The Story of Washington, the National Capital ... Illustrated

Front matter

V GREAT CITIES OF THE REPUBLIC I. — Story of the City of New York. A history of the city from the discovery of the island by Verrazano till the present time. By Charles Burr Todd, author of "Life and Letters of Joel Barlow." Profusely illustrated, cloth. . Si. 75 II. — The Story of Washington. By Charles Burr Todd. Fully illustrated . . $1.75 III. — The Story of Boston. By Arthur Gilman, author of "Story of Rome," " Story of the Saracens," etc. Octavo, cloth, with numerous illustrations and maps .... (/« Press) G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York and London THE capitol. Frontispiece. fjicat Hitics of thc ||c|*iiblic THE Story of Washington THE NATIONAL CAPITAL BY CHARLES BURR TODD AUTHOR OF "* THE STORY OF NEW YORK," ETC. ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK & LONDON G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 8(;e Knickerbocker jjirSB COPYRIGHT BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 1889 Press of G. P. Putnam's Sons New York TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA this volume IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED EY THE AUTHOR What constitutes a State ?

Not high-raised battlement or labored mound, Thick wall or moated gate ; Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned ; Not bays and broad-armed ports Where, laughing at the Storm, rich navies ride ; Not starred and spangled courts Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. No ! Men, high-minded Men, With powers as far above dull brutes endued In forest, brake, or den, As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude ; Men who their duties know, But know their rights, and knowing dare maintain, Prevent the long-aimed blow, And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain : — These constitute a State ; And Sovereign Law, that State's collected will, O'er thrones and globes elate, Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill.

Preface

. In writing the Story of Washington, the author has had in mind both the local and general reader ; for the national capital belongs not alone to its citizens, but also to the nation. On the one hand it was desirable not to burden the narrative with details of merely local interest ; on the other, not to treat the subject in so general a way as to as sociate with it no local flavor whatever. He has also endeavored to write in a simple and direct style that would attract youthful readers, and that would not displease those of mature years. It is common com plaint that our young people read foreign books — ■ especially English books — so exclusively, that we are in danger of becoming a race of Anglomaniacs, — a consummation that our law-makers seem bent on furthering by their inexcusable delay in passing an international copyright law.

In these pages the author has endeavored to make prominent what was noble, dignified, and patriotic in the city's history, and thus to awaken in her behalf the interest and affection of his readers. He has also en deavored to make prominent the fact that Washing ton is the capital of the nation, and should be re-

PREFACE.

. VIII garded and treated as such. The sectional jealousies which led Congress so long to treat the city with in difference, and to pursue her with a niggardly policy that kept her for years a provincial village, are hap pily abated. The agitation for a removal of the seat of government has ceased with them. The later argu ment of the " capital-movers, " that the city is not the geographical centre, still remains. But this, too, will soon lose its force. Space will be annihilated. As regards communication, distance is not now con sidered, and without doubt in a few years pneumatic tube, air ship, or some other mechanical contrivance will in a few hours convey hither the delighted traveller from the Golden Gate or farthest limits of Oregon. The citizen of Washington is dependent on Con gress for every crumb of municipal improvement he gets.

He has neither voice nor vote in the govern ment of his city. During the past fifteen years Congress has awakened to a sense of its responsibili ties toward the District and has done much for the capital, while much yet remains to be done. America has material resources far surpassing those possessed by the great empires of antiquity; she has the requisite artistic and mechanical genius for making them available. There is no reason why in every thing that men deem noble, beautiful, and ex cellent, the American capital should not take rank among the greatest capitals of the earth. It is well to remember that a nation's capital may fairly be considered as an index to the nation's character, and that the outcome of our institutions PR EEA CE. IX will be studied by critical strangers in the city on the banks of the Potomac.

The author acknowledges with pleasure the aid afforded by citizens of Washington and others in the prosecution of his work. His thanks are especially due Mr. Justice Bradley of the Supreme Court, As sistant Secretary of State Rives, Mr. Worthington C. Ford, Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, Mr. A. R. Spofford, Librarian of Congress, Mr. William B. Webb, President of the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia, Mr. William B. Powell, Superintendent of Public Schools, and General H. V. Boynton. It is hardly necessary to name here all the books and periodicals consulted. Mr. Joseph B. Varnum's " Washington Sketch- Book, " Messrs. Hutchins and Moore's " National Capital," " The Reminiscences and Letters " of Dr. Manasseh Cutler, Ben : Perley Poore, Dolly Madison, Mrs. W. W. Seaton, and W. A. Gobright, with the files of Harper 's, Scribner's and the Atlantic Maga zines, the New York Tribune, Times, Herald, and World, the Washington National Intelligencer, Post, and Star, with the unpublished manuscripts in the State and War Departments, have formed the basis of the work.

