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with many smooth stories, as they did me; but they were confuted in them all, and, by circumstances too plain to be denied, almost made ashamed of their assertions. I dare say you will treat them with respect, which is due to all unfortunate persons in their condition. But I hope you will give no ear to what they will have an opportunity for displaying to the best advantage, having none present to contradict their reports.

I have heard, since they went away, that they should say they called to us not to fire; but that I know to be false, for I was the first man that approached them, and the first whom they saw, and immediately upon it they ran to their arms, and fired briskly till they were defeated.

We have heard of another being killed by the Indians, that made his escape from us; so that we are certain of thirty-three killed and taken.* I thought it expedient to acquaint your Honor with the above, as I fancy they will have the assurance of asking the privileges due to an embassy, when in strict justice they ought to be hanged as spies of the worst sort, being authorized by their commander, at the expense of a character, which should be sacred to all nations, and never trifled with or

used in an equivocal way. † I am, &c.

* It appears by M. de Contrecœur's orders to M. de Jumonville, (See Mémoire, &c. p. 104) that his party consisted of thirty-five men, that is, himself and another officer, three cadets, a volunteer, an interpreter, and twenty-eight soldiers. Two of the party had returned the day before, whose tracks had been seen by the Half-King, as he reported to Colonel Washington, thus leaving thirty-three, who were engaged in the skirmish. As two cadets only were taken, one of the men, who returned, must have been a cadet.

For other particulars respecting this skirmish, see APPENDIX, No. II. In Horace Walpole's Memoirs of George the Second is the following passage.

"In the express, which Major Washington despatched on his preceding little victory (the skirmish with Jumonville), he concluded with these

SIR,

TO GOVERNOR DINWIDDIE.

Great Meadows, 10 June, 1754.

Yours I received by the post, and return you my hearty thanks for your kind congratulation on our late success, which I hope to improve without risking the imputation of rashness, or hazarding what a prudent conduct would forbid. I rejoice that I am likely to be happy under the command of an experienced officer, and man of sense. It is what I have ardently wished

words, 'I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something charming in the sound. On hearing of this the king said sensibly, —“ He would not say so, if he had been used to hear many.' However, this brave braggart learned to blush for his rhodomontade, and, desiring to serve General Braddock as aid-de-camp, acquitted himself nobly." Vol. I. p. 347.

The above letter is the despatch communicated by Major Washington to Governor Dinwiddie, giving an account of the rencounter with Jumonville's party, a copy of which was probably sent by the Governor to England. It contains nothing about the whistling of bullets, nor is such a sentiment uttered in any of his letters, that have been preserved. As the writer refers to no authority, it may be presumed, that he had none but rumor, either for the saying of Washington, or the more sensible reply of the King. Yet this anecdote is not wholly without foundation, if we may rely on a statement of Gordon, in which he says;—"A gentleman, who had heard the Reverend Mr. Davies relate, that Colonel Washington had mentioned, he knew of no music so pleasing as the whistling of bullets, being alone in conversation with him at Cambridge, asked him whether it was as he had related. The General answered, 'If I said so, it was when I was young."" Gordon's History, Vol. II. p. 203.

The Memoirs of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, quoted above, are understood to have been written near the time of the events, but they were not published till after his death. The Editor remarks, in a note on the word braggart,-"It is wonderful, that Lord Orford should have allowed this expression to remain, after he had lived to witness and admire the subsequent career of that great man General Washington." It may be added, that it was not by his own desire, but at the solicitation of General Braddock, that Washington joined him as aid-de-camp.

There is another passage in these Memoirs, purporting to have been written in 1754, which is remarkable for the declaration with which it concludes. The author is censuring the government for the course pur

for.* I shall here beg leave to return my grateful thanks for your favor in promoting me to the command of the regiment. Believe me, Sir, when I assure you, that my breast is warmed with every generous sentiment, which your goodness can inspire. I want nothing but opportunity to testify my sincere regard for your person, to whom I stand indebted for so many unmerited favors.

Your Honor may depend, I shall myself, and will endeavour to make my officers, show Captain Mackay all the respect due to his rank and merit; but I should have been particularly obliged, if you had declared whether he was under my command, or independent of it. However, I shall be studious to avoid all disputes that may tend to the public prejudice, but, as far as I am able, will inculcate harmony and unanimity. I hope Captain Mackay will have more sense, than to insist upon any unreasonable distinction because he and his officers have commissions from his Majesty. Let him consider, though we are greatly inferior in respect to advantages of profit, yet we have the same spirit to serve our gracious King as they have, and are as ready

sued towards the colonies, and observes;- "The instructions to Sir Danvers Osborn, a new governor of New York, seemed better calculated for the latitude of Mexico, and for a Spanish tribunal, than for a free, rich British settlement, and in such opulence and such haughtiness, that suspicions had long been conceived of their meditating to throw off their dependance on the mother country." Vol. I. p. 343.

* Colonel Innes, from North Carolina, had arrived with about three hundred and fifty troops, raised in that colony. He was now at Winchester. After Colonel Fry's death, he had been appointed, by Governor Dinwiddie, commander-in-chief of all the forces destined for the western expedition. Colonel Washington was promoted to the command of the Virginia regiment. The North Carolina troops never joined him, nor rendered any service. Colonel Innes had been an officer in the former war, and was intimate with Major Lawrence Washington at the siege of Carthagena.

+ Captain Mackay commanded an Independent Company of one hundred men from South Carolina, who were now on their march from Alexandria to join Colonel Washington.

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