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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12300 ***
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The True George Washington
+
+by Paul Leicester Ford
+
+
+Author of “The Honorable Peter Stirling”
+Editor of “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson” and
+“The Sayings of Poor Richard”
+
+
+
+
+“That I have foibles, and perhaps many of them, I shall not deny. I
+should esteem myself, as the world would, vain and empty, were I to arrogate
+perfection.”
+—_Washington_
+
+“Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in
+malice.”
+—_Shakespeare_
+
+
+1896
+
+BY
+J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+_Tenth Edition_
+
+Electrotyped and Printed by J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
+
+
+THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
+TO
+WILLIAM F. HAVEMEYER,
+
+
+
+
+IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE INDEBTEDNESS OF THE AUTHOR TO HIS COLLECTION
+OF
+WASHINGTONIANA.
+
+
+Contents
+
+ Note
+ CHAPTER I.—FAMILY RELATIONS
+ CHAPTER II.—PHYSIQUE
+ CHAPTER III.—EDUCATION
+ CHAPTER IV.—RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX
+ CHAPTER V.—FARMER AND PROPRIETOR
+ CHAPTER VI.—MASTER AND EMPLOYER
+ CHAPTER VII.—SOCIAL LIFE
+ CHAPTER VIII.—TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS
+ CHAPTER IX.—FRIENDS
+ CHAPTER X.—ENEMIES
+ CHAPTER XI.—SOLDIER
+ CHAPTER XII.—CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER
+ INDEX
+
+
+
+
+List of Illustrations with Notes
+
+
+MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON. By JAMES SHARPLESS
+Painted for Washington in 1795, and presented by him to Nelly (Calvert)
+Stuart, widow of John Parke Custis, Washington’s adopted son. Her son
+George Washington Parke Custis, in whose presence the sittings were
+made, often spoke of the likeness as “almost perfect.”
+
+
+MEMORIAL TABLET OF LAURENCE AND AMEE WASHINGTON, IN SULGRAVE CHURCH,
+NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
+The injury of the effigy of Laurence Washington and the entire
+disappearance of the effigy of Amee antedate the early part of the
+present century, and probably were done in the Puritan period. Since
+the above tracing was made the brasses of the eleven children have been
+stolen, leaving nothing but the lettering and the shield of the
+Washington arms.
+
+
+BETTY WASHINGTON, WIFE OF FIELDING LEWIS
+Painted about 1750, and erroneously alleged to be by Copley. Original
+in the possession of Mr. R. Byrd Lewis, of Marmion, Virginia.
+
+
+JOHN AND MARTHA CUSTIS
+Original in the possession of General G.W. Custis Lee, of Lexington,
+Virginia.
+
+
+MINIATURE OF ELEANOR PARKE CUSTIS
+From the miniature by Gilbert Stuart, in the possession of her
+grandson, Edward Parke Lewis Custis, of Hoboken, New Jersey.
+
+
+FICTITIOUS PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON
+The lettering reads, “Done from an original Drawn from the Life, by
+Alex’r Campbell of Williamsburg in Virginia. Published as the act
+directs 9 Sept’r 1775 by C. Shepherd.” It is the first engraved
+portrait of Washington, and was issued to satisfy the English curiosity
+concerning the new commander-in-chief of the rebels. From the original
+print in the possession of Mr. W.F. Havemeyer, of New York.
+
+
+COPY SHEET FROM YOUNG MAN’S COMPANION
+The sheet from which Washington modelled his handwriting, and to which
+his earliest script shows a marked resemblance. From the original in
+the possession of the author.
+
+
+LETTER TO MRS. FAIRFAX
+Showing changes and corrections made by Washington at a later date.
+From original copy-book in the Washington MSS. in the Department of
+State.
+
+
+PORTRAIT OF MARY PHILIPSE
+From the original formerly in the possession of Mr. Frederick Philipse.
+
+
+PORTRAIT OF MARTHA CUSTIS
+Alleged to have been painted by Woolaston about 1757. It has been
+asserted by Mr. L.W. Washington and Mr. Moncure D. Conway that this is
+a portrait of Betty Washington Lewis, but in this they are wholly in
+error, as proof exists that it is a portrait of Mrs. Washington before
+her second marriage.
+
+
+SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON HILLS
+Made by Washington as a boy, and one of the earliest specimens of his
+work. The small drawing of the house represents it as it was before
+Washington enlarged it, and is the only picture of it known. Original
+in the Department of State.
+
+
+MOUNTAIN ROAD LOTTERY TICKET
+From the original in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
+
+
+FAMILY GROUP
+Painted by Edward Savage about 1795, and issued as a large engraving in
+1798. The original picture is now in the possession of Mr. William F.
+Havemeyer, of New York.
+
+
+DINNER INVITATION
+The official invitation while President, from the original in the
+possession of the author.
+
+
+DANCING AGREEMENT
+This gives only the first few names, many more following. The original
+was formerly in the possession of Mr. Thomas Biddle, of Philadelphia.
+
+
+BOOK-PLATE OF WASHINGTON
+This is a slight variation from the true Washington coat of arms, the
+changes being introduced by Washington. From the original in the
+possession of the author.
+
+
+SURVEY OF WAKEFIELD
+Washington’s birthplace. The survey was made in 1743, on the property
+coming into the possession of Augustine Washington (second) from his
+father, with the object of readjusting the boundary-lines. Original in
+the possession of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New York.
+
+
+WASHINGTON FAMILY BIBLE
+This record, with the exception of the interlined note concerning Betty
+Washington Lewis, is in the handwriting of George Washington, and was
+written when he was about sixteen years old. Original in the possession
+of Mrs. Lewis Washington, of Charlestown, West Virginia.
+
+
+MINIATURE OF MRS. WASHINGTON
+By an unknown artist. From the original in the possession of General
+G.W. Custis Lee, of Lexington, Virginia.
+
+
+EARLIEST AUTOGRAPH OF WASHINGTON
+On a fly-leaf of the volume to which this title belongs is written,
+“This autograph of Genl. Washington’s name is believed to be the
+earliest specimen of his writing, when he was probably not more than 8
+or 9 years of age.” This is a note by G.C. Washington, to whom
+Washington’s library descended. Original in the possession of the
+Boston Athenaeum.
+
+
+RULES OF CIVILITY
+First page of Washington’s boyish transcript, written when he was about
+thirteen years of age. Used here by courtesy of Mr. S.M. Hamilton and
+“Public Opinion,” who are preparing a fac-simile edition of the entire
+rules.
+
+
+LIFE MASK BY HOUDON
+Taken by Houdon in October, 1785. From the replica in the Historical
+Society of Pennsylvania.
+
+
+TITLE-PAGE OF JOURNAL OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1754
+Of this first edition but two copies are known. From the original in
+the Lenox Library.
+
+
+PRESIDENTIAL HOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA
+Philadelphia offered to furnish the house for the President during the
+time Congress sat in that city, but Washington “wholly declined living
+in any public building,” and rented this house from Robert Morris.
+Though it was considered one of the finest in the city, Washington
+several times complained of being cramped.
+
+[Illustration: SHARPLESS MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON, 1795]
+
+
+
+
+Note
+
+
+In every country boasting a history there may be observed a tendency to
+make its leaders or great men superhuman. Whether we turn to the
+legends of the East, the folk-lore of Europe, or the traditions of the
+native races of America, we find a mythology based upon the acts of man
+gifted with superhuman powers. In the unscientific, primeval periods in
+which these beliefs were born and elaborated into oral and written
+form, their origin is not surprising. But to all who have studied the
+creation of a mythology, no phase is a more curious one than that the
+keen, practical American of to-day should engage in the same process of
+hero-building which has given us Jupiter, Wotan, King Arthur, and
+others. By a slow evolution we have well-nigh discarded from the lives
+of our greatest men of the past all human faults and feelings; have
+enclosed their greatness in glass of the clearest crystal, and hung up
+a sign, “Do not touch.” Indeed, with such characters as Washington,
+Franklin, and Lincoln we have practically adopted the English maxim
+that “the king can do no wrong.” In place of men, limited by human
+limits, and influenced by human passions, we have demi-gods, so
+stripped of human characteristics as to make us question even whether
+they deserve much credit for their sacrifices and deeds.
+
+But with this process of canonization have we not lost more than we
+have gained, both in example and in interest? Many, no doubt, with the
+greatest veneration for our first citizen, have sympathized with the
+view expressed by Mark Twain, when he said that he was a greater man
+than Washington, for the latter “couldn’t tell a lie, while he could,
+but wouldn’t” We have endless biographies of Franklin, picturing him in
+all the public stations of life, but all together they do not equal in
+popularity his own human autobiography, in which we see him walking
+down Market Street with a roll under each arm, and devouring a third.
+And so it seems as if the time had come to put the shadow-boxes of
+humanity round our historic portraits, not because they are ornamental
+in themselves, but because they will make them examples, not mere
+idols.
+
+If the present work succeeds in humanizing Washington, and making him a
+man rather than a historical figure, its purpose will have been
+fulfilled. In the attempt to accomplish this, Washington has, so far as
+is possible, been made to speak for himself, even though at times it
+has compelled the sacrifice of literary form, in the hope that his own
+words would convey a greater sense of the personality of the man. So,
+too, liberal drafts have been made on the opinions and statements of
+his contemporaries; but, unless the contrary is stated or is obvious,
+all quoted matter is from Washington’s own pen. It is with pleasure
+that the author adds that the result of his study has only served to
+make Washington the greater to him.
+
+The writer is under the greatest obligation to his brother, Worthington
+Chauncey Ford, not merely for his numerous books on Washington, of
+which his “Writings of George Washington” is easily first in importance
+of all works relating to the great American, but also for much
+manuscript material which he has placed at the author’s service.
+Hitherto unpublished facts have been drawn from many other sources, but
+notably from the rich collection of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New
+York, from the Department of State in Washington, and from the
+Historical Society of Pennsylvania. To Mr. S.M. Hamilton, of the former
+institution, and to Mr. Frederick D. Stone, of the latter, the writer
+is particularly indebted for assistance.
+
+
+
+
+THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON
+
+
+
+
+I
+FAMILY RELATIONS
+
+
+Although Washington wrote that the history of his ancestors was, in his
+opinion, “of very little moment,” and “a subject to which I confess I
+have paid very little attention,” few Americans can prove a better
+pedigree. The earliest of his forebears yet discovered was described as
+“gentleman,” the family were granted lands by Henry the Eighth, held
+various offices of honor, married into good families, and under the
+Stuarts two were knighted and a third served as page to Prince Charles.
+Lawrence, a brother of the three thus distinguished, matriculated at
+Oxford as a “generosi filius” (the intermediate class between sons of
+the nobility, “armigeri filius,” and of the people, “plebeii filius”),
+or as of the minor gentry. In time he became a fellow and lector of
+Brasenose College, and presently obtained the good living of Purleigh.
+Strong royalists, the fortunes of the family waned along with King
+Charles, and sank into insignificance with the passing of the Stuart
+dynasty. Not the least sufferer was the rector of Purleigh, for the
+Puritan Parliament ejected him from his living, on the charge “that he
+was a common frequenter of ale-houses, not only himself sitting dayly
+tippling there … but hath oft been drunk,”—a charge indignantly denied
+by the royalists, who asserted that he was a “worthy Pious man, …
+always … a very Modest, Sober Person;” and this latter claim is
+supported by the fact that though the Puritans sequestered the rich
+living, they made no objection to his serving as rector at Brixted
+Parva, where the living was “such a Poor and Miserable one that it was
+always with difficulty that any one was persuaded to accept of it.”
+
+Poverty resulting, John, the eldest son of this rector, early took to
+the sea, and in 1656 assisted “as second man in Sayleing ye Vessel to
+Virginia.” Here he settled, took up land, presently became a county
+officer, a burgess, and a colonel of militia. In this latter function
+he commanded the Virginia troops during the Indian war of 1675, and
+when his great-grandson, George, on his first arrival on the frontier,
+was called by the Indians “Conotocarius,” or “devourer of villages,”
+the formidable but inappropriate title for the newly-fledged officer is
+supposed to have been due to the reputation that John Washington had
+won for his name among the Indians eighty years before.
+
+
+[Illustration: TABLET TO LAURENCE WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY IN
+SULGRAVE CHURCH]
+
+
+Both John’s son, Lawrence, and Lawrence’s son, Augustine, describe
+themselves in their wills as “gentlemen,” and both intermarried with
+the “gentry families” of Virginia. Augustine was educated at Appleby
+School, in England, like his grandfather followed the sea for a time,
+was interested in iron mines, and in other ways proved himself far more
+than the average Virginia planter of his day. He was twice
+married,—which marriages, with unconscious humor, he describes in his
+will as “several Ventures,”—had ten children, and died in 1743, when
+George, his fifth child and the first by his second “Venture,” was a
+boy of eleven. The father thus took little part in the life of the lad,
+and almost the only mention of him by his son still extant is the one
+recorded in Washington’s round school-boy hand in the family Bible, to
+the effect that “Augustine Washington and Mary Ball was Married the
+Sixth of March 17-30/31. Augustine Washington Departed this Life ye
+12th Day of April 1743, Aged 49 Years.”
+
+The mother, Mary Washington, was more of a factor, though chiefly by
+mere length of life, for she lived to be eighty-three, and died but ten
+years before her son. That Washington owed his personal appearance to
+the Balls is true, but otherwise the sentimentality that has been
+lavished about the relations between the two and her influence upon
+him, partakes of fiction rather than of truth. After his father’s death
+the boy passed most of his time at the homes of his two elder brothers,
+and this was fortunate, for they were educated men, of some colonial
+consequence, while his mother lived in comparatively straitened
+circumstances, was illiterate and untidy, and, moreover, if tradition
+is to be believed, smoked a pipe. Her course with the lad was blamed by
+a contemporary as “fond and unthinking,” and this is borne out by such
+facts as can be gleaned, for when his brothers wished to send him to
+sea she made “trifling objections,” and prevented his taking what they
+thought an advantageous opening; when the brilliant offer of a position
+on Braddock’s staff was tendered to Washington, his mother, “alarmed at
+the report,” hurried to Mount Vernon and endeavored to prevent him from
+accepting it; still again, after Braddock’s defeat, she so wearied her
+son with pleas not to risk the dangers of another campaign that
+Washington finally wrote her, “It would reflect dishonor upon me to
+refuse; and _that_, I am sure, must or _ought_ to give you greater
+uneasiness, than my going in an honorable command.” After he inherited
+Mount Vernon the two seem to have seen little of each other, though,
+when occasion took him near Fredericksburg, he usually stopped to see
+her for a few hours, or even for a night.
+
+Though Washington always wrote to his mother as “Honored Madam,” and
+signed himself “your dutiful and aff. son,” she none the less tried him
+not a little. He never claimed from her a part of the share of his
+father’s estate which was his due on becoming of age, and, in addition,
+“a year or two before I left Virginia (to make her latter days
+comfortable and free from care) I did, at her request, but at my own
+expence, purchase a commodious house, garden and Lotts (of her own
+choosing) in Fredericksburg, that she might be near my sister Lewis,
+her only daughter,—and did moreover agree to take her land and negroes
+at a certain yearly rent, to be fixed by Colo Lewis and others (of her
+own nomination) which has been an annual expence to me ever since, as
+the estate never raised one half the rent I was to pay. Before I left
+Virginia I answered all her calls for money; and since that period have
+directed my steward to do the same.” Furthermore, he gave her a
+phaeton, and when she complained of her want of comfort he wrote her,
+“My house is at your service, and [I] would press you most sincerely
+and most devoutly to accept it, but I am sure, and candor requires me
+to say, it will never answer your purposes in any shape whatsoever. For
+in truth it may be compared to a well resorted tavern, as scarcely any
+strangers who are going from north to south, or from south to north, do
+not spend a day or two at it. This would, were you to be an inhabitant
+of it, oblige you to do one of 3 things: 1st, to be always dressing to
+appear in company; 2d, to come into [the room] in a dishabille, or 3d
+to be as it were a prisoner in your own chamber. The first you’ld not
+like; indeed, for a person at your time of life it would be too
+fatiguing. The 2d, I should not like, because those who resort here
+are, as I observed before, strangers and people of the first
+distinction. And the 3d, more than probably, would not be pleasing to
+either of us.”
+
+Under these circumstances it was with real indignation that Washington
+learned that complaints of hers that she “never lived soe poore in all
+my life” were so well known that there was a project to grant her a
+pension. The pain this caused a man who always showed such intense
+dislike to taking even money earned from public coffers, and who
+refused everything in the nature of a gift, can easily be understood.
+He at once wrote a letter to a friend in the Virginia Assembly, in
+which, after reciting enough of what he had done for her to prove that
+she was under no necessity of a pension,—“or, in other words, receiving
+charity from the public,”—he continued, “But putting these things
+aside, which I could not avoid mentioning in exculpation of a
+presumptive want of duty on my part; confident I am that she has not a
+child that would not divide the last sixpence to relieve her from real
+distress. This she has been repeatedly assured of by me; and all of us,
+I am certain, would feel much hurt, at having our mother a pensioner,
+while we had the means of supporting her; but in fact she has an ample
+income of her own. I lament accordingly that your letter, which
+conveyed the first hint of this matter, did not come to my hands
+sooner; but I request, in pointed terms, if the matter is now in
+agitation in your Assembly, that all proceedings on it may be stopped,
+or in case of a decision in her favor, that it may be done away and
+repealed at my request.”
+
+Still greater mortification was in store for him, when he was told that
+she was borrowing and accepting gifts from her neighbors, and learned
+“on good authority that she is, upon all occasions and in all
+companies, complaining … of her wants and difficulties; and if not in
+direct terms, at least by strong innuendoes, endeavors to excite a
+belief that times are much altered, &c., &c., which not only makes
+_her_ appear in an unfavorable point of view, but _those also_ who are
+connected with her.” To save her feelings he did not express the “pain”
+he felt to her, but he wrote a brother asking him to ascertain if there
+was the slightest basis in her complaints, and “see what is necessary
+to make her comfortable,” for “while I have anything I will part with
+it to make her so;” but begging him “at the same time … to represent to
+her in delicate terms, the impropriety of her complaints, and
+_acceptance_ of favors, even when they are voluntarily offered, from
+any but relations.” Though he did not “touch upon this subject in a
+letter to her,” he was enough fretted to end the renting of her
+plantation, not because “I mean … to withhold any aid or support I can
+give from you; for whilst I have a shilling left, you shall have part,”
+but because “what I shall then give, I shall have credit for,” and not
+be “viewed as a delinquent, and considered perhaps by the world as [an]
+unjust and undutiful son.”
+
+In the last years of her life a cancer developed, which she refused to
+have “dressed,” and over which, as her doctor wrote Washington, the
+“Old Lady” and he had “a small battle every day.” Once Washington was
+summoned by an express to her bedside “to bid, as I was prepared to
+expect, the last adieu to an honored parent,” but it was a false alarm.
+Her health was so bad, however, that just before he started to New York
+to be inaugurated he rode to Fredericksburg, “and took a final leave of
+my mother, never expecting to see her more,” a surmise that proved
+correct.
+
+Only Elizabeth—or “Betty”—of Washington’s sisters grew to womanhood,
+and it is said that she was so strikingly like her brother that,
+disguised with a long cloak and a military hat, the difference between
+them was scarcely detectable. She married Fielding Lewis, and lived at
+“Kenmore House” on the Rappahannock, where Washington spent many a
+night, as did the Lewises at Mount Vernon. During the Revolution, while
+visiting there, she wrote her brother, “Oh, when will that day arrive
+when we shall meet again. Trust in the lord it will be soon,—till when,
+you have the prayers and kind wishes for your health and happiness of
+your loving and sincerely affectionate sister.” Her husband died “much
+indebted,” and from that time her brother gave her occasional sums of
+money, and helped her in other ways.
+
+Her eldest son followed in his father’s footsteps, and displeased
+Washington with requests for loans. He angered him still more by
+conduct concerning which Washington wrote to him as follows:
+
+“Sir, Your letter of the 11th of Octor. never came to my hands ’till
+yesterday. Altho’ your disrespectful conduct towards me, in coming into
+this country and spending weeks therein without ever coming near me,
+entitled you to very little notice or favor from me; yet I consent that
+you may get timber from off my Land in Fauquier County to build a house
+on your Lott in Rectertown. Having granted this, now let me ask you
+what your views were in purchasing a Lott in a place which, I presume,
+originated with and will end in two or three Gin shops, which probably
+will exist no longer than they serve to ruin the proprietors, and those
+who make the most frequent applications to them. I am, &c.”
+
+
+[Illustration: MRS FIELDING LEWIS (BETTY WASHINGTON)]
+
+
+Other of the Lewis boys pleased him better, and he appointed one an
+officer in his own “Life Guard.” Of another he wrote, when President,
+to his sister, “If your son Howell is living with you, and not usefully
+employed in your own affairs, and should incline to spend a few months
+with me, as a writer in my office (if he is fit for it) I will allow
+him at the rate of three hundred dollars a year, provided he is
+diligent in discharging the duties of it from breakfast until
+dinner—Sundays excepted. This sum will be punctually paid him, and I am
+particular in declaring beforehand what I require, and what he may
+expect, that there may be no disappointment, or false expectations on
+either side. He will live in the family in the same manner his brother
+Robert did.” This Robert had been for some time one of his secretaries,
+and at another time was employed as a rent-collector.
+
+Still another son, Lawrence, also served him in these dual capacities,
+and Washington, on his retirement from the Presidency, offered him a
+home at Mount Vernon. This led to a marriage with Mrs. Washington’s
+grandchild, Eleanor Custis, a match which so pleased Washington that he
+made arrangements for Lawrence to build on the Mount Vernon estate, in
+his will named him an executor, and left the couple a part of this
+property, as well as a portion of the residuary estate.
+
+As already noted, much of Washington’s early life was passed at the
+homes of his elder (half-) brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, who lived
+respectively at Mount Vernon and Wakefield. When Lawrence developed
+consumption, George was his travelling companion in a trip to
+Barbadoes, and from him, when he died of that disease, in 1752, came
+the bequest of Mount Vernon to “my loveing brother George.” To
+Augustine, in the only letter now extant, Washington wrote, “The
+pleasure of your company at Mount Vernon always did, and always will
+afford me infinite satisfaction,” and signed himself “your most
+affectionate brother.” Surviving this brother, he left handsome
+bequests to all his children.
+
+Samuel, the eldest of his own brothers, and his junior by but two
+years, though constantly corresponded with, was not a favorite. He
+seems to have had extravagant tendencies, variously indicated by five
+marriages, and by (perhaps as a consequence) pecuniary difficulties. In
+1781, Washington wrote to another brother, “In God’s name how did my
+brother Samuel get himself so enormously in debt?” Very quickly
+requests for loans followed, than which nothing was more irritating to
+Washington. Yet, though he replied that it would be “very inconvenient”
+to him, his ledger shows that at least two thousand dollars were
+advanced, and in a letter to this brother, on the danger of borrowing
+at interest, Washington wrote, “I do not make these observations on
+account of the money I purpose to lend you, because all I shall require
+is that you return the net sum when in your power, without interest.”
+Better even than this, in his will Washington discharged the debt.
+
+To the family of Samuel, Washington was equally helpful. For the eldest
+son he obtained an ensigncy, and “to save Thornton and you [Samuel] the
+expence of buying a horse to ride home on, I have lent him a mare.” Two
+other sons he assumed all the expenses of, and showed an almost
+fatherly interest in them. He placed them at school, and when the lads
+proved somewhat unruly he wrote them long admonitory letters, which
+became stern when actual misconduct ensued, and when one of them ran
+away to Mount Vernon to escape a whipping, Washington himself prepared
+“to correct him, but he begged so earnestly and promised so faithfully
+that there should be no cause for complaint in the future, that I have
+suspended punishment.” Later the two were sent to college, and in all
+cost Washington “near five thousand dollars.”
+
+An even greater trouble was their sister Harriot, whose care was
+assumed in 1785, and who was a member of Washington’s household, with
+only a slight interruption, till her marriage in 1796. Her chief
+failing was “no disposition … to be careful of her cloathes,” which
+were “dabbed about in every hole and corner and her best things always
+in use,” so that Washington said “she costs me enough!” To her uncle
+she wrote on one occasion, “How shall I apologise to my dear and
+Honor’d for intruding on his goodness so soon again, but being sensible
+for your kindness to me which I shall ever remember with the most
+heartfelt gratitude induces me to make known my wants. I have not had a
+pair of stays since I first came here: if you could let me have a pair
+I should be very much obleiged to you, and also a hat and a few other
+articles. I hope my dear Uncle will not think me extravagant for really
+I take as much care of my cloaths as I possibly can.” Probably the
+expense that pleased him best in her case was that which he recorded in
+his ledger “By Miss Harriot Washington gave her to buy wedding clothes
+$100.”
+
+His second and favorite brother, John Augustine, who was four years his
+junior, Washington described as “the intimate companion of my youth and
+the friend of my ripened age.” While the Virginia colonel was on the
+frontier, from 1754 to 1759, he left John in charge of all his business
+affairs, giving him a residence at and management of Mount Vernon. With
+this brother he constantly corresponded, addressing him as “Dear Jack,”
+and writing in the most intimate and affectionate terms, not merely to
+him, but when John had taken unto himself a wife, to her, and to “the
+little ones,” and signing himself “your loving brother.” Visits between
+the two were frequent, and invitations for the same still more so, and
+in one letter, written during the most trying moment of the Revolution,
+Washington said, “God grant you all health and happiness. Nothing in
+this world could contribute so to mine as to be fixed among you.” John
+died in 1787, and Washington wrote with simple but undisguised grief of
+the death of “my beloved brother.”
+
+The eldest son of this brother, Bushrod, was his favorite nephew, and
+Washington took much interest in his career, getting the lad admitted
+to study law with Judge James Wilson, in Philadelphia, and taking
+genuine pride in him when he became a lawyer and judge of repute. He
+made this nephew his travelling companion in the Western journey of
+1784, and at other times not merely sent him money, but wrote him
+letters of advice, dwelling on the dangers that beset young men, though
+confessing that he was himself “not such a Stoic” as to expect too much
+of youthful blood. To Bushrod, also, he appealed on legal matters,
+adding, “You may think me an unprofitable applicant in asking opinions
+and requiring services of you without dousing my money, but pay day may
+come,” and in this he was as good as his word, for in his will
+Washington left Bushrod, “partly in consideration of an intimation to
+his deceased father, while we were bachelors and he had kindly
+undertaken to superintend my Estates, during my military services in
+the former war between Great Britain and France, that if I should fall
+therein, Mt. Vernon … should become his property,” the home and
+“mansion-house farm,” one share of the residuary estate, his private
+papers, and his library, and named him an executor of the instrument.
+
+Of Washington’s relations with his youngest brother, Charles, little
+can be learned. He was the last of his brothers to die, and Washington
+outlived him so short a time that he was named in his will, though only
+for a mere token of remembrance. “I add nothing to it because of the
+ample provision I have made for his issue.” Of the children so
+mentioned, Washington was particularly fond of George Augustine
+Washington. As a mere lad he used his influence to procure for him an
+ensigncy in a Virginia regiment, and an appointment on Lafayette’s
+staff. When in 1784 the young fellow was threatened with consumption,
+his uncle’s purse supplied him with the funds by which he was enabled
+to travel, even while Washington wrote, “Poor fellow! his pursuit after
+health is, I fear, altogether fruitless.” When better health came, and
+with it a renewal of a troth with a niece of Mrs. Washington’s, the
+marriage was made possible by Washington appointing the young fellow
+his manager, and not merely did it take place at Mount Vernon, but the
+young couple took up their home there. More than this, that their
+outlook might be “more stable and pleasing,” Washington promised them
+that on his death they should not be forgotten. When the disease again
+developed, Washington wrote his nephew in genuine anxiety, and ended
+his letter, “At all times and under all circumstances you and yours
+will possess my affectionate regards.” Only a few days later the news
+of his nephew’s death reached him, and he wrote his widow, “To you who
+so well know the affectionate regard I had for our departed friend, it
+is unnecessary to describe the sorrow with which I was afflicted at the
+news of his death.” He asked her and her children “to return to your
+old habitation at Mount Vernon. You can go to no place where you can be
+more welcome, nor to any where you can live at less expence and
+trouble,” an offer, he adds, “made to you with my whole heart.”
+Furthermore, Washington served as executor, assumed the expense of
+educating one of the sons, and in his will left the two children part
+of the Mount Vernon estate, as well as other bequests, “on account of
+the affection I had for, and the obligation I was under to their father
+when living, who from his youth attached himself to my person, and
+followed my fortunes through the vicissitudes of the late Revolution,
+afterwards devoting his time for many years whilst my public
+employments rendered it impracticable for me to do it myself, thereby
+affording me essential services and always performing them in a manner
+the most filial and respectful.”
+
+Of his wife’s kith and kin Washington was equally fond. Both alone and
+with Mrs. Washington he often visited her mother, Mrs. Dandridge, and
+in 1773 he wrote to a brother-in-law that he wished “I was master of
+Arguments powerful enough to prevail upon Mrs. Dandridge to make this
+place her entire and absolute home. I should think as she lives a
+lonesome life (Betsey being married) it might suit her well, & be
+agreeable, both to herself & my Wife, to me most assuredly it would.”
+Washington was also a frequent visitor at “Eltham,” the home of Colonel
+Bassett, who had married his wife’s sister, and constantly corresponded
+with these relatives. He asked this whole family to be his guests at
+the Warm Springs, and, as this meant camping out in tents, he wrote,
+“You will have occasion to provide nothing, if I can be advised of your
+intentions, so that I may provide accordingly.” To another
+brother-in-law, Bartholomew Dandridge, he lent money, and forgave the
+debt to the widow in his will, also giving her the use during her life
+of the thirty-three negroes he had bid in at the bankruptcy sale of her
+husband’s property.
+
+The pleasantest glimpses of family feeling are gained, however, in his
+relations with his wife’s children and grandchildren. John Parke and
+Martha Parke Custis—or “Jack” and “Patsey,” as he called them—were at
+the date of his marriage respectively six and four years of age, and in
+the first invoice of goods to be shipped to him from London after he
+had become their step-father, Washington ordered “10 shillings worth of
+Toys,” “6 little books for children beginning to read,” and “1
+fashionable-dressed baby to cost 10 shillings.” When this latter shared
+the usual fate, he further wrote for “1 fashionable dress Doll to cost
+a guinea,” and for “A box of Gingerbread Toys & Sugar Images or
+Comfits.” A little later he ordered a Bible and Prayer-Book for each,
+“neatly bound in Turkey,” with names “in gilt letters on the inside of
+the cover,” followed ere long by an order for “1 very good Spinet” As
+Patsy grew to girlhood she developed fits, and “solely on her account
+to try (by the advice of her Physician) the effect of the waters on her
+Complaint,” Washington took the family over the mountains and camped at
+the “Warm Springs” in 1769, with “little benefit,” for, after ailing
+four years longer, “she was seized with one of her usual Fits & expired
+in it, in less than two minutes, without uttering a word, or groan, or
+scarce a sigh.” “The Sweet Innocent Girl,” Washington wrote, “entered
+into a more happy & peaceful abode than she has met with in the
+afflicted Path she has hitherto trod,” but none the less “it is an
+easier matter to conceive than to describe the distress of this family”
+at the loss of “dear Patsy Custis.”
+
+
+[Illustration: JOHN AND MARTHA PARKE CUSTIS]
+
+
+The care of Jack Custis was a worry to Washington in quite another way.
+As a lad, Custis signed his letters to him as “your most affectionate
+and dutiful son,” “yet I conceive,” Washington wrote, “there is much
+greater circumspection to be observed by a guardian than a natural
+parent.” Soon after assuming charge of the boy, a tutor was secured,
+who lived at Mount Vernon, but the boy showed little inclination to
+study, and when fourteen, Washington wrote that “his mind [is] … more
+turned … to Dogs, Horses and Guns, indeed upon Dress and equipage.”
+“Having his well being much at heart,” Washington wished to make him
+“fit for more useful purposes than [a] horse racer,” and so Jack was
+placed with a clergyman, who agreed to instruct him, and with him he
+lived, except for some home visits, for three years. Unfortunately, the
+lad, like the true Virginian planter of his day, had no taste for
+study, and had “a propensity for the [fair] sex.” After two or three
+flirtations, he engaged himself, without the knowledge of his mother or
+guardian, to Nellie Calvert, a match to which no objection could be
+made, except that, owing to his “youth and fickleness,” “he may either
+change and therefore injure the young lady; or that it may precipitate
+him into a marriage before, I am certain, he has ever bestowed a
+serious thought of the consequences; by which means his education is
+interrupted.” To avoid this danger, Washington took his ward to New
+York and entered him in King’s College, but the death of Patsy Custis
+put a termination to study, for Mrs. Washington could not bear to have
+the lad at such a distance, and Washington “did not care, as he is the
+last of the family, to push my opposition too far.” Accordingly, Jack
+returned to Virginia and promptly married.
+
+The young couple were much at Mount Vernon from this time on, and
+Washington wrote to “Dear Jack,” “I am always pleased with yours and
+Nelly’s abidance at Mount Vernon.” When the winter snows made the siege
+of Boston purely passive, the couple journeyed with Mrs. Washington to
+Cambridge, and visited at head-quarters for some months. The arrival of
+children prevented the repetition of such visits, but frequent letters,
+which rarely failed to send love to “Nelly and the little girls,” were
+exchanged. The acceptance of command compelled Washington to resign the
+care of Custis’s estate, for which service “I have never charged him or
+his sister, from the day of my connexion with them to this hour, one
+farthing for all the trouble I have had in managing their estates, nor
+for any expense they have been to me, notwithstanding some hundreds of
+pounds would not reimburse the moneys I have actually paid in attending
+the public meetings in Williamsburg to collect their debts, and
+transact these several matters appertaining to the respective estates.”
+Washington, however, continued his advice as to its management, and in
+other letters advised him concerning his conduct when Custis was
+elected a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. In the siege of
+Yorktown Jack served as an officer of militia, and the exposure proved
+too much for him. Immediately after the surrender, news reached
+Washington of his serious illness, and by riding thirty miles in one
+day he succeeded in reaching Eltham in “time enough to see poor Mr.
+Custis breath his last,” leaving behind him “four lovely children,
+three girls and a boy.”
+
+Owing to his public employment, Washington refused to be guardian for
+these “little ones,” writing “that it would be injurious to the
+children and madness in me, to undertake, _as a principle_, a trust
+which I could not discharge. Such aid, however, as it ever may be with
+me to give to the children especially the boy, I will afford with all
+my heart, and on this assurance you may rely.” Yet “from their earliest
+infancy” two of Jack’s children, George Washington Parke and Eleanor
+Parke Custis, lived at Mount Vernon, for, as Washington wrote in his
+will, “it has always been my intention, since my expectation of having
+issue has ceased, to consider the grandchildren of my wife in the same
+light as my own relations, and to act a friendly part by them.” Though
+the cares of war prevented his watching their property interests, his
+eight years’ absence could not make him forget them, and on his way to
+Annapolis, in 1783, to tender Congress his resignation, he spent sundry
+hours of his time in the purchase of gifts obviously intended to
+increase the joy of his homecoming to the family circle at Mount
+Vernon; set forth in his note-book as follows:
+
+“By Sundries bot. in Phila. A Locket	£5  5 3 Small Pockt. Books	1
+ 10 3 Sashes	1  5  0 Dress Cap	2  8 Hatt	3  10
+Handkerchief	1 Childrens Books	4  6 Whirligig	1  6 Fiddle	2
+ 6 Quadrille Boxes	1  17  6.”
+
+Indeed, in every way Washington showed how entirely he considered
+himself as a father, not merely speaking of them frequently as “the
+children,” but even alluding to himself in a letter to the boy as “your
+papa.” Both were much his companions during the Presidency. A frequent
+sight in New York and Philadelphia was Washington taking “exercise in
+the coach with Mrs. Washington and the two children,” and several times
+they were taken to the theatre and on picnics.
+
+For Eleanor, or “Nelly,” who grew into a great beauty, Washington
+showed the utmost tenderness, and on occasion interfered to save her
+from her grandmother, who at moments was inclined to be severe, in one
+case to bring the storm upon himself. For her was bought a “Forte
+piano,” and later, at the cost of a thousand dollars, a very fine
+imported harpsichord, and one of Washington’s great pleasures was to
+have her play and sing to him. His ledger constantly shows gifts to her
+ranging from “The Wayworn traveller, a song for Miss Custis,” to “a pr.
+of gold eardrops” and a watch. The two corresponded. One letter from
+Washington merits quotation:
+
+
+[Illustration: ELLANOR (NELLY) CUSTIS]
+
+
+“Let me touch a little now on your Georgetown ball, and happy, thrice
+happy, for the fair who assembled on the occasion, that there was a man
+to spare; for had there been 79 ladies and only 78 gentlemen, there
+might, in the course of the evening have been some disorder among the
+caps; notwithstanding the apathy which _one_ of the company entertains
+for the ‘_youth_’ of the present day, and her determination ‘Never to
+give herself a moment’s uneasiness on account of any of them.’ A hint
+here; men and women feel the same inclinations towards each other _now_
+that they always have done, and which they will continue to do until
+there is a new order of things, and _you_, as others have done, may
+find, perhaps, that the passions of your sex are easier raised than
+allayed. Do not therefore boast too soon or too strongly of your
+insensibility to, or resistance of, its powers. In the composition of
+the human frame there is a good deal of inflammable matter, however
+dormant it may lie for a time, and like an intimate acquaintance of
+yours, when the torch is put to it, _that_ which is _within you_ may
+burst into a blaze; for which reason and especially too, as I have
+entered upon the chapter of advices, I will read you a lecture from
+this text.”
+
+Not long after this was written, Nelly, as already mentioned, was
+married at Mount Vernon to Washington’s nephew, Lawrence Lewis, and in
+time became joint-owner with her husband of part of that place.
+
+As early as 1785 a tutor was wanted for “little Washington,” as the lad
+was called, and Washington wrote to England to ask if some “worthy man
+of the cloth could not be obtained,” “for the boy is a remarkably fine
+one, and my intention is to give him a liberal education.” His training
+became part of the private secretary’s duty, both at Mount Vernon and
+New York and Philadelphia, but the lad inherited his father’s traits,
+and “from his infancy … discovered an almost unconquerable disposition
+to indolence.” This led to failures which gave Washington “extreme
+disquietude,” and in vain he “exhorted him in the most parental and
+friendly manner.” Custis would express “sorrow and repentance” and do
+no better. Successively he was sent to the College of Philadelphia, the
+College of New Jersey, and that at Annapolis, but from each he was
+expelled, or had to be withdrawn. Irritating as it must have been, his
+guardian never in his letters expressed anything but affection,
+shielded the lad from the anger of his step-father, and saw that he was
+properly supplied with money, of which he asked him to keep a careful
+account,—though this, as Washington wrote, was “not because I want to
+know how you spend your money.” After the last college failure a
+private tutor was once more engaged, but a very few weeks served to
+give Washington “a thorough conviction that it was in vain to keep
+Washington Custis to any literary pursuits, either in a public Seminary
+or at home,” and, as the next best thing, he procured him a cornetcy in
+the provisional army. Even here, balance was shown; for, out of
+compliment and friendship to Washington, “the Major Generals were
+desirous of placing him as lieutenant in the first instance; but his
+age considered, I thought it more eligible that he should enter into
+the lowest grade.”
+
+In this connection one side of Washington’s course with his relations
+deserves especial notice. As early as 1756 he applied for a commission
+in the Virginia forces for his brother, and, as already shown, he
+placed several of his nephews and other connections in the
+Revolutionary or provisional armies. But he made clear distinction
+between military and civil appointments, and was very scrupulous about
+the latter. When his favorite nephew asked for a Federal appointment,
+Washington answered,—
+
+“You cannot doubt my wishes to see you appointed to any office of honor
+or emolument in the new government, to the duties of which you are
+competent; but however deserving you may be of the one you have
+suggested, your standing at the bar would not justify my nomination of
+you as attorney to the Federal District Court in preference to some of
+the oldest and most esteemed general court lawyers in your State, who
+are desirous of this appointment. My political conduct in nominations,
+even if I were uninfluenced by principle, must be exceedingly
+circumspect and proof against just criticism; for the eyes of Argus are
+upon me, and no slip will pass unnoticed, that can be improved into a
+supposed partiality for friends or relations.”
+
+And that in this policy he was consistent is shown by a letter of
+Jefferson, who wrote to an office-seeking relative, “The public will
+never be made to believe that an appointment of a relative is made on
+the ground of merit alone, uninfluenced by family views; nor can they
+ever see with approbation offices, the disposal of which they entrust
+to their Presidents for public purposes, divided out as family
+property. Mr. Adams degraded himself infinitely by his conduct on this
+subject, as Genl. Washington had done himself the greatest honor. With
+two such examples to proceed by, I should be doubly inexcusable to
+err.”
+
+There were many other more distant relatives with whom pleasant
+relations were maintained, but enough has been said to indicate the
+intercourse. Frequent were the house-parties at Mount Vernon, and how
+unstinted hospitality was to kith and kin is shown by many entries in
+Washington’s diary, a single one of which will indicate the rest: “I
+set out for my return home—at which I arrived a little after noon—And
+found my Brother Jon Augustine his Wife; Daughter Milly, & Sons Bushrod
+& Corbin, & the Wife of the first. Mr. Willm Washington & his Wife and
+4 Children.”
+
+His will left bequests to forty-one of his own and his wife’s
+relations. “God left him childless that he might be the father of his
+country.”
+
+
+
+
+II
+PHYSIQUE
+
+
+Writing to his London tailor for clothes, in 1763, Washington directed
+him to “take measure of a gentleman who wares well-made cloaths of the
+following size: to wit, 6 feet high and proportionably made—if anything
+rather slender than thick, for a person of that highth, with pretty
+long arms and thighs. You will take care to make the breeches longer
+than those you sent me last, and I would have you keep the measure of
+the cloaths you now make, by you, and if any alteration is required in
+my next it shall be pointed out.” About this time, too, he ordered “6
+pr. Man’s riding Gloves—rather large than the middle size,”… and
+several dozen pairs of stockings, “to be long, and tolerably large.”
+
+The earliest known description of Washington was written in 1760 by his
+companion-in-arms and friend George Mercer, who attempted a
+“portraiture” in the following words: “He may be described as being as
+straight as an Indian, measuring six feet two inches in his stockings,
+and weighing 175 pounds when he took his seat in the House of Burgesses
+in 1759. His frame is padded with well-developed muscles, indicating
+great strength. His bones and joints are large, as are his feet and
+hands. He is wide shouldered, but has not a deep or round chest; is
+neat waisted, but is broad across the hips, and has rather long legs
+and arms. His head is well shaped though not large, but is gracefully
+poised on a superb neck. A large and straight rather than prominent
+nose; blue-gray penetrating eyes, which are widely separated and
+overhung by a heavy brow. His face is long rather than broad, with high
+round cheek bones, and terminates in a good firm chin. He has a clear
+though rather a colorless pale skin, which burns with the sun. A
+pleasing, benevolent, though a commanding countenance, dark brown hair,
+which he wears in a cue. His mouth is large and generally firmly
+closed, but which from time to time discloses some defective teeth. His
+features are regular and placid, with all the muscles of his face under
+perfect control, though flexible and expressive of deep feeling when
+moved by emotion. In conversation he looks you full in the face, is
+deliberate, deferential and engaging. His voice is agreeable rather
+than strong. His demeanor at all times composed and dignified. His
+movements and gestures are graceful, his walk majestic, and he is a
+splendid horseman.”
+
+Dr. James Thacher, writing in 1778, depicted him as “remarkably tall,
+full six feet, erect and well proportioned. The strength and proportion
+of his joints and muscles, appear to be commensurate with the
+pre-eminent powers of his mind. The serenity of his countenance, and
+majestic gracefulness of his deportment, impart a strong impression of
+that dignity and grandeur, which are his peculiar characteristics, and
+no one can stand in his presence without feeling the ascendancy of his
+mind, and associating with his countenance the idea of wisdom,
+philanthropy, magnanimity and patriotism. There is a fine symmetry in
+the features of his face, indicative of a benign and dignified spirit.
+His nose is straight, and his eye inclined to blue. He wears his hair
+in a becoming cue, and from his forehead it is turned back and powdered
+in a manner which adds to the military air of his appearance. He
+displays a native gravity, but devoid of all appearance of
+ostentation.” In this same year a friend wrote, “General Washington is
+now in the forty-seventh year of his age; he is a well-made man, rather
+large boned, and has a tolerably genteel address; his features are
+manly and bold, his eyes of a bluish cast and very lively; his hair a
+deep brown, his face rather long and marked with the small-pox; his
+complexion sunburnt and without much color, and his countenance
+sensible, composed and thoughtful; there is a remarkable air of dignity
+about him, with a striking degree of gracefulness.”
+
+In 1789 Senator Maclay saw “him as he really is. In stature about six
+feet, with an unexceptionable make, but lax appearance. His frame would
+seem to want filling up. His motions rather slow than lively, though he
+showed no signs of having suffered by gout or rheumatism. His
+complexion pale, nay, almost cadaverous. His voice hollow and
+indistinct, owing, as I believe, to artificial teeth before his upper
+jaw, which occasions a flatness.”
+
+From frequent opportunity of seeing Washington between 1794 and 1797,
+William Sullivan described him as “over six feet in stature; of strong,
+bony, muscular frame, without fullness of covering, well-formed and
+straight. He was a man of most extraordinary strength. In his own
+house, his action was calm, deliberate, and dignified, without
+pretension to gracefulness, or peculiar manner, but merely natural, and
+such as one would think it should be in such a man. When walking in the
+street, his movement had not the soldierly air which might be expected.
+His habitual motions had been formed, long before he took command of
+the American Armies, in the wars of the interior and in the surveying
+of wilderness lands, employments in which grace and elegance were not
+likely to be acquired. At the age of sixty-five, time had done nothing
+towards bending him out of his natural erectness. His deportment was
+invariably grave; it was sobriety that stopped short of sadness.”
+
+The French officers and travellers supply other descriptions. The Abbé
+Robin found him of “tall and noble stature, well proportioned, a fine,
+cheerful, open countenance, a simple and modest carriage; and his whole
+mien has something in it that interests the French, the Americans, and
+even enemies themselves in his favor.”
+
+The Marquis de Chastellux wrote enthusiastically, “In speaking of this
+perfect whole of which General Washington furnishes the idea, I have
+not excluded exterior form. His stature is noble and lofty, he is well
+made, and exactly proportionate; his physiognomy mild and agreeable,
+but such as to render it impossible to speak particularly of any of his
+features, so that in quitting him you have only the recollection of a
+fine face. He has neither a grave nor a familiar face, his brow is
+sometimes marked with thought, but never with inquietude; in inspiring
+respect he inspires confidence, and his smile is always the smile of
+benevolence.”
+
+To this description, however, Brissot de Warville took exception, and
+supplied his own picture by writing in 1791, “You have often heard me
+blame M. Chastellux for putting too much sprightliness in the character
+he has drawn of this general. To give pretensions to the portrait of a
+man who has none is truly absurd. The General’s goodness appears in his
+looks. They have nothing of that brilliancy which his officers found in
+them when he was at the head of his army; but in conversation they
+become animated. He has no characteristic traits in his figure, and
+this has rendered it always so difficult to describe it: there are few
+portraits which resemble him. All his answers are pertinent; he shows
+the utmost reserve, and is very diffident; but, at the same time, he is
+firm and unchangeable in whatever he undertakes. His modesty must be
+very astonishing, especially to a Frenchman.”
+
+British travellers have left a number of pen-portraits. An anonymous
+writer in 1790 declared that in meeting him “it was not necessary to
+announce his name, for his peculiar appearance, his firm forehead,
+Roman nose, and a projection of the lower jaw, his height and figure,
+could not be mistaken by any one who had seen a full-length picture of
+him, and yet no picture accurately resembled him in the minute traits
+of his person. His features, however, were so marked by prominent
+characteristics, which appear in all likenesses of him, that a stranger
+could not be mistaken in the man; he was remarkably dignified in his
+manners, and had an air of benignity over his features which his
+visitant did not expect, being rather prepared for sternness of
+countenance…. his smile was extraordinarily attractive. It was observed
+to me that there was an expression in Washington’s face that no painter
+had succeeded in taking. It struck me no man could be better formed for
+command. A stature of six feet, a robust, but well-proportioned frame,
+calculated to sustain fatigue, without that heaviness which generally
+attends great muscular strength, and abates active exertion, displayed
+bodily power of no mean standard. A light eye and full—the very eye of
+genius and reflection rather than of blind passionate impulse. His nose
+appeared thick, and though it befitted his other features, was too
+coarsely and strongly formed to be the handsomest of its class. His
+mouth was like no other that I ever saw; the lips firm and the under
+jaw seeming to grasp the upper with force, as if its muscles were in
+full action when he sat still.”
+
+Two years later, an English diplomat wrote of him, “His person is tall
+and sufficiently graceful; his face well formed, his complexion rather
+pale, with a mild philosophic gravity in the expression of it In his
+air and manner he displays much natural dignity; in his address he is
+cold, reserved, and even phlegmatic, though without the least
+appearance of haughtiness or ill-nature; it is the effect, I imagine,
+of constitutional diffidence. That caution and circumspection which
+form so striking and well known a feature in his military, and, indeed,
+in his political character, is very strongly marked in his countenance,
+for his eyes retire inward (do you understand me?) and have nothing of
+fire of animation or openness in their expression.”
+
+Wansey, who visited Mount Vernon in 1795, portrayed “The President in
+his person” as “tall and thin, but erect; rather of an engaging than a
+dignified presence. He appears very thoughtful, is slow in delivering
+himself, which occasions some to conclude him reserved, but it is
+rather, I apprehend, the effect of much thinking and reflection, for
+there is great appearance to me of affability and accommodation. He was
+at this time in his sixty-third year … but he has very little the
+appearance of age, having been all his life long so exceeding
+temperate.”
+
+In 1797, Weld wrote, “his chest is full; and his limbs, though rather
+slender, well shaped and muscular. His head is small, in which respect
+he resembles the make of a great number of his countrymen. His eyes are
+of a light grey colour; and in proportion to the length of his face,
+his nose is long. Mr. Stewart, the eminent portrait painter, told me,
+that there were features in his face totally different from what he
+ever observed in that of any other human being; the sockets for the
+eyes, for instance, are larger than what he ever met with before, and
+the upper part of the nose broader. All his features, he observed, were
+indicative of the strongest and most ungovernable passions, and had he
+been born in the forests, it was his opinion that he would have been
+the fiercest man among the savage tribes.”
+
+Other and briefer descriptions contain a few phrases worth quoting.
+Samuel Sterns said, “His countenance commonly carries the impression of
+a serious cast;” Maclay, that “the President seemed to bear in his
+countenance a settled aspect of melancholy;” and the Prince de Broglie
+wrote, “His pensive eyes seem more attentive than sparkling, but their
+expression is benevolent, noble and self-possessed.” Silas Deane in
+1775 said he had “a very young look and an easy soldier-like air and
+gesture,” and in the same year Curwen mentioned his “fine figure” and
+“easy and agreeable address.” Nathaniel Lawrence noted in 1783 that
+“the General weighs commonly about 210 pounds.” After death, Lear
+reports that “Doctor Dick measured the body, which was as follows—In
+length 6 ft. 3-1/2 inches exact. Across the shoulders 1.9. Across the
+elbows 2.1.” The pleasantest description is Jefferson’s: “His person,
+you know, was fine, his stature exactly what one would wish, his
+deportment easy, erect and noble.”
+
+How far the portraits of Washington conveyed his expression is open to
+question. The quotation already given which said that no picture
+accurately resembled him in the minute traits of his person is worth
+noting. Furthermore, his expression varied much according to
+circumstances, and the painter saw it only in repose. The first time he
+was drawn, he wrote a friend, “Inclination having yielded to
+Importunity, I am now contrary to all expectation under the hands of
+Mr. Peale; but in so grave—so sullen a mood—and now and then under the
+influence of Morpheus, when some critical strokes are making, that I
+fancy the skill of this Gentleman’s Pencil will be put to it, in
+describing to the World what manner of man I am.” This passiveness
+seems to have seized him at other sittings, for in 1785 he wrote to a
+friend who asked him to be painted, “_In for a penny, in for a Pound_,
+is an old adage. I am so hackneyed to the touches of the painter’s
+pencil that I am now altogether at their beck; and sit ‘like Patience
+on a monument,’ whilst they are delineating the lines of 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 of the saddle. The next time I submitted very
+reluctantly, but with less flouncing. Now, no dray-horse moves more
+readily to his thills than I to the painter’s chair.” His aide,
+Laurens, bears this out by writing of a miniature, “The defects of this
+portrait are, that the visage is too long, and old age is too strongly
+marked in it. He is not altogether mistaken, with respect to the
+languor of the general’s eye; for altho’ his countenance when affected
+either by joy or anger, is full of expression, yet when the muscles are
+in a state of repose, his eye certainly wants animation.”
+
+
+[Illustration: FIRST (FICTITIOUS) ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON]
+
+
+One portrait which furnished Washington not a little amusement was an
+engraving issued in London in 1775, when interest in the “rebel
+General” was great. This likeness, it is needless to say, was entirely
+spurious, and when Reed sent a copy to head-quarters, Washington wrote
+to him, “Mrs. Washington desires I will thank you for the picture sent
+her. Mr. Campbell, whom I never saw, to my knowledge, has made a very
+formidable figure of the Commander-in-chief, giving him a sufficient
+portion of terror in his countenance.”
+
+The physical strength mentioned by nearly every one who described
+Washington is so undoubted that the traditions of his climbing the
+walls of the Natural Bridge, throwing a stone across the Rappahannock
+at Fredericksburg, and another into the Hudson from the top of the
+Palisades, pass current more from the supposed muscular power of the
+man than from any direct evidence. In addition to this, Washington in
+1755 claimed to have “one of the best of constitutions,” and again he
+wrote, “for my own part I can answer, I have a constitution hardy
+enough to encounter and undergo the most severe trials.”
+
+This vigor was not the least reason of Washington’s success. In the
+retreat from Brooklyn, “for forty-eight hours preceeding that I had
+hardly been off my horse,” and between the 13th and the 19th of June of
+1777 “I was almost constantly on horseback.” After the battle of
+Monmouth, as told elsewhere, he passed the night on a blanket; the
+first night of the siege of York “he slept under a mulberry tree, the
+root serving for a pillow,” and another time he lay “all night in my
+Great Coat & Boots, in a birth not long enough for me by the head, &
+much cramped.” Besides the physical strain there was a mental one.
+During the siege of Boston he wrote that “The reflection on my
+situation and that of this army, produces many an uneasy hour when all
+around me are wrapped in sleep.” Humphreys relates that at Newburg in
+1783 a revolt of the whole army seemed imminent, and “when General
+Washington rose from bed on the morning of the meeting, he told the
+writer his anxiety had prevented him from sleeping one moment the
+preceeding night.” Washington observed, in a letter written after the
+Revolution, “strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true, that it
+was not until lately I could get the better of my usual custom of
+ruminating as soon as I awoke in the morning, on the business of the
+ensuing day; and of my surprise at finding, after revolving many things
+in my mind that I was no longer a public man, or had any thing to do
+with public transactions.”
+
+Despite his strength and constitution, Washington was frequently the
+victim of illness. What diseases of childhood he suffered are not
+known, but presumably measles was among them, for when his wife within
+the first year of married life had an attack he cared for her without
+catching the complaint. The first of his known illnesses was “Ague and
+Feaver, which I had to an extremity” about 1748, or when he was
+sixteen.
+
+In the sea voyage to Barbadoes in 1751, the seamen told Washington that
+“they had never seen such weather before,” and he says in his diary
+that the sea “made the Ship rowl much and me very sick.” While in the
+island, he went to dine with a friend “with great reluctance, as the
+small-pox was in his family.” A fortnight later Washington “was
+strongly attacked with the small Pox,” which confined him for nearly a
+month, and, as already noted, marked his face for life. Shortly after
+the return voyage he was “taken with a violent pleurise, which …
+reduced me very low.”
+
+During the Braddock march, “immediately upon our leaving the camp at
+George’s Creek, on the 14th, … I was seized with violent fevers and
+pains in my head, which continued without intermission ’till the 23d
+following, when I was relieved, by the General’s [Braddock] absolutely
+ordering the physicians to give me Dr. James’ powders (one of the most
+excellent medicines in the world), for it gave me immediate ease, and
+removed my fevers and other complaints in four days’ time. My illness
+was too violent to suffer me to ride; therefore I was indebted to a
+covered wagon for some part of my transportation; but even in this I
+could not continue far, for the jolting was so great, I was left upon
+the road with a guard, and necessaries, to wait the arrival of Colonel
+Dunbar’s detachment which was two days’ march behind us, the General
+giving me his word of honor, that I should be brought up, before he
+reached the French fort. This _promise_, and the doctor’s _threats_,
+that, if I persevered in my attempts to get on, in the condition I was,
+my life would be endangered, determined me to halt for the above
+detachment.” Immediately upon his return from that campaign, he told a
+brother, “I am not able, were I ever so willing, to meet you in town,
+for I assure you it is with some difficulty, and with much fatigue,
+that I visit my plantations in the Neck; so much has a sickness of five
+weeks’ continuance reduced me.”
+
+On the frontier, towards the end of 1757, he was seized with a violent
+attack of dysentery and fever, which compelled him to leave the army
+and retire to Mount Vernon. Three months later he said, “I have never
+been able to return to my command, … my disorder at times returning
+obstinately upon me, in spite of the efforts of all the sons of
+Aesculapius, whom I have hitherto consulted. At certain periods I have
+been reduced to great extremity, and have too much reason to apprehend
+an approaching decay, being visited with several symptoms of such a
+disease…. I am now under a strict regimen, and shall set out to-morrow
+for Williamsburg to receive the advice of the best physician there. My
+constitution is certainly greatly impaired, and … nothing can retrieve
+it, but the greatest care and the most circumspect conduct.” It was in
+this journey that he met his future wife, and either she or the doctor
+cured him, for nothing more is heard of his approaching “decay.”
+
+In 1761 he was attacked with a disease which seems incidental to new
+settlements, known in Virginia at that time as the “river fever,” and a
+hundred years later, farther west, as the “break-bone fever,” and
+which, in a far milder form, is to-day known as malaria. Hoping to cure
+it, he went over the mountains to the Warm Springs, being “much
+overcome with the fatigue of the ride and weather together. However, I
+think my fevers are a good deal abated, although my pains grow rather
+worse, and my sleep equally disturbed. What effect the waters may have
+upon me I can’t say at present, but I expect nothing from the air—this
+certainly must be unwholesome. I purpose staying here a fortnight and
+longer if benefitted.” After writing this, a relapse brought him “very
+near my last gasp. The indisposition … increased upon me, and I fell
+into a very low and dangerous state. I once thought the grim king would
+certainly master my utmost efforts, and that I must sink, in spite of a
+noble struggle; but thank God, I have now got the better of the
+disorder, and shall soon be restored, I hope, to perfect health again.”
+
+During the Revolution, fortunately, he seems to have been wonderfully
+exempt from illness, and not till his retirement to Mount Vernon did an
+old enemy, the ague, reappear. In 1786 he said, in a letter, “I write
+to you with a very aching head and disordered frame…. Saturday last, by
+an imprudent act, I brought on an ague and fever on Sunday, which
+returned with violence Tuesday and Thursday; and, if Dr. Craik’s
+efforts are ineffectual I shall have them again this day.” His diary
+gives the treatment: “Seized with an ague before 6 o’clock this morning
+after having laboured under a fever all night—Sent for Dr. Craik who
+arrived just as we were setting down to dinner; who, when he thought my
+fever sufficiently abated gave me cathartick and directed the Bark to
+be applied in the Morning. September 2. Kept close to the House to day,
+being my fit day in course least any exposure might bring it
+on,—happily missed it September 14. At home all day repeating dozes of
+Bark of which I took 4 with an interval of 2 hours between.”
+
+With 1787 a new foe appeared in the form of “a rheumatic complaint
+which has followed me more than six months, is frequently so bad that
+it is sometimes with difficulty I can raise my hand to my head or turn
+myself in bed.”
+
+During the Presidency Washington had several dangerous illnesses, but
+the earliest one had a comic side. In his tour through New England in
+1789, so Sullivan states, “owing to some mismanagement in the reception
+ceremonials at Cambridge, Washington was detained a long time, and the
+weather being inclement, he took cold. For several days afterward a
+severe influenza prevailed at Boston and its vicinity, and was called
+the _Washington Influenza_.” He himself writes of this attack: “Myself
+much disordered by a cold, and inflammation in the left eye.”
+
+Six months later, in New York, he was “indisposed with a bad cold, and
+at home all day writing letters on private business,” and this was the
+beginning of “a severe illness,” which, according to McVickar, was “a
+case of anthrax, so malignant as for several days to threaten
+mortification. During this period Dr. Bard never quitted him. On one
+occasion, being left alone with him, General Washington, looking
+steadily in his face, desired his 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, acknowledged his apprehensions. The President replied,
+‘Whether to-night or twenty years hence, makes no difference.’” It was
+of this that Maclay wrote, “Called to see the President. Every eye full
+of tears. His life despaired of. Dr. MacKnight told me he would trifle
+neither with his own character nor the public expectation; his danger
+was imminent, and every reason to expect that the event of his disorder
+would be unfortunate.”
+
+During his convalescence the President wrote to a correspondent, “I
+have the pleasure to inform you, that my health is restored, but a
+feebleness still hangs upon me, and I am much incommoded by the
+incision, which was made in a very large and painful tumor on the
+protuberance of my thigh. This prevents me from walking or sitting.
+However, the physicians assure me that it has had a happy effect in
+removing my fever, and will tend very much to the establishment of my
+general health; it is in a fair way of healing, and time and patience
+only are wanting to remove this evil. I am able to take exercise in my
+coach, by having it so contrived as to extend myself the full length of
+it.” He himself seems to have thought this succession of illness due to
+the fatigues of office, for he said,—
+
+“Public meetings, and a dinner once a week to as many as my table will
+hold, with the references _to and from_ the different department of
+state and _other_ communications with _all_ parts of the Union, are as
+much, if not more, than I am able to undergo; for I have already had
+within less than a year, two severe attacks, the last worst than the
+first. A third, more than probable, will put me to sleep with my
+fathers. At what distance this may be I know not. Within the last
+twelve months I have undergone more and severer sickness, than thirty
+preceding years afflicted me with. Put it all together I have abundant
+reason, however, to be thankful that I am so well recovered; though I
+still feel the remains of the violent affection of my lungs; the cough,
+pain in my breast, and shortness in breathing not having entirely left
+me.”
+
+While at Mount Vernon in 1794, “an exertion to save myself and horse
+from falling among the rocks at the Lower Falls of the Potomac (whither
+I went on Sunday morning to see the canal and locks),… wrenched my back
+in such a manner as to prevent my riding;” the “hurt” “confined me
+whilst I was at Mount Vernon,” and it was some time before he could
+“again ride with ease and safety.” In this same year Washington was
+operated on by Dr. Tate for cancer,—the same disorder from which his
+mother had suffered.
+
+After his retirement from office, in 1798, he “was seized with a fever,
+of which I took little notice until I was obliged to call for the aid
+of medicine; and with difficulty a remission thereof was so far
+effected as to dose me all night on thursday with Bark—which having
+stopped it, and weakness only remaining, will soon wear off as my
+appetite is returning;” and to a correspondent he apologized for not
+sooner replying, and pleaded “debilitated health, occasioned by the
+fever wch. deprived me of 20 lbs. of the weight I had when you and I
+were at Troy Mills Scales, and rendered writing irksome.”
+
+A glance at Washington’s medical knowledge and opinions may not lack
+interest. In the “Rules of civility” he had taken so to heart, the boy
+had been taught that “In visiting the Sick, do not Presently play the
+Physician if you be not Knowing therein,” but plantation life trained
+every man to a certain extent in physicking, and the yearly invoice
+sent to London always ordered such drugs as were needed,—ipecacuanha,
+jalap, Venice treacle, rhubarb, diacordium, etc., as well as medicines
+for horses and dogs. In 1755 Washington received great benefit from one
+quack medicine, “Dr. James’s Powders;” he once bought a quantity of
+another, “Godfrey’s Cordial;” and at a later time Mrs. Washington tried
+a third, “Annatipic Pills.” More unenlightened still was a treatment
+prescribed for Patsy Custis, when “Joshua Evans who came here last
+night, put a [metal] ring on Patsey (for Fits).” A not much higher
+order of treatment was Washington sending for Dr. Laurie to bleed his
+wife, and, as his diary notes, the doctor “came here, I may add,
+drunk,” so that a night’s sleep was necessary before the service could
+be rendered. When the small-pox was raging in the Continental Army,
+even Washington’s earnest request could not get the Virginia Assembly
+to repeal a law which forbade inoculation, and he had to urge his wife
+for over four years before he could bring her to the point of
+submitting to the operation. One quality which implies greatness is
+told by a visitor, who states that in his call “an allusion was made to
+a serious fit of illness he had recently suffered; but he took no
+notice of it” Custis notes that “his aversion to the use of medicine
+was extreme; and, even when in great suffering, it was only by the
+entreaties of his lady, and the respectful, yet beseeching look of his
+oldest friend and companion in arms (Dr. James Craik) that he could be
+prevailed upon to take the slightest preparation of medicine.” In line
+with this was his refusal to take anything for a cold, saying, “Let it
+go as it came,” though this good sense was apparently restricted to his
+own colds, for Watson relates that in a visit to Mount Vernon “I was
+extremely oppressed by a severe cold and excessive coughing, contracted
+by the exposure of a harsh 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 bedside, with a bowl of hot
+tea in his hand.”
+
+The acute attacks of illness already touched upon by no means represent
+all the physical debility and suffering of Washington’s life. During
+the Revolution his sight became poor, so that in 1778 he first put on
+glasses for reading, and Cobb relates that in the officers’ meeting in
+1783, which Washington attended In order to check an appeal to arms,
+“When the General took his station at the desk or pulpit, which, you
+may recollect, was in the Temple, he took out his written address from
+his coat pocket and then addressed the officers in the following
+manner: ‘Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I
+have not only grown gray, but almost blind, in the service of my
+country.’ This little address, with the mode and manner of delivering
+it, drew tears from [many] of the officers.”
+
+Nor did his hearing remain entirely good. Maclay noted, at one of the
+President’s dinners in 1789, that “he seemed in more good humor than I
+ever saw him, though he was so deaf that I believe he heard little of
+the conversation,” and three years later the President is reported as
+saying to Jefferson that he was “sensible, too, of a decay of his
+hearing, perhaps his other faculties might fall off and he not be
+sensible of it.”
+
+Washington’s teeth were even more troublesome. Mercer in 1760 alluded
+to his showing, when his mouth was open, “some defective teeth,” and as
+early as 1754 one of his teeth was extracted. From this time toothache,
+usually followed by the extraction of the guilty member, became almost
+of yearly recurrence, and his diary reiterates, with verbal variations,
+“indisposed with an aching tooth, and swelled and inflamed gum,” while
+his ledger contains many items typified by “To Dr. Watson drawing a
+tooth 5/.” By 1789 he was using false teeth, and he lost his last tooth
+in 1795. At first these substitutes were very badly fitted, and when
+Stuart painted his famous picture he tried to remedy the malformation
+they gave the mouth by padding under the lips with cotton. The result
+was to make bad worse, and to give, in that otherwise fine portrait, a
+feature at once poor and unlike Washington, and for this reason alone
+the Sharpless miniature, which in all else approximates so closely to
+Stuart’s masterpiece, is preferable. In 1796 Washington was furnished
+with two sets of “sea-horse” (_i.e._, hippopotamus) ivory teeth, and
+they were so much better fitted that the distortion of the mouth ceased
+to be noticeable.
+
+Washington’s final illness began December 12, 1799, in a severe cold
+taken by riding about his plantation while “rain, hail and snow” were
+“falling alternately, with a cold wind.” When he came in late in the
+afternoon, Lear “observed to him that I was afraid that he had got wet,
+he said no his great coat had kept him dry; but his neck appeared to be
+wet and the snow was hanging on his hair.” The next day he had a cold,
+“and complained of having a sore throat,” yet, though it was snowing,
+none the less he “went out in the afternoon … to mark some trees which
+were to be cut down.” “He had a hoarseness which increased in the
+evening; but he made light of it as he would never take anything to
+carry off a cold, always observing, ‘let it go as it came.’” At two
+o’clock the following morning he was seized with a severe ague, and as
+soon as the house was stirring he sent for an overseer and ordered the
+man to bleed him, and about half a pint of blood was taken from him. At
+this time he could “swallow nothing,” “appeared to be distressed,
+convulsed and almost suffocated.”
+
+There can be scarcely a doubt that the treatment of his last illness by
+the doctors was little short of murder. Although he had been bled once
+already, after they took charge of the case they prescribed “two pretty
+copious bleedings,” and finally a third, “when about 32 ounces of blood
+were drawn,” or the equivalent of a quart. Of the three doctors, one
+disapproved of this treatment, and a second wrote, only a few days
+after Washington’s death, to the third, “you must remember” Dr. Dick
+“was averse to bleeding the General, and I have often thought that if
+we had acted according to his suggestion when he said, ‘he needs all
+his strength— bleeding will diminish it,’ and taken no more blood from
+him, our good friend might have been alive now. But we were governed by
+the best light we had; we thought we were right, and so we are
+justified.”
+
+Shortly after this last bleeding Washington seemed to have resigned
+himself, for he gave some directions concerning his will, and said, “I
+find I am going,” and, “smiling,” added, that, “as it was the debt
+which we must all pay, he looked to the event with perfect
+resignation.” From this time on “he appeared to be in great pain and
+distress,” and said, “Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go. I
+believed from my first attack that I should not survive it.” A little
+later he said, “I feel myself going. I thank you for your attention,
+you had better not take any more trouble about me; but let me go off
+quietly.” The last words he said were, “’Tis well.” “About ten minutes
+before he expired, his breathing became much easier—he lay quietly—…
+and felt his own pulse…. The general’s hand fell from his wrist,… and
+he expired without a struggle or a Sigh.”
+
+
+
+
+III
+EDUCATION
+
+
+The father of Washington received his education at Appleby School in
+England, and, true to his alma mater, he sent his two elder sons to the
+same school. His death when George was eleven prevented this son from
+having the same advantage, and such education as he had was obtained in
+Virginia. His old friend, and later enemy, Rev. Jonathan Boucher, said
+that “George, like most people thereabouts at that time, had no
+education than reading, writing and accounts which he was taught by a
+convict servant whom his father bought for a schoolmaster;” but Boucher
+managed to include so many inaccuracies in his account of Washington,
+that even if this statement were not certainly untruthful in several
+respects, it could be dismissed as valueless.
+
+Born at Wakefield, in Washington parish, Westmoreland, which had been
+the home of the Washingtons from their earliest arrival in Virginia,
+George was too young while the family continued there to attend the
+school which had been founded in that parish by the gift of four
+hundred and forty acres from some early patron of knowledge. When the
+boy was about three years old, the family removed to “Washington,” as
+Mount Vernon was called before it was renamed, and dwelt there from
+1735 till 1739, when, owing to the burning of the homestead, another
+remove was made to an estate on the Rappahannock, nearly opposite
+Fredericksburg.
+
+Here it was that the earliest education of George was received, for in
+an old volume of the Bishop of Exeter’s Sermons his name is written,
+and on a flyleaf a note in the handwriting of a relative who inherited
+the library states that this “autograph of George Washington’s name is
+believed to be the earliest specimen of his handwriting, when he was
+probably not more than eight or nine years old.” During this period,
+too, there came into his possession the “Young Man’s Companion,” an
+English _vade-mecum_ of then enormous popularity, written “in a plain
+and easy stile,” the title states, “that a young Man may attain the
+same, without a Tutor.” It would be easier to say what this little book
+did not teach than to catalogue what it did. How to read, write, and
+figure is but the introduction to the larger part of the work, which
+taught one to write letters, wills, deeds, and all legal forms, to
+measure, survey, and navigate, to build houses, to make ink and cider,
+and to plant and graft, how to address letters to people of quality,
+how to doctor the sick, and, finally, how to conduct one’s self in
+company. The evidence still exists of how carefully Washington studied
+this book, in the form of copybooks, in which are transcribed problem
+after problem and rule after rule, not to exclude the famous Rules of
+civility, which biographers of Washington have asserted were written by
+the boy himself. School-mates thought fit, after Washington became
+famous, to remember his “industry and assiduity at school as very
+remarkable,” and the copies certainly bear out the statement, but even
+these prove that the lad was as human as the man, for scattered here
+and there among the logarithms, geometrical problems, and legal forms
+are crude drawings of birds, faces, and other typical school-boy
+attempts.
+
+From this book, too, came two qualities which clung to him through
+life. His handwriting, so easy, flowing, and legible, was modelled from
+the engraved “copy” sheet, and certain forms of spelling were acquired
+here that were never corrected, though not the common usage of his
+time. To the end of his life, Washington wrote lie, lye; liar, lyar;
+ceiling, cieling; oil, oyl; and blue, blew, as in his boyhood he had
+learned to do from this book. Even in his carefully prepared will,
+“lye” was the form in which he wrote the word. It must be acknowledged
+that, aside from these errors which he had been taught, through his
+whole life Washington was a non-conformist as regarded the King’s
+English: struggle as he undoubtedly did, the instinct of correct
+spelling was absent, and thus every now and then a verbal slip
+appeared: extravagence, lettely (for lately), glew, riffle (for rifle),
+latten (for Latin), immagine, winder, rief (for rife), oppertunity,
+spirma citi, yellow oaker,—such are types of his lapses late in life,
+while his earlier letters and journals are far more inaccurate. It must
+be borne in mind, however, that of these latter we have only the
+draughts, which were undoubtedly written carelessly, and the two
+letters actually sent which are now known, and the text of his surveys
+before he was twenty, are quite as well written as his later epistles.
+
+
+[Illustration: _Easy Copies to Write by_.
+COPY OF PENMANSHIP BY WHICH WASHINGTON’S HANDWRITING WAS FORMED]
+
+
+On the death of his father, Washington went to live with his brother
+Augustine, in order, it is presumed, that he might take advantage of a
+good school near Wakefield, kept by one Williams; but after a time he
+returned to his mother’s, and attended the school kept by the Rev.
+James Marye, in Fredericksburg. It has been universally asserted by his
+biographers that he studied no foreign language, but direct proof to
+the contrary exists in a copy of Patrick’s Latin translation of Homer,
+printed in 1742, the fly-leaf of a copy of which bears, in a school-boy
+hand, the inscription:
+
+“Hunc mihi quaeso (bone Vir) Libellum
+Redde, si forsan tenues repertum
+Ut Scias qui sum sine fraude Scriptum.
+
+
+Est mihi nomen,
+Georgio Washington,
+George Washington,
+Fredericksburg,
+Virginia.”
+
+
+It is thus evident that the reverend teacher gave Washington at least
+the first elements of Latin, but it is equally clear that the boy, like
+most others, forgot it with the greatest facility as soon as he ceased
+studying.
+
+The end of Washington’s school-days left him, if a good “cipherer,” a
+bad speller, and a still worse grammarian, but, fortunately, the
+termination of instruction did not by any means end his education. From
+that time there is to be noted a steady improvement in both these
+failings. Pickering stated that “when I first became acquainted with
+the General (in 1777) his writing was defective in grammar, and even
+spelling, owing to the insufficiency of his early education; of which,
+however, he gradually got the better in the subsequent years of his
+life, by the official perusal of some excellent models, particularly
+those of Hamilton; by writing with care and patient attention; and
+reading numerous, indeed multitudes of letters to and from his friends
+and correspondents. This obvious improvement was begun during the war.”
+In 1785 a contemporary noted that “the General is remarked for writing
+a most elegant letter,” adding that, “like the famous Addison, his
+writing excells his speaking,” and Jefferson said that “he wrote
+readily, rather diffusely, in an easy and correct style. This he had
+acquired by conversation with the world, for his education was merely
+reading, writing and common arithmetic, to which he added surveying at
+a later day.”
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington felt his lack of education very
+keenly as he came to act upon a larger sphere than as a Virginia
+planter. “I am sensible,” he wrote a friend, of his letters, “that the
+narrations are just, and that truth and honesty will appear in my
+writings; of which, therefore, I shall not be ashamed, though criticism
+may censure my style.” When his secretary suggested to him that he
+should write his own life, he replied, “In a former letter I informed
+you, my dear Humphreys, that if I had _talents_ for it, I have not
+leisure to turn my thoughts to Commentaries. A consciousness of a
+defective education, and a certainty of the want of time, unfit me for
+such an undertaking.” On being pressed by a French comrade-in-arms to
+pay France a visit, he declined, saying, “Remember, my good friend,
+that I am unacquainted with your language, that I am too far advanced
+in years to acquire a knowledge of it, and that, to converse through
+the medium of an interpreter upon common occasions, especially with the
+Ladies, must appear so extremely awkward, insipid, and uncouth, that I
+can scarce bear it in idea.”
+
+In 1788, without previous warning, he was elected chancellor of William
+and Mary College, a distinction by which he felt “honored and greatly
+affected;” but “not knowing particularly what duties, or whether any
+active services are immediately expected from the person holding the
+office of chancellor, I have been greatly embarrassed in deciding upon
+the public answer proper to be given…. My difficulties are briefly
+these. On the one hand, nothing in this world could be farther from my
+heart, than … a refusal of the appointment … provided its duties are
+not incompatible with the mode of life to which I have entirely
+addicted myself; and, on the other hand, I would not for any
+consideration disappoint the just expectations of the convocation by
+accepting an office, whose functions I previously knew … I should be
+absolutely unable to perform.”
+
+Perhaps the most touching proof of his own self-depreciation was
+something he did when he had become conscious that his career would be
+written about. Still in his possession were the letter-books in which
+he had kept copies of his correspondence while in command of the
+Virginia regiment between 1754 and 1759, and late in life he went
+through these volumes, and, by interlining corrections, carefully built
+them into better literary form. How this was done is shown here by a
+single facsimile.
+
+With the appointment to command the Continental Army, a secretary was
+secured, and in an absence of this assistant he complained to him that
+“my business increases very fast, and my distresses for want of you
+along with it. Mr. Harrison is the only gentleman of my family, that
+can afford me the least assistance in writing. He and Mr. Moylan,… have
+heretofore afforded me their aid; and … they have really had a great
+deal of trouble.”
+
+Most of Washington’s correspondence during the Revolution was written
+by his aides. Pickering said,—
+
+“As to the public letters bearing his signature, it is certain that he
+could not have maintained so extensive a correspondence with his own
+pen, even if he had possessed the ability and promptness of Hamilton.
+That he would, sometimes with propriety, observe upon, correct, and add
+to any draught submitted for his examination and signature, I have no
+doubt. And yet I doubt whether many, if any, of the letters … are his
+own draught…. I have even reason to believe that not only the
+_composition_, the _clothing of the ideas_, but the _ideas themselves_,
+originated generally with the writers; that Hamilton and Harrison, in
+particular, were scarcely in any degree his amanuenses. I remember,
+when at head-quarters one day, at Valley Forge, Colonel Harrison came
+down from the General’s chamber, with his brows knit, and thus accosted
+me, ‘I wish to the Lord the General would give me the heads or some
+idea, of what he would have me write.’”
+
+
+[Illustration: CORRECTED LETTER OF WASHINGTON SHOWING LATER CHANGES]
+
+
+After the Revolution, a visitor at Mount Vernon said, “It’s astonishing
+the packet of letters that daily comes for him from all parts of the
+world, which employ him most of the morning to answer.” A secretary was
+employed, but not so much to do the actual writing as the copying and
+filing, and at this time Washington complained “that my numerous
+correspondencies are daily becoming irksome to me.” Yet there can be
+little question that he richly enjoyed writing when it was not for the
+public eye. “It is not the letters of my friends which give me
+trouble,” he wrote to one correspondent; to another he said, “I began
+with telling you that I should not write a lengthy letter but the
+result has been to contradict it;” and to a third, “when I look back to
+the length of this letter, I am so much astonished and frightened at it
+myself that I have not the courage to give it a careful reading for the
+purpose of correction. You must, therefore, receive it with all its
+imperfections, accompanied with this assurance, that, though there may
+be inaccuracies in the letter, there is not a single defect in the
+friendship.” Occasionally there was, as here, an apology: “I am
+persuaded you will excuse this scratch’d scrawl, when I assure you it
+is with difficulty I write at all,” he ended a letter in 1777, and in
+1792 of another said, “You must receive it blotted and scratched as you
+find it for I have not time to copy it. It is now ten o’clock at night,
+after my usual hour for retiring to rest, and the mail will be closed
+early to-morrow morning.”
+
+To his overseer, who neglected to reply to some of his questions, he
+told his method of writing, which is worth quoting:
+
+“Whenever I set down to write you, I read your letter, or letters
+carefully over, and as soon as I come to a part that requires to be
+noticed, I make a short note on the cover of a letter or piece of waste
+paper;—then read on the next, noting that in like manner;—and so on
+until I have got through the whole letter and reports. Then in writing
+my letter to you, as soon as I have finished what I have to say on one
+of these notes I draw my pen through it and proceed to another and
+another until the whole is done—crossing each as I go on, by which
+means if I am called off twenty times whilst I am writing, I can never
+with these notes before me finished or unfinished, omit anything I
+wanted to say; and they serve me also, as I keep no copies of letters I
+wrote to you, as Memorandums of what has been written if I should have
+occasion at any time to refer to them.”
+
+Another indication of his own knowledge of defects is shown by his fear
+about his public papers. When his Journal to the Ohio was printed by
+order of the governor, in 1754, in the preface the young author said,
+“I think I can do no less than apologize, in some Measure, for the
+numberless imperfections of it. There intervened but one Day between my
+Arrival in Williamsburg, and the Time for the Council’s Meeting, for me
+to prepare and transcribe, from the rough Minutes I had taken in my
+Travels, this Journal; the writing of which only was sufficient to
+employ me closely the whole Time, consequently admitted of no Leisure
+to consult of a new and proper Form to offer it in, or to correct or
+amend the Diction of the old.” Boucher states that the publication, “in
+Virginia at least, drew on him some ridicule.”
+
+This anxiety about his writings was shown all through life, and led
+Washington to rely greatly on such of his friends as would assist him,
+even to the point, so Reed thought, that he “sometimes adopted draughts
+of writing when his own would have been better … from an extreme
+diffidence in himself,” and Pickering said, in writing to an aide,—
+
+“Although the General’s private correspondence was doubtless, for the
+most part, his own, and extremely acceptable to the persons addressed;
+yet, in regard to whatever was destined to meet the public eye, he
+seems to have been fearful to exhibit his own compositions, relying too
+much on the judgment of his friends, and sometimes adopted draughts
+that were exceptionable. Some parts of his private correspondence must
+have essentially differed from other parts in the style of composition.
+You mention your own aids to the General in this line. Now, if I had
+your draughts before me, mingled with the General’s to the same
+persons, nothing would be more easy than to assign to each his own
+proper offspring. You could neither restrain your _courser_, nor
+conceal your imagery, nor express your ideas otherwise than in the
+language of a scholar. The General’s compositions would be perfectly
+plain and didactic, and not always correct.”
+
+During the Presidency, scarcely anything of a public nature was penned
+by Washington,—Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and Randolph acting as his
+draughtsmen. “We are approaching the first Monday in December by hasty
+strides,” he wrote to Jefferson. “I pray you, therefore, to revolve in
+your mind such matters as may be proper for me to lay before Congress,
+not only in your own department, (if any there be,) but such others of
+a general nature, as may happen to occur to you, that I may be prepared
+to open the session with such communication, as shall appear to merit
+attention.” Two years later he said to the same, “I pray you to note
+down or rather to frame into paragraphs or sections, such matters as
+may occur to you as fit and proper for general communication at the
+opening of the next session of Congress, not only in the department of
+state, but on any other subject applicable to the occasion, that I may
+in due time have everything before me.” To Hamilton he wrote in 1795,
+“Having desired the late Secretary of State to note down every matter
+as it occurred, proper either for the speech at the opening of the
+session, or for messages afterwards, the inclosed paper contains
+everything I could extract from that office. Aid me, I pray you, with
+your sentiments on these points, and such others as may have occurred
+to you relative to my communications to Congress.”
+
+The best instance is furnished in the preparation of the Farewell
+Address. First Madison was asked to prepare a draft, and from this
+Washington drew up a paper, which he submitted to Hamilton and Jay,
+with the request that “even if you should think it best to throw the
+whole into a different form, let me request, notwithstanding, that my
+draught may be returned to me (along with yours) with such amendments
+and corrections as to render it as perfect as the formation is
+susceptible of; curtailed if too verbose; and relieved of all tautology
+not necessary to enforce the ideas in the original or quoted part. My
+wish is that the whole may appear in a plain style, and be handed to
+the public in an honest, unaffected, simple part.” Accordingly,
+Hamilton prepared what was almost a new instrument in form, though not
+in substance, which, after “several serious and attentive readings,”
+Washington wrote that he preferred “greatly to the other draughts,
+being more copious on material points, more dignified on the whole, and
+with less egotism; of course, less exposed to criticism, and better
+calculated to meet the eye of discerning readers (foreigners
+particularly, whose curiosity I have little doubt will lead them to
+inspect it attentively, and to pronounce their opinions on the
+performance).” The paper was then, according to Pickering, “put into
+the hands of Wolcott, McHenry, and myself … with a request that we
+would examine it, and note any alterations and corrections which we
+should think best. We did so; but our notes, as well as I recollect,
+were very few, and regarded chiefly the grammar and composition.”
+Finally, Washington revised the whole, and it was then made public.
+
+Confirmatory of this sense of imperfect cultivation are the pains he
+took that his adopted son and grandson should be well educated. As
+already noted, tutors for both were secured at the proper ages, and
+when Jack was placed with the Rev. Mr. Boucher, Washington wrote: “In
+respect to the kinds, & manner of his Studying I leave it wholely to
+your better Judgment—had he begun, or rather pursued his study of the
+Greek Language, I should have thought it no bad acquisition; but
+whether if he acquire this now, he may not forego some useful branches
+of learning, is a matter worthy of consideration. To be acquainted with
+the French Tongue is become part of polite Education; and to a man who
+has the prospect of mixing in a large Circle absolutely necessary.
+Without Arithmetick, the common affairs of Life are not to be managed
+with success. The study of Geometry, and the Mathematics (with due
+regard to the limites of it) is equally advantageous. The principles of
+Philosophy Moral, Natural, &c. I should think a very desirable
+knowledge for a Gentleman.” So, too, he wrote to Washington Custis, “I
+do not hear you mention anything of geography or mathematics as parts
+of your study; both these are necessary branches of useful knowledge.
+Nor ought you to let your knowledge of the Latin language and
+grammatical rules escape you. And the French language is now so
+universal, and so necessary with foreigners, or in a foreign country,
+that I think you would be injudicious not to make yourself master of
+it.” It is worth noting in connection with this last sentence that
+Washington used only a single French expression with any frequency, and
+that he always wrote “faupas.”
+
+Quite as indicative of the value he put on education was the aid he
+gave towards sending his young relatives and others to college, his
+annual contribution to an orphan school, his subscriptions to
+academies, and his wish for a national university. In 1795 he said,—
+
+“It has always been a source of serious reflection and sincere regret
+with me, that the youth of the United States should be sent to foreign
+countries for the purpose of education…. For this reason I have greatly
+wished to see a plan adopted, by which the arts, sciences, and
+belles-lettres could be taught in their _fullest_ extent, thereby
+embracing _all_ the advantages of European tuition, with the means of
+acquiring the liberal knowledge, which is necessary to qualify our
+citizens for the exigencies of public as well as private life; and
+(which with me is a consideration of great magnitude) by assembling the
+youth from the different parts of this rising republic, contributing
+from their intercourse and interchange of information to the removal of
+prejudices, which might perhaps sometimes arise from local
+circumstances.”
+
+In framing his Farewell Address, “revolving … on the various matters it
+contained and on the first expression of the advice or recommendation
+which was given in it, I have regretted that another subject (which in
+my estimation is of interesting concern to the well-being of this
+country) was not touched upon also; I mean education generally, as one
+of the surest means of enlightening and giving just ways of thinking to
+our citizens, but particularly the establishment of a university; where
+the youth from all parts of the United States might receive the polish
+of erudition in the arts, sciences and belles-lettres.” Eventually he
+reduced this idea to a plea for the people to “promote, then, as an
+object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of
+knowledge,” because “in proportion as the structure of a government
+gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion
+should be enlightened.” By his will he left to the endowment of a
+university in the District of Columbia the shares in the Potomac
+Company which had been given him by the State of Virginia, but the
+clause was never carried into effect.
+
+It was in 1745 that Washington’s school-days came to an end. His share
+of his father’s property being his mother’s till he was twenty-one, a
+livelihood had to be found, and so at about fourteen years of age the
+work of life began. Like a true boy, the lad wanted to go to sea,
+despite his uncle’s warning “that I think he had better be put
+apprentice to a tinker; for a common sailor before the mast has by no
+means the liberty of the subject; for they will press him from a ship
+where he has fifty shillings a month; and make him take twenty-three,
+and cut and slash, and use him like a negro, or rather like a dog.” His
+mother, however, would not consent, and to this was due his becoming a
+surveyor.
+
+From his “Young Man’s Companion” Washington had already learned the use
+of Gunter’s rule and how it should be used in surveying, and to
+complete his knowledge he seems to have taken lessons of the licensed
+surveyor of Westmoreland County, James Genn, for transcripts of some of
+the surveys drawn by Genn still exist in the handwriting of his pupil.
+This implied a distinct and very valuable addition to his knowledge,
+and a large number of his surveys still extant are marvels of neatness
+and careful drawing. As a profession it was followed for only four
+years (1747-1751), but all through life he often used his knowledge in
+measuring or platting his own property. Far more important is the
+service it was to him in public life. In 1755 he sent to Braddock’s
+secretary a map of the “back country,” and to the governor of Virginia
+plans of two forts. During the Revolution it helped him not merely in
+the study of maps, but also in the facility it gave him to take in the
+topographical features of the country. Very largely, too, was the
+selection of the admirable site for the capital due to his supervising:
+all the plans for the city were submitted to him, and nowhere do the
+good sense and balance of the man appear to better advantage than in
+his correspondence with the Federal city commissioners.
+
+In Washington’s earliest account-book there is an item when he was
+sixteen years old, “To cash pd ye Musick Master for my Entrance 3/9.”
+It is commonly said that he played the flute, but this is as great a
+libel on him as any Tom Paine wrote, and though he often went to
+concerts, and though fond of hearing his granddaughter Nelly play and
+sing, he never was himself a performer, and the above entry probably
+refers to the singing-master whom the boys and girls of that day made
+the excuse for evening frolics.
+
+Mention is made elsewhere of his taking lessons in the sword exercise
+from Van Braam in these earlier years, and in 1756 he paid to Sergeant
+Wood, fencing-master, the sum of £1.1.6. When he received the offer of
+a position on Braddock’s staff, he acknowledged, in accepting, that “I
+must be ingenuous enough to confess, that I am not a little biassed by
+selfish considerations. To explain, Sir, I wish earnestly to attain
+some knowledge in the military profession, and, believing a more
+favorable opportunity cannot offer, than to serve under a gentleman of
+General Braddock’s abilities and experience, it does … not a little
+contribute to influence my choice.” Hamilton is quoted as saying that
+Washington “never read any book upon the art of war but Sim’s Military
+Guide,” and an anonymous author asserted that “he never read a book in
+the art of war of higher value than Bland’s Exercises.” Certain it is
+that nearly all the military knowledge he possessed was derived from
+practice rather than from books, and though, late in life, he purchased
+a number of works on the subject, it was after his army service was
+over.
+
+One factor in Washington’s education which must not go unnoticed was
+his religious belief. When only two months old he was baptized,
+presumably by the Rev. Lawrence De Butts, the clergyman of Washington
+parish. The removal from that locality prevented any further religious
+influence from this clergyman, and it probably first came from the Rev.
+Charles Green, of Truro parish, who had received his appointment
+through the friendship of Washington’s father, and who later was on
+such friendly terms with Washington that he doctored Mrs. Washington in
+an attack of the measles, and caught and returned two of his
+parishioner’s runaway slaves. As early as 1724 the clergyman of the
+parish in which Mount Vernon was situated reported that he catechised
+the youth of his congregation “in Lent and a great part of the Summer,”
+and George, as the son of one of his vestrymen, undoubtedly received a
+due amount of questioning.
+
+From 1748 till 1759 there was little church-going for the young
+surveyor or soldier, but after his marriage and settling at Mount
+Vernon he was elected vestryman in the two parishes of Truro and
+Fairfax, and from that election he was quite active in church affairs.
+It may be worth noting that in the elections of 1765 the new vestryman
+stood third in popularity in the Truro church and fifth in that of
+Fairfax. He drew the plans for a new church in Truro, and subscribed to
+its building, intending “to lay the foundation of a family pew,” but by
+a vote of the vestry it was decided that there should be no private
+pews, and this breach of contract angered Washington so greatly that he
+withdrew from the church in 1773. Sparks quotes Madison to the effect
+that “there was a tradition that, when he [Washington] belonged to the
+vestry of a church in his neighborhood, and several little difficulties
+grew out of some division of the society, he sometimes spoke with great
+force, animation, and eloquence on the topics that came before them.”
+After this withdrawal he bought a pew in Christ Church in Alexandria
+(Fairfax parish), paying £36.10, which was the largest price paid by
+any parishioner. To this church he was quite liberal, subscribing
+several times towards repairs, etc.
+
+The Rev. Lee Massey, who was rector at Pohick (Truro) Church before the
+Revolution, is quoted by Bishop Meade as saying that
+
+“I never knew so constant an attendant in church as Washington. And his
+behavior in the house of God was ever so deeply reverential that it
+produced the happiest effect on my congregation, and greatly assisted
+me in my pulpit labors. No company ever withheld him from church. I
+have often been at Mount Vernon on Sabbath morning, when his breakfast
+table was filled with guests; but to him they furnished no pretext for
+neglecting his God and losing the satisfaction of setting a good
+example. For instead of staying at home, out of false complaisance to
+them, he used constantly to invite them to accompany him.”
+
+This seems to have been written more with an eye to its influence on
+others than to its strict accuracy. During the time Washington attended
+at Pohick Church he was by no means a regular church-goer. His daily
+“where and how my time is spent” enables us to know exactly how often
+he attended church, and in the year 1760 he went just sixteen times,
+and in 1768 he went fourteen, these years being fairly typical of the
+period 1760-1773. During the Presidency a sense of duty made him attend
+St Paul’s and Christ churches while in New York and Philadelphia, but
+at Mount Vernon, when the public eye was not upon him, he was no more
+regular than he had always been, and in the last year of his life he
+wrote, “Six days do I labor, or, in other words, take exercise and
+devote my time to various occupations in Husbandry, and about my
+mansion. On the seventh, now called the first day, for want of a place
+of Worship (within less than nine miles) such letters as do not require
+immediate acknowledgment I give answers to…. But it hath so happened,
+that on the two last Sundays—call them the first or the seventh as you
+please, I have been unable to perform the latter duty on account of
+visits from Strangers, with whom I could not use the freedom to leave
+alone, or recommend to the care of each other, for their amusement.”
+
+What he said here was more or less typical of his whole life. Sunday
+was always the day on which he wrote his private letters,—even prepared
+his invoices,—and he wrote to one of his overseers that his letters
+should be mailed so as to reach him Saturday, as by so doing they could
+be answered the following day. Nor did he limit himself to this, for he
+entertained company, closed land purchases, sold wheat, and, while a
+Virginia planter, went foxhunting, on Sunday. It is to be noted,
+however, that he considered the scruples of others as to the day. When
+he went among his western tenants, rent-collecting, he entered in his
+diary that, it “being Sunday and the People living on my Land
+_apparently_ very religious, it was thought best to postpone going
+among them till to-morrow,” and in his journey through New England,
+because it was “contrary to the law and disagreeable to the People of
+this State (Connecticut) to travel on the Sabbath day—and my horses,
+after passing through such intolerable roads, wanting rest, I stayed at
+Perkins’ tavern (which, by the bye, is not a good one) all day—and a
+meetinghouse being within a few rods of the door, I attended the
+morning and evening services, and heard very lame discourses from a Mr.
+Pond.” It is of this experience that tradition says the President
+started to travel, but was promptly arrested by a Connecticut
+tithing-man. The story, however, lacks authentication.
+
+There can be no doubt that religious intolerance was not a part of
+Washington’s character. In 1775, when the New England troops intended
+to celebrate Guy Fawkes day, as usual, the General Orders declared that
+“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 of common sense,
+as not to see the impropriety of such a step.” When trying to secure
+some servants, too, he wrote that “if they are good workmen, they may
+be from Asia, Africa, or Europe; they may be Mahometans, Jews, or
+Christians of any sect, or they may be Atheists.” When the bill taxing
+all the people of Virginia to support the Episcopal Church (his own)
+was under discussion, he threw his weight against it, as far as
+concerned the taxing of other sectaries, but adding:
+
+“Although no man’s sentiments are more opposed to any kind of restraint
+upon religious principles than mine are, yet I must confess, that I am
+not amongst the number of those, who are so much alarmed at the
+thoughts of making people pay towards the support of that which they
+profess, if of the denomination, of Christians, or to declare
+themselves Jews, Mahometans, or otherwise, and thereby obtain proper
+relief. As the matter now stands, I wish an assessment had never been
+agitated, and as it has gone so far, that the bill could die an easy
+death; because I think it will be productive of more quiet to the
+State, than by enacting it into a law, which in my opinion would be
+impolitic, admitting there is a decided majority for it, to the
+disquiet of a respectable minority. In the former case, the matter will
+soon subside; in the latter, it will rankle and perhaps convulse the
+State.”
+
+Again in a letter he says,—
+
+“Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which
+are caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the
+most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was
+in hopes, that the lightened and liberal policy, which has marked the
+present age, would at least have reconciled _Christians_ of every
+denomination so far, that we should never again see their religious
+disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”
+
+And to Lafayette, alluding to the proceedings of the Assembly of
+Notables, he wrote,—
+
+“I am not less ardent in my wish, that you may succeed in your plan of
+toleration in religious matters. Being no bigot myself, I am disposed
+to indulge the professors of Christianity in the church with that road
+to Heaven, which to them shall seem the most direct, plainest, easiest,
+and least liable to exception.”
+
+What Washington believed has been a source of much dispute. Jefferson
+states “that Gouverneur Morris, who pretended to be in his secrets, and
+believed himself to be so, has often told me that General Washington
+believed no more of that system than he himself did,” and Morris, it is
+scarcely necessary to state, was an atheist. The same authority quotes
+Rush, to the effect that “when the clergy addressed General Washington
+on his departure from the government, it was observed in their
+consultation, that he had never, on any occasion, said a word to the
+public which showed a belief in the Christian religion, and they
+thought they should so pen their address, as to force him at length to
+declare publicly whether he was a Christian or not They did so. But, he
+observed, the old fox was too cunning for them. He answered every
+article of their address particularly except that, which he passed over
+without notice.”
+
+Whatever his belief, in all public ways Washington threw his influence
+in favor of religion, and kept what he really believed a secret, and in
+only one thing did he disclose his real thoughts. It is asserted that
+before the Revolution he partook of the sacrament, but this is only
+affirmed by hearsay, and better evidence contradicts it. After that war
+he did not, it is certain. Nelly Custis states that on “communion
+Sundays he left the church with me, after the blessing, and returned
+home, and we sent the carriage back for my grandmother.” And the
+assistant minister of Christ Church in Philadelphia states that—
+
+“Observing that on Sacrament Sundays, Gen’l Washington, immediately
+after the Desk and Pulpit services, went out with the greater part of
+the congregation, always leaving Mrs. Washington with the communicants,
+she _invariably_ being one, I considered it my duty, in a sermon on
+Public Worship, to state the unhappy tendency of _example_,
+particularly those in elevated stations, who invariably turned their
+backs upon the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. I acknowledge the
+remark was intended for the President, as such, he received it. A few
+days after, in conversation with, I believe, a Senator of the U.S. he
+told me he had dined the day before with the President, who in the
+course of the conversation at the table, said, that on the preceding
+Sunday, he had received a very just reproof from the pulpit, for always
+leaving the church before the administration of the Sacrament; that he
+honored the preacher for his integrity and candour; that he had never
+considered the influence of his example; that he would never again give
+cause for the repetition of the reproof; and that, as he had never been
+a communicant, were he to become one then, it would be imputed to an
+ostentatious display of religious zeal arising altogether from his
+elevated station. Accordingly he afterwards never came on the morning
+of Sacrament Sunday, tho’ at other times, a constant attendant in the
+morning.”
+
+Nelly Custis, too, tells us that Washington always “stood during the
+devotional part of the service,” and Bishop White states that “his
+behavior was always serious and attentive; but, as your letter seems to
+intend an inquiry on the point of kneeling during the service, I owe it
+to the truth to declare, that I never saw him in the said attitude.”
+Probably his true position is described by Madison, who is quoted as
+saying that he did “not suppose that Washington had ever attended to
+the arguments for Christianity, and for the different systems of
+religion, or in fact that he had formed definite opinions on the
+subject. But he took these things as he found them existing, and was
+constant in his observances of worship according to the received forms
+of the Episcopal Church, in which he was brought up.”
+
+If there was proof needed that it is mind and not education which
+pushes a man to the front, it is to be found in the case of Washington.
+Despite his want of education, he had, so Bell states, “an excellent
+understanding.” Patrick Henry is quoted as saying of the members of the
+Congress of 1774— the body of which Adams claimed that “every man in it
+is a great man, an orator, a critic, a statesman”—that “if you speak of
+solid information and sound judgment Colonel Washington is
+unquestionably the greatest man on the floor;” while Jefferson asserted
+that “his mind was great and powerful, without being of the very first
+order; his penetration strong, though not so acute as that of a Newton,
+Bacon, or Locke; and as far as he saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It
+was slow in operation, being little aided by invention or imagination,
+but sure in conclusion.”
+
+
+
+
+IV
+RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX
+
+
+The book from which Washington derived almost the whole of his
+education warned its readers,—
+
+“Young Men have ever more a special care
+That Womanish Allurements prove not a snare;”
+
+
+but, however carefully the lad studied the rest, this particular
+admonition took little root in his mind. There can be no doubt that
+Washington during the whole of his life had a soft heart for women, and
+especially for good-looking ones, and both in his personal intercourse
+and in his letters he shows himself very much more at ease with them
+than in his relations with his own sex. Late in life, when the strong
+passions of his earlier years were under better control, he was able to
+write,—
+
+“Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore,
+contended that it cannot be resisted. This is true in part only, for
+like all things else, when nourished and supplied plentifully with
+aliment, it is rapid in its progress; but let these be withdrawn and it
+may be stifled in its birth or much stinted in its growth. For example,
+a woman (the same may be said of the other sex) all beautiful and
+accomplished will, while her hand and heart are undisposed of, turn the
+heads and set the circle in which she moves on fire. Let her marry, and
+what is the consequence? The madness _ceases_ and all is quiet again.
+Why? not because there is any diminution in the charms of the lady, but
+because there is an end of hope. Hence it follows, that love may and
+therefore ought to be under the guidance of reason, for although we
+cannot avoid first impressions, we may assuredly place them under
+guard.”
+
+To write thus in one’s sixty-sixth year and to practise one’s theory in
+youth were, however, very different undertakings. Even while discussing
+love so philosophically, the writer had to acknowledge that “in the
+composition of the human frame, there is a good deal of inflammable
+matter,” and few have had better cause to know it. When he saw in the
+premature engagement of his ward, Jack Custis, the one advantage that
+it would “in a great measure avoid those little flirtations with other
+young ladies that may, by dividing the attention, contribute not a
+little to divide the affection,” it is easy to think of him as looking
+back to his own boyhood, and remembering, it is to be hoped with a
+smile, the sufferings he owed to pretty faces and neatly turned ankles.
+
+While still a school-boy, Washington was one day caught “romping with
+one of the largest girls,” and very quickly more serious likings
+followed. As early as 1748, when only sixteen years of age, his heart
+was so engaged that while at Lord Fairfax’s and enjoying the society of
+Mary Cary he poured out his feelings to his youthful correspondents
+“Dear Robin” and “Dear John” and “Dear Sally” as follows:
+
+“My place of Residence is at present at His Lordships where I might was
+my heart disengag’d pass my time very pleasantly as theres a very
+agreeable Young Lady Lives in the same house (Colo George Fairfax’s
+Wife’s Sister) but as thats only adding Fuel to fire it makes me the
+more uneasy for by often and unavoidably being in Company with her
+revives my former Passion for your Low Land Beauty whereas was I to
+live more retired from young Women I might in some measure eliviate my
+sorrows by burying that chast and troublesome Passion in the grave of
+oblivion or etarnall forgetfulness for as I am very well assured thats
+the only antidote or remedy that I shall be releivd by or only recess
+that can administer any cure or help to me as I am well convinced was I
+ever to attempt any thing I should only get a denial which would be
+only adding grief to uneasiness.”
+
+“Was my affections disengaged I might perhaps form some pleasure in the
+conversation of an agreeable Young Lady as theres one now Lives in the
+same house with me but as that is only nourishment to my former affecn
+for by often seeing her brings the other into my remembrance whereas
+perhaps was she not often & (unavoidably) presenting herself to my view
+I might in some measure aliviate my sorrows by burying the other in the
+grave of Oblivion I am well convinced my heart stands in defiance of
+all others but only she thats given it cause enough to dread a second
+assault and from a different Quarter tho’ I well know let it have as
+many attacks as it will from others they cant be more fierce than it
+has been.”
+
+“I Pass the time of[f] much more agreeabler than what I imagined I
+should as there’s a very agrewable Young Lady lives in the same house
+where I reside (Colo George Fairfax’s Wife’s Sister) that in a great
+Measure cheats my thoughts altogether from your Parts I could wish to
+be with you down there with all my heart but as it is a thing almost
+Impractakable shall rest myself where I am with hopes of shortly having
+some Minutes of your transactions in your Parts which will be very
+welcomely receiv’d.”
+
+Who this “Low Land Beauty” was has been the source of much speculation,
+but the question is still unsolved, every suggested damsel—Lucy Grymes,
+Mary Bland, Betsy Fauntleroy, _et al._—being either impossible or the
+evidence wholly inadequate. But in the same journal which contains the
+draughts of these letters is a motto poem—
+
+“Twas Perfect Love before
+But Now I do adore”—
+
+
+followed by the words “Young M.A. his W[ife?],” and as it was a fashion
+of the time to couple the initials of one’s well-beloved with such
+sentiments, a slight clue is possibly furnished. Nor was this the only
+rhyme that his emotions led to his inscribing in his journal: and he
+confided to it the following:
+
+“Oh Ye Gods why should my Poor Resistless Heart
+    Stand to oppose thy might and Power
+At Last surrender to cupids feather’d Dart
+    And now lays Bleeding every Hour
+For her that’s Pityless of my grief and Woes
+    And will not on me Pity take
+He sleep amongst my most inveterate Foes
+    And with gladness never wish to wake
+In deluding sleepings let my Eyelids close
+    That in an enraptured Dream I may
+In a soft lulling sleep and gentle repose
+    Possess those joys denied by Day.”
+
+
+However woe-begone the young lover was, he does not seem to have been
+wholly lost to others of the sex, and at this same time he was able to
+indite an acrostic to another charmer, which, if incomplete,
+nevertheless proves that there was a “midland” beauty as well, the lady
+being presumptively some member of the family of Alexanders, who had a
+plantation near Mount Vernon.
+
+“From your bright sparkling Eyes I was undone;
+Rays, you have; more transperent than the Sun.
+Amidst its glory in the rising Day
+None can you equal in your bright array;
+Constant in your calm and unspotted Mind;
+Equal to all, but will to none Prove kind,
+So knowing, seldom one so Young, you’l Find.
+
+Ah! woe’s me, that I should Love and conceal
+Long have I wish’d, but never dare reveal,
+Even though severely Loves Pains I feel;
+Xerxes that great, was’t free from Cupids Dart,
+And all the greatest Heroes, felt the smart.”
+
+
+When visiting Barbadoes, in 1751, Washington noted in his journal his
+meeting a Miss Roberts, “an agreeable young lady,” and later he went
+with her to see some fireworks on Guy Fawkes day. Apparently, however,
+the ladies of that island made little impression on him, for he further
+noted, “The Ladys Generally are very agreeable but by ill custom or
+w[ha]t effect the Negro style.” This sudden insensibility is explained
+by a letter he wrote to William Fauntleroy a few weeks after his return
+to Virginia:
+
+“Sir: I should have been down long before this, but my business in
+Frederick detained me somewhat longer than I expected, and immediately
+upon my return from thence I was taken with a violent Pleurise, but
+purpose as soon as I recover my strength, to wait on Miss Betsy, in
+hopes of a revocation of the former cruel sentence, and see if I can
+meet with any alteration in my favor. I have enclosed a letter to her,
+which should be much obliged to you for the delivery of it. I have
+nothing to add but my best respects to your good lady and family, and
+that I am, Sir, Your most ob’t humble serv’t.”
+
+Because of this letter it has been positively asserted that Betsy
+Fauntleroy was the Low-Land Beauty of the earlier time; but as
+Washington wrote of his love for the latter in 1748, when Betsy was
+only eleven, the absurdity of the claim is obvious.
+
+In 1753, while on his mission to deliver the governor’s letter to the
+French, one duty which fell to the young soldier was a visit to
+royalty, in the person of Queen Aliquippa, an Indian majesty who had
+“expressed great Concern” that she had formerly been slighted.
+Washington records that “I made her a Present of a Match-coat and a
+Bottle of Rum; which latter was thought much the best Present of the
+Two,” and thus (externally and internally) restored warmth to her
+majesty’s feelings.
+
+When returned from his first campaign, and resting at Mount Vernon, the
+time seems to have been beguiled by some charmer, for one of
+Washington’s officers and intimates writes from Williamsburg, “I
+imagine you By this time plung’d in the midst of delight heaven can
+afford & enchanted By Charmes even Stranger to the Ciprian Dame,” and a
+footnote by the same hand only excites further curiosity concerning
+this latter personage by indefinitely naming her as “Mrs. Neil.”
+
+With whatever heart-affairs the winter was passed, with the spring the
+young man’s fancy turned not to love, but again to war, and only when
+the defeat of Braddock brought Washington back to Mount Vernon to
+recover from the fatigues of that campaign was his intercourse with the
+gentler sex resumed. Now, however, he was not merely a good-looking
+young fellow, but was a hero who had had horses shot from under him and
+had stood firm when scarlet-coated men had run away. No longer did he
+have to sue for the favor of the fair ones, and Fairfax wrote him that
+“if a Satterday Nights Rest cannot be sufficient to enable your coming
+hither to-morrow, the Lady’s will try to get Horses to equip our Chair
+or attempt their strength on Foot to Salute you, so desirous are they
+with loving Speed to have an occular Demonstration of your being the
+same Identical Gent—that lately departed to defend his Country’s
+Cause.” Furthermore, to this letter was appended the following:
+
+“DEAR SIR,—After thanking Heaven for your safe return I must accuse you
+of great unkindness in refusing us the pleasure of seeing you this
+night. I do assure you nothing but our being satisfied that our company
+would be disagreeable should prevent us from trying if our Legs would
+not carry us to Mount Vernon this night, but if you will not come to us
+to-morrow morning very early we shall be at Mount Vernon.
+
+“S[ALLY] FAIRFAX,
+“ANN SPEARING.
+“ELIZ’TH DENT.”
+
+
+Nor is this the only feminine postscript of this time, for in the
+postscript of a letter from Archibald Cary, a leading Virginian, he is
+told that “Mrs. Cary & Miss Randolph joyn in wishing you that sort of
+Glory which will most Indear you to the Fair Sex.”
+
+In 1756 Washington had occasion to journey on military business to
+Boston, and both in coming and in going he tarried in New York, passing
+ten days in his first visit and about a week on his return. This time
+was spent with a Virginian friend, Beverly Robinson, who had had the
+good luck to marry Susannah Philipse, a daughter of Frederick Philipse,
+one of the largest landed proprietors of the colony of New York. Here
+he met the sister, Mary Philipse, then a girl of twenty-five, and,
+short as was the time, it was sufficient to engage his heart. To this
+interest no doubt are due the entries in his accounts of sundry pounds
+spent “for treating Ladies,” and for the large tailors’ bills then
+incurred. But neither treats nor clothes won the lady, who declined his
+proposals, and gave her heart two years later to Lieutenant-Colonel
+Roger Morris. A curious sequel to this disappointment was the accident
+that made the Roger Morris house Washington’s head-quarters in 1776,
+both Morris and his wife being fugitive Tories. Again Washington was a
+chance visitor in 1790, when, as part of a picnic, he “dined on a
+dinner provided by Mr. Marriner at the House lately Colo. Roger Morris,
+but confiscated and in the occupation of a common Farmer.”
+
+
+[Illustration: MARY PHILIPSE]
+
+
+It has been asserted that Washington loved the wife of his friend
+George William Fairfax, but the evidence has not been produced. On the
+contrary, though the two corresponded, it was in a purely platonic
+fashion, very different from the strain of lovers, and that the
+correspondence implied nothing is to be found in the fact that he and
+Sally Carlyle (another Fairfax daughter) also wrote each other quite as
+frequently and on the same friendly footing; indeed, Washington
+evidently classed them in the same category, when he stated that “I
+have wrote to my two female correspondents.” Thus the claim seems due,
+like many another of Washington’s mythical love-affairs, rather to the
+desire of descendants to link their family “to a star” than to more
+substantial basis. Washington did, indeed, write to Sally Fairfax from
+the frontier, “I should think our time more agreeably spent, believe
+me, in playing a part in Cato, with the company you mention, and myself
+doubly happy in being the Juba to such a Marcia, as you must make,” but
+private theatricals then no more than now implied “passionate love.”
+What is more, Mrs. Fairfax was at this very time teasing him about
+another woman, and to her hints Washington replied,—
+
+“If you allow that any honor can be derived from my opposition … you
+destroy the merit of it entirely in me by attributing my anxiety to the
+animating prospect of possessing Mrs. Custis, when—I need not tell you,
+guess yourself. Should not my own Honor and country’s welfare be the
+excitement? ’Tis true I profess myself a votary of love. I acknowledge
+that a lady is in the case, and further I confess that this lady is
+known to you. Yes, Madame, as well as she is to one who is too sensible
+of her charms to deny the Power whose influence he feels and must ever
+submit to. I feel the force of her amiable beauties in the recollection
+of a thousand tender passages that I could wish to obliterate, till I
+am bid to revive them. But experience, alas! sadly reminds me how
+impossible this is, and evinces an opinion which I have long
+entertained that there is a Destiny which has the control of our
+actions, not to be resisted by the strongest efforts of Human Nature.
+You have drawn me, dear Madame, or rather I have drawn myself, into an
+honest confession of a simple Fact. Misconstrue not my meaning; doubt
+it not, nor expose it. The world has no business to know the object of
+my Love, declared in this manner to you, when I want to conceal it. One
+thing above all things in this world I wish to know, and only one
+person of your acquaintance can solve me that, or guess my meaning.”
+
+The love-affair thus alluded to had begun in March, 1758, when ill
+health had taken Washington to Williamsburg to consult physicians,
+thinking, indeed, of himself as a doomed man. In this trip he met Mrs.
+Martha (Dandridge) Custis, widow of Daniel Parke Custis, one of the
+wealthiest planters of the colony. She was at this time twenty-six
+years of age, or Washington’s senior by nine months, and had been a
+widow but seven, yet in spite of this fact, and of his own expected
+“decay,” he pressed his love-making with an impetuosity akin to that
+with which he had urged his suit of Miss Philipse, and (widows being
+proverbial) with better success. The invalid had left Mount Vernon on
+March 5, and by April 1 he was back at Fort Loudon, an engaged man,
+having as well so far recovered his health as to be able to join his
+command. Early in May he ordered a ring from Philadelphia, at a cost of
+£2.16.0; soon after receiving it he found that army affairs once more
+called him down to Williamsburg, and, as love-making is generally
+considered a military duty, the excuse was sufficient. But sterner
+duties on the frontier were awaiting him, and very quickly he was back
+there and writing to his _fiancée_,—
+
+“We have begun our march for the Ohio. A courier is starting for
+Williamsburg, and I embrace the opportunity to send a few words to one
+whose life is now inseparable from mine. Since that happy hour when we
+made our pledges to each other, my thoughts have been continually going
+to you as another Self. That an all-powerful Providence may keep us
+both in safety is the prayer of your ever faithful and affectionate
+friend.”
+
+Five months after this letter was written, Washington was able to date
+another from Fort Duquesne, and, the fall of that post putting an end
+to his military service, only four weeks later he was back in
+Williamsburg, and on January 6, 1759, he was married.
+
+Very little is really known of his wife, beyond the facts that she was
+petite, over-fond, hot-tempered, obstinate, and a poor speller. In 1778
+she was described as “a sociable, pretty kind of woman,” and she seems
+to have been but little more. One who knew her well described her as
+“not possessing much sense, though a perfect lady and remarkably well
+calculated for her position,” and confirmatory of this is the opinion
+of an English traveller that “there was nothing remarkable in the
+person of the lady of the President; she was matronly and kind, with
+perfect good breeding.” None the less she satisfied Washington; even
+after the proverbial six months were over he refused to wander from
+Mount Vernon, writing that “I am now, I believe, fixed at this seat
+with an agreeable Consort for life,” and in 1783 he spoke of her as the
+“partner of all my Domestic enjoyments.”
+
+John Adams, in one of his recurrent moods of bitterness and jealousy
+towards Washington, demanded, “Would Washington have ever been
+commander of the revolutionary army or president of the United States
+if he had not married the rich widow of Mr. Custis?” To ask such a
+question is to overlook the fact that Washington’s colonial military
+fame was entirely achieved before his marriage. It is not to be denied
+that the match was a good one from a worldly point of view, Mrs.
+Washington’s third of the Custis property equalling “fifteen thousand
+acres of land, a good part of it adjoining the city of Williamsburg;
+several lots in the said city; between two and three hundred negroes;
+and about eight or ten thousand pounds upon bond,” estimated at the
+time as about twenty thousand pounds in all, which was further
+increased on the death of Patsy Custis in 1773 by a half of her
+fortune, which added ten thousand pounds to the sum. Nevertheless the
+advantage was fairly equal, for Mrs. Custis’s lawyer had written before
+her marriage of the impossibility of her managing the property,
+advising that she “employ a trusty steward, and as the estate is large
+and very extensive, it is Mr. Wallers and my own opinion, that you had
+better not engage any but a very able man, though he should require
+large wages.” Of the management of this property, to which, indeed, she
+was unequal, Washington entirely relieved her, taking charge also of
+her children’s share and acting for their interests with the same care
+with which he managed the part he was more directly concerned in.
+
+He further saved her much of the detail of ordering her own clothing,
+and we find him sending for “A Salmon-colored Tabby of the enclosed
+pattern, with satin flowers, to be made in a sack,” “1 Cap,
+Handkerchief, Tucker and Ruffles, to be made of Brussels lace or point,
+proper to wear with the above negligee, to cost £20,” “1 pair black,
+and 1 pair white Satin Shoes, of the smallest,” and “1 black mask.”
+Again he writes his London agent, “Mrs. Washington sends home a green
+sack to get cleaned, or fresh dyed of the same color; made up into a
+handsome sack again, would be her choice; but if the cloth won’t afford
+that, then to be thrown into a genteel Night Gown.” At another time he
+wants a pair of clogs, and when the wrong kind are sent he writes that
+“she intended to have leathern Gloshoes.” When she was asked to present
+a pair of colors to a company, he attended to every detail of obtaining
+the flag, and when “Mrs. Washington … perceived the Tomb of her Father
+… to be much out of Sorts” he wrote to get a workman to repair it. The
+care of the Mount Vernon household proving beyond his wife’s ability, a
+housekeeper was very quickly engaged, and when one who filled this
+position was on the point of leaving, Washington wrote his agent to
+find another without the least delay, for the vacancy would “throw a
+great additional weight on Mrs. Washington;” again, writing in another
+domestic difficulty, “Your aunt’s distresses for want of a good
+housekeeper are such as to render the wages demanded by Mrs. Forbes
+(though unusually high) of no consideration.” Her letters of form,
+which required better orthography than she was mistress of, he
+draughted for her, pen-weary though he was.
+
+It has already been shown how he fathered her “little progeny,” as he
+once called them. Mrs. Washington was a worrying mother, as is shown by
+a letter to her sister, speaking of a visit in which “I carried my
+little patt with me and left Jacky at home for a trial to see how well
+I could stay without him though we were gon but wone fortnight I was
+quite impatient to get home. If I at aney time heard the doggs barke or
+a noise out, I thought thair was a person sent for me. I often fancied
+he was sick or some accident had happened to him so that I think it is
+impossible for me to leave him as long as Mr. Washington must stay when
+he comes down.” To spare her anxiety, therefore, when the time came for
+“Jacky” to be inoculated, Washington “withheld from her the information
+… & purpose, if possible, to keep her in total ignorance … till I hear
+of his return, or perfect recovery;… she having often wished that Jack
+wou’d take & go through the disorder without her knowing of it, that
+she might escape those Tortures which suspense wd throw her into.” And
+on the death of Patsy he wrote, “This sudden and unexpected blow, I
+scarce need add has almost reduced my poor Wife to the lowest ebb of
+Misery; which is encreas’d by the absence of her son.”
+
+When Washington left Mount Vernon, in May, 1775, to attend the
+Continental Congress, he did not foresee his appointment as
+commander-in-chief, and as soon as it occurred he wrote his wife,—
+
+“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 for the
+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 Patsey, when I assure 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 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…. I shall feel no pain from the toil or danger of the campaign;
+my unhappiness will flow from the uneasiness I know you will feel from
+being left alone.”
+
+To prevent this loneliness as far as possible, he wrote at the same
+time to different members of the two families as follows:
+
+“My great concern upon this occasion is, the thought of leaving your
+mother under the uneasiness which I fear this affair will throw her
+into; I therefore hope, expect, and indeed have no doubt, of your using
+every means in your power to keep up her spirits, by doing everything
+in your power to promote her quiet. I have, I must confess, very uneasy
+feelings on her account, but as it has been a kind of unavoidable
+necessity which has led me into this appointment, I shall more readily
+hope that success will attend it and crown our meetings with
+happiness.”
+
+“I entreat you and Mrs. Bassett if possible to visit at Mt. Vernon, as
+also my wife’s other friends. I could wish you to take her down, as I
+have no expectation of returning till winter & feel great uneasiness at
+her lonesome situation.”
+
+“I shall hope that my friends will visit and endeavor to keep up the
+spirits of my wife, as much as they can, as my departure will, I know,
+be a cutting stroke upon her; and on this account alone I have many
+very disagreeable sensations. I hope you and my sister, (although the
+distance is great), will find as much leisure this summer as to spend a
+little time at Mount Vernon.”
+
+When, six months later, the war at Boston settled into a mere siege,
+Washington wrote that “seeing no prospect of returning to my family and
+friends this winter, I have sent an invitation to Mrs. Washington to
+come to me,” adding, “I have laid a state of difficulties, however,
+which must attend the journey before her, and left it to her own
+choice.” His wife replied in the affirmative, and one of Washington’s
+aides presently wrote concerning some prize goods to the effect that
+“There are limes, lemons and oranges on board, which, being perishable,
+you must sell immediately. The General will want some of each, as well
+of the sweetmeats and pickles that are on board, as his lady will be
+here to-day or to-morrow. You will please to pick up such things on
+board as you think will be acceptable to her, and send them as soon as
+possible; he does not mean to receive anything without payment.”
+
+Lodged at head-quarters, then the Craigie house in Cambridge, the
+discomforts of war were reduced to a minimum, but none the less it was
+a trying time to Mrs. Washington, who complained that she could not get
+used to the distant cannonading, and she marvelled that those about her
+paid so little heed to it. With the opening of the campaign in the
+following summer she returned to Mount Vernon, but when the army was
+safely in winter quarters at Valley Forge she once more journeyed
+northward, a trip alluded to by Washington in a letter to Jack, as
+follows: “Your Mamma is not yet arrived, but … expected every hour. [My
+aide] Meade set off yesterday (as soon as I got notice of her
+intention) to meet her. We are in a dreary kind of place, and
+uncomfortably provided.” And of this reunion Mrs. Washington wrote, “I
+came to this place, some time about the first of February where I found
+the General very well,… in camp in what is called the great valley on
+the Banks of the Schuylkill. Officers and men are chiefly in Hutts,
+which they say is tolerably comfortable; the army are as healthy as can
+be well expected in general. The General’s apartment is very small; he
+has had a log cabin built to dine in, which has made our quarters much
+more tolerable than they were at first”
+
+Such “winterings” became the regular custom, and brief references in
+various letters serve to illustrate them. Thus, in 1779, Washington
+informed a friend that “Mrs. Washington, according to custom marched
+home when the campaign was about to open;” in July, 1782, he noted that
+his wife “sets out this day for Mount Vernon,” and later in the same
+year he wrote, “as I despair of seeing my home this Winter, I have sent
+for Mrs. Washington;” and finally, in a letter he draughted for his
+wife, he made her describe herself as “a kind of perambulator, during
+eight or nine years of the war.”
+
+Another pleasant glimpse during these stormy years is the couple,
+during a brief stay in Philadelphia, being entertained almost to death,
+described as follows by Franklin’s daughter in a letter to her father:
+“I have lately been several times abroad with the General and Mrs.
+Washington. He always inquires after you in the most affectionate
+manner, and speaks of you highly. We danced at Mrs. Powell’s your
+birthday, or night I should say, in company together, and he told me it
+was the anniversary of his marriage; it was just twenty years that
+night” Again there was junketing in Philadelphia after the surrender at
+Yorktown, and one bit of this is shadowed in a line from Washington to
+Robert Morris, telling the latter that “Mrs. Washington, myself and
+family, will have the honor of dining with you in the way proposed,
+to-morrow, being Christmas day.”
+
+With the retirement to Mount Vernon at the close of the war, little
+more companionship was obtained, for, as already stated, Washington
+could only describe his home henceforth as a “well resorted tavern,”
+and two years after his return he entered in his diary, “Dined with
+only Mrs. Washington which I believe is the first instance of it since
+my retirement from public life.”
+
+Even this was only a furlough, for in six years they were both in
+public life again. Mrs. Washington was inclined to sulk over the
+necessary restraints of official life, writing to a friend, “Mrs. Sins
+will give you a better account of the fashions than I can—I live a very
+dull life hear and know nothing that passes in the town—I never goe to
+any public place—indeed I think I am more like a State prisoner than
+anything else; there is certain bounds set for me which I must not
+depart from—and as I cannot doe as I like, I am obstinate and stay at
+home a great deal.”
+
+
+[Illustration: MRS. DANIEL PARKE CUSTIS, LATER MRS. WASHINGTON]
+
+
+None the less she did her duties well, and in these “Lady Washington”
+was more at home, for, according to Thacher, she combined “in an
+uncommon degree, great dignity of manner with most pleasing
+affability,” though possessing “no striking marks of beauty,” and there
+is no doubt that she lightened Washington’s shoulders of social demands
+materially. At the receptions of Mrs. Washington, which were held every
+Friday evening, so a contemporary states, “the President did not
+consider himself as visited. On these occasions he appeared as a
+private gentleman, with neither hat nor sword, conversing without
+restraint.”
+
+From other formal society Mrs. Washington also saved her husband, for a
+visitor on New Year’s tells of her setting “‘the General’ (by which
+title she always designated her husband)” at liberty: “Mrs. Washington
+had stood by his side as the visitors arrived and were presented, and
+when the clock in the hall was heard striking nine, she advanced and
+with a complacent smile said, ‘The General always retires at nine, and
+I usually precede him,’ upon which all arose, made their parting
+salutations, and withdrew.” Nor was it only from the fatigues of formal
+entertaining that the wife saved her husband, Washington writing in
+1793, “We remain in Philadelphia until the 10th instant. It was my wish
+to have continued there longer; but as Mrs. Washington was unwilling to
+leave me surrounded by the malignant fever which prevailed, I could not
+think of hazarding her, and the Children any longer by _my_ continuance
+in the City, the house in which we live being in a manner blockaded by
+the disorder, and was becoming every day more and more fatal; I
+therefore came off with them.”
+
+Finally from these “scenes more busy, tho’ not more happy, than the
+tranquil enjoyment of rural life,” they returned to Mount Vernon,
+hoping that in the latter their “days will close.” Not quite three
+years of this life brought an end to their forty years of married life.
+On the night that Washington’s illness first became serious his
+secretary narrates that “Between 2 and 3 o’clk on Saturday morning he
+[Washington] awoke Mrs. Washington & told her he was very unwell, and
+had had an ague. She … would have got up to call a servant; but he
+would not permit her lest she should take cold.” As a consequence of
+this care for her, her husband lay for nearly four hours in a chill in
+a cold bedroom before receiving any attention, or before even a fire
+was lighted. When death came, she said, “Tis well—All is now over—I
+have no more trials to pass through—I shall soon follow him.” In his
+will he left “to my dearly beloved wife” the use of his whole property,
+and named her an executrix.
+
+As a man’s views of matrimony are more or less colored by his personal
+experience, what Washington had to say on the institution is of
+interest. As concerned himself he wrote to his nephew, “If Mrs.
+Washington should survive me, there is a moral certainty of my dying
+without issue: and should I be the longest liver, the matter in my
+opinion, is hardly less certain; for while I retain the faculty of
+reasoning, I shall never marry a girl; and it is not probable that I
+should have children by a woman of an age suitable to my own, should I
+be disposed to enter into a second marriage.” And in a less personal
+sense he wrote to Chastellux,—
+
+“In reading your very friendly and acceptable letter,… I was, as you
+may well suppose, not less delighted than surprised to meet the plain
+American words, ‘my 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. Now 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 same, like the small pox or the plague, a man can have
+only once in his life; because it commonly lasts him (at least with us
+in America—I don’t know how you manage these matters in France) for his
+whole life time. And yet after all the maledictions you so richly merit
+on the subject, the worst wish which I can find in my heart to make
+against Madame de Chastellux and yourself is, that you may neither of
+you ever get the better of this same domestic felicity during the
+entire course of your mortal existence.”
+
+Furthermore, he wrote to an old friend, whose wife stubbornly refused
+to sign a deed, “I think, any Gentleman, possessed of but a very
+moderate degree of influence with his wife, might, in the course of
+five or six years (for I think it is at least that time) have prevailed
+upon her to do an act of justice, in fulfiling his Bargains and
+complying with his wishes, if he had been really in earnest in
+requesting the matter of her; especially, as the inducement which you
+thought would have a powerful operation on Mrs. Alexander, namely the
+birth of a child, has been doubled, and tripled.”
+
+However well Washington thought of “the honorable state,” he was no
+match-maker, and when asked to give advice to the widow of Jack Custis,
+replied, “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 advise 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 disapprobation, 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.’” Again he wrote:
+
+“It has ever been a maxim with me through life, neither to promote nor
+to prevent a matrimonial connection, unless there should be something
+indispensably requiring interference in the latter. I have always
+considered marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life, the
+foundation of happiness or misery. To be instrumental therefore in
+bringing two people together, who are indifferent to each other, and
+may soon become objects of disgust; or to prevent a union, which is
+prompted by the affections of the mind, is what I never could reconcile
+with reason, and therefore neither directly nor indirectly have I ever
+said a word to Fanny or George, upon the subject of their intended
+connection.”
+
+The question whether Washington was a faithful husband might well be
+left to the facts already given, were it not that stories of his
+immorality are bandied about in clubs, a well-known clergyman has
+vouched for their truth, and a United States senator has given further
+currency to them by claiming special knowledge on the subject. Since
+such are the facts, it seems best to consider the question and show
+what evidence there actually is for these stories, that at least the
+pretended “letters,” etc., which are always being cited, and are never
+produced, may no longer have credence put in them, and the true basis
+for all the stories may be known and valued at its worth.
+
+In the year 1776 there was printed in London a small pamphlet entitled
+“Minutes of the Trial and Examination of Certain Persons in the
+Province of New York,” which purported to be the records of the
+examination of the conspirators of the “Hickey plot” (to murder
+Washington) before a committee of the Provincial Congress of New York.
+The manuscript of this was claimed in the preface to have been
+“discovered (on the late capture of New York by the British troops)
+among the papers of a person who appears to have been secretary to the
+committee.” As part of the evidence the following was printed:
+
+“William Cooper, soldier, sworn.
+
+“Court. Inform us what conversation you heard at the Serjeant’s Arms?
+
+“Cooper. Being there the 21st of May, I heard John Clayford inform the
+company, that Mary Gibbons was thoroughly in their interest, and that
+the whole would be safe. I learnt from enquiry that Mary Gibbons was a
+girl from New Jersey, of whom General Washington was very fond, that he
+maintained her genteelly at a house near Mr. Skinner’s,—at the North
+River; that he came there very often late at night in disguise; he
+learnt also that this woman was very intimate with Clayford, and made
+him presents, and told him of what General Washington said.
+
+“Court. Did you hear Mr. Clayford say any thing himself that night?
+
+“Cooper. Yes; that he was the day before with Judith, so he called her,
+and that she told him, Washington had often said he wished his hands
+were clear of the dirty New-Englanders, and words to that effect.
+
+“Court. Did you hear no mention made of any scheme to betray or seize
+him?
+
+“Cooper. Mr. Clayford said he could easily be seized and put on board a
+boat, and carried off, as his female friend had promised she would
+assist: but all present thought it would be hazardous.”
+
+“William Savage, sworn.
+
+“Court. Was you at the Serjeant’s Arms on the 21st of May? Did you hear
+any thing of this nature?
+
+“Savage. I did, and nearly as the last evidence has declared; the
+society in general refused to be concerned in it, and thought it a mad
+scheme.
+
+“Mr. Abeel. Pray, Mr. Savage, have not you heard nothing of an
+information that was to be given to Governor Tryon?
+
+“Savage. Yes; papers and letters were at different times shewn to the
+society, which were taken out of General Washington’s pockets by Mrs.
+Gibbons, and given (as she pretended some occasion of going out) to Mr.
+Clayford, who always copied them, and they were put into his pockets
+again.”
+
+The authenticity of this pamphlet thus becomes of importance, and over
+this little time need be spent. The committee named in it differs from
+the committee really named by the Provincial Congress, and the
+proceedings nowhere implicate the men actually proved guilty. In other
+words, the whole publication is a clumsy Tory forgery, put forward with
+the same idle story of “captured papers” employed in the “spurious
+letters” of Washington, and sent forth from the same press (J. Bew)
+from which that forgery and several others issued.
+
+The source from which the English fabricator drew this scandal is
+fortunately known. In 1775 a letter to Washington from his friend
+Benjamin Harrison was intercepted by the British, and at once printed
+broadcast in the newspapers. In this the writer gossips to Washington
+“to amuse you and unbend your minds from the cares of war,” as follows:
+“As I was in the pleasing task of writing to you, a little noise
+occasioned me to turn my head around, and who should appear but pretty
+little Kate, the Washer-woman’s daughter over the way, clean, trim and
+as rosy as the morning. I snatched the golden, glorious opportunity,
+and, but for the cursed antidote to love, Sukey, I had fitted her for
+my general against his return. We were obliged to part, but not till we
+had contrived to meet again: if she keeps the appointment, I shall
+relish a week’s longer stay.” From this originated the stories of
+Washington’s infidelity as already given, and also a coarser version of
+the same, printed in 1776 in a Tory farce entitled “The Battle of
+Brooklyn.”
+
+Jonathan Boucher, who knew Washington well before the Revolution, yet
+who, as a loyalist, wrote in no friendly spirit of him, asserted that
+“in his moral character, he is regular.” A man who disliked him far
+more, General Charles Lee, in the excess of his hatred, charged
+Washington in 1778 with immorality,—a rather amusing impeachment, since
+at the very time Lee was flaunting the evidence of his own incontinence
+without apparent shame,—and a mutual friend of the accused and accuser,
+Joseph Reed, whose service on Washington’s staff enabled him to speak
+wittingly, advised that Lee “forbear any Reflections upon the Commander
+in Chief, of whom for the first time I have heard Slander on his
+private Character, viz., great cruelty to his Slaves in Virginia &
+Immorality of Life, tho’ they acknowledge so very secret that it is
+difficult to detect. To me who have had so good opportunities to know
+the Purity of the latter & equally believing the Falsehood of the
+former from the known excellence of his disposition, it appears so
+nearly bordering upon frenzy, that I can pity the wretches rather than
+despise them.”
+
+Washington was too much of a man, however, to have his marriage lessen
+his liking for other women; and Yeates repeats that “Mr. Washington
+once told me, on a charge which I once made against the President at
+his own Table, that the admiration he warmly professed for Mrs.
+Hartley, was a Proof of his Homage to the worthy Part of the Sex, and
+highly respectful to his Wife.” Every now and then there is an allusion
+in his letters which shows his appreciation of beauty, as when he wrote
+to General Schuyler, “Your fair daughter, for whose visit Mrs.
+Washington and myself are greatly obliged,” and again, to one of his
+aides, “The fair hand, to whom your letter … was committed presented it
+safe.”
+
+His diary, in the notes of the balls and assemblies which he attended,
+usually had a word for the sex, as exampled in: “at which there were
+between 60 & 70 well dressed ladies;” “at which there was about 100
+well dressed and handsome ladies;” “at which were 256 elegantly dressed
+ladies;” “where there was a select Company of ladies;” “where (it is
+said) there were upwards of 100 ladies; their appearance was elegant,
+and many of them very handsome;” “at wch. there were about 400 ladies
+the number and appearance of wch. exceeded anything of the kind I have
+ever seen;” “where there were about 75 well dressed, and many of them
+very handsome ladies—among whom (as was also the case at the Salem and
+Boston assemblies) were a greater proportion with much blacker hair
+than are usually seen in the Southern States.”
+
+At his wife’s receptions, as already said, Washington did not view
+himself as host, and “conversed without restraint, generally with
+women, who rarely had other opportunity of seeing him,” which perhaps
+accounts for the statement of another eye-witness that Washington
+“looked very much more at ease than at his own official levees.”
+Sullivan adds that “the young ladies used to throng around him, and
+engaged him in conversation. There were some of the well-remembered
+belles of the day who imagined themselves to be favorites with him. As
+these were the only opportunities which they had of conversing with
+him, they were disposed to use them.” In his Southern trip of 1791
+Washington noted, with evident pleasure, that he “was visited about 2
+o’clock, by a great number of the most respectable ladies of
+Charleston—the first honor of the kind I had ever experienced and it
+was flattering as it was singular.” And that this attention was not
+merely the respect due to a great man is shown in the letter of a
+Virginian woman, who wrote to her correspondent in 1777, that when
+“General Washington throws off the Hero and takes up the chatty
+agreeable Companion—he can be down right impudent sometimes—such
+impudence, Fanny, as you and I like.”
+
+Another feminine compliment paid him was a highly laudatory poem which
+was enclosed to him, with a letter begging forgiveness, to which he
+playfully answered,—
+
+“You apply to me, my dear Madam, for absolution as tho’ I was your
+father Confessor; and as tho’ you had committed a crime, great in
+itself, yet of the venial class. You have reason good—for I find myself
+strangely disposed to be a very indulgent ghostly adviser on this
+occasion; and, notwithstanding ‘you are the most offending Soul alive’
+(that is, if it is a crime to write elegant Poetry,) yet if you will
+come and dine with me on Thursday, and go thro’ the proper course of
+penitence which shall be prescribed I will strive hard to assist you in
+expiating these poetical trespasses on this side of purgatory. Nay
+more, if it rests with me to direct your future lucubrations, I shall
+certainly urge you to a repetition of the same conduct, on purpose to
+shew what an admirable knack you have at confession and reformation;
+and so without more hesitation, I shall venture to command the muse,
+not to be restrained by ill-grounded timidity, but to go on and
+prosper. You see, Madam, when once the woman has tempted us, and we
+have tasted the forbidden fruit, there is no such thing as checking our
+appetites, whatever the consequences may be. You will, I dare say,
+recognize our being the genuine Descendants of those who are reputed to
+be our great Progenitors.”
+
+Nor was Washington open only to beauty and flattery. From the rude
+frontier in 1756 he wrote, “The supplicating tears of the women,… melt
+me into such deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my own
+mind, I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy,
+provided that would contribute to the people’s ease.” And in 1776 he
+said, “When I consider that the city of New York will in all human
+probability very soon be the scene of a bloody conflict, I cannot but
+view the great numbers of women, children, and infirm persons remaining
+in it, with the most melancholy concern. When the men-of-war passed up
+the river, the shrieks and cries of these poor creatures running every
+way with their children, were truly distressing…. Can no method be
+devised for their removal?”
+
+Nevertheless, though liked by and liking the fair sex, Washington was
+human, and after experience concluded that “I never again will have two
+women in my house when I am there myself.”
+
+
+
+
+V
+FARMER AND PROPRIETOR
+
+
+The earliest known Washington coat of arms had blazoned upon it “3
+Cinque foiles,” which was the herald’s way of saying that the bearer
+was a landholder and cultivator, and when Washington had a book-plate
+made for himself he added to the conventional design of the arms spears
+of wheat and other plants, as an indication of his favorite labor.
+During his career he acted several parts, but in none did he find such
+pleasure as in farming, and late in life he said, “I think with you,
+that the life of a husbandman of all others is the most delectable. It
+is honorable, it is amusing, and, with judicious management, it is
+profitable. To see plants rise from the earth and flourish by the
+superior skill and bounty of the laborer fills a contemplative mind
+with ideas which are more easy to be conceived than expressed.”
+“Agriculture has ever been the most favorite amusement of my life,” he
+wrote after the Revolution, and he informed another correspondent that
+“the more I am acquainted with agricultural affairs, the better pleased
+I am with them; insomuch, that I can no where find so great
+satisfaction as in those innocent and useful pursuits: In indulging
+these feelings, I am led to reflect how much more delightful to an
+undebauched mind is the task of making improvements on the earth, than
+all the vain glory which can be acquired from ravaging it, by the most
+uninterrupted career of conquests.” A visitor to Mount Vernon in 1785
+states that his host’s “greatest pride is, to be thought the first
+farmer in America. He is quite a Cincinnatus.”
+
+Undoubtedly a part of this liking flowed from his strong affection for
+Mount Vernon. Such was his feeling for the place that he never seems to
+have been entirely happy away from it, and over and over again, during
+his various and enforced absences, he “sighs” or “pants” for his “own
+vine and fig tree.” In writing to an English correspondent, he shows
+his feeling for the place by saying, “No estate in United America, is
+more pleasantly situated than this. It lies in a high, dry and healthy
+country, three hundred miles by water from the sea, and, as you will
+see by the plan, on one of the finest rivers in the world.”
+
+The history of the Mount Vernon estate begins in 1674, when Lord
+Culpepper conveyed to Nicholas Spencer and Lieutenant-Colonel John
+Washington five thousand acres of land “scytuate Lying and being within
+the said terrytory in the County of Stafford in the ffreshes of the
+Pottomocke River and … bounded betwixt two Creeks.” Colonel John’s half
+was bequeathed to his son Lawrence, and by Lawrence’s will it was left
+to his daughter Mildred. She sold it to the father of George, who by
+his will left it to his son Lawrence, with a reversion to George should
+Lawrence die without issue. The original house was built about 1740,
+and the place was named Mount Vernon by Lawrence, in honor of Admiral
+Vernon, under whom he had served at Carthagena. After the death of
+Lawrence, the estate of twenty-five hundred acres came under
+Washington’s management, and from 1754 it was his home, as it had been
+practically even in his brother’s life.
+
+Twice Washington materially enlarged the house at Mount Vernon, the
+first time in 1760 and the second in 1785, and a visitor reports, what
+his host must have told him, that “its a pity he did not build a new
+one at once, for it has cost him nearly as much to repair his old one.”
+These alterations consisted in the addition of a banquet-hall at one
+end (by far the finest room in the house), and a library and
+dining-room at the other, with the addition of an entire story to the
+whole.
+
+The grounds, too, were very much improved. A fine approach, or bowling
+green, was laid out, a “botanical garden,” a “shrubbery,” and
+greenhouses were added, and in every way possible the place was
+improved. A deer paddock was laid out and stocked, gifts of Chinese
+pheasants and geese, French partridges, and guinea-pigs were sent him,
+and were gratefully acknowledged, and from all the world over came
+curious, useful, or beautiful plants.
+
+The original tract did not satisfy the ambition of the farmer, and from
+the time he came into the possession of Mount Vernon he was a
+persistent purchaser of lands adjoining the property. In 1760 he
+bargained with one Clifton for “a tract called Brents,” of eighteen
+hundred and six acres, but after the agreement was closed the seller,
+“under pretence of his wife not consenting to acknowledge her right of
+dower wanted to disengage himself … and by his shuffling behavior
+convinced me of his being the trifling body represented.” Presently
+Washington heard that Clifton had sold his lands to another for twelve
+hundred pounds, which “fully unravelled his conduct … and convinced me
+that he was nothing less than a thorough pac’d rascall.” Meeting the
+“rascall” at a court, “much discourse,” Washington states, “happened
+between him and I concerning his ungenerous treatment of me, the whole
+turning to little account, ’tis not worth reciting.” After much more
+friction, the land was finally sold at public auction, and “I bought it
+for £1210 Sterling, [and] under many threats and disadvantages paid the
+money.”
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON’S SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON, CIRCA 1746]
+
+
+In 1778, when some other land was offered, Washington wrote to his
+agent, “I have premised these things to shew my inability, not my
+unwillingness to purchase the Lands in my own Neck at (almost) any
+price—& this I am very desirous of doing if it could be accomplished by
+any means in my power, in ye way of Barter for other Land—for Negroes …
+or in short—for any thing else … but for money I cannot, I want the
+means.” Again, in 1782, he wrote, “Inform Mr. Dulany,… that I look upon
+£2000 to be a great price for his land; that my wishes to obtain it do
+not proceed from its intrinsic value, but from the motives I have
+candidly assigned in my other letter. That to indulge this fancy, (for
+in truth there is more fancy than judgment in it) I have submitted, or
+am willing to submit, to the disadvantage of borrowing as large a sum
+as I think this Land is worth, in order to come at it”
+
+By thus purchasing whenever an opportunity occurred, the property was
+increased from the twenty-five hundred acres which had come into
+Washington’s possession by inheritance to an estate exceeding eight
+thousand acres, of which over thirty-two hundred were actually under
+cultivation during the latter part of its owner’s life.
+
+To manage so vast a tract, the property was subdivided into several
+tracts, called “Mansion House Farm,” “River Farm,” “Union Farm,” “Muddy
+Hole Farm,” and “Dogue Run Farm,” each having an overseer to manage it,
+and each being operated as a separate plantation, though a general
+overseer controlled the whole, and each farm derived common benefit
+from the property as a whole. “On Saturday in the afternoon, every
+week, reports are made by all his overseers, and registered in books
+kept for the purpose,” and these accounts were so schemed as to show
+how every negro’s and laborer’s time had been employed during the whole
+week, what crops had been planted or gathered, what increase or loss of
+stock had occurred, and every other detail of farm-work. During
+Washington’s absences from Mount Vernon his chief overseer sent him
+these reports, as well as wrote himself, and weekly the manager
+received in return long letters of instruction, sometimes to the length
+of sixteen pages, which showed most wonderful familiarity with every
+acre of the estate and the character of every laborer, and are little
+short of marvellous when account is taken of the pressure of public
+affairs that rested upon their writer as he framed them.
+
+When Washington became a farmer, but one system of agriculture, so far
+as Virginia was concerned, existed, which he described long after as
+follows:
+
+“A piece of land is cut down, and kept under constant cultivation,
+first in tobacco, and then in Indian corn (two very exhausting plants),
+until it will yield scarcely any thing; a second piece is cleared, and
+treated in the same manner; then a third and so on, until probably
+there is but little more to clear. When this happens, the owner finds
+himself reduced to the choice of one of three things—either to recover
+the land which he has ruined, to accomplish which, he has perhaps
+neither the skill, the industry, nor the means; or to retire beyond the
+mountains; or to substitute quantity for quality, in order to raise
+something. The latter has been generally adopted, and, with the
+assistance of horses, he scratches over much ground, and seeds it, to
+very little purpose.”
+
+Knowing no better, Washington adopted this one-crop system, even to the
+extent of buying corn and hogs to feed his hands. Though following in
+the beaten track, he experimented in different kinds of tobacco, so
+that, “by comparing then the loss of the one with the extra price of
+the other, I shall be able to determine which is the best to pursue.”
+The largest crop he ever seems to have produced, “being all
+sweet-scented and neatly managed,” was one hundred and fifteen
+hogsheads, which averaged in sale twelve pounds each.
+
+From a very early time Washington had been a careful student of such
+books on agriculture as he could obtain, even preparing lengthy
+abstracts of them, and the knowledge he thus obtained, combined with
+his own practical experience, soon convinced him that the Virginian
+system was wrong. “I never ride on my plantations,” he wrote, “without
+seeing something which makes me regret having continued so long in the
+ruinous mode of farming, which we are in,” and he soon “discontinued
+the growth of tobacco myself; [and] except at a plantation or two upon
+York River, I make no more of that article than barely serves to
+furnish me with goods.”
+
+From this time (1765) “the whole of my force [was] in a manner confined
+to the growth of wheat and manufacturing of it into flour,” and before
+long he boasted that “the wheat from some of my plantations, by one
+pair of steelyards, will weigh upwards of sixty pounds,… and better
+wheat than I now have I do not expect to make.” After the Revolution he
+claimed that “no wheat that has ever yet fallen under my observation
+exceeds the wheat which some years ago I cultivated extensively but
+which, from inattention during my absence of almost nine years from
+home, has got so mixed or degenerated as scarcely to retain any of its
+original characteristics properly.” In 1768 he was able to sell over
+nineteen hundred bushels, and how greatly his product was increased
+after this is shown by the fact that in this same year he sowed four
+hundred and ninety bushels.
+
+Still further study and experimentation led him to conclude that “my
+countrymen are too much used to corn blades and corn shucks; and have
+too little knowledge of the profit of grass lands,” and after his final
+home-coming to Mount Vernon, he said, “I have had it in contemplation
+ever since I returned home to turn my farms to grazing principally, as
+fast as I can cover the fields sufficiently with grass. Labor and of
+course expence will be considerably diminished by this change, the nett
+profit as great and my attention less divided, whilst the fields will
+be improving.” That this was only an abandonment of a “one crop” system
+is shown by the fact that in 1792 he grew over five thousand bushels of
+wheat, valued at four shillings the bushel, and in 1799 he said, “as a
+farmer, wheat and flour are my principal concerns.” And though, in
+abandoning the growth of tobacco, Washington also tried “to grow as
+little Indian corn as may be,” yet in 1795 his crop was over sixteen
+hundred barrels, and the quantity needed for his own negroes and stock
+is shown in a year when his crop failed, which “obliged me to purchase
+upwards of eight hundred barrels of corn.”
+
+In connection with this change of system, Washington became an early
+convert to the rotation of crops, and drew up elaborate tables
+sometimes covering periods of five years, so that the quantity of each
+crop should not vary, yet by which his fields should have constant
+change. This system naturally very much diversified the product of his
+estate, and flax, hay, clover, buckwheat, turnips, and potatoes became
+large crops. The scale on which this was done is shown by the facts
+that in one year he sowed twenty-seven bushels of flaxseed and planted
+over three hundred bushels of potatoes.
+
+Early and late Washington preached to his overseers the value of
+fertilization; in one case, when looking for a new overseer, he said
+the man must be, “above all, Midas like, one who can convert everything
+he touches into manure, as the first transmutation towards gold;—in a
+word one who can bring worn out and gullied Lands into good tilth in
+the shortest time.” Equally emphatic was his urging of constant
+ploughing and grubbing, and he even invented a deep soil plough, which
+he used till he found a better one in the English Rotheran plough,
+which he promptly imported, as he did all other improved farming tools
+and machinery of which he could learn. To save his woodlands, and for
+appearance’s sake, he insisted on live fences, though he had to
+acknowledge that “no hedge, alone, will, I am persuaded, do for an
+outer inclosure, where _two_ or four footed hogs find it convenient to
+open passage.” In all things he was an experimentalist, carefully
+trying different kinds of tobacco and wheat, various kinds of plants
+for hedges, and various kinds of manure for fertilizers; he had tests
+made to see whether he could sell his wheat to best advantage in the
+grain or when made into flour, and he bred from selected horses,
+cattle, and sheep. “In short I shall begrudge no reasonable expence
+that will contribute to the improvement and neatness of my Farms;—for
+nothing pleases me better than to see them in good order, and
+everything trim, handsome, and thriving about them.”
+
+The magnitude of the charge of such an estate can be better understood
+when the condition of a Virginia plantation is realized. Before the
+Revolution practically everything the plantation could not produce was
+ordered yearly from Great Britain, and after the annual delivery of the
+invoices the estate could look for little outside help. Nor did this
+change rapidly after the Revolution, and during the period of
+Washington’s management almost everything was bought in yearly
+supplies. This system compelled each plantation to be a little world
+unto itself; indeed, the three hundred souls on the Mount Vernon estate
+went far to make it a distinct and self-supporting community, and one
+of Washington’s standing orders to his overseers was to “buy nothing
+you can make within yourselves.” Thus the planting and gathering of the
+crops were but a small part of the work to be done.
+
+A corps of workmen—some negroes, some indentured servants, and some
+hired laborers—were kept on the estate. A blacksmith-shop occupied
+some, doing not merely the work of the plantation, but whatever
+business was brought to them from outside; and a wood-burner kept them
+and the mansion-house supplied with charcoal. A gang of carpenters were
+kept busy, and their spare time was utilized in framing houses to be
+put up in Alexandria, or in the “Federal city,” as Washington was
+called before the death of its namesake. A brick-maker, too, was kept
+constantly employed, and masons utilized the product of his labor. The
+gardener’s gang had charge of the kitchen-garden, and set out thousands
+of grape-vines, fruit-trees, and hedge-plants.
+
+A water-mill, with its staff, not merely ground meal for the hands, but
+produced a fine flour that commanded extra price in the market In 1786
+Washington asserted that his flour was “equal, I believe, in quality to
+any made in this country,” and the Mount Vernon brand was of such value
+that some money was made by buying outside wheat and grinding it into
+flour. The coopers of the estate made the barrels in which it was
+packed, and Washington’s schooner carried it to market.
+
+The estate had its own shoemaker, and in time a staff of weavers was
+trained. Before this was obtained, in 1760, though with only a modicum
+of the force he presently had, Washington ordered from London “450 ells
+of Osnabrig, 4 pieces of Brown Wools, 350 yards of Kendall Cotton, and
+100 yards of Dutch blanket.” By 1768 he was manufacturing the chief
+part of his requirements, for in that year his weavers produced eight
+hundred and fifteen and three-quarter yards of linen, three hundred and
+sixty-five and one-quarter yards of woollen, one hundred and forty-four
+yards of linsey, and forty yards of cotton, or a total of thirteen
+hundred and sixty-five and one-half yards, one man and five negro girls
+having been employed. When once the looms were well organized an
+infinite variety of cloths was produced, the accounts mentioning
+“striped woollen, woolen plaided, cotton striped, linen, wool-birdseye,
+cotton filled with wool, linsey, M.’s & O.’s, cotton-India dimity,
+cotton jump stripe, linen filled with tow, cotton striped with silk,
+Roman M., Janes twilled, huccabac, broadcloth, counterpain, birdseye
+diaper, Kirsey wool, barragon, fustian, bed-ticking, herring-box, and
+shalloon.”
+
+One of the most important features of the estate was its fishery, for
+the catch, salted down, largely served in place of meat for the
+negroes’ food. Of this advantage Washington wrote, “This river,… is
+well supplied with various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year;
+and, in the spring, with the greatest profusion of shad, herrings,
+bass, carp, perch, sturgeon, &c. Several valuable fisheries appertain
+to the estate; the whole shore, in short, is one entire fishery.”
+Whenever there was a run of fish, the seine was drawn, chiefly for
+herring and shad, and in good years this not merely amply supplied the
+home requirements, but allowed of sales; four or five shillings the
+thousand for herring and ten shillings the hundred for shad were the
+average prices, and sales of as high as eighty-five thousand herring
+were made in a single year.
+
+In 1795, when the United States passed an excise law, distilling became
+particularly profitable, and a still was set up on the plantation. In
+this whiskey was made from “Rye chiefly and Indian corn in a certain
+proportion,” and this not merely used much of the estate’s product of
+those two grains, but quantities were purchased from elsewhere. In 1798
+the profit from the distillery was three hundred and forty-four pounds
+twelve shillings and seven and three-quarter pence, with a stock
+carried over of seven hundred and fifty-five and one-quarter gallons;
+but this was the most successful year. Cider, too, was made in large
+quantities.
+
+A stud stable was from an early time maintained, and the Virginia
+papers regularly advertised that the stud horse “Samson,” “Magnolia,”
+“Leonidas,” “Traveller,” or whatever the reigning stallion of the
+moment might be, would “cover” mares at Mount Vernon, with pasturage
+and a guarantee of foal, if their owners so elected. During the
+Revolution Washington bought twenty-seven of the army mares that had
+been “worn-down so as to render it beneficial to the public to have
+them sold,” not even objecting to those “low in flesh or even
+crippled,” because “I have many large Farms and am improving a good
+deal of Land into Meadow and Pasture, which cannot fail of being
+profited by a number of Brood Mares.” In addition to the stud, there
+were, in 1793, fifty-four draught horses on the estate.
+
+A unique feature of this stud was the possession of two jackasses, of
+which the history was curious. At that time there was a law in Spain
+(where the best breed was to be found) which forbade the exportation of
+asses, but the king, hearing of Washington’s wish to possess a jack,
+sent him one of the finest obtainable as a present, which was promptly
+christened “Royal Gift.” The sea-voyage and the change of climate,
+however, so affected him that for a time he proved of little value to
+his owner, except as a source of amusement, for Washington wrote
+Lafayette, “The Jack I have already received from Spain in appearance
+is fine, but his late Royal master, tho’ past his grand climacteric
+cannot be less moved by female allurements than he is; or when
+prompted, can proceed with more deliberation and majestic solemnity to
+the work of procreation.” This reluctance to play his part Washington
+concluded was a sign of aristocracy, and he wrote a nephew, “If Royal
+Gift will administer, he shall be at the service of your Mares, but at
+present he seems too full of Royalty, to have anything to do with a
+plebeian Race,” and to Fitzhugh he said, “particular attention shall be
+paid to the mares which your servant brought, and when my Jack is in
+the humor, they shall derive all the benefit of his labor, for labor it
+appears to be. At present tho’ young, he follows what may be supposed
+to be the example of his late Royal Master, who can not, tho’ past his
+grand climacteric, perform seldomer or with more majestic solemnity
+than he does. However I am not without hope that when he becomes a
+little better acquainted with republican enjoyment, he will amend his
+manners, and fall into a better and more expeditious mode of doing
+business.” This fortunately proved to be the case, and his master not
+merely secured such mules as he needed for his own use, but gained from
+him considerable profit by covering mares in the neighborhood. He even
+sent him on a tour through the South, and Royal Gift passed a whole
+winter in Charleston, South Carolina, with a resulting profit of six
+hundred and seventy-eight dollars to his owner. In 1799 there were on
+the estate “2 Covering Jacks & 3 young ones, 10 she asses, 42 working
+mules and 15 younger ones.”
+
+Of cattle there were in 1793 a total of three hundred and seventeen
+head, including “a sufficiency of oxen broke to the yoke,” and a dairy
+was operated separate from the farms, and some butter was made, but
+Washington had occasion to say, “It is hoped, and will be expected,
+that more effectual measures will be pursued to make butter another
+year; for it is almost beyond belief, that from 101 cows actually
+reported on a late enumeration of the cattle, that I am obliged to _buy
+butter_ for the use of my family.”
+
+Sheep were an unusual adjunct of a Virginia plantation, and of his
+flock Washington wrote, “From the beginning of the year 1784 when I
+returned from the army, until shearing time of 1788, I improved the
+breed of my sheep so much by buying and selecting the best formed and
+most promising Rams, and putting them to my best ewes, by keeping them
+always well culled and clean, and by other attentions, that they
+averaged me … rather over than under five pounds of washed wool each.”
+In another letter he said, “I … was proud in being able to produce
+perhaps the largest mutton and the greatest quantity of wool from my
+sheep that could be produced. But I was not satisfied with this; and
+contemplated further improvements both in the flesh and wool by the
+introduction of other breeds, which I should by this time have carried
+into effect, had I been permitted to pursue my favorite occupation.” In
+1789, however, “I was again called from home, and have not had it in my
+power since to pay any attention to my farms. The consequence of which
+is, that my sheep at the last shearing, yielded me not more than 2-1/2”
+pounds. In 1793 he had six hundred and thirty-four in his flock, from
+which he obtained fourteen hundred and-fifty-seven pounds of fleece. Of
+hogs he had “many,” but “as these run pretty much at large in the
+woodland, the number is uncertain.” In 1799 his manager valued his
+entire live-stock at seven thousand pounds.
+
+A separate account was kept of each farm, and of many of these separate
+departments, and whenever there was a surplus of any product an account
+was opened to cover it. Thus in various years there are accounts raised
+dealing with cattle, hay, flour, flax, cord-wood, shoats, fish,
+whiskey, pork, etc., and his secretary, Shaw, told a visitor that the
+“books were as regular as any merchant whatever.” It is proper to note,
+however, that sometimes they would not balance, and twice at least
+Washington could only force one, by entering “By cash supposed to be
+paid away & not credited £17.6.2,” and “By cash lost, stolen or paid
+away without charging £143.15.2.” All these accounts were tabulated at
+the end of the year and the net results obtained. Those for a single
+year are here given:
+
+BALANCE OF GAIN AND LOSS, 1798.
+
+
+_Dr. gained._
+
+Dogue Run Farm	397.11.02 Union Farm	529.10.11½ River Farm	234.
+4.11 Smith’s Shop	34.12.09½ Distillery	83.13.01 Jacks	56.01
+Traveller (studhorse)	9.17 Shoemaker	28.17.01
+Fishery	165.12.0¾ Dairy	30.12.03
+
+_Cr. lost._
+
+Mansion House	466.18.02½ Muddy Hole Farm	60.01.03½
+Spinning	51.02.0 Hire of head-overseer	140.00.0
+
+By Clear gain on the Estate £ 898.16.4¼
+
+
+A pretty poor showing for an estate and negroes which had certainly
+cost him over fifty thousand dollars, and on which there was livestock
+which at the lowest estimation was worth fifteen thousand dollars more.
+It is not strange that in 1793 Washington attempted to find tenants for
+all but the Mansion farm. This he reserved for my “own residence,
+occupation and amusement,” as Washington held that “idleness is
+disreputable,” and in 1798 he told his chief overseer he did not choose
+to “discontinue my rides or become a cipher on my own estate.”
+
+When at Mount Vernon, as this indicated, Washington rode daily about
+his estate, and he has left a pleasant description of his life
+immediately after retiring from the Presidency: “I begin my diurnal
+course with the sun;… if my hirelings are not in their places at that
+time I send them messages expressive of my sorrow for their
+indisposition;… having put these wheels in motion, I examine the state
+of things further; and the more they are probed, the deeper I find the
+wounds are which my buildings have sustained by my absence and neglect
+of eight years; by the time I have accomplished these matters,
+breakfast (a little after seven o’clock)… is ready;… this being over, I
+mount my horse and ride round my farms, which employs me until it is
+time to dress for dinner.” A visitor at this time is authority for the
+statement that the master “often works with his men himself—strips off
+his coat and labors like a common man. The General has a great turn for
+mechanics. It’s astonishing with what niceness he directs everything in
+the building way, condescending even to measure the things himself,
+that all may be perfectly uniform.”
+
+This personal attention Washington was able to give only with very
+serious interruptions. From 1754 till 1759 he was most of the time on
+the frontier; for nearly nine years his Revolutionary service separated
+him absolutely from his property; and during the two terms of his
+Presidency he had only brief and infrequent visits. Just one-half of
+his forty-six years’ occupancy of Mount Vernon was given to public
+service.
+
+The result was that in 1757 he wrote, “I am so little acquainted with
+the business relative to my private affairs that I can scarce give you
+any information concerning it,” and this was hardly less true of the
+whole period of his absences. In 1775 he engaged overseers to manage
+his various estates in his absence “upon shares,” but during the whole
+war the plantations barely supported themselves, even with depletion of
+stock and fertility, and he was able to draw nothing from them. One
+overseer, and a confederate, he wrote, “I believe, divided the profits
+of my Estate on the York River, tolerably betwn. them, for the devil of
+any thing do I get.” Well might he advise knowingly that “I have no
+doubt myself but that middling land under a man’s own eyes, is more
+profitable than rich land at a distance.” “No Virginia Estate (except a
+very few under the best of management) can stand simple Interest,” he
+declared, and went even further when he wrote, “the nature of a
+Virginia Estate being such, that without close application, it never
+fails bringing the proprietors in Debt annually.” “To speak within
+bounds,” he said, “ten thousand pounds will not compensate the losses I
+might have avoided by being at home, & attending a little to my own
+concerns” during the Revolution.
+
+Fortunately for the farmer, the Mount Vernon estate was but a small
+part of his property. His father had left him a plantation of two
+hundred and eighty acres on the Rappahannock, “one Moiety of my Land
+lying on Deep Run,” three lots in Frederick “with all the houses and
+Appurtenances thereto belonging,” and one quarter of the residuary
+estate. While surveying for Lord Fairfax in 1748, as part of his
+compensation Washington patented a tract of five hundred and fifty
+acres in Frederick County, which he always spoke of as “My Bull-skin
+plantation.”
+
+As a military bounty in the French and Indian War the governor of
+Virginia issued a proclamation granting Western lands to the soldiers,
+and under this Washington not merely secured fifteen thousand acres in
+his own right, but by buying the claims of some of his fellow officers
+doubled that quantity. A further tract was also obtained under the
+kindred proclamation of 1763, “5000 Acres of Land in my own right, & by
+purchase from Captn. Roots, Posey, & some other officers, I obtained
+rights to several thousand more.” In 1786, after sales, he had over
+thirty thousand acres, which he then offered to sell at thirty thousand
+guineas, and in 1799, when still more had been sold, his inventory
+valued the holdings at nearly three hundred thousand dollars.
+
+In addition, Washington was a partner in several great land
+speculations,—the Ohio Company, the Walpole Grant, the Mississippi
+Company, the Military Company of Adventures, and the Dismal Swamp
+Company; but all these ventures except the last collapsed at the
+beginning of the Revolution and proved valueless. His interest in the
+Dismal Swamp Company he held at the time of his death, and it was
+valued in the inventory at twenty thousand dollars.
+
+The properties that came to him from his brother Lawrence and with his
+wife have already been described. It may be worth noting that with the
+widow of Lawrence there was a dispute over the will, but apparently it
+was never carried into the courts, and that owing to the great
+depreciation of paper money during the Revolution the Custis personal
+property was materially lessened, for “I am now receiving a shilling in
+the pound in discharge of Bonds which ought to have been paid me, &
+would have been realized before I left Virginia, but for my indulgences
+to the debtors,” Washington wrote, and in 1778 he said, “by the
+comparitive worth of money, six or seven thousand pounds which I have
+in Bonds upon Interest is now reduced to as many hundreds because I can
+get no more for a thousand at this day than a hundred would have
+fetched when I left Virginia, Bonds, debts, Rents, &c. undergoing no
+change while the currency is depreciating in value and for ought I know
+may in a little time be totally sunk.” Indeed, in 1781 he complained
+“that I have totally neglected all my private concerns, which are
+declining every day, and may, possibly, end in capital losses, if not
+absolute ruin, before I am at liberty to look after them.”
+
+In 1784 he became partner with George Clinton in some land purchases in
+the State of New York with the expectation of buying the “mineral
+springs at Saratoga; and … the Oriskany tract, on which Fort Schuyler
+stands.” In this they were disappointed, but six thousand acres in the
+Mohawk valley were obtained “amazingly cheap.” Washington’s share cost
+him, including interest, eighteen hundred and seventy-five pounds, and
+in 1793 two-thirds of the land had been sold for three thousand four
+hundred pounds, and in his inventory of 1799 Washington valued what he
+still held of the property at six thousand dollars.
+
+In 1790, having inside information that the capital was to be removed
+from New York to Philadelphia, Washington tried to purchase a farm near
+that city, foreseeing a speedy rise in value. In this apparently he did
+not succeed. Later he purchased lots in the new Federal city, and built
+houses on two of them. He also had town lots in Williamsburg,
+Alexandria, Winchester, and Bath. In addition to all this property
+there were many smaller holdings. Much was sold or traded, yet when he
+died, besides his wife’s real estate and the Mount Vernon property, he
+possessed fifty-one thousand three hundred and ninety-five acres,
+exclusive of town property. A contemporary said “that General
+Washington is, perhaps, the greatest landholder in America.”
+
+All these lands, except Mount Vernon, were, so far as possible, rented,
+but the net income was not large. Rent agents were employed to look
+after the tenants, but low rents, war, paper money, a shifting
+population, and Washington’s dislike of lawsuits all tended to reduce
+the receipts, and the landlord did not get simple interest on his
+investments. Thus, in 1799 he complains of slow payments from tenants
+in Washington and Lafayette Counties (Pennsylvania). Instead of an
+expected six thousand dollars, due June 1, but seventeen hundred
+dollars were received.
+
+Income, however, had not been his object in loading himself with such a
+vast property, as Washington believed that he was certain to become
+rich. “For proof of” the rise of land, he wrote in 1767, “only look to
+Frederick, [county] and see what fortunes were made by the … first
+taking up of those lands. Nay, how the greatest estates we have in this
+colony were made. Was it not by taking up and purchasing at very low
+rates the rich back lands, which were thought nothing of in those days,
+but are now the most valuable land we possess?”
+
+In this he was correct, but in the mean time he was more or less
+land-poor. To a friend in 1763 he wrote that the stocking and repairing
+of his plantations “and other matters … swallowed up before I well knew
+where I was, all the moneys I got by marriage, nay more, brought me in
+debt” In 1775, replying to a request for a loan, he declared that “so
+far am I from having £200 to lend … I would gladly borrow that sum
+myself for a few months.” When offered land adjoining Mount Vernon for
+three thousand pounds in 1778, he could only reply that it was “a sum I
+have little chance, if I had inclination, to pay; & therefore would not
+engage it, as I am resolved not to incumber myself with Debt.” In 1782,
+to secure a much desired tract he was forced to borrow two thousand
+pounds York currency at the rate of seven per cent.
+
+In 1788, “the total loss of my crop last year by the drought” “with
+necessary demands for cash” “have caused me much perplexity and given
+me more uneasiness than I ever experienced before from want of money,”
+and a year later, just before setting out to be inaugurated, he tried
+to borrow five hundred pounds “to discharge what I owe” and to pay the
+expenses of the journey to New York, but was “unable to obtain more
+than half of it, (though it was not much I required), and this at an
+advanced interest with other rigid conditions,” though at this time
+“could I get in one fourth part of what is due me on Bonds” “without
+the intervention of suits” there would have been ample funds. In 1795
+the President said, “my friends entertain a very erroneous idea of my
+particular resources, when they set me down for a money lender, or one
+who (now) has a command of it. You may believe me when I assert that
+the bonds which were due to me before the Revolution, were discharged
+during the progress of it—with a few exceptions in depreciated paper
+(in some instances as low as a shilling in the pound). That such has
+been the management of the Estate, for many years past, especially
+since my absence from home, now six years, as scarcely to support
+itself. That my public allowance (whatever the world may think of it)
+is inadequate to the expence of living in this City; to such an
+extravagant height has the necessaries as well as the conveniences of
+life arisen. And, moreover that to keep myself out of debt; I have
+found it expedient now and then to sell Lands, or something else to
+effect this purpose.”
+
+
+[Illustration: LOTTERY TICKET SIGNED BY WASHINGTON]
+
+
+As these extensive land ventures bespoke a national characteristic, so
+a liking for other forms of speculation was innate in the great
+American. During the Revolution he tried to secure an interest in a
+privateer. One of his favorite flyers was chances in lotteries and
+raffles, which, if now found only in association with church fairs,
+were then not merely respectable, but even fashionable. In 1760 five
+pounds and ten shillings were invested in one lottery. Five pounds
+purchased five tickets in Strother’s lottery in 1763. Three years later
+six pounds were risked in the York lottery and produced prizes to the
+extent of sixteen pounds. Fifty pounds were put into Colonel Byrd’s
+lottery in 1769, and drew a half-acre lot in the town of Manchester,
+but out of this Washington was defrauded. In 1791 John Potts was paid
+four pounds and four shillings “in part for 20 Lottery tickets in the
+Alexa. street Lottery at 6/ each, 14 Dollrs. the Bal. was discharged by
+2.3 Lotr prizes.” Twenty tickets of Peregrine and Fitzhugh’s lottery
+cost one hundred and eighty-eight dollars in 1794. And these are but
+samples of innumerable instances. So, too, in raffles, the entries are
+constant,—“for glasses 20/,” “for a Necklace £1.,” “by profit & loss in
+two chances in raffling for Encyclopadia Britannica, which I did not
+win £1.4,” two tickets were taken in the raffle of Mrs. Dawson’s coach,
+as were chances for a pair of silver buckles, for a watch, and for a
+gun; such and many others were smaller ventures Washington took.
+
+There were other sources of income or loss besides. Before the
+Revolution he had a good sized holding of Bank of England stock, and an
+annuity in the funds, besides considerable property on bond, the larger
+part of which, as already noted, was liquidated in depreciated paper
+money. This paper money was for the most part put into United States
+securities, and eventually the “at least £10,000 Virginia money” proved
+to be worth six thousand two hundred and forty-six dollars in
+government six per cents and three per cents. A great believer in the
+Potomac Canal Company, Washington invested twenty-four hundred pounds
+sterling in the stock, which produced no income, and in time showed a
+heavy shrinkage. Another and smaller loss was an investment in the
+James River Canal Company. Stock holdings in the Bank of Columbia and
+in the Bank of Alexandria proved profitable investments.
+
+None the less Washington was a successful businessman. Though his
+property rarely produced a net income, and though he served the public
+with practically no profit (except as regards bounty lands), and thus
+was compelled frequently to dip into his capital to pay current
+expenses, yet, from being a surveyor only too glad to earn a doubloon
+(seven dollars and forty cents) a day, he grew steadily in wealth, and
+when he died his property, exclusive of his wife’s and the Mount Vernon
+estate, was valued at five hundred and thirty thousand dollars. This
+made him one of the wealthiest Americans of his time, and it is to be
+questioned if a fortune was ever more honestly acquired or more
+thoroughly deserved.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+MASTER AND EMPLOYER
+
+
+In his “rules of civility” Washington enjoined that “those of high
+Degree ought to treat” “Artificers & Persons of low Degree” “with
+affibility & Courtesie, without Arrogancy,” and it was a needed lesson
+to every young Virginian, for, as Jefferson wrote, “the whole commerce
+between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous
+passions, the most insulting despotism on the one part, and degrading
+submissions on the other.”
+
+Augustine Washington’s will left to his son George “Ten negro Slaves,”
+with an additional share of those “not herein particularly Devised,”
+but all to remain in the possession of Mary Washington until the boy
+was twenty-one years of age. With his taking possession of the Mount
+Vernon estate in his twenty-second year eighteen more came under
+Washington’s direction. In 1754 he bought a “fellow” for £40.5, another
+(Jack) for £52.5, and a negro woman (Clio) for £50. In 1756 he
+purchased of the governor a negro woman and child for £60, and two
+years later a fellow (Gregory) for £60.9. In the following year (the
+year of his marriage) he bought largely: a negro (Will) for £50;
+another for £60; nine for £406, an average of £45; and a woman (Hannah)
+and child, £80. In 1762 he added to the number by purchasing seven of
+Lee Massey for £300 (an average of £43), and two of Colonel Fielding
+Lewis at £115, or £57.10 apiece. From the estate of Francis Hobbs he
+bought, in 1764, Ben, £72; Lewis, £36.10; and Sarah, £20. Another
+fellow, bought of Sarah Alexander, cost him £76; and a negro (Judy) and
+child, sold by Garvin Corbin, £63. In 1768 Mary Lee sold him two
+mulattoes (Will and Frank) for £61.15 and £50, respectively; and two
+boys (negroes), Adam and Frank, for £19 apiece. Five more were
+purchased in 1772, and after that no more were bought. In 1760
+Washington paid tithes on forty-nine slaves, five years later on
+seventy-eight, in 1770 on eighty-seven, and in 1774 on one hundred and
+thirty-five; besides which must be included the “dower slaves” of his
+wife. Soon after this there was an overplus, and Washington in 1778
+offered to barter for some land “Negroes, of whom I every day long more
+to get clear of,” and even before this he had learned the economic fact
+that except on the richest of soils slaves “only add to the Expence.”
+
+In 1791 he had one hundred and fifteen “hands” on the Mount Vernon
+estate, besides house servants, and De Warville, describing his estate
+in the same year, speaks of his having three hundred negroes. At this
+time Washington declared that “I never mean (unless some particular
+circumstance compel me to it) to possess another slave by purchase,”
+but this intention was broken, for “The running off of my cook has been
+a most inconvenient thing to this family, and what rendered it more
+disagreeable, is that I had resolved never to become the Master of
+another slave by purchase, but this resolution I fear I must break. I
+have endeavored to hire, black or white, but am not yet supplied.”
+
+A few more slaves were taken in payment of a debt, but it was from
+necessity rather than choice, for at this very time Washington had
+decided that “it is demonstratively clear, that on this Estate (Mount
+Vernon) I have more working negros by a full moiety, than can be
+employed to any advantage in the farming system, and I shall never turn
+Planter thereon. To sell the overplus I cannot, because I am principled
+against this kind of traffic in the human species. To hire them out, is
+almost as bad, because they could not be disposed of in families to any
+advantage, and to disperse the families I have an aversion. What then
+is to be done? Something must or I shall be ruined; for all the money
+(in addition to what I raise by crops, and rents) that have been
+_received_ for Lands, sold within the last four years, to the amount of
+Fifty thousand dollars, has scarcely been able to keep me afloat.” And
+writing of one set he said, “it would be for my interest to set them
+free, rather than give them victuals and cloaths.”
+
+The loss by runaways was not apparently large. In October, 1760, his
+ledger contains an item of seven shillings “To the Printing Office …
+for Advertising a run-a-way Negro.” In 1761 he pays his clergyman, Rev.
+Mr. Green, “for taking up one of my Runaway Negroes £4.” In 1766
+rewards are paid for the “taking upp” of “Negro Tom” and “Negro Bett.”
+The “taking up of Harry when Runaway” in 1771 cost £1.16. When the
+British invaded Virginia in 1781, a number escaped or were carried away
+by the enemy. By the treaty of peace these should have been returned,
+and their owner wrote, “Some of my own slaves, and those of Mr. Lund
+Washington who lives at my house may probably be in New York, but I am
+unable to give you their description—their names being so easily
+changed, will be fruitless to give you. If by chance you should come at
+the knowledge of any of them, I will be much obliged by your securing
+them, so that I may obtain them again.”
+
+In 1796 a girl absconded to New England, and Washington made inquiries
+of a friend as to the possibility of recovering her, adding, “however
+well disposed I might be to a gradual abolition, or even to an entire
+emancipation of that description of people (if the latter was in itself
+practicable) at this moment, it would neither be politic nor just to
+reward unfaithfulness with a premature preference, and thereby
+discontent beforehand the minds of all her fellow servants, who, by
+their steady attachment, are far more deserving than herself of favor,”
+and at this time Washington wrote to a relative, “I am sorry to hear of
+the loss of your servant; but it is my opinion these elopements will be
+much more, before they are less frequent; and that the persons making
+them should never be retained—if they are recovered, as they are sure
+to contaminate and discontent others.”
+
+Another source of loss was sickness, which, in spite of all Washington
+could do, made constant inroads on the numbers. A doctor to care for
+them was engaged by the year, and in the contracts with his overseers
+clauses were always inserted that each was “to take all necessary and
+proper care of the Negroes committed to his management using them with
+proper humanity and descretion,” or that “he will take all necessary
+and proper care of the negroes committed to his management, treating
+them with humanity and tenderness when sick, and preventing them when
+well, from running about and visiting without his consent; as also
+forbid strange negroes frequenting their quarters without lawful
+excuses for so doing.”
+
+Furthermore, in writing to his manager, while absent from Mount Vernon,
+Washington reiterated that “although it is last mentioned it is
+foremost in my thoughts, to desire you will be particularly attentive
+to my negros in their sickness; and to order every overseer
+_positively_ to be so likewise; for I am sorry to observe that the
+generality of them view these poor creatures in scarcely any other
+light than they do a draught horse or ox; neglecting them as much when
+they are unable to work; instead of comforting and nursing them when
+they lye on a sick bed.” And in another letter he added, “When I
+recommended care of, and attention to my negros in sickness, it was
+that the first stage of, and the whole progress through the disorders
+with which they might be seized (if more than a slight indisposition)
+should be closely watched, and timely applications and remedies be
+administered; especially in the pleurisies, and all inflammatory
+disorders accompanied with pain, when a few days’ neglect, or want of
+bleeding might render the ailment incurable. In such cases sweeten’d
+teas, broths and (according to the nature of the complaint, and the
+doctor’s prescription) sometimes a little wine, may be necessary to
+nourish and restore the patient; and these I am perfectly willing to
+allow, when it is requisite. My fear is, as I expressed to you in a
+former letter, that the under overseers are so unfeeling, in short
+viewing the negros in no other light than as a better kind of cattle,
+the moment they cease to work, they cease their care of them.”
+
+At Mount Vernon his care for the slaves was more personal. At a time
+when the small-pox was rife in Virginia he instructed his overseer
+“what to do if the Small pox should come amongst them,” and when he
+“received letters from Winchester, informing me that the Small pox had
+got among my quarters in Frederick; [I] determin’d … to leave town as
+soon as possible, and proceed up to them…. After taking the Doctors
+directions in regard to my people … I set out for my quarters about 12
+oclock, time enough to go over them and found every thing in the utmost
+confusion, disorder and backwardness…. Got Blankets and every other
+requisite from Winchester, and settl’d things on the best footing I
+cou’d, … Val Crawford agreeing if any of those at the upper quarter got
+it, to have them remov’d into my room and the Nurse sent for.”
+
+Other sickness was equally attended to, as the following entries in his
+diary show: “visited my Plantations and found two negroes sick …
+ordered them to be blooded;” “found that lightening had struck my
+quarters and near 10 Negroes in it, some very bad but with letting
+blood they recover’d;” “ordered Lucy down to the House to be Physikd,”
+and “found the new negro Cupid, ill of a pleurisy at Dogue Run Quarter
+and had him brot home in a cart for better care of him…. Cupid
+extremely Ill all this day and at night when I went to bed I thought
+him within a few hours of breathing his last.”
+
+This matter of sickness, however, had another phase, which caused
+Washington much irritation at times when he could not personally look
+into the cases, but heard of them through the reports of his overseers.
+Thus, he complained on one occasion, “I find by reports that Sam is, in
+a manner, always returned sick; Doll at the Ferry, and several of the
+spinners very frequently so, for a week at a stretch; and ditcher
+Charles often laid up with lameness. I never wish my people to work
+when they are really sick, or unfit for it; on the contrary, that all
+necessary care should be taken of them when they are so; but if you do
+not examine into their complaints, they will lay by when no more ails
+them, than all those who stick to their business, and are not
+complaining from the fatigue and drowsiness which they feel as the
+effect of night walking and other practices which unfit them for the
+duties of the day.” And again he asked, “Is there anything particular
+in the cases of Ruth, Hannah and Pegg, that they have been returned
+sick for several weeks together? Ruth I know is extremely deceitful;
+she has been aiming for some time past to get into the house, exempt
+from work; but if they are not made to do what their age and strength
+will enable them, it will be a bad example for others—none of whom
+would work if by pretexts they can avoid it”
+
+Other causes than running away and death depleted the stock. One negro
+was taken by the State for some crime and executed, an allowance of
+sixty-nine pounds being made to his master. In 1766 an unruly negro was
+shipped to the West Indies (as was then the custom), Washington writing
+the captain of the vessel,—
+
+“With this letter comes a negro (Tom) which I beg the favor of you to
+sell in any of the islands you may go to, for whatever he will fetch,
+and bring me in return for him
+        “One hhd of best molasses
+        “One ditto of best rum
+        “One barrel of lymes, if good and cheap
+        “One pot of tamarinds, containing about 10 lbs.
+        “Two small ditto of mixed sweetmeats, about 5 lbs. each.
+And the residue, much or little, in good old spirits. That this fellow
+is both a rogue and a runaway (tho’ he was by no means remarkable for
+the former, and never practised the latter till of late) I shall not
+pretend to deny. But that he is exceeding healthy, strong, and good at
+the hoe, the whole neighborhood can testify, and particularly Mr.
+Johnson and his son, who have both had him under them as foreman of the
+gang; which gives me reason to hope he may with your good management
+sell well, if kept clean and trim’d up a little when offered for sale.”
+
+Another “misbehaving fellow” was shipped off in 1791, and was sold for
+“one pipe and Quarter Cask of wine from the West Indies.” Sometimes
+only the threat of such riddance was used, as when an overseer
+complained of one slave, and his master replied, “I am very sorry that
+so likely a fellow as Matilda’s Ben should addict himself to such
+courses as he is pursuing. If he should be guilty of any atrocious
+crime, that would effect his life, he might be given up to the civil
+authority for trial; but for such offences as most of his color are
+guilty of, you had better try further correction, accompanied with
+admonition and advice. The two latter sometimes succeed where the first
+has failed. He, his father and mother (who I dare say are his
+receivers) may be told in explicit language, that if a stop is not put
+to his rogueries and other villainies, by fair means and shortly, that
+I will ship him off (as I did Wagoner Jack) for the West Indies, where
+he will have no opportunity of playing such pranks as he is at present
+engaged in.”
+
+It is interesting to note, in connection with this conclusion, that
+“admonition and advice” were able to do what “correction” sometimes
+failed to achieve, that there is not a single order to whip, and that
+the above case, and that which follows, are the only known cases where
+punishment was approved. “The correction you gave Ben, for his assault
+on Sambo, was just and proper. It is my earnest desire that quarrels
+may be stopped or punishment of both parties follow, unless it shall
+appear _clearly_, that one only is to blame, and the other forced into
+[a quarrel] from self-defence.” In one other instance Washington wrote,
+“If Isaac had his deserts he would receive a severe punishment for the
+house, tools and seasoned stuff, which has been burned by his
+carelessness.” But instead of ordering the “deserts” he continued, “I
+wish you to inform him, that I sustain injury enough by their idleness;
+they need not add to it by their carelessness.”
+
+This is the more remarkable, because his slaves gave him constant
+annoyance by their wastefulness and sloth and dishonesty. Thus, “Paris
+has grown to be so lazy and self-willed” that his master does not know
+what to with him; “Doll at the Ferry must be taught to knit, and _made_
+to do a sufficient day’s work of it—otherwise (if suffered to be idle)
+many more will walk in her steps”; “it is observed by the weekly
+reports, that the sewers make only six shirts a week, and the last week
+Carolina (without being sick) made only five. Mrs. Washington says
+their usual task was to make nine with shoulder straps and good sewing.
+Tell them therefore from me, that what _has_ been done, _shall_ be
+done”; “none I think call louder for [attention] than the smiths, who,
+from a variety of instances which fell within my own observation whilst
+I was at home, I take to be two very idle fellows. A daily account
+(which ought to be regularly) taken of their work, would alone go a
+great way towards checking their idleness.” And the overseer was told
+to watch closely “the people who are at work with the gardener, some of
+whom I know to be as lazy and deceitful as any in the world (Sam
+particularly).”
+
+Furthermore, the overseers were warned to “endeavor to make the
+Servants and Negroes take care of their cloathes;” to give them “a
+weekly allowance of Meat … because the annual one is not taken care of
+but either profusely used or stolen”; and to note “the delivery to and
+the application of nails by the carpenters,… [for] I cannot conceive
+how it is possible that 6000 twelve penny nails could be used in the
+corn house at River Plantation; but of one thing I have no great doubt,
+and that is, if they can be applied to other uses, or converted into
+cash, rum or other things there will be no scruple in doing it.”
+
+When robbed of some potatoes, Washington complained that “the deception
+… is of a piece with other practices of a similar kind by which I have
+suffered hitherto; and may serve to evince to you, in strong colors,
+first how little confidence can be placed in any one round you; and
+secondly the necessity of an accurate inspection into these things
+yourself,—for to be plain, Alexandria is such a recepticle for every
+thing that can be filched from the right owners, by either blacks or
+whites; and I have such an opinion of my negros (two or three only
+excepted), and not much better of some of the whites, that I am
+perfectly sure not a single thing that can be disposed of at any price,
+at that place, that will not, and is not stolen, where it is possible;
+and carried thither to some of the underlying keepers, who support
+themselves by this kind of traffick.” He dared not leave wine unlocked,
+even for the use of his guests, “because the knowledge I have of my
+servants is such, as to believe, that if opportunities are given them,
+they will take off two glasses of wine for every one that is drank by
+such visitors, and tell you they were used by them.” And when he had
+some work to do requiring very ordinary qualities, he had to confess
+that “I know not a negro among all mine, whose capacity, integrity and
+attention could be relied on for such a trust as this.”
+
+Whatever his opinion of his slaves, Washington was a kind master. In
+one case he wrote a letter for one of them when the “fellow” was parted
+from his wife in the service of his master, and at another time he
+enclosed letters to a wife and to James’s “del Toboso,” for two of his
+servants, to save them postage. In reference to their rations he wrote,
+“whether this addition … is sufficient, I will not undertake to
+decide;—but in most explicit language I desire they may have plenty;
+for I will not have my feelings hurt with complaints of this sort, nor
+lye under the imputation of starving my negros, and thereby driving
+them to the necessity of thieving to supply the deficiency. To prevent
+waste or embezzlement is the only inducement to allowancing of them at
+all—for if, instead of a peck they could eat a bushel of meal a week
+fairly, and required it, I would not withhold or begrudge it them.” At
+Christmas-time there are entries in his ledger for whiskey or rum for
+“the negroes,” and towards the end of his life he ordered the overseer,
+“although others are getting out of the practice of using spirits at
+Harvest, yet, as my people have always been accustomed to it, a
+hogshead of Rum must be purchased; but I request at the same time, that
+it may be used sparingly.”
+
+A greater kindness of his was, in 1787, when he very much desired a
+negro mason offered for sale, yet directed his agent that “if he has a
+family, with which he is to be sold; or from whom he would reluctantly
+part, I decline the purchase; his feelings I would not be the means of
+hurting in the latter case, nor _at any rate_ be incumbered with the
+former.”
+
+The kindness thus indicated bore fruit in a real attachment of the
+slaves for their master. In Humphreys’s poem on Washington the poet
+alluded to the negroes at Mount Vernon in the lines,—
+
+“Where that foul stain of manhood, slavery, flow’d
+Through Afric’s sons transmitted in the blood;
+Hereditary slaves his kindness shar’d,
+For manumission by degrees prepar’d:
+Return’d from war, I saw them round him press,
+And all their speechless glee by artless signs express.”
+
+
+And in a foot-note the writer added, “The interesting scene of his
+return home, at which the author was present, is described exactly as
+it existed.”
+
+A single one of these slaves deserves further notice. His body-servant
+“Billy” was purchased by Washington in 1768 for sixty-eight pounds and
+fifteen shillings, and was his constant companion during the war, even
+riding after his master at reviews; and this servant was so associated
+with the General that it was alleged in the preface to the “forged
+letters” that they had been captured by the British from “Billy,” “an
+old servant of General Washington’s.” When Savage painted his
+well-known “family group,” this was the one slave included in the
+picture. In 1784 Washington told his Philadelphia agent that “The
+mulatto fellow, William, who has been with me all the war, is attached
+(married he says) to one of his own color, a free woman, who during the
+war, was also of my family. She has been in an infirm condition for
+some time, and I had conceived that the connexion between them had
+ceased; but I am mistaken it seems; they are both applying to get her
+here, and tho’ I never wished to see her more, I cannot refuse his
+request (if it can be complied with on reasonable terms) as he has
+served me faithfully for many years. After premising this much, I have
+to beg the favor of you to procure her a passage to Alexandria.”
+
+
+[Illustration: SAVAGE’S PICTURE OF THE WASHINGTON FAMILY]
+
+
+When acting as chain-bearer in 1785, while Washington was surveying a
+tract of land, William fell and broke his knee-pan, “which put a stop
+to my surveying; and with much difficulty I was able to get him to
+Abington, being obliged to get a sled to carry him on, as he could
+neither walk, stand or ride.” From this injury Lee never quite
+recovered, yet he started to accompany his master to New York in 1789,
+only to give out on the road. He was left at Philadelphia, and Lear
+wrote to Washington’s agent that “The President will thank you to
+propose it to Will to return to Mount Vernon when he can be removed for
+he cannot be of any service here, and perhaps will require a person to
+attend upon him constantly. If he should incline to return to Mount
+Vernon, you will be so kind as to have him sent in the first Vessel
+that sails for Alexandria after he can be moved with safety—but if he
+is still anxious to come on here the President would gratify him,
+altho’ he will be troublesome—He has been an old and faithful Servant,
+this is enough for the President to gratify him in every reasonable
+wish.”
+
+By his will Washington gave Lee his “immediate freedom or if he should
+prefer it (on account of the accidents which have befallen him and
+which have rendered him incapable of walking or of any active
+employment) to remain in the situation he now is, it shall be optional
+in him to do so— In either case however I allow him an annuity of
+thirty dollars during his natural life which shall be independent of
+the victuals and _cloaths_ he has been accustomed to receive; if he
+_chuses_ the last alternative, but in full with his freedom, if he
+prefers the first, and this I give him as a testimony of my sense of
+his attachment to me and for his faithful services during the
+Revolutionary War.”
+
+Two small incidents connected with Washington’s last illness are worth
+noting. The afternoon before the night he was taken ill, although he
+had himself been superintending his affairs on horseback in the storm
+most of the day, yet when his secretary “carried some letters to him to
+frank, intending to send them to the Post Office in the evening,” Lear
+tells us “he franked the letters; but said the weather was too bad to
+send a servant up to the office that evening.” Lear continues, “The
+General’s servant, Christopher, attended his bed side & in the room,
+when he was sitting up, through his whole illness…. In the [last]
+afternoon the General observing that Christopher had been standing by
+his bed side for a long time—made a motion for him to sit in a chair
+which stood by the bed side.”
+
+A clause in Washington’s will directed that
+
+“Upon the decease of my wife it is my will and desire that all the
+slaves which I hold in _my own right_ shall receive their freedom—To
+emancipate them during her life, would, tho’ earnestly wished by me, be
+attended with such insuperable difficulties, on account of their
+intermixture of marriages with the Dower negroes as to excite the most
+painful sensations—if not disagreeable consequences from the latter,
+while both descriptions 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—And whereas among those who will receive freedom
+according to this devise there may be some who from old age, or bodily
+infirmities & others who on account of their infancy, that will be
+unable to support themselves, it is my will and desire that all who
+come under the first and second description shall be comfortably
+cloathed and fed by my heirs while they live and that such of the
+latter description as have no parents living, or if living are unable
+or unwilling to provide for them, shall be bound by the Court until
+they shall arrive at the age of twenty five years…. The negroes thus
+bound are (by their masters and mistresses) to be taught to read and
+write and to be brought up to some useful occupation.”
+
+In this connection Washington’s sentiments on slavery as an institution
+may be glanced at. As early as 1784 he replied to Lafayette, when told
+of a colonizing plan, “The scheme, my dear Marqs., which you propose as
+a precedent to encourage the emancipation of the black people of this
+Country from that state of Bondage in wch. they are held, is a striking
+evidence of the benevolence of your Heart. I shall be happy to join you
+in so laudable a work; but will defer going into a detail of the
+business, till I have the pleasure of seeing you.” A year later, when
+Francis Asbury was spending a day in Mount Vernon, the clergyman asked
+his host if he thought it wise to sign a petition for the emancipation
+of slaves. Washington replied that it would not be proper for him, but
+added, “If the Maryland Assembly discusses the matter; I will address a
+letter to that body on the subject, as I have always approved of it.”
+
+When South Carolina refused to pass an act to end the slave-trade, he
+wrote to a friend in that State, “I must say that I lament the decision
+of your legislature upon the question of importing slaves after March
+1793. I was in hopes that motives of policy as well as other good
+reasons, supported by the direful effects of slavery, which at this
+moment are presented, would have operated to produce a total
+prohibition of the importation of slaves, whenever the question came to
+be agitated in any State, that might be interested in the measure.” For
+his own State he expressed the “wish from my soul that the Legislature
+of this State could see the policy of a gradual Abolition of Slavery;
+it would prev’t much future mischief.” And to a Pennsylvanian he
+expressed the sentiment, “I hope it will not be conceived from these
+observations, that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people, who are
+the subject of this letter, in slavery. I can only say, that 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
+legislative authority; and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall
+never be wanting.”
+
+Washington by no means restricted himself to slave servitors. Early in
+life he took into his service John Alton at thirteen pounds per annum,
+and this white man served as his body-servant in the Braddock campaign,
+and Washington found in the march that “A most serious inconvenience
+attended me in my sickness, and that was the losing the use of my
+servant, for poor John Alton was taken about the same time that I was,
+and with nearly the same disorder, and was confined as long; so that we
+did not see each other for several days.” As elsewhere noticed,
+Washington succeeded to the services of Braddock’s body-servant, Thomas
+Bishop, on the death of the general, paying the man ten pounds a year.
+
+These two were his servants in his trip to Boston in 1756, and in
+preparation for that journey Washington ordered his English agent to
+send him “2 complete livery suits for servants; with a spare cloak and
+all other necessary trimmings for two suits more. I would have you
+choose the livery by our arms, only as the field of the arms is white,
+I think the clothes had better not be quite so, but nearly like the
+inclosed. The trimmings and facings of scarlet, and a scarlet waist
+coat. If livery lace is not quite disused, I should be glad to have the
+cloaks laced. I like that fashion best, and two silver laced hats for
+the above servants.”
+
+For some reason Bishop left his employment, but in 1760 Washington
+“wrote to my old servant Bishop to return to me again if he was not
+otherwise engaged,” and, the man being “very desirous of returning,”
+the old relation was reassumed. Alton in the mean time had been
+promoted to be overseer of one of the plantations. In 1785 their master
+noted in his diary, “Last night Jno Alton an Overseer of mine in the
+Neck—an old & faithful Servant who has lived with me 30 odd years
+died—and this evening the wife of Thos. Bishop, another old Servant who
+had lived with me an equal number of years also died.” Both were
+remembered in his will by a clause giving “To Sarah Green daughter of
+the deceased Thomas Bishop, and to Ann Walker, daughter of John Alton,
+also deceased I give each one hundred dollars, in consideration of the
+attachment of their father[s] to me, each of whom having lived nearly
+forty years in my family.”
+
+Of Washington’s general treatment of the serving class a few facts can
+be gleaned. He told one of his overseers, in reference to the
+sub-overseers, that “to treat them civilly is no more than what all men
+are entitled to, but my advice to you is, to keep them at a proper
+distance; for they will grow upon familiarity, in proportion as you
+will sink in authority if you do not.” To a housekeeper he promised “a
+warm, decent and comfortable room to herself, to lodge in, and will eat
+of the victuals of our Table, but not set at it, or at any time _with
+us_ be her appearance what it may; for if this was _once admitted_ no
+line satisfactory to either party, perhaps could be drawn thereafter.”
+
+In visiting he feed liberally, good examples of which are given in the
+cash account of the visit to Boston in 1756, when he “Gave to Servants
+on ye Road 10/.” “By Cash Mr. Malbones servants £4.0.0.” “The
+Chambermaid £1.2.6.” When the wife of his old steward, Fraunces, came
+to need, he gave her “for Charity £1.17.6.” The majority will
+sympathize rather than disapprove of his opinion when he wrote,
+“Workmen in most Countries I believe are necessary plagues;—-in this
+where entreaties as well as money must be used to obtain their work and
+keep them to their duty they baffle all calculation in the
+accomplishment of any plan or repairs they are engaged in;—and require
+more attention to and looking after than can be well conceived.”
+
+The overseers of his many plantations, and his “master” carpenters,
+millers, and gardeners, were quite as great trials as his slaves. First
+“young Stephens” gave him much trouble, which his diary reports in a
+number of sententious entries: “visited my Plantation. Severely
+reprimanded young Stephens for his Indolence, and his father for
+suffering it;” “forbid Stephens keeping any horses upon my expence;”
+“visited my quarters & ye Mill, according to custom found young
+Stephens absent;” “visited my Plantation and found to my great surprise
+Stephens constantly at work;” “rid out to my Plantn. and to my
+Carpenters. Found Richard Stephens hard at work with an ax—Very
+extraordinary this!”
+
+Again he records, “Visited my Plantations—found Foster had been absent
+from his charge since the 28th ulto. Left orders for him to come
+immediately to me upon his return, and repremanded him severely.” Of
+another, Simpson, “I never hear … without a degree of warmth & vexation
+at his extreme stupidity,” and elsewhere he expresses his disgust at
+“that confounded fellow Simpson.” A third spent all the fall and half
+the winter in getting in his crop, and “if there was any way of making
+such a rascal as Garner pay for such conduct, no punishment would be
+too great for him. I suppose he never turned out of mornings until the
+sun had warmed the earth, and if _he_ did not, the _negros_ would not.”
+His chief overseer was directed to “Let Mr. Crow know that I view with
+a very evil eye the frequent reports made by him of sheep dying;…
+frequent _natural deaths_ is a very strong evidence to my mind of the
+want of care or something worse.”
+
+Curious distinctions were made oftentimes. Thus, in the contract with
+an overseer, one clause was inserted to the effect, “And whereas there
+are a number of whiskey stills very contiguous to the said Plantations,
+and many idle, drunken and dissolute People continually resorting to
+the same, priding themselves in debauching sober and well-inclined
+Persons, the said Edd Voilett doth promise as well for his own sake as
+his employers to avoid them as he ought.” To the contrary, in hiring a
+gardener, it was agreed as part of the compensation that the man should
+have “four dollars at Christmas, with which he may be drunk for four
+days and four nights; two dollars at Easter to effect the same purpose;
+two dollars at Whitsuntide to be drunk for two days; a dram in the
+morning, and a drink of grog at dinner at noon.”
+
+With more true kindness Washington wrote to one of his underlings, “I
+was very glad to receive your letter of the 31st ultimo, because I was
+afraid, from the accounts given me of your spitting blood,… that you
+would hardly have been able to have written at all. And it is my
+request that you will not, by attempting more than you are able to
+undergo, with safety and convenience, injure yourself, and thereby
+render me a disservice…. I had rather therefore hear that you had
+nursed than exposed yourself. And the things which I sent from this
+place (I mean the wine, tea, coffee and sugar) and such other matters
+as you may lay in by the doctor’s direction for the use of the sick, I
+desire you will make use of as your own personal occasions may
+require.”
+
+Of one Butler he had employed to overlook his gardeners, but who proved
+hopelessly unfit, Washington said, “sure I am, there is no obligation
+upon me to retain him from charitable motives; when he ought rather to
+be punished as an imposter: for he well knew the services he had to
+perform, and which he promised to fulfil with zeal, activity, and
+intelligence.” Yet when the man was discharged his employer gave him a
+“character:” “If his activity, spirit, and ability in the management of
+Negroes, were equal to his honesty, sobriety and industry, there would
+not be the least occasion for a change,” and Butler was paid his full
+wages, no deduction being made for lost time, “as I can better afford
+to be without the money than he can.”
+
+Another thoroughly incompetent man was one employed to take charge of
+the negro carpenters, of whom his employer wrote, “I am apprehensive …
+that Green never will overcome his propensity to drink; that it is this
+which occasions his frequent sickness, absences from work and poverty.
+And I am convinced, moreover, that it answers no purpose to admonish
+him.” Yet, though “I am so well satisfied of Thomas Green’s unfitness
+to look after Carpenters,” for a time “the helpless situation in which
+you find his family, has prevailed on me to retain him,” and when he
+finally had to be discharged for drinking, Washington said, “Nothing
+but compassion for his helpless family, has hitherto induced me to keep
+him a moment in my service (so bad is the example he sets); but if he
+has no regard for them himself, it is not to be expected that I am to
+be a continual sufferer on this account for his misconduct.” His
+successor needed the house the family lived in, but Washington could
+not “bear the thought of adding to the distress I know they must be in,
+by turning them adrift;… It would be better therefore on all accounts
+if they were removed to some other place, even if I was to pay the
+rent, provided it was low, or make some allowance towards it.”
+
+To many others, besides family, friends, and employees, Washington was
+charitable. From an early date his ledger contains frequent items
+covering gifts to the needy. To mention a tenth of them would take too
+much space, but a few typical entries are worth quoting:
+
+“By Cash gave a Soldiers wife 5/;” “To a crippled man 5/;” “Gave a man
+who had his House Burnt £1.;” “By a begging woman /5;” “By Cash gave
+for the Sufferers at Boston by fire £12;” “By a wounded soldier 10/;”
+“Alexandria Academy, support of a teacher of Orphan children £50;” “By
+Charity to an invalid wounded Soldier who came from Redston with a
+petition for Charity 18/;” “Gave a poor man by the President’s order
+$2;” “Delivd to the President to send to two distress’d french women at
+Newcastle $25;” “Gave Pothe a poor old man by the President’s order
+$2;” “Gave a poor sailor by the Presdt order $1;” “Gave a poor blind
+man by the Presdt order $1.50;” “By Madame de Seguer a french Lady in
+distress gave her $50;” “By Subscription paid to Mr. Jas. Blythe
+towards erecting and Supporting an Academy in the State of Kentucky
+$100;” “By Subscription towards an Academy in the South Western
+Territory $100;” “By Charity sent Genl Charles Pinckney in Columbus
+Bank Notes, for the sufferers by the fire in Charleston So. Carolina
+$300;” “By Charity gave to the sufferers by fire in Geo. Town $10;” “By
+an annual Donation to the Academy at Alexandria pd. Dr. Cook $166.67;”
+“By Charity to the poor of Alexandria deld. to the revd. Dr. Muir
+$100.”
+
+To an overseer he said, concerning a distant relative, “Mrs. Haney
+should endeavor to do what she can for herself—this is a duty incumbent
+on every one; but you must not let her suffer, as she has thrown
+herself upon me; your advances on this account will be allowed always,
+at settlement; and I agree readily to furnish her with provisions, and
+for the good character you give of her daughter make the latter a
+present in my name of a handsome but not costly gown, and other things
+which she may stand most in need of. You may charge me also with the
+worth of your tenement in which she is placed, and where perhaps it is
+better she should be than at a great distance from your attentions to
+her.”
+
+After the terrible attack of fever in Philadelphia in 1793, Washington
+wrote to a clergyman of that city,—
+
+“It has been my intention ever since my return to the city, to
+contribute my mite towards the relief of the _most_ needy inhabitants
+of it. The pressure of public business hitherto has suspended, but not
+altered my resolution. I am at a loss, however, for whose benefit to
+apply the little I can give, and in whose hands to place it; whether
+for the use of the fatherless children and widows, made so by the late
+calamity, who may find it difficult, whilst provisions, wood, and other
+necessaries are so dear, to support themselves; or to other and better
+purposes, if any, I know not, and therefore have taken the liberty of
+asking your advice. I persuade myself justice will be done to my
+motives for giving you this trouble. To obtain information, and to
+render the little I can afford, without ostentation or mention of my
+name, are the sole objects of these inquiries. With great and sincere
+esteem and regard, I am, &c.”
+
+His adopted grandson he advised to “never let an indigent person ask,
+without receiving _something_ if you have the means; always
+recollecting in what light the widow’s mite was viewed.” And when he
+took command of the army in 1775, the relative who took charge of his
+affairs was told to “let the hospitality of the house, with respect to
+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.”
+
+
+
+
+VII
+SOCIAL LIFE
+
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington, like the Virginian of his time,
+was pre-eminently social. It is true that late in life he complained,
+as already quoted, that his home had become a “well resorted tavern,”
+and that at his own table “I rarely miss seeing strange faces, come as
+they say out of respect for me. Pray, would not the word curiosity
+answer as well?” but even in writing this he added, “how different this
+from having a few social friends at a cheerful board!” When a surveyor
+he said that the greatest pleasure he could have would be to hear from
+or be with “my Intimate friends and acquaintances;” to one he wrote, “I
+hope you in particular will not Bauk me of what I so ardently wish
+for,” and he groaned over being “amongst a parcel of barbarians.” While
+in the Virginia regiment he complained of a system of rations which
+“deprived me of the pleasure of inviting an officer or friend, which to
+me would be more agreeable, than nick-nacks I shall meet with,” and
+when he was once refused leave of absence by the governor, he replied
+bitterly, “it was not to enjoy a party of pleasure I wanted a leave of
+absence; I have been indulged with few of these, winter or summer!” At
+Mount Vernon, if a day was spent without company the fact was almost
+always noted in his diary, and in a visit, too, he noted that he had “a
+very lonesome Evening at Colo Champe’s, not any Body favoring us with
+their Company but himself.”
+
+The plantation system which prevented town life and put long distances
+between neighbors developed two forms of society. One of these was
+house parties, and probably nowhere else in the world was that form of
+hospitality so unstinted as in this colony. Any one of a certain social
+standing was privileged, even welcomed, to ride up to the seat of a
+planter, dismount, and thus become a guest, ceasing to be such only
+when he himself chose. Sometimes one family would go _en masse_ many
+miles to stay a week with friends, and when they set out to return
+their hosts would journey with them and in turn become guests for a
+week. The second form of social life was called clubs. At all the
+cross-roads and court-houses there sprang up taverns or ordinaries, and
+in these the men of a neighborhood would gather, and over a bowl of
+punch or a bottle of wine, the expense of which they “clubbed” to
+share, would spend their evenings.
+
+Into this life Washington entered eagerly. As a mere lad his ledger
+records expenditures: “By a club in Arrack at Mr. Gordon’s 2/6;” “Club
+of a bottle of Rhenish at Mitchells 1/3;” “To part of the club at Port
+Royal 1/;” “To Cash in part for a Bowl of fruit punch 1/7-1/2.” So,
+too, he was a visitor at this time at some of the great Virginian
+houses, as elsewhere noted. When he came into possession of Mount
+Vernon he offered the same unstinted welcome that he had met with, and
+even as a bachelor he writes of his “having much company,” and again of
+being occupied with “a good deal of Company.” In two months of 1768
+Washington had company to dinner, or to spend the night, on twenty-nine
+days, and dined or visited away from home on seven; and this is
+typical.
+
+Whenever, too, trips were made to Williamsburg, Annapolis,
+Philadelphia, or elsewhere, it was a rare occurrence when the various
+stages of the journey were not spent with friends, and in those cities
+he was dined and wined to a surfeit.
+
+During the Revolution all of Washington’s aides and his secretary lived
+with him at head-quarters, and constituted what he always called “my
+family.” In addition, many others sat down at table,—those who came on
+business from a distance, as well as bidden guests,—-which frequently
+included ladies from the neighborhood, who must have been belles among
+the sixteen to twenty men who customarily sat down to dinner. “If …
+convenient and agreeable to you to take pot luck with me to-day,” the
+General wrote John Adams in 1776, “I shall be glad of your company.”
+Pot luck it was for commander-in-chief and staff. Mention has been made
+of how sometimes Washington slept on the ground, and even when under
+cover there was not occasionally much more comfort. Pickering relates
+that one night was passed in “Headquarters at Galloway’s, an old log
+house. The General lodged in a bed, and his family on the floor about
+him. We had plenty of sepawn and milk, and all were contented.”
+
+Oftentimes there were difficulties in the hospitality. “I have been at
+my prest. quarters since the 1st day of Decr.,” Washington complained
+to the commissary-general, “and have not a Kitchen to cook a Dinner in,
+altho’ the Logs have been put together some considerable time by my own
+Guard. Nor is there a place at this moment in which a servant can
+lodge, with the smallest degree of comfort. Eighteen belonging to my
+family, and all Mrs. Ford’s, are crowded together in her Kitchen, and
+scarce one of them able to speak for the cold they have caught.”
+Pickering, in telling how he tried to secure lodgings away from
+head-quarters, gave for his reasons that “they are exceedingly pinched
+for room…. Had I conceived how much satisfaction, quiet and even
+leisure, I should have enjoyed at separate quarters, I would have taken
+them six months ago. For at head-quarters there is a continual throng,
+and my room, in particular, (when I was happy enough to get one,) was
+always crowded by all that came to headquarters on business, because
+there was no other for them, we having, for the most part, been in such
+small houses.”
+
+There were other difficulties. “I cannot get as much cloth,” the
+general wrote, “as will make cloaths for my servants, notwithstanding
+one of them that attends my person and table is indecently and most
+shamefully naked.” One of his aides said to a correspondent, jocularly,
+“I take your Caution to me in Regard to my Health very kindly, but I
+assure you, you need be under no Apprehension of my losing it on the
+Score of Excess of living, that Vice is banished from this Army and the
+General’s Family in particular. We never sup, but go to bed and are
+early up.” “Only conceive,” Washington complained to Congress, “the
+mortification they (even the general officers) must suffer, when they
+cannot invite a French officer, a visiting friend, or a travelling
+acquaintance, to a better repast, than stinking whiskey (and not always
+that) and a bit of Beef without vegetables.”
+
+At times, too, it was necessary to be an exemplar. “Our truly
+republican general,” said Laurens, “has declared to his officers that
+he will set the example of passing the winter in a hut himself,” and
+John Adams, in a time of famine, declared that “General Washington sets
+a fine example. He has banished wine from his table, and entertains his
+friends with rum and water.”
+
+Whenever it was possible, however, there was company at head-quarters.
+“Since the General left Germantown in the middle of September last,”
+the General Orders once read, “he has been without his baggage, and on
+that account is unable to receive company in the manner he could wish.
+He nevertheless desires the Generals, Field Officers and Brigades Major
+of the day, to dine with him in future, at three o’clock in the
+afternoon.” Again the same vehicle informed the army that “the hurry of
+business often preventing particular invitations being given to
+officers to dine with the General; He presents his compliments to the
+Brigadiers and Field Officers of the day, and requests while the Camp
+continues settled in the City, they will favor him with their company
+to dinner, without further or special invitation.”
+
+Mrs. Drinker, who went with a committee of women to camp at Valley
+Forge, has left a brief description of head-quarters hospitality:
+“Dinner was served, to which he invited us. There were 15 Officers,
+besides ye Gl. and his wife, Gen. Greene, and Gen. Lee. We had an
+elegant dinner, which was soon over, when we went out with ye Genls
+wife, up to her Chamber—and saw no more of him.” Claude Blanchard, too,
+describes a dinner, at which “there was twenty-five covers used by some
+officers of the army and a lady to whom the house belonged in which the
+general lodged. We dined under the tent. I was placed along side of the
+general. One of his aides-de-camp did the honors. The table was served
+in the American style and pretty abundantly; vegetables, roast beef,
+lamb, chickens, salad dressed with nothing but vinegar, green peas,
+puddings, and some pie, a kind of tart, greatly in use in England and
+among the Americans, all this being put upon the table at the same
+time. They gave us on the same plate beef, green peas, lamb, &c.”
+
+Nor was the ménage of the General unequal to unexpected calls.
+Chastellux tells of his first arrival in camp and introduction to
+Washington: “He conducted me to his house, where I found the company
+still at table, although the dinner had been long over. He presented me
+to the Generals Knox, Waine, Howe, &c. and to his _family_, then
+composed of Colonels Hamilton and Tilgman, his Secretaries and his
+Aides de Camp, and of Major Gibbs, commander of his guards; for in
+England and America, the Aides de Camp, Adjutants and other officers
+attached to the General, form what is called his _family_. A fresh
+dinner was prepared for me and mine; and the present was prolonged to
+keep me company.” “At nine,” he elsewhere writes, “supper was served,
+and when the hour of bed-time came, I found that the chamber, to which
+the General conducted me was the very parlour I speak of, wherein he
+had made them place a camp-bed.” Of his hospitality Washington himself
+wrote,—
+
+“I have asked Mrs. Cochran & Mrs. Livingston to dine with me to-morrow;
+but am I not in honor bound to apprize them of their fate? As I hate
+deception, even where the imagination only is concerned; I will. It is
+needless to premise, that my table is large enough to hold the ladies.
+Of this they had ocular proof yesterday. To say how it is usually
+covered, is rather more essential; and this shall be the purport of my
+Letter.
+
+“Since our arrival at this happy spot, 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; a dish of beans, or greens, (almost
+imperceptible,) decorates the center. When the cook has a mind to cut a
+figure, (which, I presume will be the case to-morrow) we have two
+Beef-steak pyes, or dishes of crabs, in addition, one on each side of
+the center dish, dividing the space & reducing the distance between
+dish & dish to about 6 feet, which without them would be near 12 feet
+apart. Of late he has had the surprising sagacity to discover, that
+apples will make pyes; and its a question, if, in the violence of his
+efforts, we do not get one of apples, instead of having both of
+Beef-steaks. If the ladies can put up with such entertainment, and will
+submit to partake of it in plates, once Tin but now Iron—(not become so
+by the labor of scouring), I shall be happy to see them.”
+
+Dinners were not the only form of entertaining. In Cambridge, when Mrs.
+Washington and Mrs. Jack Custis were at head-quarters, a reception was
+held on the anniversary of Washington’s marriage, and at other times
+when there was anything to celebrate,—the capitulation of Burgoyne, the
+alliance with France, the birth of a dauphin, etc.,—parades, balls,
+receptions, “feux-de-joie,” or cold collations were given. Perhaps the
+most ambitious attempt was a dinner given on September 21, 1782, in a
+large tent, to which ninety sat down, while a “band of American music”
+added to the “gaiety of the company.”
+
+Whenever occasion called the General to attend on Congress there was
+much junketing. “My time,” he wrote, “during my winter’s residence in
+Philadelphia, was unusually (for me) divided between parties of
+pleasure and parties of business.” When Reed pressed him to pass the
+period of winter quarters in visiting him in Philadelphia, he replied,
+“were I to give in 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.”
+
+While President, a more elaborate hospitality was maintained. Both in
+New York and Philadelphia the best houses procurable were rented as the
+Presidential home,—for Washington “wholly declined living in any public
+building,”—and a steward and fourteen lower servants attended to all
+details, though a watchful supervision was kept by the President over
+them, and in the midst of his public duties he found time to keep a
+minute account of the daily use of all supplies, with their cost. His
+payments to his stewards for mere servants’ wages and food (exclusive
+of wine) were over six hundred dollars a month, and there can be little
+doubt that Washington, who had no expense paid by the public, more than
+spent his salary during his term of office.
+
+It was the President’s custom to give a public dinner once a week “to
+as many as my table will hold,” and there was also a bi-weekly levee,
+to which any one might come, as well as evening receptions by Mrs.
+Washington, which were more distinctly social and far more exclusive.
+Ashbel Green states that “Washington’s dining parties were entertained
+in a very handsome style. His weekly dining day for company was
+Thursday, and his dining hour was always four o’clock in the afternoon.
+His rule was to allow five minutes for the variations of clocks and
+watches, and then go to the table, be present or absent, whoever might.
+He kept his own clock in the hall, just within the outward door, and
+always exactly regulated. When lagging members of Congress came in, as
+they often did, after the guests had sat down to dinner, the
+president’s only apology was, ‘Gentlemen (or sir) we are too punctual
+for you. I have a cook who never asks whether the company has come, but
+whether the hour has come.’ The company usually assembled in the
+drawing-room, about fifteen or twenty minutes before dinner, and the
+president spoke to every guest personally on entering the room.”
+
+Maclay attended several of the dinners, and has left descriptions of
+them. “Dined this day with the President,” he writes. “It was a great
+dinner— all in the tastes of high life. I considered it as a part of my
+duty as a Senator to submit to it, and am glad it is over. The
+President is a cold, formal man; but I must declare that he treated me
+with great attention. I was the first person with whom he drank a glass
+of wine. I was often spoken to by him.” Again he says,—
+
+“At dinner, after my second plate had been taken away, the President
+offered to help me to part of a dish which stood before him. Was ever
+anything so unlucky? I had just before declined being helped to
+anything more, with some expression that denoted my having made up my
+dinner. Had, of course, for the sake of consistency, to thank him
+negatively, but when the dessert came, and he was distributing a
+pudding, he gave me a look of interrogation, and I returned the thanks
+positive. He soon after asked me to drink a glass of wine with him.” On
+another occasion he “went to the President’s to dinner…. The President
+and Mrs. Washington sat opposite each other in the middle of the table;
+the two secretaries, one at each end. It was a great dinner, and the
+best of the kind I ever was at. The room, however, was disagreeably
+warm. First the soup; fish roasted and boiled; meats, sammon, fowls,
+etc…. The middle of the table was garnished in the usual tasty way,
+with small images, flowers, (artificial), etc. The dessert was, apple
+pies, pudding, etc.; then iced creams, jellies, etc.; then
+water-melons, musk-melons, apples, peaches, nuts. It was the most
+solemn dinner I ever was at. Not a health drank; scarce a word was said
+until the cloth was taken away. Then the President filling a glass of
+wine, with great formality drank to the health of every individual by
+name round the table. Everybody imitated him, charged glasses, and such
+a buzz of ‘health, sir,’ and ‘health, madam,’ and ‘thank you, sir,’ and
+‘thank you, madam,’ never had I heard before…. The ladies sat a good
+while, and the bottles passed about; but there was a dead silence
+almost. Mrs. Washington at last withdrew with the ladies. I expected
+the men would now begin, but the same stillness remained. The President
+told of a New England clergyman who had lost a hat and wig in passing a
+river called the Brunks. He smiled, and everybody else laughed. He now
+and then said a sentence or two on some common subject, and what he
+said was not amiss…. The President … played with the fork, striking on
+the edge of the table with it. We did not sit long after the ladies
+retired. The President rose, went up-stairs to drink coffee; the
+company followed.”
+
+
+[Illustration: PRESIDENTIAL DINNER INVITATION]
+
+
+Bradbury gives the menu of a dinner at which he was, where “there was
+an elegant variety of roast beef, veal, turkey, ducks, fowls, hams,
+&c.; puddings, jellies, oranges, apples, nuts, almonds, figs, raisins,
+and a variety of wines and punch. We took our leave at six, more than
+an hour after the candles were introduced. No lady but Mrs. Washington
+dined with us. We were waited on by four or five men servants dressed
+in livery.” At the last official dinner the President gave, Bishop
+White was present, and relates that “to this dinner as many were
+invited as could be accommodated at the President’s table…. Much
+hilarity prevailed; but on the removal of the cloth it was put an end
+to by the President—certainly without design. Having filled his glass,
+he addressed the company, with a smile on his countenance, saying:
+‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last time I shall drink your health,
+as a public man. I do it with sincerity, and wishing you all possible
+happiness.’ There was an end of all pleasantry.”
+
+A glance at Mrs. Washington’s receptions has been given, but the levees
+of the President remain to be described. William Sullivan, who attended
+many, wrote,—
+
+“At three o’clock or at any time within a quarter of an hour afterward,
+the visitor was conducted to this dining room, from which all seats had
+been removed for the time. On entering, he saw” Washington, who “stood
+always in front of the fire-place, with his face towards the door of
+entrance. The visitor was conducted to him, and he required to have the
+name so distinctly pronounced that he could hear it. He had the very
+uncommon faculty of associating a man’s name, and personal appearance,
+so durably in his memory, as to be able to call one by name, who made
+him a second visit. He received his visitor with a dignified bow, while
+his hands were so disposed of as to indicate, that the salutation was
+not to be accompanied with shaking hands. This ceremony never occurred
+in these visits, even with his most near friends, that no distinction
+might be made. As visitors came in, they formed a circle round the
+room. At a quarter past three, the door was closed, and the circle was
+formed for that day. He then began on the right, and spoke to each
+visitor, calling him by name, and exchanging a few words with him. When
+he had completed his circuit, he resumed his first position, and the
+visitors approached him in succession, bowed and retired. By four
+o’clock the ceremony was over.”
+
+The ceremony of the dinners and levees and the liveried servants were
+favorite impeachments of the President among the early Democrats before
+they had better material, and Washington was charged with trying to
+constitute a court, and with conducting himself like a king. Even his
+bow was a source of criticism, and Washington wrote in no little
+irritation in regard to this, “that I have not been able to make bows
+to the taste of poor Colonel Bland, (who, by the by, I believe, never
+saw one of them), is to be regretted, especially too, as (upon those
+occasions), they were indiscriminately bestowed, and the best I was
+master of, would it not have been better to throw the veil of charity
+over them, ascribing their stiffness to the effects of age, or to the
+unskillfulness of my teacher, than to pride and dignity of office,
+which God knows has no charms for me? For I can truly say, I had rather
+be at Mount Vernon 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.”
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington hated ceremony as much as the
+Democrats, and yielded to it only from his sense of fitness and the
+opinions of those about him. Jefferson and Madison both relate how such
+unnecessary form was used at the first levee by the master of
+ceremonies as to make it ridiculous, and Washington, appreciating this,
+is quoted as saying to the amateur chamberlain, “Well, you have taken
+me in once, but, by God, you shall never take me in a second time.” His
+secretary, in writing to secure lodgings in Philadelphia, when the
+President and family were on their way to Mount Vernon, said, “I must
+repeat, what I observed in a former letter, that as little ceremony &
+parade may be made as possible, for the President wishes to command his
+own time, which these things always forbid in a greater or less degree,
+and they are to him fatiguing and oftentimes painful. He wishes not to
+exclude himself from the sight or conversation of his fellow citizens,
+but their eagerness to show their affection frequently imposes a heavy
+tax on him.”
+
+This was still further shown in his diary of his tours through New
+England and the Southern States. Nothing would do but for Boston to
+receive him with troops, etc., and Washington noted, “finding this
+ceremony not to be avoided, though I had made every effort to do it, I
+named the hour.” In leaving Portsmouth he went “quietly, and without
+any attendance, having earnestly entreated that all parade and ceremony
+might be avoided on my return.” When travelling through North Carolina,
+“a small party of horse under one Simpson met us at Greenville, and in
+spite of every endeavor which could comport with decent civility, to
+excuse myself from it, they would attend me to Newburn.”
+
+During the few years that Washington was at Mount Vernon subsequent to
+the Revolution, the same unbounded hospitality was dispensed as in
+earlier times, while a far greater demand was made upon it, and one so
+variegated that at times the host was not a little embarrassed. Thus he
+notes that “a Gentleman calling himself the Count de Cheiza D’Artigan
+Officer of the French Guards came here to dinner; but bringing no
+letters of introduction, nor any authentic testimonials of his being
+either; I was at a loss how to receive or treat him,—he stayed to
+dinner and the evening,” and the next day departed in Washington’s
+carriage to Alexandria. “A farmer came here to see,” he says, “my drill
+plow, and staid all night.” In another instance he records that a woman
+whose “name was unknown to me dined here.” Only once were visitors
+frowned on, and this was when a British marauding party came to Mount
+Vernon during the Revolution. Even they, in Washington’s absence, were
+entertained by his overseer, but his master wrote him, on hearing of
+this, “I am little sorry of my own [loss]; but that which gives me most
+concern is, that you should go on board the enemy’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-compliance 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 making a voluntary offer of refreshments to them with a view
+to prevent a conflagration.”
+
+The hospitality at Mount Vernon was perfectly simple. A traveller
+relates that he was taken there by a friend, and, as Washington was
+“viewing his laborers,” we “were desired to tarry.” “When the President
+returned he received us very politely. Dr. Croker introduced me to him
+as a gentleman from Massachusetts who wished to see the country and pay
+his respects. He thanked us, desired us to be seated, and to excuse him
+a few moments…. The President came and desired us to walk in to dinner
+and directed us where to sit, (no grace was said)…. The dinner was very
+good, a small roasted pigg, boiled leg of lamb, roasted fowles, beef,
+peas, lettice, cucumbers, artichokes, etc., puddings, tarts, etc., etc.
+We were desired to call for what drink we chose. He took a glass of
+wine with Mrs. Law first, which example was followed by Dr. Croker and
+Mrs. Washington, myself and Mrs. Peters, Mr. Fayette and the young lady
+whose name is Custis. When the cloth was taken away the President gave
+‘All our Friends,’”
+
+Another visitor tells that he was received by Washington, and, “after …
+half an hour, the General came in again, with his hair neatly powdered,
+a clean shirt on, a new plain drab coat, white waistcoat and white silk
+stockings. At three, dinner was on the table, and we were shown by the
+General into another room, where everything was set off with a peculiar
+taste and at the same time neat and plain. The General sent the bottle
+about pretty freely after dinner, and gave success to the navigation of
+the Potomac for his toasts, which he has very much at heart…. After Tea
+General Washington retired to his study and left us with the … rest of
+the Company. If he had not been anxious to hear the news of Congress
+from Mr. Lee, most probably he would not have returned to supper, but
+gone to bed at his usual hour, nine o’clock, for he seldom makes any
+ceremony. We had a very elegant supper about that time. The General
+with a few glasses of champagne got quite merry, and being with his
+intimate friends laughed and talked a good deal. Before strangers he is
+very reserved, and seldom says a word. I was fortunate in being in his
+company with his particular acquaintances…. At 12 I had the honor of
+being lighted up to my bedroom by the General himself.”
+
+This break on the evening hours was quite unusual, Washington himself
+saying in one place that nine o’clock was his bedtime, and he wrote of
+his hours after dinner, “the usual time of setting at table, a walk,
+and tea, brings me within the dawn of candlelight; previous to which,
+if not prevented by company I resolve, that as soon as the glimmering
+taper supplies the place of the great luminary, I will retire to my
+writing table and acknowledge the letters I have received; but when the
+lights were brought, I feel tired and disinclined to engage in this
+work, conceiving that the next night will do as well. The next comes,
+and with it the same causes for postponement, and effect, and so on.”
+
+The foregoing allusion to Washington’s conversation is undoubtedly
+just. All who met him formally spoke of him as taciturn, but this was
+not a natural quality. Jefferson states that “in the circle of his
+friends, where he might be unreserved with safety, he took a free share
+in conversation,” and Madison told Sparks that, though “Washington was
+not fluent nor ready in conversation, and was inclined to be taciturn
+in general society,” yet “in the company of two or three intimate
+friends, he was talkative, and when a little excited was sometimes
+fluent and even eloquent” “The story so often repeated of his never
+laughing,” Madison said, was “wholly untrue; no man seemed more to
+enjoy gay conversation, though he took little part in it himself. He
+was particularly pleased with the jokes, good humor, and hilarity of
+his companions.”
+
+Washington certainly did enjoy a joke. Nelly Custis said, “I have
+sometimes made him laugh most heartily from sympathy with my joyous and
+extravagant spirits,” and many other instances of his laughing are
+recorded. He himself wrote in 1775 concerning the running away of some
+British soldiers, “we laugh at his idea of chasing the Royal Fusileers
+with the stores. Does he consider them as inanimate, or as treasure?”
+When the British in Boston sent out a bundle of the king’s speech,
+“farcical enough, we gave great joy to them, (the red coats I mean),
+without knowing or intending it; for on that day, the day which gave
+being to the new army, (but before the proclamation came to hand,) we
+had hoisted the union flag in compliment to the United Colonies. But,
+behold, it was received in Boston as a token of the deep impression the
+speech had made upon us, and as a signal of submission.”
+
+At times Washington would joke himself, though it was always somewhat
+labored, as in the case of the Jack already cited. “Without a coinage,”
+he wrote, “or unless a stop can be put to the cutting and clipping of
+money, our dollars, pistareens, &c., will be converted, as Teague says,
+into _five_ quarters.” When the Democrats were charging the Federalists
+with having stolen from the treasury, he wrote to a Cabinet official,
+“and pray, my good sir, what part of the $800.000 have come to your
+share? As you are high in Office, I hope you did not disgrace yourself
+in the acceptance of a paltry bribe—a $100.000 perhaps.” He once even
+attempted a pun, by writing, “our enterprise will be ruined, and we
+shall be stopped at the Laurel Hill this winter; but not to gather
+laurels, (except of the kind that covers the mountains).”
+
+Probably the neatest turn was his course on one occasion with General
+Tryon, who sent him some British proclamations with the request, “that
+through your means, the officers and men under your command may be
+acquainted with their contents.” Washington promptly replied that he
+had given them “free currency among the officers and men under my
+command,” and enclosed to Tryon a lot of the counter-proclamation,
+asking him to “be instrumental in communicating its contents, so far as
+it may be in your power, to the persons who are the objects of its
+operation. The benevolent purpose it is intended to answer will I
+persuade myself, sufficiently recommend it to your candor.”
+
+To a poetess who had sent him some laudatory verses about himself he
+expressed his thanks, and added, “Fiction is to be sure the very life
+and Soul of Poetry—all Poets and Poetesses have been indulged in the
+free and indisputable use of it, time out of mind. And to oblige you to
+make such an excellent Poem on such a subject without any materials but
+those of simple reality, would be as cruel as the Edict of Pharoah
+which compelled the children of Israel to manufacture Bricks without
+the necessary Ingredients.”
+
+Twice he joked about his own death. “As I have heard,” he said after
+Braddock’s defeat, “since my arrival at this place, a circumstancial
+account of my death and dying speech, I take this early opportunity of
+contradicting the first, and of assuring you, that I have not as yet
+composed the latter.” Many years later, in draughting a letter for his
+wife, he wrote,—
+
+“I am now by desire of the General to add a few words on his behalf;
+which he desires may be expressed in the terms following, that is to
+say,—that despairing of hearing what may be said of him, if he should
+really go off in an apoplectic, or any other fit (for he thinks all
+fits that issue in death are worse than a love fit, a fit of laughter,
+and many other kinds which he could name)—he is glad to hear
+_beforehand_ what will be said of him on that occasion; conceiving that
+nothing extra will happen between _this_ and _then_ to make a change in
+his character for better, or for worse. And besides, as he has entered
+into an engagement … not to quit _this_ world before the year 1800, it
+may be _relied upon_ that no breach of contract shall be laid to him on
+that account, unless dire necessity should bring it about, maugre all
+his exertions to the contrary. In that same, he shall hope they would
+do by him as he would do by them—excuse it. At present there seems to
+be no danger of his thus giving them the slip, as neither his health
+nor spirits, were ever in greater flow, notwithstanding, he adds, he is
+descending, and has almost reached the bottom of the hill; or in other
+words, the shades below. For your particular good wishes on this
+occasion he charges me to say that he feels highly obliged, and that he
+reciprocates them with great cordiality.”
+
+Other social qualities of the man cannot be passed over. A marked trait
+was his extreme fondness of afternoon tea. “Dined at Mr. Langdon’s, and
+drank Tea there, with a large circle of Ladies;” “in the afternoon
+drank Tea … with about 20 ladies, who had been assembled for the
+occasion;” “exercised between 5 & 7 o’clock in the morning & drank Tea
+with Mrs. Clinton (the Governor’s Lady) in the afternoon;” “Drank tea
+at the Chief Justice’s of the U. States;” “Dined with the Citizens in
+public; and in the afternoon, was introduced to upwards of 50 ladies
+who had assembled (at a Tea party) on the occasion;” “Dined and drank
+tea at Mr. Bingham’s in great splendor.” Such are the entries in his
+diary whenever the was “kettle-a-boiling-be” was within reach.
+Pickering’s journal shows that tea served regularly at head-quarters,
+and at Mount Vernon it was drunk in summer on the veranda. In writing
+to Knox of his visit to Boston, Washington mentioned his recollection
+of the chats over tea-drinking, and of how “social and gay” they were.
+
+A fondness for picnics was another social liking. “Rid with Fanny
+Bassett, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Shaw to meet a Party from Alexandria at
+Johnsons Spring … where we dined on a cold dinner brought from Town by
+water and spent the Afternoon agreeably—Returning home by Sun down or a
+little after it,” is noted in his diary on one occasion, and on another
+he wrote, “Having formed a Party, consisting of the Vice-President, his
+lady, Son & Miss Smith; the Secretaries of State, Treasury & War, and
+the ladies of the two latter; with all the Gentlemen of my family, Mrs.
+Lear & the two Children, we visited the old position of Fort Washington
+and afterwards dined on a dinner provided by Mr. Mariner.” Launchings,
+barbecues, clambakes, and turtle dinners were other forms of social
+dissipations.
+
+A distinct weakness was dancing. When on the frontier he sighed, “the
+hours at present are melancholy dull. Neither the rugged toils of war,
+nor the gentler conflict of A[ssembly] B[alls,] is in my choice.” His
+diary shows him at balls and “Routs” frequently; when he was President
+he was a constant attendant at the regular “Dancing Assemblies” in New
+York and Philadelphia, and when at Mount Vernon he frequently went ten
+miles to Alexandria to attend dances. Of one of these Alexandria balls
+he has left an amusing description: “Went to a ball at Alexandria,
+where Musick and dancing was the chief Entertainment, however in a
+convenient room detached for the purpose abounded great plenty of bread
+and butter, some biscuits, with tea and coffee, which the drinkers of
+could not distinguish from hot water sweet’ned—Be it remembered that
+pocket handkerchiefs servd the purposes of Table cloths & Napkins and
+that no apologies were made for either. I shall therefore distinguish
+this ball by the stile and title of the Bread & Butter Ball.”
+
+During the Revolution, too, he killed many a weary hour of winter
+quarters by dancing. When the camp spent a day rejoicing over the
+French alliance, “the celebration,” according to Thacher, “was
+concluded by a splendid ball opened by his Excellency General
+Washington, having for his partner the lady of General Knox.” Greene
+describes how “we had a little dance at my quarters a few evenings
+past. His Excellency and Mrs. Greene danced upwards of three hours
+without once sitting down.” Knox, too, tells of “a most genteel
+entertainment given by self and officers” at which Washington danced.
+“Everybody allows it to be the first of the kind ever exhibited in this
+State at least. We had above seventy ladies, all of the first ton in
+the State, and between three and four hundred gentlemen. We danced all
+night—an elegant room, the illuminating, fireworks, &c., were more than
+pretty.” And at Newport, when Rochambeau gave a ball, by request it was
+opened by Washington. The dance selected by his partner was “A
+Successful Campaign,” then in high favor, and the French officers took
+the instruments from the musicians and played while he danced the first
+figure.
+
+
+[Illustration: AGREEMENT FOR DANCING ASSEMBLY]
+
+
+While in winter quarters he subscribed four hundred dollars (paper
+money, equal to eleven dollars in gold) to get up a series of balls, of
+which Greene wrote, “We have opened an assembly in Camp. From this
+apparent ease, I suppose it is thought we must be in happy
+circumstances. I wish it was so, but, alas, it is not. Our provisions
+are in a manner, gone. We have not a ton of hay at command, nor
+magazine to draw from. Money is extremely scarce and worth little when
+we get it. We have been so poor in camp for a fortnight, that we could
+not forward the public dispatches, for want of cash to support the
+expresses.” At the farewell ball given at Annapolis, when the
+commander-in-chief resigned his command, Tilton relates that “the
+General danced in every set, that all the ladies might have the
+pleasure of dancing with him; or as it has since been handsomely
+expressed, ‘get a touch of him.’” He still danced in 1796, when
+sixty-four years of age, but when invited to the Alexandria Assembly in
+1799, he wrote to the managers, “Mrs. Washington and myself have been
+honored with your polite invitation to the assemblies of Alexandria
+this winter, and thank you for this mark of your attention. But, alas!
+our dancing days are no more. We wish, however all those who have a
+relish for so agreeable and innocent an amusement all the pleasure the
+season will afford them; and I am, gentlemen,
+
+“Your most obedient and obliged humble servant,
+
+“GEO. WASHINGTON.”
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS
+
+
+A market trait of Washington’s character was his particularity about
+his clothes; there can be little question that he was early in life a
+good deal of a dandy, and that this liking for fine feathers never
+quite left him. When he was about sixteen years old he wrote in his
+journal, “Memorandum to have my Coat made by the following Directions
+to be made a Frock with a Lapel Breast the Lapel to Contain on each
+side six Button Holes and to be about 5 or 6 Inches wide all the way
+equal and to turn as the Breast on the Coat does to have it made very
+long Waisted and in Length to come down to or below the bent of the
+knee the Waist from the armpit to the Fold to be exactly as long or
+Longer than from thence to the Bottom not to have more than one fold in
+the Skirt and the top to be made just to turn in and three Button Holes
+the Lapel at the top to turn as the Cape of the Coat and Bottom to Come
+Parallel with the Button Holes the Last Button hole in the Breast to be
+right opposite to the Button on the Hip.”
+
+In 1754 he bought “a Superfine blue broad cloth Coat, with Silver
+Trimmings,” “a fine Scarlet Waistcoat full Lac’d,” and a quantity of
+“silver lace for a Hatt,” and from another source it is learned that at
+this time he was the possessor of ruffled shirts. A little later he
+ordered from London “As much of the best superfine blue 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,” and other orders at different
+times were for “6 prs. of the Very neatest shoes,” “A riding waistcoat
+of superfine scarlet cloth and gold Lace,” “2 prs. of fashionable mix’d
+or marble Color’d Silk Hose,” “1 piece of finest and fashionable Stock
+Tape,” “1 Suit of the finest Cloth & fashionable colour,” “a New Market
+Great Coat with a loose hood to it, made of Bleu Drab or broad cloth,
+with straps before according to the present taste,” “3 gold and scarlet
+sword-knots, 3 silver and blue do, 1 fashionable gold-laced hat.”
+
+As these orders indicated, the young fellow strove to be in the
+fashion. In 1755 he wrote his brother, “as wearing boots is quite the
+mode, and mine are in a declining state, I must beg the favor of you to
+procure me a pair that is good and neat.” “Whatever goods you may send
+me,” he wrote his London agent, “let them be fashionable, neat and good
+of their several kinds.” It was a great trial to him that his clothes
+did not fit him. “I should have enclosed you my measure,” he wrote to
+London, “but in a general way they are so badly taken here, that I am
+convinced that it would be of very little service.” “I have hitherto
+had my clothes made by one Charles Lawrence in Old Fish Street,” he
+wrote his English factor. “But whether it be the fault of the tailor,
+or the measure sent, I can’t say, but, certain it is, my clothes have
+never fitted me well.”
+
+It must not be inferred, however, that Washington carried his dandyism
+to weakness. When fine clothes were not in place, they were promptly
+discarded. In his trip to the Ohio in 1753 he states that “I put myself
+in an Indian walking Dress,” and “tied myself up in a Match Coat,”—that
+is, an Indian blanket. In the campaign of 1758 he wrote to his superior
+officer “that were I left to pursue my own Inclinations, I would not
+only order the Men to adopt the Indian dress, but cause the Officers to
+do it also, and be at the first to set the example myself. Nothing but
+the uncertainty of its taking with the General causes me to hesitate a
+moment at leaving my Regimentals at this place, and proceeding as light
+as any Indian in the Woods. ’Tis an unbecoming dress, I confess, for an
+officer; but convenience, rather than shew, I think should be
+consulted.” And this was such good sense that the general gave him
+leave, and it was done.
+
+With increase of years his taste in clothes became softened and more
+sober. “On the other side is an invoice of clothes which I beg the
+favor of you to purchase for me,” he wrote to London. “As they are
+designed for wearing apparel for myself, I have committed the choice of
+them to your fancy, having the best opinion of your taste. I want
+neither lace nor embroidery. Plain clothes, with a gold or silver
+button (if worn in genteel dress) are all I desire.” “Do not conceive,”
+he told his nephew in 1783, “that fine clothes make fine men more than
+fine feathers make fine Birds. A plain genteel dress is more admired,
+and obtains more credit than lace and embroidery, in the Eyes of the
+judicious and sensible.” And in connection with the provisional army he
+decided that “on reconsidering the uniform of the Commander in Chief,
+it has become a matter of doubt with me, (although, as it respects
+myself _personally_, I was against _all_ embroidery,) whether
+embroidery on the Cape, Cuffs, and Pockets of the Coat, and none on the
+buff waistcoat would not have a disjointed and awkward appearance.”
+Probably nowhere did he show his good taste more than in his treatment
+of the idea of putting him in classic garments when his bust was made
+by Houdon.
+
+“In answer to your obliging inquiries respecting the dress, attitude,
+&c.,” he wrote, “which I would wish to have given to the statue in
+question, I have only to observe, that, not having sufficient knowledge
+in the art of sculpture to oppose my judgment to the taste of
+connoisseurs, I do not desire to dictate in the matter. On the contrary
+I shall be perfectly satisfied with whatever may be judged decent and
+proper. I should even scarcely have ventured to suggest, that perhaps a
+servile adherence to the garb of antiquity might not be altogether so
+expedient, as some little deviation in favor of the modern costume.”
+
+Washington, as noted, bought his clothes in England; but it was from
+necessity more than choice. “If there be any homespun Cloths in
+Philadelphia which are tolerably fine, that you can come reasonably
+at,” he said to his Philadelphia agent in 1784, “I would be obliged to
+you to send me patterns of some of the best kinds—I should prefer that
+which is mixed in the grain, because it will not so readily discover
+its quality as a plain cloth.” Before he was inaugurated he wrote
+“General Knox this day to procure me homespun broadcloth of the
+Hartford fabric, to make a suit of clothes for myself,” adding, “I hope
+it will not be a great while before it will be unfashionable for a
+gentleman to appear in any other dress. Indeed, we have already been
+too long subject to British prejudices.” At another time he noted in
+his diary with evident pride, “on this occasion I was dressed in a suit
+made at the Woolen Manufactory at Hartford, as the buttons also were.”
+But then, as now, the foreign clothes were so much finer that his taste
+overcame his patriotism, and his secretary wrote that “the President is
+desireous of getting as much superfine blk broad Cloth as will make him
+a suit of Clothes, and desires me to request that you would send him
+that quantity … The best superfine French or Dutch black—exceedingly
+fine—of a soft, silky texture—not glossy like the Engh cloths.”
+
+A caller during the Presidency spoke of him as dressed in purple satin,
+and at his levees he is described by Sullivan as “clad in black velvet;
+his hair in full dress, powdered and gathered behind in a large silk
+bag; yellow gloves on his hands; holding a cocked hat with a cockade in
+it, and the edges adorned with a black feather about an inch deep. He
+wore knee and shoe buckles; and a long sword, with a finely wrought and
+polished steel hilt, which appeared at the left hip; the coat worn over
+the sword, so that the hilt, and the part below the coat behind, were
+in view. The scabbard was white polished leather.”
+
+About his person Washington was as neat as he desired his clothes to
+be. At seventeen when surveying he records that he was
+
+“Lighted into a Room & I not being so good a Woodsman as ye rest of my
+Company striped myself very orderly & went in to ye Bed as they called
+it when to my Surprize I found it to be nothing but a Little
+Straw—Matted together without Sheets or any thing else but only one
+thread Bear blanket with double its Weight of Vermin such as Lice,
+Fleas &c. I was glad to get up (as soon as ye Light was carried from
+us) I put on my Cloths & Lay as my Companions. Had we not have been
+very tired I am sure we should not have slep’d much that night. I made
+a Promise not to Sleep so from that time forward chusing rather to
+sleep in ye open Air before a fire as will appear hereafter.” The next
+day he notes that the party “Travell’d up to Frederick Town where our
+Baggage came to us we cleaned ourselves (to get Rid of ye Game we had
+catched y. Night before)” and slept in “a good Feather Bed with clean
+Sheets which was a very agreeable regale.”
+
+Wherever he happened to be, the laundress was in constant demand. His
+bill from the washer-lady for the week succeeding his inauguration as
+President, and before his domestic ménage was in running order, was for
+“6 Ruffled shirts, 2 plain shirts, 8 stocks, 3 pair Silk Hose, 2 White
+hand. 2 Silk Handks. 1 pr. Flanl. Drawers, 1 Hair nett.”
+
+The barber, too, was a constant need, and Washington’s ledger shows
+constant expenditures for perfumed hair-powder and pomatum, and also
+for powder bags and puffs. Apparently the services of this individual
+were only for the arranging of his hair, for he seems never to have
+shaved Washington, that being done either by himself or by his valet.
+Of this latter individual Washington said (when the injury to William
+Lee unfitted him for the service), “I do not as yet know whether I
+shall get a substitute for William: nothing short of excellent
+qualities and a man of good appearance, would induce me to do it—and
+under my present view of the matter, too, who would employ himself
+otherwise than William did—that is as a butler as well as a valette,
+for my wants of the latter are so trifling that any man (as William
+was) would soon be ruined by idleness, who had only them to attend to.”
+
+In food Washington took what came with philosophy. “If you meet with
+collegiate fare, it will be unmanly to complain,” he told his grandson,
+though he once complained in camp that “we are debarred from the
+pleasure of good living; which, Sir, (I dare say with me you will
+concur,) to one who has always been used to it, must go somewhat hard
+to be confined to a little salt provision and water.” Usually, however,
+poor fare was taken as a matter of course. “When we came to Supper,” he
+said in his journal of 1748, “there was neither a Cloth upon ye Table
+nor a Knife to eat with but as good luck would have it we had Knives of
+our own,” and again he wrote, “we pull’d out our Knapsack in order to
+Recruit ourselves every one was his own Cook our Spits was Forked
+Sticks our Plates was a Large Chip as for Dishes we had none.” Nor was
+he squeamish about what he ate. In the voyage to Barbadoes he several
+times ate dolphin; he notes that the bread was almost “eaten up by
+Weavel & Maggots,” and became quite enthusiastic over some “very fine
+Bristol tripe” and “a fine Irish Ling & Potatoes.” But all this may
+have been due to the proverbial sea appetite.
+
+Samuel Stearns states that Washington “breakfasts about seven o’clock
+on three small Indian hoe-cakes, and as many dishes of tea,” and Custis
+relates that “Indian cakes, honey, and tea formed this temperate
+repast.” These two writers tell us that at dinner “he ate heartily, but
+was not particular in his diet, with the exception of fish, of which he
+was excessively fond. He partook sparingly of dessert, drank a
+home-made beverage, and from four to five glasses of Madeira wine”
+(Custis), and that “he dines, commonly on a single dish, and drinks
+from half a pint to a pint of Madeira wine. This, with one small glass
+of punch, a draught of beer, and two dishes of tea (which he takes half
+an hour before sun-setting) constitutes his whole sustenance till the
+next day.” (Stearns.) Ashbel Green relates that at the state banquets
+during the Presidency Washington “generally dined on one single dish,
+and that of a very simple kind. If offered something either in the
+first or second course which was very rich, his usual reply was—‘That
+is too good for me.’” It is worth noting that he religiously observed
+the fasts proclaimed in 1774 and 1777, going without food the entire
+day.
+
+A special liking is mentioned above. In 1782 Richard Varick wrote to a
+friend, “General Washington dines with me to-morrow; he is exceedingly
+fond of salt fish; I have some coming up, & tho’ it will be here in a
+few days, it will not be here in time—If you could conveniently lend me
+as much fish as would serve a pretty large company to-morrow (at least
+for one Dish), it will oblige me, and shall in a very few days be
+returned in as good Dun Fish as ever you see. Excuse this freedom, and
+it will add to the favor. Could you not prevail upon somebody to catch
+some Trout for me early to-morrow morning?” When procurable, salt
+codfish was Washington’s regular Sunday dinner.
+
+A second liking was honey. His ledger several times mentions purchases
+of this, and in 1789 his sister wrote him, “when I last had the
+Pleasure of seeing you I observ’d your fondness for Honey; I have got a
+large Pot of very fine in the comb, which I shall send by the first
+opportunity.” Among his purchases “sugar candy” is several times
+mentioned, but this may have been for children, and not for himself. He
+was a frequent buyer of fruit of all kinds and of melons.
+
+He was very fond of nuts, buying hazelnuts and shellbarks by the
+barrel, and he wrote his overseer in 1792 to “tell house Frank I expect
+he will lay up a more plenteous store of the black common walnuts than
+he usually does.” The Prince de Broglie states that “at dessert he eats
+an enormous quantity of nuts, and when the conversation is entertaining
+he keeps eating through a couple of hours, from time to time giving
+sundry healths, according to the English and American custom. It is
+what they call ‘toasting.’”
+
+Washington was from boyhood passionately fond of horsemanship, and when
+but seventeen owned a horse. Humphreys states that “all those who have
+seen General Washington on horseback, at the head of his army, will
+doubtless bear testimony with the author that they never saw a more
+graceful or dignified person,” and Jefferson said of him that he was
+“the best horseman of his age, and the most graceful figure that could
+be seen on horseback.” His diary shows that he rode on various
+occasions as much as sixty miles in a day, and Lawrence reports that he
+“usually rode from Rockingham to Princeton, which is five miles, in
+forty minutes.” John Hunter, in a visit to Mount Vernon in 1785, writes
+that he went
+
+“to see his famous race-horse Magnolia—a most beautiful creature. A
+whole length of his was taken a while ago, (mounted on Magnolia) by a
+famous man from Europe on copper…. I afterwards went to his stables,
+where among an amazing number of horses, I saw old Nelson, now 22 years
+of age, that carried the General almost always during the war;
+Blueskin, another fine old horse next to him, now and then had that
+honor. Shaw also shewed me his old servant, that was reported to have
+been taken, with a number of the General’s papers about him. They have
+heard the roaring of many a cannon in their time. Blueskin was not the
+favorite, on account of his not standing fire so well as venerable old
+Nelson.”
+
+Chastellux relates, “he was so attentive as to give me the horse he
+rode, the day of my arrival, which I had greatly commended—I found him
+as good as he is handsome; but above all, perfectly well broke, and
+well trained, having a good mouth, easy in hand and stopping short in a
+gallop without bearing the bit—I mention these minute particulars,
+because it is the general himself who breaks all his own horses; and he
+is a very excellent and bold horseman, leaping the highest fences, and
+going extremely quick, without standing upon his stirrups, bearing on
+the bridle, or letting his horse run wild.”
+
+As a matter of course this liking for horses made Washington fond of
+racing, and he not only subscribed liberally to most of the racing
+purses, but ran horses at them, attending in person, and betting
+moderately on the results. So, too, he was fond of riding to the
+hounds, and when at Mount Vernon it was a favorite pastime. From his
+diary excerpts of runs are,—
+
+“Went a Fox hunting with the Gentlemen who came here yesterday…. after
+a very early breakfast—found a Fox just back of Muddy hole Plantation
+and after a Chase of an hour and a quarter with my Dogs, & eight couple
+of Doctor Smiths (brought by Mr. Phil Alexander) we put him into a
+hollow tree, in which we fastened him, and in the Pincushion put up
+another Fox which, in an hour & 13 Minutes was killed—We then after
+allowing the Fox in the hole half an hour put the Dogs upon his trail &
+in half a Mile he took to another hollow tree and was again put out of
+it but he did not go 600 yards before he had recourse to the same
+shift—finding therefore that he was a conquered Fox we took the Dogs
+off, and came home to Dinner.”
+
+“After an early breakfast [my nephew] George Washington, Mr. Shaw and
+Myself went into the Woods back of Muddy hole Plantation a hunting and
+were joined by Mr. Lund Washington and Mr. William Peake. About half
+after ten Oclock (being first plagued with the Dogs running Hogs) we
+found a fox near Colo Masons Plantation on little Hunting Creek (West
+fork) having followed on his Drag more than half a Mile; and run him
+with Eight Dogs (the other 4 getting, as was supposed after a Second
+Fox) close and well for an hour. When the Dogs came to a fault and to
+cold Hunting until 20 minutes after when being joined by the missing
+Dogs they put him up afresh and in about 50 Minutes killed up in an
+open field of Colo Mason’s every Rider & every Dog being present at the
+Death.”
+
+During the Revolution, when opportunity offered, he rode to the hounds,
+for Hiltzheimer wrote in 1781, “My son Robert [having] been on a Hunt
+at Frankfort says that His Excel’y Gen. Washington was there.”
+
+This liking made dogs an interest to him, and he took much pains to
+improve the breed of his hounds. On one occasion he “anointed all my
+Hounds (as well old Dogs as Puppies) which have the mange, with Hogs
+Lard & Brimstone.” Mopsey, Pilot, Tartar, Jupiter, Trueman, Tipler,
+Truelove, Juno, Dutchess, Ragman, Countess, Lady, Searcher, Rover,
+Sweetlips, Vulcan, Singer, Music, Tiyal, and Forrester are some of the
+names he gave them. In 1794, in the fall of his horse, as already
+mentioned, he wrenched his back, and in consequence, when he returned
+to Mount Vernon, this pastime was never resumed, and his pack was given
+up.
+
+Kindred to this taste for riding to the hounds was one for gunning. A
+few entries in his diary tell the nature of his sport. “Went a ducking
+between breakfast and dinner and kill’d 2 Mallards & 5 bald faces.” “I
+went to the Creek but not across it. Kill’d 2 ducks, viz. a sprig tail
+and a Teal.” “Rid out with my gun but kill’d nothing.” In 1787 a man
+asked for permission to shoot over Mount Vernon, and Washington refused
+it because
+
+“my fixed determination is, that no person whatever shall hunt upon my
+grounds or waters—To grant leave to one and refuse another would not
+only be drawing a line of discrimination which would be offensive, but
+would subject one to great inconvenience—for my strict and positive
+orders to all my people are if they hear a gun fired upon my Land to go
+immediately in pursuit of it…. Besides, as I have not lost my relish
+for this sport when I find time to indulge myself in it, and Gentlemen
+who come to the House are pleased with it, it is my wish not to have
+game within my jurisdiction disturbed.”
+
+Fishing was another pastime. He “went a dragging for Sturgeon”
+frequently, and sometimes “catch’d one” and sometimes “catch’d none.”
+While in Philadelphia in 1787 he went up to the old camp at Valley
+Forge and spent a day fishing, and in 1789 at Portsmouth, “having
+lines, we proceeded to the Fishing Banks a little without the Harbour
+and fished for Cod; but it not being a proper time of tide, we only
+caught two.” After his serious sickness in 1790 a newspaper reports
+that “yesterday afternoon the President of the United States returned
+from Sandy Hook and the fishing banks, where he had been for the
+benefit of the sea air, and to amuse himself in the delightful
+recreation of fishing. We are told he has had excellent sport, having
+himself caught a great number of sea-bass and black fish—the weather
+proved remarkably fine, which, together with the salubrity of the air
+and wholesome exercise, rendered this little voyage extremely
+agreeable, and cannot fail, we hope, of being serviceable to a speedy
+and complete restoration of his health.”
+
+Washington was fond of cards, and in bad weather even records “at home
+all day, over cards.” How much time must have been spent in this way is
+shown by the innumerable purchases of “1 dozen packs playing cards”
+noted in his ledger. In 1748, when he was sixteen years old, he won two
+shillings and threepence from his sister-in-law at whist and five
+shillings at “Loo” (or, as he sometimes spells it, “Lue”) from his
+brother, and he seems always to have played for small stakes, which
+sometimes mounted into fairly sizable sums. The largest gain found is
+three pounds, and the largest loss nine pounds fourteen shillings and
+ninepence. He seems to have lost oftener than he won.
+
+Billiards was a rival of cards, and a game of which he seems to have
+been fond. In his seventeenth year he won one shilling and threepence
+by the cue, and from that time won and lost more or less money in this
+way. Here, too, he seems to have been out of pocket, though not for so
+much money, his largest winning noted being only seven shillings and
+sixpence, and his largest loss being one pound and ten shillings.
+
+In 1751, at Barbadoes, Washington “was treated with a play ticket to
+see the Tragedy of George Barnwell acted: the character of Barnwell and
+several others was said to be well perform’d there was Musick a Dapted
+and regularly conducted.” This presumptively was the lad’s first visit
+to the playhouse, but from that time it was one of his favorite
+amusements. At first his ledger shows expenditures of “Cash at the Play
+House 1/3,” which proves that his purse would bear the cost of only the
+cheapest seats; but later he became more extravagant in this respect,
+and during the Presidency he used the drama for entertaining, his
+ledger giving many items of tickets bought. A type entry in
+Washington’s diary is, “Went to the play in the evening—sent tickets to
+the following ladies and gentlemen and invited them to seats in my box,
+viz:—Mrs. Adams (lady of the Vice-President,) General Schuyler and
+lady, Mr. King and lady, Majr. Butler and lady, Colo Hamilton and lady,
+Mrs. Green—all of whom accepted and came except Mrs. Butler, who was
+indisposed.”
+
+Maclay describes the first of these theatre parties as follows: “I
+received a ticket from the President of the United States to use his
+box this evening at the theatre, being the first of his appearances at
+the playhouse since his entering on his office. Went The President,
+Governor of the State, foreign Ministers, Senators from New Hampshire,
+Connecticut, Pennsylvania, M.[aryland] and South Carolina; and some
+ladies in the same box. I am old, and notices or attentions are lost on
+me. I could have wished some of my dear children in my place; they are
+young and would have enjoyed it. Long might they live to boast of
+having been seated in the same box with the first Character in the
+world. The play was the ‘School for Scandal,’ I never liked it; indeed,
+I think it an indecent representation before ladies of character and
+virtue. Farce, the ‘Old Soldier.’ The house greatly crowded, and I
+thought the players acted well; but I wish we had seen the _Conscious
+Lovers_, or some one that inculcated more prudential manners.”
+
+Of the play, or rather interlude, of the “Old Soldier” its author,
+Dunlap, gives an amusing story. It turned on the home-coming of an old
+soldier, and, like the topical song of to-day, touched on local
+affairs:
+
+“When Wignell, as Darby, recounts what had befallen him in America, in
+New York, at the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and the
+inauguration of the president, the interest expressed by the audience
+in the looks and the changes of countenance of this great man
+[Washington] became intense. He smiled at these lines, alluding to the
+change in the government—
+
+There too I saw some mighty pretty shows;
+A revolution, without blood or blows,
+For, as I understood, the cunning elves,
+The people all revolted from themselves.
+
+
+But at the lines—
+
+A man who fought to free the land from we,
+_Like me_, had left his farm, a-soldiering to go:
+But having gain’d his point, he had _like me_,
+Return’d his own potato ground to see.
+But there he could not rest. With one accord
+He’s called to be a kind of—not a lord—
+I don’t know what, he’s not a _great man_, sure,
+For poor men love him just as he were poor.
+They love him like a father or a brother,
+          DERMOT.
+As we poor Irishmen love one another.
+
+
+The president looked serious; and when Kathleen asked,
+
+How looked he, Darby? Was he short or tall?
+
+
+his countenance showed embarrassment, from the expectation or one of
+those eulogiums which, he had been obliged to hear on many public
+occasions, and which must doubtless have been a severe trial to his
+feelings: but Darby’s answer that he had _not seen him_, because he had
+mistaken a man ‘all lace and glitter, botherum and shine,’ for him,
+until all the show had passed, relieved the hero from apprehension of
+farther personality, and he indulged in that which was with him
+extremely rare, a hearty laugh.”
+
+Washington did not even despise amateur performances. As already
+mentioned, he expressed a wish to take part in “Cato” himself in 1758,
+and a year before he had subscribed to the regimental “players at Fort
+Cumberland,” His diary shows that in 1768 the couple at Mount Vernon “&
+ye two children were up to Alexandria to see the Inconstant or ‘the way
+to win him’ acted,” which was probably an amateur performance.
+Furthermore, Duer tells us that “I was not only frequently admitted to
+the presence of this most august of men, in _propria persona_, but once
+had the honor of appearing before him as one of the _dramatis personae_
+in the tragedy of Julius Caesar, enacted by a young ‘American Company,’
+(the theatrical corps then performing in New York being called the ‘Old
+American Company’) in the garret of the Presidential mansion, wherein
+before the magnates of the land and the elite of the city, I performed
+the part of Brutus to the Cassius of my old school-fellow, Washington
+Custis.”
+
+The theatre was by no means the only show that appealed to Washington.
+He went to the circus when opportunity offered, gave nine shillings to
+a “man who brought an elk as a show,” three shillings and ninepence “to
+hear the Armonica,” two dollars for tickets “to see the automatum,”
+treated the “Ladies to ye Microcosm” and paid to see waxworks, puppet
+shows, a dancing bear, and a lioness and tiger. Nor did he avoid a
+favorite Virginia pastime, but attended cockfights when able. His
+frequent going to concerts has been already mentioned.
+
+Washington seems to have been little of a reader except of books on
+agriculture, which he bought, read, and even made careful abstracts of
+many, and on this subject alone did he ever seem to write from
+pleasure. As a lad, he notes in his journal that he is reading _The
+Spectator_ and a history of England, but after those two brief entries
+there is no further mention of books or reading in his daily memorandum
+of “where and how my time is spent.” In his ledger, too, almost the
+least common expenditure entered is one for books. Nor do his London
+invoices, so far as extant, order any books but those which treated of
+farming and horses. In the settlement of the Custis estate, “I had no
+particular reason for keeping and handing down to his son, the books of
+the late Colo Custis saving that I thought it would be taking the
+advantage of a low appraisement, to make them my own property at it,
+and that to sell them was not an object.”
+
+With the broadening that resulted from the command of the army more
+attention was paid to books, and immediately upon the close of the
+Revolution Washington ordered the following works: “Life of Charles the
+Twelfth,” “Life of Louis the Fifteenth,” “Life and Reign of Peter the
+Great,” Robertson’s “History of America,” Voltaire’s “Letters,”
+Vertot’s “Revolution of Rome” and “Revolution of Portugal,” “Life of
+Gustavus Adolphus,” Sully’s “Memoirs,” Goldsmith’s “Natural History,”
+“Campaigns of Marshal Turenne,” Chambaud’s “French and English
+Dictionary,” Locke “on the Human Understanding,” and Robertson’s
+“Charles the Fifth.” From this time on he was a fairly constant
+book-buyer, and subscribed as a “patron” to a good many forthcoming
+works, while many were sent him as gifts. On politics he seems to have
+now read with interest; yet in 1797, after his retirement from the
+Presidency, in writing of the manner in which he spent his hours, he
+said, “it may strike you that in this detail no mention is made of any
+portion of time allotted to reading. The remark would be just, for I
+have not looked into a book since I came home, nor shall I be able to
+do it until I have discharged my workmen; probably not before the
+nights grow long when possibly I may be looking into Doomsday book.”
+There can be no doubt that through all his life Washington gave to
+reading only the time he could not use on more practical affairs.
+
+His library was a curious medley of books, if those on military science
+and agriculture are omitted. There is a fair amount of the standard
+history of the day, a little theology, so ill assorted as to suggest
+gifts rather than purchases, a miscellany of contemporary politics, and
+a very little belles-lettres. In political science the only works in
+the slightest degree noticeable are Smith’s “Wealth of Nations,” “The
+Federalist,” and Rousseau’s “Social Compact,” and, as the latter was in
+French, it could not have been read. In lighter literature Homer,
+Shakespeare, and Burns, Lord Chesterfield, Swift, Smollett, Fielding,
+and Sterne, and “Don Quixote,” are the only ones deserving notice. It
+is worthy of mention that Washington’s favorite quotation was Addison’s
+“’Tis not in mortals to command success,” but he also utilized with
+considerable aptitude quotations from Shakespeare and Sterne. There
+were half a dozen of the ephemeral novels of the day, but these were
+probably Mrs. Washington’s, as her name is written in one, and her
+husband’s in none. Writing to his grandson, Washington warned him that
+“light reading (by this, I mean books of little importance) may amuse
+for the moment, but leaves nothing solid behind.”
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON’S BOOK-PLATE]
+
+
+One element of Washington’s reading which cannot be passed over without
+notice is that of newspapers. In his early life he presumably read the
+only local paper of the time (the _Virginia Gazette_), for when an
+anonymous writer, “Centinel,” in 1756, charged that Washington’s
+regiment was given over to drunkenness and other misbehavior, he drew
+up a reply, which he sent with ten shillings to the newspaper, but the
+printer apparently declined to print it, for it never appeared.
+
+After the Revolution he complained to his Philadelphia agent, “I have
+such a number of Gazettes, crowded upon me (many without orders) that
+they are not only expensive, but really useless; as my other avocations
+will not afford me time to read them oftentimes, and when I do attempt
+it, find them more troublesome, than profitable; I have therefore to
+beg, if you Should get Money into your hands on Acct of the Inclosed
+Certificate, that you would be so good as to pay what I am owing to
+Messrs Dunlap & Claypoole, Mr. Oswald & Mr. Humphrey’s. If they
+consider me however as engaged for the year, I am Content to let the
+matter run on to the Expiration of it” During the Presidency he
+subscribed to the _Gazette of the United States_, Brown’s _Gazette_,
+Dunlap’s _American Advertiser_, the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, Bache’s
+_Aurora_, and the _New York Magazine_, Carey’s _Museum_, and the
+_Universal Asylum_, though at this time he “lamented that the editors
+of the different gazettes in the Union do not more generally and more
+correctly (instead of stuffing their papers with scurrility and
+nonsensical declamation, which few would read if they were apprised of
+the contents,) publish the debates in Congress on all great national
+questions.”
+
+Presently, for personal and party reasons, certain of the papers began
+to attack him, and Jefferson wrote to Madison that the President was
+“extremely affected by the attacks made and kept up on him in the
+public papers. I think he feels these things more than any person I
+ever met with.” Later the Secretary of State noted that at an interview
+Washington “adverted to a piece in Freneau’s paper of yesterday, he
+said that he despised all their attacks on him personally, but that
+there never had been an act of government … that paper had not abused …
+He was evidently sore and warm.” At a cabinet meeting, too, according
+to the same writer, “the Presidt was much inflamed, got into one of
+those passions when he cannot command himself, ran on much on the
+personal abuse which had been bestowed on him, defied any man on earth
+to produce a single act of his since he had been in the govmt which was
+not done on the purest motives, that he had never repented but once the
+having slipped the moment of resigning his office, & that was every
+moment since, that _by god_ he had rather be in his grave than in his
+present situation. That he had rather be on his farm than to be made
+_emperor of the world_ and yet that they were charging him with wanting
+to be a king. That that _rascal Freneau_ sent him 3 of his papers every
+day, as if he thought he would become the distributor of his papers,
+that he could see in this nothing but an impudent design to insult him.
+He ended in this high tone. There was a pause.”
+
+To correspondents, too, Washington showed how keenly he felt the
+attacks upon him, writing that “the publications in Freneau’s and
+Bache’s papers are outrages on common decency; and they progress in
+that style in proportion as their pieces are treated with contempt, and
+are passed by in silence, by those at whom they are aimed,” and asked
+“in what will this abuse terminate? The result, as it respects myself,
+I care not; for I have consolation within, that no earthly efforts can
+deprive me of, and that is, that neither ambitious nor interested
+motives have influenced my conduct. The arrows of malevolence,
+therefore however barbed and well pointed, never can reach the most
+vulnerable part of me; though, whilst I am _up_ as a _mark_, they will
+be continually aimed.”
+
+On another occasion he said, “I am beginning to receive, what I had
+made my mind up for on this occasion, the abuse of Mr. Bache, and his
+correspondents.” He wrote a friend, “if you read the Aurora of this
+city, or those gazettes, which are under the same influence, you cannot
+but have perceived with what malignant industry and persevering
+falsehoods I am assailed, in order to weaken if not destroy the
+confidence of the public.”
+
+When he retired from office he apparently cut off his subscriptions to
+papers, for a few months later he inquired, “what is the character of
+Porcupine’s Gazette? I had thought when I left Philadelphia, of
+ordering it to be sent to me; then again, I thought it best not to do
+it; and altho’ I should like to see both his and Bache’s, the latter
+may, under all circumstances, be the best decision; I mean not
+subscribing to either of them.” This decision to have no more to do
+with papers did not last, for on the night he was seized with his last
+illness Lear describes how “in the evening the papers having come from
+the post office, he sat in the room with Mrs. Washington and myself,
+reading them, till about nine o’clock when Mrs. Washington went up into
+Mrs. Lewis’s room, who was confined, and left the General and myself
+reading the papers. He was very cheerful; and, when he met with
+anything which he thought diverting or interesting, he would read it
+aloud as well as his hoarseness would permit. He desired me to read to
+him the debates of the Virginia Assembly, on the election of a Senator
+and Governor; which I did—and, on hearing Mr. Madison’s observations
+respecting Mr. Monroe, he appeared much affected, and spoke with some
+degree of asperity on the subject, which I endeavored to moderate, as I
+always did on such occasions.”
+
+
+
+
+IX
+FRIENDS
+
+
+The frequently repeated statement that Washington was a man without
+friends is not the least curious of the myths that have obtained
+general credence. That it should be asserted only goes to show how
+absolutely his private life has been neglected in the study of his
+public career.
+
+In his will Washington left tokens of remembrance “to the acquaintances
+and friends of my juvenile years, Lawrence Washington and Robert
+Washington of Chotanck,” the latter presumably the “dear Robin” of his
+earliest letter, and these two very distant kinsmen, whom he had come
+to know while staying at Wakefield, are the earliest friends of whom
+any record exists. Contemporary with them was a “Dear Richard,” whose
+letters gave Washington “unspeakable pleasure, as I am convinced I am
+still in the memory of so worthy a friend,—a friendship I shall ever be
+proud of increasing.”
+
+Next in time came his intimacy with the Fairfaxes and Carlyles, which
+began with Washington’s visits to his brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon.
+About four miles from that place, at Belvoir, lived the Fairfaxes; and
+their kinspeople, the Carlyles, lived at Alexandria. Lawrence
+Washington had married Ann Fairfax, and through his influence his
+brother George was taken into the employment of Lord Fairfax, half as
+clerk and half as surveyor of his great tract of land, “the northern
+neck,” which he had obtained by marriage with a daughter of Lord
+Culpeper, who in turn had obtained it from the “Merrie Monarch” by
+means so disreputable that they are best left unstated. From that time
+till his death Washington corresponded with several of the family and
+was a constant visitor at Belvoir, as the Fairfaxes were at Mount
+Vernon.
+
+
+[Illustration: SURVEY OF WASHINGTON’S BIRTHPLACE (WAKEFIELD), 1743]
+
+
+In 1755 Washington told his brother that “to that family I am under
+many obligations, particularly the old gentleman,” but as time went on
+he more than paid the debt. In 1757 he acted as pallbearer to William
+Fairfax, and twelve years later his diary records, “Set off with Mrs.
+Washington and Patsey,… in order to stand for Mr. B. Fairfax’s third
+son, which I did together with my wife, Mr. Warner Washington and his
+lady.” For one of the family he obtained an army commission, and for
+another he undertook the care of his property during a visit to
+England; a care which unexpectedly lengthened, and was resigned only
+when Washington’s time became public property. Nor did that lessen his
+services or the Fairfaxes’ need of them, for in the Revolution that
+family were loyalists. Despite this, “the friendship,” Washington
+assured them, “which I ever professed and felt for you, met no
+diminution from the difference in our political sentiments,” and in
+1778 he was able to secure the safety of Lord Fairfax from persecution
+at the hands of the Whigs, a service acknowledged by his lordship in
+the following words:
+
+“There are times when favors conferred make a greater impression than
+at others, for, though I have received many, I hope I have not been
+unmindful of them; yet that, at a time your popularity was at the
+highest and mine at the lowest, and when it is so common for men’s
+resentments to run up high against those, who differ from them in
+opinion, you should act with your wonted kindness towards me, has
+affected me more than any favor I have received; and could not be
+believed by some in New York, it being above the run of common minds.”
+
+In behalf of another member of the family, threatened with
+confiscation, he wrote to a member of the House of Delegates, “I hope,
+I trust, that no act of Legislation in the State of Virginia has
+affected, or can affect, the properly of this gentleman, otherwise than
+in common with that of every good and well disposed citizen of
+America,” and this was sufficient to put an end to the project At the
+close of the war he wrote to this absentee, “There was nothing wanting
+in [your] Letter to give compleat satisfaction to Mrs. Washington and
+myself but some expression to induce us to believe you would once more
+become our neighbors. Your house at Belvoir I am sorry to add is no
+more, but mine (which is enlarged since you saw it), is most sincerely
+and heartily at your service till you could rebuild it. As the path,
+after being closed by a long, arduous, and painful contest, is to use
+an Indian metaphor, now opened and made smooth, I shall please myself
+with the hope of hearing from you frequently; and till you forbid me to
+indulge the wish, I shall not despair of seeing you and Mrs. Fairfax
+once more the inhabitants of Belvoir, and greeting you both there the
+intimate companions of our old age, as you have been of our younger
+years.” And to another he left a token of remembrance in his will.
