ho was to be Postmaster-General,
was also a graduate of Yale College. He had been a member of the
New York State Legislature and of Congress, and the unsuccessful
Whig candidate for Vice-President in 1836. He was a genial, rosy-
faced gentleman, whose "silver gray" hair afterward gave its name
to the party in New York which recognized him as its leader.

The Attorney-General was J. J. Crittenden, a Kentuckian, whose
intellectual vigor, integrity of character, and legal ability had
secured for him a nomination to the bench of the Supreme Court by
President Adams, which, however, the Democratic Senate failed to
confirm. Kept in the shade by Henry Clay, he became somewhat
crabbed, but his was one of the noblest intellects of his generation.
His persuasive eloquence, his sound judgment, his knowledge of the
law, his lucid manner of stating facts, and his complete grasp of
every case which he examined had made him a power in the Senate
and in the Supreme Court, as he was destined to be in the Cabinet.

The inaugural message had been prepared by General Harrison in
Ohio, and he brought it with him to Washington, written in his
large hand on one side of sheets of foolscap paper. When it was
submitted to Mr. Webster, he respectfully suggested the propriety
of abridging it, and of striking from it some of the many classical
allusions and quotations with which it abounded. He found, however,
that General Harrison was not disposed to receive advice, and that
he was reluctant to part with any evidence of his classic scholarship.
Colonel Seaton used to relate with great gusto how Mr. Webster once
came late to a dinner party at his house, and said, as he entered
the dining-room, when the soup was being served: "Excuse my
tardiness, but I have been able to dispose of two Roman Emperors
and a pro-Consul, which should be a sufficient excuse."

General Harrison was inaugurated on Thursday, March 4th, 1841.
The city had filled up during the preceding night, and the roar of
the morning salutes was echoed by the bands of the military as they
marched to take their designated places. The sun was obscured,
but the weather was mild, and the streets were perfectly dry. At
ten o'clock a procession was formed, which escorted the President-
elect from his temporary residence, by way of Pennsylvania Avenue,
to the Capitol. No regular troops were on parade, but the uniformed
militia of the District of Columbia, reinforced by others from