my opinion, is an undertaking of a
very serious nature. I am not a little anxious to know the result of
it.... This matter, favorable or otherwise in the issue, will require to
be laid before the Congress, that the motives which induced the
expedition may appear."

On his arrival in Philadelphia, Washington received a letter from
Governor Clinton, of New York, giving an account of Harmer's ill success
against the Indians, reported by Captain Brant, the celebrated Mohawk
warrior of the Revolution. "If this information of Captain Brant be
true," Washington wrote to Clinton in reply, "the issue of the
expedition against the Indians will indeed prove unfortunate and
disgraceful to the troops, who suffered themselves to be ambuscaded."

It was even so. The expedition, as we have already observed, failed in
its efforts, and the savages took courage for future operations. An
expensive war of four or five years' duration ensued.

CHAPTER XV.

SEAT OF GOVERNMENT AT PHILADELPHIA--CONSEQUENCES OF THE
REMOVAL--RENTING OF THE PRESIDENTIAL MANSION--WASHINGTON'S PRUDENCE
AND ECONOMY ILLUSTRATED--THE PRESIDENT AND FAMILY IN
PHILADELPHIA--MRS. WASHINGTON'S RECEPTIONS--GAYETY IN THE
METROPOLIS--WASHINGTON AND HIS PUBLIC DUTIES--HIS SECOND ANNUAL
MESSAGE AND ITS SUGGESTIONS--HAMILTON'S NATIONAL BANK
SCHEME--OPPOSITION TO IT--A BANK ESTABLISHED--NEW TARIFF SCHEME
ADOPTED--EXCISE LAW--ESTABLISHMENT OF A MINT--INDIAN AFFAIRS--ST.
CLAIR APPOINTED COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF IN THE NORTHWEST--ADJOURNMENT OF
CONGRESS.

Philadelphia, as we have already observed, was chosen to be the
residence of the federal government for ten years; and there, in the
courthouse, on the first Monday in December, 1790, the first Congress
assembled to hold their third session.

The removal of the seat of government from New York had caused much
dissatisfaction in that quarter, while many Philadelphians experienced
equal dissatisfaction, but for different reasons. Rents, prices of
provisions, and other necessaries of life, greatly advanced. "Some of
the blessings anticipated from the removal of Congress to this city are
already beginning to be apparent," wrote a Philadelphian. "Rents of
houses have risen, and I fear will continue to rise shamefully; even in
the outskirts they have lately been increased from fourteen, sixteen,
and eighteen pounds, to twenty-five, twenty-eight, and thirty. This is
oppression. Our markets