■ I 
 
 
 I 
 
 I ; 
 
Book <\ $ 7 _ 
 
<[f 
 
 
MEMOIRS 
 
 WA SHINGTON. 
 
 MRS. C. M. IURKLAND 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 D. APPLETON & CO., 346 & 348 BROADWAY. 
 
 LONDON : 16 LITTLE BRITAIN. ^-* S} 
 
' 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S56, 
 By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the 
 Southern District of New York. 
 
 * V V 1\ 
 
TO 
 
 ALL MY YOUNG FRIENDS, 
 
 KNOW N AND IISKSO W N , 
 
 AND PARTICULARLY TO MY OWN SONS AND DAUGHTERS, 
 
 THIS ATTEMPT TO INTRODUCE 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 TO THEIR MOKE INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE AND TENDERER REGARD, 
 
 AND 
 
 SO TO MAKE HIS GOODNESS AND PATRIOTISM 
 
 IRRESISTIBLY INSPIRING TO THEM, 
 
 IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 " Another Life of "Washington ! " 
 
 Anticipating this very natural exclamation, let the 
 new aspirant be allowed a few words of explanation, 
 if not apology. Abundant and excellent are the biog- 
 raphies of "Washington, certainly. Yet there seems 
 room for one especially adapted to young people — not 
 children, exactly, but the older pupils in our schools, 
 and some learners who have clone with schools. 
 
 For these, the very fulness of the best lives of 
 "Washington renders them unsuitable. Details of bat- 
 tles and statesmanship, the cruelties of war and poli- 
 tics, are not particularly interesting or instructive to 
 the young. It seemed not undesirable to offer them 
 some simple memoirs of our great benefactor and 
 friend, in which the space usually occupied by public 
 affairs should be filled with what relates more particu- 
 larly to Washington himself, too generally looked upon 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 by the young as a cold, far-off", statue-like person, ad- 
 mirable rather than imitable, lit for reverence but not 
 for love. 
 
 This idea of him has grown up very naturally ; for 
 one who attempts to write his life finds so many great 
 things to tell of, that there is little place left for lesser 
 traits and incidents. This very volume, begun with 
 express intent to set forth the private and familiar, not 
 the grand side of "Washington's life and character, 
 proved insufficient to contain at once the mere sketch 
 of his doings and the more personal anecdotes and tra- 
 ditions respecting him, which last would make a vol- 
 ume, of themselves. All that could find space are 
 here, but many were necessarily forced out, lest too 
 voluminous a work should discourage youthful readers. 
 In making selections, anecdotes less known have been 
 preferred ; and some of the personal details were taken 
 down from the conversation of contemporaries of Wash- 
 ington, still able, in our day, to enjoy the homage 
 which ever attends his name. 
 
 New York, October, 1856. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 ( 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Washington's private papers — Little box in the State Department — Virginia Alma- 
 nac — Care of Washington in preserving and preparing these papers — Variety of 
 6ubjects treated in them — The use that has been made of them by his biographers 
 — A more private and personal account still possible, partly by addition, partly by 
 omission, 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 English ancestors of Washington — Letter of Sir Henry — Family annals — Curious 
 tradition in England — -Intermarriages in Virginia — Washington's birthplace — 
 Old house suffered to go to ruin — Plain and simple manners of the day in Virginia 
 — Advantages of these to Washington — Associations with the Potomac and its 
 shores, 11 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Mr. Augustin Washington — Merits of Mr. Weems's little book — Family legends re- 
 ported by him — Lesson in generosity — Another in natural religion — Country life 
 and the love of it, 23 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The mother of Washington— Her characteristics and those of her children— Her 
 early estimate of her eldest son— What he was in youth— His only sister's re- 
 semblance to him— Mrs. W.'s only weakness— Simplicity of her manners—" Little 
 George "—Obligations of great men to their mothers— Almost forgotten— Duty 
 and virtue of Obedience, 31 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Out-of-door habits — Alfred the Great, and Napoleon — Influence on a generous mind 
 of wide possessions and the power they confer — Plantation life — Field school — 
 

 VI 11 CONTENTS. 
 
 " Old Hobby "—Mother's practice of reading with her children— The Great Audit— 
 The widow's lot— Was Washington deficient in tenderness '—Softening power of 
 piety— Early love affairs— Washington's later gravity— Love of children— Its 
 advantages — Proofs of goodness of heart, ... ... 39 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A new school and new master — No Latin— A good head can make more out of one 
 language than a poor one out of half a dozen — Washington head boy, of course — 
 Military sports and national predilections— Washington a man of peace, after all — 
 Early handwriting — Neatness of his school papers — Practice in mercantile forms 
 — Eobust physical exercises one grand clement in his training— Pitching a stone- 
 Love of horses and riding, 53 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Washington little indebted to books — Early reading limited, but good— His mother's 
 idea of true kindness— Habit of writing ;i great deal — Its advantages and possible 
 disadvantages — How it affected Washington's after life— roetry book — " Rules of 
 Civility and Decent Behavior"— Their influence on his character — His style of 
 writing, excellent, plain, pure English, 62 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Esteem of his brothers for Washington — Lawrence always his friend and benefactor — 
 Fortunes of the family — George at Mount Vernon — Receives a midshipman's 
 warrant — Gives way to his mother's wishes and stays at home — Learns military 
 tactics and fencing — Contents himself with learning to be a good surveyor — Ex- 
 treme accuracy of his papers — Old desk — Curious memorandum, . . 75 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 First surveying tour — Groves of sugar trees — Indian dance — People that wouldn't 
 speak English — Rough living — Good pay— Tender passion — Poetic taste not very 
 prominent — Lord Fairfax — Planter life — High-bred manners — Letters to ladies, 83 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Important epoch in life — Appointment as adjutant-general against the French — 
 Called upon to go to the West Indies— Matter-of-fact observations there— Seized 
 with small-pox — Washingtonian touch — Returns home — Succeeds to Mount Ver- 
 non on the death of his brother — Circumstances force him too early into affairs 
 — Becomes a member of the Masonic fraternity 97 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Contemporary history— George II. and his court— Rudeness of manners — General 
 corruption — Incorrect spelling— Swift— Pope— Bolingbrokf — Chesterfield— Lady 
 M. W. Montague— Burke— Pitt— Marlborough— Admiral Vernon— Duke of Cum- 
 berland—Flora Macdonald— C. J. Fox— George III.— Wolfe— Burns— Cowper— 
 Continental European sovereigns, 108 
 
CONTENTS. ix 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Preparation— Military duties— Skill recognized by the governor— Embassy to the 
 French commandant— Perilous journey— Indian Queen, . . . . us 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Report to the Governor— Journal published in England— French and Indians more 
 troublesome than ever— Supplies very slow— Colonel "Washington rather indig- 
 naut— Death of Jumonville— Misrepresentations respecting it— The mild and 
 peaceful character of Washington's mind, 134 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Ill success at first— Surrender of Fort Necessity— French aggressions— Complaints- 
 General Braddock's defeat, w 144 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Death of General Braddock— His estimate of Washington— Discontents— Exulta- 
 tion of the French— New appointments— Terrible alarm of the people— Emotion 
 of Washington— Journey to Boston— Introduction to Miss Mary Philipse— Es- 
 teem in which Washington was held, I55 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Active people apt to be low-spirited when they are ill— Health brings enterprise- 
 Adoption of the hunting-shirt— Difference of opinion on road-making— Vexatious 
 delays— Benefits of experience— More remonstrances— Resignation, . . 103 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A new acquaintance and new interest— A fair lady with a fair fortune— Marriage and 
 housekeeping— Handsome compliment and natural embarrassment— View of plan- 
 tation-life and its requirements— Fashions of the day— Rural life not exempt from 
 them 175 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Quiet life— Training for the future— Country habits— Hunting and surveying- 
 Boundless hospitality— Dancing school— Sick neighbors— Small-pox among the 
 negroes— The bread-and-butter ball— Exact calculations, .... 183 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Washington a domestic man— Attention to his step-children— Lists for England- 
 Mrs. Washington a doting mother— Washington strict but not severe— Generally 
 beloved— Always doing service— Death of Miss Custis and Washington's emo- 
 tion—Difficulties of Virginia housekeeping and farming— Two temperance ser- 
 mon8 196 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Public affairs not forgotten— Independent companies— Organized resistance— Fairfax 
 Resolves— Economy and self-denial— Non -importation act— Boston Port Bill- 
 Public fast— Patrick Henry's opinion of Washington, . . 210 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Remonstrance changing to hostility— An army to he raised— A general wanted— Sev- 
 eral candidates— Choice falls on Washington— Ilis acceptance and stipulation- 
 Letters to his wife, 221 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The hattle of Bunker Hill already fought— Washington hurries on— Takes command 
 under the Great Elm at Cambridge — The impression he makes— Letters to Gen- 
 eral Gage — Want of money, clothing, powder, and all the necessaries of war- 
 Sarcasms cast upon the supineness of the army and its general — Cares and troubles 
 of Washington— His patience under them, 232 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Doings at Mount Vernon— Some fears of the enemy — Washington's confidence in his 
 agent — Care for the poor — Mrs. Washington's journey to head-quarters — Respect 
 of the people — Her influence — Rural tastes — Plain, generous hospitality, . 255 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Distress of Boston— Anxieties on both sides— Both actuated by British spirit— Arro- 
 gance of the invaders — Burlesque comedy outdone by General Putnam — Failure 
 of Lord Percy — Resolve to evacuate the town — Hurried retreat — Triumphal entry 
 of American troops, 266 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 Transfer of the troops to New York — Difficulties there — Machinations of the Tories 
 — British head-quarters on Staten Island — Declaration of Independence— Letter 
 to " George Washington, Esq." — Battle of Long Island — Dreadful loss — Retreat 
 across the East River, 279 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Discouragement of the army — General Howe threatens New York — Talk of burning 
 the city — Washington fortifies Harlem — Cowardice of some of the troops there — 
 Retreat to White Plains — Illiterate officers — Disaster there — Capture of Fort 
 Washington — Temporary defection of Colonel Reed, 289 
 
 CHAPTER XXYII. 
 
 Lee's advice — His jealousy of Washington — Delays in obeying orders — Endeavoring 
 'At make an independent movement, to the injury of the commander-in-chief — 
 Cabals against Washington — Lee's capture by the British — Retreat across the Jer- 
 seys — Position and prospects of the Army -New powers granted by Congress, 302 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Public patience wearing out— The art of retreating— Recruiting— Some accessions to 
 the army give rise to new hopes and new projects— Hard duty— Crossing the Del- 
 
CONTENTS. • 
 
 -Zu^rT* °f th ° " eSSiaDS - BattI * ° f Trenton-Entrance into Philadelphia 
 -Battle of Princeton-Anecdotes of Washington's bravery, . . su 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 AT 7^ r ^°^r nt ^r L:tn,y( ^ «*«*«- of Chad's Ford-and 
 
 vv nite Maish— M inter quarters at Valley For^e— Suffering of tl, t ,, 
 
 -Half-pay for the troops-Alliance with the French-Battle of Monmouih Cm 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 Arrival of Count d'Estaing-Hindrances and disasters-Disagreement between French 
 
 348 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Washington at Philadelphia with Congress-Then in the r„„r,t,. i <■ 
 
 phia, . . U6 f remtIon of tbe currency-Kindness of the ladies of Philadel- 
 
 360 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Sufferings of the troops— Treachery of Arnold n.~* 
 
 Letter to Mr. Laurens-itS of T« p~ ° ap * nre . and dea ^ <* Major Andre- 
 
 lenity-Mutinyof the Lf J sL li " % "T ""^ '"^ SUPPreSS lon * 
 Franklin, . . . 7 1'^-Seventy on this occasion-Letter to Dr. 
 
 372 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Co-operation of the French fleet and irmv a ™„! r 
 
 operating against Lord C Walls £ Z~tZ o^M ^ ** Vir ^ -'Lafayette 
 for the Chesapeafce-WashiSo:, XtS ZXr^ ^ * *" ^ 
 beau, visits Mount Vernon for the first «me ste^ne T^ C °" Ut ***«■ 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 393 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 companions in arms-Returns his commission to Con^sf " "*" ^ ° f Us 
 
 398 
 
XI 1 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Persona] habits of Washington al home— Anecdote from Watson — Washington an 
 early riser— Care of his farm — Reading aloud in tin- evening— Regular at church — 
 Abstemious in eating and drinking — His love and care of Mount Vernon, and the 
 description he gave of the estate — Attending to other people's affairs — Number of 
 letters he wrote while at home, 418 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 State of the Union after the War — Convention for forming the Constitution — Wash- 
 ington's progress to New York — His inauguration as flrst President of the United 
 States — Labors and excitement afterwards — Severe illness — Death of his mother 
 — Her character— How much was her son indebted to her? — Character of his 
 wife, 432 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Presidential tour — A careless groom— Observations on the country — Internal im- 
 provements—Washington's desire to resign — The remonstrances of his friends 
 — Hi> re-election— Difficulties with France — Jay's Treaty — Citizen Genet — Retire- 
 ment of "Washington, 447 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Washington's short enjoj merit of repose — His illness, sufferings and death— Funeral 
 ceremonies— Grief of the nation— Resolutions of Congress — Request for his re- 
 mains— Mrs. Washington's reply — Our responsibilities as countrymen of Wash- 
 ington, . 453 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Washington's opinions on slavery — His Will and its provisions — His morals — nis re- 
 ligion— Testimony of various persons as to his habits of devotion, . . 4C5 
 
MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Washington's private papers — Little box in the State Department — Virginia Alma- 
 nac — Care of Washington in preserving and preparing these papers — Variety of 
 subjects treated in them — The use that has been made of them by his biographers 
 — A more private and personal account still possible, partly by addition, partly by 
 omission. 
 
 In the Department of State, at Washington, is a box 
 of manuscripts — three or four cubic feet of them, per- 
 haps — all written in the clear, flowing, manly hand of 
 George Washington ; every page, almost, and some- 
 times the same page more than once, bearing his beau- 
 tiful signature — 
 
 The papers are old and yellow ; some of them a 
 good deal worn at the edges and in the folds ; others 
 
2 MEMOIES OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 hardly legible, being faded copies, on thin paper, taken 
 in a copying* press. Some are autograph letters, filled 
 and endorsed by the same hand, and tied in bundles 
 with red tape ; others are bound books, larger or small- 
 er, according as they were intended for mere memo- 
 randa or for letters written out at length. Others are 
 journals and registers, giving at one time, by their 
 characteristic perseverance, for year after year, a life- 
 like picture of the even tenor of their owner's agricul- 
 tural life ; and again, vivid suggestions of more public 
 import by their sudden breaking off, as at the memo- 
 rable time when he left Mount Vernon for some post 
 of public duty, such as the first Convention, or the 
 Presidential chair. These diaries are written on the 
 interleavings of the old Virginia Almanac, on the title- 
 page of which the date is announced as " in the year 
 of our Lord God." 
 
 The memoranda commence January 1, 1768, with- 
 out other preface than this : — " Where, how, and with 
 whom my Time is spent." The Almanac professes, 
 as usual, to contain " The Lunations, Conjunctions, 
 Eclipses, the Sun and Moon's Kising and Setting, the 
 Rising, Southing and Setting of the Heavenly Bodies ; 
 true Places and Aspects of the Planets ; "Weather, &c, 
 calculated according to Art." Also, " Entertaining 
 Observations for Each Month, and other Pieces of 
 Amusement. By T. T. Philomath." On the title-page 
 we read — 
 
LETTERS AND DIARIES PARCHMENTS. 6 
 
 " Thus Year by Year the Reader we present 
 Something new matter for to give content ; 
 You'll find here, besides the Calendar Part, 
 Rare Observations, written with much Art, 
 With Verses which to each Month do agree, 
 And other things of Mirth and merry glee." 
 
 There are, among the Washington papers, many of 
 these books, perhaps forty in all ; each containing, first, 
 a calendar, and over and below the calendar on each 
 page a verse of sententious wisdom, homely advice, or 
 satirical observations on human nature, all couched in 
 wretched rhyme. Secondly, ten blank pages, of which 
 the first two or three are filled, in Washington's hand, 
 with a journal of his own ; the next two by a regular 
 register of the weather ; and then one or two by obser- 
 vations on farm business. 
 
 The poetry and anecdotes are such as. were, doubt- 
 less, palatable at that day, though in ours they might 
 be thought a little homely, if not coarse. Very many 
 of the books were probably intended to be carried in 
 the capacious pockets of their time. One almost won- 
 ders where Washington acquired so much taste and 
 delicacy as he possessed, when we see how totally de- 
 void of these qualities were many publications, that 
 seem to have been accepted by society in his youth. 
 
 One considerable parcel in the box consists of di- 
 plomas and honorary testimonials from corporations ; 
 some of them parchments, with great seals and flowing 
 ends of ribbon. 
 
4 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 He wished to have added his own commission as 
 Commander in Chief to the number ; and after he had 
 in due form returned it to Congress at Annapolis, he 
 wrote to a government official, requesting that it might 
 be sent him, saying, playfully, that it might amuse his 
 grand children. But the parchment had been filed 
 among state papers, and could not be had. It is now 
 among the interesting relics of Washington and the 
 Revolution, at the Patent office, at the seat of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Intermixed with the letters in Washington's hand- 
 writing, are a few addressed to him on various busi- 
 ness ; but in general the papers are his own, and afford 
 the most unquestionable picture of his mind and char- 
 acter that we could possibly desire. 
 
 Besides the papers contained in the box, there are 
 in the Department, arranged in presses which occupy 
 one entire side of a large room, more than two hundred 
 bound volumes of letters to and from Washington ; a 
 collection including some of the most interesting docu- 
 ments connected with our history ; such as the letters 
 of Major Andre, and the correspondence of the traitor 
 Arnold. The whole includes a complete view of the 
 state of things during the revolutionary war and the 
 presidencies of Washington. 
 
 These papers and parchments belong to the United 
 States. Those contained in the box were purchased of 
 the heirs of Washington by the government, for the 
 sum of twenty thousand dollars, and the whole pre- 
 
IMPOKTANCE OF THE PAPEES TO HISTOEY. 5 
 
 cious deposite is confided to the care of the keeper of 
 the Rolls Office, who most courteously shows them to 
 any one who comes properly introduced. 
 
 Washington himself prepared the greater part of his 
 papers for the public eye, observing that the history of 
 the country during his time could not be properly writ- 
 ten without a reference to those papers. All who have 
 been engaged in writing our history have gladly availed 
 themselves of these inestimable materials ; and chiefly 
 Judge Marshall and Mr. Sparks, the latter having, with 
 infinite labor, given to his country and the world a larger 
 portion of Washington's more important letters, with am- 
 ple notes and appendixes, making eleven volumes, be- 
 sides a Life of their author, in one large octavo volume. 
 More recently, Mr. Irving has studied the manuscripts, 
 and drawn from them and other sources the Life of 
 Washington, now publishing in several large volumes. 
 
 Many other of the biographies of Washington have 
 been drawn more or less from the papers in the Rolls 
 Office, which must ever, of course, be the most reliable 
 and the most ample source of information on the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 Yet, after all these researches, so minute and so vo- 
 luminous are the records of his daily life which Wash- 
 ington, thought it worth while to make, and not only to 
 make, but to leave ready for inspection, that there re- 
 mained still some personal matter, which, though not 
 exactly fitted for the use of the historian, is yet availa- 
 ble to the biographer, especially to one desirous above 
 
6 MEMOIES OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 all things to find out and exhibit traits of the man, 
 rather than of the soldier or the statesman. Wash- 
 ington is far better known to his countrymen in the two 
 last mentioned characters than in his private one. It 
 has even been said that he " had no private character." 
 But this opinion is contrary to all the traditions of the 
 Washington family, who love to dwell upon the do- 
 mestic traits of their august relative, and who think of 
 him in his character of uncle, guardian, friend, and 
 neighbor, with mingled reverence and affection. 
 
 If there could be any doubt about Washington's 
 having intended that all his papers should be at the 
 service of the public, motives of delicacy might be 
 supposed to interfere with the publication of private 
 journals and the details of family affairs ; but the ar- 
 rangement and preservation of the papers sufficiently 
 show that it was the intention of the writer to lay his 
 entire life open ; to offer materials to future biogra- 
 phers, and to withhold nothing that might aid the 
 world in forming a just estimate of his character. 
 
 How else account for these private papers having 
 been left mingled with those of public interest, by a 
 man so methodical, so cautious, and so free from all 
 suspicion of vanity ? A careful examination of the 
 ground leads rather to the conclusion, that having been 
 the subject of unbounded calumny, Washington thought 
 the best and most complete answer to these sinister im- 
 putations, would be to show without reserve what man- 
 ner of man he had been, from the beginning, and 
 
CANDID SELF-REVELATION. 7 
 
 throughout his whole career, as well behind the scenes 
 as upon the great stage ; in his home business as well as 
 in affairs of world-wide moment ; in his amusements as 
 well as in the most serious occupations that ever were 
 laid upon mortal man. Here we find him as he was ; 
 neither hiding his anger nor parading his charity ; full 
 of interest in his own affairs, yet with an ear and hand 
 never inaccessible to the unfortunate ; telling as coolly 
 what money he lost and won at cards, as on what occa- 
 sions he went to church ; recording in one line the ar- 
 rival of splendid guests, and the illness of an old negro 
 woman ; reproving an overseer ; lecturing a spendthrift ; 
 trying to manage the affairs of a troublesome lady ; re- 
 counting the performance of the dogs and the fortunes 
 of each day's hunt ; ordering handsome things for the 
 house and table ;' giving all the particulars of a day's 
 ploughing or hoeing ; making out long lists of Mrs. 
 Washington's and Miss Custis's finery, to be ordered 
 from London, or describing that household implement, 
 a mangle ; — in short, chronicling every day's doings, 
 without fear or reserve, as one who should say — Here 
 I am ; make what you can of me ! 
 
 Purposely to conceal all this truth, and nature, and 
 variety, for fear that the exhibition of the private side 
 of Washington should lessen the reverence we have 
 all been accustomed to feel for the public one, would 
 be truly the most irreverent thing we could be guilty 
 of. It is substituting for true, heartfelt honor, a kind 
 of superstitious image- worship ; parading a statue in- 
 
8 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 stead of the man, in order that art may ingeniously 
 cover up the deficiencies of nature. Washington needs 
 very little of this kind of consideration. 
 
 The desire to know every trifling particular that 
 can be ascertained about those we admire, is so natural 
 that there must be some respectability about it. A 
 feeling nothing less than universal cannot be considered 
 morbid or unbecoming. Let it be conceded that His- 
 tory must give only the dignified aspect of a public 
 man ; biography, especially when intended for the 
 young, may venture a little lower. When we would 
 hold up to young people an example, in which we de- 
 sire to interest them, we must, if possible, bring that 
 example within their reach, in order to inspire them 
 with hope of imitation. The image of Washington 
 presiding over armies and senates, however magnificent 
 it may be, can only affect us like a picture in the dis- 
 tance. We see the grand outline and admire the ef- 
 fect, but we can accord only vague and general admi- 
 ration. Few expect to be eminent in the cabinet or in 
 the field ; and it is natural to look lower for the charac- 
 teristics on which our lives are to be modelled. 
 
 Happily for us, Washington, the man, is not wholly 
 inaccessible to us, and more happily still, the qualities 
 of the man are by his life found to be entirely compat- 
 ible with those of the hero, — one of the most valuable 
 of facts. He himself said truly, in an address to his 
 officers on retiring from the army, " The private vir- 
 tues of economy, prudence, and industry will not be 
 
LIMITED OBJECT OF THIS BOOK. 9 
 
 less amiable in civil life than the more splendid quali- 
 ties of valor, perseverance, and enterprise were in the 
 field." Such was his modest, abiding sentiment, and 
 happy was it for the great and successful soldier that 
 he could afford to utter it. Happy is it for us that he 
 was enabled to show it in his own case. 
 
 I would by no means be understood as promising 
 great things in the way of novelty. No startling facts 
 hitherto concealed ; no newly discovered virtues or 
 weaknesses, no qualities as yet unsuspected, have re- 
 warded my faithful study of the Washington manu- 
 scripts. All I propose is as familiar and home-like a 
 life of the great man, as can be gathered from his own 
 papers and the sayings of his contemporaries, many of 
 whom wrote about him ; and in order to make the story 
 as interesting as I can to young people, I omit much 
 that is usually interwoven with the Life of Washing- 
 ton, such as details of battles and of politics ; supplying 
 the place of such particulars by extracts from the diary 
 of daily life at Mount Vernon, and descriptions of 
 Washington's doings, appearance, habits, and manners, 
 as reported by himself and his contemporaries. The 
 world has long been in possession of the facts ; in this 
 book there is some attempt to present them in a homely 
 and familiar way, without any departure from the pro- 
 found respect which should fill every American heart 
 when contemplating the character of Washington. 
 
 The notes which Mr. Sparks collected with infinite 
 pains and labor, afford a world of interesting matter, 
 
10 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 of a more private and personal kind than that which 
 he embodies in the text. To these I am particularly 
 indebted, though I have sought in many other direc- 
 tions for information suited to my purpose. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 English ancestors of Washington— Letter of Sir Henry— Family annais— Curious 
 tradition in England — Intermarriages in Virginia — Washington's birth-place — 
 Old house suffered to go to ruin — Plain and simple manners of the day in Virginia 
 — Advantages of these to Washington — Associations with tho Potomac and its 
 shores. 
 
 The English ancestors of "Washington were of great re- 
 spectability, and noted for a spirit of independence and 
 patriotism. The name appears in English annals as 
 early as the twelfth century. The family appellation 
 was originally Hertburn, but William de Hertburn, 
 about the middle of the thirteenth century, assumed 
 the name of his property, the manor of Wessyngton, 
 which, in course of time, came, by means of the ordi- 
 nary changes, to be written Washington. One of the 
 family, Sir Henry Washington, is celebrated as having 
 held the city of Worcester against Fairfax and the 
 Parliamentary army, in Cromwell's time. The letter 
 he wrote on the occasion is so like what our Washing- 
 ton might have written in similar circumstances, that 
 we must take the liberty of copying it from Irving's 
 Life, Vol. I. page 14. 
 
12 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 " Sik, — It is acknowledged by your books and by 
 report of your own quarter, that the king is in some of 
 your armies. That granted, it may be easy for you 
 to procure his Majesty's commands for the disposal 
 of this garrison. Till then I shall make good the trust 
 reposed in me. As for conditions, if it shall be neces- 
 sitated, I shall make the best I can. The worst I know 
 and fear not ; if I had, the profession of a soldier had 
 not been begun, nor so long continued, by 
 
 " Your Excellency's humble servant, 
 
 " Henry "Washington." 
 
 Another of the family, Joseph Washington, an emi 
 nent lawyer in London, in 1692, translated from the 
 Latin one of Milton's political works, which shows him 
 to have been an advocate of freedom and the rights of 
 the people. We find, by all accounts, Washington's 
 ancestry to have been in general patriotic and manly. 
 
 In 1539 the manor of Sulgrave, near Northampton, 
 commonly called Washington's manor, a piece of con- 
 fiscated property formerly belonging to the monastery 
 of St. Andrews, was granted to Lawrence Washington, 
 to whose memory and that of his wife is found, in the 
 church there, a monument with an inscription, and effi- 
 gies in brass of four sons and seven daughters. The 
 eldest of these sons had a still more numerous family, 
 having been endowed with sixteen children, and his 
 eldest son after him had fourteen — seven sons and 
 seven daughters. The second and fourth of these sons, 
 
1657.] CUKIOUS TRADITION. 13 
 
 who very naturally thought it prudent to look for a fu- 
 ture some where else than on the patrimony, were the 
 John and Lawrence who emigrated to Virginia about 
 1657. 
 
 In the pretty little English village of Cookham, 
 in Berkshire, not very far from the royal precincts of 
 Windsor Castle, many tombs of the Washington family 
 are extant, and the inhabitants of that place insist not 
 only that Mr. Augustin Washington married his second 
 wife, Mary Ball, there, but even that George Washing- 
 ton himself was born there in a house still pointed out. 
 But when tradition goes so far as to show a tree that 
 he planted, we are obliged to demur a little, and find 
 it difficult to extend our faith beyond the probability, 
 or something like it, that Mary Ball may have been a 
 native of Cookham.* - 
 
 We cannot help feeling some interest in every tri- 
 fling particular relating to the Washington family, 
 though General Washington himself cared but little 
 about his pedigree. Men of his stamp do not think of 
 borrowing honor. When he had become famous, Sir 
 Isaac Heard, of the Herald's office in London, took 
 pains to trace back the ancestry of the new wonder, 
 and wrote to him for such particulars as might be in 
 his possession. In the answer, Washington says : — 
 " This is a subject to which I confess I have paid but 
 very little attention. My time has been so much occu- 
 pied in the busy and active scenes of life from an early 
 
 * See Appendix. No. 1. 
 
14 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. L 1657 ' 
 
 period of it, that but a small portion could have been 
 devoted to researches of this nature, even if my inclina- 
 tion or particular circumstances should have prompted 
 to the inquiry." 
 
 When family affection and kind offices were in ques- 
 tion, he seems to have been active in tracing relation- 
 ships. His last will shows that he remembered the re- 
 motest ; and we know that when he was making that 
 will, he caused inquiries to be made, both in England 
 and the United States, for unknown relatives to whom 
 he might leave memorials ; but we can discover no re- 
 search prompted by pride or ambition. He had nei- 
 ther time nor inclination to turn aside to visit the tomb 
 of any Jupiter Ammon of the Old World. We should 
 have been surprised to find him opening a correspond- 
 ence with the Herald's office, or even entering with 
 alacrity upon researches suggested there. 
 
 Augustin Washington was twice married ; first to 
 Jane Butler, who left him two sons, and secondly to 
 Mary Ball, characterized on her tomb and known to 
 history as " Mary, the mother of Washington," a suffi- 
 cient distinction. Little is known of the father of 
 George Washington, except that he was a handsome, 
 stout, strong man, prosperous and happy, and much 
 respected by his neighbors, and that he died at the 
 age of forty-nine. We have reason to believe he was 
 a man of sense and virtue. It is pleasant to think so, 
 and to find tradition confirming the impression. Tra- 
 dition loves the marvellous, and might easily have 
 
1657.] SETTLEMENT OF THE FAMILY. 15 
 
 made out George Washington to have been the mirac- 
 ulous product of bad antecedents, like Eugene Sue's 
 heroes and heroines, whose virtues are the growth of 
 the very circumstances which are sometimes rep- 
 resented as the excuse for every degree of criminal- 
 ity. 
 
 "Washington's great great grandfather, John Wash- 
 ington, came over from England with his brother, in 
 1657, and settled in Westmoreland county, Virginia, 
 where both bought lands on the Northern Neck, a tract 
 lying between the Potomac and the Rappahannock 
 rivers. John took up his residence at Bridge's Creek, 
 married Ann Pope, and became a prosperous planter. 
 He commanded the troops raised by Virginia and Ma- 
 ryland to repel the intrusions of certain Indian tribes, 
 and was a good and spirited citizen ; honored by his 
 contemporaries, as we judge by their naming the parish 
 after him, a record which endures to this day. 
 
 Smyth, a very angry tory, who suffered for his 
 loyalty during the revolution, says : — " General Wash- 
 ington is descended from a family of good repute, in 
 the middle rank of life, now residing in the settlement 
 of Chotank ; every individual planter in this numerous 
 settlement being actually related to him by blood." 
 
 The family continued to reside at Bridge's Creek 
 for nearly eighty years. There was born Augustin 
 Washington, grandson of the original settler, and to 
 him on the 22d of February, (N. S.) of the year 1732, 
 that great son, destined by nature and Providence — by 
 
16 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1732. 
 
 character and by fortune — to render the family name 
 immortal. 
 
 George Washington was born in the parish of 
 Washington, in a lonely and plain farm-house, near 
 the Potomac, that happy river, beloved by him to the 
 last day of his life, and whose every wave is glorified 
 by indelible association with his memory. No por- 
 tents marked the day, which was probably as cold as 
 Greenland, for February has its sharp bite, even in 
 Virginia. Washington himself says in his Diary, of 
 another February day there, (Feb. 20th, 1772,) " At- 
 tempted to ride to the mill, but the snow was so deep 
 and crusty, even in the track that had been made, that 
 I chose to tie my horse half way and walk there." 
 
 There is a whole picture of his birth morning in 
 that little sentence. A wide expanse of deep snow, 
 with perhaps a single track through it ; the general 
 blank broken only by here and there a clump or fringe 
 of evergreens, which some wit has said ought to be 
 called " never-greens," so gloomy is their color com- 
 pared with that of summer foliage. A calm quiet 
 reigning over the face of Nature ; the cattle shivering 
 under the sheds, and fowls huddled in every sheltered 
 corner ; not even the sound of an occasional wheel on 
 the snow-covered road, to give a hint of the going on 
 of ordinary life in the bitter atmosphere. 
 
 There, in that old farm-house, which was so old- 
 fashioned and dilapidated, after the occupation of so 
 many generations of Washingtons, that the family did 
 
1732.] OLD FAKM-HOUSE. 17 
 
 not think it worth preserving many years longer ; a 
 " four-roomed house with a chimney at each end," 
 which chimney was carried up on the outside, — at ten 
 o'clock in the morning, was born a little boy, fair- 
 haired and long-limbed, but so much like other little 
 boys that it is hardly probable even the most sagacious 
 of the neighbors thought him likely to become one of 
 the great powers of the earth. There were boys in the 
 house before he came, too, for he was the child of a 
 second marriage, and had not even the advantage — and 
 it was an advantage in those days — of being the eldest 
 son. The event, doubtless, seemed a very common- 
 place one, unless perhaps to those elder brothers, who, 
 being quite young, were probably delighted with the 
 " new baby," though they little suspected he was 
 to found a new empire. 
 
 It is good to think what may be the future offices 
 and destiny of the seemingly insignificant about us. It 
 would teach us more respect for each other. 
 
 Alas ! we think not what we daily see 
 About our hearths ; — angels that are to be ! 
 
 The family lived very plainly, and the new-comer 
 opened his dark blue eyes on a scene no grander than 
 may be found in the plainest Virginia or Vermont 
 farm-house of our own day. There was, we may be 
 sure, a low ceiling ; a great, wide, brick or tile fire- 
 place ; a well saved carpet, with a few straw-bottomed 
 chairs, and a tall old bedstead with posts like sloop 
 
18 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1732. 
 
 masts, — such a one as "Washington slept in to the end 
 of his life. Perhaps these posts supported white dimity 
 curtains, for bed curtains had not then been voted un- 
 healthy ; and very likely there were some curious, old, 
 black-framed engravings, of favorite heroes or preachers, 
 hanging high up on the walls ; and almost surely 
 
 A varnished clock that ticked behind the door. 
 
 We could fancy, from the punctuality of Washington's 
 life habits, that the ticking of a clock must have been 
 one of the earliest sounds that caught his ear. 
 
 He was baptized April 5th, Mrs. Mildred Gregory 
 being his godmother, and Mr. Beverley Whiting and 
 Captain Christopher Brooks, godfathers. His early 
 home was probably almost as rough and simple as 
 Shakspeare's. The farm-houses at the south are plain 
 enough, even now, and there are some still extant 
 which retain a good many of the old frugal features of 
 Washington's early day. The chimneys of such are 
 very generally built on the outside, and it is not un- 
 common to see a brick oven in the open air, a little re- 
 moved from the dwelling for fear of fire. About these 
 primitive homesteads are to be found Marigolds, 
 Princes' Feathers, and Hollyhocks ; fences lined with 
 currant-bushes, and door-yards ornamented with sweet- 
 brier, but no Dahlias or Camellias, or rolled gravel 
 walks or privet hedges. Utility dominates over all ; 
 beauty comes, if at all, mostly by chance. Generally 
 
1732.] RURAL LIFE AT THE SOUTH. 19 
 
 an old black-looking paling keeps out the less enter- 
 prising of the pigs, but over it and under it fowls in- 
 numerable find their way, whenever grain is scarce 
 about the barn. Yet there is an air of ease and free- 
 dom, and one feels always sure of hospitality, the car- 
 dinal virtue of the South. The house is the scene of 
 quiet and serious business ; nature out of doors seems 
 to be at play, and leisure and amusement are associ- 
 ated, in the minds of the inhabitants, very much with 
 the sunshine and the open sky. In fine weather, some 
 of the homely household occupations which pride and 
 taste love to keep behind the scenes, are carried on un- 
 der the eaves of the farm-house, but this is only that 
 good mother Earth may take care of what must within 
 doors be cleared up with promptness and toil, neither 
 of which our Southern brethren are very fond of. 
 The dark-complexioned people, who are a never-failing 
 feature of the Virginia home landscape, love the sun- 
 shine, even in July, and they never stay under a roof 
 when they can help it. This occasions those shrill, 
 long-drawn cries and objurgations, which one is apt to 
 hear in passing such an old-fashioned dwelling as we 
 are speaking of. Bells being not thought of, and 
 travellers not frequent, family affairs are largely ex- 
 pedited by feminine screamings, which help to enliven 
 the general solitariness. 
 
 It was one of the preparatory blessings of George 
 Washington's happy lot, that he was bred in this plain 
 and simple way. It made him easy to please, fond of 
 
20 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1732. 
 
 wholesome and innocent pleasures, and satisfied with 
 plain things for his own use, all his days, although he 
 had taste, and knew how to conform to fashion in 
 matters which concerned other people. He was always 
 most emphatically a rural man. He was most at home 
 in a farmer's plain clothes, roving the woods with his 
 gun, watching the performance of the plough and the 
 harrow, or exercising his skill as a surveyor, on his 
 own or the neighboring fields. 
 
 This taste we cannot but consider a great advantage 
 to him who was to bear the brunt of great affairs, to 
 deal with multitudes of differing and uncongenial 
 minds, and to unravel many a web of tortuous diplo- 
 macy. A true love of the country is an element of 
 mental repose and balance ; habits of rural occupation, 
 though they may make the tumults of public life dis- 
 tasteful, bestow, in some measure, the calmness which 
 is required for the highest and purest consideration of 
 great affairs ; and though we dare not aver that a man 
 may 
 
 Hold fire in his hand 
 By thinking of the frosty Caucasus, 
 
 yet we may be allowed to believe that the very re- 
 membrance of forest walks and bracing winter rides, 
 of hunting and planting, of hearty hospitality and 
 neighborly freedom, is capable of refreshing and cool- 
 ing the perplexed mind, temporarily engaged in far 
 different scenes, and looking for a return to peace and 
 retirement as the sweetest of recreations. 
 
'732.] S0LE REMAINING RELICS. 21 
 
 Let us not then be deemed fanciful if we say — 
 Blessings on that homely old farm-house, which began 
 and cherished in our "Washington a love of quiet, pure, 
 and simple pleasures ; in which was laid the foundation 
 of his industry, his frugality, and his activity ! 
 
 Nothing now remains to mark its site but a broad 
 slab of free-stone, placed there for the purpose by Mr. 
 Custis. The landscape around has little natural inter- 
 est and few evidences of cultivation. Pines, Hemlocks, 
 and wild figs are scattered here and there ; the fences 
 are poor and neglected ; all shows plainly the effect of 
 laisser aller habits in the people. One almost fancies 
 that the energy and determination which might have 
 served the entire region for several generations, were 
 concentrated and absorbed by George Washington, 
 model as he was of promptness and thoroughness in 
 all things, from the greatest to the least. 
 
 But what a charm hovers over the spot ! What 
 other on earth makes an American's heart thrill like 
 this ! A vine-leaf — a sprig of cedar — a pebble, from 
 that holy ground, is a talisman of memory. The poet's 
 words, so true to nature and experience, come up, un- 
 bidden, as we pace those silent fields and woods. We 
 do not wrest them from their highest meaning when we 
 apply them to the place consecrated by the thought of 
 Washington : 
 
 Call it not vain ! They do not err 
 
 Who say that when the Hero dies 
 Mute Nature mourns her worshipper 
 
 And celebrates his obsequies; 
 
22 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1737. 
 
 Who say that hill and forest lone 
 For the departed chief make moan ; 
 Through his loved groves that hreezes sigh 
 And oaks in deeper groan reply ; 
 And rivers teach their rushing wave 
 To murmur dirges round his grave."* 
 
 * A very prosaic observer, Smyth, in his M Tour in the U. S. of Amer- 
 ica,'' — says of the country and the hero : 
 
 "The Potomac is certainly the most noble, excellent, and beautiful 
 river I ever saw ; indeed it can be excelled by no other river in the uni- 
 verse. Its entrance into the Chesapeake is near a hundred miles from the 
 Atlantic. It is navigable for the largest ships ns far as Alexandria and 
 even to George Town, which is close to the Falls and eight miles above 
 Alexandria. 
 
 " The situation, and gentlemen's seats on the road are beyond com- 
 parison and description beautiful. 
 
 ******** 
 
 " After we had passed this noble river, we entered one of the most 
 agreeable as well as respectable settlements in Virginia. In this place Mr. 
 George Washington was born, who has become somewhat distinguished for 
 being at the head of an inactive, timid army, which never performed a 
 gallant exploit, yet have succeeded in their pursuits far beyond even their 
 most sanguine expectations or hopes." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Mr. Augustin Washington— Merits of Mr. "Weems's little book — Family legends re- 
 ported by him— Lesson in generosity — Another in natural religion— Country life 
 and the love of it. 
 
 Whatever is preserved with regard to Mr. Augustin 
 Washington, is creditable to him. As good authority 
 as we have for the story of the new hatchet and the 
 ruined cherry-tree, which is always quoted as showing 
 the little George's love of truth, and the courage with 
 which he could avow it, gives us one or two anecdotes 
 not quite so threadbare, which imply that the father 
 was not one of those parents who leave to chance the 
 prompting of good thoughts in the minds of their chil- 
 dren. Here is an instance which Mr. Weems professes 
 to have had directly from an old lady, who, in her 
 youth, had spent much time in the Washington family, 
 of which she was a distant relative.* 
 
 * Mr. Weems, at one time clergyman of Washington's parish, wrote 
 a very entertaining little book about the hero, so full of enthusiasm and 
 eulogy, with not a few blunders, that some of the graver historians have 
 
24- MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1737. 
 
 " On a fine morning of the fall of 173T, Mr. Wash- 
 ington, having little George by the hand, came to the 
 door, and asked my cousin Washington and myself to 
 walk with him to the orchard, promising he would 
 show us a fine sight. On arriving at the orchard, we 
 were presented with a fine sight, indeed. The whole 
 earth, as far as we could see, was strewed with fruit, 
 and yet the trees were bending under the weight of ap- 
 ples, which hung in clusters like grapes. * * * 
 
 " Now, George," said his father, " look here, my 
 son ! Don't you remember when this good cousin of 
 yours brought you that fine large apple last spring, 
 how hardly I could prevail on you to divide with your 
 brothers and sisters ; though I promised you if you 
 would but do it God Almighty would give you plenty 
 of apples this fall." Poor George couldn't say a word ; 
 but hanging down his head, looked quite confused, 
 while, with his little naked toes, he scratched in the 
 soft ground. 
 
 treated it with disregard, and as if it were a mere fable. Yet the book 
 was published very soon after Washington's death, and by one who had 
 been bred and settled in the very region where all facts and traditions 
 about its subject must have been best known and easiest ascertained, and 
 although his facts are often questionable, his style somewhat turgid, and his 
 eulogy carried too far, it can hardly be that tbe various anecdotes given 
 by him were not current at the time. Certain inaccuracies in point of 
 dates and names do not, entirely, invalidate the testimony of Mr. Weems 
 as to Washington's character and the estimation in which he was held ; 
 and tbe traditional stories which are scattered here and there through the 
 little book have too much grace and sweetness in them to be cast aside 
 as worthless. Mr. Weems"s Saxon English, though defaced occasionally 
 by some vulgarism or provincialism, might well be a model for our more 
 ambitious day. 
 
1737.] LOVE OF RURAL PLEASURES. 25 
 
 " Now look up, my son ! look up, George ! " con- 
 tinued his father, " and see there how richly the blessed 
 God has made good my promise to you. Wherever 
 you turn your eyes you see the trees loaded with fine 
 fruit, many of them, indeed, breaking down ; while the 
 ground is covered with mellow apples, more than you 
 could eat in your whole life, my son." 
 
 " George looked in silence on the wide wilderness 
 of fruit. He marked the busy humming bees, and 
 heard the gay notes of birds ; then, lifting his eyes, 
 filled with shining moisture, to his father, he softly 
 said — 
 
 " ' Well, Pa ! only forgive me this time, and see if 
 I ever be so stingy any more.' " 
 
 This story certainly deserves to be true, for it is 
 beautiful ; and the poetic style of the narrator, while it 
 warns us not to take too literally the particulars of the 
 little anecdote, certainly gives a value of its own to 
 what may very well have been a real family story, 
 such as are current in almost every house where intel- 
 ligent parents and children live together in kind and 
 genial intercourse. The life-long, passionate love of 
 Washington for rural and domestic pleasures, would 
 justify us in giving faith to almost any stories of the 
 freedom and sweetness of his early home days. From 
 the beginning he must have been a happy boy. All 
 his earlier papers show it. You cannot read his school- 
 boy writings, without feeling as if you were looking into 
 a clear, cheerful, frank face. Let us give his father part 
 2 
 
26 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1737. 
 
 of the credit of it, since a home-bred boy learns to 
 imitate his father, and to think and be like him long 
 before eleven years of age. 
 
 Take another of Mr. Weems's stories, told with the 
 richness of Jean Paul or a fine Flemish painter. 
 
 " One day Mr. Washington went into the garden, 
 and prepared a little bed of finely pulverized earth, 
 on which he wrote George's name in full, in large let- 
 ters ; then, strewing in plenty of cabbage seed, he cov- 
 ered it up and smoothed all over nicely with the roller. 
 This bed he purposely prepared close alongside of a 
 gooseberry walk, which happening at the time to be 
 hung with ripe fruit, he knew would be honored with 
 George's visits pretty regularly every day. 
 
 Not many mornings had passed away before in 
 came George, with eyes wild rolling, and his little 
 cheeks ready to burst, with great news. 
 
 " O, Pa ! come here — come here ! " 
 
 " What's the matter, my son, what's the matter? " 
 
 " O come here, I tell you, Pa ; come here, and I'll 
 show you such a sight as you never saw in all your life- 
 time." 
 
 The old gentleman, suspecting what George would 
 be at, gave him his hand, which he seized with great 
 eagerness, and tugging him along through the garden, 
 led him point-blank to the bed whereon was inscribed, 
 in large letters, and in all the freshness of new spring 
 plants, the full name of 
 
 " GEOKGE WASHINGTON." 
 
1737.] W H0 COCLD HAVE DONE IT? 27 
 
 " There, Fa ! " said George, quite in an ecstasy of 
 astonishment ; " did yon ever see such a sight in all 
 your life-time ? " 
 
 " Why, it seems like a curious affair, sure enough, 
 George ! " 
 
 " But, Pa, who did make it there ? who did make 
 it there ? " 
 
 " It grew there by chance, I suppose, my son." 
 
 " By chance, Papa ! O no, no, it never did grow 
 there by chance, Pa ! Indeed, that it never did ! " 
 
 " High ! why not, my son ? " 
 
 " Why, Pa, did you ever see any body's name in a 
 plant bed, before ? " 
 
 " Well, but, George, such a thing might happen, 
 though you never saw it before." 
 
 " Yes, Pa ; but I did never see the little plants grow 
 up so as to make one single letter of my name before. 
 Now how could they grow up so as to make all the let- 
 ters of my name ? And then, standing one after 
 another, to spell my name so exactly — and all so neat 
 and even, too, at top and bottom ? O, Pa, you must 
 not say that chance did all this. Indeed, somebody 
 did it, and I dare say, now, Pa, you did it, just to scare 
 me, because I am your little boy." 
 
 His father smiled, and said, " Well, George, you 
 have guessed right. I indeed did it, but not to scare 
 you, my son ; but to learn you a great thing which I 
 wish you to understand. * * * As 
 
 my son could not believe that chance had made and 
 
28 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1737. 
 
 put together so exactly the letters of his name, (though 
 only sixteen,) then how can he believe that chance has 
 made and put together all those millions and millions 
 of things that are now so exactly fitted to his good ? 
 That my son may look at every thing around him, see 
 what fine eyes he has got ! and a little pug nose to 
 smell the sweet flowers, and pretty ears to hear sweet 
 sounds, and a lovely mouth for his bread and butter, 
 and O, the little ivory teeth to cut it for him, and the 
 dear little tongue to prattle for his father ! and precious 
 little hands and lingers to hold his play -things, and 
 beautiful little feet for him to run about upon. 
 
 " And when my little rogue of a son is tired of run- 
 ning about, then the still night comes for him to lie 
 down, and his mother sings and the little crickets chirp 
 him to sleep ; and as soon as he has slept enough, and 
 jumps up fresh and strong as a little buck, there the 
 sweet, golden light is ready for him. When he looks 
 down into the water, there he sees the beautiful silver 
 fishes for him, and, up in the trees, there are the apples 
 and peaches, and thousands of sweet fruits for him ; 
 and all, all around him, wherever my dear boy looks, 
 he sees every thing just to his wants and wishes ; the 
 bubbling springs with cool, sweet water for him to 
 drink ; and the wood to make him sparkling fires when 
 he is cold, and beautiful horses for him to ride, and 
 strong oxen to work for him, and the good cow to give 
 him milk, and bees to make sweet honey for his sweeter 
 mouth, and the little lambs, with snowy wool, to make 
 beautiful clothes for him ! 
 
1737.] POETRY OF COUNTRY LIFE. 29 
 
 " Now all these, and all the ten thousand other good 
 things, more than my son can ever think of, and all so 
 exactly fitted to his use and delight — now could chance 
 ever have done all this for my little son ? " 
 
 We need not carry our extract further, since George's 
 full assent to the conclusion his father wished him to 
 draw from this beautiful rural picture, may easily be 
 taken for granted. 
 
 Without pretending that the poetic outburst should 
 be credited to the father, or the precocious decision to 
 the son, we must thank Mr. Weems, in the name of 
 children yet to be, for so sweet and suggestive an enun- 
 ciation of the common and unnoted things that prove 
 God's goodness, while we accept the nucleus of the 
 story as a family legend. That a lesson to a bright lit- 
 tle boy of five years old should be given in such a form, 
 is not so unlikely in the country as it would be in town. 
 Intelligent people who live in the country are generally 
 very fond of it, and their imaginations are quickened 
 and their thoughts elevated, by familiarity with rural 
 objects. To live much in the open air ; to notice the 
 clouds, and speculate with interest upon the weather ; 
 to depend directly for comfort and plenty upon the suc- 
 cess of what is planted in the ground ; to go into the 
 tall, lonely, whispering woods for fuel instead of apply- 
 ing to the merchant for it — even the pleasant expe- 
 rience of the wood's noisy, genial blaze on the hearth, 
 instead of the warmth of the forgotten coal fire- -these, 
 and many other particulars of rural life, make country 
 
30 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [1737. 
 
 people (other things being equal) more poetical than 
 citizens ; and it is not uncommon to hear them use ex- 
 pressions that would sound affected, if uttered among 
 brick walls and in a thick, smoky, business atmosphere. 
 
 What is called love of the country arises partly 
 from this, i. e. the suggestion of poetical ideas, although 
 those who live in the country are not always those 
 who analyze the feeling. It is an elevated one, 
 sometimes soiled by sordid accompaniments or despe- 
 rate needs. If it were not for these ill accidents, there 
 could hardly be any cities, so natural is it for man to 
 love a position which exalts his imagination, and brings 
 him more directly face to face with Nature. 
 
 It cannot but be interesting to trace the progress of 
 this little, simple boy, bred in the very plainest country 
 style, to the eminence he attained before he passed 
 middle life — an eminence from which he could look 
 down on the greatest sovereigns of the earth, since his 
 elevation was the result of merit and not of accident.* 
 
 * One of Mr. Weems's stories, too vivid and picturesque to be omitted, 
 yet too evidently fabulous to deserve admission into the text, is given in 
 Appendix No. 2, for the amusement of our young readers. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The mother of Washington — Her characteristics and those of her children — Her 
 early estimates of her eldest son — What he was in youth — His only sister's ro- 
 semblance to him — Mrs. W.'s only weakness — Simplicity of her manners — "Little 
 George" — Obligations of great men to their mothers — Almost forgotten — Duty 
 and virtue of Obedience. 
 
 It is often repeated that Mrs. Mary Washington, who 
 was twenty-eight years old when her eldest son was 
 born, was a beauty in her youth, and the picture of 
 Mary Ball, now in England, justifies the claim. " The 
 strong are born of the strong, and the good of the 
 good," says Kepler. Her children were all tall, and 
 their descendants still maintain the family reputation 
 for fine, robust figures, although some of them have, 
 like the General, a tendency to diseases of the throat 
 and chest. George is said to have been the favorite of 
 his mother, but we may be allowed to hope that a 
 woman, noted for good sense and high principle, would 
 hardly have a favorite among her children. He was 
 her eldest, and a fine, handsome boy, endowed with 
 
32 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1738. 
 
 qualities of mind and heart which his mother certainly 
 could not be ignorant of, however an ordinary observer 
 may have overlooked them. The holy book says, 
 But his mother Jc&pt all these sayings in her heart ; and 
 so it is in common life. The wise mother has a pro- 
 phetic eye for the character of her son, though she 
 cannot foresee his fortunes ; for the affairs of this world 
 are so much ajar, that character and destiny have only 
 a very general connection. Probably she found George 
 more amenable to the sense of duty than other boys of 
 his age. This might make him seem a favorite, because 
 his mother would naturally trust him more and find less 
 in him to reprove. There is very little reason to believe 
 that he was what is called a brilliant boy, such as 
 weak mothers are apt to be proud of. 
 
 He was certainly a symmetrical being, having a face 
 full of exju'ession and seriousness, a clear blue eye, a 
 winning smile, and a tall and rather slender figure. 
 The effect of his smile in lighting up his face, was often 
 noted in after years. His only sister, Mrs. Lewis, can 
 hardly have been as handsome, for a woman;. at least 
 not as well proportioned ; for we are told that, in after 
 days, when he was Commander-in-chief, she was so like 
 her brother, that with his military hat and cloak on, 
 she might have obtained the usual salute from the sen- 
 tinels in his stead. 
 
 There was in Washington's face, as noted by several 
 of his contemporaries and shown in his portraits, at 
 least when he reached middle life, an expression of 
 
1738.] SIMPLE MANNERS. 33 
 
 modesty, and even of tenderness, which might well be- 
 come the countenance of a woman ; but his figure was 
 square shouldered, and made more for strength and en- 
 durance than for grace of movement. These character- 
 istics were those both of father and mother, if we may 
 judge from various tokens. 
 
 Mr. Paulding, who had his information direct from 
 some of the Washington family, since deceased, says 
 that Mrs. Washington exacted great deference from her 
 sons, and that " the only weakness in her character was 
 an excessive fear of thunder, which originated in the 
 melancholy death of a young female friend, who was 
 struck dead at her side by lightning, when Mrs. Wash- 
 ington was about fifteen years old." * 
 
 There is, at this day, an old lady at Fredericksburgh 
 who remembers her mother saying that Mrs. Washing- 
 ton often came there to drink tea, riding in what is 
 called in Virginia a " stick chair," — i. e. an old-fash- 
 ioned, unstuffed chaise, without a top — " bringing little 
 George on a stool at her feet." This little characteris- 
 tic touch from an authentic source is worth mentioning, 
 merely because it shows the extreme simplicity in which 
 Washington was brought up. 
 
 * Mr. Paulding says further tbat "As a native of Virginia, she was 
 hospitable by birthright, and always received her visitors with a smiling 
 welcome. But they were never asked to stay but once, and she always 
 speeded the parting guest by affording every facility in her power. She 
 possessed all those domestic habits and qualities that confer value on 
 women, and had no desire to be distinguished by any titles but those of a 
 good wife and mother." 
 O* 
 
34 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1739. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to insist on what has been so 
 long reckoned among points established — that great 
 men are, one and all, in a peculiar manner, indebted to 
 their mothers. Many of them have been so well aware 
 of this, that they have expressly recorded their sense of 
 obligation, and Washington is said to have expressed 
 his, though no direct record of the feeling is found in 
 his writings. He was certainly no exception to the 
 general rule. We know but little of his mother, but 
 that little is significant, and quite enough to assure us 
 that we see in his character much that was evidently 
 the reflection of hers. Besides the qualities that he 
 inherited from her, there were some results of her no- 
 tions of family government, peculiarly adapted to the 
 education of one born to command. We know, by 
 abundance of unmistakable signs, that obedience was 
 the first lesson that Mrs. Mary Washington taught her 
 children ; a lesson unfashionable in our day, but with- 
 out which we should never have had the Washington 
 whose least word commanded the respect and observ- 
 ance of those about him, and secured the performance 
 of the most difficult and dangerous services, often es- 
 sential to the great cause. It is only by obeying that 
 we learn to command. 
 
 It has often been observed, that no duty is so neg- 
 lected in our country as the enforcement of obedience, 
 particularly filial obedience. The reason popularly 
 given for this acknowledged fact is, that our institutions, 
 in sweeping away hereditary distinctions, disallowing 
 
1739.] THE LESSONS OF HOME. 35 
 
 caste, and giving to every man a voice in the state, 
 have weakened the sentiment of reverence in general, 
 and consequently lowered the national idea of obedi- 
 ence, even to parents.* If this be the true reason, it is 
 surely a very bad one. If the younger members of our 
 republic have been led by circumstances into so serious 
 an error, it certainly becomes the parental portion, who 
 often enough lament the result, to teach them this 
 truth — that republican freedom supposes private self- 
 government, and that this can begin in nothing but a 
 spirit of obedience, obedience to parents first, and after- 
 wards to the sense of duty, to the laws of the land, and 
 to the great Fountain of all law. 
 
 Without too curiously speculating as to the cause 
 of what is, nevertheless, an acknowledged evil, let us 
 say, of the evil itself, that if there be any value in the 
 concurrent testimony of all past time, any authority in 
 the teachings of Christ and his apostles, any warning in 
 sad experience, obedience must underlie all the virtues 
 that go to make up the character of a good son, a good 
 soldier, a good citizen. There is no substitute for it, 
 none. Obedience is, in a child, nothing but the habit- 
 
 * Mr. Jefferson, in a letter to Dr. Cooper, of Columbia College, 1822, 
 says : — " The article of discipline is the most difficult in American educa- 
 tion. Premature ideas of independence, too little repressed by parents, be- 
 get a spirit of insubordination, which is the great obstacle to science, with 
 us, and a principal cause of its decay since the Kevolution. I look to it 
 with dismay, as a breaker ahead, which I am far from being confident we 
 shall be able to weather." This prognostic has been fully vindicated by ex- 
 perience, as many of our Colleges can sadly testify. 
 
36 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1739. 
 
 ual submission of the will to the law of right, since the 
 parent stands, at that period of life, in the place of God. 
 This habit is the foundation of all virtue. It was ob- 
 viously that of Washington's virtue, and the source of 
 his great deeds ; for he spent his life in doing just what 
 he did not want to do, in obedience to that sense of 
 right which was habitual to him. As we know more 
 of his mother than of his father, we ascribe this pecu- 
 liar feature of his character more particularly to her, 
 although we have reason to suppose his father to have 
 been also a judicious person. 
 
 From the earliest record we possess of the career of 
 "Washington, we find the sense of duty always connected 
 in his mind with the hope of success ; the idea of co- 
 operation with Divine law with the dependence on 
 Divine aid. He evidently felt that obedience is 
 strength. Nothing less than this could have supported 
 him, under the public reproaches and private sneers 
 that goaded him incessantly, during the earlier part of 
 the war, when a single yielding up of duty to the selfish 
 desire of personal reputation, might have covered him 
 with glory and ruined our cause. 
 
 This point — the dignity and ennobling uses of obe- 
 dience, and the danger of its being almost forgotten in 
 our American scheme of education — was too important 
 to be passed lightly over, in an attempt to trace the 
 early training of "Washington, and to discover what 
 were some of the accessories in the formation of a 
 character so weighty and so benignant. Our readers 
 
1739.] THE IDEAL AMERICAN. 37 
 
 must excuse this instance of prolixity. It seemed de- 
 sirable to connect the consideration of an unpopular 
 virtue with the character of one, confessedly the first 
 of men, in whom it was so strikingly operative. Ac- 
 knowledging at the outset that we look upon Washing- 
 ton as the ideal American man — not the slow and 
 dogged Saxon, or the mercurial and chivalric Norman, 
 but a product of both, and different from both — it fol- 
 lows that in making him a pattern, the American rises 
 toward a high point of virtue ; in departing from such 
 a model he sinks to a lower grade. When we have seen 
 an American of nobler and more admirable character 
 — for we shall never propose a foreign model to a na- 
 tion that has no prototype — we may, without loss, set 
 aside this one, vouchsafed us by Almighty Providence 
 as a birth-gift to our young republic, at once a pattern 
 for its character and a promise of its fortune. The self- 
 control, the economy, the courage, the enterprise, the 
 public spirit, the religiousness, which distinguished 
 Washington, are the component points of the true 
 American character, which has little ancestral prestige 
 or inspiration to rely on, which has no " privilege " to 
 shield corruption, no " caste " to dignify vice. Our 
 wealth is suddenly acquired, bringing of course great 
 necessity for self-control ; it is continually changing 
 hands, making economical habits peculiarly necessary. 
 Our vast resources originating vast designs, enterprise 
 becomes a splendid quality ; the facility occasioned by 
 a division of responsibility, is too often the source of 
 
38 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1739. 
 
 official corruption ; true public spirit — the vital spark 
 of national self-government — is the most difficult of 
 virtues. Self-assertion and worldliness being our ever- 
 present snare, amid such unexampled opportunities of 
 material prosperity, religion is our best safeguard and 
 highest wisdom — the only citadel of our liberties, the 
 only voucher for their perpetuity. "When we remem- 
 ber these things, let us remember also, that Washing- 
 ton was the model in all of them ; and, wisely looking 
 back to first causes in so important a matter, let us not 
 disdain to lay foundations of character, upon which it 
 shall at least be possible for so high and noble a struc 
 ture to stand. 
 
 God pardon us for ever holding lightly so great a 
 blessing as this model ; for praising Washington in 
 words, while we set aside his example, as not suited to 
 what, we persuade ourselves, is an advance in the spirit 
 of the age. 
 
 Circumstances and customs change, but the stand- 
 ard of character is eternal. 
 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Out-of-door habits — Alfred the Great, and Napoleon — Influence on a generous mind 
 of wide possessions and the power they confer — Plantation life — Field school — 
 " Old Hobby " — Mother's practice of reading with her children — The Great Audit — 
 The widow's lot — Was Washington deficient in tenderness ? — Softening power of 
 pity — Early love affairs — Washington's later gravity — Love of children — Its 
 advantages — Proofs of goodness of heart. 
 
 It was, as we have said, a life-long advantage to Wash- 
 ington to have been bred up with simple habits, an in- 
 extinguishable love of the open air, and a relish for 
 out-door amusements. That he was so, is evident in all 
 histories of him. He never liked to be in the house 
 when the w T eather was fine ; and it w T as one of the trials 
 of his self-denying spirit, when he had become involved 
 in state affairs, that he was obliged to spend so many- 
 days and weeks shut up in councils and offices, when 
 his heart was longing for the free blue sky and the fresh 
 bracing wind, for his horse and his gun. 
 
 We must be allowed to connect this hearty love of 
 the country, its unceremonious and sincere habits and 
 primitive interests, with the courage, the truthfulness, 
 the industry, and the complete unaffectedness of Wash- 
 ington. 
 
40 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. L 1744 
 
 Cities have bred great men, but of another stamp. 
 Alfred the Great, to whom Washington has been com- 
 pared, loved the country quite as well, and we hardly 
 hear of him any where else ; Napoleon, the opposite 
 of Washington in almost every thing, cared nothing 
 about it, and never showed any desire for rural 
 scenes and pleasures. Lord Bacon, between whose 
 intellect and Washington's there must have been some 
 resemblance of original structure, if we may judge 
 from internal evidences to be gathered from their re- 
 spective styles, only fully lived while he had trees over 
 his head, and Mother Earth in all her freshness under 
 his feet. 
 
 There must be something, too, in the possession of 
 wide ancestral domains ; in the habit of contemplating 
 and planning for extensive tracts, with all their variety 
 of aspect, production and value, and the feeling of in- 
 dependence and abundance induced by plantation life 
 on a large scale. Even the fact of holding slaves, 
 when the holder is a George Washington., with his high 
 sense of responsibility and his never-failing humanity 
 and respect for human nature, tends, like other aristo- 
 cratic institutions, to bring out some excellent traits of 
 character, for which there is comparatively little occa- 
 sion in town life. A wide neighborhood of independ- 
 ent gentlemen, each a prince in his own domain, yet 
 subject to that most efficient police, the opinion of his 
 peers ; in the constant interchange of civilities and kind- 
 nesses, but wholly free in the expression of sentiment ; 
 
1744.] IDEAS, IN THOSE EARLY TIMES. 41 
 
 must have afforded, wlien the main feature of their 
 lives and habits had hardly yet been mooted as a moral, 
 much less as a political question', grand soil for the pro- 
 duction of manly and Christian virtues. Judging them 
 by their times, and not by ours, by what they did, 
 when occasion offered, rather than by what we think, 
 now that there is comparatively little to be done for 
 the happy land they left us, we must confess that plan- 
 tation life wore then and there its best aspect, and of- 
 fered its most effective strength ; and that slavery did 
 all it ever can do, and more than its wiser advocates 
 will venture to claim for it in our day, in cultivation 
 of the generous affections, and refinement of the man- 
 ners of those who were born and bred to it. In "Wash- 
 ington's early days there does not seem to have been a 
 misgiving as to the nature of the institution, although 
 there were very decided opinions as to the infamy of 
 maltreatment of those helpless creatures, by any man 
 who had a character to lose. In his early days, we say 
 advisedly, for afterwards it was very different. 
 
 The plain, humble home on Pope's Creek ; the stout, 
 kind, planter papa, and serious, housewifely mother ; 
 that primitive and retired mode of life, and its various 
 calls upon the higher elements of character, influenced, 
 evidently, the whole future of the General, President, 
 Benefactor of nations. He wore their impress through 
 all the toils and all the honors that distinguished him 
 from the rest of mankind. Through the whole of his 
 grand career, whenever the pressure of duty relented, 
 
42 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1744. 
 
 he sprang back to rural life and its associations of 
 pleasure and business, as the half-weaned child to its 
 mother's bosom. It is recorded of him, that whenever 
 he visited his old mother, he fell at once into the habits 
 of his childhood. 
 
 One of the memoranda while he was attending 
 court at Fredericksburg, runs thus : — 
 
 " Returned in the evening to mother's ; all alone 
 with her." What a distinct domestic picture do these 
 little words draw ! We can almost hear the fire sing 
 on the hearth, and see the large snuff of the candle, 
 grown up unperceived while mother and son sat talk- 
 ing. 
 
 Mr. Augustin Washington left the old farm on 
 Popej's Creek when George was very young ; indeed, 
 some say soon after he was born ; but only to exchange 
 it for another, probably a better one, on the Rappahan- 
 nock River, opposite Fredericksburg, a small town, 
 situated about a mile and a half below the Falls on 
 that river. 
 
 The same plain style of living continued, and 
 George, now old enough to go to school, was sent to a 
 schoolmaster, rough as the pines that nestled about the 
 poor school-house ; an old fellow named Hobb} T , one of 
 Mr. Washington's tenants, who used to boast in after 
 times, when he had become superannuated and some- 
 what addicted to strong potations, especially on the 
 general's birthdays, that it was he, old Hobby, who, 
 between his knees, had laid the foundations of George 
 
1744.] OLD HOBBY A, B, ABS. 43 
 
 "Washington's greatness. The school was what was 
 called in those days, in rural Virginia, a " field-school," 
 perhaps not very unlike what in Ireland is called a 
 hedge-school ; a seminary of learning whose preten- 
 sions are bounded by the spelling-book and the New 
 Testament, but which has graduated some very great 
 men. The man who had the honor of teaching a, b, 
 abs to Washington, pursued also the perhaps more suit- 
 able employment of sexton and grave-digger. He is 
 not supposed to have discovered any peculiar promise 
 in the blue-eyed urchin, who doubtless behaved very 
 much like other heroes of his age ; but after the great- 
 ness of his pupil became evident, he found wherewithal 
 to make his boast, as was very natural. 
 
 And how can we deny his claim ? for indeed Wash- 
 ington, or any body else, must have made a very poor 
 figure in the world without a, b, abs ! 
 
 Yet, without desiring to be ungrateful, we may be 
 allowed to think that the mother's practice of reading 
 with her children the best books she could find, in those 
 days when books were books, had a good deal to do 
 with the future character of one of them at least. 
 Would that other mothers, inspired by this great suc- 
 cess, would adopt the plan far more extensively than is 
 now, as far as we can judge, thought necessary, or per- 
 haps even desirable. 
 
 There is a volume, old and worn, yellow-leaved and 
 thumb-marked, in the title-page of which " Mary 
 Washington's " name was written long, long ago, while 
 
44 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1744. 
 
 yet she who bore that name was young and blooming. 
 It is " Contemplations, Moral and Divine, by Sir Mat- 
 thew Hale." Mr. Paulding saw the book, even had it 
 in his possession, and was told by one of the family 
 that Mrs. Washington was in the habit of reading it 
 daily with her children. 
 
 Our present limits hardly admit of the insertion 
 here of the marked passages which we may, without 
 stretch of imagination, suppose to have especially in- 
 fluenced the mind of the boy ; but the book may be 
 found in any library, and it is worth while to look at it 
 and trace the coincidences between its precepts and the 
 peculiar traits of Washington. 
 
 One chapter, however, marked in the index and 
 worn by frequent use, it may be well to make a little 
 extract from. It is called " The Great Audit," and 
 purports to be an account rendered by a good steward 
 to the great Taskmaster. 
 
 " I never made use of my power or greatness to 
 serve my own turns, either to heap up riches, or op- 
 press my neighbor, or to revenge injuries, or to uphold 
 injustice. For, though others thought me great, I 
 knew myself to be still the same, and in all things, be- 
 sides the due execution of my place, my deportment 
 was the same as if I had been no such man ; for I very 
 well and practically knew that place, and honor, and 
 preferment are things extrinsical. * * * 
 
 Though I have loved my reputation, and have been 
 careful not to lose or impair it by my own neglect, yet 
 
1744-1 READING SIR MATTHEW HALE. 45 
 
 I have looked upon it as a brittle thing that the devil 
 aims to hit in an especial manner ; a thing that is much 
 in the power of a false report, a mistake or misappre- 
 hension to wound and hurt, and notwithstanding all 
 my care, I am at the mercy of others without God's 
 wonderful, overruling providence. And as my repu- 
 tation is the esteem that others have of me, so that es- 
 teem may be blemished without my default. I have 
 therefore always taken this care, not to set my heart 
 upon my reputation. I will use all fidelity and honesty, 
 and take care it shall not be lost by any default of 
 mine ; and if, notwithstanding all this, my reputation 
 be soiled by evil or man, I will patiently bear it, and 
 content myself with the serenity of my own con- 
 science." 
 
 In reading Washington's letters, written in the midst 
 of his trials, and after the greater of them were well 
 over, we cannot but be struck with the similarity of ex- 
 pression, as well as sentiment, to those of Sir Matthew 
 Hale. There is an old-fashioned directness ; often a 
 disposition to moralize, and always a serious tone, which 
 is apt to become rather oppressive and chilling, in 
 Washington's writings, where the subject is at all per- 
 sonal. He was never a man of high spirits, and we 
 have reason to believe that even his boyhood was grave 
 and considerate, in spite of his athletic sports and con- 
 stant out-door amusements. Without these he might 
 have been considered a dull person. Much reflection 
 inevitably induces gravity, though it does not forbid 
 
46 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1744. 
 
 cheerfulness, and may easily be prevented, by exercise 
 and amusement, from degenerating into gloom. 
 
 Although reserved in his manners, Washington was 
 eminently social in his habits. Serious in his conver- 
 sation, he was yet particularly conversible. His grav- 
 ity was the result neither of moroseness nor of self- 
 righteousness. His friends, however unseasonable or 
 unreasonable — and they were sometimes both — always 
 found him kind and patient ; and, however faulty, never 
 failed in their applications to him for aid and sympa- 
 thy. His life, in fact, contradicted his manner, or his 
 reputed manner. Nature had made him genial, cir- 
 cumstances stiffened his exterior. There was ample 
 evidence of internal fire, though the snows outside were 
 only occasionally melted. Left fatherless at a very 
 early age, the stern tone of the mother seems to have 
 overpowered the more genial manner of the Washing- 
 ton race. 
 
 From all accounts, Mrs. Mary Washington was a 
 person of reserved manners and rather stern character. 
 Her virtues were not adorned with the feminine sweet- 
 ness which it is natural and proper to look for in a wo- 
 man. At least this is certainly true of her later life. 
 It may, however, have been partly the result of cir- 
 cumstances ; for Mrs. Washington was left a widow 
 with five children when George, her eldest, was but 
 eleven years old, and although her husband owned a 
 good deal of landed property, yet there was no great 
 abundance of money ; and, in order to keep the land, 
 
1744.] Washington's mother. 47 
 
 and yet bring up her young family, the greatest econ- 
 omy and management were necessary. 
 
 To battle with the world under these circumstances, 
 requires that a woman should harden herself a little, 
 and it is not wonderful if sometimes the process goes 
 on further than is necessary. But I have seen a por- 
 trait of this lady when she was still the fair Mary Ball ; 
 and I could not help fancying that the lofty forehead, 
 determined brow, and cool, calm eye of the picture, 
 prefigured well the high-spirited and keen matron, who 
 in her old age replied to her son-in-law's kind offer to 
 manage her business for her — ■ 
 
 " You may keep my accounts, Fielding, for your 
 eyesight is better than mine, but I can manage my af- 
 fairs myself." 
 
 And to her son George, when he invited her to take 
 up her abode with him : — " I thank you, George, but I 
 prefer being independent." When General Lafayette 
 called to see her, on the occasion of his first visit to 
 this country, he found this mother of the great general 
 and president at work in her garden, with an old sun- 
 bonnet on. She came forward directly, to welcome the 
 young French hero, saying, " I would not pay you so 
 poor a compliment, marquis, as to stay to change my 
 dress." 
 
 It is a current opinion that "Washington was defi- 
 cient in tenderness — a great fault if it were to. The 
 grandest and manliest character is incomplete without 
 tenderness. But, though our hero was imperfect, like 
 
48 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1744. 
 
 every body else, it does not seem to me quite just to 
 deny him this quality. Many passages in his writings, 
 and many things recorded of him, bespeak a kind and 
 feeling heart, and it appears pretty plainly that though 
 his sympathies were not universal, and though his man- 
 ner was always restrained, he felt the sorrows and even 
 the vexations of all in any way connected with him, 
 to a degree totally incompatible with any supposition 
 of lack of sensibility. 
 
 But a man who attains great eminence is doomed to 
 find himself almost alone. It has often been said that 
 a king can never have a friend, and the same is true of 
 a man whose qualities and fortunes raise him far above 
 his fellows. This state of comparative isolation neces- 
 sarily brings on habits of reserve, for reserve becomes 
 wisdom in such cases. The mind occupied with great 
 interests, especially with great public services, can 
 hardly find time for that frequency and fulness of pri- 
 vate communion, which tends to nourish and keep active 
 the tender feelings. The possession of power enables a 
 great man to remedy at once many of the evils which, 
 in ordinary circumstances, he could only pity ; so that 
 he half loses the habit of pity, one of the great soften- 
 ers of the human heart. The constant necessity for 
 self-control in great matters, must gradually extend its 
 influence over all that can deeply move the feelings or 
 sap the resolution. If one avenue must be guarded, so 
 must all the rest. Duty may require that even friends 
 must be forbidden the citadel. The sentinel must not 
 
1744.] LOVE VERSES TASTE. 49 
 
 pause in his round to listen even to the pleadings of his 
 mother. 
 
 Washington's early writings show plainly that he 
 knew and felt what sentiment was, and his original sus- 
 ceptibility to tender emotions, — testified in particular 
 by as lame love-verses as ever a boy of his age was 
 guilty of — is proved by the general tone of his remarks 
 on the young ladies that he met with. It is certain 
 that there were times when he fancied himself a very 
 unfortunate fellow, because certain fair damsels did not 
 smile on him. But after he had fairly committed him- 
 self to business, and begun to feel the hardening of his 
 sinews, mental and bodily, we hear no more of his be- 
 ing " undone," because a young lady " will not prove 
 kind." He had by that time attained the robuster 
 frame which says — 
 
 What care I how fair she he, 
 If she be not so for me ? 
 
 He was always fond of ladies' society, enjoyed fe- 
 male conversation, and was interested in little matters 
 that interested women, as we find by many of his let- 
 ters. He had a great deal of taste, and showed it in 
 dress, furniture and equipage, to which he gave, through 
 his whole life, such attention as only a man whose 
 taste formed an important part, of his nature could have 
 given under the circumstances. Old people in Phila- 
 delphia say that when he rode through the streets, 
 it was noticed, in the universal attention which his 
 3 
 
50 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [174:4- 
 
 splendid appearance excited, that his horse's hoofs were 
 blacked and polished as thoroughly as his own boots. 
 
 He loved children, and they loved him, although 
 they held him in awful reverence. This reverence did 
 not always please him, and he sometimes evinced a 
 good deal of annoyance, when he found that his en- 
 trance interrupted the childish sjDorts that he would 
 have liked to witness. He has been seen for a quarter 
 of an hour looking through the crack of the door on a 
 party of young people, romping and playing blind- 
 man's-buff. The more closely we study "Washington's 
 writings, the more prevailing will be the impression 
 that the sacrifice of much indulgence of the softer emo- 
 tions must be counted among the immense ones which 
 he made to duty. If he could have lived the life he 
 chose for himself — that of an intelligent and enterpri- 
 sing farmer, head of a family, generous host, kind 
 neighbor, faithful friend, good citizen, guardian of the 
 young, protector of the aged that Providence threw in 
 his way, — there would, no doubt, have been a great 
 modification in his manners, because there would ne- 
 cessarily have been one in his thoughts and feelings. 
 Until the necessity for sternness or reserve arose, we 
 hear nothing of it, While he was a private gentleman 
 nobody seems to have thought of it. His friends, we 
 find by his papers, take all sorts of liberties with his 
 house, his table, his horses, his time. He has a dan- 
 cing school at Mount Vernon, for the little Custises and 
 some of the neighbors' children, and he keeps the dan- 
 
1744.] NATURAL MANNERS FRIENDSHIP. 51 
 
 cing-master and most of the scholars, not only to din- 
 ner, but till the next day, or even longer. He invites 
 his miller and his miller's wife to dine, and goes every 
 day to visit his negroes when they are ill. In short, 
 there are few gentlemen of fortune so accessible, so 
 universally hospitable, so careless of any exclusive dig- 
 nity as Washington at home, and we know that it was 
 in his own dear shades that he felt peculiarly himself. 
 Every where else, he was in stiff, irksome harness, ever 
 on the qui vive, or going the grand rounds, with every 
 thing depending on the concentration of his attention 
 and his power of self-abnegation. 
 
 A close study of his letters and private papers, pro- 
 duces the general impression of a very sympathetic na- 
 ture, generously alive to the wants and wishes of others, 
 but not often asking or wishing for a return in kind. 
 This last may not improbably be the ground of a sus- 
 picion often brought forward, that Washington was in 
 some sense a self-inclosed man. Whatever be the rea- 
 son, he certainly asked very little sympathy or aid in 
 private affairs. But we find him always conferring fa- 
 vors, always able to confer them. Few persons seem 
 to have been necessary to him, and those few were such 
 as could have required nothing from him but friend- 
 ship. Lafayette, Hamilton, Knox, Greene, were his 
 friends, and he is not devoid of demonstration towards 
 them. Towards Lafayette he is urgent, tender and 
 confidential. When he had offended Hamilton, at that 
 time only half as old as himself, he humbled himself 
 
52 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [1744. 
 
 to ask a reconciliation, which the fiery youth did not 
 grant ; and showed the sincerity of his regard by meet- 
 ing, with ready warmth, the first relenting of that im- 
 pulsive nature. Towards General Knox and his family, 
 Washington's feelings and behavior were the kindly 
 ones of an affectionate relative. To his wife he was 
 always most attentive and indulgent, and from his mar- 
 riage day he wore about his neck the miniature which 
 was found on his cold bosom by those who performed 
 the last offices for those august remains. The mere 
 statesman or soldier would, long before that time, have 
 cast aside the little memorial of domestic love and duty 
 Washington, who was truth itself, no doubt wore it al- 
 ways, as he first put it on, as a token and talisman of 
 the tender and exclusive regard which he felt and 
 cherished for the chosen partner of his life. As he had 
 felt all a young man's love for the beautiful bride, so 
 he retained an old man's affection and respect for 
 the dignified matron and faithful helpmate of so many 
 years. He adopted her children and grandchildren as 
 his own, and left in their hearts and memories an unef- 
 faceable impression of benignity and patient kindness, 
 which none but a thoroughly good-hearted man could 
 have produced. Abundant proof of this is extant, 
 though too much diffused to be readily cited. The 
 spirit of a man's life and character must be discovered 
 by the contemplation of it as a whole. Detached in- 
 stances, however numerous, always leave much untold. 
 
CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 A new school and new master — No Latin — A good bead can make more out of one 
 language than a poor one out of half a dozen — Washington head boy, of course — 
 Military sports and national predilections— Washington a man of peace, after all — 
 Early handwriting — Neatness of his school papers — Practice in mercantile forms 
 — Eobust physical exercises one grand element in his training — Pitching a stone — 
 Love of horses and riding. 
 
 The school at Bridge's Creek, to which "Washington was 
 sent after his father's death, was kept by a Mr. Wil- 
 liams, a personage far superior to " Old Hobby," and 
 who seems to have done what he undertook to do in a 
 very creditable manner. Mr. Weems says of his school, 
 that it was very thorough in common studies, and par- 
 ticularly in grammar and mathematics, which Williams 
 considered his forte ; but that the master " knew as 
 little of Latin as Balaam's ass ! " and of course could 
 not teach it to his pupils, though some have supposed, 
 from Washington's writings, that he could hardly have 
 been ignorant of it. But, as many learn languages 
 without thinking or caring what relation they bear to 
 ideas; he, having well provided himself with ideas, 
 managed always to find good sound language in w r hich 
 
54 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1744. 
 
 to clothe them ; not in every case strictly correct, per- 
 haps, for he was not a " strict constructionist '' in that 
 respect ; but clear, manly, direct, and free from verbi- 
 age, though sometimes losing a little in strength of 
 statement from lack of culture. The study of his style 
 is an antidote to pedantry, for we are all the time sen- 
 sible of the greater importance of the idea than of the 
 expression, as well as of the dignity which good sense 
 and honesty give to the plainest language. Eminently 
 practical throughout, Washington tried hard for such 
 expression as he wanted, but left the further pursuit of 
 fine writing to those who had more leisure. 
 
 " In all positions," says Guizot, " whether his lan- 
 guage rise to the superior to whom he renders an ac- 
 count, or descend to the level of the subordinates who 
 are under his orders, it is ever equally clear, practical 
 and decided ; equally stamped with that authority 
 which truth and necessity confer upon the man who 
 speaks in their name." 
 
 It is recorded of his school days that he was always 
 head boy ; and whether this report be authentic or not, 
 we can easily imagine the case to have been so, not ex- 
 clusively by means of scholarship, perhaps, but by the 
 aid of certain other qualities, very powerful in school as 
 elsewhere, and which he so amply exhibited in after 
 life. His probity, courage, ability, and high sense of 
 justice were probably evident, even then, for there is 
 every reason to believe their foundations were laid very 
 early. The boys would, therefore, respect him, and 
 
1744.] MILITARY PLAYS — PEACEMAKING. 55 
 
 choose him for an umpire in their little quarrels, as 
 they are said to have done. " Ask George Washing- 
 ton," graphic Mr. "Weems tells the story, " and what- 
 ever he says is right, we'll agree to." Most schools are 
 happy enough to have at least one scholar thus re- 
 spected for justice and honor. 
 
 But another source of George's popularity, was his 
 military turn.* By some strange prophetic instinct — 
 though indeed prophecy often works its own fulfilment 
 — it was his pride to form his schoolmates into military 
 companies, with cornstalks for muskets and calabashes 
 for drums, and to drill and exercise them, to command 
 them and lead them to sham-battle. He is said to have 
 been famous for hindering quarrels, however, and per- 
 haps his early taste for military manoeuvres was only an 
 accidental form of that love of mathematical combina- 
 
 * Mr. Irving, speaking of the military career and success of Lawrence 
 Washington, says, page 22, Vol. I. " We have here the secret of that 
 martial spirit so often cited of George in his boyish days. He had seen his 
 brother fitted out for the wars. He had heard, by letters and otherwise, 
 of the warlike scenes in which he was mingling. All his amusements took 
 a military turn." 
 
 Also, on page 29. " Some of Lawrence's comrades of the Provincial 
 Regiment, who had served with him in the West Indies, were occasional 
 visitors at Mount Vernon ; or a ship of war, possibly one of Vernon's old 
 fleet, would anchor in the Potomac, and its officers would be welcome 
 guests at the table of Lawrence and his father-in-law. Thus military 
 scenes, on sea and shore, would become the topics of conversation. The 
 c-.pture of Porto Bello; the bombardment of Carthagena; old stories of 
 cruisings in the East and West Indies, and campaigns against the pirates. 
 We can picture to ourselves George, a grave and earnest boy, with an ex- 
 panding intellect, and a deep-seated passion for enterprise, listening to 
 such conversation with a kindling spirit, and a growing desire for military 
 life' 
 
56 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1744. 
 
 tion (the marked trait of Napoleon's earlier years), and 
 the tendency to order, promptness and thoroughness, 
 which characterized him so strikingly in after life. 
 The good soldier is by no means a man with a special 
 disposition to fight. 
 
 But there was a political bias, in this sport too ; for 
 the boy army was arranged in two bands, one of them 
 personating an English and the other a French force, 
 always an antagonistic idea to the English, and at that 
 time obnoxious in the colonies, — the latter troop com- 
 manded by a lad named William Bustle, the former al- 
 ways by George Washington. It is rather remarkable 
 that so exciting a sport did not end in quarrels if not in 
 enmity, for the temperament of Washington was im- 
 petuous and his passions fiery, though we are little ac- 
 customed to think so, from our habit of contemplating 
 his after life, so marked by self-control. He was known 
 as a peacemaker, even thus early, and we have every 
 reason to believe that peace continued to be his darling 
 wish and pursuit, through all the struggles and opposi- 
 tions that duty led him to engage in. His military turn 
 was in-bred, not in-born. When, in after life, he was 
 charged with having said " I have heard the bullets 
 whistle, and, believe me, there is something charming 
 in the sound " — he answered, not without some show of 
 embarrassment and regret, " If I ever said so, it was 
 when I was very young." He never felt so in his later 
 years. 
 
