[17] A small biscuit, not a firework.
[18] Parties without supper are, in Washington and the Southern States, called “Boston parties;” for what reason it is impossible to say, the Boston parties being generally renowned for their rather ostentatious suppers.
[19] “Ride” is in America constantly used for “drive.”
CHAPTER II.
Corps Diplomatique in Washington.—What a Fashionable Lady thinks of an Ambassador.—The Secretary of the Treasury.—Popularity-hunting of American Statesmen.—Its influence on National Politics.—Mr. Woodbury’s Hospitality to Literary Men.—Henry Clay.—Thomas H. Benton.—Salis Wright.—James Buchanan.—Extraordinary Dinner-bell.—Office-hunters in Washington.—State of Finance of the City.—Anecdote of General Jackson and the Office-seeker.—General Character of Washington Society compared with that of other American Cities.
O momentary grace of mortal man,
Which we more hunt for than the grace of God!
Who builds his hope in air of your fair looks,
Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast;
Ready, with every nod, to tumble down
Into the fatal bowels of the deep.
King Richard III. Act iii. Scene 5.
The next day I looked over my letters of introduction, which, being principally addressed to members of the cabinet and the corps diplomatique, I determined to deliver in person. The influence of the diplomatic agents in Washington on the moral and social habits of the people, is much greater than their effect on the politics of the State; the executive power of the President and Council being not only limited by the Senate, but also indirectly by the House of Representatives, and the manifestation of public opinion at the annual elections. A minister in Washington is, with regard to his diplomatic agency, pretty much confined to official acts, such as may at any time be made public: his influence with a particular member of the cabinet, or with the President himself,—his success with a particular coterie,—his intrigues against any person that may have rendered himself obnoxious to his government, are of little or no avail at the Congress, with which, as yet, no foreign diplomatist has attempted a political relation. But, in point of fashion, their power is unlimited; their decisions being quoted as oracles, and their manners made the standard of society. In Washington, no party is considered fashionable unless graced by some distinguished senator, and a few members of the corps diplomatique. Between the latter and the senators exists yet this relation, that every senator has a right to introduce a gentleman to a foreign minister, either personally, or by leaving his card together with that of his friend; a privilege which is denied to the more vulgar members of the House of Representatives.
As far as I was able to ascertain the influence of foreign residents in Washington, it was confined, with the representative of the greatest power in Christendom, to setting the example of genuine hospitality in the shape of the most prosperous dinner parties given in the metropolis,—his attachés I believe, went fox-hunting in the outskirts of the city; with the representative of the land of chivalry and tigers, to setting the example of taste in the shape of regular soirées musicales; in the clever and witty envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of a northern power, to introducing the fashion of dancing on the heels,[20]—which, by the by, was a pretty little manœuvre on the part of the old gentleman, who had long ago lost the use of his toes by the gout; in the representative of a literary court, to the privilege of spouting literature and science to a sober audience, &c. The ministers of the Italian courts, who had the longest string of titles printed on their cards, had no distinct influence, except in setting the fashion of eating and drinking gracefully—at another man’s table.