The Washington herald., 1913-03-11
NO. Sc.

Washington's old passion for success
was upon him. and he meant that this
government of which he had been made
the head should have prestige from the
first.
Count de Moustier. the French Min
lister to the United States, deemins
Amc rica, no doubt. protege OF France,
claimed the right TO deal directly with
| the President in person. as II upon
terms of familiar privilege, when con-
Quoting his diplomatic business. but was
checked very promptly.
II was not likely a man bred in the
proud school of Virsinian country gen.
tlemen would miss so obvious a point
of etiquette as this. To demand intimacy
was to intimate superiority. and WASH
ington's reply drew from the count an
instant apology.
That the United States had every rea-
son to hold France in loyal affection.
Washington gladly admitted. with all
stately courtesy. but affection became
servility when il lost sclf-respect, and
France must approach the President OF
the United States as every other coun-
try did. through the properly constituted
department.
III there are rules of proceeding" he
said, quietly. which have originated
from the wisdom OF statesmen and are
sanctioned by the common assent of ma
tions, IL would not be prudent for a
young state to dispense with them alto
gether''-particularly a young state this
thought added which foreign states had
despised and might now try to patronize
These small matters would carry an
infinite weight of suggestion with them,
a. he knew. and every suggestion that
proceeded from the President should
speak of dignity and independence.
washinGton Leads the Way.
For the first few months Of the new
governments life these small matters
that marked its temper and its self-re-
spect were OF as much consequence as
its laws or its efficient organization for
the tasks of actual administration. The
country evidently looked to Washington
to set the tone and show what manner
Of government 1t was to have.
Congress. though diligent and purpose
full enough, could linger, meanwhile, the
whole summer through upon its task of
framing the laws necessary for the erec-
ton and organization of Departments os
State. for Foreign Affairs. of the Treas
ury, and of War, and the creation of the
ONCE OF Attorney General-a simple ad-
ministratlve structure TO sufice for the
present.
In the interval the treasury board of
the Confederation and its Secretaries of
War and Foreign Affairs were continued
In service. and the President found time
to digest the business of the several de-
partments preparatory to their reorgani-
cation. He rent for all the papers con-
Cerning their transactions since the
treaty of peace of 1888, and mastered their
contents after his own thorough fashion,
making copious notes and abstracts as
he read.
Dangerously Ill.
He had been scarcely six weeks in
office when he was stricken with a sharp
illness.
A malignant tumor in his thigh SEEM
ed to his physicians for a time to threat
en- modification. 1t was three weeks
before he could take the air again,
stretched painfully at length in his coach:
even his stalwart strength was slow to
rally from the draught made upon 1t
by the disease, and its cure with the
knife.
There. was deep anxiety for a little
among those who knew. so likely did 1t
seem that the life of the government was
staked upon his life. He himself had
looked very calmly into the doctors trou-
bled face. and had hidden him tell him
the worst with that placid firmness that
always came to him in moments Of dan
ger.
u am not afraid to die. he said.