 The precious little box of his private papers, before 
 
1744.] WRITING BOOKS — NEATNESS. 57 
 
 mentioned as being in the safe-keeping of the State 
 Department at the seat of government, may almost be 
 called the autobiography of Washington. There you 
 see, side by side with the persevering and methodical 
 accounts he kept in his later days, some books of per- 
 haps fifty years earlier date — showing just a general 
 resemblance in the handwriting — which were made, no 
 doubt, while at school at Bridge's Creek, and which 
 contain his arithmetical exercises. It was the good 
 custom, in those days, to write down in a permanent 
 and referable form, the whole arithmetical process, 
 from the rule and the question to the answer ; the 
 operation at once fixing the facts learned, upon the 
 memory, and endowing the head with business-like 
 habits and with a knowledge of mercantile iorms, to 
 fully appreciate which, one must have experienced the 
 benefit of it in one's self, and suffered from the lack of 
 it in others. We feel certain, in looking over those 
 well-worn pages, that nobody ever encountered even 
 unintentional injustice in dealing with the man who 
 kept them, and also that he himself enjoyed to the full 
 the comfortable security and self-confidence that such 
 attention to business always earns. And by the sim- 
 plest eye the advantages suggested by the journal and 
 ledger of 1T69 to 1774, may be seen to grow out of the 
 careful school-books of 1743, and the minute surveying 
 details of 1748 ; just as a deeper view may perhaps dis- 
 cover in the honesty and simplicity of the early charac- 
 ter and education of Washington, the circumstances 
 
58 MEMOIES OF WASHINGTON. [1744. 
 
 that made him ready, when the great need came, to 
 found a republic. 
 
 Among the items of' Washington's early training, 
 we must not omit to mention the robust physical exer- 
 cises to which he subjected himself, prompted naturally 
 by his sense of great bodily power, and incited still 
 more by the pleasure of companionship ; for it seems to 
 have been much the fashion to try strength in running, 
 leaping, pitching the bar, wrestling, &c. An old gov- 
 ernor of Virginia, Nicholson, had, long before, institut- 
 ed public games, and distributed prizes for proficiency 
 in all these athletic sports. Washington was early able 
 to manage a fiery horse, and to use and confirm his own 
 strong sinews by feats that none of his companions 
 could equal. Whatever stirred his blood and brought 
 his muscles into vigorous exercise was his delight. 
 His young lady companions complained sometimes, we 
 are told, that George cared nothing for their company, 
 but would always be out of doors ; and an old gentle- 
 man of the neighborhood is quoted as saying, in after 
 years, — " Egad ! he ran wonderfully ! We had nobody 
 hereabouts that could come near him. There was 
 young Langhorne Dade, of Westmoreland, a con- 
 founded clean-made, tight young fellow, and a mighty 
 swift runner, too, but he was no match for George." 
 
 Colonel Lewis Willis, his playmate and kinsman, 
 had " often seen him throw a stone across the Rappa- 
 hannock, at the lower ferry of Fredericksburg," — a 
 feat, it seems, not very likely to be equalled in our 
 
1744.] OLD STORIES STRENGTH OF HAND. 59 
 
 days. The story of his having ridden to death a fiery 
 colt of his mother's, which nobody else dared to back, 
 sounds a little too much like a modernized version of 
 Alexander's taming Bucephalus ; so we shall not re- 
 peat it here. It is said that the good lady was very 
 much provoked but said, " I can forgive you, because 
 you came at once and confessed it. If you had skulked, 
 I should have despised you." 
 
 The taste for athletic exercises continued with him 
 through life. It happened once, after he was quite an 
 old man, — or at least so old that young men did not 
 think of his joining in their trials of strength, — that 
 some of his young relations or friends were exercising 
 themselves at pitching a very heavy stone, when 
 Washington happened to be passing. He stood for a 
 few minutes looking on, as he generally did when 
 sports were going forward; then, as the furthest throw 
 was measured, saying, " I think I can beat that, yet ! " 
 he took ivp the huge stone, sent it far beyond the most 
 distant mark, and quietly walked on. 
 
 His hands were remarkably large, unduly de- 
 veloped, perhaps by the severe uses to which he put 
 them in his youth. They were also very strong. Mr. 
 Paulding, who enjoyed the advantage of intimate ac- 
 quaintance with the family, and much talk with Jeremy, 
 an old servant of Washington, heard from one of his 
 near relatives an anecdote illustrative of this. 
 
 "We were sitting," said this gentleman, " in the 
 little parlor fronting the river, on the right as you en- 
 
60 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [1744. 
 
 ter the portico. The general and several others were 
 present — among them two young men remarkable for 
 their strength, when a large backlog rolled from the 
 chimney out on the hearth. The general took the 
 tongs, and very deliberately, without apparent effort, 
 put it back in its place. A quarter of an hour after- 
 wards he went out, and the ease with which he handled 
 it became the subject of remark. The log was taken 
 down and not a man of us could lift, much less put it 
 in place again. Finally, one with the tongs and 
 another with the shovel, we all set to, and succeeded 
 in replacing it. The general, though remarkably strong 
 in all his limbs, was particularly so in his hands and 
 fingers." 
 
 All his life long he was at home on horseback, and 
 traditions concur in representing him as making a 
 grand figure there. He was popularly called " the 
 best rider in Virginia," where all are riders. Mr. 
 Smyth says — " a Virginian will walk five miles to 
 catch a horse to ride one." In his early letters he 
 has an intimate way of talking about horses, which 
 shows not only how important they were to him, but 
 how close an acquaintance he had with them, and how 
 well he knew how to take care of them. He inherited 
 from his mother a love of good horses, for this was one 
 of her characteristic traits. "We should judge from his 
 life and letters that he spent at least half of his three 
 score and eight years on horseback. This could not 
 have favored his being a graceful walker, and accord- 
 
1744.] PERSONAL APPEARANCE STRAIGHT WALK. 61 
 
 ingly we hear that he was not such; but his great 
 length of limb preserved him from being like the 
 jockey who " always walked as if he had a horse 
 under him."' He had a direct, business-like manner of 
 walking. Mr. Custis says, " a straight, methodical, 
 Indian walk," but as an Indian walks with his toes 
 turned in, it seems hardly probable that Washington's 
 appearance would have been as dignified as we know 
 it to have been, if he had allowed this strikingly un- 
 graceful fault in his carriage to become habitual. He 
 was very careful of his appearance, being a person of 
 great natural taste ; and one who had a just estimate 
 of its importance in regard to the impression we make 
 on strangers. His personal appearance was sure to be 
 the theme of strangers who saw him for the first time. 
 They were always impressed by it, not so much in the 
 form of admiration as of reverence, though it was said, 
 again and again, that whatever the splendor of the 
 company or the procession, George Washington at- 
 tracted every eye, so that others were hardly seen. 
 
CHAPTER Vli. 
 
 Washington little indebted to books — Early reading limited, but good — His mother's 
 idea of true kindness — Habit of writing a great deal — Its advantages and possible 
 disadvantages — How it affected Washington's after life — Poetry book — " Rules of 
 Civility and Decent Behavior " — Their influence on his character — His style of 
 writing, excellent, plain, pure English. 
 
 Washington was comparatively little indebted to books. 
 We find in a memorandum of 1748, at which time he 
 was sixteen years old, " Read to the reign of King 
 John. In the Spectator, read to No. 143." But 
 whatever he learned, he learned well. He was very 
 industrious as well as ambitious, and he had no oppor- 
 tunity, in his school-days, of slipping through a great 
 school, getting other boys to do his tasks for him, or 
 wheedling out of his mamma a " written excuse," 
 wholly invented for the occasion, thus acquiring, in the 
 most effectual w r ay, habits of both idling and falsehood. 
 His mother was not one of those who so mistake the 
 nature of true kindness, and his second schoolmaster — 
 the only one besides " old Hobby," — was not without 
 enthusiasm in his profession. He left a very good 
 name behind him in his part of the country. He often 
 boasted — and how natural it was for Washington's 
 
1744.] CIPHERING BOOK — POETRY BOOK. 63 
 
 teachers to boast ! — that he had " made George Wash- 
 ington as good a scholar as himself." That he exacted 
 a good deal of application and exactness, is evident 
 from the manuscript books which Washington wrote 
 when under his care. It used to be, much more than 
 it is now, the fashion for teachers to require of their 
 scholars a great deal of writing, besides that of the 
 copy-book. To the " ciphering- book " we have before 
 alluded. Into it all the rules of arithmetic, and the 
 most difficult sums done under them, were copied with 
 great care and elaborate nourishes, by way of exercise 
 of the hand, and particularly for the sake of improve- 
 ment in writing numerals. Another book contained 
 the whole course of book-keeping, with imaginary ac- 
 counts and names, picked up by the writer as he went 
 along, all drawn up in the scholar's grandest style, with 
 ranks, phalanxes and spaces, so as to look not a little 
 like plans of battle. This was intended to bring book- 
 keeping to a sort of practice, and also to exercise the 
 pupil in ornamental writing, and in the art of making 
 elegant and fanciful capital letters. 
 
 Then there was, not so generally, but often, a " Po- 
 etry-book," into which the pupil was allowed, by way 
 of privilege, in leisure hours, to copy poetical pieces 
 which he admired and wished to preserve or commit to 
 memory. These books, many of which are still extant, 
 yellow with age and use, in careful old families, are 
 often very curious, as showing the floridness of youthful 
 taste, before criticism has chastened, or the fear of ridi- 
 
64 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1744 
 
 cule suppressed it. A short piece copied in Washing- 
 ton's hand we shall insert here, because it is character- 
 istic, and seems to embody a common-sense, unromantic 
 idea of domestic lite, such as he always cherished. It 
 is not very poetical ; if it had been, he would not prob- 
 ably have selected it. We could wish it otherwise in 
 this great and good life, for " the experience of any 
 one's own mind may teach the inadequacy of mere ac- 
 tual truth. Has not every one felt, at the time when any 
 deep emotion stirred him, or any lofty thought animat- 
 ed him, what imperfect exponents of such emotions or 
 thoughts his words or actions are ? "* It would have 
 been a comfort and support to Washington to love and 
 study poetry. But he was preoccupied, and did not 
 recognize the want of it. These homely lines enclose 
 a convenient formula, about as compact and compre- 
 hensive as the immortal memory-verses, " Thirty days 
 hath September," &c, easy to remember and carry 
 about with one. 
 
 TRUE HAPPINESS. 
 
 These are the things, which, once possessed, 
 
 Will make a life that's truly blest : 
 
 A good estate on healthy soil, 
 
 Not got by vice, nor yet by toil ; 
 
 Round a warm fire a pleasant joke, 
 
 With chimney ever free from smoke ; 
 
 A strength entire, a sparkling bowl, 
 
 A quiet wife, a quiet soul ; 
 
 A mind as well as body whole ; 
 
 * Henry Reed. 
 
1744 -] LAW PAPERS DEEDS. 65 
 
 Prudent simplicity, constant friends, 
 A diet which no art commends, 
 A merry night without much drinking, 
 A happy thought without much thinking ; 
 Each night by quiet sleep made short, 
 A will to be but what thou art ; 
 Possessed of these, all else defy, 
 And neither wish nor fear to die. 
 
 These are the things which, once possessed 
 
 Will make a life that's truly blest. 
 
 The books into which such things are copied are 
 usually large, awkward pamphlet ones, with marbled 
 paper covers ; the leaves of a stout foolscap, that would 
 bear scratching out an occasional blot, or an ill-exe- 
 cuted letter. The style and condition of these paper 
 books were of great importance to the scholar, for pre- 
 miums were often given for the neatest and most correct 
 of them. "Washington left several, which it gives one 
 cmite a thrill to open and handle,* ever so reverently. 
 They date as far back as his twelfth year, and contain 
 some lessons in geometry, treasured by his mother, no 
 doubt, as evidences of her boy's application and neat- 
 ness. One is filled with a great variety of business 
 forms — bills of exchange, receipts, bonds, indentures, 
 bills of sale, land-warrants, leases, deeds and wills, all 
 written carefully and in imitation of lawyer's style. 
 
 Still more valuable than business forms are the 
 thirty pages containing " Rules of Behavior in Com- 
 pany and Conversation." The import and value of 
 these rules are various, ranging from a caution against 
 
66 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1744. 
 
 " drumming with your fingers on the table," to a re- 
 commendation of reverence when the Highest Name is 
 mentioned. It is very evident that these very rules, 
 copied and conned at thirteen, were indelibly imprinted 
 on Washington's memory, and inwoven into his habits 
 of thought and action ; and that having once secured 
 the assent of his taste, reason and conscience, they con- 
 tinued effective throughout his life, and helped to guard 
 him against instinctive selfishness, arrogance, and the 
 assaults of his own passions, as well as against any en- 
 croachment on the rights and feelings of others. When 
 we reflect how striking was ever the courtesy and ap- 
 propriateness of his behavior, under every variety of 
 circumstances, it becomes most interesting to read, in 
 the stiff boyish hand of that early time, such rules as 
 these : — 
 
 " Every action in company ought to be with some 
 sign of respect to those present. 
 
 " In the presence of others sing not to yourself with 
 humming noise, nor drum with your fingers or feet. 
 
 " Sleep not when others speak, sit not when others 
 stand, speak not when you should hold your peace, 
 walk not when others stop. 
 
 " Turn not your back to others, especially in speak- 
 ing ; jog not the table or desk on which another reads 
 or writes ; lean not on any one. 
 
 " Be no flatterer, neither play with any one that 
 delights not to be played with. 
 
 " Read no letters, books, or papers in company ; but 
 
1744.] MANNERS AND MORALS. 67 
 
 when there is a necessity for doing it, you must ask 
 leave. Come not near the books or writings of any 
 one so as to read them, unless desired, nor give your 
 opinion of them unasked ; also, look not nigh when 
 another is writing a letter. 
 
 " Let your countenance be pleasant, but in serious 
 matters somewhat grave. 
 
 " Show not yourself glad at the misfortune of anoth- 
 er, though he were your enemy. 
 
 "When you meet with any one of greater quality 
 than yourself, stop and retire, especially if it be at a 
 door or any strait place, to give way for him to pass. 
 
 " They that are in dignity, or in office, have in all 
 places precedency, but whilst they are young they ought 
 to respect those that are their equals in birth, or other 
 qualities, though they have no public charge. 
 
 " Let your discourse with men of business be short 
 and comprehensive. 
 
 " In visiting the sick, do not presently play the phy- 
 sician, if you be not knowing therein. 
 
 " When a man does all he can, though it succeeds 
 not well, blame not him that did it. 
 
 " Being to advise, or reprehend any one, consider 
 whether it ought to be in public or in private, presently 
 or at some other time, in what terms to do it ; and in 
 reproving show no signs of choler, but do it with sweet- 
 ness and mildness. 
 
 " Take all admonitions thankfully, in what time or 
 place soever given ; but afterwards, not being culpable, 
 
68 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1744. 
 
 take a time or place convenient to let him know it that 
 gave them. 
 
 " Mock not, nor jest at any thing of importance ; 
 break no jests that are sharp-biting, and if you deliver 
 any thing witty and pleasant, refrain from laughing 
 thereat yourself. 
 
 " Wherein you reprove another, be unblamable 
 yourself, for example is more prevalent than precepts. 
 
 " Play not the peacock, looking every where about 
 you to see if you be well-decked, if your shoes fit. well, 
 if your stockings sit neatly, and your clothes hand- 
 somely. 
 
 " Associate yourself with men of good quality, if 
 you esteem your own reputation, for it is better to be 
 alone than in bad company. 
 
 " Let your conversation be without malice or envy, 
 for it is a sign of a tractable and commendable nature, 
 and in all causes of passion, admit reason to govern. 
 
 " Utter not base and frivolous things among grave 
 and learned men ; nor very difficult questions or sub- 
 jects among the ignorant; nor things hard to be be- 
 lieved. 
 
 " Speak not of doleful things in time of mirth, nor 
 at the table ; speak not of melancholy things, as death, 
 and wounds, and if others mention them, change, if 
 you can, the discourse. Tell not your dreams, but to 
 your intimate friend. 
 
 " Break not a jest where none takes pleasure in 
 mirth : laugh not aloud, nor at all without occasion. 
 
!74:4.1 OUR DOTY TO OTIIEES. 69 
 
 Deride no man's misfortune, though there seem to be 
 some cause. 
 
 " Be not forward, but friendly and courteous ; the 
 first to salute, hear, and answer ; and be not pensive 
 when it is time to converse. 
 
 " Detract not from others, neither be excessive in 
 commending. 
 
 " If two contend together, take not the part of either 
 unconstrained, and be not obstinate in your own opin- 
 ion ; in things indifferent, be of the major side. 
 
 " Gaze not on the marks or blemishes of others, and 
 ask not how they came. What you may speak in se- 
 cret to your friend, deliver not before others. 
 
 " Think before you speak, pronounce not imperfect- 
 ly, nor bring out your words too hastily, but orderly 
 and distinctly. 
 
 " "When another speaks, be attentive yourself, and 
 disturb not the audience. If any hesitate in his words, 
 help him not, nor prompt him without being desired ; 
 interrupt him not, nor answer him till his speech be 
 ended. 
 
 " Be not apt to relate news, if you know not the 
 truth thereof. In discoursing of things you have heard, 
 name not your author always. A secret discover not. 
 
 " Undertake not what you cannot perform, but be 
 careful to keep your promise. 
 
 " When you deliver a matter, do it without passion, 
 and with discretion, however mean the person be you 
 do it to. 
 
70 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1744. 
 
 "In disputes, be not so desirous to overcome, as not 
 to give liberty to each one to deliver his opinion ; and 
 submit to the judgment of the major part, especially if 
 they are judges of the dispute. 
 
 " Make no show of taking great delight in your 
 victuals ; feed not with greediness ; cut your bread with 
 a knife ; lean not on the table ; neither find fault with 
 what you eat. 
 
 " Set not yourself at the upper end of the table ; 
 but if it be your due, or that the master of the house 
 will have it so, contend not, lest you should trouble the 
 company. 
 
 " When you speak of God or his attributes, let it 
 be seriously and in reverence. Honor and obey your 
 natural parents, though they be poor. 
 
 " Let your recreations be manful, not sinful. 
 
 " Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark 
 of celestial fire called Conscience." 
 
 Some distinguished person, but who it was I cannot 
 now recall, said that he could not help looking upon 
 Washington's character as connected with the early 
 selection and adoption of these rules, and thinking they 
 lay at the foundation of all. 
 
 From what repository these and the remaining max- 
 ims in the collection were drawn, we know not, but 
 they wear the air of having been culled from various 
 sources. Their having been copied out fairly into a 
 book would hardly be worth a passing remark, were it 
 not for the striking correspondence between these pre- 
 
1744.] CONVICTIONS AND CONDUCT. 71 
 
 cepts and the after life of the writer, proving him to be 
 
 Endued 
 With sanctity of reason, 
 
 to keep unbroken that connection between convictions 
 and conduct, the unnatural severing of which causes 
 half the crime and wretchedness of the world. Wash- 
 ington's efforts to live up to his own notions of what 
 was right, began very early, as we know by the respect 
 he inspired. 
 
 The old-fashioned practice of writing down so many 
 things, may seem too slow for our steamy days, but it 
 undoubtedly had its advantages. A good handwriting, 
 with the power of correct and neat copying, is of in- 
 valuable benefit to a boy who has his living to get, 
 and the world before him, where to choose. Nothing, 
 without practice, will give him these things. That 
 George "Washington found life-long advantage in this 
 practice of writing what boys nowadays never write, 
 seems very evident ; and it is probable that his teacher, 
 Mr. Williams, ought to have a share of the world's 
 gratitude for Washington's accurate and patient busi- 
 ness habits, as well as for the elegant and indefatigable 
 penmanship which distinguished him. 
 
 But among the good effects of so much writing, it 
 may be questioned whether there was not one bad one. 
 An old proverb says, " He that depends on a paper 
 memory will soon find that he has no other." One of 
 Washington's pen- habits was to make minutes of every 
 
72 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [17ii 
 
 thing that occurred, and especially of every thing con- 
 nected with his duties. Books full of these form a con- 
 siderable part of his private manuscripts ; and the ex- 
 actness with which he performed even the smallest du- 
 ties, was unquestionably owing, in no small degree, to 
 these ceaseless reminders. But we find his memory 
 growing very treacherous in his latter days, so much so 
 that he could not rely upon it ; and although he him- 
 self observes more than once, " I always had a poor 
 memory," yet this " always " can hardly refer further 
 back than to the time when he began to make a 
 " paper memory." 
 
 But even though this result of memorandum-making 
 were certain, it need not throw the least discredit upon 
 the custom of much writing, since the extreme is only 
 a casual misapplication of what is, in its right use, 
 greatly advantageous. 
 
 It is certain that without Washington's power over 
 the pen, and his application to it, he could never have 
 been the man he was; his mind never could have 
 carried safely a multitude of the most important as 
 well as the most minute affairs ; he could not have been 
 so impartially just to all, absent as well as present. 
 Without the power of expression which he acquired by 
 its constant use, he could not have produced the same 
 eftect on the mind of the country, and consequently 
 would not have stood where he now stands in its love 
 and reverence. " To the achievements of his inde- 
 fatigable pen," says Mr. Irving, " we may trace the 
 
1744.] IDEAS, RATHER THAN RHETORIC. 73 
 
 most fortunate turns in the current of our Revolution- 
 ary affairs." 
 
 A handsome and free handwriting is an ordinary 
 accomplishment among us at the present time ; would 
 that the power and habit of writing good, clear, forci- 
 ble English were equally common ! "We have too 
 many rich and prosperous people who cannot write a 
 page without errors of construction, if not of grammar 
 and spelling. This is the more noticeable, because the 
 diffusion of intelligence is so considerable, and the in- 
 telligence of these very persons in other directions, so 
 obvious. The defect must certainly be charged upon 
 teachers or modes of teaching. The schoolmaster who 
 is " abroad" just now, is evidently not an elocutionist. 
 The number of branches taught in schools is much 
 greater than in Washington's time ; is there less stress 
 laid upon the fundamental ones — the humble stepping- 
 stones to the pretentious " ologies ? " 
 
 Washington's simple, direct, idiomatic English may, 
 notwithstanding certain imperfections, be advantage- 
 ously studied as the groundwork of a good style — one 
 worthy to supplant the more artificial and half bor- 
 rowed one now quite fashionable. His rhetoric will 
 not always bear criticism, and he repeats his metaphors 
 and similes too often, as if his mind, intent only upon 
 clear and forcible expression, never gave variety a 
 thought. But the idea is always there, and he has no 
 art of words to cover the want of ideas. He sometimes 
 
 uses too many words ; perhaps, like a certain clergy- 
 4 
 
74- MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [1744. 
 
 man who was accused of long sermons, he " had not 
 time to write shorter ; " but the thought is never ob- 
 scured, nor does verbosity suggest a suspicion of insin- 
 cerity. Writing letters may almost be said to have 
 been the great business of his life, and the amount of 
 wisdom and goodness conveyed and made permanent 
 in those letters is most wonderful. 
 
 At the present day, a letter of his is framed and 
 handed down as an heirloom, though it may contain but 
 three lines with the immortal signature. 
 
CHAPTEE Vni. 
 
 Esteem of his brothers for "Washington — Lawrence always his friend and benefactor — 
 Fortunes of the family — George at Mount Vernon — Receives a midshipman's 
 warrant — Gives way to his mother's wishes and stays at home — Learns military 
 tactics and fencing — Contents himself with learning to be a good surveyor — Ex- 
 treme accuracy of his papers — Old desk — Curious memorandum. 
 
 There is no question that Washington — though far from 
 being considered a prodigy — early attracted an unusual 
 amount of notice in his family and neighborhood. This 
 was owing as much to his character as to his talents, 
 which were not of the brilliant order. His half-brother 
 Lawrence, fourteen years older than himself, had a 
 peculiar affection for him. Lawrence had been sent, 
 as was the fashion of the times, to seek in England the 
 education which this country did not then afford, and 
 he had afterwards been induced to join the armament 
 sent by Great Britain, in 1740, to the West Indies, 
 against the French and Spanish who had committed 
 some aggressions. Here he distinguished himself and 
 won the confidence and respect of the British com- 
 manders, Admiral Vernon and General Wentworth. 
 He intended to go to England, and to remain and seek 
 
76 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1746. 
 
 promotion in the army, in which he already held a 
 captain's commission ; but having fallen in love with 
 a neighbor, Miss Anne Fairfax, daughter of William 
 Fairfax, a near relation to the eccentric lord of that 
 name, he staid at home to be married, and soon after 
 settled down on the farm in Fairfax County allotted to 
 him by his father, which he afterward named Mount 
 Vernon, in honor of the gallant admiral. This mar- 
 riage and removal were nearly contemporary with the 
 sudden death of the father, which took place on the 
 12th of April, 1745, when George, who was absent 
 from home at the time, was thirteen years of age. 
 
 The death of Mi". Augustin Washington had pro- 
 duced a great change in the family affairs. The large 
 landed and other property which he had managed, was 
 now divided among his children. George's share was 
 the house and lands on the Rappahannock, but the en- 
 tire property of the children under age was left under 
 the care and management of the widow, in whose judg- 
 ment and capacity her husband seems to have had an 
 unbounded confidence, which speaks well for them both. 
 If it requires an uncommonly wise woman to manage 
 important affairs well, it is at least equally rare to find 
 a man who is liberal enough to believe his wife capable 
 of doing so. Mrs. Washington justified her husband's 
 opinion of her ; brought up her children and took care 
 of their property, like a firm, high-minded, sensible 
 woman, as she was, and had the great reward of seeing 
 her affairs prosperous, and her children all respectable 
 
!746.] COMMERCIAL IDEAS, ft 
 
 and happy, while one of them was destined, even in 
 her own day and under her very eyes, to transcend the 
 ordinary sons of men in character, as much as he was 
 favored by Providence with an unequalled field for the 
 development and display of his peculiar talents. 
 
 Augustin, the other surviving son of the first mar- 
 riage, had married another neighbor, Miss Anne Aylett, 
 daughter of William Aylett of Westmoreland County, 
 and had settled in the old homestead at Bridge's Creek. 
 Thither was George sent after the father's death, to 
 go to school. There was no more sending to England 
 for education now, but strict economy, and a desire to 
 fit George to earn for himself the competency, which 
 the divided estate could not supply to so extended a 
 family. His mother seems to have limited her ambi- 
 tion for her eldest boy, to making him an intelligent, 
 honest and thriving planter, able to survey his own 
 land and other people's, to keep accounts with exact- 
 ness, and to be a proficient in country business, in which 
 was of course included the practice of hunting and fish- 
 ing. Plantation life included her ideas of happiness, 
 usefulness and respectability, as we may gather from 
 her hearty exclamation, long after, when somebody was 
 telling her of the great things her son was doing — 
 
 " Oh dear ! I do wish George would stay at home 
 and take care of his plantation ! " 
 
 While George was living with his brother Augustin at 
 Bridge's Creek, Lawrence, who was very fond of him, 
 had him often at Mount Vernon, where was at all times 
 
78 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1746. 
 
 to be found the best society in the country, and par- 
 ticularly that of the Fairfax family, who were well-bred 
 though somewhat eccentric people. William Fairfax, 
 the father-in-law of Lawrence and the owner of a fine 
 seat on the Potomac, a few miles below Mount Yernon, 
 was a cousin of Thomas, Lord Fairfax, of Greenway 
 Court, the proprietor, by grant from the crown, of the 
 whole immense tract of land between the Potomac and 
 Rappahannock rivers. The acquaintance with these 
 men of great wealth and distinction, then made at 
 Mount Yernon, proved of immense and controlling im- 
 portance to George "Washington. William Fairfax who 
 had served in both the East and West Indies, and had 
 also held the position of governor of New Providence ; 
 and Lord Fairfax, an Oxford scholar who had run a 
 fashionable course in London, were both men of mark 
 and discernment, as well as of friendly and kind feel- 
 ings. It was probably through these influential friends, 
 that Lawrence procured for his brother George a mid- 
 shipman's warrant, with which, in his fourteenth year, 
 he was to have joined a ship-of-war, but for the un- 
 willingness of his mother to part with her eldest-born 
 so early, and for so dangerous a profession. Some of 
 her friends blamed her for this demur, and called it 
 weakness. One writes, " I am afraid Mrs. Washington 
 will not keep to her first resolution. She seems to dis- 
 like George's going to sea, and says several persons 
 have told her it was a bad scheme. She offers several 
 trifling objections, such as fond, unthinking mothers 
 
1746.] A DUTIFUL SON. 79 
 
 habitually suggest, and I find that one word against his 
 going has more weight with her than ten for it." 
 
 " Fond, unthinking mothers ! " We are rather glad 
 that Mrs. Washington ever seemed such a mother. 
 She has so stern a reputation, that we like to ascribe to 
 her a little amiable weakness. The young man himself 
 seems to have shown his good sense and good feeling in 
 the matter ; for, although every preparation had been 
 made, and his clothes had actually been sent on board, 
 we hear nothing of his repining at the decision of his 
 mother. Mr. Fairfax writes of him at the time to Law- 
 rence, — " George has been with us, and says he will be 
 steady, and thankfully follow your advice as his best 
 friend." 
 
 So a project which must have been very fascinating 
 to a young, warm imagination, was quietly abandoned, 
 and the youth, in the dutiful spirit which ever charac- 
 terized him, went back to school, to prepare himself for 
 entering upon the comparatively humble business of a 
 surveyor, in connection with the ordinary duties and oc- 
 cupations of a planter's life, and that on a very moder- 
 ate scale. 
 
 Had he, even then, an inward consciousness of ir- 
 resistible ability and force of character, that made the 
 particular mode of his entrance upon life a matter of 
 comparative indifference to him ? Who can say ? 
 
 One of the incidental advantages of Washington's 
 visits at Mount Yernon, was the training in military ex- 
 ercises which he there received, from an old adjutant 
 
80 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1746. 
 
 named Muse, who had served with Lawrence before 
 Carthagena, and who fanned the rising flame in the 
 breast of the future soldier, by lending him books on 
 military tactics, and encouraging him to study them, by 
 recitals of adventures and descriptions of battles that 
 the veteran had shared in. When we add to this that 
 young Washington had also lessons in fencing, from 
 Mr. Van Braam, who afterwards served as his interpre- 
 ter, we have before us what seems almost a whole 
 chapter of express preparation for the remarkable 
 career he was destined for. In daily communication 
 with gallant gentlemen who had served, and who re- 
 tained a good deal of martial ardor, how could a boy of 
 sixteen but feel the blood stirring in his veins with the 
 desire to imitate at once their accomplishments and 
 their past doings ? When he caught sight of a hand- 
 some, tall, athletic figure as he passed the mirrors of 
 Mount Vernon or Belvoir, did not his heart beat quick 
 at thought of dashing uniforms and waving plumes ? 
 
 Yet Washington went quietly to work as a sur- 
 veyor, and was delighted when Lord Fairfax sent him, 
 with his nephew, to make a complete account and de- 
 scription of the immense tracts of mountain land which 
 the nobleman owned in the back part of Virginia. He 
 had, before this time, shown a decided liking for geom- 
 etry, trigonometry and surveying, which, as the pro- 
 fession of a surveyor was, at that time, particularly pro- 
 fitable, his friends had encouraged ; and he pursued these 
 studies with characteristic earnestness. The last two 
 
1746 EDUCATION AS A SURVEYOR. 81 
 
 years of his school life were given principally to the 
 theory and practice of the art which laid the founda- 
 tion of his large fortune, not only by the opportunity it 
 gave him of purchasing new lands advantageously, but 
 by the habits he then acquired of calculation, accuracy 
 and neatness, so useful to him through all the important 
 affairs which devolved upon him in after life. When, 
 by way of practice, he surveyed the little domain around 
 the school-house, the plots and measurements were en- 
 tered in his book with all the care and precision re- 
 quired for important business ; and if an erasure was 
 necessary, it was done with a penknife, and so neatly 
 that the error can scarcely be perceived. 
 
 " Nor was his skill," says Mr. Sparks, " confined to 
 the more simple processes of the art. He used logar- 
 ithms, and proved the accuracy of his work by different 
 methods. The manuscripts fill several quires of paper, 
 and are remarkable for the care with which they were 
 kept, the neatness and uniformity of the handwriting, 
 the beauty of the diagrams, and a precise method and 
 arrangement in copying out tables and columns of 
 figures. These particulars will not be thought too 
 trivial to be mentioned, when it is known that he re- 
 tained similar habits through life. His business papers, 
 day-books, ledgers and letter-books, in which, before 
 the Revolution, no one wrote but himself, exhibit speci- 
 mens of the same studious care and exactness. Every 
 fact occupies a clear and distinct place. * * * * 
 The constructing of tables, diagrams, and other figures 
 
82 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [1747. 
 
 relating to numbers or classification, was an exercise in 
 which he seems at all times to have taken much de- 
 light."* 
 
 We may mention as one of many proofs of the life- 
 long simplicity of Washington's habits, the writing-desk 
 which he commonly used when at home — an unpainted 
 one, evidently the work of a common carpenter, who 
 made the inside divisions, under the direction of the 
 owner, to fit his various papers. This is in the posses- 
 sion of Mr. Custis. 
 
 Of the homeliness of his early life we gather a hint 
 in the memorandum, written in his boyish hand of 1747, 
 of articles intrusted to his washer-woman : 
 
 "Delivered to Mrs. Humphrey, this 30th day of 
 October, 2 Shirts, the one marked G. W., the other not 
 marked; 1 pr. of Hose and one Band, to be washed 
 against the November Court in Frederick." 
 
 * Sparks' Life — p. 8. 
 
CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 First surveying tour — Groves of sugar trees — Indian dance — People that wouldn't 
 speak English — Eough living — Good pay — Tender passion — Poetic taste not very 
 prominent — Lord Fairfax — Planter life — High-bred manners — Letters to ladies. 
 
 It was in March, 1748, that Washington set out, in 
 company with Mr. George Fairfax and a small party, 
 to explore immense tracts of wild wood-lands, in the 
 Allegany mountains. These forests were almost to- 
 tally destitute of white settlers, and, we may say, of 
 human succor ; for the Indians that were sometimes 
 met there were of ferocious habits, and looked upon 
 the whites as objects of plunder, if not of cruelty. 
 This was no pleasure trip, we may be sure, such as a 
 week's hunting in the woods may afford to the weary 
 townsman, who finds rest in exchanging his mattress 
 for cedar boughs, and a luxurious table for bacon roasted 
 on a skewer. It was very serious earnest, involving 
 both fatigue and danger, and there must have been 
 something very remarkable about a boy of sixteen, 
 whom Lord Fairfax, shrewd and keen-eyed as he was, 
 
84 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1748. 
 
 intrusted with it. The young surveyor was accompa- 
 nied by William Fairfax, brother of Mrs. Lawrence 
 Washington, but Washington himself was the practical 
 and responsible person. He had just been licensed as 
 a public surveyor, which entitled him to enter his sur- 
 veys in the county offices. The business proved very 
 arduous, the weather being unfavorable, and provisions 
 and accommodations very poor. The diary kept by 
 Washington on this occasion has no particular interest, 
 except the fact of its having been kept at all by a boy 
 of sixteen, and the evidence it gives of his manly feel- 
 ing at that age. No one who did not know his age, 
 would take the writer to be less than of full man's es- 
 tate, unless by the notice taken of small matters, which 
 an older surveyor of wild Indian lands would be too 
 much accustomed to, to think of mentioning. When 
 they reached Lord Fairfax's land on the Shenandoah 
 river, they " went through most beautiful groves of 
 sugar trees, and spent the best part of the day in ad- 
 miring the trees and the richness of the land." 
 
 This was the very first outset, and the boy was still 
 a boy. A year later he would not have spent " the 
 best part of the day " so. He too soon gave up such 
 pleasures, and became duty's bondsman, to an extent 
 which made him old and grave before his time, though 
 he never lost his relish for fine woodland scenery. 
 
 A few days after this touch of natural enthusiasm, 
 we find him describing an Indian dance : — 
 
 " 23d. — Rained till about two o'clock, and then 
 
17 * 8 -] WAR-DANCE POOR QUARTERS. 85 
 
 cleared up, when we were agreeably surprised at the 
 sight of more than thirty Indians, coming from war 
 with only one scalp. We had some liquor with us, of 
 which we gave them a part. This, elevating their 
 spirits, put them in the humor of dancing. We then 
 had a war dance. After clearing a large space, and 
 making a great fire in the middle, the men seated them- 
 selves around it, and the speaker made a grand speech, 
 telling them in what manner they were to dance. Af- 
 ter he had finished, the best dancer jumped up, as one 
 a^vakened from sleep, and ran and jumped about the 
 ring in the most comical manner. He was followed by 
 the rest. Then began their music, which was performed 
 with a pot half full of water, and a deer skin stretched 
 tight over it, and a gourd with some shot in it to rattle, 
 and a piece of horse's tail tied to it to make it look 
 fine. One person kept rattling, and another drumming 
 all the while they were dancing " 
 
 Amid mention of " hard at work all day," and 
 " swam our horses over the Potomac," comes the fol- 
 lowing entry : — 
 
 " Travelled up to Solomon Hedges', Esquire, one of 
 His Majesty's Justices of the Peace, in the county of 
 Frederick, where we camped. When we came to sup- 
 per there was neither a knife on the table, nor a fork to 
 eat with ; but as good luck would have it, we had 
 knives of our own." 
 
 Washington's italics here (for they are his), hint that 
 the two young men had a good deal of fun between 
 
86 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1748. 
 
 themselves at the disproportion between their host's ti- 
 tles and the style of his living. 
 
 " April 2d. — A blowing, rainy night. Our straw, 
 upon which we were lying, took fire, but 1 was luckily 
 preserved by one of our men awakening when it was 
 in a flame." 
 
 The writer complains, April 4th, that some ignorant 
 people — " almost as ignorant as the Indians " — who fol- 
 lowed them about while they were surveying certain 
 lots, " would never speak English, but when spoken to 
 they all spoke Dutch," — probably for the best possible 
 reason. 
 
 On the 8th, after "William Fairfax had left the party, 
 " "We camped in the woods, and after we had pitched 
 our tent and made a large fire, we pulled out our knap- 
 sack to recruit ourselves. Every one was his own cook. 
 Our spits were forked sticks ; our plates were large 
 chips. As for dishes, we had none." 
 
 This journey occupied a spring month's time, and 
 "Washington mentions his sleeping in a house as a rare 
 occurrence, though the weather was " very inclement 
 for the season." In a letter of the period he says : 
 " After walking a good deal all the day, I have lain 
 down before the fire on a little hay or a bear-skin, 
 whichever was to be had, with man, wife and children, 
 like dogs and cats ; and happy is he who gets the berth 
 nearest the fire. * * * I have never had my 
 clothes off, but have lain and slept in them, except the 
 few nights we slept at Fredericksburg." But we have 
 
1748.] TOO MUCH EXPOSURE FIRST LOVE. 87 
 
 a very significant addition. " Nothing would make it 
 pass off tolerably but a good reward. A doubloon is 
 my constant gain every day that the weather will per- 
 mit of my going out ; sometimes six pistoles." 
 
 This kind of life he kept up for three years, under 
 circumstances of such fatigue and exposure that he 
 could make but short trips at a time, being obliged to 
 return to the settlements to recruit. And this was not 
 sufficient to prevent some constitutional injury, which 
 he felt throughout his life. The labor and exposure 
 were premature, and we should be sorry to hold up 
 Washington's example in this respect to growing boys 
 of his age. 
 
 Young as he was, the letters referring to a hopeless 
 passion for some " lowland beauty," are supposed to 
 have been written at this time. But however sincere 
 the subjection and the despair of seventeen, it is cer- 
 tain that in this case, business soon drove away all ill 
 effect of either, and doubloons and pistoles exercised 
 their usual fascinations, deferring the capitulation of 
 that stout, though susceptible heart, for a good many 
 years. There is the beginning of an acrostic on the 
 beloved name of Miss " Frances Alexander," which 
 may perhaps have been the production of the same 
 time of life ; but as it is only a beginning, atrociously 
 bad in point of poetical execution, and evidently given 
 up (after the X) by the author himself, I shall, by the 
 golden rule, forbear giving the fragments, especially as 
 all former ferrets among the "Washington papers, set 
 
88 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. L 1748 
 
 me the example of reticence in this matter. The ef- 
 fort to express passionate thoughts in verse, is common 
 to almost all ardent minds ; but the education of Bridge's 
 Creek had not been that which can render such expres- 
 sion easy or graceful. Mrs. Mary Washington evi- 
 dently had not/fed her little ones with the story of 
 
 Pelop's line, 
 Or the tale of Troy divine. 
 
 If albums had been fashionable in Washington's 
 clays, which, happily for him, they were not, he would 
 have written in them — for he was a gallant man, and 
 could refuse nothing to a lady — either like General 
 Jackson, a verse or two from Watts' hymns, or some 
 couplets of " True Happiness if you would find," early 
 embalmed in his note-book, and doubtless in his mem- 
 ory. The poetic vein, not having been exercised in 
 that way, seems to have undergone absorption, and, 
 while it may have enriched the rest of his nature, 
 never made any further manifestations of its own. We 
 must congratulate ourselves on the failure, for who 
 knows where we might have been now, if Washington 
 had turned out a poet ? 
 
 The survey was so performed, as to more than sat- 
 isfy Lord Fairfax, whose esteem for his rising young 
 neighbor seems to have gone on increasing for many 
 years. Washington was a frequent guest in the family, 
 and remained its attached friend to the end of his days. 
 
1748 1 LORD FAIRFAX- SURVEYING. 89 
 
 Speaking of this early commission of Lord Fairfax, 
 Mr. "Weems says : — 
 
 " Little did the old gentleman expect that he was 
 raising a youth that should one day dismember the 
 British empire, and break his own heart — which truly 
 came to pass. For, on hearing that "Washington had 
 captured Cornwallis and all his army, he called out to 
 his black waiter, " Come, Joe ! carry me to my bed, 
 for I'm sure it's high time for me to die ! " 
 
 And then follows a poetic version of the legend, af- 
 ter the manner of the ancient ballad : — 
 
 Then up rose Joe, all at the word, 
 
 And took his master's arm, 
 And to his hed he softly led 
 
 The lord of Greenway farm. 
 
 There thrice he call'd on Britain's name, 
 
 And thrice he wept full sore ; 
 Then sighed, — Lord, thy will be done, 
 
 And word spake never more. 
 
 And die he did, certainly, in 1782, but not prema- 
 turely, for he lived to be ninety-two, a much liked and 
 very benevolent person, though rather eccentric. 
 
 The business of surveying, at that early day very 
 profitable, had the further advantage of introducing 
 Washington to the favorable notice of landholders and 
 men of influence, whom his merits very naturally made 
 his fast friends, and under whose auspices he found all 
 the employment his health and strength allowed him 
 to undertake. These acquaintances were first his em- 
 
90 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1748. 
 
 ployers, then his friends, afterwards his advocates with 
 those in authority when office was in question ; further 
 on, when the great struggle began, his admiring com- 
 panions and colleagues ; and thence onward to the end 
 of his career, his firm adherents and supporters, feeling 
 only too much honored in being counted among his 
 neighbors and compatriots, when he had become known 
 as one of the master spirits of the world. 
 
 There is a rude picture, drawn by no favorable hand, 
 of the inferior order of plantation life at that early 
 time. 
 
 " The gentleman of fortune," says Smyth, " rises at 
 nine o'clock, and perhaps may make an excursion to 
 the stables, some fifty yards from the house. Returns 
 and breakfasts, between nine and ten, on tea, coffee, 
 bread and butter, and very thin slices of venison or 
 hung beef. lie then lies down on a pallet on the floor, 
 in the coolest room in the house, in his shirt and trow- 
 sers only, with a negro at his head and another at his 
 feet, to fan him and keep off" the flies. 
 
 " Between twelve and one he takes a glass of bornbo 
 or toddy — a liquor compounded of water, sugar, rum and 
 nutmeg, made weak and kept cool. Dines between 
 two and three, and at every table, whatever else there 
 may be, a ham and greens or cabbage is always a stand- 
 ing dish. At dinner, he drinks cider, toddy, punch ; 
 port, claret or Madeira. 
 
 " Having drank some few glasses of wine after din- 
 ner, he returns to his pallet, with his two blacks to fan 
 
1748. J TROPICAL HABITS — GOOD MANNERS. 91 
 
 him, and continues to drink toddy or sangaree all the 
 afternoon. He does not always drink tea. Between 
 nine and ten in the evening he eats a light supper of 
 milk and fruit, or wine, sugar and fruit, and almost im- 
 mediately retires to bed for the night, in which, if he 
 be not furnished with musquito curtains, he is generally 
 so molested with the heat, and harassed and tormented 
 with those pernicious insects, the musquitoes, that he 
 receives very little refreshment from sleep." 
 
 Mr. Smyth exaggerates his tropical picture, evi- 
 dently, and perhaps made, like the celebrated Mrs. 
 Trollope, a mistake as to the comparative standing of 
 the people with whom he generally associated. But 
 with these deductions, we may gather from his descrip- 
 tion some idea of the times. 
 
 The intimacy of the Fairfaxes was in all respects 
 particularly important to Washington, and for its solid 
 benefit to his fortunes, and its shaping power over his 
 manners, deserves to be counted among the providen- 
 tial preparations for what was to be required of him. 
 His early training had certainly been of the homeliest 
 sort. His father's landed possessions had brought work 
 rather than money ; his mother was the declared enemy 
 of all superfluity, and she counted as superfluity what- 
 ever had no reference to business. The traditions of 
 her neighborhood represent her as contemning the 
 softer arts, and viewing with more than misgiving the 
 mere graces of society. Her dutiful son, who resem- 
 bled her in various respects, would, if he had remained 
 
92 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1748. 
 
 with, her, have been more and more conformed to these 
 leading ideas and feelings of hers, and the result would 
 have been a most useful and high-minded being, quite 
 as hard and angular for a man as Mrs. Mary Washing- 
 ton was for a woman. 
 
 But no ! We have looked too long in the eye of 
 many a portrait of him to believe this ! He must have 
 had his father's eyes and only his mother's mouth, with 
 its expression of probity and resolution, and we need 
 not believe that any process of mistaken training would 
 or could have extinguished his taste or made him a 
 mere utilitarian. 
 
 But the Fairfaxes undoubtedly did him great esthe- 
 tic as well as other service. They were high-bred 
 people, wealthy, and living in the exercise of a liberal 
 hospitality, as well as in constant intercourse with the 
 mother country, to whom alone we looked for social ex- 
 ample before the Revolution. Lord Fairfax, besides 
 the advantages resulting from his rank, was of Uni- 
 versity education, a man of the world, and, moreover, a 
 thinker, an independent character, and remarkable for 
 his sagacity and discernment. His nephew, William 
 Fairfax, was rich, and held a high position in the colony. 
 His seat of Belvoir continued for many years to be the 
 resort of all that was to be had of well-bred and highly 
 polished society. The family was altogether the first in 
 the district where they lived, and one such family must 
 do much toward raising the standard of manners and 
 ideas in the neighborhood. They intermarried several 
 
1748.] ladies' society. 93 
 
 times with the Washingtons, and had done so in Eng- 
 land, before either stock was transferred to America. 
 
 A young man must be dull indeed if the society of 
 gentlemen and elegant women have no inspiration for 
 him. Such a one was not George Washington, cer- 
 tainly. "When we read his " Rules of Civility and 
 Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation," we 
 need not be assured that no grace of manner, refine- 
 ment of expression or conversational improvement that 
 came under his observation at Belvoir or Greenway 
 Court passed without notice from him. He was notedly 
 fond of ladies' society and ambitious to make himself 
 agreeable to them ; and if he, at this early stage in his 
 career, imbibed, under these auspices, a certain formal- 
 ity of politeness, which the absorbing business in which 
 he afterward engaged left him no time to amend, sup- 
 posing that he saw models of any other, — we may be 
 sure that in that style of manners which marks the gen- 
 tleman, he could have had no better instructors than 
 the Fairfaxes and their guests. 
 
 The formal manners of the period, among people of 
 the highest stamp, are well exemplified in a letter from 
 Washington to Mrs. Fairfax, written not exactly at the 
 time of which we are treating, but only a little later, 
 when Washington was twenty-three. The mingling of 
 great respect, with a certain modest self-assertion is 
 very characteristic, and gives us a high idea of both 
 parties. 
 
94 MEMOIRS OK WASHINGTON. L'748. 
 
 "Fort Cumberland at Wills' Creek, 7th of June, 1755. 
 
 " Dear Madam, — When I had the pleasure to see 
 you last, you expressed a wish to be informed of my 
 safe arrival at camp, with the charge that was intrust- 
 ed to my care, but at the same time requested that it 
 might be communicated in a letter to some friend of 
 yours. 
 
 " Am I to consider the proposed mode of communi- 
 cation as a polite intimation of your wish to withdraw 
 your correspondence ? To a certain degree it has that 
 appearance, for I have not been honored with a line 
 from you since I parted from you at Belvoir. If this 
 was your object, in what manner shall I apologize for 
 my present disobedience ; but on the contrary, if it was 
 the effect of your delicacy, how easy it is to remove my 
 suspicions, enliven dull hours, and make me happier 
 than I am able to express, by honoring me with a cor- 
 respondence you had given me hope of. 
 
 " Please to make my compliments to Miss Fairfax, 
 and to Mr. Bryan Fairfax, to whom I shall have the 
 pleasure of writing as soon as I hear he has returned 
 from Westmoreland." 
 
 It is curious to note how considerable a portion of 
 Washington's private correspondence is with ladies. 
 We have known gentlemen who, on receiving a letter 
 from a woman, even on business, would from sheer 
 awkwardness reply by a verbal message, or employ a 
 female friend to write the answer; but Washington 
 
'748.] LETTERS TO LADIES. 95 
 
 seems never, in a single instance, to have used any pen 
 except his own in such cases. His voluntary corre- 
 spondence with ladies to whom he was in no way 
 bound except by friendship, was very large ; in fact, 
 one perceives that he must have been sometimes his 
 wife's amanuensis and that he relished the duty. This 
 does not bespeak the stern, rigid business machine 
 which it has been the fashion to consider him, and we 
 can imagine that few volumes would astonish the world 
 more, than a complete collection of the letters of friend- 
 ship written by Washington to ladies. 
 
 Our limits forbid the insertion of many specimens 
 even of those which are accessible at this late day, but 
 here is part of one written to Mrs. Fairfax in '55, 
 which shows the tone of his more familiar letters : 
 
 " Fort Cumberland, 14th May, 1755. 
 
 " To Mks. Fairfax, Bel voir. 
 
 " Dear Madam, — I have at last, with great pains and 
 difficulty, discovered the reason why Mrs. Wardrope 
 is a greater favorite with General Braddock than Mrs. 
 Fairfax, and met with more respect at the late review 
 in Alexandria. 
 
 " The cause I shall communicate, after rallying you 
 for neglecting the means which produced the effect ; 
 and what do you think they were ? Why nothing less, 
 I assure you, than a present of delicious cake and potted 
 woodcocks ! which so affected the palate as to leave a 
 deep impression on the hearts of all who tasted of them. 
 
96 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON". [1748. 
 
 How then could the general do otherwise than admire, 
 not only the charms, but the politeness of this lady ? " 
 
 This is about as far as "Washington ever permitted 
 himself to go, in the way of fun, at least on paper, 
 though he relished humor in other people. He proba- 
 bly felt more at ease in writing to ladies, because his 
 letters to them had no business aim ; and he liked their 
 letters to him because they did not talk about business. 
 It must have been a great relief to him to receive, oc- 
 casionally, a communication purely friendly and social, 
 and however over-occupied, harassed or vexed, this 
 was one of the pleasures he never despised. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Important epoch in life — Appointment as adjutant-genoral against the French — 
 Called upon to go to the West Indies — Matter-of-fact observations there — Seized 
 with small-pox — Washingtonian touch — Returns home — Succeeds to Mount Ver- 
 non on the death of his brother — Circumstances force him too early into affairs 
 — Becomes a member of the Masonic fraternity. 
 
 The year 1751, when Washington was nineteen, was 
 an important epoch in his life. Through the influence 
 of his brother and other friends, he was appointed one 
 of four adjutants-general for the State of Virginia, then 
 much annoyed upon her frontiers by the Indian tribes, 
 and not less by the encroachments of the French, who 
 entertained the design of establishing themselves in 
 various positions, from which they might take measures 
 to extend their empire over the Western country. The 
 appointment carried with it the rank of major, and the 
 pay of one hundred and fifty pounds a year. Law- 
 rence Washington had before held it, and would seem 
 to have procured George's succession when his own 
 health failed, which it did very early. The duty con- 
 sisted in the assembling aud training of militia, inspect- 
 ing their arms and accoutrements, and enforcing the 
 laws with respect to musters and discipline in general. 
 
98 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1751. 
 
 It was a post of no little responsibility, though call- 
 ing for personal effort only at intervals, and it was cer- 
 tainly in no other instance bestowed on a youth under 
 age. Falling in as it did with the bent of George's in- 
 clination, and bringing into exercise the knowledge of 
 military tactics which he had taken great pleasure and 
 pride in acquiring, it is no wonder he shone in the post, 
 and very soon commended himself to the notice of the 
 governor and council, who did not forget the infant 
 major when more extensive operations were afterwards 
 in contemplation. But for that year there was another 
 duty waiting for Washington — a domestic one, which 
 he seems to have fulfilled with a tenderness that speaks 
 well for his character. His brother's illness becoming 
 evidently consumptive, a voyage to the "West Indies 
 was proposed for him, and George was the companion 
 of the journey. They sailed for Barbadoes, and reached 
 there, after a five weeks' voyage, in September, 1751. 
 
 This was, so far as is known, Washington's only 
 experience of being at sea. He kept a diary, of course, 
 for that was his life-long practice ; but alas ! it contains 
 no descriptive passages, no poetic dreaming, not even 
 a lamentation over the dread sea-ail ; only a transcript 
 of each day's log, and his own observations upon the 
 weather, and the change of wind. 
 
 He kept a journal at Barbadoes, also, but this is all 
 matter of fact, too. But there is a characteristic trait 
 about it that deserves to be noticed. He took the 
 small-pox severely, and lay ill with it three weeks, but 
 
1751.] BARBADOES HOSPITALITY HOPE. 99 
 
 amid all the minutiae of the diary, he barely men- 
 tions this important fact in relation to himself. 
 
 But let us give a few extracts from this early jour- 
 nal: — 
 
 "November 4th, 1751. — This morning received a 
 card from Major Clarke, welcoming us to Barbadoes, 
 with an invitation to breakfast and dine with him. "We 
 went — myself with some reluctance, as the small-pox 
 was in the family. We were received in the most kind 
 and friendly manner by him. Mrs. Clarke was much 
 indisposed, insomuch that we had not the pleasure of 
 her company, but in her place officiated Miss Roberts, 
 her niece, and an agreeable young lady. After drink- 
 ing tea we were again invited to Mr. Carter's, and de- 
 sired to make his house ours till we could provide lodg- 
 ings agreeable to our wishes, which offer we accepted. 
 
 5th. — Early this morning came Dr. Hilary, an emi- 
 nent physician,. recommended by Major Clarke, to pass 
 his opinion on my brother's disorder, which he did in a 
 favorable light, giving great assurances that it was not 
 so fixed but that a cure might be effectually made. In 
 the cool of the evening we rode out, accompanied by 
 Mr. Carter, to seek lodgings in the country, as the Doc- 
 tor advised. We returned without accomplishing our 
 intentions. 
 
 " 10th. — We were genteelly received by Judge May- 
 nard and his lady, and agreeably entertained by the com- 
 pany. They have a meeting every Saturday, this being 
 Judge Maynard's day. After dinner there was the 
 
100 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1751. 
 
 greatest collection of fruits set on the table, that I have 
 yet seen — the granadilla, sapadilla, pomegranate, sweet 
 orange, waterlemon, forbidden fruit, apples, guavas, 
 &c. &c. We received invitations from every gentle- 
 man there. Mr. Warren desired Major Clarke to show 
 us the way to his house. Mr. Haeket insisted on our 
 coming Saturday next to his, it being his day to treat 
 with beef-steak and tripe. But above all, the invita- 
 tion of Mr. Maynard was most kind and friendly. He 
 desired, and even insisted, as well as his lady, on our 
 coming to spend some weeks with him, and promised 
 nothing should be wanting to make our stay agreeable. 
 My brother promised he would accept the invitation as 
 soon as he should be a little disengaged from the doc- 
 tor. 
 
 " 15th. — Was treated with a ticket to see the play 
 of George Barnwell acted. The character of Barnwell 
 and several others were said to be well performed. 
 There was music adapted and regularly conducted." 
 
 During his short stay on the island, he seems to 
 have closely observed the manners of the inhabitants, 
 and to have criticised with remarkable sagacity the 
 modes of culture, economy and government. 
 
 " The Governor of Barbadoes," he says, " seems to 
 keep a proper state, lives very retired and at little ex- 
 pense, and is a gentleman of good sense. * * * 
 By declining much familiarity, he is not over-zealously 
 heloved." 
 
 This last is a truly Washingtonian observation, 
 
1751.] TOO SINCERE FOE FLATTERY. 101 
 
 though made so early. It breathes the very spirit of 
 the writer's whole after-practice, so often complained 
 of by those who would fain have been allowed famil- 
 iarity with him. He obviously felt no disapprobation 
 of the trait he thus noted, but rather concluded, we 
 may presume, that by living retired, and not courting 
 mere popularity or private adherency, the governor 
 gained in dignity and safety what he lost in momentary 
 praise and following. 
 
 "Washington's never having courted private adher- 
 ents has been sometimes cited as showing a reserved 
 and unsocial temper ; but to the careful student of his 
 life it seems to have been rather the result of his self- 
 devotion as a public man, and his utter distaste of every 
 thing that savored of egotism. Most friendly in his 
 friendships, he chose to choose his friends. He scorned 
 to pretend personal liking for purposes of interest. He 
 was studiously civil to all, however unwelcome, how- 
 ever disesteemed. He never wilfully offended any but 
 those who began aggression, or whose want of worth or 
 decency surprised him out of his inflexible propriety. 
 But in no instance in the whole course of his immense 
 correspondence, can an expression of personal liking be 
 detected, unless addressed to known friends. 
 
 Every body he addressed must have known exactly 
 the writer's estimation of him ; and this was no way to 
 gain partisans. He probably made enemies by this in- 
 dependent and manly course, but only of the bad, or 
 
102 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1751. 
 
 those whom he believed such. For these he seems al- 
 ways to have cared very little. 
 
 The journal goes onto say: — "There are several 
 singular risings in the island, one above the other, so 
 that scarcely any part is deprived of a beautiful pros- 
 pect, both of sea and land ; and, what is contrary to ob- 
 servations in other countries, each elevation is better 
 than the next below. The earth in most parts is ex- 
 tremely rich, and as black as our richest marsh mead- 
 ows. How wonderful that such people should be in 
 debt, and not be able to indulge themselves in all the 
 luxuries as well as necessaries of life. Yet so it hap- 
 pens. Estates are often alienated for debts. How per- 
 sons coming to estates of two, three and four hundred 
 acres (which are the largest) can want, is to me most 
 wonderful. There are few who can be called middling 
 people. They are very rich or very poor ; for by a law 
 of the island, every gentleman is obliged to keep a white 
 person for every ten acres, capable of acting in the mi- 
 litia, and, consequently, the persons so kept cannot but 
 be very poor. They are well disciplined and appointed 
 to their several stations, so that in any alarm every man 
 may be at his post in less than two hours." 
 
 These few extracts serve to show the unaffected and 
 simple style in "which Washington was thus early in 
 the habit of recording his impressions — an example 
 which, if well followed by all the young gentlemen of 
 our day who travel the world over, would be better 
 even than a Smithsonian Institute " for the advance- 
 
1751.] FINE SCENEKY SMAEL-P0X. 103 
 
 nient of knowledge among men." The conscientious 
 (not constitutional) moderation of Washington's expres- 
 sions lias often been remarked ; only once in the course 
 of this record of a visit to the tropics, by one who so 
 loved the face of nature that he never remained in the 
 city but at the call of duty, does a gleam of enthusiasm 
 betray itself, when he says — " In the cool of the eve- 
 ning we rode out, — and were perfectly enraptured with 
 the beautiful prospects which every side presented to 
 our view — the fields of cane, corn, and fruit trees, &c, 
 in a delightful green." 
 
 Perhaps the most characteristic part of the journal 
 is that which relates to the small-pox, which, as we 
 have seen, he dreaded to encounter in one of the hos 
 pitable families who had invited his brother and him- 
 self to visit them. He writes, about six weeks after 
 that first entry — 
 
 " 17th. — Was strongly attacked with the small-pox. 
 Sent for Dr. Lanahan, whose attendance was very con- 
 stant till my recovery and going out, which were not 
 till Thursday, the 12th of December. 
 
 " December 12th. — Went to town and called on 
 Major Clarke's family, who had kindly visited me in 
 my illness, and contributed all they could, in sending 
 me the necessaries the disorder required." 
 
 And this is all. The small-pox — a "strong" attack 
 — and one which left on his noble face life-long marks 
 of its power, is passed over as a small interlude, not 
 worthy of being noticed in particulars, or calling for 
 
104 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. t 1751 - 
 
 the slightest expression of self-pity. Yet, throughout 
 Washington's whole life, he is rather remarkable for 
 the interest he takes in the health of his friends and 
 servants. I have, by the kindness of Prof. G. W. 
 Greene, a letter written by General Washington to 
 General Greene, Jan. 22d, 1780, from head-quarters 
 at Morristown, remonstrating very warmly on the sub- 
 ject of the discomfort suffered by his servants, for 
 the want of additional quarters. " Nor is there at this 
 moment," he writes, in that fine, bold, measured hand 
 that he learned at Mr. Williams's school, " a place in 
 which a servant can lodge with any degree of comfort 
 — hardly one of them able to speak for the colds they 
 have caught." 
 
 After Mr. Lawrence Washington was established in 
 lodgings, under the care of a physician, his brother left 
 him and returned home, to await the result of the ex- 
 periment ; but no benefit resulting to the invalid from 
 his West Indian sojourn, it was arranged that his wife, 
 under George's escort, should meet him at Bermuda, 
 where a new attempt was to be made. But this did not 
 take place, for all efforts gained not -even a reprieve. 
 The brothers never met again. The progress of the dis- 
 ease was so rapid, that nothing remained but a hurried 
 return home, where death put a speedy termination to 
 hopes and fears, and the elder brother, who had, since 
 the father's death, been a second parent and worthy 
 guide for George, was removed, on the 26th of July, 
 1752, at the early age of thirty-four. 
 
1751.] PEECOCIOUS FROM NECESSITY. 105 
 
 This occurred at Mount Vernon, and "Washington, 
 who was evidently the main dependence and assistant 
 in his brother's affairs throughout his illness, now took 
 charge, by his brother's direction, of his business, and 
 also of his family, consisting of his widow and one 
 daughter, sickly from her birth. The widow married 
 again, the daughter died, and the estate of Mount Ver- 
 non became, by Lawrence's will, the property of George 
 Washington, and an inseparable appendage to that il- 
 lustrious name for ever. He very soon took up his 
 abode there, and commenced a system of improvements 
 which he carried on, with various interruptions, for the 
 rest of his life. 
 
 Thus it would seem that from a very early time, a 
 premature manhood was forced upon him, by the cir- 
 cumstances of his life and the duties required of him. 
 It is true these circumstances and duties evidently owe 
 their force to his fitness, and from them we gather what 
 manner of person he was. When other boys are apt 
 to be " sowing their wild oats," he was quietly laying 
 the foundation of fame and fortune. Too soon, we 
 might say, of an ordinary mind in an ordinary body ; 
 for it is true, as a general rule, that the finest and most 
 satisfactory development is slow. But in this case we 
 can only study and wonder, and recognize the Divine 
 hand. 
 
 On the 4th of ]S ovember, 1752, at Fredericksburg 
 Lodge, George Washington, then not quite twenty-one 
 years of age, was initiated an apprentice in " the An- 
 5* 
 
106 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1751. 
 
 cient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted 
 Masons." On the 3d of March, 1753, he was advanced 
 to the second degree of fellow-craft ; and on the 4th of 
 August next after, he was made a Master Mason. 
 
 Afterwards, as the Grand Master of the Masons of 
 the United States, he laid the corner-stone of the Capi- 
 tol, at Washington ; and, last of all, he was buried with 
 Masonic honors, by the lodge of which he was the first 
 Master. No wonder the Masonic order is proud to 
 claim him, and to display the tokens of his member- 
 ship which still remain. 
 
 He is thus referred to as a Mason, in a centennial 
 oration delivered by Rev. Dr. Tyng, in 1852 : " Never 
 was our fundamental principle of justice more beauti- 
 fully or perfectly realized by man. Every foot of his 
 wall was built in rigid conformity to the square and 
 the plummet. You may trace the principle in all his 
 own private accounts. To be in debt was, in his judg- 
 ment, to be in slavery, a slavery to which no Free Ma- 
 son could be honorably subjected. For years his books 
 were kept by his own hands, in the most beautiful style 
 of neatness and punctuality. He maintained a perfect 
 oversight of his own business, detecting any misman- 
 agement or carelessness in others, and habitually choos- 
 ing never to rely upon others to do that which he 
 could do for himself. In his management of public 
 trusts, during the whole eight years' campaigns of the 
 Revolution, he kept an exact account of all expendi- 
 tures in the public service, and exhibited them in his 
 
1751.] DISINTERESTEDNESS TOLERATION. 107 
 
 own handwriting to Congress at the close of the war ; 
 not only refusing any remuneration for the services he 
 had performed, but faithfully declaring himself largely 
 a willing loser, in amounts of his own private funds, 
 which had been expended in the public service. * * 
 Nor was he less distinguished by one other great princi- 
 ple, Love, which wrought in beneficence to the needy, in 
 forgiveness to the penitent, in the kindest and most lib- 
 eral construction of the motives and characters of other 
 men ; in the strongest emotions of private friendship, 
 and in the perfect toleration of the religious conscience 
 of mankind." 
 
CHAPTEK XI. 
 
 Contemporary history— George II. and his court— Rudeness of manners— General 
 corruption — Incorrect spelling — Swift — Pope— Bolinghroke — Chesterfield — Lady 
 M. "W. Montague — Burke — Pitt — Marlborough — Admiral Yernon — Duke of Cum- 
 berland—Flora Macdonald— C. J. Fox— George III.— Wolfe— Burns— Cowper— 
 Continental European sovereigns. 
 
 Remembering how indistinct were my own juvenile 
 ideas of contemporaneous history, I shall here turn 
 aside to offer the younger part of my readers a few 
 particulars of the time during which "Washington lived, 
 from his birth upward, in order that the impression 
 made by his biography may be more clear, and the 
 contrast between himself and some of his contempora- 
 ries more striking. 
 
 To begin with the monarch to whom he first owed 
 allegiance. George the Second was in the fifth year of 
 his long reign in February, 1732, when the greatest of 
 his subjects was born. 
 
 This monarch was mean and profligate in his life 
 and character, and the bad example of the sovereign 
 was but too clearly reflected in the lives of the officers 
 of the government and the higher nobility. A histo- 
 
Washington's contemporaries. 109 
 
 rian observes of that reign that " greatness of soul was 
 a quality non-existent in court or cabinet." It was no- 
 ticed as a wonderful piece of virtue, when a member 
 of Parliament refused a bribe of a thousand pounds 
 from the Prince of Wales. Such being the state of 
 things at the fountain head of authority and honor, we 
 may easily draw conclusions as to the general charac- 
 ter of those who were sent out to rule the distant colo- 
 nies. Corruption was at its most daring point, and an 
 avaricious and unprincipled sovereign would like best 
 the official who was most adroit in extorting money 
 from those beneath him. The great Prime Minister, 
 Sir Robert "Walpole, who ruled England for thirty 
 years, and who is said to have held the vile sentiment 
 that " every man has his price," was at the height of 
 his power. He was born in 1676, and died in 1745. 
 
 As to the tone of morals tolerated at the English 
 court at the time, we may mention that a Eirst Lord 
 of the Admiralty, Lord Berkeley, proposed to the King 
 the secret removal of the Prince of Wales — a most in- 
 famous son, openly detested by both his father and 
 mother — offering to send him away to America, " where 
 he would never be heard of again." 
 
 As to manners, one of the young princesses, at a 
 levee, purposely pulled the chair from under Lady De- 
 loraine, who was about to sit down ; and the lady, to 
 avenge the insult, retorted it upon the king himself, by 
 withdrawing his chair, and affording the court the spec- 
 tacle of the monarch in the most awkward of all posi- 
 
110 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 tions. This being the last extreme to which rudeness 
 could be carried, the occurrence seems to have aroused 
 some attention, and perhaps produced some amend- 
 ment. The lady was banished from court, and we 
 may hope the ill-bred princess received at least a pri- 
 vate reproof for her misbehavior. 
 
 As to intelligence and information, the Duke of 
 Newcastle said, " Certainly % Annapolis must be pro- 
 tected ! Annapolis must be defended ! By the bye, 
 where is Annapolis ? "* 
 
 Correct spelling was by no means universal in the 
 reign of George II. Mr. Croker says that " nobody's 
 was unexceptionable." Pope's, for instance, was often 
 wrong. 
 
 Yet it was an age of distinguished writers. In 
 1726 Swift published Gulliver's Travels. He died in 
 1746. Pope, born in 1688, (which of course my read- 
 ers recognise, as one of the marked dates in English 
 history, the era of the revolution by which the Stuarts 
 were expelled, in the person of James II.,) finished his 
 translation of the Iliad in 1720. His Essay on Man was 
 published in 1733, and the satirical poem called the 
 Dunciad, was not completed until 17-12. Pope died in 
 1744, when Washington was twelve years old. The 
 poet Gay died in 1732. 
 
 The celebrated Lord Bolingbroke, a great writer 
 
 * The Annapolis then in question was not the capital of the State of 
 Maryland, hut a fortified place in Nova Scotia, the oldest European settle- 
 ment in North America. It was to be defended against the French. 
 
LOKD CHESTEKFIELD — LADY M. W. MONTAGUE. Ill 
 
 and orator, who had been implicated in the attempt to 
 restore the exiled royal family, and who had been sec- 
 retary to the Pretender, returned to England in 1735, 
 and lived until 1751. 
 
 Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield, particularly 
 celebrated for the Letters to his Son, always referred 
 to as containing a code of polite manners (though with 
 quite too much of worldly motive intermixed to make 
 it satisfactory as a guide for the young), was a particu- 
 lar favorite of George II., and held many offices of 
 state during his reign. He was born in 1694, and 
 lived until 1773. His letters are full of wit and satire, 
 but "Washington's simple " Rules for Decent Behavior 
 in Company and Conversation," contain nearly all that 
 is particularly valuable in them as an oracle of man- 
 ners, with the addition of many important things which 
 the great courtier entirely omitted, especially those 
 which inculcate a religious reverence. 
 
 Lady Mary Wortley Montague was another very 
 eminent letter-writer of that time, and has a still higher 
 claim to be remembered, as having introduced into 
 England the art of inoculation for the small-pox, since 
 superseded by the safer operation of vaccination, but 
 in her day one of the greatest benefactions to the world. 
 Strange to say, the attempt was one which required 
 courage and perseverance such as few women possess, 
 so great was the opposition, not only of the vulgar, but 
 of the medical profession. Lady Mary persisted in 
 having the new mode, which she had learned in Tur- 
 
112 MEMOIES OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 key, while resident in that country, as wife of the Eng- 
 lish Ambassador, tried upon her own and only son ; and 
 she was obliged to watch the child herself, night and 
 day, during the specified time, lest attempts should be 
 made upon his life by those who desired to discredit 
 inoculation. 
 
 This lady, noted as a beauty, a wit, and one of the 
 most elegant writers of her time, died in 1762. 
 
 Edmund Burke was almost exactly, throughout, a 
 contemporary of Washington. Born 1730, he died in 
 1797. He made a strenuous opposition in Parliament 
 to the unjust treatment of the Colonies by Great Brit- 
 ain. 
 
 The first great William Pitt, afterwards Earl of 
 Chatham, but long known as the " Great Commoner," 
 was born in 1708, and was just beginning to be recog- 
 nized as one of the master spirits of the age, when 
 Washington was born. Mr. Pitt was the persistent en- 
 emy of Sir Robert Walpole, and his opposition to that 
 wily minister was so powerful and efficient that the 
 Duchess of Marlborough, who hated Walpole, be- 
 queathed Pitt ten thousand pounds sterling as a mark 
 of her gratitude. Pitt went on, steadily increasing in 
 power and influence, holding many great offices of 
 state, until the death of King George II., when he re- 
 signed his posts, retaining only his seat in the House of 
 Commons. When discontents began to arise in the 
 American Colonies, Mr. Pitt was too sagacious a man 
 not to see that the spirit of this country was too much 
 
PITT — MARLBOROUGH VERNON. 113 
 
 like that of old England to bear very long with en- 
 croachments on constitutional liberty, and he took 
 every opportunity to urge a conciliatory policy, and 
 especially the repeal of the obnoxious Stamp Act. Af- 
 ter he was made Earl of Chatham, he continued his 
 wise advocacy of just and honorable treatment of the 
 colonies, but found himself poorly supported in the 
 House. Persevering to the last, he was, although in 
 very feeble health, speaking with his usual energy on 
 the subject, in the House of Lords, when he was seized 
 with a fit, and being carried out insensible, soon after 
 expired, May 11, 1778. 
 
 The great military hero, whose exploits were fresh 
 in everybody's memory in "Washington's early days, 
 was John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, who died 
 in 1722. He filled the same place in public esteem, so 
 far as grand military successes go, as did the Duke of 
 Wellington in our own times, though his victories can- 
 not efface from the page of history the bad cpialities by 
 which his glory was stained — those of avarice and dis- 
 honesty. His principal victories were those of Liege, 
 Blenheim, Ramillies and Malplaquet. 
 
 Admiral Vernon (after whom Mount Vernon was 
 named) was the naval hero of the time, though the 
 cooler judgment of a later day has not placed him in 
 the rank claimed for him by those enthusiastic admirers 
 who were under his personal influence. He has been 
 designated as " a blustering and wrongheaded naval 
 officer, whose rash though successful attack on Porto 
 
114 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Bello rendered him, for the time, the idol of the mob." 
 He afterwards failed in an attempt on Carthagena, and 
 another on Cuba. He' was, for a while, the rival of the 
 Duke of Cumberland in popular favpr, but having af- 
 terwards committed the flagrant error of disclosing 
 some secret instruction ,.mch he had received from 
 the Admiralty, his name was ignominiously struck from 
 the list of flag officers. He died in 1759. 
 
 The Duke of Cumberland, stigmatized by his oppo- 
 nents with the opprobrious title of " the Butcher," be- 
 came prominent in the civil wars by which the Young 
 Pretender was finally driven from the kingdom. The 
 Rebellion broke out in 1745, under the motto — " A 
 grave or a throne " — and a terrible and bloody struggle 
 ensued. If on one side there was rashness and folly, on 
 the other there was shocking brutality. One of the 
 leaders is said to have taken a staff of executioners 
 with him, and to have " conferred oftener with his 
 hangmen than with his aides-de-camp." The Duke of 
 Cumberland, though a cousin of the Pretender, was no 
 whit behind in cruelty. The battle of Culloden — 
 
 Culloden, that reeks with the hlood of the brave, 
 
 was the last act of the tragedy, and after it the " gentle 
 Lochiel," the brave Clanrauald, and other Highland 
 chiefs, sealed their devotion with their blood. 
 
 The generous Flora Macdonald, who, at the risk of 
 her life, assisted the youthful Charles at one stage of 
 
FOX — 'GEORGE III. — WOLFE. 115 
 
 his wild attempt, afterwards emigrated to this country, 
 but returned to Scotland during our Revolutionary 
 War. She died in the Isle of Skye, in 1T90. 
 
 The celebrated statesman and orator, Charles James 
 Fox, was born 1748, and was elected to Parliament be- 
 fore he was of age. In 1773 he adopted the American 
 side in the controversy which then raged so hotly, and 
 throughout the war was one of our most powerful 
 friends in England. He died in 1806. 
 
 George III. came to the throne in 1760, when Wash- 
 ington was just married and established in life, one of 
 his majesty's most loyal subjects. The year before 
 1759, saw the invasion of Canada, and the death of the 
 gallant Wolfe. 
 
 It is worthy of notice, that mere bravery would not 
 have left in the universal heart, the tender recollection 
 which loves to dwell on the memory of this young offi- 
 cer. It is his reputation for all that is gentle and 
 worthy in character, and for a literary taste which was 
 not crushed even by the terrific circumstances of an 
 impending battle. As he was rowed softly along under 
 the walls of Quebec, in the shadow of the frowning 
 ramparts, he was reading or repeating in a low voice to 
 the officers, his companions, the verses of Gray's Elegy, 
 just received from England. " There, gentlemen," he 
 said, " I would rather be the author of that poem, than 
 the conqueror of Canada ! " Burns, and Cowper, and 
 other poets loved to allude to him, and Wordsworth 
 speaks of 
 
116 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 The plain 
 Where hreathed the gale that caught Wolfe's happiest sigh. 
 
 The mere soldier never excites either that kind or 
 degree of interest. 
 
 Robert Burns was born 1750, and died at the early 
 age of thirty-seven — leaving an imperishable name, for 
 his songs are not shut up between book-covers, or kept 
 for the accompaniment of the piano or harp, but fa- 
 miliar to the lips of the common people, and consecrat- 
 ed in their affections. 
 
 Cowper, as well known and almost equally beloved, 
 was almost exactly contemporary with Washington. 
 Born in 1731, he died in 1800. 
 
 As to other countries, the Empress Anne ruled 
 Russia from 1733 to 1740 — then Ivan — then Elizabeth 
 — then Peter III. — and in 1762 Catharine II., noted 
 for talent, but also for vices. She lived through the 
 century. 
 
 Frederic II., better known as Frederick the Great, 
 ascended the throne of Prussia in 1740. He was one 
 of Washington's most ardent admirers in after years, 
 and sent him a splendid sword, with the message (for 
 there is no inscription), " from the oldest general in 
 Europe to the greatest in the world." 
 
 Louis XV. was king of France from 1715 to 1774. 
 Then came Louis XVI., who, with the sympathies of his 
 queen, the beautiful Marie Antoinette, became our 
 generous and efficient ally at the darkest period of the 
 Revolution. The after fate of both is but too well known. 
 
KETUKN TO HOME SCENES. 117 
 
 The popes through whose reigns Washington lived 
 were Benedict XIV., Clement XIII., Clement XIY. 
 
 But I must not be tempted into further particulars. 
 Enough has been touched upon to give some little note 
 of the world's condition, at the time when our own most 
 interesting events were occurring. We must now re- 
 turn to home scenes, and follow the youthful proprietor 
 of Mount Vernon through a train of circumstances 
 destined to prepare him for the part he was to sustain 
 on the great stage of human affairs. 
 
CIIAPTEK XII. 
 
 Preparation — Military duties — Skill recognized by the governor — Embassy to tho 
 French commandant — Perilous journey — Indian Queen. 
 
 Whatever were the cares and interests of home, 
 Washington's military duties were performed in his 
 own style, that is to say, with all his might. No 
 languid, perfunctory service was his, in this or any 
 other case. He had fitted himself for the new under- 
 taking by practice in military exercises, and by the 
 study of the best writers on tactics ; not with the mo- 
 mentary ardor of a young man in love with an epaulette 
 and a title, but as if he had even then a foreknowledge 
 that he must prepare and command great armies. Not 
 content with directing the movements of subordinates, 
 he travelled through the. counties included in his dis- 
 trict, receiving and organizing his recruits, and dili- 
 gently acquainting himself with the whole field of his 
 official duty in the case ; and it is very curious to ob- 
 serve how, wherever he went, in pursuance of this duty, 
 the first place was instantly accorded to him, and he 
 as naturally accepted the position of command, without 
 
WASHINGTON AND HIS WOKK. 119 
 
 the least assumption or the suggestion of it. From 
 the very beginning, men seem to have been as willing 
 to come under his influence as he could possibly be to 
 have them there. If we can depend at all upon what 
 we gather from all records of those times in Virginia, 
 affairs, instruments and honors tended towards him as 
 towards a centre of potent attraction. He was a natural 
 focus, and by no intentional agency of his, nor yet by 
 talent only, but by the natural power of character. 
 Those about him were, perhaps, more prescient of his 
 future destiny than he himself was. Men of twice his 
 age wore an air of deference towards him. We do not 
 guess at this, or gather it from his subsequent career, 
 but learn it from contemporaneous records. 
 
 The expenditure of time, labor and money in raising 
 and equipping forces was by no means premature, as it 
 turned out ; for both the Indians and the French grew 
 bolder and bolder in their insolence, until the Virginia 
 governor, Dinwiddie, a Scotchman, far less skilled than 
 at least one of his adjutants in the preparation of soldiers, 
 sent a messenger with presents to the Indians, and pri- 
 vate orders to discover what were really the designs of 
 the French. But the returns of this embassy were 
 wholly unsatisfactory, and the pretended information 
 proved worth nothing. The French were represented 
 as tremendously formidable and desperately rapacious ; 
 but such was the confusion or exaggeration of the re- 
 ports, that little could be ascertained but what every 
 body knew before — that these intruders would allow no 
 
120 MEMOIES OF WASHINGTON. [1753. 
 
 Englishman to trade beyond the mountains, under the 
 pretence that all west of the Alleghanies belonged to 
 the domain of their master. 
 
 The truth was that the French had begun the for- 
 mation of that famous cordon, or line of military forti- 
 fied posts, from Canada to the southern part of the 
 Mississippi, which was intended to secure their ascen- 
 dency in North America ; and that they had managed 
 to get very much the start of the not very warlike 
 colonists, who, at a somewhat late hour, had begun to 
 feel that both honor and interest required an immediate 
 check upon such encroachments. 
 
 Both English and French had, before it came to 
 this, made treaties with the Indians, sometimes with 
 tribes rival or inimical to each other, sometimes with 
 those whose only object was to obtain the largest possi- 
 ble amount of presents from both parties, whether for 
 aid on the one hand or betrayal on the other. What 
 the Indians in general thought of this contest between 
 two great nations for the possession of their aboriginal 
 hunting grounds, may be gathered from the shrewd 
 question put by one of them to a gentleman on a tour 
 of observation among them : — " Whereabouts do the In- 
 dian lands lie, since the French claim all the land on 
 one side the Ohio River and the English all on the 
 other?" 
 
 Indian alliances complicated the coining war a good 
 deal, for messengers and reconnoitring parties were sure 
 to fall in with plenty of red men, and it was often very 
 
1753.] EMBASSY TO THE FRENCH. 121 
 
 difficult to distinguish friend from foe, especially when 
 both were found under the same ochre and feathers at 
 different times, and this often at an interval of a few 
 hours only. The business of traversing the,, woods was 
 almost as hazardous as in the times of Tancred, when 
 the trees could hear and talk. But Governor Dinwid- 
 die had sagacity enough to know where to apply, after 
 his first messenger failed ; and Major George Washing- 
 ton required no second bidding to become his honor's 
 commissioner for ascertaining the intentions of the 
 savages in certain quarters, and — a still more delicate 
 errand, — demanding of the French commandant by 
 what authority and with what design he presumed to 
 invade the dominions of His Majesty, King George the 
 Second. 
 
 Here is the commission of the young major, only 
 just "major" in the legal sense : — ■ 
 
 "I, reposing especial trust and confidence in the 
 ability, conduct and fidelity of you, the said George 
 Washington, have appointed you my express messenger ; 
 and you are hereby authorized and empowered to pro- 
 ceed hence, with all convenient and possible dispatch, to 
 that part or place on the river Ohio where the French 
 have lately erected a fort or forts, or where the com- 
 mandant of the French forces resides, in order to deliver 
 my letter and message to him ; and, after waiting not 
 exceeding one week for an answer, you are to take 
 leave, and return immediately back. 
 
 " To this commission I have set my hand, and caused 
 
122 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1753. 
 
 the great seal of this Dominion to be affixed, at the 
 city of Williamsburg, the seat of my government, this 
 30th clay of October, in the twenty-seventh year of the 
 reign of His Majesty, King George the Second, King 
 of Great Britain, &c, &c, Annoque Domini, 1753. 
 
 Robert Dinwiddie." 
 
 " All his Majesty's subjects and all in amity or 
 alliance with the crown of Great Britain," were also 
 charged to further " George Washington, Esquire, com- 
 missioner under the great seal," and " to be aiding and 
 assisting to the said George Washington and his at- 
 tendants in his present passage to and from the river 
 Ohio, as aforesaid." 
 
 The party consisted of eight persons ; — Mr. Gist, 
 the same who received from the Indians the posing 
 question as to the ownership of the lands on either side 
 the Ohio, — an experienced woodsman and valuable aid ; 
 John Davidson, an interpreter for the Indians ; Jacob 
 Van Braam, a Dutchman, who could speak French, 
 which Washington himself unfortunately could not, 
 and the major himself. Van Braam was the man from 
 whom Washington had learned the art of fencing. 
 
 These, with four attendants, completed the chief's 
 party, which set out from Williamsburg, on the 31st of 
 October. It must have required some courage, and no 
 little confidence in one's resources of health, strength 
 and perseverance, to begin a journey of five hundred 
 and sixty miles, on horseback, through woods and over 
 
1753.] HARD DUTY IN WINTER. 123 
 
 mountains, in the winter season, with the prospect of 
 camping out nearly every night. There is a charming 
 picture, by an American artist, of the party making 
 their slow way through the woods in a heavy snow-storm, 
 one of the most lifelike and. rememberable of our home- 
 landscapes. 
 
 It was a fortnight before the cavalcade reached 
 "Will's Creek, where the stream breaks through the 
 Alleghanies with great rocky cliffs on either side, form- 
 ing a scene of Alpine grandeur. 
 
 This was on the very confines of civilization, and 
 here the party plunged into the pathless forests of the 
 mountains, to encounter all the horrors of cold, fatigue, 
 and savage ambush. " The inclemency of the season," 
 says Mr. Sparks, " the Alleghanies covered with snow, 
 and the valleys flooded with the swelling wa'ters ; the 
 rough passages over the mountains, and the difficulties 
 in crossing the streams by frail rafts, fording or swim- 
 ing, were obstacles that could be overcome but slowly 
 and with patience." 
 
 And by energy and patience they were overcome, 
 and the young soldier found himself, on the twenty-fifth 
 day after leaving Williamsburg, at Logstown, an Indian 
 settlement, where his instructions required him to hold 
 a conference with Tanacharison — known as the Half- 
 King, — and other sachems of the Six Nations, and ob- 
 tain from them guides and guards for the remainder of 
 the journey, as well as all possible information as to the 
 intentions of the French. 
 
124 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1753. 
 
 The Half-King's intelligence was that the French 
 had already built several forts on the Mississippi and 
 one on the Ohio ; and when required to pilot the mes- 
 senger's party to their quarters, he said that the nearest 
 and most level road was now impassable, by reason of 
 great marshes, at that season full of water. By the 
 other road, it would take five or six " nights' sleep," to 
 reach the nearest fort, where visitors must not count 
 upon a very civil welcome. 
 
 He, the Half-King, had been received with great 
 sternness by the commandant, and in reply to the abrupt 
 question what his business was, had answered in a 
 speech which, as recorded by the strictly veracious pen 
 of "Washington, presents as much dignity and good 
 sense as ever novelist put into the mouth of the ideal 
 red man, — a style of eloquence which may generally be 
 classed as the millionth dilution of the Ossianic poetry. 
 
 For the sake of justice, we will quote a part of this 
 Indian warrior's speech, which shows how much a man, 
 however ignorant, gains by speaking only when he has 
 something to say, and leaving off as soon as he has 
 done. 
 
 " Fathers — I have come to tell you your own 
 speeches, what your own mouths have declared. 
 Fathers, you, in former days, set a silver basin before 
 us, wherein was the leg of a beaver, and desired all the 
 nations to come and eat of it, to eat in peace and 
 plenty, and not to be churlish to one another ; and that 
 if any person should be found to be a disturber, I here 
 
1753.] INDIAN ELOQUENCE. 125 
 
 lay down by the edge of the dish a rod which yon must 
 scourge them with ; and if your father should get fool- 
 ish in my old days, I desire you may use it upon me as 
 well as others. 
 
 "' Now, Fathers, it is you who are the disturbers in 
 this land, by coming and building your towns, and 
 taking it away unknown to us and by force. 
 