+
+One of the most curious circle of friends was that composed of Indians.
+After his mission among them in 1753, Washington wrote to a tribe and
+signed himself “your friend and brother.” In a less general sense he
+requested an Indian agent to “recommend me kindly to Mononcatoocha and
+others; tell them how happy it would make Conotocarius to have an
+opportunity of taking them by the hand.” A little later he had this
+pleasure, and he wrote the governor, “the Indians are all around
+teasing and perplexing me for one thing or another, so that I scarce
+know what I write.” When Washington left the frontier this intercourse
+ceased, but he was not forgotten, for in descending the Ohio in his
+Western trip of 1770 a hunting party was met, and “in the person of
+Kiashuto I found an old acquaintance, he being one of the Indians that
+went [with me] to the French in 1753. He expressed satisfaction at
+seeing me, and treated us with great kindness, giving us a quarter of
+very fine buffalo. He insisted upon our spending that night with him,
+and, in order to retard us as little as possible moved his camp down
+the river.”
+
+With his appointment to the Virginia regiment came military friends.
+From the earliest of these—Van Braam, who had served under Lawrence
+Washington in the Carthagena expedition of 1742, and who had come to
+live at Mount Vernon—Washington had previously taken lessons in
+fencing, and when appointed the bearer of a letter to the French
+commander on the Ohio he took Van Braam with him as interpreter. A
+little later, on receiving his majority, Washington appointed Van Braam
+his recruiting lieutenant, and recommended him to the governor for a
+captain’s commission on the grounds that he was “an experienced good
+officer.” To Van Braam fell the duty of translating the capitulation to
+the French at Fort Necessity, and to his reading was laid the blunder
+by which Washington signed a statement acknowledging himself as an
+“assassin.” Inconsequence he became the scapegoat of the expedition,
+was charged by the governor with being a “poltroon” and traitor, and
+was omitted from the Assembly’s vote of thanks and extra pay to the
+regiment. But Washington stood by him, and when himself burgess
+succeeded in getting this latter vote rescinded.
+
+Another friend of the same period was the Chevalier Peyroney, whom
+Washington first made an ensign, and then urged the governor to advance
+him, promising that if the governor “should be pleased to indulge me in
+this request, I shall look upon it in a very particular light.”
+Peyroney was badly wounded at Fort Necessity and was furloughed, during
+which he wrote his commander, “I have made my particular Business to
+tray if any had some Bad intention against you here Below; But thank
+God I meet allowais with a good wish for you from evry Mouth each one
+entertining such Caracter of you as I have the honour to do myself.” He
+served again in the Braddock march, and in that fiasco, Washington
+wrote, “Captain Peyroney and all his officers down to a corporal, was
+killed.”
+
+With Captain Stewart—“a gentleman whose assiduity and military capacity
+are second to none in our Service”—Washington was intimate enough to
+have Stewart apply in 1763 for four hundred pounds to aid him to
+purchase a commission, a sum Washington did not have at his disposal.
+But because of “a regard of that high nature that I could never see you
+uneasy without feeling a part and wishing to remove the cause,”
+Washington lent him three hundred pounds towards it, apparently without
+much return, for some years later he wrote to a friend that he was
+“very glad to learn that my friend Stewart was well when you left
+London. I have not had a letter from him these five years.” At the
+close of the Revolution he received a letter from Stewart containing
+“affectionate and flattering expressions,” which gave Washington “much
+pleasure,” as it “removed an apprehension I had long labored under, of
+your having taken your departure for the land of Spirits. How else
+could I account for a silence of 15 years. I shall always be happy to
+see you at Mt. Vernon.”
+
+His friend William Ramsay—“well known, well-esteemed, and of
+unblemished character”—he appointed commissary, and long after, in
+1769, wrote,—
+
+“Having once or twice of late heard you speak highly in praise of the
+Jersey College, as if you had a desire of sending your son William
+there … I should be glad, if you have no other objection to it than
+what may arise from the expense, if you would send him there as soon as
+it is convenient, and depend on me for twenty-five pounds this currency
+a year for his support, so long as it may be necessary for the
+completion of his education. If I live to see the accomplishment of
+this term, the sum here stipulated shall he annually paid; and if I die
+in the mean while, this letter shall be obligatory upon my heirs, or
+executors, to do it according to the true intent and meaning hereof. No
+other return is expected, or wished, for this offer, than that you will
+accept it with the same freedom and good will, with which it is made,
+and that you may not even consider it in the light of an obligation or
+mention it as such; for, be assured, that from me it will never be
+known.”
+
+The dearest friendship formed in these years was with the doctor of the
+regiment, James Craik, who in the course of his duties attended
+Washington in two serious illnesses, and when the war was ended settled
+near Mount Vernon. He was frequently a visitor there, and soon became
+the family medical attendant. When appointed General, Washington wrote,
+“tell Doctor Craik that I should be very glad to see him here if there
+was anything worth his acceptance; but the Massachusetts people suffer
+nothing to go by them that they lay hands upon.” In 1777 the General
+secured his appointment as deputy surgeon-general of the Middle
+Department, and three years later, when the hospital service was being
+reformed, he used his influence to have him retained. Craik was one of
+those instrumental in warning the commander-in-chief of the existence
+of the Conway Cabal, because “my attachment to your person is such, my
+friendship is so sincere, that every hint which has a tendency to hurt
+your honor, wounds me most sensibly.” The doctor was Washington’s
+companion, by invitation, in both his later trips to the Ohio, and his
+trust in him was so strong that he put under his care the two nephews
+whose charge he had assumed. In Washington’s ledger an entry tells of
+another piece of friendliness, to the effect, “Dr. James Craik, paid
+him, being a donation to his son, Geo. Washington Craik for his
+education £30,” and after graduating the young man for a time served as
+one of his private secretaries. After a serious illness in 1789,
+Washington wrote to the doctor, “persuaded as I am, that the case has
+been treated with skill, and with as much tenderness as the nature of
+the complaint would admit, yet I confess I often wished for your
+inspection of it,” and later he wrote, “if I should ever have occasion
+for a Physician or Surgeon, I should prefer my old Surgeon, Dr. Craik,
+who, from 40 years’ experience, is better qualified than a Dozen of
+them put together.” Craik was the first of the doctors to reach
+Washington’s bedside in his last illness, and when the dying man
+predicted his own death, “the Doctor pressed his hand but could not
+utter a word. He retired from the bedside and sat by the fire absorbed
+in grief.” In Washington’s will he left “to my compatriot in arms and
+old and intimate friend, Doctor Craik I give my Bureau (or as the
+Cabinet makers called it, Tambour Secretary) and the circular chair, an
+appendage of my study.”
+
+The arrival of Braddock and his army at Alexandria brought a new circle
+of military friends. Washington “was very particularly noticed by that
+General, was taken into his family as an extra aid, offered a Captain’s
+commission by _brevet_ (which was the highest grade he had it in his
+power to bestow) and had the compliment of several blank Ensigncies
+given him to dispose of to the Young Gentlemen of his acquaintance.” In
+this position he was treated “with much complaisance … especially from
+the General,” which meant much, as Braddock seems to have had nothing
+but curses for nearly every one else, and the more as Washington and he
+“had frequent disputes,” which were “maintained with warmth on both
+sides, especially on his.” But the general, “though his enmities were
+strong,” in “his attachments” was “warm,” and grew to like and trust
+the young volunteer, and had he “survived his unfortunate defeat, I
+should have met with preferment,” having “his promise to that effect.”
+Washington was by the general when he was wounded in the lungs, lifted
+him into a covered cart, and “brought him over the _first_ ford of the
+Monongahela,” into temporary safety. Three days later Braddock died of
+his wounds, bequeathing to Washington his favorite horse and his
+body-servant as tokens of his gratitude. Over him Washington read the
+funeral service, and it was left to him to see that “the poor general”
+was interred “with the honors of war.”
+
+Even before public service had made him known, Washington was a friend
+and guest of many of the leading Virginians. Between 1747 and 1754 he
+visited the Carters of Shirley, Nomony, and Sabine Hall, the Lewises of
+Warner Hall, the Lees of Stratford, and the Byrds of Westover, and
+there was acquaintance at least with the Spotswoods, Fauntleroys,
+Corbins, Randolphs, Harrisons, Robinsons, Nicholases, and other
+prominent families. In fact, one friend wrote him, “your health and
+good fortune are the toast of every table,” and another that “the
+Council and Burgesses are mostly your friends,” and those two bodies
+included every Virginian of real influence. It was Richard Corbin who
+enclosed him his first commission, in a brief note, beginning “Dear
+George” and ending “your friend,” but in time relations became more or
+less strained, and Washington suspected him “of representing my
+character … with ungentlemanly freedom.” With John Robinson, “Speaker”
+and Treasurer of Virginia, who wrote Washington in 1756, “our hopes,
+dear George, are all fixed on you,” a close correspondence was
+maintained, and when Washington complained of the governor’s course
+towards him Robinson replied, “I beg dear friend, that you will bear,
+so far as a man of honor ought, the discouragements and slights you
+have too often met with.” The son, Beverly Robinson, was a
+fellow-soldier, and, as already mentioned, was Washington’s host on his
+visit to New York in 1756. The Revolution interrupted the friendship,
+but it is alleged that Robinson (who was deep in the Arnold plot) made
+an appeal to the old-time relation in an endeavor to save André. The
+appeal was in vain, but auld lang syne had its influence, for the sons
+of Beverly, British officers taken prisoners in 1779, were promptly
+exchanged, so one of them asserted, “in consequence of the embers of
+friendship that still remained unextinguished in the breasts of my
+father and General Washington.”
+
+Outside of his own colony, too, Washington made friends of many
+prominent families, with whom there was more or less interchange of
+hospitality. Before the Revolution there had been visiting or breaking
+of bread with the Galloways, Dulaneys, Carrolls, Calverts, Jenifers,
+Edens, Ringgolds, and Tilghmans of Maryland, the Penns, Cadwaladers,
+Morrises, Shippens, Aliens, Dickinsons, Chews, and Willings of
+Pennsylvania, and the De Lanceys and Bayards of New York.
+
+Election to the Continental Congress strengthened some friendships and
+added new ones. With Benjamin Harrison he was already on terms of
+intimacy, and as long as the latter was in Congress he was the member
+most in the confidence of the General. Later they differed in politics,
+but Washington assured Harrison that “my friendship is not in the least
+lessened by the difference, which has taken place in our political
+sentiments, nor is my regard for you diminished by the part you have
+acted.” Joseph Jones and Patrick Henry both took his part against the
+Cabal, and the latter did him especial service in forwarding to him the
+famous anonymous letter, an act for which Washington felt “most
+grateful obligations.” Henry and Washington differed later in politics,
+and it was reported that the latter spoke disparagingly of the former,
+but this Washington denied, and not long after offered Henry the
+Secretaryship of State. Still later he made a personal appeal to him to
+come forward and combat the Virginia resolutions of 1798, an appeal to
+which Henry responded. The intimacy with Robert Morris was close, and,
+as already noted, Washington and his family were several times inmates
+of his home. Gouverneur Morris was one of his most trusted advisers,
+and, it is claimed, gave the casting vote which saved Washington from
+being arrested in 1778, when the Cabal was fiercest. While President,
+Washington sent him on a most important mission to Great Britain, and
+on its completion made him Minister to France. From that post the
+President was, at the request of France, compelled to recall him; but
+in doing so Washington wrote him a private letter assuring Morris that
+he “held the same place in my estimation” as ever, and signed himself
+“yours affectionately.” Charles Carroll of Carrollton was a partisan of
+the General, and very much disgusted a member of the Cabal by telling
+him “almost literally that anybody who displeased or did not admire the
+Commander-in-chief, ought not to be kept in the army.” And to Edward
+Rutledge Washington wrote, “I can but love and thank you, and I do it
+sincerely for your polite and friendly letter…. The sentiments
+contained in it are such as have uniformly flowed from your pen, and
+they are not the less flattering than pleasing to me.”
+
+The command of the Continental army brought a new kind of friend, in
+the young aides of his staff. One of his earliest appointments was
+Joseph Reed, and, though he remained but five months in the service, a
+close friendship was formed. Almost weekly Washington wrote him in the
+most confidential and affectionate manner, and twice he appealed to
+Reed to take the position once more, in one instance adding that if
+“you are disposed to continue with me, I shall think myself too
+fortunate and happy to wish for a change.” Yet Washington none the less
+sent Reed congratulations on his election to the Pennsylvania Assembly,
+“although I consider it the coup-de-grace to my ever seeing you” again
+a “member of my family,” to help him he asked a friend to endeavor to
+get Reed legal business, and when all law business ceased and the
+would-be lawyer was without occupation or means of support, he used his
+influence to secure him the appointment of adjutant.
+
+Reed kept him informed as to the news of Philadelphia, and wrote even
+such adverse criticism of the General as he heard, which Washington
+“gratefully” acknowledged. But one criticism Reed did not write was
+what he himself was saying of his general after the fall of Fort
+Washington, for which he blamed the commander-in-chief in a letter to
+Lee, and probably to others, for when later Reed and Arnold quarrelled,
+the latter boasted that “I can say I never basked in the sunshine of my
+general’s favor, and courted him to his face, when I was at the same
+time treating him with the greatest disrespect and villifying his
+character when absent. This is more than a ruling member of the Council
+of Pennsylvania can say.” Washington learned of this criticism in a
+letter from Lee to Reed, which was opened at head-quarters on the
+supposition that it was on army matters, and “with no idea of its being
+a private letter, much less the tendency of the correspondence,” as
+Washington explained in a letter to Reed, which had not a word of
+reproach for the double-dealing that must have cut the General keenly,
+coming as it did at a moment of misfortune and discouragement. Reed
+wrote a lame explanation and apology, and later sought to “regain” the
+“lost friendship” by an earnest appeal to Washington’s generosity. Nor
+did he appeal in vain, for the General replied that though “I felt
+myself hurt by a certain letter … I was hurt … because the same
+sentiments were not communicated immediately to myself.” The old-time
+intimacy was renewed, and how little his personal feeling had
+influenced Washington is shown in the fact that even previous to this
+peace-making he had secured for Reed the appointment to command one of
+the choicest brigades in the army. Perhaps the friendship was never
+quite as close, but in writing him Washington still signed himself
+“yours affectionately.”
+
+John Laurens, appointed an aide in 1777, quickly endeared himself to
+Washington, and conceived the most ardent affection for his chief. The
+young officer of twenty-four used all his influence with his father
+(then President of Congress) against the Cabal, and in 1778, when
+Charles Lee was abusing the commander-in-chief, Laurens thought himself
+bound to resent it, “as well on account of the relation he bore to
+General Washington, as from motives of personal friendship and respect
+for his character,” and he challenged the defamer and put a bullet into
+him. To his commander he signed himself “with the greatest veneration
+and attachment your Excellency’s Faithful Aid,” and Washington in his
+letters always addressed him as “my dear Laurens.” After his death in
+battle, Washington wrote, in reply to an inquiry,—
+
+“You ask if the character of Colonel John Laurens, as drawn in the
+_Independent Chronicle_ of 2d of December last, is just. I answer, that
+such parts of the drawing as have fallen under my observation, is
+literally so; and that it is my firm belief his merits and worth richly
+entitle him to the whole picture. No man possessed more of the _amor
+patriae_. In a word, he had not a fault, that I could discover, unless
+intrepidity bordering upon rashness could come under that denomination;
+and to this he was excited by the purest motives.”
+
+Of another aide, Tench Tilghman, Washington said, “he has been a
+zealous servant and slave to the public, and a faithful assistant to me
+for near five years, great part of which time he refused to receive
+pay. Honor and gratitude interest me in his favor.” As an instance of
+this, the commander-in-chief gave to him the distinction of bearing to
+Congress the news of the surrender of Cornwallis, with the request to
+that body that Tilghman should be honored in some manner. And in
+acknowledging a letter Washington said, “I receive with great
+sensibility and pleasure your assurances of affection and regard. It
+would be but a renewal of what I have often repeated to you, that there
+are few men in the world to whom I am more attached by inclination than
+I am to you. With the Cause, I hope—most devoutly hope—there will be an
+end to my Military Service, when as our places of residence will not be
+far apart, I shall never be more happy than in your Company at Mt.
+Vernon. I shall always be glad to hear from, and keep up a
+correspondence with you.” When Tilghman died, Washington asserted that
+
+“He had left as fair a reputation as ever belonged to a human
+character,” and to his father he wrote, “Of all the numerous
+acquaintances of your lately deceased son, & midst all the sorrowings
+that are mingled on that melancholy occasion, I may venture to assert
+that (excepting those of his nearest relatives) none could have felt
+his death with more regret than I did, because no one entertained a
+higher opinion of his worth, or had imbibed sentiments of greater
+friendship for him than I had done…. Midst all your grief, there is
+this consolation to be drawn;—that while living, no man could be more
+esteemed, and since dead, none more lamented than Colo. Tilghman.”
+
+To David Humphreys, a member of the staff, Washington gave the honor of
+carrying to Congress the standards captured at Yorktown, recommending
+him to the notice of that body for his “attention, fidelity, and good
+services.” This aide escorted Washington to Mount Vernon at the close
+of the Revolution, and was “the last officer belonging to the army” who
+parted from “the Commander-in-chief.” Shortly after, Humphreys returned
+to Mount Vernon, half as secretary and half as visitor and companion,
+and he alluded to this time in his poem of “Mount Vernon,” when he
+said,—
+
+“Twas mine, return’d from Europe’s courts
+To share his thoughts, partake his sports.”
+
+
+When Washington was accused of cruelty in the Asgill case, Humphreys
+published an account of the affair, completely vindicating his friend,
+for which he was warmly thanked. He was frequently urged to come to
+Mount Vernon, and Washington on one occasion lamented “the cause which
+has deprived us of your aid in the attack of Christmas pies,” and on
+another assured Humphreys of his “great pleasure [when] I received the
+intimation of your spending the winter under this Roof. The invitation
+was not less sincere, than the reception will be cordial. The only
+stipulations I shall contend for are, that in all things you shall do
+as you please—I will do the same; and that no ceremony may be used or
+any restraint be imposed on any one.” Humphreys was visiting him when
+the notification of his election as President was received, and was the
+only person, except servants, who accompanied Washington to New York.
+Here he continued for a time to give his assistance, and was
+successively appointed Indian commissioner, informal agent to Spain,
+and finally Minister to Portugal. While holding this latter position
+Washington wrote to him, “When you shall think with the poet that ‘the
+post of honor is a private station’—& may be inclined to enjoy yourself
+in my shades … I can only tell you that you will meet with the same
+cordial reception at Mount Vernon that you have always experienced at
+that place,” and when Humphreys answered that his coming marriage made
+the visit impossible, Washington replied, “The desire of a companion in
+my latter days, in whom I could confide … induced me to express too
+strongly … the hope of having you as an inmate.” On the death of
+Washington, Humphreys published a poem expressing the deepest affection
+and admiration for “my friend.”
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON FAMILY RECORD]
+
+
+The longest and closest connection was that with Hamilton. This very
+young and obscure officer attracted Washington’s attention in the
+campaign of 1776, early in the next year was appointed to the staff,
+and quickly became so much a favorite that Washington spoke of him as
+“my boy.” Whatever friendliness this implied was not, however,
+reciprocated by Hamilton. After four years of service, he resigned,
+under circumstances to which he pledged Washington to secrecy, and then
+himself, in evident irritation, wrote as follows:
+
+“Two days ago, the General and I passed each other on the stairs. He
+told me he wanted to speak to me. I answered that I would wait upon him
+immediately. I went below, and delivered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be
+sent to the commissary, containing an order of a pressing and
+interesting nature. Returning to the General, I was stopped on the way
+by the Marquis de 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. Instead of finding the General, as is
+usual, in his room, I met him at the head of the stairs, where,
+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, but with decision: ‘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 this 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, usefulness, etc, and of his desire, in a
+candid conversation, to heal a difference which could not have happened
+but in a moment of passion. I requested Mr Tilghman to tell him—1st.
+That I had taken my resolution in a manner not to be revoked … Thus we
+stand … Perhaps you may think I was precipitate in rejecting the
+overture made by the General to an accomodation. I assure you, my dear
+sir, it was not the effect of resentment; it was the deliberate result
+of maxims I had long formed for the government of my own conduct…. I
+believe you know the place I held in the General’s confidence and
+counsels, which will make more extraordinary to you to learn that for
+three years past I have felt no friendship for him and have professed
+none. The truth is, our dispositions are the opposites of each other,
+and the pride of my temper would not suffer me to profess what I did
+not feel. Indeed, when advances of this kind have been made to me on
+his part, they were received in a manner that showed at least that I
+had no desire to court them, and that I desired to stand rather upon a
+footing of military confidence than of private attachment.”
+
+Had Washington been the man this letter described he would never have
+forgiven this treatment. On the contrary, only two months later, when
+compelled to refuse for military reasons a favor Hamilton asked, he
+said that “my principal concern arises from an apprehension that you
+will impute my refusal to your request to other motives.” On this
+refusal Hamilton enclosed his commission to Washington, but “Tilghman
+came to me in his name, pressed me to retain my commission, with an
+assurance that he would endeavor, by all means, to give me a command.”
+Later Washington did more than Hamilton himself had asked, when he gave
+him the leading of the storming party at Yorktown, a post envied by
+every officer in the army.
+
+Apparently this generosity lessened Hamilton’s resentment, for a
+correspondence on public affairs was maintained from this time on,
+though Madison stated long after “that Hamilton often spoke
+disparagingly of Washington’s talents, particularly after the
+Revolution and at the first part of the presidentcy,” and Benjamin Rush
+confirms this by a note to the effect that “Hamilton often spoke with
+contempt of General Washington. He said that … his heart was a stone.”
+The rumor of the ill feeling was turned to advantage by Hamilton’s
+political opponents in 1787, and compelled the former to appeal to
+Washington to save him from the injury the story was doing. In response
+Washington wrote a letter intended for public use, in which he said,—
+
+“As you say it is insinuated by some of your political adversaries, and
+may obtain credit, ‘that you _palmed_ yourself upon me, and was
+_dismissed_ from my family,’ and call upon me to do you justice by a
+recital of the facts, I do therefore explicitly declare, that both
+charges are entirely unfounded. With respect to the first, I have no
+cause to believe, that you took a single step to accomplish, or had the
+most distant idea of receiving an appointment in my family till you
+were invited in it; and, with respect to the second, that your quitting
+it was altogether the effect of your own choice.”
+
+With the appointment as Secretary of the Treasury warmer feelings were
+developed. Hamilton became the President’s most trusted official, and
+was tireless in the aid he gave his superior. Even after he left office
+he performed many services equivalent to official ones, for which
+Washington did “not know how to thank” him “sufficiently,” and the
+President leaned on his judgment to an otherwise unexampled extent.
+This service produced affection and respect, and in 1792 Washington
+wrote from Mount Vernon, “We have learnt … that you have some thoughts
+of taking a trip this way. I felt pleasure at hearing it, and hope it
+is unnecessary to add, that it would be considerably increased by
+seeing you under this roof; for you may be assured of the sincere and
+affectionate regard of yours, &c.” and signed other letters “always and
+affectionately yours,” or “very affectionately,” while Hamilton
+reciprocated by sending “affectionate attachment.”
+
+On being appointed lieutenant-general in 1798, Washington at once
+sought the aid of Hamilton for the highest position under him, assuring
+the Secretary of War that “of the abilities and fitness of the
+gentleman you have named for a high command in the _provisional army_,
+I think as you do, and that his services ought to be secured at almost
+any price.” To this the President, who hated Hamilton, objected, but
+Washington refused to take the command unless this wish was granted,
+and Adams had to give way. They stood in this relation when Washington
+died, and almost the last letter he penned was to this friend. On
+learning of the death, Hamilton wrote of “our beloved
+Commander-in-chief,”—
+
+“The very painful event … filled my heart with bitterness. Perhaps no
+man in this community has equal cause with myself to deplore the loss.
+I have been much indebted to the kindness of the General, and he was an
+_Ægis very essential to me_. But regrets are unavailing. For great
+misfortunes it is the business of reason to seek consolation. The
+friends of General Washington have very noble ones. If virtue can
+secure happiness in another world, he is happy.”
+
+Knox was the earliest army friend of those who rose to the rank of
+general, and was honored by Washington with absolute trust. After the
+war the two corresponded, and Knox expressed “unalterable affection”
+for the “thousand evidences of your friendship.” He was appointed
+Secretary of War in the first administration, and in taking command of
+the provisional army Washington secured his appointment as a
+major-general, and at this time asserted that, “with respect to General
+Knox I can say with truth there is no man in the United States with
+whom I have been in habits of greater intimacy, no one whom I have
+loved more sincerely nor any for whom I have had a greater friendship.”
+
+Greene was perhaps the closest to Washington of all the generals, and
+their relations might be dwelt upon at much length. But the best
+evidence of friendship is in Washington’s treatment of a story
+involving his financial honesty, of which he said, “persuaded as I
+always have been of Genl Greene’s integrity and worth, I spurned those
+reports which tended to calumniate his conduct … being perfectly
+convinced that whenever the matter should be investigated, his motives
+… would appear pure and unimpeachable.” When on Greene’s death
+Washington heard that his family was left in embarrassed circumstances,
+he offered, if Mrs. Greene would “entrust my namesake G. Washington
+Greene to my care, I will give him as good an education as this country
+(I mean the United States) will afford, and will bring him up to either
+of the genteel professions that his frds. may chuse, or his own
+inclination shall lead him to pursue, at my own cost & expence.”
+
+For “Light-horse Harry” Lee an affection more like that given to the
+youngsters of the staff was felt Long after the war was over, Lee began
+a letter to him “Dear General,” and then continued,—
+
+“Although the exalted station, which your love of us and our love of
+you has placed you in, calls for change in mode of address, yet I
+cannot so quickly relinquish the old manner. Your military rank holds
+its place in my mind, notwithstanding your civic glory; and, whenever I
+do abandon the title which used to distinguish you, I shall do it with
+awkwardness…. My reluctance to trespass a moment on your time would
+have operated to a further procrastination of my wishes, had I not been
+roused above every feeling of ceremony by the heart rending
+intelligence, received yesterday, that your life was despaired of. Had
+I had wings in the moment, I should have wafted myself to your bedside,
+only again to see the first of men; but alas! despairing as I was, from
+the account received, after the affliction of one day and night, I was
+made most happy by receiving a letter, now before me from New York,
+announcing the restoration of your health. May heaven preserve it!”
+
+It was Lee who first warned Washington that Jefferson was slandering
+him in secret, and who kept him closely informed as to the political
+manuvres in Virginia. Washington intrusted to him the command of the
+army in the Whiskey Insurrection, and gave him an appointment in the
+provisional army. Lee was in Congress when the death of the great
+American was announced to that body, and it was he who coined the
+famous “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his
+countrymen.”
+
+As need hardly be said, however, the strongest affection among the
+general officers was that between Washington and Lafayette. In the
+advent of this young Frenchman the commander saw only “embarassment,”
+but he received “the young volunteer,” so Lafayette said, “in the most
+friendly manner,” invited him to reside in his house as a member of his
+military family, and as soon as he came to know him he recommended
+Congress to give him a command. As Lafayette became popular with the
+army, an endeavor was made by the Cabal to win him to their faction by
+bribing him with an appointment to lead an expedition against Canada,
+independent of control by Washington. Lafayette promptly declined the
+command, unless subject to the General, and furthermore he “braved the
+whole party (Cabal) and threw them into confusion by making them drink
+the health of their general.” At the battle of Monmouth Washington gave
+the command of the attacking party to Lafayette, and after the conflict
+the two, according to the latter, “passed the night lying on the same
+mantle, talking.” In the same way Washington distinguished him by
+giving him the command of the expedition to rescue Virginia from
+Cornwallis, and to his division was given the most honorable position
+at Yorktown. When the siege of that place was completed, Lafayette
+applied for leave of absence to spend the winter in France, and as he
+was on the point of sailing he received a personal letter from
+Washington, for “I owe it to friendship and to my affectionate regard
+for you my dear Marquis, not to let you leave this country without
+carrying fresh marks of my attachment to you,” and in his absence
+Washington wrote that a mutual friend who bore a letter “can tell you
+more forcibly, than I can express how much we all love and wish to
+embrace you.”
+
+A reunion came in 1784, looked forward to by Lafayette with an
+eagerness of which he wrote, “by Sunday or Monday, I hope at last to be
+blessed with a sight of my dear General. There is no rest for me till I
+go to Mount Vernon. I long for the pleasure to embrace you, my dear
+General; and the happiness of being once more with you will be so
+great, that no words can ever express it. Adieu, my dear General; in a
+few days I shall be at Mount Vernon, and I do already feel delighted
+with so charming a prospect.” After this visit was over Washington
+wrote, “In the moment of our separation, upon the road as I travelled,
+and every hour since, I have felt all that love, respect and attachment
+for you, with which length of years, close connexion, and your merits
+have inspired me. I often asked myself, as our carriages separated,
+whether that was the last sight I ever should have of you?” And to this
+letter Lafayette replied,—
+
+“No my beloved General, our late parting was not by any means a last
+interview. My whole soul revolts at the idea; and could I harbour it an
+instant, indeed, my dear General, it would make me miserable. I well
+see you will never go to France. The inexpressible pleasure of
+embracing you in my own house, of welcoming you in a family where your
+name is adored, I do not much expect to experience; but to you I shall
+return, and, within the walls of Mount Vernon, we shall yet speak of
+olden times. My firm plan is to visit now and then my friend on this
+side of the Atlantic; and the most beloved of all friends I ever had,
+or ever shall have anywhere, is too strong an inducement for me to
+return to him, not to think that whenever it is possible I shall renew
+my so pleasing visits to Mount Vernon…. Adieu, adieu, my dear General.
+It is with inexpressible pain that I feel I am going to be severed from
+you by the Atlantic. Everything, that admiration, respect, gratitude,
+friendship, and fillial love, can inspire, is combined in my
+affectionate heart to devote me most tenderly to you. In your
+friendship I find a delight which words cannot express. Adieu, my dear
+General. It is not without emotion that I write this word, although I
+know I shall soon visit you again. Be attentive to your health. Let me
+hear from you every month. Adieu, adieu.”
+
+The correspondence begged was maintained, but Lafayette complained that
+“To one who so tenderly loves you, who so happily enjoyed the times we
+have passed together, and who never, on any part of the globe, even in
+his own house, could feel himself so perfectly at home as in your
+family, it must be confessed that an irregular, lengthy correspondence
+is quite insufficient I beseech you, in the name of our friendship, of
+that paternal concern of yours for my happiness, not to miss any
+opportunity to let me hear from my dear General.”
+
+One letter from Washington told Lafayette of his recovery from a
+serious illness, and Lafayette responded, “What could have been my
+feelings, had the news of your illness reached me before I knew my
+beloved General, my adopted father, was out of danger? I was struck at
+the idea of the situation you have been in, while I, uninformed and so
+distant from you, was anticipating the long-waited-for pleasure to hear
+from you, and the still more endearing prospect of visiting you and
+presenting you the tribute of a revolution, one of your first
+offsprings. For God’s sake, my dear General, take care of your health!”
+
+Presently, as the French Revolution gathered force, the anxiety was
+reversed, Washington writing that “The lively interest which I take in
+your welfare, my dear Sir, keeps my mind in constant anxiety for your
+personal safety.” This fear was only too well founded, for shortly
+after Lafayette was a captive in an Austrian prison and his wife was
+appealing to her husband’s friend for help. Our ministers were told to
+do all they could to secure his liberty, and Washington wrote a
+personal letter to the Emperor of Austria. Before receiving her letter,
+on the first news of the “truly affecting” condition of “poor Madame
+Lafayette,” he had written to her his sympathy, and, supposing that
+money was needed, had deposited at Amsterdam two hundred guineas
+“subject to your orders.”
+
+When she and her daughters joined her husband in prison, Lafayette’s
+son, and Washington’s godson, came to America; an arrival of which the
+godfather wrote that, “to express all the sensibility, which has been
+excited in my breast by the receipt of young Lafayette’s letter, from
+the recollection of his father’s merits, services, and sufferings, from
+my friendship for him, and from my wishes to become a friend and father
+to his son is unnecessary.” The lad became a member of the family, and
+a visitor at this time records that “I was particularly struck with the
+marks of affection which the General showed his pupil, his adopted son
+of Marquis de Lafayette. Seated opposite to him, he looked at him with
+pleasure, and listened to him with manifest interest.” With Washington
+he continued till the final release of his father, and a simple
+business note in Washington’s ledger serves to show both his delicacy
+and his generosity to the boy: “By Geo. W. Fayette, gave for the
+purpose of his getting himself such small articles of Clothing as he
+might not choose to ask for $100.” Another item in the accounts was
+three hundred dollars “to defray his exps. to France,” and by him
+Washington sent a line to his old friend, saying, “this letter I hope
+and expect will be presented to you by your son, who is highly
+deserving of such parents as you and your amiable lady.”
+
+Long previous to this, too, a letter had been sent to Virginia
+Lafayette, couched in the following terms:
+
+“Permit me to thank my dear little correspondent for the favor of her
+letter of the 18 of June last, and to impress her with the idea of the
+pleasure I shall derive from a continuance of them. Her papa is
+restored to her with all the good health, paternal affection, and
+honors, which her tender heart could wish. He will carry a kiss to her
+from me (which might be more agreeable from a pretty boy), and give her
+assurances of the affectionate regard with which I have the pleasure of
+being her well-wisher,
+
+George Washington.”
+
+In this connection it is worth glancing at Washington’s relations with
+children, the more that it has been frequently asserted that he had no
+liking for them. As already shown, at different times he adopted or
+assumed the expenses and charge of not less than nine of the children
+of his kith and kin, and to his relations with children he seldom wrote
+a letter without a line about the “little ones.” His kindnesses to the
+sons of Ramsay, Craik, Greene, and Lafayette have already been noticed.
+Furthermore, whenever death or illness came among the children of his
+friends there was sympathy expressed. Dumas relates of his visit to
+Providence with Washington, that “we arrived there at night; the whole
+of the population had assembled from the suburbs; we were surrounded by
+a crowd of children carrying torches, reiterating the acclamations of
+the citizens; all were eager to approach the person of him whom they
+called their father, and pressed so closely around us that they
+hindered us from proceeding. General Washington was much affected,
+stopped a few moments, and, pressing my hand, said, ‘We may be beaten
+by the English; it is the chance of war; but behold an army which they
+can never conquer,’”
+
+In his journey through New England, not being able to get lodgings at
+an inn, Washington spent a night in a private house, and when all
+payment was refused, he wrote his host from his next stopping-place,—
+
+“Being informed that you have given my name to one of your sons, and
+called another after Mrs. Washington’s family, and being moreover very
+much pleased with the modest and innocent looks of your two daughters,
+Patty and Polly, I do for these reasons send each of these girls a
+piece of chintz; and to Patty, who bears the name of Mrs. Washington,
+and who waited upon us more than Polly did, I send five guineas, with
+which she may buy herself any little ornaments she may want, or she may
+dispose of them in any other manner more agreeable to herself. As I do
+not give these things with a view to have it talked of, or even of its
+being known, the less there is said about the matter the better you
+will please me; but, that I may be sure the chintz and money have got
+safe to hand, let Patty, who I dare say is equal to it, write me a line
+informing me thereof, directed to ‘The President of the United States
+at New York.’”
+
+Miss Stuart relates that “One morning while Mr. Washington was sitting
+for his picture, a little brother of mine ran into the room, when my
+father thinking it would annoy the General, told him he must leave; but
+the General took him upon his knee, held him for some time, and had
+quite a little chat with him, and, in fact, they seemed to be pleased
+with each other. My brother remembered with pride, as long as he lived,
+that Washington had talked with him.”
+
+For the son of his secretary, Lear, there seems to have been great
+fondness, and in one instance the father was told that “It gave Mrs.
+Washington, myself and all who know him, sincere pleasure to hear that
+our little favorite had arrived safe, and was in good health at
+Portsmouth. We sincerely wish him a long continuance of the latter—that
+he may always be as charming and promising as he now is—and that he may
+live to be a comfort and blessing to you, and an ornament to his
+country. As a testimony of my affection for him I send him a ticket in
+the lottery which is now drawing in the Federal City; and if it should
+be his fortune to draw the hotel it will add to the pleasure I have in
+giving it.” A second letter condoled with “little Lincoln,” because
+owing to the collapse of the lottery the “poor little fellow” will not
+even get enough to “build him a baby house.”
+
+For the father, Tobias Lear, who came into his employment in 1786 and
+remained with him till his death, Washington felt the greatest
+affection and trust. It was he who sent for the doctor in the beginning
+of the last illness, and he was in the sickroom most of the time.
+Holding Washington’s hand, he received from him his last orders, and
+later when Washington “appeared to be in great pain and distress from
+the difficulty of breathing … I lay upon the bed and endeavored to
+raise him, and turn him with as much ease as possible. He appeared
+penetrated with gratitude for my attentions, and often said ‘I am
+afraid I shall fatigue you too much.’” Still later Lear “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.” At the final moment Lear took his hand “and
+laid it upon his breast.” When all was over, “I kissed the cold hand,
+laid it down, and was … lost in profound grief.”
+
+
+
+
+X
+ENEMIES
+
+
+Any man of force is to be known quite as much by the character of his
+enemies as by that of his friends, and this is true of Washington. The
+subject offers some difficulties, for most of his enemies later in life
+went out of their way to deny all antagonism, and took pains to destroy
+such proof as they could come at of ill-feeling towards him. Yet enough
+remains to show who were in opposition to him, and on what grounds.
+
+The first of those now known to be opposed to him was George Muse,
+lieutenant-colonel in 1754 under Washington. At Fort Necessity he was
+guilty of cowardice, he was discharged in disgrace, and his name was
+omitted from the Assembly’s vote of thanks to the regiment. Stung by
+this action, he took his revenge in a manner related by Peyroney, who
+wrote Washington,—
+
+“Many enquired to me about Muse’s Braveries, poor Body I had pity him
+ha’nt he had the weakness to Confes his Coardise himself, & the
+impudence to taxe all the reste of the oficers without exception of the
+same imperfection for he said to many of the Consulars and Burgeses
+that he was Bad But th’ the reste was as Bad as he—To speak francly,
+had I been in town at that time I cou’nt help’d to make use of my
+horses [whip] whereas for to vindicate the injury of that vilain. He
+Contrived his Business so that several ask me if it was true that he
+had Challeng’d you to fight: My Answer was no other But that he should
+rather chuse to go to hell than doing of it—for he had Such thing
+declar’d: that was his Sure Road.”
+
+Washington seems to have cherished no personal ill-will for Muse’s
+conduct, and when the division of the “bounty lands” was being pushed,
+he used his influence that the broken officer should receive a quotum.
+Not knowing this, or else being ungrateful, Muse seems to have written
+a letter to Washington which angered him, for he replied,—
+
+“Sir, Your impertinent letter was delivered to me yesterday. As I am
+not accustomed to receive such from any man, nor would have taken the
+same language from you personally, without letting you feel some marks
+of my resentment, I would advise you to be cautious in writing me a
+second of the same tenor. But for your stupidity and sottishness you
+might have known, by attending to the public gazette, that you had your
+full quantity of ten thousand acres of land allowed you, that is, nine
+thousand and seventy-three acres in the great tract, and the remainder
+in the small tract. But suppose you had really fallen short, do you
+think your superlative merit entitles you to greater indulgence than
+others? Or, if it did, that I was to make it good to you, when it was
+at the option of the Governor and Council to allow but five hundred
+acres in the whole, if they had been so inclined? If either of these
+should happen to be your opinion, I am very well convinced that you
+will be singular in it; and all my concern is, that I ever engaged in
+behalf of so ungrateful a fellow as you are. But you may still be in
+need of my assistance, as I can inform you, that your affairs, in
+respect to these lands, do not stand upon so solid a basis as you
+imagine, and this you may take by way of hint. I wrote to you a few
+days ago concerning the other distribution, proposing an easy method of
+dividing our lands; but since I find in what temper you are, I am sorry
+I took the trouble of mentioning the land or your name in a letter, as
+I do not think you merit the least assistance from me.”
+
+The Braddock campaign brought acquaintance with one which did not end
+in friendship, however amicable the beginning. There can be little
+doubt that there was cameraderie with the then Lieutenant-Colonel Gage,
+for in 1773, when in New York for four days, Washington “Dined with
+Gen. Gage,” and also “dined at the entertainment given by the citizens
+of New York to Genl. Gage.” When next intercourse was resumed, it was
+by formal correspondence between the commanders-in-chief of two hostile
+armies, Washington inquiring as to the treatment of prisoners, and as a
+satisfactory reply was not obtained, he wrote again, threatening
+retaliation, and “closing my correspondence with you, perhaps forever,”
+—a letter which Charles Lee thought “a very good one, but Gage
+certainly deserved a stronger one, such as it was before it was
+softened.” One cannot but wonder what part the old friendship played in
+this “softening.”
+
+Relations with the Howes began badly by a letter from Lord Howe
+addressed “George Washington, Esq.,” which Washington declined to
+receive as not recognizing his official position. A second one to
+“George Washington, Esq. &c. &c. &c.” met with the same fate, and
+brought the British officer “to change my superscription.” A little
+after this brief war of forms, a letter from Washington to his wife was
+intercepted with others by the enemy, and General Howe enclosed it,
+“happy to return it without the least attempt being made to discover
+any part of the contents.” This courtesy the American commander
+presently was able to reciprocate by sending “General Washington’s
+compliments to General Howe,—does himself the pleasure to return to him
+a dog, which accidentally fell into his hands, and, by the inscription
+on the collar, appears to belong to General Howe.” Even politeness had
+its objections, however, at moments, and Washington once had to write
+Sir William,—
+
+“There is one passage of your letter, which I cannot forbear taking
+particular notice of. No expression of personal politeness to me can be
+acceptable, accompanied by reflections on the representatives of a free
+people, under whose authority I have the honor to act. The delicacy I
+have observed, in refraining from everything offensive in this way,
+entitles me to expect a similar treatment from you. I have not indulged
+myself in invective against the present rulers of Great Britain, in the
+course of our correspondence, nor will I even now avail myself of so
+fruitful a theme.”
+
+Apparently when Sir Henry Clinton succeeded to the command of the
+British army the same old device to insult the General was again tried,
+for Dumas states that Washington “received a despatch from Sir Henry
+Clinton, addressed to ‘Mr. Washington.’ Taking it from the hands of the
+flag of truce, and seeing the direction, ‘This letter,’ said he, ‘is
+directed to a planter of the state of Virginia. I shall have it
+delivered to him after the end of the war; till that time it shall not
+be opened.’ A second despatch was addressed to his Excellency General
+Washington.” A better lesson in courtesy was contained in a letter from
+Washington to him, complaining of “wanton, unprecedented and inhuman
+murder,” which closed with the following: “I beg your Excellency to be
+persuaded, that it cannot be more disagreeable to you to be addressed
+in this language, than it is to me to offer it; but the subject
+requires frankness and decision.”
+
+Quite as firm was one addressed to Cornwallis, which read,—
+
+“It is with infinite regret, I am again compelled to remonstrate
+against that spirit of wanton cruelty, that has in several instances
+influenced the conduct of your soldiery. A recent exercise of it
+towards an unhappy officer of ours, Lieutenant Harris, convinces me,
+that my former representations on this subject have been unavailing.
+That Gentleman by the fortunes of war, on Saturday last was thrown into
+the hands of a party of your horse, and unnecessarily murdered with the
+most aggravated circumstances of barbarity. I wish not to wound your
+Lordship’s feelings, by commenting on this event; but I think it my
+duty to send his mangled body to your lines as an undeniable testimony
+of the fact, should it be doubted, and as the best appeal to your
+humanity for the justice of our complaint.”
+
+A pleasanter intercourse came with the surrender of Yorktown, after
+which not merely were Cornwallis and his officers saved the
+mortification of surrendering their swords, but the chief among them
+were entertained at dinner by Washington. At this meal, so a
+contemporary account states, “Rochhambeau, being asked for a toast,
+gave _‘The United States’_. Washington gave _‘The King of France’_.
+Lord Cornwallis, simply _‘The King’_; but Washington, putting that
+toast, added, _‘of England’_, and facetiously, _‘confine him there,
+I’ll drink him a full bumper’_, filling his glass till it ran over.
+Rochambeau, with great politeness, was still so French, that he would
+every now and then be touching on points that were improper, and a
+breach of real politeness. Washington often checked him, and showed in
+a more saturnine manner, the infinite esteem he had for his gallant
+prisoner, whose private qualities the Americans admired even in a foe,
+that had so often filled them with the most cruel alarms.” Many years
+later, when Cornwallis was governor-general of India, he sent a verbal
+message to his old foe, wishing “General Washington a long enjoyment of
+tranquility and happiness,” adding that for himself he “continued in
+troubled waters.”
+
+
+[Illustration: MRS WASHINGTON]
+
+
+Turning from these public rather than personal foes, a very different
+type of enemies is encountered in those inimical to Washington in his
+own army. Chief of these was Horatio Gates, with whom Washington had
+become acquainted in the Braddock campaign, and with whom there was
+friendly intercourse from that time until the Revolution. In 1775, at
+Washington’s express solicitation, Gates was appointed adjutant- and
+brigadier-general, and in a letter thanking Washington for the favor he
+professed to have “the greatest respect for your character and the
+sincerest attachment to your person.” Nevertheless, he very early in
+the war suggested that a committee of Congress be sent to camp to keep
+watch on Washington, and as soon as he was in a separate command he
+began to curry favor with Congress and scheme against his commander.
+This was not unknown to Washington, who afterwards wrote, “I discovered
+very early in the war symptoms of coldness & constraint in General
+Gates’ behavior to me. These increased as he rose into greater
+consequence.”
+
+When Burgoyne capitulated to Gates, he sent the news to Congress and
+not to Washington, and though he had no further need for troops the
+commander-in-chief had sent him, he endeavored to prevent their return
+at a moment when every man was needed in the main army. His attitude
+towards Washington was so notorious that his friends curried favor with
+him by letters criticising the commander, and when, by chance, the
+General learned of the contents of one of these letters, and news to
+that effect reached the ears of Gates, he practically charged
+Washington with having obtained his knowledge by dishonorable means;
+but Washington more than repaid the insult, in telling Gates how he had
+learned of the affair, by adding that he had “considered the
+information as coming from yourself, and given with a friendly view to
+forewarn and consequently forearm me, against a secret enemy … but in
+this, as in other matters of late, I have found myself mistaken.”
+Driven to the wall, Gates wrote to Washington a denial that the letter
+contained the passage in question, which was an absolute lie, and this
+untruth typifies his character. Without expressing either belief or
+disbelief in this denial, Washington replied,—
+
+“I am as averse to controversy as any man, and had I not been forced
+into it, you never would have had occasion to impute to me, even the
+shadow of disposition towards it. Your repeatedly and solemnly
+disclaiming any offensive views in those matters, which have been the
+subject of our past correspondence makes me willing to close with the
+desire, you express, of burying them hereafter in silence, and, as far
+as future events will permit, oblivion. My temper leads me to peace and
+harmony with all men; and it is peculiarly my wish to avoid any
+personal feuds or dissentions with those who are embarked in the same
+great national interest with, myself; as every difference of this kind
+must in its consequence be very injurious.”
+
+After this affair subsided, Washington said,—
+
+“I made a point of treating Gen. Gates with all the attention and
+cordiality in my power, as well from a sincere desire of harmony, as
+from an unwillingness to give any cause of triumph among ourselves. I
+can appeal to the world, and to the whole army, whether I have not
+cautiously avoided offending Gen. Gates in any way. I am sorry his
+conduct to me has not been equally generous, and that he is continually
+giving me fresh proofs of malevolence and opposition. It will not be
+doing him injustice to say, that, besides the little underhand
+intrigues which he is frequently practising, there has hardly been any
+great military question, in which his advice has been asked, that it
+has not been given in an equivocal and designing manner, apparently
+calculated to afford him an opportunity of censuring me, on the failure
+of whatever measures might be adopted.”
+
+After the defeat of Gates at Camden, the Prince de Broglie wrote that
+“I saw General Gates at the house of General Washington, with whom he
+had had a misunderstanding…. This interview excited the curiosity of
+both armies. It passed with a most perfect propriety on the part of
+both gentlemen. Mr. Washington treated Mr. Gates with a politeness
+which had a frank and easy air, while the other responded with that
+shade of respect which was proper towards his general.” And how
+fair-minded Washington was is shown by his refusal to interfere in an
+army matter, because, “considering the delicate situation in which I
+stand with respect to General Gates, I feel an unwillingness to give
+any opinion (even in a confidential way) in a matter in which he is
+concerned, lest my sentiments (being known) should have unfavorable
+interpretations ascribed to them by illiberal Minds.” Yet the
+friendship was never restored, and when the two after the war were
+associated in the Potomac company, Washington’s sense of the old
+treachery was still so keen that he alluded to the appointment of “my
+bosom friend Genl G-tes, who being at Richmond, contrived to edge
+himself in to the commission.”
+
+Thomas Conway was Washington’s traducer to Gates. He was an
+Irish-French soldier of fortune who unfortunately had been made a
+brigadier-general in the Continental army. Having made friends of the
+New England delegates in Congress, it was then proposed by them to
+advance him to the rank of major-general, which Washington opposed, on
+the grounds that “his merit and importance exist more in his
+imagination than in reality.” For the moment this was sufficient to
+prevent Conway’s promotion, and even if he had not before been opposed
+to his commander, he now became his bitter enemy. To more than Gates he
+said or wrote, “A great & good God has decreed that America shall be
+free, or Washington and weak counsellors would have ruined her long
+ago.” Upon word of this reaching Washington, so Laurens tells, “The
+genl immediately copied the contents of the paper, introducing them
+with ‘sir,’ and concluding with, ‘I am your humble servt,’ and sent
+this copy in the form of a letter to Genl Conway. This drew an answer,
+in which he first attempts to deny the fact, and then in a most
+shameless manner, to explain away the matter. The perplexity of his
+style, and evident insincerity of his compliments, betray his weak
+sentiments, and expose his guilt.”
+
+Yet, though detected, Conway complained to the Continental Congress
+that Washington was not treating him properly, and in reply to an
+inquiry from a member the General acknowledged that,—
+
+“If General Conway means by cool receptions mentioned in the last
+paragraph of his letter of the 31st ultimo, that I did not receive him
+in the language of a warm and cordial friend, I readily confess the
+charge. I did not, nor shall I ever, till I am capable of the arts of
+dissimulation. These I despise, and my feelings will not permit me to
+make professions of friendship to the man I deem my enemy, and whose
+system of conduct forbids it. At the same time, truth authorizes me to
+say, that he was received and treated with proper respect to his
+official character, and that he has had no cause to justify the
+assertion, that he could not expect any support for fulfilling the
+duties of his appointment.”
+
+In spite of Washington’s opposition, Conway’s friends were numerous
+enough in the Congress finally to elect him major-general, at the same
+time appointing him inspector-general. Elated with this evident
+partiality of the majority of that body for him, he went even further,
+and Laurens states that he was guilty of a “base insult” to Washington,
+which “affects the General very sensibly,” and he continues,—
+
+“It is such an affront as Conway would never have dared to offer, if
+the General’s situation had not assured him of the impossibility of its
+being revenged in a private way. The Genl, therefore, has determined to
+return him no answer at all, but to lay the whole matter before
+Congress; they will determine whether Genl W. is to be sacrificed to
+Genl. C., for the former can never consent to be concern’d in any
+transaction with the latter, from whom he has received such
+unpardonable insults.”
+
+Fortunately, Conway did not limit his “insulting letters” to the
+commander-in-chief alone, and presently he sent one to Congress
+threatening to resign, which so angered that body that they took him at
+his word. Moreover, his open abuse of Washington led an old-time friend
+of the latter to challenge him, and to lodge a ball, with almost poetic
+justice, in Conway’s mouth. Thinking himself on the point of death, he
+wrote a farewell line to Washington “expressing my sincere grief for
+having done, written or said anything disagreeable to your Excellency….
+You are in my eyes a great and good man.” And with this recantation he
+disappeared from the army. A third officer in this “cabal” was Thomas
+Mifflin. He was the first man appointed on Washington’s staff at the
+beginning of the war, but did not long remain in that position, being
+promoted by Washington to be quartermaster-general. In this position
+the rumor reached the General that Mifflin was “concerned in trade,”
+and Washington took “occasion to hint” the suspicion to him, only to
+get a denial from the officer. Whether this inquiry was a cause for
+ill-feeling or not, Mifflin was one of the most outspoken against the
+commander-in-chief as his opponents gathered force, and Washington
+informed Henry that he “bore the second part in the cabal.” Mifflin
+resigned from the army and took a position on the board of war, but
+when the influence of that body broke down with the collapse of the
+Cabal, he applied for a reappointment,—a course described by Washington
+in plain English as follows:
+
+“I was not a little surprised to find a certain gentleman, who, some
+time ago (when a cloud of darkness hung heavy over us, and our affairs
+looked gloomy,) was desirous of resigning, now stepping forward in the
+line of the army. But if he can reconcile such conduct to his own,
+feelings, as an officer and a man of honor, and Congress hath no
+objections to his leaving his seat in another department, I have
+nothing personally to oppose it. Yet I must think, that gentleman’s
+stepping in and out, as the sun happens to beam forth or obscure, is
+not _quite_ the thing, nor _quite_ just, with respect to those
+officers, who take ye bitter with the sweet.”
+
+Not long after Greene wrote that “I learn that General Mifflin has
+publicly declared that he looked upon his Excellency as the best friend
+he ever had in his life, so that is a plain sign that the Junto has
+given up all ideas of supplanting our excellent general from a
+confidence of the impracticability of such an attempt.”
+
+A very minor but most malignant enemy was Dr. Benjamin Rush. In 1774
+Washington dined with him in Philadelphia, which implied friendship.
+Very early in the war, however, an attempt was made to remove the
+director-general of hospitals, in which, so John Armstrong claimed,
+“Morgan was the ostensible—Rush the real prosecutor of Shippen—the
+former acting from revenge,… the latter from a desire to obtain the
+directorship. In approving the sentence of the court, Washington
+stigmatized the prosecution as one originating in bad motives, which
+made Rush his enemy and defamer as long as he lived.” Certain it is he
+wrote savage letters of criticism about his commander-in-chief of which
+the following extract is a sample:
+
+“I have heard several officers who have served under General Gates
+compare his army to a well regulated family. The same gentlemen have
+compared Gen’l Washington’s imitation of an army to an unformed mob.
+Look at the characters of both! The one on the pinnacle of military
+glory—exulting in the success of schemes planned with wisdom, &
+executed with vigor and bravery—and above all see a country saved by
+his exertions. See the other outgeneral’d and twice heated—obliged to
+witness the march of a body of men only half their number thro’ 140
+Miles of a thick settled country— forced to give up a city the capitol
+of a state & after all outwitted by the same army in a retreat.”
+
+Had Rush written only this, there would be no grounds for questioning
+his methods; but, not content with spreading his opinions among his
+friends, he took to anonymous letter-writing, and sent an unsigned
+letter abusing Washington to the governor of Virginia (and probably to
+others), with the request that the letter should be burned. Instead of
+this, Henry sent it to Washington, who recognized at once the
+handwriting, and wrote to Henry that Rush “has been elaborate and
+studied in his professions of regard to me, and long since the letter
+to you.” An amusing sequel to this incident is to be found in Rush
+moving heaven and earth on the publication of Marshall’s “Life of
+Washington” to prevent his name from appearing as one of the
+commander-in-chief’s enemies.
+
+After the collapse of the attempt Washington wrote to a friend, “I
+thank you sincerely for the part you acted at York respecting C—-y, and
+believe with you that matters have and will turn out very different to
+what that party expected. G—-s has involved himself in his letters to
+me in the most absurd contradictions. M—- has brought himself into a
+scrape that he does not know how to get out of with a gentleman of this
+State, and C—-, as you know is sent upon an expedition which all the
+world knew, and the event has proved, was not practicable. In a word, I
+have a good deal of reason to believe that the machination of this
+junta will recoil upon their own heads, and be a means of bringing some
+matters to light which, by getting me out of the way, some of them
+thought to conceal.”
+
+Undoubtedly the most serious army antagonist was General Charles Lee,
+and, but for what seem almost fatalistic chances, he would have been a
+dangerous rival. He was second in command very early in the war, and at
+this time he asserted that “no man loves, respects and reverences
+another more than I do General Washington. I esteem his virtues,
+private and public. I know him to be a man of sense, courage and
+firmness.” But four months later he was lamenting Washington’s “fatal
+indecision,” and by inference was calling him “a blunderer.” In another
+month he wrote, “_entre nous_ a certain great man is most damnably
+deficient.” At this point, fortunately, Lee was captured by the
+British, so that his influence for the time being was destroyed. While
+a prisoner he drew up a plan for the English general, showing how
+America could be conquered.
+
+When he had been exchanged, and led the American advance at the battle
+of Monmouth, he seems to have endeavored to aid the British in another
+way, for after barely engaging, he ordered a retreat, which quickly
+developed into a rout, and would have ended in a serious defeat had
+not, as Laurens wrote, “fortunately for the honor of the army, and the
+welfare of America, Genl Washington met the troops retreating in
+disorder, and without any plan to make an opposition. He ordered some
+pieces of artillery to be brought up to defend the pass, and some
+troops to form and defend the pieces. The artillery was too distant to
+be brought up readily, so that there was but little opposition given
+here. A few shot though, and a little skirmishing in the wood checked
+the enemy’s career. The Genl expressed his astonishment at this
+unaccountable retreat Mr. Lee indecently replied that the attack was
+contrary to his advice and opinion in council.”
+
+In a fit of temper Lee wrote Washington two imprudent letters,
+expressed “in terms [so] highly improper” that he was ordered under
+arrest and tried by a court-martial, which promptly found him guilty of
+disobedience and disrespect, as well as of making a “disorderly and
+unnecessary retreat.” To this Lee retorted, “I aver that his
+Excellencies letter was from beginning to the end a most abominable
+lie—I aver that my conduct will stand the strictest scrutiny of every
+military judge—I aver that my Court Martial was a Court of
+Inquisition—that there was not a single member with a military idea—at
+least if I may pronounce from the different questions they put to the
+evidences.”
+
+In this connection it is of interest to note a letter from Washington’s
+friend Mason, which said, “You express a fear that General Lee will
+challenge our friend. Indulge in no such apprehensions, for he too well
+knows the sentiments of General Washington on the subject of duelling.
+From his earliest manhood I have heard him express his contempt of the
+man who sends and the man who accepts a challenge, for he regards such
+acts as no proof of moral courage; and the practice he abhors as a
+relic of old barbarisms, repugnant alike to sound morality and
+Christian enlightenment.”
+
+A little later, still smarting from this court-martial, Lee wrote to a
+newspaper a savage attack on his late commander, apparently in the
+belief, as he said in a private letter, that “there is … a visible
+revolution … in the minds of men, I mean that our Great Gargantua, or
+Lama Babak (for I know not which Title is the properest) begins to be
+no longer consider’d as an infallible Divinity—and that those who have
+been sacrificed or near sacrific’d on his altar, begin to be esteem’d
+as wantonly and foolishly offer’d up.” Lee very quickly found his
+mistake, for the editor of the paper which contained his attack was
+compelled by a committee of citizens to publish an acknowledgment that
+in printing it “I have transgressed against truth, justice and my duty
+as a good citizen,” and, as Washington wrote to a friend, “the author
+of the Queries, ‘Political and Military,’ has had no cause to exult in
+the favorable reception of them by the public.” With Lee’s
+disappearance the last army rival dropped from the ranks, and from that
+time there was no question as to who should command the armies of
+America. Long after, a would-be editor of Lee’s papers wrote to
+Washington to ask if he had any wishes in regard to the publication,
+and was told in the reply that,—
+
+“I never had a difference with that gentleman, but on public ground,
+and my conduct towards him upon this occasion was such only, as I
+conceived myself indispensably bound to adopt in discharge of the
+public trust reposed in me. If this produced in him unfavorable
+sentiments of me, I yet can never consider the conduct I pursued, with
+respect to him, either wrong or improper, however I may regret that it
+may have been differently viewed by him and that it excited his censure
+and animadversions. Should there appear in General Lee’s writings any
+thing injurious or unfriendly to me, the impartial and dispassionate
+world must decide how far I deserved it from the general tenor of my
+conduct.”
+
+These attempts to undermine Washington owed their real vitality to the
+Continental Congress, and it is safe to say that but for Washington’s
+political enemies no army rival would have ventured to push forward. In
+what the opposition in that body consisted, and to what length it went,
+are discussed elsewhere, but a glance at the reasons of hostility to
+him is proper here.
+
+John Adams declared himself “sick of the Fabian systems,” and in
+writing of the thanksgiving for the Saratoga Convention, he said that
+“one cause of it ought to be that the glory of turning the tide of arms
+is not immediately due to the commander-in-chief…. If it had, idolatry
+and adulation would have been unbounded.” James Lovell asserted that
+“Our affairs are Fabiused into a very disagreeable posture,” and wrote
+that “depend upon it for every ten soldiers placed under the command of
+our Fabius, five recruits will be wanted annually during the war.”
+William Williams agreed with Jonathan Trumbull that the time had come
+when “a much exalted character should make way for a _general_” and
+suggested if this was not done “voluntarily,” those to whom the public
+looked should “see to it.” Abraham Clark thought “we may talk of the
+Enemy’s Cruelty as we will, but we have no greater Cruelty to complain
+of than the Management of our Army.” Jonathan D. Sargent asserted that
+“we want a general—thousands of Lives & Millions of Property are yearly
+sacrificed to the Insufficiency of our Commander-in-Chief—Two Battles
+he has lost for us by two such Blunders as might have disgraced a
+Soldier of three months standing, and yet we are so attached to this
+Man that I fear we shall rather sink with him than throw him off our
+Shoulders. And sink we must under his Management. Such Feebleness, &
+Want of Authority, such Confusion & Want of Discipline, such Waste,
+such destruction would exhaust the Wealth of both the Indies &
+annihilate the armies of all Europe and Asia.” Richard Henry Lee agreed
+with Mifflin that Gates was needed to “procure the indispensable
+changes in our Army.” Other Congressmen who were inimical to
+Washington, either by openly expressed opinion or by vote, were
+Elbridge Gerry, Samuel Adams, William Ellery, Eliphalet Dyer, Roger
+Sherman, Samuel Chase, and F.L. Lee. Later, when Washington’s position
+was more secure, Gerry and R.H. Lee wrote to him affirming their
+friendship, and to both the General replied without a suggestion of
+ill-feeling, nor does he seem, in later life, to have felt a trace of
+personal animosity towards any one of the men who had been in
+opposition to him in Congress. Of this enmity in the army and Congress
+Washington wrote,—
+
+“It is easy to bear the first, and even the devices of private enemies
+whose ill will only arises from their common hatred to the cause we are
+engaged in, are to me tolerable; yet, I confess, I cannot help feeling
+the most painful sensations, whenever I have reason to believe I am the
+object of persecution to men, who are embarked in the same general
+interest, and whose friendship my heart does not reproach me with, ever
+having done any thing to forfeit. But with many, it is a sufficient
+cause to hate and wish the ruin of a man, because he has been happy
+enough, to be the object of _his country’s_ favor.”
+
+The political course of Washington while President produced the
+alienation of the two Virginians whom he most closely associated with
+himself in the early part of his administration. With Madison the break
+does not seem to have come from any positive ill-feeling, but was
+rather an abandonment of intercourse as the differences of opinion
+became more pronounced. The disagreement with Jefferson was more acute,
+though probably never forced to an open rupture. To his political
+friends Jefferson in 1796 wrote that the measures pursued by the
+administration were carried out “under the sanction of a name which has
+done too much good not to be sufficient to cover harm also,” and that
+he hoped the President’s “honesty and his political errors may not
+furnish a second occasion to exclaim, ‘curse on his virtues, they’ve
+undone his country.’” Henry Lee warned Washington of the undercurrent
+of criticism, and when Jefferson heard indirectly of this he wrote his
+former chief that “I learn that [Lee] has thought it worth his while to
+try to sow tares between you and me, by representing me as still
+engaged in the bustle of politics & in turbulence & intrigue against
+the government. I never believed for a moment that this could make any
+impression on you, or that your knowledge of me would not overweigh the
+slander of an intriguer dirtily employed in sifting the conversations
+of my table.” To this Washington replied,—
+
+“As you have mentioned the subject yourself, it would not be frank,
+candid or friendly to conceal, that your conduct has been represented
+as derogating from that opinion _I_ had conceived you entertained of
+me; that, to your particular friends and connexions you have described,
+and they have denounced me as a person under a dangerous influence; and
+that, if I would listen more to some _other_ opinions, all would be
+well. My answer invariably has been, that I had never discovered any
+thing in the conduct of Mr. Jefferson to raise suspicions in my mind of
+his insincerity; that, if he would retrace my public conduct while he
+was in the administration, abundant proofs would occur to him, that
+truth and right decisions were the _sole_ objects of my pursuit; that
+there was as many instances within his own knowledge of my having
+decided _against_ as in _favor_ of the opinions of the person evidently
+alluded to; and, I was no believer in the infallibility of the politics
+or measures of _any man living_. In short that I was no party man
+myself and the first wish of my heart was, if parties did exist, to
+reconcile them.”
+
+As proof upon proof of Jefferson’s secret enmity accumulated,
+Washington ceased to trust his disclaimers, and finally wrote to one of
+his informants, “Nothing short of the evidence you have adduced,
+corroborative of intimations which I had received long before through
+another channel, could have shaken my belief in the sincerity of a
+friendship, which I had conceived as possessed for me by the person to
+whom you allude. But attempts to injure those, who are supposed to
+stand well in the estimation of the people, and are stumbling blocks in
+the way, by misrepresenting their political tenets, thereby to destroy
+all confidence in them, are among the means by which the government is
+to be assailed, and the constitution destroyed.”
+
+Once convinced, all relations with Jefferson were terminated. It is
+interesting in this connection to note something repeated by Madison,
+to the effect that “General Lafayette related to me the following
+anecdote, which I shall repeat as nearly as I can in his own words.
+‘When I last saw Mr. Jefferson,’ he observed, ‘we conversed a good deal
+about General Washington, and Mr. Jefferson expressed high admiration
+of his character. He remarked particularly that he and Hamilton often
+disagreed when they were members of the Cabinet, and that General
+Washington would sometimes favor the opinion of one and sometimes the
+other, with an apparent strict impartiality. And Mr. Jefferson added
+that, so sound was Washington’s judgment, that he was commonly
+convinced afterwards of the accuracy of his decision, whether it
+accorded with the opinion he had himself first advanced or not.’”
+
+
+[Illustration: EARLIEST SIGNATURE OF WASHINGTON]
+
+
+A third Virginian who was almost as closely associated was Edmund
+Randolph. There had been a friendship with his father, until he turned
+Tory and went to England, when, according to Washington’s belief, he
+wrote the “forged letters” which gave Washington so much trouble. For
+the sake of the old friendship, however, he gave the son a position on
+his staff, and from that time was his friend and correspondent. In the
+first administration he was made Attorney-General, and when Jefferson
+retired from office he became Secretary of State. In this position he
+was charged with political dishonesty. Washington gave him a chance to
+explain, but instead he resigned from office and published what he
+called “a vindication,” in which he charged the President with
+“prejudging,” “concealment,” and “want of generosity.” Continuing, he
+said, “never … could I have believed that in addressing you … I should
+use any other language than that of a friend. From my early period of
+life, I was taught to esteem you—as I advanced in years, I was
+habituated to revere you:—you strengthened my prepossessions by marks
+of attention.” And in another place he acknowledged the weakness of his
+attack by saying, “still however, those very objections, the very
+reputation which you have acquired, will cause it to be asked, why you
+should be suspected of acting towards me, in any other manner, than
+deliberately, justly and even kindly?”
+
+In the preparation of this pamphlet Randolph wrote the President a
+letter which the latter asserted was “full of innuendoes,” and one
+statement in the pamphlet he denounced as being “as impudent and
+insolent an assertion as it is false.” And his irritation at this
+treatment from one he had always befriended gave rise to an incident,
+narrated by James Ross, at a breakfast at the President’s, when “after
+a little while the Secretary of War came in, and said to Washington,
+‘Have you seen Mr. Randolph’s pamphlet?’ ‘I have,’ said Washington,
+‘and, by the eternal God, he is the damnedest liar on the face of the
+earth!’ and as he spoke he brought his fist down upon the table with
+all his strength, and with a violence which made the cups and plates
+start from their places.” Fortunately, the attack was ineffective;
+indeed, Hamilton wrote that “I consider it as amounting to a confession
+of guilt; and I am persuaded this will be the universal opinion. His
+attempts against you are viewed by all whom I have seen, as base. They
+will certainly fail of their aim, and will do good rather than harm, to
+the public cause and to yourself. It appears to me that, by you, no
+notice can be, or ought to be, taken of the publication. It contains
+its own antidote.”
+
+Not content with this double giving up of what to any man of honor was
+confidential, Randolph, a little later, rested under Washington’s
+suspicions of a third time breaking the seal of official secrecy by
+sending a Cabinet paper to the newspapers for no other purpose than to
+stir up feeling against Washington. But after his former patron’s death
+regret came, and Randolph wrote to Bushrod Washington, “If I could now
+present myself before your venerated uncle it would be my pride to
+confess my contrition that I suffered my irritation, be the cause what
+it might, to use some of those expressions respecting him which, at
+this moment … I wish to recall as being inconsistent with my subsequent
+convictions.”
+
+Another type of enemy, more or less the result of this differing with
+Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Randolph, was sundry editors and
+writers who gathered under their patronage and received aids of money
+or of secret information. One who prospered for a time by abusing
+Washington was Philip Freneau. He was a college friend of Madison’s,
+and was induced to undertake the task by his and Jefferson’s urging,
+though the latter denied this later. As aid to the undertaking,
+Jefferson, then Secretary of State, gave Freneau an office, and thus
+produced the curious condition of a clerk in the government writing and
+printing savage attacks on the President. Washington was much irritated
+at the abuse, and Jefferson in his “Anas” said that he “was evidently
+sore & warm and I took his intention to be that I should interpose in
+some way with Freneau, perhaps withdraw his appointment of translating
+clerk to my office. But I will not do it.” According to the French
+minister, some of the worst of these articles were written by Jefferson
+himself, and Freneau is reported to have said, late in life, that many
+of them were written by the Secretary of State.
+
+Far more indecent was the paper conducted by Benjamin Franklin Bache,
+who, early in the Presidency, applied for a place in the government,
+which for some reason not now known was refused. According to Cobbett,
+who hated him, “this … scoundrel … spent several years in hunting
+offices under the Federal Government, and being constantly rejected, he
+at last became its most bitter foe. Hence his abuse of General
+Washington, whom at the time he was soliciting a place he panegyrized
+up to the third heaven.” Certain it is that under his editorship the
+_General Advertiser_ and _Aurora_ took the lead in all criticisms of
+Washington, and not content with these opportunities for daily and
+weekly abuse, Bache (though the fact that they were forgeries was
+notorious) reprinted the “spurious letters which issued from a certain
+press in New York during the war, with a view to destroy the confidence
+which the army and community might have had in my political
+principles,—and which have lately been republished with greater avidity
+and perseverance than ever, by Mr. Bache to answer the same nefarious
+purpose with the latter,” and Washington added that “immense pains has
+been taken by this said Mr. Bache, who is no more than the agent or
+tool of those who are endeavoring to destroy the confidence of the
+people, in the officers of Government (chosen by themselves) to
+disseminate these counterfeit letters.” In addition Bache wrote a
+pamphlet, with the avowal that “the design of these remarks is to prove
+the want of claim in Mr. Washington either to the gratitude or
+confidence of his country…. Our chief object … is to _destroy undue
+impressions in favor of Mr. Washington_.” Accordingly it charged that
+Washington was “treacherous,” “mischievous,” “inefficient;” dwelt upon
+his “farce of disinterestedness,” his “stately journeyings through the
+American continent in search of personal incense,” his “ostentatious
+professions of piety,” his “pusillanimous neglect,” his “little
+passions,” his “ingratitude,” his “want of merit,” his
+“insignificance,” and his “spurious fame.”
+
+The successor of Bache as editor of these two journals, William Duane,
+came to the office with an equal hatred of Washington, having already
+written a savage pamphlet against him. In this the President was
+charged with “treacherous mazes of passion,” and with having
+“discharged the loathings of a sick mind.” Furthermore it asserted
+“that had you obtained promotion … after Braddock’s defeat, your sword
+would have been drawn against your country,” that Washington “retained
+the barbarous usages of the feudal system and kept men in Livery,” and
+that “posterity will in vain search for the monuments of wisdom in your
+administration;” the purpose of the pamphlet, by the author’s own
+statement, being “to expose the _Personal Idolatry_ into which we have
+been heedlessly running,” and to show the people the “fallibility of
+the most favored of men.”
+
+A fourth in this quartet of editors was the notorious James Thomson
+Callender, whose publications were numerous, as were also his
+impeachments against Washington. By his own account, this writer
+maintained, “Mr. Washington has been twice a traitor,” has “authorized
+the robbery and ruin of the remnants of his own army,” has “broke the
+constitution,” and Callender fumes over “the vileness of the adulation
+which has been paid” to him, claiming that “the extravagant popularity
+possessed by this citizen reflects the utmost ridicule on the
+discernment of America.”
+
+The bitterest attack, however, was penned by Thomas Paine. For many
+years there was good feeling between the two, and in 1782, when Paine
+was in financial distress, Washington used his influence to secure him
+a position “out of friendship for me,” as Paine acknowledged.
+Furthermore, Washington tried to get the Virginia Legislature to
+pension Paine or give him a grant of land, an endeavor for which the
+latter was “exceedingly obliged.” When Paine published his “Rights of
+Man” he dedicated it to Washington, with an inscription dwelling on his
+“exemplary virtue” and his “benevolence;” while in the body of the work
+he asserted that no monarch of Europe had a character to compare with
+Washington’s, which was such as to “put all those men called kings to
+shame.” Shortly after this, however, Washington refused to appoint him
+Postmaster-General; and still later, when Paine had involved himself
+with the French, the President, after consideration, decided that
+governmental interference was not proper. Enraged by these two acts,
+Paine published a pamphlet in which he charged Washington with
+“encouraging and swallowing the greatest adulation,” with being “the
+patron of fraud,” with a “mean and servile submission to the insults of
+one nation, treachery and ingratitude to another,” with “falsehood,”
+“ingratitude,” and “pusillanimity;” and finally, after alleging that
+the General had not “served America with more disinterestedness or
+greater zeal, than myself, and I know not if with better effect,” Paine
+closed his attack by the assertion, “and as to you, sir, _treacherous
+in private friendship_, and a _hypocrite_ in public life, the world
+will be puzzled to decide, whether you are an _apostate_ or an
+_impostor_; whether you have _abandoned good principles_, or whether
+_you ever had any?_”
+
+Washington never, in any situation, took public notice of these
+attacks, and he wrote of a possible one, “I am gliding down the stream
+of life, and wish, as is natural, that my remaining days may be
+undisturbed and tranquil; and, conscious of my integrity, I would
+willingly hope, that nothing would occur tending to give me anxiety;
+but should anything present itself in this or any other publication, I
+shall never undertake the painful task of recrimination, nor do I know
+that I should even enter upon my justification.” To a friend he said,
+“my temper leads me to peace and harmony with all men; and it is
+peculiarly my wish to avoid any feuds or dissentions with those who are
+embarked in the same great national interest with myself; as every
+difference of this kind must in its consequence be very injurious.”
+
+
+
+
+XI
+SOLDIER
+
+
+“My inclinations,” wrote Washington at twenty-three, “are strongly bent
+to arms,” and the tendency was a natural one, coming not merely from
+his Indian-fighting great-grandfather, but from his elder brother
+Lawrence, who had held a king’s commission in the Carthagena
+expedition, and was one of the few officers who gained repute in that
+ill-fated attempt. At Mount Vernon George must have heard much of
+fighting as a lad, and when the ill health of Lawrence compelled
+resignation of command of the district militia, the younger brother
+succeeded to the adjutancy. This quickly led to the command of the
+first Virginia regiment when the French and Indian War was brewing.
+Twice Washington resigned in disgust during the course of the war, but
+each time his natural bent, or “glowing zeal,” as he phrased it, drew
+him back into the service. The moment the news of Lexington reached
+Virginia he took the lead in organizing an armed force, and in the
+Virginia Convention of 1775, according to Lynch, he “made the most
+eloquent speech … that ever was made. Says he, ‘I will raise one
+thousand men, enlist them at my own expense, and march myself at their
+head for the relief of Boston.’” At fifty-three, in speaking of war,
+Washington said, “my first wish is to see this plague to mankind
+banished from off the earth;” but during his whole life, when there was
+fighting to be done, he was among those who volunteered for the
+service.
+
+The personal courage of the man was very great. Jefferson, indeed, said
+“he was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calmest
+unconcern.” Before he had ever been in action, he noted of a certain
+position that it was “a charming field for an encounter,” and his first
+engagement he described as follows: “I fortunately escaped without any
+wound, for the right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and received
+all the enemy’s fire, and it was the part where the man was killed, and
+the rest wounded. I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there
+is something charming in the sound.” In his second battle, though he
+knew that he was “to be attacked and by unequal numbers,” he promised
+beforehand to “withstand” them “if there are five to one,” adding, “I
+doubt not, but if you hear I am beaten, but you will, at the same
+[time,] hear that we have done our duty, in fighting as long [as] there
+was a possibility of hope,” and in this he was as good as his word.
+When sickness detained him in the Braddock march, he halted only on
+condition that he should receive timely notice of when the fighting was
+to begin, and in that engagement he exposed himself so that “I had four
+bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped
+unhurt, altho’ death was levelling my companions on every side of me!”
+Not content with such an experience, in the second march on Fort
+Duquesne he “prayed” the interest of a friend to have his regiment part
+of the “light troops” that were to push forward in advance of the main
+army.
+
+The same carelessness of personal danger was shown all through the
+Revolution. At the battle of Brooklyn, on New York Island, at Trenton,
+Germantown, and Monmouth, he exposed himself to the enemy’s fire, and
+at the siege of Yorktown an eyewitness relates that “during the
+assault, the British kept up an incessant firing of cannon and musketry
+from their whole line. His Excellency General Washington, Generals
+Lincoln and Knox with their aids, having dismounted, were standing in
+an exposed situation waiting the result. Colonel Cobb, one of General
+Washington’s aids, solicitous for his safety, said to his Excellency,
+‘Sir, you are too much exposed here, had you not better step back a
+little?’ ‘Colonel Cobb,’ replied his Excellency, ‘if you are afraid,
+you have liberty to step back.’” It is no cause for wonder that an
+officer wrote, “our army love their General very much, but they have
+one thing against him, which is the little care he takes of himself in
+any action. His personal bravery, and the desire he has of animating
+his troops by example, make him fearless of danger. This occasions us
+much uneasiness.”
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON’S TRANSCRIPT OF THE RULES OF CIVILITY,
+CIRCA 1744]
+
+
+This fearlessness was equally shown by his hatred and, indeed,
+non-comprehension of cowardice. In his first battle, upon the French
+surrendering, he wrote to the governor, “if the whole Detach’t of the
+French behave with no more Resolution than this chosen Party did, I
+flatter myself we shall have no g’t trouble in driving them to the
+d—-.” At Braddock’s defeat, though the regiment he had commanded
+“behaved like men and died like soldiers,” he could hardly find words
+to express his contempt for the conduct of the British “cowardly
+regulars,” writing of their “dastardly behavior” when they “broke and
+ran as sheep before hounds,” and raging over being “most scandalously”
+and “shamefully beaten.” When the British first landed on New York
+Island, and two New England brigades ran away from “a small party of
+the enemy,” numbering about fifty, without firing a shot, he completely
+lost his self-control at their “dastardly behavior,” and riding in
+among them, it is related, he laid his cane over the officers’ backs,
+“damned them for cowardly rascals,” and, drawing his sword, struck the
+soldiers right and left with the flat of it, while snapping his pistols
+at them. Greene states that the fugitives “left his Excellency on the
+ground within eighty yards of the enemy, so vexed at the infamous
+conduct of the troops, that he sought death rather than life,” and
+Gordon adds that the General was only saved from his “hazardous
+position” by his aides, who “caught the bridle of his horse and gave
+him a different direction.” At Monmouth an aide stated that when he met
+a man running away he was “exasperated … and threatened the man … he
+would have him whipped,” and General Scott says that on finding Lee
+retreating, “he swore like an angel from heaven.” Wherever in his
+letters he alludes to cowardice it is nearly always coupled with the
+adjectives “infamous,” “scandalous,” or others equally indicative of
+loss of temper.
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington had a high temper. Hamilton’s
+allusion to his not being remarkable for “good temper” has already been
+quoted, as has also Stuart’s remark that “all his features were
+indicative of the strongest and most ungovernable passions, and had he
+been born in the forests, he would have been the fiercest man among the
+savage tribes.” Again Stuart is quoted by his daughter as follows:
+
+“While talking one day with General Lee, my father happened to remark
+that Washington had a tremendous temper, but held it under wonderful
+control. General Lee breakfasted with the President and Mrs. Washington
+a few days afterwards.
+
+“‘I saw your portrait the other day,’ said the General, ‘but Stuart
+says you have a tremendous temper.’
+
+“‘Upon my word,’ said Mrs. Washington, coloring, ‘Mr. Stuart takes a
+great deal upon himself to make such a remark.’
+
+“‘But stay, my dear lady,’ said General Lee, ‘he added that the
+president had it under wonderful control.’
+
+“With something like a smile, General Washington remarked, ‘He is
+right.’”
+
+Lear, too, mentions an outburst of temper when he heard of the defeat
+of St. Clair, and elsewhere records that in reading politics aloud to
+Washington “he appeared much affected, and spoke with some degree of
+asperity on the subject, which I endeavored to moderate, as I always
+did on such occasions.” How he swore at Randolph and at Freneau is
+mentioned elsewhere. Jefferson is evidence that “his temper was
+naturally irritable and high-toned, but reflection and resolution had
+obtained a firm and habitual ascendency over it. If however it broke
+its bonds, he was most tremendous in his wrath.”
+
+Strikingly at variance with these personal qualities of courage and hot
+blood is the “Fabian” policy for which he is so generally credited, and
+a study of his military career goes far to dispel the conception that
+Washington was the cautious commander that he is usually pictured.
+
+In the first campaign, though near a vastly superior French force,
+Washington precipitated the conflict by attacking and capturing an
+advance party, though the delay of a few days would have brought him
+large reinforcements. As a consequence he was very quickly surrounded,
+and after a day’s fighting was compelled to surrender. In what light
+his conduct was viewed at the time is shown in two letters, Dr. William
+Smith writing, “the British cause,… has received a fatal Blow by the
+entire defeat of Washington, whom I cannot but accuse of Foolhardiness
+to have ventured so near a vigilant enemy without being certain of
+their numbers, or waiting for Junction of some hundreds of our best
+Forces, who are within a few Days’ March of him,” and Ann Willing
+echoed this by saying, “the melancholy news has just arrived of the
+loss of sixty men belonging to Col. Washington’s Company, who were
+killed on the spot, and of the Colonel and Half-King being taken
+prisoners, all owing to the obstinacy of Washington, who would not wait
+for the arrival of reinforcements.”
+
+Hardly less venturesome was he in the Braddock campaign, for “the
+General (before they met in council,) asked my opinion concerning the
+expedition. I urged it, in the warmest terms I was able, to push
+forward, if we even did it with a small but chosen band, with such
+artillery and light stores as were absolutely necessary; leaving the
+heavy artillery, baggage, &c. with the rear division of the army, to
+follow by slow and easy marches, which they might do safely, while we
+were advanced in front.” How far the defeat of that force was due to
+the division thus urged it is not possible to say, but it undoubtedly
+made the French bolder and the English more subject to panic.
+
+The same spirit was manifested in the Revolution. During the siege of
+Boston he wrote to Reed, “I proposed [an assault] in council; but
+behold, though we had been waiting all the year for this favorable
+event the enterprise was thought too dangerous. Perhaps it was; perhaps
+the irksomeness of my situation led me to undertake more than could be
+warranted by prudence. I did not think so, and I am sure yet, that the
+enterprise, if it had been undertaken with resolution, must have
+succeeded.” He added that “the enclosed council of war:… being almost
+unanimous, I must suppose it to be right; although, from a thorough
+conviction of the necessity of attempting something against the
+ministerial troops before a reinforcement should arrive, and while we
+were favored with the ice, I was not only ready but willing, and
+desirous of making the assault,” and a little later he said that had he
+but foreseen certain contingencies “all the generals upon earth should
+not have convinced me of the propriety of delaying an attack upon
+Boston.”
+
+In the defence of New York there was no chance to attack, but even when
+our lines at Brooklyn had been broken and the best brigades in the army
+captured, Washington hurried troops across the river, and intended to
+contest the ground, ordering a retreat only when it was voted in the
+affirmative by a council of war. At Harlem plains he was the attacking
+party.
+
+How with a handful of troops he turned the tide of defeat by attacking
+at Trenton and Princeton is too well known to need recital. At
+Germantown, too, though having but a few days before suffered defeat,
+he attacked and well-nigh won a brilliant victory, because the British
+officers did not dream that his vanquished army could possibly take the
+initiative. When the foe settled down into winter quarters in
+Philadelphia Laurens wrote, “our Commander-in-chief wishing ardently to
+gratify the public expectation by making an attack upon the enemy …
+went yesterday to view the works.” On submitting the project to a
+council, however, they stood eleven to four against the attempt.
+
+The most marked instance of Washington’s un-Fabian preferences, and
+proof of the old saying that “councils of war never fight,” is
+furnished in the occurrences connected with the battle of Monmouth.
+When the British began their retreat across New Jersey, according to
+Hamilton “the General unluckily called a council of war, the result of
+which would have done honor to the most honorable society of mid-wives
+and to them only. The purport was, that we should keep at a comfortable
+distance from the enemy, and keep up a vain parade of annoying them by
+detachment … The General, on mature reconsideration of what had been
+resolved on, determined to pursue a different line of conduct at all
+hazards.” Concerning this decision Pickering wrote,—
+
+“His great caution in respect to the enemy, acquired him the name of
+the American Fabius. From this _governing_ policy he is said to have
+departed, when” at Monmouth he “indulged the most anxious desire to
+close with his antagonist in general action. Opposed to his wishes was
+the advice of his general officers. To this he for a time yielded; but
+as soon as he discovered that the enemy had reached Monmouth Court
+House, not more than twelve miles from the heights of Middletown, he
+determined that he should not escape without a blow.”
+
+Pickering considered this a “departure” from Washington’s “usual
+practice and policy,” and cites Wadsworth, who said, in reference to
+the battle of Monmouth, that the General appeared, on that occasion,
+“to act from the impulses of his own mind.”
+
+Thrice during the next three years plans for an attack on the enemy’s
+lines at New York were matured, one of which had to be abandoned
+because the British had timely notice of it by the treachery of an
+American general, a second because the other generals disapproved the
+attempt, and, on the authority of Humphreys, “the accidental
+intervention of some vessels prevented [another] attempt, which was
+more than once resumed afterwards. Notwithstanding this favorite
+project was not ultimately effected, it was evidently not less bold in
+conception or feasible in accomplishment, than that attempted so
+successfully at Trenton, or than that which was brought to so glorious
+an issue in the successful siege of Yorktown.”
+
+As this _résumé_ indicates, the most noticeable trait of Washington’s
+military career was a tendency to surrender his own opinions and wishes
+to those over whom he had been placed, and this resulted in a general
+agreement not merely that he was disposed to avoid action, but that he
+lacked decision. Thus his own aide, Reed, in obvious contrast to
+Washington, praised Lee because “you have decision, a quality often
+wanted in minds otherwise valuable,” continuing, “Oh! General, an
+indecisive mind is one of the greatest misfortunes that can befall an
+army; how often have I lamented it this campaign,” and Lee in reply
+alluded to “that fatal indecision of mind.” Pickering relates meeting
+General Greene and saying to him, “‘I had once conceived an exalted
+opinion of General Washington’s military talents; but since I have been
+with the army, I have seen nothing to increase that opinion.’ Greene
+answered, ‘Why, the General does want decision: for my part, I decide
+in a moment.’ I used the word ‘increase,’ though I meant ‘support,’ but
+did not dare speak it.” Wayne exclaimed “if our worthy general will but
+follow his own good judgment without listening too much to some
+counsel!” Edward Thornton, probably repeating the prevailing public
+estimate of the time rather than his own conclusion, said, “a certain
+degree of indecision, however, a want of vigor and energy, may be
+observed in some of his actions, and are indeed the obvious result of
+too refined caution.”
+
+Undoubtedly this leaning on others and the want of decision were not
+merely due to a constitutional mistrust of his own ability, but also in
+a measure to real lack of knowledge. The French and Indian War, being
+almost wholly “bush-fighting,” was not of a kind to teach strategic
+warfare, and in his speech accepting the command Washington requested
+that “it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room, that I this
+day declare with the utmost sincerity I do not think myself equal to
+the command I am honored with.” Indeed, he very well described himself
+and his generals when he wrote of one officer, “his wants are common to
+us all—the want of experience to move upon a large scale, for the
+limited and contracted knowledge, which any of us have in military
+matters, stands in very little stead.” There can be no question that in
+most of the “field” engagements of the Revolution Washington was
+out-generalled by the British, and Jefferson made a just distinction
+when he spoke of his having often “failed in the field, and rarely
+against an enemy in station, as at Boston and York.”
+
+The lack of great military genius in the commander-in-chief has led
+British writers to ascribe the results of the war to the want of
+ability in their own generals, their view being well summed up by a
+writer in 1778, who said, “in short, I am of the opinion … that any
+other General in the world than General Howe would have beaten General
+Washington; and any other General in the world than General Washington
+would have beaten General Howe.”
+
+This is, in effect, to overlook the true nature of the contest, for it
+was their very victories that defeated the British. They conquered New
+Jersey, to meet defeat; they captured Philadelphia, only to find it a
+danger; they established posts in North Carolina, only to abandon them;
+they overran Virginia, to lay down their arms at Yorktown. As
+Washington early in the war divined, the Revolution was “a war of
+posts,” and he urged the danger of “dividing and subdividing our Force
+too much [so that] we shall have no one post sufficiently guarded,”
+saying, “it is a military observation strongly supported by experience,
+‘that a superior army may fall a sacrifice to an inferior, by an
+injudicious division.’” It was exactly this which defeated the British;
+every conquest they made weakened their force, and the war was not a
+third through when Washington said, “I am well convinced myself, that
+the enemy, long ere this, are perfectly well satisfied, that the
+possession of our towns, while we have an army in the field, will avail
+them little.” As Franklin said, when the news was announced that Howe
+had captured Philadelphia, “No, Philadelphia has captured Howe.”
+
+The problem of the Revolution was not one of military strategy, but of
+keeping an army in existence, and it was in this that the
+commander-in-chief’s great ability showed itself. The British could and
+did repeatedly beat the Continental army, but they could not beat the
+General, and so long as he was in the field there was a rallying ground
+for whatever fighting spirit there was.
+
+The difficulty of this task can hardly be over-magnified. When
+Washington assumed command of the forces before Boston, he “found a
+mixed multitude of people … under very little discipline, order, or
+government,” and “confusion and disorder reigned in every department,
+which, in a little time, must have ended either in the separation of
+the army or fatal contests with one another.” Before he was well in the
+saddle his general officers were quarrelling over rank, and resigning;
+there was such a scarcity of powder that it was out of the question for
+some months to do anything; and the British sent people infected with
+small-pox to the Continental army, with a consequent outbreak of that
+pest.
+
+Hardly had he brought order out of chaos when the army he had taken
+such pains to discipline began to melt away, having been by political
+folly recruited for short terms, and the work was to be all done over.
+Again and again during the war regiments which had been enlisted for
+short periods left him at the most critical moment. Very typical
+occurrences he himself tells of, when Connecticut troops could “not be
+prevailed upon to stay longer than their term (saving those who have
+enlisted for the next campaign, and mostly on furlough), and such a
+dirty, mercenary spirit pervades the whole, that I should not be at all
+surprised at any disaster that may happen,” and when he described how
+in his retreat through New Jersey, “The militia, instead of calling
+forth their utmost efforts to a brave and manly opposition in order to
+repair our losses, are dismayed, intractable, and impatient to return.
+Great numbers of them have gone off; in some instances, almost by whole
+regiments, by half ones, and by companies at a time.” Another instance
+of this evil occurred when “the Continental regiments from the eastern
+governments … agreed to stay six weeks beyond their term of
+enlistment…. For this extraordinary mark of their attachment to their
+country, I have agreed to give them a bounty of ten dollars per man,
+besides their pay running on.” The men took the bounty, and nearly
+one-half went off a few days after.
+
+Nor was this the only evil of the policy of short enlistments. Another
+was that the new troops not merely were green soldiers, but were
+without discipline. At New York Tilghman wrote that after the battle of
+Brooklyn the “Eastern” soldiers were “plundering everything that comes
+in their way,” and Washington in describing the condition said, “every
+Hour brings the most distressing complaints of the Ravages of our own
+Troops who are become infinitely more formidable to the poor Farmers
+and Inhabitants than the common Enemy. Horses are taken out of the
+Continental Teams; the Baggage of Officers and the Hospital Stores,
+even the Quarters of General Officers are not exempt from Rapine.” At
+the most critical moment of the war the New Jersey militia not merely
+deserted, but captured and took with them nearly the whole stores of
+the army. As the General truly wrote, “the Dependence which the
+Congress have placed upon the militia, has already greatly injured, and
+I fear will totally ruin our cause. Being subject to no controul
+themselves, they introduce disorder among the troops, whom you have
+attempted to discipline, while the change in their living brings on
+sickness; this makes them Impatient to get home, which spreads
+universally, and introduces abominable desertions.” “The collecting
+militia,” he said elsewhere, “depends entirely upon the prospects of
+the day. If favorable they throng in to you; if not, they will not
+move.”
+
+To make matters worse, politics were allowed to play a prominent part
+in the selection of officers, and Washington complained that “the
+different States [were], without regard to the qualifications of an
+officer, quarrelling about the appointments, and nominating such as are
+not fit to be shoeblacks, from the attachments of this or that member
+of Assembly.” As a result, so he wrote of New England, “their officers
+are generally of the lowest class of the people; and, instead of
+setting a good example to their men, are leading them into every kind
+of mischief, one species of which is plundering the inhabitants, under
+the pretence of their being Tories.” To this political motive he
+himself would not yield, and a sample of his appointments was given
+when a man was named “because he stands unconnected with either of
+these Governments; or with this, or that or tother man; for between you
+and me there is more in this than you can easily imagine,” and he
+asserted that “I will not have any Gentn. introduced from family
+connexion, or local attachments, to the prejudice of the Service.”
+
+To misbehaving soldiers Washington showed little mercy. In his first
+service he had deserters and plunderers “flogged,” and threatened that
+if he could “lay hands” on one particular culprit, “I would try the
+effect of 1000 lashes.” At another time he had “a Gallows near 40 feet
+high erected (which has terrified the _rest_ exceedingly) and I am
+determined if I can be justified in the proceeding, to hang two or
+three on it, as an example to others.” When he took command of the
+Continental army he “made a pretty good slam among such kind of
+officers as the Massachusetts Government abound in since I came to this
+Camp, having broke one Colo, and two Captains for cowardly behavior in
+the action on Bunker’s Hill,—two Captains for drawing more provisions
+and pay than they had men in their Company—and one for being absent
+from his Post when the Enemy appeared there and burnt a House just by
+it Besides these, I have at this time—one Colo., one Major, one Captn.,
+& two subalterns under arrest for tryal—In short I spare none yet fear
+it will not at all do as these People seem to be too inattentive to
+every thing but their Interest” “I am sorry,” he wrote, “to be under a
+Necessity of making frequent Examples among the Officers,” but “as
+nothing can be more fatal to an Army, than Crimes of this kind, I am
+determined by every Motive of Reward and Punishment to prevent them in
+future.” Even when plundering was avoided there were short commons for
+those who clung to the General. The commander-in-chief wrote Congress
+that “they have often, very often, been reduced to the necessity of
+Eating Salt Porke, or Beef not for a day, or a week but months together
+without Vegetables, or money to buy them;” and again, he complained
+that “the Soldiers [were forced to] eat every kind of horse food but
+Hay. Buckwheat, common wheat, Rye and Indn. Corn was the composition of
+the Meal which made their bread. As an Army they bore it, [but]
+accompanied by the want of Cloaths, Blankets, &c., will produce
+frequent desertions in all armies and so it happens with us, tho’ it
+did not excite a mutiny.” Even the horses suffered, and Washington
+wrote to the quartermaster-general, “Sir, my horses I am told have not
+had a mouthful of long or short forage for three days. They have eaten
+up their mangers and are now, (though wanted for immediate use,)
+scarcely able to stand.”
+
+Two results were sickness and discontent. At times one-fourth of the
+soldiers were on the sick-list. Three times portions of the army
+mutinied, and nothing but Washington’s influence prevented the disorder
+from spreading. At the end of the war, when, according to Hamilton,
+“the army had secretly determined not to lay down their arms until due
+provision and a satisfactory prospect should be offered on the subject
+of their pay,” the commander-in-chief urged Congress to do them
+justice, writing, “the fortitude—the long, & great suffering of this
+army is unexampled in history; but there is an end to all things & I
+fear we are very near to this. Which, more than probably will oblige me
+to stick very close to my flock this winter, & try like a careful
+physician, to prevent, if possible, the disorders getting to an
+incurable height.” In this he judged rightly, for by his influence
+alone was the army prevented from adopting other than peaceful measures
+to secure itself justice.
+
+A chief part of these difficulties the Continental Congress is directly
+responsible for, and the reason for their conduct is to be found
+largely in the circumstances of Washington’s appointment to the
+command.
+
+
+[Illustration: LIFE MASK OF WASHINGTON]
+
+
+When the Second Congress met, in May, 1775, the battle of Lexington had
+been fought, and twenty thousand minute-men were assembled about
+Boston. To pay and feed such a horde was wholly beyond the ability of
+New England, and her delegates came to the Congress bent upon getting
+that body to assume the expense, or, as the Provincial Congress of
+Massachusetts naively put it, “we have the greatest Confidence in the
+Wisdom and Ability of the Continent to support us.”
+
+The other colonies saw this in a different light. Massachusetts,
+without our advice, has begun a war and embodied an army; let
+Massachusetts pay her own bills, was their point of view. “I have found
+this Congress like the last,” wrote John Adams. “When we first came
+together, I found a strong jealousy of us from New England, and the
+Massachusettes in particular, suspicions entertained of designs of
+independency, an American republic, Presbyterian principles, and twenty
+other things. Our sentiments were heard in Congress with great caution,
+and seemed to make but little impression.” Yet “every post brought me
+letters from my friends … urging in pathetic terms the impossibility of
+keeping their men together without the assistance of Congress.” “I was
+daily urging all these things, but we were embarrassed with more than
+one difficulty, not only with the party in favor of the petition to the
+King, and the party who were zealous of independence, but a third
+party, which was a southern party against a Northern, and a jealousy
+against a New England army under the command of a New England General.”
+
+Under these circumstances a political deal was resorted to, and
+Virginia was offered by John and Samuel Adams, as the price of an
+adoption and support of the New England army, the appointment of
+commander-in-chief, though the offer was not made with over-good grace,
+and only because “we could carry nothing without conceding it.” There
+was some dissension among the Virginia delegates as to who should
+receive the appointment, Washington himself recommending an old
+companion in arms, General Andrew Lewis, and “more than one,” Adams
+says of the Virginia delegates, were “very cool about the appointment
+of Washington, and particularly Mr. Pendleton was very clear and full
+against it” Washington himself said the appointment was due to
+“partiality of the Congress, joined to a political motive;” and, hard
+as it is to realize, it was only the grinding political necessity of
+the New England colonies which secured to Washington the place for
+which in the light of to-day he seems to have been created.
+
+As a matter of course, there was not the strongest liking felt for the
+General thus chosen by the New England delegates, and this was steadily
+lessened by Washington’s frank criticism of the New England soldiers
+and officers already noticed. Equally bitter to the New England
+delegates and their allies were certain army measures that Washington
+pressed upon the attention of Congress. He urged and urged that the
+troops should be enlisted for the war, that promotions should be made
+from the army as a whole, and not from the colony- or State-line alone,
+and most unpopular of all, that since Continental soldiers could not
+otherwise be obtained, a bounty should be given to secure them, and
+that as compensation for their inadequate pay half-pay should be given
+them after the war. He eventually carried these points, but at the
+price of an entire alienation of the democratic party in the Congress,
+who wished to have the war fought with militia, to have all the
+officers elected annually, and to whom the very suggestion of pensions
+was like a red rag to a bull.
+
+A part of their motive in this was unquestionably to prevent the danger
+of a standing army, and of allowing the commander-in-chief to become
+popular with the soldiers. Very early in the war Washington noted “the
+_jealousy_ which Congress unhappily entertain of the army, and which,
+if reports are right, some members labor to establish.” And he
+complained that “I see a distrust and jealousy of military power, that
+the commander-in-chief has not an opportunity, even by recommendation,
+to give the least assurance of reward for the most essential services.”
+The French minister told his government that when a committee was
+appointed to institute certain army reforms, delegates in Congress
+“insisted on the danger of associating the Commander-in-chief with it,
+whose influence, it was stated, was already too great,” and when France
+sent money to aid the American cause, with the provision that it should
+be subject to the order of the General, it aroused, a writer states,
+“the jealousy of Congress, the members of which were not satisfied that
+the head of the army should possess such an agency in addition to his
+military power.”
+
+His enemies in the Congress took various means to lessen his influence
+and mortify him. Burke states that in the discussion of one question
+“Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina voted for
+expunging it; the four Eastern States, Virginia and Georgia for
+retaining it. There appeared through this whole debate a great desire,
+in some of the delegates from the Eastern States, and in one from New
+Jersey, to insult the General,” and a little later the Congress passed
+a “resolve which,” according to James Lovell, “was meant to rap a Demi
+G—over the knuckles.” Nor was it by commission, but as well by
+omission, that they showed their ill feeling. John Laurens told his
+father that
+
+“there is a conduct observed towards” the General “by certain great
+men, which as it is humiliating, must abate his happiness…. The
+Commander in Chief of this army is not sufficiently informed of all
+that is known by Congress of European affairs. Is it not a galling
+circumstance, for him to collect the most important intelligence
+piecemeal, and as they choose to give it, from gentlemen who come from
+York? Apart from the chagrin which he must necessarily feel at such an
+appearance of slight, it should be considered that in order to settle
+his plan of operations for the ensuing campaign, he should take into
+view the present state of European affairs, and Congress should not
+leave him in the dark.”
+
+Furthermore, as already noted, Washington was criticised for his Fabian
+policy, and in his indignation he wrote to Congress, “I am informed
+that it is a matter of amazement, and that reflections have been thrown
+out against this army, for not being more active and enterprising than,
+in the opinion of some, they ought to have been. If the charge is just,
+the best way to account for it will be to refer you to the returns of
+our strength, and those which I can produce of the enemy, and to the
+enclosed abstract of the clothing now actually wanting for the army.”
+“I can assure those gentlemen,” he said, in reply to political
+criticism, “that it is a much easier and less distressing thing to draw
+remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good fireside, than to occupy
+a cold, bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow, without clothes or
+blankets.”
+
+The ill feeling did not end with insults. With the defeats of the years
+1776 and 1777 it gathered force, and towards the end of the latter year
+it crystallized in what has been known in history as the Conway Cabal.
+The story of this conspiracy is so involved in shadow that little is
+known concerning its adherents or its endeavors. But in a general way
+it has been discovered that the New England delegates again sought the
+aid of the Lee faction in Virginia, and that this coalition, with the
+aid of such votes as they could obtain, schemed several methods which
+should lessen the influence of Washington, if they did not force him to
+resign. Separate and detached commands were created, which were made
+independent of the commander-in-chief, and for this purpose even a
+scheme which the General called “a child of folly” was undertaken.
+Officers notoriously inimical to Washington, yet upon whom he would be
+forced to rely, were promoted. A board of war made up of his enemies,
+with powers “in effect paramount,” Hamilton says, “to those of the
+commander-in-chief,” was created It is even asserted that it was moved
+in Congress that a committee should be appointed to arrest Washington,
+which was defeated only by the timely arrival of a new delegate, by
+which the balance of power was lost to the Cabal.
+
+Even with the collapse of the army Cabal the opposition in Congress was
+maintained. “I am very confident,” wrote General Greene, “that there is
+party business going on again, and, as Mifflin is connected with it, I
+doubt not its being a revival of the old scheme;” again writing,
+“General Schuyler and others consider it a plan of Mifflin’s to injure
+your Excellency’s operations. I am now fully convinced of the reality
+of what I suggested to you before I came away.” In 1779 John Sullivan,
+then a member of Congress, wrote,—
+
+“Permit me to inform your Excellency, that the faction raised against
+you in 1777, is not yet destroyed. The members are waiting to collect
+strength, and seize some favorable moment to appear in force. I speak
+not from conjecture, but from certain knowledge. Their plan is to take
+every method of proving the danger arising from a commander, who enjoys
+the full and unlimited confidence of his army, and alarm the people
+with the prospects of imaginary evils; nay, they will endeavor to
+convert your virtue into arrows, with which, they will seek to wound
+you.”
+
+But Washington could not be forced into a resignation, ill-treat and
+slight him as they would, and at no time were they strong enough to
+vote him out of office. For once a Congressional “deal” between New
+England and Virginia did not succeed, and as Washington himself wrote,
+“I have a good deal of reason to believe that the machination of this
+junto will recoil on their own heads, and be a means of bringing some
+matters to light which by getting me out of the way, some of them
+thought to conceal,” In this he was right, for the re-elections of both
+Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee were put in danger, and for some
+time they were discredited even in their own colonies. “I have happily
+had,” Washington said to a correspondent, “but few differences with
+those with whom I have had the honor of being connected in the service.
+With whom, and of what nature these have been, you know. I bore much
+for the sake of peace and the public good”
+
+As is well known, Washington served without pay during his eight years
+of command, and, as he said, “fifty thousand pounds would not induce me
+again to undergo what I have done.” No wonder he declared “that the God
+of armies may incline the hearts of my American brethren to support the
+present contest, and bestow sufficient abilities on me to bring it to a
+speedy and happy conclusion, thereby enabling me to sink into sweet
+retirement, and the full enjoyment of that peace and happiness, which
+will accompany a domestic life, is the first wish and most fervent
+prayer of my soul.”
+
+The day finally came when his work was finished, and he could be, as he
+phrased it, “translated into a private citizen.” Marshall describes the
+scene as follows: “At noon, the principal officers of the army
+assembled at Frances’ tavern; soon after which, their beloved commander
+entered the room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed. Filling
+a glass, he turned to them and said, ‘With a heart full of love and
+gratitude, I now take leave of you; I most devoutly wish that your
+latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as your former ones have
+been glorious and honorable.’ Having drunk, he added, ‘I cannot come to
+each of you to take my leave; but shall be obliged to you, if each of
+you will come and take me by the hand.’ General Knox, being nearest,
+turned to him. Incapable of utterance, Washington grasped his hand, and
+embraced him. In the same affectionate manner he took leave of each
+succeeding officer. In every eye was the tear of dignified sensibility,
+and not a word was articulated to interrupt the majestic silence, and
+the tenderness of the scene. Leaving the room, he passed through the
+corps of light infantry, and walked to Whitehall, where a barge waited
+to convey him to Powles-hook. The whole company followed in mute and
+solemn procession, with dejected countenance … Having entered the
+barge, he turned to the company, and, waving his hat, bade them a
+silent adieu.”
+
+
+
+
+XII
+CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER
+
+
+Washington became a government servant before he became a voter, by
+receiving in 1749, or when he was seventeen years of age, the
+appointment of official surveyor of Culpepper County, the salary of
+which, according to Boucher, was about fifty pounds Virginia currency a
+year. The office was certainly not a very fat berth, for it required
+the holder to live in a frontier county, to travel at times, as
+Washington in his journal noted, over “ye worst Road that ever was trod
+by Man or Beast,” to sometimes lie on straw, which once “catch’d a
+Fire,” and we “was luckily Preserved by one of our Mens waking,”
+sometimes under a tent, which occasionally “was Carried quite of[f]
+with ye Wind and” we “was obliged to Lie ye Latter part of ye night
+without covering,” and at other times driven from under the tent by
+smoke. Indeed, one period of surveying Washington described to a friend
+by writing,—
+
+“[Since] October Last I have not sleep’d above three Nights or four in
+a bed but after Walking a good deal all the Day lay down before the
+fire upon a Little Hay Straw Fodder or bearskin which-ever is to be had
+with Man Wife and Children like a Parcel of Dogs or Catts & happy’s he
+that gets the Birth nearest the fire there’s nothing would make it pass
+of tolerably but a good Reward a Dubbleloon is my constant gain every
+Day that the Weather will permit my going out and some time Six
+Pistoles the coldness of the Weather will not allow my making a long
+stay as the Lodging is rather too cold for the time of Year. I have
+never had my Cloths of but lay and sleep in them like a Negro except
+the few Nights I have lay’n in Frederick Town.”
+
+In 1751, when he was nineteen, Washington bettered his lot by becoming
+adjutant of one of the four military districts of Virginia, with a
+salary of one hundred pounds and a far less toilsome occupation. This
+in turn led up to his military appointment in 1754, which he held
+almost continuously till 1759, when he resigned from the service.
+
+Next to a position on the Virginia council, a seat in the House of
+Burgesses, or lower branch of the Legislature, was most sought, and
+this position had been held by Washington’s great-grandfather, father,
+and elder brother. It was only natural, therefore, that in becoming the
+head of the family George should desire the position. As early as 1755,
+while on the frontier, he wrote to his brother in charge of Mount
+Vernon inquiring about the election to be held in the county, and
+asking him to “come at Colo Fairfax’s intentions, and let me know
+whether he purposes to offer himself as a candidate.” “If he does not,
+I should be glad to take a poll, if I thought my chance tolerably
+good.” His friend Carlyle, Washington wrote, had “mentioned it to me in
+Williamsburg in a bantering way,” and he begged his brother to
+“discover Major Carlyle’s real sentiments on this head,” as also those
+of the other prominent men of the county, and especially of the
+clergymen. “_Sound_ their pulse,” he wrote, “with an air of
+indifference and unconcern … without disclosing much of _mine_.” “If
+they seem inclinable to promote my interest, and things should be
+drawing to a crisis, you may declare my intention and beg their
+assistance. If on the contrary you find them more inclined to favor
+some other, I would have the affair entirely dropped.” Apparently the
+county magnates disapproved, for Washington did not stand for the
+county.
+
+
+[Illustration: TITLE-PAGE OF WASHINGTON’S JOURNAL]
+
+
+In 1757 an election for burgesses was held in Frederick County, in
+which Washington then was (with his soldiers), and for which he offered
+himself as a candidate. The act was hardly a wise one, for, though he
+had saved Winchester and the surrounding country from being overrun by
+the Indians, he was not popular. Not merely was he held responsible for
+the massacres of outlying inhabitants, whom it was impossible to
+protect, but in this very defence he had given cause for ill-feeling.
+He himself confessed that he had several times “strained the law,”—he
+had been forced to impress the horses and wagons of the district, and
+had in other ways so angered some of the people that they had
+threatened “to blow out my brains.” But he had been guilty of a far
+worse crime still in a political sense. Virginia elections were based
+on liquor, and Washington had written to the governor, representing
+“the great nuisance the number of tippling houses in Winchester are to
+the soldiers, who by this means, in spite of the utmost care and
+vigilance, are, so long as their pay holds, incessantly drunk and unfit
+for service,” and he wished that “the new commission for this county
+may have the intended effect,” for “the number of tippling houses kept
+here is a great grievance.” As already noted, the Virginia regiment was
+accused in the papers of drunkenness, and under the sting of that
+accusation Washington declared war on the publicans. He whipped his men
+when they became drunk, kept them away from the ordinaries, and even
+closed by force one tavern which was especially culpable. “Were it not
+too tedious,” he wrote the governor, “I cou’d give your Honor such
+instances of the villainous Behavior of those Tippling House-keepers,
+as wou’d astonish any person.”
+
+The conduct was admirable, but it was not good politics, and as soon as
+he offered himself as a candidate, the saloon element, under the
+leadership of one Lindsay, whose family were tavern-keepers in
+Winchester for at least one hundred years, united to oppose him.
+Against the would-be burgess they set up one Captain Thomas Swearingen,
+whom Washington later described as “a man of great weight among the
+meaner class of people, and supposed by them to possess extensive
+knowledge.” As a result, the poll showed Swearingen elected by two
+hundred and seventy votes, and Washington defeated with but forty
+ballots.
+
+This sharp experience in practical politics seems to have taught the
+young candidate a lesson, for when a new election came in 1758 he took
+a leaf from his enemy’s book, and fought them with their own weapons.
+The friendly aid of the county boss, Colonel John Wood, was secured, as
+also that of Gabriel Jones, a man of much local force and popularity.
+Scarcely less important were the sinews of war employed, told of in the
+following detailed account. A law at that time stood on the Virginia
+statutes forbidding all treating or giving of what were called
+“ticklers” to the voters, and declaring illegal all elections which
+were thus influenced. None the less, the voters of Frederick enjoyed at
+Washington’s charge—
+
+40 gallons of Rum Punch @ 3/6 pr. galn	7  0  0 15 gallons of Wine @
+10/ pr. galn	7  10  0 Dinner for your Friends	3  0  0 13½ gallons
+of Wine @ 10/	6  15 3½ pts. of Brandy @ 1/3	4  4½ 13 Galls. Beer
+@ 1/3	16  3 8 qts. Cyder Royl @ 1/6	0  12  0 Punch	3 9 30
+gallns. of strong beer @ 8d pr. gall	1  0 1 hhd & 1 Barrell of
+Punch, consisting of 26 gals. best Barbadoes rum, 5/	6  10  0 12
+lbs. S. Refd. Sugar 1/6	18  9 3 galls. and 3 quarts of Beer @ 1/ pr.
+gall	3  9 10 Bowls of Punch @ 2/6 each	1  5  0 9 half pints of
+rum @ 7½ d. each	5  7½ 1 pint of wine	1  6
+
+After the election was over, Washington wrote Wood that “I hope no
+Exception was taken to any that voted against me, but that all were
+alike treated, and all had enough. My only fear is that you spent with
+too sparing a hand.” It is hardly necessary to say that such methods
+reversed the former election; Washington secured three hundred and ten
+votes, and Swearingen received forty-five. What is more, so far from
+now threatening to blow out his brains, there was “a general applause
+and huzzaing for Colonel Washington.”
+
+From this time until he took command of the army Washington was a
+burgess. Once again he was elected from Frederick County, and then, in
+1765, he stood for Fairfax, in which Mount Vernon was located. Here he
+received two hundred and eight votes, his colleague getting but one
+hundred and forty-eight, and in the election of 1768 he received one
+hundred and eighty-five, and his colleague only one hundred and
+forty-two. Washington spent between forty and seventy-five pounds at
+each of these elections, and usually gave a ball to the voters on the
+night he was chosen. Some of the miscellaneous election expenses noted
+in his ledger are, “54 gallons of Strong Beer,” “52 Do. of Ale,”
+“£1.0.0. to Mr. John Muir for his fiddler,” and “For cakes at the
+Election £7.11.1.”
+
+The first duty which fell to the new burgess was service on a committee
+to draught a law to prevent hogs from running at large in Winchester.
+He was very regular in his attendance; and though he took little part
+in the proceedings, yet in some way he made his influence felt, so that
+when the time came to elect deputies to the First Congress he stood
+third in order among the seven appointed to attend that body, and a
+year later, in the delegation to the Continental Congress, he stood
+second, Peyton Randolph receiving one more vote only, and all the other
+delegates less.
+
+This distinction was due to the sound judgment of the man rather than
+to those qualities that are considered senatorial. Jefferson said, “I
+served with General Washington in the legislature of Virginia before
+the revolution, and, during it, with Dr. Franklin in Congress. I never
+heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the
+main point which was to decide the question. They laid their shoulders
+to the great points, knowing that the little ones would follow of
+themselves.”
+
+Through all his life Washington was no speechmaker. In 1758, by an
+order of the Assembly, Speaker Robinson was directed to return its
+thanks to Colonel Washington, on behalf of the colony, for the
+distinguished military services which he had rendered to the country.
+As soon as he took his seat in the House, the Speaker performed this
+duty in such glowing terms as quite overwhelmed him. Washington rose to
+express his acknowledgments for the honor, but was so disconcerted as
+to be unable to articulate a word distinctly. He blushed and faltered
+for a moment, when the Speaker relieved him from his embarrassment by
+saying, “Sit down, Mr. Washington, your modesty equals your valor, and
+that surpasses the power of any language that I possess.”
+
+This stage-fright seems to have clung to him. When Adams hinted that
+Congress should “appoint a General,” and added, “I had no hesitation to
+declare that I had but one gentleman in my mind for that important
+command, and that was 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 exertions of all the Colonies better than any other
+person in the Union,” he relates that “Mr. Washington who happened to
+sit near the door, as soon as he heard me allude to him, from his usual
+modesty, darted into the library-room.”
+
+So, too, at his inauguration as President, Maclay noted that “this
+great man was agitated and embarrassed more than ever he was by the
+leveled cannon or pointed musket. He trembled, and several times could
+scarce make out to read [his speech], though it must be supposed he had
+often read it before,” and Fisher Ames wrote, “He addressed the two
+Houses in the Senate-chamber; it was a very touching scene and quite of
+a solemn kind. His aspect grave, almost to sadness; his modesty
+actually shaking; his voice deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to
+call for close attention,”
+
+There can be little doubt that this non-speech-making ability was not
+merely the result of inaptitude, but was also a principle, for when his
+favorite nephew was elected a burgess, and made a well-thought-of
+speech in his first attempt, his uncle wrote him, “You have, I find,
+broke the ice. The only advice I will offer to you on the occasion (if
+you have a mind to command the attention of the House,) is to speak
+seldom, but to important subjects, except such as particularly relate
+to your constituents; and, in the former case, make yourself perfectly
+master of the subject. Never exceed a decent warmth, and submit your
+sentiments with diffidence. A dictatorial stile, though it may carry
+conviction, is always accompanied with disgust.” To a friend writing of
+this same speech he said, “with great pleasure I received the
+information respecting the commencement of my nephew’s political
+course. I hope he will not be so bouyed by the favorable impression it
+has made, as to become a babbler.”
+
+Even more indicative of his own conceptions of senatorial conduct is
+advice given in a letter to Jack Custis, when the latter, too, achieved
+an election to the Assembly.
+
+“I do not suppose,” he wrote, “that so young a senator as you are,
+little versed in political disquisitions, can yet have much influence
+in a populous assembly, composed of Gentln. of various talents and of
+different views. But it is in your power to be punctual in your
+attendance (and duty to the trust reposed in you exacts it of you), to
+hear dispassionately and determine coolly all great questions. To be
+disgusted at the decision of questions, because they are not consonant
+to your own ideas, and to withdraw ourselves from public assemblies, or
+to neglect our attendance at them, upon suspicion that there is a party
+formed, who are inimical to our cause, and to the true interest of our
+country, is wrong, because these things may originate in a difference
+of opinion; but, supposing the fact is otherwise, and that our
+suspicions are well founded, it is the indispensable duty of every
+patriot to counteract them by the most steady and uniform opposition.”
+
+In the Continental Congress, Randolph states, “Washington was
+prominent, though silent. His looks bespoke a mind absorbed in
+meditation on his country’s fate; but a positive concert between him
+and Henry could not more effectually have exhibited him to view, than
+when Henry ridiculed the idea of peace ‘when there was no peace,’ and
+enlarged on the duty of preparing for war.” Very quickly his attendance
+on that body was ended by its appointing him general.
+
+His political relations to the Congress have been touched upon
+elsewhere, but his attitude towards Great Britain is worth attention.
+Very early he had said, “At a time when our lordly masters in Great
+Britain will be satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation of
+American freedom, it seems highly necessary that something should be
+done to avert the stroke, and maintain the liberty, which we have
+derived from our ancestors. But the manner of doing it, to answer the
+purpose effectually, is the point in question. That no man should
+scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use a—s in defence of so valuable a
+blessing, on which all the good and evil of life depends, is clearly my
+opinion.” When actual war ensued, he was among the first to begin to
+collect and drill a force, even while he wrote, “unhappy it is, though
+to reflect, that a brother’s sword has been sheathed in a brother’s
+breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are
+either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad
+alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?”
+
+Not till early in 1776 did he become a convert to independence, and
+then only by such “flaming arguments as were exhibited at Falmouth and
+Norfolk,” which had been burned by the British. At one time, in 1776,
+he thought “the game will be pretty well up,” but “under a full
+persuasion of the justice of our cause, I cannot entertain an Idea,
+that it will finally sink, tho’ it may remain for some time under a
+cloud,” and even in this time of terrible discouragement he maintained
+that “nothing short of independence, it appears to me, can possibly do.
+A peace on other terms would, if I may be allowed the expression, be a
+peace of war.”
+
+Pickering, who placed a low estimate on his military ability, said
+that, “upon the whole, I have no hesitation in saying that General
+Washington’s talents were much better adapted to the Presidency of the
+United States than to the command of their armies,” and this is
+probably true. The diplomatist Thornton said of the President, that if
+his “circumspection is accompanied by discernment and penetration, as I
+am informed it is, and as I should be inclined to believe from the
+judicious choice he has generally made of persons to fill public
+stations, he possesses the two great requisites of a statesman, the
+faculty of concealing his own sentiments and of discovering those of
+other men.”
+
+To follow his course while President is outside of the scope of this
+work, but a few facts are worth noting. Allusion has already been made
+to his use of the appointing power, but how clearly he held it as a
+“public trust” is shown in a letter to his longtime friend Benjamin
+Harrison, who asked him for an office. “I will go to the chair,” he
+replied, “under no pre-engagement of any kind or nature whatsoever.
+But, when in it, to the best of my judgment, discharge the duties of
+the office with that impartiality and zeal for the public good, which
+ought never to suffer connection of blood or friendship to intermingle
+so as to have the least sway on the decision of a public nature.” This
+position was held to firmly. John Adams wrote an office-seeker, “I must
+caution you, my dear Sir, against having any dependence on my influence
+or that of any other person. No man, I believe, has influence with the
+President. He seeks information from all quarters, and judges more
+independently than any man I ever knew. It is of so much importance to
+the public that he should preserve this superiority, that I hope I
+shall never see the time that any man will have influence with him
+beyond the powers of reason and argument.”
+
+Long after, when political strife was running high, Adams said,
+“Washington appointed a multitude of democrats and jacobins of the
+deepest die. I have been more cautious in this respect; but there is
+danger of proscribing under imputations of democracy, some of the
+ablest, most influential, and best characters in the Union.” In this he
+was quite correct, for the first President’s appointments were made
+with a view to destroy party and not create it, his object being to
+gather all the talent of the country in support of the national
+government, and he bore many things which personally were disagreeable
+in an endeavor to do this.
+
+Twice during Washington’s terms he was forced to act counter to the
+public sentiment. The first time was when a strenuous attempt was made
+by the French minister to break through the neutrality that had been
+proclaimed, when, according to John Adams, “ten thousand people in the
+streets of Philadelphia, day after day, threatened to drag Washington
+out of his house, and effect a revolution in the government, or compel
+it to declare in favor of the French revolution and against England.”
+The second time was when he signed the treaty of 1795 with Great
+Britain, which produced a popular outburst from one end of the country
+to the other. In neither case did Washington swerve an iota from what
+he thought right, writing, “these are unpleasant things, but they must
+be met with firmness.” Eventually the people always came back to their
+leader, and Jefferson sighed over the fact that “such is the popularity
+of the President that the people will support him in whatever he will
+do or will not do, without appealing to their own reason or to anything
+but their feelings towards him.”
+
+
+[Illustration: PRESIDENTIAL MANSION, PHILADELPHIA]
+
+
+It is not to be supposed from this that Washington was above
+considering the popular bent, or was lacking in political astuteness.
+John Adams asserted that “General Washington, one of the most attentive
+men in the world to the manner of doing things, owed a great proportion
+of his celebrity to this circumstance,” and frequently he is to be
+found considering the popularity or expediency of courses. In 1776 he
+said, “I have found it of importance and highly expedient to yield to
+many points in fact, without seeming to have done it, and this to avoid
+bringing on a too frequent discussion of matters which in a political
+view ought to be kept a little behind the curtain, and not to be made
+too much the subjects of disquisition. Time only can eradicate and
+overcome customs and prejudices of long standing—they must be got the
+better of by slow and gradual advances.”
+
+Elsewhere he wrote, “In a word, if a man cannot act in all respects as
+he would wish, he must do what appears best, under the circumstances he
+is in. This I aim at, however short I may fall of the end;” of a
+certain measure he thought, “it has, however, like many other things in
+which I have been involved, two edges, neither of which can be avoided
+without falling on the other;” and that even in small things he tried
+to be politic is shown in his journey through New England, when he
+accepted an invitation to a large public dinner at Portsmouth, and the
+next day, being at Exeter, he wrote in his diary, “a jealousy subsists
+between this town (where the Legislature alternately sits) and
+Portsmouth; which, had I known it in time, would have made it necessary
+to have accepted an invitation to a public dinner, but my arrangements
+having been otherwise made, I could not.”
+
+Nor was Washington entirely lacking in finesse. He offered Patrick
+Henry a position after having first ascertained in a roundabout manner
+that it would be refused, and in many other ways showed that he
+understood good politics. Perhaps the neatest of his dodges was made
+when the French revolutionist Volney asked him for a general letter of
+introduction to the American people. This was not, for political and
+personal reasons, a thing Washington cared to give, yet he did not
+choose to refuse, so he wrote on a sheet of paper,—
+
+“C. Volney
+          needs no recommendation from
+                    Geo. Washington.”
+
+
+There is a very general belief that success in politics and
+truthfulness are incompatible, yet, as already shown, Washington
+prospered in politics, and the Rev. Mason L. Weems is authority for the
+popular statement that at six years of age George could not tell a lie.
+Whether this was so, or whether Mr. Weems was drawing on his
+imagination for his facts, it seems probable that Washington partially
+outgrew the disability in his more mature years.
+
+When trying to win the Indians to the English cause in 1754, Washington
+in his journal states that he “let the young Indians who were in our
+camp know that the French wanted to kill the Half King,” a diplomatic
+statement he hardly believed, which the writer says “had its desired
+effect,” and which the French editor declared to be an “imposture.” In
+this same campaign he was forced to sign a capitulation which
+acknowledged that he had been guilty of assassination, and this raised
+such a storm in Virginia when it became known that Washington hastened
+to deny all knowledge of the charge having been contained among the
+articles, and alleged that it had not been made clear to him when the
+paper had been translated and read. On the contrary, another officer
+present at the reading states that he refused to “sign the Capitulation
+because they charged us with Assasination in it.”
+
+In writing to an Indian agent in 1755, Washington was “greatly
+enraptured” at hearing of his approach, dwelt upon the man’s “hearty
+attachment to our glorious Cause” and his “Courage of which I have had
+very great proofs.” Inclosing a copy of the letter to the governor,
+Washington said, “the letter savors a little of flattery &c., &c., but
+this, I hope is justifiable on such an occasion.”
+
+With his London agent there was a little difficulty in 1771, and
+Washington objected to a letter received “because there is one
+paragraph in particular in it … which appears to me to contain an
+implication of my having deviated from the truth.” A more general
+charge was Charles Lee’s: “I aver that his Excellencies letter was from
+beginning to the end a most abominable lie.”
+
+As a _ruse de guerre_ Washington drew up for a spy in 1779 a series of
+false statements as to the position and number of his army for him to
+report to the British. And in preparation for the campaign of 1781
+“much trouble was taken and finesse used to misguide and bewilder Sir
+Henry Clinton by making a deceptive provision of ovens, forage and
+boats in his neighborhood.” “Nor were less pains taken to deceive our
+own army,” and even “the highest military as well as civil officers”
+were deceived at this time, not merely that the secret should not leak
+out, but also “for the important purpose of inducing the eastern and
+middle states to make greater exertions.”
+
+When travelling through the South in 1791, Washington entered in his
+diary, “Having suffered very much by the dust yesterday—and finding
+that parties of Horse, & a number of other Gentlemen were intending to
+attend me part of the way to-day, I caused their enquiries respecting
+the time of my setting out, to be answered that, I should endeavor to
+do it before eight o’clock; but I did it a little after five, by which
+means I avoided the inconveniences above mentioned.”
+
+Weld, in his “Travels in America,” published that “General Washington
+told me that he never was so much annoyed by the mosquitos in any part
+of America as in Skenesborough, for that they used to bite through the
+thickest boot.” When this anecdote appeared in print, good old Dr.
+Dwight, shocked at the taradiddle, and fearing its evil influence on
+Washington’s fame, spoiled the joke by explaining in a book that “a
+gentleman of great respectability, who was present when General
+Washington made the observation referred to, told me that he said, when
+describing those mosquitoes to Mr. Weld, that they ‘bit through his
+stockings above the boots.’” Whoever invented the explanation should
+also have evolved a type of boots other than those worn by Washington,
+for unfortunately for the story Washington’s military boots went above
+his “small clothes,” giving not even an inch of stocking for either
+mosquito or explanation. In 1786, Washington declared that “I do not
+recollect that in the course of my life, I ever forfeited my word, or
+broke a promise made to any one,” and at another time he wrote, “I
+never say any thing of a Man that I have the smallest scruple of saying
+_to him_.”
+
+From 1749 till 1784, and from 1789 till 1797, or a period of forty
+years, Washington filled offices of one kind or another, and when he
+died he still held a commission. Thus, excluding his boyhood, there
+were but seven years of his life in which he was not engaged in the
+public service. Even after his retirement from the Presidency he served
+on a grand jury, and before this he had several times acted as petit
+juror. In another way he was a good citizen, for when at Mount Vernon
+he invariably attended the election, rain or shine, though it was a
+ride of ten miles to the polling town.
+
+Both his enemies and his friends bore evidence to his honesty.
+Jefferson said, “his integrity was most pure, his justice the most
+inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity
+or friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was indeed
+in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man.”
+Pickering wrote that “to the excellency of his _virtues_ I am not
+disposed to set any limits. All his views were upright, all his actions
+just” Hamilton asserted that “the General is a very honest Man;” and
+Tilghman spoke of him as “the honestest man that I believe ever adorned
+human nature.”
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+ADAMS, John, opinion of Washington, use of appointing power,
+deal arranged by,
+dislike of Washington,
+quoted,
+
+——, Samuel, opposed to Washington,
+
+Agriculture, Washington’s fondness for,
+Ague, Washington’s attacks of,
+
+ALEXANDER, Frances,
+
+Alexandria, assemblies at,
+Washington builds in,
+lots in,
+
+ALIQUIPPA, Queen,
+
+Alton, John,
+
+Ames, Fisher, quoted,
+
+Appleby school,
+
+ARMSTRONG, John, quoted,
+
+ARNOLD, B.,
+
+Asses, breeding of,
+
+_Aurora_,
+
+BACHE, B.F., writes against Washington,
+
+BALLS, maternal ancestors of Washington,
+
+Balls,
+
+Bank-stock, holdings of,
+
+Barbadoes, Washington’s visit to,
+
+BARD, Dr., quoted,
+
+BASSETT, Burwell,
+
+——, Frances,
+
+Bath, Virginia, lots in,
+
+_Battle of Brooklyn_, a farce,
+
+Billiards,
+
+BISHOP, Thomas,
+
+BLAND, Mary,
+
+——, T., criticises Washington’s bow,
+
+“Blueskin,”
+
+Books,
+
+Boston, siege of,
+
+BOUCHER, Rev. J., quoted,
+mentioned,
+
+Bounties,
+
+BRADDOCK, Edward, Washington and, defeat of,
+march of,
+mentioned,
+
+Brasenose College, Lawrence Washington a fellow of,
+
+BRISSOT de Warville, quoted,
+
+British forgeries,
+
+Brixted Parva, Lawrence Washington rector of,
+
+BROGLIE, Prince de, quoted,
+
+Brooklyn, battle of,
+
+CALLENDER, James Thomson, publications of,
+
+CALVERT, Eleanor, marriage with Jack Custis,
+visit to Cambridge,
+remarriage,
+
+Cambridge, head-quarters at,
+mentioned,
+
+CAMPBELL, A., portrait of Washington by,
+
+Cancer, George Washington’s,
+Mary Washington’s,
+
+Capital. _See_ Washington City.
+
+Cards,
+
+CARLYLE, Washington’s friendship for,
+
+——, Major,
+
+——, Sally,
+
+CARROLL, Charles,
+
+CARY, Mary,
+
+“Cato,”
+
+“Centinel,”
+
+Charity, Washington’s,
+
+Charleston, ladies of, visit Washington,
+jackass at,
+
+CHASTELLUX, Marquis de, quoted,
+marriage of,
+
+Children and Washington,
+
+Christ Church,
+
+Christianity, Washington’s view of,
+
+CLARK, Abraham, opinion of Washington,
+
+CLINTON, George, Washington’s investment with,
+
+——, Sir H.,
+Washington’s relations with,
+
+Clothes, Washington’s taste in,
+
+Clubs, Washington’s share in,
+
+COBB, David, quoted,
+at Yorktown,
+
+COBBETT, William, quoted,
+
+Colds, Washington’s treatment of,
+
+Commissariat,
+
+Congress, Continental, Washington’s relations with,
+jealousy of Washington and the army,
+endeavors to insult Washington,
+part in the Conway cabal,
+Washington’s election to,
+Washington in,
+
+Connecticut troops, misconduct of,
+
+“Conotocarius,” Indian name for Washington,
+
+Continental army,
+sickness of,
+farewell to,
+small-pox in,
+threatened mutiny of,
+
+Conway Cabal,
+
+CONWAY, Thomas, Washington’s relations with,
+
+CORBIN, Richard,
+
+CORNWALLIS, Lord, Washington’s relations with,
+
+Craigie house,
+
+CRAIK, Dr. James, Washington’s friendship for,
+bleeds Washington,
+
+CULPEPER, Lord,
+
+Culpeper County,
+
+CUSTIS, Eleanor P.,
+marriage to L. Lewis,
+quoted,
+
+——, G.W.P., education,
+quoted,
+acts,
+
+——, John Parke, relations with Washington,
+education,
+
+——, Martha. _See_ Washington, Martha.
+
+——, Martha (“Patsy”), relations of Washington with,
+death,
+treatment of,
+property,
+
+—— property,
+
+Dancing, Washington’s fondness of,
+
+DANDRIDGE, Bartholomew,
+
+——, Martha. _See_ Washington, Martha.
+
+——, Mrs.
+
+DEANE, Silas, quoted,
+
+DE BUTTS, Lawrence,
+
+Democratic criticism of Washington,
+
+DENT, Elizabeth,
+
+DICK, Dr., quoted,
+
+Dismal Swamp Company,
+
+Distillery at Mount Vernon,
+
+District of Columbia,
+
+Dogs,
+
+DUANE, William, writes against Washington,
+
+Duelling, Washington’s views on,
+threatened,
+
+DUER, W.A., quoted,
+
+DUMAS, M., quoted,
+
+DUNLAP, W., quoted,
+
+Duquesne, Fort,
+
+“Eltham,”
+
+Exeter, Bishop of, Sermons,
+
+FAIRFAX, Ann,
+
+——, Bryan, Lord,
+
+——, George William,
+
+——, Sally, 90-1,
+
+——, Thomas, Lord,
+
+——, William,
+
+Fairfax County,
+
+Fairfax Parish,
+
+Farewell Address,
+drafting of,
+
+Fauntleroy, Betsy,
+William,
+
+Federal city. _See_ Washington City.
+
+Fees, Washington’s gifts of,
+
+Fertilization, Washington’s value of,
+
+Fish, Washington’s fondness of,
+
+Fishery at Mount Vernon,
+
+Fishing,
+
+Flour, Washington’s pride in his,
+
+Forged letters,
+authorship of,
+Bache reprints,
+
+Fort Necessity,
+
+Fox hunting,
+
+FRANKLIN, B., quoted,
+
+Frederick County, Washington stands for,
+
+Fredericksburg,
+residence of Mary Washington,
+
+French and Indian War,
+
+French language, Washington on,
+
+FRENEAU, P., writes against Washington,
+
+GAGE, Thomas, relations with Washington,
+
+GATES, Horatio, Washington’s relations with,
+mentioned,
+
+General orders, quotations from,
+
+Genet episode,
+
+GENN, James, Washington learns surveying from,
+
+Germantown, battle of,
+
+GERRY, Elbridge, attitude towards Washington,
+
+GIBBONS, Mary, scandal concerning,
+
+GORDON, Rev. W., quoted,
+
+Great Britain, Washington’s attitude towards,
+
+GREEN, Rev. Charles,
+
+GREENE, N., friendship with Washington,
+quoted,
+
+GRYMES, Lucy,
+
+Half-King,
+
+HAMILTON, A., mentioned,
+quoted,
+Washington’s relations with,
+
+HARRISON, Benjamin,
+letter of,
+asks office,
+
+——, R.H.,
+
+HENRY Eighth grants lands to Washingtons,
+
+HENRY, Patrick, quoted,
+mentioned,
+offered office,
+
+Herring, sales of,
+
+Hickey plot,
+
+Horses, stud at Mount Vernon,
+
+Houdon bust,
+
+HOWE, Lord, and Sir William, Washington’s relations with,
+
+Humphreys, D., quoted,
+relations with Washington,
+
+HUNTER, J., quoted,
+
+Hunting,
+
+Independence, Washington on,
+
+Indians,
+Washington’s diplomacy with,
+
+James River Land Company, Washington’s interest in,
+
+Jay treaty,
+
+JEFFERSON, Thomas, Washington’s relations with,
+opinion of Washington,
+helps Freneau,
+quoted,
+mentioned,
+
+JONES, Gabriel,
+
+Kenmore House,
+
+KNOX, Henry,
+relations with Washington,
+
+LAFAYETTE, Marquis de,
+Washington’s relations with,
+quoted,
+
+——, G.W.,
+
+——, Virginia,
+
+Land bounties,
+
+—— companies,
+
+Latin, Washington’s knowledge of,
+
+LAURENS, John, Washington’s relations with,
+quoted,
+
+LAWRENCE, Nathaniel, quoted,
+
+Lawsuits, Washington’s dislike of,
+
+LEAR, T., friendship for,
+quoted,
+
+LEE, Charles, Washington’s relations with,
+libels Washington,
+quoted,
+
+——, Henry, friendship for Washington,
+anecdote of,
+warns Washington of Jefferson’s conduct,
+
+——, R.H., opinion of Washington,
+re-election of,
+
+——, William, Washington’s body-servant,
+
+LEWIS, Elizabeth,
+
+——, Fielding,
+
+——, ——. Jr.,
+
+——, Howell,
+
+——, Lewis,
+
+——, Robert,
+
+Lexington, battle of,
+
+Liveried servants,
+
+Lotteries, Washington’s liking for,
+
+LOVELL, John, opinion of Washington,
+quoted, 288.
+
+“Lowland Beauty,”
+
+LYNCH, Thomas, quoted,
+
+McHENRY, James,
+
+McKNIGHT, Dr. C., quoted,
+
+MACLAY, W., quoted,
+
+MADISON, James, relations with Washington,
+quoted,
+drafts papers,
+
+“Magnolia,”
+
+MARSHALL, J., quoted,
+
+MARYE, Rev. T., Washington’s teacher,
+
+MASON, George, quoted,
+
+Massachusetts, difficulties of,
+“slam” at officers of,
+
+MASSEY, Rev. Lee, quoted,
+
+Mather’s _Young Man’s Companion_,
+
+Matrimony, Washington’s views on,
+
+Medical knowledge of Washington,
+treatment of last illness,
+
+Medicine, Washington’s aversion to,
+
+MERCER, George, quoted,
+
+MIFFLIN, Thomas, Washington’s relations with,
+mentioned,
+
+Military Company of Adventurers,
+
+—— science, books on,
+Washington’s knowledge of,
+
+Militia, evils of,
+
+“Minutes of the Trial,” authority of,
+
+Mississippi Company,
+
+Monmouth, battle of,
+allusions to,
+
+MORRIS, Gouverneur, quoted,
+friendship with,
+
+——, Robert,
+
+——, Roger,
+
+Mount Vernon, boyhood home of Washington,
+division of estate by will,
+invitation to visit,
+history of,
+name,
+house at,
+grounds,
+additions to land,
+management of,
+absence of Washington from,
+system at,
+work at,
+fishery of,
+distillery at,
+stud stable of,
+live stock of,
+profits of,
+desire to rent farms of,
+Washington’s superintendence of,
+Washington’s life at,
+slaves at,
+overseers of,
+British visit to,
+hunting at,
+shooting at,
+
+MOYLAN, S.,
+
+MUSE, George, relations with Washington,
+
+Music, Washington’s fondness of,
+
+“Nelson,”
+
+Nepotism, Washington’s views on,
+
+Newburg, threatened revolt of army at,
+New England, opposition to Washington,
+jealousy of,
+arranges deal,
+journey in,
+conduct of troops,
+officers,
+
+New Jersey troops, desertion of,
+
+New York, Washington’s visit to,
+borrows money for journey to,
+head-quarters at,
+warfare at,
+_Minutes of the Trial in_,
+proposed attack on,
+farewell to army at,
+presidential house at,
+
+Newspapers,
+
+Nuts, Washington’s fondness for,
+
+Oaths, Washington’s use of,
+
+Office-seekers,
+
+Ohio, march to,
+journey to,
+_Journal_,
+
+Ohio Company,
+
+_Old Soldier_,
+
+PAINE, Thomas, relations with Washington,
+
+Paper money, depreciation of,
+
+Pension of Mary Washington,
+
+PEYRONEY, Chevalier,
+
+Philadelphia, visit to,
+fever at,
+proposed attack on,
+capture of,
+Presidential house in,
+Washington’s attempted purchase near,
+
+PHILIPSE, Mary,
+
+PICKERING, Timothy, quoted,
+
+Pohick Church,
+
+Potomac Canal Company,
+
+Presidency, Washington in the,
+duties of,
+hospitality of,
+
+Privateer, Washington tries to secure share in,
+
+Purleigh, Lawrence Washington, rector of,
+
+Raffles, Washington’s liking for,
+
+RAMSAY, W.,
+
+RANDOLPH, Edmund, Washington’s relations with,
+quoted,
+
+——, John, forges letters,
+
+REED, Joseph, sends print to Washington,
+relations with Washington,
+quoted,
+
+Revolution, Washington’s service in,
+
+ROBIN, Abbé, quoted,
+
+ROBINSON, Beverly,
+
+——, John,
+
+ROCHAMBEAU, Count,
+
+Ross, James, quoted,
+
+“Royal Gift,” jackass,
+
+Rules of civility,
+
+RUSH, Benjamin, anonymous letter of,
+Washington’s relations with,
+quoted,
+
+RUTLEDGE, E.,
+
+St. Clair’s defeat,
+
+St. Paul’s Church,
+
+SARGENT, J.D., opinion of Washington,
+
+SCOTT, Charles, quoted,
+
+Servants, Washington’s,
+
+Shad, sales of,
+
+Sharpless portrait,
+
+Sheep at Mount Vernon,
+
+Shooting,
+
+Skenesborough, mosquitoes at,
+
+Slavery, Washington’s views on,
+
+Slaves, Washington’s,
+runaway,
+carried off by British,
+sickness,
+laziness,
+punishment,
+rations of,
+thieving by,
+
+Small-pox, Washington’s attack of,
+
+SMITH, Rev. W., quoted,
+
+Southern tour,
+
+Spain, king of, gift of jackass to Washington,
+
+SPEARING, Ann,
+
+STEARN, Samuel, quoted,
+
+STEWART, R.,
+
+STUART, Gilbert, opinion on Washington’s face,
+quoted,
+
+Stuart portrait,
+
+Stud stable at Mount Vernon,
+
+SULLIVAN, John, quoted,
+
+——, W., quoted,
+
+Sunday, Washington’s observance of,
+
+SWEARINGEN, Thomas,
+
+Taverns, Washington’s view of,
+
+Tea, Washington’s fondness for,
+
+THACHER, Dr. James, quoted,
+
+Theatre,
+
+THORNTON, Edward, quoted,
+
+TILGHMAN, Tench, Washington’s relations with,
+quoted,
+
+Tobacco, Washington’s crop of,
+
+Trenton, battle of,
+
+TRUMBULL, Jonathan, wishes Washington removed,
+
+Truro Parish,
+
+University, National, Washington’s wish for,
+
+Valley Forge,
+
+VAN BRAAM, J.,
+
+VARICK, Richard,
+
+VERNON, Admiral E., Mount Vernon named after,
+
+Virginia, social life of,
+clubs,
+British invasion of,
+convention,
+land bounties,
+elections,
+agricultural system of,
+deal with New England,
+Washington’s office-holding in,
+estates, Washington’s opinion of,
+
+—— Regiment, drunkenness of,
+
+VOLNEY, C., Washington’s diplomacy with,
+
+WADSWORTH, J., quoted,
+
+“Wakefield,”
+
+Walpole grant,
+
+WANSEY, H., quoted,
+
+Warm Springs, visit to,
+
+WASHINGTON, Augustine,
+
+——, Augustine (Jr.),
+
+——, Bushrod,
+letter to,
+
+——, Charles,
+
+——, Elizabeth (Betty). _See_ Fielding.
+
+——, Frances,
+
+——, George, ancestors of,
+birth of,
+his resemblance to the Balls,
+relations with his mother,
+his dislike of public recompense,
+views on public office,
+financial help to relatives,
+will of,
+views on drinking,
+loans,
+care of Custis property,
+adoption of Custis children,
+physique,
+weight,
+eyes,
+hair,
+teeth,
+nose,
+height,
+mouth,
+expression,
+gracefulness,
+complexion,
+pock-marked,
+modesty,
+manners,
+portraits of,
+strength,
+illnesses of,
+his last,
+medicine, his dislike of,
+fall of,
+hearing,
+education,
+handwriting,
+spelling,
+surveyor,
+secretaries of,
+journal to the Ohio,
+messages,
+farewell address,
+languages,
+music,
+reading,
+religion,
+church attendance,
+Sunday conduct,
+hunting,
+tolerance,
+love affairs,
+poetry,
+Barbadoes, visit to,
+Ohio, mission to,
+Boston, visit to, (1756)
+New York, visit to, (1773)
+marriage,
+appointed commander-in-chief,
+matrimony, his views on,
+morality,
+forged letters,
+agriculture, fondness for,
+[agriculture] system,
+[agriculture] study of,
+coat-of-arms of,
+as farmer,
+land purchases of,
+invents a plow,
+humor,
+income,
+accounts,
+property of,
+bounty lands of,
+investments in land companies,
+borrower,
+speculation, liking for,
+lotteries, liking for,
+raffles, liking for,
+interest in Potomac Canal Company,
+wealth of,
+slaves of,
+[slaves] care of,
+slavery, views on,
+charity,
+social life,
+headquarters life,
+dinners,
+levees,
+bows,
+ceremony, hatred of,
+conversation,
+tea, liking for,
+dancing, fondness of,
+staff,
+simple habits,
+dress of,
+Rules of Civility,
+neatness of,
+food,
+horsemanship,
+fishing, fondness for,
+card-playing,
+theatre, fondness for,
+embarrassment,
+library of,
+newspapers,
+abuse, sensitiveness to,
+friendships of,
+godfather,
+pall-bearer,
+Indian friends,
+[Indian] name,
+assassin,
+temper,
+quarrel of Hamilton with,
+children, relations with,
+enemies,
+[enemies] duelling and,
+drinks toasts,
+intrigues against,
+attacks on,
+insulted,
+Presidency,
+judgment,
+liveried servants of,
+courage of,
+swears,
+Fabian policy,
+rashness of,
+indecision of,
+lack of military knowledge,
+generalship,
+severity to soldiers,
+relations with Continental Congress,
+New England, dislike of,
+farewell to army,
+adjutant of Virginia,
+burgess,
+stands for Frederick County,
+elected,
+election expenses of,
+drafts law,
+inability to make speeches,
+stage fright,
+inauguration,
+in the Continental Congress,
+attitude towards Great Britain,
+threatened,
+popularity of,
+diplomacy of,
+truthfulness,
+serves on jury,
+attends elections,
+honesty,
+
+——, George Augustine,
+
+——, Harriot,
+
+——, John,
+
+——, John Augustine,
+
+——, Lawrence, Rev. (1st),
+
+——, Lawrence (2d),
+
+——, Lawrence, Major (3d),
+
+——, Lawrence, of Chotanck (4th),
+
+——, Lund,
+
+——, Martha, sickness of,
+meets Washington,
+engaged,
+Washington’s letters to,
+marriage,
+character,
+Washington’s fondness for,
+wealth,
+clothing,
+housekeeper for,
+orthography, 93,
+children,
+visits to head-quarters,
+social life,
+mentioned,
+dower slaves,
+drafts of letters for,
+receptions,
+
+——, Mary (Ball),
+
+——, Mildred,
+
+——, Robert,
+
+——, Samuel,
+
+——, Thornton,
+
+Washington City,
+
+WATSON, Elkanah, quoted,
+
+WAYNE, Anthony, quoted,
+
+Weaving at Mount Vernon,
+
+WEEMS, M.L., quoted,
+
+WELD, Isaac, quoted,
+
+Wheat, Washington’s production of,
+
+Whiskey, distilling of, at Mount Vernon,
+
+WHITE, Rev. W., quoted,
+
+William and Mary College,
+
+Williamsburg,
+lots in,
+Washington goes to, for medical advice,
+
+WILLIAMS, William, wishes Washington removed,
+
+WILLING, Ann, quoted,
+
+Winchester, lots in,
+election at, 295,
+
+WOLCOTT, Oliver,
+
+WOOD, John,
+
+Yorktown, siege of,
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12300 ***
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The True George Washington, by Paul Leicester Ford</title>
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+
+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12300 ***</div>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:55%;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" />
+</div>
+
+<h1>The True George Washington</h1>
+
+<h2 class="no-break">by Paul Leicester Ford</h2>
+
+<p class="center">
+Author of &ldquo;The Honorable Peter Stirling&rdquo;<br/>
+Editor of &ldquo;The Writings of Thomas Jefferson&rdquo; and<br/>
+&ldquo;The Sayings of Poor Richard&rdquo;<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+&ldquo;That I have foibles, and perhaps many of them, I shall not deny. I
+should esteem myself, as the world would, vain and empty, were I to arrogate
+perfection.&rdquo;<br/>
+&mdash;<i>Washington</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+&ldquo;Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in
+malice.&rdquo;<br/>
+&mdash;<i>Shakespeare</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+1896<br/>
+BY<br/>
+J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<i>Tenth Edition</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+Electrotyped and Printed by J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
+</p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p class="center">
+THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED<br/>
+TO<br/>
+WILLIAM F. HAVEMEYER,<br/>
+<br/>
+IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE INDEBTEDNESS OF THE AUTHOR TO HIS COLLECTION<br/>
+OF<br/>
+WASHINGTONIANA.
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>Contents</h2>
+
+<table summary="" style="">
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap00">Note</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I.&mdash;FAMILY RELATIONS</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II.&mdash;PHYSIQUE</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III.&mdash;EDUCATION</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV.&mdash;RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V.&mdash;FARMER AND PROPRIETOR</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI.&mdash;MASTER AND EMPLOYER</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII.&mdash;SOCIAL LIFE</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII.&mdash;TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX.&mdash;FRIENDS</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X.&mdash;ENEMIES</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI.&mdash;SOLDIER</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII.&mdash;CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap13">INDEX</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2>List of Illustrations with Notes</h2>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus01">MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON. By JAMES SHARPLESS</a><br/>
+Painted for Washington in 1795, and presented by him to Nelly (Calvert) Stuart,
+widow of John Parke Custis, Washington&rsquo;s adopted son. Her son George
+Washington Parke Custis, in whose presence the sittings were made, often spoke
+of the likeness as &ldquo;almost perfect.&rdquo;<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus02">MEMORIAL TABLET OF LAURENCE AND AMEE WASHINGTON, IN SULGRAVE
+CHURCH, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE</a><br/>
+The injury of the effigy of Laurence Washington and the entire disappearance of
+the effigy of Amee antedate the early part of the present century, and probably
+were done in the Puritan period. Since the above tracing was made the brasses
+of the eleven children have been stolen, leaving nothing but the lettering and
+the shield of the Washington arms.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus03">BETTY WASHINGTON, WIFE OF FIELDING LEWIS</a><br/>
+Painted about 1750, and erroneously alleged to be by Copley. Original in the
+possession of Mr. R. Byrd Lewis, of Marmion, Virginia.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus04">JOHN AND MARTHA CUSTIS</a><br/>
+Original in the possession of General G.W. Custis Lee, of Lexington, Virginia.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus05">MINIATURE OF ELEANOR PARKE CUSTIS</a><br/>
+From the miniature by Gilbert Stuart, in the possession of her grandson, Edward
+Parke Lewis Custis, of Hoboken, New Jersey.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus06">FICTITIOUS PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON</a><br/>
+The lettering reads, &ldquo;Done from an original Drawn from the Life, by
+Alex&rsquo;r Campbell of Williamsburg in Virginia. Published as the act directs
+9 Sept&rsquo;r 1775 by C. Shepherd.&rdquo; It is the first engraved portrait of
+Washington, and was issued to satisfy the English curiosity concerning the new
+commander-in-chief of the rebels. From the original print in the possession of
+Mr. W.F. Havemeyer, of New York.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus07">COPY SHEET FROM YOUNG MAN&rsquo;S COMPANION</a><br/>
+The sheet from which Washington modelled his handwriting, and to which his
+earliest script shows a marked resemblance. From the original in the possession
+of the author.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus08">LETTER TO MRS. FAIRFAX</a><br/>
+Showing changes and corrections made by Washington at a later date. From
+original copy-book in the Washington MSS. in the Department of State.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus09">PORTRAIT OF MARY PHILIPSE</a><br/>
+From the original formerly in the possession of Mr. Frederick Philipse.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus10">PORTRAIT OF MARTHA CUSTIS</a><br/>
+Alleged to have been painted by Woolaston about 1757. It has been asserted by
+Mr. L.W. Washington and Mr. Moncure D. Conway that this is a portrait of Betty
+Washington Lewis, but in this they are wholly in error, as proof exists that it
+is a portrait of Mrs. Washington before her second marriage.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus11">SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON HILLS</a><br/>
+Made by Washington as a boy, and one of the earliest specimens of his work. The
+small drawing of the house represents it as it was before Washington enlarged
+it, and is the only picture of it known. Original in the Department of State.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus12">MOUNTAIN ROAD LOTTERY TICKET</a><br/>
+From the original in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus13">FAMILY GROUP</a><br/>
+Painted by Edward Savage about 1795, and issued as a large engraving in 1798.
+The original picture is now in the possession of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of
+New York.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus14">DINNER INVITATION</a><br/>
+The official invitation while President, from the original in the possession of
+the author.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus15">DANCING AGREEMENT</a><br/>
+This gives only the first few names, many more following. The original was
+formerly in the possession of Mr. Thomas Biddle, of Philadelphia.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus16">BOOK-PLATE OF WASHINGTON</a><br/>
+This is a slight variation from the true Washington coat of arms, the changes
+being introduced by Washington. From the original in the possession of the
+author.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus17">SURVEY OF WAKEFIELD</a><br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s birthplace. The survey was made in 1743, on the property
+coming into the possession of Augustine Washington (second) from his father,
+with the object of readjusting the boundary-lines. Original in the possession
+of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New York.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus18">WASHINGTON FAMILY BIBLE</a><br/>
+This record, with the exception of the interlined note concerning Betty
+Washington Lewis, is in the handwriting of George Washington, and was written
+when he was about sixteen years old. Original in the possession of Mrs. Lewis
+Washington, of Charlestown, West Virginia.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus19">MINIATURE OF MRS. WASHINGTON</a><br/>
+By an unknown artist. From the original in the possession of General G.W.
+Custis Lee, of Lexington, Virginia.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus20">EARLIEST AUTOGRAPH OF WASHINGTON</a><br/>
+On a fly-leaf of the volume to which this title belongs is written, &ldquo;This
+autograph of Genl. Washington&rsquo;s name is believed to be the earliest
+specimen of his writing, when he was probably not more than 8 or 9 years of
+age.&rdquo; This is a note by G.C. Washington, to whom Washington&rsquo;s
+library descended. Original in the possession of the Boston Athenaeum.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus21">RULES OF CIVILITY</a><br/>
+First page of Washington&rsquo;s boyish transcript, written when he was about
+thirteen years of age. Used here by courtesy of Mr. S.M. Hamilton and
+&ldquo;Public Opinion,&rdquo; who are preparing a fac-simile edition of the
+entire rules.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus22">LIFE MASK BY HOUDON</a><br/>
+Taken by Houdon in October, 1785. From the replica in the Historical Society of
+Pennsylvania.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus23">TITLE-PAGE OF JOURNAL OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1754</a><br/>
+Of this first edition but two copies are known. From the original in the Lenox
+Library.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus24">PRESIDENTIAL HOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA</a><br/>
+Philadelphia offered to furnish the house for the President during the time
+Congress sat in that city, but Washington &ldquo;wholly declined living in any
+public building,&rdquo; and rented this house from Robert Morris. Though it was
+considered one of the finest in the city, Washington several times complained
+of being cramped.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus01"></a>
+<img src="images/img01.jpg" width="491" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">SHARPLESS MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON, 1795</p>
+</div>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap00"></a>Note</h2>
+
+<p>
+In every country boasting a history there may be observed a tendency to make
+its leaders or great men superhuman. Whether we turn to the legends of the
+East, the folk-lore of Europe, or the traditions of the native races of
+America, we find a mythology based upon the acts of man gifted with superhuman
+powers. In the unscientific, primeval periods in which these beliefs were born
+and elaborated into oral and written form, their origin is not surprising. But
+to all who have studied the creation of a mythology, no phase is a more curious
+one than that the keen, practical American of to-day should engage in the same
+process of hero-building which has given us Jupiter, Wotan, King Arthur, and
+others. By a slow evolution we have well-nigh discarded from the lives of our
+greatest men of the past all human faults and feelings; have enclosed their
+greatness in glass of the clearest crystal, and hung up a sign, &ldquo;Do not
+touch.&rdquo; Indeed, with such characters as Washington, Franklin, and Lincoln
+we have practically adopted the English maxim that &ldquo;the king can do no
+wrong.&rdquo; In place of men, limited by human limits, and influenced by human
+passions, we have demi-gods, so stripped of human characteristics as to make us
+question even whether they deserve much credit for their sacrifices and deeds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But with this process of canonization have we not lost more than we have
+gained, both in example and in interest? Many, no doubt, with the greatest
+veneration for our first citizen, have sympathized with the view expressed by
+Mark Twain, when he said that he was a greater man than Washington, for the
+latter &ldquo;couldn&rsquo;t tell a lie, while he could, but
+wouldn&rsquo;t&rdquo; We have endless biographies of Franklin, picturing him in
+all the public stations of life, but all together they do not equal in
+popularity his own human autobiography, in which we see him walking down Market
+Street with a roll under each arm, and devouring a third. And so it seems as if
+the time had come to put the shadow-boxes of humanity round our historic
+portraits, not because they are ornamental in themselves, but because they will
+make them examples, not mere idols.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the present work succeeds in humanizing Washington, and making him a man
+rather than a historical figure, its purpose will have been fulfilled. In the
+attempt to accomplish this, Washington has, so far as is possible, been made to
+speak for himself, even though at times it has compelled the sacrifice of
+literary form, in the hope that his own words would convey a greater sense of
+the personality of the man. So, too, liberal drafts have been made on the
+opinions and statements of his contemporaries; but, unless the contrary is
+stated or is obvious, all quoted matter is from Washington&rsquo;s own pen. It
+is with pleasure that the author adds that the result of his study has only
+served to make Washington the greater to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The writer is under the greatest obligation to his brother, Worthington
+Chauncey Ford, not merely for his numerous books on Washington, of which his
+&ldquo;Writings of George Washington&rdquo; is easily first in importance of
+all works relating to the great American, but also for much manuscript material
+which he has placed at the author&rsquo;s service. Hitherto unpublished facts
+have been drawn from many other sources, but notably from the rich collection
+of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New York, from the Department of State in
+Washington, and from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. To Mr. S.M.
+Hamilton, of the former institution, and to Mr. Frederick D. Stone, of the
+latter, the writer is particularly indebted for assistance.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2>THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON</h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap01"></a>I<br/>
+FAMILY RELATIONS</h2>
+
+<p>
+Although Washington wrote that the history of his ancestors was, in his
+opinion, &ldquo;of very little moment,&rdquo; and &ldquo;a subject to which I
+confess I have paid very little attention,&rdquo; few Americans can prove a
+better pedigree. The earliest of his forebears yet discovered was described as
+&ldquo;gentleman,&rdquo; the family were granted lands by Henry the Eighth,
+held various offices of honor, married into good families, and under the
+Stuarts two were knighted and a third served as page to Prince Charles.
+Lawrence, a brother of the three thus distinguished, matriculated at Oxford as
+a &ldquo;generosi filius&rdquo; (the intermediate class between sons of the
+nobility, &ldquo;armigeri filius,&rdquo; and of the people, &ldquo;plebeii
+filius&rdquo;), or as of the minor gentry. In time he became a fellow and
+lector of Brasenose College, and presently obtained the good living of
+Purleigh. Strong royalists, the fortunes of the family waned along with King
+Charles, and sank into insignificance with the passing of the Stuart dynasty.
+Not the least sufferer was the rector of Purleigh, for the Puritan Parliament
+ejected him from his living, on the charge &ldquo;that he was a common
+frequenter of ale-houses, not only himself sitting dayly tippling there … but
+hath oft been drunk,&rdquo;&mdash;a charge indignantly denied by the royalists,
+who asserted that he was a &ldquo;worthy Pious man, … always … a very Modest,
+Sober Person;&rdquo; and this latter claim is supported by the fact that though
+the Puritans sequestered the rich living, they made no objection to his serving
+as rector at Brixted Parva, where the living was &ldquo;such a Poor and
+Miserable one that it was always with difficulty that any one was persuaded to
+accept of it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poverty resulting, John, the eldest son of this rector, early took to the sea,
+and in 1656 assisted &ldquo;as second man in Sayleing ye Vessel to
+Virginia.&rdquo; Here he settled, took up land, presently became a county
+officer, a burgess, and a colonel of militia. In this latter function he
+commanded the Virginia troops during the Indian war of 1675, and when his
+great-grandson, George, on his first arrival on the frontier, was called by the
+Indians &ldquo;Conotocarius,&rdquo; or &ldquo;devourer of villages,&rdquo; the
+formidable but inappropriate title for the newly-fledged officer is supposed to
+have been due to the reputation that John Washington had won for his name among
+the Indians eighty years before.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus02"></a>
+<img src="images/img02.jpg" width="341" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">TABLET TO LAURENCE WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY IN SULGRAVE CHURCH</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Both John&rsquo;s son, Lawrence, and Lawrence&rsquo;s son, Augustine, describe
+themselves in their wills as &ldquo;gentlemen,&rdquo; and both intermarried
+with the &ldquo;gentry families&rdquo; of Virginia. Augustine was educated at
+Appleby School, in England, like his grandfather followed the sea for a time,
+was interested in iron mines, and in other ways proved himself far more than
+the average Virginia planter of his day. He was twice married,&mdash;which
+marriages, with unconscious humor, he describes in his will as &ldquo;several
+Ventures,&rdquo;&mdash;had ten children, and died in 1743, when George, his
+fifth child and the first by his second &ldquo;Venture,&rdquo; was a boy of
+eleven. The father thus took little part in the life of the lad, and almost the
+only mention of him by his son still extant is the one recorded in
+Washington&rsquo;s round school-boy hand in the family Bible, to the effect
+that &ldquo;Augustine Washington and Mary Ball was Married the Sixth of March
+17-30/31. Augustine Washington Departed this Life ye 12th Day of April 1743,
+Aged 49 Years.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The mother, Mary Washington, was more of a factor, though chiefly by mere
+length of life, for she lived to be eighty-three, and died but ten years before
+her son. That Washington owed his personal appearance to the Balls is true, but
+otherwise the sentimentality that has been lavished about the relations between
+the two and her influence upon him, partakes of fiction rather than of truth.
+After his father&rsquo;s death the boy passed most of his time at the homes of
+his two elder brothers, and this was fortunate, for they were educated men, of
+some colonial consequence, while his mother lived in comparatively straitened
+circumstances, was illiterate and untidy, and, moreover, if tradition is to be
+believed, smoked a pipe. Her course with the lad was blamed by a contemporary
+as &ldquo;fond and unthinking,&rdquo; and this is borne out by such facts as
+can be gleaned, for when his brothers wished to send him to sea she made
+&ldquo;trifling objections,&rdquo; and prevented his taking what they thought
+an advantageous opening; when the brilliant offer of a position on
+Braddock&rsquo;s staff was tendered to Washington, his mother, &ldquo;alarmed
+at the report,&rdquo; hurried to Mount Vernon and endeavored to prevent him
+from accepting it; still again, after Braddock&rsquo;s defeat, she so wearied
+her son with pleas not to risk the dangers of another campaign that Washington
+finally wrote her, &ldquo;It would reflect dishonor upon me to refuse; and
+<i>that</i>, I am sure, must or <i>ought</i> to give you greater uneasiness,
+than my going in an honorable command.&rdquo; After he inherited Mount Vernon
+the two seem to have seen little of each other, though, when occasion took him
+near Fredericksburg, he usually stopped to see her for a few hours, or even for
+a night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though Washington always wrote to his mother as &ldquo;Honored Madam,&rdquo;
+and signed himself &ldquo;your dutiful and aff. son,&rdquo; she none the less
+tried him not a little. He never claimed from her a part of the share of his
+father&rsquo;s estate which was his due on becoming of age, and, in addition,
+&ldquo;a year or two before I left Virginia (to make her latter days
+comfortable and free from care) I did, at her request, but at my own expence,
+purchase a commodious house, garden and Lotts (of her own choosing) in
+Fredericksburg, that she might be near my sister Lewis, her only
+daughter,&mdash;and did moreover agree to take her land and negroes at a
+certain yearly rent, to be fixed by Colo Lewis and others (of her own
+nomination) which has been an annual expence to me ever since, as the estate
+never raised one half the rent I was to pay. Before I left Virginia I answered
+all her calls for money; and since that period have directed my steward to do
+the same.&rdquo; Furthermore, he gave her a phaeton, and when she complained of
+her want of comfort he wrote her, &ldquo;My house is at your service, and [I]
+would press you most sincerely and most devoutly to accept it, but I am sure,
+and candor requires me to say, it will never answer your purposes in any shape
+whatsoever. For in truth it may be compared to a well resorted tavern, as
+scarcely any strangers who are going from north to south, or from south to
+north, do not spend a day or two at it. This would, were you to be an
+inhabitant of it, oblige you to do one of 3 things: 1st, to be always dressing
+to appear in company; 2d, to come into [the room] in a dishabille, or 3d to be
+as it were a prisoner in your own chamber. The first you&rsquo;ld not like;
+indeed, for a person at your time of life it would be too fatiguing. The 2d, I
+should not like, because those who resort here are, as I observed before,
+strangers and people of the first distinction. And the 3d, more than probably,
+would not be pleasing to either of us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Under these circumstances it was with real indignation that Washington learned
+that complaints of hers that she &ldquo;never lived soe poore in all my
+life&rdquo; were so well known that there was a project to grant her a pension.
+The pain this caused a man who always showed such intense dislike to taking
+even money earned from public coffers, and who refused everything in the nature
+of a gift, can easily be understood. He at once wrote a letter to a friend in
+the Virginia Assembly, in which, after reciting enough of what he had done for
+her to prove that she was under no necessity of a pension,&mdash;&ldquo;or, in
+other words, receiving charity from the public,&rdquo;&mdash;he continued,
+&ldquo;But putting these things aside, which I could not avoid mentioning in
+exculpation of a presumptive want of duty on my part; confident I am that she
+has not a child that would not divide the last sixpence to relieve her from
+real distress. This she has been repeatedly assured of by me; and all of us, I
+am certain, would feel much hurt, at having our mother a pensioner, while we
+had the means of supporting her; but in fact she has an ample income of her
+own. I lament accordingly that your letter, which conveyed the first hint of
+this matter, did not come to my hands sooner; but I request, in pointed terms,
+if the matter is now in agitation in your Assembly, that all proceedings on it
+may be stopped, or in case of a decision in her favor, that it may be done away
+and repealed at my request.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still greater mortification was in store for him, when he was told that she was
+borrowing and accepting gifts from her neighbors, and learned &ldquo;on good
+authority that she is, upon all occasions and in all companies, complaining …
+of her wants and difficulties; and if not in direct terms, at least by strong
+innuendoes, endeavors to excite a belief that times are much altered, &amp;c.,
+&amp;c., which not only makes <i>her</i> appear in an unfavorable point of
+view, but <i>those also</i> who are connected with her.&rdquo; To save her
+feelings he did not express the &ldquo;pain&rdquo; he felt to her, but he wrote
+a brother asking him to ascertain if there was the slightest basis in her
+complaints, and &ldquo;see what is necessary to make her comfortable,&rdquo;
+for &ldquo;while I have anything I will part with it to make her so;&rdquo; but
+begging him &ldquo;at the same time … to represent to her in delicate terms,
+the impropriety of her complaints, and <i>acceptance</i> of favors, even when
+they are voluntarily offered, from any but relations.&rdquo; Though he did not
+&ldquo;touch upon this subject in a letter to her,&rdquo; he was enough fretted
+to end the renting of her plantation, not because &ldquo;I mean … to withhold
+any aid or support I can give from you; for whilst I have a shilling left, you
+shall have part,&rdquo; but because &ldquo;what I shall then give, I shall have
+credit for,&rdquo; and not be &ldquo;viewed as a delinquent, and considered
+perhaps by the world as [an] unjust and undutiful son.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the last years of her life a cancer developed, which she refused to have
+&ldquo;dressed,&rdquo; and over which, as her doctor wrote Washington, the
+&ldquo;Old Lady&rdquo; and he had &ldquo;a small battle every day.&rdquo; Once
+Washington was summoned by an express to her bedside &ldquo;to bid, as I was
+prepared to expect, the last adieu to an honored parent,&rdquo; but it was a
+false alarm. Her health was so bad, however, that just before he started to New
+York to be inaugurated he rode to Fredericksburg, &ldquo;and took a final leave
+of my mother, never expecting to see her more,&rdquo; a surmise that proved
+correct.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Only Elizabeth&mdash;or &ldquo;Betty&rdquo;&mdash;of Washington&rsquo;s sisters
+grew to womanhood, and it is said that she was so strikingly like her brother
+that, disguised with a long cloak and a military hat, the difference between
+them was scarcely detectable. She married Fielding Lewis, and lived at
+&ldquo;Kenmore House&rdquo; on the Rappahannock, where Washington spent many a
+night, as did the Lewises at Mount Vernon. During the Revolution, while
+visiting there, she wrote her brother, &ldquo;Oh, when will that day arrive
+when we shall meet again. Trust in the lord it will be soon,&mdash;till when,
+you have the prayers and kind wishes for your health and happiness of your
+loving and sincerely affectionate sister.&rdquo; Her husband died &ldquo;much
+indebted,&rdquo; and from that time her brother gave her occasional sums of
+money, and helped her in other ways.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her eldest son followed in his father&rsquo;s footsteps, and displeased
+Washington with requests for loans. He angered him still more by conduct
+concerning which Washington wrote to him as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Sir, Your letter of the 11th of Octor. never came to my hands
+&rsquo;till yesterday. Altho&rsquo; your disrespectful conduct towards me, in
+coming into this country and spending weeks therein without ever coming near
+me, entitled you to very little notice or favor from me; yet I consent that you
+may get timber from off my Land in Fauquier County to build a house on your
+Lott in Rectertown. Having granted this, now let me ask you what your views
+were in purchasing a Lott in a place which, I presume, originated with and will
+end in two or three Gin shops, which probably will exist no longer than they
+serve to ruin the proprietors, and those who make the most frequent
+applications to them. I am, &amp;c.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus03"></a>
+<img src="images/img03.jpg" width="394" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">MRS FIELDING LEWIS (BETTY WASHINGTON)</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Other of the Lewis boys pleased him better, and he appointed one an officer in
+his own &ldquo;Life Guard.&rdquo; Of another he wrote, when President, to his
+sister, &ldquo;If your son Howell is living with you, and not usefully employed
+in your own affairs, and should incline to spend a few months with me, as a
+writer in my office (if he is fit for it) I will allow him at the rate of three
+hundred dollars a year, provided he is diligent in discharging the duties of it
+from breakfast until dinner&mdash;Sundays excepted. This sum will be punctually
+paid him, and I am particular in declaring beforehand what I require, and what
+he may expect, that there may be no disappointment, or false expectations on
+either side. He will live in the family in the same manner his brother Robert
+did.&rdquo; This Robert had been for some time one of his secretaries, and at
+another time was employed as a rent-collector.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still another son, Lawrence, also served him in these dual capacities, and
+Washington, on his retirement from the Presidency, offered him a home at Mount
+Vernon. This led to a marriage with Mrs. Washington&rsquo;s grandchild, Eleanor
+Custis, a match which so pleased Washington that he made arrangements for
+Lawrence to build on the Mount Vernon estate, in his will named him an
+executor, and left the couple a part of this property, as well as a portion of
+the residuary estate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As already noted, much of Washington&rsquo;s early life was passed at the homes
+of his elder (half-) brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, who lived respectively
+at Mount Vernon and Wakefield. When Lawrence developed consumption, George was
+his travelling companion in a trip to Barbadoes, and from him, when he died of
+that disease, in 1752, came the bequest of Mount Vernon to &ldquo;my loveing
+brother George.&rdquo; To Augustine, in the only letter now extant, Washington
+wrote, &ldquo;The pleasure of your company at Mount Vernon always did, and
+always will afford me infinite satisfaction,&rdquo; and signed himself
+&ldquo;your most affectionate brother.&rdquo; Surviving this brother, he left
+handsome bequests to all his children.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Samuel, the eldest of his own brothers, and his junior by but two years, though
+constantly corresponded with, was not a favorite. He seems to have had
+extravagant tendencies, variously indicated by five marriages, and by (perhaps
+as a consequence) pecuniary difficulties. In 1781, Washington wrote to another
+brother, &ldquo;In God&rsquo;s name how did my brother Samuel get himself so
+enormously in debt?&rdquo; Very quickly requests for loans followed, than which
+nothing was more irritating to Washington. Yet, though he replied that it would
+be &ldquo;very inconvenient&rdquo; to him, his ledger shows that at least two
+thousand dollars were advanced, and in a letter to this brother, on the danger
+of borrowing at interest, Washington wrote, &ldquo;I do not make these
+observations on account of the money I purpose to lend you, because all I shall
+require is that you return the net sum when in your power, without
+interest.&rdquo; Better even than this, in his will Washington discharged the
+debt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the family of Samuel, Washington was equally helpful. For the eldest son he
+obtained an ensigncy, and &ldquo;to save Thornton and you [Samuel] the expence
+of buying a horse to ride home on, I have lent him a mare.&rdquo; Two other
+sons he assumed all the expenses of, and showed an almost fatherly interest in
+them. He placed them at school, and when the lads proved somewhat unruly he
+wrote them long admonitory letters, which became stern when actual misconduct
+ensued, and when one of them ran away to Mount Vernon to escape a whipping,
+Washington himself prepared &ldquo;to correct him, but he begged so earnestly
+and promised so faithfully that there should be no cause for complaint in the
+future, that I have suspended punishment.&rdquo; Later the two were sent to
+college, and in all cost Washington &ldquo;near five thousand dollars.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An even greater trouble was their sister Harriot, whose care was assumed in
+1785, and who was a member of Washington&rsquo;s household, with only a slight
+interruption, till her marriage in 1796. Her chief failing was &ldquo;no
+disposition … to be careful of her cloathes,&rdquo; which were &ldquo;dabbed
+about in every hole and corner and her best things always in use,&rdquo; so
+that Washington said &ldquo;she costs me enough!&rdquo; To her uncle she wrote
+on one occasion, &ldquo;How shall I apologise to my dear and Honor&rsquo;d for
+intruding on his goodness so soon again, but being sensible for your kindness
+to me which I shall ever remember with the most heartfelt gratitude induces me
+to make known my wants. I have not had a pair of stays since I first came here:
+if you could let me have a pair I should be very much obleiged to you, and also
+a hat and a few other articles. I hope my dear Uncle will not think me
+extravagant for really I take as much care of my cloaths as I possibly
+can.&rdquo; Probably the expense that pleased him best in her case was that
+which he recorded in his ledger &ldquo;By Miss Harriot Washington gave her to
+buy wedding clothes $100.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His second and favorite brother, John Augustine, who was four years his junior,
+Washington described as &ldquo;the intimate companion of my youth and the
+friend of my ripened age.&rdquo; While the Virginia colonel was on the
+frontier, from 1754 to 1759, he left John in charge of all his business
+affairs, giving him a residence at and management of Mount Vernon. With this
+brother he constantly corresponded, addressing him as &ldquo;Dear Jack,&rdquo;
+and writing in the most intimate and affectionate terms, not merely to him, but
+when John had taken unto himself a wife, to her, and to &ldquo;the little
+ones,&rdquo; and signing himself &ldquo;your loving brother.&rdquo; Visits
+between the two were frequent, and invitations for the same still more so, and
+in one letter, written during the most trying moment of the Revolution,
+Washington said, &ldquo;God grant you all health and happiness. Nothing in this
+world could contribute so to mine as to be fixed among you.&rdquo; John died in
+1787, and Washington wrote with simple but undisguised grief of the death of
+&ldquo;my beloved brother.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The eldest son of this brother, Bushrod, was his favorite nephew, and
+Washington took much interest in his career, getting the lad admitted to study
+law with Judge James Wilson, in Philadelphia, and taking genuine pride in him
+when he became a lawyer and judge of repute. He made this nephew his travelling
+companion in the Western journey of 1784, and at other times not merely sent
+him money, but wrote him letters of advice, dwelling on the dangers that beset
+young men, though confessing that he was himself &ldquo;not such a Stoic&rdquo;
+as to expect too much of youthful blood. To Bushrod, also, he appealed on legal
+matters, adding, &ldquo;You may think me an unprofitable applicant in asking
+opinions and requiring services of you without dousing my money, but pay day
+may come,&rdquo; and in this he was as good as his word, for in his will
+Washington left Bushrod, &ldquo;partly in consideration of an intimation to his
+deceased father, while we were bachelors and he had kindly undertaken to
+superintend my Estates, during my military services in the former war between
+Great Britain and France, that if I should fall therein, Mt. Vernon … should
+become his property,&rdquo; the home and &ldquo;mansion-house farm,&rdquo; one
+share of the residuary estate, his private papers, and his library, and named
+him an executor of the instrument.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of Washington&rsquo;s relations with his youngest brother, Charles, little can
+be learned. He was the last of his brothers to die, and Washington outlived him
+so short a time that he was named in his will, though only for a mere token of
+remembrance. &ldquo;I add nothing to it because of the ample provision I have
+made for his issue.&rdquo; Of the children so mentioned, Washington was
+particularly fond of George Augustine Washington. As a mere lad he used his
+influence to procure for him an ensigncy in a Virginia regiment, and an
+appointment on Lafayette&rsquo;s staff. When in 1784 the young fellow was
+threatened with consumption, his uncle&rsquo;s purse supplied him with the
+funds by which he was enabled to travel, even while Washington wrote,
+&ldquo;Poor fellow! his pursuit after health is, I fear, altogether
+fruitless.&rdquo; When better health came, and with it a renewal of a troth
+with a niece of Mrs. Washington&rsquo;s, the marriage was made possible by
+Washington appointing the young fellow his manager, and not merely did it take
+place at Mount Vernon, but the young couple took up their home there. More than
+this, that their outlook might be &ldquo;more stable and pleasing,&rdquo;
+Washington promised them that on his death they should not be forgotten. When
+the disease again developed, Washington wrote his nephew in genuine anxiety,
+and ended his letter, &ldquo;At all times and under all circumstances you and
+yours will possess my affectionate regards.&rdquo; Only a few days later the
+news of his nephew&rsquo;s death reached him, and he wrote his widow, &ldquo;To
+you who so well know the affectionate regard I had for our departed friend, it
+is unnecessary to describe the sorrow with which I was afflicted at the news of
+his death.&rdquo; He asked her and her children &ldquo;to return to your old
+habitation at Mount Vernon. You can go to no place where you can be more
+welcome, nor to any where you can live at less expence and trouble,&rdquo; an
+offer, he adds, &ldquo;made to you with my whole heart.&rdquo; Furthermore,
+Washington served as executor, assumed the expense of educating one of the
+sons, and in his will left the two children part of the Mount Vernon estate, as
+well as other bequests, &ldquo;on account of the affection I had for, and the
+obligation I was under to their father when living, who from his youth attached
+himself to my person, and followed my fortunes through the vicissitudes of the
+late Revolution, afterwards devoting his time for many years whilst my public
+employments rendered it impracticable for me to do it myself, thereby affording
+me essential services and always performing them in a manner the most filial
+and respectful.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of his wife&rsquo;s kith and kin Washington was equally fond. Both alone and
+with Mrs. Washington he often visited her mother, Mrs. Dandridge, and in 1773
+he wrote to a brother-in-law that he wished &ldquo;I was master of Arguments
+powerful enough to prevail upon Mrs. Dandridge to make this place her entire
+and absolute home. I should think as she lives a lonesome life (Betsey being
+married) it might suit her well, &amp; be agreeable, both to herself &amp; my
+Wife, to me most assuredly it would.&rdquo; Washington was also a frequent
+visitor at &ldquo;Eltham,&rdquo; the home of Colonel Bassett, who had married
+his wife&rsquo;s sister, and constantly corresponded with these relatives. He
+asked this whole family to be his guests at the Warm Springs, and, as this
+meant camping out in tents, he wrote, &ldquo;You will have occasion to provide
+nothing, if I can be advised of your intentions, so that I may provide
+accordingly.&rdquo; To another brother-in-law, Bartholomew Dandridge, he lent
+money, and forgave the debt to the widow in his will, also giving her the use
+during her life of the thirty-three negroes he had bid in at the bankruptcy
+sale of her husband&rsquo;s property.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The pleasantest glimpses of family feeling are gained, however, in his
+relations with his wife&rsquo;s children and grandchildren. John Parke and
+Martha Parke Custis&mdash;or &ldquo;Jack&rdquo; and &ldquo;Patsey,&rdquo; as he
+called them&mdash;were at the date of his marriage respectively six and four
+years of age, and in the first invoice of goods to be shipped to him from
+London after he had become their step-father, Washington ordered &ldquo;10
+shillings worth of Toys,&rdquo; &ldquo;6 little books for children beginning to
+read,&rdquo; and &ldquo;1 fashionable-dressed baby to cost 10 shillings.&rdquo;
+When this latter shared the usual fate, he further wrote for &ldquo;1
+fashionable dress Doll to cost a guinea,&rdquo; and for &ldquo;A box of
+Gingerbread Toys &amp; Sugar Images or Comfits.&rdquo; A little later he
+ordered a Bible and Prayer-Book for each, &ldquo;neatly bound in Turkey,&rdquo;
+with names &ldquo;in gilt letters on the inside of the cover,&rdquo; followed
+ere long by an order for &ldquo;1 very good Spinet&rdquo; As Patsy grew to
+girlhood she developed fits, and &ldquo;solely on her account to try (by the
+advice of her Physician) the effect of the waters on her Complaint,&rdquo;
+Washington took the family over the mountains and camped at the &ldquo;Warm
+Springs&rdquo; in 1769, with &ldquo;little benefit,&rdquo; for, after ailing
+four years longer, &ldquo;she was seized with one of her usual Fits &amp;
+expired in it, in less than two minutes, without uttering a word, or groan, or
+scarce a sigh.&rdquo; &ldquo;The Sweet Innocent Girl,&rdquo; Washington wrote,
+&ldquo;entered into a more happy &amp; peaceful abode than she has met with in
+the afflicted Path she has hitherto trod,&rdquo; but none the less &ldquo;it is
+an easier matter to conceive than to describe the distress of this
+family&rdquo; at the loss of &ldquo;dear Patsy Custis.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus04"></a>
+<img src="images/img04.jpg" width="409" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">JOHN AND MARTHA PARKE CUSTIS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The care of Jack Custis was a worry to Washington in quite another way. As a
+lad, Custis signed his letters to him as &ldquo;your most affectionate and
+dutiful son,&rdquo; &ldquo;yet I conceive,&rdquo; Washington wrote,
+&ldquo;there is much greater circumspection to be observed by a guardian than a
+natural parent.&rdquo; Soon after assuming charge of the boy, a tutor was
+secured, who lived at Mount Vernon, but the boy showed little inclination to
+study, and when fourteen, Washington wrote that &ldquo;his mind [is] … more
+turned … to Dogs, Horses and Guns, indeed upon Dress and equipage.&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Having his well being much at heart,&rdquo; Washington wished to make
+him &ldquo;fit for more useful purposes than [a] horse racer,&rdquo; and so
+Jack was placed with a clergyman, who agreed to instruct him, and with him he
+lived, except for some home visits, for three years. Unfortunately, the lad,
+like the true Virginian planter of his day, had no taste for study, and had
+&ldquo;a propensity for the [fair] sex.&rdquo; After two or three flirtations,
+he engaged himself, without the knowledge of his mother or guardian, to Nellie
+Calvert, a match to which no objection could be made, except that, owing to his
+&ldquo;youth and fickleness,&rdquo; &ldquo;he may either change and therefore
+injure the young lady; or that it may precipitate him into a marriage before, I
+am certain, he has ever bestowed a serious thought of the consequences; by
+which means his education is interrupted.&rdquo; To avoid this danger,
+Washington took his ward to New York and entered him in King&rsquo;s College,
+but the death of Patsy Custis put a termination to study, for Mrs. Washington
+could not bear to have the lad at such a distance, and Washington &ldquo;did
+not care, as he is the last of the family, to push my opposition too
+far.&rdquo; Accordingly, Jack returned to Virginia and promptly married.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The young couple were much at Mount Vernon from this time on, and Washington
+wrote to &ldquo;Dear Jack,&rdquo; &ldquo;I am always pleased with yours and
+Nelly&rsquo;s abidance at Mount Vernon.&rdquo; When the winter snows made the
+siege of Boston purely passive, the couple journeyed with Mrs. Washington to
+Cambridge, and visited at head-quarters for some months. The arrival of
+children prevented the repetition of such visits, but frequent letters, which
+rarely failed to send love to &ldquo;Nelly and the little girls,&rdquo; were
+exchanged. The acceptance of command compelled Washington to resign the care of
+Custis&rsquo;s estate, for which service &ldquo;I have never charged him or his
+sister, from the day of my connexion with them to this hour, one farthing for
+all the trouble I have had in managing their estates, nor for any expense they
+have been to me, notwithstanding some hundreds of pounds would not reimburse
+the moneys I have actually paid in attending the public meetings in
+Williamsburg to collect their debts, and transact these several matters
+appertaining to the respective estates.&rdquo; Washington, however, continued
+his advice as to its management, and in other letters advised him concerning
+his conduct when Custis was elected a member of the Virginia House of
+Delegates. In the siege of Yorktown Jack served as an officer of militia, and
+the exposure proved too much for him. Immediately after the surrender, news
+reached Washington of his serious illness, and by riding thirty miles in one
+day he succeeded in reaching Eltham in &ldquo;time enough to see poor Mr.
+Custis breath his last,&rdquo; leaving behind him &ldquo;four lovely children,
+three girls and a boy.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Owing to his public employment, Washington refused to be guardian for these
+&ldquo;little ones,&rdquo; writing &ldquo;that it would be injurious to the
+children and madness in me, to undertake, <i>as a principle</i>, a trust which
+I could not discharge. Such aid, however, as it ever may be with me to give to
+the children especially the boy, I will afford with all my heart, and on this
+assurance you may rely.&rdquo; Yet &ldquo;from their earliest infancy&rdquo;
+two of Jack&rsquo;s children, George Washington Parke and Eleanor Parke Custis,
+lived at Mount Vernon, for, as Washington wrote in his will, &ldquo;it has
+always been my intention, since my expectation of having issue has ceased, to
+consider the grandchildren of my wife in the same light as my own relations,
+and to act a friendly part by them.&rdquo; Though the cares of war prevented
+his watching their property interests, his eight years&rsquo; absence could not
+make him forget them, and on his way to Annapolis, in 1783, to tender Congress
+his resignation, he spent sundry hours of his time in the purchase of gifts
+obviously intended to increase the joy of his homecoming to the family circle
+at Mount Vernon; set forth in his note-book as follows:
+</p>
+
+<table summary="" style="margin-left: 3em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
+
+<tr>
+<td>&ldquo;By Sundries bo<sup>t</sup>. in Phil<sup>a</sup>.</td><td></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>A Locket</td><td>£5  5</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>3 Small Pockt. Books</td><td>1  10</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>3 Sashes</td><td>1  5  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Dress Cap</td><td>2  8</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Hatt</td><td>3  10</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Handkerchief</td><td>1</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Childrens Books</td><td>4  6</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Whirligig</td><td>1  6</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Fiddle</td><td>2  6</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Quadrille Boxes</td><td>1  17  6.&rdquo;</td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<p>
+Indeed, in every way Washington showed how entirely he considered himself as a
+father, not merely speaking of them frequently as &ldquo;the children,&rdquo;
+but even alluding to himself in a letter to the boy as &ldquo;your papa.&rdquo;
+Both were much his companions during the Presidency. A frequent sight in New
+York and Philadelphia was Washington taking &ldquo;exercise in the coach with
+Mrs. Washington and the two children,&rdquo; and several times they were taken
+to the theatre and on picnics.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For Eleanor, or &ldquo;Nelly,&rdquo; who grew into a great beauty, Washington
+showed the utmost tenderness, and on occasion interfered to save her from her
+grandmother, who at moments was inclined to be severe, in one case to bring the
+storm upon himself. For her was bought a &ldquo;Forte piano,&rdquo; and later,
+at the cost of a thousand dollars, a very fine imported harpsichord, and one of
+Washington&rsquo;s great pleasures was to have her play and sing to him. His
+ledger constantly shows gifts to her ranging from &ldquo;The Wayworn traveller,
+a song for Miss Custis,&rdquo; to &ldquo;a pr. of gold eardrops&rdquo; and a
+watch. The two corresponded. One letter from Washington merits quotation:
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus05"></a>
+<img src="images/img05.jpg" width="454" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">ELLANOR (NELLY) CUSTIS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let me touch a little now on your Georgetown ball, and happy, thrice
+happy, for the fair who assembled on the occasion, that there was a man to
+spare; for had there been 79 ladies and only 78 gentlemen, there might, in the
+course of the evening have been some disorder among the caps; notwithstanding
+the apathy which <i>one</i> of the company entertains for the
+&lsquo;<i>youth</i>&rsquo; of the present day, and her determination
+&lsquo;Never to give herself a moment&rsquo;s uneasiness on account of any of
+them.&rsquo; A hint here; men and women feel the same inclinations towards each
+other <i>now</i> that they always have done, and which they will continue to do
+until there is a new order of things, and <i>you</i>, as others have done, may
+find, perhaps, that the passions of your sex are easier raised than allayed. Do
+not therefore boast too soon or too strongly of your insensibility to, or
+resistance of, its powers. In the composition of the human frame there is a
+good deal of inflammable matter, however dormant it may lie for a time, and
+like an intimate acquaintance of yours, when the torch is put to it,
+<i>that</i> which is <i>within you</i> may burst into a blaze; for which reason
+and especially too, as I have entered upon the chapter of advices, I will read
+you a lecture from this text.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not long after this was written, Nelly, as already mentioned, was married at
+Mount Vernon to Washington&rsquo;s nephew, Lawrence Lewis, and in time became
+joint-owner with her husband of part of that place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As early as 1785 a tutor was wanted for &ldquo;little Washington,&rdquo; as the
+lad was called, and Washington wrote to England to ask if some &ldquo;worthy
+man of the cloth could not be obtained,&rdquo; &ldquo;for the boy is a
+remarkably fine one, and my intention is to give him a liberal
+education.&rdquo; His training became part of the private secretary&rsquo;s
+duty, both at Mount Vernon and New York and Philadelphia, but the lad inherited
+his father&rsquo;s traits, and &ldquo;from his infancy … discovered an almost
+unconquerable disposition to indolence.&rdquo; This led to failures which gave
+Washington &ldquo;extreme disquietude,&rdquo; and in vain he &ldquo;exhorted
+him in the most parental and friendly manner.&rdquo; Custis would express
+&ldquo;sorrow and repentance&rdquo; and do no better. Successively he was sent
+to the College of Philadelphia, the College of New Jersey, and that at
+Annapolis, but from each he was expelled, or had to be withdrawn. Irritating as
+it must have been, his guardian never in his letters expressed anything but
+affection, shielded the lad from the anger of his step-father, and saw that he
+was properly supplied with money, of which he asked him to keep a careful
+account,&mdash;though this, as Washington wrote, was &ldquo;not because I want
+to know how you spend your money.&rdquo; After the last college failure a
+private tutor was once more engaged, but a very few weeks served to give
+Washington &ldquo;a thorough conviction that it was in vain to keep Washington
+Custis to any literary pursuits, either in a public Seminary or at home,&rdquo;
+and, as the next best thing, he procured him a cornetcy in the provisional
+army. Even here, balance was shown; for, out of compliment and friendship to
+Washington, &ldquo;the Major Generals were desirous of placing him as
+lieutenant in the first instance; but his age considered, I thought it more
+eligible that he should enter into the lowest grade.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this connection one side of Washington&rsquo;s course with his relations
+deserves especial notice. As early as 1756 he applied for a commission in the
+Virginia forces for his brother, and, as already shown, he placed several of
+his nephews and other connections in the Revolutionary or provisional armies.
+But he made clear distinction between military and civil appointments, and was
+very scrupulous about the latter. When his favorite nephew asked for a Federal
+appointment, Washington answered,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You cannot doubt my wishes to see you appointed to any office of honor
+or emolument in the new government, to the duties of which you are competent;
+but however deserving you may be of the one you have suggested, your standing
+at the bar would not justify my nomination of you as attorney to the Federal
+District Court in preference to some of the oldest and most esteemed general
+court lawyers in your State, who are desirous of this appointment. My political
+conduct in nominations, even if I were uninfluenced by principle, must be
+exceedingly circumspect and proof against just criticism; for the eyes of Argus
+are upon me, and no slip will pass unnoticed, that can be improved into a
+supposed partiality for friends or relations.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And that in this policy he was consistent is shown by a letter of Jefferson,
+who wrote to an office-seeking relative, &ldquo;The public will never be made
+to believe that an appointment of a relative is made on the ground of merit
+alone, uninfluenced by family views; nor can they ever see with approbation
+offices, the disposal of which they entrust to their Presidents for public
+purposes, divided out as family property. Mr. Adams degraded himself infinitely
+by his conduct on this subject, as Genl. Washington had done himself the
+greatest honor. With two such examples to proceed by, I should be doubly
+inexcusable to err.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were many other more distant relatives with whom pleasant relations were
+maintained, but enough has been said to indicate the intercourse. Frequent were
+the house-parties at Mount Vernon, and how unstinted hospitality was to kith
+and kin is shown by many entries in Washington&rsquo;s diary, a single one of
+which will indicate the rest: &ldquo;I set out for my return home&mdash;at
+which I arrived a little after noon&mdash;And found my Brother Jon Augustine
+his Wife; Daughter Milly, &amp; Sons Bushrod &amp; Corbin, &amp; the Wife of
+the first. Mr. Willm Washington &amp; his Wife and 4 Children.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His will left bequests to forty-one of his own and his wife&rsquo;s relations.
+&ldquo;God left him childless that he might be the father of his
+country.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap02"></a>II<br/>
+PHYSIQUE</h2>
+
+<p>
+Writing to his London tailor for clothes, in 1763, Washington directed him to
+&ldquo;take measure of a gentleman who wares well-made cloaths of the following
+size: to wit, 6 feet high and proportionably made&mdash;if anything rather
+slender than thick, for a person of that highth, with pretty long arms and
+thighs. You will take care to make the breeches longer than those you sent me
+last, and I would have you keep the measure of the cloaths you now make, by
+you, and if any alteration is required in my next it shall be pointed
+out.&rdquo; About this time, too, he ordered &ldquo;6 pr. Man&rsquo;s riding
+Gloves&mdash;rather large than the middle size,&rdquo;… and several dozen pairs
+of stockings, &ldquo;to be long, and tolerably large.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The earliest known description of Washington was written in 1760 by his
+companion-in-arms and friend George Mercer, who attempted a
+&ldquo;portraiture&rdquo; in the following words: &ldquo;He may be described as
+being as straight as an Indian, measuring six feet two inches in his stockings,
+and weighing 175 pounds when he took his seat in the House of Burgesses in
+1759. His frame is padded with well-developed muscles, indicating great
+strength. His bones and joints are large, as are his feet and hands. He is wide
+shouldered, but has not a deep or round chest; is neat waisted, but is broad
+across the hips, and has rather long legs and arms. His head is well shaped
+though not large, but is gracefully poised on a superb neck. A large and
+straight rather than prominent nose; blue-gray penetrating eyes, which are
+widely separated and overhung by a heavy brow. His face is long rather than
+broad, with high round cheek bones, and terminates in a good firm chin. He has
+a clear though rather a colorless pale skin, which burns with the sun. A
+pleasing, benevolent, though a commanding countenance, dark brown hair, which
+he wears in a cue. His mouth is large and generally firmly closed, but which
+from time to time discloses some defective teeth. His features are regular and
+placid, with all the muscles of his face under perfect control, though flexible
+and expressive of deep feeling when moved by emotion. In conversation he looks
+you full in the face, is deliberate, deferential and engaging. His voice is
+agreeable rather than strong. His demeanor at all times composed and dignified.
+His movements and gestures are graceful, his walk majestic, and he is a
+splendid horseman.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dr. James Thacher, writing in 1778, depicted him as &ldquo;remarkably tall,
+full six feet, erect and well proportioned. The strength and proportion of his
+joints and muscles, appear to be commensurate with the pre-eminent powers of
+his mind. The serenity of his countenance, and majestic gracefulness of his
+deportment, impart a strong impression of that dignity and grandeur, which are
+his peculiar characteristics, and no one can stand in his presence without
+feeling the ascendancy of his mind, and associating with his countenance the
+idea of wisdom, philanthropy, magnanimity and patriotism. There is a fine
+symmetry in the features of his face, indicative of a benign and dignified
+spirit. His nose is straight, and his eye inclined to blue. He wears his hair
+in a becoming cue, and from his forehead it is turned back and powdered in a
+manner which adds to the military air of his appearance. He displays a native
+gravity, but devoid of all appearance of ostentation.&rdquo; In this same year
+a friend wrote, &ldquo;General Washington is now in the forty-seventh year of
+his age; he is a well-made man, rather large boned, and has a tolerably genteel
+address; his features are manly and bold, his eyes of a bluish cast and very
+lively; his hair a deep brown, his face rather long and marked with the
+small-pox; his complexion sunburnt and without much color, and his countenance
+sensible, composed and thoughtful; there is a remarkable air of dignity about
+him, with a striking degree of gracefulness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1789 Senator Maclay saw &ldquo;him as he really is. In stature about six
+feet, with an unexceptionable make, but lax appearance. His frame would seem to
+want filling up. His motions rather slow than lively, though he showed no signs
+of having suffered by gout or rheumatism. His complexion pale, nay, almost
+cadaverous. His voice hollow and indistinct, owing, as I believe, to artificial
+teeth before his upper jaw, which occasions a flatness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From frequent opportunity of seeing Washington between 1794 and 1797, William
+Sullivan described him as &ldquo;over six feet in stature; of strong, bony,
+muscular frame, without fullness of covering, well-formed and straight. He was
+a man of most extraordinary strength. In his own house, his action was calm,
+deliberate, and dignified, without pretension to gracefulness, or peculiar
+manner, but merely natural, and such as one would think it should be in such a
+man. When walking in the street, his movement had not the soldierly air which
+might be expected. His habitual motions had been formed, long before he took
+command of the American Armies, in the wars of the interior and in the
+surveying of wilderness lands, employments in which grace and elegance were not
+likely to be acquired. At the age of sixty-five, time had done nothing towards
+bending him out of his natural erectness. His deportment was invariably grave;
+it was sobriety that stopped short of sadness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The French officers and travellers supply other descriptions. The Abbé Robin
+found him of &ldquo;tall and noble stature, well proportioned, a fine,
+cheerful, open countenance, a simple and modest carriage; and his whole mien
+has something in it that interests the French, the Americans, and even enemies
+themselves in his favor.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Marquis de Chastellux wrote enthusiastically, &ldquo;In speaking of this
+perfect whole of which General Washington furnishes the idea, I have not
+excluded exterior form. His stature is noble and lofty, he is well made, and
+exactly proportionate; his physiognomy mild and agreeable, but such as to
+render it impossible to speak particularly of any of his features, so that in
+quitting him you have only the recollection of a fine face. He has neither a
+grave nor a familiar face, his brow is sometimes marked with thought, but never
+with inquietude; in inspiring respect he inspires confidence, and his smile is
+always the smile of benevolence.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To this description, however, Brissot de Warville took exception, and supplied
+his own picture by writing in 1791, &ldquo;You have often heard me blame M.
+Chastellux for putting too much sprightliness in the character he has drawn of
+this general. To give pretensions to the portrait of a man who has none is
+truly absurd. The General&rsquo;s goodness appears in his looks. They have
+nothing of that brilliancy which his officers found in them when he was at the
+head of his army; but in conversation they become animated. He has no
+characteristic traits in his figure, and this has rendered it always so
+difficult to describe it: there are few portraits which resemble him. All his
+answers are pertinent; he shows the utmost reserve, and is very diffident; but,
+at the same time, he is firm and unchangeable in whatever he undertakes. His
+modesty must be very astonishing, especially to a Frenchman.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+British travellers have left a number of pen-portraits. An anonymous writer in
+1790 declared that in meeting him &ldquo;it was not necessary to announce his
+name, for his peculiar appearance, his firm forehead, Roman nose, and a
+projection of the lower jaw, his height and figure, could not be mistaken by
+any one who had seen a full-length picture of him, and yet no picture
+accurately resembled him in the minute traits of his person. His features,
+however, were so marked by prominent characteristics, which appear in all
+likenesses of him, that a stranger could not be mistaken in the man; he was
+remarkably dignified in his manners, and had an air of benignity over his
+features which his visitant did not expect, being rather prepared for sternness
+of countenance…. his smile was extraordinarily attractive. It was observed to
+me that there was an expression in Washington&rsquo;s face that no painter had
+succeeded in taking. It struck me no man could be better formed for command. A
+stature of six feet, a robust, but well-proportioned frame, calculated to
+sustain fatigue, without that heaviness which generally attends great muscular
+strength, and abates active exertion, displayed bodily power of no mean
+standard. A light eye and full&mdash;the very eye of genius and reflection
+rather than of blind passionate impulse. His nose appeared thick, and though it
+befitted his other features, was too coarsely and strongly formed to be the
+handsomest of its class. His mouth was like no other that I ever saw; the lips
+firm and the under jaw seeming to grasp the upper with force, as if its muscles
+were in full action when he sat still.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two years later, an English diplomat wrote of him, &ldquo;His person is tall
+and sufficiently graceful; his face well formed, his complexion rather pale,
+with a mild philosophic gravity in the expression of it In his air and manner
+he displays much natural dignity; in his address he is cold, reserved, and even
+phlegmatic, though without the least appearance of haughtiness or ill-nature;
+it is the effect, I imagine, of constitutional diffidence. That caution and
+circumspection which form so striking and well known a feature in his military,
+and, indeed, in his political character, is very strongly marked in his
+countenance, for his eyes retire inward (do you understand me?) and have
+nothing of fire of animation or openness in their expression.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wansey, who visited Mount Vernon in 1795, portrayed &ldquo;The President in his
+person&rdquo; as &ldquo;tall and thin, but erect; rather of an engaging than a
+dignified presence. He appears very thoughtful, is slow in delivering himself,
+which occasions some to conclude him reserved, but it is rather, I apprehend,
+the effect of much thinking and reflection, for there is great appearance to me
+of affability and accommodation. He was at this time in his sixty-third year …
+but he has very little the appearance of age, having been all his life long so
+exceeding temperate.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1797, Weld wrote, &ldquo;his chest is full; and his limbs, though rather
+slender, well shaped and muscular. His head is small, in which respect he
+resembles the make of a great number of his countrymen. His eyes are of a light
+grey colour; and in proportion to the length of his face, his nose is long. Mr.
+Stewart, the eminent portrait painter, told me, that there were features in his
+face totally different from what he ever observed in that of any other human
+being; the sockets for the eyes, for instance, are larger than what he ever met
+with before, and the upper part of the nose broader. All his features, he
+observed, were indicative of the strongest and most ungovernable passions, and
+had he been born in the forests, it was his opinion that he would have been the
+fiercest man among the savage tribes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Other and briefer descriptions contain a few phrases worth quoting. Samuel
+Sterns said, &ldquo;His countenance commonly carries the impression of a
+serious cast;&rdquo; Maclay, that &ldquo;the President seemed to bear in his
+countenance a settled aspect of melancholy;&rdquo; and the Prince de Broglie
+wrote, &ldquo;His pensive eyes seem more attentive than sparkling, but their
+expression is benevolent, noble and self-possessed.&rdquo; Silas Deane in 1775
+said he had &ldquo;a very young look and an easy soldier-like air and
+gesture,&rdquo; and in the same year Curwen mentioned his &ldquo;fine
+figure&rdquo; and &ldquo;easy and agreeable address.&rdquo; Nathaniel Lawrence
+noted in 1783 that &ldquo;the General weighs commonly about 210 pounds.&rdquo;
+After death, Lear reports that &ldquo;Doctor Dick measured the body, which was
+as follows&mdash;In length 6 ft. 3-1/2 inches exact. Across the shoulders 1.9.
+Across the elbows 2.1.&rdquo; The pleasantest description is Jefferson&rsquo;s:
+&ldquo;His person, you know, was fine, his stature exactly what one would wish,
+his deportment easy, erect and noble.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How far the portraits of Washington conveyed his expression is open to
+question. The quotation already given which said that no picture accurately
+resembled him in the minute traits of his person is worth noting. Furthermore,
+his expression varied much according to circumstances, and the painter saw it
+only in repose. The first time he was drawn, he wrote a friend,
+&ldquo;Inclination having yielded to Importunity, I am now contrary to all
+expectation under the hands of Mr. Peale; but in so grave&mdash;so sullen a
+mood&mdash;and now and then under the influence of Morpheus, when some critical
+strokes are making, that I fancy the skill of this Gentleman&rsquo;s Pencil
+will be put to it, in describing to the World what manner of man I am.&rdquo;
+This passiveness seems to have seized him at other sittings, for in 1785 he
+wrote to a friend who asked him to be painted, &ldquo;<i>In for a penny, in for
+a Pound</i>, is an old adage. I am so hackneyed to the touches of the
+painter&rsquo;s pencil that I am now altogether at their beck; and sit
+&lsquo;like Patience on a monument,&rsquo; whilst they are delineating the
+lines of 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 of the saddle. The next time I submitted very
+reluctantly, but with less flouncing. Now, no dray-horse moves more readily to
+his thills than I to the painter&rsquo;s chair.&rdquo; His aide, Laurens, bears
+this out by writing of a miniature, &ldquo;The defects of this portrait are,
+that the visage is too long, and old age is too strongly marked in it. He is
+not altogether mistaken, with respect to the languor of the general&rsquo;s
+eye; for altho&rsquo; his countenance when affected either by joy or anger, is
+full of expression, yet when the muscles are in a state of repose, his eye
+certainly wants animation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus06"></a>
+<img src="images/img06.jpg" width="451" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">FIRST (FICTITIOUS) ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+One portrait which furnished Washington not a little amusement was an engraving
+issued in London in 1775, when interest in the &ldquo;rebel General&rdquo; was
+great. This likeness, it is needless to say, was entirely spurious, and when
+Reed sent a copy to head-quarters, Washington wrote to him, &ldquo;Mrs.
+Washington desires I will thank you for the picture sent her. Mr. Campbell,
+whom I never saw, to my knowledge, has made a very formidable figure of the
+Commander-in-chief, giving him a sufficient portion of terror in his
+countenance.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The physical strength mentioned by nearly every one who described Washington is
+so undoubted that the traditions of his climbing the walls of the Natural
+Bridge, throwing a stone across the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, and another
+into the Hudson from the top of the Palisades, pass current more from the
+supposed muscular power of the man than from any direct evidence. In addition
+to this, Washington in 1755 claimed to have &ldquo;one of the best of
+constitutions,&rdquo; and again he wrote, &ldquo;for my own part I can answer,
+I have a constitution hardy enough to encounter and undergo the most severe
+trials.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This vigor was not the least reason of Washington&rsquo;s success. In the
+retreat from Brooklyn, &ldquo;for forty-eight hours preceeding that I had
+hardly been off my horse,&rdquo; and between the 13th and the 19th of June of
+1777 &ldquo;I was almost constantly on horseback.&rdquo; After the battle of
+Monmouth, as told elsewhere, he passed the night on a blanket; the first night
+of the siege of York &ldquo;he slept under a mulberry tree, the root serving
+for a pillow,&rdquo; and another time he lay &ldquo;all night in my Great Coat
+&amp; Boots, in a birth not long enough for me by the head, &amp; much
+cramped.&rdquo; Besides the physical strain there was a mental one. During the
+siege of Boston he wrote that &ldquo;The reflection on my situation and that of
+this army, produces many an uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in
+sleep.&rdquo; Humphreys relates that at Newburg in 1783 a revolt of the whole
+army seemed imminent, and &ldquo;when General Washington rose from bed on the
+morning of the meeting, he told the writer his anxiety had prevented him from
+sleeping one moment the preceeding night.&rdquo; Washington observed, in a
+letter written after the Revolution, &ldquo;strange as it may seem, it is
+nevertheless true, that it was not until lately I could get the better of my
+usual custom of ruminating as soon as I awoke in the morning, on the business
+of the ensuing day; and of my surprise at finding, after revolving many things
+in my mind that I was no longer a public man, or had any thing to do with
+public transactions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Despite his strength and constitution, Washington was frequently the victim of
+illness. What diseases of childhood he suffered are not known, but presumably
+measles was among them, for when his wife within the first year of married life
+had an attack he cared for her without catching the complaint. The first of his
+known illnesses was &ldquo;Ague and Feaver, which I had to an extremity&rdquo;
+about 1748, or when he was sixteen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the sea voyage to Barbadoes in 1751, the seamen told Washington that
+&ldquo;they had never seen such weather before,&rdquo; and he says in his diary
+that the sea &ldquo;made the Ship rowl much and me very sick.&rdquo; While in
+the island, he went to dine with a friend &ldquo;with great reluctance, as the
+small-pox was in his family.&rdquo; A fortnight later Washington &ldquo;was
+strongly attacked with the small Pox,&rdquo; which confined him for nearly a
+month, and, as already noted, marked his face for life. Shortly after the
+return voyage he was &ldquo;taken with a violent pleurise, which … reduced me
+very low.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Braddock march, &ldquo;immediately upon our leaving the camp at
+George&rsquo;s Creek, on the 14th, … I was seized with violent fevers and pains
+in my head, which continued without intermission &rsquo;till the 23d following,
+when I was relieved, by the General&rsquo;s [Braddock] absolutely ordering the
+physicians to give me Dr. James&rsquo; powders (one of the most excellent
+medicines in the world), for it gave me immediate ease, and removed my fevers
+and other complaints in four days&rsquo; time. My illness was too violent to
+suffer me to ride; therefore I was indebted to a covered wagon for some part of
+my transportation; but even in this I could not continue far, for the jolting
+was so great, I was left upon the road with a guard, and necessaries, to wait
+the arrival of Colonel Dunbar&rsquo;s detachment which was two days&rsquo;
+march behind us, the General giving me his word of honor, that I should be
+brought up, before he reached the French fort. This <i>promise</i>, and the
+doctor&rsquo;s <i>threats</i>, that, if I persevered in my attempts to get on,
+in the condition I was, my life would be endangered, determined me to halt for
+the above detachment.&rdquo; Immediately upon his return from that campaign, he
+told a brother, &ldquo;I am not able, were I ever so willing, to meet you in
+town, for I assure you it is with some difficulty, and with much fatigue, that
+I visit my plantations in the Neck; so much has a sickness of five weeks&rsquo;
+continuance reduced me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the frontier, towards the end of 1757, he was seized with a violent attack
+of dysentery and fever, which compelled him to leave the army and retire to
+Mount Vernon. Three months later he said, &ldquo;I have never been able to
+return to my command, … my disorder at times returning obstinately upon me, in
+spite of the efforts of all the sons of Aesculapius, whom I have hitherto
+consulted. At certain periods I have been reduced to great extremity, and have
+too much reason to apprehend an approaching decay, being visited with several
+symptoms of such a disease…. I am now under a strict regimen, and shall set out
+to-morrow for Williamsburg to receive the advice of the best physician there.
+My constitution is certainly greatly impaired, and … nothing can retrieve it,
+but the greatest care and the most circumspect conduct.&rdquo; It was in this
+journey that he met his future wife, and either she or the doctor cured him,
+for nothing more is heard of his approaching &ldquo;decay.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1761 he was attacked with a disease which seems incidental to new
+settlements, known in Virginia at that time as the &ldquo;river fever,&rdquo;
+and a hundred years later, farther west, as the &ldquo;break-bone fever,&rdquo;
+and which, in a far milder form, is to-day known as malaria. Hoping to cure it,
+he went over the mountains to the Warm Springs, being &ldquo;much overcome with
+the fatigue of the ride and weather together. However, I think my fevers are a
+good deal abated, although my pains grow rather worse, and my sleep equally
+disturbed. What effect the waters may have upon me I can&rsquo;t say at
+present, but I expect nothing from the air&mdash;this certainly must be
+unwholesome. I purpose staying here a fortnight and longer if
+benefitted.&rdquo; After writing this, a relapse brought him &ldquo;very near
+my last gasp. The indisposition … increased upon me, and I fell into a very low
+and dangerous state. I once thought the grim king would certainly master my
+utmost efforts, and that I must sink, in spite of a noble struggle; but thank
+God, I have now got the better of the disorder, and shall soon be restored, I
+hope, to perfect health again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Revolution, fortunately, he seems to have been wonderfully exempt
+from illness, and not till his retirement to Mount Vernon did an old enemy, the
+ague, reappear. In 1786 he said, in a letter, &ldquo;I write to you with a very
+aching head and disordered frame…. Saturday last, by an imprudent act, I
+brought on an ague and fever on Sunday, which returned with violence Tuesday
+and Thursday; and, if Dr. Craik&rsquo;s efforts are ineffectual I shall have
+them again this day.&rdquo; His diary gives the treatment: &ldquo;Seized with
+an ague before 6 o&rsquo;clock this morning after having laboured under a fever
+all night&mdash;Sent for Dr. Craik who arrived just as we were setting down to
+dinner; who, when he thought my fever sufficiently abated gave me cathartick
+and directed the Bark to be applied in the Morning. September 2. Kept close to
+the House to day, being my fit day in course least any exposure might bring it
+on,&mdash;happily missed it September 14. At home all day repeating dozes of
+Bark of which I took 4 with an interval of 2 hours between.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With 1787 a new foe appeared in the form of &ldquo;a rheumatic complaint which
+has followed me more than six months, is frequently so bad that it is sometimes
+with difficulty I can raise my hand to my head or turn myself in bed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Presidency Washington had several dangerous illnesses, but the
+earliest one had a comic side. In his tour through New England in 1789, so
+Sullivan states, &ldquo;owing to some mismanagement in the reception
+ceremonials at Cambridge, Washington was detained a long time, and the weather
+being inclement, he took cold. For several days afterward a severe influenza
+prevailed at Boston and its vicinity, and was called the <i>Washington
+Influenza</i>.&rdquo; He himself writes of this attack: &ldquo;Myself much
+disordered by a cold, and inflammation in the left eye.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Six months later, in New York, he was &ldquo;indisposed with a bad cold, and at
+home all day writing letters on private business,&rdquo; and this was the
+beginning of &ldquo;a severe illness,&rdquo; which, according to McVickar, was
+&ldquo;a case of anthrax, so malignant as for several days to threaten
+mortification. During this period Dr. Bard never quitted him. On one occasion,
+being left alone with him, General Washington, looking steadily in his face,
+desired his candid opinion as to the probable termination of his disease,
+adding, with that placid firmness which marked his address, &lsquo;Do not
+flatter me with vain hopes; I am not afraid to die, and therefore can bear the
+worst!&rsquo; Dr. Bard&rsquo;s answer, though it expressed hope, acknowledged
+his apprehensions. The President replied, &lsquo;Whether to-night or twenty
+years hence, makes no difference.&rsquo;&rdquo; It was of this that Maclay
+wrote, &ldquo;Called to see the President. Every eye full of tears. His life
+despaired of. Dr. MacKnight told me he would trifle neither with his own
+character nor the public expectation; his danger was imminent, and every reason
+to expect that the event of his disorder would be unfortunate.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During his convalescence the President wrote to a correspondent, &ldquo;I have
+the pleasure to inform you, that my health is restored, but a feebleness still
+hangs upon me, and I am much incommoded by the incision, which was made in a
+very large and painful tumor on the protuberance of my thigh. This prevents me
+from walking or sitting. However, the physicians assure me that it has had a
+happy effect in removing my fever, and will tend very much to the establishment
+of my general health; it is in a fair way of healing, and time and patience
+only are wanting to remove this evil. I am able to take exercise in my coach,
+by having it so contrived as to extend myself the full length of it.&rdquo; He
+himself seems to have thought this succession of illness due to the fatigues of
+office, for he said,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Public meetings, and a dinner once a week to as many as my table will
+hold, with the references <i>to and from</i> the different department of state
+and <i>other</i> communications with <i>all</i> parts of the Union, are as
+much, if not more, than I am able to undergo; for I have already had within
+less than a year, two severe attacks, the last worst than the first. A third,
+more than probable, will put me to sleep with my fathers. At what distance this
+may be I know not. Within the last twelve months I have undergone more and
+severer sickness, than thirty preceding years afflicted me with. Put it all
+together I have abundant reason, however, to be thankful that I am so well
+recovered; though I still feel the remains of the violent affection of my
+lungs; the cough, pain in my breast, and shortness in breathing not having
+entirely left me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While at Mount Vernon in 1794, &ldquo;an exertion to save myself and horse from
+falling among the rocks at the Lower Falls of the Potomac (whither I went on
+Sunday morning to see the canal and locks),… wrenched my back in such a manner
+as to prevent my riding;&rdquo; the &ldquo;hurt&rdquo; &ldquo;confined me
+whilst I was at Mount Vernon,&rdquo; and it was some time before he could
+&ldquo;again ride with ease and safety.&rdquo; In this same year Washington was
+operated on by Dr. Tate for cancer,&mdash;the same disorder from which his
+mother had suffered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After his retirement from office, in 1798, he &ldquo;was seized with a fever,
+of which I took little notice until I was obliged to call for the aid of
+medicine; and with difficulty a remission thereof was so far effected as to
+dose me all night on thursday with Bark&mdash;which having stopped it, and
+weakness only remaining, will soon wear off as my appetite is returning;&rdquo;
+and to a correspondent he apologized for not sooner replying, and pleaded
+&ldquo;debilitated health, occasioned by the fever wch. deprived me of 20 lbs.
+of the weight I had when you and I were at Troy Mills Scales, and rendered
+writing irksome.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A glance at Washington&rsquo;s medical knowledge and opinions may not lack
+interest. In the &ldquo;Rules of civility&rdquo; he had taken so to heart, the
+boy had been taught that &ldquo;In visiting the Sick, do not Presently play the
+Physician if you be not Knowing therein,&rdquo; but plantation life trained
+every man to a certain extent in physicking, and the yearly invoice sent to
+London always ordered such drugs as were needed,&mdash;ipecacuanha, jalap,
+Venice treacle, rhubarb, diacordium, etc., as well as medicines for horses and
+dogs. In 1755 Washington received great benefit from one quack medicine,
+&ldquo;Dr. James&rsquo;s Powders;&rdquo; he once bought a quantity of another,
+&ldquo;Godfrey&rsquo;s Cordial;&rdquo; and at a later time Mrs. Washington
+tried a third, &ldquo;Annatipic Pills.&rdquo; More unenlightened still was a
+treatment prescribed for Patsy Custis, when &ldquo;Joshua Evans who came here
+last night, put a [metal] ring on Patsey (for Fits).&rdquo; A not much higher
+order of treatment was Washington sending for Dr. Laurie to bleed his wife,
+and, as his diary notes, the doctor &ldquo;came here, I may add, drunk,&rdquo;
+so that a night&rsquo;s sleep was necessary before the service could be
+rendered. When the small-pox was raging in the Continental Army, even
+Washington&rsquo;s earnest request could not get the Virginia Assembly to
+repeal a law which forbade inoculation, and he had to urge his wife for over
+four years before he could bring her to the point of submitting to the
+operation. One quality which implies greatness is told by a visitor, who states
+that in his call &ldquo;an allusion was made to a serious fit of illness he had
+recently suffered; but he took no notice of it&rdquo; Custis notes that
+&ldquo;his aversion to the use of medicine was extreme; and, even when in great
+suffering, it was only by the entreaties of his lady, and the respectful, yet
+beseeching look of his oldest friend and companion in arms (Dr. James Craik)
+that he could be prevailed upon to take the slightest preparation of
+medicine.&rdquo; In line with this was his refusal to take anything for a cold,
+saying, &ldquo;Let it go as it came,&rdquo; though this good sense was
+apparently restricted to his own colds, for Watson relates that in a visit to
+Mount Vernon &ldquo;I was extremely oppressed by a severe cold and excessive
+coughing, contracted by the exposure of a harsh 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 bedside, with a bowl of hot tea in his hand.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The acute attacks of illness already touched upon by no means represent all the
+physical debility and suffering of Washington&rsquo;s life. During the
+Revolution his sight became poor, so that in 1778 he first put on glasses for
+reading, and Cobb relates that in the officers&rsquo; meeting in 1783, which
+Washington attended In order to check an appeal to arms, &ldquo;When the
+General took his station at the desk or pulpit, which, you may recollect, was
+in the Temple, he took out his written address from his coat pocket and then
+addressed the officers in the following manner: &lsquo;Gentlemen, you will
+permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray, but almost
+blind, in the service of my country.&rsquo; This little address, with the mode
+and manner of delivering it, drew tears from [many] of the officers.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor did his hearing remain entirely good. Maclay noted, at one of the
+President&rsquo;s dinners in 1789, that &ldquo;he seemed in more good humor
+than I ever saw him, though he was so deaf that I believe he heard little of
+the conversation,&rdquo; and three years later the President is reported as
+saying to Jefferson that he was &ldquo;sensible, too, of a decay of his
+hearing, perhaps his other faculties might fall off and he not be sensible of
+it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington&rsquo;s teeth were even more troublesome. Mercer in 1760 alluded to
+his showing, when his mouth was open, &ldquo;some defective teeth,&rdquo; and
+as early as 1754 one of his teeth was extracted. From this time toothache,
+usually followed by the extraction of the guilty member, became almost of
+yearly recurrence, and his diary reiterates, with verbal variations,
+&ldquo;indisposed with an aching tooth, and swelled and inflamed gum,&rdquo;
+while his ledger contains many items typified by &ldquo;To Dr. Watson drawing a
+tooth 5/.&rdquo; By 1789 he was using false teeth, and he lost his last tooth
+in 1795. At first these substitutes were very badly fitted, and when Stuart
+painted his famous picture he tried to remedy the malformation they gave the
+mouth by padding under the lips with cotton. The result was to make bad worse,
+and to give, in that otherwise fine portrait, a feature at once poor and unlike
+Washington, and for this reason alone the Sharpless miniature, which in all
+else approximates so closely to Stuart&rsquo;s masterpiece, is preferable. In
+1796 Washington was furnished with two sets of &ldquo;sea-horse&rdquo;
+(<i>i.e.</i>, hippopotamus) ivory teeth, and they were so much better fitted
+that the distortion of the mouth ceased to be noticeable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington&rsquo;s final illness began December 12, 1799, in a severe cold
+taken by riding about his plantation while &ldquo;rain, hail and snow&rdquo;
+were &ldquo;falling alternately, with a cold wind.&rdquo; When he came in late
+in the afternoon, Lear &ldquo;observed to him that I was afraid that he had got
+wet, he said no his great coat had kept him dry; but his neck appeared to be
+wet and the snow was hanging on his hair.&rdquo; The next day he had a cold,
+&ldquo;and complained of having a sore throat,&rdquo; yet, though it was
+snowing, none the less he &ldquo;went out in the afternoon … to mark some trees
+which were to be cut down.&rdquo; &ldquo;He had a hoarseness which increased in
+the evening; but he made light of it as he would never take anything to carry
+off a cold, always observing, &lsquo;let it go as it came.&rsquo;&rdquo; At two
+o&rsquo;clock the following morning he was seized with a severe ague, and as
+soon as the house was stirring he sent for an overseer and ordered the man to
+bleed him, and about half a pint of blood was taken from him. At this time he
+could &ldquo;swallow nothing,&rdquo; &ldquo;appeared to be distressed,
+convulsed and almost suffocated.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There can be scarcely a doubt that the treatment of his last illness by the
+doctors was little short of murder. Although he had been bled once already,
+after they took charge of the case they prescribed &ldquo;two pretty copious
+bleedings,&rdquo; and finally a third, &ldquo;when about 32 ounces of blood
+were drawn,&rdquo; or the equivalent of a quart. Of the three doctors, one
+disapproved of this treatment, and a second wrote, only a few days after
+Washington&rsquo;s death, to the third, &ldquo;you must remember&rdquo; Dr.
+Dick &ldquo;was averse to bleeding the General, and I have often thought that
+if we had acted according to his suggestion when he said, &lsquo;he needs all
+his strength&mdash; bleeding will diminish it,&rsquo; and taken no more blood
+from him, our good friend might have been alive now. But we were governed by
+the best light we had; we thought we were right, and so we are
+justified.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shortly after this last bleeding Washington seemed to have resigned himself,
+for he gave some directions concerning his will, and said, &ldquo;I find I am
+going,&rdquo; and, &ldquo;smiling,&rdquo; added, that, &ldquo;as it was the
+debt which we must all pay, he looked to the event with perfect
+resignation.&rdquo; From this time on &ldquo;he appeared to be in great pain
+and distress,&rdquo; and said, &ldquo;Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid
+to go. I believed from my first attack that I should not survive it.&rdquo; A
+little later he said, &ldquo;I feel myself going. I thank you for your
+attention, you had better not take any more trouble about me; but let me go off
+quietly.&rdquo; The last words he said were, &ldquo;&rsquo;Tis well.&rdquo;
+&ldquo;About ten minutes before he expired, his breathing became much
+easier&mdash;he lay quietly&mdash;… and felt his own pulse…. The
+general&rsquo;s hand fell from his wrist,… and he expired without a struggle or
+a Sigh.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap03"></a>III<br/>
+EDUCATION</h2>
+
+<p>
+The father of Washington received his education at Appleby School in England,
+and, true to his alma mater, he sent his two elder sons to the same school. His
+death when George was eleven prevented this son from having the same advantage,
+and such education as he had was obtained in Virginia. His old friend, and
+later enemy, Rev. Jonathan Boucher, said that &ldquo;George, like most people
+thereabouts at that time, had no education than reading, writing and accounts
+which he was taught by a convict servant whom his father bought for a
+schoolmaster;&rdquo; but Boucher managed to include so many inaccuracies in his
+account of Washington, that even if this statement were not certainly
+untruthful in several respects, it could be dismissed as valueless.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Born at Wakefield, in Washington parish, Westmoreland, which had been the home
+of the Washingtons from their earliest arrival in Virginia, George was too
+young while the family continued there to attend the school which had been
+founded in that parish by the gift of four hundred and forty acres from some
+early patron of knowledge. When the boy was about three years old, the family
+removed to &ldquo;Washington,&rdquo; as Mount Vernon was called before it was
+renamed, and dwelt there from 1735 till 1739, when, owing to the burning of the
+homestead, another remove was made to an estate on the Rappahannock, nearly
+opposite Fredericksburg.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here it was that the earliest education of George was received, for in an old
+volume of the Bishop of Exeter&rsquo;s Sermons his name is written, and on a
+flyleaf a note in the handwriting of a relative who inherited the library
+states that this &ldquo;autograph of George Washington&rsquo;s name is believed
+to be the earliest specimen of his handwriting, when he was probably not more
+than eight or nine years old.&rdquo; During this period, too, there came into
+his possession the &ldquo;Young Man&rsquo;s Companion,&rdquo; an English
+<i>vade-mecum</i> of then enormous popularity, written &ldquo;in a plain and
+easy stile,&rdquo; the title states, &ldquo;that a young Man may attain the
+same, without a Tutor.&rdquo; It would be easier to say what this little book
+did not teach than to catalogue what it did. How to read, write, and figure is
+but the introduction to the larger part of the work, which taught one to write
+letters, wills, deeds, and all legal forms, to measure, survey, and navigate,
+to build houses, to make ink and cider, and to plant and graft, how to address
+letters to people of quality, how to doctor the sick, and, finally, how to
+conduct one&rsquo;s self in company. The evidence still exists of how carefully
+Washington studied this book, in the form of copybooks, in which are
+transcribed problem after problem and rule after rule, not to exclude the
+famous Rules of civility, which biographers of Washington have asserted were
+written by the boy himself. School-mates thought fit, after Washington became
+famous, to remember his &ldquo;industry and assiduity at school as very
+remarkable,&rdquo; and the copies certainly bear out the statement, but even
+these prove that the lad was as human as the man, for scattered here and there
+among the logarithms, geometrical problems, and legal forms are crude drawings
+of birds, faces, and other typical school-boy attempts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From this book, too, came two qualities which clung to him through life. His
+handwriting, so easy, flowing, and legible, was modelled from the engraved
+&ldquo;copy&rdquo; sheet, and certain forms of spelling were acquired here that
+were never corrected, though not the common usage of his time. To the end of
+his life, Washington wrote lie, lye; liar, lyar; ceiling, cieling; oil, oyl;
+and blue, blew, as in his boyhood he had learned to do from this book. Even in
+his carefully prepared will, &ldquo;lye&rdquo; was the form in which he wrote
+the word. It must be acknowledged that, aside from these errors which he had
+been taught, through his whole life Washington was a non-conformist as regarded
+the King&rsquo;s English: struggle as he undoubtedly did, the instinct of
+correct spelling was absent, and thus every now and then a verbal slip
+appeared: extravagence, lettely (for lately), glew, riffle (for rifle), latten
+(for Latin), immagine, winder, rief (for rife), oppertunity, spirma citi,
+yellow oaker,&mdash;such are types of his lapses late in life, while his
+earlier letters and journals are far more inaccurate. It must be borne in mind,
+however, that of these latter we have only the draughts, which were undoubtedly
+written carelessly, and the two letters actually sent which are now known, and
+the text of his surveys before he was twenty, are quite as well written as his
+later epistles.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus07"></a>
+<img src="images/img07.jpg" width="600" height="297" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption"><i>Easy Copies to Write by</i>.<br />
+COPY OF PENMANSHIP BY WHICH WASHINGTON&rsquo;S HANDWRITING WAS FORMED</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+On the death of his father, Washington went to live with his brother Augustine,
+in order, it is presumed, that he might take advantage of a good school near
+Wakefield, kept by one Williams; but after a time he returned to his
+mother&rsquo;s, and attended the school kept by the Rev. James Marye, in
+Fredericksburg. It has been universally asserted by his biographers that he
+studied no foreign language, but direct proof to the contrary exists in a copy
+of Patrick&rsquo;s Latin translation of Homer, printed in 1742, the fly-leaf of
+a copy of which bears, in a school-boy hand, the inscription:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;Hunc mihi quaeso (bone Vir) Libellum<br/>
+Redde, si forsan tenues repertum<br/>
+Ut Scias qui sum sine fraude Scriptum.
+</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+Est mihi nomen,                <br/>
+Georgio Washington,            <br/>
+George Washington,        <br/>
+Fredericksburg,    <br/>
+Virginia.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is thus evident that the reverend teacher gave Washington at least the first
+elements of Latin, but it is equally clear that the boy, like most others,
+forgot it with the greatest facility as soon as he ceased studying.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The end of Washington&rsquo;s school-days left him, if a good
+&ldquo;cipherer,&rdquo; a bad speller, and a still worse grammarian, but,
+fortunately, the termination of instruction did not by any means end his
+education. From that time there is to be noted a steady improvement in both
+these failings. Pickering stated that &ldquo;when I first became acquainted
+with the General (in 1777) his writing was defective in grammar, and even
+spelling, owing to the insufficiency of his early education; of which, however,
+he gradually got the better in the subsequent years of his life, by the
+official perusal of some excellent models, particularly those of Hamilton; by
+writing with care and patient attention; and reading numerous, indeed
+multitudes of letters to and from his friends and correspondents. This obvious
+improvement was begun during the war.&rdquo; In 1785 a contemporary noted that
+&ldquo;the General is remarked for writing a most elegant letter,&rdquo; adding
+that, &ldquo;like the famous Addison, his writing excells his speaking,&rdquo;
+and Jefferson said that &ldquo;he wrote readily, rather diffusely, in an easy
+and correct style. This he had acquired by conversation with the world, for his
+education was merely reading, writing and common arithmetic, to which he added
+surveying at a later day.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There can be no doubt that Washington felt his lack of education very keenly as
+he came to act upon a larger sphere than as a Virginia planter. &ldquo;I am
+sensible,&rdquo; he wrote a friend, of his letters, &ldquo;that the narrations
+are just, and that truth and honesty will appear in my writings; of which,
+therefore, I shall not be ashamed, though criticism may censure my
+style.&rdquo; When his secretary suggested to him that he should write his own
+life, he replied, &ldquo;In a former letter I informed you, my dear Humphreys,
+that if I had <i>talents</i> for it, I have not leisure to turn my thoughts to
+Commentaries. A consciousness of a defective education, and a certainty of the
+want of time, unfit me for such an undertaking.&rdquo; On being pressed by a
+French comrade-in-arms to pay France a visit, he declined, saying,
+&ldquo;Remember, my good friend, that I am unacquainted with your language,
+that I am too far advanced in years to acquire a knowledge of it, and that, to
+converse through the medium of an interpreter upon common occasions, especially
+with the Ladies, must appear so extremely awkward, insipid, and uncouth, that I
+can scarce bear it in idea.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1788, without previous warning, he was elected chancellor of William and
+Mary College, a distinction by which he felt &ldquo;honored and greatly
+affected;&rdquo; but &ldquo;not knowing particularly what duties, or whether
+any active services are immediately expected from the person holding the office
+of chancellor, I have been greatly embarrassed in deciding upon the public
+answer proper to be given…. My difficulties are briefly these. On the one hand,
+nothing in this world could be farther from my heart, than … a refusal of the
+appointment … provided its duties are not incompatible with the mode of life to
+which I have entirely addicted myself; and, on the other hand, I would not for
+any consideration disappoint the just expectations of the convocation by
+accepting an office, whose functions I previously knew … I should be absolutely
+unable to perform.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Perhaps the most touching proof of his own self-depreciation was something he
+did when he had become conscious that his career would be written about. Still
+in his possession were the letter-books in which he had kept copies of his
+correspondence while in command of the Virginia regiment between 1754 and 1759,
+and late in life he went through these volumes, and, by interlining
+corrections, carefully built them into better literary form. How this was done
+is shown here by a single facsimile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the appointment to command the Continental Army, a secretary was secured,
+and in an absence of this assistant he complained to him that &ldquo;my
+business increases very fast, and my distresses for want of you along with it.
+Mr. Harrison is the only gentleman of my family, that can afford me the least
+assistance in writing. He and Mr. Moylan,… have heretofore afforded me their
+aid; and … they have really had a great deal of trouble.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Most of Washington&rsquo;s correspondence during the Revolution was written by
+his aides. Pickering said,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As to the public letters bearing his signature, it is certain that he
+could not have maintained so extensive a correspondence with his own pen, even
+if he had possessed the ability and promptness of Hamilton. That he would,
+sometimes with propriety, observe upon, correct, and add to any draught
+submitted for his examination and signature, I have no doubt. And yet I doubt
+whether many, if any, of the letters … are his own draught…. I have even reason
+to believe that not only the <i>composition</i>, the <i>clothing of the
+ideas</i>, but the <i>ideas themselves</i>, originated generally with the
+writers; that Hamilton and Harrison, in particular, were scarcely in any degree
+his amanuenses. I remember, when at head-quarters one day, at Valley Forge,
+Colonel Harrison came down from the General&rsquo;s chamber, with his brows
+knit, and thus accosted me, &lsquo;I wish to the Lord the General would give me
+the heads or some idea, of what he would have me write.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus08"></a>
+<img src="images/img08.jpg" width="379" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">CORRECTED LETTER OF WASHINGTON SHOWING LATER CHANGES</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+After the Revolution, a visitor at Mount Vernon said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+astonishing the packet of letters that daily comes for him from all parts of
+the world, which employ him most of the morning to answer.&rdquo; A secretary
+was employed, but not so much to do the actual writing as the copying and
+filing, and at this time Washington complained &ldquo;that my numerous
+correspondencies are daily becoming irksome to me.&rdquo; Yet there can be
+little question that he richly enjoyed writing when it was not for the public
+eye. &ldquo;It is not the letters of my friends which give me trouble,&rdquo;
+he wrote to one correspondent; to another he said, &ldquo;I began with telling
+you that I should not write a lengthy letter but the result has been to
+contradict it;&rdquo; and to a third, &ldquo;when I look back to the length of
+this letter, I am so much astonished and frightened at it myself that I have
+not the courage to give it a careful reading for the purpose of correction. You
+must, therefore, receive it with all its imperfections, accompanied with this
+assurance, that, though there may be inaccuracies in the letter, there is not a
+single defect in the friendship.&rdquo; Occasionally there was, as here, an
+apology: &ldquo;I am persuaded you will excuse this scratch&rsquo;d scrawl,
+when I assure you it is with difficulty I write at all,&rdquo; he ended a
+letter in 1777, and in 1792 of another said, &ldquo;You must receive it blotted
+and scratched as you find it for I have not time to copy it. It is now ten
+o&rsquo;clock at night, after my usual hour for retiring to rest, and the mail
+will be closed early to-morrow morning.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To his overseer, who neglected to reply to some of his questions, he told his
+method of writing, which is worth quoting:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Whenever I set down to write you, I read your letter, or letters
+carefully over, and as soon as I come to a part that requires to be noticed, I
+make a short note on the cover of a letter or piece of waste paper;&mdash;then
+read on the next, noting that in like manner;&mdash;and so on until I have got
+through the whole letter and reports. Then in writing my letter to you, as soon
+as I have finished what I have to say on one of these notes I draw my pen
+through it and proceed to another and another until the whole is
+done&mdash;crossing each as I go on, by which means if I am called off twenty
+times whilst I am writing, I can never with these notes before me finished or
+unfinished, omit anything I wanted to say; and they serve me also, as I keep no
+copies of letters I wrote to you, as Memorandums of what has been written if I
+should have occasion at any time to refer to them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another indication of his own knowledge of defects is shown by his fear about
+his public papers. When his Journal to the Ohio was printed by order of the
+governor, in 1754, in the preface the young author said, &ldquo;I think I can
+do no less than apologize, in some Measure, for the numberless imperfections of
+it. There intervened but one Day between my Arrival in Williamsburg, and the
+Time for the Council&rsquo;s Meeting, for me to prepare and transcribe, from
+the rough Minutes I had taken in my Travels, this Journal; the writing of which
+only was sufficient to employ me closely the whole Time, consequently admitted
+of no Leisure to consult of a new and proper Form to offer it in, or to correct
+or amend the Diction of the old.&rdquo; Boucher states that the publication,
+&ldquo;in Virginia at least, drew on him some ridicule.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This anxiety about his writings was shown all through life, and led Washington
+to rely greatly on such of his friends as would assist him, even to the point,
+so Reed thought, that he &ldquo;sometimes adopted draughts of writing when his
+own would have been better … from an extreme diffidence in himself,&rdquo; and
+Pickering said, in writing to an aide,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Although the General&rsquo;s private correspondence was doubtless, for
+the most part, his own, and extremely acceptable to the persons addressed; yet,
+in regard to whatever was destined to meet the public eye, he seems to have
+been fearful to exhibit his own compositions, relying too much on the judgment
+of his friends, and sometimes adopted draughts that were exceptionable. Some
+parts of his private correspondence must have essentially differed from other
+parts in the style of composition. You mention your own aids to the General in
+this line. Now, if I had your draughts before me, mingled with the
+General&rsquo;s to the same persons, nothing would be more easy than to assign
+to each his own proper offspring. You could neither restrain your
+<i>courser</i>, nor conceal your imagery, nor express your ideas otherwise than
+in the language of a scholar. The General&rsquo;s compositions would be
+perfectly plain and didactic, and not always correct.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Presidency, scarcely anything of a public nature was penned by
+Washington,&mdash;Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and Randolph acting as his
+draughtsmen. &ldquo;We are approaching the first Monday in December by hasty
+strides,&rdquo; he wrote to Jefferson. &ldquo;I pray you, therefore, to revolve
+in your mind such matters as may be proper for me to lay before Congress, not
+only in your own department, (if any there be,) but such others of a general
+nature, as may happen to occur to you, that I may be prepared to open the
+session with such communication, as shall appear to merit attention.&rdquo; Two
+years later he said to the same, &ldquo;I pray you to note down or rather to
+frame into paragraphs or sections, such matters as may occur to you as fit and
+proper for general communication at the opening of the next session of
+Congress, not only in the department of state, but on any other subject
+applicable to the occasion, that I may in due time have everything before
+me.&rdquo; To Hamilton he wrote in 1795, &ldquo;Having desired the late
+Secretary of State to note down every matter as it occurred, proper either for
+the speech at the opening of the session, or for messages afterwards, the
+inclosed paper contains everything I could extract from that office. Aid me, I
+pray you, with your sentiments on these points, and such others as may have
+occurred to you relative to my communications to Congress.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The best instance is furnished in the preparation of the Farewell Address.
+First Madison was asked to prepare a draft, and from this Washington drew up a
+paper, which he submitted to Hamilton and Jay, with the request that
+&ldquo;even if you should think it best to throw the whole into a different
+form, let me request, notwithstanding, that my draught may be returned to me
+(along with yours) with such amendments and corrections as to render it as
+perfect as the formation is susceptible of; curtailed if too verbose; and
+relieved of all tautology not necessary to enforce the ideas in the original or
+quoted part. My wish is that the whole may appear in a plain style, and be
+handed to the public in an honest, unaffected, simple part.&rdquo; Accordingly,
+Hamilton prepared what was almost a new instrument in form, though not in
+substance, which, after &ldquo;several serious and attentive readings,&rdquo;
+Washington wrote that he preferred &ldquo;greatly to the other draughts, being
+more copious on material points, more dignified on the whole, and with less
+egotism; of course, less exposed to criticism, and better calculated to meet
+the eye of discerning readers (foreigners particularly, whose curiosity I have
+little doubt will lead them to inspect it attentively, and to pronounce their
+opinions on the performance).&rdquo; The paper was then, according to
+Pickering, &ldquo;put into the hands of Wolcott, McHenry, and myself … with a
+request that we would examine it, and note any alterations and corrections
+which we should think best. We did so; but our notes, as well as I recollect,
+were very few, and regarded chiefly the grammar and composition.&rdquo;
+Finally, Washington revised the whole, and it was then made public.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Confirmatory of this sense of imperfect cultivation are the pains he took that
+his adopted son and grandson should be well educated. As already noted, tutors
+for both were secured at the proper ages, and when Jack was placed with the
+Rev. Mr. Boucher, Washington wrote: &ldquo;In respect to the kinds, &amp;
+manner of his Studying I leave it wholely to your better Judgment&mdash;had he
+begun, or rather pursued his study of the Greek Language, I should have thought
+it no bad acquisition; but whether if he acquire this now, he may not forego
+some useful branches of learning, is a matter worthy of consideration. To be
+acquainted with the French Tongue is become part of polite Education; and to a
+man who has the prospect of mixing in a large Circle absolutely necessary.
+Without Arithmetick, the common affairs of Life are not to be managed with
+success. The study of Geometry, and the Mathematics (with due regard to the
+limites of it) is equally advantageous. The principles of Philosophy Moral,
+Natural, &amp;c. I should think a very desirable knowledge for a
+Gentleman.&rdquo; So, too, he wrote to Washington Custis, &ldquo;I do not hear
+you mention anything of geography or mathematics as parts of your study; both
+these are necessary branches of useful knowledge. Nor ought you to let your
+knowledge of the Latin language and grammatical rules escape you. And the
+French language is now so universal, and so necessary with foreigners, or in a
+foreign country, that I think you would be injudicious not to make yourself
+master of it.&rdquo; It is worth noting in connection with this last sentence
+that Washington used only a single French expression with any frequency, and
+that he always wrote &ldquo;faupas.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quite as indicative of the value he put on education was the aid he gave
+towards sending his young relatives and others to college, his annual
+contribution to an orphan school, his subscriptions to academies, and his wish
+for a national university. In 1795 he said,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It has always been a source of serious reflection and sincere regret
+with me, that the youth of the United States should be sent to foreign
+countries for the purpose of education…. For this reason I have greatly wished
+to see a plan adopted, by which the arts, sciences, and belles-lettres could be
+taught in their <i>fullest</i> extent, thereby embracing <i>all</i> the
+advantages of European tuition, with the means of acquiring the liberal
+knowledge, which is necessary to qualify our citizens for the exigencies of
+public as well as private life; and (which with me is a consideration of great
+magnitude) by assembling the youth from the different parts of this rising
+republic, contributing from their intercourse and interchange of information to
+the removal of prejudices, which might perhaps sometimes arise from local
+circumstances.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In framing his Farewell Address, &ldquo;revolving … on the various matters it
+contained and on the first expression of the advice or recommendation which was
+given in it, I have regretted that another subject (which in my estimation is
+of interesting concern to the well-being of this country) was not touched upon
+also; I mean education generally, as one of the surest means of enlightening
+and giving just ways of thinking to our citizens, but particularly the
+establishment of a university; where the youth from all parts of the United
+States might receive the polish of erudition in the arts, sciences and
+belles-lettres.&rdquo; Eventually he reduced this idea to a plea for the people
+to &ldquo;promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for
+the general diffusion of knowledge,&rdquo; because &ldquo;in proportion as the
+structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that
+public opinion should be enlightened.&rdquo; By his will he left to the
+endowment of a university in the District of Columbia the shares in the Potomac
+Company which had been given him by the State of Virginia, but the clause was
+never carried into effect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was in 1745 that Washington&rsquo;s school-days came to an end. His share of
+his father&rsquo;s property being his mother&rsquo;s till he was twenty-one, a
+livelihood had to be found, and so at about fourteen years of age the work of
+life began. Like a true boy, the lad wanted to go to sea, despite his
+uncle&rsquo;s warning &ldquo;that I think he had better be put apprentice to a
+tinker; for a common sailor before the mast has by no means the liberty of the
+subject; for they will press him from a ship where he has fifty shillings a
+month; and make him take twenty-three, and cut and slash, and use him like a
+negro, or rather like a dog.&rdquo; His mother, however, would not consent, and
+to this was due his becoming a surveyor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From his &ldquo;Young Man&rsquo;s Companion&rdquo; Washington had already
+learned the use of Gunter&rsquo;s rule and how it should be used in surveying,
+and to complete his knowledge he seems to have taken lessons of the licensed
+surveyor of Westmoreland County, James Genn, for transcripts of some of the
+surveys drawn by Genn still exist in the handwriting of his pupil. This implied
+a distinct and very valuable addition to his knowledge, and a large number of
+his surveys still extant are marvels of neatness and careful drawing. As a
+profession it was followed for only four years (1747-1751), but all through
+life he often used his knowledge in measuring or platting his own property. Far
+more important is the service it was to him in public life. In 1755 he sent to
+Braddock&rsquo;s secretary a map of the &ldquo;back country,&rdquo; and to the
+governor of Virginia plans of two forts. During the Revolution it helped him
+not merely in the study of maps, but also in the facility it gave him to take
+in the topographical features of the country. Very largely, too, was the
+selection of the admirable site for the capital due to his supervising: all the
+plans for the city were submitted to him, and nowhere do the good sense and
+balance of the man appear to better advantage than in his correspondence with
+the Federal city commissioners.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Washington&rsquo;s earliest account-book there is an item when he was
+sixteen years old, &ldquo;To cash pd ye Musick Master for my Entrance
+3/9.&rdquo; It is commonly said that he played the flute, but this is as great
+a libel on him as any Tom Paine wrote, and though he often went to concerts,
+and though fond of hearing his granddaughter Nelly play and sing, he never was
+himself a performer, and the above entry probably refers to the singing-master
+whom the boys and girls of that day made the excuse for evening frolics.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mention is made elsewhere of his taking lessons in the sword exercise from Van
+Braam in these earlier years, and in 1756 he paid to Sergeant Wood,
+fencing-master, the sum of £1.1.6. When he received the offer of a position on
+Braddock&rsquo;s staff, he acknowledged, in accepting, that &ldquo;I must be
+ingenuous enough to confess, that I am not a little biassed by selfish
+considerations. To explain, Sir, I wish earnestly to attain some knowledge in
+the military profession, and, believing a more favorable opportunity cannot
+offer, than to serve under a gentleman of General Braddock&rsquo;s abilities
+and experience, it does … not a little contribute to influence my
+choice.&rdquo; Hamilton is quoted as saying that Washington &ldquo;never read
+any book upon the art of war but Sim&rsquo;s Military Guide,&rdquo; and an
+anonymous author asserted that &ldquo;he never read a book in the art of war of
+higher value than Bland&rsquo;s Exercises.&rdquo; Certain it is that nearly all
+the military knowledge he possessed was derived from practice rather than from
+books, and though, late in life, he purchased a number of works on the subject,
+it was after his army service was over.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One factor in Washington&rsquo;s education which must not go unnoticed was his
+religious belief. When only two months old he was baptized, presumably by the
+Rev. Lawrence De Butts, the clergyman of Washington parish. The removal from
+that locality prevented any further religious influence from this clergyman,
+and it probably first came from the Rev. Charles Green, of Truro parish, who
+had received his appointment through the friendship of Washington&rsquo;s
+father, and who later was on such friendly terms with Washington that he
+doctored Mrs. Washington in an attack of the measles, and caught and returned
+two of his parishioner&rsquo;s runaway slaves. As early as 1724 the clergyman
+of the parish in which Mount Vernon was situated reported that he catechised
+the youth of his congregation &ldquo;in Lent and a great part of the
+Summer,&rdquo; and George, as the son of one of his vestrymen, undoubtedly
+received a due amount of questioning.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From 1748 till 1759 there was little church-going for the young surveyor or
+soldier, but after his marriage and settling at Mount Vernon he was elected
+vestryman in the two parishes of Truro and Fairfax, and from that election he
+was quite active in church affairs. It may be worth noting that in the
+elections of 1765 the new vestryman stood third in popularity in the Truro
+church and fifth in that of Fairfax. He drew the plans for a new church in
+Truro, and subscribed to its building, intending &ldquo;to lay the foundation
+of a family pew,&rdquo; but by a vote of the vestry it was decided that there
+should be no private pews, and this breach of contract angered Washington so
+greatly that he withdrew from the church in 1773. Sparks quotes Madison to the
+effect that &ldquo;there was a tradition that, when he [Washington] belonged to
+the vestry of a church in his neighborhood, and several little difficulties
+grew out of some division of the society, he sometimes spoke with great force,
+animation, and eloquence on the topics that came before them.&rdquo; After this
+withdrawal he bought a pew in Christ Church in Alexandria (Fairfax parish),
+paying £36.10, which was the largest price paid by any parishioner. To this
+church he was quite liberal, subscribing several times towards repairs, etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Rev. Lee Massey, who was rector at Pohick (Truro) Church before the
+Revolution, is quoted by Bishop Meade as saying that
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I never knew so constant an attendant in church as Washington. And his
+behavior in the house of God was ever so deeply reverential that it produced
+the happiest effect on my congregation, and greatly assisted me in my pulpit
+labors. No company ever withheld him from church. I have often been at Mount
+Vernon on Sabbath morning, when his breakfast table was filled with guests; but
+to him they furnished no pretext for neglecting his God and losing the
+satisfaction of setting a good example. For instead of staying at home, out of
+false complaisance to them, he used constantly to invite them to accompany
+him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This seems to have been written more with an eye to its influence on others
+than to its strict accuracy. During the time Washington attended at Pohick
+Church he was by no means a regular church-goer. His daily &ldquo;where and how
+my time is spent&rdquo; enables us to know exactly how often he attended
+church, and in the year 1760 he went just sixteen times, and in 1768 he went
+fourteen, these years being fairly typical of the period 1760-1773. During the
+Presidency a sense of duty made him attend St Paul&rsquo;s and Christ churches
+while in New York and Philadelphia, but at Mount Vernon, when the public eye
+was not upon him, he was no more regular than he had always been, and in the
+last year of his life he wrote, &ldquo;Six days do I labor, or, in other words,
+take exercise and devote my time to various occupations in Husbandry, and about
+my mansion. On the seventh, now called the first day, for want of a place of
+Worship (within less than nine miles) such letters as do not require immediate
+acknowledgment I give answers to…. But it hath so happened, that on the two
+last Sundays&mdash;call them the first or the seventh as you please, I have
+been unable to perform the latter duty on account of visits from Strangers,
+with whom I could not use the freedom to leave alone, or recommend to the care
+of each other, for their amusement.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What he said here was more or less typical of his whole life. Sunday was always
+the day on which he wrote his private letters,&mdash;even prepared his
+invoices,&mdash;and he wrote to one of his overseers that his letters should be
+mailed so as to reach him Saturday, as by so doing they could be answered the
+following day. Nor did he limit himself to this, for he entertained company,
+closed land purchases, sold wheat, and, while a Virginia planter, went
+foxhunting, on Sunday. It is to be noted, however, that he considered the
+scruples of others as to the day. When he went among his western tenants,
+rent-collecting, he entered in his diary that, it &ldquo;being Sunday and the
+People living on my Land <i>apparently</i> very religious, it was thought best
+to postpone going among them till to-morrow,&rdquo; and in his journey through
+New England, because it was &ldquo;contrary to the law and disagreeable to the
+People of this State (Connecticut) to travel on the Sabbath day&mdash;and my
+horses, after passing through such intolerable roads, wanting rest, I stayed at
+Perkins&rsquo; tavern (which, by the bye, is not a good one) all day&mdash;and
+a meetinghouse being within a few rods of the door, I attended the morning and
+evening services, and heard very lame discourses from a Mr. Pond.&rdquo; It is
+of this experience that tradition says the President started to travel, but was
+promptly arrested by a Connecticut tithing-man. The story, however, lacks
+authentication.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There can be no doubt that religious intolerance was not a part of
+Washington&rsquo;s character. In 1775, when the New England troops intended to
+celebrate Guy Fawkes day, as usual, the General Orders declared that &ldquo;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 of common sense, as not to see the impropriety of such a
+step.&rdquo; When trying to secure some servants, too, he wrote that &ldquo;if
+they are good workmen, they may be from Asia, Africa, or Europe; they may be
+Mahometans, Jews, or Christians of any sect, or they may be Atheists.&rdquo;
+When the bill taxing all the people of Virginia to support the Episcopal Church
+(his own) was under discussion, he threw his weight against it, as far as
+concerned the taxing of other sectaries, but adding:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Although no man&rsquo;s sentiments are more opposed to any kind of
+restraint upon religious principles than mine are, yet I must confess, that I
+am not amongst the number of those, who are so much alarmed at the thoughts of
+making people pay towards the support of that which they profess, if of the
+denomination, of Christians, or to declare themselves Jews, Mahometans, or
+otherwise, and thereby obtain proper relief. As the matter now stands, I wish
+an assessment had never been agitated, and as it has gone so far, that the bill
+could die an easy death; because I think it will be productive of more quiet to
+the State, than by enacting it into a law, which in my opinion would be
+impolitic, admitting there is a decided majority for it, to the disquiet of a
+respectable minority. In the former case, the matter will soon subside; in the
+latter, it will rankle and perhaps convulse the State.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again in a letter he says,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are
+caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate
+and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in hopes, that the
+lightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least
+have reconciled <i>Christians</i> of every denomination so far, that we should
+never again see their religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger
+the peace of society.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And to Lafayette, alluding to the proceedings of the Assembly of Notables, he
+wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am not less ardent in my wish, that you may succeed in your plan of
+toleration in religious matters. Being no bigot myself, I am disposed to
+indulge the professors of Christianity in the church with that road to Heaven,
+which to them shall seem the most direct, plainest, easiest, and least liable
+to exception.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What Washington believed has been a source of much dispute. Jefferson states
+&ldquo;that Gouverneur Morris, who pretended to be in his secrets, and believed
+himself to be so, has often told me that General Washington believed no more of
+that system than he himself did,&rdquo; and Morris, it is scarcely necessary to
+state, was an atheist. The same authority quotes Rush, to the effect that
+&ldquo;when the clergy addressed General Washington on his departure from the
+government, it was observed in their consultation, that he had never, on any
+occasion, said a word to the public which showed a belief in the Christian
+religion, and they thought they should so pen their address, as to force him at
+length to declare publicly whether he was a Christian or not They did so. But,
+he observed, the old fox was too cunning for them. He answered every article of
+their address particularly except that, which he passed over without
+notice.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whatever his belief, in all public ways Washington threw his influence in favor
+of religion, and kept what he really believed a secret, and in only one thing
+did he disclose his real thoughts. It is asserted that before the Revolution he
+partook of the sacrament, but this is only affirmed by hearsay, and better
+evidence contradicts it. After that war he did not, it is certain. Nelly Custis
+states that on &ldquo;communion Sundays he left the church with me, after the
+blessing, and returned home, and we sent the carriage back for my
+grandmother.&rdquo; And the assistant minister of Christ Church in Philadelphia
+states that&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Observing that on Sacrament Sundays, Gen&rsquo;l Washington, immediately
+after the Desk and Pulpit services, went out with the greater part of the
+congregation, always leaving Mrs. Washington with the communicants, she
+<i>invariably</i> being one, I considered it my duty, in a sermon on Public
+Worship, to state the unhappy tendency of <i>example</i>, particularly those in
+elevated stations, who invariably turned their backs upon the celebration of
+the Lord&rsquo;s Supper. I acknowledge the remark was intended for the
+President, as such, he received it. A few days after, in conversation with, I
+believe, a Senator of the U.S. he told me he had dined the day before with the
+President, who in the course of the conversation at the table, said, that on
+the preceding Sunday, he had received a very just reproof from the pulpit, for
+always leaving the church before the administration of the Sacrament; that he
+honored the preacher for his integrity and candour; that he had never
+considered the influence of his example; that he would never again give cause
+for the repetition of the reproof; and that, as he had never been a
+communicant, were he to become one then, it would be imputed to an ostentatious
+display of religious zeal arising altogether from his elevated station.
+Accordingly he afterwards never came on the morning of Sacrament Sunday,
+tho&rsquo; at other times, a constant attendant in the morning.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nelly Custis, too, tells us that Washington always &ldquo;stood during the
+devotional part of the service,&rdquo; and Bishop White states that &ldquo;his
+behavior was always serious and attentive; but, as your letter seems to intend
+an inquiry on the point of kneeling during the service, I owe it to the truth
+to declare, that I never saw him in the said attitude.&rdquo; Probably his true
+position is described by Madison, who is quoted as saying that he did
+&ldquo;not suppose that Washington had ever attended to the arguments for
+Christianity, and for the different systems of religion, or in fact that he had
+formed definite opinions on the subject. But he took these things as he found
+them existing, and was constant in his observances of worship according to the
+received forms of the Episcopal Church, in which he was brought up.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If there was proof needed that it is mind and not education which pushes a man
+to the front, it is to be found in the case of Washington. Despite his want of
+education, he had, so Bell states, &ldquo;an excellent understanding.&rdquo;
+Patrick Henry is quoted as saying of the members of the Congress of 1774&mdash;
+the body of which Adams claimed that &ldquo;every man in it is a great man, an
+orator, a critic, a statesman&rdquo;&mdash;that &ldquo;if you speak of solid
+information and sound judgment Colonel Washington is unquestionably the
+greatest man on the floor;&rdquo; while Jefferson asserted that &ldquo;his mind
+was great and powerful, without being of the very first order; his penetration
+strong, though not so acute as that of a Newton, Bacon, or Locke; and as far as
+he saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It was slow in operation, being little
+aided by invention or imagination, but sure in conclusion.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap04"></a>IV<br/>
+RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX</h2>
+
+<p>
+The book from which Washington derived almost the whole of his education warned
+its readers,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;Young Men have ever more a special care<br/>
+That Womanish Allurements prove not a snare;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+but, however carefully the lad studied the rest, this particular admonition
+took little root in his mind. There can be no doubt that Washington during the
+whole of his life had a soft heart for women, and especially for good-looking
+ones, and both in his personal intercourse and in his letters he shows himself
+very much more at ease with them than in his relations with his own sex. Late
+in life, when the strong passions of his earlier years were under better
+control, he was able to write,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore,
+contended that it cannot be resisted. This is true in part only, for like all
+things else, when nourished and supplied plentifully with aliment, it is rapid
+in its progress; but let these be withdrawn and it may be stifled in its birth
+or much stinted in its growth. For example, a woman (the same may be said of
+the other sex) all beautiful and accomplished will, while her hand and heart
+are undisposed of, turn the heads and set the circle in which she moves on
+fire. Let her marry, and what is the consequence? The madness <i>ceases</i> and
+all is quiet again. Why? not because there is any diminution in the charms of
+the lady, but because there is an end of hope. Hence it follows, that love may
+and therefore ought to be under the guidance of reason, for although we cannot
+avoid first impressions, we may assuredly place them under guard.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To write thus in one&rsquo;s sixty-sixth year and to practise one&rsquo;s
+theory in youth were, however, very different undertakings. Even while
+discussing love so philosophically, the writer had to acknowledge that
+&ldquo;in the composition of the human frame, there is a good deal of
+inflammable matter,&rdquo; and few have had better cause to know it. When he
+saw in the premature engagement of his ward, Jack Custis, the one advantage
+that it would &ldquo;in a great measure avoid those little flirtations with
+other young ladies that may, by dividing the attention, contribute not a little
+to divide the affection,&rdquo; it is easy to think of him as looking back to
+his own boyhood, and remembering, it is to be hoped with a smile, the
+sufferings he owed to pretty faces and neatly turned ankles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While still a school-boy, Washington was one day caught &ldquo;romping with one
+of the largest girls,&rdquo; and very quickly more serious likings followed. As
+early as 1748, when only sixteen years of age, his heart was so engaged that
+while at Lord Fairfax&rsquo;s and enjoying the society of Mary Cary he poured
+out his feelings to his youthful correspondents &ldquo;Dear Robin&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;Dear John&rdquo; and &ldquo;Dear Sally&rdquo; as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My place of Residence is at present at His Lordships where I might was
+my heart disengag&rsquo;d pass my time very pleasantly as theres a very
+agreeable Young Lady Lives in the same house (Colo George Fairfax&rsquo;s
+Wife&rsquo;s Sister) but as thats only adding Fuel to fire it makes me the more
+uneasy for by often and unavoidably being in Company with her revives my former
+Passion for your Low Land Beauty whereas was I to live more retired from young
+Women I might in some measure eliviate my sorrows by burying that chast and
+troublesome Passion in the grave of oblivion or etarnall forgetfulness for as I
+am very well assured thats the only antidote or remedy that I shall be releivd
+by or only recess that can administer any cure or help to me as I am well
+convinced was I ever to attempt any thing I should only get a denial which
+would be only adding grief to uneasiness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Was my affections disengaged I might perhaps form some pleasure in the
+conversation of an agreeable Young Lady as theres one now Lives in the same
+house with me but as that is only nourishment to my former affecn for by often
+seeing her brings the other into my remembrance whereas perhaps was she not
+often &amp; (unavoidably) presenting herself to my view I might in some measure
+aliviate my sorrows by burying the other in the grave of Oblivion I am well
+convinced my heart stands in defiance of all others but only she thats given it
+cause enough to dread a second assault and from a different Quarter tho&rsquo;
+I well know let it have as many attacks as it will from others they cant be
+more fierce than it has been.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I Pass the time of[f] much more agreeabler than what I imagined I should
+as there&rsquo;s a very agrewable Young Lady lives in the same house where I
+reside (Colo George Fairfax&rsquo;s Wife&rsquo;s Sister) that in a great
+Measure cheats my thoughts altogether from your Parts I could wish to be with
+you down there with all my heart but as it is a thing almost Impractakable
+shall rest myself where I am with hopes of shortly having some Minutes of your
+transactions in your Parts which will be very welcomely receiv&rsquo;d.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Who this &ldquo;Low Land Beauty&rdquo; was has been the source of much
+speculation, but the question is still unsolved, every suggested
+damsel&mdash;Lucy Grymes, Mary Bland, Betsy Fauntleroy, <i>et
+al.</i>&mdash;being either impossible or the evidence wholly inadequate. But in
+the same journal which contains the draughts of these letters is a motto
+poem&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;Twas Perfect Love before<br/>
+But Now I do adore&rdquo;&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+followed by the words &ldquo;Young M.A. his W[ife?],&rdquo; and as it was a
+fashion of the time to couple the initials of one&rsquo;s well-beloved with
+such sentiments, a slight clue is possibly furnished. Nor was this the only
+rhyme that his emotions led to his inscribing in his journal: and he confided
+to it the following:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;Oh Ye Gods why should my Poor Resistless Heart<br/>
+    Stand to oppose thy might and Power<br/>
+At Last surrender to cupids feather&rsquo;d Dart<br/>
+    And now lays Bleeding every Hour<br/>
+For her that&rsquo;s Pityless of my grief and Woes<br/>
+    And will not on me Pity take<br/>
+He sleep amongst my most inveterate Foes<br/>
+    And with gladness never wish to wake<br/>
+In deluding sleepings let my Eyelids close<br/>
+    That in an enraptured Dream I may<br/>
+In a soft lulling sleep and gentle repose<br/>
+    Possess those joys denied by Day.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However woe-begone the young lover was, he does not seem to have been wholly
+lost to others of the sex, and at this same time he was able to indite an
+acrostic to another charmer, which, if incomplete, nevertheless proves that
+there was a &ldquo;midland&rdquo; beauty as well, the lady being presumptively
+some member of the family of Alexanders, who had a plantation near Mount
+Vernon.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;From your bright sparkling Eyes I was undone;<br/>
+Rays, you have; more transperent than the Sun.<br/>
+Amidst its glory in the rising Day<br/>
+None can you equal in your bright array;<br/>
+Constant in your calm and unspotted Mind;<br/>
+Equal to all, but will to none Prove kind,<br/>
+So knowing, seldom one so Young, you&rsquo;l Find.<br/>
+<br/>
+Ah! woe&rsquo;s me, that I should Love and conceal<br/>
+Long have I wish&rsquo;d, but never dare reveal,<br/>
+Even though severely Loves Pains I feel;<br/>
+Xerxes that great, was&rsquo;t free from Cupids Dart,<br/>
+And all the greatest Heroes, felt the smart.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When visiting Barbadoes, in 1751, Washington noted in his journal his meeting a
+Miss Roberts, &ldquo;an agreeable young lady,&rdquo; and later he went with her
+to see some fireworks on Guy Fawkes day. Apparently, however, the ladies of
+that island made little impression on him, for he further noted, &ldquo;The
+Ladys Generally are very agreeable but by ill custom or w[ha]t effect the Negro
+style.&rdquo; This sudden insensibility is explained by a letter he wrote to
+William Fauntleroy a few weeks after his return to Virginia:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Sir: I should have been down long before this, but my business in
+Frederick detained me somewhat longer than I expected, and immediately upon my
+return from thence I was taken with a violent Pleurise, but purpose as soon as
+I recover my strength, to wait on Miss Betsy, in hopes of a revocation of the
+former cruel sentence, and see if I can meet with any alteration in my favor. I
+have enclosed a letter to her, which should be much obliged to you for the
+delivery of it. I have nothing to add but my best respects to your good lady
+and family, and that I am, Sir, Your most ob&rsquo;t humble
+serv&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Because of this letter it has been positively asserted that Betsy Fauntleroy
+was the Low-Land Beauty of the earlier time; but as Washington wrote of his
+love for the latter in 1748, when Betsy was only eleven, the absurdity of the
+claim is obvious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1753, while on his mission to deliver the governor&rsquo;s letter to the
+French, one duty which fell to the young soldier was a visit to royalty, in the
+person of Queen Aliquippa, an Indian majesty who had &ldquo;expressed great
+Concern&rdquo; that she had formerly been slighted. Washington records that
+&ldquo;I made her a Present of a Match-coat and a Bottle of Rum; which latter
+was thought much the best Present of the Two,&rdquo; and thus (externally and
+internally) restored warmth to her majesty&rsquo;s feelings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When returned from his first campaign, and resting at Mount Vernon, the time
+seems to have been beguiled by some charmer, for one of Washington&rsquo;s
+officers and intimates writes from Williamsburg, &ldquo;I imagine you By this
+time plung&rsquo;d in the midst of delight heaven can afford &amp; enchanted By
+Charmes even Stranger to the Ciprian Dame,&rdquo; and a footnote by the same
+hand only excites further curiosity concerning this latter personage by
+indefinitely naming her as &ldquo;Mrs. Neil.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With whatever heart-affairs the winter was passed, with the spring the young
+man&rsquo;s fancy turned not to love, but again to war, and only when the
+defeat of Braddock brought Washington back to Mount Vernon to recover from the
+fatigues of that campaign was his intercourse with the gentler sex resumed.
+Now, however, he was not merely a good-looking young fellow, but was a hero who
+had had horses shot from under him and had stood firm when scarlet-coated men
+had run away. No longer did he have to sue for the favor of the fair ones, and
+Fairfax wrote him that &ldquo;if a Satterday Nights Rest cannot be sufficient
+to enable your coming hither to-morrow, the Lady&rsquo;s will try to get Horses
+to equip our Chair or attempt their strength on Foot to Salute you, so desirous
+are they with loving Speed to have an occular Demonstration of your being the
+same Identical Gent&mdash;that lately departed to defend his Country&rsquo;s
+Cause.&rdquo; Furthermore, to this letter was appended the following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;DEAR SIR,&mdash;After thanking Heaven for your safe return I must accuse
+you of great unkindness in refusing us the pleasure of seeing you this night. I
+do assure you nothing but our being satisfied that our company would be
+disagreeable should prevent us from trying if our Legs would not carry us to
+Mount Vernon this night, but if you will not come to us to-morrow morning very
+early we shall be at Mount Vernon.
+</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+&ldquo;S[<small>ALLY</small>] F<small>AIRFAX</small>,<br/>
+&ldquo;A<small>NN</small> S<small>PEARING</small>.<br/>
+&ldquo;E<small>LIZ&rsquo;TH</small> D<small>ENT</small>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor is this the only feminine postscript of this time, for in the postscript of
+a letter from Archibald Cary, a leading Virginian, he is told that &ldquo;Mrs.
+Cary &amp; Miss Randolph joyn in wishing you that sort of Glory which will most
+Indear you to the Fair Sex.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1756 Washington had occasion to journey on military business to Boston, and
+both in coming and in going he tarried in New York, passing ten days in his
+first visit and about a week on his return. This time was spent with a
+Virginian friend, Beverly Robinson, who had had the good luck to marry Susannah
+Philipse, a daughter of Frederick Philipse, one of the largest landed
+proprietors of the colony of New York. Here he met the sister, Mary Philipse,
+then a girl of twenty-five, and, short as was the time, it was sufficient to
+engage his heart. To this interest no doubt are due the entries in his accounts
+of sundry pounds spent &ldquo;for treating Ladies,&rdquo; and for the large
+tailors&rsquo; bills then incurred. But neither treats nor clothes won the
+lady, who declined his proposals, and gave her heart two years later to
+Lieutenant-Colonel Roger Morris. A curious sequel to this disappointment was
+the accident that made the Roger Morris house Washington&rsquo;s head-quarters
+in 1776, both Morris and his wife being fugitive Tories. Again Washington was a
+chance visitor in 1790, when, as part of a picnic, he &ldquo;dined on a dinner
+provided by Mr. Marriner at the House lately Colo. Roger Morris, but
+confiscated and in the occupation of a common Farmer.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus09"></a>
+<img src="images/img09.jpg" width="459" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">MARY PHILIPSE</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+It has been asserted that Washington loved the wife of his friend George
+William Fairfax, but the evidence has not been produced. On the contrary,
+though the two corresponded, it was in a purely platonic fashion, very
+different from the strain of lovers, and that the correspondence implied
+nothing is to be found in the fact that he and Sally Carlyle (another Fairfax
+daughter) also wrote each other quite as frequently and on the same friendly
+footing; indeed, Washington evidently classed them in the same category, when
+he stated that &ldquo;I have wrote to my two female correspondents.&rdquo; Thus
+the claim seems due, like many another of Washington&rsquo;s mythical
+love-affairs, rather to the desire of descendants to link their family
+&ldquo;to a star&rdquo; than to more substantial basis. Washington did, indeed,
+write to Sally Fairfax from the frontier, &ldquo;I should think our time more
+agreeably spent, believe me, in playing a part in Cato, with the company you
+mention, and myself doubly happy in being the Juba to such a Marcia, as you
+must make,&rdquo; but private theatricals then no more than now implied
+&ldquo;passionate love.&rdquo; What is more, Mrs. Fairfax was at this very time
+teasing him about another woman, and to her hints Washington replied,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If you allow that any honor can be derived from my opposition … you
+destroy the merit of it entirely in me by attributing my anxiety to the
+animating prospect of possessing Mrs. Custis, when&mdash;I need not tell you,
+guess yourself. Should not my own Honor and country&rsquo;s welfare be the
+excitement? &rsquo;Tis true I profess myself a votary of love. I acknowledge
+that a lady is in the case, and further I confess that this lady is known to
+you. Yes, Madame, as well as she is to one who is too sensible of her charms to
+deny the Power whose influence he feels and must ever submit to. I feel the
+force of her amiable beauties in the recollection of a thousand tender passages
+that I could wish to obliterate, till I am bid to revive them. But experience,
+alas! sadly reminds me how impossible this is, and evinces an opinion which I
+have long entertained that there is a Destiny which has the control of our
+actions, not to be resisted by the strongest efforts of Human Nature. You have
+drawn me, dear Madame, or rather I have drawn myself, into an honest confession
+of a simple Fact. Misconstrue not my meaning; doubt it not, nor expose it. The
+world has no business to know the object of my Love, declared in this manner to
+you, when I want to conceal it. One thing above all things in this world I wish
+to know, and only one person of your acquaintance can solve me that, or guess
+my meaning.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The love-affair thus alluded to had begun in March, 1758, when ill health had
+taken Washington to Williamsburg to consult physicians, thinking, indeed, of
+himself as a doomed man. In this trip he met Mrs. Martha (Dandridge) Custis,
+widow of Daniel Parke Custis, one of the wealthiest planters of the colony. She
+was at this time twenty-six years of age, or Washington&rsquo;s senior by nine
+months, and had been a widow but seven, yet in spite of this fact, and of his
+own expected &ldquo;decay,&rdquo; he pressed his love-making with an
+impetuosity akin to that with which he had urged his suit of Miss Philipse, and
+(widows being proverbial) with better success. The invalid had left Mount
+Vernon on March 5, and by April 1 he was back at Fort Loudon, an engaged man,
+having as well so far recovered his health as to be able to join his command.