A number of the illustrations of public buildings, etc., have been taken by permission from Messrs. Hutchins and Moore's larger work " The National Capital." C. B. T. Washington, January 2, 1889. CONTENTS.

Part I. The Historical City

I. PAGE The Result of a Compromise . . . 1-13 A capital by design, 1 — Congress beleaguered, 2 — A federal city proposed, 5 — Warring voices, 6, 7 — The gift of two States, 9 — Accepted, 11. II. The Birth of a City ..... 16-32 The establishing act, 14 — The choice of a site, 16 — Its beauty, 17 — And history, 18 — Commissioners to lay out, appointed, 20 — Bounds set, 21 — An old-time tavern and what was done there, 22 — The artist and his plan, 25 — Metes and bounds appointed, 28 — Named, 29 — The infirmities of genius, 31. IV. Magnificent Intentions .... 33-35 Monument to Washington, 33 — An historic column, 33 — An American Westminster Abbey, 34. IV. Rearing the Capitol ..... 36-43 A multitude of plans, 37 — The successful competitor, 38 — Laying the comer-stone, 39 — Planning a President's house, 41 — Making bricks without straw, 42 — Death of the leader, 43- CONTENTS.

XII V. PAGE Taking Possession 44--51 A packet that bore Cæsar and his fortunes, 44 — Washing ton in 1800, 45— What the letter-writers said about it, 46- 51. VI. The City's Sponsors 52_58 John Adams, 52 — The Sixth Congress, 53 — Thomas Jefferson, 54 — The city's first inauguration, 55 — Society in 1800, 57- VII. Early Days ....... 59-66 The days of Jeffersonian simplicity, 59 — An elect lady, 60 — Growth of the city, 61 — Capitol-movers, 63. VIII. The Capitol Destroyed .... 67-85 Court days again, 67 — War, 68 — The Capitol threatened, 71 — March of the invaders, 75 — Battle of Bladensburg, 79 — Carthago est delenda, 84. IX. The Occupation and Retreat . . . 86-95 A cyclone of 18 14, 86 — A night movement, 87 — Denunciatory voices, 8g — The British in possession, 90 — An explosion, 92 — A lady who won laurels, 92.

X. The Battles of the Giants . . . 96-132 Irrepressible conflict, 96— Missouri Compromise of 1820, 98 — Webster against Hayne, 105— Chancellor Kent's opinion CONTENTS. XIII PAGE 176 of the debate, m — Jackson's action upon it, 112 — The Right of Petition and its champion, 113 — Turning the tables, 119 — The servant not greater than his master, 124 — Death of the champion, 126 — The cloud upon the horizon rises, 127 — The city during these years, 1 28 — The Presidents who filled the White House during this period, 129 — The corner-stone of the Capitol extension laid, 129 — Speech of the " Old man eloquent," 130. XI. War ......... 133-164 Lincoln arrives at the Capitol, 133 — The South's overt acts, 134 — Lincoln's inauguration, 135 — His address, 137 — The city in arms, 139 — War proclaimed, 140 — A great people's uprising, 140 — A midnight visit to the Capitol, 142 — Armed men in marble halls, 142 — The advance into Virginia, 143 — Battle of Bull Run, 144— Creating an army, 145 — The city in war time, 146 — The Sanitary Commission and its work, 147 — Slavery abolished, 149 — Early's raid, 150— Lew Wallace, the hero of the Monocacy, 151 — Early invests the city, 155 — Gallant defence by the Sixth Corps, 158 — Death of President Lincoln, 160.

