.

"_Resolved_, That this house will wait on the president of
the United States, in condolence of this national calamity.

"_Resolved_, That the speaker's chair be shrouded with
black, and that the members and officers of the house wear
mourning during the session.

"_Resolved_, That a joint committee of both houses be
appointed, to report measures suitable to the occasion; and
expressive of the profound sorrow with which Congress is
penetrated on the loss of a citizen, first in war, first in
peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen."[144]

The house proceeded to appoint a committee of sixteen, with Marshall at
their head, to act conjointly with a corresponding senate committee in
carrying out the last resolution. A message was soon afterward received
from the president, communicating a letter from Mr. Lear that announced
the death of Washington. He sent the same to the senate; and that body,
on the twenty-third, adopted an appropriate address to the executive,
and received from him a response.[145]

The secretary of war issued an order on the nineteenth, requesting
General Hamilton to carry into effect the directions of Congress
concerning funeral honors to the commander-in-chief, and the wearing of
crape in token of mourning. For that purpose, Hamilton issued general
orders, prefaced by a most touching eulogy of the dead. "The voice of
praise," he said, "would in vain endeavor to exalt a character
unrivalled on the lists of true glory. Words would in vain attempt to
give utterance to that profound and reverential grief which will
penetrate every American bosom, and engage the sympathy of an admiring
world."

The secretary of the navy also issued orders in accordance with the
resolutions of Congress and the direction of the president. Vessels in
domestic and foreign ports were ordered to "be put in mourning for one
week, by wearing their colors half-mast high," and the officers and
marines were directed to wear crape on the left arm for six months.

On the twenty-third, both houses of Congress adopted the following joint
resolutions:--

"_Resolved_, by the senate and house of representatives of
the United States of America, in Congress assembled. That a
marble monument be erected by the United States at the
capitol of the city of Washington, and that the family of
General Washington be requested to permit his body to be
depos