Wednesday, November 26.
Mr. Tracy reported, from the committee yesterday appointed for the purpose, that they had waited on the President of the United States, and that he would receive the Address of the Senate this day, at 12 o'clock, at his own house.
Whereupon, the Senate waited on the President of the United States accordingly: and the President of the Senate, in their name, presented the Address yesterday agreed to.
To which the President made the following reply:
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Senate:
For this excellent Address, so respectful to the memory of my illustrious predecessor, which I receive from the Senate of the United States, at this time, and in this place, with peculiar satisfaction, I pray you to accept of my unfeigned acknowledgments. With you, I ardently hope, that permanence and stability will be communicated as well to the Government itself, as to its beautiful and commodious seat. With you I deplore the death of that hero and sage who bore so honorable and efficient a part in the establishment of both. Great indeed would have been my gratification, if his sum of earthly happiness had been completed by seeing the Government thus peaceably convened at this place, himself at its head. But, while we submit to the decision of Heaven, whose councils are inscrutable to us, we cannot but hope, that the members of Congress, the officers of Government, and all who inhabit the city or the country, will retain his virtues in lively recollection, and make his patriotism, morals, and piety, models for imitation.
I thank you, gentlemen, for your assurance that the several subjects for legislative consideration, recommended in my communication to both Houses, shall receive from the Senate a deliberate and candid attention.
With you, gentlemen, I sincerely deprecate all spirit of innovation which may weaken the sacred bond that connects the different parts of this nation and Government; and with you I trust, that, under the protection of Divine Providence, the wisdom and virtue of our citizens will deliver our national compact unimpaired to a free, prosperous, happy, and grateful posterity. To this end it is my fervent prayer, that, in this city, the fountains of wisdom may be always open, and the streams of eloquence for ever flow. Here may the youth of this extensive country for ever look up without disappointment, not only to the monuments and memorials of the dead, but to the examples of the living, in the members of Congress and officers of Government, for finished models of all those virtues, graces, talents, and accomplishments, which constitute the dignity of human nature, and lay the only foundation for the prosperity or duration of empires.
JOHN ADAMS.
City of Washington, Nov. 26, 1800.
The Senate returned to their own Chamber; and the reply of the President of the United States having been read, adjourned.