However the public confidence may change, and the public affections fluctuate with respect to others, with respect to him they have, in war and in peace, in public and in private life, been as steady as his own firm mind, and as constant as his own exalted virtues.

Let us then, Mr. Speaker, pay the last tribute of respect and affection to our departed friend. Let the grand council of the nation display those sentiments which the nation feels. For this purpose I hold in my hand some resolutions which I take the liberty of offering to the house.

Resolved, That this house will wait on the president, in condolence of this mournful event.

Resolved, That the speaker's chair be shrouded with black, and that the members and officers of the house wear black during the session.

Resolved, That a committee, in conjunction with one from the senate, be appointed to consider on the most suitable manner of paying honor to the memory of the man, first in war, first in peace,

and first in the hearts of his fellow-citizens.

MAJOR GENERAL LEE'S FUNERAL ORATION ON THE DEATH OF WASHINGTON.

In obedience to your will, I rise your humble organ, with the hope of executing a part of the system of public mourning, which you have been pleased to adopt commemorative of the death of the most illustrious and most beloved personage this country has ever produced; and which, while it transmits to posterity your sense of the awful event, faintly represents your knowledge of the consummate excellence you so cordially honor.

Desperate indeed is any attempt on earth to meet correspondently this dispensation of heaven; for, while with pious resignation we submit to the will of an all-gracious Providence, we can never cease lamenting in our finite view of omnipotent wisdom, the heart-rending privation for which our nation weeps. When

the civilized world shakes to the centre; when every moment gives birth to strange and momentous changes; when our peaceful quarter of the globe, exempt as it happily has been from any share in the slaughter of the human race, may yet be compelled to abandon her pacific policy, and to risk the doleful casualties of war what limit is there to the extent of our loss ?-None within the reach of my words to express; none which our feelings will not disavow.

The founder of our federal republic-our bulwark in war, our guide in peace, is no more! Oh that this were but questionable! Hope, the comforter of the wretched, would pour into our agonizing hearts its balmy dew. But, alas! there is no hope for us! Our Washington is removed forever! Possessing the stoutest frame, and purest mind, he had passed nearly to the age of sixtyeight years, in the enjoyment of high health, when, habituated by his care of us to neglect himself, a slight cold, disregarded, became inconvenient on Friday, oppressive on Saturday, and, defying every medical interposition, before the morning of Sunday, put an end to the best of men ! An end, did I say ?-his fame survives! bounded only by the limits of the earth, and by the extent of the human mind. He survives in our hearts, in the growing knowledge of our children, in the affection of the good throughout the world; and when our monuments shall be done away; when nations now existing shall be no more; when even our young and far-spreading empire shall have perished, still will our Washington's glory unfaded shine, and die not, until love of virtue cease on earth, or earth itself sink into chaos.

How, my fellow-citizens, shall I single out to your grateful hearts his pre-eminent worth? where shall I begin in opening to your view a character throughout sublime? shall I speak of his warlike achievements, all springing from obedience to his country's will-all directed to his country's good?

Moving in his own orbit, he imparted heat and light to his most distant satellites; and combining the physical and moral force of all within his sphere, with irresistible weight he took his course, commiserating folly, disdaining vice, dismaying treason, and in vigorating despondency; until the auspicious hour arrives, when

he brought to submission the since conqueror of India; thus finishing his long career of military glory, with a lustre corresponding to his great name, and in this his last act of war, affixing the seal of fate to our nation's birth.

To the horrid din of battle, sweet peace succeeded; and our virtuous chief, mindful only of the common good in a momen tempting personal aggrandizement, hushed the discontents of growing sedition; and, surrendering his power into the hand from which he had received it, converted his sword into a ploughshare, teaching an admiring world, that to be truly great you must be truly good.

Was I to stop here, the picture would be incomplete, and the task imposed, unfinished.-Great as was our Washington in war, and as much as did that greatness contribute to produce the American Republic, it is not in war alone his pre-eminence stands conspicuous. His various talents, combining all the capacities of a statesman with those of a soldier, fitted him alike to guide the councils, and the armies of our nation. Scarcely had he rested from his martial toils, while his invaluable parental advice was still sounding in our ears, when he who had been our sword and our shield, was called forth to act a less splendid, but more important part.

