e title of _His Highness the President
of the United States of America, and Protector of their Liberties_; but
they did not press the matter, as the inauguration had taken place in
the meantime, and the house had addressed the chief magistrate, in reply
to his inaugural address, simply as _President of the United States_.
With a view to preserve harmonious action, the senate determined to
address him in the same way; at the same time resolving that, "from a
decent respect for the opinion and practice of civilized nations,
whether under monarchical or republican forms of government, whose
custom is to annex titles of respectability to the office of their chief
magistrate, and that, in intercourse with foreign nations, a due respect
for the majesty of the people of the United States may not be hazarded
by an appearance of singularity, the senate have been induced to be of
opinion that it would be proper to annex a respectable title to the
office of the president of the United States."

This was the last action in Congress upon the subject, but it was
discussed in the newspapers for some time afterward. The excitement upon
the subject ran high in some places for a while, and Mr. Lee and Mr.
Adams, the reputed authors of the proposition, were quite unpopular. It
gave Washington, who was averse to all titles, much uneasiness, lest, he
said, it should be supposed by some, unacquainted with the facts, that
the object they had in view was not displeasing to him. "The truth is,"
he said, "the question was moved before I arrived, without any privity
or knowledge of it on my part, and urged, after I was apprized of it,
contrary to my opinion; for I foresaw and predicted the reception it has
met with, and the use that would be made of it by the adversaries of the
government. Happily this matter is now done with, I hope never to be
revived."

The effect of this movement upon the public mind gave Washington a
perception of the necessity of great circumspection in the arrangement
of ceremonials, to which allusion has just been made. He also perceived
the greater necessity of so regulating his personal matters as to secure
the most time for attention to public business; for, immediately after
his inauguration, he found that he was master neither of himself nor his
home. "By the time I had done breakfast," he wrote to Dr. Stuart, "and
thence till dinner, and afterward till bed-time, I could not get rid of
the ceremony of one visit befo