 " Fathers, we kindled a fire a long time ago, at a 
 place called Montreal, where we desired you to stay, and 
 not to come and intrude upon our land. I now desire 
 you may dispatch to that place, for, be it known to you, 
 fathers, that this is our land and not yours. 
 
 " Fathers, I desire you may hear me with civilness ; 
 if not, we must handle that rod which was laid down 
 for the use of the obstreperous. If you had come in a 
 peaceable manner, like our brothers, the English, we 
 would not have been against your trading with us as 
 they do ; but to come, fathers, and build houses on our 
 land and take it by force, is what we cannot submit to. 
 
 " Fathers, both you and the English are white ; we 
 live in a country between ; therefore the land belongs 
 neither to the one nor to the other (of you.) But the 
 Great Being above allowed it to be a place of residence 
 for us ; so, fathers, I desire you to withdraw, as I have 
 done our brothers, the English, for I will keep you at 
 arm's length. I lay this down as a trial for both, to see 
 which will have the greatest regard to it, and that side 
 we will stand by, and make equal sharers with us. Our 
 brothers, the English, have heard this, and I come now 
 
126 MEMOIES OF WASHINGTON. [1753. 
 
 to tell it to you, for I am not afraid to discharge you 
 off this land." 
 
 The French superintendent seems to have replied in 
 a very truculent spirit, as reported by the Indian chief. 
 
 " Nov, my child, I have heard your speech ; you 
 spoke first, but it is my turn to speak now. Where is 
 my wampum, that you took away with the marks of 
 towns upon it ? This wampum 1 do not know, which 
 you have discharged me off the land with ; but you 
 need not put yourself to the trouble of speaking, for I 
 will not hear you. I am not afraid of flies or moscpii- 
 toes, for Indians are such as those. I tell you, down 
 that river I will go, and build upon it, according to my 
 command. If the river was blocked up, I have forces 
 sufficient to burst it oj)en, and tread under my feet all 
 that should stand in opposition, together with their 
 alliances, for my force is as the sand upon the sea 
 shore. Therefore here is your wampum, I sling it at 
 you. 
 
 " Child, you talk foolish ; you say this land belongs 
 to yon, but there is not the black of my nail yours. I 
 saw that land sooner than you did, before the Shan- 
 noahs and you were at war. Lead was the man who 
 went down and took possession of that river. It is my 
 land, and I will have it, let who will stand up and say 
 against it. I will buy and sell with the English. If 
 people will be ruled by me, they may expect kindness, 
 but not else."* 
 
 * This must be understood to be the interpreter's translation of the 
 
1753.] WASHINGTON IN KEPLY. 127 
 
 Mr. Sparks remarks here, that " the high-minded 
 savage was not aware that, as far as he and his- race 
 were concerned, there was no difference between his 
 professed friends and open enemies. He had never 
 studied in the school of politics, which finds an excuse 
 for rapacity and injustice in the law of nations, nor 
 learned that it is the prerogative of civilization to prey 
 upon the ignorant and defenceless." 
 
 On the 26th a council was held, and Washington in 
 his turn made a speech, with the usual sprinkling of 
 " Brothers," hut stating candidly and succinctly the 
 objects of his journey. The Half-King desired him not 
 to be in a hurry, and suggested some reasons for delay ; 
 to which the envoy, after much argument and remon- 
 strance, was obliged to yield, for fear of defeating the 
 purpose of his mission. 
 
 " As I found it was impossible," he says, " to get off 
 without affronting them in the most egregious manner, 
 I consented to stay." 
 
 Three chiefs and one of the best of the hunters were 
 at length appointed to compose the convoy, and on the 
 4th of December they arrived at Yenango, an old In- 
 dian settlement at the mouth of French creek, on the 
 Ohio, " without any thing remarkable happening," says 
 Washington, " but a continued series of bad weather." 
 
 Here they fell in with Captain Joncaire, an inter- 
 preter, and one who had great influence with the In- 
 French officer's idioms into very homely English ones, for it is not likely 
 that a gentleman would talk about the " black " of his nail. 
 
128 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1753. 
 
 dians. He assumed to be the commander of the Ohio, 
 but recommended the young commissioner to cany his 
 business to the general, who had his quarters at the 
 near fort. At first the French at Venango were ex- 
 tremely civil, but when the wine began to go round, 
 they verified the proverb * by telling much that they 
 had intended to conceal : that it was their fixed design 
 to take possession of the Ohio, and that they would do 
 it, too ; for although they knew the English could raise 
 two men for their one, yet their motions were too slow 
 and dilatory to prevent any undertaking of the French. 
 
 Captain Joncaire plied the Indians with liquor, and 
 used every possible artifice to entice them to go no fur- 
 ther. But, after much difficulty, the party was once 
 more on the road, and, toiling three days longer, " through 
 excessive rains, snows, and bad travelling through many 
 mires and swamps," they at length reached the fort, 
 and there found the French commander, a Knight of 
 St. Louis, Legardeur de St. Pierre, a gentlemanly, keen 
 old soldier. The fort was a considerable one, garrisoned 
 at that time by about one hundred men and a large 
 number of officers. 
 
 Washington was politely received, and soon de- 
 livered his message ; and while the commandant and 
 his officers were debating upon the requisitions of Gov- 
 ernor Dinwiddie, Washington was reconnoitring in 
 every direction, taking the dimensions of the fort, 
 counting the canoes, etc. 
 
 * When wine is in, wit is out. 
 
1753.] CHEVALIER ST. PIERRE. 129 
 
 The latter amounted to about fifty, laid up in readi- 
 ness to convey the forces down the river in the Spring. 
 It was probably in contempt of what the English might 
 do that the chevalier allowed these examinations to be 
 made by an enemy. On Washington's inquiring of the 
 Chevalier de St. Pierre by what authority he had made 
 prisoners of several English subjects, he said that the 
 country belonged to the French, and that he had orders 
 to make prisoner every Englishman who attempted to 
 trade on the waters of the Ohio. 
 
 The Sieur St. Pierre was profuse in expressions of 
 civility ; but it soon became evident that he did every 
 thing in his power to separate the convoy from the 
 party. Washington says, in his journal : " I cannot say 
 that ever in my life I suffered so much anxiety as I did 
 in this affair." His life had not been very long, but his 
 manner of expressing himself was so habitually mode- 
 rate, that we may imagine great perplexity from this. 
 To leave the Half-King behind, was to give him and his 
 followers over to the French interest, which was not to 
 be thought of. Washington went to the general and 
 remonstrated, was met with fair words and professions 
 as usual, but could not get his Indians off, liquor being 
 again put in requisition to incapacitate them for every 
 thing but quarrelling or sleeping. 
 
 At length the Half-King, for shame's sake, put an 
 end to the delay, and the party set out on their return, 
 to travel one hundred and thirty miles in canoes, the 
 horses, quite exhausted, having been sent off unloaded. 
 
130 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1753. 
 
 The travellers were destined to encounter new hard- 
 ships in the new mode of exploring a wilderness. 
 " Several times," writes the chief in his report, " we 
 had like to have been dashed against rocks ; and many 
 times we were obliged, all hands, to get out, and re- 
 main in the water half an hour or more, getting over 
 the shoals." Pleasant work for December ! " At one 
 place the ice had lodged, and made it impassable by 
 water ; we were therefore obliged to carry our canoe 
 a quarter of a mile over. We did not reach Venango 
 till the 22d, where we met with our horses." 
 
 The horses being nearly useless, from hard work and 
 poor feeding, the cold increasing every day and the 
 roads being blocked up by a heavy snow, Washington, 
 anxious to get back and make his report to the gov- 
 ernor, resolved upon attempting to perform the re- 
 mainder of the journey on foot, accompanied only by 
 Mr. Gist, the most experienced of the party, and leaving 
 the baggage and effects in charge of Mr. Yan Braam. 
 With gun in hand, and the necessary papers and pro- 
 visions in a pack strapped on his back, he set out, with 
 a single companion, to thread the trackless forest, on 
 the 26th of December, not without some misgivings, 
 as we may well believe. On the second day the two 
 travellers encountered a party of Indians in league with 
 the French, evidently lying in wait for them. One of 
 the savages fired at them, not fifteen paces off, and 
 missed ; but instead of returning the fire, which might 
 have brought the whole pack upon them, they simply 
 
1753.] ADVENTURE OF THE KAFT. 131 
 
 took the fellow into custody, disarmed him, and kept 
 him close till nine o'clock in the evening ; then let him 
 go, and, after making a tire to deceive the enemy, walked 
 all night to get the start of whoever might attempt to 
 follow. The next day they walked on until dark, and 
 reached the river about two miles above the Fork of the 
 Ohio, the ice driving down in great quantities. 
 
 Here it was that the incident of the whirling raft 
 occurred, which had so nearly changed the fortunes of 
 our first struggle for independence, if not the whole 
 destiny of our country for an age or two at least. The 
 journalist states the occurrence thus: 
 
 " There was no way for getting over but on a raft, 
 which we set about with one poor hatchet, and finished 
 just after sunsetting. This was one whole day's work. 
 We next got it launched, then went on board of it and 
 set off; but before we were half way over, we were 
 jammed in the ice in such a manner that we expected 
 every moment our raft to sink and ourselves to perish. 
 I put out my setting pole to try to stop the raft, that 
 the ice might pass by, when the rapidity of the stream 
 threw it with such violence against the pole, that it 
 jerked me out into ten feet water, but I fortunately 
 saved myself by catching hold of one of the raft logs. 
 Notwithstanding all our efforts, we could not get to 
 either shore, but were obliged, as we were near an 
 island, to quit our raft and make to it. The cold was 
 so extremely severe that Mr. Gist had all his fingers and 
 some of his toes frozen, and the water shut up so hard 
 
132 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1753. 
 
 that we found no difficulty in getting off the island on 
 the ice in the morning." 
 
 We have seen several picturings of the scene on the 
 raft, and one of Washington struggling in the icy water, 
 but we should like to see one that would express the 
 condition of the two half-frozen travellers on the island, 
 through that terrible night, without tent or fire, and 
 wrapped in the stiff, frozen clothes with which one of 
 them, at least, must have come on shore. Not a word 
 is said of this in the journal; of the horrors of cold, 
 fatigue and hunger all at once ; the long hours till 
 morning, the reasonable dread of such savage dangers 
 as had already been encountered. Well may Wash- 
 ington say this travel of eleven weeks had been " as 
 fatiguing a journey as it is possible to conceive ; " and 
 he adds, " from the 1st day of December to the 15th, 
 there was but one day on which it did not snow or rain 
 incessantly ; and throughout the whole journey we met 
 with nothing but one continued series of cold, wet 
 weather, which occasioned very uncomfortable lodgings, 
 especially after we had quitted our tent, which was some 
 screen from the inclemency of it." 
 
 Uncomfortable lodgings ! 
 
 One amusing incident forms but a slender coun- 
 terbalance to all this toil and suffering, yet we will 
 quote it, to lighten our picture a little. 
 
 There was a certain Indian princess, called by the 
 English settlers Queen Aliquippa, whose royal wigwam 
 was placed somewhere near the route of the youthful 
 
1753. J QUEEN ALIQUIPPA. 133 
 
 commissioner. She being, like other petty sovereigns, 
 exceedingly jealous as to her dignity, expressed herself 
 highly offended, that Major Washington with his suite 
 should have passed her by, on his outward journey, 
 without turning aside to pay his respects. 
 
 Hearing this, he resolved to make honorable amends 
 on his return, and accordingly presented himself, worn 
 and weary as he was, to assure her copper-colored 
 majesty that no offence was intended. 
 
 But ladies of her class are not easily appeased by mere 
 words, and we judge that in this case there must have 
 been a remnant of displeasure lingering on the royal 
 brow ; for we learn that ere his peace was fully made, 
 Major Washington had, with his usual gallantry, pre- 
 sented Queen Aliquippa with — not French gloves and 
 Eau de Cologne, as some of our readers might suppose, 
 but — his old watch-coat and a bottle of rum — " which 
 latter," says Washington's journal, " was thought much 
 the better present of the two." So tastes differ. 
 
CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 Report to the Governor — Journal published in England — French and Indians more 
 troublesome than ever — Supplies very slow — Colonel "Washington rather indig- 
 nant. — Death of Jumonville — Misrepresentations respecting it — The mild and 
 peaceful character of Washington's mind. 
 
 Reaching Williamsburg on the sixteenth of January, 
 1754, Major "Washington made his report to Governor 
 Dinwiddle, delivering also the letter of the French 
 commandant. The council ordered the raising of two 
 companies of men, by way of preparation for resisting 
 the encroachments of the French, now perceived to be 
 assuming a hostile attitude toward the colonists. Ma- 
 jor Washington was at once appointed to the command 
 of these troops, and by way of informing the people of 
 the probable designs of the French, and exciting their 
 indignation to the pitch of war, the Governor ordered 
 the journal, from which we have cpioted a few passages, 
 to be published entire, much against the inclination of 
 the writer, who thought very little of it. It was re- 
 printed in England, and attracted much attention there. 
 The Governor's orders to his young commander and his 
 subordinates were, " to drive away, kill, and destroy, 
 
1754.] RAISING TROOPS WITHOUT MONEY. 135 
 
 or seize as prisoners, all persons not the subjects of the 
 king of Great Britain, who should attempt to settle or 
 take possession of the lands on the Ohio river, or any 
 of its tributaries." 
 
 But the country in general was not particularly 
 well-disposed toward the warlike manifestations planned 
 by Governor Dinwiddie, who writes somewhat piteously 
 to the Lords at home, " I am sorry to find them very 
 much in a republican way of thinking." He persevered, 
 however, and enlistments went on ; the forces were in- 
 creased, and demands for aid made on the neighboring 
 colonies. Washington's experience in raising and equip- 
 ping troops without money commenced here ; he writes, 
 from his head-quarters at Alexandria, to the Governor, 
 that his men are much discouraged for want of pay, and 
 that many of them are without shoes or stockings, some 
 without shirts, and not a few without coats or waist- 
 coats. 
 
 Washington was at this time raised to the rank of 
 lieutenant-colonel, second in command under Colonel 
 Fry, an excellent officer. Cannon and other military 
 equipments, recently arrived from England, were sent 
 to Alexandria, for the use of the growing army. 
 
 French aggressions on the Ohio precipitated hostili- 
 ties somewhat. Some men who were building a fort, 
 were attacked by a thousand French under Captain 
 Contrecoeur, and were forced to leave the ground, the 
 French staying to complete the works, which they 
 named Fort Duquesne, in compliment to the Governor 
 
136 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1754. 
 
 of Canada. Colonel Washington occupied an outpost, 
 much exposed, and his force was quite insufficient for 
 any serious resistance ; but he lost not a moment in 
 pushing forward into the wilderness, to clear and pre- 
 pare a road— an effort which would at least give active 
 business to his men, and keep off discontent and ti- 
 midity. 
 
 To all hardships were superadded that of scanty 
 fare, that least tolerable ill to a laborer. But the young 
 chief thought there was "no such word as fail" for 
 him, at least ; and he tried to find an expeditious pas- 
 sage by the Youghiogany river, in the course of which 
 he encountered rocks and shoals, and at length came 
 to a fall, which rendered further exploration impracti- 
 cable. 
 
 When he returned to the camp, he received a warn- 
 ing message from the Half-King, importing that the 
 French were marching towards him, determined upon 
 an attack. On further information of the near ap- 
 proach of the enemy, Washington set off to join the 
 Half-King, a task of no small difficulty, as the march 
 was to be performed in the night, in a violent storm of 
 rain, and through an almost trackless wilderness. 
 
 That the state of affairs at this time was not wholly 
 satisfactory, may be judged from the following passage 
 in a letter addressed by Colonel Washington to the 
 Governor : — " Giving up my commission is quite con- 
 trary to my intention. Nay, I ask it as a greater favor 
 than any amongst the many I have received from your 
 
1754.] POOR PAY WOKSE THAN NONE. 137 
 
 Honor, to confirm it to me. But let me serve volunta- 
 rily ; then I will, with the greatest pleasure in life, de- 
 vote my services to the expedition, without any other 
 reward than the satisfaction of serving my country ; 
 but to be slaving dangerously for the shadow of pay, 
 through woods, rocks, and mountains — I would rather 
 prefer the great toil of a daily laborer, and dig for a 
 maintenance, provided I were reduced to the necessity, 
 than serve upon such ignoble terms. * * * * I 
 hope what I have said may not be taken amiss, for I 
 really believe, were it as much in your power as it is in 
 your inclination we should be treated as gentlemen 
 and officers, and not have annexed to the most trifling 
 pay that ever was given to English officers, the glo- 
 rious allowance of soldier's diet, — a pound of pork, 
 with bread in proportion, per day. Be the consequence 
 what it will, I am determined not to leave the regi- 
 ment, but to be among the last men that shall quit the 
 Ohio." 
 
 A painful occurrence, at this stage of the border 
 war, was the death of M. Jumonville, a French cap- 
 tain, who fell in an attack led by Washington himself, 
 all the circumstances of which unhappy affair have 
 been strangely misrepresented by the French histo- 
 rians. They assert that Jumonville advanced in the 
 pacific character of a messenger. Washington ob- 
 serves — " Thirty-six men would almost have been a 
 retinue for a princely ambassador instead of &jpetit * 
 * * An ambassador has no need of spies ; his char- 
 
138 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1753. 
 
 acter is always sacred. Since they had so good an in- 
 tention, why should they remain two days within five 
 miles of us, without giving me notice of the summons, 
 or any thing that related to their embassy ? * * * 
 They pretend that they called to us as soon as we were 
 discovered, which is absolutely false ; for I was at the 
 head of the party approaching them, and I can affirm 
 that as soon as they saw us, they ran to their arms 
 without calling, which I should have heard had they 
 done so." 
 
 The short and simple account given by Washington 
 to Governor Dinwiddie is this : — " I set out with forty 
 men, before ten r and it was from that time till near sun- 
 rise before we reached the Indians' camp, having 
 marched in small paths, through a heavy rain, and a 
 night as dark as it is possible to conceive. We were 
 frequently tumbling over one another, and often so lost 
 that fifteen or twenty minutes' search would not find 
 the path again. 
 
 " When we came to the Half-King, I counselled with 
 him and got his assent to go hand in hand and strike the 
 French. Accordingly he, Monacawacha, and a few 
 other Indians, set out with us, and when we came to the 
 place where the troops were, the Half-King sent two In- 
 dians to follow the tracks and discover their lodgment, 
 which they did, at a very obscure place, surrounded with 
 rocks. I thereupon, in conjunction with the Half-King 
 and Monacawacha, formed a disposition to attack them 
 on all sides, which we accordingly did, and after an en- 
 
1753.] DEATH OF JUMONVILLE. 139 
 
 gagemenl of fifteen minutes, we killed ten, wounded 
 one, and took twenty one prisoners. Amongst those 
 killed, was M. Jumonville, the commander. The prin- 
 cipal officers taken, are M. Drouillon and M. La Force, 
 of whom your Honor has often heard me speak, as a 
 hold, enterprising man, and a person of great subtlety 
 and cunning. These officers pretend that they were 
 coming on an embassy ; but the absurdity of this pre- 
 text is too glaring, as you Avill see by the instructions 
 and summons enclosed. Their instructions were to re- 
 connoitre the country, roads, creeks and the like, as far 
 as the Potomac, which they were about to do. These 
 enterprising men were purposely chosen out to procure 
 intelligence, which they were, to send back by some 
 brisk dispatches, with the mention of the clay that they 
 were to serve the svimmons, which could be with no 
 other view than to get reinforcements to fall upon us 
 immediately after." 
 
 History is really disgraced by the attempt to repre- 
 sent the death of the commander of such a party, under 
 such circumstances, as an " assassination :" yet M. M. 
 Flassan, Lacretelle, Montgaillard, and a recent writer 
 in the '' Biographie Universelle," are only a few of the 
 French historians that have fallen into this gross error, 
 the sole authority for which is a letter written by M. 
 Contreeoeur to the Marquis Duquesne, which letter 
 gives the Governor the report of a Canadian who ran 
 away at the beginning of the skirmish, and the rumors 
 gathered among the Indians. 
 
140 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [1753. 
 
 Not content with all this prosaic slander, M. Tliomas 
 wrote an epic entitled " Jumonville" the subject of 
 which he states as " L'assassinat de M. Jumonville en 
 Amerique, et la vengeance de ce meurtre," a poem 
 which Zimmerman cites as a remarkable instance of 
 the effect of national antipathy. The poet calls the 
 occurrence " un monument de periidie, qui doit indig- 
 ner tous les siecles ; " adding, " On doit employer tous 
 les moyens pour en perpetuer le souvenir." The poem 
 represents Jumonville as 
 
 Ce heros iraissant la valciir et les arts ; 
 
 Les palmes de Minerve et les lauriels de Mars. 
 
 " Tlie preface,"' observes Mr. Sparks, " contains an 
 exaggerated paraphrase of M. Contrecoeur's letter, as 
 the groundwork of the author's poetical fabric. With 
 the materials thus furnished, and the machinery of the 
 deep and wide forests, the savages, the demon of bat- 
 tles and the ghost of Jumonville, his epic speedily as- 
 sumes a tragic garb, and the scenes of horror, and the 
 cries of vengeance cease not till the poem closes." 
 
 Washington, with his usual self-abnegation in cases 
 merely personal, never took the least pains to justify 
 himself by declaring publicly the falsity of the stain 
 thus sought to be fixed upon his character. He had 
 the unqualified approbation of the authorities under 
 whose orders he acted, and of the government at home, 
 and he was content. Governor Dinwiddie wrote thus 
 to Lord Albemarle: — "The prisoners said they were 
 
1753.] MISREPRESENTATIONS. 141 
 
 come as an embassy from the fort ; but your Lordship 
 knows that ambassadors do not come with such an 
 armed force, without a trumpet or any other sign of 
 friendship ; nor can it be thought they were on an em- 
 bassy, by their staying so long reconnoitring our small 
 camp ; but more probably that they expected a rein- 
 forcement to cut us off." 
 
 Washington's private journal of the affairs of the 
 time, which was lost at the fatal defeat of General 
 Braddock, was many years after discovered in Paris, 
 and found to confirm the statement given in his letter 
 to his brother. So it is to be hoped future French his- 
 torians will be content at least to reduce the depth of 
 color which their predecessors have thought suitable to 
 this event ; and allow the death of M. Jumonville to 
 assume its true aspect and position, as one of the legit- 
 imate horrors which follow in the train of war — hor- 
 rors which Washington was never known either wil- 
 fully or carelessly to increase. 
 
 Let us again and again observe, in studying the 
 career of Washington from the very beginning, how en- 
 tirely lie was a man of peace, though so large a portion 
 of his life was passed in making war, and that with an 
 iron will and unflinching thoroughness. He seems to 
 have done his duty in the character of a soldier, just as 
 coolly and advisedly as he did it in that of a surveyor. 
 As soon as he knew his work, he set about it with all 
 his powers of mind and body ; but we never feel, for a 
 moment, that war was the work he loved. He loved 
 
142 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. ■ [1753. 
 
 rural life, the occupations of the farm, the sports of the 
 field, the quiet enjoyments of the fireside. None of his 
 tastes tended towards war. 
 
 Much has been said of his reserve, as if it had been 
 hauteur or exclusiveness, bespeaking a certain ferocity, 
 suited rather to military than to social life ; but his let- 
 ters and his constant home practice show conclusively 
 that no man found society more necessary to his happi- 
 ness, or more frequently confessed his need of friend- 
 ship. He kept only his cares to himself; and those 
 only when to impart them would have been injurious 
 or unprofitable. 
 
 As he grew older, weighty business made him more 
 grave and silent ; but we should always carry with us, 
 in attempting to appreciate his character as a man, the 
 idea of him that we gather from the records of his ear- 
 lier days ; the kindliness, the sociability, the generous 
 confidence, the courageous candor that marked him 
 then, and evidently formed part of the very structure 
 of his being. Whoever can read his journals and 
 early letters without imbibing an affection as well as 
 reverence for him, must have sat down to the task pre- 
 possessed by ideas derived from the received ideas re- 
 specting his later life. 
 
 In Washington's maturer years, the report of a 
 fowling-piece was the only warlike sound that had any 
 music for him, and as he grew older he loved the low- 
 ing of kine, the murmur of his trees, the crackling of a 
 bright wood fire, and the laugh of children, better still. 
 
1753.] LOVE OF PEACE. 143 
 
 Not a letter of his that contains any allusion to his pri- 
 vate and personal tastes, but breathes the very spirit of 
 a love of retirement and domestic repose. After he 
 was President he said — " I can truly say I had rather 
 be at Mount Yernon, with a friend or two about me, 
 than to be attended, at the seat of government, by the 
 officers of state, and the representatives of every power 
 in Europe." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Ill success at first — Surrender of Fort Necessity — French aggressions — Complaints- 
 General Braddock's defeat and death. 
 
 Thorough as had been his preparation, and unsparing 
 as he was in labors and sacrifices, Washington was by 
 no means remarkably successful in his early warlike 
 attempts. We cannot describe them as brilliant affairs, 
 except as having given opportunity for the display of 
 his prudence and courage, and the good conduct of 
 those he commanded. He says of himself, in a letter 
 to Mrs. Fairfax, 1755, "If an old proverb will apply to 
 my case, I shall certainly close with a share of success, 
 for surely no man ever made a worse beginning than I 
 have." The difficulties under which he labored were 
 too great. Then, as afterwards, it was too often his 
 lot to be obliged to create the means by which he was 
 to work, and imperfection and delay were the conse- 
 quence. He never had, from first to last, enough or 
 good enough men, horses, arms or other equipments of 
 war. Perhaps if he had we might never have discov- 
 
1754.] DEFEAT AT FORT NECESSITY. 145 
 
 ered all his powers, for ample means eke out small 
 abilities. 
 
 There was thus no dazzle of success to attract the 
 attentions of Governor Dinwiddie, or the councils, or 
 the public ; yet "Washington was again and again called 
 upon — always called upon, when military business was 
 to be done. Whether he succeeded or not, he was 
 praised, and respected, and employed again ; and 
 whether he was paid or not, he still wished to be em- 
 ployed. His only concern seems to have been about 
 his honor — that nothing should be done or consented to 
 that would debase him in his own eyes or those of oth- 
 ers, or especially any thing that would in the slightest 
 degree tarnish his character and position as a gentle- 
 man. He was entirely defeated at Fort Necessity, in 
 the centre of the Great Meadows, where the French at- 
 tacked him, in a violent storm, at a time when his men 
 were worn down with toil and travel. A more disas- 
 trous and mortifying accident for a young commander 
 could hardly occur. His want of knowledge of the 
 French language was here, as in many other cases, a 
 great disadvantage to him. The articles of capitula- 
 tion were translated miserably, and, as is proved, incor- 
 rectly, by Yan Braam, in the rain, and by the light of 
 an expiring candle ; "Washington, on the spot, and 
 without time for deliberation, objecting to various items, 
 which the French modified or omitted. The little de- 
 tachment, helpless for the time, finally marched out of 
 the fort, drums beating and colors flying; and "Wash- 
 
146 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1754. 
 
 ington led the retreat through the wilderness, back to 
 Will's Creek, where he left the remnant to recruit, 
 forty-three wounded men being a part of the burthen, 
 while twelve dead were left at the fort. 
 
 Under these circumstances, Colonel Washington and 
 his officers received a vote of thanks from the Virginia 
 House of Burgesses, who showed their sagacity in ap- 
 preciating his services and abilities, without waiting for 
 the sanction of success. The Half-king's conclusion 
 was that " the French were cowards, the English fools." 
 Washington he considered " a good man, but unwise," 
 in not taking example by the Indians in the art of fight- 
 ing. The Indian name for Washington was Conno- 
 taucarius, a name, Mr. Sparks tells us, referring to his 
 official position, not to his personal qualities. 
 
 The French boasted immensely of their success at 
 the Great Meadows, and not only indulged in self-glo- 
 rification, but relaxed their vigilance, particularly at 
 Fort Duquesne ; which induced Governor Dinwiddie, 
 who was ambitious in the military line, to plan an at- 
 tack on that point. He applied at once to Washington, 
 who discouraged him as far as he could ; saying that 
 without troops enough, and at that late season (the au- 
 tumn of 1754), the thing could result only in a new de- 
 feat. The young soldier, just turned twenty-two, writes 
 thus to Mr. William Fairfax, President of the Coun- 
 cil :— 
 
 " I have orders to complete my regiment, and not a 
 sixpence is sent for that purpose. Can it be imagined 
 
1754 ] WANTS OF THE TROOPS. 147 
 
 that subjects fit for this service, who have been so much 
 impressed with and alarmed at the want of provisions, 
 which was a main objection to enlisting before, will 
 more readily engage now, without money, than they 
 did before with it ? * * To show you the state of 
 the regiment, I have sent you a Report, by which you 
 will perceive what great deficiencies there are of men, 
 arms, tents, kettles, screws (which was a fatal want 
 before), bayonets, cartouch-boxes, and every thing else. 
 Again, were our men ever so willing to go, for want of 
 the proper necessaries of life they are now unable to do 
 it. The chief part are almost naked, and scarcely a 
 man has either shoes, stockings, or a hat. These things 
 the merchants will not credit them for. The country 
 has made no provision ; they have not money them- 
 selves ; and it cannot be expected that the officers will 
 engage for them again, personally, having suffered 
 greatly on this head already. * * There is not a 
 man that has a blanket to secure him from cold or 
 wet." 
 
 It is not to be wondered at that Washington became 
 a miracle of care and forethought, when we see that at 
 twenty-two it was already his duty to represent and 
 argue upon these details. At sixty-eight he was still 
 urgent on the same subjects. 
 
 Governor Dinwiddie was by no means well pleased 
 with the objections made by Colonel Washington, not 
 knowing enough of military matters to see the imprac- 
 ticability of projects so ill prepared for. He was an 
 
MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1754. 
 
 arbitrary and wrong-headed man, claiming grand pre- 
 rogative, and disposed to undervalue all obstacles which 
 lay in the way of his favorite projects. So he privately 
 wrote home to England, and procured the passage of a 
 law by which the colonial officers were to be ranked as 
 inferior to those of equal title, who should be sent out 
 from the mother country, or " home," as England was 
 then called. This was intended to bring to their senses 
 Colonel Washington and other officers, whom the gov- 
 ernor wished to compel to a more submissive course ; 
 but the very first thing Colonel Washington did, on the 
 occasion, was to resign his commission. His services 
 being fully recognized by all persons of judgment, 
 Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, who had received from 
 the king the commission of commander-in-chief of the 
 forces intended to act against the French, in that quar- 
 ter, wrote to him, entreating him to resume his position 
 in the army. But this Washington wholly declined. 
 " I choose," he says, " to submit to the loss of health, 
 which I have already sustained (not to mention that 
 of effects), and the fatigue I have undergone in our first 
 efforts, rather than subject myself to the same incon- 
 veniences, and run the risk of a second disappoint- 
 ment." 
 
 General Braddock having come from England com- 
 mander-in-chief of all the military forces in North 
 America, and having been informed of Washington's 
 qualifications and services, and the cause of his resig- 
 nation, declared the young gentleman was quite right, 
 
1754.] GENERAL BRADDOCk's CLAIMS. 149 
 
 and forthwith invited him to become his aid-de-camp, 
 or as the phrase is, one of his military family. This 
 arrangement was intended to obviate the difficulty 
 about rank, and Washington very soon concluded to 
 accept the offer. He says : — " I must be ingenuous 
 enough to confess that I am not a little biassed by selfish 
 considerations. To explain — I wish earnestly to attain 
 some knowledge in the military profession, and, believ- 
 ing a more favorable opportunity cannot offer, than to 
 serve under an officer of General Braddock's abilities 
 and experience, it does, you may reasonably suppose, 
 not a little contribute to influence my choice." 
 
 General Braddock's experience, though of forty 
 years' standing, had not been of a kind likely to be of 
 much service to him in the wild border warfare of a 
 new country, necessarily carried on in the most irregu- 
 lar and laborious manner, amidst swamps and wilder- 
 nesses, over untracked mountains, and through bridge- 
 less rivers. He had seen service only in the Guards, 
 and under the Duke of Cumberland, noted more for 
 his attention to mere technical punctilio, than for his 
 sagacity or high soldiership. The general, like many 
 other officers of his time, was rather a roue as to char- 
 acter, and having run his career in fashionable life, was 
 disposed to adopt the fashionable idea, that the colonies 
 and the colonists were a sort of inferior world, claim- 
 ing very little respect, and only worthy of the least at- 
 tention as a source of revenue to the " mother coun- 
 try." French encroachment on this poor territory must 
 
150 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1755. 
 
 of course be resisted, and the general cared hut to vin- 
 dicate British honor against the hereditary enemy, with 
 very little idea of any value or dignity in the country 
 to be defended, or the people who were humbly to 
 fight under his orders. He and his troops were to be 
 the heroes of the campaign, though a certain amount 
 of brute force was to be levied among the uninstructed 
 natives. Colonel Washington, young, handsome, brave, 
 and connected with the " best families," he seems to 
 have thought an exception to the general rule, and it is 
 evident that, from the beginning, the general treated 
 the defeated defender of Fort Necessity with instinct- 
 ive respect, although he rejected with scorn the cautious 
 advice prompted by past disasters. Washington writes 
 thus to Mr. Fairfax, about General Braddock's hasty 
 temper : — " The general, by frequent breaches of con- 
 tracts, has lost ail patience ; and for want of that tem- 
 perance and moderation which should be used by a 
 man of sense upon these occasions, will, I fear, repre- 
 sent us in a light we little deserve ; for, instead of blam- 
 ing individuals, as he ought, he charges all his disap- 
 pointments to public supineness, and looks upon the 
 country, I believe, as void of honor and honesty. We 
 have frequent disputes on this head, which are main- 
 tained with warmth on both sides ; especially on his, 
 who is incapable of arguing with or giving up any 
 point he asserts, let it be ever so incompatible with 
 reason or common sense." 
 
 Washington was living at Mount Vernon when 
 
1755.] BRILLIANT PREPARATIONS. 151 
 
 Braddock fixed his head-quarters at Alexandria ; and 
 the glitter and din of grand military preparations must 
 almost have pierced his shades. All his military blood 
 stirred at the thought of an expedition splendidly pro- 
 vided with all those things, for want of which he had 
 in his former campaign suffered so severely. His 
 mother begged him to stay at home and take care of 
 his plantation, which had already felt and must still 
 further feel the disadvantage of his absence ; but he 
 could not hear the grand new trumpet without a thrill 
 and a forward impulse. Here he was going to see war 
 indeed ! Not the shabby, discouraging, inglorious war 
 of men without hats and shoes, kettles and bayonets, 
 but the military array of a young officer's brightest 
 dreams — a host in gallant uniforms, with nodding 
 plumes, the clang of inspiring music, and the dazzling 
 splendor of banners flaunting in the sun. "Victory was 
 a thing of course. The want of proper equipment had 
 occasioned defeat and mortification. The presence of 
 every -thing that a soldier's heart could wish or his fancy 
 devise, was sure to bring triumph that would extinguish 
 all memory of former failure. His mother, hearing 
 of his intent of joining Braddock's expedition, flew to 
 Mount Yernon to plead against it, but in vain. A se- 
 vere fit of illness intervened, but nothing could turn 
 him from his purpose. 
 
 He writes to Lieutenant Orme, General Braddock's 
 aide-de-camp : " My fevers are very moderate, and, I 
 hope, near terminating. Then 1 shall have nothing to 
 
152 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1755. 
 
 encounter but weakness, which is excessive, and the 
 difficulty of getting to you arising therefrom. But this 
 I would not miss doing before you reach Duquesne, for 
 five hundred pounds. However, I have no doubt, now, 
 of doing it, as I am moving on, and the general has 
 given me his word of honor, in the most solemn man- 
 ner, that it shall be effected." 
 
 He pushed forward in a covered wagon, and in spite 
 of weakness managed to keep closely in the rear of the 
 army, ready for the immediate use of his returning 
 strength. He was often heard to observe, in after life, 
 that the appearance of Braddock's troops, on the morn- 
 ing of the 9th of June, 1755, was the most splendid 
 spectacle he had ever seen." 
 
 The actual result of all this promise and splendor 
 is too well known to need recapitulation here, espe- 
 cially as I have resolved not to encumber and darken 
 my pages with the hateful details of battle. In Mr. 
 Irving's Life of Washington will be found the living 
 picture of Braddock's defeat — a defeat which, without 
 a d^ubt, might have been turned into a victory, if the 
 English general had adopted the advice of the young 
 Continental colonel, which he could hardly be expected 
 to do, especially as he was by no means a wise and ju- 
 dicious man, although certainly a brave one. He paid 
 for his error with his life, and is said, with his dying 
 breath to have acknowledged to Washington his regret 
 that he had not listened to prudent counsel. His re- 
 mains were deposited at Fort Necessity, not far from 
 
1755.] PERSONAL BRAVERY. 153 
 
 the spot on which Washington had been compelled to 
 sign articles of capitulation only a year before. 
 
 Another failure for "Washington ! another cruel dis- 
 appointment at the outset of life. But he never shone 
 brighter than on that disastrous day. All that an al- 
 most frantic bravery could do to retrieve its fortunes, 
 this man, whom we are accustomed to think of as im- 
 movable, and who was still at this time weak from the 
 effects of fever, is reported to have tried. Two horses 
 shot under him, and his coat well riddled with rifle 
 balls, showed how he exposed himself to the enemy's 
 sharp-shooters. His own account of the battle, written 
 to his mother, lest she should hear exaggerated reports, 
 and be alarmed, gives a frightful picture of his danger, 
 and seems as if he was even then astonished at his 
 wonderful escapes. A spectator says : — " I saw him 
 take hold of a brass field-piece as if it had been a stick. 
 He looked like a fury ; he tore the sheet-lead from the 
 touch-hole ; he pulled with this and pushed with that, 
 and wheeled it round like nothing. The powder- 
 monkey rushed up with the fire, and then the canaon 
 began to bark, and the Indians came down." 
 
 Nothing but disgrace and defeat was the result of 
 this unhappy blunder of General Braddock, except to 
 Washington, who, in that instance, as in many others, 
 stood out individual and conspicuous, by qualities so 
 much in advance of those of all the men with whom 
 he acted, that no misfortune or failure ever caused him 
 
 to be confounded with them, or included in the most 
 
 7* 
 
154 MEMOIES OF WASHINGTON. [1755. 
 
 hasty general censure. It is most instructive as well as 
 interesting to observe that his mind, never considered 
 brilliant, was yet recognized from the beginning as al- 
 most infallible in its judgment, while his character, a 
 tower of strength for the weak, commanded the respect 
 even of the supercilious, and was ever a terror to the 
 selfish, dishonest and cowardly. 
 
CHAPTER XY. 
 
 Death of General Braddock — His estimate of Washington — Discontents— Exulta- 
 tion of the French — New appointments — Terrible alarm of the people — Emotion 
 of "Washington — Journey to Boston— Introduction to Miss Mary Philipse — Es- 
 teem in which Washington was held. 
 
 General Braddock, mortally wounded by one of the 
 concealed enemies he despised, died three days after, 
 a melancholy death. 
 
 Washington, who had been all action, first in the 
 field, and afterwards in collecting the scattered forces 
 and baggage, and conveying the wounded to a place of 
 succor, read the funeral service over the unhappy 
 commander,, and saw him quietly interred, the usual 
 military ceremonies being rendered impracticable by 
 the near neighborhood of hostile Indians. His mention 
 of General Braddock in letters of the time is very kind 
 and generous. Before the battle he had commented 
 severely upon the impetuosity and wrong-headedness, 
 which he soon discovered in the officer whom he had 
 expected to find a master in the art of war ; but after 
 these qualities had brought about their sad result ; after 
 the youthful aide-de-camp had seen the contemptuous 
 
156 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1755. 
 
 disregard of his own prudent and modest advice come 
 to just what he expected, he had not a word of any 
 thing but pity and condolence. 
 
 To the last, General Braddock honored him ; and 
 tradition says, that he even apologized, in his last mo- 
 ments, for a petulance of manner which, in the calm 
 hours of approaching dissolution and the light of sad 
 experience, he felt ashamed of. He left Washington 
 his favorite horse, and recommended to his care his ser- 
 vant, Bishop, who never quitted his new master till 
 death separated them. After all this was over, and the 
 only surviving aide-de-camp had seen his wounded 
 brother officers well cared for, he began to complain 
 again of the feebleness which had been forgotten while 
 all depended on his activity. He went as soon as he 
 could to Mount Vernon, where he arrived July 26th 
 1T55, and there sat down to recruit his health, as well 
 as to see after home affairs, which had suffered sadly 
 during his absence. Mr. Jefferson says, " Every one 
 knows how inevitably a Virginia estate goes to ruin 
 when the owner is so far distant as to be unable to pay 
 attention to it himself; and the more especially when 
 the nature of his employment is of a character to abstract 
 and alienate his mind from the knowledge necessary to 
 good and even to saving management." Washington 
 always felt this when he was long absent from home ; 
 and as he set out in life with the desire and determina- 
 tion to acquire an honorable independence, this disad- 
 vantage of absence annoyed him not a little, and we 
 
1755.] LESSONS OF ADVERSITY. 157 
 
 find frequent allusions to it in his letters. Shortly after 
 the last battle, he thus sums up his experience in a 
 letter to his brother Augustin : " I was employed to 
 go a journey in the winter, when I believe few men 
 could have undertaken it, and what did I get by it ? 
 My expenses borne ! I was then appointed, with tri- 
 fling pay, to conduct a handful of men to the Ohio. 
 What did I get by that ? Why, after putting myself to 
 a considerable expense, in equipping and providing 
 necessaries for the campaign, I went out, was soundly 
 beaten, and lost all ! Came in, and had my commission 
 taken from me ; or, in other words, my command re- 
 duced, under pretence of an order from home. I then 
 went out a volunteer with General Braddock, and lost 
 all my horses, and many other things. But this being 
 a voluntary act, I ought not to have mentioned it, nor 
 should I have done it, were it not to show that I have 
 been on the losing order ever since I entered the ser- 
 vice, which is now nearly two years." 
 
 It would have been hard, then, to make him believe 
 that defeat and loss were good things for him. He would 
 have trusted himself with any amount of prosperity and 
 success ; but now that it is all over, every body can see 
 how important was this early training of disappointment 
 and humiliation. " It is good for a man that he bear 
 the yoke in his youth." And there is reason to believe 
 that "Washington would have been in great danger of 
 self-sufficiency, and a certain degree of arrogance, if 
 success in these first undertakings had come in aid of 
 
158 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1755. 
 
 conscious merit and ability, to make him overrate him- 
 self. But these lessons, and the wise use he made of 
 them, kept him, through life, nicely balanced between 
 a sense of power, a consciousness of desert, on the one 
 hand, and on the other, the modesty and self-distrust 
 which always come to great minds from large experi- 
 ence. Impulses of duty and ability made him under- 
 take greater and greater things, all his life through, but 
 what he had learned by failure always preserved him 
 from rashness, and even a too sanguine anticipation of 
 results. He had ever in view the possibility of failure, 
 and he was wont to provide for that failure as coolly and 
 carefully as he planned the attempt, be it what it might. 
 The French and Indians were more insolent than 
 ever after the astounding defeat of Braddock's large 
 and well appointed force — a defeat as unexpected to 
 the victors as to the poor general himself. That a 
 British army of three thousand men should, by sheer 
 folly and blundering, fall before a small scouting de- 
 tachment composed of French and Indians, numbering 
 not nine hundred in all, could hardly at first be under- 
 stood or believed by either side. When De Contrecoeur, 
 who remained at Fort Duquesne, saw the small force 
 he had sent out, under Captain De Beaujeu, merely to 
 give a check to the enemy while he could deliberate 
 upon abandoning the fort, returning in triumph with a 
 long train of pack-horses laden with booty, the savages 
 uncouthly clad in the garments of the slain, — grenadiers' 
 caps, officers' gold-laced coats and glittering epaulettes, — 
 
' 755.] THE PEOPLE AROUSED. 159 
 
 flourishing swords and sabres, or firing off' muskets and 
 uttering fiendish yells of victory * — he was bewildered, 
 and for a while knew not what to think. But as soon 
 as it became certain that a casualty had relieved him 
 of his fears and frustrated the power of his enemies, his 
 exultation knew no bounds. From this mortification 
 of British pride, and the violent shock it gave to the 
 opinion of British invincibility, he and his people 
 augured complete and final triumph, and the accom- 
 plishment of all their ambitious designs. 
 
 But though the whole country was in consternation 
 at the news of this terrible blow, it only roused all the 
 more determined spirit of self-defence, and put to 
 flight the languor or procrastination which had made 
 the raising of the other troops and munitions difficult. 
 Instead of leaving the matter carelessly in the hands of 
 the authorities, the people themselves volunteered in 
 companies, and demanded leaders and supplies which 
 should enable them to march at once upon the in- 
 truders and their savage allies. They had suspected, 
 at the outset, that the war against the French, in this 
 country, was a mere fringe of that between the two 
 powers on the other side of the water— a political affair 
 in fact — and they cared little about it, except to get off 
 as easily as possible. But now resistance became a 
 matter of personal feeling. Friends and neighbors, as 
 well as conspicuous men and gallant officers had been 
 sacrificed, and the blood of the country was up, ready 
 
 * Irving.— Vol. 1. p. 207. 
 
160 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1755. 
 
 to avenge them, and to drive the enemy beyond the 
 chance of further depredations. The Assembly met ; 
 Governor Dinwiddie required money ; forty thousand 
 pounds were voted, and orders were issued for raising a 
 regiment of a thousand men. Washington was at once 
 called for, and he as readily responded, so far as his 
 willingness to serve the country was concerned. But 
 this time he would do so on his own terms, and not on 
 the humiliating and vexatious ones of the past ; and de- 
 manded conditions to which the authorities were only 
 too happy to accede. His mother implored him not 
 again to expose himself to the dangers and losses of war 
 and absence, and he wrote her, saying he would not 
 serve unless a command were pressed upon him by the 
 general voice of the country, nor even at that call, un- 
 less on terms so satisfactory that it would reflect dis- 
 honor on him to refuse, " and that, I am sure," he adds, 
 " must and ought to give you greater uneasiness than 
 my going in an honorable command." It was on the 
 very day this letter was written that the appointment 
 came, with such accompaniments as could not be ob- 
 jected to. He was constituted commander-in-chief of 
 all the forces of the colony, and at the same time re- 
 ceived, by vote of the Assembly, three hundred pounds, 
 as some compensation for his recent losses, the other 
 officers and privates of the Virginia companies receiving 
 proportionate sums. The country rang with his praises, 
 and even the pulpit could not withhold its tribute. 
 The Reverend Samuel Davies hardly deserves the repu- 
 
1755.] TERRIBLE ALARM AND DISTRESS. 161 
 
 tation of a prophet for saying, in the course of a eulogy 
 on the bravery of the Virginia troops — " As a remark- 
 able instance of this, I may point out that heroic youth, 
 Colonel Washington, whom I cannot but hope Provi- 
 dence has hitherto preserved, in so signal a manner, for 
 some important service to his country." 
 
 Mr. Irving observes that the public confidence in 
 Washington was the more creditable to the good sense 
 of the legislature, inasmuch as Governor Dinwiddie was 
 no great friend to Washington, who was rather too in- 
 dependent for him, and that he would much have prefer- 
 red the advancement of Colonel James. It remains, Mr. 
 Irving says, " an honorable testimony to Virginia in- 
 telligence, that the sterling, enduring, but undazzling 
 qualities of Washington were thus early discerned and 
 appreciated, though only heralded by misfortunes." 
 
 Washington fixed upon Winchester, the county town 
 of Frederick County, Virginia, about one hundred and 
 forty miles northwest of Richmond, as his head-qnarters, 
 and from this point he at once began to send out and 
 collect what was requisite for a new campaign. He 
 found the little place in the greatest confusion ; the 
 country people flocking in for protection, while the 
 ablest inhabitants of the town were trying to get away 
 from a spot which seemed likely to become a theatre 
 of war or at least of alarm. It required incessant ex- 
 ertion on his part to obviate the disastrous effects of a 
 general panic, and he writes to his friends in terms of 
 the warmest indignation, at the cowardice of the people, 
 
162 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1755. 
 
 and their backwardness in attempting any thing rational 
 for the defence of their families and property. 
 
 In the midst of all this, a terrible report was raised 
 of Indians within a few miles of the place, burning and 
 destroying all before them. Washington from the first 
 discredited the rumor, and endeavored to concentrate 
 the attention of the townspeople on the important work 
 immediately before them ; but new scouts coming in 
 with new assertions of threatening danger, he at length 
 sallied forth, at the head of about forty men — all he 
 could possibly induce to accompany him — and marched 
 to the scene of action. " When we came there," he says 
 in a letter, " whom should we find occasioning all this 
 disturbance, but three drunken soldiers of the light- 
 horse, carousing, firing their pistols, and uttering the 
 most unheard-of imprecations?" No wonder that 
 Washington, now twenty-three years of age, was out of 
 all patience at such weakness and folly in the very peo- 
 ple on whom he had to depend for support and aid, in 
 an expedition of the greatest importance to them all. 
 He says, " the inhabitants are really frightened out of 
 their senses." 
 
 He was doomed, throughout this recruiting and pre- 
 paring period, to encounter all the evils of insubordina- 
 tion, inactivity, perverseness and disunion among the 
 troops, with the further vexation of deficient support on 
 the part of the government ; while the real sufferings 
 and dangers, and above all, the killing terrors of the 
 inhabitants of the outer settlements, wrung his heart 
 
1755.] SYMPATHY WITH SOKROW. 163 
 
 with anguish. That heart which some have thought 
 cold, was the heart of a man. Severe upon unworthy 
 fears, he was full of sympathy for well founded ones. 
 In one of his expostulatory letters to the timid and time- 
 serving Governor Dinwiddie, his feelings burst their 
 usual guarded bounds : " I am too little acquainted, 
 sir, with pathetic language, to attempt a description of 
 the people's distresses ; but I have a generous soul, sen- 
 sible of wrongs and swelling for redress. But what 
 can I do ? I see their situation, know their clanger and 
 participate in their sufferings, without having it in my 
 power to give them further relief than uncertain pro- 
 mises. In short, I see inevitable destruction in so clear 
 a light, that unless vigorous measures are taken by the 
 Assembly, and speedy assistance sent from below, the 
 poor inhabitants that are now in forts must unavoidably 
 fall, while the remainder are flying before a barbarous 
 foe. In fine, the melancholy situation of the people, 
 the little prospect of assistance, the gross and scandal- 
 ous abuse cast upon the officers in general, which re- 
 flects upon me in particular for suffering misconduct of 
 such extraordinary kinds, and the distant prospect, if 
 any, of gaining honor and reputation in the service, 
 cause me to lament the hour that gave me a commission, 
 and would induce me, at any other time than this of 
 imminent danger, to resign, without one hesitating mo- 
 ment, a command from which I never expect to reap 
 either honor or benefit ; but, on the contrary, have al- 
 most an absolute certainty of incurring displeasure be- 
 
164 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1756. 
 
 low, while the murder of helpless families may be laid 
 to my account here. The supplicating tears of the wo- 
 men and moving petitions of the men melt me into such 
 deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my 
 own mind, I could otfer myself a willing sacrifice to the 
 butchering enemy, provided that would contribute to 
 the people's ease." 
 
 Some difficult questions of subordination arising in 
 the course of the confused and obstructed preparations 
 for a new campaign, it was decided to refer to the judg- 
 ment of Colonel Shirley, at that time (1756) com- 
 mander-in-chief of his Majesty's forces in North Amer- 
 ica, and Washington was appointed emissary in" the 
 case. For this purpose he made a journey to Boston — 
 five hundred miles on horseback in the depth of winter, 
 — visiting the principal cities on the way, and acquiring 
 information and making acquaintances which proved 
 useful to him ever after. General Shirley decided the 
 point in question favorably to Washington's views, and 
 after an agreeable visit at Boston, the young com- 
 mander returned to New York. 
 
 Here he was entertained for the second time at Mr. 
 Beverly Robinson's, and became acquainted with the 
 young lady who has derived no little celebrity from 
 the fact that she awakened, in the anxious and busy 
 heart of the young soldier, some new care, of a softer 
 kind than that which attended the management of re- 
 fractory recruits. Miss Mary Fhilipse, sister of Mrs. 
 Robinson, was a handsome and sprightly girl, a great 
 
1756.] MISS MARY PHILIPSE. 105 
 
 belle in her day, and a worthy and accomplished woman 
 always. Washington, who had by this time, doubtless, 
 lost in the stir of war all tender recollection of the 
 " Lowland beauty " spoken of at an earlier date, seems 
 at once to have struck his flag before this new invader, 
 whose power was very probably increased by the circum- 
 stances of the moment. After the annoyance, the 
 rough life, the constant and severe duty of a recruiting 
 tour in a state of alarm, the quiet, the elegance, the 
 softening atmosphere, of a New York drawing-room, 
 must have given the young lady great advantages. 
 Washington fancied this fair flower transplanted to 
 Mount Vernon, and carrying with her the charming 
 refinement, the genial air in which he found her. No 
 wonder the fascination took effect. But somebody else 
 — another officer — had indulged the same dream, and 
 somewhat in advance of the Virginia colonel. Wash- 
 ington could not remain to try his fortunes in a pro- 
 longed contest. Captain Morris, one of General Brad- 
 dock's aides, and wounded in the miserable battle of the 
 Monongahela, stationed in New York, and not now 
 called away by duty, kept his ground, and the result 
 was that in due time Miss Philipse became Mrs. Morris, 
 while another lady, — no less celebrated for personal 
 charms as well as those of fortune and position, — was re- 
 served for the future of Washington. 
 
 The difficulties of his position in Virginia must, 
 however, soon have driven all tender thoughts from his 
 mind for the time. He was goaded and discouraged to 
 
166 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. f!75fi. 
 
 such an extent that he even had thoughts of again re- 
 signing his commission. Some anonymous person, or 
 probably some one who was nettled at Washington's 
 jnst reproaches, had circulated tales reflecting upon his 
 honor and fidelity, laying the blame of the recruiting 
 difficulties upon him, instead of on the authorities of the 
 colony and the people themselves. But the friends of 
 the young chief soon argued him out of a resolve too 
 impetuous to be wise. Mr. Carter says — " Rather let 
 Braddock's bed be your aim, than any thing that might 
 discolor those laurels Avhich I promise myself are kept 
 in store for you." Colonel Fairfax says — " Your good 
 health and fortune are the toast of every table. Among 
 the Romans, such a general acclamation and public re- 
 gard, shown to any of the chieftains, were always es- 
 teemed a high honor, and gratefully accepted." (The 
 Romans had not yet gone out of fashion, in those days.) 
 Mr. Robinson, Speaker of the House of Burgesses, a 
 personal friend, wrote — " Our hopes, dear George, are 
 all fixed on you, for bringing our affairs to a happy issue. 
 Consider of what fatal consequence to your country 
 your resigning your commission at this time may be ; 
 more especially as there is no doubt most of the officers 
 would follow your example." Certainly the youthful 
 hero stood in need of a misfortune now and then, to 
 counteract the effect of so much praise. In the present 
 state of affairs, however, surrounded by difficulties, 
 goaded by the distress of the inhabitants, and, in the 
 midst of all his trials and anxieties, occasionally se- 
 
1757.] A SEVERE ILLNESS. 167 
 
 verely reprimanded by the Governor, — who did not 
 find him submissive enough, and who winced under his 
 persevering remonstrances, — he had just enough to pre- 
 serve him from the danger of vainglory. All these, 
 with undue exposures and irregular ways of life, with 
 many fatigues and trials, ended in a fit of illness, which 
 confined him at Mount Vernon for four months. The 
 very letters that Washington wrote during the period 
 of these harassing duties, would have been sufficient to 
 furnish full and diligent occupation to any other man 
 but himself. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Active people apt to be low-spirited when they are ill — Health brings enterprise — 
 Adoption of the hunting-shirt — Difference of opinion on road-making — Vexatious 
 delays — Benefits of experience — More remonstrances — Resignation. 
 
 Washington, like a good many other very active peo- 
 ple, was always rather low-spirited when he was ill, 
 prognosticating an unhappy result, and chafing under 
 the necessary confinement. 
 
 The four months' illness of 1757 annoyed him terri- 
 bly. He wrote to his friend, Col. Stanwix : — 
 
 " My constitution is much impaired, and nothing 
 can retrieve it but the greatest care, and the most cir- 
 cumspect course of life. This being the case, as I have 
 now no prospect left of preferment in the military way, 
 and despair of rendering that immediate service which 
 my country may require from the person commanding 
 its troops, I have thoughts of quitting my command 
 and retiring from all public business, leaving my post 
 to be filled by some other person more capable of the 
 task, and who may, perhaps, have his endeavors 
 crowned with better success than mine have been." 
 
1757.] ADOPTION OF THE HUNTING-SHIRT. 169 
 
 He thinks he is in danger of an " approaching de- 
 cay," and that he is " visited with several symptoms of 
 such a disease." 
 
 He had before this set off for Williamsburg, but 
 found himself unable to proceed, his fever and pain 
 being much increased by the effort. After a while, 
 however, he began to feel somewhat recruited, and 
 with the return of a tolerable state of health, the old 
 impulse came back upon him in full force, and he again 
 joined the army, now preparing for a well-concerted 
 expedition for the final reduction of Fort Duquesne. 
 He was again appointed commander-in-chief of the 
 Virginia troops, which formed one half of the force 
 prepared for this service. Colonel Byrd commanded 
 the other regiment. 
 
 Delays, unavoidable in the condition of the colony, 
 at that time caused a good deal of irregularity and dis- 
 satisfaction, and all Washington's abilities, civil as well 
 as military, were required to harmonize and put in 
 order the unruly citizen-soldiers. 
 
 One of his expedients of economy was the adoption 
 of the Indian dress for men and officers. " Nothing 
 but the uncertainty of obtaining the general approba- 
 tion," he says, " causes me to hesitate a moment to 
 leave my regimentals at this place, and proceed as light 
 as any Indian in the woods. It is an unbecoming dress, 
 I own ; but convenience rather than show, I think, 
 should be consulted." Mr. Irving observes that this 
 movement of Washington's was the origin of the pres- 
 
170 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1757. 
 
 ent rifleman's dress. Dress was ever a matter of im- 
 portance with Washington. He did not pretend to de- 
 spise it or think it beneath a wise man's notice. In 
 those clays there were much greater distinctions and 
 choice in dress than at present ; rank and breeding 
 were expressed to a certain degree by the costume, and 
 Washington evidently thought the impression a gentle- 
 man makes and the respect he attracts, largely depend- 
 ent on his taste in dress. If he had ever quoted Shaks- 
 peare, he would have echoed, for the benefit of his 
 } r oung friends, the advice of old Polonius — 
 
 Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, 
 
 But not express'd in fancy ; rich, not gaudy ; 
 
 For the apparel oft proclaims the man. 
 
 Even when the advantage of the service was in 
 question, it evidently cost him some little sacrifice to 
 set aside personal appearance, and come down to the 
 unsuperfluous casing of the Indian. 
 
 There was a warm debate about the road to be taken 
 by the army in approaching Fort Duquesne. Colonel 
 Bouquet wanted to make a new road as they went 
 along, but this Washington argued would probably de- 
 lay the march to so late a season of the year, as might 
 frustrate the plan entirely. He considered the road 
 made with so much toil and cost by General Brad- 
 dock's army, the only one really practicable under the 
 circumstances, and he left no effort or argument untried 
 to carry this, which he thought so important a point. 
 
1757.] GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY LOST. 171 
 
 " If Colonel Bouquet succeeds on this point with the 
 general, all is lost — all is lost ; indeed our enterprise is 
 ruined, and we shall be stopped at the Laurel Hills this 
 winter ; but not to gather laurels, except of the kind 
 that covers the mountains." 
 
 He could not prevail, however ; and as usual when 
 counsels dictated by his knowledge and experience 
 were slighted, those concerned had reason to repent it. 
 Six weeks were expended in making a road of forty- 
 five miles, time enough for the whole force, an army 
 of six thousand men, to have reached Fort Duquesne, 
 by the road already made ; when it was ascertained 
 that at that time the French and Indians at the fort 
 were not more than eight hundred. Washington wrote 
 very warmly about this. " Behold how the golden op- 
 portunity has been lost, perhaps never more to be re- 
 gained ! '' But after the attempt at road-making had 
 turned out just as had been predicted, the general, 
 Forbes, feeling that he had made a mistake, now called 
 the young Virginia colonel to his counsels, and com- 
 pensated by the deference which he paid to Washing- 
 ton's opinions, for the slight way in which he had at 
 first been disposed to pass them by. It was evidently 
 very hard for these high-toned British officers to be- 
 lieve that so young a man was a safe counsellor. In 
 Braddock's day Washington was twenty-three ; at the 
 time of the new expedition he was but twenty-six ; and 
 young gentlemen of that age are not usually much rev- 
 erenced by gray-beards. Washington, however, was 
 
172 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1757. 
 
 destined to be an exception to general rules in this re- 
 spect. 
 
 Much as he had been opposed to General Forbes's 
 plan, he was far above the littleness of attempting to 
 thwart it in order to gain credit for himself, at the ex- 
 pense of the general. As soon as he found the thing 
 determined against his views, he fell to work as hear- 
 tily as if he thought the plan the wisest in the world, 
 and only asked for himself and his men to be put in 
 the foremost of the breach and attack. 
 
 " If any argument is needed to obtain this favor," 
 he says, " I hope without vanity I may be allowed to 
 say that, from long intimacy with these woods, and fre- 
 quent scouting in them, my men are at least as well 
 acquainted with all the passes and difficulties, as any 
 troops that will be employed." 
 
 This request was granted, and we have full particu- 
 lars of the difficulties of the march, and of the young 
 commander's care and skill in getting through them. 
 When the forces reached Fort Duquesne they found it 
 abandoned, and, as far as possible, burnt to the ground, 
 the French having declined awaiting the attack of so 
 formidable an army. All the five months' preparation 
 had so delayed the expedition, that the enemy had had 
 ample time to concert these measures, and to save 
 themselves from loss. The weary and half-naked Vir- 
 ginia regiment reached the fort over paths where the 
 bones of their neighbors and friends lay whitening, un- 
 buried, since the defeat of Braddock's army, their num- 
 
1757 d LONGING TO RESIGN. 173 
 
 • 
 
 bers increased by the sad relics of a recent imprudent 
 attempt of Colonel Grant, for the particulars of which 
 we must refer the reader to Mr. Sparks or Mr. Irving. 
 
 General Forbes being ill, Washington wrote, in- 
 forming the Governor of Virginia of the state of things, 
 congratulating him and the country on the reduction 
 of the long disputed post, and at the same time plead- 
 ing earnestly for a supply of clothing and other ne- 
 cessaries for his men, part of whom were to be left 
 behind to garrison the remains of the fort. 
 
 " Considering their present circumstances," he 
 writes, " I would by no means have consented to leave 
 any part of them there, had not the general given me 
 express orders. * * * By their present nakedness, 
 the advanced season, and the inconceivable fatigues of 
 an uncommonly long and laborious campaign, they are 
 rendered totally incapable of any sort of service ; and 
 sickness, death and desertion must, if they are not 
 speedily supplied, greatly reduce their numbers. To 
 replace them with equally good men Mall, perhaps, be 
 found impossible." 
 
 Washington was always the friend of his men. He 
 never forgot their comfort or their interest. He never 
 ceased insisting on their rights, whether of pay or 
 proper accommodations, and they repaid him with cor- 
 responding respect and devotion. 
 
 At the end of this campaign, when he had been 
 about five years in active service, he wanted to resign 
 his commission and return home to see after his private 
 
174 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1757. 
 
 affairs, and prepare for domestic life. On this occasion 
 his officers wrote him an eloquent and most enthusias- 
 tic letter, which enumerates all the qualities that go to 
 the making of a good commander, not omitting un- 
 yielding discipline, and ascribes all of them to the 
 colonel of twenty-six. In closing, they add — " But if 
 we must be so unhappy as to part, if the exigencies of 
 your affairs force you to abandon us, we beg it, as a 
 last request, that you will recommend some person 
 most capable to command, whose military knowledge, 
 whose honor, whose conduct and whose disinterested 
 principles we may depend on." And, " we beg to as- 
 sure you that as you have hitherto been the actuating 
 soul of our whole corps, we shall at all times pay the 
 most invariable regard to your will and pleasure, and 
 will always be happy to demonstrate by our actions, 
 with how much respect and esteem we are," &c. 
 
CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 A new acquaintance and new interest — A fair lady with a fair fortune — Marriage and 
 housekeeping — Handsome compliment and natural embarrassment — Yiew of plan- 
 tation-life and its requirements — Fashions of the day — Eural life not exempt from 
 them. 
 
 While Washington was travelling in the course of the 
 expedition to Fort Duquesne, he was introduced, at the 
 house of Mr. Chamberlayne, a planter on York River, to 
 the lady who not long afterward became his wife. 
 
 Mrs. Martha Custis was the widow of a gentleman 
 of fortune, who had died about two years before, leaving 
 her with two children and a large estate, of which she 
 was sole guardian and executrix. She was very hand- 
 some, and seems to have been considered quite a prize 
 for Washington, who was at that time by no means rich. 
 They were married on the 6th of January, 1759, when 
 Washington was twenty-seven years of age, and Mrs. 
 Custis about the same age or perhaps a few months 
 older ; and after three months spent at the White House, 
 a country seat on York River, they took up their 
 abode at Mount Vernon, and commenced housekeeping 
 in true Virginia style, with a large number of slaves, a 
 
176 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1759. 
 
 wide tract of little cultivated land, and a custom of al- 
 most boundless hospitality. Nobody foresaw, then, 
 what intense interest was to gather about that newly 
 formed household. There was youth and beauty, and 
 wealth and social distinction — an honorable fame be- 
 longing to the husband, to the wife a reputation for 
 beauty, riches and virtue. All that the world has to 
 give was there, plain to the eyes of the most careless 
 observer. And the young couple settled down into re- 
 gular plantation life, as if they had been the commonest 
 people in the world — giving dinners and dining out ; 
 attending balls at Alexandria, and court at Williams- 
 burg, seeing to the negroes, who gave them just as 
 much trouble as slaves always give their owners, and 
 keeping up a correspondence with every twentieth 
 cousin, with a faithfulness hardly credible in our over- 
 occupied days. 
 
 But who would not give gold to have seen Colonel 
 and Mrs. Washington in that heyday of life and hope, 
 full of interest and energy, in the very prime of strength 
 and beauty ? Washington six feet three,* and of a pres- 
 ence that had already begun to strike men with sur- 
 prise and admiration, as it did afterwards with awe ; 
 his wife a small, plump figure, full of sprightliness and 
 feminine grace, fond of gayety, and not insensible to her 
 many advantages ; proud of her husband and making 
 her duty to him the law of her life, yet loving her own 
 way too, and claiming the privileges of her sex and 
 
 * Sparks' Life. — p. 110. 
 

1759.] HANDSOME COMPLIMENT. 177 
 
 circumstances. Who would not love to have seen 
 them ? 
 
 It was in these palmy days that a handsome compli- 
 ment was planned for the bridegroom — no less than 
 public thanks for past services, to be expressed viva 
 voce, in the Virginia House of Burgesses, by the mouth 
 of a friend, Mr. Robinson, the Speaker. Colonel Wash- 
 ington, a newly elected member, was about to take his 
 seat in the House for the first time, when his attention 
 was called to what was about to proceed from the Chair. 
 All eyes were fixed on himself, he was addressed by 
 name, his services were succinctly enumerated, the 
 gratitude of the country was painted in glowing terms, 
 and then came an awful pause — a silence which was to 
 be broken by an acknowledgment of the honor on the 
 part of the recipient. 
 
 But this was not the field on which Washington felt 
 at home. Never fluent, and now perfectly overcome by 
 embarrassment, he tried to speak, but the words died 
 on his lips. " Mr. Speaker," he said ; " Mr. Speaker " 
 — and then he stopped. Robinson, who knew him well, 
 and loved him, saw at once what the case was. " Sit 
 down, Mr. Washington," said he, and added with a 
 happy readiness — " Sit down, sir ; your modesty equals 
 your valor, and that surpasses any power of language 
 that I possess." 
 
 This traditional anecdote is one of the most signifi- 
 cant of all that we possess. It is indeed the voucher 
 
178 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1759. 
 
 for the general correctness of many others less fully 
 authenticated. 
 
 As we have no direct testimony to the kind of life 
 led by the young couple at Mount Vernon — nothing 
 beyond what is traditionally known of plantation-life 
 at that period, or may be gathered in general from 
 letters of the day, we shall take the liberty of using 
 some of the private papers which we find in that pre- 
 cious box, with a description of which we commenced 
 our little history. Trifles are sometimes acceptable as 
 furnishing significant accessories to a picture. 
 
 "We have before observed that Washington, with all 
 his supposed stoicism, was by no means indifferent to 
 dress. Infinitely small as was certain provision of 
 this sort which he made for attending court at Fred- 
 ericksburg, in 1747, — as we have seen,* there is yet a 
 gravity in the enumeration of shirts and " Hoes " which 
 bespeaks a little interest in those respectable articles of 
 costume. In 1757, there has been a large step towards 
 the adonizing that young men are generally prone 
 enough to. An order upon a London merchant — Mr. 
 Richard Washington, but apparently not a relative 
 within traceable distance, — includes a large quantity of 
 " Irish Linnens," — for so "Washington spelt the word all 
 his days ; — " 1 piece Finest Cambric ; 2 pr. fine worked 
 ruffles at 20s. pr. pair ; 2 setts compleat shoe brushes ; 
 ^ doz. pr. Thread Hose at 5s. ; 1 compleat saddle and 
 bridle, and 1 sett Holster caps, and Housing of fine 
 
 * Page 82. 
 
1757.] FASHIONS OF THE DAY. IT 9 
 
 Blew cloth with a small edging of Embroidery round 
 them, &c." And " if worked ruffles should be out of 
 fashion," the London merchant " is desired to send such 
 as are not." After this, comes "As much of the best 
 superfine blew Cotton Velvet as will make a Coat, 
 Waistcoat and Breeches, for a Tall Man, with a fine silk 
 Button to suit it, and all other necessary trimmings and 
 linings, together with garters for the Breeches." " Six 
 pairs of the very neatest shoes, viz : 2 pr. double chan- 
 nelled pumps ; two pr. turned ditto, and two pair 
 stitched shoes ; to be made by one Didsbury, over Col. 
 Beiler's last ; but to be a little wider over the instep ; " 
 and afterwards, " 6 pr. gloves, 3 pairs of which to 
 be proper for riding, and to have slit tops ; the whole 
 larger than y e middle size." 
 
 Of the same date we have a characteristic little 
 letter about furniture at Mount Yernon, when the 
 young bachelor was evidently thinking of a possible 
 lady, or he could hardly have been so particular : 
 
 " Sept. 1757. 
 
 " To Mr. Richard Washington, London. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — Be pleased over and above what I 
 wrote for in a letter of the 13th of April, to send me 1 
 doz. strong chairs, of about 15 shillings a piece — the bot- 
 toms to be exactly made by the enclosed dimensions, 
 and of three different colors, to suit the paper of three 
 of the bed-chambers, also wrote for in my last. I must 
 acquaint you, Sir, with the reason of this recpiest. I have 
 
180 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1759. 
 
 one dozen chairs that were made in the country ; neat, 
 but too weak for common sitting. I therefore propose 
 to take the bottoms out of those and put them into these 
 now ordered, while the bottoms which you send will do 
 for the former and furnish the chambers. For this reason 
 the Workmen must be very exact, neither making the 
 bottoms larger nor smaller than the dimensions, other- 
 wise the change can't be made. Be kind enough to 
 give directions that these chairs, equally with the 
 others and the Tables, be carefully packed and stowed. 
 Without this caution they are liable to infinite damage. 
 
 " G. W." 
 
 But in 1759, we come to some new matters : 
 
 " A sammon-colored Tabby," (not cat but velvet,) 
 " of y G . enclosed pattern, with Sattin flowers ; to be 
 made in a sack and coat. 1 Cap, hkf. and Tucker and 
 Ruffles, to be made of Brussells lace or Point, proper 
 to be worn with the above negligee ; to cost £20. 
 
 " 2 fine flowered lawn aprons. 
 
 " 2 prs. women's white silk hose. 
 
 " 6 pr. fine cotton do. 
 
 " 4 pr. thread do., four threaded. 
 
 " 1 pr. black and 1 pr. white sattin shoes of the 
 smallest fives. 
 
 " 4 pr. Callimanco do. 
 
 " 1 fashionable Ilatt or Bonnet. 
 
 " 6 pr. women's best kid gloves. 
 
 " 6 pr. ditto mitts. 
 
1759.] CURIOUS QLT> SPELLING. 181 
 
 " ^ doz. Knots and Breast-knots. 
 
 " 1 doz. round silk laces," (stay-laces.) 
 
 " 1 black mask," (which ladies of the time used to 
 ride in.) 
 
 " 1 doz. most fashionable cambric pocket hkfs. 
 
 " 2 pr. neat small scissors. 
 
 " Real Miniken pins and hair pins, and 6 lbs. per- 
 fumed powder. 3 lbs. best Scotch snuff. 
 
 " 3 lbs. best violette Strasburg," (snuff too.) 
 
 " 1 ps. narrow white sattin ribbon, pearl edge." 
 
 Besides curious evidence as to the fashions of the 
 day, the voluminous orders of which we give but a 
 specimen, show also what were the habits of Colonel 
 and Mrs. "Washington and their family, at Mount Ver- 
 non. Only people who visited a good deal and enter- 
 tained in proportion, could need so great a variety of 
 handsome things from England every year. 
 
 In writing for the finery of the ladies of the family 
 Washington evidently took the names of the different ar- 
 ticles from viva voce communication and wrote them 
 down as he could best guess at the spelling. As " 6 yds. 
 Jackeynot muslin" — " 1 pr. Corded Dimothy," — (a farm- 
 er being more familiar with Timothy than with Dimity) — 
 " a garnet whoop," — meaning a hoop ring, or one set 
 all round with the stones ; — " Pinns," — " Jarr Raisons," 
 • — " Callimanca," — " Calamanca," — "Calamanco," — 
 " Philigree shoe buckles."— (We think we see him with 
 Mrs. Washington standing by, giving the items as he 
 writes.) 
 
182 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1759. 
 
 " A puckered petticoat of a fashionable color. 
 
 " A silver Tabby petticoat. 
 
 " 2 handsome breast flowers. 
 
 " Hair-pins — sugar candy. 
 
 " 2 pr. small silver earrings for servants. 
 
 " Miniken pins, Masks, bonnets, bibs, tuckers, 
 aprons, pack-thread stays — a Sett of china for a little 
 miss — a Book of newest and best Songs, set to music 
 for the Spinnet." 
 
 The word " fashionable " occurs many, perhaps 
 hundreds of times in these invoices. And the impres- 
 sion left on the reader's mind is that of a rather gay and 
 dressy family, visiting and seeing company in the best 
 style of the day, and unwilling to be behindhand in 
 any thing that related to personal appearance or domestic 
 accommodation. It is because these seeming trifles do 
 assist in forming an estimate of Washington's condi- 
 tion, character and tastes at that period, that I have 
 thought it worth while to cite these specimens of the 
 annual invoice. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Quiet life — Training for the future — Country habits — Hunting and surveying — 
 Boundless hospitality — Dancing school — Sick neighbors — Small-pox among the 
 negroes — The bread-and-butter ball — Exact calculations. 
 
 Washington was now to enjoy a long season of repose 
 in private life, in the calm prosperity of a happy mar- 
 riage, in the rural sports and labors that he loved, and 
 in the exercise of all the duties of master, neighbor 
 and citizen. This long, uneventful period will afford 
 us leisure to be a little discursive and desultory, touch- 
 ing here and there upon what may seem characteristic 
 or interesting, without much regard to chronology or 
 consistency of narrative. 
 
 It is often asked, How did Washington occupy 
 himself, during the fifteen years of almost seclusion 
 which followed his marriage and his retirement from 
 the army ? 
 
 Perhaps an extract from his note-book — the diary 
 of one month's doings, recorded by his own hand — will 
 give as concise and significant an answer to this ques- 
 tion as any that could be devised. 
 
184 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. L l 770. 
 
 DIARY. 
 
 " Jan. 1, 1770. At home alone. 
 
 " 2. At home all day. Mr. Peake dined here. 
 
 "3. At home all day, alone. 
 
 " 4. Went a hunting with John Custis and Lund 
 Washington. Started a deer, and then a fox, but got 
 neither. 
 
 "5. Went to Muddy Hole and Dogue Run. Car- 
 ried the dogs with me, hut found nothing. Mr. War- 
 ner Washington and Mr. Thurston came in the evening. 
 
 " 6. The two Col. Fairfaxes dined here, and Mr. R. 
 Alexander and the two gentlemen that came the day 
 before. The Belvoir family (Fairfaxes) returned after 
 dinner. 
 
 " 7. Mr. Washington and Mr. Thurston went to 
 Belvoir. 
 
 " 8. Went a hunting with Mr. Alexander, J. Cus- 
 tis and Lund Washington. Killed a fox, (a dog one,) 
 after three hours' chase. 
 
 " Mr. Alexander went away, and Mr. Thurston came 
 in the afternoon. 
 
 " 9. Went a ducking, but got nothing, the creek 
 and rivers being froze. Robert Adam dined here and 
 returned. 
 
 "10. Mr. Washington and Mr. Thurston set off 
 home. I went hunting on the Neck, and visited the 
 plantation there, and killed a fox afier treeing it 3 
 times, and chasing it about 3 hours. 
 
1770.] MOKE JOURNALS FOX-HUNTING. 185 
 
 " 11. At home all clay alone. 
 
 " 12. Ditto, ditto. 
 
 " 13. Dined at Belvoir with Mrs. Washington and 
 Mr. and Miss Custis, and returned afterwards. 
 
 " 14. At home all day alone. 
 
 " 15. Went up to Alexandria, expecting court, but 
 there was none. 
 
 " 1G. Kid to the Mill, Dogue Eun and Muddy Hole. 
 
 " 17. At home all day alone. 
 
 " 18. Went to the plantation in the JSTeck. 
 
 " 19. At home all day alone. 
 
 " 20. Went a hunting with Jackey Custis, and 
 catched a fox, after three hours' chase. Found it in the 
 creek. 
 
 "21. At home all day alone. 
 
 " 22. Eid to Posey's barn and the Mill. 
 
 " 23. Went a hunting after breakfast, and found a 
 fox at Muddy Hole and killed her, after a chase of bet- 
 ter than two hours, and after treeing her twice, the last 
 of which times she fell dead out of the tree, after being 
 there several minutes apparently well. Mr. Temple 
 and Mr. Eobert Adam dined here. 
 
 " 21. At home all day alone. 
 
 " 25. Ditto, ditto. 
 
 " 26. Ditto, ditto. 
 
 " 27. Went a hunting, and after tracking a fox a 
 good while, the dogs raised a deer and ran out of the 
 Neck with it, and did not, some of them at least, come 
 home till the next day. 
 
186 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [ 177 ° 
 
 " 28. At home all da}', and in the afternoon Mr. 
 Temple came here. 
 
 " 29. Dined at Belvoir with J. P. Custis, and re- 
 turned in the afternoon. 
 
 " 30. Went a hunting, and having found a deer, it 
 ran to the head of the Neck, before we could stop the 
 dogs. 
 
 " Mr. Peake dined here. 
 
 " 31. At home all alone." 
 
 So ends the diary of one winter month. 
 
 Other entries run thus : — 
 
 " Jan. 1. Fox hunting in my own Neck, with Mr. 
 .Robert Alexander and Mr. Colvill — catched nothing. 
 Captain Posey with us." 
 
 This occupation fills seven of the days of the same 
 month and nine in February, all of which are given an 
 account of, with a list of the company, and often some 
 other details, as how particular dogs acquitted them- 
 selves. 
 
 " Jan. 23. Directed paths to be cut for fox hunting." 
 
 " Jan. 24. Surveyed some lines of my Mount Vernon 
 tract of land." 
 
 This seems to have been kept up faithfully, as it is 
 frequently met with, as for instance on the 11th, which 
 was passed " running some lines between me and Mr. 
 William Triplet ; " and on the 21st, " Surveyed the wa- 
 ter courses of my Mount Vernon tract of land — taking 
 advantage of the ice ; " and on Feb. 2'6, " Laid off a 
 
1770.] OPEN HOUSE AT MT. VERNON. 187 
 
 road from Mount Vernon to the lain by Mr. Marley's," 
 which no doubt is there to this day. 
 
 ' Jan. 1. Kid to Muddy Hole, Dogue Run and Mill 
 plantation." 
 
 These names are repeated a thousand times in the 
 journals, and will be, one of these days, restored to their 
 localities and made classic. So goes on the journal 
 through the month, "Nulla dies sine linea," even if it 
 be only to say " At home alone," or, as is more com- 
 mon, to give a list of visitors, of which there is no 
 lack. 
 
 " Jackey Custis returned to Mr. Boucher's to school. 
 In the evening Sally Carlisle and Betsey Dalton came 
 here. 
 
 " Went up to court ; returned in the evening, and 
 found my brothers, Sam. and John, with the latter's 
 wife and daughter ; Mr. Lawrence Washington and 
 daughter, and the Rev. Mr. Smith here. At home all 
 day with the above company." 
 
 Five days afterwards comes the entry, somewhat 
 piteous, we fancy, 
 
 " My brothers, and the company that came with 
 them, still here. 
 
 " April 18. Fatcy Custis and Milly Posey went to 
 Colonel Mason's to the dancing school." 
 
 A neighbor being ill, we find frequent entries. — 
 " Went to see Mr. Peake." " Mrs. Washington and I 
 went to see Mr. Peake." " Rid to Mr. Peake's with 
 Mrs. Washington," and so on every day or two. The 
 
188 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1770. 
 
 amount as well as frequency of visitors at Mount Ver- 
 non is appalling. 
 
 April 9th, when there are already four or live guests 
 staying, we read : — 
 
 " Mr. Christian danced here, who, besides his schol- 
 ars and those already mentioned to be here, Mr. Peake 
 and niece, Mr. Massey, Mrs. Piper and Mr. Adams, 
 dined here." 
 
 The next day : — 
 
 " 10. Mr. Christian and some of his scholars went 
 away this afternoon. 
 
 " 11. The rest of the scholars went away after 
 breakfast." 
 
 The dancing school goes on — and we generally find 
 " Mr. Christian and his scholars " staying two or three 
 days. Then they all go, " except Peggy Massey," and 
 ten days afterwards we find — 
 
 " At home all day alone, except Miss Massey, who 
 is still here, and Mr. Temple, who came just after din- 
 ner, and went away just after dinner was got for him. 
 
 " July 3*0, 1770. After our early dinner, (which Mr. 
 Peake took with us,) we set off for Fredericksburg, 
 that is, Mrs. Washington, P. Custis and myself, and 
 reached Mr. Lawson's to tea. 
 
 " 31. Got to my mother's to dinner, and staid there 
 all night. 
 
 " Aug. 1. Dined at my mother's, went over to 
 Fredericksburg, and returned in the evening back 
 again." 
 
1770.] HOSPITALITY AND FRIENDSHIP. 189 
 
 (The following ten days divided between family vis- 
 its and public business.) 
 
 " Sept. 3. Went in the evening a fishing with my 
 brothers Sam. and Charles. 
 
 "Dec. 30. My miller and his wife and Mr. Bell 
 dined here." 
 
 One thing is certain — that the wise and good man 
 did not seclude himself, or seek safety for his virtue or 
 dignity in avoiding close and frequent contact with his 
 fellow-creatures. He felt human life to be the noblest 
 of all schools, and that we may learn something of ev- 
 ery body, whether great or humble. His fortune, con- 
 nections, and acknowledged merit, gave him access to 
 the best society of the day, and one part of the busi- 
 ness of his life was, then and always, conversation, with 
 men of eminence, with men of affairs, with elegant and 
 thoughtful women, and with intelligent persons of all 
 classes. 
 
 To cultivate society was quite as prominent an ob- 
 ject with him, as to attend to his plantation or manage 
 his lands. One and the other were things to be done, 
 and he did them as well as he could. 
 
 In those early days, when to live at Mount Yernon, 
 dispensing hospitality and doing all the service he was 
 able to his friends and the public, was his highest aim, 
 we neither know nor see any thing of the reserve 
 which marked him later in life. He partook of what- 
 ever amusement offered, and if, from what we know of 
 his character as a whole, we may suspect that he did 
 
190 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1770. 
 
 not particularly enjoy the gayeties in which he shared, 
 there is certainly nothing in his diaries or letters to jus- 
 tify the idea. He was, with all his prudence, a partic- 
 ularly natural person, of a true simplicity of character, 
 theorizing little about himself or those around him, 
 but going quietly through whatever was the business 
 of the hour, be it ball or funeral, county meeting or 
 legislative session. He attends his wife through mea- 
 sles, and helps her nurse 4 ' poor little Patsy Custis," 
 her only daughter, through years of illness ; and when 
 the small-pox breaks out among his negroes we find — 
 
 " May 4. Warm and fine. Set out for Frederic to 
 see my negroes that lay ill of the small-pox. Took 
 church in my way to Coleman's, where I arrived about 
 sun-setting. 
 
 " 5. Reached Mr. Stephenson's in Frederic, about 
 four o'clock, just time enough to see Richard Mounts 
 interred. Here I was informed that Harry and Kit, 
 the two first of my negroes that took the small-pox, 
 were dead, and Roger and Phillis, the only two down 
 with it, were recovering. Lodged at Mr. Stephen- 
 son's. 
 
 " 7. After taking the doctor's directions in regard 
 to my people, 1 set out for my quarters, and got there 
 about twelve o'clock, time enough to go over there and 
 find every thing in the utmost confusion, disorder, and 
 backwardness, my overseer lying upon his back with a 
 broken leg, and not half a crop, especially of corn- 
 ground, prepared. Engaged Valentine Crawford to go 
 
1770.] MORE COUNTRY BUSINESS. 191 
 
 in pursuit of a nurse, to be ready in case more of my 
 people should be seized with the same disorder. 
 
 " 8. Got blankets and every other requisite from 
 "Winchester, and settled things upon the best footing I 
 could to prevent the small-pox from spreading, and in 
 case of its spreading, for the care of the negroes ; Mr. 
 Crawford agreeing, in case any more of the people at 
 the lower quarter should take it, to remove them home 
 to his house, and if any of those at the upper quarter 
 should get it, to have them removed into my room, and 
 the nurse sent for." 
 
 In another place we come to a new business. 
 
 " Bottled thirty-five dozen of cider." — " Fitted a 
 two-eyed plough, instead of a duck-bill plough, and 
 with much difficulty made my chariot wheel-horses 
 plough. Put the pole-end horses into the plough in 
 the morning ; and put in the postilion and hind-horse 
 in the afternoon, but the ground being well swarded 
 over, and very heavy ploughing, I repented putting 
 them in at all, for fear it should give them a habit of 
 stopping in the chariot." " Peter (my smith), and I, 
 after several efforts to make a plough after a new 
 model, partly of my own contriving, were fain to give 
 it over, at least for the present." A week later we find, 
 " Spent the greater part of the day in making a new 
 plough, of my own invention." 
 
 " Went to a ball at Alexandria, where music and 
 dancing were the chief entertainment ; however, in a 
 convenient room detached for the purpose abounded 
 
192 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [!770 
 
 great plenty of bread and butter, some biscuits, with 
 tea and coffee, which the drinkers of could not distin- 
 guish from hot water sweetened. Be it remembered 
 that pocket-handkerchiefs served the purposes of table- 
 cloths and napkins, and that no apologies were made 
 for either. I shall therefore distinguish this ball by the 
 style and title of the bread-and-butter ball. The pro- 
 prietors of this ball were Messrs. .Carlyle, Laurie and 
 Robert "Wilson ; but the Doctor, not getting it con- 
 ducted agreeably to his own taste, would claim no share 
 of the merit of it." 
 