XII. Marching Home and into History . . 165- Welcoming the victors, 166 — Review of the Army of the Potomac, 168 — Ofthe Division of the Mississippi, 173 XIII. The Renaissance 177-192 President Garfield assassinated, 177 — President Cleveland inaugurated, 179 — Alexander Shepherd's good work, 181 — City improvements begun, 182 — A new city created, 187. CONTENTS. XIV PAGE

Part II. The Modern City

XIV. The Capitol i95"257 A world's wonder, 196 — The Rotunda, 201 — The dome and its outlook, 204 — Hallos Statuary, 207 — House of Rep resentatives — its hall, 211 — How composed, 214 — Its methods, 216 — An all-night session, 220 — The Senate — its cham ber, 222 — How constituted, 226 — Its proceedings, 227 — An impeachment trial in, 232 — The Supreme Court — its chamber, 239 — Its proceedings, 240 — Justices of, 242 — Its history, 243 — Its methods, 248 — Congressional Library — its chamber, 251 — Its history, 252. XV. The Executive Mansion .... 258-276 The President — his powers, 260 — How elected, 262 — The White House described, 264 — Some of its memories, 269. XVI. The Departments ...... 277-295 The President's seven advisers, 277 — The State Depart ment, 278 — The War Department, 281 — The Navy De partment, 283— The Treasury, 2S4— Department of the Interior, 28S — Post-Office Department, 290 — Department of Justice, 291 — Department of Agriculture, 292 — Civil- Service Commission, 294.

XVII. The Churches of Washington . . . 296-302 Episcopal, 296 — Presbyterian, 298 — Catholic, 300 — Other churches, 301. CONTENTS. XV XVIII. PAGE The Public Schools 303-310 Growth of the common-school system, 304 — The first normal school, 306 — Colored schools, 307 — The present system, 308. XIX. Public Institutions 311-324 The Smithsonian Institution, 311 — National Museum, 314 — Naval Observatory, 315 — Columbian University, 316 — Soldiers' Home, 316 — National Deaf-Mute College, 317 — Corcoran Gallery of Art, 318 — Masonic Fraternity, 320 — ■ Congressional Cemetery, 321 — Oak Hill Cemetery, 322 — Tomb of John Howard Payne, 322. XX. Municipal Government .... 325-328 Various plans, 325 — The modern system, 326 — Its divisions, 327 — Judiciary, 328. XXI. The Washington Monument . . . 329-338 Origin, 329 — Laying the corner-stone, 332 — Cessation of the work, 333 — Beginning work again, 334 — Setting the capstone, 334 — Ascent of the monument, 336 — Dedication, 338.

XXII. Washington Journalism .... 339_348 The local press, 339 — Early Washington correspondents, 341 — The first telegraph, 344 — The chief correspondent, 346. CONTENTS. XXIII. PAGE Suburban Washington . . . 349~361 Mount Vernon, 349— Alexandria and Georgetown, 350— Arlington, 352— Kalorama, 356 — A poet's haunt, 358 — The Navy Yard, 358. XXIV. Social Life 1800-1888 362-394 Described by a diplomat, 361 — By a Congressman, 365- By Mrs. Madison, 372 — By an editor's wife, 374 — By a British Minister, 384 — By an Atlantic writer, 390 — By Lip pincotfs Magazine, 392. XXV. Modern Social Phases ..... 395-400 Official society, 395 — Clubs, 396 — Letters, 399. APPENDIXES.

A. Presidents of the United States ...... 403 B. Supreme Court of the United States ..... 404 C. Mayors of Washington ...... . 406 D. Salaries of chief officials of government .... 406 E. Annual expenses of the White House .... 409 F. The Capitol in brief . . . , . , . 409 Index .... ... 411-416 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The Capitol Frontispiece Washington's Letter 16 Suter's Tavern in 1791 . 23 Pierre Charles L'Enfant 25 L'Enf ant's Plan of the City 28 John Adams, Letter of 42 Washington, about 1800 . 45 The President's House in 1800 57 Jefferson's Letter . .62 The Capitol in 1830 107 Webster's Reply to Hayne 109 Ford's Theatre, where Lincoln was Shot . . . 159 House where Lincoln Died 161 Marching Home and into History ..... 171 Long Bridge 181 Foreign Legation Buildings 1S5 Residence of George Bancroft ..... 189 Residence of Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte . . . 189 Residence of Mrs. M. T. Dahlgren 190 Pennsylvania Avenue from the Treasury . . 196 Statue of Freedom on Capitol Dome . . . . 197 Allegorical Group on Portico of the Capitol, Designed by John Quincy Adams 198 The Rogers Bronze Door at the Main Entrance of the Capitol 199 Main Entrance of the Capitol 201 The Rotunda 203 The Dome of the Capitol 205 Hall of the House of Representatives .... 209 LLST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