+Early in May he ordered a ring from Philadelphia, at a cost of £2.16.0; soon
+after receiving it he found that army affairs once more called him down to
+Williamsburg, and, as love-making is generally considered a military duty, the
+excuse was sufficient. But sterner duties on the frontier were awaiting him,
+and very quickly he was back there and writing to his <i>fiancée</i>,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We have begun our march for the Ohio. A courier is starting for
+Williamsburg, and I embrace the opportunity to send a few words to one whose
+life is now inseparable from mine. Since that happy hour when we made our
+pledges to each other, my thoughts have been continually going to you as
+another Self. That an all-powerful Providence may keep us both in safety is the
+prayer of your ever faithful and affectionate friend.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Five months after this letter was written, Washington was able to date another
+from Fort Duquesne, and, the fall of that post putting an end to his military
+service, only four weeks later he was back in Williamsburg, and on January 6,
+1759, he was married.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Very little is really known of his wife, beyond the facts that she was petite,
+over-fond, hot-tempered, obstinate, and a poor speller. In 1778 she was
+described as &ldquo;a sociable, pretty kind of woman,&rdquo; and she seems to
+have been but little more. One who knew her well described her as &ldquo;not
+possessing much sense, though a perfect lady and remarkably well calculated for
+her position,&rdquo; and confirmatory of this is the opinion of an English
+traveller that &ldquo;there was nothing remarkable in the person of the lady of
+the President; she was matronly and kind, with perfect good breeding.&rdquo;
+None the less she satisfied Washington; even after the proverbial six months
+were over he refused to wander from Mount Vernon, writing that &ldquo;I am now,
+I believe, fixed at this seat with an agreeable Consort for life,&rdquo; and in
+1783 he spoke of her as the &ldquo;partner of all my Domestic
+enjoyments.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+John Adams, in one of his recurrent moods of bitterness and jealousy towards
+Washington, demanded, &ldquo;Would Washington have ever been commander of the
+revolutionary army or president of the United States if he had not married the
+rich widow of Mr. Custis?&rdquo; To ask such a question is to overlook the fact
+that Washington&rsquo;s colonial military fame was entirely achieved before his
+marriage. It is not to be denied that the match was a good one from a worldly
+point of view, Mrs. Washington&rsquo;s third of the Custis property equalling
+&ldquo;fifteen thousand acres of land, a good part of it adjoining the city of
+Williamsburg; several lots in the said city; between two and three hundred
+negroes; and about eight or ten thousand pounds upon bond,&rdquo; estimated at
+the time as about twenty thousand pounds in all, which was further increased on
+the death of Patsy Custis in 1773 by a half of her fortune, which added ten
+thousand pounds to the sum. Nevertheless the advantage was fairly equal, for
+Mrs. Custis&rsquo;s lawyer had written before her marriage of the impossibility
+of her managing the property, advising that she &ldquo;employ a trusty steward,
+and as the estate is large and very extensive, it is Mr. Wallers and my own
+opinion, that you had better not engage any but a very able man, though he
+should require large wages.&rdquo; Of the management of this property, to
+which, indeed, she was unequal, Washington entirely relieved her, taking charge
+also of her children&rsquo;s share and acting for their interests with the same
+care with which he managed the part he was more directly concerned in.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He further saved her much of the detail of ordering her own clothing, and we
+find him sending for &ldquo;A Salmon-colored Tabby of the enclosed pattern,
+with satin flowers, to be made in a sack,&rdquo; &ldquo;1 Cap, Handkerchief,
+Tucker and Ruffles, to be made of Brussels lace or point, proper to wear with
+the above negligee, to cost £20,&rdquo; &ldquo;1 pair black, and 1 pair white
+Satin Shoes, of the smallest,&rdquo; and &ldquo;1 black mask.&rdquo; Again he
+writes his London agent, &ldquo;Mrs. Washington sends home a green sack to get
+cleaned, or fresh dyed of the same color; made up into a handsome sack again,
+would be her choice; but if the cloth won&rsquo;t afford that, then to be
+thrown into a genteel Night Gown.&rdquo; At another time he wants a pair of
+clogs, and when the wrong kind are sent he writes that &ldquo;she intended to
+have leathern Gloshoes.&rdquo; When she was asked to present a pair of colors
+to a company, he attended to every detail of obtaining the flag, and when
+&ldquo;Mrs. Washington … perceived the Tomb of her Father … to be much out of
+Sorts&rdquo; he wrote to get a workman to repair it. The care of the Mount
+Vernon household proving beyond his wife&rsquo;s ability, a housekeeper was
+very quickly engaged, and when one who filled this position was on the point of
+leaving, Washington wrote his agent to find another without the least delay,
+for the vacancy would &ldquo;throw a great additional weight on Mrs.
+Washington;&rdquo; again, writing in another domestic difficulty, &ldquo;Your
+aunt&rsquo;s distresses for want of a good housekeeper are such as to render
+the wages demanded by Mrs. Forbes (though unusually high) of no
+consideration.&rdquo; Her letters of form, which required better orthography
+than she was mistress of, he draughted for her, pen-weary though he was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has already been shown how he fathered her &ldquo;little progeny,&rdquo; as
+he once called them. Mrs. Washington was a worrying mother, as is shown by a
+letter to her sister, speaking of a visit in which &ldquo;I carried my little
+patt with me and left Jacky at home for a trial to see how well I could stay
+without him though we were gon but wone fortnight I was quite impatient to get
+home. If I at aney time heard the doggs barke or a noise out, I thought thair
+was a person sent for me. I often fancied he was sick or some accident had
+happened to him so that I think it is impossible for me to leave him as long as
+Mr. Washington must stay when he comes down.&rdquo; To spare her anxiety,
+therefore, when the time came for &ldquo;Jacky&rdquo; to be inoculated,
+Washington &ldquo;withheld from her the information … &amp; purpose, if
+possible, to keep her in total ignorance … till I hear of his return, or
+perfect recovery;… she having often wished that Jack wou&rsquo;d take &amp; go
+through the disorder without her knowing of it, that she might escape those
+Tortures which suspense wd throw her into.&rdquo; And on the death of Patsy he
+wrote, &ldquo;This sudden and unexpected blow, I scarce need add has almost
+reduced my poor Wife to the lowest ebb of Misery; which is encreas&rsquo;d by
+the absence of her son.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Washington left Mount Vernon, in May, 1775, to attend the Continental
+Congress, he did not foresee his appointment as commander-in-chief, and as soon
+as it occurred he wrote his wife,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;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 for the 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You may believe me, my dear Patsey, when I assure 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 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…. I shall feel no pain from the toil or
+danger of the campaign; my unhappiness will flow from the uneasiness I know you
+will feel from being left alone.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To prevent this loneliness as far as possible, he wrote at the same time to
+different members of the two families as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My great concern upon this occasion is, the thought of leaving your
+mother under the uneasiness which I fear this affair will throw her into; I
+therefore hope, expect, and indeed have no doubt, of your using every means in
+your power to keep up her spirits, by doing everything in your power to promote
+her quiet. I have, I must confess, very uneasy feelings on her account, but as
+it has been a kind of unavoidable necessity which has led me into this
+appointment, I shall more readily hope that success will attend it and crown
+our meetings with happiness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I entreat you and Mrs. Bassett if possible to visit at Mt. Vernon, as
+also my wife&rsquo;s other friends. I could wish you to take her down, as I
+have no expectation of returning till winter &amp; feel great uneasiness at her
+lonesome situation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I shall hope that my friends will visit and endeavor to keep up the
+spirits of my wife, as much as they can, as my departure will, I know, be a
+cutting stroke upon her; and on this account alone I have many very
+disagreeable sensations. I hope you and my sister, (although the distance is
+great), will find as much leisure this summer as to spend a little time at
+Mount Vernon.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When, six months later, the war at Boston settled into a mere siege, Washington
+wrote that &ldquo;seeing no prospect of returning to my family and friends this
+winter, I have sent an invitation to Mrs. Washington to come to me,&rdquo;
+adding, &ldquo;I have laid a state of difficulties, however, which must attend
+the journey before her, and left it to her own choice.&rdquo; His wife replied
+in the affirmative, and one of Washington&rsquo;s aides presently wrote
+concerning some prize goods to the effect that &ldquo;There are limes, lemons
+and oranges on board, which, being perishable, you must sell immediately. The
+General will want some of each, as well of the sweetmeats and pickles that are
+on board, as his lady will be here to-day or to-morrow. You will please to pick
+up such things on board as you think will be acceptable to her, and send them
+as soon as possible; he does not mean to receive anything without
+payment.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lodged at head-quarters, then the Craigie house in Cambridge, the discomforts
+of war were reduced to a minimum, but none the less it was a trying time to
+Mrs. Washington, who complained that she could not get used to the distant
+cannonading, and she marvelled that those about her paid so little heed to it.
+With the opening of the campaign in the following summer she returned to Mount
+Vernon, but when the army was safely in winter quarters at Valley Forge she
+once more journeyed northward, a trip alluded to by Washington in a letter to
+Jack, as follows: &ldquo;Your Mamma is not yet arrived, but … expected every
+hour. [My aide] Meade set off yesterday (as soon as I got notice of her
+intention) to meet her. We are in a dreary kind of place, and uncomfortably
+provided.&rdquo; And of this reunion Mrs. Washington wrote, &ldquo;I came to
+this place, some time about the first of February where I found the General
+very well,… in camp in what is called the great valley on the Banks of the
+Schuylkill. Officers and men are chiefly in Hutts, which they say is tolerably
+comfortable; the army are as healthy as can be well expected in general. The
+General&rsquo;s apartment is very small; he has had a log cabin built to dine
+in, which has made our quarters much more tolerable than they were at
+first&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such &ldquo;winterings&rdquo; became the regular custom, and brief references
+in various letters serve to illustrate them. Thus, in 1779, Washington informed
+a friend that &ldquo;Mrs. Washington, according to custom marched home when the
+campaign was about to open;&rdquo; in July, 1782, he noted that his wife
+&ldquo;sets out this day for Mount Vernon,&rdquo; and later in the same year he
+wrote, &ldquo;as I despair of seeing my home this Winter, I have sent for Mrs.
+Washington;&rdquo; and finally, in a letter he draughted for his wife, he made
+her describe herself as &ldquo;a kind of perambulator, during eight or nine
+years of the war.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another pleasant glimpse during these stormy years is the couple, during a
+brief stay in Philadelphia, being entertained almost to death, described as
+follows by Franklin&rsquo;s daughter in a letter to her father: &ldquo;I have
+lately been several times abroad with the General and Mrs. Washington. He
+always inquires after you in the most affectionate manner, and speaks of you
+highly. We danced at Mrs. Powell&rsquo;s your birthday, or night I should say,
+in company together, and he told me it was the anniversary of his marriage; it
+was just twenty years that night&rdquo; Again there was junketing in
+Philadelphia after the surrender at Yorktown, and one bit of this is shadowed
+in a line from Washington to Robert Morris, telling the latter that &ldquo;Mrs.
+Washington, myself and family, will have the honor of dining with you in the
+way proposed, to-morrow, being Christmas day.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the retirement to Mount Vernon at the close of the war, little more
+companionship was obtained, for, as already stated, Washington could only
+describe his home henceforth as a &ldquo;well resorted tavern,&rdquo; and two
+years after his return he entered in his diary, &ldquo;Dined with only Mrs.
+Washington which I believe is the first instance of it since my retirement from
+public life.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even this was only a furlough, for in six years they were both in public life
+again. Mrs. Washington was inclined to sulk over the necessary restraints of
+official life, writing to a friend, &ldquo;Mrs. Sins will give you a better
+account of the fashions than I can&mdash;I live a very dull life hear and know
+nothing that passes in the town&mdash;I never goe to any public
+place&mdash;indeed I think I am more like a State prisoner than anything else;
+there is certain bounds set for me which I must not depart from&mdash;and as I
+cannot doe as I like, I am obstinate and stay at home a great deal.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus10"></a>
+<img src="images/img10.jpg" width="398" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">MRS. DANIEL PARKE CUSTIS, LATER MRS. WASHINGTON</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+None the less she did her duties well, and in these &ldquo;Lady
+Washington&rdquo; was more at home, for, according to Thacher, she combined
+&ldquo;in an uncommon degree, great dignity of manner with most pleasing
+affability,&rdquo; though possessing &ldquo;no striking marks of beauty,&rdquo;
+and there is no doubt that she lightened Washington&rsquo;s shoulders of social
+demands materially. At the receptions of Mrs. Washington, which were held every
+Friday evening, so a contemporary states, &ldquo;the President did not consider
+himself as visited. On these occasions he appeared as a private gentleman, with
+neither hat nor sword, conversing without restraint.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From other formal society Mrs. Washington also saved her husband, for a visitor
+on New Year&rsquo;s tells of her setting &ldquo;&lsquo;the General&rsquo; (by
+which title she always designated her husband)&rdquo; at liberty: &ldquo;Mrs.
+Washington had stood by his side as the visitors arrived and were presented,
+and when the clock in the hall was heard striking nine, she advanced and with a
+complacent smile said, &lsquo;The General always retires at nine, and I usually
+precede him,&rsquo; upon which all arose, made their parting salutations, and
+withdrew.&rdquo; Nor was it only from the fatigues of formal entertaining that
+the wife saved her husband, Washington writing in 1793, &ldquo;We remain in
+Philadelphia until the 10th instant. It was my wish to have continued there
+longer; but as Mrs. Washington was unwilling to leave me surrounded by the
+malignant fever which prevailed, I could not think of hazarding her, and the
+Children any longer by <i>my</i> continuance in the City, the house in which we
+live being in a manner blockaded by the disorder, and was becoming every day
+more and more fatal; I therefore came off with them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finally from these &ldquo;scenes more busy, tho&rsquo; not more happy, than the
+tranquil enjoyment of rural life,&rdquo; they returned to Mount Vernon, hoping
+that in the latter their &ldquo;days will close.&rdquo; Not quite three years
+of this life brought an end to their forty years of married life. On the night
+that Washington&rsquo;s illness first became serious his secretary narrates
+that &ldquo;Between 2 and 3 o&rsquo;clk on Saturday morning he [Washington]
+awoke Mrs. Washington &amp; told her he was very unwell, and had had an ague.
+She … would have got up to call a servant; but he would not permit her lest she
+should take cold.&rdquo; As a consequence of this care for her, her husband lay
+for nearly four hours in a chill in a cold bedroom before receiving any
+attention, or before even a fire was lighted. When death came, she said,
+&ldquo;Tis well&mdash;All is now over&mdash;I have no more trials to pass
+through&mdash;I shall soon follow him.&rdquo; In his will he left &ldquo;to my
+dearly beloved wife&rdquo; the use of his whole property, and named her an
+executrix.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a man&rsquo;s views of matrimony are more or less colored by his personal
+experience, what Washington had to say on the institution is of interest. As
+concerned himself he wrote to his nephew, &ldquo;If Mrs. Washington should
+survive me, there is a moral certainty of my dying without issue: and should I
+be the longest liver, the matter in my opinion, is hardly less certain; for
+while I retain the faculty of reasoning, I shall never marry a girl; and it is
+not probable that I should have children by a woman of an age suitable to my
+own, should I be disposed to enter into a second marriage.&rdquo; And in a less
+personal sense he wrote to Chastellux,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In reading your very friendly and acceptable letter,… I was, as you may
+well suppose, not less delighted than surprised to meet the plain American
+words, &lsquo;my wife.&rsquo; 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. Now 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&mdash;domestic
+felicity&mdash;which same, like the small pox or the plague, a man can have
+only once in his life; because it commonly lasts him (at least with us in
+America&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know how you manage these matters in France) for
+his whole life time. And yet after all the maledictions you so richly merit on
+the subject, the worst wish which I can find in my heart to make against Madame
+de Chastellux and yourself is, that you may neither of you ever get the better
+of this same domestic felicity during the entire course of your mortal
+existence.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Furthermore, he wrote to an old friend, whose wife stubbornly refused to sign a
+deed, &ldquo;I think, any Gentleman, possessed of but a very moderate degree of
+influence with his wife, might, in the course of five or six years (for I think
+it is at least that time) have prevailed upon her to do an act of justice, in
+fulfiling his Bargains and complying with his wishes, if he had been really in
+earnest in requesting the matter of her; especially, as the inducement which
+you thought would have a powerful operation on Mrs. Alexander, namely the birth
+of a child, has been doubled, and tripled.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However well Washington thought of &ldquo;the honorable state,&rdquo; he was no
+match-maker, and when asked to give advice to the widow of Jack Custis,
+replied, &ldquo;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
+advise 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 disapprobation, that she
+applies. In a word the plain English of the application may be summed up in
+these words: &lsquo;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.&rsquo;&rdquo; Again he wrote:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It has ever been a maxim with me through life, neither to promote nor to
+prevent a matrimonial connection, unless there should be something
+indispensably requiring interference in the latter. I have always considered
+marriage as the most interesting event of one&rsquo;s life, the foundation of
+happiness or misery. To be instrumental therefore in bringing two people
+together, who are indifferent to each other, and may soon become objects of
+disgust; or to prevent a union, which is prompted by the affections of the
+mind, is what I never could reconcile with reason, and therefore neither
+directly nor indirectly have I ever said a word to Fanny or George, upon the
+subject of their intended connection.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The question whether Washington was a faithful husband might well be left to
+the facts already given, were it not that stories of his immorality are bandied
+about in clubs, a well-known clergyman has vouched for their truth, and a
+United States senator has given further currency to them by claiming special
+knowledge on the subject. Since such are the facts, it seems best to consider
+the question and show what evidence there actually is for these stories, that
+at least the pretended &ldquo;letters,&rdquo; etc., which are always being
+cited, and are never produced, may no longer have credence put in them, and the
+true basis for all the stories may be known and valued at its worth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the year 1776 there was printed in London a small pamphlet entitled
+&ldquo;Minutes of the Trial and Examination of Certain Persons in the Province
+of New York,&rdquo; which purported to be the records of the examination of the
+conspirators of the &ldquo;Hickey plot&rdquo; (to murder Washington) before a
+committee of the Provincial Congress of New York. The manuscript of this was
+claimed in the preface to have been &ldquo;discovered (on the late capture of
+New York by the British troops) among the papers of a person who appears to
+have been secretary to the committee.&rdquo; As part of the evidence the
+following was printed:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;William Cooper, soldier, sworn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Court. Inform us what conversation you heard at the Serjeant&rsquo;s
+Arms?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Cooper. Being there the 21st of May, I heard John Clayford inform the
+company, that Mary Gibbons was thoroughly in their interest, and that the whole
+would be safe. I learnt from enquiry that Mary Gibbons was a girl from New
+Jersey, of whom General Washington was very fond, that he maintained her
+genteelly at a house near Mr. Skinner&rsquo;s,&mdash;at the North River; that
+he came there very often late at night in disguise; he learnt also that this
+woman was very intimate with Clayford, and made him presents, and told him of
+what General Washington said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Court. Did you hear Mr. Clayford say any thing himself that night?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Cooper. Yes; that he was the day before with Judith, so he called her,
+and that she told him, Washington had often said he wished his hands were clear
+of the dirty New-Englanders, and words to that effect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Court. Did you hear no mention made of any scheme to betray or seize
+him?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Cooper. Mr. Clayford said he could easily be seized and put on board a
+boat, and carried off, as his female friend had promised she would assist: but
+all present thought it would be hazardous.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;William Savage, sworn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Court. Was you at the Serjeant&rsquo;s Arms on the 21st of May? Did you
+hear any thing of this nature?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Savage. I did, and nearly as the last evidence has declared; the society
+in general refused to be concerned in it, and thought it a mad scheme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Mr. Abeel. Pray, Mr. Savage, have not you heard nothing of an
+information that was to be given to Governor Tryon?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Savage. Yes; papers and letters were at different times shewn to the
+society, which were taken out of General Washington&rsquo;s pockets by Mrs.
+Gibbons, and given (as she pretended some occasion of going out) to Mr.
+Clayford, who always copied them, and they were put into his pockets
+again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The authenticity of this pamphlet thus becomes of importance, and over this
+little time need be spent. The committee named in it differs from the committee
+really named by the Provincial Congress, and the proceedings nowhere implicate
+the men actually proved guilty. In other words, the whole publication is a
+clumsy Tory forgery, put forward with the same idle story of &ldquo;captured
+papers&rdquo; employed in the &ldquo;spurious letters&rdquo; of Washington, and
+sent forth from the same press (J. Bew) from which that forgery and several
+others issued.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The source from which the English fabricator drew this scandal is fortunately
+known. In 1775 a letter to Washington from his friend Benjamin Harrison was
+intercepted by the British, and at once printed broadcast in the newspapers. In
+this the writer gossips to Washington &ldquo;to amuse you and unbend your minds
+from the cares of war,&rdquo; as follows: &ldquo;As I was in the pleasing task
+of writing to you, a little noise occasioned me to turn my head around, and who
+should appear but pretty little Kate, the Washer-woman&rsquo;s daughter over
+the way, clean, trim and as rosy as the morning. I snatched the golden,
+glorious opportunity, and, but for the cursed antidote to love, Sukey, I had
+fitted her for my general against his return. We were obliged to part, but not
+till we had contrived to meet again: if she keeps the appointment, I shall
+relish a week&rsquo;s longer stay.&rdquo; From this originated the stories of
+Washington&rsquo;s infidelity as already given, and also a coarser version of
+the same, printed in 1776 in a Tory farce entitled &ldquo;The Battle of
+Brooklyn.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Jonathan Boucher, who knew Washington well before the Revolution, yet who, as a
+loyalist, wrote in no friendly spirit of him, asserted that &ldquo;in his moral
+character, he is regular.&rdquo; A man who disliked him far more, General
+Charles Lee, in the excess of his hatred, charged Washington in 1778 with
+immorality,&mdash;a rather amusing impeachment, since at the very time Lee was
+flaunting the evidence of his own incontinence without apparent
+shame,&mdash;and a mutual friend of the accused and accuser, Joseph Reed, whose
+service on Washington&rsquo;s staff enabled him to speak wittingly, advised
+that Lee &ldquo;forbear any Reflections upon the Commander in Chief, of whom
+for the first time I have heard Slander on his private Character, viz., great
+cruelty to his Slaves in Virginia &amp; Immorality of Life, tho&rsquo; they
+acknowledge so very secret that it is difficult to detect. To me who have had
+so good opportunities to know the Purity of the latter &amp; equally believing
+the Falsehood of the former from the known excellence of his disposition, it
+appears so nearly bordering upon frenzy, that I can pity the wretches rather
+than despise them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington was too much of a man, however, to have his marriage lessen his
+liking for other women; and Yeates repeats that &ldquo;Mr. Washington once told
+me, on a charge which I once made against the President at his own Table, that
+the admiration he warmly professed for Mrs. Hartley, was a Proof of his Homage
+to the worthy Part of the Sex, and highly respectful to his Wife.&rdquo; Every
+now and then there is an allusion in his letters which shows his appreciation
+of beauty, as when he wrote to General Schuyler, &ldquo;Your fair daughter, for
+whose visit Mrs. Washington and myself are greatly obliged,&rdquo; and again,
+to one of his aides, &ldquo;The fair hand, to whom your letter … was committed
+presented it safe.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His diary, in the notes of the balls and assemblies which he attended, usually
+had a word for the sex, as exampled in: &ldquo;at which there were between 60
+&amp; 70 well dressed ladies;&rdquo; &ldquo;at which there was about 100 well
+dressed and handsome ladies;&rdquo; &ldquo;at which were 256 elegantly dressed
+ladies;&rdquo; &ldquo;where there was a select Company of ladies;&rdquo;
+&ldquo;where (it is said) there were upwards of 100 ladies; their appearance
+was elegant, and many of them very handsome;&rdquo; &ldquo;at wch. there were
+about 400 ladies the number and appearance of wch. exceeded anything of the
+kind I have ever seen;&rdquo; &ldquo;where there were about 75 well dressed,
+and many of them very handsome ladies&mdash;among whom (as was also the case at
+the Salem and Boston assemblies) were a greater proportion with much blacker
+hair than are usually seen in the Southern States.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At his wife&rsquo;s receptions, as already said, Washington did not view
+himself as host, and &ldquo;conversed without restraint, generally with women,
+who rarely had other opportunity of seeing him,&rdquo; which perhaps accounts
+for the statement of another eye-witness that Washington &ldquo;looked very
+much more at ease than at his own official levees.&rdquo; Sullivan adds that
+&ldquo;the young ladies used to throng around him, and engaged him in
+conversation. There were some of the well-remembered belles of the day who
+imagined themselves to be favorites with him. As these were the only
+opportunities which they had of conversing with him, they were disposed to use
+them.&rdquo; In his Southern trip of 1791 Washington noted, with evident
+pleasure, that he &ldquo;was visited about 2 o&rsquo;clock, by a great number
+of the most respectable ladies of Charleston&mdash;the first honor of the kind
+I had ever experienced and it was flattering as it was singular.&rdquo; And
+that this attention was not merely the respect due to a great man is shown in
+the letter of a Virginian woman, who wrote to her correspondent in 1777, that
+when &ldquo;General Washington throws off the Hero and takes up the chatty
+agreeable Companion&mdash;he can be down right impudent sometimes&mdash;such
+impudence, Fanny, as you and I like.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another feminine compliment paid him was a highly laudatory poem which was
+enclosed to him, with a letter begging forgiveness, to which he playfully
+answered,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You apply to me, my dear Madam, for absolution as tho&rsquo; I was your
+father Confessor; and as tho&rsquo; you had committed a crime, great in itself,
+yet of the venial class. You have reason good&mdash;for I find myself strangely
+disposed to be a very indulgent ghostly adviser on this occasion; and,
+notwithstanding &lsquo;you are the most offending Soul alive&rsquo; (that is,
+if it is a crime to write elegant Poetry,) yet if you will come and dine with
+me on Thursday, and go thro&rsquo; the proper course of penitence which shall
+be prescribed I will strive hard to assist you in expiating these poetical
+trespasses on this side of purgatory. Nay more, if it rests with me to direct
+your future lucubrations, I shall certainly urge you to a repetition of the
+same conduct, on purpose to shew what an admirable knack you have at confession
+and reformation; and so without more hesitation, I shall venture to command the
+muse, not to be restrained by ill-grounded timidity, but to go on and prosper.
+You see, Madam, when once the woman has tempted us, and we have tasted the
+forbidden fruit, there is no such thing as checking our appetites, whatever the
+consequences may be. You will, I dare say, recognize our being the genuine
+Descendants of those who are reputed to be our great Progenitors.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor was Washington open only to beauty and flattery. From the rude frontier in
+1756 he wrote, &ldquo;The supplicating tears of the women,… melt me into such
+deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, I could offer
+myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy, provided that would
+contribute to the people&rsquo;s ease.&rdquo; And in 1776 he said, &ldquo;When
+I consider that the city of New York will in all human probability very soon be
+the scene of a bloody conflict, I cannot but view the great numbers of women,
+children, and infirm persons remaining in it, with the most melancholy concern.
+When the men-of-war passed up the river, the shrieks and cries of these poor
+creatures running every way with their children, were truly distressing…. Can
+no method be devised for their removal?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nevertheless, though liked by and liking the fair sex, Washington was human,
+and after experience concluded that &ldquo;I never again will have two women in
+my house when I am there myself.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap05"></a>V<br/>
+FARMER AND PROPRIETOR</h2>
+
+<p>
+The earliest known Washington coat of arms had blazoned upon it &ldquo;3 Cinque
+foiles,&rdquo; which was the herald&rsquo;s way of saying that the bearer was a
+landholder and cultivator, and when Washington had a book-plate made for
+himself he added to the conventional design of the arms spears of wheat and
+other plants, as an indication of his favorite labor. During his career he
+acted several parts, but in none did he find such pleasure as in farming, and
+late in life he said, &ldquo;I think with you, that the life of a husbandman of
+all others is the most delectable. It is honorable, it is amusing, and, with
+judicious management, it is profitable. To see plants rise from the earth and
+flourish by the superior skill and bounty of the laborer fills a contemplative
+mind with ideas which are more easy to be conceived than expressed.&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Agriculture has ever been the most favorite amusement of my life,&rdquo;
+he wrote after the Revolution, and he informed another correspondent that
+&ldquo;the more I am acquainted with agricultural affairs, the better pleased I
+am with them; insomuch, that I can no where find so great satisfaction as in
+those innocent and useful pursuits: In indulging these feelings, I am led to
+reflect how much more delightful to an undebauched mind is the task of making
+improvements on the earth, than all the vain glory which can be acquired from
+ravaging it, by the most uninterrupted career of conquests.&rdquo; A visitor to
+Mount Vernon in 1785 states that his host&rsquo;s &ldquo;greatest pride is, to
+be thought the first farmer in America. He is quite a Cincinnatus.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Undoubtedly a part of this liking flowed from his strong affection for Mount
+Vernon. Such was his feeling for the place that he never seems to have been
+entirely happy away from it, and over and over again, during his various and
+enforced absences, he &ldquo;sighs&rdquo; or &ldquo;pants&rdquo; for his
+&ldquo;own vine and fig tree.&rdquo; In writing to an English correspondent, he
+shows his feeling for the place by saying, &ldquo;No estate in United America,
+is more pleasantly situated than this. It lies in a high, dry and healthy
+country, three hundred miles by water from the sea, and, as you will see by the
+plan, on one of the finest rivers in the world.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The history of the Mount Vernon estate begins in 1674, when Lord Culpepper
+conveyed to Nicholas Spencer and Lieutenant-Colonel John Washington five
+thousand acres of land &ldquo;scytuate Lying and being within the said
+terrytory in the County of Stafford in the ffreshes of the Pottomocke River and
+… bounded betwixt two Creeks.&rdquo; Colonel John&rsquo;s half was bequeathed
+to his son Lawrence, and by Lawrence&rsquo;s will it was left to his daughter
+Mildred. She sold it to the father of George, who by his will left it to his
+son Lawrence, with a reversion to George should Lawrence die without issue. The
+original house was built about 1740, and the place was named Mount Vernon by
+Lawrence, in honor of Admiral Vernon, under whom he had served at Carthagena.
+After the death of Lawrence, the estate of twenty-five hundred acres came under
+Washington&rsquo;s management, and from 1754 it was his home, as it had been
+practically even in his brother&rsquo;s life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Twice Washington materially enlarged the house at Mount Vernon, the first time
+in 1760 and the second in 1785, and a visitor reports, what his host must have
+told him, that &ldquo;its a pity he did not build a new one at once, for it has
+cost him nearly as much to repair his old one.&rdquo; These alterations
+consisted in the addition of a banquet-hall at one end (by far the finest room
+in the house), and a library and dining-room at the other, with the addition of
+an entire story to the whole.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The grounds, too, were very much improved. A fine approach, or bowling green,
+was laid out, a &ldquo;botanical garden,&rdquo; a &ldquo;shrubbery,&rdquo; and
+greenhouses were added, and in every way possible the place was improved. A
+deer paddock was laid out and stocked, gifts of Chinese pheasants and geese,
+French partridges, and guinea-pigs were sent him, and were gratefully
+acknowledged, and from all the world over came curious, useful, or beautiful
+plants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The original tract did not satisfy the ambition of the farmer, and from the
+time he came into the possession of Mount Vernon he was a persistent purchaser
+of lands adjoining the property. In 1760 he bargained with one Clifton for
+&ldquo;a tract called Brents,&rdquo; of eighteen hundred and six acres, but
+after the agreement was closed the seller, &ldquo;under pretence of his wife
+not consenting to acknowledge her right of dower wanted to disengage himself …
+and by his shuffling behavior convinced me of his being the trifling body
+represented.&rdquo; Presently Washington heard that Clifton had sold his lands
+to another for twelve hundred pounds, which &ldquo;fully unravelled his conduct
+… and convinced me that he was nothing less than a thorough pac&rsquo;d
+rascall.&rdquo; Meeting the &ldquo;rascall&rdquo; at a court, &ldquo;much
+discourse,&rdquo; Washington states, &ldquo;happened between him and I
+concerning his ungenerous treatment of me, the whole turning to little account,
+&rsquo;tis not worth reciting.&rdquo; After much more friction, the land was
+finally sold at public auction, and &ldquo;I bought it for £1210 Sterling,
+[and] under many threats and disadvantages paid the money.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus11"></a>
+<img src="images/img11.jpg" width="486" height="500" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">WASHINGTON&rsquo;S SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON, CIRCA 1746</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In 1778, when some other land was offered, Washington wrote to his agent,
+&ldquo;I have premised these things to shew my inability, not my unwillingness
+to purchase the Lands in my own Neck at (almost) any price&mdash;&amp; this I
+am very desirous of doing if it could be accomplished by any means in my power,
+in ye way of Barter for other Land&mdash;for Negroes … or in short&mdash;for
+any thing else … but for money I cannot, I want the means.&rdquo; Again, in
+1782, he wrote, &ldquo;Inform Mr. Dulany,… that I look upon £2000 to be a great
+price for his land; that my wishes to obtain it do not proceed from its
+intrinsic value, but from the motives I have candidly assigned in my other
+letter. That to indulge this fancy, (for in truth there is more fancy than
+judgment in it) I have submitted, or am willing to submit, to the disadvantage
+of borrowing as large a sum as I think this Land is worth, in order to come at
+it&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By thus purchasing whenever an opportunity occurred, the property was increased
+from the twenty-five hundred acres which had come into Washington&rsquo;s
+possession by inheritance to an estate exceeding eight thousand acres, of which
+over thirty-two hundred were actually under cultivation during the latter part
+of its owner&rsquo;s life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To manage so vast a tract, the property was subdivided into several tracts,
+called &ldquo;Mansion House Farm,&rdquo; &ldquo;River Farm,&rdquo; &ldquo;Union
+Farm,&rdquo; &ldquo;Muddy Hole Farm,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Dogue Run Farm,&rdquo;
+each having an overseer to manage it, and each being operated as a separate
+plantation, though a general overseer controlled the whole, and each farm
+derived common benefit from the property as a whole. &ldquo;On Saturday in the
+afternoon, every week, reports are made by all his overseers, and registered in
+books kept for the purpose,&rdquo; and these accounts were so schemed as to
+show how every negro&rsquo;s and laborer&rsquo;s time had been employed during
+the whole week, what crops had been planted or gathered, what increase or loss
+of stock had occurred, and every other detail of farm-work. During
+Washington&rsquo;s absences from Mount Vernon his chief overseer sent him these
+reports, as well as wrote himself, and weekly the manager received in return
+long letters of instruction, sometimes to the length of sixteen pages, which
+showed most wonderful familiarity with every acre of the estate and the
+character of every laborer, and are little short of marvellous when account is
+taken of the pressure of public affairs that rested upon their writer as he
+framed them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Washington became a farmer, but one system of agriculture, so far as
+Virginia was concerned, existed, which he described long after as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A piece of land is cut down, and kept under constant cultivation, first
+in tobacco, and then in Indian corn (two very exhausting plants), until it will
+yield scarcely any thing; a second piece is cleared, and treated in the same
+manner; then a third and so on, until probably there is but little more to
+clear. When this happens, the owner finds himself reduced to the choice of one
+of three things&mdash;either to recover the land which he has ruined, to
+accomplish which, he has perhaps neither the skill, the industry, nor the
+means; or to retire beyond the mountains; or to substitute quantity for
+quality, in order to raise something. The latter has been generally adopted,
+and, with the assistance of horses, he scratches over much ground, and seeds
+it, to very little purpose.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Knowing no better, Washington adopted this one-crop system, even to the extent
+of buying corn and hogs to feed his hands. Though following in the beaten
+track, he experimented in different kinds of tobacco, so that, &ldquo;by
+comparing then the loss of the one with the extra price of the other, I shall
+be able to determine which is the best to pursue.&rdquo; The largest crop he
+ever seems to have produced, &ldquo;being all sweet-scented and neatly
+managed,&rdquo; was one hundred and fifteen hogsheads, which averaged in sale
+twelve pounds each.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From a very early time Washington had been a careful student of such books on
+agriculture as he could obtain, even preparing lengthy abstracts of them, and
+the knowledge he thus obtained, combined with his own practical experience,
+soon convinced him that the Virginian system was wrong. &ldquo;I never ride on
+my plantations,&rdquo; he wrote, &ldquo;without seeing something which makes me
+regret having continued so long in the ruinous mode of farming, which we are
+in,&rdquo; and he soon &ldquo;discontinued the growth of tobacco myself; [and]
+except at a plantation or two upon York River, I make no more of that article
+than barely serves to furnish me with goods.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From this time (1765) &ldquo;the whole of my force [was] in a manner confined
+to the growth of wheat and manufacturing of it into flour,&rdquo; and before
+long he boasted that &ldquo;the wheat from some of my plantations, by one pair
+of steelyards, will weigh upwards of sixty pounds,… and better wheat than I now
+have I do not expect to make.&rdquo; After the Revolution he claimed that
+&ldquo;no wheat that has ever yet fallen under my observation exceeds the wheat
+which some years ago I cultivated extensively but which, from inattention
+during my absence of almost nine years from home, has got so mixed or
+degenerated as scarcely to retain any of its original characteristics
+properly.&rdquo; In 1768 he was able to sell over nineteen hundred bushels, and
+how greatly his product was increased after this is shown by the fact that in
+this same year he sowed four hundred and ninety bushels.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still further study and experimentation led him to conclude that &ldquo;my
+countrymen are too much used to corn blades and corn shucks; and have too
+little knowledge of the profit of grass lands,&rdquo; and after his final
+home-coming to Mount Vernon, he said, &ldquo;I have had it in contemplation
+ever since I returned home to turn my farms to grazing principally, as fast as
+I can cover the fields sufficiently with grass. Labor and of course expence
+will be considerably diminished by this change, the nett profit as great and my
+attention less divided, whilst the fields will be improving.&rdquo; That this
+was only an abandonment of a &ldquo;one crop&rdquo; system is shown by the fact
+that in 1792 he grew over five thousand bushels of wheat, valued at four
+shillings the bushel, and in 1799 he said, &ldquo;as a farmer, wheat and flour
+are my principal concerns.&rdquo; And though, in abandoning the growth of
+tobacco, Washington also tried &ldquo;to grow as little Indian corn as may
+be,&rdquo; yet in 1795 his crop was over sixteen hundred barrels, and the
+quantity needed for his own negroes and stock is shown in a year when his crop
+failed, which &ldquo;obliged me to purchase upwards of eight hundred barrels of
+corn.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In connection with this change of system, Washington became an early convert to
+the rotation of crops, and drew up elaborate tables sometimes covering periods
+of five years, so that the quantity of each crop should not vary, yet by which
+his fields should have constant change. This system naturally very much
+diversified the product of his estate, and flax, hay, clover, buckwheat,
+turnips, and potatoes became large crops. The scale on which this was done is
+shown by the facts that in one year he sowed twenty-seven bushels of flaxseed
+and planted over three hundred bushels of potatoes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Early and late Washington preached to his overseers the value of fertilization;
+in one case, when looking for a new overseer, he said the man must be,
+&ldquo;above all, Midas like, one who can convert everything he touches into
+manure, as the first transmutation towards gold;&mdash;in a word one who can
+bring worn out and gullied Lands into good tilth in the shortest time.&rdquo;
+Equally emphatic was his urging of constant ploughing and grubbing, and he even
+invented a deep soil plough, which he used till he found a better one in the
+English Rotheran plough, which he promptly imported, as he did all other
+improved farming tools and machinery of which he could learn. To save his
+woodlands, and for appearance&rsquo;s sake, he insisted on live fences, though
+he had to acknowledge that &ldquo;no hedge, alone, will, I am persuaded, do for
+an outer inclosure, where <i>two</i> or four footed hogs find it convenient to
+open passage.&rdquo; In all things he was an experimentalist, carefully trying
+different kinds of tobacco and wheat, various kinds of plants for hedges, and
+various kinds of manure for fertilizers; he had tests made to see whether he
+could sell his wheat to best advantage in the grain or when made into flour,
+and he bred from selected horses, cattle, and sheep. &ldquo;In short I shall
+begrudge no reasonable expence that will contribute to the improvement and
+neatness of my Farms;&mdash;for nothing pleases me better than to see them in
+good order, and everything trim, handsome, and thriving about them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The magnitude of the charge of such an estate can be better understood when the
+condition of a Virginia plantation is realized. Before the Revolution
+practically everything the plantation could not produce was ordered yearly from
+Great Britain, and after the annual delivery of the invoices the estate could
+look for little outside help. Nor did this change rapidly after the Revolution,
+and during the period of Washington&rsquo;s management almost everything was
+bought in yearly supplies. This system compelled each plantation to be a little
+world unto itself; indeed, the three hundred souls on the Mount Vernon estate
+went far to make it a distinct and self-supporting community, and one of
+Washington&rsquo;s standing orders to his overseers was to &ldquo;buy nothing
+you can make within yourselves.&rdquo; Thus the planting and gathering of the
+crops were but a small part of the work to be done.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A corps of workmen&mdash;some negroes, some indentured servants, and some hired
+laborers&mdash;were kept on the estate. A blacksmith-shop occupied some, doing
+not merely the work of the plantation, but whatever business was brought to
+them from outside; and a wood-burner kept them and the mansion-house supplied
+with charcoal. A gang of carpenters were kept busy, and their spare time was
+utilized in framing houses to be put up in Alexandria, or in the &ldquo;Federal
+city,&rdquo; as Washington was called before the death of its namesake. A
+brick-maker, too, was kept constantly employed, and masons utilized the product
+of his labor. The gardener&rsquo;s gang had charge of the kitchen-garden, and
+set out thousands of grape-vines, fruit-trees, and hedge-plants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A water-mill, with its staff, not merely ground meal for the hands, but
+produced a fine flour that commanded extra price in the market In 1786
+Washington asserted that his flour was &ldquo;equal, I believe, in quality to
+any made in this country,&rdquo; and the Mount Vernon brand was of such value
+that some money was made by buying outside wheat and grinding it into flour.
+The coopers of the estate made the barrels in which it was packed, and
+Washington&rsquo;s schooner carried it to market.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The estate had its own shoemaker, and in time a staff of weavers was trained.
+Before this was obtained, in 1760, though with only a modicum of the force he
+presently had, Washington ordered from London &ldquo;450 ells of Osnabrig, 4
+pieces of Brown Wools, 350 yards of Kendall Cotton, and 100 yards of Dutch
+blanket.&rdquo; By 1768 he was manufacturing the chief part of his
+requirements, for in that year his weavers produced eight hundred and fifteen
+and three-quarter yards of linen, three hundred and sixty-five and one-quarter
+yards of woollen, one hundred and forty-four yards of linsey, and forty yards
+of cotton, or a total of thirteen hundred and sixty-five and one-half yards,
+one man and five negro girls having been employed. When once the looms were
+well organized an infinite variety of cloths was produced, the accounts
+mentioning &ldquo;striped woollen, woolen plaided, cotton striped, linen,
+wool-birdseye, cotton filled with wool, linsey, M.&rsquo;s &amp; O.&rsquo;s,
+cotton-India dimity, cotton jump stripe, linen filled with tow, cotton striped
+with silk, Roman M., Janes twilled, huccabac, broadcloth, counterpain, birdseye
+diaper, Kirsey wool, barragon, fustian, bed-ticking, herring-box, and
+shalloon.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the most important features of the estate was its fishery, for the
+catch, salted down, largely served in place of meat for the negroes&rsquo;
+food. Of this advantage Washington wrote, &ldquo;This river,… is well supplied
+with various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year; and, in the spring, with
+the greatest profusion of shad, herrings, bass, carp, perch, sturgeon, &amp;c.
+Several valuable fisheries appertain to the estate; the whole shore, in short,
+is one entire fishery.&rdquo; Whenever there was a run of fish, the seine was
+drawn, chiefly for herring and shad, and in good years this not merely amply
+supplied the home requirements, but allowed of sales; four or five shillings
+the thousand for herring and ten shillings the hundred for shad were the
+average prices, and sales of as high as eighty-five thousand herring were made
+in a single year.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1795, when the United States passed an excise law, distilling became
+particularly profitable, and a still was set up on the plantation. In this
+whiskey was made from &ldquo;Rye chiefly and Indian corn in a certain
+proportion,&rdquo; and this not merely used much of the estate&rsquo;s product
+of those two grains, but quantities were purchased from elsewhere. In 1798 the
+profit from the distillery was three hundred and forty-four pounds twelve
+shillings and seven and three-quarter pence, with a stock carried over of seven
+hundred and fifty-five and one-quarter gallons; but this was the most
+successful year. Cider, too, was made in large quantities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A stud stable was from an early time maintained, and the Virginia papers
+regularly advertised that the stud horse &ldquo;Samson,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Magnolia,&rdquo; &ldquo;Leonidas,&rdquo; &ldquo;Traveller,&rdquo; or
+whatever the reigning stallion of the moment might be, would
+&ldquo;cover&rdquo; mares at Mount Vernon, with pasturage and a guarantee of
+foal, if their owners so elected. During the Revolution Washington bought
+twenty-seven of the army mares that had been &ldquo;worn-down so as to render
+it beneficial to the public to have them sold,&rdquo; not even objecting to
+those &ldquo;low in flesh or even crippled,&rdquo; because &ldquo;I have many
+large Farms and am improving a good deal of Land into Meadow and Pasture, which
+cannot fail of being profited by a number of Brood Mares.&rdquo; In addition to
+the stud, there were, in 1793, fifty-four draught horses on the estate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A unique feature of this stud was the possession of two jackasses, of which the
+history was curious. At that time there was a law in Spain (where the best
+breed was to be found) which forbade the exportation of asses, but the king,
+hearing of Washington&rsquo;s wish to possess a jack, sent him one of the
+finest obtainable as a present, which was promptly christened &ldquo;Royal
+Gift.&rdquo; The sea-voyage and the change of climate, however, so affected him
+that for a time he proved of little value to his owner, except as a source of
+amusement, for Washington wrote Lafayette, &ldquo;The Jack I have already
+received from Spain in appearance is fine, but his late Royal master,
+tho&rsquo; past his grand climacteric cannot be less moved by female
+allurements than he is; or when prompted, can proceed with more deliberation
+and majestic solemnity to the work of procreation.&rdquo; This reluctance to
+play his part Washington concluded was a sign of aristocracy, and he wrote a
+nephew, &ldquo;If Royal Gift will administer, he shall be at the service of
+your Mares, but at present he seems too full of Royalty, to have anything to do
+with a plebeian Race,&rdquo; and to Fitzhugh he said, &ldquo;particular
+attention shall be paid to the mares which your servant brought, and when my
+Jack is in the humor, they shall derive all the benefit of his labor, for labor
+it appears to be. At present tho&rsquo; young, he follows what may be supposed
+to be the example of his late Royal Master, who can not, tho&rsquo; past his
+grand climacteric, perform seldomer or with more majestic solemnity than he
+does. However I am not without hope that when he becomes a little better
+acquainted with republican enjoyment, he will amend his manners, and fall into
+a better and more expeditious mode of doing business.&rdquo; This fortunately
+proved to be the case, and his master not merely secured such mules as he
+needed for his own use, but gained from him considerable profit by covering
+mares in the neighborhood. He even sent him on a tour through the South, and
+Royal Gift passed a whole winter in Charleston, South Carolina, with a
+resulting profit of six hundred and seventy-eight dollars to his owner. In 1799
+there were on the estate &ldquo;2 Covering Jacks &amp; 3 young ones, 10 she
+asses, 42 working mules and 15 younger ones.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of cattle there were in 1793 a total of three hundred and seventeen head,
+including &ldquo;a sufficiency of oxen broke to the yoke,&rdquo; and a dairy
+was operated separate from the farms, and some butter was made, but Washington
+had occasion to say, &ldquo;It is hoped, and will be expected, that more
+effectual measures will be pursued to make butter another year; for it is
+almost beyond belief, that from 101 cows actually reported on a late
+enumeration of the cattle, that I am obliged to <i>buy butter</i> for the use
+of my family.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sheep were an unusual adjunct of a Virginia plantation, and of his flock
+Washington wrote, &ldquo;From the beginning of the year 1784 when I returned
+from the army, until shearing time of 1788, I improved the breed of my sheep so
+much by buying and selecting the best formed and most promising Rams, and
+putting them to my best ewes, by keeping them always well culled and clean, and
+by other attentions, that they averaged me … rather over than under five pounds
+of washed wool each.&rdquo; In another letter he said, &ldquo;I … was proud in
+being able to produce perhaps the largest mutton and the greatest quantity of
+wool from my sheep that could be produced. But I was not satisfied with this;
+and contemplated further improvements both in the flesh and wool by the
+introduction of other breeds, which I should by this time have carried into
+effect, had I been permitted to pursue my favorite occupation.&rdquo; In 1789,
+however, &ldquo;I was again called from home, and have not had it in my power
+since to pay any attention to my farms. The consequence of which is, that my
+sheep at the last shearing, yielded me not more than 2-1/2&rdquo; pounds. In
+1793 he had six hundred and thirty-four in his flock, from which he obtained
+fourteen hundred and-fifty-seven pounds of fleece. Of hogs he had
+&ldquo;many,&rdquo; but &ldquo;as these run pretty much at large in the
+woodland, the number is uncertain.&rdquo; In 1799 his manager valued his entire
+live-stock at seven thousand pounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A separate account was kept of each farm, and of many of these separate
+departments, and whenever there was a surplus of any product an account was
+opened to cover it. Thus in various years there are accounts raised dealing
+with cattle, hay, flour, flax, cord-wood, shoats, fish, whiskey, pork, etc.,
+and his secretary, Shaw, told a visitor that the &ldquo;books were as regular
+as any merchant whatever.&rdquo; It is proper to note, however, that sometimes
+they would not balance, and twice at least Washington could only force one, by
+entering &ldquo;By cash supposed to be paid away &amp; not credited
+£17.6.2,&rdquo; and &ldquo;By cash lost, stolen or paid away without charging
+£143.15.2.&rdquo; All these accounts were tabulated at the end of the year and
+the net results obtained. Those for a single year are here given:
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+BALANCE OF GAIN AND LOSS, 1798.
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<i>Dr. gained.</i>
+</p>
+
+<table summary="" style="margin-left: 3em;">
+
+<tr>
+<td>Dogue Run Farm</td><td>397.11.02</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Union Farm</td><td>529.10.11½</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>River Farm</td><td>234. 4.11</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Smith&rsquo;s Shop</td><td>34.12.09½</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Distillery</td><td>83.13.01</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Jacks</td><td>56.01</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Traveller (studhorse)</td><td>9.17</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Shoemaker</td><td>28.17.01</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Fishery</td><td>165.12.0¾</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Dairy</td><td>30.12.03</td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<p class="center">
+<i>Cr. lost.</i>
+</p>
+
+<table summary="" style="margin-left: 3em;">
+
+<tr>
+<td>Mansion House</td><td>466.18.02½</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Muddy Hole Farm</td><td>60.01.03½</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Spinning</td><td>51.02.0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Hire of head-overseer</td><td>140.00.0</td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<p class="letter">
+By Clear gain on the Estate £ 898.16.4¼
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A pretty poor showing for an estate and negroes which had certainly cost him
+over fifty thousand dollars, and on which there was livestock which at the
+lowest estimation was worth fifteen thousand dollars more. It is not strange
+that in 1793 Washington attempted to find tenants for all but the Mansion farm.
+This he reserved for my &ldquo;own residence, occupation and amusement,&rdquo;
+as Washington held that &ldquo;idleness is disreputable,&rdquo; and in 1798 he
+told his chief overseer he did not choose to &ldquo;discontinue my rides or
+become a cipher on my own estate.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When at Mount Vernon, as this indicated, Washington rode daily about his
+estate, and he has left a pleasant description of his life immediately after
+retiring from the Presidency: &ldquo;I begin my diurnal course with the sun;…
+if my hirelings are not in their places at that time I send them messages
+expressive of my sorrow for their indisposition;… having put these wheels in
+motion, I examine the state of things further; and the more they are probed,
+the deeper I find the wounds are which my buildings have sustained by my
+absence and neglect of eight years; by the time I have accomplished these
+matters, breakfast (a little after seven o&rsquo;clock)… is ready;… this being
+over, I mount my horse and ride round my farms, which employs me until it is
+time to dress for dinner.&rdquo; A visitor at this time is authority for the
+statement that the master &ldquo;often works with his men himself&mdash;strips
+off his coat and labors like a common man. The General has a great turn for
+mechanics. It&rsquo;s astonishing with what niceness he directs everything in
+the building way, condescending even to measure the things himself, that all
+may be perfectly uniform.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This personal attention Washington was able to give only with very serious
+interruptions. From 1754 till 1759 he was most of the time on the frontier; for
+nearly nine years his Revolutionary service separated him absolutely from his
+property; and during the two terms of his Presidency he had only brief and
+infrequent visits. Just one-half of his forty-six years&rsquo; occupancy of
+Mount Vernon was given to public service.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The result was that in 1757 he wrote, &ldquo;I am so little acquainted with the
+business relative to my private affairs that I can scarce give you any
+information concerning it,&rdquo; and this was hardly less true of the whole
+period of his absences. In 1775 he engaged overseers to manage his various
+estates in his absence &ldquo;upon shares,&rdquo; but during the whole war the
+plantations barely supported themselves, even with depletion of stock and
+fertility, and he was able to draw nothing from them. One overseer, and a
+confederate, he wrote, &ldquo;I believe, divided the profits of my Estate on
+the York River, tolerably betwn. them, for the devil of any thing do I
+get.&rdquo; Well might he advise knowingly that &ldquo;I have no doubt myself
+but that middling land under a man&rsquo;s own eyes, is more profitable than
+rich land at a distance.&rdquo; &ldquo;No Virginia Estate (except a very few
+under the best of management) can stand simple Interest,&rdquo; he declared,
+and went even further when he wrote, &ldquo;the nature of a Virginia Estate
+being such, that without close application, it never fails bringing the
+proprietors in Debt annually.&rdquo; &ldquo;To speak within bounds,&rdquo; he
+said, &ldquo;ten thousand pounds will not compensate the losses I might have
+avoided by being at home, &amp; attending a little to my own concerns&rdquo;
+during the Revolution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fortunately for the farmer, the Mount Vernon estate was but a small part of his
+property. His father had left him a plantation of two hundred and eighty acres
+on the Rappahannock, &ldquo;one Moiety of my Land lying on Deep Run,&rdquo;
+three lots in Frederick &ldquo;with all the houses and Appurtenances thereto
+belonging,&rdquo; and one quarter of the residuary estate. While surveying for
+Lord Fairfax in 1748, as part of his compensation Washington patented a tract
+of five hundred and fifty acres in Frederick County, which he always spoke of
+as &ldquo;My Bull-skin plantation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a military bounty in the French and Indian War the governor of Virginia
+issued a proclamation granting Western lands to the soldiers, and under this
+Washington not merely secured fifteen thousand acres in his own right, but by
+buying the claims of some of his fellow officers doubled that quantity. A
+further tract was also obtained under the kindred proclamation of 1763,
+&ldquo;5000 Acres of Land in my own right, &amp; by purchase from Captn. Roots,
+Posey, &amp; some other officers, I obtained rights to several thousand
+more.&rdquo; In 1786, after sales, he had over thirty thousand acres, which he
+then offered to sell at thirty thousand guineas, and in 1799, when still more
+had been sold, his inventory valued the holdings at nearly three hundred
+thousand dollars.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In addition, Washington was a partner in several great land
+speculations,&mdash;the Ohio Company, the Walpole Grant, the Mississippi
+Company, the Military Company of Adventures, and the Dismal Swamp Company; but
+all these ventures except the last collapsed at the beginning of the Revolution
+and proved valueless. His interest in the Dismal Swamp Company he held at the
+time of his death, and it was valued in the inventory at twenty thousand
+dollars.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The properties that came to him from his brother Lawrence and with his wife
+have already been described. It may be worth noting that with the widow of
+Lawrence there was a dispute over the will, but apparently it was never carried
+into the courts, and that owing to the great depreciation of paper money during
+the Revolution the Custis personal property was materially lessened, for
+&ldquo;I am now receiving a shilling in the pound in discharge of Bonds which
+ought to have been paid me, &amp; would have been realized before I left
+Virginia, but for my indulgences to the debtors,&rdquo; Washington wrote, and
+in 1778 he said, &ldquo;by the comparitive worth of money, six or seven
+thousand pounds which I have in Bonds upon Interest is now reduced to as many
+hundreds because I can get no more for a thousand at this day than a hundred
+would have fetched when I left Virginia, Bonds, debts, Rents, &amp;c.
+undergoing no change while the currency is depreciating in value and for ought
+I know may in a little time be totally sunk.&rdquo; Indeed, in 1781 he
+complained &ldquo;that I have totally neglected all my private concerns, which
+are declining every day, and may, possibly, end in capital losses, if not
+absolute ruin, before I am at liberty to look after them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1784 he became partner with George Clinton in some land purchases in the
+State of New York with the expectation of buying the &ldquo;mineral springs at
+Saratoga; and … the Oriskany tract, on which Fort Schuyler stands.&rdquo; In
+this they were disappointed, but six thousand acres in the Mohawk valley were
+obtained &ldquo;amazingly cheap.&rdquo; Washington&rsquo;s share cost him,
+including interest, eighteen hundred and seventy-five pounds, and in 1793
+two-thirds of the land had been sold for three thousand four hundred pounds,
+and in his inventory of 1799 Washington valued what he still held of the
+property at six thousand dollars.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1790, having inside information that the capital was to be removed from New
+York to Philadelphia, Washington tried to purchase a farm near that city,
+foreseeing a speedy rise in value. In this apparently he did not succeed. Later
+he purchased lots in the new Federal city, and built houses on two of them. He
+also had town lots in Williamsburg, Alexandria, Winchester, and Bath. In
+addition to all this property there were many smaller holdings. Much was sold
+or traded, yet when he died, besides his wife&rsquo;s real estate and the Mount
+Vernon property, he possessed fifty-one thousand three hundred and ninety-five
+acres, exclusive of town property. A contemporary said &ldquo;that General
+Washington is, perhaps, the greatest landholder in America.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All these lands, except Mount Vernon, were, so far as possible, rented, but the
+net income was not large. Rent agents were employed to look after the tenants,
+but low rents, war, paper money, a shifting population, and Washington&rsquo;s
+dislike of lawsuits all tended to reduce the receipts, and the landlord did not
+get simple interest on his investments. Thus, in 1799 he complains of slow
+payments from tenants in Washington and Lafayette Counties (Pennsylvania).
+Instead of an expected six thousand dollars, due June 1, but seventeen hundred
+dollars were received.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Income, however, had not been his object in loading himself with such a vast
+property, as Washington believed that he was certain to become rich. &ldquo;For
+proof of&rdquo; the rise of land, he wrote in 1767, &ldquo;only look to
+Frederick, [county] and see what fortunes were made by the … first taking up of
+those lands. Nay, how the greatest estates we have in this colony were made.
+Was it not by taking up and purchasing at very low rates the rich back lands,
+which were thought nothing of in those days, but are now the most valuable land
+we possess?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this he was correct, but in the mean time he was more or less land-poor. To
+a friend in 1763 he wrote that the stocking and repairing of his plantations
+&ldquo;and other matters … swallowed up before I well knew where I was, all the
+moneys I got by marriage, nay more, brought me in debt&rdquo; In 1775, replying
+to a request for a loan, he declared that &ldquo;so far am I from having £200
+to lend … I would gladly borrow that sum myself for a few months.&rdquo; When
+offered land adjoining Mount Vernon for three thousand pounds in 1778, he could
+only reply that it was &ldquo;a sum I have little chance, if I had inclination,
+to pay; &amp; therefore would not engage it, as I am resolved not to incumber
+myself with Debt.&rdquo; In 1782, to secure a much desired tract he was forced
+to borrow two thousand pounds York currency at the rate of seven per cent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1788, &ldquo;the total loss of my crop last year by the drought&rdquo;
+&ldquo;with necessary demands for cash&rdquo; &ldquo;have caused me much
+perplexity and given me more uneasiness than I ever experienced before from
+want of money,&rdquo; and a year later, just before setting out to be
+inaugurated, he tried to borrow five hundred pounds &ldquo;to discharge what I
+owe&rdquo; and to pay the expenses of the journey to New York, but was
+&ldquo;unable to obtain more than half of it, (though it was not much I
+required), and this at an advanced interest with other rigid conditions,&rdquo;
+though at this time &ldquo;could I get in one fourth part of what is due me on
+Bonds&rdquo; &ldquo;without the intervention of suits&rdquo; there would have
+been ample funds. In 1795 the President said, &ldquo;my friends entertain a
+very erroneous idea of my particular resources, when they set me down for a
+money lender, or one who (now) has a command of it. You may believe me when I
+assert that the bonds which were due to me before the Revolution, were
+discharged during the progress of it&mdash;with a few exceptions in depreciated
+paper (in some instances as low as a shilling in the pound). That such has been
+the management of the Estate, for many years past, especially since my absence
+from home, now six years, as scarcely to support itself. That my public
+allowance (whatever the world may think of it) is inadequate to the expence of
+living in this City; to such an extravagant height has the necessaries as well
+as the conveniences of life arisen. And, moreover that to keep myself out of
+debt; I have found it expedient now and then to sell Lands, or something else
+to effect this purpose.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus12"></a>
+<img src="images/img12.jpg" width="600" height="402" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">LOTTERY TICKET SIGNED BY WASHINGTON</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+As these extensive land ventures bespoke a national characteristic, so a liking
+for other forms of speculation was innate in the great American. During the
+Revolution he tried to secure an interest in a privateer. One of his favorite
+flyers was chances in lotteries and raffles, which, if now found only in
+association with church fairs, were then not merely respectable, but even
+fashionable. In 1760 five pounds and ten shillings were invested in one
+lottery. Five pounds purchased five tickets in Strother&rsquo;s lottery in
+1763. Three years later six pounds were risked in the York lottery and produced
+prizes to the extent of sixteen pounds. Fifty pounds were put into Colonel
+Byrd&rsquo;s lottery in 1769, and drew a half-acre lot in the town of
+Manchester, but out of this Washington was defrauded. In 1791 John Potts was
+paid four pounds and four shillings &ldquo;in part for 20 Lottery tickets in
+the Alexa. street Lottery at 6/ each, 14 Dollrs. the Bal. was discharged by 2.3
+Lotr prizes.&rdquo; Twenty tickets of Peregrine and Fitzhugh&rsquo;s lottery
+cost one hundred and eighty-eight dollars in 1794. And these are but samples of
+innumerable instances. So, too, in raffles, the entries are
+constant,&mdash;&ldquo;for glasses 20/,&rdquo; &ldquo;for a Necklace
+£1.,&rdquo; &ldquo;by profit &amp; loss in two chances in raffling for
+Encyclopadia Britannica, which I did not win £1.4,&rdquo; two tickets were
+taken in the raffle of Mrs. Dawson&rsquo;s coach, as were chances for a pair of
+silver buckles, for a watch, and for a gun; such and many others were smaller
+ventures Washington took.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were other sources of income or loss besides. Before the Revolution he
+had a good sized holding of Bank of England stock, and an annuity in the funds,
+besides considerable property on bond, the larger part of which, as already
+noted, was liquidated in depreciated paper money. This paper money was for the
+most part put into United States securities, and eventually the &ldquo;at least
+£10,000 Virginia money&rdquo; proved to be worth six thousand two hundred and
+forty-six dollars in government six per cents and three per cents. A great
+believer in the Potomac Canal Company, Washington invested twenty-four hundred
+pounds sterling in the stock, which produced no income, and in time showed a
+heavy shrinkage. Another and smaller loss was an investment in the James River
+Canal Company. Stock holdings in the Bank of Columbia and in the Bank of
+Alexandria proved profitable investments.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+None the less Washington was a successful businessman. Though his property
+rarely produced a net income, and though he served the public with practically
+no profit (except as regards bounty lands), and thus was compelled frequently
+to dip into his capital to pay current expenses, yet, from being a surveyor
+only too glad to earn a doubloon (seven dollars and forty cents) a day, he grew
+steadily in wealth, and when he died his property, exclusive of his
+wife&rsquo;s and the Mount Vernon estate, was valued at five hundred and thirty
+thousand dollars. This made him one of the wealthiest Americans of his time,
+and it is to be questioned if a fortune was ever more honestly acquired or more
+thoroughly deserved.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap06"></a>VI<br/>
+MASTER AND EMPLOYER</h2>
+
+<p>
+In his &ldquo;rules of civility&rdquo; Washington enjoined that &ldquo;those of
+high Degree ought to treat&rdquo; &ldquo;Artificers &amp; Persons of low
+Degree&rdquo; &ldquo;with affibility &amp; Courtesie, without Arrogancy,&rdquo;
+and it was a needed lesson to every young Virginian, for, as Jefferson wrote,
+&ldquo;the whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of
+the most boisterous passions, the most insulting despotism on the one part, and
+degrading submissions on the other.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Augustine Washington&rsquo;s will left to his son George &ldquo;Ten negro
+Slaves,&rdquo; with an additional share of those &ldquo;not herein particularly
+Devised,&rdquo; but all to remain in the possession of Mary Washington until
+the boy was twenty-one years of age. With his taking possession of the Mount
+Vernon estate in his twenty-second year eighteen more came under
+Washington&rsquo;s direction. In 1754 he bought a &ldquo;fellow&rdquo; for
+£40.5, another (Jack) for £52.5, and a negro woman (Clio) for £50. In 1756 he
+purchased of the governor a negro woman and child for £60, and two years later
+a fellow (Gregory) for £60.9. In the following year (the year of his marriage)
+he bought largely: a negro (Will) for £50; another for £60; nine for £406, an
+average of £45; and a woman (Hannah) and child, £80. In 1762 he added to the
+number by purchasing seven of Lee Massey for £300 (an average of £43), and two
+of Colonel Fielding Lewis at £115, or £57.10 apiece. From the estate of Francis
+Hobbs he bought, in 1764, Ben, £72; Lewis, £36.10; and Sarah, £20. Another
+fellow, bought of Sarah Alexander, cost him £76; and a negro (Judy) and child,
+sold by Garvin Corbin, £63. In 1768 Mary Lee sold him two mulattoes (Will and
+Frank) for £61.15 and £50, respectively; and two boys (negroes), Adam and
+Frank, for £19 apiece. Five more were purchased in 1772, and after that no more
+were bought. In 1760 Washington paid tithes on forty-nine slaves, five years
+later on seventy-eight, in 1770 on eighty-seven, and in 1774 on one hundred and
+thirty-five; besides which must be included the &ldquo;dower slaves&rdquo; of
+his wife. Soon after this there was an overplus, and Washington in 1778 offered
+to barter for some land &ldquo;Negroes, of whom I every day long more to get
+clear of,&rdquo; and even before this he had learned the economic fact that
+except on the richest of soils slaves &ldquo;only add to the Expence.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1791 he had one hundred and fifteen &ldquo;hands&rdquo; on the Mount Vernon
+estate, besides house servants, and De Warville, describing his estate in the
+same year, speaks of his having three hundred negroes. At this time Washington
+declared that &ldquo;I never mean (unless some particular circumstance compel
+me to it) to possess another slave by purchase,&rdquo; but this intention was
+broken, for &ldquo;The running off of my cook has been a most inconvenient
+thing to this family, and what rendered it more disagreeable, is that I had
+resolved never to become the Master of another slave by purchase, but this
+resolution I fear I must break. I have endeavored to hire, black or white, but
+am not yet supplied.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A few more slaves were taken in payment of a debt, but it was from necessity
+rather than choice, for at this very time Washington had decided that &ldquo;it
+is demonstratively clear, that on this Estate (Mount Vernon) I have more
+working negros by a full moiety, than can be employed to any advantage in the
+farming system, and I shall never turn Planter thereon. To sell the overplus I
+cannot, because I am principled against this kind of traffic in the human
+species. To hire them out, is almost as bad, because they could not be disposed
+of in families to any advantage, and to disperse the families I have an
+aversion. What then is to be done? Something must or I shall be ruined; for all
+the money (in addition to what I raise by crops, and rents) that have been
+<i>received</i> for Lands, sold within the last four years, to the amount of
+Fifty thousand dollars, has scarcely been able to keep me afloat.&rdquo; And
+writing of one set he said, &ldquo;it would be for my interest to set them
+free, rather than give them victuals and cloaths.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The loss by runaways was not apparently large. In October, 1760, his ledger
+contains an item of seven shillings &ldquo;To the Printing Office … for
+Advertising a run-a-way Negro.&rdquo; In 1761 he pays his clergyman, Rev. Mr.
+Green, &ldquo;for taking up one of my Runaway Negroes £4.&rdquo; In 1766
+rewards are paid for the &ldquo;taking upp&rdquo; of &ldquo;Negro Tom&rdquo;
+and &ldquo;Negro Bett.&rdquo; The &ldquo;taking up of Harry when Runaway&rdquo;
+in 1771 cost £1.16. When the British invaded Virginia in 1781, a number escaped
+or were carried away by the enemy. By the treaty of peace these should have
+been returned, and their owner wrote, &ldquo;Some of my own slaves, and those
+of Mr. Lund Washington who lives at my house may probably be in New York, but I
+am unable to give you their description&mdash;their names being so easily
+changed, will be fruitless to give you. If by chance you should come at the
+knowledge of any of them, I will be much obliged by your securing them, so that
+I may obtain them again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1796 a girl absconded to New England, and Washington made inquiries of a
+friend as to the possibility of recovering her, adding, &ldquo;however well
+disposed I might be to a gradual abolition, or even to an entire emancipation
+of that description of people (if the latter was in itself practicable) at this
+moment, it would neither be politic nor just to reward unfaithfulness with a
+premature preference, and thereby discontent beforehand the minds of all her
+fellow servants, who, by their steady attachment, are far more deserving than
+herself of favor,&rdquo; and at this time Washington wrote to a relative,
+&ldquo;I am sorry to hear of the loss of your servant; but it is my opinion
+these elopements will be much more, before they are less frequent; and that the
+persons making them should never be retained&mdash;if they are recovered, as
+they are sure to contaminate and discontent others.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another source of loss was sickness, which, in spite of all Washington could
+do, made constant inroads on the numbers. A doctor to care for them was engaged
+by the year, and in the contracts with his overseers clauses were always
+inserted that each was &ldquo;to take all necessary and proper care of the
+Negroes committed to his management using them with proper humanity and
+descretion,&rdquo; or that &ldquo;he will take all necessary and proper care of
+the negroes committed to his management, treating them with humanity and
+tenderness when sick, and preventing them when well, from running about and
+visiting without his consent; as also forbid strange negroes frequenting their
+quarters without lawful excuses for so doing.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Furthermore, in writing to his manager, while absent from Mount Vernon,
+Washington reiterated that &ldquo;although it is last mentioned it is foremost
+in my thoughts, to desire you will be particularly attentive to my negros in
+their sickness; and to order every overseer <i>positively</i> to be so
+likewise; for I am sorry to observe that the generality of them view these poor
+creatures in scarcely any other light than they do a draught horse or ox;
+neglecting them as much when they are unable to work; instead of comforting and
+nursing them when they lye on a sick bed.&rdquo; And in another letter he
+added, &ldquo;When I recommended care of, and attention to my negros in
+sickness, it was that the first stage of, and the whole progress through the
+disorders with which they might be seized (if more than a slight indisposition)
+should be closely watched, and timely applications and remedies be
+administered; especially in the pleurisies, and all inflammatory disorders
+accompanied with pain, when a few days&rsquo; neglect, or want of bleeding
+might render the ailment incurable. In such cases sweeten&rsquo;d teas, broths
+and (according to the nature of the complaint, and the doctor&rsquo;s
+prescription) sometimes a little wine, may be necessary to nourish and restore
+the patient; and these I am perfectly willing to allow, when it is requisite.
+My fear is, as I expressed to you in a former letter, that the under overseers
+are so unfeeling, in short viewing the negros in no other light than as a
+better kind of cattle, the moment they cease to work, they cease their care of
+them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At Mount Vernon his care for the slaves was more personal. At a time when the
+small-pox was rife in Virginia he instructed his overseer &ldquo;what to do if
+the Small pox should come amongst them,&rdquo; and when he &ldquo;received
+letters from Winchester, informing me that the Small pox had got among my
+quarters in Frederick; [I] determin&rsquo;d … to leave town as soon as
+possible, and proceed up to them…. After taking the Doctors directions in
+regard to my people … I set out for my quarters about 12 oclock, time enough to
+go over them and found every thing in the utmost confusion, disorder and
+backwardness…. Got Blankets and every other requisite from Winchester, and
+settl&rsquo;d things on the best footing I cou&rsquo;d, … Val Crawford agreeing
+if any of those at the upper quarter got it, to have them remov&rsquo;d into my
+room and the Nurse sent for.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Other sickness was equally attended to, as the following entries in his diary
+show: &ldquo;visited my Plantations and found two negroes sick … ordered them
+to be blooded;&rdquo; &ldquo;found that lightening had struck my quarters and
+near 10 Negroes in it, some very bad but with letting blood they
+recover&rsquo;d;&rdquo; &ldquo;ordered Lucy down to the House to be
+Physikd,&rdquo; and &ldquo;found the new negro Cupid, ill of a pleurisy at
+Dogue Run Quarter and had him brot home in a cart for better care of him….
+Cupid extremely Ill all this day and at night when I went to bed I thought him
+within a few hours of breathing his last.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This matter of sickness, however, had another phase, which caused Washington
+much irritation at times when he could not personally look into the cases, but
+heard of them through the reports of his overseers. Thus, he complained on one
+occasion, &ldquo;I find by reports that Sam is, in a manner, always returned
+sick; Doll at the Ferry, and several of the spinners very frequently so, for a
+week at a stretch; and ditcher Charles often laid up with lameness. I never
+wish my people to work when they are really sick, or unfit for it; on the
+contrary, that all necessary care should be taken of them when they are so; but
+if you do not examine into their complaints, they will lay by when no more ails
+them, than all those who stick to their business, and are not complaining from
+the fatigue and drowsiness which they feel as the effect of night walking and
+other practices which unfit them for the duties of the day.&rdquo; And again he
+asked, &ldquo;Is there anything particular in the cases of Ruth, Hannah and
+Pegg, that they have been returned sick for several weeks together? Ruth I know
+is extremely deceitful; she has been aiming for some time past to get into the
+house, exempt from work; but if they are not made to do what their age and
+strength will enable them, it will be a bad example for others&mdash;none of
+whom would work if by pretexts they can avoid it&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Other causes than running away and death depleted the stock. One negro was
+taken by the State for some crime and executed, an allowance of sixty-nine
+pounds being made to his master. In 1766 an unruly negro was shipped to the
+West Indies (as was then the custom), Washington writing the captain of the
+vessel,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;With this letter comes a negro (Tom) which I beg the favor of you to
+sell in any of the islands you may go to, for whatever he will fetch, and bring
+me in return for him<br/>
+        &ldquo;One hhd of best molasses<br/>
+        &ldquo;One ditto of best rum<br/>
+        &ldquo;One barrel of lymes, if good and cheap<br/>
+        &ldquo;One pot of tamarinds, containing about 10 lbs.<br/>
+        &ldquo;Two small ditto of mixed sweetmeats, about 5 lbs. each.<br/>
+And the residue, much or little, in good old spirits. That this
+fellow is both a rogue and a runaway (tho&rsquo; he was by no means remarkable
+for the former, and never practised the latter till of late) I shall not
+pretend to deny. But that he is exceeding healthy, strong, and good at the hoe,
+the whole neighborhood can testify, and particularly Mr. Johnson and his son,
+who have both had him under them as foreman of the gang; which gives me reason
+to hope he may with your good management sell well, if kept clean and
+trim&rsquo;d up a little when offered for sale.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another &ldquo;misbehaving fellow&rdquo; was shipped off in 1791, and was sold
+for &ldquo;one pipe and Quarter Cask of wine from the West Indies.&rdquo;
+Sometimes only the threat of such riddance was used, as when an overseer
+complained of one slave, and his master replied, &ldquo;I am very sorry that so
+likely a fellow as Matilda&rsquo;s Ben should addict himself to such courses as
+he is pursuing. If he should be guilty of any atrocious crime, that would
+effect his life, he might be given up to the civil authority for trial; but for
+such offences as most of his color are guilty of, you had better try further
+correction, accompanied with admonition and advice. The two latter sometimes
+succeed where the first has failed. He, his father and mother (who I dare say
+are his receivers) may be told in explicit language, that if a stop is not put
+to his rogueries and other villainies, by fair means and shortly, that I will
+ship him off (as I did Wagoner Jack) for the West Indies, where he will have no
+opportunity of playing such pranks as he is at present engaged in.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is interesting to note, in connection with this conclusion, that
+&ldquo;admonition and advice&rdquo; were able to do what
+&ldquo;correction&rdquo; sometimes failed to achieve, that there is not a
+single order to whip, and that the above case, and that which follows, are the
+only known cases where punishment was approved. &ldquo;The correction you gave
+Ben, for his assault on Sambo, was just and proper. It is my earnest desire
+that quarrels may be stopped or punishment of both parties follow, unless it
+shall appear <i>clearly</i>, that one only is to blame, and the other forced
+into [a quarrel] from self-defence.&rdquo; In one other instance Washington
+wrote, &ldquo;If Isaac had his deserts he would receive a severe punishment for
+the house, tools and seasoned stuff, which has been burned by his
+carelessness.&rdquo; But instead of ordering the &ldquo;deserts&rdquo; he
+continued, &ldquo;I wish you to inform him, that I sustain injury enough by
+their idleness; they need not add to it by their carelessness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This is the more remarkable, because his slaves gave him constant annoyance by
+their wastefulness and sloth and dishonesty. Thus, &ldquo;Paris has grown to be
+so lazy and self-willed&rdquo; that his master does not know what to with him;
+&ldquo;Doll at the Ferry must be taught to knit, and <i>made</i> to do a
+sufficient day&rsquo;s work of it&mdash;otherwise (if suffered to be idle) many
+more will walk in her steps&rdquo;; &ldquo;it is observed by the weekly
+reports, that the sewers make only six shirts a week, and the last week
+Carolina (without being sick) made only five. Mrs. Washington says their usual
+task was to make nine with shoulder straps and good sewing. Tell them therefore
+from me, that what <i>has</i> been done, <i>shall</i> be done&rdquo;;
+&ldquo;none I think call louder for [attention] than the smiths, who, from a
+variety of instances which fell within my own observation whilst I was at home,
+I take to be two very idle fellows. A daily account (which ought to be
+regularly) taken of their work, would alone go a great way towards checking
+their idleness.&rdquo; And the overseer was told to watch closely &ldquo;the
+people who are at work with the gardener, some of whom I know to be as lazy and
+deceitful as any in the world (Sam particularly).&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Furthermore, the overseers were warned to &ldquo;endeavor to make the Servants
+and Negroes take care of their cloathes;&rdquo; to give them &ldquo;a weekly
+allowance of Meat … because the annual one is not taken care of but either
+profusely used or stolen&rdquo;; and to note &ldquo;the delivery to and the
+application of nails by the carpenters,… [for] I cannot conceive how it is
+possible that 6000 twelve penny nails could be used in the corn house at River
+Plantation; but of one thing I have no great doubt, and that is, if they can be
+applied to other uses, or converted into cash, rum or other things there will
+be no scruple in doing it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When robbed of some potatoes, Washington complained that &ldquo;the deception …
+is of a piece with other practices of a similar kind by which I have suffered
+hitherto; and may serve to evince to you, in strong colors, first how little
+confidence can be placed in any one round you; and secondly the necessity of an
+accurate inspection into these things yourself,&mdash;for to be plain,
+Alexandria is such a recepticle for every thing that can be filched from the
+right owners, by either blacks or whites; and I have such an opinion of my
+negros (two or three only excepted), and not much better of some of the whites,
+that I am perfectly sure not a single thing that can be disposed of at any
+price, at that place, that will not, and is not stolen, where it is possible;
+and carried thither to some of the underlying keepers, who support themselves
+by this kind of traffick.&rdquo; He dared not leave wine unlocked, even for the
+use of his guests, &ldquo;because the knowledge I have of my servants is such,
+as to believe, that if opportunities are given them, they will take off two
+glasses of wine for every one that is drank by such visitors, and tell you they
+were used by them.&rdquo; And when he had some work to do requiring very
+ordinary qualities, he had to confess that &ldquo;I know not a negro among all
+mine, whose capacity, integrity and attention could be relied on for such a
+trust as this.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whatever his opinion of his slaves, Washington was a kind master. In one case
+he wrote a letter for one of them when the &ldquo;fellow&rdquo; was parted from
+his wife in the service of his master, and at another time he enclosed letters
+to a wife and to James&rsquo;s &ldquo;del Toboso,&rdquo; for two of his
+servants, to save them postage. In reference to their rations he wrote,
+&ldquo;whether this addition … is sufficient, I will not undertake to
+decide;&mdash;but in most explicit language I desire they may have plenty; for
+I will not have my feelings hurt with complaints of this sort, nor lye under
+the imputation of starving my negros, and thereby driving them to the necessity
+of thieving to supply the deficiency. To prevent waste or embezzlement is the
+only inducement to allowancing of them at all&mdash;for if, instead of a peck
+they could eat a bushel of meal a week fairly, and required it, I would not
+withhold or begrudge it them.&rdquo; At Christmas-time there are entries in his
+ledger for whiskey or rum for &ldquo;the negroes,&rdquo; and towards the end of
+his life he ordered the overseer, &ldquo;although others are getting out of the
+practice of using spirits at Harvest, yet, as my people have always been
+accustomed to it, a hogshead of Rum must be purchased; but I request at the
+same time, that it may be used sparingly.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A greater kindness of his was, in 1787, when he very much desired a negro mason
+offered for sale, yet directed his agent that &ldquo;if he has a family, with
+which he is to be sold; or from whom he would reluctantly part, I decline the
+purchase; his feelings I would not be the means of hurting in the latter case,
+nor <i>at any rate</i> be incumbered with the former.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The kindness thus indicated bore fruit in a real attachment of the slaves for
+their master. In Humphreys&rsquo;s poem on Washington the poet alluded to the
+negroes at Mount Vernon in the lines,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;Where that foul stain of manhood, slavery, flow&rsquo;d<br/>
+Through Afric&rsquo;s sons transmitted in the blood;<br/>
+Hereditary slaves his kindness shar&rsquo;d,<br/>
+For manumission by degrees prepar&rsquo;d:<br/>
+Return&rsquo;d from war, I saw them round him press,<br/>
+And all their speechless glee by artless signs express.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+And in a foot-note the writer added, &ldquo;The interesting scene of his return
+home, at which the author was present, is described exactly as it
+existed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A single one of these slaves deserves further notice. His body-servant
+&ldquo;Billy&rdquo; was purchased by Washington in 1768 for sixty-eight pounds
+and fifteen shillings, and was his constant companion during the war, even
+riding after his master at reviews; and this servant was so associated with the
+General that it was alleged in the preface to the &ldquo;forged letters&rdquo;
+that they had been captured by the British from &ldquo;Billy,&rdquo; &ldquo;an
+old servant of General Washington&rsquo;s.&rdquo; When Savage painted his
+well-known &ldquo;family group,&rdquo; this was the one slave included in the
+picture. In 1784 Washington told his Philadelphia agent that &ldquo;The mulatto
+fellow, William, who has been with me all the war, is attached (married he
+says) to one of his own color, a free woman, who during the war, was also of my
+family. She has been in an infirm condition for some time, and I had conceived
+that the connexion between them had ceased; but I am mistaken it seems; they
+are both applying to get her here, and tho&rsquo; I never wished to see her
+more, I cannot refuse his request (if it can be complied with on reasonable
+terms) as he has served me faithfully for many years. After premising this
+much, I have to beg the favor of you to procure her a passage to
+Alexandria.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus13"></a>
+<img src="images/img13.jpg" width="700" height="486" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">SAVAGE&rsquo;S PICTURE OF THE WASHINGTON FAMILY</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+When acting as chain-bearer in 1785, while Washington was surveying a tract of
+land, William fell and broke his knee-pan, &ldquo;which put a stop to my
+surveying; and with much difficulty I was able to get him to Abington, being
+obliged to get a sled to carry him on, as he could neither walk, stand or
+ride.&rdquo; From this injury Lee never quite recovered, yet he started to
+accompany his master to New York in 1789, only to give out on the road. He was
+left at Philadelphia, and Lear wrote to Washington&rsquo;s agent that
+&ldquo;The President will thank you to propose it to Will to return to Mount
+Vernon when he can be removed for he cannot be of any service here, and perhaps
+will require a person to attend upon him constantly. If he should incline to
+return to Mount Vernon, you will be so kind as to have him sent in the first
+Vessel that sails for Alexandria after he can be moved with safety&mdash;but if
+he is still anxious to come on here the President would gratify him,
+altho&rsquo; he will be troublesome&mdash;He has been an old and faithful
+Servant, this is enough for the President to gratify him in every reasonable
+wish.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By his will Washington gave Lee his &ldquo;immediate freedom or if he should
+prefer it (on account of the accidents which have befallen him and which have
+rendered him incapable of walking or of any active employment) to remain in the
+situation he now is, it shall be optional in him to do so&mdash; In either case
+however I allow him an annuity of thirty dollars during his natural life which
+shall be independent of the victuals and <i>cloaths</i> he has been accustomed
+to receive; if he <i>chuses</i> the last alternative, but in full with his
+freedom, if he prefers the first, and this I give him as a testimony of my
+sense of his attachment to me and for his faithful services during the
+Revolutionary War.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two small incidents connected with Washington&rsquo;s last illness are worth
+noting. The afternoon before the night he was taken ill, although he had
+himself been superintending his affairs on horseback in the storm most of the
+day, yet when his secretary &ldquo;carried some letters to him to frank,
+intending to send them to the Post Office in the evening,&rdquo; Lear tells us
+&ldquo;he franked the letters; but said the weather was too bad to send a
+servant up to the office that evening.&rdquo; Lear continues, &ldquo;The
+General&rsquo;s servant, Christopher, attended his bed side &amp; in the room,
+when he was sitting up, through his whole illness…. In the [last] afternoon the
+General observing that Christopher had been standing by his bed side for a long
+time&mdash;made a motion for him to sit in a chair which stood by the bed
+side.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A clause in Washington&rsquo;s will directed that
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Upon the decease of my wife it is my will and desire that all the slaves
+which I hold in <i>my own right</i> shall receive their freedom&mdash;To
+emancipate them during her life, would, tho&rsquo; earnestly wished by me, be
+attended with such insuperable difficulties, on account of their intermixture
+of marriages with the Dower negroes as to excite the most painful
+sensations&mdash;if not disagreeable consequences from the latter, while both
+descriptions 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&mdash;And whereas among those who will receive freedom according to this
+devise there may be some who from old age, or bodily infirmities &amp; others
+who on account of their infancy, that will be unable to support themselves, it
+is my will and desire that all who come under the first and second description
+shall be comfortably cloathed and fed by my heirs while they live and that such
+of the latter description as have no parents living, or if living are unable or
+unwilling to provide for them, shall be bound by the Court until they shall
+arrive at the age of twenty five years…. The negroes thus bound are (by their
+masters and mistresses) to be taught to read and write and to be brought up to
+some useful occupation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this connection Washington&rsquo;s sentiments on slavery as an institution
+may be glanced at. As early as 1784 he replied to Lafayette, when told of a
+colonizing plan, &ldquo;The scheme, my dear Marqs., which you propose as a
+precedent to encourage the emancipation of the black people of this Country
+from that state of Bondage in wch. they are held, is a striking evidence of the
+benevolence of your Heart. I shall be happy to join you in so laudable a work;
+but will defer going into a detail of the business, till I have the pleasure of
+seeing you.&rdquo; A year later, when Francis Asbury was spending a day in
+Mount Vernon, the clergyman asked his host if he thought it wise to sign a
+petition for the emancipation of slaves. Washington replied that it would not
+be proper for him, but added, &ldquo;If the Maryland Assembly discusses the
+matter; I will address a letter to that body on the subject, as I have always
+approved of it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When South Carolina refused to pass an act to end the slave-trade, he wrote to
+a friend in that State, &ldquo;I must say that I lament the decision of your
+legislature upon the question of importing slaves after March 1793. I was in
+hopes that motives of policy as well as other good reasons, supported by the
+direful effects of slavery, which at this moment are presented, would have
+operated to produce a total prohibition of the importation of slaves, whenever
+the question came to be agitated in any State, that might be interested in the
+measure.&rdquo; For his own State he expressed the &ldquo;wish from my soul
+that the Legislature of this State could see the policy of a gradual Abolition
+of Slavery; it would prev&rsquo;t much future mischief.&rdquo; And to a
+Pennsylvanian he expressed the sentiment, &ldquo;I hope it will not be
+conceived from these observations, that it is my wish to hold the unhappy
+people, who are the subject of this letter, in slavery. I can only say, that
+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 legislative authority; and
+this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall never be wanting.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington by no means restricted himself to slave servitors. Early in life he
+took into his service John Alton at thirteen pounds per annum, and this white
+man served as his body-servant in the Braddock campaign, and Washington found
+in the march that &ldquo;A most serious inconvenience attended me in my
+sickness, and that was the losing the use of my servant, for poor John Alton
+was taken about the same time that I was, and with nearly the same disorder,
+and was confined as long; so that we did not see each other for several
+days.&rdquo; As elsewhere noticed, Washington succeeded to the services of
+Braddock&rsquo;s body-servant, Thomas Bishop, on the death of the general,
+paying the man ten pounds a year.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These two were his servants in his trip to Boston in 1756, and in preparation
+for that journey Washington ordered his English agent to send him &ldquo;2
+complete livery suits for servants; with a spare cloak and all other necessary
+trimmings for two suits more. I would have you choose the livery by our arms,
+only as the field of the arms is white, I think the clothes had better not be
+quite so, but nearly like the inclosed. The trimmings and facings of scarlet,
+and a scarlet waist coat. If livery lace is not quite disused, I should be glad
+to have the cloaks laced. I like that fashion best, and two silver laced hats
+for the above servants.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For some reason Bishop left his employment, but in 1760 Washington &ldquo;wrote
+to my old servant Bishop to return to me again if he was not otherwise
+engaged,&rdquo; and, the man being &ldquo;very desirous of returning,&rdquo;
+the old relation was reassumed. Alton in the mean time had been promoted to be
+overseer of one of the plantations. In 1785 their master noted in his diary,
+&ldquo;Last night Jno Alton an Overseer of mine in the Neck&mdash;an old &amp;
+faithful Servant who has lived with me 30 odd years died&mdash;and this evening
+the wife of Thos. Bishop, another old Servant who had lived with me an equal
+number of years also died.&rdquo; Both were remembered in his will by a clause
+giving &ldquo;To Sarah Green daughter of the deceased Thomas Bishop, and to Ann
+Walker, daughter of John Alton, also deceased I give each one hundred dollars,
+in consideration of the attachment of their father[s] to me, each of whom
+having lived nearly forty years in my family.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of Washington&rsquo;s general treatment of the serving class a few facts can be
+gleaned. He told one of his overseers, in reference to the sub-overseers, that
+&ldquo;to treat them civilly is no more than what all men are entitled to, but
+my advice to you is, to keep them at a proper distance; for they will grow upon
+familiarity, in proportion as you will sink in authority if you do not.&rdquo;
+To a housekeeper he promised &ldquo;a warm, decent and comfortable room to
+herself, to lodge in, and will eat of the victuals of our Table, but not set at
+it, or at any time <i>with us</i> be her appearance what it may; for if this
+was <i>once admitted</i> no line satisfactory to either party, perhaps could be
+drawn thereafter.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In visiting he feed liberally, good examples of which are given in the cash
+account of the visit to Boston in 1756, when he &ldquo;Gave to Servants on ye
+Road 10/.&rdquo; &ldquo;By Cash Mr. Malbones servants £4.0.0.&rdquo; &ldquo;The
+Chambermaid £1.2.6.&rdquo; When the wife of his old steward, Fraunces, came to
+need, he gave her &ldquo;for Charity £1.17.6.&rdquo; The majority will
+sympathize rather than disapprove of his opinion when he wrote, &ldquo;Workmen
+in most Countries I believe are necessary plagues;&mdash;-in this where
+entreaties as well as money must be used to obtain their work and keep them to
+their duty they baffle all calculation in the accomplishment of any plan or
+repairs they are engaged in;&mdash;and require more attention to and looking
+after than can be well conceived.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The overseers of his many plantations, and his &ldquo;master&rdquo; carpenters,
+millers, and gardeners, were quite as great trials as his slaves. First
+&ldquo;young Stephens&rdquo; gave him much trouble, which his diary reports in
+a number of sententious entries: &ldquo;visited my Plantation. Severely
+reprimanded young Stephens for his Indolence, and his father for suffering
+it;&rdquo; &ldquo;forbid Stephens keeping any horses upon my expence;&rdquo;
+&ldquo;visited my quarters &amp; ye Mill, according to custom found young
+Stephens absent;&rdquo; &ldquo;visited my Plantation and found to my great
+surprise Stephens constantly at work;&rdquo; &ldquo;rid out to my Plantn. and
+to my Carpenters. Found Richard Stephens hard at work with an ax&mdash;Very
+extraordinary this!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again he records, &ldquo;Visited my Plantations&mdash;found Foster had been
+absent from his charge since the 28th ulto. Left orders for him to come
+immediately to me upon his return, and repremanded him severely.&rdquo; Of
+another, Simpson, &ldquo;I never hear … without a degree of warmth &amp;
+vexation at his extreme stupidity,&rdquo; and elsewhere he expresses his
+disgust at &ldquo;that confounded fellow Simpson.&rdquo; A third spent all the
+fall and half the winter in getting in his crop, and &ldquo;if there was any
+way of making such a rascal as Garner pay for such conduct, no punishment would
+be too great for him. I suppose he never turned out of mornings until the sun
+had warmed the earth, and if <i>he</i> did not, the <i>negros</i> would
+not.&rdquo; His chief overseer was directed to &ldquo;Let Mr. Crow know that I
+view with a very evil eye the frequent reports made by him of sheep dying;…
+frequent <i>natural deaths</i> is a very strong evidence to my mind of the want
+of care or something worse.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Curious distinctions were made oftentimes. Thus, in the contract with an
+overseer, one clause was inserted to the effect, &ldquo;And whereas there are a
+number of whiskey stills very contiguous to the said Plantations, and many
+idle, drunken and dissolute People continually resorting to the same, priding
+themselves in debauching sober and well-inclined Persons, the said Edd Voilett
+doth promise as well for his own sake as his employers to avoid them as he
+ought.&rdquo; To the contrary, in hiring a gardener, it was agreed as part of
+the compensation that the man should have &ldquo;four dollars at Christmas,
+with which he may be drunk for four days and four nights; two dollars at Easter
+to effect the same purpose; two dollars at Whitsuntide to be drunk for two
+days; a dram in the morning, and a drink of grog at dinner at noon.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With more true kindness Washington wrote to one of his underlings, &ldquo;I was
+very glad to receive your letter of the 31st ultimo, because I was afraid, from
+the accounts given me of your spitting blood,… that you would hardly have been
+able to have written at all. And it is my request that you will not, by
+attempting more than you are able to undergo, with safety and convenience,
+injure yourself, and thereby render me a disservice…. I had rather therefore
+hear that you had nursed than exposed yourself. And the things which I sent
+from this place (I mean the wine, tea, coffee and sugar) and such other matters
+as you may lay in by the doctor&rsquo;s direction for the use of the sick, I
+desire you will make use of as your own personal occasions may require.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of one Butler he had employed to overlook his gardeners, but who proved
+hopelessly unfit, Washington said, &ldquo;sure I am, there is no obligation
+upon me to retain him from charitable motives; when he ought rather to be
+punished as an imposter: for he well knew the services he had to perform, and
+which he promised to fulfil with zeal, activity, and intelligence.&rdquo; Yet
+when the man was discharged his employer gave him a &ldquo;character:&rdquo;
+&ldquo;If his activity, spirit, and ability in the management of Negroes, were
+equal to his honesty, sobriety and industry, there would not be the least
+occasion for a change,&rdquo; and Butler was paid his full wages, no deduction
+being made for lost time, &ldquo;as I can better afford to be without the money
+than he can.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another thoroughly incompetent man was one employed to take charge of the negro
+carpenters, of whom his employer wrote, &ldquo;I am apprehensive … that Green
+never will overcome his propensity to drink; that it is this which occasions
+his frequent sickness, absences from work and poverty. And I am convinced,
+moreover, that it answers no purpose to admonish him.&rdquo; Yet, though
+&ldquo;I am so well satisfied of Thomas Green&rsquo;s unfitness to look after
+Carpenters,&rdquo; for a time &ldquo;the helpless situation in which you find
+his family, has prevailed on me to retain him,&rdquo; and when he finally had
+to be discharged for drinking, Washington said, &ldquo;Nothing but compassion
+for his helpless family, has hitherto induced me to keep him a moment in my
+service (so bad is the example he sets); but if he has no regard for them
+himself, it is not to be expected that I am to be a continual sufferer on this
+account for his misconduct.&rdquo; His successor needed the house the family
+lived in, but Washington could not &ldquo;bear the thought of adding to the
+distress I know they must be in, by turning them adrift;… It would be better
+therefore on all accounts if they were removed to some other place, even if I
+was to pay the rent, provided it was low, or make some allowance towards
+it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To many others, besides family, friends, and employees, Washington was
+charitable. From an early date his ledger contains frequent items covering
+gifts to the needy. To mention a tenth of them would take too much space, but a
+few typical entries are worth quoting:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;By Cash gave a Soldiers wife 5/;&rdquo; &ldquo;To a crippled man
+5/;&rdquo; &ldquo;Gave a man who had his House Burnt £1.;&rdquo; &ldquo;By a
+begging woman /5;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Cash gave for the Sufferers at Boston by
+fire £12;&rdquo; &ldquo;By a wounded soldier 10/;&rdquo; &ldquo;Alexandria
+Academy, support of a teacher of Orphan children £50;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Charity
+to an invalid wounded Soldier who came from Redston with a petition for Charity
+18/;&rdquo; &ldquo;Gave a poor man by the President&rsquo;s order $2;&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Delivd to the President to send to two distress&rsquo;d french women at
+Newcastle $25;&rdquo; &ldquo;Gave Pothe a poor old man by the President&rsquo;s
+order $2;&rdquo; &ldquo;Gave a poor sailor by the Presdt order $1;&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Gave a poor blind man by the Presdt order $1.50;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Madame
+de Seguer a french Lady in distress gave her $50;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Subscription
+paid to Mr. Jas. Blythe towards erecting and Supporting an Academy in the State
+of Kentucky $100;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Subscription towards an Academy in the South
+Western Territory $100;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Charity sent Genl Charles Pinckney in
+Columbus Bank Notes, for the sufferers by the fire in Charleston So. Carolina
+$300;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Charity gave to the sufferers by fire in Geo. Town
+$10;&rdquo; &ldquo;By an annual Donation to the Academy at Alexandria pd. Dr.
+Cook $166.67;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Charity to the poor of Alexandria deld. to the
+revd. Dr. Muir $100.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To an overseer he said, concerning a distant relative, &ldquo;Mrs. Haney should
+endeavor to do what she can for herself&mdash;this is a duty incumbent on every
+one; but you must not let her suffer, as she has thrown herself upon me; your
+advances on this account will be allowed always, at settlement; and I agree
+readily to furnish her with provisions, and for the good character you give of
+her daughter make the latter a present in my name of a handsome but not costly
+gown, and other things which she may stand most in need of. You may charge me
+also with the worth of your tenement in which she is placed, and where perhaps
+it is better she should be than at a great distance from your attentions to
+her.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the terrible attack of fever in Philadelphia in 1793, Washington wrote to
+a clergyman of that city,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It has been my intention ever since my return to the city, to contribute
+my mite towards the relief of the <i>most</i> needy inhabitants of it. The
+pressure of public business hitherto has suspended, but not altered my
+resolution. I am at a loss, however, for whose benefit to apply the little I
+can give, and in whose hands to place it; whether for the use of the fatherless
+children and widows, made so by the late calamity, who may find it difficult,
+whilst provisions, wood, and other necessaries are so dear, to support
+themselves; or to other and better purposes, if any, I know not, and therefore
+have taken the liberty of asking your advice. I persuade myself justice will be
+done to my motives for giving you this trouble. To obtain information, and to
+render the little I can afford, without ostentation or mention of my name, are
+the sole objects of these inquiries. With great and sincere esteem and regard,
+I am, &amp;c.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His adopted grandson he advised to &ldquo;never let an indigent person ask,
+without receiving <i>something</i> if you have the means; always recollecting
+in what light the widow&rsquo;s mite was viewed.&rdquo; And when he took
+command of the army in 1775, the relative who took charge of his affairs was
+told to &ldquo;let the hospitality of the house, with respect to 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.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap07"></a>VII<br/>
+SOCIAL LIFE</h2>
+
+<p>
+There can be no doubt that Washington, like the Virginian of his time, was
+pre-eminently social. It is true that late in life he complained, as already
+quoted, that his home had become a &ldquo;well resorted tavern,&rdquo; and that
+at his own table &ldquo;I rarely miss seeing strange faces, come as they say
+out of respect for me. Pray, would not the word curiosity answer as
+well?&rdquo; but even in writing this he added, &ldquo;how different this from
+having a few social friends at a cheerful board!&rdquo; When a surveyor he said
+that the greatest pleasure he could have would be to hear from or be with
+&ldquo;my Intimate friends and acquaintances;&rdquo; to one he wrote, &ldquo;I
+hope you in particular will not Bauk me of what I so ardently wish for,&rdquo;
+and he groaned over being &ldquo;amongst a parcel of barbarians.&rdquo; While
+in the Virginia regiment he complained of a system of rations which
+&ldquo;deprived me of the pleasure of inviting an officer or friend, which to
+me would be more agreeable, than nick-nacks I shall meet with,&rdquo; and when
+he was once refused leave of absence by the governor, he replied bitterly,
+&ldquo;it was not to enjoy a party of pleasure I wanted a leave of absence; I
+have been indulged with few of these, winter or summer!&rdquo; At Mount Vernon,
+if a day was spent without company the fact was almost always noted in his
+diary, and in a visit, too, he noted that he had &ldquo;a very lonesome Evening
+at Colo Champe&rsquo;s, not any Body favoring us with their Company but
+himself.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The plantation system which prevented town life and put long distances between
+neighbors developed two forms of society. One of these was house parties, and
+probably nowhere else in the world was that form of hospitality so unstinted as
+in this colony. Any one of a certain social standing was privileged, even
+welcomed, to ride up to the seat of a planter, dismount, and thus become a
+guest, ceasing to be such only when he himself chose. Sometimes one family
+would go <i>en masse</i> many miles to stay a week with friends, and when they
+set out to return their hosts would journey with them and in turn become guests
+for a week. The second form of social life was called clubs. At all the
+cross-roads and court-houses there sprang up taverns or ordinaries, and in
+these the men of a neighborhood would gather, and over a bowl of punch or a
+bottle of wine, the expense of which they &ldquo;clubbed&rdquo; to share, would
+spend their evenings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Into this life Washington entered eagerly. As a mere lad his ledger records
+expenditures: &ldquo;By a club in Arrack at Mr. Gordon&rsquo;s 2/6;&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Club of a bottle of Rhenish at Mitchells 1/3;&rdquo; &ldquo;To part of
+the club at Port Royal 1/;&rdquo; &ldquo;To Cash in part for a Bowl of fruit
+punch 1/7-1/2.&rdquo; So, too, he was a visitor at this time at some of the
+great Virginian houses, as elsewhere noted. When he came into possession of
+Mount Vernon he offered the same unstinted welcome that he had met with, and
+even as a bachelor he writes of his &ldquo;having much company,&rdquo; and
+again of being occupied with &ldquo;a good deal of Company.&rdquo; In two
+months of 1768 Washington had company to dinner, or to spend the night, on
+twenty-nine days, and dined or visited away from home on seven; and this is
+typical.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever, too, trips were made to Williamsburg, Annapolis, Philadelphia, or
+elsewhere, it was a rare occurrence when the various stages of the journey were
+not spent with friends, and in those cities he was dined and wined to a
+surfeit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Revolution all of Washington&rsquo;s aides and his secretary lived
+with him at head-quarters, and constituted what he always called &ldquo;my
+family.&rdquo; In addition, many others sat down at table,&mdash;those who came
+on business from a distance, as well as bidden guests,&mdash;-which frequently
+included ladies from the neighborhood, who must have been belles among the
+sixteen to twenty men who customarily sat down to dinner. &ldquo;If …
+convenient and agreeable to you to take pot luck with me to-day,&rdquo; the
+General wrote John Adams in 1776, &ldquo;I shall be glad of your
+company.&rdquo; Pot luck it was for commander-in-chief and staff. Mention has
+been made of how sometimes Washington slept on the ground, and even when under
+cover there was not occasionally much more comfort. Pickering relates that one
+night was passed in &ldquo;Headquarters at Galloway&rsquo;s, an old log house.
+The General lodged in a bed, and his family on the floor about him. We had
+plenty of sepawn and milk, and all were contented.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oftentimes there were difficulties in the hospitality. &ldquo;I have been at my
+prest. quarters since the 1st day of Decr.,&rdquo; Washington complained to the
+commissary-general, &ldquo;and have not a Kitchen to cook a Dinner in,
+altho&rsquo; the Logs have been put together some considerable time by my own
+Guard. Nor is there a place at this moment in which a servant can lodge, with
+the smallest degree of comfort. Eighteen belonging to my family, and all Mrs.
+Ford&rsquo;s, are crowded together in her Kitchen, and scarce one of them able
+to speak for the cold they have caught.&rdquo; Pickering, in telling how he
+tried to secure lodgings away from head-quarters, gave for his reasons that
+&ldquo;they are exceedingly pinched for room…. Had I conceived how much
+satisfaction, quiet and even leisure, I should have enjoyed at separate
+quarters, I would have taken them six months ago. For at head-quarters there is
+a continual throng, and my room, in particular, (when I was happy enough to get
+one,) was always crowded by all that came to headquarters on business, because
+there was no other for them, we having, for the most part, been in such small
+houses.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were other difficulties. &ldquo;I cannot get as much cloth,&rdquo; the
+general wrote, &ldquo;as will make cloaths for my servants, notwithstanding one
+of them that attends my person and table is indecently and most shamefully
+naked.&rdquo; One of his aides said to a correspondent, jocularly, &ldquo;I
+take your Caution to me in Regard to my Health very kindly, but I assure you,
+you need be under no Apprehension of my losing it on the Score of Excess of
+living, that Vice is banished from this Army and the General&rsquo;s Family in
+particular. We never sup, but go to bed and are early up.&rdquo; &ldquo;Only
+conceive,&rdquo; Washington complained to Congress, &ldquo;the mortification
+they (even the general officers) must suffer, when they cannot invite a French
+officer, a visiting friend, or a travelling acquaintance, to a better repast,
+than stinking whiskey (and not always that) and a bit of Beef without
+vegetables.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At times, too, it was necessary to be an exemplar. &ldquo;Our truly republican
+general,&rdquo; said Laurens, &ldquo;has declared to his officers that he will
+set the example of passing the winter in a hut himself,&rdquo; and John Adams,
+in a time of famine, declared that &ldquo;General Washington sets a fine
+example. He has banished wine from his table, and entertains his friends with
+rum and water.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever it was possible, however, there was company at head-quarters.
+&ldquo;Since the General left Germantown in the middle of September
+last,&rdquo; the General Orders once read, &ldquo;he has been without his
+baggage, and on that account is unable to receive company in the manner he
+could wish. He nevertheless desires the Generals, Field Officers and Brigades
+Major of the day, to dine with him in future, at three o&rsquo;clock in the
+afternoon.&rdquo; Again the same vehicle informed the army that &ldquo;the
+hurry of business often preventing particular invitations being given to
+officers to dine with the General; He presents his compliments to the
+Brigadiers and Field Officers of the day, and requests while the Camp continues
+settled in the City, they will favor him with their company to dinner, without
+further or special invitation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mrs. Drinker, who went with a committee of women to camp at Valley Forge, has
+left a brief description of head-quarters hospitality: &ldquo;Dinner was
+served, to which he invited us. There were 15 Officers, besides ye Gl. and his
+wife, Gen. Greene, and Gen. Lee. We had an elegant dinner, which was soon over,
+when we went out with ye Genls wife, up to her Chamber&mdash;and saw no more of
+him.&rdquo; Claude Blanchard, too, describes a dinner, at which &ldquo;there
+was twenty-five covers used by some officers of the army and a lady to whom the
+house belonged in which the general lodged. We dined under the tent. I was
+placed along side of the general. One of his aides-de-camp did the honors. The
+table was served in the American style and pretty abundantly; vegetables, roast
+beef, lamb, chickens, salad dressed with nothing but vinegar, green peas,
+puddings, and some pie, a kind of tart, greatly in use in England and among the
+Americans, all this being put upon the table at the same time. They gave us on
+the same plate beef, green peas, lamb, &amp;c.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor was the ménage of the General unequal to unexpected calls. Chastellux tells
+of his first arrival in camp and introduction to Washington: &ldquo;He
+conducted me to his house, where I found the company still at table, although
+the dinner had been long over. He presented me to the Generals Knox, Waine,
+Howe, &amp;c. and to his <i>family</i>, then composed of Colonels Hamilton and
+Tilgman, his Secretaries and his Aides de Camp, and of Major Gibbs, commander
+of his guards; for in England and America, the Aides de Camp, Adjutants and
+other officers attached to the General, form what is called his <i>family</i>.
+A fresh dinner was prepared for me and mine; and the present was prolonged to
+keep me company.&rdquo; &ldquo;At nine,&rdquo; he elsewhere writes,
+&ldquo;supper was served, and when the hour of bed-time came, I found that the
+chamber, to which the General conducted me was the very parlour I speak of,
+wherein he had made them place a camp-bed.&rdquo; Of his hospitality Washington
+himself wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have asked Mrs. Cochran &amp; Mrs. Livingston to dine with me
+to-morrow; but am I not in honor bound to apprize them of their fate? As I hate
+deception, even where the imagination only is concerned; I will. It is needless
+to premise, that my table is large enough to hold the ladies. Of this they had
+ocular proof yesterday. To say how it is usually covered, is rather more
+essential; and this shall be the purport of my Letter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Since our arrival at this happy spot, 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; a dish of beans, or greens, (almost imperceptible,) decorates
+the center. When the cook has a mind to cut a figure, (which, I presume will be
+the case to-morrow) we have two Beef-steak pyes, or dishes of crabs, in
+addition, one on each side of the center dish, dividing the space &amp;
+reducing the distance between dish &amp; dish to about 6 feet, which without
+them would be near 12 feet apart. Of late he has had the surprising sagacity to
+discover, that apples will make pyes; and its a question, if, in the violence
+of his efforts, we do not get one of apples, instead of having both of
+Beef-steaks. If the ladies can put up with such entertainment, and will submit
+to partake of it in plates, once Tin but now Iron&mdash;(not become so by the
+labor of scouring), I shall be happy to see them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dinners were not the only form of entertaining. In Cambridge, when Mrs.
+Washington and Mrs. Jack Custis were at head-quarters, a reception was held on
+the anniversary of Washington&rsquo;s marriage, and at other times when there
+was anything to celebrate,&mdash;the capitulation of Burgoyne, the alliance
+with France, the birth of a dauphin, etc.,&mdash;parades, balls, receptions,
+&ldquo;feux-de-joie,&rdquo; or cold collations were given. Perhaps the most
+ambitious attempt was a dinner given on September 21, 1782, in a large tent, to
+which ninety sat down, while a &ldquo;band of American music&rdquo; added to
+the &ldquo;gaiety of the company.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever occasion called the General to attend on Congress there was much
+junketing. &ldquo;My time,&rdquo; he wrote, &ldquo;during my winter&rsquo;s
+residence in Philadelphia, was unusually (for me) divided between parties of
+pleasure and parties of business.&rdquo; When Reed pressed him to pass the
+period of winter quarters in visiting him in Philadelphia, he replied,
+&ldquo;were I to give in 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.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While President, a more elaborate hospitality was maintained. Both in New York
+and Philadelphia the best houses procurable were rented as the Presidential
+home,&mdash;for Washington &ldquo;wholly declined living in any public
+building,&rdquo;&mdash;and a steward and fourteen lower servants attended to
+all details, though a watchful supervision was kept by the President over them,
+and in the midst of his public duties he found time to keep a minute account of
+the daily use of all supplies, with their cost. His payments to his stewards
+for mere servants&rsquo; wages and food (exclusive of wine) were over six
+hundred dollars a month, and there can be little doubt that Washington, who had
+no expense paid by the public, more than spent his salary during his term of
+office.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was the President&rsquo;s custom to give a public dinner once a week
+&ldquo;to as many as my table will hold,&rdquo; and there was also a bi-weekly
+levee, to which any one might come, as well as evening receptions by Mrs.
+Washington, which were more distinctly social and far more exclusive. Ashbel
+Green states that &ldquo;Washington&rsquo;s dining parties were entertained in
+a very handsome style. His weekly dining day for company was Thursday, and his
+dining hour was always four o&rsquo;clock in the afternoon. His rule was to
+allow five minutes for the variations of clocks and watches, and then go to the
+table, be present or absent, whoever might. He kept his own clock in the hall,
+just within the outward door, and always exactly regulated. When lagging
+members of Congress came in, as they often did, after the guests had sat down
+to dinner, the president&rsquo;s only apology was, &lsquo;Gentlemen (or sir) we
+are too punctual for you. I have a cook who never asks whether the company has
+come, but whether the hour has come.&rsquo; The company usually assembled in
+the drawing-room, about fifteen or twenty minutes before dinner, and the
+president spoke to every guest personally on entering the room.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maclay attended several of the dinners, and has left descriptions of them.
+&ldquo;Dined this day with the President,&rdquo; he writes. &ldquo;It was a
+great dinner&mdash; all in the tastes of high life. I considered it as a part
+of my duty as a Senator to submit to it, and am glad it is over. The President
+is a cold, formal man; but I must declare that he treated me with great
+attention. I was the first person with whom he drank a glass of wine. I was
+often spoken to by him.&rdquo; Again he says,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;At dinner, after my second plate had been taken away, the President
+offered to help me to part of a dish which stood before him. Was ever anything
+so unlucky? I had just before declined being helped to anything more, with some
+expression that denoted my having made up my dinner. Had, of course, for the
+sake of consistency, to thank him negatively, but when the dessert came, and he
+was distributing a pudding, he gave me a look of interrogation, and I returned
+the thanks positive. He soon after asked me to drink a glass of wine with
+him.&rdquo; On another occasion he &ldquo;went to the President&rsquo;s to
+dinner…. The President and Mrs. Washington sat opposite each other in the
+middle of the table; the two secretaries, one at each end. It was a great
+dinner, and the best of the kind I ever was at. The room, however, was
+disagreeably warm. First the soup; fish roasted and boiled; meats, sammon,
+fowls, etc…. The middle of the table was garnished in the usual tasty way, with
+small images, flowers, (artificial), etc. The dessert was, apple pies, pudding,
+etc.; then iced creams, jellies, etc.; then water-melons, musk-melons, apples,
+peaches, nuts. It was the most solemn dinner I ever was at. Not a health drank;
+scarce a word was said until the cloth was taken away. Then the President
+filling a glass of wine, with great formality drank to the health of every
+individual by name round the table. Everybody imitated him, charged glasses,
+and such a buzz of &lsquo;health, sir,&rsquo; and &lsquo;health, madam,&rsquo;
+and &lsquo;thank you, sir,&rsquo; and &lsquo;thank you, madam,&rsquo; never had
+I heard before…. The ladies sat a good while, and the bottles passed about; but
+there was a dead silence almost. Mrs. Washington at last withdrew with the
+ladies. I expected the men would now begin, but the same stillness remained.
+The President told of a New England clergyman who had lost a hat and wig in
+passing a river called the Brunks. He smiled, and everybody else laughed. He
+now and then said a sentence or two on some common subject, and what he said
+was not amiss…. The President … played with the fork, striking on the edge of
+the table with it. We did not sit long after the ladies retired. The President
+rose, went up-stairs to drink coffee; the company followed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus14"></a>
+<img src="images/img14.jpg" width="600" height="353" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">PRESIDENTIAL DINNER INVITATION</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Bradbury gives the menu of a dinner at which he was, where &ldquo;there was an
+elegant variety of roast beef, veal, turkey, ducks, fowls, hams, &amp;c.;
+puddings, jellies, oranges, apples, nuts, almonds, figs, raisins, and a variety
+of wines and punch. We took our leave at six, more than an hour after the
+candles were introduced. No lady but Mrs. Washington dined with us. We were
+waited on by four or five men servants dressed in livery.&rdquo; At the last
+official dinner the President gave, Bishop White was present, and relates that
+&ldquo;to this dinner as many were invited as could be accommodated at the
+President&rsquo;s table…. Much hilarity prevailed; but on the removal of the
+cloth it was put an end to by the President&mdash;certainly without design.
+Having filled his glass, he addressed the company, with a smile on his
+countenance, saying: &lsquo;Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last time I shall
+drink your health, as a public man. I do it with sincerity, and wishing you all
+possible happiness.&rsquo; There was an end of all pleasantry.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A glance at Mrs. Washington&rsquo;s receptions has been given, but the levees
+of the President remain to be described. William Sullivan, who attended many,
+wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;At three o&rsquo;clock or at any time within a quarter of an hour
+afterward, the visitor was conducted to this dining room, from which all seats
+had been removed for the time. On entering, he saw&rdquo; Washington, who
+&ldquo;stood always in front of the fire-place, with his face towards the door
+of entrance. The visitor was conducted to him, and he required to have the name
+so distinctly pronounced that he could hear it. He had the very uncommon
+faculty of associating a man&rsquo;s name, and personal appearance, so durably
+in his memory, as to be able to call one by name, who made him a second visit.
+He received his visitor with a dignified bow, while his hands were so disposed
+of as to indicate, that the salutation was not to be accompanied with shaking
+hands. This ceremony never occurred in these visits, even with his most near
+friends, that no distinction might be made. As visitors came in, they formed a
+circle round the room. At a quarter past three, the door was closed, and the
+circle was formed for that day. He then began on the right, and spoke to each
+visitor, calling him by name, and exchanging a few words with him. When he had
+completed his circuit, he resumed his first position, and the visitors
+approached him in succession, bowed and retired. By four o&rsquo;clock the
+ceremony was over.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ceremony of the dinners and levees and the liveried servants were favorite
+impeachments of the President among the early Democrats before they had better
+material, and Washington was charged with trying to constitute a court, and
+with conducting himself like a king. Even his bow was a source of criticism,
+and Washington wrote in no little irritation in regard to this, &ldquo;that I
+have not been able to make bows to the taste of poor Colonel Bland, (who, by
+the by, I believe, never saw one of them), is to be regretted, especially too,
+as (upon those occasions), they were indiscriminately bestowed, and the best I
+was master of, would it not have been better to throw the veil of charity over
+them, ascribing their stiffness to the effects of age, or to the unskillfulness
+of my teacher, than to pride and dignity of office, which God knows has no
+charms for me? For I can truly say, I had rather be at Mount Vernon 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.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There can be no doubt that Washington hated ceremony as much as the Democrats,
+and yielded to it only from his sense of fitness and the opinions of those
+about him. Jefferson and Madison both relate how such unnecessary form was used
+at the first levee by the master of ceremonies as to make it ridiculous, and
+Washington, appreciating this, is quoted as saying to the amateur chamberlain,
+&ldquo;Well, you have taken me in once, but, by God, you shall never take me in
+a second time.&rdquo; His secretary, in writing to secure lodgings in
+Philadelphia, when the President and family were on their way to Mount Vernon,
+said, &ldquo;I must repeat, what I observed in a former letter, that as little
+ceremony &amp; parade may be made as possible, for the President wishes to
+command his own time, which these things always forbid in a greater or less
+degree, and they are to him fatiguing and oftentimes painful. He wishes not to
+exclude himself from the sight or conversation of his fellow citizens, but
+their eagerness to show their affection frequently imposes a heavy tax on
+him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was still further shown in his diary of his tours through New England and
+the Southern States. Nothing would do but for Boston to receive him with
+troops, etc., and Washington noted, &ldquo;finding this ceremony not to be
+avoided, though I had made every effort to do it, I named the hour.&rdquo; In
+leaving Portsmouth he went &ldquo;quietly, and without any attendance, having
+earnestly entreated that all parade and ceremony might be avoided on my
+return.&rdquo; When travelling through North Carolina, &ldquo;a small party of
+horse under one Simpson met us at Greenville, and in spite of every endeavor
+which could comport with decent civility, to excuse myself from it, they would
+attend me to Newburn.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the few years that Washington was at Mount Vernon subsequent to the
+Revolution, the same unbounded hospitality was dispensed as in earlier times,
+while a far greater demand was made upon it, and one so variegated that at
+times the host was not a little embarrassed. Thus he notes that &ldquo;a
+Gentleman calling himself the Count de Cheiza D&rsquo;Artigan Officer of the
+French Guards came here to dinner; but bringing no letters of introduction, nor
+any authentic testimonials of his being either; I was at a loss how to receive
+or treat him,&mdash;he stayed to dinner and the evening,&rdquo; and the next
+day departed in Washington&rsquo;s carriage to Alexandria. &ldquo;A farmer came
+here to see,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;my drill plow, and staid all night.&rdquo;
+In another instance he records that a woman whose &ldquo;name was unknown to me
+dined here.&rdquo; Only once were visitors frowned on, and this was when a
+British marauding party came to Mount Vernon during the Revolution. Even they,
+in Washington&rsquo;s absence, were entertained by his overseer, but his master
+wrote him, on hearing of this, &ldquo;I am little sorry of my own [loss]; but
+that which gives me most concern is, that you should go on board the
+enemy&rsquo;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-compliance 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 making a voluntary offer of refreshments to them with a
+view to prevent a conflagration.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hospitality at Mount Vernon was perfectly simple. A traveller relates that
+he was taken there by a friend, and, as Washington was &ldquo;viewing his
+laborers,&rdquo; we &ldquo;were desired to tarry.&rdquo; &ldquo;When the
+President returned he received us very politely. Dr. Croker introduced me to
+him as a gentleman from Massachusetts who wished to see the country and pay his
+respects. He thanked us, desired us to be seated, and to excuse him a few
+moments…. The President came and desired us to walk in to dinner and directed
+us where to sit, (no grace was said)…. The dinner was very good, a small
+roasted pigg, boiled leg of lamb, roasted fowles, beef, peas, lettice,
+cucumbers, artichokes, etc., puddings, tarts, etc., etc. We were desired to
+call for what drink we chose. He took a glass of wine with Mrs. Law first,
+which example was followed by Dr. Croker and Mrs. Washington, myself and Mrs.
+Peters, Mr. Fayette and the young lady whose name is Custis. When the cloth was
+taken away the President gave &lsquo;All our Friends,&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another visitor tells that he was received by Washington, and, &ldquo;after …
+half an hour, the General came in again, with his hair neatly powdered, a clean
+shirt on, a new plain drab coat, white waistcoat and white silk stockings. At
+three, dinner was on the table, and we were shown by the General into another
+room, where everything was set off with a peculiar taste and at the same time
+neat and plain. The General sent the bottle about pretty freely after dinner,
+and gave success to the navigation of the Potomac for his toasts, which he has
+very much at heart…. After Tea General Washington retired to his study and left
+us with the … rest of the Company. If he had not been anxious to hear the news
+of Congress from Mr. Lee, most probably he would not have returned to supper,
+but gone to bed at his usual hour, nine o&rsquo;clock, for he seldom makes any
+ceremony. We had a very elegant supper about that time. The General with a few
+glasses of champagne got quite merry, and being with his intimate friends
+laughed and talked a good deal. Before strangers he is very reserved, and
+seldom says a word. I was fortunate in being in his company with his particular
+acquaintances…. At 12 I had the honor of being lighted up to my bedroom by the
+General himself.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This break on the evening hours was quite unusual, Washington himself saying in
+one place that nine o&rsquo;clock was his bedtime, and he wrote of his hours
+after dinner, &ldquo;the usual time of setting at table, a walk, and tea,
+brings me within the dawn of candlelight; previous to which, if not prevented
+by company I resolve, that as soon as the glimmering taper supplies the place
+of the great luminary, I will retire to my writing table and acknowledge the
+letters I have received; but when the lights were brought, I feel tired and
+disinclined to engage in this work, conceiving that the next night will do as
+well. The next comes, and with it the same causes for postponement, and effect,
+and so on.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The foregoing allusion to Washington&rsquo;s conversation is undoubtedly just.
+All who met him formally spoke of him as taciturn, but this was not a natural
+quality. Jefferson states that &ldquo;in the circle of his friends, where he
+might be unreserved with safety, he took a free share in conversation,&rdquo;
+and Madison told Sparks that, though &ldquo;Washington was not fluent nor ready
+in conversation, and was inclined to be taciturn in general society,&rdquo; yet
+&ldquo;in the company of two or three intimate friends, he was talkative, and
+when a little excited was sometimes fluent and even eloquent&rdquo; &ldquo;The
+story so often repeated of his never laughing,&rdquo; Madison said, was
+&ldquo;wholly untrue; no man seemed more to enjoy gay conversation, though he
+took little part in it himself. He was particularly pleased with the jokes,
+good humor, and hilarity of his companions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington certainly did enjoy a joke. Nelly Custis said, &ldquo;I have
+sometimes made him laugh most heartily from sympathy with my joyous and
+extravagant spirits,&rdquo; and many other instances of his laughing are
+recorded. He himself wrote in 1775 concerning the running away of some British
+soldiers, &ldquo;we laugh at his idea of chasing the Royal Fusileers with the
+stores. Does he consider them as inanimate, or as treasure?&rdquo; When the
+British in Boston sent out a bundle of the king&rsquo;s speech, &ldquo;farcical
+enough, we gave great joy to them, (the red coats I mean), without knowing or
+intending it; for on that day, the day which gave being to the new army, (but
+before the proclamation came to hand,) we had hoisted the union flag in
+compliment to the United Colonies. But, behold, it was received in Boston as a
+token of the deep impression the speech had made upon us, and as a signal of
+submission.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At times Washington would joke himself, though it was always somewhat labored,
+as in the case of the Jack already cited. &ldquo;Without a coinage,&rdquo; he
+wrote, &ldquo;or unless a stop can be put to the cutting and clipping of money,
+our dollars, pistareens, &amp;c., will be converted, as Teague says, into
+<i>five</i> quarters.&rdquo; When the Democrats were charging the Federalists
+with having stolen from the treasury, he wrote to a Cabinet official,
+&ldquo;and pray, my good sir, what part of the $800.000 have come to your
+share? As you are high in Office, I hope you did not disgrace yourself in the
+acceptance of a paltry bribe&mdash;a $100.000 perhaps.&rdquo; He once even
+attempted a pun, by writing, &ldquo;our enterprise will be ruined, and we shall
+be stopped at the Laurel Hill this winter; but not to gather laurels, (except
+of the kind that covers the mountains).&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Probably the neatest turn was his course on one occasion with General Tryon,
+who sent him some British proclamations with the request, &ldquo;that through
+your means, the officers and men under your command may be acquainted with
+their contents.&rdquo; Washington promptly replied that he had given them
+&ldquo;free currency among the officers and men under my command,&rdquo; and
+enclosed to Tryon a lot of the counter-proclamation, asking him to &ldquo;be
+instrumental in communicating its contents, so far as it may be in your power,
+to the persons who are the objects of its operation. The benevolent purpose it
+is intended to answer will I persuade myself, sufficiently recommend it to your
+candor.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To a poetess who had sent him some laudatory verses about himself he expressed
+his thanks, and added, &ldquo;Fiction is to be sure the very life and Soul of
+Poetry&mdash;all Poets and Poetesses have been indulged in the free and
+indisputable use of it, time out of mind. And to oblige you to make such an
+excellent Poem on such a subject without any materials but those of simple
+reality, would be as cruel as the Edict of Pharoah which compelled the children
+of Israel to manufacture Bricks without the necessary Ingredients.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Twice he joked about his own death. &ldquo;As I have heard,&rdquo; he said
+after Braddock&rsquo;s defeat, &ldquo;since my arrival at this place, a
+circumstancial account of my death and dying speech, I take this early
+opportunity of contradicting the first, and of assuring you, that I have not as
+yet composed the latter.&rdquo; Many years later, in draughting a letter for
+his wife, he wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am now by desire of the General to add a few words on his behalf;
+which he desires may be expressed in the terms following, that is to
+say,&mdash;that despairing of hearing what may be said of him, if he should
+really go off in an apoplectic, or any other fit (for he thinks all fits that
+issue in death are worse than a love fit, a fit of laughter, and many other
+kinds which he could name)&mdash;he is glad to hear <i>beforehand</i> what will
+be said of him on that occasion; conceiving that nothing extra will happen
+between <i>this</i> and <i>then</i> to make a change in his character for
+better, or for worse. And besides, as he has entered into an engagement … not
+to quit <i>this</i> world before the year 1800, it may be <i>relied upon</i>
+that no breach of contract shall be laid to him on that account, unless dire
+necessity should bring it about, maugre all his exertions to the contrary. In
+that same, he shall hope they would do by him as he would do by
+them&mdash;excuse it. At present there seems to be no danger of his thus giving
+them the slip, as neither his health nor spirits, were ever in greater flow,
+notwithstanding, he adds, he is descending, and has almost reached the bottom
+of the hill; or in other words, the shades below. For your particular good
+wishes on this occasion he charges me to say that he feels highly obliged, and
+that he reciprocates them with great cordiality.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Other social qualities of the man cannot be passed over. A marked trait was his
+extreme fondness of afternoon tea. &ldquo;Dined at Mr. Langdon&rsquo;s, and
+drank Tea there, with a large circle of Ladies;&rdquo; &ldquo;in the afternoon
+drank Tea … with about 20 ladies, who had been assembled for the
+occasion;&rdquo; &ldquo;exercised between 5 &amp; 7 o&rsquo;clock in the
+morning &amp; drank Tea with Mrs. Clinton (the Governor&rsquo;s Lady) in the
+afternoon;&rdquo; &ldquo;Drank tea at the Chief Justice&rsquo;s of the U.
+States;&rdquo; &ldquo;Dined with the Citizens in public; and in the afternoon,
+was introduced to upwards of 50 ladies who had assembled (at a Tea party) on
+the occasion;&rdquo; &ldquo;Dined and drank tea at Mr. Bingham&rsquo;s in great
+splendor.&rdquo; Such are the entries in his diary whenever the was
+&ldquo;kettle-a-boiling-be&rdquo; was within reach. Pickering&rsquo;s journal
+shows that tea served regularly at head-quarters, and at Mount Vernon it was
+drunk in summer on the veranda. In writing to Knox of his visit to Boston,
+Washington mentioned his recollection of the chats over tea-drinking, and of
+how &ldquo;social and gay&rdquo; they were.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A fondness for picnics was another social liking. &ldquo;Rid with Fanny
+Bassett, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Shaw to meet a Party from Alexandria at Johnsons
+Spring … where we dined on a cold dinner brought from Town by water and spent
+the Afternoon agreeably&mdash;Returning home by Sun down or a little after
+it,&rdquo; is noted in his diary on one occasion, and on another he wrote,
+&ldquo;Having formed a Party, consisting of the Vice-President, his lady, Son
+&amp; Miss Smith; the Secretaries of State, Treasury &amp; War, and the ladies
+of the two latter; with all the Gentlemen of my family, Mrs. Lear &amp; the two
+Children, we visited the old position of Fort Washington and afterwards dined
+on a dinner provided by Mr. Mariner.&rdquo; Launchings, barbecues, clambakes,
+and turtle dinners were other forms of social dissipations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A distinct weakness was dancing. When on the frontier he sighed, &ldquo;the
+hours at present are melancholy dull. Neither the rugged toils of war, nor the
+gentler conflict of A[ssembly] B[alls,] is in my choice.&rdquo; His diary shows
+him at balls and &ldquo;Routs&rdquo; frequently; when he was President he was a
+constant attendant at the regular &ldquo;Dancing Assemblies&rdquo; in New York
+and Philadelphia, and when at Mount Vernon he frequently went ten miles to
+Alexandria to attend dances. Of one of these Alexandria balls he has left an
+amusing description: &ldquo;Went to a ball at Alexandria, where Musick and
+dancing was the chief Entertainment, however in a convenient room detached for
+the purpose abounded great plenty of bread and butter, some biscuits, with tea
+and coffee, which the drinkers of could not distinguish from hot water
+sweet&rsquo;ned&mdash;Be it remembered that pocket handkerchiefs servd the
+purposes of Table cloths &amp; Napkins and that no apologies were made for
+either. I shall therefore distinguish this ball by the stile and title of the
+Bread &amp; Butter Ball.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Revolution, too, he killed many a weary hour of winter quarters by
+dancing. When the camp spent a day rejoicing over the French alliance,
+&ldquo;the celebration,&rdquo; according to Thacher, &ldquo;was concluded by a
+splendid ball opened by his Excellency General Washington, having for his
+partner the lady of General Knox.&rdquo; Greene describes how &ldquo;we had a
+little dance at my quarters a few evenings past. His Excellency and Mrs. Greene
+danced upwards of three hours without once sitting down.&rdquo; Knox, too,
+tells of &ldquo;a most genteel entertainment given by self and officers&rdquo;
+at which Washington danced. &ldquo;Everybody allows it to be the first of the
+kind ever exhibited in this State at least. We had above seventy ladies, all of
+the first ton in the State, and between three and four hundred gentlemen. We
+danced all night&mdash;an elegant room, the illuminating, fireworks, &amp;c.,
+were more than pretty.&rdquo; And at Newport, when Rochambeau gave a ball, by
+request it was opened by Washington. The dance selected by his partner was
+&ldquo;A Successful Campaign,&rdquo; then in high favor, and the French
+officers took the instruments from the musicians and played while he danced the
+first figure.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus15"></a>
+<img src="images/img15.jpg" width="600" height="421" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">AGREEMENT FOR DANCING ASSEMBLY</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+While in winter quarters he subscribed four hundred dollars (paper money, equal
+to eleven dollars in gold) to get up a series of balls, of which Greene wrote,
+&ldquo;We have opened an assembly in Camp. From this apparent ease, I suppose
+it is thought we must be in happy circumstances. I wish it was so, but, alas,
+it is not. Our provisions are in a manner, gone. We have not a ton of hay at
+command, nor magazine to draw from. Money is extremely scarce and worth little
+when we get it. We have been so poor in camp for a fortnight, that we could not
+forward the public dispatches, for want of cash to support the
+expresses.&rdquo; At the farewell ball given at Annapolis, when the
+commander-in-chief resigned his command, Tilton relates that &ldquo;the General
+danced in every set, that all the ladies might have the pleasure of dancing
+with him; or as it has since been handsomely expressed, &lsquo;get a touch of
+him.&rsquo;&rdquo; He still danced in 1796, when sixty-four years of age, but
+when invited to the Alexandria Assembly in 1799, he wrote to the managers,
+&ldquo;Mrs. Washington and myself have been honored with your polite invitation
+to the assemblies of Alexandria this winter, and thank you for this mark of
+your attention. But, alas! our dancing days are no more. We wish, however all
+those who have a relish for so agreeable and innocent an amusement all the
+pleasure the season will afford them; and I am, gentlemen,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Your most obedient and obliged humble servant,
+</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+&ldquo;G<small>EO</small>. W<small>ASHINGTON</small>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap08"></a>VIII<br/>
+TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS</h2>
+
+<p>
+A market trait of Washington&rsquo;s character was his particularity about his
+clothes; there can be little question that he was early in life a good deal of
+a dandy, and that this liking for fine feathers never quite left him. When he
+was about sixteen years old he wrote in his journal, &ldquo;Memorandum to have
+my Coat made by the following Directions to be made a Frock with a Lapel Breast
+the Lapel to Contain on each side six Button Holes and to be about 5 or 6
+Inches wide all the way equal and to turn as the Breast on the Coat does to
+have it made very long Waisted and in Length to come down to or below the bent
+of the knee the Waist from the armpit to the Fold to be exactly as long or
+Longer than from thence to the Bottom not to have more than one fold in the
+Skirt and the top to be made just to turn in and three Button Holes the Lapel
+at the top to turn as the Cape of the Coat and Bottom to Come Parallel with the
+Button Holes the Last Button hole in the Breast to be right opposite to the
+Button on the Hip.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1754 he bought &ldquo;a Superfine blue broad cloth Coat, with Silver
+Trimmings,&rdquo; &ldquo;a fine Scarlet Waistcoat full Lac&rsquo;d,&rdquo; and
+a quantity of &ldquo;silver lace for a Hatt,&rdquo; and from another source it
+is learned that at this time he was the possessor of ruffled shirts. A little
+later he ordered from London &ldquo;As much of the best superfine blue 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,&rdquo; and other orders at different times were
+for &ldquo;6 prs. of the Very neatest shoes,&rdquo; &ldquo;A riding waistcoat
+of superfine scarlet cloth and gold Lace,&rdquo; &ldquo;2 prs. of fashionable
+mix&rsquo;d or marble Color&rsquo;d Silk Hose,&rdquo; &ldquo;1 piece of finest
+and fashionable Stock Tape,&rdquo; &ldquo;1 Suit of the finest Cloth &amp;
+fashionable colour,&rdquo; &ldquo;a New Market Great Coat with a loose hood to
+it, made of Bleu Drab or broad cloth, with straps before according to the
+present taste,&rdquo; &ldquo;3 gold and scarlet sword-knots, 3 silver and blue
+do, 1 fashionable gold-laced hat.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As these orders indicated, the young fellow strove to be in the fashion. In
+1755 he wrote his brother, &ldquo;as wearing boots is quite the mode, and mine
+are in a declining state, I must beg the favor of you to procure me a pair that
+is good and neat.&rdquo; &ldquo;Whatever goods you may send me,&rdquo; he wrote
+his London agent, &ldquo;let them be fashionable, neat and good of their
+several kinds.&rdquo; It was a great trial to him that his clothes did not fit
+him. &ldquo;I should have enclosed you my measure,&rdquo; he wrote to London,
+&ldquo;but in a general way they are so badly taken here, that I am convinced
+that it would be of very little service.&rdquo; &ldquo;I have hitherto had my
+clothes made by one Charles Lawrence in Old Fish Street,&rdquo; he wrote his
+English factor. &ldquo;But whether it be the fault of the tailor, or the
+measure sent, I can&rsquo;t say, but, certain it is, my clothes have never
+fitted me well.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It must not be inferred, however, that Washington carried his dandyism to
+weakness. When fine clothes were not in place, they were promptly discarded. In
+his trip to the Ohio in 1753 he states that &ldquo;I put myself in an Indian
+walking Dress,&rdquo; and &ldquo;tied myself up in a Match
+Coat,&rdquo;&mdash;that is, an Indian blanket. In the campaign of 1758 he wrote
+to his superior officer &ldquo;that were I left to pursue my own Inclinations,
+I would not only order the Men to adopt the Indian dress, but cause the
+Officers to do it also, and be at the first to set the example myself. Nothing
+but the uncertainty of its taking with the General causes me to hesitate a
+moment at leaving my Regimentals at this place, and proceeding as light as any
+Indian in the Woods. &rsquo;Tis an unbecoming dress, I confess, for an officer;
+but convenience, rather than shew, I think should be consulted.&rdquo; And this
+was such good sense that the general gave him leave, and it was done.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With increase of years his taste in clothes became softened and more sober.
+&ldquo;On the other side is an invoice of clothes which I beg the favor of you
+to purchase for me,&rdquo; he wrote to London. &ldquo;As they are designed for
+wearing apparel for myself, I have committed the choice of them to your fancy,
+having the best opinion of your taste. I want neither lace nor embroidery.
+Plain clothes, with a gold or silver button (if worn in genteel dress) are all
+I desire.&rdquo; &ldquo;Do not conceive,&rdquo; he told his nephew in 1783,
+&ldquo;that fine clothes make fine men more than fine feathers make fine Birds.
+A plain genteel dress is more admired, and obtains more credit than lace and
+embroidery, in the Eyes of the judicious and sensible.&rdquo; And in connection
+with the provisional army he decided that &ldquo;on reconsidering the uniform
+of the Commander in Chief, it has become a matter of doubt with me, (although,
+as it respects myself <i>personally</i>, I was against <i>all</i> embroidery,)
+whether embroidery on the Cape, Cuffs, and Pockets of the Coat, and none on the
+buff waistcoat would not have a disjointed and awkward appearance.&rdquo;
+Probably nowhere did he show his good taste more than in his treatment of the
+idea of putting him in classic garments when his bust was made by Houdon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In answer to your obliging inquiries respecting the dress, attitude,
+&amp;c.,&rdquo; he wrote, &ldquo;which I would wish to have given to the statue
+in question, I have only to observe, that, not having sufficient knowledge in
+the art of sculpture to oppose my judgment to the taste of connoisseurs, I do
+not desire to dictate in the matter. On the contrary I shall be perfectly
+satisfied with whatever may be judged decent and proper. I should even scarcely
+have ventured to suggest, that perhaps a servile adherence to the garb of
+antiquity might not be altogether so expedient, as some little deviation in
+favor of the modern costume.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington, as noted, bought his clothes in England; but it was from necessity
+more than choice. &ldquo;If there be any homespun Cloths in Philadelphia which
+are tolerably fine, that you can come reasonably at,&rdquo; he said to his
+Philadelphia agent in 1784, &ldquo;I would be obliged to you to send me
+patterns of some of the best kinds&mdash;I should prefer that which is mixed in
+the grain, because it will not so readily discover its quality as a plain
+cloth.&rdquo; Before he was inaugurated he wrote &ldquo;General Knox this day
+to procure me homespun broadcloth of the Hartford fabric, to make a suit of
+clothes for myself,&rdquo; adding, &ldquo;I hope it will not be a great while
+before it will be unfashionable for a gentleman to appear in any other dress.
+Indeed, we have already been too long subject to British prejudices.&rdquo; At
+another time he noted in his diary with evident pride, &ldquo;on this occasion
+I was dressed in a suit made at the Woolen Manufactory at Hartford, as the
+buttons also were.&rdquo; But then, as now, the foreign clothes were so much
+finer that his taste overcame his patriotism, and his secretary wrote that
+&ldquo;the President is desireous of getting as much superfine blk broad Cloth
+as will make him a suit of Clothes, and desires me to request that you would
+send him that quantity … The best superfine French or Dutch
+black&mdash;exceedingly fine&mdash;of a soft, silky texture&mdash;not glossy
+like the Engh cloths.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A caller during the Presidency spoke of him as dressed in purple satin, and at
+his levees he is described by Sullivan as &ldquo;clad in black velvet; his hair
+in full dress, powdered and gathered behind in a large silk bag; yellow gloves
+on his hands; holding a cocked hat with a cockade in it, and the edges adorned
+with a black feather about an inch deep. He wore knee and shoe buckles; and a
+long sword, with a finely wrought and polished steel hilt, which appeared at
+the left hip; the coat worn over the sword, so that the hilt, and the part
+below the coat behind, were in view. The scabbard was white polished
+leather.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About his person Washington was as neat as he desired his clothes to be. At
+seventeen when surveying he records that he was
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lighted into a Room &amp; I not being so good a Woodsman as ye rest of
+my Company striped myself very orderly &amp; went in to ye Bed as they called
+it when to my Surprize I found it to be nothing but a Little Straw&mdash;Matted
+together without Sheets or any thing else but only one thread Bear blanket with
+double its Weight of Vermin such as Lice, Fleas &amp;c. I was glad to get up
+(as soon as ye Light was carried from us) I put on my Cloths &amp; Lay as my
+Companions. Had we not have been very tired I am sure we should not have
+slep&rsquo;d much that night. I made a Promise not to Sleep so from that time
+forward chusing rather to sleep in ye open Air before a fire as will appear
+hereafter.&rdquo; The next day he notes that the party &ldquo;Travell&rsquo;d
+up to Frederick Town where our Baggage came to us we cleaned ourselves (to get
+Rid of ye Game we had catched y. Night before)&rdquo; and slept in &ldquo;a
+good Feather Bed with clean Sheets which was a very agreeable regale.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wherever he happened to be, the laundress was in constant demand. His bill from
+the washer-lady for the week succeeding his inauguration as President, and
+before his domestic ménage was in running order, was for &ldquo;6 Ruffled
+shirts, 2 plain shirts, 8 stocks, 3 pair Silk Hose, 2 White hand. 2 Silk
+Handks. 1 pr. Flanl. Drawers, 1 Hair nett.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The barber, too, was a constant need, and Washington&rsquo;s ledger shows
+constant expenditures for perfumed hair-powder and pomatum, and also for powder
+bags and puffs. Apparently the services of this individual were only for the
+arranging of his hair, for he seems never to have shaved Washington, that being
+done either by himself or by his valet. Of this latter individual Washington
+said (when the injury to William Lee unfitted him for the service), &ldquo;I do
+not as yet know whether I shall get a substitute for William: nothing short of
+excellent qualities and a man of good appearance, would induce me to do
+it&mdash;and under my present view of the matter, too, who would employ himself
+otherwise than William did&mdash;that is as a butler as well as a valette, for
+my wants of the latter are so trifling that any man (as William was) would soon
+be ruined by idleness, who had only them to attend to.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In food Washington took what came with philosophy. &ldquo;If you meet with
+collegiate fare, it will be unmanly to complain,&rdquo; he told his grandson,
+though he once complained in camp that &ldquo;we are debarred from the pleasure
+of good living; which, Sir, (I dare say with me you will concur,) to one who
+has always been used to it, must go somewhat hard to be confined to a little
+salt provision and water.&rdquo; Usually, however, poor fare was taken as a
+matter of course. &ldquo;When we came to Supper,&rdquo; he said in his journal
+of 1748, &ldquo;there was neither a Cloth upon ye Table nor a Knife to eat with
+but as good luck would have it we had Knives of our own,&rdquo; and again he
+wrote, &ldquo;we pull&rsquo;d out our Knapsack in order to Recruit ourselves
+every one was his own Cook our Spits was Forked Sticks our Plates was a Large
+Chip as for Dishes we had none.&rdquo; Nor was he squeamish about what he ate.
+In the voyage to Barbadoes he several times ate dolphin; he notes that the
+bread was almost &ldquo;eaten up by Weavel &amp; Maggots,&rdquo; and became
+quite enthusiastic over some &ldquo;very fine Bristol tripe&rdquo; and &ldquo;a
+fine Irish Ling &amp; Potatoes.&rdquo; But all this may have been due to the
+proverbial sea appetite.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Samuel Stearns states that Washington &ldquo;breakfasts about seven
+o&rsquo;clock on three small Indian hoe-cakes, and as many dishes of
+tea,&rdquo; and Custis relates that &ldquo;Indian cakes, honey, and tea formed
+this temperate repast.&rdquo; These two writers tell us that at dinner
+&ldquo;he ate heartily, but was not particular in his diet, with the exception
+of fish, of which he was excessively fond. He partook sparingly of dessert,
+drank a home-made beverage, and from four to five glasses of Madeira
+wine&rdquo; (Custis), and that &ldquo;he dines, commonly on a single dish, and
+drinks from half a pint to a pint of Madeira wine. This, with one small glass
+of punch, a draught of beer, and two dishes of tea (which he takes half an hour
+before sun-setting) constitutes his whole sustenance till the next day.&rdquo;
+(Stearns.) Ashbel Green relates that at the state banquets during the
+Presidency Washington &ldquo;generally dined on one single dish, and that of a
+very simple kind. If offered something either in the first or second course
+which was very rich, his usual reply was&mdash;&lsquo;That is too good for
+me.&rsquo;&rdquo; It is worth noting that he religiously observed the fasts
+proclaimed in 1774 and 1777, going without food the entire day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A special liking is mentioned above. In 1782 Richard Varick wrote to a friend,
+&ldquo;General Washington dines with me to-morrow; he is exceedingly fond of
+salt fish; I have some coming up, &amp; tho&rsquo; it will be here in a few
+days, it will not be here in time&mdash;If you could conveniently lend me as
+much fish as would serve a pretty large company to-morrow (at least for one
+Dish), it will oblige me, and shall in a very few days be returned in as good
+Dun Fish as ever you see. Excuse this freedom, and it will add to the favor.
+Could you not prevail upon somebody to catch some Trout for me early to-morrow
+morning?&rdquo; When procurable, salt codfish was Washington&rsquo;s regular
+Sunday dinner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A second liking was honey. His ledger several times mentions purchases of this,
+and in 1789 his sister wrote him, &ldquo;when I last had the Pleasure of seeing
+you I observ&rsquo;d your fondness for Honey; I have got a large Pot of very
+fine in the comb, which I shall send by the first opportunity.&rdquo; Among his
+purchases &ldquo;sugar candy&rdquo; is several times mentioned, but this may
+have been for children, and not for himself. He was a frequent buyer of fruit
+of all kinds and of melons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was very fond of nuts, buying hazelnuts and shellbarks by the barrel, and he
+wrote his overseer in 1792 to &ldquo;tell house Frank I expect he will lay up a
+more plenteous store of the black common walnuts than he usually does.&rdquo;
+The Prince de Broglie states that &ldquo;at dessert he eats an enormous
+quantity of nuts, and when the conversation is entertaining he keeps eating
+through a couple of hours, from time to time giving sundry healths, according
+to the English and American custom. It is what they call
+&lsquo;toasting.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington was from boyhood passionately fond of horsemanship, and when but
+seventeen owned a horse. Humphreys states that &ldquo;all those who have seen
+General Washington on horseback, at the head of his army, will doubtless bear
+testimony with the author that they never saw a more graceful or dignified
+person,&rdquo; and Jefferson said of him that he was &ldquo;the best horseman
+of his age, and the most graceful figure that could be seen on
+horseback.&rdquo; His diary shows that he rode on various occasions as much as
+sixty miles in a day, and Lawrence reports that he &ldquo;usually rode from
+Rockingham to Princeton, which is five miles, in forty minutes.&rdquo; John
+Hunter, in a visit to Mount Vernon in 1785, writes that he went
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;to see his famous race-horse Magnolia&mdash;a most beautiful creature. A
+whole length of his was taken a while ago, (mounted on Magnolia) by a famous
+man from Europe on copper…. I afterwards went to his stables, where among an
+amazing number of horses, I saw old Nelson, now 22 years of age, that carried
+the General almost always during the war; Blueskin, another fine old horse next
+to him, now and then had that honor. Shaw also shewed me his old servant, that
+was reported to have been taken, with a number of the General&rsquo;s papers
+about him. They have heard the roaring of many a cannon in their time. Blueskin
+was not the favorite, on account of his not standing fire so well as venerable
+old Nelson.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Chastellux relates, &ldquo;he was so attentive as to give me the horse he rode,
+the day of my arrival, which I had greatly commended&mdash;I found him as good
+as he is handsome; but above all, perfectly well broke, and well trained,
+having a good mouth, easy in hand and stopping short in a gallop without
+bearing the bit&mdash;I mention these minute particulars, because it is the
+general himself who breaks all his own horses; and he is a very excellent and
+bold horseman, leaping the highest fences, and going extremely quick, without
+standing upon his stirrups, bearing on the bridle, or letting his horse run
+wild.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a matter of course this liking for horses made Washington fond of racing,
+and he not only subscribed liberally to most of the racing purses, but ran
+horses at them, attending in person, and betting moderately on the results. So,
+too, he was fond of riding to the hounds, and when at Mount Vernon it was a
+favorite pastime. From his diary excerpts of runs are,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Went a Fox hunting with the Gentlemen who came here yesterday…. after a
+very early breakfast&mdash;found a Fox just back of Muddy hole Plantation and
+after a Chase of an hour and a quarter with my Dogs, &amp; eight couple of
+Doctor Smiths (brought by Mr. Phil Alexander) we put him into a hollow tree, in
+which we fastened him, and in the Pincushion put up another Fox which, in an
+hour &amp; 13 Minutes was killed&mdash;We then after allowing the Fox in the
+hole half an hour put the Dogs upon his trail &amp; in half a Mile he took to
+another hollow tree and was again put out of it but he did not go 600 yards
+before he had recourse to the same shift&mdash;finding therefore that he was a
+conquered Fox we took the Dogs off, and came home to Dinner.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;After an early breakfast [my nephew] George Washington, Mr. Shaw and
+Myself went into the Woods back of Muddy hole Plantation a hunting and were
+joined by Mr. Lund Washington and Mr. William Peake. About half after ten
+Oclock (being first plagued with the Dogs running Hogs) we found a fox near
+Colo Masons Plantation on little Hunting Creek (West fork) having followed on
+his Drag more than half a Mile; and run him with Eight Dogs (the other 4
+getting, as was supposed after a Second Fox) close and well for an hour. When
+the Dogs came to a fault and to cold Hunting until 20 minutes after when being
+joined by the missing Dogs they put him up afresh and in about 50 Minutes
+killed up in an open field of Colo Mason&rsquo;s every Rider &amp; every Dog
+being present at the Death.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Revolution, when opportunity offered, he rode to the hounds, for
+Hiltzheimer wrote in 1781, &ldquo;My son Robert [having] been on a Hunt at
+Frankfort says that His Excel&rsquo;y Gen. Washington was there.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This liking made dogs an interest to him, and he took much pains to improve the
+breed of his hounds. On one occasion he &ldquo;anointed all my Hounds (as well
+old Dogs as Puppies) which have the mange, with Hogs Lard &amp;
+Brimstone.&rdquo; Mopsey, Pilot, Tartar, Jupiter, Trueman, Tipler, Truelove,
+Juno, Dutchess, Ragman, Countess, Lady, Searcher, Rover, Sweetlips, Vulcan,
+Singer, Music, Tiyal, and Forrester are some of the names he gave them. In
+1794, in the fall of his horse, as already mentioned, he wrenched his back, and
+in consequence, when he returned to Mount Vernon, this pastime was never
+resumed, and his pack was given up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Kindred to this taste for riding to the hounds was one for gunning. A few
+entries in his diary tell the nature of his sport. &ldquo;Went a ducking
+between breakfast and dinner and kill&rsquo;d 2 Mallards &amp; 5 bald
+faces.&rdquo; &ldquo;I went to the Creek but not across it. Kill&rsquo;d 2
+ducks, viz. a sprig tail and a Teal.&rdquo; &ldquo;Rid out with my gun but
+kill&rsquo;d nothing.&rdquo; In 1787 a man asked for permission to shoot over
+Mount Vernon, and Washington refused it because
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;my fixed determination is, that no person whatever shall hunt upon my
+grounds or waters&mdash;To grant leave to one and refuse another would not only
+be drawing a line of discrimination which would be offensive, but would subject
+one to great inconvenience&mdash;for my strict and positive orders to all my
+people are if they hear a gun fired upon my Land to go immediately in pursuit
+of it…. Besides, as I have not lost my relish for this sport when I find time
+to indulge myself in it, and Gentlemen who come to the House are pleased with
+it, it is my wish not to have game within my jurisdiction disturbed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fishing was another pastime. He &ldquo;went a dragging for Sturgeon&rdquo;
+frequently, and sometimes &ldquo;catch&rsquo;d one&rdquo; and sometimes
+&ldquo;catch&rsquo;d none.&rdquo; While in Philadelphia in 1787 he went up to
+the old camp at Valley Forge and spent a day fishing, and in 1789 at
+Portsmouth, &ldquo;having lines, we proceeded to the Fishing Banks a little
+without the Harbour and fished for Cod; but it not being a proper time of tide,
+we only caught two.&rdquo; After his serious sickness in 1790 a newspaper
+reports that &ldquo;yesterday afternoon the President of the United States
+returned from Sandy Hook and the fishing banks, where he had been for the
+benefit of the sea air, and to amuse himself in the delightful recreation of
+fishing. We are told he has had excellent sport, having himself caught a great
+number of sea-bass and black fish&mdash;the weather proved remarkably fine,
+which, together with the salubrity of the air and wholesome exercise, rendered
+this little voyage extremely agreeable, and cannot fail, we hope, of being
+serviceable to a speedy and complete restoration of his health.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington was fond of cards, and in bad weather even records &ldquo;at home
+all day, over cards.&rdquo; How much time must have been spent in this way is
+shown by the innumerable purchases of &ldquo;1 dozen packs playing cards&rdquo;
+noted in his ledger. In 1748, when he was sixteen years old, he won two
+shillings and threepence from his sister-in-law at whist and five shillings at
+&ldquo;Loo&rdquo; (or, as he sometimes spells it, &ldquo;Lue&rdquo;) from his
+brother, and he seems always to have played for small stakes, which sometimes
+mounted into fairly sizable sums. The largest gain found is three pounds, and
+the largest loss nine pounds fourteen shillings and ninepence. He seems to have
+lost oftener than he won.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Billiards was a rival of cards, and a game of which he seems to have been fond.
+In his seventeenth year he won one shilling and threepence by the cue, and from
+that time won and lost more or less money in this way. Here, too, he seems to
+have been out of pocket, though not for so much money, his largest winning
+noted being only seven shillings and sixpence, and his largest loss being one
+pound and ten shillings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1751, at Barbadoes, Washington &ldquo;was treated with a play ticket to see
+the Tragedy of George Barnwell acted: the character of Barnwell and several
+others was said to be well perform&rsquo;d there was Musick a Dapted and
+regularly conducted.&rdquo; This presumptively was the lad&rsquo;s first visit
+to the playhouse, but from that time it was one of his favorite amusements. At
+first his ledger shows expenditures of &ldquo;Cash at the Play House
+1/3,&rdquo; which proves that his purse would bear the cost of only the
+cheapest seats; but later he became more extravagant in this respect, and
+during the Presidency he used the drama for entertaining, his ledger giving
+many items of tickets bought. A type entry in Washington&rsquo;s diary is,
+&ldquo;Went to the play in the evening&mdash;sent tickets to the following
+ladies and gentlemen and invited them to seats in my box, viz:&mdash;Mrs. Adams
+(lady of the Vice-President,) General Schuyler and lady, Mr. King and lady,
+Majr. Butler and lady, Colo Hamilton and lady, Mrs. Green&mdash;all of whom
+accepted and came except Mrs. Butler, who was indisposed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maclay describes the first of these theatre parties as follows: &ldquo;I
+received a ticket from the President of the United States to use his box this
+evening at the theatre, being the first of his appearances at the playhouse
+since his entering on his office. Went The President, Governor of the State,
+foreign Ministers, Senators from New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania,
+M.[aryland] and South Carolina; and some ladies in the same box. I am old, and
+notices or attentions are lost on me. I could have wished some of my dear
+children in my place; they are young and would have enjoyed it. Long might they
+live to boast of having been seated in the same box with the first Character in
+the world. The play was the &lsquo;School for Scandal,&rsquo; I never liked it;
+indeed, I think it an indecent representation before ladies of character and
+virtue. Farce, the &lsquo;Old Soldier.&rsquo; The house greatly crowded, and I
+thought the players acted well; but I wish we had seen the <i>Conscious
+Lovers</i>, or some one that inculcated more prudential manners.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of the play, or rather interlude, of the &ldquo;Old Soldier&rdquo; its author,
+Dunlap, gives an amusing story. It turned on the home-coming of an old soldier,
+and, like the topical song of to-day, touched on local affairs:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;When Wignell, as Darby, recounts what had befallen him in America, in
+New York, at the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and the inauguration of
+the president, the interest expressed by the audience in the looks and the
+changes of countenance of this great man [Washington] became intense. He smiled
+at these lines, alluding to the change in the government&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+There too I saw some mighty pretty shows;<br/>
+A revolution, without blood or blows,<br/>
+For, as I understood, the cunning elves,<br/>
+The people all revolted from themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+But at the lines&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+A man who fought to free the land from we,<br/>
+<i>Like me</i>, had left his farm, a-soldiering to go:<br/>
+But having gain&rsquo;d his point, he had <i>like me</i>,<br/>
+Return&rsquo;d his own potato ground to see.<br/>
+But there he could not rest. With one accord<br/>
+He&rsquo;s called to be a kind of&mdash;not a lord&mdash;<br/>
+I don&rsquo;t know what, he&rsquo;s not a <i>great man</i>, sure,<br/>
+For poor men love him just as he were poor.<br/>
+They love him like a father or a brother,<br/>
+          DERMOT.<br/>
+As we poor Irishmen love one another.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+The president looked serious; and when Kathleen asked,
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+How looked he, Darby? Was he short or tall?
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+his countenance showed embarrassment, from the expectation or one of those
+eulogiums which, he had been obliged to hear on many public occasions, and
+which must doubtless have been a severe trial to his feelings: but
+Darby&rsquo;s answer that he had <i>not seen him</i>, because he had mistaken a
+man &lsquo;all lace and glitter, botherum and shine,&rsquo; for him, until all
+the show had passed, relieved the hero from apprehension of farther
+personality, and he indulged in that which was with him extremely rare, a
+hearty laugh.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington did not even despise amateur performances. As already mentioned, he
+expressed a wish to take part in &ldquo;Cato&rdquo; himself in 1758, and a year
+before he had subscribed to the regimental &ldquo;players at Fort
+Cumberland,&rdquo; His diary shows that in 1768 the couple at Mount Vernon
+&ldquo;&amp; ye two children were up to Alexandria to see the Inconstant or
+&lsquo;the way to win him&rsquo; acted,&rdquo; which was probably an amateur
+performance. Furthermore, Duer tells us that &ldquo;I was not only frequently
+admitted to the presence of this most august of men, in <i>propria persona</i>,
+but once had the honor of appearing before him as one of the <i>dramatis
+personae</i> in the tragedy of Julius Caesar, enacted by a young
+&lsquo;American Company,&rsquo; (the theatrical corps then performing in New
+York being called the &lsquo;Old American Company&rsquo;) in the garret of the
+Presidential mansion, wherein before the magnates of the land and the elite of
+the city, I performed the part of Brutus to the Cassius of my old
+school-fellow, Washington Custis.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The theatre was by no means the only show that appealed to Washington. He went
+to the circus when opportunity offered, gave nine shillings to a &ldquo;man who
+brought an elk as a show,&rdquo; three shillings and ninepence &ldquo;to hear
+the Armonica,&rdquo; two dollars for tickets &ldquo;to see the
+automatum,&rdquo; treated the &ldquo;Ladies to ye Microcosm&rdquo; and paid to
+see waxworks, puppet shows, a dancing bear, and a lioness and tiger. Nor did he
+avoid a favorite Virginia pastime, but attended cockfights when able. His
+frequent going to concerts has been already mentioned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington seems to have been little of a reader except of books on
+agriculture, which he bought, read, and even made careful abstracts of many,
+and on this subject alone did he ever seem to write from pleasure. As a lad, he
+notes in his journal that he is reading <i>The Spectator</i> and a history of
+England, but after those two brief entries there is no further mention of books
+or reading in his daily memorandum of &ldquo;where and how my time is
+spent.&rdquo; In his ledger, too, almost the least common expenditure entered
+is one for books. Nor do his London invoices, so far as extant, order any books
+but those which treated of farming and horses. In the settlement of the Custis
+estate, &ldquo;I had no particular reason for keeping and handing down to his
+son, the books of the late Colo Custis saving that I thought it would be taking
+the advantage of a low appraisement, to make them my own property at it, and
+that to sell them was not an object.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the broadening that resulted from the command of the army more attention
+was paid to books, and immediately upon the close of the Revolution Washington
+ordered the following works: &ldquo;Life of Charles the Twelfth,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Life of Louis the Fifteenth,&rdquo; &ldquo;Life and Reign of Peter the
+Great,&rdquo; Robertson&rsquo;s &ldquo;History of America,&rdquo;
+Voltaire&rsquo;s &ldquo;Letters,&rdquo; Vertot&rsquo;s &ldquo;Revolution of
+Rome&rdquo; and &ldquo;Revolution of Portugal,&rdquo; &ldquo;Life of Gustavus
+Adolphus,&rdquo; Sully&rsquo;s &ldquo;Memoirs,&rdquo; Goldsmith&rsquo;s
+&ldquo;Natural History,&rdquo; &ldquo;Campaigns of Marshal Turenne,&rdquo;
+Chambaud&rsquo;s &ldquo;French and English Dictionary,&rdquo; Locke &ldquo;on
+the Human Understanding,&rdquo; and Robertson&rsquo;s &ldquo;Charles the
+Fifth.&rdquo; From this time on he was a fairly constant book-buyer, and
+subscribed as a &ldquo;patron&rdquo; to a good many forthcoming works, while
+many were sent him as gifts. On politics he seems to have now read with
+interest; yet in 1797, after his retirement from the Presidency, in writing of
+the manner in which he spent his hours, he said, &ldquo;it may strike you that
+in this detail no mention is made of any portion of time allotted to reading.
+The remark would be just, for I have not looked into a book since I came home,
+nor shall I be able to do it until I have discharged my workmen; probably not
+before the nights grow long when possibly I may be looking into Doomsday
+book.&rdquo; There can be no doubt that through all his life Washington gave to
+reading only the time he could not use on more practical affairs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His library was a curious medley of books, if those on military science and
+agriculture are omitted. There is a fair amount of the standard history of the
+day, a little theology, so ill assorted as to suggest gifts rather than
+purchases, a miscellany of contemporary politics, and a very little
+belles-lettres. In political science the only works in the slightest degree
+noticeable are Smith&rsquo;s &ldquo;Wealth of Nations,&rdquo; &ldquo;The
+Federalist,&rdquo; and Rousseau&rsquo;s &ldquo;Social Compact,&rdquo; and, as
+the latter was in French, it could not have been read. In lighter literature
+Homer, Shakespeare, and Burns, Lord Chesterfield, Swift, Smollett, Fielding,
+and Sterne, and &ldquo;Don Quixote,&rdquo; are the only ones deserving notice.
+It is worthy of mention that Washington&rsquo;s favorite quotation was
+Addison&rsquo;s &ldquo;&rsquo;Tis not in mortals to command success,&rdquo; but
+he also utilized with considerable aptitude quotations from Shakespeare and
+Sterne. There were half a dozen of the ephemeral novels of the day, but these
+were probably Mrs. Washington&rsquo;s, as her name is written in one, and her
+husband&rsquo;s in none. Writing to his grandson, Washington warned him that
+&ldquo;light reading (by this, I mean books of little importance) may amuse for
+the moment, but leaves nothing solid behind.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus16"></a>
+<img src="images/img16.jpg" width="367" height="500" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">WASHINGTON&rsquo;S BOOK-PLATE</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+One element of Washington&rsquo;s reading which cannot be passed over without
+notice is that of newspapers. In his early life he presumably read the only
+local paper of the time (the <i>Virginia Gazette</i>), for when an anonymous
+writer, &ldquo;Centinel,&rdquo; in 1756, charged that Washington&rsquo;s
+regiment was given over to drunkenness and other misbehavior, he drew up a
+reply, which he sent with ten shillings to the newspaper, but the printer
+apparently declined to print it, for it never appeared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the Revolution he complained to his Philadelphia agent, &ldquo;I have
+such a number of Gazettes, crowded upon me (many without orders) that they are
+not only expensive, but really useless; as my other avocations will not afford
+me time to read them oftentimes, and when I do attempt it, find them more
+troublesome, than profitable; I have therefore to beg, if you Should get Money
+into your hands on Acct of the Inclosed Certificate, that you would be so good
+as to pay what I am owing to Messrs Dunlap &amp; Claypoole, Mr. Oswald &amp;
+Mr. Humphrey&rsquo;s. If they consider me however as engaged for the year, I am
+Content to let the matter run on to the Expiration of it&rdquo; During the
+Presidency he subscribed to the <i>Gazette of the United States</i>,
+Brown&rsquo;s <i>Gazette</i>, Dunlap&rsquo;s <i>American Advertiser</i>, the
+<i>Pennsylvania Gazette</i>, Bache&rsquo;s <i>Aurora</i>, and the <i>New York
+Magazine</i>, Carey&rsquo;s <i>Museum</i>, and the <i>Universal Asylum</i>,
+though at this time he &ldquo;lamented that the editors of the different
+gazettes in the Union do not more generally and more correctly (instead of
+stuffing their papers with scurrility and nonsensical declamation, which few
+would read if they were apprised of the contents,) publish the debates in
+Congress on all great national questions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently, for personal and party reasons, certain of the papers began to
+attack him, and Jefferson wrote to Madison that the President was
+&ldquo;extremely affected by the attacks made and kept up on him in the public
+papers. I think he feels these things more than any person I ever met
+with.&rdquo; Later the Secretary of State noted that at an interview Washington
+&ldquo;adverted to a piece in Freneau&rsquo;s paper of yesterday, he said that
+he despised all their attacks on him personally, but that there never had been
+an act of government … that paper had not abused … He was evidently sore and
+warm.&rdquo; At a cabinet meeting, too, according to the same writer,
+&ldquo;the Presidt was much inflamed, got into one of those passions when he
+cannot command himself, ran on much on the personal abuse which had been
+bestowed on him, defied any man on earth to produce a single act of his since
+he had been in the govmt which was not done on the purest motives, that he had
+never repented but once the having slipped the moment of resigning his office,
+&amp; that was every moment since, that <i>by god</i> he had rather be in his
+grave than in his present situation. That he had rather be on his farm than to
+be made <i>emperor of the world</i> and yet that they were charging him with
+wanting to be a king. That that <i>rascal Freneau</i> sent him 3 of his papers
+every day, as if he thought he would become the distributor of his papers, that
+he could see in this nothing but an impudent design to insult him. He ended in
+this high tone. There was a pause.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To correspondents, too, Washington showed how keenly he felt the attacks upon
+him, writing that &ldquo;the publications in Freneau&rsquo;s and Bache&rsquo;s
+papers are outrages on common decency; and they progress in that style in
+proportion as their pieces are treated with contempt, and are passed by in
+silence, by those at whom they are aimed,&rdquo; and asked &ldquo;in what will
+this abuse terminate? The result, as it respects myself, I care not; for I have
+consolation within, that no earthly efforts can deprive me of, and that is,
+that neither ambitious nor interested motives have influenced my conduct. The
+arrows of malevolence, therefore however barbed and well pointed, never can
+reach the most vulnerable part of me; though, whilst I am <i>up</i> as a
+<i>mark</i>, they will be continually aimed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On another occasion he said, &ldquo;I am beginning to receive, what I had made
+my mind up for on this occasion, the abuse of Mr. Bache, and his
+correspondents.&rdquo; He wrote a friend, &ldquo;if you read the Aurora of this
+city, or those gazettes, which are under the same influence, you cannot but
+have perceived with what malignant industry and persevering falsehoods I am
+assailed, in order to weaken if not destroy the confidence of the
+public.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he retired from office he apparently cut off his subscriptions to papers,
+for a few months later he inquired, &ldquo;what is the character of
+Porcupine&rsquo;s Gazette? I had thought when I left Philadelphia, of ordering
+it to be sent to me; then again, I thought it best not to do it; and
+altho&rsquo; I should like to see both his and Bache&rsquo;s, the latter may,
+under all circumstances, be the best decision; I mean not subscribing to either
+of them.&rdquo; This decision to have no more to do with papers did not last,
+for on the night he was seized with his last illness Lear describes how
+&ldquo;in the evening the papers having come from the post office, he sat in
+the room with Mrs. Washington and myself, reading them, till about nine
+o&rsquo;clock when Mrs. Washington went up into Mrs. Lewis&rsquo;s room, who
+was confined, and left the General and myself reading the papers. He was very
+cheerful; and, when he met with anything which he thought diverting or
+interesting, he would read it aloud as well as his hoarseness would permit. He
+desired me to read to him the debates of the Virginia Assembly, on the election
+of a Senator and Governor; which I did&mdash;and, on hearing Mr.
+Madison&rsquo;s observations respecting Mr. Monroe, he appeared much affected,
+and spoke with some degree of asperity on the subject, which I endeavored to
+moderate, as I always did on such occasions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap09"></a>IX<br/>
+FRIENDS</h2>
+
+<p>
+The frequently repeated statement that Washington was a man without friends is
+not the least curious of the myths that have obtained general credence. That it
+should be asserted only goes to show how absolutely his private life has been
+neglected in the study of his public career.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In his will Washington left tokens of remembrance &ldquo;to the acquaintances
+and friends of my juvenile years, Lawrence Washington and Robert Washington of
+Chotanck,&rdquo; the latter presumably the &ldquo;dear Robin&rdquo; of his
+earliest letter, and these two very distant kinsmen, whom he had come to know
+while staying at Wakefield, are the earliest friends of whom any record exists.
+Contemporary with them was a &ldquo;Dear Richard,&rdquo; whose letters gave
+Washington &ldquo;unspeakable pleasure, as I am convinced I am still in the
+memory of so worthy a friend,&mdash;a friendship I shall ever be proud of
+increasing.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next in time came his intimacy with the Fairfaxes and Carlyles, which began
+with Washington&rsquo;s visits to his brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon. About
+four miles from that place, at Belvoir, lived the Fairfaxes; and their
+kinspeople, the Carlyles, lived at Alexandria. Lawrence Washington had married
+Ann Fairfax, and through his influence his brother George was taken into the
+employment of Lord Fairfax, half as clerk and half as surveyor of his great
+tract of land, &ldquo;the northern neck,&rdquo; which he had obtained by
+marriage with a daughter of Lord Culpeper, who in turn had obtained it from the
+&ldquo;Merrie Monarch&rdquo; by means so disreputable that they are best left
+unstated. From that time till his death Washington corresponded with several of
+the family and was a constant visitor at Belvoir, as the Fairfaxes were at
+Mount Vernon.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus17"></a>
+<img src="images/img17.jpg" width="458" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">SURVEY OF WASHINGTON&rsquo;S BIRTHPLACE (WAKEFIELD), 1743</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In 1755 Washington told his brother that &ldquo;to that family I am under many
+obligations, particularly the old gentleman,&rdquo; but as time went on he more
+than paid the debt. In 1757 he acted as pallbearer to William Fairfax, and
+twelve years later his diary records, &ldquo;Set off with Mrs. Washington and
+Patsey,… in order to stand for Mr. B. Fairfax&rsquo;s third son, which I did
+together with my wife, Mr. Warner Washington and his lady.&rdquo; For one of
+the family he obtained an army commission, and for another he undertook the
+care of his property during a visit to England; a care which unexpectedly
+lengthened, and was resigned only when Washington&rsquo;s time became public
+property. Nor did that lessen his services or the Fairfaxes&rsquo; need of
+them, for in the Revolution that family were loyalists. Despite this,
+&ldquo;the friendship,&rdquo; Washington assured them, &ldquo;which I ever
+professed and felt for you, met no diminution from the difference in our
+political sentiments,&rdquo; and in 1778 he was able to secure the safety of
+Lord Fairfax from persecution at the hands of the Whigs, a service acknowledged
+by his lordship in the following words:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There are times when favors conferred make a greater impression than at
+others, for, though I have received many, I hope I have not been unmindful of
+them; yet that, at a time your popularity was at the highest and mine at the
+lowest, and when it is so common for men&rsquo;s resentments to run up high
+against those, who differ from them in opinion, you should act with your wonted
+kindness towards me, has affected me more than any favor I have received; and
+could not be believed by some in New York, it being above the run of common
+minds.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In behalf of another member of the family, threatened with confiscation, he
+wrote to a member of the House of Delegates, &ldquo;I hope, I trust, that no
+act of Legislation in the State of Virginia has affected, or can affect, the
+properly of this gentleman, otherwise than in common with that of every good
+and well disposed citizen of America,&rdquo; and this was sufficient to put an
+end to the project At the close of the war he wrote to this absentee,
+&ldquo;There was nothing wanting in [your] Letter to give compleat satisfaction
+to Mrs. Washington and myself but some expression to induce us to believe you
+would once more become our neighbors. Your house at Belvoir I am sorry to add
+is no more, but mine (which is enlarged since you saw it), is most sincerely
+and heartily at your service till you could rebuild it. As the path, after
+being closed by a long, arduous, and painful contest, is to use an Indian
+metaphor, now opened and made smooth, I shall please myself with the hope of
+hearing from you frequently; and till you forbid me to indulge the wish, I
+shall not despair of seeing you and Mrs. Fairfax once more the inhabitants of
+Belvoir, and greeting you both there the intimate companions of our old age, as
+you have been of our younger years.&rdquo; And to another he left a token of
+remembrance in his will.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the most curious circle of friends was that composed of Indians. After
+his mission among them in 1753, Washington wrote to a tribe and signed himself
+&ldquo;your friend and brother.&rdquo; In a less general sense he requested an
+Indian agent to &ldquo;recommend me kindly to Mononcatoocha and others; tell
+them how happy it would make Conotocarius to have an opportunity of taking them
+by the hand.&rdquo; A little later he had this pleasure, and he wrote the
+governor, &ldquo;the Indians are all around teasing and perplexing me for one
+thing or another, so that I scarce know what I write.&rdquo; When Washington
+left the frontier this intercourse ceased, but he was not forgotten, for in
+descending the Ohio in his Western trip of 1770 a hunting party was met, and
+&ldquo;in the person of Kiashuto I found an old acquaintance, he being one of
+the Indians that went [with me] to the French in 1753. He expressed
+satisfaction at seeing me, and treated us with great kindness, giving us a
+quarter of very fine buffalo. He insisted upon our spending that night with
+him, and, in order to retard us as little as possible moved his camp down the
+river.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With his appointment to the Virginia regiment came military friends. From the
+earliest of these&mdash;Van Braam, who had served under Lawrence Washington in
+the Carthagena expedition of 1742, and who had come to live at Mount
+Vernon&mdash;Washington had previously taken lessons in fencing, and when
+appointed the bearer of a letter to the French commander on the Ohio he took
+Van Braam with him as interpreter. A little later, on receiving his majority,
+Washington appointed Van Braam his recruiting lieutenant, and recommended him
+to the governor for a captain&rsquo;s commission on the grounds that he was
+&ldquo;an experienced good officer.&rdquo; To Van Braam fell the duty of
+translating the capitulation to the French at Fort Necessity, and to his
+reading was laid the blunder by which Washington signed a statement
+acknowledging himself as an &ldquo;assassin.&rdquo; Inconsequence he became the
+scapegoat of the expedition, was charged by the governor with being a
+&ldquo;poltroon&rdquo; and traitor, and was omitted from the Assembly&rsquo;s
+vote of thanks and extra pay to the regiment. But Washington stood by him, and
+when himself burgess succeeded in getting this latter vote rescinded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another friend of the same period was the Chevalier Peyroney, whom Washington
+first made an ensign, and then urged the governor to advance him, promising
+that if the governor &ldquo;should be pleased to indulge me in this request, I
+shall look upon it in a very particular light.&rdquo; Peyroney was badly
+wounded at Fort Necessity and was furloughed, during which he wrote his
+commander, &ldquo;I have made my particular Business to tray if any had some
+Bad intention against you here Below; But thank God I meet allowais with a good
+wish for you from evry Mouth each one entertining such Caracter of you as I
+have the honour to do myself.&rdquo; He served again in the Braddock march, and
+in that fiasco, Washington wrote, &ldquo;Captain Peyroney and all his officers
+down to a corporal, was killed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With Captain Stewart&mdash;&ldquo;a gentleman whose assiduity and military
+capacity are second to none in our Service&rdquo;&mdash;Washington was intimate
+enough to have Stewart apply in 1763 for four hundred pounds to aid him to
+purchase a commission, a sum Washington did not have at his disposal. But
+because of &ldquo;a regard of that high nature that I could never see you
+uneasy without feeling a part and wishing to remove the cause,&rdquo;
+Washington lent him three hundred pounds towards it, apparently without much
+return, for some years later he wrote to a friend that he was &ldquo;very glad
+to learn that my friend Stewart was well when you left London. I have not had a
+letter from him these five years.&rdquo; At the close of the Revolution he
+received a letter from Stewart containing &ldquo;affectionate and flattering
+expressions,&rdquo; which gave Washington &ldquo;much pleasure,&rdquo; as it
+&ldquo;removed an apprehension I had long labored under, of your having taken
+your departure for the land of Spirits. How else could I account for a silence
+of 15 years. I shall always be happy to see you at Mt. Vernon.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His friend William Ramsay&mdash;&ldquo;well known, well-esteemed, and of
+unblemished character&rdquo;&mdash;he appointed commissary, and long after, in
+1769, wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Having once or twice of late heard you speak highly in praise of the
+Jersey College, as if you had a desire of sending your son William there … I
+should be glad, if you have no other objection to it than what may arise from
+the expense, if you would send him there as soon as it is convenient, and
+depend on me for twenty-five pounds this currency a year for his support, so
+long as it may be necessary for the completion of his education. If I live to
+see the accomplishment of this term, the sum here stipulated shall he annually
+paid; and if I die in the mean while, this letter shall be obligatory upon my
+heirs, or executors, to do it according to the true intent and meaning hereof.
+No other return is expected, or wished, for this offer, than that you will
+accept it with the same freedom and good will, with which it is made, and that
+you may not even consider it in the light of an obligation or mention it as
+such; for, be assured, that from me it will never be known.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The dearest friendship formed in these years was with the doctor of the
+regiment, James Craik, who in the course of his duties attended Washington in
+two serious illnesses, and when the war was ended settled near Mount Vernon. He
+was frequently a visitor there, and soon became the family medical attendant.
+When appointed General, Washington wrote, &ldquo;tell Doctor Craik that I
+should be very glad to see him here if there was anything worth his acceptance;
+but the Massachusetts people suffer nothing to go by them that they lay hands
+upon.&rdquo; In 1777 the General secured his appointment as deputy
+surgeon-general of the Middle Department, and three years later, when the
+hospital service was being reformed, he used his influence to have him
+retained. Craik was one of those instrumental in warning the commander-in-chief
+of the existence of the Conway Cabal, because &ldquo;my attachment to your
+person is such, my friendship is so sincere, that every hint which has a
+tendency to hurt your honor, wounds me most sensibly.&rdquo; The doctor was
+Washington&rsquo;s companion, by invitation, in both his later trips to the
+Ohio, and his trust in him was so strong that he put under his care the two
+nephews whose charge he had assumed. In Washington&rsquo;s ledger an entry
+tells of another piece of friendliness, to the effect, &ldquo;Dr. James Craik,
+paid him, being a donation to his son, Geo. Washington Craik for his education
+£30,&rdquo; and after graduating the young man for a time served as one of his
+private secretaries. After a serious illness in 1789, Washington wrote to the
+doctor, &ldquo;persuaded as I am, that the case has been treated with skill,
+and with as much tenderness as the nature of the complaint would admit, yet I
+confess I often wished for your inspection of it,&rdquo; and later he wrote,
+&ldquo;if I should ever have occasion for a Physician or Surgeon, I should
+prefer my old Surgeon, Dr. Craik, who, from 40 years&rsquo; experience, is
+better qualified than a Dozen of them put together.&rdquo; Craik was the first
+of the doctors to reach Washington&rsquo;s bedside in his last illness, and
+when the dying man predicted his own death, &ldquo;the Doctor pressed his hand
+but could not utter a word. He retired from the bedside and sat by the fire
+absorbed in grief.&rdquo; In Washington&rsquo;s will he left &ldquo;to my
+compatriot in arms and old and intimate friend, Doctor Craik I give my Bureau
+(or as the Cabinet makers called it, Tambour Secretary) and the circular chair,
+an appendage of my study.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The arrival of Braddock and his army at Alexandria brought a new circle of
+military friends. Washington &ldquo;was very particularly noticed by that
+General, was taken into his family as an extra aid, offered a Captain&rsquo;s
+commission by <i>brevet</i> (which was the highest grade he had it in his power
+to bestow) and had the compliment of several blank Ensigncies given him to
+dispose of to the Young Gentlemen of his acquaintance.&rdquo; In this position
+he was treated &ldquo;with much complaisance … especially from the
+General,&rdquo; which meant much, as Braddock seems to have had nothing but
+curses for nearly every one else, and the more as Washington and he &ldquo;had
+frequent disputes,&rdquo; which were &ldquo;maintained with warmth on both
+sides, especially on his.&rdquo; But the general, &ldquo;though his enmities
+were strong,&rdquo; in &ldquo;his attachments&rdquo; was &ldquo;warm,&rdquo;
+and grew to like and trust the young volunteer, and had he &ldquo;survived his
+unfortunate defeat, I should have met with preferment,&rdquo; having &ldquo;his
+promise to that effect.&rdquo; Washington was by the general when he was
+wounded in the lungs, lifted him into a covered cart, and &ldquo;brought him
+over the <i>first</i> ford of the Monongahela,&rdquo; into temporary safety.
+Three days later Braddock died of his wounds, bequeathing to Washington his
+favorite horse and his body-servant as tokens of his gratitude. Over him
+Washington read the funeral service, and it was left to him to see that
+&ldquo;the poor general&rdquo; was interred &ldquo;with the honors of
+war.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even before public service had made him known, Washington was a friend and
+guest of many of the leading Virginians. Between 1747 and 1754 he visited the
+Carters of Shirley, Nomony, and Sabine Hall, the Lewises of Warner Hall, the
+Lees of Stratford, and the Byrds of Westover, and there was acquaintance at
+least with the Spotswoods, Fauntleroys, Corbins, Randolphs, Harrisons,
+Robinsons, Nicholases, and other prominent families. In fact, one friend wrote
+him, &ldquo;your health and good fortune are the toast of every table,&rdquo;
+and another that &ldquo;the Council and Burgesses are mostly your
+friends,&rdquo; and those two bodies included every Virginian of real
+influence. It was Richard Corbin who enclosed him his first commission, in a
+brief note, beginning &ldquo;Dear George&rdquo; and ending &ldquo;your
+friend,&rdquo; but in time relations became more or less strained, and
+Washington suspected him &ldquo;of representing my character … with
+ungentlemanly freedom.&rdquo; With John Robinson, &ldquo;Speaker&rdquo; and
+Treasurer of Virginia, who wrote Washington in 1756, &ldquo;our hopes, dear
+George, are all fixed on you,&rdquo; a close correspondence was maintained, and
+when Washington complained of the governor&rsquo;s course towards him Robinson
+replied, &ldquo;I beg dear friend, that you will bear, so far as a man of honor
+ought, the discouragements and slights you have too often met with.&rdquo; The
+son, Beverly Robinson, was a fellow-soldier, and, as already mentioned, was
+Washington&rsquo;s host on his visit to New York in 1756. The Revolution
+interrupted the friendship, but it is alleged that Robinson (who was deep in
+the Arnold plot) made an appeal to the old-time relation in an endeavor to save
+André. The appeal was in vain, but auld lang syne had its influence, for the
+sons of Beverly, British officers taken prisoners in 1779, were promptly
+exchanged, so one of them asserted, &ldquo;in consequence of the embers of
+friendship that still remained unextinguished in the breasts of my father and
+General Washington.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Outside of his own colony, too, Washington made friends of many prominent
+families, with whom there was more or less interchange of hospitality. Before
+the Revolution there had been visiting or breaking of bread with the Galloways,
+Dulaneys, Carrolls, Calverts, Jenifers, Edens, Ringgolds, and Tilghmans of
+Maryland, the Penns, Cadwaladers, Morrises, Shippens, Aliens, Dickinsons,
+Chews, and Willings of Pennsylvania, and the De Lanceys and Bayards of New
+York.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Election to the Continental Congress strengthened some friendships and added
+new ones. With Benjamin Harrison he was already on terms of intimacy, and as
+long as the latter was in Congress he was the member most in the confidence of
+the General. Later they differed in politics, but Washington assured Harrison
+that &ldquo;my friendship is not in the least lessened by the difference, which
+has taken place in our political sentiments, nor is my regard for you
+diminished by the part you have acted.&rdquo; Joseph Jones and Patrick Henry
+both took his part against the Cabal, and the latter did him especial service
+in forwarding to him the famous anonymous letter, an act for which Washington
+felt &ldquo;most grateful obligations.&rdquo; Henry and Washington differed
+later in politics, and it was reported that the latter spoke disparagingly of
+the former, but this Washington denied, and not long after offered Henry the
+Secretaryship of State. Still later he made a personal appeal to him to come
+forward and combat the Virginia resolutions of 1798, an appeal to which Henry
+responded. The intimacy with Robert Morris was close, and, as already noted,
+Washington and his family were several times inmates of his home. Gouverneur
+Morris was one of his most trusted advisers, and, it is claimed, gave the
+casting vote which saved Washington from being arrested in 1778, when the Cabal
+was fiercest. While President, Washington sent him on a most important mission
+to Great Britain, and on its completion made him Minister to France. From that
+post the President was, at the request of France, compelled to recall him; but
+in doing so Washington wrote him a private letter assuring Morris that he
+&ldquo;held the same place in my estimation&rdquo; as ever, and signed himself
+&ldquo;yours affectionately.&rdquo; Charles Carroll of Carrollton was a
+partisan of the General, and very much disgusted a member of the Cabal by
+telling him &ldquo;almost literally that anybody who displeased or did not
+admire the Commander-in-chief, ought not to be kept in the army.&rdquo; And to
+Edward Rutledge Washington wrote, &ldquo;I can but love and thank you, and I do
+it sincerely for your polite and friendly letter…. The sentiments contained in
+it are such as have uniformly flowed from your pen, and they are not the less
+flattering than pleasing to me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The command of the Continental army brought a new kind of friend, in the young
+aides of his staff. One of his earliest appointments was Joseph Reed, and,
+though he remained but five months in the service, a close friendship was
+formed. Almost weekly Washington wrote him in the most confidential and
+affectionate manner, and twice he appealed to Reed to take the position once
+more, in one instance adding that if &ldquo;you are disposed to continue with
+me, I shall think myself too fortunate and happy to wish for a change.&rdquo;
+Yet Washington none the less sent Reed congratulations on his election to the
+Pennsylvania Assembly, &ldquo;although I consider it the coup-de-grace to my
+ever seeing you&rdquo; again a &ldquo;member of my family,&rdquo; to help him
+he asked a friend to endeavor to get Reed legal business, and when all law
+business ceased and the would-be lawyer was without occupation or means of
+support, he used his influence to secure him the appointment of adjutant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reed kept him informed as to the news of Philadelphia, and wrote even such
+adverse criticism of the General as he heard, which Washington
+&ldquo;gratefully&rdquo; acknowledged. But one criticism Reed did not write was
+what he himself was saying of his general after the fall of Fort Washington,
+for which he blamed the commander-in-chief in a letter to Lee, and probably to
+others, for when later Reed and Arnold quarrelled, the latter boasted that
+&ldquo;I can say I never basked in the sunshine of my general&rsquo;s favor,
+and courted him to his face, when I was at the same time treating him with the
+greatest disrespect and villifying his character when absent. This is more than
+a ruling member of the Council of Pennsylvania can say.&rdquo; Washington
+learned of this criticism in a letter from Lee to Reed, which was opened at
+head-quarters on the supposition that it was on army matters, and &ldquo;with
+no idea of its being a private letter, much less the tendency of the
+correspondence,&rdquo; as Washington explained in a letter to Reed, which had
+not a word of reproach for the double-dealing that must have cut the General
+keenly, coming as it did at a moment of misfortune and discouragement. Reed
+wrote a lame explanation and apology, and later sought to &ldquo;regain&rdquo;
+the &ldquo;lost friendship&rdquo; by an earnest appeal to Washington&rsquo;s
+generosity. Nor did he appeal in vain, for the General replied that though
+&ldquo;I felt myself hurt by a certain letter … I was hurt … because the same
+sentiments were not communicated immediately to myself.&rdquo; The old-time
+intimacy was renewed, and how little his personal feeling had influenced
+Washington is shown in the fact that even previous to this peace-making he had
+secured for Reed the appointment to command one of the choicest brigades in the
+army. Perhaps the friendship was never quite as close, but in writing him
+Washington still signed himself &ldquo;yours affectionately.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+John Laurens, appointed an aide in 1777, quickly endeared himself to
+Washington, and conceived the most ardent affection for his chief. The young
+officer of twenty-four used all his influence with his father (then President
+of Congress) against the Cabal, and in 1778, when Charles Lee was abusing the
+commander-in-chief, Laurens thought himself bound to resent it, &ldquo;as well
+on account of the relation he bore to General Washington, as from motives of
+personal friendship and respect for his character,&rdquo; and he challenged the
+defamer and put a bullet into him. To his commander he signed himself
+&ldquo;with the greatest veneration and attachment your Excellency&rsquo;s
+Faithful Aid,&rdquo; and Washington in his letters always addressed him as
+&ldquo;my dear Laurens.&rdquo; After his death in battle, Washington wrote, in
+reply to an inquiry,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You ask if the character of Colonel John Laurens, as drawn in the
+<i>Independent Chronicle</i> of 2d of December last, is just. I answer, that
+such parts of the drawing as have fallen under my observation, is literally so;
+and that it is my firm belief his merits and worth richly entitle him to the
+whole picture. No man possessed more of the <i>amor patriae</i>. In a word, he
+had not a fault, that I could discover, unless intrepidity bordering upon
+rashness could come under that denomination; and to this he was excited by the
+purest motives.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of another aide, Tench Tilghman, Washington said, &ldquo;he has been a zealous
+servant and slave to the public, and a faithful assistant to me for near five
+years, great part of which time he refused to receive pay. Honor and gratitude
+interest me in his favor.&rdquo; As an instance of this, the commander-in-chief
+gave to him the distinction of bearing to Congress the news of the surrender of
+Cornwallis, with the request to that body that Tilghman should be honored in
+some manner. And in acknowledging a letter Washington said, &ldquo;I receive
+with great sensibility and pleasure your assurances of affection and regard. It
+would be but a renewal of what I have often repeated to you, that there are few
+men in the world to whom I am more attached by inclination than I am to you.
+With the Cause, I hope&mdash;most devoutly hope&mdash;there will be an end to
+my Military Service, when as our places of residence will not be far apart, I
+shall never be more happy than in your Company at Mt. Vernon. I shall always be
+glad to hear from, and keep up a correspondence with you.&rdquo; When Tilghman
+died, Washington asserted that
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He had left as fair a reputation as ever belonged to a human
+character,&rdquo; and to his father he wrote, &ldquo;Of all the numerous
+acquaintances of your lately deceased son, &amp; midst all the sorrowings that
+are mingled on that melancholy occasion, I may venture to assert that
+(excepting those of his nearest relatives) none could have felt his death with
+more regret than I did, because no one entertained a higher opinion of his
+worth, or had imbibed sentiments of greater friendship for him than I had
+done…. Midst all your grief, there is this consolation to be drawn;&mdash;that
+while living, no man could be more esteemed, and since dead, none more lamented
+than Colo. Tilghman.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To David Humphreys, a member of the staff, Washington gave the honor of
+carrying to Congress the standards captured at Yorktown, recommending him to
+the notice of that body for his &ldquo;attention, fidelity, and good
+services.&rdquo; This aide escorted Washington to Mount Vernon at the close of
+the Revolution, and was &ldquo;the last officer belonging to the army&rdquo;
+who parted from &ldquo;the Commander-in-chief.&rdquo; Shortly after, Humphreys
+returned to Mount Vernon, half as secretary and half as visitor and companion,
+and he alluded to this time in his poem of &ldquo;Mount Vernon,&rdquo; when he
+said,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;Twas mine, return&rsquo;d from Europe&rsquo;s courts<br/>
+To share his thoughts, partake his sports.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+When Washington was accused of cruelty in the Asgill case, Humphreys published
+an account of the affair, completely vindicating his friend, for which he was
+warmly thanked. He was frequently urged to come to Mount Vernon, and Washington
+on one occasion lamented &ldquo;the cause which has deprived us of your aid in
+the attack of Christmas pies,&rdquo; and on another assured Humphreys of his
+&ldquo;great pleasure [when] I received the intimation of your spending the
+winter under this Roof. The invitation was not less sincere, than the reception
+will be cordial. The only stipulations I shall contend for are, that in all
+things you shall do as you please&mdash;I will do the same; and that no
+ceremony may be used or any restraint be imposed on any one.&rdquo; Humphreys
+was visiting him when the notification of his election as President was
+received, and was the only person, except servants, who accompanied Washington
+to New York. Here he continued for a time to give his assistance, and was
+successively appointed Indian commissioner, informal agent to Spain, and
+finally Minister to Portugal. While holding this latter position Washington
+wrote to him, &ldquo;When you shall think with the poet that &lsquo;the post of
+honor is a private station&rsquo;&mdash;&amp; may be inclined to enjoy yourself
+in my shades … I can only tell you that you will meet with the same cordial
+reception at Mount Vernon that you have always experienced at that
+place,&rdquo; and when Humphreys answered that his coming marriage made the
+visit impossible, Washington replied, &ldquo;The desire of a companion in my
+latter days, in whom I could confide … induced me to express too strongly … the
+hope of having you as an inmate.&rdquo; On the death of Washington, Humphreys
+published a poem expressing the deepest affection and admiration for &ldquo;my
+friend.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus18"></a>
+<img src="images/img18.jpg" width="434" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">WASHINGTON FAMILY RECORD</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The longest and closest connection was that with Hamilton. This very young and
+obscure officer attracted Washington&rsquo;s attention in the campaign of 1776,
+early in the next year was appointed to the staff, and quickly became so much a
+favorite that Washington spoke of him as &ldquo;my boy.&rdquo; Whatever
+friendliness this implied was not, however, reciprocated by Hamilton. After
+four years of service, he resigned, under circumstances to which he pledged
+Washington to secrecy, and then himself, in evident irritation, wrote as
+follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Two days ago, the General and I passed each other on the stairs. He told
+me he wanted to speak to me. I answered that I would wait upon him immediately.
+I went below, and delivered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be sent to the commissary,
+containing an order of a pressing and interesting nature. Returning to the
+General, I was stopped on the way by the Marquis de 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. Instead of finding the General, as is usual,
+in his room, I met him at the head of the stairs, where, accosting me in an
+angry tone, &lsquo;Colonel Hamilton,&rsquo; said he &lsquo;you have kept me
+waiting at the head of the stairs these ten minutes. I must tell you, sir, you
+treat me with disrespect.&rsquo; I replied without petulancy, but with
+decision: &lsquo;I am not conscious of it, sir; but since you have thought it
+necessary to tell me so, we part.&rsquo; &lsquo;Very well, sir,&rsquo; said he,
+&lsquo;if it be your choice,&rsquo; or something to this 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&rsquo;s name, assuring me of his great confidence in my abilities,
+integrity, usefulness, etc, and of his desire, in a candid conversation, to
+heal a difference which could not have happened but in a moment of passion. I
+requested Mr Tilghman to tell him&mdash;1st. That I had taken my resolution in
+a manner not to be revoked … Thus we stand … Perhaps you may think I was
+precipitate in rejecting the overture made by the General to an accomodation. I
+assure you, my dear sir, it was not the effect of resentment; it was the
+deliberate result of maxims I had long formed for the government of my own
+conduct…. I believe you know the place I held in the General&rsquo;s confidence
+and counsels, which will make more extraordinary to you to learn that for three
+years past I have felt no friendship for him and have professed none. The truth
+is, our dispositions are the opposites of each other, and the pride of my
+temper would not suffer me to profess what I did not feel. Indeed, when
+advances of this kind have been made to me on his part, they were received in a
+manner that showed at least that I had no desire to court them, and that I
+desired to stand rather upon a footing of military confidence than of private
+attachment.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Had Washington been the man this letter described he would never have forgiven
+this treatment. On the contrary, only two months later, when compelled to
+refuse for military reasons a favor Hamilton asked, he said that &ldquo;my
+principal concern arises from an apprehension that you will impute my refusal
+to your request to other motives.&rdquo; On this refusal Hamilton enclosed his
+commission to Washington, but &ldquo;Tilghman came to me in his name, pressed
+me to retain my commission, with an assurance that he would endeavor, by all
+means, to give me a command.&rdquo; Later Washington did more than Hamilton
+himself had asked, when he gave him the leading of the storming party at
+Yorktown, a post envied by every officer in the army.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Apparently this generosity lessened Hamilton&rsquo;s resentment, for a
+correspondence on public affairs was maintained from this time on, though
+Madison stated long after &ldquo;that Hamilton often spoke disparagingly of
+Washington&rsquo;s talents, particularly after the Revolution and at the first
+part of the presidentcy,&rdquo; and Benjamin Rush confirms this by a note to
+the effect that &ldquo;Hamilton often spoke with contempt of General
+Washington. He said that … his heart was a stone.&rdquo; The rumor of the ill
+feeling was turned to advantage by Hamilton&rsquo;s political opponents in
+1787, and compelled the former to appeal to Washington to save him from the
+injury the story was doing. In response Washington wrote a letter intended for
+public use, in which he said,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As you say it is insinuated by some of your political adversaries, and
+may obtain credit, &lsquo;that you <i>palmed</i> yourself upon me, and was
+<i>dismissed</i> from my family,&rsquo; and call upon me to do you justice by a
+recital of the facts, I do therefore explicitly declare, that both charges are
+entirely unfounded. With respect to the first, I have no cause to believe, that
+you took a single step to accomplish, or had the most distant idea of receiving
+an appointment in my family till you were invited in it; and, with respect to
+the second, that your quitting it was altogether the effect of your own
+choice.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the appointment as Secretary of the Treasury warmer feelings were
+developed. Hamilton became the President&rsquo;s most trusted official, and was
+tireless in the aid he gave his superior. Even after he left office he
+performed many services equivalent to official ones, for which Washington did
+&ldquo;not know how to thank&rdquo; him &ldquo;sufficiently,&rdquo; and the
+President leaned on his judgment to an otherwise unexampled extent. This
+service produced affection and respect, and in 1792 Washington wrote from Mount
+Vernon, &ldquo;We have learnt … that you have some thoughts of taking a trip
+this way. I felt pleasure at hearing it, and hope it is unnecessary to add,
+that it would be considerably increased by seeing you under this roof; for you
+may be assured of the sincere and affectionate regard of yours, &amp;c.&rdquo;
+and signed other letters &ldquo;always and affectionately yours,&rdquo; or
+&ldquo;very affectionately,&rdquo; while Hamilton reciprocated by sending
+&ldquo;affectionate attachment.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On being appointed lieutenant-general in 1798, Washington at once sought the
+aid of Hamilton for the highest position under him, assuring the Secretary of
+War that &ldquo;of the abilities and fitness of the gentleman you have named
+for a high command in the <i>provisional army</i>, I think as you do, and that
+his services ought to be secured at almost any price.&rdquo; To this the
+President, who hated Hamilton, objected, but Washington refused to take the
+command unless this wish was granted, and Adams had to give way. They stood in
+this relation when Washington died, and almost the last letter he penned was to
+this friend. On learning of the death, Hamilton wrote of &ldquo;our beloved
+Commander-in-chief,&rdquo;&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The very painful event … filled my heart with bitterness. Perhaps no man
+in this community has equal cause with myself to deplore the loss. I have been
+much indebted to the kindness of the General, and he was an <i>Ægis very
+essential to me</i>. But regrets are unavailing. For great misfortunes it is
+the business of reason to seek consolation. The friends of General Washington
+have very noble ones. If virtue can secure happiness in another world, he is
+happy.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Knox was the earliest army friend of those who rose to the rank of general, and
+was honored by Washington with absolute trust. After the war the two
+corresponded, and Knox expressed &ldquo;unalterable affection&rdquo; for the
+&ldquo;thousand evidences of your friendship.&rdquo; He was appointed Secretary
+of War in the first administration, and in taking command of the provisional
+army Washington secured his appointment as a major-general, and at this time
+asserted that, &ldquo;with respect to General Knox I can say with truth there
+is no man in the United States with whom I have been in habits of greater
+intimacy, no one whom I have loved more sincerely nor any for whom I have had a
+greater friendship.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Greene was perhaps the closest to Washington of all the generals, and their
+relations might be dwelt upon at much length. But the best evidence of
+friendship is in Washington&rsquo;s treatment of a story involving his
+financial honesty, of which he said, &ldquo;persuaded as I always have been of
+Genl Greene&rsquo;s integrity and worth, I spurned those reports which tended
+to calumniate his conduct … being perfectly convinced that whenever the matter
+should be investigated, his motives … would appear pure and
+unimpeachable.&rdquo; When on Greene&rsquo;s death Washington heard that his
+family was left in embarrassed circumstances, he offered, if Mrs. Greene would
+&ldquo;entrust my namesake G. Washington Greene to my care, I will give him as
+good an education as this country (I mean the United States) will afford, and
+will bring him up to either of the genteel professions that his frds. may
+chuse, or his own inclination shall lead him to pursue, at my own cost &amp;
+expence.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For &ldquo;Light-horse Harry&rdquo; Lee an affection more like that given to
+the youngsters of the staff was felt Long after the war was over, Lee began a
+letter to him &ldquo;Dear General,&rdquo; and then continued,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Although the exalted station, which your love of us and our love of you
+has placed you in, calls for change in mode of address, yet I cannot so quickly
+relinquish the old manner. Your military rank holds its place in my mind,
+notwithstanding your civic glory; and, whenever I do abandon the title which
+used to distinguish you, I shall do it with awkwardness…. My reluctance to
+trespass a moment on your time would have operated to a further procrastination
+of my wishes, had I not been roused above every feeling of ceremony by the
+heart rending intelligence, received yesterday, that your life was despaired
+of. Had I had wings in the moment, I should have wafted myself to your bedside,
+only again to see the first of men; but alas! despairing as I was, from the
+account received, after the affliction of one day and night, I was made most
+happy by receiving a letter, now before me from New York, announcing the
+restoration of your health. May heaven preserve it!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was Lee who first warned Washington that Jefferson was slandering him in
+secret, and who kept him closely informed as to the political manuvres in
+Virginia. Washington intrusted to him the command of the army in the Whiskey
+Insurrection, and gave him an appointment in the provisional army. Lee was in
+Congress when the death of the great American was announced to that body, and
+it was he who coined the famous &ldquo;First in war, first in peace, and first
+in the hearts of his countrymen.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As need hardly be said, however, the strongest affection among the general
+officers was that between Washington and Lafayette. In the advent of this young
+Frenchman the commander saw only &ldquo;embarassment,&rdquo; but he received
+&ldquo;the young volunteer,&rdquo; so Lafayette said, &ldquo;in the most
+friendly manner,&rdquo; invited him to reside in his house as a member of his
+military family, and as soon as he came to know him he recommended Congress to
+give him a command. As Lafayette became popular with the army, an endeavor was
+made by the Cabal to win him to their faction by bribing him with an
+appointment to lead an expedition against Canada, independent of control by
+Washington. Lafayette promptly declined the command, unless subject to the
+General, and furthermore he &ldquo;braved the whole party (Cabal) and threw
+them into confusion by making them drink the health of their general.&rdquo; At
+the battle of Monmouth Washington gave the command of the attacking party to
+Lafayette, and after the conflict the two, according to the latter,
+&ldquo;passed the night lying on the same mantle, talking.&rdquo; In the same
+way Washington distinguished him by giving him the command of the expedition to
+rescue Virginia from Cornwallis, and to his division was given the most
+honorable position at Yorktown. When the siege of that place was completed,
+Lafayette applied for leave of absence to spend the winter in France, and as he
+was on the point of sailing he received a personal letter from Washington, for
+&ldquo;I owe it to friendship and to my affectionate regard for you my dear
+Marquis, not to let you leave this country without carrying fresh marks of my
+attachment to you,&rdquo; and in his absence Washington wrote that a mutual
+friend who bore a letter &ldquo;can tell you more forcibly, than I can express
+how much we all love and wish to embrace you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A reunion came in 1784, looked forward to by Lafayette with an eagerness of
+which he wrote, &ldquo;by Sunday or Monday, I hope at last to be blessed with a
+sight of my dear General. There is no rest for me till I go to Mount Vernon. I
+long for the pleasure to embrace you, my dear General; and the happiness of
+being once more with you will be so great, that no words can ever express it.
+Adieu, my dear General; in a few days I shall be at Mount Vernon, and I do
+already feel delighted with so charming a prospect.&rdquo; After this visit was
+over Washington wrote, &ldquo;In the moment of our separation, upon the road as
+I travelled, and every hour since, I have felt all that love, respect and
+attachment for you, with which length of years, close connexion, and your
+merits have inspired me. I often asked myself, as our carriages separated,
+whether that was the last sight I ever should have of you?&rdquo; And to this
+letter Lafayette replied,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No my beloved General, our late parting was not by any means a last
+interview. My whole soul revolts at the idea; and could I harbour it an
+instant, indeed, my dear General, it would make me miserable. I well see you
+will never go to France. The inexpressible pleasure of embracing you in my own
+house, of welcoming you in a family where your name is adored, I do not much
+expect to experience; but to you I shall return, and, within the walls of Mount
+Vernon, we shall yet speak of olden times. My firm plan is to visit now and
+then my friend on this side of the Atlantic; and the most beloved of all
+friends I ever had, or ever shall have anywhere, is too strong an inducement
+for me to return to him, not to think that whenever it is possible I shall
+renew my so pleasing visits to Mount Vernon…. Adieu, adieu, my dear General. It
+is with inexpressible pain that I feel I am going to be severed from you by the
+Atlantic. Everything, that admiration, respect, gratitude, friendship, and
+fillial love, can inspire, is combined in my affectionate heart to devote me
+most tenderly to you. In your friendship I find a delight which words cannot
+express. Adieu, my dear General. It is not without emotion that I write this
+word, although I know I shall soon visit you again. Be attentive to your
+health. Let me hear from you every month. Adieu, adieu.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The correspondence begged was maintained, but Lafayette complained that
+&ldquo;To one who so tenderly loves you, who so happily enjoyed the times we
+have passed together, and who never, on any part of the globe, even in his own
+house, could feel himself so perfectly at home as in your family, it must be
+confessed that an irregular, lengthy correspondence is quite insufficient I
+beseech you, in the name of our friendship, of that paternal concern of yours
+for my happiness, not to miss any opportunity to let me hear from my dear
+General.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One letter from Washington told Lafayette of his recovery from a serious
+illness, and Lafayette responded, &ldquo;What could have been my feelings, had
+the news of your illness reached me before I knew my beloved General, my
+adopted father, was out of danger? I was struck at the idea of the situation
+you have been in, while I, uninformed and so distant from you, was anticipating
+the long-waited-for pleasure to hear from you, and the still more endearing
+prospect of visiting you and presenting you the tribute of a revolution, one of
+your first offsprings. For God&rsquo;s sake, my dear General, take care of your
+health!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently, as the French Revolution gathered force, the anxiety was reversed,
+Washington writing that &ldquo;The lively interest which I take in your
+welfare, my dear Sir, keeps my mind in constant anxiety for your personal
+safety.&rdquo; This fear was only too well founded, for shortly after Lafayette
+was a captive in an Austrian prison and his wife was appealing to her
+husband&rsquo;s friend for help. Our ministers were told to do all they could
+to secure his liberty, and Washington wrote a personal letter to the Emperor of
+Austria. Before receiving her letter, on the first news of the &ldquo;truly
+affecting&rdquo; condition of &ldquo;poor Madame Lafayette,&rdquo; he had
+written to her his sympathy, and, supposing that money was needed, had
+deposited at Amsterdam two hundred guineas &ldquo;subject to your
+orders.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When she and her daughters joined her husband in prison, Lafayette&rsquo;s son,
+and Washington&rsquo;s godson, came to America; an arrival of which the
+godfather wrote that, &ldquo;to express all the sensibility, which has been
+excited in my breast by the receipt of young Lafayette&rsquo;s letter, from the
+recollection of his father&rsquo;s merits, services, and sufferings, from my
+friendship for him, and from my wishes to become a friend and father to his son
+is unnecessary.&rdquo; The lad became a member of the family, and a visitor at
+this time records that &ldquo;I was particularly struck with the marks of
+affection which the General showed his pupil, his adopted son of Marquis de
+Lafayette. Seated opposite to him, he looked at him with pleasure, and listened
+to him with manifest interest.&rdquo; With Washington he continued till the
+final release of his father, and a simple business note in Washington&rsquo;s
+ledger serves to show both his delicacy and his generosity to the boy:
+&ldquo;By Geo. W. Fayette, gave for the purpose of his getting himself such
+small articles of Clothing as he might not choose to ask for $100.&rdquo;
+Another item in the accounts was three hundred dollars &ldquo;to defray his
+exps. to France,&rdquo; and by him Washington sent a line to his old friend,
+saying, &ldquo;this letter I hope and expect will be presented to you by your
+son, who is highly deserving of such parents as you and your amiable
+lady.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Long previous to this, too, a letter had been sent to Virginia Lafayette,
+couched in the following terms:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Permit me to thank my dear little correspondent for the favor of her
+letter of the 18 of June last, and to impress her with the idea of the pleasure
+I shall derive from a continuance of them. Her papa is restored to her with all
+the good health, paternal affection, and honors, which her tender heart could
+wish. He will carry a kiss to her from me (which might be more agreeable from a
+pretty boy), and give her assurances of the affectionate regard with which I
+have the pleasure of being her well-wisher,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+George Washington.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this connection it is worth glancing at Washington&rsquo;s relations with
+children, the more that it has been frequently asserted that he had no liking
+for them. As already shown, at different times he adopted or assumed the
+expenses and charge of not less than nine of the children of his kith and kin,
+and to his relations with children he seldom wrote a letter without a line
+about the &ldquo;little ones.&rdquo; His kindnesses to the sons of Ramsay,
+Craik, Greene, and Lafayette have already been noticed. Furthermore, whenever
+death or illness came among the children of his friends there was sympathy
+expressed. Dumas relates of his visit to Providence with Washington, that
+&ldquo;we arrived there at night; the whole of the population had assembled
+from the suburbs; we were surrounded by a crowd of children carrying torches,
+reiterating the acclamations of the citizens; all were eager to approach the
+person of him whom they called their father, and pressed so closely around us
+that they hindered us from proceeding. General Washington was much affected,
+stopped a few moments, and, pressing my hand, said, &lsquo;We may be beaten by
+the English; it is the chance of war; but behold an army which they can never
+conquer,&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In his journey through New England, not being able to get lodgings at an inn,
+Washington spent a night in a private house, and when all payment was refused,
+he wrote his host from his next stopping-place,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Being informed that you have given my name to one of your sons, and
+called another after Mrs. Washington&rsquo;s family, and being moreover very
+much pleased with the modest and innocent looks of your two daughters, Patty
+and Polly, I do for these reasons send each of these girls a piece of chintz;
+and to Patty, who bears the name of Mrs. Washington, and who waited upon us
+more than Polly did, I send five guineas, with which she may buy herself any
+little ornaments she may want, or she may dispose of them in any other manner
+more agreeable to herself. As I do not give these things with a view to have it
+talked of, or even of its being known, the less there is said about the matter
+the better you will please me; but, that I may be sure the chintz and money
+have got safe to hand, let Patty, who I dare say is equal to it, write me a
+line informing me thereof, directed to &lsquo;The President of the United
+States at New York.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Miss Stuart relates that &ldquo;One morning while Mr. Washington was sitting
+for his picture, a little brother of mine ran into the room, when my father
+thinking it would annoy the General, told him he must leave; but the General
+took him upon his knee, held him for some time, and had quite a little chat
+with him, and, in fact, they seemed to be pleased with each other. My brother
+remembered with pride, as long as he lived, that Washington had talked with
+him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For the son of his secretary, Lear, there seems to have been great fondness,
+and in one instance the father was told that &ldquo;It gave Mrs. Washington,
+myself and all who know him, sincere pleasure to hear that our little favorite
+had arrived safe, and was in good health at Portsmouth. We sincerely wish him a
+long continuance of the latter&mdash;that he may always be as charming and
+promising as he now is&mdash;and that he may live to be a comfort and blessing
+to you, and an ornament to his country. As a testimony of my affection for him
+I send him a ticket in the lottery which is now drawing in the Federal City;
+and if it should be his fortune to draw the hotel it will add to the pleasure I
+have in giving it.&rdquo; A second letter condoled with &ldquo;little
+Lincoln,&rdquo; because owing to the collapse of the lottery the &ldquo;poor
+little fellow&rdquo; will not even get enough to &ldquo;build him a baby
+house.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For the father, Tobias Lear, who came into his employment in 1786 and remained
+with him till his death, Washington felt the greatest affection and trust. It
+was he who sent for the doctor in the beginning of the last illness, and he was
+in the sickroom most of the time. Holding Washington&rsquo;s hand, he received
+from him his last orders, and later when Washington &ldquo;appeared to be in
+great pain and distress from the difficulty of breathing … I lay upon the bed
+and endeavored to raise him, and turn him with as much ease as possible. He
+appeared penetrated with gratitude for my attentions, and often said &lsquo;I
+am afraid I shall fatigue you too much.&rsquo;&rdquo; Still later Lear
+&ldquo;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.&rdquo; At the final moment Lear took his hand
+&ldquo;and laid it upon his breast.&rdquo; When all was over, &ldquo;I kissed
+the cold hand, laid it down, and was … lost in profound grief.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap10"></a>X<br/>
+ENEMIES</h2>
+
+<p>
+Any man of force is to be known quite as much by the character of his enemies
+as by that of his friends, and this is true of Washington. The subject offers
+some difficulties, for most of his enemies later in life went out of their way
+to deny all antagonism, and took pains to destroy such proof as they could come
+at of ill-feeling towards him. Yet enough remains to show who were in
+opposition to him, and on what grounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first of those now known to be opposed to him was George Muse,
+lieutenant-colonel in 1754 under Washington. At Fort Necessity he was guilty of
+cowardice, he was discharged in disgrace, and his name was omitted from the
+Assembly&rsquo;s vote of thanks to the regiment. Stung by this action, he took
+his revenge in a manner related by Peyroney, who wrote Washington,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Many enquired to me about Muse&rsquo;s Braveries, poor Body I had pity
+him ha&rsquo;nt he had the weakness to Confes his Coardise himself, &amp; the
+impudence to taxe all the reste of the oficers without exception of the same
+imperfection for he said to many of the Consulars and Burgeses that he was Bad
+But th&rsquo; the reste was as Bad as he&mdash;To speak francly, had I been in
+town at that time I cou&rsquo;nt help&rsquo;d to make use of my horses [whip]
+whereas for to vindicate the injury of that vilain. He Contrived his Business
+so that several ask me if it was true that he had Challeng&rsquo;d you to
+fight: My Answer was no other But that he should rather chuse to go to hell
+than doing of it&mdash;for he had Such thing declar&rsquo;d: that was his Sure
+Road.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington seems to have cherished no personal ill-will for Muse&rsquo;s
+conduct, and when the division of the &ldquo;bounty lands&rdquo; was being
+pushed, he used his influence that the broken officer should receive a quotum.
+Not knowing this, or else being ungrateful, Muse seems to have written a letter
+to Washington which angered him, for he replied,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Sir, Your impertinent letter was delivered to me yesterday. As I am not
+accustomed to receive such from any man, nor would have taken the same language
+from you personally, without letting you feel some marks of my resentment, I
+would advise you to be cautious in writing me a second of the same tenor. But
+for your stupidity and sottishness you might have known, by attending to the
+public gazette, that you had your full quantity of ten thousand acres of land
+allowed you, that is, nine thousand and seventy-three acres in the great tract,
+and the remainder in the small tract. But suppose you had really fallen short,
+do you think your superlative merit entitles you to greater indulgence than
+others? Or, if it did, that I was to make it good to you, when it was at the
+option of the Governor and Council to allow but five hundred acres in the
+whole, if they had been so inclined? If either of these should happen to be
+your opinion, I am very well convinced that you will be singular in it; and all
+my concern is, that I ever engaged in behalf of so ungrateful a fellow as you
+are. But you may still be in need of my assistance, as I can inform you, that
+your affairs, in respect to these lands, do not stand upon so solid a basis as
+you imagine, and this you may take by way of hint. I wrote to you a few days
+ago concerning the other distribution, proposing an easy method of dividing our
+lands; but since I find in what temper you are, I am sorry I took the trouble
+of mentioning the land or your name in a letter, as I do not think you merit
+the least assistance from me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Braddock campaign brought acquaintance with one which did not end in
+friendship, however amicable the beginning. There can be little doubt that
+there was cameraderie with the then Lieutenant-Colonel Gage, for in 1773, when
+in New York for four days, Washington &ldquo;Dined with Gen. Gage,&rdquo; and
+also &ldquo;dined at the entertainment given by the citizens of New York to
+Genl. Gage.&rdquo; When next intercourse was resumed, it was by formal
+correspondence between the commanders-in-chief of two hostile armies,
+Washington inquiring as to the treatment of prisoners, and as a satisfactory
+reply was not obtained, he wrote again, threatening retaliation, and
+&ldquo;closing my correspondence with you, perhaps forever,&rdquo; &mdash;a
+letter which Charles Lee thought &ldquo;a very good one, but Gage certainly
+deserved a stronger one, such as it was before it was softened.&rdquo; One
+cannot but wonder what part the old friendship played in this
+&ldquo;softening.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Relations with the Howes began badly by a letter from Lord Howe addressed
+&ldquo;George Washington, Esq.,&rdquo; which Washington declined to receive as
+not recognizing his official position. A second one to &ldquo;George
+Washington, Esq. &amp;c. &amp;c. &amp;c.&rdquo; met with the same fate, and
+brought the British officer &ldquo;to change my superscription.&rdquo; A little
+after this brief war of forms, a letter from Washington to his wife was
+intercepted with others by the enemy, and General Howe enclosed it,
+&ldquo;happy to return it without the least attempt being made to discover any
+part of the contents.&rdquo; This courtesy the American commander presently was
+able to reciprocate by sending &ldquo;General Washington&rsquo;s compliments to
+General Howe,&mdash;does himself the pleasure to return to him a dog, which
+accidentally fell into his hands, and, by the inscription on the collar,
+appears to belong to General Howe.&rdquo; Even politeness had its objections,
+however, at moments, and Washington once had to write Sir William,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There is one passage of your letter, which I cannot forbear taking
+particular notice of. No expression of personal politeness to me can be
+acceptable, accompanied by reflections on the representatives of a free people,
+under whose authority I have the honor to act. The delicacy I have observed, in
+refraining from everything offensive in this way, entitles me to expect a
+similar treatment from you. I have not indulged myself in invective against the
+present rulers of Great Britain, in the course of our correspondence, nor will
+I even now avail myself of so fruitful a theme.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Apparently when Sir Henry Clinton succeeded to the command of the British army
+the same old device to insult the General was again tried, for Dumas states
+that Washington &ldquo;received a despatch from Sir Henry Clinton, addressed to
+&lsquo;Mr. Washington.&rsquo; Taking it from the hands of the flag of truce,
+and seeing the direction, &lsquo;This letter,&rsquo; said he, &lsquo;is
+directed to a planter of the state of Virginia. I shall have it delivered to
+him after the end of the war; till that time it shall not be opened.&rsquo; A
+second despatch was addressed to his Excellency General Washington.&rdquo; A
+better lesson in courtesy was contained in a letter from Washington to him,
+complaining of &ldquo;wanton, unprecedented and inhuman murder,&rdquo; which
+closed with the following: &ldquo;I beg your Excellency to be persuaded, that
+it cannot be more disagreeable to you to be addressed in this language, than it
+is to me to offer it; but the subject requires frankness and decision.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quite as firm was one addressed to Cornwallis, which read,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is with infinite regret, I am again compelled to remonstrate against
+that spirit of wanton cruelty, that has in several instances influenced the
+conduct of your soldiery. A recent exercise of it towards an unhappy officer of
+ours, Lieutenant Harris, convinces me, that my former representations on this
+subject have been unavailing. That Gentleman by the fortunes of war, on
+Saturday last was thrown into the hands of a party of your horse, and
+unnecessarily murdered with the most aggravated circumstances of barbarity. I
+wish not to wound your Lordship&rsquo;s feelings, by commenting on this event;
+but I think it my duty to send his mangled body to your lines as an undeniable
+testimony of the fact, should it be doubted, and as the best appeal to your
+humanity for the justice of our complaint.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A pleasanter intercourse came with the surrender of Yorktown, after which not
+merely were Cornwallis and his officers saved the mortification of surrendering
+their swords, but the chief among them were entertained at dinner by
+Washington. At this meal, so a contemporary account states, &ldquo;Rochhambeau,
+being asked for a toast, gave <i>&lsquo;The United States&rsquo;</i>.
+Washington gave <i>&lsquo;The King of France&rsquo;</i>. Lord Cornwallis,
+simply <i>&lsquo;The King&rsquo;</i>; but Washington, putting that toast,
+added, <i>&lsquo;of England&rsquo;</i>, and facetiously, <i>&lsquo;confine him
+there, I&rsquo;ll drink him a full bumper&rsquo;</i>, filling his glass till it
+ran over. Rochambeau, with great politeness, was still so French, that he would
+every now and then be touching on points that were improper, and a breach of
+real politeness. Washington often checked him, and showed in a more saturnine
+manner, the infinite esteem he had for his gallant prisoner, whose private
+qualities the Americans admired even in a foe, that had so often filled them
+with the most cruel alarms.&rdquo; Many years later, when Cornwallis was
+governor-general of India, he sent a verbal message to his old foe, wishing
+&ldquo;General Washington a long enjoyment of tranquility and happiness,&rdquo;
+adding that for himself he &ldquo;continued in troubled waters.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus19"></a>
+<img src="images/img19.jpg" width="303" height="400" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">MRS WASHINGTON</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Turning from these public rather than personal foes, a very different type of
+enemies is encountered in those inimical to Washington in his own army. Chief
+of these was Horatio Gates, with whom Washington had become acquainted in the
+Braddock campaign, and with whom there was friendly intercourse from that time
+until the Revolution. In 1775, at Washington&rsquo;s express solicitation,
+Gates was appointed adjutant- and brigadier-general, and in a letter thanking
+Washington for the favor he professed to have &ldquo;the greatest respect for
+your character and the sincerest attachment to your person.&rdquo;
+Nevertheless, he very early in the war suggested that a committee of Congress
+be sent to camp to keep watch on Washington, and as soon as he was in a
+separate command he began to curry favor with Congress and scheme against his
+commander. This was not unknown to Washington, who afterwards wrote, &ldquo;I
+discovered very early in the war symptoms of coldness &amp; constraint in
+General Gates&rsquo; behavior to me. These increased as he rose into greater
+consequence.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Burgoyne capitulated to Gates, he sent the news to Congress and not to
+Washington, and though he had no further need for troops the commander-in-chief
+had sent him, he endeavored to prevent their return at a moment when every man
+was needed in the main army. His attitude towards Washington was so notorious
+that his friends curried favor with him by letters criticising the commander,
+and when, by chance, the General learned of the contents of one of these
+letters, and news to that effect reached the ears of Gates, he practically
+charged Washington with having obtained his knowledge by dishonorable means;
+but Washington more than repaid the insult, in telling Gates how he had learned
+of the affair, by adding that he had &ldquo;considered the information as
+coming from yourself, and given with a friendly view to forewarn and
+consequently forearm me, against a secret enemy … but in this, as in other
+matters of late, I have found myself mistaken.&rdquo; Driven to the wall, Gates
+wrote to Washington a denial that the letter contained the passage in question,
+which was an absolute lie, and this untruth typifies his character. Without
+expressing either belief or disbelief in this denial, Washington
+replied,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am as averse to controversy as any man, and had I not been forced into
+it, you never would have had occasion to impute to me, even the shadow of
+disposition towards it. Your repeatedly and solemnly disclaiming any offensive
+views in those matters, which have been the subject of our past correspondence
+makes me willing to close with the desire, you express, of burying them
+hereafter in silence, and, as far as future events will permit, oblivion. My
+temper leads me to peace and harmony with all men; and it is peculiarly my wish
+to avoid any personal feuds or dissentions with those who are embarked in the
+same great national interest with, myself; as every difference of this kind
+must in its consequence be very injurious.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this affair subsided, Washington said,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I made a point of treating Gen. Gates with all the attention and
+cordiality in my power, as well from a sincere desire of harmony, as from an
+unwillingness to give any cause of triumph among ourselves. I can appeal to the
+world, and to the whole army, whether I have not cautiously avoided offending
+Gen. Gates in any way. I am sorry his conduct to me has not been equally
+generous, and that he is continually giving me fresh proofs of malevolence and
+opposition. It will not be doing him injustice to say, that, besides the little
+underhand intrigues which he is frequently practising, there has hardly been
+any great military question, in which his advice has been asked, that it has
+not been given in an equivocal and designing manner, apparently calculated to
+afford him an opportunity of censuring me, on the failure of whatever measures
+might be adopted.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the defeat of Gates at Camden, the Prince de Broglie wrote that &ldquo;I
+saw General Gates at the house of General Washington, with whom he had had a
+misunderstanding…. This interview excited the curiosity of both armies. It
+passed with a most perfect propriety on the part of both gentlemen. Mr.
+Washington treated Mr. Gates with a politeness which had a frank and easy air,
+while the other responded with that shade of respect which was proper towards
+his general.&rdquo; And how fair-minded Washington was is shown by his refusal
+to interfere in an army matter, because, &ldquo;considering the delicate
+situation in which I stand with respect to General Gates, I feel an
+unwillingness to give any opinion (even in a confidential way) in a matter in
+which he is concerned, lest my sentiments (being known) should have unfavorable
+interpretations ascribed to them by illiberal Minds.&rdquo; Yet the friendship
+was never restored, and when the two after the war were associated in the
+Potomac company, Washington&rsquo;s sense of the old treachery was still so
+keen that he alluded to the appointment of &ldquo;my bosom friend Genl G-tes,
+who being at Richmond, contrived to edge himself in to the commission.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thomas Conway was Washington&rsquo;s traducer to Gates. He was an Irish-French
+soldier of fortune who unfortunately had been made a brigadier-general in the
+Continental army. Having made friends of the New England delegates in Congress,
+it was then proposed by them to advance him to the rank of major-general, which
+Washington opposed, on the grounds that &ldquo;his merit and importance exist
+more in his imagination than in reality.&rdquo; For the moment this was
+sufficient to prevent Conway&rsquo;s promotion, and even if he had not before
+been opposed to his commander, he now became his bitter enemy. To more than
+Gates he said or wrote, &ldquo;A great &amp; good God has decreed that America
+shall be free, or Washington and weak counsellors would have ruined her long
+ago.&rdquo; Upon word of this reaching Washington, so Laurens tells, &ldquo;The
+genl immediately copied the contents of the paper, introducing them with
+&lsquo;sir,&rsquo; and concluding with, &lsquo;I am your humble servt,&rsquo;
+and sent this copy in the form of a letter to Genl Conway. This drew an answer,
+in which he first attempts to deny the fact, and then in a most shameless
+manner, to explain away the matter. The perplexity of his style, and evident
+insincerity of his compliments, betray his weak sentiments, and expose his
+guilt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet, though detected, Conway complained to the Continental Congress that
+Washington was not treating him properly, and in reply to an inquiry from a
+member the General acknowledged that,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If General Conway means by cool receptions mentioned in the last
+paragraph of his letter of the 31st ultimo, that I did not receive him in the
+language of a warm and cordial friend, I readily confess the charge. I did not,
+nor shall I ever, till I am capable of the arts of dissimulation. These I
+despise, and my feelings will not permit me to make professions of friendship
+to the man I deem my enemy, and whose system of conduct forbids it. At the same
+time, truth authorizes me to say, that he was received and treated with proper
+respect to his official character, and that he has had no cause to justify the
+assertion, that he could not expect any support for fulfilling the duties of
+his appointment.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In spite of Washington&rsquo;s opposition, Conway&rsquo;s friends were numerous
+enough in the Congress finally to elect him major-general, at the same time
+appointing him inspector-general. Elated with this evident partiality of the
+majority of that body for him, he went even further, and Laurens states that he
+was guilty of a &ldquo;base insult&rdquo; to Washington, which &ldquo;affects
+the General very sensibly,&rdquo; and he continues,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is such an affront as Conway would never have dared to offer, if the
+General&rsquo;s situation had not assured him of the impossibility of its being
+revenged in a private way. The Genl, therefore, has determined to return him no
+answer at all, but to lay the whole matter before Congress; they will determine
+whether Genl W. is to be sacrificed to Genl. C., for the former can never
+consent to be concern&rsquo;d in any transaction with the latter, from whom he
+has received such unpardonable insults.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fortunately, Conway did not limit his &ldquo;insulting letters&rdquo; to the
+commander-in-chief alone, and presently he sent one to Congress threatening to
+resign, which so angered that body that they took him at his word. Moreover,
+his open abuse of Washington led an old-time friend of the latter to challenge
+him, and to lodge a ball, with almost poetic justice, in Conway&rsquo;s mouth.
+Thinking himself on the point of death, he wrote a farewell line to Washington
+&ldquo;expressing my sincere grief for having done, written or said anything
+disagreeable to your Excellency…. You are in my eyes a great and good
+man.&rdquo; And with this recantation he disappeared from the army. A third
+officer in this &ldquo;cabal&rdquo; was Thomas Mifflin. He was the first man
+appointed on Washington&rsquo;s staff at the beginning of the war, but did not
+long remain in that position, being promoted by Washington to be
+quartermaster-general. In this position the rumor reached the General that
+Mifflin was &ldquo;concerned in trade,&rdquo; and Washington took
+&ldquo;occasion to hint&rdquo; the suspicion to him, only to get a denial from
+the officer. Whether this inquiry was a cause for ill-feeling or not, Mifflin
+was one of the most outspoken against the commander-in-chief as his opponents
+gathered force, and Washington informed Henry that he &ldquo;bore the second
+part in the cabal.&rdquo; Mifflin resigned from the army and took a position on
+the board of war, but when the influence of that body broke down with the
+collapse of the Cabal, he applied for a reappointment,&mdash;a course described
+by Washington in plain English as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I was not a little surprised to find a certain gentleman, who, some time
+ago (when a cloud of darkness hung heavy over us, and our affairs looked
+gloomy,) was desirous of resigning, now stepping forward in the line of the
+army. But if he can reconcile such conduct to his own, feelings, as an officer
+and a man of honor, and Congress hath no objections to his leaving his seat in
+another department, I have nothing personally to oppose it. Yet I must think,
+that gentleman&rsquo;s stepping in and out, as the sun happens to beam forth or
+obscure, is not <i>quite</i> the thing, nor <i>quite</i> just, with respect to
+those officers, who take ye bitter with the sweet.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not long after Greene wrote that &ldquo;I learn that General Mifflin has
+publicly declared that he looked upon his Excellency as the best friend he ever
+had in his life, so that is a plain sign that the Junto has given up all ideas
+of supplanting our excellent general from a confidence of the impracticability
+of such an attempt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A very minor but most malignant enemy was Dr. Benjamin Rush. In 1774 Washington
+dined with him in Philadelphia, which implied friendship. Very early in the
+war, however, an attempt was made to remove the director-general of hospitals,
+in which, so John Armstrong claimed, &ldquo;Morgan was the
+ostensible&mdash;Rush the real prosecutor of Shippen&mdash;the former acting
+from revenge,… the latter from a desire to obtain the directorship. In
+approving the sentence of the court, Washington stigmatized the prosecution as
+one originating in bad motives, which made Rush his enemy and defamer as long
+as he lived.&rdquo; Certain it is he wrote savage letters of criticism about
+his commander-in-chief of which the following extract is a sample:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have heard several officers who have served under General Gates
+compare his army to a well regulated family. The same gentlemen have compared
+Gen&rsquo;l Washington&rsquo;s imitation of an army to an unformed mob. Look at
+the characters of both! The one on the pinnacle of military
+glory&mdash;exulting in the success of schemes planned with wisdom, &amp;
+executed with vigor and bravery&mdash;and above all see a country saved by his
+exertions. See the other outgeneral&rsquo;d and twice heated&mdash;obliged to
+witness the march of a body of men only half their number thro&rsquo; 140 Miles
+of a thick settled country&mdash; forced to give up a city the capitol of a
+state &amp; after all outwitted by the same army in a retreat.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Had Rush written only this, there would be no grounds for questioning his
+methods; but, not content with spreading his opinions among his friends, he
+took to anonymous letter-writing, and sent an unsigned letter abusing
+Washington to the governor of Virginia (and probably to others), with the
+request that the letter should be burned. Instead of this, Henry sent it to
+Washington, who recognized at once the handwriting, and wrote to Henry that
+Rush &ldquo;has been elaborate and studied in his professions of regard to me,
+and long since the letter to you.&rdquo; An amusing sequel to this incident is
+to be found in Rush moving heaven and earth on the publication of
+Marshall&rsquo;s &ldquo;Life of Washington&rdquo; to prevent his name from
+appearing as one of the commander-in-chief&rsquo;s enemies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the collapse of the attempt Washington wrote to a friend, &ldquo;I thank
+you sincerely for the part you acted at York respecting C&mdash;-y, and believe
+with you that matters have and will turn out very different to what that party
+expected. G&mdash;-s has involved himself in his letters to me in the most
+absurd contradictions. M&mdash;- has brought himself into a scrape that he does
+not know how to get out of with a gentleman of this State, and C&mdash;-, as
+you know is sent upon an expedition which all the world knew, and the event has
+proved, was not practicable. In a word, I have a good deal of reason to believe
+that the machination of this junta will recoil upon their own heads, and be a
+means of bringing some matters to light which, by getting me out of the way,
+some of them thought to conceal.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Undoubtedly the most serious army antagonist was General Charles Lee, and, but
+for what seem almost fatalistic chances, he would have been a dangerous rival.
+He was second in command very early in the war, and at this time he asserted
+that &ldquo;no man loves, respects and reverences another more than I do
+General Washington. I esteem his virtues, private and public. I know him to be
+a man of sense, courage and firmness.&rdquo; But four months later he was
+lamenting Washington&rsquo;s &ldquo;fatal indecision,&rdquo; and by inference
+was calling him &ldquo;a blunderer.&rdquo; In another month he wrote,
+&ldquo;<i>entre nous</i> a certain great man is most damnably deficient.&rdquo;
+At this point, fortunately, Lee was captured by the British, so that his
+influence for the time being was destroyed. While a prisoner he drew up a plan
+for the English general, showing how America could be conquered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he had been exchanged, and led the American advance at the battle of
+Monmouth, he seems to have endeavored to aid the British in another way, for
+after barely engaging, he ordered a retreat, which quickly developed into a
+rout, and would have ended in a serious defeat had not, as Laurens wrote,
+&ldquo;fortunately for the honor of the army, and the welfare of America, Genl
+Washington met the troops retreating in disorder, and without any plan to make
+an opposition. He ordered some pieces of artillery to be brought up to defend
+the pass, and some troops to form and defend the pieces. The artillery was too
+distant to be brought up readily, so that there was but little opposition given
+here. A few shot though, and a little skirmishing in the wood checked the
+enemy&rsquo;s career. The Genl expressed his astonishment at this unaccountable
+retreat Mr. Lee indecently replied that the attack was contrary to his advice
+and opinion in council.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a fit of temper Lee wrote Washington two imprudent letters, expressed
+&ldquo;in terms [so] highly improper&rdquo; that he was ordered under arrest
+and tried by a court-martial, which promptly found him guilty of disobedience
+and disrespect, as well as of making a &ldquo;disorderly and unnecessary
+retreat.&rdquo; To this Lee retorted, &ldquo;I aver that his Excellencies
+letter was from beginning to the end a most abominable lie&mdash;I aver that my
+conduct will stand the strictest scrutiny of every military judge&mdash;I aver
+that my Court Martial was a Court of Inquisition&mdash;that there was not a
+single member with a military idea&mdash;at least if I may pronounce from the
+different questions they put to the evidences.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this connection it is of interest to note a letter from Washington&rsquo;s
+friend Mason, which said, &ldquo;You express a fear that General Lee will
+challenge our friend. Indulge in no such apprehensions, for he too well knows
+the sentiments of General Washington on the subject of duelling. From his
+earliest manhood I have heard him express his contempt of the man who sends and
+the man who accepts a challenge, for he regards such acts as no proof of moral
+courage; and the practice he abhors as a relic of old barbarisms, repugnant
+alike to sound morality and Christian enlightenment.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A little later, still smarting from this court-martial, Lee wrote to a
+newspaper a savage attack on his late commander, apparently in the belief, as
+he said in a private letter, that &ldquo;there is … a visible revolution … in
+the minds of men, I mean that our Great Gargantua, or Lama Babak (for I know
+not which Title is the properest) begins to be no longer consider&rsquo;d as an
+infallible Divinity&mdash;and that those who have been sacrificed or near
+sacrific&rsquo;d on his altar, begin to be esteem&rsquo;d as wantonly and
+foolishly offer&rsquo;d up.&rdquo; Lee very quickly found his mistake, for the
+editor of the paper which contained his attack was compelled by a committee of
+citizens to publish an acknowledgment that in printing it &ldquo;I have
+transgressed against truth, justice and my duty as a good citizen,&rdquo; and,
+as Washington wrote to a friend, &ldquo;the author of the Queries,
+&lsquo;Political and Military,&rsquo; has had no cause to exult in the
+favorable reception of them by the public.&rdquo; With Lee&rsquo;s
+disappearance the last army rival dropped from the ranks, and from that time
+there was no question as to who should command the armies of America. Long
+after, a would-be editor of Lee&rsquo;s papers wrote to Washington to ask if he
+had any wishes in regard to the publication, and was told in the reply
+that,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I never had a difference with that gentleman, but on public ground, and
+my conduct towards him upon this occasion was such only, as I conceived myself
+indispensably bound to adopt in discharge of the public trust reposed in me. If
+this produced in him unfavorable sentiments of me, I yet can never consider the
+conduct I pursued, with respect to him, either wrong or improper, however I may
+regret that it may have been differently viewed by him and that it excited his
+censure and animadversions. Should there appear in General Lee&rsquo;s writings
+any thing injurious or unfriendly to me, the impartial and dispassionate world
+must decide how far I deserved it from the general tenor of my conduct.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These attempts to undermine Washington owed their real vitality to the
+Continental Congress, and it is safe to say that but for Washington&rsquo;s
+political enemies no army rival would have ventured to push forward. In what
+the opposition in that body consisted, and to what length it went, are
+discussed elsewhere, but a glance at the reasons of hostility to him is proper
+here.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+John Adams declared himself &ldquo;sick of the Fabian systems,&rdquo; and in
+writing of the thanksgiving for the Saratoga Convention, he said that
+&ldquo;one cause of it ought to be that the glory of turning the tide of arms
+is not immediately due to the commander-in-chief…. If it had, idolatry and
+adulation would have been unbounded.&rdquo; James Lovell asserted that
+&ldquo;Our affairs are Fabiused into a very disagreeable posture,&rdquo; and
+wrote that &ldquo;depend upon it for every ten soldiers placed under the
+command of our Fabius, five recruits will be wanted annually during the
+war.&rdquo; William Williams agreed with Jonathan Trumbull that the time had
+come when &ldquo;a much exalted character should make way for a
+<i>general</i>&rdquo; and suggested if this was not done
+&ldquo;voluntarily,&rdquo; those to whom the public looked should &ldquo;see to
+it.&rdquo; Abraham Clark thought &ldquo;we may talk of the Enemy&rsquo;s
+Cruelty as we will, but we have no greater Cruelty to complain of than the
+Management of our Army.&rdquo; Jonathan D. Sargent asserted that &ldquo;we want
+a general&mdash;thousands of Lives &amp; Millions of Property are yearly
+sacrificed to the Insufficiency of our Commander-in-Chief&mdash;Two Battles he
+has lost for us by two such Blunders as might have disgraced a Soldier of three
+months standing, and yet we are so attached to this Man that I fear we shall
+rather sink with him than throw him off our Shoulders. And sink we must under
+his Management. Such Feebleness, &amp; Want of Authority, such Confusion &amp;
+Want of Discipline, such Waste, such destruction would exhaust the Wealth of
+both the Indies &amp; annihilate the armies of all Europe and Asia.&rdquo;
+Richard Henry Lee agreed with Mifflin that Gates was needed to &ldquo;procure
+the indispensable changes in our Army.&rdquo; Other Congressmen who were
+inimical to Washington, either by openly expressed opinion or by vote, were
+Elbridge Gerry, Samuel Adams, William Ellery, Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sherman,
+Samuel Chase, and F.L. Lee. Later, when Washington&rsquo;s position was more
+secure, Gerry and R.H. Lee wrote to him affirming their friendship, and to both
+the General replied without a suggestion of ill-feeling, nor does he seem, in
+later life, to have felt a trace of personal animosity towards any one of the
+men who had been in opposition to him in Congress. Of this enmity in the army
+and Congress Washington wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is easy to bear the first, and even the devices of private enemies
+whose ill will only arises from their common hatred to the cause we are engaged
+in, are to me tolerable; yet, I confess, I cannot help feeling the most painful
+sensations, whenever I have reason to believe I am the object of persecution to
+men, who are embarked in the same general interest, and whose friendship my
+heart does not reproach me with, ever having done any thing to forfeit. But
+with many, it is a sufficient cause to hate and wish the ruin of a man, because
+he has been happy enough, to be the object of <i>his country&rsquo;s</i>
+favor.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The political course of Washington while President produced the alienation of
+the two Virginians whom he most closely associated with himself in the early
+part of his administration. With Madison the break does not seem to have come
+from any positive ill-feeling, but was rather an abandonment of intercourse as
+the differences of opinion became more pronounced. The disagreement with
+Jefferson was more acute, though probably never forced to an open rupture. To
+his political friends Jefferson in 1796 wrote that the measures pursued by the
+administration were carried out &ldquo;under the sanction of a name which has
+done too much good not to be sufficient to cover harm also,&rdquo; and that he
+hoped the President&rsquo;s &ldquo;honesty and his political errors may not
+furnish a second occasion to exclaim, &lsquo;curse on his virtues,
+they&rsquo;ve undone his country.&rsquo;&rdquo; Henry Lee warned Washington of
+the undercurrent of criticism, and when Jefferson heard indirectly of this he
+wrote his former chief that &ldquo;I learn that [Lee] has thought it worth his
+while to try to sow tares between you and me, by representing me as still
+engaged in the bustle of politics &amp; in turbulence &amp; intrigue against
+the government. I never believed for a moment that this could make any
+impression on you, or that your knowledge of me would not overweigh the slander
+of an intriguer dirtily employed in sifting the conversations of my
+table.&rdquo; To this Washington replied,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As you have mentioned the subject yourself, it would not be frank,
+candid or friendly to conceal, that your conduct has been represented as
+derogating from that opinion <i>I</i> had conceived you entertained of me;
+that, to your particular friends and connexions you have described, and they
+have denounced me as a person under a dangerous influence; and that, if I would
+listen more to some <i>other</i> opinions, all would be well. My answer
+invariably has been, that I had never discovered any thing in the conduct of
+Mr. Jefferson to raise suspicions in my mind of his insincerity; that, if he
+would retrace my public conduct while he was in the administration, abundant
+proofs would occur to him, that truth and right decisions were the <i>sole</i>
+objects of my pursuit; that there was as many instances within his own
+knowledge of my having decided <i>against</i> as in <i>favor</i> of the
+opinions of the person evidently alluded to; and, I was no believer in the
+infallibility of the politics or measures of <i>any man living</i>. In short
+that I was no party man myself and the first wish of my heart was, if parties
+did exist, to reconcile them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As proof upon proof of Jefferson&rsquo;s secret enmity accumulated, Washington
+ceased to trust his disclaimers, and finally wrote to one of his informants,
+&ldquo;Nothing short of the evidence you have adduced, corroborative of
+intimations which I had received long before through another channel, could
+have shaken my belief in the sincerity of a friendship, which I had conceived
+as possessed for me by the person to whom you allude. But attempts to injure
+those, who are supposed to stand well in the estimation of the people, and are
+stumbling blocks in the way, by misrepresenting their political tenets, thereby
+to destroy all confidence in them, are among the means by which the government
+is to be assailed, and the constitution destroyed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once convinced, all relations with Jefferson were terminated. It is interesting
+in this connection to note something repeated by Madison, to the effect that
+&ldquo;General Lafayette related to me the following anecdote, which I shall
+repeat as nearly as I can in his own words. &lsquo;When I last saw Mr.
+Jefferson,&rsquo; he observed, &lsquo;we conversed a good deal about General
+Washington, and Mr. Jefferson expressed high admiration of his character. He
+remarked particularly that he and Hamilton often disagreed when they were
+members of the Cabinet, and that General Washington would sometimes favor the
+opinion of one and sometimes the other, with an apparent strict impartiality.
+And Mr. Jefferson added that, so sound was Washington&rsquo;s judgment, that he
+was commonly convinced afterwards of the accuracy of his decision, whether it
+accorded with the opinion he had himself first advanced or not.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus20"></a>
+<img src="images/img20.jpg" width="389" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">EARLIEST SIGNATURE OF WASHINGTON</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+A third Virginian who was almost as closely associated was Edmund Randolph.
+There had been a friendship with his father, until he turned Tory and went to
+England, when, according to Washington&rsquo;s belief, he wrote the
+&ldquo;forged letters&rdquo; which gave Washington so much trouble. For the
+sake of the old friendship, however, he gave the son a position on his staff,
+and from that time was his friend and correspondent. In the first
+administration he was made Attorney-General, and when Jefferson retired from
+office he became Secretary of State. In this position he was charged with
+political dishonesty. Washington gave him a chance to explain, but instead he
+resigned from office and published what he called &ldquo;a vindication,&rdquo;
+in which he charged the President with &ldquo;prejudging,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;concealment,&rdquo; and &ldquo;want of generosity.&rdquo; Continuing, he
+said, &ldquo;never … could I have believed that in addressing you … I should
+use any other language than that of a friend. From my early period of life, I
+was taught to esteem you&mdash;as I advanced in years, I was habituated to
+revere you:&mdash;you strengthened my prepossessions by marks of
+attention.&rdquo; And in another place he acknowledged the weakness of his
+attack by saying, &ldquo;still however, those very objections, the very
+reputation which you have acquired, will cause it to be asked, why you should
+be suspected of acting towards me, in any other manner, than deliberately,
+justly and even kindly?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the preparation of this pamphlet Randolph wrote the President a letter which
+the latter asserted was &ldquo;full of innuendoes,&rdquo; and one statement in
+the pamphlet he denounced as being &ldquo;as impudent and insolent an assertion
+as it is false.&rdquo; And his irritation at this treatment from one he had
+always befriended gave rise to an incident, narrated by James Ross, at a
+breakfast at the President&rsquo;s, when &ldquo;after a little while the
+Secretary of War came in, and said to Washington, &lsquo;Have you seen Mr.
+Randolph&rsquo;s pamphlet?&rsquo; &lsquo;I have,&rsquo; said Washington,
+&lsquo;and, by the eternal God, he is the damnedest liar on the face of the
+earth!&rsquo; and as he spoke he brought his fist down upon the table with all
+his strength, and with a violence which made the cups and plates start from
+their places.&rdquo; Fortunately, the attack was ineffective; indeed, Hamilton
+wrote that &ldquo;I consider it as amounting to a confession of guilt; and I am
+persuaded this will be the universal opinion. His attempts against you are
+viewed by all whom I have seen, as base. They will certainly fail of their aim,
+and will do good rather than harm, to the public cause and to yourself. It
+appears to me that, by you, no notice can be, or ought to be, taken of the
+publication. It contains its own antidote.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not content with this double giving up of what to any man of honor was
+confidential, Randolph, a little later, rested under Washington&rsquo;s
+suspicions of a third time breaking the seal of official secrecy by sending a
+Cabinet paper to the newspapers for no other purpose than to stir up feeling
+against Washington. But after his former patron&rsquo;s death regret came, and
+Randolph wrote to Bushrod Washington, &ldquo;If I could now present myself
+before your venerated uncle it would be my pride to confess my contrition that
+I suffered my irritation, be the cause what it might, to use some of those
+expressions respecting him which, at this moment … I wish to recall as being
+inconsistent with my subsequent convictions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another type of enemy, more or less the result of this differing with
+Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Randolph, was sundry editors and writers who
+gathered under their patronage and received aids of money or of secret
+information. One who prospered for a time by abusing Washington was Philip
+Freneau. He was a college friend of Madison&rsquo;s, and was induced to
+undertake the task by his and Jefferson&rsquo;s urging, though the latter
+denied this later. As aid to the undertaking, Jefferson, then Secretary of
+State, gave Freneau an office, and thus produced the curious condition of a
+clerk in the government writing and printing savage attacks on the President.
+Washington was much irritated at the abuse, and Jefferson in his
+&ldquo;Anas&rdquo; said that he &ldquo;was evidently sore &amp; warm and I took
+his intention to be that I should interpose in some way with Freneau, perhaps
+withdraw his appointment of translating clerk to my office. But I will not do
+it.&rdquo; According to the French minister, some of the worst of these
+articles were written by Jefferson himself, and Freneau is reported to have
+said, late in life, that many of them were written by the Secretary of State.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Far more indecent was the paper conducted by Benjamin Franklin Bache, who,
+early in the Presidency, applied for a place in the government, which for some
+reason not now known was refused. According to Cobbett, who hated him,
+&ldquo;this … scoundrel … spent several years in hunting offices under the
+Federal Government, and being constantly rejected, he at last became its most
+bitter foe. Hence his abuse of General Washington, whom at the time he was
+soliciting a place he panegyrized up to the third heaven.&rdquo; Certain it is
+that under his editorship the <i>General Advertiser</i> and <i>Aurora</i> took
+the lead in all criticisms of Washington, and not content with these
+opportunities for daily and weekly abuse, Bache (though the fact that they were
+forgeries was notorious) reprinted the &ldquo;spurious letters which issued
+from a certain press in New York during the war, with a view to destroy the
+confidence which the army and community might have had in my political
+principles,&mdash;and which have lately been republished with greater avidity
+and perseverance than ever, by Mr. Bache to answer the same nefarious purpose
+with the latter,&rdquo; and Washington added that &ldquo;immense pains has been
+taken by this said Mr. Bache, who is no more than the agent or tool of those
+who are endeavoring to destroy the confidence of the people, in the officers of
+Government (chosen by themselves) to disseminate these counterfeit
+letters.&rdquo; In addition Bache wrote a pamphlet, with the avowal that
+&ldquo;the design of these remarks is to prove the want of claim in Mr.
+Washington either to the gratitude or confidence of his country…. Our chief
+object … is to <i>destroy undue impressions in favor of Mr.
+Washington</i>.&rdquo; Accordingly it charged that Washington was
+&ldquo;treacherous,&rdquo; &ldquo;mischievous,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;inefficient;&rdquo; dwelt upon his &ldquo;farce of
+disinterestedness,&rdquo; his &ldquo;stately journeyings through the American
+continent in search of personal incense,&rdquo; his &ldquo;ostentatious
+professions of piety,&rdquo; his &ldquo;pusillanimous neglect,&rdquo; his
+&ldquo;little passions,&rdquo; his &ldquo;ingratitude,&rdquo; his &ldquo;want
+of merit,&rdquo; his &ldquo;insignificance,&rdquo; and his &ldquo;spurious
+fame.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The successor of Bache as editor of these two journals, William Duane, came to
+the office with an equal hatred of Washington, having already written a savage
+pamphlet against him. In this the President was charged with &ldquo;treacherous
+mazes of passion,&rdquo; and with having &ldquo;discharged the loathings of a
+sick mind.&rdquo; Furthermore it asserted &ldquo;that had you obtained
+promotion … after Braddock&rsquo;s defeat, your sword would have been drawn
+against your country,&rdquo; that Washington &ldquo;retained the barbarous
+usages of the feudal system and kept men in Livery,&rdquo; and that
+&ldquo;posterity will in vain search for the monuments of wisdom in your
+administration;&rdquo; the purpose of the pamphlet, by the author&rsquo;s own
+statement, being &ldquo;to expose the <i>Personal Idolatry</i> into which we
+have been heedlessly running,&rdquo; and to show the people the
+&ldquo;fallibility of the most favored of men.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A fourth in this quartet of editors was the notorious James Thomson Callender,
+whose publications were numerous, as were also his impeachments against
+Washington. By his own account, this writer maintained, &ldquo;Mr. Washington
+has been twice a traitor,&rdquo; has &ldquo;authorized the robbery and ruin of
+the remnants of his own army,&rdquo; has &ldquo;broke the constitution,&rdquo;
+and Callender fumes over &ldquo;the vileness of the adulation which has been
+paid&rdquo; to him, claiming that &ldquo;the extravagant popularity possessed
+by this citizen reflects the utmost ridicule on the discernment of
+America.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bitterest attack, however, was penned by Thomas Paine. For many years there
+was good feeling between the two, and in 1782, when Paine was in financial
+distress, Washington used his influence to secure him a position &ldquo;out of
+friendship for me,&rdquo; as Paine acknowledged. Furthermore, Washington tried
+to get the Virginia Legislature to pension Paine or give him a grant of land,
+an endeavor for which the latter was &ldquo;exceedingly obliged.&rdquo; When
+Paine published his &ldquo;Rights of Man&rdquo; he dedicated it to Washington,
+with an inscription dwelling on his &ldquo;exemplary virtue&rdquo; and his
+&ldquo;benevolence;&rdquo; while in the body of the work he asserted that no
+monarch of Europe had a character to compare with Washington&rsquo;s, which was
+such as to &ldquo;put all those men called kings to shame.&rdquo; Shortly after
+this, however, Washington refused to appoint him Postmaster-General; and still
+later, when Paine had involved himself with the French, the President, after
+consideration, decided that governmental interference was not proper. Enraged
+by these two acts, Paine published a pamphlet in which he charged Washington
+with &ldquo;encouraging and swallowing the greatest adulation,&rdquo; with
+being &ldquo;the patron of fraud,&rdquo; with a &ldquo;mean and servile
+submission to the insults of one nation, treachery and ingratitude to
+another,&rdquo; with &ldquo;falsehood,&rdquo; &ldquo;ingratitude,&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;pusillanimity;&rdquo; and finally, after alleging that the General had
+not &ldquo;served America with more disinterestedness or greater zeal, than
+myself, and I know not if with better effect,&rdquo; Paine closed his attack by
+the assertion, &ldquo;and as to you, sir, <i>treacherous in private
+friendship</i>, and a <i>hypocrite</i> in public life, the world will be
+puzzled to decide, whether you are an <i>apostate</i> or an <i>impostor</i>;
+whether you have <i>abandoned good principles</i>, or whether <i>you ever had
+any?</i>&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington never, in any situation, took public notice of these attacks, and he
+wrote of a possible one, &ldquo;I am gliding down the stream of life, and wish,
+as is natural, that my remaining days may be undisturbed and tranquil; and,
+conscious of my integrity, I would willingly hope, that nothing would occur
+tending to give me anxiety; but should anything present itself in this or any
+other publication, I shall never undertake the painful task of recrimination,
+nor do I know that I should even enter upon my justification.&rdquo; To a
+friend he said, &ldquo;my temper leads me to peace and harmony with all men;
+and it is peculiarly my wish to avoid any feuds or dissentions with those who
+are embarked in the same great national interest with myself; as every
+difference of this kind must in its consequence be very injurious.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap11"></a>XI<br/>
+SOLDIER</h2>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My inclinations,&rdquo; wrote Washington at twenty-three, &ldquo;are
+strongly bent to arms,&rdquo; and the tendency was a natural one, coming not
+merely from his Indian-fighting great-grandfather, but from his elder brother
+Lawrence, who had held a king&rsquo;s commission in the Carthagena expedition,
+and was one of the few officers who gained repute in that ill-fated attempt. At
+Mount Vernon George must have heard much of fighting as a lad, and when the ill
+health of Lawrence compelled resignation of command of the district militia,
+the younger brother succeeded to the adjutancy. This quickly led to the command
+of the first Virginia regiment when the French and Indian War was brewing.
+Twice Washington resigned in disgust during the course of the war, but each
+time his natural bent, or &ldquo;glowing zeal,&rdquo; as he phrased it, drew
+him back into the service. The moment the news of Lexington reached Virginia he
+took the lead in organizing an armed force, and in the Virginia Convention of
+1775, according to Lynch, he &ldquo;made the most eloquent speech … that ever
+was made. Says he, &lsquo;I will raise one thousand men, enlist them at my own
+expense, and march myself at their head for the relief of Boston.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+At fifty-three, in speaking of war, Washington said, &ldquo;my first wish is to
+see this plague to mankind banished from off the earth;&rdquo; but during his
+whole life, when there was fighting to be done, he was among those who
+volunteered for the service.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The personal courage of the man was very great. Jefferson, indeed, said
+&ldquo;he was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calmest
+unconcern.&rdquo; Before he had ever been in action, he noted of a certain
+position that it was &ldquo;a charming field for an encounter,&rdquo; and his
+first engagement he described as follows: &ldquo;I fortunately escaped without
+any wound, for the right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and received all
+the enemy&rsquo;s fire, and it was the part where the man was killed, and the
+rest wounded. I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something
+charming in the sound.&rdquo; In his second battle, though he knew that he was
+&ldquo;to be attacked and by unequal numbers,&rdquo; he promised beforehand to
+&ldquo;withstand&rdquo; them &ldquo;if there are five to one,&rdquo; adding,
+&ldquo;I doubt not, but if you hear I am beaten, but you will, at the same
+[time,] hear that we have done our duty, in fighting as long [as] there was a
+possibility of hope,&rdquo; and in this he was as good as his word. When
+sickness detained him in the Braddock march, he halted only on condition that
+he should receive timely notice of when the fighting was to begin, and in that
+engagement he exposed himself so that &ldquo;I had four bullets through my
+coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, altho&rsquo; death was
+levelling my companions on every side of me!&rdquo; Not content with such an
+experience, in the second march on Fort Duquesne he &ldquo;prayed&rdquo; the
+interest of a friend to have his regiment part of the &ldquo;light
+troops&rdquo; that were to push forward in advance of the main army.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same carelessness of personal danger was shown all through the Revolution.
+At the battle of Brooklyn, on New York Island, at Trenton, Germantown, and
+Monmouth, he exposed himself to the enemy&rsquo;s fire, and at the siege of
+Yorktown an eyewitness relates that &ldquo;during the assault, the British kept
+up an incessant firing of cannon and musketry from their whole line. His
+Excellency General Washington, Generals Lincoln and Knox with their aids,
+having dismounted, were standing in an exposed situation waiting the result.
+Colonel Cobb, one of General Washington&rsquo;s aids, solicitous for his
+safety, said to his Excellency, &lsquo;Sir, you are too much exposed here, had
+you not better step back a little?&rsquo; &lsquo;Colonel Cobb,&rsquo; replied
+his Excellency, &lsquo;if you are afraid, you have liberty to step
+back.&rsquo;&rdquo; It is no cause for wonder that an officer wrote, &ldquo;our
+army love their General very much, but they have one thing against him, which
+is the little care he takes of himself in any action. His personal bravery, and
+the desire he has of animating his troops by example, make him fearless of
+danger. This occasions us much uneasiness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus21"></a>
+<img src="images/img21.jpg" width="370" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">WASHINGTON&rsquo;S TRANSCRIPT OF THE RULES OF CIVILITY,
+CIRCA 1744</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+This fearlessness was equally shown by his hatred and, indeed,
+non-comprehension of cowardice. In his first battle, upon the French
+surrendering, he wrote to the governor, &ldquo;if the whole Detach&rsquo;t of
+the French behave with no more Resolution than this chosen Party did, I flatter
+myself we shall have no g&rsquo;t trouble in driving them to the
+d&mdash;-.&rdquo; At Braddock&rsquo;s defeat, though the regiment he had
+commanded &ldquo;behaved like men and died like soldiers,&rdquo; he could
+hardly find words to express his contempt for the conduct of the British
+&ldquo;cowardly regulars,&rdquo; writing of their &ldquo;dastardly
+behavior&rdquo; when they &ldquo;broke and ran as sheep before hounds,&rdquo;
+and raging over being &ldquo;most scandalously&rdquo; and &ldquo;shamefully
+beaten.&rdquo; When the British first landed on New York Island, and two New
+England brigades ran away from &ldquo;a small party of the enemy,&rdquo;
+numbering about fifty, without firing a shot, he completely lost his
+self-control at their &ldquo;dastardly behavior,&rdquo; and riding in among
+them, it is related, he laid his cane over the officers&rsquo; backs,
+&ldquo;damned them for cowardly rascals,&rdquo; and, drawing his sword, struck
+the soldiers right and left with the flat of it, while snapping his pistols at
+them. Greene states that the fugitives &ldquo;left his Excellency on the ground
+within eighty yards of the enemy, so vexed at the infamous conduct of the
+troops, that he sought death rather than life,&rdquo; and Gordon adds that the
+General was only saved from his &ldquo;hazardous position&rdquo; by his aides,
+who &ldquo;caught the bridle of his horse and gave him a different
+direction.&rdquo; At Monmouth an aide stated that when he met a man running
+away he was &ldquo;exasperated … and threatened the man … he would have him
+whipped,&rdquo; and General Scott says that on finding Lee retreating,
+&ldquo;he swore like an angel from heaven.&rdquo; Wherever in his letters he
+alludes to cowardice it is nearly always coupled with the adjectives
+&ldquo;infamous,&rdquo; &ldquo;scandalous,&rdquo; or others equally indicative
+of loss of temper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There can be no doubt that Washington had a high temper. Hamilton&rsquo;s
+allusion to his not being remarkable for &ldquo;good temper&rdquo; has already
+been quoted, as has also Stuart&rsquo;s remark that &ldquo;all his features
+were indicative of the strongest and most ungovernable passions, and had he
+been born in the forests, he would have been the fiercest man among the savage
+tribes.&rdquo; Again Stuart is quoted by his daughter as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;While talking one day with General Lee, my father happened to remark
+that Washington had a tremendous temper, but held it under wonderful control.
+General Lee breakfasted with the President and Mrs. Washington a few days
+afterwards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;I saw your portrait the other day,&rsquo; said the General,
+&lsquo;but Stuart says you have a tremendous temper.&rsquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;Upon my word,&rsquo; said Mrs. Washington, coloring, &lsquo;Mr.
+Stuart takes a great deal upon himself to make such a remark.&rsquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;But stay, my dear lady,&rsquo; said General Lee, &lsquo;he added
+that the president had it under wonderful control.&rsquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;With something like a smile, General Washington remarked, &lsquo;He is
+right.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lear, too, mentions an outburst of temper when he heard of the defeat of St.
+Clair, and elsewhere records that in reading politics aloud to Washington
+&ldquo;he appeared much affected, and spoke with some degree of asperity on the
+subject, which I endeavored to moderate, as I always did on such
+occasions.&rdquo; How he swore at Randolph and at Freneau is mentioned
+elsewhere. Jefferson is evidence that &ldquo;his temper was naturally irritable
+and high-toned, but reflection and resolution had obtained a firm and habitual
+ascendency over it. If however it broke its bonds, he was most tremendous in
+his wrath.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Strikingly at variance with these personal qualities of courage and hot blood
+is the &ldquo;Fabian&rdquo; policy for which he is so generally credited, and a
+study of his military career goes far to dispel the conception that Washington
+was the cautious commander that he is usually pictured.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the first campaign, though near a vastly superior French force, Washington
+precipitated the conflict by attacking and capturing an advance party, though
+the delay of a few days would have brought him large reinforcements. As a
+consequence he was very quickly surrounded, and after a day&rsquo;s fighting
+was compelled to surrender. In what light his conduct was viewed at the time is
+shown in two letters, Dr. William Smith writing, &ldquo;the British cause,… has
+received a fatal Blow by the entire defeat of Washington, whom I cannot but
+accuse of Foolhardiness to have ventured so near a vigilant enemy without being
+certain of their numbers, or waiting for Junction of some hundreds of our best
+Forces, who are within a few Days&rsquo; March of him,&rdquo; and Ann Willing
+echoed this by saying, &ldquo;the melancholy news has just arrived of the loss
+of sixty men belonging to Col. Washington&rsquo;s Company, who were killed on
+the spot, and of the Colonel and Half-King being taken prisoners, all owing to
+the obstinacy of Washington, who would not wait for the arrival of
+reinforcements.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hardly less venturesome was he in the Braddock campaign, for &ldquo;the General
+(before they met in council,) asked my opinion concerning the expedition. I
+urged it, in the warmest terms I was able, to push forward, if we even did it
+with a small but chosen band, with such artillery and light stores as were
+absolutely necessary; leaving the heavy artillery, baggage, &amp;c. with the
+rear division of the army, to follow by slow and easy marches, which they might
+do safely, while we were advanced in front.&rdquo; How far the defeat of that
+force was due to the division thus urged it is not possible to say, but it
+undoubtedly made the French bolder and the English more subject to panic.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same spirit was manifested in the Revolution. During the siege of Boston he
+wrote to Reed, &ldquo;I proposed [an assault] in council; but behold, though we
+had been waiting all the year for this favorable event the enterprise was
+thought too dangerous. Perhaps it was; perhaps the irksomeness of my situation
+led me to undertake more than could be warranted by prudence. I did not think
+so, and I am sure yet, that the enterprise, if it had been undertaken with
+resolution, must have succeeded.&rdquo; He added that &ldquo;the enclosed
+council of war:… being almost unanimous, I must suppose it to be right;
+although, from a thorough conviction of the necessity of attempting something
+against the ministerial troops before a reinforcement should arrive, and while
+we were favored with the ice, I was not only ready but willing, and desirous of
+making the assault,&rdquo; and a little later he said that had he but foreseen
+certain contingencies &ldquo;all the generals upon earth should not have
+convinced me of the propriety of delaying an attack upon Boston.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the defence of New York there was no chance to attack, but even when our
+lines at Brooklyn had been broken and the best brigades in the army captured,
+Washington hurried troops across the river, and intended to contest the ground,
+ordering a retreat only when it was voted in the affirmative by a council of
+war. At Harlem plains he was the attacking party.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How with a handful of troops he turned the tide of defeat by attacking at
+Trenton and Princeton is too well known to need recital. At Germantown, too,
+though having but a few days before suffered defeat, he attacked and well-nigh
+won a brilliant victory, because the British officers did not dream that his
+vanquished army could possibly take the initiative. When the foe settled down
+into winter quarters in Philadelphia Laurens wrote, &ldquo;our
+Commander-in-chief wishing ardently to gratify the public expectation by making
+an attack upon the enemy … went yesterday to view the works.&rdquo; On
+submitting the project to a council, however, they stood eleven to four against
+the attempt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The most marked instance of Washington&rsquo;s un-Fabian preferences, and proof
+of the old saying that &ldquo;councils of war never fight,&rdquo; is furnished
+in the occurrences connected with the battle of Monmouth. When the British
+began their retreat across New Jersey, according to Hamilton &ldquo;the General
+unluckily called a council of war, the result of which would have done honor to
+the most honorable society of mid-wives and to them only. The purport was, that
+we should keep at a comfortable distance from the enemy, and keep up a vain
+parade of annoying them by detachment … The General, on mature reconsideration
+of what had been resolved on, determined to pursue a different line of conduct
+at all hazards.&rdquo; Concerning this decision Pickering wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;His great caution in respect to the enemy, acquired him the name of the
+American Fabius. From this <i>governing</i> policy he is said to have departed,
+when&rdquo; at Monmouth he &ldquo;indulged the most anxious desire to close
+with his antagonist in general action. Opposed to his wishes was the advice of
+his general officers. To this he for a time yielded; but as soon as he
+discovered that the enemy had reached Monmouth Court House, not more than
+twelve miles from the heights of Middletown, he determined that he should not
+escape without a blow.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pickering considered this a &ldquo;departure&rdquo; from Washington&rsquo;s
+&ldquo;usual practice and policy,&rdquo; and cites Wadsworth, who said, in
+reference to the battle of Monmouth, that the General appeared, on that
+occasion, &ldquo;to act from the impulses of his own mind.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thrice during the next three years plans for an attack on the enemy&rsquo;s
+lines at New York were matured, one of which had to be abandoned because the
+British had timely notice of it by the treachery of an American general, a
+second because the other generals disapproved the attempt, and, on the
+authority of Humphreys, &ldquo;the accidental intervention of some vessels
+prevented [another] attempt, which was more than once resumed afterwards.
