Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 January 1875 — A Call Upon President Washington. [ARTICLE]

A Call Upon President Washington.

Col. Forney, who rakes ancient and mode rn history in his London letters to the Philadelphia Preu, says of some old books recently discovered: “ But, perhaps; the most interesting of these relics is the ‘ Journal of an Excursion to the United States of North America in the Summer of 1794,’ embellished with a profile of General Washington, and an aqua tinto view of the State House at Philadelphia, by Henry Wansey, F. A. 8., a Wiltshire clothier. This book was found by Gen. Robert Schenck, American Minister, in one of his searches for old books, aud will be forwarded to Col. fitting. It is quaintly written, with no 'pretense to literary taste, and is a graphic description of his voyage by sea, first to Halifax, then to Boston, thence passing through New England to New York and Philadelphia. The English traveler reached our city on the 4tli of June, 1794, paying five dollars from Paulus Hook to Newark. Friday. June 6, 1794, our traveler had the honor of an interview Willi the President of the United States. *He received me very kindly, and after reading my letters 1 was asked to breakfast. There was little ceremony; of course the Americans will not permit this, nor does the position of His Excellency lead him to assume it.”’ The following as a picture of Washington and his wife is excellent: “ I confess I was struck with awe and veneration when I recollected that I was now in the presence of one of the greatest men upon earth—the great Washington, the noble and wise benefactor of the world, as Mirabeau styles him ; tire advocate of human nature; (lie friend of both worlds. Whether we view him as a General in the field, vested with unlimited authority and power, at the head of a victorious army, or in the Cabinet as the President of the United States, or as a private gentleman cultivating his own farm, he is still the same great man, anxious only to discharge with propriety the duties of his relative situation. His* conduct has always been so uniformly manly, honorable, just, patriotic and disinterested that his greatest enemies cannot fix* on any one trait of his character that can deserve the least censure. His paternal regard for the army while he commanded it, liis earnest and sincere desire to accomplish the glorious object for which they were contending; his endurance of the toils and hardships of war a ithout ever receiving the least emolument from his country, and his retirement to private life after the peace, plainly evince that his motives were the most just and patriotic that could proceed from a benevolent heart: Ilis letters to Congress during the war, now lately published in England, as well as his circular letter and farewell orders to the armies of the United States at the end of the war, show him to have been justly ranked among the fine Writer sos ffie lge. When we 166 k 'down from this truly great and illustrious character upon other public servants we find a glaring contrast ; nor can we fix our attention upon any other great men without discovering in them a vast and mortifying dissimilarity. * ' “ The President, in his person, is tall and thin, but erect—rather of an engaging than a dignified presence. He appears very thoughtful; is slow in delivering himself, which occasions some to conclude he is reserved, but it is rather, I apprehend, the effect of much thinking and reflection, for there is great appearance to me of aflabilitv and accommodation. He was at this 'time in his sixtythird year, being bom Feb. 11, 1732, O. S.; but he has very little the appearance of age, having been all his life-time so exceeding temperate. There is a certain anxiety visible in his countenance with marks of extreme sensibility. Notwithstanding his great attention and employment in the affairs of his well-regu-lated government and of his own agricultural concerns he is in correspondence with many of the emineht genuises in the different countries of Europe, not so much for the sake of learning and fame as to procure the knowledge of agriculture and the arts useful to his country. “I informed His Excellency in the coarse of conversation that 1 was a manufacturer from England who, out of curiosity as well as business, had made an excursion to America to see the state ol society there, to inspect various manufactories, and' particularly the woolen, with which 1 was best acquainted. The General asked me what I thought of their wool. I informed him that I had seen some very good and fine at Hartford, in Connecticut, which they told me came from Georgia, but that in general it was very Indifferent, yet from the appearance of it I was convinced it was capable of a great improvement; that, to my surprise, in course of traveling 250 miles from Boston hither I had not seen any flock of more than twenty to thirty sheep, and but few of these, from whence I concluded there was no great quantity grown in the States so as to answer any great purposes for manufacture. His * Excellency observed that from his own experience he believed it capable of great improvement, for he haa been trying some experiments will* his own flocks (at Mt. Vernon); that by attending to breed and pasturage he had so far improved his fleeces, as to have increased them from two to six pounds apiece; but that since, from a multiplicity of other objects to attend to, they were, by being neglected, gone back * to half their weight, being now scarcely three pounds. I took this opportunity to ofler him one of my publications on the * Encourage* ment of Wool,’ which he seemed with pleasure to° receive. Mrs. Washington, herself made tea and coffee for us. On the table were two small plates ot sliced tongue, dry toast, bread and butter, etc., but no broiled fish, as is the general custom. Miss Custis, her grand daughter, a very pleasing young lady, of about sixteen, sat next to her, and her grandson, George Washington Custis. about two years older than herself. There was but little appearance of form; one servant only attended, who had no livery; a silver urn for hot water was the only article of expense on the table. She appears something older than the President, though I understand they were both born in the same year; short in stature, rather robust, very plain in her dress, wearing a very plain cap, with her gray hair closely, turned up under it. He has routs or levees, whichever the people choose to call them, every Wednesday and Saturday, at Philadelphia, during the sitting of Congress. But the anti-Federalists object even to the sa as tending to give a supereminency an introductory to the paraphernalia of courts ” 1 i