countenance. The Government over which he presides is yet in the crisis of experiment. Not free from troubles at home, he sees the world in commotion and in arms all around him. He sees that imposing foreign powers are half disposed to try the strength of the recently-established American Government. We perceive that mighty thoughts, mingled with fears as well as with hopes, are struggling with him. He heads a short procession over these then naked fields; he crosses yonder stream on a fallen tree; he ascends to the top of this eminence, whose original oaks of the forest stand as thick around him as if the spot had been devoted to Druidical worship, and here he performs the appointed duty of the day."

The oaks, here referred to, either by some omission in the contract with the owners, or more probably from the difficulty of preserving forest trees after the removal of the undergrowth, have all disappeared except one or two stumps.

Washington's correspondence is full of allusions to the embarrassments encountered in obtaining sufficient means to render the public buildings tenantable by the time specified (1800).

Many of his letters relate to the progress of the Capitol, to the prompt completion of which

he seems to have looked as an event almost ominous of the permanent establishment of the Government at this place. Virginia had made a donation of $120,000, and Maryland one of $72,000-these were now exhausted. After various efforts to raise money by the forced sales of public lots, and after abortive attempts to borrow money at home and abroad, on the credit of these lots; amidst general embarrassment, whilst Congress withheld any aid whatever, the urgency appeared to the President so great, as to induce him to make a personal application to the State of Maryland for a loan, which was successful, and the deplorable credit of the Government, at that time, is exhibited in the fact that the State called upon the private credit of the Commissioners, as an additional guarantee for the repayment of the amount ($100,000), to which Washington alludes as follows:

"The necessity of the case justified the obtaining it almost on any terms; and the zeal of the Commissioners in making themselves liable for the amount, as it could not be had without, cannot fail of approbation. At the same time, I must confess that the request has a very singular appearance, and will not, I should suppose, be very grateful to the feelings of Congress."

It would seem that another difficulty in the progress of the public buildings proceeded from the jealousies and bickerings of those whose interest it was "to appreciate the credit of the city, and to aid the Commissioners." This appears from a letter of Washington to the Commissioners, dated Feb. 15, 1797, in which he urges that all available means should be concentrated on the Capitol.

He did not live to see the city occupied, having died in December, 1799.

XIX. •

HOW THE PLACE LOOKED IN 1800.

WHEN the plans of the new city were completed, they were sent to all parts of the country and to Europe (an act having been passed to enable aliens to hold land there), and the bidding was very high for the best lots. Any one who stands on the dome of the Capitol, will observe the wide space which intervenes between the Navy Yard and the Arsenal. It was supposed by many that this part would be built up first, the deep water being here, and immense sums were thrown away in city lots; the course which things took afterward, having ruined the proprietors. The change

was chiefly brought about by the circumstance that, when Congress was first established there, the members boarded in Georgetown, for the want of sufficient accommodations elsewhere; and, also, from the fact that the public offices were in that direction, which caused the Pennsylvania avenue to be first improved.

Mr. Law, a brother of Lord Ellenborough, and a Mr. Greenleaf, after whom the Arsenal Point was called, were among the sufferers. Some fine blocks of buildings were erected near the Arsenal, which are still there, and compare favorably with many modern first-class dwellings. Long rows of brick houses were commenced at other points between the Arsenal and the Navy Yard, and for many years the stacks of chimneys remained standing as monuments of the frailty of human judgment.

In June, 1800, the executive offices were removed thither. On the 4th of July Mr. Oliver Wolcott, then Secretary of the Treasury, gives his impressions in a letter to his wife, of which the following is an extract:

"I write this letter in the building erected for the use of the Treasury Department, in the city of Washington; and, this being a day of leisure, I shall be able to give you some idea of this famous place, the permanent seat of American Government.

"The city of Washington, or at least some part of it, is about forty miles from Baltimore. The situation is pleasant, and indeed beautiful; the prospects are equal to those which are called good on Connecticut river; the soil is here called good, but I call it bad. It is an exceedingly stiff reddish clay, which becomes dust in dry, and mortar in rainy weather. * * *

"It [the President's House] was built to be looked at by visitors and strangers, and will render its occupant an object of ridicule with some, and of pity with others. It must be cold and damp in winter, and cannot be kept in tolerable order without a regiment of servants.

"The Capitol is situated on an eminence, which I should suppose was near the centre of the immense country here called the city. It is a mile and a half from the President's house, and three miles on a straight line from Georgetown. There is one good tavern about forty rods from the Capitol, and several other houses are built and erecting; but I do not perceive how the members of Congress can possibly secure lodgings, unless they will consent to live like scholars in a college, or monks in a monastery, crowded ten or twenty in one house, and utterly secluded from society. The only resource for such as wish to live comfortably will, I think, be found in Georgetown, three miles distant,