+Notwithstanding this favorite project was not ultimately effected, it was
+evidently not less bold in conception or feasible in accomplishment, than that
+attempted so successfully at Trenton, or than that which was brought to so
+glorious an issue in the successful siege of Yorktown.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As this <i>résumé</i> indicates, the most noticeable trait of
+Washington&rsquo;s military career was a tendency to surrender his own opinions
+and wishes to those over whom he had been placed, and this resulted in a
+general agreement not merely that he was disposed to avoid action, but that he
+lacked decision. Thus his own aide, Reed, in obvious contrast to Washington,
+praised Lee because &ldquo;you have decision, a quality often wanted in minds
+otherwise valuable,&rdquo; continuing, &ldquo;Oh! General, an indecisive mind
+is one of the greatest misfortunes that can befall an army; how often have I
+lamented it this campaign,&rdquo; and Lee in reply alluded to &ldquo;that fatal
+indecision of mind.&rdquo; Pickering relates meeting General Greene and saying
+to him, &ldquo;&lsquo;I had once conceived an exalted opinion of General
+Washington&rsquo;s military talents; but since I have been with the army, I
+have seen nothing to increase that opinion.&rsquo; Greene answered, &lsquo;Why,
+the General does want decision: for my part, I decide in a moment.&rsquo; I
+used the word &lsquo;increase,&rsquo; though I meant &lsquo;support,&rsquo; but
+did not dare speak it.&rdquo; Wayne exclaimed &ldquo;if our worthy general will
+but follow his own good judgment without listening too much to some
+counsel!&rdquo; Edward Thornton, probably repeating the prevailing public
+estimate of the time rather than his own conclusion, said, &ldquo;a certain
+degree of indecision, however, a want of vigor and energy, may be observed in
+some of his actions, and are indeed the obvious result of too refined
+caution.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Undoubtedly this leaning on others and the want of decision were not merely due
+to a constitutional mistrust of his own ability, but also in a measure to real
+lack of knowledge. The French and Indian War, being almost wholly
+&ldquo;bush-fighting,&rdquo; was not of a kind to teach strategic warfare, and
+in his speech accepting the command Washington requested that &ldquo;it may be
+remembered by every gentleman in the room, that I this day declare with the
+utmost sincerity I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored
+with.&rdquo; Indeed, he very well described himself and his generals when he
+wrote of one officer, &ldquo;his wants are common to us all&mdash;the want of
+experience to move upon a large scale, for the limited and contracted
+knowledge, which any of us have in military matters, stands in very little
+stead.&rdquo; There can be no question that in most of the &ldquo;field&rdquo;
+engagements of the Revolution Washington was out-generalled by the British, and
+Jefferson made a just distinction when he spoke of his having often
+&ldquo;failed in the field, and rarely against an enemy in station, as at
+Boston and York.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lack of great military genius in the commander-in-chief has led British
+writers to ascribe the results of the war to the want of ability in their own
+generals, their view being well summed up by a writer in 1778, who said,
+&ldquo;in short, I am of the opinion … that any other General in the world than
+General Howe would have beaten General Washington; and any other General in the
+world than General Washington would have beaten General Howe.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This is, in effect, to overlook the true nature of the contest, for it was
+their very victories that defeated the British. They conquered New Jersey, to
+meet defeat; they captured Philadelphia, only to find it a danger; they
+established posts in North Carolina, only to abandon them; they overran
+Virginia, to lay down their arms at Yorktown. As Washington early in the war
+divined, the Revolution was &ldquo;a war of posts,&rdquo; and he urged the
+danger of &ldquo;dividing and subdividing our Force too much [so that] we shall
+have no one post sufficiently guarded,&rdquo; saying, &ldquo;it is a military
+observation strongly supported by experience, &lsquo;that a superior army may
+fall a sacrifice to an inferior, by an injudicious division.&rsquo;&rdquo; It
+was exactly this which defeated the British; every conquest they made weakened
+their force, and the war was not a third through when Washington said, &ldquo;I
+am well convinced myself, that the enemy, long ere this, are perfectly well
+satisfied, that the possession of our towns, while we have an army in the
+field, will avail them little.&rdquo; As Franklin said, when the news was
+announced that Howe had captured Philadelphia, &ldquo;No, Philadelphia has
+captured Howe.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The problem of the Revolution was not one of military strategy, but of keeping
+an army in existence, and it was in this that the commander-in-chief&rsquo;s
+great ability showed itself. The British could and did repeatedly beat the
+Continental army, but they could not beat the General, and so long as he was in
+the field there was a rallying ground for whatever fighting spirit there was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The difficulty of this task can hardly be over-magnified. When Washington
+assumed command of the forces before Boston, he &ldquo;found a mixed multitude
+of people … under very little discipline, order, or government,&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;confusion and disorder reigned in every department, which, in a little
+time, must have ended either in the separation of the army or fatal contests
+with one another.&rdquo; Before he was well in the saddle his general officers
+were quarrelling over rank, and resigning; there was such a scarcity of powder
+that it was out of the question for some months to do anything; and the British
+sent people infected with small-pox to the Continental army, with a consequent
+outbreak of that pest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hardly had he brought order out of chaos when the army he had taken such pains
+to discipline began to melt away, having been by political folly recruited for
+short terms, and the work was to be all done over. Again and again during the
+war regiments which had been enlisted for short periods left him at the most
+critical moment. Very typical occurrences he himself tells of, when Connecticut
+troops could &ldquo;not be prevailed upon to stay longer than their term
+(saving those who have enlisted for the next campaign, and mostly on furlough),
+and such a dirty, mercenary spirit pervades the whole, that I should not be at
+all surprised at any disaster that may happen,&rdquo; and when he described how
+in his retreat through New Jersey, &ldquo;The militia, instead of calling forth
+their utmost efforts to a brave and manly opposition in order to repair our
+losses, are dismayed, intractable, and impatient to return. Great numbers of
+them have gone off; in some instances, almost by whole regiments, by half ones,
+and by companies at a time.&rdquo; Another instance of this evil occurred when
+&ldquo;the Continental regiments from the eastern governments … agreed to stay
+six weeks beyond their term of enlistment…. For this extraordinary mark of
+their attachment to their country, I have agreed to give them a bounty of ten
+dollars per man, besides their pay running on.&rdquo; The men took the bounty,
+and nearly one-half went off a few days after.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor was this the only evil of the policy of short enlistments. Another was that
+the new troops not merely were green soldiers, but were without discipline. At
+New York Tilghman wrote that after the battle of Brooklyn the
+&ldquo;Eastern&rdquo; soldiers were &ldquo;plundering everything that comes in
+their way,&rdquo; and Washington in describing the condition said, &ldquo;every
+Hour brings the most distressing complaints of the Ravages of our own Troops
+who are become infinitely more formidable to the poor Farmers and Inhabitants
+than the common Enemy. Horses are taken out of the Continental Teams; the
+Baggage of Officers and the Hospital Stores, even the Quarters of General
+Officers are not exempt from Rapine.&rdquo; At the most critical moment of the
+war the New Jersey militia not merely deserted, but captured and took with them
+nearly the whole stores of the army. As the General truly wrote, &ldquo;the
+Dependence which the Congress have placed upon the militia, has already greatly
+injured, and I fear will totally ruin our cause. Being subject to no controul
+themselves, they introduce disorder among the troops, whom you have attempted
+to discipline, while the change in their living brings on sickness; this makes
+them Impatient to get home, which spreads universally, and introduces
+abominable desertions.&rdquo; &ldquo;The collecting militia,&rdquo; he said
+elsewhere, &ldquo;depends entirely upon the prospects of the day. If favorable
+they throng in to you; if not, they will not move.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To make matters worse, politics were allowed to play a prominent part in the
+selection of officers, and Washington complained that &ldquo;the different
+States [were], without regard to the qualifications of an officer, quarrelling
+about the appointments, and nominating such as are not fit to be shoeblacks,
+from the attachments of this or that member of Assembly.&rdquo; As a result, so
+he wrote of New England, &ldquo;their officers are generally of the lowest
+class of the people; and, instead of setting a good example to their men, are
+leading them into every kind of mischief, one species of which is plundering
+the inhabitants, under the pretence of their being Tories.&rdquo; To this
+political motive he himself would not yield, and a sample of his appointments
+was given when a man was named &ldquo;because he stands unconnected with either
+of these Governments; or with this, or that or tother man; for between you and
+me there is more in this than you can easily imagine,&rdquo; and he asserted
+that &ldquo;I will not have any Gentn. introduced from family connexion, or
+local attachments, to the prejudice of the Service.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To misbehaving soldiers Washington showed little mercy. In his first service he
+had deserters and plunderers &ldquo;flogged,&rdquo; and threatened that if he
+could &ldquo;lay hands&rdquo; on one particular culprit, &ldquo;I would try the
+effect of 1000 lashes.&rdquo; At another time he had &ldquo;a Gallows near 40
+feet high erected (which has terrified the <i>rest</i> exceedingly) and I am
+determined if I can be justified in the proceeding, to hang two or three on it,
+as an example to others.&rdquo; When he took command of the Continental army he
+&ldquo;made a pretty good slam among such kind of officers as the Massachusetts
+Government abound in since I came to this Camp, having broke one Colo, and two
+Captains for cowardly behavior in the action on Bunker&rsquo;s Hill,&mdash;two
+Captains for drawing more provisions and pay than they had men in their
+Company&mdash;and one for being absent from his Post when the Enemy appeared
+there and burnt a House just by it Besides these, I have at this time&mdash;one
+Colo., one Major, one Captn., &amp; two subalterns under arrest for
+tryal&mdash;In short I spare none yet fear it will not at all do as these
+People seem to be too inattentive to every thing but their Interest&rdquo;
+&ldquo;I am sorry,&rdquo; he wrote, &ldquo;to be under a Necessity of making
+frequent Examples among the Officers,&rdquo; but &ldquo;as nothing can be more
+fatal to an Army, than Crimes of this kind, I am determined by every Motive of
+Reward and Punishment to prevent them in future.&rdquo; Even when plundering
+was avoided there were short commons for those who clung to the General. The
+commander-in-chief wrote Congress that &ldquo;they have often, very often, been
+reduced to the necessity of Eating Salt Porke, or Beef not for a day, or a week
+but months together without Vegetables, or money to buy them;&rdquo; and again,
+he complained that &ldquo;the Soldiers [were forced to] eat every kind of horse
+food but Hay. Buckwheat, common wheat, Rye and Indn. Corn was the composition
+of the Meal which made their bread. As an Army they bore it, [but] accompanied
+by the want of Cloaths, Blankets, &amp;c., will produce frequent desertions in
+all armies and so it happens with us, tho&rsquo; it did not excite a
+mutiny.&rdquo; Even the horses suffered, and Washington wrote to the
+quartermaster-general, &ldquo;Sir, my horses I am told have not had a mouthful
+of long or short forage for three days. They have eaten up their mangers and
+are now, (though wanted for immediate use,) scarcely able to stand.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two results were sickness and discontent. At times one-fourth of the soldiers
+were on the sick-list. Three times portions of the army mutinied, and nothing
+but Washington&rsquo;s influence prevented the disorder from spreading. At the
+end of the war, when, according to Hamilton, &ldquo;the army had secretly
+determined not to lay down their arms until due provision and a satisfactory
+prospect should be offered on the subject of their pay,&rdquo; the
+commander-in-chief urged Congress to do them justice, writing, &ldquo;the
+fortitude&mdash;the long, &amp; great suffering of this army is unexampled in
+history; but there is an end to all things &amp; I fear we are very near to
+this. Which, more than probably will oblige me to stick very close to my flock
+this winter, &amp; try like a careful physician, to prevent, if possible, the
+disorders getting to an incurable height.&rdquo; In this he judged rightly, for
+by his influence alone was the army prevented from adopting other than peaceful
+measures to secure itself justice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A chief part of these difficulties the Continental Congress is directly
+responsible for, and the reason for their conduct is to be found largely in the
+circumstances of Washington&rsquo;s appointment to the command.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus22"></a>
+<img src="images/img22.jpg" width="406" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">LIFE MASK OF WASHINGTON</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+When the Second Congress met, in May, 1775, the battle of Lexington had been
+fought, and twenty thousand minute-men were assembled about Boston. To pay and
+feed such a horde was wholly beyond the ability of New England, and her
+delegates came to the Congress bent upon getting that body to assume the
+expense, or, as the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts naively put it,
+&ldquo;we have the greatest Confidence in the Wisdom and Ability of the
+Continent to support us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The other colonies saw this in a different light. Massachusetts, without our
+advice, has begun a war and embodied an army; let Massachusetts pay her own
+bills, was their point of view. &ldquo;I have found this Congress like the
+last,&rdquo; wrote John Adams. &ldquo;When we first came together, I found a
+strong jealousy of us from New England, and the Massachusettes in particular,
+suspicions entertained of designs of independency, an American republic,
+Presbyterian principles, and twenty other things. Our sentiments were heard in
+Congress with great caution, and seemed to make but little impression.&rdquo;
+Yet &ldquo;every post brought me letters from my friends … urging in pathetic
+terms the impossibility of keeping their men together without the assistance of
+Congress.&rdquo; &ldquo;I was daily urging all these things, but we were
+embarrassed with more than one difficulty, not only with the party in favor of
+the petition to the King, and the party who were zealous of independence, but a
+third party, which was a southern party against a Northern, and a jealousy
+against a New England army under the command of a New England General.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Under these circumstances a political deal was resorted to, and Virginia was
+offered by John and Samuel Adams, as the price of an adoption and support of
+the New England army, the appointment of commander-in-chief, though the offer
+was not made with over-good grace, and only because &ldquo;we could carry
+nothing without conceding it.&rdquo; There was some dissension among the
+Virginia delegates as to who should receive the appointment, Washington himself
+recommending an old companion in arms, General Andrew Lewis, and &ldquo;more
+than one,&rdquo; Adams says of the Virginia delegates, were &ldquo;very cool
+about the appointment of Washington, and particularly Mr. Pendleton was very
+clear and full against it&rdquo; Washington himself said the appointment was
+due to &ldquo;partiality of the Congress, joined to a political motive;&rdquo;
+and, hard as it is to realize, it was only the grinding political necessity of
+the New England colonies which secured to Washington the place for which in the
+light of to-day he seems to have been created.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a matter of course, there was not the strongest liking felt for the General
+thus chosen by the New England delegates, and this was steadily lessened by
+Washington&rsquo;s frank criticism of the New England soldiers and officers
+already noticed. Equally bitter to the New England delegates and their allies
+were certain army measures that Washington pressed upon the attention of
+Congress. He urged and urged that the troops should be enlisted for the war,
+that promotions should be made from the army as a whole, and not from the
+colony- or State-line alone, and most unpopular of all, that since Continental
+soldiers could not otherwise be obtained, a bounty should be given to secure
+them, and that as compensation for their inadequate pay half-pay should be
+given them after the war. He eventually carried these points, but at the price
+of an entire alienation of the democratic party in the Congress, who wished to
+have the war fought with militia, to have all the officers elected annually,
+and to whom the very suggestion of pensions was like a red rag to a bull.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A part of their motive in this was unquestionably to prevent the danger of a
+standing army, and of allowing the commander-in-chief to become popular with
+the soldiers. Very early in the war Washington noted &ldquo;the <i>jealousy</i>
+which Congress unhappily entertain of the army, and which, if reports are
+right, some members labor to establish.&rdquo; And he complained that &ldquo;I
+see a distrust and jealousy of military power, that the commander-in-chief has
+not an opportunity, even by recommendation, to give the least assurance of
+reward for the most essential services.&rdquo; The French minister told his
+government that when a committee was appointed to institute certain army
+reforms, delegates in Congress &ldquo;insisted on the danger of associating the
+Commander-in-chief with it, whose influence, it was stated, was already too
+great,&rdquo; and when France sent money to aid the American cause, with the
+provision that it should be subject to the order of the General, it aroused, a
+writer states, &ldquo;the jealousy of Congress, the members of which were not
+satisfied that the head of the army should possess such an agency in addition
+to his military power.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His enemies in the Congress took various means to lessen his influence and
+mortify him. Burke states that in the discussion of one question &ldquo;Jersey,
+Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina voted for expunging it; the
+four Eastern States, Virginia and Georgia for retaining it. There appeared
+through this whole debate a great desire, in some of the delegates from the
+Eastern States, and in one from New Jersey, to insult the General,&rdquo; and a
+little later the Congress passed a &ldquo;resolve which,&rdquo; according to
+James Lovell, &ldquo;was meant to rap a Demi G&mdash;over the knuckles.&rdquo;
+Nor was it by commission, but as well by omission, that they showed their ill
+feeling. John Laurens told his father that
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;there is a conduct observed towards&rdquo; the General &ldquo;by certain
+great men, which as it is humiliating, must abate his happiness…. The Commander
+in Chief of this army is not sufficiently informed of all that is known by
+Congress of European affairs. Is it not a galling circumstance, for him to
+collect the most important intelligence piecemeal, and as they choose to give
+it, from gentlemen who come from York? Apart from the chagrin which he must
+necessarily feel at such an appearance of slight, it should be considered that
+in order to settle his plan of operations for the ensuing campaign, he should
+take into view the present state of European affairs, and Congress should not
+leave him in the dark.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Furthermore, as already noted, Washington was criticised for his Fabian policy,
+and in his indignation he wrote to Congress, &ldquo;I am informed that it is a
+matter of amazement, and that reflections have been thrown out against this
+army, for not being more active and enterprising than, in the opinion of some,
+they ought to have been. If the charge is just, the best way to account for it
+will be to refer you to the returns of our strength, and those which I can
+produce of the enemy, and to the enclosed abstract of the clothing now actually
+wanting for the army.&rdquo; &ldquo;I can assure those gentlemen,&rdquo; he
+said, in reply to political criticism, &ldquo;that it is a much easier and less
+distressing thing to draw remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good
+fireside, than to occupy a cold, bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow,
+without clothes or blankets.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ill feeling did not end with insults. With the defeats of the years 1776
+and 1777 it gathered force, and towards the end of the latter year it
+crystallized in what has been known in history as the Conway Cabal. The story
+of this conspiracy is so involved in shadow that little is known concerning its
+adherents or its endeavors. But in a general way it has been discovered that
+the New England delegates again sought the aid of the Lee faction in Virginia,
+and that this coalition, with the aid of such votes as they could obtain,
+schemed several methods which should lessen the influence of Washington, if
+they did not force him to resign. Separate and detached commands were created,
+which were made independent of the commander-in-chief, and for this purpose
+even a scheme which the General called &ldquo;a child of folly&rdquo; was
+undertaken. Officers notoriously inimical to Washington, yet upon whom he would
+be forced to rely, were promoted. A board of war made up of his enemies, with
+powers &ldquo;in effect paramount,&rdquo; Hamilton says, &ldquo;to those of the
+commander-in-chief,&rdquo; was created It is even asserted that it was moved in
+Congress that a committee should be appointed to arrest Washington, which was
+defeated only by the timely arrival of a new delegate, by which the balance of
+power was lost to the Cabal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even with the collapse of the army Cabal the opposition in Congress was
+maintained. &ldquo;I am very confident,&rdquo; wrote General Greene,
+&ldquo;that there is party business going on again, and, as Mifflin is
+connected with it, I doubt not its being a revival of the old scheme;&rdquo;
+again writing, &ldquo;General Schuyler and others consider it a plan of
+Mifflin&rsquo;s to injure your Excellency&rsquo;s operations. I am now fully
+convinced of the reality of what I suggested to you before I came away.&rdquo;
+In 1779 John Sullivan, then a member of Congress, wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Permit me to inform your Excellency, that the faction raised against you
+in 1777, is not yet destroyed. The members are waiting to collect strength, and
+seize some favorable moment to appear in force. I speak not from conjecture,
+but from certain knowledge. Their plan is to take every method of proving the
+danger arising from a commander, who enjoys the full and unlimited confidence
+of his army, and alarm the people with the prospects of imaginary evils; nay,
+they will endeavor to convert your virtue into arrows, with which, they will
+seek to wound you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Washington could not be forced into a resignation, ill-treat and slight him
+as they would, and at no time were they strong enough to vote him out of
+office. For once a Congressional &ldquo;deal&rdquo; between New England and
+Virginia did not succeed, and as Washington himself wrote, &ldquo;I have a good
+deal of reason to believe that the machination of this junto will recoil on
+their own heads, and be a means of bringing some matters to light which by
+getting me out of the way, some of them thought to conceal,&rdquo; In this he
+was right, for the re-elections of both Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee were
+put in danger, and for some time they were discredited even in their own
+colonies. &ldquo;I have happily had,&rdquo; Washington said to a correspondent,
+&ldquo;but few differences with those with whom I have had the honor of being
+connected in the service. With whom, and of what nature these have been, you
+know. I bore much for the sake of peace and the public good&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As is well known, Washington served without pay during his eight years of
+command, and, as he said, &ldquo;fifty thousand pounds would not induce me
+again to undergo what I have done.&rdquo; No wonder he declared &ldquo;that the
+God of armies may incline the hearts of my American brethren to support the
+present contest, and bestow sufficient abilities on me to bring it to a speedy
+and happy conclusion, thereby enabling me to sink into sweet retirement, and
+the full enjoyment of that peace and happiness, which will accompany a domestic
+life, is the first wish and most fervent prayer of my soul.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The day finally came when his work was finished, and he could be, as he phrased
+it, &ldquo;translated into a private citizen.&rdquo; Marshall describes the
+scene as follows: &ldquo;At noon, the principal officers of the army assembled
+at Frances&rsquo; tavern; soon after which, their beloved commander entered the
+room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed. Filling a glass, he turned
+to them and said, &lsquo;With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take
+leave of you; I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous
+and happy, as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.&rsquo; Having
+drunk, he added, &lsquo;I cannot come to each of you to take my leave; but
+shall be obliged to you, if each of you will come and take me by the
+hand.&rsquo; General Knox, being nearest, turned to him. Incapable of
+utterance, Washington grasped his hand, and embraced him. In the same
+affectionate manner he took leave of each succeeding officer. In every eye was
+the tear of dignified sensibility, and not a word was articulated to interrupt
+the majestic silence, and the tenderness of the scene. Leaving the room, he
+passed through the corps of light infantry, and walked to Whitehall, where a
+barge waited to convey him to Powles-hook. The whole company followed in mute
+and solemn procession, with dejected countenance … Having entered the barge, he
+turned to the company, and, waving his hat, bade them a silent adieu.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap12"></a>XII<br/>
+CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER</h2>
+
+<p>
+Washington became a government servant before he became a voter, by receiving
+in 1749, or when he was seventeen years of age, the appointment of official
+surveyor of Culpepper County, the salary of which, according to Boucher, was
+about fifty pounds Virginia currency a year. The office was certainly not a
+very fat berth, for it required the holder to live in a frontier county, to
+travel at times, as Washington in his journal noted, over &ldquo;ye worst Road
+that ever was trod by Man or Beast,&rdquo; to sometimes lie on straw, which
+once &ldquo;catch&rsquo;d a Fire,&rdquo; and we &ldquo;was luckily Preserved by
+one of our Mens waking,&rdquo; sometimes under a tent, which occasionally
+&ldquo;was Carried quite of[f] with ye Wind and&rdquo; we &ldquo;was obliged to
+Lie ye Latter part of ye night without covering,&rdquo; and at other times
+driven from under the tent by smoke. Indeed, one period of surveying Washington
+described to a friend by writing,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;[Since] October Last I have not sleep&rsquo;d above three Nights or four
+in a bed but after Walking a good deal all the Day lay down before the fire
+upon a Little Hay Straw Fodder or bearskin which-ever is to be had with Man
+Wife and Children like a Parcel of Dogs or Catts &amp; happy&rsquo;s he that
+gets the Birth nearest the fire there&rsquo;s nothing would make it pass of
+tolerably but a good Reward a Dubbleloon is my constant gain every Day that the
+Weather will permit my going out and some time Six Pistoles the coldness of the
+Weather will not allow my making a long stay as the Lodging is rather too cold
+for the time of Year. I have never had my Cloths of but lay and sleep in them
+like a Negro except the few Nights I have lay&rsquo;n in Frederick Town.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1751, when he was nineteen, Washington bettered his lot by becoming adjutant
+of one of the four military districts of Virginia, with a salary of one hundred
+pounds and a far less toilsome occupation. This in turn led up to his military
+appointment in 1754, which he held almost continuously till 1759, when he
+resigned from the service.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next to a position on the Virginia council, a seat in the House of Burgesses,
+or lower branch of the Legislature, was most sought, and this position had been
+held by Washington&rsquo;s great-grandfather, father, and elder brother. It was
+only natural, therefore, that in becoming the head of the family George should
+desire the position. As early as 1755, while on the frontier, he wrote to his
+brother in charge of Mount Vernon inquiring about the election to be held in
+the county, and asking him to &ldquo;come at Colo Fairfax&rsquo;s intentions,
+and let me know whether he purposes to offer himself as a candidate.&rdquo;
+&ldquo;If he does not, I should be glad to take a poll, if I thought my chance
+tolerably good.&rdquo; His friend Carlyle, Washington wrote, had
+&ldquo;mentioned it to me in Williamsburg in a bantering way,&rdquo; and he
+begged his brother to &ldquo;discover Major Carlyle&rsquo;s real sentiments on
+this head,&rdquo; as also those of the other prominent men of the county, and
+especially of the clergymen. &ldquo;<i>Sound</i> their pulse,&rdquo; he wrote,
+&ldquo;with an air of indifference and unconcern … without disclosing much of
+<i>mine</i>.&rdquo; &ldquo;If they seem inclinable to promote my interest, and
+things should be drawing to a crisis, you may declare my intention and beg
+their assistance. If on the contrary you find them more inclined to favor some
+other, I would have the affair entirely dropped.&rdquo; Apparently the county
+magnates disapproved, for Washington did not stand for the county.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus23"></a>
+<img src="images/img23.jpg" width="344" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">TITLE-PAGE OF WASHINGTON&rsquo;S JOURNAL</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In 1757 an election for burgesses was held in Frederick County, in which
+Washington then was (with his soldiers), and for which he offered himself as a
+candidate. The act was hardly a wise one, for, though he had saved Winchester
+and the surrounding country from being overrun by the Indians, he was not
+popular. Not merely was he held responsible for the massacres of outlying
+inhabitants, whom it was impossible to protect, but in this very defence he had
+given cause for ill-feeling. He himself confessed that he had several times
+&ldquo;strained the law,&rdquo;&mdash;he had been forced to impress the horses
+and wagons of the district, and had in other ways so angered some of the people
+that they had threatened &ldquo;to blow out my brains.&rdquo; But he had been
+guilty of a far worse crime still in a political sense. Virginia elections were
+based on liquor, and Washington had written to the governor, representing
+&ldquo;the great nuisance the number of tippling houses in Winchester are to
+the soldiers, who by this means, in spite of the utmost care and vigilance,
+are, so long as their pay holds, incessantly drunk and unfit for
+service,&rdquo; and he wished that &ldquo;the new commission for this county
+may have the intended effect,&rdquo; for &ldquo;the number of tippling houses
+kept here is a great grievance.&rdquo; As already noted, the Virginia regiment
+was accused in the papers of drunkenness, and under the sting of that
+accusation Washington declared war on the publicans. He whipped his men when
+they became drunk, kept them away from the ordinaries, and even closed by force
+one tavern which was especially culpable. &ldquo;Were it not too
+tedious,&rdquo; he wrote the governor, &ldquo;I cou&rsquo;d give your Honor
+such instances of the villainous Behavior of those Tippling House-keepers, as
+wou&rsquo;d astonish any person.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The conduct was admirable, but it was not good politics, and as soon as he
+offered himself as a candidate, the saloon element, under the leadership of one
+Lindsay, whose family were tavern-keepers in Winchester for at least one
+hundred years, united to oppose him. Against the would-be burgess they set up
+one Captain Thomas Swearingen, whom Washington later described as &ldquo;a man
+of great weight among the meaner class of people, and supposed by them to
+possess extensive knowledge.&rdquo; As a result, the poll showed Swearingen
+elected by two hundred and seventy votes, and Washington defeated with but
+forty ballots.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This sharp experience in practical politics seems to have taught the young
+candidate a lesson, for when a new election came in 1758 he took a leaf from
+his enemy&rsquo;s book, and fought them with their own weapons. The friendly
+aid of the county boss, Colonel John Wood, was secured, as also that of Gabriel
+Jones, a man of much local force and popularity. Scarcely less important were
+the sinews of war employed, told of in the following detailed account. A law at
+that time stood on the Virginia statutes forbidding all treating or giving of
+what were called &ldquo;ticklers&rdquo; to the voters, and declaring illegal
+all elections which were thus influenced. None the less, the voters of
+Frederick enjoyed at Washington&rsquo;s charge&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<table summary="" style="margin-left: 3em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
+
+<tr>
+<td>40 gallons of Rum Punch @ 3/6 pr. galn</td><td>7  0  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>15 gallons of Wine @ 10/ pr. galn</td><td>7  10  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Dinner for your Friends</td><td>3  0  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>13½ gallons of Wine @ 10/</td><td>6  15</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>3½ pts. of Brandy @ 1/3</td><td>4  4½</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>13 Galls. Beer @ 1/3</td><td>16  3</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>8 qts. Cyder Royl @ 1/6</td><td>0  12  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Punch</td><td>3 9</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>30 gallns. of strong beer @ 8d pr. gall</td><td>1  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1 hhd &amp; 1 Barrell of Punch, consisting of</td><td></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>          26 gals. best Barbadoes rum, 5/</td><td>6  10  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>          12 lbs. S. Refd. Sugar 1/6</td><td>18  9</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>3 galls. and 3 quarts of Beer @ 1/ pr. gall</td><td>3  9</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>10 Bowls of Punch @ 2/6 each</td><td>1  5  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>9 half pints of rum @ 7½ d. each</td><td>5  7½</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1 pint of wine</td><td>1  6</td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<p>
+After the election was over, Washington wrote Wood that &ldquo;I hope no
+Exception was taken to any that voted against me, but that all were alike
+treated, and all had enough. My only fear is that you spent with too sparing a
+hand.&rdquo; It is hardly necessary to say that such methods reversed the
+former election; Washington secured three hundred and ten votes, and Swearingen
+received forty-five. What is more, so far from now threatening to blow out his
+brains, there was &ldquo;a general applause and huzzaing for Colonel
+Washington.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From this time until he took command of the army Washington was a burgess. Once
+again he was elected from Frederick County, and then, in 1765, he stood for
+Fairfax, in which Mount Vernon was located. Here he received two hundred and
+eight votes, his colleague getting but one hundred and forty-eight, and in the
+election of 1768 he received one hundred and eighty-five, and his colleague
+only one hundred and forty-two. Washington spent between forty and seventy-five
+pounds at each of these elections, and usually gave a ball to the voters on the
+night he was chosen. Some of the miscellaneous election expenses noted in his
+ledger are, &ldquo;54 gallons of Strong Beer,&rdquo; &ldquo;52 Do. of
+Ale,&rdquo; &ldquo;£1.0.0. to Mr. John Muir for his fiddler,&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;For cakes at the Election £7.11.1.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first duty which fell to the new burgess was service on a committee to
+draught a law to prevent hogs from running at large in Winchester. He was very
+regular in his attendance; and though he took little part in the proceedings,
+yet in some way he made his influence felt, so that when the time came to elect
+deputies to the First Congress he stood third in order among the seven
+appointed to attend that body, and a year later, in the delegation to the
+Continental Congress, he stood second, Peyton Randolph receiving one more vote
+only, and all the other delegates less.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This distinction was due to the sound judgment of the man rather than to those
+qualities that are considered senatorial. Jefferson said, &ldquo;I served with
+General Washington in the legislature of Virginia before the revolution, and,
+during it, with Dr. Franklin in Congress. I never heard either of them speak
+ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the main point which was to decide the
+question. They laid their shoulders to the great points, knowing that the
+little ones would follow of themselves.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Through all his life Washington was no speechmaker. In 1758, by an order of the
+Assembly, Speaker Robinson was directed to return its thanks to Colonel
+Washington, on behalf of the colony, for the distinguished military services
+which he had rendered to the country. As soon as he took his seat in the House,
+the Speaker performed this duty in such glowing terms as quite overwhelmed him.
+Washington rose to express his acknowledgments for the honor, but was so
+disconcerted as to be unable to articulate a word distinctly. He blushed and
+faltered for a moment, when the Speaker relieved him from his embarrassment by
+saying, &ldquo;Sit down, Mr. Washington, your modesty equals your valor, and
+that surpasses the power of any language that I possess.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This stage-fright seems to have clung to him. When Adams hinted that Congress
+should &ldquo;appoint a General,&rdquo; and added, &ldquo;I had no hesitation
+to declare that I had but one gentleman in my mind for that important command,
+and that was 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 exertions of all
+the Colonies better than any other person in the Union,&rdquo; he relates that
+&ldquo;Mr. Washington who happened to sit near the door, as soon as he heard me
+allude to him, from his usual modesty, darted into the library-room.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So, too, at his inauguration as President, Maclay noted that &ldquo;this great
+man was agitated and embarrassed more than ever he was by the leveled cannon or
+pointed musket. He trembled, and several times could scarce make out to read
+[his speech], though it must be supposed he had often read it before,&rdquo;
+and Fisher Ames wrote, &ldquo;He addressed the two Houses in the
+Senate-chamber; it was a very touching scene and quite of a solemn kind. His
+aspect grave, almost to sadness; his modesty actually shaking; his voice deep,
+a little tremulous, and so low as to call for close attention,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There can be little doubt that this non-speech-making ability was not merely
+the result of inaptitude, but was also a principle, for when his favorite
+nephew was elected a burgess, and made a well-thought-of speech in his first
+attempt, his uncle wrote him, &ldquo;You have, I find, broke the ice. The only
+advice I will offer to you on the occasion (if you have a mind to command the
+attention of the House,) is to speak seldom, but to important subjects, except
+such as particularly relate to your constituents; and, in the former case, make
+yourself perfectly master of the subject. Never exceed a decent warmth, and
+submit your sentiments with diffidence. A dictatorial stile, though it may
+carry conviction, is always accompanied with disgust.&rdquo; To a friend
+writing of this same speech he said, &ldquo;with great pleasure I received the
+information respecting the commencement of my nephew&rsquo;s political course.
+I hope he will not be so bouyed by the favorable impression it has made, as to
+become a babbler.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even more indicative of his own conceptions of senatorial conduct is advice
+given in a letter to Jack Custis, when the latter, too, achieved an election to
+the Assembly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not suppose,&rdquo; he wrote, &ldquo;that so young a senator as you
+are, little versed in political disquisitions, can yet have much influence in a
+populous assembly, composed of Gentln. of various talents and of different
+views. But it is in your power to be punctual in your attendance (and duty to
+the trust reposed in you exacts it of you), to hear dispassionately and
+determine coolly all great questions. To be disgusted at the decision of
+questions, because they are not consonant to your own ideas, and to withdraw
+ourselves from public assemblies, or to neglect our attendance at them, upon
+suspicion that there is a party formed, who are inimical to our cause, and to
+the true interest of our country, is wrong, because these things may originate
+in a difference of opinion; but, supposing the fact is otherwise, and that our
+suspicions are well founded, it is the indispensable duty of every patriot to
+counteract them by the most steady and uniform opposition.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the Continental Congress, Randolph states, &ldquo;Washington was prominent,
+though silent. His looks bespoke a mind absorbed in meditation on his
+country&rsquo;s fate; but a positive concert between him and Henry could not
+more effectually have exhibited him to view, than when Henry ridiculed the idea
+of peace &lsquo;when there was no peace,&rsquo; and enlarged on the duty of
+preparing for war.&rdquo; Very quickly his attendance on that body was ended by
+its appointing him general.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His political relations to the Congress have been touched upon elsewhere, but
+his attitude towards Great Britain is worth attention. Very early he had said,
+&ldquo;At a time when our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied
+with nothing less than the deprivation of American freedom, it seems highly
+necessary that something should be done to avert the stroke, and maintain the
+liberty, which we have derived from our ancestors. But the manner of doing it,
+to answer the purpose effectually, is the point in question. That no man should
+scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use a&mdash;s in defence of so valuable a
+blessing, on which all the good and evil of life depends, is clearly my
+opinion.&rdquo; When actual war ensued, he was among the first to begin to
+collect and drill a force, even while he wrote, &ldquo;unhappy it is, though to
+reflect, that a brother&rsquo;s sword has been sheathed in a brother&rsquo;s
+breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are either to be
+drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous
+man hesitate in his choice?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not till early in 1776 did he become a convert to independence, and then only
+by such &ldquo;flaming arguments as were exhibited at Falmouth and
+Norfolk,&rdquo; which had been burned by the British. At one time, in 1776, he
+thought &ldquo;the game will be pretty well up,&rdquo; but &ldquo;under a full
+persuasion of the justice of our cause, I cannot entertain an Idea, that it
+will finally sink, tho&rsquo; it may remain for some time under a cloud,&rdquo;
+and even in this time of terrible discouragement he maintained that
+&ldquo;nothing short of independence, it appears to me, can possibly do. A
+peace on other terms would, if I may be allowed the expression, be a peace of
+war.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pickering, who placed a low estimate on his military ability, said that,
+&ldquo;upon the whole, I have no hesitation in saying that General
+Washington&rsquo;s talents were much better adapted to the Presidency of the
+United States than to the command of their armies,&rdquo; and this is probably
+true. The diplomatist Thornton said of the President, that if his
+&ldquo;circumspection is accompanied by discernment and penetration, as I am
+informed it is, and as I should be inclined to believe from the judicious
+choice he has generally made of persons to fill public stations, he possesses
+the two great requisites of a statesman, the faculty of concealing his own
+sentiments and of discovering those of other men.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To follow his course while President is outside of the scope of this work, but
+a few facts are worth noting. Allusion has already been made to his use of the
+appointing power, but how clearly he held it as a &ldquo;public trust&rdquo; is
+shown in a letter to his longtime friend Benjamin Harrison, who asked him for
+an office. &ldquo;I will go to the chair,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;under no
+pre-engagement of any kind or nature whatsoever. But, when in it, to the best
+of my judgment, discharge the duties of the office with that impartiality and
+zeal for the public good, which ought never to suffer connection of blood or
+friendship to intermingle so as to have the least sway on the decision of a
+public nature.&rdquo; This position was held to firmly. John Adams wrote an
+office-seeker, &ldquo;I must caution you, my dear Sir, against having any
+dependence on my influence or that of any other person. No man, I believe, has
+influence with the President. He seeks information from all quarters, and
+judges more independently than any man I ever knew. It is of so much importance
+to the public that he should preserve this superiority, that I hope I shall
+never see the time that any man will have influence with him beyond the powers
+of reason and argument.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Long after, when political strife was running high, Adams said,
+&ldquo;Washington appointed a multitude of democrats and jacobins of the
+deepest die. I have been more cautious in this respect; but there is danger of
+proscribing under imputations of democracy, some of the ablest, most
+influential, and best characters in the Union.&rdquo; In this he was quite
+correct, for the first President&rsquo;s appointments were made with a view to
+destroy party and not create it, his object being to gather all the talent of
+the country in support of the national government, and he bore many things
+which personally were disagreeable in an endeavor to do this.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Twice during Washington&rsquo;s terms he was forced to act counter to the
+public sentiment. The first time was when a strenuous attempt was made by the
+French minister to break through the neutrality that had been proclaimed, when,
+according to John Adams, &ldquo;ten thousand people in the streets of
+Philadelphia, day after day, threatened to drag Washington out of his house,
+and effect a revolution in the government, or compel it to declare in favor of
+the French revolution and against England.&rdquo; The second time was when he
+signed the treaty of 1795 with Great Britain, which produced a popular outburst
+from one end of the country to the other. In neither case did Washington swerve
+an iota from what he thought right, writing, &ldquo;these are unpleasant
+things, but they must be met with firmness.&rdquo; Eventually the people always
+came back to their leader, and Jefferson sighed over the fact that &ldquo;such
+is the popularity of the President that the people will support him in whatever
+he will do or will not do, without appealing to their own reason or to anything
+but their feelings towards him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus24"></a>
+<img src="images/img24.jpg" width="600" height="310" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">PRESIDENTIAL MANSION, PHILADELPHIA</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+It is not to be supposed from this that Washington was above considering the
+popular bent, or was lacking in political astuteness. John Adams asserted that
+&ldquo;General Washington, one of the most attentive men in the world to the
+manner of doing things, owed a great proportion of his celebrity to this
+circumstance,&rdquo; and frequently he is to be found considering the
+popularity or expediency of courses. In 1776 he said, &ldquo;I have found it of
+importance and highly expedient to yield to many points in fact, without
+seeming to have done it, and this to avoid bringing on a too frequent
+discussion of matters which in a political view ought to be kept a little
+behind the curtain, and not to be made too much the subjects of disquisition.
+Time only can eradicate and overcome customs and prejudices of long
+standing&mdash;they must be got the better of by slow and gradual
+advances.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Elsewhere he wrote, &ldquo;In a word, if a man cannot act in all respects as he
+would wish, he must do what appears best, under the circumstances he is in.
+This I aim at, however short I may fall of the end;&rdquo; of a certain measure
+he thought, &ldquo;it has, however, like many other things in which I have been
+involved, two edges, neither of which can be avoided without falling on the
+other;&rdquo; and that even in small things he tried to be politic is shown in
+his journey through New England, when he accepted an invitation to a large
+public dinner at Portsmouth, and the next day, being at Exeter, he wrote in his
+diary, &ldquo;a jealousy subsists between this town (where the Legislature
+alternately sits) and Portsmouth; which, had I known it in time, would have
+made it necessary to have accepted an invitation to a public dinner, but my
+arrangements having been otherwise made, I could not.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor was Washington entirely lacking in finesse. He offered Patrick Henry a
+position after having first ascertained in a roundabout manner that it would be
+refused, and in many other ways showed that he understood good politics.
+Perhaps the neatest of his dodges was made when the French revolutionist Volney
+asked him for a general letter of introduction to the American people. This was
+not, for political and personal reasons, a thing Washington cared to give, yet
+he did not choose to refuse, so he wrote on a sheet of paper,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+&ldquo;C. Volney<br/>
+          needs no recommendation from<br/>
+                    Geo. Washington.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a very general belief that success in politics and truthfulness are
+incompatible, yet, as already shown, Washington prospered in politics, and the
+Rev. Mason L. Weems is authority for the popular statement that at six years of
+age George could not tell a lie. Whether this was so, or whether Mr. Weems was
+drawing on his imagination for his facts, it seems probable that Washington
+partially outgrew the disability in his more mature years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When trying to win the Indians to the English cause in 1754, Washington in his
+journal states that he &ldquo;let the young Indians who were in our camp know
+that the French wanted to kill the Half King,&rdquo; a diplomatic statement he
+hardly believed, which the writer says &ldquo;had its desired effect,&rdquo;
+and which the French editor declared to be an &ldquo;imposture.&rdquo; In this
+same campaign he was forced to sign a capitulation which acknowledged that he
+had been guilty of assassination, and this raised such a storm in Virginia when
+it became known that Washington hastened to deny all knowledge of the charge
+having been contained among the articles, and alleged that it had not been made
+clear to him when the paper had been translated and read. On the contrary,
+another officer present at the reading states that he refused to &ldquo;sign
+the Capitulation because they charged us with Assasination in it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In writing to an Indian agent in 1755, Washington was &ldquo;greatly
+enraptured&rdquo; at hearing of his approach, dwelt upon the man&rsquo;s
+&ldquo;hearty attachment to our glorious Cause&rdquo; and his &ldquo;Courage of
+which I have had very great proofs.&rdquo; Inclosing a copy of the letter to
+the governor, Washington said, &ldquo;the letter savors a little of flattery
+&amp;c., &amp;c., but this, I hope is justifiable on such an occasion.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With his London agent there was a little difficulty in 1771, and Washington
+objected to a letter received &ldquo;because there is one paragraph in
+particular in it … which appears to me to contain an implication of my having
+deviated from the truth.&rdquo; A more general charge was Charles Lee&rsquo;s:
+&ldquo;I aver that his Excellencies letter was from beginning to the end a most
+abominable lie.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a <i>ruse de guerre</i> Washington drew up for a spy in 1779 a series of
+false statements as to the position and number of his army for him to report to
+the British. And in preparation for the campaign of 1781 &ldquo;much trouble
+was taken and finesse used to misguide and bewilder Sir Henry Clinton by making
+a deceptive provision of ovens, forage and boats in his neighborhood.&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Nor were less pains taken to deceive our own army,&rdquo; and even
+&ldquo;the highest military as well as civil officers&rdquo; were deceived at
+this time, not merely that the secret should not leak out, but also &ldquo;for
+the important purpose of inducing the eastern and middle states to make greater
+exertions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When travelling through the South in 1791, Washington entered in his diary,
+&ldquo;Having suffered very much by the dust yesterday&mdash;and finding that
+parties of Horse, &amp; a number of other Gentlemen were intending to attend me
+part of the way to-day, I caused their enquiries respecting the time of my
+setting out, to be answered that, I should endeavor to do it before eight
+o&rsquo;clock; but I did it a little after five, by which means I avoided the
+inconveniences above mentioned.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Weld, in his &ldquo;Travels in America,&rdquo; published that &ldquo;General
+Washington told me that he never was so much annoyed by the mosquitos in any
+part of America as in Skenesborough, for that they used to bite through the
+thickest boot.&rdquo; When this anecdote appeared in print, good old Dr.
+Dwight, shocked at the taradiddle, and fearing its evil influence on
+Washington&rsquo;s fame, spoiled the joke by explaining in a book that &ldquo;a
+gentleman of great respectability, who was present when General Washington made
+the observation referred to, told me that he said, when describing those
+mosquitoes to Mr. Weld, that they &lsquo;bit through his stockings above the
+boots.&rsquo;&rdquo; Whoever invented the explanation should also have evolved
+a type of boots other than those worn by Washington, for unfortunately for the
+story Washington&rsquo;s military boots went above his &ldquo;small
+clothes,&rdquo; giving not even an inch of stocking for either mosquito or
+explanation. In 1786, Washington declared that &ldquo;I do not recollect that
+in the course of my life, I ever forfeited my word, or broke a promise made to
+any one,&rdquo; and at another time he wrote, &ldquo;I never say any thing of a
+Man that I have the smallest scruple of saying <i>to him</i>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From 1749 till 1784, and from 1789 till 1797, or a period of forty years,
+Washington filled offices of one kind or another, and when he died he still
+held a commission. Thus, excluding his boyhood, there were but seven years of
+his life in which he was not engaged in the public service. Even after his
+retirement from the Presidency he served on a grand jury, and before this he
+had several times acted as petit juror. In another way he was a good citizen,
+for when at Mount Vernon he invariably attended the election, rain or shine,
+though it was a ride of ten miles to the polling town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Both his enemies and his friends bore evidence to his honesty. Jefferson said,
+&ldquo;his integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever
+known, no motives of interest or consanguinity or friendship or hatred, being
+able to bias his decision. He was indeed in every sense of the words, a wise, a
+good, and a great man.&rdquo; Pickering wrote that &ldquo;to the excellency of
+his <i>virtues</i> I am not disposed to set any limits. All his views were
+upright, all his actions just&rdquo; Hamilton asserted that &ldquo;the General
+is a very honest Man;&rdquo; and Tilghman spoke of him as &ldquo;the honestest
+man that I believe ever adorned human nature.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap13"></a>INDEX.</h2>
+
+<p>
+ADAMS, John, opinion of Washington, use of appointing power,<br/>
+deal arranged by,<br/>
+dislike of Washington,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Samuel, opposed to Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Agriculture, Washington&rsquo;s fondness for,<br/>
+Ague, Washington&rsquo;s attacks of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ALEXANDER, Frances,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alexandria, assemblies at,<br/>
+Washington builds in,<br/>
+lots in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ALIQUIPPA, Queen,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alton, John,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ames, Fisher, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Appleby school,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ARMSTRONG, John, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ARNOLD, B.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Asses, breeding of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Aurora</i>,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BACHE, B.F., writes against Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BALLS, maternal ancestors of Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Balls,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bank-stock, holdings of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Barbadoes, Washington&rsquo;s visit to,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BARD, Dr., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BASSETT, Burwell,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Frances,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bath, Virginia, lots in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Battle of Brooklyn</i>, a farce,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Billiards,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BISHOP, Thomas,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BLAND, Mary,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, T., criticises Washington&rsquo;s bow,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Blueskin,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Books,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Boston, siege of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BOUCHER, Rev. J., quoted,<br/>
+mentioned,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bounties,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BRADDOCK, Edward, Washington and, defeat of,<br/>
+march of,<br/>
+mentioned,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Brasenose College, Lawrence Washington a fellow of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BRISSOT de Warville, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+British forgeries,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Brixted Parva, Lawrence Washington rector of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BROGLIE, Prince de, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Brooklyn, battle of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CALLENDER, James Thomson, publications of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CALVERT, Eleanor, marriage with Jack Custis,<br/>
+visit to Cambridge,<br/>
+remarriage,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cambridge, head-quarters at,<br/>
+mentioned,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CAMPBELL, A., portrait of Washington by,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cancer, George Washington&rsquo;s,<br/>
+Mary Washington&rsquo;s,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Capital. <i>See</i> Washington City.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cards,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CARLYLE, Washington&rsquo;s friendship for,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Major,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Sally,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CARROLL, Charles,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CARY, Mary,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Cato,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Centinel,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Charity, Washington&rsquo;s,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Charleston, ladies of, visit Washington,<br/>
+jackass at,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CHASTELLUX, Marquis de, quoted,<br/>
+marriage of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Children and Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Christ Church,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Christianity, Washington&rsquo;s view of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CLARK, Abraham, opinion of Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CLINTON, George, Washington&rsquo;s investment with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Sir H.,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s relations with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Clothes, Washington&rsquo;s taste in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Clubs, Washington&rsquo;s share in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+COBB, David, quoted,<br/>
+at Yorktown,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+COBBETT, William, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Colds, Washington&rsquo;s treatment of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Commissariat,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Congress, Continental, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+jealousy of Washington and the army,<br/>
+endeavors to insult Washington,<br/>
+part in the Conway cabal,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s election to,<br/>
+Washington in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Connecticut troops, misconduct of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Conotocarius,&rdquo; Indian name for Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Continental army,<br/>
+sickness of,<br/>
+farewell to,<br/>
+small-pox in,<br/>
+threatened mutiny of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Conway Cabal,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CONWAY, Thomas, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CORBIN, Richard,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CORNWALLIS, Lord, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Craigie house,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CRAIK, Dr. James, Washington&rsquo;s friendship for,<br/>
+bleeds Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CULPEPER, Lord,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Culpeper County,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CUSTIS, Eleanor P.,<br/>
+marriage to L. Lewis,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, G.W.P., education,<br/>
+quoted,<br/>
+acts,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, John Parke, relations with Washington,<br/>
+education,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Martha. <i>See</i> Washington, Martha.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Martha (&ldquo;Patsy&rdquo;), relations of Washington
+with,<br/>
+death,<br/>
+treatment of,<br/>
+property,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash; property,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dancing, Washington&rsquo;s fondness of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DANDRIDGE, Bartholomew,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Martha. <i>See</i> Washington, Martha.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Mrs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DEANE, Silas, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DE BUTTS, Lawrence,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Democratic criticism of Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DENT, Elizabeth,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DICK, Dr., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dismal Swamp Company,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Distillery at Mount Vernon,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+District of Columbia,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dogs,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DUANE, William, writes against Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Duelling, Washington&rsquo;s views on,<br/>
+threatened,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DUER, W.A., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DUMAS, M., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DUNLAP, W., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Duquesne, Fort,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Eltham,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Exeter, Bishop of, Sermons,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+FAIRFAX, Ann,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Bryan, Lord,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, George William,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Sally, 90-1,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Thomas, Lord,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, William,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fairfax County,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fairfax Parish,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Farewell Address,<br/>
+drafting of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fauntleroy, Betsy,<br/>
+William,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Federal city. <i>See</i> Washington City.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fees, Washington&rsquo;s gifts of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fertilization, Washington&rsquo;s value of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fish, Washington&rsquo;s fondness of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fishery at Mount Vernon,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fishing,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Flour, Washington&rsquo;s pride in his,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Forged letters,<br/>
+authorship of,<br/>
+Bache reprints,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fort Necessity,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fox hunting,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+FRANKLIN, B., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Frederick County, Washington stands for,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fredericksburg,<br/>
+residence of Mary Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+French and Indian War,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+French language, Washington on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+FRENEAU, P., writes against Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GAGE, Thomas, relations with Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GATES, Horatio, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+mentioned,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+General orders, quotations from,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Genet episode,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GENN, James, Washington learns surveying from,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Germantown, battle of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GERRY, Elbridge, attitude towards Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GIBBONS, Mary, scandal concerning,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GORDON, Rev. W., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Great Britain, Washington&rsquo;s attitude towards,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GREEN, Rev. Charles,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GREENE, N., friendship with Washington,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GRYMES, Lucy,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Half-King,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+HAMILTON, A., mentioned,<br/>
+quoted,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s relations with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+HARRISON, Benjamin,<br/>
+letter of,<br/>
+asks office,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, R.H.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+HENRY Eighth grants lands to Washingtons,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+HENRY, Patrick, quoted,<br/>
+mentioned,<br/>
+offered office,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Herring, sales of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hickey plot,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Horses, stud at Mount Vernon,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Houdon bust,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+HOWE, Lord, and Sir William, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Humphreys, D., quoted,<br/>
+relations with Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+HUNTER, J., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hunting,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Independence, Washington on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indians,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s diplomacy with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+James River Land Company, Washington&rsquo;s interest in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Jay treaty,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+JEFFERSON, Thomas, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+opinion of Washington,<br/>
+helps Freneau,<br/>
+quoted,<br/>
+mentioned,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+JONES, Gabriel,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Kenmore House,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+KNOX, Henry,<br/>
+relations with Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LAFAYETTE, Marquis de,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, G.W.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Virginia,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Land bounties,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash; companies,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latin, Washington&rsquo;s knowledge of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LAURENS, John, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LAWRENCE, Nathaniel, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lawsuits, Washington&rsquo;s dislike of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LEAR, T., friendship for,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LEE, Charles, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+libels Washington,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Henry, friendship for Washington,<br/>
+anecdote of,<br/>
+warns Washington of Jefferson&rsquo;s conduct,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, R.H., opinion of Washington,<br/>
+re-election of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, William, Washington&rsquo;s body-servant,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LEWIS, Elizabeth,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Fielding,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, &mdash;&mdash;. Jr.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Howell,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Lewis,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Robert,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lexington, battle of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Liveried servants,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lotteries, Washington&rsquo;s liking for,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LOVELL, John, opinion of Washington,<br/>
+quoted, 288.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lowland Beauty,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LYNCH, Thomas, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+McHENRY, James,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+McKNIGHT, Dr. C., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MACLAY, W., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MADISON, James, relations with Washington,<br/>
+quoted,<br/>
+drafts papers,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Magnolia,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MARSHALL, J., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MARYE, Rev. T., Washington&rsquo;s teacher,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MASON, George, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Massachusetts, difficulties of,<br/>
+&ldquo;slam&rdquo; at officers of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MASSEY, Rev. Lee, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mather&rsquo;s <i>Young Man&rsquo;s Companion</i>,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Matrimony, Washington&rsquo;s views on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Medical knowledge of Washington,<br/>
+treatment of last illness,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Medicine, Washington&rsquo;s aversion to,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MERCER, George, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MIFFLIN, Thomas, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+mentioned,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Military Company of Adventurers,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash; science, books on,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s knowledge of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Militia, evils of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Minutes of the Trial,&rdquo; authority of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mississippi Company,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Monmouth, battle of,<br/>
+allusions to,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MORRIS, Gouverneur, quoted,<br/>
+friendship with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Robert,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Roger,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mount Vernon, boyhood home of Washington,<br/>
+division of estate by will,<br/>
+invitation to visit,<br/>
+history of,<br/>
+name,<br/>
+house at,<br/>
+grounds,<br/>
+additions to land,<br/>
+management of,<br/>
+absence of Washington from,<br/>
+system at,<br/>
+work at,<br/>
+fishery of,<br/>
+distillery at,<br/>
+stud stable of,<br/>
+live stock of,<br/>
+profits of,<br/>
+desire to rent farms of,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s superintendence of,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s life at,<br/>
+slaves at,<br/>
+overseers of,<br/>
+British visit to,<br/>
+hunting at,<br/>
+shooting at,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MOYLAN, S.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MUSE, George, relations with Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Music, Washington&rsquo;s fondness of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nelson,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nepotism, Washington&rsquo;s views on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Newburg, threatened revolt of army at,<br/>
+New England, opposition to Washington,<br/>
+jealousy of,<br/>
+arranges deal,<br/>
+journey in,<br/>
+conduct of troops,<br/>
+officers,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+New Jersey troops, desertion of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+New York, Washington&rsquo;s visit to,<br/>
+borrows money for journey to,<br/>
+head-quarters at,<br/>
+warfare at,<br/>
+<i>Minutes of the Trial in</i>,<br/>
+proposed attack on,<br/>
+farewell to army at,<br/>
+presidential house at,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Newspapers,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nuts, Washington&rsquo;s fondness for,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oaths, Washington&rsquo;s use of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Office-seekers,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ohio, march to,<br/>
+journey to,<br/>
+<i>Journal</i>,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ohio Company,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Old Soldier</i>,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+PAINE, Thomas, relations with Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Paper money, depreciation of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pension of Mary Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+PEYRONEY, Chevalier,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Philadelphia, visit to,<br/>
+fever at,<br/>
+proposed attack on,<br/>
+capture of,<br/>
+Presidential house in,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s attempted purchase near,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+PHILIPSE, Mary,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+PICKERING, Timothy, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pohick Church,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Potomac Canal Company,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presidency, Washington in the,<br/>
+duties of,<br/>
+hospitality of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Privateer, Washington tries to secure share in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Purleigh, Lawrence Washington, rector of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Raffles, Washington&rsquo;s liking for,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+RAMSAY, W.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+RANDOLPH, Edmund, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, John, forges letters,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+REED, Joseph, sends print to Washington,<br/>
+relations with Washington,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Revolution, Washington&rsquo;s service in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ROBIN, Abbé, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ROBINSON, Beverly,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, John,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ROCHAMBEAU, Count,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ross, James, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Royal Gift,&rdquo; jackass,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Rules of civility,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+RUSH, Benjamin, anonymous letter of,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+RUTLEDGE, E.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+St. Clair&rsquo;s defeat,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+St. Paul&rsquo;s Church,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+SARGENT, J.D., opinion of Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+SCOTT, Charles, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Servants, Washington&rsquo;s,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shad, sales of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sharpless portrait,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sheep at Mount Vernon,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shooting,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Skenesborough, mosquitoes at,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Slavery, Washington&rsquo;s views on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Slaves, Washington&rsquo;s,<br/>
+runaway,<br/>
+carried off by British,<br/>
+sickness,<br/>
+laziness,<br/>
+punishment,<br/>
+rations of,<br/>
+thieving by,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Small-pox, Washington&rsquo;s attack of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+SMITH, Rev. W., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Southern tour,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Spain, king of, gift of jackass to Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+SPEARING, Ann,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+STEARN, Samuel, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+STEWART, R.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+STUART, Gilbert, opinion on Washington&rsquo;s face,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stuart portrait,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stud stable at Mount Vernon,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+SULLIVAN, John, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, W., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sunday, Washington&rsquo;s observance of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+SWEARINGEN, Thomas,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Taverns, Washington&rsquo;s view of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tea, Washington&rsquo;s fondness for,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+THACHER, Dr. James, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Theatre,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+THORNTON, Edward, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+TILGHMAN, Tench, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tobacco, Washington&rsquo;s crop of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Trenton, battle of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+TRUMBULL, Jonathan, wishes Washington removed,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Truro Parish,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+University, National, Washington&rsquo;s wish for,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Valley Forge,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+VAN BRAAM, J.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+VARICK, Richard,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+VERNON, Admiral E., Mount Vernon named after,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Virginia, social life of,<br/>
+clubs,<br/>
+British invasion of,<br/>
+convention,<br/>
+land bounties,<br/>
+elections,<br/>
+agricultural system of,<br/>
+deal with New England,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s office-holding in,<br/>
+estates, Washington&rsquo;s opinion of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash; Regiment, drunkenness of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+VOLNEY, C., Washington&rsquo;s diplomacy with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WADSWORTH, J., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Wakefield,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Walpole grant,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WANSEY, H., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Warm Springs, visit to,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WASHINGTON, Augustine,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Augustine (Jr.),
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Bushrod,<br/>
+letter to,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Charles,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Elizabeth (Betty). <i>See</i> Fielding.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Frances,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, George, ancestors of,<br/>
+birth of,<br/>
+his resemblance to the Balls,<br/>
+relations with his mother,<br/>
+his dislike of public recompense,<br/>
+views on public office,<br/>
+financial help to relatives,<br/>
+will of,<br/>
+views on drinking,<br/>
+loans,<br/>
+care of Custis property,<br/>
+adoption of Custis children,<br/>
+physique,<br/>
+weight,<br/>
+eyes,<br/>
+hair,<br/>
+teeth,<br/>
+nose,<br/>
+height,<br/>
+mouth,<br/>
+expression,<br/>
+gracefulness,<br/>
+complexion,<br/>
+pock-marked,<br/>
+modesty,<br/>
+manners,<br/>
+portraits of,<br/>
+strength,<br/>
+illnesses of,<br/>
+his last,<br/>
+medicine, his dislike of,<br/>
+fall of,<br/>
+hearing,<br/>
+education,<br/>
+handwriting,<br/>
+spelling,<br/>
+surveyor,<br/>
+secretaries of,<br/>
+journal to the Ohio,<br/>
+messages,<br/>
+farewell address,<br/>
+languages,<br/>
+music,<br/>
+reading,<br/>
+religion,<br/>
+church attendance,<br/>
+Sunday conduct,<br/>
+hunting,<br/>
+tolerance,<br/>
+love affairs,<br/>
+poetry,<br/>
+Barbadoes, visit to,<br/>
+Ohio, mission to,<br/>
+Boston, visit to, (1756)<br/>
+New York, visit to, (1773)<br/>
+marriage,<br/>
+appointed commander-in-chief,<br/>
+matrimony, his views on,<br/>
+morality,<br/>
+forged letters,<br/>
+agriculture, fondness for,<br/>
+[agriculture] system,<br/>
+[agriculture] study of,<br/>
+coat-of-arms of,<br/>
+as farmer,<br/>
+land purchases of,<br/>
+invents a plow,<br/>
+humor,<br/>
+income,<br/>
+accounts,<br/>
+property of,<br/>
+bounty lands of,<br/>
+investments in land companies,<br/>
+borrower,<br/>
+speculation, liking for,<br/>
+lotteries, liking for,<br/>
+raffles, liking for,<br/>
+interest in Potomac Canal Company,<br/>
+wealth of,<br/>
+slaves of,<br/>
+[slaves] care of,<br/>
+slavery, views on,<br/>
+charity,<br/>
+social life,<br/>
+headquarters life,<br/>
+dinners,<br/>
+levees,<br/>
+bows,<br/>
+ceremony, hatred of,<br/>
+conversation,<br/>
+tea, liking for,<br/>
+dancing, fondness of,<br/>
+staff,<br/>
+simple habits,<br/>
+dress of,<br/>
+Rules of Civility,<br/>
+neatness of,<br/>
+food,<br/>
+horsemanship,<br/>
+fishing, fondness for,<br/>
+card-playing,<br/>
+theatre, fondness for,<br/>
+embarrassment,<br/>
+library of,<br/>
+newspapers,<br/>
+abuse, sensitiveness to,<br/>
+friendships of,<br/>
+godfather,<br/>
+pall-bearer,<br/>
+Indian friends,<br/>
+[Indian] name,<br/>
+assassin,<br/>
+temper,<br/>
+quarrel of Hamilton with,<br/>
+children, relations with,<br/>
+enemies,<br/>
+[enemies] duelling and,<br/>
+drinks toasts,<br/>
+intrigues against,<br/>
+attacks on,<br/>
+insulted,<br/>
+Presidency,<br/>
+judgment,<br/>
+liveried servants of,<br/>
+courage of,<br/>
+swears,<br/>
+Fabian policy,<br/>
+rashness of,<br/>
+indecision of,<br/>
+lack of military knowledge,<br/>
+generalship,<br/>
+severity to soldiers,<br/>
+relations with Continental Congress,<br/>
+New England, dislike of,<br/>
+farewell to army,<br/>
+adjutant of Virginia,<br/>
+burgess,<br/>
+stands for Frederick County,<br/>
+elected,<br/>
+election expenses of,<br/>
+drafts law,<br/>
+inability to make speeches,<br/>
+stage fright,<br/>
+inauguration,<br/>
+in the Continental Congress,<br/>
+attitude towards Great Britain,<br/>
+threatened,<br/>
+popularity of,<br/>
+diplomacy of,<br/>
+truthfulness,<br/>
+serves on jury,<br/>
+attends elections,<br/>
+honesty,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, George Augustine,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Harriot,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, John,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, John Augustine,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Lawrence, Rev. (1st),
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Lawrence (2d),
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Lawrence, Major (3d),
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Lawrence, of Chotanck (4th),
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Lund,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Martha, sickness of,<br/>
+meets Washington,<br/>
+engaged,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s letters to,<br/>
+marriage,<br/>
+character,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s fondness for,<br/>
+wealth,<br/>
+clothing,<br/>
+housekeeper for,<br/>
+orthography, 93,<br/>
+children,<br/>
+visits to head-quarters,<br/>
+social life,<br/>
+mentioned,<br/>
+dower slaves,<br/>
+drafts of letters for,<br/>
+receptions,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Mary (Ball),
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Mildred,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Robert,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Samuel,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Thornton,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington City,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WATSON, Elkanah, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WAYNE, Anthony, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Weaving at Mount Vernon,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WEEMS, M.L., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WELD, Isaac, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wheat, Washington&rsquo;s production of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whiskey, distilling of, at Mount Vernon,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WHITE, Rev. W., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+William and Mary College,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Williamsburg,<br/>
+lots in,<br/>
+Washington goes to, for medical advice,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WILLIAMS, William, wishes Washington removed,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WILLING, Ann, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Winchester, lots in,<br/>
+election at, 295,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WOLCOTT, Oliver,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WOOD, John,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yorktown, siege of,
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12300 ***</div>
+</body>
+
+</html>
+
+
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #12300 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12300)
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The True George Washington, by Paul Leicester Ford
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: The True George Washington
+
+Author: Paul Leicester Ford
+
+Release Date: May 8, 2004 [eBook #12300]
+[Most recently updated: January 23, 2022]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: John R. Bilderback and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON ***
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The True George Washington
+
+by Paul Leicester Ford
+
+
+Author of “The Honorable Peter Stirling”
+Editor of “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson” and
+“The Sayings of Poor Richard”
+
+
+
+
+“That I have foibles, and perhaps many of them, I shall not deny. I
+should esteem myself, as the world would, vain and empty, were I to arrogate
+perfection.”
+—_Washington_
+
+“Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in
+malice.”
+—_Shakespeare_
+
+
+1896
+
+BY
+J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+_Tenth Edition_
+
+Electrotyped and Printed by J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
+
+
+THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
+TO
+WILLIAM F. HAVEMEYER,
+
+
+
+
+IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE INDEBTEDNESS OF THE AUTHOR TO HIS COLLECTION
+OF
+WASHINGTONIANA.
+
+
+Contents
+
+ Note
+ CHAPTER I.—FAMILY RELATIONS
+ CHAPTER II.—PHYSIQUE
+ CHAPTER III.—EDUCATION
+ CHAPTER IV.—RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX
+ CHAPTER V.—FARMER AND PROPRIETOR
+ CHAPTER VI.—MASTER AND EMPLOYER
+ CHAPTER VII.—SOCIAL LIFE
+ CHAPTER VIII.—TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS
+ CHAPTER IX.—FRIENDS
+ CHAPTER X.—ENEMIES
+ CHAPTER XI.—SOLDIER
+ CHAPTER XII.—CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER
+ INDEX
+
+
+
+
+List of Illustrations with Notes
+
+
+MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON. By JAMES SHARPLESS
+Painted for Washington in 1795, and presented by him to Nelly (Calvert)
+Stuart, widow of John Parke Custis, Washington’s adopted son. Her son
+George Washington Parke Custis, in whose presence the sittings were
+made, often spoke of the likeness as “almost perfect.”
+
+
+MEMORIAL TABLET OF LAURENCE AND AMEE WASHINGTON, IN SULGRAVE CHURCH,
+NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
+The injury of the effigy of Laurence Washington and the entire
+disappearance of the effigy of Amee antedate the early part of the
+present century, and probably were done in the Puritan period. Since
+the above tracing was made the brasses of the eleven children have been
+stolen, leaving nothing but the lettering and the shield of the
+Washington arms.
+
+
+BETTY WASHINGTON, WIFE OF FIELDING LEWIS
+Painted about 1750, and erroneously alleged to be by Copley. Original
+in the possession of Mr. R. Byrd Lewis, of Marmion, Virginia.
+
+
+JOHN AND MARTHA CUSTIS
+Original in the possession of General G.W. Custis Lee, of Lexington,
+Virginia.
+
+
+MINIATURE OF ELEANOR PARKE CUSTIS
+From the miniature by Gilbert Stuart, in the possession of her
+grandson, Edward Parke Lewis Custis, of Hoboken, New Jersey.
+
+
+FICTITIOUS PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON
+The lettering reads, “Done from an original Drawn from the Life, by
+Alex’r Campbell of Williamsburg in Virginia. Published as the act
+directs 9 Sept’r 1775 by C. Shepherd.” It is the first engraved
+portrait of Washington, and was issued to satisfy the English curiosity
+concerning the new commander-in-chief of the rebels. From the original
+print in the possession of Mr. W.F. Havemeyer, of New York.
+
+
+COPY SHEET FROM YOUNG MAN’S COMPANION
+The sheet from which Washington modelled his handwriting, and to which
+his earliest script shows a marked resemblance. From the original in
+the possession of the author.
+
+
+LETTER TO MRS. FAIRFAX
+Showing changes and corrections made by Washington at a later date.
+From original copy-book in the Washington MSS. in the Department of
+State.
+
+
+PORTRAIT OF MARY PHILIPSE
+From the original formerly in the possession of Mr. Frederick Philipse.
+
+
+PORTRAIT OF MARTHA CUSTIS
+Alleged to have been painted by Woolaston about 1757. It has been
+asserted by Mr. L.W. Washington and Mr. Moncure D. Conway that this is
+a portrait of Betty Washington Lewis, but in this they are wholly in
+error, as proof exists that it is a portrait of Mrs. Washington before
+her second marriage.
+
+
+SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON HILLS
+Made by Washington as a boy, and one of the earliest specimens of his
+work. The small drawing of the house represents it as it was before
+Washington enlarged it, and is the only picture of it known. Original
+in the Department of State.
+
+
+MOUNTAIN ROAD LOTTERY TICKET
+From the original in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
+
+
+FAMILY GROUP
+Painted by Edward Savage about 1795, and issued as a large engraving in
+1798. The original picture is now in the possession of Mr. William F.
+Havemeyer, of New York.
+
+
+DINNER INVITATION
+The official invitation while President, from the original in the
+possession of the author.
+
+
+DANCING AGREEMENT
+This gives only the first few names, many more following. The original
+was formerly in the possession of Mr. Thomas Biddle, of Philadelphia.
+
+
+BOOK-PLATE OF WASHINGTON
+This is a slight variation from the true Washington coat of arms, the
+changes being introduced by Washington. From the original in the
+possession of the author.
+
+
+SURVEY OF WAKEFIELD
+Washington’s birthplace. The survey was made in 1743, on the property
+coming into the possession of Augustine Washington (second) from his
+father, with the object of readjusting the boundary-lines. Original in
+the possession of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New York.
+
+
+WASHINGTON FAMILY BIBLE
+This record, with the exception of the interlined note concerning Betty
+Washington Lewis, is in the handwriting of George Washington, and was
+written when he was about sixteen years old. Original in the possession
+of Mrs. Lewis Washington, of Charlestown, West Virginia.
+
+
+MINIATURE OF MRS. WASHINGTON
+By an unknown artist. From the original in the possession of General
+G.W. Custis Lee, of Lexington, Virginia.
+
+
+EARLIEST AUTOGRAPH OF WASHINGTON
+On a fly-leaf of the volume to which this title belongs is written,
+“This autograph of Genl. Washington’s name is believed to be the
+earliest specimen of his writing, when he was probably not more than 8
+or 9 years of age.” This is a note by G.C. Washington, to whom
+Washington’s library descended. Original in the possession of the
+Boston Athenaeum.
+
+
+RULES OF CIVILITY
+First page of Washington’s boyish transcript, written when he was about
+thirteen years of age. Used here by courtesy of Mr. S.M. Hamilton and
+“Public Opinion,” who are preparing a fac-simile edition of the entire
+rules.
+
+
+LIFE MASK BY HOUDON
+Taken by Houdon in October, 1785. From the replica in the Historical
+Society of Pennsylvania.
+
+
+TITLE-PAGE OF JOURNAL OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1754
+Of this first edition but two copies are known. From the original in
+the Lenox Library.
+
+
+PRESIDENTIAL HOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA
+Philadelphia offered to furnish the house for the President during the
+time Congress sat in that city, but Washington “wholly declined living
+in any public building,” and rented this house from Robert Morris.
+Though it was considered one of the finest in the city, Washington
+several times complained of being cramped.
+
+[Illustration: SHARPLESS MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON, 1795]
+
+
+
+
+Note
+
+
+In every country boasting a history there may be observed a tendency to
+make its leaders or great men superhuman. Whether we turn to the
+legends of the East, the folk-lore of Europe, or the traditions of the
+native races of America, we find a mythology based upon the acts of man
+gifted with superhuman powers. In the unscientific, primeval periods in
+which these beliefs were born and elaborated into oral and written
+form, their origin is not surprising. But to all who have studied the
+creation of a mythology, no phase is a more curious one than that the
+keen, practical American of to-day should engage in the same process of
+hero-building which has given us Jupiter, Wotan, King Arthur, and
+others. By a slow evolution we have well-nigh discarded from the lives
+of our greatest men of the past all human faults and feelings; have
+enclosed their greatness in glass of the clearest crystal, and hung up
+a sign, “Do not touch.” Indeed, with such characters as Washington,
+Franklin, and Lincoln we have practically adopted the English maxim
+that “the king can do no wrong.” In place of men, limited by human
+limits, and influenced by human passions, we have demi-gods, so
+stripped of human characteristics as to make us question even whether
+they deserve much credit for their sacrifices and deeds.
+
+But with this process of canonization have we not lost more than we
+have gained, both in example and in interest? Many, no doubt, with the
+greatest veneration for our first citizen, have sympathized with the
+view expressed by Mark Twain, when he said that he was a greater man
+than Washington, for the latter “couldn’t tell a lie, while he could,
+but wouldn’t” We have endless biographies of Franklin, picturing him in
+all the public stations of life, but all together they do not equal in
+popularity his own human autobiography, in which we see him walking
+down Market Street with a roll under each arm, and devouring a third.
+And so it seems as if the time had come to put the shadow-boxes of
+humanity round our historic portraits, not because they are ornamental
+in themselves, but because they will make them examples, not mere
+idols.
+
+If the present work succeeds in humanizing Washington, and making him a
+man rather than a historical figure, its purpose will have been
+fulfilled. In the attempt to accomplish this, Washington has, so far as
+is possible, been made to speak for himself, even though at times it
+has compelled the sacrifice of literary form, in the hope that his own
+words would convey a greater sense of the personality of the man. So,
+too, liberal drafts have been made on the opinions and statements of
+his contemporaries; but, unless the contrary is stated or is obvious,
+all quoted matter is from Washington’s own pen. It is with pleasure
+that the author adds that the result of his study has only served to
+make Washington the greater to him.
+
+The writer is under the greatest obligation to his brother, Worthington
+Chauncey Ford, not merely for his numerous books on Washington, of
+which his “Writings of George Washington” is easily first in importance
+of all works relating to the great American, but also for much
+manuscript material which he has placed at the author’s service.
+Hitherto unpublished facts have been drawn from many other sources, but
+notably from the rich collection of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New
+York, from the Department of State in Washington, and from the
+Historical Society of Pennsylvania. To Mr. S.M. Hamilton, of the former
+institution, and to Mr. Frederick D. Stone, of the latter, the writer
+is particularly indebted for assistance.
+
+
+
+
+THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON
+
+
+
+
+I
+FAMILY RELATIONS
+
+
+Although Washington wrote that the history of his ancestors was, in his
+opinion, “of very little moment,” and “a subject to which I confess I
+have paid very little attention,” few Americans can prove a better
+pedigree. The earliest of his forebears yet discovered was described as
+“gentleman,” the family were granted lands by Henry the Eighth, held
+various offices of honor, married into good families, and under the
+Stuarts two were knighted and a third served as page to Prince Charles.
+Lawrence, a brother of the three thus distinguished, matriculated at
+Oxford as a “generosi filius” (the intermediate class between sons of
+the nobility, “armigeri filius,” and of the people, “plebeii filius”),
+or as of the minor gentry. In time he became a fellow and lector of
+Brasenose College, and presently obtained the good living of Purleigh.
+Strong royalists, the fortunes of the family waned along with King
+Charles, and sank into insignificance with the passing of the Stuart
+dynasty. Not the least sufferer was the rector of Purleigh, for the
+Puritan Parliament ejected him from his living, on the charge “that he
+was a common frequenter of ale-houses, not only himself sitting dayly
+tippling there … but hath oft been drunk,”—a charge indignantly denied
+by the royalists, who asserted that he was a “worthy Pious man, …
+always … a very Modest, Sober Person;” and this latter claim is
+supported by the fact that though the Puritans sequestered the rich
+living, they made no objection to his serving as rector at Brixted
+Parva, where the living was “such a Poor and Miserable one that it was
+always with difficulty that any one was persuaded to accept of it.”
+
+Poverty resulting, John, the eldest son of this rector, early took to
+the sea, and in 1656 assisted “as second man in Sayleing ye Vessel to
+Virginia.” Here he settled, took up land, presently became a county
+officer, a burgess, and a colonel of militia. In this latter function
+he commanded the Virginia troops during the Indian war of 1675, and
+when his great-grandson, George, on his first arrival on the frontier,
+was called by the Indians “Conotocarius,” or “devourer of villages,”
+the formidable but inappropriate title for the newly-fledged officer is
+supposed to have been due to the reputation that John Washington had
+won for his name among the Indians eighty years before.
+
+
+[Illustration: TABLET TO LAURENCE WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY IN
+SULGRAVE CHURCH]
+
+
+Both John’s son, Lawrence, and Lawrence’s son, Augustine, describe
+themselves in their wills as “gentlemen,” and both intermarried with
+the “gentry families” of Virginia. Augustine was educated at Appleby
+School, in England, like his grandfather followed the sea for a time,
+was interested in iron mines, and in other ways proved himself far more
+than the average Virginia planter of his day. He was twice
+married,—which marriages, with unconscious humor, he describes in his
+will as “several Ventures,”—had ten children, and died in 1743, when
+George, his fifth child and the first by his second “Venture,” was a
+boy of eleven. The father thus took little part in the life of the lad,
+and almost the only mention of him by his son still extant is the one
+recorded in Washington’s round school-boy hand in the family Bible, to
+the effect that “Augustine Washington and Mary Ball was Married the
+Sixth of March 17-30/31. Augustine Washington Departed this Life ye
+12th Day of April 1743, Aged 49 Years.”
+
+The mother, Mary Washington, was more of a factor, though chiefly by
+mere length of life, for she lived to be eighty-three, and died but ten
+years before her son. That Washington owed his personal appearance to
+the Balls is true, but otherwise the sentimentality that has been
+lavished about the relations between the two and her influence upon
+him, partakes of fiction rather than of truth. After his father’s death
+the boy passed most of his time at the homes of his two elder brothers,
+and this was fortunate, for they were educated men, of some colonial
+consequence, while his mother lived in comparatively straitened
+circumstances, was illiterate and untidy, and, moreover, if tradition
+is to be believed, smoked a pipe. Her course with the lad was blamed by
+a contemporary as “fond and unthinking,” and this is borne out by such
+facts as can be gleaned, for when his brothers wished to send him to
+sea she made “trifling objections,” and prevented his taking what they
+thought an advantageous opening; when the brilliant offer of a position
+on Braddock’s staff was tendered to Washington, his mother, “alarmed at
+the report,” hurried to Mount Vernon and endeavored to prevent him from
+accepting it; still again, after Braddock’s defeat, she so wearied her
+son with pleas not to risk the dangers of another campaign that
+Washington finally wrote her, “It would reflect dishonor upon me to
+refuse; and _that_, I am sure, must or _ought_ to give you greater
+uneasiness, than my going in an honorable command.” After he inherited
+Mount Vernon the two seem to have seen little of each other, though,
+when occasion took him near Fredericksburg, he usually stopped to see
+her for a few hours, or even for a night.
+
+Though Washington always wrote to his mother as “Honored Madam,” and
+signed himself “your dutiful and aff. son,” she none the less tried him
+not a little. He never claimed from her a part of the share of his
+father’s estate which was his due on becoming of age, and, in addition,
+“a year or two before I left Virginia (to make her latter days
+comfortable and free from care) I did, at her request, but at my own
+expence, purchase a commodious house, garden and Lotts (of her own
+choosing) in Fredericksburg, that she might be near my sister Lewis,
+her only daughter,—and did moreover agree to take her land and negroes
+at a certain yearly rent, to be fixed by Colo Lewis and others (of her
+own nomination) which has been an annual expence to me ever since, as
+the estate never raised one half the rent I was to pay. Before I left
+Virginia I answered all her calls for money; and since that period have
+directed my steward to do the same.” Furthermore, he gave her a
+phaeton, and when she complained of her want of comfort he wrote her,
+“My house is at your service, and [I] would press you most sincerely
+and most devoutly to accept it, but I am sure, and candor requires me
+to say, it will never answer your purposes in any shape whatsoever. For
+in truth it may be compared to a well resorted tavern, as scarcely any
+strangers who are going from north to south, or from south to north, do
+not spend a day or two at it. This would, were you to be an inhabitant
+of it, oblige you to do one of 3 things: 1st, to be always dressing to
+appear in company; 2d, to come into [the room] in a dishabille, or 3d
+to be as it were a prisoner in your own chamber. The first you’ld not
+like; indeed, for a person at your time of life it would be too
+fatiguing. The 2d, I should not like, because those who resort here
+are, as I observed before, strangers and people of the first
+distinction. And the 3d, more than probably, would not be pleasing to
+either of us.”
+
+Under these circumstances it was with real indignation that Washington
+learned that complaints of hers that she “never lived soe poore in all
+my life” were so well known that there was a project to grant her a
+pension. The pain this caused a man who always showed such intense
+dislike to taking even money earned from public coffers, and who
+refused everything in the nature of a gift, can easily be understood.
+He at once wrote a letter to a friend in the Virginia Assembly, in
+which, after reciting enough of what he had done for her to prove that
+she was under no necessity of a pension,—“or, in other words, receiving
+charity from the public,”—he continued, “But putting these things
+aside, which I could not avoid mentioning in exculpation of a
+presumptive want of duty on my part; confident I am that she has not a
+child that would not divide the last sixpence to relieve her from real
+distress. This she has been repeatedly assured of by me; and all of us,
+I am certain, would feel much hurt, at having our mother a pensioner,
+while we had the means of supporting her; but in fact she has an ample
+income of her own. I lament accordingly that your letter, which
+conveyed the first hint of this matter, did not come to my hands
+sooner; but I request, in pointed terms, if the matter is now in
+agitation in your Assembly, that all proceedings on it may be stopped,
+or in case of a decision in her favor, that it may be done away and
+repealed at my request.”
+
+Still greater mortification was in store for him, when he was told that
+she was borrowing and accepting gifts from her neighbors, and learned
+“on good authority that she is, upon all occasions and in all
+companies, complaining … of her wants and difficulties; and if not in
+direct terms, at least by strong innuendoes, endeavors to excite a
+belief that times are much altered, &c., &c., which not only makes
+_her_ appear in an unfavorable point of view, but _those also_ who are
+connected with her.” To save her feelings he did not express the “pain”
+he felt to her, but he wrote a brother asking him to ascertain if there
+was the slightest basis in her complaints, and “see what is necessary
+to make her comfortable,” for “while I have anything I will part with
+it to make her so;” but begging him “at the same time … to represent to
+her in delicate terms, the impropriety of her complaints, and
+_acceptance_ of favors, even when they are voluntarily offered, from
+any but relations.” Though he did not “touch upon this subject in a
+letter to her,” he was enough fretted to end the renting of her
+plantation, not because “I mean … to withhold any aid or support I can
+give from you; for whilst I have a shilling left, you shall have part,”
+but because “what I shall then give, I shall have credit for,” and not
+be “viewed as a delinquent, and considered perhaps by the world as [an]
+unjust and undutiful son.”
+
+In the last years of her life a cancer developed, which she refused to
+have “dressed,” and over which, as her doctor wrote Washington, the
+“Old Lady” and he had “a small battle every day.” Once Washington was
+summoned by an express to her bedside “to bid, as I was prepared to
+expect, the last adieu to an honored parent,” but it was a false alarm.
+Her health was so bad, however, that just before he started to New York
+to be inaugurated he rode to Fredericksburg, “and took a final leave of
+my mother, never expecting to see her more,” a surmise that proved
+correct.
+
+Only Elizabeth—or “Betty”—of Washington’s sisters grew to womanhood,
+and it is said that she was so strikingly like her brother that,
+disguised with a long cloak and a military hat, the difference between
+them was scarcely detectable. She married Fielding Lewis, and lived at
+“Kenmore House” on the Rappahannock, where Washington spent many a
+night, as did the Lewises at Mount Vernon. During the Revolution, while
+visiting there, she wrote her brother, “Oh, when will that day arrive
+when we shall meet again. Trust in the lord it will be soon,—till when,
+you have the prayers and kind wishes for your health and happiness of
+your loving and sincerely affectionate sister.” Her husband died “much
+indebted,” and from that time her brother gave her occasional sums of
+money, and helped her in other ways.
+
+Her eldest son followed in his father’s footsteps, and displeased
+Washington with requests for loans. He angered him still more by
+conduct concerning which Washington wrote to him as follows:
+
+“Sir, Your letter of the 11th of Octor. never came to my hands ’till
+yesterday. Altho’ your disrespectful conduct towards me, in coming into
+this country and spending weeks therein without ever coming near me,
+entitled you to very little notice or favor from me; yet I consent that
+you may get timber from off my Land in Fauquier County to build a house
+on your Lott in Rectertown. Having granted this, now let me ask you
+what your views were in purchasing a Lott in a place which, I presume,
+originated with and will end in two or three Gin shops, which probably
+will exist no longer than they serve to ruin the proprietors, and those
+who make the most frequent applications to them. I am, &c.”
+
+
+[Illustration: MRS FIELDING LEWIS (BETTY WASHINGTON)]
+
+
+Other of the Lewis boys pleased him better, and he appointed one an
+officer in his own “Life Guard.” Of another he wrote, when President,
+to his sister, “If your son Howell is living with you, and not usefully
+employed in your own affairs, and should incline to spend a few months
+with me, as a writer in my office (if he is fit for it) I will allow
+him at the rate of three hundred dollars a year, provided he is
+diligent in discharging the duties of it from breakfast until
+dinner—Sundays excepted. This sum will be punctually paid him, and I am
+particular in declaring beforehand what I require, and what he may
+expect, that there may be no disappointment, or false expectations on
+either side. He will live in the family in the same manner his brother
+Robert did.” This Robert had been for some time one of his secretaries,
+and at another time was employed as a rent-collector.
+
+Still another son, Lawrence, also served him in these dual capacities,
+and Washington, on his retirement from the Presidency, offered him a
+home at Mount Vernon. This led to a marriage with Mrs. Washington’s
+grandchild, Eleanor Custis, a match which so pleased Washington that he
+made arrangements for Lawrence to build on the Mount Vernon estate, in
+his will named him an executor, and left the couple a part of this
+property, as well as a portion of the residuary estate.
+
+As already noted, much of Washington’s early life was passed at the
+homes of his elder (half-) brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, who lived
+respectively at Mount Vernon and Wakefield. When Lawrence developed
+consumption, George was his travelling companion in a trip to
+Barbadoes, and from him, when he died of that disease, in 1752, came
+the bequest of Mount Vernon to “my loveing brother George.” To
+Augustine, in the only letter now extant, Washington wrote, “The
+pleasure of your company at Mount Vernon always did, and always will
+afford me infinite satisfaction,” and signed himself “your most
+affectionate brother.” Surviving this brother, he left handsome
+bequests to all his children.
+
+Samuel, the eldest of his own brothers, and his junior by but two
+years, though constantly corresponded with, was not a favorite. He
+seems to have had extravagant tendencies, variously indicated by five
+marriages, and by (perhaps as a consequence) pecuniary difficulties. In
+1781, Washington wrote to another brother, “In God’s name how did my
+brother Samuel get himself so enormously in debt?” Very quickly
+requests for loans followed, than which nothing was more irritating to
+Washington. Yet, though he replied that it would be “very inconvenient”
+to him, his ledger shows that at least two thousand dollars were
+advanced, and in a letter to this brother, on the danger of borrowing
+at interest, Washington wrote, “I do not make these observations on
+account of the money I purpose to lend you, because all I shall require
+is that you return the net sum when in your power, without interest.”
+Better even than this, in his will Washington discharged the debt.
+
+To the family of Samuel, Washington was equally helpful. For the eldest
+son he obtained an ensigncy, and “to save Thornton and you [Samuel] the
+expence of buying a horse to ride home on, I have lent him a mare.” Two
+other sons he assumed all the expenses of, and showed an almost
+fatherly interest in them. He placed them at school, and when the lads
+proved somewhat unruly he wrote them long admonitory letters, which
+became stern when actual misconduct ensued, and when one of them ran
+away to Mount Vernon to escape a whipping, Washington himself prepared
+“to correct him, but he begged so earnestly and promised so faithfully
+that there should be no cause for complaint in the future, that I have
+suspended punishment.” Later the two were sent to college, and in all
+cost Washington “near five thousand dollars.”
+
+An even greater trouble was their sister Harriot, whose care was
+assumed in 1785, and who was a member of Washington’s household, with
+only a slight interruption, till her marriage in 1796. Her chief
+failing was “no disposition … to be careful of her cloathes,” which
+were “dabbed about in every hole and corner and her best things always
+in use,” so that Washington said “she costs me enough!” To her uncle
+she wrote on one occasion, “How shall I apologise to my dear and
+Honor’d for intruding on his goodness so soon again, but being sensible
+for your kindness to me which I shall ever remember with the most
+heartfelt gratitude induces me to make known my wants. I have not had a
+pair of stays since I first came here: if you could let me have a pair
+I should be very much obleiged to you, and also a hat and a few other
+articles. I hope my dear Uncle will not think me extravagant for really
+I take as much care of my cloaths as I possibly can.” Probably the
+expense that pleased him best in her case was that which he recorded in
+his ledger “By Miss Harriot Washington gave her to buy wedding clothes
+$100.”
+
+His second and favorite brother, John Augustine, who was four years his
+junior, Washington described as “the intimate companion of my youth and
+the friend of my ripened age.” While the Virginia colonel was on the
+frontier, from 1754 to 1759, he left John in charge of all his business
+affairs, giving him a residence at and management of Mount Vernon. With
+this brother he constantly corresponded, addressing him as “Dear Jack,”
+and writing in the most intimate and affectionate terms, not merely to
+him, but when John had taken unto himself a wife, to her, and to “the
+little ones,” and signing himself “your loving brother.” Visits between
+the two were frequent, and invitations for the same still more so, and
+in one letter, written during the most trying moment of the Revolution,
+Washington said, “God grant you all health and happiness. Nothing in
+this world could contribute so to mine as to be fixed among you.” John
+died in 1787, and Washington wrote with simple but undisguised grief of
+the death of “my beloved brother.”
+
+The eldest son of this brother, Bushrod, was his favorite nephew, and
+Washington took much interest in his career, getting the lad admitted
+to study law with Judge James Wilson, in Philadelphia, and taking
+genuine pride in him when he became a lawyer and judge of repute. He
+made this nephew his travelling companion in the Western journey of
+1784, and at other times not merely sent him money, but wrote him
+letters of advice, dwelling on the dangers that beset young men, though
+confessing that he was himself “not such a Stoic” as to expect too much
+of youthful blood. To Bushrod, also, he appealed on legal matters,
+adding, “You may think me an unprofitable applicant in asking opinions
+and requiring services of you without dousing my money, but pay day may
+come,” and in this he was as good as his word, for in his will
+Washington left Bushrod, “partly in consideration of an intimation to
+his deceased father, while we were bachelors and he had kindly
+undertaken to superintend my Estates, during my military services in
+the former war between Great Britain and France, that if I should fall
+therein, Mt. Vernon … should become his property,” the home and
+“mansion-house farm,” one share of the residuary estate, his private
+papers, and his library, and named him an executor of the instrument.
+
+Of Washington’s relations with his youngest brother, Charles, little
+can be learned. He was the last of his brothers to die, and Washington
+outlived him so short a time that he was named in his will, though only
+for a mere token of remembrance. “I add nothing to it because of the
+ample provision I have made for his issue.” Of the children so
+mentioned, Washington was particularly fond of George Augustine
+Washington. As a mere lad he used his influence to procure for him an
+ensigncy in a Virginia regiment, and an appointment on Lafayette’s
+staff. When in 1784 the young fellow was threatened with consumption,
+his uncle’s purse supplied him with the funds by which he was enabled
+to travel, even while Washington wrote, “Poor fellow! his pursuit after
+health is, I fear, altogether fruitless.” When better health came, and
+with it a renewal of a troth with a niece of Mrs. Washington’s, the
+marriage was made possible by Washington appointing the young fellow
+his manager, and not merely did it take place at Mount Vernon, but the
+young couple took up their home there. More than this, that their
+outlook might be “more stable and pleasing,” Washington promised them
+that on his death they should not be forgotten. When the disease again
+developed, Washington wrote his nephew in genuine anxiety, and ended
+his letter, “At all times and under all circumstances you and yours
+will possess my affectionate regards.” Only a few days later the news
+of his nephew’s death reached him, and he wrote his widow, “To you who
+so well know the affectionate regard I had for our departed friend, it
+is unnecessary to describe the sorrow with which I was afflicted at the
+news of his death.” He asked her and her children “to return to your
+old habitation at Mount Vernon. You can go to no place where you can be
+more welcome, nor to any where you can live at less expence and
+trouble,” an offer, he adds, “made to you with my whole heart.”
+Furthermore, Washington served as executor, assumed the expense of
+educating one of the sons, and in his will left the two children part
+of the Mount Vernon estate, as well as other bequests, “on account of
+the affection I had for, and the obligation I was under to their father
+when living, who from his youth attached himself to my person, and
+followed my fortunes through the vicissitudes of the late Revolution,
+afterwards devoting his time for many years whilst my public
+employments rendered it impracticable for me to do it myself, thereby
+affording me essential services and always performing them in a manner
+the most filial and respectful.”
+
+Of his wife’s kith and kin Washington was equally fond. Both alone and
+with Mrs. Washington he often visited her mother, Mrs. Dandridge, and
+in 1773 he wrote to a brother-in-law that he wished “I was master of
+Arguments powerful enough to prevail upon Mrs. Dandridge to make this
+place her entire and absolute home. I should think as she lives a
+lonesome life (Betsey being married) it might suit her well, & be
+agreeable, both to herself & my Wife, to me most assuredly it would.”
+Washington was also a frequent visitor at “Eltham,” the home of Colonel
+Bassett, who had married his wife’s sister, and constantly corresponded
+with these relatives. He asked this whole family to be his guests at
+the Warm Springs, and, as this meant camping out in tents, he wrote,
+“You will have occasion to provide nothing, if I can be advised of your
+intentions, so that I may provide accordingly.” To another
+brother-in-law, Bartholomew Dandridge, he lent money, and forgave the
+debt to the widow in his will, also giving her the use during her life
+of the thirty-three negroes he had bid in at the bankruptcy sale of her
+husband’s property.
+
+The pleasantest glimpses of family feeling are gained, however, in his
+relations with his wife’s children and grandchildren. John Parke and
+Martha Parke Custis—or “Jack” and “Patsey,” as he called them—were at
+the date of his marriage respectively six and four years of age, and in
+the first invoice of goods to be shipped to him from London after he
+had become their step-father, Washington ordered “10 shillings worth of
+Toys,” “6 little books for children beginning to read,” and “1
+fashionable-dressed baby to cost 10 shillings.” When this latter shared
+the usual fate, he further wrote for “1 fashionable dress Doll to cost
+a guinea,” and for “A box of Gingerbread Toys & Sugar Images or
+Comfits.” A little later he ordered a Bible and Prayer-Book for each,
+“neatly bound in Turkey,” with names “in gilt letters on the inside of
+the cover,” followed ere long by an order for “1 very good Spinet” As
+Patsy grew to girlhood she developed fits, and “solely on her account
+to try (by the advice of her Physician) the effect of the waters on her
+Complaint,” Washington took the family over the mountains and camped at
+the “Warm Springs” in 1769, with “little benefit,” for, after ailing
+four years longer, “she was seized with one of her usual Fits & expired
+in it, in less than two minutes, without uttering a word, or groan, or
+scarce a sigh.” “The Sweet Innocent Girl,” Washington wrote, “entered
+into a more happy & peaceful abode than she has met with in the
+afflicted Path she has hitherto trod,” but none the less “it is an
+easier matter to conceive than to describe the distress of this family”
+at the loss of “dear Patsy Custis.”
+
+
+[Illustration: JOHN AND MARTHA PARKE CUSTIS]
+
+
+The care of Jack Custis was a worry to Washington in quite another way.
+As a lad, Custis signed his letters to him as “your most affectionate
+and dutiful son,” “yet I conceive,” Washington wrote, “there is much
+greater circumspection to be observed by a guardian than a natural
+parent.” Soon after assuming charge of the boy, a tutor was secured,
+who lived at Mount Vernon, but the boy showed little inclination to
+study, and when fourteen, Washington wrote that “his mind [is] … more
+turned … to Dogs, Horses and Guns, indeed upon Dress and equipage.”
+“Having his well being much at heart,” Washington wished to make him
+“fit for more useful purposes than [a] horse racer,” and so Jack was
+placed with a clergyman, who agreed to instruct him, and with him he
+lived, except for some home visits, for three years. Unfortunately, the
+lad, like the true Virginian planter of his day, had no taste for
+study, and had “a propensity for the [fair] sex.” After two or three
+flirtations, he engaged himself, without the knowledge of his mother or
+guardian, to Nellie Calvert, a match to which no objection could be
+made, except that, owing to his “youth and fickleness,” “he may either
+change and therefore injure the young lady; or that it may precipitate
+him into a marriage before, I am certain, he has ever bestowed a
+serious thought of the consequences; by which means his education is
+interrupted.” To avoid this danger, Washington took his ward to New
+York and entered him in King’s College, but the death of Patsy Custis
+put a termination to study, for Mrs. Washington could not bear to have
+the lad at such a distance, and Washington “did not care, as he is the
+last of the family, to push my opposition too far.” Accordingly, Jack
+returned to Virginia and promptly married.
+
+The young couple were much at Mount Vernon from this time on, and
+Washington wrote to “Dear Jack,” “I am always pleased with yours and
+Nelly’s abidance at Mount Vernon.” When the winter snows made the siege
+of Boston purely passive, the couple journeyed with Mrs. Washington to
+Cambridge, and visited at head-quarters for some months. The arrival of
+children prevented the repetition of such visits, but frequent letters,
+which rarely failed to send love to “Nelly and the little girls,” were
+exchanged. The acceptance of command compelled Washington to resign the
+care of Custis’s estate, for which service “I have never charged him or
+his sister, from the day of my connexion with them to this hour, one
+farthing for all the trouble I have had in managing their estates, nor
+for any expense they have been to me, notwithstanding some hundreds of
+pounds would not reimburse the moneys I have actually paid in attending
+the public meetings in Williamsburg to collect their debts, and
+transact these several matters appertaining to the respective estates.”
+Washington, however, continued his advice as to its management, and in
+other letters advised him concerning his conduct when Custis was
+elected a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. In the siege of
+Yorktown Jack served as an officer of militia, and the exposure proved
+too much for him. Immediately after the surrender, news reached
+Washington of his serious illness, and by riding thirty miles in one
+day he succeeded in reaching Eltham in “time enough to see poor Mr.
+Custis breath his last,” leaving behind him “four lovely children,
+three girls and a boy.”
+
+Owing to his public employment, Washington refused to be guardian for
+these “little ones,” writing “that it would be injurious to the
+children and madness in me, to undertake, _as a principle_, a trust
+which I could not discharge. Such aid, however, as it ever may be with
+me to give to the children especially the boy, I will afford with all
+my heart, and on this assurance you may rely.” Yet “from their earliest
+infancy” two of Jack’s children, George Washington Parke and Eleanor
+Parke Custis, lived at Mount Vernon, for, as Washington wrote in his
+will, “it has always been my intention, since my expectation of having
+issue has ceased, to consider the grandchildren of my wife in the same
+light as my own relations, and to act a friendly part by them.” Though
+the cares of war prevented his watching their property interests, his
+eight years’ absence could not make him forget them, and on his way to
+Annapolis, in 1783, to tender Congress his resignation, he spent sundry
+hours of his time in the purchase of gifts obviously intended to
+increase the joy of his homecoming to the family circle at Mount
+Vernon; set forth in his note-book as follows:
+
+“By Sundries bot. in Phila. A Locket	£5  5 3 Small Pockt. Books	1
+ 10 3 Sashes	1  5  0 Dress Cap	2  8 Hatt	3  10
+Handkerchief	1 Childrens Books	4  6 Whirligig	1  6 Fiddle	2
+ 6 Quadrille Boxes	1  17  6.”
+
+Indeed, in every way Washington showed how entirely he considered
+himself as a father, not merely speaking of them frequently as “the
+children,” but even alluding to himself in a letter to the boy as “your
+papa.” Both were much his companions during the Presidency. A frequent
+sight in New York and Philadelphia was Washington taking “exercise in
+the coach with Mrs. Washington and the two children,” and several times
+they were taken to the theatre and on picnics.
+
+For Eleanor, or “Nelly,” who grew into a great beauty, Washington
+showed the utmost tenderness, and on occasion interfered to save her
+from her grandmother, who at moments was inclined to be severe, in one
+case to bring the storm upon himself. For her was bought a “Forte
+piano,” and later, at the cost of a thousand dollars, a very fine
+imported harpsichord, and one of Washington’s great pleasures was to
+have her play and sing to him. His ledger constantly shows gifts to her
+ranging from “The Wayworn traveller, a song for Miss Custis,” to “a pr.
+of gold eardrops” and a watch. The two corresponded. One letter from
+Washington merits quotation:
+
+
+[Illustration: ELLANOR (NELLY) CUSTIS]
+
+
+“Let me touch a little now on your Georgetown ball, and happy, thrice
+happy, for the fair who assembled on the occasion, that there was a man
+to spare; for had there been 79 ladies and only 78 gentlemen, there
+might, in the course of the evening have been some disorder among the
+caps; notwithstanding the apathy which _one_ of the company entertains
+for the ‘_youth_’ of the present day, and her determination ‘Never to
+give herself a moment’s uneasiness on account of any of them.’ A hint
+here; men and women feel the same inclinations towards each other _now_
+that they always have done, and which they will continue to do until
+there is a new order of things, and _you_, as others have done, may
+find, perhaps, that the passions of your sex are easier raised than
+allayed. Do not therefore boast too soon or too strongly of your
+insensibility to, or resistance of, its powers. In the composition of
+the human frame there is a good deal of inflammable matter, however
+dormant it may lie for a time, and like an intimate acquaintance of
+yours, when the torch is put to it, _that_ which is _within you_ may
+burst into a blaze; for which reason and especially too, as I have
+entered upon the chapter of advices, I will read you a lecture from
+this text.”
+
+Not long after this was written, Nelly, as already mentioned, was
+married at Mount Vernon to Washington’s nephew, Lawrence Lewis, and in
+time became joint-owner with her husband of part of that place.
+
+As early as 1785 a tutor was wanted for “little Washington,” as the lad
+was called, and Washington wrote to England to ask if some “worthy man
+of the cloth could not be obtained,” “for the boy is a remarkably fine
+one, and my intention is to give him a liberal education.” His training
+became part of the private secretary’s duty, both at Mount Vernon and
+New York and Philadelphia, but the lad inherited his father’s traits,
+and “from his infancy … discovered an almost unconquerable disposition
+to indolence.” This led to failures which gave Washington “extreme
+disquietude,” and in vain he “exhorted him in the most parental and
+friendly manner.” Custis would express “sorrow and repentance” and do
+no better. Successively he was sent to the College of Philadelphia, the
+College of New Jersey, and that at Annapolis, but from each he was
+expelled, or had to be withdrawn. Irritating as it must have been, his
+guardian never in his letters expressed anything but affection,
+shielded the lad from the anger of his step-father, and saw that he was
+properly supplied with money, of which he asked him to keep a careful
+account,—though this, as Washington wrote, was “not because I want to
+know how you spend your money.” After the last college failure a
+private tutor was once more engaged, but a very few weeks served to
+give Washington “a thorough conviction that it was in vain to keep
+Washington Custis to any literary pursuits, either in a public Seminary
+or at home,” and, as the next best thing, he procured him a cornetcy in
+the provisional army. Even here, balance was shown; for, out of
+compliment and friendship to Washington, “the Major Generals were
+desirous of placing him as lieutenant in the first instance; but his
+age considered, I thought it more eligible that he should enter into
+the lowest grade.”
+
+In this connection one side of Washington’s course with his relations
+deserves especial notice. As early as 1756 he applied for a commission
+in the Virginia forces for his brother, and, as already shown, he
+placed several of his nephews and other connections in the
+Revolutionary or provisional armies. But he made clear distinction
+between military and civil appointments, and was very scrupulous about
+the latter. When his favorite nephew asked for a Federal appointment,
+Washington answered,—
+
+“You cannot doubt my wishes to see you appointed to any office of honor
+or emolument in the new government, to the duties of which you are
+competent; but however deserving you may be of the one you have
+suggested, your standing at the bar would not justify my nomination of
+you as attorney to the Federal District Court in preference to some of
+the oldest and most esteemed general court lawyers in your State, who
+are desirous of this appointment. My political conduct in nominations,
+even if I were uninfluenced by principle, must be exceedingly
+circumspect and proof against just criticism; for the eyes of Argus are
+upon me, and no slip will pass unnoticed, that can be improved into a
+supposed partiality for friends or relations.”
+
+And that in this policy he was consistent is shown by a letter of
+Jefferson, who wrote to an office-seeking relative, “The public will
+never be made to believe that an appointment of a relative is made on
+the ground of merit alone, uninfluenced by family views; nor can they
+ever see with approbation offices, the disposal of which they entrust
+to their Presidents for public purposes, divided out as family
+property. Mr. Adams degraded himself infinitely by his conduct on this
+subject, as Genl. Washington had done himself the greatest honor. With
+two such examples to proceed by, I should be doubly inexcusable to
+err.”
+
+There were many other more distant relatives with whom pleasant
+relations were maintained, but enough has been said to indicate the
+intercourse. Frequent were the house-parties at Mount Vernon, and how
+unstinted hospitality was to kith and kin is shown by many entries in
+Washington’s diary, a single one of which will indicate the rest: “I
+set out for my return home—at which I arrived a little after noon—And
+found my Brother Jon Augustine his Wife; Daughter Milly, & Sons Bushrod
+& Corbin, & the Wife of the first. Mr. Willm Washington & his Wife and
+4 Children.”
+
+His will left bequests to forty-one of his own and his wife’s
+relations. “God left him childless that he might be the father of his
+country.”
+
+
+
+
+II
+PHYSIQUE
+
+
+Writing to his London tailor for clothes, in 1763, Washington directed
+him to “take measure of a gentleman who wares well-made cloaths of the
+following size: to wit, 6 feet high and proportionably made—if anything
+rather slender than thick, for a person of that highth, with pretty
+long arms and thighs. You will take care to make the breeches longer
+than those you sent me last, and I would have you keep the measure of
+the cloaths you now make, by you, and if any alteration is required in
+my next it shall be pointed out.” About this time, too, he ordered “6
+pr. Man’s riding Gloves—rather large than the middle size,”… and
+several dozen pairs of stockings, “to be long, and tolerably large.”
+
+The earliest known description of Washington was written in 1760 by his
+companion-in-arms and friend George Mercer, who attempted a
+“portraiture” in the following words: “He may be described as being as
+straight as an Indian, measuring six feet two inches in his stockings,
+and weighing 175 pounds when he took his seat in the House of Burgesses
+in 1759. His frame is padded with well-developed muscles, indicating
+great strength. His bones and joints are large, as are his feet and
+hands. He is wide shouldered, but has not a deep or round chest; is
+neat waisted, but is broad across the hips, and has rather long legs
+and arms. His head is well shaped though not large, but is gracefully
+poised on a superb neck. A large and straight rather than prominent
+nose; blue-gray penetrating eyes, which are widely separated and
+overhung by a heavy brow. His face is long rather than broad, with high
+round cheek bones, and terminates in a good firm chin. He has a clear
+though rather a colorless pale skin, which burns with the sun. A
+pleasing, benevolent, though a commanding countenance, dark brown hair,
+which he wears in a cue. His mouth is large and generally firmly
+closed, but which from time to time discloses some defective teeth. His
+features are regular and placid, with all the muscles of his face under
+perfect control, though flexible and expressive of deep feeling when
+moved by emotion. In conversation he looks you full in the face, is
+deliberate, deferential and engaging. His voice is agreeable rather
+than strong. His demeanor at all times composed and dignified. His
+movements and gestures are graceful, his walk majestic, and he is a
+splendid horseman.”
+
+Dr. James Thacher, writing in 1778, depicted him as “remarkably tall,
+full six feet, erect and well proportioned. The strength and proportion
+of his joints and muscles, appear to be commensurate with the
+pre-eminent powers of his mind. The serenity of his countenance, and
+majestic gracefulness of his deportment, impart a strong impression of
+that dignity and grandeur, which are his peculiar characteristics, and
+no one can stand in his presence without feeling the ascendancy of his
+mind, and associating with his countenance the idea of wisdom,
+philanthropy, magnanimity and patriotism. There is a fine symmetry in
+the features of his face, indicative of a benign and dignified spirit.
+His nose is straight, and his eye inclined to blue. He wears his hair
+in a becoming cue, and from his forehead it is turned back and powdered
+in a manner which adds to the military air of his appearance. He
+displays a native gravity, but devoid of all appearance of
+ostentation.” In this same year a friend wrote, “General Washington is
+now in the forty-seventh year of his age; he is a well-made man, rather
+large boned, and has a tolerably genteel address; his features are
+manly and bold, his eyes of a bluish cast and very lively; his hair a
+deep brown, his face rather long and marked with the small-pox; his
+complexion sunburnt and without much color, and his countenance
+sensible, composed and thoughtful; there is a remarkable air of dignity
+about him, with a striking degree of gracefulness.”
+
+In 1789 Senator Maclay saw “him as he really is. In stature about six
+feet, with an unexceptionable make, but lax appearance. His frame would
+seem to want filling up. His motions rather slow than lively, though he
+showed no signs of having suffered by gout or rheumatism. His
+complexion pale, nay, almost cadaverous. His voice hollow and
+indistinct, owing, as I believe, to artificial teeth before his upper
+jaw, which occasions a flatness.”
+
+From frequent opportunity of seeing Washington between 1794 and 1797,
+William Sullivan described him as “over six feet in stature; of strong,
+bony, muscular frame, without fullness of covering, well-formed and
+straight. He was a man of most extraordinary strength. In his own
+house, his action was calm, deliberate, and dignified, without
+pretension to gracefulness, or peculiar manner, but merely natural, and
+such as one would think it should be in such a man. When walking in the
+street, his movement had not the soldierly air which might be expected.
+His habitual motions had been formed, long before he took command of
+the American Armies, in the wars of the interior and in the surveying
+of wilderness lands, employments in which grace and elegance were not
+likely to be acquired. At the age of sixty-five, time had done nothing
+towards bending him out of his natural erectness. His deportment was
+invariably grave; it was sobriety that stopped short of sadness.”
+
+The French officers and travellers supply other descriptions. The Abbé
+Robin found him of “tall and noble stature, well proportioned, a fine,
+cheerful, open countenance, a simple and modest carriage; and his whole
+mien has something in it that interests the French, the Americans, and
+even enemies themselves in his favor.”
+
+The Marquis de Chastellux wrote enthusiastically, “In speaking of this
+perfect whole of which General Washington furnishes the idea, I have
+not excluded exterior form. His stature is noble and lofty, he is well
+made, and exactly proportionate; his physiognomy mild and agreeable,
+but such as to render it impossible to speak particularly of any of his
+features, so that in quitting him you have only the recollection of a
+fine face. He has neither a grave nor a familiar face, his brow is
+sometimes marked with thought, but never with inquietude; in inspiring
+respect he inspires confidence, and his smile is always the smile of
+benevolence.”
+
+To this description, however, Brissot de Warville took exception, and
+supplied his own picture by writing in 1791, “You have often heard me
+blame M. Chastellux for putting too much sprightliness in the character
+he has drawn of this general. To give pretensions to the portrait of a
+man who has none is truly absurd. The General’s goodness appears in his
+looks. They have nothing of that brilliancy which his officers found in
+them when he was at the head of his army; but in conversation they
+become animated. He has no characteristic traits in his figure, and
+this has rendered it always so difficult to describe it: there are few
+portraits which resemble him. All his answers are pertinent; he shows
+the utmost reserve, and is very diffident; but, at the same time, he is
+firm and unchangeable in whatever he undertakes. His modesty must be
+very astonishing, especially to a Frenchman.”
+
+British travellers have left a number of pen-portraits. An anonymous
+writer in 1790 declared that in meeting him “it was not necessary to
+announce his name, for his peculiar appearance, his firm forehead,
+Roman nose, and a projection of the lower jaw, his height and figure,
+could not be mistaken by any one who had seen a full-length picture of
+him, and yet no picture accurately resembled him in the minute traits
+of his person. His features, however, were so marked by prominent
+characteristics, which appear in all likenesses of him, that a stranger
+could not be mistaken in the man; he was remarkably dignified in his
+manners, and had an air of benignity over his features which his
+visitant did not expect, being rather prepared for sternness of
+countenance…. his smile was extraordinarily attractive. It was observed
+to me that there was an expression in Washington’s face that no painter
+had succeeded in taking. It struck me no man could be better formed for
+command. A stature of six feet, a robust, but well-proportioned frame,
+calculated to sustain fatigue, without that heaviness which generally
+attends great muscular strength, and abates active exertion, displayed
+bodily power of no mean standard. A light eye and full—the very eye of
+genius and reflection rather than of blind passionate impulse. His nose
+appeared thick, and though it befitted his other features, was too
+coarsely and strongly formed to be the handsomest of its class. His
+mouth was like no other that I ever saw; the lips firm and the under
+jaw seeming to grasp the upper with force, as if its muscles were in
+full action when he sat still.”
+
+Two years later, an English diplomat wrote of him, “His person is tall
+and sufficiently graceful; his face well formed, his complexion rather
+pale, with a mild philosophic gravity in the expression of it In his
+air and manner he displays much natural dignity; in his address he is
+cold, reserved, and even phlegmatic, though without the least
+appearance of haughtiness or ill-nature; it is the effect, I imagine,
+of constitutional diffidence. That caution and circumspection which
+form so striking and well known a feature in his military, and, indeed,
+in his political character, is very strongly marked in his countenance,
+for his eyes retire inward (do you understand me?) and have nothing of
+fire of animation or openness in their expression.”
+
+Wansey, who visited Mount Vernon in 1795, portrayed “The President in
+his person” as “tall and thin, but erect; rather of an engaging than a
+dignified presence. He appears very thoughtful, is slow in delivering
+himself, which occasions some to conclude him reserved, but it is
+rather, I apprehend, the effect of much thinking and reflection, for
+there is great appearance to me of affability and accommodation. He was
+at this time in his sixty-third year … but he has very little the
+appearance of age, having been all his life long so exceeding
+temperate.”
+
+In 1797, Weld wrote, “his chest is full; and his limbs, though rather
+slender, well shaped and muscular. His head is small, in which respect
+he resembles the make of a great number of his countrymen. His eyes are
+of a light grey colour; and in proportion to the length of his face,
+his nose is long. Mr. Stewart, the eminent portrait painter, told me,
+that there were features in his face totally different from what he
+ever observed in that of any other human being; the sockets for the
+eyes, for instance, are larger than what he ever met with before, and
+the upper part of the nose broader. All his features, he observed, were
+indicative of the strongest and most ungovernable passions, and had he
+been born in the forests, it was his opinion that he would have been
+the fiercest man among the savage tribes.”
+
+Other and briefer descriptions contain a few phrases worth quoting.
+Samuel Sterns said, “His countenance commonly carries the impression of
+a serious cast;” Maclay, that “the President seemed to bear in his
+countenance a settled aspect of melancholy;” and the Prince de Broglie
+wrote, “His pensive eyes seem more attentive than sparkling, but their
+expression is benevolent, noble and self-possessed.” Silas Deane in
+1775 said he had “a very young look and an easy soldier-like air and
+gesture,” and in the same year Curwen mentioned his “fine figure” and
+“easy and agreeable address.” Nathaniel Lawrence noted in 1783 that
+“the General weighs commonly about 210 pounds.” After death, Lear
+reports that “Doctor Dick measured the body, which was as follows—In
+length 6 ft. 3-1/2 inches exact. Across the shoulders 1.9. Across the
+elbows 2.1.” The pleasantest description is Jefferson’s: “His person,
+you know, was fine, his stature exactly what one would wish, his
+deportment easy, erect and noble.”
+
+How far the portraits of Washington conveyed his expression is open to
+question. The quotation already given which said that no picture
+accurately resembled him in the minute traits of his person is worth
+noting. Furthermore, his expression varied much according to
+circumstances, and the painter saw it only in repose. The first time he
+was drawn, he wrote a friend, “Inclination having yielded to
+Importunity, I am now contrary to all expectation under the hands of
+Mr. Peale; but in so grave—so sullen a mood—and now and then under the
+influence of Morpheus, when some critical strokes are making, that I
+fancy the skill of this Gentleman’s Pencil will be put to it, in
+describing to the World what manner of man I am.” This passiveness
+seems to have seized him at other sittings, for in 1785 he wrote to a
+friend who asked him to be painted, “_In for a penny, in for a Pound_,
+is an old adage. I am so hackneyed to the touches of the painter’s
+pencil that I am now altogether at their beck; and sit ‘like Patience
+on a monument,’ whilst they are delineating the lines of 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 of the saddle. The next time I submitted very
+reluctantly, but with less flouncing. Now, no dray-horse moves more
+readily to his thills than I to the painter’s chair.” His aide,
+Laurens, bears this out by writing of a miniature, “The defects of this
+portrait are, that the visage is too long, and old age is too strongly
+marked in it. He is not altogether mistaken, with respect to the
+languor of the general’s eye; for altho’ his countenance when affected
+either by joy or anger, is full of expression, yet when the muscles are
+in a state of repose, his eye certainly wants animation.”
+
+
+[Illustration: FIRST (FICTITIOUS) ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON]
+
+
+One portrait which furnished Washington not a little amusement was an
+engraving issued in London in 1775, when interest in the “rebel
+General” was great. This likeness, it is needless to say, was entirely
+spurious, and when Reed sent a copy to head-quarters, Washington wrote
+to him, “Mrs. Washington desires I will thank you for the picture sent
+her. Mr. Campbell, whom I never saw, to my knowledge, has made a very
+formidable figure of the Commander-in-chief, giving him a sufficient
+portion of terror in his countenance.”
+
+The physical strength mentioned by nearly every one who described
+Washington is so undoubted that the traditions of his climbing the
+walls of the Natural Bridge, throwing a stone across the Rappahannock
+at Fredericksburg, and another into the Hudson from the top of the
+Palisades, pass current more from the supposed muscular power of the
+man than from any direct evidence. In addition to this, Washington in
+1755 claimed to have “one of the best of constitutions,” and again he
+wrote, “for my own part I can answer, I have a constitution hardy
+enough to encounter and undergo the most severe trials.”
+
+This vigor was not the least reason of Washington’s success. In the
+retreat from Brooklyn, “for forty-eight hours preceeding that I had
+hardly been off my horse,” and between the 13th and the 19th of June of
+1777 “I was almost constantly on horseback.” After the battle of
+Monmouth, as told elsewhere, he passed the night on a blanket; the
+first night of the siege of York “he slept under a mulberry tree, the
+root serving for a pillow,” and another time he lay “all night in my
+Great Coat & Boots, in a birth not long enough for me by the head, &
+much cramped.” Besides the physical strain there was a mental one.
+During the siege of Boston he wrote that “The reflection on my
+situation and that of this army, produces many an uneasy hour when all
+around me are wrapped in sleep.” Humphreys relates that at Newburg in
+1783 a revolt of the whole army seemed imminent, and “when General
+Washington rose from bed on the morning of the meeting, he told the
+writer his anxiety had prevented him from sleeping one moment the
+preceeding night.” Washington observed, in a letter written after the
+Revolution, “strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true, that it
+was not until lately I could get the better of my usual custom of
+ruminating as soon as I awoke in the morning, on the business of the
+ensuing day; and of my surprise at finding, after revolving many things
+in my mind that I was no longer a public man, or had any thing to do
+with public transactions.”
+
+Despite his strength and constitution, Washington was frequently the
+victim of illness. What diseases of childhood he suffered are not
+known, but presumably measles was among them, for when his wife within
+the first year of married life had an attack he cared for her without
+catching the complaint. The first of his known illnesses was “Ague and
+Feaver, which I had to an extremity” about 1748, or when he was
+sixteen.
+
+In the sea voyage to Barbadoes in 1751, the seamen told Washington that
+“they had never seen such weather before,” and he says in his diary
+that the sea “made the Ship rowl much and me very sick.” While in the
+island, he went to dine with a friend “with great reluctance, as the
+small-pox was in his family.” A fortnight later Washington “was
+strongly attacked with the small Pox,” which confined him for nearly a
+month, and, as already noted, marked his face for life. Shortly after
+the return voyage he was “taken with a violent pleurise, which …
+reduced me very low.”
+
+During the Braddock march, “immediately upon our leaving the camp at
+George’s Creek, on the 14th, … I was seized with violent fevers and
+pains in my head, which continued without intermission ’till the 23d
+following, when I was relieved, by the General’s [Braddock] absolutely
+ordering the physicians to give me Dr. James’ powders (one of the most
+excellent medicines in the world), for it gave me immediate ease, and
+removed my fevers and other complaints in four days’ time. My illness
+was too violent to suffer me to ride; therefore I was indebted to a
+covered wagon for some part of my transportation; but even in this I
+could not continue far, for the jolting was so great, I was left upon
+the road with a guard, and necessaries, to wait the arrival of Colonel
+Dunbar’s detachment which was two days’ march behind us, the General
+giving me his word of honor, that I should be brought up, before he
+reached the French fort. This _promise_, and the doctor’s _threats_,
+that, if I persevered in my attempts to get on, in the condition I was,
+my life would be endangered, determined me to halt for the above
+detachment.” Immediately upon his return from that campaign, he told a
+brother, “I am not able, were I ever so willing, to meet you in town,
+for I assure you it is with some difficulty, and with much fatigue,
+that I visit my plantations in the Neck; so much has a sickness of five
+weeks’ continuance reduced me.”
+
+On the frontier, towards the end of 1757, he was seized with a violent
+attack of dysentery and fever, which compelled him to leave the army
+and retire to Mount Vernon. Three months later he said, “I have never
+been able to return to my command, … my disorder at times returning
+obstinately upon me, in spite of the efforts of all the sons of
+Aesculapius, whom I have hitherto consulted. At certain periods I have
+been reduced to great extremity, and have too much reason to apprehend
+an approaching decay, being visited with several symptoms of such a
+disease…. I am now under a strict regimen, and shall set out to-morrow
+for Williamsburg to receive the advice of the best physician there. My
+constitution is certainly greatly impaired, and … nothing can retrieve
+it, but the greatest care and the most circumspect conduct.” It was in
+this journey that he met his future wife, and either she or the doctor
+cured him, for nothing more is heard of his approaching “decay.”
+
+In 1761 he was attacked with a disease which seems incidental to new
+settlements, known in Virginia at that time as the “river fever,” and a
+hundred years later, farther west, as the “break-bone fever,” and
+which, in a far milder form, is to-day known as malaria. Hoping to cure
+it, he went over the mountains to the Warm Springs, being “much
+overcome with the fatigue of the ride and weather together. However, I
+think my fevers are a good deal abated, although my pains grow rather
+worse, and my sleep equally disturbed. What effect the waters may have
+upon me I can’t say at present, but I expect nothing from the air—this
+certainly must be unwholesome. I purpose staying here a fortnight and
+longer if benefitted.” After writing this, a relapse brought him “very
+near my last gasp. The indisposition … increased upon me, and I fell
+into a very low and dangerous state. I once thought the grim king would
+certainly master my utmost efforts, and that I must sink, in spite of a
+noble struggle; but thank God, I have now got the better of the
+disorder, and shall soon be restored, I hope, to perfect health again.”
+
+During the Revolution, fortunately, he seems to have been wonderfully
+exempt from illness, and not till his retirement to Mount Vernon did an
+old enemy, the ague, reappear. In 1786 he said, in a letter, “I write
+to you with a very aching head and disordered frame…. Saturday last, by
+an imprudent act, I brought on an ague and fever on Sunday, which
+returned with violence Tuesday and Thursday; and, if Dr. Craik’s
+efforts are ineffectual I shall have them again this day.” His diary
+gives the treatment: “Seized with an ague before 6 o’clock this morning
+after having laboured under a fever all night—Sent for Dr. Craik who
+arrived just as we were setting down to dinner; who, when he thought my
+fever sufficiently abated gave me cathartick and directed the Bark to
+be applied in the Morning. September 2. Kept close to the House to day,
+being my fit day in course least any exposure might bring it
+on,—happily missed it September 14. At home all day repeating dozes of
+Bark of which I took 4 with an interval of 2 hours between.”
+
+With 1787 a new foe appeared in the form of “a rheumatic complaint
+which has followed me more than six months, is frequently so bad that
+it is sometimes with difficulty I can raise my hand to my head or turn
+myself in bed.”
+
+During the Presidency Washington had several dangerous illnesses, but
+the earliest one had a comic side. In his tour through New England in
+1789, so Sullivan states, “owing to some mismanagement in the reception
+ceremonials at Cambridge, Washington was detained a long time, and the
+weather being inclement, he took cold. For several days afterward a
+severe influenza prevailed at Boston and its vicinity, and was called
+the _Washington Influenza_.” He himself writes of this attack: “Myself
+much disordered by a cold, and inflammation in the left eye.”
+
+Six months later, in New York, he was “indisposed with a bad cold, and
+at home all day writing letters on private business,” and this was the
+beginning of “a severe illness,” which, according to McVickar, was “a
+case of anthrax, so malignant as for several days to threaten
+mortification. During this period Dr. Bard never quitted him. On one
+occasion, being left alone with him, General Washington, looking
+steadily in his face, desired his 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, acknowledged his apprehensions. The President replied,
+‘Whether to-night or twenty years hence, makes no difference.’” It was
+of this that Maclay wrote, “Called to see the President. Every eye full
+of tears. His life despaired of. Dr. MacKnight told me he would trifle
+neither with his own character nor the public expectation; his danger
+was imminent, and every reason to expect that the event of his disorder
+would be unfortunate.”
+
+During his convalescence the President wrote to a correspondent, “I
+have the pleasure to inform you, that my health is restored, but a
+feebleness still hangs upon me, and I am much incommoded by the
+incision, which was made in a very large and painful tumor on the
+protuberance of my thigh. This prevents me from walking or sitting.
+However, the physicians assure me that it has had a happy effect in
+removing my fever, and will tend very much to the establishment of my
+general health; it is in a fair way of healing, and time and patience
+only are wanting to remove this evil. I am able to take exercise in my
+coach, by having it so contrived as to extend myself the full length of
+it.” He himself seems to have thought this succession of illness due to
+the fatigues of office, for he said,—
+
+“Public meetings, and a dinner once a week to as many as my table will
+hold, with the references _to and from_ the different department of
+state and _other_ communications with _all_ parts of the Union, are as
+much, if not more, than I am able to undergo; for I have already had
+within less than a year, two severe attacks, the last worst than the
+first. A third, more than probable, will put me to sleep with my
+fathers. At what distance this may be I know not. Within the last
+twelve months I have undergone more and severer sickness, than thirty
+preceding years afflicted me with. Put it all together I have abundant
+reason, however, to be thankful that I am so well recovered; though I
+still feel the remains of the violent affection of my lungs; the cough,
+pain in my breast, and shortness in breathing not having entirely left
+me.”
+
+While at Mount Vernon in 1794, “an exertion to save myself and horse
+from falling among the rocks at the Lower Falls of the Potomac (whither
+I went on Sunday morning to see the canal and locks),… wrenched my back
+in such a manner as to prevent my riding;” the “hurt” “confined me
+whilst I was at Mount Vernon,” and it was some time before he could
+“again ride with ease and safety.” In this same year Washington was
+operated on by Dr. Tate for cancer,—the same disorder from which his
+mother had suffered.
+
+After his retirement from office, in 1798, he “was seized with a fever,
+of which I took little notice until I was obliged to call for the aid
+of medicine; and with difficulty a remission thereof was so far
+effected as to dose me all night on thursday with Bark—which having
+stopped it, and weakness only remaining, will soon wear off as my
+appetite is returning;” and to a correspondent he apologized for not
+sooner replying, and pleaded “debilitated health, occasioned by the
+fever wch. deprived me of 20 lbs. of the weight I had when you and I
+were at Troy Mills Scales, and rendered writing irksome.”
+
+A glance at Washington’s medical knowledge and opinions may not lack
+interest. In the “Rules of civility” he had taken so to heart, the boy
+had been taught that “In visiting the Sick, do not Presently play the
+Physician if you be not Knowing therein,” but plantation life trained
+every man to a certain extent in physicking, and the yearly invoice
+sent to London always ordered such drugs as were needed,—ipecacuanha,
+jalap, Venice treacle, rhubarb, diacordium, etc., as well as medicines
+for horses and dogs. In 1755 Washington received great benefit from one
+quack medicine, “Dr. James’s Powders;” he once bought a quantity of
+another, “Godfrey’s Cordial;” and at a later time Mrs. Washington tried
+a third, “Annatipic Pills.” More unenlightened still was a treatment
+prescribed for Patsy Custis, when “Joshua Evans who came here last
+night, put a [metal] ring on Patsey (for Fits).” A not much higher
+order of treatment was Washington sending for Dr. Laurie to bleed his
+wife, and, as his diary notes, the doctor “came here, I may add,
+drunk,” so that a night’s sleep was necessary before the service could
+be rendered. When the small-pox was raging in the Continental Army,
+even Washington’s earnest request could not get the Virginia Assembly
+to repeal a law which forbade inoculation, and he had to urge his wife
+for over four years before he could bring her to the point of
+submitting to the operation. One quality which implies greatness is
+told by a visitor, who states that in his call “an allusion was made to
+a serious fit of illness he had recently suffered; but he took no
+notice of it” Custis notes that “his aversion to the use of medicine
+was extreme; and, even when in great suffering, it was only by the
+entreaties of his lady, and the respectful, yet beseeching look of his
+oldest friend and companion in arms (Dr. James Craik) that he could be
+prevailed upon to take the slightest preparation of medicine.” In line
+with this was his refusal to take anything for a cold, saying, “Let it
+go as it came,” though this good sense was apparently restricted to his
+own colds, for Watson relates that in a visit to Mount Vernon “I was
+extremely oppressed by a severe cold and excessive coughing, contracted
+by the exposure of a harsh 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 bedside, with a bowl of hot
+tea in his hand.”
+
+The acute attacks of illness already touched upon by no means represent
+all the physical debility and suffering of Washington’s life. During
+the Revolution his sight became poor, so that in 1778 he first put on
+glasses for reading, and Cobb relates that in the officers’ meeting in
+1783, which Washington attended In order to check an appeal to arms,
+“When the General took his station at the desk or pulpit, which, you
+may recollect, was in the Temple, he took out his written address from
+his coat pocket and then addressed the officers in the following
+manner: ‘Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I
+have not only grown gray, but almost blind, in the service of my
+country.’ This little address, with the mode and manner of delivering
+it, drew tears from [many] of the officers.”
+
+Nor did his hearing remain entirely good. Maclay noted, at one of the
+President’s dinners in 1789, that “he seemed in more good humor than I
+ever saw him, though he was so deaf that I believe he heard little of
+the conversation,” and three years later the President is reported as
+saying to Jefferson that he was “sensible, too, of a decay of his
+hearing, perhaps his other faculties might fall off and he not be
+sensible of it.”
+
+Washington’s teeth were even more troublesome. Mercer in 1760 alluded
+to his showing, when his mouth was open, “some defective teeth,” and as
+early as 1754 one of his teeth was extracted. From this time toothache,
+usually followed by the extraction of the guilty member, became almost
+of yearly recurrence, and his diary reiterates, with verbal variations,
+“indisposed with an aching tooth, and swelled and inflamed gum,” while
+his ledger contains many items typified by “To Dr. Watson drawing a
+tooth 5/.” By 1789 he was using false teeth, and he lost his last tooth
+in 1795. At first these substitutes were very badly fitted, and when
+Stuart painted his famous picture he tried to remedy the malformation
+they gave the mouth by padding under the lips with cotton. The result
+was to make bad worse, and to give, in that otherwise fine portrait, a
+feature at once poor and unlike Washington, and for this reason alone
+the Sharpless miniature, which in all else approximates so closely to
+Stuart’s masterpiece, is preferable. In 1796 Washington was furnished
+with two sets of “sea-horse” (_i.e._, hippopotamus) ivory teeth, and
+they were so much better fitted that the distortion of the mouth ceased
+to be noticeable.
+
+Washington’s final illness began December 12, 1799, in a severe cold
+taken by riding about his plantation while “rain, hail and snow” were
+“falling alternately, with a cold wind.” When he came in late in the
+afternoon, Lear “observed to him that I was afraid that he had got wet,
+he said no his great coat had kept him dry; but his neck appeared to be
+wet and the snow was hanging on his hair.” The next day he had a cold,
+“and complained of having a sore throat,” yet, though it was snowing,
+none the less he “went out in the afternoon … to mark some trees which
+were to be cut down.” “He had a hoarseness which increased in the
+evening; but he made light of it as he would never take anything to
+carry off a cold, always observing, ‘let it go as it came.’” At two
+o’clock the following morning he was seized with a severe ague, and as
+soon as the house was stirring he sent for an overseer and ordered the
+man to bleed him, and about half a pint of blood was taken from him. At
+this time he could “swallow nothing,” “appeared to be distressed,
+convulsed and almost suffocated.”
+
+There can be scarcely a doubt that the treatment of his last illness by
+the doctors was little short of murder. Although he had been bled once
+already, after they took charge of the case they prescribed “two pretty
+copious bleedings,” and finally a third, “when about 32 ounces of blood
+were drawn,” or the equivalent of a quart. Of the three doctors, one
+disapproved of this treatment, and a second wrote, only a few days
+after Washington’s death, to the third, “you must remember” Dr. Dick
+“was averse to bleeding the General, and I have often thought that if
+we had acted according to his suggestion when he said, ‘he needs all
+his strength— bleeding will diminish it,’ and taken no more blood from
+him, our good friend might have been alive now. But we were governed by
+the best light we had; we thought we were right, and so we are
+justified.”
+
+Shortly after this last bleeding Washington seemed to have resigned
+himself, for he gave some directions concerning his will, and said, “I
+find I am going,” and, “smiling,” added, that, “as it was the debt
+which we must all pay, he looked to the event with perfect
+resignation.” From this time on “he appeared to be in great pain and
+distress,” and said, “Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go. I
+believed from my first attack that I should not survive it.” A little
+later he said, “I feel myself going. I thank you for your attention,
+you had better not take any more trouble about me; but let me go off
+quietly.” The last words he said were, “’Tis well.” “About ten minutes
+before he expired, his breathing became much easier—he lay quietly—…
+and felt his own pulse…. The general’s hand fell from his wrist,… and
+he expired without a struggle or a Sigh.”
+
+
+
+
+III
+EDUCATION
+
+
+The father of Washington received his education at Appleby School in
+England, and, true to his alma mater, he sent his two elder sons to the
+same school. His death when George was eleven prevented this son from
+having the same advantage, and such education as he had was obtained in
+Virginia. His old friend, and later enemy, Rev. Jonathan Boucher, said
+that “George, like most people thereabouts at that time, had no
+education than reading, writing and accounts which he was taught by a
+convict servant whom his father bought for a schoolmaster;” but Boucher
+managed to include so many inaccuracies in his account of Washington,
+that even if this statement were not certainly untruthful in several
+respects, it could be dismissed as valueless.
+
+Born at Wakefield, in Washington parish, Westmoreland, which had been
+the home of the Washingtons from their earliest arrival in Virginia,
+George was too young while the family continued there to attend the
+school which had been founded in that parish by the gift of four
+hundred and forty acres from some early patron of knowledge. When the
+boy was about three years old, the family removed to “Washington,” as
+Mount Vernon was called before it was renamed, and dwelt there from
+1735 till 1739, when, owing to the burning of the homestead, another
+remove was made to an estate on the Rappahannock, nearly opposite
+Fredericksburg.
+
+Here it was that the earliest education of George was received, for in
+an old volume of the Bishop of Exeter’s Sermons his name is written,
+and on a flyleaf a note in the handwriting of a relative who inherited
+the library states that this “autograph of George Washington’s name is
+believed to be the earliest specimen of his handwriting, when he was
+probably not more than eight or nine years old.” During this period,
+too, there came into his possession the “Young Man’s Companion,” an
+English _vade-mecum_ of then enormous popularity, written “in a plain
+and easy stile,” the title states, “that a young Man may attain the
+same, without a Tutor.” It would be easier to say what this little book
+did not teach than to catalogue what it did. How to read, write, and
+figure is but the introduction to the larger part of the work, which
+taught one to write letters, wills, deeds, and all legal forms, to
+measure, survey, and navigate, to build houses, to make ink and cider,
+and to plant and graft, how to address letters to people of quality,
+how to doctor the sick, and, finally, how to conduct one’s self in
+company. The evidence still exists of how carefully Washington studied
+this book, in the form of copybooks, in which are transcribed problem
+after problem and rule after rule, not to exclude the famous Rules of
+civility, which biographers of Washington have asserted were written by
+the boy himself. School-mates thought fit, after Washington became
+famous, to remember his “industry and assiduity at school as very
+remarkable,” and the copies certainly bear out the statement, but even
+these prove that the lad was as human as the man, for scattered here
+and there among the logarithms, geometrical problems, and legal forms
+are crude drawings of birds, faces, and other typical school-boy
+attempts.
+
+From this book, too, came two qualities which clung to him through
+life. His handwriting, so easy, flowing, and legible, was modelled from
+the engraved “copy” sheet, and certain forms of spelling were acquired
+here that were never corrected, though not the common usage of his
+time. To the end of his life, Washington wrote lie, lye; liar, lyar;
+ceiling, cieling; oil, oyl; and blue, blew, as in his boyhood he had
+learned to do from this book. Even in his carefully prepared will,
+“lye” was the form in which he wrote the word. It must be acknowledged
+that, aside from these errors which he had been taught, through his
+whole life Washington was a non-conformist as regarded the King’s
+English: struggle as he undoubtedly did, the instinct of correct
+spelling was absent, and thus every now and then a verbal slip
+appeared: extravagence, lettely (for lately), glew, riffle (for rifle),
+latten (for Latin), immagine, winder, rief (for rife), oppertunity,
+spirma citi, yellow oaker,—such are types of his lapses late in life,
+while his earlier letters and journals are far more inaccurate. It must
+be borne in mind, however, that of these latter we have only the
+draughts, which were undoubtedly written carelessly, and the two
+letters actually sent which are now known, and the text of his surveys
+before he was twenty, are quite as well written as his later epistles.
+
+
+[Illustration: _Easy Copies to Write by_.
+COPY OF PENMANSHIP BY WHICH WASHINGTON’S HANDWRITING WAS FORMED]
+
+
+On the death of his father, Washington went to live with his brother
+Augustine, in order, it is presumed, that he might take advantage of a
+good school near Wakefield, kept by one Williams; but after a time he
+returned to his mother’s, and attended the school kept by the Rev.
+James Marye, in Fredericksburg. It has been universally asserted by his
+biographers that he studied no foreign language, but direct proof to
+the contrary exists in a copy of Patrick’s Latin translation of Homer,
+printed in 1742, the fly-leaf of a copy of which bears, in a school-boy
+hand, the inscription:
+
+“Hunc mihi quaeso (bone Vir) Libellum
+Redde, si forsan tenues repertum
+Ut Scias qui sum sine fraude Scriptum.
+
+
+Est mihi nomen,
+Georgio Washington,
+George Washington,
+Fredericksburg,
+Virginia.”
+
+
+It is thus evident that the reverend teacher gave Washington at least
+the first elements of Latin, but it is equally clear that the boy, like
+most others, forgot it with the greatest facility as soon as he ceased
+studying.
+
+The end of Washington’s school-days left him, if a good “cipherer,” a
+bad speller, and a still worse grammarian, but, fortunately, the
+termination of instruction did not by any means end his education. From
+that time there is to be noted a steady improvement in both these
+failings. Pickering stated that “when I first became acquainted with
+the General (in 1777) his writing was defective in grammar, and even
+spelling, owing to the insufficiency of his early education; of which,
+however, he gradually got the better in the subsequent years of his
+life, by the official perusal of some excellent models, particularly
+those of Hamilton; by writing with care and patient attention; and
+reading numerous, indeed multitudes of letters to and from his friends
+and correspondents. This obvious improvement was begun during the war.”
+In 1785 a contemporary noted that “the General is remarked for writing
+a most elegant letter,” adding that, “like the famous Addison, his
+writing excells his speaking,” and Jefferson said that “he wrote
+readily, rather diffusely, in an easy and correct style. This he had
+acquired by conversation with the world, for his education was merely
+reading, writing and common arithmetic, to which he added surveying at
+a later day.”
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington felt his lack of education very
+keenly as he came to act upon a larger sphere than as a Virginia
+planter. “I am sensible,” he wrote a friend, of his letters, “that the
+narrations are just, and that truth and honesty will appear in my
+writings; of which, therefore, I shall not be ashamed, though criticism
+may censure my style.” When his secretary suggested to him that he
+should write his own life, he replied, “In a former letter I informed
+you, my dear Humphreys, that if I had _talents_ for it, I have not
+leisure to turn my thoughts to Commentaries. A consciousness of a
+defective education, and a certainty of the want of time, unfit me for
+such an undertaking.” On being pressed by a French comrade-in-arms to
+pay France a visit, he declined, saying, “Remember, my good friend,
+that I am unacquainted with your language, that I am too far advanced
+in years to acquire a knowledge of it, and that, to converse through
+the medium of an interpreter upon common occasions, especially with the
+Ladies, must appear so extremely awkward, insipid, and uncouth, that I
+can scarce bear it in idea.”
+
+In 1788, without previous warning, he was elected chancellor of William
+and Mary College, a distinction by which he felt “honored and greatly
+affected;” but “not knowing particularly what duties, or whether any
+active services are immediately expected from the person holding the
+office of chancellor, I have been greatly embarrassed in deciding upon
+the public answer proper to be given…. My difficulties are briefly
+these. On the one hand, nothing in this world could be farther from my
+heart, than … a refusal of the appointment … provided its duties are
+not incompatible with the mode of life to which I have entirely
+addicted myself; and, on the other hand, I would not for any
+consideration disappoint the just expectations of the convocation by
+accepting an office, whose functions I previously knew … I should be
+absolutely unable to perform.”
+
+Perhaps the most touching proof of his own self-depreciation was
+something he did when he had become conscious that his career would be
+written about. Still in his possession were the letter-books in which
+he had kept copies of his correspondence while in command of the
+Virginia regiment between 1754 and 1759, and late in life he went
+through these volumes, and, by interlining corrections, carefully built
+them into better literary form. How this was done is shown here by a
+single facsimile.
+
+With the appointment to command the Continental Army, a secretary was
+secured, and in an absence of this assistant he complained to him that
+“my business increases very fast, and my distresses for want of you
+along with it. Mr. Harrison is the only gentleman of my family, that
+can afford me the least assistance in writing. He and Mr. Moylan,… have
+heretofore afforded me their aid; and … they have really had a great
+deal of trouble.”
+
+Most of Washington’s correspondence during the Revolution was written
+by his aides. Pickering said,—
+
+“As to the public letters bearing his signature, it is certain that he
+could not have maintained so extensive a correspondence with his own
+pen, even if he had possessed the ability and promptness of Hamilton.
+That he would, sometimes with propriety, observe upon, correct, and add
+to any draught submitted for his examination and signature, I have no
+doubt. And yet I doubt whether many, if any, of the letters … are his
+own draught…. I have even reason to believe that not only the
+_composition_, the _clothing of the ideas_, but the _ideas themselves_,
+originated generally with the writers; that Hamilton and Harrison, in
+particular, were scarcely in any degree his amanuenses. I remember,
+when at head-quarters one day, at Valley Forge, Colonel Harrison came
+down from the General’s chamber, with his brows knit, and thus accosted
+me, ‘I wish to the Lord the General would give me the heads or some
+idea, of what he would have me write.’”
+
+
+[Illustration: CORRECTED LETTER OF WASHINGTON SHOWING LATER CHANGES]
+
+
+After the Revolution, a visitor at Mount Vernon said, “It’s astonishing
+the packet of letters that daily comes for him from all parts of the
+world, which employ him most of the morning to answer.” A secretary was
+employed, but not so much to do the actual writing as the copying and
+filing, and at this time Washington complained “that my numerous
+correspondencies are daily becoming irksome to me.” Yet there can be
+little question that he richly enjoyed writing when it was not for the
+public eye. “It is not the letters of my friends which give me
+trouble,” he wrote to one correspondent; to another he said, “I began
+with telling you that I should not write a lengthy letter but the
+result has been to contradict it;” and to a third, “when I look back to
+the length of this letter, I am so much astonished and frightened at it
+myself that I have not the courage to give it a careful reading for the
+purpose of correction. You must, therefore, receive it with all its
+imperfections, accompanied with this assurance, that, though there may
+be inaccuracies in the letter, there is not a single defect in the
+friendship.” Occasionally there was, as here, an apology: “I am
+persuaded you will excuse this scratch’d scrawl, when I assure you it
+is with difficulty I write at all,” he ended a letter in 1777, and in
+1792 of another said, “You must receive it blotted and scratched as you
+find it for I have not time to copy it. It is now ten o’clock at night,
+after my usual hour for retiring to rest, and the mail will be closed
+early to-morrow morning.”
+
+To his overseer, who neglected to reply to some of his questions, he
+told his method of writing, which is worth quoting:
+
+“Whenever I set down to write you, I read your letter, or letters
+carefully over, and as soon as I come to a part that requires to be
+noticed, I make a short note on the cover of a letter or piece of waste
+paper;—then read on the next, noting that in like manner;—and so on
+until I have got through the whole letter and reports. Then in writing
+my letter to you, as soon as I have finished what I have to say on one
+of these notes I draw my pen through it and proceed to another and
+another until the whole is done—crossing each as I go on, by which
+means if I am called off twenty times whilst I am writing, I can never
+with these notes before me finished or unfinished, omit anything I
+wanted to say; and they serve me also, as I keep no copies of letters I
+wrote to you, as Memorandums of what has been written if I should have
+occasion at any time to refer to them.”
+
+Another indication of his own knowledge of defects is shown by his fear
+about his public papers. When his Journal to the Ohio was printed by
+order of the governor, in 1754, in the preface the young author said,
+“I think I can do no less than apologize, in some Measure, for the
+numberless imperfections of it. There intervened but one Day between my
+Arrival in Williamsburg, and the Time for the Council’s Meeting, for me
+to prepare and transcribe, from the rough Minutes I had taken in my
+Travels, this Journal; the writing of which only was sufficient to
+employ me closely the whole Time, consequently admitted of no Leisure
+to consult of a new and proper Form to offer it in, or to correct or
+amend the Diction of the old.” Boucher states that the publication, “in
+Virginia at least, drew on him some ridicule.”
+
+This anxiety about his writings was shown all through life, and led
+Washington to rely greatly on such of his friends as would assist him,
+even to the point, so Reed thought, that he “sometimes adopted draughts
+of writing when his own would have been better … from an extreme
+diffidence in himself,” and Pickering said, in writing to an aide,—
+
+“Although the General’s private correspondence was doubtless, for the
+most part, his own, and extremely acceptable to the persons addressed;
+yet, in regard to whatever was destined to meet the public eye, he
+seems to have been fearful to exhibit his own compositions, relying too
+much on the judgment of his friends, and sometimes adopted draughts
+that were exceptionable. Some parts of his private correspondence must
+have essentially differed from other parts in the style of composition.
+You mention your own aids to the General in this line. Now, if I had
+your draughts before me, mingled with the General’s to the same
+persons, nothing would be more easy than to assign to each his own
+proper offspring. You could neither restrain your _courser_, nor
+conceal your imagery, nor express your ideas otherwise than in the
+language of a scholar. The General’s compositions would be perfectly
+plain and didactic, and not always correct.”
+
+During the Presidency, scarcely anything of a public nature was penned
+by Washington,—Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and Randolph acting as his
+draughtsmen. “We are approaching the first Monday in December by hasty
+strides,” he wrote to Jefferson. “I pray you, therefore, to revolve in
+your mind such matters as may be proper for me to lay before Congress,
+not only in your own department, (if any there be,) but such others of
+a general nature, as may happen to occur to you, that I may be prepared
+to open the session with such communication, as shall appear to merit
+attention.” Two years later he said to the same, “I pray you to note
+down or rather to frame into paragraphs or sections, such matters as
+may occur to you as fit and proper for general communication at the
+opening of the next session of Congress, not only in the department of
+state, but on any other subject applicable to the occasion, that I may
+in due time have everything before me.” To Hamilton he wrote in 1795,
+“Having desired the late Secretary of State to note down every matter
+as it occurred, proper either for the speech at the opening of the
+session, or for messages afterwards, the inclosed paper contains
+everything I could extract from that office. Aid me, I pray you, with
+your sentiments on these points, and such others as may have occurred
+to you relative to my communications to Congress.”
+
+The best instance is furnished in the preparation of the Farewell
+Address. First Madison was asked to prepare a draft, and from this
+Washington drew up a paper, which he submitted to Hamilton and Jay,
+with the request that “even if you should think it best to throw the
+whole into a different form, let me request, notwithstanding, that my
+draught may be returned to me (along with yours) with such amendments
+and corrections as to render it as perfect as the formation is
+susceptible of; curtailed if too verbose; and relieved of all tautology
+not necessary to enforce the ideas in the original or quoted part. My
+wish is that the whole may appear in a plain style, and be handed to
+the public in an honest, unaffected, simple part.” Accordingly,
+Hamilton prepared what was almost a new instrument in form, though not
+in substance, which, after “several serious and attentive readings,”
+Washington wrote that he preferred “greatly to the other draughts,
+being more copious on material points, more dignified on the whole, and
+with less egotism; of course, less exposed to criticism, and better
+calculated to meet the eye of discerning readers (foreigners
+particularly, whose curiosity I have little doubt will lead them to
+inspect it attentively, and to pronounce their opinions on the
+performance).” The paper was then, according to Pickering, “put into
+the hands of Wolcott, McHenry, and myself … with a request that we
+would examine it, and note any alterations and corrections which we
+should think best. We did so; but our notes, as well as I recollect,
+were very few, and regarded chiefly the grammar and composition.”
+Finally, Washington revised the whole, and it was then made public.
+
+Confirmatory of this sense of imperfect cultivation are the pains he
+took that his adopted son and grandson should be well educated. As
+already noted, tutors for both were secured at the proper ages, and
+when Jack was placed with the Rev. Mr. Boucher, Washington wrote: “In
+respect to the kinds, & manner of his Studying I leave it wholely to
+your better Judgment—had he begun, or rather pursued his study of the
+Greek Language, I should have thought it no bad acquisition; but
+whether if he acquire this now, he may not forego some useful branches
+of learning, is a matter worthy of consideration. To be acquainted with
+the French Tongue is become part of polite Education; and to a man who
+has the prospect of mixing in a large Circle absolutely necessary.
+Without Arithmetick, the common affairs of Life are not to be managed
+with success. The study of Geometry, and the Mathematics (with due
+regard to the limites of it) is equally advantageous. The principles of
+Philosophy Moral, Natural, &c. I should think a very desirable
+knowledge for a Gentleman.” So, too, he wrote to Washington Custis, “I
+do not hear you mention anything of geography or mathematics as parts
+of your study; both these are necessary branches of useful knowledge.
+Nor ought you to let your knowledge of the Latin language and
+grammatical rules escape you. And the French language is now so
+universal, and so necessary with foreigners, or in a foreign country,
+that I think you would be injudicious not to make yourself master of
+it.” It is worth noting in connection with this last sentence that
+Washington used only a single French expression with any frequency, and
+that he always wrote “faupas.”
+
+Quite as indicative of the value he put on education was the aid he
+gave towards sending his young relatives and others to college, his
+annual contribution to an orphan school, his subscriptions to
+academies, and his wish for a national university. In 1795 he said,—
+
+“It has always been a source of serious reflection and sincere regret
+with me, that the youth of the United States should be sent to foreign
+countries for the purpose of education…. For this reason I have greatly
+wished to see a plan adopted, by which the arts, sciences, and
+belles-lettres could be taught in their _fullest_ extent, thereby
+embracing _all_ the advantages of European tuition, with the means of
+acquiring the liberal knowledge, which is necessary to qualify our
+citizens for the exigencies of public as well as private life; and
+(which with me is a consideration of great magnitude) by assembling the
+youth from the different parts of this rising republic, contributing
+from their intercourse and interchange of information to the removal of
+prejudices, which might perhaps sometimes arise from local
+circumstances.”
+
+In framing his Farewell Address, “revolving … on the various matters it
+contained and on the first expression of the advice or recommendation
+which was given in it, I have regretted that another subject (which in
+my estimation is of interesting concern to the well-being of this
+country) was not touched upon also; I mean education generally, as one
+of the surest means of enlightening and giving just ways of thinking to
+our citizens, but particularly the establishment of a university; where
+the youth from all parts of the United States might receive the polish
+of erudition in the arts, sciences and belles-lettres.” Eventually he
+reduced this idea to a plea for the people to “promote, then, as an
+object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of
+knowledge,” because “in proportion as the structure of a government
+gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion
+should be enlightened.” By his will he left to the endowment of a
+university in the District of Columbia the shares in the Potomac
+Company which had been given him by the State of Virginia, but the
+clause was never carried into effect.
+
+It was in 1745 that Washington’s school-days came to an end. His share
+of his father’s property being his mother’s till he was twenty-one, a
+livelihood had to be found, and so at about fourteen years of age the
+work of life began. Like a true boy, the lad wanted to go to sea,
+despite his uncle’s warning “that I think he had better be put
+apprentice to a tinker; for a common sailor before the mast has by no
+means the liberty of the subject; for they will press him from a ship
+where he has fifty shillings a month; and make him take twenty-three,
+and cut and slash, and use him like a negro, or rather like a dog.” His
+mother, however, would not consent, and to this was due his becoming a
+surveyor.
+
+From his “Young Man’s Companion” Washington had already learned the use
+of Gunter’s rule and how it should be used in surveying, and to
+complete his knowledge he seems to have taken lessons of the licensed
+surveyor of Westmoreland County, James Genn, for transcripts of some of
+the surveys drawn by Genn still exist in the handwriting of his pupil.
+This implied a distinct and very valuable addition to his knowledge,
+and a large number of his surveys still extant are marvels of neatness
+and careful drawing. As a profession it was followed for only four
+years (1747-1751), but all through life he often used his knowledge in
+measuring or platting his own property. Far more important is the
+service it was to him in public life. In 1755 he sent to Braddock’s
+secretary a map of the “back country,” and to the governor of Virginia
+plans of two forts. During the Revolution it helped him not merely in
+the study of maps, but also in the facility it gave him to take in the
+topographical features of the country. Very largely, too, was the
+selection of the admirable site for the capital due to his supervising:
+all the plans for the city were submitted to him, and nowhere do the
+good sense and balance of the man appear to better advantage than in
+his correspondence with the Federal city commissioners.
+
+In Washington’s earliest account-book there is an item when he was
+sixteen years old, “To cash pd ye Musick Master for my Entrance 3/9.”
+It is commonly said that he played the flute, but this is as great a
+libel on him as any Tom Paine wrote, and though he often went to
+concerts, and though fond of hearing his granddaughter Nelly play and
+sing, he never was himself a performer, and the above entry probably
+refers to the singing-master whom the boys and girls of that day made
+the excuse for evening frolics.
+
+Mention is made elsewhere of his taking lessons in the sword exercise
+from Van Braam in these earlier years, and in 1756 he paid to Sergeant
+Wood, fencing-master, the sum of £1.1.6. When he received the offer of
+a position on Braddock’s staff, he acknowledged, in accepting, that “I
+must be ingenuous enough to confess, that I am not a little biassed by
+selfish considerations. To explain, Sir, I wish earnestly to attain
+some knowledge in the military profession, and, believing a more
+favorable opportunity cannot offer, than to serve under a gentleman of
+General Braddock’s abilities and experience, it does … not a little
+contribute to influence my choice.” Hamilton is quoted as saying that
+Washington “never read any book upon the art of war but Sim’s Military
+Guide,” and an anonymous author asserted that “he never read a book in
+the art of war of higher value than Bland’s Exercises.” Certain it is
+that nearly all the military knowledge he possessed was derived from
+practice rather than from books, and though, late in life, he purchased
+a number of works on the subject, it was after his army service was
+over.
+
+One factor in Washington’s education which must not go unnoticed was
+his religious belief. When only two months old he was baptized,
+presumably by the Rev. Lawrence De Butts, the clergyman of Washington
+parish. The removal from that locality prevented any further religious
+influence from this clergyman, and it probably first came from the Rev.
+Charles Green, of Truro parish, who had received his appointment
+through the friendship of Washington’s father, and who later was on
+such friendly terms with Washington that he doctored Mrs. Washington in
+an attack of the measles, and caught and returned two of his
+parishioner’s runaway slaves. As early as 1724 the clergyman of the
+parish in which Mount Vernon was situated reported that he catechised
+the youth of his congregation “in Lent and a great part of the Summer,”
+and George, as the son of one of his vestrymen, undoubtedly received a
+due amount of questioning.
+
+From 1748 till 1759 there was little church-going for the young
+surveyor or soldier, but after his marriage and settling at Mount
+Vernon he was elected vestryman in the two parishes of Truro and
+Fairfax, and from that election he was quite active in church affairs.
+It may be worth noting that in the elections of 1765 the new vestryman
+stood third in popularity in the Truro church and fifth in that of
+Fairfax. He drew the plans for a new church in Truro, and subscribed to
+its building, intending “to lay the foundation of a family pew,” but by
+a vote of the vestry it was decided that there should be no private
+pews, and this breach of contract angered Washington so greatly that he
+withdrew from the church in 1773. Sparks quotes Madison to the effect
+that “there was a tradition that, when he [Washington] belonged to the
+vestry of a church in his neighborhood, and several little difficulties
+grew out of some division of the society, he sometimes spoke with great
+force, animation, and eloquence on the topics that came before them.”
+After this withdrawal he bought a pew in Christ Church in Alexandria
+(Fairfax parish), paying £36.10, which was the largest price paid by
+any parishioner. To this church he was quite liberal, subscribing
+several times towards repairs, etc.
+
+The Rev. Lee Massey, who was rector at Pohick (Truro) Church before the
+Revolution, is quoted by Bishop Meade as saying that
+
+“I never knew so constant an attendant in church as Washington. And his
+behavior in the house of God was ever so deeply reverential that it
+produced the happiest effect on my congregation, and greatly assisted
+me in my pulpit labors. No company ever withheld him from church. I
+have often been at Mount Vernon on Sabbath morning, when his breakfast
+table was filled with guests; but to him they furnished no pretext for
+neglecting his God and losing the satisfaction of setting a good
+example. For instead of staying at home, out of false complaisance to
+them, he used constantly to invite them to accompany him.”
+
+This seems to have been written more with an eye to its influence on
+others than to its strict accuracy. During the time Washington attended
+at Pohick Church he was by no means a regular church-goer. His daily
+“where and how my time is spent” enables us to know exactly how often
+he attended church, and in the year 1760 he went just sixteen times,
+and in 1768 he went fourteen, these years being fairly typical of the
+period 1760-1773. During the Presidency a sense of duty made him attend
+St Paul’s and Christ churches while in New York and Philadelphia, but
+at Mount Vernon, when the public eye was not upon him, he was no more
+regular than he had always been, and in the last year of his life he
+wrote, “Six days do I labor, or, in other words, take exercise and
+devote my time to various occupations in Husbandry, and about my
+mansion. On the seventh, now called the first day, for want of a place
+of Worship (within less than nine miles) such letters as do not require
+immediate acknowledgment I give answers to…. But it hath so happened,
+that on the two last Sundays—call them the first or the seventh as you
+please, I have been unable to perform the latter duty on account of
+visits from Strangers, with whom I could not use the freedom to leave
+alone, or recommend to the care of each other, for their amusement.”
+
+What he said here was more or less typical of his whole life. Sunday
+was always the day on which he wrote his private letters,—even prepared
+his invoices,—and he wrote to one of his overseers that his letters
+should be mailed so as to reach him Saturday, as by so doing they could
+be answered the following day. Nor did he limit himself to this, for he
+entertained company, closed land purchases, sold wheat, and, while a
+Virginia planter, went foxhunting, on Sunday. It is to be noted,
+however, that he considered the scruples of others as to the day. When
+he went among his western tenants, rent-collecting, he entered in his
+diary that, it “being Sunday and the People living on my Land
+_apparently_ very religious, it was thought best to postpone going
+among them till to-morrow,” and in his journey through New England,
+because it was “contrary to the law and disagreeable to the People of
+this State (Connecticut) to travel on the Sabbath day—and my horses,
+after passing through such intolerable roads, wanting rest, I stayed at
+Perkins’ tavern (which, by the bye, is not a good one) all day—and a
+meetinghouse being within a few rods of the door, I attended the
+morning and evening services, and heard very lame discourses from a Mr.
+Pond.” It is of this experience that tradition says the President
+started to travel, but was promptly arrested by a Connecticut
+tithing-man. The story, however, lacks authentication.
+
+There can be no doubt that religious intolerance was not a part of
+Washington’s character. In 1775, when the New England troops intended
+to celebrate Guy Fawkes day, as usual, the General Orders declared that
+“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 of common sense,
+as not to see the impropriety of such a step.” When trying to secure
+some servants, too, he wrote that “if they are good workmen, they may
+be from Asia, Africa, or Europe; they may be Mahometans, Jews, or
+Christians of any sect, or they may be Atheists.” When the bill taxing
+all the people of Virginia to support the Episcopal Church (his own)
+was under discussion, he threw his weight against it, as far as
+concerned the taxing of other sectaries, but adding:
+
+“Although no man’s sentiments are more opposed to any kind of restraint
+upon religious principles than mine are, yet I must confess, that I am
+not amongst the number of those, who are so much alarmed at the
+thoughts of making people pay towards the support of that which they
+profess, if of the denomination, of Christians, or to declare
+themselves Jews, Mahometans, or otherwise, and thereby obtain proper
+relief. As the matter now stands, I wish an assessment had never been
+agitated, and as it has gone so far, that the bill could die an easy
+death; because I think it will be productive of more quiet to the
+State, than by enacting it into a law, which in my opinion would be
+impolitic, admitting there is a decided majority for it, to the
+disquiet of a respectable minority. In the former case, the matter will
+soon subside; in the latter, it will rankle and perhaps convulse the
+State.”
+
+Again in a letter he says,—
+
+“Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which
+are caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the
+most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was
+in hopes, that the lightened and liberal policy, which has marked the
+present age, would at least have reconciled _Christians_ of every
+denomination so far, that we should never again see their religious
+disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”
+
+And to Lafayette, alluding to the proceedings of the Assembly of
+Notables, he wrote,—
+
+“I am not less ardent in my wish, that you may succeed in your plan of
+toleration in religious matters. Being no bigot myself, I am disposed
+to indulge the professors of Christianity in the church with that road
+to Heaven, which to them shall seem the most direct, plainest, easiest,
+and least liable to exception.”
+
+What Washington believed has been a source of much dispute. Jefferson
+states “that Gouverneur Morris, who pretended to be in his secrets, and
+believed himself to be so, has often told me that General Washington
+believed no more of that system than he himself did,” and Morris, it is
+scarcely necessary to state, was an atheist. The same authority quotes
+Rush, to the effect that “when the clergy addressed General Washington
+on his departure from the government, it was observed in their
+consultation, that he had never, on any occasion, said a word to the
+public which showed a belief in the Christian religion, and they
+thought they should so pen their address, as to force him at length to
+declare publicly whether he was a Christian or not They did so. But, he
+observed, the old fox was too cunning for them. He answered every
+article of their address particularly except that, which he passed over
+without notice.”
+
+Whatever his belief, in all public ways Washington threw his influence
+in favor of religion, and kept what he really believed a secret, and in
+only one thing did he disclose his real thoughts. It is asserted that
+before the Revolution he partook of the sacrament, but this is only
+affirmed by hearsay, and better evidence contradicts it. After that war
+he did not, it is certain. Nelly Custis states that on “communion
+Sundays he left the church with me, after the blessing, and returned
+home, and we sent the carriage back for my grandmother.” And the
+assistant minister of Christ Church in Philadelphia states that—
+
+“Observing that on Sacrament Sundays, Gen’l Washington, immediately
+after the Desk and Pulpit services, went out with the greater part of
+the congregation, always leaving Mrs. Washington with the communicants,
+she _invariably_ being one, I considered it my duty, in a sermon on
+Public Worship, to state the unhappy tendency of _example_,
+particularly those in elevated stations, who invariably turned their
+backs upon the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. I acknowledge the
+remark was intended for the President, as such, he received it. A few
+days after, in conversation with, I believe, a Senator of the U.S. he
+told me he had dined the day before with the President, who in the
+course of the conversation at the table, said, that on the preceding
+Sunday, he had received a very just reproof from the pulpit, for always
+leaving the church before the administration of the Sacrament; that he
+honored the preacher for his integrity and candour; that he had never
+considered the influence of his example; that he would never again give
+cause for the repetition of the reproof; and that, as he had never been
+a communicant, were he to become one then, it would be imputed to an
+ostentatious display of religious zeal arising altogether from his
+elevated station. Accordingly he afterwards never came on the morning
+of Sacrament Sunday, tho’ at other times, a constant attendant in the
+morning.”
+
+Nelly Custis, too, tells us that Washington always “stood during the
+devotional part of the service,” and Bishop White states that “his
+behavior was always serious and attentive; but, as your letter seems to
+intend an inquiry on the point of kneeling during the service, I owe it
+to the truth to declare, that I never saw him in the said attitude.”
+Probably his true position is described by Madison, who is quoted as
+saying that he did “not suppose that Washington had ever attended to
+the arguments for Christianity, and for the different systems of
+religion, or in fact that he had formed definite opinions on the
+subject. But he took these things as he found them existing, and was
+constant in his observances of worship according to the received forms
+of the Episcopal Church, in which he was brought up.”
+
+If there was proof needed that it is mind and not education which
+pushes a man to the front, it is to be found in the case of Washington.
+Despite his want of education, he had, so Bell states, “an excellent
+understanding.” Patrick Henry is quoted as saying of the members of the
+Congress of 1774— the body of which Adams claimed that “every man in it
+is a great man, an orator, a critic, a statesman”—that “if you speak of
+solid information and sound judgment Colonel Washington is
+unquestionably the greatest man on the floor;” while Jefferson asserted
+that “his mind was great and powerful, without being of the very first
+order; his penetration strong, though not so acute as that of a Newton,
+Bacon, or Locke; and as far as he saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It
+was slow in operation, being little aided by invention or imagination,
+but sure in conclusion.”
+
+
+
+
+IV
+RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX
+
+
+The book from which Washington derived almost the whole of his
+education warned its readers,—
+
+“Young Men have ever more a special care
+That Womanish Allurements prove not a snare;”
+
+
+but, however carefully the lad studied the rest, this particular
+admonition took little root in his mind. There can be no doubt that
+Washington during the whole of his life had a soft heart for women, and
+especially for good-looking ones, and both in his personal intercourse
+and in his letters he shows himself very much more at ease with them
+than in his relations with his own sex. Late in life, when the strong
+passions of his earlier years were under better control, he was able to
+write,—
+
+“Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore,
+contended that it cannot be resisted. This is true in part only, for
+like all things else, when nourished and supplied plentifully with
+aliment, it is rapid in its progress; but let these be withdrawn and it
+may be stifled in its birth or much stinted in its growth. For example,
+a woman (the same may be said of the other sex) all beautiful and
+accomplished will, while her hand and heart are undisposed of, turn the
+heads and set the circle in which she moves on fire. Let her marry, and
+what is the consequence? The madness _ceases_ and all is quiet again.
+Why? not because there is any diminution in the charms of the lady, but
+because there is an end of hope. Hence it follows, that love may and
+therefore ought to be under the guidance of reason, for although we
+cannot avoid first impressions, we may assuredly place them under
+guard.”
+
+To write thus in one’s sixty-sixth year and to practise one’s theory in
+youth were, however, very different undertakings. Even while discussing
+love so philosophically, the writer had to acknowledge that “in the
+composition of the human frame, there is a good deal of inflammable
+matter,” and few have had better cause to know it. When he saw in the
+premature engagement of his ward, Jack Custis, the one advantage that
+it would “in a great measure avoid those little flirtations with other
+young ladies that may, by dividing the attention, contribute not a
+little to divide the affection,” it is easy to think of him as looking
+back to his own boyhood, and remembering, it is to be hoped with a
+smile, the sufferings he owed to pretty faces and neatly turned ankles.
+
+While still a school-boy, Washington was one day caught “romping with
+one of the largest girls,” and very quickly more serious likings
+followed. As early as 1748, when only sixteen years of age, his heart
+was so engaged that while at Lord Fairfax’s and enjoying the society of
+Mary Cary he poured out his feelings to his youthful correspondents
+“Dear Robin” and “Dear John” and “Dear Sally” as follows:
+
+“My place of Residence is at present at His Lordships where I might was
+my heart disengag’d pass my time very pleasantly as theres a very
+agreeable Young Lady Lives in the same house (Colo George Fairfax’s
+Wife’s Sister) but as thats only adding Fuel to fire it makes me the
+more uneasy for by often and unavoidably being in Company with her
+revives my former Passion for your Low Land Beauty whereas was I to
+live more retired from young Women I might in some measure eliviate my
+sorrows by burying that chast and troublesome Passion in the grave of
+oblivion or etarnall forgetfulness for as I am very well assured thats
+the only antidote or remedy that I shall be releivd by or only recess
+that can administer any cure or help to me as I am well convinced was I
+ever to attempt any thing I should only get a denial which would be
+only adding grief to uneasiness.”
+
+“Was my affections disengaged I might perhaps form some pleasure in the
+conversation of an agreeable Young Lady as theres one now Lives in the
+same house with me but as that is only nourishment to my former affecn
+for by often seeing her brings the other into my remembrance whereas
+perhaps was she not often & (unavoidably) presenting herself to my view
+I might in some measure aliviate my sorrows by burying the other in the
+grave of Oblivion I am well convinced my heart stands in defiance of
+all others but only she thats given it cause enough to dread a second
+assault and from a different Quarter tho’ I well know let it have as
+many attacks as it will from others they cant be more fierce than it
+has been.”
+
+“I Pass the time of[f] much more agreeabler than what I imagined I
+should as there’s a very agrewable Young Lady lives in the same house
+where I reside (Colo George Fairfax’s Wife’s Sister) that in a great
+Measure cheats my thoughts altogether from your Parts I could wish to
+be with you down there with all my heart but as it is a thing almost
+Impractakable shall rest myself where I am with hopes of shortly having
+some Minutes of your transactions in your Parts which will be very
+welcomely receiv’d.”
+
+Who this “Low Land Beauty” was has been the source of much speculation,
+but the question is still unsolved, every suggested damsel—Lucy Grymes,
+Mary Bland, Betsy Fauntleroy, _et al._—being either impossible or the
+evidence wholly inadequate. But in the same journal which contains the
+draughts of these letters is a motto poem—
+
+“Twas Perfect Love before
+But Now I do adore”—
+
+
+followed by the words “Young M.A. his W[ife?],” and as it was a fashion
+of the time to couple the initials of one’s well-beloved with such
+sentiments, a slight clue is possibly furnished. Nor was this the only
+rhyme that his emotions led to his inscribing in his journal: and he
+confided to it the following:
+
+“Oh Ye Gods why should my Poor Resistless Heart
+    Stand to oppose thy might and Power
+At Last surrender to cupids feather’d Dart
+    And now lays Bleeding every Hour
+For her that’s Pityless of my grief and Woes
+    And will not on me Pity take
+He sleep amongst my most inveterate Foes
+    And with gladness never wish to wake
+In deluding sleepings let my Eyelids close
+    That in an enraptured Dream I may
+In a soft lulling sleep and gentle repose
+    Possess those joys denied by Day.”
+
+
+However woe-begone the young lover was, he does not seem to have been
+wholly lost to others of the sex, and at this same time he was able to
+indite an acrostic to another charmer, which, if incomplete,
+nevertheless proves that there was a “midland” beauty as well, the lady
+being presumptively some member of the family of Alexanders, who had a
+plantation near Mount Vernon.
+
+“From your bright sparkling Eyes I was undone;
+Rays, you have; more transperent than the Sun.
+Amidst its glory in the rising Day
+None can you equal in your bright array;
+Constant in your calm and unspotted Mind;
+Equal to all, but will to none Prove kind,
+So knowing, seldom one so Young, you’l Find.
+
+Ah! woe’s me, that I should Love and conceal
+Long have I wish’d, but never dare reveal,
+Even though severely Loves Pains I feel;
+Xerxes that great, was’t free from Cupids Dart,
+And all the greatest Heroes, felt the smart.”
+
+
+When visiting Barbadoes, in 1751, Washington noted in his journal his
+meeting a Miss Roberts, “an agreeable young lady,” and later he went
+with her to see some fireworks on Guy Fawkes day. Apparently, however,
+the ladies of that island made little impression on him, for he further
+noted, “The Ladys Generally are very agreeable but by ill custom or
+w[ha]t effect the Negro style.” This sudden insensibility is explained
+by a letter he wrote to William Fauntleroy a few weeks after his return
+to Virginia:
+
+“Sir: I should have been down long before this, but my business in
+Frederick detained me somewhat longer than I expected, and immediately
+upon my return from thence I was taken with a violent Pleurise, but
+purpose as soon as I recover my strength, to wait on Miss Betsy, in
+hopes of a revocation of the former cruel sentence, and see if I can
+meet with any alteration in my favor. I have enclosed a letter to her,
+which should be much obliged to you for the delivery of it. I have
+nothing to add but my best respects to your good lady and family, and
+that I am, Sir, Your most ob’t humble serv’t.”
+
+Because of this letter it has been positively asserted that Betsy
+Fauntleroy was the Low-Land Beauty of the earlier time; but as
+Washington wrote of his love for the latter in 1748, when Betsy was
+only eleven, the absurdity of the claim is obvious.
+
+In 1753, while on his mission to deliver the governor’s letter to the
+French, one duty which fell to the young soldier was a visit to
+royalty, in the person of Queen Aliquippa, an Indian majesty who had
+“expressed great Concern” that she had formerly been slighted.
+Washington records that “I made her a Present of a Match-coat and a
+Bottle of Rum; which latter was thought much the best Present of the
+Two,” and thus (externally and internally) restored warmth to her
+majesty’s feelings.
+
+When returned from his first campaign, and resting at Mount Vernon, the
+time seems to have been beguiled by some charmer, for one of
+Washington’s officers and intimates writes from Williamsburg, “I
+imagine you By this time plung’d in the midst of delight heaven can
+afford & enchanted By Charmes even Stranger to the Ciprian Dame,” and a
+footnote by the same hand only excites further curiosity concerning
+this latter personage by indefinitely naming her as “Mrs. Neil.”
+
+With whatever heart-affairs the winter was passed, with the spring the
+young man’s fancy turned not to love, but again to war, and only when
+the defeat of Braddock brought Washington back to Mount Vernon to
+recover from the fatigues of that campaign was his intercourse with the
+gentler sex resumed. Now, however, he was not merely a good-looking
+young fellow, but was a hero who had had horses shot from under him and
+had stood firm when scarlet-coated men had run away. No longer did he
+have to sue for the favor of the fair ones, and Fairfax wrote him that
+“if a Satterday Nights Rest cannot be sufficient to enable your coming
+hither to-morrow, the Lady’s will try to get Horses to equip our Chair
+or attempt their strength on Foot to Salute you, so desirous are they
+with loving Speed to have an occular Demonstration of your being the
+same Identical Gent—that lately departed to defend his Country’s
+Cause.” Furthermore, to this letter was appended the following:
+
+“DEAR SIR,—After thanking Heaven for your safe return I must accuse you
+of great unkindness in refusing us the pleasure of seeing you this
+night. I do assure you nothing but our being satisfied that our company
+would be disagreeable should prevent us from trying if our Legs would
+not carry us to Mount Vernon this night, but if you will not come to us
+to-morrow morning very early we shall be at Mount Vernon.
+
+“S[ALLY] FAIRFAX,
+“ANN SPEARING.
+“ELIZ’TH DENT.”
+
+
+Nor is this the only feminine postscript of this time, for in the
+postscript of a letter from Archibald Cary, a leading Virginian, he is
+told that “Mrs. Cary & Miss Randolph joyn in wishing you that sort of
+Glory which will most Indear you to the Fair Sex.”
+
+In 1756 Washington had occasion to journey on military business to
+Boston, and both in coming and in going he tarried in New York, passing
+ten days in his first visit and about a week on his return. This time
+was spent with a Virginian friend, Beverly Robinson, who had had the
+good luck to marry Susannah Philipse, a daughter of Frederick Philipse,
+one of the largest landed proprietors of the colony of New York. Here
+he met the sister, Mary Philipse, then a girl of twenty-five, and,
+short as was the time, it was sufficient to engage his heart. To this
+interest no doubt are due the entries in his accounts of sundry pounds
+spent “for treating Ladies,” and for the large tailors’ bills then
+incurred. But neither treats nor clothes won the lady, who declined his
+proposals, and gave her heart two years later to Lieutenant-Colonel
+Roger Morris. A curious sequel to this disappointment was the accident
+that made the Roger Morris house Washington’s head-quarters in 1776,
+both Morris and his wife being fugitive Tories. Again Washington was a
+chance visitor in 1790, when, as part of a picnic, he “dined on a
+dinner provided by Mr. Marriner at the House lately Colo. Roger Morris,
+but confiscated and in the occupation of a common Farmer.”
+
+
+[Illustration: MARY PHILIPSE]
+
+
+It has been asserted that Washington loved the wife of his friend
+George William Fairfax, but the evidence has not been produced. On the
+contrary, though the two corresponded, it was in a purely platonic
+fashion, very different from the strain of lovers, and that the
+correspondence implied nothing is to be found in the fact that he and
+Sally Carlyle (another Fairfax daughter) also wrote each other quite as
+frequently and on the same friendly footing; indeed, Washington
+evidently classed them in the same category, when he stated that “I
+have wrote to my two female correspondents.” Thus the claim seems due,
+like many another of Washington’s mythical love-affairs, rather to the
+desire of descendants to link their family “to a star” than to more
+substantial basis. Washington did, indeed, write to Sally Fairfax from
+the frontier, “I should think our time more agreeably spent, believe
+me, in playing a part in Cato, with the company you mention, and myself
+doubly happy in being the Juba to such a Marcia, as you must make,” but
+private theatricals then no more than now implied “passionate love.”
+What is more, Mrs. Fairfax was at this very time teasing him about
+another woman, and to her hints Washington replied,—
+
+“If you allow that any honor can be derived from my opposition … you
+destroy the merit of it entirely in me by attributing my anxiety to the
+animating prospect of possessing Mrs. Custis, when—I need not tell you,
+guess yourself. Should not my own Honor and country’s welfare be the
+excitement? ’Tis true I profess myself a votary of love. I acknowledge
+that a lady is in the case, and further I confess that this lady is
+known to you. Yes, Madame, as well as she is to one who is too sensible
+of her charms to deny the Power whose influence he feels and must ever
+submit to. I feel the force of her amiable beauties in the recollection
+of a thousand tender passages that I could wish to obliterate, till I
+am bid to revive them. But experience, alas! sadly reminds me how
+impossible this is, and evinces an opinion which I have long
+entertained that there is a Destiny which has the control of our
+actions, not to be resisted by the strongest efforts of Human Nature.
+You have drawn me, dear Madame, or rather I have drawn myself, into an
+honest confession of a simple Fact. Misconstrue not my meaning; doubt
+it not, nor expose it. The world has no business to know the object of
+my Love, declared in this manner to you, when I want to conceal it. One
+thing above all things in this world I wish to know, and only one
+person of your acquaintance can solve me that, or guess my meaning.”
+
+The love-affair thus alluded to had begun in March, 1758, when ill
+health had taken Washington to Williamsburg to consult physicians,
+thinking, indeed, of himself as a doomed man. In this trip he met Mrs.
+Martha (Dandridge) Custis, widow of Daniel Parke Custis, one of the
+wealthiest planters of the colony. She was at this time twenty-six
+years of age, or Washington’s senior by nine months, and had been a
+widow but seven, yet in spite of this fact, and of his own expected
+“decay,” he pressed his love-making with an impetuosity akin to that
+with which he had urged his suit of Miss Philipse, and (widows being
+proverbial) with better success. The invalid had left Mount Vernon on
+March 5, and by April 1 he was back at Fort Loudon, an engaged man,
+having as well so far recovered his health as to be able to join his
+command. Early in May he ordered a ring from Philadelphia, at a cost of
+£2.16.0; soon after receiving it he found that army affairs once more
+called him down to Williamsburg, and, as love-making is generally
+considered a military duty, the excuse was sufficient. But sterner
+duties on the frontier were awaiting him, and very quickly he was back
+there and writing to his _fiancée_,—
+
+“We have begun our march for the Ohio. A courier is starting for
+Williamsburg, and I embrace the opportunity to send a few words to one
+whose life is now inseparable from mine. Since that happy hour when we
+made our pledges to each other, my thoughts have been continually going
+to you as another Self. That an all-powerful Providence may keep us
+both in safety is the prayer of your ever faithful and affectionate
+friend.”
+
+Five months after this letter was written, Washington was able to date
+another from Fort Duquesne, and, the fall of that post putting an end
+to his military service, only four weeks later he was back in
+Williamsburg, and on January 6, 1759, he was married.
+
+Very little is really known of his wife, beyond the facts that she was
+petite, over-fond, hot-tempered, obstinate, and a poor speller. In 1778
+she was described as “a sociable, pretty kind of woman,” and she seems
+to have been but little more. One who knew her well described her as
+“not possessing much sense, though a perfect lady and remarkably well
+calculated for her position,” and confirmatory of this is the opinion
+of an English traveller that “there was nothing remarkable in the
+person of the lady of the President; she was matronly and kind, with
+perfect good breeding.” None the less she satisfied Washington; even
+after the proverbial six months were over he refused to wander from
+Mount Vernon, writing that “I am now, I believe, fixed at this seat
+with an agreeable Consort for life,” and in 1783 he spoke of her as the
+“partner of all my Domestic enjoyments.”
+
+John Adams, in one of his recurrent moods of bitterness and jealousy
+towards Washington, demanded, “Would Washington have ever been
+commander of the revolutionary army or president of the United States
+if he had not married the rich widow of Mr. Custis?” To ask such a
+question is to overlook the fact that Washington’s colonial military
+fame was entirely achieved before his marriage. It is not to be denied
+that the match was a good one from a worldly point of view, Mrs.
+Washington’s third of the Custis property equalling “fifteen thousand
+acres of land, a good part of it adjoining the city of Williamsburg;
+several lots in the said city; between two and three hundred negroes;
+and about eight or ten thousand pounds upon bond,” estimated at the
+time as about twenty thousand pounds in all, which was further
+increased on the death of Patsy Custis in 1773 by a half of her
+fortune, which added ten thousand pounds to the sum. Nevertheless the
+advantage was fairly equal, for Mrs. Custis’s lawyer had written before
+her marriage of the impossibility of her managing the property,
+advising that she “employ a trusty steward, and as the estate is large
+and very extensive, it is Mr. Wallers and my own opinion, that you had
+better not engage any but a very able man, though he should require
+large wages.” Of the management of this property, to which, indeed, she
+was unequal, Washington entirely relieved her, taking charge also of
+her children’s share and acting for their interests with the same care
+with which he managed the part he was more directly concerned in.
+
+He further saved her much of the detail of ordering her own clothing,
+and we find him sending for “A Salmon-colored Tabby of the enclosed
+pattern, with satin flowers, to be made in a sack,” “1 Cap,
+Handkerchief, Tucker and Ruffles, to be made of Brussels lace or point,
+proper to wear with the above negligee, to cost £20,” “1 pair black,
+and 1 pair white Satin Shoes, of the smallest,” and “1 black mask.”
+Again he writes his London agent, “Mrs. Washington sends home a green
+sack to get cleaned, or fresh dyed of the same color; made up into a
+handsome sack again, would be her choice; but if the cloth won’t afford
+that, then to be thrown into a genteel Night Gown.” At another time he
+wants a pair of clogs, and when the wrong kind are sent he writes that
+“she intended to have leathern Gloshoes.” When she was asked to present
+a pair of colors to a company, he attended to every detail of obtaining
+the flag, and when “Mrs. Washington … perceived the Tomb of her Father
+… to be much out of Sorts” he wrote to get a workman to repair it. The
+care of the Mount Vernon household proving beyond his wife’s ability, a
+housekeeper was very quickly engaged, and when one who filled this
+position was on the point of leaving, Washington wrote his agent to
+find another without the least delay, for the vacancy would “throw a
+great additional weight on Mrs. Washington;” again, writing in another
+domestic difficulty, “Your aunt’s distresses for want of a good
+housekeeper are such as to render the wages demanded by Mrs. Forbes
+(though unusually high) of no consideration.” Her letters of form,
+which required better orthography than she was mistress of, he
+draughted for her, pen-weary though he was.
+
+It has already been shown how he fathered her “little progeny,” as he
+once called them. Mrs. Washington was a worrying mother, as is shown by
+a letter to her sister, speaking of a visit in which “I carried my
+little patt with me and left Jacky at home for a trial to see how well
+I could stay without him though we were gon but wone fortnight I was
+quite impatient to get home. If I at aney time heard the doggs barke or
+a noise out, I thought thair was a person sent for me. I often fancied
+he was sick or some accident had happened to him so that I think it is
+impossible for me to leave him as long as Mr. Washington must stay when
+he comes down.” To spare her anxiety, therefore, when the time came for
+“Jacky” to be inoculated, Washington “withheld from her the information
+… & purpose, if possible, to keep her in total ignorance … till I hear
+of his return, or perfect recovery;… she having often wished that Jack
+wou’d take & go through the disorder without her knowing of it, that
+she might escape those Tortures which suspense wd throw her into.” And
+on the death of Patsy he wrote, “This sudden and unexpected blow, I
+scarce need add has almost reduced my poor Wife to the lowest ebb of
+Misery; which is encreas’d by the absence of her son.”
+
+When Washington left Mount Vernon, in May, 1775, to attend the
+Continental Congress, he did not foresee his appointment as
+commander-in-chief, and as soon as it occurred he wrote his wife,—
+
+“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 for the
+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 Patsey, when I assure 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 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…. I shall feel no pain from the toil or danger of the campaign;
+my unhappiness will flow from the uneasiness I know you will feel from
+being left alone.”
+
+To prevent this loneliness as far as possible, he wrote at the same
+time to different members of the two families as follows:
+
+“My great concern upon this occasion is, the thought of leaving your
+mother under the uneasiness which I fear this affair will throw her
+into; I therefore hope, expect, and indeed have no doubt, of your using
+every means in your power to keep up her spirits, by doing everything
+in your power to promote her quiet. I have, I must confess, very uneasy
+feelings on her account, but as it has been a kind of unavoidable
+necessity which has led me into this appointment, I shall more readily
+hope that success will attend it and crown our meetings with
+happiness.”
+
+“I entreat you and Mrs. Bassett if possible to visit at Mt. Vernon, as
+also my wife’s other friends. I could wish you to take her down, as I
+have no expectation of returning till winter & feel great uneasiness at
+her lonesome situation.”
+
+“I shall hope that my friends will visit and endeavor to keep up the
+spirits of my wife, as much as they can, as my departure will, I know,
+be a cutting stroke upon her; and on this account alone I have many
+very disagreeable sensations. I hope you and my sister, (although the
+distance is great), will find as much leisure this summer as to spend a
+little time at Mount Vernon.”
+
+When, six months later, the war at Boston settled into a mere siege,
+Washington wrote that “seeing no prospect of returning to my family and
+friends this winter, I have sent an invitation to Mrs. Washington to
+come to me,” adding, “I have laid a state of difficulties, however,
+which must attend the journey before her, and left it to her own
+choice.” His wife replied in the affirmative, and one of Washington’s
+aides presently wrote concerning some prize goods to the effect that
+“There are limes, lemons and oranges on board, which, being perishable,
+you must sell immediately. The General will want some of each, as well
+of the sweetmeats and pickles that are on board, as his lady will be
+here to-day or to-morrow. You will please to pick up such things on
+board as you think will be acceptable to her, and send them as soon as
+possible; he does not mean to receive anything without payment.”
+
+Lodged at head-quarters, then the Craigie house in Cambridge, the
+discomforts of war were reduced to a minimum, but none the less it was
+a trying time to Mrs. Washington, who complained that she could not get
+used to the distant cannonading, and she marvelled that those about her
+paid so little heed to it. With the opening of the campaign in the
+following summer she returned to Mount Vernon, but when the army was
+safely in winter quarters at Valley Forge she once more journeyed
+northward, a trip alluded to by Washington in a letter to Jack, as
+follows: “Your Mamma is not yet arrived, but … expected every hour. [My
+aide] Meade set off yesterday (as soon as I got notice of her
+intention) to meet her. We are in a dreary kind of place, and
+uncomfortably provided.” And of this reunion Mrs. Washington wrote, “I
+came to this place, some time about the first of February where I found
+the General very well,… in camp in what is called the great valley on
+the Banks of the Schuylkill. Officers and men are chiefly in Hutts,
+which they say is tolerably comfortable; the army are as healthy as can
+be well expected in general. The General’s apartment is very small; he
+has had a log cabin built to dine in, which has made our quarters much
+more tolerable than they were at first”
+
+Such “winterings” became the regular custom, and brief references in
+various letters serve to illustrate them. Thus, in 1779, Washington
+informed a friend that “Mrs. Washington, according to custom marched
+home when the campaign was about to open;” in July, 1782, he noted that
+his wife “sets out this day for Mount Vernon,” and later in the same
+year he wrote, “as I despair of seeing my home this Winter, I have sent
+for Mrs. Washington;” and finally, in a letter he draughted for his
+wife, he made her describe herself as “a kind of perambulator, during
+eight or nine years of the war.”
+
+Another pleasant glimpse during these stormy years is the couple,
+during a brief stay in Philadelphia, being entertained almost to death,
+described as follows by Franklin’s daughter in a letter to her father:
+“I have lately been several times abroad with the General and Mrs.
+Washington. He always inquires after you in the most affectionate
+manner, and speaks of you highly. We danced at Mrs. Powell’s your
+birthday, or night I should say, in company together, and he told me it
+was the anniversary of his marriage; it was just twenty years that
+night” Again there was junketing in Philadelphia after the surrender at
+Yorktown, and one bit of this is shadowed in a line from Washington to
+Robert Morris, telling the latter that “Mrs. Washington, myself and
+family, will have the honor of dining with you in the way proposed,
+to-morrow, being Christmas day.”
+
+With the retirement to Mount Vernon at the close of the war, little
+more companionship was obtained, for, as already stated, Washington
+could only describe his home henceforth as a “well resorted tavern,”
+and two years after his return he entered in his diary, “Dined with
+only Mrs. Washington which I believe is the first instance of it since
+my retirement from public life.”
+
+Even this was only a furlough, for in six years they were both in
+public life again. Mrs. Washington was inclined to sulk over the
+necessary restraints of official life, writing to a friend, “Mrs. Sins
+will give you a better account of the fashions than I can—I live a very
+dull life hear and know nothing that passes in the town—I never goe to
+any public place—indeed I think I am more like a State prisoner than
+anything else; there is certain bounds set for me which I must not
+depart from—and as I cannot doe as I like, I am obstinate and stay at
+home a great deal.”
+
+
+[Illustration: MRS. DANIEL PARKE CUSTIS, LATER MRS. WASHINGTON]
+
+
+None the less she did her duties well, and in these “Lady Washington”
+was more at home, for, according to Thacher, she combined “in an
+uncommon degree, great dignity of manner with most pleasing
+affability,” though possessing “no striking marks of beauty,” and there
+is no doubt that she lightened Washington’s shoulders of social demands
+materially. At the receptions of Mrs. Washington, which were held every
+Friday evening, so a contemporary states, “the President did not
+consider himself as visited. On these occasions he appeared as a
+private gentleman, with neither hat nor sword, conversing without
+restraint.”
+
+From other formal society Mrs. Washington also saved her husband, for a
+visitor on New Year’s tells of her setting “‘the General’ (by which
+title she always designated her husband)” at liberty: “Mrs. Washington
+had stood by his side as the visitors arrived and were presented, and
+when the clock in the hall was heard striking nine, she advanced and
+with a complacent smile said, ‘The General always retires at nine, and
+I usually precede him,’ upon which all arose, made their parting
+salutations, and withdrew.” Nor was it only from the fatigues of formal
+entertaining that the wife saved her husband, Washington writing in
+1793, “We remain in Philadelphia until the 10th instant. It was my wish
+to have continued there longer; but as Mrs. Washington was unwilling to
+leave me surrounded by the malignant fever which prevailed, I could not
+think of hazarding her, and the Children any longer by _my_ continuance
+in the City, the house in which we live being in a manner blockaded by
+the disorder, and was becoming every day more and more fatal; I
+therefore came off with them.”
+
+Finally from these “scenes more busy, tho’ not more happy, than the
+tranquil enjoyment of rural life,” they returned to Mount Vernon,
+hoping that in the latter their “days will close.” Not quite three
+years of this life brought an end to their forty years of married life.
+On the night that Washington’s illness first became serious his
+secretary narrates that “Between 2 and 3 o’clk on Saturday morning he
+[Washington] awoke Mrs. Washington & told her he was very unwell, and
+had had an ague. She … would have got up to call a servant; but he
+would not permit her lest she should take cold.” As a consequence of
+this care for her, her husband lay for nearly four hours in a chill in
+a cold bedroom before receiving any attention, or before even a fire
+was lighted. When death came, she said, “Tis well—All is now over—I
+have no more trials to pass through—I shall soon follow him.” In his
+will he left “to my dearly beloved wife” the use of his whole property,
+and named her an executrix.
+
+As a man’s views of matrimony are more or less colored by his personal
+experience, what Washington had to say on the institution is of
+interest. As concerned himself he wrote to his nephew, “If Mrs.
+Washington should survive me, there is a moral certainty of my dying
+without issue: and should I be the longest liver, the matter in my
+opinion, is hardly less certain; for while I retain the faculty of
+reasoning, I shall never marry a girl; and it is not probable that I
+should have children by a woman of an age suitable to my own, should I
+be disposed to enter into a second marriage.” And in a less personal
+sense he wrote to Chastellux,—
+
+“In reading your very friendly and acceptable letter,… I was, as you
+may well suppose, not less delighted than surprised to meet the plain
+American words, ‘my 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. Now 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 same, like the small pox or the plague, a man can have
+only once in his life; because it commonly lasts him (at least with us
+in America—I don’t know how you manage these matters in France) for his
+whole life time. And yet after all the maledictions you so richly merit
+on the subject, the worst wish which I can find in my heart to make
+against Madame de Chastellux and yourself is, that you may neither of
+you ever get the better of this same domestic felicity during the
+entire course of your mortal existence.”
+
+Furthermore, he wrote to an old friend, whose wife stubbornly refused
+to sign a deed, “I think, any Gentleman, possessed of but a very
+moderate degree of influence with his wife, might, in the course of
+five or six years (for I think it is at least that time) have prevailed
+upon her to do an act of justice, in fulfiling his Bargains and
+complying with his wishes, if he had been really in earnest in
+requesting the matter of her; especially, as the inducement which you
+thought would have a powerful operation on Mrs. Alexander, namely the
+birth of a child, has been doubled, and tripled.”
+
+However well Washington thought of “the honorable state,” he was no
+match-maker, and when asked to give advice to the widow of Jack Custis,
+replied, “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 advise 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 disapprobation, 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.’” Again he wrote:
+
+“It has ever been a maxim with me through life, neither to promote nor
+to prevent a matrimonial connection, unless there should be something
+indispensably requiring interference in the latter. I have always
+considered marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life, the
+foundation of happiness or misery. To be instrumental therefore in
+bringing two people together, who are indifferent to each other, and
+may soon become objects of disgust; or to prevent a union, which is
+prompted by the affections of the mind, is what I never could reconcile
+with reason, and therefore neither directly nor indirectly have I ever
+said a word to Fanny or George, upon the subject of their intended
+connection.”
+
+The question whether Washington was a faithful husband might well be
+left to the facts already given, were it not that stories of his
+immorality are bandied about in clubs, a well-known clergyman has
+vouched for their truth, and a United States senator has given further
+currency to them by claiming special knowledge on the subject. Since
+such are the facts, it seems best to consider the question and show
+what evidence there actually is for these stories, that at least the
+pretended “letters,” etc., which are always being cited, and are never
+produced, may no longer have credence put in them, and the true basis
+for all the stories may be known and valued at its worth.
+
+In the year 1776 there was printed in London a small pamphlet entitled
+“Minutes of the Trial and Examination of Certain Persons in the
+Province of New York,” which purported to be the records of the
+examination of the conspirators of the “Hickey plot” (to murder
+Washington) before a committee of the Provincial Congress of New York.
+The manuscript of this was claimed in the preface to have been
+“discovered (on the late capture of New York by the British troops)
+among the papers of a person who appears to have been secretary to the
+committee.” As part of the evidence the following was printed:
+
+“William Cooper, soldier, sworn.
+
+“Court. Inform us what conversation you heard at the Serjeant’s Arms?
+
+“Cooper. Being there the 21st of May, I heard John Clayford inform the
+company, that Mary Gibbons was thoroughly in their interest, and that
+the whole would be safe. I learnt from enquiry that Mary Gibbons was a
+girl from New Jersey, of whom General Washington was very fond, that he
+maintained her genteelly at a house near Mr. Skinner’s,—at the North
+River; that he came there very often late at night in disguise; he
+learnt also that this woman was very intimate with Clayford, and made
+him presents, and told him of what General Washington said.
+
+“Court. Did you hear Mr. Clayford say any thing himself that night?
+
+“Cooper. Yes; that he was the day before with Judith, so he called her,
+and that she told him, Washington had often said he wished his hands
+were clear of the dirty New-Englanders, and words to that effect.
+
+“Court. Did you hear no mention made of any scheme to betray or seize
+him?
+
+“Cooper. Mr. Clayford said he could easily be seized and put on board a
+boat, and carried off, as his female friend had promised she would
+assist: but all present thought it would be hazardous.”
+
+“William Savage, sworn.
+
+“Court. Was you at the Serjeant’s Arms on the 21st of May? Did you hear
+any thing of this nature?
+
+“Savage. I did, and nearly as the last evidence has declared; the
+society in general refused to be concerned in it, and thought it a mad
+scheme.
+
+“Mr. Abeel. Pray, Mr. Savage, have not you heard nothing of an
+information that was to be given to Governor Tryon?
+
+“Savage. Yes; papers and letters were at different times shewn to the
+society, which were taken out of General Washington’s pockets by Mrs.
+Gibbons, and given (as she pretended some occasion of going out) to Mr.
+Clayford, who always copied them, and they were put into his pockets
+again.”
+
+The authenticity of this pamphlet thus becomes of importance, and over
+this little time need be spent. The committee named in it differs from
+the committee really named by the Provincial Congress, and the
+proceedings nowhere implicate the men actually proved guilty. In other
+words, the whole publication is a clumsy Tory forgery, put forward with
+the same idle story of “captured papers” employed in the “spurious
+letters” of Washington, and sent forth from the same press (J. Bew)
+from which that forgery and several others issued.
+
+The source from which the English fabricator drew this scandal is
+fortunately known. In 1775 a letter to Washington from his friend
+Benjamin Harrison was intercepted by the British, and at once printed
+broadcast in the newspapers. In this the writer gossips to Washington
+“to amuse you and unbend your minds from the cares of war,” as follows:
+“As I was in the pleasing task of writing to you, a little noise
+occasioned me to turn my head around, and who should appear but pretty
+little Kate, the Washer-woman’s daughter over the way, clean, trim and
+as rosy as the morning. I snatched the golden, glorious opportunity,
+and, but for the cursed antidote to love, Sukey, I had fitted her for
+my general against his return. We were obliged to part, but not till we
+had contrived to meet again: if she keeps the appointment, I shall
+relish a week’s longer stay.” From this originated the stories of
+Washington’s infidelity as already given, and also a coarser version of
+the same, printed in 1776 in a Tory farce entitled “The Battle of
+Brooklyn.”
+
+Jonathan Boucher, who knew Washington well before the Revolution, yet
+who, as a loyalist, wrote in no friendly spirit of him, asserted that
+“in his moral character, he is regular.” A man who disliked him far
+more, General Charles Lee, in the excess of his hatred, charged
+Washington in 1778 with immorality,—a rather amusing impeachment, since
+at the very time Lee was flaunting the evidence of his own incontinence
+without apparent shame,—and a mutual friend of the accused and accuser,
+Joseph Reed, whose service on Washington’s staff enabled him to speak
+wittingly, advised that Lee “forbear any Reflections upon the Commander
+in Chief, of whom for the first time I have heard Slander on his
+private Character, viz., great cruelty to his Slaves in Virginia &
+Immorality of Life, tho’ they acknowledge so very secret that it is
+difficult to detect. To me who have had so good opportunities to know
+the Purity of the latter & equally believing the Falsehood of the
+former from the known excellence of his disposition, it appears so
+nearly bordering upon frenzy, that I can pity the wretches rather than
+despise them.”
+
+Washington was too much of a man, however, to have his marriage lessen
+his liking for other women; and Yeates repeats that “Mr. Washington
+once told me, on a charge which I once made against the President at
+his own Table, that the admiration he warmly professed for Mrs.
+Hartley, was a Proof of his Homage to the worthy Part of the Sex, and
+highly respectful to his Wife.” Every now and then there is an allusion
+in his letters which shows his appreciation of beauty, as when he wrote
+to General Schuyler, “Your fair daughter, for whose visit Mrs.
+Washington and myself are greatly obliged,” and again, to one of his
+aides, “The fair hand, to whom your letter … was committed presented it
+safe.”
+
+His diary, in the notes of the balls and assemblies which he attended,
+usually had a word for the sex, as exampled in: “at which there were
+between 60 & 70 well dressed ladies;” “at which there was about 100
+well dressed and handsome ladies;” “at which were 256 elegantly dressed
+ladies;” “where there was a select Company of ladies;” “where (it is
+said) there were upwards of 100 ladies; their appearance was elegant,
+and many of them very handsome;” “at wch. there were about 400 ladies
+the number and appearance of wch. exceeded anything of the kind I have
+ever seen;” “where there were about 75 well dressed, and many of them
+very handsome ladies—among whom (as was also the case at the Salem and
+Boston assemblies) were a greater proportion with much blacker hair
+than are usually seen in the Southern States.”
+
+At his wife’s receptions, as already said, Washington did not view
+himself as host, and “conversed without restraint, generally with
+women, who rarely had other opportunity of seeing him,” which perhaps
+accounts for the statement of another eye-witness that Washington
+“looked very much more at ease than at his own official levees.”
+Sullivan adds that “the young ladies used to throng around him, and
+engaged him in conversation. There were some of the well-remembered
+belles of the day who imagined themselves to be favorites with him. As
+these were the only opportunities which they had of conversing with
+him, they were disposed to use them.” In his Southern trip of 1791
+Washington noted, with evident pleasure, that he “was visited about 2
+o’clock, by a great number of the most respectable ladies of
+Charleston—the first honor of the kind I had ever experienced and it
+was flattering as it was singular.” And that this attention was not
+merely the respect due to a great man is shown in the letter of a
+Virginian woman, who wrote to her correspondent in 1777, that when
+“General Washington throws off the Hero and takes up the chatty
+agreeable Companion—he can be down right impudent sometimes—such
+impudence, Fanny, as you and I like.”
+
+Another feminine compliment paid him was a highly laudatory poem which
+was enclosed to him, with a letter begging forgiveness, to which he
+playfully answered,—
+
+“You apply to me, my dear Madam, for absolution as tho’ I was your
+father Confessor; and as tho’ you had committed a crime, great in
+itself, yet of the venial class. You have reason good—for I find myself
+strangely disposed to be a very indulgent ghostly adviser on this
+occasion; and, notwithstanding ‘you are the most offending Soul alive’
+(that is, if it is a crime to write elegant Poetry,) yet if you will
+come and dine with me on Thursday, and go thro’ the proper course of
+penitence which shall be prescribed I will strive hard to assist you in
+expiating these poetical trespasses on this side of purgatory. Nay
+more, if it rests with me to direct your future lucubrations, I shall
+certainly urge you to a repetition of the same conduct, on purpose to
+shew what an admirable knack you have at confession and reformation;
+and so without more hesitation, I shall venture to command the muse,
+not to be restrained by ill-grounded timidity, but to go on and
+prosper. You see, Madam, when once the woman has tempted us, and we
+have tasted the forbidden fruit, there is no such thing as checking our
+appetites, whatever the consequences may be. You will, I dare say,
+recognize our being the genuine Descendants of those who are reputed to
+be our great Progenitors.”
+
+Nor was Washington open only to beauty and flattery. From the rude
+frontier in 1756 he wrote, “The supplicating tears of the women,… melt
+me into such deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my own
+mind, I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy,
+provided that would contribute to the people’s ease.” And in 1776 he
+said, “When I consider that the city of New York will in all human
+probability very soon be the scene of a bloody conflict, I cannot but
+view the great numbers of women, children, and infirm persons remaining
+in it, with the most melancholy concern. When the men-of-war passed up
+the river, the shrieks and cries of these poor creatures running every
+way with their children, were truly distressing…. Can no method be
+devised for their removal?”
+
+Nevertheless, though liked by and liking the fair sex, Washington was
+human, and after experience concluded that “I never again will have two
+women in my house when I am there myself.”
+
+
+
+
+V
+FARMER AND PROPRIETOR
+
+
+The earliest known Washington coat of arms had blazoned upon it “3
+Cinque foiles,” which was the herald’s way of saying that the bearer
+was a landholder and cultivator, and when Washington had a book-plate
+made for himself he added to the conventional design of the arms spears
+of wheat and other plants, as an indication of his favorite labor.
+During his career he acted several parts, but in none did he find such
+pleasure as in farming, and late in life he said, “I think with you,
+that the life of a husbandman of all others is the most delectable. It
+is honorable, it is amusing, and, with judicious management, it is
+profitable. To see plants rise from the earth and flourish by the
+superior skill and bounty of the laborer fills a contemplative mind
+with ideas which are more easy to be conceived than expressed.”
+“Agriculture has ever been the most favorite amusement of my life,” he
+wrote after the Revolution, and he informed another correspondent that
+“the more I am acquainted with agricultural affairs, the better pleased
+I am with them; insomuch, that I can no where find so great
+satisfaction as in those innocent and useful pursuits: In indulging
+these feelings, I am led to reflect how much more delightful to an
+undebauched mind is the task of making improvements on the earth, than
+all the vain glory which can be acquired from ravaging it, by the most
+uninterrupted career of conquests.” A visitor to Mount Vernon in 1785
+states that his host’s “greatest pride is, to be thought the first
+farmer in America. He is quite a Cincinnatus.”
+
+Undoubtedly a part of this liking flowed from his strong affection for
+Mount Vernon. Such was his feeling for the place that he never seems to
+have been entirely happy away from it, and over and over again, during
+his various and enforced absences, he “sighs” or “pants” for his “own
+vine and fig tree.” In writing to an English correspondent, he shows
+his feeling for the place by saying, “No estate in United America, is
+more pleasantly situated than this. It lies in a high, dry and healthy
+country, three hundred miles by water from the sea, and, as you will
+see by the plan, on one of the finest rivers in the world.”
+
+The history of the Mount Vernon estate begins in 1674, when Lord
+Culpepper conveyed to Nicholas Spencer and Lieutenant-Colonel John
+Washington five thousand acres of land “scytuate Lying and being within
+the said terrytory in the County of Stafford in the ffreshes of the
+Pottomocke River and … bounded betwixt two Creeks.” Colonel John’s half
+was bequeathed to his son Lawrence, and by Lawrence’s will it was left
+to his daughter Mildred. She sold it to the father of George, who by
+his will left it to his son Lawrence, with a reversion to George should
+Lawrence die without issue. The original house was built about 1740,
+and the place was named Mount Vernon by Lawrence, in honor of Admiral
+Vernon, under whom he had served at Carthagena. After the death of
+Lawrence, the estate of twenty-five hundred acres came under
+Washington’s management, and from 1754 it was his home, as it had been
+practically even in his brother’s life.
+
+Twice Washington materially enlarged the house at Mount Vernon, the
+first time in 1760 and the second in 1785, and a visitor reports, what
+his host must have told him, that “its a pity he did not build a new
+one at once, for it has cost him nearly as much to repair his old one.”
+These alterations consisted in the addition of a banquet-hall at one
+end (by far the finest room in the house), and a library and
+dining-room at the other, with the addition of an entire story to the
+whole.
+
+The grounds, too, were very much improved. A fine approach, or bowling
+green, was laid out, a “botanical garden,” a “shrubbery,” and
+greenhouses were added, and in every way possible the place was
+improved. A deer paddock was laid out and stocked, gifts of Chinese
+pheasants and geese, French partridges, and guinea-pigs were sent him,
+and were gratefully acknowledged, and from all the world over came
+curious, useful, or beautiful plants.
+
+The original tract did not satisfy the ambition of the farmer, and from
+the time he came into the possession of Mount Vernon he was a
+persistent purchaser of lands adjoining the property. In 1760 he
+bargained with one Clifton for “a tract called Brents,” of eighteen
+hundred and six acres, but after the agreement was closed the seller,
+“under pretence of his wife not consenting to acknowledge her right of
+dower wanted to disengage himself … and by his shuffling behavior
+convinced me of his being the trifling body represented.” Presently
+Washington heard that Clifton had sold his lands to another for twelve
+hundred pounds, which “fully unravelled his conduct … and convinced me
+that he was nothing less than a thorough pac’d rascall.” Meeting the
+“rascall” at a court, “much discourse,” Washington states, “happened
+between him and I concerning his ungenerous treatment of me, the whole
+turning to little account, ’tis not worth reciting.” After much more
+friction, the land was finally sold at public auction, and “I bought it
+for £1210 Sterling, [and] under many threats and disadvantages paid the
+money.”
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON’S SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON, CIRCA 1746]
+
+
+In 1778, when some other land was offered, Washington wrote to his
+agent, “I have premised these things to shew my inability, not my
+unwillingness to purchase the Lands in my own Neck at (almost) any
+price—& this I am very desirous of doing if it could be accomplished by
+any means in my power, in ye way of Barter for other Land—for Negroes …
+or in short—for any thing else … but for money I cannot, I want the
+means.” Again, in 1782, he wrote, “Inform Mr. Dulany,… that I look upon
+£2000 to be a great price for his land; that my wishes to obtain it do
+not proceed from its intrinsic value, but from the motives I have
+candidly assigned in my other letter. That to indulge this fancy, (for
+in truth there is more fancy than judgment in it) I have submitted, or
+am willing to submit, to the disadvantage of borrowing as large a sum
+as I think this Land is worth, in order to come at it”
+
+By thus purchasing whenever an opportunity occurred, the property was
+increased from the twenty-five hundred acres which had come into
+Washington’s possession by inheritance to an estate exceeding eight
+thousand acres, of which over thirty-two hundred were actually under
+cultivation during the latter part of its owner’s life.
+
+To manage so vast a tract, the property was subdivided into several
+tracts, called “Mansion House Farm,” “River Farm,” “Union Farm,” “Muddy
+Hole Farm,” and “Dogue Run Farm,” each having an overseer to manage it,
+and each being operated as a separate plantation, though a general
+overseer controlled the whole, and each farm derived common benefit
+from the property as a whole. “On Saturday in the afternoon, every
+week, reports are made by all his overseers, and registered in books
+kept for the purpose,” and these accounts were so schemed as to show
+how every negro’s and laborer’s time had been employed during the whole
+week, what crops had been planted or gathered, what increase or loss of
+stock had occurred, and every other detail of farm-work. During
+Washington’s absences from Mount Vernon his chief overseer sent him
+these reports, as well as wrote himself, and weekly the manager
+received in return long letters of instruction, sometimes to the length
+of sixteen pages, which showed most wonderful familiarity with every
+acre of the estate and the character of every laborer, and are little
+short of marvellous when account is taken of the pressure of public
+affairs that rested upon their writer as he framed them.
+
+When Washington became a farmer, but one system of agriculture, so far
+as Virginia was concerned, existed, which he described long after as
+follows:
+
+“A piece of land is cut down, and kept under constant cultivation,
+first in tobacco, and then in Indian corn (two very exhausting plants),
+until it will yield scarcely any thing; a second piece is cleared, and
+treated in the same manner; then a third and so on, until probably
+there is but little more to clear. When this happens, the owner finds
+himself reduced to the choice of one of three things—either to recover
+the land which he has ruined, to accomplish which, he has perhaps
+neither the skill, the industry, nor the means; or to retire beyond the
+mountains; or to substitute quantity for quality, in order to raise
+something. The latter has been generally adopted, and, with the
+assistance of horses, he scratches over much ground, and seeds it, to
+very little purpose.”
+
+Knowing no better, Washington adopted this one-crop system, even to the
+extent of buying corn and hogs to feed his hands. Though following in
+the beaten track, he experimented in different kinds of tobacco, so
+that, “by comparing then the loss of the one with the extra price of
+the other, I shall be able to determine which is the best to pursue.”
+The largest crop he ever seems to have produced, “being all
+sweet-scented and neatly managed,” was one hundred and fifteen
+hogsheads, which averaged in sale twelve pounds each.
+
+From a very early time Washington had been a careful student of such
+books on agriculture as he could obtain, even preparing lengthy
+abstracts of them, and the knowledge he thus obtained, combined with
+his own practical experience, soon convinced him that the Virginian
+system was wrong. “I never ride on my plantations,” he wrote, “without
+seeing something which makes me regret having continued so long in the
+ruinous mode of farming, which we are in,” and he soon “discontinued
+the growth of tobacco myself; [and] except at a plantation or two upon
+York River, I make no more of that article than barely serves to
+furnish me with goods.”
+
+From this time (1765) “the whole of my force [was] in a manner confined
+to the growth of wheat and manufacturing of it into flour,” and before
+long he boasted that “the wheat from some of my plantations, by one
+pair of steelyards, will weigh upwards of sixty pounds,… and better
+wheat than I now have I do not expect to make.” After the Revolution he
+claimed that “no wheat that has ever yet fallen under my observation
+exceeds the wheat which some years ago I cultivated extensively but
+which, from inattention during my absence of almost nine years from
+home, has got so mixed or degenerated as scarcely to retain any of its
+original characteristics properly.” In 1768 he was able to sell over
+nineteen hundred bushels, and how greatly his product was increased
+after this is shown by the fact that in this same year he sowed four
+hundred and ninety bushels.
+
+Still further study and experimentation led him to conclude that “my
+countrymen are too much used to corn blades and corn shucks; and have
+too little knowledge of the profit of grass lands,” and after his final
+home-coming to Mount Vernon, he said, “I have had it in contemplation
+ever since I returned home to turn my farms to grazing principally, as
+fast as I can cover the fields sufficiently with grass. Labor and of
+course expence will be considerably diminished by this change, the nett
+profit as great and my attention less divided, whilst the fields will
+be improving.” That this was only an abandonment of a “one crop” system
+is shown by the fact that in 1792 he grew over five thousand bushels of
+wheat, valued at four shillings the bushel, and in 1799 he said, “as a
+farmer, wheat and flour are my principal concerns.” And though, in
+abandoning the growth of tobacco, Washington also tried “to grow as
+little Indian corn as may be,” yet in 1795 his crop was over sixteen
+hundred barrels, and the quantity needed for his own negroes and stock
+is shown in a year when his crop failed, which “obliged me to purchase
+upwards of eight hundred barrels of corn.”
+
+In connection with this change of system, Washington became an early
+convert to the rotation of crops, and drew up elaborate tables
+sometimes covering periods of five years, so that the quantity of each
+crop should not vary, yet by which his fields should have constant
+change. This system naturally very much diversified the product of his
+estate, and flax, hay, clover, buckwheat, turnips, and potatoes became
+large crops. The scale on which this was done is shown by the facts
+that in one year he sowed twenty-seven bushels of flaxseed and planted
+over three hundred bushels of potatoes.
+
+Early and late Washington preached to his overseers the value of
+fertilization; in one case, when looking for a new overseer, he said
+the man must be, “above all, Midas like, one who can convert everything
+he touches into manure, as the first transmutation towards gold;—in a
+word one who can bring worn out and gullied Lands into good tilth in
+the shortest time.” Equally emphatic was his urging of constant
+ploughing and grubbing, and he even invented a deep soil plough, which
+he used till he found a better one in the English Rotheran plough,
+which he promptly imported, as he did all other improved farming tools
+and machinery of which he could learn. To save his woodlands, and for
+appearance’s sake, he insisted on live fences, though he had to
+acknowledge that “no hedge, alone, will, I am persuaded, do for an
+outer inclosure, where _two_ or four footed hogs find it convenient to
+open passage.” In all things he was an experimentalist, carefully
+trying different kinds of tobacco and wheat, various kinds of plants
+for hedges, and various kinds of manure for fertilizers; he had tests
+made to see whether he could sell his wheat to best advantage in the
+grain or when made into flour, and he bred from selected horses,
+cattle, and sheep. “In short I shall begrudge no reasonable expence
+that will contribute to the improvement and neatness of my Farms;—for
+nothing pleases me better than to see them in good order, and
+everything trim, handsome, and thriving about them.”
+
+The magnitude of the charge of such an estate can be better understood
+when the condition of a Virginia plantation is realized. Before the
+Revolution practically everything the plantation could not produce was
+ordered yearly from Great Britain, and after the annual delivery of the
+invoices the estate could look for little outside help. Nor did this
+change rapidly after the Revolution, and during the period of
+Washington’s management almost everything was bought in yearly
+supplies. This system compelled each plantation to be a little world
+unto itself; indeed, the three hundred souls on the Mount Vernon estate
+went far to make it a distinct and self-supporting community, and one
+of Washington’s standing orders to his overseers was to “buy nothing
+you can make within yourselves.” Thus the planting and gathering of the
+crops were but a small part of the work to be done.
+
+A corps of workmen—some negroes, some indentured servants, and some
+hired laborers—were kept on the estate. A blacksmith-shop occupied
+some, doing not merely the work of the plantation, but whatever
+business was brought to them from outside; and a wood-burner kept them
+and the mansion-house supplied with charcoal. A gang of carpenters were
+kept busy, and their spare time was utilized in framing houses to be
+put up in Alexandria, or in the “Federal city,” as Washington was
+called before the death of its namesake. A brick-maker, too, was kept
+constantly employed, and masons utilized the product of his labor. The
+gardener’s gang had charge of the kitchen-garden, and set out thousands
+of grape-vines, fruit-trees, and hedge-plants.
+
+A water-mill, with its staff, not merely ground meal for the hands, but
+produced a fine flour that commanded extra price in the market In 1786
+Washington asserted that his flour was “equal, I believe, in quality to
+any made in this country,” and the Mount Vernon brand was of such value
+that some money was made by buying outside wheat and grinding it into
+flour. The coopers of the estate made the barrels in which it was
+packed, and Washington’s schooner carried it to market.
+
+The estate had its own shoemaker, and in time a staff of weavers was
+trained. Before this was obtained, in 1760, though with only a modicum
+of the force he presently had, Washington ordered from London “450 ells
+of Osnabrig, 4 pieces of Brown Wools, 350 yards of Kendall Cotton, and
+100 yards of Dutch blanket.” By 1768 he was manufacturing the chief
+part of his requirements, for in that year his weavers produced eight
+hundred and fifteen and three-quarter yards of linen, three hundred and
+sixty-five and one-quarter yards of woollen, one hundred and forty-four
+yards of linsey, and forty yards of cotton, or a total of thirteen
+hundred and sixty-five and one-half yards, one man and five negro girls
+having been employed. When once the looms were well organized an
+infinite variety of cloths was produced, the accounts mentioning
+“striped woollen, woolen plaided, cotton striped, linen, wool-birdseye,
+cotton filled with wool, linsey, M.’s & O.’s, cotton-India dimity,
+cotton jump stripe, linen filled with tow, cotton striped with silk,
+Roman M., Janes twilled, huccabac, broadcloth, counterpain, birdseye
+diaper, Kirsey wool, barragon, fustian, bed-ticking, herring-box, and
+shalloon.”
+
+One of the most important features of the estate was its fishery, for
+the catch, salted down, largely served in place of meat for the
+negroes’ food. Of this advantage Washington wrote, “This river,… is
+well supplied with various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year;
+and, in the spring, with the greatest profusion of shad, herrings,
+bass, carp, perch, sturgeon, &c. Several valuable fisheries appertain
+to the estate; the whole shore, in short, is one entire fishery.”
+Whenever there was a run of fish, the seine was drawn, chiefly for
+herring and shad, and in good years this not merely amply supplied the
+home requirements, but allowed of sales; four or five shillings the
+thousand for herring and ten shillings the hundred for shad were the
+average prices, and sales of as high as eighty-five thousand herring
+were made in a single year.
+
+In 1795, when the United States passed an excise law, distilling became
+particularly profitable, and a still was set up on the plantation. In
+this whiskey was made from “Rye chiefly and Indian corn in a certain
+proportion,” and this not merely used much of the estate’s product of
+those two grains, but quantities were purchased from elsewhere. In 1798
+the profit from the distillery was three hundred and forty-four pounds
+twelve shillings and seven and three-quarter pence, with a stock
+carried over of seven hundred and fifty-five and one-quarter gallons;
+but this was the most successful year. Cider, too, was made in large
+quantities.
+
+A stud stable was from an early time maintained, and the Virginia
+papers regularly advertised that the stud horse “Samson,” “Magnolia,”
+“Leonidas,” “Traveller,” or whatever the reigning stallion of the
+moment might be, would “cover” mares at Mount Vernon, with pasturage
+and a guarantee of foal, if their owners so elected. During the
+Revolution Washington bought twenty-seven of the army mares that had
+been “worn-down so as to render it beneficial to the public to have
+them sold,” not even objecting to those “low in flesh or even
+crippled,” because “I have many large Farms and am improving a good
+deal of Land into Meadow and Pasture, which cannot fail of being
+profited by a number of Brood Mares.” In addition to the stud, there
+were, in 1793, fifty-four draught horses on the estate.
+
+A unique feature of this stud was the possession of two jackasses, of
+which the history was curious. At that time there was a law in Spain
+(where the best breed was to be found) which forbade the exportation of
+asses, but the king, hearing of Washington’s wish to possess a jack,
+sent him one of the finest obtainable as a present, which was promptly
+christened “Royal Gift.” The sea-voyage and the change of climate,
+however, so affected him that for a time he proved of little value to
+his owner, except as a source of amusement, for Washington wrote
+Lafayette, “The Jack I have already received from Spain in appearance
+is fine, but his late Royal master, tho’ past his grand climacteric
+cannot be less moved by female allurements than he is; or when
+prompted, can proceed with more deliberation and majestic solemnity to
+the work of procreation.” This reluctance to play his part Washington
+concluded was a sign of aristocracy, and he wrote a nephew, “If Royal
+Gift will administer, he shall be at the service of your Mares, but at
+present he seems too full of Royalty, to have anything to do with a
+plebeian Race,” and to Fitzhugh he said, “particular attention shall be
+paid to the mares which your servant brought, and when my Jack is in
+the humor, they shall derive all the benefit of his labor, for labor it
+appears to be. At present tho’ young, he follows what may be supposed
+to be the example of his late Royal Master, who can not, tho’ past his
+grand climacteric, perform seldomer or with more majestic solemnity
+than he does. However I am not without hope that when he becomes a
+little better acquainted with republican enjoyment, he will amend his
+manners, and fall into a better and more expeditious mode of doing
+business.” This fortunately proved to be the case, and his master not
+merely secured such mules as he needed for his own use, but gained from
+him considerable profit by covering mares in the neighborhood. He even
+sent him on a tour through the South, and Royal Gift passed a whole
+winter in Charleston, South Carolina, with a resulting profit of six
+hundred and seventy-eight dollars to his owner. In 1799 there were on
+the estate “2 Covering Jacks & 3 young ones, 10 she asses, 42 working
+mules and 15 younger ones.”
+
+Of cattle there were in 1793 a total of three hundred and seventeen
+head, including “a sufficiency of oxen broke to the yoke,” and a dairy
+was operated separate from the farms, and some butter was made, but
+Washington had occasion to say, “It is hoped, and will be expected,
+that more effectual measures will be pursued to make butter another
+year; for it is almost beyond belief, that from 101 cows actually
+reported on a late enumeration of the cattle, that I am obliged to _buy
+butter_ for the use of my family.”
+
+Sheep were an unusual adjunct of a Virginia plantation, and of his
+flock Washington wrote, “From the beginning of the year 1784 when I
+returned from the army, until shearing time of 1788, I improved the
+breed of my sheep so much by buying and selecting the best formed and
+most promising Rams, and putting them to my best ewes, by keeping them
+always well culled and clean, and by other attentions, that they
+averaged me … rather over than under five pounds of washed wool each.”
+In another letter he said, “I … was proud in being able to produce
+perhaps the largest mutton and the greatest quantity of wool from my
+sheep that could be produced. But I was not satisfied with this; and
+contemplated further improvements both in the flesh and wool by the
+introduction of other breeds, which I should by this time have carried
+into effect, had I been permitted to pursue my favorite occupation.” In
+1789, however, “I was again called from home, and have not had it in my
+power since to pay any attention to my farms. The consequence of which
+is, that my sheep at the last shearing, yielded me not more than 2-1/2”
+pounds. In 1793 he had six hundred and thirty-four in his flock, from
+which he obtained fourteen hundred and-fifty-seven pounds of fleece. Of
+hogs he had “many,” but “as these run pretty much at large in the
+woodland, the number is uncertain.” In 1799 his manager valued his
+entire live-stock at seven thousand pounds.
+
+A separate account was kept of each farm, and of many of these separate
+departments, and whenever there was a surplus of any product an account
+was opened to cover it. Thus in various years there are accounts raised
+dealing with cattle, hay, flour, flax, cord-wood, shoats, fish,
+whiskey, pork, etc., and his secretary, Shaw, told a visitor that the
+“books were as regular as any merchant whatever.” It is proper to note,
+however, that sometimes they would not balance, and twice at least
+Washington could only force one, by entering “By cash supposed to be
+paid away & not credited £17.6.2,” and “By cash lost, stolen or paid
+away without charging £143.15.2.” All these accounts were tabulated at
+the end of the year and the net results obtained. Those for a single
+year are here given:
+
+BALANCE OF GAIN AND LOSS, 1798.
+
+
+_Dr. gained._
+
+Dogue Run Farm	397.11.02 Union Farm	529.10.11½ River Farm	234.
+4.11 Smith’s Shop	34.12.09½ Distillery	83.13.01 Jacks	56.01
+Traveller (studhorse)	9.17 Shoemaker	28.17.01
+Fishery	165.12.0¾ Dairy	30.12.03
+
+_Cr. lost._
+
+Mansion House	466.18.02½ Muddy Hole Farm	60.01.03½
+Spinning	51.02.0 Hire of head-overseer	140.00.0
+
+By Clear gain on the Estate £ 898.16.4¼
+
+
+A pretty poor showing for an estate and negroes which had certainly
+cost him over fifty thousand dollars, and on which there was livestock
+which at the lowest estimation was worth fifteen thousand dollars more.
+It is not strange that in 1793 Washington attempted to find tenants for
+all but the Mansion farm. This he reserved for my “own residence,
+occupation and amusement,” as Washington held that “idleness is
+disreputable,” and in 1798 he told his chief overseer he did not choose
+to “discontinue my rides or become a cipher on my own estate.”
+
+When at Mount Vernon, as this indicated, Washington rode daily about
+his estate, and he has left a pleasant description of his life
+immediately after retiring from the Presidency: “I begin my diurnal
+course with the sun;… if my hirelings are not in their places at that
+time I send them messages expressive of my sorrow for their
+indisposition;… having put these wheels in motion, I examine the state
+of things further; and the more they are probed, the deeper I find the
+wounds are which my buildings have sustained by my absence and neglect
+of eight years; by the time I have accomplished these matters,
+breakfast (a little after seven o’clock)… is ready;… this being over, I
+mount my horse and ride round my farms, which employs me until it is
+time to dress for dinner.” A visitor at this time is authority for the
+statement that the master “often works with his men himself—strips off
+his coat and labors like a common man. The General has a great turn for
+mechanics. It’s astonishing with what niceness he directs everything in
+the building way, condescending even to measure the things himself,
+that all may be perfectly uniform.”
+
+This personal attention Washington was able to give only with very
+serious interruptions. From 1754 till 1759 he was most of the time on
+the frontier; for nearly nine years his Revolutionary service separated
+him absolutely from his property; and during the two terms of his
+Presidency he had only brief and infrequent visits. Just one-half of
+his forty-six years’ occupancy of Mount Vernon was given to public
+service.
+
+The result was that in 1757 he wrote, “I am so little acquainted with
+the business relative to my private affairs that I can scarce give you
+any information concerning it,” and this was hardly less true of the
+whole period of his absences. In 1775 he engaged overseers to manage
+his various estates in his absence “upon shares,” but during the whole
+war the plantations barely supported themselves, even with depletion of
+stock and fertility, and he was able to draw nothing from them. One
+overseer, and a confederate, he wrote, “I believe, divided the profits
+of my Estate on the York River, tolerably betwn. them, for the devil of
+any thing do I get.” Well might he advise knowingly that “I have no
+doubt myself but that middling land under a man’s own eyes, is more
+profitable than rich land at a distance.” “No Virginia Estate (except a
+very few under the best of management) can stand simple Interest,” he
+declared, and went even further when he wrote, “the nature of a
+Virginia Estate being such, that without close application, it never
+fails bringing the proprietors in Debt annually.” “To speak within
+bounds,” he said, “ten thousand pounds will not compensate the losses I
+might have avoided by being at home, & attending a little to my own
+concerns” during the Revolution.
+
+Fortunately for the farmer, the Mount Vernon estate was but a small
+part of his property. His father had left him a plantation of two
+hundred and eighty acres on the Rappahannock, “one Moiety of my Land
+lying on Deep Run,” three lots in Frederick “with all the houses and
+Appurtenances thereto belonging,” and one quarter of the residuary
+estate. While surveying for Lord Fairfax in 1748, as part of his
+compensation Washington patented a tract of five hundred and fifty
+acres in Frederick County, which he always spoke of as “My Bull-skin
+plantation.”
+
+As a military bounty in the French and Indian War the governor of
+Virginia issued a proclamation granting Western lands to the soldiers,
+and under this Washington not merely secured fifteen thousand acres in
+his own right, but by buying the claims of some of his fellow officers
+doubled that quantity. A further tract was also obtained under the
+kindred proclamation of 1763, “5000 Acres of Land in my own right, & by
+purchase from Captn. Roots, Posey, & some other officers, I obtained
+rights to several thousand more.” In 1786, after sales, he had over
+thirty thousand acres, which he then offered to sell at thirty thousand
+guineas, and in 1799, when still more had been sold, his inventory
+valued the holdings at nearly three hundred thousand dollars.
+
+In addition, Washington was a partner in several great land
+speculations,—the Ohio Company, the Walpole Grant, the Mississippi
+Company, the Military Company of Adventures, and the Dismal Swamp
+Company; but all these ventures except the last collapsed at the
+beginning of the Revolution and proved valueless. His interest in the
+Dismal Swamp Company he held at the time of his death, and it was
+valued in the inventory at twenty thousand dollars.
+
+The properties that came to him from his brother Lawrence and with his
+wife have already been described. It may be worth noting that with the
+widow of Lawrence there was a dispute over the will, but apparently it
+was never carried into the courts, and that owing to the great
+depreciation of paper money during the Revolution the Custis personal
+property was materially lessened, for “I am now receiving a shilling in
+the pound in discharge of Bonds which ought to have been paid me, &
+would have been realized before I left Virginia, but for my indulgences
+to the debtors,” Washington wrote, and in 1778 he said, “by the
+comparitive worth of money, six or seven thousand pounds which I have
+in Bonds upon Interest is now reduced to as many hundreds because I can
+get no more for a thousand at this day than a hundred would have
+fetched when I left Virginia, Bonds, debts, Rents, &c. undergoing no
+change while the currency is depreciating in value and for ought I know
+may in a little time be totally sunk.” Indeed, in 1781 he complained
+“that I have totally neglected all my private concerns, which are
+declining every day, and may, possibly, end in capital losses, if not
+absolute ruin, before I am at liberty to look after them.”
+
+In 1784 he became partner with George Clinton in some land purchases in
+the State of New York with the expectation of buying the “mineral
+springs at Saratoga; and … the Oriskany tract, on which Fort Schuyler
+stands.” In this they were disappointed, but six thousand acres in the
+Mohawk valley were obtained “amazingly cheap.” Washington’s share cost
+him, including interest, eighteen hundred and seventy-five pounds, and
+in 1793 two-thirds of the land had been sold for three thousand four
+hundred pounds, and in his inventory of 1799 Washington valued what he
+still held of the property at six thousand dollars.
+
+In 1790, having inside information that the capital was to be removed
+from New York to Philadelphia, Washington tried to purchase a farm near
+that city, foreseeing a speedy rise in value. In this apparently he did
+not succeed. Later he purchased lots in the new Federal city, and built
+houses on two of them. He also had town lots in Williamsburg,
+Alexandria, Winchester, and Bath. In addition to all this property
+there were many smaller holdings. Much was sold or traded, yet when he
+died, besides his wife’s real estate and the Mount Vernon property, he
+possessed fifty-one thousand three hundred and ninety-five acres,
+exclusive of town property. A contemporary said “that General
+Washington is, perhaps, the greatest landholder in America.”
+
+All these lands, except Mount Vernon, were, so far as possible, rented,
+but the net income was not large. Rent agents were employed to look
+after the tenants, but low rents, war, paper money, a shifting
+population, and Washington’s dislike of lawsuits all tended to reduce
+the receipts, and the landlord did not get simple interest on his
+investments. Thus, in 1799 he complains of slow payments from tenants
+in Washington and Lafayette Counties (Pennsylvania). Instead of an
+expected six thousand dollars, due June 1, but seventeen hundred
+dollars were received.
+
+Income, however, had not been his object in loading himself with such a
+vast property, as Washington believed that he was certain to become
+rich. “For proof of” the rise of land, he wrote in 1767, “only look to
+Frederick, [county] and see what fortunes were made by the … first
+taking up of those lands. Nay, how the greatest estates we have in this
+colony were made. Was it not by taking up and purchasing at very low
+rates the rich back lands, which were thought nothing of in those days,
+but are now the most valuable land we possess?”
+
+In this he was correct, but in the mean time he was more or less
+land-poor. To a friend in 1763 he wrote that the stocking and repairing
+of his plantations “and other matters … swallowed up before I well knew
+where I was, all the moneys I got by marriage, nay more, brought me in
+debt” In 1775, replying to a request for a loan, he declared that “so
+far am I from having £200 to lend … I would gladly borrow that sum
+myself for a few months.” When offered land adjoining Mount Vernon for
+three thousand pounds in 1778, he could only reply that it was “a sum I
+have little chance, if I had inclination, to pay; & therefore would not
+engage it, as I am resolved not to incumber myself with Debt.” In 1782,
+to secure a much desired tract he was forced to borrow two thousand
+pounds York currency at the rate of seven per cent.
+
+In 1788, “the total loss of my crop last year by the drought” “with
+necessary demands for cash” “have caused me much perplexity and given
+me more uneasiness than I ever experienced before from want of money,”
+and a year later, just before setting out to be inaugurated, he tried
+to borrow five hundred pounds “to discharge what I owe” and to pay the
+expenses of the journey to New York, but was “unable to obtain more
+than half of it, (though it was not much I required), and this at an
+advanced interest with other rigid conditions,” though at this time
+“could I get in one fourth part of what is due me on Bonds” “without
+the intervention of suits” there would have been ample funds. In 1795
+the President said, “my friends entertain a very erroneous idea of my
+particular resources, when they set me down for a money lender, or one
+who (now) has a command of it. You may believe me when I assert that
+the bonds which were due to me before the Revolution, were discharged
+during the progress of it—with a few exceptions in depreciated paper
+(in some instances as low as a shilling in the pound). That such has
+been the management of the Estate, for many years past, especially
+since my absence from home, now six years, as scarcely to support
+itself. That my public allowance (whatever the world may think of it)
+is inadequate to the expence of living in this City; to such an
+extravagant height has the necessaries as well as the conveniences of
+life arisen. And, moreover that to keep myself out of debt; I have
+found it expedient now and then to sell Lands, or something else to
+effect this purpose.”
+
+
+[Illustration: LOTTERY TICKET SIGNED BY WASHINGTON]
+
+
+As these extensive land ventures bespoke a national characteristic, so
+a liking for other forms of speculation was innate in the great
+American. During the Revolution he tried to secure an interest in a
+privateer. One of his favorite flyers was chances in lotteries and
+raffles, which, if now found only in association with church fairs,
+were then not merely respectable, but even fashionable. In 1760 five
+pounds and ten shillings were invested in one lottery. Five pounds
+purchased five tickets in Strother’s lottery in 1763. Three years later
+six pounds were risked in the York lottery and produced prizes to the
+extent of sixteen pounds. Fifty pounds were put into Colonel Byrd’s
+lottery in 1769, and drew a half-acre lot in the town of Manchester,
+but out of this Washington was defrauded. In 1791 John Potts was paid
+four pounds and four shillings “in part for 20 Lottery tickets in the
+Alexa. street Lottery at 6/ each, 14 Dollrs. the Bal. was discharged by
+2.3 Lotr prizes.” Twenty tickets of Peregrine and Fitzhugh’s lottery
+cost one hundred and eighty-eight dollars in 1794. And these are but
+samples of innumerable instances. So, too, in raffles, the entries are
+constant,—“for glasses 20/,” “for a Necklace £1.,” “by profit & loss in
+two chances in raffling for Encyclopadia Britannica, which I did not
+win £1.4,” two tickets were taken in the raffle of Mrs. Dawson’s coach,
+as were chances for a pair of silver buckles, for a watch, and for a
+gun; such and many others were smaller ventures Washington took.
+
+There were other sources of income or loss besides. Before the
+Revolution he had a good sized holding of Bank of England stock, and an
+annuity in the funds, besides considerable property on bond, the larger
+part of which, as already noted, was liquidated in depreciated paper
+money. This paper money was for the most part put into United States
+securities, and eventually the “at least £10,000 Virginia money” proved
+to be worth six thousand two hundred and forty-six dollars in
+government six per cents and three per cents. A great believer in the
+Potomac Canal Company, Washington invested twenty-four hundred pounds
+sterling in the stock, which produced no income, and in time showed a
+heavy shrinkage. Another and smaller loss was an investment in the
+James River Canal Company. Stock holdings in the Bank of Columbia and
+in the Bank of Alexandria proved profitable investments.
+
+None the less Washington was a successful businessman. Though his
+property rarely produced a net income, and though he served the public
+with practically no profit (except as regards bounty lands), and thus
+was compelled frequently to dip into his capital to pay current
+expenses, yet, from being a surveyor only too glad to earn a doubloon
+(seven dollars and forty cents) a day, he grew steadily in wealth, and
+when he died his property, exclusive of his wife’s and the Mount Vernon
+estate, was valued at five hundred and thirty thousand dollars. This
+made him one of the wealthiest Americans of his time, and it is to be
+questioned if a fortune was ever more honestly acquired or more
+thoroughly deserved.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+MASTER AND EMPLOYER
+
+
+In his “rules of civility” Washington enjoined that “those of high
+Degree ought to treat” “Artificers & Persons of low Degree” “with
+affibility & Courtesie, without Arrogancy,” and it was a needed lesson
+to every young Virginian, for, as Jefferson wrote, “the whole commerce
+between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous
+passions, the most insulting despotism on the one part, and degrading
+submissions on the other.”
+
+Augustine Washington’s will left to his son George “Ten negro Slaves,”
+with an additional share of those “not herein particularly Devised,”
+but all to remain in the possession of Mary Washington until the boy
+was twenty-one years of age. With his taking possession of the Mount
+Vernon estate in his twenty-second year eighteen more came under
+Washington’s direction. In 1754 he bought a “fellow” for £40.5, another
+(Jack) for £52.5, and a negro woman (Clio) for £50. In 1756 he
+purchased of the governor a negro woman and child for £60, and two
+years later a fellow (Gregory) for £60.9. In the following year (the
+year of his marriage) he bought largely: a negro (Will) for £50;
+another for £60; nine for £406, an average of £45; and a woman (Hannah)
+and child, £80. In 1762 he added to the number by purchasing seven of
+Lee Massey for £300 (an average of £43), and two of Colonel Fielding
+Lewis at £115, or £57.10 apiece. From the estate of Francis Hobbs he
+bought, in 1764, Ben, £72; Lewis, £36.10; and Sarah, £20. Another
+fellow, bought of Sarah Alexander, cost him £76; and a negro (Judy) and
+child, sold by Garvin Corbin, £63. In 1768 Mary Lee sold him two
+mulattoes (Will and Frank) for £61.15 and £50, respectively; and two
+boys (negroes), Adam and Frank, for £19 apiece. Five more were
+purchased in 1772, and after that no more were bought. In 1760
+Washington paid tithes on forty-nine slaves, five years later on
+seventy-eight, in 1770 on eighty-seven, and in 1774 on one hundred and
+thirty-five; besides which must be included the “dower slaves” of his
+wife. Soon after this there was an overplus, and Washington in 1778
+offered to barter for some land “Negroes, of whom I every day long more
+to get clear of,” and even before this he had learned the economic fact
+that except on the richest of soils slaves “only add to the Expence.”
+
+In 1791 he had one hundred and fifteen “hands” on the Mount Vernon
+estate, besides house servants, and De Warville, describing his estate
+in the same year, speaks of his having three hundred negroes. At this
+time Washington declared that “I never mean (unless some particular
+circumstance compel me to it) to possess another slave by purchase,”
+but this intention was broken, for “The running off of my cook has been
+a most inconvenient thing to this family, and what rendered it more
+disagreeable, is that I had resolved never to become the Master of
+another slave by purchase, but this resolution I fear I must break. I
+have endeavored to hire, black or white, but am not yet supplied.”
+
+A few more slaves were taken in payment of a debt, but it was from
+necessity rather than choice, for at this very time Washington had
+decided that “it is demonstratively clear, that on this Estate (Mount
+Vernon) I have more working negros by a full moiety, than can be
+employed to any advantage in the farming system, and I shall never turn
+Planter thereon. To sell the overplus I cannot, because I am principled
+against this kind of traffic in the human species. To hire them out, is
+almost as bad, because they could not be disposed of in families to any
+advantage, and to disperse the families I have an aversion. What then
+is to be done? Something must or I shall be ruined; for all the money
+(in addition to what I raise by crops, and rents) that have been
+_received_ for Lands, sold within the last four years, to the amount of
+Fifty thousand dollars, has scarcely been able to keep me afloat.” And
+writing of one set he said, “it would be for my interest to set them
+free, rather than give them victuals and cloaths.”
+
+The loss by runaways was not apparently large. In October, 1760, his
+ledger contains an item of seven shillings “To the Printing Office …
+for Advertising a run-a-way Negro.” In 1761 he pays his clergyman, Rev.
+Mr. Green, “for taking up one of my Runaway Negroes £4.” In 1766
+rewards are paid for the “taking upp” of “Negro Tom” and “Negro Bett.”
+The “taking up of Harry when Runaway” in 1771 cost £1.16. When the
+British invaded Virginia in 1781, a number escaped or were carried away
+by the enemy. By the treaty of peace these should have been returned,
+and their owner wrote, “Some of my own slaves, and those of Mr. Lund
+Washington who lives at my house may probably be in New York, but I am
+unable to give you their description—their names being so easily
+changed, will be fruitless to give you. If by chance you should come at
+the knowledge of any of them, I will be much obliged by your securing
+them, so that I may obtain them again.”
+
+In 1796 a girl absconded to New England, and Washington made inquiries
+of a friend as to the possibility of recovering her, adding, “however
+well disposed I might be to a gradual abolition, or even to an entire
+emancipation of that description of people (if the latter was in itself
+practicable) at this moment, it would neither be politic nor just to
+reward unfaithfulness with a premature preference, and thereby
+discontent beforehand the minds of all her fellow servants, who, by
+their steady attachment, are far more deserving than herself of favor,”
+and at this time Washington wrote to a relative, “I am sorry to hear of
+the loss of your servant; but it is my opinion these elopements will be
+much more, before they are less frequent; and that the persons making
+them should never be retained—if they are recovered, as they are sure
+to contaminate and discontent others.”
+
+Another source of loss was sickness, which, in spite of all Washington
+could do, made constant inroads on the numbers. A doctor to care for
+them was engaged by the year, and in the contracts with his overseers
+clauses were always inserted that each was “to take all necessary and
+proper care of the Negroes committed to his management using them with
+proper humanity and descretion,” or that “he will take all necessary
+and proper care of the negroes committed to his management, treating
+them with humanity and tenderness when sick, and preventing them when
+well, from running about and visiting without his consent; as also
+forbid strange negroes frequenting their quarters without lawful
+excuses for so doing.”
+
+Furthermore, in writing to his manager, while absent from Mount Vernon,
+Washington reiterated that “although it is last mentioned it is
+foremost in my thoughts, to desire you will be particularly attentive
+to my negros in their sickness; and to order every overseer
+_positively_ to be so likewise; for I am sorry to observe that the
+generality of them view these poor creatures in scarcely any other
+light than they do a draught horse or ox; neglecting them as much when
+they are unable to work; instead of comforting and nursing them when
+they lye on a sick bed.” And in another letter he added, “When I
+recommended care of, and attention to my negros in sickness, it was
+that the first stage of, and the whole progress through the disorders
+with which they might be seized (if more than a slight indisposition)
+should be closely watched, and timely applications and remedies be
+administered; especially in the pleurisies, and all inflammatory
+disorders accompanied with pain, when a few days’ neglect, or want of
+bleeding might render the ailment incurable. In such cases sweeten’d
+teas, broths and (according to the nature of the complaint, and the
+doctor’s prescription) sometimes a little wine, may be necessary to
+nourish and restore the patient; and these I am perfectly willing to
+allow, when it is requisite. My fear is, as I expressed to you in a
+former letter, that the under overseers are so unfeeling, in short
+viewing the negros in no other light than as a better kind of cattle,
+the moment they cease to work, they cease their care of them.”
+
+At Mount Vernon his care for the slaves was more personal. At a time
+when the small-pox was rife in Virginia he instructed his overseer
+“what to do if the Small pox should come amongst them,” and when he
+“received letters from Winchester, informing me that the Small pox had
+got among my quarters in Frederick; [I] determin’d … to leave town as
+soon as possible, and proceed up to them…. After taking the Doctors
+directions in regard to my people … I set out for my quarters about 12
+oclock, time enough to go over them and found every thing in the utmost
+confusion, disorder and backwardness…. Got Blankets and every other
+requisite from Winchester, and settl’d things on the best footing I
+cou’d, … Val Crawford agreeing if any of those at the upper quarter got
+it, to have them remov’d into my room and the Nurse sent for.”
+
+Other sickness was equally attended to, as the following entries in his
+diary show: “visited my Plantations and found two negroes sick …
+ordered them to be blooded;” “found that lightening had struck my
+quarters and near 10 Negroes in it, some very bad but with letting
+blood they recover’d;” “ordered Lucy down to the House to be Physikd,”
+and “found the new negro Cupid, ill of a pleurisy at Dogue Run Quarter
+and had him brot home in a cart for better care of him…. Cupid
+extremely Ill all this day and at night when I went to bed I thought
+him within a few hours of breathing his last.”
+
+This matter of sickness, however, had another phase, which caused
+Washington much irritation at times when he could not personally look
+into the cases, but heard of them through the reports of his overseers.
+Thus, he complained on one occasion, “I find by reports that Sam is, in
+a manner, always returned sick; Doll at the Ferry, and several of the
+spinners very frequently so, for a week at a stretch; and ditcher
+Charles often laid up with lameness. I never wish my people to work
+when they are really sick, or unfit for it; on the contrary, that all
+necessary care should be taken of them when they are so; but if you do
+not examine into their complaints, they will lay by when no more ails
+them, than all those who stick to their business, and are not
+complaining from the fatigue and drowsiness which they feel as the
+effect of night walking and other practices which unfit them for the
+duties of the day.” And again he asked, “Is there anything particular
+in the cases of Ruth, Hannah and Pegg, that they have been returned
+sick for several weeks together? Ruth I know is extremely deceitful;
+she has been aiming for some time past to get into the house, exempt
+from work; but if they are not made to do what their age and strength
+will enable them, it will be a bad example for others—none of whom
+would work if by pretexts they can avoid it”
+
+Other causes than running away and death depleted the stock. One negro
+was taken by the State for some crime and executed, an allowance of
+sixty-nine pounds being made to his master. In 1766 an unruly negro was
+shipped to the West Indies (as was then the custom), Washington writing
+the captain of the vessel,—
+
+“With this letter comes a negro (Tom) which I beg the favor of you to
+sell in any of the islands you may go to, for whatever he will fetch,
+and bring me in return for him
+        “One hhd of best molasses
+        “One ditto of best rum
+        “One barrel of lymes, if good and cheap
+        “One pot of tamarinds, containing about 10 lbs.
+        “Two small ditto of mixed sweetmeats, about 5 lbs. each.
+And the residue, much or little, in good old spirits. That this fellow
+is both a rogue and a runaway (tho’ he was by no means remarkable for
+the former, and never practised the latter till of late) I shall not
+pretend to deny. But that he is exceeding healthy, strong, and good at
+the hoe, the whole neighborhood can testify, and particularly Mr.
+Johnson and his son, who have both had him under them as foreman of the
+gang; which gives me reason to hope he may with your good management
+sell well, if kept clean and trim’d up a little when offered for sale.”
+
+Another “misbehaving fellow” was shipped off in 1791, and was sold for
+“one pipe and Quarter Cask of wine from the West Indies.” Sometimes
+only the threat of such riddance was used, as when an overseer
+complained of one slave, and his master replied, “I am very sorry that
+so likely a fellow as Matilda’s Ben should addict himself to such
+courses as he is pursuing. If he should be guilty of any atrocious
+crime, that would effect his life, he might be given up to the civil
+authority for trial; but for such offences as most of his color are
+guilty of, you had better try further correction, accompanied with
+admonition and advice. The two latter sometimes succeed where the first
+has failed. He, his father and mother (who I dare say are his
+receivers) may be told in explicit language, that if a stop is not put
+to his rogueries and other villainies, by fair means and shortly, that
+I will ship him off (as I did Wagoner Jack) for the West Indies, where
+he will have no opportunity of playing such pranks as he is at present
+engaged in.”
+
+It is interesting to note, in connection with this conclusion, that
+“admonition and advice” were able to do what “correction” sometimes
+failed to achieve, that there is not a single order to whip, and that
+the above case, and that which follows, are the only known cases where
+punishment was approved. “The correction you gave Ben, for his assault
+on Sambo, was just and proper. It is my earnest desire that quarrels
+may be stopped or punishment of both parties follow, unless it shall
+appear _clearly_, that one only is to blame, and the other forced into
+[a quarrel] from self-defence.” In one other instance Washington wrote,
+“If Isaac had his deserts he would receive a severe punishment for the
+house, tools and seasoned stuff, which has been burned by his
+carelessness.” But instead of ordering the “deserts” he continued, “I
+wish you to inform him, that I sustain injury enough by their idleness;
+they need not add to it by their carelessness.”
+
+This is the more remarkable, because his slaves gave him constant
+annoyance by their wastefulness and sloth and dishonesty. Thus, “Paris
+has grown to be so lazy and self-willed” that his master does not know
+what to with him; “Doll at the Ferry must be taught to knit, and _made_
+to do a sufficient day’s work of it—otherwise (if suffered to be idle)
+many more will walk in her steps”; “it is observed by the weekly
+reports, that the sewers make only six shirts a week, and the last week
+Carolina (without being sick) made only five. Mrs. Washington says
+their usual task was to make nine with shoulder straps and good sewing.
+Tell them therefore from me, that what _has_ been done, _shall_ be
+done”; “none I think call louder for [attention] than the smiths, who,
+from a variety of instances which fell within my own observation whilst
+I was at home, I take to be two very idle fellows. A daily account
+(which ought to be regularly) taken of their work, would alone go a
+great way towards checking their idleness.” And the overseer was told
+to watch closely “the people who are at work with the gardener, some of
+whom I know to be as lazy and deceitful as any in the world (Sam
+particularly).”
+
+Furthermore, the overseers were warned to “endeavor to make the
+Servants and Negroes take care of their cloathes;” to give them “a
+weekly allowance of Meat … because the annual one is not taken care of
+but either profusely used or stolen”; and to note “the delivery to and
+the application of nails by the carpenters,… [for] I cannot conceive
+how it is possible that 6000 twelve penny nails could be used in the
+corn house at River Plantation; but of one thing I have no great doubt,
+and that is, if they can be applied to other uses, or converted into
+cash, rum or other things there will be no scruple in doing it.”
+
+When robbed of some potatoes, Washington complained that “the deception
+… is of a piece with other practices of a similar kind by which I have
+suffered hitherto; and may serve to evince to you, in strong colors,
+first how little confidence can be placed in any one round you; and
+secondly the necessity of an accurate inspection into these things
+yourself,—for to be plain, Alexandria is such a recepticle for every
+thing that can be filched from the right owners, by either blacks or
+whites; and I have such an opinion of my negros (two or three only
+excepted), and not much better of some of the whites, that I am
+perfectly sure not a single thing that can be disposed of at any price,
+at that place, that will not, and is not stolen, where it is possible;
+and carried thither to some of the underlying keepers, who support
+themselves by this kind of traffick.” He dared not leave wine unlocked,
+even for the use of his guests, “because the knowledge I have of my
+servants is such, as to believe, that if opportunities are given them,
+they will take off two glasses of wine for every one that is drank by
+such visitors, and tell you they were used by them.” And when he had
+some work to do requiring very ordinary qualities, he had to confess
+that “I know not a negro among all mine, whose capacity, integrity and
+attention could be relied on for such a trust as this.”
+
+Whatever his opinion of his slaves, Washington was a kind master. In
+one case he wrote a letter for one of them when the “fellow” was parted
+from his wife in the service of his master, and at another time he
+enclosed letters to a wife and to James’s “del Toboso,” for two of his
+servants, to save them postage. In reference to their rations he wrote,
+“whether this addition … is sufficient, I will not undertake to
+decide;—but in most explicit language I desire they may have plenty;
+for I will not have my feelings hurt with complaints of this sort, nor
+lye under the imputation of starving my negros, and thereby driving
+them to the necessity of thieving to supply the deficiency. To prevent
+waste or embezzlement is the only inducement to allowancing of them at
+all—for if, instead of a peck they could eat a bushel of meal a week
+fairly, and required it, I would not withhold or begrudge it them.” At
+Christmas-time there are entries in his ledger for whiskey or rum for
+“the negroes,” and towards the end of his life he ordered the overseer,
+“although others are getting out of the practice of using spirits at
+Harvest, yet, as my people have always been accustomed to it, a
+hogshead of Rum must be purchased; but I request at the same time, that
+it may be used sparingly.”
+
+A greater kindness of his was, in 1787, when he very much desired a
+negro mason offered for sale, yet directed his agent that “if he has a
+family, with which he is to be sold; or from whom he would reluctantly
+part, I decline the purchase; his feelings I would not be the means of
+hurting in the latter case, nor _at any rate_ be incumbered with the
+former.”
+
+The kindness thus indicated bore fruit in a real attachment of the
+slaves for their master. In Humphreys’s poem on Washington the poet
+alluded to the negroes at Mount Vernon in the lines,—
+
+“Where that foul stain of manhood, slavery, flow’d
+Through Afric’s sons transmitted in the blood;
+Hereditary slaves his kindness shar’d,
+For manumission by degrees prepar’d:
+Return’d from war, I saw them round him press,
+And all their speechless glee by artless signs express.”
+
+
+And in a foot-note the writer added, “The interesting scene of his
+return home, at which the author was present, is described exactly as
+it existed.”
+
+A single one of these slaves deserves further notice. His body-servant
+“Billy” was purchased by Washington in 1768 for sixty-eight pounds and
+fifteen shillings, and was his constant companion during the war, even
+riding after his master at reviews; and this servant was so associated
+with the General that it was alleged in the preface to the “forged
+letters” that they had been captured by the British from “Billy,” “an
+old servant of General Washington’s.” When Savage painted his
+well-known “family group,” this was the one slave included in the
+picture. In 1784 Washington told his Philadelphia agent that “The
+mulatto fellow, William, who has been with me all the war, is attached
+(married he says) to one of his own color, a free woman, who during the
+war, was also of my family. She has been in an infirm condition for
+some time, and I had conceived that the connexion between them had
+ceased; but I am mistaken it seems; they are both applying to get her
+here, and tho’ I never wished to see her more, I cannot refuse his
+request (if it can be complied with on reasonable terms) as he has
+served me faithfully for many years. After premising this much, I have
+to beg the favor of you to procure her a passage to Alexandria.”
+
+
+[Illustration: SAVAGE’S PICTURE OF THE WASHINGTON FAMILY]
+
+
+When acting as chain-bearer in 1785, while Washington was surveying a
+tract of land, William fell and broke his knee-pan, “which put a stop
+to my surveying; and with much difficulty I was able to get him to
+Abington, being obliged to get a sled to carry him on, as he could
+neither walk, stand or ride.” From this injury Lee never quite
+recovered, yet he started to accompany his master to New York in 1789,
+only to give out on the road. He was left at Philadelphia, and Lear
+wrote to Washington’s agent that “The President will thank you to
+propose it to Will to return to Mount Vernon when he can be removed for
+he cannot be of any service here, and perhaps will require a person to
+attend upon him constantly. If he should incline to return to Mount
+Vernon, you will be so kind as to have him sent in the first Vessel
+that sails for Alexandria after he can be moved with safety—but if he
+is still anxious to come on here the President would gratify him,
+altho’ he will be troublesome—He has been an old and faithful Servant,
+this is enough for the President to gratify him in every reasonable
+wish.”
+
+By his will Washington gave Lee his “immediate freedom or if he should
+prefer it (on account of the accidents which have befallen him and
+which have rendered him incapable of walking or of any active
+employment) to remain in the situation he now is, it shall be optional
+in him to do so— In either case however I allow him an annuity of
+thirty dollars during his natural life which shall be independent of
+the victuals and _cloaths_ he has been accustomed to receive; if he
+_chuses_ the last alternative, but in full with his freedom, if he
+prefers the first, and this I give him as a testimony of my sense of
+his attachment to me and for his faithful services during the
+Revolutionary War.”
+
+Two small incidents connected with Washington’s last illness are worth
+noting. The afternoon before the night he was taken ill, although he
+had himself been superintending his affairs on horseback in the storm
+most of the day, yet when his secretary “carried some letters to him to
+frank, intending to send them to the Post Office in the evening,” Lear
+tells us “he franked the letters; but said the weather was too bad to
+send a servant up to the office that evening.” Lear continues, “The
+General’s servant, Christopher, attended his bed side & in the room,
+when he was sitting up, through his whole illness…. In the [last]
+afternoon the General observing that Christopher had been standing by
+his bed side for a long time—made a motion for him to sit in a chair
+which stood by the bed side.”
+
+A clause in Washington’s will directed that
+
+“Upon the decease of my wife it is my will and desire that all the
+slaves which I hold in _my own right_ shall receive their freedom—To
+emancipate them during her life, would, tho’ earnestly wished by me, be
+attended with such insuperable difficulties, on account of their
+intermixture of marriages with the Dower negroes as to excite the most
+painful sensations—if not disagreeable consequences from the latter,
+while both descriptions 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—And whereas among those who will receive freedom
+according to this devise there may be some who from old age, or bodily
+infirmities & others who on account of their infancy, that will be
+unable to support themselves, it is my will and desire that all who
+come under the first and second description shall be comfortably
+cloathed and fed by my heirs while they live and that such of the
+latter description as have no parents living, or if living are unable
+or unwilling to provide for them, shall be bound by the Court until
+they shall arrive at the age of twenty five years…. The negroes thus
+bound are (by their masters and mistresses) to be taught to read and
+write and to be brought up to some useful occupation.”
+
+In this connection Washington’s sentiments on slavery as an institution
+may be glanced at. As early as 1784 he replied to Lafayette, when told
+of a colonizing plan, “The scheme, my dear Marqs., which you propose as
+a precedent to encourage the emancipation of the black people of this
+Country from that state of Bondage in wch. they are held, is a striking
+evidence of the benevolence of your Heart. I shall be happy to join you
+in so laudable a work; but will defer going into a detail of the
+business, till I have the pleasure of seeing you.” A year later, when
+Francis Asbury was spending a day in Mount Vernon, the clergyman asked
+his host if he thought it wise to sign a petition for the emancipation
+of slaves. Washington replied that it would not be proper for him, but
+added, “If the Maryland Assembly discusses the matter; I will address a
+letter to that body on the subject, as I have always approved of it.”
+
+When South Carolina refused to pass an act to end the slave-trade, he
+wrote to a friend in that State, “I must say that I lament the decision
+of your legislature upon the question of importing slaves after March
+1793. I was in hopes that motives of policy as well as other good
+reasons, supported by the direful effects of slavery, which at this
+moment are presented, would have operated to produce a total
+prohibition of the importation of slaves, whenever the question came to
+be agitated in any State, that might be interested in the measure.” For
+his own State he expressed the “wish from my soul that the Legislature
+of this State could see the policy of a gradual Abolition of Slavery;
+it would prev’t much future mischief.” And to a Pennsylvanian he
+expressed the sentiment, “I hope it will not be conceived from these
+observations, that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people, who are
+the subject of this letter, in slavery. I can only say, that 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
+legislative authority; and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall
+never be wanting.”
+
+Washington by no means restricted himself to slave servitors. Early in
+life he took into his service John Alton at thirteen pounds per annum,
+and this white man served as his body-servant in the Braddock campaign,
+and Washington found in the march that “A most serious inconvenience
+attended me in my sickness, and that was the losing the use of my
+servant, for poor John Alton was taken about the same time that I was,
+and with nearly the same disorder, and was confined as long; so that we
+did not see each other for several days.” As elsewhere noticed,
+Washington succeeded to the services of Braddock’s body-servant, Thomas
+Bishop, on the death of the general, paying the man ten pounds a year.
+
+These two were his servants in his trip to Boston in 1756, and in
+preparation for that journey Washington ordered his English agent to
+send him “2 complete livery suits for servants; with a spare cloak and
+all other necessary trimmings for two suits more. I would have you
+choose the livery by our arms, only as the field of the arms is white,
+I think the clothes had better not be quite so, but nearly like the
+inclosed. The trimmings and facings of scarlet, and a scarlet waist
+coat. If livery lace is not quite disused, I should be glad to have the
+cloaks laced. I like that fashion best, and two silver laced hats for
+the above servants.”
+
+For some reason Bishop left his employment, but in 1760 Washington
+“wrote to my old servant Bishop to return to me again if he was not
+otherwise engaged,” and, the man being “very desirous of returning,”
+the old relation was reassumed. Alton in the mean time had been
+promoted to be overseer of one of the plantations. In 1785 their master
+noted in his diary, “Last night Jno Alton an Overseer of mine in the
+Neck—an old & faithful Servant who has lived with me 30 odd years
+died—and this evening the wife of Thos. Bishop, another old Servant who
+had lived with me an equal number of years also died.” Both were
+remembered in his will by a clause giving “To Sarah Green daughter of
+the deceased Thomas Bishop, and to Ann Walker, daughter of John Alton,
+also deceased I give each one hundred dollars, in consideration of the
+attachment of their father[s] to me, each of whom having lived nearly
+forty years in my family.”
+
+Of Washington’s general treatment of the serving class a few facts can
+be gleaned. He told one of his overseers, in reference to the
+sub-overseers, that “to treat them civilly is no more than what all men
+are entitled to, but my advice to you is, to keep them at a proper
+distance; for they will grow upon familiarity, in proportion as you
+will sink in authority if you do not.” To a housekeeper he promised “a
+warm, decent and comfortable room to herself, to lodge in, and will eat
+of the victuals of our Table, but not set at it, or at any time _with
+us_ be her appearance what it may; for if this was _once admitted_ no
+line satisfactory to either party, perhaps could be drawn thereafter.”
+
+In visiting he feed liberally, good examples of which are given in the
+cash account of the visit to Boston in 1756, when he “Gave to Servants
+on ye Road 10/.” “By Cash Mr. Malbones servants £4.0.0.” “The
+Chambermaid £1.2.6.” When the wife of his old steward, Fraunces, came
+to need, he gave her “for Charity £1.17.6.” The majority will
+sympathize rather than disapprove of his opinion when he wrote,
+“Workmen in most Countries I believe are necessary plagues;—-in this
+where entreaties as well as money must be used to obtain their work and
+keep them to their duty they baffle all calculation in the
+accomplishment of any plan or repairs they are engaged in;—and require
+more attention to and looking after than can be well conceived.”
+
+The overseers of his many plantations, and his “master” carpenters,
+millers, and gardeners, were quite as great trials as his slaves. First
+“young Stephens” gave him much trouble, which his diary reports in a
+number of sententious entries: “visited my Plantation. Severely
+reprimanded young Stephens for his Indolence, and his father for
+suffering it;” “forbid Stephens keeping any horses upon my expence;”
+“visited my quarters & ye Mill, according to custom found young
+Stephens absent;” “visited my Plantation and found to my great surprise
+Stephens constantly at work;” “rid out to my Plantn. and to my
+Carpenters. Found Richard Stephens hard at work with an ax—Very
+extraordinary this!”
+
+Again he records, “Visited my Plantations—found Foster had been absent
+from his charge since the 28th ulto. Left orders for him to come
+immediately to me upon his return, and repremanded him severely.” Of
+another, Simpson, “I never hear … without a degree of warmth & vexation
+at his extreme stupidity,” and elsewhere he expresses his disgust at
+“that confounded fellow Simpson.” A third spent all the fall and half
+the winter in getting in his crop, and “if there was any way of making
+such a rascal as Garner pay for such conduct, no punishment would be
+too great for him. I suppose he never turned out of mornings until the
+sun had warmed the earth, and if _he_ did not, the _negros_ would not.”
+His chief overseer was directed to “Let Mr. Crow know that I view with
+a very evil eye the frequent reports made by him of sheep dying;…
+frequent _natural deaths_ is a very strong evidence to my mind of the
+want of care or something worse.”
+
+Curious distinctions were made oftentimes. Thus, in the contract with
+an overseer, one clause was inserted to the effect, “And whereas there
+are a number of whiskey stills very contiguous to the said Plantations,
+and many idle, drunken and dissolute People continually resorting to
+the same, priding themselves in debauching sober and well-inclined
+Persons, the said Edd Voilett doth promise as well for his own sake as
+his employers to avoid them as he ought.” To the contrary, in hiring a
+gardener, it was agreed as part of the compensation that the man should
+have “four dollars at Christmas, with which he may be drunk for four
+days and four nights; two dollars at Easter to effect the same purpose;
+two dollars at Whitsuntide to be drunk for two days; a dram in the
+morning, and a drink of grog at dinner at noon.”
+
+With more true kindness Washington wrote to one of his underlings, “I
+was very glad to receive your letter of the 31st ultimo, because I was
+afraid, from the accounts given me of your spitting blood,… that you
+would hardly have been able to have written at all. And it is my
+request that you will not, by attempting more than you are able to
+undergo, with safety and convenience, injure yourself, and thereby
+render me a disservice…. I had rather therefore hear that you had
+nursed than exposed yourself. And the things which I sent from this
+place (I mean the wine, tea, coffee and sugar) and such other matters
+as you may lay in by the doctor’s direction for the use of the sick, I
+desire you will make use of as your own personal occasions may
+require.”
+
+Of one Butler he had employed to overlook his gardeners, but who proved
+hopelessly unfit, Washington said, “sure I am, there is no obligation
+upon me to retain him from charitable motives; when he ought rather to
+be punished as an imposter: for he well knew the services he had to
+perform, and which he promised to fulfil with zeal, activity, and
+intelligence.” Yet when the man was discharged his employer gave him a
+“character:” “If his activity, spirit, and ability in the management of
+Negroes, were equal to his honesty, sobriety and industry, there would
+not be the least occasion for a change,” and Butler was paid his full
+wages, no deduction being made for lost time, “as I can better afford
+to be without the money than he can.”
+
+Another thoroughly incompetent man was one employed to take charge of
+the negro carpenters, of whom his employer wrote, “I am apprehensive …
+that Green never will overcome his propensity to drink; that it is this
+which occasions his frequent sickness, absences from work and poverty.
+And I am convinced, moreover, that it answers no purpose to admonish
+him.” Yet, though “I am so well satisfied of Thomas Green’s unfitness
+to look after Carpenters,” for a time “the helpless situation in which
+you find his family, has prevailed on me to retain him,” and when he
+finally had to be discharged for drinking, Washington said, “Nothing
+but compassion for his helpless family, has hitherto induced me to keep
+him a moment in my service (so bad is the example he sets); but if he
+has no regard for them himself, it is not to be expected that I am to
+be a continual sufferer on this account for his misconduct.” His
+successor needed the house the family lived in, but Washington could
+not “bear the thought of adding to the distress I know they must be in,
+by turning them adrift;… It would be better therefore on all accounts
+if they were removed to some other place, even if I was to pay the
+rent, provided it was low, or make some allowance towards it.”
+
+To many others, besides family, friends, and employees, Washington was
+charitable. From an early date his ledger contains frequent items
+covering gifts to the needy. To mention a tenth of them would take too
+much space, but a few typical entries are worth quoting:
+
+“By Cash gave a Soldiers wife 5/;” “To a crippled man 5/;” “Gave a man
+who had his House Burnt £1.;” “By a begging woman /5;” “By Cash gave
+for the Sufferers at Boston by fire £12;” “By a wounded soldier 10/;”
+“Alexandria Academy, support of a teacher of Orphan children £50;” “By
+Charity to an invalid wounded Soldier who came from Redston with a
+petition for Charity 18/;” “Gave a poor man by the President’s order
+$2;” “Delivd to the President to send to two distress’d french women at
+Newcastle $25;” “Gave Pothe a poor old man by the President’s order
+$2;” “Gave a poor sailor by the Presdt order $1;” “Gave a poor blind
+man by the Presdt order $1.50;” “By Madame de Seguer a french Lady in
+distress gave her $50;” “By Subscription paid to Mr. Jas. Blythe
+towards erecting and Supporting an Academy in the State of Kentucky
+$100;” “By Subscription towards an Academy in the South Western
+Territory $100;” “By Charity sent Genl Charles Pinckney in Columbus
+Bank Notes, for the sufferers by the fire in Charleston So. Carolina
+$300;” “By Charity gave to the sufferers by fire in Geo. Town $10;” “By
+an annual Donation to the Academy at Alexandria pd. Dr. Cook $166.67;”
+“By Charity to the poor of Alexandria deld. to the revd. Dr. Muir
+$100.”
+
+To an overseer he said, concerning a distant relative, “Mrs. Haney
+should endeavor to do what she can for herself—this is a duty incumbent
+on every one; but you must not let her suffer, as she has thrown
+herself upon me; your advances on this account will be allowed always,
+at settlement; and I agree readily to furnish her with provisions, and
+for the good character you give of her daughter make the latter a
+present in my name of a handsome but not costly gown, and other things
+which she may stand most in need of. You may charge me also with the
+worth of your tenement in which she is placed, and where perhaps it is
+better she should be than at a great distance from your attentions to
+her.”
+
+After the terrible attack of fever in Philadelphia in 1793, Washington
+wrote to a clergyman of that city,—
+
+“It has been my intention ever since my return to the city, to
+contribute my mite towards the relief of the _most_ needy inhabitants
+of it. The pressure of public business hitherto has suspended, but not
+altered my resolution. I am at a loss, however, for whose benefit to
+apply the little I can give, and in whose hands to place it; whether
+for the use of the fatherless children and widows, made so by the late
+calamity, who may find it difficult, whilst provisions, wood, and other
+necessaries are so dear, to support themselves; or to other and better
+purposes, if any, I know not, and therefore have taken the liberty of
+asking your advice. I persuade myself justice will be done to my
+motives for giving you this trouble. To obtain information, and to
+render the little I can afford, without ostentation or mention of my
+name, are the sole objects of these inquiries. With great and sincere
+esteem and regard, I am, &c.”
+
+His adopted grandson he advised to “never let an indigent person ask,
+without receiving _something_ if you have the means; always
+recollecting in what light the widow’s mite was viewed.” And when he
+took command of the army in 1775, the relative who took charge of his
+affairs was told to “let the hospitality of the house, with respect to
+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.”
+
+
+
+
+VII
+SOCIAL LIFE
+
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington, like the Virginian of his time,
+was pre-eminently social. It is true that late in life he complained,
+as already quoted, that his home had become a “well resorted tavern,”
+and that at his own table “I rarely miss seeing strange faces, come as
+they say out of respect for me. Pray, would not the word curiosity
+answer as well?” but even in writing this he added, “how different this
+from having a few social friends at a cheerful board!” When a surveyor
+he said that the greatest pleasure he could have would be to hear from
+or be with “my Intimate friends and acquaintances;” to one he wrote, “I
+hope you in particular will not Bauk me of what I so ardently wish
+for,” and he groaned over being “amongst a parcel of barbarians.” While
+in the Virginia regiment he complained of a system of rations which
+“deprived me of the pleasure of inviting an officer or friend, which to
+me would be more agreeable, than nick-nacks I shall meet with,” and
+when he was once refused leave of absence by the governor, he replied
+bitterly, “it was not to enjoy a party of pleasure I wanted a leave of
+absence; I have been indulged with few of these, winter or summer!” At
+Mount Vernon, if a day was spent without company the fact was almost
+always noted in his diary, and in a visit, too, he noted that he had “a
+very lonesome Evening at Colo Champe’s, not any Body favoring us with
+their Company but himself.”
+
+The plantation system which prevented town life and put long distances
+between neighbors developed two forms of society. One of these was
+house parties, and probably nowhere else in the world was that form of
+hospitality so unstinted as in this colony. Any one of a certain social
+standing was privileged, even welcomed, to ride up to the seat of a
+planter, dismount, and thus become a guest, ceasing to be such only
+when he himself chose. Sometimes one family would go _en masse_ many
+miles to stay a week with friends, and when they set out to return
+their hosts would journey with them and in turn become guests for a
+week. The second form of social life was called clubs. At all the
+cross-roads and court-houses there sprang up taverns or ordinaries, and
+in these the men of a neighborhood would gather, and over a bowl of
+punch or a bottle of wine, the expense of which they “clubbed” to
+share, would spend their evenings.
+
+Into this life Washington entered eagerly. As a mere lad his ledger
+records expenditures: “By a club in Arrack at Mr. Gordon’s 2/6;” “Club
+of a bottle of Rhenish at Mitchells 1/3;” “To part of the club at Port
+Royal 1/;” “To Cash in part for a Bowl of fruit punch 1/7-1/2.” So,
+too, he was a visitor at this time at some of the great Virginian
+houses, as elsewhere noted. When he came into possession of Mount
+Vernon he offered the same unstinted welcome that he had met with, and
+even as a bachelor he writes of his “having much company,” and again of
+being occupied with “a good deal of Company.” In two months of 1768
+Washington had company to dinner, or to spend the night, on twenty-nine
+days, and dined or visited away from home on seven; and this is
+typical.
+
+Whenever, too, trips were made to Williamsburg, Annapolis,
+Philadelphia, or elsewhere, it was a rare occurrence when the various
+stages of the journey were not spent with friends, and in those cities
+he was dined and wined to a surfeit.
+
+During the Revolution all of Washington’s aides and his secretary lived
+with him at head-quarters, and constituted what he always called “my
+family.” In addition, many others sat down at table,—those who came on
+business from a distance, as well as bidden guests,—-which frequently
+included ladies from the neighborhood, who must have been belles among
+the sixteen to twenty men who customarily sat down to dinner. “If …
+convenient and agreeable to you to take pot luck with me to-day,” the
+General wrote John Adams in 1776, “I shall be glad of your company.”
+Pot luck it was for commander-in-chief and staff. Mention has been made
+of how sometimes Washington slept on the ground, and even when under
+cover there was not occasionally much more comfort. Pickering relates
+that one night was passed in “Headquarters at Galloway’s, an old log
+house. The General lodged in a bed, and his family on the floor about
+him. We had plenty of sepawn and milk, and all were contented.”
+
+Oftentimes there were difficulties in the hospitality. “I have been at
+my prest. quarters since the 1st day of Decr.,” Washington complained
+to the commissary-general, “and have not a Kitchen to cook a Dinner in,
+altho’ the Logs have been put together some considerable time by my own
+Guard. Nor is there a place at this moment in which a servant can
+lodge, with the smallest degree of comfort. Eighteen belonging to my
+family, and all Mrs. Ford’s, are crowded together in her Kitchen, and
+scarce one of them able to speak for the cold they have caught.”
+Pickering, in telling how he tried to secure lodgings away from
+head-quarters, gave for his reasons that “they are exceedingly pinched
+for room…. Had I conceived how much satisfaction, quiet and even
+leisure, I should have enjoyed at separate quarters, I would have taken
+them six months ago. For at head-quarters there is a continual throng,
+and my room, in particular, (when I was happy enough to get one,) was
+always crowded by all that came to headquarters on business, because
+there was no other for them, we having, for the most part, been in such
+small houses.”
+
+There were other difficulties. “I cannot get as much cloth,” the
+general wrote, “as will make cloaths for my servants, notwithstanding
+one of them that attends my person and table is indecently and most
+shamefully naked.” One of his aides said to a correspondent, jocularly,
+“I take your Caution to me in Regard to my Health very kindly, but I
+assure you, you need be under no Apprehension of my losing it on the
+Score of Excess of living, that Vice is banished from this Army and the
+General’s Family in particular. We never sup, but go to bed and are
+early up.” “Only conceive,” Washington complained to Congress, “the
+mortification they (even the general officers) must suffer, when they
+cannot invite a French officer, a visiting friend, or a travelling
+acquaintance, to a better repast, than stinking whiskey (and not always
+that) and a bit of Beef without vegetables.”