 In making these extracts, no attempt at exact chro- 
 nology has been made, the object being merely to show 
 what were "Washington's home habits. They varied but 
 little until the commencement of the Revolution. 
 
 It requires no great enthusiasm or imagination to 
 see in this unstudied picture a man of the most decided 
 domestic tastes, the most neighborly habits, and the 
 most generous hospitality. Sympathy with his kind 
 breathes from every page of the journals he kept for so 
 many years. No idea of separating himself or resting 
 retired in fancied superiority, can be detected any 
 where. Dignity never interferes with service or atten- 
 tion to the humblest. It is evident that the reputation 
 which Washington had acquired in the wars never cast 
 its shadow between him and his neighbors. They never 
 thought of it, probably, and we should judge, by his de- 
 votion to farming affairs, that he too had forgotten the 
 glow of military ardor which inspired his efforts and 
 
1770.] INTEREST IN RURAL LIFE. 193 
 
 nerved him for the sacrifice of those trying days. To 
 do well what he did at all was so invariably his rule, 
 that even the difficulties of Virginia farming could not 
 deter him from incessant efforts at improvement ; and 
 his failures only show how little aid he could have 
 drawn from the experiments or the sympathetic action 
 of his neighbors. So far as we can discover, he was al- 
 most alone in his attempts at scientific agriculture ; and 
 though he was always giving aid and encouragement 
 to the planters about him, no one, apparently, thought 
 it necessary to join him in experiments or to contribute 
 information gleaned from distant sources. We judge 
 thus, because every new idea for the improvement 
 of farming is carefully noted, and hardly one is to 
 be found in the journals. "Washington made a point 
 of seeking intelligence from abroad, and, to the last 
 day of his life, in spite of all cares of war and state, 
 his interest in the subject never flagged. To make 
 the earth productive, to see it bring forth " grass and 
 herb after his kind," and " every tree that is pleasant 
 to the sight and good for food," was one of the great 
 objects of his life, one that was as clear to him while he 
 was head of the new empire, as before he was called 
 from his beloved shades, and from the business to which 
 he had meant to devote his life, to encounter toil and 
 danger in the wider and grander form of service which 
 his country required. 
 
 Rural life, in its minutest details, was certainly his 
 chosen object of interest. The journals show that no 
 
194 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1760. 
 
 operation on the farm, no improvements in its roads and 
 fences, no care of its stock, no calculation of its profits 
 was beneath his notice. There is a curious instance of 
 this in the diary of February, 1760. " 5th, Yisited my 
 plantations, and found, to my great surprise, Stephens 
 constant at work. Grig and Lucy nothing better. 
 Passing by my carpenters, that were hewing, I found 
 that four of them, viz., George, Tom, Mike, and young 
 Billy, had only hewed one hundred and twenty feet 
 yesterday from ten o'clock. Sat down, therefore, and 
 observed Tom and Mike, in a less space than thirty 
 minutes, clear the bushes from about a poplar stock, 
 line it ten feet long, and hew each his side twelve inches 
 deep. Then letting them proceed their own way, they 
 spent twenty-five minutes more in getting the cross-cut 
 saw, standing to consider what to do, sawing the stock 
 off in two places, putting it on the blocks for hewing it 
 square, and lining it. From this time till they had 
 finished the stock entirely, required twenty minutes 
 more ; so that in the space of one hour and a quarter, 
 they each of them, from the stump, finished twenty feet 
 of hewing ; from hence it appears very clear, that, al- 
 lowing that they work only from sun to sun, and re- 
 quire two hours at breakfast, they ought to yield each 
 his one hundred and twenty-five feet, while the days are 
 at their present length, and more in proportion as they 
 increase. While this was doing, George and Billy 
 sawed thirty feet of plank, so that it appears, that 
 making the same allowance as before (but not for the 
 
1760.] MILL-DAM WASHED AWAY. 195 
 
 time required in piling the stock), they ought to saw 
 one hundred and eighty feet of plank. It is to be ob- 
 served, that this hewing and sawing likewise were of 
 poplar ; what may be the difference, therefore, between 
 the working of this wood and other, some future ob- 
 servations must make known." And again : — 
 
 " April 4th. — Apprehending the herrings were come, 
 hauled the seine, but caught only a few of them, though 
 a good many of other sorts offish." 
 
 " 8th. — Seven o'clock, a messenger came to inform 
 me that my mill was in great clanger of being destroyed. 
 I immediately hurried off all hands with shovels, &c, 
 to its assistance, and got there myself just time enough 
 to give it a reprieve for this time, by wheeling gravel 
 into the place which the water had washed. While I 
 was there a very heavy thunder-shower came on, which 
 lasted upwards of an hour. I tried what time the mill 
 required to grind a bushel of corn, and to my surprise 
 found it was within five minutes of an hour. Old 
 Anthony attributed this to the low head of water, but 
 whether it was so or not I cannot say. The works are 
 all decayed, and out of order, which I rather take to be 
 the cause. This bushel of corn, when ground, measured 
 near a peck more of meal." 
 
CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 Washington a domestic man — Attention to his stcp-ehiklren — Lists for England — 
 Mrs. Washington a doting mother — Washington strict but not severe — Generally 
 beloved — Always doing service — Death of Miss Custis and Washington's emotion 
 — Difficulties of Virginia housekeeping and farming — Two temperance sermons. 
 
 It is quite amusing to contrast the character of Wash- 
 ington, as displayed in his private journals, with the 
 stony figure sometimes considered to represent him fitly. 
 A more active and genial master of a family, than he 
 appears at home, cannot be found, or one more inter- 
 ested in the smallest details of domestic life ; taking upon 
 himself all kinds of vexatious business for other peo- 
 ple, and sparing no pains, and avoiding no application, 
 when aid was to be afforded, difficulties settled, or evil 
 or waste prevented. "When his friends desired articles 
 from England, whence came every thing handsome 
 and " genteel " in those days, this man, whom we have 
 been used to think fitted only for a pedestal, was the 
 medium of communication, and enters into all the ne- 
 cessary minutiae with a patience evidently habitual. 
 "We have had a small specimen of how he makes out 
 lists for the use of his own family, and all the invoices 
 
1761.] WHAT LITTLE PEOPLE USED TO WANT. 197 
 
 together show an enormous amount or number of ar- 
 ticles required. Perhaps it is only because he was 
 obliged to send at stated intervals, twice a year or so, 
 for things we can buy every day, that the list seems so 
 extravagant. Certain it is that the aggregate of what 
 is needed for a wealthy family never seemed so large 
 or the list so varied. 
 
 We see something of the fashions in the following 
 double list, dated Oct. 1761, copied verbatim et litera- 
 tim from the Washington MS., where it is signed with 
 his name, as is almost every memorandum or list of the 
 kind in the whole mass of papers. Probably one 
 thousand " autographs," technically so called, might be 
 found there. 
 
 October — , 1761. 
 
 " Invoice of sundry" 1 s to be shipped by Robert Cary, 
 Esq. & Co., for the use of Master John, and Miss 
 Patcy Custis — each to be charged to their own ac- 
 counts, but both consigned to George Washington, 
 Potomack Piver, <&c. 
 
 "FOR MASTER CUSTIS, 8 YEARS OLD: 
 
 " 1 handsome suit of winter cloaths. 
 
 " A suit of summer Ditto, very light. 
 
 " 2 Pieces Nankeens with trimmings. 
 
 " 1 silver laced Hatt. 
 
 " 6 pair fine Cotton Stockings 
 
 " 4 pair fine Worsted Ditto 
 
 
198 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. L 1 ^! 
 
 " 4 pair strong Shoes 
 
 " 4 pair neat Pumps 
 
 " 1 pair gloves 
 
 " 2 hair-bags 
 
 " 1 piece Ribbon for Ditto 
 
 " 1 pr. Silver Shoe and knee buckles. 
 
 " 1 pair Sleeve buttons 
 
 " A small Bible neatly bound in Turkey, and John 
 Parke Custis wrote in gilt letters on the inside of the 
 cover. 
 
 " A neat, small Prayer Book bound as above, with 
 John Parke Custis as above. 
 
 " 1 Piece of Irish linen at Is. 
 
 " 3 pre. shoes for a boy 14 y'rs. old. 
 
 " 3 p'r. coarse stockings for Do. 
 
 " 2 p'r. Woman's strong shoes size 8. 
 
 " 2 p'r Stockings for Do. 
 
 " 50 Ells Oznabrigs 
 
 " A suit of Livery Cloaths for the above boy of 14. 
 A hat for Do. 
 
 " Note. — Let the Livery be suited to the arms of 
 the Custis family. 
 
 " MISS CUSTIS, 6 YEARS OLD. 
 
 " A Coat made of fashionable Silk. 
 
 " A fashionable Cap or Fillet with bib apron. 
 
 " Ruffles and Tucker — to be laced. 
 
 " 4 fashionable dresses to be made of Long Lawn. 
 
1761.] FINERY FOR SIX YEARS OLD. 199 
 
 " 2 fine cambric frocks. 
 
 " A sattin Capuchin hat and neckatees. 
 
 " A Persian quilted Coat. 
 
 " 1 p'r. pack-thread Stays. 
 
 " 4 p'r. Callimanco Shoes, 6 p'r. leather ditto and 
 
 " 2 p'r. Sattin Do. with flat ties. 
 
 " 6 p'r. fine Cotton Stockings. 4 p'r. White Wors'd 
 Do. 
 
 " 12 pr. Mitts. 6 p'r. Gloves— white kid. 
 
 " 1 pr. Silver Shoe Buckles. 
 
 " 1 pr. neat Sleeve Buttons. 
 
 " 6 handsome Egrets different sorts. 
 
 " 6 y'ds. Ribbon Do. 1 pr. little scissors. 
 
 " 3 M* large pins, 3 M short whites. 
 
 " 3 M Minikens 
 
 " 1 Fashionable dressed Doll, to cost a guinea ; 1 Do. 
 at 5s. 
 
 " A Box Gingerbread. Toys & Sug'r Images and 
 Comfits. 
 
 " A neat, small Bible, bound in Turkey and Martha 
 Parke Custis wrote on the inside in gilt letters. 
 
 " A small Prayer Book neat and in the same man- 
 ner. 
 
 " 12 y'ds. coarse green Callimanco. 
 
 " The above things to be put into a Strong Trunk — 
 separate from J. P. Custis's, whose will likewise be put 
 into a Trunk, each having their names. 
 
 " 1 very good Spinet — to be made by Mr. Plinius, 
 
 * M for a thousand. 
 
200 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1761. 
 
 Harpsichord maker, in South Audley street, Grosvenor 
 square. 
 
 " Note. — It is beg'd as a favor that Mr. Cary would 
 bespeak this instrument as for himself or a friend, and 
 not let it be known y 4 it is intended for exportation. 
 
 " Send a good assortment of spare strings to it. 
 
 " Books according to the enclosed List — to be 
 charged equally to both John Parke Custis and Martha 
 Parke Custis — likewise one Rheam of writing paper. 
 
 " G°. Washington. 
 
 " October 12th, 1761." 
 
 The young Custises were heirs to a large fortune, 
 and were brought up accordingly. 
 
 Mrs. Washington was very indulgent to them ; and 
 her husband having no family of his own, fully adopted 
 the children of his wife, and acted the part of guardian, 
 as he did every thing else, with scrupulous fidelity. 
 He occasionally reminds his business correspondent, 
 when writing for articles for the children, that their 
 accounts must be accurately and separately kept, "for," 
 says he, " I must give in my accounts to the General 
 Court every year." His diary shows how attentive and 
 kind he was to them ; and their unbounded reverence 
 and that of their children for him, gives evidence of his 
 faithfulness. Mr. G. W. P. Custis, son of the Master 
 Jacky, mentioned in these early records, and adopted 
 son of Washington, says, " he had tears for the aberra- 
 tions of his wards." His kindly interest in them kept 
 
1761.] DANGER OF SETTING A BAD EXAMPLE. 201 
 
 pace with their years, and was never interrupted by 
 any stress of public affaire. 
 
 Mrs. "Washington was a doting mother, and in no 
 instance can an expression of impatience or want of 
 sympathy on the part of "Washington be detected, 
 though he had a great deal of care and trouble in the 
 education and settling of the children. That they feared 
 him is very certain, yet they feared only his displea- 
 sure, not his unkindness. How could such a judge not 
 be feared, by any heart of ordinary sensibility ? His 
 strictness with regard to others was so backed by a still 
 greater strictness in reference to himself, that there was 
 no appeal, no loophole for retreat, no turning upon 
 him his own weapons, even in thought. 
 
 He says, in a letter about the conduct of his over- 
 seers, speaking of a bad example having been set — 
 " "Whenever this is the case, it is not easy for a man to 
 throw the first stone, for fear of having it returned to 
 him ; " and throughout his whole life, which was neces- 
 sarily one of command, of advice, of judgment, of ex- 
 amination and reproof, he bore in mind this pregnant 
 truth, and this made every word of his fly like an ar- 
 row to the heart of wrong-doers — a quality by no 
 means calculated to make him immediately popular, 
 although it has been said again and again, on the best 
 authority, that " there was perhaps never any man so 
 much beloved." His personal influence was unbound- 
 ed, and such is never the result of qualities that inspire 
 chiefly fear ; for there is something too noble in human 
 9* 
 
202 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [176L 
 
 nature to yield its hearty homage to what merely in- 
 timidates. " Perfect love casteth out fear ; " those 
 who thoroughly understood and appreciated "Washing- 
 ton loved him intensely, and he warmly and faithfully 
 reciprocated affection. He had no time for great de- 
 monstrations, no taste for loud or empty professions ; but 
 the root of the matter was alive and upspringing in the 
 depths of his nature, ready to appear at the proper sea- 
 son. " Service " was the motto of his life ;' his words 
 were no fruitless flowers of rhetoric, but the blossoms 
 of his deeds ; and the ear that waited for only flattery 
 or glozing commendation from him, was sure to be dis- 
 appointed. The tireless benefactor, — the new Prome- 
 theus, would have been ill employed in 
 
 Unfruitful labor and light-thoughted folly, 
 
 but his heart was tenderly alive to the real wants and 
 feelings of those whom he served. 
 
 An ever-welling impulse towards good deeds cannot 
 owe its origin to reason, though reason must guide 
 and control the stream, lest it run to waste, or carry 
 with it an unprofitable softness. 
 
 It may be mentioned here that the long, severe and 
 fatal illness of Mrs. Washington's daughter, was the 
 darkest cloud that overspread Mount Yernon for many 
 years of quiet time. The feeble child was the darling 
 of her mother; and her prolonged suffering made large 
 drafts, not only upon the tender mother, but upon tho 
 kind step-father ; and when at length she died, Wash- 
 
1761.] Washington's tenderness of heart. 203 
 
 ington, who was just setting out upon a long journey 
 of exploration, preparatory to the purchase of some 
 tracts of land at the West, gave up the expedition, and 
 staid at home to comfort and cheer his wife under her 
 great affliction. Mrs. Lewis, granddaughter of Mrs. 
 "Washington, says that on the occasion of this young 
 lady's death, Washington exhibited a passionate excess 
 of feeling — falling on his knees at the bedside, and pray- 
 ing aloud and with tears, that she might be spared, un- 
 conscious that even as he spoke, life had departed. 
 We find, by his diary after that time, that he took Mrs. 
 Washington out every day, driving about the neigh- 
 borhood, and calling on intimate friends, endeavoring 
 by exercise in the open air, and by the society of those 
 she loved, to turn her thoughts from the too constant 
 contemplation of her loss. She was a woman of strong 
 affections, very quiet and retiring in her habits, and 
 devoted to her family ; and Washington's sympathy was 
 never wanting when she suffered from loss or separa- 
 tion. 
 
 The constant flow of company to Mount Yernon, 
 where Washington may be said almost to have kept 
 open house for many years, obliged Mrs. Washington 
 to attend very closely to her domestic duties ; for a Vir- 
 ginia housekeeper finds it no easy matter to provide a 
 company dinner every day, with no market at hand, 
 and only slaves to depend on. One little expression of 
 the general's speaks volumes as to that matter : — 
 " Would any person believe," he says, " that with a 
 
204 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1761. 
 
 hundred and one cows, actually reported at a late enu- 
 meration of the cattle, I should still be obliged to buy 
 butter for my family ? " 
 
 Judging of other supplies by this specimen, we 
 must think Mrs. Washington almost as good a general 
 as her husband, if she managed daily to entertain peo- 
 ple of eminence from all parts of the country, as well 
 as an endless round of country neighbors ; making every 
 body welcome, and providing in such style as was be- 
 coming in a large and elegant establishment. The 
 hunt always ended in a dinner, sometimes at Belvoir, 
 the seat of Mr. Fairfax, a little further down the river, 
 but more generally at Mount Vernon, and as the com- 
 pany remained for the night, the next day's weather 
 would sometimes keep them from going home. It is 
 on one of these occasions that we find in the Diary — 
 
 " At home all day at cards — it snowing." In those 
 days cards had not yet been proscribed, as they are in 
 ours. Washington seems to have played occasionally, 
 but was evidently quite indifferent about it ; he proba- 
 bly resorted to a game as the easiest way of entertain- 
 ing company, shut up in a lonely country-house through 
 an impracticable storm. Mr. Custis says he played 
 only whist, and in later and more anxious times dis- 
 carded even that. 
 
 But need we apologize for this amusement, which 
 though disapproved in our day, was universally al- 
 lowed in his time by the society in which he lived ? 
 Washington's habits require no apologies or conceal- 
 
1761.] QUITE CLEAR ABOUT THE VIRTUES. 205 
 
 merits. He is not amenable in these matters to stand- 
 ards set up since his day. The spirit of his life is one 
 which the most rigid may imitate with advantage. 
 His self-sacrifice, his temperance, his consideration for 
 others, his rational and practical views of duty, make 
 up a whole that fears no picking at, however zealous. 
 He would have been slow to believe, probably, that the 
 day would ever come when good people could be found 
 who would condemn dancing, yet refuse to condemn 
 slavery; who would consider card-playing a sin, yet 
 utter no fulminations against what Washington himself, 
 born and bred in the midst of it, calls " a wicked, 
 cruel and unnatural trade." His just and manly mind 
 weighed things at their real and practical value, and 
 had little regard for artificial or arbitrary standards. 
 
 We find him ever promoting the virtues, but not 
 often discussing them ; never disputing as to which was 
 virtue and which was not. The virtues were to him no 
 shadows, changing with the times ; but all great, strong, 
 well-defined realities, asking nobody's patronage, but 
 commanding every body's allegiance. If you had at- 
 tacked as wrong any practice of his, no persuasion or 
 pathetic remonstrance would have been required. He 
 would have said, in his simple, direct way, " Show me 
 that it is injurious and I will banish it for ever." But 
 unless you convinced him, you would in vain have 
 driven him into conformity by bugbears of unpopular- 
 ity or odium. 
 
 The " Temperance cause," as such, had never been 
 
206 MEMOIES OF WASHINGTON. [1761. 
 
 heard of, in his day, and he, like all the world, thought 
 the use of wine and other liquors as proper and neces- 
 sary as that of milk or bread. He always used them, 
 whether to his benefit or injury it is difficult to say, but 
 probably without ever speculating on the subject. 
 Perhaps the green tea he was so fond of, and which 
 he drank at breakfast and in the evening, may have 
 done him more harm than the " two or three glasses of 
 good wine " that we know he took after dinner, or the 
 occasional stronger potations his minutely kept accounts 
 tell us that he used, on his journeys and other occasions. 
 
 But there are two papers of his, touching tin's matter 
 of intemperance, that are both characteristic and amus- 
 ing ; one an agreement with a drunken gardener, the 
 satirical gravity of which is irresistible. It is a tem- 
 perance sermon of the most piquant kind : 
 
 " Articles of Agreement made this twelfth day of 
 April, Anno Domini, one thousand seven hundred and 
 eighty-seven, by and between George Washington, 
 Esq., of the Parish of Truro, in the County of Fairfax, 
 State of Virginia, on the one part, and Philip Bater, 
 Gardener, on the other. Witness, that the said Philip 
 Bater, for and in consideration of the covenants herein 
 hereafter mentioned, doth promise and agree to serve 
 the said George "Washington for the term of one year, 
 as a Gardener, and that he will, (luring said time, con- 
 duct himself soberly, diligently and honestly — that he 
 will faithfully and industriously perform all and every 
 part of his duty as a Gardener, to the best of kis know- 
 
1761 •] AMUSING AGREEMENT. 207 
 
 ledge and abilities, and that lie will not, at any time 
 suffer himself to be disguised with liquor, except on the 
 times hereafter mentioned. 
 
 "In consideration of these things being well and 
 truly performed on the part of the said Philip Bater, 
 the said George Washington doth agree to allow him 
 (the said Philip) the same kind and quantity of pro- 
 visions as he has heretofore had ; and likewise, an- 
 nually, a decent suit of clothes, befitting a man in his 
 station ; to consist of a coat, vest and breeches ; — a 
 working jacket, and breeches of home-spun, besides; 
 two white shirts ; — 'three check do ; — two linnen pocket- 
 handkerchiefs, two pair linnen overalls ; — as many pair 
 of shoes as are actually necessary for him ; — four Dol- 
 lars at Christmas, with which he may be drunk four 
 days and four nights ; two Dollars at Easter to effect 
 the same purpose ; two Dollars at Whitsuntide, to be 
 drunk two days ; — a dram in the morning and a drink 
 of Grog at Dinner at noon. 
 
 " For the true and faithful performance of all and 
 each of these things, the parties have hereunto set their 
 hands, this twenty-third day of April, Anno Domini, 
 1787. " + Philip Bater, his mark. 
 
 " George Washington. 
 Witness, 
 
 " George A. Washington. 
 
 " Tobias Lear." 
 
 The two young men witnesses must have laughed 
 
208 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1761. 
 
 (very quietly and privately, though,) at the execution 
 of this curious document. 
 
 The other is more like an exhortation of the present 
 day. It will he observed that Washington accords 
 with the Total Abstinents in calling strong drink a 
 poison. 
 
 (TO AN OVERSEER.) 
 
 " I shall not close this letter without exhorting you 
 to refrain from spirituous liquors ; they will prove your 
 ruin if you do not. Consider how little a drunken man 
 differs from a beast ; the latter is not endowed with 
 reason, the former deprives himself of it ; and when 
 that is the case, acts like a brute, annoying and dis- 
 turbing every one around him ; nor is this all, nor, as it 
 respects himself, the worst of it. By degrees it renders 
 a person feeble, and not only unable to serve others 
 but to help himself; and being an act of his own, he 
 falls from a state of usefulness into contempt, and at 
 length suffers, if not perishes, in penury and want. 
 
 " Don't let this be your case. Shew yourself more 
 of a man and a Christian than to yield to so intolerable 
 a vice, which cannot, I am certain, (to the greatest lover 
 of liquor,) give more pleasure to sip in the poison, (for 
 it is no better,) than the consequence of it in bad be- 
 havior at the moment, and the more serious evils pro- 
 duced by it afterwards, must give pain. 
 
 " I am your Friend, 
 
 " Geokge "Washington." 
 
■I '7^1 "I 
 
 HATRED OF TOBACCO. 209 
 
 It is certain that Washington hated excess of every 
 kind. Mr. Custis says that so far as personal habits 
 went, tobacco was an abomination to him, which seems 
 remarkable when we consider that he raised and dealt 
 m it for so many years. His private dislike of it may 
 have arisen from the fact that he was particularly neat 
 We have some little reason to suspect that Mrs Wash- 
 ington took snuff, as it was the fashion for ladies to do 
 m those days. In one of the orders sent to England, in 
 September, 1759, occur the following items: 
 " 3 lbs. best Scotch snuff. 
 
 "3 lbs. best violette Strasburg," ( a fashionable 
 snuff.) 
 
 . Perha P 8 > however, this was only for the use of 
 visitors, whose boxes might happen to be empty during 
 some of those long snow-storms that throw people upon 
 then- vices. We see, in the orders sent to England in 
 early times, that Washington made minute as well as 
 ample preparation for the accommodation of guests 
 Next to agricultural improvements, company seems to 
 have been the leading idea of his early domestic life 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Public affairs not forgotten— Independent companies — Organized resistance — Fairfax 
 Resolves — Economy and self-denial — Non-importation act — Boston Port Bill — 
 Public fast — Patrick Henry "s opinion of "Washington. 
 
 Closely as Washington seemed to be occupied in 
 rural affairs, and in the duties of a most extensive hos- 
 pitality at Mount Vernon, during the period immedi- 
 ately preceding the final outbreak of the Revolutionary 
 spirit, he had in no degree excused himself from the 
 most intimate knowledge of public affairs, or from 
 those civil duties which carried him often from his 
 home to the Virginian seat of government, where lie 
 met and conversed with the best-informed men in the 
 State, and had liis own sober and reasoning patriotism 
 warmed and inspired, by the noble sentiments of a cir- 
 cle of statesmen and planters of whom the Old Domin- 
 ion had, in that day, so much reason to be proud. 
 Patrick Henry, Lee, Wythe, Randolph, George Mason, 
 the Fairfaxes, all the prominent men on both sides, 
 were his constant companions, at home and abroad ; and 
 from the conflict of their views, all well-informed, hon- 
 orable and experienced men as they were, he was able 
 
■J BEGINNINGS OF TKOUBLE. 211 
 
 to mature opinions which he never, throughout his 
 whole career, saw reason to change. Thus fitted for the 
 approaching crisis, it is not to be wondered at that 
 Washington was among the earliest to notice and draw 
 conclusions from the encroachments of Great Britain on 
 American liberty. He might easily have excused him- 
 self, on the ground of past services and impaired health ; 
 for he had gone through severe duties in the British 
 cause, and his health had never been fully re-established 
 even by the robust, active, open-air life that it was his 
 pleasure to lead. He continued subject to intermittent^ 
 as well as to difficulties of the throat and lungs, when- 
 ever he took cold or over-exerted himself. But he had 
 no thought of self where public duty was concerned, 
 and we find him considered by all the Independent 
 companies of Virginia, as their destined commander. 
 Mr. Smyth, very angry, but still honest enough, if we 
 may judge by internal evidence, says—" It was at Alex- 
 andria that George Washington first stepped forth as 
 the public patron and leader of sedition and revolt, 
 having subscribed fifty pounds to these purposes when 
 others subcribed only five, and having accepted the* 
 command of the first company of armed associates 
 against the British government. " 
 
 We have no doubt this is all very true, for we know 
 that Washington aided the Independent companies in 
 every way in his power. One of these companies 
 prayed him to take command of them, as field-officer, 
 and that he would « be pleased to direct the fashion of 
 
212 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1772. 
 
 their uniform ; " they also acquainted him with the 
 motto of their company, atjt libek, aut nuixus, which 
 was to appear on their colors. He never refused these 
 requests. 
 
 At one time before the commencement of general 
 hostilities, he came very near being called into active 
 service as commander of several of these companies, 
 who put themselves under arms and reported them- 
 selves in readiness to march, with the object of reclaim- 
 ing and rescuing a quantity of powder which Governor 
 Dinwiddie had caused to be removed from the maga- 
 zine at Williamsburg, and placed on board a ship-of-war 
 in the river. More than seven hundred men, well 
 armed, had collected in Fredricksburg, but the gover- 
 nor wisely promised that the affair should be arranged 
 to the satisfaction of the people. 
 
 This little flurry concluded the connection of Wash- 
 ington with these patriotic, independent companies ; 
 for he soon after went to the Continental Congress, and 
 from there to Cambridge as commander-in-chief, where 
 his greater public duties absorbed, for a long while, the 
 attention he had been accustomed to give to those of 
 his own State and neighborhood. 
 
 But to return, for the present, to Virginia doings, 
 and the preparations for organized resistance. Some 
 of these are very interesting ; in their very nature sig- 
 nificant of the kind of struggle that was to follow, just 
 as the full, round and weighty grain of seed- wheat fore- 
 tells the quality and abundance of the harvest it is to 
 
1773.] LIBERTY STAMP ACT. 213 
 
 bring. Those who were preparing the mighty change 
 were patriots and men of honor ; their reasons for act- 
 ing were honest and sensible ; their grievances were 
 real arid their hearts determined. The public mind was 
 warm and ready for the good seed, and the sunshine of 
 divine favor waiting to be gracious to it. 
 
 The people in general had never thought much 
 about Liberty, as a possession. It was their birthright, 
 and they expected it of course. They enjoyed it as we 
 breathe the air and drink the water, without reflecting 
 upon its value. It was only when they began to find 
 it encroached upon, that they became aware how pre- 
 cious it was. Good and loyal subjects they had always 
 been ; proud of their loyalty and delighting to show it 
 on all occasions ; fighting the king's battles and drinking 
 his health, without misgiving or demur, and calling 
 England " home," as if they expected to return to it. 
 
 The Stamp Act and other measures for the oppres- 
 sion of the Colonies, aroused a different spirit. Parlia- 
 ment showed a disposition rather piratical than parental, 
 relying more on brute force than on justice, and treating 
 remonstrance with something worse than neglect. The 
 king was on the wrong side from the beginning ; and 
 whatever may have been the blunders or the villainies 
 of his ministers, he never thought they went far enough 
 in taxing, fighting, or punishing the " rebels." Dutiful 
 addresses and humble petitions only made him more 
 insolent and determined, and the smell of blood acted 
 upon him as it does upon wild animals, making him 
 
214 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1774. 
 
 more and more ferocious. But an awful retribution 
 was preparing ; all tlie surer for having proceeded very 
 slowly and moderately at first. This patience had 
 given time for the aggressors to fill up the measure of 
 wrongs, and to arouse the colonists to the pitch of a 
 death struggle. 
 
 It has been supposed by some that the wealth ob- 
 served among the Americans, the expensive modes of 
 living and elegant entertainments reported by the army 
 officers on their return to England, had something to 
 do with exciting a desire to tax America ; and Mr. 
 Weems observes, that the plate which was often bor- 
 rowed from family to family when distinguished stran- 
 gers were to be entertained, contributed to encourage 
 exaggerated notions on this point. Be this as it may, 
 nothing could be more intolerable than the spirit dis- 
 played by the mother country at this time. 
 
 The Fairfax County Kesolves (June 18th, 1774), 
 afterwards so celebrated, were passed at a meeting of 
 which Washington was chairman. They are drafted in 
 the handwriting of George Mason, but they received 
 the full sanction of the chairman, except the twenty- 
 third article, which proposes " a humble and dutiful re- 
 monstrance to his Majesty." " As for the resolution 
 for addressing the House," he says, in a long letter to 
 his friend Bryan Fairfax, " I own to you, sir, I think 
 the whole might as well have been expunged. * * * 
 What hope have we from petitioning, when they tell 
 us, that now or never is the time to fix the matter? 
 
1774.] FAIRFAX KES0LVES. 215 
 
 Shall we, after this, whine and cry for relief, when we 
 have already tried it in vain ? Or shall we supinely sit 
 and see one province after another fall a sacrifice to 
 despotism ? " 
 
 One of the most important of these Resolves is the 
 fifteenth, which recommends the non-importation of any 
 British goods, except articles of the first necessity. 
 The Resolve immediately preceding having urged that 
 "Every little jarring interest and dispute, which has 
 ever happened between these colonies, should he buried 
 in eternal oblivion ; that all manner of luxury and ex- 
 travagance ought immediately to be laid aside, as totally 
 inconsistent with the threatening and gloomy prospect 
 before us ; that it is the indispensable duty of all the 
 gentlemen and men of fortune to set examples of tem- 
 perance, fortitude, frugality and industry," etc. 
 
 The seventeenth article declares — " That it is the 
 opinion of this meeting, that, during our present diffi- 
 culties and distress, no slaves ought to be imported into 
 any of the British colonies on this continent; and we 
 take this opportunity of declaring our most earnest 
 wishes to see an entire stop for ever put to such a 
 wicked, cruel and unnatural trade." 
 
 George Washington and Charles Broadwater were 
 appointed to lay these resolves before the Convention 
 at Williamsburg, as the sense of the people of Fairfax 
 Count} r , " upon the measures proper to be taken in the 
 present alarming and dangerous situation of America." 
 
 As yet there was evidently no settled plan of as- 
 
216 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1774. 
 
 serting entire independence of the mother country. 
 Washington, though he scorned the idea of petitioning 
 again, yet anticipated, no doubt, that the spirited and 
 decided action of the colonists would induce concessions 
 on the part of the government, which would make it 
 possible for America to remain loyal without dishonor. 
 
 Mr. Sparks cites from Gordon, a conversation said 
 to have taken place in 1759, between Dr. Franklin and 
 Mr. Pratt, afterwards Lord Camden. " For all you 
 Americans say of your loyalty " — observed Mr Pratt, 
 " I know you will one day throw off your dependence 
 upon this country, and, notwithstanding your boasted 
 affection to it, will set up for independence of it." 
 
 Franklin answered — " No such idea is entertained 
 in the mind of the Americans ; and no such idea will 
 ever enter their heads, unless you grossly abuse them." 
 
 " Very true," replied Mr. Pratt, " that is one of the 
 main causes I see will happen, and will produce the 
 event." The abuse came duly, but even then, the idea 
 of shaking off the yoke did not readily find entertain- 
 ment among the great body of the colonists. 
 
 When Patrick Henry first used the expression, Mr. 
 Wirt says, " at the word independence, the company 
 appeared to be startled, for they had never heard any 
 thing of the kind before even suggested." 
 
 It was not until after a contemptuous rejection of 
 their humble petitions, that the colonists began to talk 
 of independence without hesitation. The thoughts of 
 Mr. Adams and a few others had, it is true, darted for- 
 
7 774 1 
 "*-J INDEPENDENCE PKEPABING, 217 
 
 ward in advance of the general sentiment of the coun- 
 try, and a letter of Mr. Adams had found its way into 
 the hands of the British Ministry, which irritated and 
 alarmed them exceedingly. It was only the word, 
 however, that carried a sound of too much daring to 
 American ears. The thing was in preparation, con- 
 sciously or unconsciously, in every part of the United 
 Colonies; and the government of Great Britain were 
 clearing the way before it, blind pioneers as they were, 
 leaving not a single obstacle, in the shape of habits of 
 reverence or hope of future advantage ; but tearing up 
 by the roots all "honor, We, observance," by the in- 
 solent and tyrannical spirit in which they lorded it 
 over their transatlantic brethren. To awaken the at- 
 tention of England to the rights and interests of the 
 colonies, by starving her trade and manufactures, was 
 a favorite plan with Washington, whose turn of mind 
 and habits inclined him to think first of sacrifice and 
 self-denial, as a good means of accomplishing an object. 
 Diplomacy and arms were not naturally the first 
 resort with him ; he always preferred simple and direct 
 modes of obviating difficulties, beginning as near home 
 as possible, and trying grass and clods before he threw 
 stones. 
 
 In considering the subject of suspending the im- 
 portation of all but articles of the first necessity, he 
 goes into a careful consideration of the objections that 
 would be made to it by different classes of society, and 
 concludes that the greatest opposition will perhaps be 
 
218 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1774. 
 
 made by gentlemen of property, accustomed to luxury, 
 and able to buy what they liked. 
 
 " These," he says, " were they not to consider the 
 object in view, and the good of others, might think it 
 hard to be curtailed in their living and enjoyments." 
 
 But he goes on to show that as luxury and extrava- 
 gance have impoverished many, so a good plea to re- 
 trench expenses will enable those to live within bounds, 
 who might otherwise be induced, from mere pride, to 
 go on keeping up appearances, however ruinously. 
 " Upon the whole, therefore," he says in a letter to 
 George Mason, " I think the scheme a good one, and 
 that it ought to be tried here." 
 
 But when it came to forbidding exports, his sense 
 of justice was not weakened by the fervor of patriotic 
 feeling. The colonists were largely indebted to mer- 
 chants in England, and the only mode of payment was 
 by exporting produce thither. He could not assent to 
 the proposition that it was but just the English mer- 
 chants should share in the evils consequent upon the 
 bad government of their rulers. 
 
 The sophistry which would shift off private obliga- 
 tions upon the pliblic, found no harbor in his clear, 
 honest head. 
 
 He insisted that, for the present at least, no prohibi- 
 tions of exports should be attempted. " I think, or at 
 least I hope," he says, " that there is public virtue 
 enough left among us to deny ourselves every thing 
 but the bare necessaries of life, to accomplish this end. 
 
WW.j BOSTON PORT BILL. 219 
 
 * * * The stopping of our exports would be a 
 shorter method than the other to effect this purpose ; 
 but if we owe money to Great Britain, nothing but the 
 last necessity can justify the non-payment of it ; and 
 therefore I have great doubts upon this head, and wish 
 to see the other method first tried, which is legal, and 
 will facilitate these payments." 
 
 When the news came of a special act of revengeful 
 tyranny on the part of government, commonly known 
 as the Boston Port Bill, in other words closing the port 
 of Boston, forbidding vessels to enter or depart, and 
 inflicting other injuries upon the inhabitants of that 
 free-spirited town, the Virginia House of Burgesses, 
 then in session, passed indignant resolutions of sympa- 
 thy, and an order that the first day of June, on which 
 day the obnoxious bill was to take effect, " should be 
 set apart by that House as a day of fasting, humilia- 
 tion, and prayer, devoutly to implore the divine inter- 
 position for averting the heavy calamity which threat- 
 ened destruction to their civil rights and the evils of 
 civil war, and to give them one heart and one mind, 
 firmly to oppose, by all just and proper means, every 
 injury to American rights." 
 
 The governor, Lord Dunmore, was so much of- 
 fended by this serious outburst of patriotic sympathy, 
 that he dissolved the House the next day. But the 
 delegates none the less met at a public house, and pro- 
 posed a general convention, and when the first of June 
 
220 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. t 177 * 
 
 arrived, the fast was strictly observed, and Washington 
 enters upon his diary : — 
 
 " Went to church, and fasted all day." 
 
 On the first of August, 1774, the convention met, 
 and after sixty-six days' sitting, appointed seven dele- 
 gates to a general Congress, which had been summoned 
 to meet at Philadelphia, September fifth. 
 
 George Washington was, of course, one of the seven, 
 and he accordingly proceeded to Philadelphia in com- 
 pany with Patrick Henry and Edmund Pendleton. 
 The proceedings of that first Congress have not been 
 made public, and we cannot, therefore, assign the par- 
 ticular share of merit which should be claimed for 
 Washington on that occasion. 
 
 Patrick Henry's testimony is, however, well known. 
 On being asked whom he considered the greatest man 
 at the Congress — " If you speak of eloquence," he 
 said, " Mr. Putledge, of South Carolina, is by far the 
 greatest orator ; but if you speak of solid information 
 and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is unques- 
 tionably the greatest man on that floor." 
 
 And we may be permitted to add, that if we judge 
 the quality of oratory by its effects, Patrick Henry 
 himself was justly entitled to that pre-eminence in elo- 
 quence which he so modestly bestows on another. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Remonstrance changing to hostility — An army to be raised — A general wanted — Sev- 
 eral candidates— Choice falls on Washington — His acceptance and stipulation — ■ 
 Letters to his wife. 
 
 In May, 1775, Washington had made up his mind that 
 " the peaceful plains of America " were " either to be 
 drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves." Patrick 
 Henry had declared " An appeal to arms and to the 
 God of Hosts is all that is left us ! " 
 
 The second Congress met at Philadelphia, John 
 Hancock in the chair. Military affairs being of imme- 
 diate importance, Washington was chairman of all 
 committees for their regulation, and his opinion w T as par- 
 amount in every thing relating to the army. 
 
 Boston being actually in a state of siege, the ques- 
 tion of supplies, of discipline, of legislative sanction 
 was perceived to be urgent. Hancock, entitled by his 
 great services and sacrifices to any honor in the gift of 
 his country, had a natural ambition to be appointed 
 commander-in-chief, which w r as the less to be wondered 
 at that his own town had been the first to resist and 
 
222 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 the first to suffer in the cause of liberty, and was even 
 at the moment the seat of war. 
 
 General Charles Lee, a sort of genteel Capt. Dal- 
 getty, who had been in military service since he was 
 eleven years old ; commanded a company of grenadiers 
 in the French war ; been shot through the body at Ti- 
 conderoga ; narrowly escaped death at the siege of Fort 
 Niagara, under Prideaux ; fought in Portugal under 
 General Burgoyne ; been employed by Stanislaus, king 
 of Poland, and killed more than one of his friends in 
 the duello ; reappeared in America at the present crisis, 
 under the impulse of the unquiet and ambitious spirit 
 which loves a storm and hopes to profit by it. There 
 had gone forth a great idea of his military qualifica- 
 tions, and he would have had a good chance of being 
 chosen first in command, but for the accident of birth, 
 which made him an Englishman instead of an Ameri- 
 can. 
 
 General Artemas Ward had shown himself a gal- 
 lant officer in the Massachusetts difficulties, and had 
 proved his military skill by shutting up the British in 
 Boston, all which made it very natural that his own 
 State should desire to see him at the head of the army. 
 
 A good deal of feeling was manifested in favor of 
 these and other candidates, while many members, north- 
 ern and southern, thought George Washington was the 
 man best fitted for the great charge. 
 
 He, meanwhile, stirred not in the matter, though he 
 had a secret sense of what the result would probably 
 
1775.] NOMINATION BY JOHN ADAMS. 223 
 
 be, and was endeavoring to resolve upon doing his duty 
 in the matter, however contrary to his wishes. We 
 may easily suppose the struggle to have been a severe 
 one ; patriotism and the natural impulse towards the 
 acceptance of so high an honor, contending, in a mind 
 like his, with a deep sense of the difficulties of the po- 
 sition, the extreme uncertainty of the issue, and the 
 certain loss, for the time, of all that as a private man 
 he most prized, domestic quiet and the safe and whole- 
 some pleasures and duties of his rural abode. 
 
 John Adams, always warm, generous and bold, saw 
 the necessity of immediate decision upon so important 
 a point. Thoroughly acquainted with the various 
 opinions, prejudices and preferences of those present, 
 he seized the first opportunity to bring the matter to a 
 crisis. His own account of the scene is this : — Hav- 
 ing moved that Congress should adopt as its own the 
 army at Cambridge and appoint a general for it, he 
 adds, " As I had reason to believe this was a point of 
 some difficulty, I had no hesitation to declare, that I 
 had but one gentleman in my mind for that important 
 command, and that was a gentleman from Virginia, 
 who was among us, and very well known to all of us ; 
 a gentleman, whose skill and experience as an officer, 
 whose independent fortune, great talents, and excellent 
 universal character, would command the approbation 
 of all America, and unite the cordial exertion of all the 
 colonies better than any other person in the Union. 
 Mr. Washington, who happened to sit near the door, as 
 
224 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 soon as lie heard me allude to hi m, from his usual mod- 
 esty, darted into the library-room." 
 
 After this the debate was warm, though not against 
 Washington, but only in favor of General Ward, and 
 the decision was postponed. 
 
 On the 15th of June, Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, 
 nominated George Washington, of Virginia, as com- 
 mander-in-chief, and the election was unanimous. It 
 was announced to him on the 16th, by the presiding 
 officer of the Assembly. 
 
 Washington rose in his place and said : — 
 
 " Mr. President, — Though I am truly sensible of 
 the high honor done me in this appointment, yet I feel 
 great distress, from the consciousness that my abilities 
 and military experience may not be equal to the exten- 
 sive and important trust. However, as the Congress 
 desire it, I will enter upon the momentous duty, and 
 exert every power I possess in their service, and for the 
 support of the glorious cause. 
 
 " I beg they will accept my most cordial thanks for 
 this distinguished testimony of their approbation. 
 
 " But lest some unlucky event should happen, un- 
 favorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remem- 
 bered by every gentleman in the room, that I this day 
 declare, with the utmost sincerity, I do not think my- 
 self equal to the command I am honored with. 
 
 " As to pay, sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress, 
 that, as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted 
 
1775.] LOVE OF INDEPENDENCE. 225 
 
 me to accept this arduous employment, at the expense 
 of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to 
 make any profit from it. 
 
 " I will keep an exact account of my expenses. 
 Those, I doubt not, they will discharge ; and that is all 
 I desire." 
 
 There was -always something princely about Wash- 
 ington, and it never shone out more conspicuously than 
 on this occasion, when he wholly set aside the order of 
 Congress as to pay, and constituted himself the judge 
 and regulator with regard to pecuniary relations be- 
 tween himself and the country. 
 
 Personal independence was as dear to him as na- 
 tional, and lie seems to have made use of his large for- 
 tune as a safeguard against all temptations of a pecu- 
 niary kind. That this fortune must suffer by the duty 
 he had now undertaken, he knew very well ; but that 
 was to be his own sacrifice, and it was but of small ac- 
 count in comparison of the dearer one of domestic hap- 
 piness. He writes to his brother, — 
 
 " I am now to bid adieu to you, and to every kind 
 of domestic ease, for a while. I am embarked on a 
 wide ocean, boundless in its prospect, and in which, 
 perhaps, no safe harbor is to be found. 
 
 " I have been called upon by the unanimous voice 
 of the colonies to take the command of the continental 
 army ; an honor I neither sought after nor desired, as 
 I am thoroughly convinced that it requires great abili- 
 
226 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 ties, and much more experience than I am master 
 of." 
 
 Then speaking of Mrs. Washington : — 
 " I shall hope that my friends will visit and en- 
 deavor to keep up the spirits of my wife, as much as 
 they can, for my departure will, I know, be a cutting 
 stroke upon her ; and on this account alone I have 
 many disagreeable sensations." 
 
 To Mrs. Washington herself he writes : — 
 
 "Philadelphia, 18 June, 1775. 
 
 " My Dearest, — I am now set down to write to you 
 on a subject which fills me with inexpressible concern, 
 and this concern is greatly aggravated and increased 
 when I reflect upon the uneasiness I know it will give 
 you. It has been determined in Congress, that the 
 whole army raised in defence of the American cause 
 shall be put under my care, and that it is necessary for 
 me to proceed immediately to Boston, to take upon me 
 the command of it. 
 
 " You may believe me, my dear Patsy, when I as- 
 sure you, in the most solemn manner, that, so far from 
 seeking this appointment, I have used every endeavor 
 in my power to avoid it, not only from my unwilling- 
 ness to part with you and the family, but from a con- 
 sciousness of its being a trust too great for my capacity, 
 and that I should enjoy more real happiness in one 
 month with you at home, than I have the most distant 
 prospect of finding abroad, if my stay were to be seven 
 
1775.] SERIOUS CONSIDERATIONS. 227 
 
 times seven years. But as it has been a kind of destiny 
 that has thrown me upon this service, I shall hope that 
 my undertaking it is designed to answer some good 
 purpose. You might, and I suppose did perceive, from 
 the tenor of my letters, that I was apprehensive I could 
 not avoid this appointment, as I did not pretend to in- 
 timate when I should return. 
 
 " That was the case. It was utterly out of my power 
 to refuse this appointment, without exposing my char- 
 acter to such censures as would have reflected dishonor 
 upon myself, and given pain to my friends. 
 
 " This, I am sure, could not, and ought not, to be 
 pleasing to you, and must have lessened me considera- 
 bly in my own esteem. I shall rely, therefore, confi- 
 dently, on that Providence which has heretofore pre- 
 served and been bountiful to me, not doubting but that 
 I shall return safe to you in the fall. I shall feel no 
 pain from the toil or the danger of the campaign ; my 
 nnhappiness will flow from the uneasiness I know you 
 will feel from being left alone. I therefore beg that 
 you will summon your whole fortitude, and pass your 
 time as agreeably as possible. Nothing will give me 
 so much sincere satisfaction as to hear this, and to hear 
 it from your own pen. My earnest and ardent desire 
 is, that you would pursue any plan that is most likely 
 to produce content, and a tolerable degree of tranquil- 
 lity ; as it must add greatly to my uneasy feelings to 
 hear that you are dissatisfied or complaining at what I 
 really could not avoid. 
 
228 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 " As life is always uncertain, and common prudence 
 dictates to every man the necessity of settling his tem- 
 poral concerns, while it is in his power and while the 
 mind is calm and undisturbed, I have, since I came to 
 this place (for I had no time to do it before I left home), 
 got Col. Pendleton to draught a will for me, by the di- 
 rections I gave him, which I will now enclose. The 
 provision made for you in case of my death, will, I 
 hope, be agreeable. 
 
 " I shall add nothing more, as I have several letters 
 to write, but to desire that you will remember me to 
 your friends, and to assure you that I am with the 
 most unfeigned regard, my dear Patsy, your affection- 
 ate," &c. 
 
 And again, as he was leaving Philadelphia : — 
 
 "Philadelphia, June 23d, 1775. 
 
 " My Dearest, — As I am within a few minutes of 
 leaving this city, I could not think of departing from 
 it without dropping you a line, especially as I do not 
 know whether it will be in my power to write again 
 until I get to the camp at Boston. I go fully trusting 
 in that Providence which lias been more bountiful to 
 me than I deserve, and in full confidence of a happy 
 meeting with you in the fall. I have not time to add 
 more, as I am surrounded by company to take leave of 
 me. I retain an unalterable affection for you, which 
 neither time nor distance can change. My best love to 
 
1775 GREAT MEN COME AT NEED. 229 
 
 Jack and Nelly, and regards to the rest of the family, 
 concludes me with the utmost sincerity, 
 " Your entire 
 
 "Geo. Washington." 
 
 What generosity of patriotism there was in the men 
 of those days, and how a common indignation and a 
 common danger seem to have raised them above the 
 mean, petty jealousies and heart-burnings that so dis- 
 figure public doings in times of peace and prosperity ! 
 We look upon such nobleness with a sort of wonder ; 
 yet what can be more certain than that any attack from 
 without upon our liberties would raise up among us — 
 we dare hardly say a Washington — but such men as 
 John Adams, Richard Henry Lee, John Hancock, Pa- 
 trick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, and a host more, who 
 sprang up, as at some Ithuriel touch, when clanger 
 threatened all that is dearest to the sons of freedom. 
 It is but the canker of ease and abundance that we see 
 and often mourn in the political aspect of things here 
 at home. It is the young heir living upon his father's 
 earnings, without a thought of the toil and sacrifice by 
 which the fortune came, yet possessing all the while 
 talents, aye, and virtues, too, for the acquisition of such 
 another, if need were. Who can doubt it? Let us 
 never, by a want of faith in our countrymen, dishonor 
 our sires and the inheritance they have left us ! 
 
 The battle of Bunker Hill having taken place in 
 the time that intervened between Washington's accept- 
 
230 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 ance and the receipt of his commission, he set out for 
 Cambridge with no lingering doubt as to the nature, 
 meaning, and consequences of the service in which he 
 had pledged all. 
 
 He knew that life, and what was dearer than life, 
 hung upon his movements when he left Philadelphia, 
 on the 21st of June, 1775, accompanied by his chosen 
 associates, Generals Lee and Schuyler. He had just 
 reviewed several companies of militia, to the number 
 of about two thousand men, and these escorted him out 
 of the city, one troop of light-horse accompanying him 
 to New York, where he was received with enthusiasm, 
 and all possible public honors. " No burning of powder, 
 however ! " says one of the letter- writers, and with 
 good reason, for New York had at that moment but 
 four barrels of that noisy article within her bounds, all 
 the rest (one thousand barrels) having been forwarded 
 to Cambridge, to meet the greater necessities there. 
 The frigate Asia lay anchored off the Battery, and Gov. 
 Tryon was momently expected home from England ; 
 but the Provincial Congress of New York and New 
 Jersey, by its president, offered a congratulatory ad- 
 dress, concluding with the significant compliment — 
 " We have the most flattering hope of success in the 
 glorious struggle for American liberty, and the fullest 
 assurances that whenever this important contest shall 
 be decided by that fondest wish of each American soul, 
 an accommodation with our mother country, you will 
 cheerfully resign the important de|)osit committed into 
 
1775.] SOLDIEK AND CITIZEN. 231 
 
 your hands, and reassume the character of our worthiest 
 citizen." 
 
 General Washington met this hint with his usual 
 simplicity and directness. 
 
 He replied as follows, in behalf of himself and his 
 generals, to this part of the address : — 
 
 " As to the fatal but necessary operations of war, 
 when we assumed the soldier we did not lay aside the 
 citizen ; and we shall most sincerely rejoice with you in 
 that happy hour, when the establishment of American 
 liberty on the most firm and solid foundations, shall 
 enable us to return to our private stations, in the bosom 
 of a free, peaceful, and happy country." 
 
CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 The battle of Bunker Hill already fought — Washington hurries on — Takes command 
 under the Great Elm at Cambridge — The impression he makes — Letters to Gen- 
 eral Gage — Want, of money, clothing, powder, and all the necessaries of war — 
 Sarcasms cast upon the supineness of the army and its general — Cares and troubles 
 of Washington — His patience under them. 
 
 It was not until he reached Xew York that Washington 
 received a detailed account of the battle of Bunker 
 Hill. He saw the necessity for despatch, and staid no 
 longer at New York than w T as necessary for his arrange- 
 ments. Leaving General Schuyler in command there, 
 he hastened on, w T as met by an honorary deputation at 
 Springfield, and reached "Watertown, three miles from 
 Cambridge, July 2d. The speech of welcome runs 
 thus : " The laudable zeal for the common cause of 
 America, and compassion for the distresses of this 
 colony, exhibited by the great despatch made in your 
 journey hither, fully justify the universal satisfaction 
 we have, w T ith pleasure, observed on this occasion ; and 
 arc promising presages, that the great expectations 
 formed from your personal character and military 
 abilities are w r ell-founded. 
 
1775.] MANY LESSONS NEEDED. 233 
 
 " We would not presume to prescribe to your Ex- 
 cellency, but supposing you would choose to be in- 
 formed of the general character of the soldiers who 
 compose this army, beg leave to represent, that the 
 greatest part of them have not before seen service ; and 
 although naturally brave and of good understanding, 
 yet, for want of experience in military life, have but 
 little knowledge of divers things most essential to the 
 preservation of health, and even of life. 
 
 " The youth in the army are not impressed with the 
 absolute necessity of cleanliness in their dress and 
 lodging, continued exercise, and strict temperance, to 
 preserve them from diseases frequently prevailing in 
 camps ; especially among those, who, from their child- 
 hood, have been used to a laborious life. We beg; leave 
 to assure you, that this Congress will, at all times, be 
 ready to attend to such requisitions as you may have 
 occasion to make, and to contribute all the aid in our 
 power to the cause of America and your happiness and 
 ease, in the discharge of the duties of your exalted office. 
 We most fervently implore Almighty God, that the 
 blessings of Divine Providence may rest on you ; that 
 your head may be covered in the day of battle ; that 
 every necessary assistance may be afforded ; and that 
 you may be long continued in life and health, a blessing 
 to mankind." 
 
 As the commander-in-chief entered the camp, he was 
 greeted with salvos of artillery, spite of the scarcity of 
 powder ; and the officers and men who gazed at first 
 
234 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 with curiosity on the general as he passed, learned at 
 once the lesson of admiration and reverence, which it 
 was his privilege to inspire wherever he went. 
 
 On the morning of July 3d, the troops were arrayed 
 on the common, at Cambridge, to receive their general. 
 The cortege from Watertown was anxiously watched 
 for. Though Washington was not then the Washington 
 of our memories, yet enough had been said of him, of 
 his bravery, his patriotism, his talents, and his gallant 
 bearing, to excite unusual interest in the troops. At 
 length the trampling of horse amid a cloud of dust, 
 ushered in the commander-in-chief and his suite, all 
 picked men and finely mounted. As they approached the 
 line the eye sought and easily recognized him in whose 
 bearing should shine forth the right to rule. At the 
 same moment the central figure galloped forward, and 
 wheeling his charger beneath the Great Elm which still 
 adorns the spot, drew his sword, and, flashing it in 
 the air, took command, in form, of the armies of the 
 United Colonies. 
 
 " It was not difficult to distinguish him from all 
 others," says Thacher. " He is tall and well-propor- 
 tioned, and his personal appearance truly noble and 
 majestic." 
 
 That this was not mere outward appearance, or even 
 the effect of mental traits only, we are assured from 
 various anecdotes showing the great physical power of 
 Washington at the time. One in j)articular recounted 
 by an eye-witness is quoted by Mr. Irving. It occur- 
 
1775.] POETIC ESTIMATE BY MRS. ADAMS. 235 
 
 red on the green, at Cambridge. It happened that 
 some dispute among the soldiers had brought on a fight, 
 and as blows bring blows, the mischief spread until a 
 great number of men were engaged, and there was a 
 general and dangerous melee. 
 
 In the midst of it, says the narrator, the commander- 
 in-chief galloped up, I know not from what quarter ; 
 but quick as lightning he sprang from his horse, threw 
 the bridle to his servant, and dashed in among the com- 
 batants. Seizing two great powerful fellows, by the 
 collar, one in each hand, he shook them soundly, talk- 
 ing to them all the while, and then mounted his horse 
 again and rode quietly off, the crowd having dispersed 
 at once, requiring no further hint. 
 
 Mrs. Adams says of the impression made on her at 
 first sight : " Dignity, ease and complacency, the gen- 
 tleman and the soldier, look agreeably blended in him. 
 Modesty marks every line and feature of his face." 
 
 These lines of Dryden instantly occurred to her : 
 
 Mark his majestic fabric ! He's a temple 
 Sacred by birth and built by hands divine ; 
 His soul's the deity that lodges there ; 
 Nor is the pile unworthy of the God." 
 
 From all contemporary testimony we derive the im- 
 pression that in the birth, nurture and destiny of this 
 man, so blest in all good gifts, Providence seems to 
 have intended the realization of Milton's ideal type of 
 glorious manhood : 
 
236 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 A creature who, endued 
 With sanctity of reason, might erect 
 His stature, and upright, with front serene, 
 Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from thence, 
 Magnanimous, to correspond with Heaven ; 
 But, grateful to acknowledge whence his good 
 Descends, thither, with heart and voice and eyes, 
 Directed in devotion, to adore 
 And worship God supreme, who made him chief 
 Of all his works. 
 
 The first general order issued by Washington reads 
 as follows : — 
 
 " The Continental Congress having now taken all 
 the troops of the several colonies, which have been 
 raised or which may be hereafter raised for the support 
 and defence of the liberties of America, into their pay 
 and service, they are now the troops of the United 
 Provinces of North America ; and it is hoped that all 
 distinctions of colonies will be laid aside, so that one 
 and the same spirit may animate the whole, and the 
 only contest be, who shall render, on this great and try- 
 ing occasion, the most essential service to the great and 
 common cause in which we are all engaged. It is re- 
 quired and expected that exact discipline be observed, 
 and due subordination prevail through the whole army ; 
 as a failure in these most essential points must neces- 
 sarily produce extreme hazard, disorder, and confusion, 
 and end in shameful disappointment and disgrace. The 
 general most earnestly requires and expects a due ob- 
 servance of those articles of war, established for the 
 
1775.] KEW LORDS, NEW LAWS. 237 
 
 government of the army, which forbid profane cursing, 
 swearing, and drunkenness. And in like manner he 
 requires and expects of all officers and soldiers, not en- 
 gaged on actual duty, a punctual attendance on divine 
 service, to implore the blessing of Heaven upon the 
 means used for our safety and defence." 
 
 As to the appearance and condition of the American 
 camp, we find in Sparks' Life the following letter from 
 Rev. William Emerson, a chaplain in the army. It 
 was written a few days after the arrival of the com- 
 mander-in-chief. 
 
 " There is great overturning in the camp, as to or- 
 der and regularity. New lords, new laws. The Gen- 
 erals Washington and Lee are upon the lines every day. 
 New orders from his Excellency are read to the respec- 
 tive regiments every morning after prayers. The strict- 
 est government is taking place, and great distinction is 
 made between officers and soldiers. 
 
 " Every one is made to know his place and keep in 
 it, or be tied up and receive thirty or forty lashes ac- 
 cording to his crime. Thousands are at work every 
 day from four till eleven o'clock in the morning. It is 
 surprising how much work lias been done. The lines 
 are extended almost from Cambridge to Mystic River, 
 so that very soon it will be morally impossible for the 
 enemy to get between the works, except in one place ; 
 which is supposed to be left purposely unfortified to en- 
 tice the enemy out of their fortresses. Who would have 
 thought, twelve months past, that all Cambridge and 
 
238 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 Charlestown would be covered over with American 
 camps, and cut up into forts and intrenchments, and all 
 the lands, fields, orchards, laid common, horses and cat- 
 tle feeding in the choicest mowing land, whole fields of 
 corn eaten down to the ground, and large parks of well 
 regulated locusts cut down for firewood and other pub- 
 lic uses % This, I must say, looks a little melancholy. 
 My quarters are at the foot of the famous Prospect 
 Hill, where such great preparations are made for the 
 reception of the enemy. It is very diverting to walk 
 among the camps. They are as different in their forms, 
 as the owners are in their dress ; and every tent is a 
 portraiture of the temper and tastes of the persons who 
 encamp in it. Some are made of boards, and some of 
 sailcloth. Some partly of one and partly of the other. 
 Again, others are made of stone and turf, brick or brush. 
 Some are thrown up in a hurry, others curiously 
 wrought, the doors and windows done with wreaths and 
 withes in the manner of a basket. Some are your 
 proper tents and marquees, looking like the regular 
 camp of the enemy. In these are the Rhode Islanders, 
 who are furnished with tent-equipage and every thing in 
 the most exact English style. However, I think this great 
 variety is rather a beauty than a blemish in the army." 
 Now it was that Washington undertook the intoler- 
 able duty of organizing a young army, without clothes, 
 tents, ammunition, or money ; with a rich, bitter and 
 disciplined enemy in sight, and boiling blood on both 
 sides. Here it was that General Gage, with whom he 
 
1775.] LETTERS TO GENERAL GAGE. 239 
 
 had fought, side by side, twenty years before, on the 
 Monongahela, so exasperated him by insolent replies to 
 his remonstrances against the cruel treatment of Amer- 
 ican prisoners, that he gave directions for retaliation 
 upon any of the enemy that might fall into American 
 hands. He was, however, Washington still, even though 
 burning with a holy anger ;. and, ere the order could 
 reach its destination, it was countermanded, and a charge 
 given to all concerned that the prisoners should be al- 
 lowed parole, and that every other proper indulgence 
 and civility should be shown them. His letters to 
 General Gage are models of that kind of writing. In 
 writing to Lord Dartmouth afterwards, the British 
 commander, who had been rebuked with such cutting 
 and deserved severity, observes with great significance, 
 " The trials we have had, show the rebels are not the 
 despicable rabble we have supposed them to be." 
 
 The British government caused General Washing- 
 ton's first letter to General Gage, with General Gage's 
 reply, to be published, supposing probably, that the in- 
 solent tone of the latter would strike terror into the 
 hearts of the rebels, while it inspired the royalists with 
 new contempt for their adversaries. But it did not 
 think proper to publish General Washington's rejoinder, 
 one of the most characteristic letters he ever wrote : 
 
 To Lieuten ant-General Gage. 
 
 " Head-Quakters, Cambridge, 20$ Aug., 1775. 
 " Sir, — I addressed you on the 111]) instant, in terms 
 
240 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 which gave the fairest scope for that humanity and po- 
 liteness, which were supposed to form a part of your 
 character. I remonstrated with you on the unworthy 
 treatment shown to the officers and citizens of America, 
 whom the fortune of war, chance, or a mistaken confi- 
 dence had thrown into your hands. Whether British 
 or American mercy, fortitude, and patience are most 
 pre-eminent ; whether our virtuous citizens, whom the 
 hand of tyranny has forced into arms to defend their 
 wives, their children, and their property, or the merci- 
 less instruments of lawless domination, avarice, and re- 
 venge, best deserve the appellation of rebels, and the 
 punishment of that cord, which your affected clemency 
 has forborne to inflict; whether the authority under 
 which I act is usurped, or founded upon the general 
 principles of liberty, were altogether foreign to the sub- 
 ject. I purposely avoided all political disquisition ; 
 nor shall I now avail myself of those advantages, which 
 the sacred cause of my country, of liberty, and of hu- 
 man nature, give me over you ; much less shall I stoop 
 to retort and invective ; but the intelligence you say 
 you have received from our army requires a reply. I 
 have taken time, sir, to make a strict inquiry, and find 
 it has not the least foundation in truth. 
 
 " Not only your officers and soldiers have been 
 treated with the tenderness due to fellow-citizens and 
 brethren, but even those execrable parricides, whose 
 counsels and aid have deluged their country with 
 blood, have been protected from the fury of a justly 
 
1775> ] SOME CUTTING REBUKES. 241 
 
 enraged people. Far from compelling or permitting 
 their assistance, I am embarrassed with the numbers 
 who crowd to our camp, animated with the purest 
 principles of virtue and love to their country. 
 
 " You advise me to give free operation to truth, and 
 to punish misrepresentation and falsehood. If experi- 
 ence stamps value upon counsel, yours must have a 
 weight which few can claim. You best can tell how 
 far the convulsion, which has brought such ruin on 
 both countries, and shaken the mighty empire of Britain 
 to its foundation, may be traced to these malignant 
 causes. 
 
 " You affect, sir, to despise all rank not derived 
 from the same source with your own. I cannot con- 
 ceive one more honorable than that which flows from 
 the uncorrupted choice of a brave and free people, the 
 purest source and original fountain of all power. Far 
 from making it a plea for cruelty, a mind of true mag- 
 nanimity and enlarged ideas would comprehend and 
 respect it. 
 
 " "What may have been the ministerial views which 
 have precipitated the present crisis, Lexington, Con- 
 cord and Charlestown can best declare. 
 
 "May that God to whom you then appeal, judge 
 between America and you. Under his Providence, 
 those who influence the counsels of America, and all 
 the other inhabitants of the United Colonies, at the 
 hazard of their lives, are determined to hand down to 
 11 
 
242 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 posterity those just and invaluable privileges which 
 they received from their ancestors. 
 
 " I shall now, sir, close my correspondence with 
 you, perhaps for ever. If your officers, our prisoners, 
 receive a treatment from me different from that which 
 I wished to show them, they and you will remember 
 the occasion of it. 
 
 " I am, sir, your humble servant." 
 
 The difficulties under which the new army was 
 laboring, are not to be described within reasonable com- 
 pass, and they were utterly unsuspected by the public 
 at the time. This occasioned many murmurs and many 
 sarcasms about inactivity and too great prudence, which 
 were very galling to Washington. 
 
 In writing to Richard Henry Lee, who had suggested 
 something which was not to be attempted under the cir- 
 cumstances, he says : " To you, sir, 1 may account for 
 my conduct ; but I cannot declare the motives of it to 
 every one, notwithstanding I know, that by not doing 
 it, I shall stand in a very unfavorable light, in the 
 opinion of those who expect much and will find little 
 done, without understanding or perhaps giving them- 
 selves the trouble of inquiring into the cause. Such, 
 however, is the fate of all those who are obliged to act 
 the part I do ; I must therefore submit to it, under the 
 consciousness of having done my duty to the best of my 
 abilities." 
 
 In a circular letter proposing an attack upon the 
 
1775.] THINGS SMALL AND GREAT. 243 
 
 enemy's lines at Roxbury, Washington remarks : " The 
 success of such an enterprise depends, I well know, upon 
 the All- wise Disposer of events, and it is not within the 
 reach of human wisdom to foretell the issue ; but if the 
 prospect is fair, the undertaking is justifiable for the 
 following among other reasons which might be as- 
 signed," and he goes on to state the desirableness of 
 satisfying the public expectation even at some risk. 
 
 His letters of the time show a multitude of cares and 
 interests, and in spite of the immediate and pressing 
 business about him, it would seem as if nothing was too 
 remote or trifling to be remembered. 
 
 In a paper of instructions to General Arnold, then 
 in Canada, (September, 1775,) we find the following 
 curious item :- 
 
 " If Lord Chatham's son should be in Canada, and 
 in any way should fall into your power, you are en- 
 joined to treat him with all possible deference and re- 
 spect. You cannot err in paying too much honor to 
 the son of so illustrious a character, and so true a friend 
 to America." 
 
 And this : " I also give it in charge to you to avoid 
 all disrespect of the religion of the country, and its 
 ceremonies. Prudence, policy, and a true Christian 
 spirit, will lead us to look with compassion upon their 
 errors without insulting them. While we are contend- 
 ing for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not 
 to violate the rights of conscience in others, ever con- 
 sidering that God alone is the judge of the hearts of 
 
244 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 men, and to him only in this case they are answer- 
 able." 
 
 In a public invitation to Canada to join the Ameri- 
 can cause, are these paragraphs : 
 
 " Come then, my brethren, unite with us in an in- 
 dissoluble union ; let us run together to the same goal. 
 We have taken up arms in defence of our liberty, our 
 property, our wives, and our children ; we are deter- 
 mined to preserve them or die. We look forward with 
 pleasure to that day, not far remote we hope, when the 
 inhabitants of America shall have one sentiment, and 
 the full enjoyment of the blessings of a free govern- 
 ment. 
 
 " The cause of America, and of liberty, is the cause 
 of every virtuous American citizen ; whatever may be 
 his religion or descent, the United Colonies know no 
 distinction but such as slavery, corruption and arbitrary 
 dominion may create. Come, then, ye generous citi- 
 zens, range yourselves under the standard of general 
 liberty, against which all the force and artifices of tyr- 
 anny will never be able to prevail." 
 
 In a letter of the time to the President of Congress, 
 Washington writes : — 
 
 " It gives me great pain to be obliged to solicit the 
 attention of the honorable Congress to the state of this 
 army, in terms which imply the slightest apprehension 
 of being neglected. But my situation is inexpressibly 
 distressing, to see the winter fast approaching upon a 
 naked arm} r , the time of their service within a few 
 
1775.] N0 MONEY — NO CLOTHES — NO POWDEK. 245 
 
 weeks of expiring, and no provision yet made for such 
 important events. Added to these, the military chest 
 is totally exhausted ; the paymaster has not a single 
 dollar iu hand ; the commissary -general assures me he 
 has strained his credit, for the subsistence of the army, 
 to the utmost. The quartermaster-general is precisely 
 in the same situation ; and the greater part of the troops 
 are in a state not far from mutiny, upon the deduction 
 from their stated allowance. I know not to whom I 
 am to impute this failure ; but I am of opinion, if the 
 evil is not immediately remedied, and more punctuality 
 observed in future, the army must absolutely break 
 up." 
 
 And so the strain runs, week after week, month af- 
 ter month, till our sympathy becomes painful as we 
 read. 
 
 There were times when the spirits of the command- 
 er-in-chief sank to the very verge of despondency ; 
 though this is seldom betrayed in his public letters. 
 When he writes to his friends and relatives, he unbur- 
 thens his heart, as if for the relief which he dare seek 
 in no other quarter. k ' Few people know," he writes 
 to his friend Joseph Reed, " the predicament we are 
 in ; fewer still will believe, if any disaster happens 
 to these lines, from what cause it flows. I have often 
 thought how much happier I should have been if, in- 
 stead of accepting the command under these circum- 
 stances, I had taken my musket on my shoulder and 
 entered the ranks, — or if I could have justified the 
 
246 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 measure to posterity and my own conscience, had re- 
 tired to the back country and lived in a wigwam. If 
 I shall be able to rise superior to these difficulties, I 
 shall most religiously believe that the finger of Provi- 
 dence is in it, to blind the eyes of our enemies ; for 
 surely if we get well through this month, it must be 
 for want of their knowing the disadvantages we labor 
 under." 
 
 To his brother he writes : — " I have been here 
 months together with (what will scarcely be believed) 
 not thirty rounds of musket cartridges to a man ; and 
 have been obliged to submit to all the insults of the 
 enemy's cannon, for want of powder, keeping what little 
 we had for pistol distance." 
 
 It may easily be believed that under these depress- 
 ing circumstances, Washington Avas not much disposed 
 to gayety ; and we hear, accordingly, that he repressed 
 all the levity usually allowed in camps under the idea 
 of keeping up the spirits of the soldiers. He felt that 
 the circumstances of the time were far too serious to 
 allow of any unguarded moments, or any slackening 
 of the half-fitted reins of discipline. Even Mrs. Wash- 
 ington was not exempted from this stern rule ; for in 
 the winter, when her wedding day came round, and 
 she wished to keep it as she had been accustomed 
 to do at home, with a little gathering of friends, the 
 general objected, and could only by great urgency be 
 prevailed upon to allow it. 
 
 The treatment of prisoners continued to be a subject 
 
KT7&.] GOOD FOR EVIL. 247 
 
 of complaint on both sides, and "Washington was some- 
 times provoked to think of retaliation, when any new 
 outrage upon our people came to his knowledge. But 
 he always relented, and set a noble example of for- 
 bearance to General Gage, whose personal resentment 
 against the " rebels " made him sometimes very sav- 
 age. A specimen of the way in which General Wash- 
 ington treated prisoners may be found in the following 
 letter, conveying a quiet and gentlemanly rebuke to an 
 old British colonel, then a prisoner of war at Hartford, 
 Connecticut, who kept teazing him about small mat- 
 ters, such as being allowed to wear his sword, &c. 
 
 " My disposition does not allow me to follow the 
 unworthy example set me by General Gage to its full- 
 est extent. You possess all the essential comforts of 
 life ; why should you press for indulgences of a cere- 
 monious kind, which give general offence ? 
 
 " I have looked over all the papers sent me from 
 Philadelphia. I find nothing in them upon the present 
 subject, nor do I know whether the liberty of wearing 
 your sword was given or taken. But I flatter myself, 
 that, when you come to consider all circumstances, 
 you will save me the trouble of giving any positive direc- 
 tions. You will easily conceive how much more grate- 
 ful a compliance with the wishes of the people, among 
 whom your residence may be longer than you expect, 
 will appear, when it is the result of your prudence and 
 good sense, rather than of a determination from me. 
 
 " I therefore should be unwilling to deprive you of 
 
248 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 an opportunity of cultivating their esteem by so small 
 a concession as this must be. 
 
 " As I suppose your several letters to me have been 
 communicated to others, I cannot forbear considering 
 your conduct in declaring, in a high tone, that, had 
 you joined your regiment, you would have acted vig- 
 orously against this country and done all in your power 
 to reduce it, as a deviation from the line of propriety 
 and prudence which I should have expected to distin- 
 guish the conduct of so old and experienced an officer. 
 Your being so entirely in our power, may extinguish 
 the resentment which a generous and enlightened mind 
 would otherwise feel ; but I cannot commend the con- 
 duct which puts such a mind to the trial. 
 
 " I am, sir, your most obedient humble servant." 
 
 At the same time Washington wrote to the commit- 
 tee at Hartford : — " Allow me to recommend a gentle- 
 ness, even to forbearance, with persons so entirely in 
 our power. We know not what the chance of war may 
 be ; but, let it be what it will, the duties of humanity 
 and kindness will demand from us such a treatment as 
 we should expect from others, the case being reversed." 
 
 While besiegers and besieged lay equally inactive 
 at Boston, and the whole country was wondering what 
 such supineness could mean, it is curious to read the 
 reasons given by each party to its own side, for not at- 
 tacking the other. General Gage tells Lord Dartmouth 
 that it is not advisable to attempt penetrating the coun- 
 
1775.] DIFFICULTIES ON BOTH SIDES. 249 
 
 try from Boston. " The enemy's forces are numerous," 
 he says, " and such an attempt must be made under 
 very great disadvantages ; and even if successful, little 
 would be gained by it, as neither horses, carriages, nor 
 other means for moving forward could be procured. 
 Our force is too small to be divided into detachments 
 for this purpose, and success would answer no other 
 end than to drive the rebels out of one stronghold into 
 another." 
 
 At the same time, General "Washington, writing to 
 a Virginian friend, describes his own position thus : — 
 
 " The enemy in Boston and on the heights at 
 Charlestown (two peninsulas surrounded in a manner 
 by ships-of-war and floating batteries), are so strongly 
 fortified as to render it almost impossible to force their 
 lines, thrown up at the head of each neck. 
 
 " Without great slaughter on our side, or cowardice 
 on theirs, it is absolutely so. We therefore can do no 
 more than keep them besieged, which they are, to all 
 intents and purposes, as closely as any troops on earth 
 can be, who have an opening to the sea. 
 
 " Our advanced works and theirs are within musket- 
 shot. We daily undergo a cannonade, which has done 
 no injury to our works, and very little hurt to our men. 
 
 " These insults we are compelled to submit to for 
 want of powder ; being obliged, except now and then 
 giving them a shot, to reserve what we have for closer 
 work than cannon distance." 
 
 The levying of men, as it was the most urgent, 
 11* 
 
250 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 proved also the most trying business of the whole siege, 
 and, next to the scarcity of ammunition, caused the 
 greatest anxiety and disappointment to Washington as 
 commander-in-chief. To create an army out of raw re- 
 cruits, and those taken from a population whose very 
 motive in taking arms was to secure liberty, was enough 
 to discourage any man on whom the responsibility 
 rested ; and when it is considered that, for the sake of 
 the despatch that was so necessary, it had been decided 
 that any man enlisting fifty-nine recruits was entitled 
 to become their captain, and that whoever succeeded in 
 enlisting ten such companies had a right to be the colo- 
 nel, the position of him whose duty it was to reduce 
 this chaos of ignorance and inexperience to serviceable 
 order and discipline, may be faintly conceived. 
 
 The enemy were believed to have in Boston about 
 eleven thousand five hundred men, and it was consid- 
 ered requisite for the besieging force, whose line, reach- 
 ing from Dorchester to Mystic River, embraced a dis- 
 tance of twelve miles, to have on the ground at least 
 twenty-two thousand. About fourteen thousand five 
 hundred colonial troops were reckoned fit for service. 
 It was therefore necessary to raise immediately seven 
 thousand five hundred men. For this number there 
 were no tents, no provisions, no clothing, no money, 
 above all no ammunition — " not powder enough in the 
 whole camp for nine cartridges to a man." 
 
 A British officer wrote to a friend in London : 
 " The rebel army are in so wretched a condition 
 
1775.] BETWEEN TWO FERES. 251 
 
 as to clothing and accoutrements, that I believe no na- 
 tion ever saw such a set of tatterdemalions. There 
 are few coats among them but what are out at el- 
 bows, and in a whole regiment there is scarce a whole 
 pair of breeches. Judge, then, how they must be 
 pinched by a winter campaign." 
 
 Under these circumstances, the patience, the pru- 
 dence, the humanity of Washington was put to the se- 
 verest test. Far from having any notion of military 
 obedience, the troops, fresh from the independence of 
 the plough and the shop, discussed and passed judg- 
 ment upon the orders they received, and obeyed or ob- 
 jected as they saw fit. Some did not like the articles 
 presented to them, and refused to sign ; others mur- 
 mured at the want of all decent and even necessary 
 provision for their wants, and feared that from present 
 prospects there was danger of going on from bad to 
 worse. It was all quite natural for citizen troops, even 
 those of them who had consented to serve on princi- 
 ple ; still more to be expected from such lawless men 
 as must necessarily compose the bulk of every army. 
 On the other hand, the new and feeble Congress was 
 quite as jealous of the power of the army, and, fearing 
 they were parting with their liberty, doled out the re- 
 quisite support only drop by drop, as if it had been 
 their life-blood. This, again, was not to be wondered 
 at ; but where, between these two pressures, stood the 
 commander-in-chief? Suffering the peine forte et dure 
 we may easily believe. Yet he was mild and pa- 
 
252 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1775. 
 
 tient with the grumbling soldiery, respectful and ingen- 
 ious with the anxious Congress. He yielded to the 
 fears and prejudices of the army, whenever he could 
 do so without injury to the service ; was no stickler for 
 his own authority, but resorted to argument when it 
 was likely to be available, and kept steadily teaching, 
 by means of his general orders, the sentiments that 
 should actuate men fighting for liberty. As to Con- 
 gress, says Mr. Sparks : — 
 
 " These misgivings were early discovered by Wash- 
 ington. He respected the motive, although he could 
 not but lament its effects. Conscious, on his own part, 
 of the highest purity of purpose, and harboring no la- 
 tent thought which was not directed to the best good 
 of his country, if he felt wounded at this suspicion, he 
 did not suffer it to appear in his conduct, nor to alter 
 his opinion of the watchful guardians of the people's 
 liberty. Example, he wisely thought, would be more 
 regarded than complaint, more persuasive than words. 
 If ability and courage are necessary in a commander, 
 he soon saw, that, in his case at least, patience, forbear- 
 ance, and fortitude, were not less so." 
 
 The cruel burning of Falmouth, a town of three 
 hundred houses in Casco Bay, set the whole coast in 
 a ferment, as the report went that the British gov- 
 ernment had ordered the destruction of all the sea-ports 
 that were accessible. This was a mistaken idea, for the 
 government had not at all approved the destruction of 
 Falmouth ; but the panic was great, for the time. As 
 
1775.] ALARM ALONG THE COAST. 253 
 
 a natural consequence, every eastward town, small and 
 great, was entreating help from the commander-in-chief 
 — each feeling its own danger the most imminent, its 
 own claims paramount. But how could Washington 
 spare men, arms, powder ? " My readiness to serve 
 you is circumscribed by my inability," he replies. 
 " The immediate necessities of the army under my 
 command require all the powder and ball that can be 
 collected with the utmost industry and trouble. The 
 authority of my station does not extend so far as to em- 
 power me to send a detachment of men to your assist- 
 ance." 
 
 Thus quietly, and with the reticence required by the 
 public service, did he refuse what was passionately de- 
 sired and expected ; and along the whole distracted 
 coast his popularity had to take care of itself. But it 
 was soon understood that each exposed town must pro- 
 vide for its own defence by its own militia, and the 
 army was thus, for all future time, spared such onerous 
 requisitions. 
 
 Among great matters, there were some little ones 
 that claimed the attention of the general, as appears 
 from the following " Order " which we copy from 
 Sparks. 
 
 " November 5th. — As the commander-in-chief has 
 been apprised of a design formed for the observance of 
 that ridiculous and childish custom of burning the effigy 
 of the Pope, he cannot help expressing his surprise, that 
 there should be officers and soldiers in this army so void 
 
254 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 of common sense, as not to see the impropriety of such 
 a step at this juncture ; at a time when we are soliciting 
 and have really obtained the friendship and alliance of 
 the people of Canada, whom we ought to consider as 
 brethren embarked in the same cause, the defence of 
 the general liberty of America. 
 
 "At such a juncture and in such circumstances, to 
 be insulting their religion, is so monstrous, as not to be 
 suffered or excused ; indeed, instead of offering the 
 most remote insult, it is our duty to address public 
 thanks to these our brethren, as to them we are so 
 much indebted for every late happy success over the 
 common enemy in Canada." 
 
 A newly appointed colonel asks advice as to his new 
 duties. Washington writes him frankly and fully, 
 marking out the principles and manners of which he 
 himself was so shining an example, and concluding — 
 " These, sir, not because I think you need the advice, 
 but because you have been condescending enough to 
 ask it, I have presumed to give as the great outlines of 
 your conduct." 
 
 It was by this invariable respect and tireless atten- 
 tion, that he acquired such immense influence, and baf- 
 fled the many efforts made to disparage him and injure 
 his estimation among the people. If he had had a spice 
 of the demagogue in him, he would have been more 
 condescending and less constant in his civility ; and if 
 the foundations of his popularity had been less broadly 
 laid, its apex would not now reach the heavens. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Doings at Mount Vernon — Some fears of the enemy — Washington's confidence in his 
 agent — Care for the poor — Mrs. Washington's journey to head-quarters — Eespect 
 of the people — Her influence — Rural tastes — Plain, generous hospitality. 
 
 But where was the good lady, all this time ? How was 
 the quiet little Virginia housewife faring, at Mount 
 Vernon, while her husband was drilling raw recruits, 
 pacifying jealous officers, arguing with exacting gov- 
 ernors, throwing up defences on Charlestown neck, and 
 firing now and then a nine-pounder at the British, 
 though he grudged the powder, even when the shot 
 sunk a floating battery ? Whether from apathy or 
 courage, Mrs. Washington continued to reside at Mount 
 Vernon, undisturbed by wars or rumors of wars, until 
 on all sides there arose general alarm lest the enemy 
 should, by way of touching the rebel commander at the 
 tenderest point, steal up the Potomac, that broad, silent 
 highway, leading to the very door of his house, and 
 make a raid upon the domain, profaning his household 
 gods, and perhaps carrying off the presiding goddess. 
 The gallant yeomen of Loudon County had offered to 
 
256 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 bear lier away under an escort of light-horse to a safe 
 retreat beyond the mountains, but she declined, saying 
 she apprehended nothing. " My father's at the helm," 
 said the young sailor in the story ; and the chief lady 
 in the land had just such a trust in the judgment of her 
 husband. If he had no fears for her, why should she 
 have any for herself? 
 
 The agent at Mount Vernon, too, thought there was 
 no danger, but wrote to Washington, " You may de- 
 pend I will be watchful, and, upon the least alarm, 
 persuade her to move." 
 
 This agent was a Washington too, — Mr. Lund Wash- 
 ington, — but not a relative, so far as we can discover. 
 His employer had the most generous confidence in him. 
 " I should do you injustice," writes he from Cambridge, 
 in the dark and troublesome times, " were I not to 
 acknowledge that your conduct has ever appeared to 
 me above every thing sordid ; but I offer it — (larger 
 pay), in consideration of the great charge you have 
 upon your hands, and my entire dependence upon your 
 fidelity and industry. It is the greatest, indeed the 
 only comfortable reflection I enjoy on this score, that 
 my business is in the hands of a person concerning 
 whose integrity I have not a doubt, and on whose care 
 I can rely. Were it not for this, 1 should feel very un- 
 happy on account of the situation of my affairs. But I 
 am persuaded you will do for me as you would for 
 yourself." The agent wrote two or three times a month 
 without fail, giving the general the most minute infor- 
 
1776.] ATTENTION TO SMALL THINGS. 257 
 
 mation as to whatever of interest happened on the plan- 
 tation. Every arrival of colt or calf, every delinquency 
 of Tom or Kitty, was duly noted. Crops and sales, 
 visits and accidents, all were chronicled ; and the com- 
 mander-in-chief replied to every epistle, and remarked 
 on every item, with a particularity that shows how 
 dearly and distinctly the home scene was impressed on 
 his memory, and how large a portion of his heart it en- 
 grossed. He directed the affairs of the plantation with 
 as much decision and promptness as he could have 
 exercised on the spot ; not a field but he ordered its 
 planting, not a broken fence or dilapidated negro-hut 
 but was repaired under his direction. 
 
 The constant devotion of his thoughts to business and 
 duty, enabled him to find time and place for details 
 as well as great affairs. His mind was like a daguerreo- 
 type that can, by its truthful obedience, show now the 
 shadow of an eyelash, now the perspective of Niagara. 
 
 But even as to home affairs, the safety of his wife 
 and the details of economy and management were not 
 all that occupied the thoughts of Washington, as he 
 stood with keen, all-embracing glance, watching every 
 movement of the enemy, on the heights about Boston. 
 On the 26th of November, 1775, he wrote a letter to 
 his agent, a long letter, in which he said many generous 
 and manly things, some of which we have quoted, re- 
 specting that agent's fidelity and capacity, and then 
 subjoins : 
 . " Let the hospitality of the house, with respect to 
 
258 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 the poor, be kept up. Let no one go hungry away. 
 If any of this kind of people should be in want of corn, 
 supply their necessities, provided it does not encourage 
 them in idleness, and I have no objection to your giving 
 my money in charity, to the amount of forty or fifty 
 pounds a year, when you think it well bestowed. 
 What I mean by having no objection is, that it is my 
 desire that it should be done. You are to consider, 
 that neither myself nor wife is now in the way to do 
 these good offices. In all other respects, I recommend 
 to you, and have no doubt of your observing, the 
 greatest economy and frugality ; as I suppose you 
 know that I do not get a farthing for my services here, 
 more than my expenses. It becomes necessary, there- 
 fore, for me to be saving at home." And this letter 
 was copied, as he says at the close of it — " Not only to 
 remind myself of my promises and requests, but others 
 also, if any mischance happens to mo." 
 
