THE STORY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.
BY EDWARD CARY.
Chapter VII.
General Washington was now "President" Washington. The man was the same, but the work he had to do was very different. And then it was all new. My readers have not yet got so used to doing things that they do not know that it is a great deal harder to do anything the first time than it is the second or the third.
Washington was not only the first President, but the whole government, in which he had so great a part, was a strange thing. No one understood exactly how it was going to work, and a great many people in each State were afraid of it. They thought that the President would have too much power, and that he would get to be as bad as a King after a while, and the people hated Kings bitterly in those days.
Some very earnest but not very just writers went so far as to say that the country had only got rid of George the Third (who was King of England), to set up in his place "George the First" (meaning Washington), and they said the change was like the one the frogs made from "King Log" to "King Stork."
What this meant you may find in Æsop's Fables. And I must say that our first President was a good deal more like a King in his manners and his notions than our Presidents are nowadays. Perhaps he was more so than he would be if he were President now.
He was a proud man—not a vain one, but proud of his office; and he wanted people to show their respect for his office by the manner in which they treated him. He dressed very richly, and had his wife dress richly too. He rode to and from the Capitol in a coach with four horses, and sometimes even six, handsomely clad. He put his servants in a sort of uniform, like the "livery" which nobles' servants wear. He gave grand parties, where he and Mrs. Washington received their guests from a slightly raised platform, called a "dais."
On every occasion where he appeared as President of the United States he insisted that things should go on in a certain order, and with as much display as possible. But in his private life and conduct he was as simple and modest as any one could be.
In his public work Washington chose some of the best and ablest men in the country to help him. He called Alexander Hamilton from New York to take care of money matters, with the title of Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton was an officer on Washington's staff during the Revolution, and had led the Americans over the British redoubts in the last fight at Yorktown. Washington knew him to be as honest and skillful as he was brave, and relied on him greatly. Then he called Thomas Jefferson from Virginia—a very clear-headed man, with many bold ideas—to take charge of any business that might come up with other nations. His title was Secretary of State, and he had a great deal to do, for the governments of Europe had not yet learned to respect the rights of the United States, or to care much for this country in any way.
General Washington took up his residence in New York, where Congress was then meeting. The first thing he did was to lay out an order in which business should be done, in such a manner that nothing should be neglected, and things should not get confused. His plans were made after asking advice from the chief men about him, for, great man as he was, he was always ready to take the counsel of others.
Nothing is more striking in reading Washington's letters than this habit of asking advice. It certainly did not come from any lack of courage, for when he had once made up his mind, he was very firm in carrying out his plans. And when he had to do so, he could act very quickly and wisely without advice, and during the war he frequently did what he thought best against the advice of his generals.