+
+At times, too, it was necessary to be an exemplar. “Our truly
+republican general,” said Laurens, “has declared to his officers that
+he will set the example of passing the winter in a hut himself,” and
+John Adams, in a time of famine, declared that “General Washington sets
+a fine example. He has banished wine from his table, and entertains his
+friends with rum and water.”
+
+Whenever it was possible, however, there was company at head-quarters.
+“Since the General left Germantown in the middle of September last,”
+the General Orders once read, “he has been without his baggage, and on
+that account is unable to receive company in the manner he could wish.
+He nevertheless desires the Generals, Field Officers and Brigades Major
+of the day, to dine with him in future, at three o’clock in the
+afternoon.” Again the same vehicle informed the army that “the hurry of
+business often preventing particular invitations being given to
+officers to dine with the General; He presents his compliments to the
+Brigadiers and Field Officers of the day, and requests while the Camp
+continues settled in the City, they will favor him with their company
+to dinner, without further or special invitation.”
+
+Mrs. Drinker, who went with a committee of women to camp at Valley
+Forge, has left a brief description of head-quarters hospitality:
+“Dinner was served, to which he invited us. There were 15 Officers,
+besides ye Gl. and his wife, Gen. Greene, and Gen. Lee. We had an
+elegant dinner, which was soon over, when we went out with ye Genls
+wife, up to her Chamber—and saw no more of him.” Claude Blanchard, too,
+describes a dinner, at which “there was twenty-five covers used by some
+officers of the army and a lady to whom the house belonged in which the
+general lodged. We dined under the tent. I was placed along side of the
+general. One of his aides-de-camp did the honors. The table was served
+in the American style and pretty abundantly; vegetables, roast beef,
+lamb, chickens, salad dressed with nothing but vinegar, green peas,
+puddings, and some pie, a kind of tart, greatly in use in England and
+among the Americans, all this being put upon the table at the same
+time. They gave us on the same plate beef, green peas, lamb, &c.”
+
+Nor was the ménage of the General unequal to unexpected calls.
+Chastellux tells of his first arrival in camp and introduction to
+Washington: “He conducted me to his house, where I found the company
+still at table, although the dinner had been long over. He presented me
+to the Generals Knox, Waine, Howe, &c. and to his _family_, then
+composed of Colonels Hamilton and Tilgman, his Secretaries and his
+Aides de Camp, and of Major Gibbs, commander of his guards; for in
+England and America, the Aides de Camp, Adjutants and other officers
+attached to the General, form what is called his _family_. A fresh
+dinner was prepared for me and mine; and the present was prolonged to
+keep me company.” “At nine,” he elsewhere writes, “supper was served,
+and when the hour of bed-time came, I found that the chamber, to which
+the General conducted me was the very parlour I speak of, wherein he
+had made them place a camp-bed.” Of his hospitality Washington himself
+wrote,—
+
+“I have asked Mrs. Cochran & Mrs. Livingston to dine with me to-morrow;
+but am I not in honor bound to apprize them of their fate? As I hate
+deception, even where the imagination only is concerned; I will. It is
+needless to premise, that my table is large enough to hold the ladies.
+Of this they had ocular proof yesterday. To say how it is usually
+covered, is rather more essential; and this shall be the purport of my
+Letter.
+
+“Since our arrival at this happy spot, 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; a dish of beans, or greens, (almost
+imperceptible,) decorates the center. When the cook has a mind to cut a
+figure, (which, I presume will be the case to-morrow) we have two
+Beef-steak pyes, or dishes of crabs, in addition, one on each side of
+the center dish, dividing the space & reducing the distance between
+dish & dish to about 6 feet, which without them would be near 12 feet
+apart. Of late he has had the surprising sagacity to discover, that
+apples will make pyes; and its a question, if, in the violence of his
+efforts, we do not get one of apples, instead of having both of
+Beef-steaks. If the ladies can put up with such entertainment, and will
+submit to partake of it in plates, once Tin but now Iron—(not become so
+by the labor of scouring), I shall be happy to see them.”
+
+Dinners were not the only form of entertaining. In Cambridge, when Mrs.
+Washington and Mrs. Jack Custis were at head-quarters, a reception was
+held on the anniversary of Washington’s marriage, and at other times
+when there was anything to celebrate,—the capitulation of Burgoyne, the
+alliance with France, the birth of a dauphin, etc.,—parades, balls,
+receptions, “feux-de-joie,” or cold collations were given. Perhaps the
+most ambitious attempt was a dinner given on September 21, 1782, in a
+large tent, to which ninety sat down, while a “band of American music”
+added to the “gaiety of the company.”
+
+Whenever occasion called the General to attend on Congress there was
+much junketing. “My time,” he wrote, “during my winter’s residence in
+Philadelphia, was unusually (for me) divided between parties of
+pleasure and parties of business.” When Reed pressed him to pass the
+period of winter quarters in visiting him in Philadelphia, he replied,
+“were I to give in 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.”
+
+While President, a more elaborate hospitality was maintained. Both in
+New York and Philadelphia the best houses procurable were rented as the
+Presidential home,—for Washington “wholly declined living in any public
+building,”—and a steward and fourteen lower servants attended to all
+details, though a watchful supervision was kept by the President over
+them, and in the midst of his public duties he found time to keep a
+minute account of the daily use of all supplies, with their cost. His
+payments to his stewards for mere servants’ wages and food (exclusive
+of wine) were over six hundred dollars a month, and there can be little
+doubt that Washington, who had no expense paid by the public, more than
+spent his salary during his term of office.
+
+It was the President’s custom to give a public dinner once a week “to
+as many as my table will hold,” and there was also a bi-weekly levee,
+to which any one might come, as well as evening receptions by Mrs.
+Washington, which were more distinctly social and far more exclusive.
+Ashbel Green states that “Washington’s dining parties were entertained
+in a very handsome style. His weekly dining day for company was
+Thursday, and his dining hour was always four o’clock in the afternoon.
+His rule was to allow five minutes for the variations of clocks and
+watches, and then go to the table, be present or absent, whoever might.
+He kept his own clock in the hall, just within the outward door, and
+always exactly regulated. When lagging members of Congress came in, as
+they often did, after the guests had sat down to dinner, the
+president’s only apology was, ‘Gentlemen (or sir) we are too punctual
+for you. I have a cook who never asks whether the company has come, but
+whether the hour has come.’ The company usually assembled in the
+drawing-room, about fifteen or twenty minutes before dinner, and the
+president spoke to every guest personally on entering the room.”
+
+Maclay attended several of the dinners, and has left descriptions of
+them. “Dined this day with the President,” he writes. “It was a great
+dinner— all in the tastes of high life. I considered it as a part of my
+duty as a Senator to submit to it, and am glad it is over. The
+President is a cold, formal man; but I must declare that he treated me
+with great attention. I was the first person with whom he drank a glass
+of wine. I was often spoken to by him.” Again he says,—
+
+“At dinner, after my second plate had been taken away, the President
+offered to help me to part of a dish which stood before him. Was ever
+anything so unlucky? I had just before declined being helped to
+anything more, with some expression that denoted my having made up my
+dinner. Had, of course, for the sake of consistency, to thank him
+negatively, but when the dessert came, and he was distributing a
+pudding, he gave me a look of interrogation, and I returned the thanks
+positive. He soon after asked me to drink a glass of wine with him.” On
+another occasion he “went to the President’s to dinner…. The President
+and Mrs. Washington sat opposite each other in the middle of the table;
+the two secretaries, one at each end. It was a great dinner, and the
+best of the kind I ever was at. The room, however, was disagreeably
+warm. First the soup; fish roasted and boiled; meats, sammon, fowls,
+etc…. The middle of the table was garnished in the usual tasty way,
+with small images, flowers, (artificial), etc. The dessert was, apple
+pies, pudding, etc.; then iced creams, jellies, etc.; then
+water-melons, musk-melons, apples, peaches, nuts. It was the most
+solemn dinner I ever was at. Not a health drank; scarce a word was said
+until the cloth was taken away. Then the President filling a glass of
+wine, with great formality drank to the health of every individual by
+name round the table. Everybody imitated him, charged glasses, and such
+a buzz of ‘health, sir,’ and ‘health, madam,’ and ‘thank you, sir,’ and
+‘thank you, madam,’ never had I heard before…. The ladies sat a good
+while, and the bottles passed about; but there was a dead silence
+almost. Mrs. Washington at last withdrew with the ladies. I expected
+the men would now begin, but the same stillness remained. The President
+told of a New England clergyman who had lost a hat and wig in passing a
+river called the Brunks. He smiled, and everybody else laughed. He now
+and then said a sentence or two on some common subject, and what he
+said was not amiss…. The President … played with the fork, striking on
+the edge of the table with it. We did not sit long after the ladies
+retired. The President rose, went up-stairs to drink coffee; the
+company followed.”
+
+
+[Illustration: PRESIDENTIAL DINNER INVITATION]
+
+
+Bradbury gives the menu of a dinner at which he was, where “there was
+an elegant variety of roast beef, veal, turkey, ducks, fowls, hams,
+&c.; puddings, jellies, oranges, apples, nuts, almonds, figs, raisins,
+and a variety of wines and punch. We took our leave at six, more than
+an hour after the candles were introduced. No lady but Mrs. Washington
+dined with us. We were waited on by four or five men servants dressed
+in livery.” At the last official dinner the President gave, Bishop
+White was present, and relates that “to this dinner as many were
+invited as could be accommodated at the President’s table…. Much
+hilarity prevailed; but on the removal of the cloth it was put an end
+to by the President—certainly without design. Having filled his glass,
+he addressed the company, with a smile on his countenance, saying:
+‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last time I shall drink your health,
+as a public man. I do it with sincerity, and wishing you all possible
+happiness.’ There was an end of all pleasantry.”
+
+A glance at Mrs. Washington’s receptions has been given, but the levees
+of the President remain to be described. William Sullivan, who attended
+many, wrote,—
+
+“At three o’clock or at any time within a quarter of an hour afterward,
+the visitor was conducted to this dining room, from which all seats had
+been removed for the time. On entering, he saw” Washington, who “stood
+always in front of the fire-place, with his face towards the door of
+entrance. The visitor was conducted to him, and he required to have the
+name so distinctly pronounced that he could hear it. He had the very
+uncommon faculty of associating a man’s name, and personal appearance,
+so durably in his memory, as to be able to call one by name, who made
+him a second visit. He received his visitor with a dignified bow, while
+his hands were so disposed of as to indicate, that the salutation was
+not to be accompanied with shaking hands. This ceremony never occurred
+in these visits, even with his most near friends, that no distinction
+might be made. As visitors came in, they formed a circle round the
+room. At a quarter past three, the door was closed, and the circle was
+formed for that day. He then began on the right, and spoke to each
+visitor, calling him by name, and exchanging a few words with him. When
+he had completed his circuit, he resumed his first position, and the
+visitors approached him in succession, bowed and retired. By four
+o’clock the ceremony was over.”
+
+The ceremony of the dinners and levees and the liveried servants were
+favorite impeachments of the President among the early Democrats before
+they had better material, and Washington was charged with trying to
+constitute a court, and with conducting himself like a king. Even his
+bow was a source of criticism, and Washington wrote in no little
+irritation in regard to this, “that I have not been able to make bows
+to the taste of poor Colonel Bland, (who, by the by, I believe, never
+saw one of them), is to be regretted, especially too, as (upon those
+occasions), they were indiscriminately bestowed, and the best I was
+master of, would it not have been better to throw the veil of charity
+over them, ascribing their stiffness to the effects of age, or to the
+unskillfulness of my teacher, than to pride and dignity of office,
+which God knows has no charms for me? For I can truly say, I had rather
+be at Mount Vernon 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.”
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington hated ceremony as much as the
+Democrats, and yielded to it only from his sense of fitness and the
+opinions of those about him. Jefferson and Madison both relate how such
+unnecessary form was used at the first levee by the master of
+ceremonies as to make it ridiculous, and Washington, appreciating this,
+is quoted as saying to the amateur chamberlain, “Well, you have taken
+me in once, but, by God, you shall never take me in a second time.” His
+secretary, in writing to secure lodgings in Philadelphia, when the
+President and family were on their way to Mount Vernon, said, “I must
+repeat, what I observed in a former letter, that as little ceremony &
+parade may be made as possible, for the President wishes to command his
+own time, which these things always forbid in a greater or less degree,
+and they are to him fatiguing and oftentimes painful. He wishes not to
+exclude himself from the sight or conversation of his fellow citizens,
+but their eagerness to show their affection frequently imposes a heavy
+tax on him.”
+
+This was still further shown in his diary of his tours through New
+England and the Southern States. Nothing would do but for Boston to
+receive him with troops, etc., and Washington noted, “finding this
+ceremony not to be avoided, though I had made every effort to do it, I
+named the hour.” In leaving Portsmouth he went “quietly, and without
+any attendance, having earnestly entreated that all parade and ceremony
+might be avoided on my return.” When travelling through North Carolina,
+“a small party of horse under one Simpson met us at Greenville, and in
+spite of every endeavor which could comport with decent civility, to
+excuse myself from it, they would attend me to Newburn.”
+
+During the few years that Washington was at Mount Vernon subsequent to
+the Revolution, the same unbounded hospitality was dispensed as in
+earlier times, while a far greater demand was made upon it, and one so
+variegated that at times the host was not a little embarrassed. Thus he
+notes that “a Gentleman calling himself the Count de Cheiza D’Artigan
+Officer of the French Guards came here to dinner; but bringing no
+letters of introduction, nor any authentic testimonials of his being
+either; I was at a loss how to receive or treat him,—he stayed to
+dinner and the evening,” and the next day departed in Washington’s
+carriage to Alexandria. “A farmer came here to see,” he says, “my drill
+plow, and staid all night.” In another instance he records that a woman
+whose “name was unknown to me dined here.” Only once were visitors
+frowned on, and this was when a British marauding party came to Mount
+Vernon during the Revolution. Even they, in Washington’s absence, were
+entertained by his overseer, but his master wrote him, on hearing of
+this, “I am little sorry of my own [loss]; but that which gives me most
+concern is, that you should go on board the enemy’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-compliance 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 making a voluntary offer of refreshments to them with a view
+to prevent a conflagration.”
+
+The hospitality at Mount Vernon was perfectly simple. A traveller
+relates that he was taken there by a friend, and, as Washington was
+“viewing his laborers,” we “were desired to tarry.” “When the President
+returned he received us very politely. Dr. Croker introduced me to him
+as a gentleman from Massachusetts who wished to see the country and pay
+his respects. He thanked us, desired us to be seated, and to excuse him
+a few moments…. The President came and desired us to walk in to dinner
+and directed us where to sit, (no grace was said)…. The dinner was very
+good, a small roasted pigg, boiled leg of lamb, roasted fowles, beef,
+peas, lettice, cucumbers, artichokes, etc., puddings, tarts, etc., etc.
+We were desired to call for what drink we chose. He took a glass of
+wine with Mrs. Law first, which example was followed by Dr. Croker and
+Mrs. Washington, myself and Mrs. Peters, Mr. Fayette and the young lady
+whose name is Custis. When the cloth was taken away the President gave
+‘All our Friends,’”
+
+Another visitor tells that he was received by Washington, and, “after …
+half an hour, the General came in again, with his hair neatly powdered,
+a clean shirt on, a new plain drab coat, white waistcoat and white silk
+stockings. At three, dinner was on the table, and we were shown by the
+General into another room, where everything was set off with a peculiar
+taste and at the same time neat and plain. The General sent the bottle
+about pretty freely after dinner, and gave success to the navigation of
+the Potomac for his toasts, which he has very much at heart…. After Tea
+General Washington retired to his study and left us with the … rest of
+the Company. If he had not been anxious to hear the news of Congress
+from Mr. Lee, most probably he would not have returned to supper, but
+gone to bed at his usual hour, nine o’clock, for he seldom makes any
+ceremony. We had a very elegant supper about that time. The General
+with a few glasses of champagne got quite merry, and being with his
+intimate friends laughed and talked a good deal. Before strangers he is
+very reserved, and seldom says a word. I was fortunate in being in his
+company with his particular acquaintances…. At 12 I had the honor of
+being lighted up to my bedroom by the General himself.”
+
+This break on the evening hours was quite unusual, Washington himself
+saying in one place that nine o’clock was his bedtime, and he wrote of
+his hours after dinner, “the usual time of setting at table, a walk,
+and tea, brings me within the dawn of candlelight; previous to which,
+if not prevented by company I resolve, that as soon as the glimmering
+taper supplies the place of the great luminary, I will retire to my
+writing table and acknowledge the letters I have received; but when the
+lights were brought, I feel tired and disinclined to engage in this
+work, conceiving that the next night will do as well. The next comes,
+and with it the same causes for postponement, and effect, and so on.”
+
+The foregoing allusion to Washington’s conversation is undoubtedly
+just. All who met him formally spoke of him as taciturn, but this was
+not a natural quality. Jefferson states that “in the circle of his
+friends, where he might be unreserved with safety, he took a free share
+in conversation,” and Madison told Sparks that, though “Washington was
+not fluent nor ready in conversation, and was inclined to be taciturn
+in general society,” yet “in the company of two or three intimate
+friends, he was talkative, and when a little excited was sometimes
+fluent and even eloquent” “The story so often repeated of his never
+laughing,” Madison said, was “wholly untrue; no man seemed more to
+enjoy gay conversation, though he took little part in it himself. He
+was particularly pleased with the jokes, good humor, and hilarity of
+his companions.”
+
+Washington certainly did enjoy a joke. Nelly Custis said, “I have
+sometimes made him laugh most heartily from sympathy with my joyous and
+extravagant spirits,” and many other instances of his laughing are
+recorded. He himself wrote in 1775 concerning the running away of some
+British soldiers, “we laugh at his idea of chasing the Royal Fusileers
+with the stores. Does he consider them as inanimate, or as treasure?”
+When the British in Boston sent out a bundle of the king’s speech,
+“farcical enough, we gave great joy to them, (the red coats I mean),
+without knowing or intending it; for on that day, the day which gave
+being to the new army, (but before the proclamation came to hand,) we
+had hoisted the union flag in compliment to the United Colonies. But,
+behold, it was received in Boston as a token of the deep impression the
+speech had made upon us, and as a signal of submission.”
+
+At times Washington would joke himself, though it was always somewhat
+labored, as in the case of the Jack already cited. “Without a coinage,”
+he wrote, “or unless a stop can be put to the cutting and clipping of
+money, our dollars, pistareens, &c., will be converted, as Teague says,
+into _five_ quarters.” When the Democrats were charging the Federalists
+with having stolen from the treasury, he wrote to a Cabinet official,
+“and pray, my good sir, what part of the $800.000 have come to your
+share? As you are high in Office, I hope you did not disgrace yourself
+in the acceptance of a paltry bribe—a $100.000 perhaps.” He once even
+attempted a pun, by writing, “our enterprise will be ruined, and we
+shall be stopped at the Laurel Hill this winter; but not to gather
+laurels, (except of the kind that covers the mountains).”
+
+Probably the neatest turn was his course on one occasion with General
+Tryon, who sent him some British proclamations with the request, “that
+through your means, the officers and men under your command may be
+acquainted with their contents.” Washington promptly replied that he
+had given them “free currency among the officers and men under my
+command,” and enclosed to Tryon a lot of the counter-proclamation,
+asking him to “be instrumental in communicating its contents, so far as
+it may be in your power, to the persons who are the objects of its
+operation. The benevolent purpose it is intended to answer will I
+persuade myself, sufficiently recommend it to your candor.”
+
+To a poetess who had sent him some laudatory verses about himself he
+expressed his thanks, and added, “Fiction is to be sure the very life
+and Soul of Poetry—all Poets and Poetesses have been indulged in the
+free and indisputable use of it, time out of mind. And to oblige you to
+make such an excellent Poem on such a subject without any materials but
+those of simple reality, would be as cruel as the Edict of Pharoah
+which compelled the children of Israel to manufacture Bricks without
+the necessary Ingredients.”
+
+Twice he joked about his own death. “As I have heard,” he said after
+Braddock’s defeat, “since my arrival at this place, a circumstancial
+account of my death and dying speech, I take this early opportunity of
+contradicting the first, and of assuring you, that I have not as yet
+composed the latter.” Many years later, in draughting a letter for his
+wife, he wrote,—
+
+“I am now by desire of the General to add a few words on his behalf;
+which he desires may be expressed in the terms following, that is to
+say,—that despairing of hearing what may be said of him, if he should
+really go off in an apoplectic, or any other fit (for he thinks all
+fits that issue in death are worse than a love fit, a fit of laughter,
+and many other kinds which he could name)—he is glad to hear
+_beforehand_ what will be said of him on that occasion; conceiving that
+nothing extra will happen between _this_ and _then_ to make a change in
+his character for better, or for worse. And besides, as he has entered
+into an engagement … not to quit _this_ world before the year 1800, it
+may be _relied upon_ that no breach of contract shall be laid to him on
+that account, unless dire necessity should bring it about, maugre all
+his exertions to the contrary. In that same, he shall hope they would
+do by him as he would do by them—excuse it. At present there seems to
+be no danger of his thus giving them the slip, as neither his health
+nor spirits, were ever in greater flow, notwithstanding, he adds, he is
+descending, and has almost reached the bottom of the hill; or in other
+words, the shades below. For your particular good wishes on this
+occasion he charges me to say that he feels highly obliged, and that he
+reciprocates them with great cordiality.”
+
+Other social qualities of the man cannot be passed over. A marked trait
+was his extreme fondness of afternoon tea. “Dined at Mr. Langdon’s, and
+drank Tea there, with a large circle of Ladies;” “in the afternoon
+drank Tea … with about 20 ladies, who had been assembled for the
+occasion;” “exercised between 5 & 7 o’clock in the morning & drank Tea
+with Mrs. Clinton (the Governor’s Lady) in the afternoon;” “Drank tea
+at the Chief Justice’s of the U. States;” “Dined with the Citizens in
+public; and in the afternoon, was introduced to upwards of 50 ladies
+who had assembled (at a Tea party) on the occasion;” “Dined and drank
+tea at Mr. Bingham’s in great splendor.” Such are the entries in his
+diary whenever the was “kettle-a-boiling-be” was within reach.
+Pickering’s journal shows that tea served regularly at head-quarters,
+and at Mount Vernon it was drunk in summer on the veranda. In writing
+to Knox of his visit to Boston, Washington mentioned his recollection
+of the chats over tea-drinking, and of how “social and gay” they were.
+
+A fondness for picnics was another social liking. “Rid with Fanny
+Bassett, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Shaw to meet a Party from Alexandria at
+Johnsons Spring … where we dined on a cold dinner brought from Town by
+water and spent the Afternoon agreeably—Returning home by Sun down or a
+little after it,” is noted in his diary on one occasion, and on another
+he wrote, “Having formed a Party, consisting of the Vice-President, his
+lady, Son & Miss Smith; the Secretaries of State, Treasury & War, and
+the ladies of the two latter; with all the Gentlemen of my family, Mrs.
+Lear & the two Children, we visited the old position of Fort Washington
+and afterwards dined on a dinner provided by Mr. Mariner.” Launchings,
+barbecues, clambakes, and turtle dinners were other forms of social
+dissipations.
+
+A distinct weakness was dancing. When on the frontier he sighed, “the
+hours at present are melancholy dull. Neither the rugged toils of war,
+nor the gentler conflict of A[ssembly] B[alls,] is in my choice.” His
+diary shows him at balls and “Routs” frequently; when he was President
+he was a constant attendant at the regular “Dancing Assemblies” in New
+York and Philadelphia, and when at Mount Vernon he frequently went ten
+miles to Alexandria to attend dances. Of one of these Alexandria balls
+he has left an amusing description: “Went to a ball at Alexandria,
+where Musick and dancing was the chief Entertainment, however in a
+convenient room detached for the purpose abounded great plenty of bread
+and butter, some biscuits, with tea and coffee, which the drinkers of
+could not distinguish from hot water sweet’ned—Be it remembered that
+pocket handkerchiefs servd the purposes of Table cloths & Napkins and
+that no apologies were made for either. I shall therefore distinguish
+this ball by the stile and title of the Bread & Butter Ball.”
+
+During the Revolution, too, he killed many a weary hour of winter
+quarters by dancing. When the camp spent a day rejoicing over the
+French alliance, “the celebration,” according to Thacher, “was
+concluded by a splendid ball opened by his Excellency General
+Washington, having for his partner the lady of General Knox.” Greene
+describes how “we had a little dance at my quarters a few evenings
+past. His Excellency and Mrs. Greene danced upwards of three hours
+without once sitting down.” Knox, too, tells of “a most genteel
+entertainment given by self and officers” at which Washington danced.
+“Everybody allows it to be the first of the kind ever exhibited in this
+State at least. We had above seventy ladies, all of the first ton in
+the State, and between three and four hundred gentlemen. We danced all
+night—an elegant room, the illuminating, fireworks, &c., were more than
+pretty.” And at Newport, when Rochambeau gave a ball, by request it was
+opened by Washington. The dance selected by his partner was “A
+Successful Campaign,” then in high favor, and the French officers took
+the instruments from the musicians and played while he danced the first
+figure.
+
+
+[Illustration: AGREEMENT FOR DANCING ASSEMBLY]
+
+
+While in winter quarters he subscribed four hundred dollars (paper
+money, equal to eleven dollars in gold) to get up a series of balls, of
+which Greene wrote, “We have opened an assembly in Camp. From this
+apparent ease, I suppose it is thought we must be in happy
+circumstances. I wish it was so, but, alas, it is not. Our provisions
+are in a manner, gone. We have not a ton of hay at command, nor
+magazine to draw from. Money is extremely scarce and worth little when
+we get it. We have been so poor in camp for a fortnight, that we could
+not forward the public dispatches, for want of cash to support the
+expresses.” At the farewell ball given at Annapolis, when the
+commander-in-chief resigned his command, Tilton relates that “the
+General danced in every set, that all the ladies might have the
+pleasure of dancing with him; or as it has since been handsomely
+expressed, ‘get a touch of him.’” He still danced in 1796, when
+sixty-four years of age, but when invited to the Alexandria Assembly in
+1799, he wrote to the managers, “Mrs. Washington and myself have been
+honored with your polite invitation to the assemblies of Alexandria
+this winter, and thank you for this mark of your attention. But, alas!
+our dancing days are no more. We wish, however all those who have a
+relish for so agreeable and innocent an amusement all the pleasure the
+season will afford them; and I am, gentlemen,
+
+“Your most obedient and obliged humble servant,
+
+“GEO. WASHINGTON.”
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS
+
+
+A market trait of Washington’s character was his particularity about
+his clothes; there can be little question that he was early in life a
+good deal of a dandy, and that this liking for fine feathers never
+quite left him. When he was about sixteen years old he wrote in his
+journal, “Memorandum to have my Coat made by the following Directions
+to be made a Frock with a Lapel Breast the Lapel to Contain on each
+side six Button Holes and to be about 5 or 6 Inches wide all the way
+equal and to turn as the Breast on the Coat does to have it made very
+long Waisted and in Length to come down to or below the bent of the
+knee the Waist from the armpit to the Fold to be exactly as long or
+Longer than from thence to the Bottom not to have more than one fold in
+the Skirt and the top to be made just to turn in and three Button Holes
+the Lapel at the top to turn as the Cape of the Coat and Bottom to Come
+Parallel with the Button Holes the Last Button hole in the Breast to be
+right opposite to the Button on the Hip.”
+
+In 1754 he bought “a Superfine blue broad cloth Coat, with Silver
+Trimmings,” “a fine Scarlet Waistcoat full Lac’d,” and a quantity of
+“silver lace for a Hatt,” and from another source it is learned that at
+this time he was the possessor of ruffled shirts. A little later he
+ordered from London “As much of the best superfine blue 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,” and other orders at different
+times were for “6 prs. of the Very neatest shoes,” “A riding waistcoat
+of superfine scarlet cloth and gold Lace,” “2 prs. of fashionable mix’d
+or marble Color’d Silk Hose,” “1 piece of finest and fashionable Stock
+Tape,” “1 Suit of the finest Cloth & fashionable colour,” “a New Market
+Great Coat with a loose hood to it, made of Bleu Drab or broad cloth,
+with straps before according to the present taste,” “3 gold and scarlet
+sword-knots, 3 silver and blue do, 1 fashionable gold-laced hat.”
+
+As these orders indicated, the young fellow strove to be in the
+fashion. In 1755 he wrote his brother, “as wearing boots is quite the
+mode, and mine are in a declining state, I must beg the favor of you to
+procure me a pair that is good and neat.” “Whatever goods you may send
+me,” he wrote his London agent, “let them be fashionable, neat and good
+of their several kinds.” It was a great trial to him that his clothes
+did not fit him. “I should have enclosed you my measure,” he wrote to
+London, “but in a general way they are so badly taken here, that I am
+convinced that it would be of very little service.” “I have hitherto
+had my clothes made by one Charles Lawrence in Old Fish Street,” he
+wrote his English factor. “But whether it be the fault of the tailor,
+or the measure sent, I can’t say, but, certain it is, my clothes have
+never fitted me well.”
+
+It must not be inferred, however, that Washington carried his dandyism
+to weakness. When fine clothes were not in place, they were promptly
+discarded. In his trip to the Ohio in 1753 he states that “I put myself
+in an Indian walking Dress,” and “tied myself up in a Match Coat,”—that
+is, an Indian blanket. In the campaign of 1758 he wrote to his superior
+officer “that were I left to pursue my own Inclinations, I would not
+only order the Men to adopt the Indian dress, but cause the Officers to
+do it also, and be at the first to set the example myself. Nothing but
+the uncertainty of its taking with the General causes me to hesitate a
+moment at leaving my Regimentals at this place, and proceeding as light
+as any Indian in the Woods. ’Tis an unbecoming dress, I confess, for an
+officer; but convenience, rather than shew, I think should be
+consulted.” And this was such good sense that the general gave him
+leave, and it was done.
+
+With increase of years his taste in clothes became softened and more
+sober. “On the other side is an invoice of clothes which I beg the
+favor of you to purchase for me,” he wrote to London. “As they are
+designed for wearing apparel for myself, I have committed the choice of
+them to your fancy, having the best opinion of your taste. I want
+neither lace nor embroidery. Plain clothes, with a gold or silver
+button (if worn in genteel dress) are all I desire.” “Do not conceive,”
+he told his nephew in 1783, “that fine clothes make fine men more than
+fine feathers make fine Birds. A plain genteel dress is more admired,
+and obtains more credit than lace and embroidery, in the Eyes of the
+judicious and sensible.” And in connection with the provisional army he
+decided that “on reconsidering the uniform of the Commander in Chief,
+it has become a matter of doubt with me, (although, as it respects
+myself _personally_, I was against _all_ embroidery,) whether
+embroidery on the Cape, Cuffs, and Pockets of the Coat, and none on the
+buff waistcoat would not have a disjointed and awkward appearance.”
+Probably nowhere did he show his good taste more than in his treatment
+of the idea of putting him in classic garments when his bust was made
+by Houdon.
+
+“In answer to your obliging inquiries respecting the dress, attitude,
+&c.,” he wrote, “which I would wish to have given to the statue in
+question, I have only to observe, that, not having sufficient knowledge
+in the art of sculpture to oppose my judgment to the taste of
+connoisseurs, I do not desire to dictate in the matter. On the contrary
+I shall be perfectly satisfied with whatever may be judged decent and
+proper. I should even scarcely have ventured to suggest, that perhaps a
+servile adherence to the garb of antiquity might not be altogether so
+expedient, as some little deviation in favor of the modern costume.”
+
+Washington, as noted, bought his clothes in England; but it was from
+necessity more than choice. “If there be any homespun Cloths in
+Philadelphia which are tolerably fine, that you can come reasonably
+at,” he said to his Philadelphia agent in 1784, “I would be obliged to
+you to send me patterns of some of the best kinds—I should prefer that
+which is mixed in the grain, because it will not so readily discover
+its quality as a plain cloth.” Before he was inaugurated he wrote
+“General Knox this day to procure me homespun broadcloth of the
+Hartford fabric, to make a suit of clothes for myself,” adding, “I hope
+it will not be a great while before it will be unfashionable for a
+gentleman to appear in any other dress. Indeed, we have already been
+too long subject to British prejudices.” At another time he noted in
+his diary with evident pride, “on this occasion I was dressed in a suit
+made at the Woolen Manufactory at Hartford, as the buttons also were.”
+But then, as now, the foreign clothes were so much finer that his taste
+overcame his patriotism, and his secretary wrote that “the President is
+desireous of getting as much superfine blk broad Cloth as will make him
+a suit of Clothes, and desires me to request that you would send him
+that quantity … The best superfine French or Dutch black—exceedingly
+fine—of a soft, silky texture—not glossy like the Engh cloths.”
+
+A caller during the Presidency spoke of him as dressed in purple satin,
+and at his levees he is described by Sullivan as “clad in black velvet;
+his hair in full dress, powdered and gathered behind in a large silk
+bag; yellow gloves on his hands; holding a cocked hat with a cockade in
+it, and the edges adorned with a black feather about an inch deep. He
+wore knee and shoe buckles; and a long sword, with a finely wrought and
+polished steel hilt, which appeared at the left hip; the coat worn over
+the sword, so that the hilt, and the part below the coat behind, were
+in view. The scabbard was white polished leather.”
+
+About his person Washington was as neat as he desired his clothes to
+be. At seventeen when surveying he records that he was
+
+“Lighted into a Room & I not being so good a Woodsman as ye rest of my
+Company striped myself very orderly & went in to ye Bed as they called
+it when to my Surprize I found it to be nothing but a Little
+Straw—Matted together without Sheets or any thing else but only one
+thread Bear blanket with double its Weight of Vermin such as Lice,
+Fleas &c. I was glad to get up (as soon as ye Light was carried from
+us) I put on my Cloths & Lay as my Companions. Had we not have been
+very tired I am sure we should not have slep’d much that night. I made
+a Promise not to Sleep so from that time forward chusing rather to
+sleep in ye open Air before a fire as will appear hereafter.” The next
+day he notes that the party “Travell’d up to Frederick Town where our
+Baggage came to us we cleaned ourselves (to get Rid of ye Game we had
+catched y. Night before)” and slept in “a good Feather Bed with clean
+Sheets which was a very agreeable regale.”
+
+Wherever he happened to be, the laundress was in constant demand. His
+bill from the washer-lady for the week succeeding his inauguration as
+President, and before his domestic ménage was in running order, was for
+“6 Ruffled shirts, 2 plain shirts, 8 stocks, 3 pair Silk Hose, 2 White
+hand. 2 Silk Handks. 1 pr. Flanl. Drawers, 1 Hair nett.”
+
+The barber, too, was a constant need, and Washington’s ledger shows
+constant expenditures for perfumed hair-powder and pomatum, and also
+for powder bags and puffs. Apparently the services of this individual
+were only for the arranging of his hair, for he seems never to have
+shaved Washington, that being done either by himself or by his valet.
+Of this latter individual Washington said (when the injury to William
+Lee unfitted him for the service), “I do not as yet know whether I
+shall get a substitute for William: nothing short of excellent
+qualities and a man of good appearance, would induce me to do it—and
+under my present view of the matter, too, who would employ himself
+otherwise than William did—that is as a butler as well as a valette,
+for my wants of the latter are so trifling that any man (as William
+was) would soon be ruined by idleness, who had only them to attend to.”
+
+In food Washington took what came with philosophy. “If you meet with
+collegiate fare, it will be unmanly to complain,” he told his grandson,
+though he once complained in camp that “we are debarred from the
+pleasure of good living; which, Sir, (I dare say with me you will
+concur,) to one who has always been used to it, must go somewhat hard
+to be confined to a little salt provision and water.” Usually, however,
+poor fare was taken as a matter of course. “When we came to Supper,” he
+said in his journal of 1748, “there was neither a Cloth upon ye Table
+nor a Knife to eat with but as good luck would have it we had Knives of
+our own,” and again he wrote, “we pull’d out our Knapsack in order to
+Recruit ourselves every one was his own Cook our Spits was Forked
+Sticks our Plates was a Large Chip as for Dishes we had none.” Nor was
+he squeamish about what he ate. In the voyage to Barbadoes he several
+times ate dolphin; he notes that the bread was almost “eaten up by
+Weavel & Maggots,” and became quite enthusiastic over some “very fine
+Bristol tripe” and “a fine Irish Ling & Potatoes.” But all this may
+have been due to the proverbial sea appetite.
+
+Samuel Stearns states that Washington “breakfasts about seven o’clock
+on three small Indian hoe-cakes, and as many dishes of tea,” and Custis
+relates that “Indian cakes, honey, and tea formed this temperate
+repast.” These two writers tell us that at dinner “he ate heartily, but
+was not particular in his diet, with the exception of fish, of which he
+was excessively fond. He partook sparingly of dessert, drank a
+home-made beverage, and from four to five glasses of Madeira wine”
+(Custis), and that “he dines, commonly on a single dish, and drinks
+from half a pint to a pint of Madeira wine. This, with one small glass
+of punch, a draught of beer, and two dishes of tea (which he takes half
+an hour before sun-setting) constitutes his whole sustenance till the
+next day.” (Stearns.) Ashbel Green relates that at the state banquets
+during the Presidency Washington “generally dined on one single dish,
+and that of a very simple kind. If offered something either in the
+first or second course which was very rich, his usual reply was—‘That
+is too good for me.’” It is worth noting that he religiously observed
+the fasts proclaimed in 1774 and 1777, going without food the entire
+day.
+
+A special liking is mentioned above. In 1782 Richard Varick wrote to a
+friend, “General Washington dines with me to-morrow; he is exceedingly
+fond of salt fish; I have some coming up, & tho’ it will be here in a
+few days, it will not be here in time—If you could conveniently lend me
+as much fish as would serve a pretty large company to-morrow (at least
+for one Dish), it will oblige me, and shall in a very few days be
+returned in as good Dun Fish as ever you see. Excuse this freedom, and
+it will add to the favor. Could you not prevail upon somebody to catch
+some Trout for me early to-morrow morning?” When procurable, salt
+codfish was Washington’s regular Sunday dinner.
+
+A second liking was honey. His ledger several times mentions purchases
+of this, and in 1789 his sister wrote him, “when I last had the
+Pleasure of seeing you I observ’d your fondness for Honey; I have got a
+large Pot of very fine in the comb, which I shall send by the first
+opportunity.” Among his purchases “sugar candy” is several times
+mentioned, but this may have been for children, and not for himself. He
+was a frequent buyer of fruit of all kinds and of melons.
+
+He was very fond of nuts, buying hazelnuts and shellbarks by the
+barrel, and he wrote his overseer in 1792 to “tell house Frank I expect
+he will lay up a more plenteous store of the black common walnuts than
+he usually does.” The Prince de Broglie states that “at dessert he eats
+an enormous quantity of nuts, and when the conversation is entertaining
+he keeps eating through a couple of hours, from time to time giving
+sundry healths, according to the English and American custom. It is
+what they call ‘toasting.’”
+
+Washington was from boyhood passionately fond of horsemanship, and when
+but seventeen owned a horse. Humphreys states that “all those who have
+seen General Washington on horseback, at the head of his army, will
+doubtless bear testimony with the author that they never saw a more
+graceful or dignified person,” and Jefferson said of him that he was
+“the best horseman of his age, and the most graceful figure that could
+be seen on horseback.” His diary shows that he rode on various
+occasions as much as sixty miles in a day, and Lawrence reports that he
+“usually rode from Rockingham to Princeton, which is five miles, in
+forty minutes.” John Hunter, in a visit to Mount Vernon in 1785, writes
+that he went
+
+“to see his famous race-horse Magnolia—a most beautiful creature. A
+whole length of his was taken a while ago, (mounted on Magnolia) by a
+famous man from Europe on copper…. I afterwards went to his stables,
+where among an amazing number of horses, I saw old Nelson, now 22 years
+of age, that carried the General almost always during the war;
+Blueskin, another fine old horse next to him, now and then had that
+honor. Shaw also shewed me his old servant, that was reported to have
+been taken, with a number of the General’s papers about him. They have
+heard the roaring of many a cannon in their time. Blueskin was not the
+favorite, on account of his not standing fire so well as venerable old
+Nelson.”
+
+Chastellux relates, “he was so attentive as to give me the horse he
+rode, the day of my arrival, which I had greatly commended—I found him
+as good as he is handsome; but above all, perfectly well broke, and
+well trained, having a good mouth, easy in hand and stopping short in a
+gallop without bearing the bit—I mention these minute particulars,
+because it is the general himself who breaks all his own horses; and he
+is a very excellent and bold horseman, leaping the highest fences, and
+going extremely quick, without standing upon his stirrups, bearing on
+the bridle, or letting his horse run wild.”
+
+As a matter of course this liking for horses made Washington fond of
+racing, and he not only subscribed liberally to most of the racing
+purses, but ran horses at them, attending in person, and betting
+moderately on the results. So, too, he was fond of riding to the
+hounds, and when at Mount Vernon it was a favorite pastime. From his
+diary excerpts of runs are,—
+
+“Went a Fox hunting with the Gentlemen who came here yesterday…. after
+a very early breakfast—found a Fox just back of Muddy hole Plantation
+and after a Chase of an hour and a quarter with my Dogs, & eight couple
+of Doctor Smiths (brought by Mr. Phil Alexander) we put him into a
+hollow tree, in which we fastened him, and in the Pincushion put up
+another Fox which, in an hour & 13 Minutes was killed—We then after
+allowing the Fox in the hole half an hour put the Dogs upon his trail &
+in half a Mile he took to another hollow tree and was again put out of
+it but he did not go 600 yards before he had recourse to the same
+shift—finding therefore that he was a conquered Fox we took the Dogs
+off, and came home to Dinner.”
+
+“After an early breakfast [my nephew] George Washington, Mr. Shaw and
+Myself went into the Woods back of Muddy hole Plantation a hunting and
+were joined by Mr. Lund Washington and Mr. William Peake. About half
+after ten Oclock (being first plagued with the Dogs running Hogs) we
+found a fox near Colo Masons Plantation on little Hunting Creek (West
+fork) having followed on his Drag more than half a Mile; and run him
+with Eight Dogs (the other 4 getting, as was supposed after a Second
+Fox) close and well for an hour. When the Dogs came to a fault and to
+cold Hunting until 20 minutes after when being joined by the missing
+Dogs they put him up afresh and in about 50 Minutes killed up in an
+open field of Colo Mason’s every Rider & every Dog being present at the
+Death.”
+
+During the Revolution, when opportunity offered, he rode to the hounds,
+for Hiltzheimer wrote in 1781, “My son Robert [having] been on a Hunt
+at Frankfort says that His Excel’y Gen. Washington was there.”
+
+This liking made dogs an interest to him, and he took much pains to
+improve the breed of his hounds. On one occasion he “anointed all my
+Hounds (as well old Dogs as Puppies) which have the mange, with Hogs
+Lard & Brimstone.” Mopsey, Pilot, Tartar, Jupiter, Trueman, Tipler,
+Truelove, Juno, Dutchess, Ragman, Countess, Lady, Searcher, Rover,
+Sweetlips, Vulcan, Singer, Music, Tiyal, and Forrester are some of the
+names he gave them. In 1794, in the fall of his horse, as already
+mentioned, he wrenched his back, and in consequence, when he returned
+to Mount Vernon, this pastime was never resumed, and his pack was given
+up.
+
+Kindred to this taste for riding to the hounds was one for gunning. A
+few entries in his diary tell the nature of his sport. “Went a ducking
+between breakfast and dinner and kill’d 2 Mallards & 5 bald faces.” “I
+went to the Creek but not across it. Kill’d 2 ducks, viz. a sprig tail
+and a Teal.” “Rid out with my gun but kill’d nothing.” In 1787 a man
+asked for permission to shoot over Mount Vernon, and Washington refused
+it because
+
+“my fixed determination is, that no person whatever shall hunt upon my
+grounds or waters—To grant leave to one and refuse another would not
+only be drawing a line of discrimination which would be offensive, but
+would subject one to great inconvenience—for my strict and positive
+orders to all my people are if they hear a gun fired upon my Land to go
+immediately in pursuit of it…. Besides, as I have not lost my relish
+for this sport when I find time to indulge myself in it, and Gentlemen
+who come to the House are pleased with it, it is my wish not to have
+game within my jurisdiction disturbed.”
+
+Fishing was another pastime. He “went a dragging for Sturgeon”
+frequently, and sometimes “catch’d one” and sometimes “catch’d none.”
+While in Philadelphia in 1787 he went up to the old camp at Valley
+Forge and spent a day fishing, and in 1789 at Portsmouth, “having
+lines, we proceeded to the Fishing Banks a little without the Harbour
+and fished for Cod; but it not being a proper time of tide, we only
+caught two.” After his serious sickness in 1790 a newspaper reports
+that “yesterday afternoon the President of the United States returned
+from Sandy Hook and the fishing banks, where he had been for the
+benefit of the sea air, and to amuse himself in the delightful
+recreation of fishing. We are told he has had excellent sport, having
+himself caught a great number of sea-bass and black fish—the weather
+proved remarkably fine, which, together with the salubrity of the air
+and wholesome exercise, rendered this little voyage extremely
+agreeable, and cannot fail, we hope, of being serviceable to a speedy
+and complete restoration of his health.”
+
+Washington was fond of cards, and in bad weather even records “at home
+all day, over cards.” How much time must have been spent in this way is
+shown by the innumerable purchases of “1 dozen packs playing cards”
+noted in his ledger. In 1748, when he was sixteen years old, he won two
+shillings and threepence from his sister-in-law at whist and five
+shillings at “Loo” (or, as he sometimes spells it, “Lue”) from his
+brother, and he seems always to have played for small stakes, which
+sometimes mounted into fairly sizable sums. The largest gain found is
+three pounds, and the largest loss nine pounds fourteen shillings and
+ninepence. He seems to have lost oftener than he won.
+
+Billiards was a rival of cards, and a game of which he seems to have
+been fond. In his seventeenth year he won one shilling and threepence
+by the cue, and from that time won and lost more or less money in this
+way. Here, too, he seems to have been out of pocket, though not for so
+much money, his largest winning noted being only seven shillings and
+sixpence, and his largest loss being one pound and ten shillings.
+
+In 1751, at Barbadoes, Washington “was treated with a play ticket to
+see the Tragedy of George Barnwell acted: the character of Barnwell and
+several others was said to be well perform’d there was Musick a Dapted
+and regularly conducted.” This presumptively was the lad’s first visit
+to the playhouse, but from that time it was one of his favorite
+amusements. At first his ledger shows expenditures of “Cash at the Play
+House 1/3,” which proves that his purse would bear the cost of only the
+cheapest seats; but later he became more extravagant in this respect,
+and during the Presidency he used the drama for entertaining, his
+ledger giving many items of tickets bought. A type entry in
+Washington’s diary is, “Went to the play in the evening—sent tickets to
+the following ladies and gentlemen and invited them to seats in my box,
+viz:—Mrs. Adams (lady of the Vice-President,) General Schuyler and
+lady, Mr. King and lady, Majr. Butler and lady, Colo Hamilton and lady,
+Mrs. Green—all of whom accepted and came except Mrs. Butler, who was
+indisposed.”
+
+Maclay describes the first of these theatre parties as follows: “I
+received a ticket from the President of the United States to use his
+box this evening at the theatre, being the first of his appearances at
+the playhouse since his entering on his office. Went The President,
+Governor of the State, foreign Ministers, Senators from New Hampshire,
+Connecticut, Pennsylvania, M.[aryland] and South Carolina; and some
+ladies in the same box. I am old, and notices or attentions are lost on
+me. I could have wished some of my dear children in my place; they are
+young and would have enjoyed it. Long might they live to boast of
+having been seated in the same box with the first Character in the
+world. The play was the ‘School for Scandal,’ I never liked it; indeed,
+I think it an indecent representation before ladies of character and
+virtue. Farce, the ‘Old Soldier.’ The house greatly crowded, and I
+thought the players acted well; but I wish we had seen the _Conscious
+Lovers_, or some one that inculcated more prudential manners.”
+
+Of the play, or rather interlude, of the “Old Soldier” its author,
+Dunlap, gives an amusing story. It turned on the home-coming of an old
+soldier, and, like the topical song of to-day, touched on local
+affairs:
+
+“When Wignell, as Darby, recounts what had befallen him in America, in
+New York, at the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and the
+inauguration of the president, the interest expressed by the audience
+in the looks and the changes of countenance of this great man
+[Washington] became intense. He smiled at these lines, alluding to the
+change in the government—
+
+There too I saw some mighty pretty shows;
+A revolution, without blood or blows,
+For, as I understood, the cunning elves,
+The people all revolted from themselves.
+
+
+But at the lines—
+
+A man who fought to free the land from we,
+_Like me_, had left his farm, a-soldiering to go:
+But having gain’d his point, he had _like me_,
+Return’d his own potato ground to see.
+But there he could not rest. With one accord
+He’s called to be a kind of—not a lord—
+I don’t know what, he’s not a _great man_, sure,
+For poor men love him just as he were poor.
+They love him like a father or a brother,
+          DERMOT.
+As we poor Irishmen love one another.
+
+
+The president looked serious; and when Kathleen asked,
+
+How looked he, Darby? Was he short or tall?
+
+
+his countenance showed embarrassment, from the expectation or one of
+those eulogiums which, he had been obliged to hear on many public
+occasions, and which must doubtless have been a severe trial to his
+feelings: but Darby’s answer that he had _not seen him_, because he had
+mistaken a man ‘all lace and glitter, botherum and shine,’ for him,
+until all the show had passed, relieved the hero from apprehension of
+farther personality, and he indulged in that which was with him
+extremely rare, a hearty laugh.”
+
+Washington did not even despise amateur performances. As already
+mentioned, he expressed a wish to take part in “Cato” himself in 1758,
+and a year before he had subscribed to the regimental “players at Fort
+Cumberland,” His diary shows that in 1768 the couple at Mount Vernon “&
+ye two children were up to Alexandria to see the Inconstant or ‘the way
+to win him’ acted,” which was probably an amateur performance.
+Furthermore, Duer tells us that “I was not only frequently admitted to
+the presence of this most august of men, in _propria persona_, but once
+had the honor of appearing before him as one of the _dramatis personae_
+in the tragedy of Julius Caesar, enacted by a young ‘American Company,’
+(the theatrical corps then performing in New York being called the ‘Old
+American Company’) in the garret of the Presidential mansion, wherein
+before the magnates of the land and the elite of the city, I performed
+the part of Brutus to the Cassius of my old school-fellow, Washington
+Custis.”
+
+The theatre was by no means the only show that appealed to Washington.
+He went to the circus when opportunity offered, gave nine shillings to
+a “man who brought an elk as a show,” three shillings and ninepence “to
+hear the Armonica,” two dollars for tickets “to see the automatum,”
+treated the “Ladies to ye Microcosm” and paid to see waxworks, puppet
+shows, a dancing bear, and a lioness and tiger. Nor did he avoid a
+favorite Virginia pastime, but attended cockfights when able. His
+frequent going to concerts has been already mentioned.
+
+Washington seems to have been little of a reader except of books on
+agriculture, which he bought, read, and even made careful abstracts of
+many, and on this subject alone did he ever seem to write from
+pleasure. As a lad, he notes in his journal that he is reading _The
+Spectator_ and a history of England, but after those two brief entries
+there is no further mention of books or reading in his daily memorandum
+of “where and how my time is spent.” In his ledger, too, almost the
+least common expenditure entered is one for books. Nor do his London
+invoices, so far as extant, order any books but those which treated of
+farming and horses. In the settlement of the Custis estate, “I had no
+particular reason for keeping and handing down to his son, the books of
+the late Colo Custis saving that I thought it would be taking the
+advantage of a low appraisement, to make them my own property at it,
+and that to sell them was not an object.”
+
+With the broadening that resulted from the command of the army more
+attention was paid to books, and immediately upon the close of the
+Revolution Washington ordered the following works: “Life of Charles the
+Twelfth,” “Life of Louis the Fifteenth,” “Life and Reign of Peter the
+Great,” Robertson’s “History of America,” Voltaire’s “Letters,”
+Vertot’s “Revolution of Rome” and “Revolution of Portugal,” “Life of
+Gustavus Adolphus,” Sully’s “Memoirs,” Goldsmith’s “Natural History,”
+“Campaigns of Marshal Turenne,” Chambaud’s “French and English
+Dictionary,” Locke “on the Human Understanding,” and Robertson’s
+“Charles the Fifth.” From this time on he was a fairly constant
+book-buyer, and subscribed as a “patron” to a good many forthcoming
+works, while many were sent him as gifts. On politics he seems to have
+now read with interest; yet in 1797, after his retirement from the
+Presidency, in writing of the manner in which he spent his hours, he
+said, “it may strike you that in this detail no mention is made of any
+portion of time allotted to reading. The remark would be just, for I
+have not looked into a book since I came home, nor shall I be able to
+do it until I have discharged my workmen; probably not before the
+nights grow long when possibly I may be looking into Doomsday book.”
+There can be no doubt that through all his life Washington gave to
+reading only the time he could not use on more practical affairs.
+
+His library was a curious medley of books, if those on military science
+and agriculture are omitted. There is a fair amount of the standard
+history of the day, a little theology, so ill assorted as to suggest
+gifts rather than purchases, a miscellany of contemporary politics, and
+a very little belles-lettres. In political science the only works in
+the slightest degree noticeable are Smith’s “Wealth of Nations,” “The
+Federalist,” and Rousseau’s “Social Compact,” and, as the latter was in
+French, it could not have been read. In lighter literature Homer,
+Shakespeare, and Burns, Lord Chesterfield, Swift, Smollett, Fielding,
+and Sterne, and “Don Quixote,” are the only ones deserving notice. It
+is worthy of mention that Washington’s favorite quotation was Addison’s
+“’Tis not in mortals to command success,” but he also utilized with
+considerable aptitude quotations from Shakespeare and Sterne. There
+were half a dozen of the ephemeral novels of the day, but these were
+probably Mrs. Washington’s, as her name is written in one, and her
+husband’s in none. Writing to his grandson, Washington warned him that
+“light reading (by this, I mean books of little importance) may amuse
+for the moment, but leaves nothing solid behind.”
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON’S BOOK-PLATE]
+
+
+One element of Washington’s reading which cannot be passed over without
+notice is that of newspapers. In his early life he presumably read the
+only local paper of the time (the _Virginia Gazette_), for when an
+anonymous writer, “Centinel,” in 1756, charged that Washington’s
+regiment was given over to drunkenness and other misbehavior, he drew
+up a reply, which he sent with ten shillings to the newspaper, but the
+printer apparently declined to print it, for it never appeared.
+
+After the Revolution he complained to his Philadelphia agent, “I have
+such a number of Gazettes, crowded upon me (many without orders) that
+they are not only expensive, but really useless; as my other avocations
+will not afford me time to read them oftentimes, and when I do attempt
+it, find them more troublesome, than profitable; I have therefore to
+beg, if you Should get Money into your hands on Acct of the Inclosed
+Certificate, that you would be so good as to pay what I am owing to
+Messrs Dunlap & Claypoole, Mr. Oswald & Mr. Humphrey’s. If they
+consider me however as engaged for the year, I am Content to let the
+matter run on to the Expiration of it” During the Presidency he
+subscribed to the _Gazette of the United States_, Brown’s _Gazette_,
+Dunlap’s _American Advertiser_, the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, Bache’s
+_Aurora_, and the _New York Magazine_, Carey’s _Museum_, and the
+_Universal Asylum_, though at this time he “lamented that the editors
+of the different gazettes in the Union do not more generally and more
+correctly (instead of stuffing their papers with scurrility and
+nonsensical declamation, which few would read if they were apprised of
+the contents,) publish the debates in Congress on all great national
+questions.”
+
+Presently, for personal and party reasons, certain of the papers began
+to attack him, and Jefferson wrote to Madison that the President was
+“extremely affected by the attacks made and kept up on him in the
+public papers. I think he feels these things more than any person I
+ever met with.” Later the Secretary of State noted that at an interview
+Washington “adverted to a piece in Freneau’s paper of yesterday, he
+said that he despised all their attacks on him personally, but that
+there never had been an act of government … that paper had not abused …
+He was evidently sore and warm.” At a cabinet meeting, too, according
+to the same writer, “the Presidt was much inflamed, got into one of
+those passions when he cannot command himself, ran on much on the
+personal abuse which had been bestowed on him, defied any man on earth
+to produce a single act of his since he had been in the govmt which was
+not done on the purest motives, that he had never repented but once the
+having slipped the moment of resigning his office, & that was every
+moment since, that _by god_ he had rather be in his grave than in his
+present situation. That he had rather be on his farm than to be made
+_emperor of the world_ and yet that they were charging him with wanting
+to be a king. That that _rascal Freneau_ sent him 3 of his papers every
+day, as if he thought he would become the distributor of his papers,
+that he could see in this nothing but an impudent design to insult him.
+He ended in this high tone. There was a pause.”
+
+To correspondents, too, Washington showed how keenly he felt the
+attacks upon him, writing that “the publications in Freneau’s and
+Bache’s papers are outrages on common decency; and they progress in
+that style in proportion as their pieces are treated with contempt, and
+are passed by in silence, by those at whom they are aimed,” and asked
+“in what will this abuse terminate? The result, as it respects myself,
+I care not; for I have consolation within, that no earthly efforts can
+deprive me of, and that is, that neither ambitious nor interested
+motives have influenced my conduct. The arrows of malevolence,
+therefore however barbed and well pointed, never can reach the most
+vulnerable part of me; though, whilst I am _up_ as a _mark_, they will
+be continually aimed.”
+
+On another occasion he said, “I am beginning to receive, what I had
+made my mind up for on this occasion, the abuse of Mr. Bache, and his
+correspondents.” He wrote a friend, “if you read the Aurora of this
+city, or those gazettes, which are under the same influence, you cannot
+but have perceived with what malignant industry and persevering
+falsehoods I am assailed, in order to weaken if not destroy the
+confidence of the public.”
+
+When he retired from office he apparently cut off his subscriptions to
+papers, for a few months later he inquired, “what is the character of
+Porcupine’s Gazette? I had thought when I left Philadelphia, of
+ordering it to be sent to me; then again, I thought it best not to do
+it; and altho’ I should like to see both his and Bache’s, the latter
+may, under all circumstances, be the best decision; I mean not
+subscribing to either of them.” This decision to have no more to do
+with papers did not last, for on the night he was seized with his last
+illness Lear describes how “in the evening the papers having come from
+the post office, he sat in the room with Mrs. Washington and myself,
+reading them, till about nine o’clock when Mrs. Washington went up into
+Mrs. Lewis’s room, who was confined, and left the General and myself
+reading the papers. He was very cheerful; and, when he met with
+anything which he thought diverting or interesting, he would read it
+aloud as well as his hoarseness would permit. He desired me to read to
+him the debates of the Virginia Assembly, on the election of a Senator
+and Governor; which I did—and, on hearing Mr. Madison’s observations
+respecting Mr. Monroe, he appeared much affected, and spoke with some
+degree of asperity on the subject, which I endeavored to moderate, as I
+always did on such occasions.”
+
+
+
+
+IX
+FRIENDS
+
+
+The frequently repeated statement that Washington was a man without
+friends is not the least curious of the myths that have obtained
+general credence. That it should be asserted only goes to show how
+absolutely his private life has been neglected in the study of his
+public career.
+
+In his will Washington left tokens of remembrance “to the acquaintances
+and friends of my juvenile years, Lawrence Washington and Robert
+Washington of Chotanck,” the latter presumably the “dear Robin” of his
+earliest letter, and these two very distant kinsmen, whom he had come
+to know while staying at Wakefield, are the earliest friends of whom
+any record exists. Contemporary with them was a “Dear Richard,” whose
+letters gave Washington “unspeakable pleasure, as I am convinced I am
+still in the memory of so worthy a friend,—a friendship I shall ever be
+proud of increasing.”
+
+Next in time came his intimacy with the Fairfaxes and Carlyles, which
+began with Washington’s visits to his brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon.
+About four miles from that place, at Belvoir, lived the Fairfaxes; and
+their kinspeople, the Carlyles, lived at Alexandria. Lawrence
+Washington had married Ann Fairfax, and through his influence his
+brother George was taken into the employment of Lord Fairfax, half as
+clerk and half as surveyor of his great tract of land, “the northern
+neck,” which he had obtained by marriage with a daughter of Lord
+Culpeper, who in turn had obtained it from the “Merrie Monarch” by
+means so disreputable that they are best left unstated. From that time
+till his death Washington corresponded with several of the family and
+was a constant visitor at Belvoir, as the Fairfaxes were at Mount
+Vernon.
+
+
+[Illustration: SURVEY OF WASHINGTON’S BIRTHPLACE (WAKEFIELD), 1743]
+
+
+In 1755 Washington told his brother that “to that family I am under
+many obligations, particularly the old gentleman,” but as time went on
+he more than paid the debt. In 1757 he acted as pallbearer to William
+Fairfax, and twelve years later his diary records, “Set off with Mrs.
+Washington and Patsey,… in order to stand for Mr. B. Fairfax’s third
+son, which I did together with my wife, Mr. Warner Washington and his
+lady.” For one of the family he obtained an army commission, and for
+another he undertook the care of his property during a visit to
+England; a care which unexpectedly lengthened, and was resigned only
+when Washington’s time became public property. Nor did that lessen his
+services or the Fairfaxes’ need of them, for in the Revolution that
+family were loyalists. Despite this, “the friendship,” Washington
+assured them, “which I ever professed and felt for you, met no
+diminution from the difference in our political sentiments,” and in
+1778 he was able to secure the safety of Lord Fairfax from persecution
+at the hands of the Whigs, a service acknowledged by his lordship in
+the following words:
+
+“There are times when favors conferred make a greater impression than
+at others, for, though I have received many, I hope I have not been
+unmindful of them; yet that, at a time your popularity was at the
+highest and mine at the lowest, and when it is so common for men’s
+resentments to run up high against those, who differ from them in
+opinion, you should act with your wonted kindness towards me, has
+affected me more than any favor I have received; and could not be
+believed by some in New York, it being above the run of common minds.”
+
+In behalf of another member of the family, threatened with
+confiscation, he wrote to a member of the House of Delegates, “I hope,
+I trust, that no act of Legislation in the State of Virginia has
+affected, or can affect, the properly of this gentleman, otherwise than
+in common with that of every good and well disposed citizen of
+America,” and this was sufficient to put an end to the project At the
+close of the war he wrote to this absentee, “There was nothing wanting
+in [your] Letter to give compleat satisfaction to Mrs. Washington and
+myself but some expression to induce us to believe you would once more
+become our neighbors. Your house at Belvoir I am sorry to add is no
+more, but mine (which is enlarged since you saw it), is most sincerely
+and heartily at your service till you could rebuild it. As the path,
+after being closed by a long, arduous, and painful contest, is to use
+an Indian metaphor, now opened and made smooth, I shall please myself
+with the hope of hearing from you frequently; and till you forbid me to
+indulge the wish, I shall not despair of seeing you and Mrs. Fairfax
+once more the inhabitants of Belvoir, and greeting you both there the
+intimate companions of our old age, as you have been of our younger
+years.” And to another he left a token of remembrance in his will.
+
+One of the most curious circle of friends was that composed of Indians.
+After his mission among them in 1753, Washington wrote to a tribe and
+signed himself “your friend and brother.” In a less general sense he
+requested an Indian agent to “recommend me kindly to Mononcatoocha and
+others; tell them how happy it would make Conotocarius to have an
+opportunity of taking them by the hand.” A little later he had this
+pleasure, and he wrote the governor, “the Indians are all around
+teasing and perplexing me for one thing or another, so that I scarce
+know what I write.” When Washington left the frontier this intercourse
+ceased, but he was not forgotten, for in descending the Ohio in his
+Western trip of 1770 a hunting party was met, and “in the person of
+Kiashuto I found an old acquaintance, he being one of the Indians that
+went [with me] to the French in 1753. He expressed satisfaction at
+seeing me, and treated us with great kindness, giving us a quarter of
+very fine buffalo. He insisted upon our spending that night with him,
+and, in order to retard us as little as possible moved his camp down
+the river.”
+
+With his appointment to the Virginia regiment came military friends.
+From the earliest of these—Van Braam, who had served under Lawrence
+Washington in the Carthagena expedition of 1742, and who had come to
+live at Mount Vernon—Washington had previously taken lessons in
+fencing, and when appointed the bearer of a letter to the French
+commander on the Ohio he took Van Braam with him as interpreter. A
+little later, on receiving his majority, Washington appointed Van Braam
+his recruiting lieutenant, and recommended him to the governor for a
+captain’s commission on the grounds that he was “an experienced good
+officer.” To Van Braam fell the duty of translating the capitulation to
+the French at Fort Necessity, and to his reading was laid the blunder
+by which Washington signed a statement acknowledging himself as an
+“assassin.” Inconsequence he became the scapegoat of the expedition,
+was charged by the governor with being a “poltroon” and traitor, and
+was omitted from the Assembly’s vote of thanks and extra pay to the
+regiment. But Washington stood by him, and when himself burgess
+succeeded in getting this latter vote rescinded.
+
+Another friend of the same period was the Chevalier Peyroney, whom
+Washington first made an ensign, and then urged the governor to advance
+him, promising that if the governor “should be pleased to indulge me in
+this request, I shall look upon it in a very particular light.”
+Peyroney was badly wounded at Fort Necessity and was furloughed, during
+which he wrote his commander, “I have made my particular Business to
+tray if any had some Bad intention against you here Below; But thank
+God I meet allowais with a good wish for you from evry Mouth each one
+entertining such Caracter of you as I have the honour to do myself.” He
+served again in the Braddock march, and in that fiasco, Washington
+wrote, “Captain Peyroney and all his officers down to a corporal, was
+killed.”
+
+With Captain Stewart—“a gentleman whose assiduity and military capacity
+are second to none in our Service”—Washington was intimate enough to
+have Stewart apply in 1763 for four hundred pounds to aid him to
+purchase a commission, a sum Washington did not have at his disposal.
+But because of “a regard of that high nature that I could never see you
+uneasy without feeling a part and wishing to remove the cause,”
+Washington lent him three hundred pounds towards it, apparently without
+much return, for some years later he wrote to a friend that he was
+“very glad to learn that my friend Stewart was well when you left
+London. I have not had a letter from him these five years.” At the
+close of the Revolution he received a letter from Stewart containing
+“affectionate and flattering expressions,” which gave Washington “much
+pleasure,” as it “removed an apprehension I had long labored under, of
+your having taken your departure for the land of Spirits. How else
+could I account for a silence of 15 years. I shall always be happy to
+see you at Mt. Vernon.”
+
+His friend William Ramsay—“well known, well-esteemed, and of
+unblemished character”—he appointed commissary, and long after, in
+1769, wrote,—
+
+“Having once or twice of late heard you speak highly in praise of the
+Jersey College, as if you had a desire of sending your son William
+there … I should be glad, if you have no other objection to it than
+what may arise from the expense, if you would send him there as soon as
+it is convenient, and depend on me for twenty-five pounds this currency
+a year for his support, so long as it may be necessary for the
+completion of his education. If I live to see the accomplishment of
+this term, the sum here stipulated shall he annually paid; and if I die
+in the mean while, this letter shall be obligatory upon my heirs, or
+executors, to do it according to the true intent and meaning hereof. No
+other return is expected, or wished, for this offer, than that you will
+accept it with the same freedom and good will, with which it is made,
+and that you may not even consider it in the light of an obligation or
+mention it as such; for, be assured, that from me it will never be
+known.”
+
+The dearest friendship formed in these years was with the doctor of the
+regiment, James Craik, who in the course of his duties attended
+Washington in two serious illnesses, and when the war was ended settled
+near Mount Vernon. He was frequently a visitor there, and soon became
+the family medical attendant. When appointed General, Washington wrote,
+“tell Doctor Craik that I should be very glad to see him here if there
+was anything worth his acceptance; but the Massachusetts people suffer
+nothing to go by them that they lay hands upon.” In 1777 the General
+secured his appointment as deputy surgeon-general of the Middle
+Department, and three years later, when the hospital service was being
+reformed, he used his influence to have him retained. Craik was one of
+those instrumental in warning the commander-in-chief of the existence
+of the Conway Cabal, because “my attachment to your person is such, my
+friendship is so sincere, that every hint which has a tendency to hurt
+your honor, wounds me most sensibly.” The doctor was Washington’s
+companion, by invitation, in both his later trips to the Ohio, and his
+trust in him was so strong that he put under his care the two nephews
+whose charge he had assumed. In Washington’s ledger an entry tells of
+another piece of friendliness, to the effect, “Dr. James Craik, paid
+him, being a donation to his son, Geo. Washington Craik for his
+education £30,” and after graduating the young man for a time served as
+one of his private secretaries. After a serious illness in 1789,
+Washington wrote to the doctor, “persuaded as I am, that the case has
+been treated with skill, and with as much tenderness as the nature of
+the complaint would admit, yet I confess I often wished for your
+inspection of it,” and later he wrote, “if I should ever have occasion
+for a Physician or Surgeon, I should prefer my old Surgeon, Dr. Craik,
+who, from 40 years’ experience, is better qualified than a Dozen of
+them put together.” Craik was the first of the doctors to reach
+Washington’s bedside in his last illness, and when the dying man
+predicted his own death, “the Doctor pressed his hand but could not
+utter a word. He retired from the bedside and sat by the fire absorbed
+in grief.” In Washington’s will he left “to my compatriot in arms and
+old and intimate friend, Doctor Craik I give my Bureau (or as the
+Cabinet makers called it, Tambour Secretary) and the circular chair, an
+appendage of my study.”
+
+The arrival of Braddock and his army at Alexandria brought a new circle
+of military friends. Washington “was very particularly noticed by that
+General, was taken into his family as an extra aid, offered a Captain’s
+commission by _brevet_ (which was the highest grade he had it in his
+power to bestow) and had the compliment of several blank Ensigncies
+given him to dispose of to the Young Gentlemen of his acquaintance.” In
+this position he was treated “with much complaisance … especially from
+the General,” which meant much, as Braddock seems to have had nothing
+but curses for nearly every one else, and the more as Washington and he
+“had frequent disputes,” which were “maintained with warmth on both
+sides, especially on his.” But the general, “though his enmities were
+strong,” in “his attachments” was “warm,” and grew to like and trust
+the young volunteer, and had he “survived his unfortunate defeat, I
+should have met with preferment,” having “his promise to that effect.”
+Washington was by the general when he was wounded in the lungs, lifted
+him into a covered cart, and “brought him over the _first_ ford of the
+Monongahela,” into temporary safety. Three days later Braddock died of
+his wounds, bequeathing to Washington his favorite horse and his
+body-servant as tokens of his gratitude. Over him Washington read the
+funeral service, and it was left to him to see that “the poor general”
+was interred “with the honors of war.”
+
+Even before public service had made him known, Washington was a friend
+and guest of many of the leading Virginians. Between 1747 and 1754 he
+visited the Carters of Shirley, Nomony, and Sabine Hall, the Lewises of
+Warner Hall, the Lees of Stratford, and the Byrds of Westover, and
+there was acquaintance at least with the Spotswoods, Fauntleroys,
+Corbins, Randolphs, Harrisons, Robinsons, Nicholases, and other
+prominent families. In fact, one friend wrote him, “your health and
+good fortune are the toast of every table,” and another that “the
+Council and Burgesses are mostly your friends,” and those two bodies
+included every Virginian of real influence. It was Richard Corbin who
+enclosed him his first commission, in a brief note, beginning “Dear
+George” and ending “your friend,” but in time relations became more or
+less strained, and Washington suspected him “of representing my
+character … with ungentlemanly freedom.” With John Robinson, “Speaker”
+and Treasurer of Virginia, who wrote Washington in 1756, “our hopes,
+dear George, are all fixed on you,” a close correspondence was
+maintained, and when Washington complained of the governor’s course
+towards him Robinson replied, “I beg dear friend, that you will bear,
+so far as a man of honor ought, the discouragements and slights you
+have too often met with.” The son, Beverly Robinson, was a
+fellow-soldier, and, as already mentioned, was Washington’s host on his
+visit to New York in 1756. The Revolution interrupted the friendship,
+but it is alleged that Robinson (who was deep in the Arnold plot) made
+an appeal to the old-time relation in an endeavor to save André. The
+appeal was in vain, but auld lang syne had its influence, for the sons
+of Beverly, British officers taken prisoners in 1779, were promptly
+exchanged, so one of them asserted, “in consequence of the embers of
+friendship that still remained unextinguished in the breasts of my
+father and General Washington.”
+
+Outside of his own colony, too, Washington made friends of many
+prominent families, with whom there was more or less interchange of
+hospitality. Before the Revolution there had been visiting or breaking
+of bread with the Galloways, Dulaneys, Carrolls, Calverts, Jenifers,
+Edens, Ringgolds, and Tilghmans of Maryland, the Penns, Cadwaladers,
+Morrises, Shippens, Aliens, Dickinsons, Chews, and Willings of
+Pennsylvania, and the De Lanceys and Bayards of New York.
+
+Election to the Continental Congress strengthened some friendships and
+added new ones. With Benjamin Harrison he was already on terms of
+intimacy, and as long as the latter was in Congress he was the member
+most in the confidence of the General. Later they differed in politics,
+but Washington assured Harrison that “my friendship is not in the least
+lessened by the difference, which has taken place in our political
+sentiments, nor is my regard for you diminished by the part you have
+acted.” Joseph Jones and Patrick Henry both took his part against the
+Cabal, and the latter did him especial service in forwarding to him the
+famous anonymous letter, an act for which Washington felt “most
+grateful obligations.” Henry and Washington differed later in politics,
+and it was reported that the latter spoke disparagingly of the former,
+but this Washington denied, and not long after offered Henry the
+Secretaryship of State. Still later he made a personal appeal to him to
+come forward and combat the Virginia resolutions of 1798, an appeal to
+which Henry responded. The intimacy with Robert Morris was close, and,
+as already noted, Washington and his family were several times inmates
+of his home. Gouverneur Morris was one of his most trusted advisers,
+and, it is claimed, gave the casting vote which saved Washington from
+being arrested in 1778, when the Cabal was fiercest. While President,
+Washington sent him on a most important mission to Great Britain, and
+on its completion made him Minister to France. From that post the
+President was, at the request of France, compelled to recall him; but
+in doing so Washington wrote him a private letter assuring Morris that
+he “held the same place in my estimation” as ever, and signed himself
+“yours affectionately.” Charles Carroll of Carrollton was a partisan of
+the General, and very much disgusted a member of the Cabal by telling
+him “almost literally that anybody who displeased or did not admire the
+Commander-in-chief, ought not to be kept in the army.” And to Edward
+Rutledge Washington wrote, “I can but love and thank you, and I do it
+sincerely for your polite and friendly letter…. The sentiments
+contained in it are such as have uniformly flowed from your pen, and
+they are not the less flattering than pleasing to me.”
+
+The command of the Continental army brought a new kind of friend, in
+the young aides of his staff. One of his earliest appointments was
+Joseph Reed, and, though he remained but five months in the service, a
+close friendship was formed. Almost weekly Washington wrote him in the
+most confidential and affectionate manner, and twice he appealed to
+Reed to take the position once more, in one instance adding that if
+“you are disposed to continue with me, I shall think myself too
+fortunate and happy to wish for a change.” Yet Washington none the less
+sent Reed congratulations on his election to the Pennsylvania Assembly,
+“although I consider it the coup-de-grace to my ever seeing you” again
+a “member of my family,” to help him he asked a friend to endeavor to
+get Reed legal business, and when all law business ceased and the
+would-be lawyer was without occupation or means of support, he used his
+influence to secure him the appointment of adjutant.
+
+Reed kept him informed as to the news of Philadelphia, and wrote even
+such adverse criticism of the General as he heard, which Washington
+“gratefully” acknowledged. But one criticism Reed did not write was
+what he himself was saying of his general after the fall of Fort
+Washington, for which he blamed the commander-in-chief in a letter to
+Lee, and probably to others, for when later Reed and Arnold quarrelled,
+the latter boasted that “I can say I never basked in the sunshine of my
+general’s favor, and courted him to his face, when I was at the same
+time treating him with the greatest disrespect and villifying his
+character when absent. This is more than a ruling member of the Council
+of Pennsylvania can say.” Washington learned of this criticism in a
+letter from Lee to Reed, which was opened at head-quarters on the
+supposition that it was on army matters, and “with no idea of its being
+a private letter, much less the tendency of the correspondence,” as
+Washington explained in a letter to Reed, which had not a word of
+reproach for the double-dealing that must have cut the General keenly,
+coming as it did at a moment of misfortune and discouragement. Reed
+wrote a lame explanation and apology, and later sought to “regain” the
+“lost friendship” by an earnest appeal to Washington’s generosity. Nor
+did he appeal in vain, for the General replied that though “I felt
+myself hurt by a certain letter … I was hurt … because the same
+sentiments were not communicated immediately to myself.” The old-time
+intimacy was renewed, and how little his personal feeling had
+influenced Washington is shown in the fact that even previous to this
+peace-making he had secured for Reed the appointment to command one of
+the choicest brigades in the army. Perhaps the friendship was never
+quite as close, but in writing him Washington still signed himself
+“yours affectionately.”
+
+John Laurens, appointed an aide in 1777, quickly endeared himself to
+Washington, and conceived the most ardent affection for his chief. The
+young officer of twenty-four used all his influence with his father
+(then President of Congress) against the Cabal, and in 1778, when
+Charles Lee was abusing the commander-in-chief, Laurens thought himself
+bound to resent it, “as well on account of the relation he bore to
+General Washington, as from motives of personal friendship and respect
+for his character,” and he challenged the defamer and put a bullet into
+him. To his commander he signed himself “with the greatest veneration
+and attachment your Excellency’s Faithful Aid,” and Washington in his
+letters always addressed him as “my dear Laurens.” After his death in
+battle, Washington wrote, in reply to an inquiry,—
+
+“You ask if the character of Colonel John Laurens, as drawn in the
+_Independent Chronicle_ of 2d of December last, is just. I answer, that
+such parts of the drawing as have fallen under my observation, is
+literally so; and that it is my firm belief his merits and worth richly
+entitle him to the whole picture. No man possessed more of the _amor
+patriae_. In a word, he had not a fault, that I could discover, unless
+intrepidity bordering upon rashness could come under that denomination;
+and to this he was excited by the purest motives.”
+
+Of another aide, Tench Tilghman, Washington said, “he has been a
+zealous servant and slave to the public, and a faithful assistant to me
+for near five years, great part of which time he refused to receive
+pay. Honor and gratitude interest me in his favor.” As an instance of
+this, the commander-in-chief gave to him the distinction of bearing to
+Congress the news of the surrender of Cornwallis, with the request to
+that body that Tilghman should be honored in some manner. And in
+acknowledging a letter Washington said, “I receive with great
+sensibility and pleasure your assurances of affection and regard. It
+would be but a renewal of what I have often repeated to you, that there
+are few men in the world to whom I am more attached by inclination than
+I am to you. With the Cause, I hope—most devoutly hope—there will be an
+end to my Military Service, when as our places of residence will not be
+far apart, I shall never be more happy than in your Company at Mt.
+Vernon. I shall always be glad to hear from, and keep up a
+correspondence with you.” When Tilghman died, Washington asserted that
+
+“He had left as fair a reputation as ever belonged to a human
+character,” and to his father he wrote, “Of all the numerous
+acquaintances of your lately deceased son, & midst all the sorrowings
+that are mingled on that melancholy occasion, I may venture to assert
+that (excepting those of his nearest relatives) none could have felt
+his death with more regret than I did, because no one entertained a
+higher opinion of his worth, or had imbibed sentiments of greater
+friendship for him than I had done…. Midst all your grief, there is
+this consolation to be drawn;—that while living, no man could be more
+esteemed, and since dead, none more lamented than Colo. Tilghman.”
+
+To David Humphreys, a member of the staff, Washington gave the honor of
+carrying to Congress the standards captured at Yorktown, recommending
+him to the notice of that body for his “attention, fidelity, and good
+services.” This aide escorted Washington to Mount Vernon at the close
+of the Revolution, and was “the last officer belonging to the army” who
+parted from “the Commander-in-chief.” Shortly after, Humphreys returned
+to Mount Vernon, half as secretary and half as visitor and companion,
+and he alluded to this time in his poem of “Mount Vernon,” when he
+said,—
+
+“Twas mine, return’d from Europe’s courts
+To share his thoughts, partake his sports.”
+
+
+When Washington was accused of cruelty in the Asgill case, Humphreys
+published an account of the affair, completely vindicating his friend,
+for which he was warmly thanked. He was frequently urged to come to
+Mount Vernon, and Washington on one occasion lamented “the cause which
+has deprived us of your aid in the attack of Christmas pies,” and on
+another assured Humphreys of his “great pleasure [when] I received the
+intimation of your spending the winter under this Roof. The invitation
+was not less sincere, than the reception will be cordial. The only
+stipulations I shall contend for are, that in all things you shall do
+as you please—I will do the same; and that no ceremony may be used or
+any restraint be imposed on any one.” Humphreys was visiting him when
+the notification of his election as President was received, and was the
+only person, except servants, who accompanied Washington to New York.
+Here he continued for a time to give his assistance, and was
+successively appointed Indian commissioner, informal agent to Spain,
+and finally Minister to Portugal. While holding this latter position
+Washington wrote to him, “When you shall think with the poet that ‘the
+post of honor is a private station’—& may be inclined to enjoy yourself
+in my shades … I can only tell you that you will meet with the same
+cordial reception at Mount Vernon that you have always experienced at
+that place,” and when Humphreys answered that his coming marriage made
+the visit impossible, Washington replied, “The desire of a companion in
+my latter days, in whom I could confide … induced me to express too
+strongly … the hope of having you as an inmate.” On the death of
+Washington, Humphreys published a poem expressing the deepest affection
+and admiration for “my friend.”
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON FAMILY RECORD]
+
+
+The longest and closest connection was that with Hamilton. This very
+young and obscure officer attracted Washington’s attention in the
+campaign of 1776, early in the next year was appointed to the staff,
+and quickly became so much a favorite that Washington spoke of him as
+“my boy.” Whatever friendliness this implied was not, however,
+reciprocated by Hamilton. After four years of service, he resigned,
+under circumstances to which he pledged Washington to secrecy, and then
+himself, in evident irritation, wrote as follows:
+
+“Two days ago, the General and I passed each other on the stairs. He
+told me he wanted to speak to me. I answered that I would wait upon him
+immediately. I went below, and delivered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be
+sent to the commissary, containing an order of a pressing and
+interesting nature. Returning to the General, I was stopped on the way
+by the Marquis de 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. Instead of finding the General, as is
+usual, in his room, I met him at the head of the stairs, where,
+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, but with decision: ‘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 this 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, usefulness, etc, and of his desire, in a
+candid conversation, to heal a difference which could not have happened
+but in a moment of passion. I requested Mr Tilghman to tell him—1st.
+That I had taken my resolution in a manner not to be revoked … Thus we
+stand … Perhaps you may think I was precipitate in rejecting the
+overture made by the General to an accomodation. I assure you, my dear
+sir, it was not the effect of resentment; it was the deliberate result
+of maxims I had long formed for the government of my own conduct…. I
+believe you know the place I held in the General’s confidence and
+counsels, which will make more extraordinary to you to learn that for
+three years past I have felt no friendship for him and have professed
+none. The truth is, our dispositions are the opposites of each other,
+and the pride of my temper would not suffer me to profess what I did
+not feel. Indeed, when advances of this kind have been made to me on
+his part, they were received in a manner that showed at least that I
+had no desire to court them, and that I desired to stand rather upon a
+footing of military confidence than of private attachment.”
+
+Had Washington been the man this letter described he would never have
+forgiven this treatment. On the contrary, only two months later, when
+compelled to refuse for military reasons a favor Hamilton asked, he
+said that “my principal concern arises from an apprehension that you
+will impute my refusal to your request to other motives.” On this
+refusal Hamilton enclosed his commission to Washington, but “Tilghman
+came to me in his name, pressed me to retain my commission, with an
+assurance that he would endeavor, by all means, to give me a command.”
+Later Washington did more than Hamilton himself had asked, when he gave
+him the leading of the storming party at Yorktown, a post envied by
+every officer in the army.
+
+Apparently this generosity lessened Hamilton’s resentment, for a
+correspondence on public affairs was maintained from this time on,
+though Madison stated long after “that Hamilton often spoke
+disparagingly of Washington’s talents, particularly after the
+Revolution and at the first part of the presidentcy,” and Benjamin Rush
+confirms this by a note to the effect that “Hamilton often spoke with
+contempt of General Washington. He said that … his heart was a stone.”
+The rumor of the ill feeling was turned to advantage by Hamilton’s
+political opponents in 1787, and compelled the former to appeal to
+Washington to save him from the injury the story was doing. In response
+Washington wrote a letter intended for public use, in which he said,—
+
+“As you say it is insinuated by some of your political adversaries, and
+may obtain credit, ‘that you _palmed_ yourself upon me, and was
+_dismissed_ from my family,’ and call upon me to do you justice by a
+recital of the facts, I do therefore explicitly declare, that both
+charges are entirely unfounded. With respect to the first, I have no
+cause to believe, that you took a single step to accomplish, or had the
+most distant idea of receiving an appointment in my family till you
+were invited in it; and, with respect to the second, that your quitting
+it was altogether the effect of your own choice.”
+
+With the appointment as Secretary of the Treasury warmer feelings were
+developed. Hamilton became the President’s most trusted official, and
+was tireless in the aid he gave his superior. Even after he left office
+he performed many services equivalent to official ones, for which
+Washington did “not know how to thank” him “sufficiently,” and the
+President leaned on his judgment to an otherwise unexampled extent.
+This service produced affection and respect, and in 1792 Washington
+wrote from Mount Vernon, “We have learnt … that you have some thoughts
+of taking a trip this way. I felt pleasure at hearing it, and hope it
+is unnecessary to add, that it would be considerably increased by
+seeing you under this roof; for you may be assured of the sincere and
+affectionate regard of yours, &c.” and signed other letters “always and
+affectionately yours,” or “very affectionately,” while Hamilton
+reciprocated by sending “affectionate attachment.”
+
+On being appointed lieutenant-general in 1798, Washington at once
+sought the aid of Hamilton for the highest position under him, assuring
+the Secretary of War that “of the abilities and fitness of the
+gentleman you have named for a high command in the _provisional army_,
+I think as you do, and that his services ought to be secured at almost
+any price.” To this the President, who hated Hamilton, objected, but
+Washington refused to take the command unless this wish was granted,
+and Adams had to give way. They stood in this relation when Washington
+died, and almost the last letter he penned was to this friend. On
+learning of the death, Hamilton wrote of “our beloved
+Commander-in-chief,”—
+
+“The very painful event … filled my heart with bitterness. Perhaps no
+man in this community has equal cause with myself to deplore the loss.
+I have been much indebted to the kindness of the General, and he was an
+_Ægis very essential to me_. But regrets are unavailing. For great
+misfortunes it is the business of reason to seek consolation. The
+friends of General Washington have very noble ones. If virtue can
+secure happiness in another world, he is happy.”
+
+Knox was the earliest army friend of those who rose to the rank of
+general, and was honored by Washington with absolute trust. After the
+war the two corresponded, and Knox expressed “unalterable affection”
+for the “thousand evidences of your friendship.” He was appointed
+Secretary of War in the first administration, and in taking command of
+the provisional army Washington secured his appointment as a
+major-general, and at this time asserted that, “with respect to General
+Knox I can say with truth there is no man in the United States with
+whom I have been in habits of greater intimacy, no one whom I have
+loved more sincerely nor any for whom I have had a greater friendship.”
+
+Greene was perhaps the closest to Washington of all the generals, and
+their relations might be dwelt upon at much length. But the best
+evidence of friendship is in Washington’s treatment of a story
+involving his financial honesty, of which he said, “persuaded as I
+always have been of Genl Greene’s integrity and worth, I spurned those
+reports which tended to calumniate his conduct … being perfectly
+convinced that whenever the matter should be investigated, his motives
+… would appear pure and unimpeachable.” When on Greene’s death
+Washington heard that his family was left in embarrassed circumstances,
+he offered, if Mrs. Greene would “entrust my namesake G. Washington
+Greene to my care, I will give him as good an education as this country
+(I mean the United States) will afford, and will bring him up to either
+of the genteel professions that his frds. may chuse, or his own
+inclination shall lead him to pursue, at my own cost & expence.”
+
+For “Light-horse Harry” Lee an affection more like that given to the
+youngsters of the staff was felt Long after the war was over, Lee began
+a letter to him “Dear General,” and then continued,—
+
+“Although the exalted station, which your love of us and our love of
+you has placed you in, calls for change in mode of address, yet I
+cannot so quickly relinquish the old manner. Your military rank holds
+its place in my mind, notwithstanding your civic glory; and, whenever I
+do abandon the title which used to distinguish you, I shall do it with
+awkwardness…. My reluctance to trespass a moment on your time would
+have operated to a further procrastination of my wishes, had I not been
+roused above every feeling of ceremony by the heart rending
+intelligence, received yesterday, that your life was despaired of. Had
+I had wings in the moment, I should have wafted myself to your bedside,
+only again to see the first of men; but alas! despairing as I was, from
+the account received, after the affliction of one day and night, I was
+made most happy by receiving a letter, now before me from New York,
+announcing the restoration of your health. May heaven preserve it!”
+
+It was Lee who first warned Washington that Jefferson was slandering
+him in secret, and who kept him closely informed as to the political
+manuvres in Virginia. Washington intrusted to him the command of the
+army in the Whiskey Insurrection, and gave him an appointment in the
+provisional army. Lee was in Congress when the death of the great
+American was announced to that body, and it was he who coined the
+famous “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his
+countrymen.”
+
+As need hardly be said, however, the strongest affection among the
+general officers was that between Washington and Lafayette. In the
+advent of this young Frenchman the commander saw only “embarassment,”
+but he received “the young volunteer,” so Lafayette said, “in the most
+friendly manner,” invited him to reside in his house as a member of his
+military family, and as soon as he came to know him he recommended
+Congress to give him a command. As Lafayette became popular with the
+army, an endeavor was made by the Cabal to win him to their faction by
+bribing him with an appointment to lead an expedition against Canada,
+independent of control by Washington. Lafayette promptly declined the
+command, unless subject to the General, and furthermore he “braved the
+whole party (Cabal) and threw them into confusion by making them drink
+the health of their general.” At the battle of Monmouth Washington gave
+the command of the attacking party to Lafayette, and after the conflict
+the two, according to the latter, “passed the night lying on the same
+mantle, talking.” In the same way Washington distinguished him by
+giving him the command of the expedition to rescue Virginia from
+Cornwallis, and to his division was given the most honorable position
+at Yorktown. When the siege of that place was completed, Lafayette
+applied for leave of absence to spend the winter in France, and as he
+was on the point of sailing he received a personal letter from
+Washington, for “I owe it to friendship and to my affectionate regard
+for you my dear Marquis, not to let you leave this country without
+carrying fresh marks of my attachment to you,” and in his absence
+Washington wrote that a mutual friend who bore a letter “can tell you
+more forcibly, than I can express how much we all love and wish to
+embrace you.”
+
+A reunion came in 1784, looked forward to by Lafayette with an
+eagerness of which he wrote, “by Sunday or Monday, I hope at last to be
+blessed with a sight of my dear General. There is no rest for me till I
+go to Mount Vernon. I long for the pleasure to embrace you, my dear
+General; and the happiness of being once more with you will be so
+great, that no words can ever express it. Adieu, my dear General; in a
+few days I shall be at Mount Vernon, and I do already feel delighted
+with so charming a prospect.” After this visit was over Washington
+wrote, “In the moment of our separation, upon the road as I travelled,
+and every hour since, I have felt all that love, respect and attachment
+for you, with which length of years, close connexion, and your merits
+have inspired me. I often asked myself, as our carriages separated,
+whether that was the last sight I ever should have of you?” And to this
+letter Lafayette replied,—
+
+“No my beloved General, our late parting was not by any means a last
+interview. My whole soul revolts at the idea; and could I harbour it an
+instant, indeed, my dear General, it would make me miserable. I well
+see you will never go to France. The inexpressible pleasure of
+embracing you in my own house, of welcoming you in a family where your
+name is adored, I do not much expect to experience; but to you I shall
+return, and, within the walls of Mount Vernon, we shall yet speak of
+olden times. My firm plan is to visit now and then my friend on this
+side of the Atlantic; and the most beloved of all friends I ever had,
+or ever shall have anywhere, is too strong an inducement for me to
+return to him, not to think that whenever it is possible I shall renew
+my so pleasing visits to Mount Vernon…. Adieu, adieu, my dear General.
+It is with inexpressible pain that I feel I am going to be severed from
+you by the Atlantic. Everything, that admiration, respect, gratitude,
+friendship, and fillial love, can inspire, is combined in my
+affectionate heart to devote me most tenderly to you. In your
+friendship I find a delight which words cannot express. Adieu, my dear
+General. It is not without emotion that I write this word, although I
+know I shall soon visit you again. Be attentive to your health. Let me
+hear from you every month. Adieu, adieu.”
+
+The correspondence begged was maintained, but Lafayette complained that
+“To one who so tenderly loves you, who so happily enjoyed the times we
+have passed together, and who never, on any part of the globe, even in
+his own house, could feel himself so perfectly at home as in your
+family, it must be confessed that an irregular, lengthy correspondence
+is quite insufficient I beseech you, in the name of our friendship, of
+that paternal concern of yours for my happiness, not to miss any
+opportunity to let me hear from my dear General.”
+
+One letter from Washington told Lafayette of his recovery from a
+serious illness, and Lafayette responded, “What could have been my
+feelings, had the news of your illness reached me before I knew my
+beloved General, my adopted father, was out of danger? I was struck at
+the idea of the situation you have been in, while I, uninformed and so
+distant from you, was anticipating the long-waited-for pleasure to hear
+from you, and the still more endearing prospect of visiting you and
+presenting you the tribute of a revolution, one of your first
+offsprings. For God’s sake, my dear General, take care of your health!”
+
+Presently, as the French Revolution gathered force, the anxiety was
+reversed, Washington writing that “The lively interest which I take in
+your welfare, my dear Sir, keeps my mind in constant anxiety for your
+personal safety.” This fear was only too well founded, for shortly
+after Lafayette was a captive in an Austrian prison and his wife was
+appealing to her husband’s friend for help. Our ministers were told to
+do all they could to secure his liberty, and Washington wrote a
+personal letter to the Emperor of Austria. Before receiving her letter,
+on the first news of the “truly affecting” condition of “poor Madame
+Lafayette,” he had written to her his sympathy, and, supposing that
+money was needed, had deposited at Amsterdam two hundred guineas
+“subject to your orders.”
+
+When she and her daughters joined her husband in prison, Lafayette’s
+son, and Washington’s godson, came to America; an arrival of which the
+godfather wrote that, “to express all the sensibility, which has been
+excited in my breast by the receipt of young Lafayette’s letter, from
+the recollection of his father’s merits, services, and sufferings, from
+my friendship for him, and from my wishes to become a friend and father
+to his son is unnecessary.” The lad became a member of the family, and
+a visitor at this time records that “I was particularly struck with the
+marks of affection which the General showed his pupil, his adopted son
+of Marquis de Lafayette. Seated opposite to him, he looked at him with
+pleasure, and listened to him with manifest interest.” With Washington
+he continued till the final release of his father, and a simple
+business note in Washington’s ledger serves to show both his delicacy
+and his generosity to the boy: “By Geo. W. Fayette, gave for the
+purpose of his getting himself such small articles of Clothing as he
+might not choose to ask for $100.” Another item in the accounts was
+three hundred dollars “to defray his exps. to France,” and by him
+Washington sent a line to his old friend, saying, “this letter I hope
+and expect will be presented to you by your son, who is highly
+deserving of such parents as you and your amiable lady.”
+
+Long previous to this, too, a letter had been sent to Virginia
+Lafayette, couched in the following terms:
+
+“Permit me to thank my dear little correspondent for the favor of her
+letter of the 18 of June last, and to impress her with the idea of the
+pleasure I shall derive from a continuance of them. Her papa is
+restored to her with all the good health, paternal affection, and
+honors, which her tender heart could wish. He will carry a kiss to her
+from me (which might be more agreeable from a pretty boy), and give her
+assurances of the affectionate regard with which I have the pleasure of
+being her well-wisher,
+
+George Washington.”
+
+In this connection it is worth glancing at Washington’s relations with
+children, the more that it has been frequently asserted that he had no
+liking for them. As already shown, at different times he adopted or
+assumed the expenses and charge of not less than nine of the children
+of his kith and kin, and to his relations with children he seldom wrote
+a letter without a line about the “little ones.” His kindnesses to the
+sons of Ramsay, Craik, Greene, and Lafayette have already been noticed.
+Furthermore, whenever death or illness came among the children of his
+friends there was sympathy expressed. Dumas relates of his visit to
+Providence with Washington, that “we arrived there at night; the whole
+of the population had assembled from the suburbs; we were surrounded by
+a crowd of children carrying torches, reiterating the acclamations of
+the citizens; all were eager to approach the person of him whom they
+called their father, and pressed so closely around us that they
+hindered us from proceeding. General Washington was much affected,
+stopped a few moments, and, pressing my hand, said, ‘We may be beaten
+by the English; it is the chance of war; but behold an army which they
+can never conquer,’”
+
+In his journey through New England, not being able to get lodgings at
+an inn, Washington spent a night in a private house, and when all
+payment was refused, he wrote his host from his next stopping-place,—
+
+“Being informed that you have given my name to one of your sons, and
+called another after Mrs. Washington’s family, and being moreover very
+much pleased with the modest and innocent looks of your two daughters,
+Patty and Polly, I do for these reasons send each of these girls a
+piece of chintz; and to Patty, who bears the name of Mrs. Washington,
+and who waited upon us more than Polly did, I send five guineas, with
+which she may buy herself any little ornaments she may want, or she may
+dispose of them in any other manner more agreeable to herself. As I do
+not give these things with a view to have it talked of, or even of its
+being known, the less there is said about the matter the better you
+will please me; but, that I may be sure the chintz and money have got
+safe to hand, let Patty, who I dare say is equal to it, write me a line
+informing me thereof, directed to ‘The President of the United States
+at New York.’”
+
+Miss Stuart relates that “One morning while Mr. Washington was sitting
+for his picture, a little brother of mine ran into the room, when my
+father thinking it would annoy the General, told him he must leave; but
+the General took him upon his knee, held him for some time, and had
+quite a little chat with him, and, in fact, they seemed to be pleased
+with each other. My brother remembered with pride, as long as he lived,
+that Washington had talked with him.”
+
+For the son of his secretary, Lear, there seems to have been great
+fondness, and in one instance the father was told that “It gave Mrs.
+Washington, myself and all who know him, sincere pleasure to hear that
+our little favorite had arrived safe, and was in good health at
+Portsmouth. We sincerely wish him a long continuance of the latter—that
+he may always be as charming and promising as he now is—and that he may
+live to be a comfort and blessing to you, and an ornament to his
+country. As a testimony of my affection for him I send him a ticket in
+the lottery which is now drawing in the Federal City; and if it should
+be his fortune to draw the hotel it will add to the pleasure I have in
+giving it.” A second letter condoled with “little Lincoln,” because
+owing to the collapse of the lottery the “poor little fellow” will not
+even get enough to “build him a baby house.”
+
+For the father, Tobias Lear, who came into his employment in 1786 and
+remained with him till his death, Washington felt the greatest
+affection and trust. It was he who sent for the doctor in the beginning
+of the last illness, and he was in the sickroom most of the time.
+Holding Washington’s hand, he received from him his last orders, and
+later when Washington “appeared to be in great pain and distress from
+the difficulty of breathing … I lay upon the bed and endeavored to
+raise him, and turn him with as much ease as possible. He appeared
+penetrated with gratitude for my attentions, and often said ‘I am
+afraid I shall fatigue you too much.’” Still later Lear “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.” At the final moment Lear took his hand “and
+laid it upon his breast.” When all was over, “I kissed the cold hand,
+laid it down, and was … lost in profound grief.”
+
+
+
+
+X
+ENEMIES
+
+
+Any man of force is to be known quite as much by the character of his
+enemies as by that of his friends, and this is true of Washington. The
+subject offers some difficulties, for most of his enemies later in life
+went out of their way to deny all antagonism, and took pains to destroy
+such proof as they could come at of ill-feeling towards him. Yet enough
+remains to show who were in opposition to him, and on what grounds.
+
+The first of those now known to be opposed to him was George Muse,
+lieutenant-colonel in 1754 under Washington. At Fort Necessity he was
+guilty of cowardice, he was discharged in disgrace, and his name was
+omitted from the Assembly’s vote of thanks to the regiment. Stung by
+this action, he took his revenge in a manner related by Peyroney, who
+wrote Washington,—
+
+“Many enquired to me about Muse’s Braveries, poor Body I had pity him
+ha’nt he had the weakness to Confes his Coardise himself, & the
+impudence to taxe all the reste of the oficers without exception of the
+same imperfection for he said to many of the Consulars and Burgeses
+that he was Bad But th’ the reste was as Bad as he—To speak francly,
+had I been in town at that time I cou’nt help’d to make use of my
+horses [whip] whereas for to vindicate the injury of that vilain. He
+Contrived his Business so that several ask me if it was true that he
+had Challeng’d you to fight: My Answer was no other But that he should
+rather chuse to go to hell than doing of it—for he had Such thing
+declar’d: that was his Sure Road.”
+
+Washington seems to have cherished no personal ill-will for Muse’s
+conduct, and when the division of the “bounty lands” was being pushed,
+he used his influence that the broken officer should receive a quotum.
+Not knowing this, or else being ungrateful, Muse seems to have written
+a letter to Washington which angered him, for he replied,—
+
+“Sir, Your impertinent letter was delivered to me yesterday. As I am
+not accustomed to receive such from any man, nor would have taken the
+same language from you personally, without letting you feel some marks
+of my resentment, I would advise you to be cautious in writing me a
+second of the same tenor. But for your stupidity and sottishness you
+might have known, by attending to the public gazette, that you had your
+full quantity of ten thousand acres of land allowed you, that is, nine
+thousand and seventy-three acres in the great tract, and the remainder
+in the small tract. But suppose you had really fallen short, do you
+think your superlative merit entitles you to greater indulgence than
+others? Or, if it did, that I was to make it good to you, when it was
+at the option of the Governor and Council to allow but five hundred
+acres in the whole, if they had been so inclined? If either of these
+should happen to be your opinion, I am very well convinced that you
+will be singular in it; and all my concern is, that I ever engaged in
+behalf of so ungrateful a fellow as you are. But you may still be in
+need of my assistance, as I can inform you, that your affairs, in
+respect to these lands, do not stand upon so solid a basis as you
+imagine, and this you may take by way of hint. I wrote to you a few
+days ago concerning the other distribution, proposing an easy method of
+dividing our lands; but since I find in what temper you are, I am sorry
+I took the trouble of mentioning the land or your name in a letter, as
+I do not think you merit the least assistance from me.”
+
+The Braddock campaign brought acquaintance with one which did not end
+in friendship, however amicable the beginning. There can be little
+doubt that there was cameraderie with the then Lieutenant-Colonel Gage,
+for in 1773, when in New York for four days, Washington “Dined with
+Gen. Gage,” and also “dined at the entertainment given by the citizens
+of New York to Genl. Gage.” When next intercourse was resumed, it was
+by formal correspondence between the commanders-in-chief of two hostile
+armies, Washington inquiring as to the treatment of prisoners, and as a
+satisfactory reply was not obtained, he wrote again, threatening
+retaliation, and “closing my correspondence with you, perhaps forever,”
+—a letter which Charles Lee thought “a very good one, but Gage
+certainly deserved a stronger one, such as it was before it was
+softened.” One cannot but wonder what part the old friendship played in
+this “softening.”
+
+Relations with the Howes began badly by a letter from Lord Howe
+addressed “George Washington, Esq.,” which Washington declined to
+receive as not recognizing his official position. A second one to
+“George Washington, Esq. &c. &c. &c.” met with the same fate, and
+brought the British officer “to change my superscription.” A little
+after this brief war of forms, a letter from Washington to his wife was
+intercepted with others by the enemy, and General Howe enclosed it,
+“happy to return it without the least attempt being made to discover
+any part of the contents.” This courtesy the American commander
+presently was able to reciprocate by sending “General Washington’s
+compliments to General Howe,—does himself the pleasure to return to him
+a dog, which accidentally fell into his hands, and, by the inscription
+on the collar, appears to belong to General Howe.” Even politeness had
+its objections, however, at moments, and Washington once had to write
+Sir William,—
+
+“There is one passage of your letter, which I cannot forbear taking
+particular notice of. No expression of personal politeness to me can be
+acceptable, accompanied by reflections on the representatives of a free
+people, under whose authority I have the honor to act. The delicacy I
+have observed, in refraining from everything offensive in this way,
+entitles me to expect a similar treatment from you. I have not indulged
+myself in invective against the present rulers of Great Britain, in the
+course of our correspondence, nor will I even now avail myself of so
+fruitful a theme.”
+
+Apparently when Sir Henry Clinton succeeded to the command of the
+British army the same old device to insult the General was again tried,
+for Dumas states that Washington “received a despatch from Sir Henry
+Clinton, addressed to ‘Mr. Washington.’ Taking it from the hands of the
+flag of truce, and seeing the direction, ‘This letter,’ said he, ‘is
+directed to a planter of the state of Virginia. I shall have it
+delivered to him after the end of the war; till that time it shall not
+be opened.’ A second despatch was addressed to his Excellency General
+Washington.” A better lesson in courtesy was contained in a letter from
+Washington to him, complaining of “wanton, unprecedented and inhuman
+murder,” which closed with the following: “I beg your Excellency to be
+persuaded, that it cannot be more disagreeable to you to be addressed
+in this language, than it is to me to offer it; but the subject
+requires frankness and decision.”
+
+Quite as firm was one addressed to Cornwallis, which read,—
+
+“It is with infinite regret, I am again compelled to remonstrate
+against that spirit of wanton cruelty, that has in several instances
+influenced the conduct of your soldiery. A recent exercise of it
+towards an unhappy officer of ours, Lieutenant Harris, convinces me,
+that my former representations on this subject have been unavailing.
+That Gentleman by the fortunes of war, on Saturday last was thrown into
+the hands of a party of your horse, and unnecessarily murdered with the
+most aggravated circumstances of barbarity. I wish not to wound your
+Lordship’s feelings, by commenting on this event; but I think it my
+duty to send his mangled body to your lines as an undeniable testimony
+of the fact, should it be doubted, and as the best appeal to your
+humanity for the justice of our complaint.”
+
+A pleasanter intercourse came with the surrender of Yorktown, after
+which not merely were Cornwallis and his officers saved the
+mortification of surrendering their swords, but the chief among them
+were entertained at dinner by Washington. At this meal, so a
+contemporary account states, “Rochhambeau, being asked for a toast,
+gave _‘The United States’_. Washington gave _‘The King of France’_.
+Lord Cornwallis, simply _‘The King’_; but Washington, putting that
+toast, added, _‘of England’_, and facetiously, _‘confine him there,
+I’ll drink him a full bumper’_, filling his glass till it ran over.
+Rochambeau, with great politeness, was still so French, that he would
+every now and then be touching on points that were improper, and a
+breach of real politeness. Washington often checked him, and showed in
+a more saturnine manner, the infinite esteem he had for his gallant
+prisoner, whose private qualities the Americans admired even in a foe,
+that had so often filled them with the most cruel alarms.” Many years
+later, when Cornwallis was governor-general of India, he sent a verbal
+message to his old foe, wishing “General Washington a long enjoyment of
+tranquility and happiness,” adding that for himself he “continued in
+troubled waters.”
+
+
+[Illustration: MRS WASHINGTON]
+
+
+Turning from these public rather than personal foes, a very different
+type of enemies is encountered in those inimical to Washington in his
+own army. Chief of these was Horatio Gates, with whom Washington had
+become acquainted in the Braddock campaign, and with whom there was
+friendly intercourse from that time until the Revolution. In 1775, at
+Washington’s express solicitation, Gates was appointed adjutant- and
+brigadier-general, and in a letter thanking Washington for the favor he
+professed to have “the greatest respect for your character and the
+sincerest attachment to your person.” Nevertheless, he very early in
+the war suggested that a committee of Congress be sent to camp to keep
+watch on Washington, and as soon as he was in a separate command he
+began to curry favor with Congress and scheme against his commander.
+This was not unknown to Washington, who afterwards wrote, “I discovered
+very early in the war symptoms of coldness & constraint in General
+Gates’ behavior to me. These increased as he rose into greater
+consequence.”
+
+When Burgoyne capitulated to Gates, he sent the news to Congress and
+not to Washington, and though he had no further need for troops the
+commander-in-chief had sent him, he endeavored to prevent their return
+at a moment when every man was needed in the main army. His attitude
+towards Washington was so notorious that his friends curried favor with
+him by letters criticising the commander, and when, by chance, the
+General learned of the contents of one of these letters, and news to
+that effect reached the ears of Gates, he practically charged
+Washington with having obtained his knowledge by dishonorable means;
+but Washington more than repaid the insult, in telling Gates how he had
+learned of the affair, by adding that he had “considered the
+information as coming from yourself, and given with a friendly view to
+forewarn and consequently forearm me, against a secret enemy … but in
+this, as in other matters of late, I have found myself mistaken.”
+Driven to the wall, Gates wrote to Washington a denial that the letter
+contained the passage in question, which was an absolute lie, and this
+untruth typifies his character. Without expressing either belief or
+disbelief in this denial, Washington replied,—
+
+“I am as averse to controversy as any man, and had I not been forced
+into it, you never would have had occasion to impute to me, even the
+shadow of disposition towards it. Your repeatedly and solemnly
+disclaiming any offensive views in those matters, which have been the
+subject of our past correspondence makes me willing to close with the
+desire, you express, of burying them hereafter in silence, and, as far
+as future events will permit, oblivion. My temper leads me to peace and
+harmony with all men; and it is peculiarly my wish to avoid any
+personal feuds or dissentions with those who are embarked in the same
+great national interest with, myself; as every difference of this kind
+must in its consequence be very injurious.”
+
+After this affair subsided, Washington said,—
+
+“I made a point of treating Gen. Gates with all the attention and
+cordiality in my power, as well from a sincere desire of harmony, as
+from an unwillingness to give any cause of triumph among ourselves. I
+can appeal to the world, and to the whole army, whether I have not
+cautiously avoided offending Gen. Gates in any way. I am sorry his
+conduct to me has not been equally generous, and that he is continually
+giving me fresh proofs of malevolence and opposition. It will not be
+doing him injustice to say, that, besides the little underhand
+intrigues which he is frequently practising, there has hardly been any
+great military question, in which his advice has been asked, that it
+has not been given in an equivocal and designing manner, apparently
+calculated to afford him an opportunity of censuring me, on the failure
+of whatever measures might be adopted.”
+
+After the defeat of Gates at Camden, the Prince de Broglie wrote that
+“I saw General Gates at the house of General Washington, with whom he
+had had a misunderstanding…. This interview excited the curiosity of
+both armies. It passed with a most perfect propriety on the part of
+both gentlemen. Mr. Washington treated Mr. Gates with a politeness
+which had a frank and easy air, while the other responded with that
+shade of respect which was proper towards his general.” And how
+fair-minded Washington was is shown by his refusal to interfere in an
+army matter, because, “considering the delicate situation in which I
+stand with respect to General Gates, I feel an unwillingness to give
+any opinion (even in a confidential way) in a matter in which he is
+concerned, lest my sentiments (being known) should have unfavorable
+interpretations ascribed to them by illiberal Minds.” Yet the
+friendship was never restored, and when the two after the war were
+associated in the Potomac company, Washington’s sense of the old
+treachery was still so keen that he alluded to the appointment of “my
+bosom friend Genl G-tes, who being at Richmond, contrived to edge
+himself in to the commission.”
+
+Thomas Conway was Washington’s traducer to Gates. He was an
+Irish-French soldier of fortune who unfortunately had been made a
+brigadier-general in the Continental army. Having made friends of the
+New England delegates in Congress, it was then proposed by them to
+advance him to the rank of major-general, which Washington opposed, on
+the grounds that “his merit and importance exist more in his
+imagination than in reality.” For the moment this was sufficient to
+prevent Conway’s promotion, and even if he had not before been opposed
+to his commander, he now became his bitter enemy. To more than Gates he
+said or wrote, “A great & good God has decreed that America shall be
+free, or Washington and weak counsellors would have ruined her long
+ago.” Upon word of this reaching Washington, so Laurens tells, “The
+genl immediately copied the contents of the paper, introducing them
+with ‘sir,’ and concluding with, ‘I am your humble servt,’ and sent
+this copy in the form of a letter to Genl Conway. This drew an answer,
+in which he first attempts to deny the fact, and then in a most
+shameless manner, to explain away the matter. The perplexity of his
+style, and evident insincerity of his compliments, betray his weak
+sentiments, and expose his guilt.”
+
+Yet, though detected, Conway complained to the Continental Congress
+that Washington was not treating him properly, and in reply to an
+inquiry from a member the General acknowledged that,—
+
+“If General Conway means by cool receptions mentioned in the last
+paragraph of his letter of the 31st ultimo, that I did not receive him
+in the language of a warm and cordial friend, I readily confess the
+charge. I did not, nor shall I ever, till I am capable of the arts of
+dissimulation. These I despise, and my feelings will not permit me to
+make professions of friendship to the man I deem my enemy, and whose
+system of conduct forbids it. At the same time, truth authorizes me to
+say, that he was received and treated with proper respect to his
+official character, and that he has had no cause to justify the
+assertion, that he could not expect any support for fulfilling the
+duties of his appointment.”
+
+In spite of Washington’s opposition, Conway’s friends were numerous
+enough in the Congress finally to elect him major-general, at the same
+time appointing him inspector-general. Elated with this evident
+partiality of the majority of that body for him, he went even further,
+and Laurens states that he was guilty of a “base insult” to Washington,
+which “affects the General very sensibly,” and he continues,—
+
+“It is such an affront as Conway would never have dared to offer, if
+the General’s situation had not assured him of the impossibility of its
+being revenged in a private way. The Genl, therefore, has determined to
+return him no answer at all, but to lay the whole matter before
+Congress; they will determine whether Genl W. is to be sacrificed to
+Genl. C., for the former can never consent to be concern’d in any
+transaction with the latter, from whom he has received such
+unpardonable insults.”
+
+Fortunately, Conway did not limit his “insulting letters” to the
+commander-in-chief alone, and presently he sent one to Congress
+threatening to resign, which so angered that body that they took him at
+his word. Moreover, his open abuse of Washington led an old-time friend
+of the latter to challenge him, and to lodge a ball, with almost poetic
+justice, in Conway’s mouth. Thinking himself on the point of death, he
+wrote a farewell line to Washington “expressing my sincere grief for
+having done, written or said anything disagreeable to your Excellency….
+You are in my eyes a great and good man.” And with this recantation he
+disappeared from the army. A third officer in this “cabal” was Thomas
+Mifflin. He was the first man appointed on Washington’s staff at the
+beginning of the war, but did not long remain in that position, being
+promoted by Washington to be quartermaster-general. In this position
+the rumor reached the General that Mifflin was “concerned in trade,”
+and Washington took “occasion to hint” the suspicion to him, only to
+get a denial from the officer. Whether this inquiry was a cause for
+ill-feeling or not, Mifflin was one of the most outspoken against the
+commander-in-chief as his opponents gathered force, and Washington
+informed Henry that he “bore the second part in the cabal.” Mifflin
+resigned from the army and took a position on the board of war, but
+when the influence of that body broke down with the collapse of the
+Cabal, he applied for a reappointment,—a course described by Washington
+in plain English as follows:
+
+“I was not a little surprised to find a certain gentleman, who, some
+time ago (when a cloud of darkness hung heavy over us, and our affairs
+looked gloomy,) was desirous of resigning, now stepping forward in the
+line of the army. But if he can reconcile such conduct to his own,
+feelings, as an officer and a man of honor, and Congress hath no
+objections to his leaving his seat in another department, I have
+nothing personally to oppose it. Yet I must think, that gentleman’s
+stepping in and out, as the sun happens to beam forth or obscure, is
+not _quite_ the thing, nor _quite_ just, with respect to those
+officers, who take ye bitter with the sweet.”
+
+Not long after Greene wrote that “I learn that General Mifflin has
+publicly declared that he looked upon his Excellency as the best friend
+he ever had in his life, so that is a plain sign that the Junto has
+given up all ideas of supplanting our excellent general from a
+confidence of the impracticability of such an attempt.”
+
+A very minor but most malignant enemy was Dr. Benjamin Rush. In 1774
+Washington dined with him in Philadelphia, which implied friendship.
+Very early in the war, however, an attempt was made to remove the
+director-general of hospitals, in which, so John Armstrong claimed,
+“Morgan was the ostensible—Rush the real prosecutor of Shippen—the
+former acting from revenge,… the latter from a desire to obtain the
+directorship. In approving the sentence of the court, Washington
+stigmatized the prosecution as one originating in bad motives, which
+made Rush his enemy and defamer as long as he lived.” Certain it is he
+wrote savage letters of criticism about his commander-in-chief of which
+the following extract is a sample:
+
+“I have heard several officers who have served under General Gates
+compare his army to a well regulated family. The same gentlemen have
+compared Gen’l Washington’s imitation of an army to an unformed mob.
+Look at the characters of both! The one on the pinnacle of military
+glory—exulting in the success of schemes planned with wisdom, &
+executed with vigor and bravery—and above all see a country saved by
+his exertions. See the other outgeneral’d and twice heated—obliged to
+witness the march of a body of men only half their number thro’ 140
+Miles of a thick settled country— forced to give up a city the capitol
+of a state & after all outwitted by the same army in a retreat.”
+
+Had Rush written only this, there would be no grounds for questioning
+his methods; but, not content with spreading his opinions among his
+friends, he took to anonymous letter-writing, and sent an unsigned
+letter abusing Washington to the governor of Virginia (and probably to
+others), with the request that the letter should be burned. Instead of
+this, Henry sent it to Washington, who recognized at once the
+handwriting, and wrote to Henry that Rush “has been elaborate and
+studied in his professions of regard to me, and long since the letter
+to you.” An amusing sequel to this incident is to be found in Rush
+moving heaven and earth on the publication of Marshall’s “Life of
+Washington” to prevent his name from appearing as one of the
+commander-in-chief’s enemies.
+
+After the collapse of the attempt Washington wrote to a friend, “I
+thank you sincerely for the part you acted at York respecting C—-y, and
+believe with you that matters have and will turn out very different to
+what that party expected. G—-s has involved himself in his letters to
+me in the most absurd contradictions. M—- has brought himself into a
+scrape that he does not know how to get out of with a gentleman of this
+State, and C—-, as you know is sent upon an expedition which all the
+world knew, and the event has proved, was not practicable. In a word, I
+have a good deal of reason to believe that the machination of this
+junta will recoil upon their own heads, and be a means of bringing some
+matters to light which, by getting me out of the way, some of them
+thought to conceal.”
+
+Undoubtedly the most serious army antagonist was General Charles Lee,
+and, but for what seem almost fatalistic chances, he would have been a
+dangerous rival. He was second in command very early in the war, and at
+this time he asserted that “no man loves, respects and reverences
+another more than I do General Washington. I esteem his virtues,
+private and public. I know him to be a man of sense, courage and
+firmness.” But four months later he was lamenting Washington’s “fatal
+indecision,” and by inference was calling him “a blunderer.” In another
+month he wrote, “_entre nous_ a certain great man is most damnably
+deficient.” At this point, fortunately, Lee was captured by the
+British, so that his influence for the time being was destroyed. While
+a prisoner he drew up a plan for the English general, showing how
+America could be conquered.
+
+When he had been exchanged, and led the American advance at the battle
+of Monmouth, he seems to have endeavored to aid the British in another
+way, for after barely engaging, he ordered a retreat, which quickly
+developed into a rout, and would have ended in a serious defeat had
+not, as Laurens wrote, “fortunately for the honor of the army, and the
+welfare of America, Genl Washington met the troops retreating in
+disorder, and without any plan to make an opposition. He ordered some
+pieces of artillery to be brought up to defend the pass, and some
+troops to form and defend the pieces. The artillery was too distant to
+be brought up readily, so that there was but little opposition given
+here. A few shot though, and a little skirmishing in the wood checked
+the enemy’s career. The Genl expressed his astonishment at this
+unaccountable retreat Mr. Lee indecently replied that the attack was
+contrary to his advice and opinion in council.”
+
+In a fit of temper Lee wrote Washington two imprudent letters,
+expressed “in terms [so] highly improper” that he was ordered under
+arrest and tried by a court-martial, which promptly found him guilty of
+disobedience and disrespect, as well as of making a “disorderly and
+unnecessary retreat.” To this Lee retorted, “I aver that his
+Excellencies letter was from beginning to the end a most abominable
+lie—I aver that my conduct will stand the strictest scrutiny of every
+military judge—I aver that my Court Martial was a Court of
+Inquisition—that there was not a single member with a military idea—at
+least if I may pronounce from the different questions they put to the
+evidences.”
+
+In this connection it is of interest to note a letter from Washington’s
+friend Mason, which said, “You express a fear that General Lee will
+challenge our friend. Indulge in no such apprehensions, for he too well
+knows the sentiments of General Washington on the subject of duelling.
+From his earliest manhood I have heard him express his contempt of the
+man who sends and the man who accepts a challenge, for he regards such
+acts as no proof of moral courage; and the practice he abhors as a
+relic of old barbarisms, repugnant alike to sound morality and
+Christian enlightenment.”
+
+A little later, still smarting from this court-martial, Lee wrote to a
+newspaper a savage attack on his late commander, apparently in the
+belief, as he said in a private letter, that “there is … a visible
+revolution … in the minds of men, I mean that our Great Gargantua, or
+Lama Babak (for I know not which Title is the properest) begins to be
+no longer consider’d as an infallible Divinity—and that those who have
+been sacrificed or near sacrific’d on his altar, begin to be esteem’d
+as wantonly and foolishly offer’d up.” Lee very quickly found his
+mistake, for the editor of the paper which contained his attack was
+compelled by a committee of citizens to publish an acknowledgment that
+in printing it “I have transgressed against truth, justice and my duty
+as a good citizen,” and, as Washington wrote to a friend, “the author
+of the Queries, ‘Political and Military,’ has had no cause to exult in
+the favorable reception of them by the public.” With Lee’s
+disappearance the last army rival dropped from the ranks, and from that
+time there was no question as to who should command the armies of
+America. Long after, a would-be editor of Lee’s papers wrote to
+Washington to ask if he had any wishes in regard to the publication,
+and was told in the reply that,—
+
+“I never had a difference with that gentleman, but on public ground,
+and my conduct towards him upon this occasion was such only, as I
+conceived myself indispensably bound to adopt in discharge of the
+public trust reposed in me. If this produced in him unfavorable
+sentiments of me, I yet can never consider the conduct I pursued, with
+respect to him, either wrong or improper, however I may regret that it
+may have been differently viewed by him and that it excited his censure
+and animadversions. Should there appear in General Lee’s writings any
+thing injurious or unfriendly to me, the impartial and dispassionate
+world must decide how far I deserved it from the general tenor of my
+conduct.”
+
+These attempts to undermine Washington owed their real vitality to the
+Continental Congress, and it is safe to say that but for Washington’s
+political enemies no army rival would have ventured to push forward. In
+what the opposition in that body consisted, and to what length it went,
+are discussed elsewhere, but a glance at the reasons of hostility to
+him is proper here.
+
+John Adams declared himself “sick of the Fabian systems,” and in
+writing of the thanksgiving for the Saratoga Convention, he said that
+“one cause of it ought to be that the glory of turning the tide of arms
+is not immediately due to the commander-in-chief…. If it had, idolatry
+and adulation would have been unbounded.” James Lovell asserted that
+“Our affairs are Fabiused into a very disagreeable posture,” and wrote
+that “depend upon it for every ten soldiers placed under the command of
+our Fabius, five recruits will be wanted annually during the war.”
+William Williams agreed with Jonathan Trumbull that the time had come
+when “a much exalted character should make way for a _general_” and
+suggested if this was not done “voluntarily,” those to whom the public
+looked should “see to it.” Abraham Clark thought “we may talk of the
+Enemy’s Cruelty as we will, but we have no greater Cruelty to complain
+of than the Management of our Army.” Jonathan D. Sargent asserted that
+“we want a general—thousands of Lives & Millions of Property are yearly
+sacrificed to the Insufficiency of our Commander-in-Chief—Two Battles
+he has lost for us by two such Blunders as might have disgraced a
+Soldier of three months standing, and yet we are so attached to this
+Man that I fear we shall rather sink with him than throw him off our
+Shoulders. And sink we must under his Management. Such Feebleness, &
+Want of Authority, such Confusion & Want of Discipline, such Waste,
+such destruction would exhaust the Wealth of both the Indies &
+annihilate the armies of all Europe and Asia.” Richard Henry Lee agreed
+with Mifflin that Gates was needed to “procure the indispensable
+changes in our Army.” Other Congressmen who were inimical to
+Washington, either by openly expressed opinion or by vote, were
+Elbridge Gerry, Samuel Adams, William Ellery, Eliphalet Dyer, Roger
+Sherman, Samuel Chase, and F.L. Lee. Later, when Washington’s position
+was more secure, Gerry and R.H. Lee wrote to him affirming their
+friendship, and to both the General replied without a suggestion of
+ill-feeling, nor does he seem, in later life, to have felt a trace of
+personal animosity towards any one of the men who had been in
+opposition to him in Congress. Of this enmity in the army and Congress
+Washington wrote,—
+
+“It is easy to bear the first, and even the devices of private enemies
+whose ill will only arises from their common hatred to the cause we are
+engaged in, are to me tolerable; yet, I confess, I cannot help feeling
+the most painful sensations, whenever I have reason to believe I am the
+object of persecution to men, who are embarked in the same general
+interest, and whose friendship my heart does not reproach me with, ever
+having done any thing to forfeit. But with many, it is a sufficient
+cause to hate and wish the ruin of a man, because he has been happy
+enough, to be the object of _his country’s_ favor.”
+
+The political course of Washington while President produced the
+alienation of the two Virginians whom he most closely associated with
+himself in the early part of his administration. With Madison the break
+does not seem to have come from any positive ill-feeling, but was
+rather an abandonment of intercourse as the differences of opinion
+became more pronounced. The disagreement with Jefferson was more acute,
+though probably never forced to an open rupture. To his political
+friends Jefferson in 1796 wrote that the measures pursued by the
+administration were carried out “under the sanction of a name which has
+done too much good not to be sufficient to cover harm also,” and that
+he hoped the President’s “honesty and his political errors may not
+furnish a second occasion to exclaim, ‘curse on his virtues, they’ve
+undone his country.’” Henry Lee warned Washington of the undercurrent
+of criticism, and when Jefferson heard indirectly of this he wrote his
+former chief that “I learn that [Lee] has thought it worth his while to
+try to sow tares between you and me, by representing me as still
+engaged in the bustle of politics & in turbulence & intrigue against
+the government. I never believed for a moment that this could make any
+impression on you, or that your knowledge of me would not overweigh the
+slander of an intriguer dirtily employed in sifting the conversations
+of my table.” To this Washington replied,—
+
+“As you have mentioned the subject yourself, it would not be frank,
+candid or friendly to conceal, that your conduct has been represented
+as derogating from that opinion _I_ had conceived you entertained of
+me; that, to your particular friends and connexions you have described,
+and they have denounced me as a person under a dangerous influence; and
+that, if I would listen more to some _other_ opinions, all would be
+well. My answer invariably has been, that I had never discovered any
+thing in the conduct of Mr. Jefferson to raise suspicions in my mind of
+his insincerity; that, if he would retrace my public conduct while he
+was in the administration, abundant proofs would occur to him, that
+truth and right decisions were the _sole_ objects of my pursuit; that
+there was as many instances within his own knowledge of my having
+decided _against_ as in _favor_ of the opinions of the person evidently
+alluded to; and, I was no believer in the infallibility of the politics
+or measures of _any man living_. In short that I was no party man
+myself and the first wish of my heart was, if parties did exist, to
+reconcile them.”
+
+As proof upon proof of Jefferson’s secret enmity accumulated,
+Washington ceased to trust his disclaimers, and finally wrote to one of
+his informants, “Nothing short of the evidence you have adduced,
+corroborative of intimations which I had received long before through
+another channel, could have shaken my belief in the sincerity of a
+friendship, which I had conceived as possessed for me by the person to
+whom you allude. But attempts to injure those, who are supposed to
+stand well in the estimation of the people, and are stumbling blocks in
+the way, by misrepresenting their political tenets, thereby to destroy
+all confidence in them, are among the means by which the government is
+to be assailed, and the constitution destroyed.”
+
+Once convinced, all relations with Jefferson were terminated. It is
+interesting in this connection to note something repeated by Madison,
+to the effect that “General Lafayette related to me the following
+anecdote, which I shall repeat as nearly as I can in his own words.
+‘When I last saw Mr. Jefferson,’ he observed, ‘we conversed a good deal
+about General Washington, and Mr. Jefferson expressed high admiration
+of his character. He remarked particularly that he and Hamilton often
+disagreed when they were members of the Cabinet, and that General
+Washington would sometimes favor the opinion of one and sometimes the
+other, with an apparent strict impartiality. And Mr. Jefferson added
+that, so sound was Washington’s judgment, that he was commonly
+convinced afterwards of the accuracy of his decision, whether it
+accorded with the opinion he had himself first advanced or not.’”
+
+
+[Illustration: EARLIEST SIGNATURE OF WASHINGTON]
+
+
+A third Virginian who was almost as closely associated was Edmund
+Randolph. There had been a friendship with his father, until he turned
+Tory and went to England, when, according to Washington’s belief, he
+wrote the “forged letters” which gave Washington so much trouble. For
+the sake of the old friendship, however, he gave the son a position on
+his staff, and from that time was his friend and correspondent. In the
+first administration he was made Attorney-General, and when Jefferson
+retired from office he became Secretary of State. In this position he
+was charged with political dishonesty. Washington gave him a chance to
+explain, but instead he resigned from office and published what he
+called “a vindication,” in which he charged the President with
+“prejudging,” “concealment,” and “want of generosity.” Continuing, he
+said, “never … could I have believed that in addressing you … I should
+use any other language than that of a friend. From my early period of
+life, I was taught to esteem you—as I advanced in years, I was
+habituated to revere you:—you strengthened my prepossessions by marks
+of attention.” And in another place he acknowledged the weakness of his
+attack by saying, “still however, those very objections, the very
+reputation which you have acquired, will cause it to be asked, why you
+should be suspected of acting towards me, in any other manner, than
+deliberately, justly and even kindly?”
+
+In the preparation of this pamphlet Randolph wrote the President a
+letter which the latter asserted was “full of innuendoes,” and one
+statement in the pamphlet he denounced as being “as impudent and
+insolent an assertion as it is false.” And his irritation at this
+treatment from one he had always befriended gave rise to an incident,
+narrated by James Ross, at a breakfast at the President’s, when “after
+a little while the Secretary of War came in, and said to Washington,
+‘Have you seen Mr. Randolph’s pamphlet?’ ‘I have,’ said Washington,
+‘and, by the eternal God, he is the damnedest liar on the face of the
+earth!’ and as he spoke he brought his fist down upon the table with
+all his strength, and with a violence which made the cups and plates
+start from their places.” Fortunately, the attack was ineffective;
+indeed, Hamilton wrote that “I consider it as amounting to a confession
+of guilt; and I am persuaded this will be the universal opinion. His
+attempts against you are viewed by all whom I have seen, as base. They
+will certainly fail of their aim, and will do good rather than harm, to
+the public cause and to yourself. It appears to me that, by you, no
+notice can be, or ought to be, taken of the publication. It contains
+its own antidote.”
+
+Not content with this double giving up of what to any man of honor was
+confidential, Randolph, a little later, rested under Washington’s
+suspicions of a third time breaking the seal of official secrecy by
+sending a Cabinet paper to the newspapers for no other purpose than to
+stir up feeling against Washington. But after his former patron’s death
+regret came, and Randolph wrote to Bushrod Washington, “If I could now
+present myself before your venerated uncle it would be my pride to
+confess my contrition that I suffered my irritation, be the cause what
+it might, to use some of those expressions respecting him which, at
+this moment … I wish to recall as being inconsistent with my subsequent
+convictions.”
+
+Another type of enemy, more or less the result of this differing with
+Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Randolph, was sundry editors and
+writers who gathered under their patronage and received aids of money
+or of secret information. One who prospered for a time by abusing
+Washington was Philip Freneau. He was a college friend of Madison’s,
+and was induced to undertake the task by his and Jefferson’s urging,
+though the latter denied this later. As aid to the undertaking,
+Jefferson, then Secretary of State, gave Freneau an office, and thus
+produced the curious condition of a clerk in the government writing and
+printing savage attacks on the President. Washington was much irritated
+at the abuse, and Jefferson in his “Anas” said that he “was evidently
+sore & warm and I took his intention to be that I should interpose in
+some way with Freneau, perhaps withdraw his appointment of translating
+clerk to my office. But I will not do it.” According to the French
+minister, some of the worst of these articles were written by Jefferson
+himself, and Freneau is reported to have said, late in life, that many
+of them were written by the Secretary of State.
+
+Far more indecent was the paper conducted by Benjamin Franklin Bache,
+who, early in the Presidency, applied for a place in the government,
+which for some reason not now known was refused. According to Cobbett,
+who hated him, “this … scoundrel … spent several years in hunting
+offices under the Federal Government, and being constantly rejected, he
+at last became its most bitter foe. Hence his abuse of General
+Washington, whom at the time he was soliciting a place he panegyrized
+up to the third heaven.” Certain it is that under his editorship the
+_General Advertiser_ and _Aurora_ took the lead in all criticisms of
+Washington, and not content with these opportunities for daily and
+weekly abuse, Bache (though the fact that they were forgeries was
+notorious) reprinted the “spurious letters which issued from a certain
+press in New York during the war, with a view to destroy the confidence
+which the army and community might have had in my political
+principles,—and which have lately been republished with greater avidity
+and perseverance than ever, by Mr. Bache to answer the same nefarious
+purpose with the latter,” and Washington added that “immense pains has
+been taken by this said Mr. Bache, who is no more than the agent or
+tool of those who are endeavoring to destroy the confidence of the
+people, in the officers of Government (chosen by themselves) to
+disseminate these counterfeit letters.” In addition Bache wrote a
+pamphlet, with the avowal that “the design of these remarks is to prove
+the want of claim in Mr. Washington either to the gratitude or
+confidence of his country…. Our chief object … is to _destroy undue
+impressions in favor of Mr. Washington_.” Accordingly it charged that
+Washington was “treacherous,” “mischievous,” “inefficient;” dwelt upon
+his “farce of disinterestedness,” his “stately journeyings through the
+American continent in search of personal incense,” his “ostentatious
+professions of piety,” his “pusillanimous neglect,” his “little
+passions,” his “ingratitude,” his “want of merit,” his
+“insignificance,” and his “spurious fame.”
+
+The successor of Bache as editor of these two journals, William Duane,
+came to the office with an equal hatred of Washington, having already
+written a savage pamphlet against him. In this the President was
+charged with “treacherous mazes of passion,” and with having
+“discharged the loathings of a sick mind.” Furthermore it asserted
+“that had you obtained promotion … after Braddock’s defeat, your sword
+would have been drawn against your country,” that Washington “retained
+the barbarous usages of the feudal system and kept men in Livery,” and
+that “posterity will in vain search for the monuments of wisdom in your
+administration;” the purpose of the pamphlet, by the author’s own
+statement, being “to expose the _Personal Idolatry_ into which we have
+been heedlessly running,” and to show the people the “fallibility of
+the most favored of men.”
+
+A fourth in this quartet of editors was the notorious James Thomson
+Callender, whose publications were numerous, as were also his
+impeachments against Washington. By his own account, this writer
+maintained, “Mr. Washington has been twice a traitor,” has “authorized
+the robbery and ruin of the remnants of his own army,” has “broke the
+constitution,” and Callender fumes over “the vileness of the adulation
+which has been paid” to him, claiming that “the extravagant popularity
+possessed by this citizen reflects the utmost ridicule on the
+discernment of America.”
+
+The bitterest attack, however, was penned by Thomas Paine. For many
+years there was good feeling between the two, and in 1782, when Paine
+was in financial distress, Washington used his influence to secure him
+a position “out of friendship for me,” as Paine acknowledged.
+Furthermore, Washington tried to get the Virginia Legislature to
+pension Paine or give him a grant of land, an endeavor for which the
+latter was “exceedingly obliged.” When Paine published his “Rights of
+Man” he dedicated it to Washington, with an inscription dwelling on his
+“exemplary virtue” and his “benevolence;” while in the body of the work
+he asserted that no monarch of Europe had a character to compare with
+Washington’s, which was such as to “put all those men called kings to
+shame.” Shortly after this, however, Washington refused to appoint him
+Postmaster-General; and still later, when Paine had involved himself
+with the French, the President, after consideration, decided that
+governmental interference was not proper. Enraged by these two acts,
+Paine published a pamphlet in which he charged Washington with
+“encouraging and swallowing the greatest adulation,” with being “the
+patron of fraud,” with a “mean and servile submission to the insults of
+one nation, treachery and ingratitude to another,” with “falsehood,”
+“ingratitude,” and “pusillanimity;” and finally, after alleging that
+the General had not “served America with more disinterestedness or
+greater zeal, than myself, and I know not if with better effect,” Paine
+closed his attack by the assertion, “and as to you, sir, _treacherous
+in private friendship_, and a _hypocrite_ in public life, the world
+will be puzzled to decide, whether you are an _apostate_ or an
+_impostor_; whether you have _abandoned good principles_, or whether
+_you ever had any?_”
+
+Washington never, in any situation, took public notice of these
+attacks, and he wrote of a possible one, “I am gliding down the stream
+of life, and wish, as is natural, that my remaining days may be
+undisturbed and tranquil; and, conscious of my integrity, I would
+willingly hope, that nothing would occur tending to give me anxiety;
+but should anything present itself in this or any other publication, I
+shall never undertake the painful task of recrimination, nor do I know
+that I should even enter upon my justification.” To a friend he said,
+“my temper leads me to peace and harmony with all men; and it is
+peculiarly my wish to avoid any feuds or dissentions with those who are
+embarked in the same great national interest with myself; as every
+difference of this kind must in its consequence be very injurious.”
+
+
+
+
+XI
+SOLDIER
+
+
+“My inclinations,” wrote Washington at twenty-three, “are strongly bent
+to arms,” and the tendency was a natural one, coming not merely from
+his Indian-fighting great-grandfather, but from his elder brother
+Lawrence, who had held a king’s commission in the Carthagena
+expedition, and was one of the few officers who gained repute in that
+ill-fated attempt. At Mount Vernon George must have heard much of
+fighting as a lad, and when the ill health of Lawrence compelled
+resignation of command of the district militia, the younger brother
+succeeded to the adjutancy. This quickly led to the command of the
+first Virginia regiment when the French and Indian War was brewing.
+Twice Washington resigned in disgust during the course of the war, but
+each time his natural bent, or “glowing zeal,” as he phrased it, drew
+him back into the service. The moment the news of Lexington reached
+Virginia he took the lead in organizing an armed force, and in the
+Virginia Convention of 1775, according to Lynch, he “made the most
+eloquent speech … that ever was made. Says he, ‘I will raise one
+thousand men, enlist them at my own expense, and march myself at their
+head for the relief of Boston.’” At fifty-three, in speaking of war,
+Washington said, “my first wish is to see this plague to mankind
+banished from off the earth;” but during his whole life, when there was
+fighting to be done, he was among those who volunteered for the
+service.
+
+The personal courage of the man was very great. Jefferson, indeed, said
+“he was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calmest
+unconcern.” Before he had ever been in action, he noted of a certain
+position that it was “a charming field for an encounter,” and his first
+engagement he described as follows: “I fortunately escaped without any
+wound, for the right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and received
+all the enemy’s fire, and it was the part where the man was killed, and
+the rest wounded. I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there
+is something charming in the sound.” In his second battle, though he
+knew that he was “to be attacked and by unequal numbers,” he promised
+beforehand to “withstand” them “if there are five to one,” adding, “I
+doubt not, but if you hear I am beaten, but you will, at the same
+[time,] hear that we have done our duty, in fighting as long [as] there
+was a possibility of hope,” and in this he was as good as his word.
+When sickness detained him in the Braddock march, he halted only on
+condition that he should receive timely notice of when the fighting was
+to begin, and in that engagement he exposed himself so that “I had four
+bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped
+unhurt, altho’ death was levelling my companions on every side of me!”
+Not content with such an experience, in the second march on Fort
+Duquesne he “prayed” the interest of a friend to have his regiment part
+of the “light troops” that were to push forward in advance of the main
+army.
+
+The same carelessness of personal danger was shown all through the
+Revolution. At the battle of Brooklyn, on New York Island, at Trenton,
+Germantown, and Monmouth, he exposed himself to the enemy’s fire, and
+at the siege of Yorktown an eyewitness relates that “during the
+assault, the British kept up an incessant firing of cannon and musketry
+from their whole line. His Excellency General Washington, Generals
+Lincoln and Knox with their aids, having dismounted, were standing in
+an exposed situation waiting the result. Colonel Cobb, one of General
+Washington’s aids, solicitous for his safety, said to his Excellency,
+‘Sir, you are too much exposed here, had you not better step back a
+little?’ ‘Colonel Cobb,’ replied his Excellency, ‘if you are afraid,
+you have liberty to step back.’” It is no cause for wonder that an
+officer wrote, “our army love their General very much, but they have
+one thing against him, which is the little care he takes of himself in
+any action. His personal bravery, and the desire he has of animating
+his troops by example, make him fearless of danger. This occasions us
+much uneasiness.”
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON’S TRANSCRIPT OF THE RULES OF CIVILITY,
+CIRCA 1744]
+
+
+This fearlessness was equally shown by his hatred and, indeed,
+non-comprehension of cowardice. In his first battle, upon the French
+surrendering, he wrote to the governor, “if the whole Detach’t of the
+French behave with no more Resolution than this chosen Party did, I
+flatter myself we shall have no g’t trouble in driving them to the
+d—-.” At Braddock’s defeat, though the regiment he had commanded
+“behaved like men and died like soldiers,” he could hardly find words
+to express his contempt for the conduct of the British “cowardly
+regulars,” writing of their “dastardly behavior” when they “broke and
+ran as sheep before hounds,” and raging over being “most scandalously”
+and “shamefully beaten.” When the British first landed on New York
+Island, and two New England brigades ran away from “a small party of
+the enemy,” numbering about fifty, without firing a shot, he completely
+lost his self-control at their “dastardly behavior,” and riding in
+among them, it is related, he laid his cane over the officers’ backs,
+“damned them for cowardly rascals,” and, drawing his sword, struck the
+soldiers right and left with the flat of it, while snapping his pistols
+at them. Greene states that the fugitives “left his Excellency on the
+ground within eighty yards of the enemy, so vexed at the infamous
+conduct of the troops, that he sought death rather than life,” and
+Gordon adds that the General was only saved from his “hazardous
+position” by his aides, who “caught the bridle of his horse and gave
+him a different direction.” At Monmouth an aide stated that when he met
+a man running away he was “exasperated … and threatened the man … he
+would have him whipped,” and General Scott says that on finding Lee
+retreating, “he swore like an angel from heaven.” Wherever in his
+letters he alludes to cowardice it is nearly always coupled with the
+adjectives “infamous,” “scandalous,” or others equally indicative of
+loss of temper.
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington had a high temper. Hamilton’s
+allusion to his not being remarkable for “good temper” has already been
+quoted, as has also Stuart’s remark that “all his features were
+indicative of the strongest and most ungovernable passions, and had he
+been born in the forests, he would have been the fiercest man among the
+savage tribes.” Again Stuart is quoted by his daughter as follows:
+
+“While talking one day with General Lee, my father happened to remark
+that Washington had a tremendous temper, but held it under wonderful
+control. General Lee breakfasted with the President and Mrs. Washington
+a few days afterwards.
+
+“‘I saw your portrait the other day,’ said the General, ‘but Stuart
+says you have a tremendous temper.’
+
+“‘Upon my word,’ said Mrs. Washington, coloring, ‘Mr. Stuart takes a
+great deal upon himself to make such a remark.’
+
+“‘But stay, my dear lady,’ said General Lee, ‘he added that the
+president had it under wonderful control.’
+
+“With something like a smile, General Washington remarked, ‘He is
+right.’”
+
+Lear, too, mentions an outburst of temper when he heard of the defeat
+of St. Clair, and elsewhere records that in reading politics aloud to
+Washington “he appeared much affected, and spoke with some degree of
+asperity on the subject, which I endeavored to moderate, as I always
+did on such occasions.” How he swore at Randolph and at Freneau is
+mentioned elsewhere. Jefferson is evidence that “his temper was
+naturally irritable and high-toned, but reflection and resolution had
+obtained a firm and habitual ascendency over it. If however it broke
+its bonds, he was most tremendous in his wrath.”
+
+Strikingly at variance with these personal qualities of courage and hot
+blood is the “Fabian” policy for which he is so generally credited, and
+a study of his military career goes far to dispel the conception that
+Washington was the cautious commander that he is usually pictured.
+
+In the first campaign, though near a vastly superior French force,
+Washington precipitated the conflict by attacking and capturing an
+advance party, though the delay of a few days would have brought him
+large reinforcements. As a consequence he was very quickly surrounded,
+and after a day’s fighting was compelled to surrender. In what light
+his conduct was viewed at the time is shown in two letters, Dr. William
+Smith writing, “the British cause,… has received a fatal Blow by the
+entire defeat of Washington, whom I cannot but accuse of Foolhardiness
+to have ventured so near a vigilant enemy without being certain of
+their numbers, or waiting for Junction of some hundreds of our best
+Forces, who are within a few Days’ March of him,” and Ann Willing
+echoed this by saying, “the melancholy news has just arrived of the
+loss of sixty men belonging to Col. Washington’s Company, who were
+killed on the spot, and of the Colonel and Half-King being taken
+prisoners, all owing to the obstinacy of Washington, who would not wait
+for the arrival of reinforcements.”
+
+Hardly less venturesome was he in the Braddock campaign, for “the
+General (before they met in council,) asked my opinion concerning the
+expedition. I urged it, in the warmest terms I was able, to push
+forward, if we even did it with a small but chosen band, with such
+artillery and light stores as were absolutely necessary; leaving the
+heavy artillery, baggage, &c. with the rear division of the army, to
+follow by slow and easy marches, which they might do safely, while we
+were advanced in front.” How far the defeat of that force was due to
+the division thus urged it is not possible to say, but it undoubtedly
+made the French bolder and the English more subject to panic.
+
+The same spirit was manifested in the Revolution. During the siege of
+Boston he wrote to Reed, “I proposed [an assault] in council; but
+behold, though we had been waiting all the year for this favorable
+event the enterprise was thought too dangerous. Perhaps it was; perhaps
+the irksomeness of my situation led me to undertake more than could be
+warranted by prudence. I did not think so, and I am sure yet, that the
+enterprise, if it had been undertaken with resolution, must have
+succeeded.” He added that “the enclosed council of war:… being almost
+unanimous, I must suppose it to be right; although, from a thorough
+conviction of the necessity of attempting something against the
+ministerial troops before a reinforcement should arrive, and while we
+were favored with the ice, I was not only ready but willing, and
+desirous of making the assault,” and a little later he said that had he
+but foreseen certain contingencies “all the generals upon earth should
+not have convinced me of the propriety of delaying an attack upon
+Boston.”
+
+In the defence of New York there was no chance to attack, but even when
+our lines at Brooklyn had been broken and the best brigades in the army
+captured, Washington hurried troops across the river, and intended to
+contest the ground, ordering a retreat only when it was voted in the
+affirmative by a council of war. At Harlem plains he was the attacking
+party.
+
+How with a handful of troops he turned the tide of defeat by attacking
+at Trenton and Princeton is too well known to need recital. At
+Germantown, too, though having but a few days before suffered defeat,
+he attacked and well-nigh won a brilliant victory, because the British
+officers did not dream that his vanquished army could possibly take the
+initiative. When the foe settled down into winter quarters in
+Philadelphia Laurens wrote, “our Commander-in-chief wishing ardently to
+gratify the public expectation by making an attack upon the enemy …
+went yesterday to view the works.” On submitting the project to a
+council, however, they stood eleven to four against the attempt.
+
+The most marked instance of Washington’s un-Fabian preferences, and
+proof of the old saying that “councils of war never fight,” is
+furnished in the occurrences connected with the battle of Monmouth.
+When the British began their retreat across New Jersey, according to
+Hamilton “the General unluckily called a council of war, the result of
+which would have done honor to the most honorable society of mid-wives
+and to them only. The purport was, that we should keep at a comfortable
+distance from the enemy, and keep up a vain parade of annoying them by
+detachment … The General, on mature reconsideration of what had been
+resolved on, determined to pursue a different line of conduct at all
+hazards.” Concerning this decision Pickering wrote,—
+
+“His great caution in respect to the enemy, acquired him the name of
+the American Fabius. From this _governing_ policy he is said to have
+departed, when” at Monmouth he “indulged the most anxious desire to
+close with his antagonist in general action. Opposed to his wishes was
+the advice of his general officers. To this he for a time yielded; but
+as soon as he discovered that the enemy had reached Monmouth Court
+House, not more than twelve miles from the heights of Middletown, he
+determined that he should not escape without a blow.”
+
+Pickering considered this a “departure” from Washington’s “usual
+practice and policy,” and cites Wadsworth, who said, in reference to
+the battle of Monmouth, that the General appeared, on that occasion,
+“to act from the impulses of his own mind.”
+
+Thrice during the next three years plans for an attack on the enemy’s
+lines at New York were matured, one of which had to be abandoned
+because the British had timely notice of it by the treachery of an
+American general, a second because the other generals disapproved the
+attempt, and, on the authority of Humphreys, “the accidental
+intervention of some vessels prevented [another] attempt, which was
+more than once resumed afterwards. Notwithstanding this favorite
+project was not ultimately effected, it was evidently not less bold in
+conception or feasible in accomplishment, than that attempted so
+successfully at Trenton, or than that which was brought to so glorious
+an issue in the successful siege of Yorktown.”
+
+As this _résumé_ indicates, the most noticeable trait of Washington’s
+military career was a tendency to surrender his own opinions and wishes
+to those over whom he had been placed, and this resulted in a general
+agreement not merely that he was disposed to avoid action, but that he
+lacked decision. Thus his own aide, Reed, in obvious contrast to
+Washington, praised Lee because “you have decision, a quality often
+wanted in minds otherwise valuable,” continuing, “Oh! General, an
+indecisive mind is one of the greatest misfortunes that can befall an
+army; how often have I lamented it this campaign,” and Lee in reply
+alluded to “that fatal indecision of mind.” Pickering relates meeting
+General Greene and saying to him, “‘I had once conceived an exalted
+opinion of General Washington’s military talents; but since I have been
+with the army, I have seen nothing to increase that opinion.’ Greene
+answered, ‘Why, the General does want decision: for my part, I decide
+in a moment.’ I used the word ‘increase,’ though I meant ‘support,’ but
+did not dare speak it.” Wayne exclaimed “if our worthy general will but
+follow his own good judgment without listening too much to some
+counsel!” Edward Thornton, probably repeating the prevailing public
+estimate of the time rather than his own conclusion, said, “a certain
+degree of indecision, however, a want of vigor and energy, may be
+observed in some of his actions, and are indeed the obvious result of
+too refined caution.”
+
+Undoubtedly this leaning on others and the want of decision were not
+merely due to a constitutional mistrust of his own ability, but also in
+a measure to real lack of knowledge. The French and Indian War, being
+almost wholly “bush-fighting,” was not of a kind to teach strategic
+warfare, and in his speech accepting the command Washington requested
+that “it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room, that I this
+day declare with the utmost sincerity I do not think myself equal to
+the command I am honored with.” Indeed, he very well described himself
+and his generals when he wrote of one officer, “his wants are common to
+us all—the want of experience to move upon a large scale, for the
+limited and contracted knowledge, which any of us have in military
+matters, stands in very little stead.” There can be no question that in
+most of the “field” engagements of the Revolution Washington was
+out-generalled by the British, and Jefferson made a just distinction
+when he spoke of his having often “failed in the field, and rarely
+against an enemy in station, as at Boston and York.”
+
+The lack of great military genius in the commander-in-chief has led
+British writers to ascribe the results of the war to the want of
+ability in their own generals, their view being well summed up by a
+writer in 1778, who said, “in short, I am of the opinion … that any
+other General in the world than General Howe would have beaten General
+Washington; and any other General in the world than General Washington
+would have beaten General Howe.”
+
+This is, in effect, to overlook the true nature of the contest, for it
+was their very victories that defeated the British. They conquered New
+Jersey, to meet defeat; they captured Philadelphia, only to find it a
+danger; they established posts in North Carolina, only to abandon them;
+they overran Virginia, to lay down their arms at Yorktown. As
+Washington early in the war divined, the Revolution was “a war of
+posts,” and he urged the danger of “dividing and subdividing our Force
+too much [so that] we shall have no one post sufficiently guarded,”
+saying, “it is a military observation strongly supported by experience,
+‘that a superior army may fall a sacrifice to an inferior, by an
+injudicious division.’” It was exactly this which defeated the British;
+every conquest they made weakened their force, and the war was not a
+third through when Washington said, “I am well convinced myself, that
+the enemy, long ere this, are perfectly well satisfied, that the
+possession of our towns, while we have an army in the field, will avail
+them little.” As Franklin said, when the news was announced that Howe
+had captured Philadelphia, “No, Philadelphia has captured Howe.”
+
+The problem of the Revolution was not one of military strategy, but of
+keeping an army in existence, and it was in this that the
+commander-in-chief’s great ability showed itself. The British could and
+did repeatedly beat the Continental army, but they could not beat the
+General, and so long as he was in the field there was a rallying ground
+for whatever fighting spirit there was.
+
+The difficulty of this task can hardly be over-magnified. When
+Washington assumed command of the forces before Boston, he “found a
+mixed multitude of people … under very little discipline, order, or
+government,” and “confusion and disorder reigned in every department,
+which, in a little time, must have ended either in the separation of
+the army or fatal contests with one another.” Before he was well in the
+saddle his general officers were quarrelling over rank, and resigning;
+there was such a scarcity of powder that it was out of the question for
+some months to do anything; and the British sent people infected with
+small-pox to the Continental army, with a consequent outbreak of that
+pest.
+
+Hardly had he brought order out of chaos when the army he had taken
+such pains to discipline began to melt away, having been by political
+folly recruited for short terms, and the work was to be all done over.
+Again and again during the war regiments which had been enlisted for
+short periods left him at the most critical moment. Very typical
+occurrences he himself tells of, when Connecticut troops could “not be
+prevailed upon to stay longer than their term (saving those who have
+enlisted for the next campaign, and mostly on furlough), and such a
+dirty, mercenary spirit pervades the whole, that I should not be at all
+surprised at any disaster that may happen,” and when he described how
+in his retreat through New Jersey, “The militia, instead of calling
+forth their utmost efforts to a brave and manly opposition in order to
+repair our losses, are dismayed, intractable, and impatient to return.
+Great numbers of them have gone off; in some instances, almost by whole
+regiments, by half ones, and by companies at a time.” Another instance
+of this evil occurred when “the Continental regiments from the eastern
+governments … agreed to stay six weeks beyond their term of
+enlistment…. For this extraordinary mark of their attachment to their
+country, I have agreed to give them a bounty of ten dollars per man,
+besides their pay running on.” The men took the bounty, and nearly
+one-half went off a few days after.
+
+Nor was this the only evil of the policy of short enlistments. Another
+was that the new troops not merely were green soldiers, but were
+without discipline. At New York Tilghman wrote that after the battle of
+Brooklyn the “Eastern” soldiers were “plundering everything that comes
+in their way,” and Washington in describing the condition said, “every
+Hour brings the most distressing complaints of the Ravages of our own
+Troops who are become infinitely more formidable to the poor Farmers
+and Inhabitants than the common Enemy. Horses are taken out of the
+Continental Teams; the Baggage of Officers and the Hospital Stores,
+even the Quarters of General Officers are not exempt from Rapine.” At
+the most critical moment of the war the New Jersey militia not merely
+deserted, but captured and took with them nearly the whole stores of
+the army. As the General truly wrote, “the Dependence which the
+Congress have placed upon the militia, has already greatly injured, and
+I fear will totally ruin our cause. Being subject to no controul
+themselves, they introduce disorder among the troops, whom you have
+attempted to discipline, while the change in their living brings on
+sickness; this makes them Impatient to get home, which spreads
+universally, and introduces abominable desertions.” “The collecting
+militia,” he said elsewhere, “depends entirely upon the prospects of
+the day. If favorable they throng in to you; if not, they will not
+move.”
+
+To make matters worse, politics were allowed to play a prominent part
+in the selection of officers, and Washington complained that “the
+different States [were], without regard to the qualifications of an
+officer, quarrelling about the appointments, and nominating such as are
+not fit to be shoeblacks, from the attachments of this or that member
+of Assembly.” As a result, so he wrote of New England, “their officers
+are generally of the lowest class of the people; and, instead of
+setting a good example to their men, are leading them into every kind
+of mischief, one species of which is plundering the inhabitants, under
+the pretence of their being Tories.” To this political motive he
+himself would not yield, and a sample of his appointments was given
+when a man was named “because he stands unconnected with either of
+these Governments; or with this, or that or tother man; for between you
+and me there is more in this than you can easily imagine,” and he
+asserted that “I will not have any Gentn. introduced from family
+connexion, or local attachments, to the prejudice of the Service.”
+
+To misbehaving soldiers Washington showed little mercy. In his first
+service he had deserters and plunderers “flogged,” and threatened that
+if he could “lay hands” on one particular culprit, “I would try the
+effect of 1000 lashes.” At another time he had “a Gallows near 40 feet
+high erected (which has terrified the _rest_ exceedingly) and I am
+determined if I can be justified in the proceeding, to hang two or
+three on it, as an example to others.” When he took command of the
+Continental army he “made a pretty good slam among such kind of
+officers as the Massachusetts Government abound in since I came to this
+Camp, having broke one Colo, and two Captains for cowardly behavior in
+the action on Bunker’s Hill,—two Captains for drawing more provisions
+and pay than they had men in their Company—and one for being absent
+from his Post when the Enemy appeared there and burnt a House just by
+it Besides these, I have at this time—one Colo., one Major, one Captn.,
+& two subalterns under arrest for tryal—In short I spare none yet fear
+it will not at all do as these People seem to be too inattentive to
+every thing but their Interest” “I am sorry,” he wrote, “to be under a
+Necessity of making frequent Examples among the Officers,” but “as
+nothing can be more fatal to an Army, than Crimes of this kind, I am
+determined by every Motive of Reward and Punishment to prevent them in
+future.” Even when plundering was avoided there were short commons for
+those who clung to the General. The commander-in-chief wrote Congress
+that “they have often, very often, been reduced to the necessity of
+Eating Salt Porke, or Beef not for a day, or a week but months together
+without Vegetables, or money to buy them;” and again, he complained
+that “the Soldiers [were forced to] eat every kind of horse food but
+Hay. Buckwheat, common wheat, Rye and Indn. Corn was the composition of
+the Meal which made their bread. As an Army they bore it, [but]
+accompanied by the want of Cloaths, Blankets, &c., will produce
+frequent desertions in all armies and so it happens with us, tho’ it
+did not excite a mutiny.” Even the horses suffered, and Washington
+wrote to the quartermaster-general, “Sir, my horses I am told have not
+had a mouthful of long or short forage for three days. They have eaten
+up their mangers and are now, (though wanted for immediate use,)
+scarcely able to stand.”
+
+Two results were sickness and discontent. At times one-fourth of the
+soldiers were on the sick-list. Three times portions of the army
+mutinied, and nothing but Washington’s influence prevented the disorder
+from spreading. At the end of the war, when, according to Hamilton,
+“the army had secretly determined not to lay down their arms until due
+provision and a satisfactory prospect should be offered on the subject
+of their pay,” the commander-in-chief urged Congress to do them
+justice, writing, “the fortitude—the long, & great suffering of this
+army is unexampled in history; but there is an end to all things & I
+fear we are very near to this. Which, more than probably will oblige me
+to stick very close to my flock this winter, & try like a careful
+physician, to prevent, if possible, the disorders getting to an
+incurable height.” In this he judged rightly, for by his influence
+alone was the army prevented from adopting other than peaceful measures
+to secure itself justice.
+
+A chief part of these difficulties the Continental Congress is directly
+responsible for, and the reason for their conduct is to be found
+largely in the circumstances of Washington’s appointment to the
+command.
+
+
+[Illustration: LIFE MASK OF WASHINGTON]
+
+
+When the Second Congress met, in May, 1775, the battle of Lexington had
+been fought, and twenty thousand minute-men were assembled about
+Boston. To pay and feed such a horde was wholly beyond the ability of
+New England, and her delegates came to the Congress bent upon getting
+that body to assume the expense, or, as the Provincial Congress of
+Massachusetts naively put it, “we have the greatest Confidence in the
+Wisdom and Ability of the Continent to support us.”
+
+The other colonies saw this in a different light. Massachusetts,
+without our advice, has begun a war and embodied an army; let
+Massachusetts pay her own bills, was their point of view. “I have found
+this Congress like the last,” wrote John Adams. “When we first came
+together, I found a strong jealousy of us from New England, and the
+Massachusettes in particular, suspicions entertained of designs of
+independency, an American republic, Presbyterian principles, and twenty
+other things. Our sentiments were heard in Congress with great caution,
+and seemed to make but little impression.” Yet “every post brought me
+letters from my friends … urging in pathetic terms the impossibility of
+keeping their men together without the assistance of Congress.” “I was
+daily urging all these things, but we were embarrassed with more than
+one difficulty, not only with the party in favor of the petition to the
+King, and the party who were zealous of independence, but a third
+party, which was a southern party against a Northern, and a jealousy
+against a New England army under the command of a New England General.”
+
+Under these circumstances a political deal was resorted to, and
+Virginia was offered by John and Samuel Adams, as the price of an
+adoption and support of the New England army, the appointment of
+commander-in-chief, though the offer was not made with over-good grace,
+and only because “we could carry nothing without conceding it.” There
+was some dissension among the Virginia delegates as to who should
+receive the appointment, Washington himself recommending an old
+companion in arms, General Andrew Lewis, and “more than one,” Adams
+says of the Virginia delegates, were “very cool about the appointment
+of Washington, and particularly Mr. Pendleton was very clear and full
+against it” Washington himself said the appointment was due to
+“partiality of the Congress, joined to a political motive;” and, hard
+as it is to realize, it was only the grinding political necessity of
+the New England colonies which secured to Washington the place for
+which in the light of to-day he seems to have been created.
+
+As a matter of course, there was not the strongest liking felt for the
+General thus chosen by the New England delegates, and this was steadily
+lessened by Washington’s frank criticism of the New England soldiers
+and officers already noticed. Equally bitter to the New England
+delegates and their allies were certain army measures that Washington
+pressed upon the attention of Congress. He urged and urged that the
+troops should be enlisted for the war, that promotions should be made
+from the army as a whole, and not from the colony- or State-line alone,
+and most unpopular of all, that since Continental soldiers could not
+otherwise be obtained, a bounty should be given to secure them, and
+that as compensation for their inadequate pay half-pay should be given
+them after the war. He eventually carried these points, but at the
+price of an entire alienation of the democratic party in the Congress,
+who wished to have the war fought with militia, to have all the
+officers elected annually, and to whom the very suggestion of pensions
+was like a red rag to a bull.
+
+A part of their motive in this was unquestionably to prevent the danger
+of a standing army, and of allowing the commander-in-chief to become
+popular with the soldiers. Very early in the war Washington noted “the
+_jealousy_ which Congress unhappily entertain of the army, and which,
+if reports are right, some members labor to establish.” And he
+complained that “I see a distrust and jealousy of military power, that
+the commander-in-chief has not an opportunity, even by recommendation,
+to give the least assurance of reward for the most essential services.”
+The French minister told his government that when a committee was
+appointed to institute certain army reforms, delegates in Congress
+“insisted on the danger of associating the Commander-in-chief with it,
+whose influence, it was stated, was already too great,” and when France
+sent money to aid the American cause, with the provision that it should
+be subject to the order of the General, it aroused, a writer states,
+“the jealousy of Congress, the members of which were not satisfied that
+the head of the army should possess such an agency in addition to his
+military power.”
+
+His enemies in the Congress took various means to lessen his influence
+and mortify him. Burke states that in the discussion of one question
+“Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina voted for
+expunging it; the four Eastern States, Virginia and Georgia for
+retaining it. There appeared through this whole debate a great desire,
+in some of the delegates from the Eastern States, and in one from New
+Jersey, to insult the General,” and a little later the Congress passed
+a “resolve which,” according to James Lovell, “was meant to rap a Demi
+G—over the knuckles.” Nor was it by commission, but as well by
+omission, that they showed their ill feeling. John Laurens told his
+father that
+
+“there is a conduct observed towards” the General “by certain great
+men, which as it is humiliating, must abate his happiness…. The
+Commander in Chief of this army is not sufficiently informed of all
+that is known by Congress of European affairs. Is it not a galling
+circumstance, for him to collect the most important intelligence
+piecemeal, and as they choose to give it, from gentlemen who come from
+York? Apart from the chagrin which he must necessarily feel at such an
+appearance of slight, it should be considered that in order to settle
+his plan of operations for the ensuing campaign, he should take into
+view the present state of European affairs, and Congress should not
+leave him in the dark.”
+
+Furthermore, as already noted, Washington was criticised for his Fabian
+policy, and in his indignation he wrote to Congress, “I am informed
+that it is a matter of amazement, and that reflections have been thrown
+out against this army, for not being more active and enterprising than,
+in the opinion of some, they ought to have been. If the charge is just,
+the best way to account for it will be to refer you to the returns of
+our strength, and those which I can produce of the enemy, and to the
+enclosed abstract of the clothing now actually wanting for the army.”
+“I can assure those gentlemen,” he said, in reply to political
+criticism, “that it is a much easier and less distressing thing to draw
+remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good fireside, than to occupy
+a cold, bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow, without clothes or
+blankets.”
+
+The ill feeling did not end with insults. With the defeats of the years
+1776 and 1777 it gathered force, and towards the end of the latter year
+it crystallized in what has been known in history as the Conway Cabal.
+The story of this conspiracy is so involved in shadow that little is
+known concerning its adherents or its endeavors. But in a general way
+it has been discovered that the New England delegates again sought the
+aid of the Lee faction in Virginia, and that this coalition, with the
+aid of such votes as they could obtain, schemed several methods which
+should lessen the influence of Washington, if they did not force him to
+resign. Separate and detached commands were created, which were made
+independent of the commander-in-chief, and for this purpose even a
+scheme which the General called “a child of folly” was undertaken.
+Officers notoriously inimical to Washington, yet upon whom he would be
+forced to rely, were promoted. A board of war made up of his enemies,
+with powers “in effect paramount,” Hamilton says, “to those of the
+commander-in-chief,” was created It is even asserted that it was moved
+in Congress that a committee should be appointed to arrest Washington,
+which was defeated only by the timely arrival of a new delegate, by
+which the balance of power was lost to the Cabal.
+
+Even with the collapse of the army Cabal the opposition in Congress was
+maintained. “I am very confident,” wrote General Greene, “that there is
+party business going on again, and, as Mifflin is connected with it, I
+doubt not its being a revival of the old scheme;” again writing,
+“General Schuyler and others consider it a plan of Mifflin’s to injure
+your Excellency’s operations. I am now fully convinced of the reality
+of what I suggested to you before I came away.” In 1779 John Sullivan,
+then a member of Congress, wrote,—
+
+“Permit me to inform your Excellency, that the faction raised against
+you in 1777, is not yet destroyed. The members are waiting to collect
+strength, and seize some favorable moment to appear in force. I speak
+not from conjecture, but from certain knowledge. Their plan is to take
+every method of proving the danger arising from a commander, who enjoys
+the full and unlimited confidence of his army, and alarm the people
+with the prospects of imaginary evils; nay, they will endeavor to
+convert your virtue into arrows, with which, they will seek to wound
+you.”
+
+But Washington could not be forced into a resignation, ill-treat and
+slight him as they would, and at no time were they strong enough to
+vote him out of office. For once a Congressional “deal” between New
+England and Virginia did not succeed, and as Washington himself wrote,
+“I have a good deal of reason to believe that the machination of this
+junto will recoil on their own heads, and be a means of bringing some
+matters to light which by getting me out of the way, some of them
+thought to conceal,” In this he was right, for the re-elections of both
+Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee were put in danger, and for some
+time they were discredited even in their own colonies. “I have happily
+had,” Washington said to a correspondent, “but few differences with
+those with whom I have had the honor of being connected in the service.
+With whom, and of what nature these have been, you know. I bore much
+for the sake of peace and the public good”
+
+As is well known, Washington served without pay during his eight years
+of command, and, as he said, “fifty thousand pounds would not induce me
+again to undergo what I have done.” No wonder he declared “that the God
+of armies may incline the hearts of my American brethren to support the
+present contest, and bestow sufficient abilities on me to bring it to a
+speedy and happy conclusion, thereby enabling me to sink into sweet
+retirement, and the full enjoyment of that peace and happiness, which
+will accompany a domestic life, is the first wish and most fervent
+prayer of my soul.”
+
+The day finally came when his work was finished, and he could be, as he
+phrased it, “translated into a private citizen.” Marshall describes the
+scene as follows: “At noon, the principal officers of the army
+assembled at Frances’ tavern; soon after which, their beloved commander
+entered the room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed. Filling
+a glass, he turned to them and said, ‘With a heart full of love and
+gratitude, I now take leave of you; I most devoutly wish that your
+latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as your former ones have
+been glorious and honorable.’ Having drunk, he added, ‘I cannot come to
+each of you to take my leave; but shall be obliged to you, if each of
+you will come and take me by the hand.’ General Knox, being nearest,
+turned to him. Incapable of utterance, Washington grasped his hand, and
+embraced him. In the same affectionate manner he took leave of each
+succeeding officer. In every eye was the tear of dignified sensibility,
+and not a word was articulated to interrupt the majestic silence, and
+the tenderness of the scene. Leaving the room, he passed through the
+corps of light infantry, and walked to Whitehall, where a barge waited
+to convey him to Powles-hook. The whole company followed in mute and
+solemn procession, with dejected countenance … Having entered the
+barge, he turned to the company, and, waving his hat, bade them a
+silent adieu.”
+
+
+
+
+XII
+CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER
+
+
+Washington became a government servant before he became a voter, by
+receiving in 1749, or when he was seventeen years of age, the
+appointment of official surveyor of Culpepper County, the salary of
+which, according to Boucher, was about fifty pounds Virginia currency a
+year. The office was certainly not a very fat berth, for it required
+the holder to live in a frontier county, to travel at times, as
+Washington in his journal noted, over “ye worst Road that ever was trod
+by Man or Beast,” to sometimes lie on straw, which once “catch’d a
+Fire,” and we “was luckily Preserved by one of our Mens waking,”
+sometimes under a tent, which occasionally “was Carried quite of[f]
+with ye Wind and” we “was obliged to Lie ye Latter part of ye night
+without covering,” and at other times driven from under the tent by
+smoke. Indeed, one period of surveying Washington described to a friend
+by writing,—
+
+“[Since] October Last I have not sleep’d above three Nights or four in
+a bed but after Walking a good deal all the Day lay down before the
+fire upon a Little Hay Straw Fodder or bearskin which-ever is to be had
+with Man Wife and Children like a Parcel of Dogs or Catts & happy’s he
+that gets the Birth nearest the fire there’s nothing would make it pass
+of tolerably but a good Reward a Dubbleloon is my constant gain every
+Day that the Weather will permit my going out and some time Six
+Pistoles the coldness of the Weather will not allow my making a long
+stay as the Lodging is rather too cold for the time of Year. I have
+never had my Cloths of but lay and sleep in them like a Negro except
+the few Nights I have lay’n in Frederick Town.”
+
+In 1751, when he was nineteen, Washington bettered his lot by becoming
+adjutant of one of the four military districts of Virginia, with a
+salary of one hundred pounds and a far less toilsome occupation. This
+in turn led up to his military appointment in 1754, which he held
+almost continuously till 1759, when he resigned from the service.
+
+Next to a position on the Virginia council, a seat in the House of
+Burgesses, or lower branch of the Legislature, was most sought, and
+this position had been held by Washington’s great-grandfather, father,
+and elder brother. It was only natural, therefore, that in becoming the
+head of the family George should desire the position. As early as 1755,
+while on the frontier, he wrote to his brother in charge of Mount
+Vernon inquiring about the election to be held in the county, and
+asking him to “come at Colo Fairfax’s intentions, and let me know
+whether he purposes to offer himself as a candidate.” “If he does not,
+I should be glad to take a poll, if I thought my chance tolerably
+good.” His friend Carlyle, Washington wrote, had “mentioned it to me in
+Williamsburg in a bantering way,” and he begged his brother to
+“discover Major Carlyle’s real sentiments on this head,” as also those
+of the other prominent men of the county, and especially of the
+clergymen. “_Sound_ their pulse,” he wrote, “with an air of
+indifference and unconcern … without disclosing much of _mine_.” “If
+they seem inclinable to promote my interest, and things should be
+drawing to a crisis, you may declare my intention and beg their
+assistance. If on the contrary you find them more inclined to favor
+some other, I would have the affair entirely dropped.” Apparently the
+county magnates disapproved, for Washington did not stand for the
+county.
+
+
+[Illustration: TITLE-PAGE OF WASHINGTON’S JOURNAL]
+
+
+In 1757 an election for burgesses was held in Frederick County, in
+which Washington then was (with his soldiers), and for which he offered
+himself as a candidate. The act was hardly a wise one, for, though he
+had saved Winchester and the surrounding country from being overrun by
+the Indians, he was not popular. Not merely was he held responsible for
+the massacres of outlying inhabitants, whom it was impossible to
+protect, but in this very defence he had given cause for ill-feeling.
+He himself confessed that he had several times “strained the law,”—he
+had been forced to impress the horses and wagons of the district, and
+had in other ways so angered some of the people that they had
+threatened “to blow out my brains.” But he had been guilty of a far
+worse crime still in a political sense. Virginia elections were based
+on liquor, and Washington had written to the governor, representing
+“the great nuisance the number of tippling houses in Winchester are to
+the soldiers, who by this means, in spite of the utmost care and
+vigilance, are, so long as their pay holds, incessantly drunk and unfit
+for service,” and he wished that “the new commission for this county
+may have the intended effect,” for “the number of tippling houses kept
+here is a great grievance.” As already noted, the Virginia regiment was
+accused in the papers of drunkenness, and under the sting of that
+accusation Washington declared war on the publicans. He whipped his men
+when they became drunk, kept them away from the ordinaries, and even
+closed by force one tavern which was especially culpable. “Were it not
+too tedious,” he wrote the governor, “I cou’d give your Honor such
+instances of the villainous Behavior of those Tippling House-keepers,
+as wou’d astonish any person.”
+
+The conduct was admirable, but it was not good politics, and as soon as
+he offered himself as a candidate, the saloon element, under the
+leadership of one Lindsay, whose family were tavern-keepers in
+Winchester for at least one hundred years, united to oppose him.
+Against the would-be burgess they set up one Captain Thomas Swearingen,
+whom Washington later described as “a man of great weight among the
+meaner class of people, and supposed by them to possess extensive
+knowledge.” As a result, the poll showed Swearingen elected by two
+hundred and seventy votes, and Washington defeated with but forty
+ballots.
+
+This sharp experience in practical politics seems to have taught the
+young candidate a lesson, for when a new election came in 1758 he took
+a leaf from his enemy’s book, and fought them with their own weapons.
+The friendly aid of the county boss, Colonel John Wood, was secured, as
+also that of Gabriel Jones, a man of much local force and popularity.
+Scarcely less important were the sinews of war employed, told of in the
+following detailed account. A law at that time stood on the Virginia
+statutes forbidding all treating or giving of what were called
+“ticklers” to the voters, and declaring illegal all elections which
+were thus influenced. None the less, the voters of Frederick enjoyed at
+Washington’s charge—
+
+40 gallons of Rum Punch @ 3/6 pr. galn	7  0  0 15 gallons of Wine @
+10/ pr. galn	7  10  0 Dinner for your Friends	3  0  0 13½ gallons
+of Wine @ 10/	6  15 3½ pts. of Brandy @ 1/3	4  4½ 13 Galls. Beer
+@ 1/3	16  3 8 qts. Cyder Royl @ 1/6	0  12  0 Punch	3 9 30
+gallns. of strong beer @ 8d pr. gall	1  0 1 hhd & 1 Barrell of
+Punch, consisting of 26 gals. best Barbadoes rum, 5/	6  10  0 12
+lbs. S. Refd. Sugar 1/6	18  9 3 galls. and 3 quarts of Beer @ 1/ pr.
+gall	3  9 10 Bowls of Punch @ 2/6 each	1  5  0 9 half pints of
+rum @ 7½ d. each	5  7½ 1 pint of wine	1  6
+
+After the election was over, Washington wrote Wood that “I hope no
+Exception was taken to any that voted against me, but that all were
+alike treated, and all had enough. My only fear is that you spent with
+too sparing a hand.” It is hardly necessary to say that such methods
+reversed the former election; Washington secured three hundred and ten
+votes, and Swearingen received forty-five. What is more, so far from
+now threatening to blow out his brains, there was “a general applause
+and huzzaing for Colonel Washington.”
+
+From this time until he took command of the army Washington was a
+burgess. Once again he was elected from Frederick County, and then, in
+1765, he stood for Fairfax, in which Mount Vernon was located. Here he
+received two hundred and eight votes, his colleague getting but one
+hundred and forty-eight, and in the election of 1768 he received one
+hundred and eighty-five, and his colleague only one hundred and
+forty-two. Washington spent between forty and seventy-five pounds at
+each of these elections, and usually gave a ball to the voters on the
+night he was chosen. Some of the miscellaneous election expenses noted
+in his ledger are, “54 gallons of Strong Beer,” “52 Do. of Ale,”
+“£1.0.0. to Mr. John Muir for his fiddler,” and “For cakes at the
+Election £7.11.1.”
+
+The first duty which fell to the new burgess was service on a committee
+to draught a law to prevent hogs from running at large in Winchester.
+He was very regular in his attendance; and though he took little part
+in the proceedings, yet in some way he made his influence felt, so that
+when the time came to elect deputies to the First Congress he stood
+third in order among the seven appointed to attend that body, and a
+year later, in the delegation to the Continental Congress, he stood
+second, Peyton Randolph receiving one more vote only, and all the other
+delegates less.
+
+This distinction was due to the sound judgment of the man rather than
+to those qualities that are considered senatorial. Jefferson said, “I
+served with General Washington in the legislature of Virginia before
+the revolution, and, during it, with Dr. Franklin in Congress. I never
+heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the
+main point which was to decide the question. They laid their shoulders
+to the great points, knowing that the little ones would follow of
+themselves.”
+
+Through all his life Washington was no speechmaker. In 1758, by an
+order of the Assembly, Speaker Robinson was directed to return its
+thanks to Colonel Washington, on behalf of the colony, for the
+distinguished military services which he had rendered to the country.
+As soon as he took his seat in the House, the Speaker performed this
+duty in such glowing terms as quite overwhelmed him. Washington rose to
+express his acknowledgments for the honor, but was so disconcerted as
+to be unable to articulate a word distinctly. He blushed and faltered
+for a moment, when the Speaker relieved him from his embarrassment by
+saying, “Sit down, Mr. Washington, your modesty equals your valor, and
+that surpasses the power of any language that I possess.”
+
+This stage-fright seems to have clung to him. When Adams hinted that
+Congress should “appoint a General,” and added, “I had no hesitation to
+declare that I had but one gentleman in my mind for that important
+command, and that was 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 exertions of all the Colonies better than any other
+person in the Union,” he relates that “Mr. Washington who happened to
+sit near the door, as soon as he heard me allude to him, from his usual
+modesty, darted into the library-room.”
+
+So, too, at his inauguration as President, Maclay noted that “this
+great man was agitated and embarrassed more than ever he was by the
+leveled cannon or pointed musket. He trembled, and several times could
+scarce make out to read [his speech], though it must be supposed he had
+often read it before,” and Fisher Ames wrote, “He addressed the two
+Houses in the Senate-chamber; it was a very touching scene and quite of
+a solemn kind. His aspect grave, almost to sadness; his modesty
+actually shaking; his voice deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to
+call for close attention,”
+
+There can be little doubt that this non-speech-making ability was not
+merely the result of inaptitude, but was also a principle, for when his
+favorite nephew was elected a burgess, and made a well-thought-of
+speech in his first attempt, his uncle wrote him, “You have, I find,
+broke the ice. The only advice I will offer to you on the occasion (if
+you have a mind to command the attention of the House,) is to speak
+seldom, but to important subjects, except such as particularly relate
+to your constituents; and, in the former case, make yourself perfectly
+master of the subject. Never exceed a decent warmth, and submit your
+sentiments with diffidence. A dictatorial stile, though it may carry
+conviction, is always accompanied with disgust.” To a friend writing of
+this same speech he said, “with great pleasure I received the
+information respecting the commencement of my nephew’s political
+course. I hope he will not be so bouyed by the favorable impression it
+has made, as to become a babbler.”
+
+Even more indicative of his own conceptions of senatorial conduct is
+advice given in a letter to Jack Custis, when the latter, too, achieved
+an election to the Assembly.
+
+“I do not suppose,” he wrote, “that so young a senator as you are,
+little versed in political disquisitions, can yet have much influence
+in a populous assembly, composed of Gentln. of various talents and of
+different views. But it is in your power to be punctual in your
+attendance (and duty to the trust reposed in you exacts it of you), to
+hear dispassionately and determine coolly all great questions. To be
+disgusted at the decision of questions, because they are not consonant
+to your own ideas, and to withdraw ourselves from public assemblies, or
+to neglect our attendance at them, upon suspicion that there is a party
+formed, who are inimical to our cause, and to the true interest of our
+country, is wrong, because these things may originate in a difference
+of opinion; but, supposing the fact is otherwise, and that our
+suspicions are well founded, it is the indispensable duty of every
+patriot to counteract them by the most steady and uniform opposition.”
+
+In the Continental Congress, Randolph states, “Washington was
+prominent, though silent. His looks bespoke a mind absorbed in
+meditation on his country’s fate; but a positive concert between him
+and Henry could not more effectually have exhibited him to view, than
+when Henry ridiculed the idea of peace ‘when there was no peace,’ and
+enlarged on the duty of preparing for war.” Very quickly his attendance
+on that body was ended by its appointing him general.
+
+His political relations to the Congress have been touched upon
+elsewhere, but his attitude towards Great Britain is worth attention.
+Very early he had said, “At a time when our lordly masters in Great
+Britain will be satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation of
+American freedom, it seems highly necessary that something should be
+done to avert the stroke, and maintain the liberty, which we have
+derived from our ancestors. But the manner of doing it, to answer the
+purpose effectually, is the point in question. That no man should
+scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use a—s in defence of so valuable a
+blessing, on which all the good and evil of life depends, is clearly my
+opinion.” When actual war ensued, he was among the first to begin to
+collect and drill a force, even while he wrote, “unhappy it is, though
+to reflect, that a brother’s sword has been sheathed in a brother’s
+breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are
+either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad
+alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?”
+
+Not till early in 1776 did he become a convert to independence, and
+then only by such “flaming arguments as were exhibited at Falmouth and
+Norfolk,” which had been burned by the British. At one time, in 1776,
+he thought “the game will be pretty well up,” but “under a full
+persuasion of the justice of our cause, I cannot entertain an Idea,
+that it will finally sink, tho’ it may remain for some time under a
+cloud,” and even in this time of terrible discouragement he maintained
+that “nothing short of independence, it appears to me, can possibly do.
+A peace on other terms would, if I may be allowed the expression, be a
+peace of war.”
+
+Pickering, who placed a low estimate on his military ability, said
+that, “upon the whole, I have no hesitation in saying that General
+Washington’s talents were much better adapted to the Presidency of the
+United States than to the command of their armies,” and this is
+probably true. The diplomatist Thornton said of the President, that if
+his “circumspection is accompanied by discernment and penetration, as I
+am informed it is, and as I should be inclined to believe from the
+judicious choice he has generally made of persons to fill public
+stations, he possesses the two great requisites of a statesman, the
+faculty of concealing his own sentiments and of discovering those of
+other men.”
+
+To follow his course while President is outside of the scope of this
+work, but a few facts are worth noting. Allusion has already been made
+to his use of the appointing power, but how clearly he held it as a
+“public trust” is shown in a letter to his longtime friend Benjamin
+Harrison, who asked him for an office. “I will go to the chair,” he
+replied, “under no pre-engagement of any kind or nature whatsoever.
+But, when in it, to the best of my judgment, discharge the duties of
+the office with that impartiality and zeal for the public good, which
+ought never to suffer connection of blood or friendship to intermingle
+so as to have the least sway on the decision of a public nature.” This
+position was held to firmly. John Adams wrote an office-seeker, “I must
+caution you, my dear Sir, against having any dependence on my influence
+or that of any other person. No man, I believe, has influence with the
+President. He seeks information from all quarters, and judges more
+independently than any man I ever knew. It is of so much importance to
+the public that he should preserve this superiority, that I hope I
+shall never see the time that any man will have influence with him
+beyond the powers of reason and argument.”
+
+Long after, when political strife was running high, Adams said,
+“Washington appointed a multitude of democrats and jacobins of the
+deepest die. I have been more cautious in this respect; but there is
+danger of proscribing under imputations of democracy, some of the
+ablest, most influential, and best characters in the Union.” In this he
+was quite correct, for the first President’s appointments were made
+with a view to destroy party and not create it, his object being to
+gather all the talent of the country in support of the national
+government, and he bore many things which personally were disagreeable
+in an endeavor to do this.
+
+Twice during Washington’s terms he was forced to act counter to the
+public sentiment. The first time was when a strenuous attempt was made
+by the French minister to break through the neutrality that had been
+proclaimed, when, according to John Adams, “ten thousand people in the
+streets of Philadelphia, day after day, threatened to drag Washington
+out of his house, and effect a revolution in the government, or compel
+it to declare in favor of the French revolution and against England.”
+The second time was when he signed the treaty of 1795 with Great
+Britain, which produced a popular outburst from one end of the country
+to the other. In neither case did Washington swerve an iota from what
+he thought right, writing, “these are unpleasant things, but they must
+be met with firmness.” Eventually the people always came back to their
+leader, and Jefferson sighed over the fact that “such is the popularity
+of the President that the people will support him in whatever he will
+do or will not do, without appealing to their own reason or to anything
+but their feelings towards him.”
+
+
+[Illustration: PRESIDENTIAL MANSION, PHILADELPHIA]
+
+
+It is not to be supposed from this that Washington was above
+considering the popular bent, or was lacking in political astuteness.
+John Adams asserted that “General Washington, one of the most attentive
+men in the world to the manner of doing things, owed a great proportion
+of his celebrity to this circumstance,” and frequently he is to be
+found considering the popularity or expediency of courses. In 1776 he
+said, “I have found it of importance and highly expedient to yield to
+many points in fact, without seeming to have done it, and this to avoid
+bringing on a too frequent discussion of matters which in a political
+view ought to be kept a little behind the curtain, and not to be made
+too much the subjects of disquisition. Time only can eradicate and
+overcome customs and prejudices of long standing—they must be got the
+better of by slow and gradual advances.”
+
+Elsewhere he wrote, “In a word, if a man cannot act in all respects as
+he would wish, he must do what appears best, under the circumstances he
+is in. This I aim at, however short I may fall of the end;” of a
+certain measure he thought, “it has, however, like many other things in
+which I have been involved, two edges, neither of which can be avoided
+without falling on the other;” and that even in small things he tried
+to be politic is shown in his journey through New England, when he
+accepted an invitation to a large public dinner at Portsmouth, and the
+next day, being at Exeter, he wrote in his diary, “a jealousy subsists
+between this town (where the Legislature alternately sits) and
+Portsmouth; which, had I known it in time, would have made it necessary
+to have accepted an invitation to a public dinner, but my arrangements
+having been otherwise made, I could not.”
+
+Nor was Washington entirely lacking in finesse. He offered Patrick
+Henry a position after having first ascertained in a roundabout manner
+that it would be refused, and in many other ways showed that he
+understood good politics. Perhaps the neatest of his dodges was made
+when the French revolutionist Volney asked him for a general letter of
+introduction to the American people. This was not, for political and
+personal reasons, a thing Washington cared to give, yet he did not
+choose to refuse, so he wrote on a sheet of paper,—
+
+“C. Volney
+          needs no recommendation from
+                    Geo. Washington.”
+
+
+There is a very general belief that success in politics and
+truthfulness are incompatible, yet, as already shown, Washington
+prospered in politics, and the Rev. Mason L. Weems is authority for the
+popular statement that at six years of age George could not tell a lie.
+Whether this was so, or whether Mr. Weems was drawing on his
+imagination for his facts, it seems probable that Washington partially
+outgrew the disability in his more mature years.
+
+When trying to win the Indians to the English cause in 1754, Washington
+in his journal states that he “let the young Indians who were in our
+camp know that the French wanted to kill the Half King,” a diplomatic
+statement he hardly believed, which the writer says “had its desired
+effect,” and which the French editor declared to be an “imposture.” In
+this same campaign he was forced to sign a capitulation which
+acknowledged that he had been guilty of assassination, and this raised
+such a storm in Virginia when it became known that Washington hastened
+to deny all knowledge of the charge having been contained among the
+articles, and alleged that it had not been made clear to him when the
+paper had been translated and read. On the contrary, another officer
+present at the reading states that he refused to “sign the Capitulation
+because they charged us with Assasination in it.”
+
+In writing to an Indian agent in 1755, Washington was “greatly
+enraptured” at hearing of his approach, dwelt upon the man’s “hearty
+attachment to our glorious Cause” and his “Courage of which I have had
+very great proofs.” Inclosing a copy of the letter to the governor,
+Washington said, “the letter savors a little of flattery &c., &c., but
+this, I hope is justifiable on such an occasion.”
+
+With his London agent there was a little difficulty in 1771, and
+Washington objected to a letter received “because there is one
+paragraph in particular in it … which appears to me to contain an
+implication of my having deviated from the truth.” A more general
+charge was Charles Lee’s: “I aver that his Excellencies letter was from
+beginning to the end a most abominable lie.”
+
+As a _ruse de guerre_ Washington drew up for a spy in 1779 a series of
+false statements as to the position and number of his army for him to
+report to the British. And in preparation for the campaign of 1781
+“much trouble was taken and finesse used to misguide and bewilder Sir
+Henry Clinton by making a deceptive provision of ovens, forage and
+boats in his neighborhood.” “Nor were less pains taken to deceive our
+own army,” and even “the highest military as well as civil officers”
+were deceived at this time, not merely that the secret should not leak
+out, but also “for the important purpose of inducing the eastern and
+middle states to make greater exertions.”
+
+When travelling through the South in 1791, Washington entered in his
+diary, “Having suffered very much by the dust yesterday—and finding
+that parties of Horse, & a number of other Gentlemen were intending to
+attend me part of the way to-day, I caused their enquiries respecting
+the time of my setting out, to be answered that, I should endeavor to
+do it before eight o’clock; but I did it a little after five, by which
+means I avoided the inconveniences above mentioned.”
+
+Weld, in his “Travels in America,” published that “General Washington
+told me that he never was so much annoyed by the mosquitos in any part
+of America as in Skenesborough, for that they used to bite through the
+thickest boot.” When this anecdote appeared in print, good old Dr.
+Dwight, shocked at the taradiddle, and fearing its evil influence on
+Washington’s fame, spoiled the joke by explaining in a book that “a
+gentleman of great respectability, who was present when General
+Washington made the observation referred to, told me that he said, when
+describing those mosquitoes to Mr. Weld, that they ‘bit through his
+stockings above the boots.’” Whoever invented the explanation should
+also have evolved a type of boots other than those worn by Washington,
+for unfortunately for the story Washington’s military boots went above
+his “small clothes,” giving not even an inch of stocking for either
+mosquito or explanation. In 1786, Washington declared that “I do not
+recollect that in the course of my life, I ever forfeited my word, or
+broke a promise made to any one,” and at another time he wrote, “I
+never say any thing of a Man that I have the smallest scruple of saying
+_to him_.”
+
+From 1749 till 1784, and from 1789 till 1797, or a period of forty
+years, Washington filled offices of one kind or another, and when he
+died he still held a commission. Thus, excluding his boyhood, there
+were but seven years of his life in which he was not engaged in the
+public service. Even after his retirement from the Presidency he served
+on a grand jury, and before this he had several times acted as petit
+juror. In another way he was a good citizen, for when at Mount Vernon
+he invariably attended the election, rain or shine, though it was a
+ride of ten miles to the polling town.
+
+Both his enemies and his friends bore evidence to his honesty.
+Jefferson said, “his integrity was most pure, his justice the most
+inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity
+or friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was indeed
+in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man.”
+Pickering wrote that “to the excellency of his _virtues_ I am not
+disposed to set any limits. All his views were upright, all his actions
+just” Hamilton asserted that “the General is a very honest Man;” and
+Tilghman spoke of him as “the honestest man that I believe ever adorned
+human nature.”
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+ADAMS, John, opinion of Washington, use of appointing power,
+deal arranged by,
+dislike of Washington,
+quoted,
+
+——, Samuel, opposed to Washington,
+
+Agriculture, Washington’s fondness for,
+Ague, Washington’s attacks of,
+
+ALEXANDER, Frances,
+
+Alexandria, assemblies at,
+Washington builds in,
+lots in,
+
+ALIQUIPPA, Queen,
+
+Alton, John,
+
+Ames, Fisher, quoted,
+
+Appleby school,
+
+ARMSTRONG, John, quoted,
+
+ARNOLD, B.,
+
+Asses, breeding of,
+
+_Aurora_,
+
+BACHE, B.F., writes against Washington,
+
+BALLS, maternal ancestors of Washington,
+
+Balls,
+
+Bank-stock, holdings of,
+
+Barbadoes, Washington’s visit to,
+
+BARD, Dr., quoted,
+
+BASSETT, Burwell,
+
+——, Frances,
+
+Bath, Virginia, lots in,
+
+_Battle of Brooklyn_, a farce,
+
+Billiards,
+
+BISHOP, Thomas,
+
+BLAND, Mary,
+
+——, T., criticises Washington’s bow,
+
+“Blueskin,”
+
+Books,
+
+Boston, siege of,
+
+BOUCHER, Rev. J., quoted,
+mentioned,
+
+Bounties,
+
+BRADDOCK, Edward, Washington and, defeat of,
+march of,
+mentioned,
+
+Brasenose College, Lawrence Washington a fellow of,
+
+BRISSOT de Warville, quoted,
+
+British forgeries,
+
+Brixted Parva, Lawrence Washington rector of,
+
+BROGLIE, Prince de, quoted,
+
+Brooklyn, battle of,
+
+CALLENDER, James Thomson, publications of,
+
+CALVERT, Eleanor, marriage with Jack Custis,
+visit to Cambridge,
+remarriage,
+
+Cambridge, head-quarters at,
+mentioned,
+
+CAMPBELL, A., portrait of Washington by,
+
+Cancer, George Washington’s,
+Mary Washington’s,
+
+Capital. _See_ Washington City.
+
+Cards,
+
+CARLYLE, Washington’s friendship for,
+
+——, Major,
+
+——, Sally,
+
+CARROLL, Charles,
+
+CARY, Mary,
+
+“Cato,”
+
+“Centinel,”
+
+Charity, Washington’s,
+
+Charleston, ladies of, visit Washington,
+jackass at,
+
+CHASTELLUX, Marquis de, quoted,
+marriage of,
+
+Children and Washington,
+
+Christ Church,
+
+Christianity, Washington’s view of,
+
+CLARK, Abraham, opinion of Washington,
+
+CLINTON, George, Washington’s investment with,
+
+——, Sir H.,
+Washington’s relations with,
+
+Clothes, Washington’s taste in,
+
+Clubs, Washington’s share in,
+
+COBB, David, quoted,
+at Yorktown,
+
+COBBETT, William, quoted,
+
+Colds, Washington’s treatment of,
+
+Commissariat,
+
+Congress, Continental, Washington’s relations with,
+jealousy of Washington and the army,
+endeavors to insult Washington,
+part in the Conway cabal,
+Washington’s election to,
+Washington in,
+
+Connecticut troops, misconduct of,
+
+“Conotocarius,” Indian name for Washington,
+
+Continental army,
+sickness of,
+farewell to,
+small-pox in,
+threatened mutiny of,
+
+Conway Cabal,
+
+CONWAY, Thomas, Washington’s relations with,
+
+CORBIN, Richard,
+
+CORNWALLIS, Lord, Washington’s relations with,
+
+Craigie house,
+
+CRAIK, Dr. James, Washington’s friendship for,
+bleeds Washington,
+
+CULPEPER, Lord,
+
+Culpeper County,
+
+CUSTIS, Eleanor P.,
+marriage to L. Lewis,
+quoted,
+
+——, G.W.P., education,
+quoted,
+acts,
+
+——, John Parke, relations with Washington,
+education,
+
+——, Martha. _See_ Washington, Martha.
+
+——, Martha (“Patsy”), relations of Washington with,
+death,
+treatment of,
+property,
+
+—— property,
+
+Dancing, Washington’s fondness of,
+
+DANDRIDGE, Bartholomew,
+
+——, Martha. _See_ Washington, Martha.
+
+——, Mrs.
+
+DEANE, Silas, quoted,
+
+DE BUTTS, Lawrence,
+
+Democratic criticism of Washington,
+
+DENT, Elizabeth,
+
+DICK, Dr., quoted,
+
+Dismal Swamp Company,
+
+Distillery at Mount Vernon,
+
+District of Columbia,
+
+Dogs,
+
+DUANE, William, writes against Washington,
+
+Duelling, Washington’s views on,
+threatened,
+
+DUER, W.A., quoted,
+
+DUMAS, M., quoted,
+
+DUNLAP, W., quoted,
+
+Duquesne, Fort,
+
+“Eltham,”
+
+Exeter, Bishop of, Sermons,
+
+FAIRFAX, Ann,
+
+——, Bryan, Lord,
+
+——, George William,
+
+——, Sally, 90-1,
+
+——, Thomas, Lord,
+
+——, William,
+
+Fairfax County,
+
+Fairfax Parish,
+
+Farewell Address,
+drafting of,
+
+Fauntleroy, Betsy,
+William,
+
+Federal city. _See_ Washington City.
+
+Fees, Washington’s gifts of,
+
+Fertilization, Washington’s value of,
+
+Fish, Washington’s fondness of,
+
+Fishery at Mount Vernon,
+
+Fishing,
+
+Flour, Washington’s pride in his,
+
+Forged letters,
+authorship of,
+Bache reprints,
+
+Fort Necessity,
+
+Fox hunting,
+
+FRANKLIN, B., quoted,
+
+Frederick County, Washington stands for,
+
+Fredericksburg,
+residence of Mary Washington,
+
+French and Indian War,
+
+French language, Washington on,
+
+FRENEAU, P., writes against Washington,
+
+GAGE, Thomas, relations with Washington,
+
+GATES, Horatio, Washington’s relations with,
+mentioned,
+
+General orders, quotations from,
+
+Genet episode,
+
+GENN, James, Washington learns surveying from,
+
+Germantown, battle of,
+
+GERRY, Elbridge, attitude towards Washington,
+
+GIBBONS, Mary, scandal concerning,
+
+GORDON, Rev. W., quoted,
+
+Great Britain, Washington’s attitude towards,
+
+GREEN, Rev. Charles,
+
+GREENE, N., friendship with Washington,
+quoted,
+
+GRYMES, Lucy,
+
+Half-King,
+
+HAMILTON, A., mentioned,
+quoted,
+Washington’s relations with,
+
+HARRISON, Benjamin,
+letter of,
+asks office,
+
+——, R.H.,
+
+HENRY Eighth grants lands to Washingtons,
+
+HENRY, Patrick, quoted,
+mentioned,
+offered office,
+
+Herring, sales of,
+
+Hickey plot,
+
+Horses, stud at Mount Vernon,
+
+Houdon bust,
+
+HOWE, Lord, and Sir William, Washington’s relations with,
+
+Humphreys, D., quoted,
+relations with Washington,
+
+HUNTER, J., quoted,
+
+Hunting,
+
+Independence, Washington on,
+
+Indians,
+Washington’s diplomacy with,
+
+James River Land Company, Washington’s interest in,
+
+Jay treaty,
+
+JEFFERSON, Thomas, Washington’s relations with,
+opinion of Washington,
+helps Freneau,
+quoted,
+mentioned,
+
+JONES, Gabriel,
+
+Kenmore House,
+
+KNOX, Henry,
+relations with Washington,
+
+LAFAYETTE, Marquis de,
+Washington’s relations with,
+quoted,
+
+——, G.W.,
+
+——, Virginia,
+
+Land bounties,
+
+—— companies,
+
+Latin, Washington’s knowledge of,
+
+LAURENS, John, Washington’s relations with,
+quoted,
+
+LAWRENCE, Nathaniel, quoted,
+
+Lawsuits, Washington’s dislike of,
+
+LEAR, T., friendship for,
+quoted,
+
+LEE, Charles, Washington’s relations with,
+libels Washington,
+quoted,
+
+——, Henry, friendship for Washington,
+anecdote of,
+warns Washington of Jefferson’s conduct,
+
+——, R.H., opinion of Washington,
+re-election of,
+
+——, William, Washington’s body-servant,
+
+LEWIS, Elizabeth,
+
+——, Fielding,
+
+——, ——. Jr.,
+
+——, Howell,
+
+——, Lewis,
+
+——, Robert,
+
+Lexington, battle of,
+
+Liveried servants,
+
+Lotteries, Washington’s liking for,
+
+LOVELL, John, opinion of Washington,
+quoted, 288.
+
+“Lowland Beauty,”
+
+LYNCH, Thomas, quoted,
+
+McHENRY, James,
+
+McKNIGHT, Dr. C., quoted,
+
+MACLAY, W., quoted,
+
+MADISON, James, relations with Washington,
+quoted,
+drafts papers,
+
+“Magnolia,”
+
+MARSHALL, J., quoted,
+
+MARYE, Rev. T., Washington’s teacher,
+
+MASON, George, quoted,
+
+Massachusetts, difficulties of,
+“slam” at officers of,
+
+MASSEY, Rev. Lee, quoted,
+
+Mather’s _Young Man’s Companion_,
+
+Matrimony, Washington’s views on,
+
+Medical knowledge of Washington,
+treatment of last illness,
+
+Medicine, Washington’s aversion to,
+
+MERCER, George, quoted,
+
+MIFFLIN, Thomas, Washington’s relations with,
+mentioned,
+
+Military Company of Adventurers,
+
+—— science, books on,
+Washington’s knowledge of,
+
+Militia, evils of,
+
+“Minutes of the Trial,” authority of,
+
+Mississippi Company,
+
+Monmouth, battle of,
+allusions to,
+
+MORRIS, Gouverneur, quoted,
+friendship with,
+
+——, Robert,
+
+——, Roger,
+
+Mount Vernon, boyhood home of Washington,
+division of estate by will,
+invitation to visit,
+history of,
+name,
+house at,
+grounds,
+additions to land,
+management of,
+absence of Washington from,
+system at,
+work at,
+fishery of,
+distillery at,
+stud stable of,
+live stock of,
+profits of,
+desire to rent farms of,
+Washington’s superintendence of,
+Washington’s life at,
+slaves at,
+overseers of,
+British visit to,
+hunting at,
+shooting at,
+
+MOYLAN, S.,
+
+MUSE, George, relations with Washington,
+
+Music, Washington’s fondness of,
+
+“Nelson,”
+
+Nepotism, Washington’s views on,
+
+Newburg, threatened revolt of army at,
+New England, opposition to Washington,
+jealousy of,
+arranges deal,
+journey in,
+conduct of troops,
+officers,
+
+New Jersey troops, desertion of,
+
+New York, Washington’s visit to,
+borrows money for journey to,
+head-quarters at,
+warfare at,
+_Minutes of the Trial in_,
+proposed attack on,
+farewell to army at,
+presidential house at,
+
+Newspapers,
+
+Nuts, Washington’s fondness for,
+
+Oaths, Washington’s use of,
+
+Office-seekers,
+
+Ohio, march to,
+journey to,
+_Journal_,
+
+Ohio Company,
+
+_Old Soldier_,
+
+PAINE, Thomas, relations with Washington,
+
+Paper money, depreciation of,
+
+Pension of Mary Washington,
+
+PEYRONEY, Chevalier,
+
+Philadelphia, visit to,
+fever at,
+proposed attack on,
+capture of,
+Presidential house in,
+Washington’s attempted purchase near,
+
+PHILIPSE, Mary,
+
+PICKERING, Timothy, quoted,
+
+Pohick Church,
+
+Potomac Canal Company,
+
+Presidency, Washington in the,
+duties of,
+hospitality of,
+
+Privateer, Washington tries to secure share in,
+
+Purleigh, Lawrence Washington, rector of,
+
+Raffles, Washington’s liking for,
+
+RAMSAY, W.,
+
+RANDOLPH, Edmund, Washington’s relations with,
+quoted,
+
+——, John, forges letters,
+
+REED, Joseph, sends print to Washington,
+relations with Washington,
+quoted,
+
+Revolution, Washington’s service in,
+
+ROBIN, Abbé, quoted,
+
+ROBINSON, Beverly,
+
+——, John,
+
+ROCHAMBEAU, Count,
+
+Ross, James, quoted,
+
+“Royal Gift,” jackass,
+
+Rules of civility,
+
+RUSH, Benjamin, anonymous letter of,
+Washington’s relations with,
+quoted,
+
+RUTLEDGE, E.,
+
+St. Clair’s defeat,
+
+St. Paul’s Church,
+
+SARGENT, J.D., opinion of Washington,
+
+SCOTT, Charles, quoted,
+
+Servants, Washington’s,
+
+Shad, sales of,
+
+Sharpless portrait,
+
+Sheep at Mount Vernon,
+
+Shooting,
+
+Skenesborough, mosquitoes at,
+
+Slavery, Washington’s views on,
+
+Slaves, Washington’s,
+runaway,
+carried off by British,
+sickness,
+laziness,
+punishment,
+rations of,
+thieving by,
+
+Small-pox, Washington’s attack of,
+
+SMITH, Rev. W., quoted,
+
+Southern tour,
+
+Spain, king of, gift of jackass to Washington,
+
+SPEARING, Ann,
+
+STEARN, Samuel, quoted,
+
+STEWART, R.,
+
+STUART, Gilbert, opinion on Washington’s face,
+quoted,
+
+Stuart portrait,
+
+Stud stable at Mount Vernon,
+
+SULLIVAN, John, quoted,
+
+——, W., quoted,
+
+Sunday, Washington’s observance of,
+
+SWEARINGEN, Thomas,
+
+Taverns, Washington’s view of,
+
+Tea, Washington’s fondness for,
+
+THACHER, Dr. James, quoted,
+
+Theatre,
+
+THORNTON, Edward, quoted,
+
+TILGHMAN, Tench, Washington’s relations with,
+quoted,
+
+Tobacco, Washington’s crop of,
+
+Trenton, battle of,
+
+TRUMBULL, Jonathan, wishes Washington removed,
+
+Truro Parish,
+
+University, National, Washington’s wish for,
+
+Valley Forge,
+
+VAN BRAAM, J.,
+
+VARICK, Richard,
+
+VERNON, Admiral E., Mount Vernon named after,
+
+Virginia, social life of,
+clubs,
+British invasion of,
+convention,
+land bounties,
+elections,
+agricultural system of,
+deal with New England,
+Washington’s office-holding in,
+estates, Washington’s opinion of,
+
+—— Regiment, drunkenness of,
+
+VOLNEY, C., Washington’s diplomacy with,
+
+WADSWORTH, J., quoted,
+
+“Wakefield,”
+
+Walpole grant,
+
+WANSEY, H., quoted,
+
+Warm Springs, visit to,
+
+WASHINGTON, Augustine,
+
+——, Augustine (Jr.),
+
+——, Bushrod,
+letter to,
+
+——, Charles,
+
+——, Elizabeth (Betty). _See_ Fielding.
+
+——, Frances,
+
+——, George, ancestors of,
+birth of,
+his resemblance to the Balls,
+relations with his mother,
+his dislike of public recompense,
+views on public office,
+financial help to relatives,
+will of,
+views on drinking,
+loans,
+care of Custis property,
+adoption of Custis children,
+physique,
+weight,
+eyes,
+hair,
+teeth,
+nose,
+height,
+mouth,
+expression,
+gracefulness,
+complexion,
+pock-marked,
+modesty,
+manners,
+portraits of,
+strength,
+illnesses of,
+his last,
+medicine, his dislike of,
+fall of,
+hearing,
+education,
+handwriting,
+spelling,
+surveyor,
+secretaries of,
+journal to the Ohio,
+messages,
+farewell address,
+languages,
+music,
+reading,
+religion,
+church attendance,
+Sunday conduct,
+hunting,
+tolerance,
+love affairs,
+poetry,
+Barbadoes, visit to,
+Ohio, mission to,
+Boston, visit to, (1756)
+New York, visit to, (1773)
+marriage,
+appointed commander-in-chief,
+matrimony, his views on,
+morality,
+forged letters,
+agriculture, fondness for,
+[agriculture] system,
+[agriculture] study of,
+coat-of-arms of,
+as farmer,
+land purchases of,
+invents a plow,
+humor,
+income,
+accounts,
+property of,
+bounty lands of,
+investments in land companies,
+borrower,
+speculation, liking for,
+lotteries, liking for,
+raffles, liking for,
+interest in Potomac Canal Company,
+wealth of,
+slaves of,
+[slaves] care of,
+slavery, views on,
+charity,
+social life,
+headquarters life,
+dinners,
+levees,
+bows,
+ceremony, hatred of,
+conversation,
+tea, liking for,
+dancing, fondness of,
+staff,
+simple habits,
+dress of,
+Rules of Civility,
+neatness of,
+food,
+horsemanship,
+fishing, fondness for,
+card-playing,
+theatre, fondness for,
+embarrassment,
+library of,
+newspapers,
+abuse, sensitiveness to,
+friendships of,
+godfather,
+pall-bearer,
+Indian friends,
+[Indian] name,
+assassin,
+temper,
+quarrel of Hamilton with,
+children, relations with,
+enemies,
+[enemies] duelling and,
+drinks toasts,
+intrigues against,
+attacks on,
+insulted,
+Presidency,
+judgment,
+liveried servants of,
+courage of,
+swears,
+Fabian policy,
+rashness of,
+indecision of,
+lack of military knowledge,
+generalship,
+severity to soldiers,
+relations with Continental Congress,
+New England, dislike of,
+farewell to army,
+adjutant of Virginia,
+burgess,
+stands for Frederick County,
+elected,
+election expenses of,
+drafts law,
+inability to make speeches,
+stage fright,
+inauguration,
+in the Continental Congress,
+attitude towards Great Britain,
+threatened,
+popularity of,
+diplomacy of,
+truthfulness,
+serves on jury,
+attends elections,
+honesty,
+
+——, George Augustine,
+
+——, Harriot,
+
+——, John,
+
+——, John Augustine,
+
+——, Lawrence, Rev. (1st),
+
+——, Lawrence (2d),
+
+——, Lawrence, Major (3d),
+
+——, Lawrence, of Chotanck (4th),
+
+——, Lund,
+
+——, Martha, sickness of,
+meets Washington,
+engaged,
+Washington’s letters to,
+marriage,
+character,
+Washington’s fondness for,
+wealth,
+clothing,
+housekeeper for,
+orthography, 93,
+children,
+visits to head-quarters,
+social life,
+mentioned,
+dower slaves,
+drafts of letters for,
+receptions,
+
+——, Mary (Ball),
+
+——, Mildred,
+
+——, Robert,
+
+——, Samuel,
+
+——, Thornton,
+
+Washington City,
+
+WATSON, Elkanah, quoted,
+
+WAYNE, Anthony, quoted,
+
+Weaving at Mount Vernon,
+
+WEEMS, M.L., quoted,
+
+WELD, Isaac, quoted,
+
+Wheat, Washington’s production of,
+
+Whiskey, distilling of, at Mount Vernon,
+
+WHITE, Rev. W., quoted,
+
+William and Mary College,
+
+Williamsburg,
+lots in,
+Washington goes to, for medical advice,
+
+WILLIAMS, William, wishes Washington removed,
+
+WILLING, Ann, quoted,
+
+Winchester, lots in,
+election at, 295,
+
+WOLCOTT, Oliver,
+
+WOOD, John,
+
+Yorktown, siege of,
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON ***
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+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The True George Washington, by Paul Leicester Ford</title>
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+<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The True George Washington, by Paul Leicester Ford</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
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+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The True George Washington</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Paul Leicester Ford</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: May 8, 2004 [eBook #12300]<br />
+[Most recently updated: January 23, 2022]</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: John R. Bilderback and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div>
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON ***</div>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:55%;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" />
+</div>
+
+<h1>The True George Washington</h1>
+
+<h2 class="no-break">by Paul Leicester Ford</h2>
+
+<p class="center">
+Author of &ldquo;The Honorable Peter Stirling&rdquo;<br/>
+Editor of &ldquo;The Writings of Thomas Jefferson&rdquo; and<br/>
+&ldquo;The Sayings of Poor Richard&rdquo;<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+&ldquo;That I have foibles, and perhaps many of them, I shall not deny. I
+should esteem myself, as the world would, vain and empty, were I to arrogate
+perfection.&rdquo;<br/>
+&mdash;<i>Washington</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+&ldquo;Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in
+malice.&rdquo;<br/>
+&mdash;<i>Shakespeare</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+1896<br/>
+BY<br/>
+J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<i>Tenth Edition</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+Electrotyped and Printed by J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
+</p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p class="center">
+THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED<br/>
+TO<br/>
+WILLIAM F. HAVEMEYER,<br/>
+<br/>
+IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE INDEBTEDNESS OF THE AUTHOR TO HIS COLLECTION<br/>
+OF<br/>
+WASHINGTONIANA.
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>Contents</h2>
+
+<table summary="" style="">
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap00">Note</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I.&mdash;FAMILY RELATIONS</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II.&mdash;PHYSIQUE</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III.&mdash;EDUCATION</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV.&mdash;RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V.&mdash;FARMER AND PROPRIETOR</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI.&mdash;MASTER AND EMPLOYER</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII.&mdash;SOCIAL LIFE</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII.&mdash;TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX.&mdash;FRIENDS</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X.&mdash;ENEMIES</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI.&mdash;SOLDIER</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII.&mdash;CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap13">INDEX</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2>List of Illustrations with Notes</h2>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus01">MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON. By JAMES SHARPLESS</a><br/>
+Painted for Washington in 1795, and presented by him to Nelly (Calvert) Stuart,
+widow of John Parke Custis, Washington&rsquo;s adopted son. Her son George
+Washington Parke Custis, in whose presence the sittings were made, often spoke
+of the likeness as &ldquo;almost perfect.&rdquo;<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus02">MEMORIAL TABLET OF LAURENCE AND AMEE WASHINGTON, IN SULGRAVE
+CHURCH, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE</a><br/>
+The injury of the effigy of Laurence Washington and the entire disappearance of
+the effigy of Amee antedate the early part of the present century, and probably
+were done in the Puritan period. Since the above tracing was made the brasses
+of the eleven children have been stolen, leaving nothing but the lettering and
+the shield of the Washington arms.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus03">BETTY WASHINGTON, WIFE OF FIELDING LEWIS</a><br/>
+Painted about 1750, and erroneously alleged to be by Copley. Original in the
+possession of Mr. R. Byrd Lewis, of Marmion, Virginia.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus04">JOHN AND MARTHA CUSTIS</a><br/>
+Original in the possession of General G.W. Custis Lee, of Lexington, Virginia.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus05">MINIATURE OF ELEANOR PARKE CUSTIS</a><br/>
+From the miniature by Gilbert Stuart, in the possession of her grandson, Edward
+Parke Lewis Custis, of Hoboken, New Jersey.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus06">FICTITIOUS PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON</a><br/>
+The lettering reads, &ldquo;Done from an original Drawn from the Life, by
+Alex&rsquo;r Campbell of Williamsburg in Virginia. Published as the act directs
+9 Sept&rsquo;r 1775 by C. Shepherd.&rdquo; It is the first engraved portrait of
+Washington, and was issued to satisfy the English curiosity concerning the new
+commander-in-chief of the rebels. From the original print in the possession of
+Mr. W.F. Havemeyer, of New York.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus07">COPY SHEET FROM YOUNG MAN&rsquo;S COMPANION</a><br/>
+The sheet from which Washington modelled his handwriting, and to which his
+earliest script shows a marked resemblance. From the original in the possession
+of the author.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus08">LETTER TO MRS. FAIRFAX</a><br/>
+Showing changes and corrections made by Washington at a later date. From
+original copy-book in the Washington MSS. in the Department of State.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus09">PORTRAIT OF MARY PHILIPSE</a><br/>
+From the original formerly in the possession of Mr. Frederick Philipse.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus10">PORTRAIT OF MARTHA CUSTIS</a><br/>
+Alleged to have been painted by Woolaston about 1757. It has been asserted by
+Mr. L.W. Washington and Mr. Moncure D. Conway that this is a portrait of Betty
+Washington Lewis, but in this they are wholly in error, as proof exists that it
+is a portrait of Mrs. Washington before her second marriage.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus11">SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON HILLS</a><br/>
+Made by Washington as a boy, and one of the earliest specimens of his work. The
+small drawing of the house represents it as it was before Washington enlarged
+it, and is the only picture of it known. Original in the Department of State.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus12">MOUNTAIN ROAD LOTTERY TICKET</a><br/>
+From the original in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus13">FAMILY GROUP</a><br/>
+Painted by Edward Savage about 1795, and issued as a large engraving in 1798.
+The original picture is now in the possession of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of
+New York.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus14">DINNER INVITATION</a><br/>
+The official invitation while President, from the original in the possession of
+the author.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus15">DANCING AGREEMENT</a><br/>
+This gives only the first few names, many more following. The original was
+formerly in the possession of Mr. Thomas Biddle, of Philadelphia.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus16">BOOK-PLATE OF WASHINGTON</a><br/>
+This is a slight variation from the true Washington coat of arms, the changes
+being introduced by Washington. From the original in the possession of the
+author.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus17">SURVEY OF WAKEFIELD</a><br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s birthplace. The survey was made in 1743, on the property
+coming into the possession of Augustine Washington (second) from his father,
+with the object of readjusting the boundary-lines. Original in the possession
+of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New York.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus18">WASHINGTON FAMILY BIBLE</a><br/>
+This record, with the exception of the interlined note concerning Betty
+Washington Lewis, is in the handwriting of George Washington, and was written
+when he was about sixteen years old. Original in the possession of Mrs. Lewis
+Washington, of Charlestown, West Virginia.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus19">MINIATURE OF MRS. WASHINGTON</a><br/>
+By an unknown artist. From the original in the possession of General G.W.
+Custis Lee, of Lexington, Virginia.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus20">EARLIEST AUTOGRAPH OF WASHINGTON</a><br/>
+On a fly-leaf of the volume to which this title belongs is written, &ldquo;This
+autograph of Genl. Washington&rsquo;s name is believed to be the earliest
+specimen of his writing, when he was probably not more than 8 or 9 years of
+age.&rdquo; This is a note by G.C. Washington, to whom Washington&rsquo;s
+library descended. Original in the possession of the Boston Athenaeum.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus21">RULES OF CIVILITY</a><br/>
+First page of Washington&rsquo;s boyish transcript, written when he was about
+thirteen years of age. Used here by courtesy of Mr. S.M. Hamilton and
+&ldquo;Public Opinion,&rdquo; who are preparing a fac-simile edition of the
+entire rules.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus22">LIFE MASK BY HOUDON</a><br/>
+Taken by Houdon in October, 1785. From the replica in the Historical Society of
+Pennsylvania.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus23">TITLE-PAGE OF JOURNAL OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1754</a><br/>
+Of this first edition but two copies are known. From the original in the Lenox
+Library.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<a href="#illus24">PRESIDENTIAL HOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA</a><br/>
+Philadelphia offered to furnish the house for the President during the time
+Congress sat in that city, but Washington &ldquo;wholly declined living in any
+public building,&rdquo; and rented this house from Robert Morris. Though it was
+considered one of the finest in the city, Washington several times complained
+of being cramped.<br/><br/>
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus01"></a>
+<img src="images/img01.jpg" width="491" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">SHARPLESS MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON, 1795</p>
+</div>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap00"></a>Note</h2>
+
+<p>
+In every country boasting a history there may be observed a tendency to make
+its leaders or great men superhuman. Whether we turn to the legends of the
+East, the folk-lore of Europe, or the traditions of the native races of
+America, we find a mythology based upon the acts of man gifted with superhuman
+powers. In the unscientific, primeval periods in which these beliefs were born
+and elaborated into oral and written form, their origin is not surprising. But
+to all who have studied the creation of a mythology, no phase is a more curious
+one than that the keen, practical American of to-day should engage in the same
+process of hero-building which has given us Jupiter, Wotan, King Arthur, and
+others. By a slow evolution we have well-nigh discarded from the lives of our
+greatest men of the past all human faults and feelings; have enclosed their
+greatness in glass of the clearest crystal, and hung up a sign, &ldquo;Do not
+touch.&rdquo; Indeed, with such characters as Washington, Franklin, and Lincoln
+we have practically adopted the English maxim that &ldquo;the king can do no
+wrong.&rdquo; In place of men, limited by human limits, and influenced by human
+passions, we have demi-gods, so stripped of human characteristics as to make us
+question even whether they deserve much credit for their sacrifices and deeds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But with this process of canonization have we not lost more than we have
+gained, both in example and in interest? Many, no doubt, with the greatest
+veneration for our first citizen, have sympathized with the view expressed by
+Mark Twain, when he said that he was a greater man than Washington, for the
+latter &ldquo;couldn&rsquo;t tell a lie, while he could, but
+wouldn&rsquo;t&rdquo; We have endless biographies of Franklin, picturing him in
+all the public stations of life, but all together they do not equal in
+popularity his own human autobiography, in which we see him walking down Market
+Street with a roll under each arm, and devouring a third. And so it seems as if
+the time had come to put the shadow-boxes of humanity round our historic
+portraits, not because they are ornamental in themselves, but because they will
+make them examples, not mere idols.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the present work succeeds in humanizing Washington, and making him a man
+rather than a historical figure, its purpose will have been fulfilled. In the
+attempt to accomplish this, Washington has, so far as is possible, been made to
+speak for himself, even though at times it has compelled the sacrifice of
+literary form, in the hope that his own words would convey a greater sense of
+the personality of the man. So, too, liberal drafts have been made on the
+opinions and statements of his contemporaries; but, unless the contrary is
+stated or is obvious, all quoted matter is from Washington&rsquo;s own pen. It
+is with pleasure that the author adds that the result of his study has only
+served to make Washington the greater to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The writer is under the greatest obligation to his brother, Worthington
+Chauncey Ford, not merely for his numerous books on Washington, of which his
+&ldquo;Writings of George Washington&rdquo; is easily first in importance of
+all works relating to the great American, but also for much manuscript material
+which he has placed at the author&rsquo;s service. Hitherto unpublished facts
+have been drawn from many other sources, but notably from the rich collection
+of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New York, from the Department of State in
+Washington, and from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. To Mr. S.M.
+Hamilton, of the former institution, and to Mr. Frederick D. Stone, of the
+latter, the writer is particularly indebted for assistance.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2>THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON</h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap01"></a>I<br/>
+FAMILY RELATIONS</h2>
+
+<p>
+Although Washington wrote that the history of his ancestors was, in his
+opinion, &ldquo;of very little moment,&rdquo; and &ldquo;a subject to which I
+confess I have paid very little attention,&rdquo; few Americans can prove a
+better pedigree. The earliest of his forebears yet discovered was described as
+&ldquo;gentleman,&rdquo; the family were granted lands by Henry the Eighth,
+held various offices of honor, married into good families, and under the
+Stuarts two were knighted and a third served as page to Prince Charles.
+Lawrence, a brother of the three thus distinguished, matriculated at Oxford as
+a &ldquo;generosi filius&rdquo; (the intermediate class between sons of the
+nobility, &ldquo;armigeri filius,&rdquo; and of the people, &ldquo;plebeii
+filius&rdquo;), or as of the minor gentry. In time he became a fellow and
+lector of Brasenose College, and presently obtained the good living of
+Purleigh. Strong royalists, the fortunes of the family waned along with King
+Charles, and sank into insignificance with the passing of the Stuart dynasty.
+Not the least sufferer was the rector of Purleigh, for the Puritan Parliament
+ejected him from his living, on the charge &ldquo;that he was a common
+frequenter of ale-houses, not only himself sitting dayly tippling there … but
+hath oft been drunk,&rdquo;&mdash;a charge indignantly denied by the royalists,
+who asserted that he was a &ldquo;worthy Pious man, … always … a very Modest,
+Sober Person;&rdquo; and this latter claim is supported by the fact that though
+the Puritans sequestered the rich living, they made no objection to his serving
+as rector at Brixted Parva, where the living was &ldquo;such a Poor and
+Miserable one that it was always with difficulty that any one was persuaded to
+accept of it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poverty resulting, John, the eldest son of this rector, early took to the sea,
+and in 1656 assisted &ldquo;as second man in Sayleing ye Vessel to
+Virginia.&rdquo; Here he settled, took up land, presently became a county
+officer, a burgess, and a colonel of militia. In this latter function he
+commanded the Virginia troops during the Indian war of 1675, and when his
+great-grandson, George, on his first arrival on the frontier, was called by the
+Indians &ldquo;Conotocarius,&rdquo; or &ldquo;devourer of villages,&rdquo; the
+formidable but inappropriate title for the newly-fledged officer is supposed to
+have been due to the reputation that John Washington had won for his name among
+the Indians eighty years before.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus02"></a>
+<img src="images/img02.jpg" width="341" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">TABLET TO LAURENCE WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY IN SULGRAVE CHURCH</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Both John&rsquo;s son, Lawrence, and Lawrence&rsquo;s son, Augustine, describe
+themselves in their wills as &ldquo;gentlemen,&rdquo; and both intermarried
+with the &ldquo;gentry families&rdquo; of Virginia. Augustine was educated at
+Appleby School, in England, like his grandfather followed the sea for a time,
+was interested in iron mines, and in other ways proved himself far more than
+the average Virginia planter of his day. He was twice married,&mdash;which
+marriages, with unconscious humor, he describes in his will as &ldquo;several
+Ventures,&rdquo;&mdash;had ten children, and died in 1743, when George, his
+fifth child and the first by his second &ldquo;Venture,&rdquo; was a boy of
+eleven. The father thus took little part in the life of the lad, and almost the
+only mention of him by his son still extant is the one recorded in
+Washington&rsquo;s round school-boy hand in the family Bible, to the effect
+that &ldquo;Augustine Washington and Mary Ball was Married the Sixth of March
+17-30/31. Augustine Washington Departed this Life ye 12th Day of April 1743,
+Aged 49 Years.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The mother, Mary Washington, was more of a factor, though chiefly by mere
+length of life, for she lived to be eighty-three, and died but ten years before
+her son. That Washington owed his personal appearance to the Balls is true, but
+otherwise the sentimentality that has been lavished about the relations between
+the two and her influence upon him, partakes of fiction rather than of truth.
+After his father&rsquo;s death the boy passed most of his time at the homes of
+his two elder brothers, and this was fortunate, for they were educated men, of
+some colonial consequence, while his mother lived in comparatively straitened
+circumstances, was illiterate and untidy, and, moreover, if tradition is to be
+believed, smoked a pipe. Her course with the lad was blamed by a contemporary
+as &ldquo;fond and unthinking,&rdquo; and this is borne out by such facts as
+can be gleaned, for when his brothers wished to send him to sea she made
+&ldquo;trifling objections,&rdquo; and prevented his taking what they thought
+an advantageous opening; when the brilliant offer of a position on
+Braddock&rsquo;s staff was tendered to Washington, his mother, &ldquo;alarmed
+at the report,&rdquo; hurried to Mount Vernon and endeavored to prevent him
+from accepting it; still again, after Braddock&rsquo;s defeat, she so wearied
+her son with pleas not to risk the dangers of another campaign that Washington
+finally wrote her, &ldquo;It would reflect dishonor upon me to refuse; and
+<i>that</i>, I am sure, must or <i>ought</i> to give you greater uneasiness,
+than my going in an honorable command.&rdquo; After he inherited Mount Vernon
+the two seem to have seen little of each other, though, when occasion took him
+near Fredericksburg, he usually stopped to see her for a few hours, or even for
+a night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though Washington always wrote to his mother as &ldquo;Honored Madam,&rdquo;
+and signed himself &ldquo;your dutiful and aff. son,&rdquo; she none the less
+tried him not a little. He never claimed from her a part of the share of his
+father&rsquo;s estate which was his due on becoming of age, and, in addition,
+&ldquo;a year or two before I left Virginia (to make her latter days
+comfortable and free from care) I did, at her request, but at my own expence,
+purchase a commodious house, garden and Lotts (of her own choosing) in
+Fredericksburg, that she might be near my sister Lewis, her only
+daughter,&mdash;and did moreover agree to take her land and negroes at a
+certain yearly rent, to be fixed by Colo Lewis and others (of her own
+nomination) which has been an annual expence to me ever since, as the estate
+never raised one half the rent I was to pay. Before I left Virginia I answered
+all her calls for money; and since that period have directed my steward to do
+the same.&rdquo; Furthermore, he gave her a phaeton, and when she complained of
+her want of comfort he wrote her, &ldquo;My house is at your service, and [I]
+would press you most sincerely and most devoutly to accept it, but I am sure,
+and candor requires me to say, it will never answer your purposes in any shape
+whatsoever. For in truth it may be compared to a well resorted tavern, as
+scarcely any strangers who are going from north to south, or from south to
+north, do not spend a day or two at it. This would, were you to be an
+inhabitant of it, oblige you to do one of 3 things: 1st, to be always dressing
+to appear in company; 2d, to come into [the room] in a dishabille, or 3d to be
+as it were a prisoner in your own chamber. The first you&rsquo;ld not like;
+indeed, for a person at your time of life it would be too fatiguing. The 2d, I
+should not like, because those who resort here are, as I observed before,
+strangers and people of the first distinction. And the 3d, more than probably,
+would not be pleasing to either of us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Under these circumstances it was with real indignation that Washington learned
+that complaints of hers that she &ldquo;never lived soe poore in all my
+life&rdquo; were so well known that there was a project to grant her a pension.
+The pain this caused a man who always showed such intense dislike to taking
+even money earned from public coffers, and who refused everything in the nature
+of a gift, can easily be understood. He at once wrote a letter to a friend in
+the Virginia Assembly, in which, after reciting enough of what he had done for
+her to prove that she was under no necessity of a pension,&mdash;&ldquo;or, in
+other words, receiving charity from the public,&rdquo;&mdash;he continued,
+&ldquo;But putting these things aside, which I could not avoid mentioning in
+exculpation of a presumptive want of duty on my part; confident I am that she
+has not a child that would not divide the last sixpence to relieve her from
+real distress. This she has been repeatedly assured of by me; and all of us, I
+am certain, would feel much hurt, at having our mother a pensioner, while we
+had the means of supporting her; but in fact she has an ample income of her
+own. I lament accordingly that your letter, which conveyed the first hint of
+this matter, did not come to my hands sooner; but I request, in pointed terms,
+if the matter is now in agitation in your Assembly, that all proceedings on it
+may be stopped, or in case of a decision in her favor, that it may be done away
+and repealed at my request.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still greater mortification was in store for him, when he was told that she was
+borrowing and accepting gifts from her neighbors, and learned &ldquo;on good
+authority that she is, upon all occasions and in all companies, complaining …
+of her wants and difficulties; and if not in direct terms, at least by strong
+innuendoes, endeavors to excite a belief that times are much altered, &amp;c.,
+&amp;c., which not only makes <i>her</i> appear in an unfavorable point of
+view, but <i>those also</i> who are connected with her.&rdquo; To save her
+feelings he did not express the &ldquo;pain&rdquo; he felt to her, but he wrote
+a brother asking him to ascertain if there was the slightest basis in her
+complaints, and &ldquo;see what is necessary to make her comfortable,&rdquo;
+for &ldquo;while I have anything I will part with it to make her so;&rdquo; but
+begging him &ldquo;at the same time … to represent to her in delicate terms,
+the impropriety of her complaints, and <i>acceptance</i> of favors, even when
+they are voluntarily offered, from any but relations.&rdquo; Though he did not
+&ldquo;touch upon this subject in a letter to her,&rdquo; he was enough fretted
+to end the renting of her plantation, not because &ldquo;I mean … to withhold
+any aid or support I can give from you; for whilst I have a shilling left, you
+shall have part,&rdquo; but because &ldquo;what I shall then give, I shall have
+credit for,&rdquo; and not be &ldquo;viewed as a delinquent, and considered
+perhaps by the world as [an] unjust and undutiful son.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the last years of her life a cancer developed, which she refused to have
+&ldquo;dressed,&rdquo; and over which, as her doctor wrote Washington, the
+&ldquo;Old Lady&rdquo; and he had &ldquo;a small battle every day.&rdquo; Once
+Washington was summoned by an express to her bedside &ldquo;to bid, as I was
+prepared to expect, the last adieu to an honored parent,&rdquo; but it was a
+false alarm. Her health was so bad, however, that just before he started to New
+York to be inaugurated he rode to Fredericksburg, &ldquo;and took a final leave
+of my mother, never expecting to see her more,&rdquo; a surmise that proved
+correct.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Only Elizabeth&mdash;or &ldquo;Betty&rdquo;&mdash;of Washington&rsquo;s sisters
+grew to womanhood, and it is said that she was so strikingly like her brother
+that, disguised with a long cloak and a military hat, the difference between
+them was scarcely detectable. She married Fielding Lewis, and lived at
+&ldquo;Kenmore House&rdquo; on the Rappahannock, where Washington spent many a
+night, as did the Lewises at Mount Vernon. During the Revolution, while
+visiting there, she wrote her brother, &ldquo;Oh, when will that day arrive
+when we shall meet again. Trust in the lord it will be soon,&mdash;till when,
+you have the prayers and kind wishes for your health and happiness of your
+loving and sincerely affectionate sister.&rdquo; Her husband died &ldquo;much
+indebted,&rdquo; and from that time her brother gave her occasional sums of
+money, and helped her in other ways.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her eldest son followed in his father&rsquo;s footsteps, and displeased
+Washington with requests for loans. He angered him still more by conduct
+concerning which Washington wrote to him as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Sir, Your letter of the 11th of Octor. never came to my hands
+&rsquo;till yesterday. Altho&rsquo; your disrespectful conduct towards me, in
+coming into this country and spending weeks therein without ever coming near
+me, entitled you to very little notice or favor from me; yet I consent that you
+may get timber from off my Land in Fauquier County to build a house on your
+Lott in Rectertown. Having granted this, now let me ask you what your views
+were in purchasing a Lott in a place which, I presume, originated with and will
+end in two or three Gin shops, which probably will exist no longer than they
+serve to ruin the proprietors, and those who make the most frequent
+applications to them. I am, &amp;c.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus03"></a>
+<img src="images/img03.jpg" width="394" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">MRS FIELDING LEWIS (BETTY WASHINGTON)</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Other of the Lewis boys pleased him better, and he appointed one an officer in
+his own &ldquo;Life Guard.&rdquo; Of another he wrote, when President, to his
+sister, &ldquo;If your son Howell is living with you, and not usefully employed
+in your own affairs, and should incline to spend a few months with me, as a
+writer in my office (if he is fit for it) I will allow him at the rate of three
+hundred dollars a year, provided he is diligent in discharging the duties of it
+from breakfast until dinner&mdash;Sundays excepted. This sum will be punctually
+paid him, and I am particular in declaring beforehand what I require, and what
+he may expect, that there may be no disappointment, or false expectations on
+either side. He will live in the family in the same manner his brother Robert
+did.&rdquo; This Robert had been for some time one of his secretaries, and at
+another time was employed as a rent-collector.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still another son, Lawrence, also served him in these dual capacities, and
+Washington, on his retirement from the Presidency, offered him a home at Mount
+Vernon. This led to a marriage with Mrs. Washington&rsquo;s grandchild, Eleanor
+Custis, a match which so pleased Washington that he made arrangements for
+Lawrence to build on the Mount Vernon estate, in his will named him an
+executor, and left the couple a part of this property, as well as a portion of
+the residuary estate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As already noted, much of Washington&rsquo;s early life was passed at the homes
+of his elder (half-) brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, who lived respectively
+at Mount Vernon and Wakefield. When Lawrence developed consumption, George was
+his travelling companion in a trip to Barbadoes, and from him, when he died of
+that disease, in 1752, came the bequest of Mount Vernon to &ldquo;my loveing
+brother George.&rdquo; To Augustine, in the only letter now extant, Washington
+wrote, &ldquo;The pleasure of your company at Mount Vernon always did, and
+always will afford me infinite satisfaction,&rdquo; and signed himself
+&ldquo;your most affectionate brother.&rdquo; Surviving this brother, he left
+handsome bequests to all his children.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Samuel, the eldest of his own brothers, and his junior by but two years, though
+constantly corresponded with, was not a favorite. He seems to have had
+extravagant tendencies, variously indicated by five marriages, and by (perhaps
+as a consequence) pecuniary difficulties. In 1781, Washington wrote to another
+brother, &ldquo;In God&rsquo;s name how did my brother Samuel get himself so
+enormously in debt?&rdquo; Very quickly requests for loans followed, than which
+nothing was more irritating to Washington. Yet, though he replied that it would
+be &ldquo;very inconvenient&rdquo; to him, his ledger shows that at least two
+thousand dollars were advanced, and in a letter to this brother, on the danger
+of borrowing at interest, Washington wrote, &ldquo;I do not make these
+observations on account of the money I purpose to lend you, because all I shall
+require is that you return the net sum when in your power, without
+interest.&rdquo; Better even than this, in his will Washington discharged the
+debt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the family of Samuel, Washington was equally helpful. For the eldest son he
+obtained an ensigncy, and &ldquo;to save Thornton and you [Samuel] the expence
+of buying a horse to ride home on, I have lent him a mare.&rdquo; Two other
+sons he assumed all the expenses of, and showed an almost fatherly interest in
+them. He placed them at school, and when the lads proved somewhat unruly he
+wrote them long admonitory letters, which became stern when actual misconduct
+ensued, and when one of them ran away to Mount Vernon to escape a whipping,
+Washington himself prepared &ldquo;to correct him, but he begged so earnestly
+and promised so faithfully that there should be no cause for complaint in the
+future, that I have suspended punishment.&rdquo; Later the two were sent to
+college, and in all cost Washington &ldquo;near five thousand dollars.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An even greater trouble was their sister Harriot, whose care was assumed in
+1785, and who was a member of Washington&rsquo;s household, with only a slight
+interruption, till her marriage in 1796. Her chief failing was &ldquo;no
+disposition … to be careful of her cloathes,&rdquo; which were &ldquo;dabbed
+about in every hole and corner and her best things always in use,&rdquo; so
+that Washington said &ldquo;she costs me enough!&rdquo; To her uncle she wrote
+on one occasion, &ldquo;How shall I apologise to my dear and Honor&rsquo;d for
+intruding on his goodness so soon again, but being sensible for your kindness
+to me which I shall ever remember with the most heartfelt gratitude induces me
+to make known my wants. I have not had a pair of stays since I first came here:
+if you could let me have a pair I should be very much obleiged to you, and also
+a hat and a few other articles. I hope my dear Uncle will not think me
+extravagant for really I take as much care of my cloaths as I possibly
+can.&rdquo; Probably the expense that pleased him best in her case was that
+which he recorded in his ledger &ldquo;By Miss Harriot Washington gave her to
+buy wedding clothes $100.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His second and favorite brother, John Augustine, who was four years his junior,
+Washington described as &ldquo;the intimate companion of my youth and the
+friend of my ripened age.&rdquo; While the Virginia colonel was on the
+frontier, from 1754 to 1759, he left John in charge of all his business
+affairs, giving him a residence at and management of Mount Vernon. With this
+brother he constantly corresponded, addressing him as &ldquo;Dear Jack,&rdquo;
+and writing in the most intimate and affectionate terms, not merely to him, but
+when John had taken unto himself a wife, to her, and to &ldquo;the little
+ones,&rdquo; and signing himself &ldquo;your loving brother.&rdquo; Visits
+between the two were frequent, and invitations for the same still more so, and
+in one letter, written during the most trying moment of the Revolution,
+Washington said, &ldquo;God grant you all health and happiness. Nothing in this
+world could contribute so to mine as to be fixed among you.&rdquo; John died in
+1787, and Washington wrote with simple but undisguised grief of the death of
+&ldquo;my beloved brother.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The eldest son of this brother, Bushrod, was his favorite nephew, and
+Washington took much interest in his career, getting the lad admitted to study
+law with Judge James Wilson, in Philadelphia, and taking genuine pride in him
+when he became a lawyer and judge of repute. He made this nephew his travelling
+companion in the Western journey of 1784, and at other times not merely sent
+him money, but wrote him letters of advice, dwelling on the dangers that beset
+young men, though confessing that he was himself &ldquo;not such a Stoic&rdquo;
+as to expect too much of youthful blood. To Bushrod, also, he appealed on legal
+matters, adding, &ldquo;You may think me an unprofitable applicant in asking
+opinions and requiring services of you without dousing my money, but pay day
+may come,&rdquo; and in this he was as good as his word, for in his will
+Washington left Bushrod, &ldquo;partly in consideration of an intimation to his
+deceased father, while we were bachelors and he had kindly undertaken to
+superintend my Estates, during my military services in the former war between
+Great Britain and France, that if I should fall therein, Mt. Vernon … should
+become his property,&rdquo; the home and &ldquo;mansion-house farm,&rdquo; one
+share of the residuary estate, his private papers, and his library, and named
+him an executor of the instrument.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of Washington&rsquo;s relations with his youngest brother, Charles, little can
+be learned. He was the last of his brothers to die, and Washington outlived him
+so short a time that he was named in his will, though only for a mere token of
+remembrance. &ldquo;I add nothing to it because of the ample provision I have
+made for his issue.&rdquo; Of the children so mentioned, Washington was
+particularly fond of George Augustine Washington. As a mere lad he used his
+influence to procure for him an ensigncy in a Virginia regiment, and an
+appointment on Lafayette&rsquo;s staff. When in 1784 the young fellow was
+threatened with consumption, his uncle&rsquo;s purse supplied him with the
+funds by which he was enabled to travel, even while Washington wrote,
+&ldquo;Poor fellow! his pursuit after health is, I fear, altogether
+fruitless.&rdquo; When better health came, and with it a renewal of a troth
+with a niece of Mrs. Washington&rsquo;s, the marriage was made possible by
+Washington appointing the young fellow his manager, and not merely did it take
+place at Mount Vernon, but the young couple took up their home there. More than
+this, that their outlook might be &ldquo;more stable and pleasing,&rdquo;
+Washington promised them that on his death they should not be forgotten. When
+the disease again developed, Washington wrote his nephew in genuine anxiety,
+and ended his letter, &ldquo;At all times and under all circumstances you and
+yours will possess my affectionate regards.&rdquo; Only a few days later the
+news of his nephew&rsquo;s death reached him, and he wrote his widow, &ldquo;To
+you who so well know the affectionate regard I had for our departed friend, it
+is unnecessary to describe the sorrow with which I was afflicted at the news of
+his death.&rdquo; He asked her and her children &ldquo;to return to your old
+habitation at Mount Vernon. You can go to no place where you can be more
+welcome, nor to any where you can live at less expence and trouble,&rdquo; an
+offer, he adds, &ldquo;made to you with my whole heart.&rdquo; Furthermore,
+Washington served as executor, assumed the expense of educating one of the
+sons, and in his will left the two children part of the Mount Vernon estate, as
+well as other bequests, &ldquo;on account of the affection I had for, and the
+obligation I was under to their father when living, who from his youth attached
+himself to my person, and followed my fortunes through the vicissitudes of the
+late Revolution, afterwards devoting his time for many years whilst my public
+employments rendered it impracticable for me to do it myself, thereby affording
+me essential services and always performing them in a manner the most filial
+and respectful.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of his wife&rsquo;s kith and kin Washington was equally fond. Both alone and
+with Mrs. Washington he often visited her mother, Mrs. Dandridge, and in 1773
+he wrote to a brother-in-law that he wished &ldquo;I was master of Arguments
+powerful enough to prevail upon Mrs. Dandridge to make this place her entire
+and absolute home. I should think as she lives a lonesome life (Betsey being
+married) it might suit her well, &amp; be agreeable, both to herself &amp; my
+Wife, to me most assuredly it would.&rdquo; Washington was also a frequent
+visitor at &ldquo;Eltham,&rdquo; the home of Colonel Bassett, who had married
+his wife&rsquo;s sister, and constantly corresponded with these relatives. He
+asked this whole family to be his guests at the Warm Springs, and, as this
+meant camping out in tents, he wrote, &ldquo;You will have occasion to provide
+nothing, if I can be advised of your intentions, so that I may provide
+accordingly.&rdquo; To another brother-in-law, Bartholomew Dandridge, he lent
+money, and forgave the debt to the widow in his will, also giving her the use
+during her life of the thirty-three negroes he had bid in at the bankruptcy
+sale of her husband&rsquo;s property.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The pleasantest glimpses of family feeling are gained, however, in his
+relations with his wife&rsquo;s children and grandchildren. John Parke and
+Martha Parke Custis&mdash;or &ldquo;Jack&rdquo; and &ldquo;Patsey,&rdquo; as he
+called them&mdash;were at the date of his marriage respectively six and four
+years of age, and in the first invoice of goods to be shipped to him from
+London after he had become their step-father, Washington ordered &ldquo;10
+shillings worth of Toys,&rdquo; &ldquo;6 little books for children beginning to
+read,&rdquo; and &ldquo;1 fashionable-dressed baby to cost 10 shillings.&rdquo;
+When this latter shared the usual fate, he further wrote for &ldquo;1
+fashionable dress Doll to cost a guinea,&rdquo; and for &ldquo;A box of
+Gingerbread Toys &amp; Sugar Images or Comfits.&rdquo; A little later he
+ordered a Bible and Prayer-Book for each, &ldquo;neatly bound in Turkey,&rdquo;
+with names &ldquo;in gilt letters on the inside of the cover,&rdquo; followed
+ere long by an order for &ldquo;1 very good Spinet&rdquo; As Patsy grew to
+girlhood she developed fits, and &ldquo;solely on her account to try (by the
+advice of her Physician) the effect of the waters on her Complaint,&rdquo;
+Washington took the family over the mountains and camped at the &ldquo;Warm
+Springs&rdquo; in 1769, with &ldquo;little benefit,&rdquo; for, after ailing
+four years longer, &ldquo;she was seized with one of her usual Fits &amp;
+expired in it, in less than two minutes, without uttering a word, or groan, or
+scarce a sigh.&rdquo; &ldquo;The Sweet Innocent Girl,&rdquo; Washington wrote,
+&ldquo;entered into a more happy &amp; peaceful abode than she has met with in
+the afflicted Path she has hitherto trod,&rdquo; but none the less &ldquo;it is
+an easier matter to conceive than to describe the distress of this
+family&rdquo; at the loss of &ldquo;dear Patsy Custis.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus04"></a>
+<img src="images/img04.jpg" width="409" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">JOHN AND MARTHA PARKE CUSTIS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The care of Jack Custis was a worry to Washington in quite another way. As a
+lad, Custis signed his letters to him as &ldquo;your most affectionate and
+dutiful son,&rdquo; &ldquo;yet I conceive,&rdquo; Washington wrote,
+&ldquo;there is much greater circumspection to be observed by a guardian than a
+natural parent.&rdquo; Soon after assuming charge of the boy, a tutor was
+secured, who lived at Mount Vernon, but the boy showed little inclination to
+study, and when fourteen, Washington wrote that &ldquo;his mind [is] … more
+turned … to Dogs, Horses and Guns, indeed upon Dress and equipage.&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Having his well being much at heart,&rdquo; Washington wished to make
+him &ldquo;fit for more useful purposes than [a] horse racer,&rdquo; and so
+Jack was placed with a clergyman, who agreed to instruct him, and with him he
+lived, except for some home visits, for three years. Unfortunately, the lad,
+like the true Virginian planter of his day, had no taste for study, and had
+&ldquo;a propensity for the [fair] sex.&rdquo; After two or three flirtations,
+he engaged himself, without the knowledge of his mother or guardian, to Nellie
+Calvert, a match to which no objection could be made, except that, owing to his
+&ldquo;youth and fickleness,&rdquo; &ldquo;he may either change and therefore
+injure the young lady; or that it may precipitate him into a marriage before, I
+am certain, he has ever bestowed a serious thought of the consequences; by
+which means his education is interrupted.&rdquo; To avoid this danger,
+Washington took his ward to New York and entered him in King&rsquo;s College,
+but the death of Patsy Custis put a termination to study, for Mrs. Washington
+could not bear to have the lad at such a distance, and Washington &ldquo;did
+not care, as he is the last of the family, to push my opposition too
+far.&rdquo; Accordingly, Jack returned to Virginia and promptly married.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The young couple were much at Mount Vernon from this time on, and Washington
+wrote to &ldquo;Dear Jack,&rdquo; &ldquo;I am always pleased with yours and
+Nelly&rsquo;s abidance at Mount Vernon.&rdquo; When the winter snows made the
+siege of Boston purely passive, the couple journeyed with Mrs. Washington to
+Cambridge, and visited at head-quarters for some months. The arrival of
+children prevented the repetition of such visits, but frequent letters, which
+rarely failed to send love to &ldquo;Nelly and the little girls,&rdquo; were
+exchanged. The acceptance of command compelled Washington to resign the care of
+Custis&rsquo;s estate, for which service &ldquo;I have never charged him or his
+sister, from the day of my connexion with them to this hour, one farthing for
+all the trouble I have had in managing their estates, nor for any expense they
+have been to me, notwithstanding some hundreds of pounds would not reimburse
+the moneys I have actually paid in attending the public meetings in
+Williamsburg to collect their debts, and transact these several matters
+appertaining to the respective estates.&rdquo; Washington, however, continued
+his advice as to its management, and in other letters advised him concerning
+his conduct when Custis was elected a member of the Virginia House of
+Delegates. In the siege of Yorktown Jack served as an officer of militia, and
+the exposure proved too much for him. Immediately after the surrender, news
+reached Washington of his serious illness, and by riding thirty miles in one
+day he succeeded in reaching Eltham in &ldquo;time enough to see poor Mr.
+Custis breath his last,&rdquo; leaving behind him &ldquo;four lovely children,
+three girls and a boy.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Owing to his public employment, Washington refused to be guardian for these
+&ldquo;little ones,&rdquo; writing &ldquo;that it would be injurious to the
+children and madness in me, to undertake, <i>as a principle</i>, a trust which
+I could not discharge. Such aid, however, as it ever may be with me to give to
+the children especially the boy, I will afford with all my heart, and on this
+assurance you may rely.&rdquo; Yet &ldquo;from their earliest infancy&rdquo;
+two of Jack&rsquo;s children, George Washington Parke and Eleanor Parke Custis,
+lived at Mount Vernon, for, as Washington wrote in his will, &ldquo;it has
+always been my intention, since my expectation of having issue has ceased, to
+consider the grandchildren of my wife in the same light as my own relations,
+and to act a friendly part by them.&rdquo; Though the cares of war prevented
+his watching their property interests, his eight years&rsquo; absence could not
+make him forget them, and on his way to Annapolis, in 1783, to tender Congress
+his resignation, he spent sundry hours of his time in the purchase of gifts
+obviously intended to increase the joy of his homecoming to the family circle
+at Mount Vernon; set forth in his note-book as follows:
+</p>
+
+<table summary="" style="margin-left: 3em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
+
+<tr>
+<td>&ldquo;By Sundries bo<sup>t</sup>. in Phil<sup>a</sup>.</td><td></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>A Locket</td><td>£5  5</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>3 Small Pockt. Books</td><td>1  10</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>3 Sashes</td><td>1  5  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Dress Cap</td><td>2  8</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Hatt</td><td>3  10</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Handkerchief</td><td>1</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Childrens Books</td><td>4  6</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Whirligig</td><td>1  6</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Fiddle</td><td>2  6</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Quadrille Boxes</td><td>1  17  6.&rdquo;</td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<p>
+Indeed, in every way Washington showed how entirely he considered himself as a
+father, not merely speaking of them frequently as &ldquo;the children,&rdquo;
+but even alluding to himself in a letter to the boy as &ldquo;your papa.&rdquo;
+Both were much his companions during the Presidency. A frequent sight in New
+York and Philadelphia was Washington taking &ldquo;exercise in the coach with
+Mrs. Washington and the two children,&rdquo; and several times they were taken
+to the theatre and on picnics.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For Eleanor, or &ldquo;Nelly,&rdquo; who grew into a great beauty, Washington
+showed the utmost tenderness, and on occasion interfered to save her from her
+grandmother, who at moments was inclined to be severe, in one case to bring the
+storm upon himself. For her was bought a &ldquo;Forte piano,&rdquo; and later,
+at the cost of a thousand dollars, a very fine imported harpsichord, and one of
+Washington&rsquo;s great pleasures was to have her play and sing to him. His
+ledger constantly shows gifts to her ranging from &ldquo;The Wayworn traveller,
+a song for Miss Custis,&rdquo; to &ldquo;a pr. of gold eardrops&rdquo; and a
+watch. The two corresponded. One letter from Washington merits quotation:
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus05"></a>
+<img src="images/img05.jpg" width="454" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">ELLANOR (NELLY) CUSTIS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let me touch a little now on your Georgetown ball, and happy, thrice
+happy, for the fair who assembled on the occasion, that there was a man to
+spare; for had there been 79 ladies and only 78 gentlemen, there might, in the
+course of the evening have been some disorder among the caps; notwithstanding
+the apathy which <i>one</i> of the company entertains for the
+&lsquo;<i>youth</i>&rsquo; of the present day, and her determination
+&lsquo;Never to give herself a moment&rsquo;s uneasiness on account of any of
+them.&rsquo; A hint here; men and women feel the same inclinations towards each
+other <i>now</i> that they always have done, and which they will continue to do
+until there is a new order of things, and <i>you</i>, as others have done, may
+find, perhaps, that the passions of your sex are easier raised than allayed. Do
+not therefore boast too soon or too strongly of your insensibility to, or
+resistance of, its powers. In the composition of the human frame there is a
+good deal of inflammable matter, however dormant it may lie for a time, and
+like an intimate acquaintance of yours, when the torch is put to it,
+<i>that</i> which is <i>within you</i> may burst into a blaze; for which reason
+and especially too, as I have entered upon the chapter of advices, I will read
+you a lecture from this text.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not long after this was written, Nelly, as already mentioned, was married at
+Mount Vernon to Washington&rsquo;s nephew, Lawrence Lewis, and in time became
+joint-owner with her husband of part of that place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As early as 1785 a tutor was wanted for &ldquo;little Washington,&rdquo; as the
+lad was called, and Washington wrote to England to ask if some &ldquo;worthy
+man of the cloth could not be obtained,&rdquo; &ldquo;for the boy is a
+remarkably fine one, and my intention is to give him a liberal
+education.&rdquo; His training became part of the private secretary&rsquo;s
+duty, both at Mount Vernon and New York and Philadelphia, but the lad inherited
+his father&rsquo;s traits, and &ldquo;from his infancy … discovered an almost
+unconquerable disposition to indolence.&rdquo; This led to failures which gave
+Washington &ldquo;extreme disquietude,&rdquo; and in vain he &ldquo;exhorted
+him in the most parental and friendly manner.&rdquo; Custis would express
+&ldquo;sorrow and repentance&rdquo; and do no better. Successively he was sent
+to the College of Philadelphia, the College of New Jersey, and that at
+Annapolis, but from each he was expelled, or had to be withdrawn. Irritating as
+it must have been, his guardian never in his letters expressed anything but
+affection, shielded the lad from the anger of his step-father, and saw that he
+was properly supplied with money, of which he asked him to keep a careful
+account,&mdash;though this, as Washington wrote, was &ldquo;not because I want
+to know how you spend your money.&rdquo; After the last college failure a
+private tutor was once more engaged, but a very few weeks served to give
+Washington &ldquo;a thorough conviction that it was in vain to keep Washington
+Custis to any literary pursuits, either in a public Seminary or at home,&rdquo;
+and, as the next best thing, he procured him a cornetcy in the provisional
+army. Even here, balance was shown; for, out of compliment and friendship to
+Washington, &ldquo;the Major Generals were desirous of placing him as
+lieutenant in the first instance; but his age considered, I thought it more
+eligible that he should enter into the lowest grade.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this connection one side of Washington&rsquo;s course with his relations
+deserves especial notice. As early as 1756 he applied for a commission in the
+Virginia forces for his brother, and, as already shown, he placed several of
+his nephews and other connections in the Revolutionary or provisional armies.
+But he made clear distinction between military and civil appointments, and was
+very scrupulous about the latter. When his favorite nephew asked for a Federal
+appointment, Washington answered,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You cannot doubt my wishes to see you appointed to any office of honor
+or emolument in the new government, to the duties of which you are competent;
+but however deserving you may be of the one you have suggested, your standing
+at the bar would not justify my nomination of you as attorney to the Federal
+District Court in preference to some of the oldest and most esteemed general
+court lawyers in your State, who are desirous of this appointment. My political
+conduct in nominations, even if I were uninfluenced by principle, must be
+exceedingly circumspect and proof against just criticism; for the eyes of Argus
+are upon me, and no slip will pass unnoticed, that can be improved into a
+supposed partiality for friends or relations.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And that in this policy he was consistent is shown by a letter of Jefferson,
+who wrote to an office-seeking relative, &ldquo;The public will never be made
+to believe that an appointment of a relative is made on the ground of merit
+alone, uninfluenced by family views; nor can they ever see with approbation
+offices, the disposal of which they entrust to their Presidents for public
+purposes, divided out as family property. Mr. Adams degraded himself infinitely
+by his conduct on this subject, as Genl. Washington had done himself the
+greatest honor. With two such examples to proceed by, I should be doubly
+inexcusable to err.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were many other more distant relatives with whom pleasant relations were
+maintained, but enough has been said to indicate the intercourse. Frequent were
+the house-parties at Mount Vernon, and how unstinted hospitality was to kith
+and kin is shown by many entries in Washington&rsquo;s diary, a single one of
+which will indicate the rest: &ldquo;I set out for my return home&mdash;at
+which I arrived a little after noon&mdash;And found my Brother Jon Augustine
+his Wife; Daughter Milly, &amp; Sons Bushrod &amp; Corbin, &amp; the Wife of
+the first. Mr. Willm Washington &amp; his Wife and 4 Children.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His will left bequests to forty-one of his own and his wife&rsquo;s relations.
+&ldquo;God left him childless that he might be the father of his
+country.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap02"></a>II<br/>
+PHYSIQUE</h2>
+
+<p>
+Writing to his London tailor for clothes, in 1763, Washington directed him to
+&ldquo;take measure of a gentleman who wares well-made cloaths of the following
+size: to wit, 6 feet high and proportionably made&mdash;if anything rather
+slender than thick, for a person of that highth, with pretty long arms and
+thighs. You will take care to make the breeches longer than those you sent me
+last, and I would have you keep the measure of the cloaths you now make, by
+you, and if any alteration is required in my next it shall be pointed
+out.&rdquo; About this time, too, he ordered &ldquo;6 pr. Man&rsquo;s riding
+Gloves&mdash;rather large than the middle size,&rdquo;… and several dozen pairs
+of stockings, &ldquo;to be long, and tolerably large.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The earliest known description of Washington was written in 1760 by his
+companion-in-arms and friend George Mercer, who attempted a
+&ldquo;portraiture&rdquo; in the following words: &ldquo;He may be described as
+being as straight as an Indian, measuring six feet two inches in his stockings,
+and weighing 175 pounds when he took his seat in the House of Burgesses in
+1759. His frame is padded with well-developed muscles, indicating great
+strength. His bones and joints are large, as are his feet and hands. He is wide
+shouldered, but has not a deep or round chest; is neat waisted, but is broad
+across the hips, and has rather long legs and arms. His head is well shaped
+though not large, but is gracefully poised on a superb neck. A large and
+straight rather than prominent nose; blue-gray penetrating eyes, which are
+widely separated and overhung by a heavy brow. His face is long rather than
+broad, with high round cheek bones, and terminates in a good firm chin. He has
+a clear though rather a colorless pale skin, which burns with the sun. A
+pleasing, benevolent, though a commanding countenance, dark brown hair, which
+he wears in a cue. His mouth is large and generally firmly closed, but which
+from time to time discloses some defective teeth. His features are regular and
+placid, with all the muscles of his face under perfect control, though flexible
+and expressive of deep feeling when moved by emotion. In conversation he looks
+you full in the face, is deliberate, deferential and engaging. His voice is
+agreeable rather than strong. His demeanor at all times composed and dignified.
+His movements and gestures are graceful, his walk majestic, and he is a
+splendid horseman.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dr. James Thacher, writing in 1778, depicted him as &ldquo;remarkably tall,
+full six feet, erect and well proportioned. The strength and proportion of his
+joints and muscles, appear to be commensurate with the pre-eminent powers of
+his mind. The serenity of his countenance, and majestic gracefulness of his
+deportment, impart a strong impression of that dignity and grandeur, which are
+his peculiar characteristics, and no one can stand in his presence without
+feeling the ascendancy of his mind, and associating with his countenance the
+idea of wisdom, philanthropy, magnanimity and patriotism. There is a fine
+symmetry in the features of his face, indicative of a benign and dignified
+spirit. His nose is straight, and his eye inclined to blue. He wears his hair
+in a becoming cue, and from his forehead it is turned back and powdered in a
+manner which adds to the military air of his appearance. He displays a native
+gravity, but devoid of all appearance of ostentation.&rdquo; In this same year
+a friend wrote, &ldquo;General Washington is now in the forty-seventh year of
+his age; he is a well-made man, rather large boned, and has a tolerably genteel
+address; his features are manly and bold, his eyes of a bluish cast and very
+lively; his hair a deep brown, his face rather long and marked with the
+small-pox; his complexion sunburnt and without much color, and his countenance
+sensible, composed and thoughtful; there is a remarkable air of dignity about
+him, with a striking degree of gracefulness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1789 Senator Maclay saw &ldquo;him as he really is. In stature about six
+feet, with an unexceptionable make, but lax appearance. His frame would seem to
+want filling up. His motions rather slow than lively, though he showed no signs
+of having suffered by gout or rheumatism. His complexion pale, nay, almost
+cadaverous. His voice hollow and indistinct, owing, as I believe, to artificial
+teeth before his upper jaw, which occasions a flatness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From frequent opportunity of seeing Washington between 1794 and 1797, William
+Sullivan described him as &ldquo;over six feet in stature; of strong, bony,
+muscular frame, without fullness of covering, well-formed and straight. He was
+a man of most extraordinary strength. In his own house, his action was calm,
+deliberate, and dignified, without pretension to gracefulness, or peculiar
+manner, but merely natural, and such as one would think it should be in such a
+man. When walking in the street, his movement had not the soldierly air which
+might be expected. His habitual motions had been formed, long before he took
+command of the American Armies, in the wars of the interior and in the
+surveying of wilderness lands, employments in which grace and elegance were not
+likely to be acquired. At the age of sixty-five, time had done nothing towards
+bending him out of his natural erectness. His deportment was invariably grave;
+it was sobriety that stopped short of sadness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The French officers and travellers supply other descriptions. The Abbé Robin
+found him of &ldquo;tall and noble stature, well proportioned, a fine,
+cheerful, open countenance, a simple and modest carriage; and his whole mien
+has something in it that interests the French, the Americans, and even enemies
+themselves in his favor.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Marquis de Chastellux wrote enthusiastically, &ldquo;In speaking of this
+perfect whole of which General Washington furnishes the idea, I have not
+excluded exterior form. His stature is noble and lofty, he is well made, and
+exactly proportionate; his physiognomy mild and agreeable, but such as to
+render it impossible to speak particularly of any of his features, so that in
+quitting him you have only the recollection of a fine face. He has neither a
+grave nor a familiar face, his brow is sometimes marked with thought, but never
+with inquietude; in inspiring respect he inspires confidence, and his smile is
+always the smile of benevolence.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To this description, however, Brissot de Warville took exception, and supplied
+his own picture by writing in 1791, &ldquo;You have often heard me blame M.
+Chastellux for putting too much sprightliness in the character he has drawn of
+this general. To give pretensions to the portrait of a man who has none is
+truly absurd. The General&rsquo;s goodness appears in his looks. They have
+nothing of that brilliancy which his officers found in them when he was at the
+head of his army; but in conversation they become animated. He has no
+characteristic traits in his figure, and this has rendered it always so
+difficult to describe it: there are few portraits which resemble him. All his
+answers are pertinent; he shows the utmost reserve, and is very diffident; but,
+at the same time, he is firm and unchangeable in whatever he undertakes. His
+modesty must be very astonishing, especially to a Frenchman.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+British travellers have left a number of pen-portraits. An anonymous writer in
+1790 declared that in meeting him &ldquo;it was not necessary to announce his
+name, for his peculiar appearance, his firm forehead, Roman nose, and a
+projection of the lower jaw, his height and figure, could not be mistaken by
+any one who had seen a full-length picture of him, and yet no picture
+accurately resembled him in the minute traits of his person. His features,
+however, were so marked by prominent characteristics, which appear in all
+likenesses of him, that a stranger could not be mistaken in the man; he was
+remarkably dignified in his manners, and had an air of benignity over his
+features which his visitant did not expect, being rather prepared for sternness
+of countenance…. his smile was extraordinarily attractive. It was observed to
+me that there was an expression in Washington&rsquo;s face that no painter had
+succeeded in taking. It struck me no man could be better formed for command. A
+stature of six feet, a robust, but well-proportioned frame, calculated to
+sustain fatigue, without that heaviness which generally attends great muscular
+strength, and abates active exertion, displayed bodily power of no mean
+standard. A light eye and full&mdash;the very eye of genius and reflection
+rather than of blind passionate impulse. His nose appeared thick, and though it
+befitted his other features, was too coarsely and strongly formed to be the
+handsomest of its class. His mouth was like no other that I ever saw; the lips
+firm and the under jaw seeming to grasp the upper with force, as if its muscles
+were in full action when he sat still.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two years later, an English diplomat wrote of him, &ldquo;His person is tall
+and sufficiently graceful; his face well formed, his complexion rather pale,
+with a mild philosophic gravity in the expression of it In his air and manner
+he displays much natural dignity; in his address he is cold, reserved, and even
+phlegmatic, though without the least appearance of haughtiness or ill-nature;
+it is the effect, I imagine, of constitutional diffidence. That caution and
+circumspection which form so striking and well known a feature in his military,
+and, indeed, in his political character, is very strongly marked in his
+countenance, for his eyes retire inward (do you understand me?) and have
+nothing of fire of animation or openness in their expression.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wansey, who visited Mount Vernon in 1795, portrayed &ldquo;The President in his
+person&rdquo; as &ldquo;tall and thin, but erect; rather of an engaging than a
+dignified presence. He appears very thoughtful, is slow in delivering himself,
+which occasions some to conclude him reserved, but it is rather, I apprehend,
+the effect of much thinking and reflection, for there is great appearance to me
+of affability and accommodation. He was at this time in his sixty-third year …
+but he has very little the appearance of age, having been all his life long so
+exceeding temperate.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1797, Weld wrote, &ldquo;his chest is full; and his limbs, though rather
+slender, well shaped and muscular. His head is small, in which respect he
+resembles the make of a great number of his countrymen. His eyes are of a light
+grey colour; and in proportion to the length of his face, his nose is long. Mr.
+Stewart, the eminent portrait painter, told me, that there were features in his
+face totally different from what he ever observed in that of any other human
+being; the sockets for the eyes, for instance, are larger than what he ever met
+with before, and the upper part of the nose broader. All his features, he
+observed, were indicative of the strongest and most ungovernable passions, and
+had he been born in the forests, it was his opinion that he would have been the
+fiercest man among the savage tribes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Other and briefer descriptions contain a few phrases worth quoting. Samuel
+Sterns said, &ldquo;His countenance commonly carries the impression of a
+serious cast;&rdquo; Maclay, that &ldquo;the President seemed to bear in his
+countenance a settled aspect of melancholy;&rdquo; and the Prince de Broglie
+wrote, &ldquo;His pensive eyes seem more attentive than sparkling, but their
+expression is benevolent, noble and self-possessed.&rdquo; Silas Deane in 1775
+said he had &ldquo;a very young look and an easy soldier-like air and
+gesture,&rdquo; and in the same year Curwen mentioned his &ldquo;fine
+figure&rdquo; and &ldquo;easy and agreeable address.&rdquo; Nathaniel Lawrence
+noted in 1783 that &ldquo;the General weighs commonly about 210 pounds.&rdquo;
+After death, Lear reports that &ldquo;Doctor Dick measured the body, which was
+as follows&mdash;In length 6 ft. 3-1/2 inches exact. Across the shoulders 1.9.
+Across the elbows 2.1.&rdquo; The pleasantest description is Jefferson&rsquo;s:
+&ldquo;His person, you know, was fine, his stature exactly what one would wish,
+his deportment easy, erect and noble.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How far the portraits of Washington conveyed his expression is open to
+question. The quotation already given which said that no picture accurately
+resembled him in the minute traits of his person is worth noting. Furthermore,
+his expression varied much according to circumstances, and the painter saw it
+only in repose. The first time he was drawn, he wrote a friend,
+&ldquo;Inclination having yielded to Importunity, I am now contrary to all
+expectation under the hands of Mr. Peale; but in so grave&mdash;so sullen a
+mood&mdash;and now and then under the influence of Morpheus, when some critical
+strokes are making, that I fancy the skill of this Gentleman&rsquo;s Pencil
+will be put to it, in describing to the World what manner of man I am.&rdquo;
+This passiveness seems to have seized him at other sittings, for in 1785 he
+wrote to a friend who asked him to be painted, &ldquo;<i>In for a penny, in for
+a Pound</i>, is an old adage. I am so hackneyed to the touches of the
+painter&rsquo;s pencil that I am now altogether at their beck; and sit
+&lsquo;like Patience on a monument,&rsquo; whilst they are delineating the
+lines of 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 of the saddle. The next time I submitted very
+reluctantly, but with less flouncing. Now, no dray-horse moves more readily to
+his thills than I to the painter&rsquo;s chair.&rdquo; His aide, Laurens, bears
+this out by writing of a miniature, &ldquo;The defects of this portrait are,
+that the visage is too long, and old age is too strongly marked in it. He is
+not altogether mistaken, with respect to the languor of the general&rsquo;s
+eye; for altho&rsquo; his countenance when affected either by joy or anger, is
+full of expression, yet when the muscles are in a state of repose, his eye
+certainly wants animation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus06"></a>
+<img src="images/img06.jpg" width="451" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">FIRST (FICTITIOUS) ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+One portrait which furnished Washington not a little amusement was an engraving
+issued in London in 1775, when interest in the &ldquo;rebel General&rdquo; was
+great. This likeness, it is needless to say, was entirely spurious, and when
+Reed sent a copy to head-quarters, Washington wrote to him, &ldquo;Mrs.
+Washington desires I will thank you for the picture sent her. Mr. Campbell,
+whom I never saw, to my knowledge, has made a very formidable figure of the
+Commander-in-chief, giving him a sufficient portion of terror in his
+countenance.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The physical strength mentioned by nearly every one who described Washington is
+so undoubted that the traditions of his climbing the walls of the Natural
+Bridge, throwing a stone across the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, and another
+into the Hudson from the top of the Palisades, pass current more from the
+supposed muscular power of the man than from any direct evidence. In addition
+to this, Washington in 1755 claimed to have &ldquo;one of the best of
+constitutions,&rdquo; and again he wrote, &ldquo;for my own part I can answer,
+I have a constitution hardy enough to encounter and undergo the most severe
+trials.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This vigor was not the least reason of Washington&rsquo;s success. In the
+retreat from Brooklyn, &ldquo;for forty-eight hours preceeding that I had
+hardly been off my horse,&rdquo; and between the 13th and the 19th of June of
+1777 &ldquo;I was almost constantly on horseback.&rdquo; After the battle of
+Monmouth, as told elsewhere, he passed the night on a blanket; the first night
+of the siege of York &ldquo;he slept under a mulberry tree, the root serving
+for a pillow,&rdquo; and another time he lay &ldquo;all night in my Great Coat
+&amp; Boots, in a birth not long enough for me by the head, &amp; much
+cramped.&rdquo; Besides the physical strain there was a mental one. During the
+siege of Boston he wrote that &ldquo;The reflection on my situation and that of
+this army, produces many an uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in
+sleep.&rdquo; Humphreys relates that at Newburg in 1783 a revolt of the whole
+army seemed imminent, and &ldquo;when General Washington rose from bed on the
+morning of the meeting, he told the writer his anxiety had prevented him from
+sleeping one moment the preceeding night.&rdquo; Washington observed, in a
+letter written after the Revolution, &ldquo;strange as it may seem, it is
+nevertheless true, that it was not until lately I could get the better of my
+usual custom of ruminating as soon as I awoke in the morning, on the business
+of the ensuing day; and of my surprise at finding, after revolving many things
+in my mind that I was no longer a public man, or had any thing to do with
+public transactions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Despite his strength and constitution, Washington was frequently the victim of
+illness. What diseases of childhood he suffered are not known, but presumably
+measles was among them, for when his wife within the first year of married life
+had an attack he cared for her without catching the complaint. The first of his
+known illnesses was &ldquo;Ague and Feaver, which I had to an extremity&rdquo;
+about 1748, or when he was sixteen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the sea voyage to Barbadoes in 1751, the seamen told Washington that
+&ldquo;they had never seen such weather before,&rdquo; and he says in his diary
+that the sea &ldquo;made the Ship rowl much and me very sick.&rdquo; While in
+the island, he went to dine with a friend &ldquo;with great reluctance, as the
+small-pox was in his family.&rdquo; A fortnight later Washington &ldquo;was
+strongly attacked with the small Pox,&rdquo; which confined him for nearly a
+month, and, as already noted, marked his face for life. Shortly after the
+return voyage he was &ldquo;taken with a violent pleurise, which … reduced me
+very low.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Braddock march, &ldquo;immediately upon our leaving the camp at
+George&rsquo;s Creek, on the 14th, … I was seized with violent fevers and pains
+in my head, which continued without intermission &rsquo;till the 23d following,
+when I was relieved, by the General&rsquo;s [Braddock] absolutely ordering the
+physicians to give me Dr. James&rsquo; powders (one of the most excellent
+medicines in the world), for it gave me immediate ease, and removed my fevers
+and other complaints in four days&rsquo; time. My illness was too violent to
+suffer me to ride; therefore I was indebted to a covered wagon for some part of
+my transportation; but even in this I could not continue far, for the jolting
+was so great, I was left upon the road with a guard, and necessaries, to wait
+the arrival of Colonel Dunbar&rsquo;s detachment which was two days&rsquo;
+march behind us, the General giving me his word of honor, that I should be
+brought up, before he reached the French fort. This <i>promise</i>, and the
+doctor&rsquo;s <i>threats</i>, that, if I persevered in my attempts to get on,
+in the condition I was, my life would be endangered, determined me to halt for
+the above detachment.&rdquo; Immediately upon his return from that campaign, he
+told a brother, &ldquo;I am not able, were I ever so willing, to meet you in
+town, for I assure you it is with some difficulty, and with much fatigue, that
+I visit my plantations in the Neck; so much has a sickness of five weeks&rsquo;
+continuance reduced me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the frontier, towards the end of 1757, he was seized with a violent attack
+of dysentery and fever, which compelled him to leave the army and retire to
+Mount Vernon. Three months later he said, &ldquo;I have never been able to
+return to my command, … my disorder at times returning obstinately upon me, in
+spite of the efforts of all the sons of Aesculapius, whom I have hitherto
+consulted. At certain periods I have been reduced to great extremity, and have
+too much reason to apprehend an approaching decay, being visited with several
+symptoms of such a disease…. I am now under a strict regimen, and shall set out
+to-morrow for Williamsburg to receive the advice of the best physician there.
