Arizona weekly citizen., 1889-05-04

difficulties, without any competency of political skill, abilities and inclination, which are necessary to manage the helm" His whole life had been spent in repeat ed sacrifices for his country's welfare, and he did not hesitate now, though there is an undertone of inexpressible sadness in this entry in his diary on the night of his departure: About ten o'clock I bid adieu to Mount Vernon, to private life, and to domestic felicity, and with mind oppressed with more anx- ious and painful sensations than I have words to express, set out for New York with the best disposition to render ser vice to my country in obedience to its call, but with less hope of answering its expectations"
 No conqueror was ever accorded such triumph, no ruler ever received such
 welcome. In this memorable march of
 six days to the Capitol, it was the pride of states to accompany him with the
 masses of their people to their
 borders, that the citizens of the next | Commonwealth might escort him through its territory. Itwas the glory of cities to receive him with every 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 the ever-as- cending prayers of his loving country
 men for his life and safety. The swell ing anthem of gratitude and reverence greeted and followed him along the country side and through the crowded streets Long live George Washing ton Long live the father of his peo-
 pie r'
 His entry into New York 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 | Commonwealth, and the whole popula- tion. 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 Presi- dents Barge swiftly through these in | spiring scenes, Washington's mind and heart were full of reminiscence and fore
 boding.
 | He had visited New York thirty three years before, also in the month of April, in the full perfection of his early man. hood, fresh from Braddock's bloody
 field, and wearing the only laurels of the
 battle, bearing the prophetic blessing of | the venerable President Davis, of Prince ton College, as, "That heroic youth Colonel Washington, whom cannot but
 hope Providence has hitherto preserved in so signal manner for some import ant service to the country" It was a fair daughter of our State whose smiles allured him here, and whose coy confession that her heart was anoth-
 er's recorded his only failure, and sad
 dened 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 increas-
 ed 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 ser
 vice for the British Governor Tyron on
 his landing on the morrow. Returning
 to the defence of the city the next sum-
 mer, he executed the retreat from Long
 Island, which secured from Frederick
 the Great the opinion, that a great
 commander had appeared, and at liar
 lem Heights he won the first American
 victory of the Revolution, which gave
 that confidence to our raw recruits
 against the famous veterans of Europe
 which carried our army triumphantly
 through the war. Six years more Of un
 told suffering, of freezing and starving
 camps, of marches over the snow by
 bare-footed soldiers to heroic attack and : splendid victory, of despair with an un , paid army, and of hope from the gener !. ous assistance of France, and peace haC come and Independence triumphed. As the last soldier of the invading army em |: barks, Washington at the head of the patriotic host enters the city, receive: the welcome and gratitude of its people and in the tavern which faces us across the way, in silence more eloquent thar speech, and with tears which choke the . words, he bids farewell forever to hi: companions in arms. Such were the crowding memories of the past suggested !. to Washington in 17S9 by his approach to New York. But the future had none , of the splendor of precedent and bril- , liance of promise which have since at tended the Inauguration of our Presi dents. An untried scheme, adopted mainly because its administration was tC be confided to him, was to be put II practice. He knew that he was to bt met at every step of constitutional pro gress by factions temporarily husheC
 into unanimity by the terrific force oi
 the tidal wave which was bearing him tC
 the Presidents seat, but fiercely hostile r upon questions affecting every power Oi
 nationality and the existence of the Fed , eral government.
 Washington was never dramatic, but , on great occasions he not only rose tC
 the full ideal of the event, he became himself the event. One hundred years
 ago to day, the procession of foreign Am bassadOrs, of Statesmen, and Generals of Civic Societies and Military COmpa nies, which escorted him, marched from { Franklin Square to Pearl street, through Pearl to Broad, and up Broad to this spot, but the people saw only Washing ton. As he stood upon the steps of the old Government building here, the
 thought must have occurred to him that
 1t was cradle of liberty, and as such giving a bright omen for the future. In these halls in 1735, in the trial of John
 Zenger, had been established for the
 first time in its history, the liberty oi the press. Here the New York Assem-
 ply in 1764, made the protest against the Stamp Act, and proposed the General Conference, which was the beginning of . United Colonial action. In this old State House in 1765 the Stamp Act
 Congress, the first and the father of American Congresses, assembled and
 presented to the English Government
 that vigorous protest which caused the repeal of the Act, and checked the first
 step towards the usurpation which lost
 the American Colonies to the British
 Empire. Within these walls the Con gress of the Confederation had commis-
 stoned its ambassadors abroad, and in
 intellectual efforts at government had | created the necessity for the cOncantra