XVIII PAGE The Speaker's Mace 211 Representatives' Retiring-Room 213 The Senate Chamber 223 The Senate Lobby 224 The Supreme-Court Room 241 Court Seal 245 Library of Congress ........ 251 Accepted Design for Library Building .... 255 The White House in 1888 259 Rooms of the White House ...... 267 State, War, and Navy Building ..... 279 The Treasury Building 285 The Pension Office 289 The Post Office Building 291 The Patent Office 293 Ascension Episcopal Church 297 First Presbyterian Church 299 St. Patrick's Cathedral 301 All Souls' Unitarian Church 302 Franklin School Building 309 The Smithsonian Institute 313 Corcoran Gallery of Art 319 Grave of John Howard Payne at Oak Hill Cemetery . 323 Entrance to the Monument ...... 330 Washington Monument from the Fish Commissioners' Dike ' . 33I Capstone of the Monument, Showing the Aluminum Tip, 335 Mount Vernon Mansion 051 Arlington Mansion ... .... 353 Burial Field at Arlington 355 Joaquin Miller's Log Cabin on Meridian Hill . 359 Map of the City of Washington 3g5

PART I. THE HISTORICAL CITY.

Chapter I. The Result Of

A COMPROMISE. WASHINGTON, the beautiful capital of to-day, is one of the latest instances of a national capital founded by design. Rome grew on the Tiber be cause of the seven hills. The great king, Clovis, chose Paris for his capital because its site on an island of the Seine promised protection from his fierce enemies, the Northmen ; and the emperor, Charles V., made the wilderness city Madrid his court town because of its inaccessible and defensible position. But the latest example of a people choos ing a wilderness site and erecting there its capital, to be enriched by a nation's revenues, and made his toric by its statesmen, orators, and generals, is to be found in our own capital city of Washington. The story of its birth forms one of the most interesting chapters in its history. The idea of a national capital originated in one of the gloomiest periods of the nation's history, and as the result of conditions that threatened to destroy it almost before it had begun to live.

On Thursday, the nineteenth day of June, 1783, Congress was sit ting in the old City Hall at Philadelphia. The Eng lish yoke had just been broken. The thirteen colo nies were free ; but their national unity was by no means established. They were rather a group of independent sovereignties warring interests — the smaller States arrayed against the larger, the Northern section against the Southern. The Confed eracy's treasury was empty ; it had no credit ; worse still, it was heavily in debt to its soldiers for arrears of pay, and to the States for money loaned to carry. on the war. There was no President, and no capital city to be the rallying point of national feeling and aspirations. On the morning of this nineteenth of June, a courier spurred in with news that a body of the unpaid soldiers, then encamped at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, were under arms and on the march to Philadelphia to demand of Congress their arrears of pay, and that they would be followed next day by all of Armand's legion, with the same object in view.

Congress in great fear appealed to the Execu tive Council of Pennsylvania for protection, but President Dickinson declared that the State militia could not be relied upon in a matter of this kind, and that the soldiers must be allowed to enter the city. Whereupon, we are told, Messrs. Isard, Mer cer, and others, " being much displeased, signified that if the city would not support Congress, it was high time to remove to some other place." The next day THE RESULT OF A COMPROMISE. 5 the mutineers entered the city, and for two days, officered by their sergeants, held Congress in a state of siege. They formed a cordon around the hall where it was assembled, and remained under arms all day, sometimes pointing their muskets at the windows, but refraining from actual violence. After adjournment, as the members came out, mock op position was made to their passage, but they were finally allowed to retirevto their homes.

At the evening session a resolution to adjourn to Princeton was introduced and discussed amid the most alarm ing rumors. The debate continued for several days, but at last, after the city had been five days in the hands of the soldiers, Congress adjourned to Prince ton, in New Jersey. This forced adjournment impressed on the legislators the necessity of establishing a federal capital. If laws were to be made and respected, they said, law-makers must be secured from intimi dation. Accordingly, in October, 1783, we find El bridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, moving that buildings for the use of Congress should be erected on or near the banks of the Delaware or Potomac, pro vided that a suitable spot could be procured for a federal town, and that the right of soil and exclu sive jurisdiction should be vested in the United States.