+My constitution is certainly greatly impaired, and … nothing can retrieve it,
+but the greatest care and the most circumspect conduct.&rdquo; It was in this
+journey that he met his future wife, and either she or the doctor cured him,
+for nothing more is heard of his approaching &ldquo;decay.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1761 he was attacked with a disease which seems incidental to new
+settlements, known in Virginia at that time as the &ldquo;river fever,&rdquo;
+and a hundred years later, farther west, as the &ldquo;break-bone fever,&rdquo;
+and which, in a far milder form, is to-day known as malaria. Hoping to cure it,
+he went over the mountains to the Warm Springs, being &ldquo;much overcome with
+the fatigue of the ride and weather together. However, I think my fevers are a
+good deal abated, although my pains grow rather worse, and my sleep equally
+disturbed. What effect the waters may have upon me I can&rsquo;t say at
+present, but I expect nothing from the air&mdash;this certainly must be
+unwholesome. I purpose staying here a fortnight and longer if
+benefitted.&rdquo; After writing this, a relapse brought him &ldquo;very near
+my last gasp. The indisposition … increased upon me, and I fell into a very low
+and dangerous state. I once thought the grim king would certainly master my
+utmost efforts, and that I must sink, in spite of a noble struggle; but thank
+God, I have now got the better of the disorder, and shall soon be restored, I
+hope, to perfect health again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Revolution, fortunately, he seems to have been wonderfully exempt
+from illness, and not till his retirement to Mount Vernon did an old enemy, the
+ague, reappear. In 1786 he said, in a letter, &ldquo;I write to you with a very
+aching head and disordered frame…. Saturday last, by an imprudent act, I
+brought on an ague and fever on Sunday, which returned with violence Tuesday
+and Thursday; and, if Dr. Craik&rsquo;s efforts are ineffectual I shall have
+them again this day.&rdquo; His diary gives the treatment: &ldquo;Seized with
+an ague before 6 o&rsquo;clock this morning after having laboured under a fever
+all night&mdash;Sent for Dr. Craik who arrived just as we were setting down to
+dinner; who, when he thought my fever sufficiently abated gave me cathartick
+and directed the Bark to be applied in the Morning. September 2. Kept close to
+the House to day, being my fit day in course least any exposure might bring it
+on,&mdash;happily missed it September 14. At home all day repeating dozes of
+Bark of which I took 4 with an interval of 2 hours between.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With 1787 a new foe appeared in the form of &ldquo;a rheumatic complaint which
+has followed me more than six months, is frequently so bad that it is sometimes
+with difficulty I can raise my hand to my head or turn myself in bed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Presidency Washington had several dangerous illnesses, but the
+earliest one had a comic side. In his tour through New England in 1789, so
+Sullivan states, &ldquo;owing to some mismanagement in the reception
+ceremonials at Cambridge, Washington was detained a long time, and the weather
+being inclement, he took cold. For several days afterward a severe influenza
+prevailed at Boston and its vicinity, and was called the <i>Washington
+Influenza</i>.&rdquo; He himself writes of this attack: &ldquo;Myself much
+disordered by a cold, and inflammation in the left eye.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Six months later, in New York, he was &ldquo;indisposed with a bad cold, and at
+home all day writing letters on private business,&rdquo; and this was the
+beginning of &ldquo;a severe illness,&rdquo; which, according to McVickar, was
+&ldquo;a case of anthrax, so malignant as for several days to threaten
+mortification. During this period Dr. Bard never quitted him. On one occasion,
+being left alone with him, General Washington, looking steadily in his face,
+desired his candid opinion as to the probable termination of his disease,
+adding, with that placid firmness which marked his address, &lsquo;Do not
+flatter me with vain hopes; I am not afraid to die, and therefore can bear the
+worst!&rsquo; Dr. Bard&rsquo;s answer, though it expressed hope, acknowledged
+his apprehensions. The President replied, &lsquo;Whether to-night or twenty
+years hence, makes no difference.&rsquo;&rdquo; It was of this that Maclay
+wrote, &ldquo;Called to see the President. Every eye full of tears. His life
+despaired of. Dr. MacKnight told me he would trifle neither with his own
+character nor the public expectation; his danger was imminent, and every reason
+to expect that the event of his disorder would be unfortunate.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During his convalescence the President wrote to a correspondent, &ldquo;I have
+the pleasure to inform you, that my health is restored, but a feebleness still
+hangs upon me, and I am much incommoded by the incision, which was made in a
+very large and painful tumor on the protuberance of my thigh. This prevents me
+from walking or sitting. However, the physicians assure me that it has had a
+happy effect in removing my fever, and will tend very much to the establishment
+of my general health; it is in a fair way of healing, and time and patience
+only are wanting to remove this evil. I am able to take exercise in my coach,
+by having it so contrived as to extend myself the full length of it.&rdquo; He
+himself seems to have thought this succession of illness due to the fatigues of
+office, for he said,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Public meetings, and a dinner once a week to as many as my table will
+hold, with the references <i>to and from</i> the different department of state
+and <i>other</i> communications with <i>all</i> parts of the Union, are as
+much, if not more, than I am able to undergo; for I have already had within
+less than a year, two severe attacks, the last worst than the first. A third,
+more than probable, will put me to sleep with my fathers. At what distance this
+may be I know not. Within the last twelve months I have undergone more and
+severer sickness, than thirty preceding years afflicted me with. Put it all
+together I have abundant reason, however, to be thankful that I am so well
+recovered; though I still feel the remains of the violent affection of my
+lungs; the cough, pain in my breast, and shortness in breathing not having
+entirely left me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While at Mount Vernon in 1794, &ldquo;an exertion to save myself and horse from
+falling among the rocks at the Lower Falls of the Potomac (whither I went on
+Sunday morning to see the canal and locks),… wrenched my back in such a manner
+as to prevent my riding;&rdquo; the &ldquo;hurt&rdquo; &ldquo;confined me
+whilst I was at Mount Vernon,&rdquo; and it was some time before he could
+&ldquo;again ride with ease and safety.&rdquo; In this same year Washington was
+operated on by Dr. Tate for cancer,&mdash;the same disorder from which his
+mother had suffered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After his retirement from office, in 1798, he &ldquo;was seized with a fever,
+of which I took little notice until I was obliged to call for the aid of
+medicine; and with difficulty a remission thereof was so far effected as to
+dose me all night on thursday with Bark&mdash;which having stopped it, and
+weakness only remaining, will soon wear off as my appetite is returning;&rdquo;
+and to a correspondent he apologized for not sooner replying, and pleaded
+&ldquo;debilitated health, occasioned by the fever wch. deprived me of 20 lbs.
+of the weight I had when you and I were at Troy Mills Scales, and rendered
+writing irksome.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A glance at Washington&rsquo;s medical knowledge and opinions may not lack
+interest. In the &ldquo;Rules of civility&rdquo; he had taken so to heart, the
+boy had been taught that &ldquo;In visiting the Sick, do not Presently play the
+Physician if you be not Knowing therein,&rdquo; but plantation life trained
+every man to a certain extent in physicking, and the yearly invoice sent to
+London always ordered such drugs as were needed,&mdash;ipecacuanha, jalap,
+Venice treacle, rhubarb, diacordium, etc., as well as medicines for horses and
+dogs. In 1755 Washington received great benefit from one quack medicine,
+&ldquo;Dr. James&rsquo;s Powders;&rdquo; he once bought a quantity of another,
+&ldquo;Godfrey&rsquo;s Cordial;&rdquo; and at a later time Mrs. Washington
+tried a third, &ldquo;Annatipic Pills.&rdquo; More unenlightened still was a
+treatment prescribed for Patsy Custis, when &ldquo;Joshua Evans who came here
+last night, put a [metal] ring on Patsey (for Fits).&rdquo; A not much higher
+order of treatment was Washington sending for Dr. Laurie to bleed his wife,
+and, as his diary notes, the doctor &ldquo;came here, I may add, drunk,&rdquo;
+so that a night&rsquo;s sleep was necessary before the service could be
+rendered. When the small-pox was raging in the Continental Army, even
+Washington&rsquo;s earnest request could not get the Virginia Assembly to
+repeal a law which forbade inoculation, and he had to urge his wife for over
+four years before he could bring her to the point of submitting to the
+operation. One quality which implies greatness is told by a visitor, who states
+that in his call &ldquo;an allusion was made to a serious fit of illness he had
+recently suffered; but he took no notice of it&rdquo; Custis notes that
+&ldquo;his aversion to the use of medicine was extreme; and, even when in great
+suffering, it was only by the entreaties of his lady, and the respectful, yet
+beseeching look of his oldest friend and companion in arms (Dr. James Craik)
+that he could be prevailed upon to take the slightest preparation of
+medicine.&rdquo; In line with this was his refusal to take anything for a cold,
+saying, &ldquo;Let it go as it came,&rdquo; though this good sense was
+apparently restricted to his own colds, for Watson relates that in a visit to
+Mount Vernon &ldquo;I was extremely oppressed by a severe cold and excessive
+coughing, contracted by the exposure of a harsh 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 bedside, with a bowl of hot tea in his hand.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The acute attacks of illness already touched upon by no means represent all the
+physical debility and suffering of Washington&rsquo;s life. During the
+Revolution his sight became poor, so that in 1778 he first put on glasses for
+reading, and Cobb relates that in the officers&rsquo; meeting in 1783, which
+Washington attended In order to check an appeal to arms, &ldquo;When the
+General took his station at the desk or pulpit, which, you may recollect, was
+in the Temple, he took out his written address from his coat pocket and then
+addressed the officers in the following manner: &lsquo;Gentlemen, you will
+permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray, but almost
+blind, in the service of my country.&rsquo; This little address, with the mode
+and manner of delivering it, drew tears from [many] of the officers.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor did his hearing remain entirely good. Maclay noted, at one of the
+President&rsquo;s dinners in 1789, that &ldquo;he seemed in more good humor
+than I ever saw him, though he was so deaf that I believe he heard little of
+the conversation,&rdquo; and three years later the President is reported as
+saying to Jefferson that he was &ldquo;sensible, too, of a decay of his
+hearing, perhaps his other faculties might fall off and he not be sensible of
+it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington&rsquo;s teeth were even more troublesome. Mercer in 1760 alluded to
+his showing, when his mouth was open, &ldquo;some defective teeth,&rdquo; and
+as early as 1754 one of his teeth was extracted. From this time toothache,
+usually followed by the extraction of the guilty member, became almost of
+yearly recurrence, and his diary reiterates, with verbal variations,
+&ldquo;indisposed with an aching tooth, and swelled and inflamed gum,&rdquo;
+while his ledger contains many items typified by &ldquo;To Dr. Watson drawing a
+tooth 5/.&rdquo; By 1789 he was using false teeth, and he lost his last tooth
+in 1795. At first these substitutes were very badly fitted, and when Stuart
+painted his famous picture he tried to remedy the malformation they gave the
+mouth by padding under the lips with cotton. The result was to make bad worse,
+and to give, in that otherwise fine portrait, a feature at once poor and unlike
+Washington, and for this reason alone the Sharpless miniature, which in all
+else approximates so closely to Stuart&rsquo;s masterpiece, is preferable. In
+1796 Washington was furnished with two sets of &ldquo;sea-horse&rdquo;
+(<i>i.e.</i>, hippopotamus) ivory teeth, and they were so much better fitted
+that the distortion of the mouth ceased to be noticeable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington&rsquo;s final illness began December 12, 1799, in a severe cold
+taken by riding about his plantation while &ldquo;rain, hail and snow&rdquo;
+were &ldquo;falling alternately, with a cold wind.&rdquo; When he came in late
+in the afternoon, Lear &ldquo;observed to him that I was afraid that he had got
+wet, he said no his great coat had kept him dry; but his neck appeared to be
+wet and the snow was hanging on his hair.&rdquo; The next day he had a cold,
+&ldquo;and complained of having a sore throat,&rdquo; yet, though it was
+snowing, none the less he &ldquo;went out in the afternoon … to mark some trees
+which were to be cut down.&rdquo; &ldquo;He had a hoarseness which increased in
+the evening; but he made light of it as he would never take anything to carry
+off a cold, always observing, &lsquo;let it go as it came.&rsquo;&rdquo; At two
+o&rsquo;clock the following morning he was seized with a severe ague, and as
+soon as the house was stirring he sent for an overseer and ordered the man to
+bleed him, and about half a pint of blood was taken from him. At this time he
+could &ldquo;swallow nothing,&rdquo; &ldquo;appeared to be distressed,
+convulsed and almost suffocated.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There can be scarcely a doubt that the treatment of his last illness by the
+doctors was little short of murder. Although he had been bled once already,
+after they took charge of the case they prescribed &ldquo;two pretty copious
+bleedings,&rdquo; and finally a third, &ldquo;when about 32 ounces of blood
+were drawn,&rdquo; or the equivalent of a quart. Of the three doctors, one
+disapproved of this treatment, and a second wrote, only a few days after
+Washington&rsquo;s death, to the third, &ldquo;you must remember&rdquo; Dr.
+Dick &ldquo;was averse to bleeding the General, and I have often thought that
+if we had acted according to his suggestion when he said, &lsquo;he needs all
+his strength&mdash; bleeding will diminish it,&rsquo; and taken no more blood
+from him, our good friend might have been alive now. But we were governed by
+the best light we had; we thought we were right, and so we are
+justified.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shortly after this last bleeding Washington seemed to have resigned himself,
+for he gave some directions concerning his will, and said, &ldquo;I find I am
+going,&rdquo; and, &ldquo;smiling,&rdquo; added, that, &ldquo;as it was the
+debt which we must all pay, he looked to the event with perfect
+resignation.&rdquo; From this time on &ldquo;he appeared to be in great pain
+and distress,&rdquo; and said, &ldquo;Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid
+to go. I believed from my first attack that I should not survive it.&rdquo; A
+little later he said, &ldquo;I feel myself going. I thank you for your
+attention, you had better not take any more trouble about me; but let me go off
+quietly.&rdquo; The last words he said were, &ldquo;&rsquo;Tis well.&rdquo;
+&ldquo;About ten minutes before he expired, his breathing became much
+easier&mdash;he lay quietly&mdash;… and felt his own pulse…. The
+general&rsquo;s hand fell from his wrist,… and he expired without a struggle or
+a Sigh.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap03"></a>III<br/>
+EDUCATION</h2>
+
+<p>
+The father of Washington received his education at Appleby School in England,
+and, true to his alma mater, he sent his two elder sons to the same school. His
+death when George was eleven prevented this son from having the same advantage,
+and such education as he had was obtained in Virginia. His old friend, and
+later enemy, Rev. Jonathan Boucher, said that &ldquo;George, like most people
+thereabouts at that time, had no education than reading, writing and accounts
+which he was taught by a convict servant whom his father bought for a
+schoolmaster;&rdquo; but Boucher managed to include so many inaccuracies in his
+account of Washington, that even if this statement were not certainly
+untruthful in several respects, it could be dismissed as valueless.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Born at Wakefield, in Washington parish, Westmoreland, which had been the home
+of the Washingtons from their earliest arrival in Virginia, George was too
+young while the family continued there to attend the school which had been
+founded in that parish by the gift of four hundred and forty acres from some
+early patron of knowledge. When the boy was about three years old, the family
+removed to &ldquo;Washington,&rdquo; as Mount Vernon was called before it was
+renamed, and dwelt there from 1735 till 1739, when, owing to the burning of the
+homestead, another remove was made to an estate on the Rappahannock, nearly
+opposite Fredericksburg.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here it was that the earliest education of George was received, for in an old
+volume of the Bishop of Exeter&rsquo;s Sermons his name is written, and on a
+flyleaf a note in the handwriting of a relative who inherited the library
+states that this &ldquo;autograph of George Washington&rsquo;s name is believed
+to be the earliest specimen of his handwriting, when he was probably not more
+than eight or nine years old.&rdquo; During this period, too, there came into
+his possession the &ldquo;Young Man&rsquo;s Companion,&rdquo; an English
+<i>vade-mecum</i> of then enormous popularity, written &ldquo;in a plain and
+easy stile,&rdquo; the title states, &ldquo;that a young Man may attain the
+same, without a Tutor.&rdquo; It would be easier to say what this little book
+did not teach than to catalogue what it did. How to read, write, and figure is
+but the introduction to the larger part of the work, which taught one to write
+letters, wills, deeds, and all legal forms, to measure, survey, and navigate,
+to build houses, to make ink and cider, and to plant and graft, how to address
+letters to people of quality, how to doctor the sick, and, finally, how to
+conduct one&rsquo;s self in company. The evidence still exists of how carefully
+Washington studied this book, in the form of copybooks, in which are
+transcribed problem after problem and rule after rule, not to exclude the
+famous Rules of civility, which biographers of Washington have asserted were
+written by the boy himself. School-mates thought fit, after Washington became
+famous, to remember his &ldquo;industry and assiduity at school as very
+remarkable,&rdquo; and the copies certainly bear out the statement, but even
+these prove that the lad was as human as the man, for scattered here and there
+among the logarithms, geometrical problems, and legal forms are crude drawings
+of birds, faces, and other typical school-boy attempts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From this book, too, came two qualities which clung to him through life. His
+handwriting, so easy, flowing, and legible, was modelled from the engraved
+&ldquo;copy&rdquo; sheet, and certain forms of spelling were acquired here that
+were never corrected, though not the common usage of his time. To the end of
+his life, Washington wrote lie, lye; liar, lyar; ceiling, cieling; oil, oyl;
+and blue, blew, as in his boyhood he had learned to do from this book. Even in
+his carefully prepared will, &ldquo;lye&rdquo; was the form in which he wrote
+the word. It must be acknowledged that, aside from these errors which he had
+been taught, through his whole life Washington was a non-conformist as regarded
+the King&rsquo;s English: struggle as he undoubtedly did, the instinct of
+correct spelling was absent, and thus every now and then a verbal slip
+appeared: extravagence, lettely (for lately), glew, riffle (for rifle), latten
+(for Latin), immagine, winder, rief (for rife), oppertunity, spirma citi,
+yellow oaker,&mdash;such are types of his lapses late in life, while his
+earlier letters and journals are far more inaccurate. It must be borne in mind,
+however, that of these latter we have only the draughts, which were undoubtedly
+written carelessly, and the two letters actually sent which are now known, and
+the text of his surveys before he was twenty, are quite as well written as his
+later epistles.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus07"></a>
+<img src="images/img07.jpg" width="600" height="297" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption"><i>Easy Copies to Write by</i>.<br />
+COPY OF PENMANSHIP BY WHICH WASHINGTON&rsquo;S HANDWRITING WAS FORMED</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+On the death of his father, Washington went to live with his brother Augustine,
+in order, it is presumed, that he might take advantage of a good school near
+Wakefield, kept by one Williams; but after a time he returned to his
+mother&rsquo;s, and attended the school kept by the Rev. James Marye, in
+Fredericksburg. It has been universally asserted by his biographers that he
+studied no foreign language, but direct proof to the contrary exists in a copy
+of Patrick&rsquo;s Latin translation of Homer, printed in 1742, the fly-leaf of
+a copy of which bears, in a school-boy hand, the inscription:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;Hunc mihi quaeso (bone Vir) Libellum<br/>
+Redde, si forsan tenues repertum<br/>
+Ut Scias qui sum sine fraude Scriptum.
+</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+Est mihi nomen,                <br/>
+Georgio Washington,            <br/>
+George Washington,        <br/>
+Fredericksburg,    <br/>
+Virginia.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is thus evident that the reverend teacher gave Washington at least the first
+elements of Latin, but it is equally clear that the boy, like most others,
+forgot it with the greatest facility as soon as he ceased studying.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The end of Washington&rsquo;s school-days left him, if a good
+&ldquo;cipherer,&rdquo; a bad speller, and a still worse grammarian, but,
+fortunately, the termination of instruction did not by any means end his
+education. From that time there is to be noted a steady improvement in both
+these failings. Pickering stated that &ldquo;when I first became acquainted
+with the General (in 1777) his writing was defective in grammar, and even
+spelling, owing to the insufficiency of his early education; of which, however,
+he gradually got the better in the subsequent years of his life, by the
+official perusal of some excellent models, particularly those of Hamilton; by
+writing with care and patient attention; and reading numerous, indeed
+multitudes of letters to and from his friends and correspondents. This obvious
+improvement was begun during the war.&rdquo; In 1785 a contemporary noted that
+&ldquo;the General is remarked for writing a most elegant letter,&rdquo; adding
+that, &ldquo;like the famous Addison, his writing excells his speaking,&rdquo;
+and Jefferson said that &ldquo;he wrote readily, rather diffusely, in an easy
+and correct style. This he had acquired by conversation with the world, for his
+education was merely reading, writing and common arithmetic, to which he added
+surveying at a later day.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There can be no doubt that Washington felt his lack of education very keenly as
+he came to act upon a larger sphere than as a Virginia planter. &ldquo;I am
+sensible,&rdquo; he wrote a friend, of his letters, &ldquo;that the narrations
+are just, and that truth and honesty will appear in my writings; of which,
+therefore, I shall not be ashamed, though criticism may censure my
+style.&rdquo; When his secretary suggested to him that he should write his own
+life, he replied, &ldquo;In a former letter I informed you, my dear Humphreys,
+that if I had <i>talents</i> for it, I have not leisure to turn my thoughts to
+Commentaries. A consciousness of a defective education, and a certainty of the
+want of time, unfit me for such an undertaking.&rdquo; On being pressed by a
+French comrade-in-arms to pay France a visit, he declined, saying,
+&ldquo;Remember, my good friend, that I am unacquainted with your language,
+that I am too far advanced in years to acquire a knowledge of it, and that, to
+converse through the medium of an interpreter upon common occasions, especially
+with the Ladies, must appear so extremely awkward, insipid, and uncouth, that I
+can scarce bear it in idea.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1788, without previous warning, he was elected chancellor of William and
+Mary College, a distinction by which he felt &ldquo;honored and greatly
+affected;&rdquo; but &ldquo;not knowing particularly what duties, or whether
+any active services are immediately expected from the person holding the office
+of chancellor, I have been greatly embarrassed in deciding upon the public
+answer proper to be given…. My difficulties are briefly these. On the one hand,
+nothing in this world could be farther from my heart, than … a refusal of the
+appointment … provided its duties are not incompatible with the mode of life to
+which I have entirely addicted myself; and, on the other hand, I would not for
+any consideration disappoint the just expectations of the convocation by
+accepting an office, whose functions I previously knew … I should be absolutely
+unable to perform.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Perhaps the most touching proof of his own self-depreciation was something he
+did when he had become conscious that his career would be written about. Still
+in his possession were the letter-books in which he had kept copies of his
+correspondence while in command of the Virginia regiment between 1754 and 1759,
+and late in life he went through these volumes, and, by interlining
+corrections, carefully built them into better literary form. How this was done
+is shown here by a single facsimile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the appointment to command the Continental Army, a secretary was secured,
+and in an absence of this assistant he complained to him that &ldquo;my
+business increases very fast, and my distresses for want of you along with it.
+Mr. Harrison is the only gentleman of my family, that can afford me the least
+assistance in writing. He and Mr. Moylan,… have heretofore afforded me their
+aid; and … they have really had a great deal of trouble.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Most of Washington&rsquo;s correspondence during the Revolution was written by
+his aides. Pickering said,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As to the public letters bearing his signature, it is certain that he
+could not have maintained so extensive a correspondence with his own pen, even
+if he had possessed the ability and promptness of Hamilton. That he would,
+sometimes with propriety, observe upon, correct, and add to any draught
+submitted for his examination and signature, I have no doubt. And yet I doubt
+whether many, if any, of the letters … are his own draught…. I have even reason
+to believe that not only the <i>composition</i>, the <i>clothing of the
+ideas</i>, but the <i>ideas themselves</i>, originated generally with the
+writers; that Hamilton and Harrison, in particular, were scarcely in any degree
+his amanuenses. I remember, when at head-quarters one day, at Valley Forge,
+Colonel Harrison came down from the General&rsquo;s chamber, with his brows
+knit, and thus accosted me, &lsquo;I wish to the Lord the General would give me
+the heads or some idea, of what he would have me write.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus08"></a>
+<img src="images/img08.jpg" width="379" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">CORRECTED LETTER OF WASHINGTON SHOWING LATER CHANGES</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+After the Revolution, a visitor at Mount Vernon said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s
+astonishing the packet of letters that daily comes for him from all parts of
+the world, which employ him most of the morning to answer.&rdquo; A secretary
+was employed, but not so much to do the actual writing as the copying and
+filing, and at this time Washington complained &ldquo;that my numerous
+correspondencies are daily becoming irksome to me.&rdquo; Yet there can be
+little question that he richly enjoyed writing when it was not for the public
+eye. &ldquo;It is not the letters of my friends which give me trouble,&rdquo;
+he wrote to one correspondent; to another he said, &ldquo;I began with telling
+you that I should not write a lengthy letter but the result has been to
+contradict it;&rdquo; and to a third, &ldquo;when I look back to the length of
+this letter, I am so much astonished and frightened at it myself that I have
+not the courage to give it a careful reading for the purpose of correction. You
+must, therefore, receive it with all its imperfections, accompanied with this
+assurance, that, though there may be inaccuracies in the letter, there is not a
+single defect in the friendship.&rdquo; Occasionally there was, as here, an
+apology: &ldquo;I am persuaded you will excuse this scratch&rsquo;d scrawl,
+when I assure you it is with difficulty I write at all,&rdquo; he ended a
+letter in 1777, and in 1792 of another said, &ldquo;You must receive it blotted
+and scratched as you find it for I have not time to copy it. It is now ten
+o&rsquo;clock at night, after my usual hour for retiring to rest, and the mail
+will be closed early to-morrow morning.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To his overseer, who neglected to reply to some of his questions, he told his
+method of writing, which is worth quoting:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Whenever I set down to write you, I read your letter, or letters
+carefully over, and as soon as I come to a part that requires to be noticed, I
+make a short note on the cover of a letter or piece of waste paper;&mdash;then
+read on the next, noting that in like manner;&mdash;and so on until I have got
+through the whole letter and reports. Then in writing my letter to you, as soon
+as I have finished what I have to say on one of these notes I draw my pen
+through it and proceed to another and another until the whole is
+done&mdash;crossing each as I go on, by which means if I am called off twenty
+times whilst I am writing, I can never with these notes before me finished or
+unfinished, omit anything I wanted to say; and they serve me also, as I keep no
+copies of letters I wrote to you, as Memorandums of what has been written if I
+should have occasion at any time to refer to them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another indication of his own knowledge of defects is shown by his fear about
+his public papers. When his Journal to the Ohio was printed by order of the
+governor, in 1754, in the preface the young author said, &ldquo;I think I can
+do no less than apologize, in some Measure, for the numberless imperfections of
+it. There intervened but one Day between my Arrival in Williamsburg, and the
+Time for the Council&rsquo;s Meeting, for me to prepare and transcribe, from
+the rough Minutes I had taken in my Travels, this Journal; the writing of which
+only was sufficient to employ me closely the whole Time, consequently admitted
+of no Leisure to consult of a new and proper Form to offer it in, or to correct
+or amend the Diction of the old.&rdquo; Boucher states that the publication,
+&ldquo;in Virginia at least, drew on him some ridicule.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This anxiety about his writings was shown all through life, and led Washington
+to rely greatly on such of his friends as would assist him, even to the point,
+so Reed thought, that he &ldquo;sometimes adopted draughts of writing when his
+own would have been better … from an extreme diffidence in himself,&rdquo; and
+Pickering said, in writing to an aide,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Although the General&rsquo;s private correspondence was doubtless, for
+the most part, his own, and extremely acceptable to the persons addressed; yet,
+in regard to whatever was destined to meet the public eye, he seems to have
+been fearful to exhibit his own compositions, relying too much on the judgment
+of his friends, and sometimes adopted draughts that were exceptionable. Some
+parts of his private correspondence must have essentially differed from other
+parts in the style of composition. You mention your own aids to the General in
+this line. Now, if I had your draughts before me, mingled with the
+General&rsquo;s to the same persons, nothing would be more easy than to assign
+to each his own proper offspring. You could neither restrain your
+<i>courser</i>, nor conceal your imagery, nor express your ideas otherwise than
+in the language of a scholar. The General&rsquo;s compositions would be
+perfectly plain and didactic, and not always correct.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Presidency, scarcely anything of a public nature was penned by
+Washington,&mdash;Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and Randolph acting as his
+draughtsmen. &ldquo;We are approaching the first Monday in December by hasty
+strides,&rdquo; he wrote to Jefferson. &ldquo;I pray you, therefore, to revolve
+in your mind such matters as may be proper for me to lay before Congress, not
+only in your own department, (if any there be,) but such others of a general
+nature, as may happen to occur to you, that I may be prepared to open the
+session with such communication, as shall appear to merit attention.&rdquo; Two
+years later he said to the same, &ldquo;I pray you to note down or rather to
+frame into paragraphs or sections, such matters as may occur to you as fit and
+proper for general communication at the opening of the next session of
+Congress, not only in the department of state, but on any other subject
+applicable to the occasion, that I may in due time have everything before
+me.&rdquo; To Hamilton he wrote in 1795, &ldquo;Having desired the late
+Secretary of State to note down every matter as it occurred, proper either for
+the speech at the opening of the session, or for messages afterwards, the
+inclosed paper contains everything I could extract from that office. Aid me, I
+pray you, with your sentiments on these points, and such others as may have
+occurred to you relative to my communications to Congress.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The best instance is furnished in the preparation of the Farewell Address.
+First Madison was asked to prepare a draft, and from this Washington drew up a
+paper, which he submitted to Hamilton and Jay, with the request that
+&ldquo;even if you should think it best to throw the whole into a different
+form, let me request, notwithstanding, that my draught may be returned to me
+(along with yours) with such amendments and corrections as to render it as
+perfect as the formation is susceptible of; curtailed if too verbose; and
+relieved of all tautology not necessary to enforce the ideas in the original or
+quoted part. My wish is that the whole may appear in a plain style, and be
+handed to the public in an honest, unaffected, simple part.&rdquo; Accordingly,
+Hamilton prepared what was almost a new instrument in form, though not in
+substance, which, after &ldquo;several serious and attentive readings,&rdquo;
+Washington wrote that he preferred &ldquo;greatly to the other draughts, being
+more copious on material points, more dignified on the whole, and with less
+egotism; of course, less exposed to criticism, and better calculated to meet
+the eye of discerning readers (foreigners particularly, whose curiosity I have
+little doubt will lead them to inspect it attentively, and to pronounce their
+opinions on the performance).&rdquo; The paper was then, according to
+Pickering, &ldquo;put into the hands of Wolcott, McHenry, and myself … with a
+request that we would examine it, and note any alterations and corrections
+which we should think best. We did so; but our notes, as well as I recollect,
+were very few, and regarded chiefly the grammar and composition.&rdquo;
+Finally, Washington revised the whole, and it was then made public.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Confirmatory of this sense of imperfect cultivation are the pains he took that
+his adopted son and grandson should be well educated. As already noted, tutors
+for both were secured at the proper ages, and when Jack was placed with the
+Rev. Mr. Boucher, Washington wrote: &ldquo;In respect to the kinds, &amp;
+manner of his Studying I leave it wholely to your better Judgment&mdash;had he
+begun, or rather pursued his study of the Greek Language, I should have thought
+it no bad acquisition; but whether if he acquire this now, he may not forego
+some useful branches of learning, is a matter worthy of consideration. To be
+acquainted with the French Tongue is become part of polite Education; and to a
+man who has the prospect of mixing in a large Circle absolutely necessary.
+Without Arithmetick, the common affairs of Life are not to be managed with
+success. The study of Geometry, and the Mathematics (with due regard to the
+limites of it) is equally advantageous. The principles of Philosophy Moral,
+Natural, &amp;c. I should think a very desirable knowledge for a
+Gentleman.&rdquo; So, too, he wrote to Washington Custis, &ldquo;I do not hear
+you mention anything of geography or mathematics as parts of your study; both
+these are necessary branches of useful knowledge. Nor ought you to let your
+knowledge of the Latin language and grammatical rules escape you. And the
+French language is now so universal, and so necessary with foreigners, or in a
+foreign country, that I think you would be injudicious not to make yourself
+master of it.&rdquo; It is worth noting in connection with this last sentence
+that Washington used only a single French expression with any frequency, and
+that he always wrote &ldquo;faupas.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quite as indicative of the value he put on education was the aid he gave
+towards sending his young relatives and others to college, his annual
+contribution to an orphan school, his subscriptions to academies, and his wish
+for a national university. In 1795 he said,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It has always been a source of serious reflection and sincere regret
+with me, that the youth of the United States should be sent to foreign
+countries for the purpose of education…. For this reason I have greatly wished
+to see a plan adopted, by which the arts, sciences, and belles-lettres could be
+taught in their <i>fullest</i> extent, thereby embracing <i>all</i> the
+advantages of European tuition, with the means of acquiring the liberal
+knowledge, which is necessary to qualify our citizens for the exigencies of
+public as well as private life; and (which with me is a consideration of great
+magnitude) by assembling the youth from the different parts of this rising
+republic, contributing from their intercourse and interchange of information to
+the removal of prejudices, which might perhaps sometimes arise from local
+circumstances.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In framing his Farewell Address, &ldquo;revolving … on the various matters it
+contained and on the first expression of the advice or recommendation which was
+given in it, I have regretted that another subject (which in my estimation is
+of interesting concern to the well-being of this country) was not touched upon
+also; I mean education generally, as one of the surest means of enlightening
+and giving just ways of thinking to our citizens, but particularly the
+establishment of a university; where the youth from all parts of the United
+States might receive the polish of erudition in the arts, sciences and
+belles-lettres.&rdquo; Eventually he reduced this idea to a plea for the people
+to &ldquo;promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for
+the general diffusion of knowledge,&rdquo; because &ldquo;in proportion as the
+structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that
+public opinion should be enlightened.&rdquo; By his will he left to the
+endowment of a university in the District of Columbia the shares in the Potomac
+Company which had been given him by the State of Virginia, but the clause was
+never carried into effect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was in 1745 that Washington&rsquo;s school-days came to an end. His share of
+his father&rsquo;s property being his mother&rsquo;s till he was twenty-one, a
+livelihood had to be found, and so at about fourteen years of age the work of
+life began. Like a true boy, the lad wanted to go to sea, despite his
+uncle&rsquo;s warning &ldquo;that I think he had better be put apprentice to a
+tinker; for a common sailor before the mast has by no means the liberty of the
+subject; for they will press him from a ship where he has fifty shillings a
+month; and make him take twenty-three, and cut and slash, and use him like a
+negro, or rather like a dog.&rdquo; His mother, however, would not consent, and
+to this was due his becoming a surveyor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From his &ldquo;Young Man&rsquo;s Companion&rdquo; Washington had already
+learned the use of Gunter&rsquo;s rule and how it should be used in surveying,
+and to complete his knowledge he seems to have taken lessons of the licensed
+surveyor of Westmoreland County, James Genn, for transcripts of some of the
+surveys drawn by Genn still exist in the handwriting of his pupil. This implied
+a distinct and very valuable addition to his knowledge, and a large number of
+his surveys still extant are marvels of neatness and careful drawing. As a
+profession it was followed for only four years (1747-1751), but all through
+life he often used his knowledge in measuring or platting his own property. Far
+more important is the service it was to him in public life. In 1755 he sent to
+Braddock&rsquo;s secretary a map of the &ldquo;back country,&rdquo; and to the
+governor of Virginia plans of two forts. During the Revolution it helped him
+not merely in the study of maps, but also in the facility it gave him to take
+in the topographical features of the country. Very largely, too, was the
+selection of the admirable site for the capital due to his supervising: all the
+plans for the city were submitted to him, and nowhere do the good sense and
+balance of the man appear to better advantage than in his correspondence with
+the Federal city commissioners.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Washington&rsquo;s earliest account-book there is an item when he was
+sixteen years old, &ldquo;To cash pd ye Musick Master for my Entrance
+3/9.&rdquo; It is commonly said that he played the flute, but this is as great
+a libel on him as any Tom Paine wrote, and though he often went to concerts,
+and though fond of hearing his granddaughter Nelly play and sing, he never was
+himself a performer, and the above entry probably refers to the singing-master
+whom the boys and girls of that day made the excuse for evening frolics.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mention is made elsewhere of his taking lessons in the sword exercise from Van
+Braam in these earlier years, and in 1756 he paid to Sergeant Wood,
+fencing-master, the sum of £1.1.6. When he received the offer of a position on
+Braddock&rsquo;s staff, he acknowledged, in accepting, that &ldquo;I must be
+ingenuous enough to confess, that I am not a little biassed by selfish
+considerations. To explain, Sir, I wish earnestly to attain some knowledge in
+the military profession, and, believing a more favorable opportunity cannot
+offer, than to serve under a gentleman of General Braddock&rsquo;s abilities
+and experience, it does … not a little contribute to influence my
+choice.&rdquo; Hamilton is quoted as saying that Washington &ldquo;never read
+any book upon the art of war but Sim&rsquo;s Military Guide,&rdquo; and an
+anonymous author asserted that &ldquo;he never read a book in the art of war of
+higher value than Bland&rsquo;s Exercises.&rdquo; Certain it is that nearly all
+the military knowledge he possessed was derived from practice rather than from
+books, and though, late in life, he purchased a number of works on the subject,
+it was after his army service was over.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One factor in Washington&rsquo;s education which must not go unnoticed was his
+religious belief. When only two months old he was baptized, presumably by the
+Rev. Lawrence De Butts, the clergyman of Washington parish. The removal from
+that locality prevented any further religious influence from this clergyman,
+and it probably first came from the Rev. Charles Green, of Truro parish, who
+had received his appointment through the friendship of Washington&rsquo;s
+father, and who later was on such friendly terms with Washington that he
+doctored Mrs. Washington in an attack of the measles, and caught and returned
+two of his parishioner&rsquo;s runaway slaves. As early as 1724 the clergyman
+of the parish in which Mount Vernon was situated reported that he catechised
+the youth of his congregation &ldquo;in Lent and a great part of the
+Summer,&rdquo; and George, as the son of one of his vestrymen, undoubtedly
+received a due amount of questioning.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From 1748 till 1759 there was little church-going for the young surveyor or
+soldier, but after his marriage and settling at Mount Vernon he was elected
+vestryman in the two parishes of Truro and Fairfax, and from that election he
+was quite active in church affairs. It may be worth noting that in the
+elections of 1765 the new vestryman stood third in popularity in the Truro
+church and fifth in that of Fairfax. He drew the plans for a new church in
+Truro, and subscribed to its building, intending &ldquo;to lay the foundation
+of a family pew,&rdquo; but by a vote of the vestry it was decided that there
+should be no private pews, and this breach of contract angered Washington so
+greatly that he withdrew from the church in 1773. Sparks quotes Madison to the
+effect that &ldquo;there was a tradition that, when he [Washington] belonged to
+the vestry of a church in his neighborhood, and several little difficulties
+grew out of some division of the society, he sometimes spoke with great force,
+animation, and eloquence on the topics that came before them.&rdquo; After this
+withdrawal he bought a pew in Christ Church in Alexandria (Fairfax parish),
+paying £36.10, which was the largest price paid by any parishioner. To this
+church he was quite liberal, subscribing several times towards repairs, etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Rev. Lee Massey, who was rector at Pohick (Truro) Church before the
+Revolution, is quoted by Bishop Meade as saying that
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I never knew so constant an attendant in church as Washington. And his
+behavior in the house of God was ever so deeply reverential that it produced
+the happiest effect on my congregation, and greatly assisted me in my pulpit
+labors. No company ever withheld him from church. I have often been at Mount
+Vernon on Sabbath morning, when his breakfast table was filled with guests; but
+to him they furnished no pretext for neglecting his God and losing the
+satisfaction of setting a good example. For instead of staying at home, out of
+false complaisance to them, he used constantly to invite them to accompany
+him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This seems to have been written more with an eye to its influence on others
+than to its strict accuracy. During the time Washington attended at Pohick
+Church he was by no means a regular church-goer. His daily &ldquo;where and how
+my time is spent&rdquo; enables us to know exactly how often he attended
+church, and in the year 1760 he went just sixteen times, and in 1768 he went
+fourteen, these years being fairly typical of the period 1760-1773. During the
+Presidency a sense of duty made him attend St Paul&rsquo;s and Christ churches
+while in New York and Philadelphia, but at Mount Vernon, when the public eye
+was not upon him, he was no more regular than he had always been, and in the
+last year of his life he wrote, &ldquo;Six days do I labor, or, in other words,
+take exercise and devote my time to various occupations in Husbandry, and about
+my mansion. On the seventh, now called the first day, for want of a place of
+Worship (within less than nine miles) such letters as do not require immediate
+acknowledgment I give answers to…. But it hath so happened, that on the two
+last Sundays&mdash;call them the first or the seventh as you please, I have
+been unable to perform the latter duty on account of visits from Strangers,
+with whom I could not use the freedom to leave alone, or recommend to the care
+of each other, for their amusement.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What he said here was more or less typical of his whole life. Sunday was always
+the day on which he wrote his private letters,&mdash;even prepared his
+invoices,&mdash;and he wrote to one of his overseers that his letters should be
+mailed so as to reach him Saturday, as by so doing they could be answered the
+following day. Nor did he limit himself to this, for he entertained company,
+closed land purchases, sold wheat, and, while a Virginia planter, went
+foxhunting, on Sunday. It is to be noted, however, that he considered the
+scruples of others as to the day. When he went among his western tenants,
+rent-collecting, he entered in his diary that, it &ldquo;being Sunday and the
+People living on my Land <i>apparently</i> very religious, it was thought best
+to postpone going among them till to-morrow,&rdquo; and in his journey through
+New England, because it was &ldquo;contrary to the law and disagreeable to the
+People of this State (Connecticut) to travel on the Sabbath day&mdash;and my
+horses, after passing through such intolerable roads, wanting rest, I stayed at
+Perkins&rsquo; tavern (which, by the bye, is not a good one) all day&mdash;and
+a meetinghouse being within a few rods of the door, I attended the morning and
+evening services, and heard very lame discourses from a Mr. Pond.&rdquo; It is
+of this experience that tradition says the President started to travel, but was
+promptly arrested by a Connecticut tithing-man. The story, however, lacks
+authentication.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There can be no doubt that religious intolerance was not a part of
+Washington&rsquo;s character. In 1775, when the New England troops intended to
+celebrate Guy Fawkes day, as usual, the General Orders declared that &ldquo;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 of common sense, as not to see the impropriety of such a
+step.&rdquo; When trying to secure some servants, too, he wrote that &ldquo;if
+they are good workmen, they may be from Asia, Africa, or Europe; they may be
+Mahometans, Jews, or Christians of any sect, or they may be Atheists.&rdquo;
+When the bill taxing all the people of Virginia to support the Episcopal Church
+(his own) was under discussion, he threw his weight against it, as far as
+concerned the taxing of other sectaries, but adding:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Although no man&rsquo;s sentiments are more opposed to any kind of
+restraint upon religious principles than mine are, yet I must confess, that I
+am not amongst the number of those, who are so much alarmed at the thoughts of
+making people pay towards the support of that which they profess, if of the
+denomination, of Christians, or to declare themselves Jews, Mahometans, or
+otherwise, and thereby obtain proper relief. As the matter now stands, I wish
+an assessment had never been agitated, and as it has gone so far, that the bill
+could die an easy death; because I think it will be productive of more quiet to
+the State, than by enacting it into a law, which in my opinion would be
+impolitic, admitting there is a decided majority for it, to the disquiet of a
+respectable minority. In the former case, the matter will soon subside; in the
+latter, it will rankle and perhaps convulse the State.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again in a letter he says,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are
+caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate
+and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in hopes, that the
+lightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least
+have reconciled <i>Christians</i> of every denomination so far, that we should
+never again see their religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger
+the peace of society.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And to Lafayette, alluding to the proceedings of the Assembly of Notables, he
+wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am not less ardent in my wish, that you may succeed in your plan of
+toleration in religious matters. Being no bigot myself, I am disposed to
+indulge the professors of Christianity in the church with that road to Heaven,
+which to them shall seem the most direct, plainest, easiest, and least liable
+to exception.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What Washington believed has been a source of much dispute. Jefferson states
+&ldquo;that Gouverneur Morris, who pretended to be in his secrets, and believed
+himself to be so, has often told me that General Washington believed no more of
+that system than he himself did,&rdquo; and Morris, it is scarcely necessary to
+state, was an atheist. The same authority quotes Rush, to the effect that
+&ldquo;when the clergy addressed General Washington on his departure from the
+government, it was observed in their consultation, that he had never, on any
+occasion, said a word to the public which showed a belief in the Christian
+religion, and they thought they should so pen their address, as to force him at
+length to declare publicly whether he was a Christian or not They did so. But,
+he observed, the old fox was too cunning for them. He answered every article of
+their address particularly except that, which he passed over without
+notice.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whatever his belief, in all public ways Washington threw his influence in favor
+of religion, and kept what he really believed a secret, and in only one thing
+did he disclose his real thoughts. It is asserted that before the Revolution he
+partook of the sacrament, but this is only affirmed by hearsay, and better
+evidence contradicts it. After that war he did not, it is certain. Nelly Custis
+states that on &ldquo;communion Sundays he left the church with me, after the
+blessing, and returned home, and we sent the carriage back for my
+grandmother.&rdquo; And the assistant minister of Christ Church in Philadelphia
+states that&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Observing that on Sacrament Sundays, Gen&rsquo;l Washington, immediately
+after the Desk and Pulpit services, went out with the greater part of the
+congregation, always leaving Mrs. Washington with the communicants, she
+<i>invariably</i> being one, I considered it my duty, in a sermon on Public
+Worship, to state the unhappy tendency of <i>example</i>, particularly those in
+elevated stations, who invariably turned their backs upon the celebration of
+the Lord&rsquo;s Supper. I acknowledge the remark was intended for the
+President, as such, he received it. A few days after, in conversation with, I
+believe, a Senator of the U.S. he told me he had dined the day before with the
+President, who in the course of the conversation at the table, said, that on
+the preceding Sunday, he had received a very just reproof from the pulpit, for
+always leaving the church before the administration of the Sacrament; that he
+honored the preacher for his integrity and candour; that he had never
+considered the influence of his example; that he would never again give cause
+for the repetition of the reproof; and that, as he had never been a
+communicant, were he to become one then, it would be imputed to an ostentatious
+display of religious zeal arising altogether from his elevated station.
+Accordingly he afterwards never came on the morning of Sacrament Sunday,
+tho&rsquo; at other times, a constant attendant in the morning.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nelly Custis, too, tells us that Washington always &ldquo;stood during the
+devotional part of the service,&rdquo; and Bishop White states that &ldquo;his
+behavior was always serious and attentive; but, as your letter seems to intend
+an inquiry on the point of kneeling during the service, I owe it to the truth
+to declare, that I never saw him in the said attitude.&rdquo; Probably his true
+position is described by Madison, who is quoted as saying that he did
+&ldquo;not suppose that Washington had ever attended to the arguments for
+Christianity, and for the different systems of religion, or in fact that he had
+formed definite opinions on the subject. But he took these things as he found
+them existing, and was constant in his observances of worship according to the
+received forms of the Episcopal Church, in which he was brought up.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If there was proof needed that it is mind and not education which pushes a man
+to the front, it is to be found in the case of Washington. Despite his want of
+education, he had, so Bell states, &ldquo;an excellent understanding.&rdquo;
+Patrick Henry is quoted as saying of the members of the Congress of 1774&mdash;
+the body of which Adams claimed that &ldquo;every man in it is a great man, an
+orator, a critic, a statesman&rdquo;&mdash;that &ldquo;if you speak of solid
+information and sound judgment Colonel Washington is unquestionably the
+greatest man on the floor;&rdquo; while Jefferson asserted that &ldquo;his mind
+was great and powerful, without being of the very first order; his penetration
+strong, though not so acute as that of a Newton, Bacon, or Locke; and as far as
+he saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It was slow in operation, being little
+aided by invention or imagination, but sure in conclusion.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap04"></a>IV<br/>
+RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX</h2>
+
+<p>
+The book from which Washington derived almost the whole of his education warned
+its readers,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;Young Men have ever more a special care<br/>
+That Womanish Allurements prove not a snare;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+but, however carefully the lad studied the rest, this particular admonition
+took little root in his mind. There can be no doubt that Washington during the
+whole of his life had a soft heart for women, and especially for good-looking
+ones, and both in his personal intercourse and in his letters he shows himself
+very much more at ease with them than in his relations with his own sex. Late
+in life, when the strong passions of his earlier years were under better
+control, he was able to write,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore,
+contended that it cannot be resisted. This is true in part only, for like all
+things else, when nourished and supplied plentifully with aliment, it is rapid
+in its progress; but let these be withdrawn and it may be stifled in its birth
+or much stinted in its growth. For example, a woman (the same may be said of
+the other sex) all beautiful and accomplished will, while her hand and heart
+are undisposed of, turn the heads and set the circle in which she moves on
+fire. Let her marry, and what is the consequence? The madness <i>ceases</i> and
+all is quiet again. Why? not because there is any diminution in the charms of
+the lady, but because there is an end of hope. Hence it follows, that love may
+and therefore ought to be under the guidance of reason, for although we cannot
+avoid first impressions, we may assuredly place them under guard.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To write thus in one&rsquo;s sixty-sixth year and to practise one&rsquo;s
+theory in youth were, however, very different undertakings. Even while
+discussing love so philosophically, the writer had to acknowledge that
+&ldquo;in the composition of the human frame, there is a good deal of
+inflammable matter,&rdquo; and few have had better cause to know it. When he
+saw in the premature engagement of his ward, Jack Custis, the one advantage
+that it would &ldquo;in a great measure avoid those little flirtations with
+other young ladies that may, by dividing the attention, contribute not a little
+to divide the affection,&rdquo; it is easy to think of him as looking back to
+his own boyhood, and remembering, it is to be hoped with a smile, the
+sufferings he owed to pretty faces and neatly turned ankles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While still a school-boy, Washington was one day caught &ldquo;romping with one
+of the largest girls,&rdquo; and very quickly more serious likings followed. As
+early as 1748, when only sixteen years of age, his heart was so engaged that
+while at Lord Fairfax&rsquo;s and enjoying the society of Mary Cary he poured
+out his feelings to his youthful correspondents &ldquo;Dear Robin&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;Dear John&rdquo; and &ldquo;Dear Sally&rdquo; as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My place of Residence is at present at His Lordships where I might was
+my heart disengag&rsquo;d pass my time very pleasantly as theres a very
+agreeable Young Lady Lives in the same house (Colo George Fairfax&rsquo;s
+Wife&rsquo;s Sister) but as thats only adding Fuel to fire it makes me the more
+uneasy for by often and unavoidably being in Company with her revives my former
+Passion for your Low Land Beauty whereas was I to live more retired from young
+Women I might in some measure eliviate my sorrows by burying that chast and
+troublesome Passion in the grave of oblivion or etarnall forgetfulness for as I
+am very well assured thats the only antidote or remedy that I shall be releivd
+by or only recess that can administer any cure or help to me as I am well
+convinced was I ever to attempt any thing I should only get a denial which
+would be only adding grief to uneasiness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Was my affections disengaged I might perhaps form some pleasure in the
+conversation of an agreeable Young Lady as theres one now Lives in the same
+house with me but as that is only nourishment to my former affecn for by often
+seeing her brings the other into my remembrance whereas perhaps was she not
+often &amp; (unavoidably) presenting herself to my view I might in some measure
+aliviate my sorrows by burying the other in the grave of Oblivion I am well
+convinced my heart stands in defiance of all others but only she thats given it
+cause enough to dread a second assault and from a different Quarter tho&rsquo;
+I well know let it have as many attacks as it will from others they cant be
+more fierce than it has been.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I Pass the time of[f] much more agreeabler than what I imagined I should
+as there&rsquo;s a very agrewable Young Lady lives in the same house where I
+reside (Colo George Fairfax&rsquo;s Wife&rsquo;s Sister) that in a great
+Measure cheats my thoughts altogether from your Parts I could wish to be with
+you down there with all my heart but as it is a thing almost Impractakable
+shall rest myself where I am with hopes of shortly having some Minutes of your
+transactions in your Parts which will be very welcomely receiv&rsquo;d.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Who this &ldquo;Low Land Beauty&rdquo; was has been the source of much
+speculation, but the question is still unsolved, every suggested
+damsel&mdash;Lucy Grymes, Mary Bland, Betsy Fauntleroy, <i>et
+al.</i>&mdash;being either impossible or the evidence wholly inadequate. But in
+the same journal which contains the draughts of these letters is a motto
+poem&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;Twas Perfect Love before<br/>
+But Now I do adore&rdquo;&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+followed by the words &ldquo;Young M.A. his W[ife?],&rdquo; and as it was a
+fashion of the time to couple the initials of one&rsquo;s well-beloved with
+such sentiments, a slight clue is possibly furnished. Nor was this the only
+rhyme that his emotions led to his inscribing in his journal: and he confided
+to it the following:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;Oh Ye Gods why should my Poor Resistless Heart<br/>
+    Stand to oppose thy might and Power<br/>
+At Last surrender to cupids feather&rsquo;d Dart<br/>
+    And now lays Bleeding every Hour<br/>
+For her that&rsquo;s Pityless of my grief and Woes<br/>
+    And will not on me Pity take<br/>
+He sleep amongst my most inveterate Foes<br/>
+    And with gladness never wish to wake<br/>
+In deluding sleepings let my Eyelids close<br/>
+    That in an enraptured Dream I may<br/>
+In a soft lulling sleep and gentle repose<br/>
+    Possess those joys denied by Day.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However woe-begone the young lover was, he does not seem to have been wholly
+lost to others of the sex, and at this same time he was able to indite an
+acrostic to another charmer, which, if incomplete, nevertheless proves that
+there was a &ldquo;midland&rdquo; beauty as well, the lady being presumptively
+some member of the family of Alexanders, who had a plantation near Mount
+Vernon.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;From your bright sparkling Eyes I was undone;<br/>
+Rays, you have; more transperent than the Sun.<br/>
+Amidst its glory in the rising Day<br/>
+None can you equal in your bright array;<br/>
+Constant in your calm and unspotted Mind;<br/>
+Equal to all, but will to none Prove kind,<br/>
+So knowing, seldom one so Young, you&rsquo;l Find.<br/>
+<br/>
+Ah! woe&rsquo;s me, that I should Love and conceal<br/>
+Long have I wish&rsquo;d, but never dare reveal,<br/>
+Even though severely Loves Pains I feel;<br/>
+Xerxes that great, was&rsquo;t free from Cupids Dart,<br/>
+And all the greatest Heroes, felt the smart.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When visiting Barbadoes, in 1751, Washington noted in his journal his meeting a
+Miss Roberts, &ldquo;an agreeable young lady,&rdquo; and later he went with her
+to see some fireworks on Guy Fawkes day. Apparently, however, the ladies of
+that island made little impression on him, for he further noted, &ldquo;The
+Ladys Generally are very agreeable but by ill custom or w[ha]t effect the Negro
+style.&rdquo; This sudden insensibility is explained by a letter he wrote to
+William Fauntleroy a few weeks after his return to Virginia:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Sir: I should have been down long before this, but my business in
+Frederick detained me somewhat longer than I expected, and immediately upon my
+return from thence I was taken with a violent Pleurise, but purpose as soon as
+I recover my strength, to wait on Miss Betsy, in hopes of a revocation of the
+former cruel sentence, and see if I can meet with any alteration in my favor. I
+have enclosed a letter to her, which should be much obliged to you for the
+delivery of it. I have nothing to add but my best respects to your good lady
+and family, and that I am, Sir, Your most ob&rsquo;t humble
+serv&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Because of this letter it has been positively asserted that Betsy Fauntleroy
+was the Low-Land Beauty of the earlier time; but as Washington wrote of his
+love for the latter in 1748, when Betsy was only eleven, the absurdity of the
+claim is obvious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1753, while on his mission to deliver the governor&rsquo;s letter to the
+French, one duty which fell to the young soldier was a visit to royalty, in the
+person of Queen Aliquippa, an Indian majesty who had &ldquo;expressed great
+Concern&rdquo; that she had formerly been slighted. Washington records that
+&ldquo;I made her a Present of a Match-coat and a Bottle of Rum; which latter
+was thought much the best Present of the Two,&rdquo; and thus (externally and
+internally) restored warmth to her majesty&rsquo;s feelings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When returned from his first campaign, and resting at Mount Vernon, the time
+seems to have been beguiled by some charmer, for one of Washington&rsquo;s
+officers and intimates writes from Williamsburg, &ldquo;I imagine you By this
+time plung&rsquo;d in the midst of delight heaven can afford &amp; enchanted By
+Charmes even Stranger to the Ciprian Dame,&rdquo; and a footnote by the same
+hand only excites further curiosity concerning this latter personage by
+indefinitely naming her as &ldquo;Mrs. Neil.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With whatever heart-affairs the winter was passed, with the spring the young
+man&rsquo;s fancy turned not to love, but again to war, and only when the
+defeat of Braddock brought Washington back to Mount Vernon to recover from the
+fatigues of that campaign was his intercourse with the gentler sex resumed.
+Now, however, he was not merely a good-looking young fellow, but was a hero who
+had had horses shot from under him and had stood firm when scarlet-coated men
+had run away. No longer did he have to sue for the favor of the fair ones, and
+Fairfax wrote him that &ldquo;if a Satterday Nights Rest cannot be sufficient
+to enable your coming hither to-morrow, the Lady&rsquo;s will try to get Horses
+to equip our Chair or attempt their strength on Foot to Salute you, so desirous
+are they with loving Speed to have an occular Demonstration of your being the
+same Identical Gent&mdash;that lately departed to defend his Country&rsquo;s
+Cause.&rdquo; Furthermore, to this letter was appended the following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;DEAR SIR,&mdash;After thanking Heaven for your safe return I must accuse
+you of great unkindness in refusing us the pleasure of seeing you this night. I
+do assure you nothing but our being satisfied that our company would be
+disagreeable should prevent us from trying if our Legs would not carry us to
+Mount Vernon this night, but if you will not come to us to-morrow morning very
+early we shall be at Mount Vernon.
+</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+&ldquo;S[<small>ALLY</small>] F<small>AIRFAX</small>,<br/>
+&ldquo;A<small>NN</small> S<small>PEARING</small>.<br/>
+&ldquo;E<small>LIZ&rsquo;TH</small> D<small>ENT</small>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor is this the only feminine postscript of this time, for in the postscript of
+a letter from Archibald Cary, a leading Virginian, he is told that &ldquo;Mrs.
+Cary &amp; Miss Randolph joyn in wishing you that sort of Glory which will most
+Indear you to the Fair Sex.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1756 Washington had occasion to journey on military business to Boston, and
+both in coming and in going he tarried in New York, passing ten days in his
+first visit and about a week on his return. This time was spent with a
+Virginian friend, Beverly Robinson, who had had the good luck to marry Susannah
+Philipse, a daughter of Frederick Philipse, one of the largest landed
+proprietors of the colony of New York. Here he met the sister, Mary Philipse,
+then a girl of twenty-five, and, short as was the time, it was sufficient to
+engage his heart. To this interest no doubt are due the entries in his accounts
+of sundry pounds spent &ldquo;for treating Ladies,&rdquo; and for the large
+tailors&rsquo; bills then incurred. But neither treats nor clothes won the
+lady, who declined his proposals, and gave her heart two years later to
+Lieutenant-Colonel Roger Morris. A curious sequel to this disappointment was
+the accident that made the Roger Morris house Washington&rsquo;s head-quarters
+in 1776, both Morris and his wife being fugitive Tories. Again Washington was a
+chance visitor in 1790, when, as part of a picnic, he &ldquo;dined on a dinner
+provided by Mr. Marriner at the House lately Colo. Roger Morris, but
+confiscated and in the occupation of a common Farmer.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus09"></a>
+<img src="images/img09.jpg" width="459" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">MARY PHILIPSE</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+It has been asserted that Washington loved the wife of his friend George
+William Fairfax, but the evidence has not been produced. On the contrary,
+though the two corresponded, it was in a purely platonic fashion, very
+different from the strain of lovers, and that the correspondence implied
+nothing is to be found in the fact that he and Sally Carlyle (another Fairfax
+daughter) also wrote each other quite as frequently and on the same friendly
+footing; indeed, Washington evidently classed them in the same category, when
+he stated that &ldquo;I have wrote to my two female correspondents.&rdquo; Thus
+the claim seems due, like many another of Washington&rsquo;s mythical
+love-affairs, rather to the desire of descendants to link their family
+&ldquo;to a star&rdquo; than to more substantial basis. Washington did, indeed,
+write to Sally Fairfax from the frontier, &ldquo;I should think our time more
+agreeably spent, believe me, in playing a part in Cato, with the company you
+mention, and myself doubly happy in being the Juba to such a Marcia, as you
+must make,&rdquo; but private theatricals then no more than now implied
+&ldquo;passionate love.&rdquo; What is more, Mrs. Fairfax was at this very time
+teasing him about another woman, and to her hints Washington replied,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If you allow that any honor can be derived from my opposition … you
+destroy the merit of it entirely in me by attributing my anxiety to the
+animating prospect of possessing Mrs. Custis, when&mdash;I need not tell you,
+guess yourself. Should not my own Honor and country&rsquo;s welfare be the
+excitement? &rsquo;Tis true I profess myself a votary of love. I acknowledge
+that a lady is in the case, and further I confess that this lady is known to
+you. Yes, Madame, as well as she is to one who is too sensible of her charms to
+deny the Power whose influence he feels and must ever submit to. I feel the
+force of her amiable beauties in the recollection of a thousand tender passages
+that I could wish to obliterate, till I am bid to revive them. But experience,
+alas! sadly reminds me how impossible this is, and evinces an opinion which I
+have long entertained that there is a Destiny which has the control of our
+actions, not to be resisted by the strongest efforts of Human Nature. You have
+drawn me, dear Madame, or rather I have drawn myself, into an honest confession
+of a simple Fact. Misconstrue not my meaning; doubt it not, nor expose it. The
+world has no business to know the object of my Love, declared in this manner to
+you, when I want to conceal it. One thing above all things in this world I wish
+to know, and only one person of your acquaintance can solve me that, or guess
+my meaning.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The love-affair thus alluded to had begun in March, 1758, when ill health had
+taken Washington to Williamsburg to consult physicians, thinking, indeed, of
+himself as a doomed man. In this trip he met Mrs. Martha (Dandridge) Custis,
+widow of Daniel Parke Custis, one of the wealthiest planters of the colony. She
+was at this time twenty-six years of age, or Washington&rsquo;s senior by nine
+months, and had been a widow but seven, yet in spite of this fact, and of his
+own expected &ldquo;decay,&rdquo; he pressed his love-making with an
+impetuosity akin to that with which he had urged his suit of Miss Philipse, and
+(widows being proverbial) with better success. The invalid had left Mount
+Vernon on March 5, and by April 1 he was back at Fort Loudon, an engaged man,
+having as well so far recovered his health as to be able to join his command.
+Early in May he ordered a ring from Philadelphia, at a cost of £2.16.0; soon
+after receiving it he found that army affairs once more called him down to
+Williamsburg, and, as love-making is generally considered a military duty, the
+excuse was sufficient. But sterner duties on the frontier were awaiting him,
+and very quickly he was back there and writing to his <i>fiancée</i>,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We have begun our march for the Ohio. A courier is starting for
+Williamsburg, and I embrace the opportunity to send a few words to one whose
+life is now inseparable from mine. Since that happy hour when we made our
+pledges to each other, my thoughts have been continually going to you as
+another Self. That an all-powerful Providence may keep us both in safety is the
+prayer of your ever faithful and affectionate friend.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Five months after this letter was written, Washington was able to date another
+from Fort Duquesne, and, the fall of that post putting an end to his military
+service, only four weeks later he was back in Williamsburg, and on January 6,
+1759, he was married.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Very little is really known of his wife, beyond the facts that she was petite,
+over-fond, hot-tempered, obstinate, and a poor speller. In 1778 she was
+described as &ldquo;a sociable, pretty kind of woman,&rdquo; and she seems to
+have been but little more. One who knew her well described her as &ldquo;not
+possessing much sense, though a perfect lady and remarkably well calculated for
+her position,&rdquo; and confirmatory of this is the opinion of an English
+traveller that &ldquo;there was nothing remarkable in the person of the lady of
+the President; she was matronly and kind, with perfect good breeding.&rdquo;
+None the less she satisfied Washington; even after the proverbial six months
+were over he refused to wander from Mount Vernon, writing that &ldquo;I am now,
+I believe, fixed at this seat with an agreeable Consort for life,&rdquo; and in
+1783 he spoke of her as the &ldquo;partner of all my Domestic
+enjoyments.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+John Adams, in one of his recurrent moods of bitterness and jealousy towards
+Washington, demanded, &ldquo;Would Washington have ever been commander of the
+revolutionary army or president of the United States if he had not married the
+rich widow of Mr. Custis?&rdquo; To ask such a question is to overlook the fact
+that Washington&rsquo;s colonial military fame was entirely achieved before his
+marriage. It is not to be denied that the match was a good one from a worldly
+point of view, Mrs. Washington&rsquo;s third of the Custis property equalling
+&ldquo;fifteen thousand acres of land, a good part of it adjoining the city of
+Williamsburg; several lots in the said city; between two and three hundred
+negroes; and about eight or ten thousand pounds upon bond,&rdquo; estimated at
+the time as about twenty thousand pounds in all, which was further increased on
+the death of Patsy Custis in 1773 by a half of her fortune, which added ten
+thousand pounds to the sum. Nevertheless the advantage was fairly equal, for
+Mrs. Custis&rsquo;s lawyer had written before her marriage of the impossibility
+of her managing the property, advising that she &ldquo;employ a trusty steward,
+and as the estate is large and very extensive, it is Mr. Wallers and my own
+opinion, that you had better not engage any but a very able man, though he
+should require large wages.&rdquo; Of the management of this property, to
+which, indeed, she was unequal, Washington entirely relieved her, taking charge
+also of her children&rsquo;s share and acting for their interests with the same
+care with which he managed the part he was more directly concerned in.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He further saved her much of the detail of ordering her own clothing, and we
+find him sending for &ldquo;A Salmon-colored Tabby of the enclosed pattern,
+with satin flowers, to be made in a sack,&rdquo; &ldquo;1 Cap, Handkerchief,
+Tucker and Ruffles, to be made of Brussels lace or point, proper to wear with
+the above negligee, to cost £20,&rdquo; &ldquo;1 pair black, and 1 pair white
+Satin Shoes, of the smallest,&rdquo; and &ldquo;1 black mask.&rdquo; Again he
+writes his London agent, &ldquo;Mrs. Washington sends home a green sack to get
+cleaned, or fresh dyed of the same color; made up into a handsome sack again,
+would be her choice; but if the cloth won&rsquo;t afford that, then to be
+thrown into a genteel Night Gown.&rdquo; At another time he wants a pair of
+clogs, and when the wrong kind are sent he writes that &ldquo;she intended to
+have leathern Gloshoes.&rdquo; When she was asked to present a pair of colors
+to a company, he attended to every detail of obtaining the flag, and when
+&ldquo;Mrs. Washington … perceived the Tomb of her Father … to be much out of
+Sorts&rdquo; he wrote to get a workman to repair it. The care of the Mount
+Vernon household proving beyond his wife&rsquo;s ability, a housekeeper was
+very quickly engaged, and when one who filled this position was on the point of
+leaving, Washington wrote his agent to find another without the least delay,
+for the vacancy would &ldquo;throw a great additional weight on Mrs.
+Washington;&rdquo; again, writing in another domestic difficulty, &ldquo;Your
+aunt&rsquo;s distresses for want of a good housekeeper are such as to render
+the wages demanded by Mrs. Forbes (though unusually high) of no
+consideration.&rdquo; Her letters of form, which required better orthography
+than she was mistress of, he draughted for her, pen-weary though he was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has already been shown how he fathered her &ldquo;little progeny,&rdquo; as
+he once called them. Mrs. Washington was a worrying mother, as is shown by a
+letter to her sister, speaking of a visit in which &ldquo;I carried my little
+patt with me and left Jacky at home for a trial to see how well I could stay
+without him though we were gon but wone fortnight I was quite impatient to get
+home. If I at aney time heard the doggs barke or a noise out, I thought thair
+was a person sent for me. I often fancied he was sick or some accident had
+happened to him so that I think it is impossible for me to leave him as long as
+Mr. Washington must stay when he comes down.&rdquo; To spare her anxiety,
+therefore, when the time came for &ldquo;Jacky&rdquo; to be inoculated,
+Washington &ldquo;withheld from her the information … &amp; purpose, if
+possible, to keep her in total ignorance … till I hear of his return, or
+perfect recovery;… she having often wished that Jack wou&rsquo;d take &amp; go
+through the disorder without her knowing of it, that she might escape those
+Tortures which suspense wd throw her into.&rdquo; And on the death of Patsy he
+wrote, &ldquo;This sudden and unexpected blow, I scarce need add has almost
+reduced my poor Wife to the lowest ebb of Misery; which is encreas&rsquo;d by
+the absence of her son.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Washington left Mount Vernon, in May, 1775, to attend the Continental
+Congress, he did not foresee his appointment as commander-in-chief, and as soon
+as it occurred he wrote his wife,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;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 for the 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You may believe me, my dear Patsey, when I assure 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 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…. I shall feel no pain from the toil or
+danger of the campaign; my unhappiness will flow from the uneasiness I know you
+will feel from being left alone.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To prevent this loneliness as far as possible, he wrote at the same time to
+different members of the two families as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My great concern upon this occasion is, the thought of leaving your
+mother under the uneasiness which I fear this affair will throw her into; I
+therefore hope, expect, and indeed have no doubt, of your using every means in
+your power to keep up her spirits, by doing everything in your power to promote
+her quiet. I have, I must confess, very uneasy feelings on her account, but as
+it has been a kind of unavoidable necessity which has led me into this
+appointment, I shall more readily hope that success will attend it and crown
+our meetings with happiness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I entreat you and Mrs. Bassett if possible to visit at Mt. Vernon, as
+also my wife&rsquo;s other friends. I could wish you to take her down, as I
+have no expectation of returning till winter &amp; feel great uneasiness at her
+lonesome situation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I shall hope that my friends will visit and endeavor to keep up the
+spirits of my wife, as much as they can, as my departure will, I know, be a
+cutting stroke upon her; and on this account alone I have many very
+disagreeable sensations. I hope you and my sister, (although the distance is
+great), will find as much leisure this summer as to spend a little time at
+Mount Vernon.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When, six months later, the war at Boston settled into a mere siege, Washington
+wrote that &ldquo;seeing no prospect of returning to my family and friends this
+winter, I have sent an invitation to Mrs. Washington to come to me,&rdquo;
+adding, &ldquo;I have laid a state of difficulties, however, which must attend
+the journey before her, and left it to her own choice.&rdquo; His wife replied
+in the affirmative, and one of Washington&rsquo;s aides presently wrote
+concerning some prize goods to the effect that &ldquo;There are limes, lemons
+and oranges on board, which, being perishable, you must sell immediately. The
+General will want some of each, as well of the sweetmeats and pickles that are
+on board, as his lady will be here to-day or to-morrow. You will please to pick
+up such things on board as you think will be acceptable to her, and send them
+as soon as possible; he does not mean to receive anything without
+payment.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lodged at head-quarters, then the Craigie house in Cambridge, the discomforts
+of war were reduced to a minimum, but none the less it was a trying time to
+Mrs. Washington, who complained that she could not get used to the distant
+cannonading, and she marvelled that those about her paid so little heed to it.
+With the opening of the campaign in the following summer she returned to Mount
+Vernon, but when the army was safely in winter quarters at Valley Forge she
+once more journeyed northward, a trip alluded to by Washington in a letter to
+Jack, as follows: &ldquo;Your Mamma is not yet arrived, but … expected every
+hour. [My aide] Meade set off yesterday (as soon as I got notice of her
+intention) to meet her. We are in a dreary kind of place, and uncomfortably
+provided.&rdquo; And of this reunion Mrs. Washington wrote, &ldquo;I came to
+this place, some time about the first of February where I found the General
+very well,… in camp in what is called the great valley on the Banks of the
+Schuylkill. Officers and men are chiefly in Hutts, which they say is tolerably
+comfortable; the army are as healthy as can be well expected in general. The
+General&rsquo;s apartment is very small; he has had a log cabin built to dine
+in, which has made our quarters much more tolerable than they were at
+first&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such &ldquo;winterings&rdquo; became the regular custom, and brief references
+in various letters serve to illustrate them. Thus, in 1779, Washington informed
+a friend that &ldquo;Mrs. Washington, according to custom marched home when the
+campaign was about to open;&rdquo; in July, 1782, he noted that his wife
+&ldquo;sets out this day for Mount Vernon,&rdquo; and later in the same year he
+wrote, &ldquo;as I despair of seeing my home this Winter, I have sent for Mrs.
+Washington;&rdquo; and finally, in a letter he draughted for his wife, he made
+her describe herself as &ldquo;a kind of perambulator, during eight or nine
+years of the war.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another pleasant glimpse during these stormy years is the couple, during a
+brief stay in Philadelphia, being entertained almost to death, described as
+follows by Franklin&rsquo;s daughter in a letter to her father: &ldquo;I have
+lately been several times abroad with the General and Mrs. Washington. He
+always inquires after you in the most affectionate manner, and speaks of you
+highly. We danced at Mrs. Powell&rsquo;s your birthday, or night I should say,
+in company together, and he told me it was the anniversary of his marriage; it
+was just twenty years that night&rdquo; Again there was junketing in
+Philadelphia after the surrender at Yorktown, and one bit of this is shadowed
+in a line from Washington to Robert Morris, telling the latter that &ldquo;Mrs.
+Washington, myself and family, will have the honor of dining with you in the
+way proposed, to-morrow, being Christmas day.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the retirement to Mount Vernon at the close of the war, little more
+companionship was obtained, for, as already stated, Washington could only
+describe his home henceforth as a &ldquo;well resorted tavern,&rdquo; and two
+years after his return he entered in his diary, &ldquo;Dined with only Mrs.
+Washington which I believe is the first instance of it since my retirement from
+public life.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even this was only a furlough, for in six years they were both in public life
+again. Mrs. Washington was inclined to sulk over the necessary restraints of
+official life, writing to a friend, &ldquo;Mrs. Sins will give you a better
+account of the fashions than I can&mdash;I live a very dull life hear and know
+nothing that passes in the town&mdash;I never goe to any public
+place&mdash;indeed I think I am more like a State prisoner than anything else;
+there is certain bounds set for me which I must not depart from&mdash;and as I
+cannot doe as I like, I am obstinate and stay at home a great deal.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus10"></a>
+<img src="images/img10.jpg" width="398" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">MRS. DANIEL PARKE CUSTIS, LATER MRS. WASHINGTON</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+None the less she did her duties well, and in these &ldquo;Lady
+Washington&rdquo; was more at home, for, according to Thacher, she combined
+&ldquo;in an uncommon degree, great dignity of manner with most pleasing
+affability,&rdquo; though possessing &ldquo;no striking marks of beauty,&rdquo;
+and there is no doubt that she lightened Washington&rsquo;s shoulders of social
+demands materially. At the receptions of Mrs. Washington, which were held every
+Friday evening, so a contemporary states, &ldquo;the President did not consider
+himself as visited. On these occasions he appeared as a private gentleman, with
+neither hat nor sword, conversing without restraint.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From other formal society Mrs. Washington also saved her husband, for a visitor
+on New Year&rsquo;s tells of her setting &ldquo;&lsquo;the General&rsquo; (by
+which title she always designated her husband)&rdquo; at liberty: &ldquo;Mrs.
+Washington had stood by his side as the visitors arrived and were presented,
+and when the clock in the hall was heard striking nine, she advanced and with a
+complacent smile said, &lsquo;The General always retires at nine, and I usually
+precede him,&rsquo; upon which all arose, made their parting salutations, and
+withdrew.&rdquo; Nor was it only from the fatigues of formal entertaining that
+the wife saved her husband, Washington writing in 1793, &ldquo;We remain in
+Philadelphia until the 10th instant. It was my wish to have continued there
+longer; but as Mrs. Washington was unwilling to leave me surrounded by the
+malignant fever which prevailed, I could not think of hazarding her, and the
+Children any longer by <i>my</i> continuance in the City, the house in which we
+live being in a manner blockaded by the disorder, and was becoming every day
+more and more fatal; I therefore came off with them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finally from these &ldquo;scenes more busy, tho&rsquo; not more happy, than the
+tranquil enjoyment of rural life,&rdquo; they returned to Mount Vernon, hoping
+that in the latter their &ldquo;days will close.&rdquo; Not quite three years
+of this life brought an end to their forty years of married life. On the night
+that Washington&rsquo;s illness first became serious his secretary narrates
+that &ldquo;Between 2 and 3 o&rsquo;clk on Saturday morning he [Washington]
+awoke Mrs. Washington &amp; told her he was very unwell, and had had an ague.
+She … would have got up to call a servant; but he would not permit her lest she
+should take cold.&rdquo; As a consequence of this care for her, her husband lay
+for nearly four hours in a chill in a cold bedroom before receiving any
+attention, or before even a fire was lighted. When death came, she said,
+&ldquo;Tis well&mdash;All is now over&mdash;I have no more trials to pass
+through&mdash;I shall soon follow him.&rdquo; In his will he left &ldquo;to my
+dearly beloved wife&rdquo; the use of his whole property, and named her an
+executrix.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a man&rsquo;s views of matrimony are more or less colored by his personal
+experience, what Washington had to say on the institution is of interest. As
+concerned himself he wrote to his nephew, &ldquo;If Mrs. Washington should
+survive me, there is a moral certainty of my dying without issue: and should I
+be the longest liver, the matter in my opinion, is hardly less certain; for
+while I retain the faculty of reasoning, I shall never marry a girl; and it is
+not probable that I should have children by a woman of an age suitable to my
+own, should I be disposed to enter into a second marriage.&rdquo; And in a less
+personal sense he wrote to Chastellux,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In reading your very friendly and acceptable letter,… I was, as you may
+well suppose, not less delighted than surprised to meet the plain American
+words, &lsquo;my wife.&rsquo; 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. Now 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&mdash;domestic
+felicity&mdash;which same, like the small pox or the plague, a man can have
+only once in his life; because it commonly lasts him (at least with us in
+America&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know how you manage these matters in France) for
+his whole life time. And yet after all the maledictions you so richly merit on
+the subject, the worst wish which I can find in my heart to make against Madame
+de Chastellux and yourself is, that you may neither of you ever get the better
+of this same domestic felicity during the entire course of your mortal
+existence.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Furthermore, he wrote to an old friend, whose wife stubbornly refused to sign a
+deed, &ldquo;I think, any Gentleman, possessed of but a very moderate degree of
+influence with his wife, might, in the course of five or six years (for I think
+it is at least that time) have prevailed upon her to do an act of justice, in
+fulfiling his Bargains and complying with his wishes, if he had been really in
+earnest in requesting the matter of her; especially, as the inducement which
+you thought would have a powerful operation on Mrs. Alexander, namely the birth
+of a child, has been doubled, and tripled.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However well Washington thought of &ldquo;the honorable state,&rdquo; he was no
+match-maker, and when asked to give advice to the widow of Jack Custis,
+replied, &ldquo;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
+advise 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 disapprobation, that she
+applies. In a word the plain English of the application may be summed up in
+these words: &lsquo;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.&rsquo;&rdquo; Again he wrote:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It has ever been a maxim with me through life, neither to promote nor to
+prevent a matrimonial connection, unless there should be something
+indispensably requiring interference in the latter. I have always considered
+marriage as the most interesting event of one&rsquo;s life, the foundation of
+happiness or misery. To be instrumental therefore in bringing two people
+together, who are indifferent to each other, and may soon become objects of
+disgust; or to prevent a union, which is prompted by the affections of the
+mind, is what I never could reconcile with reason, and therefore neither
+directly nor indirectly have I ever said a word to Fanny or George, upon the
+subject of their intended connection.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The question whether Washington was a faithful husband might well be left to
+the facts already given, were it not that stories of his immorality are bandied
+about in clubs, a well-known clergyman has vouched for their truth, and a
+United States senator has given further currency to them by claiming special
+knowledge on the subject. Since such are the facts, it seems best to consider
+the question and show what evidence there actually is for these stories, that
+at least the pretended &ldquo;letters,&rdquo; etc., which are always being
+cited, and are never produced, may no longer have credence put in them, and the
+true basis for all the stories may be known and valued at its worth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the year 1776 there was printed in London a small pamphlet entitled
+&ldquo;Minutes of the Trial and Examination of Certain Persons in the Province
+of New York,&rdquo; which purported to be the records of the examination of the
+conspirators of the &ldquo;Hickey plot&rdquo; (to murder Washington) before a
+committee of the Provincial Congress of New York. The manuscript of this was
+claimed in the preface to have been &ldquo;discovered (on the late capture of
+New York by the British troops) among the papers of a person who appears to
+have been secretary to the committee.&rdquo; As part of the evidence the
+following was printed:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;William Cooper, soldier, sworn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Court. Inform us what conversation you heard at the Serjeant&rsquo;s
+Arms?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Cooper. Being there the 21st of May, I heard John Clayford inform the
+company, that Mary Gibbons was thoroughly in their interest, and that the whole
+would be safe. I learnt from enquiry that Mary Gibbons was a girl from New
+Jersey, of whom General Washington was very fond, that he maintained her
+genteelly at a house near Mr. Skinner&rsquo;s,&mdash;at the North River; that
+he came there very often late at night in disguise; he learnt also that this
+woman was very intimate with Clayford, and made him presents, and told him of
+what General Washington said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Court. Did you hear Mr. Clayford say any thing himself that night?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Cooper. Yes; that he was the day before with Judith, so he called her,
+and that she told him, Washington had often said he wished his hands were clear
+of the dirty New-Englanders, and words to that effect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Court. Did you hear no mention made of any scheme to betray or seize
+him?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Cooper. Mr. Clayford said he could easily be seized and put on board a
+boat, and carried off, as his female friend had promised she would assist: but
+all present thought it would be hazardous.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;William Savage, sworn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Court. Was you at the Serjeant&rsquo;s Arms on the 21st of May? Did you
+hear any thing of this nature?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Savage. I did, and nearly as the last evidence has declared; the society
+in general refused to be concerned in it, and thought it a mad scheme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Mr. Abeel. Pray, Mr. Savage, have not you heard nothing of an
+information that was to be given to Governor Tryon?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Savage. Yes; papers and letters were at different times shewn to the
+society, which were taken out of General Washington&rsquo;s pockets by Mrs.
+Gibbons, and given (as she pretended some occasion of going out) to Mr.
+Clayford, who always copied them, and they were put into his pockets
+again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The authenticity of this pamphlet thus becomes of importance, and over this
+little time need be spent. The committee named in it differs from the committee
+really named by the Provincial Congress, and the proceedings nowhere implicate
+the men actually proved guilty. In other words, the whole publication is a
+clumsy Tory forgery, put forward with the same idle story of &ldquo;captured
+papers&rdquo; employed in the &ldquo;spurious letters&rdquo; of Washington, and
+sent forth from the same press (J. Bew) from which that forgery and several
+others issued.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The source from which the English fabricator drew this scandal is fortunately
+known. In 1775 a letter to Washington from his friend Benjamin Harrison was
+intercepted by the British, and at once printed broadcast in the newspapers. In
+this the writer gossips to Washington &ldquo;to amuse you and unbend your minds
+from the cares of war,&rdquo; as follows: &ldquo;As I was in the pleasing task
+of writing to you, a little noise occasioned me to turn my head around, and who
+should appear but pretty little Kate, the Washer-woman&rsquo;s daughter over
+the way, clean, trim and as rosy as the morning. I snatched the golden,
+glorious opportunity, and, but for the cursed antidote to love, Sukey, I had
+fitted her for my general against his return. We were obliged to part, but not
+till we had contrived to meet again: if she keeps the appointment, I shall
+relish a week&rsquo;s longer stay.&rdquo; From this originated the stories of
+Washington&rsquo;s infidelity as already given, and also a coarser version of
+the same, printed in 1776 in a Tory farce entitled &ldquo;The Battle of
+Brooklyn.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Jonathan Boucher, who knew Washington well before the Revolution, yet who, as a
+loyalist, wrote in no friendly spirit of him, asserted that &ldquo;in his moral
+character, he is regular.&rdquo; A man who disliked him far more, General
+Charles Lee, in the excess of his hatred, charged Washington in 1778 with
+immorality,&mdash;a rather amusing impeachment, since at the very time Lee was
+flaunting the evidence of his own incontinence without apparent
+shame,&mdash;and a mutual friend of the accused and accuser, Joseph Reed, whose
+service on Washington&rsquo;s staff enabled him to speak wittingly, advised
+that Lee &ldquo;forbear any Reflections upon the Commander in Chief, of whom
+for the first time I have heard Slander on his private Character, viz., great
+cruelty to his Slaves in Virginia &amp; Immorality of Life, tho&rsquo; they
+acknowledge so very secret that it is difficult to detect. To me who have had
+so good opportunities to know the Purity of the latter &amp; equally believing
+the Falsehood of the former from the known excellence of his disposition, it
+appears so nearly bordering upon frenzy, that I can pity the wretches rather
+than despise them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington was too much of a man, however, to have his marriage lessen his
+liking for other women; and Yeates repeats that &ldquo;Mr. Washington once told
+me, on a charge which I once made against the President at his own Table, that
+the admiration he warmly professed for Mrs. Hartley, was a Proof of his Homage
+to the worthy Part of the Sex, and highly respectful to his Wife.&rdquo; Every
+now and then there is an allusion in his letters which shows his appreciation
+of beauty, as when he wrote to General Schuyler, &ldquo;Your fair daughter, for
+whose visit Mrs. Washington and myself are greatly obliged,&rdquo; and again,
+to one of his aides, &ldquo;The fair hand, to whom your letter … was committed
+presented it safe.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His diary, in the notes of the balls and assemblies which he attended, usually
+had a word for the sex, as exampled in: &ldquo;at which there were between 60
+&amp; 70 well dressed ladies;&rdquo; &ldquo;at which there was about 100 well
+dressed and handsome ladies;&rdquo; &ldquo;at which were 256 elegantly dressed
+ladies;&rdquo; &ldquo;where there was a select Company of ladies;&rdquo;
+&ldquo;where (it is said) there were upwards of 100 ladies; their appearance
+was elegant, and many of them very handsome;&rdquo; &ldquo;at wch. there were
+about 400 ladies the number and appearance of wch. exceeded anything of the
+kind I have ever seen;&rdquo; &ldquo;where there were about 75 well dressed,
+and many of them very handsome ladies&mdash;among whom (as was also the case at
+the Salem and Boston assemblies) were a greater proportion with much blacker
+hair than are usually seen in the Southern States.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At his wife&rsquo;s receptions, as already said, Washington did not view
+himself as host, and &ldquo;conversed without restraint, generally with women,
+who rarely had other opportunity of seeing him,&rdquo; which perhaps accounts
+for the statement of another eye-witness that Washington &ldquo;looked very
+much more at ease than at his own official levees.&rdquo; Sullivan adds that
+&ldquo;the young ladies used to throng around him, and engaged him in
+conversation. There were some of the well-remembered belles of the day who
+imagined themselves to be favorites with him. As these were the only
+opportunities which they had of conversing with him, they were disposed to use
+them.&rdquo; In his Southern trip of 1791 Washington noted, with evident
+pleasure, that he &ldquo;was visited about 2 o&rsquo;clock, by a great number
+of the most respectable ladies of Charleston&mdash;the first honor of the kind
+I had ever experienced and it was flattering as it was singular.&rdquo; And
+that this attention was not merely the respect due to a great man is shown in
+the letter of a Virginian woman, who wrote to her correspondent in 1777, that
+when &ldquo;General Washington throws off the Hero and takes up the chatty
+agreeable Companion&mdash;he can be down right impudent sometimes&mdash;such
+impudence, Fanny, as you and I like.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another feminine compliment paid him was a highly laudatory poem which was
+enclosed to him, with a letter begging forgiveness, to which he playfully
+answered,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You apply to me, my dear Madam, for absolution as tho&rsquo; I was your
+father Confessor; and as tho&rsquo; you had committed a crime, great in itself,
+yet of the venial class. You have reason good&mdash;for I find myself strangely
+disposed to be a very indulgent ghostly adviser on this occasion; and,
+notwithstanding &lsquo;you are the most offending Soul alive&rsquo; (that is,
+if it is a crime to write elegant Poetry,) yet if you will come and dine with
+me on Thursday, and go thro&rsquo; the proper course of penitence which shall
+be prescribed I will strive hard to assist you in expiating these poetical
+trespasses on this side of purgatory. Nay more, if it rests with me to direct
+your future lucubrations, I shall certainly urge you to a repetition of the
+same conduct, on purpose to shew what an admirable knack you have at confession
+and reformation; and so without more hesitation, I shall venture to command the
+muse, not to be restrained by ill-grounded timidity, but to go on and prosper.
+You see, Madam, when once the woman has tempted us, and we have tasted the
+forbidden fruit, there is no such thing as checking our appetites, whatever the
+consequences may be. You will, I dare say, recognize our being the genuine
+Descendants of those who are reputed to be our great Progenitors.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor was Washington open only to beauty and flattery. From the rude frontier in
+1756 he wrote, &ldquo;The supplicating tears of the women,… melt me into such
+deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, I could offer
+myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy, provided that would
+contribute to the people&rsquo;s ease.&rdquo; And in 1776 he said, &ldquo;When
+I consider that the city of New York will in all human probability very soon be
+the scene of a bloody conflict, I cannot but view the great numbers of women,
+children, and infirm persons remaining in it, with the most melancholy concern.
+When the men-of-war passed up the river, the shrieks and cries of these poor
+creatures running every way with their children, were truly distressing…. Can
+no method be devised for their removal?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nevertheless, though liked by and liking the fair sex, Washington was human,
+and after experience concluded that &ldquo;I never again will have two women in
+my house when I am there myself.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap05"></a>V<br/>
+FARMER AND PROPRIETOR</h2>
+
+<p>
+The earliest known Washington coat of arms had blazoned upon it &ldquo;3 Cinque
+foiles,&rdquo; which was the herald&rsquo;s way of saying that the bearer was a
+landholder and cultivator, and when Washington had a book-plate made for
+himself he added to the conventional design of the arms spears of wheat and
+other plants, as an indication of his favorite labor. During his career he
+acted several parts, but in none did he find such pleasure as in farming, and
+late in life he said, &ldquo;I think with you, that the life of a husbandman of
+all others is the most delectable. It is honorable, it is amusing, and, with
+judicious management, it is profitable. To see plants rise from the earth and
+flourish by the superior skill and bounty of the laborer fills a contemplative
+mind with ideas which are more easy to be conceived than expressed.&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Agriculture has ever been the most favorite amusement of my life,&rdquo;
+he wrote after the Revolution, and he informed another correspondent that
+&ldquo;the more I am acquainted with agricultural affairs, the better pleased I
+am with them; insomuch, that I can no where find so great satisfaction as in
+those innocent and useful pursuits: In indulging these feelings, I am led to
+reflect how much more delightful to an undebauched mind is the task of making
+improvements on the earth, than all the vain glory which can be acquired from
+ravaging it, by the most uninterrupted career of conquests.&rdquo; A visitor to
+Mount Vernon in 1785 states that his host&rsquo;s &ldquo;greatest pride is, to
+be thought the first farmer in America. He is quite a Cincinnatus.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Undoubtedly a part of this liking flowed from his strong affection for Mount
+Vernon. Such was his feeling for the place that he never seems to have been
+entirely happy away from it, and over and over again, during his various and
+enforced absences, he &ldquo;sighs&rdquo; or &ldquo;pants&rdquo; for his
+&ldquo;own vine and fig tree.&rdquo; In writing to an English correspondent, he
+shows his feeling for the place by saying, &ldquo;No estate in United America,
+is more pleasantly situated than this. It lies in a high, dry and healthy
+country, three hundred miles by water from the sea, and, as you will see by the
+plan, on one of the finest rivers in the world.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The history of the Mount Vernon estate begins in 1674, when Lord Culpepper
+conveyed to Nicholas Spencer and Lieutenant-Colonel John Washington five
+thousand acres of land &ldquo;scytuate Lying and being within the said
+terrytory in the County of Stafford in the ffreshes of the Pottomocke River and
+… bounded betwixt two Creeks.&rdquo; Colonel John&rsquo;s half was bequeathed
+to his son Lawrence, and by Lawrence&rsquo;s will it was left to his daughter
+Mildred. She sold it to the father of George, who by his will left it to his
+son Lawrence, with a reversion to George should Lawrence die without issue. The
+original house was built about 1740, and the place was named Mount Vernon by
+Lawrence, in honor of Admiral Vernon, under whom he had served at Carthagena.
+After the death of Lawrence, the estate of twenty-five hundred acres came under
+Washington&rsquo;s management, and from 1754 it was his home, as it had been
+practically even in his brother&rsquo;s life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Twice Washington materially enlarged the house at Mount Vernon, the first time
+in 1760 and the second in 1785, and a visitor reports, what his host must have
+told him, that &ldquo;its a pity he did not build a new one at once, for it has
+cost him nearly as much to repair his old one.&rdquo; These alterations
+consisted in the addition of a banquet-hall at one end (by far the finest room
+in the house), and a library and dining-room at the other, with the addition of
+an entire story to the whole.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The grounds, too, were very much improved. A fine approach, or bowling green,
+was laid out, a &ldquo;botanical garden,&rdquo; a &ldquo;shrubbery,&rdquo; and
+greenhouses were added, and in every way possible the place was improved. A
+deer paddock was laid out and stocked, gifts of Chinese pheasants and geese,
+French partridges, and guinea-pigs were sent him, and were gratefully
+acknowledged, and from all the world over came curious, useful, or beautiful
+plants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The original tract did not satisfy the ambition of the farmer, and from the
+time he came into the possession of Mount Vernon he was a persistent purchaser
+of lands adjoining the property. In 1760 he bargained with one Clifton for
+&ldquo;a tract called Brents,&rdquo; of eighteen hundred and six acres, but
+after the agreement was closed the seller, &ldquo;under pretence of his wife
+not consenting to acknowledge her right of dower wanted to disengage himself …
+and by his shuffling behavior convinced me of his being the trifling body
+represented.&rdquo; Presently Washington heard that Clifton had sold his lands
+to another for twelve hundred pounds, which &ldquo;fully unravelled his conduct
+… and convinced me that he was nothing less than a thorough pac&rsquo;d
+rascall.&rdquo; Meeting the &ldquo;rascall&rdquo; at a court, &ldquo;much
+discourse,&rdquo; Washington states, &ldquo;happened between him and I
+concerning his ungenerous treatment of me, the whole turning to little account,
+&rsquo;tis not worth reciting.&rdquo; After much more friction, the land was
+finally sold at public auction, and &ldquo;I bought it for £1210 Sterling,
+[and] under many threats and disadvantages paid the money.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus11"></a>
+<img src="images/img11.jpg" width="486" height="500" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">WASHINGTON&rsquo;S SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON, CIRCA 1746</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In 1778, when some other land was offered, Washington wrote to his agent,
+&ldquo;I have premised these things to shew my inability, not my unwillingness
+to purchase the Lands in my own Neck at (almost) any price&mdash;&amp; this I
+am very desirous of doing if it could be accomplished by any means in my power,
+in ye way of Barter for other Land&mdash;for Negroes … or in short&mdash;for
+any thing else … but for money I cannot, I want the means.&rdquo; Again, in
+1782, he wrote, &ldquo;Inform Mr. Dulany,… that I look upon £2000 to be a great
+price for his land; that my wishes to obtain it do not proceed from its
+intrinsic value, but from the motives I have candidly assigned in my other
+letter. That to indulge this fancy, (for in truth there is more fancy than
+judgment in it) I have submitted, or am willing to submit, to the disadvantage
+of borrowing as large a sum as I think this Land is worth, in order to come at
+it&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By thus purchasing whenever an opportunity occurred, the property was increased
+from the twenty-five hundred acres which had come into Washington&rsquo;s
+possession by inheritance to an estate exceeding eight thousand acres, of which
+over thirty-two hundred were actually under cultivation during the latter part
+of its owner&rsquo;s life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To manage so vast a tract, the property was subdivided into several tracts,
+called &ldquo;Mansion House Farm,&rdquo; &ldquo;River Farm,&rdquo; &ldquo;Union
+Farm,&rdquo; &ldquo;Muddy Hole Farm,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Dogue Run Farm,&rdquo;
+each having an overseer to manage it, and each being operated as a separate
+plantation, though a general overseer controlled the whole, and each farm
+derived common benefit from the property as a whole. &ldquo;On Saturday in the
+afternoon, every week, reports are made by all his overseers, and registered in
+books kept for the purpose,&rdquo; and these accounts were so schemed as to
+show how every negro&rsquo;s and laborer&rsquo;s time had been employed during
+the whole week, what crops had been planted or gathered, what increase or loss
+of stock had occurred, and every other detail of farm-work. During
+Washington&rsquo;s absences from Mount Vernon his chief overseer sent him these
+reports, as well as wrote himself, and weekly the manager received in return
+long letters of instruction, sometimes to the length of sixteen pages, which
+showed most wonderful familiarity with every acre of the estate and the
+character of every laborer, and are little short of marvellous when account is
+taken of the pressure of public affairs that rested upon their writer as he
+framed them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Washington became a farmer, but one system of agriculture, so far as
+Virginia was concerned, existed, which he described long after as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A piece of land is cut down, and kept under constant cultivation, first
+in tobacco, and then in Indian corn (two very exhausting plants), until it will
+yield scarcely any thing; a second piece is cleared, and treated in the same
+manner; then a third and so on, until probably there is but little more to
+clear. When this happens, the owner finds himself reduced to the choice of one
+of three things&mdash;either to recover the land which he has ruined, to
+accomplish which, he has perhaps neither the skill, the industry, nor the
+means; or to retire beyond the mountains; or to substitute quantity for
+quality, in order to raise something. The latter has been generally adopted,
+and, with the assistance of horses, he scratches over much ground, and seeds
+it, to very little purpose.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Knowing no better, Washington adopted this one-crop system, even to the extent
+of buying corn and hogs to feed his hands. Though following in the beaten
+track, he experimented in different kinds of tobacco, so that, &ldquo;by
+comparing then the loss of the one with the extra price of the other, I shall
+be able to determine which is the best to pursue.&rdquo; The largest crop he
+ever seems to have produced, &ldquo;being all sweet-scented and neatly
+managed,&rdquo; was one hundred and fifteen hogsheads, which averaged in sale
+twelve pounds each.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From a very early time Washington had been a careful student of such books on
+agriculture as he could obtain, even preparing lengthy abstracts of them, and
+the knowledge he thus obtained, combined with his own practical experience,
+soon convinced him that the Virginian system was wrong. &ldquo;I never ride on
+my plantations,&rdquo; he wrote, &ldquo;without seeing something which makes me
+regret having continued so long in the ruinous mode of farming, which we are
+in,&rdquo; and he soon &ldquo;discontinued the growth of tobacco myself; [and]
+except at a plantation or two upon York River, I make no more of that article
+than barely serves to furnish me with goods.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From this time (1765) &ldquo;the whole of my force [was] in a manner confined
+to the growth of wheat and manufacturing of it into flour,&rdquo; and before
+long he boasted that &ldquo;the wheat from some of my plantations, by one pair
+of steelyards, will weigh upwards of sixty pounds,… and better wheat than I now
+have I do not expect to make.&rdquo; After the Revolution he claimed that
+&ldquo;no wheat that has ever yet fallen under my observation exceeds the wheat
+which some years ago I cultivated extensively but which, from inattention
+during my absence of almost nine years from home, has got so mixed or
+degenerated as scarcely to retain any of its original characteristics
+properly.&rdquo; In 1768 he was able to sell over nineteen hundred bushels, and
+how greatly his product was increased after this is shown by the fact that in
+this same year he sowed four hundred and ninety bushels.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still further study and experimentation led him to conclude that &ldquo;my
+countrymen are too much used to corn blades and corn shucks; and have too
+little knowledge of the profit of grass lands,&rdquo; and after his final
+home-coming to Mount Vernon, he said, &ldquo;I have had it in contemplation
+ever since I returned home to turn my farms to grazing principally, as fast as
+I can cover the fields sufficiently with grass. Labor and of course expence
+will be considerably diminished by this change, the nett profit as great and my
+attention less divided, whilst the fields will be improving.&rdquo; That this
+was only an abandonment of a &ldquo;one crop&rdquo; system is shown by the fact
+that in 1792 he grew over five thousand bushels of wheat, valued at four
+shillings the bushel, and in 1799 he said, &ldquo;as a farmer, wheat and flour
+are my principal concerns.&rdquo; And though, in abandoning the growth of
+tobacco, Washington also tried &ldquo;to grow as little Indian corn as may
+be,&rdquo; yet in 1795 his crop was over sixteen hundred barrels, and the
+quantity needed for his own negroes and stock is shown in a year when his crop
+failed, which &ldquo;obliged me to purchase upwards of eight hundred barrels of
+corn.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In connection with this change of system, Washington became an early convert to
+the rotation of crops, and drew up elaborate tables sometimes covering periods
+of five years, so that the quantity of each crop should not vary, yet by which
+his fields should have constant change. This system naturally very much
+diversified the product of his estate, and flax, hay, clover, buckwheat,
+turnips, and potatoes became large crops. The scale on which this was done is
+shown by the facts that in one year he sowed twenty-seven bushels of flaxseed
+and planted over three hundred bushels of potatoes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Early and late Washington preached to his overseers the value of fertilization;
+in one case, when looking for a new overseer, he said the man must be,
+&ldquo;above all, Midas like, one who can convert everything he touches into
+manure, as the first transmutation towards gold;&mdash;in a word one who can
+bring worn out and gullied Lands into good tilth in the shortest time.&rdquo;
+Equally emphatic was his urging of constant ploughing and grubbing, and he even
+invented a deep soil plough, which he used till he found a better one in the
+English Rotheran plough, which he promptly imported, as he did all other
+improved farming tools and machinery of which he could learn. To save his
+woodlands, and for appearance&rsquo;s sake, he insisted on live fences, though
+he had to acknowledge that &ldquo;no hedge, alone, will, I am persuaded, do for
+an outer inclosure, where <i>two</i> or four footed hogs find it convenient to
+open passage.&rdquo; In all things he was an experimentalist, carefully trying
+different kinds of tobacco and wheat, various kinds of plants for hedges, and
+various kinds of manure for fertilizers; he had tests made to see whether he
+could sell his wheat to best advantage in the grain or when made into flour,
+and he bred from selected horses, cattle, and sheep. &ldquo;In short I shall
+begrudge no reasonable expence that will contribute to the improvement and
+neatness of my Farms;&mdash;for nothing pleases me better than to see them in
+good order, and everything trim, handsome, and thriving about them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The magnitude of the charge of such an estate can be better understood when the
+condition of a Virginia plantation is realized. Before the Revolution
+practically everything the plantation could not produce was ordered yearly from
+Great Britain, and after the annual delivery of the invoices the estate could
+look for little outside help. Nor did this change rapidly after the Revolution,
+and during the period of Washington&rsquo;s management almost everything was
+bought in yearly supplies. This system compelled each plantation to be a little
+world unto itself; indeed, the three hundred souls on the Mount Vernon estate
+went far to make it a distinct and self-supporting community, and one of
+Washington&rsquo;s standing orders to his overseers was to &ldquo;buy nothing
+you can make within yourselves.&rdquo; Thus the planting and gathering of the
+crops were but a small part of the work to be done.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A corps of workmen&mdash;some negroes, some indentured servants, and some hired
+laborers&mdash;were kept on the estate. A blacksmith-shop occupied some, doing
+not merely the work of the plantation, but whatever business was brought to
+them from outside; and a wood-burner kept them and the mansion-house supplied
+with charcoal. A gang of carpenters were kept busy, and their spare time was
+utilized in framing houses to be put up in Alexandria, or in the &ldquo;Federal
+city,&rdquo; as Washington was called before the death of its namesake. A
+brick-maker, too, was kept constantly employed, and masons utilized the product
+of his labor. The gardener&rsquo;s gang had charge of the kitchen-garden, and
+set out thousands of grape-vines, fruit-trees, and hedge-plants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A water-mill, with its staff, not merely ground meal for the hands, but
+produced a fine flour that commanded extra price in the market In 1786
+Washington asserted that his flour was &ldquo;equal, I believe, in quality to
+any made in this country,&rdquo; and the Mount Vernon brand was of such value
+that some money was made by buying outside wheat and grinding it into flour.
+The coopers of the estate made the barrels in which it was packed, and
+Washington&rsquo;s schooner carried it to market.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The estate had its own shoemaker, and in time a staff of weavers was trained.
+Before this was obtained, in 1760, though with only a modicum of the force he
+presently had, Washington ordered from London &ldquo;450 ells of Osnabrig, 4
+pieces of Brown Wools, 350 yards of Kendall Cotton, and 100 yards of Dutch
+blanket.&rdquo; By 1768 he was manufacturing the chief part of his
+requirements, for in that year his weavers produced eight hundred and fifteen
+and three-quarter yards of linen, three hundred and sixty-five and one-quarter
+yards of woollen, one hundred and forty-four yards of linsey, and forty yards
+of cotton, or a total of thirteen hundred and sixty-five and one-half yards,
+one man and five negro girls having been employed. When once the looms were
+well organized an infinite variety of cloths was produced, the accounts
+mentioning &ldquo;striped woollen, woolen plaided, cotton striped, linen,
+wool-birdseye, cotton filled with wool, linsey, M.&rsquo;s &amp; O.&rsquo;s,
+cotton-India dimity, cotton jump stripe, linen filled with tow, cotton striped
+with silk, Roman M., Janes twilled, huccabac, broadcloth, counterpain, birdseye
+diaper, Kirsey wool, barragon, fustian, bed-ticking, herring-box, and
+shalloon.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the most important features of the estate was its fishery, for the
+catch, salted down, largely served in place of meat for the negroes&rsquo;
+food. Of this advantage Washington wrote, &ldquo;This river,… is well supplied
+with various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year; and, in the spring, with
+the greatest profusion of shad, herrings, bass, carp, perch, sturgeon, &amp;c.
+Several valuable fisheries appertain to the estate; the whole shore, in short,
+is one entire fishery.&rdquo; Whenever there was a run of fish, the seine was
+drawn, chiefly for herring and shad, and in good years this not merely amply
+supplied the home requirements, but allowed of sales; four or five shillings
+the thousand for herring and ten shillings the hundred for shad were the
+average prices, and sales of as high as eighty-five thousand herring were made
+in a single year.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1795, when the United States passed an excise law, distilling became
+particularly profitable, and a still was set up on the plantation. In this
+whiskey was made from &ldquo;Rye chiefly and Indian corn in a certain
+proportion,&rdquo; and this not merely used much of the estate&rsquo;s product
+of those two grains, but quantities were purchased from elsewhere. In 1798 the
+profit from the distillery was three hundred and forty-four pounds twelve
+shillings and seven and three-quarter pence, with a stock carried over of seven
+hundred and fifty-five and one-quarter gallons; but this was the most
+successful year. Cider, too, was made in large quantities.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A stud stable was from an early time maintained, and the Virginia papers
+regularly advertised that the stud horse &ldquo;Samson,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Magnolia,&rdquo; &ldquo;Leonidas,&rdquo; &ldquo;Traveller,&rdquo; or
+whatever the reigning stallion of the moment might be, would
+&ldquo;cover&rdquo; mares at Mount Vernon, with pasturage and a guarantee of
+foal, if their owners so elected. During the Revolution Washington bought
+twenty-seven of the army mares that had been &ldquo;worn-down so as to render
+it beneficial to the public to have them sold,&rdquo; not even objecting to
+those &ldquo;low in flesh or even crippled,&rdquo; because &ldquo;I have many
+large Farms and am improving a good deal of Land into Meadow and Pasture, which
+cannot fail of being profited by a number of Brood Mares.&rdquo; In addition to
+the stud, there were, in 1793, fifty-four draught horses on the estate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A unique feature of this stud was the possession of two jackasses, of which the
+history was curious. At that time there was a law in Spain (where the best
+breed was to be found) which forbade the exportation of asses, but the king,
+hearing of Washington&rsquo;s wish to possess a jack, sent him one of the
+finest obtainable as a present, which was promptly christened &ldquo;Royal
+Gift.&rdquo; The sea-voyage and the change of climate, however, so affected him
+that for a time he proved of little value to his owner, except as a source of
+amusement, for Washington wrote Lafayette, &ldquo;The Jack I have already
+received from Spain in appearance is fine, but his late Royal master,
+tho&rsquo; past his grand climacteric cannot be less moved by female
+allurements than he is; or when prompted, can proceed with more deliberation
+and majestic solemnity to the work of procreation.&rdquo; This reluctance to
+play his part Washington concluded was a sign of aristocracy, and he wrote a
+nephew, &ldquo;If Royal Gift will administer, he shall be at the service of
+your Mares, but at present he seems too full of Royalty, to have anything to do
+with a plebeian Race,&rdquo; and to Fitzhugh he said, &ldquo;particular
+attention shall be paid to the mares which your servant brought, and when my
+Jack is in the humor, they shall derive all the benefit of his labor, for labor
+it appears to be. At present tho&rsquo; young, he follows what may be supposed
+to be the example of his late Royal Master, who can not, tho&rsquo; past his
+grand climacteric, perform seldomer or with more majestic solemnity than he
+does. However I am not without hope that when he becomes a little better
+acquainted with republican enjoyment, he will amend his manners, and fall into
+a better and more expeditious mode of doing business.&rdquo; This fortunately
+proved to be the case, and his master not merely secured such mules as he
+needed for his own use, but gained from him considerable profit by covering
+mares in the neighborhood. He even sent him on a tour through the South, and
+Royal Gift passed a whole winter in Charleston, South Carolina, with a
+resulting profit of six hundred and seventy-eight dollars to his owner. In 1799
+there were on the estate &ldquo;2 Covering Jacks &amp; 3 young ones, 10 she
+asses, 42 working mules and 15 younger ones.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of cattle there were in 1793 a total of three hundred and seventeen head,
+including &ldquo;a sufficiency of oxen broke to the yoke,&rdquo; and a dairy
+was operated separate from the farms, and some butter was made, but Washington
+had occasion to say, &ldquo;It is hoped, and will be expected, that more
+effectual measures will be pursued to make butter another year; for it is
+almost beyond belief, that from 101 cows actually reported on a late
+enumeration of the cattle, that I am obliged to <i>buy butter</i> for the use
+of my family.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sheep were an unusual adjunct of a Virginia plantation, and of his flock
+Washington wrote, &ldquo;From the beginning of the year 1784 when I returned
+from the army, until shearing time of 1788, I improved the breed of my sheep so
+much by buying and selecting the best formed and most promising Rams, and
+putting them to my best ewes, by keeping them always well culled and clean, and
+by other attentions, that they averaged me … rather over than under five pounds
+of washed wool each.&rdquo; In another letter he said, &ldquo;I … was proud in
+being able to produce perhaps the largest mutton and the greatest quantity of
+wool from my sheep that could be produced. But I was not satisfied with this;
+and contemplated further improvements both in the flesh and wool by the
+introduction of other breeds, which I should by this time have carried into
+effect, had I been permitted to pursue my favorite occupation.&rdquo; In 1789,
+however, &ldquo;I was again called from home, and have not had it in my power
+since to pay any attention to my farms. The consequence of which is, that my
+sheep at the last shearing, yielded me not more than 2-1/2&rdquo; pounds. In
+1793 he had six hundred and thirty-four in his flock, from which he obtained
+fourteen hundred and-fifty-seven pounds of fleece. Of hogs he had
+&ldquo;many,&rdquo; but &ldquo;as these run pretty much at large in the
+woodland, the number is uncertain.&rdquo; In 1799 his manager valued his entire
+live-stock at seven thousand pounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A separate account was kept of each farm, and of many of these separate
+departments, and whenever there was a surplus of any product an account was
+opened to cover it. Thus in various years there are accounts raised dealing
+with cattle, hay, flour, flax, cord-wood, shoats, fish, whiskey, pork, etc.,
+and his secretary, Shaw, told a visitor that the &ldquo;books were as regular
+as any merchant whatever.&rdquo; It is proper to note, however, that sometimes
+they would not balance, and twice at least Washington could only force one, by
+entering &ldquo;By cash supposed to be paid away &amp; not credited
+£17.6.2,&rdquo; and &ldquo;By cash lost, stolen or paid away without charging
+£143.15.2.&rdquo; All these accounts were tabulated at the end of the year and
+the net results obtained. Those for a single year are here given:
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+BALANCE OF GAIN AND LOSS, 1798.
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<i>Dr. gained.</i>
+</p>
+
+<table summary="" style="margin-left: 3em;">
+
+<tr>
+<td>Dogue Run Farm</td><td>397.11.02</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Union Farm</td><td>529.10.11½</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>River Farm</td><td>234. 4.11</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Smith&rsquo;s Shop</td><td>34.12.09½</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Distillery</td><td>83.13.01</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Jacks</td><td>56.01</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Traveller (studhorse)</td><td>9.17</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Shoemaker</td><td>28.17.01</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Fishery</td><td>165.12.0¾</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Dairy</td><td>30.12.03</td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<p class="center">
+<i>Cr. lost.</i>
+</p>
+
+<table summary="" style="margin-left: 3em;">
+
+<tr>
+<td>Mansion House</td><td>466.18.02½</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Muddy Hole Farm</td><td>60.01.03½</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Spinning</td><td>51.02.0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Hire of head-overseer</td><td>140.00.0</td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<p class="letter">
+By Clear gain on the Estate £ 898.16.4¼
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A pretty poor showing for an estate and negroes which had certainly cost him
+over fifty thousand dollars, and on which there was livestock which at the
+lowest estimation was worth fifteen thousand dollars more. It is not strange
+that in 1793 Washington attempted to find tenants for all but the Mansion farm.
+This he reserved for my &ldquo;own residence, occupation and amusement,&rdquo;
+as Washington held that &ldquo;idleness is disreputable,&rdquo; and in 1798 he
+told his chief overseer he did not choose to &ldquo;discontinue my rides or
+become a cipher on my own estate.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When at Mount Vernon, as this indicated, Washington rode daily about his
+estate, and he has left a pleasant description of his life immediately after
+retiring from the Presidency: &ldquo;I begin my diurnal course with the sun;…
+if my hirelings are not in their places at that time I send them messages
+expressive of my sorrow for their indisposition;… having put these wheels in
+motion, I examine the state of things further; and the more they are probed,
+the deeper I find the wounds are which my buildings have sustained by my
+absence and neglect of eight years; by the time I have accomplished these
+matters, breakfast (a little after seven o&rsquo;clock)… is ready;… this being
+over, I mount my horse and ride round my farms, which employs me until it is
+time to dress for dinner.&rdquo; A visitor at this time is authority for the
+statement that the master &ldquo;often works with his men himself&mdash;strips
+off his coat and labors like a common man. The General has a great turn for
+mechanics. It&rsquo;s astonishing with what niceness he directs everything in
+the building way, condescending even to measure the things himself, that all
+may be perfectly uniform.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This personal attention Washington was able to give only with very serious
+interruptions. From 1754 till 1759 he was most of the time on the frontier; for
+nearly nine years his Revolutionary service separated him absolutely from his
+property; and during the two terms of his Presidency he had only brief and
+infrequent visits. Just one-half of his forty-six years&rsquo; occupancy of
+Mount Vernon was given to public service.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The result was that in 1757 he wrote, &ldquo;I am so little acquainted with the
+business relative to my private affairs that I can scarce give you any
+information concerning it,&rdquo; and this was hardly less true of the whole
+period of his absences. In 1775 he engaged overseers to manage his various
+estates in his absence &ldquo;upon shares,&rdquo; but during the whole war the
+plantations barely supported themselves, even with depletion of stock and
+fertility, and he was able to draw nothing from them. One overseer, and a
+confederate, he wrote, &ldquo;I believe, divided the profits of my Estate on
+the York River, tolerably betwn. them, for the devil of any thing do I
+get.&rdquo; Well might he advise knowingly that &ldquo;I have no doubt myself
+but that middling land under a man&rsquo;s own eyes, is more profitable than
+rich land at a distance.&rdquo; &ldquo;No Virginia Estate (except a very few
+under the best of management) can stand simple Interest,&rdquo; he declared,
+and went even further when he wrote, &ldquo;the nature of a Virginia Estate
+being such, that without close application, it never fails bringing the
+proprietors in Debt annually.&rdquo; &ldquo;To speak within bounds,&rdquo; he
+said, &ldquo;ten thousand pounds will not compensate the losses I might have
+avoided by being at home, &amp; attending a little to my own concerns&rdquo;
+during the Revolution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fortunately for the farmer, the Mount Vernon estate was but a small part of his
+property. His father had left him a plantation of two hundred and eighty acres
+on the Rappahannock, &ldquo;one Moiety of my Land lying on Deep Run,&rdquo;
+three lots in Frederick &ldquo;with all the houses and Appurtenances thereto
+belonging,&rdquo; and one quarter of the residuary estate. While surveying for
+Lord Fairfax in 1748, as part of his compensation Washington patented a tract
+of five hundred and fifty acres in Frederick County, which he always spoke of
+as &ldquo;My Bull-skin plantation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a military bounty in the French and Indian War the governor of Virginia
+issued a proclamation granting Western lands to the soldiers, and under this
+Washington not merely secured fifteen thousand acres in his own right, but by
+buying the claims of some of his fellow officers doubled that quantity. A
+further tract was also obtained under the kindred proclamation of 1763,
+&ldquo;5000 Acres of Land in my own right, &amp; by purchase from Captn. Roots,
+Posey, &amp; some other officers, I obtained rights to several thousand
+more.&rdquo; In 1786, after sales, he had over thirty thousand acres, which he
+then offered to sell at thirty thousand guineas, and in 1799, when still more
+had been sold, his inventory valued the holdings at nearly three hundred
+thousand dollars.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In addition, Washington was a partner in several great land
+speculations,&mdash;the Ohio Company, the Walpole Grant, the Mississippi
+Company, the Military Company of Adventures, and the Dismal Swamp Company; but
+all these ventures except the last collapsed at the beginning of the Revolution
+and proved valueless. His interest in the Dismal Swamp Company he held at the
+time of his death, and it was valued in the inventory at twenty thousand
+dollars.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The properties that came to him from his brother Lawrence and with his wife
+have already been described. It may be worth noting that with the widow of
+Lawrence there was a dispute over the will, but apparently it was never carried
+into the courts, and that owing to the great depreciation of paper money during
+the Revolution the Custis personal property was materially lessened, for
+&ldquo;I am now receiving a shilling in the pound in discharge of Bonds which
+ought to have been paid me, &amp; would have been realized before I left
+Virginia, but for my indulgences to the debtors,&rdquo; Washington wrote, and
+in 1778 he said, &ldquo;by the comparitive worth of money, six or seven
+thousand pounds which I have in Bonds upon Interest is now reduced to as many
+hundreds because I can get no more for a thousand at this day than a hundred
+would have fetched when I left Virginia, Bonds, debts, Rents, &amp;c.
+undergoing no change while the currency is depreciating in value and for ought
+I know may in a little time be totally sunk.&rdquo; Indeed, in 1781 he
+complained &ldquo;that I have totally neglected all my private concerns, which
+are declining every day, and may, possibly, end in capital losses, if not
+absolute ruin, before I am at liberty to look after them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1784 he became partner with George Clinton in some land purchases in the
+State of New York with the expectation of buying the &ldquo;mineral springs at
+Saratoga; and … the Oriskany tract, on which Fort Schuyler stands.&rdquo; In
+this they were disappointed, but six thousand acres in the Mohawk valley were
+obtained &ldquo;amazingly cheap.&rdquo; Washington&rsquo;s share cost him,
+including interest, eighteen hundred and seventy-five pounds, and in 1793
+two-thirds of the land had been sold for three thousand four hundred pounds,
+and in his inventory of 1799 Washington valued what he still held of the
+property at six thousand dollars.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1790, having inside information that the capital was to be removed from New
+York to Philadelphia, Washington tried to purchase a farm near that city,
+foreseeing a speedy rise in value. In this apparently he did not succeed. Later
+he purchased lots in the new Federal city, and built houses on two of them. He
+also had town lots in Williamsburg, Alexandria, Winchester, and Bath. In
+addition to all this property there were many smaller holdings. Much was sold
+or traded, yet when he died, besides his wife&rsquo;s real estate and the Mount
+Vernon property, he possessed fifty-one thousand three hundred and ninety-five
+acres, exclusive of town property. A contemporary said &ldquo;that General
+Washington is, perhaps, the greatest landholder in America.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All these lands, except Mount Vernon, were, so far as possible, rented, but the
+net income was not large. Rent agents were employed to look after the tenants,
+but low rents, war, paper money, a shifting population, and Washington&rsquo;s
+dislike of lawsuits all tended to reduce the receipts, and the landlord did not
+get simple interest on his investments. Thus, in 1799 he complains of slow
+payments from tenants in Washington and Lafayette Counties (Pennsylvania).
+Instead of an expected six thousand dollars, due June 1, but seventeen hundred
+dollars were received.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Income, however, had not been his object in loading himself with such a vast
+property, as Washington believed that he was certain to become rich. &ldquo;For
+proof of&rdquo; the rise of land, he wrote in 1767, &ldquo;only look to
+Frederick, [county] and see what fortunes were made by the … first taking up of
+those lands. Nay, how the greatest estates we have in this colony were made.
+Was it not by taking up and purchasing at very low rates the rich back lands,
+which were thought nothing of in those days, but are now the most valuable land
+we possess?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this he was correct, but in the mean time he was more or less land-poor. To
+a friend in 1763 he wrote that the stocking and repairing of his plantations
+&ldquo;and other matters … swallowed up before I well knew where I was, all the
+moneys I got by marriage, nay more, brought me in debt&rdquo; In 1775, replying
+to a request for a loan, he declared that &ldquo;so far am I from having £200
+to lend … I would gladly borrow that sum myself for a few months.&rdquo; When
+offered land adjoining Mount Vernon for three thousand pounds in 1778, he could
+only reply that it was &ldquo;a sum I have little chance, if I had inclination,
+to pay; &amp; therefore would not engage it, as I am resolved not to incumber
+myself with Debt.&rdquo; In 1782, to secure a much desired tract he was forced
+to borrow two thousand pounds York currency at the rate of seven per cent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1788, &ldquo;the total loss of my crop last year by the drought&rdquo;
+&ldquo;with necessary demands for cash&rdquo; &ldquo;have caused me much
+perplexity and given me more uneasiness than I ever experienced before from
+want of money,&rdquo; and a year later, just before setting out to be
+inaugurated, he tried to borrow five hundred pounds &ldquo;to discharge what I
+owe&rdquo; and to pay the expenses of the journey to New York, but was
+&ldquo;unable to obtain more than half of it, (though it was not much I
+required), and this at an advanced interest with other rigid conditions,&rdquo;
+though at this time &ldquo;could I get in one fourth part of what is due me on
+Bonds&rdquo; &ldquo;without the intervention of suits&rdquo; there would have
+been ample funds. In 1795 the President said, &ldquo;my friends entertain a
+very erroneous idea of my particular resources, when they set me down for a
+money lender, or one who (now) has a command of it. You may believe me when I
+assert that the bonds which were due to me before the Revolution, were
+discharged during the progress of it&mdash;with a few exceptions in depreciated
+paper (in some instances as low as a shilling in the pound). That such has been
+the management of the Estate, for many years past, especially since my absence
+from home, now six years, as scarcely to support itself. That my public
+allowance (whatever the world may think of it) is inadequate to the expence of
+living in this City; to such an extravagant height has the necessaries as well
+as the conveniences of life arisen. And, moreover that to keep myself out of
+debt; I have found it expedient now and then to sell Lands, or something else
+to effect this purpose.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus12"></a>
+<img src="images/img12.jpg" width="600" height="402" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">LOTTERY TICKET SIGNED BY WASHINGTON</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+As these extensive land ventures bespoke a national characteristic, so a liking
+for other forms of speculation was innate in the great American. During the
+Revolution he tried to secure an interest in a privateer. One of his favorite
+flyers was chances in lotteries and raffles, which, if now found only in
+association with church fairs, were then not merely respectable, but even
+fashionable. In 1760 five pounds and ten shillings were invested in one
+lottery. Five pounds purchased five tickets in Strother&rsquo;s lottery in
+1763. Three years later six pounds were risked in the York lottery and produced
+prizes to the extent of sixteen pounds. Fifty pounds were put into Colonel
+Byrd&rsquo;s lottery in 1769, and drew a half-acre lot in the town of
+Manchester, but out of this Washington was defrauded. In 1791 John Potts was
+paid four pounds and four shillings &ldquo;in part for 20 Lottery tickets in
+the Alexa. street Lottery at 6/ each, 14 Dollrs. the Bal. was discharged by 2.3
+Lotr prizes.&rdquo; Twenty tickets of Peregrine and Fitzhugh&rsquo;s lottery
+cost one hundred and eighty-eight dollars in 1794. And these are but samples of
+innumerable instances. So, too, in raffles, the entries are
+constant,&mdash;&ldquo;for glasses 20/,&rdquo; &ldquo;for a Necklace
+£1.,&rdquo; &ldquo;by profit &amp; loss in two chances in raffling for
+Encyclopadia Britannica, which I did not win £1.4,&rdquo; two tickets were
+taken in the raffle of Mrs. Dawson&rsquo;s coach, as were chances for a pair of
+silver buckles, for a watch, and for a gun; such and many others were smaller
+ventures Washington took.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were other sources of income or loss besides. Before the Revolution he
+had a good sized holding of Bank of England stock, and an annuity in the funds,
+besides considerable property on bond, the larger part of which, as already
+noted, was liquidated in depreciated paper money. This paper money was for the
+most part put into United States securities, and eventually the &ldquo;at least
+£10,000 Virginia money&rdquo; proved to be worth six thousand two hundred and
+forty-six dollars in government six per cents and three per cents. A great
+believer in the Potomac Canal Company, Washington invested twenty-four hundred
+pounds sterling in the stock, which produced no income, and in time showed a
+heavy shrinkage. Another and smaller loss was an investment in the James River
+Canal Company. Stock holdings in the Bank of Columbia and in the Bank of
+Alexandria proved profitable investments.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+None the less Washington was a successful businessman. Though his property
+rarely produced a net income, and though he served the public with practically
+no profit (except as regards bounty lands), and thus was compelled frequently
+to dip into his capital to pay current expenses, yet, from being a surveyor
+only too glad to earn a doubloon (seven dollars and forty cents) a day, he grew
+steadily in wealth, and when he died his property, exclusive of his
+wife&rsquo;s and the Mount Vernon estate, was valued at five hundred and thirty
+thousand dollars. This made him one of the wealthiest Americans of his time,
+and it is to be questioned if a fortune was ever more honestly acquired or more
+thoroughly deserved.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap06"></a>VI<br/>
+MASTER AND EMPLOYER</h2>
+
+<p>
+In his &ldquo;rules of civility&rdquo; Washington enjoined that &ldquo;those of
+high Degree ought to treat&rdquo; &ldquo;Artificers &amp; Persons of low
+Degree&rdquo; &ldquo;with affibility &amp; Courtesie, without Arrogancy,&rdquo;
+and it was a needed lesson to every young Virginian, for, as Jefferson wrote,
+&ldquo;the whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of
+the most boisterous passions, the most insulting despotism on the one part, and
+degrading submissions on the other.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Augustine Washington&rsquo;s will left to his son George &ldquo;Ten negro
+Slaves,&rdquo; with an additional share of those &ldquo;not herein particularly
+Devised,&rdquo; but all to remain in the possession of Mary Washington until
+the boy was twenty-one years of age. With his taking possession of the Mount
+Vernon estate in his twenty-second year eighteen more came under
+Washington&rsquo;s direction. In 1754 he bought a &ldquo;fellow&rdquo; for
+£40.5, another (Jack) for £52.5, and a negro woman (Clio) for £50. In 1756 he
+purchased of the governor a negro woman and child for £60, and two years later
+a fellow (Gregory) for £60.9. In the following year (the year of his marriage)
+he bought largely: a negro (Will) for £50; another for £60; nine for £406, an
+average of £45; and a woman (Hannah) and child, £80. In 1762 he added to the
+number by purchasing seven of Lee Massey for £300 (an average of £43), and two
+of Colonel Fielding Lewis at £115, or £57.10 apiece. From the estate of Francis
+Hobbs he bought, in 1764, Ben, £72; Lewis, £36.10; and Sarah, £20. Another
+fellow, bought of Sarah Alexander, cost him £76; and a negro (Judy) and child,
+sold by Garvin Corbin, £63. In 1768 Mary Lee sold him two mulattoes (Will and
+Frank) for £61.15 and £50, respectively; and two boys (negroes), Adam and
+Frank, for £19 apiece. Five more were purchased in 1772, and after that no more
+were bought. In 1760 Washington paid tithes on forty-nine slaves, five years
+later on seventy-eight, in 1770 on eighty-seven, and in 1774 on one hundred and
+thirty-five; besides which must be included the &ldquo;dower slaves&rdquo; of
+his wife. Soon after this there was an overplus, and Washington in 1778 offered
+to barter for some land &ldquo;Negroes, of whom I every day long more to get
+clear of,&rdquo; and even before this he had learned the economic fact that
+except on the richest of soils slaves &ldquo;only add to the Expence.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1791 he had one hundred and fifteen &ldquo;hands&rdquo; on the Mount Vernon
+estate, besides house servants, and De Warville, describing his estate in the
+same year, speaks of his having three hundred negroes. At this time Washington
+declared that &ldquo;I never mean (unless some particular circumstance compel
+me to it) to possess another slave by purchase,&rdquo; but this intention was
+broken, for &ldquo;The running off of my cook has been a most inconvenient
+thing to this family, and what rendered it more disagreeable, is that I had
+resolved never to become the Master of another slave by purchase, but this
+resolution I fear I must break. I have endeavored to hire, black or white, but
+am not yet supplied.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A few more slaves were taken in payment of a debt, but it was from necessity
+rather than choice, for at this very time Washington had decided that &ldquo;it
+is demonstratively clear, that on this Estate (Mount Vernon) I have more
+working negros by a full moiety, than can be employed to any advantage in the
+farming system, and I shall never turn Planter thereon. To sell the overplus I
+cannot, because I am principled against this kind of traffic in the human
+species. To hire them out, is almost as bad, because they could not be disposed
+of in families to any advantage, and to disperse the families I have an
+aversion. What then is to be done? Something must or I shall be ruined; for all
+the money (in addition to what I raise by crops, and rents) that have been
+<i>received</i> for Lands, sold within the last four years, to the amount of
+Fifty thousand dollars, has scarcely been able to keep me afloat.&rdquo; And
+writing of one set he said, &ldquo;it would be for my interest to set them
+free, rather than give them victuals and cloaths.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The loss by runaways was not apparently large. In October, 1760, his ledger
+contains an item of seven shillings &ldquo;To the Printing Office … for
+Advertising a run-a-way Negro.&rdquo; In 1761 he pays his clergyman, Rev. Mr.
+Green, &ldquo;for taking up one of my Runaway Negroes £4.&rdquo; In 1766
+rewards are paid for the &ldquo;taking upp&rdquo; of &ldquo;Negro Tom&rdquo;
+and &ldquo;Negro Bett.&rdquo; The &ldquo;taking up of Harry when Runaway&rdquo;
+in 1771 cost £1.16. When the British invaded Virginia in 1781, a number escaped
+or were carried away by the enemy. By the treaty of peace these should have
+been returned, and their owner wrote, &ldquo;Some of my own slaves, and those
+of Mr. Lund Washington who lives at my house may probably be in New York, but I
+am unable to give you their description&mdash;their names being so easily
+changed, will be fruitless to give you. If by chance you should come at the
+knowledge of any of them, I will be much obliged by your securing them, so that
+I may obtain them again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1796 a girl absconded to New England, and Washington made inquiries of a
+friend as to the possibility of recovering her, adding, &ldquo;however well
+disposed I might be to a gradual abolition, or even to an entire emancipation
+of that description of people (if the latter was in itself practicable) at this
+moment, it would neither be politic nor just to reward unfaithfulness with a
+premature preference, and thereby discontent beforehand the minds of all her
+fellow servants, who, by their steady attachment, are far more deserving than
+herself of favor,&rdquo; and at this time Washington wrote to a relative,
+&ldquo;I am sorry to hear of the loss of your servant; but it is my opinion
+these elopements will be much more, before they are less frequent; and that the
+persons making them should never be retained&mdash;if they are recovered, as
+they are sure to contaminate and discontent others.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another source of loss was sickness, which, in spite of all Washington could
+do, made constant inroads on the numbers. A doctor to care for them was engaged
+by the year, and in the contracts with his overseers clauses were always
+inserted that each was &ldquo;to take all necessary and proper care of the
+Negroes committed to his management using them with proper humanity and
+descretion,&rdquo; or that &ldquo;he will take all necessary and proper care of
+the negroes committed to his management, treating them with humanity and
+tenderness when sick, and preventing them when well, from running about and
+visiting without his consent; as also forbid strange negroes frequenting their
+quarters without lawful excuses for so doing.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Furthermore, in writing to his manager, while absent from Mount Vernon,
+Washington reiterated that &ldquo;although it is last mentioned it is foremost
+in my thoughts, to desire you will be particularly attentive to my negros in
+their sickness; and to order every overseer <i>positively</i> to be so
+likewise; for I am sorry to observe that the generality of them view these poor
+creatures in scarcely any other light than they do a draught horse or ox;
+neglecting them as much when they are unable to work; instead of comforting and
+nursing them when they lye on a sick bed.&rdquo; And in another letter he
+added, &ldquo;When I recommended care of, and attention to my negros in
+sickness, it was that the first stage of, and the whole progress through the
+disorders with which they might be seized (if more than a slight indisposition)
+should be closely watched, and timely applications and remedies be
+administered; especially in the pleurisies, and all inflammatory disorders
+accompanied with pain, when a few days&rsquo; neglect, or want of bleeding
+might render the ailment incurable. In such cases sweeten&rsquo;d teas, broths
+and (according to the nature of the complaint, and the doctor&rsquo;s
+prescription) sometimes a little wine, may be necessary to nourish and restore
+the patient; and these I am perfectly willing to allow, when it is requisite.
+My fear is, as I expressed to you in a former letter, that the under overseers
+are so unfeeling, in short viewing the negros in no other light than as a
+better kind of cattle, the moment they cease to work, they cease their care of
+them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At Mount Vernon his care for the slaves was more personal. At a time when the
+small-pox was rife in Virginia he instructed his overseer &ldquo;what to do if
+the Small pox should come amongst them,&rdquo; and when he &ldquo;received
+letters from Winchester, informing me that the Small pox had got among my
+quarters in Frederick; [I] determin&rsquo;d … to leave town as soon as
+possible, and proceed up to them…. After taking the Doctors directions in
+regard to my people … I set out for my quarters about 12 oclock, time enough to
+go over them and found every thing in the utmost confusion, disorder and
+backwardness…. Got Blankets and every other requisite from Winchester, and
+settl&rsquo;d things on the best footing I cou&rsquo;d, … Val Crawford agreeing
+if any of those at the upper quarter got it, to have them remov&rsquo;d into my
+room and the Nurse sent for.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Other sickness was equally attended to, as the following entries in his diary
+show: &ldquo;visited my Plantations and found two negroes sick … ordered them
+to be blooded;&rdquo; &ldquo;found that lightening had struck my quarters and
+near 10 Negroes in it, some very bad but with letting blood they
+recover&rsquo;d;&rdquo; &ldquo;ordered Lucy down to the House to be
+Physikd,&rdquo; and &ldquo;found the new negro Cupid, ill of a pleurisy at
+Dogue Run Quarter and had him brot home in a cart for better care of him….
+Cupid extremely Ill all this day and at night when I went to bed I thought him
+within a few hours of breathing his last.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This matter of sickness, however, had another phase, which caused Washington
+much irritation at times when he could not personally look into the cases, but
+heard of them through the reports of his overseers. Thus, he complained on one
+occasion, &ldquo;I find by reports that Sam is, in a manner, always returned
+sick; Doll at the Ferry, and several of the spinners very frequently so, for a
+week at a stretch; and ditcher Charles often laid up with lameness. I never
+wish my people to work when they are really sick, or unfit for it; on the
+contrary, that all necessary care should be taken of them when they are so; but
+if you do not examine into their complaints, they will lay by when no more ails
+them, than all those who stick to their business, and are not complaining from
+the fatigue and drowsiness which they feel as the effect of night walking and
+other practices which unfit them for the duties of the day.&rdquo; And again he
+asked, &ldquo;Is there anything particular in the cases of Ruth, Hannah and
+Pegg, that they have been returned sick for several weeks together? Ruth I know
+is extremely deceitful; she has been aiming for some time past to get into the
+house, exempt from work; but if they are not made to do what their age and
+strength will enable them, it will be a bad example for others&mdash;none of
+whom would work if by pretexts they can avoid it&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Other causes than running away and death depleted the stock. One negro was
+taken by the State for some crime and executed, an allowance of sixty-nine
+pounds being made to his master. In 1766 an unruly negro was shipped to the
+West Indies (as was then the custom), Washington writing the captain of the
+vessel,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;With this letter comes a negro (Tom) which I beg the favor of you to
+sell in any of the islands you may go to, for whatever he will fetch, and bring
+me in return for him<br/>
+        &ldquo;One hhd of best molasses<br/>
+        &ldquo;One ditto of best rum<br/>
+        &ldquo;One barrel of lymes, if good and cheap<br/>
+        &ldquo;One pot of tamarinds, containing about 10 lbs.<br/>
+        &ldquo;Two small ditto of mixed sweetmeats, about 5 lbs. each.<br/>
+And the residue, much or little, in good old spirits. That this
+fellow is both a rogue and a runaway (tho&rsquo; he was by no means remarkable
+for the former, and never practised the latter till of late) I shall not
+pretend to deny. But that he is exceeding healthy, strong, and good at the hoe,
+the whole neighborhood can testify, and particularly Mr. Johnson and his son,
+who have both had him under them as foreman of the gang; which gives me reason
+to hope he may with your good management sell well, if kept clean and
+trim&rsquo;d up a little when offered for sale.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another &ldquo;misbehaving fellow&rdquo; was shipped off in 1791, and was sold
+for &ldquo;one pipe and Quarter Cask of wine from the West Indies.&rdquo;
+Sometimes only the threat of such riddance was used, as when an overseer
+complained of one slave, and his master replied, &ldquo;I am very sorry that so
+likely a fellow as Matilda&rsquo;s Ben should addict himself to such courses as
+he is pursuing. If he should be guilty of any atrocious crime, that would
+effect his life, he might be given up to the civil authority for trial; but for
+such offences as most of his color are guilty of, you had better try further
+correction, accompanied with admonition and advice. The two latter sometimes
+succeed where the first has failed. He, his father and mother (who I dare say
+are his receivers) may be told in explicit language, that if a stop is not put
+to his rogueries and other villainies, by fair means and shortly, that I will
+ship him off (as I did Wagoner Jack) for the West Indies, where he will have no
+opportunity of playing such pranks as he is at present engaged in.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is interesting to note, in connection with this conclusion, that
+&ldquo;admonition and advice&rdquo; were able to do what
+&ldquo;correction&rdquo; sometimes failed to achieve, that there is not a
+single order to whip, and that the above case, and that which follows, are the
+only known cases where punishment was approved. &ldquo;The correction you gave
+Ben, for his assault on Sambo, was just and proper. It is my earnest desire
+that quarrels may be stopped or punishment of both parties follow, unless it
+shall appear <i>clearly</i>, that one only is to blame, and the other forced
+into [a quarrel] from self-defence.&rdquo; In one other instance Washington
+wrote, &ldquo;If Isaac had his deserts he would receive a severe punishment for
+the house, tools and seasoned stuff, which has been burned by his
+carelessness.&rdquo; But instead of ordering the &ldquo;deserts&rdquo; he
+continued, &ldquo;I wish you to inform him, that I sustain injury enough by
+their idleness; they need not add to it by their carelessness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This is the more remarkable, because his slaves gave him constant annoyance by
+their wastefulness and sloth and dishonesty. Thus, &ldquo;Paris has grown to be
+so lazy and self-willed&rdquo; that his master does not know what to with him;
+&ldquo;Doll at the Ferry must be taught to knit, and <i>made</i> to do a
+sufficient day&rsquo;s work of it&mdash;otherwise (if suffered to be idle) many
+more will walk in her steps&rdquo;; &ldquo;it is observed by the weekly
+reports, that the sewers make only six shirts a week, and the last week
+Carolina (without being sick) made only five. Mrs. Washington says their usual
+task was to make nine with shoulder straps and good sewing. Tell them therefore
+from me, that what <i>has</i> been done, <i>shall</i> be done&rdquo;;
+&ldquo;none I think call louder for [attention] than the smiths, who, from a
+variety of instances which fell within my own observation whilst I was at home,
+I take to be two very idle fellows. A daily account (which ought to be
+regularly) taken of their work, would alone go a great way towards checking
+their idleness.&rdquo; And the overseer was told to watch closely &ldquo;the
+people who are at work with the gardener, some of whom I know to be as lazy and
+deceitful as any in the world (Sam particularly).&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Furthermore, the overseers were warned to &ldquo;endeavor to make the Servants
+and Negroes take care of their cloathes;&rdquo; to give them &ldquo;a weekly
+allowance of Meat … because the annual one is not taken care of but either
+profusely used or stolen&rdquo;; and to note &ldquo;the delivery to and the
+application of nails by the carpenters,… [for] I cannot conceive how it is
+possible that 6000 twelve penny nails could be used in the corn house at River
+Plantation; but of one thing I have no great doubt, and that is, if they can be
+applied to other uses, or converted into cash, rum or other things there will
+be no scruple in doing it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When robbed of some potatoes, Washington complained that &ldquo;the deception …
+is of a piece with other practices of a similar kind by which I have suffered
+hitherto; and may serve to evince to you, in strong colors, first how little
+confidence can be placed in any one round you; and secondly the necessity of an
+accurate inspection into these things yourself,&mdash;for to be plain,
+Alexandria is such a recepticle for every thing that can be filched from the
+right owners, by either blacks or whites; and I have such an opinion of my
+negros (two or three only excepted), and not much better of some of the whites,
+that I am perfectly sure not a single thing that can be disposed of at any
+price, at that place, that will not, and is not stolen, where it is possible;
+and carried thither to some of the underlying keepers, who support themselves
+by this kind of traffick.&rdquo; He dared not leave wine unlocked, even for the
+use of his guests, &ldquo;because the knowledge I have of my servants is such,
+as to believe, that if opportunities are given them, they will take off two
+glasses of wine for every one that is drank by such visitors, and tell you they
+were used by them.&rdquo; And when he had some work to do requiring very
+ordinary qualities, he had to confess that &ldquo;I know not a negro among all
+mine, whose capacity, integrity and attention could be relied on for such a
+trust as this.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whatever his opinion of his slaves, Washington was a kind master. In one case
+he wrote a letter for one of them when the &ldquo;fellow&rdquo; was parted from
+his wife in the service of his master, and at another time he enclosed letters
+to a wife and to James&rsquo;s &ldquo;del Toboso,&rdquo; for two of his
+servants, to save them postage. In reference to their rations he wrote,
+&ldquo;whether this addition … is sufficient, I will not undertake to
+decide;&mdash;but in most explicit language I desire they may have plenty; for
+I will not have my feelings hurt with complaints of this sort, nor lye under
+the imputation of starving my negros, and thereby driving them to the necessity
+of thieving to supply the deficiency. To prevent waste or embezzlement is the
+only inducement to allowancing of them at all&mdash;for if, instead of a peck
+they could eat a bushel of meal a week fairly, and required it, I would not
+withhold or begrudge it them.&rdquo; At Christmas-time there are entries in his
+ledger for whiskey or rum for &ldquo;the negroes,&rdquo; and towards the end of
+his life he ordered the overseer, &ldquo;although others are getting out of the
+practice of using spirits at Harvest, yet, as my people have always been
+accustomed to it, a hogshead of Rum must be purchased; but I request at the
+same time, that it may be used sparingly.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A greater kindness of his was, in 1787, when he very much desired a negro mason
+offered for sale, yet directed his agent that &ldquo;if he has a family, with
+which he is to be sold; or from whom he would reluctantly part, I decline the
+purchase; his feelings I would not be the means of hurting in the latter case,
+nor <i>at any rate</i> be incumbered with the former.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The kindness thus indicated bore fruit in a real attachment of the slaves for
+their master. In Humphreys&rsquo;s poem on Washington the poet alluded to the
+negroes at Mount Vernon in the lines,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;Where that foul stain of manhood, slavery, flow&rsquo;d<br/>
+Through Afric&rsquo;s sons transmitted in the blood;<br/>
+Hereditary slaves his kindness shar&rsquo;d,<br/>
+For manumission by degrees prepar&rsquo;d:<br/>
+Return&rsquo;d from war, I saw them round him press,<br/>
+And all their speechless glee by artless signs express.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+And in a foot-note the writer added, &ldquo;The interesting scene of his return
+home, at which the author was present, is described exactly as it
+existed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A single one of these slaves deserves further notice. His body-servant
+&ldquo;Billy&rdquo; was purchased by Washington in 1768 for sixty-eight pounds
+and fifteen shillings, and was his constant companion during the war, even
+riding after his master at reviews; and this servant was so associated with the
+General that it was alleged in the preface to the &ldquo;forged letters&rdquo;
+that they had been captured by the British from &ldquo;Billy,&rdquo; &ldquo;an
+old servant of General Washington&rsquo;s.&rdquo; When Savage painted his
+well-known &ldquo;family group,&rdquo; this was the one slave included in the
+picture. In 1784 Washington told his Philadelphia agent that &ldquo;The mulatto
+fellow, William, who has been with me all the war, is attached (married he
+says) to one of his own color, a free woman, who during the war, was also of my
+family. She has been in an infirm condition for some time, and I had conceived
+that the connexion between them had ceased; but I am mistaken it seems; they
+are both applying to get her here, and tho&rsquo; I never wished to see her
+more, I cannot refuse his request (if it can be complied with on reasonable
+terms) as he has served me faithfully for many years. After premising this
+much, I have to beg the favor of you to procure her a passage to
+Alexandria.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus13"></a>
+<img src="images/img13.jpg" width="700" height="486" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">SAVAGE&rsquo;S PICTURE OF THE WASHINGTON FAMILY</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+When acting as chain-bearer in 1785, while Washington was surveying a tract of
+land, William fell and broke his knee-pan, &ldquo;which put a stop to my
+surveying; and with much difficulty I was able to get him to Abington, being
+obliged to get a sled to carry him on, as he could neither walk, stand or
+ride.&rdquo; From this injury Lee never quite recovered, yet he started to
+accompany his master to New York in 1789, only to give out on the road. He was
+left at Philadelphia, and Lear wrote to Washington&rsquo;s agent that
+&ldquo;The President will thank you to propose it to Will to return to Mount
+Vernon when he can be removed for he cannot be of any service here, and perhaps
+will require a person to attend upon him constantly. If he should incline to
+return to Mount Vernon, you will be so kind as to have him sent in the first
+Vessel that sails for Alexandria after he can be moved with safety&mdash;but if
+he is still anxious to come on here the President would gratify him,
+altho&rsquo; he will be troublesome&mdash;He has been an old and faithful
+Servant, this is enough for the President to gratify him in every reasonable
+wish.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By his will Washington gave Lee his &ldquo;immediate freedom or if he should
+prefer it (on account of the accidents which have befallen him and which have
+rendered him incapable of walking or of any active employment) to remain in the
+situation he now is, it shall be optional in him to do so&mdash; In either case
+however I allow him an annuity of thirty dollars during his natural life which
+shall be independent of the victuals and <i>cloaths</i> he has been accustomed
+to receive; if he <i>chuses</i> the last alternative, but in full with his
+freedom, if he prefers the first, and this I give him as a testimony of my
+sense of his attachment to me and for his faithful services during the
+Revolutionary War.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two small incidents connected with Washington&rsquo;s last illness are worth
+noting. The afternoon before the night he was taken ill, although he had
+himself been superintending his affairs on horseback in the storm most of the
+day, yet when his secretary &ldquo;carried some letters to him to frank,
+intending to send them to the Post Office in the evening,&rdquo; Lear tells us
+&ldquo;he franked the letters; but said the weather was too bad to send a
+servant up to the office that evening.&rdquo; Lear continues, &ldquo;The
+General&rsquo;s servant, Christopher, attended his bed side &amp; in the room,
+when he was sitting up, through his whole illness…. In the [last] afternoon the
+General observing that Christopher had been standing by his bed side for a long
+time&mdash;made a motion for him to sit in a chair which stood by the bed
+side.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A clause in Washington&rsquo;s will directed that
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Upon the decease of my wife it is my will and desire that all the slaves
+which I hold in <i>my own right</i> shall receive their freedom&mdash;To
+emancipate them during her life, would, tho&rsquo; earnestly wished by me, be
+attended with such insuperable difficulties, on account of their intermixture
+of marriages with the Dower negroes as to excite the most painful
+sensations&mdash;if not disagreeable consequences from the latter, while both
+descriptions 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&mdash;And whereas among those who will receive freedom according to this
+devise there may be some who from old age, or bodily infirmities &amp; others
+who on account of their infancy, that will be unable to support themselves, it
+is my will and desire that all who come under the first and second description
+shall be comfortably cloathed and fed by my heirs while they live and that such
+of the latter description as have no parents living, or if living are unable or
+unwilling to provide for them, shall be bound by the Court until they shall
+arrive at the age of twenty five years…. The negroes thus bound are (by their
+masters and mistresses) to be taught to read and write and to be brought up to
+some useful occupation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this connection Washington&rsquo;s sentiments on slavery as an institution
+may be glanced at. As early as 1784 he replied to Lafayette, when told of a
+colonizing plan, &ldquo;The scheme, my dear Marqs., which you propose as a
+precedent to encourage the emancipation of the black people of this Country
+from that state of Bondage in wch. they are held, is a striking evidence of the
+benevolence of your Heart. I shall be happy to join you in so laudable a work;
+but will defer going into a detail of the business, till I have the pleasure of
+seeing you.&rdquo; A year later, when Francis Asbury was spending a day in
+Mount Vernon, the clergyman asked his host if he thought it wise to sign a
+petition for the emancipation of slaves. Washington replied that it would not
+be proper for him, but added, &ldquo;If the Maryland Assembly discusses the
+matter; I will address a letter to that body on the subject, as I have always
+approved of it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When South Carolina refused to pass an act to end the slave-trade, he wrote to
+a friend in that State, &ldquo;I must say that I lament the decision of your
+legislature upon the question of importing slaves after March 1793. I was in
+hopes that motives of policy as well as other good reasons, supported by the
+direful effects of slavery, which at this moment are presented, would have
+operated to produce a total prohibition of the importation of slaves, whenever
+the question came to be agitated in any State, that might be interested in the
+measure.&rdquo; For his own State he expressed the &ldquo;wish from my soul
+that the Legislature of this State could see the policy of a gradual Abolition
+of Slavery; it would prev&rsquo;t much future mischief.&rdquo; And to a
+Pennsylvanian he expressed the sentiment, &ldquo;I hope it will not be
+conceived from these observations, that it is my wish to hold the unhappy
+people, who are the subject of this letter, in slavery. I can only say, that
+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 legislative authority; and
+this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall never be wanting.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington by no means restricted himself to slave servitors. Early in life he
+took into his service John Alton at thirteen pounds per annum, and this white
+man served as his body-servant in the Braddock campaign, and Washington found
+in the march that &ldquo;A most serious inconvenience attended me in my
+sickness, and that was the losing the use of my servant, for poor John Alton
+was taken about the same time that I was, and with nearly the same disorder,
+and was confined as long; so that we did not see each other for several
+days.&rdquo; As elsewhere noticed, Washington succeeded to the services of
+Braddock&rsquo;s body-servant, Thomas Bishop, on the death of the general,
+paying the man ten pounds a year.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These two were his servants in his trip to Boston in 1756, and in preparation
+for that journey Washington ordered his English agent to send him &ldquo;2
+complete livery suits for servants; with a spare cloak and all other necessary
+trimmings for two suits more. I would have you choose the livery by our arms,
+only as the field of the arms is white, I think the clothes had better not be
+quite so, but nearly like the inclosed. The trimmings and facings of scarlet,
+and a scarlet waist coat. If livery lace is not quite disused, I should be glad
+to have the cloaks laced. I like that fashion best, and two silver laced hats
+for the above servants.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For some reason Bishop left his employment, but in 1760 Washington &ldquo;wrote
+to my old servant Bishop to return to me again if he was not otherwise
+engaged,&rdquo; and, the man being &ldquo;very desirous of returning,&rdquo;
+the old relation was reassumed. Alton in the mean time had been promoted to be
+overseer of one of the plantations. In 1785 their master noted in his diary,
+&ldquo;Last night Jno Alton an Overseer of mine in the Neck&mdash;an old &amp;
+faithful Servant who has lived with me 30 odd years died&mdash;and this evening
+the wife of Thos. Bishop, another old Servant who had lived with me an equal
+number of years also died.&rdquo; Both were remembered in his will by a clause
+giving &ldquo;To Sarah Green daughter of the deceased Thomas Bishop, and to Ann
+Walker, daughter of John Alton, also deceased I give each one hundred dollars,
+in consideration of the attachment of their father[s] to me, each of whom
+having lived nearly forty years in my family.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of Washington&rsquo;s general treatment of the serving class a few facts can be
+gleaned. He told one of his overseers, in reference to the sub-overseers, that
+&ldquo;to treat them civilly is no more than what all men are entitled to, but
+my advice to you is, to keep them at a proper distance; for they will grow upon
+familiarity, in proportion as you will sink in authority if you do not.&rdquo;
+To a housekeeper he promised &ldquo;a warm, decent and comfortable room to
+herself, to lodge in, and will eat of the victuals of our Table, but not set at
+it, or at any time <i>with us</i> be her appearance what it may; for if this
+was <i>once admitted</i> no line satisfactory to either party, perhaps could be
+drawn thereafter.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In visiting he feed liberally, good examples of which are given in the cash
+account of the visit to Boston in 1756, when he &ldquo;Gave to Servants on ye
+Road 10/.&rdquo; &ldquo;By Cash Mr. Malbones servants £4.0.0.&rdquo; &ldquo;The
+Chambermaid £1.2.6.&rdquo; When the wife of his old steward, Fraunces, came to
+need, he gave her &ldquo;for Charity £1.17.6.&rdquo; The majority will
+sympathize rather than disapprove of his opinion when he wrote, &ldquo;Workmen
+in most Countries I believe are necessary plagues;&mdash;-in this where
+entreaties as well as money must be used to obtain their work and keep them to
+their duty they baffle all calculation in the accomplishment of any plan or
+repairs they are engaged in;&mdash;and require more attention to and looking
+after than can be well conceived.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The overseers of his many plantations, and his &ldquo;master&rdquo; carpenters,
+millers, and gardeners, were quite as great trials as his slaves. First
+&ldquo;young Stephens&rdquo; gave him much trouble, which his diary reports in
+a number of sententious entries: &ldquo;visited my Plantation. Severely
+reprimanded young Stephens for his Indolence, and his father for suffering
+it;&rdquo; &ldquo;forbid Stephens keeping any horses upon my expence;&rdquo;
+&ldquo;visited my quarters &amp; ye Mill, according to custom found young
+Stephens absent;&rdquo; &ldquo;visited my Plantation and found to my great
+surprise Stephens constantly at work;&rdquo; &ldquo;rid out to my Plantn. and
+to my Carpenters. Found Richard Stephens hard at work with an ax&mdash;Very
+extraordinary this!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again he records, &ldquo;Visited my Plantations&mdash;found Foster had been
+absent from his charge since the 28th ulto. Left orders for him to come
+immediately to me upon his return, and repremanded him severely.&rdquo; Of
+another, Simpson, &ldquo;I never hear … without a degree of warmth &amp;
+vexation at his extreme stupidity,&rdquo; and elsewhere he expresses his
+disgust at &ldquo;that confounded fellow Simpson.&rdquo; A third spent all the
+fall and half the winter in getting in his crop, and &ldquo;if there was any
+way of making such a rascal as Garner pay for such conduct, no punishment would
+be too great for him. I suppose he never turned out of mornings until the sun
+had warmed the earth, and if <i>he</i> did not, the <i>negros</i> would
+not.&rdquo; His chief overseer was directed to &ldquo;Let Mr. Crow know that I
+view with a very evil eye the frequent reports made by him of sheep dying;…
+frequent <i>natural deaths</i> is a very strong evidence to my mind of the want
+of care or something worse.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Curious distinctions were made oftentimes. Thus, in the contract with an
+overseer, one clause was inserted to the effect, &ldquo;And whereas there are a
+number of whiskey stills very contiguous to the said Plantations, and many
+idle, drunken and dissolute People continually resorting to the same, priding
+themselves in debauching sober and well-inclined Persons, the said Edd Voilett
+doth promise as well for his own sake as his employers to avoid them as he
+ought.&rdquo; To the contrary, in hiring a gardener, it was agreed as part of
+the compensation that the man should have &ldquo;four dollars at Christmas,
+with which he may be drunk for four days and four nights; two dollars at Easter
+to effect the same purpose; two dollars at Whitsuntide to be drunk for two
+days; a dram in the morning, and a drink of grog at dinner at noon.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With more true kindness Washington wrote to one of his underlings, &ldquo;I was
+very glad to receive your letter of the 31st ultimo, because I was afraid, from
+the accounts given me of your spitting blood,… that you would hardly have been
+able to have written at all. And it is my request that you will not, by
+attempting more than you are able to undergo, with safety and convenience,
+injure yourself, and thereby render me a disservice…. I had rather therefore
+hear that you had nursed than exposed yourself. And the things which I sent
+from this place (I mean the wine, tea, coffee and sugar) and such other matters
+as you may lay in by the doctor&rsquo;s direction for the use of the sick, I
+desire you will make use of as your own personal occasions may require.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of one Butler he had employed to overlook his gardeners, but who proved
+hopelessly unfit, Washington said, &ldquo;sure I am, there is no obligation
+upon me to retain him from charitable motives; when he ought rather to be
+punished as an imposter: for he well knew the services he had to perform, and
+which he promised to fulfil with zeal, activity, and intelligence.&rdquo; Yet
+when the man was discharged his employer gave him a &ldquo;character:&rdquo;
+&ldquo;If his activity, spirit, and ability in the management of Negroes, were
+equal to his honesty, sobriety and industry, there would not be the least
+occasion for a change,&rdquo; and Butler was paid his full wages, no deduction
+being made for lost time, &ldquo;as I can better afford to be without the money
+than he can.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another thoroughly incompetent man was one employed to take charge of the negro
+carpenters, of whom his employer wrote, &ldquo;I am apprehensive … that Green
+never will overcome his propensity to drink; that it is this which occasions
+his frequent sickness, absences from work and poverty. And I am convinced,
+moreover, that it answers no purpose to admonish him.&rdquo; Yet, though
+&ldquo;I am so well satisfied of Thomas Green&rsquo;s unfitness to look after
+Carpenters,&rdquo; for a time &ldquo;the helpless situation in which you find
+his family, has prevailed on me to retain him,&rdquo; and when he finally had
+to be discharged for drinking, Washington said, &ldquo;Nothing but compassion
+for his helpless family, has hitherto induced me to keep him a moment in my
+service (so bad is the example he sets); but if he has no regard for them
+himself, it is not to be expected that I am to be a continual sufferer on this
+account for his misconduct.&rdquo; His successor needed the house the family
+lived in, but Washington could not &ldquo;bear the thought of adding to the
+distress I know they must be in, by turning them adrift;… It would be better
+therefore on all accounts if they were removed to some other place, even if I
+was to pay the rent, provided it was low, or make some allowance towards
+it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To many others, besides family, friends, and employees, Washington was
+charitable. From an early date his ledger contains frequent items covering
+gifts to the needy. To mention a tenth of them would take too much space, but a
+few typical entries are worth quoting:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;By Cash gave a Soldiers wife 5/;&rdquo; &ldquo;To a crippled man
+5/;&rdquo; &ldquo;Gave a man who had his House Burnt £1.;&rdquo; &ldquo;By a
+begging woman /5;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Cash gave for the Sufferers at Boston by
+fire £12;&rdquo; &ldquo;By a wounded soldier 10/;&rdquo; &ldquo;Alexandria
+Academy, support of a teacher of Orphan children £50;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Charity
+to an invalid wounded Soldier who came from Redston with a petition for Charity
+18/;&rdquo; &ldquo;Gave a poor man by the President&rsquo;s order $2;&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Delivd to the President to send to two distress&rsquo;d french women at
+Newcastle $25;&rdquo; &ldquo;Gave Pothe a poor old man by the President&rsquo;s
+order $2;&rdquo; &ldquo;Gave a poor sailor by the Presdt order $1;&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Gave a poor blind man by the Presdt order $1.50;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Madame
+de Seguer a french Lady in distress gave her $50;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Subscription
+paid to Mr. Jas. Blythe towards erecting and Supporting an Academy in the State
+of Kentucky $100;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Subscription towards an Academy in the South
+Western Territory $100;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Charity sent Genl Charles Pinckney in
+Columbus Bank Notes, for the sufferers by the fire in Charleston So. Carolina
+$300;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Charity gave to the sufferers by fire in Geo. Town
+$10;&rdquo; &ldquo;By an annual Donation to the Academy at Alexandria pd. Dr.
+Cook $166.67;&rdquo; &ldquo;By Charity to the poor of Alexandria deld. to the
+revd. Dr. Muir $100.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To an overseer he said, concerning a distant relative, &ldquo;Mrs. Haney should
+endeavor to do what she can for herself&mdash;this is a duty incumbent on every
+one; but you must not let her suffer, as she has thrown herself upon me; your
+advances on this account will be allowed always, at settlement; and I agree
+readily to furnish her with provisions, and for the good character you give of
+her daughter make the latter a present in my name of a handsome but not costly
+gown, and other things which she may stand most in need of. You may charge me
+also with the worth of your tenement in which she is placed, and where perhaps
+it is better she should be than at a great distance from your attentions to
+her.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the terrible attack of fever in Philadelphia in 1793, Washington wrote to
+a clergyman of that city,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It has been my intention ever since my return to the city, to contribute
+my mite towards the relief of the <i>most</i> needy inhabitants of it. The
+pressure of public business hitherto has suspended, but not altered my
+resolution. I am at a loss, however, for whose benefit to apply the little I
+can give, and in whose hands to place it; whether for the use of the fatherless
+children and widows, made so by the late calamity, who may find it difficult,
+whilst provisions, wood, and other necessaries are so dear, to support
+themselves; or to other and better purposes, if any, I know not, and therefore
+have taken the liberty of asking your advice. I persuade myself justice will be
+done to my motives for giving you this trouble. To obtain information, and to
+render the little I can afford, without ostentation or mention of my name, are
+the sole objects of these inquiries. With great and sincere esteem and regard,
+I am, &amp;c.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His adopted grandson he advised to &ldquo;never let an indigent person ask,
+without receiving <i>something</i> if you have the means; always recollecting
+in what light the widow&rsquo;s mite was viewed.&rdquo; And when he took
+command of the army in 1775, the relative who took charge of his affairs was
+told to &ldquo;let the hospitality of the house, with respect to 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.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap07"></a>VII<br/>
+SOCIAL LIFE</h2>
+
+<p>
+There can be no doubt that Washington, like the Virginian of his time, was
+pre-eminently social. It is true that late in life he complained, as already
+quoted, that his home had become a &ldquo;well resorted tavern,&rdquo; and that
+at his own table &ldquo;I rarely miss seeing strange faces, come as they say
+out of respect for me. Pray, would not the word curiosity answer as
+well?&rdquo; but even in writing this he added, &ldquo;how different this from
+having a few social friends at a cheerful board!&rdquo; When a surveyor he said
+that the greatest pleasure he could have would be to hear from or be with
+&ldquo;my Intimate friends and acquaintances;&rdquo; to one he wrote, &ldquo;I
+hope you in particular will not Bauk me of what I so ardently wish for,&rdquo;
+and he groaned over being &ldquo;amongst a parcel of barbarians.&rdquo; While
+in the Virginia regiment he complained of a system of rations which
+&ldquo;deprived me of the pleasure of inviting an officer or friend, which to
+me would be more agreeable, than nick-nacks I shall meet with,&rdquo; and when
+he was once refused leave of absence by the governor, he replied bitterly,
+&ldquo;it was not to enjoy a party of pleasure I wanted a leave of absence; I
+have been indulged with few of these, winter or summer!&rdquo; At Mount Vernon,
+if a day was spent without company the fact was almost always noted in his
+diary, and in a visit, too, he noted that he had &ldquo;a very lonesome Evening
+at Colo Champe&rsquo;s, not any Body favoring us with their Company but
+himself.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The plantation system which prevented town life and put long distances between
+neighbors developed two forms of society. One of these was house parties, and
+probably nowhere else in the world was that form of hospitality so unstinted as
+in this colony. Any one of a certain social standing was privileged, even
+welcomed, to ride up to the seat of a planter, dismount, and thus become a
+guest, ceasing to be such only when he himself chose. Sometimes one family
+would go <i>en masse</i> many miles to stay a week with friends, and when they
+set out to return their hosts would journey with them and in turn become guests
+for a week. The second form of social life was called clubs. At all the
+cross-roads and court-houses there sprang up taverns or ordinaries, and in
+these the men of a neighborhood would gather, and over a bowl of punch or a
+bottle of wine, the expense of which they &ldquo;clubbed&rdquo; to share, would
+spend their evenings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Into this life Washington entered eagerly. As a mere lad his ledger records
+expenditures: &ldquo;By a club in Arrack at Mr. Gordon&rsquo;s 2/6;&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Club of a bottle of Rhenish at Mitchells 1/3;&rdquo; &ldquo;To part of
+the club at Port Royal 1/;&rdquo; &ldquo;To Cash in part for a Bowl of fruit
+punch 1/7-1/2.&rdquo; So, too, he was a visitor at this time at some of the
+great Virginian houses, as elsewhere noted. When he came into possession of
+Mount Vernon he offered the same unstinted welcome that he had met with, and
+even as a bachelor he writes of his &ldquo;having much company,&rdquo; and
+again of being occupied with &ldquo;a good deal of Company.&rdquo; In two
+months of 1768 Washington had company to dinner, or to spend the night, on
+twenty-nine days, and dined or visited away from home on seven; and this is
+typical.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever, too, trips were made to Williamsburg, Annapolis, Philadelphia, or
+elsewhere, it was a rare occurrence when the various stages of the journey were
+not spent with friends, and in those cities he was dined and wined to a
+surfeit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Revolution all of Washington&rsquo;s aides and his secretary lived
+with him at head-quarters, and constituted what he always called &ldquo;my
+family.&rdquo; In addition, many others sat down at table,&mdash;those who came
+on business from a distance, as well as bidden guests,&mdash;-which frequently
+included ladies from the neighborhood, who must have been belles among the
+sixteen to twenty men who customarily sat down to dinner. &ldquo;If …
+convenient and agreeable to you to take pot luck with me to-day,&rdquo; the
+General wrote John Adams in 1776, &ldquo;I shall be glad of your
+company.&rdquo; Pot luck it was for commander-in-chief and staff. Mention has
+been made of how sometimes Washington slept on the ground, and even when under
+cover there was not occasionally much more comfort. Pickering relates that one
+night was passed in &ldquo;Headquarters at Galloway&rsquo;s, an old log house.
+The General lodged in a bed, and his family on the floor about him. We had
+plenty of sepawn and milk, and all were contented.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oftentimes there were difficulties in the hospitality. &ldquo;I have been at my
+prest. quarters since the 1st day of Decr.,&rdquo; Washington complained to the
+commissary-general, &ldquo;and have not a Kitchen to cook a Dinner in,
+altho&rsquo; the Logs have been put together some considerable time by my own
+Guard. Nor is there a place at this moment in which a servant can lodge, with
+the smallest degree of comfort. Eighteen belonging to my family, and all Mrs.
+Ford&rsquo;s, are crowded together in her Kitchen, and scarce one of them able
+to speak for the cold they have caught.&rdquo; Pickering, in telling how he
+tried to secure lodgings away from head-quarters, gave for his reasons that
+&ldquo;they are exceedingly pinched for room…. Had I conceived how much
+satisfaction, quiet and even leisure, I should have enjoyed at separate
+quarters, I would have taken them six months ago. For at head-quarters there is
+a continual throng, and my room, in particular, (when I was happy enough to get
+one,) was always crowded by all that came to headquarters on business, because
+there was no other for them, we having, for the most part, been in such small
+houses.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were other difficulties. &ldquo;I cannot get as much cloth,&rdquo; the
+general wrote, &ldquo;as will make cloaths for my servants, notwithstanding one
+of them that attends my person and table is indecently and most shamefully
+naked.&rdquo; One of his aides said to a correspondent, jocularly, &ldquo;I
+take your Caution to me in Regard to my Health very kindly, but I assure you,
+you need be under no Apprehension of my losing it on the Score of Excess of
+living, that Vice is banished from this Army and the General&rsquo;s Family in
+particular. We never sup, but go to bed and are early up.&rdquo; &ldquo;Only
+conceive,&rdquo; Washington complained to Congress, &ldquo;the mortification
+they (even the general officers) must suffer, when they cannot invite a French
+officer, a visiting friend, or a travelling acquaintance, to a better repast,
+than stinking whiskey (and not always that) and a bit of Beef without
+vegetables.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At times, too, it was necessary to be an exemplar. &ldquo;Our truly republican
+general,&rdquo; said Laurens, &ldquo;has declared to his officers that he will
+set the example of passing the winter in a hut himself,&rdquo; and John Adams,
+in a time of famine, declared that &ldquo;General Washington sets a fine
+example. He has banished wine from his table, and entertains his friends with
+rum and water.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever it was possible, however, there was company at head-quarters.
+&ldquo;Since the General left Germantown in the middle of September
+last,&rdquo; the General Orders once read, &ldquo;he has been without his
+baggage, and on that account is unable to receive company in the manner he
+could wish. He nevertheless desires the Generals, Field Officers and Brigades
+Major of the day, to dine with him in future, at three o&rsquo;clock in the
+afternoon.&rdquo; Again the same vehicle informed the army that &ldquo;the
+hurry of business often preventing particular invitations being given to
+officers to dine with the General; He presents his compliments to the
+Brigadiers and Field Officers of the day, and requests while the Camp continues
+settled in the City, they will favor him with their company to dinner, without
+further or special invitation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mrs. Drinker, who went with a committee of women to camp at Valley Forge, has
+left a brief description of head-quarters hospitality: &ldquo;Dinner was
+served, to which he invited us. There were 15 Officers, besides ye Gl. and his
+wife, Gen. Greene, and Gen. Lee. We had an elegant dinner, which was soon over,
+when we went out with ye Genls wife, up to her Chamber&mdash;and saw no more of
+him.&rdquo; Claude Blanchard, too, describes a dinner, at which &ldquo;there
+was twenty-five covers used by some officers of the army and a lady to whom the
+house belonged in which the general lodged. We dined under the tent. I was
+placed along side of the general. One of his aides-de-camp did the honors. The
+table was served in the American style and pretty abundantly; vegetables, roast
+beef, lamb, chickens, salad dressed with nothing but vinegar, green peas,
+puddings, and some pie, a kind of tart, greatly in use in England and among the
+Americans, all this being put upon the table at the same time. They gave us on
+the same plate beef, green peas, lamb, &amp;c.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor was the ménage of the General unequal to unexpected calls. Chastellux tells
+of his first arrival in camp and introduction to Washington: &ldquo;He
+conducted me to his house, where I found the company still at table, although
+the dinner had been long over. He presented me to the Generals Knox, Waine,
+Howe, &amp;c. and to his <i>family</i>, then composed of Colonels Hamilton and
+Tilgman, his Secretaries and his Aides de Camp, and of Major Gibbs, commander
+of his guards; for in England and America, the Aides de Camp, Adjutants and
+other officers attached to the General, form what is called his <i>family</i>.
+A fresh dinner was prepared for me and mine; and the present was prolonged to
+keep me company.&rdquo; &ldquo;At nine,&rdquo; he elsewhere writes,
+&ldquo;supper was served, and when the hour of bed-time came, I found that the
+chamber, to which the General conducted me was the very parlour I speak of,
+wherein he had made them place a camp-bed.&rdquo; Of his hospitality Washington
+himself wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have asked Mrs. Cochran &amp; Mrs. Livingston to dine with me
+to-morrow; but am I not in honor bound to apprize them of their fate? As I hate
+deception, even where the imagination only is concerned; I will. It is needless
+to premise, that my table is large enough to hold the ladies. Of this they had
+ocular proof yesterday. To say how it is usually covered, is rather more
+essential; and this shall be the purport of my Letter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Since our arrival at this happy spot, 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; a dish of beans, or greens, (almost imperceptible,) decorates
+the center. When the cook has a mind to cut a figure, (which, I presume will be
+the case to-morrow) we have two Beef-steak pyes, or dishes of crabs, in
+addition, one on each side of the center dish, dividing the space &amp;
+reducing the distance between dish &amp; dish to about 6 feet, which without
+them would be near 12 feet apart. Of late he has had the surprising sagacity to
+discover, that apples will make pyes; and its a question, if, in the violence
+of his efforts, we do not get one of apples, instead of having both of
+Beef-steaks. If the ladies can put up with such entertainment, and will submit
+to partake of it in plates, once Tin but now Iron&mdash;(not become so by the
+labor of scouring), I shall be happy to see them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dinners were not the only form of entertaining. In Cambridge, when Mrs.
+Washington and Mrs. Jack Custis were at head-quarters, a reception was held on
+the anniversary of Washington&rsquo;s marriage, and at other times when there
+was anything to celebrate,&mdash;the capitulation of Burgoyne, the alliance
+with France, the birth of a dauphin, etc.,&mdash;parades, balls, receptions,
+&ldquo;feux-de-joie,&rdquo; or cold collations were given. Perhaps the most
+ambitious attempt was a dinner given on September 21, 1782, in a large tent, to
+which ninety sat down, while a &ldquo;band of American music&rdquo; added to
+the &ldquo;gaiety of the company.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever occasion called the General to attend on Congress there was much
+junketing. &ldquo;My time,&rdquo; he wrote, &ldquo;during my winter&rsquo;s
+residence in Philadelphia, was unusually (for me) divided between parties of
+pleasure and parties of business.&rdquo; When Reed pressed him to pass the
+period of winter quarters in visiting him in Philadelphia, he replied,
+&ldquo;were I to give in 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.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While President, a more elaborate hospitality was maintained. Both in New York
+and Philadelphia the best houses procurable were rented as the Presidential
+home,&mdash;for Washington &ldquo;wholly declined living in any public
+building,&rdquo;&mdash;and a steward and fourteen lower servants attended to
+all details, though a watchful supervision was kept by the President over them,
+and in the midst of his public duties he found time to keep a minute account of
+the daily use of all supplies, with their cost. His payments to his stewards
+for mere servants&rsquo; wages and food (exclusive of wine) were over six
+hundred dollars a month, and there can be little doubt that Washington, who had
+no expense paid by the public, more than spent his salary during his term of
+office.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was the President&rsquo;s custom to give a public dinner once a week
+&ldquo;to as many as my table will hold,&rdquo; and there was also a bi-weekly
+levee, to which any one might come, as well as evening receptions by Mrs.
+Washington, which were more distinctly social and far more exclusive. Ashbel
+Green states that &ldquo;Washington&rsquo;s dining parties were entertained in
+a very handsome style. His weekly dining day for company was Thursday, and his
+dining hour was always four o&rsquo;clock in the afternoon. His rule was to
+allow five minutes for the variations of clocks and watches, and then go to the
+table, be present or absent, whoever might. He kept his own clock in the hall,
+just within the outward door, and always exactly regulated. When lagging
+members of Congress came in, as they often did, after the guests had sat down
+to dinner, the president&rsquo;s only apology was, &lsquo;Gentlemen (or sir) we
+are too punctual for you. I have a cook who never asks whether the company has
+come, but whether the hour has come.&rsquo; The company usually assembled in
+the drawing-room, about fifteen or twenty minutes before dinner, and the
+president spoke to every guest personally on entering the room.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maclay attended several of the dinners, and has left descriptions of them.
+&ldquo;Dined this day with the President,&rdquo; he writes. &ldquo;It was a
+great dinner&mdash; all in the tastes of high life. I considered it as a part
+of my duty as a Senator to submit to it, and am glad it is over. The President
+is a cold, formal man; but I must declare that he treated me with great
+attention. I was the first person with whom he drank a glass of wine. I was
+often spoken to by him.&rdquo; Again he says,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;At dinner, after my second plate had been taken away, the President
+offered to help me to part of a dish which stood before him. Was ever anything
+so unlucky? I had just before declined being helped to anything more, with some
+expression that denoted my having made up my dinner. Had, of course, for the
+sake of consistency, to thank him negatively, but when the dessert came, and he
+was distributing a pudding, he gave me a look of interrogation, and I returned
+the thanks positive. He soon after asked me to drink a glass of wine with
+him.&rdquo; On another occasion he &ldquo;went to the President&rsquo;s to
+dinner…. The President and Mrs. Washington sat opposite each other in the
+middle of the table; the two secretaries, one at each end. It was a great
+dinner, and the best of the kind I ever was at. The room, however, was
+disagreeably warm. First the soup; fish roasted and boiled; meats, sammon,
+fowls, etc…. The middle of the table was garnished in the usual tasty way, with
+small images, flowers, (artificial), etc. The dessert was, apple pies, pudding,
+etc.; then iced creams, jellies, etc.; then water-melons, musk-melons, apples,
+peaches, nuts. It was the most solemn dinner I ever was at. Not a health drank;
+scarce a word was said until the cloth was taken away. Then the President
+filling a glass of wine, with great formality drank to the health of every
+individual by name round the table. Everybody imitated him, charged glasses,
+and such a buzz of &lsquo;health, sir,&rsquo; and &lsquo;health, madam,&rsquo;
+and &lsquo;thank you, sir,&rsquo; and &lsquo;thank you, madam,&rsquo; never had
+I heard before…. The ladies sat a good while, and the bottles passed about; but
+there was a dead silence almost. Mrs. Washington at last withdrew with the
+ladies. I expected the men would now begin, but the same stillness remained.
+The President told of a New England clergyman who had lost a hat and wig in
+passing a river called the Brunks. He smiled, and everybody else laughed. He
+now and then said a sentence or two on some common subject, and what he said
+was not amiss…. The President … played with the fork, striking on the edge of
+the table with it. We did not sit long after the ladies retired. The President
+rose, went up-stairs to drink coffee; the company followed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus14"></a>
+<img src="images/img14.jpg" width="600" height="353" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">PRESIDENTIAL DINNER INVITATION</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Bradbury gives the menu of a dinner at which he was, where &ldquo;there was an
+elegant variety of roast beef, veal, turkey, ducks, fowls, hams, &amp;c.;
+puddings, jellies, oranges, apples, nuts, almonds, figs, raisins, and a variety
+of wines and punch. We took our leave at six, more than an hour after the
+candles were introduced. No lady but Mrs. Washington dined with us. We were
+waited on by four or five men servants dressed in livery.&rdquo; At the last
+official dinner the President gave, Bishop White was present, and relates that
+&ldquo;to this dinner as many were invited as could be accommodated at the
+President&rsquo;s table…. Much hilarity prevailed; but on the removal of the
+cloth it was put an end to by the President&mdash;certainly without design.
+Having filled his glass, he addressed the company, with a smile on his
+countenance, saying: &lsquo;Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last time I shall
+drink your health, as a public man. I do it with sincerity, and wishing you all
+possible happiness.&rsquo; There was an end of all pleasantry.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A glance at Mrs. Washington&rsquo;s receptions has been given, but the levees
+of the President remain to be described. William Sullivan, who attended many,
+wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;At three o&rsquo;clock or at any time within a quarter of an hour
+afterward, the visitor was conducted to this dining room, from which all seats
+had been removed for the time. On entering, he saw&rdquo; Washington, who
+&ldquo;stood always in front of the fire-place, with his face towards the door
+of entrance. The visitor was conducted to him, and he required to have the name
+so distinctly pronounced that he could hear it. He had the very uncommon
+faculty of associating a man&rsquo;s name, and personal appearance, so durably
+in his memory, as to be able to call one by name, who made him a second visit.
+He received his visitor with a dignified bow, while his hands were so disposed
+of as to indicate, that the salutation was not to be accompanied with shaking
+hands. This ceremony never occurred in these visits, even with his most near
+friends, that no distinction might be made. As visitors came in, they formed a
+circle round the room. At a quarter past three, the door was closed, and the
+circle was formed for that day. He then began on the right, and spoke to each
+visitor, calling him by name, and exchanging a few words with him. When he had
+completed his circuit, he resumed his first position, and the visitors
+approached him in succession, bowed and retired. By four o&rsquo;clock the
+ceremony was over.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ceremony of the dinners and levees and the liveried servants were favorite
+impeachments of the President among the early Democrats before they had better
+material, and Washington was charged with trying to constitute a court, and
+with conducting himself like a king. Even his bow was a source of criticism,
+and Washington wrote in no little irritation in regard to this, &ldquo;that I
+have not been able to make bows to the taste of poor Colonel Bland, (who, by
+the by, I believe, never saw one of them), is to be regretted, especially too,
+as (upon those occasions), they were indiscriminately bestowed, and the best I
+was master of, would it not have been better to throw the veil of charity over
+them, ascribing their stiffness to the effects of age, or to the unskillfulness
+of my teacher, than to pride and dignity of office, which God knows has no
+charms for me? For I can truly say, I had rather be at Mount Vernon 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.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There can be no doubt that Washington hated ceremony as much as the Democrats,
+and yielded to it only from his sense of fitness and the opinions of those
+about him. Jefferson and Madison both relate how such unnecessary form was used
+at the first levee by the master of ceremonies as to make it ridiculous, and
+Washington, appreciating this, is quoted as saying to the amateur chamberlain,
+&ldquo;Well, you have taken me in once, but, by God, you shall never take me in
+a second time.&rdquo; His secretary, in writing to secure lodgings in
+Philadelphia, when the President and family were on their way to Mount Vernon,
+said, &ldquo;I must repeat, what I observed in a former letter, that as little
+ceremony &amp; parade may be made as possible, for the President wishes to
+command his own time, which these things always forbid in a greater or less
+degree, and they are to him fatiguing and oftentimes painful. He wishes not to
+exclude himself from the sight or conversation of his fellow citizens, but
+their eagerness to show their affection frequently imposes a heavy tax on
+him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was still further shown in his diary of his tours through New England and
+the Southern States. Nothing would do but for Boston to receive him with
+troops, etc., and Washington noted, &ldquo;finding this ceremony not to be
+avoided, though I had made every effort to do it, I named the hour.&rdquo; In
+leaving Portsmouth he went &ldquo;quietly, and without any attendance, having
+earnestly entreated that all parade and ceremony might be avoided on my
+return.&rdquo; When travelling through North Carolina, &ldquo;a small party of
+horse under one Simpson met us at Greenville, and in spite of every endeavor
+which could comport with decent civility, to excuse myself from it, they would
+attend me to Newburn.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the few years that Washington was at Mount Vernon subsequent to the
+Revolution, the same unbounded hospitality was dispensed as in earlier times,
+while a far greater demand was made upon it, and one so variegated that at
+times the host was not a little embarrassed. Thus he notes that &ldquo;a
+Gentleman calling himself the Count de Cheiza D&rsquo;Artigan Officer of the
+French Guards came here to dinner; but bringing no letters of introduction, nor
+any authentic testimonials of his being either; I was at a loss how to receive
+or treat him,&mdash;he stayed to dinner and the evening,&rdquo; and the next
+day departed in Washington&rsquo;s carriage to Alexandria. &ldquo;A farmer came
+here to see,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;my drill plow, and staid all night.&rdquo;
+In another instance he records that a woman whose &ldquo;name was unknown to me
+dined here.&rdquo; Only once were visitors frowned on, and this was when a
+British marauding party came to Mount Vernon during the Revolution. Even they,
+in Washington&rsquo;s absence, were entertained by his overseer, but his master
+wrote him, on hearing of this, &ldquo;I am little sorry of my own [loss]; but
+that which gives me most concern is, that you should go on board the
+enemy&rsquo;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-compliance 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 making a voluntary offer of refreshments to them with a
+view to prevent a conflagration.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hospitality at Mount Vernon was perfectly simple. A traveller relates that
+he was taken there by a friend, and, as Washington was &ldquo;viewing his
+laborers,&rdquo; we &ldquo;were desired to tarry.&rdquo; &ldquo;When the
+President returned he received us very politely. Dr. Croker introduced me to
+him as a gentleman from Massachusetts who wished to see the country and pay his
+respects. He thanked us, desired us to be seated, and to excuse him a few
+moments…. The President came and desired us to walk in to dinner and directed
+us where to sit, (no grace was said)…. The dinner was very good, a small
+roasted pigg, boiled leg of lamb, roasted fowles, beef, peas, lettice,
+cucumbers, artichokes, etc., puddings, tarts, etc., etc. We were desired to
+call for what drink we chose. He took a glass of wine with Mrs. Law first,
+which example was followed by Dr. Croker and Mrs. Washington, myself and Mrs.
+Peters, Mr. Fayette and the young lady whose name is Custis. When the cloth was
+taken away the President gave &lsquo;All our Friends,&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another visitor tells that he was received by Washington, and, &ldquo;after …
+half an hour, the General came in again, with his hair neatly powdered, a clean
+shirt on, a new plain drab coat, white waistcoat and white silk stockings. At
+three, dinner was on the table, and we were shown by the General into another
+room, where everything was set off with a peculiar taste and at the same time
+neat and plain. The General sent the bottle about pretty freely after dinner,
+and gave success to the navigation of the Potomac for his toasts, which he has
+very much at heart…. After Tea General Washington retired to his study and left
+us with the … rest of the Company. If he had not been anxious to hear the news
+of Congress from Mr. Lee, most probably he would not have returned to supper,
+but gone to bed at his usual hour, nine o&rsquo;clock, for he seldom makes any
+ceremony. We had a very elegant supper about that time. The General with a few
+glasses of champagne got quite merry, and being with his intimate friends
+laughed and talked a good deal. Before strangers he is very reserved, and
+seldom says a word. I was fortunate in being in his company with his particular
+acquaintances…. At 12 I had the honor of being lighted up to my bedroom by the
+General himself.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This break on the evening hours was quite unusual, Washington himself saying in
+one place that nine o&rsquo;clock was his bedtime, and he wrote of his hours
+after dinner, &ldquo;the usual time of setting at table, a walk, and tea,
+brings me within the dawn of candlelight; previous to which, if not prevented
+by company I resolve, that as soon as the glimmering taper supplies the place
+of the great luminary, I will retire to my writing table and acknowledge the
+letters I have received; but when the lights were brought, I feel tired and
+disinclined to engage in this work, conceiving that the next night will do as
+well. The next comes, and with it the same causes for postponement, and effect,
+and so on.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The foregoing allusion to Washington&rsquo;s conversation is undoubtedly just.
+All who met him formally spoke of him as taciturn, but this was not a natural
+quality. Jefferson states that &ldquo;in the circle of his friends, where he
+might be unreserved with safety, he took a free share in conversation,&rdquo;
+and Madison told Sparks that, though &ldquo;Washington was not fluent nor ready
+in conversation, and was inclined to be taciturn in general society,&rdquo; yet
+&ldquo;in the company of two or three intimate friends, he was talkative, and
+when a little excited was sometimes fluent and even eloquent&rdquo; &ldquo;The
+story so often repeated of his never laughing,&rdquo; Madison said, was
+&ldquo;wholly untrue; no man seemed more to enjoy gay conversation, though he
+took little part in it himself. He was particularly pleased with the jokes,
+good humor, and hilarity of his companions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington certainly did enjoy a joke. Nelly Custis said, &ldquo;I have
+sometimes made him laugh most heartily from sympathy with my joyous and
+extravagant spirits,&rdquo; and many other instances of his laughing are
+recorded. He himself wrote in 1775 concerning the running away of some British
+soldiers, &ldquo;we laugh at his idea of chasing the Royal Fusileers with the
+stores. Does he consider them as inanimate, or as treasure?&rdquo; When the
+British in Boston sent out a bundle of the king&rsquo;s speech, &ldquo;farcical
+enough, we gave great joy to them, (the red coats I mean), without knowing or
+intending it; for on that day, the day which gave being to the new army, (but
+before the proclamation came to hand,) we had hoisted the union flag in
+compliment to the United Colonies. But, behold, it was received in Boston as a
+token of the deep impression the speech had made upon us, and as a signal of
+submission.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At times Washington would joke himself, though it was always somewhat labored,
+as in the case of the Jack already cited. &ldquo;Without a coinage,&rdquo; he
+wrote, &ldquo;or unless a stop can be put to the cutting and clipping of money,
+our dollars, pistareens, &amp;c., will be converted, as Teague says, into
+<i>five</i> quarters.&rdquo; When the Democrats were charging the Federalists
+with having stolen from the treasury, he wrote to a Cabinet official,
+&ldquo;and pray, my good sir, what part of the $800.000 have come to your
+share? As you are high in Office, I hope you did not disgrace yourself in the
+acceptance of a paltry bribe&mdash;a $100.000 perhaps.&rdquo; He once even
+attempted a pun, by writing, &ldquo;our enterprise will be ruined, and we shall
+be stopped at the Laurel Hill this winter; but not to gather laurels, (except
+of the kind that covers the mountains).&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Probably the neatest turn was his course on one occasion with General Tryon,
+who sent him some British proclamations with the request, &ldquo;that through
+your means, the officers and men under your command may be acquainted with
+their contents.&rdquo; Washington promptly replied that he had given them
+&ldquo;free currency among the officers and men under my command,&rdquo; and
+enclosed to Tryon a lot of the counter-proclamation, asking him to &ldquo;be
+instrumental in communicating its contents, so far as it may be in your power,
+to the persons who are the objects of its operation. The benevolent purpose it
+is intended to answer will I persuade myself, sufficiently recommend it to your
+candor.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To a poetess who had sent him some laudatory verses about himself he expressed
+his thanks, and added, &ldquo;Fiction is to be sure the very life and Soul of
+Poetry&mdash;all Poets and Poetesses have been indulged in the free and
+indisputable use of it, time out of mind. And to oblige you to make such an
+excellent Poem on such a subject without any materials but those of simple
+reality, would be as cruel as the Edict of Pharoah which compelled the children
+of Israel to manufacture Bricks without the necessary Ingredients.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Twice he joked about his own death. &ldquo;As I have heard,&rdquo; he said
+after Braddock&rsquo;s defeat, &ldquo;since my arrival at this place, a
+circumstancial account of my death and dying speech, I take this early
+opportunity of contradicting the first, and of assuring you, that I have not as
+yet composed the latter.&rdquo; Many years later, in draughting a letter for
+his wife, he wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am now by desire of the General to add a few words on his behalf;
+which he desires may be expressed in the terms following, that is to
+say,&mdash;that despairing of hearing what may be said of him, if he should
+really go off in an apoplectic, or any other fit (for he thinks all fits that
+issue in death are worse than a love fit, a fit of laughter, and many other
+kinds which he could name)&mdash;he is glad to hear <i>beforehand</i> what will
+be said of him on that occasion; conceiving that nothing extra will happen
+between <i>this</i> and <i>then</i> to make a change in his character for
+better, or for worse. And besides, as he has entered into an engagement … not
+to quit <i>this</i> world before the year 1800, it may be <i>relied upon</i>
+that no breach of contract shall be laid to him on that account, unless dire
+necessity should bring it about, maugre all his exertions to the contrary. In
+that same, he shall hope they would do by him as he would do by
+them&mdash;excuse it. At present there seems to be no danger of his thus giving
+them the slip, as neither his health nor spirits, were ever in greater flow,
+notwithstanding, he adds, he is descending, and has almost reached the bottom
+of the hill; or in other words, the shades below. For your particular good
+wishes on this occasion he charges me to say that he feels highly obliged, and
+that he reciprocates them with great cordiality.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Other social qualities of the man cannot be passed over. A marked trait was his
+extreme fondness of afternoon tea. &ldquo;Dined at Mr. Langdon&rsquo;s, and
+drank Tea there, with a large circle of Ladies;&rdquo; &ldquo;in the afternoon
+drank Tea … with about 20 ladies, who had been assembled for the
+occasion;&rdquo; &ldquo;exercised between 5 &amp; 7 o&rsquo;clock in the
+morning &amp; drank Tea with Mrs. Clinton (the Governor&rsquo;s Lady) in the
+afternoon;&rdquo; &ldquo;Drank tea at the Chief Justice&rsquo;s of the U.
+States;&rdquo; &ldquo;Dined with the Citizens in public; and in the afternoon,
+was introduced to upwards of 50 ladies who had assembled (at a Tea party) on
+the occasion;&rdquo; &ldquo;Dined and drank tea at Mr. Bingham&rsquo;s in great
+splendor.&rdquo; Such are the entries in his diary whenever the was
+&ldquo;kettle-a-boiling-be&rdquo; was within reach. Pickering&rsquo;s journal
+shows that tea served regularly at head-quarters, and at Mount Vernon it was
+drunk in summer on the veranda. In writing to Knox of his visit to Boston,
+Washington mentioned his recollection of the chats over tea-drinking, and of
+how &ldquo;social and gay&rdquo; they were.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A fondness for picnics was another social liking. &ldquo;Rid with Fanny
+Bassett, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Shaw to meet a Party from Alexandria at Johnsons
+Spring … where we dined on a cold dinner brought from Town by water and spent
+the Afternoon agreeably&mdash;Returning home by Sun down or a little after
+it,&rdquo; is noted in his diary on one occasion, and on another he wrote,
+&ldquo;Having formed a Party, consisting of the Vice-President, his lady, Son
+&amp; Miss Smith; the Secretaries of State, Treasury &amp; War, and the ladies
+of the two latter; with all the Gentlemen of my family, Mrs. Lear &amp; the two
+Children, we visited the old position of Fort Washington and afterwards dined
+on a dinner provided by Mr. Mariner.&rdquo; Launchings, barbecues, clambakes,
+and turtle dinners were other forms of social dissipations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A distinct weakness was dancing. When on the frontier he sighed, &ldquo;the
+hours at present are melancholy dull. Neither the rugged toils of war, nor the
+gentler conflict of A[ssembly] B[alls,] is in my choice.&rdquo; His diary shows
+him at balls and &ldquo;Routs&rdquo; frequently; when he was President he was a
+constant attendant at the regular &ldquo;Dancing Assemblies&rdquo; in New York
+and Philadelphia, and when at Mount Vernon he frequently went ten miles to
+Alexandria to attend dances. Of one of these Alexandria balls he has left an
+amusing description: &ldquo;Went to a ball at Alexandria, where Musick and
+dancing was the chief Entertainment, however in a convenient room detached for
+the purpose abounded great plenty of bread and butter, some biscuits, with tea
+and coffee, which the drinkers of could not distinguish from hot water
+sweet&rsquo;ned&mdash;Be it remembered that pocket handkerchiefs servd the
+purposes of Table cloths &amp; Napkins and that no apologies were made for
+either. I shall therefore distinguish this ball by the stile and title of the
+Bread &amp; Butter Ball.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Revolution, too, he killed many a weary hour of winter quarters by
+dancing. When the camp spent a day rejoicing over the French alliance,
+&ldquo;the celebration,&rdquo; according to Thacher, &ldquo;was concluded by a
+splendid ball opened by his Excellency General Washington, having for his
+partner the lady of General Knox.&rdquo; Greene describes how &ldquo;we had a
+little dance at my quarters a few evenings past. His Excellency and Mrs. Greene
+danced upwards of three hours without once sitting down.&rdquo; Knox, too,
+tells of &ldquo;a most genteel entertainment given by self and officers&rdquo;
+at which Washington danced. &ldquo;Everybody allows it to be the first of the
+kind ever exhibited in this State at least. We had above seventy ladies, all of
+the first ton in the State, and between three and four hundred gentlemen. We
+danced all night&mdash;an elegant room, the illuminating, fireworks, &amp;c.,
+were more than pretty.&rdquo; And at Newport, when Rochambeau gave a ball, by
+request it was opened by Washington. The dance selected by his partner was
+&ldquo;A Successful Campaign,&rdquo; then in high favor, and the French
+officers took the instruments from the musicians and played while he danced the
+first figure.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus15"></a>
+<img src="images/img15.jpg" width="600" height="421" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">AGREEMENT FOR DANCING ASSEMBLY</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+While in winter quarters he subscribed four hundred dollars (paper money, equal
+to eleven dollars in gold) to get up a series of balls, of which Greene wrote,
+&ldquo;We have opened an assembly in Camp. From this apparent ease, I suppose
+it is thought we must be in happy circumstances. I wish it was so, but, alas,
+it is not. Our provisions are in a manner, gone. We have not a ton of hay at
+command, nor magazine to draw from. Money is extremely scarce and worth little
+when we get it. We have been so poor in camp for a fortnight, that we could not
+forward the public dispatches, for want of cash to support the
+expresses.&rdquo; At the farewell ball given at Annapolis, when the
+commander-in-chief resigned his command, Tilton relates that &ldquo;the General
+danced in every set, that all the ladies might have the pleasure of dancing
+with him; or as it has since been handsomely expressed, &lsquo;get a touch of
+him.&rsquo;&rdquo; He still danced in 1796, when sixty-four years of age, but
+when invited to the Alexandria Assembly in 1799, he wrote to the managers,
+&ldquo;Mrs. Washington and myself have been honored with your polite invitation
+to the assemblies of Alexandria this winter, and thank you for this mark of
+your attention. But, alas! our dancing days are no more. We wish, however all
+those who have a relish for so agreeable and innocent an amusement all the
+pleasure the season will afford them; and I am, gentlemen,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Your most obedient and obliged humble servant,
+</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+&ldquo;G<small>EO</small>. W<small>ASHINGTON</small>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap08"></a>VIII<br/>
+TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS</h2>
+
+<p>
+A market trait of Washington&rsquo;s character was his particularity about his
+clothes; there can be little question that he was early in life a good deal of
+a dandy, and that this liking for fine feathers never quite left him. When he
+was about sixteen years old he wrote in his journal, &ldquo;Memorandum to have
+my Coat made by the following Directions to be made a Frock with a Lapel Breast
+the Lapel to Contain on each side six Button Holes and to be about 5 or 6
+Inches wide all the way equal and to turn as the Breast on the Coat does to
+have it made very long Waisted and in Length to come down to or below the bent
+of the knee the Waist from the armpit to the Fold to be exactly as long or
+Longer than from thence to the Bottom not to have more than one fold in the
+Skirt and the top to be made just to turn in and three Button Holes the Lapel
+at the top to turn as the Cape of the Coat and Bottom to Come Parallel with the
+Button Holes the Last Button hole in the Breast to be right opposite to the
+Button on the Hip.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1754 he bought &ldquo;a Superfine blue broad cloth Coat, with Silver
+Trimmings,&rdquo; &ldquo;a fine Scarlet Waistcoat full Lac&rsquo;d,&rdquo; and
+a quantity of &ldquo;silver lace for a Hatt,&rdquo; and from another source it
+is learned that at this time he was the possessor of ruffled shirts. A little
+later he ordered from London &ldquo;As much of the best superfine blue 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,&rdquo; and other orders at different times were
+for &ldquo;6 prs. of the Very neatest shoes,&rdquo; &ldquo;A riding waistcoat
+of superfine scarlet cloth and gold Lace,&rdquo; &ldquo;2 prs. of fashionable
+mix&rsquo;d or marble Color&rsquo;d Silk Hose,&rdquo; &ldquo;1 piece of finest
+and fashionable Stock Tape,&rdquo; &ldquo;1 Suit of the finest Cloth &amp;
+fashionable colour,&rdquo; &ldquo;a New Market Great Coat with a loose hood to
+it, made of Bleu Drab or broad cloth, with straps before according to the
+present taste,&rdquo; &ldquo;3 gold and scarlet sword-knots, 3 silver and blue
+do, 1 fashionable gold-laced hat.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As these orders indicated, the young fellow strove to be in the fashion. In
+1755 he wrote his brother, &ldquo;as wearing boots is quite the mode, and mine
+are in a declining state, I must beg the favor of you to procure me a pair that
+is good and neat.&rdquo; &ldquo;Whatever goods you may send me,&rdquo; he wrote
+his London agent, &ldquo;let them be fashionable, neat and good of their
+several kinds.&rdquo; It was a great trial to him that his clothes did not fit
+him. &ldquo;I should have enclosed you my measure,&rdquo; he wrote to London,
+&ldquo;but in a general way they are so badly taken here, that I am convinced
+that it would be of very little service.&rdquo; &ldquo;I have hitherto had my
+clothes made by one Charles Lawrence in Old Fish Street,&rdquo; he wrote his
+English factor. &ldquo;But whether it be the fault of the tailor, or the
+measure sent, I can&rsquo;t say, but, certain it is, my clothes have never
+fitted me well.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It must not be inferred, however, that Washington carried his dandyism to
+weakness. When fine clothes were not in place, they were promptly discarded. In
+his trip to the Ohio in 1753 he states that &ldquo;I put myself in an Indian
+walking Dress,&rdquo; and &ldquo;tied myself up in a Match
+Coat,&rdquo;&mdash;that is, an Indian blanket. In the campaign of 1758 he wrote
+to his superior officer &ldquo;that were I left to pursue my own Inclinations,
+I would not only order the Men to adopt the Indian dress, but cause the
+Officers to do it also, and be at the first to set the example myself. Nothing
+but the uncertainty of its taking with the General causes me to hesitate a
+moment at leaving my Regimentals at this place, and proceeding as light as any
+Indian in the Woods. &rsquo;Tis an unbecoming dress, I confess, for an officer;
+but convenience, rather than shew, I think should be consulted.&rdquo; And this
+was such good sense that the general gave him leave, and it was done.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With increase of years his taste in clothes became softened and more sober.
+&ldquo;On the other side is an invoice of clothes which I beg the favor of you
+to purchase for me,&rdquo; he wrote to London. &ldquo;As they are designed for
+wearing apparel for myself, I have committed the choice of them to your fancy,
+having the best opinion of your taste. I want neither lace nor embroidery.
+Plain clothes, with a gold or silver button (if worn in genteel dress) are all
+I desire.&rdquo; &ldquo;Do not conceive,&rdquo; he told his nephew in 1783,
+&ldquo;that fine clothes make fine men more than fine feathers make fine Birds.
+A plain genteel dress is more admired, and obtains more credit than lace and
+embroidery, in the Eyes of the judicious and sensible.&rdquo; And in connection
+with the provisional army he decided that &ldquo;on reconsidering the uniform
+of the Commander in Chief, it has become a matter of doubt with me, (although,
+as it respects myself <i>personally</i>, I was against <i>all</i> embroidery,)
+whether embroidery on the Cape, Cuffs, and Pockets of the Coat, and none on the
+buff waistcoat would not have a disjointed and awkward appearance.&rdquo;
+Probably nowhere did he show his good taste more than in his treatment of the
+idea of putting him in classic garments when his bust was made by Houdon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In answer to your obliging inquiries respecting the dress, attitude,
+&amp;c.,&rdquo; he wrote, &ldquo;which I would wish to have given to the statue
+in question, I have only to observe, that, not having sufficient knowledge in
+the art of sculpture to oppose my judgment to the taste of connoisseurs, I do
+not desire to dictate in the matter. On the contrary I shall be perfectly
+satisfied with whatever may be judged decent and proper. I should even scarcely
+have ventured to suggest, that perhaps a servile adherence to the garb of
+antiquity might not be altogether so expedient, as some little deviation in
+favor of the modern costume.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington, as noted, bought his clothes in England; but it was from necessity
+more than choice. &ldquo;If there be any homespun Cloths in Philadelphia which
+are tolerably fine, that you can come reasonably at,&rdquo; he said to his
+Philadelphia agent in 1784, &ldquo;I would be obliged to you to send me
+patterns of some of the best kinds&mdash;I should prefer that which is mixed in
+the grain, because it will not so readily discover its quality as a plain
+cloth.&rdquo; Before he was inaugurated he wrote &ldquo;General Knox this day
+to procure me homespun broadcloth of the Hartford fabric, to make a suit of
+clothes for myself,&rdquo; adding, &ldquo;I hope it will not be a great while
+before it will be unfashionable for a gentleman to appear in any other dress.
+Indeed, we have already been too long subject to British prejudices.&rdquo; At
+another time he noted in his diary with evident pride, &ldquo;on this occasion
+I was dressed in a suit made at the Woolen Manufactory at Hartford, as the
+buttons also were.&rdquo; But then, as now, the foreign clothes were so much
+finer that his taste overcame his patriotism, and his secretary wrote that
+&ldquo;the President is desireous of getting as much superfine blk broad Cloth
+as will make him a suit of Clothes, and desires me to request that you would
+send him that quantity … The best superfine French or Dutch
+black&mdash;exceedingly fine&mdash;of a soft, silky texture&mdash;not glossy
+like the Engh cloths.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A caller during the Presidency spoke of him as dressed in purple satin, and at
+his levees he is described by Sullivan as &ldquo;clad in black velvet; his hair
+in full dress, powdered and gathered behind in a large silk bag; yellow gloves
+on his hands; holding a cocked hat with a cockade in it, and the edges adorned
+with a black feather about an inch deep. He wore knee and shoe buckles; and a
+long sword, with a finely wrought and polished steel hilt, which appeared at
+the left hip; the coat worn over the sword, so that the hilt, and the part
+below the coat behind, were in view. The scabbard was white polished
+leather.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About his person Washington was as neat as he desired his clothes to be. At
+seventeen when surveying he records that he was
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lighted into a Room &amp; I not being so good a Woodsman as ye rest of
+my Company striped myself very orderly &amp; went in to ye Bed as they called
+it when to my Surprize I found it to be nothing but a Little Straw&mdash;Matted
+together without Sheets or any thing else but only one thread Bear blanket with
+double its Weight of Vermin such as Lice, Fleas &amp;c. I was glad to get up
+(as soon as ye Light was carried from us) I put on my Cloths &amp; Lay as my
+Companions. Had we not have been very tired I am sure we should not have
+slep&rsquo;d much that night. I made a Promise not to Sleep so from that time
+forward chusing rather to sleep in ye open Air before a fire as will appear
+hereafter.&rdquo; The next day he notes that the party &ldquo;Travell&rsquo;d
+up to Frederick Town where our Baggage came to us we cleaned ourselves (to get
+Rid of ye Game we had catched y. Night before)&rdquo; and slept in &ldquo;a
+good Feather Bed with clean Sheets which was a very agreeable regale.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wherever he happened to be, the laundress was in constant demand. His bill from
+the washer-lady for the week succeeding his inauguration as President, and
+before his domestic ménage was in running order, was for &ldquo;6 Ruffled
+shirts, 2 plain shirts, 8 stocks, 3 pair Silk Hose, 2 White hand. 2 Silk
+Handks. 1 pr. Flanl. Drawers, 1 Hair nett.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The barber, too, was a constant need, and Washington&rsquo;s ledger shows
+constant expenditures for perfumed hair-powder and pomatum, and also for powder
+bags and puffs. Apparently the services of this individual were only for the
+arranging of his hair, for he seems never to have shaved Washington, that being
+done either by himself or by his valet. Of this latter individual Washington
+said (when the injury to William Lee unfitted him for the service), &ldquo;I do
+not as yet know whether I shall get a substitute for William: nothing short of
+excellent qualities and a man of good appearance, would induce me to do
+it&mdash;and under my present view of the matter, too, who would employ himself
+otherwise than William did&mdash;that is as a butler as well as a valette, for
+my wants of the latter are so trifling that any man (as William was) would soon
+be ruined by idleness, who had only them to attend to.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In food Washington took what came with philosophy. &ldquo;If you meet with
+collegiate fare, it will be unmanly to complain,&rdquo; he told his grandson,
+though he once complained in camp that &ldquo;we are debarred from the pleasure
+of good living; which, Sir, (I dare say with me you will concur,) to one who
+has always been used to it, must go somewhat hard to be confined to a little
+salt provision and water.&rdquo; Usually, however, poor fare was taken as a
+matter of course. &ldquo;When we came to Supper,&rdquo; he said in his journal
+of 1748, &ldquo;there was neither a Cloth upon ye Table nor a Knife to eat with
+but as good luck would have it we had Knives of our own,&rdquo; and again he
+wrote, &ldquo;we pull&rsquo;d out our Knapsack in order to Recruit ourselves
+every one was his own Cook our Spits was Forked Sticks our Plates was a Large
+Chip as for Dishes we had none.&rdquo; Nor was he squeamish about what he ate.
+In the voyage to Barbadoes he several times ate dolphin; he notes that the
+bread was almost &ldquo;eaten up by Weavel &amp; Maggots,&rdquo; and became
+quite enthusiastic over some &ldquo;very fine Bristol tripe&rdquo; and &ldquo;a
+fine Irish Ling &amp; Potatoes.&rdquo; But all this may have been due to the
+proverbial sea appetite.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Samuel Stearns states that Washington &ldquo;breakfasts about seven
+o&rsquo;clock on three small Indian hoe-cakes, and as many dishes of
+tea,&rdquo; and Custis relates that &ldquo;Indian cakes, honey, and tea formed
+this temperate repast.&rdquo; These two writers tell us that at dinner
+&ldquo;he ate heartily, but was not particular in his diet, with the exception
+of fish, of which he was excessively fond. He partook sparingly of dessert,
+drank a home-made beverage, and from four to five glasses of Madeira
+wine&rdquo; (Custis), and that &ldquo;he dines, commonly on a single dish, and
+drinks from half a pint to a pint of Madeira wine. This, with one small glass
+of punch, a draught of beer, and two dishes of tea (which he takes half an hour
+before sun-setting) constitutes his whole sustenance till the next day.&rdquo;
+(Stearns.) Ashbel Green relates that at the state banquets during the
+Presidency Washington &ldquo;generally dined on one single dish, and that of a
+very simple kind. If offered something either in the first or second course
+which was very rich, his usual reply was&mdash;&lsquo;That is too good for
+me.&rsquo;&rdquo; It is worth noting that he religiously observed the fasts
+proclaimed in 1774 and 1777, going without food the entire day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A special liking is mentioned above. In 1782 Richard Varick wrote to a friend,
+&ldquo;General Washington dines with me to-morrow; he is exceedingly fond of
+salt fish; I have some coming up, &amp; tho&rsquo; it will be here in a few
+days, it will not be here in time&mdash;If you could conveniently lend me as
+much fish as would serve a pretty large company to-morrow (at least for one
+Dish), it will oblige me, and shall in a very few days be returned in as good
+Dun Fish as ever you see. Excuse this freedom, and it will add to the favor.
+Could you not prevail upon somebody to catch some Trout for me early to-morrow
+morning?&rdquo; When procurable, salt codfish was Washington&rsquo;s regular
+Sunday dinner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A second liking was honey. His ledger several times mentions purchases of this,
+and in 1789 his sister wrote him, &ldquo;when I last had the Pleasure of seeing
+you I observ&rsquo;d your fondness for Honey; I have got a large Pot of very
+fine in the comb, which I shall send by the first opportunity.&rdquo; Among his
+purchases &ldquo;sugar candy&rdquo; is several times mentioned, but this may
+have been for children, and not for himself. He was a frequent buyer of fruit
+of all kinds and of melons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was very fond of nuts, buying hazelnuts and shellbarks by the barrel, and he
+wrote his overseer in 1792 to &ldquo;tell house Frank I expect he will lay up a
+more plenteous store of the black common walnuts than he usually does.&rdquo;
+The Prince de Broglie states that &ldquo;at dessert he eats an enormous
+quantity of nuts, and when the conversation is entertaining he keeps eating
+through a couple of hours, from time to time giving sundry healths, according
+to the English and American custom. It is what they call
+&lsquo;toasting.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington was from boyhood passionately fond of horsemanship, and when but
+seventeen owned a horse. Humphreys states that &ldquo;all those who have seen
+General Washington on horseback, at the head of his army, will doubtless bear
+testimony with the author that they never saw a more graceful or dignified
+person,&rdquo; and Jefferson said of him that he was &ldquo;the best horseman
+of his age, and the most graceful figure that could be seen on
+horseback.&rdquo; His diary shows that he rode on various occasions as much as
+sixty miles in a day, and Lawrence reports that he &ldquo;usually rode from
+Rockingham to Princeton, which is five miles, in forty minutes.&rdquo; John
+Hunter, in a visit to Mount Vernon in 1785, writes that he went
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;to see his famous race-horse Magnolia&mdash;a most beautiful creature. A
+whole length of his was taken a while ago, (mounted on Magnolia) by a famous
+man from Europe on copper…. I afterwards went to his stables, where among an
+amazing number of horses, I saw old Nelson, now 22 years of age, that carried
+the General almost always during the war; Blueskin, another fine old horse next
+to him, now and then had that honor. Shaw also shewed me his old servant, that
+was reported to have been taken, with a number of the General&rsquo;s papers
+about him. They have heard the roaring of many a cannon in their time. Blueskin
+was not the favorite, on account of his not standing fire so well as venerable
+old Nelson.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Chastellux relates, &ldquo;he was so attentive as to give me the horse he rode,
+the day of my arrival, which I had greatly commended&mdash;I found him as good
+as he is handsome; but above all, perfectly well broke, and well trained,
+having a good mouth, easy in hand and stopping short in a gallop without
+bearing the bit&mdash;I mention these minute particulars, because it is the
+general himself who breaks all his own horses; and he is a very excellent and
+bold horseman, leaping the highest fences, and going extremely quick, without
+standing upon his stirrups, bearing on the bridle, or letting his horse run
+wild.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a matter of course this liking for horses made Washington fond of racing,
+and he not only subscribed liberally to most of the racing purses, but ran
+horses at them, attending in person, and betting moderately on the results. So,
+too, he was fond of riding to the hounds, and when at Mount Vernon it was a
+favorite pastime. From his diary excerpts of runs are,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Went a Fox hunting with the Gentlemen who came here yesterday…. after a
+very early breakfast&mdash;found a Fox just back of Muddy hole Plantation and
+after a Chase of an hour and a quarter with my Dogs, &amp; eight couple of
+Doctor Smiths (brought by Mr. Phil Alexander) we put him into a hollow tree, in
+which we fastened him, and in the Pincushion put up another Fox which, in an
+hour &amp; 13 Minutes was killed&mdash;We then after allowing the Fox in the
+hole half an hour put the Dogs upon his trail &amp; in half a Mile he took to
+another hollow tree and was again put out of it but he did not go 600 yards
+before he had recourse to the same shift&mdash;finding therefore that he was a
+conquered Fox we took the Dogs off, and came home to Dinner.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;After an early breakfast [my nephew] George Washington, Mr. Shaw and
+Myself went into the Woods back of Muddy hole Plantation a hunting and were
+joined by Mr. Lund Washington and Mr. William Peake. About half after ten
+Oclock (being first plagued with the Dogs running Hogs) we found a fox near
+Colo Masons Plantation on little Hunting Creek (West fork) having followed on
+his Drag more than half a Mile; and run him with Eight Dogs (the other 4
+getting, as was supposed after a Second Fox) close and well for an hour. When
+the Dogs came to a fault and to cold Hunting until 20 minutes after when being
+joined by the missing Dogs they put him up afresh and in about 50 Minutes
+killed up in an open field of Colo Mason&rsquo;s every Rider &amp; every Dog
+being present at the Death.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Revolution, when opportunity offered, he rode to the hounds, for
+Hiltzheimer wrote in 1781, &ldquo;My son Robert [having] been on a Hunt at
+Frankfort says that His Excel&rsquo;y Gen. Washington was there.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This liking made dogs an interest to him, and he took much pains to improve the
+breed of his hounds. On one occasion he &ldquo;anointed all my Hounds (as well
+old Dogs as Puppies) which have the mange, with Hogs Lard &amp;
+Brimstone.&rdquo; Mopsey, Pilot, Tartar, Jupiter, Trueman, Tipler, Truelove,
+Juno, Dutchess, Ragman, Countess, Lady, Searcher, Rover, Sweetlips, Vulcan,
+Singer, Music, Tiyal, and Forrester are some of the names he gave them. In
+1794, in the fall of his horse, as already mentioned, he wrenched his back, and
+in consequence, when he returned to Mount Vernon, this pastime was never
+resumed, and his pack was given up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Kindred to this taste for riding to the hounds was one for gunning. A few
+entries in his diary tell the nature of his sport. &ldquo;Went a ducking
+between breakfast and dinner and kill&rsquo;d 2 Mallards &amp; 5 bald
+faces.&rdquo; &ldquo;I went to the Creek but not across it. Kill&rsquo;d 2
+ducks, viz. a sprig tail and a Teal.&rdquo; &ldquo;Rid out with my gun but
+kill&rsquo;d nothing.&rdquo; In 1787 a man asked for permission to shoot over
+Mount Vernon, and Washington refused it because
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;my fixed determination is, that no person whatever shall hunt upon my
+grounds or waters&mdash;To grant leave to one and refuse another would not only
+be drawing a line of discrimination which would be offensive, but would subject
+one to great inconvenience&mdash;for my strict and positive orders to all my
+people are if they hear a gun fired upon my Land to go immediately in pursuit
+of it…. Besides, as I have not lost my relish for this sport when I find time
+to indulge myself in it, and Gentlemen who come to the House are pleased with
+it, it is my wish not to have game within my jurisdiction disturbed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fishing was another pastime. He &ldquo;went a dragging for Sturgeon&rdquo;
+frequently, and sometimes &ldquo;catch&rsquo;d one&rdquo; and sometimes
+&ldquo;catch&rsquo;d none.&rdquo; While in Philadelphia in 1787 he went up to
+the old camp at Valley Forge and spent a day fishing, and in 1789 at
+Portsmouth, &ldquo;having lines, we proceeded to the Fishing Banks a little
+without the Harbour and fished for Cod; but it not being a proper time of tide,
+we only caught two.&rdquo; After his serious sickness in 1790 a newspaper
+reports that &ldquo;yesterday afternoon the President of the United States
+returned from Sandy Hook and the fishing banks, where he had been for the
+benefit of the sea air, and to amuse himself in the delightful recreation of
+fishing. We are told he has had excellent sport, having himself caught a great
+number of sea-bass and black fish&mdash;the weather proved remarkably fine,
+which, together with the salubrity of the air and wholesome exercise, rendered
+this little voyage extremely agreeable, and cannot fail, we hope, of being
+serviceable to a speedy and complete restoration of his health.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington was fond of cards, and in bad weather even records &ldquo;at home
+all day, over cards.&rdquo; How much time must have been spent in this way is
+shown by the innumerable purchases of &ldquo;1 dozen packs playing cards&rdquo;
+noted in his ledger. In 1748, when he was sixteen years old, he won two
+shillings and threepence from his sister-in-law at whist and five shillings at
+&ldquo;Loo&rdquo; (or, as he sometimes spells it, &ldquo;Lue&rdquo;) from his
+brother, and he seems always to have played for small stakes, which sometimes
+mounted into fairly sizable sums. The largest gain found is three pounds, and
+the largest loss nine pounds fourteen shillings and ninepence. He seems to have
+lost oftener than he won.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Billiards was a rival of cards, and a game of which he seems to have been fond.
+In his seventeenth year he won one shilling and threepence by the cue, and from
+that time won and lost more or less money in this way. Here, too, he seems to
+have been out of pocket, though not for so much money, his largest winning
+noted being only seven shillings and sixpence, and his largest loss being one
+pound and ten shillings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1751, at Barbadoes, Washington &ldquo;was treated with a play ticket to see
+the Tragedy of George Barnwell acted: the character of Barnwell and several
+others was said to be well perform&rsquo;d there was Musick a Dapted and
+regularly conducted.&rdquo; This presumptively was the lad&rsquo;s first visit
+to the playhouse, but from that time it was one of his favorite amusements. At
+first his ledger shows expenditures of &ldquo;Cash at the Play House
+1/3,&rdquo; which proves that his purse would bear the cost of only the
+cheapest seats; but later he became more extravagant in this respect, and
+during the Presidency he used the drama for entertaining, his ledger giving
+many items of tickets bought. A type entry in Washington&rsquo;s diary is,
+&ldquo;Went to the play in the evening&mdash;sent tickets to the following
+ladies and gentlemen and invited them to seats in my box, viz:&mdash;Mrs. Adams
+(lady of the Vice-President,) General Schuyler and lady, Mr. King and lady,
+Majr. Butler and lady, Colo Hamilton and lady, Mrs. Green&mdash;all of whom
+accepted and came except Mrs. Butler, who was indisposed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maclay describes the first of these theatre parties as follows: &ldquo;I
+received a ticket from the President of the United States to use his box this
+evening at the theatre, being the first of his appearances at the playhouse
+since his entering on his office. Went The President, Governor of the State,
+foreign Ministers, Senators from New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania,
+M.[aryland] and South Carolina; and some ladies in the same box. I am old, and
+notices or attentions are lost on me. I could have wished some of my dear
+children in my place; they are young and would have enjoyed it. Long might they
+live to boast of having been seated in the same box with the first Character in
+the world. The play was the &lsquo;School for Scandal,&rsquo; I never liked it;
+indeed, I think it an indecent representation before ladies of character and
+virtue. Farce, the &lsquo;Old Soldier.&rsquo; The house greatly crowded, and I
+thought the players acted well; but I wish we had seen the <i>Conscious
+Lovers</i>, or some one that inculcated more prudential manners.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of the play, or rather interlude, of the &ldquo;Old Soldier&rdquo; its author,
+Dunlap, gives an amusing story. It turned on the home-coming of an old soldier,
+and, like the topical song of to-day, touched on local affairs:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;When Wignell, as Darby, recounts what had befallen him in America, in
+New York, at the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and the inauguration of
+the president, the interest expressed by the audience in the looks and the
+changes of countenance of this great man [Washington] became intense. He smiled
+at these lines, alluding to the change in the government&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+There too I saw some mighty pretty shows;<br/>
+A revolution, without blood or blows,<br/>
+For, as I understood, the cunning elves,<br/>
+The people all revolted from themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+But at the lines&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+A man who fought to free the land from we,<br/>
+<i>Like me</i>, had left his farm, a-soldiering to go:<br/>
+But having gain&rsquo;d his point, he had <i>like me</i>,<br/>
+Return&rsquo;d his own potato ground to see.<br/>
+But there he could not rest. With one accord<br/>
+He&rsquo;s called to be a kind of&mdash;not a lord&mdash;<br/>
+I don&rsquo;t know what, he&rsquo;s not a <i>great man</i>, sure,<br/>
+For poor men love him just as he were poor.<br/>
+They love him like a father or a brother,<br/>
+          DERMOT.<br/>
+As we poor Irishmen love one another.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+The president looked serious; and when Kathleen asked,
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+How looked he, Darby? Was he short or tall?
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+his countenance showed embarrassment, from the expectation or one of those
+eulogiums which, he had been obliged to hear on many public occasions, and
+which must doubtless have been a severe trial to his feelings: but
+Darby&rsquo;s answer that he had <i>not seen him</i>, because he had mistaken a
+man &lsquo;all lace and glitter, botherum and shine,&rsquo; for him, until all
+the show had passed, relieved the hero from apprehension of farther
+personality, and he indulged in that which was with him extremely rare, a
+hearty laugh.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington did not even despise amateur performances. As already mentioned, he
+expressed a wish to take part in &ldquo;Cato&rdquo; himself in 1758, and a year
+before he had subscribed to the regimental &ldquo;players at Fort
+Cumberland,&rdquo; His diary shows that in 1768 the couple at Mount Vernon
+&ldquo;&amp; ye two children were up to Alexandria to see the Inconstant or
+&lsquo;the way to win him&rsquo; acted,&rdquo; which was probably an amateur
+performance. Furthermore, Duer tells us that &ldquo;I was not only frequently
+admitted to the presence of this most august of men, in <i>propria persona</i>,
+but once had the honor of appearing before him as one of the <i>dramatis
+personae</i> in the tragedy of Julius Caesar, enacted by a young
+&lsquo;American Company,&rsquo; (the theatrical corps then performing in New
+York being called the &lsquo;Old American Company&rsquo;) in the garret of the
+Presidential mansion, wherein before the magnates of the land and the elite of
+the city, I performed the part of Brutus to the Cassius of my old
+school-fellow, Washington Custis.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The theatre was by no means the only show that appealed to Washington. He went
+to the circus when opportunity offered, gave nine shillings to a &ldquo;man who
+brought an elk as a show,&rdquo; three shillings and ninepence &ldquo;to hear
+the Armonica,&rdquo; two dollars for tickets &ldquo;to see the
+automatum,&rdquo; treated the &ldquo;Ladies to ye Microcosm&rdquo; and paid to
+see waxworks, puppet shows, a dancing bear, and a lioness and tiger. Nor did he
+avoid a favorite Virginia pastime, but attended cockfights when able. His
+frequent going to concerts has been already mentioned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington seems to have been little of a reader except of books on
+agriculture, which he bought, read, and even made careful abstracts of many,
+and on this subject alone did he ever seem to write from pleasure. As a lad, he
+notes in his journal that he is reading <i>The Spectator</i> and a history of
+England, but after those two brief entries there is no further mention of books
+or reading in his daily memorandum of &ldquo;where and how my time is
+spent.&rdquo; In his ledger, too, almost the least common expenditure entered
+is one for books. Nor do his London invoices, so far as extant, order any books
+but those which treated of farming and horses. In the settlement of the Custis
+estate, &ldquo;I had no particular reason for keeping and handing down to his
+son, the books of the late Colo Custis saving that I thought it would be taking
+the advantage of a low appraisement, to make them my own property at it, and
+that to sell them was not an object.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the broadening that resulted from the command of the army more attention
+was paid to books, and immediately upon the close of the Revolution Washington
+ordered the following works: &ldquo;Life of Charles the Twelfth,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Life of Louis the Fifteenth,&rdquo; &ldquo;Life and Reign of Peter the
+Great,&rdquo; Robertson&rsquo;s &ldquo;History of America,&rdquo;
+Voltaire&rsquo;s &ldquo;Letters,&rdquo; Vertot&rsquo;s &ldquo;Revolution of
+Rome&rdquo; and &ldquo;Revolution of Portugal,&rdquo; &ldquo;Life of Gustavus
+Adolphus,&rdquo; Sully&rsquo;s &ldquo;Memoirs,&rdquo; Goldsmith&rsquo;s
+&ldquo;Natural History,&rdquo; &ldquo;Campaigns of Marshal Turenne,&rdquo;
+Chambaud&rsquo;s &ldquo;French and English Dictionary,&rdquo; Locke &ldquo;on
+the Human Understanding,&rdquo; and Robertson&rsquo;s &ldquo;Charles the
+Fifth.&rdquo; From this time on he was a fairly constant book-buyer, and
+subscribed as a &ldquo;patron&rdquo; to a good many forthcoming works, while
+many were sent him as gifts. On politics he seems to have now read with
+interest; yet in 1797, after his retirement from the Presidency, in writing of
+the manner in which he spent his hours, he said, &ldquo;it may strike you that
+in this detail no mention is made of any portion of time allotted to reading.
+The remark would be just, for I have not looked into a book since I came home,
+nor shall I be able to do it until I have discharged my workmen; probably not
+before the nights grow long when possibly I may be looking into Doomsday
+book.&rdquo; There can be no doubt that through all his life Washington gave to
+reading only the time he could not use on more practical affairs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His library was a curious medley of books, if those on military science and
+agriculture are omitted. There is a fair amount of the standard history of the
+day, a little theology, so ill assorted as to suggest gifts rather than
+purchases, a miscellany of contemporary politics, and a very little
+belles-lettres. In political science the only works in the slightest degree
+noticeable are Smith&rsquo;s &ldquo;Wealth of Nations,&rdquo; &ldquo;The
+Federalist,&rdquo; and Rousseau&rsquo;s &ldquo;Social Compact,&rdquo; and, as
+the latter was in French, it could not have been read. In lighter literature
+Homer, Shakespeare, and Burns, Lord Chesterfield, Swift, Smollett, Fielding,
+and Sterne, and &ldquo;Don Quixote,&rdquo; are the only ones deserving notice.
+It is worthy of mention that Washington&rsquo;s favorite quotation was
+Addison&rsquo;s &ldquo;&rsquo;Tis not in mortals to command success,&rdquo; but
+he also utilized with considerable aptitude quotations from Shakespeare and
+Sterne. There were half a dozen of the ephemeral novels of the day, but these
+were probably Mrs. Washington&rsquo;s, as her name is written in one, and her
+husband&rsquo;s in none. Writing to his grandson, Washington warned him that
+&ldquo;light reading (by this, I mean books of little importance) may amuse for
+the moment, but leaves nothing solid behind.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus16"></a>
+<img src="images/img16.jpg" width="367" height="500" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">WASHINGTON&rsquo;S BOOK-PLATE</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+One element of Washington&rsquo;s reading which cannot be passed over without
+notice is that of newspapers. In his early life he presumably read the only
+local paper of the time (the <i>Virginia Gazette</i>), for when an anonymous
+writer, &ldquo;Centinel,&rdquo; in 1756, charged that Washington&rsquo;s
+regiment was given over to drunkenness and other misbehavior, he drew up a
+reply, which he sent with ten shillings to the newspaper, but the printer
+apparently declined to print it, for it never appeared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the Revolution he complained to his Philadelphia agent, &ldquo;I have
+such a number of Gazettes, crowded upon me (many without orders) that they are
+not only expensive, but really useless; as my other avocations will not afford
+me time to read them oftentimes, and when I do attempt it, find them more
+troublesome, than profitable; I have therefore to beg, if you Should get Money
+into your hands on Acct of the Inclosed Certificate, that you would be so good
+as to pay what I am owing to Messrs Dunlap &amp; Claypoole, Mr. Oswald &amp;
+Mr. Humphrey&rsquo;s. If they consider me however as engaged for the year, I am
+Content to let the matter run on to the Expiration of it&rdquo; During the
+Presidency he subscribed to the <i>Gazette of the United States</i>,
+Brown&rsquo;s <i>Gazette</i>, Dunlap&rsquo;s <i>American Advertiser</i>, the
+<i>Pennsylvania Gazette</i>, Bache&rsquo;s <i>Aurora</i>, and the <i>New York
+Magazine</i>, Carey&rsquo;s <i>Museum</i>, and the <i>Universal Asylum</i>,
+though at this time he &ldquo;lamented that the editors of the different
+gazettes in the Union do not more generally and more correctly (instead of
+stuffing their papers with scurrility and nonsensical declamation, which few
+would read if they were apprised of the contents,) publish the debates in
+Congress on all great national questions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently, for personal and party reasons, certain of the papers began to
+attack him, and Jefferson wrote to Madison that the President was
+&ldquo;extremely affected by the attacks made and kept up on him in the public
+papers. I think he feels these things more than any person I ever met
+with.&rdquo; Later the Secretary of State noted that at an interview Washington
+&ldquo;adverted to a piece in Freneau&rsquo;s paper of yesterday, he said that
+he despised all their attacks on him personally, but that there never had been
+an act of government … that paper had not abused … He was evidently sore and
+warm.&rdquo; At a cabinet meeting, too, according to the same writer,
+&ldquo;the Presidt was much inflamed, got into one of those passions when he
+cannot command himself, ran on much on the personal abuse which had been
+bestowed on him, defied any man on earth to produce a single act of his since
+he had been in the govmt which was not done on the purest motives, that he had
+never repented but once the having slipped the moment of resigning his office,
+&amp; that was every moment since, that <i>by god</i> he had rather be in his
+grave than in his present situation. That he had rather be on his farm than to
+be made <i>emperor of the world</i> and yet that they were charging him with
+wanting to be a king. That that <i>rascal Freneau</i> sent him 3 of his papers
+every day, as if he thought he would become the distributor of his papers, that
+he could see in this nothing but an impudent design to insult him. He ended in
+this high tone. There was a pause.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To correspondents, too, Washington showed how keenly he felt the attacks upon
+him, writing that &ldquo;the publications in Freneau&rsquo;s and Bache&rsquo;s
+papers are outrages on common decency; and they progress in that style in
+proportion as their pieces are treated with contempt, and are passed by in
+silence, by those at whom they are aimed,&rdquo; and asked &ldquo;in what will
+this abuse terminate? The result, as it respects myself, I care not; for I have
+consolation within, that no earthly efforts can deprive me of, and that is,
+that neither ambitious nor interested motives have influenced my conduct. The
+arrows of malevolence, therefore however barbed and well pointed, never can
+reach the most vulnerable part of me; though, whilst I am <i>up</i> as a
+<i>mark</i>, they will be continually aimed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On another occasion he said, &ldquo;I am beginning to receive, what I had made
+my mind up for on this occasion, the abuse of Mr. Bache, and his
+correspondents.&rdquo; He wrote a friend, &ldquo;if you read the Aurora of this
+city, or those gazettes, which are under the same influence, you cannot but
+have perceived with what malignant industry and persevering falsehoods I am
+assailed, in order to weaken if not destroy the confidence of the
+public.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he retired from office he apparently cut off his subscriptions to papers,
+for a few months later he inquired, &ldquo;what is the character of
+Porcupine&rsquo;s Gazette? I had thought when I left Philadelphia, of ordering
+it to be sent to me; then again, I thought it best not to do it; and
+altho&rsquo; I should like to see both his and Bache&rsquo;s, the latter may,
+under all circumstances, be the best decision; I mean not subscribing to either
+of them.&rdquo; This decision to have no more to do with papers did not last,
+for on the night he was seized with his last illness Lear describes how
+&ldquo;in the evening the papers having come from the post office, he sat in
+the room with Mrs. Washington and myself, reading them, till about nine
+o&rsquo;clock when Mrs. Washington went up into Mrs. Lewis&rsquo;s room, who
+was confined, and left the General and myself reading the papers. He was very
+cheerful; and, when he met with anything which he thought diverting or
+interesting, he would read it aloud as well as his hoarseness would permit. He
+desired me to read to him the debates of the Virginia Assembly, on the election
+of a Senator and Governor; which I did&mdash;and, on hearing Mr.
+Madison&rsquo;s observations respecting Mr. Monroe, he appeared much affected,
+and spoke with some degree of asperity on the subject, which I endeavored to
+moderate, as I always did on such occasions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap09"></a>IX<br/>
+FRIENDS</h2>
+
+<p>
+The frequently repeated statement that Washington was a man without friends is
+not the least curious of the myths that have obtained general credence. That it
+should be asserted only goes to show how absolutely his private life has been
+neglected in the study of his public career.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In his will Washington left tokens of remembrance &ldquo;to the acquaintances
+and friends of my juvenile years, Lawrence Washington and Robert Washington of
+Chotanck,&rdquo; the latter presumably the &ldquo;dear Robin&rdquo; of his
+earliest letter, and these two very distant kinsmen, whom he had come to know
+while staying at Wakefield, are the earliest friends of whom any record exists.
+Contemporary with them was a &ldquo;Dear Richard,&rdquo; whose letters gave
+Washington &ldquo;unspeakable pleasure, as I am convinced I am still in the
+memory of so worthy a friend,&mdash;a friendship I shall ever be proud of
+increasing.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next in time came his intimacy with the Fairfaxes and Carlyles, which began
+with Washington&rsquo;s visits to his brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon. About
+four miles from that place, at Belvoir, lived the Fairfaxes; and their
+kinspeople, the Carlyles, lived at Alexandria. Lawrence Washington had married
+Ann Fairfax, and through his influence his brother George was taken into the
+employment of Lord Fairfax, half as clerk and half as surveyor of his great
+tract of land, &ldquo;the northern neck,&rdquo; which he had obtained by
+marriage with a daughter of Lord Culpeper, who in turn had obtained it from the
+&ldquo;Merrie Monarch&rdquo; by means so disreputable that they are best left
+unstated. From that time till his death Washington corresponded with several of
+the family and was a constant visitor at Belvoir, as the Fairfaxes were at
+Mount Vernon.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus17"></a>
+<img src="images/img17.jpg" width="458" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">SURVEY OF WASHINGTON&rsquo;S BIRTHPLACE (WAKEFIELD), 1743</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In 1755 Washington told his brother that &ldquo;to that family I am under many
+obligations, particularly the old gentleman,&rdquo; but as time went on he more
+than paid the debt. In 1757 he acted as pallbearer to William Fairfax, and
+twelve years later his diary records, &ldquo;Set off with Mrs. Washington and
+Patsey,… in order to stand for Mr. B. Fairfax&rsquo;s third son, which I did
+together with my wife, Mr. Warner Washington and his lady.&rdquo; For one of
+the family he obtained an army commission, and for another he undertook the
+care of his property during a visit to England; a care which unexpectedly
+lengthened, and was resigned only when Washington&rsquo;s time became public
+property. Nor did that lessen his services or the Fairfaxes&rsquo; need of
+them, for in the Revolution that family were loyalists. Despite this,
+&ldquo;the friendship,&rdquo; Washington assured them, &ldquo;which I ever
+professed and felt for you, met no diminution from the difference in our
+political sentiments,&rdquo; and in 1778 he was able to secure the safety of
+Lord Fairfax from persecution at the hands of the Whigs, a service acknowledged
+by his lordship in the following words:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There are times when favors conferred make a greater impression than at
+others, for, though I have received many, I hope I have not been unmindful of
+them; yet that, at a time your popularity was at the highest and mine at the
+lowest, and when it is so common for men&rsquo;s resentments to run up high
+against those, who differ from them in opinion, you should act with your wonted
+kindness towards me, has affected me more than any favor I have received; and
+could not be believed by some in New York, it being above the run of common
+minds.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In behalf of another member of the family, threatened with confiscation, he
+wrote to a member of the House of Delegates, &ldquo;I hope, I trust, that no
+act of Legislation in the State of Virginia has affected, or can affect, the
+properly of this gentleman, otherwise than in common with that of every good
+and well disposed citizen of America,&rdquo; and this was sufficient to put an
+end to the project At the close of the war he wrote to this absentee,
+&ldquo;There was nothing wanting in [your] Letter to give compleat satisfaction
+to Mrs. Washington and myself but some expression to induce us to believe you
+would once more become our neighbors. Your house at Belvoir I am sorry to add
+is no more, but mine (which is enlarged since you saw it), is most sincerely
+and heartily at your service till you could rebuild it. As the path, after
+being closed by a long, arduous, and painful contest, is to use an Indian
+metaphor, now opened and made smooth, I shall please myself with the hope of
+hearing from you frequently; and till you forbid me to indulge the wish, I
+shall not despair of seeing you and Mrs. Fairfax once more the inhabitants of
+Belvoir, and greeting you both there the intimate companions of our old age, as
+you have been of our younger years.&rdquo; And to another he left a token of
+remembrance in his will.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the most curious circle of friends was that composed of Indians. After
+his mission among them in 1753, Washington wrote to a tribe and signed himself
+&ldquo;your friend and brother.&rdquo; In a less general sense he requested an
+Indian agent to &ldquo;recommend me kindly to Mononcatoocha and others; tell
+them how happy it would make Conotocarius to have an opportunity of taking them
+by the hand.&rdquo; A little later he had this pleasure, and he wrote the
+governor, &ldquo;the Indians are all around teasing and perplexing me for one
+thing or another, so that I scarce know what I write.&rdquo; When Washington
+left the frontier this intercourse ceased, but he was not forgotten, for in
+descending the Ohio in his Western trip of 1770 a hunting party was met, and
+&ldquo;in the person of Kiashuto I found an old acquaintance, he being one of
+the Indians that went [with me] to the French in 1753. He expressed
+satisfaction at seeing me, and treated us with great kindness, giving us a
+quarter of very fine buffalo. He insisted upon our spending that night with
+him, and, in order to retard us as little as possible moved his camp down the
+river.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With his appointment to the Virginia regiment came military friends. From the
+earliest of these&mdash;Van Braam, who had served under Lawrence Washington in
+the Carthagena expedition of 1742, and who had come to live at Mount
+Vernon&mdash;Washington had previously taken lessons in fencing, and when
+appointed the bearer of a letter to the French commander on the Ohio he took
+Van Braam with him as interpreter. A little later, on receiving his majority,
+Washington appointed Van Braam his recruiting lieutenant, and recommended him
+to the governor for a captain&rsquo;s commission on the grounds that he was
+&ldquo;an experienced good officer.&rdquo; To Van Braam fell the duty of
+translating the capitulation to the French at Fort Necessity, and to his
+reading was laid the blunder by which Washington signed a statement
+acknowledging himself as an &ldquo;assassin.&rdquo; Inconsequence he became the
+scapegoat of the expedition, was charged by the governor with being a
+&ldquo;poltroon&rdquo; and traitor, and was omitted from the Assembly&rsquo;s
+vote of thanks and extra pay to the regiment. But Washington stood by him, and
+when himself burgess succeeded in getting this latter vote rescinded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another friend of the same period was the Chevalier Peyroney, whom Washington
+first made an ensign, and then urged the governor to advance him, promising
+that if the governor &ldquo;should be pleased to indulge me in this request, I
+shall look upon it in a very particular light.&rdquo; Peyroney was badly
+wounded at Fort Necessity and was furloughed, during which he wrote his
+commander, &ldquo;I have made my particular Business to tray if any had some
+Bad intention against you here Below; But thank God I meet allowais with a good
+wish for you from evry Mouth each one entertining such Caracter of you as I
+have the honour to do myself.&rdquo; He served again in the Braddock march, and
+in that fiasco, Washington wrote, &ldquo;Captain Peyroney and all his officers
+down to a corporal, was killed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With Captain Stewart&mdash;&ldquo;a gentleman whose assiduity and military
+capacity are second to none in our Service&rdquo;&mdash;Washington was intimate
+enough to have Stewart apply in 1763 for four hundred pounds to aid him to
+purchase a commission, a sum Washington did not have at his disposal. But
+because of &ldquo;a regard of that high nature that I could never see you
+uneasy without feeling a part and wishing to remove the cause,&rdquo;
+Washington lent him three hundred pounds towards it, apparently without much
+return, for some years later he wrote to a friend that he was &ldquo;very glad
+to learn that my friend Stewart was well when you left London. I have not had a
+letter from him these five years.&rdquo; At the close of the Revolution he
+received a letter from Stewart containing &ldquo;affectionate and flattering
+expressions,&rdquo; which gave Washington &ldquo;much pleasure,&rdquo; as it
+&ldquo;removed an apprehension I had long labored under, of your having taken
+your departure for the land of Spirits. How else could I account for a silence
+of 15 years. I shall always be happy to see you at Mt. Vernon.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His friend William Ramsay&mdash;&ldquo;well known, well-esteemed, and of
+unblemished character&rdquo;&mdash;he appointed commissary, and long after, in
+1769, wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Having once or twice of late heard you speak highly in praise of the
+Jersey College, as if you had a desire of sending your son William there … I
+should be glad, if you have no other objection to it than what may arise from
+the expense, if you would send him there as soon as it is convenient, and
+depend on me for twenty-five pounds this currency a year for his support, so
+long as it may be necessary for the completion of his education. If I live to
+see the accomplishment of this term, the sum here stipulated shall he annually
+paid; and if I die in the mean while, this letter shall be obligatory upon my
+heirs, or executors, to do it according to the true intent and meaning hereof.
+No other return is expected, or wished, for this offer, than that you will
+accept it with the same freedom and good will, with which it is made, and that
+you may not even consider it in the light of an obligation or mention it as
+such; for, be assured, that from me it will never be known.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The dearest friendship formed in these years was with the doctor of the
+regiment, James Craik, who in the course of his duties attended Washington in
+two serious illnesses, and when the war was ended settled near Mount Vernon. He
+was frequently a visitor there, and soon became the family medical attendant.
+When appointed General, Washington wrote, &ldquo;tell Doctor Craik that I
+should be very glad to see him here if there was anything worth his acceptance;
+but the Massachusetts people suffer nothing to go by them that they lay hands
+upon.&rdquo; In 1777 the General secured his appointment as deputy
+surgeon-general of the Middle Department, and three years later, when the
+hospital service was being reformed, he used his influence to have him
+retained. Craik was one of those instrumental in warning the commander-in-chief
+of the existence of the Conway Cabal, because &ldquo;my attachment to your
+person is such, my friendship is so sincere, that every hint which has a
+tendency to hurt your honor, wounds me most sensibly.&rdquo; The doctor was
+Washington&rsquo;s companion, by invitation, in both his later trips to the
+Ohio, and his trust in him was so strong that he put under his care the two
+nephews whose charge he had assumed. In Washington&rsquo;s ledger an entry
+tells of another piece of friendliness, to the effect, &ldquo;Dr. James Craik,
+paid him, being a donation to his son, Geo. Washington Craik for his education
+£30,&rdquo; and after graduating the young man for a time served as one of his
+private secretaries. After a serious illness in 1789, Washington wrote to the
+doctor, &ldquo;persuaded as I am, that the case has been treated with skill,
+and with as much tenderness as the nature of the complaint would admit, yet I
+confess I often wished for your inspection of it,&rdquo; and later he wrote,
+&ldquo;if I should ever have occasion for a Physician or Surgeon, I should
+prefer my old Surgeon, Dr. Craik, who, from 40 years&rsquo; experience, is
+better qualified than a Dozen of them put together.&rdquo; Craik was the first
+of the doctors to reach Washington&rsquo;s bedside in his last illness, and
+when the dying man predicted his own death, &ldquo;the Doctor pressed his hand
+but could not utter a word. He retired from the bedside and sat by the fire
+absorbed in grief.&rdquo; In Washington&rsquo;s will he left &ldquo;to my
+compatriot in arms and old and intimate friend, Doctor Craik I give my Bureau
+(or as the Cabinet makers called it, Tambour Secretary) and the circular chair,
+an appendage of my study.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The arrival of Braddock and his army at Alexandria brought a new circle of
+military friends. Washington &ldquo;was very particularly noticed by that
+General, was taken into his family as an extra aid, offered a Captain&rsquo;s
+commission by <i>brevet</i> (which was the highest grade he had it in his power
+to bestow) and had the compliment of several blank Ensigncies given him to
+dispose of to the Young Gentlemen of his acquaintance.&rdquo; In this position
+he was treated &ldquo;with much complaisance … especially from the
+General,&rdquo; which meant much, as Braddock seems to have had nothing but
+curses for nearly every one else, and the more as Washington and he &ldquo;had
+frequent disputes,&rdquo; which were &ldquo;maintained with warmth on both
+sides, especially on his.&rdquo; But the general, &ldquo;though his enmities
+were strong,&rdquo; in &ldquo;his attachments&rdquo; was &ldquo;warm,&rdquo;
+and grew to like and trust the young volunteer, and had he &ldquo;survived his
+unfortunate defeat, I should have met with preferment,&rdquo; having &ldquo;his
+promise to that effect.&rdquo; Washington was by the general when he was
+wounded in the lungs, lifted him into a covered cart, and &ldquo;brought him
+over the <i>first</i> ford of the Monongahela,&rdquo; into temporary safety.
+Three days later Braddock died of his wounds, bequeathing to Washington his
+favorite horse and his body-servant as tokens of his gratitude. Over him
+Washington read the funeral service, and it was left to him to see that
+&ldquo;the poor general&rdquo; was interred &ldquo;with the honors of
+war.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even before public service had made him known, Washington was a friend and
+guest of many of the leading Virginians. Between 1747 and 1754 he visited the
+Carters of Shirley, Nomony, and Sabine Hall, the Lewises of Warner Hall, the
+Lees of Stratford, and the Byrds of Westover, and there was acquaintance at
+least with the Spotswoods, Fauntleroys, Corbins, Randolphs, Harrisons,
+Robinsons, Nicholases, and other prominent families. In fact, one friend wrote
+him, &ldquo;your health and good fortune are the toast of every table,&rdquo;
+and another that &ldquo;the Council and Burgesses are mostly your
+friends,&rdquo; and those two bodies included every Virginian of real
+influence. It was Richard Corbin who enclosed him his first commission, in a
+brief note, beginning &ldquo;Dear George&rdquo; and ending &ldquo;your
+friend,&rdquo; but in time relations became more or less strained, and
+Washington suspected him &ldquo;of representing my character … with
+ungentlemanly freedom.&rdquo; With John Robinson, &ldquo;Speaker&rdquo; and
+Treasurer of Virginia, who wrote Washington in 1756, &ldquo;our hopes, dear
+George, are all fixed on you,&rdquo; a close correspondence was maintained, and
+when Washington complained of the governor&rsquo;s course towards him Robinson
+replied, &ldquo;I beg dear friend, that you will bear, so far as a man of honor
+ought, the discouragements and slights you have too often met with.&rdquo; The
+son, Beverly Robinson, was a fellow-soldier, and, as already mentioned, was
+Washington&rsquo;s host on his visit to New York in 1756. The Revolution
+interrupted the friendship, but it is alleged that Robinson (who was deep in
+the Arnold plot) made an appeal to the old-time relation in an endeavor to save
+André. The appeal was in vain, but auld lang syne had its influence, for the
+sons of Beverly, British officers taken prisoners in 1779, were promptly
+exchanged, so one of them asserted, &ldquo;in consequence of the embers of
+friendship that still remained unextinguished in the breasts of my father and
+General Washington.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Outside of his own colony, too, Washington made friends of many prominent
+families, with whom there was more or less interchange of hospitality. Before
+the Revolution there had been visiting or breaking of bread with the Galloways,
+Dulaneys, Carrolls, Calverts, Jenifers, Edens, Ringgolds, and Tilghmans of
+Maryland, the Penns, Cadwaladers, Morrises, Shippens, Aliens, Dickinsons,
+Chews, and Willings of Pennsylvania, and the De Lanceys and Bayards of New
+York.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Election to the Continental Congress strengthened some friendships and added
+new ones. With Benjamin Harrison he was already on terms of intimacy, and as
+long as the latter was in Congress he was the member most in the confidence of
+the General. Later they differed in politics, but Washington assured Harrison
+that &ldquo;my friendship is not in the least lessened by the difference, which
+has taken place in our political sentiments, nor is my regard for you
+diminished by the part you have acted.&rdquo; Joseph Jones and Patrick Henry
+both took his part against the Cabal, and the latter did him especial service
+in forwarding to him the famous anonymous letter, an act for which Washington
+felt &ldquo;most grateful obligations.&rdquo; Henry and Washington differed
+later in politics, and it was reported that the latter spoke disparagingly of
+the former, but this Washington denied, and not long after offered Henry the
+Secretaryship of State. Still later he made a personal appeal to him to come
+forward and combat the Virginia resolutions of 1798, an appeal to which Henry
+responded. The intimacy with Robert Morris was close, and, as already noted,
+Washington and his family were several times inmates of his home. Gouverneur
+Morris was one of his most trusted advisers, and, it is claimed, gave the
+casting vote which saved Washington from being arrested in 1778, when the Cabal
+was fiercest. While President, Washington sent him on a most important mission
+to Great Britain, and on its completion made him Minister to France. From that
+post the President was, at the request of France, compelled to recall him; but
+in doing so Washington wrote him a private letter assuring Morris that he
+&ldquo;held the same place in my estimation&rdquo; as ever, and signed himself
+&ldquo;yours affectionately.&rdquo; Charles Carroll of Carrollton was a
+partisan of the General, and very much disgusted a member of the Cabal by
+telling him &ldquo;almost literally that anybody who displeased or did not
+admire the Commander-in-chief, ought not to be kept in the army.&rdquo; And to
+Edward Rutledge Washington wrote, &ldquo;I can but love and thank you, and I do
+it sincerely for your polite and friendly letter…. The sentiments contained in
+it are such as have uniformly flowed from your pen, and they are not the less
+flattering than pleasing to me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The command of the Continental army brought a new kind of friend, in the young
+aides of his staff. One of his earliest appointments was Joseph Reed, and,
+though he remained but five months in the service, a close friendship was
+formed. Almost weekly Washington wrote him in the most confidential and
+affectionate manner, and twice he appealed to Reed to take the position once
+more, in one instance adding that if &ldquo;you are disposed to continue with
+me, I shall think myself too fortunate and happy to wish for a change.&rdquo;
+Yet Washington none the less sent Reed congratulations on his election to the
+Pennsylvania Assembly, &ldquo;although I consider it the coup-de-grace to my
+ever seeing you&rdquo; again a &ldquo;member of my family,&rdquo; to help him
+he asked a friend to endeavor to get Reed legal business, and when all law
+business ceased and the would-be lawyer was without occupation or means of
+support, he used his influence to secure him the appointment of adjutant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reed kept him informed as to the news of Philadelphia, and wrote even such
+adverse criticism of the General as he heard, which Washington
+&ldquo;gratefully&rdquo; acknowledged. But one criticism Reed did not write was
+what he himself was saying of his general after the fall of Fort Washington,
+for which he blamed the commander-in-chief in a letter to Lee, and probably to
+others, for when later Reed and Arnold quarrelled, the latter boasted that
+&ldquo;I can say I never basked in the sunshine of my general&rsquo;s favor,
+and courted him to his face, when I was at the same time treating him with the
+greatest disrespect and villifying his character when absent. This is more than
+a ruling member of the Council of Pennsylvania can say.&rdquo; Washington
+learned of this criticism in a letter from Lee to Reed, which was opened at
+head-quarters on the supposition that it was on army matters, and &ldquo;with
+no idea of its being a private letter, much less the tendency of the
+correspondence,&rdquo; as Washington explained in a letter to Reed, which had
+not a word of reproach for the double-dealing that must have cut the General
+keenly, coming as it did at a moment of misfortune and discouragement. Reed
+wrote a lame explanation and apology, and later sought to &ldquo;regain&rdquo;
+the &ldquo;lost friendship&rdquo; by an earnest appeal to Washington&rsquo;s
+generosity. Nor did he appeal in vain, for the General replied that though
+&ldquo;I felt myself hurt by a certain letter … I was hurt … because the same
+sentiments were not communicated immediately to myself.&rdquo; The old-time
+intimacy was renewed, and how little his personal feeling had influenced
+Washington is shown in the fact that even previous to this peace-making he had
+secured for Reed the appointment to command one of the choicest brigades in the
+army. Perhaps the friendship was never quite as close, but in writing him
+Washington still signed himself &ldquo;yours affectionately.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+John Laurens, appointed an aide in 1777, quickly endeared himself to
+Washington, and conceived the most ardent affection for his chief. The young
+officer of twenty-four used all his influence with his father (then President
+of Congress) against the Cabal, and in 1778, when Charles Lee was abusing the
+commander-in-chief, Laurens thought himself bound to resent it, &ldquo;as well
+on account of the relation he bore to General Washington, as from motives of
+personal friendship and respect for his character,&rdquo; and he challenged the
+defamer and put a bullet into him. To his commander he signed himself
+&ldquo;with the greatest veneration and attachment your Excellency&rsquo;s
+Faithful Aid,&rdquo; and Washington in his letters always addressed him as
+&ldquo;my dear Laurens.&rdquo; After his death in battle, Washington wrote, in
+reply to an inquiry,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You ask if the character of Colonel John Laurens, as drawn in the
+<i>Independent Chronicle</i> of 2d of December last, is just. I answer, that
+such parts of the drawing as have fallen under my observation, is literally so;
+and that it is my firm belief his merits and worth richly entitle him to the
+whole picture. No man possessed more of the <i>amor patriae</i>. In a word, he
+had not a fault, that I could discover, unless intrepidity bordering upon
+rashness could come under that denomination; and to this he was excited by the
+purest motives.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of another aide, Tench Tilghman, Washington said, &ldquo;he has been a zealous
+servant and slave to the public, and a faithful assistant to me for near five
+years, great part of which time he refused to receive pay. Honor and gratitude
+interest me in his favor.&rdquo; As an instance of this, the commander-in-chief
+gave to him the distinction of bearing to Congress the news of the surrender of
+Cornwallis, with the request to that body that Tilghman should be honored in
+some manner. And in acknowledging a letter Washington said, &ldquo;I receive
+with great sensibility and pleasure your assurances of affection and regard. It
+would be but a renewal of what I have often repeated to you, that there are few
+men in the world to whom I am more attached by inclination than I am to you.
+With the Cause, I hope&mdash;most devoutly hope&mdash;there will be an end to
+my Military Service, when as our places of residence will not be far apart, I
+shall never be more happy than in your Company at Mt. Vernon. I shall always be
+glad to hear from, and keep up a correspondence with you.&rdquo; When Tilghman
+died, Washington asserted that
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He had left as fair a reputation as ever belonged to a human
+character,&rdquo; and to his father he wrote, &ldquo;Of all the numerous
+acquaintances of your lately deceased son, &amp; midst all the sorrowings that
+are mingled on that melancholy occasion, I may venture to assert that
+(excepting those of his nearest relatives) none could have felt his death with
+more regret than I did, because no one entertained a higher opinion of his
+worth, or had imbibed sentiments of greater friendship for him than I had
+done…. Midst all your grief, there is this consolation to be drawn;&mdash;that
+while living, no man could be more esteemed, and since dead, none more lamented
+than Colo. Tilghman.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To David Humphreys, a member of the staff, Washington gave the honor of
+carrying to Congress the standards captured at Yorktown, recommending him to
+the notice of that body for his &ldquo;attention, fidelity, and good
+services.&rdquo; This aide escorted Washington to Mount Vernon at the close of
+the Revolution, and was &ldquo;the last officer belonging to the army&rdquo;
+who parted from &ldquo;the Commander-in-chief.&rdquo; Shortly after, Humphreys
+returned to Mount Vernon, half as secretary and half as visitor and companion,
+and he alluded to this time in his poem of &ldquo;Mount Vernon,&rdquo; when he
+said,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;Twas mine, return&rsquo;d from Europe&rsquo;s courts<br/>
+To share his thoughts, partake his sports.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+When Washington was accused of cruelty in the Asgill case, Humphreys published
+an account of the affair, completely vindicating his friend, for which he was
+warmly thanked. He was frequently urged to come to Mount Vernon, and Washington
+on one occasion lamented &ldquo;the cause which has deprived us of your aid in
+the attack of Christmas pies,&rdquo; and on another assured Humphreys of his
+&ldquo;great pleasure [when] I received the intimation of your spending the
+winter under this Roof. The invitation was not less sincere, than the reception
+will be cordial. The only stipulations I shall contend for are, that in all
+things you shall do as you please&mdash;I will do the same; and that no
+ceremony may be used or any restraint be imposed on any one.&rdquo; Humphreys
+was visiting him when the notification of his election as President was
+received, and was the only person, except servants, who accompanied Washington
+to New York. Here he continued for a time to give his assistance, and was
+successively appointed Indian commissioner, informal agent to Spain, and
+finally Minister to Portugal. While holding this latter position Washington
+wrote to him, &ldquo;When you shall think with the poet that &lsquo;the post of
+honor is a private station&rsquo;&mdash;&amp; may be inclined to enjoy yourself
+in my shades … I can only tell you that you will meet with the same cordial
+reception at Mount Vernon that you have always experienced at that
+place,&rdquo; and when Humphreys answered that his coming marriage made the
+visit impossible, Washington replied, &ldquo;The desire of a companion in my
+latter days, in whom I could confide … induced me to express too strongly … the
+hope of having you as an inmate.&rdquo; On the death of Washington, Humphreys
+published a poem expressing the deepest affection and admiration for &ldquo;my
+friend.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus18"></a>
+<img src="images/img18.jpg" width="434" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">WASHINGTON FAMILY RECORD</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The longest and closest connection was that with Hamilton. This very young and
+obscure officer attracted Washington&rsquo;s attention in the campaign of 1776,
+early in the next year was appointed to the staff, and quickly became so much a
+favorite that Washington spoke of him as &ldquo;my boy.&rdquo; Whatever
+friendliness this implied was not, however, reciprocated by Hamilton. After
+four years of service, he resigned, under circumstances to which he pledged
+Washington to secrecy, and then himself, in evident irritation, wrote as
+follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Two days ago, the General and I passed each other on the stairs. He told
+me he wanted to speak to me. I answered that I would wait upon him immediately.
+I went below, and delivered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be sent to the commissary,
+containing an order of a pressing and interesting nature. Returning to the
+General, I was stopped on the way by the Marquis de 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. Instead of finding the General, as is usual,
+in his room, I met him at the head of the stairs, where, accosting me in an
+angry tone, &lsquo;Colonel Hamilton,&rsquo; said he &lsquo;you have kept me
+waiting at the head of the stairs these ten minutes. I must tell you, sir, you
+treat me with disrespect.&rsquo; I replied without petulancy, but with
+decision: &lsquo;I am not conscious of it, sir; but since you have thought it
+necessary to tell me so, we part.&rsquo; &lsquo;Very well, sir,&rsquo; said he,
+&lsquo;if it be your choice,&rsquo; or something to this 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&rsquo;s name, assuring me of his great confidence in my abilities,
+integrity, usefulness, etc, and of his desire, in a candid conversation, to
+heal a difference which could not have happened but in a moment of passion. I
+requested Mr Tilghman to tell him&mdash;1st. That I had taken my resolution in
+a manner not to be revoked … Thus we stand … Perhaps you may think I was
+precipitate in rejecting the overture made by the General to an accomodation. I
+assure you, my dear sir, it was not the effect of resentment; it was the
+deliberate result of maxims I had long formed for the government of my own
+conduct…. I believe you know the place I held in the General&rsquo;s confidence
+and counsels, which will make more extraordinary to you to learn that for three
+years past I have felt no friendship for him and have professed none. The truth
+is, our dispositions are the opposites of each other, and the pride of my
+temper would not suffer me to profess what I did not feel. Indeed, when
+advances of this kind have been made to me on his part, they were received in a
+manner that showed at least that I had no desire to court them, and that I
+desired to stand rather upon a footing of military confidence than of private
+attachment.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Had Washington been the man this letter described he would never have forgiven
+this treatment. On the contrary, only two months later, when compelled to
+refuse for military reasons a favor Hamilton asked, he said that &ldquo;my
+principal concern arises from an apprehension that you will impute my refusal
+to your request to other motives.&rdquo; On this refusal Hamilton enclosed his
+commission to Washington, but &ldquo;Tilghman came to me in his name, pressed
+me to retain my commission, with an assurance that he would endeavor, by all
+means, to give me a command.&rdquo; Later Washington did more than Hamilton
+himself had asked, when he gave him the leading of the storming party at
+Yorktown, a post envied by every officer in the army.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Apparently this generosity lessened Hamilton&rsquo;s resentment, for a
+correspondence on public affairs was maintained from this time on, though
+Madison stated long after &ldquo;that Hamilton often spoke disparagingly of
+Washington&rsquo;s talents, particularly after the Revolution and at the first
+part of the presidentcy,&rdquo; and Benjamin Rush confirms this by a note to
+the effect that &ldquo;Hamilton often spoke with contempt of General
+Washington. He said that … his heart was a stone.&rdquo; The rumor of the ill
+feeling was turned to advantage by Hamilton&rsquo;s political opponents in
+1787, and compelled the former to appeal to Washington to save him from the
+injury the story was doing. In response Washington wrote a letter intended for
+public use, in which he said,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As you say it is insinuated by some of your political adversaries, and
+may obtain credit, &lsquo;that you <i>palmed</i> yourself upon me, and was
+<i>dismissed</i> from my family,&rsquo; and call upon me to do you justice by a
+recital of the facts, I do therefore explicitly declare, that both charges are
+entirely unfounded. With respect to the first, I have no cause to believe, that
+you took a single step to accomplish, or had the most distant idea of receiving
+an appointment in my family till you were invited in it; and, with respect to
+the second, that your quitting it was altogether the effect of your own
+choice.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With the appointment as Secretary of the Treasury warmer feelings were
+developed. Hamilton became the President&rsquo;s most trusted official, and was
+tireless in the aid he gave his superior. Even after he left office he
+performed many services equivalent to official ones, for which Washington did
+&ldquo;not know how to thank&rdquo; him &ldquo;sufficiently,&rdquo; and the
+President leaned on his judgment to an otherwise unexampled extent. This
+service produced affection and respect, and in 1792 Washington wrote from Mount
+Vernon, &ldquo;We have learnt … that you have some thoughts of taking a trip
+this way. I felt pleasure at hearing it, and hope it is unnecessary to add,
+that it would be considerably increased by seeing you under this roof; for you
+may be assured of the sincere and affectionate regard of yours, &amp;c.&rdquo;
+and signed other letters &ldquo;always and affectionately yours,&rdquo; or
+&ldquo;very affectionately,&rdquo; while Hamilton reciprocated by sending
+&ldquo;affectionate attachment.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On being appointed lieutenant-general in 1798, Washington at once sought the
+aid of Hamilton for the highest position under him, assuring the Secretary of
+War that &ldquo;of the abilities and fitness of the gentleman you have named
+for a high command in the <i>provisional army</i>, I think as you do, and that
+his services ought to be secured at almost any price.&rdquo; To this the
+President, who hated Hamilton, objected, but Washington refused to take the
+command unless this wish was granted, and Adams had to give way. They stood in
+this relation when Washington died, and almost the last letter he penned was to
+this friend. On learning of the death, Hamilton wrote of &ldquo;our beloved
+Commander-in-chief,&rdquo;&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The very painful event … filled my heart with bitterness. Perhaps no man
+in this community has equal cause with myself to deplore the loss. I have been
+much indebted to the kindness of the General, and he was an <i>Ægis very
+essential to me</i>. But regrets are unavailing. For great misfortunes it is
+the business of reason to seek consolation. The friends of General Washington
+have very noble ones. If virtue can secure happiness in another world, he is
+happy.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Knox was the earliest army friend of those who rose to the rank of general, and
+was honored by Washington with absolute trust. After the war the two
+corresponded, and Knox expressed &ldquo;unalterable affection&rdquo; for the
+&ldquo;thousand evidences of your friendship.&rdquo; He was appointed Secretary
+of War in the first administration, and in taking command of the provisional
+army Washington secured his appointment as a major-general, and at this time
+asserted that, &ldquo;with respect to General Knox I can say with truth there
+is no man in the United States with whom I have been in habits of greater
+intimacy, no one whom I have loved more sincerely nor any for whom I have had a
+greater friendship.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Greene was perhaps the closest to Washington of all the generals, and their
+relations might be dwelt upon at much length. But the best evidence of
+friendship is in Washington&rsquo;s treatment of a story involving his
+financial honesty, of which he said, &ldquo;persuaded as I always have been of
+Genl Greene&rsquo;s integrity and worth, I spurned those reports which tended
+to calumniate his conduct … being perfectly convinced that whenever the matter
+should be investigated, his motives … would appear pure and
+unimpeachable.&rdquo; When on Greene&rsquo;s death Washington heard that his
+family was left in embarrassed circumstances, he offered, if Mrs. Greene would
+&ldquo;entrust my namesake G. Washington Greene to my care, I will give him as
+good an education as this country (I mean the United States) will afford, and
+will bring him up to either of the genteel professions that his frds. may
+chuse, or his own inclination shall lead him to pursue, at my own cost &amp;
+expence.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For &ldquo;Light-horse Harry&rdquo; Lee an affection more like that given to
+the youngsters of the staff was felt Long after the war was over, Lee began a
+letter to him &ldquo;Dear General,&rdquo; and then continued,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Although the exalted station, which your love of us and our love of you
+has placed you in, calls for change in mode of address, yet I cannot so quickly
+relinquish the old manner. Your military rank holds its place in my mind,
+notwithstanding your civic glory; and, whenever I do abandon the title which
+used to distinguish you, I shall do it with awkwardness…. My reluctance to
+trespass a moment on your time would have operated to a further procrastination
+of my wishes, had I not been roused above every feeling of ceremony by the
+heart rending intelligence, received yesterday, that your life was despaired
+of. Had I had wings in the moment, I should have wafted myself to your bedside,
+only again to see the first of men; but alas! despairing as I was, from the
+account received, after the affliction of one day and night, I was made most
+happy by receiving a letter, now before me from New York, announcing the
+restoration of your health. May heaven preserve it!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was Lee who first warned Washington that Jefferson was slandering him in
+secret, and who kept him closely informed as to the political manuvres in
+Virginia. Washington intrusted to him the command of the army in the Whiskey
+Insurrection, and gave him an appointment in the provisional army. Lee was in
+Congress when the death of the great American was announced to that body, and
+it was he who coined the famous &ldquo;First in war, first in peace, and first
+in the hearts of his countrymen.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As need hardly be said, however, the strongest affection among the general
+officers was that between Washington and Lafayette. In the advent of this young
+Frenchman the commander saw only &ldquo;embarassment,&rdquo; but he received
+&ldquo;the young volunteer,&rdquo; so Lafayette said, &ldquo;in the most
+friendly manner,&rdquo; invited him to reside in his house as a member of his
+military family, and as soon as he came to know him he recommended Congress to
+give him a command. As Lafayette became popular with the army, an endeavor was
+made by the Cabal to win him to their faction by bribing him with an
+appointment to lead an expedition against Canada, independent of control by
+Washington. Lafayette promptly declined the command, unless subject to the
+General, and furthermore he &ldquo;braved the whole party (Cabal) and threw
+them into confusion by making them drink the health of their general.&rdquo; At
+the battle of Monmouth Washington gave the command of the attacking party to
+Lafayette, and after the conflict the two, according to the latter,
+&ldquo;passed the night lying on the same mantle, talking.&rdquo; In the same
+way Washington distinguished him by giving him the command of the expedition to
+rescue Virginia from Cornwallis, and to his division was given the most
+honorable position at Yorktown. When the siege of that place was completed,
+Lafayette applied for leave of absence to spend the winter in France, and as he
+was on the point of sailing he received a personal letter from Washington, for
+&ldquo;I owe it to friendship and to my affectionate regard for you my dear
+Marquis, not to let you leave this country without carrying fresh marks of my
+attachment to you,&rdquo; and in his absence Washington wrote that a mutual
+friend who bore a letter &ldquo;can tell you more forcibly, than I can express
+how much we all love and wish to embrace you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A reunion came in 1784, looked forward to by Lafayette with an eagerness of
+which he wrote, &ldquo;by Sunday or Monday, I hope at last to be blessed with a
+sight of my dear General. There is no rest for me till I go to Mount Vernon. I
+long for the pleasure to embrace you, my dear General; and the happiness of
+being once more with you will be so great, that no words can ever express it.
