CHRONOLOGY : THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD : 178J-1812    1263
 

ton, resided at Mount Vernon, the General's family seat in Vir¬
ginia, his residence, as President, keeping him at the Seat of Gov¬
ernment. The levees hdd by Washington, as President, were
generally crowded, and hdd on Tuesday, between three and four
o'dock. The President stood and received the bow ot the person
presented, who retired to raake way for another. At the drawing-
rooms Mrs Washington received the ladles who curtiaed, and paased
aride without exchanging a word. Tea and coffee, with refresh-
raents of all kinds, were laid in one part of the rooms, and before
the individuals of the company retired, each lady was a second
tirae led up to the lady President, made her second silent obeisance,
and departed—nothing could be more simple, yet it was enough."
—Boston Patriot, Jl 24, 1827. This description in the Boston Patriot
ia introduced with the statement that "The following article is
from the London New Monthly Magazine. The London Sun
attributes it to the pen of Hazlitt, and calls it 'A sketch of Wash¬
ington, one of the greatest men the world has ever seen.'" See also
Custis, Recollections of Washington (i860), 430-31, footnote.

The city treasurer suggests, in a letter to the common councU,
"tbe.eipediency ot issuing small Notes to pass as a circulating Me¬
dium in this City and thereby remove the inconveniency which
hath arisen to the Inhabitants frora the want ot sraall Change since
the ceasing to paas of the Copper Coin," Whereupon, John Pin¬
tard, one of the assistant aldermen, submits a plan for this purpose
in which he says:

"Whereas the Inhabitants of thia City have experienced great
Losses from the circulation ot base Coppers insomuch as at present
to put an entire stop thereto whereby great inconveniences arise
from the want ot sraall change especially to the poorer Class ot
Citizens.

"In order to avoid the like ill consequences in future k prevent
the gross Iraposltions which have been sustained by the coining
and circulation ot base Coppers; the following Plan for emitting
sraall Bills of the value ot one Penny, two Pence k three Pence,
to the amount ot one thousand Pounds current Money of the
State ot New York, is respectfully submitted." The bills are thus
described:

"96,000 Bills of I Penny each ia        .........£400

36,000   d°   ot 2 Pence..............     300

24000  d°  of 3 Pence..............    300

156 000 Bills                  ...                   .         :£'«»■

Which Bills shall be respectively printed in the following Words.

"I promise to pay the bearer on demand . . , hy order of
the Corporation of the City of New York feb'' 26'h 175Q

"Danid Phcenix City Treasurer,"

Pintard's plan proposes the appointment of a committee of
the board, acting gratis, to manage the details of ordering and
printing the proposed bills, and putting thera into circulation. The
board approves the plan, and appoints Alderraen ^tcCorraick and
Van Zandt and Mr. Pintard to be the committee to carry it into
effect.—M. C. C, (1784-1831), I: 526-28. On March 19, Hugh
Gaine was paid £25 tor printing these notes.—Ibid., I: 532.

By May 14, it was found that the number issued waa entirely
inaufficient, and a new issue to the amount of £1097:18 was or¬
dered.—Ibid,, I: 547. Again, on July 19, a further eraission was
ordered, and the committee required to "attend the Treasurer in
the burning of those of the forraer Emission wbich were become
defaced & brought into the Treasury & Exchanged."—Ibid., 1:
565. For this issue Gaine was again paid £2^.—Ibid., 1: 569.
For the coramittee's report on this issue, see Ag 10.

Washington records; "Exercised on horseback this forenoon,
attended by M' John Trumbull, who wanted to see me mounted,"
—Washlngon's Diary (Lossing ed.), 97.
' As announced (Daily Adv., F 2), the pews in the new Trinity
church are sold at auction. Many of the pews produced more than
£50. The whole araount of the sale was £3,000.—Ibid., Mr 2, 1790.

Samud Johnson ot North Carolina writes: "I have just left the
President's where I had the pleasure of dining with almost every
raeraber ot tbe Senate. We had some excdlent champagne, and,
after it, I had the honour of drinking coffee with his Lady, a most
amiable woman. If I live much longer I bdieve tbat I shall at last
be recondled to the company of old women for her sake, a circura¬
stance which I once thought impossible."—Smith, N. Y. Cily in
1789,241.