 Mrs. Washington had hoped to have the general 
 home again in the autumn, but as this was now out of 
 the question, he wrote for her to come to him, which 
 she did, travelling the whole distance in her own car- 
 riage-and-four, escorted by her son, Mr. Custis, .then 
 newly married. Her husband wrote to his friend Joseph 
 Reed : 
 
 " I thank you for your frequent mention of Mrs. 
 Washington. I expect that she will be in Philadelphia 
 about the time this letter may reach you, on her way 
 hither. 
 
1776.] A month's journey. 259 
 
 " As she and her conducter, who I suppose will be 
 Mr. Custis, her son, are perfect strangers to the road, 
 the stages, and the proper place to cross Hudson's 
 .River, by all means avoiding New York, I shall be 
 much obliged by your particular instructions and ad- 
 vice to her. 
 
 " I imagine, as the roads are bad and the weather 
 cold, her stages must be short, especially as I presume 
 her horses will be fatigued ; as when they get to Phila- 
 delphia, they will have performed a journey of at least 
 four hundred and fifty miles, my express having found 
 her among her friends near Williamsburg, one hundred 
 and fifty miles below my own house." 
 
 Mrs. Washington's journey took nearly a month, 
 partly on account of the reasons here mentioned, and 
 partly from the desire of various towns through which 
 she passed, to show public honors to the wife of the 
 commander-in-chief. He writes to Mr. Reed, after her 
 arrival — " I must again express my gratitude for the 
 attention shown to Mrs. Washington at Philadelphia. 
 
 " It cannot but be pleasing, although it did, in some 
 measure, impede the progress of her journey." 
 
 And again. " I am so much indebted for the civili- 
 ties shown to Mrs. Washington on her journey hither, 
 that I hardly know how to acknowledge them. Some 
 of the enclosed (all of which I beg the favor of you 
 to put in the post-office) are directed to that end, and I 
 shall be obliged to you for presenting my thanks to the 
 command ing officers of the two battalions of Philadel- 
 
260 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 phia, for the honor done to her and me, as also to any 
 others, equally entitled." 
 
 Mrs. Washington wag a woman of retiring manners 
 and the plainest taste, and would probably have been 
 glad to avoid these public honors ; but she always re- 
 ceived them gracefully, and was remarked for her dis- 
 cretion and the propriety of her replies. That her style 
 was a little formal, may be seen by some letters and 
 notes of hers that have been preserved in private fami- 
 lies conspicuous at the time. 
 
 Here are two notes to Mrs. "Warren : 
 
 " Cambridge, January 8th, 177G. 
 
 " Mrs. Washington presents her respectful compli- 
 ments to Mrs. Warren, and thanks her, most cordially, 
 for her polite inquiries, and exceeding kind offer. If 
 the exigency of affairs in this camp should make it 
 necessary for her to remove, she cannot but esteem it 
 a happiness, to have so friendly an invitation as Mrs. 
 Warren has given. 
 
 " In the meanwhile, Mrs. Washington cannot help 
 wishing for an opportunity of showing every facility in 
 her power to Mrs. Warren, at head-quarters, in Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
 " The general begs that his best regards may be 
 presented to Mrs. Warren, accompanied with his sin- 
 cere thanks, for her favorable wishes for his honor and 
 success; and joins in wishing Mrs. Warren, the 
 
1776 d OLD-FASHIONED STYLE. 261 
 
 Speaker, and their family, every happiness that is, or 
 can be, derived from an honorable peace." 
 " To Mrs. Warren, at Plymouth." 
 
 " Cambridge, April the 2d, 1776. 
 
 " Madam, — You may be assured, that nothing 
 would give the general, or me, greater pleasure, than 
 to wait upon you at dinner this day ; but his time is so 
 totally engrossed by applications from one department 
 and another, and by his preparations to depart, — in 
 which last, I am also concerned and busy, as indeed all 
 the family are, — that it is not in any of our powers to 
 accept your polite and friendly invitation. Nor will it 
 be in my power, I am persuaded, to thank you, person- 
 ally, for the polite attention you have shown me, since 
 I came into this Province. 
 
 " I must therefore beg your acceptance of them, in 
 this way, and at this time, and that you will be assur- 
 ed, that 1 shall hold them in grateful remembrance. 
 I am desired by the general, to offer you his sincere 
 thanks for your kind wishes, and to present his compli- 
 ments, along with Mr. and Mrs. Custis's, and my own, 
 to you and Colonel "Warren. 
 
 " With every sentiment of esteem, I am, and shall 
 remain to be, your much obliged friend and humble 
 servant. 
 
 " To Mrs. Warren at Watertown." 
 
 Mrs. Washington's arrival in camp was the signal 
 
262 MEM0IKS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 for that of other officers' wives, and caused a great 
 change in the face of things. Even the general had 
 become rather unpopular with some members of the 
 Massachusetts General Court, because he seemed un- 
 social, and more absorbed in the great concerns of his 
 office than was consistent with the attentions due to 
 those important functionaries. But the arrival of Mrs. 
 Washington in the " chariot-and-four," and its gay 
 " scarlet and white liveries," was like a gleam of sun- 
 shine, physical and moral, and soon set all right again. 
 She took her place as head of something like a little 
 vice-regal court, whose invitations were accepted as 
 honors, and whose personal civilities of speech and man- 
 ner smoothed the most frowning brows and silenced 
 the most inimical tongues — of those who received these, 
 favors. As to those who did not, we have no record of 
 their opinions ; but it would be safe to conclude that 
 they did not entertain an equally high opinion of Gen- 
 eral Washington's character and talents, or of Mrs. 
 Washington's affability and simple grace of manner, 
 with that of the favored few. 
 
 The lady-in-chief had been accustomed to entertain 
 company, and knew how to do it well. She fulfilled 
 the Bible idea of a good wife, looking well to the ways 
 of her household. Her dinners were not perhaps ex- 
 actly in the French taste, but she always offered the 
 best that could be had, and never considered it beneath 
 her dignity to attend to all the duties belonging to a 
 plain but liberal hospitality. 
 
1776.] A VIRGINIA LADY. 263 
 
 The company at head-quarters spoke well of her 
 conversation, which, although not abundant, was yet 
 pertinent and sensible. She could dexterously avoid a 
 j)olitical point when any guest was indiscreet enough 
 to set a trap for her opinion, and she was equally capa- 
 ble of giving advice to the younger ladies, whom she 
 always exhorted to industry and frugality. Knitting 
 was her favorite occupation, at least when in company ; 
 so much so, that a lady who saw her almost daily du- 
 ring the first Presidency, says she does not remember 
 ever having seen her, sitting at home, without the in- 
 evitable four needles clicking in her fingers. Her 
 maid Oney was always at her side, and a lady who 
 saw her often, still remembers, that when about to leave 
 the room or receive company, she would hand the knit- 
 ting to the servant, saying, "There, Oney; tote* that 
 away." 
 
 With all her housewifely graces, Mrs. Washington 
 was by no means indifferent to the advantages of 
 splendor on proper occasions. We have seen how gay 
 and abundant must have been her wardrobe when she 
 was a young wife at Mount Vernon, and numerous pin- 
 cushions and thread-cases,f even now floating about the 
 community, left as heir-looms or laid up in lavender for 
 favorite granddaughters, by ladies her contemporaries, 
 testify to the richness and variety of her costume du- 
 
 * A Southern expression, meaning carry. 
 
 \ One of them, now before the writer, is part of a train of rich satin, 
 crimson-striped with white in wreaths and bars, worn, as we are told, 
 " over a petticoat of silver tissue." 
 
°* MEMOIES OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 ring the long period when all eyes were upon her, as 
 she stood in the reflected light of the Sun of Liberty. 
 
 Mrs. Grant of Laggan, on seeing Sir Walter and 
 Lady Scott together in company, at a time when the 
 popularity of Marmion had, as Scott said himself, given 
 him -such a breeze "(which seems to be Scotch for 
 lift, or elation), that he was nearly off his feet,-said, 
 wittily,—" Mr. Scott always seems to me like a class' 
 through which the rays of admiration pass without 
 sensibly affecting it; but the bit of paper that lies be- 
 side it will presently be in a blaze-and no wonder! " 
 
 But Mrs. Washington, a more solid and serious cha- 
 racter than Lady Scott, seems wholly to have escaped 
 the elation which acts so dangerously upon the weaker 
 subject m some cases. Far from exulting in her great 
 station, her sole desire, from first to last, was to get back 
 to Mount Vernon, which she never quitted without re- 
 gret. If not « born to love pigs and chickens," she 
 was eminently fitted for quiet, rural life ; and as to hap- 
 piness, her highest ideal of it evidently pictured the 
 general and herself seated by a cosey fire, Darby and 
 Joan fashion, or snugly stowed in the family chariot 
 jolting along a Virginia road, to dine with some neigh- 
 bor, or attend Pohick church. If we were to give our 
 private opinion, we should say that Mrs. Martha Custis 
 Washington, with her large fortune, her strong domes- 
 tic tastes and affections, and her dutiful commonsense 
 character, exercised her full share of influence over the 
 commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States 
 
1776.] CURTAIN LECTURE. 265 
 
 of America. She had a very decided way of speaking, 
 when she did speak, and as she never meddled in pub- 
 lic affairs, we can easily imagine the general letting her 
 have pretty much her own way in every thing else. 
 
 Miss Bremer was told this anecdote : 
 
 " A guest at Mount Vernon happened to sleep in a 
 
 room adjoining that occupied by the President and his 
 
 lady. Late in the evening, when people had retired to 
 
 their various chambers, he heard the lady delivering a 
 
 very animated lecture to her lord and master upon 
 
 something which he had done, that she thought should 
 
 have been done differently. To all this he listened in 
 
 the profoundest silence ; and when she too was silent, 
 
 he opened his lips and spoke, ' Now good sleep to you, 
 
 my dear.' " 
 12 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Distress of Boston — Anxieties on both sides — Both actuated by British spirit — Arro- 
 gance of the invaders — Burlesque comedy outdone by Genera! Putnam — Failure 
 of Lord Percy — Resolve to evacuate the town — Hurried retreat — Triumphal entry 
 of American troops. 
 
 During the occupation of Boston by the British, the 
 town and its environs presented a most gloomy and dis- 
 tressing aspect. War bristled every where. Disease 
 and poverty stalked over ruin and devastation. The 
 houses occupied by an insolent soldiery ; places of wor- 
 ship profaned with reckless indecency ; trade at a stand, 
 and fear and sorrow written on every honest face, a 
 spectator might have thought the love of liberty on the 
 point of giving way to that of life, and a struggle for 
 man's dearest rights about to be crushed under force 
 and rapine irresistible. 
 
 But when the truth came to be known, it was ascer- 
 tained that under all the outward show of insolence 
 and bravado, the enemy felt at this very time a discour- 
 agement which, had it been suspected, would have 
 saved Washington and other patriotic leaders many a 
 sleepless night. The watchful and persevering resist- 
 
1776.] EFFECTIVENESS OF PERSEVERANCE. 267 
 
 ance of the colonists to every attempt at encroachment, 
 and the skill with which Washington kept the British 
 arm}' at bay, and forced it to remain within its lines, 
 nobody on the other side had been prepared for. Ac- 
 customed to war with people nnlike themselves, the 
 British did not know how formidable was their own 
 spirit until they had to contend against it. French im- 
 petuosity, or German phlegm they might have coped 
 with ; but British determination tired them out, and 
 disgusted them with a service in which victory was by 
 no means sure to bring glory, while defeat would entail 
 a double measure of disgrace. The regiments were 
 undergoing constant change, and some of those which 
 had been held longest to this harassing duty, had been 
 sent home to avoid the ill consequences of their grow- 
 ing discontents. 
 
 If the Americans, poorly equipped, and longing to 
 be at home and attending to their destitute families, 
 desired to bring the contest to a close by some decisive 
 action, no less did their enemies, worn out and dispir- 
 ited, look for war to the knife as a relief from the te- 
 dium of confinement and the discredit of inaction. 
 " Battle ! battle ! " was the dreadful cry, and when this 
 cry arises at once from two hostile armies, the dogs of 
 war are not far off, and havoc and destruction follow 
 at no lingering pace. 
 
 But in our case a kind Providence was pleased to 
 avert the most horrid aspect of war, and to spare our 
 
268 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [177fi. 
 
 country the loss and anguish that would have resulted 
 from a bloody battle between forces in such a temper. 
 
 It was just at this juncture, and doubtless w T ith a 
 view of keeping up the spirits of officers and men, 
 weary and impatient as they were of their forced so- 
 journ in Boston, that a burlesque comedy, written, it 
 is said, by General Burgoyne, was prepared for the 
 stage, and played by an amateur company, in a theatre 
 which the officers had erected for such amusements. 
 The piece w r as called " The Blockade of Boston ; " and 
 its object was to pour every species of contempt upon 
 the Yankee rebels, while the valor, the spirit, and the 
 elegance of British soldiers was displayed to the great- 
 est advantage. General Washington, of course, figured 
 in the plot, and he was represented as a great awkward 
 lout, with a wig, an old rusty sword, and a firelock 
 seven or eight feet long. The thing was going on finely, 
 and roars of laughter at the rusticity, meanness and 
 cowardice of the rebels shook the house at every sally 
 of the author's wit. 
 
 Meanwhile General Putnam, acting a drama of real 
 life, was sending a party to surprise the British guard 
 on Cobble Hill. This was at once announced at the 
 theatre, where both officers and men were assembled, 
 but all thought the words a part of the play, till Gen- 
 eral Howe, who was present, gave the order — " Offi- 
 cers ! to your alarm posts ! " 
 
 This caused a general scamper, with the usual ac- 
 
1776.] MAGICAL CELERITY. 269 
 
 companiments of screaming and fainting ladies, and 
 every circumstance of panic* 
 
 The morning dawned on new works thrown up by 
 the rebels; and the celerity and secrecy with which 
 these things were accomplished, discouraged the enemy 
 much more than any thing formidable in the works 
 themselves. It was the skill and spirit of the people, 
 under so many disadvantages, that rendered the task 
 of subduing them less and less hopeful, and every day's 
 operations brought the struggle faster and faster to a 
 close. " The rebels have done more in a single night," 
 said General Howe, " than my whole army would have 
 done in a month." Another observed, " It must have 
 been the employment of at least twelve thousand men." 
 One of the officers wrote home, speaking of the new 
 works, " They were raised with an expedition equal to 
 that of the Genii belonging to Aladdin's Wonderful 
 Lamp." 
 
 The truth was, General Washington, ever on the 
 alert, and having in vain attempted a bombardment, — 
 which had proved more destructive to his own men 
 than to the enemy, owing to the bad quality of the ar- 
 tillery, — had managed, in a single night, to throw up a 
 fort on Dorchester Hill, commanding the enemy's po- 
 sition to such an extent as to occasion great consterna- 
 tion in the British camp, when the rising sun disclosed 
 what had been accomplished under the veil of darkness. 
 The admiral at once giving notice, that unless the 
 
 * Irving, vol. II. —p. 176. 
 
270 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 Americans were dislodged from the new redoubt, his 
 majesty's fleet must immediately evacuate the harbor, 
 Lord Howe sent some three thousand men, with Lord 
 Percy at their head, to attempt the operation. The 
 greatest interest was felt, and all Boston was watching 
 the result. The surrounding heights were crowded 
 with spectators, anticipating a repetition of the scenes 
 of Bunker Hill. When Washington came upon the 
 ground, he addressed the soldiers, and said solemnly, 
 " Remember this is the fifth of March," thus recalling 
 to their memory the Boston massacre of 1770. 
 
 But a storm of rain and wind, which came up in 
 the afternoon, frustrated the plans of both parties. 
 Washington, who had expected a battle, felt disap- 
 pointed that the issue was again delayed. " The event," 
 he says, " must, I think, have been fortunate, and noth- 
 ing less than success and victory on our side, as our 
 officers and men appeared impatient for the appeal, and 
 to possess the most animated sentiments and determined 
 resolution." 
 
 There was but a single alternative now left to the 
 British commander. He must drive the Americans 
 from the works, or evacuate the town. He called a 
 council of war, who deliberated anxiously upon the 
 course to be pursued, but in the end concluded to sac- 
 rifice pride to prudence, and relinquish Boston, with 
 whatever mortification, to the despised rebels, who 
 showed such a stubborn determination to possess it. 
 
 The unhappy inhabitants feared that their town 
 

 971 
 
 1776.] BRITISH LEAVE BOSTON. * ' x 
 
 WQuld be burnt by the retreating invaders ; but Gen- 
 eral Howe sent unofficial word to General Washington, 
 that on condition his troops were suffered to depart un- 
 molested, he would agree to spare the town. On the 
 observance of this compact, hung its fate and that ot 
 its inhabitants, who were trembling at once for life and 
 living. The noble John Hancock, who had great pos- 
 sessions, urged Washington to do whatever seemed best 
 for the common cause, although he himself might be 
 the greatest loser. But Washington never willingly, 
 or for the sake of revenge, caused unnecessary loss or 
 distress, and not a shot was tired after the flying enemy, 
 although it was hard to refrain, especially as Lord 
 Howe had by no means succeeded-if indeed he made 
 the effort-in preventing very serious injury to persons 
 and property. The soldiers broke open many stores, 
 which they despoiled of their contents ; seized and 
 robbed vessels at the wharves ; defaced the furniture m 
 private houses, and did what other harm they dared, 
 although a general conflagration was prevented. 
 
 The British spiked their largest cannon, and at- 
 tempted by some other precautions to avoid strength- 
 ening the hands of their enemies, but the retreat was 
 made with every mark of the greatest precipitation. 
 The barracks at Bunker Hill, and many other wooden 
 buildings, were left standing, and there was no attempt 
 to destroy any considerable portion of the British lines 
 of defence. All was hurry and confusion ; and to get 
 away from a spot which had been the scene only ot 
 
MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON L1776 
 
 nson. icueai oi tiie gar- 
 
 ~„ S^S^XS r ports ' flua% 
 
 -non and other ^^J^ ™ d « « »f 
 
 being at that time in the to™ W ' "^'^ 
 
 eral Putnam wirt, I ' Washm S'on sent Gen- 
 
 bad th I ;I ' t ousanc! picketI men wli ° had «» 
 
 e aisease, to take possession, deferring h;„ 
 P»W» -d formal entrance nntii the „e I r T" 
 he was received witT, « , y ' when 
 
 rained in tie pit 7 de " ati <» of jov thtf 
 Much damage C t l™* "? ""^ t01 ™- 
 
 >— ™;;r d jrrTr* be-d - ,ta - 
 
 Bntallwas now forgotten in f h T Pl " P ° Se - 
 
 an dg ratit„de,an d ;r ;:~ S f SfeCti0n 
 took the DlarP nfoi thanksgivings 
 
 ■nerit was tl hole „T" S "* inS "" S - ^^ 
 of every hea t 2 >' ^^ ™ d th ° "'onght 
 
 ^nctive aspect of war for "f^ "* '" 
 
 every step of «,. ' Wh ° had oritic ''sed 
 
 7 ^ep ot the process, conld not deny the excel- 
 
1776.] PUBLIC GRATITUDE. 273 
 
 lence of the result, or its justification of the means em- 
 ployed. 
 
 Congress was profuse in its acknowledgments, and 
 as an enduring memorial of its approbation, ordered a 
 gold medal to be struck, on one side of which was an 
 emblematical device, and on the other a head of Wash- 
 ington, surrounded by a complimentary inscription. 
 
 Washington accepted the praise and its commemo- 
 ration with his usual self respecting modesty ; declaring, 
 however, that he had only done his duty, and that he 
 desired no other reward than that of his own con- 
 science, and the feeling that his services might have 
 contributed to " the establishment of freedom and peace 
 upon a permanent foundation." 
 
 He concludes his reply to the address of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly of Massachusetts : — ■ 
 
 " May that Being who is powerful to save, and in 
 whose hands is the fate of nations, look down with an 
 eye of tender pity and compassion upon the whole of 
 the United Colonies ; may he continue to smile upon 
 their counsels and arms, and crown them with success, 
 whilst employed in the cause of virtue and mankind. 
 May this distressed colony and its capital, and every 
 part of this wide extended continent, through His di- 
 vine favor, be restored to more than their former lustre 
 and once happy state, and have peace, liberty, and 
 safety secured upon a solid, permanent, and lasting 
 foundation." 
 
 The enemy once huddled into his ships, the next 
 12* 
 
274 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [ l776 - 
 
 question was — u What is his destination ? " Every 
 point of the coast expected an attack. Washington 
 believed New York to be the most probable point, and 
 by the time the British were afloat, had made all his 
 arrangements for transferring twelve regiments of the 
 Continental forces thither. His agent at Mount Ver- 
 non made every preparation for their reception there, 
 as the Potomac is navigable for the largest ships, and 
 the idea of Washington's possessions being a probable 
 object of attack was still prevailing. 
 
 Mr. Lund Washington writes to his employer : 
 " Alexandria is much alarmed, and indeed the 
 whole neighborhood. The women and children are 
 leaving the town, and stowing themselves in every hut 
 they can find, out of the reach of the enemy's cannon. 
 Every cart, wagon, and pack-horse that can be got, is 
 employed. The militia are all up, but not in arms, for 
 indeed they have none, or at least very few. I could 
 wish, if we are to have o"ur neighborhood invaded, that 
 they would send a tender or two among us, that we 
 might see how the people would behave on the occasion. 
 " They say they are determined to fight. I am about 
 packing up your china and glass in barrels, and other 
 things into chests, trunks, and bundles, and I shall be 
 able at the shortest notice to remove them out of the 
 way. I fear the destruction will be great, although the 
 best care has been taken. Every body I see tells me, 
 that if the people could have notice, they would imine- 
 
1776.] STRONG EXPRESSIONS AGAINST TEAITOES. 275 
 
 diately come and defend your property, so long as they 
 have life." 
 
 Those called government-men, in Boston, to the 
 amount of one thousand, fled with the enemy, fearing 
 the vengeance of the victorious army. Judging from 
 Washington's expressions, they did wisely, for his in- 
 dignation burns hot against them. 
 
 " One or two of them," he says in a letter to his 
 brother, " have done, what a great number ought to 
 have done long ago, committed suicide. By all ac- 
 counts, there never existed a more miserable set of 
 beings, than these wretched creatures now are. Taught 
 to believe that the power of Great Britain was superior 
 to all opposition, and, if not, that foreign aid was at 
 hand, they were even higher and more insulting in their 
 opposition than the regulars. When the order issued, 
 therefore, for embarking the troops in Boston, no elec- 
 tric shock, no sudden explosion of thunder, in a word, 
 not the last trump, could have struck them with greater 
 consternation. They were at their wits' end, and, con- 
 scious of their black ingratitude, they chose to commit 
 themselves, in the manner I have above described, to 
 the mercy of the waves at a tempestuous season, rather 
 than meet their offended countrymen." 
 
 Washington thus sums up his difficulties, in the same 
 letter to his brother John Augustine : 
 
 " I believe I may with great truth affirm, that no 
 man perhaps, since the first institution of armies, ever 
 commanded one under more difficult circumstances 
 
276 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 than I have done. To enumerate the particulars would 
 fill a volume. 
 
 " Many of my difficulties and distresses were of so 
 peculiar a cast, that, in order to conceal them from the 
 enemy, I was obliged to conceal them from my friends? 
 and indeed from my own army, thereby subjecting my 
 conduct to interpretations unfavorable to my character, 
 especially by those at a distance, who could not in the 
 smallest degree be acquainted with the springs that 
 governed it. I am happy, however, to find, and to hear 
 from different quarters, that my rejmtation stands fair, 
 that my conduct hitherto has given universal satisfac- 
 tion. The addresses which I have received, and which 
 I suppose will be published, from the General Court of 
 this colony and from the selectmen of Boston, upon the 
 evacuation of the town, and my approaching departure 
 from the colony, exhibit a pleasing testimony of their 
 approbation of my conduct, and of their personal re- 
 gard, which I have found in various other instances, 
 and which, in retirement, will afford many comfortable 
 reflections." 
 
 An amusing letter of the same period from General 
 Lee to Washington, shows at once the character of that 
 accomplished, impetuous and imprudent soldier, and the 
 mystery that hung over the intentions of the British. 
 
 " I most sincerely congratulate you, I congratulate 
 the public, on the great and glorious event, your pos- 
 session of Boston. It will be a most bright page in 
 the annals of America, and a most abominably black 
 
1776.] GENERAL LEE's LETTER. 277 
 
 oue in those of the beldam Britain. Go on, my dear 
 general, crown yourself with glory, and establish the 
 liberties and lustre of your country on a foundation 
 more permanent than the Capitol Rock. 
 
 " My situation is just as I expected. I am afraid I 
 shall make a shabby figure, without any real demerits 
 of my own. I am like a dog in a dancing school. I 
 know not where to turn myself, where to fix myself. 
 The circumstances of the country intersected by navi- 
 gable rivers, the uncertainty of the enemy's design and 
 motions, who can fly in an instant to any spot they 
 choose, with their canvas wings, throw me, and would 
 throw Julius Csesar, into this inevitable dilemma. I 
 may possibly be in the north, when, as Richard says, I 
 should serve my sovereign in the west. I can only act 
 from surmise, and I have a very good chance of sur- 
 mising wrong. I am sorry to grate your ears with a 
 truth, but must at all events assure you, that the Pro- 
 vincial Congress of Kew York are angels of decision, 
 when compared with your countrymen, the Committee 
 of Safety assembled at Williamsburg. Page, Lee, Mer- 
 cer, and Payne are indeed exceptions ; but from Pen- 
 dleton, Bland, the Treasurer, and company, libera nos, 
 DomineP 
 
 General Lee stood high in Washington's esteem at 
 this time, though the chief in a measure foresaw the 
 difficulty that would arise from his peculiarities. 
 He says of him, " He is the first officer, in knowledge 
 and experience, we have in the whole army. He is 
 
278 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 zealously attached to the cause, honest and well-mean- 
 ing, but rather tickle and violent, I fear, in his temper." 
 Washington seems to have replied to every appeal 
 made to him by prisoners of war, in the kindest tone. 
 As one of many letters of this kind take the following : 
 
 " To Captain Samuel McKay. 
 
 "New Haven, 11th April, 1776. 
 
 " Sir, — I received yours of the 9th instant, and could 
 wish that it was in my power, consistently with the 
 duty I owe my country, to grant you the relief you de- 
 sire. I have made repeated applications to General 
 Howe for an exchange of prisoners, but he has not 
 thought proper to return me any answer. It has been 
 in his power to set you at liberty ; and if you are still 
 continued a prisoner, the blame must lie entirely upon 
 him. 
 
 " The situation of your family is indeed distressing; 
 but such is the event of war ; it is far from being singu- 
 lar. The brave Colonel Allen, an officer of rank, has 
 been torn from his dearest connections, sent to England 
 in irons, and is now confined to the most servile drudg- 
 ery, on board one of the king's ships. 
 
 " Your treatment, sir, and that of the other officers 
 taken in arms against the liberties of America, has been 
 very different ; for the truth of this I appeal to your 
 own feelings. 
 
 " Whenever it is in my power to release you by a 
 mutual exchange, I shall do it with the greatest plea- 
 sure ; and am, sir, your most obedient servant." 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Transfer of the troops to New York — Difficulties there — Machinations of the Tories 
 —British head-quarters on Staten Island — Declaration of Independence— Letter 
 to " George Washington, Esq." — Battle of Long Island— Dreadful loss— Retreat 
 across the East Biver. 
 
 The position of the army at New York, at which place 
 it arrived on the 13th of April, presented no fewer 
 difficulties to the commander-in-chief than his late po- 
 sition had done, and he was obliged to enter at once 
 into warm discussions with the civil authorities there. 
 But his prudence, and the respect with which he inva- 
 riably treated those authorities wherever he went, soon 
 conciliated them and secured their co-operation. 
 
 The city and vicinity abounded with those who fa- 
 vored the enemy as far as they dared, and Governor 
 Tryon was the centre of a secret faction, determined to 
 accomplish by treachery what they had not present 
 means to attempt openly. Congress was undecided and 
 timid, some of its members still expecting and hoping 
 for a reconciliation with Great Britain. Washington, 
 fully aware of all these unhappy influences, set himself at 
 work vigorously to bring them to light and to crush trea- 
 
280 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 son in its beginnings. Upon his representations sus- 
 pected persons were taken in hand by the civil power, 
 and many were disarmed while others were imprisoned. 
 In the course of these investigations, it was discovered 
 that part of the general's guards were traitors, and that 
 there was a plot on foot to carry off Washington him- 
 self and deliver him to the enemy. 
 
 The British forces were collecting in the harbor of 
 New York, and General Howe had established his 
 head-quarters on Staten Island, at different parts of 
 which some ten thousand men were posted, when 
 Washington received from Congress the Declaration of 
 Independence, which was on the evening of the same 
 day read to the troops, who were paraded for the pur- 
 pose. This decisive step raised the spirits of all, and 
 the soldiers rent the air with acclamations. 
 
 The general took the opportunity, in the orders for 
 the day, to impress upon them anew the responsibility 
 that rested with them, adding, " The peace and safety 
 of the country depend, under God, solely on the success 
 of our arms." 
 
 Military preparations went on, on both sides, through 
 the summer. General Howe's forces, which had in- 
 creased to about twenty -five thousand men, far outnum- 
 bered those of Washington, which were posted in New 
 York and on Long Island. 
 
 On the 14th of July, Admiral Lord Howe, who had 
 arrived with a numerous and powerful fleet to co-ope- 
 rate with his brother, the general, sent a flag to Wash- 
 
J 776.] MILITARY ETIQUETTE. 281 
 
 ington, with a letter directed to " George Washington, 
 Esq." Colonel Reed answered, by the general's order, 
 that there was no such person known in the army. 
 The officer who brought the letter was very anxious to 
 have it received, and hinted that it contained matter 
 of great importance, Lord Howe having great powers 
 from his government, etc. ; all which was of no avail, and 
 the letter was returned. After the boat had started, it 
 was put back, the bearer of the letter desiring to know by 
 what title Mr. "Washington chose to be addressed. Col- 
 onel Reed replied that General Washington's station 
 was well known, and Lord Howe could certainly be at 
 no loss as to the proper address. 
 
 The officer lingered and urged, but the decision 
 was firm, and he departed as he came. Lord Howe 
 now sent to inquire whether his adjutant-general, Colo- 
 nel Paterson, could be admitted to an interview with 
 General Washington ; this was granted, and the British 
 colonel was ushered by Colonel Reed and Colonel 
 Wells into the presence of the commander-in-chief, 
 who received him in grand military array, with his offi- 
 cers and guards about him, and whatever else could 
 add to his own native dignity that which belonged to 
 his high station. Colonel Paterson addressed him 
 with great respect, using the title of Your Excellency, 
 but still withholding the required title of General, al- 
 though he was the bearer of another letter, directed 
 George Washington, Esq., &c, &c, &c. Washington 
 must have smiled inwardly at this childish expedient, 
 
282 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 but lie replied with his usual gravity and decision, that 
 the point remained untouched ; " That etc., etc.," 
 which meant " every thing," according to the colonel's 
 pleaded reason, meant also nothing, and did not change 
 the case at all. 
 
 Colonel Paterson then endeavored to communicate, 
 as well as he could in the course of a desultory conver- 
 sation, the purport of the letter. Washington replied, 
 that as far as he could understand, Lord Howe's power 
 extended only to granting pardons, and as Americans 
 battling for their rights required no pardons, there was 
 little use in arguing the matter. So the emissary re- 
 turned as he came, having seen the commander-in-chief, 
 and whatever he had passed going and coming, the 
 usual ceremony of blindfolding having been dispensed 
 with in his case. 
 
 Congress highly approved the conduct of Washing- 
 ton in this matter, and recommended it as an example 
 to any or all the officers who might be placed in simi- 
 lar situations. 
 
 After many false alarms, it was ascertained that the 
 enemy had landed on Long Island, at a point between 
 the Narrows and Sandy Hook. 
 
 About three o'clock on the 27th of August, the 
 British were in motion, and before long the battle be- 
 gan; Lords Percy and Cornwallis, with Sir Henry Clin- 
 ton, commanding on the British side, and General Sul- 
 livan and Lord Stirling on the American. The issue 
 of the day was any thing but fortunate for the Conti- 
 
 
1776.] SAD TIMES, SAD HEARTS. 283 
 
 nentals, who lost, in killed, wounded and taken prison- 
 er, about eleven hundred men. 
 
 The British force was at least fifteen thousand strong, 
 well furnished with artillery ; while the Americans 
 mustered only about five thousand, poorly enough pro- 
 vided in all respects, and without even a single com- 
 pany of cavalry. Washington, stationed on a hill, 
 swept the whole field with his telescope, and watched 
 the result with breathless anxiety. From what he saw, 
 he anticipated the immediate surrender of Stirling and 
 his troops. But when he saw that instead of retreat 
 or surrender, Stirling attacked Lord Cornwallis under 
 the most desperate disadvantage, he wrung his hands 
 in agony at the sight. " Good God," • said he, "what 
 brave fellows must I this day lose ! "* His worst anti- 
 cipations were realized. 
 
 Every thing had gone against his troops, and noth- 
 ing had been gained but experience. 
 
 That night was one of cruel anxiety and suffering ; 
 the men weary, sick and wounded ; the commander-in- 
 chief going about among them, to say whatever could 
 be said by way of consolation and encouragement, and 
 to make what preparations could be made for the strug- 
 gle of the morrow. 
 
 He had witnessed the rout and slaughter of his 
 troops with the keenest anguish ; it was now his office 
 to inspirit them for a new effort, against superior force, 
 and in the face of a victorious enemy. 
 
 * Irving, Vol. II, p. 324. 
 
284 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. C 1776 - 
 
 The sentries of the two armies could hear each other 
 speak, so near had the lines approached. 
 
 The dawn of day brought a violent rain, which pre- 
 vented the enemy from going on with the projected 
 intrenchments, and nothing more than skirmishing was 
 attempted through the day. 
 
 The next morning there was a dense fog. When 
 this was, for a moment, lifted by a light breeze, the 
 British fleet was observed to be in a sort of bustle, 
 boats passing to and fro, as if some movement was in 
 contemplation. Those who were on the look-out con- 
 jectured that the fleet was about to come up and an- 
 chor in the East River-, thus checkmating the army on 
 Long Island. 
 
 Washington called a council of war, and it was at 
 once decided thai the troops must if possible be taken 
 back to New York under cover of the night. Nine 
 thousand men, with baggage and artillery, to be spir- 
 ited away from the very front of a victorious army, 
 capable of annihilating them if the alarm should be 
 given ! 
 
 But it was done under the eye of Washington, who 
 was at the ferry during the entire operation. The fog 
 favored the withdrawal of the men from the lines, and 
 the whole body was at last embarked and ferried over, 
 just before daybreak, so that the last boats passed in 
 full view of the enemy. Washington crossed the river 
 with the very latest. This retreat was one of his great- 
 est achievements. At no period of the war, probably, 
 
1776.] FATIGUE AM> SORROW. 285 
 
 did lie suffer more intense anxiety, or undergo more 
 exertion, than on the occasion of this early and disas- 
 trous defeat ; and in no subsequent emergency did he 
 find a better opportunity for the display of his peculiar 
 talents. 
 
 It is almost the only time when he has to apologize 
 to the President of Congress for not having written 
 i in mediately on the occurrence of any thing impor- 
 tant. 
 
 lie says in the despatch of August 31st, four days 
 after the battle : — 
 
 " New York, 3\st August, 1776. 
 " Sir,— Inclination as well as duty would have in- 
 duced me to give Congress the earliest information of 
 my removal, and that of the troops, from Long Island 
 and its dependencies to this city, the night before last; 
 but the extreme fatigue which myself and family have 
 undergone, as much from the weather since, as the en- 
 gagement on the 27th, rendered me and them entirely 
 unfit to take pen in hand. Since Monday scarce any 
 of us have been out of the lines, till our passage across 
 the East River was effected yesterday morning ; and, 
 for forty-eight hours preceding that, I had hardly been 
 off my horse, and never closed my eyes ; so that I was 
 quite unfit to write or dictate till this morning." 
 
 The letter goes on to state particulars, in a tone of 
 
286 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 sadness which shows that the aspect of things was at 
 the moment very discouraging. He writes again : — 
 
 " September 2d, 1776. 
 
 " Sir, — As my intelligence of late has been rather 
 unfavorable, and would be received with anxiety and 
 concern, peculiarly happy should I esteem myself, were 
 it in my power at this time to transmit such informa- 
 tion to Congress, as would be more pleasing and agree- 
 able to their wishes ; but, unfortunately for me, unfor- 
 tunately for them, it is not. Our situation is truly 
 distressing. The check our detachment sustained on 
 the 27th ultimo, has dispirited too great a proportion 
 of our troops, and filled their minds with apprehension 
 and despair." 
 
 It very soon became evident that the enemy meant, 
 with the aid of their naval force, to enclose the island 
 of New York, cut off communication with the country, 
 and thus force the Americans to a surrender. 
 
 The question was agitated whether it would be bet- 
 ter to burn the town or to evacuate it, and the inhabi- 
 tants had the agreeable consciousness that as two-thirds, 
 at least, of their number were supposed to be tories, 
 the settlement of the course to be pursued would be 
 very little influenced by consideration for them or their 
 property. The decision was, however, favorable so far 
 as the destruction of the town was concerned. Con- 
 gress forbade all injury to it, hoping it would ultimately 
 
1776.] CANNON MAKE NO DISCRIMINATIONS. 287 
 
 be restored, even although it should for a time be used 
 by the enemy for his advantage. 
 
 The inhabitants, however, suffered continual alarms 
 from the cannonading by the ships-of-war that lay in 
 both rivers and in the bay. A private letter quoted 
 by Mr. Irving, gives a vivid picture of the state of 
 things : — 
 
 " On the 13th of September, just after dinner, three 
 frigates and a forty-gun-ship sailed up the East River 
 with a gentle breeze, toward Hell Gate, and kept up 
 an incessant fire, assisted by the cannon at Governor's 
 Island. The batteries of the city returned the ships 
 the like salutation. 
 
 " Three men agape, idle spectators, had the misfor- 
 tune of being killed by one cannon ball. One shot 
 struck within six feet of General Washington, as he 
 was on horseback, riding into the fort." 
 
 With all this, the commander-in-chief had the mor- 
 tification of knowing that he could not depend upon 
 all his soldiers. 
 
 He writes, Sept. 9, 17T6 : — 
 
 " I fear the militia, by leaving their homes so sud- 
 denly, and in a manner unprepared for a long absence, 
 have sustained some injury. To this cause I must im- 
 pute their impatience to return, &c. Their want of 
 discipline, the indulgencies they claim and have been 
 allowed, their unwillingness — I may add refusal — to 
 submit to that regularity and order essential in every 
 army, have been of pernicious tendency, and occa- 
 
288 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 sioned a good deal of confusion and disorder. As to 
 drafting seamen from the Continental regiments, it 
 cannot be done ; as their numbers have been reduced 
 so low already that some of them have hardly any 
 thing left but the name. Besides, I must depend chiefly 
 upon them for a successful opposition to the enemy." 
 
CHAPTEE XXYI. 
 
 Discouragement of the army— General Howe threatens New York — Talk of burning 
 the city — "Washington fortifies Harlem — Cowardice of some of the troops there — 
 Eetreat to White Plains — Illiterate officers — Disaster there — Capture of Fort 
 "Washington — Temporary defection of Colonel Reed. 
 
 The terrible result of the battle of Long Island could 
 not be forgotten in the splendor of the retreat, by 
 which all that human skill and effort could do had 
 been done to retrieve it. The army felt the defeat and 
 the slaughter of their brave comrades with a keenness 
 unknown to veterans in the art of war, who learn to re- 
 gard fellow-soldiers more in the light of machines and 
 less in that of fellow-citizens. Washington wrote to 
 Congress that the minds of the troops were filled with 
 apprehension and despair. The militia, in particular, 
 deserted by hundreds, and their example still further 
 disaffected the other part of the army. He adds that 
 the number of troops fit for duty is less than twenty 
 thousand, and it proved scarcely more than eleven 
 thousand. 
 
 General Howe, with a superior force, now theatening 
 New York, it became Washington's care to devise means 
 13 
 
290 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 for evacuating the city which he had not means to de- 
 fend. To drive General Howe to a bombardment, to 
 which the city was completely open, would be but 
 wanton sacrifice of life and property, since the result 
 could be no other. Some proposed the voluntary de- 
 struction of the city, to prevent the enemy from using 
 it as winter- quarters, and this was the more easily con- 
 templated as two thirds of the property in it was esti- 
 mated to belong to the tories, or adherents of the 
 British government. 
 
 But milder and more prudent counsels prevailed, 
 and it was finally resolved to leave the town and retire 
 to the rocky heights north of it, on the upper part of the 
 island, making that position as strong as possible, with 
 a view to the prevention of the enemy's movements on 
 either the North or the East River. 
 
 On the 15th of September, the enemy, from his 
 ships, attacked Kipp's Bay on the East River. The 
 troops stationed there fled in the greatest confusion, 
 notwithstanding every effort on the part of their officers. 
 General Washington, who was at Harlem when the firing 
 commenced, galloped over to the scene as fast as his 
 horse could carry him, and there to his infinite mortifi- 
 cation and distress, found all his fears of the instability 
 of the army confirmed by the dastardly behavior of these 
 men. Here his native passion flashed out. He rode 
 furiously up in the face of the flying troops, shouted to 
 them, ordered them to return and face the enemy with 
 him, and when he found all useless, drew his sword and 
 
1776.] DISHEARTENING CIRCUMSTANCES. 291 
 
 threatened them, snapped his pistols in their faces, and 
 at last halted his horse within the fire of the enemy, as 
 if courting death to relieve him of the sense of dishonor. 
 Seeing him thus transported out of himself, and in the 
 very teeth of danger, one of his aids seized the bridle 
 of his horse, and forced him from the spot. 
 
 He never showed any sense of personal danger, but 
 his feelings when disgrace occurred were of the keenest 
 kind. He wrote to his brother of this affair, speaking 
 of the desertions and other discouraging circumstances, 
 — " It is not in the power of words to describe the task 
 I have to perform. Fifty thousand pounds would not 
 induce me again to undergo what I have done." 
 
 In a letter to the President of Congress, written, as 
 lie says at the beginning, in hours borrowed from those 
 allotted to sleep, "Washington thus describes the situa- 
 tion of the army. 
 
 " As the war must be carried on systematically, and 
 to do it you must have good officers, there are no other 
 possible means to obtain them but by establishing your 
 army upon a permanent footing, and giving your officers 
 good pay. This will induce gentlemen and men of cha- 
 racter to engage ; and, till the bulk of your officers is 
 composed of such persons as are actuated by principles 
 of honor and a spirit of enterprise, you have little to ex- 
 pect from them. They ought to have such allowances, 
 as will enable them to live like and support the charac- 
 ter of gentlemen, and not be driven by a scanty pit- 
 tance to the low and dirty arts which many of them 
 
292 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 practise, to filch from the public more than the differ- 
 ence of pay would amount to, upon an ample allowance. 
 Besides, something is due to the man who puts his life 
 in your hands, hazards his health, and forsakes the 
 sweets of domestic enjoyment. 
 
 " But while the only merit an officer possesses is his 
 ability to raise men ; while those men consider and treat 
 him as an equal, and, in the character of an officer, re- 
 gard him no more than a broomstick, being mixed to- 
 gether as one common herd, no order or discipline can 
 prevail ; nor will the officer ever meet with that respect 
 which is essentially necessary to due subordination. 
 
 " Of late a practice prevails of the most alarming 
 nature, and which will, if it cannot be checked, prove 
 fatal to both the country and the army ; I mean the in- 
 famous practice of plundering. For under the idea of 
 tory property, or property that may fall into the hands 
 of the enemy, no man is secure in his effects, and 
 scarcely in his person. In order to get at them, we 
 have several instances of people being frightened out 
 of their houses, under pretence of those houses being 
 ordered to be burnt, and this is done with a view of 
 seizing the goods ; nay, in order that the villainy may 
 be more effectually concealed, some houses have ac- 
 tually been burnt, to cover the theft. I have, with 
 some others, used my utmost endeavors to stop this hor- 
 rid practice ; but under the present lust after plunder, 
 and want of laws to punish offenders, I might almost as 
 well attempt to move Mount Atlas. I have ordered in- 
 
1776.] INDIGNATION AGAINST PLUNDERERS. 293 
 
 stant corporal punishment upon every man, who passes 
 our lines, or is seen with plunder, that the offenders 
 may be punished for disobedience of orders; and I en- 
 close to you the proceedings of a court-martial held 
 upon an officer, who, with a party of men, had robbed 
 a house a little beyond our lines, of a number of valuable 
 goods, among which (to show that nothing escaped) 
 were four large pier looking-glasses, women's clothes, 
 and other articles, which, one would think, could be of 
 no earthly use to him. He was met by a major of 
 brigade, who ordered him to return the goods, as taken 
 contrary to general orders, which he not only refused 
 to do, but drew up his party, and swore he would de- 
 fend them at the hazard of his life ; on which I ordered 
 him to be arrested, tried for plundering, disobedience 
 of orders, and mutiny. 
 
 " An army formed of good officers moves like clock- 
 work ; but there is no situation upon earth less enviable, 
 or more distressing, than that person's, who is at the 
 head of troops regardless of order and discipline, and 
 unprovided with almost every necessary. In a word, 
 the difficulties which have for ever surrounded me 
 since I have been in the service, and kept my mind 
 constantly upon the stretch, the wounds which my feel- 
 ings as an officer have received by a thousand things 
 that have happened contrary to my expectation* and 
 wishes ; the effect of my own conduct, and present ap- 
 pearance of things, so little pleasing to myself, as to 
 render it a matter of no surprise to me if I should stand 
 
294 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 capitally censured by Congress ; added to a conscious- 
 ness of my inability to govern an army composed of 
 sucli discordant parts, and under sucli a variety of in- 
 tricate and perplexing circumstances, induce not only 
 a belief, but a thorough conviction in my mind, that it 
 will be impossible, unless there is a thorough change in 
 our military system, for me to conduct matters in such 
 a manner as to give satisfaction to the public, which is 
 all the recompense I aim at, or ever wished for." 
 
 These extracts are introduced to give in the most 
 concise form, some idea of the state of things, and the 
 difficulties over which the patience, courage and wisdom 
 of our patriot fathers triumphed. 
 
 There was a small success at Harlem on the 16th of 
 September, which served in some trifling degree to in- 
 spirit the troops ; but two of their best officers. Colonel 
 Knowlton and Major Leitch were killed there, and fifty 
 others killed and wounded. Washington went on forti- 
 fying Harlem Heights, and Lord Howe forbore fur- 
 ther attack for several weeks, waiting for the arrival of 
 some troops which he expected. When the enemy 
 sailed up the East River and threatened the works from 
 that side, while other ships-of-war lay in the Hudson 
 ready to co-operate with them, General Washington 
 drew his army further north, and formed a camp on the 
 west side of Bronx River, at White Plains. 
 
 While he is awaiting the attack of Sir William Howe, 
 (lately knighted by Geo. HI.), let us look at a specimen 
 of the cultivation of some of the officers on whose co- 
 
1776.] "PAROLES" AND COUNTERSIGNS. 295 
 
 operation lie was to depend in those times of emergency. 
 We may hope that few of them were so totally un- 
 educated as this writer. 
 
 * " H ro?E=; \ ** ». «iv*«. *—■ 
 
 " C. S. Bedford. 
 
 " The Major of Briggade will attend Daly att 12 
 o'Clock for orders. — there puntially to meet and make 
 there Weekly Returns at orderly time on Saturdays the 
 Poroles and Counter-signs Will be Delivered to them 
 Sealed which they are not to Open untill a Retreet 
 Beating when they ar to communicait to the Field 
 Officer of their Respective Ridgments. The Soldiers 
 are not to Be out of their Respective Quarters after 
 Tattue Beate, 
 
 as theire is the Greatest probbility that the troops 
 May Soon be Canled to Action and the Major General 
 Desires That the Commanding officers of the Ridgments 
 and Corps will take affectual Care that Each man has 
 his Complement of Ammunition and that arme be fre- 
 quantly inspected the Men of Duty Should be Daly 
 Exercised and the Recrutes be Carefully Instructed in 
 the Different parts of their Duty." 
 
 "Head-Quarters, > mh A m6 
 King s Bridge, ) * 
 
 ("JPorole Coneticut Counter-sign Luddingham) Com- 
 plaint has Been made of fields and Garclains Being Pil- 
 
 * Copied from a manuscript order book, belonging to Mr. Tomlinson, 
 who possesses a large Collection of Revolutionary Papers, u Porol" stands 
 for parole, and " C. S." for countersign. 
 
296 MEMOIRS OF "WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 ford Morocling Pilfforcling are a Disgrace to War my 
 and on Restrained an army becomes a Scourge Instead 
 of a Protection to the Inhabitents and is Commonly 
 followed With the implication of Undun Business. 
 The Major General Doth therefore most Strictly forbid 
 all Such unjust practice and offenders if Apprehended 
 will be severely Punished the Inhabitents are to be 
 treated with Gentealness and their affections one By an 
 Orderly & solder Like Behavour.) 
 
 " The Firing of Guns Without Special occation is 
 Strectly forbiden in this Campt and it will not be amiss 
 to Inform this Division that his Exilintsy General 
 Washington has Given orders that Six Coppers for 
 Each Cartridge which Shall be waisted shall be Stoped 
 out of the pay of Shuch Soldier as shall offend in this 
 Particular the Cartridges are to be Drawn if possible 
 and Such as Cannot are to be Discharged under the 
 Direction of an officer Altogether which will prevent 
 and on Soldier Like poping of Guns Around the 
 Camp." 
 
 A good deal more of the same sort gives us but a 
 poor idea of the intelligence of the force on whom 
 Washington was to depend, when, on the 28th of Oc- 
 tober, the British army came in view, within two miles 
 of Washington's camp. Severe skirmishes ensued, and 
 in the end the enemy drove our troops from the works, 
 and would have pursued their advantage but for a very 
 heavy rain wmich rendered military movements impos- 
 sible. 
 
1776 LOSS OF FORT WASHINGTON. 297 
 
 General "Washington availed himself of the delay to 
 withdraw his men to a more secure position, and this 
 was accomplished so well, that the enemy never sus- 
 pected it until they found it past counteracting. Gen- 
 eral Howe now despaired of a battle, and turned his at- 
 tention to the capture of Fort Washington, on the Hud- 
 son, which with its garrison of three thousand men, and 
 a great Quantity of stores, fell into the hands of the 
 enemy. This was the most terrible blow we had yet 
 sustained, and the British feeling of triumph knew no 
 bounds, decided successes on their part having been 
 thus far very rare. 
 
 Again on this occasion "Washington, who viewed 
 the fight from the opposite shore of the Hudson, is said 
 to have wrung his hands and wept as he saw our poor 
 fellows cut down by the Hessians. He had disapproved 
 of attempting to hold this post, and had written thus to 
 General Greene, at Fort Lee, who disagreed with him 
 in the opinion that it was best to dismantle and abandon 
 it. " If we cannot prevent vessels from passing up, and 
 the enemy are possessed of the surrounding country, 
 what valuable purpose can it answer to attempt to hold 
 a post, from which the expected benefit cannot be had ? 
 I am therefore inclined to think, that it will not be pru- 
 dent to hazard the stores and men at Mount "Washing- 
 ton ; but, as you are on the spot, I leave it to you to 
 give such orders, as to evacuating Mount "Washington, 
 as you may judge best." 
 
 General Lee coolly observed on hearing of the ter- 
 13* 
 
298 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 rible loss, — " Oh, general ! why would you be over-per- 
 suaded by men of inferior judgment to your own? It 
 was a cursed affair." 
 
 Washington retreated into New Jersey. General 
 Howe followed him closely. When our army reached 
 New Brunswick, it amounted to only about four thou- 
 sand men, afterwards reduced by sickness and desertion, 
 to three thousand ; with these Washington retreated to 
 Trenton. The enemy and the tories grew bolder and 
 more insolent every day, while the patriotic were more 
 and more depressed, though none the less determined 
 on death rather than submission. A large majority 
 were dissatisfied, to a certain degree, with the com- 
 mander-in-chief. Even George Clinton says : " We 
 have no particular accounts yet from head-quarters, 
 but I am apt to believe retreating is yet fashionable." 
 
 The defensive policy which Washington had felt 
 obliged, at the sacrifice of all that self-love suggested 
 and all that a naturally ardent and impetuous temper 
 must have prompted, to adopt for the safety of the 
 cause under the circumstances, had already brought 
 upon him, as he knew it must, the charge of indecision, 
 if not of imbecility. Even his bosom friend, Colonel 
 Reed, dazzled by the more showy qualities of Lee, who 
 was prodigiously overrated on account of his European 
 military experience — acquired, however, under circum- 
 stances so different as to be of little comparative use in 
 America — had privately joined that aspiring and inso- 
 lent officer in disparaging the conduct of the com- 
 
1776.] . WOUNDED FEELINGS. 299 
 
 mander-in-chief ; which came to his knowledge by his 
 having accidentally opened a letter not intended for his 
 eye, but which he had reason to suppose was an ordi- 
 nary letter on public business. Yet he had shown the 
 utter futility of a charge of indecision and vacillation, 
 by persisting in the line of policy which he had marked 
 out as the only one which would render success possi- 
 ble ; namely that of wearying out the enemy, and 
 avoiding such a decisive trial of strength as must in- 
 evitably prove destructive to the little, half-clothed, 
 half-armed, and more than half-dispirited band which 
 constituted his entire force. 
 
 Thus left without a personal friend near him in 
 whose hearty support he could confide ; feeling that he 
 was surrounded with critics rather than supporters ; 
 under difficulties as great as ever were laid upon the 
 judgment, skill, and patience of mortal man, Wash- 
 ington remained calm and determined, crushing his 
 wounded feelings into his own bosom, pursuing his 
 labors with a single eye to the great end, and leaving 
 success and fame in the hands of the Ruler of the uni- 
 verse, whom he felt to be on his side and the side of 
 Freedom. 
 
 If any have ever doubts of the religious faith of 
 Washington, the study of his conduct and letters of this 
 period would go far to convince the most skeptical, that 
 nothing but an abiding and most hearty faith could have 
 sustained his calmness, and his disregard of appearances, 
 
300 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. E 1776 
 
 for he was a man to whom the approbation of his fellow- 
 men was very precious. 
 
 At this unhappy juncture, Governor Livingston, of 
 New Jersey, wrote him : 
 
 " I can easily form some idea of the difficulties un- 
 der which you labor, particularly of one for which the 
 public can make no allowance, because your prudence 
 and fidelity to the cause will not suffer you to reveal it 
 to the public ; an instance of magnanimity superior, 
 perhaps, to any that can be shown in battle. But de- 
 pend upon it, my dear sir, the impartial world will do 
 you ample justice before long. May God support you 
 under that fatigue, both of body and mind, to which 
 you must be constantly exposed." 
 
 It was at the chief's own request that General Lee 
 had been entrusted with a command next in dignity 
 and importance to his own, although objections had 
 been felt by others, grounded both on Lee's traits of 
 character and his being an Englishman. 
 
 "Washington was, as we have seen, aware of his hot 
 and ungoverned temper, but thought his military skill 
 invaluable to an inexperienced army, and so always 
 paid great deference to his opinion. This helped to 
 make Lee more and more conceited, and seems to have 
 confirmed him in the notion that he was the better gen- 
 eral of the two. 
 
 Mr. Irving says — " It is evident that Lee considered 
 Washington's star to be on the decline, and his own in 
 the ascendant." And no wonder, when we find Reed 
 
1776 -] GENEROUS FORGIVENESS. 301 
 
 writing to him : " I do not mean to flatter or praise you, 
 at the expense of any other ; but I do think it is en- 
 tirely owing to you, that this army, and the liberties of 
 America so far as they are dependent on it, are not en- 
 tirely cut off. You have decision, a quality often want- 
 ing in minds otherwise valuable ; and I ascribe to this 
 our escape from York Island, King's Bridge, and the 
 Plains ; and I have no doubt, had you been here, the 
 garrison of Mount Washington would now have com- 
 posed a part of this army." 
 
 Colonel Reed in after times saw his error, and found 
 a " place of repentance," having " sought it earnestly, 
 with tears." Washington could forgive even his own 
 familiar friend for a momentary treachery, for the best 
 people learn by self-knowledge to be merciful to the 
 faults of others, — but at the time it was evidently a 
 sore blow to him. 
 
CHAPTER XXYII. 
 
 Lee's advice — His jealousy of Washington — Delays in obeying orders — Endeavoring 
 to make an independent movement, to the injury of the Commander-in-chief — 
 Cabals against Washington — Lee's capture by the British — Retreat across the Jer- 
 seys — Position and prospects of the Army— New powers granted by Congress. 
 
 Lee's characteristic advice, with respect to the inter- 
 minable delays of Congress in granting the necessary- 
 supplies, was that Washington should threaten to lay 
 down his commission, which would probably have been 
 the very thing most men would have thought of. But 
 such an idea seems never to have been entertained, 
 even at the darkest hour, by the man whose heroic soul 
 had the whole weight of responsibility to Wfear ;. and he 
 bore it, not as a hireling, but as one whose dearest in- 
 terests were bound up in the common cause. Lee's 
 jealousy of Washington, and his desire to find an op- 
 portunity of supplanting him, added greatly to all the 
 difficulties of this period. Not only did he delay, un- 
 der various pretences, marching to the succor of the 
 commander-in-chief, when the army in Jersey was on 
 the point of annihilation, but he was secretly under- 
 mining his influence, and the respect instinctively felt 
 
1776.] ATTEMPTS AT UNDERMINING. 303 
 
 for him throughout the country, by letters in every di- 
 rection, containing such passages as these : — " Indeci- 
 sion bids fair for tumbling down the goodly fabric of 
 American freedom, and with it, the rights of mankind. 
 'Twas indecision of Congress prevented our having a 
 noble army, and on an excellent footing. 'Twas inde 
 cision in our military councils which cost us the garri- 
 son of Fort Washington, the consequence of which 
 must be fatal, unless remedied in time by a contrary 
 spirit. 
 
 " Enclosed, I send you an extract of a letter from 
 the general, on which you will make your comments ; 
 and I have no doubt you will concur with me in the 
 necessity of raising immediately an army to save us 
 from perdition." 
 
 This to General Heath : — 
 
 " I j>erceive that you have formed an idea that, 
 should General Washington remove to the Straits of 
 Magellan, the instructions he left with you, upon a par- 
 ticular occasion, have, to all intents and purposes, in- 
 vested you with a command separate from, and inde- 
 pendent of any other superiors." 
 
 To Eeed he writes : — " I received your most obli- 
 ging, nattering letter ; lament with you that fatal inde- 
 cision of mind, which in war is a much greater dis- 
 qualification than stupidity, or even want of personal 
 courage. Accident may put a decisive blunderer in 
 the right ; but eternal defeat and miscarriage must at- 
 
304 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [177G. 
 
 tend the man of the best parts, if cursed with indeci- 
 sion." 
 
 Afterwards, to Governor Cooke, of Rhode Island : — 
 
 " Theory joined to practice, or a heaven-born genius, 
 can alone constitute a general. As to the latter, God 
 Almighty indulges the modern world very rarely with 
 the spectacle ; and I do not know, from what I have 
 seen, that he has been more profuse of this ethereal 
 spirit to the Americans than to other nations." 
 
 All this time Lee was making every possible and im- 
 possible excuse to avoid aiding "Washington with his 
 troops ; the chief in the dignity of his own honesty try- 
 ing, to the last, to believe in Lee, and to rely upon his 
 statements. 
 
 It has been said that Washington was never de- 
 ceived in a man whom he had a fair opportunity of 
 knowing ; and we can hardly say whether or not this 
 case should be considered an exception. It would 
 seem that Washington continued to rely upon his sec- 
 ond in command as an officer, after he had become fully 
 aware of his defects as a man. It was not long before 
 Lee discovered himself so fully as to lose even his 
 military reputation. 
 
 Three weeks did Washington wait, hope and urge. 
 Philadelphia was evidently the immediate object of the 
 enemy. " Do come on," he writes to Lee ; " your ar- 
 rival may be fortunate, and, if it can be effected with- 
 out delay, may be the means of preserving a city, 
 
1776.] CROSS PURPOSES. 305 
 
 whose loss must prove of the most fatal consequence to 
 the cause of America." 
 
 And again : — " Philadelphia, beyond all question, 
 is the object of the enemy's movements, and nothing 
 less than our utmost exertions will prevent General 
 Howe from possessing it. The force I have is weak, 
 and utterly incompetent to that end. I must, there- 
 fore, entreat you to push on with every possible succor 
 you can bring." 
 
 Lee, meanwhile, writes to General Heath for some 
 ot General Gates's troops to be sent to him. " I am 
 in hopes," he says, " to reconquer (if I may so express 
 myself) the Jerseys. It was really in the hands of the 
 enemy at my arrival." Washington still urged and al- 
 most entreated. " I have so frequently mentioned our 
 situation, and the necessity of your aid, that it is pain- 
 ful for me to add a word on the subject," he says. 
 
 But Lee, perfectly heedless of all these appeals, 
 staid where he was, and meditated separate plans, the 
 credit of whose success might redound to his own glory. 
 
 Mr. Irving's account of his appearance and conduct 
 is most graphic and amusing, but we must not indulge 
 ourselves by extracting it. Suffice it to say, that all 
 Lee's wild dreams ended in his being made prisoner, in 
 the most mortifying way, by a party of British dra- 
 goons, just as he was signing a letter he had written to 
 General Gates to this effect : — 
 
 " There never was so d — d a stroke ; entre nous, a 
 certain great man is most d — bly deficient. He has 
 
306 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 thrown me into a situation where I have my choice of 
 difficulties ; if I stay in this province I risk myself and 
 army ; and if I do not stay the province is lost for 
 ever." 
 
 The account of his capture (given by Wilkinson,) 
 concludes : — • 
 
 " There was a shout of triumph, but a great hurry 
 to make sure of the prize before the army should ar- 
 rive to the rescue. A trumpet sounded the recall to 
 the dragoons, who were chasing the scattered guards. 
 The general, bareheaded, and in his slippers and 
 blanket coat, was mounted on "Wilkinson's horse, which 
 stood at the door, and the troops clattered off with their 
 prisoner to Brunswick. In three hours the booming of 
 cannon in that direction, told the exultation of the en- 
 emy. 
 
 " They boasted of having taken the American Pal- 
 ladium ; for they considered Lee the most scientific and 
 experienced of the rebel generals." 
 
 Washington uttered no word of censure against Lee 
 in his despatches to Congress, but exerted himself in 
 every possible way until an exchange had been accom- 
 plished. 
 
 Lee would not have claimed so many words in a life 
 of Washington, were it not at this juncture he had 
 come within a possibility, at least, of supj)lanting the 
 commander-in-chief. So heavy was the discourage- 
 ment under which Washington was laboring, not with- 
 out its natural consequence of unpopularity, that if 
 
1776 -] THE TRUTH PREVAILS. 307 
 
 Lee, who had acquired the position of a military idol 
 to the army, had achieved the separate movement 
 which he was contemplating, and succeeded in breaking 
 the cordon of the enemy, there seems to have been a 
 chance of his surpassing the chief, and throwing him 
 completely into the background, after all his services. 
 
 This could have been only temporary : but as Mr. 
 Irving observes : — 
 
 " What an unfortunate change it would have been 
 for the country ! Lee was undoubtedly a man of bril- 
 liant talents, shrewd sagacity, and much knowledge 
 and experience in the art of war ; but he was wilful 
 and uncertain in his temper, self-indulgent in his hab- 
 its, and an egotist in warfare ; boldly dashing for a sol- 
 dier's glory, rather than warily acting for a country's 
 good. He wanted those great moral qualities which, 
 in addition to military capacity, inspired such universal 
 confidence in the wisdom, rectitude and patriotism of 
 Washington, enabling him to direct and control legis- 
 lative bodies as well as armies ; to harmonize the jar- 
 ring passions and jealousies of a wide and imperfect 
 confederacy, and to cope with the varied exigencies of 
 the Revolution." 
 
 As it was ordered, however, Lee's true character 
 came to light, and Washington's retreat through the 
 Jerseys received its just meed of praise, as a stroke of 
 good generalship. It was an orderly retreat of nearly 
 one hundred miles, accomplished at a slow pace, in 
 order to allow time for the country people to join them, 
 
308 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 and accompanied by all the cannon and nearly all the 
 stores of the army, though four rivers were to be 
 crossed in the transit. Twice there had been a retro- 
 grade movement, in the expectation of meeting the 
 enemy, or with an intention of defying him, bnt no en- 
 gagement had taken place. Washington reached Tren- 
 ton in safety on December 2d, and crossing the Dela- 
 ware, encamped on the right bank, and there remained 
 for about three weeks, watching the movements of the 
 British, who were evidently approaching Philadelphia. 
 He writes to his brother : — 
 
 "No man, I believe, ever had a greater choice of 
 difficulties, and less means to extricate himself from 
 them. However, under a full persuasion of the justice 
 of our cause, I cannot entertain an idea that it will 
 finally sink, though it may remain for some time under 
 a cloud." 
 
 One thing strikes one as remarkable, in studying this 
 part of Washington's career, that there was any body 
 left who held an unshaken opinion of his military skill. 
 
 We, who have the advantage of seeing at a glance 
 his course and its results, have no difficulty in award- 
 ing him the credit he all the time deserved. But for 
 his contemporaries it must have been far less easy. To 
 be sure they had his past conduct, character and ser- 
 vices to found an opinion upon ; but in sixteen years of 
 peaceful farming and fox-hunting, a man might forget 
 a good deal that he had learned in early youth, even 
 under General Braddock. 
 
1776.] GLOOMIEST PERIOD OF THE WAR. 309 
 
 We cannot help thinking there must have been a 
 great deal, not only of sound sense and good judgment, 
 but of generous feeling in the people and the Congress, 
 who still believed in Washington and furthered his 
 measures. His own weight of character, and the hon- 
 esty and truthfulness of his countenance and manner, 
 must have had a large share in producing faith in his 
 movements ; but, after all, no little credit is dne to the 
 people, who were obliged to look on and see him retreat 
 and retreat, when they had no means of judging of his 
 reasons. It is pleasant to think that a large proportion 
 of those he fought for were worthy of his labors and 
 sacrifices. 
 
 " This," says Sparks, " was the gloomiest period of 
 the war. The campaign had been little else than a se- 
 ries of disasters and retreats. The enemy had gained 
 possession of Ehode Island, Long Island, the city of 
 New York, Staten Island, and nearly the whole of the 
 Jerseys, and seemed on the point of extending their 
 conquests into Pennsylvania. By the fatal scheme of 
 short enlistments, and by sickness, the effective force 
 with General Washington had dwindled away, till it 
 hardly deserved the name of an army. A proclama- 
 tion was published jointly by Lord Howe and General 
 Howe, offering pardon in the king's name, to all who 
 should take the oath of allegiance and come under his 
 protection in sixty days. 
 
 " Many persons, among whom were men of wealth 
 
310 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 and consideration, accepted these terms, and went over 
 to the enemy. 
 
 " Others, especially in New Jersey, took the oath, 
 but remained at their homes. 
 
 " In short, so great was the panic and so dark the 
 prospect, that a general despondency pervaded the con- 
 tinent. In the midst of these scenes of trial and dis- 
 couragement, Washington stood firm. Whatever his 
 apprehensions may have been, no misgivings were 
 manifest in his conduct or his counsels. 
 
 " From his letters, written at this time on the west- 
 ern bank of the Delaware, it does not appear that he 
 yielded for a moment to a sense of immediate danger, 
 or to a doubt of ultimate success. On the contrary 
 they breathe the same determined spirit, and are 
 marked by the same confidence, calmness, and fore- 
 thought, which distinguish them on all other occasions. 
 When asked what he would do, if Philadelphia should 
 be taken, he is reported to have said — ' We will retreat 
 beyond the Susquehanna River ; and thence, if neces- 
 sary, to the Alleghany Mountains.' Knowing, as he did, 
 the temper of the people, the deep-rooted cause of the 
 controversy, and the actual resources of the confeder- 
 acy, he was not disheartened by temporary misfortunes, 
 being persuaded that perseverance would at last over- 
 come every obstacle." 
 
 Burke thought the position of our army at this time 
 very precarious. "An army," he says, "that is obliged 
 at all times and in all situations, to decline an engage- 
 
1776.] DICTATORIAL POWERS. 311 
 
 ment, may' delay their ruin, but can never defend their 
 country." Some one called it " a scuffle for liberty." 
 
 It was not very long after this that the British who 
 had been in possession of the whole route, were obliged 
 to ask of Washington a safe conduct for money and 
 stores, to be sent for the use of the prisoners captured 
 at Trenton. 
 
 While he lay in camp at Trenton the state of the 
 army, then in imminent danger of being totally dis- 
 banded, owing to the dissatisfaction of the Jersey peo- 
 ple, obliged him to ask for new powers, powers indeed 
 which he himself felt Congress might well refuse to 
 grant. 
 
 " It may be said, that this is an application for pow- 
 ers that are too dangerous to be intrusted. I can only 
 add, that desperate diseases require desperate reme- 
 dies ; and I with truth declare, that I have no lust after 
 power, but I wish with as much fervency as any man 
 upon this wide-extended continent, for an opportunity 
 of turning the sword into the ploughshare. But my 
 feelings, as an officer and a man, have been such as to 
 force me to say, that no person ever had a greater 
 choice of difficulties to contend with than I have. It 
 is needless to add, that short enlistments, and a mis- 
 taken dependence upon militia, have been the origin 
 of all our misfortunes and the great accumulation of 
 our debt. 
 
 " We find, sir, that the enemy are daily gathering- 
 strength from the disaffected. This strength, like a 
 
312 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 enow-ball, by rolling, will increase, unless some means 
 can be devised to check effectually the progress of the 
 enemy's arms. Militia may possibly do it for a little 
 while ; but in a little while, also, and the militia of 
 those States which have been frequently called upon, 
 will not turn out at all ; or, if -they do, it will be with 
 so much reluctance and sloth, as to amount to the same 
 thing. 
 
 " Instance New Jersey ! Witness Pennsylvania ! 
 Could any thing but the river Delaware have saved 
 Philadelphia ? Can any thing (the exigency of the 
 case indeed may justify it) be more destructive to the 
 recruiting service, than giving ten dollars' bounty for 
 six weeks' service of the militia, who come in, you can- 
 not tell how, go, you cannot tell when, and act, you 
 cannot tell where ; consume your provisions, exhaust 
 your stores, and leave you at last at a critical moment." 
 
 But Congress did not refuse, and in this case, as in 
 most others, answered favorably Washington's volumes 
 of letters, filled, as was necessary under the distressing 
 and threatening circumstances of the case, with requisi- 
 tions of every kind. He often apologizes for this, yet 
 the thing speaks for itself, and however tiresome, it 
 must be done, and was done, with such faithfulness as 
 in the end answered the purpose. 
 
 Washington not only received from Congress the 
 powers of almost a military dictator, but accompanied 
 by such gracious words as these : — 
 
 " Happy is it for this country that the general of 
 
1776.] CIVIL OBLIGATIONS. 313 
 
 their forces can safely be intrusted with the most un- 
 limited power, and neither personal security, liberty nor 
 property, be in the least degree endangered thereby." 
 
 To which Washington replied : — 
 
 " I find Congress has done me the honor to intrust 
 me with powers, in my military capacity, of the high- 
 est nature, and almost unlimited extent. Instead of 
 thinking myself freed from all civil obligations by this 
 mark of their confidence, I shall constantly bear in 
 mind that, as the sword was the last resort for the pres- 
 ervation of our liberties, so it ought to be the first thing 
 laid aside when those liberties are firmly established." 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Public patience wearing out — The art of retreating — Recruiting — Some accessions to 
 the army give rise to new hopes and new projects — Hard duty — Crossing the Del- 
 aware—Surprise of the Hessians — Battle of Trenton— Entrance into Philadelphia 
 — Battle of Princeton— Anecdotes of Washington's bravery. 
 
 The discouraging aspect of affairs, after the loss of Fort 
 Washington, and while the w r eary and diminished army 
 was on the west side of the Delaware, awaiting, with 
 the courage of desperation, the movements of Lord 
 Howe and his brother Sir William, tried the soul of 
 Washington to the utmost. Retreating and retreating, 
 with scarce a gleam of success to cheer the heavy 
 clouds of disappointment, it needed all his energy and 
 all his perseverance — superior to most other men's — to 
 keep off despair and sustain activity. The Howes were 
 only waiting for the ice to take Philadelphia, which 
 had been left under command of General Putnam. 
 
 The army under Washington at this time amounted 
 to ten thousand, one hundred and six men ; of this 
 number, five thousand, three hundred and ninety-nine 
 were sick or on furlough, leaving four thousand, seven 
 hundred and seven fit for duty. 
 
1776.] A STORMY CHRISTMAS. 315 
 
 The complete renovation of the array, by new en- 
 listments and judicious liberality, was now the theme 
 of his letters to Congress ; and Congress was wise, and 
 listened, and aided, and did every thing in its power to 
 meet his views. Mutual respect and mutual confi- 
 dence mark the correspondence, which one really can- 
 not read without a feeling that he is in the presence of 
 superior minds, and hearts worthy of the honor of man- 
 aging a patriot revolution. 
 
 After watching the movements of the enemy for 
 some time with the greatest anxiety, and finding his 
 own force increased by the accession of troops from 
 Ticonderoga and elsewhere, Washington resolved upon 
 attempting the passage of the Delaware, and surprising 
 the British force then lying at Trenton. December 
 25th was the time fixed upon for this bold stroke. 
 
 The weather was very severe, and the river full of 
 floating masses of ice. The transit must be made in 
 darkness, and the least noise would involve the frustra- 
 tion of the plan, if not the destruction of all engaged 
 in it. "Washington superintended the whole in person, 
 and it was four o'clock in the morning when the entire 
 army, with its artillery, had made its tedious and peril- 
 ous way through the icy waters, and stood upon the 
 eastern shore, in a bitter wind, and under a storm of 
 hail and snow. The troops, in two divisions, were to 
 attack the town at two different points, and this was 
 accomplished almost at one and the same moment. 
 
 It is said that while Washington, wound up to the 
 
316 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 last pitch of anxiety and excited feeling, was standing 
 on the shore, watch in hand, directing the transporta- 
 tion of the troops, an officer approached and handed 
 him a letter. " What a time is this to hand me let- 
 ters ! " he said hastily, as if the solemnity of the scene 
 ought to concentrate all attention. He forgot that no 
 one there could fully sympathize with him upon whom 
 the responsibility was weighing. 
 
 Some one else told him, after the divisions had 
 started on their perilous march, that not only the men 
 but their arms were soaked with freezing water, and 
 asked what should be done. 
 
 " Advance and charge ! " and though every heavy 
 tread of the marching thousands was to be made 
 through snow, and in the face of cutting sleet, no one 
 faltered, though the cold was clinching at their very vi- 
 tals. 
 
 As the day broke, a countryman came out to chop 
 wood for his fire, and some one of the staff who rode 
 with their general at the head of the troops, inquired 
 where the picket lay. 
 
 " I don't know, I'm sure," said the fellow, who had 
 no idea of getting himself into trouble. 
 
 " You need not be afraid to tell," said the aid ; "this 
 is General Washington." 
 
 " God bless and prosper you, sir," said the farmer ; 
 " there they are, and just by the tree stands the sentry." 
 
 They moved on at a quicker pace. In another mo- 
 ment all was confusion. When the fight was at its 
 
1776. J SURPRISE AT TRENTON. 317 
 
 thickest, and Washington was hurrying on another co- 
 lumn, an officer called out — " Their flags are struck, 
 sir ! " 
 
 " Struck ! so they are ! " he said, looking up. Then 
 putting spurs to his horse he galloped forward, shouting- 
 words of cheer, and bestowing praise on the brave fel- 
 lows who loved him so well. 
 
 The enemy's force, consisting principally of Hes- 
 sians,* under the command of Colonel Rahl, taken en- 
 tirely by surprise, and in their confusion, half-blinded 
 by the storm, made first an attempt at resistance, then 
 an effort at retreat, but finally a complete surrender of 
 themselves as prisoners of war — twenty-three officers, 
 and about nine hundred privates. Six brass field-pieces 
 and a thousand stand of arms, were not the least ac- 
 ceptable fruits of victory. Seven officers and five-and- 
 twenty men were killed, on the British side ; on ours 
 two privates killed, and two frozen to death. General 
 "Washington, fearing the effects of cold and fatigue upon 
 his men, recrossed the Delaware immediately, and 
 reached his camp in safety, with all his prisoners and 
 the voluminous spoils of war ; and he made a sort of 
 triumphal entry into Philadelphia, in order to raise the 
 spirits of the people and the army,, by the exhibition 
 of tangible proofs of success. 
 
 The British> retreated to Princeton, where they were 
 reinforced from New York, and placed under command 
 
 * Troops hired for the war by the king of Great Britain from the Duke 
 of Hesse Casse. 
 
318 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1777. 
 
 of Earl Cornwallis. As soon as his troops were suffi- 
 ciently recruited, General Washington had once more 
 crossed the river and taken up his post at Trenton, ready 
 for the attack which he knew would be made. On 
 the 2d of January, 1777, news came that the enemy 
 was approaching, and several parties were sent to 
 harass and hinder them on their march, so that they 
 did not reach Trenton until four o'clock in the after- 
 noon. By this time the American army had taken up 
 a position beyond the Assanpink, a small stream that 
 empties into the Delaware below Trenton, and on whose 
 banks our cannon were planted. 
 
 " Now is the time to make sure of "Washington," 
 said one of the British officers to Lord Cornwallis. 
 But my lord, with his overwhelming force, was too con- 
 fident of victory to be in any great haste. " Our troops 
 have marched a good way and are tired," he said, 
 " and the old fox can't escape this time, for the Dela- 
 ware is frozen, and we have him completely in our 
 power. To-morrow morning we will fall upon him, 
 and take him and his ragamuffuas all at once." 
 
 " If Washington be the soldier I think him," was 
 the reply, " you'll not see him to-morrow morning." 
 
 And so the event proved ; for Washington, after set- 
 ting the night-watch, and kindling a row of fires along 
 the bank of the creek, sent his bnggage^down to Bur- 
 lington, and withdrew his little army so quietly that it 
 was not till daylight that the British suspected their 
 departure. While they were staring at each other in 
 
1777 -] BATTLE OF PRINCETON. 319 
 
 blank astonishment, and asking, " Where can Washing- 
 ton be gone ? " the booming of cannon was heard in 
 the direction of Princeton. 
 
 " There he is ! " said every body, and they were 
 quite right, for he had set out with the bold resolve of 
 marching upon Brunswick, and taking the stores which 
 had been accumulated there by the British. But en- 
 countering three British regiments at Princeton, he 
 had stopped to give them battle, and was even then 
 coming off victorious with three hundred prisoners. 
 Lord Cornwallis and his army returned crestfallen to 
 Brunswick, fearing for the money and stores which had 
 been Washington's first object, and which he writes to 
 the President of Congress he could probably have taken 
 if he could have commanded six or eight hundred fresh 
 troops, though he dared not attempt it with men worn 
 out by two sleepless nights and forced marches. The 
 seventy thousand pounds said to have been in the mili- 
 tary chest at Brunswick, would have put such sinews 
 into our side of the war, at that critical time, that it is 
 probable Mr. Kobert Morris would have been saved a 
 great deal of trouble, and General Washington enabled 
 to return to Mount Vernon three or four years earlier 
 than he did. 
 
 Kobert Morris was the great financier who managed 
 to obtain money for the war, even under the worst cir- 
 cumstances, often pledging his own personal credit for 
 it, when the public credit was worth almost nothing. 
 
320 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1777. 
 
 It is often said that without him, even Washington 
 would have been of no avail to our cause. 
 
 At the battle of Princeton, our army lost General 
 Mercer, a brave and amiable officer, and a personal 
 friend of Washington. On the British side, a young 
 Captain Leslie, son of an English earl, was among the 
 slain, and at the request of the prisoners he was buried 
 with military honors. 
 
 Stories of Washington's contempt of personal danger 
 are linked to this battle. His officers are said to have 
 complained of it and remonstrated against it ; but when 
 the hottest of the fight came, he could not help dashing 
 into it, cheering on his men and inspiring their courage 
 by his own. 
 
 One of his aides-de-camp, Colonel Fitzgerald, a brave 
 Irishman, had been ordered by the commander-in-chief 
 to bring up troops from the rear of the column. When 
 he returned, Washington was not to be found. In a 
 moment, however, the parting smoke showed him in the 
 thick of the battle, endeavoring to rally a line which 
 had been broken by the enemy. Failing in this, he 
 reined his horse up, directly in front of the enemy, — 
 perhaps in something like the position in which we see 
 him in Brown's splendid statue, just erected in New 
 York, — and there stood, as if to say to the discomfited 
 troops, — " Death rather than dishonor, for me at 
 least." 
 
 Fitzgerald, horror stricken, dropped the bridle on 
 his horse's neck and covered his eyes with his hands, 
 
1777.] MOBAL EFFECT OF VICTOEY. 321 
 
 that he might not see him fall. Then came a volley of 
 musketry, and the aide once more looks for his chief. 
 There he is, waving his hat, cheering on the troops, 
 while victory follows in his footsteps. 
 
 " Thank God ! your Excellency is safe ! " the warm- 
 hearted Irishman exclaims, bursting into tears of joyful 
 surprise. Washington, all radiant, gave him a hearty 
 grasp of the hand, exclaiming, " Away, my dear Colonel, 
 and bring up the troops. The day is our own." 
 
 The moral effect of this victory can hardly be ap- 
 preciated. The public mind, sunk in despondency by 
 incessant disaster, was cold and spiritless, though ob- 
 stinately bent on resistance. Criticism was rife, and 
 those who stood by and did nothing, found it easy to 
 show how much ought to have been done, by those who 
 had alone borne all the hardships and suffered most of 
 the losses. But when "Washington had seized this 
 glorious opportunity of showing what he could do with 
 an inferior force, as soon as he caught the British at a 
 distance from the ships which had heretofore backed 
 all their land operations, the whole aspect of affairs was 
 changed, and the war assumed at once a character of 
 dignity and hope, which had been well-nigh lost or for- 
 gotten amid defeat and disaster. Success threw magic 
 light on Washington's wisdom and patience ; he was a 
 hero, the " American Fabius," and several other very 
 fine characters, any one of whom would have been 
 honored by being compared to him. In three weeks to 
 drive the British from all their posts on the Delaware, 
 
322 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1777. 
 
 and from all but two in the Jerseys, was a feat that 
 caused a degree of exultation and an exuberance of 
 praise, that might have proved dangerous if not pru- 
 dently managed. But Washington was on his guard, 
 both for himself and the public, and he neither sat still 
 to enjoy his laurels, nor relaxed his vigilance because of 
 the confusion of the enemy. He speaks of them as 
 " panic-struck," and immediately plans an attack on 
 them at JSTew York, calling on Generals Lincoln and 
 Heath to make a feint, as if intending to attack them 
 from the Hudson, in order that Washington might 
 march upon them from Jersey. 
 
 But this project was, for various reasons, given up, 
 and Washington remained in winter-quarters at Morris- 
 town, recruiting his army and preparing for the next 
 campaign, though he took many opportunities of ha- 
 rassing the enemy and counteracting his designs. The 
 people of Jersey, who had been almost to a man disaffected 
 to the patriot cause, had been pretty well cured of their 
 fancy for British rule, by the conduct of the Hessian 
 legions in that State ; and Washington, taking up his 
 winter-quarters among them, and using his influence 
 judiciously, gained many of them over to the right side. 
 
 As the Hessian prisoners were marched through the 
 towns in Pennsylvania on their way to Philadelphia, 
 they were hooted at by the inhabitants, who had con- 
 ceived a most hateful idea of the hired soldiers that 
 could speak no English. But General Washington 
 caused notices to be put up all through the country, to 
 
1777.] WINTER QUARTERS. 323 
 
 the effect that these soldiers were not to blame for the 
 war, but sold by their sovereign to Great Britain, and 
 so fighting by compulsion. After this, they were no 
 longer molested, but treated with kindness by the in- 
 habitants. 
 
 The campaign of 1776, being now finished gloriously, 
 Washington established his quarters at Morristown, 
 having cleared the Jerseys of the British, with the ex- 
 ception of the towns of Brunswick and Amboy, by 
 means of which they had. an open communication by 
 water with New York. After the successes of the 25th 
 and 26th December, u the enemy evacuated the region, 
 with the greatest hurry and confusion." Morristown 
 was not as good a position for winter-quarters as might 
 have been wished, but being in a mountainous country 
 in was difficult of access to the enemy, and being the 
 depot of a farming region was well supplied with pro- 
 visions and forage. Here he spent the entire winter, 
 harassing the enemy when he could, but occupied in- 
 cessantly with the care of the whole extent of the 
 American forces, distributed at various points, from 
 Canada to St. Augustine. His letters during the period 
 are numerous and characteristic. General Lee's situ- 
 ation, as a prisoner of war, forms the subject of many 
 of these, the British at first seeming very anxious to 
 make an example of that officer, as a deserter from 
 their service. The treatment of prisoners on both sides 
 was an anxious and annoying point, each side accusing 
 the other of unnecessary hardship or neglect. The cor- 
 
324 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1777. 
 
 respondence between General Washington and General 
 Howe on this topic, is sharp and bitter. On the other 
 hand, Washington had the duty of keeping Congress 
 right abont these matters, since gentlemen legislating 
 quietly at a distance are very liable to mistake in di- 
 recting military affairs. 
 
 Then there were incessant questions of rank to set- 
 tle ; the offended dignity of officers who thought them- 
 selves undervalued to be appeased ; and the warmest 
 persuasives to be used to those who were threatening 
 to resign. 
 
 A curious expedient at one time suggested itself to 
 Washington, mentioned in a letter to Colonel Morgan. 
 
 " It occurs to me that if you would dress a company 
 or two of true woodsmen in the Indian style, and let 
 them make the attack with screaming and yelling, as 
 the Indians do, it would have very good consequences, 
 especially if as little as possible was said or known of 
 the matter beforehand." 
 
 Another letter concludes — 
 
 "In a word, if a man cannot act in all respects as 
 he can wish, he must do what appears best under the 
 circumstances he is in. This I aim at, however I may 
 fall short of the end." 
 
 The authority given by Congress to the commander- 
 in-chief being used by him in requiring an oath of al- 
 legiance, gave great dissatisfaction, particularly in New 
 Jersey, whose Legislature passed a resolve of censure 
 against it, as interfering with their prerogative. The 
 
1777.] DANGERS OF PRETENDED NEUTRALITY. 325 
 
 proclamation required every good citizen to come for- 
 ward and take the oath of allegiance to the United 
 States, granting leave to the disaffected to retire within 
 the enemy's lines, and declaring that all who should 
 neglect or refuse to comply with the order, within the 
 space of thirty days, should be " deemed adherents to 
 the King of Great Britain, and treated as common 
 enemies to these American States." There was a great 
 clamor about this. It was said there were " no United 
 States," and that each State must administer its own 
 oath of allegiance. But Washington made no change. 
 The dangers of pretended neutrality had become suffi- 
 ciently apparent to him, and he chose, as he always 
 did, to defer his personal popularity to the great 
 cause. 
 
