ail to inspire, was added the high gratification
produced by observing the rapid improvements of the country, and the
advances made by the government, in acquiring the confidence of the
people. The numerous letters written by him after his return to
Philadelphia, attest the agreeable impressions made by these causes.
"In my late tour through the southern states," said he, in a letter of
the 28th of July, to Mr. Gouverneur Morris, "I experienced great
satisfaction in seeing the good effects of the general government in
that part of the union. The people at large have felt the security
which it gives, and the equal justice which it administers to them.
The farmer, the merchant, and the mechanic, have seen their several
interests attended to, and from thence they unite in placing a
confidence in their representatives, as well as in those in whose
hands the execution of the laws is placed. Industry has there taken
place of idleness, and economy of dissipation. Two or three years of
good crops, and a ready market for the produce of their lands, have
put every one in good humour; and, in some instances, they even impute
to the government what is due only to the goodness of Providence.

[Footnote 53: He stopped several days on the Potomac, where
he executed finally the powers vested in him by the
legislature for fixing on a place which should become the
residence of congress, and the metropolis of the United
States.]

"The establishment of public credit is an immense point gained in our
national concerns. This, I believe, exceeds the expectation of the
most sanguine among us; and a late instance, unparalleled in this
country, has been given of the confidence reposed in our measures, by
the rapidity with which the subscriptions to the bank of the United
States were filled. In two hours after the books were opened by the
commissioners, the whole number of shares was taken up, and four
thousand more applied for than were allowed by the institution. This
circumstance was not only pleasing as it related to the confidence in
government, but also as it exhibited an unexpected proof of the
resources of our citizens."

This visit had undoubtedly some tendency to produce the good
disposition which the President observed with so much pleasure. The
affections are perhaps more intimately connected with the judgment
than we are disposed to admit; and the appearance of the chief
magistrate of the union, who was t