Maday records:    "Dined with the President of the United
 

States. It was a dinner of dignity, .^11 the Senators were present
and the Vice-President. I looked often around the company to
find the happiest faces. Wisdom, forgive roe if I wrong thee, but I
thought foUy and happiness raost nearly aUied. The President
seemed to bear in hia countenance a settled aspect of melancholy.
No cheering ray of convivial sunshine broke through the doudy
gioora of settled seriousness. At every interval of eating or drinking
he played on the table with a fork or knife, like a drumstick."—
Jour. ofWm. Maclay, 206.

The coramon Council adopts the scheme of the lottery to raise
money to discharge the debt incurred by the dty tor the alterations
inthedtyhall.—M.C. 0.(1784-1831), I: 528-30, See Je 10 and
18, 1789; Ja 15, F 19, 1790. It waa pubUshed in the Daily Adv.,
Mc 15 et seq., and in other papers. For the next lottery, see F
25, 1791,

Gerard Bancker is raentioned in a record ot this date as state
treasurer. He is requested to ddiver to the committee which was
appointed "to direct the printing of the Notes to be circulated for
smaU Change" (see F 26) the paper granted by the legislature for
that purpose.—M. C. C. (1784-1831), I:  53a

At this period, Washington recorded in hia diary nearly every
day his eierciring on horseback, weather permitting, or in his
coach or post-chaise with Mrs. Washington and the children, or his
walking round the Battery.—Baker, Washingon after ike Rev.,
174 passim, and authorities there cited.

"Resolved that the Coraraittee of Leases riew the Ground
above Mr Lispenard's adjoining to Spring Street & consider the
Propriety ot extending the said Street thro'the Land ot this Corpo¬
ration to Hudson's River."—Trin. Min. (MS.).

An advertlaement of tbis date shows tbat there was a theatre
at No. 14 WiUiam St.—Daily Adv., Mr 8, 1790.

Washington engages Col. Marinus Willett to go "as a private
agent, but for public purposes, to Mr McGIUivray, principal chief
of the Creek Nation" (see F 16).—Washington's Diary (Losaing
ed.), 99. On March 12, he signed his passport.—Ibid., 104. Willett
succeeded in indudng McGIUivray to come to New York with the
other chiefs of their nation (see Je 21), and a treaty was negotiated.

"The Custora House is reraoved to No. 6, Mill Street (present
S. WUliara St. opp. Mill Lane), adjoining No. 15 Duke Street,"—
Dai/y ^(fc., Mr Ip, 1790, See also L. M. R. K., Ill: 974. It re¬
raained here untU Sept. 1, 1798 (q. v.).

Marinus WiUett writes from New York to De Witt Clinton:
"Since my arrival here I have paid a visit to the prison—The
wretchedness there is past my power to attempt a description—If
distress ever daimed Legislative assistance, the melancholy situa¬
tion of the Confined debtors in this place demand attention. My
former opportunities enabled rae to know their case to be always
uncomfortable raore so than the rdigion of Christians or senti¬
raents of huraanity justity^but the forraer circurastances bare no
proportion to the present deplorable state ot those unhappy people
—May I not trust nothing I can say will be requisite to Induse you
and tbe other Gendemen who represent this city in our assembly
to make an effort in favour of rdief for those unfortunate raembers
of our camm.aristjr'—Letters to De Witt CUnton (MS.), I: 15, in
Columbia Univ. Library,

An advertisement announces the Intended sale at public auction,
on May 3, of "A Farm At tbe 11 milestone on New York Island late
the property of Col. Roger Morris—the raansion house in point of
degance and spaciousness is equal to any in this state, and from its
devated position not only enjoys the most salubrious air, but
affords a prospect extenaivdy divcraified and beautiful. The farm
contains about 140 acrea, the greatest part of which is mowing
ground, and extends across the Island frora the East to the North
tiver. On the premises are a large coach house and barn, with a
garden containing a variety ot the best fruits."—Daily Adv., Mr
12, 1790. Washington dined at the Morris house on July ro (q. v.).

Washington receives an addresa from the Roman Catholics of
the United Statea.—Washlngon's Diary (Loasing ed,), 105,

The demolition of Fort George and the erection of a government
house (see Jl 13, 1789) are authorised by the legislature when it
passes, on this day, "An Act for securing and improving certain
Lands io the City of New York, tor Public Uses, and for other
purposes therein raentioned." Thefortand "the battery adjacent
thereto" are dedared to be at present "usdess for the purpose of
defence," The law prorides that part ot Fort George and certain
adjoining lands, described by specific boundaries, shaU be "for