Gazette Of The United States

Extract of a letter from New-York, May 3.
I was extremely anxious to arrive here, in order to be pre- sent at the meeting of the President and the two Houses. That event, however, did not take place till Thursday last, when The President was qualified in the open gallery of the Con- gress House, in the sight of many thousand people. The scene was solemn and awful, beyond description. It would seem ex- traordinary, that the administration of an oath, a ceremony so ve- ry common and familiar, should, in so great a degree, excite the public curiosity. But the circumstances of his election—the im- pression of his past services—the concourse of spectators—the de- vout fervor with which he repeated the oath—and the reveren- tial manner in which he bowed down and kissed the sacred vo- lume—all these conspired to render it one of the most august and interesting spectacle ever exhibited on this globe. It seemed, from the number of witnesses, to be a solemn appeal to Heaven and earth at once. Upon the subject of this great and good Man, I may, perhaps, be an enthusiast; but I confess, that I was under an awful and religious persuasion, that the gracious Ruler of the universe was looking down at that moment with peculiar compla- cency on an act, which to a part of his creatures was so very impor- tant. Under this impression, when the Chancellor pronounced, in a very feeling manner, "Long live George Washington," my sensibility was wound up to such a pitch, that I could do no more than wave my hat with the rest, without the power of join- ing in the repeated acclamations which rent the air.

NEW-YORK, MAY 13.
Last Saturday the Mayor and Members of the Corporation of this City, attended by the proper Officers, waited on The PreSi- dent of the United States, and presented the following AD- DRESS:

To the PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES.

SIR,
The Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of New- York, beg leave to offer you our most respectful and affectionate congratulations on your safe arrival in this Metropolis, and at the same time, to express the general joy of our fellow citizens, of every order, on this auspicious event.
In thus presenting ourselves before you, we experience all the emotions which naturally arise from a high veneration for your character—an exalted sense of your services—and a perfect con- viction that a trust, the most momentous which could be confer- red by a free people, has been committed to a citizen, who has given unequivocal proofs of his possessing all the good and great qualities, requisite to its successful discharge.
With peculiar pleasure, Sir, we recall to mind that illustrious display of wisdom, virtue, and valor, which distinguished your military command. With equal pleasure we recollect the exemplary moderation which marked your retreat from the head of a victorious army to the shade of private life. Permit us to add that we contemplate with pious gratitude that unparalleled coincidence of circumstances which has constrained you, by mo- tives that patriotism could not resist, to re-engage in the arduous duties of a public station.
Long in the habit of revering you as the father of our country, we rejoice at the happiness of being once more placed under your protection; we consider the unanimity which prevailed in your appointment, as a presage that our national government will be firmly established in the hearts of all the people, and receive their united and zealous support; and we are fully persuaded that under the divine favor, its operation will be productive of the most extensive benefits and blessings, and render the union respectable in peace, as under your auspices, it was triumphant in war.
To our most fervent wishes for your personal happiness, and for the success of your administration, we should not do justice to the sentiments of our fellow-citizens, if we did not add the strongest assurances of their inviolable attachment to you, and of their earnest disposition to render you all the support which can flow from the most cordial respect, gratitude and confidence.

Signed in behalf of the Corporation,
JAMES DUANE, Mayor.
May 9, 1789.

To which the President was pleased to make the following answer

To the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of New-York.

GENTLEMEN,
The affectionate address presented by the Magistrates, and the general joy testified by the citizens of New-York, on my arri- val in this metropolis, have filled my mind with the mingled emotions of gratitude and satisfaction.
In accepting the momentous trust, which has been spontane- ously committed to me by a free people, it was not enough to have felt a consciousness of having acted in conformity to the dictates of patriotism; it was not enough to have known that I met the wishes of my fellow-citizens; but it seemed that these far- ther pledges were wanting to overcome the diffidence I had in my own abilities, and the reluctance I experienced at engaging in such new and arduous affairs.
Unelated by your too favorable appreciation of my past servi- ces, I can only pour forth the effusions of a grateful heart to Heaven, if I have been made in any degree an instrument of good to my country. And, although I am far from claiming any me- rit for retiring in the manner I did, from a military command, to the shade of private life; yet I am pleased to find that your candour has done justice to the principles by which I have been actuated on the present occasion. No circumstance, in my con- ception, can be more consolatory to a public man, especially to one truly sensible that the purest intentions cannot always pre- serve him from error, than a knowledge that his countrymen are disposed to consider the motives for his conduct with that libera- lity, which is reciprocally necessary for all who are subject to the frailties of human nature.
In this place I cannot avoid expressing an anxious apprehension, that the partiality of my countrymen in my favor has induced them to expect too much from the exertions of an individual. It is from their co-operation alone, I derive all my expectations of success.—Indeed, the unanimity which has prevailed in some instances, is a happy presage that our national government will be firmly established in the hearts of the people, and receive their united and zealous support.—From the accommodating spirit which has been displayed in respect to the constitution, I anticipate that the government will, in its operation, be produc- tive of the most extensive utility, by rendering the Union as res- pectable in peace as it was triumphant in war.
I feel a just sense of your fervent wishes for my personal hap- piness and the success of my administration. I pray you, gen- tlemen, to accept in return, my cordial thanks for these demon- strations of your affection, as well as for the assurances you have given of the attachment of our fellow-citizens.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.