Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1829-03-06
THE INAUGURATION.

liz IN OhAl
In the following neat article, which we cop!
from the Rhode Island Literary Cadet, the in
riden,s Of the ceremony which took place a
The Capitol are happily anticipated:
"The Fourth of March is a proud day TO A.
mericars-the time when the ruler whom tbe,
have appointed, takes his seat in the Chair oil
our Confederation, and shows to the Nations
Of the world the sight OF a ruler oil
a great and powerful people, receiving al their
hands his new honora, or resigning them as
they shall STE Fit to determine. 1t is a lesson fol
monarchs who are born to sceptres that they
dishonor, and who tyrannize over the People
whom they both fear and despise. 1t is impo-
sing in the extreme, without being gaudy-it is
commanding, and respectful, and orderly, with
gu, the show Of authority or the bris,le Of a
bayonet.
The legal Governor Of fifteen millions Of free
People takes the Constitution which governs
them, and uncovered, in their presence, and in
the presence OF Heaven, swears to support it
against all and every thing. No coronation that
ever took place upon the face Of the globe will
compare with it. There are the Representatives
Of the People, from the Eas,, the West, the
North, and the South; from the Canadian lines
10 the mouth Of the Yellow Stone, of different
manners, OF different habits, and of diff rent
costume-thcre they stand, the constituted au-
thori,ies Of The land we inhabit. fearing nothing
but their consciences and their God, and ame>
nable to none but their constituents, and the
laws they themselves have made-there they
stand beneath the dome of one common Senate
House, which unites in one body and one mind
there is the hardy Norrhener, with his New
England dress and his New England notions;
his very coat tells you that he represents a
Christian People; there, too is The inhabi'ant Of
the lowland OF the Southern regions, The marks
Of application, as we'll as Of the climate, are in
his countenance, as well as in his whole sys-
tenn; beside is his robust brother from the high
hills Of Santee, With the look Of a f. arless
and a frerborn republican; there, too. is him
from the West, from. that country where he
son sets, which we have thought OF and read OF,
but which mos, Of Us have never seen; the cha
racter of his country is imprinted upon his
brow; there is a catalogue OF his hardships on
every line Of his expressive countenance, and a
list Of the dangers he has encountered In his
eye.
There, too, is the man whom they are about
10 invest with q civic wreath that will never
fade. Clad in a plain sui, Of black, he appears
before his fellow citizens, he advances 10 the
cen.re of the hall, where he meets the yenera-
BILE, the learned, the good, the beloved, Chief
Justice Marshall. The dark robe Of his office
contrasts with the multitude Of costumes "a
round, and the Ministers Of foreign Powers are
struck with a mien that they have never seen
in any Of their Kings. lie calls upon Andrew
Jackson to lay his hand upon The Constitution,
and swear in the face Of Heaven, in the face OF
the assembled Senate, to cherish and protect 1t.
Amid the stiffness. Of The surrounding spccta-
tors, the oath ascerds to the dome OF the spa
cious hall, aud rolls along its arch, its echo
thrilling through The heart Of every one within
hearing.
This done, the President elect proceeds 10 the
ro.trum, and makes his inaugural address, and
the ceremony is over. In a single hour The
officer holding The highest situation in the
world is invested with his authority; his only
escort the tribunal before which he swears, his
only regalia a single volume Of the laws OF the
land. During this time there has been requi-
red no gusrd Of soldiers TO keep back an I'M
ruIy mob. No man approaches TO disturb the
ceremony, and none enters the galleries with
out uncovering himself Of his own accord.
Is i, not a lesson for the Ministers Of the
Kings Of Europe which will sink deeply into
,beir bo.oms and find its own moral"