Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1889-05-03
The Centennial.


ton, the first President of the United |
States, took the oath of office as such
standing at or near the corner of Wall !
and Broad streets in New York City. |
1t was an occasion long to be remem-
bcred and cherished in the minds and |
breasts OF all the Anglo Saxon race,
for on that day there was established |
on the sol of America the nucleus
of nation, under then untried form
of government, that the political sages |
for ages past had declared was inn
practicable.
Therefore when the suspicious event
rolled around, in the course OF time,
1t was not without many misgivings
that Washington proceeded from his
home in Mount Vernon and journeyed
on, almost alone, to New York, ar
irving at what is now the Battery
Park about 10 o'clock on the morning
OF the 3Oth of April. His arrival in
such simple, unostentatious manner
was the signal for a general awaken
ing of the people, who, as if with one
accord, waited upon him, recognizing
as they did in the Father OF this CONT
nent, the delivercr of the then young
republic from the hands and from out
the oppression OF George the Third, of
England, and his prime minister Pitt.
Immediately on his arrival he was
escorted to a spot near where the
present sub-treasury now stands.
Thousands of his countrymen stood
around all eager to see their beloved
commander and soon to be ruler, take
upon himself the obligation that
made the Republic they had fought
for, one of the nations of
the earth. THIS done, a huzzah
went up that historians tell us "awoke
the sleeping energies of the land and
proclaimed to the world that an infant
nation had been born"
In his inaugural, Washington took
occasion to refer in plain terms to his
call to the Presidency, and in the open
ing paragraph of his inaugural address
said:
Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and of
the House Of MISUNDERSTANDING
the vicissitudes incident to life, no
event could have filled me with greater
auxieties than that of which the notifi-
cation was transmitted by your order
and received on the 14th day of the
present month. On the one hand
was summoned by my country, whose
voice l can never hear but with veneer
alton and love, from a retreat which l
had chosen with the fondest predilec-
ton, and in my flattering hopes, with
an immutable decision, as the asylum
OF my declining years; a retreat which
was rendered every day more neces-
sary, IS well as more dear to me, by
the addition of habit to inclination,
and of frequent interruptions in my
health to the gradual waste committed
on it by time. On the other hand,
the magnitude and difficulty of the
trust to which the voice of my country
called me, being sufficient to waken in
the wisest and most experienced of
her citizens distrustful scrutiny into
his own qualifications, could not but
ovelwhelm with dependence, one,
who, inheiiting inferior endowments
from nature, and Impractical in the
duties of civil administration, ought
to be peculiarly conscious of his own
DEFICIENCIES. In this conflict of
emotions all dare aver is that it has
been my faithful study to collect my
duty from just appreciation Of every
! circumstance by which it might be
affected. All 1 dare hope, is that if, in
executing this task, have been too
much swayed by greatful remem-
brance Of former instances. or by an
afectionate sensibility to this trans
cendent proof of the confidence of my
fellow-oitizens, and have thence too
little consulted my incapacity as well
as disinclination for the weighty and
untried cares before me, my error will
be palliated by the motives which
misled me, and its consequences be
Judged by my country with some
share of the Partially in which they
Originated.
Mark well the language of the man
"On the one hand, am summoned
by my country whose voice I can
never hear but with veneration and
love-" This short sentences expresses
a world of thought, q sea of reasoning
All the writers who have ever at
tempted to extoll the virtues OF this
man have never done him justice mol
can they.
One hundred years have come ant
gone, and with them many q chang,
in the affairs Of this nation. Tire,
timee has the nation been convulsel
by war, once with the mother country
in 1879, once with Mexico in 1847 ant
again with ourselves in q civil STRIFE
that the like of which the world has
never seen. From all of these, she hal
emerged purified by the fame, strong
er and healthier than ever, and is to
day the strongest and wealthiest ma
ton on the face of the earth.
| THE Seattle Electric Street-car ser.
vice is now in operation. It is a de-
cided success. 1t surpasses all others
Its cheapness Of construction as well
as operation, compared with the cable
I system, is remarkable, and unerringly
points to it as the railway OF the future