This resolution became a law and endured for six months, when it was repealed. At its next session, in October, 1784, at Trenton, Congress ad vanced the project still further by appointing three commissioners to lay out a district on either bank of the Delaware. But the Southern members strenuously opposed this plan, and advanced several weighty and ingen ious arguments against it. There was, first, that of locality. The Delaware was not a centre of population, nor yet a geographical centre ; it would be dominated unfairly by Northern ideas ; exposed to the insidious influence of the money power lodged in the hands of the merchants of New York and Philadelphia, and be in danger of intimidation from mobs. They proposed as a compromise the banks of the Potomac, a geographical centre, a centre of population, and, as they argued, soon to be the ar tery through which the products of the great West should seek the sea.

For these statesmen — Wash ington, Jefferson, and Madison, at least — had al ready projected a Chesapeake and Ohio canal and a national road which should pierce the Alleghanies at the passes of the Potomac, and render a city on the banks of that river the entrepot of the West ; and they ardently desired that this future city should become the national capital. The Northern members were too strong for them, however, and after a heated discussion the original resolution prevailed. But the influence of Washington and Jefferson was exerted to prevent the commissioners from taking action, and we hear nothing more of the project until 1787, when the Constitution, which made of the many States one nation, was adopted. By Article I, Section VIII, Clause 16 of that instrument, Con gress was given power to " exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district not exceeding ten miles square, as may by cession of THE RESULT OF A COMPROMISE. 7 particular States and the acceptance of Congress be come the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings."

This section was assented to without debate. Yet strangely enough, nearly two years passed before any action was taken upon it. At last, at the opening session of the First Con gress under the Constitution (New York, 1789), petitions from so many state and municipal bodies asking that the seat of government might be permanently lo cated came pouring in, that Congress was forced to act. The agitation came chiefly from the Southern States, and was reinforced by the powerful influence of Wash ington, the newly elected President, and of Jefferson and Madison. New York and New England were satisfied with the condition of things, and objected to any agitation of the matter at that time. There were more important questions to be settled, they urged ; for instance, the proposition that the Federal Government should assume the war debts of the several States — a question in which they had deeper interest for two reasons : first, because their debts were larger on account of the war than the other States ; and second, because their citizens held a disproportionate share of the scrip of all the States.

They were also averse to having the national capital removed to any point south of New York. Pennsylvania favored a place called Wright's Ferry, on the Susquehanna, near Havre de Grace. New Jersey declared for Philadelphia. The Southern States were unanimously in favor of a point on the Potomac. Matters were in this condition when at its first session the House passed a resolution fixing the permanent seat at Wright's Ferry, as soon as the necessary buildings could be erected, the government in the meantime to remain in New York ; but when a bill designed to carry the resolution into effect was introduced, the Southern members combated it with all the eloquence and rhetorical skill at their command. Mr. Madison even went so far as to declare that had Virginia foreseen the proceedings of that day she might never have entered the Union.

" I confess to the House and to the world," said Mr. Vining, " that viewing this subject in all its circum stances I am in favor of the Potomac. I wish the seat of government to be fixed there because I think the interest, the honor, and the greatness of the country require it. I look on it as the centre from which those streams are to flow that are to animate and invigorate the body politic. From thence it appears to me that the rays of government will naturally diverge to the extremities of the Union. I declare that I look on the Western territory from an awful and striking point of view. To that region the unpolished sons of earth are pouring from all quarters, — men to whom the protection of the law, and the controlling power of government are alike necessary. From these considerations I conclude that the bank of the Potomac is the proper situation."

In spite of Southern opposition, however, the bill passed the House by thirty-one ayes to nineteen THE RESULT OF A COMPROMISE. 9 nays. Coming to the Senate, that body amended by striking out the word Susquehanna, and inserting a clause that the permanent seat of the government should be fixed at Germantown, near Philadelphia, whenever Pennsylvania or her citizens should agree to pay one hundred thousand dollars for the erection of the necessary government buildings. When the amended bill came back to the House that body agreed to it, but added a slight amendment that the laws of Pennsylvania should remain in force until repealed by Congress. But this amendment sent the bill back to the Senate, and as that body adjourned without acting upon it, the bill was lost. But for this little accident Philadelphia's pretty suburb might now be the federal capital.

