o his own house. In the evening a most magnificent and
brilliant display of fireworks was exhibited at the Fort, under the
direction of Colonel Beuman. The houses of the French and Spanish
Ministers were illuminated in a superb and elegant manner; a number of
beautiful transparent paintings were exhibited, which did infinite
credit to the parties concerned in the design and execution.

* * * * *

April 30. We have had this day one of those impressive sights which
dignify and adorn human nature. At nine o'clock all the churches were
opened--and the people, in prodigious numbers, thronged these sacred
temples--and, with one voice, put up their prayers to Almighty God for
the safety of the President.

At twelve the procession moved to the Federal State House, where in the
gallery fronting Broad Street, in the presence of an immense concourse,
His Excellency took the oath, the book being placed on a velvet cushion.
The Chancellor then proclaimed him President--and in a moment the air
trembled with the shouts of the citizens, and the roar of artillery. His
Excellency, with that greatness of soul--that dignity and calmness,
which are his characteristics--then bowed to his "fellow-citizens"--who
again huzzaed.

* * * * *

From "_History of the Arts of Design in America_," by William Dunlap:

Major L'Enfant was a native of France; he was employed to rebuild after
a design of his own the old New York City Hall in Wall Street, fronting
Broad Street; making therefrom the Federal Hall of that day (1789). The
new building was for the accommodation of Congress; and in the balcony
upon which the Senate Chamber opened, the first President of the United
States was inaugurated. A ceremony which I witnessed, and which for its
simplicity, the persons concerned in it, the effect produced upon my
country and the world, in giving stability to the Federal Constitution,
by calling Washington to administer its blessings, remains on my mind
unrivaled by any scene witnessed, through a long life, either in Europe
or America.

* * * * *

From Dunlap's "_School History of New York_":

In 1789, I saw Washington divested of the garb of war, place his hand on
the Bible, and swear to support that Constitution under which I have
since lived happily half a century. Between the pillars of the old City
Hall, in Wall Street, as altered for the reception of t