+Adieu, my dear General; in a few days I shall be at Mount Vernon, and I do
+already feel delighted with so charming a prospect.&rdquo; After this visit was
+over Washington wrote, &ldquo;In the moment of our separation, upon the road as
+I travelled, and every hour since, I have felt all that love, respect and
+attachment for you, with which length of years, close connexion, and your
+merits have inspired me. I often asked myself, as our carriages separated,
+whether that was the last sight I ever should have of you?&rdquo; And to this
+letter Lafayette replied,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No my beloved General, our late parting was not by any means a last
+interview. My whole soul revolts at the idea; and could I harbour it an
+instant, indeed, my dear General, it would make me miserable. I well see you
+will never go to France. The inexpressible pleasure of embracing you in my own
+house, of welcoming you in a family where your name is adored, I do not much
+expect to experience; but to you I shall return, and, within the walls of Mount
+Vernon, we shall yet speak of olden times. My firm plan is to visit now and
+then my friend on this side of the Atlantic; and the most beloved of all
+friends I ever had, or ever shall have anywhere, is too strong an inducement
+for me to return to him, not to think that whenever it is possible I shall
+renew my so pleasing visits to Mount Vernon…. Adieu, adieu, my dear General. It
+is with inexpressible pain that I feel I am going to be severed from you by the
+Atlantic. Everything, that admiration, respect, gratitude, friendship, and
+fillial love, can inspire, is combined in my affectionate heart to devote me
+most tenderly to you. In your friendship I find a delight which words cannot
+express. Adieu, my dear General. It is not without emotion that I write this
+word, although I know I shall soon visit you again. Be attentive to your
+health. Let me hear from you every month. Adieu, adieu.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The correspondence begged was maintained, but Lafayette complained that
+&ldquo;To one who so tenderly loves you, who so happily enjoyed the times we
+have passed together, and who never, on any part of the globe, even in his own
+house, could feel himself so perfectly at home as in your family, it must be
+confessed that an irregular, lengthy correspondence is quite insufficient I
+beseech you, in the name of our friendship, of that paternal concern of yours
+for my happiness, not to miss any opportunity to let me hear from my dear
+General.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One letter from Washington told Lafayette of his recovery from a serious
+illness, and Lafayette responded, &ldquo;What could have been my feelings, had
+the news of your illness reached me before I knew my beloved General, my
+adopted father, was out of danger? I was struck at the idea of the situation
+you have been in, while I, uninformed and so distant from you, was anticipating
+the long-waited-for pleasure to hear from you, and the still more endearing
+prospect of visiting you and presenting you the tribute of a revolution, one of
+your first offsprings. For God&rsquo;s sake, my dear General, take care of your
+health!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently, as the French Revolution gathered force, the anxiety was reversed,
+Washington writing that &ldquo;The lively interest which I take in your
+welfare, my dear Sir, keeps my mind in constant anxiety for your personal
+safety.&rdquo; This fear was only too well founded, for shortly after Lafayette
+was a captive in an Austrian prison and his wife was appealing to her
+husband&rsquo;s friend for help. Our ministers were told to do all they could
+to secure his liberty, and Washington wrote a personal letter to the Emperor of
+Austria. Before receiving her letter, on the first news of the &ldquo;truly
+affecting&rdquo; condition of &ldquo;poor Madame Lafayette,&rdquo; he had
+written to her his sympathy, and, supposing that money was needed, had
+deposited at Amsterdam two hundred guineas &ldquo;subject to your
+orders.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When she and her daughters joined her husband in prison, Lafayette&rsquo;s son,
+and Washington&rsquo;s godson, came to America; an arrival of which the
+godfather wrote that, &ldquo;to express all the sensibility, which has been
+excited in my breast by the receipt of young Lafayette&rsquo;s letter, from the
+recollection of his father&rsquo;s merits, services, and sufferings, from my
+friendship for him, and from my wishes to become a friend and father to his son
+is unnecessary.&rdquo; The lad became a member of the family, and a visitor at
+this time records that &ldquo;I was particularly struck with the marks of
+affection which the General showed his pupil, his adopted son of Marquis de
+Lafayette. Seated opposite to him, he looked at him with pleasure, and listened
+to him with manifest interest.&rdquo; With Washington he continued till the
+final release of his father, and a simple business note in Washington&rsquo;s
+ledger serves to show both his delicacy and his generosity to the boy:
+&ldquo;By Geo. W. Fayette, gave for the purpose of his getting himself such
+small articles of Clothing as he might not choose to ask for $100.&rdquo;
+Another item in the accounts was three hundred dollars &ldquo;to defray his
+exps. to France,&rdquo; and by him Washington sent a line to his old friend,
+saying, &ldquo;this letter I hope and expect will be presented to you by your
+son, who is highly deserving of such parents as you and your amiable
+lady.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Long previous to this, too, a letter had been sent to Virginia Lafayette,
+couched in the following terms:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Permit me to thank my dear little correspondent for the favor of her
+letter of the 18 of June last, and to impress her with the idea of the pleasure
+I shall derive from a continuance of them. Her papa is restored to her with all
+the good health, paternal affection, and honors, which her tender heart could
+wish. He will carry a kiss to her from me (which might be more agreeable from a
+pretty boy), and give her assurances of the affectionate regard with which I
+have the pleasure of being her well-wisher,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+George Washington.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this connection it is worth glancing at Washington&rsquo;s relations with
+children, the more that it has been frequently asserted that he had no liking
+for them. As already shown, at different times he adopted or assumed the
+expenses and charge of not less than nine of the children of his kith and kin,
+and to his relations with children he seldom wrote a letter without a line
+about the &ldquo;little ones.&rdquo; His kindnesses to the sons of Ramsay,
+Craik, Greene, and Lafayette have already been noticed. Furthermore, whenever
+death or illness came among the children of his friends there was sympathy
+expressed. Dumas relates of his visit to Providence with Washington, that
+&ldquo;we arrived there at night; the whole of the population had assembled
+from the suburbs; we were surrounded by a crowd of children carrying torches,
+reiterating the acclamations of the citizens; all were eager to approach the
+person of him whom they called their father, and pressed so closely around us
+that they hindered us from proceeding. General Washington was much affected,
+stopped a few moments, and, pressing my hand, said, &lsquo;We may be beaten by
+the English; it is the chance of war; but behold an army which they can never
+conquer,&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In his journey through New England, not being able to get lodgings at an inn,
+Washington spent a night in a private house, and when all payment was refused,
+he wrote his host from his next stopping-place,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Being informed that you have given my name to one of your sons, and
+called another after Mrs. Washington&rsquo;s family, and being moreover very
+much pleased with the modest and innocent looks of your two daughters, Patty
+and Polly, I do for these reasons send each of these girls a piece of chintz;
+and to Patty, who bears the name of Mrs. Washington, and who waited upon us
+more than Polly did, I send five guineas, with which she may buy herself any
+little ornaments she may want, or she may dispose of them in any other manner
+more agreeable to herself. As I do not give these things with a view to have it
+talked of, or even of its being known, the less there is said about the matter
+the better you will please me; but, that I may be sure the chintz and money
+have got safe to hand, let Patty, who I dare say is equal to it, write me a
+line informing me thereof, directed to &lsquo;The President of the United
+States at New York.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Miss Stuart relates that &ldquo;One morning while Mr. Washington was sitting
+for his picture, a little brother of mine ran into the room, when my father
+thinking it would annoy the General, told him he must leave; but the General
+took him upon his knee, held him for some time, and had quite a little chat
+with him, and, in fact, they seemed to be pleased with each other. My brother
+remembered with pride, as long as he lived, that Washington had talked with
+him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For the son of his secretary, Lear, there seems to have been great fondness,
+and in one instance the father was told that &ldquo;It gave Mrs. Washington,
+myself and all who know him, sincere pleasure to hear that our little favorite
+had arrived safe, and was in good health at Portsmouth. We sincerely wish him a
+long continuance of the latter&mdash;that he may always be as charming and
+promising as he now is&mdash;and that he may live to be a comfort and blessing
+to you, and an ornament to his country. As a testimony of my affection for him
+I send him a ticket in the lottery which is now drawing in the Federal City;
+and if it should be his fortune to draw the hotel it will add to the pleasure I
+have in giving it.&rdquo; A second letter condoled with &ldquo;little
+Lincoln,&rdquo; because owing to the collapse of the lottery the &ldquo;poor
+little fellow&rdquo; will not even get enough to &ldquo;build him a baby
+house.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For the father, Tobias Lear, who came into his employment in 1786 and remained
+with him till his death, Washington felt the greatest affection and trust. It
+was he who sent for the doctor in the beginning of the last illness, and he was
+in the sickroom most of the time. Holding Washington&rsquo;s hand, he received
+from him his last orders, and later when Washington &ldquo;appeared to be in
+great pain and distress from the difficulty of breathing … I lay upon the bed
+and endeavored to raise him, and turn him with as much ease as possible. He
+appeared penetrated with gratitude for my attentions, and often said &lsquo;I
+am afraid I shall fatigue you too much.&rsquo;&rdquo; Still later Lear
+&ldquo;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.&rdquo; At the final moment Lear took his hand
+&ldquo;and laid it upon his breast.&rdquo; When all was over, &ldquo;I kissed
+the cold hand, laid it down, and was … lost in profound grief.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap10"></a>X<br/>
+ENEMIES</h2>
+
+<p>
+Any man of force is to be known quite as much by the character of his enemies
+as by that of his friends, and this is true of Washington. The subject offers
+some difficulties, for most of his enemies later in life went out of their way
+to deny all antagonism, and took pains to destroy such proof as they could come
+at of ill-feeling towards him. Yet enough remains to show who were in
+opposition to him, and on what grounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first of those now known to be opposed to him was George Muse,
+lieutenant-colonel in 1754 under Washington. At Fort Necessity he was guilty of
+cowardice, he was discharged in disgrace, and his name was omitted from the
+Assembly&rsquo;s vote of thanks to the regiment. Stung by this action, he took
+his revenge in a manner related by Peyroney, who wrote Washington,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Many enquired to me about Muse&rsquo;s Braveries, poor Body I had pity
+him ha&rsquo;nt he had the weakness to Confes his Coardise himself, &amp; the
+impudence to taxe all the reste of the oficers without exception of the same
+imperfection for he said to many of the Consulars and Burgeses that he was Bad
+But th&rsquo; the reste was as Bad as he&mdash;To speak francly, had I been in
+town at that time I cou&rsquo;nt help&rsquo;d to make use of my horses [whip]
+whereas for to vindicate the injury of that vilain. He Contrived his Business
+so that several ask me if it was true that he had Challeng&rsquo;d you to
+fight: My Answer was no other But that he should rather chuse to go to hell
+than doing of it&mdash;for he had Such thing declar&rsquo;d: that was his Sure
+Road.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington seems to have cherished no personal ill-will for Muse&rsquo;s
+conduct, and when the division of the &ldquo;bounty lands&rdquo; was being
+pushed, he used his influence that the broken officer should receive a quotum.
+Not knowing this, or else being ungrateful, Muse seems to have written a letter
+to Washington which angered him, for he replied,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Sir, Your impertinent letter was delivered to me yesterday. As I am not
+accustomed to receive such from any man, nor would have taken the same language
+from you personally, without letting you feel some marks of my resentment, I
+would advise you to be cautious in writing me a second of the same tenor. But
+for your stupidity and sottishness you might have known, by attending to the
+public gazette, that you had your full quantity of ten thousand acres of land
+allowed you, that is, nine thousand and seventy-three acres in the great tract,
+and the remainder in the small tract. But suppose you had really fallen short,
+do you think your superlative merit entitles you to greater indulgence than
+others? Or, if it did, that I was to make it good to you, when it was at the
+option of the Governor and Council to allow but five hundred acres in the
+whole, if they had been so inclined? If either of these should happen to be
+your opinion, I am very well convinced that you will be singular in it; and all
+my concern is, that I ever engaged in behalf of so ungrateful a fellow as you
+are. But you may still be in need of my assistance, as I can inform you, that
+your affairs, in respect to these lands, do not stand upon so solid a basis as
+you imagine, and this you may take by way of hint. I wrote to you a few days
+ago concerning the other distribution, proposing an easy method of dividing our
+lands; but since I find in what temper you are, I am sorry I took the trouble
+of mentioning the land or your name in a letter, as I do not think you merit
+the least assistance from me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Braddock campaign brought acquaintance with one which did not end in
+friendship, however amicable the beginning. There can be little doubt that
+there was cameraderie with the then Lieutenant-Colonel Gage, for in 1773, when
+in New York for four days, Washington &ldquo;Dined with Gen. Gage,&rdquo; and
+also &ldquo;dined at the entertainment given by the citizens of New York to
+Genl. Gage.&rdquo; When next intercourse was resumed, it was by formal
+correspondence between the commanders-in-chief of two hostile armies,
+Washington inquiring as to the treatment of prisoners, and as a satisfactory
+reply was not obtained, he wrote again, threatening retaliation, and
+&ldquo;closing my correspondence with you, perhaps forever,&rdquo; &mdash;a
+letter which Charles Lee thought &ldquo;a very good one, but Gage certainly
+deserved a stronger one, such as it was before it was softened.&rdquo; One
+cannot but wonder what part the old friendship played in this
+&ldquo;softening.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Relations with the Howes began badly by a letter from Lord Howe addressed
+&ldquo;George Washington, Esq.,&rdquo; which Washington declined to receive as
+not recognizing his official position. A second one to &ldquo;George
+Washington, Esq. &amp;c. &amp;c. &amp;c.&rdquo; met with the same fate, and
+brought the British officer &ldquo;to change my superscription.&rdquo; A little
+after this brief war of forms, a letter from Washington to his wife was
+intercepted with others by the enemy, and General Howe enclosed it,
+&ldquo;happy to return it without the least attempt being made to discover any
+part of the contents.&rdquo; This courtesy the American commander presently was
+able to reciprocate by sending &ldquo;General Washington&rsquo;s compliments to
+General Howe,&mdash;does himself the pleasure to return to him a dog, which
+accidentally fell into his hands, and, by the inscription on the collar,
+appears to belong to General Howe.&rdquo; Even politeness had its objections,
+however, at moments, and Washington once had to write Sir William,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There is one passage of your letter, which I cannot forbear taking
+particular notice of. No expression of personal politeness to me can be
+acceptable, accompanied by reflections on the representatives of a free people,
+under whose authority I have the honor to act. The delicacy I have observed, in
+refraining from everything offensive in this way, entitles me to expect a
+similar treatment from you. I have not indulged myself in invective against the
+present rulers of Great Britain, in the course of our correspondence, nor will
+I even now avail myself of so fruitful a theme.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Apparently when Sir Henry Clinton succeeded to the command of the British army
+the same old device to insult the General was again tried, for Dumas states
+that Washington &ldquo;received a despatch from Sir Henry Clinton, addressed to
+&lsquo;Mr. Washington.&rsquo; Taking it from the hands of the flag of truce,
+and seeing the direction, &lsquo;This letter,&rsquo; said he, &lsquo;is
+directed to a planter of the state of Virginia. I shall have it delivered to
+him after the end of the war; till that time it shall not be opened.&rsquo; A
+second despatch was addressed to his Excellency General Washington.&rdquo; A
+better lesson in courtesy was contained in a letter from Washington to him,
+complaining of &ldquo;wanton, unprecedented and inhuman murder,&rdquo; which
+closed with the following: &ldquo;I beg your Excellency to be persuaded, that
+it cannot be more disagreeable to you to be addressed in this language, than it
+is to me to offer it; but the subject requires frankness and decision.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quite as firm was one addressed to Cornwallis, which read,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is with infinite regret, I am again compelled to remonstrate against
+that spirit of wanton cruelty, that has in several instances influenced the
+conduct of your soldiery. A recent exercise of it towards an unhappy officer of
+ours, Lieutenant Harris, convinces me, that my former representations on this
+subject have been unavailing. That Gentleman by the fortunes of war, on
+Saturday last was thrown into the hands of a party of your horse, and
+unnecessarily murdered with the most aggravated circumstances of barbarity. I
+wish not to wound your Lordship&rsquo;s feelings, by commenting on this event;
+but I think it my duty to send his mangled body to your lines as an undeniable
+testimony of the fact, should it be doubted, and as the best appeal to your
+humanity for the justice of our complaint.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A pleasanter intercourse came with the surrender of Yorktown, after which not
+merely were Cornwallis and his officers saved the mortification of surrendering
+their swords, but the chief among them were entertained at dinner by
+Washington. At this meal, so a contemporary account states, &ldquo;Rochhambeau,
+being asked for a toast, gave <i>&lsquo;The United States&rsquo;</i>.
+Washington gave <i>&lsquo;The King of France&rsquo;</i>. Lord Cornwallis,
+simply <i>&lsquo;The King&rsquo;</i>; but Washington, putting that toast,
+added, <i>&lsquo;of England&rsquo;</i>, and facetiously, <i>&lsquo;confine him
+there, I&rsquo;ll drink him a full bumper&rsquo;</i>, filling his glass till it
+ran over. Rochambeau, with great politeness, was still so French, that he would
+every now and then be touching on points that were improper, and a breach of
+real politeness. Washington often checked him, and showed in a more saturnine
+manner, the infinite esteem he had for his gallant prisoner, whose private
+qualities the Americans admired even in a foe, that had so often filled them
+with the most cruel alarms.&rdquo; Many years later, when Cornwallis was
+governor-general of India, he sent a verbal message to his old foe, wishing
+&ldquo;General Washington a long enjoyment of tranquility and happiness,&rdquo;
+adding that for himself he &ldquo;continued in troubled waters.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus19"></a>
+<img src="images/img19.jpg" width="303" height="400" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">MRS WASHINGTON</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Turning from these public rather than personal foes, a very different type of
+enemies is encountered in those inimical to Washington in his own army. Chief
+of these was Horatio Gates, with whom Washington had become acquainted in the
+Braddock campaign, and with whom there was friendly intercourse from that time
+until the Revolution. In 1775, at Washington&rsquo;s express solicitation,
+Gates was appointed adjutant- and brigadier-general, and in a letter thanking
+Washington for the favor he professed to have &ldquo;the greatest respect for
+your character and the sincerest attachment to your person.&rdquo;
+Nevertheless, he very early in the war suggested that a committee of Congress
+be sent to camp to keep watch on Washington, and as soon as he was in a
+separate command he began to curry favor with Congress and scheme against his
+commander. This was not unknown to Washington, who afterwards wrote, &ldquo;I
+discovered very early in the war symptoms of coldness &amp; constraint in
+General Gates&rsquo; behavior to me. These increased as he rose into greater
+consequence.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Burgoyne capitulated to Gates, he sent the news to Congress and not to
+Washington, and though he had no further need for troops the commander-in-chief
+had sent him, he endeavored to prevent their return at a moment when every man
+was needed in the main army. His attitude towards Washington was so notorious
+that his friends curried favor with him by letters criticising the commander,
+and when, by chance, the General learned of the contents of one of these
+letters, and news to that effect reached the ears of Gates, he practically
+charged Washington with having obtained his knowledge by dishonorable means;
+but Washington more than repaid the insult, in telling Gates how he had learned
+of the affair, by adding that he had &ldquo;considered the information as
+coming from yourself, and given with a friendly view to forewarn and
+consequently forearm me, against a secret enemy … but in this, as in other
+matters of late, I have found myself mistaken.&rdquo; Driven to the wall, Gates
+wrote to Washington a denial that the letter contained the passage in question,
+which was an absolute lie, and this untruth typifies his character. Without
+expressing either belief or disbelief in this denial, Washington
+replied,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am as averse to controversy as any man, and had I not been forced into
+it, you never would have had occasion to impute to me, even the shadow of
+disposition towards it. Your repeatedly and solemnly disclaiming any offensive
+views in those matters, which have been the subject of our past correspondence
+makes me willing to close with the desire, you express, of burying them
+hereafter in silence, and, as far as future events will permit, oblivion. My
+temper leads me to peace and harmony with all men; and it is peculiarly my wish
+to avoid any personal feuds or dissentions with those who are embarked in the
+same great national interest with, myself; as every difference of this kind
+must in its consequence be very injurious.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this affair subsided, Washington said,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I made a point of treating Gen. Gates with all the attention and
+cordiality in my power, as well from a sincere desire of harmony, as from an
+unwillingness to give any cause of triumph among ourselves. I can appeal to the
+world, and to the whole army, whether I have not cautiously avoided offending
+Gen. Gates in any way. I am sorry his conduct to me has not been equally
+generous, and that he is continually giving me fresh proofs of malevolence and
+opposition. It will not be doing him injustice to say, that, besides the little
+underhand intrigues which he is frequently practising, there has hardly been
+any great military question, in which his advice has been asked, that it has
+not been given in an equivocal and designing manner, apparently calculated to
+afford him an opportunity of censuring me, on the failure of whatever measures
+might be adopted.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the defeat of Gates at Camden, the Prince de Broglie wrote that &ldquo;I
+saw General Gates at the house of General Washington, with whom he had had a
+misunderstanding…. This interview excited the curiosity of both armies. It
+passed with a most perfect propriety on the part of both gentlemen. Mr.
+Washington treated Mr. Gates with a politeness which had a frank and easy air,
+while the other responded with that shade of respect which was proper towards
+his general.&rdquo; And how fair-minded Washington was is shown by his refusal
+to interfere in an army matter, because, &ldquo;considering the delicate
+situation in which I stand with respect to General Gates, I feel an
+unwillingness to give any opinion (even in a confidential way) in a matter in
+which he is concerned, lest my sentiments (being known) should have unfavorable
+interpretations ascribed to them by illiberal Minds.&rdquo; Yet the friendship
+was never restored, and when the two after the war were associated in the
+Potomac company, Washington&rsquo;s sense of the old treachery was still so
+keen that he alluded to the appointment of &ldquo;my bosom friend Genl G-tes,
+who being at Richmond, contrived to edge himself in to the commission.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thomas Conway was Washington&rsquo;s traducer to Gates. He was an Irish-French
+soldier of fortune who unfortunately had been made a brigadier-general in the
+Continental army. Having made friends of the New England delegates in Congress,
+it was then proposed by them to advance him to the rank of major-general, which
+Washington opposed, on the grounds that &ldquo;his merit and importance exist
+more in his imagination than in reality.&rdquo; For the moment this was
+sufficient to prevent Conway&rsquo;s promotion, and even if he had not before
+been opposed to his commander, he now became his bitter enemy. To more than
+Gates he said or wrote, &ldquo;A great &amp; good God has decreed that America
+shall be free, or Washington and weak counsellors would have ruined her long
+ago.&rdquo; Upon word of this reaching Washington, so Laurens tells, &ldquo;The
+genl immediately copied the contents of the paper, introducing them with
+&lsquo;sir,&rsquo; and concluding with, &lsquo;I am your humble servt,&rsquo;
+and sent this copy in the form of a letter to Genl Conway. This drew an answer,
+in which he first attempts to deny the fact, and then in a most shameless
+manner, to explain away the matter. The perplexity of his style, and evident
+insincerity of his compliments, betray his weak sentiments, and expose his
+guilt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet, though detected, Conway complained to the Continental Congress that
+Washington was not treating him properly, and in reply to an inquiry from a
+member the General acknowledged that,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If General Conway means by cool receptions mentioned in the last
+paragraph of his letter of the 31st ultimo, that I did not receive him in the
+language of a warm and cordial friend, I readily confess the charge. I did not,
+nor shall I ever, till I am capable of the arts of dissimulation. These I
+despise, and my feelings will not permit me to make professions of friendship
+to the man I deem my enemy, and whose system of conduct forbids it. At the same
+time, truth authorizes me to say, that he was received and treated with proper
+respect to his official character, and that he has had no cause to justify the
+assertion, that he could not expect any support for fulfilling the duties of
+his appointment.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In spite of Washington&rsquo;s opposition, Conway&rsquo;s friends were numerous
+enough in the Congress finally to elect him major-general, at the same time
+appointing him inspector-general. Elated with this evident partiality of the
+majority of that body for him, he went even further, and Laurens states that he
+was guilty of a &ldquo;base insult&rdquo; to Washington, which &ldquo;affects
+the General very sensibly,&rdquo; and he continues,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is such an affront as Conway would never have dared to offer, if the
+General&rsquo;s situation had not assured him of the impossibility of its being
+revenged in a private way. The Genl, therefore, has determined to return him no
+answer at all, but to lay the whole matter before Congress; they will determine
+whether Genl W. is to be sacrificed to Genl. C., for the former can never
+consent to be concern&rsquo;d in any transaction with the latter, from whom he
+has received such unpardonable insults.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fortunately, Conway did not limit his &ldquo;insulting letters&rdquo; to the
+commander-in-chief alone, and presently he sent one to Congress threatening to
+resign, which so angered that body that they took him at his word. Moreover,
+his open abuse of Washington led an old-time friend of the latter to challenge
+him, and to lodge a ball, with almost poetic justice, in Conway&rsquo;s mouth.
+Thinking himself on the point of death, he wrote a farewell line to Washington
+&ldquo;expressing my sincere grief for having done, written or said anything
+disagreeable to your Excellency…. You are in my eyes a great and good
+man.&rdquo; And with this recantation he disappeared from the army. A third
+officer in this &ldquo;cabal&rdquo; was Thomas Mifflin. He was the first man
+appointed on Washington&rsquo;s staff at the beginning of the war, but did not
+long remain in that position, being promoted by Washington to be
+quartermaster-general. In this position the rumor reached the General that
+Mifflin was &ldquo;concerned in trade,&rdquo; and Washington took
+&ldquo;occasion to hint&rdquo; the suspicion to him, only to get a denial from
+the officer. Whether this inquiry was a cause for ill-feeling or not, Mifflin
+was one of the most outspoken against the commander-in-chief as his opponents
+gathered force, and Washington informed Henry that he &ldquo;bore the second
+part in the cabal.&rdquo; Mifflin resigned from the army and took a position on
+the board of war, but when the influence of that body broke down with the
+collapse of the Cabal, he applied for a reappointment,&mdash;a course described
+by Washington in plain English as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I was not a little surprised to find a certain gentleman, who, some time
+ago (when a cloud of darkness hung heavy over us, and our affairs looked
+gloomy,) was desirous of resigning, now stepping forward in the line of the
+army. But if he can reconcile such conduct to his own, feelings, as an officer
+and a man of honor, and Congress hath no objections to his leaving his seat in
+another department, I have nothing personally to oppose it. Yet I must think,
+that gentleman&rsquo;s stepping in and out, as the sun happens to beam forth or
+obscure, is not <i>quite</i> the thing, nor <i>quite</i> just, with respect to
+those officers, who take ye bitter with the sweet.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not long after Greene wrote that &ldquo;I learn that General Mifflin has
+publicly declared that he looked upon his Excellency as the best friend he ever
+had in his life, so that is a plain sign that the Junto has given up all ideas
+of supplanting our excellent general from a confidence of the impracticability
+of such an attempt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A very minor but most malignant enemy was Dr. Benjamin Rush. In 1774 Washington
+dined with him in Philadelphia, which implied friendship. Very early in the
+war, however, an attempt was made to remove the director-general of hospitals,
+in which, so John Armstrong claimed, &ldquo;Morgan was the
+ostensible&mdash;Rush the real prosecutor of Shippen&mdash;the former acting
+from revenge,… the latter from a desire to obtain the directorship. In
+approving the sentence of the court, Washington stigmatized the prosecution as
+one originating in bad motives, which made Rush his enemy and defamer as long
+as he lived.&rdquo; Certain it is he wrote savage letters of criticism about
+his commander-in-chief of which the following extract is a sample:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have heard several officers who have served under General Gates
+compare his army to a well regulated family. The same gentlemen have compared
+Gen&rsquo;l Washington&rsquo;s imitation of an army to an unformed mob. Look at
+the characters of both! The one on the pinnacle of military
+glory&mdash;exulting in the success of schemes planned with wisdom, &amp;
+executed with vigor and bravery&mdash;and above all see a country saved by his
+exertions. See the other outgeneral&rsquo;d and twice heated&mdash;obliged to
+witness the march of a body of men only half their number thro&rsquo; 140 Miles
+of a thick settled country&mdash; forced to give up a city the capitol of a
+state &amp; after all outwitted by the same army in a retreat.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Had Rush written only this, there would be no grounds for questioning his
+methods; but, not content with spreading his opinions among his friends, he
+took to anonymous letter-writing, and sent an unsigned letter abusing
+Washington to the governor of Virginia (and probably to others), with the
+request that the letter should be burned. Instead of this, Henry sent it to
+Washington, who recognized at once the handwriting, and wrote to Henry that
+Rush &ldquo;has been elaborate and studied in his professions of regard to me,
+and long since the letter to you.&rdquo; An amusing sequel to this incident is
+to be found in Rush moving heaven and earth on the publication of
+Marshall&rsquo;s &ldquo;Life of Washington&rdquo; to prevent his name from
+appearing as one of the commander-in-chief&rsquo;s enemies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the collapse of the attempt Washington wrote to a friend, &ldquo;I thank
+you sincerely for the part you acted at York respecting C&mdash;-y, and believe
+with you that matters have and will turn out very different to what that party
+expected. G&mdash;-s has involved himself in his letters to me in the most
+absurd contradictions. M&mdash;- has brought himself into a scrape that he does
+not know how to get out of with a gentleman of this State, and C&mdash;-, as
+you know is sent upon an expedition which all the world knew, and the event has
+proved, was not practicable. In a word, I have a good deal of reason to believe
+that the machination of this junta will recoil upon their own heads, and be a
+means of bringing some matters to light which, by getting me out of the way,
+some of them thought to conceal.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Undoubtedly the most serious army antagonist was General Charles Lee, and, but
+for what seem almost fatalistic chances, he would have been a dangerous rival.
+He was second in command very early in the war, and at this time he asserted
+that &ldquo;no man loves, respects and reverences another more than I do
+General Washington. I esteem his virtues, private and public. I know him to be
+a man of sense, courage and firmness.&rdquo; But four months later he was
+lamenting Washington&rsquo;s &ldquo;fatal indecision,&rdquo; and by inference
+was calling him &ldquo;a blunderer.&rdquo; In another month he wrote,
+&ldquo;<i>entre nous</i> a certain great man is most damnably deficient.&rdquo;
+At this point, fortunately, Lee was captured by the British, so that his
+influence for the time being was destroyed. While a prisoner he drew up a plan
+for the English general, showing how America could be conquered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he had been exchanged, and led the American advance at the battle of
+Monmouth, he seems to have endeavored to aid the British in another way, for
+after barely engaging, he ordered a retreat, which quickly developed into a
+rout, and would have ended in a serious defeat had not, as Laurens wrote,
+&ldquo;fortunately for the honor of the army, and the welfare of America, Genl
+Washington met the troops retreating in disorder, and without any plan to make
+an opposition. He ordered some pieces of artillery to be brought up to defend
+the pass, and some troops to form and defend the pieces. The artillery was too
+distant to be brought up readily, so that there was but little opposition given
+here. A few shot though, and a little skirmishing in the wood checked the
+enemy&rsquo;s career. The Genl expressed his astonishment at this unaccountable
+retreat Mr. Lee indecently replied that the attack was contrary to his advice
+and opinion in council.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a fit of temper Lee wrote Washington two imprudent letters, expressed
+&ldquo;in terms [so] highly improper&rdquo; that he was ordered under arrest
+and tried by a court-martial, which promptly found him guilty of disobedience
+and disrespect, as well as of making a &ldquo;disorderly and unnecessary
+retreat.&rdquo; To this Lee retorted, &ldquo;I aver that his Excellencies
+letter was from beginning to the end a most abominable lie&mdash;I aver that my
+conduct will stand the strictest scrutiny of every military judge&mdash;I aver
+that my Court Martial was a Court of Inquisition&mdash;that there was not a
+single member with a military idea&mdash;at least if I may pronounce from the
+different questions they put to the evidences.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this connection it is of interest to note a letter from Washington&rsquo;s
+friend Mason, which said, &ldquo;You express a fear that General Lee will
+challenge our friend. Indulge in no such apprehensions, for he too well knows
+the sentiments of General Washington on the subject of duelling. From his
+earliest manhood I have heard him express his contempt of the man who sends and
+the man who accepts a challenge, for he regards such acts as no proof of moral
+courage; and the practice he abhors as a relic of old barbarisms, repugnant
+alike to sound morality and Christian enlightenment.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A little later, still smarting from this court-martial, Lee wrote to a
+newspaper a savage attack on his late commander, apparently in the belief, as
+he said in a private letter, that &ldquo;there is … a visible revolution … in
+the minds of men, I mean that our Great Gargantua, or Lama Babak (for I know
+not which Title is the properest) begins to be no longer consider&rsquo;d as an
+infallible Divinity&mdash;and that those who have been sacrificed or near
+sacrific&rsquo;d on his altar, begin to be esteem&rsquo;d as wantonly and
+foolishly offer&rsquo;d up.&rdquo; Lee very quickly found his mistake, for the
+editor of the paper which contained his attack was compelled by a committee of
+citizens to publish an acknowledgment that in printing it &ldquo;I have
+transgressed against truth, justice and my duty as a good citizen,&rdquo; and,
+as Washington wrote to a friend, &ldquo;the author of the Queries,
+&lsquo;Political and Military,&rsquo; has had no cause to exult in the
+favorable reception of them by the public.&rdquo; With Lee&rsquo;s
+disappearance the last army rival dropped from the ranks, and from that time
+there was no question as to who should command the armies of America. Long
+after, a would-be editor of Lee&rsquo;s papers wrote to Washington to ask if he
+had any wishes in regard to the publication, and was told in the reply
+that,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I never had a difference with that gentleman, but on public ground, and
+my conduct towards him upon this occasion was such only, as I conceived myself
+indispensably bound to adopt in discharge of the public trust reposed in me. If
+this produced in him unfavorable sentiments of me, I yet can never consider the
+conduct I pursued, with respect to him, either wrong or improper, however I may
+regret that it may have been differently viewed by him and that it excited his
+censure and animadversions. Should there appear in General Lee&rsquo;s writings
+any thing injurious or unfriendly to me, the impartial and dispassionate world
+must decide how far I deserved it from the general tenor of my conduct.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These attempts to undermine Washington owed their real vitality to the
+Continental Congress, and it is safe to say that but for Washington&rsquo;s
+political enemies no army rival would have ventured to push forward. In what
+the opposition in that body consisted, and to what length it went, are
+discussed elsewhere, but a glance at the reasons of hostility to him is proper
+here.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+John Adams declared himself &ldquo;sick of the Fabian systems,&rdquo; and in
+writing of the thanksgiving for the Saratoga Convention, he said that
+&ldquo;one cause of it ought to be that the glory of turning the tide of arms
+is not immediately due to the commander-in-chief…. If it had, idolatry and
+adulation would have been unbounded.&rdquo; James Lovell asserted that
+&ldquo;Our affairs are Fabiused into a very disagreeable posture,&rdquo; and
+wrote that &ldquo;depend upon it for every ten soldiers placed under the
+command of our Fabius, five recruits will be wanted annually during the
+war.&rdquo; William Williams agreed with Jonathan Trumbull that the time had
+come when &ldquo;a much exalted character should make way for a
+<i>general</i>&rdquo; and suggested if this was not done
+&ldquo;voluntarily,&rdquo; those to whom the public looked should &ldquo;see to
+it.&rdquo; Abraham Clark thought &ldquo;we may talk of the Enemy&rsquo;s
+Cruelty as we will, but we have no greater Cruelty to complain of than the
+Management of our Army.&rdquo; Jonathan D. Sargent asserted that &ldquo;we want
+a general&mdash;thousands of Lives &amp; Millions of Property are yearly
+sacrificed to the Insufficiency of our Commander-in-Chief&mdash;Two Battles he
+has lost for us by two such Blunders as might have disgraced a Soldier of three
+months standing, and yet we are so attached to this Man that I fear we shall
+rather sink with him than throw him off our Shoulders. And sink we must under
+his Management. Such Feebleness, &amp; Want of Authority, such Confusion &amp;
+Want of Discipline, such Waste, such destruction would exhaust the Wealth of
+both the Indies &amp; annihilate the armies of all Europe and Asia.&rdquo;
+Richard Henry Lee agreed with Mifflin that Gates was needed to &ldquo;procure
+the indispensable changes in our Army.&rdquo; Other Congressmen who were
+inimical to Washington, either by openly expressed opinion or by vote, were
+Elbridge Gerry, Samuel Adams, William Ellery, Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sherman,
+Samuel Chase, and F.L. Lee. Later, when Washington&rsquo;s position was more
+secure, Gerry and R.H. Lee wrote to him affirming their friendship, and to both
+the General replied without a suggestion of ill-feeling, nor does he seem, in
+later life, to have felt a trace of personal animosity towards any one of the
+men who had been in opposition to him in Congress. Of this enmity in the army
+and Congress Washington wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is easy to bear the first, and even the devices of private enemies
+whose ill will only arises from their common hatred to the cause we are engaged
+in, are to me tolerable; yet, I confess, I cannot help feeling the most painful
+sensations, whenever I have reason to believe I am the object of persecution to
+men, who are embarked in the same general interest, and whose friendship my
+heart does not reproach me with, ever having done any thing to forfeit. But
+with many, it is a sufficient cause to hate and wish the ruin of a man, because
+he has been happy enough, to be the object of <i>his country&rsquo;s</i>
+favor.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The political course of Washington while President produced the alienation of
+the two Virginians whom he most closely associated with himself in the early
+part of his administration. With Madison the break does not seem to have come
+from any positive ill-feeling, but was rather an abandonment of intercourse as
+the differences of opinion became more pronounced. The disagreement with
+Jefferson was more acute, though probably never forced to an open rupture. To
+his political friends Jefferson in 1796 wrote that the measures pursued by the
+administration were carried out &ldquo;under the sanction of a name which has
+done too much good not to be sufficient to cover harm also,&rdquo; and that he
+hoped the President&rsquo;s &ldquo;honesty and his political errors may not
+furnish a second occasion to exclaim, &lsquo;curse on his virtues,
+they&rsquo;ve undone his country.&rsquo;&rdquo; Henry Lee warned Washington of
+the undercurrent of criticism, and when Jefferson heard indirectly of this he
+wrote his former chief that &ldquo;I learn that [Lee] has thought it worth his
+while to try to sow tares between you and me, by representing me as still
+engaged in the bustle of politics &amp; in turbulence &amp; intrigue against
+the government. I never believed for a moment that this could make any
+impression on you, or that your knowledge of me would not overweigh the slander
+of an intriguer dirtily employed in sifting the conversations of my
+table.&rdquo; To this Washington replied,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As you have mentioned the subject yourself, it would not be frank,
+candid or friendly to conceal, that your conduct has been represented as
+derogating from that opinion <i>I</i> had conceived you entertained of me;
+that, to your particular friends and connexions you have described, and they
+have denounced me as a person under a dangerous influence; and that, if I would
+listen more to some <i>other</i> opinions, all would be well. My answer
+invariably has been, that I had never discovered any thing in the conduct of
+Mr. Jefferson to raise suspicions in my mind of his insincerity; that, if he
+would retrace my public conduct while he was in the administration, abundant
+proofs would occur to him, that truth and right decisions were the <i>sole</i>
+objects of my pursuit; that there was as many instances within his own
+knowledge of my having decided <i>against</i> as in <i>favor</i> of the
+opinions of the person evidently alluded to; and, I was no believer in the
+infallibility of the politics or measures of <i>any man living</i>. In short
+that I was no party man myself and the first wish of my heart was, if parties
+did exist, to reconcile them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As proof upon proof of Jefferson&rsquo;s secret enmity accumulated, Washington
+ceased to trust his disclaimers, and finally wrote to one of his informants,
+&ldquo;Nothing short of the evidence you have adduced, corroborative of
+intimations which I had received long before through another channel, could
+have shaken my belief in the sincerity of a friendship, which I had conceived
+as possessed for me by the person to whom you allude. But attempts to injure
+those, who are supposed to stand well in the estimation of the people, and are
+stumbling blocks in the way, by misrepresenting their political tenets, thereby
+to destroy all confidence in them, are among the means by which the government
+is to be assailed, and the constitution destroyed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once convinced, all relations with Jefferson were terminated. It is interesting
+in this connection to note something repeated by Madison, to the effect that
+&ldquo;General Lafayette related to me the following anecdote, which I shall
+repeat as nearly as I can in his own words. &lsquo;When I last saw Mr.
+Jefferson,&rsquo; he observed, &lsquo;we conversed a good deal about General
+Washington, and Mr. Jefferson expressed high admiration of his character. He
+remarked particularly that he and Hamilton often disagreed when they were
+members of the Cabinet, and that General Washington would sometimes favor the
+opinion of one and sometimes the other, with an apparent strict impartiality.
+And Mr. Jefferson added that, so sound was Washington&rsquo;s judgment, that he
+was commonly convinced afterwards of the accuracy of his decision, whether it
+accorded with the opinion he had himself first advanced or not.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus20"></a>
+<img src="images/img20.jpg" width="389" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">EARLIEST SIGNATURE OF WASHINGTON</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+A third Virginian who was almost as closely associated was Edmund Randolph.
+There had been a friendship with his father, until he turned Tory and went to
+England, when, according to Washington&rsquo;s belief, he wrote the
+&ldquo;forged letters&rdquo; which gave Washington so much trouble. For the
+sake of the old friendship, however, he gave the son a position on his staff,
+and from that time was his friend and correspondent. In the first
+administration he was made Attorney-General, and when Jefferson retired from
+office he became Secretary of State. In this position he was charged with
+political dishonesty. Washington gave him a chance to explain, but instead he
+resigned from office and published what he called &ldquo;a vindication,&rdquo;
+in which he charged the President with &ldquo;prejudging,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;concealment,&rdquo; and &ldquo;want of generosity.&rdquo; Continuing, he
+said, &ldquo;never … could I have believed that in addressing you … I should
+use any other language than that of a friend. From my early period of life, I
+was taught to esteem you&mdash;as I advanced in years, I was habituated to
+revere you:&mdash;you strengthened my prepossessions by marks of
+attention.&rdquo; And in another place he acknowledged the weakness of his
+attack by saying, &ldquo;still however, those very objections, the very
+reputation which you have acquired, will cause it to be asked, why you should
+be suspected of acting towards me, in any other manner, than deliberately,
+justly and even kindly?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the preparation of this pamphlet Randolph wrote the President a letter which
+the latter asserted was &ldquo;full of innuendoes,&rdquo; and one statement in
+the pamphlet he denounced as being &ldquo;as impudent and insolent an assertion
+as it is false.&rdquo; And his irritation at this treatment from one he had
+always befriended gave rise to an incident, narrated by James Ross, at a
+breakfast at the President&rsquo;s, when &ldquo;after a little while the
+Secretary of War came in, and said to Washington, &lsquo;Have you seen Mr.
+Randolph&rsquo;s pamphlet?&rsquo; &lsquo;I have,&rsquo; said Washington,
+&lsquo;and, by the eternal God, he is the damnedest liar on the face of the
+earth!&rsquo; and as he spoke he brought his fist down upon the table with all
+his strength, and with a violence which made the cups and plates start from
+their places.&rdquo; Fortunately, the attack was ineffective; indeed, Hamilton
+wrote that &ldquo;I consider it as amounting to a confession of guilt; and I am
+persuaded this will be the universal opinion. His attempts against you are
+viewed by all whom I have seen, as base. They will certainly fail of their aim,
+and will do good rather than harm, to the public cause and to yourself. It
+appears to me that, by you, no notice can be, or ought to be, taken of the
+publication. It contains its own antidote.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not content with this double giving up of what to any man of honor was
+confidential, Randolph, a little later, rested under Washington&rsquo;s
+suspicions of a third time breaking the seal of official secrecy by sending a
+Cabinet paper to the newspapers for no other purpose than to stir up feeling
+against Washington. But after his former patron&rsquo;s death regret came, and
+Randolph wrote to Bushrod Washington, &ldquo;If I could now present myself
+before your venerated uncle it would be my pride to confess my contrition that
+I suffered my irritation, be the cause what it might, to use some of those
+expressions respecting him which, at this moment … I wish to recall as being
+inconsistent with my subsequent convictions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another type of enemy, more or less the result of this differing with
+Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Randolph, was sundry editors and writers who
+gathered under their patronage and received aids of money or of secret
+information. One who prospered for a time by abusing Washington was Philip
+Freneau. He was a college friend of Madison&rsquo;s, and was induced to
+undertake the task by his and Jefferson&rsquo;s urging, though the latter
+denied this later. As aid to the undertaking, Jefferson, then Secretary of
+State, gave Freneau an office, and thus produced the curious condition of a
+clerk in the government writing and printing savage attacks on the President.
+Washington was much irritated at the abuse, and Jefferson in his
+&ldquo;Anas&rdquo; said that he &ldquo;was evidently sore &amp; warm and I took
+his intention to be that I should interpose in some way with Freneau, perhaps
+withdraw his appointment of translating clerk to my office. But I will not do
+it.&rdquo; According to the French minister, some of the worst of these
+articles were written by Jefferson himself, and Freneau is reported to have
+said, late in life, that many of them were written by the Secretary of State.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Far more indecent was the paper conducted by Benjamin Franklin Bache, who,
+early in the Presidency, applied for a place in the government, which for some
+reason not now known was refused. According to Cobbett, who hated him,
+&ldquo;this … scoundrel … spent several years in hunting offices under the
+Federal Government, and being constantly rejected, he at last became its most
+bitter foe. Hence his abuse of General Washington, whom at the time he was
+soliciting a place he panegyrized up to the third heaven.&rdquo; Certain it is
+that under his editorship the <i>General Advertiser</i> and <i>Aurora</i> took
+the lead in all criticisms of Washington, and not content with these
+opportunities for daily and weekly abuse, Bache (though the fact that they were
+forgeries was notorious) reprinted the &ldquo;spurious letters which issued
+from a certain press in New York during the war, with a view to destroy the
+confidence which the army and community might have had in my political
+principles,&mdash;and which have lately been republished with greater avidity
+and perseverance than ever, by Mr. Bache to answer the same nefarious purpose
+with the latter,&rdquo; and Washington added that &ldquo;immense pains has been
+taken by this said Mr. Bache, who is no more than the agent or tool of those
+who are endeavoring to destroy the confidence of the people, in the officers of
+Government (chosen by themselves) to disseminate these counterfeit
+letters.&rdquo; In addition Bache wrote a pamphlet, with the avowal that
+&ldquo;the design of these remarks is to prove the want of claim in Mr.
+Washington either to the gratitude or confidence of his country…. Our chief
+object … is to <i>destroy undue impressions in favor of Mr.
+Washington</i>.&rdquo; Accordingly it charged that Washington was
+&ldquo;treacherous,&rdquo; &ldquo;mischievous,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;inefficient;&rdquo; dwelt upon his &ldquo;farce of
+disinterestedness,&rdquo; his &ldquo;stately journeyings through the American
+continent in search of personal incense,&rdquo; his &ldquo;ostentatious
+professions of piety,&rdquo; his &ldquo;pusillanimous neglect,&rdquo; his
+&ldquo;little passions,&rdquo; his &ldquo;ingratitude,&rdquo; his &ldquo;want
+of merit,&rdquo; his &ldquo;insignificance,&rdquo; and his &ldquo;spurious
+fame.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The successor of Bache as editor of these two journals, William Duane, came to
+the office with an equal hatred of Washington, having already written a savage
+pamphlet against him. In this the President was charged with &ldquo;treacherous
+mazes of passion,&rdquo; and with having &ldquo;discharged the loathings of a
+sick mind.&rdquo; Furthermore it asserted &ldquo;that had you obtained
+promotion … after Braddock&rsquo;s defeat, your sword would have been drawn
+against your country,&rdquo; that Washington &ldquo;retained the barbarous
+usages of the feudal system and kept men in Livery,&rdquo; and that
+&ldquo;posterity will in vain search for the monuments of wisdom in your
+administration;&rdquo; the purpose of the pamphlet, by the author&rsquo;s own
+statement, being &ldquo;to expose the <i>Personal Idolatry</i> into which we
+have been heedlessly running,&rdquo; and to show the people the
+&ldquo;fallibility of the most favored of men.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A fourth in this quartet of editors was the notorious James Thomson Callender,
+whose publications were numerous, as were also his impeachments against
+Washington. By his own account, this writer maintained, &ldquo;Mr. Washington
+has been twice a traitor,&rdquo; has &ldquo;authorized the robbery and ruin of
+the remnants of his own army,&rdquo; has &ldquo;broke the constitution,&rdquo;
+and Callender fumes over &ldquo;the vileness of the adulation which has been
+paid&rdquo; to him, claiming that &ldquo;the extravagant popularity possessed
+by this citizen reflects the utmost ridicule on the discernment of
+America.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bitterest attack, however, was penned by Thomas Paine. For many years there
+was good feeling between the two, and in 1782, when Paine was in financial
+distress, Washington used his influence to secure him a position &ldquo;out of
+friendship for me,&rdquo; as Paine acknowledged. Furthermore, Washington tried
+to get the Virginia Legislature to pension Paine or give him a grant of land,
+an endeavor for which the latter was &ldquo;exceedingly obliged.&rdquo; When
+Paine published his &ldquo;Rights of Man&rdquo; he dedicated it to Washington,
+with an inscription dwelling on his &ldquo;exemplary virtue&rdquo; and his
+&ldquo;benevolence;&rdquo; while in the body of the work he asserted that no
+monarch of Europe had a character to compare with Washington&rsquo;s, which was
+such as to &ldquo;put all those men called kings to shame.&rdquo; Shortly after
+this, however, Washington refused to appoint him Postmaster-General; and still
+later, when Paine had involved himself with the French, the President, after
+consideration, decided that governmental interference was not proper. Enraged
+by these two acts, Paine published a pamphlet in which he charged Washington
+with &ldquo;encouraging and swallowing the greatest adulation,&rdquo; with
+being &ldquo;the patron of fraud,&rdquo; with a &ldquo;mean and servile
+submission to the insults of one nation, treachery and ingratitude to
+another,&rdquo; with &ldquo;falsehood,&rdquo; &ldquo;ingratitude,&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;pusillanimity;&rdquo; and finally, after alleging that the General had
+not &ldquo;served America with more disinterestedness or greater zeal, than
+myself, and I know not if with better effect,&rdquo; Paine closed his attack by
+the assertion, &ldquo;and as to you, sir, <i>treacherous in private
+friendship</i>, and a <i>hypocrite</i> in public life, the world will be
+puzzled to decide, whether you are an <i>apostate</i> or an <i>impostor</i>;
+whether you have <i>abandoned good principles</i>, or whether <i>you ever had
+any?</i>&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington never, in any situation, took public notice of these attacks, and he
+wrote of a possible one, &ldquo;I am gliding down the stream of life, and wish,
+as is natural, that my remaining days may be undisturbed and tranquil; and,
+conscious of my integrity, I would willingly hope, that nothing would occur
+tending to give me anxiety; but should anything present itself in this or any
+other publication, I shall never undertake the painful task of recrimination,
+nor do I know that I should even enter upon my justification.&rdquo; To a
+friend he said, &ldquo;my temper leads me to peace and harmony with all men;
+and it is peculiarly my wish to avoid any feuds or dissentions with those who
+are embarked in the same great national interest with myself; as every
+difference of this kind must in its consequence be very injurious.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap11"></a>XI<br/>
+SOLDIER</h2>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My inclinations,&rdquo; wrote Washington at twenty-three, &ldquo;are
+strongly bent to arms,&rdquo; and the tendency was a natural one, coming not
+merely from his Indian-fighting great-grandfather, but from his elder brother
+Lawrence, who had held a king&rsquo;s commission in the Carthagena expedition,
+and was one of the few officers who gained repute in that ill-fated attempt. At
+Mount Vernon George must have heard much of fighting as a lad, and when the ill
+health of Lawrence compelled resignation of command of the district militia,
+the younger brother succeeded to the adjutancy. This quickly led to the command
+of the first Virginia regiment when the French and Indian War was brewing.
+Twice Washington resigned in disgust during the course of the war, but each
+time his natural bent, or &ldquo;glowing zeal,&rdquo; as he phrased it, drew
+him back into the service. The moment the news of Lexington reached Virginia he
+took the lead in organizing an armed force, and in the Virginia Convention of
+1775, according to Lynch, he &ldquo;made the most eloquent speech … that ever
+was made. Says he, &lsquo;I will raise one thousand men, enlist them at my own
+expense, and march myself at their head for the relief of Boston.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+At fifty-three, in speaking of war, Washington said, &ldquo;my first wish is to
+see this plague to mankind banished from off the earth;&rdquo; but during his
+whole life, when there was fighting to be done, he was among those who
+volunteered for the service.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The personal courage of the man was very great. Jefferson, indeed, said
+&ldquo;he was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calmest
+unconcern.&rdquo; Before he had ever been in action, he noted of a certain
+position that it was &ldquo;a charming field for an encounter,&rdquo; and his
+first engagement he described as follows: &ldquo;I fortunately escaped without
+any wound, for the right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and received all
+the enemy&rsquo;s fire, and it was the part where the man was killed, and the
+rest wounded. I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is something
+charming in the sound.&rdquo; In his second battle, though he knew that he was
+&ldquo;to be attacked and by unequal numbers,&rdquo; he promised beforehand to
+&ldquo;withstand&rdquo; them &ldquo;if there are five to one,&rdquo; adding,
+&ldquo;I doubt not, but if you hear I am beaten, but you will, at the same
+[time,] hear that we have done our duty, in fighting as long [as] there was a
+possibility of hope,&rdquo; and in this he was as good as his word. When
+sickness detained him in the Braddock march, he halted only on condition that
+he should receive timely notice of when the fighting was to begin, and in that
+engagement he exposed himself so that &ldquo;I had four bullets through my
+coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, altho&rsquo; death was
+levelling my companions on every side of me!&rdquo; Not content with such an
+experience, in the second march on Fort Duquesne he &ldquo;prayed&rdquo; the
+interest of a friend to have his regiment part of the &ldquo;light
+troops&rdquo; that were to push forward in advance of the main army.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same carelessness of personal danger was shown all through the Revolution.
+At the battle of Brooklyn, on New York Island, at Trenton, Germantown, and
+Monmouth, he exposed himself to the enemy&rsquo;s fire, and at the siege of
+Yorktown an eyewitness relates that &ldquo;during the assault, the British kept
+up an incessant firing of cannon and musketry from their whole line. His
+Excellency General Washington, Generals Lincoln and Knox with their aids,
+having dismounted, were standing in an exposed situation waiting the result.
+Colonel Cobb, one of General Washington&rsquo;s aids, solicitous for his
+safety, said to his Excellency, &lsquo;Sir, you are too much exposed here, had
+you not better step back a little?&rsquo; &lsquo;Colonel Cobb,&rsquo; replied
+his Excellency, &lsquo;if you are afraid, you have liberty to step
+back.&rsquo;&rdquo; It is no cause for wonder that an officer wrote, &ldquo;our
+army love their General very much, but they have one thing against him, which
+is the little care he takes of himself in any action. His personal bravery, and
+the desire he has of animating his troops by example, make him fearless of
+danger. This occasions us much uneasiness.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus21"></a>
+<img src="images/img21.jpg" width="370" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">WASHINGTON&rsquo;S TRANSCRIPT OF THE RULES OF CIVILITY,
+CIRCA 1744</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+This fearlessness was equally shown by his hatred and, indeed,
+non-comprehension of cowardice. In his first battle, upon the French
+surrendering, he wrote to the governor, &ldquo;if the whole Detach&rsquo;t of
+the French behave with no more Resolution than this chosen Party did, I flatter
+myself we shall have no g&rsquo;t trouble in driving them to the
+d&mdash;-.&rdquo; At Braddock&rsquo;s defeat, though the regiment he had
+commanded &ldquo;behaved like men and died like soldiers,&rdquo; he could
+hardly find words to express his contempt for the conduct of the British
+&ldquo;cowardly regulars,&rdquo; writing of their &ldquo;dastardly
+behavior&rdquo; when they &ldquo;broke and ran as sheep before hounds,&rdquo;
+and raging over being &ldquo;most scandalously&rdquo; and &ldquo;shamefully
+beaten.&rdquo; When the British first landed on New York Island, and two New
+England brigades ran away from &ldquo;a small party of the enemy,&rdquo;
+numbering about fifty, without firing a shot, he completely lost his
+self-control at their &ldquo;dastardly behavior,&rdquo; and riding in among
+them, it is related, he laid his cane over the officers&rsquo; backs,
+&ldquo;damned them for cowardly rascals,&rdquo; and, drawing his sword, struck
+the soldiers right and left with the flat of it, while snapping his pistols at
+them. Greene states that the fugitives &ldquo;left his Excellency on the ground
+within eighty yards of the enemy, so vexed at the infamous conduct of the
+troops, that he sought death rather than life,&rdquo; and Gordon adds that the
+General was only saved from his &ldquo;hazardous position&rdquo; by his aides,
+who &ldquo;caught the bridle of his horse and gave him a different
+direction.&rdquo; At Monmouth an aide stated that when he met a man running
+away he was &ldquo;exasperated … and threatened the man … he would have him
+whipped,&rdquo; and General Scott says that on finding Lee retreating,
+&ldquo;he swore like an angel from heaven.&rdquo; Wherever in his letters he
+alludes to cowardice it is nearly always coupled with the adjectives
+&ldquo;infamous,&rdquo; &ldquo;scandalous,&rdquo; or others equally indicative
+of loss of temper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There can be no doubt that Washington had a high temper. Hamilton&rsquo;s
+allusion to his not being remarkable for &ldquo;good temper&rdquo; has already
+been quoted, as has also Stuart&rsquo;s remark that &ldquo;all his features
+were indicative of the strongest and most ungovernable passions, and had he
+been born in the forests, he would have been the fiercest man among the savage
+tribes.&rdquo; Again Stuart is quoted by his daughter as follows:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;While talking one day with General Lee, my father happened to remark
+that Washington had a tremendous temper, but held it under wonderful control.
+General Lee breakfasted with the President and Mrs. Washington a few days
+afterwards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;I saw your portrait the other day,&rsquo; said the General,
+&lsquo;but Stuart says you have a tremendous temper.&rsquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;Upon my word,&rsquo; said Mrs. Washington, coloring, &lsquo;Mr.
+Stuart takes a great deal upon himself to make such a remark.&rsquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;But stay, my dear lady,&rsquo; said General Lee, &lsquo;he added
+that the president had it under wonderful control.&rsquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;With something like a smile, General Washington remarked, &lsquo;He is
+right.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lear, too, mentions an outburst of temper when he heard of the defeat of St.
+Clair, and elsewhere records that in reading politics aloud to Washington
+&ldquo;he appeared much affected, and spoke with some degree of asperity on the
+subject, which I endeavored to moderate, as I always did on such
+occasions.&rdquo; How he swore at Randolph and at Freneau is mentioned
+elsewhere. Jefferson is evidence that &ldquo;his temper was naturally irritable
+and high-toned, but reflection and resolution had obtained a firm and habitual
+ascendency over it. If however it broke its bonds, he was most tremendous in
+his wrath.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Strikingly at variance with these personal qualities of courage and hot blood
+is the &ldquo;Fabian&rdquo; policy for which he is so generally credited, and a
+study of his military career goes far to dispel the conception that Washington
+was the cautious commander that he is usually pictured.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the first campaign, though near a vastly superior French force, Washington
+precipitated the conflict by attacking and capturing an advance party, though
+the delay of a few days would have brought him large reinforcements. As a
+consequence he was very quickly surrounded, and after a day&rsquo;s fighting
+was compelled to surrender. In what light his conduct was viewed at the time is
+shown in two letters, Dr. William Smith writing, &ldquo;the British cause,… has
+received a fatal Blow by the entire defeat of Washington, whom I cannot but
+accuse of Foolhardiness to have ventured so near a vigilant enemy without being
+certain of their numbers, or waiting for Junction of some hundreds of our best
+Forces, who are within a few Days&rsquo; March of him,&rdquo; and Ann Willing
+echoed this by saying, &ldquo;the melancholy news has just arrived of the loss
+of sixty men belonging to Col. Washington&rsquo;s Company, who were killed on
+the spot, and of the Colonel and Half-King being taken prisoners, all owing to
+the obstinacy of Washington, who would not wait for the arrival of
+reinforcements.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hardly less venturesome was he in the Braddock campaign, for &ldquo;the General
+(before they met in council,) asked my opinion concerning the expedition. I
+urged it, in the warmest terms I was able, to push forward, if we even did it
+with a small but chosen band, with such artillery and light stores as were
+absolutely necessary; leaving the heavy artillery, baggage, &amp;c. with the
+rear division of the army, to follow by slow and easy marches, which they might
+do safely, while we were advanced in front.&rdquo; How far the defeat of that
+force was due to the division thus urged it is not possible to say, but it
+undoubtedly made the French bolder and the English more subject to panic.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same spirit was manifested in the Revolution. During the siege of Boston he
+wrote to Reed, &ldquo;I proposed [an assault] in council; but behold, though we
+had been waiting all the year for this favorable event the enterprise was
+thought too dangerous. Perhaps it was; perhaps the irksomeness of my situation
+led me to undertake more than could be warranted by prudence. I did not think
+so, and I am sure yet, that the enterprise, if it had been undertaken with
+resolution, must have succeeded.&rdquo; He added that &ldquo;the enclosed
+council of war:… being almost unanimous, I must suppose it to be right;
+although, from a thorough conviction of the necessity of attempting something
+against the ministerial troops before a reinforcement should arrive, and while
+we were favored with the ice, I was not only ready but willing, and desirous of
+making the assault,&rdquo; and a little later he said that had he but foreseen
+certain contingencies &ldquo;all the generals upon earth should not have
+convinced me of the propriety of delaying an attack upon Boston.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the defence of New York there was no chance to attack, but even when our
+lines at Brooklyn had been broken and the best brigades in the army captured,
+Washington hurried troops across the river, and intended to contest the ground,
+ordering a retreat only when it was voted in the affirmative by a council of
+war. At Harlem plains he was the attacking party.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How with a handful of troops he turned the tide of defeat by attacking at
+Trenton and Princeton is too well known to need recital. At Germantown, too,
+though having but a few days before suffered defeat, he attacked and well-nigh
+won a brilliant victory, because the British officers did not dream that his
+vanquished army could possibly take the initiative. When the foe settled down
+into winter quarters in Philadelphia Laurens wrote, &ldquo;our
+Commander-in-chief wishing ardently to gratify the public expectation by making
+an attack upon the enemy … went yesterday to view the works.&rdquo; On
+submitting the project to a council, however, they stood eleven to four against
+the attempt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The most marked instance of Washington&rsquo;s un-Fabian preferences, and proof
+of the old saying that &ldquo;councils of war never fight,&rdquo; is furnished
+in the occurrences connected with the battle of Monmouth. When the British
+began their retreat across New Jersey, according to Hamilton &ldquo;the General
+unluckily called a council of war, the result of which would have done honor to
+the most honorable society of mid-wives and to them only. The purport was, that
+we should keep at a comfortable distance from the enemy, and keep up a vain
+parade of annoying them by detachment … The General, on mature reconsideration
+of what had been resolved on, determined to pursue a different line of conduct
+at all hazards.&rdquo; Concerning this decision Pickering wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;His great caution in respect to the enemy, acquired him the name of the
+American Fabius. From this <i>governing</i> policy he is said to have departed,
+when&rdquo; at Monmouth he &ldquo;indulged the most anxious desire to close
+with his antagonist in general action. Opposed to his wishes was the advice of
+his general officers. To this he for a time yielded; but as soon as he
+discovered that the enemy had reached Monmouth Court House, not more than
+twelve miles from the heights of Middletown, he determined that he should not
+escape without a blow.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pickering considered this a &ldquo;departure&rdquo; from Washington&rsquo;s
+&ldquo;usual practice and policy,&rdquo; and cites Wadsworth, who said, in
+reference to the battle of Monmouth, that the General appeared, on that
+occasion, &ldquo;to act from the impulses of his own mind.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thrice during the next three years plans for an attack on the enemy&rsquo;s
+lines at New York were matured, one of which had to be abandoned because the
+British had timely notice of it by the treachery of an American general, a
+second because the other generals disapproved the attempt, and, on the
+authority of Humphreys, &ldquo;the accidental intervention of some vessels
+prevented [another] attempt, which was more than once resumed afterwards.
+Notwithstanding this favorite project was not ultimately effected, it was
+evidently not less bold in conception or feasible in accomplishment, than that
+attempted so successfully at Trenton, or than that which was brought to so
+glorious an issue in the successful siege of Yorktown.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As this <i>résumé</i> indicates, the most noticeable trait of
+Washington&rsquo;s military career was a tendency to surrender his own opinions
+and wishes to those over whom he had been placed, and this resulted in a
+general agreement not merely that he was disposed to avoid action, but that he
+lacked decision. Thus his own aide, Reed, in obvious contrast to Washington,
+praised Lee because &ldquo;you have decision, a quality often wanted in minds
+otherwise valuable,&rdquo; continuing, &ldquo;Oh! General, an indecisive mind
+is one of the greatest misfortunes that can befall an army; how often have I
+lamented it this campaign,&rdquo; and Lee in reply alluded to &ldquo;that fatal
+indecision of mind.&rdquo; Pickering relates meeting General Greene and saying
+to him, &ldquo;&lsquo;I had once conceived an exalted opinion of General
+Washington&rsquo;s military talents; but since I have been with the army, I
+have seen nothing to increase that opinion.&rsquo; Greene answered, &lsquo;Why,
+the General does want decision: for my part, I decide in a moment.&rsquo; I
+used the word &lsquo;increase,&rsquo; though I meant &lsquo;support,&rsquo; but
+did not dare speak it.&rdquo; Wayne exclaimed &ldquo;if our worthy general will
+but follow his own good judgment without listening too much to some
+counsel!&rdquo; Edward Thornton, probably repeating the prevailing public
+estimate of the time rather than his own conclusion, said, &ldquo;a certain
+degree of indecision, however, a want of vigor and energy, may be observed in
+some of his actions, and are indeed the obvious result of too refined
+caution.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Undoubtedly this leaning on others and the want of decision were not merely due
+to a constitutional mistrust of his own ability, but also in a measure to real
+lack of knowledge. The French and Indian War, being almost wholly
+&ldquo;bush-fighting,&rdquo; was not of a kind to teach strategic warfare, and
+in his speech accepting the command Washington requested that &ldquo;it may be
+remembered by every gentleman in the room, that I this day declare with the
+utmost sincerity I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored
+with.&rdquo; Indeed, he very well described himself and his generals when he
+wrote of one officer, &ldquo;his wants are common to us all&mdash;the want of
+experience to move upon a large scale, for the limited and contracted
+knowledge, which any of us have in military matters, stands in very little
+stead.&rdquo; There can be no question that in most of the &ldquo;field&rdquo;
+engagements of the Revolution Washington was out-generalled by the British, and
+Jefferson made a just distinction when he spoke of his having often
+&ldquo;failed in the field, and rarely against an enemy in station, as at
+Boston and York.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lack of great military genius in the commander-in-chief has led British
+writers to ascribe the results of the war to the want of ability in their own
+generals, their view being well summed up by a writer in 1778, who said,
+&ldquo;in short, I am of the opinion … that any other General in the world than
+General Howe would have beaten General Washington; and any other General in the
+world than General Washington would have beaten General Howe.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This is, in effect, to overlook the true nature of the contest, for it was
+their very victories that defeated the British. They conquered New Jersey, to
+meet defeat; they captured Philadelphia, only to find it a danger; they
+established posts in North Carolina, only to abandon them; they overran
+Virginia, to lay down their arms at Yorktown. As Washington early in the war
+divined, the Revolution was &ldquo;a war of posts,&rdquo; and he urged the
+danger of &ldquo;dividing and subdividing our Force too much [so that] we shall
+have no one post sufficiently guarded,&rdquo; saying, &ldquo;it is a military
+observation strongly supported by experience, &lsquo;that a superior army may
+fall a sacrifice to an inferior, by an injudicious division.&rsquo;&rdquo; It
+was exactly this which defeated the British; every conquest they made weakened
+their force, and the war was not a third through when Washington said, &ldquo;I
+am well convinced myself, that the enemy, long ere this, are perfectly well
+satisfied, that the possession of our towns, while we have an army in the
+field, will avail them little.&rdquo; As Franklin said, when the news was
+announced that Howe had captured Philadelphia, &ldquo;No, Philadelphia has
+captured Howe.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The problem of the Revolution was not one of military strategy, but of keeping
+an army in existence, and it was in this that the commander-in-chief&rsquo;s
+great ability showed itself. The British could and did repeatedly beat the
+Continental army, but they could not beat the General, and so long as he was in
+the field there was a rallying ground for whatever fighting spirit there was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The difficulty of this task can hardly be over-magnified. When Washington
+assumed command of the forces before Boston, he &ldquo;found a mixed multitude
+of people … under very little discipline, order, or government,&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;confusion and disorder reigned in every department, which, in a little
+time, must have ended either in the separation of the army or fatal contests
+with one another.&rdquo; Before he was well in the saddle his general officers
+were quarrelling over rank, and resigning; there was such a scarcity of powder
+that it was out of the question for some months to do anything; and the British
+sent people infected with small-pox to the Continental army, with a consequent
+outbreak of that pest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hardly had he brought order out of chaos when the army he had taken such pains
+to discipline began to melt away, having been by political folly recruited for
+short terms, and the work was to be all done over. Again and again during the
+war regiments which had been enlisted for short periods left him at the most
+critical moment. Very typical occurrences he himself tells of, when Connecticut
+troops could &ldquo;not be prevailed upon to stay longer than their term
+(saving those who have enlisted for the next campaign, and mostly on furlough),
+and such a dirty, mercenary spirit pervades the whole, that I should not be at
+all surprised at any disaster that may happen,&rdquo; and when he described how
+in his retreat through New Jersey, &ldquo;The militia, instead of calling forth
+their utmost efforts to a brave and manly opposition in order to repair our
+losses, are dismayed, intractable, and impatient to return. Great numbers of
+them have gone off; in some instances, almost by whole regiments, by half ones,
+and by companies at a time.&rdquo; Another instance of this evil occurred when
+&ldquo;the Continental regiments from the eastern governments … agreed to stay
+six weeks beyond their term of enlistment…. For this extraordinary mark of
+their attachment to their country, I have agreed to give them a bounty of ten
+dollars per man, besides their pay running on.&rdquo; The men took the bounty,
+and nearly one-half went off a few days after.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor was this the only evil of the policy of short enlistments. Another was that
+the new troops not merely were green soldiers, but were without discipline. At
+New York Tilghman wrote that after the battle of Brooklyn the
+&ldquo;Eastern&rdquo; soldiers were &ldquo;plundering everything that comes in
+their way,&rdquo; and Washington in describing the condition said, &ldquo;every
+Hour brings the most distressing complaints of the Ravages of our own Troops
+who are become infinitely more formidable to the poor Farmers and Inhabitants
+than the common Enemy. Horses are taken out of the Continental Teams; the
+Baggage of Officers and the Hospital Stores, even the Quarters of General
+Officers are not exempt from Rapine.&rdquo; At the most critical moment of the
+war the New Jersey militia not merely deserted, but captured and took with them
+nearly the whole stores of the army. As the General truly wrote, &ldquo;the
+Dependence which the Congress have placed upon the militia, has already greatly
+injured, and I fear will totally ruin our cause. Being subject to no controul
+themselves, they introduce disorder among the troops, whom you have attempted
+to discipline, while the change in their living brings on sickness; this makes
+them Impatient to get home, which spreads universally, and introduces
+abominable desertions.&rdquo; &ldquo;The collecting militia,&rdquo; he said
+elsewhere, &ldquo;depends entirely upon the prospects of the day. If favorable
+they throng in to you; if not, they will not move.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To make matters worse, politics were allowed to play a prominent part in the
+selection of officers, and Washington complained that &ldquo;the different
+States [were], without regard to the qualifications of an officer, quarrelling
+about the appointments, and nominating such as are not fit to be shoeblacks,
+from the attachments of this or that member of Assembly.&rdquo; As a result, so
+he wrote of New England, &ldquo;their officers are generally of the lowest
+class of the people; and, instead of setting a good example to their men, are
+leading them into every kind of mischief, one species of which is plundering
+the inhabitants, under the pretence of their being Tories.&rdquo; To this
+political motive he himself would not yield, and a sample of his appointments
+was given when a man was named &ldquo;because he stands unconnected with either
+of these Governments; or with this, or that or tother man; for between you and
+me there is more in this than you can easily imagine,&rdquo; and he asserted
+that &ldquo;I will not have any Gentn. introduced from family connexion, or
+local attachments, to the prejudice of the Service.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To misbehaving soldiers Washington showed little mercy. In his first service he
+had deserters and plunderers &ldquo;flogged,&rdquo; and threatened that if he
+could &ldquo;lay hands&rdquo; on one particular culprit, &ldquo;I would try the
+effect of 1000 lashes.&rdquo; At another time he had &ldquo;a Gallows near 40
+feet high erected (which has terrified the <i>rest</i> exceedingly) and I am
+determined if I can be justified in the proceeding, to hang two or three on it,
+as an example to others.&rdquo; When he took command of the Continental army he
+&ldquo;made a pretty good slam among such kind of officers as the Massachusetts
+Government abound in since I came to this Camp, having broke one Colo, and two
+Captains for cowardly behavior in the action on Bunker&rsquo;s Hill,&mdash;two
+Captains for drawing more provisions and pay than they had men in their
+Company&mdash;and one for being absent from his Post when the Enemy appeared
+there and burnt a House just by it Besides these, I have at this time&mdash;one
+Colo., one Major, one Captn., &amp; two subalterns under arrest for
+tryal&mdash;In short I spare none yet fear it will not at all do as these
+People seem to be too inattentive to every thing but their Interest&rdquo;
+&ldquo;I am sorry,&rdquo; he wrote, &ldquo;to be under a Necessity of making
+frequent Examples among the Officers,&rdquo; but &ldquo;as nothing can be more
+fatal to an Army, than Crimes of this kind, I am determined by every Motive of
+Reward and Punishment to prevent them in future.&rdquo; Even when plundering
+was avoided there were short commons for those who clung to the General. The
+commander-in-chief wrote Congress that &ldquo;they have often, very often, been
+reduced to the necessity of Eating Salt Porke, or Beef not for a day, or a week
+but months together without Vegetables, or money to buy them;&rdquo; and again,
+he complained that &ldquo;the Soldiers [were forced to] eat every kind of horse
+food but Hay. Buckwheat, common wheat, Rye and Indn. Corn was the composition
+of the Meal which made their bread. As an Army they bore it, [but] accompanied
+by the want of Cloaths, Blankets, &amp;c., will produce frequent desertions in
+all armies and so it happens with us, tho&rsquo; it did not excite a
+mutiny.&rdquo; Even the horses suffered, and Washington wrote to the
+quartermaster-general, &ldquo;Sir, my horses I am told have not had a mouthful
+of long or short forage for three days. They have eaten up their mangers and
+are now, (though wanted for immediate use,) scarcely able to stand.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two results were sickness and discontent. At times one-fourth of the soldiers
+were on the sick-list. Three times portions of the army mutinied, and nothing
+but Washington&rsquo;s influence prevented the disorder from spreading. At the
+end of the war, when, according to Hamilton, &ldquo;the army had secretly
+determined not to lay down their arms until due provision and a satisfactory
+prospect should be offered on the subject of their pay,&rdquo; the
+commander-in-chief urged Congress to do them justice, writing, &ldquo;the
+fortitude&mdash;the long, &amp; great suffering of this army is unexampled in
+history; but there is an end to all things &amp; I fear we are very near to
+this. Which, more than probably will oblige me to stick very close to my flock
+this winter, &amp; try like a careful physician, to prevent, if possible, the
+disorders getting to an incurable height.&rdquo; In this he judged rightly, for
+by his influence alone was the army prevented from adopting other than peaceful
+measures to secure itself justice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A chief part of these difficulties the Continental Congress is directly
+responsible for, and the reason for their conduct is to be found largely in the
+circumstances of Washington&rsquo;s appointment to the command.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus22"></a>
+<img src="images/img22.jpg" width="406" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">LIFE MASK OF WASHINGTON</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+When the Second Congress met, in May, 1775, the battle of Lexington had been
+fought, and twenty thousand minute-men were assembled about Boston. To pay and
+feed such a horde was wholly beyond the ability of New England, and her
+delegates came to the Congress bent upon getting that body to assume the
+expense, or, as the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts naively put it,
+&ldquo;we have the greatest Confidence in the Wisdom and Ability of the
+Continent to support us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The other colonies saw this in a different light. Massachusetts, without our
+advice, has begun a war and embodied an army; let Massachusetts pay her own
+bills, was their point of view. &ldquo;I have found this Congress like the
+last,&rdquo; wrote John Adams. &ldquo;When we first came together, I found a
+strong jealousy of us from New England, and the Massachusettes in particular,
+suspicions entertained of designs of independency, an American republic,
+Presbyterian principles, and twenty other things. Our sentiments were heard in
+Congress with great caution, and seemed to make but little impression.&rdquo;
+Yet &ldquo;every post brought me letters from my friends … urging in pathetic
+terms the impossibility of keeping their men together without the assistance of
+Congress.&rdquo; &ldquo;I was daily urging all these things, but we were
+embarrassed with more than one difficulty, not only with the party in favor of
+the petition to the King, and the party who were zealous of independence, but a
+third party, which was a southern party against a Northern, and a jealousy
+against a New England army under the command of a New England General.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Under these circumstances a political deal was resorted to, and Virginia was
+offered by John and Samuel Adams, as the price of an adoption and support of
+the New England army, the appointment of commander-in-chief, though the offer
+was not made with over-good grace, and only because &ldquo;we could carry
+nothing without conceding it.&rdquo; There was some dissension among the
+Virginia delegates as to who should receive the appointment, Washington himself
+recommending an old companion in arms, General Andrew Lewis, and &ldquo;more
+than one,&rdquo; Adams says of the Virginia delegates, were &ldquo;very cool
+about the appointment of Washington, and particularly Mr. Pendleton was very
+clear and full against it&rdquo; Washington himself said the appointment was
+due to &ldquo;partiality of the Congress, joined to a political motive;&rdquo;
+and, hard as it is to realize, it was only the grinding political necessity of
+the New England colonies which secured to Washington the place for which in the
+light of to-day he seems to have been created.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a matter of course, there was not the strongest liking felt for the General
+thus chosen by the New England delegates, and this was steadily lessened by
+Washington&rsquo;s frank criticism of the New England soldiers and officers
+already noticed. Equally bitter to the New England delegates and their allies
+were certain army measures that Washington pressed upon the attention of
+Congress. He urged and urged that the troops should be enlisted for the war,
+that promotions should be made from the army as a whole, and not from the
+colony- or State-line alone, and most unpopular of all, that since Continental
+soldiers could not otherwise be obtained, a bounty should be given to secure
+them, and that as compensation for their inadequate pay half-pay should be
+given them after the war. He eventually carried these points, but at the price
+of an entire alienation of the democratic party in the Congress, who wished to
+have the war fought with militia, to have all the officers elected annually,
+and to whom the very suggestion of pensions was like a red rag to a bull.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A part of their motive in this was unquestionably to prevent the danger of a
+standing army, and of allowing the commander-in-chief to become popular with
+the soldiers. Very early in the war Washington noted &ldquo;the <i>jealousy</i>
+which Congress unhappily entertain of the army, and which, if reports are
+right, some members labor to establish.&rdquo; And he complained that &ldquo;I
+see a distrust and jealousy of military power, that the commander-in-chief has
+not an opportunity, even by recommendation, to give the least assurance of
+reward for the most essential services.&rdquo; The French minister told his
+government that when a committee was appointed to institute certain army
+reforms, delegates in Congress &ldquo;insisted on the danger of associating the
+Commander-in-chief with it, whose influence, it was stated, was already too
+great,&rdquo; and when France sent money to aid the American cause, with the
+provision that it should be subject to the order of the General, it aroused, a
+writer states, &ldquo;the jealousy of Congress, the members of which were not
+satisfied that the head of the army should possess such an agency in addition
+to his military power.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His enemies in the Congress took various means to lessen his influence and
+mortify him. Burke states that in the discussion of one question &ldquo;Jersey,
+Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina voted for expunging it; the
+four Eastern States, Virginia and Georgia for retaining it. There appeared
+through this whole debate a great desire, in some of the delegates from the
+Eastern States, and in one from New Jersey, to insult the General,&rdquo; and a
+little later the Congress passed a &ldquo;resolve which,&rdquo; according to
+James Lovell, &ldquo;was meant to rap a Demi G&mdash;over the knuckles.&rdquo;
+Nor was it by commission, but as well by omission, that they showed their ill
+feeling. John Laurens told his father that
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;there is a conduct observed towards&rdquo; the General &ldquo;by certain
+great men, which as it is humiliating, must abate his happiness…. The Commander
+in Chief of this army is not sufficiently informed of all that is known by
+Congress of European affairs. Is it not a galling circumstance, for him to
+collect the most important intelligence piecemeal, and as they choose to give
+it, from gentlemen who come from York? Apart from the chagrin which he must
+necessarily feel at such an appearance of slight, it should be considered that
+in order to settle his plan of operations for the ensuing campaign, he should
+take into view the present state of European affairs, and Congress should not
+leave him in the dark.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Furthermore, as already noted, Washington was criticised for his Fabian policy,
+and in his indignation he wrote to Congress, &ldquo;I am informed that it is a
+matter of amazement, and that reflections have been thrown out against this
+army, for not being more active and enterprising than, in the opinion of some,
+they ought to have been. If the charge is just, the best way to account for it
+will be to refer you to the returns of our strength, and those which I can
+produce of the enemy, and to the enclosed abstract of the clothing now actually
+wanting for the army.&rdquo; &ldquo;I can assure those gentlemen,&rdquo; he
+said, in reply to political criticism, &ldquo;that it is a much easier and less
+distressing thing to draw remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good
+fireside, than to occupy a cold, bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow,
+without clothes or blankets.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ill feeling did not end with insults. With the defeats of the years 1776
+and 1777 it gathered force, and towards the end of the latter year it
+crystallized in what has been known in history as the Conway Cabal. The story
+of this conspiracy is so involved in shadow that little is known concerning its
+adherents or its endeavors. But in a general way it has been discovered that
+the New England delegates again sought the aid of the Lee faction in Virginia,
+and that this coalition, with the aid of such votes as they could obtain,
+schemed several methods which should lessen the influence of Washington, if
+they did not force him to resign. Separate and detached commands were created,
+which were made independent of the commander-in-chief, and for this purpose
+even a scheme which the General called &ldquo;a child of folly&rdquo; was
+undertaken. Officers notoriously inimical to Washington, yet upon whom he would
+be forced to rely, were promoted. A board of war made up of his enemies, with
+powers &ldquo;in effect paramount,&rdquo; Hamilton says, &ldquo;to those of the
+commander-in-chief,&rdquo; was created It is even asserted that it was moved in
+Congress that a committee should be appointed to arrest Washington, which was
+defeated only by the timely arrival of a new delegate, by which the balance of
+power was lost to the Cabal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even with the collapse of the army Cabal the opposition in Congress was
+maintained. &ldquo;I am very confident,&rdquo; wrote General Greene,
+&ldquo;that there is party business going on again, and, as Mifflin is
+connected with it, I doubt not its being a revival of the old scheme;&rdquo;
+again writing, &ldquo;General Schuyler and others consider it a plan of
+Mifflin&rsquo;s to injure your Excellency&rsquo;s operations. I am now fully
+convinced of the reality of what I suggested to you before I came away.&rdquo;
+In 1779 John Sullivan, then a member of Congress, wrote,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Permit me to inform your Excellency, that the faction raised against you
+in 1777, is not yet destroyed. The members are waiting to collect strength, and
+seize some favorable moment to appear in force. I speak not from conjecture,
+but from certain knowledge. Their plan is to take every method of proving the
+danger arising from a commander, who enjoys the full and unlimited confidence
+of his army, and alarm the people with the prospects of imaginary evils; nay,
+they will endeavor to convert your virtue into arrows, with which, they will
+seek to wound you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Washington could not be forced into a resignation, ill-treat and slight him
+as they would, and at no time were they strong enough to vote him out of
+office. For once a Congressional &ldquo;deal&rdquo; between New England and
+Virginia did not succeed, and as Washington himself wrote, &ldquo;I have a good
+deal of reason to believe that the machination of this junto will recoil on
+their own heads, and be a means of bringing some matters to light which by
+getting me out of the way, some of them thought to conceal,&rdquo; In this he
+was right, for the re-elections of both Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee were
+put in danger, and for some time they were discredited even in their own
+colonies. &ldquo;I have happily had,&rdquo; Washington said to a correspondent,
+&ldquo;but few differences with those with whom I have had the honor of being
+connected in the service. With whom, and of what nature these have been, you
+know. I bore much for the sake of peace and the public good&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As is well known, Washington served without pay during his eight years of
+command, and, as he said, &ldquo;fifty thousand pounds would not induce me
+again to undergo what I have done.&rdquo; No wonder he declared &ldquo;that the
+God of armies may incline the hearts of my American brethren to support the
+present contest, and bestow sufficient abilities on me to bring it to a speedy
+and happy conclusion, thereby enabling me to sink into sweet retirement, and
+the full enjoyment of that peace and happiness, which will accompany a domestic
+life, is the first wish and most fervent prayer of my soul.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The day finally came when his work was finished, and he could be, as he phrased
+it, &ldquo;translated into a private citizen.&rdquo; Marshall describes the
+scene as follows: &ldquo;At noon, the principal officers of the army assembled
+at Frances&rsquo; tavern; soon after which, their beloved commander entered the
+room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed. Filling a glass, he turned
+to them and said, &lsquo;With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take
+leave of you; I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous
+and happy, as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.&rsquo; Having
+drunk, he added, &lsquo;I cannot come to each of you to take my leave; but
+shall be obliged to you, if each of you will come and take me by the
+hand.&rsquo; General Knox, being nearest, turned to him. Incapable of
+utterance, Washington grasped his hand, and embraced him. In the same
+affectionate manner he took leave of each succeeding officer. In every eye was
+the tear of dignified sensibility, and not a word was articulated to interrupt
+the majestic silence, and the tenderness of the scene. Leaving the room, he
+passed through the corps of light infantry, and walked to Whitehall, where a
+barge waited to convey him to Powles-hook. The whole company followed in mute
+and solemn procession, with dejected countenance … Having entered the barge, he
+turned to the company, and, waving his hat, bade them a silent adieu.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap12"></a>XII<br/>
+CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER</h2>
+
+<p>
+Washington became a government servant before he became a voter, by receiving
+in 1749, or when he was seventeen years of age, the appointment of official
+surveyor of Culpepper County, the salary of which, according to Boucher, was
+about fifty pounds Virginia currency a year. The office was certainly not a
+very fat berth, for it required the holder to live in a frontier county, to
+travel at times, as Washington in his journal noted, over &ldquo;ye worst Road
+that ever was trod by Man or Beast,&rdquo; to sometimes lie on straw, which
+once &ldquo;catch&rsquo;d a Fire,&rdquo; and we &ldquo;was luckily Preserved by
+one of our Mens waking,&rdquo; sometimes under a tent, which occasionally
+&ldquo;was Carried quite of[f] with ye Wind and&rdquo; we &ldquo;was obliged to
+Lie ye Latter part of ye night without covering,&rdquo; and at other times
+driven from under the tent by smoke. Indeed, one period of surveying Washington
+described to a friend by writing,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;[Since] October Last I have not sleep&rsquo;d above three Nights or four
+in a bed but after Walking a good deal all the Day lay down before the fire
+upon a Little Hay Straw Fodder or bearskin which-ever is to be had with Man
+Wife and Children like a Parcel of Dogs or Catts &amp; happy&rsquo;s he that
+gets the Birth nearest the fire there&rsquo;s nothing would make it pass of
+tolerably but a good Reward a Dubbleloon is my constant gain every Day that the
+Weather will permit my going out and some time Six Pistoles the coldness of the
+Weather will not allow my making a long stay as the Lodging is rather too cold
+for the time of Year. I have never had my Cloths of but lay and sleep in them
+like a Negro except the few Nights I have lay&rsquo;n in Frederick Town.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1751, when he was nineteen, Washington bettered his lot by becoming adjutant
+of one of the four military districts of Virginia, with a salary of one hundred
+pounds and a far less toilsome occupation. This in turn led up to his military
+appointment in 1754, which he held almost continuously till 1759, when he
+resigned from the service.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next to a position on the Virginia council, a seat in the House of Burgesses,
+or lower branch of the Legislature, was most sought, and this position had been
+held by Washington&rsquo;s great-grandfather, father, and elder brother. It was
+only natural, therefore, that in becoming the head of the family George should
+desire the position. As early as 1755, while on the frontier, he wrote to his
+brother in charge of Mount Vernon inquiring about the election to be held in
+the county, and asking him to &ldquo;come at Colo Fairfax&rsquo;s intentions,
+and let me know whether he purposes to offer himself as a candidate.&rdquo;
+&ldquo;If he does not, I should be glad to take a poll, if I thought my chance
+tolerably good.&rdquo; His friend Carlyle, Washington wrote, had
+&ldquo;mentioned it to me in Williamsburg in a bantering way,&rdquo; and he
+begged his brother to &ldquo;discover Major Carlyle&rsquo;s real sentiments on
+this head,&rdquo; as also those of the other prominent men of the county, and
+especially of the clergymen. &ldquo;<i>Sound</i> their pulse,&rdquo; he wrote,
+&ldquo;with an air of indifference and unconcern … without disclosing much of
+<i>mine</i>.&rdquo; &ldquo;If they seem inclinable to promote my interest, and
+things should be drawing to a crisis, you may declare my intention and beg
+their assistance. If on the contrary you find them more inclined to favor some
+other, I would have the affair entirely dropped.&rdquo; Apparently the county
+magnates disapproved, for Washington did not stand for the county.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus23"></a>
+<img src="images/img23.jpg" width="344" height="600" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">TITLE-PAGE OF WASHINGTON&rsquo;S JOURNAL</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In 1757 an election for burgesses was held in Frederick County, in which
+Washington then was (with his soldiers), and for which he offered himself as a
+candidate. The act was hardly a wise one, for, though he had saved Winchester
+and the surrounding country from being overrun by the Indians, he was not
+popular. Not merely was he held responsible for the massacres of outlying
+inhabitants, whom it was impossible to protect, but in this very defence he had
+given cause for ill-feeling. He himself confessed that he had several times
+&ldquo;strained the law,&rdquo;&mdash;he had been forced to impress the horses
+and wagons of the district, and had in other ways so angered some of the people
+that they had threatened &ldquo;to blow out my brains.&rdquo; But he had been
+guilty of a far worse crime still in a political sense. Virginia elections were
+based on liquor, and Washington had written to the governor, representing
+&ldquo;the great nuisance the number of tippling houses in Winchester are to
+the soldiers, who by this means, in spite of the utmost care and vigilance,
+are, so long as their pay holds, incessantly drunk and unfit for
+service,&rdquo; and he wished that &ldquo;the new commission for this county
+may have the intended effect,&rdquo; for &ldquo;the number of tippling houses
+kept here is a great grievance.&rdquo; As already noted, the Virginia regiment
+was accused in the papers of drunkenness, and under the sting of that
+accusation Washington declared war on the publicans. He whipped his men when
+they became drunk, kept them away from the ordinaries, and even closed by force
+one tavern which was especially culpable. &ldquo;Were it not too
+tedious,&rdquo; he wrote the governor, &ldquo;I cou&rsquo;d give your Honor
+such instances of the villainous Behavior of those Tippling House-keepers, as
+wou&rsquo;d astonish any person.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The conduct was admirable, but it was not good politics, and as soon as he
+offered himself as a candidate, the saloon element, under the leadership of one
+Lindsay, whose family were tavern-keepers in Winchester for at least one
+hundred years, united to oppose him. Against the would-be burgess they set up
+one Captain Thomas Swearingen, whom Washington later described as &ldquo;a man
+of great weight among the meaner class of people, and supposed by them to
+possess extensive knowledge.&rdquo; As a result, the poll showed Swearingen
+elected by two hundred and seventy votes, and Washington defeated with but
+forty ballots.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This sharp experience in practical politics seems to have taught the young
+candidate a lesson, for when a new election came in 1758 he took a leaf from
+his enemy&rsquo;s book, and fought them with their own weapons. The friendly
+aid of the county boss, Colonel John Wood, was secured, as also that of Gabriel
+Jones, a man of much local force and popularity. Scarcely less important were
+the sinews of war employed, told of in the following detailed account. A law at
+that time stood on the Virginia statutes forbidding all treating or giving of
+what were called &ldquo;ticklers&rdquo; to the voters, and declaring illegal
+all elections which were thus influenced. None the less, the voters of
+Frederick enjoyed at Washington&rsquo;s charge&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<table summary="" style="margin-left: 3em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">
+
+<tr>
+<td>40 gallons of Rum Punch @ 3/6 pr. galn</td><td>7  0  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>15 gallons of Wine @ 10/ pr. galn</td><td>7  10  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Dinner for your Friends</td><td>3  0  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>13½ gallons of Wine @ 10/</td><td>6  15</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>3½ pts. of Brandy @ 1/3</td><td>4  4½</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>13 Galls. Beer @ 1/3</td><td>16  3</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>8 qts. Cyder Royl @ 1/6</td><td>0  12  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>Punch</td><td>3 9</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>30 gallns. of strong beer @ 8d pr. gall</td><td>1  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1 hhd &amp; 1 Barrell of Punch, consisting of</td><td></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>          26 gals. best Barbadoes rum, 5/</td><td>6  10  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>          12 lbs. S. Refd. Sugar 1/6</td><td>18  9</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>3 galls. and 3 quarts of Beer @ 1/ pr. gall</td><td>3  9</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>10 Bowls of Punch @ 2/6 each</td><td>1  5  0</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>9 half pints of rum @ 7½ d. each</td><td>5  7½</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1 pint of wine</td><td>1  6</td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<p>
+After the election was over, Washington wrote Wood that &ldquo;I hope no
+Exception was taken to any that voted against me, but that all were alike
+treated, and all had enough. My only fear is that you spent with too sparing a
+hand.&rdquo; It is hardly necessary to say that such methods reversed the
+former election; Washington secured three hundred and ten votes, and Swearingen
+received forty-five. What is more, so far from now threatening to blow out his
+brains, there was &ldquo;a general applause and huzzaing for Colonel
+Washington.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From this time until he took command of the army Washington was a burgess. Once
+again he was elected from Frederick County, and then, in 1765, he stood for
+Fairfax, in which Mount Vernon was located. Here he received two hundred and
+eight votes, his colleague getting but one hundred and forty-eight, and in the
+election of 1768 he received one hundred and eighty-five, and his colleague
+only one hundred and forty-two. Washington spent between forty and seventy-five
+pounds at each of these elections, and usually gave a ball to the voters on the
+night he was chosen. Some of the miscellaneous election expenses noted in his
+ledger are, &ldquo;54 gallons of Strong Beer,&rdquo; &ldquo;52 Do. of
+Ale,&rdquo; &ldquo;£1.0.0. to Mr. John Muir for his fiddler,&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;For cakes at the Election £7.11.1.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first duty which fell to the new burgess was service on a committee to
+draught a law to prevent hogs from running at large in Winchester. He was very
+regular in his attendance; and though he took little part in the proceedings,
+yet in some way he made his influence felt, so that when the time came to elect
+deputies to the First Congress he stood third in order among the seven
+appointed to attend that body, and a year later, in the delegation to the
+Continental Congress, he stood second, Peyton Randolph receiving one more vote
+only, and all the other delegates less.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This distinction was due to the sound judgment of the man rather than to those
+qualities that are considered senatorial. Jefferson said, &ldquo;I served with
+General Washington in the legislature of Virginia before the revolution, and,
+during it, with Dr. Franklin in Congress. I never heard either of them speak
+ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the main point which was to decide the
+question. They laid their shoulders to the great points, knowing that the
+little ones would follow of themselves.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Through all his life Washington was no speechmaker. In 1758, by an order of the
+Assembly, Speaker Robinson was directed to return its thanks to Colonel
+Washington, on behalf of the colony, for the distinguished military services
+which he had rendered to the country. As soon as he took his seat in the House,
+the Speaker performed this duty in such glowing terms as quite overwhelmed him.
+Washington rose to express his acknowledgments for the honor, but was so
+disconcerted as to be unable to articulate a word distinctly. He blushed and
+faltered for a moment, when the Speaker relieved him from his embarrassment by
+saying, &ldquo;Sit down, Mr. Washington, your modesty equals your valor, and
+that surpasses the power of any language that I possess.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This stage-fright seems to have clung to him. When Adams hinted that Congress
+should &ldquo;appoint a General,&rdquo; and added, &ldquo;I had no hesitation
+to declare that I had but one gentleman in my mind for that important command,
+and that was 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 exertions of all
+the Colonies better than any other person in the Union,&rdquo; he relates that
+&ldquo;Mr. Washington who happened to sit near the door, as soon as he heard me
+allude to him, from his usual modesty, darted into the library-room.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So, too, at his inauguration as President, Maclay noted that &ldquo;this great
+man was agitated and embarrassed more than ever he was by the leveled cannon or
+pointed musket. He trembled, and several times could scarce make out to read
+[his speech], though it must be supposed he had often read it before,&rdquo;
+and Fisher Ames wrote, &ldquo;He addressed the two Houses in the
+Senate-chamber; it was a very touching scene and quite of a solemn kind. His
+aspect grave, almost to sadness; his modesty actually shaking; his voice deep,
+a little tremulous, and so low as to call for close attention,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There can be little doubt that this non-speech-making ability was not merely
+the result of inaptitude, but was also a principle, for when his favorite
+nephew was elected a burgess, and made a well-thought-of speech in his first
+attempt, his uncle wrote him, &ldquo;You have, I find, broke the ice. The only
+advice I will offer to you on the occasion (if you have a mind to command the
+attention of the House,) is to speak seldom, but to important subjects, except
+such as particularly relate to your constituents; and, in the former case, make
+yourself perfectly master of the subject. Never exceed a decent warmth, and
+submit your sentiments with diffidence. A dictatorial stile, though it may
+carry conviction, is always accompanied with disgust.&rdquo; To a friend
+writing of this same speech he said, &ldquo;with great pleasure I received the
+information respecting the commencement of my nephew&rsquo;s political course.
+I hope he will not be so bouyed by the favorable impression it has made, as to
+become a babbler.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even more indicative of his own conceptions of senatorial conduct is advice
+given in a letter to Jack Custis, when the latter, too, achieved an election to
+the Assembly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not suppose,&rdquo; he wrote, &ldquo;that so young a senator as you
+are, little versed in political disquisitions, can yet have much influence in a
+populous assembly, composed of Gentln. of various talents and of different
+views. But it is in your power to be punctual in your attendance (and duty to
+the trust reposed in you exacts it of you), to hear dispassionately and
+determine coolly all great questions. To be disgusted at the decision of
+questions, because they are not consonant to your own ideas, and to withdraw
+ourselves from public assemblies, or to neglect our attendance at them, upon
+suspicion that there is a party formed, who are inimical to our cause, and to
+the true interest of our country, is wrong, because these things may originate
+in a difference of opinion; but, supposing the fact is otherwise, and that our
+suspicions are well founded, it is the indispensable duty of every patriot to
+counteract them by the most steady and uniform opposition.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the Continental Congress, Randolph states, &ldquo;Washington was prominent,
+though silent. His looks bespoke a mind absorbed in meditation on his
+country&rsquo;s fate; but a positive concert between him and Henry could not
+more effectually have exhibited him to view, than when Henry ridiculed the idea
+of peace &lsquo;when there was no peace,&rsquo; and enlarged on the duty of
+preparing for war.&rdquo; Very quickly his attendance on that body was ended by
+its appointing him general.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His political relations to the Congress have been touched upon elsewhere, but
+his attitude towards Great Britain is worth attention. Very early he had said,
+&ldquo;At a time when our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied
+with nothing less than the deprivation of American freedom, it seems highly
+necessary that something should be done to avert the stroke, and maintain the
+liberty, which we have derived from our ancestors. But the manner of doing it,
+to answer the purpose effectually, is the point in question. That no man should
+scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use a&mdash;s in defence of so valuable a
+blessing, on which all the good and evil of life depends, is clearly my
+opinion.&rdquo; When actual war ensued, he was among the first to begin to
+collect and drill a force, even while he wrote, &ldquo;unhappy it is, though to
+reflect, that a brother&rsquo;s sword has been sheathed in a brother&rsquo;s
+breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are either to be
+drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous
+man hesitate in his choice?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not till early in 1776 did he become a convert to independence, and then only
+by such &ldquo;flaming arguments as were exhibited at Falmouth and
+Norfolk,&rdquo; which had been burned by the British. At one time, in 1776, he
+thought &ldquo;the game will be pretty well up,&rdquo; but &ldquo;under a full
+persuasion of the justice of our cause, I cannot entertain an Idea, that it
+will finally sink, tho&rsquo; it may remain for some time under a cloud,&rdquo;
+and even in this time of terrible discouragement he maintained that
+&ldquo;nothing short of independence, it appears to me, can possibly do. A
+peace on other terms would, if I may be allowed the expression, be a peace of
+war.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pickering, who placed a low estimate on his military ability, said that,
+&ldquo;upon the whole, I have no hesitation in saying that General
+Washington&rsquo;s talents were much better adapted to the Presidency of the
+United States than to the command of their armies,&rdquo; and this is probably
+true. The diplomatist Thornton said of the President, that if his
+&ldquo;circumspection is accompanied by discernment and penetration, as I am
+informed it is, and as I should be inclined to believe from the judicious
+choice he has generally made of persons to fill public stations, he possesses
+the two great requisites of a statesman, the faculty of concealing his own
+sentiments and of discovering those of other men.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To follow his course while President is outside of the scope of this work, but
+a few facts are worth noting. Allusion has already been made to his use of the
+appointing power, but how clearly he held it as a &ldquo;public trust&rdquo; is
+shown in a letter to his longtime friend Benjamin Harrison, who asked him for
+an office. &ldquo;I will go to the chair,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;under no
+pre-engagement of any kind or nature whatsoever. But, when in it, to the best
+of my judgment, discharge the duties of the office with that impartiality and
+zeal for the public good, which ought never to suffer connection of blood or
+friendship to intermingle so as to have the least sway on the decision of a
+public nature.&rdquo; This position was held to firmly. John Adams wrote an
+office-seeker, &ldquo;I must caution you, my dear Sir, against having any
+dependence on my influence or that of any other person. No man, I believe, has
+influence with the President. He seeks information from all quarters, and
+judges more independently than any man I ever knew. It is of so much importance
+to the public that he should preserve this superiority, that I hope I shall
+never see the time that any man will have influence with him beyond the powers
+of reason and argument.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Long after, when political strife was running high, Adams said,
+&ldquo;Washington appointed a multitude of democrats and jacobins of the
+deepest die. I have been more cautious in this respect; but there is danger of
+proscribing under imputations of democracy, some of the ablest, most
+influential, and best characters in the Union.&rdquo; In this he was quite
+correct, for the first President&rsquo;s appointments were made with a view to
+destroy party and not create it, his object being to gather all the talent of
+the country in support of the national government, and he bore many things
+which personally were disagreeable in an endeavor to do this.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Twice during Washington&rsquo;s terms he was forced to act counter to the
+public sentiment. The first time was when a strenuous attempt was made by the
+French minister to break through the neutrality that had been proclaimed, when,
+according to John Adams, &ldquo;ten thousand people in the streets of
+Philadelphia, day after day, threatened to drag Washington out of his house,
+and effect a revolution in the government, or compel it to declare in favor of
+the French revolution and against England.&rdquo; The second time was when he
+signed the treaty of 1795 with Great Britain, which produced a popular outburst
+from one end of the country to the other. In neither case did Washington swerve
+an iota from what he thought right, writing, &ldquo;these are unpleasant
+things, but they must be met with firmness.&rdquo; Eventually the people always
+came back to their leader, and Jefferson sighed over the fact that &ldquo;such
+is the popularity of the President that the people will support him in whatever
+he will do or will not do, without appealing to their own reason or to anything
+but their feelings towards him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus24"></a>
+<img src="images/img24.jpg" width="600" height="310" alt="[Illustration: ]" />
+<p class="caption">PRESIDENTIAL MANSION, PHILADELPHIA</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+It is not to be supposed from this that Washington was above considering the
+popular bent, or was lacking in political astuteness. John Adams asserted that
+&ldquo;General Washington, one of the most attentive men in the world to the
+manner of doing things, owed a great proportion of his celebrity to this
+circumstance,&rdquo; and frequently he is to be found considering the
+popularity or expediency of courses. In 1776 he said, &ldquo;I have found it of
+importance and highly expedient to yield to many points in fact, without
+seeming to have done it, and this to avoid bringing on a too frequent
+discussion of matters which in a political view ought to be kept a little
+behind the curtain, and not to be made too much the subjects of disquisition.
+Time only can eradicate and overcome customs and prejudices of long
+standing&mdash;they must be got the better of by slow and gradual
+advances.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Elsewhere he wrote, &ldquo;In a word, if a man cannot act in all respects as he
+would wish, he must do what appears best, under the circumstances he is in.
+This I aim at, however short I may fall of the end;&rdquo; of a certain measure
+he thought, &ldquo;it has, however, like many other things in which I have been
+involved, two edges, neither of which can be avoided without falling on the
+other;&rdquo; and that even in small things he tried to be politic is shown in
+his journey through New England, when he accepted an invitation to a large
+public dinner at Portsmouth, and the next day, being at Exeter, he wrote in his
+diary, &ldquo;a jealousy subsists between this town (where the Legislature
+alternately sits) and Portsmouth; which, had I known it in time, would have
+made it necessary to have accepted an invitation to a public dinner, but my
+arrangements having been otherwise made, I could not.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor was Washington entirely lacking in finesse. He offered Patrick Henry a
+position after having first ascertained in a roundabout manner that it would be
+refused, and in many other ways showed that he understood good politics.
+Perhaps the neatest of his dodges was made when the French revolutionist Volney
+asked him for a general letter of introduction to the American people. This was
+not, for political and personal reasons, a thing Washington cared to give, yet
+he did not choose to refuse, so he wrote on a sheet of paper,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+&ldquo;C. Volney<br/>
+          needs no recommendation from<br/>
+                    Geo. Washington.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a very general belief that success in politics and truthfulness are
+incompatible, yet, as already shown, Washington prospered in politics, and the
+Rev. Mason L. Weems is authority for the popular statement that at six years of
+age George could not tell a lie. Whether this was so, or whether Mr. Weems was
+drawing on his imagination for his facts, it seems probable that Washington
+partially outgrew the disability in his more mature years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When trying to win the Indians to the English cause in 1754, Washington in his
+journal states that he &ldquo;let the young Indians who were in our camp know
+that the French wanted to kill the Half King,&rdquo; a diplomatic statement he
+hardly believed, which the writer says &ldquo;had its desired effect,&rdquo;
+and which the French editor declared to be an &ldquo;imposture.&rdquo; In this
+same campaign he was forced to sign a capitulation which acknowledged that he
+had been guilty of assassination, and this raised such a storm in Virginia when
+it became known that Washington hastened to deny all knowledge of the charge
+having been contained among the articles, and alleged that it had not been made
+clear to him when the paper had been translated and read. On the contrary,
+another officer present at the reading states that he refused to &ldquo;sign
+the Capitulation because they charged us with Assasination in it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In writing to an Indian agent in 1755, Washington was &ldquo;greatly
+enraptured&rdquo; at hearing of his approach, dwelt upon the man&rsquo;s
+&ldquo;hearty attachment to our glorious Cause&rdquo; and his &ldquo;Courage of
+which I have had very great proofs.&rdquo; Inclosing a copy of the letter to
+the governor, Washington said, &ldquo;the letter savors a little of flattery
+&amp;c., &amp;c., but this, I hope is justifiable on such an occasion.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With his London agent there was a little difficulty in 1771, and Washington
+objected to a letter received &ldquo;because there is one paragraph in
+particular in it … which appears to me to contain an implication of my having
+deviated from the truth.&rdquo; A more general charge was Charles Lee&rsquo;s:
+&ldquo;I aver that his Excellencies letter was from beginning to the end a most
+abominable lie.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a <i>ruse de guerre</i> Washington drew up for a spy in 1779 a series of
+false statements as to the position and number of his army for him to report to
+the British. And in preparation for the campaign of 1781 &ldquo;much trouble
+was taken and finesse used to misguide and bewilder Sir Henry Clinton by making
+a deceptive provision of ovens, forage and boats in his neighborhood.&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Nor were less pains taken to deceive our own army,&rdquo; and even
+&ldquo;the highest military as well as civil officers&rdquo; were deceived at
+this time, not merely that the secret should not leak out, but also &ldquo;for
+the important purpose of inducing the eastern and middle states to make greater
+exertions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When travelling through the South in 1791, Washington entered in his diary,
+&ldquo;Having suffered very much by the dust yesterday&mdash;and finding that
+parties of Horse, &amp; a number of other Gentlemen were intending to attend me
+part of the way to-day, I caused their enquiries respecting the time of my
+setting out, to be answered that, I should endeavor to do it before eight
+o&rsquo;clock; but I did it a little after five, by which means I avoided the
+inconveniences above mentioned.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Weld, in his &ldquo;Travels in America,&rdquo; published that &ldquo;General
+Washington told me that he never was so much annoyed by the mosquitos in any
+part of America as in Skenesborough, for that they used to bite through the
+thickest boot.&rdquo; When this anecdote appeared in print, good old Dr.
+Dwight, shocked at the taradiddle, and fearing its evil influence on
+Washington&rsquo;s fame, spoiled the joke by explaining in a book that &ldquo;a
+gentleman of great respectability, who was present when General Washington made
+the observation referred to, told me that he said, when describing those
+mosquitoes to Mr. Weld, that they &lsquo;bit through his stockings above the
+boots.&rsquo;&rdquo; Whoever invented the explanation should also have evolved
+a type of boots other than those worn by Washington, for unfortunately for the
+story Washington&rsquo;s military boots went above his &ldquo;small
+clothes,&rdquo; giving not even an inch of stocking for either mosquito or
+explanation. In 1786, Washington declared that &ldquo;I do not recollect that
+in the course of my life, I ever forfeited my word, or broke a promise made to
+any one,&rdquo; and at another time he wrote, &ldquo;I never say any thing of a
+Man that I have the smallest scruple of saying <i>to him</i>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From 1749 till 1784, and from 1789 till 1797, or a period of forty years,
+Washington filled offices of one kind or another, and when he died he still
+held a commission. Thus, excluding his boyhood, there were but seven years of
+his life in which he was not engaged in the public service. Even after his
+retirement from the Presidency he served on a grand jury, and before this he
+had several times acted as petit juror. In another way he was a good citizen,
+for when at Mount Vernon he invariably attended the election, rain or shine,
+though it was a ride of ten miles to the polling town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Both his enemies and his friends bore evidence to his honesty. Jefferson said,
+&ldquo;his integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever
+known, no motives of interest or consanguinity or friendship or hatred, being
+able to bias his decision. He was indeed in every sense of the words, a wise, a
+good, and a great man.&rdquo; Pickering wrote that &ldquo;to the excellency of
+his <i>virtues</i> I am not disposed to set any limits. All his views were
+upright, all his actions just&rdquo; Hamilton asserted that &ldquo;the General
+is a very honest Man;&rdquo; and Tilghman spoke of him as &ldquo;the honestest
+man that I believe ever adorned human nature.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap13"></a>INDEX.</h2>
+
+<p>
+ADAMS, John, opinion of Washington, use of appointing power,<br/>
+deal arranged by,<br/>
+dislike of Washington,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Samuel, opposed to Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Agriculture, Washington&rsquo;s fondness for,<br/>
+Ague, Washington&rsquo;s attacks of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ALEXANDER, Frances,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alexandria, assemblies at,<br/>
+Washington builds in,<br/>
+lots in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ALIQUIPPA, Queen,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alton, John,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ames, Fisher, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Appleby school,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ARMSTRONG, John, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ARNOLD, B.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Asses, breeding of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Aurora</i>,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BACHE, B.F., writes against Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BALLS, maternal ancestors of Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Balls,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bank-stock, holdings of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Barbadoes, Washington&rsquo;s visit to,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BARD, Dr., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BASSETT, Burwell,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Frances,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bath, Virginia, lots in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Battle of Brooklyn</i>, a farce,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Billiards,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BISHOP, Thomas,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BLAND, Mary,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, T., criticises Washington&rsquo;s bow,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Blueskin,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Books,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Boston, siege of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BOUCHER, Rev. J., quoted,<br/>
+mentioned,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bounties,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BRADDOCK, Edward, Washington and, defeat of,<br/>
+march of,<br/>
+mentioned,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Brasenose College, Lawrence Washington a fellow of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BRISSOT de Warville, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+British forgeries,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Brixted Parva, Lawrence Washington rector of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+BROGLIE, Prince de, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Brooklyn, battle of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CALLENDER, James Thomson, publications of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CALVERT, Eleanor, marriage with Jack Custis,<br/>
+visit to Cambridge,<br/>
+remarriage,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cambridge, head-quarters at,<br/>
+mentioned,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CAMPBELL, A., portrait of Washington by,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cancer, George Washington&rsquo;s,<br/>
+Mary Washington&rsquo;s,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Capital. <i>See</i> Washington City.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cards,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CARLYLE, Washington&rsquo;s friendship for,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Major,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Sally,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CARROLL, Charles,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CARY, Mary,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Cato,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Centinel,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Charity, Washington&rsquo;s,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Charleston, ladies of, visit Washington,<br/>
+jackass at,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CHASTELLUX, Marquis de, quoted,<br/>
+marriage of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Children and Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Christ Church,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Christianity, Washington&rsquo;s view of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CLARK, Abraham, opinion of Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CLINTON, George, Washington&rsquo;s investment with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Sir H.,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s relations with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Clothes, Washington&rsquo;s taste in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Clubs, Washington&rsquo;s share in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+COBB, David, quoted,<br/>
+at Yorktown,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+COBBETT, William, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Colds, Washington&rsquo;s treatment of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Commissariat,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Congress, Continental, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+jealousy of Washington and the army,<br/>
+endeavors to insult Washington,<br/>
+part in the Conway cabal,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s election to,<br/>
+Washington in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Connecticut troops, misconduct of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Conotocarius,&rdquo; Indian name for Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Continental army,<br/>
+sickness of,<br/>
+farewell to,<br/>
+small-pox in,<br/>
+threatened mutiny of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Conway Cabal,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CONWAY, Thomas, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CORBIN, Richard,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CORNWALLIS, Lord, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Craigie house,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CRAIK, Dr. James, Washington&rsquo;s friendship for,<br/>
+bleeds Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CULPEPER, Lord,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Culpeper County,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+CUSTIS, Eleanor P.,<br/>
+marriage to L. Lewis,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, G.W.P., education,<br/>
+quoted,<br/>
+acts,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, John Parke, relations with Washington,<br/>
+education,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Martha. <i>See</i> Washington, Martha.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Martha (&ldquo;Patsy&rdquo;), relations of Washington
+with,<br/>
+death,<br/>
+treatment of,<br/>
+property,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash; property,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dancing, Washington&rsquo;s fondness of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DANDRIDGE, Bartholomew,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Martha. <i>See</i> Washington, Martha.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Mrs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DEANE, Silas, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DE BUTTS, Lawrence,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Democratic criticism of Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DENT, Elizabeth,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DICK, Dr., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dismal Swamp Company,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Distillery at Mount Vernon,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+District of Columbia,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dogs,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DUANE, William, writes against Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Duelling, Washington&rsquo;s views on,<br/>
+threatened,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DUER, W.A., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DUMAS, M., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+DUNLAP, W., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Duquesne, Fort,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Eltham,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Exeter, Bishop of, Sermons,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+FAIRFAX, Ann,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Bryan, Lord,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, George William,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Sally, 90-1,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Thomas, Lord,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, William,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fairfax County,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fairfax Parish,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Farewell Address,<br/>
+drafting of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fauntleroy, Betsy,<br/>
+William,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Federal city. <i>See</i> Washington City.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fees, Washington&rsquo;s gifts of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fertilization, Washington&rsquo;s value of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fish, Washington&rsquo;s fondness of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fishery at Mount Vernon,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fishing,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Flour, Washington&rsquo;s pride in his,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Forged letters,<br/>
+authorship of,<br/>
+Bache reprints,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fort Necessity,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fox hunting,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+FRANKLIN, B., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Frederick County, Washington stands for,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fredericksburg,<br/>
+residence of Mary Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+French and Indian War,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+French language, Washington on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+FRENEAU, P., writes against Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GAGE, Thomas, relations with Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GATES, Horatio, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+mentioned,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+General orders, quotations from,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Genet episode,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GENN, James, Washington learns surveying from,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Germantown, battle of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GERRY, Elbridge, attitude towards Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GIBBONS, Mary, scandal concerning,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GORDON, Rev. W., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Great Britain, Washington&rsquo;s attitude towards,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GREEN, Rev. Charles,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GREENE, N., friendship with Washington,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+GRYMES, Lucy,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Half-King,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+HAMILTON, A., mentioned,<br/>
+quoted,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s relations with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+HARRISON, Benjamin,<br/>
+letter of,<br/>
+asks office,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, R.H.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+HENRY Eighth grants lands to Washingtons,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+HENRY, Patrick, quoted,<br/>
+mentioned,<br/>
+offered office,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Herring, sales of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hickey plot,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Horses, stud at Mount Vernon,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Houdon bust,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+HOWE, Lord, and Sir William, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Humphreys, D., quoted,<br/>
+relations with Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+HUNTER, J., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hunting,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Independence, Washington on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indians,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s diplomacy with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+James River Land Company, Washington&rsquo;s interest in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Jay treaty,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+JEFFERSON, Thomas, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+opinion of Washington,<br/>
+helps Freneau,<br/>
+quoted,<br/>
+mentioned,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+JONES, Gabriel,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Kenmore House,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+KNOX, Henry,<br/>
+relations with Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LAFAYETTE, Marquis de,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, G.W.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Virginia,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Land bounties,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash; companies,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Latin, Washington&rsquo;s knowledge of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LAURENS, John, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LAWRENCE, Nathaniel, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lawsuits, Washington&rsquo;s dislike of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LEAR, T., friendship for,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LEE, Charles, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+libels Washington,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Henry, friendship for Washington,<br/>
+anecdote of,<br/>
+warns Washington of Jefferson&rsquo;s conduct,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, R.H., opinion of Washington,<br/>
+re-election of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, William, Washington&rsquo;s body-servant,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LEWIS, Elizabeth,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Fielding,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, &mdash;&mdash;. Jr.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Howell,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Lewis,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Robert,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lexington, battle of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Liveried servants,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lotteries, Washington&rsquo;s liking for,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LOVELL, John, opinion of Washington,<br/>
+quoted, 288.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lowland Beauty,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+LYNCH, Thomas, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+McHENRY, James,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+McKNIGHT, Dr. C., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MACLAY, W., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MADISON, James, relations with Washington,<br/>
+quoted,<br/>
+drafts papers,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Magnolia,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MARSHALL, J., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MARYE, Rev. T., Washington&rsquo;s teacher,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MASON, George, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Massachusetts, difficulties of,<br/>
+&ldquo;slam&rdquo; at officers of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MASSEY, Rev. Lee, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mather&rsquo;s <i>Young Man&rsquo;s Companion</i>,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Matrimony, Washington&rsquo;s views on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Medical knowledge of Washington,<br/>
+treatment of last illness,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Medicine, Washington&rsquo;s aversion to,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MERCER, George, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MIFFLIN, Thomas, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+mentioned,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Military Company of Adventurers,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash; science, books on,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s knowledge of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Militia, evils of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Minutes of the Trial,&rdquo; authority of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mississippi Company,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Monmouth, battle of,<br/>
+allusions to,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MORRIS, Gouverneur, quoted,<br/>
+friendship with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Robert,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Roger,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mount Vernon, boyhood home of Washington,<br/>
+division of estate by will,<br/>
+invitation to visit,<br/>
+history of,<br/>
+name,<br/>
+house at,<br/>
+grounds,<br/>
+additions to land,<br/>
+management of,<br/>
+absence of Washington from,<br/>
+system at,<br/>
+work at,<br/>
+fishery of,<br/>
+distillery at,<br/>
+stud stable of,<br/>
+live stock of,<br/>
+profits of,<br/>
+desire to rent farms of,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s superintendence of,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s life at,<br/>
+slaves at,<br/>
+overseers of,<br/>
+British visit to,<br/>
+hunting at,<br/>
+shooting at,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MOYLAN, S.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+MUSE, George, relations with Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Music, Washington&rsquo;s fondness of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nelson,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nepotism, Washington&rsquo;s views on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Newburg, threatened revolt of army at,<br/>
+New England, opposition to Washington,<br/>
+jealousy of,<br/>
+arranges deal,<br/>
+journey in,<br/>
+conduct of troops,<br/>
+officers,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+New Jersey troops, desertion of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+New York, Washington&rsquo;s visit to,<br/>
+borrows money for journey to,<br/>
+head-quarters at,<br/>
+warfare at,<br/>
+<i>Minutes of the Trial in</i>,<br/>
+proposed attack on,<br/>
+farewell to army at,<br/>
+presidential house at,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Newspapers,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nuts, Washington&rsquo;s fondness for,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oaths, Washington&rsquo;s use of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Office-seekers,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ohio, march to,<br/>
+journey to,<br/>
+<i>Journal</i>,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ohio Company,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Old Soldier</i>,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+PAINE, Thomas, relations with Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Paper money, depreciation of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pension of Mary Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+PEYRONEY, Chevalier,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Philadelphia, visit to,<br/>
+fever at,<br/>
+proposed attack on,<br/>
+capture of,<br/>
+Presidential house in,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s attempted purchase near,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+PHILIPSE, Mary,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+PICKERING, Timothy, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pohick Church,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Potomac Canal Company,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presidency, Washington in the,<br/>
+duties of,<br/>
+hospitality of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Privateer, Washington tries to secure share in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Purleigh, Lawrence Washington, rector of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Raffles, Washington&rsquo;s liking for,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+RAMSAY, W.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+RANDOLPH, Edmund, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, John, forges letters,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+REED, Joseph, sends print to Washington,<br/>
+relations with Washington,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Revolution, Washington&rsquo;s service in,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ROBIN, Abbé, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ROBINSON, Beverly,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, John,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ROCHAMBEAU, Count,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ross, James, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Royal Gift,&rdquo; jackass,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Rules of civility,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+RUSH, Benjamin, anonymous letter of,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+RUTLEDGE, E.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+St. Clair&rsquo;s defeat,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+St. Paul&rsquo;s Church,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+SARGENT, J.D., opinion of Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+SCOTT, Charles, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Servants, Washington&rsquo;s,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shad, sales of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sharpless portrait,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sheep at Mount Vernon,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shooting,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Skenesborough, mosquitoes at,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Slavery, Washington&rsquo;s views on,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Slaves, Washington&rsquo;s,<br/>
+runaway,<br/>
+carried off by British,<br/>
+sickness,<br/>
+laziness,<br/>
+punishment,<br/>
+rations of,<br/>
+thieving by,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Small-pox, Washington&rsquo;s attack of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+SMITH, Rev. W., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Southern tour,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Spain, king of, gift of jackass to Washington,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+SPEARING, Ann,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+STEARN, Samuel, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+STEWART, R.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+STUART, Gilbert, opinion on Washington&rsquo;s face,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stuart portrait,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stud stable at Mount Vernon,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+SULLIVAN, John, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, W., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sunday, Washington&rsquo;s observance of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+SWEARINGEN, Thomas,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Taverns, Washington&rsquo;s view of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tea, Washington&rsquo;s fondness for,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+THACHER, Dr. James, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Theatre,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+THORNTON, Edward, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+TILGHMAN, Tench, Washington&rsquo;s relations with,<br/>
+quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tobacco, Washington&rsquo;s crop of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Trenton, battle of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+TRUMBULL, Jonathan, wishes Washington removed,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Truro Parish,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+University, National, Washington&rsquo;s wish for,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Valley Forge,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+VAN BRAAM, J.,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+VARICK, Richard,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+VERNON, Admiral E., Mount Vernon named after,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Virginia, social life of,<br/>
+clubs,<br/>
+British invasion of,<br/>
+convention,<br/>
+land bounties,<br/>
+elections,<br/>
+agricultural system of,<br/>
+deal with New England,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s office-holding in,<br/>
+estates, Washington&rsquo;s opinion of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash; Regiment, drunkenness of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+VOLNEY, C., Washington&rsquo;s diplomacy with,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WADSWORTH, J., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Wakefield,&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Walpole grant,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WANSEY, H., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Warm Springs, visit to,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WASHINGTON, Augustine,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Augustine (Jr.),
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Bushrod,<br/>
+letter to,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Charles,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Elizabeth (Betty). <i>See</i> Fielding.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Frances,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, George, ancestors of,<br/>
+birth of,<br/>
+his resemblance to the Balls,<br/>
+relations with his mother,<br/>
+his dislike of public recompense,<br/>
+views on public office,<br/>
+financial help to relatives,<br/>
+will of,<br/>
+views on drinking,<br/>
+loans,<br/>
+care of Custis property,<br/>
+adoption of Custis children,<br/>
+physique,<br/>
+weight,<br/>
+eyes,<br/>
+hair,<br/>
+teeth,<br/>
+nose,<br/>
+height,<br/>
+mouth,<br/>
+expression,<br/>
+gracefulness,<br/>
+complexion,<br/>
+pock-marked,<br/>
+modesty,<br/>
+manners,<br/>
+portraits of,<br/>
+strength,<br/>
+illnesses of,<br/>
+his last,<br/>
+medicine, his dislike of,<br/>
+fall of,<br/>
+hearing,<br/>
+education,<br/>
+handwriting,<br/>
+spelling,<br/>
+surveyor,<br/>
+secretaries of,<br/>
+journal to the Ohio,<br/>
+messages,<br/>
+farewell address,<br/>
+languages,<br/>
+music,<br/>
+reading,<br/>
+religion,<br/>
+church attendance,<br/>
+Sunday conduct,<br/>
+hunting,<br/>
+tolerance,<br/>
+love affairs,<br/>
+poetry,<br/>
+Barbadoes, visit to,<br/>
+Ohio, mission to,<br/>
+Boston, visit to, (1756)<br/>
+New York, visit to, (1773)<br/>
+marriage,<br/>
+appointed commander-in-chief,<br/>
+matrimony, his views on,<br/>
+morality,<br/>
+forged letters,<br/>
+agriculture, fondness for,<br/>
+[agriculture] system,<br/>
+[agriculture] study of,<br/>
+coat-of-arms of,<br/>
+as farmer,<br/>
+land purchases of,<br/>
+invents a plow,<br/>
+humor,<br/>
+income,<br/>
+accounts,<br/>
+property of,<br/>
+bounty lands of,<br/>
+investments in land companies,<br/>
+borrower,<br/>
+speculation, liking for,<br/>
+lotteries, liking for,<br/>
+raffles, liking for,<br/>
+interest in Potomac Canal Company,<br/>
+wealth of,<br/>
+slaves of,<br/>
+[slaves] care of,<br/>
+slavery, views on,<br/>
+charity,<br/>
+social life,<br/>
+headquarters life,<br/>
+dinners,<br/>
+levees,<br/>
+bows,<br/>
+ceremony, hatred of,<br/>
+conversation,<br/>
+tea, liking for,<br/>
+dancing, fondness of,<br/>
+staff,<br/>
+simple habits,<br/>
+dress of,<br/>
+Rules of Civility,<br/>
+neatness of,<br/>
+food,<br/>
+horsemanship,<br/>
+fishing, fondness for,<br/>
+card-playing,<br/>
+theatre, fondness for,<br/>
+embarrassment,<br/>
+library of,<br/>
+newspapers,<br/>
+abuse, sensitiveness to,<br/>
+friendships of,<br/>
+godfather,<br/>
+pall-bearer,<br/>
+Indian friends,<br/>
+[Indian] name,<br/>
+assassin,<br/>
+temper,<br/>
+quarrel of Hamilton with,<br/>
+children, relations with,<br/>
+enemies,<br/>
+[enemies] duelling and,<br/>
+drinks toasts,<br/>
+intrigues against,<br/>
+attacks on,<br/>
+insulted,<br/>
+Presidency,<br/>
+judgment,<br/>
+liveried servants of,<br/>
+courage of,<br/>
+swears,<br/>
+Fabian policy,<br/>
+rashness of,<br/>
+indecision of,<br/>
+lack of military knowledge,<br/>
+generalship,<br/>
+severity to soldiers,<br/>
+relations with Continental Congress,<br/>
+New England, dislike of,<br/>
+farewell to army,<br/>
+adjutant of Virginia,<br/>
+burgess,<br/>
+stands for Frederick County,<br/>
+elected,<br/>
+election expenses of,<br/>
+drafts law,<br/>
+inability to make speeches,<br/>
+stage fright,<br/>
+inauguration,<br/>
+in the Continental Congress,<br/>
+attitude towards Great Britain,<br/>
+threatened,<br/>
+popularity of,<br/>
+diplomacy of,<br/>
+truthfulness,<br/>
+serves on jury,<br/>
+attends elections,<br/>
+honesty,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, George Augustine,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Harriot,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, John,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, John Augustine,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Lawrence, Rev. (1st),
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Lawrence (2d),
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Lawrence, Major (3d),
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Lawrence, of Chotanck (4th),
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Lund,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Martha, sickness of,<br/>
+meets Washington,<br/>
+engaged,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s letters to,<br/>
+marriage,<br/>
+character,<br/>
+Washington&rsquo;s fondness for,<br/>
+wealth,<br/>
+clothing,<br/>
+housekeeper for,<br/>
+orthography, 93,<br/>
+children,<br/>
+visits to head-quarters,<br/>
+social life,<br/>
+mentioned,<br/>
+dower slaves,<br/>
+drafts of letters for,<br/>
+receptions,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Mary (Ball),
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Mildred,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Robert,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Samuel,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&mdash;, Thornton,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington City,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WATSON, Elkanah, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WAYNE, Anthony, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Weaving at Mount Vernon,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WEEMS, M.L., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WELD, Isaac, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wheat, Washington&rsquo;s production of,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whiskey, distilling of, at Mount Vernon,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WHITE, Rev. W., quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+William and Mary College,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Williamsburg,<br/>
+lots in,<br/>
+Washington goes to, for medical advice,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WILLIAMS, William, wishes Washington removed,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WILLING, Ann, quoted,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Winchester, lots in,<br/>
+election at, 295,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WOLCOTT, Oliver,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+WOOD, John,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yorktown, siege of,
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON ***</div>
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@@ -0,0 +1,9612 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The True George Washington [10th Ed.]
+by Paul Leicester Ford
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The True George Washington [10th Ed.]
+
+Author: Paul Leicester Ford
+
+Release Date: May 8, 2004 [EBook #12300]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE WASHINGTON ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John R. Bilderback and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+       [Illustration: SHARPLESS MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON, 1795]
+
+
+
+                     The True George Washington
+
+
+
+                                By
+                        Paul Leicester Ford
+
+             Author of "The Honorable Peter Stirling"
+         Editor of "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson" and
+                 "The Sayings of Poor Richard"
+
+
+"That I have foibles, and perhaps many of them, I shall not deny. I should
+esteem myself, as the world would, vain and empty, were I to arrogate
+perfection."
+
+--_Washington_
+
+
+"Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice."
+
+--_Shakespeare_
+
+
+
+                               1896
+                                BY
+                      J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+                         _Tenth Edition_
+
+Electrotyped and Printed by J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U
+
+
+
+
+                       THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
+                                TO
+                        WILLIAM F. HAVEMEYER,
+
+IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE INDEBTEDNESS OF THE AUTHOR TO HIS COLLECTION
+                                 OF
+                           WASHINGTONIANA.
+
+
+
++Note+
+
+In every country boasting a history there may be observed a tendency to
+make its leaders or great men superhuman. Whether we turn to the legends
+of the East, the folk-lore of Europe, or the traditions of the native
+races of America, we find a mythology based upon the acts of man gifted
+with superhuman powers. In the unscientific, primeval periods in which
+these beliefs were born and elaborated into oral and written form, their
+origin is not surprising. But to all who have studied the creation of a
+mythology, no phase is a more curious one than that the keen, practical
+American of to-day should engage in the same process of hero-building
+which has given us Jupiter, Wotan, King Arthur, and others. By a slow
+evolution we have well-nigh discarded from the lives of our greatest men
+of the past all human faults and feelings; have enclosed their greatness
+in glass of the clearest crystal, and hung up a sign, "Do not touch."
+Indeed, with such characters as Washington, Franklin, and Lincoln we have
+practically adopted the English maxim that "the king can do no wrong." In
+place of men, limited by human limits, and influenced by human passions,
+we have demi-gods, so stripped of human characteristics as to make us
+question even whether they deserve much credit for their sacrifices and
+deeds.
+
+But with this process of canonization have we not lost more than we have
+gained, both in example and in interest? Many, no doubt, with the greatest
+veneration for our first citizen, have sympathized with the view
+expressed by Mark Twain, when he said that he was a greater man than
+Washington, for the latter "couldn't tell a lie, while he could, but
+wouldn't" We have endless biographies of Franklin, picturing him in all
+the public stations of life, but all together they do not equal in
+popularity his own human autobiography, in which we see him walking down
+Market Street with a roll under each arm, and devouring a third. And so it
+seems as if the time had come to put the shadow-boxes of humanity round
+our historic portraits, not because they are ornamental in themselves, but
+because they will make them examples, not mere idols.
+
+If the present work succeeds in humanizing Washington, and making him a
+man rather than a historical figure, its purpose will have been fulfilled.
+In the attempt to accomplish this, Washington has, so far as is possible,
+been made to speak for himself, even though at times it has compelled the
+sacrifice of literary form, in the hope that his own words would convey a
+greater sense of the personality of the man. So, too, liberal drafts have
+been made on the opinions and statements of his contemporaries; but,
+unless the contrary is stated or is obvious, all quoted matter is from
+Washington's own pen. It is with pleasure that the author adds that the
+result of his study has only served to make Washington the greater to him.
+
+The writer is under the greatest obligation to his brother, Worthington
+Chauncey Ford, not merely for his numerous books on Washington, of which
+his "Writings of George Washington" is easily first in importance of all
+works relating to the great American, but also for much manuscript
+material which he has placed at the author's service. Hitherto unpublished
+facts have been drawn from many other sources, but notably from the rich
+collection of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New York, from the Department
+of State in Washington, and from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
+To Mr. S.M. Hamilton, of the former institution, and to Mr. Frederick D.
+Stone, of the latter, the writer is particularly indebted for assistance.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I.--FAMILY RELATIONS
+
+II.--PHYSIQUE
+
+III.--EDUCATION
+
+IV.--RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX
+
+V.--FARMER AND PROPRIETOR
+
+VI.--MASTER AND EMPLOYER
+
+VII.--SOCIAL LIFE
+
+VIII.--TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS
+
+IX.--FRIENDS
+
+X.--ENEMIES
+
+XI.--SOLDIER
+
+XII.--CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER
+
+
+
+List of Illustrations with Notes
+
+
+
+MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON. By JAMES SHARPLESS
+
+Painted for Washington in 1795, and presented by him to Nelly (Calvert)
+Stuart, widow of John Parke Custis, Washington's adopted son. Her son
+George Washington Parke Custis, in whose presence the sittings were made,
+often spoke of the likeness as "almost perfect."
+
+
+MEMORIAL TABLET OF LAURENCE AND AMEE WASHINGTON, IN SULGRAVE CHURCH,
+NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
+
+The injury of the effigy of Laurence Washington and the entire
+disappearance of the effigy of Amee antedate the early part of the present
+century, and probably were done in the Puritan period. Since the above
+tracing was made the brasses of the eleven children have been stolen,
+leaving nothing but the lettering and the shield of the Washington arms.
+
+
+BETTY WASHINGTON, WIFE OF FIELDING LEWIS
+
+Painted about 1750, and erroneously alleged to be by Copley. Original in
+the possession of Mr. R. Byrd Lewis, of Marmion, Virginia.
+
+
+JOHN AND MARTHA CUSTIS
+
+Original in the possession of General G.W. Custis Lee, of Lexington,
+Virginia.
+
+
+MINIATURE OF ELEANOR PARKE CUSTIS
+
+From the miniature by Gilbert Stuart, in the possession of her grandson,
+Edward Parke Lewis Custis, of Hoboken, New Jersey.
+
+
+FICTITIOUS PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON
+
+The lettering reads, "Done from an original Drawn from the Life, by Alex'r
+Campbell of Williamsburg in Virginia. Published as the act directs
+9 Sept'r 1775 by C. Shepherd." It is the first engraved portrait of
+Washington, and was issued to satisfy the English curiosity concerning the
+new commander-in-chief of the rebels. From the original print in the
+possession of Mr. W.F. Havemeyer, of New York.
+
+
+COPY SHEET FROM YOUNG MAN'S COMPANION
+
+The sheet from which Washington modelled his handwriting, and to which his
+earliest script shows a marked resemblance. From the original in the
+possession of the author.
+
+
+LETTER TO MRS. FAIRFAX
+
+Showing changes and corrections made by Washington at a later date. From
+original copy-book in the Washington MSS. in the Department of State.
+
+
+PORTRAIT OF MARY PHILIPSE
+
+From the original formerly in the possession of Mr. Frederick Philipse.
+
+
+PORTRAIT OF MARTHA CUSTIS
+
+Alleged to have been painted by Woolaston about 1757. It has been asserted
+by Mr. L.W. Washington and Mr. Moncure D. Conway that this is a portrait
+of Betty Washington Lewis, but in this they are wholly in error, as proof
+exists that it is a portrait of Mrs. Washington before her second
+marriage.
+
+
+SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON HILLS
+
+Made by Washington as a boy, and one of the earliest specimens of his
+work. The small drawing of the house represents it as it was before
+Washington enlarged it, and is the only picture of it known. Original in
+the Department of State.
+
+
+MOUNTAIN ROAD LOTTERY TICKET
+
+From the original in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
+
+
+FAMILY GROUP
+
+Painted by Edward Savage about 1795, and issued as a large engraving in
+1798. The original picture is now in the possession of Mr. William F.
+Havemeyer, of New York.
+
+
+DINNER INVITATION
+
+The official invitation while President, from the original in the
+possession of the author.
+
+
+DANCING AGREEMENT
+
+This gives only the first few names, many more following. The original was
+formerly in the possession of Mr. Thomas Biddle, of Philadelphia.
+
+
+BOOK-PLATE OF WASHINGTON
+
+This is a slight variation from the true Washington coat of arms, the
+changes being introduced by Washington. From the original in the
+possession of the author.
+
+
+SURVEY OF WAKEFIELD
+
+Washington's birthplace. The survey was made in 1743, on the property
+coming into the possession of Augustine Washington (second) from his
+father, with the object of readjusting the boundary-lines. Original in the
+possession of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New York.
+
+
+WASHINGTON FAMILY BIBLE
+
+This record, with the exception of the interlined note concerning Betty
+Washington Lewis, is in the handwriting of George Washington, and was
+written when he was about sixteen years old. Original in the possession of
+Mrs. Lewis Washington, of Charlestown, West Virginia.
+
+
+MINIATURE OF MRS. WASHINGTON
+
+By an unknown artist. From the original in the possession of General G.W.
+Custis Lee, of Lexington, Virginia.
+
+
+EARLIEST AUTOGRAPH OF WASHINGTON
+
+On a fly-leaf of the volume to which this title belongs is written, "This
+autograph of Genl. Washington's name is believed to be the earliest
+specimen of his writing, when he was probably not more than 8 or 9 years
+of age." This is a note by G.C. Washington, to whom Washington's library
+descended. Original in the possession of the Boston Athenaeum.
+
+
+RULES OF CIVILITY
+
+First page of Washington's boyish transcript, written when he was about
+thirteen years of age. Used here by courtesy of Mr. S.M. Hamilton and
+"Public Opinion," who are preparing a fac-simile edition of the entire
+rules.
+
+
+LIFE MASK BY HOUDON
+
+Taken by Houdon in October, 1785. From the replica in the Historical
+Society of Pennsylvania.
+
+
+TITLE-PAGE OF JOURNAL OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1754
+
+Of this first edition but two copies are known. From the original in the
+Lenox Library.
+
+
+PRESIDENTIAL HOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA
+
+Philadelphia offered to furnish the house for the President during the
+time Congress sat in that city, but Washington "wholly declined living in
+any public building," and rented this house from Robert Morris. Though it
+was considered one of the finest in the city, Washington several times
+complained of being cramped.
+
+
+
+
+THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON
+
+
+I
+
+FAMILY RELATIONS
+
+
+Although Washington wrote that the history of his ancestors was, in his
+opinion, "of very little moment," and "a subject to which I confess I have
+paid very little attention," few Americans can prove a better pedigree.
+The earliest of his forebears yet discovered was described as "gentleman,"
+the family were granted lands by Henry the Eighth, held various offices of
+honor, married into good families, and under the Stuarts two were knighted
+and a third served as page to Prince Charles. Lawrence, a brother of the
+three thus distinguished, matriculated at Oxford as a "generosi filius"
+(the intermediate class between sons of the nobility, "armigeri filius,"
+and of the people, "plebeii filius"), or as of the minor gentry. In time
+he became a fellow and lector of Brasenose College, and presently obtained
+the good living of Purleigh. Strong royalists, the fortunes of the family
+waned along with King Charles, and sank into insignificance with the
+passing of the Stuart dynasty. Not the least sufferer was the rector of
+Purleigh, for the Puritan Parliament ejected him from his living, on the
+charge "that he was a common frequenter of ale-houses, not only himself
+sitting dayly tippling there ... but hath oft been drunk,"--a charge
+indignantly denied by the royalists, who asserted that he was a "worthy
+Pious man, ... always ... a very Modest, Sober Person;" and this latter
+claim is supported by the fact that though the Puritans sequestered the
+rich living, they made no objection to his serving as rector at Brixted
+Parva, where the living was "such a Poor and Miserable one that it was
+always with difficulty that any one was persuaded to accept of it."
+
+Poverty resulting, John, the eldest son of this rector, early took to the
+sea, and in 1656 assisted "as second man in Sayleing ye Vessel to
+Virginia." Here he settled, took up land, presently became a county
+officer, a burgess, and a colonel of militia. In this latter function he
+commanded the Virginia troops during the Indian war of 1675, and when his
+great-grandson, George, on his first arrival on the frontier, was called
+by the Indians "Conotocarius," or "devourer of villages," the formidable
+but inappropriate title for the newly-fledged officer is supposed to have
+been due to the reputation that John Washington had won for his name among
+the Indians eighty years before.
+
+[Illustration: TABLET TO LAURENCE WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY IN SULGRAVE
+CHURCH]
+
+Both John's son, Lawrence, and Lawrence's son, Augustine, describe
+themselves in their wills as "gentlemen," and both intermarried with the
+"gentry families" of Virginia. Augustine was educated at Appleby School,
+in England, like his grandfather followed the sea for a time, was
+interested in iron mines, and in other ways proved himself far more than
+the average Virginia planter of his day. He was twice married,--which
+marriages, with unconscious humor, he describes in his will as "several
+Ventures,"--had ten children, and died in 1743, when George, his fifth
+child and the first by his second "Venture," was a boy of eleven. The
+father thus took little part in the life of the lad, and almost the only
+mention of him by his son still extant is the one recorded in Washington's
+round school-boy hand in the family Bible, to the effect that "Augustine
+Washington and Mary Ball was Married the Sixth of March 17-30/31.
+Augustine Washington Departed this Life ye 12th Day of April 1743, Aged 49
+Years."
+
+The mother, Mary Washington, was more of a factor, though chiefly by mere
+length of life, for she lived to be eighty-three, and died but ten years
+before her son. That Washington owed his personal appearance to the Balls
+is true, but otherwise the sentimentality that has been lavished about the
+relations between the two and her influence upon him, partakes of fiction
+rather than of truth. After his father's death the boy passed most of his
+time at the homes of his two elder brothers, and this was fortunate, for
+they were educated men, of some colonial consequence, while his mother
+lived in comparatively straitened circumstances, was illiterate and
+untidy, and, moreover, if tradition is to be believed, smoked a pipe. Her
+course with the lad was blamed by a contemporary as "fond and unthinking,"
+and this is borne out by such facts as can be gleaned, for when his
+brothers wished to send him to sea she made "trifling objections," and
+prevented his taking what they thought an advantageous opening; when the
+brilliant offer of a position on Braddock's staff was tendered to
+Washington, his mother, "alarmed at the report," hurried to Mount Vernon
+and endeavored to prevent him from accepting it; still again, after
+Braddock's defeat, she so wearied her son with pleas not to risk the
+dangers of another campaign that Washington finally wrote her, "It would
+reflect dishonor upon me to refuse; and _that_, I am sure, must or _ought_
+to give you greater uneasiness, than my going in an honorable command."
+After he inherited Mount Vernon the two seem to have seen little of each
+other, though, when occasion took him near Fredericksburg, he usually
+stopped to see her for a few hours, or even for a night.
+
+Though Washington always wrote to his mother as "Honored Madam," and
+signed himself "your dutiful and aff. son," she none the less tried him
+not a little. He never claimed from her a part of the share of his
+father's estate which was his due on becoming of age, and, in addition,
+"a year or two before I left Virginia (to make her latter days comfortable
+and free from care) I did, at her request, but at my own expence,
+purchase a commodious house, garden and Lotts (of her own choosing) in
+Fredericksburg, that she might be near my sister Lewis, her only
+daughter,--and did moreover agree to take her land and negroes at a
+certain yearly rent, to be fixed by Colo Lewis and others (of her own
+nomination) which has been an annual expence to me ever since, as the
+estate never raised one half the rent I was to pay. Before I left Virginia
+I answered all her calls for money; and since that period have directed my
+steward to do the same." Furthermore, he gave her a phaeton, and when she
+complained of her want of comfort he wrote her, "My house is at your
+service, and [I] would press you most sincerely and most devoutly to
+accept it, but I am sure, and candor requires me to say, it will never
+answer your purposes in any shape whatsoever. For in truth it may be
+compared to a well resorted tavern, as scarcely any strangers who are
+going from north to south, or from south to north, do not spend a day or
+two at it. This would, were you to be an inhabitant of it, oblige you to
+do one of 3 things: 1st, to be always dressing to appear in company; 2d,
+to come into [the room] in a dishabille, or 3d to be as it were a prisoner
+in your own chamber. The first you'ld not like; indeed, for a person at
+your time of life it would be too fatiguing. The 2d, I should not like,
+because those who resort here are, as I observed before, strangers and
+people of the first distinction. And the 3d, more than probably, would not
+be pleasing to either of us."
+
+Under these circumstances it was with real indignation that Washington
+learned that complaints of hers that she "never lived soe poore in all my
+life" were so well known that there was a project to grant her a pension.
+The pain this caused a man who always showed such intense dislike to
+taking even money earned from public coffers, and who refused everything
+in the nature of a gift, can easily be understood. He at once wrote a
+letter to a friend in the Virginia Assembly, in which, after reciting
+enough of what he had done for her to prove that she was under no
+necessity of a pension,--"or, in other words, receiving charity from the
+public,"--he continued, "But putting these things aside, which I could not
+avoid mentioning in exculpation of a presumptive want of duty on my part;
+confident I am that she has not a child that would not divide the last
+sixpence to relieve her from real distress. This she has been repeatedly
+assured of by me; and all of us, I am certain, would feel much hurt, at
+having our mother a pensioner, while we had the means of supporting her;
+but in fact she has an ample income of her own. I lament accordingly that
+your letter, which conveyed the first hint of this matter, did not come to
+my hands sooner; but I request, in pointed terms, if the matter is now in
+agitation in your Assembly, that all proceedings on it may be stopped, or
+in case of a decision in her favor, that it may be done away and repealed
+at my request."
+
+Still greater mortification was in store for him, when he was told that
+she was borrowing and accepting gifts from her neighbors, and learned "on
+good authority that she is, upon all occasions and in all companies,
+complaining ... of her wants and difficulties; and if not in direct terms,
+at least by strong innuendoes, endeavors to excite a belief that times
+are much altered, &c., &c., which not only makes _her_ appear in an
+unfavorable point of view, but _those also_ who are connected with her."
+To save her feelings he did not express the "pain" he felt to her, but he
+wrote a brother asking him to ascertain if there was the slightest basis
+in her complaints, and "see what is necessary to make her comfortable,"
+for "while I have anything I will part with it to make her so;" but
+begging him "at the same time ... to represent to her in delicate terms,
+the impropriety of her complaints, and _acceptance_ of favors, even when
+they are voluntarily offered, from any but relations." Though he did not
+"touch upon this subject in a letter to her," he was enough fretted to end
+the renting of her plantation, not because "I mean ... to withhold any aid
+or support I can give from you; for whilst I have a shilling left, you
+shall have part," but because "what I shall then give, I shall have credit
+for," and not be "viewed as a delinquent, and considered perhaps by the
+world as [an] unjust and undutiful son."
+
+In the last years of her life a cancer developed, which she refused to
+have "dressed," and over which, as her doctor wrote Washington, the "Old
+Lady" and he had "a small battle every day." Once Washington was summoned
+by an express to her bedside "to bid, as I was prepared to expect, the
+last adieu to an honored parent," but it was a false alarm. Her health was
+so bad, however, that just before he started to New York to be inaugurated
+he rode to Fredericksburg, "and took a final leave of my mother, never
+expecting to see her more," a surmise that proved correct.
+
+Only Elizabeth--or "Betty"--of Washington's sisters grew to womanhood, and
+it is said that she was so strikingly like her brother that, disguised
+with a long cloak and a military hat, the difference between them was
+scarcely detectable. She married Fielding Lewis, and lived at "Kenmore
+House" on the Rappahannock, where Washington spent many a night, as did
+the Lewises at Mount Vernon. During the Revolution, while visiting there,
+she wrote her brother, "Oh, when will that day arrive when we shall meet
+again. Trust in the lord it will be soon,--till when, you have the prayers
+and kind wishes for your health and happiness of your loving and sincerely
+affectionate sister." Her husband died "much indebted," and from that time
+her brother gave her occasional sums of money, and helped her in other
+ways.
+
+Her eldest son followed in his father's footsteps, and displeased
+Washington with requests for loans. He angered him still more by conduct
+concerning which Washington wrote to him as follows:
+
+
+"Sir, Your letter of the 11th of Octor. never came to my hands 'till
+yesterday. Altho' your disrespectful conduct towards me, in coming into
+this country and spending weeks therein without ever coming near me,
+entitled you to very little notice or favor from me; yet I consent that
+you may get timber from off my Land in Fauquier County to build a house on
+your Lott in Rectertown. Having granted this, now let me ask you what your
+views were in purchasing a Lott in a place which, I presume, originated
+with and will end in two or three Gin shops, which probably will exist no
+longer than they serve to ruin the proprietors, and those who make the
+most frequent applications to them. I am, &c."
+
+[Illustration: MRS FIELDING LEWIS (BETTY WASHINGTON)]
+
+Other of the Lewis boys pleased him better, and he appointed one an
+officer in his own "Life Guard." Of another he wrote, when President, to
+his sister, "If your son Howell is living with you, and not usefully
+employed in your own affairs, and should incline to spend a few months
+with me, as a writer in my office (if he is fit for it) I will allow him
+at the rate of three hundred dollars a year, provided he is diligent in
+discharging the duties of it from breakfast until dinner--Sundays
+excepted. This sum will be punctually paid him, and I am particular in
+declaring beforehand what I require, and what he may expect, that there
+may be no disappointment, or false expectations on either side. He will
+live in the family in the same manner his brother Robert did." This Robert
+had been for some time one of his secretaries, and at another time was
+employed as a rent-collector.
+
+Still another son, Lawrence, also served him in these dual capacities, and
+Washington, on his retirement from the Presidency, offered him a home at
+Mount Vernon. This led to a marriage with Mrs. Washington's grandchild,
+Eleanor Custis, a match which so pleased Washington that he made
+arrangements for Lawrence to build on the Mount Vernon estate, in his will
+named him an executor, and left the couple a part of this property, as
+well as a portion of the residuary estate.
+
+As already noted, much of Washington's early life was passed at the homes
+of his elder (half-) brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, who lived
+respectively at Mount Vernon and Wakefield. When Lawrence developed
+consumption, George was his travelling companion in a trip to Barbadoes,
+and from him, when he died of that disease, in 1752, came the bequest of
+Mount Vernon to "my loveing brother George." To Augustine, in the only
+letter now extant, Washington wrote, "The pleasure of your company at
+Mount Vernon always did, and always will afford me infinite satisfaction,"
+and signed himself "your most affectionate brother." Surviving this
+brother, he left handsome bequests to all his children.
+
+Samuel, the eldest of his own brothers, and his junior by but two years,
+though constantly corresponded with, was not a favorite. He seems to have
+had extravagant tendencies, variously indicated by five marriages, and by
+(perhaps as a consequence) pecuniary difficulties. In 1781, Washington
+wrote to another brother, "In God's name how did my brother Samuel get
+himself so enormously in debt?" Very quickly requests for loans followed,
+than which nothing was more irritating to Washington. Yet, though he
+replied that it would be "very inconvenient" to him, his ledger shows that
+at least two thousand dollars were advanced, and in a letter to this
+brother, on the danger of borrowing at interest, Washington wrote, "I do
+not make these observations on account of the money I purpose to lend you,
+because all I shall require is that you return the net sum when in your
+power, without interest." Better even than this, in his will Washington
+discharged the debt.
+
+To the family of Samuel, Washington was equally helpful. For the eldest
+son he obtained an ensigncy, and "to save Thornton and you [Samuel] the
+expence of buying a horse to ride home on, I have lent him a mare." Two
+other sons he assumed all the expenses of, and showed an almost fatherly
+interest in them. He placed them at school, and when the lads proved
+somewhat unruly he wrote them long admonitory letters, which became stern
+when actual misconduct ensued, and when one of them ran away to Mount
+Vernon to escape a whipping, Washington himself prepared "to correct him,
+but he begged so earnestly and promised so faithfully that there should be
+no cause for complaint in the future, that I have suspended punishment."
+Later the two were sent to college, and in all cost Washington "near five
+thousand dollars."
+
+An even greater trouble was their sister Harriot, whose care was assumed
+in 1785, and who was a member of Washington's household, with only a
+slight interruption, till her marriage in 1796. Her chief failing was "no
+disposition ... to be careful of her cloathes," which were "dabbed about
+in every hole and corner and her best things always in use," so that
+Washington said "she costs me enough!" To her uncle she wrote on one
+occasion, "How shall I apologise to my dear and Honor'd for intruding on
+his goodness so soon again, but being sensible for your kindness to me
+which I shall ever remember with the most heartfelt gratitude induces me
+to make known my wants. I have not had a pair of stays since I first came
+here: if you could let me have a pair I should be very much obleiged to
+you, and also a hat and a few other articles. I hope my dear Uncle will
+not think me extravagant for really I take as much care of my cloaths as I
+possibly can." Probably the expense that pleased him best in her case was
+that which he recorded in his ledger "By Miss Harriot Washington gave her
+to buy wedding clothes $100."
+
+His second and favorite brother, John Augustine, who was four years his
+junior, Washington described as "the intimate companion of my youth and
+the friend of my ripened age." While the Virginia colonel was on the
+frontier, from 1754 to 1759, he left John in charge of all his business
+affairs, giving him a residence at and management of Mount Vernon. With
+this brother he constantly corresponded, addressing him as "Dear Jack,"
+and writing in the most intimate and affectionate terms, not merely to
+him, but when John had taken unto himself a wife, to her, and to "the
+little ones," and signing himself "your loving brother." Visits between
+the two were frequent, and invitations for the same still more so, and in
+one letter, written during the most trying moment of the Revolution,
+Washington said, "God grant you all health and happiness. Nothing in this
+world could contribute so to mine as to be fixed among you." John died in
+1787, and Washington wrote with simple but undisguised grief of the death
+of "my beloved brother."
+
+The eldest son of this brother, Bushrod, was his favorite nephew, and
+Washington took much interest in his career, getting the lad admitted to
+study law with Judge James Wilson, in Philadelphia, and taking genuine
+pride in him when he became a lawyer and judge of repute. He made this
+nephew his travelling companion in the Western journey of 1784, and at
+other times not merely sent him money, but wrote him letters of advice,
+dwelling on the dangers that beset young men, though confessing that he
+was himself "not such a Stoic" as to expect too much of youthful blood. To
+Bushrod, also, he appealed on legal matters, adding, "You may think me an
+unprofitable applicant in asking opinions and requiring services of you
+without dousing my money, but pay day may come," and in this he was as
+good as his word, for in his will Washington left Bushrod, "partly in
+consideration of an intimation to his deceased father, while we were
+bachelors and he had kindly undertaken to superintend my Estates, during
+my military services in the former war between Great Britain and France,
+that if I should fall therein, Mt. Vernon ... should become his property,"
+the home and "mansion-house farm," one share of the residuary estate, his
+private papers, and his library, and named him an executor of the
+instrument.
+
+Of Washington's relations with his youngest brother, Charles, little can
+be learned. He was the last of his brothers to die, and Washington
+outlived him so short a time that he was named in his will, though only
+for a mere token of remembrance. "I add nothing to it because of the ample
+provision I have made for his issue." Of the children so mentioned,
+Washington was particularly fond of George Augustine Washington. As a mere
+lad he used his influence to procure for him an ensigncy in a Virginia
+regiment, and an appointment on Lafayette's staff. When in 1784 the young
+fellow was threatened with consumption, his uncle's purse supplied him
+with the funds by which he was enabled to travel, even while Washington
+wrote, "Poor fellow! his pursuit after health is, I fear, altogether
+fruitless." When better health came, and with it a renewal of a troth with
+a niece of Mrs. Washington's, the marriage was made possible by Washington
+appointing the young fellow his manager, and not merely did it take place
+at Mount Vernon, but the young couple took up their home there. More than
+this, that their outlook might be "more stable and pleasing," Washington
+promised them that on his death they should not be forgotten. When the
+disease again developed, Washington wrote his nephew in genuine anxiety,
+and ended his letter, "At all times and under all circumstances you and
+yours will possess my affectionate regards." Only a few days later the
+news of his nephew's death reached him, and he wrote his widow, "To you
+who so well know the affectionate regard I had for our departed friend, it
+is unnecessary to describe the sorrow with which I was afflicted at the
+news of his death." He asked her and her children "to return to your old
+habitation at Mount Vernon. You can go to no place where you can be more
+welcome, nor to any where you can live at less expence and trouble," an
+offer, he adds, "made to you with my whole heart." Furthermore, Washington
+served as executor, assumed the expense of educating one of the sons, and
+in his will left the two children part of the Mount Vernon estate, as
+well as other bequests, "on account of the affection I had for, and the
+obligation I was under to their father when living, who from his youth
+attached himself to my person, and followed my fortunes through the
+vicissitudes of the late Revolution, afterwards devoting his time for many
+years whilst my public employments rendered it impracticable for me to do
+it myself, thereby affording me essential services and always performing
+them in a manner the most filial and respectful."
+
+Of his wife's kith and kin Washington was equally fond. Both alone and
+with Mrs. Washington he often visited her mother, Mrs. Dandridge, and in
+1773 he wrote to a brother-in-law that he wished "I was master of
+Arguments powerful enough to prevail upon Mrs. Dandridge to make this
+place her entire and absolute home. I should think as she lives a lonesome
+life (Betsey being married) it might suit her well, & be agreeable, both
+to herself & my Wife, to me most assuredly it would." Washington was also
+a frequent visitor at "Eltham," the home of Colonel Bassett, who had
+married his wife's sister, and constantly corresponded with these
+relatives. He asked this whole family to be his guests at the Warm
+Springs, and, as this meant camping out in tents, he wrote, "You will have
+occasion to provide nothing, if I can be advised of your intentions, so
+that I may provide accordingly." To another brother-in-law, Bartholomew
+Dandridge, he lent money, and forgave the debt to the widow in his will,
+also giving her the use during her life of the thirty-three negroes he had
+bid in at the bankruptcy sale of her husband's property.
+
+The pleasantest glimpses of family feeling are gained, however, in his
+relations with his wife's children and grandchildren. John Parke and
+Martha Parke Custis--or "Jack" and "Patsey," as he called them--were
+at the date of his marriage respectively six and four years of age, and in
+the first invoice of goods to be shipped to him from London after he had
+become their step-father, Washington ordered "10 shillings worth of Toys,"
+"6 little books for children beginning to read," and "1 fashionable-dressed
+baby to cost 10 shillings." When this latter shared the usual fate, he
+further wrote for "1 fashionable dress Doll to cost a guinea," and for "A
+box of Gingerbread Toys & Sugar Images or Comfits." A little later he
+ordered a Bible and Prayer-Book for each, "neatly bound in Turkey," with
+names "in gilt letters on the inside of the cover," followed ere long by an
+order for "1 very good Spinet" As Patsy grew to girlhood she developed
+fits, and "solely on her account to try (by the advice of her Physician)
+the effect of the waters on her Complaint," Washington took the family over
+the mountains and camped at the "Warm Springs" in 1769, with "little
+benefit," for, after ailing four years longer, "she was seized with one of
+her usual Fits & expired in it, in less than two minutes, without uttering
+a word, or groan, or scarce a sigh." "The Sweet Innocent Girl," Washington
+wrote, "entered into a more happy & peaceful abode than she has met with in
+the afflicted Path she has hitherto trod," but none the less "it is an
+easier matter to conceive than to describe the distress of this family" at
+the loss of "dear Patsy Custis."
+
+[Illustration: JOHN AND MARTHA PARKE CUSTIS]
+
+The care of Jack Custis was a worry to Washington in quite another way. As
+a lad, Custis signed his letters to him as "your most affectionate and
+dutiful son," "yet I conceive," Washington wrote, "there is much greater
+circumspection to be observed by a guardian than a natural parent." Soon
+after assuming charge of the boy, a tutor was secured, who lived at Mount
+Vernon, but the boy showed little inclination to study, and when fourteen,
+Washington wrote that "his mind [is] ... more turned ... to Dogs, Horses
+and Guns, indeed upon Dress and equipage." "Having his well being much at
+heart," Washington wished to make him "fit for more useful purposes than
+[a] horse racer," and so Jack was placed with a clergyman, who agreed to
+instruct him, and with him he lived, except for some home visits, for
+three years. Unfortunately, the lad, like the true Virginian planter of
+his day, had no taste for study, and had "a propensity for the [fair]
+sex." After two or three flirtations, he engaged himself, without the
+knowledge of his mother or guardian, to Nellie Calvert, a match to which
+no objection could be made, except that, owing to his "youth and
+fickleness," "he may either change and therefore injure the young lady; or
+that it may precipitate him into a marriage before, I am certain, he has
+ever bestowed a serious thought of the consequences; by which means his
+education is interrupted." To avoid this danger, Washington took his ward
+to New York and entered him in King's College, but the death of Patsy
+Custis put a termination to study, for Mrs. Washington could not bear to
+have the lad at such a distance, and Washington "did not care, as he is
+the last of the family, to push my opposition too far." Accordingly, Jack
+returned to Virginia and promptly married.
+
+The young couple were much at Mount Vernon from this time on, and
+Washington wrote to "Dear Jack," "I am always pleased with yours and
+Nelly's abidance at Mount Vernon." When the winter snows made the siege of
+Boston purely passive, the couple journeyed with Mrs. Washington to
+Cambridge, and visited at head-quarters for some months. The arrival of
+children prevented the repetition of such visits, but frequent letters,
+which rarely failed to send love to "Nelly and the little girls," were
+exchanged. The acceptance of command compelled Washington to resign the
+care of Custis's estate, for which service "I have never charged him or
+his sister, from the day of my connexion with them to this hour, one
+farthing for all the trouble I have had in managing their estates, nor for
+any expense they have been to me, notwithstanding some hundreds of pounds
+would not reimburse the moneys I have actually paid in attending the
+public meetings in Williamsburg to collect their debts, and transact these
+several matters appertaining to the respective estates." Washington,
+however, continued his advice as to its management, and in other letters
+advised him concerning his conduct when Custis was elected a member of the
+Virginia House of Delegates. In the siege of Yorktown Jack served as an
+officer of militia, and the exposure proved too much for him. Immediately
+after the surrender, news reached Washington of his serious illness, and
+by riding thirty miles in one day he succeeded in reaching Eltham in "time
+enough to see poor Mr. Custis breath his last," leaving behind him "four
+lovely children, three girls and a boy."
+
+Owing to his public employment, Washington refused to be guardian for
+these "little ones," writing "that it would be injurious to the children
+and madness in me, to undertake, _as a principle_, a trust which I could
+not discharge. Such aid, however, as it ever may be with me to give to the
+children especially the boy, I will afford with all my heart, and on this
+assurance you may rely." Yet "from their earliest infancy" two of Jack's
+children, George Washington Parke and Eleanor Parke Custis, lived at Mount
+Vernon, for, as Washington wrote in his will, "it has always been my
+intention, since my expectation of having issue has ceased, to consider
+the grandchildren of my wife in the same light as my own relations, and to
+act a friendly part by them." Though the cares of war prevented his
+watching their property interests, his eight years' absence could not make
+him forget them, and on his way to Annapolis, in 1783, to tender Congress
+his resignation, he spent sundry hours of his time in the purchase of
+gifts obviously intended to increase the joy of his homecoming to the
+family circle at Mount Vernon; set forth in his note-book as follows:
+
+"By Sundries bo't. in Phil'a.
+
+    A Locket                         �5  5
+    3 Small Pockt. Books              1 10
+    3 Sashes                          1  5 0
+    Dress Cap                         2  8
+    Hatt                              3 10
+    Handkerchief                      1
+    Childrens Books                      4 6
+    Whirligig                            1 6
+    Fiddle                               2 6
+    Quadrille Boxes                   1 17 6."
+
+Indeed, in every way Washington showed how entirely he considered himself
+as a father, not merely speaking of them frequently as "the children," but
+even alluding to himself in a letter to the boy as "your papa." Both were
+much his companions during the Presidency. A frequent sight in New York
+and Philadelphia was Washington taking "exercise in the coach with Mrs.
+Washington and the two children," and several times they were taken to the
+theatre and on picnics.
+
+For Eleanor, or "Nelly," who grew into a great beauty, Washington showed
+the utmost tenderness, and on occasion interfered to save her from her
+grandmother, who at moments was inclined to be severe, in one case to
+bring the storm upon himself. For her was bought a "Forte piano,"
+and later, at the cost of a thousand dollars, a very fine imported
+harpsichord, and one of Washington's great pleasures was to have her play
+and sing to him. His ledger constantly shows gifts to her ranging from
+"The Wayworn traveller, a song for Miss Custis," to "a pr. of gold
+eardrops" and a watch. The two corresponded. One letter from Washington
+merits quotation:
+
+[Illustration: ELLANOR (NELLY) CUSTIS]
+
+"Let me touch a little now on your Georgetown ball, and happy, thrice
+happy, for the fair who assembled on the occasion, that there was a man to
+spare; for had there been 79 ladies and only 78 gentlemen, there might, in
+the course of the evening have been some disorder among the caps;
+notwithstanding the apathy which _one_ of the company entertains for the
+'_youth_' of the present day, and her determination 'Never to give herself
+a moment's uneasiness on account of any of them.' A hint here; men and
+women feel the same inclinations towards each other _now_ that they always
+have done, and which they will continue to do until there is a new order
+of things, and _you_, as others have done, may find, perhaps, that the
+passions of your sex are easier raised than allayed. Do not therefore
+boast too soon or too strongly of your insensibility to, or resistance of,
+its powers. In the composition of the human frame there is a good deal of
+inflammable matter, however dormant it may lie for a time, and like an
+intimate acquaintance of yours, when the torch is put to it, _that_ which
+is _within you_ may burst into a blaze; for which reason and especially
+too, as I have entered upon the chapter of advices, I will read you a
+lecture from this text."
+
+
+Not long after this was written, Nelly, as already
+mentioned, was married at Mount Vernon to Washington's
+nephew, Lawrence Lewis, and in time became
+joint-owner with her husband of part of that
+place.
+
+As early as 1785 a tutor was wanted for "little Washington," as the lad
+was called, and Washington wrote to England to ask if some "worthy man of
+the cloth could not be obtained," "for the boy is a remarkably fine one,
+and my intention is to give him a liberal education." His training became
+part of the private secretary's duty, both at Mount Vernon and New York
+and Philadelphia, but the lad inherited his father's traits, and "from his
+infancy ... discovered an almost unconquerable disposition to indolence."
+This led to failures which gave Washington "extreme disquietude," and in
+vain he "exhorted him in the most parental and friendly manner." Custis
+would express "sorrow and repentance" and do no better. Successively he
+was sent to the College of Philadelphia, the College of New Jersey, and
+that at Annapolis, but from each he was expelled, or had to be withdrawn.
+Irritating as it must have been, his guardian never in his letters
+expressed anything but affection, shielded the lad from the anger of his
+step-father, and saw that he was properly supplied with money, of which he
+asked him to keep a careful account,--though this, as Washington wrote,
+was "not because I want to know how you spend your money." After the last
+college failure a private tutor was once more engaged, but a very few
+weeks served to give Washington "a thorough conviction that it was in vain
+to keep Washington Custis to any literary pursuits, either in a public
+Seminary or at home," and, as the next best thing, he procured him a
+cornetcy in the provisional army. Even here, balance was shown; for, out
+of compliment and friendship to Washington, "the Major Generals were
+desirous of placing him as lieutenant in the first instance; but his age
+considered, I thought it more eligible that he should enter into the
+lowest grade."
+
+In this connection one side of Washington's course with his relations
+deserves especial notice. As early as 1756 he applied for a commission in
+the Virginia forces for his brother, and, as already shown, he placed
+several of his nephews and other connections in the Revolutionary or
+provisional armies. But he made clear distinction between military and
+civil appointments, and was very scrupulous about the latter. When his
+favorite nephew asked for a Federal appointment, Washington answered,--
+
+
+"You cannot doubt my wishes to see you appointed to any office of honor or
+emolument in the new government, to the duties of which you are competent;
+but however deserving you may be of the one you have suggested, your
+standing at the bar would not justify my nomination of you as attorney to
+the Federal District Court in preference to some of the oldest and most
+esteemed general court lawyers in your State, who are desirous of this
+appointment. My political conduct in nominations, even if I were
+uninfluenced by principle, must be exceedingly circumspect and proof
+against just criticism; for the eyes of Argus are upon me, and no slip
+will pass unnoticed, that can be improved into a supposed partiality for
+friends or relations."
+
+
+And that in this policy he was consistent is shown by a letter of
+Jefferson, who wrote to an office-seeking relative, "The public will never
+be made to believe that an appointment of a relative is made on the ground
+of merit alone, uninfluenced by family views; nor can they ever see with
+approbation offices, the disposal of which they entrust to their
+Presidents for public purposes, divided out as family property. Mr. Adams
+degraded himself infinitely by his conduct on this subject, as Genl.
+Washington had done himself the greatest honor. With two such examples to
+proceed by, I should be doubly inexcusable to err."
+
+There were many other more distant relatives with whom pleasant relations
+were maintained, but enough has been said to indicate the intercourse.
+Frequent were the house-parties at Mount Vernon, and how unstinted
+hospitality was to kith and kin is shown by many entries in Washington's
+diary, a single one of which will indicate the rest: "I set out for my
+return home--at which I arrived a little after noon--And found my Brother
+Jon Augustine his Wife; Daughter Milly, & Sons Bushrod & Corbin, & the
+Wife of the first. Mr. Willm Washington & his Wife and 4 Children."
+
+His will left bequests to forty-one of his own and his wife's relations.
+"God left him childless that he might be the father of his country."
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+PHYSIQUE
+
+
+Writing to his London tailor for clothes, in 1763, Washington directed him
+to "take measure of a gentleman who wares well-made cloaths of the
+following size: to wit, 6 feet high and proportionably made--if anything
+rather slender than thick, for a person of that highth, with pretty long
+arms and thighs. You will take care to make the breeches longer than those
+you sent me last, and I would have you keep the measure of the cloaths you
+now make, by you, and if any alteration is required in my next it shall be
+pointed out." About this time, too, he ordered "6 pr. Man's riding
+Gloves--rather large than the middle size,"... and several dozen pairs of
+stockings, "to be long, and tolerably large."
+
+The earliest known description of Washington was written in 1760 by his
+companion-in-arms and friend George Mercer, who attempted a "portraiture"
+in the following words: "He may be described as being as straight as an
+Indian, measuring six feet two inches in his stockings, and weighing 175
+pounds when he took his seat in the House of Burgesses in 1759. His frame
+is padded with well-developed muscles, indicating great strength. His
+bones and joints are large, as are his feet and hands. He is wide
+shouldered, but has not a deep or round chest; is neat waisted, but is
+broad across the hips, and has rather long legs and arms. His head is well
+shaped though not large, but is gracefully poised on a superb neck. A
+large and straight rather than prominent nose; blue-gray penetrating eyes,
+which are widely separated and overhung by a heavy brow. His face is long
+rather than broad, with high round cheek bones, and terminates in a good
+firm chin. He has a clear though rather a colorless pale skin, which burns
+with the sun. A pleasing, benevolent, though a commanding countenance,
+dark brown hair, which he wears in a cue. His mouth is large and generally
+firmly closed, but which from time to time discloses some defective teeth.
+His features are regular and placid, with all the muscles of his face
+under perfect control, though flexible and expressive of deep feeling when
+moved by emotion. In conversation he looks you full in the face, is
+deliberate, deferential and engaging. His voice is agreeable rather than
+strong. His demeanor at all times composed and dignified. His movements
+and gestures are graceful, his walk majestic, and he is a splendid
+horseman."
+
+Dr. James Thacher, writing in 1778, depicted him as "remarkably tall, full
+six feet, erect and well proportioned. The strength and proportion of his
+joints and muscles, appear to be commensurate with the pre-eminent powers
+of his mind. The serenity of his countenance, and majestic gracefulness of
+his deportment, impart a strong impression of that dignity and grandeur,
+which are his peculiar characteristics, and no one can stand in his
+presence without feeling the ascendancy of his mind, and associating with
+his countenance the idea of wisdom, philanthropy, magnanimity and
+patriotism. There is a fine symmetry in the features of his face,
+indicative of a benign and dignified spirit. His nose is straight, and his
+eye inclined to blue. He wears his hair in a becoming cue, and from his
+forehead it is turned back and powdered in a manner which adds to the
+military air of his appearance. He displays a native gravity, but devoid
+of all appearance of ostentation." In this same year a friend wrote,
+"General Washington is now in the forty-seventh year of his age; he is a
+well-made man, rather large boned, and has a tolerably genteel address;
+his features are manly and bold, his eyes of a bluish cast and very
+lively; his hair a deep brown, his face rather long and marked with the
+small-pox; his complexion sunburnt and without much color, and his
+countenance sensible, composed and thoughtful; there is a remarkable air
+of dignity about him, with a striking degree of gracefulness."
+
+In 1789 Senator Maclay saw "him as he really is. In stature about six
+feet, with an unexceptionable make, but lax appearance. His frame would
+seem to want filling up. His motions rather slow than lively, though he
+showed no signs of having suffered by gout or rheumatism. His complexion
+pale, nay, almost cadaverous. His voice hollow and indistinct, owing, as I
+believe, to artificial teeth before his upper jaw, which occasions a
+flatness."
+
+From frequent opportunity of seeing Washington between 1794 and 1797,
+William Sullivan described him as "over six feet in stature; of strong,
+bony, muscular frame, without fullness of covering, well-formed and
+straight. He was a man of most extraordinary strength. In his own house,
+his action was calm, deliberate, and dignified, without pretension to
+gracefulness, or peculiar manner, but merely natural, and such as one
+would think it should be in such a man. When walking in the street, his
+movement had not the soldierly air which might be expected. His habitual
+motions had been formed, long before he took command of the American
+Armies, in the wars of the interior and in the surveying of wilderness
+lands, employments in which grace and elegance were not likely to be
+acquired. At the age of sixty-five, time had done nothing towards bending
+him out of his natural erectness. His deportment was invariably grave; it
+was sobriety that stopped short of sadness."
+
+The French officers and travellers supply other descriptions. The Abb�
+Robin found him of "tall and noble stature, well proportioned, a fine,
+cheerful, open countenance, a simple and modest carriage; and his whole
+mien has something in it that interests the French, the Americans, and
+even enemies themselves in his favor."
+
+The Marquis de Chastellux wrote enthusiastically, "In speaking of this
+perfect whole of which General Washington furnishes the idea, I have not
+excluded exterior form. His stature is noble and lofty, he is well made,
+and exactly proportionate; his physiognomy mild and agreeable, but such as
+to render it impossible to speak particularly of any of his features, so
+that in quitting him you have only the recollection of a fine face. He has
+neither a grave nor a familiar face, his brow is sometimes marked with
+thought, but never with inquietude; in inspiring respect he inspires
+confidence, and his smile is always the smile of benevolence."
+
+To this description, however, Brissot de Warville took exception, and
+supplied his own picture by writing in 1791, "You have often heard me
+blame M. Chastellux for putting too much sprightliness in the character he
+has drawn of this general. To give pretensions to the portrait of a man
+who has none is truly absurd. The General's goodness appears in his looks.
+They have nothing of that brilliancy which his officers found in them when
+he was at the head of his army; but in conversation they become animated.
+He has no characteristic traits in his figure, and this has rendered it
+always so difficult to describe it: there are few portraits which resemble
+him. All his answers are pertinent; he shows the utmost reserve, and is
+very diffident; but, at the same time, he is firm and unchangeable in
+whatever he undertakes. His modesty must be very astonishing, especially
+to a Frenchman."
+
+British travellers have left a number of pen-portraits. An anonymous
+writer in 1790 declared that in meeting him "it was not necessary to
+announce his name, for his peculiar appearance, his firm forehead, Roman
+nose, and a projection of the lower jaw, his height and figure, could not
+be mistaken by any one who had seen a full-length picture of him, and yet
+no picture accurately resembled him in the minute traits of his person.
+His features, however, were so marked by prominent characteristics, which
+appear in all likenesses of him, that a stranger could not be mistaken in
+the man; he was remarkably dignified in his manners, and had an air
+of benignity over his features which his visitant did not expect,
+being rather prepared for sternness of countenance.... his smile was
+extraordinarily attractive. It was observed to me that there was an
+expression in Washington's face that no painter had succeeded in taking.
+It struck me no man could be better formed for command. A stature of six
+feet, a robust, but well-proportioned frame, calculated to sustain
+fatigue, without that heaviness which generally attends great muscular
+strength, and abates active exertion, displayed bodily power of no mean
+standard. A light eye and full--the very eye of genius and reflection
+rather than of blind passionate impulse. His nose appeared thick, and
+though it befitted his other features, was too coarsely and strongly
+formed to be the handsomest of its class. His mouth was like no other that
+I ever saw; the lips firm and the under jaw seeming to grasp the upper
+with force, as if its muscles were in full action when he sat still."
+
+Two years later, an English diplomat wrote of him, "His person is tall and
+sufficiently graceful; his face well formed, his complexion rather pale,
+with a mild philosophic gravity in the expression of it In his air and
+manner he displays much natural dignity; in his address he is cold,
+reserved, and even phlegmatic, though without the least appearance of
+haughtiness or ill-nature; it is the effect, I imagine, of constitutional
+diffidence. That caution and circumspection which form so striking and
+well known a feature in his military, and, indeed, in his political
+character, is very strongly marked in his countenance, for his eyes retire
+inward (do you understand me?) and have nothing of fire of animation or
+openness in their expression."
+
+Wansey, who visited Mount Vernon in 1795, portrayed "The President in his
+person" as "tall and thin, but erect; rather of an engaging than a
+dignified presence. He appears very thoughtful, is slow in delivering
+himself, which occasions some to conclude him reserved, but it is rather,
+I apprehend, the effect of much thinking and reflection, for there is
+great appearance to me of affability and accommodation. He was at this
+time in his sixty-third year ... but he has very little the appearance of
+age, having been all his life long so exceeding temperate."
+
+In 1797, Weld wrote, "his chest is full; and his limbs, though rather
+slender, well shaped and muscular. His head is small, in which respect he
+resembles the make of a great number of his countrymen. His eyes are of a
+light grey colour; and in proportion to the length of his face, his nose
+is long. Mr. Stewart, the eminent portrait painter, told me, that there
+were features in his face totally different from what he ever observed in
+that of any other human being; the sockets for the eyes, for instance, are
+larger than what he ever met with before, and the upper part of the nose
+broader. All his features, he observed, were indicative of the strongest
+and most ungovernable passions, and had he been born in the forests, it
+was his opinion that he would have been the fiercest man among the savage
+tribes."
+
+Other and briefer descriptions contain a few phrases worth quoting. Samuel
+Sterns said, "His countenance commonly carries the impression of a serious
+cast;" Maclay, that "the President seemed to bear in his countenance a
+settled aspect of melancholy;" and the Prince de Broglie wrote, "His
+pensive eyes seem more attentive than sparkling, but their expression is
+benevolent, noble and self-possessed." Silas Deane in 1775 said he had "a
+very young look and an easy soldier-like air and gesture," and in the same
+year Curwen mentioned his "fine figure" and "easy and agreeable address."
+Nathaniel Lawrence noted in 1783 that "the General weighs commonly about
+210 pounds." After death, Lear reports that "Doctor Dick measured the
+body, which was as follows--In length 6 ft. 3-1/2 inches exact. Across the
+shoulders 1.9. Across the elbows 2.1." The pleasantest description is
+Jefferson's: "His person, you know, was fine, his stature exactly what one
+would wish, his deportment easy, erect and noble."
+
+How far the portraits of Washington conveyed his expression is open to
+question. The quotation already given which said that no picture
+accurately resembled him in the minute traits of his person is
+worth noting. Furthermore, his expression varied much according to
+circumstances, and the painter saw it only in repose. The first time he
+was drawn, he wrote a friend, "Inclination having yielded to Importunity,
+I am now contrary to all expectation under the hands of Mr. Peale; but in
+so grave--so sullen a mood--and now and then under the influence of
+Morpheus, when some critical strokes are making, that I fancy the skill of
+this Gentleman's Pencil will be put to it, in describing to the World what
+manner of man I am." This passiveness seems to have seized him at other
+sittings, for in 1785 he wrote to a friend who asked him to be painted,
+"_In for a penny, in for a Pound_, is an old adage. I am so hackneyed to
+the touches of the painter's pencil that I am now altogether at their
+beck; and sit 'like Patience on a monument,' whilst they are delineating
+the lines of 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 of the saddle. The next time I
+submitted very reluctantly, but with less flouncing. Now, no dray-horse
+moves more readily to his thills than I to the painter's chair." His aide,
+Laurens, bears this out by writing of a miniature, "The defects of this
+portrait are, that the visage is too long, and old age is too strongly
+marked in it. He is not altogether mistaken, with respect to the languor
+of the general's eye; for altho' his countenance when affected either by
+joy or anger, is full of expression, yet when the muscles are in a state
+of repose, his eye certainly wants animation."
+
+[Illustration: FIRST (FICTITIOUS) ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON]
+
+One portrait which furnished Washington not a little amusement was an
+engraving issued in London in 1775, when interest in the "rebel General"
+was great. This likeness, it is needless to say, was entirely spurious,
+and when Reed sent a copy to head-quarters, Washington wrote to him, "Mrs.
+Washington desires I will thank you for the picture sent her. Mr.
+Campbell, whom I never saw, to my knowledge, has made a very formidable
+figure of the Commander-in-chief, giving him a sufficient portion of
+terror in his countenance."
+
+The physical strength mentioned by nearly every one who described
+Washington is so undoubted that the traditions of his climbing the walls
+of the Natural Bridge, throwing a stone across the Rappahannock at
+Fredericksburg, and another into the Hudson from the top of the Palisades,
+pass current more from the supposed muscular power of the man than from
+any direct evidence. In addition to this, Washington in 1755 claimed to
+have "one of the best of constitutions," and again he wrote, "for my own
+part I can answer, I have a constitution hardy enough to encounter and
+undergo the most severe trials."
+
+This vigor was not the least reason of Washington's success. In the
+retreat from Brooklyn, "for forty-eight hours preceeding that I had hardly
+been off my horse," and between the 13th and the 19th of June of 1777 "I
+was almost constantly on horseback." After the battle of Monmouth, as told
+elsewhere, he passed the night on a blanket; the first night of the siege
+of York "he slept under a mulberry tree, the root serving for a pillow,"
+and another time he lay "all night in my Great Coat & Boots, in a birth
+not long enough for me by the head, & much cramped." Besides the physical
+strain there was a mental one. During the siege of Boston he wrote that
+"The reflection on my situation and that of this army, produces many an
+uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep." Humphreys relates
+that at Newburg in 1783 a revolt of the whole army seemed imminent, and
+"when General Washington rose from bed on the morning of the meeting, he
+told the writer his anxiety had prevented him from sleeping one moment the
+preceeding night." Washington observed, in a letter written after the
+Revolution, "strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true, that it was
+not until lately I could get the better of my usual custom of ruminating
+as soon as I awoke in the morning, on the business of the ensuing day; and
+of my surprise at finding, after revolving many things in my mind that I
+was no longer a public man, or had any thing to do with public
+transactions."
+
+Despite his strength and constitution, Washington was frequently the
+victim of illness. What diseases of childhood he suffered are not known,
+but presumably measles was among them, for when his wife within the first
+year of married life had an attack he cared for her without catching the
+complaint. The first of his known illnesses was "Ague and Feaver, which I
+had to an extremity" about 1748, or when he was sixteen.
+
+In the sea voyage to Barbadoes in 1751, the seamen told Washington that
+"they had never seen such weather before," and he says in his diary that
+the sea "made the Ship rowl much and me very sick." While in the island,
+he went to dine with a friend "with great reluctance, as the small-pox was
+in his family." A fortnight later Washington "was strongly attacked with
+the small Pox," which confined him for nearly a month, and, as already
+noted, marked his face for life. Shortly after the return voyage he was
+"taken with a violent pleurise, which ... reduced me very low."
+
+During the Braddock march, "immediately upon our leaving the camp at
+George's Creek, on the 14th, ... I was seized with violent fevers and
+pains in my head, which continued without intermission 'till the 23d
+following, when I was relieved, by the General's [Braddock] absolutely
+ordering the physicians to give me Dr. James' powders (one of the most
+excellent medicines in the world), for it gave me immediate ease, and
+removed my fevers and other complaints in four days' time. My illness was
+too violent to suffer me to ride; therefore I was indebted to a covered
+wagon for some part of my transportation; but even in this I could not
+continue far, for the jolting was so great, I was left upon the road with
+a guard, and necessaries, to wait the arrival of Colonel Dunbar's
+detachment which was two days' march behind us, the General giving me his
+word of honor, that I should be brought up, before he reached the French
+fort. This _promise_, and the doctor's _threats_, that, if I persevered
+in my attempts to get on, in the condition I was, my life would be
+endangered, determined me to halt for the above detachment." Immediately
+upon his return from that campaign, he told a brother, "I am not able,
+were I ever so willing, to meet you in town, for I assure you it is with
+some difficulty, and with much fatigue, that I visit my plantations in the
+Neck; so much has a sickness of five weeks' continuance reduced me."
+
+On the frontier, towards the end of 1757, he was seized with a violent
+attack of dysentery and fever, which compelled him to leave the army
+and retire to Mount Vernon. Three months later he said, "I have never
+been able to return to my command, ... my disorder at times returning
+obstinately upon me, in spite of the efforts of all the sons of
+Aesculapius, whom I have hitherto consulted. At certain periods I have
+been reduced to great extremity, and have too much reason to apprehend
+an approaching decay, being visited with several symptoms of such a
+disease.... I am now under a strict regimen, and shall set out to-morrow
+for Williamsburg to receive the advice of the best physician there. My
+constitution is certainly greatly impaired, and ... nothing can retrieve
+it, but the greatest care and the most circumspect conduct." It was in
+this journey that he met his future wife, and either she or the doctor
+cured him, for nothing more is heard of his approaching "decay."
+
+In 1761 he was attacked with a disease which seems incidental to new
+settlements, known in Virginia at that time as the "river fever," and a
+hundred years later, farther west, as the "break-bone fever," and which,
+in a far milder form, is to-day known as malaria. Hoping to cure it, he
+went over the mountains to the Warm Springs, being "much overcome with the
+fatigue of the ride and weather together. However, I think my fevers are a
+good deal abated, although my pains grow rather worse, and my sleep
+equally disturbed. What effect the waters may have upon me I can't say at
+present, but I expect nothing from the air--this certainly must be
+unwholesome. I purpose staying here a fortnight and longer if benefitted."
+After writing this, a relapse brought him "very near my last gasp. The
+indisposition ... increased upon me, and I fell into a very low and
+dangerous state. I once thought the grim king would certainly master my
+utmost efforts, and that I must sink, in spite of a noble struggle; but
+thank God, I have now got the better of the disorder, and shall soon be
+restored, I hope, to perfect health again."
+
+During the Revolution, fortunately, he seems to have been wonderfully
+exempt from illness, and not till his retirement to Mount Vernon did an
+old enemy, the ague, reappear. In 1786 he said, in a letter, "I write to
+you with a very aching head and disordered frame.... Saturday last, by an
+imprudent act, I brought on an ague and fever on Sunday, which returned
+with violence Tuesday and Thursday; and, if Dr. Craik's efforts are
+ineffectual I shall have them again this day." His diary gives the
+treatment: "Seized with an ague before 6 o'clock this morning after having
+laboured under a fever all night--Sent for Dr. Craik who arrived just as
+we were setting down to dinner; who, when he thought my fever sufficiently
+abated gave me cathartick and directed the Bark to be applied in the
+Morning. September 2. Kept close to the House to day, being my fit day in
+course least any exposure might bring it on,--happily missed it September
+14. At home all day repeating dozes of Bark of which I took 4 with an
+interval of 2 hours between."
+
+With 1787 a new foe appeared in the form of "a rheumatic complaint which
+has followed me more than six months, is frequently so bad that it is
+sometimes with difficulty I can raise my hand to my head or turn myself in
+bed."
+
+During the Presidency Washington had several dangerous illnesses, but the
+earliest one had a comic side. In his tour through New England in 1789, so
+Sullivan states, "owing to some mismanagement in the reception ceremonials
+at Cambridge, Washington was detained a long time, and the weather being
+inclement, he took cold. For several days afterward a severe influenza
+prevailed at Boston and its vicinity, and was called the _Washington
+Influenza_." He himself writes of this attack: "Myself much disordered by
+a cold, and inflammation in the left eye."
+
+Six months later, in New York, he was "indisposed with a bad cold, and at
+home all day writing letters on private business," and this was the
+beginning of "a severe illness," which, according to McVickar, was "a case
+of anthrax, so malignant as for several days to threaten mortification.
+During this period Dr. Bard never quitted him. On one occasion, being left
+alone with him, General Washington, looking steadily in his face, desired
+his 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, acknowledged his
+apprehensions. The President replied, 'Whether to-night or twenty years
+hence, makes no difference.'" It was of this that Maclay wrote, "Called to
+see the President. Every eye full of tears. His life despaired of. Dr.
+MacKnight told me he would trifle neither with his own character nor the
+public expectation; his danger was imminent, and every reason to expect
+that the event of his disorder would be unfortunate."
+
+During his convalescence the President wrote to a correspondent, "I have
+the pleasure to inform you, that my health is restored, but a feebleness
+still hangs upon me, and I am much incommoded by the incision, which was
+made in a very large and painful tumor on the protuberance of my thigh.
+This prevents me from walking or sitting. However, the physicians assure
+me that it has had a happy effect in removing my fever, and will tend very
+much to the establishment of my general health; it is in a fair way of
+healing, and time and patience only are wanting to remove this evil. I am
+able to take exercise in my coach, by having it so contrived as to extend
+myself the full length of it." He himself seems to have thought this
+succession of illness due to the fatigues of office, for he said,--
+
+
+"Public meetings, and a dinner once a week to as many as my table will
+hold, with the references _to and from_ the different department of state
+and _other_ communications with _all_ parts of the Union, are as much, if
+not more, than I am able to undergo; for I have already had within less
+than a year, two severe attacks, the last worst than the first. A third,
+more than probable, will put me to sleep with my fathers. At what distance
+this may be I know not. Within the last twelve months I have undergone
+more and severer sickness, than thirty preceding years afflicted me with.
+Put it all together I have abundant reason, however, to be thankful that I
+am so well recovered; though I still feel the remains of the violent
+affection of my lungs; the cough, pain in my breast, and shortness in
+breathing not having entirely left me."
+
+
+While at Mount Vernon in 1794, "an exertion to save myself and horse from
+falling among the rocks at the Lower Falls of the Potomac (whither I went
+on Sunday morning to see the canal and locks),... wrenched my back in
+such a manner as to prevent my riding;" the "hurt" "confined me whilst I
+was at Mount Vernon," and it was some time before he could "again ride
+with ease and safety." In this same year Washington was operated on by Dr.
+Tate for cancer,--the same disorder from which his mother had suffered.
+
+After his retirement from office, in 1798, he "was seized with a fever, of
+which I took little notice until I was obliged to call for the aid of
+medicine; and with difficulty a remission thereof was so far effected as
+to dose me all night on thursday with Bark--which having stopped it, and
+weakness only remaining, will soon wear off as my appetite is returning;"
+and to a correspondent he apologized for not sooner replying, and pleaded
+"debilitated health, occasioned by the fever wch. deprived me of 20 lbs.
+of the weight I had when you and I were at Troy Mills Scales, and rendered
+writing irksome."
+
+A glance at Washington's medical knowledge and opinions may not lack
+interest. In the "Rules of civility" he had taken so to heart, the boy had
+been taught that "In visiting the Sick, do not Presently play the
+Physician if you be not Knowing therein," but plantation life trained
+every man to a certain extent in physicking, and the yearly invoice sent
+to London always ordered such drugs as were needed,--ipecacuanha, jalap,
+Venice treacle, rhubarb, diacordium, etc., as well as medicines for horses
+and dogs. In 1755 Washington received great benefit from one quack
+medicine, "Dr. James's Powders;" he once bought a quantity of another,
+"Godfrey's Cordial;" and at a later time Mrs. Washington tried a third,
+"Annatipic Pills." More unenlightened still was a treatment prescribed for
+Patsy Custis, when "Joshua Evans who came here last night, put a [metal]
+ring on Patsey (for Fits)." A not much higher order of treatment was
+Washington sending for Dr. Laurie to bleed his wife, and, as his diary
+notes, the doctor "came here, I may add, drunk," so that a night's sleep
+was necessary before the service could be rendered. When the small-pox was
+raging in the Continental Army, even Washington's earnest request could
+not get the Virginia Assembly to repeal a law which forbade inoculation,
+and he had to urge his wife for over four years before he could bring her
+to the point of submitting to the operation. One quality which implies
+greatness is told by a visitor, who states that in his call "an allusion
+was made to a serious fit of illness he had recently suffered; but he took
+no notice of it" Custis notes that "his aversion to the use of medicine
+was extreme; and, even when in great suffering, it was only by the
+entreaties of his lady, and the respectful, yet beseeching look of his
+oldest friend and companion in arms (Dr. James Craik) that he could be
+prevailed upon to take the slightest preparation of medicine." In line
+with this was his refusal to take anything for a cold, saying, "Let it go
+as it came," though this good sense was apparently restricted to his own
+colds, for Watson relates that in a visit to Mount Vernon "I was extremely
+oppressed by a severe cold and excessive coughing, contracted by the
+exposure of a harsh 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 bedside, with a bowl of hot tea in his hand."
+
+The acute attacks of illness already touched upon by no means represent
+all the physical debility and suffering of Washington's life. During the
+Revolution his sight became poor, so that in 1778 he first put on glasses
+for reading, and Cobb relates that in the officers' meeting in 1783, which
+Washington attended In order to check an appeal to arms, "When the General
+took his station at the desk or pulpit, which, you may recollect, was in
+the Temple, he took out his written address from his coat pocket and then
+addressed the officers in the following manner: 'Gentlemen, you will
+permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray, but
+almost blind, in the service of my country.' This little address, with the
+mode and manner of delivering it, drew tears from [many] of the officers."
+
+Nor did his hearing remain entirely good. Maclay noted, at one of the
+President's dinners in 1789, that "he seemed in more good humor than I
+ever saw him, though he was so deaf that I believe he heard little of the
+conversation," and three years later the President is reported as saying
+to Jefferson that he was "sensible, too, of a decay of his hearing,
+perhaps his other faculties might fall off and he not be sensible of it."
+
+Washington's teeth were even more troublesome. Mercer in 1760 alluded to
+his showing, when his mouth was open, "some defective teeth," and as early
+as 1754 one of his teeth was extracted. From this time toothache, usually
+followed by the extraction of the guilty member, became almost of yearly
+recurrence, and his diary reiterates, with verbal variations, "indisposed
+with an aching tooth, and swelled and inflamed gum," while his ledger
+contains many items typified by "To Dr. Watson drawing a tooth 5/." By
+1789 he was using false teeth, and he lost his last tooth in 1795. At
+first these substitutes were very badly fitted, and when Stuart painted
+his famous picture he tried to remedy the malformation they gave the mouth
+by padding under the lips with cotton. The result was to make bad worse,
+and to give, in that otherwise fine portrait, a feature at once poor and
+unlike Washington, and for this reason alone the Sharpless miniature,
+which in all else approximates so closely to Stuart's masterpiece, is
+preferable. In 1796 Washington was furnished with two sets of "sea-horse"
+(_i.e._, hippopotamus) ivory teeth, and they were so much better fitted
+that the distortion of the mouth ceased to be noticeable.
+
+Washington's final illness began December 12, 1799, in a severe cold taken
+by riding about his plantation while "rain, hail and snow" were "falling
+alternately, with a cold wind." When he came in late in the afternoon,
+Lear "observed to him that I was afraid that he had got wet, he said no
+his great coat had kept him dry; but his neck appeared to be wet and the
+snow was hanging on his hair." The next day he had a cold, "and complained
+of having a sore throat," yet, though it was snowing, none the less he
+"went out in the afternoon ... to mark some trees which were to be cut
+down." "He had a hoarseness which increased in the evening; but he made
+light of it as he would never take anything to carry off a cold, always
+observing, 'let it go as it came.'" At two o'clock the following morning
+he was seized with a severe ague, and as soon as the house was stirring he
+sent for an overseer and ordered the man to bleed him, and about half a
+pint of blood was taken from him. At this time he could "swallow nothing,"
+"appeared to be distressed, convulsed and almost suffocated."
+
+There can be scarcely a doubt that the treatment of his last illness by
+the doctors was little short of murder. Although he had been bled once
+already, after they took charge of the case they prescribed "two pretty
+copious bleedings," and finally a third, "when about 32 ounces of blood
+were drawn," or the equivalent of a quart. Of the three doctors, one
+disapproved of this treatment, and a second wrote, only a few days after
+Washington's death, to the third, "you must remember" Dr. Dick "was averse
+to bleeding the General, and I have often thought that if we had acted
+according to his suggestion when he said, 'he needs all his strength--
+bleeding will diminish it,' and taken no more blood from him, our good
+friend might have been alive now. But we were governed by the best light
+we had; we thought we were right, and so we are justified."
+
+Shortly after this last bleeding Washington seemed to have resigned
+himself, for he gave some directions concerning his will, and said, "I
+find I am going," and, "smiling," added, that, "as it was the debt which
+we must all pay, he looked to the event with perfect resignation." From
+this time on "he appeared to be in great pain and distress," and said,
+"Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go. I believed from my first
+attack that I should not survive it." A little later he said, "I feel
+myself going. I thank you for your attention, you had better not take any
+more trouble about me; but let me go off quietly." The last words he said
+were, "'Tis well." "About ten minutes before he expired, his breathing
+became much easier--he lay quietly--... and felt his own pulse.... The
+general's hand fell from his wrist,... and he expired without a struggle
+or a Sigh."
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+EDUCATION
+
+
+The father of Washington received his education at Appleby School in
+England, and, true to his alma mater, he sent his two elder sons to the
+same school. His death when George was eleven prevented this son from
+having the same advantage, and such education as he had was obtained in
+Virginia. His old friend, and later enemy, Rev. Jonathan Boucher, said
+that "George, like most people thereabouts at that time, had no education
+than reading, writing and accounts which he was taught by a convict
+servant whom his father bought for a schoolmaster;" but Boucher managed to
+include so many inaccuracies in his account of Washington, that even if
+this statement were not certainly untruthful in several respects, it could
+be dismissed as valueless.
+
+Born at Wakefield, in Washington parish, Westmoreland, which had been the
+home of the Washingtons from their earliest arrival in Virginia, George
+was too young while the family continued there to attend the school which
+had been founded in that parish by the gift of four hundred and forty
+acres from some early patron of knowledge. When the boy was about three
+years old, the family removed to "Washington," as Mount Vernon was called
+before it was renamed, and dwelt there from 1735 till 1739, when, owing to
+the burning of the homestead, another remove was made to an estate on the
+Rappahannock, nearly opposite Fredericksburg.
+
+Here it was that the earliest education of George was received, for in an
+old volume of the Bishop of Exeter's Sermons his name is written, and on a
+flyleaf a note in the handwriting of a relative who inherited the library
+states that this "autograph of George Washington's name is believed to be
+the earliest specimen of his handwriting, when he was probably not more
+than eight or nine years old." During this period, too, there came into
+his possession the "Young Man's Companion," an English _vade-mecum_ of
+then enormous popularity, written "in a plain and easy stile," the title
+states, "that a young Man may attain the same, without a Tutor." It would
+be easier to say what this little book did not teach than to catalogue
+what it did. How to read, write, and figure is but the introduction to the
+larger part of the work, which taught one to write letters, wills, deeds,
+and all legal forms, to measure, survey, and navigate, to build houses, to
+make ink and cider, and to plant and graft, how to address letters to
+people of quality, how to doctor the sick, and, finally, how to conduct
+one's self in company. The evidence still exists of how carefully
+Washington studied this book, in the form of copybooks, in which are
+transcribed problem after problem and rule after rule, not to exclude the
+famous Rules of civility, which biographers of Washington have asserted
+were written by the boy himself. School-mates thought fit, after
+Washington became famous, to remember his "industry and assiduity at
+school as very remarkable," and the copies certainly bear out the
+statement, but even these prove that the lad was as human as the man, for
+scattered here and there among the logarithms, geometrical problems, and
+legal forms are crude drawings of birds, faces, and other typical
+school-boy attempts.
+
+From this book, too, came two qualities which clung to him through life.
+His handwriting, so easy, flowing, and legible, was modelled from the
+engraved "copy" sheet, and certain forms of spelling were acquired here
+that were never corrected, though not the common usage of his time. To the
+end of his life, Washington wrote lie, lye; liar, lyar; ceiling, cieling;
+oil, oyl; and blue, blew, as in his boyhood he had learned to do from this
+book. Even in his carefully prepared will, "lye" was the form in which he
+wrote the word. It must be acknowledged that, aside from these errors
+which he had been taught, through his whole life Washington was a
+non-conformist as regarded the King's English: struggle as he undoubtedly
+did, the instinct of correct spelling was absent, and thus every now and
+then a verbal slip appeared: extravagence, lettely (for lately), glew,
+riffle (for rifle), latten (for Latin), immagine, winder, rief (for rife),
+oppertunity, spirma citi, yellow oaker,--such are types of his lapses late
+in life, while his earlier letters and journals are far more inaccurate.
+It must be borne in mind, however, that of these latter we have only the
+draughts, which were undoubtedly written carelessly, and the two letters
+actually sent which are now known, and the text of his surveys before he
+was twenty, are quite as well written as his later epistles.
+
+[Illustration: _Easy Copies to Write by_. COPY OF PENMANSHIP BY WHICH
+WASHINGTON'S HANDWRITING WAS FORMED]
+
+On the death of his father, Washington went to live with his brother
+Augustine, in order, it is presumed, that he might take advantage of a
+good school near Wakefield, kept by one Williams; but after a time he
+returned to his mother's, and attended the school kept by the Rev. James
+Marye, in Fredericksburg. It has been universally asserted by his
+biographers that he studied no foreign language, but direct proof to the
+contrary exists in a copy of Patrick's Latin translation of Homer, printed
+in 1742, the fly-leaf of a copy of which bears, in a school-boy hand, the
+inscription:
+
+
+"Hunc mihi quaeso (bone Vir) Libellum
+Redde, si forsan tenues repertum
+Ut Scias qui sum sine fraude Scriptum.
+
+                           Est mihi nomen,
+                                 Georgio Washington,
+                                     George Washington,
+                                         Fredericksburg,
+                                                  Virginia."
+
+
+It is thus evident that the reverend teacher gave Washington at least the
+first elements of Latin, but it is equally clear that the boy, like most
+others, forgot it with the greatest facility as soon as he ceased
+studying.
+
+The end of Washington's school-days left him, if a good "cipherer," a bad
+speller, and a still worse grammarian, but, fortunately, the termination
+of instruction did not by any means end his education. From that time
+there is to be noted a steady improvement in both these failings.
+Pickering stated that "when I first became acquainted with the General (in
+1777) his writing was defective in grammar, and even spelling, owing to
+the insufficiency of his early education; of which, however, he gradually
+got the better in the subsequent years of his life, by the official
+perusal of some excellent models, particularly those of Hamilton; by
+writing with care and patient attention; and reading numerous, indeed
+multitudes of letters to and from his friends and correspondents. This
+obvious improvement was begun during the war." In 1785 a contemporary
+noted that "the General is remarked for writing a most elegant letter,"
+adding that, "like the famous Addison, his writing excells his speaking,"
+and Jefferson said that "he wrote readily, rather diffusely, in an easy
+and correct style. This he had acquired by conversation with the world,
+for his education was merely reading, writing and common arithmetic, to
+which he added surveying at a later day."
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington felt his lack of education very
+keenly as he came to act upon a larger sphere than as a Virginia planter.
+"I am sensible," he wrote a friend, of his letters, "that the narrations
+are just, and that truth and honesty will appear in my writings; of which,
+therefore, I shall not be ashamed, though criticism may censure my style."
+When his secretary suggested to him that he should write his own life, he
+replied, "In a former letter I informed you, my dear Humphreys, that
+if I had _talents_ for it, I have not leisure to turn my thoughts to
+Commentaries. A consciousness of a defective education, and a certainty
+of the want of time, unfit me for such an undertaking." On being pressed
+by a French comrade-in-arms to pay France a visit, he declined, saying,
+"Remember, my good friend, that I am unacquainted with your language, that
+I am too far advanced in years to acquire a knowledge of it, and that, to
+converse through the medium of an interpreter upon common occasions,
+especially with the Ladies, must appear so extremely awkward, insipid, and
+uncouth, that I can scarce bear it in idea."
+
+In 1788, without previous warning, he was elected chancellor of William
+and Mary College, a distinction by which he felt "honored and greatly
+affected;" but "not knowing particularly what duties, or whether any
+active services are immediately expected from the person holding the
+office of chancellor, I have been greatly embarrassed in deciding upon the
+public answer proper to be given.... My difficulties are briefly these. On
+the one hand, nothing in this world could be farther from my heart,
+than ... a refusal of the appointment ... provided its duties are not
+incompatible with the mode of life to which I have entirely addicted
+myself; and, on the other hand, I would not for any consideration
+disappoint the just expectations of the convocation by accepting an office,
+whose functions I previously knew ... I should be absolutely unable to
+perform."
+
+Perhaps the most touching proof of his own self-depreciation was something
+he did when he had become conscious that his career would be written
+about. Still in his possession were the letter-books in which he had kept
+copies of his correspondence while in command of the Virginia regiment
+between 1754 and 1759, and late in life he went through these volumes,
+and, by interlining corrections, carefully built them into better literary
+form. How this was done is shown here by a single facsimile.
+
+With the appointment to command the Continental Army, a secretary was
+secured, and in an absence of this assistant he complained to him that "my
+business increases very fast, and my distresses for want of you along with
+it. Mr. Harrison is the only gentleman of my family, that can afford me
+the least assistance in writing. He and Mr. Moylan,... have heretofore
+afforded me their aid; and ... they have really had a great deal of
+trouble."
+
+Most of Washington's correspondence during the Revolution was written by
+his aides. Pickering said,--
+
+
+"As to the public letters bearing his signature, it is certain that he
+could not have maintained so extensive a correspondence with his own pen,
+even if he had possessed the ability and promptness of Hamilton.
+That he would, sometimes with propriety, observe upon, correct, and add to
+any draught submitted for his examination and signature, I have no doubt.
+And yet I doubt whether many, if any, of the letters ... are his own
+draught.... I have even reason to believe that not only the _composition_,
+the _clothing of the ideas_, but the _ideas themselves_, originated
+generally with the writers; that Hamilton and Harrison, in particular,
+were scarcely in any degree his amanuenses. I remember, when at
+head-quarters one day, at Valley Forge, Colonel Harrison came down
+from the General's chamber, with his brows knit, and thus accosted me, 'I
+wish to the Lord the General would give me the heads or some idea, of what
+he would have me write.'"
+
+
+[Illustration: CORRECTED LETTER OF WASHINGTON SHOWING LATER CHANGES.]
+
+
+After the Revolution, a visitor at Mount Vernon said, "It's astonishing
+the packet of letters that daily comes for him from all parts of the
+world, which employ him most of the morning to answer." A secretary was
+employed, but not so much to do the actual writing as the copying and
+filing, and at this time Washington complained "that my numerous
+correspondencies are daily becoming irksome to me." Yet there can be
+little question that he richly enjoyed writing when it was not for the
+public eye. "It is not the letters of my friends which give me trouble,"
+he wrote to one correspondent; to another he said, "I began with telling
+you that I should not write a lengthy letter but the result has been to
+contradict it;" and to a third, "when I look back to the length of this
+letter, I am so much astonished and frightened at it myself that I
+have not the courage to give it a careful reading for the purpose of
+correction. You must, therefore, receive it with all its imperfections,
+accompanied with this assurance, that, though there may be inaccuracies in
+the letter, there is not a single defect in the friendship." Occasionally
+there was, as here, an apology: "I am persuaded you will excuse this
+scratch'd scrawl, when I assure you it is with difficulty I write at all,"
+he ended a letter in 1777, and in 1792 of another said, "You must receive
+it blotted and scratched as you find it for I have not time to copy it. It
+is now ten o'clock at night, after my usual hour for retiring to rest, and
+the mail will be closed early to-morrow morning."
+
+To his overseer, who neglected to reply to some of his questions, he told
+his method of writing, which is worth quoting:
+
+
+"Whenever I set down to write you, I read your letter, or letters
+carefully over, and as soon as I come to a part that requires to be
+noticed, I make a short note on the cover of a letter or piece of waste
+paper;--then read on the next, noting that in like manner;--and so on
+until I have got through the whole letter and reports. Then in writing my
+letter to you, as soon as I have finished what I have to say on one of
+these notes I draw my pen through it and proceed to another and another
+until the whole is done--crossing each as I go on, by which means if I am
+called off twenty times whilst I am writing, I can never with these notes
+before me finished or unfinished, omit anything I wanted to say; and
+they serve me also, as I keep no copies of letters I wrote to you, as
+Memorandums of what has been written if I should have occasion at any time
+to refer to them."
+
+
+Another indication of his own knowledge of defects is shown by his fear
+about his public papers. When his Journal to the Ohio was printed by order
+of the governor, in 1754, in the preface the young author said, "I think I
+can do no less than apologize, in some Measure, for the numberless
+imperfections of it. There intervened but one Day between my Arrival in
+Williamsburg, and the Time for the Council's Meeting, for me to prepare
+and transcribe, from the rough Minutes I had taken in my Travels, this
+Journal; the writing of which only was sufficient to employ me closely the
+whole Time, consequently admitted of no Leisure to consult of a new and
+proper Form to offer it in, or to correct or amend the Diction of the
+old." Boucher states that the publication, "in Virginia at least, drew on
+him some ridicule."
+
+This anxiety about his writings was shown all through life, and led
+Washington to rely greatly on such of his friends as would assist him,
+even to the point, so Reed thought, that he "sometimes adopted draughts of
+writing when his own would have been better ... from an extreme diffidence
+in himself," and Pickering said, in writing to an aide,--
+
+
+"Although the General's private correspondence was doubtless, for the most
+part, his own, and extremely acceptable to the persons addressed; yet, in
+regard to whatever was destined to meet the public eye, he seems to have
+been fearful to exhibit his own compositions, relying too much on the
+judgment of his friends, and sometimes adopted draughts that were
+exceptionable. Some parts of his private correspondence must have
+essentially differed from other parts in the style of composition. You
+mention your own aids to the General in this line. Now, if I had your
+draughts before me, mingled with the General's to the same persons,
+nothing would be more easy than to assign to each his own proper
+offspring. You could neither restrain your _courser_, nor conceal your
+imagery, nor express your ideas otherwise than in the language of a
+scholar. The General's compositions would be perfectly plain and didactic,
+and not always correct."
+
+
+During the Presidency, scarcely anything of a public nature was penned by
+Washington,--Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and Randolph acting as his
+draughtsmen. "We are approaching the first Monday in December by hasty
+strides," he wrote to Jefferson. "I pray you, therefore, to revolve in
+your mind such matters as may be proper for me to lay before Congress, not
+only in your own department, (if any there be,) but such others of a
+general nature, as may happen to occur to you, that I may be prepared to
+open the session with such communication, as shall appear to merit
+attention." Two years later he said to the same, "I pray you to note down
+or rather to frame into paragraphs or sections, such matters as may occur
+to you as fit and proper for general communication at the opening of the
+next session of Congress, not only in the department of state, but on any
+other subject applicable to the occasion, that I may in due time have
+everything before me." To Hamilton he wrote in 1795, "Having desired the
+late Secretary of State to note down every matter as it occurred, proper
+either for the speech at the opening of the session, or for messages
+afterwards, the inclosed paper contains everything I could extract from
+that office. Aid me, I pray you, with your sentiments on these points, and
+such others as may have occurred to you relative to my communications to
+Congress."
+
+The best instance is furnished in the preparation of the Farewell Address.
+First Madison was asked to prepare a draft, and from this Washington drew
+up a paper, which he submitted to Hamilton and Jay, with the request that
+"even if you should think it best to throw the whole into a different
+form, let me request, notwithstanding, that my draught may be returned to
+me (along with yours) with such amendments and corrections as to render it
+as perfect as the formation is susceptible of; curtailed if too verbose;
+and relieved of all tautology not necessary to enforce the ideas in the
+original or quoted part. My wish is that the whole may appear in a plain
+style, and be handed to the public in an honest, unaffected, simple part."
+Accordingly, Hamilton prepared what was almost a new instrument in form,
+though not in substance, which, after "several serious and attentive
+readings," Washington wrote that he preferred "greatly to the other
+draughts, being more copious on material points, more dignified on the
+whole, and with less egotism; of course, less exposed to criticism,
+and better calculated to meet the eye of discerning readers (foreigners
+particularly, whose curiosity I have little doubt will lead them
+to inspect it attentively, and to pronounce their opinions on the
+performance)." The paper was then, according to Pickering, "put into the
+hands of Wolcott, McHenry, and myself ... with a request that we would
+examine it, and note any alterations and corrections which we should think
+best. We did so; but our notes, as well as I recollect, were very few, and
+regarded chiefly the grammar and composition." Finally, Washington revised
+the whole, and it was then made public.
+
+Confirmatory of this sense of imperfect cultivation are the pains he took
+that his adopted son and grandson should be well educated. As already
+noted, tutors for both were secured at the proper ages, and when Jack was
+placed with the Rev. Mr. Boucher, Washington wrote: "In respect to the
+kinds, & manner of his Studying I leave it wholely to your better
+Judgment--had he begun, or rather pursued his study of the Greek Language,
+I should have thought it no bad acquisition; but whether if he acquire
+this now, he may not forego some useful branches of learning, is a matter
+worthy of consideration. To be acquainted with the French Tongue is become
+part of polite Education; and to a man who has the prospect of mixing in a
+large Circle absolutely necessary. Without Arithmetick, the common affairs
+of Life are not to be managed with success. The study of Geometry,
+and the Mathematics (with due regard to the limites of it) is equally
+advantageous. The principles of Philosophy Moral, Natural, &c. I should
+think a very desirable knowledge for a Gentleman." So, too, he wrote to
+Washington Custis, "I do not hear you mention anything of geography or
+mathematics as parts of your study; both these are necessary branches of
+useful knowledge. Nor ought you to let your knowledge of the Latin
+language and grammatical rules escape you. And the French language is now
+so universal, and so necessary with foreigners, or in a foreign country,
+that I think you would be injudicious not to make yourself master of it."
+It is worth noting in connection with this last sentence that Washington
+used only a single French expression with any frequency, and that he
+always wrote "faupas."
+
+Quite as indicative of the value he put on education was the aid he gave
+towards sending his young relatives and others to college, his annual
+contribution to an orphan school, his subscriptions to academies, and his
+wish for a national university. In 1795 he said,--
+
+
+"It has always been a source of serious reflection and sincere regret with
+me, that the youth of the United States should be sent to foreign
+countries for the purpose of education.... For this reason I have greatly
+wished to see a plan adopted, by which the arts, sciences, and
+belles-lettres could be taught in their _fullest_ extent, thereby embracing
+_all_ the advantages of European tuition, with the means of acquiring the
+liberal knowledge, which is necessary to qualify our citizens for the
+exigencies of public as well as private life; and (which with me is a
+consideration of great magnitude) by assembling the youth from the
+different parts of this rising republic, contributing from their
+intercourse and interchange of information to the removal of prejudices,
+which might perhaps sometimes arise from local circumstances."
+
+
+In framing his Farewell Address, "revolving ... on the various matters it
+contained and on the first expression of the advice or recommendation
+which was given in it, I have regretted that another subject (which in my
+estimation is of interesting concern to the well-being of this country)
+was not touched upon also; I mean education generally, as one of the
+surest means of enlightening and giving just ways of thinking to our
+citizens, but particularly the establishment of a university; where the
+youth from all parts of the United States might receive the polish of
+erudition in the arts, sciences and belles-lettres." Eventually he reduced
+this idea to a plea for the people to "promote, then, as an object of
+primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge,"
+because "in proportion as the structure of a government gives force
+to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be
+enlightened." By his will he left to the endowment of a university in the
+District of Columbia the shares in the Potomac Company which had been
+given him by the State of Virginia, but the clause was never carried into
+effect.
+
+It was in 1745 that Washington's school-days came to an end. His share of
+his father's property being his mother's till he was twenty-one, a
+livelihood had to be found, and so at about fourteen years of age the work
+of life began. Like a true boy, the lad wanted to go to sea, despite his
+uncle's warning "that I think he had better be put apprentice to a tinker;
+for a common sailor before the mast has by no means the liberty of the
+subject; for they will press him from a ship where he has fifty shillings
+a month; and make him take twenty-three, and cut and slash, and use him
+like a negro, or rather like a dog." His mother, however, would not
+consent, and to this was due his becoming a surveyor.
+
+From his "Young Man's Companion" Washington had already learned the use of
+Gunter's rule and how it should be used in surveying, and to complete his
+knowledge he seems to have taken lessons of the licensed surveyor of
+Westmoreland County, James Genn, for transcripts of some of the surveys
+drawn by Genn still exist in the handwriting of his pupil. This implied a
+distinct and very valuable addition to his knowledge, and a large number
+of his surveys still extant are marvels of neatness and careful drawing.
+As a profession it was followed for only four years (1747-1751), but all
+through life he often used his knowledge in measuring or platting his own
+property. Far more important is the service it was to him in public life.
+In 1755 he sent to Braddock's secretary a map of the "back country," and
+to the governor of Virginia plans of two forts. During the Revolution it
+helped him not merely in the study of maps, but also in the facility it
+gave him to take in the topographical features of the country. Very
+largely, too, was the selection of the admirable site for the capital due
+to his supervising: all the plans for the city were submitted to him,
+and nowhere do the good sense and balance of the man appear to better
+advantage than in his correspondence with the Federal city commissioners.
+
+In Washington's earliest account-book there is an item when he was sixteen
+years old, "To cash pd ye Musick Master for my Entrance 3/9." It is
+commonly said that he played the flute, but this is as great a libel on
+him as any Tom Paine wrote, and though he often went to concerts, and
+though fond of hearing his granddaughter Nelly play and sing, he never
+was himself a performer, and the above entry probably refers to the
+singing-master whom the boys and girls of that day made the excuse for
+evening frolics.
+
+Mention is made elsewhere of his taking lessons in the sword exercise from
+Van Braam in these earlier years, and in 1756 he paid to Sergeant Wood,
+fencing-master, the sum of �1.1.6. When he received the offer of a
+position on Braddock's staff, he acknowledged, in accepting, that "I must
+be ingenuous enough to confess, that I am not a little biassed by selfish
+considerations. To explain, Sir, I wish earnestly to attain some knowledge
+in the military profession, and, believing a more favorable opportunity
+cannot offer, than to serve under a gentleman of General Braddock's
+abilities and experience, it does ... not a little contribute to influence
+my choice." Hamilton is quoted as saying that Washington "never read any
+book upon the art of war but Sim's Military Guide," and an anonymous
+author asserted that "he never read a book in the art of war of higher
+value than Bland's Exercises." Certain it is that nearly all the military
+knowledge he possessed was derived from practice rather than from books,
+and though, late in life, he purchased a number of works on the subject,
+it was after his army service was over.
+
+One factor in Washington's education which must not go unnoticed was his
+religious belief. When only two months old he was baptized, presumably by
+the Rev. Lawrence De Butts, the clergyman of Washington parish. The
+removal from that locality prevented any further religious influence from
+this clergyman, and it probably first came from the Rev. Charles Green, of
+Truro parish, who had received his appointment through the friendship of
+Washington's father, and who later was on such friendly terms with
+Washington that he doctored Mrs. Washington in an attack of the measles,
+and caught and returned two of his parishioner's runaway slaves. As early
+as 1724 the clergyman of the parish in which Mount Vernon was situated
+reported that he catechised the youth of his congregation "in Lent and a
+great part of the Summer," and George, as the son of one of his vestrymen,
+undoubtedly received a due amount of questioning.
+
+From 1748 till 1759 there was little church-going for the young surveyor
+or soldier, but after his marriage and settling at Mount Vernon he was
+elected vestryman in the two parishes of Truro and Fairfax, and from that
+election he was quite active in church affairs. It may be worth noting
+that in the elections of 1765 the new vestryman stood third in popularity
+in the Truro church and fifth in that of Fairfax. He drew the plans for a
+new church in Truro, and subscribed to its building, intending "to lay the
+foundation of a family pew," but by a vote of the vestry it was decided
+that there should be no private pews, and this breach of contract angered
+Washington so greatly that he withdrew from the church in 1773. Sparks
+quotes Madison to the effect that "there was a tradition that, when he
+[Washington] belonged to the vestry of a church in his neighborhood, and
+several little difficulties grew out of some division of the society, he
+sometimes spoke with great force, animation, and eloquence on the topics
+that came before them." After this withdrawal he bought a pew in Christ
+Church in Alexandria (Fairfax parish), paying �36.10, which was the
+largest price paid by any parishioner. To this church he was quite
+liberal, subscribing several times towards repairs, etc.
+
+The Rev. Lee Massey, who was rector at Pohick (Truro) Church before the
+Revolution, is quoted by Bishop Meade as saying that
+
+
+"I never knew so constant an attendant in church as Washington. And his
+behavior in the house of God was ever so deeply reverential that it
+produced the happiest effect on my congregation, and greatly assisted me
+in my pulpit labors. No company ever withheld him from church. I have
+often been at Mount Vernon on Sabbath morning, when his breakfast table
+was filled with guests; but to him they furnished no pretext for
+neglecting his God and losing the satisfaction of setting a good example.
+For instead of staying at home, out of false complaisance to them, he used
+constantly to invite them to accompany him."
+
+
+This seems to have been written more with an eye to its influence on
+others than to its strict accuracy. During the time Washington attended at
+Pohick Church he was by no means a regular church-goer. His daily "where
+and how my time is spent" enables us to know exactly how often he attended
+church, and in the year 1760 he went just sixteen times, and in 1768 he
+went fourteen, these years being fairly typical of the period 1760-1773.
+During the Presidency a sense of duty made him attend St Paul's and Christ
+churches while in New York and Philadelphia, but at Mount Vernon, when the
+public eye was not upon him, he was no more regular than he had always
+been, and in the last year of his life he wrote, "Six days do I labor, or,
+in other words, take exercise and devote my time to various occupations in
+Husbandry, and about my mansion. On the seventh, now called the first day,
+for want of a place of Worship (within less than nine miles) such letters
+as do not require immediate acknowledgment I give answers to.... But it
+hath so happened, that on the two last Sundays--call them the first or the
+seventh as you please, I have been unable to perform the latter duty on
+account of visits from Strangers, with whom I could not use the freedom to
+leave alone, or recommend to the care of each other, for their amusement."
+
+What he said here was more or less typical of his whole life. Sunday was
+always the day on which he wrote his private letters,--even prepared his
+invoices,--and he wrote to one of his overseers that his letters should
+be mailed so as to reach him Saturday, as by so doing they could be
+answered the following day. Nor did he limit himself to this, for he
+entertained company, closed land purchases, sold wheat, and, while a
+Virginia planter, went foxhunting, on Sunday. It is to be noted, however,
+that he considered the scruples of others as to the day. When he went
+among his western tenants, rent-collecting, he entered in his diary that,
+it "being Sunday and the People living on my Land _apparently_ very
+religious, it was thought best to postpone going among them till
+to-morrow," and in his journey through New England, because it was
+"contrary to the law and disagreeable to the People of this State
+(Connecticut) to travel on the Sabbath day--and my horses, after passing
+through such intolerable roads, wanting rest, I stayed at Perkins' tavern
+(which, by the bye, is not a good one) all day--and a meetinghouse being
+within a few rods of the door, I attended the morning and evening
+services, and heard very lame discourses from a Mr. Pond." It is of this
+experience that tradition says the President started to travel, but was
+promptly arrested by a Connecticut tithing-man. The story, however, lacks
+authentication.
+
+There can be no doubt that religious intolerance was not a part of
+Washington's character. In 1775, when the New England troops intended to
+celebrate Guy Fawkes day, as usual, the General Orders declared that "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 of common sense, as not to see
+the impropriety of such a step." When trying to secure some servants, too,
+he wrote that "if they are good workmen, they may be from Asia, Africa, or
+Europe; they may be Mahometans, Jews, or Christians of any sect, or they
+may be Atheists." When the bill taxing all the people of Virginia to
+support the Episcopal Church (his own) was under discussion, he threw his
+weight against it, as far as concerned the taxing of other sectaries, but
+adding:
+
+
+"Although no man's sentiments are more opposed to any kind of restraint
+upon religious principles than mine are, yet I must confess, that I am not
+amongst the number of those, who are so much alarmed at the thoughts of
+making people pay towards the support of that which they profess, if
+of the denomination, of Christians, or to declare themselves Jews,
+Mahometans, or otherwise, and thereby obtain proper relief. As the matter
+now stands, I wish an assessment had never been agitated, and as it has
+gone so far, that the bill could die an easy death; because I think it
+will be productive of more quiet to the State, than by enacting it into a
+law, which in my opinion would be impolitic, admitting there is a decided
+majority for it, to the disquiet of a respectable minority. In the former
+case, the matter will soon subside; in the latter, it will rankle and
+perhaps convulse the State."
+
+
+Again in a letter he says,--
+
+
+"Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are
+caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most
+inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in
+hopes, that the lightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present
+age, would at least have reconciled _Christians_ of every denomination so
+far, that we should never again see their religious disputes carried to
+such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society."
+
+
+And to Lafayette, alluding to the proceedings of the Assembly of Notables,
+he wrote,--
+
+
+"I am not less ardent in my wish, that you may succeed in your plan of
+toleration in religious matters. Being no bigot myself, I am disposed to
+indulge the professors of Christianity in the church with that road to
+Heaven, which to them shall seem the most direct, plainest, easiest, and
+least liable to exception."
+
+
+What Washington believed has been a source of much dispute. Jefferson
+states "that Gouverneur Morris, who pretended to be in his secrets, and
+believed himself to be so, has often told me that General Washington
+believed no more of that system than he himself did," and Morris, it is
+scarcely necessary to state, was an atheist. The same authority quotes
+Rush, to the effect that "when the clergy addressed General Washington on
+his departure from the government, it was observed in their consultation,
+that he had never, on any occasion, said a word to the public which showed
+a belief in the Christian religion, and they thought they should so pen
+their address, as to force him at length to declare publicly whether he
+was a Christian or not They did so. But, he observed, the old fox was too
+cunning for them. He answered every article of their address particularly
+except that, which he passed over without notice."
+
+Whatever his belief, in all public ways Washington threw his influence in
+favor of religion, and kept what he really believed a secret, and in only
+one thing did he disclose his real thoughts. It is asserted that before
+the Revolution he partook of the sacrament, but this is only affirmed by
+hearsay, and better evidence contradicts it. After that war he did not, it
+is certain. Nelly Custis states that on "communion Sundays he left the
+church with me, after the blessing, and returned home, and we sent the
+carriage back for my grandmother." And the assistant minister of Christ
+Church in Philadelphia states that--
+
+
+"Observing that on Sacrament Sundays, Gen'l Washington, immediately after
+the Desk and Pulpit services, went out with the greater part of the
+congregation, always leaving Mrs. Washington with the communicants, she
+_invariably_ being one, I considered it my duty, in a sermon on Public
+Worship, to state the unhappy tendency of _example_, particularly those in
+elevated stations, who invariably turned their backs upon the celebration
+of the Lord's Supper. I acknowledge the remark was intended for the
+President, as such, he received it. A few days after, in conversation
+with, I believe, a Senator of the U.S. he told me he had dined the day
+before with the President, who in the course of the conversation at the
+table, said, that on the preceding Sunday, he had received a very just
+reproof from the pulpit, for always leaving the church before the
+administration of the Sacrament; that he honored the preacher for his
+integrity and candour; that he had never considered the influence of his
+example; that he would never again give cause for the repetition of the
+reproof; and that, as he had never been a communicant, were he to become
+one then, it would be imputed to an ostentatious display of religious zeal
+arising altogether from his elevated station. Accordingly he afterwards
+never came on the morning of Sacrament Sunday, tho' at other times, a
+constant attendant in the morning."
+
+
+Nelly Custis, too, tells us that Washington always "stood during the
+devotional part of the service," and Bishop White states that "his
+behavior was always serious and attentive; but, as your letter seems to
+intend an inquiry on the point of kneeling during the service, I owe it to
+the truth to declare, that I never saw him in the said attitude." Probably
+his true position is described by Madison, who is quoted as saying that he
+did "not suppose that Washington had ever attended to the arguments for
+Christianity, and for the different systems of religion, or in fact that
+he had formed definite opinions on the subject. But he took these things
+as he found them existing, and was constant in his observances of worship
+according to the received forms of the Episcopal Church, in which he was
+brought up."
+
+If there was proof needed that it is mind and not education which pushes a
+man to the front, it is to be found in the case of Washington. Despite his
+want of education, he had, so Bell states, "an excellent understanding."
+Patrick Henry is quoted as saying of the members of the Congress of 1774--
+the body of which Adams claimed that "every man in it is a great man, an
+orator, a critic, a statesman"--that "if you speak of solid information
+and sound judgment Colonel Washington is unquestionably the greatest man
+on the floor;" while Jefferson asserted that "his mind was great and
+powerful, without being of the very first order; his penetration strong,
+though not so acute as that of a Newton, Bacon, or Locke; and as far as he
+saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It was slow in operation, being little
+aided by invention or imagination, but sure in conclusion."
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX
+
+
+The book from which Washington derived almost the whole of his education
+warned its readers,--
+
+
+"Young Men have ever more a special care That Womanish Allurements prove
+not a snare;"
+
+
+but, however carefully the lad studied the rest, this particular
+admonition took little root in his mind. There can be no doubt that
+Washington during the whole of his life had a soft heart for women, and
+especially for good-looking ones, and both in his personal intercourse and
+in his letters he shows himself very much more at ease with them than in
+his relations with his own sex. Late in life, when the strong passions of
+his earlier years were under better control, he was able to write,--
+
+
+"Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore,
+contended that it cannot be resisted. This is true in part only, for like
+all things else, when nourished and supplied plentifully with aliment, it
+is rapid in its progress; but let these be withdrawn and it may be stifled
+in its birth or much stinted in its growth. For example, a woman (the same
+may be said of the other sex) all beautiful and accomplished will, while
+her hand and heart are undisposed of, turn the heads and set the circle in
+which she moves on fire. Let her marry, and what is the consequence? The
+madness _ceases_ and all is quiet again. Why? not because there is any
+diminution in the charms of the lady, but because there is an end of hope.
+Hence it follows, that love may and therefore ought to be under the
+guidance of reason, for although we cannot avoid first impressions, we may
+assuredly place them under guard."
+
+
+To write thus in one's sixty-sixth year and to practise one's theory in
+youth were, however, very different undertakings. Even while discussing
+love so philosophically, the writer had to acknowledge that "in the
+composition of the human frame, there is a good deal of inflammable
+matter," and few have had better cause to know it. When he saw in the
+premature engagement of his ward, Jack Custis, the one advantage that it
+would "in a great measure avoid those little flirtations with other young
+ladies that may, by dividing the attention, contribute not a little to
+divide the affection," it is easy to think of him as looking back to his
+own boyhood, and remembering, it is to be hoped with a smile, the
+sufferings he owed to pretty faces and neatly turned ankles.
+
+While still a school-boy, Washington was one day caught "romping with one
+of the largest girls," and very quickly more serious likings followed. As
+early as 1748, when only sixteen years of age, his heart was so engaged
+that while at Lord Fairfax's and enjoying the society of Mary Cary he
+poured out his feelings to his youthful correspondents "Dear Robin" and
+"Dear John" and "Dear Sally" as follows:
+
+
+"My place of Residence is at present at His Lordships where I might was my
+heart disengag'd pass my time very pleasantly as theres a very agreeable
+Young Lady Lives in the same house (Colo George Fairfax's Wife's Sister)
+but as thats only adding Fuel to fire it makes me the more uneasy for by
+often and unavoidably being in Company with her revives my former Passion
+for your Low Land Beauty whereas was I to live more retired from young
+Women I might in some measure eliviate my sorrows by burying that chast
+and troublesome Passion in the grave of oblivion or etarnall forgetfulness
+for as I am very well assured thats the only antidote or remedy that I
+shall be releivd by or only recess that can administer any cure or help to
+me as I am well convinced was I ever to attempt any thing I should only
+get a denial which would be only adding grief to uneasiness."
+
+
+"Was my affections disengaged I might perhaps form some pleasure in the
+conversation of an agreeable Young Lady as theres one now Lives in the
+same house with me but as that is only nourishment to my former affecn for
+by often seeing her brings the other into my remembrance whereas perhaps
+was she not often & (unavoidably) presenting herself to my view I might in
+some measure aliviate my sorrows by burying the other in the grave of
+Oblivion I am well convinced my heart stands in defiance of all others but
+only she thats given it cause enough to dread a second assault and from a
+different Quarter tho' I well know let it have as many attacks as it will
+from others they cant be more fierce than it has been."
+
+
+"I Pass the time of[f] much more agreeabler than what I imagined I should
+as there's a very agrewable Young Lady lives in the same house where I
+reside (Colo George Fairfax's Wife's Sister) that in a great Measure
+cheats my thoughts altogether from your Parts I could wish to be with you
+down there with all my heart but as it is a thing almost Impractakable
+shall rest myself where I am with hopes of shortly having some Minutes of
+your transactions in your Parts which will be very welcomely receiv'd."
+
+
+Who this "Low Land Beauty" was has been the source of much speculation,
+but the question is still unsolved, every suggested damsel--Lucy Grymes,
+Mary Bland, Betsy Fauntleroy, _et al._--being either impossible or the
+evidence wholly inadequate. But in the same journal which contains the
+draughts of these letters is a motto poem--
+
+
+"Twas Perfect Love before
+But Now I do adore"--
+
+
+followed by the words "Young M.A. his W[ife?]," and as it was a fashion
+of the time to couple the initials of one's well-beloved with such
+sentiments, a slight clue is possibly furnished. Nor was this the only
+rhyme that his emotions led to his inscribing in his journal: and he
+confided to it the following:
+
+
+"Oh Ye Gods why should my Poor Resistless Heart
+  Stand to oppose thy might and Power
+At Last surrender to cupids feather'd Dart
+  And now lays Bleeding every Hour
+For her that's Pityless of my grief and Woes
+  And will not on me Pity take
+He sleep amongst my most inveterate Foes
+  And with gladness never wish to wake
+In deluding sleepings let my Eyelids close
+  That in an enraptured Dream I may
+In a soft lulling sleep and gentle repose
+  Possess those joys denied by Day."
+
+
+However woe-begone the young lover was, he does not seem to have been
+wholly lost to others of the sex, and at this same time he was able to
+indite an acrostic to another charmer, which, if incomplete, nevertheless
+proves that there was a "midland" beauty as well, the lady being
+presumptively some member of the family of Alexanders, who had a
+plantation near Mount Vernon.
+
+
+"From your bright sparkling Eyes I was undone;
+Rays, you have; more transperent than the Sun.
+Amidst its glory in the rising Day
+None can you equal in your bright array;
+Constant in your calm and unspotted Mind;
+Equal to all, but will to none Prove kind,
+So knowing, seldom one so Young, you'l Find.
+
+Ah! woe's me, that I should Love and conceal
+Long have I wish'd, but never dare reveal,
+Even though severely Loves Pains I feel;
+Xerxes that great, was't free from Cupids Dart,
+And all the greatest Heroes, felt the smart."
+
+
+When visiting Barbadoes, in 1751, Washington noted in his journal his
+meeting a Miss Roberts, "an agreeable young lady," and later he went with
+her to see some fireworks on Guy Fawkes day. Apparently, however, the
+ladies of that island made little impression on him, for he further noted,
+"The Ladys Generally are very agreeable but by ill custom or w[ha]t effect
+the Negro style." This sudden insensibility is explained by a letter he
+wrote to William Fauntleroy a few weeks after his return to Virginia:
+
+
+"Sir: I should have been down long before this, but my business in
+Frederick detained me somewhat longer than I expected, and immediately
+upon my return from thence I was taken with a violent Pleurise, but
+purpose as soon as I recover my strength, to wait on Miss Betsy, in hopes
+of a revocation of the former cruel sentence, and see if I can meet with
+any alteration in my favor. I have enclosed a letter to her, which should
+be much obliged to you for the delivery of it. I have nothing to add but
+my best respects to your good lady and family, and that I am, Sir, Your
+most ob't humble serv't."
+
+
+Because of this letter it has been positively asserted that Betsy
+Fauntleroy was the Low-Land Beauty of the earlier time; but as Washington
+wrote of his love for the latter in 1748, when Betsy was only eleven, the
+absurdity of the claim is obvious.
+
+In 1753, while on his mission to deliver the governor's letter to the
+French, one duty which fell to the young soldier was a visit to royalty,
+in the person of Queen Aliquippa, an Indian majesty who had "expressed
+great Concern" that she had formerly been slighted. Washington records
+that "I made her a Present of a Match-coat and a Bottle of Rum; which
+latter was thought much the best Present of the Two," and thus (externally
+and internally) restored warmth to her majesty's feelings.
+
+When returned from his first campaign, and resting at Mount Vernon, the
+time seems to have been beguiled by some charmer, for one of Washington's
+officers and intimates writes from Williamsburg, "I imagine you By this
+time plung'd in the midst of delight heaven can afford & enchanted By
+Charmes even Stranger to the Ciprian Dame," and a footnote by the same
+hand only excites further curiosity concerning this latter personage by
+indefinitely naming her as "Mrs. Neil."
+
+With whatever heart-affairs the winter was passed, with the spring the
+young man's fancy turned not to love, but again to war, and only when the
+defeat of Braddock brought Washington back to Mount Vernon to recover from
+the fatigues of that campaign was his intercourse with the gentler sex
+resumed. Now, however, he was not merely a good-looking young fellow, but
+was a hero who had had horses shot from under him and had stood firm when
+scarlet-coated men had run away. No longer did he have to sue for the
+favor of the fair ones, and Fairfax wrote him that "if a Satterday Nights
+Rest cannot be sufficient to enable your coming hither to-morrow, the
+Lady's will try to get Horses to equip our Chair or attempt their strength
+on Foot to Salute you, so desirous are they with loving Speed to have an
+occular Demonstration of your being the same Identical Gent--that lately
+departed to defend his Country's Cause." Furthermore, to this letter was
+appended the following:
+
+
+"DEAR SIR,--After thanking Heaven for your safe return I must accuse you
+of great unkindness in refusing us the pleasure of seeing you this night.
+I do assure you nothing but our being satisfied that our company would be
+disagreeable should prevent us from trying if our Legs would not carry us
+to Mount Vernon this night, but if you will not come to us to-morrow
+morning very early we shall be at Mount Vernon.
+
+"S[ALLY] FAIRFAX,
+"ANN SPEARING.
+"ELIZ'TH DENT."
+
+
+Nor is this the only feminine postscript of this time, for in the
+postscript of a letter from Archibald Cary, a leading Virginian, he is
+told that "Mrs. Cary & Miss Randolph joyn in wishing you that sort of
+Glory which will most Indear you to the Fair Sex."
+
+In 1756 Washington had occasion to journey on military business to Boston,
+and both in coming and in going he tarried in New York, passing ten days
+in his first visit and about a week on his return. This time was spent
+with a Virginian friend, Beverly Robinson, who had had the good luck to
+marry Susannah Philipse, a daughter of Frederick Philipse, one of the
+largest landed proprietors of the colony of New York. Here he met the
+sister, Mary Philipse, then a girl of twenty-five, and, short as was the
+time, it was sufficient to engage his heart. To this interest no doubt are
+due the entries in his accounts of sundry pounds spent "for treating
+Ladies," and for the large tailors' bills then incurred. But neither
+treats nor clothes won the lady, who declined his proposals, and gave her
+heart two years later to Lieutenant-Colonel Roger Morris. A curious sequel
+to this disappointment was the accident that made the Roger Morris house
+Washington's head-quarters in 1776, both Morris and his wife being
+fugitive Tories. Again Washington was a chance visitor in 1790, when, as
+part of a picnic, he "dined on a dinner provided by Mr. Marriner at the
+House lately Colo. Roger Morris, but confiscated and in the occupation of
+a common Farmer."
+
+[Illustration: MARY PHILIPSE]
+
+It has been asserted that Washington loved the wife of his friend George
+William Fairfax, but the evidence has not been produced. On the contrary,
+though the two corresponded, it was in a purely platonic fashion, very
+different from the strain of lovers, and that the correspondence implied
+nothing is to be found in the fact that he and Sally Carlyle (another
+Fairfax daughter) also wrote each other quite as frequently and on
+the same friendly footing; indeed, Washington evidently classed them
+in the same category, when he stated that "I have wrote to my two
+female correspondents." Thus the claim seems due, like many another of
+Washington's mythical love-affairs, rather to the desire of descendants to
+link their family "to a star" than to more substantial basis. Washington
+did, indeed, write to Sally Fairfax from the frontier, "I should think our
+time more agreeably spent, believe me, in playing a part in Cato, with the
+company you mention, and myself doubly happy in being the Juba to such a
+Marcia, as you must make," but private theatricals then no more than now
+implied "passionate love." What is more, Mrs. Fairfax was at this very
+time teasing him about another woman, and to her hints Washington
+replied,--
+
+
+"If you allow that any honor can be derived from my opposition ... you
+destroy the merit of it entirely in me by attributing my anxiety to the
+animating prospect of possessing Mrs. Custis, when--I need not tell you,
+guess yourself. Should not my own Honor and country's welfare be the
+excitement? 'Tis true I profess myself a votary of love. I acknowledge
+that a lady is in the case, and further I confess that this lady is known
+to you. Yes, Madame, as well as she is to one who is too sensible of her
+charms to deny the Power whose influence he feels and must ever submit to.
+I feel the force of her amiable beauties in the recollection of a thousand
+tender passages that I could wish to obliterate, till I am bid to revive
+them. But experience, alas! sadly reminds me how impossible this is, and
+evinces an opinion which I have long entertained that there is a Destiny
+which has the control of our actions, not to be resisted by the strongest
+efforts of Human Nature. You have drawn me, dear Madame, or rather I have
+drawn myself, into an honest confession of a simple Fact. Misconstrue not
+my meaning; doubt it not, nor expose it. The world has no business to know
+the object of my Love, declared in this manner to you, when I want to
+conceal it. One thing above all things in this world I wish to know, and
+only one person of your acquaintance can solve me that, or guess my
+meaning."
+
+
+The love-affair thus alluded to had begun in March, 1758, when ill health
+had taken Washington to Williamsburg to consult physicians, thinking,
+indeed, of himself as a doomed man. In this trip he met Mrs. Martha
+(Dandridge) Custis, widow of Daniel Parke Custis, one of the wealthiest
+planters of the colony. She was at this time twenty-six years of age, or
+Washington's senior by nine months, and had been a widow but seven, yet in
+spite of this fact, and of his own expected "decay," he pressed his
+love-making with an impetuosity akin to that with which he had urged his
+suit of Miss Philipse, and (widows being proverbial) with better success.
+The invalid had left Mount Vernon on March 5, and by April 1 he was back
+at Fort Loudon, an engaged man, having as well so far recovered his health
+as to be able to join his command. Early in May he ordered a ring from
+Philadelphia, at a cost of �2.16.0; soon after receiving it he found
+that army affairs once more called him down to Williamsburg, and, as
+love-making is generally considered a military duty, the excuse was
+sufficient. But sterner duties on the frontier were awaiting him, and very
+quickly he was back there and writing to his _fianc�e_,--
+
+
+"We have begun our march for the Ohio. A courier is starting for
+Williamsburg, and I embrace the opportunity to send a few words to one
+whose life is now inseparable from mine. Since that happy hour when we
+made our pledges to each other, my thoughts have been continually going to
+you as another Self. That an all-powerful Providence may keep us both in
+safety is the prayer of your ever faithful and affectionate friend."
+
+
+Five months after this letter was written, Washington was able to date
+another from Fort Duquesne, and, the fall of that post putting an end to
+his military service, only four weeks later he was back in Williamsburg,
+and on January 6, 1759, he was married.
+
+Very little is really known of his wife, beyond the facts that she was
+petite, over-fond, hot-tempered, obstinate, and a poor speller. In 1778
+she was described as "a sociable, pretty kind of woman," and she seems to
+have been but little more. One who knew her well described her as "not
+possessing much sense, though a perfect lady and remarkably well
+calculated for her position," and confirmatory of this is the opinion of
+an English traveller that "there was nothing remarkable in the person of
+the lady of the President; she was matronly and kind, with perfect good
+breeding." None the less she satisfied Washington; even after the
+proverbial six months were over he refused to wander from Mount Vernon,
+writing that "I am now, I believe, fixed at this seat with an agreeable
+Consort for life," and in 1783 he spoke of her as the "partner of all my
+Domestic enjoyments."
+
+John Adams, in one of his recurrent moods of bitterness and jealousy
+towards Washington, demanded, "Would Washington have ever been commander
+of the revolutionary army or president of the United States if he had not
+married the rich widow of Mr. Custis?" To ask such a question is to
+overlook the fact that Washington's colonial military fame was entirely
+achieved before his marriage. It is not to be denied that the match was a
+good one from a worldly point of view, Mrs. Washington's third of the
+Custis property equalling "fifteen thousand acres of land, a good part of
+it adjoining the city of Williamsburg; several lots in the said city;
+between two and three hundred negroes; and about eight or ten thousand
+pounds upon bond," estimated at the time as about twenty thousand pounds
+in all, which was further increased on the death of Patsy Custis in 1773
+by a half of her fortune, which added ten thousand pounds to the sum.
+Nevertheless the advantage was fairly equal, for Mrs. Custis's lawyer had
+written before her marriage of the impossibility of her managing the
+property, advising that she "employ a trusty steward, and as the estate is
+large and very extensive, it is Mr. Wallers and my own opinion, that you
+had better not engage any but a very able man, though he should require
+large wages." Of the management of this property, to which, indeed, she
+was unequal, Washington entirely relieved her, taking charge also of her
+children's share and acting for their interests with the same care with
+which he managed the part he was more directly concerned in.
+
+He further saved her much of the detail of ordering her own clothing, and
+we find him sending for "A Salmon-colored Tabby of the enclosed pattern,
+with satin flowers, to be made in a sack," "1 Cap, Handkerchief, Tucker
+and Ruffles, to be made of Brussels lace or point, proper to wear with the
+above negligee, to cost �20," "1 pair black, and 1 pair white Satin Shoes,
+of the smallest," and "1 black mask." Again he writes his London agent,
+"Mrs. Washington sends home a green sack to get cleaned, or fresh dyed of
+the same color; made up into a handsome sack again, would be her choice;
+but if the cloth won't afford that, then to be thrown into a genteel Night
+Gown." At another time he wants a pair of clogs, and when the wrong kind
+are sent he writes that "she intended to have leathern Gloshoes." When she
+was asked to present a pair of colors to a company, he attended to every
+detail of obtaining the flag, and when "Mrs. Washington ... perceived the
+Tomb of her Father ... to be much out of Sorts" he wrote to get a workman
+to repair it. The care of the Mount Vernon household proving beyond his
+wife's ability, a housekeeper was very quickly engaged, and when one who
+filled this position was on the point of leaving, Washington wrote his
+agent to find another without the least delay, for the vacancy would
+"throw a great additional weight on Mrs. Washington;" again, writing in
+another domestic difficulty, "Your aunt's distresses for want of a good
+housekeeper are such as to render the wages demanded by Mrs. Forbes
+(though unusually high) of no consideration." Her letters of form, which
+required better orthography than she was mistress of, he draughted for
+her, pen-weary though he was.
+
+It has already been shown how he fathered her "little progeny," as he once
+called them. Mrs. Washington was a worrying mother, as is shown by a
+letter to her sister, speaking of a visit in which "I carried my little
+patt with me and left Jacky at home for a trial to see how well I could
+stay without him though we were gon but wone fortnight I was quite
+impatient to get home. If I at aney time heard the doggs barke or a noise
+out, I thought thair was a person sent for me. I often fancied he was sick
+or some accident had happened to him so that I think it is impossible
+for me to leave him as long as Mr. Washington must stay when he comes
+down." To spare her anxiety, therefore, when the time came for "Jacky" to
+be inoculated, Washington "withheld from her the information ... &
+purpose, if possible, to keep her in total ignorance ... till I hear of
+his return, or perfect recovery;... she having often wished that Jack
+wou'd take & go through the disorder without her knowing of it, that she
+might escape those Tortures which suspense wd throw her into." And on the
+death of Patsy he wrote, "This sudden and unexpected blow, I scarce need
+add has almost reduced my poor Wife to the lowest ebb of Misery; which is
+encreas'd by the absence of her son."
+
+When Washington left Mount Vernon, in May, 1775, to attend the Continental
+Congress, he did not foresee his appointment as commander-in-chief, and as
+soon as it occurred he wrote his wife,--
+
+
+"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 for the
+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 Patsey, when I assure 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 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.... I shall feel no
+pain from the toil or danger of the campaign; my unhappiness will flow
+from the uneasiness I know you will feel from being left alone."
+
+
+To prevent this loneliness as far as possible, he wrote at the same time
+to different members of the two families as follows:
+
+
+"My great concern upon this occasion is, the thought of leaving your
+mother under the uneasiness which I fear this affair will throw her into;
+I therefore hope, expect, and indeed have no doubt, of your using every
+means in your power to keep up her spirits, by doing everything in your
+power to promote her quiet. I have, I must confess, very uneasy feelings
+on her account, but as it has been a kind of unavoidable necessity which
+has led me into this appointment, I shall more readily hope that success
+will attend it and crown our meetings with happiness."
+
+
+"I entreat you and Mrs. Bassett if possible to visit at Mt. Vernon, as
+also my wife's other friends. I could wish you to take her down, as I have
+no expectation of returning till winter & feel great uneasiness at her
+lonesome situation."
+
+
+"I shall hope that my friends will visit and endeavor to keep up the
+spirits of my wife, as much as they can, as my departure will, I know, be
+a cutting stroke upon her; and on this account alone I have many very
+disagreeable sensations. I hope you and my sister, (although the distance
+is great), will find as much leisure this summer as to spend a little time
+at Mount Vernon."
+
+
+When, six months later, the war at Boston settled into a mere siege,
+Washington wrote that "seeing no prospect of returning to my family and
+friends this winter, I have sent an invitation to Mrs. Washington to come
+to me," adding, "I have laid a state of difficulties, however, which must
+attend the journey before her, and left it to her own choice." His wife
+replied in the affirmative, and one of Washington's aides presently wrote
+concerning some prize goods to the effect that "There are limes, lemons
+and oranges on board, which, being perishable, you must sell immediately.
+The General will want some of each, as well of the sweetmeats and pickles
+that are on board, as his lady will be here to-day or to-morrow. You will
+please to pick up such things on board as you think will be acceptable to
+her, and send them as soon as possible; he does not mean to receive
+anything without payment."
+
+Lodged at head-quarters, then the Craigie house in Cambridge, the
+discomforts of war were reduced to a minimum, but none the less it was a
+trying time to Mrs. Washington, who complained that she could not get used
+to the distant cannonading, and she marvelled that those about her paid so
+little heed to it. With the opening of the campaign in the following
+summer she returned to Mount Vernon, but when the army was safely in
+winter quarters at Valley Forge she once more journeyed northward, a trip
+alluded to by Washington in a letter to Jack, as follows: "Your Mamma is
+not yet arrived, but ... expected every hour. [My aide] Meade set off
+yesterday (as soon as I got notice of her intention) to meet her. We are
+in a dreary kind of place, and uncomfortably provided." And of this
+reunion Mrs. Washington wrote, "I came to this place, some time about the
+first of February where I found the General very well,... in camp in what
+is called the great valley on the Banks of the Schuylkill. Officers and
+men are chiefly in Hutts, which they say is tolerably comfortable; the
+army are as healthy as can be well expected in general. The General's
+apartment is very small; he has had a log cabin built to dine in, which
+has made our quarters much more tolerable than they were at first"
+
+Such "winterings" became the regular custom, and brief references in
+various letters serve to illustrate them. Thus, in 1779, Washington
+informed a friend that "Mrs. Washington, according to custom marched home
+when the campaign was about to open;" in July, 1782, he noted that his
+wife "sets out this day for Mount Vernon," and later in the same year he
+wrote, "as I despair of seeing my home this Winter, I have sent for Mrs.
+Washington;" and finally, in a letter he draughted for his wife, he made
+her describe herself as "a kind of perambulator, during eight or nine
+years of the war."
+
+Another pleasant glimpse during these stormy years is the couple, during a
+brief stay in Philadelphia, being entertained almost to death, described
+as follows by Franklin's daughter in a letter to her father: "I have
+lately been several times abroad with the General and Mrs. Washington. He
+always inquires after you in the most affectionate manner, and speaks of
+you highly. We danced at Mrs. Powell's your birthday, or night I should
+say, in company together, and he told me it was the anniversary of his
+marriage; it was just twenty years that night" Again there was junketing
+in Philadelphia after the surrender at Yorktown, and one bit of this is
+shadowed in a line from Washington to Robert Morris, telling the latter
+that "Mrs. Washington, myself and family, will have the honor of dining
+with you in the way proposed, to-morrow, being Christmas day."
+
+With the retirement to Mount Vernon at the close of the war, little more
+companionship was obtained, for, as already stated, Washington could only
+describe his home henceforth as a "well resorted tavern," and two years
+after his return he entered in his diary, "Dined with only Mrs. Washington
+which I believe is the first instance of it since my retirement from
+public life."
+
+Even this was only a furlough, for in six years they were both in public
+life again. Mrs. Washington was inclined to sulk over the necessary
+restraints of official life, writing to a friend, "Mrs. Sins will give you
+a better account of the fashions than I can--I live a very dull life hear
+and know nothing that passes in the town--I never goe to any public
+place--indeed I think I am more like a State prisoner than anything else;
+there is certain bounds set for me which I must not depart from--and as I
+cannot doe as I like, I am obstinate and stay at home a great deal."
+
+
+[Illustration: MRS. DANIEL PARKE CUSTIS, LATER MRS. WASHINGTON]
+
+
+None the less she did her duties well, and in these "Lady Washington" was
+more at home, for, according to Thacher, she combined "in an uncommon
+degree, great dignity of manner with most pleasing affability," though
+possessing "no striking marks of beauty," and there is no doubt that she
+lightened Washington's shoulders of social demands materially. At the
+receptions of Mrs. Washington, which were held every Friday evening, so a
+contemporary states, "the President did not consider himself as visited.
+On these occasions he appeared as a private gentleman, with neither hat
+nor sword, conversing without restraint."
+
+From other formal society Mrs. Washington also saved her husband, for a
+visitor on New Year's tells of her setting "'the General' (by which title
+she always designated her husband)" at liberty: "Mrs. Washington had stood
+by his side as the visitors arrived and were presented, and when the clock
+in the hall was heard striking nine, she advanced and with a complacent
+smile said, 'The General always retires at nine, and I usually precede
+him,' upon which all arose, made their parting salutations, and withdrew."
+Nor was it only from the fatigues of formal entertaining that the wife
+saved her husband, Washington writing in 1793, "We remain in Philadelphia
+until the 10th instant. It was my wish to have continued there longer; but
+as Mrs. Washington was unwilling to leave me surrounded by the malignant
+fever which prevailed, I could not think of hazarding her, and the
+Children any longer by _my_ continuance in the City, the house in which we
+live being in a manner blockaded by the disorder, and was becoming every
+day more and more fatal; I therefore came off with them."
+
+Finally from these "scenes more busy, tho' not more happy, than the
+tranquil enjoyment of rural life," they returned to Mount Vernon, hoping
+that in the latter their "days will close." Not quite three years of this
+life brought an end to their forty years of married life. On the night
+that Washington's illness first became serious his secretary narrates that
+"Between 2 and 3 o'clk on Saturday morning he [Washington] awoke Mrs.
+Washington & told her he was very unwell, and had had an ague.
+She ... would have got up to call a servant; but he would not permit her
+lest she should take cold." As a consequence of this care for her, her
+husband lay for nearly four hours in a chill in a cold bedroom before
+receiving any attention, or before even a fire was lighted. When death
+came, she said, "Tis well--All is now over--I have no more trials to pass
+through--I shall soon follow him." In his will he left "to my dearly
+beloved wife" the use of his whole property, and named her an executrix.
+
+As a man's views of matrimony are more or less colored by his personal
+experience, what Washington had to say on the institution is of interest.
+As concerned himself he wrote to his nephew, "If Mrs. Washington should
+survive me, there is a moral certainty of my dying without issue: and
+should I be the longest liver, the matter in my opinion, is hardly less
+certain; for while I retain the faculty of reasoning, I shall never marry
+a girl; and it is not probable that I should have children by a woman of
+an age suitable to my own, should I be disposed to enter into a second
+marriage." And in a less personal sense he wrote to Chastellux,--
+
+
+"In reading your very friendly and acceptable letter,... I was, as you
+may well suppose, not less delighted than surprised to meet the plain
+American words, 'my 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. Now 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 same, like the small pox
+or the plague, a man can have only once in his life; because it commonly
+lasts him (at least with us in America--I don't know how you manage these
+matters in France) for his whole life time. And yet after all the
+maledictions you so richly merit on the subject, the worst wish which I
+can find in my heart to make against Madame de Chastellux and yourself is,
+that you may neither of you ever get the better of this same domestic
+felicity during the entire course of your mortal existence."
+
+
+Furthermore, he wrote to an old friend, whose wife stubbornly refused to
+sign a deed, "I think, any Gentleman, possessed of but a very moderate
+degree of influence with his wife, might, in the course of five or six
+years (for I think it is at least that time) have prevailed upon her to do
+an act of justice, in fulfiling his Bargains and complying with his
+wishes, if he had been really in earnest in requesting the matter of her;
+especially, as the inducement which you thought would have a powerful
+operation on Mrs. Alexander, namely the birth of a child, has been
+doubled, and tripled."
+
+However well Washington thought of "the honorable state," he was
+no match-maker, and when asked to give advice to the widow of Jack Custis,
+replied, "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 advise 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 disapprobation, 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.'" Again he wrote:
+
+
+"It has ever been a maxim with me through life, neither to promote nor to
+prevent a matrimonial connection, unless there should be something
+indispensably requiring interference in the latter. I have always
+considered marriage as the most interesting event of one's life, the
+foundation of happiness or misery. To be instrumental therefore in
+bringing two people together, who are indifferent to each other, and may
+soon become objects of disgust; or to prevent a union, which is prompted
+by the affections of the mind, is what I never could reconcile with
+reason, and therefore neither directly nor indirectly have I ever said a
+word to Fanny or George, upon the subject of their intended connection."
+
+
+The question whether Washington was a faithful husband might well be left
+to the facts already given, were it not that stories of his immorality are
+bandied about in clubs, a well-known clergyman has vouched for their
+truth, and a United States senator has given further currency to them by
+claiming special knowledge on the subject. Since such are the facts, it
+seems best to consider the question and show what evidence there actually
+is for these stories, that at least the pretended "letters," etc., which
+are always being cited, and are never produced, may no longer have
+credence put in them, and the true basis for all the stories may be known
+and valued at its worth.
+
+In the year 1776 there was printed in London a small pamphlet entitled
+"Minutes of the Trial and Examination of Certain Persons in the Province
+of New York," which purported to be the records of the examination of the
+conspirators of the "Hickey plot" (to murder Washington) before a
+committee of the Provincial Congress of New York. The manuscript of this
+was claimed in the preface to have been "discovered (on the late capture
+of New York by the British troops) among the papers of a person who
+appears to have been secretary to the committee." As part of the evidence
+the following was printed:
+
+
+"William Cooper, soldier, sworn.
+
+
+"Court. Inform us what conversation you heard at the Serjeant's Arms?
+
+"Cooper. Being there the 21st of May, I heard John Clayford inform the
+company, that Mary Gibbons was thoroughly in their interest, and that the
+whole would be safe. I learnt from enquiry that Mary Gibbons was a girl
+from New Jersey, of whom General Washington was very fond, that he
+maintained her genteelly at a house near Mr. Skinner's,--at the North
+River; that he came there very often late at night in disguise; he learnt
+also that this woman was very intimate with Clayford, and made him
+presents, and told him of what General Washington said.
+
+"Court. Did you hear Mr. Clayford say any thing himself that night?
+
+"Cooper. Yes; that he was the day before with Judith, so he called her,
+and that she told him, Washington had often said he wished his hands were
+clear of the dirty New-Englanders, and words to that effect.
+
+"Court. Did you hear no mention made of any scheme to betray or seize him?
+
+"Cooper. Mr. Clayford said he could easily be seized and put on board a
+boat, and carried off, as his female friend had promised she would assist:
+but all present thought it would be hazardous."
+
+
+"William Savage, sworn.
+
+"Court. Was you at the Serjeant's Arms on the 21st of May? Did you hear
+any thing of this nature?
+
+"Savage. I did, and nearly as the last evidence has declared; the society
+in general refused to be concerned in it, and thought it a mad scheme.
+
+"Mr. Abeel. Pray, Mr. Savage, have not you heard nothing of an information
+that was to be given to Governor Tryon?
+
+"Savage. Yes; papers and letters were at different times shewn to the
+society, which were taken out of General Washington's pockets by Mrs.
+Gibbons, and given (as she pretended some occasion of going out) to Mr.
+Clayford, who always copied them, and they were put into his pockets
+again."
+
+
+The authenticity of this pamphlet thus becomes of importance, and over
+this little time need be spent. The committee named in it differs from the
+committee really named by the Provincial Congress, and the proceedings
+nowhere implicate the men actually proved guilty. In other words, the
+whole publication is a clumsy Tory forgery, put forward with the same idle
+story of "captured papers" employed in the "spurious letters" of
+Washington, and sent forth from the same press (J. Bew) from which that
+forgery and several others issued.
+
+The source from which the English fabricator drew this scandal is
+fortunately known. In 1775 a letter to Washington from his friend Benjamin
+Harrison was intercepted by the British, and at once printed broadcast in
+the newspapers. In this the writer gossips to Washington "to amuse you and
+unbend your minds from the cares of war," as follows: "As I was in the
+pleasing task of writing to you, a little noise occasioned me to turn my
+head around, and who should appear but pretty little Kate, the
+Washer-woman's daughter over the way, clean, trim and as rosy as the
+morning. I snatched the golden, glorious opportunity, and, but for the
+cursed antidote to love, Sukey, I had fitted her for my general against his
+return. We were obliged to part, but not till we had contrived to meet
+again: if she keeps the appointment, I shall relish a week's longer stay."
+From this originated the stories of Washington's infidelity as already
+given, and also a coarser version of the same, printed in 1776 in a Tory
+farce entitled "The Battle of Brooklyn."
+
+Jonathan Boucher, who knew Washington well before the Revolution, yet who,
+as a loyalist, wrote in no friendly spirit of him, asserted that "in his
+moral character, he is regular." A man who disliked him far more, General
+Charles Lee, in the excess of his hatred, charged Washington in 1778 with
+immorality,--a rather amusing impeachment, since at the very time Lee was
+flaunting the evidence of his own incontinence without apparent shame,--and
+a mutual friend of the accused and accuser, Joseph Reed, whose service on
+Washington's staff enabled him to speak wittingly, advised that Lee
+"forbear any Reflections upon the Commander in Chief, of whom for the
+first time I have heard Slander on his private Character, viz., great
+cruelty to his Slaves in Virginia & Immorality of Life, tho' they
+acknowledge so very secret that it is difficult to detect. To me who have
+had so good opportunities to know the Purity of the latter & equally
+believing the Falsehood of the former from the known excellence of his
+disposition, it appears so nearly bordering upon frenzy, that I can pity
+the wretches rather than despise them."
+
+Washington was too much of a man, however, to have his marriage lessen his
+liking for other women; and Yeates repeats that "Mr. Washington once told
+me, on a charge which I once made against the President at his own Table,
+that the admiration he warmly professed for Mrs. Hartley, was a Proof of
+his Homage to the worthy Part of the Sex, and highly respectful to his
+Wife." Every now and then there is an allusion in his letters which shows
+his appreciation of beauty, as when he wrote to General Schuyler, "Your
+fair daughter, for whose visit Mrs. Washington and myself are greatly
+obliged," and again, to one of his aides, "The fair hand, to whom your
+letter ... was committed presented it safe."
+
+His diary, in the notes of the balls and assemblies which he attended,
+usually had a word for the sex, as exampled in: "at which there were
+between 60 & 70 well dressed ladies;" "at which there was about 100 well
+dressed and handsome ladies;" "at which were 256 elegantly dressed
+ladies;" "where there was a select Company of ladies;" "where (it is said)
+there were upwards of 100 ladies; their appearance was elegant, and many
+of them very handsome;" "at wch. there were about 400 ladies the number
+and appearance of wch. exceeded anything of the kind I have ever seen;"
+"where there were about 75 well dressed, and many of them very handsome
+ladies--among whom (as was also the case at the Salem and Boston
+assemblies) were a greater proportion with much blacker hair than are
+usually seen in the Southern States."
+
+At his wife's receptions, as already said, Washington did not view himself
+as host, and "conversed without restraint, generally with women, who
+rarely had other opportunity of seeing him," which perhaps accounts for
+the statement of another eye-witness that Washington "looked very much
+more at ease than at his own official levees." Sullivan adds that "the
+young ladies used to throng around him, and engaged him in conversation.
+There were some of the well-remembered belles of the day who imagined
+themselves to be favorites with him. As these were the only opportunities
+which they had of conversing with him, they were disposed to use them." In
+his Southern trip of 1791 Washington noted, with evident pleasure, that he
+"was visited about 2 o'clock, by a great number of the most respectable
+ladies of Charleston--the first honor of the kind I had ever experienced
+and it was flattering as it was singular." And that this attention was not
+merely the respect due to a great man is shown in the letter of a
+Virginian woman, who wrote to her correspondent in 1777, that when
+"General Washington throws off the Hero and takes up the chatty agreeable
+Companion--he can be down right impudent sometimes--such impudence, Fanny,
+as you and I like."
+
+Another feminine compliment paid him was a highly laudatory poem which was
+enclosed to him, with a letter begging forgiveness, to which he playfully
+answered,--
+
+
+"You apply to me, my dear Madam, for absolution as tho' I was your father
+Confessor; and as tho' you had committed a crime, great in itself, yet of
+the venial class. You have reason good--for I find myself strangely
+disposed to be a very indulgent ghostly adviser on this occasion; and,
+notwithstanding 'you are the most offending Soul alive' (that is, if it is
+a crime to write elegant Poetry,) yet if you will come and dine with me on
+Thursday, and go thro' the proper course of penitence which shall be
+prescribed I will strive hard to assist you in expiating these poetical
+trespasses on this side of purgatory. Nay more, if it rests with me
+to direct your future lucubrations, I shall certainly urge you to a
+repetition of the same conduct, on purpose to shew what an admirable knack
+you have at confession and reformation; and so without more hesitation, I
+shall venture to command the muse, not to be restrained by ill-grounded
+timidity, but to go on and prosper. You see, Madam, when once the woman
+has tempted us, and we have tasted the forbidden fruit, there is no such
+thing as checking our appetites, whatever the consequences may be. You
+will, I dare say, recognize our being the genuine Descendants of those who
+are reputed to be our great Progenitors."
+
+
+Nor was Washington open only to beauty and flattery. From the rude
+frontier in 1756 he wrote, "The supplicating tears of the women,... melt
+me into such deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my own
+mind, I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy,
+provided that would contribute to the people's ease." And in 1776 he said,
+"When I consider that the city of New York will in all human probability
+very soon be the scene of a bloody conflict, I cannot but view the great
+numbers of women, children, and infirm persons remaining in it, with the
+most melancholy concern. When the men-of-war passed up the river, the
+shrieks and cries of these poor creatures running every way with their
+children, were truly distressing.... Can no method be devised for their
+removal?"
+
+Nevertheless, though liked by and liking the fair sex, Washington was
+human, and after experience concluded that "I never again will have two
+women in my house when I am there myself."
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+FARMER AND PROPRIETOR
+
+
+The earliest known Washington coat of arms had blazoned upon it "3 Cinque
+foiles," which was the herald's way of saying that the bearer was a
+landholder and cultivator, and when Washington had a book-plate made for
+himself he added to the conventional design of the arms spears of wheat
+and other plants, as an indication of his favorite labor. During his
+career he acted several parts, but in none did he find such pleasure as in
+farming, and late in life he said, "I think with you, that the life of a
+husbandman of all others is the most delectable. It is honorable, it is
+amusing, and, with judicious management, it is profitable. To see plants
+rise from the earth and flourish by the superior skill and bounty of the
+laborer fills a contemplative mind with ideas which are more easy to be
+conceived than expressed." "Agriculture has ever been the most favorite
+amusement of my life," he wrote after the Revolution, and he informed
+another correspondent that "the more I am acquainted with agricultural
+affairs, the better pleased I am with them; insomuch, that I can no where
+find so great satisfaction as in those innocent and useful pursuits: In
+indulging these feelings, I am led to reflect how much more delightful to
+an undebauched mind is the task of making improvements on the earth, than
+all the vain glory which can be acquired from ravaging it, by the most
+uninterrupted career of conquests." A visitor to Mount Vernon in 1785
+states that his host's "greatest pride is, to be thought the first farmer
+in America. He is quite a Cincinnatus."
+
+Undoubtedly a part of this liking flowed from his strong affection for
+Mount Vernon. Such was his feeling for the place that he never seems to
+have been entirely happy away from it, and over and over again, during his
+various and enforced absences, he "sighs" or "pants" for his "own vine and
+fig tree." In writing to an English correspondent, he shows his feeling
+for the place by saying, "No estate in United America, is more pleasantly
+situated than this. It lies in a high, dry and healthy country, three
+hundred miles by water from the sea, and, as you will see by the plan, on
+one of the finest rivers in the world."
+
+The history of the Mount Vernon estate begins in 1674, when Lord Culpepper
+conveyed to Nicholas Spencer and Lieutenant-Colonel John Washington five
+thousand acres of land "scytuate Lying and being within the said terrytory
+in the County of Stafford in the ffreshes of the Pottomocke River
+and ... bounded betwixt two Creeks." Colonel John's half was bequeathed to
+his son Lawrence, and by Lawrence's will it was left to his daughter
+Mildred. She sold it to the father of George, who by his will left it to
+his son Lawrence, with a reversion to George should Lawrence die without
+issue. The original house was built about 1740, and the place was named
+Mount Vernon by Lawrence, in honor of Admiral Vernon, under whom he had
+served at Carthagena. After the death of Lawrence, the estate of
+twenty-five hundred acres came under Washington's management, and from 1754
+it was his home, as it had been practically even in his brother's life.
+
+Twice Washington materially enlarged the house at Mount Vernon, the first
+time in 1760 and the second in 1785, and a visitor reports, what his host
+must have told him, that "its a pity he did not build a new one at
+once, for it has cost him nearly as much to repair his old one." These
+alterations consisted in the addition of a banquet-hall at one end (by far
+the finest room in the house), and a library and dining-room at the other,
+with the addition of an entire story to the whole.
+
+The grounds, too, were very much improved. A fine approach, or bowling
+green, was laid out, a "botanical garden," a "shrubbery," and greenhouses
+were added, and in every way possible the place was improved. A deer
+paddock was laid out and stocked, gifts of Chinese pheasants and geese,
+French partridges, and guinea-pigs were sent him, and were gratefully
+acknowledged, and from all the world over came curious, useful, or
+beautiful plants.
+
+The original tract did not satisfy the ambition of the farmer, and from
+the time he came into the possession of Mount Vernon he was a persistent
+purchaser of lands adjoining the property. In 1760 he bargained with one
+Clifton for "a tract called Brents," of eighteen hundred and six acres,
+but after the agreement was closed the seller, "under pretence of his wife
+not consenting to acknowledge her right of dower wanted to disengage
+himself ... and by his shuffling behavior convinced me of his being the
+trifling body represented." Presently Washington heard that Clifton had
+sold his lands to another for twelve hundred pounds, which "fully
+unravelled his conduct ... and convinced me that he was nothing less than
+a thorough pac'd rascall." Meeting the "rascall" at a court, "much
+discourse," Washington states, "happened between him and I concerning his
+ungenerous treatment of me, the whole turning to little account, 'tis not
+worth reciting." After much more friction, the land was finally sold at
+public auction, and "I bought it for �1210 Sterling, [and] under many
+threats and disadvantages paid the money."
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON, CIRCA 1746]
+
+
+In 1778, when some other land was offered, Washington wrote to his agent,
+"I have premised these things to shew my inability, not my unwillingness
+to purchase the Lands in my own Neck at (almost) any price--& this I am
+very desirous of doing if it could be accomplished by any means in my
+power, in ye way of Barter for other Land--for Negroes ... or in short--for
+any thing else ... but for money I cannot, I want the means." Again, in
+1782, he wrote, "Inform Mr. Dulany,... that I look upon �2000 to be a
+great price for his land; that my wishes to obtain it do not proceed from
+its intrinsic value, but from the motives I have candidly assigned in my
+other letter. That to indulge this fancy, (for in truth there is more
+fancy than judgment in it) I have submitted, or am willing to submit, to
+the disadvantage of borrowing as large a sum as I think this Land is
+worth, in order to come at it"
+
+By thus purchasing whenever an opportunity occurred, the property was
+increased from the twenty-five hundred acres which had come into
+Washington's possession by inheritance to an estate exceeding eight
+thousand acres, of which over thirty-two hundred were actually under
+cultivation during the latter part of its owner's life.
+
+To manage so vast a tract, the property was subdivided into several
+tracts, called "Mansion House Farm," "River Farm," "Union Farm," "Muddy
+Hole Farm," and "Dogue Run Farm," each having an overseer to manage it,
+and each being operated as a separate plantation, though a general
+overseer controlled the whole, and each farm derived common benefit from
+the property as a whole. "On Saturday in the afternoon, every week,
+reports are made by all his overseers, and registered in books kept for
+the purpose," and these accounts were so schemed as to show how every
+negro's and laborer's time had been employed during the whole week, what
+crops had been planted or gathered, what increase or loss of stock had
+occurred, and every other detail of farm-work. During Washington's
+absences from Mount Vernon his chief overseer sent him these reports, as
+well as wrote himself, and weekly the manager received in return long
+letters of instruction, sometimes to the length of sixteen pages, which
+showed most wonderful familiarity with every acre of the estate and the
+character of every laborer, and are little short of marvellous when
+account is taken of the pressure of public affairs that rested upon their
+writer as he framed them.
+
+When Washington became a farmer, but one system of agriculture, so far as
+Virginia was concerned, existed, which he described long after as follows:
+
+
+"A piece of land is cut down, and kept under constant cultivation, first
+in tobacco, and then in Indian corn (two very exhausting plants), until it
+will yield scarcely any thing; a second piece is cleared, and treated in
+the same manner; then a third and so on, until probably there is but
+little more to clear. When this happens, the owner finds himself reduced
+to the choice of one of three things--either to recover the land which he
+has ruined, to accomplish which, he has perhaps neither the skill, the
+industry, nor the means; or to retire beyond the mountains; or to
+substitute quantity for quality, in order to raise something. The latter
+has been generally adopted, and, with the assistance of horses, he
+scratches over much ground, and seeds it, to very little purpose."
+
+
+Knowing no better, Washington adopted this one-crop system, even to the
+extent of buying corn and hogs to feed his hands. Though following in the
+beaten track, he experimented in different kinds of tobacco, so that, "by
+comparing then the loss of the one with the extra price of the other, I
+shall be able to determine which is the best to pursue." The largest crop
+he ever seems to have produced, "being all sweet-scented and neatly
+managed," was one hundred and fifteen hogsheads, which averaged in sale
+twelve pounds each.
+
+From a very early time Washington had been a careful student of such books
+on agriculture as he could obtain, even preparing lengthy abstracts of
+them, and the knowledge he thus obtained, combined with his own practical
+experience, soon convinced him that the Virginian system was wrong. "I
+never ride on my plantations," he wrote, "without seeing something which
+makes me regret having continued so long in the ruinous mode of farming,
+which we are in," and he soon "discontinued the growth of tobacco myself;
+[and] except at a plantation or two upon York River, I make no more of
+that article than barely serves to furnish me with goods."
+
+From this time (1765) "the whole of my force [was] in a manner confined to
+the growth of wheat and manufacturing of it into flour," and before long
+he boasted that "the wheat from some of my plantations, by one pair of
+steelyards, will weigh upwards of sixty pounds,... and better wheat than
+I now have I do not expect to make." After the Revolution he claimed that
+"no wheat that has ever yet fallen under my observation exceeds the wheat
+which some years ago I cultivated extensively but which, from inattention
+during my absence of almost nine years from home, has got so mixed or
+degenerated as scarcely to retain any of its original characteristics
+properly." In 1768 he was able to sell over nineteen hundred bushels, and
+how greatly his product was increased after this is shown by the fact that
+in this same year he sowed four hundred and ninety bushels.
+
+Still further study and experimentation led him to conclude that "my
+countrymen are too much used to corn blades and corn shucks; and have too
+little knowledge of the profit of grass lands," and after his final
+home-coming to Mount Vernon, he said, "I have had it in contemplation ever
+since I returned home to turn my farms to grazing principally, as fast as
+I can cover the fields sufficiently with grass. Labor and of course
+expence will be considerably diminished by this change, the nett profit as
+great and my attention less divided, whilst the fields will be improving."
+That this was only an abandonment of a "one crop" system is shown by the
+fact that in 1792 he grew over five thousand bushels of wheat, valued at
+four shillings the bushel, and in 1799 he said, "as a farmer, wheat and
+flour are my principal concerns." And though, in abandoning the growth of
+tobacco, Washington also tried "to grow as little Indian corn as may be,"
+yet in 1795 his crop was over sixteen hundred barrels, and the quantity
+needed for his own negroes and stock is shown in a year when his crop
+failed, which "obliged me to purchase upwards of eight hundred barrels of
+corn."
+
+In connection with this change of system, Washington became an early
+convert to the rotation of crops, and drew up elaborate tables sometimes
+covering periods of five years, so that the quantity of each crop should
+not vary, yet by which his fields should have constant change. This system
+naturally very much diversified the product of his estate, and flax, hay,
+clover, buckwheat, turnips, and potatoes became large crops. The scale on
+which this was done is shown by the facts that in one year he sowed
+twenty-seven bushels of flaxseed and planted over three hundred bushels of
+potatoes.