The South was quick to improve the opportunity, and resolved to try the force of pecuniary inducements. In December, 1789, Virginia passed an act offering ten miles square of her territory on the Potomac for the federal city, and the sum of one hundred and twen ty thousand dollars for the erection of public buildings. The same winter, by concerted action, the Maryland Legislature offered ten miles square on the opposite side of the Potomac, and the further sum of seventy-two thousand dollars for the build ings. These offers, and the resultant dicussion, created great excitement throughout the country. The location of the capital became an issue. Every city in the Middle States desired it, and be gan to offer inducements to secure it. New York and Philadelphia pointed out that they had gratui tously furnished Congress with "elegant and convenient accommodations," while its sessions were held in their midst.

New Jersey offered to provide suit able buildings at Trenton. Baltimore promised, if she should be chosen, to erect every edifice needed by the federal Legislature. In the midst of the discussion Congress sat (in Philadelphia, 1 790), and at an early date a bill was introduced in the Senate "to determine the permanent seat of Congress and of the government of the United States." Later a resolution was carried, " that a site on the river Potomac between the mouth of the Eastern Branch and the Conogocheague be accepted for the permanent seat of government." The Eastern Branch referred to is that broad and deep estuary now forming the east ern boundary of Washington, on which the Navy Yard is placed. The Conogocheague (pronounced Conogochig) is a stream in Washington County, Maryland, beyond the Blue Ridge.

The debate upon this bill was one of the most spirited and animated of the session. The North ern members ridiculed the idea of building palaces in the woods. They thought some existing city should be chosen. Gerry, of Massachusetts, spoke of the injustice of placing the capital where nine States were north of it, and only four south of it. The advocates of the bill, however, presented many arguments in favor of it. They took up the reso lution of Mr. Scott, of Pennsylvania, introduced at an early stage of the discussion, "that the site of the future capital should be as near as possible the centre of wealth, of population, and of territory," and argued that the site on the Potomac filled THE RESULT OF A COMPROMLSE. 11 these conditions as nearly as might be. They argued, too, that the site of the future capital should not be a commercial city.

If it were, they said, it would exert an undue influence over measures of government by its commercial importance. It would become a favored city, too, since the government funds largely disbursed there would give it advan tages in point of capital over others. And what great commercial city, they asked, would be will ing to give up the elective franchise, of which it had been decided to deprive the residents of the proposed federal city, lest their votes and political influence should be too much influenced by officers of government ? It was during this debate that the South Carolina Senators uttered their famous objec tion to Philadelphia — that the Quakers of that city were forever dogging Southern members with their schemes of emancipation. By and by, on the loth of July, 1790, the long debated act was passed by a vote of thirty-two ayes to twenty-nine nays — a majority of three.

A year before there had been a majority of twelve in favor of the Delaware. Some surprise was felt, and no little feeling manifested in New York and New England at this change of opinion by the majority. The general public was quite unable to account for it. It was really the result of a com promise between the leaders of the opposing fac tions. Alexander Hamilton, at this time Secretary of the Treasury, was the leader of the Northern section, and Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State, of the Southern. The two chieftains chanced to TLIE STORY OF WASHINGTON. 12 meet one day before the President's door while the question of the site for the capital was still unde cided, and at once began to talk of the absorbing topic. Hamilton expressed his fears that a dissolu tion of the Union impended.

The Eastern States, he said, had openly threatened secession, and so em bittered were Northern and Southern members of Congress that they would not meet together for the transaction of business. No great principle was in volved in the location of the capital, and he asked if a compromise could not be effected by which the Northern States should allow the capital to be placed on the Potomac, and the Southern States consent that the debts of the creditor States should be assumed by government. Jefferson thought that, as the crisis was so imminent the matter might be arranged, and invited Hamilton to join him at dinner next day and discuss the matter with two or three friends. Mr. Jefferson (who gives the account) does not tell us who composed the dinner party, but it probably consisted of his friends Madison and Lee, of Virginia, and Robert Morris, of Pennsylva nia, the friend of Hamilton, and the great financier of the Revolution.