 " These fellows at Elizabethtown, as well as all 
 others,, who wish to remain with us till the expiration 
 of the thirty days, for no other purpose than to convey 
 intelligence to the enemy and poison our people's 
 minds, must and shall be compelled to withdraw imme- 
 diately within the enemy's lines ; others, who are hesi- 
 tating which side to take, and behave friendly to us 
 till they determine, must be treated with lenity." 
 
 One of Washington's letters to a pouting general is 
 so lively and characteristic of the directness with which 
 he treated all subjects, as well as so good a general hint 
 to egotists, that we must not quite omit it : 
 
 " Do not, my dear General S , torment yourself 
 
 any longer with imaginary slights, and involve others 
 
326 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1777. 
 
 in the perplexities you feel on that score. No other 
 officer of rank in the whole array has so often conceived 
 himself neglected, slighted and ill-treated, as you have 
 done, and none, I am sure, has had less cause than 
 yourself to entertain such ideas. * * * * But 
 I have no time to dwell upon a subject of this kind. I 
 shall quit it with an earnest exhortation, that you will 
 not suffer yourself to be teazed with evils that exist 
 only in the imagination, and with slights that have no 
 existence at all." 
 
CHAPTEE XXIX. 
 
 Army marched to Germantov/n — Lafayette's arrival — Battles of Chad's Ford and 
 White Marsh — Winter quarters at Valley Forge — Suffering of the troops— Mrs. 
 Washington's kindness — Washington's sympathy, and remonstrances — Cabal 
 against the commander-in-chief— Indignation of his friends — Conway's repentanco 
 — Half-pay for the troops — Allianco with the French — Battle of Monmouth. 
 
 The enemy's intentions being as yet beyond conjecture, 
 General Washington marched liis army to German- 
 town, that it might be ready to defend the city of Phila- 
 delphia, in case that should prove to be General Howe's 
 object. He then visited Philadelphia to hold confer- 
 ence with Congress, and while there saw, for the first 
 time, the young Marquis de Lafayette, destined by 
 Providence to be one of his chief supports during the 
 war, and his dearest friend for life. 
 
 What a blessing was Lafayette's arrival ! Not only 
 to the struggling States, but in particular to Washing- 
 ton. The spirit of the generous young Frenchman was 
 to the harassed chief as cold water to the thirsty soul. 
 No jealousies, no fault-finding, no selfish emulation ; 
 but pure, high, uncalculating enthusiasm, and a devo- 
 tion to the character and person of Washington that 
 
328 memoirs of Washington. t 1777 - 
 
 melted the strong man, and opened those springs of 
 tenderness which cares, duties and trials had well-nigh 
 choked up. It is not difficult to believe that Lafayette 
 had even more to do with the success of the war than 
 we are accustomed to think. Whatever kept up the 
 chief's heart, upbore the army and the country ; for it 
 is plain that, without derogation from the ability or 
 faithfulness of any of the heroic contributors to the 
 final triumph, Washington was in a peculiar manner 
 the life and soul, — the main-spring and the balance 
 wheel, — the spur and the rein, — of the whole move- 
 ment and its result. Blessings, then, on Lafayette, the 
 helper and consoler of the chosen father of his heart, 
 through so many trials ! His name goes down to pos- 
 terity on the same breath that is destined to proclaim 
 for ever the glory of Washington ! 
 
 Lafayette, all eagerness to meet the commander 
 whose fame had excited his young enthusiasm, was 
 introduced with the usual forms, and from the very 
 ordinary reception accorded him by Washington, 
 it was supposed that the chief was not particularly 
 pleased with the mercurial and demonstrative young 
 Frenchman. The truth is that Washington partook, in 
 some degree, the English prejudice against "foreign- 
 ers," and that from this cause personal acquaintance 
 with them was not particularly agreeable to him. 
 
 But as the dinner proceeded, and the new comer 
 had, in the ease of conversation, made himself under- 
 stood as a volunteer for liberty, possessed of the most 
 
l777 -] DEFEAT AT CHAD'S FOKD. 329 
 
 generous sentiments, and willing to sacrifice all that 
 men count most dear in the cause of American free- 
 dom, Washington's keen eye watched his every look 
 and word, and formed an opinion which he never had 
 a moment's occasion to alter or regret. As soon as the 
 company left the table, he drew Lafayette to the recess 
 of a window, and there, in the kindest manner, wel- 
 comed and thanked him, and invited him at once to 
 become one of his military family. 
 
 The next day, going on a tour of inspection of forts, 
 he invited Lafayette to accompany him, and from that 
 hour the Marquis was his bosom companion and filial 
 friend, enjoying an intimacy with him that no other 
 man ever attained to. 
 
 The private story of Lafayette, though too long for 
 insertion here, is, and ought to be so interesting to 
 Americans, that we shall offer a slight sketch of it 
 hereafter, bespeaking for it the grateful attention of our 
 readers.* 
 
 Sir William Howe's designs upon Philadelphia be- 
 coming very evident after this, the army was marched 
 to Wilmington, Delaware, whence they moved to the 
 high ground near Chad's Ford. An engagement en- 
 sued, and the Americans were routed, and the Marquis 
 de Lafayette received a wound in the leg, which con- 
 fined him for some time. 
 
 The battle of Germantown, during which a very 
 heavy fog mingled friends and foes, and a panic flight 
 
 * See Appendix 3. 
 
330 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1777. 
 
 of part of the troops completed the discomfiture of the 
 rest, is one of the dark points in our history, yet, strange 
 to say, it proved in the end to have exerted a favorable 
 influence on the result of the war. Washington never 
 supposed he had done any thing remarkable in under- 
 taking it, and he suffered extreme distress from its un- 
 happy result. " It was a bloody day," he said. " "Would 
 to Heaven I could add that it had been a fortunate 
 one for us." Yet when the news of it reached Paris, 
 where American commissioners were endeavoring to 
 obtain aid from France, the Count de Vergennes, prime 
 minister of Louis XVI., was so struck with the bold- 
 ness of General Washington in attacking the far supe- 
 rior force of General Howe, and that with an army of 
 newly raised and little disciplined troops, that he felt 
 at once inspired with an interest and confidence which 
 led him to accord the aid we had requested. 
 
 A few days after the battle of Germantown, there 
 were skirmishes at Whitemarsh, near which Sir Wil- 
 liam Howe was posted with twelve thousand men. 
 General Washington's position being an advantageous 
 one, he did not choose to leave it in order to attack the 
 British in their chosen position ; and Howe being equally 
 unwilling to quit his ground, no general engagement 
 took place, and after three days' manoeuvring, the Brit- 
 ish army suddenly retreated to Philadelphia. 
 
 As it was now the middle of December, winter 
 quarters became the matter of deepest concern, for the 
 men had not even clothing to keep them warm under 
 
1777.] WINTER AT VALLEY FORGE. 331 
 
 cover, so destitute bad they been left of all necessary 
 supplies. Shoes bad come to be a luxury enjoyed only 
 by the fortunate, and a blanket, with or without holes, 
 was shared by as many as could creep under it. Sur- 
 rounded as the army was by the disaffected and the 
 timid, money would hardly buy what was needed, and 
 even money was very scarce. 
 
 In this distressed state was the encampment at 
 Valley Forge — a name of sad memory so long as the 
 American heart shall beat — begun and continued. The 
 spot lies about twenty miles from Philadelphia, be- 
 tween the banks of the Schuylkill and a line of hills ; — 
 a pleasant scene in summer or autumn, when one visits 
 it in peace and comfort ; but in the long months of that 
 dreadful winter, with scarcely shelter and sustenance 
 for bare life, a melancholy desert, though teeming with 
 human beings. It had been selected by Washington, 
 after a vain attempt to obtain a guiding opinion from a 
 council of war, as being near enough to Philadelphia 
 to be aware of the enemy's movements ; and also for 
 the reason that the interior of the State was occupied 
 by families from Philadelphia, who must necessarily be 
 much distressed by the scarcity that would result from 
 the presence of an army in the country. The men be- 
 gan to erect huts or log-houses on the 18th of Decem- 
 ber, and as far as was possible Washington, who super- 
 intended the whole work in person, tried to make the 
 thing tolerable, by offering a reward in money to who- 
 ever should invent the Lest mode of roofing, and by 
 
332 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1777. 
 
 placing the troops from the same State in neighbor- 
 hoods. Then the camp had to be intrenched, and a 
 bridge to be built across the Schuylkill, in order to 
 keep open a communication with the country. Scarcely 
 was all this completed, when information was received 
 which rendered it probable that a detachment of the 
 enemy had left Philadelphia, with intentions that would 
 make it necessary to be prepared to meet them. 
 
 When troops were detached for this purpose, it was 
 found that the absolute distress prevailing had so far 
 impaired discipline, that a mutiny might be expected 
 if the men were ordered on duty without proper sup- 
 plies of food and clothing. 
 
 " Not a single hoof to slaughter," says "Washing- 
 ton, " and not more than twenty-five barrels of flour ! " 
 Eleven thousand men in this condition weighed heavy 
 on the soul of a commander, even though he and his 
 officers shared generously in the privations of the 
 troops. A glance at the general orders of that dread- 
 ful time, will show what were the labors and trials of 
 the commander-in-chief. Yet there were some people 
 reasonable enough to wonder that the army was lying 
 idle, and to suggest that a winter campaign should have 
 been attempted ! This was a little too much, even for 
 Washington, and he bursts out in a tone quite unusual 
 with him, in his grave and measured despatches to Con- 
 gress : — 
 
 " We find gentlemen, without knowing whether the 
 army was really going into winter quarters or not (for 
 

1778 PATIENCE OF THE TROOPS. 333 
 
 I am sure no resolution of mine would warrant the 
 Remonstrance), reprobating the measure as much as if 
 they thought the soldiers were made of stocks and 
 stones, and equally insensible of frost and snow. 
 * * * I can assure those gentlemen that it is a much 
 easier and less distressing thing to draw remonstrances 
 in a comfortable room, by a good fireside, than to oc- 
 cupy a cold, bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow, 
 without clothes or blankets. However, although they 
 seem to have little feeling for the naked and distressed 
 soldiers, I feel superabundantly for them, and, from my 
 soul, I pity those miseries, which it is neither in my 
 power to relieve or prevent." 
 
 By way of compensation or consolation for extraor- 
 dinary sufferings, Congress ordered one month's extra 
 pay to be given as a reward for " soldierly patience, 
 fidelity and zeal in the cause of the country," and 
 Washington declares that he shall take esj3ecial care 
 that none shall get it who do not deserve it. 
 
 Mrs. Washington spent this winter, as she did the 
 others of the war, in the camp, and made herself very 
 popular with the men by the interest she showed in 
 their wants, and by the entirely simple and self-denying 
 style of her own requisitions. The general had one of 
 the log huts, sixteen feet in length by fourteen in 
 width, to himself, and Mrs. Washington announces to 
 a female friend that he had had " another hut built to 
 dine in," which made their quarters " much more com- 
 fortable." She occupied herself in making shirts for 
 
334 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. f 1778 - 
 
 the soldiers, who were many of them reduced to one 
 or even none, and in visiting and relieving those whose 
 sufferings became especially known to her. Her quiet 
 and housewifely habits, and the gentle influence she 
 exerted, no doubt contributed to allay the irritability 
 natural to a body of men suffering under such priva- 
 tions ; for nothing can be more like insult to the poor 
 hungry, shivering soldier, than the sight of luxury and 
 self-indulgence in his superiors— too often witnessed in 
 camp, if we may believe the records of military life. 
 
 "Washington's solicitude for the army was incessant, 
 and his sympathy with its deprivations and sufferings 
 appears in almost every letter he writes. This period, 
 sad and dark as it was, was further embittered to Wash- 
 ington, by the discovery of a virulent faction against 
 himself. Anonymous letters were the principal means 
 resorted to, and members of Congress, as well as offi- 
 cers of the army, were not ashamed to adopt this cow- 
 ardly and despicable mode of injuring a man, whom 
 they dared not attack in any way more manly or re- 
 spectable. Washington was sensitive, as any man with 
 a heart in his bosom must be under such circumstances. 
 He had perilled all, done all, suffered all, that the 
 heavy time required. All through the war, he had la- 
 mented the imperfection of supplies, and all the un- 
 toward deficiences of the means placed at his disposal ; 
 and had wearied Congress with his faithful representa- 
 tions of the disadvantages that must arise from such a 
 want of plan in these respects, Congress, with a nut- 
 
1778 -3 TRIALS OF THE TIME. 335 
 
 ural dread of the increase of military power, much in- 
 creased by the jealousy and dislike of General "Wash- 
 ington entertained by some of its members, was often 
 fitful and arbitrary in measures of relief for the army, 
 and, from its distance from the scene of action — the 
 means of communication being then slow and uncer- 
 tain — often failed to give even what it intended to 
 grant, until after the favorable moment had passed. 
 This, to a temperament like Washington's, was trying 
 beyond all that can be described. Every thing at stake 
 — the cause of liberty, the credit of the army, and his 
 own fame, justly very dear to him — it was agonizing to 
 live in this suspense, and most wearisome to be inces- 
 santly contriving to keep up appearances to the enemy, 
 and to meet the expectations of the country, with an 
 exhausted military chest and a wretched commissariat. 
 But to have, added to all this, the certainty that there 
 was a powerful cabal against him, which drew its main 
 strength from his failure to keep the British out of 
 Philadelphia, — an achievement totally impossible with 
 the men and means at his disposal, — was cruel indeed, 
 and he felt it most severely. 
 
 General Gates was more than suspected of hav- 
 ing lent himself to the scheme of detraction ; but the 
 main actors in the drama were General Conway and 
 General Mifflin. 
 
 Here is a small specimen of an anonymous letter 
 addressed to Congress : — 
 
 "The head cannot possibly be sound when the 
 
336 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [17?8. 
 
 whole body is disordered ; the people of America have 
 been guilty of idolatry in making a man their god, and 
 the God of heaven and earth will convince them, by 
 woful experience, that he is only a man. No good may 
 be expected from the standing army, until Baal and his 
 worshippers are banished from the camp." 
 
 It was not that "Washington expected or desired 
 that his public conduct should be exempted from re- 
 mark or blame. He frequently, in the letters he wrote 
 during this affair, expresses himself entirely willing to 
 submit his character and the management of the war 
 to the judgment of his countrymen. It was that 
 men who professed, to his face, the greatest regard and 
 approval, should be working to undermine him, so 
 that he must necessarily feel insecure on all sides, 
 hardly knowing whether there was about him a friend 
 to whom he could safely trust. This gave the sting to 
 censure, and added yet a shade of depression to his 
 winter at Valley Forge. 
 
 But no sooner was the conspiracy made public, 
 which it was by the disclosure of part of one of Gen- 
 eral Conway's letters to General Gates, let slip by an 
 imprudent friend over a late dinner-table, — than Wash- 
 ington's friends rallied about him, vying with each 
 other who should express most warmly his esteem and 
 confidence in the commander-in-chief. 
 
 Patrick Henry generously avowed his regard for 
 Washington, and his detestation of the concealed as- 
 sassins, in two or three warm letters. " I really think," 
 
1778 1 
 
 °'J FKIENDS AGAINST ENEMIES. 337 
 
 he says, « your persona] welfare and the happiness of 
 America are intimately connected." « While you face 
 the armed enemies of our country in the field, and by 
 the favor of God have been kept unhurt, I trust your 
 country will never harbor in her bosom the miscreant 
 who would ruin her best supporter. I wish not to flat- 
 ter; but where arts unworthy honest men are used to 
 defame and traduce you, I think it not amiss, but a 
 duty, to assure you of the estimation in which the pub- 
 lic hold you." 
 
 The beloved Lafayette pours out his heart in a co- 
 pious flow of affection, and Washington's feelings had 
 been so wounded by the unmasking of these pretended 
 friends, that he was warm in his gratitude to the real 
 ones. To the marquis he writes : — 
 
 " My dear Marquis, your favor of yesterday con- 
 veyed to me fresh proof of that friendship and at- 
 tachment which I have happily experienced since the 
 first of our acquaintance, and for which I entertain 
 sentiments of the purest affection. It will ever consti- 
 tute part of my happiness to know that I stand well in 
 your opinion.* * * * 
 
 " The other observations contained in your letter 
 have too much truth in them, and it is much to be la- 
 mented that things are not now as they formerly were. 
 But we must not, in so great a contest, expect to meet 
 with nothing but sunshine. I have no doubt but that 
 every thing happens for the best ; that we shall tri- 
 umph over all misfortunes, and in the end be happy ; 
 
338 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. L 1778 - 
 
 when, my dear Marquis, if you give me your company 
 in Virginia, we may laugh at our past difficulties and 
 the folly of others." 
 
 As soon as the intrigue was thus accidentally brought 
 to light, every body concerned was anxious to rid him- 
 self of the suspicion of having taken part in it, and it 
 is amusing to see the twists and glosses ingeniously de- 
 vised to make something seem nothing, and enmity ap- 
 pear like manly frankness. General Conway, who, 
 though perhaps not the most guilty, was made in a con- 
 siderable degree the scape-goat, very soon lost his short- 
 lived favor with Congress, and fell into general dises- 
 teem, from his vanity and want of principle. A hint 
 at resignation was caught at in order to be rid of him, 
 and Congress actually accepted a resignation which 
 never was made. After this his offensive manners in- 
 volved him in a duel, and he received a wound sup- 
 posed to be mortal. At this solemn juncture, when he 
 was trying to make his peace with Heaven, he wrote 
 thus to Washington : — 
 
 " Philadelphia, 23d July, 1778. 
 
 « g mj — i fi nc i myself just able to hold the pen during 
 a few minutes, and take this opportunity of expressing 
 my sincere grief for having done, written, or said any 
 thing disagreeable to your Excellency. My career will 
 soon be over ; therefore justice and truth prompt me to 
 declare my last sentiments. You are in my eyes the 
 great and good man. May you long enjoy the love, 
 
J exertions in behalf op the army. 3.39 
 
 veneration and esteem of these States, whose liberties 
 you have asserted by your virtues. I am with the 
 greatest respect, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 " Thomas Conway." 
 
 This late repentance must be accepted as some 
 atonement for his offence against Washington ; and as 
 lor the injury he did the cause, and the far greater in- 
 jury which might have ensued from his machinations 
 and those of his more cunning abettors, we can only 
 rejoice that Providence watched over the young repub- 
 lic, and saved it from a blow that might have been fa- 
 tal. 
 
 But although, in a biography of Washington, we 
 could not refuse a considerable space to the history of 
 a cabal so nearly concerning his honor, it is well known 
 that he himself never gave personal matters more than 
 a secondary place. 
 
 He was much more anxiously occupied, during the 
 winter of 1777-78 in procuring from Congress what he 
 considered an act of justice to the army, than in fer- 
 reting out conspiracies against himself. 
 
 The particular measure advocated by him at this 
 time was a provision of half-pay for life, or something 
 equivalent to it, for every officer engaged in the war, 
 himself excepted. 
 
 " Personally," he says, " as an officer, I have no in- 
 terest in their decision, because I have declared, and I 
 
340 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1778. 
 
 now repeat it, that I will never receive the smallest 
 benefit from the half-pay establishment ; but, as a man 
 who fights under the weight of a proscription, and as a 
 citizen who wishes to see the liberty of his country 
 established upon a permanent foundation, and whose 
 property depends upon the success of our arms, I am 
 deeply interested." 
 
 He urges the measure very warmly : — 
 
 "No order of men in the thirteen States has paid 
 a more sacred regard to the proceedings of Congress 
 than the army ; for without arrogance or the smallest 
 deviation from truth it may be said, that no history 
 now extant can furnish an instance of an army's suf- 
 fering such uncommon hardships as ours has done, 
 and bearing them with the same patience and forti- 
 tude. 
 
 " To see men, without clothes to cover their naked- 
 ness, without blankets to lie on, without shoes (for the 
 want of which their marches might be traced by the 
 blood from their feet), and almost as often without pro- 
 visions as with them, marching through the frost and 
 snow, and at Christmas taking up their winter-quarters 
 within a clay's march of the enemy, without a house or 
 hut io cover them till it could be built, and submitting 
 without a murmur, is a proof of patience and obe- 
 dience, which in my opinion can scarce be paralleled." 
 
 Congress did not quite come up to Washington's 
 ideas in regard to the matter, but conceded half-pay 
 for seven years after the conclusion of the war, to those 
 
1778.] ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE. 341 
 
 officers who should have sworn allegiance, and who 
 should continue to reside in the United States. Als< > a 
 bounty of eighty dollars in money, to every non-com- 
 missioned officer and soldier who should continue in 
 the service until that time. This was a noble achieve- 
 ment, and served further to endear the commander-in- 
 chief to his soldiers. 
 
 But the great event of the winter was the espousal 
 by France of the American cause, the recognition of 
 American independence, and the signing of a treaty of 
 amity and alliance, dating from the 6th of February, 
 1778. 
 
 The news of the treaty arrived at Yorktown, where 
 Congress was sitting, on the 2d of May, ten days after 
 Lord North's " Bills of conciliation " had been rejected, 
 as offering terms which, however acceptable they might 
 have proved in the beginning of the contest, were now 
 wholly unsatisfactory. 
 
 General Howe made no attempt on the camp during 
 the winter, but his foraging parties were watched and 
 often severely handled by the Americans. When Dr. 
 Franklin, who was in Paris, was told that General Howe 
 had taken Philadelphia, " Say rather," he replied, " that 
 Philadelphia has taken General Howe," and the ad- 
 vantage was certainly a problematical one. Philadel- 
 phia was evacuated by the British on the 18th of June, 
 1776, General Clinton having superseded General Howe 
 who returned to England in the spring. 
 
 Great efforts were made to harass the retreating 
 
342 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1778. 
 
 army, though the general opinion of the officers, except 
 Washington, was adverse to an attempt to attack so far 
 superior a force ; one, too, which had been quietly 
 housed all winter, well clothed, and abundantly fed, 
 while our troops had, as we have seen, suffered priva- 
 tions that try the bravest spirit, and depress, for the 
 time, the most determined energy. General Lee, who 
 had by this time, after infinite difficulty and trouble on 
 the part of Washington and the Congress, been ex- 
 changed, was particularly opposed to an attack, and in 
 his usual tempestuous manner, represented it as fool- 
 hardy under the circumstances. But General Lee's 
 opinions were by this time received with less deference 
 than when he was in the heyday of his popularity. 
 
 In six days from the time the camp at Valley Forge 
 was broken up, the whole army had crossed the Dela- 
 ware, and were on Sir Henry Clinton's traces, only six 
 miles behind him, as he hastened toward New York 
 with his army. 
 
 On the 29th of June, the commander-in-chief sent 
 the following despatch to Congress — 
 
 "Fields, near Monmouth Couet-House, 29th June, 1778. 
 
 " Sik, — I have the honor to inform you, that about 
 seven o'clock yesterday morning both armies advanced 
 on each other. About twelve, they met on the 
 grounds near Monmouth Court-House, when an action 
 commenced. "We forced the enemy from the field, and 
 encamped on the ground. They took a strong post in 
 
1778 BATTLE OF MONMOUTH. 343 
 
 our front, secured on both flanks by morasses and thick 
 woods, where they remained till about twelve at night, 
 and then retreated. I cannot at this tiine go into a de- 
 tail of matters. When opportunity wiJl permit I shall 
 take the liberty of transmitting to Congress a more par- 
 ticular account of the proceedings of the day. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, &c." 
 
 Mr. Custis relates of this affair, that before the battle, 
 as the general with a numerous suite was approaching 
 the Court-House, he was met by a lifer boy who said, as if 
 it was the most natural thing in the world, " They are 
 all coming this way, your honor ! " " Who are coming, 
 my little man ? " asked General Knox. " Why our boys, 
 your honor, our boys, and the British right after them." 
 " Impossible ! " exclaimed Washington, and spurred on 
 at full gallop, only to find, to his great pain and morti- 
 fication, that the boy's intelligence was but too true. 
 The very elite of the American army, five thousand 
 picked men and officers, were in full retreat, closely 
 pursued by the enemy. One of the aids now galloped 
 up with a message from La Fayette, saying that the 
 presence of the commander-in-chief was greatly needed 
 at the scene of action. 
 
 The first inquiry of the chief was for Major-general 
 Lee, who commanded the advance, and during the in- 
 terview which followed occurred one of the few instances 
 that history or tradition records, of Washington's losing 
 command of his temper in public. 
 
344 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. P778 
 
 What he said to General Lee has never been re- 
 peated by those who heard it ; but it was doubtless as 
 strong an expression as passion could invent, or lan- 
 guage utter. 
 
 u Why this ill-timed prudence, sir?" was the 
 question. 
 
 Lee with the most insolent air replied : " I know no 
 man better supplied with that rascally virtue than your 
 Excellency." 
 
 " Will you command on this ground or not? " 
 
 " It is equal with me, where I command." 
 
 " Then I shall expect you to take proper measures to 
 check the enemy," said the general, much incensed. 
 
 ' ; Your orders shall be obeyed," replied Lee, " and 
 I will not be the first to leave the field." And his 
 bravery made it evident that an uncontrolled temper 
 was the fault for which he afterwards suffered so severe- 
 ly, under the sentence of a court-martial. 
 
 To one of his aids who sprang to the ground with 
 some ill-considered expression of excitement, Washing- 
 ton said, pointing to the horse which was grazing by the 
 road side, " You will take your horse, sir, if you please." 
 The general afterwards ordered Colonel Stewart and 
 Lieutenant-colonel Ramsay, with their regiments, to 
 check the advance of the enemy, which service was 
 gallantly performed, while he himself proceeded to form 
 a second line. " Follow your general ! " he cried, wav- 
 ing his sword above his head as he spurred forward, 
 and the broken lines began at once to return to order. 
 
1778.] A SUPERB FIGURE. 345 
 
 He rode on that day (for the only time during the war) 
 a white charger that had been presented to him, and 
 from the overpowering heat, and the deep and sandy 
 nature of the soil, the poor horse sank under his rider 
 and died on the spot. 
 
 It was upon a beautiful chesnut horse that he rode 
 along the lines cheering the soldiers, in the familiar and 
 endearing language always used by the officers in the 
 Revolution, " Stand fast, my boys ! and receive your 
 enemy ; the Southern line are advancing to support ye ! " 
 The person of Washington, always graceful, dignified 
 and commanding, showed to peculiar advantage on that 
 occasion. The good La Fayette, during his last visit to 
 America, delighted to talk of the " times that tried 
 men's souls," and from that venerated friend of our 
 country, we derive a graphic description of Washington 
 on the field of battle. La Fayette said : " At Monmouth 
 I commanded a division, and it may be supposed was 
 pretty well occupied ; still I took time, amid the roar 
 and confusion of the conflict, to admire our beloved 
 chief, who rode along the lines, mounted on a splendid 
 charger, amid the shouts of the soldiers, cheering them 
 by his voice and example, and restoring the fortunes 
 of the fight. I thought then, as now, that I never had 
 beheld so superb a man." 
 
 Heedless of the remonstrances and entreaties of his 
 officers, the commander-in-chief exposed himself under 
 a burning sun to every danger throughout the action, 
 and his high and chivalric daring made his friends the 
 
346 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1778. 
 
 more anxious for the preservation of a life so dear to 
 all, and so important to the success of the common 
 cause. 
 
 While he was reconnoitring the enemy from an ele- 
 vated part of the" field, a round shot from the British 
 artillery struck but a little way from his horse's feet, 
 throwing up the earth over his person and then bound- 
 ing harmlessly away. 
 
 This some of the bystanders construed into a con- 
 firmation of the prophecy said to have been made by 
 an old Indian who saw him at Braddock's defeat, — 
 " The Great Spirit protects him, he cannot die in bat- 
 tle." 
 
 When night came, he lay down in his cloak at the 
 foot of a tree, in the midst of his soldiers, hoping for a 
 general action the next day. But in the morning, Sir 
 Henry Clinton was gone too far for pursuit under such 
 killing heat — the thermometer at 96°. Many on both 
 sides had perished without a wound, from fatigue and 
 thirst. 
 
 A ludicrous occurrence varied the incidents of this 
 28th of June, which Mr. Custis describes as follows : 
 
 " The servants of the general officers were usually 
 well armed and mounted. Will Lee, or ' Billy,' the 
 former huntsman and favorite body servant of the gen- 
 eral, a square, muscular figure and capital horseman, 
 paraded a corps of valets, and, riding pompously at 
 their head, proceeded to an eminence crowned by a 
 large sycamore tree, from which could be seen an ex- 
 
1778.] SCAMPER OF VALETS. 347 
 
 tensive portion of the field of battle. Here Billy halted, 
 and having unstrung the large telescope he always car- 
 ried in a leather case, with a martial air applied it to 
 his eye and reconnoitred the enemy. Washington hav- 
 ing observed these manoeuvres of the corps of valets, 
 pointed them out to his officers, observing, ' See those 
 fellows collecting on yonder heights ; the enemy will 
 fire on them to a certainty.' Meanwhile the British 
 were not unmindful of the assemblage on the height, 
 and perceiving a burly figure well mounted and with 
 a telescope in hand, they determined to pay their re- 
 spects to the group. A shot from a six-pounder passed 
 through the tree, cutting away the limbs, and pro- 
 ducing a scampering among the corps of valets, that 
 caused even the countenance of the general-in-chief to 
 relax into a smile." 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Arrival of Count d'Estaing — Hindrances and disasters — Disagreement between French, 
 and American officers — Letter to La Fayette — Impatience of the people — Gener- 
 osity of La Fayette. 
 
 The arrival of a French fleet, under the command of 
 Count d'Estaing, was the most important occurrence of 
 1778, and Washington began immediately to contrive 
 ways and means of co-operation which should bring 
 our new allies at once into action. 
 
 The first plan was for the fleet to enter New York 
 harbor by Sandy Hook, and attack the British by water, 
 while the army made an onset on the land side. But 
 the Count's heavy frigates would not go over the Bar, 
 so they were sent round to Newport, Rhode Island, 
 where it was intended to make a similar attempt, the 
 British having some vessels of war there, and six thou- 
 sand troops strongly intrenched. But this plan also 
 failed from various accidents ; especially through the 
 damage sustained by the French fleet in a heavy storm. 
 Count d'Estaing was a good deal blamed for the course 
 he pursued on the occasion, and suspected of some 
 sacrifice of the good of the cause he came to aid, be- 
 
1778.] FRENCH COUNT'S ADDRESS. 349 
 
 cause instead of attacking the ships in the harbor, and 
 so co-operating with General Sullivan who was to be 
 ready on the land-side to second him, he stood out to 
 sea hoping to meet the whole British fleet, which he 
 had some reason to think might be hovering there. 
 
 Some very hard things were said by the American 
 officers, which the Count felt deeply ; but his conduct on 
 the occasion was such as to shame those who had, in their 
 hasty zeal, forgotten what was due to a gallant and ex- 
 perienced officer, sent by a foreign power to our assist- 
 ance in the darkest hour of our trial. The Count's first 
 letter on his arrival was expressed in the warmest 
 style : 
 
 " I have the honor to inform your Excellency of the 
 arrival of the King's fleet, charged by his Majesty with 
 the glorious task of giving his allies, the United States 
 of America, the most striking proofs of his esteem. If 
 I can succeed in it, nothing will be wanting to my hap- 
 piness ; and this will be augmented by the consider- 
 ation of concerting my operations with such a general 
 as your Excellency. 
 
 " The talents and great actions of General Wash- 
 ington have secured to him, in the eyes of all Europe, 
 the truly sublime title of the liberator of America. 
 Accept, sir, the homage, which every man, especially 
 every military man, owes you ; and be not displeased 
 that I solicit, even in the first instance of intercourse. 
 with military and naval frankness, a friendship so flat- 
 tering as yours. I will endeavor to render myself 
 
350 MEMOIRS OF "WASHINGTON. [1778. 
 
 worthy of it by my respectful devotion to your coun- 
 try. It is prescribed to me by my orders, and my 
 heart accords with it." 
 
 Washington replied in corresponding terms, and left 
 nothing undone to afford the Count both information 
 and co-operation in his attempts ; but the Newport 
 plan was a complete failure ; the troops who were to 
 reinforce General Sullivan not arriving in time, and 
 the fleet, as we have seen, having been much injured 
 by a storm, and obliged to go to Boston for repairs. 
 
 In a letter to a friend, at this stage of affairs, Wash- 
 ington says : 
 
 " It is not a little pleasing, nor less wonderful to 
 contemplate, that after two years' manoeuvring and un- 
 dergoing the strangest vicissitudes that perhaps ever 
 attended any one contest since the creation, both armies 
 are brought back to the very point they set out from ; 
 and that the offending party at the beginning is now 
 reduced to the use of the spade and pickaxe for de- 
 fence. 
 
 " The hand of Providence has been so consjucuous 
 in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that 
 lacks faith, and more than wicked that has not grati- 
 tude enough to acknowledge his obligations. 
 
 " But it will be time enough to turn preacher when 
 my present appointment ceases ; and therefore I shall 
 add no more on the doctrine of Providence ; but make 
 a tender of my best respects to your good lady, the 
 
1778.] APOLOGUES OF WASHINGTON. 351 
 
 secretary, and other friends, and assure you, that, with 
 the most perfect regard, I am, dear sir, &c." 
 
 The unhappy difference of opinion between the 
 French and American officers, so warmly and even 
 rudely expressed by the latter, gave Washington a new 
 cause of uneasiness, and involved him in endless annoy- 
 ings, persuadings and pacifyings. 
 
 He writes to La Fayette : 
 
 " In one w r ord let me say, I feel every thing that 
 hurts the sensibility of a gentleman, and consequently 
 upon the present occasion I feel for you and for our 
 good and great allies the French. I feel myself hurt, 
 also, at every illiberal and unthinking reflection which 
 may have been cast upon the Count d'Estaing, or the 
 conduct of the fleet under his command ; and lastly I 
 feel for my country. 
 
 " Let me entreat you, therefore, my dear marquis, 
 to take no exceptions at unmeaning expressions, uttered 
 perhaps without consideration, and in the first transport 
 of disappointed hope. Every body, sir, who reasons, 
 will acknowledge the advantages which we have de- 
 rived from the French fleet, and the zeal of the com- 
 mander of it ; but in a free and republican government, 
 you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude. 
 
 " Every man will speak as he thinks, or, more pro- 
 perly, without thinking, and consequently will judge 
 of effects without attending to the causes. The cen- 
 sures which have been levelled at the officers of the 
 
352 MKMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1778. 
 
 French fleet, would more than probably have fallen in 
 a much higher degree upon a fleet of our own, if we 
 had one in the same situation. It is the nature of man 
 to be displeased with every thing that disappoints a 
 favorite hope or a flattering project; and it is the folly 
 of too many of them to condemn without investigating 
 circumstances. 
 
 " Let me beseech you, therefore, my good sir, to af- 
 ford a healing hand to the wound that unintentionally 
 has been made. 
 
 " America esteems your virtues and your services, 
 and admires the principles upon which you act. Your 
 countrymen in our army look up to you as their patron. 
 The Count and his officers consider you as a man high 
 in rank, and high in estimation here and also in France ; 
 and I, your friend, have no doubt but you will use your 
 utmost endeavors to restore harmony ; that the honor, 
 glory, and mutual interests of the two nations may be 
 promoted and cemented in the firmest manner. 
 
 " I would say more on the subject, but am restrained 
 for the want of time ; and therefore shall only add, that, 
 with every sentiment of esteem and regard, I am, my 
 dear marquis, &c." 
 
 It cannot but be allowed that the Count d'Estaing 
 behaved throughout, not only in the most gentlemanly 
 but the most gallant manner, and that his name ought 
 to be held in honor by all true Americans. 
 
 The officers having drawn up in no measured terms 
 a " Protest " against the sailing of the French fleet from 
 13* 
 
17 79.] PROFESSIONAL ETIQUETTE. 353 
 
 Newport, "Washington exerted his utmost influence in 
 every direction to prevent so unbecoming a paper from 
 being made public. 
 
 Count d'Estaing afterwards wrote to General Sulli- 
 van, merely noticing the Protest, by saying that it was 
 of such a nature as to impose on the king's squadron 
 the necessity of passing it over in silence, and adding 
 that no offence had been given which would affect his 
 conduct. To prove this, he offered to put himself un- 
 der General Sullivan's orders, adding — " My opinion 
 upon the measures to be taken need never restrain 
 yours. 
 
 " It shall not only be subject to yours, but even re- 
 main unrevealed whenever you shall not require me to 
 give it." 
 
 " I should not have taken this step," he wrote to 
 "Washington, " with the idea of strengthening an army 
 with such a handful of men, nor of proving what is al 
 ready known, that the French nation can sacrifice life 
 with a good grace ; but I was anxious to demonstrate, 
 that my countrymen could not be offended by a sudden 
 expression of feeling; and that he who had the honor 
 of commanding them in America, was and would be at 
 all times one of the most devoted and zealous servants 
 of the United States." 
 
 "Winter-quarters of 1778-9 were on the west of the 
 Hudson — "Hudson's Kiver," as "Washington and all 
 the rest of the world called it, at that time— in detached 
 positions from "West Point to Middlebrook, New Jersey. 
 
354 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1779. 
 
 Washington's head-quarters were established at Middle- 
 brook, where the winter passed quietly, drilling and 
 preparing the troops being the principal military busi- 
 ness. 
 
 Great projects had been set on foot, very attractive 
 on paper or in imagination, but requiring an amount 
 of men and money that existed for the United States 
 only in cloud-land. The conquest of Canada was only 
 one of these splendid plans. But when the command- 
 er-in-chief came to be consulted, grand ideas were ne- 
 cessarily brought in contact with figures, with past ex- 
 perience, the state of the country and the exhausted 
 condition of the military chest, — the paper currency 
 having already begun seriously to depreciate. 
 
 Washington spent five anxious weeks at Philadel- 
 phia, arguing with Congress on the impracticability of 
 its schemes, risking his own popularity, of course ; for 
 the country was hungry for some dashing achievement, 
 and the enemies of the chief perpetually made a handle 
 of his dilatoriness, and held up to ridicule and contempt 
 his steady pursuit of the original idea of wearying out 
 a superior enemy, contemptuously designated by what 
 was once a word of praise — the Fabian policy. 
 
 He was quite sensible of this, and suffered under it, 
 for he was Roman enough to be solicitous for the ap- 
 probation of his fellow-citizens. But he was far more 
 anxious about what he considered the depreciation of 
 Congress, by the withdrawal of those great and noble 
 spirits, to whom was chiefly owing all that had been 
 
1779 MONOPOLIZERS. 355 
 
 done in the cause of Independence. Few of these were 
 now left, and the number of members that attended the 
 deliberations was sometimes reduced to twenty-one. 
 Washington laments this in many letters. 
 
 Another trouble was the effort of some nefarious 
 pursuers of selfish gain, to buy up and monopolize cer- 
 tain articles of the first necessity, thus increasing very 
 injuriously the difficulty of providing for the army. 
 
 " It is most devoutly to be wished, that some happy 
 expedient could be hit upon to restore credit to our 
 paper emissions, and punish the infamous practice of 
 forestalling and engrossing such articles as are essen- 
 tially necessary to the very existence of the army, and 
 which, by this means, come to it through the hands of 
 these people at fifty per cent, advance, to the great in- 
 jury and depreciation of our money, by accumulating 
 the quantum necessary for ordinary purposes to an 
 amazing sum, which must end in a total stagnation of 
 all purchases, unless some remedy can be soon and 
 effectually applied. It is also most devoutly to be 
 wished, that faction was at an end, and that those, to 
 whom every thing dear and valuable is intrusted, would 
 lay aside party views and return to first jninciples. 
 
 " Happy, happy, thrice happy country, if such were 
 the government of it ! But, alas ! we are not to expect 
 that the path is to be strewed with flowers. That great 
 and good Being who rules the universe has disposed 
 matters otherwise, and for wise purposes I am per- 
 suaded." 
 
35G MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1779. 
 
 And again : " It is much to be lamented, that each 
 State long ere this has not hunted them down as pests 
 to society, and the greatest enemies we have to the hap- 
 piness of America. I would to God, that some one of 
 the most atrocious in each State was hung in gibbets 
 upon a gallows five times as high as the one prepared 
 by Hainan. ~No punishment, in my opinion, is too 
 great for the man, who can build his greatness upon 
 his country's ruin." 
 
 The appointment of so many French officers to 
 American commands, over the heads of those who had 
 borne the brunt of the war, created, naturally, a good 
 deal of dissatisfaction. 
 
 Speaking of some French officers who had persuaded 
 an American general to sign certificates written by 
 themselves, General Washington observes, in a letter 
 to Gouverneur Morris, " They are not bad in giving 
 themselves a good character." 
 
 After praising Baron Steuben, he breaks out, not- 
 withstanding that eccentric officer's merit, with " I do 
 most devoutly wish, that we had not a single foreigner 
 among us, except the Marquis de Lafayette, who acts 
 upon very different principles from those which govern 
 the rest." Well might Lafayette be considered an 
 exception to all general rules ! such zeal, such disinter- 
 ested generosity, and such a love of liberty can hardly 
 be paralleled. 
 
 Before the battle of Monmouth, when General Lee 
 was excessively opposed to attacking the enemy, he 
 
1779.] LAFAYETTE AND LEE. 357 
 
 had, in one of his moods, voluntarily given up the 
 command of the advance to Lafayette, but afterwards 
 changing his mind, desired to resume the post he had 
 relinquished. Washington, sure of Lafayette's gen- 
 erosity, as he was of Lee's troublesome temper, invent- 
 ed an expedient that was calculated to accommodate 
 the difficulty, though it could hardly be satisfactory to 
 either party ; putting Lee at the head of the additional 
 brigades, with orders to join the advance, which would 
 of course, as Lee was senior in rank, give him command 
 of the whole. At the same time he wrote thus to his" 
 friend : 
 
 " Cranberry, 2Qth June, 1778. 
 
 " My dear Marquis, — General Lee's uneasiness on 
 account of yesterday's transaction rather increasing 
 than abating, and your politeness in wishing to ease 
 him of it, have induced me to detach him from this 
 army with a part of it, to reinforce or at least cover the 
 several detachments at present under your command. 
 
 " At the same time that I felt for General Lee's dis- 
 tress of mind, I have had an eye to your wishes, and 
 the delicacy of your situation ; and have therefore ob- 
 tained a promise from him, that, when he gives you 
 notice of his approach and command, he will request 
 you to prosecute any plan you may have already con- 
 certed for the purpose of attacking or otherwise annoy- 
 ing the enemy. This is the only expedient I could 
 think of to answer the views of both. General Lee 
 
358 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [1779. 
 
 seems satisfied with the measure, and I wish it may 
 prove agreeable to you, as I am, with the warmest 
 wishes for your honor and glory, and with the sincer- 
 est esteem and affection, Yours, &c." 
 
 Lafa} r ette submitted with all the good-nature that 
 Washington had counted upon, and this was not the 
 only opportunity he had of doing so. 
 
 After Lafayette had been sent to Ehode Island in 
 command of a body of regulars and militia, July, 1778, 
 Washington concluded to employ General Greene, who 
 was a native of that State ; and in order to do this, it 
 was necessary to divide the troops, thus giving Lafay- 
 ette only half as many as he had at first commanded. 
 
 Lafayette replies to the letter announcing this un- 
 welcome change : 
 
 " I have received your Excellency's favor by Gen- 
 eral Greene, and have been much pleased with the ar- 
 rival of a gentleman who, not only on account of his 
 merit and the justness of his views, but by his know- 
 ledge of the country and his popularity in this State, 
 may be very serviceable to the expedition. I willingly 
 part with half my detachment, since you find it for the 
 good of the service, though I had great dependence on 
 them. Any thing, my dear general, which you shall 
 order, or can wish, will always be infinitely agreeable 
 to me ; and I shall always be happy in doing any 
 thing that may please you, or forward the public 
 good." 
 
I779 -] THE COMFORTS OF A FRIEND. 359 
 
 What a relief amid the cares and trials and eternal 
 disputes and jealousies that wore out Washington's 
 strength and patience, must have been the friendship 
 and support of a soul like this ! The sweetness of La- 
 fayette's temper, his inexhaustible vivacity and fresh- 
 ness of interest in public affairs, and the warm affection 
 he manifested, form, altogether, one of the most de- 
 lightful of characters. Much as his name is revered 
 among us lie has never been overrated. 
 
CHAPTEK XXXI. 
 
 Washington at Philadelphia with Congress — Then in the country hunting squirrels — 
 Devastations of the enemy on Long Island — Capture of Stony Point by General 
 Wayne— Generous conductor Washington — General Lee*s questions — Dinner at 
 West Point— Depreciation of the currency— Kindness of the ladies of Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 "Washington remained through the winter and spring 
 of 1779 at head-quarters at Middlebrook, with the ex- 
 ception of five weeks passed in Philadelphia in confer- 
 ence with Congress, of which he says : — " Were I to 
 give way to private conveniency and amusement, I 
 should not be able to resist the invitation of my friends 
 to make Philadelphia, instead of a squeezed up room 
 or two, my quarters for the winter. 
 
 " But the affairs of the army require my constant 
 attention and presence, and circumstanced as matters 
 are at this time, call for some degree of care and ad- 
 dress to keep it from crumbling. As peace and retire- 
 ment are my ultimate aim, and the most pleasing and 
 flattering hope of my soul, every thing promotive of 
 this end contributes to my satisfaction, however diffi- 
 cult and inconvenient in ihe attainment, and will re- 
 
1779 -] SQUIRREL-SHOOTING. 361 
 
 concile any place and all circumstances to my feelings, 
 whilst I continue in service." 
 
 Tradition says he did not confine himself so strictly 
 to " a squeezed up room or two," as not to find a little 
 time for his favorite amusement of hunting. 
 
 " Come, Cornelius," he would say to a hoy of fif- 
 teen that used to wait on him, a son of the owner of a 
 house he had occupied, " come, the day is so fine — sup- 
 pose we see if we can't find some squirrels this morn- 
 ing ? " And taking his long rifle, says Cornelius, who 
 is still living to tell the story, the general, with his 
 young companion and guide, would travel off miles in 
 search of a kind of game that would hardly have 
 tempted him far in the fox-hunting days of Mount 
 Vernon. 
 
 General Sir Henry Clinton showing every disposi- 
 tion to get command of the Hudson, and having al- 
 ready obtained possession of Stony Point and Yer- 
 plank's Point, Washington removed to New Windsor, 
 a few miles above West Point, whence the enemy en- 
 deavored to seduce him, by devastations on the coast 
 of Long Island Sound, but in vain. " The system of 
 devastation and plunder," says Mr. Sparks, " was vig- 
 orously pursued. * * * Dwelling-houses, shops, 
 churches, school-houses, and the shipping in the har- 
 bors were destroyed. The soldiers pillaged without re- 
 straint, committing acts of violence, and exhibiting the 
 horrors of war in some of their most revolting forms." 
 Washington meanwhile was only watching for an op- 
 16 
 
362 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [im- 
 
 portunity to retake Stony Point, on the Hudson, which 
 was accomplished, under his orders, by General Wayne, 
 on the night of the 15th of July, 1779. AYashington, 
 with his usual generosity, in writing to Congress in 
 praise of General Wayne, says : — • 
 
 " He improved upon the plan suggested by me, and 
 executed it in a manner that does signal honor to his 
 judgment and to his bravery. Every officer and man 
 of the corps deserves great credit ; but there were par- 
 ticular ones whose situation placed them foremost in 
 danger, and made their conduct more conspicuous." 
 
 The ordnance and other stores taken on this occa- 
 sion, were estimated at $158,010 ; which amount was 
 divided among the troops in proportion to the pay of 
 the officers and men. 
 
 Three different medals, emblematical of the action, 
 were struck by order of Congress, bearing the names 
 respectively of Wayne, Fleury and Stewart. 
 
 General Washington's share was a vote of thanks 
 from Congress, " for the vigilance, wisdom and mag- 
 nanimity with which he had conducted the military 
 operations of the States, particularly on the occasion 
 of the late attack." 
 
 The commander-in-chief now removed to West 
 Point for the remainder of the season. 
 
 There was but little of a military nature to enliven 
 his stay there, but he was provided with excitement of 
 a different sort by General Lee, who published anony- 
 mously twenty-five " Queries Political and Military," 
 
1776.] CIVIL OBLIGATIONS. 363 
 
 calculated both to wound and injure the commander- 
 in-chief. Mr. Sparks quotes a few, by way of speci- 
 men : — 
 
 " "Whether it is salutary or dangerous, consistent 
 with or abhorrent from the spirit and principles of lib- 
 erty and republicanism, to inculcate and encourage in 
 the people an idea, that their welfare, safety, and glory 
 depend on one man ? Whether they really do depend 
 on one man ? 
 
 " Whether amongst the late warm, or rather loyal 
 addresses of this city (Philadelphia), to his Excellency 
 General Washington, there was a single mortal, one 
 gentleman only excepted, who could possibly be ac- 
 quainted with his merits. 
 
 " Whether the gentleman excepted does really think 
 his Excellency a great man, or whether evidences 
 could not be produced of his thinking quite the re- 
 verse ? 
 
 u Whether the armies under Gates and Arnold, and 
 the detachment under Stark to the northward, or that 
 immediately under his Excellency in Pennsylvania, 
 gave the decisive turn to the fortune of war ? " 
 
 But envy and malignity were too obvious in these 
 insidious attacks to allow their accomplishing the de- 
 sign of the author, except as far as Washington's feel- 
 ings were concerned. 
 
 A certain letter to Dr. Cochrane, for the informa- 
 tion of two ladies who had been invited to head-quar- 
 ters to dine, shows that he was in tolerable spirits, 
 
364 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1776. 
 
 sometimes, at least ; a mood we suspect, natural to 
 Washington the man, though rare with "Washington 
 the commander-in-chief : 
 
 "West Point, 16 August, 1779. 
 
 " Dear Doctor, — I have asked Mrs. Cochrane and 
 Mrs. Livingston to dine with me to-morrow ; but am I 
 not in honor bound to apprise them of their fare ? 
 
 " Since our arrival at this happy sj:>ot we have had 
 a ham, sometimes a shoulder of bacon, to grace the 
 head of the table ; a piece of roast beef adorns the 
 foot ; and a dish of beans, or greens, almost impercepti- 
 ble, decorates the centre. When the cook has a mind 
 to cut a figure, which, I presume, will be the case to- 
 morrow, we have two beef-steak pies, or dishes of 
 crabs, in addition, one on each side of the centre dish, 
 dividing the space, and reducing the distance between 
 dish and dish to about six feet, which, without them 
 would be near twelve feet apart. Of late, he has had 
 the surprising sagacity to discover, that apples will 
 make pies ; and it is a question, if, in the violence of 
 his efforts, we do not get one of apples, instead of hav- 
 ing both of beef-steaks. If the ladies can put up with 
 such entertainment, and will submit to partake of it on 
 plates, once tin, now iron, (not become so by the labor 
 of scouring,) I shall be happy to see them, and am, 
 dear Doctor, yours, &c." 
 
 Lafayette, who had already on several occasions 
 
1779.] INVITATION TO MOUNT VERNON. 365 
 
 distinguished himself by his bravery and his generos- 
 ity, was induced by the situation of his own country 
 at this time, as well as by a desire to visit his family, 
 to ask leave of Congress to return to France on fur- 
 lough ; on which occasion several letters passed be- 
 tween General Washington and himself, Lafayette's full 
 of a characteristic ardor, and the graver general's, though 
 more measured, expressing equal affection. One of 
 the latter concludes thus : — 
 
 " Whether in the character of an officer at the head 
 of a corps of gallant Frenchmen, if circumstances 
 should require this, whether as a major-general com- 
 manding a division of the American army, or whether, 
 after our swords and spears have given place to the 
 ploughshare and pruning-hook, I see you as a private 
 gentleman, a friend and companion, I shall welcome 
 you with all the warmth of friendship to Columbia's 
 shores ; and, in the latter case, to my rural cottage, 
 where homely fare and a cordial reception shall be 
 substituted for delicacies and costly living. 
 
 " This, from past experience, I know you can sub- 
 mit to ; and if the lovely partner of your happiness 
 will consent to participate with us in such rural enter- 
 tainment and amusements, I can undertake, in behalf 
 of Mrs. Washington, that she will do every thing in 
 her power to make Virginia agreeable to the marchion- 
 ess. My inclinations and endeavors to do this cannot 
 be doubted, when I assure you, that I love every body 
 that is dear to you." 
 
366 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1779. 
 
 Sir Hemy Clinton was beginning to be very weary 
 of his position. " The precautions," he wrote home to 
 his government, " that General Washington has had 
 leisure to take (he had learned to say General Wash- 
 ington now), make me hopeless of bringing him to a 
 general action." And again — " To say truth, my Lord, 
 my spirits are worn out by struggling against the con- 
 sequences of many adverse incidents, which, without 
 appearing to account for my situation, have effectually 
 oppressed me." 
 
 It is now well known that in point of fact, Sir Henry 
 Clinton was by no means alone in his feeling of dis- 
 couragement. The " Fabian policy " so despised by 
 some aspiring spirits on this side of the water, had 
 produced just the effect General Washington intended 
 it should produce, in wearying the enemy, causing 
 him enormous expense, and putting far off the hope 
 of subduing a people so pertinacious and so patient in 
 their defence. But the obstinacy of George III., and 
 his hatred of the " rebels," knew no relenting. 
 
 The French minister, M. Gerard, wrote to his gov- 
 ernment about this time — " I have had many conver- 
 sations with General Washington, some of which have 
 continued for three hours. It is impossible for me 
 briefly to communicate the fund of intelligence which 
 I have derived from him. I will now say only, that I 
 have formed as high an opinion of the powers of his ' 
 mind, his moderation, his patriotism and his virtues, as 
 I had before from common report conceived of his 
 
1779 DEPEECIATED MONET. 367 
 
 military talents, and of the incalculable services he 
 has rendered to his country." This was the French 
 opinion, and many a cool-headed and far-seeing Briton 
 was fast coming round to it. The French never knew, 
 probably, how intolerably Washington was provoked 
 by the Count de Grasse's failure to come to New York, 
 to co-operate with liochambeau and himself in snatch- 
 ing New York from Sir Henry Clinton. This was a 
 darling scheme with the commander-in-chief, and when 
 he found that Count de Grasse declined to unite in it, 
 his anger knew no bounds. Colonel Pickering (who, by 
 the by, seems disposed to make the most of any blem- 
 ishes discoverable in "Washington) says that his attend- 
 ants withdrew from the room, on what particular ac- 
 count we are not told. But another report says that 
 in the first transport of passion, Washington, forgetting 
 his beloved Lafayette, cried out — " What a fool I was 
 ever to trust a Frenchman ! " 
 
 We may judge by the few instances made so much 
 of, how rare were the occasions on which the command- 
 er-in-chief, ever surrounded by observers, and subject 
 to continual vexations and disappointments, gave the 
 rein to passion, and forgot his habitual self-restraint. 
 
 The worst evil of the time was the depreciation of 
 the Continental currency, forty paper dollars being 
 worth only one silver one. So enormous had become 
 the price of provisions under these circumstances, that 
 in providing for the army, who were the greatest suf- 
 ferers, Congress was obliged to demand from each 
 
308 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1780. 
 
 State the contribution of beef, pork, flour and other 
 necessaries, to be lodged in convenient depots, subject 
 to the order of the commander-in-chief. But this plan 
 proved a failure, both on account of the opportunity 
 for delay and dishonesty which it afforded, and be- 
 cause of the expense of transportation. The army was 
 worse off than ever, and the project of paying in kind 
 was abandoned. 
 
 There were several associations of ladies formed in 
 the different States, who interested themselves in be- 
 half of the army, and wished to know of the comman- 
 der-in-chief how they might most usefully expend the 
 money they had collected. He always begged them 
 to furnish shirts. 
 
 " To President Heed. 
 
 " Head-Quarters, Whippany, 25 June, 1780. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I very much admire the patriotic 
 spirit of the ladies of Philadelphia, and shall with 
 great pleasure give them my advice, as to the applica- 
 tion of their benevolent and generous donation to the 
 soldiers of the army. Although the terms of the asso- 
 ciation seem in some measure to preclude the purchase 
 of any article which the public is bound to find, I 
 would nevertheless recommend a provision of shirts, in 
 preference to any thing else, in case the fund should 
 amount to a sum ecpuivalent to a supply of eight or ten 
 thousand. 
 
 " The soldiers are exceedingly in want of them, and 
 
1780.] PAYING DEBTS LN BAD MONET. 369 
 
 the public have never, for several years past, been able 
 to procure a sufficient quantity to make them comfort- 
 able. They are, besides, more capable of an equal and 
 satisfactory distribution than almost any other article. 
 Should the fund fall short of a supply of the number 
 of shirts I have mentioned, perhaps there could be no 
 better application of the money, than laying it out in 
 the purchase of refreshments for the hospitals. 
 
 " These are my ideas at present. When I have the 
 pleasure of hearing more particularly from Mrs. Reed, 
 I shall be able to form a more complete opinion." 
 
 The States now passed laws making paper money a 
 legal tender, even in case of debts contracted before 
 the paper had been created. In spite of the dishonor- 
 ableness, not to say dishonesty, involved in such trans- 
 actions, many were found mean enough to take advan- 
 tage of the law to pay old debts in the depreciated cur- 
 rency. 
 
 What Washington thought of this practice, may be 
 imagined from the warmth of his remarks on it in his 
 own case : — 
 
 " The fear of injuring, by any example of mine, 
 the credit of our paper currency, if I attempted to dis- 
 criminate between the real and nominal value of paper 
 money, has already sunk for me a large sum. If it be 
 customary with others to receive money in this way, 
 that is, sixpence or one shilling in the pound for old 
 debts ; if it is thought to be promotive of the great 
 16* 
 
370 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1780. 
 
 cause we are embarked in for individuals to do so, ru- 
 ining themselves while others are reaping the benefit 
 of such distress ; if the law imposes this, and it is 
 thought right to submit, I will not say aught against it, 
 nor oppose another word to it. No man has gone, and 
 no man will go further to serve the public than myself. 
 If sacrificing my whole estate would effect any valua- 
 ble purpose, I would not hesitate one moment in doing 
 it. .But my submitting in matters of this kind, unless 
 the same is done by others, is no more than a drop in 
 the bucket. In fact, it is not serving the public, but 
 enriching individuals and countenancing dishonesty ; 
 for sure I am, that no honest man would attempt to 
 pay twenty shillings with one, or perhaps half of one. 
 In a word, I had rather make a present of the bonds 
 than receive payment of them in so shameful a way." 
 Mr. Sparks relates an incident in point : — 
 " When the army was at Morristown, a man of re- 
 spectable standing lived in the neighborhood, who was 
 assiduous in his civilities to Washington, which were 
 kindly received and reciprocated. 
 
 " Unluckily this man paid his debts in the depre- 
 ciated currency. Some time afterwards he called at 
 head-quarters, and was introduced as usual to the gen- 
 eral's apartment, where he was then conversing with 
 some of his officers. He bestowed very little attention 
 upon the visitor. The same thing occurred a second 
 time, when he was more reserved than before. This 
 was so different from his customary manner, that La- 
 
1780.] TRYING TO BE CIVIL. 371 
 
 layette, who was present on both occasions, could not 
 help remarking it, and he said, after the man was gone, 
 ' General, this man seems to be much devoted to you, 
 and yet you have scarcely noticed him.' 
 
 " Washington replied, smiling, ' I know I have not 
 been cordial ; I tried hard to be civil, and attempted to 
 speak to him several times, but that Continental money 
 stopped my mouth .' " 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Sufferings of the troops — Treachery of Arnold— Capture and death of Major Andre — 
 Letter to Mr. Laurens — Mutiny of the Pennsylvania line — Its suppression by 
 lenity — Mutiny of the New Jersey line — Severity on this occasion — Letter to Dr. 
 Franklin. 
 
 Both British and Americans now standing on the de- 
 fensive, and closely watching each other's movements, 
 General Washington, who had been for a while on the 
 east side of the Hudson, intending to attack Sir Henry 
 Clinton in New York if any feasible opportunity pre- 
 sented itself, recrossed -the river and encamped near 
 Tappan. His troops, he says himself, " both officers 
 and men," were sometimes " almost perishing for want, 
 alternately without bread or meat, with a very scanty 
 allowance of either — frequently destitute of both." 
 " Our affairs," he says, " are in so deplorable a condi- 
 tion on the score of provisions, as to fill the mind with 
 the most anxious fears. Men half-starved, imperfectly 
 clothed, and robbing the country people of their sub- 
 sistence from sheer necessity." Such was his terrible 
 picture, and the ground of his incessant urgency with 
 Congress and with the governors of the several States. 
 
1780 -1 Arnold's treason. 373 
 
 In 1780 Benedict Arnold, who had, in many in- 
 stances during the war, proved himself a brave soldier, 
 though his character in other respects had not been 
 spotless, had charge of the important fortress at West 
 Point and other posts commanding the Highlands. On 
 these depended the communications between the dif- 
 ferent portions of the army, as well as with the coun- 
 try northward, from which large quantities of supplies 
 were to be drawn for its use. 
 
 Arnold's capacity as a soldier could not be doubted, 
 and no one had dreamed that the faults of his private 
 character were such as would be likely to interfere 
 with his duty as a military commander. He was no 
 worse than the great Duke of Marlborough, one of the 
 most successful of modern generals, whom he resem- 
 bled in some respects. Love of money and a general 
 selfishness were his great faults, and they were of a 
 kind to look particularly odious in a commander, at a 
 time when so many men were perilling all in the ser- 
 vice of their country at her utmost need. 
 
 Arnold had been brought to trial, for some alleged 
 want of integrity, while in command at Philadelphia 
 after General Howe's evacuation, and the disgrace he 
 then suffered probably rankled in his mind. At any 
 rate, it is now well known, though then so little sus- 
 pected, that he had in September, 1780, been fifteen 
 months in correspondence with Sir Henry Clinton, with 
 a view of betraying his country ; and that he had sought 
 the command of West Point and its dependencies, for 
 
374 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1780. 
 
 the very purpose of doing this in the most effectual 
 manner. 
 
 General Washington had gone to Hartford, Con- 
 necticut, to confer with the Count de Bochambeau, 
 who had just arrived from France with troops for the 
 service of the United States. General Greene was left 
 in command during Washington's absence. This was 
 judged a favorable opportunity for putting into opera- 
 tion the treacherous scheme which had been so long 
 concocting. 
 
 Andre came up the river in the Vulture sloop-of- 
 war as far as Haverstraw Bay, and, by appointment 
 with Arnold, landed on the west side of the river, 
 where the traitor awaited him. This was in darkness, 
 as was fitting ; and at dawn, Arnold persuaded Andre 
 to go to a house not far off, where he could lie con- 
 cealed during the day. The villain then went quietly 
 back to West Boint, and took his usual place among 
 honest men and faithful soldiers, without a blush. 
 What was gnawing at his heart, we can only guess. 
 
 Major Andre, with his life in his hand, and risking 
 it for what he considered his duty to his sovereign, 
 committed an error in laying off his regimentals at the 
 house where he had been concealed, and putting on a 
 citizen's dress, the better to conceal his character in 
 case he should be taken. 
 
 According to the usages of war, this may be said to 
 have cost him his life, or at least rendered it impossi- 
 ble to save him when he came to trial ; because in his 
 
1780.] PAULDING, VAN WART AND WILLIAMS. 375 
 
 military dress he might have been, by lenient construc- 
 tion, considered only as a prisoner of war, while the 
 disguise branded him at once as a spy. 
 
 The following morning, Major Andre set off alone 
 on horseback for New York, and while on his way, 
 thinking himself safe under the disguise of " John An- 
 derson," he was met and stopped by three young men 
 of the militia, Paulding, Van Wart, and Williams, 
 who searched him, and found papers in his boots. 
 These papers were from General Arnold, and contained 
 an exact account of the works at West Point, and other 
 things that would be of advantage to the enemy. 
 
 The young men committed their prisoner to the 
 custody of Lieutenant-colonel Jameson, who, perfectly 
 bewildered and beside his judgment, sent a messenger 
 immediately to Arnold, informing him of the capture, 
 while he despatched an express with the papers found 
 on the person of Andre, to the commander-in-chief, 
 then supposed to be on the road returning from Hart- 
 ford. ' 
 
 Poor Andre behaved like a man through all the 
 sad scenes that followed. His accomplishments, his 
 amiable character, and his graceful manners excited 
 universal interest, and nothing was left untried to save 
 him. It is said that Washington even tried to have 
 Arnold stolen away from Sir Henry Clinton, in New 
 York, in order that he might be able to send back An- 
 dre in exchange — but all was unavailing. The last re- 
 quest of the gallant officer was that he might be spared 
 
376 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1780. 
 
 the rope, and die a soldier's death. But even this the 
 stern laws of war forbade. A court-martial sentenced 
 him, and Washington signed the death-warrant. Head- 
 quarters at Tappan will always have a sad interest, 
 from the circumstance that Major Andre there met his 
 grievous fate. 
 
 That General "Washington suffered severely under 
 the necessity which obliged him, by the rules of war, 
 to sanction the decision of the court-martial in this 
 case, we have ample testimony ; and an eye-witness 
 still living observed, that when the windows of the 
 town were thronged with gazers at the stern procession 
 as it passed, those of the commander-in-chief were en- 
 tirely closed, and his house without sign of life except 
 the two sentinels at the door. 
 
 Mr. Sparks says : — " There was no stronger trait in 
 the character of Washington than humanity ; the mis- 
 fortunes and sufferings of others touched him keenly ; 
 and his feelings were deeply moved at the part he was 
 compelled to act in consenting to the death of Andre" ; 
 yet justice to the office he held, and to the cause for 
 which his countrymen were shedding their blood, left 
 him no alternative." 
 
 Only one more proof what a horrible thing is war ! 
 
 The commander-in-chief wrote as follows, in answer 
 to his friend Henry Laurens : 
 
 " Head-quarters, Passaic Falls, Oct. 13///, 1780. 
 
 " My deajr Laurens, — In no instance since the com- 
 
I780 DID ARNOLD KEPENT ? 377 
 
 mencement of the war, has the interposition of Provi- 
 dence appeared more remarkably conspicuous than in 
 the rescue of the post and garrison of West Point from 
 Arnold's villainous perfidy. How far he meant to in- 
 volve me in the catastrophe of this place, does not ap- 
 pear by any indubitable evidence ; and I am rather in- 
 clined to think he did not wish to hazard the more 
 important object of his treachery, by attempting to com- 
 bine two events, the less of which might have marred 
 the greater. A combination of extraordinary circum- 
 stances, an unaccountable deprivation of presence of 
 mind in a man of the first abilities, and the virtue of 
 three militia men, threw the adjutant-general of the 
 British forces, with full proof of Arnold's treachery, into 
 our hands. But for the egregious folly, or the be- 
 wildered conception, of Lieutenant-colonel Jameson, 
 who seemed lost in astonishment, and not to know what 
 he was doing, I should undoubtedly have got Arnold. 
 Andre has met his fate,. and with that fortitude which 
 was to be expected from an accomplished man and gal- 
 lant officer ; but I am mistaken, if at this time, ' Arnold 
 is undergoing the torment of a mental hell. ' * 
 
 " He wants feeling. From some traits of his cha- 
 racter, which have lately come to my knowledge, he 
 seems to have been so hackneyed in villainy, and so 
 lost to all sense of honor and shame, that, while his 
 faculties will enable him to continue his sordid pur- 
 suits, there will be no time for remorse." 
 
 • Quoting the words of Mr. Laurens in a letter to which this is a reply 
 
378 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1780. 
 
 The consequences which General Washington had 
 long predicted, of the personal privations, amounting 
 to distress, suffered by the army, came out in a very 
 alarming shape on New- Year's night, 1781. An extract 
 from a circular letter, from the commander-in-chief to 
 the governors of several States tells the story. 
 
 " It is with extreme anxiety and pain of mind I find 
 myself constrained to inform your Excellency, that the 
 event I have long apprehended would be the conse- 
 quence of the complicated distresses of the army, has 
 at length taken place. 
 
 " On the night of the 1st instant, a mutiny was ex- 
 cited by the non-commissioned officers and privates of 
 the Pennsylvania line, which soon became so universal 
 as to defy all opposition. In attempting to quell this 
 tumult in the first instance, some officers were killed, 
 others wounded, and the lives of several common sol- 
 diers lost. Deaf to the arguments, entreaties, and ut- 
 most efforts of all their officers to stop them, they 
 moved off from Morristown, the place of their canton- 
 ment, with their arms and six pieces of artillery. And, 
 from accounts just received by General "Wayne's aide- 
 de-camp, they were still in a body on their march to 
 Philadelphia to demand a redress of their grievances. 
 At what point this defection will stop, or how extensive 
 it may prove, God only knows. 
 
 " At present the troops at the important posts in 
 this vicinity remain quiet, not being acquainted witli 
 this alarming and unhappy affair ; but how long they 
 
1780 -J DANGEROUS MUTINY. 379 
 
 will remain so cannot be ascertained, as they labor un- 
 der some of the same pressing hardships as the troops 
 who have revolted. 
 
 " The aggravated calamities and distresses that have 
 resulted from the total want of pay for nearly twelve 
 months, the want of clothing at a severe season, and 
 not unfrequently the want of provisions, are beyond de- 
 scription. The circumstances will now point out much 
 more forcibly what ought to be done, than any thing 
 that can possibly be said by me on the subject." 
 
 General "Washington, considering the apology the 
 men had for their desperate conduct, was in favor of 
 great leniency towards them. He advised General 
 Wayne to encourage them to make a proper statement 
 of their grievances, and promised to represent the case 
 faithfully to Congress and the State of Pennsylvania, 
 and endeavor to obtain redress. 
 
 These judicious counsels had the efTect desired. A 
 committee of Congress, joined by the President of 
 Pennsylvania, met the revolters at Trenton, made 
 proposals to them which were accepted, and they gave 
 up their arms. 
 
 But the evil did not stop here. So alarming were 
 the symptoms of revolt at Morristown, that General 
 Washington did not dare leave head-quarters, lest ad- 
 vantage should be taken of even a short absence. 
 
 The great fear was, in these cases, that overtures 
 from the enemy would be urged upon the mutineers, 
 which discontent and fear combined might induce them 
 
380 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1780. 
 
 to accept. But the poor fellows had no idea of this. 
 It was hunger and nakedness that drove them mad, not 
 want of patriotism. General Wayne writes of them — 
 
 " About four o'clock yesterday morning we were 
 waked by two sergeants, who produced a letter from 
 the enemy, enclosed in a small piece of tea-lead. They 
 also brought under guard two caitiffs, who had under- 
 taken to deliver it to the leaders of the malcontents. 
 
 " The soldiers in general affect to spurn at the idea 
 of turning Arnolds, as they express it." 
 
 But on the 22d of January, three weeks after the 
 first revolt had been treated with so much mildness and 
 consideration, we have another circular letter with bad 
 news : 
 
 " I have received the disagreeable intelligence, that 
 a part of the.Jersey line had followed the example of 
 that of Pennsylvania ; and when the advices came 
 away, it was expected the revolt would be general. 
 The precise intention of the mutineers was not known, 
 but their complaints and demands were similar to those 
 of the Pennsylvanians." 
 
 Persuaded that, without some decisive effort at all 
 hazards to suppress this dangerous spirit, it would 
 speedily infect the whole army, General Washington 
 ordered as large a detachment as could be spared from 
 other posts to march under Major-general Howe, with 
 orders to compel the mutineers to unconditional sub- 
 mission; to listen to no terms while they were in a 
 state of resistance ; and, on their reduction, to execute 
 
1780.] SUBMISSION OF THE JERSEY LINE. 381 
 
 instantly a few of the most active and incendiary lead- 
 ers. 
 
 Six hundred men were marched from Morristown 
 to Ringwood, through mountain roads, in deep snow, 
 and, arriving in the night, surrounded the mutineers 
 and brought them to terms. 
 
 " Some seemed willing to comply, but others ex- 
 claimed, ' What ! No conditions ? Then if we are to 
 die, it is as well to die where we are as any where else.' 
 Some hesitation appearing among them, Colonel Sprout 
 was directed to advance, and only five minutes were 
 given the mutineers to comply with the orders, which 
 had been sent to them. This had its effect, and they, 
 to a man, marched without arms to the ground ap- 
 pointed for them. The Jersey officers gave a list of 
 those whom they thought the most atrocious offenders, 
 upon which I desired them to select three (one of each 
 regiment), which was accordingly clone. A field court- 
 martial was presently held, and they received sentence 
 of death by the unanimous decree of the court." 
 
 Two were executed on the spot, the other reprieved 
 as not so guilty as his fellows. In the general orders 
 of January 30th, " The general returns his thanks to 
 Major-general Howe for the judicious measures he pur- 
 sued, and to the officers and men under his command, 
 for the good conduct and alacrity with which they ex- 
 ecuted his orders for suppressing the late mutiny in a 
 part of the Jersey line. It gave him inexpressible pain 
 to be obliged to employ their arms upon such an occa- 
 
382 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1780. 
 
 sion, and he is convinced that they themselves felt all 
 the reluctance which former affection to fellow-soldiers 
 could inspire. 
 
 " The general is deeply sensible of the sufferings of 
 the army. He leaves no expedient unessayed to re- 
 lieve them, and he is persuaded Congress and the 
 several States are doing every thing in their power for 
 the same purpose." 
 
 The hardships and sufferings of war receive their 
 most striking comment in such occurrences as this. To 
 be starved and frozen, yet forced to suffer in silence ! 
 We conclude a notice of the campaign of 1780, in the 
 words of Washington himself, in a short letter to Dr. 
 Franklin. 
 
 " Bergen County, N. J., Oct. 11th, 1780. 
 
 " Deak Sir, — I was very much obliged by the let- 
 ter, which you did me the honor to write by our 
 amiable young friend, the Marquis de Lafayette, 
 whose exertions to serve this country in his own, are 
 additional proofs of his zealous attachment to our cause, 
 and have endeared him to us still more. He came out 
 flushed with expectations of a decisive campaign, and 
 fired with hopes of acquiring fresh laurels ; but in both 
 he has been disappointed ; for we have been condemn- 
 ed to an inactivity as inconsistent with the situation of 
 our affairs, as with the ardor of his temper. 
 
 " I am sensible of all I owe you, my dear sir, for 
 your sentiments of me ; and while I am happy in your 
 
1780 LETTER TO DR. FRANKLIN. 383 
 
 esteem, I cannot but wish for occasions of giving you 
 marks of mine. 
 
 " The idea of making a tour together, which you 
 suggest, after the war, would be one of the strongest 
 motives I could have to postpone my plan of retire- 
 ment and make a visit to Europe, if my domestic 
 habits, which seem to acquire strength from restraint, 
 did not tell me I shall find it impossible to resist them 
 longer than my duty to the public calls for the sacrifice 
 of my inclinations. 
 
 " I doubt not you are so fully informed by Congress 
 of our political and military state, that it would be su- 
 perfluous to trouble you with any thing relating to 
 either. 
 
 " If I were to speak on topics of this kind, it would 
 be to show that our present situation makes one of two 
 things essential to us, a peace, or the most vigorous aid 
 of our allies, particularly in the article of money. Of 
 their disposition to serve us we cannot doubt; their 
 generosity will do every thing their means will permit. 
 With my best wishes for the preservation of your useful 
 life, and for every happiness that can attend you, 
 which a sincere attachment can dictate, I am, &c." 
 
CHAPTEE XXXIH. 
 
 Co-operation of the French fleet and array — Arnold's ravages in Virginia — Lafayette 
 operating against Lord Cornwallis there — Story of Morgan — The French fleet sails 
 for the Chesapeake — Washington, going to the seat of war with Count Kocham- 
 beau, visits Mount Yernon for the first time since June, 1775. 
 
 The EDglisli fleet under Admiral Arbuthnot, and the 
 French one under M. Destouches, M. de Tilly and the 
 Count de Rochambeau, spent several months of 1781 
 trying to circumvent and supersede each other, with 
 various success, the elements several times interfering 
 with a power that neither could withstand. Xewport 
 and the Chesapeake were alternately the theatre of op- 
 erations, "Washington's judgment inclining toward the 
 latter as the more advantageous of the two. 
 
 Perhaps the circumstance that the detested traitor, 
 Arnold, was proving the entireness of his own alle- 
 giance by devastating Virginia, had something to do 
 with the preference ; for who can doubt that the Amer- 
 ican officers were burning to bring to justice the villain 
 who had dishonored them all ? Washington sent La- 
 fayette, who had returned from France after doing all 
 
1781 d NOBLE USE OF AFFLUENCE. 385 
 
 lie could for us there, with twelve hundred men to 
 co-operate with the French fleet against Arnold ; but 
 not finding the fleet, the "Marquis was obliged to seek 
 another object, which he found in acting in concert 
 with General Greene, further south. 
 
 It is almost enough to make us in love with riches, 
 to see how nobly they may be used by noble spirits. 
 Lafayette, finding the troops under his command suf- 
 fering as usual for lack of suitable clothing, and the 
 States more careless than ever of the wants of the 
 army, since the French allies had come to take a share 
 of the work, pledged his own credit for a proper sup- 
 ply, and had the satisfaction of seeing his men comfort- 
 able, and of receiving from Washington the warmest 
 commendation. 
 
 An instance connected with Lafayette's operations 
 in the south is related by Mr. Sparks, which is too 
 beautiful to be omitted.* 
 
 * After Cornwallis had arrived at York, and commenced his fortifica- 
 tions, Lafayette asked of Colonel Barber if he knew of a trusty, capable 
 soldier, whom he could send as a spy into Cornwallis's camp. He an- 
 swered that there was one in the New Jersey line by the name of Mor- 
 gan, who was in all respects suited to such an enterprise. The general 
 sent for him, and told him that he had a very difficult task to propose to 
 him, which was, that he should pretend to desert, go over to the Britisn 
 camp and enlist as a soldier. Morgan answered that he was ready to do 
 any thing in the service of his country, and oblige his general, but that 
 his feelings revolted at such a proposal. 
 
 He must assume the character of a spy, and, if detected, he would not 
 only lose his life, but bring a lasting disgrace upon his name. 
 
 He desired the reputation of a good soldier, and a zealous, true lover 
 of his country, hut he could not endure the thoughts of being a spy. Af- 
 ter some conversation, however, he told the general that he would go, on 
 
 17 
 
386 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1781. 
 
 Arnold still continued his ravages in Virginia, 
 burning peaceful towns and doing whatever is meanest 
 and most cruel in war, for in " civilized " war, armies 
 only fight against armies, not against unarmed inhabi- 
 tants. Meanwhile a British man-of-war sailed up the 
 broad and beautiful Potomac, the haunt of salmon and 
 wild fowl, hitherto unroused b y any sound more warlike 
 than the pop of the sportsman's gun, and, as had been pre- 
 dicted some time before, made straight for the secluded, 
 rural home of the commander-in-chief, and demanded 
 supplies as the price of sparing the house and property. 
 Mr. Lund Washington, forgetting in the hurry and agi- 
 tation of the moment the position and sentiments 
 of the man he served, timidly conceded the provisions 
 and forage they required, and congratulated himself, 
 
 one condition, which was, that, in case any disaster should happen to him, 
 the general should make the true state of the case known, and have the 
 particulars published in the New Jersey gazettes, that no reproach might 
 come upon his family and friends for his supposed misconduct. 
 
 To this the general assented. Morgan joined the British camp and en- 
 listed. 
 
 Lafayette left every thing to his discretion, but told him he wished in- 
 telligence of important movements, and moreover desired the impression 
 particularly to be given, that he had boats enough to transport all his 
 army across James River. Morgan had been a little time in camp, when 
 Lord Comwallis sent for hini and asked him many questions. Tarleton 
 was with him at the time, and inquired of Morgan among other things 
 how many boats General Lafayette had on the river. He said he did not 
 know the exact number, but he had been told there were enough to carry 
 over all the army at a moment's warning. " There," exclaimed Comwal- 
 lis to Tarleton, " I told you this would not do," from which it appeared 
 that they had a project in view. 
 
 The French fleet in the meantime arrived. General Lafayette had been 
 out to reconnoitre, and when he returned he found six men in the British 
 
1781.] MISTAKE AT MOUNT VERNON. 387 
 
 no doubt, on seeing the enemy depart, without leaving 
 behind him, as he so often did, a smoking ruin. 
 
 But now came the time of reckoning. The agent 
 must sit down and write an account of the transaction 
 to the commander-in-chief; must tell him, not only that 
 the enemy had threatened an attack, for that would 
 have been nothing wonderful ; not that they had with- 
 drawn without proceeding to extremities, which might 
 have excited some surprise ; but that he, Lund Wash- 
 ington, — namesake if not kinsman of the champion of 
 Freedom and foe of British assumption, — had bought 
 off the invader by contributions of free-born pigs and 
 chickens, and beeves fattened on the soil of Liberty ! 
 
 It was a hard task, and he made as good a story of 
 it as he could, but hear the reply : — 
 
 " I am very sorry to hear of your loss ; I am a little 
 sorry to hear of my own ; but that which gives me 
 
 uniform and one green-coated Hessian at his quarters ; and among them 
 was Morgan. 
 
 " Well, Morgan'" asked the general, with surprise, " whom have you 
 got here ? " " Five British soldiers who have deserted with me, and a Hes- 
 sian whom we captured at the outpost," was the reply. He went on to 
 say, that as the French fleet had arrived, and he presumed his services 
 could no longer be of any use to his general in the British camp, he had 
 returned and these deserters and this prisoner were the fruits of his expe- 
 dition. 
 
 The general sent for Morgan the next day, and told him that his con- 
 duct had been in the highest degree meritorious, and that he proposed to 
 make him a sergeant. Morgan listened to the proposal, and said he was 
 highly gratified to have pleased his commander, but declined the promo- 
 tion. He added that he believed himself a good soldier, but that he was 
 by no means certain he should make a good sergeant; that he joined the 
 army from a principle of duty and patriotism, because he believed his 
 
388 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [1781. 
 
 most concern is, that you should go on board the ene- 
 my's vessels, and furnish them with refreshments. It 
 would have been a less painful circumstance to me to 
 have heard, that, in consequence of your non-compli- 
 ance with their request, they had burnt my house and 
 laid the plantation in ruins. 
 
 " You ought to have considered yourself as my 
 representative, and should have reflected on the bad 
 example of communicating with the enemy, and ma- 
 king a voluntary offer of refreshments to them with a 
 view to prevent a conflagration. It was not in your 
 power, I acknowledge, to prevent them from sending a 
 flag on shore, and you did right to meet it ; but you 
 should, in the same instant that the business of it was 
 unfolded, have declared explicitly, that it was improper 
 for you to yield to the request ; after which, if they had 
 proceeded to help themselves by force, you could but 
 have submitted ; and being unprovided with defence, 
 
 country needed his services, and the same motives induced him to prefer a 
 station where he was satisfied he should he the most useful. The general 
 then offered him money, hut this he refused also, saying his circumstances 
 were such at home, that he did not need money. 
 
 " What then can I do for you? " inquired the general. " I have one 
 favor to ask," replied Morgan ; " during my ahsence some person has ta- 
 ken my gun. I set a great value upon it, and, if it can be restored, it 
 will give me particular pleasure." 
 
 The gun was described, and the general issued an order requiring it to 
 he returned. This was all the reward that Morgan could ever be prevailed 
 on to accept. 
 
 The above anecdote was related to me by General Lafayette himself 
 nearly fifty years after the event, with much warmth of feeling and admi- 
 ration of the soldier's magnanimity. 
 
1781.] HOPES OF REGAINING NEW YORK. 389 
 
 this was to be preferred to a feeble opposition, which 
 only serves as a pretext to burn and destroy." 
 
 Speaking of the circumstances to Lafayette, who 
 had been shocked at its inconsistency, and written him 
 a letter on the subject, "Washington suggests some ex- 
 cuses for his agent, who was also his friend : • 
 
 " A false idea, arising from the consideration of his 
 being my steward, and in that character more the 
 trustee and guardian of my property than the repre- 
 sentative of my honor, has misled his judgment and 
 plunged him into error, upon the appearance of deser- 
 tion among my negroes, and danger to my buildings ; 
 for sure I am, that no man is more firmly opposed to 
 the enemy than he is. From a thorough conviction of 
 this, and of his integrity, I intrusted every species of 
 my property to his care, without reservation or fear of 
 his abusing it, The last paragraph of my letter to him 
 was occasioned by an expression of his fear, that all the 
 estates convenient to the river would be stripped of 
 their negroes and movable property." 
 
 In July, 1781, there were grand preparations for a 
 descent upon New York, by the combined armies of 
 France and the United States, the former commanded 
 by Count Eochambeau and the Duke de Lauzun, the 
 latter by General Washington and General Lincoln. 
 Both armies took position about Kingsbridge and Har- 
 lem, but in consequence of various unfavorable circum- 
 stances, fell back as far as Dobbs' Ferry, where they 
 lay six weeks, awaiting a favorable opportunity. But 
 
390 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [ I7S1 
 
 their troops were too few and ill-conditioned, and the 
 French fleet could not join them, being far inferior in 
 force to the British, the strength of which gave the 
 enemy an incalculable advantage in all land operations 
 at this period ; so the plan proved abortive. Count de 
 Grasse, with a large fleet and more than three thousand 
 men, was in the West Indies, and Washington earnest- 
 ly desired that he should sail for Sandy Hook, and at- 
 tack the British by sea, which would have enabled the 
 land forces to accomplish their plan of recovering New 
 York. 
 
 But before the despatch to this effect had time to 
 reach the French admiral, a letter was received from 
 him, announcing that he was about to sail, with his en- 
 tire force, for the Chesapeake. This changed the whole 
 plan. The armies, French and American, set out at 
 once for Virginia, leaving only men enough behind to 
 secure the passes of the Hudson. Lord Cornwallis was 
 still in Virginia, and Lafayette counteracting him as 
 far as possible. The American troops were not very 
 willing to march so far southward, and some of them 
 would have stopped at Philadelphia, if Robert Morris, 
 that patriotic financier, who, like the genii of Arabian 
 story, always produced gold when it was needed, found 
 for them a month's pay in hard money, when hard 
 money was not to be had except by borrowing it on 
 his own personal credit. Washington and Rocham- 
 beau, in advance of the army, stopped at Mount Ver- 
 non, but only for a few hours. They then pushed for- 
 
1781 -] ONCE MORE AT HOME. 391 
 
 ward to join Lafayette, whom they found near Wil- 
 liamsburg, "Virginia, on the 14th of September. 
 
 Washington looking upon his beloved home again 
 after more than six years absence — six years of toil 
 and anxiety, of glory and disappointment — what an 
 hour of emotion, of reminiscence, of longing ! Here is 
 the bounteous old mansion with its flagged piazza, 
 worn with his pacing footsteps ; its hospitable rooms, 
 its quiet library, its sweeping colonnades, its abundant 
 garden. Here, too, are the lawns and shrubberies cared 
 for and beautified so fondly by their master's hands. 
 On the roof of the house is a cupola, from which to en- 
 joy the more extended prospect offered by the broad 
 Potomac and both its shores of gently swelling hills, 
 crowned with woods as far as the eye can see, and 
 fading away in the distance as the river widens into an 
 arm of the great ocean. Here all, all these, and a thou- 
 sand charms more, every one endeared by life-long 
 habit, and the hope of quiet closing days to be passed 
 among them. 
 
 How pleasant to have detained the French com- 
 mander a few days, while in the midst of softly waving 
 woods and waters and the comforts of domestic life, the 
 din of war might be forgotten ! 
 
 And the wife ! Shall we blame her if she thought 
 it hard that her husband must mount and away before 
 she had time to question him a little even of his own 
 welfare and his plans and hopes for the future ? Her 
 lot was hard ; six summers in succession she had been 
 
392 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1781. 
 
 separated from him, all the while knowing that he was 
 exposed to the perils of deadly strife, and that he would 
 avoid none of them, for his own sake or even for hers. 
 Here he had, unannounced, darted into his home, like 
 the first sunbeam after a storm, only to disappear again 
 under as black -a cloud as any of those that had brought 
 the thunder. He had come but to tell her that he was 
 on his way to seek a battle, an unequal though glorious 
 contest, from which he might never return. 
 But the cloud had a silver lining'. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Capitulation of Torktown — British troops lay down their arms — Generous senti- 
 ments — Cautions of Washington — Moderation in victory — Joy and gratitude of 
 the nation — Death of Mr. John Parke Custis. 
 
