line of conduct equally distant from an a.s.sociation with all kinds of company on the one hand, and from a total seclusion from society on the other, would be proper; how such a system should best be made known to the public; whether one day in every week would not be sufficient to devote to visits of compliment; whether he should receive direct applications from those having business with him, setting apart a certain hour every morning; whether the customs of the presidents of the old Congress, in giving large dinner-parties to both s.e.xes twice a-week, ought not to be abolished, and invitations to dine at the president's house, informal or otherwise, be limited, in regard to persons, to six, eight, or ten official characters, including in rotation the members of both houses of Congress, on days fixed for receiving company; whether the public would be satisfied if he should give four great entertainments in a year, on such occasions as the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the alliance with France, the peace with Great Britain, and the organization of the general government; whether the president should make and receive informal visits from friends and acquaintances, for purposes of sociability and civility, and, if so, in what way they should be made so as not to be construed into visits from the president of the United States; and finally, whether it might not be advantageous for the president to make a tour through the United States during the recess of Congress, in order to become better acquainted with the people, and the circ.u.mstances and resources of the country.
”The president,” he said at the close of his queries, ”in all matters of business and etiquette, can have no object but to demean himself in his public character in such a manner as to maintain the dignity of his office, without subjecting himself to the imputation of superciliousness or unnecessary reserve.”
To these queries the gentlemen addressed promptly responded in writing.
The vice-president, who, as minister abroad, had seen much of royal etiquette, and become somewhat fascinated, as Jefferson said, ”by the glare of royalty and n.o.bility,” spoke of chamberlains, aids-de-camp, and masters of ceremonies; for he regarded the presidential office ”equal to any in the world.” ”The royal office in Poland,” he said, ”is a mere shadow in comparison with it;” and he thought that ”if the state and pomp essential to that great department were not in a good degree preserved, it would be in vain for America to hope for consideration with foreign powers.” He thought it would be necessary to devote two days each week to the reception of complimentary visits; that application to a minister of state should be made by those who desired an interview with the president; and in every case the character and business of the visitor should be communicated to the chamberlain or gentleman in waiting, who should judge whom to admit and whom to exclude. He thought the time for receiving visits should be limited to one hour each day; that the president might informally invite small parties of official characters and strangers of distinction to dine with him, without exciting public clamor; and that he might, as a private gentleman, make and receive visits; but in his official character, he should have no other intercourse with society than such as pertained to public business.
Hamilton desired the dignity of the presidential office to be well sustained, but intimated that care would be necessary ”to avoid extensive disgust or discontent.” Although men's minds were prepared, he said, for a ”pretty high tone in the demeanor of the executive,” he doubted whether so high as might be desirable would be tolerated, for the notions of equality were too strong to admit of a great distance being placed between the president and other branches of the government.