“Resolved, That this house will wait on the president of the United States, in condolence of this national calamity.
“Resolved, That the speaker's chair be shrouded with black, and that the members and officers of the house wear mourning during the session.
“Resolved, That a joint committee of both houses be appointed, to report measures suitable to the occasion; and expressive of the profound sorrow with which Congress is penetrated on the loss of a citizen, first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.”[144]
The house proceeded to appoint a committee of sixteen, with Marshall at their head, to act conjointly with a corresponding senate committee in carrying out the last resolution. A message was soon afterward received from the president, communicating a letter from Mr. Lear that announced the death of Washington. He sent the same to the senate; and that body, on the twenty-third, adopted an appropriate address to the executive, and received from him a response.[145]
The secretary of war issued an order on the nineteenth, requesting General Hamilton to carry into effect the directions of Congress concerning funeral honors to the commander-in-chief, and the wearing of crape in token of mourning. For that purpose, Hamilton issued general orders, prefaced by a most touching eulogy of the dead. “The voice of praise,” he said, “would in vain endeavor to exalt a character unrivalled on the lists of true glory. Words would in vain attempt to give utterance to that profound and reverential grief which will penetrate every American bosom, and engage the sympathy of an admiring world.”
The secretary of the navy also issued orders in accordance with the resolutions of Congress and the direction of the president. Vessels in domestic and foreign ports were ordered to “be put in mourning for one week, by wearing their colors half-mast high,” and the officers and marines were directed to wear crape on the left arm for six months.
On the twenty-third, both houses of Congress adopted the following joint resolutions:—
“Resolved, by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled. That a marble monument be erected by the United States at the capitol of the city of Washington, and that the family of General Washington be requested to permit his body to be deposited under it; and that the monument be so designed as to commemorate the great events of his military and political life.
“And be it further resolved, That there be a funeral procession from Congress Hall to the German Lutheran church, in memory of General George Washington, on Thursday, the twenty-sixth instant, and that an oration be prepared, at the request of Congress, to be delivered before both houses that day; and that the president of the senate and speaker of the house of representatives be desired to request one of the members of Congress to prepare and deliver the same.
“And be it further resolved, That it be recommended to the people of the United States to wear crape on their left arm, as mourning, for thirty days.