Possessing a clear and penetrating mind, a sound and strong judgment, calmness and temper for deliberation, with invincible firmness and perseverance in resolutions, maturely formed, drawing information from all, acting from himself, with incorruptible integrity and unvarying patriotism; his own superiority, and the public confidence alike marked him as the man designed by heaven to lead in the political as well as the military events which have distinguished the era of his life.

The finger of an overruling Providence, pointing at Washington, was neither mistaken nor unobserved; when, to realize the vast hopes to which our revolution had given birth, a change of political system became indispensable. How novel, how grand the spectacle! Independent States stretched over an immense territory, and known only by common difficulty, clinging to their union as the rock of their safety, deciding by frank comparison of

their relative condition, to rear on that rock, under the guidance of reason, a common government, through whose commanding protection, liberty and order, with their long train of blessings, should be safe to themselves, and the sure inheritance of their posterity.

This arduous task devolved on citizens selected by the people, from knowledge of their wisdom, and confidence in their virtue. In this august assembly of sages and patriots, Washington, of course, was found; and, as if acknowledged to be the most wise, where all were wise, with one voice he was declared their chief. How well he merited this rare distinction, how faithful were the labors of himself and his compatriots, the work of their hands, and our union, strength, and prosperity, the fruits of that work, best attests.

But, to have essentially aided in presenting to his country this consummation of her hopes, neither satisfied the claims of his fellow-citizens on his talents, nor those duties which the possession of those talents imposed. Heaven had not infused into his mind such an uncommon share of its ethereal spirit to remain unemployed, nor bestowed on him his genius, unaccompanied with the corresponding duty of devoting it to the common good. To have framed a constitution, was showing only, without realizing, the general happiness. This great work remained to be done; and America, steadfast in her preference, with one voice summoned her beloved Washington, unpractised as he was in the duties of civil administration, to execute this last act in the completion of the national felicity. Obedient to her call, he assumed that high office with that self-distrust peculiar to his innate modesty, the constant attendant of pre-eminent virtue.

What was the burst of joy through our anxious land on this exhilarating event, is known to us all. The aged, the young, the brave, the fair, rivalled each other in demonstrations of gratitude; and this high wrought, delightful scene was heightened in its effect, by the singular contest between the zeal of the bestowers and the avoidance of the receiver of the honors bestowed. Commencing his administration, what heart is not charmed with the recollection of the pure and wise principles announced by himself,

as the basis of his political life. He best understood the indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and individual felicity; watching with equal and comprehensive eye over this great assemblage of communities and interests, he laid the foundation of our national policy in the unerring, immutable principles of morality, based on religion, exemplifying the pre-eminence of a free government, by all the attributes which win the affections of its citizens, or command the respect of the world.

INAUGURAL MESSAGE OF JOHN ADAMS, MARCH 4, 1797.

FELLOW-CITIZENS,-When it was first perceived, in early times, that no middle course for America remained, between unlimited submission to a foreign legislature, and a total independence of its claims, men of reflection were less apprehensive of danger from the formidable power of fleets and armies they must determine to resist, than from those contests and dissensions which would certainly arise concerning the forms of government to be instituted over the whole and over the parts of this extensive country. Relying, however, on the purity of their intentions, the justice of their cause, and the integrity and intelligence of the people, under an overruling Providence, which had so signally protected this country from the first, the representatives of this nation, then consisting of little more than half its present numbers, not only broke to pieces the chains which were forging, and the rod of iron that was liftbut frankly cut asunder the ties which had bound them, and launched into an ocean of uncertainty.

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The zeal and ardor of the people, during the revolutionary war supplying the place of government, commanded a degree of order, sufficient at least for the temporary preservation of society. The confederation, which was early felt to be necessary, was prepared from the models of the Batavian and Helvetic confederacies, the only examples which remain with any detail and precision, in his