"HIS HIGH MIGHTINESS."
_____

    One of the embarrassments of the new office was in regard to title--how the Chief Magistrate of the United States should be addressed. The subject had occupied the attention of Congress, and a joint committee from the two Houses had been unable to agree. The newspapers had taken the matter up, and discussed it freely. With some "His Excellency" was thought the proper caper, others wished a longer and higher-sounding title, and not a few favored the appellation, given to rulers in Holland--"High Mightiness." It was finally decided to the satisfaction of all parties that Washington should be called simply the President of the United States.
    While these controversies were at white heat, Speaker Muhlenburg was one day at a dinner given in honor of Washington, and was asked by the President-elect what he thought of the title of "High Mightiness."
    "Why, General," replied Muhlenburg, laughing, "if we were certain that the office would always be held by men as large as yourself or my friend Wynkoop (a large-sized gentleman from Pennsylvania sitting at table) it would be appropriate enough; but if, by chance, a President as small as my opposite neighbor should be elected, it would become ridiculous."

Source:

Unknown, "His High Mightiness," The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Sunday, 5 March, 1905, p. 9.