 Lokd Coknwallis, whom Lafayette had been harassing 
 on every side, found himself, only a few days after this 
 flying visit of Washington to his home, out-generalled 
 and penned up in Yorktown, and hotly besieged by the 
 combined forces ; and on the 17th of October demand- 
 ed a parley, and signified his determination to surren- 
 der the fortifications of Yorktown and Gloucester, one 
 on each side of York River. _ 
 
 The terms sketched by Lord Cornwallis not meeting 
 General Washington's views, the general in his turn 
 proposed articles of capitulation, which were acceded 
 to by the British general. 
 
 The articles of capitulation were signed on the 19th 
 of October, and in the afternoon of that day the garri- 
 sons marched out and surrendered their arms. 
 
 The whole number of prisoners, exclusive of sea- 
 men, was somewhat over seven thousand men ; and the 
 
394 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1781. 
 
 British loss during the siege was between five and six 
 hundred. The combined army employed in the siege 
 consisted of about seven thousand American regular 
 troops, upwards of five thousand French, and four 
 thousand militia. The loss in killed and wounded was 
 about three hundred. 
 
 The land forces surrendered to General Washington 
 and became prisoners to Congress ; but the seamen, 
 ships and naval equipments, were assigned to the 
 French admiral. 
 
 General Washington thus announces the capture to 
 the President of Congress : 
 
 " Head-quakters, near York, 19^ Oct. 1781. 
 
 " Sir, — I have the honor to inform Congress, that a 
 reduction of the British army, under the command of 
 Lord Cornwallis, is most happily effected. The unre- 
 mitted ardor which actuated every officer and soldier 
 in the combined army on this occasion, has principally 
 led to this important event, at an earlier period than 
 my most sanguine hopes had induced me to expect. 
 
 " The singular spirit of emulation, which animated 
 the whole army from the first commencement of our 
 operations, has filled my mind with the highest pleasure 
 and satisfaction, and had given me the happiest presages 
 of success." 
 
 He also expresses, very warmly, his obligations to 
 the French officers and his sense of the merits of his 
 own men. 
 
1781 -1 " COENWALLIS IS TAKEN ! " 395 
 
 Here was sunshine indeed. A success so great, so 
 rapid and so unexpected cheered the land from one ex- 
 tremity to the other. The siege and surrender of York- 
 town, shook the country like the loudest claj:> of thunder, 
 herald of the storm's departure. All felt that brighter 
 skies were preparing, and the universal joy did not wait 
 the sanction of a deliberate treaty of peace. The great 
 game of chess which had been so warily played with 
 living men for pawns, was now nearly decided, if not 
 closed by a final checkmate. Congress and the people 
 felt as if the stunning blow had been given — as if the 
 long agony was over. There was a touch of wildness 
 in the national joy, showing how deep had been the 
 previous despondency. Watchmen woke the citizens 
 of Philadelphia at one o'clock in the morning, with the 
 cry — " Cornwallis is taken ! " Sober, puritan America 
 was startled from her habitual coolness. The chief 
 alone, on whom had fallen the heaviest stress of the 
 long contest, was calm and serious. He felt that a 
 great deal was yet to be done. 
 
 In the orders for the day is the following direction : 
 
 " Divine service is to be performed to-morrow in the 
 several brigades and divisions. 
 
 " The commander-in-chief earnestly recommends, 
 that the troops not on duty should universally attend, 
 with that seriousness of deportment and gratitude of 
 heart, which the recognition of such reiterated and as- 
 tonishing interpositions of Providence demands of us." 
 
 The thanks of Congress were presented to each of 
 
396 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1781. 
 
 the commanders and to all the other officers and sol- 
 diers. Counts de Grasse and de Rochambeau received 
 each two pieces of the English cannon, and General 
 Washington two stands of colors taken at Yorktown. 
 
 Colonel Tilghman, who bore the victorious news to 
 Congress, was complimented with a fine horse and an 
 elegant sword ; and a marble column was ordered to be 
 erected at Yorktown in commemoration of the sur- 
 render. Washington spared no thanks to his excellent 
 friends the French, and even went on board the ad- 
 miral's ship to pay his compliments, to present as a 
 personal gift from himself a pair of very fine horses, 
 and to concert measures for following up the victory 
 effectually. In the latter object he was not successful, 
 as the Count de Grasse had engagements which called 
 him elsewhere. 
 
 Scarcely had the capitulation been signed, when 
 Washington left Yorktown, summoned by express to 
 the dying bed of his step-son, Mr. Custis, a young man 
 of twenty-eight, the " Master Jackey " of Mount Yernon's 
 early days. This gentleman, who had married Miss 
 Nelly Calvert, had been seized with a fever, and lay at 
 a friend's house at Eltham, where his afflicted wife and 
 mother were watching over him, hourly expecting his 
 dissolution when Washington arrived. This was one 
 of those occasions upon which Washington is said to 
 have exhibited an amount of affectonate feeling which 
 some have considered him incapable of. He looked on 
 the young man, Mrs. Washington's only son, called thus 
 
1781 GRIEF AFTER JOY. 397 
 
 early to leave a beloved wife and four infant children, 
 and lie wept like a woman, promising with all the em- 
 phasis of his strong nature to be henceforth a father to 
 the little ones, which he truly was, ever after. 
 
 Perhaps Providence sent this home-grief to temper 
 the joy of so unexpected a termination of the long, 
 weary struggle. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 The sufferings of the army tempt some men to treasonous thoughts — The indigna- 
 tion of Washington and his rebuke — Pacification of the troops— News of PEACE 
 — Persons still living who remember those times — Washington travels in Western 
 New York— The British evacuate New York — Washington takes leavo of his 
 companions in arms — Eeturns his commission to Congress. 
 
 In May, 1782, a very well written paper was handed 
 to Washington, which, after enlarging warmly on the 
 wrongs of the army, and offering some very severe 
 criticisms on the measures of Congress, went on to 
 pass judgment on the various forms of government, 
 coming at last to the conclusion that a republic is of all 
 others the least reliable, and that it was a mistake to 
 think that the American States could ever prosper un- 
 der that form. English constitutional monarchy was 
 decided to be the most promising, and thus far the most 
 successful, experiment in government, and the one most 
 likely to be adopted by America upon due delibera- 
 tion. The letter goes on to designate "Washington as 
 the suitable head for such a government, and to pro- 
 pose for him the title of King. 
 
 The paper was the production of Colonel Nicola, an 
 
1782.] TEMPTATION SCORNED. 399 
 
 officer of respectability, on terms of intimacy with the 
 commander-in-chief, with whom he had often conferred 
 on the affairs of the army. He is supposed to have 
 been merely the organ of others on this occasion. A 
 copy of Washington's reply is extant in his own hand- 
 writing, with the certificate of two secretaries on the 
 same paper : — 
 
 " The foregoing is an exact copy of a letter, which 
 we sealed and sent off to Colonel Nicola, at the request 
 of the writer of it. 
 
 " D. Humphreys, A. D. C, 
 " Jonathan Trumbull, Jun., 
 
 " Secretary." 
 
 " To Colonel Lewis Nicola. 
 
 "Newbukg, 22d May, 1782. 
 
 « Sir,— With a mixture of great surprise and aston- 
 ishment, I have read with attention the sentiments you 
 have submitted to my perusal. 
 
 " Be assured, sir, no occurrence in the course of the 
 war has given me more painful sensations, than your 
 information of there being such ideas existing in the 
 army, as you have expressed, and I must view with 
 abhorrence and reprehend with severity. For the 
 present the communication of them will rest in my 
 own bosom, unless some further agitation of the matter 
 shall make a disclosure necessary. 
 
400 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1782. 
 
 " I am much at a loss to conceive what part of my 
 conduct could have given encouragement to an ad- 
 dress, which to me seems big with the greatest mis- 
 chiefs that can befall my country. 
 
 " If I am not deceived in the knowledge of myself, 
 you could not have found a person to whom your 
 schemes are more disagreeable. At the same time, in 
 justice to my own feelings, I must add, that no man 
 possesses a more sincere wish to see ample justice done 
 to the army than I do ; and, as far as my powers and 
 influence, in a constitutional way, extend, they shall 
 be employed to the utmost of my abilities to effect it, 
 should there be any occasion. 
 
 " Let me conjure you, then, if you have any regard 
 for your country, concern for yourself or posterity, or 
 respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your 
 mind, and never communicate, as from yourself or any 
 one else, a sentiment of the like nature. 
 
 " I am, sir, your most obedient servant." 
 
 But this transaction was never alluded to during 
 the period when the murmurs of the army and the 
 awful dread of worse evils to come, wrung the heart 
 of Washington, and obliged him to become a second 
 time, under God, the saviour of his country. The 
 quietness with which he crushed in embryo a mighty 
 insurrection can never be over-praised. 
 
 Less brilliant than some of his other exploits, it 
 was perhaps, in the qualities it evinced and in the im- 
 
1783.] ONCE MORE HE SAVES HIS COUNTRY. 401 
 
 portance of its consequences, the greatest of all. A 
 body of men with arms in their hands, with real 
 wrongs to stimulate their passions, wrought up to the 
 last point of self-control by artful and specious ad- 
 dresses, made but too ready material for mad doings. 
 There was an anonymous call for a meeting of officers. 
 This coming to the ears of the commander-in-chief, he 
 at once called another meeting, and for an earlier day. 
 Before that day arrived, he had sent for many of the 
 officers separately, to his private room, and it was ob- 
 served that some of them left him with the traces of 
 tears upon their cheeks. 
 
 The meeting called by General Washington took 
 place as appointed, General Gates in the chair. 
 
 The commander-in-chief, much agitated, arose, with 
 a paper in his hand containing the address he had pre- 
 pared. As he looked around the assembly, and his eye 
 fell upon one and another of his old companions in arms, 
 men who with him had borne the burden and heat of 
 the day, memory was too much for him ; he faltered 
 and could not see clearly to read his notes. As soon 
 as he recovered himself he said in his quiet way, tak- 
 ing at the same time his glasses from his pocket, " I 
 have grown gray in your service, and now I am grow- 
 ing blind, but I never doubted the justice of my coun- 
 try or its gratitude." 
 
 A thrill ran through the assembly. What could 
 better have prepared every heart to listen to him with 
 reverential affection ? 
 
402 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1783. 
 
 His address, read with deep feeling, was noble, 
 fatherly, wise. Our limits forbid us to quote from it, 
 but every American should study it if he would know 
 how to love and honor Washington. 
 
 He retired as soon as he had finished, and resolu- 
 tions were passed by the meeting expressive of the 
 most ardent affection for him and determination to 
 abide by his wishes. 
 
 To the President of Congress Washington wrote : 
 
 " The result of the proceedings of the grand con- 
 vention of officers, which I have the honor of enclosing 
 to your Excellency for the inspection of Congress, will, 
 I flatter myself, be considered as the last glorious proof 
 of patriotism which could have been given by men who 
 aspired to the distinction of a patriot army ; and will 
 not only confirm their claim to the justice, but will in- 
 crease their title to the gratitude, of their country." 
 
 Not one word of his own share in the matter. 
 
 News of peace came very soon after the noble paci- 
 fication at Newburg. Joyful news ! every heart leapt 
 at thought of the blessed change. The capitulation at 
 Yorktown had been virtually the close of hostilities, but 
 the obstinate temper of George III. seemed likely to 
 prolong the contest indefinitely. Now all was settled 
 and secure. The treaty of peace had been signed at 
 Paris, and on the 19th of April, 1783, precisely eight 
 years from the day when the first blood was shed at 
 Lexington, the proclamation of peace was read at the 
 head of every regiment and corps of the army, after 
 
1783 PEACE IN EARNEST. 403 
 
 which the chaplains of the several brigades, by di- 
 rection of the commander-in-chief, offered public thanks 
 to Almighty God for all his mercies, " particularly for 
 his overruling the wrath of man to his own glory, and 
 causing the rage of war to cease among nations." 
 
 The joy with which the news of peace was hailed is 
 evident from a letter, now before me, from Washington 
 to Governor Clinton, announcing the event. 
 
 " Head-quakteks, March 27th, 1783. 
 
 " Dear Sie, — I take the first moment of forwarding 
 to your Excellency the dispatches from the Secretary 
 of Foreign Affairs, which accompany this. They con- 
 tain, I presume, all the intelligence respecting peace, 
 on which great and glorious event permit me to con- 
 gratulate you with the greatest sincerity. 
 
 " With the most perfect respect, I have the honor 
 " to be, dear sir, your Excellency's most 
 " humble servant, 
 " George Washington. 
 " His Excellency Gov. Clinton." 
 
 This letter, venerably yellow, is addressed — 
 
 On Public Service. 
 To His Excellency Governor George Clinton. 
 PEACE. 
 
 The word peace dashed on in large characters by 
 
404 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1783. 
 
 Washington himself, in a way that lets us into the feel- 
 ings of the moment. 
 
 The long struggle was now over. Peace had 
 dawned over the weary land where civil discord and 
 bloody retribution had so long held sway. No more 
 to be stigmatized as rebels, the people of the United 
 States had become free and independent citizens, 
 amenable only to God and to themselves, and in a 
 position of equality with the great nations of the earth. 
 The change cannot be conceived by us who have known 
 our country only in its days of power and prosperity ; 
 but there still remain among us those whose memories 
 are faithful to the aspect of the darkest days. So rapid 
 has been our transition from infant weakness and un- 
 certainty of life, to full-grown potency and self-reliance, 
 that not a few of the men and . women who remember 
 all the horrors of war — the starvation, the nakedness, 
 the arraying of brother against brother, the midnight 
 cannon, the names of burning villages, the slaughter of 
 women and children, are still living at this moment, 
 able to describe what they saw and felt, while they look 
 around upon nothing that can remind them of those 
 disastrous times, except by contrast. What can be 
 more interesting than a contemporary of Washington ? 
 The very sight of such a relic of those heavy days, 
 still able to recount what he saw and heard, warms 
 one's patriotism, and calls up the remembrance, too 
 often dormant, of what our fathers suffered for us. All 
 we enjoy, all we boast of, was won by immense sacri- 
 
1783 d LIVING MONUMENTS. 405 
 
 fices, cold night-watches, marches tracked with blood, 
 ghastly wounds, deaths in solitude and anguish, un- 
 pitied and unknown. We may look upon the graves 
 of our deliverers without full sense of what we owe 
 them ; but we cannot coldly pass by the living witness, 
 the monumental man, bearing, like the pillar of the 
 Nile, the inscriptions of the past for the instruction and 
 use of the future. More than one lady of the " Repub- 
 lican Court " is still enjoying, in the evening of life, re- 
 collections of the keen interest, the exciting novelties, 
 the simple splendors of that glorious time, serving as 
 stars to light and cheer a path that might otherwise be 
 sad. Things now intensely interesting to us they 
 sometimes find it difficult to recall, because at the time 
 of their occurrence great men and great events were so 
 common as to pass unnoticed. " "When I saw General 
 "Washington every clay," says one of these whom it is 
 sometimes my privilege to converse with, " when I sat 
 by his side or walked with him in the street ; when he 
 dropt in unexpectedly to take tea with my mother, or 
 sat laughing at Nelly Custis's wild gayety ; I never 
 thought of the time when the least personal reminiscence 
 of him would be precious." 
 
 Still, enough is remembered to give us an intimate 
 idea of the manners of those days, and of the appear- 
 ance of the men whose reputation is now among our 
 most precious national possessions. 
 
 Washington never appears greater than at the mo- 
 ment of peace, when most war-leaders are glad to sink 
 
406 MKMOIR8 OF WASHINGTON. [1783. 
 
 into repose, leaving to others the care of wliat they have 
 secured. The feeling of fatherhood was never stronger 
 in him than now, and the dignity with which he takes 
 upon himself the care of the country, and gives it his 
 parting advice, is unique in the history of the world. 
 His circular letter to the Governors of the different 
 States, on the disbanding of the army, is one of his best 
 papers. 
 
 Affairs in the army continuing in an unsettled and 
 uneasy state, General Washington, wearied almost to 
 death with cares and labors, planned for himself an ex- 
 cursion that would at once recruit body and mind, and 
 afford him an opportunity of observation in a direction 
 peculiarly congenial to his habits and feelings. " Find- 
 ing myself in disagreeable circumstances here," he 
 says to the President of Congress, " and likely to be, 
 so long as Congress are pleased to continue me in this 
 awkward situation, anxiouly expecting the definitive 
 treaty; without command, and with little else to do 
 than to be teased with troublesome applications and 
 fruitless demands, which I have neither the means nor 
 the power of satisfying; in this distressing tedium I 
 have resolved to wear away a little time in performing 
 a tour to the northward, as far as Ticonderoga and 
 Crown Point, and perhaps as far up the Mohawk River 
 as Fort Schuyler." 
 
 It is noticeable that the companion of Washington's 
 northern trip was Governor George Clinton, father of 
 Governor De Witt Clinton, to whom is ascribed the 
 
 
,783 INYITKI) 1JY QONGBESS. 407 
 
 honor of having originated the idea of the Erie Canal. 
 Without wishing in the least to detract from the merit 
 of the latter, we cannot but suppose the suggestion to 
 have proceeded from Washington, whose mind was 
 ever on the alert for the discovery of the natural re- 
 sources of every part of the country. 
 
 Congress, then sitting at Princeton, desired that 
 Washington would come to them, that they might con- 
 sult him " on the arrangements for peace and other 
 public concerns." 
 
 lie was rather disinclined to make the removal, ur- 
 ging several reasons why it would be inconvenient, and 
 saying he had already given his views in writing. Ilis 
 modesty shrank from the idea of public thanks, which 
 he knew awaited him when he should appear before 
 Congress. It was not until after the resolve of that 
 body had been transmitted to him (a royal invitation 
 being equivalent to a command), that he consented to 
 present himself. Before he could set out, however, Mrs. 
 
 Washington was taken ill, and he was detained several 
 days, for which he writes to apologize to Congress, 
 mentioning his wile's fever, and her weak and low state 
 as his reason. 
 
 We find from the last " Order," that he set tut on 
 the 18th of August. " The commander-in-chief, having 
 been requested by Congress to give his attention at 
 Princeton, proposes to set out for that place to-morrow ; 
 but he expects to have the pleasure of seeing the army 
 again before he retires to private life. During Ins ab- 
 
408 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1783. 
 
 sence, Major-general Knox will retain the command 
 of the troops, and all reports are to be made to him 
 accordingly." 
 
 A house had been prepared for him at Rocky Hill, 
 near Princeton, where he resided for some time, hold- 
 ing conferences with committees and members, and 
 giving counsel on public affairs, and where he wrote 
 that admirable farewell to his army, perhaps as full of 
 his own peculiar spirit as any of his public papers. 
 His thanks to officers and soldiers for their devotion 
 during the war have no perfunctory coldness in them, 
 but speak the full heart of a brave and noble captain, 
 reviewing a most trying period, and recalling with 
 warm gratitude the co-operation of those on whom he 
 relied. Then, for their future, his cautions and persua- 
 sions, the motives he urges, and the virtues he recom- 
 mends, all form a curious contrast with those of Napo- 
 leon's addresses to his troops. " Let it be known and 
 remembered," he says, " that the reputation of the 
 federal armies is established beyond the reach of male- 
 volence; and let a consciousness of their achievements 
 and fame still incite the men who composed them to 
 honorable actions ; under the persuasion that the pri- 
 vate virtues of economy, prudence, and industry, will 
 not be less amiable in civil life, than the more splendid 
 qualities of valor, perseverance and enterprise were in 
 the field." Thus consistent to the last he honored all 
 the virtues ; showing that while those of the field were 
 not misplaced in the farm, those of the farm might well 
 
1783 EXCHANGE OF MASTERS. 409 
 
 be counted among the best friends of the field — his own 
 life of planter and soldier forming a glorious com- 
 mentary on his doctrines. 
 
 The British having at length appointed a time for 
 evacuating the city of New York, Governor Clinton 
 issued a proclamation, enjoining the inhabitants to 
 yield due obedience to the laws of the State, and to be 
 vigilant in preserving law and order. The troops hav- 
 ing come down from West Point to Harlem, waited for 
 the British to quit the posts in the upper part of the 
 city, and as fast as those were relinquished, marched in 
 and took possession quietly, and without any disturb- 
 ance occurring. This being accomplished, General 
 "Washington and Governor Clinton, with their suites, 
 multitudes of citizens, and a splendid military escort, 
 made a formal entry in procession by the Bloomingdale 
 road, reaching the lower part of the city while the last 
 of the British were still embarking in their boats to 
 cross over to Jersey. The governor gave a great pub- 
 lic dinner on that day, the commander-in-chief and all 
 the most distinguished men gracing the occasion by 
 their presence. A dinner to the Chevalier de la Lu- 
 zerne followed this in a few days ; a very elegant en- 
 tertainment of a similar character, on a still more ex- 
 tensive scale, above one hundred gentlemen being 
 present. Balls and festivities were the order of the 
 day, and even those whose losses had been most severe, 
 could not help taking some share in the rejoicings over 
 freedom. Many a face wore a smile, while the heart 
 18 
 
410 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1783. 
 
 beneath it was wrapped in mourning, the feeling of 
 patriotism triumphing, for the moment, over all private 
 griefs. There were others, perhaps, who could have 
 made wry faces at the grand procession of the success- 
 ful " rebels," for New York had been a nest of tory- 
 ism ; but these malcontents, if any such there were, 
 were wise enough to dress their looks to the pattern of 
 the hour, and shout and illuminate with the rest. The 
 public feeling would ill have endured any dissentient 
 airs at that crowning moment, when blood and tears 
 were alike forgotten in the glorious anticipations of the 
 future. 
 
 Washington's progress southward had been one 
 continued scene of honors and rejoicings. The people 
 seem to have had no fear of turning the head of their 
 idol, but gave vent to every expression that joy, grati- 
 tude, and hope could suggest. Processions, triumphal 
 arches, cannon, music, flowers, songs, addresses, greeted 
 him every where. But his soul was firm, his manner 
 serious, his heart thankful, but not elated. Arrived at 
 Annapolis, he sent to inquire the pleasure of Congress 
 as to the mode in which he was to resign his commis- 
 sion, whether personally or by letter. 
 
 The former mode being preferred, a committee of 
 reception was appointed, and with grave and dignified 
 forms, General Washington was introduced into the 
 Congressional Chamber. The House being " seated 
 and covered," so runs the order for the ceremonial, the 
 approach of the commander-in-chief was announced by 
 
1783.J WASHINGTON RESIGNS HIS COMMISSION. 411 
 
 a messenger, and the secretary proceeded to introduce 
 him, with the gentlemen of his staff, and to provide the 
 general with a chair, the aids remaining standing. 
 
 After some pause, during which spectators were 
 admitted and placed, the President of Congress ad- 
 dressed the general : 
 
 " Sir, — The United States in Congress assembled, 
 are prepared to receive your communication," upon 
 which "Washington arose, bowing to Congress, who re- 
 turned the salutation by uncovering, and read from 
 notes a very brief address : — 
 
 Then advancing towards the President he delivered 
 up his commission, with a copy of the address, and re- 
 turned to his seat. 
 
 When the President commenced his reply, General 
 Washington arose, and remained standing until its con- 
 clusion, when the secretary presented him with a copy 
 of the answer. The general bowing again, took his 
 leave, Congress acknowledging the reverence as before. 
 
 The next morning after this affecting ceremony, 
 Washington, the new Cincinnatus, set out for Mount 
 Yernon, there to resume the plough and the pruning 
 knife, far dearer to him than even the sword " crowned 
 with victorious wreaths." We fancy him on the 
 evening of his arrival, walking once more in that be- 
 loved portico, where, says Mr. Custis, he would often 
 pace up and clown for an hour before he retired, look- 
 ing out on a still, glittering, snowy landscape, shadowed 
 here and there with dark evergreens, through whose 
 
412 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1783. 
 
 branches the sighing wind made wintry music, while 
 thoughts of the past eight weary, trying, glorious years 
 trooped through his mind, and the image of friend after 
 friend joined the sweet or sad procession, as life or 
 death had been his lot. Home ! Home ! This was, 
 after all, the prominent idea ; Home once more ! We 
 doubt if even public affairs, and joy and triumph, did 
 not, on that first evening, fade before that thought. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Personal habits of Washington at home— Anecdote from Watson— Washington an 
 early riser — Care of his farm — Beading aloud in the evening — Itegular at church — 
 Abstemious in eating and drinking — His love and care of Mount Vernon, and the 
 description he gave of the estate— Attending to other people's affairs— Number of 
 letters he wrote while at home. 
 
 Life at Mount Yemon was always essentially the same ; 
 the position and circumstances of the place, and the 
 habits of the country giving it character, as well when 
 its owner was at the summit of fame as when he first set 
 up housekeeping there, a gay young Virginian bache- 
 lor in 1757, exercising his taste in furniture and ar- 
 rangements, and writing to his London correspondent 
 — " You will perhaps think me a crazy fellow, to be or- 
 dering and counter-ordering, almost in a breath." 
 
 We have seen the careful attention given to his 
 own affairs in early times ; the minuteness with which 
 he describes household articles that he wished to ob- 
 tain, and calculated materials and provisions for the 
 use of the plantation. This continued to be a trait of 
 his through life, and should be remembered by all who 
 admire him, as a lesson of the foolishness of fancying 
 
414 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1783-9. 
 
 one's self above small affairs. When we find ourselves 
 capable only of large ones, it is to be ascribed to the 
 limitation of our powers, not to their grandeur. Pub- 
 lic service and the highest offices of friendship and af- 
 fection were the business of Washington's life ; no man 
 ever was more completely and efficiently the servant 
 of the public. Yet in all the minor matters of life 
 
 His heart 
 The lowliest duties on herself did lay. 
 
 Planting trees and shrubs at Mount Vernon was 
 one of his favorite employments, and he did it often 
 with his own hands. He went daily through his 
 woods, selecting and marking young trees for trans- 
 planting to the walks about his house, and when the 
 time suited would go and superintend the whole ope- 
 ration. In one of the diaries, we find him employed 
 in the pleasant labor when a load of company arrives, 
 and he makes a rather doleful entry that he was obliged 
 to cover up the young trees in the earth, to keep them 
 from drying, so as to be useless. Home was always a 
 prominent object in his mind. To adorn his home ; to 
 fill it with whatever conduces to hospitality and the 
 comfort and amusement of guests ; to have pleasant 
 things going on in it ; to surround it with the appliances 
 which wealth has at its command ; to make it the centre 
 of bounty to a large number of less fortunate people — 
 to these things Washington's first instincts pointed, and 
 from an early age — from his first ownership, indeed — 
 
1783-9.] THE WASHINGTON FAMILY. 415 
 
 he was always taking efficient measures towards the 
 realization of his ideal ; always, we mean, when higher 
 duties did not prevent. To have suffered eight years 
 of exile from this home, was no small sacrifice for a 
 man so domestic and social in his tastes. 
 
 When Mount Vernon came to Washington as an 
 inheritance from his brother, the house was compara- 
 tively inconsiderable and the grounds in a rough state. 
 It was even then the scene of a great deal of hearty 
 hospitality, and took its share in the hunting-dinners of 
 the country, and whatsoever else could mark it as the 
 residence of one of the principal families. The Wash- 
 ingtons killed their own mutton and drew their own 
 seine, long before the time of which we are speaking. 
 They lived independently and within themselves, with 
 grain-fields and barnyards, hives and dove-cotes, cows 
 and horses, game and fish, all at hand, and no grass 
 growing before the door, in the Irish sense at least, for 
 the way thither was well trodden.* 
 
 General Washington kept up the habit of the fam- 
 
 * An interesting sketch of Washington's domestic manners is found in 
 Watson's Memoirs: — 
 
 "I had feasted my imagination for several days in the near prospect of 
 a visit to Mount Vernon, the seat of Washington. No pilgrim ever ap- 
 proached Mecca with deeper enthusiasm. I arrived there in the afternoon 
 of January 23d, '85. I was the hearer of a letter from General Green, 
 with another from Col. Fitzgerald, one of the former aids of Washington, 
 and also the hooks from Granville Sharp. Although assured that these 
 credentials would secure me a respectful reception, I trembled with awe 
 as I came into the presence of this great man. I found him at table with 
 Mrs. Washington and his private family, and was received in the native 
 dignity and with that urbanity so peculiarly combined in the character of 
 
416 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1783-9. 
 
 ily. He was related, either by blood or marriage, to 
 half the county, and his house was thronged, in the 
 earlier time, with familiar guests, as it was afterwards 
 with distinguished ones. 
 
 There were from day to day and week to week per- 
 fect avalanches of company, and we find by the diary 
 that people made nothing of staying a week or two. 
 The general would breakfast with his guests, and then 
 telling them he hoped they would take good care of 
 themselves — that there were horses for those who liked 
 to ride, the library for the studious, etc., — he mounted 
 his horse for his usual morning ride of ten or twelve 
 miles round the estate, and was not seen again until a 
 quarter before three, when he returned and dressed for 
 dinner. 
 
 Dinner at three, when, says Mr. Custis, " the gen- 
 eral ate heartily, being no way particular, except as to 
 fish, of which he was very fond." 
 
 a soldier and an eminent private gentleman. He soon put me at ease by 
 unbending in a free and affable conversation. 
 
 " Altbougb I had frequently seen him in the progress of the Revolu- 
 tion, and had corresponded with him from France in '81 and '82, this was 
 the first occasion on which I had contemplated him in his private rela- 
 tions. I observed a peculiarity in his smile, which seemed to illuminate 
 his eye ; his whole countenance beamed with intelligence, while it com- 
 manded confidence and respect. The gentleman who had accompanied 
 me from Alexandria left in the evening, and I remained alone in the en- 
 joyment of the society of Washington, for two of the richest days of my 
 life. To have communed with such a man in the bosom of his family, I 
 shall always regard as one of the highest privileges, and most cherished 
 incidents of my life. I found him kind and benignant in the domestic cir- 
 cle, revered and beloved by all around him, agreeably social without os- 
 tentation ; delighting in anecdote and adventures, without assumption ; his 
 
1783-9.] SIMPLE AND HEALTHY DIET. 417 
 
 Dessert he took but sparingly, but the Marquis de 
 Chastellux, who visited him in camp, says that he 
 would eat nuts after dinner for two hours, while con- 
 versing. Mr. Irving says that sometimes he would 
 dine on baked apples, or berries with cream or milk. 
 He preserved, to the last, the plain and simple tastes 
 he brought from his mother's frugal household, and be- 
 longed decidedly to that class of sturdy people who 
 eat to live, not to the other — those who live to eat. 
 
 He liked to have company at dinner, for conversa- 
 tion was his chief indoor amusement ; but he never, 
 even in his youth, relished what is called conviviality. 
 He drank home-brewed with his dinner, and after it, 
 three or four glasses of good old wine, which he con- 
 sidered, as did every gentleman in his days, as neces- 
 sary as meat. After the cloth was removed he drank 
 
 domestic arrangements harmouious and systematic. His servants seemed 
 to watch his eye and to anticipate his every wish ; hence a look was equi- 
 valent to a command. His servant Billy, the faithful companion of his 
 military career, was always at his side. Smiling content animated every 
 countenance in his presence. 
 
 " The first evening I spent under the wing of his hospitality, we sat a 
 full hour at tahle by ourselves, without the least interruption, after the 
 family had retired. I was extremely oppressed by a severe cold and ex- 
 cessive coughing, contracted by the exposure of a harsh winter journey. 
 He pressed me to use some remedies, but I declined doing so. As usual 
 after retiring, my coughing increased. When some time had elapsed, the 
 door of my room was gently opened, and on drawing my bed-curtains, to 
 my utter astonishment, I beheld Washington himself, standing at my bed- 
 side, with a bowl of hot tea in his hand. I was mortified and distressed 
 beyond expression. This little incident, occurring in common fife with an 
 ordinary man, would not have been noticed ; but as a trait of the benevo- 
 lence and private virtue of Washington, deserves to be recorded." 
 18* 
 
418 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1783-9. 
 
 to those present, and gave his only toast, " All our 
 friends." 
 
 Mr. Custis mentions one of the general's neighbors, 
 who had a single toast ; — it was, " God bless General 
 "Washington ! " 
 
 In the afternoon the general went to his library, 
 when he was understood to be occupied with business 
 papers or in reading. In the evening he joined the 
 family circle, took his cup of tea with the rest, and 
 when there was no company to prevent, read aloud the 
 news of the day, or passages from any book which 
 happened to engage him for the time, Mrs. Washing- 
 ton, at her ceaseless knitting, sitting very quietly in a 
 corner of the sofa. 
 
 On Sundays he attended church in the morning, 
 and in the evening read aloud some sermon or other 
 religious book. lie read with care and distinctness, 
 though with a voice which was somewhat broken by 
 some pulmonary attacks in his youth. 
 
 Frequently when sitting silent in the family, he 
 would be wholly absorbed in thought and seem uncon- 
 scious of all around him. At such times it was not 
 unusual for him to raise his hand to his head and move 
 his lips, as if debating or giving orders. His habit of 
 attending to public business was not easily overcome, 
 and his mind was one of ceaseless activity. 
 
 Like many other great men, "Washington was a very 
 early riser. He kept as good hours when he was Pres- 
 ident, as he had kept at his mother's, at Pope's Creek. 
 
1783-9.] LOVE OF MOUNT VEENOJST. 419 
 
 He generally made a very early visit to the stables, 
 but the precious morning hours, while the head of the 
 temperate man is at its clearest, were always devoted 
 by him to important business. His toilet was soon 
 finished, although he was exceedingly neat in his hab- 
 its. His servant laid his things ready for him and 
 dressed his hair, but the general always shaved himself, 
 and took care to do it in the smallest possible time. 
 This accomplished, he employed himself in the library 
 till breakfast. His breakfast was very simple ; some 
 little corn cakes, with butter and honey, and two or 
 three cups of tea. The " Spartan frugality " with 
 which he represents himself to have received the 
 French officers when they visited him at West Point, 
 was in accordance with his own private tastes and hab- 
 its ; and the times of scarcity and distress for provi- 
 sions, probably cost him very little personal sacrifice ; 
 while the well known moderation of his table helped 
 to keep up the courage and devotion of his soldiers, 
 who felt that their beloved commander shared their 
 privations, instead of revelling in luxury while they 
 were starving. "We can hardly appreciate the advan- 
 tage of simple and uncostly habits of living, but the 
 history of Washington may help us to do so. 
 
 Washington was so much attached to the place, 
 took so much interest in beautifying it, and spent such 
 unwearied energy in the cultivation of its fields, that I 
 do not know how to describe the owner at home with- 
 out saying something of the beloved homestead. 
 
420 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1783-9. 
 
 It is a great farm, of diverse surface, lying high 
 above the level of the Potomac, whose broad bosom 
 reflects the outskirts of its abundant foliage. Wood- 
 lands abound in it, and evergreens and wild vines make 
 it shady and retired in aspect. The birds whose "sweet 
 warblings " Washington spoke of in terms more poeti- 
 cal than he was accustomed to use, still make vocal the 
 " alleys green " in which it was his delight to wander ; 
 alleys which the mildness of the climate allows to be 
 always green, though not always equally so. A more 
 purely rural spot cannot be found than the favored 
 home of the greatest of men, the place in which he re- 
 ceived visits from innumerable admirers, and where he 
 delighted to entertain the few personal friends whom he 
 loved to see always about him. Here is his own de- 
 scription of it, in a letter to his agricultural friend, 
 Arthur Young, dated Dec. 12th, '93 :— 
 
 " No estate in the United States is more pleasantly 
 situated, than this. It lies in a high, dry and healthy 
 country, 300 miles, by water, from the sea, and on one 
 of the finest rivers in the world. Its margin is washed 
 by more than ten miles of tide water. It is situated in 
 a latitude between the extremes of heat and cold, and 
 is the same distance by land and water, with good 
 roads and the best navigation, from the Federal City, 
 Alexandria and Georgetown ; distant from the first 
 twelve, from the second nine, and the last sixteen miles. 
 
 "The river which encompasses the land the distance 
 above mentioned, is well supplied with different kinds 
 
1783-9.] POSITION OF THE ESTATE. 421 
 
 of fish at all seasons of the year ; and in the spring with 
 the greatest profusion of shad, herring, bass, carp, 
 tench, sturgeon, &c. Several valuable fisheries ap- 
 pertain to the estate ; the whole shore, in short, is one 
 entire fishery." 
 
 Mount Vernon has not now in the least the air of a 
 show place, hardly even of a gentleman's villa, though 
 in Washington's time it doubtless wore more nearly 
 that appearance. Certain it is he spent a great deal 
 of time and thought in planting choice and exotic 
 shrubs about his house, smoothing and decorating 
 his grass-plots, and cutting vistas through his woods, 
 that the beauties of the prospect, — especially those 
 of the beloved river, — might be enjoyed from every 
 window of the mansion, as well as from its cupola. 
 His private memoranda abound with the particulars 
 of his plans, and the anxiety with which he pursued 
 them under various difficulties; especially those of 
 slave-labor and overseer's management. 
 
 The land had several distinct settlements or points 
 of interest upon it, to each of which the general at all 
 times gave its full measure of care and attention. 
 These were " The Mill-Farm," " Muddy Hole," and 
 " Dogue Run," not very sentimental names, truly, but 
 such as he found there and such as were understood by 
 the negroes. Every day the careful master made the 
 tour of these farms, and recorded whatever was of in- 
 terest respecting them. His visits were sometimes 
 made with the earliest light, and he says himself that 
 
422 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1783-9. 
 
 if he found any of the hands not yet at work, he gen- 
 erally sent them a message of condolence on the ill 
 health which he presumed to be the cause of late 
 rising. He examined the work of the day before, in- 
 quired into the condition of the horses and mules, and 
 gave orders about the care of them. As to the farming 
 implements, we should think from his journals that he 
 knew the value and state of every plough and hoe on 
 the place. It is plainly to be seen, in all these records, 
 how much the miserable slackness of slave labor vexed 
 his exact soul; and we cannot but conjecture that he 
 must have been a terrible thorn in the sides of the 
 dilatory, inefficient and irregular people he had to deal 
 with. 
 
 A few words more upon Mount Vernon itself. The 
 house is ample in size, much increased by General 
 "Washington after he inherited it, for Lawrence Wash- 
 ington, being an unconspicuous and rather retiring pri- 
 vate man, did not need or wish so large a dwelling as 
 that which Washington's position required and his for- 
 tune justhied. The mansion was originally an ordinary 
 square house, such as may be found any where on 
 Southern plantations ; but General Washington added 
 largely to it, and especially altered its aj3pearance by 
 carrying out from the wings double colonnades, which 
 united the large house to several smaller ones back of 
 it. These rows of pillars helped to form the whole into 
 a vast semicircle, enclosing a beautiful lawn, and when 
 viewed from the grove back of it, the building with its 
 
1783-9.] EXCELLENT LETTERS. 423 
 
 appendages is imposing and elegant. On the north is 
 a large room, called the library, in which Wash- 
 ington spent a good deal of time ; always one retired 
 hour in the morning, the family say ; and there can 
 be no doubt, from the recollections preserved by 
 many of them, that this was the scene of his private 
 devotions. In the library is the chimney-piece of 
 Italian marble, presented by Mr. Vaughan. 
 
 The letters of this short period of retirement are 
 very numerous, so much so that we cannot but wonder 
 how one hand could accomplish them all ; but we find 
 by an expression in one of them, that Washington had 
 for the time no secretary. The imputation sometimes 
 cast upon the vast body of his letters, that they were in 
 fact the work of his secretaries, is thus entirely set aside 
 by internal evidence ; for nothing can be more obvious 
 that though different hands were of course employed, 
 yet the same mind runs through the whole. Directness 
 of expression, simplicity, prudent counsel, patience, 
 moderation, justice, minute attention to accessory cir- 
 cumstances, occasional bursts of warmth, and, with 
 these, a disposition to metaphorical language, mark the 
 correspondence throughout, and no one thinks of a dif- 
 ference of style, or any other difference of substance 
 than that which must necessarily result from a freedom 
 from the affairs and responsibilities of office, after 
 Washington's establishment at Mount Vernon. 
 
 We need hardly say that crowds of company fol- 
 lowed him to his home, for it may easily be imagined 
 
424 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1783-9. 
 
 with what interest and curiosity he was regarded, not 
 only by his own countrymen, hut by intelligent foreign- 
 ers, many of whom were attracted to this country by 
 the wonderful success of our struggle with Great Brit- 
 ain. It was in view of this that the Executive Council 
 of Pennsylvania conceived the generous idea of making 
 an express provision for the expense that must arise 
 from the reception of so much company in a lonely 
 house, so far from places of public entertainment that 
 no visitor could be allowed to depart unrefreshed, and 
 few without an invitation for the night or for several 
 days. 
 
 The Council intimated their wishes to their dele- 
 gates to Congress in very handsome terms, and the 
 gentlemen to whom was committed the management 
 of this delicate affair, wisely submitted it to the person 
 most concerned, before acting upon it in Congress. 
 Washington, true to his constant resolution of never re- 
 ceiving, in any shape, pecuniary compensation for his 
 services, declined the intended favor, saying in his let- 
 ter to the President of Congress, that he should always 
 be happy to show every suitable attention to those who 
 called upon him. Mr. Sparks says, " His personal 
 civilities were so rendered as to strengthen the affec- 
 tions of his friends, and win the esteem of those who 
 had known him only by his fame." 
 
 In reading the voluminous correspondence of Wash- 
 ington, we cannot but be struck with the frequency 
 with which he is called upon to attend to other people's 
 
1784 -] VARIETY OF LETTERS. 425 
 
 business. The sister of his old enemy, General Charles 
 Lee, writes to him from England, to procure her a copy 
 of her brother's will. His reply, forwarding the paper, 
 is friendly as well as polite. 
 
 Dr. Mesmer writes to General "Washington about 
 his new science, and receives a very civil letter in re- 
 ply ; the Empress of Russia requests him to procure 
 for her some Indian vocabularies, for a Universal Dic- 
 tionary, which is making under her auspices, and he 
 engages in the business at once ; the Countess of Hun- 
 tington, who, as a daughter of "Washington, Earl Fer- 
 rers, claimed kin with General Washington, addresses 
 him to obtain his countenance and aid in a benevolent 
 plan of hers for the Christianization of the Indians, and 
 draws him into a long correspondence ; Colonel Carter 
 wants a wolf-hound from Europe, and General "Wash- 
 ington is requested to write for it. Mr. Houdon wishes 
 to make his bust, and gets several letters, and stays a 
 fortnight at Mount Yernon ; Mr. Nicholas Pike desires 
 to dedicate an Arithmetic to the father of his country, 
 who declines, but in a long and very civil letter ; Mr. 
 William Gordon wants information and " profiles "— 
 (no daguerreotypes in those days !) for a history of the 
 Revolution, and gets a long and interesting letter ; 
 Mademoiselle de Lafayette, at the mature age of eight, 
 sends the general an epistle and receives one in return. 
 
 Mr. Dalby, of Alexandria, goes to Philadelphia in 
 pursuit of a runaway slave, and has a long letter from 
 General Washington to Robert Morris, by way of in- 
 
426 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1788. 
 
 traduction. The King of Spain sends General Wash- 
 ington a couple of " magnificent " — jackasses, for which 
 the general gravely returns thanks in a letter to the 
 Count Florida Blanca; Mr. Pine applies, through 
 Francis Hopkinson, for leave to paint the general, and 
 here is his answer : 
 
 " In for a penny, in for a pound, is an old adage. 
 I am so hackneyed to the touches of the painter's pen- 
 cil, that I am now altogether at their beck ; and sit, 
 ' like Patience on a monument,' whilst they are delin- 
 eating the lines on my face. It is a proof, among many 
 others, of what habit and custom can accomplish. At 
 first I was as impatient at the request, and as restive 
 under the operation, as a colt is under the saddle. The 
 next time I submitted very reluctantly, but with less 
 flouncing. Now, no dray horse moves more readily to 
 his thill than I to the painter's chair." 
 
 The Marquis de Chastellux, one of the French 
 officers who had aided in the war, marries a wife, and 
 writes to inform General "Washington of his change of 
 condition. In reply we have an unwonted burst of 
 gayety : 
 
 " Mount Vernon, 25th April, 1788. 
 
 " To the Marquis de Chastellux : 
 
 " My dear Marquis, — In reading your very friendly 
 and acceptable letter, which came to hand by the last 
 mail, I was, as you may well suppose, not less delighted 
 than surprised to meet the plain American words, ' my 
 
1788 DOMESTIC HAPPINESS. 427 
 
 wife.' A wife ! "Well, my dear marquis, I can hardly 
 refrain from smiling to find you are caught at last. I 
 saw, by the eulogium you often made on the happiness 
 of domestic life in America, that you had swallowed the 
 bait, and that you would as surely be taken, one day or 
 another, as that you were a philosopher and a soldier. 
 So your day has at length come. I am glad of it, with 
 all my heart and soul. It is quite good enough for you. 
 JSTow you are well served for coming to fight in favor 
 of the American rebels, all the way across the Atlantic 
 Ocean, by catching that terrible contagion, domestic 
 felicity, which, like the small-pox or the plague, a man 
 can have only once in his life, because it generally lasts 
 him (at least with us in America ; I know not how you 
 manage these matters in France) for his whole lifetime. 
 And yet, after all, the worst wish I can find in my 
 heart to make against Madame de Chastellux and 
 yourself, is, that you may neither of you get the better 
 of this same domestic felicity, during the entire course 
 of your mortal existence." 
 
 Mr. Lund Washington, in 1783, has to advise the 
 widow of Mr. John Parke Custis with respect to a sec- 
 ond marriage, and writes to the general, who answers 
 him thus : 
 
 " Eocky Hill, 20th September, 1783. 
 
 " To Lund Washington : 
 
 "Dear Lund— Mrs. Custis has never suggested, in 
 
42$ MEMOIRS OP WASHINGTON. [1788. 
 
 any of her letters to Mrs. Washington (unless ardent 
 wishes for her return that she might then disclose it to 
 her, can be so construed), the most distant attachment 
 to D. S. ; but, if thus should be the case, and she wants 
 advice upon it, a father and mother, who are at hand, 
 and competent to give it, are at the same time the most 
 proper to be consulted on so interesting an event. 
 For my own part, I never did, nor do I believe I ever 
 shall, give advice to a woman who is setting out on a 
 matrimonial voyage ; first, because I never could ad 
 vise one to marry without her own consent; and, 
 secondly, because I know it is to no purpose to advise 
 her to refrain when she has obtained it. A woman 
 very rarely asks an opinion or requires advice on such 
 an occasion, till her resolution is formed ; and then it 
 is with the hope and expectation of obtaining a sanction, 
 not that she means to be governed by your disapproba- 
 tion, that she applies. In a word, the plain English of 
 the application may be summed up in these words : ' I 
 wish you to think as I do ; but, if unhappily you differ 
 from me in opinion, my heart, I must confess, is fixed, 
 and I have gone too far now to retract.' 
 
 " If Mrs. Custis should ever suggest any thing of 
 this kind to me, I will give her my opinion of the mea- 
 sure, not of the man, with candor, and to the following 
 effect. ' I never expected you would spend the rest of 
 your days in widowhood / but in a matter so important, 
 and so interesting to yourself, children and connections, 
 I wish you would make a prudent choice. To do 
 
1788 -J ADVISING A LADY. 429 
 
 which, many considerations are necessary ; such as the 
 family and connections of the man, his fortune (which 
 is not the most essential in my eye), the line of conduct 
 he has observed, and the disposition and frame of his 
 mind. You should consider what prospect there is of 
 his proving kind and affectionate to you ; just, generous, 
 and attentive to your children ; and how far his con- 
 nections will be agreeable to you ; for when they are 
 once formed, agreeable or not, the die being cast, your 
 fate is fixed.' Thus far, and no farther, I shall go in 
 my opinions. I am, dear Lund, &c." 
 
 Without giving more space to the details of the thou- 
 sand-and-one calls upon the time and attention of 
 "Washington in his retirement, we have £aid enough to 
 give an idea of how little his hours were at his own dis- 
 posal, and how great must have been the industry 
 which enabled him to accomplish so much business 
 both small and great. 
 
 A journey of five weeks through the wilderness, six 
 hundred and eighty miles on horseback, for the purpose 
 of ascertaining the capabilities of his own lands and the 
 possibility of a water communication between the East 
 and West, was one of the diversities of the period of re- 
 tirement ; an expedition which, while it served the pur- 
 poses of health and respite from ceaseless interruption, 
 proved of very great importance in a patriotic point of 
 view. This had been long in his mind, and he commu- 
 nicated the results of his observations to the governor 
 
430 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1788. 
 
 of Virginia in a long and able letter, which is con- 
 sidered one of his most sagacious and valuable produc- 
 tions. This, says Mr. Sparks, was the first suggestion 
 of the great system of internal improvements, which 
 has since been pursued in the United States. 
 
 The Legislature of Virginia were so impressed with 
 the value of General Washington's suggestions on this 
 subject, that they voted him one hundred and fifty 
 shares in the companies for the navigation of the rivers 
 Potomac and James. But even this free gift, worth 
 some forty thousand dollars, was declined, though with 
 every expression of gratitude and respect. 
 
 Washington added, however, that if the Assembly 
 saw fit to appropriate the gift to some object of public 
 usefulness, he would be happy to propose one. This be- 
 ing assented to, he divided the amount, giving one hun- 
 dred shares to an institution in Rockbridge County, since 
 called Washington College, and fifty shares to the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia, for the establishment of a National. 
 University, an object which he always had much at 
 heart. Education was his darling object as a citizen. 
 He often lamented his own want of it, and was never 
 so well satisfied as when he was providing it for others. 
 In several instances he is known to have offered to pay 
 for the college education of young men. He accepted 
 the Chancellorship of William and Mary College, be- 
 cause he loved to lend his name and influence to insti- 
 tutions of sound learning, and he left a thousand pounds 
 to Alexandria as a contribution to the support of a free 
 
1788.] MEANS OF EDUCATION. 431 
 
 or ragged school. It is well known that no child ever 
 came in any sense nnder his care, for whom he did not 
 take the greatest pains in providing every possible means 
 of improvement, and give his attention and advice even 
 as to the minutiae of character and behavior. It would 
 rejoice his heart to see the facilities for education, 
 which, in the United States, are now offered to the 
 humblest citizen. He would see in them a preparation 
 for peace and virtue — the best possible safeguard 
 against a misunderstanding or misapplication of the 
 great boon of national Liberty. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 State of the Union after the War — Convention for forming the Constitution— "Wash- 
 ington's progress to New York — His inauguration as first President of the United 
 States — Labors and excitement afterwards — Severe illness — Death of his mother 
 — Her character — How much was her son indebted to her ? — Character of his wife. 
 
 Did Washington, when he found himself once more 
 established in this beloved home, surrounded by the 
 objects, the employments, the friends he so much loved 
 and had so long coveted — did he give himself up to 
 quiet enjoyment, and, with a feeling that he had made 
 all the sacrifices to public duty that could reasonably 
 be asked of any man, forget the trembling interests of 
 his newly-delivered country, or leave the care of them 
 to younger and more ambitious patriots ? 
 
 Very far from this is the conclusion to which we 
 arrive by a study of Ins papers of the period. Hardly 
 a day passed over his head at Mount Vernon, that did 
 not bring letter or visitor, whose topic was the dis- 
 turbed and unhappy state of public affairs at this criti- 
 cal juncture ; and at no moment was Washington so 
 much occupied with private and personal business or 
 
1787.] CONVENTION AT PHILADELPHIA. 433 
 
 pleasure, that lie failed to give the most earnest atten- 
 tion to every sign of the times. 
 
 He very soon became aware that what was called 
 the Union was a mere collection of fragments, held to- 
 gether by the necessity of the day, and that the in- 
 stant the war ceased, these must fall asunder at once, 
 leaving incongruity to become enmity at the slightest 
 provocation. Disunion and jealousy had already shown 
 themselves, and to a despondent eye, the liberty so 
 dearly purchased was about to become useless, through 
 the pride, selfishness, and short-sighted folly of those 
 who wished to grasp it, forgetful of the solemn condi- 
 tions on which alone it can be enjoyed. 
 
 These sad truths came home to the Father of his 
 Country in various forms. The first and best men con- 
 fided their fears to him, entreated his advice, and looked 
 to his wisdom and his influence as their best earthly hope. 
 He himself was at times a good deal depressed. " Il- 
 liberally," he says, "jealousy, and local policy mix too 
 much in all our public councils for the good govern- 
 ment of the Union." 
 
 At length we find him, after many efforts to be ex- 
 cused, appointed one of the delegates to a Convention 
 held in Philadelphia for revising the Constitution. 
 
 One part of his preparation for the important duty 
 of revising the government of the newly-delivered 
 country, and establishing that difficult form of national 
 life— a Eepublic, or self-governing body, was a careful 
 review of all former confederated governments, in- 
 19 
 
434 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1787. 
 
 eluding the Lycian, Amphictyonic, Achsean, Helvetic, 
 Belgic, and Germanic. A paper in kis own handwrit- 
 ing, in wkick all tke particulars relating to tke struc- 
 ture of tkese republics are noted, bears witness to tke 
 conscientious industry witk wkick ke applied all kis 
 powers to tke study of any subject on wkick ke was 
 called to act. 
 
 He was ckosen President, and tke result of tke 
 Convention was tkat venerated instrument, known as 
 tke Constitution of the United States. 
 
 For tke assembled wisdom and goodness of tke na- 
 tion to devise tke Constitution, witk all tke foresigkt 
 and impartiality tkat could be expected of imperfect 
 humanity, was one thing ; to secure tke adoption of it 
 by thirteen jealous States was quite another. Wask- 
 ington says of it that lie was " not suck an entkusiastic, 
 partial or undiscriminating admirer of it, as not to per- 
 ceive it is tinctured with some real, though not radical 
 defects," and others of the best men thought with him, 
 but as each objector when pressed for his sentiments, 
 would pick out a different point for censure, the con- 
 clusion was fairly drawn, that, after all, the Constitu- 
 tion was as nearly perfect as could be rationally ex- 
 pected ; and the votes of nine States, the number neces- 
 sary for its legal ratification, were obtained in rather 
 less than a year. 
 
 This was no sooner accomplished than the neces- 
 sity for electing a President made a new ferment. 
 Washington's was the name on every lip. The man 
 
1788 d CHOSEN PRESIDENT. 435 
 
 who had led the nation safely through the tremendous 
 struggle for liberty, and whose wisdom had again been 
 made manifest in the formation of the Constitution, 
 was the one to whom the people and the world natu- 
 rally looked as the best fitted to reconcile jarring ele- 
 ments, and teach his countrymen what this freedom, 
 which had cost them so dear, really meant and re- 
 quired. 
 
 The object of public attention could not long re- 
 main ignorant that all eye's were fixed on him. With 
 what dread reluctance he admitted the thought of be- 
 ing President, may easily be gathered from his letters 
 to his friends, sustained as they are by the united testi- 
 mony of all who knew him. It was no mock modesty 
 or pretended unwillingness that made his inclinations 
 point towards Mount Yernon. " At my age," he says, 
 " and in my circumstances, what object or personal 
 emolument had I to seek after in this life ? The great 
 Searcher of human hearts is my witness, that I have 
 no wish which aspires beyond the humble and happy 
 lot of living and dying a private citizen on my own 
 farm." 
 
 He speaks in another place of " the dreaded di- 
 lemma of being forced to accept or refuse ; " says he 
 has always felt a sort of gloom on his mind when he 
 has thought of it, and a diffidence and reluctance that 
 he never experienced before. 
 
 It was known that Washington was the choice of 
 the nation, nearly a month before an official notifica- 
 
436 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [17S9. 
 
 tion of the fact was sent to Mount Yernon, the action 
 of Congress having been delayed by various circum- 
 stances. Washington says — " The delay may be com- 
 pared to a reprieve." His diary thus records his de- 
 parture from home : — 
 
 "April 16th, 1789. 
 
 " About ten o'clock I bade adieu to Mount Vernon, 
 to private life and to domestic felicity ; and, with a 
 mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sensa- 
 tions than I have words to express, set out for New 
 York, with the best disposition to render service to my 
 country in obedience to its call, but with less hope of 
 answering its expectations." 
 
 His progress to New York was one continued tri- 
 umph. The people poured forth to greet him and to 
 heap blessings upon him. Trenton, in particular, once, 
 under an inclement sky and midnight darkness, the 
 scene of a splendid achievement, met him with honors 
 that touched his heart and filled his eyes with tears 
 of gratified feeling. A beautiful arch of evergreens 
 crowned the bridge over which the brave legions of 
 seventy-seven had passed in their snowy inarch, and 
 emblems of love and honor shone where heavy banners 
 and almost as heavy hearts once passed. As the gen- 
 eral with his cortege passed under these, a crowd of lit- 
 tle girls, with wreaths on their heads, and carrying 
 baskets from which they scattered flowers in the path 
 
1789.] Washington's inauguration. 437 
 
 of the hero, sang a song of welcome, while their moth- 
 ers, who stood in palpitating silence on either side, ac- 
 companied the music with mingled tears and smiles. 
 
 The scene quite overcame Washington. He often 
 spoke of it afterwards, and declared that it completely 
 unmanned him. 
 
 A splendid deputation from New York met the 
 presidential cavalcade at Elizabethtown, and a grand 
 flotilla accompanied him to New York. 
 
 In Washington's diary we find this sober thought 
 of all the splendor: — 
 
 " The display of boats which attended and joined 
 on this occasion, some with vocal and others with in- 
 strumental music on board ; the decorations of the 
 ships, the roar of cannon, and the loud acclamations of 
 the people which rent the sky as I passed along the 
 wharves, tilled my mind (contemplating the reverse of 
 this scene, which may be the case after all my labors 
 to do good) with sensations as painful as they were 
 pleasing." 
 
 Thursday, April 13th, was the day of the inaugura- 
 tion. It was opened with divine service in the differ- 
 ent churches, so solemn an event as the commencement 
 of our government seeming to the people worthy of as 
 solemn ceremonies. After this the President moved in 
 procession to Federal Hall, in Wall street, where the 
 Custom House now stands, and was received at the 
 door and conducted to the chair by the Yice President, 
 John Adams. After he had been informed that both 
 
438 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1789. 
 
 Houses of Congress were ready to proceed with the cere- 
 monies of the day, "Washington arose and moved 
 towards the balcony, before which immense crowds of 
 people were assembled, and there, in the sight of the 
 multitude, took the oath of office, which was adminis- 
 tered by the Chancellor, Brockholst Livingston, the 
 secretary of the Senate bearing the Bible on a crim- 
 son cushion. 
 
 Washington was dressed in a full suit of dark brown 
 cloth, with white silk stockings, all of American man- 
 ufacture ; silver buckles in his shoes, and his hair tied 
 and powdered. In kissing the book as he took the 
 oath, he was observed to say audibly, " I swear ! " add- 
 ing, with closed eyes, as if to collect all his being into 
 the momentous act — " So help me God ! " Then the 
 Chancellor said, " It is done ! " and turning to the 
 multitude, waved his hand, and with a loud voice ex- 
 claimed, " Long live George Washington, President of 
 the United States ! " 
 
 The acclamations of the crowd below re-echoed the 
 announcement, and the roar of artillery gave notice to 
 the country round that the birth of a new nation was 
 accomplished. 
 
 Beturned to the Senate chamber, the President de- 
 livered his Inaugural Address, a paper, like all his other 
 public ones, full of wisdom, moderation, good taste, and 
 a deep sense of responsibility. 
 
 In the evening the city was splendidly illuminated, 
 and the President, with two attendants, went in a car- 
 
1789 d LEVEES AND DINNERS. 439 
 
 riage to different points to enjoy the scene, but was 
 obliged to return home on foot, the crowd being too 
 dense to admit the passage of a carriage. 
 
 Great throngs of company soon beset the new offi- 
 cials, and the President in particular was allowed no 
 rest, until he established certain hours and forms for 
 the reception of visitors. Simple as was this ceremo- 
 nial, there were those who condemned it as unrepub- 
 lican, though we are not informed that they proposed 
 any other method by which the President could better 
 reconcile his duties one with the other. 
 
 Every Friday afternoon Mrs. Washington received 
 company, and once a week there was a large dinner 
 party, to which heads of departments, strangers of dis- 
 tinction, and marked citizens were invited in turn. 
 
 A grand ball was given in New York on the occa- 
 sion of the Inauguration, although not till a week or 
 ten days had elapsed, to give time for the despatch of 
 a great mass of public business. The President at- 
 tended, although Mrs. Washington had not yet reached 
 the seat of government, and he is recorded to have 
 danced on the occasion " two cotillions and a minuet."* 
 
 * The question of ceremony was still agitated with a vehemence that 
 would hetter have hecome the court of Pekin ; and even Mr. Jefferson, 
 who, with all his acuteness, sometimes took up stories on hearsay, gives a 
 ludicrous account of this hall, but which is proved to be totally erroneous, 
 by the fact that neither Mrs. Washington nor Mrs. Knox was present at it. 
 The authority quoted is " Mr. Brown," but not the celebrated "Brown " of 
 our day, who would doubtless have been better informed in such a case. 
 As a picture of the times, we should like to quote the story, but must refer 
 our readers to the "Republican Court," page 15G. 
 
440 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1789. 
 
 Mrs. Washington set out from Mount Vernon on 
 the 19th of May, in her own carriage, with her grand- 
 children, Miss and Master Custis. Wherever she 
 stopped the people turned out to do her honor, and 
 fireworks and serenading enlivened every evening. 
 Two troops of dragoons and a large train of the first 
 citizens rode out from Philadelphia, to meet her at a 
 place ten miles off; and as her carriage approached, 
 the military formed, and received her with the honors 
 due to the commander-in-chief. 
 
 As she went on towards New York, these demon- 
 strations of respect still greeted her at every halt, and 
 at Elizabethtown her husband, accompanied by many 
 distinguished persons, met her with a splendid barge, 
 manned by thirteen pilots in white uniforms, and so 
 took her across the glad waters to her home in the city. 
 
 According to the account of Mr. Wingate, the Pres- 
 ident gave a private dinner on Mrs. Washington's ar- 
 rival, rather plainer in style than we should think even 
 decent in these extravagant days. The particulars 
 mentioned are few, but the idea conveyed is that of ex- 
 cessive frugality : — " It was the least showy," we are 
 told, " of any that the writer ever saw at the Presi- 
 dent's table." Yet the company was large and very 
 distinguished. 
 
 As to Washington's resolute frugality, we have an 
 anecdote, mentioned in the volume just quoted, and 
 elsewhere. His steward, Sam Fraunces, an old caterer, 
 and who had been cautioned again and again as to the 
 
1789 TOO MUCH FOR A SHAD. 441 
 
 particularity with which the President would examine 
 his accounts, had provided for breakfast a very fine 
 shad, the first of the season. "The next morning it was 
 duly served, in the Lest style, for breakfast ; on sitting 
 down to which, Washington observed the fragrant del- 
 icacy, and asked what it was. The steward replied 
 that it was a fine shad. ' It is very early in the sea- 
 son for shad — how much did you pay for it ? ' ' Two 
 dollars.' ' Two dollars ! I cannot encourage such 
 extravagance at my table. Take it away — I will not 
 touch it.' The shad was accordingly removed, and 
 Fraunces, who had no such scruples, made a hearty meal 
 upon it in his own room." 
 
 It is said that Mrs. Washington was a little aristo- 
 cratic in her feelings, at least so far as not to relish the 
 democratic style brought in by the French Kevolution. 
 This we may easily believe ; for she came of a pros- 
 perous and wealthy old family, and was herself a belle 
 and an heiress, accustomed to admiration and deference 
 from her earliest youth. If her quiet spirit could rise 
 and look in upon one of those things called presiden- 
 tial levees in our day ! 
 
 Yet she was a most excellent wife and mistress of 
 the family, devoted to duty and her husband, and set- 
 ting an example of economy and industry very rare in 
 her station. Content with the greatness described by 
 the wise king, she looked well to her maidens, and so 
 managed the affairs of a large establishment, that " the 
 heart of her husband could safely trust in her, so that 
 19* 
 
442 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [1789. 
 
 he had no need of spoil." Who knows how much the 
 good management and moderation of his household 
 had to do with Washington's superiority to the tempta- 
 tions of gain ? Women should see to it that they so 
 regulate their habits of expense, that their husbands 
 shall have " no need of spoil." The extravagant tastes 
 of Mrs. Arnold, amiable woman though she was, are 
 known to have heightened her husband's rapacity, and 
 thus added to the incentives which resulted in treason 
 and ruin. Mrs. Washington, when she was in the 
 highest position in the nation, wore gowns spun under 
 her own roof; and she always took care, in her conver- 
 sation with the ladies about her, to exalt domestic em- 
 ployments, and to represent them as belonging to the 
 duty of woman in any station. She was reputed to be 
 the writer of a patriotic paper, published in 1780, 
 called the "Sentiments of an American Woman ;" but 
 this has not been ascertained. The energy and consist- 
 ency of her patriotic feeling was, however, perfectly 
 understood, and she is said to have borne her part in 
 the conversation, in distinguished company, with inva- 
 riable dignity and sweetness. 
 
 Soon after his inauguration, Washington, overcome 
 by excessive labors and continual excitement, was 
 seized with a violent illness which confined him for six 
 weeks. 
 
 " During this period Dr. Bard never quitted him. 
 On one occasion, being left alone with him, General 
 Washington, looking steadfastly in his face, desired his 
 
1789 d DEATH OF THE MOTHER. 443 
 
 candid opinion as to the probable termination of his 
 disease, adding, with that placid firmness which marked 
 his address, ' Do not flatter me with vain hopes ; I am 
 not afraid to die, and therefore can bear the worst.' 
 Dr. Bard's answer, though it expressed hope, acknow- 
 ledged his apprehensions. The President replied, 
 ' Whether to-night or twenty years hence makes no 
 difference ; I know that I am in the hands of a good 
 Providence." 
 
 Before the President had entirely recovered, he re- 
 ceived intelligence of the illness and death of his aged 
 mother, of whom he had taken a tender leave when he 
 set out to assume the presidency, feeling that he should 
 probably never see her more. 
 
 It is said that at this last parting, Washington, em- 
 bracing his mother, bowed his head upon her shoulder 
 and wept, murmuring at the same time something of a 
 hope that they should meet again. " No, George," she 
 replied, " this is our last parting; my days to come are 
 few. But go, fulfil your high duties, and may God 
 bless and keep you." 
 
 His mother was then dying of the cancer which at 
 last put a painful end to her life, at the age of eighty- 
 two. Honored as she deserved to be, and showing to 
 the last the resolution and fortitude which had distin- 
 guished her through life, she descended to the grave with 
 dignity, and left.a name far above all titles. To have been 
 the mother of Washington was enough. The world has 
 agreed to consider some of his noblest traits as derived 
 
444 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1789. 
 
 from her ; and to lier steadiness of character, her sound, 
 common-sense views, her high and stern morality, and 
 her deep sense of religious responsibility, are undoubt- 
 edly due a large part of the illustrious virtues which 
 made her son what he was. She hated glare and hol- 
 lowness, and so, from first to last, did he. His love of 
 fame had no reference to such reputation as is fortuitous 
 and unearned. He would at any time take more pains 
 to get rid of a credit which did not belong to him, than 
 to vindicate his title to any honor that was his due. 
 Truth, solidity, transparency, modesty ; a pride not in- 
 consistent with deep humility, and a love of reputation 
 which never glanced toward any sacrifice of principle, 
 — these were the traits of the son, " known and read of 
 all men ; " and, accepting, in some measure, a tradition- 
 ary estimate of the mother, these are they which all the 
 world agrees to give her credit for. Woman cannot 
 ask a more generous construction of facts, or a nobler 
 encouragement to virtue. If we are to be judged by 
 the virtues of our sons, what preparation, attention, or 
 sacrifice can be too much for a mother? Too often 
 their weakness, their vice, the poverty or shame of 
 their career, is laid at our door ; but here is at least 
 one instance, that when their virtues are eminent, man- 
 kind is just and candid enough to remember that in 
 this direction too, the mother's forming power should 
 be recognized. 
 
 As soon as the President's health was restored, 
 after the severe attack we have mentioned, he made 
 
1789 -] SHARP PASSAGES. 445 
 
 a long-intended tour through the Eastern States, trav- 
 elling in his own chariot, attended on horseback by 
 his secretaries. Showing what very trifles may dis- 
 turb the equanimity of great people, there was a 
 misunderstanding on some point of etiquette, as the 
 President approached Boston, which seems to have 
 thrown both him and the excellent Governor of Massa- 
 chusetts, John Hancock, — u the most generous and dis- 
 interested of men," — off their usual balance a little, and 
 occasioned some sharp passages between them. The 
 Governor had written, inviting the President to make 
 his house his home while in Boston, which invitation 
 the President courteously declined, urging his invari- 
 able rule never to burden any private family in that 
 way. The Governor then changed the invitation to one 
 for a family dinner, which the President accepted. 
 
 But the public reception of the President was to in- 
 tervene. For this Governor Hancock had made what 
 he considered very satisfactory arrangements, but un- 
 happily the Selectmen of the town of Boston had made 
 other, and quite different ones. Both desired to pay 
 the highest honors to the illustrious guest, but each 
 chose to manage the matter in their own way. 
 
 Wh,en the President was approaching the town, the 
 dispute was at its height. Both authorities held back, 
 while messengers were posting between them. The day 
 was cold and disagreeable; the President sat shivering 
 on his horse, on Boston Neck, waiting to enter the town 
 in due form. He inquired the cause of the delay, and 
 
446 mehoiks of Washington. [1789. 
 
 expressed impatience when he heard what it was. 
 Turning to his secretary, he asked whether there was 
 no other avenne to the town ; and was in the act of 
 turning his horse's head, when he was informed that 
 the difficulty was accommodated. All this because the 
 Governor claimed the honor of receiving the President, 
 while the Selectmen considered it their privilege. 
 
 We have noticed this little flurry, partly because it 
 is amusing, and partly to show how sensitive the new 
 governments were on the score of etiquette, while all 
 was yet in a forming state, and each trivial affair as- 
 sumed an importance not its own, but only as a seed 
 of the future. Matters of etiquette always have a cer- 
 tain significance, and are often therefore more important 
 than they seem. It was on this ground that Washing- 
 ton was, as a public man, rather punctilious ; in his 
 private character ceremony was burdensome to him ; 
 he loved simplicity and directness, and that honhommie 
 which takes it for granted that every body behaves as 
 well as he knows how ; but where the public interest 
 or official dignity was in' question, he quite enraged 
 forward or ill-bred people, sometimes, by the pertina- 
 city with which he adhered to established forms. 
 When at home at Mount Vernon, he was equally reso- 
 lute against ceremonious restraints. 
 
CHAPTEK XXXVIII. 
 
 Presidential tour — A careless groom— Observations on the country— Internal im- 
 provements— Washington's desire to resign — The remonstrances of his friends 
 — His re-election— Difficulties with France — Jay's Treaty— Citizen Genet— Retire- 
 ment of Washington. 
 
 In 1791 the President made a tour through the South- 
 ern States, travelling in twelve weeks about nineteen 
 hundred miles, with the same horses. This shows the 
 care and judgment which he always exercised where 
 his horses were concerned ; for nothing less than his 
 knowledge of the animal and his consideration for its 
 well-being, could have enabled him to accomplish such 
 a journey. He always looked after his horses himself, 
 daily ascertained their condition, and gave particular 
 directions to the stablemen for their management. 
 
 It is traditionally said that he once, with a good 
 deal of unction, tried the stirrup-leather on the shoul- 
 ders of a groom who had left a favorite horse uncared 
 for, after "Washington had ridden him pretty bard on 
 the preceding evening. The servant thought he would 
 be up so early that his master would never find out the 
 omission ; but Washington was too prompt for him, and 
 
448 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [1791. 
 
 while Cupid, or perhaps Apollo, was dreaming of last 
 night's frolic, the sound of the stable-hell just at dawn 
 announced that the unhappy steed had mutely told his 
 own story. The result would certainly have afforded 
 amusement to a bystander, especially as the President 
 had doubtless lost some of the strength of arm which 
 distinguished him in early times when he flogged the 
 poacher, or when he shook the two fighting soldiers at 
 Cambridge. 
 
 The presidential tours which Washington thought it 
 incumbent on him to make, for the sake of becoming 
 personally accpiainted with the state of the country and 
 of the public mind, and of allowing the people to obtain 
 a more immediate knowledge of their chief magistrate, 
 were perhaps the most agreeable portions of his life 
 during those anxious and laborious years. He was fond 
 of travelling, and as soon as he found himself in a re- 
 gion new to him, his mind left the old ruts of oflice 
 and routine duty, and aired and invigorated itself by 
 wider surveys, and speculations on the possibilities 
 offered by any and every natural advantage, whether 
 of soil, watercourse, mine, or peat marsh. Even the 
 Dismal Swamp was indebted to him for surveys and im- 
 provements. All his conjectures and conclusions on 
 matters of internal improvement were carefully regis- 
 tered, and he thus obtained and preserved a body of 
 information which was continually coming into use, and 
 proving of great value to himself and the public. He 
 possessed the wisdom which legislators so often lack — 
 
1792 POLITICAL FEKMENT. 449 
 
 the wisdom which prompts to home-development 
 rather than foreign conquest ; making the most of what 
 we have, rather than seeking to acquire more for the 
 sake of mere possession. 
 
 "When the question of Washington's resignation came 
 up — or rather when he expressed his determination to 
 resign, for he did not wish to put it in the form of a 
 question — all party and other differences disappeared 
 at once, in the unanimity with which he was urged to 
 undertake the labors and embarrassments of another 
 presidential term. " The confidence of the whole 
 Union," says, Jefferson, u is centred in you." Hamil- 
 ton, after a labored argument, " I trust and pray God 
 that you will determine to make a further sacrifice of 
 your tranquillity and happiness to the public good." 
 Gouverneur Morris,—" It will be time enough for you 
 to have a successor when it shall please God to call you 
 from this world." 
 
 Washington, though longing for home and rest, and 
 so resolved upon resigning that he had already pre- 
 pared a farewell address to the people, could not with- 
 stand the general opinion and desire, so urgently ex- 
 pressed. The unanimous vote of the electors again 
 ushered him into the chair, and he took the oath of 
 office for the second time, on the 4th of March, 1793. 
 
 Affairs of state were not without their peculiar 
 trials during the second term. The political relations 
 of our country with our late enemy England, and with 
 our stanch ally, France, had assumed an aspect of 
 
450 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1795. 
 
 great complexity and difficulty — one party accusing 
 the President of a partiality towards Great Britain, the 
 other fancying him too much disposed to favor revolu- 
 tionary France. The first-mentioned factionists in- 
 sisted on his acceding to the insolent demands of Citi- 
 zen Genet in behalf of the Directory; but Washington, 
 having determined that neutrality was the proper pol- 
 icy for this country, withstood all possible abuse and 
 even the terrors of a mob, which, says John Adams, 
 gathered in the streets of Philadelphia, to the number 
 of ten thousand, threatening to drag the President from 
 his house and seize the government. Quietly, as was 
 his wont, he pursued the course he had decided to be 
 best for the country, and menaces of personal violence 
 moved him no more than they would stir his Jove-like 
 marble image in the Capitol grounds. 
 
 The commercial treaty with Great Britain, effected 
 by Mr. John Jay, caused almost equal popular dissafc 
 isfaction ; and when it became necessary to apply to the 
 House of Representatives for means to carry it into 
 effect, that body demanded the submission of papers 
 to its inspection, as a condition of its action in the 
 matter. This Washington resisted as unconstitutional, 
 and endured a new shower of obloquy in consequence. 
 Being, however, sustained by the opinion of his legal 
 advisers, he stood firm, and in the end triumphed, as he 
 invariably did, because he always ascertained his duties 
 before he attempted to perform them. That he was 
 annoyed by this incessant struggle, and wounded by 
 
1798 d ONE MOKE DISTURBANCE. 451 
 
 these malignant attacks, is but too obvious from his let- 
 ters ; and we learn, not only by his own observations, 
 but by those of Mr. Jefferson and others, that his health 
 was seriously broken by the unusual trials of his posi- 
 tion. 
 
 But he endured to the end, and allowed no personal 
 considerations to deter him from the arduous task he 
 had undertaken. A third presidential term was pro- 
 posed to him ; but this he resolutely declined. As 
 the time approached when he was to be released from 
 the cares and anxieties of government, after he had 
 written the inestimable Farewell Address — " the re- 
 sult of much experience and reflection" — as he mod- 
 estly says ; it is evident that his mind luxuriated in 
 images of repose and seclusion. To a friend he writes : 
 — " To the wearied traveller who sees a resting-place, 
 and is bending his body to lean thereon, I now compare 
 myself." 
 
 He was not, however, allowed to enjoy the absolute 
 tranquillity he hoped for. A cloud of war soon dark- 
 ened the horizon, the shadow of troublous times in dis- 
 tracted France. At the first threat of this new trouble, 
 the country turned again to its old defender, and re- 
 quired his services as commander-in-chief -of any forces 
 that it might be found necessary to raise against French 
 invasion. His consent was a matter of course, with a 
 stipulation, that he was not to be called to the field ex- 
 cept in case of actual invasion. 
 
 Washington, however, although he agreed on think- 
 
452 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [1798. 
 
 ing warlike preparations necessary, did not believe the 
 invasion would ever take place, and the event justified 
 his foresight. The clouds of war passed by, and he 
 was relieved from the new responsibility, though not 
 until it had cost him a good deal of laborious and anx- 
 ious planning of ways and means. 
 
 Once more the beloved shades were all his own, 
 with the hope, so fondly recurred to at every opportu- 
 nity, of spending " the remnant of a life worn down 
 with cares, in contemplation of the past, and in scenes, 
 present and to come, of rural enjoyment." 
 
CIIAPTEK XXXIX. 
 
 Washington's short enjoyment of repose— nis illness, sufferings and death— Funeral 
 ceremonies — Grief of the nation— Resolutions of Congress — Bequest for his re- 
 mains—Mrs. "Washington's reply — Our responsibilities as countrymen of Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 " Man proposes, God disposes." The quiet enjoyment 
 so longed for as the fitting close of a life of arduous 
 duty ; the period of peace and self-recollection, and 
 solemn special preparation for a new condition of be- 
 ing, desired by the wise and good man, was destined 
 to be short indeed. Scarcely had the prospect of war 
 faded away, and the country returned to its usual 
 occupations and interests, and the enjoyment of the 
 good secured to it by the toils of its brave defenders, 
 when he who had been foremost in labors and sac- 
 rifices, wisest in council, most patient under defeat 
 and obloquy, most moderate in victory, least elated by 
 praise, was summoned to the Great Audit, the nature 
 and importance of which he had so well learned when 
 a child at his mother's knee. His time on earth was 
 suddenly finished, and we may consider it a new mark 
 of the heavenly favor, that he was withdrawn from a 
 scene in which he had acted so conspicuous a part, be- 
 
454: MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1799. 
 
 fore the failure of his powers had lessened the univer- 
 sal reverence he had been able to inspire. Washing- 
 ton was not left to outlive himself. His sun went not 
 down in gloomy clouds, but, canopied gloriously by the 
 people's love and the whole world's reverence, shone 
 with full splendor to the last. His rural occupations 
 were pursued with unabated interest and vigor ; he 
 drew up plans for the management of his estate ex- 
 tending to some four years ahead, saying that even a 
 plan not the best was better than no plan ; he planted 
 trees, for shade as well as fruit ; he beautified his estate 
 by care of the gardens and shrubbery, and he never, 
 unless in case of very bad weather, omitted his daily 
 ride round the estate, for the minute inspection of the 
 farm business and the care of the negroes. 
 
 But in December, 1790, there was a cold and rather 
 threatening morning, whose bleak winds should have 
 warned a man of sixty-eight that the fireside was the 
 best place for him. Washington, however, disregard- 
 ing his wife's prudent advica, rode out as usual, having 
 something particular to attend to. It began to rain 
 and snow soon after he departed. About dinner time 
 he returned, cold and weary, and somewhat wet, the 
 rain having penetrated to his neck, while snow hung 
 on his white locks. Mrs. Washington was concerned 
 to see this, and begged him to make some change in 
 his dress, but he thought it unnecessary, saying his 
 great coat had protected him. He spent the evening 
 as usual, reading aloud to the family, although he was 
 
1799 THE LAST MESSENGEE. 455 
 
 observed to be a little hoarse. The next day, which 
 proved still more stormy, he seemed nearly as well as 
 usual, though he complained of having taken cold, and 
 the weather prevented his ride. He franked some let- 
 ters which Mr. Lear had written, but forbore to send 
 them to the post-office, saying the weather was too bad 
 to send a servant out with them. At intervals when 
 the skies were a little more favorable, he went out to 
 attend to the planting of some trees. The evening of 
 this day, Friday, December 13th, passed in the usual 
 domestic way, the general very cheerful, and reading 
 aloud a little, though with evident difficulty from in- 
 creased hoarseness. 
 
 About three in the morning he awoke Mrs. "Wash- 
 ington, saying that he had a chill and felt very unwell ; 
 but he would not allow her to get up lest she should 
 take cold. At daylight when the servants came to 
 make a fire, he desired that a person on the farm — the 
 overseer, who was in the habit of performing the office 
 for the negroes — should be sent for, to bleed him. 
 
 Bleeding used to be the remedy for all sorts of dis- 
 eases, especially in the country, where the services of 
 a physician cannot readily be obtained. This practice, 
 very much objected to by Mrs. Washington at the time, 
 is now universally condemned, and it was doubtless the 
 very worst remedy that could have been tried in the 
 case of Washington, an old man, and extremely tem- 
 perate in his habits. The overseer hesitated, and 
 opened a vein timidly ; but his master insisted, saying, 
 
456 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1799. 
 
 though with difficulty — " Don't be afraid — the orifice 
 is not large enough." But the disease, which was -in 
 the throat, grew worse hour by hour, 
 
 As the day went on, there were further attempts to 
 reduce the patient, who by this time had begun to need 
 all his remaining strength to draw his laboring breath. 
 
 " I cannot last long," he said to Mr. Lear, his secre- 
 tary, who attended him like a son ; " I cannot last long. 
 I feel that I am going. I believed from the first, that 
 the attack would prove fatal. Do you arrange and re- 
 cord all my military letters and papers ; arrange my 
 accounts and settle my books, as you know more about 
 them than any one else." " He then asked me," says 
 Mr. Lear, " if I recollected any thing else that it was 
 essential for him to do, as he had but a very short time 
 to continue with us. I told him that I could recollect 
 nothing, but that I hoped he was not so near his end. 
 He observed, smiling, that he certainly was, and that, 
 as it was the debt we must all pay, he looked to the 
 event with perfect resignation." 
 
 He was raised on the bed, and, as well as he could 
 find utterance, said to his physicians — " I am much 
 obliged for all your care and attention. Do not take 
 any more trouble about me, but let me go off quietly ; 
 I cannot last long." 
 
 To his friend Dr. Craik — " Doctor, I die hard, but 
 I am not afraid to go." The doctor, who had been his 
 friend from childhood, turned away, overwhelmed with 
 grief, at his terrible sufferings and the loss that must 
 
 
l799 KIND EVEN IN DEATH. 457 
 
 come. Washington, noticing that the black servant 
 had been standing a long time, in the midst of his suf- 
 ferings desired him to sit down. 
 
 At eight in the evening the physicians came into 
 the room and tried more remedies, but in vain. After 
 this time the patient breathed with less difficulty, but 
 was very restless, with the restlessness of approaching 
 dissolution ; often changing his position, seeking the 
 ease or relief which was not to come, and frequently 
 asking the hour. 
 
 Mr. Lear says, — " I aided him all in my power, and 
 was gratified in believing he felt it, for he would look 
 upon me with eyes speaking gratitude, but unable to 
 utter a word without great distress. 
 
 " About ten o'clock he made several efforts to speak 
 to me before he could effect it. At length he said — 
 ' I am just going. Have me decently buried, and do 
 not let my body be put into the vault iu less than two 
 days after I am dead.' I bowed assent. He looked at 
 me again, and said—' Do you understand me?' I re- 
 plied, < Yes, sir ! ' He said, ' 'Tis well.' " 
 
 " About ten minutes before he expired, his breath- 
 ing became much easier ; he lay quietly. He withdrew 
 his hand from mine and felt his own pulse. I spoke to 
 Dr. Craik, who sat by the fire ; he came to the bedside. 
 The general's hand fell from his wrist ; I took it in 
 mine and placed it on my breast. Dr. Craik closed his 
 eyes, and he expired without groan or struggle." 
 
 20 
 
458 MEMOIKS OF WASHINGTON. [1799. 
 
 " In all his distress," says Mr. Lear, " he uttered 
 not a sigh nor a complaint, always endeavoring, from 
 a sense of duty, as it appeared, to take what was offered 
 him, and to do as he was desired by the physicians. 
 His patience, fortitude and resignation, never forsook 
 him for a moment." 
 
 Twice during the last day's sufferings, Washington 
 asked to be assisted in rising, was dressed and sat by 
 the fire, as if hoping by the exertion of resolution, and 
 what bodily strength remained, to struggle against dis- 
 ease. But finding no relief, he quietly submitted and 
 laid himself down to die, with the feeling that his work 
 was done and his discharge at hand. 
 
 All his affairs were found in perfect order, his books 
 posted up to the preceding Tuesday, and his will care- 
 fully written out by his own hand, each page signed 
 with his name. At the close, after mention of the ex- 
 ecutors, is the wise parting injunction to those inter- 
 ested, never, under any circumstances of disagreement, 
 to have recourse to litigation, but in case of difference 
 with respect to the will, to submit the matter to arbi- 
 trators whose sentence should be final. 
 
 On Wednesday, December 18th, 1799, the people 
 assembled, from far and near, to pay the last honors to 
 the greatest and best of men. The lawns and groves of 
 Mount Vernon, so long the home of his best pleasures 
 and object of his cares, were thronged with mourners, 
 personal friends, military companies, and members of the 
 Masonic Order. Cannon were brought and placed on 
 
1799 -3 HONORS FEOM THE HEART. 459 
 
 the heights, to announce the moment when the hero's 
 dust was committed to its parent earth. A vessel lay 
 off shore, firing minute guns as the procession begau to 
 form. The train moved across the lawn, soldiers lead- 
 ing and escorting it ; the clergy in advance of the coffin, 
 which was borne by masonic brethren and officers of 
 the army ; the war-horse, with holsters and pistols 
 hanging at its empty saddle, led by two grooms clothed 
 in black, followed ; then members of the family and old 
 friends ; the Corporation of Alexandria and a great 
 concourse of citizens, — and this was all. 
 
 Washington's wish and even command that his 
 funeral might be modest — that his body might "be in 
 terred in a private manner, without parade or funeral 
 oration,"— was thus literally fulfilled. The nation 
 would gladly have ordered a splendid ceremonial to 
 give all possible expression to its sense of this great 
 loss ; but the desire of Washington, so natural to one 
 averse to all personal display, was thoroughly respected. 
 The feet of those who bore him to the tomb trod only 
 on the soft grass he had loved to cultivate, and the 
 trees under which he had so long felt himself most 
 truly at home, waved above his final resting-place far 
 more appropriately than the most gorgeous banners 
 would have done. The " new tomb " which he had 
 ordered, was not yet completed, though he had said, in 
 speaking of other buildings, " Let it be finished first, for 
 I may want it first," The old one received his remains 
 for the time. 
 
460 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1799. 
 
