These sentences, taken from Washington's letters to his most intimate friends, show how little ambitious he was for the fame of statesmanship, and how honestly and eagerly he yearned for the quiet and obscurity of domestic life. At the same time, they reveal the true motives which led the great patriot to enter upon public employment, namely, a sincere love for his country, and a ready willingness to labor for the promotion of its best interests.
At the prescribed time the elections took place, and the college, by unanimous voice, made choice of Washington for president of the United States, and John Adams for vice-president. True to his convictions of duty, the great leader of the armies of America consented to be the pilot of the ship of state for four years, and prepared accordingly to leave his beloved Mount Vernon for the stormy sea of public life. These preparations were made with sincere reluctance; and the delay of a month in forming a quorum of Congress, so that the votes for president were not counted officially until the beginning of April, was regarded by Washington with heartfelt satisfaction.
"The delay," he said in a letter to General Knox on the first of April, "may be compared to a reprieve; for in confidence I tell _you_ (with the _world_ it would obtain little credit) that my movements to the chair of government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit, who is going to the place of his execution; so unwilling am I, in the evening of a life nearly consumed in public cares, to quit a peaceful abode for an ocean of difficulties, without that competency of political skill, abilities, and inclination, which are necessary to manage the helm. I am sensible that I am embarking the voice of the people and a good name of my own on this voyage; but what returns will be made for them, Heaven alone can foretell. Integrity and firmness are all I can promise. These, be the voyage long or short, shall never forsake me, although I may be deserted by all men; for of the consolations which are to be derived from these, under any circumstances, the world can not deprive me."
The senate was organized on the sixth of April. The electoral votes were counted, and Washington was declared duly chosen president of the United States for four years from the fourth of March preceding. John Langdon, a senator from New Hampshire, had been chosen president of the senate _pro tempore_, and he immediately wrote an official letter to Washington notifying him of his election. This was borne by Charles Thomson, the secretary of the continental Congress from its first session in 1774. He reached Mount Vernon at about noon on the fourteenth, and on the evening of the sixteenth Washington wrote in his diary: "About ten o'clock I bade adieu to Mount Vernon, to private life and domestic felicity; and with a mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sensations than I have words to express, set out for New York with Mr. Thomson and Colonel Humphreys, with the best disposition to render service to my country in obedience to its call, but with less hope of answering its expectations."