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 Washington, 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 constitutional 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, sturdy integrity, and sound
judgment. With these, and Madison and Hamilton, Sherman and Chancellor
Livingston, and other personal friends, Washington commenced with
courage the great task before him.

FOOTNOTES:

[14] Griswold's _Republican Court_, page 137.

[15] Life of Washington, iv. 513.

[16] Address before the Philolexian Society of Columbia College, 1831.

CHAPTER IX.

WASHINGTON'S NOVEL POSITION--THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE--APPEARANCE OF
THE DEMOCRATIC ELEMENT IN SOCIETY--THE QUESTION OF A TITLE FOR THE
PRESIDENT DISCUSSED IN CONGRESS--THE RESULT--DISCRETION
NECESSARY--WASHINGTON ASKS ADVICE CONCERNING
CEREMONIALS--RESPONSES--WASHINGTON'S ARRANGEMENT FOR VISITS OF
CEREMONY--JEALOUSY OF THE PEOPLE--SILLY STORIES CONCE