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pearance and address might not convey the idea of superior talents; such at least was the remark of his accomplished countryman, Mr. Gallatin; but no man, whether friend or enemy, ever viewed without respect the noble simplicity of his demeanour, the utter absence in him of every artifice and every affectation.

The correspondence of Washington in 1765 and the succeeding years refers to the Stamp Act and to the other harsh measures from "home" (not much longer to be called so) in terms of temperate condemnation,** and his convictions were ever stedfast and decided on the Colonial side. When, however, these differences darkened, and the grim shadow of Civil War began to loom on the horizon, it has been already shown that Washington was less forward and eager than some others in declaring or declaiming against the mother country. This was afterwards alleged against him in America as a kind of charge, and some extracts from his private letters, said to be intercepted by the English, were published in corroboration of it. Such extracts were declared by himself to be false and spurious, and beyond all question were so, although the last American biographer of Washington allows as probable that parts of letters really written by him were interwoven with the fabrications.*** If, however, the charge itself be examined with candour, even though strictly and solely from the American side, it will be found to contain no matter of condemnation, but rather a topic of praise. Ought not a brave soldier who had known and seen the havoc of war to pause longer than any brawling civilian ere he resolves to inflict that havoc on his country? Ought not his reluctance to be stronger still when the war before him is not between nation and nation, but between the sons of the same race and the subjects of the same King? Was it not this very reluctance which in 1829 impelled the Duke of Wellington to exclaim amidst general applause,

*Sir A. Foster's Notes on the United States (unpublished). Quarterly Review, No. cxxxv. p. 38.

**To F. Dandridge, Sept. 20. 1765, &c.

*** Life by Jared Sparks, p. 266.

Mahon, History. VI.

4

See

that long inured as he had been to scenes of strife, he would make any sacrifice, even of his own life, rather than expose his country to even one month of Civil War?* Mark also how brightly the first forbearance of Washington combines with his subsequent determination, - how he who had been slow to come forward was magnanimous in persevering. When defeat had overtaken the American army, when subjugation by the British rose in view, when not a few of the earliest declaimers against England were, more or less privately, seeking to make terms for themselves, and fitting their own necks to the yoke, the high spirit of Washington never for a moment quailed; he repeatedly declared that if the Colonies were finally overpowered he was resolved to quit them for ever, and, assembling as many people as would follow, go and establish an independent state in the West, on the rivers Mississippi and Missouri.**

There is a lofty saying which the Spaniards of old were wont to engrave on their Toledo blades, and which with truth and aptness might have adorned the sword of Washington: NEVER DRAW ME WITHOUT REASON; NEVER SHEATH ME WITHOUT HONOUR! ***

Nor was Washington in any measure open to the same reproach as the ancient Romans, or some of his own countrymen at present, that while eager for freedom themselves they would rivet the chains of their slave. To him at least could never be applied Dr. Johnson's taunting words: "How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for "liberty among the drivers of negroes?" The views of Washington on this great question are best shown at the close of the Revolutionary War, and at a period of calm deliberation, in one of his letters to La Fayette; - "Your "late purchase of an estate in Cayenne with a view of *Speech in the House of Lords, April 2. 1829.

**Sir A. Foster's Notes ut supra. See also Dr. Ramsay's History vol. i.

p. 310.

***

"No me saques sin razon,

"No me embaines sin honor."

See Captain G. Beauclerk's agreeably - written Journey to Morocco, p. 238. ed. 1828.

"emancipating the slaves on it is a generous and noble "proof of your humanity. Would to God a like spirit might "diffuse itself generally into the minds of the people of this "country! But I despair of seeing it. Some petitions were "presented to the Assembly at its last Session for the aboli"tion of slavery, but they could scarcely obtain a reading. "To set the slaves afloat at once would, I really believe, be "much inconvenience and mischief, but by degrees it cer"tainly might, and assuredly ought to be, effected, and "that too by legislative authority."*

