The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-05-01

!, until long after WaShingtOn's inauguration
: For months New York was debatabl
e ground. Her territory extending from tn
n sea to the lakes made her the keystone O
Y the arch. Had Arnold's treason in tn
S revolution not been foiled by the capture o
+ Andre, England would have held New Yorl
g and subjugated the Colonies, and in thi
= crisis, unless New York assented hostil
+ and powerful commonwealth dividing tn
states, made the union impossible.
Success was due to confidence in Wash
lngton and the genius of Alexander Hamil
ton. Jefferson was the inspiration of in
: dependence, but Hamilton was the incarna
ton OF the constitution. In no age mol
country has there appeared more precO
, clouS or amazing intelligence than Hamil
, ton. At seventeen he annihilated the
president of his college, upon the question
, OF the rights of the colonies, in a series OF
anonymous articles which were credited tC
the ablest men in the country: at forty
seven, when he died, his briefs had become
the law of the land, and his fiscal system
was, and after a hundred years remains
the rule and policy of our government. He
gave life to the corpse of national credit
and the strength for self-preserVation and
aggressive power to the federal union.
Both as an expOunder of the PRINCIPLES and
an administrator Of the affairs of govern
ment, he stands supreme and unrivalled in
American history. His eloquence was so
magnetic, his language so clear, and his
reasoning so irresistible that he swayed
with equal ease popular assemblies, grave
senates, and learned judges. He captured
the people of the whole country for the
constitution by his papers in the FederaEist,
and conquered the hostile majority in the
! New York convention by the splendor of
| his oratOry
But the multitudeS whom no argument
could convince, who saw in the executive
power and centralized force of the COnsti-
| tuition, under another name, the dreaded
usurpation Of king and ministry. were sat
istied only with the assurance, Washing
ton viii be President Good, cried John
Lamb, the able leader of the Sons of Lib
ertY, as he dropped his opposition; for to
no other mortal man would | trust author
| ity so enormous Washington will be Pres
ident , was the battle-cry of the COnstitu-
| ton. 1t quoted alarm and gave confidence
TO the timid and courage to the weak. The
country responded with enthusiastic una
nimity, but the chief with the greatest re
luctance. In the supreme moment
of victory, when the world ex-
pected him to follow the prece-
dents of the past, and perpetuate
the power grateful country would will
ingly have left in his hands, he had resigned
and retired to Mount Vernon to enjoy in
private station his well-earned rest. The
convention created by his exertions to pre-
vent, as he said, the decline of our federal
dignity into insignificant and wretched
fragments of empire had called him to pre-
side over its deliberations. Its work made
possible the realization of his hope that, we
might survive as an Independent republic,
and again he sought the seclusion of his
home. But, after the triumph of the war,
and the formation of the Constitution, came
the third and final crisis: the initial move
r. of rr-1inh 70,
the infant state the steadier steps of en-
pire.
HE alone could stay assault and inspire
confidence, while the great and complica-
ted machinery of organized government
was put in order and set in motion Doubt
existed nowhere except in his modest and
unambitiOus heart. My movements to the
chair of government he said, will be &C
cOmpanied by feelings not unlike those of
culprit who is going to tho place of his exc
cution. So unwilling am 1, in the evening
of life, nearly consumed in public cares, to
quit peaceful abode for an ocean of diff
cultfeS, without that competency of pGlit,-
cal skill, abilities and inclination, which
are necessary to manage the helm His
whole life had been spent in repeated
sacrifices for his cOuntry's welfare, and he
did not hesitate now, though there was an
undertone of ineXpressible sadness in this
entry in his dairy on the night of his de-
parture: About 10 o'clock l babe adieu to
Mount Vernon, TO private life, and TO do
nestle felicity, and with mind oppressed |
with more anxious and painful sensations
tlaG l have words to express, set out for
New York with the best disposition to
render service to my country in obedience
to its call, out with less hope Of answering /
It's expectations
No cOnqUeror was ever accorded such
triumph, no ruler ever received such a wei |
come. In this memorable march of six
days to the capitol, it was the pride of the
states to accompany him with themasses of |
their people to their borders that the citi- |
zen5 of the next commonwealth might es-
cOrt him through its territory. 1t was the |
glory of cities to receive him with eve V |
civic honor at their gates, and entertain |
him as the savior of their liberties. He |
rode under triumphal arches from which |
children lowered laurel Wreaths upon his |
brow. The roadways were strewn with |
flowers, and as they were crushed beneath |
his horses hoOfs, their sweet incense |
waited to Heaven theiever-asC pending pray |
ers of mis- loving cOuntrymen for his life |
and safety. The swelling anthem Of graft |
tude and reverence greeted and follow d !
him along the country side and through the |
crowded streets: Long live George |
Washington! Long live the father of his |
peOplen
his GuUTy luIO NEW i 9TH was worthy |
the city and state. He was met by the |
chief officers of the retiring government of !
the country, by the governor of the com
and the whole population This |
superb harbor was alive with fleets and |
flags, and the ships of other nations with |
saluteS from their guns, and the cheers of |
their crews added to the joyous acclaim.
But as the captains who had asked the |
privilege, bending proudly to their oars, |
rowed the Presidents barge swiftly |
through these inspiring scenes, Wash |
ington's mind and heart was full of remin- |
iscence and foreboding.
He had visited New York thirty -three |
years before, also in the month of April, in |
the full perfection of his early manhood,
fresh from Braddock's bloody field, and
wearing the only laurels of the battle, bear
ing the prophetic blessing of the venerable
President Davies, of Princeton college, as,
That heroic youth Colonel Washington,
whom l cannot but hope providence has
hitherto preserved in so signal a manner
for some important service to the country
1t was fair daughter of our state whose
smiles allured him here, and whose coy
confession that her heart was another's re-
corded his only failure, and saddened his
departure. Twenty years passed, and he
stood before the New York Congress, on
this very spot, the unanimously chosen
commander-in-chief of the continental
army, urging the people to more vigorous
measures, and made painfully aware of the
increased desperation of the struggle from
the aid to be given to the enemy by domes-
tic sympathizers, when he knew that the
same local military company which es-
corted him was to perform the like service
for the British Governor Tyron on hiI
landing on the morrow. Returning for the
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