 Afterwards, when the present one was ready, a 
 stone sarcophagus was prepared — and in this the origi- 
 nal coffin was deposited, there to remain for ever. 
 
 Both Houses of Congress adjourned, on hearing of 
 the death of "Washington. The Senate addressed Presi- 
 dent Adams in a letter the eloquence of which was that 
 of the heart. " On this occasion," says that admirable 
 paper, " it is manly to weep. To lose such a man, at 
 such a crisis, is no common calamity to the world. 
 Our country mourns a father. The Almighty Disposer 
 of human events has taken from us our greatest bene- 
 factor and ornament. It becomes us to submit Avith 
 reverence to him ' who maketh darkness his pavilion.' 
 
 "With patriotic pride we review the life of our 
 Washington, and compare him with those of other 
 countries who have been pre-eminent in fame. An- 
 cient and modern times are diminished before him. 
 Greatness and guilt have too often been allied ; but his 
 fame is whiter than it is brilliant. The destroyers of 
 nations stood abashed at the majesty of his virtues. It 
 reproved the intemperance of their ambition, and dark- 
 ened the splendor of victory. The scene is closed, and 
 we are no longer anxious lest misfortune should sully 
 his glory ; he has travelled on to the end of his journey, 
 and carried with him an increasing weight of honor ; 
 he has deposited it safely, where misfortune cannot 
 tarnish it, where malice cannot blast it. Favored of 
 Heaven, he departed without exhibiting the weakness 
 
1799> ] THE TEUE WIFE SPEAKS. 461 
 
 of humanity. Magnanimous in death, the darkness of 
 the grave conld not obscure his brightness. 
 
 " Such was the man whom we deplore. Thanks to 
 God, his glory is consummated. Washington yet 
 lives on earth, in his spotless example ; his spirit is in 
 Heaven. 
 
 " Let his country consecrate the memory of the he- 
 roic general, the patriotic statesman, and the virtuous 
 sage. Let them teach their children never to forget 
 that the fruits of his labors and his example are their 
 inheritance." 
 
 The President replied appropriately, and both 
 Houses of Congress united in requesting Mrs. "Wash- 
 ington to yield the precious remains of her husband to 
 the keeping of the nation, to be placed under a monu- 
 ment worthy of his fame. 
 
 Mrs. Washington replied in a letter unsurpassable 
 for gracious feeling and unaffected dignity: 
 
 " Mount Vernon, December Zlst, 1799. 
 " Sir,— While I feel, with keenest anguish, the late 
 dispensation of Divine Providence, I cannot be insen- 
 sible to the mournful tributes of respect and venera- 
 tion, which are paid to the memory of my dear de- 
 ceased husband; and, as his best services and most 
 anxious wishes were always devoted to the welfare 
 and happiness of his country, to know that they were 
 
462 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1799. 
 
 truly appreciated and gratefully remembered, affords 
 no inconsiderable consolation. 
 
 " Taught by the great example which I have so 
 long had before me, never to oppose my private wishes 
 to the public will, I must consent to the request made 
 by Congress, which you have had the goodness to 
 transmit to me; and, in doing this, I need not — I can- 
 not say, what a sacrifice of individual feeling I make 
 to a sense of public duty. 
 
 " With grateful acknowledgment, and unfeigned 
 thanks for the personal respect and evidences of con- 
 dolence expressed by Congress and yourself, I remain, 
 very respectfully, 
 
 " Sir, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 " Martha Washington." 
 
 The grief of the nation was profound and most 
 warmly expressed. The whole country seemed at first 
 as if stricken with a palsy. The suddenness of the 
 blow — for the intelligence of illness and of death came 
 at one and the same moment, — made the public feeling 
 all the mure striking. But as soon as this first blank 
 horror had settled into conviction, and the idea — 
 " Washington is no more ! " had been fully received, 
 the whole country broke forth into heartfelt lamenta- 
 tions, and language was exhausted in the attempt to 
 express what was beyond expression. Funeral proces- 
 sions and funeral orations and eulogies were the natural 
 offering of every village. For at least once, the unity 
 
1799 OUR DUTIES TO HIS MEMORY. 463 
 
 of feeling which "Washington had so earnestly recom- 
 mended was complete. No sectional jealousy checked 
 the full and generous tide of public feeling. No 
 " North " or " South " bounded the interest felt in the 
 national loss. Like grateful children at the grave of a 
 wise and beloved parent, the United States wept over 
 the tomb of him to whom under God they owed their 
 existence, and the flag of Liberty, every where droop- 
 ing at half-mast, was a true symbol of the public feel- 
 ing of the hour. 
 
 And can that solemn hour ever be forgotten? Can 
 the feeling which thrilled our millions, under whatever 
 skies, have passed away with the smoke of cannon and 
 the echo of funeral eulogies that sought to give it utter- 
 ance ? Did all this luxuriance of grief spring from no 
 deep root of love and reverence in the nation's heart ? 
 
 Forbid it, Heaven ! Forbid it, truth, wisdom, rev- 
 erence, gratitude! The people who burst into spon- 
 taneous tears for the loss of Washington, had hearts to 
 appreciate him ; and to be able to appreciate him be- 
 spoke qualities in some degree akin to his own. He 
 was no melo-dramatic hero, no meteor of war, no flimsy 
 popular idol fit for the worship of the vulgar. His char- 
 acter, his career, his personal qualities, mark the race 
 from which they sprang ;— grave, high-toned, generous, 
 resolute, devoted ; and such alone must ever be his true 
 admirers. The sincerity of the public mourning is a 
 pledge of the future destiny of our country. The people 
 who knew so well how to feel Washington's loss, are 
 
464: MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. [1799. 
 
 not the people to forget his precepts or his character. 
 The sentiments which actuated him, the principles by 
 which he lived and died, are the palladium of our lib- 
 erty, our prosperity, our very existence. We have a 
 thousand times acknowledged that in abiding by them 
 we are safe and happy, in forsaking or slighting them 
 we renounce our strength, and give ourselves to be 
 " the football of foreign nations." Whatever be the 
 madness of the moment, whatever the tumult of passion 
 or the folly of jealousy; however demagogues may 
 play upon our weakness for their own selfish purposes, 
 or timid hearts give way under the pressure of insolent 
 egotism, — we are still the countrymen of Washington, 
 and — let us fondly hope, the partakers of some portion, 
 at least, of the magnanimous patience, — the divine self- 
 control, — the heaven-born patriotism, that never failed 
 him. Defeat, obloquy, provocation of every sort ; in- 
 gratitude, " sharper than traitors' swords ; " — the revolt 
 of friends, the loud triumph of invidious foes ; all these 
 he bore and we can bear, for he has taught us. Keenly 
 alive to disappointment, he had a sovereign contempt 
 for that spirit of despair which is always a confession 
 of impotence. Discouragements often beat him back, 
 but it was only for one rallying moment. We, his 
 children, have need to remember his example in this 
 respect, and through all difficulties hold fast the glo- 
 rious motto — "Never despair of the Republic ! " 
 
CIIAPTEK XL. 
 
 Washington's opinions on slavery — His "Will and its provisions — His morals — His re- 
 ligion — Testimony of various persons as to his habits of devotion. 
 
 Washington was a slaveholder as he was a planter, by 
 birth, education, and habit ; and he not only saw but 
 felt — for he was a Southern man in his private feelings, 
 — all the difficulties which must arise from the state of 
 things between South and North. But the first duty 
 and necessity of all his life was the acquisition of 
 national independence, with the subsequent establish- 
 ment of a wise and efficient government for the new- 
 born and tottering nation. All other labors and duties 
 were secondary to this, and afforded more than abund- 
 ant occupation for him and other great and good men, 
 who won that independence and established that gov- 
 ernment for us. 
 
 To men less wise and devoted, Slavery might, in- 
 deed, have proved the apple of Atalanta, turning them 
 aside from the great object, and so defeating all. Dif- 
 ferences and disputes arose about it, and it required 
 much firmness and much self-command, to hold the 
 20* 
 
466 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 great point steadily in view, and put all else resolutely 
 in the background for the time. 
 
 That Washington, Jefferson and others of our Revo- 
 lutionary forefathers, foresaw and dreaded the shape the 
 question might ultimately assume, we gather from 
 many expressions in their works. Mr. Jefferson in 
 particular, expressed himself with great warmth, say- 
 ing that the Almighty had no attribute which could 
 take part with slavery, and that he trembled for his 
 country when he reflected that God is just. Washing- 
 ton expresses his sentiments with no less directness: 
 " I never mean, unless some particular circumstances 
 should compel me to it, to possess another slave by 
 purchase ; it being among my first wishes to see some 
 plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be 
 abolished by law." In another letter he says : " I hope 
 it will not be conceived from these observations," 
 (with respect to the recapture of a runaway slave,) 
 " that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people who 
 are the subject of this letter, in slavery. I can only say 
 there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely 
 than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it ; 
 but there is only one proper and effectual mode by 
 which it can be accomplished, and that is by legisla- 
 tive authority, and this, as far as my suffrage will go, 
 shall never be wanting." 
 
 And again, in enumerating the reasons why the 
 price of land was higher in Pennsylvania than in Mary- 
 land and Virginia, he mentions that in Pennsylvania 
 
 
WHAT HE THOUGHT OF SLAVERY. 467 
 
 " there are laws for the gradual abolition of slavery, 
 which neither of the two States above mentioned have 
 at present, but which nothing is more certain than that 
 they must have, and at a period not remote." 
 
 Here, then, is the true key-note of Washington's 
 mind on this subject. He thought slavery an evil so 
 obvious, that he rested in the belief that the good sense 
 and principle of the whole United States (for all were 
 slaveholders then) must in time operate for its extinc- 
 tion. He was not so romantic and unpractical as to 
 think the great work could be done by a word, or that 
 slavery could, by act of Congress, be swept away and 
 forgotten. He knew it to be a business of great diffi- 
 culty and delicacy ; but he had full confidence that the 
 time was not far distant, when the same wisdom and 
 virtue, the same love of liberty, and the same " proper 
 respect for the opinion of mankind," which had dic- 
 tated the Declaration of Independence, would, in due 
 season, and under an equally solemn sense of responsi 
 bility, prompt measures for the emancipation of the 
 colored people, who had, by no choice of their own, 
 become a part of our population. His opinion Avas no 
 secret, and his views with regard to the disadvantages 
 of slave labor are plainly to be gathered from his 
 diaries; but he seems to have thought these things 
 must be endured for a time, in order that the change, 
 when it did take place, should be well-considered and 
 wise in its provisions. 
 
 If Washington had not had the armies of the United 
 
468 MEMOIES OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 States to organize and lead to victory ; the government 
 to settle and to administer; and the jarring interests 
 and ever-springing jealousies of newly emancipated 
 millions to reconcile and charm away by his personal 
 influence, he might perhaps have found time to think 
 of the condition of the slaves — comparatively a mere 
 handful at that time ; but with all this business on his 
 hands and heart, it is not to be wondered at that he 
 left the cure of slavery to somebody else and some 
 other day. 
 
 But he made his own sentiments, on all occasions, 
 " clear as the sun in his meridian brightness," to use 
 one of his most favorite similes. 
 
 Lafayette having purchased an estate in Cayenne, 
 with the intention of freeing the slaves upon it, "Wash- 
 ington wrote to him, u Your late purchase is a generous 
 and noble proof of your humanity. "Would to God a 
 like spirit might diffuse itself generally in the minds of 
 the people of this country ! " 
 
 An incident in his own family brought directly home 
 to him the contradictory and rather ridiculous aspect 
 which a slaveholding champion of liberty must present 
 to the world. 
 
 "When Mrs. "Washington's favorite maid, Oney, the 
 woman who had long been her personal attendant, done 
 her line sewing and prepared her caps — a nice matter 
 of home clear-starching, quilling and frilling in those 
 days — when this Oney ran away, and Mrs. "Washing- 
 ton, missing her every moment and not knowing 
 
A KUN-AWAY. 469 
 
 where to look for a substitute, desired the general to 
 advertise, offering a reward for her, he wholly declined, 
 with a laugh (and, we doubt not, a blush too), saying 
 it would appear finely for him to be advertising a run- 
 away slave ! 
 
 This woman, Oney, went to one of the Eastern 
 States, and called on a young lady who was intimate 
 with General Washington's family, who had seen her 
 a thousand times at her mistress's side, and who was, 
 of course, exceedingly surprised to see her so far from 
 home, knowing that she was indispensable to Mrs. 
 Washington. 
 
 " Why, Oney ! " said Miss L , " where in the 
 
 world have you come from ? " 
 
 " Come from New York, missis," said Oney. 
 
 " But why did you come away — how can Mrs. 
 Washington do without you \ " 
 
 Oney hung her head at this, but after a moment re- 
 plied — 
 
 " Run away, missis." 
 
 " Run away ! and from such an excellent place ! 
 Why, what could induce you ? You had a room to 
 yourself, and only light, nice work to do, and every in- 
 dulgence — " 
 
 « Yes— I know— but I wanted to be free, missis ; 
 wanted to learn to read and write—" 
 
 This was Oney's only motive ; and she remained in 
 Maine, married and settled there, and was her own 
 mistress ever after, though very probably with far 
 
470 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 harder work and poorer fare than had been her lot at 
 the President's. 
 
 This anecdote I had from the lips of the lady her- 
 self, now living in the city of New York. 
 
 It is well known that Washington never bequeathed 
 a slave ; but in the drawing up of that admirable "Will, 
 which, as he said, it occupied many of his leisure hours 
 to digest, he carefully provided for the emancipation of 
 all over whom he had any control. 
 
 " Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will and 
 desire that all the slaves whom I hold in my own light 
 shall receive their freedom. To emancipate them du- 
 ring her life would, though earnestly wished by me, be 
 attended with such insuperable difficulties, on account 
 of their intermixture by marriage with the dower ne- 
 groes, as to excite the most painful sensations, if not 
 disagreeable consequences to the latter, while both de- 
 scriptions are in the occupancy of the same proprietor, 
 it not being in my power, under the tenure by which 
 the dower negroes are held, to manumit them." (So 
 that "Washington was only withheld by motives of kind- 
 ness from manumitting his own slaves during his life- 
 time.) " And whereas, among those who will receive 
 freedom according to this devise, there may be some 
 who, from old age or bodily infirmities, and others who, 
 on account of their infancy, will be unable to support 
 themselves, it is my will and desire that all who come 
 under the first and second description, shall be comfort- 
 ably clothed and fed by my heirs while they live ; and 
 that such of the latter description as have no parents 
 living, or, if living, unable or unwilling to provide for 
 
PROVISIONS OF THE WILL. 471 
 
 them, shall be bound by the Court until they arrive at 
 the age of twenty-five years. The negroes thus bound 
 are," (by their masters or mistresses,) " to be taught to 
 read and write, and to be brought up to some useful 
 occupation. * * * * And I do hereby expressly 
 forbid the sale or transportation out of the Common- 
 wealth, of any slave I may die possessed of, under any 
 pretence whatsoever. And I do, moreover, most point- 
 edly and most solemnly enjoin it upon my executors 
 hereafter named, or the survivors of them, to see that 
 this clause respecting slaves, and every part thereof, 
 be religiously fulfilled, at the epoch at which it is di- 
 rected to take place, without evasion, neglect or delay, 
 after the crops which may then be on the ground are 
 harvested, particularly as it respects the aged and in- 
 firm ; seeing that a regular and permanent fund be es- 
 tablished for their support, as long as there are subjects 
 requiring it ; not trusting to the uncertain provision to 
 be made by individuals." 
 
 It is plain from these extracts that Washington con- 
 sidered it advisable to intrust the negro with freedom, 
 and held the opinion that emancipation might be ac- 
 complished without injury to the State. He saw the 
 cruelty of transporting a creature so homeloving to dis- 
 tant parts, from a notion of public or private conveni- 
 ence, and expressly forbids his executors from attempt- 
 ing it in any case ; although he had once, himself, in a 
 sort of desperation, probably after many warnings, sent 
 off an incorrigible fellow to the West Indies to be sold, 
 saying that he could recommend him as the greatest 
 rogue extant. This was done when he was much 
 
472 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 younger and more impetuous than when he made his 
 will, which is dated July, 1T99. 
 
 On the whole, the testimony of "Washington against 
 slavery is clear and explicit enough, and no one can 
 quote him as its apologist, although we may regret that 
 he had not time to turn his attention more decidedly 
 and efficiently towards its abolition. 
 
 The private morals of heroes are often such as the 
 grateful admirers of their public services are fain to 
 pass by in silence ; but the strictness of Washington's 
 views was amply justified by his life. Mr. Jefferson 
 remarks of him — " His public and private ethics were 
 the same." He was no metaphysician, and theorized 
 but little on abstruse points. His code was short and 
 simple, and his requisitions under it direct and author- 
 itative. It is probable that a large part of his reflections, 
 from an early age, touched on the distinction between 
 right and wrong, and no human being can point out a 
 case in which he evidently chose the wrong and did it 
 intentionally. It is certain that the sense of having clone 
 right was his reward, his consolation, his incessant stim- 
 ulus to labors and sacrifices such as few men have un- 
 dertaken or endured. He often alludes to the golden 
 rule, and acknowledges its authority. When he felt 
 obliged to act with severity, it was always with a cer- 
 tain apology, which reminds the reader that these cases 
 were exceptions, and very trying to his feelings, though 
 he went through them resolutely. The strictness of his 
 judgment was always modified by a sense of his own 
 
PROMPT TO FORGIVE. 473 
 
 participation in human weakness and frailty. He never 
 assumes the air of a superior being. He never seems 
 to set himself on any great eminence of virtue, to main- 
 tain which position might sometimes tempt him to hy- 
 pocrisy ; but talks and acts with a frank, manly confes- 
 sion of fallibility, very often expressed in words and still 
 oftener tacitly implied. "When he was angry he was 
 very angry ; but if he was ever momentarily unjust, his 
 apology and atonement were as prompt and honest 
 as ever came from the heart of ingennons youth. 
 "Wounded by his friends, as it was sometimes his lot to 
 be, his placability was touchkigly beautiful, and every 
 remnant of suspicion fled with the grasp of reconcili- 
 ation. Tried severely in certain cases by the young 
 people of his wife's family as well as those of his own, 
 his patience was as striking as his firmness ; and if he 
 never countenanced wrong, he never, on the other hand, 
 forgot consideration for youth. Closely allied by social 
 and family ties with great numbers of people, most of 
 whom wanted something of him, no instance can be 
 found where he repelled a request, or failed to meet the 
 demands of friendship or of need with his best endeavors 
 at service. 
 
 There has been a strange idea, encouraged perhaps 
 by those who would fain have it true, that Washington 
 though a highly moral was not a religious man. How 
 this conclusion coukl be honestly come to it is difficult 
 to see. Acknowledging him to have been a truthful 
 person, what can we think of his continual reference to 
 
474 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 the Almighty ruler of human events, whose care and 
 goodness he never failed to recognize both in public 
 and private ? He speaks of God as aiding all efforts on 
 the right side, and evidently considers himself as co- 
 operating with the Divine will in laboring for the in- 
 dependence of his country. The habit of his mind was 
 to connect the affairs of this world directly and inti- 
 mately with the character of the Divine government, 
 and to see, in the course of human events, the insepara- 
 ble union between goodness and happiness, as the im- 
 mediate interposition of the Almighty ruler. 
 
 But, says the sectarist r " all this is only natural re- 
 ligion, the mere instinctive impression upon the mind 
 of a man of sense, that there must be a God,' — that He 
 must be concerned in human affairs, and that his power 
 of punishing infractions of the law of Conscience is 
 sufficient reason for endeavoring to obey that law." 
 
 It would indeed be a glorious testimony to the 
 power and efficacy of natural religion, if we could 
 prove that such a character as that of Washington grew 
 up and was maintained, in its marvellous consistency, 
 by its sole aid. But fine natural powers and healthy 
 intellectual convictions, precious though their union 
 be, never made a George Washington. 
 
 And what shall we say of such an expression as 
 this, in speaking of a particular course of conduct — 
 " It would certainly be more in accordance with the 
 precepts of the Divine Founder of our religion" 
 
 The care with which Washington expressed himselt 
 
WAS WASHINGTON A CHRISTIAN? 475 
 
 on all occasions mates an expression like this conclu- 
 sive, if there were nothing else to mark him a Chris- 
 tian. That some people should wish to make it appear 
 that Washington was not a religious man, is only one 
 of many proofs that men love to detract from a repu- 
 tation of transcendent merit, and to throw a cloud over 
 glory too bright to be endured by the evil eye. There 
 may perhaps be another explanation of these efforts — 
 the narrowness of sectarianism, which feels bound to 
 acknowledge no religion that does not come within its 
 own pale. It would seem that one or the other of 
 these motives must have operated as the inducement 
 in raising a doubt as to the deep religiousness — the 
 anxious sense of responsibility to God, and the habit- 
 ual devotion, of "Washington. It requires very little 
 experience or observation to discover that a character 
 like his can be built on no other foundation than that 
 of religious principle. Only the blindness of vain and 
 shallow infidelity fails to perceive this truth ; only envy 
 or the bitter venom of party spirit can deny its appli- 
 cability in Washington's case. 
 
 But look at direct testimony on this point, and first, 
 Washington's own. 
 
 In his circular letter to the governors of the sev- 
 eral States, on the disbanding of the army, in 1783, lie 
 says : — 
 
 " The free cultivation of letters, the unbounded ex- 
 tension of commerce, the progressive refinement ol 
 manners, the growing liberality of sentiment, and, 
 
476 MEM0IK8 OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 above all, the pure and benign light of Revelation, 
 have had a meliorating influence on mankind, and in- 
 creased the blessings of society. 
 
 " I now make my earnest prayer that God would 
 have you and the State over which you preside, in his 
 holy protection ; that he would incline the hearts of 
 the citizens to cultivate the spirit of subordination and 
 obedience to government ; to entertain a brotherly af- 
 fection and love for one another, for their fellow-citi- 
 zens of the United States at large, and particularly for 
 their brethren who have served in the field ; and 
 finally, that he would be most graciously pleased to 
 dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to de- 
 mean ourselves with that charity, humility and pacific 
 temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the 
 Divine Author of our blessed religion, without an 
 humble imitation of whose example we can never hope 
 to be a happy nation." 
 
 Mr. Sparks remarks : — " Of all men in the world, 
 Washington was certainly the last whom any one would 
 charge with dissimulation or indirectness ; and if he 
 was so scrupulous in avoiding even a shadow of these 
 faults in every known act of his life, however unim- 
 portant, is it likely, is it credible, that, in a matter of 
 the most serious importance, he should practise, through 
 a long series of years, a deliberate deception upon his 
 friends and the public ? " 
 
 A lady who had lived twenty years in his family, 
 Mrs. "Washington's grand-daughter and the adopted 
 
HABITS OF PRAYER. 477 
 
 daughter of Washington, says, in a letter to Mr. Sparks, 
 after describing his habits of morning and evening re- 
 tirement — " I never witnessed his private devotions, I 
 never inquired about them. I should have thought it 
 the greatest heresy to doubt his firm belief in Chris- 
 tianity. His life, his writings, prove that he was a 
 Christian. He was not one of those who act or pray 
 ' that they may be seen of men.' He communed with 
 his God in secret. My mother resided two years at 
 Mount Vernon after her marriage. I have heard her 
 say that General Washington always received the sa- 
 crament with my grandmother before the Revolution." 
 
 Mr. Robert Lewis, the son of General Washington's 
 sister, was private secretary during the first presidency, 
 lived with him on intimate terms, and had opportuni- 
 ties to observe his private habits. He told Mr. Sparks 
 he had accidentally witnessed Washington's private 
 devotions in his library both morning and evening ; 
 that on these occasions he had seen him in a kneeling 
 posture, with a Bible open before him ; and that he be- 
 lieved such to have been his daily practice. 
 
 A well-known incident of the Revolution may prop- 
 erly be cited in this connection : — 
 
 While the American army, under the command of 
 Washington, lay encamped in the environs of Morris- 
 town, New Jersey, it occurred that the service of the 
 communion, then observed semi-annually only, was to 
 be administered in the Presbyterian church of that vil- 
 lage, or rather in a grove or orchard near the church, 
 
478 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 the building not being large enough, to accommodate 
 the numbers collected on such occasions. On a morn- 
 ing of the previous week the general called on the Rev. 
 Dr. Johns, then pastor of that chinch, and after the 
 usual civilities, thus accosted him : — "Doctor, I under- 
 stand that the communion is to be celebrated with you 
 next Sunday. I would learn if it accords with the 
 canons of your church to admit communicants of 
 another denomination ? " 
 
 The doctor rejoined, " Most certainly ! Ours is 
 not the Presbyterian table, general, but the Lord's ta- 
 ble ; and hence we give the Lord's invitation to all his 
 followers, of whatever name." 
 
 The general rejxlied, " I am glad of it ; that is as it 
 ought to be ; but as I was not quite sure of the fact, I 
 thought I would ascertain it from yourself, as I propose 
 to join with you on that occasion. Though I am a 
 member of the church of England, I have no exclusive 
 partialities." 
 
 The doctor reassured him of a cordial welcome, and 
 the general was found seated with the communicants 
 the next Sabbath. 
 
 The Rev. D. D. Field mentioned to me the follow- 
 ing :— 
 
 " Mrs. Watkins, a daughter of Governor Living- 
 ston, being at my house in Stockbridge, some twenty 
 years since, perhaps more, said that when she was a 
 girl, General Washington lived four months at her fa- 
 ther's during the Revolution, and that she had been by 
 
WASHINGTON AN EPISCOPALIAN. 479 
 
 the side of his room and heard him at prayer. My 
 impression is that she did this repeatedly. She said 
 that his room was in a distant part of the building, and 
 that she had to pass through several rooms to get by 
 the side of the general's, room. She stated that her 
 sisters used to go with her and listen, and that their 
 father, learning what they were doing, checked them for 
 it. Governor Livingston's house is now in a good state 
 of repair, owned by Mr. John Kane. The house is 
 large and has two wings. One of the wings has been 
 raised, the other, in which "Washington roomed, is in 
 form as when he dwelt in it, though a room back of it 
 and attached to it, where the girls listened, has been 
 removed." 
 
 One more testimony from a living witness, Mr. 
 Cornelius Doremus, before mentioned as a boy fond 
 of waiting on Washington, who lived for a winter at 
 his father's house. The old gentleman states that his 
 bedchamber was directly over that of the commander- 
 in-chief, and that he often distinctly heard the sound 
 of that deep and earnest voice in private devotion. 
 
 Washington was educated as an Episcopalian, and 
 throughout his life adhered to that denomination of 
 Christians, satisfied with its doctrine, and if not disin- 
 clined by nature, yet too much occupied by laborious 
 duty, to enter into any speculation upon theological 
 points. His position from the time of his first com- 
 mand, made it improper for him to become the parti- 
 san or even the favorer of any particular form of Chris- 
 
4S0 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 tianity ; yet he was ever the friend and advocate of re- 
 ligion, and in no negligent or formal spirit the guar- 
 dian of its interests. His total freedom from sectarian 
 prejudices is proved by the esteem in which he was 
 held by the ministers as well as members of the differ- 
 ent denominations. An anecdote communicated to me 
 by a friend touches this point : — 
 
 " General Washington, although never lavish in his 
 professions of regard to others, probably inspired as 
 much depth if not as much warmth of attachment, as 
 any man who ever lived. Those who went through 
 the Revolutionary service in associations more or less 
 intimate with him, received an impress from his supe- 
 rior nature, much in proportion to their opportunities 
 of intimate and mutual converse. Some who were but 
 little addicted to man-worship, in regard to others, re- 
 tained and cherished through life almost an idolatrous 
 reverence for the name of Washington. His memory 
 was with them the charm to conjure up, in after years, 
 the true ' spirit of '76.' 
 
 " The Rev. Israel Evans (an uncle of mine, by way 
 of marriage with my father's sister) was a chaplain in 
 the United States army through nearly the entire Rev- 
 olutionary service. He was a native of New Jersey, a 
 man of education, and capable of appreciating such a 
 character as that of Washington. The opportunities 
 he enjoyed for social intercourse with him, as well as 
 with other patriots of the Revolution, were very fre- 
 
WISH OF THE DYING MAN. 481 
 
 quent and favorable, and his reverence for Washington 
 was very great. 
 
 "It is related of Mr. Evans, that, during his last 
 sickness, thirty years or more after the Eevolution, his 
 successor in the ministry, in the New England village 
 where he had been settled, was called in by the family 
 to pray with him, in the evident near approach of the 
 dying hour. Mr. Evans had lain some considerable 
 time in a stupor, apparently unconscious of any thing 
 around him, and his brother clergyman was proceeding 
 in a fervent prayer to God, that, as his servant was ev- 
 idently about departing this mortal life, his spirit might 
 be conveyed by angels to Abraham's bosom. Just at 
 this point, the dying man for the first time and for the 
 moment revived, so far as to utter, in an interval of his 
 delirium, ' and Washington's, too ' — and then sunk 
 again into apparent unconsciousness. As if it was not 
 enough to ' have Abraham to his father,' and on whose 
 bosom to repose, but he must have Washington too, on 
 whom to lean. A signal manifestation of ' the ruling 
 passion strong in death '—and of the lasting hold which 
 that great man had on the mind and heart of one of 
 his early and devoted friends." 
 
 But Washington's religiousness really needs no 
 argument. The idea that such virtue could be based 
 upon any thing but true religion is so pernicious a 
 heresy, that it seems necessary to assure and reas- 
 sure youthful readers that Washington was no instance 
 21 
 
482 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 to te quoted in its favor. Let us now turn, in a few 
 concluding words, to his general characteristics. 
 
 • As to his personal bearing, so much has been 
 said that we need add nothing of ours. A few lines 
 from the letters of Fisher Ames give a fine idea of the 
 impression left by his public appearance : — 
 
 " Impression of Washington. — I was present in the 
 pew with the President, and must assure you that af- 
 ter making all deductions for the delusions of one's 
 fancy in regard to characters, I still think of him with 
 more veneration than for any other person. Time lias 
 made havoc upon his face.- That and many other cir- 
 cumstances not to be reasoned about, conspire to keep 
 up the awe which I brought with me. He addressed 
 the two Houses in the Senate Chamber ; it was a very 
 solemn scene, and quite of the touching kind. His as- 
 pect, grave, almost to sadness ; his modesty, actually 
 shaking. His voice deep, a little tremulous, and so 
 low as to call for close attention, added to the series of 
 objects presented to the mind and overwhelming it, 
 produced emotions of the most affecting kind upon the 
 members. It seemed to me an allegory in which vir- 
 tue was personified, and addressing those whom she 
 would make her votaries. Her power over the heart 
 was never greater, and the illustration of her doctrine 
 by her own example was never more perfect." 
 
ASPECT OF WASHINGTON-. 483 
 
 One still living, who when a child saw him often, 
 thus remembers him : — * 
 
 " ' First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of 
 his countrymen, 5 he was, is, and ever will remain. It 
 is something, it is much, and it will he more, even to 
 have seen him. Those who have, will say with one 
 voice that they never saw any thing like him. Prob- 
 ably there never was a human being who ever departed 
 from his presence without having this conviction deep 
 upon his mind. A lady who lived opposite his lodg- 
 ings all the time he resided in Philadelphia, told a 
 friend, that General Washington never came into or 
 out of his house that she did not remain at the win- 
 dow, with her eyes fixed upon him so long as he re- 
 mained in sight. It was a feeling that did not wear 
 out. See him as often as you might, it continued and 
 even increased. There are some wonders of art, stat- 
 ues and paintings (they are but few), which exert a 
 sort of infatuation upon the spectator, so that he gazes 
 on them long, and still wants another look : — here was 
 a wonder of nature, a work of God, — which, like Ni- 
 agara, like Mont Blanc, like the rainbow, like the 
 aurora, filled at once the mental and the physical eye, 
 and fixed it long. As the eagle sits alone upon her 
 eyrie, as the lion walks alone in the desert, so was 
 Washington among men. He stands alone in history ; 
 he never will know a compeer. 
 
 * In the National Intelligencer. 
 
484 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 As to his personal APPEAKENCE. — " Gilbert Stuart, 
 whose painting of him has immortalized not his subject 
 but himself, and who, as one long familiar with the 
 human countenance, is eminently fit to speak on such a 
 subject, often said that the head and face of Washington 
 were unlike those of any other human being that ever 
 had come under his observation. There was a breadth 
 about the base of the nose, anjj a largeness and pecu- 
 liar form of the sockets of the eyes, which distinguished 
 the face from all others. It is not generally known, 
 but it is nevertheless true, that there was a slight de- 
 fect about the eye ; the eyelid did not rise entirely to 
 its place. This communicated that peculiar downcast 
 look which distinguished the eye of Washington, giv- 
 ing it an air of thought, of modest reserve, of compo- 
 sure almost approaching to heaviness, which one who 
 saw him never can forget. It affected the carriage and 
 motion of his head, occasioning him to raise it when 
 looking up upon a stranger approaching him, more 
 than would have been necessary or natural had the 
 eyelid been entirely free. Yet so slight was the cause, 
 that by most persons the effect only was noticed. Stu- 
 art failed to catch this expression, but Peale has pre- 
 served it with admirable fidelity in the portrait which 
 hangs in the Senate chamber at Washington. When 
 he was reading, or writing, you could not perceive it ; 
 when he was speaking, it gave modesty, gravity, and 
 dignity to his expression ; under strong excitement, as 
 
ENTERING PHILADELPHIA. 485 
 
 in the heat of battle, it vanished, and his eyes shone 
 like stars. 
 
 " Nothing can exceed the perfect truth to nature of 
 the figure and carriage of the person, as given in Lord 
 Lansdowne's inimitable picture, and which Heath has 
 •with equal truth and felicity transferred to copper. 
 The moulding of his limbs, his step and bearing, were 
 as peculiar and as readily recognized as those of Na- 
 poleon. His tread was measured and heavy, carrying 
 in its sound dignity and command. He was born a 
 monarch, in the highest and best sense of the term. 
 The noble soul within looked out from a body as noble 
 as itself ; and no man who ever stood in the presence 
 of either, thought or felt himself a great man. The 
 awe of his presence fell alike on all men. 
 
 " My own first sight of him seems like a remote 
 vision ; it was only from a distance and in my early 
 childhood. I had been walking up Market street 
 (then not more than half its present length), when I 
 saw approaching from the South a great cavalcade, at- 
 tended and surrounded by floods of people, all whose 
 looks seemed to be bent on one object. On a dark sor- 
 rel horse, which he rode with military grace and ease, 
 was an officer of large size, wearing the triangular 
 cocked hat which appears in all paintings of the battle 
 scenes of the Revolution, and attended on either hand 
 by officers of his staff. They were all so heavily 
 loaded with dust as to be entirely of one color. Ha!<, 
 coats, boots, hands, saddles, holsters, horses, seemed all 
 
486 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 of one uniform drab, as if they had been riding for 
 hours along a highway without stopping to remove the 
 dust as it accumulated upon them. They told me that 
 was General Washington ; and I afterwards heard my 
 father read from the papers of the clay, an account of 
 his having been crowned, as he passed the bridge at 
 Gray's Ferry, with a chaplet of flowers, and greeted 
 by a band of beautiful young ladies, chanting a song 
 of welcome to the hero who had closed the eventful 
 struggle for freedom by the then recent victory of York- 
 town. I was too far off to recognize his features ; but 
 the mounted figure is even now distinctly before my 
 mind's eye ; and I instantly recognized it again when I 
 saw, for the first time, Trumbull's picture of the Sur- 
 render at Yorktown, that now occupies one of the pan- 
 els in the rotunda of the Capitol. The Washington 
 there drawn, is precisely what I saw coming into the 
 city by the road from Gray's Ferry. 
 
 " Washington at Church. — My next view of him 
 was a nearer and more distinct one — it was as a wor- 
 shipper. My parents, who were Episcopalians, had a 
 front pew in the gallery of Christ's Church, in Phila- 
 delphia ; and from that favorable post of observation 
 I noticed, in the middle aisle, a pew lined with crimson 
 velvet fringed with gold, into which I saw a highly 
 dignified gentleman enter, accompanied by two others, 
 younger than himself, and most respectful in their de- 
 portment towards him. These as I have since learned, 
 
DEPORTMENT AT CHURCH. 487 
 
 were members of his military family. I was but a 
 young boy, and the impression, as I well remember, on 
 my youthful mind was, that I had never seen so grand 
 a gentleman before. Every body else seemed to be of 
 the same mind ; for I do not consider it a slander on 
 the very respectable congregation worshipping in that 
 church, to say that far more looks were fixed upon 
 that pew than on the pulpit (unless, indeed, it hap- 
 pened to be occupied by that most excellent and ven- 
 erable of prelates, Bishop White). The deportment of 
 Washington was reverent and attentive ; his eyes, when 
 not on the prayer-book, were on the officiating clergy- 
 man, and no witless or irreverent worshipper could 
 plead Washington's example. I have since been in 
 the church at Alexandria, in Virginia, which was his 
 parish church — have handled the prayer-book he used, 
 and seen his well known autograph in front of his Bi- 
 ble ; and here the same impression existed as to his 
 regular and exemplary attendance and demeanor. He 
 could not always be present in the church at Philadel- 
 phia, in the afternoon, being pressed by the exigency 
 of public affairs, which, in the mind of Washington, 
 were ever held to be matters of necessity. Hence he 
 gave orders, that in case certain important despatches 
 were received during his attendance in church, they 
 should be brought to him there ; and I have seen them 
 delivered into his hands. He opened them imme- 
 diately, and deliberately and attentively read them 
 through ; then laying them on the seat by his side, he 
 
488 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 resumed his prayer-book, and, apparently, gave his 
 mind to the solemnities of the place and the hour. 
 
 " I once had an opportunity of beholding this great- 
 est of men, under circumstances the best possible for 
 exhibiting him to the fullest advantage. It was a priv- 
 ilege which could happen but once to any one ; and I 
 esteem the hour when I enjoyed it, as one of the bright- 
 est moments I was ever permitted to know. Its re- 
 membrance yet glows vividly on my mind : years have 
 not dimmed it : the whole scene is yet before me, and 
 I need not say with what force repeated public occa- 
 sions of a like kind have since recalled it to remem- 
 brance. Yes, it was my favored lot to see and hear 
 President "Washington address the Congress of the 
 United States when elected for the last time. — Of men 
 now living, how few can say the same. 
 
 " I was but a schoolboy at the time, and had fol- 
 lowed one of the many groups of people who, from all 
 quarters, were making their way to the Hall in Chestnut 
 street at the corner of Fifth, where the two Houses of 
 Congress then held their sittings, and where they were 
 that day to be addressed by the President, on the open- 
 ing of his second term of office. Boys can often manage 
 to work their way through a crowd better than men 
 can ; at all events, it so happened that I succeeded in 
 reaching the steps of the Hall, from which elevation, 
 looking in every direction, I could see nothing but hu- 
 man heads : a vast fluctuating sea, swaying to and fro, 
 and filling every accessible place which commanded 
 
THE SECOND INAUGURAL. 489 
 
 even a distant view of the building. They had con- 
 gregated, not with the hope of getting into the Hall, 
 for that was physically impossible, but that they might 
 see Washington. Many an anxious look was cast in 
 the direction from which he was expected to come, till 
 at length, true to the appointed hour (he was the most 
 punctual of men), an agitation was observable on the 
 outskirts of the crowd, which gradually opened and 
 gave space for the approach of an elegant white coach, 
 drawn by six superb white horses, having on its four 
 sides, beautiful designs of the four seasons, painted by 
 Cipriani. It slowly made its way, till it drew up im- 
 mediately in front of the Hall. The rush was now tre- 
 mendous. But as the coach-door opened, there issued 
 from it two gentlemen with long white wands, who, 
 with some difficulty, parted the people so as to open a 
 passage from the carriage to the steps on which the 
 fortunate schoolboy had achieved a footing, and whence 
 the whole proceeding could be distinctly seen. As the 
 person of the President emerged from the carriage, a 
 universal shout rent the air, and continued, as he very 
 deliberately ascended the steps. On reaching the plat- 
 form, he paused, looking back on the carriage, thus af- 
 fording to the anxiety of the people the indulgence 
 they desired, of feasting their eyes upon his person. 
 Never did a more majestic personage present himself 
 to the public gaze. He was within two feet of me : I 
 could have touched his clothes : but I should as soon 
 have thought of touching an electric battery. Boy as 
 21* 
 
490 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 1 was, I felt as in the presence of a divinity. As he 
 turned to enter the Hall, the gentlemen with the white 
 wands preceded him, and with still greater difficulty 
 than before, repressed the people, and cleared a way 
 to the great staircase. As he ascended I ascended with 
 him, step by step, creeping close to the wall, and al- 
 most hidden by the shirts of his coat. Nobody looked 
 at me : every body was looking at him ; and thus I 
 was permitted, unnoticed, to glide along, and happily 
 to make my way (where so many were vainly longing, 
 and struggling to enter) into the lobby of the chamber 
 of the House of Representatives. Once in, I was safe ; 
 for had I even been seen by the officers in attendance, 
 it would have been impossible to get me out again. I 
 saw near me a large pyramidal stove, which, fortu- 
 nately, had but little fire in it, and on which I forth- 
 with clambered, until I had attained a secure perch, 
 from which every part of the Hall could be deliberately 
 and distinctly surveyed. Depend upon it,' I made use 
 of my eyes. 
 
 " On either side of the broad aisle that was left va- 
 cant in the centre, were assembled the two Houses of 
 Congress. As the President entered, all rose, and re- 
 mained standing till he had ascended the steps at the 
 upper end of the chamber, and taken his seat in the 
 Speaker's chair. It was an impressive moment. Not- 
 withstanding that the spacious apartment, floor, lobby, 
 galleries and all approaches, were crowded to their ut- 
 most capacity, not a sound was heard ; the silence of 
 
APPEARANCE IN CONGRESS. 491 
 
 expectation was unbroken and profound ; every breath 
 seemed suspended. He was dressed in a full suit of 
 the richest black velvet ; his lower limbs in short- 
 clothes with diamond knee-buckles, and black silk 
 stockings. His shoes, which were brightly japanned, 
 were surmounted with large square silver buckles. 
 His hair, carefully displayed in the manner of the day, 
 was fully powdered, and gathered behind into a black 
 silk bag, on which was a bow of black ribbon. In his 
 hand he carried a plain cocked hat, decorated with the 
 American cockade. He wore by his side a light, slen- 
 der dress sword, in a dark shagreen scabbard, with a 
 richly ornamented hilt. His gait was deliberate, his 
 manner solemn but self-possessed, and he presented, 
 altogether, the most august human figure I had then, 
 or have since beheld. 
 
 " Having retained his seat for a few moments, while 
 the members resumed their seats, the President rose, 
 and taking from his breast a roll of manuscript, pro- 
 ceeded to read his address. His voice was full and so- 
 norous, deep and rich in its tones, free from that trum- 
 pet ring which it could assume amid the tumult of bat- 
 tle (and which is said to have been distinctly heard 
 above all its roar), but sufficiently loud and clear to fill 
 the chamber, and be heard, witli perfect ease, in its 
 most remote recesses. The address was of considerable 
 length ; its topics, of course, I forget, for I was too young 
 to understand them ; I only remember, in its latter 
 part, some reference to the Wabash Eiver (then a new 
 
492 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 name to my ear), and to claims or disputes on the part 
 of the Indian tribes. He read, as he did every thing 
 else, with a singular sincerity and composure, with 
 manly ease and dignity, but without the smallest at- 
 tempt at display. 
 
 " Having concluded, he laid the manuscript upon 
 the table before him, and resumed his seat ; when, after 
 a slight pause he rose and withdrew, the members ris- 
 ing and remaining on their feet until he left the cham- 
 ber. 
 
 " The paper was then taken up by Mr. Beckley, the 
 clerk of the House, and again read from beginning to 
 end. Beckley's enunciation, by the by, was admirably 
 clear, giving every syllable of every word, and, I may 
 say, he was almost the only officer whose official duty 
 it is to read, whom I ever heard read well. 
 
 " This form having been gone through, the mem- 
 bers of the Senate retired, and I took advantage of the 
 bustle to descend from my unwonted and presumptuous 
 elevation, and mingle with the dissolving crowd." 
 
 So great was the general reverence expressed for 
 Washington, that a little boy walking with his father 
 in the streets of Philadelphia, and meeting the general, 
 exclaimed — u Why, father ! General Washington is 
 only a man, after all ! " Washington looked at him 
 thoughtfully, and said — " That's all, my little fellow, 
 that's all ! " 
 
 Mr. Matthew Carey, well known as an enterprising 
 
PERSONAL DIGNITY. 493 
 
 publisher in Philadelphia, had occasion once, during 
 Washington's presidency, to call on him with reference 
 to the printing of public documents, or some other 
 matter connected with the press. He was received 
 with great politeness, and his business affairs easily 
 concluded ; but he observed on coming out of the room 
 where he had been speaking with the President, that 
 streams of perspiration were coursing down his face, 
 quite irrespective of the temperature of the day, and 
 only indicative of the awe which Washington had been 
 able to inspire in the mind of one not unaccustomed to 
 contact with great men. 
 
 Gouverneur Morris once accepted a bet that he 
 would approach Washington familiarly, and clap him 
 on the shoulder. He did it, and won his bet ; but the 
 look with which Washington reproved the impertinence 
 was quite enough to make him sorry for it. 
 
 " When Washington had his quarters near New- 
 burgh, he was frequently occupied in writing those im- 
 mortal letters to Congress, in which it is hard to say 
 whether the patriot, the general, the statesman, or the 
 father of the American army, shines the most illus- 
 triously, and which, of themselves, would be enough to 
 confer immortality upon their author ; and he gave a 
 general order that at such times he was not to be dis- 
 turbed or spoken to, unless under the most urgent ne- 
 cessity. A militia officer, of no particular rank or 
 standing, came, one day, into the ante-room, and asked 
 to see the commander-in-chief. Colonel Trumbull, the 
 
494 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 aide-de-camp who was on duty, informed him that the 
 general was not to be seen ; but politely requested the 
 officer to intrust with him his business. The officer 
 (never having seen Washington) little knowing with 
 whom he had to deal, and very proud of the opportu- 
 nity of having a personal interview, treated this inti- 
 mation with hauteur, and demanded to see General 
 "Washington himself, with whom, he said, he had im- 
 portant business. Colonel Trumbull stated the positive 
 orders that had been given, and said that if he went to 
 the general's private room the consequences must be 
 upon the officer alone. " Oh, certainly," said he, smil- 
 ing, " I'll bear all the consequences." The aid slowly 
 and reluctantly approached the chamber, and gently 
 knocked. " Who's there ? " answered a deep voice 
 within, in those tones which none heard without dread. 
 Colonel Trumbull stated the case, and said that though 
 repeatedly warned of the orders, the officer insisted on 
 seeing him. " Does he ? " and at the same time the 
 warlike tread was heard, the door suddenly opened, 
 and Washington came forth. " I thought," said Trum- 
 bull, when relating to me the anecdote, " I thought he 
 would have walked over him." " Well, sir, what is 
 your business with me ? " The officer, with widely al- 
 tered tone and manner, stammered out some petty 
 question relating to the etiquette of camp duty, in 
 which he had differed with a fellow officer, and which 
 he wished to have decided by the commander-in-chief. 
 Washington had never taken his eyes off of him ; and 
 
GRAVE POLITENESS. 495 
 
 when lie was clone, replied, "Ask that question of your 
 orderly sergeant," and turned into his chamber. Trum- 
 bull said he never in his life saw a human creature so 
 completely thunderstruck. He never appeared again 
 at head-quarters. 
 
 Yet, it must not be understood from these instances, 
 that there was the least want of courtesy in his general 
 manner ; the reverse is true : he was truly and uni- 
 formly polite ; but it was a grave politeness, infinitely 
 removed from that heartless artificial polish which is 
 acquired by frivolous minds, from long converse with 
 the world. There was a simplicity, and even a severe 
 dignity about it, which was inherent in the man, and 
 which never left him. In the cases I have mentioned, 
 he was rudely trespassed on ; and no man could trifle 
 with Washington." 
 
 Formality was certainly the order of those days. 
 A gentleman now living in Philadelphia says that when 
 he used to be playing with young Custis till dinner 
 time, he was sometimes invited by the boy to go home 
 with him to dinner. He was very kindly received, 
 Mrs. Washington asking after his mamma, and the 
 general patting him on the head, with a few pleasant 
 words. But when they came to sit down to dinner the 
 stiffness was awful ; the secretaries offering dishes to 
 the President— "Will your Excellency have a pota- 
 to ? " etc., and hardly another word spoken. 
 
 This must have been in very perplexing and sober 
 times : for Washington at Mount Vernon was, as we 
 
496 MEMOIRS OF "WASHINGTON. 
 
 have seen, no such terrific person. Many such little 
 incidents as this are remembered of him : — 
 
 At Mamaroneck reconnoitring with his aids one 
 morning early, he was passing a house in the door-yard 
 of which a boy was trying very hard to split a large 
 log, but not making much progress. Washington ob- 
 serving the process, stopped and said to the boy : " Put 
 your wedge in at the other end, and you can do it." 
 The boy complied, and the log gave way. " There," 
 said the general, " remember that General Washington 
 taught you how to split wood." The "boy" is still 
 living to remember the lesson. 
 
 When Gilbert Stuart first painted Washington in 
 1796, the chief used to take the beautiful Harriet Chew, 
 afterwards Mrs. Charles Carroll, with him, saying that 
 " her conversation ought to give his face its most agree- 
 able expression." 
 
 Mr. Noah Webster, author of the Dictionary, once 
 dined or took breakfast with him, and related that 
 upon Washington's offering him a choice of molasses 
 or sugar with something on the table, he replied, jo- 
 kingly, that he would take sugar, for Yankees ate 
 " plenty of molasses at home." Upon this Washing- 
 ton burst into a hearty laugh, saying interrogatively, 
 " There is no truth, I am sure, in the story of your eat- 
 ing molasses with pork ? " 
 
 A good many scintillations of mirthfulness break 
 out in Washington's letters of friendship ; and here is 
 
KELISH OF A JOKE. 497 
 
 a story which, coming pretty well authenticated, must 
 be accepted as a proof that he enjoyed a joke :— 
 
 " Two gentlemen set out together to pay a solemn 
 state visit at Mount Vernon. They had a good way to 
 go, and as they did not wish to appear before their host 
 and hostess travel-worn and dusty, but rather in a state 
 of distinguished elegance, they took with them in a 
 portmanteau the apparatus and appurtenances of a lux- 
 urious toilette. They passed the night at a tavern on 
 the road, where they enjoyed the company of a ped- 
 lar. The next day they shouldered their budget and 
 jogged on again, until they reached a charming shady 
 lonely wood near the place of their destination, when, 
 agreeing that this was exactly the spot which they 
 wanted for their tiring-room, they removed part of their 
 clothing, and opened their pack for their bands, frills, 
 silk stockings, and knee-buckles, when out of it tum- 
 bled a quantity of brass thimbles, tape, and sugar- 
 plums, as if Signor Blitz had carried it for them. In a 
 word, they had unwittingly changed bags with the ped- 
 lar. Washington happened to be walking in his grounds 
 not far off. Their shouts of laughter brought him to 
 the scene of their discomfiture ; and when he perceived 
 their plight and the reason of it, he was thrown into 
 such an ecstasy of amusement that he actually rolled 
 on the ground." 
 
 Washington was always disposed to encourage in- 
 nocent amusements, and evidently considered occasions 
 of complete unbending as among the necessaries of life, 
 
49 S MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 even to himself. There were, it is true, long seasons 
 of such stern, ceaseless devotion to duty, that he men- 
 tions, even to the President of Congress, being obliged 
 to take the hours that should be devoted to sleep for 
 business writing. But he could not but notice that 
 these seasons were apt to be followed, in his own case, 
 with severe illness, and we have no reason to think that 
 he wilfully pursued even duty beyond the point of 
 health and cheerful spirits. The French officers whom 
 he received so kindly to his house and table, had a 
 great deal to say about his manners at home, and they 
 always represented him very kind and genial. The 
 Marquis de Chastellux speaks of his loving to sit over 
 the nuts and apples for hours in the evening, convers- 
 ing and giving " sentiments" — an old-fashioned kind of 
 toast. 
 
 Chastellux's descriptions are enthusiastic and very 
 graphic. He was particularly enchanted with "Wash- 
 ington's bold and elegant riding. He says the general 
 used to break his own horses, a business which he un- 
 derstood perfectly. The State of Virginia sent him a 
 present of two horses which he delighted to ride. The 
 Marquis once saw him, when caught in a shower of 
 rain, put his horse to the gallop and leap high fences to 
 regain his quarters, which he did in splendid style, 
 " sans se guindre sur les etriers," to the gay French- 
 man's great delight. 
 
 Chastellux says, " The goodness and kindness which 
 characterize him are felt by all about him ■ but the 
 
DISINTERESTEDNESS. 499 
 
 confidence which he inspires is never familiar, because 
 it is in every case founded on the same basis — a pro- 
 found esteem for his virtues and a great opinion of his 
 talents." 
 
 " Washington," says M. Guizot, " loved Lafayette 
 with a paternal tenderness, of which his life bears no 
 other example. * * * That accomplished and 
 chivalrous young nobleman, who left the court of Ver- 
 sailles to bear his sword and his fortune to the planters 
 of America, singularly pleased the grave general of the 
 Republican army. He viewed that event as a tribute 
 paid by the nobility of the Old World to the cause and 
 to him — he regarded it as a link between himself and 
 the brilliant, the witty, the celebrated society of France. 
 In the modesty of his greatness he was at once flat- 
 tered and touched by M. de Lafayette's arrival, and his 
 thoughts were wont to dwell with emotions of peculiar 
 fondness upon his youthful friend, so unlike any other 
 friend of his whole life, and one who had left all to 
 serve beside him." 
 
 A London paper of 1784 mentions with a sort of en- 
 thusiasm the disinterestedness of Washington :— 
 
 "There are few," says the writer, " so blinded by 
 prejudice as to deny such a degree of merit in the 
 American general, as to place him in a very distin- 
 guished point of view; but even those who have been 
 accustomed to view him as the most illustrious charac- 
 ter ot this or any other age, will be astonished at the 
 following instance of his integrity. When General 
 
500 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Washington accepted the command of the American 
 army, he rejected all pecuniary reward or pay what- 
 ever, and only stipulated for the reimbursement of such 
 sums as he might expend in the public service. Ac- 
 cordingly, at the conclusion of the war, he gave in to 
 Congress the whole of his seven years' expenditure, 
 which only amounted to £16,000 Pennsylvania cur- 
 rency, or £10,000 sterling. In the eyes of our modern 
 British generals, the above circumstances will prove 
 totally incredible, or, at least, they will deem Mr. 
 Washington little better than a fool ; for, if we judge 
 from certain accounts, £10,000 would scarcely have 
 answered the demands of a commander-in-chief at New 
 York a single month" 
 
 But to record all the praises of Washington would be 
 a hopeless task. Friends and enemies concur in repre- 
 senting him —the former in their enthusiasm, the latter 
 in their forced admissions, as the greatest and best of 
 men. 
 
 So just, so wise, so benefi'cial, so far above the tone 
 of vulgar heroes, was the Father of our Country, that 
 but a small proportion of what is interesting about 
 him can be given in any book. His praise is every 
 where ; he has no competitors, he stands alone. We 
 Americans should strive to know him, and we can- 
 not be grateful enough to the kind Providence that 
 guarded our national infancy, for providing a father 
 whom we need not fear to search out, and whom in all 
 things we may be proud to imitate. 
 
HOW CAN WE BE THANKFUL ENOUGH ? 501 
 
 A true warrior, yet no Napoleon, he bore the 
 sword with hands unsoiled, wielded it for peace and 
 not for conquest, laid it down more gladly than he 
 took it up, and used it to make friends even of his ene- 
 mies. 
 
 History, which shows us many a more dazzling 
 character, shows none so grandly consistent, so splendid 
 in disinterestedness, so free from conceit, yet so deter- 
 mined in duty, so true and tender in friendship, yet 
 able to put aside every personal consideration when 
 the good of the country and the great cause of Free- 
 dom were in question. What maimer of people ought 
 we to be in return for this great gift ? Let us bless 
 God that America, having produced one such son, may 
 bring forth others like him, when the day of trial shall 
 come, as it may come, even to us, favored as we are 
 above all the nations of the earth. There is more hope, 
 not less, of another "Washington, from having had the 
 first. 
 
 We say of a great genius, like Shakspeare or Ea- 
 phael, that he is inimitable. But Washington was not 
 a genius in the ordinary acceptation of that term. His 
 perfections, the growth of nature, circumstances and 
 God's aid and favor combined, are imitable ; on an 
 humbler scale. 
 
 Besolute integrity, indefatigable industry, the power 
 of deferring self to duty, a feeling of true brotherhood 
 towards mankind, and a sincere and habitual desire to 
 co-operate with God in doing good to the world, may 
 
502 MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 make many a Washington that the world will never 
 hear of; not in man's judgment, perhaps, but to the 
 All-seeing eye, and to the conscious heart of him who 
 is able to devote himself, as Washington did, soul and 
 body, heart and*life, to truth, service, and duty. 
 
A PPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 Mr. Field, a much respected gentleman and philosophical writer, who re- 
 sided for many years on the Duke of Northumberland's property at Isle- 
 worth, Middlesex, not many miles from London, believed himself to he the 
 possessor of an original portrait of Washington's mother, of which lie 
 gives the following history, in a letter to Judge Washington: — 
 
 " Sir, — Some time about the year 1787, when I was a boy, an uncle 
 of mine pointed out to me a house at Cookham, in Berkshire — a pretty little 
 country retreat — which he informed me was the last residence of the parents 
 of General Washington in this country, from which they finally removed to 
 America. At the same time he took me to a Mrs. Ann Morer, who had 
 been in his employment — whose maiden name was (I believe) Taylor, and 
 whose mother accompanied your relatives to North America, and was the 
 nurse of your immortal ancestor. Such were some of the particulars she 
 told me, and at the same time showed me, with a becoming pride, several 
 relics — articles of dress and furniture —which had belonged to the Wash- 
 ingtons. And I well remember the high value in which she held a work- 
 bag made from a dress of Mrs. W. But that which most particularly 
 interested me was her portrait, painted in oil, in the manner of Kneller. 
 I had been as a child an especial favorite of this woman, who had no chil- 
 dren of her own. and she often promised to leave me this portrait when 
 she died. 
 
 " It happened many years after, that being in the neighborhood of 
 Cookham, I was induced to pay Mrs. Morer a visit, when she again showed 
 me her treasures, and informed me two American gentlemen had found 
 her out by desire of General Washington, and had presented her with 
 some money. 
 
 "Finally, about the year 1812-13, Hannah Taylor, a niece of Mrs. M., 
 then servant in my family (at Lucas house, Binley, near Bagshot), informed 
 us of her aunt's decease, and of the intended sale of her effects by auction. 
 
504 APPENDIX. 
 
 I therefore forwarded a request to Hannah's mother to purchase the pic- 
 tures for me, which was done accordingly." 
 
 Feeling some interest in this curious topic, and heing in England in 
 1854, the present writer called upon Mr. Field, heard from his own lips 
 a confirmation of the story, and saw the portrait, which bears a striking 
 resemblance, in its leading traits, to those of the Washington family. Mr. 
 Field, who died soon after, was a most amiable and entirely trustworthy 
 person, enjoying the highest esteem from a large circle of distinguished 
 friends. He was surrounded by works of art, and, being confined to the 
 house by long ill-health, had made his pretty English cottage a little para- 
 dise of books and other objects of interest. The writer afterwards visited 
 Cookham, saw the spot reputed in England as the birthplace of Washing- 
 ton, but could gather nothing further in the course of a morning's hasty 
 observation. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 Mr. Weems gives the following story as from an " old lady of Freder- 
 icksburg : " — 
 
 " I dreamt," said the mother of Washington, " that I was sitting in the 
 piazza of a large new house, into which we had but lately moved. George, 
 at that time about five years old, was in the garden with his corn-stalk 
 plough, busily running furrows in the sand, in imitation of Negro Dick, in 
 whose ploughing George was so interested that it was sometimes difficult 
 to get him to dinner. 
 
 " And so, as I was sitting in the piazza at my work, I suddenly heard 
 in my dream a kind of roaring noise on the eastern side of the house. On 
 running out to see what was the matter, I beheld a dreadful sheet of fire 
 bursting from the roof. The sight struck me with a horror that took away 
 my strength, and threw me almost senseless on the ground. My husband 
 and the servants, as I saw in my dream, soon came up, but, like myself,, 
 were so terrified at the sight that they could make no attempt to extin- 
 guish the flames. In this most distressing state the image of my little 
 son came, I thought, to my mind, more dear and tender than ever ; and 
 turning towards the garden where he was engaged with his corn-stalk 
 plough, I screamed out twice, with all my might — George ! George ! In 
 a moment, as I thought, he threw down his mimic plough, aud ran to me, 
 saying, ' High, ma ! what makes you call so angry ! aint I a good boy — 
 don't I always run to you as soon as I hear you call ? ' I could make no 
 reply, but just threw up my arms towards the flame. He looked up and 
 
APPENDIX. 505 
 
 saw the house all on fire ; but, instead of bursting out a crying, as might 
 have been expected from a child, he instantly brightened up, and seemed 
 ready to fly to extinguish it. But first looking at me with great tender- 
 ness, he said — ' Oh, ma ! don't be afraid ; God will help us, and we shall 
 soon put it out.' His looks and words revived our spirits in so wonderful a 
 manner, that we all instantly set about to assist him. A ladder was pres- 
 ently brought, on which, as I saw in my dream, he ran up with the nimble- 
 ness of a squirrel, and the servants supplied him with water, which he threw 
 on the fire from an American gourd. But that growing weaker, the flames 
 appeared to gain ground, breaking forth and roaring most dreadfully, 
 which so frightened the servants that many of them, like persons in despair, 
 began to leave him. But he, still undaunted, continued to ply it with wa- 
 ter, animating the servants at the same time, both by his words and ac- 
 tions. For a long time the contest appeared very doubtful ; but at length 
 a venerable old man, with a tall cap and an iron rod in his hand, like a 
 lightning rod, reached out to him a curious little trough, like a wooden 
 shoe ! On receiving this, he redoubled his exertions, and soon extinguished 
 the fire. Our joy on the occasion was unbounded. But he, on the con- 
 trary, showing no more of transport now than of terror before, looked 
 rather sad at sight of the great harm that had been done. Then I saw in 
 my dream that after some time spent in deep thought, he called out, with 
 much j<>y, ' Well, ma ! now if you and the family will but consent, we can 
 make a far better roof thau this ever was ; a roof of such a quality, that 
 if well kept together, it will last for ever ; but if you take it apart, you 
 will make the house ten thousand times worse than it was before.' 
 
 This, though certainly a very curious dream, needs no Daniel to interpret 
 it ; especially if we take Mrs. Washington's new house, for the young Colony 
 Government — the fire on its east side, for North's civil war— the gourd 
 which Washington first employed, for the American three and six months' 
 enlistments — the old man with his cap and iron rod, for Doctor Franklin— 
 the shoe-like vessel which he reached to Washington, for the Sabot or 
 wooden-shoed nation, the French, whom Franklin courted a long time for 
 America— and the new roof proposed by Washington, for a standi, honest 
 Republic— that " equal government," which, by guarding alike the welfare 
 of all, ought by all to be so heartily beloved as to endure for ever." 
 
 No. III. 
 
 Lafayette was but eighteen years old when he happened to dine in com- 
 pany with the Duke of Gloucester, brother of King George III., and heard 
 the contest between England and America discussed by the duke and his 
 
506 APPENDIX. 
 
 friends, the character and conduct of " the rebels " being, of course, very 
 severely treated. His interest was so strongly excited that he asked many 
 questions of the duke, and felt himself, in spite of the most unfavorable 
 representations, deeply interested in the idea of people's battling for their 
 liberty under so many discouraging circumstances. Before he left the 
 company, he had conceived the project of going in person to the aid of this 
 struggling people. Returning to Paris, Lafayette procured an introduction 
 to Silas Deane, then one of our commissioners for obtaining the alliance 
 of France, and was by Mr. Deane's representations confirmed in his desire 
 to take part in the patriotic struggle. The loss of Port Washington and 
 other unlucky accidents very much dampened the courage of the friends 
 of the cause, but Lafayette was above such hasty conclusions. " My zeal 
 and love of liberty," said he, "have perhaps hitherto been my prevailing 
 motives ; but now I see a chance for usefulness, which I had not anticipa- 
 ted. I have money ; I will purchase a ship, which shall convey to Amer- 
 ica myself, my companions, and the freight for Congress." 
 
 "While the vessel was getting ready, Lafayette visited England, in per- 
 formance of a previous agreement with a friend, and was there treated 
 with all the attention and courtesy due to his high rank aud distinguished 
 connections. 
 
 When he had been three weeks in London, he received private intelli- 
 gence that his vessel was ready, and breaking away from all that was most 
 interesting in England, he immediately set out for Prance. 
 
 So delicate was his sense of honor, that he declined an invitation from 
 one of the royal dukes to visit the dock-yards at Portsmouth, where the 
 naval armament was then being fitted for the American war, lest he should 
 seem to have taken an undue advantage of his position. 
 
 He met with many difficulties and much opposition before he could even 
 reach his vessel. A Icttre de cachet, a terrible thing in those days, was sent 
 after him, but he eluded it, and by stealth sailed for America, accompanied 
 by the Baron de Kalb and eleven other officers of different ranks, seeking 
 service in America. On the voyage, he employed himself, though sea-sick, 
 with studying English, and also with reading works on military tactics. 
 Lafayette desired the captain to sail directly for the United States, but 
 this the gentleman was by no means disposed to do, urging the probability 
 of their being taken by some British cruiser, and sent to Halifax as prison- 
 ers for nobody knew how long. 
 
 Lafayette stood out for his rights, as owner ; the captain remained un- 
 yielding, until the young hero threatened to supersede him aud put the sec- 
 ond officer in his place. Upon which it came out that the captain had on 
 board eio-ht thousand dollars' worth of goods for sale on his own account, 
 
APl'KNDTX. :)() ~ 
 
 party of marauders from the enemy's vessel, Before gainW a dm luce 
 it was demanded of them who they were and what they wanted ' 
 
 _ Baron de Kalb was their interpreter, he having before been in Amer 
 ica, and acquired some facility in speaking the English langua^ 
 
 At length suspicions were removed, and the strangers were received 
 with a corral welcome and a generous hospitality. Lafayette ret " 
 
 slvTITd A ^r kSt attai - dt1 ^— «* * wishes, and 2 
 safely landed in America, beyond the reach of his pursuer, 
 
 the In' 6 Ttf "T b6aUtiful - The n ° velty of ev< *7 thi "S ™™* bK 
 the 100m the bed with mosquito curtains, the black servants who came to 
 
 ascertain his wants, the beauty and strange appearance of the country H 
 he saw it from his window, clothed in luxuriant verdure, all conspired' to 
 produce a magical effect, and to impress him with indescribable sensations 
 He found himself in the house of Major Huger, a gentleman not more re- 
 markable for his hospitality than for his worth and highly respectable 
 character. Major Huger provided horses to convey him and his compan- 
 ions to Charleston. The vessel likewise went into Charleston harbor." 
 _ In one of Lafayette's letters to his wife,— for tbis boy of nineteen had a 
 
 wife and two children — he writes : 
 
 "As to my own reception, it has been most agreeable in every quarter, 
 and to have come with me secures the most flattering welcome. I have 
 just passed five hours at a grand dinner, given in honor of me by an indi- 
 vidual of this city. Generals Howe and Moultrie, and several officers of 
 my suite, were present. We drank healths and tried to talk English. I 
 begin to speak it a little. To-morrow I shall go with these gentlemen and 
 call on the Governor of the State, and make arrangements for my depart- 
 ure. The next day the commanding officers here will show me tbe city 
 and its environs, and then I shall set out for the army. 
 
 " Considering the pleasant life I lead in this country, my sympathy with 
 the people, which makes me feel as much at ease in their society as if I 
 had known them for twenty years ; the similarity between their mode of 
 thinking and my own, and my love of liberty and of glory, one might sup- 
 pose that I am very happy. But you are not with me ; my friends are not 
 with me ; and there is no happiness for me far from you and them.*' 
 
508 APPENDIX. 
 
 At Philadelphia Lafayette presented himself at the door of Congress, 
 but received a very discouraging answer to his first application. He was 
 told there were so many French gentlemen applying for situations in the 
 army that his chance was very slender. Who can wonder that the strip- 
 ling should not at first sight have inspired any body with much respect for 
 his efficiency as a soldier ? 
 
 But the aspect of things changed materially when he made an applica- 
 tion in writing to be allowed to act as a volunteer, without pay. 
 
 Here he put himself, at once, in one particular, on a level with the 
 commander-in-chief, whose refusal of all pecuniary compensation had 
 given him throughout such an immeasurable advantage. 
 
 The result was that Lafayette received the commission of a major-gen- 
 eral in the army of the United States, when he was not quite twentyyears 
 of age. 
 
 Washington, in the very first instance, invited him to make head-quar- 
 ters his home, adding, in a tone of pleasantry, " that he could not prom- 
 ise him the luxuries of a court, or even the conveniences which his former 
 habits might have rendered essential to his comfort, but, since he had be- 
 come an American soldier, he would doubtless contrive to accommodate 
 himself to the character he had assumed, and submit with a good grace to 
 the customs, manners, and privations of a republican army." If Lafayette 
 was made happy by his success with Congress, his joy was redoubled by 
 this flattering proof of friendship and regard on the part of the commander- 
 in-chief. 
 
 " His horses and equipage were immediately sent to camp, and ever 
 afterwards, even when he had the command of a division, he kept up his 
 intimacy at head-quarters, aud enjoyed all the advantages of a member 
 of the general's family." 
 
 From this time the commander-in-chief felt that he had a friend, and 
 the warmth of his expression towards the marquis is hardly excelled by 
 even the vivacious tenderness of the young enthusiast for himself. Wash- 
 ington's letters to his friends are warm and friendly, as well as candid and 
 confiding, but to Lafayette he always, after they became well acquainted, 
 writes in a tone of affection which bears testimony to the worth of both — 
 the man of forty-six and the yoiith of twenty. 
 
 Washington had a universal interest in rising young men, no matter of 
 what country or party. All his experience of the tmworthiness of men of 
 riper age — and it must have been sadly extensive — never chilled his hope- 
 ful feelings toward the young. This shows itself every where, throughout 
 his life and letters. The importance of those forming influences by which 
 the bent of a whole life is often decided, was habitually dwelt upon by him 
 
APPENDIX. 500 
 
 in his intercourse with the young ; and when he saw a young man entering 
 upon his career with clear, open brow and vigorous step, he loved him, and 
 was always rejoiced to advance and favor him. Lafayette and Hamilton 
 were boys in age when Washington trusted the most important secrets and 
 the weightiest affairs to their ability and zeal if not to their judgment. He 
 had older advisers, but he made chosen friends and daily companions of 
 the gallant young fellows who had thrown themselves into a well-nigh des- 
 perate cause with such generous ardor. 
 
 This is of so frequent occurrence as to be considered a characteristic 
 trait ; and it is enough, even unsupported by a thousand other things, to 
 disprove the opinion only too prevalent, that Washington was cold, unsvm- 
 pathizing, if not morose. His affections were often overruled, or even 
 crushed, by prudence or disappointment, but they were naturally warm and 
 tender, especially toward the young. 
 
 Lafayette was not the only very youthful friend whose aid and support 
 were very precious to Washington during the darkest period of the Revolu- 
 tion. In 1777, the extraordinary ability and merit of Alexander Hamil- 
 ton, then not twenty years old, induced Washington to invite him to be- 
 come a member of his military family, and he was accordingly appointed 
 his aide-de-camp, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. This was the pe- 
 riod of Washington's greatest popularity, as well as one of extreme diffi- 
 culty in affairs, and it brought around him in cordial union a great number 
 of leading spirits. Danger and privation, with only enough of success to 
 prevent absolute despondency, had united, heart and hand, this gallant 
 company. The common cause absorbed all petty interests ; private dis- 
 tresses and losses were not thought of, in comparison with the great boon 
 which then began to seem within their reach. Greene, Sullivan, Knox, 
 Cadwallader, were grouped about the commander-in-chief, so that wc 
 hardly think of them separately at this time. 
 
 Robert H. Harrison, of Maryland, known at the time as the " Old 
 Secretary," had stood first among the aids, a man of talent, discretion, and 
 probity, with that frank and generous temper which Washington Loved. 
 Tilghman and Meade, younger men, shared the wearing duties of the 
 household ; but when young Hamilton, then twenty years of age, accepted 
 a similar post, he soon attained, by simple right of ability and merit, the 
 position of principal and confidential aid. His personal qualities may be 
 guessed by the fact, reported by Mrs. Hamilton, that Washington used to 
 call him " my boy,'' while the public called him " the little lion." 
 
 It speaks well for all these gallant young men that for five years they 
 lived together, intrusted with the most various as well as difficult and ex- 
 hausting duties, yet maintaining perfect harmony and friendship among 
 
510 APPENDIX. 
 
 themselves. The pen of Hamilton was most in demand, and there were 
 times when his acuteness, his fearless spirit, and his graceful as well as 
 forcible style, were of the highest service. In the negotiation rendered ne- 
 cessary by the unlucky capture of General Lee, " the pen for our army," 
 says a contemporary, " was held by Hamilton, and for dignity of manner, 
 pith of matter, and elegance of style, General Washington's letters are un- 
 rivalled in military annals." 
 
 So immense was the press of business at this time, that, with his four 
 able aids hard at work, Washington applied to Congress for more assistance, 
 saying that many valuable documents were in danger of being lost for 
 want of proper copying and registering. 
 
 It was by means of the application of the aids and his own inexhaust- 
 ible care and forethought, that the history of the campaigns of the Revo- 
 lution is so minute and complete. Washington felt that the time would 
 come when the picture of those troublous days, and some particular know- 
 ledge of the men who acted and suffered in them, would be infinitely pre- 
 cious to those who were to profit by them. If he had attempted, like 
 Csesar, to describe his own wars for the benefit of posterity, he would if 
 possible have omitted his own personal share in them ; yet he set a noble 
 value on fame, and, above all, desired that all he had done should be open 
 to examination and scrutiny, so that both friends and enemies might be 
 fully satisfied. His avoidance, whether systematic or instinctive, of all ref- 
 erence to his own merit in success is remarkable. Even in his private let- 
 ters, the general account is almost impersonal, unless some particular offi- 
 cer is mentioned with praise, while his own share is usually unmentioned. 
 
 In a letter from Colonel Hamilton to General Schuyler, dated February 
 18th, 1781, we find the following:— 
 
 " My Dear Sir, — * * * An unexpected change has taken place 
 in my situation. I am no longer a member of the general's family. This 
 information will surprise you, and the manner of it will surprise you more. 
 Two days ago the general and I passed each other upon the stairs ; he told 
 me he wanted to speak to me — I told him I would wait upon him imme- 
 diately. I went below and delivered Mr. Tilghmau a letter to be sent to 
 the commissary, containing an order of a pressing and interesting nature. 
 
 " Returning to the general, I was stopped en the way by the Marquis 
 dc Lafayette, and we conversed together about a minute on a matter of 
 business. He can* testify how impatient I was to get back, and that I left 
 him in a manner which, but for our intimacy, would have been more than 
 abrupt. 
 
APPENDIX. 52] 
 
 "Instead of finding the general, as is usual, in his room, I met him at 
 the head of the stairs, when, accosting me in an angry tone, ' Colonel 
 Hamilton,' said he, ' you have kept me waiting at the head of the stairs 
 these ten minutes ; I must tell you, sir, you treat me with disrespect.' I 
 replied, without petulancy, ' I am not conscious of it, sir, but since you 
 have thought it necessary to tell me so, we part.' ' Very well sir ' said 
 he, ' if it be your choice,' or something to that effect, and we separated 
 I sincerely believe my absence, which gave so much umbrage, did not last 
 two minutes. 
 
 " In less than an hour after, Tilghman came to me, in the general's 
 name, assuring me of his great confidence in my abilities, integrity, useful- 
 ness, etc., and of his desire, in a candid conversation, to heal a difference 
 which could not have happened but in a moment of passion." 
 
 This, however, Colonel Hamilton refused. He had always disliked the 
 office of an aide-de-camp, and had declined serving in that capacity until 
 tempted by the high estimate he had formed of the character of Washing- 
 ton. He proceeds to say, " It has been often with great difficulty I have 
 prevailed on myself not to renounce it ; but while, from motives of public 
 utility, I was doing violence to my feelings, I was always determined, if 
 ever there was a breach between us, never to consent to an accommoda- 
 tion." 
 
 In attempting to give a true idea of Washington's character, so striking 
 an instance as this could not fairly be omitted. Washington, devoted body 
 and soul to the public interest, harassed by a pressure of affairs too great 
 for mortal ability, had a few noble and faithful spirits about him, on whom 
 his soul rested, amid all trials and discouragements, with all that trust and 
 confidence which only noble souls can feel. With one of these dear friends, 
 a highly gifted one, but scarcely even yet more than a boy in years, he is 
 vexed, justly or unjustly, it matters not ; he is vexed, and he speaks to him 
 hastily and unbecomingly. The youthful aid, high-toned, and self-reliant 
 by nature, and conscious of past services beyond his years, replies in a 
 manner far from conciliatory, and withdraws, leaving his general, a man 
 double his age, standing where he had been waiting the return of his aid, 
 whom he needed for urgent business. But very soon, "in less than an 
 hour," we are told, the elder man sends a virtual apology to the young man, 
 desiring a conversation which shall end in a reconciliation. 
 
 Without commenting upon Hamilton's mode of meeting this request, 
 which does notseemto have appeared to Washington unbecoming although 
 it declined his offer of a complete restoration of personal intimacy, wo 
 
512 APPENDIX. 
 
 cannot but think, that Washington, though in fault in the first instance, 
 appears in a peculiarly noble attitude in the last. 
 
 His sense of justice was so ready, and his power over himself so uni- 
 form, that there is no doubt he felt humbled by the recollection of his hasty 
 words and imperious manner towards one who had served him so long and 
 so well. So many men might have felt, but few perhaps would have con- 
 fessed the feeling to one who had responded so haughtily, and continued to 
 decline a restoration to intimacy. 
 
 The impetuous young secretary sincerely believes his absence " did not 
 last two minutes." No doubt he did, yet with our knowledge of Washing- 
 ton's habitual accuracy, we may venture to suppose the latter nearer right 
 than the former, and every one knows how irritating it is to the meekest 
 temper to be kept waiting, apparently, without necessity. Besides wo 
 have reason to suppose the general tone of Hamilton to have been one 
 rather trying to a man so much his senior in years and his superior in 
 military rank. 
 
 A man of different stamp might be suspected of seeking a reconcilia- 
 tion from motives of policy, as the able secretary could so ill be spared ; but 
 Washington's whole life and character would stamp with absurdity such :ui 
 imputation. General Lafayette says he found each disposed to believe the 
 other was not sorry for the separation. It is pleasant to know that these 
 two great men, with all the difference in their age, in their turns of mind 
 and traits of character, continued friends, with undiminished esteem for 
 each other. 
 
 Washington still asked Hamilton's counsel, which was never refused, 
 and in after years they were again associated, with all their original inti- 
 macy, and more than the original respect. 
 
 This incident calls to mind and with more claim to belief than is usu- 
 al]}'' due to flying traditions, the story that a lawyer, named Payne, once 
 knocked young George Washington down, in a public court-room ; and 
 that after retiring with his friends to the tavern for the purpose of arrang- 
 ing a " a hostile meeting " — in common parlance, a duel — Washington, on 
 reflection, went to his assailant, saying — " Mr. Payne, I was wrong yester- 
 day, let me be right to-day," and offered his hand, which was cordially ac- 
 cepted. 
 
 As this affair is said to have taken place after Washington had amply 
 proved his courage, it may not have cost him any great sacrifice of feeling 
 to apologize ; but from what we know of his character in after life, we could 
 imagine him capable of apologizing in any case whatsoever, if he were once 
 convinced he had been in the wrong. 
 
 An eminently just person he certainly was. Even in his dealings with 
 
APPENDIX. 513 
 
 his servants we see a constant reference, not to his power, but to his sense 
 of right. 
 
 He settles all disputed points on general grounds of right, and gives his 
 reasons whenever he is obliged to insist upon any thing with an inferior. 
 Hard to please he may well have been, for the sense of justice and honesty 
 which regulated so scrupulously his own dealings, made him sensitive to 
 the obligations and the carelessness of others ; and the patience with which 
 he persisted in working out the performance of his own obligations, was 
 equally obvious in the pertinacity with which he insisted on his right from 
 other people. Many of bis letters under these circumstances are labored 
 arguments, though written generally in conversational style, and enlivened 
 by touches of caustic humor, though always carefully guarded against 
 an overbearing tone, and frequently avowing a consciousness of fallibility 
 of judgment. 
 
 He says, in regard to some failure in an overseer — " This was my in- 
 tention, but either I did not express myself clearly, or the directions were 
 not attended to. 
 
 " I now hope they will be understood and attended to both." " There 
 is one thing I cannot forbear to add, and in strong terms : it is that when- 
 ever I order a thing to be done, it must be done, or a reason given at the 
 time, or as soon as the impracticability is discovered, why it cannot, which 
 will produce a countermand or change. But it is not for the person re- 
 ceiving the order to suspend or dispense with its execution, and, after it 
 has been supposed to have gone into effect, for me to be told that nothing 
 has been done in it ; that it will be done, or could not be done. Either 
 of these is unpleasant and disagreeable to me, having been accustomed all 
 my life to more regularity and punctuality, and knowing that nothing is 
 required but system and method to accomplish all reasonable requests." 
 
 A man of this stamp may be strict, but he cannot be called severe. It 
 is true, slack and inefficient people are apt to dislike such a master, be- 
 cause exactness is odious to their disposition and habits. But the laws of 
 nature may as well be quarrelled with, because they do not vacillate for 
 the accommodation of the unready. This unchangeable adherence to 
 principle, however distressingly it may operate in particular cases, is most 
 merciful and beneficial on the whole. In the case of Captain Asgill, se- 
 lected to die in retaliation for the murder of Captain Huddy by the Brit- 
 ish, the distress of "Washington is apparent in all he Bays and does, but he 
 never thought of yielding ; because as he writes, " Justice to the army and 
 the public, my own honor, and, I think I may venture to say, universal be- 
 nevolence, require the resolution to be carried into full execution." 
 
 It has been said, and attempted to be proved, that the merit of Wash- 
 
514 APPENDIX. 
 
 ington's letters is largely due to the literary skill of his aids, particularly 
 of Hamilton ; but this is amply disproved by a perusal of the whole cor- 
 respondence, extending over so many years, in which there is a remarkable 
 uniformity not only of thought but of style. Making all deductions for a 
 certain stiffness, and occasional error in construction, Washington's letters 
 are models in their way, and as a whole, among the most remarkable of 
 his performances. 
 
 We must, however, in all candor, tell our young readers that he was all 
 the earlier part of his life a careless speller. We say a careless speller, 
 because he would often spell the same word right and wrong alternately, 
 Even the proper names of his own family and friends are spelled differently 
 at different times. It would seem that he was so intent upon the thing he 
 was writing about, be it what it might, that he thought little or nothing 
 about the spelling. 
 
 Now we cannot praise our hero for this, even allowing that it was oc- 
 casioned by his earnestness about more important matters. Bad spelling 
 is a bad thing, and generally shows want of observation and habits of inac- 
 curacy. But we may point to 'Washington's habitual accuracy in eveiy 
 other particular, as a shining example, and as a reason for tracing these 
 trifling errors in spelling to some other cause. 
 
 In the first place let us observe, that in his time, and in this new and 
 busy country, little attention had yet been paid to literature ; while if the 
 cities even had made some advance in that direction, the country, and par- 
 ticularly that part of it where Washington lived, was too full of Indian 
 wars and other stirring business in which it fell to his lot to take a promi- 
 nent part, to permit him to give his attention to nicety in points unessen- 
 tial. That he was not alone among brother planters in carelessness on this 
 point, may be seen from the following curious specimen of orthography, 
 found among his papers. It is the certificate verbatim of somebody to a 
 departing overseer : — " This is to certifie that Henry McCoy has served me 
 in the Compacity as an Overseer for this last two years which he had the 
 Management of Ten Hand the first year and I think him very Caperbel of 
 he is a very Industrious obligen Man Given under my hand this 27 of No- 
 vember 1792. 
 
 « R_ B. " 
 
 But it must further be observed, that some instances of what seems to 
 us now like bad spelling, are in reality only old-fashioned spelling. Many 
 changes have gradually been adopted, and in Horace Walpole, and many 
 other English writers of Washington's day, we find decided departures from 
 the mode now in vogue. In a book published in Tonson in 1735, which 
 
APPENDIX. 515 
 
 wc happen to see at this moment, we find capitals used ad libitum, as flras : 
 — " I remember a Saying of King Charles II., on Sir Matthew Hales, (who 
 was doubtless an Uncorrupt and Upright Man), that his Servants were 
 sure to be cast in a Tiyal." And in the same book Satire is spelt Satyr, 
 and gewgaw, gugaw— easy, easie ; dye, dy'd, for die and died. Another 
 book published by Miller and Pdvington in 1748, has "All the great gen- 
 ius's for geniuses ; Chanels for channels ; Lye for lie ; falsly for falsely." 
 
 It is only Washington's early and constant painstaking in whatever 
 he pretended to do, that makes it at all worth while to apologize for his 
 spelling. His school exercises were so carefully written, and his letters 
 when a young man bore so many marks of solicitous attention to style, 
 that we are naturally a little surprised to find, further on, some appearance 
 of slight in minute points. 
 
 But there was probably no time during the last century, when it was 
 the fashion among hard-riding Virginia planters to care much about the 
 non-essentials of correspondence. To write truth, good sense and patriot- 
 ism, in fair, business language, was evidently considered of the highest 
 importance. Not words but things occupied the minds of men prominent 
 on the stage. Comparatively few of Washington's contemporaries, on this 
 side of the water, had received a university education ; and the gentlemen 
 planters had, in general, picked up all they knew of letters at country 
 schools of no great pretensions. That this was Washington's own case 
 we have seen; and whatever may have been Mr. Williams's pedagogi- 
 cal reputation at Pope's Creek and thereabouts, it may well be doubted 
 whether he would now take a high rank among his brethren of the ferule. 
 After all, the words which strike our nineteenth century eyes as incor- 
 rectly spelled in the Washington MSS. are but few; and if we should pick 
 out from among them all those the spelling of which has changed since 
 that time, the amount of those which show carelessness or ignorance, is, 
 in reality, very small. 
 
 On the other hand, what unwearied patience, what minuteness, what 
 ease, what natural elegance, do we find in the vast body of letters which 
 his industry has left us. Not alone in the grand, massive public epistles, 
 which are every where marked with the essential elements of his char 
 ter — those high qualities which made him what he was, to us and to the 
 •world — b u t in the most ordinary private note of business, an order for 
 goods, an account of the shipping of tobacco; a word of caution to a care- 
 less manager, or of reproof to a delinquent debtor;— in all and every 
 specimen we see the unconscious superiority of the man, in words which 
 evidently flowed from his pen, as the readiest and simplest expression of his 
 earnest thoughts. 
 
516 APPENDIX. 
 
 It is true no single letter is a wonderful performance ; we would not 
 be understood as claiming that kind of eminence for Washington. Many- 
 men have written superior letters ; but no man, it may safely be said, so 
 many good ones, on such a multiplicity of subjects. 
 
 To know any thing of their power and might we must read the eleven 
 large volumes selected from them by Mr. Sparks. The manuscript letters 
 extend to eighty volumes. 
 
 / 
 
 ' 
 
 THE END