Washington had attended the first Congress at Philadelphia, and on several occasions took part in the debates. Though never aiming at eloquence, nor even approaching a trope or a metaphor, his speeches made a strong impression on his hearers from his practical knowledge, his excellent sense, and his manifest integrity. "I never," says Jefferson, "heard either General Washington or Dr. Frank"lin speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the main "point, knowing that the little ones would follow of them"selves." ** At the second Congress the remembrance of Washington's conduct at the first combined with his military services to point him out as best qualified for the office of Commander-in-Chief. There were other considerations also. The four New England States had been the first to begin the war, and the foremost in their preparations to maintain it; so that it seemed a stroke of policy to draw in some one of the Southern States, as Virginia, more closely with them by selecting the General from that quarter. Thus all the deputies from New England, contrary to expectation, and much to the honour of their public spirit, took the lead in urging the merits of Washington; and his name being formally proposed, and a ballot called for, it appeared that he was unanimously chosen. He was.to hold the rank of General-in-Chief, and receive the pay of five hundred

*To the Marquis de La Fayette, May 10. 1786. Writings, vol. ix. p. 163. ** Memoirs and Correspondence, vol. i. p. 50. ed. 1829.

dollars per month; and under him were named four officers with the rank of Major-General, and eight with the rank of Brigadier.

The inmost thoughts of Washington at this anxious period are shown in his letter to his wife, the only one of his letters to that lady which has been preserved: "You "may believe me, my dear Patsy, when I assure you in the "most solemn manner that so far from seeking this appoint"ment I have used every endeavour in my power to avoid it, "not only from my unwillingness to part with you and the "family, but from a consciousness 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 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,.... and I shall rely therefore confidently on "that Providence which has heretofore preserved and been "bountiful to me."

Next day after his election Washington rising from his place in the Congress expressed his cordial thanks, and undertook the high trust conferred upon him. But at the same time he declared his resolution to decline the salary proposed, and to accept no more than the repayment of his own expenses, of which he promised to keep an exact account. To this determination with respect to pay or profit Washington steadily adhered; and thus after eight arduous years of the chief command he went out no richer than he came in, and no poorer. Mrs. Washington used to join her husband every year in winter-quarters, and return to Mount Vernon whenever the campaign commenced. To his agent at Mount Vernon we find Washington write meanwhile in the most kindly spirit: "Let the hospitality of the "house with respect to the poor be kept up. Let no one go "hungry away..... You are to consider that neither myself * Dated June 18. 1775. Writings, vol. iii. p. 2.

"nor wife is now in the way to do these good offices."* Thus also as to the culture of his lands the General, even amidst the most stirring and eventful scenes of the war, sent most minute instructions, and required in return frequent and full reports. It was to this beloved home of Mount Vernon, and to the hope of again enjoying it, that at any brief interval of leisure the thoughts of Washington ever fondly turned. There was certainly no period in his career when he would not have joyfully exchanged - had his high sense of duty allowed him — the cares of public for the ease of private life. And this wish for retirement, strong and sincere as it was in Washington, seems the more remarkable since it was not with him, as with so many other great men, prompted in any degree by the love of literature. He was not like Cicero, when shrinking in affright from the storms which rent the Commonwealth, and reverting with fond regret to the well-stored library of Atticus, and to his own favourite little seat beneath the bust of Aristotle **; - he was not like Clarendon at Montpellier, when he turned from an ungrateful age, not worthy of his virtue, and indited for all time to come his immortal History. Neither reading nor writing as such had any charms for Washington. But he was zealously devoted to the earliest and most needful of all the toils of man he loved to be a feeder of flocks and a tiller of the ground.

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It has been justly remarked that of General Washington there are fewer anecdotes to tell than perhaps of any other great man on record. So equally, framed were the features of his mind, so harmonious all its proportions, that no one quality rose salient above the rest. There were none of those chequered hues, none of those warring emotions, in which Biography delights. There was no contrast of lights and

*To Lund Washington, November 26. 1775. It is remarkable as a peculiarity of language at that period or in that country that Washington writing to his land-agent and own relative speaks of his intended yearly remuneration not as "salary," but as "wages."

**"Maloque in illâ tuâ sedeculâ, quam habes sub imagine Aristotelis, "sedere, quam in istorum sellâ curuli." (Cic. ad Att. lib. iv. ep. 10.)

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