+
+Early and late Washington preached to his overseers the value of
+fertilization; in one case, when looking for a new overseer, he said the
+man must be, "above all, Midas like, one who can convert everything he
+touches into manure, as the first transmutation towards gold;--in a word
+one who can bring worn out and gullied Lands into good tilth in the
+shortest time." Equally emphatic was his urging of constant ploughing and
+grubbing, and he even invented a deep soil plough, which he used till he
+found a better one in the English Rotheran plough, which he promptly
+imported, as he did all other improved farming tools and machinery of
+which he could learn. To save his woodlands, and for appearance's sake, he
+insisted on live fences, though he had to acknowledge that "no hedge,
+alone, will, I am persuaded, do for an outer inclosure, where _two_ or
+four footed hogs find it convenient to open passage." In all things he was
+an experimentalist, carefully trying different kinds of tobacco and wheat,
+various kinds of plants for hedges, and various kinds of manure for
+fertilizers; he had tests made to see whether he could sell his wheat to
+best advantage in the grain or when made into flour, and he bred from
+selected horses, cattle, and sheep. "In short I shall begrudge no
+reasonable expence that will contribute to the improvement and neatness of
+my Farms;--for nothing pleases me better than to see them in good order,
+and everything trim, handsome, and thriving about them."
+
+The magnitude of the charge of such an estate can be better understood
+when the condition of a Virginia plantation is realized. Before the
+Revolution practically everything the plantation could not produce was
+ordered yearly from Great Britain, and after the annual delivery
+of the invoices the estate could look for little outside help. Nor did
+this change rapidly after the Revolution, and during the period of
+Washington's management almost everything was bought in yearly supplies.
+This system compelled each plantation to be a little world unto itself;
+indeed, the three hundred souls on the Mount Vernon estate went far to
+make it a distinct and self-supporting community, and one of Washington's
+standing orders to his overseers was to "buy nothing you can make within
+yourselves." Thus the planting and gathering of the crops were but a small
+part of the work to be done.
+
+A corps of workmen--some negroes, some indentured servants, and some hired
+laborers--were kept on the estate. A blacksmith-shop occupied some, doing
+not merely the work of the plantation, but whatever business was brought
+to them from outside; and a wood-burner kept them and the mansion-house
+supplied with charcoal. A gang of carpenters were kept busy, and their
+spare time was utilized in framing houses to be put up in Alexandria, or
+in the "Federal city," as Washington was called before the death of its
+namesake. A brick-maker, too, was kept constantly employed, and masons
+utilized the product of his labor. The gardener's gang had charge of the
+kitchen-garden, and set out thousands of grape-vines, fruit-trees, and
+hedge-plants.
+
+A water-mill, with its staff, not merely ground meal for the hands, but
+produced a fine flour that commanded extra price in the market In 1786
+Washington asserted that his flour was "equal, I believe, in quality to
+any made in this country," and the Mount Vernon brand was of such value
+that some money was made by buying outside wheat and grinding it into
+flour. The coopers of the estate made the barrels in which it was packed,
+and Washington's schooner carried it to market.
+
+The estate had its own shoemaker, and in time a staff of weavers was
+trained. Before this was obtained, in 1760, though with only a modicum of
+the force he presently had, Washington ordered from London "450 ells of
+Osnabrig, 4 pieces of Brown Wools, 350 yards of Kendall Cotton, and 100
+yards of Dutch blanket." By 1768 he was manufacturing the chief part of
+his requirements, for in that year his weavers produced eight hundred and
+fifteen and three-quarter yards of linen, three hundred and sixty-five and
+one-quarter yards of woollen, one hundred and forty-four yards of linsey,
+and forty yards of cotton, or a total of thirteen hundred and sixty-five
+and one-half yards, one man and five negro girls having been employed.
+When once the looms were well organized an infinite variety of cloths was
+produced, the accounts mentioning "striped woollen, woolen plaided, cotton
+striped, linen, wool-birdseye, cotton filled with wool, linsey, M.'s &
+O.'s, cotton-India dimity, cotton jump stripe, linen filled with tow,
+cotton striped with silk, Roman M., Janes twilled, huccabac, broadcloth,
+counterpain, birdseye diaper, Kirsey wool, barragon, fustian, bed-ticking,
+herring-box, and shalloon."
+
+One of the most important features of the estate was its fishery, for the
+catch, salted down, largely served in place of meat for the negroes' food.
+Of this advantage Washington wrote, "This river,... is well supplied with
+various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year; and, in the spring, with
+the greatest profusion of shad, herrings, bass, carp, perch, sturgeon, &c.
+Several valuable fisheries appertain to the estate; the whole shore, in
+short, is one entire fishery." Whenever there was a run of fish, the seine
+was drawn, chiefly for herring and shad, and in good years this not merely
+amply supplied the home requirements, but allowed of sales; four or five
+shillings the thousand for herring and ten shillings the hundred for shad
+were the average prices, and sales of as high as eighty-five thousand
+herring were made in a single year.
+
+In 1795, when the United States passed an excise law, distilling became
+particularly profitable, and a still was set up on the plantation. In
+this whiskey was made from "Rye chiefly and Indian corn in a certain
+proportion," and this not merely used much of the estate's product of
+those two grains, but quantities were purchased from elsewhere. In 1798
+the profit from the distillery was three hundred and forty-four pounds
+twelve shillings and seven and three-quarter pence, with a stock carried
+over of seven hundred and fifty-five and one-quarter gallons; but this was
+the most successful year. Cider, too, was made in large quantities.
+
+A stud stable was from an early time maintained, and the Virginia papers
+regularly advertised that the stud horse "Samson," "Magnolia," "Leonidas,"
+"Traveller," or whatever the reigning stallion of the moment might be,
+would "cover" mares at Mount Vernon, with pasturage and a guarantee of
+foal, if their owners so elected. During the Revolution Washington bought
+twenty-seven of the army mares that had been "worn-down so as to render it
+beneficial to the public to have them sold," not even objecting to those
+"low in flesh or even crippled," because "I have many large Farms and am
+improving a good deal of Land into Meadow and Pasture, which cannot fail
+of being profited by a number of Brood Mares." In addition to the stud,
+there were, in 1793, fifty-four draught horses on the estate.
+
+A unique feature of this stud was the possession of two jackasses, of
+which the history was curious. At that time there was a law in Spain
+(where the best breed was to be found) which forbade the exportation of
+asses, but the king, hearing of Washington's wish to possess a jack,
+sent him one of the finest obtainable as a present, which was promptly
+christened "Royal Gift." The sea-voyage and the change of climate,
+however, so affected him that for a time he proved of little value
+to his owner, except as a source of amusement, for Washington wrote
+Lafayette, "The Jack I have already received from Spain in appearance is
+fine, but his late Royal master, tho' past his grand climacteric cannot be
+less moved by female allurements than he is; or when prompted, can proceed
+with more deliberation and majestic solemnity to the work of procreation."
+This reluctance to play his part Washington concluded was a sign of
+aristocracy, and he wrote a nephew, "If Royal Gift will administer, he
+shall be at the service of your Mares, but at present he seems too full of
+Royalty, to have anything to do with a plebeian Race," and to Fitzhugh he
+said, "particular attention shall be paid to the mares which your servant
+brought, and when my Jack is in the humor, they shall derive all the
+benefit of his labor, for labor it appears to be. At present tho' young,
+he follows what may be supposed to be the example of his late Royal
+Master, who can not, tho' past his grand climacteric, perform seldomer or
+with more majestic solemnity than he does. However I am not without hope
+that when he becomes a little better acquainted with republican enjoyment,
+he will amend his manners, and fall into a better and more expeditious
+mode of doing business." This fortunately proved to be the case, and his
+master not merely secured such mules as he needed for his own use, but
+gained from him considerable profit by covering mares in the neighborhood.
+He even sent him on a tour through the South, and Royal Gift passed a
+whole winter in Charleston, South Carolina, with a resulting profit of six
+hundred and seventy-eight dollars to his owner. In 1799 there were on the
+estate "2 Covering Jacks & 3 young ones, 10 she asses, 42 working mules
+and 15 younger ones."
+
+Of cattle there were in 1793 a total of three hundred and seventeen head,
+including "a sufficiency of oxen broke to the yoke," and a dairy was
+operated separate from the farms, and some butter was made, but Washington
+had occasion to say, "It is hoped, and will be expected, that more
+effectual measures will be pursued to make butter another year; for it is
+almost beyond belief, that from 101 cows actually reported on a late
+enumeration of the cattle, that I am obliged to _buy butter_ for the use
+of my family."
+
+Sheep were an unusual adjunct of a Virginia plantation, and of his flock
+Washington wrote, "From the beginning of the year 1784 when I returned
+from the army, until shearing time of 1788, I improved the breed of my
+sheep so much by buying and selecting the best formed and most promising
+Rams, and putting them to my best ewes, by keeping them always well culled
+and clean, and by other attentions, that they averaged me ... rather over
+than under five pounds of washed wool each." In another letter he said,
+"I ... was proud in being able to produce perhaps the largest mutton and
+the greatest quantity of wool from my sheep that could be produced. But I
+was not satisfied with this; and contemplated further improvements both in
+the flesh and wool by the introduction of other breeds, which I should by
+this time have carried into effect, had I been permitted to pursue my
+favorite occupation." In 1789, however, "I was again called from home, and
+have not had it in my power since to pay any attention to my farms. The
+consequence of which is, that my sheep at the last shearing, yielded me not
+more than 2-1/2" pounds. In 1793 he had six hundred and thirty-four in his
+flock, from which he obtained fourteen hundred and-fifty-seven pounds of
+fleece. Of hogs he had "many," but "as these run pretty much at large in
+the woodland, the number is uncertain." In 1799 his manager valued his
+entire live-stock at seven thousand pounds.
+
+A separate account was kept of each farm, and of many of these separate
+departments, and whenever there was a surplus of any product an account
+was opened to cover it. Thus in various years there are accounts raised
+dealing with cattle, hay, flour, flax, cord-wood, shoats, fish, whiskey,
+pork, etc., and his secretary, Shaw, told a visitor that the "books were
+as regular as any merchant whatever." It is proper to note, however, that
+sometimes they would not balance, and twice at least Washington could only
+force one, by entering "By cash supposed to be paid away & not credited
+_�_17.6.2," and "By cash lost, stolen or paid away without charging
+_�_143.15.2." All these accounts were tabulated at the end of the year
+and the net results obtained. Those for a single year are here given:
+
+
+BALANCE OF GAIN AND LOSS, 1798.
+
+_Dr. gained._
+
+Dogue Run Farm.      397.11.02
+Union Farm .....     529.10.11-1/2
+River Farm .....     234. 4.11
+Smith's Shop....      34.12.09 1/2
+Distillery .....      83.13.01
+Jacks ..........      56.01
+Traveller (studhorse)  9.17
+Shoemaker.......      28.17.01
+Fishery ........     165.12.0-3/4
+Dairy ..........      30.12.03
+
+_Cr. lost._
+
+Mansion House...     466.18.02-1/2
+Muddy Hole Farm       60.01.03-1/2
+Spinning .......      51.02.0
+Hire of head
+   overseer ....     140.00.0
+
+By Clear gain on
+ the Estate. _�_898.16.4-1/4
+
+
+A pretty poor showing for an estate and negroes which had certainly cost
+him over fifty thousand dollars, and on which there was livestock which at
+the lowest estimation was worth fifteen thousand dollars more. It is not
+strange that in 1793 Washington attempted to find tenants for all but the
+Mansion farm. This he reserved for my "own residence, occupation and
+amusement," as Washington held that "idleness is disreputable," and in
+1798 he told his chief overseer he did not choose to "discontinue my rides
+or become a cipher on my own estate."
+
+When at Mount Vernon, as this indicated, Washington rode daily about his
+estate, and he has left a pleasant description of his life immediately
+after retiring from the Presidency: "I begin my diurnal course with the
+sun;... if my hirelings are not in their places at that time I send them
+messages expressive of my sorrow for their indisposition;... having put
+these wheels in motion, I examine the state of things further; and the
+more they are probed, the deeper I find the wounds are which my buildings
+have sustained by my absence and neglect of eight years; by the time
+I have accomplished these matters, breakfast (a little after seven
+o'clock)... is ready;... this being over, I mount my horse and ride round
+my farms, which employs me until it is time to dress for dinner." A
+visitor at this time is authority for the statement that the master "often
+works with his men himself--strips off his coat and labors like a common
+man. The General has a great turn for mechanics. It's astonishing with
+what niceness he directs everything in the building way, condescending
+even to measure the things himself, that all may be perfectly uniform."
+
+This personal attention Washington was able to give only with very serious
+interruptions. From 1754 till 1759 he was most of the time on the
+frontier; for nearly nine years his Revolutionary service separated him
+absolutely from his property; and during the two terms of his Presidency
+he had only brief and infrequent visits. Just one-half of his forty-six
+years' occupancy of Mount Vernon was given to public service.
+
+The result was that in 1757 he wrote, "I am so little acquainted with the
+business relative to my private affairs that I can scarce give you any
+information concerning it," and this was hardly less true of the whole
+period of his absences. In 1775 he engaged overseers to manage his various
+estates in his absence "upon shares," but during the whole war the
+plantations barely supported themselves, even with depletion of stock and
+fertility, and he was able to draw nothing from them. One overseer, and a
+confederate, he wrote, "I believe, divided the profits of my Estate on the
+York River, tolerably betwn. them, for the devil of any thing do I get."
+Well might he advise knowingly that "I have no doubt myself but that
+middling land under a man's own eyes, is more profitable than rich land at
+a distance." "No Virginia Estate (except a very few under the best of
+management) can stand simple Interest," he declared, and went even further
+when he wrote, "the nature of a Virginia Estate being such, that without
+close application, it never fails bringing the proprietors in Debt
+annually." "To speak within bounds," he said, "ten thousand pounds will
+not compensate the losses I might have avoided by being at home, &
+attending a little to my own concerns" during the Revolution.
+
+Fortunately for the farmer, the Mount Vernon estate was but a small part
+of his property. His father had left him a plantation of two hundred and
+eighty acres on the Rappahannock, "one Moiety of my Land lying on Deep
+Run," three lots in Frederick "with all the houses and Appurtenances
+thereto belonging," and one quarter of the residuary estate. While
+surveying for Lord Fairfax in 1748, as part of his compensation Washington
+patented a tract of five hundred and fifty acres in Frederick County,
+which he always spoke of as "My Bull-skin plantation."
+
+As a military bounty in the French and Indian War the governor of Virginia
+issued a proclamation granting Western lands to the soldiers, and under
+this Washington not merely secured fifteen thousand acres in his own
+right, but by buying the claims of some of his fellow officers doubled
+that quantity. A further tract was also obtained under the kindred
+proclamation of 1763, "5000 Acres of Land in my own right, & by purchase
+from Captn. Roots, Posey, & some other officers, I obtained rights to
+several thousand more." In 1786, after sales, he had over thirty thousand
+acres, which he then offered to sell at thirty thousand guineas, and in
+1799, when still more had been sold, his inventory valued the holdings at
+nearly three hundred thousand dollars.
+
+In addition, Washington was a partner in several great land
+speculations,--the Ohio Company, the Walpole Grant, the Mississippi
+Company, the Military Company of Adventures, and the Dismal Swamp Company;
+but all these ventures except the last collapsed at the beginning of the
+Revolution and proved valueless. His interest in the Dismal Swamp Company
+he held at the time of his death, and it was valued in the inventory at
+twenty thousand dollars.
+
+The properties that came to him from his brother Lawrence and with his
+wife have already been described. It may be worth noting that with the
+widow of Lawrence there was a dispute over the will, but apparently it was
+never carried into the courts, and that owing to the great depreciation of
+paper money during the Revolution the Custis personal property was
+materially lessened, for "I am now receiving a shilling in the pound in
+discharge of Bonds which ought to have been paid me, & would have been
+realized before I left Virginia, but for my indulgences to the debtors,"
+Washington wrote, and in 1778 he said, "by the comparitive worth of money,
+six or seven thousand pounds which I have in Bonds upon Interest is now
+reduced to as many hundreds because I can get no more for a thousand at
+this day than a hundred would have fetched when I left Virginia, Bonds,
+debts, Rents, &c. undergoing no change while the currency is depreciating
+in value and for ought I know may in a little time be totally sunk."
+Indeed, in 1781 he complained "that I have totally neglected all my
+private concerns, which are declining every day, and may, possibly, end in
+capital losses, if not absolute ruin, before I am at liberty to look after
+them."
+
+In 1784 he became partner with George Clinton in some land purchases in
+the State of New York with the expectation of buying the "mineral springs
+at Saratoga; and ... the Oriskany tract, on which Fort Schuyler stands."
+In this they were disappointed, but six thousand acres in the Mohawk
+valley were obtained "amazingly cheap." Washington's share cost him,
+including interest, eighteen hundred and seventy-five pounds, and in 1793
+two-thirds of the land had been sold for three thousand four hundred
+pounds, and in his inventory of 1799 Washington valued what he still held
+of the property at six thousand dollars.
+
+In 1790, having inside information that the capital was to be removed from
+New York to Philadelphia, Washington tried to purchase a farm near that
+city, foreseeing a speedy rise in value. In this apparently he did not
+succeed. Later he purchased lots in the new Federal city, and built houses
+on two of them. He also had town lots in Williamsburg, Alexandria,
+Winchester, and Bath. In addition to all this property there were many
+smaller holdings. Much was sold or traded, yet when he died, besides his
+wife's real estate and the Mount Vernon property, he possessed fifty-one
+thousand three hundred and ninety-five acres, exclusive of town property.
+A contemporary said "that General Washington is, perhaps, the greatest
+landholder in America."
+
+All these lands, except Mount Vernon, were, so far as possible, rented,
+but the net income was not large. Rent agents were employed to look after
+the tenants, but low rents, war, paper money, a shifting population, and
+Washington's dislike of lawsuits all tended to reduce the receipts, and
+the landlord did not get simple interest on his investments. Thus, in 1799
+he complains of slow payments from tenants in Washington and Lafayette
+Counties (Pennsylvania). Instead of an expected six thousand dollars, due
+June 1, but seventeen hundred dollars were received.
+
+Income, however, had not been his object in loading himself with such a
+vast property, as Washington believed that he was certain to become
+rich. "For proof of" the rise of land, he wrote in 1767, "only look to
+Frederick, [county] and see what fortunes were made by the ... first
+taking up of those lands. Nay, how the greatest estates we have in this
+colony were made. Was it not by taking up and purchasing at very low rates
+the rich back lands, which were thought nothing of in those days, but are
+now the most valuable land we possess?"
+
+In this he was correct, but in the mean time he was more or less
+land-poor. To a friend in 1763 he wrote that the stocking and repairing of
+his plantations "and other matters ... swallowed up before I well knew
+where I was, all the moneys I got by marriage, nay more, brought me in
+debt" In 1775, replying to a request for a loan, he declared that "so far
+am I from having �200 to lend ... I would gladly borrow that sum myself
+for a few months." When offered land adjoining Mount Vernon for three
+thousand pounds in 1778, he could only reply that it was "a sum I have
+little chance, if I had inclination, to pay; & therefore would not engage
+it, as I am resolved not to incumber myself with Debt." In 1782, to secure
+a much desired tract he was forced to borrow two thousand pounds York
+currency at the rate of seven per cent.
+
+In 1788, "the total loss of my crop last year by the drought" "with
+necessary demands for cash" "have caused me much perplexity and given me
+more uneasiness than I ever experienced before from want of money," and a
+year later, just before setting out to be inaugurated, he tried to borrow
+five hundred pounds "to discharge what I owe" and to pay the expenses of
+the journey to New York, but was "unable to obtain more than half of it,
+(though it was not much I required), and this at an advanced interest with
+other rigid conditions," though at this time "could I get in one fourth
+part of what is due me on Bonds" "without the intervention of suits" there
+would have been ample funds. In 1795 the President said, "my friends
+entertain a very erroneous idea of my particular resources, when they set
+me down for a money lender, or one who (now) has a command of it. You may
+believe me when I assert that the bonds which were due to me before the
+Revolution, were discharged during the progress of it--with a few
+exceptions in depreciated paper (in some instances as low as a shilling in
+the pound). That such has been the management of the Estate, for many
+years past, especially since my absence from home, now six years, as
+scarcely to support itself. That my public allowance (whatever the world
+may think of it) is inadequate to the expence of living in this City; to
+such an extravagant height has the necessaries as well as the conveniences
+of life arisen. And, moreover that to keep myself out of debt; I have
+found it expedient now and then to sell Lands, or something else to effect
+this purpose."
+
+
+[Illustration: LOTTERY TICKET SIGNED BY WASHINGTON]
+
+
+As these extensive land ventures bespoke a national characteristic, so a
+liking for other forms of speculation was innate in the great American.
+During the Revolution he tried to secure an interest in a privateer. One
+of his favorite flyers was chances in lotteries and raffles, which, if now
+found only in association with church fairs, were then not merely
+respectable, but even fashionable. In 1760 five pounds and ten shillings
+were invested in one lottery. Five pounds purchased five tickets in
+Strother's lottery in 1763. Three years later six pounds were risked in
+the York lottery and produced prizes to the extent of sixteen pounds.
+Fifty pounds were put into Colonel Byrd's lottery in 1769, and drew a
+half-acre lot in the town of Manchester, but out of this Washington was
+defrauded. In 1791 John Potts was paid four pounds and four shillings "in
+part for 20 Lottery tickets in the Alexa. street Lottery at 6/ each, 14
+Dollrs. the Bal. was discharged by 2.3 Lotr prizes." Twenty tickets of
+Peregrine and Fitzhugh's lottery cost one hundred and eighty-eight dollars
+in 1794. And these are but samples of innumerable instances. So, too, in
+raffles, the entries are constant,--"for glasses 20/," "for a Necklace
+�1.," "by profit & loss in two chances in raffling for Encyclopadia
+Britannica, which I did not win �1.4," two tickets were taken in the
+raffle of Mrs. Dawson's coach, as were chances for a pair of silver
+buckles, for a watch, and for a gun; such and many others were smaller
+ventures Washington took.
+
+There were other sources of income or loss besides. Before the Revolution
+he had a good sized holding of Bank of England stock, and an annuity in
+the funds, besides considerable property on bond, the larger part of
+which, as already noted, was liquidated in depreciated paper money. This
+paper money was for the most part put into United States securities, and
+eventually the "at least �10,000 Virginia money" proved to be worth six
+thousand two hundred and forty-six dollars in government six per cents and
+three per cents. A great believer in the Potomac Canal Company, Washington
+invested twenty-four hundred pounds sterling in the stock, which produced
+no income, and in time showed a heavy shrinkage. Another and smaller loss
+was an investment in the James River Canal Company. Stock holdings in the
+Bank of Columbia and in the Bank of Alexandria proved profitable
+investments.
+
+None the less Washington was a successful businessman. Though his property
+rarely produced a net income, and though he served the public with
+practically no profit (except as regards bounty lands), and thus was
+compelled frequently to dip into his capital to pay current expenses, yet,
+from being a surveyor only too glad to earn a doubloon (seven dollars and
+forty cents) a day, he grew steadily in wealth, and when he died his
+property, exclusive of his wife's and the Mount Vernon estate, was valued
+at five hundred and thirty thousand dollars. This made him one of the
+wealthiest Americans of his time, and it is to be questioned if a fortune
+was ever more honestly acquired or more thoroughly deserved.
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+MASTER AND EMPLOYER
+
+
+In his "rules of civility" Washington enjoined that "those of high Degree
+ought to treat" "Artificers & Persons of low Degree" "with affibility &
+Courtesie, without Arrogancy," and it was a needed lesson to every young
+Virginian, for, as Jefferson wrote, "the whole commerce between master and
+slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most
+insulting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the
+other."
+
+Augustine Washington's will left to his son George "Ten negro Slaves,"
+with an additional share of those "not herein particularly Devised," but
+all to remain in the possession of Mary Washington until the boy was
+twenty-one years of age. With his taking possession of the Mount Vernon
+estate in his twenty-second year eighteen more came under Washington's
+direction. In 1754 he bought a "fellow" for �40.5, another (Jack) for
+�52.5, and a negro woman (Clio) for �50. In 1756 he purchased of the
+governor a negro woman and child for �60, and two years later a fellow
+(Gregory) for �60.9. In the following year (the year of his marriage) he
+bought largely: a negro (Will) for �50; another for �60; nine for �406, an
+average of �45; and a woman (Hannah) and child, �80. In 1762 he added to
+the number by purchasing seven of Lee Massey for �300 (an average of �43),
+and two of Colonel Fielding Lewis at �115, or �57.10 apiece. From the
+estate of Francis Hobbs he bought, in 1764, Ben, �72; Lewis, �36.10; and
+Sarah, �20. Another fellow, bought of Sarah Alexander, cost him �76; and a
+negro (Judy) and child, sold by Garvin Corbin, �63. In 1768 Mary Lee sold
+him two mulattoes (Will and Frank) for �61.15 and �50, respectively; and
+two boys (negroes), Adam and Frank, for �19 apiece. Five more were
+purchased in 1772, and after that no more were bought. In 1760 Washington
+paid tithes on forty-nine slaves, five years later on seventy-eight, in
+1770 on eighty-seven, and in 1774 on one hundred and thirty-five; besides
+which must be included the "dower slaves" of his wife. Soon after this
+there was an overplus, and Washington in 1778 offered to barter for some
+land "Negroes, of whom I every day long more to get clear of," and even
+before this he had learned the economic fact that except on the richest of
+soils slaves "only add to the Expence."
+
+In 1791 he had one hundred and fifteen "hands" on the Mount Vernon estate,
+besides house servants, and De Warville, describing his estate in the same
+year, speaks of his having three hundred negroes. At this time Washington
+declared that "I never mean (unless some particular circumstance compel me
+to it) to possess another slave by purchase," but this intention was
+broken, for "The running off of my cook has been a most inconvenient thing
+to this family, and what rendered it more disagreeable, is that I had
+resolved never to become the Master of another slave by purchase, but this
+resolution I fear I must break. I have endeavored to hire, black or white,
+but am not yet supplied."
+
+A few more slaves were taken in payment of a debt, but it was from
+necessity rather than choice, for at this very time Washington had decided
+that "it is demonstratively clear, that on this Estate (Mount Vernon) I
+have more working negros by a full moiety, than can be employed to any
+advantage in the farming system, and I shall never turn Planter thereon.
+To sell the overplus I cannot, because I am principled against this kind
+of traffic in the human species. To hire them out, is almost as bad,
+because they could not be disposed of in families to any advantage, and to
+disperse the families I have an aversion. What then is to be done?
+Something must or I shall be ruined; for all the money (in addition to
+what I raise by crops, and rents) that have been _received_ for Lands,
+sold within the last four years, to the amount of Fifty thousand dollars,
+has scarcely been able to keep me afloat." And writing of one set he said,
+"it would be for my interest to set them free, rather than give them
+victuals and cloaths."
+
+The loss by runaways was not apparently large. In October, 1760, his
+ledger contains an item of seven shillings "To the Printing Office ... for
+Advertising a run-a-way Negro." In 1761 he pays his clergyman, Rev. Mr.
+Green, "for taking up one of my Runaway Negroes �4." In 1766 rewards are
+paid for the "taking up" of "Negro Tom" and "Negro Bett." The "taking up
+of Harry when Runaway" in 1771 cost �1.16. When the British invaded
+Virginia in 1781, a number escaped or were carried away by the enemy. By
+the treaty of peace these should have been returned, and their owner
+wrote, "Some of my own slaves, and those of Mr. Lund Washington who lives
+at my house may probably be in New York, but I am unable to give you their
+description--their names being so easily changed, will be fruitless to
+give you. If by chance you should come at the knowledge of any of them, I
+will be much obliged by your securing them, so that I may obtain them
+again."
+
+In 1796 a girl absconded to New England, and Washington made inquiries of
+a friend as to the possibility of recovering her, adding, "however well
+disposed I might be to a gradual abolition, or even to an entire
+emancipation of that description of people (if the latter was in itself
+practicable) at this moment, it would neither be politic nor just to
+reward unfaithfulness with a premature preference, and thereby discontent
+beforehand the minds of all her fellow servants, who, by their steady
+attachment, are far more deserving than herself of favor," and at this
+time Washington wrote to a relative, "I am sorry to hear of the loss of
+your servant; but it is my opinion these elopements will be much more,
+before they are less frequent; and that the persons making them should
+never be retained--if they are recovered, as they are sure to contaminate
+and discontent others."
+
+Another source of loss was sickness, which, in spite of all Washington
+could do, made constant inroads on the numbers. A doctor to care for them
+was engaged by the year, and in the contracts with his overseers clauses
+were always inserted that each was "to take all necessary and proper care
+of the Negroes committed to his management using them with proper humanity
+and descretion," or that "he will take all necessary and proper care of
+the negroes committed to his management, treating them with humanity and
+tenderness when sick, and preventing them when well, from running about
+and visiting without his consent; as also forbid strange negroes
+frequenting their quarters without lawful excuses for so doing."
+
+Furthermore, in writing to his manager, while absent from Mount Vernon,
+Washington reiterated that "although it is last mentioned it is foremost
+in my thoughts, to desire you will be particularly attentive to my negros
+in their sickness; and to order every overseer _positively_ to be so
+likewise; for I am sorry to observe that the generality of them view these
+poor creatures in scarcely any other light than they do a draught horse or
+ox; neglecting them as much when they are unable to work; instead of
+comforting and nursing them when they lye on a sick bed." And in another
+letter he added, "When I recommended care of, and attention to my negros
+in sickness, it was that the first stage of, and the whole progress
+through the disorders with which they might be seized (if more than a
+slight indisposition) should be closely watched, and timely applications
+and remedies be administered; especially in the pleurisies, and all
+inflammatory disorders accompanied with pain, when a few days' neglect, or
+want of bleeding might render the ailment incurable. In such cases
+sweeten'd teas, broths and (according to the nature of the complaint, and
+the doctor's prescription) sometimes a little wine, may be necessary to
+nourish and restore the patient; and these I am perfectly willing to
+allow, when it is requisite. My fear is, as I expressed to you in a former
+letter, that the under overseers are so unfeeling, in short viewing the
+negros in no other light than as a better kind of cattle, the moment they
+cease to work, they cease their care of them."
+
+At Mount Vernon his care for the slaves was more personal. At a time when
+the small-pox was rife in Virginia he instructed his overseer "what to do
+if the Small pox should come amongst them," and when he "received letters
+from Winchester, informing me that the Small pox had got among my quarters
+in Frederick; [I] determin'd ... to leave town as soon as possible, and
+proceed up to them.... After taking the Doctors directions in regard to my
+people ... I set out for my quarters about 12 oclock, time enough to go
+over them and found every thing in the utmost confusion, disorder and
+backwardness.... Got Blankets and every other requisite from Winchester,
+and settl'd things on the best footing I cou'd, ... Val Crawford agreeing
+if any of those at the upper quarter got it, to have them remov'd into my
+room and the Nurse sent for."
+
+Other sickness was equally attended to, as the following entries in his
+diary show: "visited my Plantations and found two negroes sick ... ordered
+them to be blooded;" "found that lightening had struck my quarters and
+near 10 Negroes in it, some very bad but with letting blood they
+recover'd;" "ordered Lucy down to the House to be Physikd," and "found the
+new negro Cupid, ill of a pleurisy at Dogue Run Quarter and had him brot
+home in a cart for better care of him.... Cupid extremely Ill all this day
+and at night when I went to bed I thought him within a few hours of
+breathing his last."
+
+This matter of sickness, however, had another phase, which caused
+Washington much irritation at times when he could not personally look into
+the cases, but heard of them through the reports of his overseers. Thus,
+he complained on one occasion, "I find by reports that Sam is, in a
+manner, always returned sick; Doll at the Ferry, and several of the
+spinners very frequently so, for a week at a stretch; and ditcher Charles
+often laid up with lameness. I never wish my people to work when they are
+really sick, or unfit for it; on the contrary, that all necessary care
+should be taken of them when they are so; but if you do not examine into
+their complaints, they will lay by when no more ails them, than all those
+who stick to their business, and are not complaining from the fatigue and
+drowsiness which they feel as the effect of night walking and other
+practices which unfit them for the duties of the day." And again he asked,
+"Is there anything particular in the cases of Ruth, Hannah and Pegg, that
+they have been returned sick for several weeks together? Ruth I know is
+extremely deceitful; she has been aiming for some time past to get into
+the house, exempt from work; but if they are not made to do what their age
+and strength will enable them, it will be a bad example for others--none
+of whom would work if by pretexts they can avoid it"
+
+Other causes than running away and death depleted the stock. One negro was
+taken by the State for some crime and executed, an allowance of sixty-nine
+pounds being made to his master. In 1766 an unruly negro was shipped to
+the West Indies (as was then the custom), Washington writing the captain
+of the vessel,--
+
+
+"With this letter comes a negro (Tom) which I beg the favor of you to sell
+in any of the islands you may go to, for whatever he will fetch, and bring
+me in return for him
+   "One hhd of best molasses
+   "One ditto of best rum
+   "One barrel of lymes, if good and cheap
+   "One pot of tamarinds, containing about 10 lbs.
+   "Two small ditto of mixed sweetmeats, about 5 lbs. each.
+And the residue, much or little, in good old spirits. That this fellow is
+both a rogue and a runaway (tho' he was by no means remarkable for the
+former, and never practised the latter till of late) I shall not pretend
+to deny. But that he is exceeding healthy, strong, and good at the hoe,
+the whole neighborhood can testify, and particularly Mr. Johnson and his
+son, who have both had him under them as foreman of the gang; which gives
+me reason to hope he may with your good management sell well, if kept
+clean and trim'd up a little when offered for sale."
+
+
+Another "misbehaving fellow" was shipped off in 1791, and was sold for
+"one pipe and Quarter Cask of wine from the West Indies." Sometimes only
+the threat of such riddance was used, as when an overseer complained of
+one slave, and his master replied, "I am very sorry that so likely a
+fellow as Matilda's Ben should addict himself to such courses as he is
+pursuing. If he should be guilty of any atrocious crime, that would effect
+his life, he might be given up to the civil authority for trial; but for
+such offences as most of his color are guilty of, you had better try
+further correction, accompanied with admonition and advice. The two latter
+sometimes succeed where the first has failed. He, his father and mother
+(who I dare say are his receivers) may be told in explicit language, that
+if a stop is not put to his rogueries and other villainies, by fair means
+and shortly, that I will ship him off (as I did Wagoner Jack) for the West
+Indies, where he will have no opportunity of playing such pranks as he is
+at present engaged in."
+
+It is interesting to note, in connection with this conclusion, that
+"admonition and advice" were able to do what "correction" sometimes failed
+to achieve, that there is not a single order to whip, and that the above
+case, and that which follows, are the only known cases where punishment
+was approved. "The correction you gave Ben, for his assault on Sambo, was
+just and proper. It is my earnest desire that quarrels may be stopped or
+punishment of both parties follow, unless it shall appear _clearly_,
+that one only is to blame, and the other forced into [a quarrel] from
+self-defence." In one other instance Washington wrote, "If Isaac had his
+deserts he would receive a severe punishment for the house, tools and
+seasoned stuff, which has been burned by his carelessness." But instead of
+ordering the "deserts" he continued, "I wish you to inform him, that I
+sustain injury enough by their idleness; they need not add to it by their
+carelessness."
+
+This is the more remarkable, because his slaves gave him constant
+annoyance by their wastefulness and sloth and dishonesty. Thus, "Paris has
+grown to be so lazy and self-willed" that his master does not know what to
+with him; "Doll at the Ferry must be taught to knit, and _made_ to do a
+sufficient day's work of it--otherwise (if suffered to be idle) many more
+will walk in her steps"; "it is observed by the weekly reports, that the
+sewers make only six shirts a week, and the last week Carolina (without
+being sick) made only five. Mrs. Washington says their usual task was to
+make nine with shoulder straps and good sewing. Tell them therefore from
+me, that what _has_ been done, _shall_ be done"; "none I think call louder
+for [attention] than the smiths, who, from a variety of instances which
+fell within my own observation whilst I was at home, I take to be two very
+idle fellows. A daily account (which ought to be regularly) taken of their
+work, would alone go a great way towards checking their idleness." And the
+overseer was told to watch closely "the people who are at work with the
+gardener, some of whom I know to be as lazy and deceitful as any in the
+world (Sam particularly)."
+
+Furthermore, the overseers were warned to "endeavor to make the Servants
+and Negroes take care of their cloathes;" to give them "a weekly
+allowance of Meat ... because the annual one is not taken care of but
+either profusely used or stolen"; and to note "the delivery to and the
+application of nails by the carpenters,... [for] I cannot conceive how it
+is possible that 6000 twelve penny nails could be used in the corn house
+at River Plantation; but of one thing I have no great doubt, and that is,
+if they can be applied to other uses, or converted into cash, rum or other
+things there will be no scruple in doing it."
+
+When robbed of some potatoes, Washington complained that "the
+deception ... is of a piece with other practices of a similar kind by which
+I have suffered hitherto; and may serve to evince to you, in strong colors,
+first how little confidence can be placed in any one round you; and
+secondly the necessity of an accurate inspection into these things
+yourself,--for to be plain, Alexandria is such a recepticle for every thing
+that can be filched from the right owners, by either blacks or whites; and
+I have such an opinion of my negros (two or three only excepted), and not
+much better of some of the whites, that I am perfectly sure not a single
+thing that can be disposed of at any price, at that place, that will not,
+and is not stolen, where it is possible; and carried thither to some of the
+underlying keepers, who support themselves by this kind of traffick." He
+dared not leave wine unlocked, even for the use of his guests, "because
+the knowledge I have of my servants is such, as to believe, that if
+opportunities are given them, they will take off two glasses of wine for
+every one that is drank by such visitors, and tell you they were used by
+them." And when he had some work to do requiring very ordinary qualities,
+he had to confess that "I know not a negro among all mine, whose capacity,
+integrity and attention could be relied on for such a trust as this."
+
+Whatever his opinion of his slaves, Washington was a kind master. In one
+case he wrote a letter for one of them when the "fellow" was parted from
+his wife in the service of his master, and at another time he enclosed
+letters to a wife and to James's "del Toboso," for two of his servants, to
+save them postage. In reference to their rations he wrote, "whether this
+addition ... is sufficient, I will not undertake to decide;--but in most
+explicit language I desire they may have plenty; for I will not have my
+feelings hurt with complaints of this sort, nor lye under the imputation
+of starving my negros, and thereby driving them to the necessity of
+thieving to supply the deficiency. To prevent waste or embezzlement is the
+only inducement to allowancing of them at all--for if, instead of a peck
+they could eat a bushel of meal a week fairly, and required it, I would
+not withhold or begrudge it them." At Christmas-time there are entries in
+his ledger for whiskey or rum for "the negroes," and towards the end of
+his life he ordered the overseer, "although others are getting out of the
+practice of using spirits at Harvest, yet, as my people have always been
+accustomed to it, a hogshead of Rum must be purchased; but I request at
+the same time, that it may be used sparingly."
+
+A greater kindness of his was, in 1787, when he very much desired a negro
+mason offered for sale, yet directed his agent that "if he has a family,
+with which he is to be sold; or from whom he would reluctantly part, I
+decline the purchase; his feelings I would not be the means of hurting in
+the latter case, nor _at any rate_ be incumbered with the former."
+
+The kindness thus indicated bore fruit in a real attachment of the slaves
+for their master. In Humphreys's poem on Washington the poet alluded to
+the negroes at Mount Vernon in the lines,--
+
+
+"Where that foul stain of manhood, slavery, flow'd
+Through Afric's sons transmitted in the blood;
+Hereditary slaves his kindness shar'd,
+For manumission by degrees prepar'd:
+Return'd from war, I saw them round him press,
+And all their speechless glee by artless signs express."
+
+
+And in a foot-note the writer added, "The interesting scene of his return
+home, at which the author was present, is described exactly as it
+existed."
+
+A single one of these slaves deserves further notice. His body-servant
+"Billy" was purchased by Washington in 1768 for sixty-eight pounds and
+fifteen shillings, and was his constant companion during the war, even
+riding after his master at reviews; and this servant was so associated
+with the General that it was alleged in the preface to the "forged
+letters" that they had been captured by the British from "Billy," "an old
+servant of General Washington's." When Savage painted his well-known
+"family group," this was the one slave included in the picture. In 1784
+Washington told his Philadelphia agent that "The mulatto fellow, William,
+who has been with me all the war, is attached (married he says) to one of
+his own color, a free woman, who during the war, was also of my family.
+She has been in an infirm condition for some time, and I had conceived
+that the connexion between them had ceased; but I am mistaken it seems;
+they are both applying to get her here, and tho' I never wished to see her
+more, I cannot refuse his request (if it can be complied with on
+reasonable terms) as he has served me faithfully for many years. After
+premising this much, I have to beg the favor of you to procure her a
+passage to Alexandria."
+
+
+[Illustration: SAVAGE'S PICTURE OF THE WASHINGTON FAMILY]
+
+
+When acting as chain-bearer in 1785, while Washington was surveying a
+tract of land, William fell and broke his knee-pan, "which put a stop to
+my surveying; and with much difficulty I was able to get him to Abington,
+being obliged to get a sled to carry him on, as he could neither walk,
+stand or ride." From this injury Lee never quite recovered, yet he started
+to accompany his master to New York in 1789, only to give out on the road.
+He was left at Philadelphia, and Lear wrote to Washington's agent that
+"The President will thank you to propose it to Will to return to Mount
+Vernon when he can be removed for he cannot be of any service here, and
+perhaps will require a person to attend upon him constantly. If he should
+incline to return to Mount Vernon, you will be so kind as to have him sent
+in the first Vessel that sails for Alexandria after he can be moved with
+safety--but if he is still anxious to come on here the President would
+gratify him, altho' he will be troublesome--He has been an old and
+faithful Servant, this is enough for the President to gratify him in every
+reasonable wish."
+
+By his will Washington gave Lee his "immediate freedom or if he should
+prefer it (on account of the accidents which have befallen him and which
+have rendered him incapable of walking or of any active employment) to
+remain in the situation he now is, it shall be optional in him to do so--
+In either case however I allow him an annuity of thirty dollars during his
+natural life which shall be independent of the victuals and _cloaths_ he
+has been accustomed to receive; if he _chuses_ the last alternative, but
+in full with his freedom, if he prefers the first, and this I give him as
+a testimony of my sense of his attachment to me and for his faithful
+services during the Revolutionary War."
+
+Two small incidents connected with Washington's last illness are worth
+noting. The afternoon before the night he was taken ill, although he had
+himself been superintending his affairs on horseback in the storm most of
+the day, yet when his secretary "carried some letters to him to frank,
+intending to send them to the Post Office in the evening," Lear tells us
+"he franked the letters; but said the weather was too bad to send a
+servant up to the office that evening." Lear continues, "The General's
+servant, Christopher, attended his bed side & in the room, when he was
+sitting up, through his whole illness.... In the [last] afternoon the
+General observing that Christopher had been standing by his bed side for a
+long time--made a motion for him to sit in a chair which stood by the bed
+side."
+
+A clause in Washington's will directed that
+
+
+"Upon the decease of my wife it is my will and desire that all the
+slaves which I hold in _my own right_ shall receive their freedom--To
+emancipate them during her life, would, tho' earnestly wished by me, be
+attended with such insuperable difficulties, on account of their
+intermixture of marriages with the Dower negroes as to excite the most
+painful sensations--if not disagreeable consequences from the latter,
+while both descriptions 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--And whereas among those who will receive freedom
+according to this devise there may be some who from old age, or bodily
+infirmities & others who on account of their infancy, that will be unable
+to support themselves, it is my will and desire that all who come under
+the first and second description shall be comfortably cloathed and fed by
+my heirs while they live and that such of the latter description as have
+no parents living, or if living are unable or unwilling to provide for
+them, shall be bound by the Court until they shall arrive at the age of
+twenty five years.... The negroes thus bound are (by their masters and
+mistresses) to be taught to read and write and to be brought up to some
+useful occupation."
+
+
+In this connection Washington's sentiments on slavery as an institution
+may be glanced at. As early as 1784 he replied to Lafayette, when told of
+a colonizing plan, "The scheme, my dear Marqs., which you propose as a
+precedent to encourage the emancipation of the black people of this
+Country from that state of Bondage in wch. they are held, is a striking
+evidence of the benevolence of your Heart. I shall be happy to join you in
+so laudable a work; but will defer going into a detail of the business,
+till I have the pleasure of seeing you." A year later, when Francis Asbury
+was spending a day in Mount Vernon, the clergyman asked his host if he
+thought it wise to sign a petition for the emancipation of slaves.
+Washington replied that it would not be proper for him, but added, "If the
+Maryland Assembly discusses the matter; I will address a letter to that
+body on the subject, as I have always approved of it."
+
+When South Carolina refused to pass an act to end the slave-trade, he
+wrote to a friend in that State, "I must say that I lament the decision of
+your legislature upon the question of importing slaves after March 1793. I
+was in hopes that motives of policy as well as other good reasons,
+supported by the direful effects of slavery, which at this moment are
+presented, would have operated to produce a total prohibition of the
+importation of slaves, whenever the question came to be agitated in any
+State, that might be interested in the measure." For his own State he
+expressed the "wish from my soul that the Legislature of this State could
+see the policy of a gradual Abolition of Slavery; it would prev't much
+future mischief." And to a Pennsylvanian he expressed the sentiment, "I
+hope it will not be conceived from these observations, that it is my wish
+to hold the unhappy people, who are the subject of this letter, in
+slavery. I can only say, that 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 legislative authority; and this, as far
+as my suffrage will go, shall never be wanting."
+
+Washington by no means restricted himself to slave servitors. Early in
+life he took into his service John Alton at thirteen pounds per annum, and
+this white man served as his body-servant in the Braddock campaign, and
+Washington found in the march that "A most serious inconvenience attended
+me in my sickness, and that was the losing the use of my servant, for poor
+John Alton was taken about the same time that I was, and with nearly the
+same disorder, and was confined as long; so that we did not see each other
+for several days." As elsewhere noticed, Washington succeeded to the
+services of Braddock's body-servant, Thomas Bishop, on the death of the
+general, paying the man ten pounds a year.
+
+These two were his servants in his trip to Boston in 1756, and in
+preparation for that journey Washington ordered his English agent to send
+him "2 complete livery suits for servants; with a spare cloak and all
+other necessary trimmings for two suits more. I would have you choose the
+livery by our arms, only as the field of the arms is white, I think the
+clothes had better not be quite so, but nearly like the inclosed. The
+trimmings and facings of scarlet, and a scarlet waist coat. If livery lace
+is not quite disused, I should be glad to have the cloaks laced. I like
+that fashion best, and two silver laced hats for the above servants."
+
+For some reason Bishop left his employment, but in 1760 Washington "wrote
+to my old servant Bishop to return to me again if he was not otherwise
+engaged," and, the man being "very desirous of returning," the old
+relation was reassumed. Alton in the mean time had been promoted to be
+overseer of one of the plantations. In 1785 their master noted in his
+diary, "Last night Jno Alton an Overseer of mine in the Neck--an old &
+faithful Servant who has lived with me 30 odd years died--and this evening
+the wife of Thos. Bishop, another old Servant who had lived with me an
+equal number of years also died." Both were remembered in his will by a
+clause giving "To Sarah Green daughter of the deceased Thomas Bishop, and
+to Ann Walker, daughter of John Alton, also deceased I give each one
+hundred dollars, in consideration of the attachment of their father[s] to
+me, each of whom having lived nearly forty years in my family."
+
+Of Washington's general treatment of the serving class a few facts can be
+gleaned. He told one of his overseers, in reference to the sub-overseers,
+that "to treat them civilly is no more than what all men are entitled to,
+but my advice to you is, to keep them at a proper distance; for they will
+grow upon familiarity, in proportion as you will sink in authority if you
+do not." To a housekeeper he promised "a warm, decent and comfortable room
+to herself, to lodge in, and will eat of the victuals of our Table, but
+not set at it, or at any time _with us_ be her appearance what it may; for
+if this was _once admitted_ no line satisfactory to either party, perhaps
+could be drawn thereafter."
+
+In visiting he feed liberally, good examples of which are given in the
+cash account of the visit to Boston in 1756, when he "Gave to Servants on
+ye Road 10/." "By Cash Mr. Malbones servants �4.0.0." "The Chambermaid
+�1.2.6." When the wife of his old steward, Fraunces, came to need, he gave
+her "for Charity �1.17.6." The majority will sympathize rather than
+disapprove of his opinion when he wrote, "Workmen in most Countries I
+believe are necessary plagues;---in this where entreaties as well as money
+must be used to obtain their work and keep them to their duty they baffle
+all calculation in the accomplishment of any plan or repairs they are
+engaged in;--and require more attention to and looking after than can be
+well conceived."
+
+The overseers of his many plantations, and his "master" carpenters,
+millers, and gardeners, were quite as great trials as his slaves. First
+"young Stephens" gave him much trouble, which his diary reports in
+a number of sententious entries: "visited my Plantation. Severely
+reprimanded young Stephens for his Indolence, and his father for suffering
+it;" "forbid Stephens keeping any horses upon my expence;" "visited my
+quarters & ye Mill, according to custom found young Stephens absent;"
+"visited my Plantation and found to my great surprise Stephens constantly
+at work;" "rid out to my Plantn. and to my Carpenters. Found Richard
+Stephens hard at work with an ax--Very extraordinary this!"
+
+Again he records, "Visited my Plantations--found Foster had been absent
+from his charge since the 28th ulto. Left orders for him to come
+immediately to me upon his return, and repremanded him severely." Of
+another, Simpson, "I never hear ... without a degree of warmth & vexation
+at his extreme stupidity," and elsewhere he expresses his disgust at "that
+confounded fellow Simpson." A third spent all the fall and half the winter
+in getting in his crop, and "if there was any way of making such a rascal
+as Garner pay for such conduct, no punishment would be too great for him.
+I suppose he never turned out of mornings until the sun had warmed the
+earth, and if _he_ did not, the _negros_ would not." His chief overseer
+was directed to "Let Mr. Crow know that I view with a very evil eye the
+frequent reports made by him of sheep dying;... frequent _natural deaths_
+is a very strong evidence to my mind of the want of care or something
+worse."
+
+Curious distinctions were made oftentimes. Thus, in the contract with an
+overseer, one clause was inserted to the effect, "And whereas there are a
+number of whiskey stills very contiguous to the said Plantations, and many
+idle, drunken and dissolute People continually resorting to the same,
+priding themselves in debauching sober and well-inclined Persons, the said
+Edd Voilett doth promise as well for his own sake as his employers to
+avoid them as he ought." To the contrary, in hiring a gardener, it was
+agreed as part of the compensation that the man should have "four dollars
+at Christmas, with which he may be drunk for four days and four nights;
+two dollars at Easter to effect the same purpose; two dollars at
+Whitsuntide to be drunk for two days; a dram in the morning, and a drink
+of grog at dinner at noon."
+
+With more true kindness Washington wrote to one of his underlings, "I was
+very glad to receive your letter of the 31st ultimo, because I was afraid,
+from the accounts given me of your spitting blood,... that you would
+hardly have been able to have written at all. And it is my request that
+you will not, by attempting more than you are able to undergo, with safety
+and convenience, injure yourself, and thereby render me a disservice....
+I had rather therefore hear that you had nursed than exposed yourself. And
+the things which I sent from this place (I mean the wine, tea, coffee and
+sugar) and such other matters as you may lay in by the doctor's direction
+for the use of the sick, I desire you will make use of as your own
+personal occasions may require."
+
+Of one Butler he had employed to overlook his gardeners, but who proved
+hopelessly unfit, Washington said, "sure I am, there is no obligation upon
+me to retain him from charitable motives; when he ought rather to be
+punished as an imposter: for he well knew the services he had to perform,
+and which he promised to fulfil with zeal, activity, and intelligence."
+Yet when the man was discharged his employer gave him a "character:" "If
+his activity, spirit, and ability in the management of Negroes, were equal
+to his honesty, sobriety and industry, there would not be the least
+occasion for a change," and Butler was paid his full wages, no deduction
+being made for lost time, "as I can better afford to be without the money
+than he can."
+
+Another thoroughly incompetent man was one employed to take charge of the
+negro carpenters, of whom his employer wrote, "I am apprehensive ... that
+Green never will overcome his propensity to drink; that it is this which
+occasions his frequent sickness, absences from work and poverty. And I am
+convinced, moreover, that it answers no purpose to admonish him." Yet,
+though "I am so well satisfied of Thomas Green's unfitness to look after
+Carpenters," for a time "the helpless situation in which you find his
+family, has prevailed on me to retain him," and when he finally had to be
+discharged for drinking, Washington said, "Nothing but compassion for his
+helpless family, has hitherto induced me to keep him a moment in my
+service (so bad is the example he sets); but if he has no regard for them
+himself, it is not to be expected that I am to be a continual sufferer on
+this account for his misconduct." His successor needed the house the
+family lived in, but Washington could not "bear the thought of adding to
+the distress I know they must be in, by turning them adrift;... It would
+be better therefore on all accounts if they were removed to some other
+place, even if I was to pay the rent, provided it was low, or make some
+allowance towards it."
+
+To many others, besides family, friends, and employees, Washington was
+charitable. From an early date his ledger contains frequent items covering
+gifts to the needy. To mention a tenth of them would take too much space,
+but a few typical entries are worth quoting:
+
+
+"By Cash gave a Soldiers wife 5/;" "To a crippled man 5/;" "Gave a man who
+had his House Burnt �1.;" "By a begging woman /5;" "By Cash gave for the
+Sufferers at Boston by fire �12;" "By a wounded soldier 10/;" "Alexandria
+Academy, support of a teacher of Orphan children �50;" "By Charity to an
+invalid wounded Soldier who came from Redston with a petition for Charity
+18/;" "Gave a poor man by the President's order $2;" "Delivd to the
+President to send to two distress'd french women at Newcastle $25;" "Gave
+Pothe a poor old man by the President's order $2;" "Gave a poor sailor by
+the Presdt order $1;" "Gave a poor blind man by the Presdt order $1.50;"
+"By Madame de Seguer a french Lady in distress gave her $50;" "By
+Subscription paid to Mr. Jas. Blythe towards erecting and Supporting an
+Academy in the State of Kentucky $100;" "By Subscription towards an
+Academy in the South Western Territory $100;" "By Charity sent Genl
+Charles Pinckney in Columbus Bank Notes, for the sufferers by the fire in
+Charleston So. Carolina $300;" "By Charity gave to the sufferers by fire
+in Geo. Town $10;" "By an annual Donation to the Academy at Alexandria pd.
+Dr. Cook $166.67;" "By Charity to the poor of Alexandria deld. to the
+revd. Dr. Muir $100."
+
+
+To an overseer he said, concerning a distant relative, "Mrs. Haney should
+endeavor to do what she can for herself--this is a duty incumbent on every
+one; but you must not let her suffer, as she has thrown herself upon me;
+your advances on this account will be allowed always, at settlement; and I
+agree readily to furnish her with provisions, and for the good character
+you give of her daughter make the latter a present in my name of a
+handsome but not costly gown, and other things which she may stand most in
+need of. You may charge me also with the worth of your tenement in which
+she is placed, and where perhaps it is better she should be than at a
+great distance from your attentions to her."
+
+After the terrible attack of fever in Philadelphia in 1793, Washington
+wrote to a clergyman of that city,--
+
+
+"It has been my intention ever since my return to the city, to contribute
+my mite towards the relief of the _most_ needy inhabitants of it. The
+pressure of public business hitherto has suspended, but not altered my
+resolution. I am at a loss, however, for whose benefit to apply the little
+I can give, and in whose hands to place it; whether for the use of the
+fatherless children and widows, made so by the late calamity, who may find
+it difficult, whilst provisions, wood, and other necessaries are so dear,
+to support themselves; or to other and better purposes, if any, I know
+not, and therefore have taken the liberty of asking your advice. I
+persuade myself justice will be done to my motives for giving you this
+trouble. To obtain information, and to render the little I can afford,
+without ostentation or mention of my name, are the sole objects of these
+inquiries. With great and sincere esteem and regard, I am, &c."
+
+
+His adopted grandson he advised to "never let an indigent person ask,
+without receiving _something_ if you have the means; always recollecting
+in what light the widow's mite was viewed." And when he took command of
+the army in 1775, the relative who took charge of his affairs was told to
+"let the hospitality of the house, with respect to 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."
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+SOCIAL LIFE
+
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington, like the Virginian of his time, was
+pre-eminently social. It is true that late in life he complained, as
+already quoted, that his home had become a "well resorted tavern," and
+that at his own table "I rarely miss seeing strange faces, come as they
+say out of respect for me. Pray, would not the word curiosity answer as
+well?" but even in writing this he added, "how different this from having
+a few social friends at a cheerful board!" When a surveyor he said that
+the greatest pleasure he could have would be to hear from or be with "my
+Intimate friends and acquaintances;" to one he wrote, "I hope you in
+particular will not Bauk me of what I so ardently wish for," and he
+groaned over being "amongst a parcel of barbarians." While in the Virginia
+regiment he complained of a system of rations which "deprived me of the
+pleasure of inviting an officer or friend, which to me would be more
+agreeable, than nick-nacks I shall meet with," and when he was once
+refused leave of absence by the governor, he replied bitterly, "it was not
+to enjoy a party of pleasure I wanted a leave of absence; I have been
+indulged with few of these, winter or summer!" At Mount Vernon, if a day
+was spent without company the fact was almost always noted in his diary,
+and in a visit, too, he noted that he had "a very lonesome Evening at Colo
+Champe's, not any Body favoring us with their Company but himself."
+
+The plantation system which prevented town life and put long distances
+between neighbors developed two forms of society. One of these was house
+parties, and probably nowhere else in the world was that form of
+hospitality so unstinted as in this colony. Any one of a certain social
+standing was privileged, even welcomed, to ride up to the seat of a
+planter, dismount, and thus become a guest, ceasing to be such only when
+he himself chose. Sometimes one family would go _en masse_ many miles
+to stay a week with friends, and when they set out to return their hosts
+would journey with them and in turn become guests for a week. The
+second form of social life was called clubs. At all the cross-roads and
+court-houses there sprang up taverns or ordinaries, and in these the men
+of a neighborhood would gather, and over a bowl of punch or a bottle of
+wine, the expense of which they "clubbed" to share, would spend their
+evenings.
+
+Into this life Washington entered eagerly. As a mere lad his ledger
+records expenditures: "By a club in Arrack at Mr. Gordon's 2/6;" "Club of
+a bottle of Rhenish at Mitchells 1/3;" "To part of the club at Port Royal
+1/;" "To Cash in part for a Bowl of fruit punch 1/7-1/2." So, too, he was
+a visitor at this time at some of the great Virginian houses, as elsewhere
+noted. When he came into possession of Mount Vernon he offered the same
+unstinted welcome that he had met with, and even as a bachelor he writes
+of his "having much company," and again of being occupied with "a good
+deal of Company." In two months of 1768 Washington had company to dinner,
+or to spend the night, on twenty-nine days, and dined or visited away from
+home on seven; and this is typical.
+
+Whenever, too, trips were made to Williamsburg, Annapolis, Philadelphia,
+or elsewhere, it was a rare occurrence when the various stages of the
+journey were not spent with friends, and in those cities he was dined and
+wined to a surfeit.
+
+During the Revolution all of Washington's aides and his secretary lived
+with him at head-quarters, and constituted what he always called "my
+family." In addition, many others sat down at table,--those who came
+on business from a distance, as well as bidden guests,---which frequently
+included ladies from the neighborhood, who must have been belles among
+the sixteen to twenty men who customarily sat down to dinner.
+"If ... convenient and agreeable to you to take pot luck with me to-day,"
+the General wrote John Adams in 1776, "I shall be glad of your company."
+Pot luck it was for commander-in-chief and staff. Mention has been made of
+how sometimes Washington slept on the ground, and even when under cover
+there was not occasionally much more comfort. Pickering relates that one
+night was passed in "Headquarters at Galloway's, an old log house. The
+General lodged in a bed, and his family on the floor about him. We had
+plenty of sepawn and milk, and all were contented."
+
+Oftentimes there were difficulties in the hospitality. "I have been at my
+prest. quarters since the 1st day of Decr.," Washington complained to the
+commissary-general, "and have not a Kitchen to cook a Dinner in, altho'
+the Logs have been put together some considerable time by my own Guard.
+Nor is there a place at this moment in which a servant can lodge, with the
+smallest degree of comfort. Eighteen belonging to my family, and all Mrs.
+Ford's, are crowded together in her Kitchen, and scarce one of them able
+to speak for the cold they have caught." Pickering, in telling how he
+tried to secure lodgings away from head-quarters, gave for his reasons
+that "they are exceedingly pinched for room.... Had I conceived how much
+satisfaction, quiet and even leisure, I should have enjoyed at separate
+quarters, I would have taken them six months ago. For at head-quarters
+there is a continual throng, and my room, in particular, (when I was happy
+enough to get one,) was always crowded by all that came to headquarters on
+business, because there was no other for them, we having, for the most
+part, been in such small houses."
+
+There were other difficulties. "I cannot get as much cloth," the general
+wrote, "as will make cloaths for my servants, notwithstanding one of them
+that attends my person and table is indecently and most shamefully naked."
+One of his aides said to a correspondent, jocularly, "I take your Caution
+to me in Regard to my Health very kindly, but I assure you, you need be
+under no Apprehension of my losing it on the Score of Excess of living,
+that Vice is banished from this Army and the General's Family in
+particular. We never sup, but go to bed and are early up." "Only
+conceive," Washington complained to Congress, "the mortification they
+(even the general officers) must suffer, when they cannot invite a French
+officer, a visiting friend, or a travelling acquaintance, to a better
+repast, than stinking whiskey (and not always that) and a bit of Beef
+without vegetables."
+
+At times, too, it was necessary to be an exemplar. "Our truly republican
+general," said Laurens, "has declared to his officers that he will set the
+example of passing the winter in a hut himself," and John Adams, in a time
+of famine, declared that "General Washington sets a fine example. He has
+banished wine from his table, and entertains his friends with rum and
+water."
+
+Whenever it was possible, however, there was company at head-quarters.
+"Since the General left Germantown in the middle of September last," the
+General Orders once read, "he has been without his baggage, and on that
+account is unable to receive company in the manner he could wish. He
+nevertheless desires the Generals, Field Officers and Brigades Major of
+the day, to dine with him in future, at three o'clock in the afternoon."
+Again the same vehicle informed the army that "the hurry of business often
+preventing particular invitations being given to officers to dine with the
+General; He presents his compliments to the Brigadiers and Field Officers
+of the day, and requests while the Camp continues settled in the City,
+they will favor him with their company to dinner, without further or
+special invitation."
+
+Mrs. Drinker, who went with a committee of women to camp at Valley Forge,
+has left a brief description of head-quarters hospitality: "Dinner was
+served, to which he invited us. There were 15 Officers, besides ye Gl. and
+his wife, Gen. Greene, and Gen. Lee. We had an elegant dinner, which was
+soon over, when we went out with ye Genls wife, up to her Chamber--and saw
+no more of him." Claude Blanchard, too, describes a dinner, at which
+"there was twenty-five covers used by some officers of the army and a lady
+to whom the house belonged in which the general lodged. We dined under the
+tent. I was placed along side of the general. One of his aides-de-camp did
+the honors. The table was served in the American style and pretty
+abundantly; vegetables, roast beef, lamb, chickens, salad dressed with
+nothing but vinegar, green peas, puddings, and some pie, a kind of tart,
+greatly in use in England and among the Americans, all this being put upon
+the table at the same time. They gave us on the same plate beef, green
+peas, lamb, &c."
+
+Nor was the m�nage of the General unequal to unexpected calls. Chastellux
+tells of his first arrival in camp and introduction to Washington: "He
+conducted me to his house, where I found the company still at table,
+although the dinner had been long over. He presented me to the Generals
+Knox, Waine, Howe, &c. and to his _family_, then composed of Colonels
+Hamilton and Tilgman, his Secretaries and his Aides de Camp, and of Major
+Gibbs, commander of his guards; for in England and America, the Aides de
+Camp, Adjutants and other officers attached to the General, form what is
+called his _family_. A fresh dinner was prepared for me and mine; and the
+present was prolonged to keep me company." "At nine," he elsewhere writes,
+"supper was served, and when the hour of bed-time came, I found that the
+chamber, to which the General conducted me was the very parlour I speak
+of, wherein he had made them place a camp-bed." Of his hospitality
+Washington himself wrote,--
+
+
+"I have asked Mrs. Cochran & Mrs. Livingston to dine with me to-morrow;
+but am I not in honor bound to apprize them of their fate? As I hate
+deception, even where the imagination only is concerned; I will. It is
+needless to premise, that my table is large enough to hold the ladies. Of
+this they had ocular proof yesterday. To say how it is usually covered, is
+rather more essential; and this shall be the purport of my Letter.
+
+"Since our arrival at this happy spot, 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; a dish of beans, or greens, (almost imperceptible,)
+decorates the center. When the cook has a mind to cut a figure, (which, I
+presume will be the case to-morrow) we have two Beef-steak pyes, or dishes
+of crabs, in addition, one on each side of the center dish, dividing
+the space & reducing the distance between dish & dish to about 6 feet,
+which without them would be near 12 feet apart. Of late he has had the
+surprising sagacity to discover, that apples will make pyes; and its a
+question, if, in the violence of his efforts, we do not get one of apples,
+instead of having both of Beef-steaks. If the ladies can put up with such
+entertainment, and will submit to partake of it in plates, once Tin but
+now Iron--(not become so by the labor of scouring), I shall be happy to
+see them."
+
+
+Dinners were not the only form of entertaining. In Cambridge, when Mrs.
+Washington and Mrs. Jack Custis were at head-quarters, a reception was
+held on the anniversary of Washington's marriage, and at other times when
+there was anything to celebrate,--the capitulation of Burgoyne, the
+alliance with France, the birth of a dauphin, etc.,--parades, balls,
+receptions, "feux-de-joie," or cold collations were given. Perhaps the
+most ambitious attempt was a dinner given on September 21, 1782, in a
+large tent, to which ninety sat down, while a "band of American music"
+added to the "gaiety of the company."
+
+Whenever occasion called the General to attend on Congress there was
+much junketing. "My time," he wrote, "during my winter's residence in
+Philadelphia, was unusually (for me) divided between parties of pleasure
+and parties of business." When Reed pressed him to pass the period of
+winter quarters in visiting him in Philadelphia, he replied, "were I to
+give in 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."
+
+While President, a more elaborate hospitality was maintained. Both in New
+York and Philadelphia the best houses procurable were rented as the
+Presidential home,--for Washington "wholly declined living in any public
+building,"--and a steward and fourteen lower servants attended to all
+details, though a watchful supervision was kept by the President over
+them, and in the midst of his public duties he found time to keep a minute
+account of the daily use of all supplies, with their cost. His payments to
+his stewards for mere servants' wages and food (exclusive of wine) were
+over six hundred dollars a month, and there can be little doubt that
+Washington, who had no expense paid by the public, more than spent his
+salary during his term of office.
+
+It was the President's custom to give a public dinner once a week "to as
+many as my table will hold," and there was also a bi-weekly levee,
+to which any one might come, as well as evening receptions by Mrs.
+Washington, which were more distinctly social and far more exclusive.
+Ashbel Green states that "Washington's dining parties were entertained in
+a very handsome style. His weekly dining day for company was Thursday, and
+his dining hour was always four o'clock in the afternoon. His rule was to
+allow five minutes for the variations of clocks and watches, and then go
+to the table, be present or absent, whoever might. He kept his own clock
+in the hall, just within the outward door, and always exactly regulated.
+When lagging members of Congress came in, as they often did, after
+the guests had sat down to dinner, the president's only apology was,
+'Gentlemen (or sir) we are too punctual for you. I have a cook who never
+asks whether the company has come, but whether the hour has come.' The
+company usually assembled in the drawing-room, about fifteen or twenty
+minutes before dinner, and the president spoke to every guest personally
+on entering the room."
+
+Maclay attended several of the dinners, and has left descriptions of them.
+"Dined this day with the President," he writes. "It was a great dinner--
+all in the tastes of high life. I considered it as a part of my duty as a
+Senator to submit to it, and am glad it is over. The President is a cold,
+formal man; but I must declare that he treated me with great attention. I
+was the first person with whom he drank a glass of wine. I was often
+spoken to by him." Again he says,--
+
+
+"At dinner, after my second plate had been taken away, the President
+offered to help me to part of a dish which stood before him. Was ever
+anything so unlucky? I had just before declined being helped to anything
+more, with some expression that denoted my having made up my dinner. Had,
+of course, for the sake of consistency, to thank him negatively, but when
+the dessert came, and he was distributing a pudding, he gave me a look of
+interrogation, and I returned the thanks positive. He soon after asked me
+to drink a glass of wine with him." On another occasion he "went to the
+President's to dinner.... The President and Mrs. Washington sat opposite
+each other in the middle of the table; the two secretaries, one at
+each end. It was a great dinner, and the best of the kind I ever
+was at. The room, however, was disagreeably warm. First the soup; fish
+roasted and boiled; meats, sammon, fowls, etc.... The middle of the table
+was garnished in the usual tasty way, with small images, flowers,
+(artificial), etc. The dessert was, apple pies, pudding, etc.; then iced
+creams, jellies, etc.; then water-melons, musk-melons, apples, peaches,
+nuts. It was the most solemn dinner I ever was at. Not a health drank;
+scarce a word was said until the cloth was taken away. Then the President
+filling a glass of wine, with great formality drank to the health of every
+individual by name round the table. Everybody imitated him, charged
+glasses, and such a buzz of 'health, sir,' and 'health, madam,' and 'thank
+you, sir,' and 'thank you, madam,' never had I heard before.... The ladies
+sat a good while, and the bottles passed about; but there was a dead
+silence almost. Mrs. Washington at last withdrew with the ladies. I
+expected the men would now begin, but the same stillness remained. The
+President told of a New England clergyman who had lost a hat and wig in
+passing a river called the Brunks. He smiled, and everybody else laughed.
+He now and then said a sentence or two on some common subject, and what he
+said was not amiss.... The President ... played with the fork, striking on
+the edge of the table with it. We did not sit long after the ladies
+retired. The President rose, went up-stairs to drink coffee; the company
+followed."
+
+
+[Illustration: PRESIDENTIAL DINNER INVITATION]
+
+
+Bradbury gives the menu of a dinner at which he was, where "there was an
+elegant variety of roast beef, veal, turkey, ducks, fowls, hams, &c.;
+puddings, jellies, oranges, apples, nuts, almonds, figs, raisins, and a
+variety of wines and punch. We took our leave at six, more than an hour
+after the candles were introduced. No lady but Mrs. Washington dined with
+us. We were waited on by four or five men servants dressed in livery." At
+the last official dinner the President gave, Bishop White was present, and
+relates that "to this dinner as many were invited as could be accommodated
+at the President's table.... Much hilarity prevailed; but on the removal
+of the cloth it was put an end to by the President--certainly without
+design. Having filled his glass, he addressed the company, with a smile on
+his countenance, saying: 'Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last time I
+shall drink your health, as a public man. I do it with sincerity, and
+wishing you all possible happiness.' There was an end of all pleasantry."
+
+A glance at Mrs. Washington's receptions has been given, but the levees of
+the President remain to be described. William Sullivan, who attended many,
+wrote,--
+
+
+"At three o'clock or at any time within a quarter of an hour afterward,
+the visitor was conducted to this dining room, from which all seats had
+been removed for the time. On entering, he saw" Washington, who "stood
+always in front of the fire-place, with his face towards the door of
+entrance. The visitor was conducted to him, and he required to have the
+name so distinctly pronounced that he could hear it. He had the very
+uncommon faculty of associating a man's name, and personal appearance, so
+durably in his memory, as to be able to call one by name, who made him a
+second visit. He received his visitor with a dignified bow, while his
+hands were so disposed of as to indicate, that the salutation was not to
+be accompanied with shaking hands. This ceremony never occurred in these
+visits, even with his most near friends, that no distinction might be
+made. As visitors came in, they formed a circle round the room. At a
+quarter past three, the door was closed, and the circle was formed for
+that day. He then began on the right, and spoke to each visitor, calling
+him by name, and exchanging a few words with him. When he had completed
+his circuit, he resumed his first position, and the visitors approached
+him in succession, bowed and retired. By four o'clock the ceremony was
+over."
+
+
+The ceremony of the dinners and levees and the liveried servants were
+favorite impeachments of the President among the early Democrats before
+they had better material, and Washington was charged with trying to
+constitute a court, and with conducting himself like a king. Even his bow
+was a source of criticism, and Washington wrote in no little irritation in
+regard to this, "that I have not been able to make bows to the taste of
+poor Colonel Bland, (who, by the by, I believe, never saw one of them), is
+to be regretted, especially too, as (upon those occasions), they were
+indiscriminately bestowed, and the best I was master of, would it not have
+been better to throw the veil of charity over them, ascribing their
+stiffness to the effects of age, or to the unskillfulness of my teacher,
+than to pride and dignity of office, which God knows has no charms for me?
+For I can truly say, I had rather be at Mount Vernon 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."
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington hated ceremony as much as the
+Democrats, and yielded to it only from his sense of fitness and the
+opinions of those about him. Jefferson and Madison both relate how such
+unnecessary form was used at the first levee by the master of ceremonies
+as to make it ridiculous, and Washington, appreciating this, is quoted as
+saying to the amateur chamberlain, "Well, you have taken me in once, but,
+by God, you shall never take me in a second time." His secretary, in
+writing to secure lodgings in Philadelphia, when the President and family
+were on their way to Mount Vernon, said, "I must repeat, what I observed
+in a former letter, that as little ceremony & parade may be made as
+possible, for the President wishes to command his own time, which these
+things always forbid in a greater or less degree, and they are to him
+fatiguing and oftentimes painful. He wishes not to exclude himself from
+the sight or conversation of his fellow citizens, but their eagerness to
+show their affection frequently imposes a heavy tax on him."
+
+This was still further shown in his diary of his tours through New England
+and the Southern States. Nothing would do but for Boston to receive him
+with troops, etc., and Washington noted, "finding this ceremony not to be
+avoided, though I had made every effort to do it, I named the hour." In
+leaving Portsmouth he went "quietly, and without any attendance, having
+earnestly entreated that all parade and ceremony might be avoided on my
+return." When travelling through North Carolina, "a small party of horse
+under one Simpson met us at Greenville, and in spite of every endeavor
+which could comport with decent civility, to excuse myself from it, they
+would attend me to Newburn."
+
+During the few years that Washington was at Mount Vernon subsequent to the
+Revolution, the same unbounded hospitality was dispensed as in earlier
+times, while a far greater demand was made upon it, and one so variegated
+that at times the host was not a little embarrassed. Thus he notes
+that "a Gentleman calling himself the Count de Cheiza D'Artigan Officer
+of the French Guards came here to dinner; but bringing no letters of
+introduction, nor any authentic testimonials of his being either; I was at
+a loss how to receive or treat him,--he stayed to dinner and the evening,"
+and the next day departed in Washington's carriage to Alexandria. "A
+farmer came here to see," he says, "my drill plow, and staid all night."
+In another instance he records that a woman whose "name was unknown to me
+dined here." Only once were visitors frowned on, and this was when a
+British marauding party came to Mount Vernon during the Revolution. Even
+they, in Washington's absence, were entertained by his overseer, but his
+master wrote him, on hearing of this, "I am little sorry of my own [loss];
+but that which gives me most concern is, that you should go on board the
+enemy'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-compliance 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 making a voluntary offer of refreshments
+to them with a view to prevent a conflagration."
+
+The hospitality at Mount Vernon was perfectly simple. A traveller relates
+that he was taken there by a friend, and, as Washington was "viewing his
+laborers," we "were desired to tarry." "When the President returned he
+received us very politely. Dr. Croker introduced me to him as a gentleman
+from Massachusetts who wished to see the country and pay his respects. He
+thanked us, desired us to be seated, and to excuse him a few
+moments.... The President came and desired us to walk in to dinner and
+directed us where to sit, (no grace was said).... The dinner was very good,
+a small roasted pigg, boiled leg of lamb, roasted fowles, beef, peas,
+lettice, cucumbers, artichokes, etc., puddings, tarts, etc., etc. We were
+desired to call for what drink we chose. He took a glass of wine with Mrs.
+Law first, which example was followed by Dr. Croker and Mrs. Washington,
+myself and Mrs. Peters, Mr. Fayette and the young lady whose name is
+Custis. When the cloth was taken away the President gave 'All our
+Friends,'"
+
+Another visitor tells that he was received by Washington, and,
+"after ... half an hour, the General came in again, with his hair neatly
+powdered, a clean shirt on, a new plain drab coat, white waistcoat and
+white silk stockings. At three, dinner was on the table, and we were shown
+by the General into another room, where everything was set off with a
+peculiar taste and at the same time neat and plain. The General sent the
+bottle about pretty freely after dinner, and gave success to the navigation
+of the Potomac for his toasts, which he has very much at heart.... After
+Tea General Washington retired to his study and left us with the ... rest
+of the Company. If he had not been anxious to hear the news of Congress
+from Mr. Lee, most probably he would not have returned to supper, but gone
+to bed at his usual hour, nine o'clock, for he seldom makes any ceremony.
+We had a very elegant supper about that time. The General with a few
+glasses of champagne got quite merry, and being with his intimate friends
+laughed and talked a good deal. Before strangers he is very reserved, and
+seldom says a word. I was fortunate in being in his company with his
+particular acquaintances.... At 12 I had the honor of being lighted up to
+my bedroom by the General himself."
+
+This break on the evening hours was quite unusual, Washington himself
+saying in one place that nine o'clock was his bedtime, and he wrote of his
+hours after dinner, "the usual time of setting at table, a walk, and tea,
+brings me within the dawn of candlelight; previous to which, if not
+prevented by company I resolve, that as soon as the glimmering taper
+supplies the place of the great luminary, I will retire to my writing
+table and acknowledge the letters I have received; but when the lights
+were brought, I feel tired and disinclined to engage in this work,
+conceiving that the next night will do as well. The next comes, and with
+it the same causes for postponement, and effect, and so on."
+
+The foregoing allusion to Washington's conversation is undoubtedly just.
+All who met him formally spoke of him as taciturn, but this was not a
+natural quality. Jefferson states that "in the circle of his friends,
+where he might be unreserved with safety, he took a free share in
+conversation," and Madison told Sparks that, though "Washington was not
+fluent nor ready in conversation, and was inclined to be taciturn in
+general society," yet "in the company of two or three intimate friends, he
+was talkative, and when a little excited was sometimes fluent and even
+eloquent" "The story so often repeated of his never laughing," Madison
+said, was "wholly untrue; no man seemed more to enjoy gay conversation,
+though he took little part in it himself. He was particularly pleased with
+the jokes, good humor, and hilarity of his companions."
+
+Washington certainly did enjoy a joke. Nelly Custis said, "I have
+sometimes made him laugh most heartily from sympathy with my joyous and
+extravagant spirits," and many other instances of his laughing are
+recorded. He himself wrote in 1775 concerning the running away of some
+British soldiers, "we laugh at his idea of chasing the Royal Fusileers
+with the stores. Does he consider them as inanimate, or as treasure?" When
+the British in Boston sent out a bundle of the king's speech, "farcical
+enough, we gave great joy to them, (the red coats I mean), without knowing
+or intending it; for on that day, the day which gave being to the new
+army, (but before the proclamation came to hand,) we had hoisted the union
+flag in compliment to the United Colonies. But, behold, it was received in
+Boston as a token of the deep impression the speech had made upon us, and
+as a signal of submission."
+
+At times Washington would joke himself, though it was always somewhat
+labored, as in the case of the Jack already cited. "Without a coinage," he
+wrote, "or unless a stop can be put to the cutting and clipping of money,
+our dollars, pistareens, &c., will be converted, as Teague says, into
+_five_ quarters." When the Democrats were charging the Federalists with
+having stolen from the treasury, he wrote to a Cabinet official, "and
+pray, my good sir, what part of the $800.000 have come to your share? As
+you are high in Office, I hope you did not disgrace yourself in the
+acceptance of a paltry bribe--a $100.000 perhaps." He once even attempted
+a pun, by writing, "our enterprise will be ruined, and we shall be stopped
+at the Laurel Hill this winter; but not to gather laurels, (except of the
+kind that covers the mountains)."
+
+Probably the neatest turn was his course on one occasion with General
+Tryon, who sent him some British proclamations with the request, "that
+through your means, the officers and men under your command may be
+acquainted with their contents." Washington promptly replied that he had
+given them "free currency among the officers and men under my command,"
+and enclosed to Tryon a lot of the counter-proclamation, asking him to "be
+instrumental in communicating its contents, so far as it may be in your
+power, to the persons who are the objects of its operation. The benevolent
+purpose it is intended to answer will I persuade myself, sufficiently
+recommend it to your candor."
+
+To a poetess who had sent him some laudatory verses about himself he
+expressed his thanks, and added, "Fiction is to be sure the very life and
+Soul of Poetry--all Poets and Poetesses have been indulged in the free and
+indisputable use of it, time out of mind. And to oblige you to make such
+an excellent Poem on such a subject without any materials but those of
+simple reality, would be as cruel as the Edict of Pharoah which compelled
+the children of Israel to manufacture Bricks without the necessary
+Ingredients."
+
+Twice he joked about his own death. "As I have heard," he said after
+Braddock's defeat, "since my arrival at this place, a circumstancial
+account of my death and dying speech, I take this early opportunity of
+contradicting the first, and of assuring you, that I have not as yet
+composed the latter." Many years later, in draughting a letter for his
+wife, he wrote,--
+
+
+"I am now by desire of the General to add a few words on his behalf; which
+he desires may be expressed in the terms following, that is to say,--that
+despairing of hearing what may be said of him, if he should really go off
+in an apoplectic, or any other fit (for he thinks all fits that issue in
+death are worse than a love fit, a fit of laughter, and many other kinds
+which he could name)--he is glad to hear _beforehand_ what will be said of
+him on that occasion; conceiving that nothing extra will happen between
+_this_ and _then_ to make a change in his character for better, or for
+worse. And besides, as he has entered into an engagement ... not to quit
+_this_ world before the year 1800, it may be _relied upon_ that no breach
+of contract shall be laid to him on that account, unless dire necessity
+should bring it about, maugre all his exertions to the contrary. In that
+same, he shall hope they would do by him as he would do by them--excuse
+it. At present there seems to be no danger of his thus giving them the
+slip, as neither his health nor spirits, were ever in greater flow,
+notwithstanding, he adds, he is descending, and has almost reached the
+bottom of the hill; or in other words, the shades below. For your
+particular good wishes on this occasion he charges me to say that he feels
+highly obliged, and that he reciprocates them with great cordiality."
+
+
+Other social qualities of the man cannot be passed over. A marked trait
+was his extreme fondness of afternoon tea. "Dined at Mr. Langdon's, and
+drank Tea there, with a large circle of Ladies;" "in the afternoon drank
+Tea ... with about 20 ladies, who had been assembled for the occasion;"
+"exercised between 5 & 7 o'clock in the morning & drank Tea with Mrs.
+Clinton (the Governor's Lady) in the afternoon;" "Drank tea at the Chief
+Justice's of the U. States;" "Dined with the Citizens in public; and in
+the afternoon, was introduced to upwards of 50 ladies who had assembled
+(at a Tea party) on the occasion;" "Dined and drank tea at Mr. Bingham's
+in great splendor." Such are the entries in his diary whenever the was
+"kettle-a-boiling-be" was within reach. Pickering's journal shows that
+tea served regularly at head-quarters, and at Mount Vernon it was drunk
+in summer on the veranda. In writing to Knox of his visit to Boston,
+Washington mentioned his recollection of the chats over tea-drinking, and
+of how "social and gay" they were.
+
+A fondness for picnics was another social liking. "Rid with Fanny Bassett,
+Mr. Taylor and Mr. Shaw to meet a Party from Alexandria at Johnsons
+Spring ... where we dined on a cold dinner brought from Town by water and
+spent the Afternoon agreeably--Returning home by Sun down or a little after
+it," is noted in his diary on one occasion, and on another he wrote,
+"Having formed a Party, consisting of the Vice-President, his lady, Son &
+Miss Smith; the Secretaries of State, Treasury & War, and the ladies of the
+two latter; with all the Gentlemen of my family, Mrs. Lear & the two
+Children, we visited the old position of Fort Washington and afterwards
+dined on a dinner provided by Mr. Mariner." Launchings, barbecues,
+clambakes, and turtle dinners were other forms of social dissipations.
+
+A distinct weakness was dancing. When on the frontier he sighed, "the
+hours at present are melancholy dull. Neither the rugged toils of war, nor
+the gentler conflict of A[ssembly] B[alls,] is in my choice." His diary
+shows him at balls and "Routs" frequently; when he was President he was a
+constant attendant at the regular "Dancing Assemblies" in New York and
+Philadelphia, and when at Mount Vernon he frequently went ten miles to
+Alexandria to attend dances. Of one of these Alexandria balls he has left
+an amusing description: "Went to a ball at Alexandria, where Musick and
+dancing was the chief Entertainment, however in a convenient room detached
+for the purpose abounded great plenty of bread and butter, some biscuits,
+with tea and coffee, which the drinkers of could not distinguish from hot
+water sweet'ned--Be it remembered that pocket handkerchiefs servd the
+purposes of Table cloths & Napkins and that no apologies were made for
+either. I shall therefore distinguish this ball by the stile and title of
+the Bread & Butter Ball."
+
+During the Revolution, too, he killed many a weary hour of winter quarters
+by dancing. When the camp spent a day rejoicing over the French alliance,
+"the celebration," according to Thacher, "was concluded by a splendid ball
+opened by his Excellency General Washington, having for his partner the
+lady of General Knox." Greene describes how "we had a little dance at my
+quarters a few evenings past. His Excellency and Mrs. Greene danced
+upwards of three hours without once sitting down." Knox, too, tells of "a
+most genteel entertainment given by self and officers" at which Washington
+danced. "Everybody allows it to be the first of the kind ever exhibited in
+this State at least. We had above seventy ladies, all of the first ton in
+the State, and between three and four hundred gentlemen. We danced all
+night--an elegant room, the illuminating, fireworks, &c., were more
+than pretty." And at Newport, when Rochambeau gave a ball, by request
+it was opened by Washington. The dance selected by his partner was "A
+Successful Campaign," then in high favor, and the French officers took
+the instruments from the musicians and played while he danced the first
+figure.
+
+
+[Illustration: AGREEMENT FOR DANCING ASSEMBLY]
+
+
+While in winter quarters he subscribed four hundred dollars (paper money,
+equal to eleven dollars in gold) to get up a series of balls, of which
+Greene wrote, "We have opened an assembly in Camp. From this apparent
+ease, I suppose it is thought we must be in happy circumstances. I wish it
+was so, but, alas, it is not. Our provisions are in a manner, gone. We
+have not a ton of hay at command, nor magazine to draw from. Money is
+extremely scarce and worth little when we get it. We have been so poor in
+camp for a fortnight, that we could not forward the public dispatches, for
+want of cash to support the expresses." At the farewell ball given at
+Annapolis, when the commander-in-chief resigned his command, Tilton
+relates that "the General danced in every set, that all the ladies might
+have the pleasure of dancing with him; or as it has since been handsomely
+expressed, 'get a touch of him.'" He still danced in 1796, when sixty-four
+years of age, but when invited to the Alexandria Assembly in 1799, he
+wrote to the managers, "Mrs. Washington and myself have been honored with
+your polite invitation to the assemblies of Alexandria this winter, and
+thank you for this mark of your attention. But, alas! our dancing days are
+no more. We wish, however all those who have a relish for so agreeable and
+innocent an amusement all the pleasure the season will afford them; and I
+am, gentlemen,
+
+"Your most obedient and obliged humble servant,
+
+"GEO. WASHINGTON."
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+
+TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS
+
+
+A market trait of Washington's character was his particularity about his
+clothes; there can be little question that he was early in life a good
+deal of a dandy, and that this liking for fine feathers never quite left
+him. When he was about sixteen years old he wrote in his journal,
+"Memorandum to have my Coat made by the following Directions to be made a
+Frock with a Lapel Breast the Lapel to Contain on each side six Button
+Holes and to be about 5 or 6 Inches wide all the way equal and to turn as
+the Breast on the Coat does to have it made very long Waisted and in
+Length to come down to or below the bent of the knee the Waist from the
+armpit to the Fold to be exactly as long or Longer than from thence to the
+Bottom not to have more than one fold in the Skirt and the top to be made
+just to turn in and three Button Holes the Lapel at the top to turn as the
+Cape of the Coat and Bottom to Come Parallel with the Button Holes the
+Last Button hole in the Breast to be right opposite to the Button on the
+Hip."
+
+In 1754 he bought "a Superfine blue broad cloth Coat, with Silver
+Trimmings," "a fine Scarlet Waistcoat full Lac'd," and a quantity of
+"silver lace for a Hatt," and from another source it is learned that at
+this time he was the possessor of ruffled shirts. A little later he
+ordered from London "As much of the best superfine blue 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," and other orders at different times were
+for "6 prs. of the Very neatest shoes," "A riding waistcoat of superfine
+scarlet cloth and gold Lace," "2 prs. of fashionable mix'd or marble
+Color'd Silk Hose," "1 piece of finest and fashionable Stock Tape," "1
+Suit of the finest Cloth & fashionable colour," "a New Market Great Coat
+with a loose hood to it, made of Bleu Drab or broad cloth, with straps
+before according to the present taste," "3 gold and scarlet sword-knots,
+3 silver and blue do, 1 fashionable gold-laced hat."
+
+As these orders indicated, the young fellow strove to be in the fashion.
+In 1755 he wrote his brother, "as wearing boots is quite the mode, and
+mine are in a declining state, I must beg the favor of you to procure me a
+pair that is good and neat." "Whatever goods you may send me," he wrote
+his London agent, "let them be fashionable, neat and good of their several
+kinds." It was a great trial to him that his clothes did not fit him. "I
+should have enclosed you my measure," he wrote to London, "but in a
+general way they are so badly taken here, that I am convinced that it
+would be of very little service." "I have hitherto had my clothes made by
+one Charles Lawrence in Old Fish Street," he wrote his English factor.
+"But whether it be the fault of the tailor, or the measure sent, I can't
+say, but, certain it is, my clothes have never fitted me well."
+
+It must not be inferred, however, that Washington carried his dandyism to
+weakness. When fine clothes were not in place, they were promptly
+discarded. In his trip to the Ohio in 1753 he states that "I put myself in
+an Indian walking Dress," and "tied myself up in a Match Coat,"--that is,
+an Indian blanket. In the campaign of 1758 he wrote to his superior
+officer "that were I left to pursue my own Inclinations, I would not only
+order the Men to adopt the Indian dress, but cause the Officers to do it
+also, and be at the first to set the example myself. Nothing but the
+uncertainty of its taking with the General causes me to hesitate a moment
+at leaving my Regimentals at this place, and proceeding as light as any
+Indian in the Woods. 'T is an unbecoming dress, I confess, for an officer;
+but convenience, rather than shew, I think should be consulted." And this
+was such good sense that the general gave him leave, and it was done.
+
+With increase of years his taste in clothes became softened and more
+sober. "On the other side is an invoice of clothes which I beg the favor
+of you to purchase for me," he wrote to London. "As they are designed for
+wearing apparel for myself, I have committed the choice of them to your
+fancy, having the best opinion of your taste. I want neither lace nor
+embroidery. Plain clothes, with a gold or silver button (if worn in
+genteel dress) are all I desire." "Do not conceive," he told his nephew in
+1783, "that fine clothes make fine men more than fine feathers make fine
+Birds. A plain genteel dress is more admired, and obtains more credit than
+lace and embroidery, in the Eyes of the judicious and sensible." And in
+connection with the provisional army he decided that "on reconsidering the
+uniform of the Commander in Chief, it has become a matter of doubt with
+me, (although, as it respects myself _personally_, I was against _all_
+embroidery,) whether embroidery on the Cape, Cuffs, and Pockets of the
+Coat, and none on the buff waistcoat would not have a disjointed and
+awkward appearance." Probably nowhere did he show his good taste more than
+in his treatment of the idea of putting him in classic garments when his
+bust was made by Houdon.
+
+
+"In answer to your obliging inquiries respecting the dress, attitude,
+&c.," he wrote, "which I would wish to have given to the statue in
+question, I have only to observe, that, not having sufficient knowledge in
+the art of sculpture to oppose my judgment to the taste of connoisseurs, I
+do not desire to dictate in the matter. On the contrary I shall be
+perfectly satisfied with whatever may be judged decent and proper. I
+should even scarcely have ventured to suggest, that perhaps a servile
+adherence to the garb of antiquity might not be altogether so expedient,
+as some little deviation in favor of the modern costume."
+
+
+Washington, as noted, bought his clothes in England; but it was
+from necessity more than choice. "If there be any homespun Cloths in
+Philadelphia which are tolerably fine, that you can come reasonably at,"
+he said to his Philadelphia agent in 1784, "I would be obliged to you to
+send me patterns of some of the best kinds--I should prefer that which is
+mixed in the grain, because it will not so readily discover its quality as
+a plain cloth." Before he was inaugurated he wrote "General Knox this day
+to procure me homespun broadcloth of the Hartford fabric, to make a suit
+of clothes for myself," adding, "I hope it will not be a great while
+before it will be unfashionable for a gentleman to appear in any
+other dress. Indeed, we have already been too long subject to British
+prejudices." At another time he noted in his diary with evident pride, "on
+this occasion I was dressed in a suit made at the Woolen Manufactory at
+Hartford, as the buttons also were." But then, as now, the foreign clothes
+were so much finer that his taste overcame his patriotism, and his
+secretary wrote that "the President is desireous of getting as much
+superfine blk broad Cloth as will make him a suit of Clothes, and desires
+me to request that you would send him that quantity ... The best superfine
+French or Dutch black--exceedingly fine--of a soft, silky texture--not
+glossy like the Engh cloths."
+
+A caller during the Presidency spoke of him as dressed in purple satin,
+and at his levees he is described by Sullivan as "clad in black velvet;
+his hair in full dress, powdered and gathered behind in a large silk bag;
+yellow gloves on his hands; holding a cocked hat with a cockade in it, and
+the edges adorned with a black feather about an inch deep. He wore knee
+and shoe buckles; and a long sword, with a finely wrought and polished
+steel hilt, which appeared at the left hip; the coat worn over the sword,
+so that the hilt, and the part below the coat behind, were in view. The
+scabbard was white polished leather."
+
+About his person Washington was as neat as he desired his clothes to be.
+At seventeen when surveying he records that he was
+
+
+"Lighted into a Room & I not being so good a Woodsman as ye rest of my
+Company striped myself very orderly & went in to ye Bed as they called it
+when to my Surprize I found it to be nothing but a Little Straw--Matted
+together without Sheets or any thing else but only one thread Bear blanket
+with double its Weight of Vermin such as Lice, Fleas &c. I was glad to get
+up (as soon as ye Light was carried from us) I put on my Cloths & Lay as
+my Companions. Had we not have been very tired I am sure we should not
+have slep'd much that night. I made a Promise not to Sleep so from that
+time forward chusing rather to sleep in ye open Air before a fire as will
+appear hereafter." The next day he notes that the party "Travell'd up to
+Frederick Town where our Baggage came to us we cleaned ourselves (to get
+Rid of ye Game we had catched y. Night before)" and slept in "a good
+Feather Bed with clean Sheets which was a very agreeable regale."
+
+
+Wherever he happened to be, the laundress was in constant demand. His
+bill from the washer-lady for the week succeeding his inauguration as
+President, and before his domestic m�nage was in running order, was for "6
+Ruffled shirts, 2 plain shirts, 8 stocks, 3 pair Silk Hose, 2 White hand.
+2 Silk Handks. 1 pr. Flanl. Drawers, 1 Hair nett."
+
+The barber, too, was a constant need, and Washington's ledger shows
+constant expenditures for perfumed hair-powder and pomatum, and also for
+powder bags and puffs. Apparently the services of this individual were
+only for the arranging of his hair, for he seems never to have shaved
+Washington, that being done either by himself or by his valet. Of this
+latter individual Washington said (when the injury to William Lee unfitted
+him for the service), "I do not as yet know whether I shall get a
+substitute for William: nothing short of excellent qualities and a man of
+good appearance, would induce me to do it--and under my present view of
+the matter, too, who would employ himself otherwise than William did--that
+is as a butler as well as a valette, for my wants of the latter are so
+trifling that any man (as William was) would soon be ruined by idleness,
+who had only them to attend to."
+
+In food Washington took what came with philosophy. "If you meet with
+collegiate fare, it will be unmanly to complain," he told his grandson,
+though he once complained in camp that "we are debarred from the pleasure
+of good living; which, Sir, (I dare say with me you will concur,) to one
+who has always been used to it, must go somewhat hard to be confined to a
+little salt provision and water." Usually, however, poor fare was taken as
+a matter of course. "When we came to Supper," he said in his journal of
+1748, "there was neither a Cloth upon ye Table nor a Knife to eat with but
+as good luck would have it we had Knives of our own," and again he wrote,
+"we pull'd out our Knapsack in order to Recruit ourselves every one was
+his own Cook our Spits was Forked Sticks our Plates was a Large Chip as
+for Dishes we had none." Nor was he squeamish about what he ate. In the
+voyage to Barbadoes he several times ate dolphin; he notes that the bread
+was almost "eaten up by Weavel & Maggots," and became quite enthusiastic
+over some "very fine Bristol tripe" and "a fine Irish Ling & Potatoes."
+But all this may have been due to the proverbial sea appetite.
+
+Samuel Stearns states that Washington "breakfasts about seven o'clock on
+three small Indian hoe-cakes, and as many dishes of tea," and Custis
+relates that "Indian cakes, honey, and tea formed this temperate repast."
+These two writers tell us that at dinner "he ate heartily, but was not
+particular in his diet, with the exception of fish, of which he was
+excessively fond. He partook sparingly of dessert, drank a home-made
+beverage, and from four to five glasses of Madeira wine" (Custis), and
+that "he dines, commonly on a single dish, and drinks from half a
+pint to a pint of Madeira wine. This, with one small glass of punch, a
+draught of beer, and two dishes of tea (which he takes half an hour before
+sun-setting) constitutes his whole sustenance till the next day."
+(Stearns.) Ashbel Green relates that at the state banquets during the
+Presidency Washington "generally dined on one single dish, and that of a
+very simple kind. If offered something either in the first or second
+course which was very rich, his usual reply was--'That is too good for
+me.'" It is worth noting that he religiously observed the fasts proclaimed
+in 1774 and 1777, going without food the entire day.
+
+A special liking is mentioned above. In 1782 Richard Varick wrote to a
+friend, "General Washington dines with me to-morrow; he is exceedingly fond
+of salt fish; I have some coming up, & tho' it will be here in a few days,
+it will not be here in time--If you could conveniently lend me as much
+fish as would serve a pretty large company to-morrow (at least for one
+Dish), it will oblige me, and shall in a very few days be returned in as
+good Dun Fish as ever you see. Excuse this freedom, and it will add to the
+favor. Could you not prevail upon somebody to catch some Trout for me
+early to-morrow morning?" When procurable, salt codfish was Washington's
+regular Sunday dinner.
+
+A second liking was honey. His ledger several times mentions purchases of
+this, and in 1789 his sister wrote him, "when I last had the Pleasure of
+seeing you I observ'd your fondness for Honey; I have got a large Pot of
+very fine in the comb, which I shall send by the first opportunity." Among
+his purchases "sugar candy" is several times mentioned, but this may have
+been for children, and not for himself. He was a frequent buyer of fruit
+of all kinds and of melons.
+
+He was very fond of nuts, buying hazelnuts and shellbarks by the barrel,
+and he wrote his overseer in 1792 to "tell house Frank I expect he will
+lay up a more plenteous store of the black common walnuts than he usually
+does." The Prince de Broglie states that "at dessert he eats an enormous
+quantity of nuts, and when the conversation is entertaining he keeps
+eating through a couple of hours, from time to time giving sundry healths,
+according to the English and American custom. It is what they call
+'toasting.'"
+
+Washington was from boyhood passionately fond of horsemanship, and when
+but seventeen owned a horse. Humphreys states that "all those who have
+seen General Washington on horseback, at the head of his army, will
+doubtless bear testimony with the author that they never saw a more
+graceful or dignified person," and Jefferson said of him that he was "the
+best horseman of his age, and the most graceful figure that could be seen
+on horseback." His diary shows that he rode on various occasions as much
+as sixty miles in a day, and Lawrence reports that he "usually rode from
+Rockingham to Princeton, which is five miles, in forty minutes." John
+Hunter, in a visit to Mount Vernon in 1785, writes that he went
+
+
+"to see his famous race-horse Magnolia--a most beautiful creature. A whole
+length of his was taken a while ago, (mounted on Magnolia) by a famous man
+from Europe on copper.... I afterwards went to his stables, where among an
+amazing number of horses, I saw old Nelson, now 22 years of age, that
+carried the General almost always during the war; Blueskin, another fine
+old horse next to him, now and then had that honor. Shaw also shewed me
+his old servant, that was reported to have been taken, with a number of
+the General's papers about him. They have heard the roaring of many a
+cannon in their time. Blueskin was not the favorite, on account of his not
+standing fire so well as venerable old Nelson."
+
+
+Chastellux relates, "he was so attentive as to give me the horse he rode,
+the day of my arrival, which I had greatly commended--I found him as good
+as he is handsome; but above all, perfectly well broke, and well trained,
+having a good mouth, easy in hand and stopping short in a gallop without
+bearing the bit--I mention these minute particulars, because it is the
+general himself who breaks all his own horses; and he is a very excellent
+and bold horseman, leaping the highest fences, and going extremely quick,
+without standing upon his stirrups, bearing on the bridle, or letting his
+horse run wild."
+
+As a matter of course this liking for horses made Washington fond of
+racing, and he not only subscribed liberally to most of the racing purses,
+but ran horses at them, attending in person, and betting moderately on the
+results. So, too, he was fond of riding to the hounds, and when at Mount
+Vernon it was a favorite pastime. From his diary excerpts of runs are,--
+
+
+"Went a Fox hunting with the Gentlemen who came here yesterday.... after
+a very early breakfast--found a Fox just back of Muddy hole Plantation and
+after a Chase of an hour and a quarter with my Dogs, & eight couple of
+Doctor Smiths (brought by Mr. Phil Alexander) we put him into a hollow
+tree, in which we fastened him, and in the Pincushion put up another Fox
+which, in an hour & 13 Minutes was killed--We then after allowing the Fox
+in the hole half an hour put the Dogs upon his trail & in half a Mile he
+took to another hollow tree and was again put out of it but he did not go
+600 yards before he had recourse to the same shift--finding therefore that
+he was a conquered Fox we took the Dogs off, and came home to Dinner."
+
+"After an early breakfast [my nephew] George Washington, Mr. Shaw and
+Myself went into the Woods back of Muddy hole Plantation a hunting and
+were joined by Mr. Lund Washington and Mr. William Peake. About half after
+ten Oclock (being first plagued with the Dogs running Hogs) we found a fox
+near Colo Masons Plantation on little Hunting Creek (West fork) having
+followed on his Drag more than half a Mile; and run him with Eight Dogs
+(the other 4 getting, as was supposed after a Second Fox) close and well
+for an hour. When the Dogs came to a fault and to cold Hunting until 20
+minutes after when being joined by the missing Dogs they put him up afresh
+and in about 50 Minutes killed up in an open field of Colo Mason's every
+Rider & every Dog being present at the Death."
+
+
+During the Revolution, when opportunity offered, he rode to the hounds,
+for Hiltzheimer wrote in 1781, "My son Robert [having] been on a Hunt at
+Frankfort says that His Excel'y Gen. Washington was there."
+
+This liking made dogs an interest to him, and he took much pains to
+improve the breed of his hounds. On one occasion he "anointed all my
+Hounds (as well old Dogs as Puppies) which have the mange, with Hogs Lard
+& Brimstone." Mopsey, Pilot, Tartar, Jupiter, Trueman, Tipler, Truelove,
+Juno, Dutchess, Ragman, Countess, Lady, Searcher, Rover, Sweetlips,
+Vulcan, Singer, Music, Tiyal, and Forrester are some of the names he gave
+them. In 1794, in the fall of his horse, as already mentioned, he wrenched
+his back, and in consequence, when he returned to Mount Vernon, this
+pastime was never resumed, and his pack was given up.
+
+Kindred to this taste for riding to the hounds was one for gunning. A few
+entries in his diary tell the nature of his sport. "Went a ducking between
+breakfast and dinner and kill'd 2 Mallards & 5 bald faces." "I went to the
+Creek but not across it. Kill'd 2 ducks, viz. a sprig tail and a Teal."
+"Rid out with my gun but kill'd nothing." In 1787 a man asked for
+permission to shoot over Mount Vernon, and Washington refused it because
+
+
+"my fixed determination is, that no person whatever shall hunt upon my
+grounds or waters--To grant leave to one and refuse another would not only
+be drawing a line of discrimination which would be offensive, but would
+subject one to great inconvenience--for my strict and positive orders to
+all my people are if they hear a gun fired upon my Land to go immediately
+in pursuit of it.... Besides, as I have not lost my relish for this sport
+when I find time to indulge myself in it, and Gentlemen who come to the
+House are pleased with it, it is my wish not to have game within my
+jurisdiction disturbed."
+
+
+Fishing was another pastime. He "went a dragging for Sturgeon" frequently,
+and sometimes "catch'd one" and sometimes "catch'd none." While in
+Philadelphia in 1787 he went up to the old camp at Valley Forge and spent
+a day fishing, and in 1789 at Portsmouth, "having lines, we proceeded to
+the Fishing Banks a little without the Harbour and fished for Cod; but it
+not being a proper time of tide, we only caught two." After his serious
+sickness in 1790 a newspaper reports that "yesterday afternoon the
+President of the United States returned from Sandy Hook and the fishing
+banks, where he had been for the benefit of the sea air, and to amuse
+himself in the delightful recreation of fishing. We are told he has had
+excellent sport, having himself caught a great number of sea-bass and
+black fish--the weather proved remarkably fine, which, together with the
+salubrity of the air and wholesome exercise, rendered this little voyage
+extremely agreeable, and cannot fail, we hope, of being serviceable to a
+speedy and complete restoration of his health."
+
+Washington was fond of cards, and in bad weather even records "at home all
+day, over cards." How much time must have been spent in this way is shown
+by the innumerable purchases of "1 dozen packs playing cards" noted in his
+ledger. In 1748, when he was sixteen years old, he won two shillings and
+threepence from his sister-in-law at whist and five shillings at "Loo"
+(or, as he sometimes spells it, "Lue") from his brother, and he seems
+always to have played for small stakes, which sometimes mounted into
+fairly sizable sums. The largest gain found is three pounds, and the
+largest loss nine pounds fourteen shillings and ninepence. He seems to
+have lost oftener than he won.
+
+Billiards was a rival of cards, and a game of which he seems to have been
+fond. In his seventeenth year he won one shilling and threepence by the
+cue, and from that time won and lost more or less money in this way. Here,
+too, he seems to have been out of pocket, though not for so much money,
+his largest winning noted being only seven shillings and sixpence, and his
+largest loss being one pound and ten shillings.
+
+In 1751, at Barbadoes, Washington "was treated with a play ticket to see
+the Tragedy of George Barnwell acted: the character of Barnwell and
+several others was said to be well perform'd there was Musick a Dapted and
+regularly conducted." This presumptively was the lad's first visit to the
+playhouse, but from that time it was one of his favorite amusements. At
+first his ledger shows expenditures of "Cash at the Play House 1/3," which
+proves that his purse would bear the cost of only the cheapest seats;
+but later he became more extravagant in this respect, and during the
+Presidency he used the drama for entertaining, his ledger giving many
+items of tickets bought. A type entry in Washington's diary is, "Went
+to the play in the evening--sent tickets to the following ladies and
+gentlemen and invited them to seats in my box, viz:--Mrs. Adams (lady of
+the Vice-President,) General Schuyler and lady, Mr. King and lady, Majr.
+Butler and lady, Colo Hamilton and lady, Mrs. Green--all of whom accepted
+and came except Mrs. Butler, who was indisposed."
+
+Maclay describes the first of these theatre parties as follows: "I
+received a ticket from the President of the United States to use his box
+this evening at the theatre, being the first of his appearances at the
+playhouse since his entering on his office. Went The President, Governor
+of the State, foreign Ministers, Senators from New Hampshire, Connecticut,
+Pennsylvania, M.[aryland] and South Carolina; and some ladies in the same
+box. I am old, and notices or attentions are lost on me. I could have
+wished some of my dear children in my place; they are young and would have
+enjoyed it. Long might they live to boast of having been seated in
+the same box with the first Character in the world. The play was the
+'School for Scandal,' I never liked it; indeed, I think it an indecent
+representation before ladies of character and virtue. Farce, the 'Old
+Soldier.' The house greatly crowded, and I thought the players acted well;
+but I wish we had seen the _Conscious Lovers_, or some one that inculcated
+more prudential manners."
+
+Of the play, or rather interlude, of the "Old Soldier" its author, Dunlap,
+gives an amusing story. It turned on the home-coming of an old soldier,
+and, like the topical song of to-day, touched on local affairs:
+
+
+"When Wignell, as Darby, recounts what had befallen him in America, in New
+York, at the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and the inauguration of
+the president, the interest expressed by the audience in the looks and the
+changes of countenance of this great man [Washington] became intense. He
+smiled at these lines, alluding to the change in the government--
+
+
+  There too I saw some mighty pretty shows;
+  A revolution, without blood or blows,
+  For, as I understood, the cunning elves,
+  The people all revolted from themselves.
+
+
+But at the lines--
+
+
+  A man who fought to free the land from we,
+  _Like me_, had left his farm, a-soldiering to go:
+  But having gain'd his point, he had _like me_,
+  Return'd his own potato ground to see.
+  But there he could not rest. With one accord
+  He's called to be a kind of--not a lord--
+  I don't know what, he's not a _great man_, sure,
+  For poor men love him just as he were poor.
+  They love him like a father or a brother,
+                  DERMOT.
+  As we poor Irishmen love one another.
+
+
+The president looked serious; and when Kathleen asked,
+
+
+  How looked he, Darby? Was he short or tall?
+
+
+his countenance showed embarrassment, from the expectation or one of those
+eulogiums which, he had been obliged to hear on many public occasions, and
+which must doubtless have been a severe trial to his feelings: but Darby's
+answer that he had _not seen him_, because he had mistaken a man 'all lace
+and glitter, botherum and shine,' for him, until all the show had passed,
+relieved the hero from apprehension of farther personality, and he
+indulged in that which was with him extremely rare, a hearty laugh."
+
+
+Washington did not even despise amateur performances. As already
+mentioned, he expressed a wish to take part in "Cato" himself in 1758, and
+a year before he had subscribed to the regimental "players at Fort
+Cumberland," His diary shows that in 1768 the couple at Mount Vernon "& ye
+two children were up to Alexandria to see the Inconstant or 'the way to win
+him' acted," which was probably an amateur performance. Furthermore, Duer
+tells us that "I was not only frequently admitted to the presence of this
+most august of men, in _propria persona_, but once had the honor of
+appearing before him as one of the _dramatis personae_ in the tragedy of
+Julius Caesar, enacted by a young 'American Company,' (the theatrical
+corps then performing in New York being called the 'Old American Company')
+in the garret of the Presidential mansion, wherein before the magnates of
+the land and the elite of the city, I performed the part of Brutus to the
+Cassius of my old school-fellow, Washington Custis."
+
+The theatre was by no means the only show that appealed to Washington. He
+went to the circus when opportunity offered, gave nine shillings to a "man
+who brought an elk as a show," three shillings and ninepence "to hear the
+Armonica," two dollars for tickets "to see the automatum," treated the
+"Ladies to ye Microcosm" and paid to see waxworks, puppet shows, a dancing
+bear, and a lioness and tiger. Nor did he avoid a favorite Virginia
+pastime, but attended cockfights when able. His frequent going to concerts
+has been already mentioned.
+
+Washington seems to have been little of a reader except of books on
+agriculture, which he bought, read, and even made careful abstracts of
+many, and on this subject alone did he ever seem to write from pleasure.
+As a lad, he notes in his journal that he is reading _The Spectator_ and a
+history of England, but after those two brief entries there is no further
+mention of books or reading in his daily memorandum of "where and how my
+time is spent." In his ledger, too, almost the least common expenditure
+entered is one for books. Nor do his London invoices, so far as extant,
+order any books but those which treated of farming and horses. In the
+settlement of the Custis estate, "I had no particular reason for keeping
+and handing down to his son, the books of the late Colo Custis saving that
+I thought it would be taking the advantage of a low appraisement, to make
+them my own property at it, and that to sell them was not an object."
+
+With the broadening that resulted from the command of the army more
+attention was paid to books, and immediately upon the close of the
+Revolution Washington ordered the following works: "Life of Charles the
+Twelfth," "Life of Louis the Fifteenth," "Life and Reign of Peter the
+Great," Robertson's "History of America," Voltaire's "Letters," Vertot's
+"Revolution of Rome" and "Revolution of Portugal," "Life of Gustavus
+Adolphus," Sully's "Memoirs," Goldsmith's "Natural History," "Campaigns of
+Marshal Turenne," Chambaud's "French and English Dictionary," Locke "on
+the Human Understanding," and Robertson's "Charles the Fifth." From this
+time on he was a fairly constant book-buyer, and subscribed as a "patron"
+to a good many forthcoming works, while many were sent him as gifts. On
+politics he seems to have now read with interest; yet in 1797, after his
+retirement from the Presidency, in writing of the manner in which he spent
+his hours, he said, "it may strike you that in this detail no mention is
+made of any portion of time allotted to reading. The remark would be just,
+for I have not looked into a book since I came home, nor shall I be able
+to do it until I have discharged my workmen; probably not before the
+nights grow long when possibly I may be looking into Doomsday book." There
+can be no doubt that through all his life Washington gave to reading only
+the time he could not use on more practical affairs.
+
+His library was a curious medley of books, if those on military science
+and agriculture are omitted. There is a fair amount of the standard
+history of the day, a little theology, so ill assorted as to suggest gifts
+rather than purchases, a miscellany of contemporary politics, and a very
+little belles-lettres. In political science the only works in the
+slightest degree noticeable are Smith's "Wealth of Nations," "The
+Federalist," and Rousseau's "Social Compact," and, as the latter was in
+French, it could not have been read. In lighter literature Homer,
+Shakespeare, and Burns, Lord Chesterfield, Swift, Smollett, Fielding, and
+Sterne, and "Don Quixote," are the only ones deserving notice. It is
+worthy of mention that Washington's favorite quotation was Addison's "'Tis
+not in mortals to command success," but he also utilized with considerable
+aptitude quotations from Shakespeare and Sterne. There were half a dozen
+of the ephemeral novels of the day, but these were probably Mrs.
+Washington's, as her name is written in one, and her husband's in none.
+Writing to his grandson, Washington warned him that "light reading (by
+this, I mean books of little importance) may amuse for the moment, but
+leaves nothing solid behind."
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S BOOK-PLATE]
+
+
+One element of Washington's reading which cannot be passed over without
+notice is that of newspapers. In his early life he presumably read the
+only local paper of the time (the _Virginia Gazette_), for when an
+anonymous writer, "Centinel," in 1756, charged that Washington's regiment
+was given over to drunkenness and other misbehavior, he drew up a reply,
+which he sent with ten shillings to the newspaper, but the printer
+apparently declined to print it, for it never appeared.
+
+After the Revolution he complained to his Philadelphia agent, "I have such
+a number of Gazettes, crowded upon me (many without orders) that they are
+not only expensive, but really useless; as my other avocations will not
+afford me time to read them oftentimes, and when I do attempt it, find
+them more troublesome, than profitable; I have therefore to beg, if you
+Should get Money into your hands on Acct of the Inclosed Certificate, that
+you would be so good as to pay what I am owing to Messrs Dunlap &
+Claypoole, Mr. Oswald & Mr. Humphrey's. If they consider me however as
+engaged for the year, I am Content to let the matter run on to the
+Expiration of it" During the Presidency he subscribed to the _Gazette of
+the United States_, Brown's _Gazette_, Dunlap's _American Advertiser_, the
+_Pennsylvania Gazette_, Bache's _Aurora_, and the _New York Magazine_,
+Carey's _Museum_, and the _Universal Asylum_, though at this time he
+"lamented that the editors of the different gazettes in the Union do not
+more generally and more correctly (instead of stuffing their papers with
+scurrility and nonsensical declamation, which few would read if they were
+apprised of the contents,) publish the debates in Congress on all great
+national questions."
+
+Presently, for personal and party reasons, certain of the papers began to
+attack him, and Jefferson wrote to Madison that the President was
+"extremely affected by the attacks made and kept up on him in the public
+papers. I think he feels these things more than any person I ever met
+with." Later the Secretary of State noted that at an interview Washington
+"adverted to a piece in Freneau's paper of yesterday, he said that he
+despised all their attacks on him personally, but that there never had
+been an act of government ... that paper had not abused ... He was
+evidently sore and warm." At a cabinet meeting, too, according to the same
+writer, "the Presidt was much inflamed, got into one of those passions
+when he cannot command himself, ran on much on the personal abuse which
+had been bestowed on him, defied any man on earth to produce a single act
+of his since he had been in the govmt which was not done on the purest
+motives, that he had never repented but once the having slipped the moment
+of resigning his office, & that was every moment since, that _by god_ he
+had rather be in his grave than in his present situation. That he had
+rather be on his farm than to be made _emperor of the world_ and yet that
+they were charging him with wanting to be a king. That that _rascal
+Freneau_ sent him 3 of his papers every day, as if he thought he would
+become the distributor of his papers, that he could see in this nothing
+but an impudent design to insult him. He ended in this high tone. There
+was a pause."
+
+To correspondents, too, Washington showed how keenly he felt the attacks
+upon him, writing that "the publications in Freneau's and Bache's papers
+are outrages on common decency; and they progress in that style in
+proportion as their pieces are treated with contempt, and are passed by in
+silence, by those at whom they are aimed," and asked "in what will this
+abuse terminate? The result, as it respects myself, I care not; for I have
+consolation within, that no earthly efforts can deprive me of, and that
+is, that neither ambitious nor interested motives have influenced my
+conduct. The arrows of malevolence, therefore however barbed and well
+pointed, never can reach the most vulnerable part of me; though, whilst I
+am _up_ as a _mark_, they will be continually aimed."
+
+On another occasion he said, "I am beginning to receive, what I had
+made my mind up for on this occasion, the abuse of Mr. Bache, and his
+correspondents." He wrote a friend, "if you read the Aurora of this city,
+or those gazettes, which are under the same influence, you cannot but have
+perceived with what malignant industry and persevering falsehoods I am
+assailed, in order to weaken if not destroy the confidence of the public."
+
+When he retired from office he apparently cut off his subscriptions to
+papers, for a few months later he inquired, "what is the character of
+Porcupine's Gazette? I had thought when I left Philadelphia, of ordering
+it to be sent to me; then again, I thought it best not to do it; and
+altho' I should like to see both his and Bache's, the latter may, under
+all circumstances, be the best decision; I mean not subscribing to either
+of them." This decision to have no more to do with papers did not last,
+for on the night he was seized with his last illness Lear describes how
+"in the evening the papers having come from the post office, he sat in the
+room with Mrs. Washington and myself, reading them, till about nine
+o'clock when Mrs. Washington went up into Mrs. Lewis's room, who was
+confined, and left the General and myself reading the papers. He was very
+cheerful; and, when he met with anything which he thought diverting or
+interesting, he would read it aloud as well as his hoarseness would
+permit. He desired me to read to him the debates of the Virginia Assembly,
+on the election of a Senator and Governor; which I did--and, on hearing
+Mr. Madison's observations respecting Mr. Monroe, he appeared much
+affected, and spoke with some degree of asperity on the subject, which I
+endeavored to moderate, as I always did on such occasions."
+
+
+
+IX
+
+
+FRIENDS
+
+
+The frequently repeated statement that Washington was a man without
+friends is not the least curious of the myths that have obtained general
+credence. That it should be asserted only goes to show how absolutely his
+private life has been neglected in the study of his public career.
+
+In his will Washington left tokens of remembrance "to the acquaintances
+and friends of my juvenile years, Lawrence Washington and Robert
+Washington of Chotanck," the latter presumably the "dear Robin" of his
+earliest letter, and these two very distant kinsmen, whom he had come to
+know while staying at Wakefield, are the earliest friends of whom any
+record exists. Contemporary with them was a "Dear Richard," whose letters
+gave Washington "unspeakable pleasure, as I am convinced I am still in the
+memory of so worthy a friend,--a friendship I shall ever be proud of
+increasing."
+
+Next in time came his intimacy with the Fairfaxes and Carlyles, which
+began with Washington's visits to his brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon.
+About four miles from that place, at Belvoir, lived the Fairfaxes; and
+their kinspeople, the Carlyles, lived at Alexandria. Lawrence Washington
+had married Ann Fairfax, and through his influence his brother George was
+taken into the employment of Lord Fairfax, half as clerk and half as
+surveyor of his great tract of land, "the northern neck," which he had
+obtained by marriage with a daughter of Lord Culpeper, who in turn had
+obtained it from the "Merrie Monarch" by means so disreputable that they
+are best left unstated. From that time till his death Washington
+corresponded with several of the family and was a constant visitor at
+Belvoir, as the Fairfaxes were at Mount Vernon.
+
+
+[Illustration: SURVEY OF WASHINGTON'S BIRTHPLACE (WAKEFIELD), 1743]
+
+
+In 1755 Washington told his brother that "to that family I am under many
+obligations, particularly the old gentleman," but as time went on he more
+than paid the debt. In 1757 he acted as pallbearer to William Fairfax, and
+twelve years later his diary records, "Set off with Mrs. Washington and
+Patsey,... in order to stand for Mr. B. Fairfax's third son, which I did
+together with my wife, Mr. Warner Washington and his lady." For one of the
+family he obtained an army commission, and for another he undertook the
+care of his property during a visit to England; a care which unexpectedly
+lengthened, and was resigned only when Washington's time became public
+property. Nor did that lessen his services or the Fairfaxes' need of them,
+for in the Revolution that family were loyalists. Despite this, "the
+friendship," Washington assured them, "which I ever professed and felt for
+you, met no diminution from the difference in our political sentiments,"
+and in 1778 he was able to secure the safety of Lord Fairfax from
+persecution at the hands of the Whigs, a service acknowledged by his
+lordship in the following words:
+
+
+"There are times when favors conferred make a greater impression than at
+others, for, though I have received many, I hope I have not been unmindful
+of them; yet that, at a time your popularity was at the highest and mine
+at the lowest, and when it is so common for men's resentments to run up
+high against those, who differ from them in opinion, you should act with
+your wonted kindness towards me, has affected me more than any favor I
+have received; and could not be believed by some in New York, it being
+above the run of common minds."
+
+
+In behalf of another member of the family, threatened with confiscation,
+he wrote to a member of the House of Delegates, "I hope, I trust, that no
+act of Legislation in the State of Virginia has affected, or can affect,
+the properly of this gentleman, otherwise than in common with that of
+every good and well disposed citizen of America," and this was sufficient
+to put an end to the project At the close of the war he wrote to this
+absentee, "There was nothing wanting in [your] Letter to give compleat
+satisfaction to Mrs. Washington and myself but some expression to induce
+us to believe you would once more become our neighbors. Your house at
+Belvoir I am sorry to add is no more, but mine (which is enlarged since
+you saw it), is most sincerely and heartily at your service till you could
+rebuild it. As the path, after being closed by a long, arduous, and
+painful contest, is to use an Indian metaphor, now opened and made smooth,
+I shall please myself with the hope of hearing from you frequently; and
+till you forbid me to indulge the wish, I shall not despair of seeing you
+and Mrs. Fairfax once more the inhabitants of Belvoir, and greeting you
+both there the intimate companions of our old age, as you have been of our
+younger years." And to another he left a token of remembrance in his will.
+
+One of the most curious circle of friends was that composed of Indians.
+After his mission among them in 1753, Washington wrote to a tribe and
+signed himself "your friend and brother." In a less general sense he
+requested an Indian agent to "recommend me kindly to Mononcatoocha and
+others; tell them how happy it would make Conotocarius to have an
+opportunity of taking them by the hand." A little later he had this
+pleasure, and he wrote the governor, "the Indians are all around teasing
+and perplexing me for one thing or another, so that I scarce know what I
+write." When Washington left the frontier this intercourse ceased, but he
+was not forgotten, for in descending the Ohio in his Western trip of 1770
+a hunting party was met, and "in the person of Kiashuto I found an old
+acquaintance, he being one of the Indians that went [with me] to the
+French in 1753. He expressed satisfaction at seeing me, and treated us
+with great kindness, giving us a quarter of very fine buffalo. He insisted
+upon our spending that night with him, and, in order to retard us as
+little as possible moved his camp down the river."
+
+With his appointment to the Virginia regiment came military friends. From
+the earliest of these--Van Braam, who had served under Lawrence Washington
+in the Carthagena expedition of 1742, and who had come to live at Mount
+Vernon--Washington had previously taken lessons in fencing, and when
+appointed the bearer of a letter to the French commander on the Ohio he
+took Van Braam with him as interpreter. A little later, on receiving his
+majority, Washington appointed Van Braam his recruiting lieutenant, and
+recommended him to the governor for a captain's commission on the grounds
+that he was "an experienced good officer." To Van Braam fell the duty of
+translating the capitulation to the French at Fort Necessity, and to his
+reading was laid the blunder by which Washington signed a statement
+acknowledging himself as an "assassin." Inconsequence he became the
+scapegoat of the expedition, was charged by the governor with being a
+"poltroon" and traitor, and was omitted from the Assembly's vote of thanks
+and extra pay to the regiment. But Washington stood by him, and when
+himself burgess succeeded in getting this latter vote rescinded.
+
+Another friend of the same period was the Chevalier Peyroney, whom
+Washington first made an ensign, and then urged the governor to advance
+him, promising that if the governor "should be pleased to indulge me in
+this request, I shall look upon it in a very particular light." Peyroney
+was badly wounded at Fort Necessity and was furloughed, during which he
+wrote his commander, "I have made my particular Business to tray if any
+had some Bad intention against you here Below; But thank God I meet
+allowais with a good wish for you from evry Mouth each one entertining
+such Caracter of you as I have the honour to do myself." He served again
+in the Braddock march, and in that fiasco, Washington wrote, "Captain
+Peyroney and all his officers down to a corporal, was killed."
+
+With Captain Stewart--"a gentleman whose assiduity and military capacity
+are second to none in our Service"--Washington was intimate enough to have
+Stewart apply in 1763 for four hundred pounds to aid him to purchase a
+commission, a sum Washington did not have at his disposal. But because of
+"a regard of that high nature that I could never see you uneasy without
+feeling a part and wishing to remove the cause," Washington lent him three
+hundred pounds towards it, apparently without much return, for some years
+later he wrote to a friend that he was "very glad to learn that my friend
+Stewart was well when you left London. I have not had a letter from him
+these five years." At the close of the Revolution he received a letter
+from Stewart containing "affectionate and flattering expressions," which
+gave Washington "much pleasure," as it "removed an apprehension I had long
+labored under, of your having taken your departure for the land of
+Spirits. How else could I account for a silence of 15 years. I shall
+always be happy to see you at Mt. Vernon."
+
+His friend William Ramsay--"well known, well-esteemed, and of unblemished
+character"--he appointed commissary, and long after, in 1769, wrote,--
+
+
+"Having once or twice of late heard you speak highly in praise of the
+Jersey College, as if you had a desire of sending your son William
+there ... I should be glad, if you have no other objection to it than what
+may arise from the expense, if you would send him there as soon as it is
+convenient, and depend on me for twenty-five pounds this currency a year
+for his support, so long as it may be necessary for the completion of his
+education. If I live to see the accomplishment of this term, the sum here
+stipulated shall he annually paid; and if I die in the mean while, this
+letter shall be obligatory upon my heirs, or executors, to do it according
+to the true intent and meaning hereof. No other return is expected, or
+wished, for this offer, than that you will accept it with the same freedom
+and good will, with which it is made, and that you may not even consider
+it in the light of an obligation or mention it as such; for, be assured,
+that from me it will never be known."
+
+
+The dearest friendship formed in these years was with the doctor of the
+regiment, James Craik, who in the course of his duties attended Washington
+in two serious illnesses, and when the war was ended settled near Mount
+Vernon. He was frequently a visitor there, and soon became the family
+medical attendant. When appointed General, Washington wrote, "tell Doctor
+Craik that I should be very glad to see him here if there was anything
+worth his acceptance; but the Massachusetts people suffer nothing to
+go by them that they lay hands upon." In 1777 the General secured his
+appointment as deputy surgeon-general of the Middle Department, and three
+years later, when the hospital service was being reformed, he used his
+influence to have him retained. Craik was one of those instrumental in
+warning the commander-in-chief of the existence of the Conway Cabal,
+because "my attachment to your person is such, my friendship is so
+sincere, that every hint which has a tendency to hurt your honor, wounds
+me most sensibly." The doctor was Washington's companion, by invitation,
+in both his later trips to the Ohio, and his trust in him was so strong
+that he put under his care the two nephews whose charge he had assumed. In
+Washington's ledger an entry tells of another piece of friendliness, to
+the effect, "Dr. James Craik, paid him, being a donation to his son, Geo.
+Washington Craik for his education �30," and after graduating the young
+man for a time served as one of his private secretaries. After a serious
+illness in 1789, Washington wrote to the doctor, "persuaded as I am, that
+the case has been treated with skill, and with as much tenderness as the
+nature of the complaint would admit, yet I confess I often wished for your
+inspection of it," and later he wrote, "if I should ever have occasion for
+a Physician or Surgeon, I should prefer my old Surgeon, Dr. Craik, who,
+from 40 years' experience, is better qualified than a Dozen of them put
+together." Craik was the first of the doctors to reach Washington's
+bedside in his last illness, and when the dying man predicted his own
+death, "the Doctor pressed his hand but could not utter a word. He retired
+from the bedside and sat by the fire absorbed in grief." In Washington's
+will he left "to my compatriot in arms and old and intimate friend, Doctor
+Craik I give my Bureau (or as the Cabinet makers called it, Tambour
+Secretary) and the circular chair, an appendage of my study."
+
+The arrival of Braddock and his army at Alexandria brought a new circle of
+military friends. Washington "was very particularly noticed by that
+General, was taken into his family as an extra aid, offered a Captain's
+commission by _brevet_ (which was the highest grade he had it in his power
+to bestow) and had the compliment of several blank Ensigncies given him to
+dispose of to the Young Gentlemen of his acquaintance." In this position
+he was treated "with much complaisance ... especially from the General,"
+which meant much, as Braddock seems to have had nothing but curses for
+nearly every one else, and the more as Washington and he "had frequent
+disputes," which were "maintained with warmth on both sides, especially on
+his." But the general, "though his enmities were strong," in "his
+attachments" was "warm," and grew to like and trust the young volunteer,
+and had he "survived his unfortunate defeat, I should have met with
+preferment," having "his promise to that effect." Washington was by the
+general when he was wounded in the lungs, lifted him into a covered cart,
+and "brought him over the _first_ ford of the Monongahela," into temporary
+safety. Three days later Braddock died of his wounds, bequeathing to
+Washington his favorite horse and his body-servant as tokens of his
+gratitude. Over him Washington read the funeral service, and it was left
+to him to see that "the poor general" was interred "with the honors of
+war."
+
+Even before public service had made him known, Washington was a friend and
+guest of many of the leading Virginians. Between 1747 and 1754 he visited
+the Carters of Shirley, Nomony, and Sabine Hall, the Lewises of Warner
+Hall, the Lees of Stratford, and the Byrds of Westover, and there was
+acquaintance at least with the Spotswoods, Fauntleroys, Corbins,
+Randolphs, Harrisons, Robinsons, Nicholases, and other prominent families.
+In fact, one friend wrote him, "your health and good fortune are the toast
+of every table," and another that "the Council and Burgesses are mostly
+your friends," and those two bodies included every Virginian of real
+influence. It was Richard Corbin who enclosed him his first commission, in
+a brief note, beginning "Dear George" and ending "your friend," but in
+time relations became more or less strained, and Washington suspected him
+"of representing my character ... with ungentlemanly freedom." With
+John Robinson, "Speaker" and Treasurer of Virginia, who wrote Washington
+in 1756, "our hopes, dear George, are all fixed on you," a close
+correspondence was maintained, and when Washington complained of the
+governor's course towards him Robinson replied, "I beg dear friend, that
+you will bear, so far as a man of honor ought, the discouragements and
+slights you have too often met with." The son, Beverly Robinson, was a
+fellow-soldier, and, as already mentioned, was Washington's host on his
+visit to New York in 1756. The Revolution interrupted the friendship, but
+it is alleged that Robinson (who was deep in the Arnold plot) made an
+appeal to the old-time relation in an endeavor to save Andr�. The appeal
+was in vain, but auld lang syne had its influence, for the sons of
+Beverly, British officers taken prisoners in 1779, were promptly
+exchanged, so one of them asserted, "in consequence of the embers of
+friendship that still remained unextinguished in the breasts of my father
+and General Washington."
+
+Outside of his own colony, too, Washington made friends of many prominent
+families, with whom there was more or less interchange of hospitality.
+Before the Revolution there had been visiting or breaking of bread with
+the Galloways, Dulaneys, Carrolls, Calverts, Jenifers, Edens, Ringgolds,
+and Tilghmans of Maryland, the Penns, Cadwaladers, Morrises, Shippens,
+Aliens, Dickinsons, Chews, and Willings of Pennsylvania, and the De
+Lanceys and Bayards of New York.
+
+Election to the Continental Congress strengthened some friendships and
+added new ones. With Benjamin Harrison he was already on terms of
+intimacy, and as long as the latter was in Congress he was the member most
+in the confidence of the General. Later they differed in politics, but
+Washington assured Harrison that "my friendship is not in the least
+lessened by the difference, which has taken place in our political
+sentiments, nor is my regard for you diminished by the part you have
+acted." Joseph Jones and Patrick Henry both took his part against the
+Cabal, and the latter did him especial service in forwarding to him the
+famous anonymous letter, an act for which Washington felt "most grateful
+obligations." Henry and Washington differed later in politics, and it was
+reported that the latter spoke disparagingly of the former, but this
+Washington denied, and not long after offered Henry the Secretaryship of
+State. Still later he made a personal appeal to him to come forward and
+combat the Virginia resolutions of 1798, an appeal to which Henry
+responded. The intimacy with Robert Morris was close, and, as already
+noted, Washington and his family were several times inmates of his home.
+Gouverneur Morris was one of his most trusted advisers, and, it is
+claimed, gave the casting vote which saved Washington from being arrested
+in 1778, when the Cabal was fiercest. While President, Washington sent him
+on a most important mission to Great Britain, and on its completion made
+him Minister to France. From that post the President was, at the request
+of France, compelled to recall him; but in doing so Washington wrote him a
+private letter assuring Morris that he "held the same place in my
+estimation" as ever, and signed himself "yours affectionately." Charles
+Carroll of Carrollton was a partisan of the General, and very much
+disgusted a member of the Cabal by telling him "almost literally that
+anybody who displeased or did not admire the Commander-in-chief, ought not
+to be kept in the army." And to Edward Rutledge Washington wrote, "I can
+but love and thank you, and I do it sincerely for your polite and friendly
+letter.... The sentiments contained in it are such as have uniformly
+flowed from your pen, and they are not the less flattering than pleasing
+to me."
+
+The command of the Continental army brought a new kind of friend, in the
+young aides of his staff. One of his earliest appointments was Joseph
+Reed, and, though he remained but five months in the service, a close
+friendship was formed. Almost weekly Washington wrote him in the most
+confidential and affectionate manner, and twice he appealed to Reed to
+take the position once more, in one instance adding that if "you are
+disposed to continue with me, I shall think myself too fortunate and
+happy to wish for a change." Yet Washington none the less sent Reed
+congratulations on his election to the Pennsylvania Assembly, "although I
+consider it the coup-de-grace to my ever seeing you" again a "member of my
+family," to help him he asked a friend to endeavor to get Reed legal
+business, and when all law business ceased and the would-be lawyer was
+without occupation or means of support, he used his influence to secure
+him the appointment of adjutant.
+
+Reed kept him informed as to the news of Philadelphia, and wrote even
+such adverse criticism of the General as he heard, which Washington
+"gratefully" acknowledged. But one criticism Reed did not write was what
+he himself was saying of his general after the fall of Fort Washington,
+for which he blamed the commander-in-chief in a letter to Lee, and
+probably to others, for when later Reed and Arnold quarrelled, the latter
+boasted that "I can say I never basked in the sunshine of my general's
+favor, and courted him to his face, when I was at the same time treating
+him with the greatest disrespect and villifying his character when absent.
+This is more than a ruling member of the Council of Pennsylvania can say."
+Washington learned of this criticism in a letter from Lee to Reed, which
+was opened at head-quarters on the supposition that it was on army
+matters, and "with no idea of its being a private letter, much less the
+tendency of the correspondence," as Washington explained in a letter to
+Reed, which had not a word of reproach for the double-dealing that must
+have cut the General keenly, coming as it did at a moment of misfortune
+and discouragement. Reed wrote a lame explanation and apology, and later
+sought to "regain" the "lost friendship" by an earnest appeal to
+Washington's generosity. Nor did he appeal in vain, for the General
+replied that though "I felt myself hurt by a certain letter ... I was
+hurt ... because the same sentiments were not communicated immediately to
+myself." The old-time intimacy was renewed, and how little his personal
+feeling had influenced Washington is shown in the fact that even previous
+to this peace-making he had secured for Reed the appointment to command
+one of the choicest brigades in the army. Perhaps the friendship was never
+quite as close, but in writing him Washington still signed himself "yours
+affectionately."
+
+John Laurens, appointed an aide in 1777, quickly endeared himself to
+Washington, and conceived the most ardent affection for his chief. The
+young officer of twenty-four used all his influence with his father (then
+President of Congress) against the Cabal, and in 1778, when Charles Lee
+was abusing the commander-in-chief, Laurens thought himself bound to
+resent it, "as well on account of the relation he bore to General
+Washington, as from motives of personal friendship and respect for his
+character," and he challenged the defamer and put a bullet into him. To
+his commander he signed himself "with the greatest veneration and
+attachment your Excellency's Faithful Aid," and Washington in his letters
+always addressed him as "my dear Laurens." After his death in battle,
+Washington wrote, in reply to an inquiry,--
+
+
+"You ask if the character of Colonel John Laurens, as drawn in the
+_Independent Chronicle_ of 2d of December last, is just. I answer, that
+such parts of the drawing as have fallen under my observation, is
+literally so; and that it is my firm belief his merits and worth richly
+entitle him to the whole picture. No man possessed more of the _amor
+patriae_. In a word, he had not a fault, that I could discover, unless
+intrepidity bordering upon rashness could come under that denomination;
+and to this he was excited by the purest motives."
+
+
+Of another aide, Tench Tilghman, Washington said, "he has been a zealous
+servant and slave to the public, and a faithful assistant to me for near
+five years, great part of which time he refused to receive pay. Honor
+and gratitude interest me in his favor." As an instance of this, the
+commander-in-chief gave to him the distinction of bearing to Congress the
+news of the surrender of Cornwallis, with the request to that body that
+Tilghman should be honored in some manner. And in acknowledging a letter
+Washington said, "I receive with great sensibility and pleasure your
+assurances of affection and regard. It would be but a renewal of what I
+have often repeated to you, that there are few men in the world to whom I
+am more attached by inclination than I am to you. With the Cause, I
+hope--most devoutly hope--there will be an end to my Military Service, when
+as our places of residence will not be far apart, I shall never be more
+happy than in your Company at Mt. Vernon. I shall always be glad to hear
+from, and keep up a correspondence with you." When Tilghman died,
+Washington asserted that
+
+
+"He had left as fair a reputation as ever belonged to a human character,"
+and to his father he wrote, "Of all the numerous acquaintances of your
+lately deceased son, & midst all the sorrowings that are mingled on that
+melancholy occasion, I may venture to assert that (excepting those of his
+nearest relatives) none could have felt his death with more regret than I
+did, because no one entertained a higher opinion of his worth, or had
+imbibed sentiments of greater friendship for him than I had done.... Midst
+all your grief, there is this consolation to be drawn;--that while living,
+no man could be more esteemed, and since dead, none more lamented than
+Colo. Tilghman."
+
+
+To David Humphreys, a member of the staff, Washington gave the honor of
+carrying to Congress the standards captured at Yorktown, recommending him
+to the notice of that body for his "attention, fidelity, and good
+services." This aide escorted Washington to Mount Vernon at the close of
+the Revolution, and was "the last officer belonging to the army" who
+parted from "the Commander-in-chief." Shortly after, Humphreys returned to
+Mount Vernon, half as secretary and half as visitor and companion, and he
+alluded to this time in his poem of "Mount Vernon," when he said,--
+
+
+"Twas mine, return'd from Europe's courts
+To share his thoughts, partake his sports."
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON FAMILY RECORD]
+
+
+When Washington was accused of cruelty in the Asgill case, Humphreys
+published an account of the affair, completely vindicating his friend, for
+which he was warmly thanked. He was frequently urged to come to Mount
+Vernon, and Washington on one occasion lamented "the cause which has
+deprived us of your aid in the attack of Christmas pies," and on another
+assured Humphreys of his "great pleasure [when] I received the intimation
+of your spending the winter under this Roof. The invitation was not less
+sincere, than the reception will be cordial. The only stipulations I shall
+contend for are, that in all things you shall do as you please--I will do
+the same; and that no ceremony may be used or any restraint be imposed on
+any one." Humphreys was visiting him when the notification of his election
+as President was received, and was the only person, except servants, who
+accompanied Washington to New York. Here he continued for a time to give
+his assistance, and was successively appointed Indian commissioner,
+informal agent to Spain, and finally Minister to Portugal. While holding
+this latter position Washington wrote to him, "When you shall think with
+the poet that 'the post of honor is a private station'--& may be inclined
+to enjoy yourself in my shades ... I can only tell you that you will meet
+with the same cordial reception at Mount Vernon that you have always
+experienced at that place," and when Humphreys answered that his coming
+marriage made the visit impossible, Washington replied, "The desire of a
+companion in my latter days, in whom I could confide ... induced me to
+express too strongly ... the hope of having you as an inmate." On the
+death of Washington, Humphreys published a poem expressing the deepest
+affection and admiration for "my friend."
+
+The longest and closest connection was that with Hamilton. This very young
+and obscure officer attracted Washington's attention in the campaign of
+1776, early in the next year was appointed to the staff, and quickly
+became so much a favorite that Washington spoke of him as "my boy."
+Whatever friendliness this implied was not, however, reciprocated by
+Hamilton. After four years of service, he resigned, under circumstances to
+which he pledged Washington to secrecy, and then himself, in evident
+irritation, wrote as follows:
+
+"Two days ago, the General and I passed each other on the stairs. He told
+me he wanted to speak to me. I answered that I would wait upon him
+immediately. I went below, and delivered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be sent
+to the commissary, containing an order of a pressing and interesting
+nature. Returning to the General, I was stopped on the way by the Marquis
+de 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. Instead of finding the General, as is usual, in his room, I met
+him at the head of the stairs, where, 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, but with decision: '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 this 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, usefulness, etc, and
+of his desire, in a candid conversation, to heal a difference which could
+not have happened but in a moment of passion. I requested Mr Tilghman to
+tell him--1st. That I had taken my resolution in a manner not to be
+revoked ... Thus we stand ... Perhaps you may think I was precipitate in
+rejecting the overture made by the General to an accomodation. I assure
+you, my dear sir, it was not the effect of resentment; it was the
+deliberate result of maxims I had long formed for the government of my own
+conduct.... I believe you know the place I held in the General's
+confidence and counsels, which will make more extraordinary to you to
+learn that for three years past I have felt no friendship for him and have
+professed none. The truth is, our dispositions are the opposites of each
+other, and the pride of my temper would not suffer me to profess what I
+did not feel. Indeed, when advances of this kind have been made to me on
+his part, they were received in a manner that showed at least that I had
+no desire to court them, and that I desired to stand rather upon a footing
+of military confidence than of private attachment."
+
+Had Washington been the man this letter described he would never have
+forgiven this treatment. On the contrary, only two months later, when
+compelled to refuse for military reasons a favor Hamilton asked, he said
+that "my principal concern arises from an apprehension that you will
+impute my refusal to your request to other motives." On this refusal
+Hamilton enclosed his commission to Washington, but "Tilghman came to me
+in his name, pressed me to retain my commission, with an assurance that he
+would endeavor, by all means, to give me a command." Later Washington did
+more than Hamilton himself had asked, when he gave him the leading of the
+storming party at Yorktown, a post envied by every officer in the army.
+
+Apparently this generosity lessened Hamilton's resentment, for a
+correspondence on public affairs was maintained from this time on, though
+Madison stated long after "that Hamilton often spoke disparagingly of
+Washington's talents, particularly after the Revolution and at the first
+part of the presidentcy," and Benjamin Rush confirms this by a note to the
+effect that "Hamilton often spoke with contempt of General Washington. He
+said that ... his heart was a stone." The rumor of the ill feeling was
+turned to advantage by Hamilton's political opponents in 1787, and
+compelled the former to appeal to Washington to save him from the injury
+the story was doing. In response Washington wrote a letter intended for
+public use, in which he said,--
+
+
+"As you say it is insinuated by some of your political adversaries,
+and may obtain credit, 'that you _palmed_ yourself upon me, and was
+_dismissed_ from my family,' and call upon me to do you justice by a
+recital of the facts, I do therefore explicitly declare, that both charges
+are entirely unfounded. With respect to the first, I have no cause to
+believe, that you took a single step to accomplish, or had the most
+distant idea of receiving an appointment in my family till you were
+invited in it; and, with respect to the second, that your quitting it was
+altogether the effect of your own choice."
+
+
+With the appointment as Secretary of the Treasury warmer feelings were
+developed. Hamilton became the President's most trusted official, and was
+tireless in the aid he gave his superior. Even after he left office he
+performed many services equivalent to official ones, for which Washington
+did "not know how to thank" him "sufficiently," and the President leaned
+on his judgment to an otherwise unexampled extent. This service produced
+affection and respect, and in 1792 Washington wrote from Mount Vernon, "We
+have learnt ... that you have some thoughts of taking a trip this way. I
+felt pleasure at hearing it, and hope it is unnecessary to add, that it
+would be considerably increased by seeing you under this roof; for you may
+be assured of the sincere and affectionate regard of yours, &c." and
+signed other letters "always and affectionately yours," or "very
+affectionately," while Hamilton reciprocated by sending "affectionate
+attachment."
+
+On being appointed lieutenant-general in 1798, Washington at once sought
+the aid of Hamilton for the highest position under him, assuring the
+Secretary of War that "of the abilities and fitness of the gentleman you
+have named for a high command in the _provisional army_, I think as you
+do, and that his services ought to be secured at almost any price." To
+this the President, who hated Hamilton, objected, but Washington refused
+to take the command unless this wish was granted, and Adams had to give
+way. They stood in this relation when Washington died, and almost the last
+letter he penned was to this friend. On learning of the death, Hamilton
+wrote of "our beloved Commander-in-chief,"--
+
+
+"The very painful event ... filled my heart with bitterness. Perhaps no
+man in this community has equal cause with myself to deplore the loss. I
+have been much indebted to the kindness of the General, and he was an
+_�gis very essential to me_. But regrets are unavailing. For great
+misfortunes it is the business of reason to seek consolation. The friends
+of General Washington have very noble ones. If virtue can secure happiness
+in another world, he is happy."
+
+
+Knox was the earliest army friend of those who rose to the rank of
+general, and was honored by Washington with absolute trust. After the war
+the two corresponded, and Knox expressed "unalterable affection" for the
+"thousand evidences of your friendship." He was appointed Secretary of War
+in the first administration, and in taking command of the provisional army
+Washington secured his appointment as a major-general, and at this time
+asserted that, "with respect to General Knox I can say with truth there is
+no man in the United States with whom I have been in habits of greater
+intimacy, no one whom I have loved more sincerely nor any for whom I have
+had a greater friendship."
+
+Greene was perhaps the closest to Washington of all the generals, and
+their relations might be dwelt upon at much length. But the best evidence
+of friendship is in Washington's treatment of a story involving his
+financial honesty, of which he said, "persuaded as I always have been of
+Genl Greene's integrity and worth, I spurned those reports which tended to
+calumniate his conduct ... being perfectly convinced that whenever the
+matter should be investigated, his motives ... would appear pure and
+unimpeachable." When on Greene's death Washington heard that his family
+was left in embarrassed circumstances, he offered, if Mrs. Greene would
+"entrust my namesake G. Washington Greene to my care, I will give him as
+good an education as this country (I mean the United States) will afford,
+and will bring him up to either of the genteel professions that his frds.
+may chuse, or his own inclination shall lead him to pursue, at my own cost
+& expence."
+
+For "Light-horse Harry" Lee an affection more like that given to the
+youngsters of the staff was felt Long after the war was over, Lee began a
+letter to him "Dear General," and then continued,--
+
+
+"Although the exalted station, which your love of us and our love of you
+has placed you in, calls for change in mode of address, yet I cannot so
+quickly relinquish the old manner. Your military rank holds its place in
+my mind, notwithstanding your civic glory; and, whenever I do abandon the
+title which used to distinguish you, I shall do it with awkwardness.... My
+reluctance to trespass a moment on your time would have operated to a
+further procrastination of my wishes, had I not been roused above every
+feeling of ceremony by the heart rending intelligence, received yesterday,
+that your life was despaired of. Had I had wings in the moment, I should
+have wafted myself to your bedside, only again to see the first of men;
+but alas! despairing as I was, from the account received, after the
+affliction of one day and night, I was made most happy by receiving a
+letter, now before me from New York, announcing the restoration of your
+health. May heaven preserve it!"
+
+
+It was Lee who first warned Washington that Jefferson was slandering him
+in secret, and who kept him closely informed as to the political manuvres
+in Virginia. Washington intrusted to him the command of the army in the
+Whiskey Insurrection, and gave him an appointment in the provisional army.
+Lee was in Congress when the death of the great American was announced to
+that body, and it was he who coined the famous "First in war, first in
+peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
+
+As need hardly be said, however, the strongest affection among the general
+officers was that between Washington and Lafayette. In the advent of this
+young Frenchman the commander saw only "embarassment," but he received
+"the young volunteer," so Lafayette said, "in the most friendly manner,"
+invited him to reside in his house as a member of his military family, and
+as soon as he came to know him he recommended Congress to give him a
+command. As Lafayette became popular with the army, an endeavor was
+made by the Cabal to win him to their faction by bribing him with an
+appointment to lead an expedition against Canada, independent of control
+by Washington. Lafayette promptly declined the command, unless subject to
+the General, and furthermore he "braved the whole party (Cabal) and threw
+them into confusion by making them drink the health of their general." At
+the battle of Monmouth Washington gave the command of the attacking party
+to Lafayette, and after the conflict the two, according to the latter,
+"passed the night lying on the same mantle, talking." In the same way
+Washington distinguished him by giving him the command of the expedition
+to rescue Virginia from Cornwallis, and to his division was given the
+most honorable position at Yorktown. When the siege of that place was
+completed, Lafayette applied for leave of absence to spend the winter in
+France, and as he was on the point of sailing he received a personal
+letter from Washington, for "I owe it to friendship and to my affectionate
+regard for you my dear Marquis, not to let you leave this country without
+carrying fresh marks of my attachment to you," and in his absence
+Washington wrote that a mutual friend who bore a letter "can tell you more
+forcibly, than I can express how much we all love and wish to embrace
+you."
+
+A reunion came in 1784, looked forward to by Lafayette with an eagerness
+of which he wrote, "by Sunday or Monday, I hope at last to be blessed with
+a sight of my dear General. There is no rest for me till I go to Mount
+Vernon. I long for the pleasure to embrace you, my dear General; and the
+happiness of being once more with you will be so great, that no words can
+ever express it. Adieu, my dear General; in a few days I shall be at Mount
+Vernon, and I do already feel delighted with so charming a prospect."
+After this visit was over Washington wrote, "In the moment of our
+separation, upon the road as I travelled, and every hour since, I have
+felt all that love, respect and attachment for you, with which length of
+years, close connexion, and your merits have inspired me. I often asked
+myself, as our carriages separated, whether that was the last sight I ever
+should have of you?" And to this letter Lafayette replied,--
+
+
+"No my beloved General, our late parting was not by any means a last
+interview. My whole soul revolts at the idea; and could I harbour it an
+instant, indeed, my dear General, it would make me miserable. I well see
+you will never go to France. The inexpressible pleasure of embracing you
+in my own house, of welcoming you in a family where your name is adored, I
+do not much expect to experience; but to you I shall return, and, within
+the walls of Mount Vernon, we shall yet speak of olden times. My firm plan
+is to visit now and then my friend on this side of the Atlantic; and the
+most beloved of all friends I ever had, or ever shall have anywhere, is
+too strong an inducement for me to return to him, not to think that
+whenever it is possible I shall renew my so pleasing visits to Mount
+Vernon.... Adieu, adieu, my dear General. It is with inexpressible pain
+that I feel I am going to be severed from you by the Atlantic. Everything,
+that admiration, respect, gratitude, friendship, and fillial love, can
+inspire, is combined in my affectionate heart to devote me most tenderly
+to you. In your friendship I find a delight which words cannot express.
+Adieu, my dear General. It is not without emotion that I write this word,
+although I know I shall soon visit you again. Be attentive to your health.
+Let me hear from you every month. Adieu, adieu."
+
+
+The correspondence begged was maintained, but Lafayette complained that
+"To one who so tenderly loves you, who so happily enjoyed the times we
+have passed together, and who never, on any part of the globe, even in his
+own house, could feel himself so perfectly at home as in your family, it
+must be confessed that an irregular, lengthy correspondence is quite
+insufficient I beseech you, in the name of our friendship, of that
+paternal concern of yours for my happiness, not to miss any opportunity to
+let me hear from my dear General."
+
+One letter from Washington told Lafayette of his recovery from a serious
+illness, and Lafayette responded, "What could have been my feelings, had
+the news of your illness reached me before I knew my beloved General, my
+adopted father, was out of danger? I was struck at the idea of the
+situation you have been in, while I, uninformed and so distant from you,
+was anticipating the long-waited-for pleasure to hear from you, and the
+still more endearing prospect of visiting you and presenting you the
+tribute of a revolution, one of your first offsprings. For God's sake, my
+dear General, take care of your health!"
+
+Presently, as the French Revolution gathered force, the anxiety was
+reversed, Washington writing that "The lively interest which I take in
+your welfare, my dear Sir, keeps my mind in constant anxiety for your
+personal safety." This fear was only too well founded, for shortly after
+Lafayette was a captive in an Austrian prison and his wife was appealing
+to her husband's friend for help. Our ministers were told to do all they
+could to secure his liberty, and Washington wrote a personal letter to the
+Emperor of Austria. Before receiving her letter, on the first news of the
+"truly affecting" condition of "poor Madame Lafayette," he had written to
+her his sympathy, and, supposing that money was needed, had deposited at
+Amsterdam two hundred guineas "subject to your orders."
+
+When she and her daughters joined her husband in prison, Lafayette's son,
+and Washington's godson, came to America; an arrival of which the
+godfather wrote that, "to express all the sensibility, which has been
+excited in my breast by the receipt of young Lafayette's letter, from the
+recollection of his father's merits, services, and sufferings, from my
+friendship for him, and from my wishes to become a friend and father to
+his son is unnecessary." The lad became a member of the family, and a
+visitor at this time records that "I was particularly struck with the
+marks of affection which the General showed his pupil, his adopted son of
+Marquis de Lafayette. Seated opposite to him, he looked at him with
+pleasure, and listened to him with manifest interest." With Washington he
+continued till the final release of his father, and a simple business note
+in Washington's ledger serves to show both his delicacy and his generosity
+to the boy: "By Geo. W. Fayette, gave for the purpose of his getting
+himself such small articles of Clothing as he might not choose to ask for
+$100." Another item in the accounts was three hundred dollars "to defray
+his exps. to France," and by him Washington sent a line to his old friend,
+saying, "this letter I hope and expect will be presented to you by your
+son, who is highly deserving of such parents as you and your amiable
+lady."
+
+Long previous to this, too, a letter had been sent to Virginia Lafayette,
+couched in the following terms:
+
+
+"Permit me to thank my dear little correspondent for the favor of her
+letter of the 18 of June last, and to impress her with the idea of
+the pleasure I shall derive from a continuance of them. Her papa is
+restored to her with all the good health, paternal affection, and honors,
+which her tender heart could wish. He will carry a kiss to her from me
+(which might be more agreeable from a pretty boy), and give her assurances
+of the affectionate regard with which I have the pleasure of being her
+well-wisher,
+
+George Washington."
+
+
+In this connection it is worth glancing at Washington's relations with
+children, the more that it has been frequently asserted that he had no
+liking for them. As already shown, at different times he adopted or
+assumed the expenses and charge of not less than nine of the children of
+his kith and kin, and to his relations with children he seldom wrote a
+letter without a line about the "little ones." His kindnesses to the sons
+of Ramsay, Craik, Greene, and Lafayette have already been noticed.
+Furthermore, whenever death or illness came among the children of his
+friends there was sympathy expressed. Dumas relates of his visit to
+Providence with Washington, that "we arrived there at night; the whole of
+the population had assembled from the suburbs; we were surrounded by a
+crowd of children carrying torches, reiterating the acclamations of the
+citizens; all were eager to approach the person of him whom they called
+their father, and pressed so closely around us that they hindered us from
+proceeding. General Washington was much affected, stopped a few moments,
+and, pressing my hand, said, 'We may be beaten by the English; it is the
+chance of war; but behold an army which they can never conquer,'"
+
+In his journey through New England, not being able to get lodgings at an
+inn, Washington spent a night in a private house, and when all payment was
+refused, he wrote his host from his next stopping-place,--
+
+
+"Being informed that you have given my name to one of your sons, and
+called another after Mrs. Washington's family, and being moreover very
+much pleased with the modest and innocent looks of your two daughters,
+Patty and Polly, I do for these reasons send each of these girls a piece
+of chintz; and to Patty, who bears the name of Mrs. Washington, and who
+waited upon us more than Polly did, I send five guineas, with which she
+may buy herself any little ornaments she may want, or she may dispose of
+them in any other manner more agreeable to herself. As I do not give these
+things with a view to have it talked of, or even of its being known, the
+less there is said about the matter the better you will please me; but,
+that I may be sure the chintz and money have got safe to hand, let Patty,
+who I dare say is equal to it, write me a line informing me thereof,
+directed to 'The President of the United States at New York.'"
+
+
+Miss Stuart relates that "One morning while Mr. Washington was sitting for
+his picture, a little brother of mine ran into the room, when my father
+thinking it would annoy the General, told him he must leave; but the
+General took him upon his knee, held him for some time, and had quite a
+little chat with him, and, in fact, they seemed to be pleased with each
+other. My brother remembered with pride, as long as he lived, that
+Washington had talked with him."
+
+For the son of his secretary, Lear, there seems to have been great
+fondness, and in one instance the father was told that "It gave Mrs.
+Washington, myself and all who know him, sincere pleasure to hear that our
+little favorite had arrived safe, and was in good health at Portsmouth. We
+sincerely wish him a long continuance of the latter--that he may always be
+as charming and promising as he now is--and that he may live to be a
+comfort and blessing to you, and an ornament to his country. As a
+testimony of my affection for him I send him a ticket in the lottery which
+is now drawing in the Federal City; and if it should be his fortune to
+draw the hotel it will add to the pleasure I have in giving it." A second
+letter condoled with "little Lincoln," because owing to the collapse of
+the lottery the "poor little fellow" will not even get enough to "build
+him a baby house."
+
+For the father, Tobias Lear, who came into his employment in 1786 and
+remained with him till his death, Washington felt the greatest affection
+and trust. It was he who sent for the doctor in the beginning of the last
+illness, and he was in the sickroom most of the time. Holding Washington's
+hand, he received from him his last orders, and later when Washington
+"appeared to be in great pain and distress from the difficulty of
+breathing ... I lay upon the bed and endeavored to raise him, and turn him
+with as much ease as possible. He appeared penetrated with gratitude for
+my attentions, and often said 'I am afraid I shall fatigue you too much.'"
+Still later Lear "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." At the
+final moment Lear took his hand "and laid it upon his breast." When all
+was over, "I kissed the cold hand, laid it down, and was ... lost in
+profound grief."
+
+
+
+X
+
+
+ENEMIES
+
+
+Any man of force is to be known quite as much by the character of his
+enemies as by that of his friends, and this is true of Washington. The
+subject offers some difficulties, for most of his enemies later in life
+went out of their way to deny all antagonism, and took pains to destroy
+such proof as they could come at of ill-feeling towards him. Yet enough
+remains to show who were in opposition to him, and on what grounds.
+
+The first of those now known to be opposed to him was George Muse,
+lieutenant-colonel in 1754 under Washington. At Fort Necessity he was
+guilty of cowardice, he was discharged in disgrace, and his name was
+omitted from the Assembly's vote of thanks to the regiment. Stung by this
+action, he took his revenge in a manner related by Peyroney, who wrote
+Washington,--
+
+
+"Many enquired to me about Muse's Braveries, poor Body I had pity him
+ha'nt he had the weakness to Confes his Coardise himself, & the impudence
+to taxe all the reste of the oficers without exception of the same
+imperfection for he said to many of the Consulars and Burgeses that he was
+Bad But th' the reste was as Bad as he--To speak francly, had I been in
+town at that time I cou'nt help'd to make use of my horses [whip] whereas
+for to vindicate the injury of that vilain. He Contrived his Business so
+that several ask me if it was true that he had Challeng'd you to fight: My
+Answer was no other But that he should rather chuse to go to hell than
+doing of it--for he had Such thing declar'd: that was his Sure Road."
+
+
+Washington seems to have cherished no personal ill-will for Muse's
+conduct, and when the division of the "bounty lands" was being pushed, he
+used his influence that the broken officer should receive a quotum. Not
+knowing this, or else being ungrateful, Muse seems to have written a
+letter to Washington which angered him, for he replied,--
+
+
+"Sir, Your impertinent letter was delivered to me yesterday. As I am not
+accustomed to receive such from any man, nor would have taken the same
+language from you personally, without letting you feel some marks of my
+resentment, I would advise you to be cautious in writing me a second of
+the same tenor. But for your stupidity and sottishness you might have
+known, by attending to the public gazette, that you had your full quantity
+of ten thousand acres of land allowed you, that is, nine thousand and
+seventy-three acres in the great tract, and the remainder in the small
+tract. But suppose you had really fallen short, do you think your
+superlative merit entitles you to greater indulgence than others? Or, if
+it did, that I was to make it good to you, when it was at the option of
+the Governor and Council to allow but five hundred acres in the whole, if
+they had been so inclined? If either of these should happen to be your
+opinion, I am very well convinced that you will be singular in it; and all
+my concern is, that I ever engaged in behalf of so ungrateful a fellow as
+you are. But you may still be in need of my assistance, as I can inform
+you, that your affairs, in respect to these lands, do not stand upon so
+solid a basis as you imagine, and this you may take by way of hint. I
+wrote to you a few days ago concerning the other distribution, proposing
+an easy method of dividing our lands; but since I find in what temper you
+are, I am sorry I took the trouble of mentioning the land or your name in
+a letter, as I do not think you merit the least assistance from me."
+
+
+The Braddock campaign brought acquaintance with one which did not end in
+friendship, however amicable the beginning. There can be little doubt
+that there was cameraderie with the then Lieutenant-Colonel Gage, for in
+1773, when in New York for four days, Washington "Dined with Gen. Gage,"
+and also "dined at the entertainment given by the citizens of New
+York to Genl. Gage." When next intercourse was resumed, it was by
+formal correspondence between the commanders-in-chief of two hostile
+armies, Washington inquiring as to the treatment of prisoners, and
+as a satisfactory reply was not obtained, he wrote again, threatening
+retaliation, and "closing my correspondence with you, perhaps forever,"
+--a letter which Charles Lee thought "a very good one, but Gage certainly
+deserved a stronger one, such as it was before it was softened." One
+cannot but wonder what part the old friendship played in this "softening."
+
+Relations with the Howes began badly by a letter from Lord Howe addressed
+"George Washington, Esq.," which Washington declined to receive as not
+recognizing his official position. A second one to "George Washington,
+Esq. &c. &c. &c." met with the same fate, and brought the British officer
+"to change my superscription." A little after this brief war of forms, a
+letter from Washington to his wife was intercepted with others by the
+enemy, and General Howe enclosed it, "happy to return it without the least
+attempt being made to discover any part of the contents." This courtesy
+the American commander presently was able to reciprocate by sending
+"General Washington's compliments to General Howe,--does himself the
+pleasure to return to him a dog, which accidentally fell into his hands,
+and, by the inscription on the collar, appears to belong to General Howe."
+Even politeness had its objections, however, at moments, and Washington
+once had to write Sir William,--
+
+
+"There is one passage of your letter, which I cannot forbear taking
+particular notice of. No expression of personal politeness to me can be
+acceptable, accompanied by reflections on the representatives of a free
+people, under whose authority I have the honor to act. The delicacy I have
+observed, in refraining from everything offensive in this way, entitles me
+to expect a similar treatment from you. I have not indulged myself in
+invective against the present rulers of Great Britain, in the course of
+our correspondence, nor will I even now avail myself of so fruitful a
+theme."
+
+
+Apparently when Sir Henry Clinton succeeded to the command of the British
+army the same old device to insult the General was again tried, for Dumas
+states that Washington "received a despatch from Sir Henry Clinton,
+addressed to 'Mr. Washington.' Taking it from the hands of the flag of
+truce, and seeing the direction, 'This letter,' said he, 'is directed to a
+planter of the state of Virginia. I shall have it delivered to him after
+the end of the war; till that time it shall not be opened.' A second
+despatch was addressed to his Excellency General Washington." A better
+lesson in courtesy was contained in a letter from Washington to him,
+complaining of "wanton, unprecedented and inhuman murder," which closed
+with the following: "I beg your Excellency to be persuaded, that it cannot
+be more disagreeable to you to be addressed in this language, than it is
+to me to offer it; but the subject requires frankness and decision."
+
+Quite as firm was one addressed to Cornwallis, which read,--
+
+
+"It is with infinite regret, I am again compelled to remonstrate against
+that spirit of wanton cruelty, that has in several instances influenced
+the conduct of your soldiery. A recent exercise of it towards an unhappy
+officer of ours, Lieutenant Harris, convinces me, that my former
+representations on this subject have been unavailing. That Gentleman by
+the fortunes of war, on Saturday last was thrown into the hands of a party
+of your horse, and unnecessarily murdered with the most aggravated
+circumstances of barbarity. I wish not to wound your Lordship's feelings,
+by commenting on this event; but I think it my duty to send his mangled
+body to your lines as an undeniable testimony of the fact, should it be
+doubted, and as the best appeal to your humanity for the justice of our
+complaint."
+
+
+A pleasanter intercourse came with the surrender of Yorktown, after which
+not merely were Cornwallis and his officers saved the mortification of
+surrendering their swords, but the chief among them were entertained at
+dinner by Washington. At this meal, so a contemporary account states,
+"Rochhambeau, being asked for a toast, gave _'The United States'_.
+Washington gave _'The King of France'_. Lord Cornwallis, simply _'The
+King'_; but Washington, putting that toast, added, _'of England'_, and
+facetiously, _'confine him there, I'll drink him a full bumper'_, filling
+his glass till it ran over. Rochambeau, with great politeness, was still
+so French, that he would every now and then be touching on points that
+were improper, and a breach of real politeness. Washington often checked
+him, and showed in a more saturnine manner, the infinite esteem he had for
+his gallant prisoner, whose private qualities the Americans admired even
+in a foe, that had so often filled them with the most cruel alarms." Many
+years later, when Cornwallis was governor-general of India, he sent a
+verbal message to his old foe, wishing "General Washington a long
+enjoyment of tranquility and happiness," adding that for himself he
+"continued in troubled waters."
+
+
+[Illustration: MRS WASHINGTON]
+
+
+Turning from these public rather than personal foes, a very different type
+of enemies is encountered in those inimical to Washington in his own army.
+Chief of these was Horatio Gates, with whom Washington had become
+acquainted in the Braddock campaign, and with whom there was friendly
+intercourse from that time until the Revolution. In 1775, at Washington's
+express solicitation, Gates was appointed adjutant- and brigadier-general,
+and in a letter thanking Washington for the favor he professed to have
+"the greatest respect for your character and the sincerest attachment to
+your person." Nevertheless, he very early in the war suggested that a
+committee of Congress be sent to camp to keep watch on Washington, and as
+soon as he was in a separate command he began to curry favor with Congress
+and scheme against his commander. This was not unknown to Washington, who
+afterwards wrote, "I discovered very early in the war symptoms of coldness
+& constraint in General Gates' behavior to me. These increased as he rose
+into greater consequence."
+
+When Burgoyne capitulated to Gates, he sent the news to Congress and not
+to Washington, and though he had no further need for troops the
+commander-in-chief had sent him, he endeavored to prevent their return at a
+moment when every man was needed in the main army. His attitude towards
+Washington was so notorious that his friends curried favor with him by
+letters criticising the commander, and when, by chance, the General
+learned of the contents of one of these letters, and news to that effect
+reached the ears of Gates, he practically charged Washington with having
+obtained his knowledge by dishonorable means; but Washington more than
+repaid the insult, in telling Gates how he had learned of the affair, by
+adding that he had "considered the information as coming from yourself,
+and given with a friendly view to forewarn and consequently forearm me,
+against a secret enemy ... but in this, as in other matters of late, I
+have found myself mistaken." Driven to the wall, Gates wrote to Washington
+a denial that the letter contained the passage in question, which was an
+absolute lie, and this untruth typifies his character. Without expressing
+either belief or disbelief in this denial, Washington replied,--
+
+
+"I am as averse to controversy as any man, and had I not been forced into
+it, you never would have had occasion to impute to me, even the shadow of
+disposition towards it. Your repeatedly and solemnly disclaiming any
+offensive views in those matters, which have been the subject of our past
+correspondence makes me willing to close with the desire, you express, of
+burying them hereafter in silence, and, as far as future events will
+permit, oblivion. My temper leads me to peace and harmony with all men;
+and it is peculiarly my wish to avoid any personal feuds or dissentions
+with those who are embarked in the same great national interest with,
+myself; as every difference of this kind must in its consequence be very
+injurious."
+
+
+After this affair subsided, Washington said,--
+
+
+"I made a point of treating Gen. Gates with all the attention and
+cordiality in my power, as well from a sincere desire of harmony, as from
+an unwillingness to give any cause of triumph among ourselves. I can
+appeal to the world, and to the whole army, whether I have not cautiously
+avoided offending Gen. Gates in any way. I am sorry his conduct to me has
+not been equally generous, and that he is continually giving me fresh
+proofs of malevolence and opposition. It will not be doing him injustice
+to say, that, besides the little underhand intrigues which he is
+frequently practising, there has hardly been any great military question,
+in which his advice has been asked, that it has not been given in an
+equivocal and designing manner, apparently calculated to afford him an
+opportunity of censuring me, on the failure of whatever measures might be
+adopted."
+
+
+After the defeat of Gates at Camden, the Prince de Broglie wrote that "I
+saw General Gates at the house of General Washington, with whom he had had
+a misunderstanding.... This interview excited the curiosity of both
+armies. It passed with a most perfect propriety on the part of both
+gentlemen. Mr. Washington treated Mr. Gates with a politeness which had a
+frank and easy air, while the other responded with that shade of respect
+which was proper towards his general." And how fair-minded Washington
+was is shown by his refusal to interfere in an army matter, because,
+"considering the delicate situation in which I stand with respect to
+General Gates, I feel an unwillingness to give any opinion (even in a
+confidential way) in a matter in which he is concerned, lest my sentiments
+(being known) should have unfavorable interpretations ascribed to them by
+illiberal Minds." Yet the friendship was never restored, and when the two
+after the war were associated in the Potomac company, Washington's sense
+of the old treachery was still so keen that he alluded to the appointment
+of "my bosom friend Genl G-tes, who being at Richmond, contrived to edge
+himself in to the commission."
+
+Thomas Conway was Washington's traducer to Gates. He was an Irish-French
+soldier of fortune who unfortunately had been made a brigadier-general in
+the Continental army. Having made friends of the New England delegates in
+Congress, it was then proposed by them to advance him to the rank of
+major-general, which Washington opposed, on the grounds that "his merit
+and importance exist more in his imagination than in reality." For the
+moment this was sufficient to prevent Conway's promotion, and even if he
+had not before been opposed to his commander, he now became his bitter
+enemy. To more than Gates he said or wrote, "A great & good God has
+decreed that America shall be free, or Washington and weak counsellors
+would have ruined her long ago." Upon word of this reaching Washington, so
+Laurens tells, "The genl immediately copied the contents of the paper,
+introducing them with 'sir,' and concluding with, 'I am your humble
+servt,' and sent this copy in the form of a letter to Genl Conway. This
+drew an answer, in which he first attempts to deny the fact, and then in a
+most shameless manner, to explain away the matter. The perplexity of his
+style, and evident insincerity of his compliments, betray his weak
+sentiments, and expose his guilt."
+
+Yet, though detected, Conway complained to the Continental Congress that
+Washington was not treating him properly, and in reply to an inquiry from
+a member the General acknowledged that,--
+
+
+"If General Conway means by cool receptions mentioned in the last
+paragraph of his letter of the 31st ultimo, that I did not receive him in
+the language of a warm and cordial friend, I readily confess the charge. I
+did not, nor shall I ever, till I am capable of the arts of dissimulation.
+These I despise, and my feelings will not permit me to make professions of
+friendship to the man I deem my enemy, and whose system of conduct forbids
+it. At the same time, truth authorizes me to say, that he was received and
+treated with proper respect to his official character, and that he has had
+no cause to justify the assertion, that he could not expect any support
+for fulfilling the duties of his appointment."
+
+
+In spite of Washington's opposition, Conway's friends were numerous enough
+in the Congress finally to elect him major-general, at the same time
+appointing him inspector-general. Elated with this evident partiality of
+the majority of that body for him, he went even further, and Laurens
+states that he was guilty of a "base insult" to Washington, which "affects
+the General very sensibly," and he continues,--
+
+
+"It is such an affront as Conway would never have dared to offer, if the
+General's situation had not assured him of the impossibility of its being
+revenged in a private way. The Genl, therefore, has determined to return
+him no answer at all, but to lay the whole matter before Congress; they
+will determine whether Genl W. is to be sacrificed to Genl. C., for the
+former can never consent to be concern'd in any transaction with the
+latter, from whom he has received such unpardonable insults."
+
+
+Fortunately, Conway did not limit his "insulting letters" to the
+commander-in-chief alone, and presently he sent one to Congress
+threatening to resign, which so angered that body that they took him at
+his word. Moreover, his open abuse of Washington led an old-time friend of
+the latter to challenge him, and to lodge a ball, with almost poetic
+justice, in Conway's mouth. Thinking himself on the point of death, he
+wrote a farewell line to Washington "expressing my sincere grief for
+having done, written or said anything disagreeable to your
+Excellency.... You are in my eyes a great and good man." And with this
+recantation he disappeared from the army. A third officer in this "cabal"
+was Thomas Mifflin. He was the first man appointed on Washington's staff at
+the beginning of the war, but did not long remain in that position, being
+promoted by Washington to be quartermaster-general. In this position the
+rumor reached the General that Mifflin was "concerned in trade," and
+Washington took "occasion to hint" the suspicion to him, only to get a
+denial from the officer. Whether this inquiry was a cause for ill-feeling
+or not, Mifflin was one of the most outspoken against the
+commander-in-chief as his opponents gathered force, and Washington informed
+Henry that he "bore the second part in the cabal." Mifflin resigned from
+the army and took a position on the board of war, but when the influence of
+that body broke down with the collapse of the Cabal, he applied for a
+reappointment,--a course described by Washington in plain English as
+follows:
+
+
+"I was not a little surprised to find a certain gentleman, who, some time
+ago (when a cloud of darkness hung heavy over us, and our affairs looked
+gloomy,) was desirous of resigning, now stepping forward in the line of
+the army. But if he can reconcile such conduct to his own, feelings, as an
+officer and a man of honor, and Congress hath no objections to his leaving
+his seat in another department, I have nothing personally to oppose it.
+Yet I must think, that gentleman's stepping in and out, as the sun happens
+to beam forth or obscure, is not _quite_ the thing, nor _quite_ just, with
+respect to those officers, who take ye bitter with the sweet."
+
+
+Not long after Greene wrote that "I learn that General Mifflin has
+publicly declared that he looked upon his Excellency as the best friend he
+ever had in his life, so that is a plain sign that the Junto has given up
+all ideas of supplanting our excellent general from a confidence of the
+impracticability of such an attempt."
+
+A very minor but most malignant enemy was Dr. Benjamin Rush. In 1774
+Washington dined with him in Philadelphia, which implied friendship.
+Very early in the war, however, an attempt was made to remove the
+director-general of hospitals, in which, so John Armstrong claimed,
+"Morgan was the ostensible--Rush the real prosecutor of Shippen--the
+former acting from revenge,... the latter from a desire to obtain the
+directorship. In approving the sentence of the court, Washington
+stigmatized the prosecution as one originating in bad motives, which made
+Rush his enemy and defamer as long as he lived." Certain it is he wrote
+savage letters of criticism about his commander-in-chief of which the
+following extract is a sample:
+
+
+"I have heard several officers who have served under General Gates compare
+his army to a well regulated family. The same gentlemen have compared
+Gen'l Washington's imitation of an army to an unformed mob. Look at the
+characters of both! The one on the pinnacle of military glory--exulting in
+the success of schemes planned with wisdom, & executed with vigor and
+bravery--and above all see a country saved by his exertions. See the other
+outgeneral'd and twice heated--obliged to witness the march of a body of
+men only half their number thro' 140 Miles of a thick settled country--
+forced to give up a city the capitol of a state & after all outwitted by
+the same army in a retreat."
+
+
+Had Rush written only this, there would be no grounds for questioning his
+methods; but, not content with spreading his opinions among his friends,
+he took to anonymous letter-writing, and sent an unsigned letter abusing
+Washington to the governor of Virginia (and probably to others), with the
+request that the letter should be burned. Instead of this, Henry sent it
+to Washington, who recognized at once the handwriting, and wrote to Henry
+that Rush "has been elaborate and studied in his professions of regard to
+me, and long since the letter to you." An amusing sequel to this incident
+is to be found in Rush moving heaven and earth on the publication of
+Marshall's "Life of Washington" to prevent his name from appearing as one
+of the commander-in-chief's enemies.
+
+After the collapse of the attempt Washington wrote to a friend, "I thank
+you sincerely for the part you acted at York respecting C---y, and believe
+with you that matters have and will turn out very different to what that
+party expected. G---s has involved himself in his letters to me in the
+most absurd contradictions. M--- has brought himself into a scrape that he
+does not know how to get out of with a gentleman of this State, and C---,
+as you know is sent upon an expedition which all the world knew, and the
+event has proved, was not practicable. In a word, I have a good deal of
+reason to believe that the machination of this junta will recoil upon
+their own heads, and be a means of bringing some matters to light which,
+by getting me out of the way, some of them thought to conceal."
+
+Undoubtedly the most serious army antagonist was General Charles Lee, and,
+but for what seem almost fatalistic chances, he would have been a
+dangerous rival. He was second in command very early in the war, and at
+this time he asserted that "no man loves, respects and reverences another
+more than I do General Washington. I esteem his virtues, private and
+public. I know him to be a man of sense, courage and firmness." But four
+months later he was lamenting Washington's "fatal indecision," and by
+inference was calling him "a blunderer." In another month he wrote,
+"_entre nous_ a certain great man is most damnably deficient." At this
+point, fortunately, Lee was captured by the British, so that his influence
+for the time being was destroyed. While a prisoner he drew up a plan for
+the English general, showing how America could be conquered.
+
+When he had been exchanged, and led the American advance at the battle of
+Monmouth, he seems to have endeavored to aid the British in another way,
+for after barely engaging, he ordered a retreat, which quickly developed
+into a rout, and would have ended in a serious defeat had not, as Laurens
+wrote, "fortunately for the honor of the army, and the welfare of America,
+Genl Washington met the troops retreating in disorder, and without any
+plan to make an opposition. He ordered some pieces of artillery to be
+brought up to defend the pass, and some troops to form and defend the
+pieces. The artillery was too distant to be brought up readily, so that
+there was but little opposition given here. A few shot though, and a
+little skirmishing in the wood checked the enemy's career. The Genl
+expressed his astonishment at this unaccountable retreat Mr. Lee
+indecently replied that the attack was contrary to his advice and opinion
+in council."
+
+In a fit of temper Lee wrote Washington two imprudent letters, expressed
+"in terms [so] highly improper" that he was ordered under arrest and tried
+by a court-martial, which promptly found him guilty of disobedience and
+disrespect, as well as of making a "disorderly and unnecessary retreat."
+To this Lee retorted, "I aver that his Excellencies letter was from
+beginning to the end a most abominable lie--I aver that my conduct will
+stand the strictest scrutiny of every military judge--I aver that my Court
+Martial was a Court of Inquisition--that there was not a single member
+with a military idea--at least if I may pronounce from the different
+questions they put to the evidences."
+
+In this connection it is of interest to note a letter from Washington's
+friend Mason, which said, "You express a fear that General Lee will
+challenge our friend. Indulge in no such apprehensions, for he too well
+knows the sentiments of General Washington on the subject of duelling.
+From his earliest manhood I have heard him express his contempt of the man
+who sends and the man who accepts a challenge, for he regards such acts as
+no proof of moral courage; and the practice he abhors as a relic of old
+barbarisms, repugnant alike to sound morality and Christian
+enlightenment."
+
+A little later, still smarting from this court-martial, Lee wrote to a
+newspaper a savage attack on his late commander, apparently in the belief,
+as he said in a private letter, that "there is ... a visible
+revolution ... in the minds of men, I mean that our Great Gargantua, or
+Lama Babak (for I know not which Title is the properest) begins to be no
+longer consider'd as an infallible Divinity--and that those who have been
+sacrificed or near sacrific'd on his altar, begin to be esteem'd as
+wantonly and foolishly offer'd up." Lee very quickly found his mistake,
+for the editor of the paper which contained his attack was compelled by a
+committee of citizens to publish an acknowledgment that in printing it "I
+have transgressed against truth, justice and my duty as a good citizen,"
+and, as Washington wrote to a friend, "the author of the Queries,
+'Political and Military,' has had no cause to exult in the favorable
+reception of them by the public." With Lee's disappearance the last army
+rival dropped from the ranks, and from that time there was no question as
+to who should command the armies of America. Long after, a would-be editor
+of Lee's papers wrote to Washington to ask if he had any wishes in regard
+to the publication, and was told in the reply that,--
+
+
+"I never had a difference with that gentleman, but on public ground, and
+my conduct towards him upon this occasion was such only, as I conceived
+myself indispensably bound to adopt in discharge of the public trust
+reposed in me. If this produced in him unfavorable sentiments of me, I yet
+can never consider the conduct I pursued, with respect to him, either
+wrong or improper, however I may regret that it may have been differently
+viewed by him and that it excited his censure and animadversions. Should
+there appear in General Lee's writings any thing injurious or unfriendly
+to me, the impartial and dispassionate world must decide how far I
+deserved it from the general tenor of my conduct."
+
+
+These attempts to undermine Washington owed their real vitality to the
+Continental Congress, and it is safe to say that but for Washington's
+political enemies no army rival would have ventured to push forward. In
+what the opposition in that body consisted, and to what length it went,
+are discussed elsewhere, but a glance at the reasons of hostility to him
+is proper here.
+
+John Adams declared himself "sick of the Fabian systems," and in writing
+of the thanksgiving for the Saratoga Convention, he said that "one cause
+of it ought to be that the glory of turning the tide of arms is not
+immediately due to the commander-in-chief.... If it had, idolatry and
+adulation would have been unbounded." James Lovell asserted that "Our
+affairs are Fabiused into a very disagreeable posture," and wrote that
+"depend upon it for every ten soldiers placed under the command of our
+Fabius, five recruits will be wanted annually during the war." William
+Williams agreed with Jonathan Trumbull that the time had come when "a much
+exalted character should make way for a _general_" and suggested if this
+was not done "voluntarily," those to whom the public looked should "see to
+it." Abraham Clark thought "we may talk of the Enemy's Cruelty as we will,
+but we have no greater Cruelty to complain of than the Management of our
+Army." Jonathan D. Sargent asserted that "we want a general--thousands of
+Lives & Millions of Property are yearly sacrificed to the Insufficiency
+of our Commander-in-Chief--Two Battles he has lost for us by two such
+Blunders as might have disgraced a Soldier of three months standing, and
+yet we are so attached to this Man that I fear we shall rather sink
+with him than throw him off our Shoulders. And sink we must under his
+Management. Such Feebleness, & Want of Authority, such Confusion & Want of
+Discipline, such Waste, such destruction would exhaust the Wealth of both
+the Indies & annihilate the armies of all Europe and Asia." Richard
+Henry Lee agreed with Mifflin that Gates was needed to "procure the
+indispensable changes in our Army." Other Congressmen who were inimical to
+Washington, either by openly expressed opinion or by vote, were Elbridge
+Gerry, Samuel Adams, William Ellery, Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sherman, Samuel
+Chase, and F.L. Lee. Later, when Washington's position was more secure,
+Gerry and R.H. Lee wrote to him affirming their friendship, and to both
+the General replied without a suggestion of ill-feeling, nor does he seem,
+in later life, to have felt a trace of personal animosity towards any one
+of the men who had been in opposition to him in Congress. Of this enmity
+in the army and Congress Washington wrote,--
+
+
+"It is easy to bear the first, and even the devices of private enemies
+whose ill will only arises from their common hatred to the cause we are
+engaged in, are to me tolerable; yet, I confess, I cannot help feeling the
+most painful sensations, whenever I have reason to believe I am the object
+of persecution to men, who are embarked in the same general interest, and
+whose friendship my heart does not reproach me with, ever having done any
+thing to forfeit. But with many, it is a sufficient cause to hate and wish
+the ruin of a man, because he has been happy enough, to be the object of
+_his country's_ favor."
+
+
+The political course of Washington while President produced the alienation
+of the two Virginians whom he most closely associated with himself in the
+early part of his administration. With Madison the break does not seem to
+have come from any positive ill-feeling, but was rather an abandonment of
+intercourse as the differences of opinion became more pronounced. The
+disagreement with Jefferson was more acute, though probably never forced
+to an open rupture. To his political friends Jefferson in 1796 wrote that
+the measures pursued by the administration were carried out "under the
+sanction of a name which has done too much good not to be sufficient to
+cover harm also," and that he hoped the President's "honesty and his
+political errors may not furnish a second occasion to exclaim, 'curse on
+his virtues, they've undone his country.'" Henry Lee warned Washington of
+the undercurrent of criticism, and when Jefferson heard indirectly of this
+he wrote his former chief that "I learn that [Lee] has thought it worth
+his while to try to sow tares between you and me, by representing me as
+still engaged in the bustle of politics & in turbulence & intrigue against
+the government. I never believed for a moment that this could make any
+impression on you, or that your knowledge of me would not overweigh the
+slander of an intriguer dirtily employed in sifting the conversations of
+my table." To this Washington replied,--
+
+
+"As you have mentioned the subject yourself, it would not be frank, candid
+or friendly to conceal, that your conduct has been represented as
+derogating from that opinion _I_ had conceived you entertained of me;
+that, to your particular friends and connexions you have described, and
+they have denounced me as a person under a dangerous influence; and that,
+if I would listen more to some _other_ opinions, all would be well. My
+answer invariably has been, that I had never discovered any thing in
+the conduct of Mr. Jefferson to raise suspicions in my mind of his
+insincerity; that, if he would retrace my public conduct while he was in
+the administration, abundant proofs would occur to him, that truth and
+right decisions were the _sole_ objects of my pursuit; that there was as
+many instances within his own knowledge of my having decided _against_ as
+in _favor_ of the opinions of the person evidently alluded to; and, I was
+no believer in the infallibility of the politics or measures of _any man
+living_. In short that I was no party man myself and the first wish of my
+heart was, if parties did exist, to reconcile them."
+
+
+As proof upon proof of Jefferson's secret enmity accumulated, Washington
+ceased to trust his disclaimers, and finally wrote to one of his
+informants, "Nothing short of the evidence you have adduced, corroborative
+of intimations which I had received long before through another channel,
+could have shaken my belief in the sincerity of a friendship, which I had
+conceived as possessed for me by the person to whom you allude. But
+attempts to injure those, who are supposed to stand well in the estimation
+of the people, and are stumbling blocks in the way, by misrepresenting
+their political tenets, thereby to destroy all confidence in them, are
+among the means by which the government is to be assailed, and the
+constitution destroyed."
+
+Once convinced, all relations with Jefferson were terminated. It is
+interesting in this connection to note something repeated by Madison, to
+the effect that "General Lafayette related to me the following anecdote,
+which I shall repeat as nearly as I can in his own words. 'When I last saw
+Mr. Jefferson,' he observed, 'we conversed a good deal about General
+Washington, and Mr. Jefferson expressed high admiration of his character.
+He remarked particularly that he and Hamilton often disagreed when they
+were members of the Cabinet, and that General Washington would sometimes
+favor the opinion of one and sometimes the other, with an apparent strict
+impartiality. And Mr. Jefferson added that, so sound was Washington's
+judgment, that he was commonly convinced afterwards of the accuracy of his
+decision, whether it accorded with the opinion he had himself first
+advanced or not.'"
+
+
+[Illustration: EARLIEST SIGNATURE OF WASHINGTON]
+
+
+A third Virginian who was almost as closely associated was Edmund
+Randolph. There had been a friendship with his father, until he turned
+Tory and went to England, when, according to Washington's belief, he wrote
+the "forged letters" which gave Washington so much trouble. For the sake
+of the old friendship, however, he gave the son a position on his staff,
+and from that time was his friend and correspondent. In the first
+administration he was made Attorney-General, and when Jefferson retired
+from office he became Secretary of State. In this position he was charged
+with political dishonesty. Washington gave him a chance to explain,
+but instead he resigned from office and published what he called "a
+vindication," in which he charged the President with "prejudging,"
+"concealment," and "want of generosity." Continuing, he said,
+"never ... could I have believed that in addressing you ... I should use
+any other language than that of a friend. From my early period of life, I
+was taught to esteem you--as I advanced in years, I was habituated to
+revere you:--you strengthened my prepossessions by marks of attention." And
+in another place he acknowledged the weakness of his attack by saying,
+"still however, those very objections, the very reputation which you have
+acquired, will cause it to be asked, why you should be suspected of acting
+towards me, in any other manner, than deliberately, justly and even
+kindly?"
+
+In the preparation of this pamphlet Randolph wrote the President a letter
+which the latter asserted was "full of innuendoes," and one statement in
+the pamphlet he denounced as being "as impudent and insolent an assertion
+as it is false." And his irritation at this treatment from one he had
+always befriended gave rise to an incident, narrated by James Ross, at a
+breakfast at the President's, when "after a little while the Secretary of
+War came in, and said to Washington, 'Have you seen Mr. Randolph's
+pamphlet?' 'I have,' said Washington, 'and, by the eternal God, he is the
+damnedest liar on the face of the earth!' and as he spoke he brought his
+fist down upon the table with all his strength, and with a violence which
+made the cups and plates start from their places." Fortunately, the attack
+was ineffective; indeed, Hamilton wrote that "I consider it as amounting
+to a confession of guilt; and I am persuaded this will be the universal
+opinion. His attempts against you are viewed by all whom I have seen, as
+base. They will certainly fail of their aim, and will do good rather than
+harm, to the public cause and to yourself. It appears to me that, by you,
+no notice can be, or ought to be, taken of the publication. It contains
+its own antidote."
+
+Not content with this double giving up of what to any man of honor was
+confidential, Randolph, a little later, rested under Washington's
+suspicions of a third time breaking the seal of official secrecy by
+sending a Cabinet paper to the newspapers for no other purpose than to
+stir up feeling against Washington. But after his former patron's death
+regret came, and Randolph wrote to Bushrod Washington, "If I could now
+present myself before your venerated uncle it would be my pride to confess
+my contrition that I suffered my irritation, be the cause what it might,
+to use some of those expressions respecting him which, at this moment ... I
+wish to recall as being inconsistent with my subsequent convictions."
+
+Another type of enemy, more or less the result of this differing with
+Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Randolph, was sundry editors and writers
+who gathered under their patronage and received aids of money or of secret
+information. One who prospered for a time by abusing Washington was Philip
+Freneau. He was a college friend of Madison's, and was induced to
+undertake the task by his and Jefferson's urging, though the latter denied
+this later. As aid to the undertaking, Jefferson, then Secretary of State,
+gave Freneau an office, and thus produced the curious condition of a clerk
+in the government writing and printing savage attacks on the President.
+Washington was much irritated at the abuse, and Jefferson in his "Anas"
+said that he "was evidently sore & warm and I took his intention to be
+that I should interpose in some way with Freneau, perhaps withdraw his
+appointment of translating clerk to my office. But I will not do it."
+According to the French minister, some of the worst of these articles were
+written by Jefferson himself, and Freneau is reported to have said, late
+in life, that many of them were written by the Secretary of State.
+
+Far more indecent was the paper conducted by Benjamin Franklin Bache, who,
+early in the Presidency, applied for a place in the government, which for
+some reason not now known was refused. According to Cobbett, who hated
+him, "this ... scoundrel ... spent several years in hunting offices under
+the Federal Government, and being constantly rejected, he at last became
+its most bitter foe. Hence his abuse of General Washington, whom at the
+time he was soliciting a place he panegyrized up to the third heaven."
+Certain it is that under his editorship the _General Advertiser_ and
+_Aurora_ took the lead in all criticisms of Washington, and not content
+with these opportunities for daily and weekly abuse, Bache (though the
+fact that they were forgeries was notorious) reprinted the "spurious
+letters which issued from a certain press in New York during the war, with
+a view to destroy the confidence which the army and community might have
+had in my political principles,--and which have lately been republished
+with greater avidity and perseverance than ever, by Mr. Bache to answer
+the same nefarious purpose with the latter," and Washington added that
+"immense pains has been taken by this said Mr. Bache, who is no more than
+the agent or tool of those who are endeavoring to destroy the confidence
+of the people, in the officers of Government (chosen by themselves) to
+disseminate these counterfeit letters." In addition Bache wrote a
+pamphlet, with the avowal that "the design of these remarks is to prove
+the want of claim in Mr. Washington either to the gratitude or confidence
+of his country.... Our chief object ... is to _destroy undue impressions
+in favor of Mr. Washington_." Accordingly it charged that Washington was
+"treacherous," "mischievous," "inefficient;" dwelt upon his "farce of
+disinterestedness," his "stately journeyings through the American
+continent in search of personal incense," his "ostentatious professions
+of piety," his "pusillanimous neglect," his "little passions," his
+"ingratitude," his "want of merit," his "insignificance," and his
+"spurious fame."
+
+The successor of Bache as editor of these two journals, William Duane,
+came to the office with an equal hatred of Washington, having already
+written a savage pamphlet against him. In this the President was charged
+with "treacherous mazes of passion," and with having "discharged the
+loathings of a sick mind." Furthermore it asserted "that had you obtained
+promotion ... after Braddock's defeat, your sword would have been drawn
+against your country," that Washington "retained the barbarous usages of
+the feudal system and kept men in Livery," and that "posterity will in
+vain search for the monuments of wisdom in your administration;" the
+purpose of the pamphlet, by the author's own statement, being "to expose
+the _Personal Idolatry_ into which we have been heedlessly running," and
+to show the people the "fallibility of the most favored of men."
+
+A fourth in this quartet of editors was the notorious James Thomson
+Callender, whose publications were numerous, as were also his impeachments
+against Washington. By his own account, this writer maintained, "Mr.
+Washington has been twice a traitor," has "authorized the robbery and ruin
+of the remnants of his own army," has "broke the constitution," and
+Callender fumes over "the vileness of the adulation which has been paid"
+to him, claiming that "the extravagant popularity possessed by this
+citizen reflects the utmost ridicule on the discernment of America."
+
+The bitterest attack, however, was penned by Thomas Paine. For many years
+there was good feeling between the two, and in 1782, when Paine was in
+financial distress, Washington used his influence to secure him a position
+"out of friendship for me," as Paine acknowledged. Furthermore, Washington
+tried to get the Virginia Legislature to pension Paine or give him a grant
+of land, an endeavor for which the latter was "exceedingly obliged." When
+Paine published his "Rights of Man" he dedicated it to Washington, with an
+inscription dwelling on his "exemplary virtue" and his "benevolence;"
+while in the body of the work he asserted that no monarch of Europe had a
+character to compare with Washington's, which was such as to "put all
+those men called kings to shame." Shortly after this, however, Washington
+refused to appoint him Postmaster-General; and still later, when Paine had
+involved himself with the French, the President, after consideration,
+decided that governmental interference was not proper. Enraged by these
+two acts, Paine published a pamphlet in which he charged Washington with
+"encouraging and swallowing the greatest adulation," with being "the
+patron of fraud," with a "mean and servile submission to the insults of
+one nation, treachery and ingratitude to another," with "falsehood,"
+"ingratitude," and "pusillanimity;" and finally, after alleging that the
+General had not "served America with more disinterestedness or greater
+zeal, than myself, and I know not if with better effect," Paine closed his
+attack by the assertion, "and as to you, sir, _treacherous in private
+friendship_, and a _hypocrite_ in public life, the world will be puzzled
+to decide, whether you are an _apostate_ or an _impostor_; whether you
+have _abandoned good principles_, or whether _you ever had any?_"
+
+Washington never, in any situation, took public notice of these attacks,
+and he wrote of a possible one, "I am gliding down the stream of life, and
+wish, as is natural, that my remaining days may be undisturbed and
+tranquil; and, conscious of my integrity, I would willingly hope, that
+nothing would occur tending to give me anxiety; but should anything
+present itself in this or any other publication, I shall never undertake
+the painful task of recrimination, nor do I know that I should even enter
+upon my justification." To a friend he said, "my temper leads me to peace
+and harmony with all men; and it is peculiarly my wish to avoid any feuds
+or dissentions with those who are embarked in the same great national
+interest with myself; as every difference of this kind must in its
+consequence be very injurious."
+
+
+
+XI
+
+
+SOLDIER
+
+
+"My inclinations," wrote Washington at twenty-three, "are strongly bent to
+arms," and the tendency was a natural one, coming not merely from his
+Indian-fighting great-grandfather, but from his elder brother Lawrence,
+who had held a king's commission in the Carthagena expedition, and was one
+of the few officers who gained repute in that ill-fated attempt. At Mount
+Vernon George must have heard much of fighting as a lad, and when the ill
+health of Lawrence compelled resignation of command of the district
+militia, the younger brother succeeded to the adjutancy. This quickly led
+to the command of the first Virginia regiment when the French and Indian
+War was brewing. Twice Washington resigned in disgust during the course of
+the war, but each time his natural bent, or "glowing zeal," as he phrased
+it, drew him back into the service. The moment the news of Lexington
+reached Virginia he took the lead in organizing an armed force, and in the
+Virginia Convention of 1775, according to Lynch, he "made the most
+eloquent speech ... that ever was made. Says he, 'I will raise one
+thousand men, enlist them at my own expense, and march myself at their
+head for the relief of Boston.'" At fifty-three, in speaking of war,
+Washington said, "my first wish is to see this plague to mankind banished
+from off the earth;" but during his whole life, when there was fighting to
+be done, he was among those who volunteered for the service.
+
+The personal courage of the man was very great. Jefferson, indeed, said
+"he was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calmest
+unconcern." Before he had ever been in action, he noted of a certain
+position that it was "a charming field for an encounter," and his first
+engagement he described as follows: "I fortunately escaped without any
+wound, for the right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and received all
+the enemy's fire, and it was the part where the man was killed, and the
+rest wounded. I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is
+something charming in the sound." In his second battle, though he knew
+that he was "to be attacked and by unequal numbers," he promised
+beforehand to "withstand" them "if there are five to one," adding, "I
+doubt not, but if you hear I am beaten, but you will, at the same [time,]
+hear that we have done our duty, in fighting as long [as] there was a
+possibility of hope," and in this he was as good as his word. When
+sickness detained him in the Braddock march, he halted only on condition
+that he should receive timely notice of when the fighting was to begin,
+and in that engagement he exposed himself so that "I had four bullets
+through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, altho'
+death was levelling my companions on every side of me!" Not content with
+such an experience, in the second march on Fort Duquesne he "prayed" the
+interest of a friend to have his regiment part of the "light troops" that
+were to push forward in advance of the main army.
+
+The same carelessness of personal danger was shown all through the
+Revolution. At the battle of Brooklyn, on New York Island, at Trenton,
+Germantown, and Monmouth, he exposed himself to the enemy's fire, and at
+the siege of Yorktown an eyewitness relates that "during the assault, the
+British kept up an incessant firing of cannon and musketry from their
+whole line. His Excellency General Washington, Generals Lincoln and Knox
+with their aids, having dismounted, were standing in an exposed situation
+waiting the result. Colonel Cobb, one of General Washington's aids,
+solicitous for his safety, said to his Excellency, 'Sir, you are too much
+exposed here, had you not better step back a little?' 'Colonel Cobb,'
+replied his Excellency, 'if you are afraid, you have liberty to step
+back.'" It is no cause for wonder that an officer wrote, "our army love
+their General very much, but they have one thing against him, which is the
+little care he takes of himself in any action. His personal bravery, and
+the desire he has of animating his troops by example, make him fearless of
+danger. This occasions us much uneasiness."
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S TRANSCRIPT OF THE RULES OF CIVILITY, CIRCA
+1744]
+
+
+This fearlessness was equally shown by his hatred and, indeed,
+non-comprehension of cowardice. In his first battle, upon the French
+surrendering, he wrote to the governor, "if the whole Detach't of the
+French behave with no more Resolution than this chosen Party did, I
+flatter myself we shall have no g't trouble in driving them to the d---."
+At Braddock's defeat, though the regiment he had commanded "behaved like
+men and died like soldiers," he could hardly find words to express his
+contempt for the conduct of the British "cowardly regulars," writing of
+their "dastardly behavior" when they "broke and ran as sheep before
+hounds," and raging over being "most scandalously" and "shamefully
+beaten." When the British first landed on New York Island, and two New
+England brigades ran away from "a small party of the enemy," numbering
+about fifty, without firing a shot, he completely lost his self-control at
+their "dastardly behavior," and riding in among them, it is related, he
+laid his cane over the officers' backs, "damned them for cowardly
+rascals," and, drawing his sword, struck the soldiers right and left with
+the flat of it, while snapping his pistols at them. Greene states that the
+fugitives "left his Excellency on the ground within eighty yards of the
+enemy, so vexed at the infamous conduct of the troops, that he sought
+death rather than life," and Gordon adds that the General was only saved
+from his "hazardous position" by his aides, who "caught the bridle of his
+horse and gave him a different direction." At Monmouth an aide stated that
+when he met a man running away he was "exasperated ... and threatened the
+man ... he would have him whipped," and General Scott says that on finding
+Lee retreating, "he swore like an angel from heaven." Wherever in his
+letters he alludes to cowardice it is nearly always coupled with the
+adjectives "infamous," "scandalous," or others equally indicative of loss
+of temper.
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington had a high temper. Hamilton's
+allusion to his not being remarkable for "good temper" has already been
+quoted, as has also Stuart's remark that "all his features were indicative
+of the strongest and most ungovernable passions, and had he been born in
+the forests, he would have been the fiercest man among the savage tribes."
+Again Stuart is quoted by his daughter as follows:
+
+
+"While talking one day with General Lee, my father happened to remark that
+Washington had a tremendous temper, but held it under wonderful control.
+General Lee breakfasted with the President and Mrs. Washington a few days
+afterwards.
+
+"'I saw your portrait the other day,' said the General, 'but Stuart says
+you have a tremendous temper.'
+
+"'Upon my word,' said Mrs. Washington, coloring, 'Mr. Stuart takes a great
+deal upon himself to make such a remark.'
+
+"'But stay, my dear lady,' said General Lee, 'he added that the president
+had it under wonderful control.'
+
+"With something like a smile, General Washington remarked, 'He is right.'"
+
+
+Lear, too, mentions an outburst of temper when he heard of the defeat of
+St. Clair, and elsewhere records that in reading politics aloud to
+Washington "he appeared much affected, and spoke with some degree of
+asperity on the subject, which I endeavored to moderate, as I always did
+on such occasions." How he swore at Randolph and at Freneau is mentioned
+elsewhere. Jefferson is evidence that "his temper was naturally irritable
+and high-toned, but reflection and resolution had obtained a firm and
+habitual ascendency over it. If however it broke its bonds, he was most
+tremendous in his wrath."
+
+Strikingly at variance with these personal qualities of courage and hot
+blood is the "Fabian" policy for which he is so generally credited, and a
+study of his military career goes far to dispel the conception that
+Washington was the cautious commander that he is usually pictured.
+
+In the first campaign, though near a vastly superior French force,
+Washington precipitated the conflict by attacking and capturing an advance
+party, though the delay of a few days would have brought him large
+reinforcements. As a consequence he was very quickly surrounded, and after
+a day's fighting was compelled to surrender. In what light his conduct was
+viewed at the time is shown in two letters, Dr. William Smith writing,
+"the British cause,... has received a fatal Blow by the entire defeat of
+Washington, whom I cannot but accuse of Foolhardiness to have ventured so
+near a vigilant enemy without being certain of their numbers, or waiting
+for Junction of some hundreds of our best Forces, who are within a few
+Days' March of him," and Ann Willing echoed this by saying, "the
+melancholy news has just arrived of the loss of sixty men belonging to
+Col. Washington's Company, who were killed on the spot, and of the Colonel
+and Half-King being taken prisoners, all owing to the obstinacy of
+Washington, who would not wait for the arrival of reinforcements."
+
+Hardly less venturesome was he in the Braddock campaign, for "the General
+(before they met in council,) asked my opinion concerning the expedition.
+I urged it, in the warmest terms I was able, to push forward, if we even
+did it with a small but chosen band, with such artillery and light stores
+as were absolutely necessary; leaving the heavy artillery, baggage, &c.
+with the rear division of the army, to follow by slow and easy marches,
+which they might do safely, while we were advanced in front." How far the
+defeat of that force was due to the division thus urged it is not possible
+to say, but it undoubtedly made the French bolder and the English more
+subject to panic.
+
+The same spirit was manifested in the Revolution. During the siege of
+Boston he wrote to Reed, "I proposed [an assault] in council; but behold,
+though we had been waiting all the year for this favorable event the
+enterprise was thought too dangerous. Perhaps it was; perhaps the
+irksomeness of my situation led me to undertake more than could be
+warranted by prudence. I did not think so, and I am sure yet, that the
+enterprise, if it had been undertaken with resolution, must have
+succeeded." He added that "the enclosed council of war:... being
+almost unanimous, I must suppose it to be right; although, from a
+thorough conviction of the necessity of attempting something against the
+ministerial troops before a reinforcement should arrive, and while we were
+favored with the ice, I was not only ready but willing, and desirous of
+making the assault," and a little later he said that had he but foreseen
+certain contingencies "all the generals upon earth should not have
+convinced me of the propriety of delaying an attack upon Boston."
+
+In the defence of New York there was no chance to attack, but even when
+our lines at Brooklyn had been broken and the best brigades in the army
+captured, Washington hurried troops across the river, and intended to
+contest the ground, ordering a retreat only when it was voted in the
+affirmative by a council of war. At Harlem plains he was the attacking
+party.
+
+How with a handful of troops he turned the tide of defeat by attacking at
+Trenton and Princeton is too well known to need recital. At Germantown,
+too, though having but a few days before suffered defeat, he attacked and
+well-nigh won a brilliant victory, because the British officers did not
+dream that his vanquished army could possibly take the initiative. When
+the foe settled down into winter quarters in Philadelphia Laurens wrote,
+"our Commander-in-chief wishing ardently to gratify the public expectation
+by making an attack upon the enemy ... went yesterday to view the works."
+On submitting the project to a council, however, they stood eleven to four
+against the attempt.
+
+The most marked instance of Washington's un-Fabian preferences, and proof
+of the old saying that "councils of war never fight," is furnished in the
+occurrences connected with the battle of Monmouth. When the British began
+their retreat across New Jersey, according to Hamilton "the General
+unluckily called a council of war, the result of which would have done
+honor to the most honorable society of mid-wives and to them only. The
+purport was, that we should keep at a comfortable distance from the enemy,
+and keep up a vain parade of annoying them by detachment ... The General,
+on mature reconsideration of what had been resolved on, determined to
+pursue a different line of conduct at all hazards." Concerning this
+decision Pickering wrote,--
+
+
+"His great caution in respect to the enemy, acquired him the name of the
+American Fabius. From this _governing_ policy he is said to have departed,
+when" at Monmouth he "indulged the most anxious desire to close with his
+antagonist in general action. Opposed to his wishes was the advice of
+his general officers. To this he for a time yielded; but as soon as he
+discovered that the enemy had reached Monmouth Court House, not more than
+twelve miles from the heights of Middletown, he determined that he should
+not escape without a blow."
+
+
+Pickering considered this a "departure" from Washington's "usual practice
+and policy," and cites Wadsworth, who said, in reference to the battle of
+Monmouth, that the General appeared, on that occasion, "to act from the
+impulses of his own mind."
+
+Thrice during the next three years plans for an attack on the enemy's
+lines at New York were matured, one of which had to be abandoned because
+the British had timely notice of it by the treachery of an American
+general, a second because the other generals disapproved the attempt, and,
+on the authority of Humphreys, "the accidental intervention of some
+vessels prevented [another] attempt, which was more than once resumed
+afterwards. Notwithstanding this favorite project was not ultimately
+effected, it was evidently not less bold in conception or feasible in
+accomplishment, than that attempted so successfully at Trenton, or than
+that which was brought to so glorious an issue in the successful siege of
+Yorktown."
+
+As this _r�sum�_ indicates, the most noticeable trait of Washington's
+military career was a tendency to surrender his own opinions and wishes to
+those over whom he had been placed, and this resulted in a general
+agreement not merely that he was disposed to avoid action, but that he
+lacked decision. Thus his own aide, Reed, in obvious contrast to
+Washington, praised Lee because "you have decision, a quality often wanted
+in minds otherwise valuable," continuing, "Oh! General, an indecisive mind
+is one of the greatest misfortunes that can befall an army; how often have
+I lamented it this campaign," and Lee in reply alluded to "that fatal
+indecision of mind." Pickering relates meeting General Greene and saying
+to him, "'I had once conceived an exalted opinion of General Washington's
+military talents; but since I have been with the army, I have seen nothing
+to increase that opinion.' Greene answered, 'Why, the General does want
+decision: for my part, I decide in a moment.' I used the word 'increase,'
+though I meant 'support,' but did not dare speak it." Wayne exclaimed "if
+our worthy general will but follow his own good judgment without listening
+too much to some counsel!" Edward Thornton, probably repeating the
+prevailing public estimate of the time rather than his own conclusion,
+said, "a certain degree of indecision, however, a want of vigor and
+energy, may be observed in some of his actions, and are indeed the obvious
+result of too refined caution."
+
+Undoubtedly this leaning on others and the want of decision were not
+merely due to a constitutional mistrust of his own ability, but also in a
+measure to real lack of knowledge. The French and Indian War, being almost
+wholly "bush-fighting," was not of a kind to teach strategic warfare, and
+in his speech accepting the command Washington requested that "it may be
+remembered by every gentleman in the room, that I this day declare with
+the utmost sincerity I do not think myself equal to the command I am
+honored with." Indeed, he very well described himself and his generals
+when he wrote of one officer, "his wants are common to us all--the want of
+experience to move upon a large scale, for the limited and contracted
+knowledge, which any of us have in military matters, stands in very little
+stead." There can be no question that in most of the "field" engagements
+of the Revolution Washington was out-generalled by the British, and
+Jefferson made a just distinction when he spoke of his having often
+"failed in the field, and rarely against an enemy in station, as at Boston
+and York."
+
+The lack of great military genius in the commander-in-chief has led
+British writers to ascribe the results of the war to the want of ability
+in their own generals, their view being well summed up by a writer in
+1778, who said, "in short, I am of the opinion ... that any other General
+in the world than General Howe would have beaten General Washington; and
+any other General in the world than General Washington would have beaten
+General Howe."
+
+This is, in effect, to overlook the true nature of the contest, for it was
+their very victories that defeated the British. They conquered New Jersey,
+to meet defeat; they captured Philadelphia, only to find it a danger; they
+established posts in North Carolina, only to abandon them; they overran
+Virginia, to lay down their arms at Yorktown. As Washington early in the
+war divined, the Revolution was "a war of posts," and he urged the danger
+of "dividing and subdividing our Force too much [so that] we shall have no
+one post sufficiently guarded," saying, "it is a military observation
+strongly supported by experience, 'that a superior army may fall a
+sacrifice to an inferior, by an injudicious division.'" It was exactly
+this which defeated the British; every conquest they made weakened their
+force, and the war was not a third through when Washington said, "I am
+well convinced myself, that the enemy, long ere this, are perfectly well
+satisfied, that the possession of our towns, while we have an army in the
+field, will avail them little." As Franklin said, when the news was
+announced that Howe had captured Philadelphia, "No, Philadelphia has
+captured Howe."
+
+The problem of the Revolution was not one of military strategy,
+but of keeping an army in existence, and it was in this that the
+commander-in-chief's great ability showed itself. The British could and
+did repeatedly beat the Continental army, but they could not beat the
+General, and so long as he was in the field there was a rallying ground
+for whatever fighting spirit there was.
+
+The difficulty of this task can hardly be over-magnified. When Washington
+assumed command of the forces before Boston, he "found a mixed multitude
+of people ... under very little discipline, order, or government," and
+"confusion and disorder reigned in every department, which, in a little
+time, must have ended either in the separation of the army or fatal
+contests with one another." Before he was well in the saddle his general
+officers were quarrelling over rank, and resigning; there was such a
+scarcity of powder that it was out of the question for some months to do
+anything; and the British sent people infected with small-pox to the
+Continental army, with a consequent outbreak of that pest.
+
+Hardly had he brought order out of chaos when the army he had taken such
+pains to discipline began to melt away, having been by political folly
+recruited for short terms, and the work was to be all done over. Again and
+again during the war regiments which had been enlisted for short periods
+left him at the most critical moment. Very typical occurrences he himself
+tells of, when Connecticut troops could "not be prevailed upon to stay
+longer than their term (saving those who have enlisted for the next
+campaign, and mostly on furlough), and such a dirty, mercenary spirit
+pervades the whole, that I should not be at all surprised at any disaster
+that may happen," and when he described how in his retreat through New
+Jersey, "The militia, instead of calling forth their utmost efforts to a
+brave and manly opposition in order to repair our losses, are dismayed,
+intractable, and impatient to return. Great numbers of them have gone off;
+in some instances, almost by whole regiments, by half ones, and by
+companies at a time." Another instance of this evil occurred when "the
+Continental regiments from the eastern governments ... agreed to stay six
+weeks beyond their term of enlistment.... For this extraordinary mark of
+their attachment to their country, I have agreed to give them a bounty of
+ten dollars per man, besides their pay running on." The men took the
+bounty, and nearly one-half went off a few days after.
+
+Nor was this the only evil of the policy of short enlistments. Another was
+that the new troops not merely were green soldiers, but were without
+discipline. At New York Tilghman wrote that after the battle of Brooklyn
+the "Eastern" soldiers were "plundering everything that comes in their
+way," and Washington in describing the condition said, "every Hour brings
+the most distressing complaints of the Ravages of our own Troops who are
+become infinitely more formidable to the poor Farmers and Inhabitants than
+the common Enemy. Horses are taken out of the Continental Teams; the
+Baggage of Officers and the Hospital Stores, even the Quarters of General
+Officers are not exempt from Rapine." At the most critical moment of the
+war the New Jersey militia not merely deserted, but captured and took with
+them nearly the whole stores of the army. As the General truly wrote, "the
+Dependence which the Congress have placed upon the militia, has already
+greatly injured, and I fear will totally ruin our cause. Being subject to
+no controul themselves, they introduce disorder among the troops, whom you
+have attempted to discipline, while the change in their living brings
+on sickness; this makes them Impatient to get home, which spreads
+universally, and introduces abominable desertions." "The collecting
+militia," he said elsewhere, "depends entirely upon the prospects of the
+day. If favorable they throng in to you; if not, they will not move."
+
+To make matters worse, politics were allowed to play a prominent part in
+the selection of officers, and Washington complained that "the different
+States [were], without regard to the qualifications of an officer,
+quarrelling about the appointments, and nominating such as are not fit to
+be shoeblacks, from the attachments of this or that member of Assembly."
+As a result, so he wrote of New England, "their officers are generally of
+the lowest class of the people; and, instead of setting a good example to
+their men, are leading them into every kind of mischief, one species of
+which is plundering the inhabitants, under the pretence of their being
+Tories." To this political motive he himself would not yield, and a sample
+of his appointments was given when a man was named "because he stands
+unconnected with either of these Governments; or with this, or that or
+tother man; for between you and me there is more in this than you can
+easily imagine," and he asserted that "I will not have any Gentn.
+introduced from family connexion, or local attachments, to the prejudice
+of the Service."
+
+To misbehaving soldiers Washington showed little mercy. In his first
+service he had deserters and plunderers "flogged," and threatened that if
+he could "lay hands" on one particular culprit, "I would try the effect of
+1000 lashes." At another time he had "a Gallows near 40 feet high erected
+(which has terrified the _rest_ exceedingly) and I am determined if I can
+be justified in the proceeding, to hang two or three on it, as an example
+to others." When he took command of the Continental army he "made a pretty
+good slam among such kind of officers as the Massachusetts Government
+abound in since I came to this Camp, having broke one Colo, and two
+Captains for cowardly behavior in the action on Bunker's Hill,--two
+Captains for drawing more provisions and pay than they had men in their
+Company--and one for being absent from his Post when the Enemy appeared
+there and burnt a House just by it Besides these, I have at this time--one
+Colo., one Major, one Captn., & two subalterns under arrest for tryal--In
+short I spare none yet fear it will not at all do as these People seem to
+be too inattentive to every thing but their Interest" "I am sorry," he
+wrote, "to be under a Necessity of making frequent Examples among the
+Officers," but "as nothing can be more fatal to an Army, than Crimes of
+this kind, I am determined by every Motive of Reward and Punishment to
+prevent them in future." Even when plundering was avoided there were short
+commons for those who clung to the General. The commander-in-chief wrote
+Congress that "they have often, very often, been reduced to the necessity
+of Eating Salt Porke, or Beef not for a day, or a week but months
+together without Vegetables, or money to buy them;" and again, he
+complained that "the Soldiers [were forced to] eat every kind of horse
+food but Hay. Buckwheat, common wheat, Rye and Indn. Corn was the
+composition of the Meal which made their bread. As an Army they bore it,
+[but] accompanied by the want of Cloaths, Blankets, &c., will produce
+frequent desertions in all armies and so it happens with us, tho' it did
+not excite a mutiny." Even the horses suffered, and Washington wrote to
+the quartermaster-general, "Sir, my horses I am told have not had a
+mouthful of long or short forage for three days. They have eaten up their
+mangers and are now, (though wanted for immediate use,) scarcely able to
+stand."
+
+Two results were sickness and discontent. At times one-fourth of the
+soldiers were on the sick-list. Three times portions of the army mutinied,
+and nothing but Washington's influence prevented the disorder from
+spreading. At the end of the war, when, according to Hamilton, "the army
+had secretly determined not to lay down their arms until due provision and
+a satisfactory prospect should be offered on the subject of their pay,"
+the commander-in-chief urged Congress to do them justice, writing, "the
+fortitude--the long, & great suffering of this army is unexampled in
+history; but there is an end to all things & I fear we are very near to
+this. Which, more than probably will oblige me to stick very close to my
+flock this winter, & try like a careful physician, to prevent, if
+possible, the disorders getting to an incurable height." In this he judged
+rightly, for by his influence alone was the army prevented from adopting
+other than peaceful measures to secure itself justice.
+
+A chief part of these difficulties the Continental Congress is directly
+responsible for, and the reason for their conduct is to be found largely
+in the circumstances of Washington's appointment to the command.
+
+
+[Illustration: Life Mask of Washington]
+
+
+When the Second Congress met, in May, 1775, the battle of Lexington had
+been fought, and twenty thousand minute-men were assembled about Boston.
+To pay and feed such a horde was wholly beyond the ability of New England,
+and her delegates came to the Congress bent upon getting that body to
+assume the expense, or, as the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts
+naively put it, "we have the greatest Confidence in the Wisdom and Ability
+of the Continent to support us."
+
+The other colonies saw this in a different light. Massachusetts, without
+our advice, has begun a war and embodied an army; let Massachusetts pay
+her own bills, was their point of view. "I have found this Congress like
+the last," wrote John Adams. "When we first came together, I found a
+strong jealousy of us from New England, and the Massachusettes in
+particular, suspicions entertained of designs of independency, an American
+republic, Presbyterian principles, and twenty other things. Our sentiments
+were heard in Congress with great caution, and seemed to make but little
+impression." Yet "every post brought me letters from my friends ... urging
+in pathetic terms the impossibility of keeping their men together without
+the assistance of Congress." "I was daily urging all these things, but we
+were embarrassed with more than one difficulty, not only with the party in
+favor of the petition to the King, and the party who were zealous of
+independence, but a third party, which was a southern party against a
+Northern, and a jealousy against a New England army under the command of a
+New England General."
+
+Under these circumstances a political deal was resorted to, and Virginia
+was offered by John and Samuel Adams, as the price of an adoption and
+support of the New England army, the appointment of commander-in-chief,
+though the offer was not made with over-good grace, and only because "we
+could carry nothing without conceding it." There was some dissension
+among the Virginia delegates as to who should receive the appointment,
+Washington himself recommending an old companion in arms, General Andrew
+Lewis, and "more than one," Adams says of the Virginia delegates, were
+"very cool about the appointment of Washington, and particularly Mr.
+Pendleton was very clear and full against it" Washington himself said the
+appointment was due to "partiality of the Congress, joined to a political
+motive;" and, hard as it is to realize, it was only the grinding political
+necessity of the New England colonies which secured to Washington the
+place for which in the light of to-day he seems to have been created.
+
+As a matter of course, there was not the strongest liking felt for the
+General thus chosen by the New England delegates, and this was steadily
+lessened by Washington's frank criticism of the New England soldiers and
+officers already noticed. Equally bitter to the New England delegates and
+their allies were certain army measures that Washington pressed upon the
+attention of Congress. He urged and urged that the troops should be
+enlisted for the war, that promotions should be made from the army as a
+whole, and not from the colony- or State-line alone, and most unpopular of
+all, that since Continental soldiers could not otherwise be obtained, a
+bounty should be given to secure them, and that as compensation for their
+inadequate pay half-pay should be given them after the war. He eventually
+carried these points, but at the price of an entire alienation of the
+democratic party in the Congress, who wished to have the war fought with
+militia, to have all the officers elected annually, and to whom the very
+suggestion of pensions was like a red rag to a bull.
+
+A part of their motive in this was unquestionably to prevent the danger of
+a standing army, and of allowing the commander-in-chief to become popular
+with the soldiers. Very early in the war Washington noted "the _jealousy_
+which Congress unhappily entertain of the army, and which, if reports are
+right, some members labor to establish." And he complained that "I see a
+distrust and jealousy of military power, that the commander-in-chief has
+not an opportunity, even by recommendation, to give the least assurance of
+reward for the most essential services." The French minister told his
+government that when a committee was appointed to institute certain army
+reforms, delegates in Congress "insisted on the danger of associating the
+Commander-in-chief with it, whose influence, it was stated, was already
+too great," and when France sent money to aid the American cause, with the
+provision that it should be subject to the order of the General, it
+aroused, a writer states, "the jealousy of Congress, the members of which
+were not satisfied that the head of the army should possess such an agency
+in addition to his military power."
+
+His enemies in the Congress took various means to lessen his influence and
+mortify him. Burke states that in the discussion of one question "Jersey,
+Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina voted for expunging it;
+the four Eastern States, Virginia and Georgia for retaining it. There
+appeared through this whole debate a great desire, in some of the
+delegates from the Eastern States, and in one from New Jersey, to insult
+the General," and a little later the Congress passed a "resolve which,"
+according to James Lovell, "was meant to rap a Demi G--over the knuckles."
+Nor was it by commission, but as well by omission, that they showed their
+ill feeling. John Laurens told his father that
+
+
+"there is a conduct observed towards" the General "by certain great men,
+which as it is humiliating, must abate his happiness.... The Commander in
+Chief of this army is not sufficiently informed of all that is known by
+Congress of European affairs. Is it not a galling circumstance, for him to
+collect the most important intelligence piecemeal, and as they choose to
+give it, from gentlemen who come from York? Apart from the chagrin which
+he must necessarily feel at such an appearance of slight, it should be
+considered that in order to settle his plan of operations for the ensuing
+campaign, he should take into view the present state of European affairs,
+and Congress should not leave him in the dark."
+
+
+Furthermore, as already noted, Washington was criticised for his Fabian
+policy, and in his indignation he wrote to Congress, "I am informed that
+it is a matter of amazement, and that reflections have been thrown out
+against this army, for not being more active and enterprising than, in the
+opinion of some, they ought to have been. If the charge is just, the best
+way to account for it will be to refer you to the returns of our strength,
+and those which I can produce of the enemy, and to the enclosed abstract
+of the clothing now actually wanting for the army." "I can assure those
+gentlemen," he said, in reply to political criticism, "that it is a much
+easier and less distressing thing to draw remonstrances in a comfortable
+room by a good fireside, than to occupy a cold, bleak hill, and sleep
+under frost and snow, without clothes or blankets."
+
+The ill feeling did not end with insults. With the defeats of the years
+1776 and 1777 it gathered force, and towards the end of the latter year it
+crystallized in what has been known in history as the Conway Cabal. The
+story of this conspiracy is so involved in shadow that little is known
+concerning its adherents or its endeavors. But in a general way it has
+been discovered that the New England delegates again sought the aid of the
+Lee faction in Virginia, and that this coalition, with the aid of such
+votes as they could obtain, schemed several methods which should lessen
+the influence of Washington, if they did not force him to resign. Separate
+and detached commands were created, which were made independent of the
+commander-in-chief, and for this purpose even a scheme which the General
+called "a child of folly" was undertaken. Officers notoriously inimical to
+Washington, yet upon whom he would be forced to rely, were promoted. A
+board of war made up of his enemies, with powers "in effect paramount,"
+Hamilton says, "to those of the commander-in-chief," was created It is
+even asserted that it was moved in Congress that a committee should be
+appointed to arrest Washington, which was defeated only by the timely
+arrival of a new delegate, by which the balance of power was lost to the
+Cabal.
+
+Even with the collapse of the army Cabal the opposition in Congress was
+maintained. "I am very confident," wrote General Greene, "that there is
+party business going on again, and, as Mifflin is connected with it, I
+doubt not its being a revival of the old scheme;" again writing, "General
+Schuyler and others consider it a plan of Mifflin's to injure your
+Excellency's operations. I am now fully convinced of the reality of what I
+suggested to you before I came away." In 1779 John Sullivan, then a member
+of Congress, wrote,--
+
+
+"Permit me to inform your Excellency, that the faction raised against you
+in 1777, is not yet destroyed. The members are waiting to collect
+strength, and seize some favorable moment to appear in force. I speak not
+from conjecture, but from certain knowledge. Their plan is to take every
+method of proving the danger arising from a commander, who enjoys the full
+and unlimited confidence of his army, and alarm the people with the
+prospects of imaginary evils; nay, they will endeavor to convert your
+virtue into arrows, with which, they will seek to wound you."
+
+
+But Washington could not be forced into a resignation, ill-treat and
+slight him as they would, and at no time were they strong enough to vote
+him out of office. For once a Congressional "deal" between New England and
+Virginia did not succeed, and as Washington himself wrote, "I have a good
+deal of reason to believe that the machination of this junto will recoil
+on their own heads, and be a means of bringing some matters to light which
+by getting me out of the way, some of them thought to conceal," In this he
+was right, for the re-elections of both Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee
+were put in danger, and for some time they were discredited even in their
+own colonies. "I have happily had," Washington said to a correspondent,
+"but few differences with those with whom I have had the honor of being
+connected in the service. With whom, and of what nature these have been,
+you know. I bore much for the sake of peace and the public good"
+
+As is well known, Washington served without pay during his eight years of
+command, and, as he said, "fifty thousand pounds would not induce me again
+to undergo what I have done." No wonder he declared "that the God of
+armies may incline the hearts of my American brethren to support the
+present contest, and bestow sufficient abilities on me to bring it to a
+speedy and happy conclusion, thereby enabling me to sink into sweet
+retirement, and the full enjoyment of that peace and happiness, which will
+accompany a domestic life, is the first wish and most fervent prayer of my
+soul."
+
+The day finally came when his work was finished, and he could be, as he
+phrased it, "translated into a private citizen." Marshall describes the
+scene as follows: "At noon, the principal officers of the army assembled
+at Frances' tavern; soon after which, their beloved commander entered the
+room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed. Filling a glass, he
+turned to them and said, 'With a heart full of love and gratitude, I
+now take leave of you; I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be
+as prosperous and happy, as your former ones have been glorious and
+honorable.' Having drunk, he added, 'I cannot come to each of you to take
+my leave; but shall be obliged to you, if each of you will come and take
+me by the hand.' General Knox, being nearest, turned to him. Incapable of
+utterance, Washington grasped his hand, and embraced him. In the same
+affectionate manner he took leave of each succeeding officer. In every eye
+was the tear of dignified sensibility, and not a word was articulated to
+interrupt the majestic silence, and the tenderness of the scene. Leaving
+the room, he passed through the corps of light infantry, and walked to
+Whitehall, where a barge waited to convey him to Powles-hook. The
+whole company followed in mute and solemn procession, with dejected
+countenance ... Having entered the barge, he turned to the company, and,
+waving his hat, bade them a silent adieu."
+
+
+
+XII
+
+
+CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER
+
+
+Washington became a government servant before he became a voter, by
+receiving in 1749, or when he was seventeen years of age, the appointment
+of official surveyor of Culpepper County, the salary of which, according
+to Boucher, was about fifty pounds Virginia currency a year. The office
+was certainly not a very fat berth, for it required the holder to live in
+a frontier county, to travel at times, as Washington in his journal noted,
+over "ye worst Road that ever was trod by Man or Beast," to sometimes lie
+on straw, which once "catch'd a Fire," and we "was luckily Preserved by
+one of our Mens waking," sometimes under a tent, which occasionally "was
+Carried quite of[f] with ye Wind and" we "was obliged to Lie ye Latter
+part of ye night without covering," and at other times driven from under
+the tent by smoke. Indeed, one period of surveying Washington described to
+a friend by writing,--
+
+
+"[Since] October Last I have not sleep'd above three Nights or four in a
+bed but after Walking a good deal all the Day lay down before the fire
+upon a Little Hay Straw Fodder or bearskin which-ever is to be had with
+Man Wife and Children like a Parcel of Dogs or Catts & happy's he that
+gets the Birth nearest the fire there's nothing would make it pass of
+tolerably but a good Reward a Dubbleloon is my constant gain every Day
+that the Weather will permit my going out and some time Six Pistoles the
+coldness of the Weather will not allow my making a long stay as the
+Lodging is rather too cold for the time of Year. I have never had my
+Cloths of but lay and sleep in them like a Negro except the few Nights I
+have lay'n in Frederick Town."
+
+
+In 1751, when he was nineteen, Washington bettered his lot by becoming
+adjutant of one of the four military districts of Virginia, with a salary
+of one hundred pounds and a far less toilsome occupation. This in turn led
+up to his military appointment in 1754, which he held almost continuously
+till 1759, when he resigned from the service.
+
+Next to a position on the Virginia council, a seat in the House of
+Burgesses, or lower branch of the Legislature, was most sought, and this
+position had been held by Washington's great-grandfather, father, and
+elder brother. It was only natural, therefore, that in becoming the head
+of the family George should desire the position. As early as 1755, while
+on the frontier, he wrote to his brother in charge of Mount Vernon
+inquiring about the election to be held in the county, and asking him to
+"come at Colo Fairfax's intentions, and let me know whether he purposes to
+offer himself as a candidate." "If he does not, I should be glad to take a
+poll, if I thought my chance tolerably good." His friend Carlyle,
+Washington wrote, had "mentioned it to me in Williamsburg in a bantering
+way," and he begged his brother to "discover Major Carlyle's real
+sentiments on this head," as also those of the other prominent men of the
+county, and especially of the clergymen. "_Sound_ their pulse," he wrote,
+"with an air of indifference and unconcern ... without disclosing much of
+_mine_." "If they seem inclinable to promote my interest, and things
+should be drawing to a crisis, you may declare my intention and beg their
+assistance. If on the contrary you find them more inclined to favor some
+other, I would have the affair entirely dropped." Apparently the county
+magnates disapproved, for Washington did not stand for the county.
+
+In 1757 an election for burgesses was held in Frederick County, in which
+Washington then was (with his soldiers), and for which he offered himself
+as a candidate. The act was hardly a wise one, for, though he had saved
+Winchester and the surrounding country from being overrun by the Indians,
+he was not popular. Not merely was he held responsible for the massacres
+of outlying inhabitants, whom it was impossible to protect, but in this
+very defence he had given cause for ill-feeling. He himself confessed that
+he had several times "strained the law,"--he had been forced to impress
+the horses and wagons of the district, and had in other ways so angered
+some of the people that they had threatened "to blow out my brains." But
+he had been guilty of a far worse crime still in a political sense.
+Virginia elections were based on liquor, and Washington had written to the
+governor, representing "the great nuisance the number of tippling houses
+in Winchester are to the soldiers, who by this means, in spite of the
+utmost care and vigilance, are, so long as their pay holds, incessantly
+drunk and unfit for service," and he wished that "the new commission for
+this county may have the intended effect," for "the number of tippling
+houses kept here is a great grievance." As already noted, the Virginia
+regiment was accused in the papers of drunkenness, and under the sting of
+that accusation Washington declared war on the publicans. He whipped his
+men when they became drunk, kept them away from the ordinaries, and even
+closed by force one tavern which was especially culpable. "Were it not too
+tedious," he wrote the governor, "I cou'd give your Honor such instances
+of the villainous Behavior of those Tippling House-keepers, as wou'd
+astonish any person."
+
+The conduct was admirable, but it was not good politics, and as soon as he
+offered himself as a candidate, the saloon element, under the leadership
+of one Lindsay, whose family were tavern-keepers in Winchester for at
+least one hundred years, united to oppose him. Against the would-be
+burgess they set up one Captain Thomas Swearingen, whom Washington later
+described as "a man of great weight among the meaner class of people, and
+supposed by them to possess extensive knowledge." As a result, the poll
+showed Swearingen elected by two hundred and seventy votes, and Washington
+defeated with but forty ballots.
+
+This sharp experience in practical politics seems to have taught the young
+candidate a lesson, for when a new election came in 1758 he took a leaf
+from his enemy's book, and fought them with their own weapons. The
+friendly aid of the county boss, Colonel John Wood, was secured, as also
+that of Gabriel Jones, a man of much local force and popularity. Scarcely
+less important were the sinews of war employed, told of in the following
+detailed account. A law at that time stood on the Virginia statutes
+forbidding all treating or giving of what were called "ticklers" to the
+voters, and declaring illegal all elections which were thus influenced.
+None the less, the voters of Frederick enjoyed at Washington's charge--
+
+
+40 gallons of Rum Punch @ 3/6 pr. galn                 7   0   0
+15 gallons of Wine @ 10/ pr. galn                      7  10   0
+Dinner for your Friends                                3   0   0
+13-1/2 gallons of Wine @ 10/                           6  15
+3-1/2 pts. of Brandy @ 1/3                                 4   4-1/2
+13 Galls. Beer @ 1/3                                      16   3
+8  qts. Cyder Royl @ 1/6                               0  12   0
+Punch                                                      3   9
+30 gallns. of strong beer @ 8d pr. gall                    1   0
+1 hhd & 1 Barrell of Punch, consisting of
+       26 gals. best Barbadoes rum, 5/                 6  10   0
+       12 lbs. S. Refd. Sugar 1/6                         18   9
+3 galls. and 3 quarts of Beer @ 1/ pr. gall                3   9
+10 Bowls of Punch @ 2/6 each                           1   5   0
+9 half pints of rum @ 7-1/2 d. each                        5   7-1/2
+1 pint of wine                                             1   6
+
+
+After the election was over, Washington wrote Wood that "I hope no
+Exception was taken to any that voted against me, but that all were alike
+treated, and all had enough. My only fear is that you spent with too
+sparing a hand." It is hardly necessary to say that such methods reversed
+the former election; Washington secured three hundred and ten votes, and
+Swearingen received forty-five. What is more, so far from now threatening
+to blow out his brains, there was "a general applause and huzzaing for
+Colonel Washington."
+
+From this time until he took command of the army Washington was a
+burgess. Once again he was elected from Frederick County, and then, in
+1765, he stood for Fairfax, in which Mount Vernon was located. Here he
+received two hundred and eight votes, his colleague getting but one
+hundred and forty-eight, and in the election of 1768 he received one
+hundred and eighty-five, and his colleague only one hundred and forty-two.
+Washington spent between forty and seventy-five pounds at each of these
+elections, and usually gave a ball to the voters on the night he was
+chosen. Some of the miscellaneous election expenses noted in his ledger
+are, "54 gallons of Strong Beer," "52 Do. of Ale," "�1.0.0. to Mr. John
+Muir for his fiddler," and "For cakes at the Election �7.11.1."
+
+The first duty which fell to the new burgess was service on a committee to
+draught a law to prevent hogs from running at large in Winchester. He was
+very regular in his attendance; and though he took little part in the
+proceedings, yet in some way he made his influence felt, so that when the
+time came to elect deputies to the First Congress he stood third in order
+among the seven appointed to attend that body, and a year later, in the
+delegation to the Continental Congress, he stood second, Peyton Randolph
+receiving one more vote only, and all the other delegates less.
+
+This distinction was due to the sound judgment of the man rather than to
+those qualities that are considered senatorial. Jefferson said, "I served
+with General Washington in the legislature of Virginia before the
+revolution, and, during it, with Dr. Franklin in Congress. I never heard
+either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the main point
+which was to decide the question. They laid their shoulders to the great
+points, knowing that the little ones would follow of themselves."
+
+Through all his life Washington was no speechmaker. In 1758, by an
+order of the Assembly, Speaker Robinson was directed to return its thanks
+to Colonel Washington, on behalf of the colony, for the distinguished
+military services which he had rendered to the country. As soon as he
+took his seat in the House, the Speaker performed this duty in such
+glowing terms as quite overwhelmed him. Washington rose to express his
+acknowledgments for the honor, but was so disconcerted as to be unable to
+articulate a word distinctly. He blushed and faltered for a moment, when
+the Speaker relieved him from his embarrassment by saying, "Sit down, Mr.
+Washington, your modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses the power
+of any language that I possess."
+
+This stage-fright seems to have clung to him. When Adams hinted that
+Congress should "appoint a General," and added, "I had no hesitation to
+declare that I had but one gentleman in my mind for that important
+command, and that was 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 exertions of all the Colonies better than any other person in the
+Union," he relates that "Mr. Washington who happened to sit near the door,
+as soon as he heard me allude to him, from his usual modesty, darted into
+the library-room."
+
+So, too, at his inauguration as President, Maclay noted that "this great
+man was agitated and embarrassed more than ever he was by the leveled
+cannon or pointed musket. He trembled, and several times could scarce make
+out to read [his speech], though it must be supposed he had often read it
+before," and Fisher Ames wrote, "He addressed the two Houses in the
+Senate-chamber; it was a very touching scene and quite of a solemn kind.
+His aspect grave, almost to sadness; his modesty actually shaking; his
+voice deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to call for close
+attention,"
+
+There can be little doubt that this non-speech-making ability was not
+merely the result of inaptitude, but was also a principle, for when his
+favorite nephew was elected a burgess, and made a well-thought-of speech
+in his first attempt, his uncle wrote him, "You have, I find, broke the
+ice. The only advice I will offer to you on the occasion (if you have a
+mind to command the attention of the House,) is to speak seldom, but
+to important subjects, except such as particularly relate to your
+constituents; and, in the former case, make yourself perfectly master of
+the subject. Never exceed a decent warmth, and submit your sentiments with
+diffidence. A dictatorial stile, though it may carry conviction, is always
+accompanied with disgust." To a friend writing of this same speech he
+said, "with great pleasure I received the information respecting the
+commencement of my nephew's political course. I hope he will not be so
+bouyed by the favorable impression it has made, as to become a babbler."
+
+Even more indicative of his own conceptions of senatorial conduct is
+advice given in a letter to Jack Custis, when the latter, too, achieved an
+election to the Assembly.
+
+
+"I do not suppose," he wrote, "that so young a senator as you are, little
+versed in political disquisitions, can yet have much influence in a
+populous assembly, composed of Gentln. of various talents and of different
+views. But it is in your power to be punctual in your attendance (and duty
+to the trust reposed in you exacts it of you), to hear dispassionately and
+determine coolly all great questions. To be disgusted at the decision of
+questions, because they are not consonant to your own ideas, and to
+withdraw ourselves from public assemblies, or to neglect our attendance at
+them, upon suspicion that there is a party formed, who are inimical to our
+cause, and to the true interest of our country, is wrong, because these
+things may originate in a difference of opinion; but, supposing the fact
+is otherwise, and that our suspicions are well founded, it is the
+indispensable duty of every patriot to counteract them by the most steady
+and uniform opposition."
+
+
+In the Continental Congress, Randolph states, "Washington was prominent,
+though silent. His looks bespoke a mind absorbed in meditation on his
+country's fate; but a positive concert between him and Henry could not
+more effectually have exhibited him to view, than when Henry ridiculed the
+idea of peace 'when there was no peace,' and enlarged on the duty of
+preparing for war." Very quickly his attendance on that body was ended by
+its appointing him general.
+
+His political relations to the Congress have been touched upon elsewhere,
+but his attitude towards Great Britain is worth attention. Very early he
+had said, "At a time when our lordly masters in Great Britain will be
+satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation of American freedom, it
+seems highly necessary that something should be done to avert the stroke,
+and maintain the liberty, which we have derived from our ancestors. But
+the manner of doing it, to answer the purpose effectually, is the point in
+question. That no man should scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use a--s in
+defence of so valuable a blessing, on which all the good and evil of life
+depends, is clearly my opinion." When actual war ensued, he was among the
+first to begin to collect and drill a force, even while he wrote, "unhappy
+it is, though to reflect, that a brother's sword has been sheathed in a
+brother's breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America
+are either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad
+alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?"
+
+Not till early in 1776 did he become a convert to independence, and
+then only by such "flaming arguments as were exhibited at Falmouth and
+Norfolk," which had been burned by the British. At one time, in 1776, he
+thought "the game will be pretty well up," but "under a full persuasion of
+the justice of our cause, I cannot entertain an Idea, that it will finally
+sink, tho' it may remain for some time under a cloud," and even in this
+time of terrible discouragement he maintained that "nothing short of
+independence, it appears to me, can possibly do. A peace on other terms
+would, if I may be allowed the expression, be a peace of war."
+
+Pickering, who placed a low estimate on his military ability, said that,
+"upon the whole, I have no hesitation in saying that General Washington's
+talents were much better adapted to the Presidency of the United States
+than to the command of their armies," and this is probably true. The
+diplomatist Thornton said of the President, that if his "circumspection is
+accompanied by discernment and penetration, as I am informed it is, and as
+I should be inclined to believe from the judicious choice he has generally
+made of persons to fill public stations, he possesses the two great
+requisites of a statesman, the faculty of concealing his own sentiments
+and of discovering those of other men."
+
+To follow his course while President is outside of the scope of this work,
+but a few facts are worth noting. Allusion has already been made to his
+use of the appointing power, but how clearly he held it as a "public
+trust" is shown in a letter to his longtime friend Benjamin Harrison, who
+asked him for an office. "I will go to the chair," he replied, "under no
+pre-engagement of any kind or nature whatsoever. But, when in it, to the
+best of my judgment, discharge the duties of the office with that
+impartiality and zeal for the public good, which ought never to suffer
+connection of blood or friendship to intermingle so as to have the least
+sway on the decision of a public nature." This position was held to
+firmly. John Adams wrote an office-seeker, "I must caution you, my dear
+Sir, against having any dependence on my influence or that of any other
+person. No man, I believe, has influence with the President. He seeks
+information from all quarters, and judges more independently than any man
+I ever knew. It is of so much importance to the public that he should
+preserve this superiority, that I hope I shall never see the time that any
+man will have influence with him beyond the powers of reason and
+argument."
+
+Long after, when political strife was running high, Adams said,
+"Washington appointed a multitude of democrats and jacobins of the deepest
+die. I have been more cautious in this respect; but there is danger of
+proscribing under imputations of democracy, some of the ablest, most
+influential, and best characters in the Union." In this he was quite
+correct, for the first President's appointments were made with a view to
+destroy party and not create it, his object being to gather all the talent
+of the country in support of the national government, and he bore many
+things which personally were disagreeable in an endeavor to do this.
+
+Twice during Washington's terms he was forced to act counter to the public
+sentiment. The first time was when a strenuous attempt was made by the
+French minister to break through the neutrality that had been proclaimed,
+when, according to John Adams, "ten thousand people in the streets of
+Philadelphia, day after day, threatened to drag Washington out of his
+house, and effect a revolution in the government, or compel it to declare
+in favor of the French revolution and against England." The second time
+was when he signed the treaty of 1795 with Great Britain, which produced a
+popular outburst from one end of the country to the other. In neither case
+did Washington swerve an iota from what he thought right, writing, "these
+are unpleasant things, but they must be met with firmness." Eventually the
+people always came back to their leader, and Jefferson sighed over the
+fact that "such is the popularity of the President that the people will
+support him in whatever he will do or will not do, without appealing to
+their own reason or to anything but their feelings towards him."
+
+
+[Illustration: PRESIDENTIAL MANSION, PHILADELPHIA]
+
+
+It is not to be supposed from this that Washington was above considering
+the popular bent, or was lacking in political astuteness. John Adams
+asserted that "General Washington, one of the most attentive men in the
+world to the manner of doing things, owed a great proportion of his
+celebrity to this circumstance," and frequently he is to be found
+considering the popularity or expediency of courses. In 1776 he said, "I
+have found it of importance and highly expedient to yield to many points
+in fact, without seeming to have done it, and this to avoid bringing on a
+too frequent discussion of matters which in a political view ought to be
+kept a little behind the curtain, and not to be made too much the subjects
+of disquisition. Time only can eradicate and overcome customs and
+prejudices of long standing--they must be got the better of by slow and
+gradual advances."
+
+Elsewhere he wrote, "In a word, if a man cannot act in all respects as he
+would wish, he must do what appears best, under the circumstances he is
+in. This I aim at, however short I may fall of the end;" of a certain
+measure he thought, "it has, however, like many other things in which I
+have been involved, two edges, neither of which can be avoided without
+falling on the other;" and that even in small things he tried to be
+politic is shown in his journey through New England, when he accepted an
+invitation to a large public dinner at Portsmouth, and the next day, being
+at Exeter, he wrote in his diary, "a jealousy subsists between this town
+(where the Legislature alternately sits) and Portsmouth; which, had I
+known it in time, would have made it necessary to have accepted an
+invitation to a public dinner, but my arrangements having been otherwise
+made, I could not."
+
+Nor was Washington entirely lacking in finesse. He offered Patrick Henry a
+position after having first ascertained in a roundabout manner that it
+would be refused, and in many other ways showed that he understood good
+politics. Perhaps the neatest of his dodges was made when the French
+revolutionist Volney asked him for a general letter of introduction to the
+American people. This was not, for political and personal reasons, a thing
+Washington cared to give, yet he did not choose to refuse, so he wrote on
+a sheet of paper,--
+
+
+"C. Volney
+     needs no recommendation from
+                      Geo. Washington."
+
+
+There is a very general belief that success in politics and truthfulness
+are incompatible, yet, as already shown, Washington prospered in politics,
+and the Rev. Mason L. Weems is authority for the popular statement that at
+six years of age George could not tell a lie. Whether this was so, or
+whether Mr. Weems was drawing on his imagination for his facts, it seems
+probable that Washington partially outgrew the disability in his more
+mature years.
+
+When trying to win the Indians to the English cause in 1754, Washington in
+his journal states that he "let the young Indians who were in our camp
+know that the French wanted to kill the Half King," a diplomatic statement
+he hardly believed, which the writer says "had its desired effect," and
+which the French editor declared to be an "imposture." In this same
+campaign he was forced to sign a capitulation which acknowledged that he
+had been guilty of assassination, and this raised such a storm in Virginia
+when it became known that Washington hastened to deny all knowledge of the
+charge having been contained among the articles, and alleged that it had
+not been made clear to him when the paper had been translated and read.
+On the contrary, another officer present at the reading states that
+he refused to "sign the Capitulation because they charged us with
+Assasination in it."
+
+In writing to an Indian agent in 1755, Washington was "greatly enraptured"
+at hearing of his approach, dwelt upon the man's "hearty attachment to our
+glorious Cause" and his "Courage of which I have had very great proofs."
+Inclosing a copy of the letter to the governor, Washington said, "the
+letter savors a little of flattery &c., &c., but this, I hope is
+justifiable on such an occasion."
+
+With his London agent there was a little difficulty in 1771, and
+Washington objected to a letter received "because there is one paragraph
+in particular in it ... which appears to me to contain an implication of
+my having deviated from the truth." A more general charge was Charles
+Lee's: "I aver that his Excellencies letter was from beginning to the end
+a most abominable lie."
+
+As a _ruse de guerre_ Washington drew up for a spy in 1779 a series of
+false statements as to the position and number of his army for him to
+report to the British. And in preparation for the campaign of 1781 "much
+trouble was taken and finesse used to misguide and bewilder Sir Henry
+Clinton by making a deceptive provision of ovens, forage and boats in his
+neighborhood." "Nor were less pains taken to deceive our own army," and
+even "the highest military as well as civil officers" were deceived at
+this time, not merely that the secret should not leak out, but also "for
+the important purpose of inducing the eastern and middle states to make
+greater exertions."
+
+When travelling through the South in 1791, Washington entered in his
+diary, "Having suffered very much by the dust yesterday--and finding that
+parties of Horse, & a number of other Gentlemen were intending to attend
+me part of the way to-day, I caused their enquiries respecting the time of
+my setting out, to be answered that, I should endeavor to do it before
+eight o'clock; but I did it a little after five, by which means I avoided
+the inconveniences above mentioned."
+
+Weld, in his "Travels in America," published that "General Washington told
+me that he never was so much annoyed by the mosquitos in any part of
+America as in Skenesborough, for that they used to bite through the
+thickest boot." When this anecdote appeared in print, good old Dr. Dwight,
+shocked at the taradiddle, and fearing its evil influence on Washington's
+fame, spoiled the joke by explaining in a book that "a gentleman of
+great respectability, who was present when General Washington made the
+observation referred to, told me that he said, when describing those
+mosquitoes to Mr. Weld, that they 'bit through his stockings above the
+boots.'" Whoever invented the explanation should also have evolved a type
+of boots other than those worn by Washington, for unfortunately for the
+story Washington's military boots went above his "small clothes," giving
+not even an inch of stocking for either mosquito or explanation. In 1786,
+Washington declared that "I do not recollect that in the course of my
+life, I ever forfeited my word, or broke a promise made to any one," and
+at another time he wrote, "I never say any thing of a Man that I have the
+smallest scruple of saying _to him_."
+
+From 1749 till 1784, and from 1789 till 1797, or a period of forty years,
+Washington filled offices of one kind or another, and when he died he
+still held a commission. Thus, excluding his boyhood, there were but seven
+years of his life in which he was not engaged in the public service. Even
+after his retirement from the Presidency he served on a grand jury, and
+before this he had several times acted as petit juror. In another way he
+was a good citizen, for when at Mount Vernon he invariably attended the
+election, rain or shine, though it was a ride of ten miles to the polling
+town.
+
+Both his enemies and his friends bore evidence to his honesty. Jefferson
+said, "his integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have
+ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity or friendship or
+hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was indeed in every sense of
+the words, a wise, a good, and a great man." Pickering wrote that "to the
+excellency of his _virtues_ I am not disposed to set any limits. All his
+views were upright, all his actions just" Hamilton asserted that "the
+General is a very honest Man;" and Tilghman spoke of him as "the honestest
+man that I believe ever adorned human nature."
+
+
+
+Index.
+
+
+ADAMS, John, opinion of Washington,
+  use of appointing power,
+  deal arranged by,
+  dislike of Washington,
+  quoted,
+
+----, Samuel, opposed to Washington,
+
+Agriculture, Washington's fondness for,
+Ague, Washington's attacks of,
+
+ALEXANDER, Frances,
+
+Alexandria, assemblies at,
+  Washington builds in,
+  lots in,
+
+ALIQUIPPA, Queen,
+
+Alton, John,
+
+Ames, Fisher, quoted,
+
+Appleby school,
+
+ARMSTRONG, John, quoted,
+
+ARNOLD, B.,
+
+Asses, breeding of,
+
+_Aurora_,
+
+
+BACHE, B.F., writes against Washington,
+
+BALLS, maternal ancestors of Washington,
+
+Balls,
+
+Bank-stock, holdings of,
+
+Barbadoes, Washington's visit to,
+
+BARD, Dr., quoted,
+
+BASSETT, Burwell,
+
+----, Frances,
+
+Bath, Virginia, lots in,
+
+_Battle of Brooklyn_, a farce,
+
+Billiards,
+
+BISHOP, Thomas,
+
+BLAND, Mary,
+
+----, T., criticises Washington's bow,
+
+"Blueskin,"
+
+Books,
+
+Boston, siege of,
+
+BOUCHER, Rev. J., quoted,
+  mentioned,
+
+Bounties,
+
+BRADDOCK, Edward, Washington and,
+  defeat of,
+  march of,
+  mentioned,
+
+Brasenose College, Lawrence Washington a fellow of,
+
+BRISSOT de Warville, quoted,
+
+British forgeries,
+
+Brixted Parva, Lawrence Washington rector of,
+
+BROGLIE, Prince de, quoted,
+
+Brooklyn, battle of,
+
+
+CALLENDER, James Thomson, publications of,
+
+CALVERT, Eleanor, marriage with Jack Custis,
+  visit to Cambridge,
+  remarriage,
+
+Cambridge, head-quarters at,
+  mentioned,
+
+CAMPBELL, A., portrait of Washington by,
+
+Cancer, George Washington's,
+  Mary Washington's,
+
+Capital. _See_ Washington City.
+
+Cards,
+
+CARLYLE, Washington's friendship for,
+
+----, Major,
+
+----, Sally,
+
+CARROLL, Charles,
+
+CARY, Mary,
+
+"Cato,"
+
+"Centinel,"
+
+Charity, Washington's,
+
+Charleston, ladies of, visit Washington,
+  jackass at,
+
+CHASTELLUX, Marquis de, quoted,
+  marriage of,
+
+Children and Washington,
+
+Christ Church,
+
+Christianity, Washington's view of,
+
+CLARK, Abraham, opinion of Washington,
+
+CLINTON, George, Washington's investment with,
+
+----, Sir H.,
+  Washington's relations with,
+
+Clothes, Washington's taste in,
+
+Clubs, Washington's share in,
+
+COBB, David, quoted,
+  at Yorktown,
+
+COBBETT, William, quoted,
+
+Colds, Washington's treatment of,
+
+Commissariat,
+
+Congress, Continental, Washington's relations with,
+  jealousy of Washington and the army,
+  endeavors to insult Washington,
+  part in the Conway cabal,
+  Washington's election to,
+  Washington in,
+
+Connecticut troops, misconduct of,
+
+"Conotocarius," Indian name for Washington,
+
+Continental army,
+  sickness of,
+  farewell to,
+  small-pox in,
+  threatened mutiny of,
+
+Conway Cabal,
+
+CONWAY, Thomas, Washington's relations with,
+
+CORBIN, Richard,
+
+CORNWALLIS, Lord, Washington's relations with,
+
+Craigie house,
+
+CRAIK, Dr. James, Washington's friendship for,
+  bleeds Washington,
+
+CULPEPER, Lord,
+
+Culpeper County,
+
+CUSTIS, Eleanor P.,
+  marriage to L. Lewis,
+  quoted,
+
+----, G.W.P., education,
+  quoted,
+  acts,
+
+----, John Parke, relations with Washington,
+  education,
+
+----, Martha. _See_ Washington, Martha.
+
+----, Martha ("Patsy"), relations of Washington with,
+  death,
+  treatment of,
+  property,
+
+---- property,
+
+Dancing, Washington's fondness of,
+
+DANDRIDGE, Bartholomew,
+
+----, Martha. _See_ Washington, Martha.
+
+----, Mrs.
+
+DEANE, Silas, quoted,
+
+DE BUTTS, Lawrence,
+
+Democratic criticism of Washington,
+
+DENT, Elizabeth,
+
+DICK, Dr., quoted,
+
+Dismal Swamp Company,
+
+Distillery at Mount Vernon,
+
+District of Columbia,
+
+Dogs,
+
+DUANE, William, writes against Washington,
+
+Duelling, Washington's views on,
+  threatened,
+
+DUER, W.A., quoted,
+
+DUMAS, M., quoted,
+
+DUNLAP, W., quoted,
+
+Duquesne, Fort,
+
+
+"Eltham,"
+
+Exeter, Bishop of, Sermons,
+
+
+FAIRFAX, Ann,
+
+----, Bryan, Lord,
+
+----, George William,
+
+----, Sally, 90-1,
+
+----, Thomas, Lord,
+
+----, William,
+
+Fairfax County,
+
+Fairfax Parish,
+
+Farewell Address,
+  drafting of,
+
+Fauntleroy, Betsy,
+  William,
+
+Federal city. _See_ Washington City.
+
+Fees, Washington's gifts of,
+
+Fertilization, Washington's value of,
+
+Fish, Washington's fondness of,
+
+Fishery at Mount Vernon,
+
+Fishing,
+
+Flour, Washington's pride in his,
+
+Forged letters,
+  authorship of,
+  Bache reprints,
+
+Fort Necessity,
+
+Fox hunting,
+
+FRANKLIN, B., quoted,
+
+Frederick County, Washington stands for,
+
+Fredericksburg,
+  residence of Mary Washington,
+
+French and Indian War,
+
+French language, Washington on,
+
+FRENEAU, P., writes against Washington,
+
+
+GAGE, Thomas, relations with Washington,
+
+GATES, Horatio, Washington's relations with,
+  mentioned,
+
+General orders, quotations from,
+
+Genet episode,
+
+GENN, James, Washington learns surveying from,
+
+Germantown, battle of,
+
+GERRY, Elbridge, attitude towards Washington,
+
+GIBBONS, Mary, scandal concerning,
+
+GORDON, Rev. W., quoted,
+
+Great Britain, Washington's attitude towards,
+
+GREEN, Rev. Charles,
+
+GREENE, N., friendship with Washington,
+  quoted,
+
+GRYMES, Lucy,
+
+
+Half-King,
+
+HAMILTON, A., mentioned,
+  quoted,
+  Washington's relations with,
+
+HARRISON, Benjamin,
+  letter of,
+  asks office,
+
+----, R.H.,
+
+HENRY Eighth grants lands to Washingtons,
+
+HENRY, Patrick, quoted,
+  mentioned,
+  offered office,
+
+Herring, sales of,
+
+Hickey plot,
+
+Horses, stud at Mount Vernon,
+
+Houdon bust,
+
+HOWE, Lord, and Sir William, Washington's relations with,
+
+Humphreys, D., quoted,
+  relations with Washington,
+
+HUNTER, J., quoted,
+
+Hunting,
+
+
+Independence, Washington on,
+
+Indians,
+  Washington's diplomacy with,
+
+
+James River Land Company, Washington's interest in,
+
+Jay treaty,
+
+JEFFERSON, Thomas, Washington's relations with,
+  opinion of Washington,
+  helps Freneau,
+  quoted,
+  mentioned,
+
+JONES, Gabriel,
+
+
+Kenmore House,
+
+KNOX, Henry,
+  relations with Washington,
+
+
+LAFAYETTE, Marquis de,
+  Washington's relations with,
+  quoted,
+
+----, G.W.,
+
+----, Virginia,
+
+Land bounties,
+
+---- companies,
+
+Latin, Washington's knowledge of,
+
+LAURENS, John, Washington's relations with,
+  quoted,
+
+LAWRENCE, Nathaniel, quoted,
+
+Lawsuits, Washington's dislike of,
+
+LEAR, T., friendship for,
+  quoted,
+
+LEE, Charles, Washington's relations with,
+  libels Washington,
+  quoted,
+
+----, Henry, friendship for Washington,
+  anecdote of,
+  warns Washington of Jefferson's conduct,
+
+----, R.H., opinion of Washington,
+  re-election of,
+
+----, William, Washington's body-servant,
+
+LEWIS, Elizabeth,
+
+----, Fielding,
+
+----, ----. Jr.,
+
+----, Howell,
+
+----, Lewis,
+
+----, Robert,
+
+Lexington, battle of,
+
+Liveried servants,
+
+Lotteries, Washington's liking for,
+
+LOVELL, John, opinion of Washington,
+  quoted, 288.
+
+"Lowland Beauty,"
+
+LYNCH, Thomas, quoted,
+
+
+McHENRY, James,
+
+McKNIGHT, Dr. C., quoted,
+
+MACLAY, W., quoted,
+
+MADISON, James, relations with Washington,
+  quoted,
+  drafts papers,
+
+"Magnolia,"
+
+MARSHALL, J., quoted,
+
+MARYE, Rev. T., Washington's teacher,
+
+MASON, George, quoted,
+
+Massachusetts, difficulties of,
+  "slam" at officers of,
+
+MASSEY, Rev. Lee, quoted,
+
+Mather's _Young Man's Companion_,
+
+Matrimony, Washington's views on,
+
+Medical knowledge of Washington,
+  treatment of last illness,
+
+Medicine, Washington's aversion to,
+
+MERCER, George, quoted,
+
+MIFFLIN, Thomas, Washington's relations with,
+  mentioned,
+
+Military Company of Adventurers,
+
+---- science, books on,
+  Washington's knowledge of,
+
+Militia, evils of,
+
+"Minutes of the Trial,"
+  authority of,
+
+Mississippi Company,
+
+Monmouth, battle of,
+  allusions to,
+
+MORRIS, Gouverneur, quoted,
+  friendship with,
+
+----, Robert,
+
+----, Roger,
+
+Mount Vernon, boyhood home of Washington,
+  division of estate by will,
+  invitation to visit,
+  history of,
+  name,
+  house at,
+  grounds,
+  additions to land,
+  management of,
+  absence of Washington from,
+  system at,
+  work at,
+  fishery of,
+  distillery at,
+  stud stable of,
+  live stock of,
+  profits of,
+  desire to rent farms of,
+  Washington's superintendence of,
+  Washington's life at,
+  slaves at,
+  overseers of,
+  British visit to,
+  hunting at,
+  shooting at,
+
+MOYLAN, S.,
+
+MUSE, George, relations with Washington,
+
+Music, Washington's fondness of,
+
+"Nelson,"
+
+Nepotism, Washington's views on,
+
+Newburg, threatened revolt of army at,
+New England, opposition to Washington,
+  jealousy of,
+  arranges deal,
+  journey in,
+  conduct of troops,
+  officers,
+
+New Jersey troops, desertion of,
+
+New York, Washington's visit to,
+  borrows money for journey to,
+  head-quarters at,
+  warfare at,
+  _Minutes of the Trial in_,
+  proposed attack on,
+  farewell to army at,
+  presidential house at,
+
+Newspapers,
+
+Nuts, Washington's fondness for,
+
+
+Oaths, Washington's use of,
+
+Office-seekers,
+
+Ohio, march to,
+  journey to,
+  _Journal_,
+
+Ohio Company,
+
+_Old Soldier_,
+
+
+PAINE, Thomas, relations with Washington,
+
+Paper money, depreciation of,
+
+Pension of Mary Washington,
+
+PEYRONEY, Chevalier,
+
+Philadelphia, visit to,
+  fever at,
+  proposed attack on,
+  capture of,
+  Presidential house in,
+  Washington's attempted purchase near,
+
+PHILIPSE, Mary,
+
+PICKERING, Timothy, quoted,
+
+Pohick Church,
+
+Potomac Canal Company,
+
+Presidency, Washington in the,
+  duties of,
+  hospitality of,
+
+Privateer, Washington tries to secure share in,
+
+Purleigh, Lawrence Washington, rector of,
+
+
+Raffles, Washington's liking for,
+
+RAMSAY, W.,
+
+RANDOLPH, Edmund, Washington's relations with,
+  quoted,
+
+----, John, forges letters,
+
+REED, Joseph, sends print to Washington,
+  relations with Washington,
+  quoted,
+
+Revolution, Washington's service in,
+
+ROBIN, Abb�, quoted,
+
+ROBINSON, Beverly,
+
+----, John,
+
+ROCHAMBEAU, Count,
+
+Ross, James, quoted,
+
+"Royal Gift," jackass,
+
+Rules of civility,
+
+RUSH, Benjamin, anonymous letter of,
+  Washington's relations with,
+  quoted,
+
+RUTLEDGE, E.,
+
+
+St. Clair's defeat,
+
+St. Paul's Church,
+
+SARGENT, J.D., opinion of Washington,
+
+SCOTT, Charles, quoted,
+
+Servants, Washington's,
+
+Shad, sales of,
+
+Sharpless portrait,
+
+Sheep at Mount Vernon,
+
+Shooting,
+
+Skenesborough, mosquitoes at,
+
+Slavery, Washington's views on,
+
+Slaves, Washington's,
+  runaway,
+  carried off by British,
+  sickness,
+  laziness,
+  punishment,
+  rations of,
+  thieving by,
+
+Small-pox, Washington's attack of,
+
+SMITH, Rev. W., quoted,
+
+Southern tour,
+
+Spain, king of, gift of jackass to Washington,
+
+SPEARING, Ann,
+
+STEARN, Samuel, quoted,
+
+STEWART, R.,
+
+STUART, Gilbert, opinion on Washington's face,
+  quoted,
+
+Stuart portrait,
+
+Stud stable at Mount Vernon,
+
+SULLIVAN, John, quoted,
+
+----, W., quoted,
+
+Sunday, Washington's observance of,
+
+SWEARINGEN, Thomas,
+
+
+Taverns, Washington's view of,
+
+Tea, Washington's fondness for,
+
+THACHER, Dr. James, quoted,
+
+Theatre,
+
+THORNTON, Edward, quoted,
+
+TILGHMAN, Tench, Washington's relations with,
+  quoted,
+
+Tobacco, Washington's crop of,
+
+Trenton, battle of,
+
+TRUMBULL, Jonathan, wishes Washington removed,
+
+Truro Parish,
+
+
+University, National, Washington's wish for,
+
+
+Valley Forge,
+
+VAN BRAAM, J.,
+
+VARICK, Richard,
+
+VERNON, Admiral E., Mount Vernon named after,
+
+Virginia, social life of,
+  clubs,
+  British invasion of,
+  convention,
+  land bounties,
+  elections,
+  agricultural system of,
+  deal with New England,
+  Washington's office-holding in,
+  estates, Washington's opinion of,
+
+---- Regiment, drunkenness of,
+
+VOLNEY, C., Washington's diplomacy with,
+
+
+WADSWORTH, J., quoted,
+
+"Wakefield,"
+
+Walpole grant,
+
+WANSEY, H., quoted,
+
+Warm Springs, visit to,
+
+WASHINGTON, Augustine,
+
+----, Augustine (Jr.),
+
+----, Bushrod,
+  letter to,
+
+----, Charles,
+
+----, Elizabeth (Betty). _See_ Fielding.
+
+----, Frances,
+
+----, George, ancestors of,
+  birth of,
+  his resemblance to the Balls,
+  relations with his mother,
+  his dislike of public recompense,
+  views on public office,
+  financial help to relatives,
+  will of,
+  views on drinking,
+  loans,
+  care of Custis property,
+  adoption of Custis children,
+  physique,
+  weight,
+  eyes,
+  hair,
+  teeth,
+  nose,
+  height,
+  mouth,
+  expression,
+  gracefulness,
+  complexion,
+  pock-marked,
+  modesty,
+  manners,
+  portraits of,
+  strength,
+  illnesses of,
+  his last,
+  medicine, his dislike of,
+  fall of,
+  hearing,
+  education,
+  handwriting,
+  spelling,
+  surveyor,
+  secretaries of,
+  journal to the Ohio,
+  messages,
+  farewell address,
+  languages,
+  music,
+  reading,
+  religion,
+  church attendance,
+  Sunday conduct,
+  hunting,
+  tolerance,
+  love affairs,
+  poetry,
+  Barbadoes, visit to,
+  Ohio, mission to,
+  Boston, visit to, (1756)
+  New York, visit to, (1773)
+  marriage,
+  appointed commander-in-chief,
+  matrimony, his views on,
+  morality,
+  forged letters,
+  agriculture, fondness for,
+  [agriculture] system,
+  [agriculture] study of,
+  coat-of-arms of,
+  as farmer,
+  land purchases of,
+  invents a plow,
+  humor,
+  income,
+  accounts,
+  property of,
+  bounty lands of,
+  investments in land companies,
+  borrower,
+  speculation, liking for,
+  lotteries, liking for,
+  raffles, liking for,
+  interest in Potomac Canal Company,
+  wealth of,
+  slaves of,
+  [slaves] care of,
+  slavery, views on,
+  charity,
+  social life,
+  headquarters life,
+  dinners,
+  levees,
+  bows,
+  ceremony, hatred of,
+  conversation,
+  tea, liking for,
+  dancing, fondness of,
+  staff,
+  simple habits,
+  dress of,
+  Rules of Civility,
+  neatness of,
+  food,
+  horsemanship,
+  fishing, fondness for,
+  card-playing,
+  theatre, fondness for,
+  embarrassment,
+  library of,
+  newspapers,
+  abuse, sensitiveness to,
+  friendships of,
+  godfather,
+  pall-bearer,
+  Indian friends,
+  [Indian] name,
+  assassin,
+  temper,
+  quarrel of Hamilton with,
+  children, relations with,
+  enemies,
+  [enemies] duelling and,
+  drinks toasts,
+  intrigues against,
+  attacks on,
+  insulted,
+  Presidency,
+  judgment,
+  liveried servants of,
+  courage of,
+  swears,
+  Fabian policy,
+  rashness of,
+  indecision of,
+  lack of military knowledge,
+  generalship,
+  severity to soldiers,
+  relations with Continental Congress,
+  New England, dislike of,
+  farewell to army,
+  adjutant of Virginia,
+  burgess,
+  stands for Frederick County,
+  elected,
+  election expenses of,
+  drafts law,
+  inability to make speeches,
+  stage fright,
+  inauguration,
+  in the Continental Congress,
+  attitude towards Great Britain,
+  threatened,
+  popularity of,
+  diplomacy of,
+  truthfulness,
+  serves on jury,
+  attends elections,
+  honesty,
+
+----, George Augustine,
+
+----, Harriot,
+
+----, John,
+
+----, John Augustine,
+
+----, Lawrence, Rev. (1st),
+
+----, Lawrence (2d),
+
+----, Lawrence, Major (3d),
+
+----, Lawrence, of Chotanck (4th),
+
+----, Lund,
+
+----, Martha, sickness of,
+  meets Washington,
+  engaged,
+  Washington's letters to,
+  marriage,
+  character,
+  Washington's fondness for,
+  wealth,
+  clothing,
+  housekeeper for,
+  orthography, 93,
+  children,
+  visits to head-quarters,
+  social life,
+  mentioned,
+  dower slaves,
+  drafts of letters for,
+  receptions,
+
+----, Mary (Ball),
+
+----, Mildred,
+
+----, Robert,
+
+----, Samuel,
+
+----, Thornton,
+
+Washington City,
+
+WATSON, Elkanah, quoted,
+
+WAYNE, Anthony, quoted,
+
+Weaving at Mount Vernon,
+
+WEEMS, M.L., quoted,
+
+WELD, Isaac, quoted,
+
+Wheat, Washington's production of,
+
+Whiskey, distilling of, at Mount Vernon,
+
+WHITE, Rev. W., quoted,
+
+William and Mary College,
+
+Williamsburg,
+  lots in,
+  Washington goes to, for medical advice,
+
+WILLIAMS, William, wishes Washington removed,
+
+WILLING, Ann, quoted,
+
+Winchester, lots in,
+  election at, 295,
+
+WOLCOTT, Oliver,
+
+WOOD, John,
+
+
+Yorktown, siege of,
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The True George Washington [10th Ed.]
+by Paul Leicester Ford
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE WASHINGTON ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The True George Washington [10th Ed.]
+by Paul Leicester Ford
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The True George Washington [10th Ed.]
+
+Author: Paul Leicester Ford
+
+Release Date: May 8, 2004 [EBook #12300]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE WASHINGTON ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John R. Bilderback and the Online Distributed Proofreading
+Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+       [Illustration: SHARPLESS MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON, 1795]
+
+
+
+                     The True George Washington
+
+
+
+                                By
+                        Paul Leicester Ford
+
+             Author of "The Honorable Peter Stirling"
+         Editor of "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson" and
+                 "The Sayings of Poor Richard"
+
+
+"That I have foibles, and perhaps many of them, I shall not deny. I should
+esteem myself, as the world would, vain and empty, were I to arrogate
+perfection."
+
+--_Washington_
+
+
+"Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice."
+
+--_Shakespeare_
+
+
+
+                               1896
+                                BY
+                      J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+                         _Tenth Edition_
+
+Electrotyped and Printed by J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U
+
+
+
+
+                       THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
+                                TO
+                        WILLIAM F. HAVEMEYER,
+
+IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE INDEBTEDNESS OF THE AUTHOR TO HIS COLLECTION
+                                 OF
+                           WASHINGTONIANA.
+
+
+
++Note+
+
+In every country boasting a history there may be observed a tendency to
+make its leaders or great men superhuman. Whether we turn to the legends
+of the East, the folk-lore of Europe, or the traditions of the native
+races of America, we find a mythology based upon the acts of man gifted
+with superhuman powers. In the unscientific, primeval periods in which
+these beliefs were born and elaborated into oral and written form, their
+origin is not surprising. But to all who have studied the creation of a
+mythology, no phase is a more curious one than that the keen, practical
+American of to-day should engage in the same process of hero-building
+which has given us Jupiter, Wotan, King Arthur, and others. By a slow
+evolution we have well-nigh discarded from the lives of our greatest men
+of the past all human faults and feelings; have enclosed their greatness
+in glass of the clearest crystal, and hung up a sign, "Do not touch."
+Indeed, with such characters as Washington, Franklin, and Lincoln we have
+practically adopted the English maxim that "the king can do no wrong." In
+place of men, limited by human limits, and influenced by human passions,
+we have demi-gods, so stripped of human characteristics as to make us
+question even whether they deserve much credit for their sacrifices and
+deeds.
+
+But with this process of canonization have we not lost more than we have
+gained, both in example and in interest? Many, no doubt, with the greatest
+veneration for our first citizen, have sympathized with the view
+expressed by Mark Twain, when he said that he was a greater man than
+Washington, for the latter "couldn't tell a lie, while he could, but
+wouldn't" We have endless biographies of Franklin, picturing him in all
+the public stations of life, but all together they do not equal in
+popularity his own human autobiography, in which we see him walking down
+Market Street with a roll under each arm, and devouring a third. And so it
+seems as if the time had come to put the shadow-boxes of humanity round
+our historic portraits, not because they are ornamental in themselves, but
+because they will make them examples, not mere idols.
+
+If the present work succeeds in humanizing Washington, and making him a
+man rather than a historical figure, its purpose will have been fulfilled.
+In the attempt to accomplish this, Washington has, so far as is possible,
+been made to speak for himself, even though at times it has compelled the
+sacrifice of literary form, in the hope that his own words would convey a
+greater sense of the personality of the man. So, too, liberal drafts have
+been made on the opinions and statements of his contemporaries; but,
+unless the contrary is stated or is obvious, all quoted matter is from
+Washington's own pen. It is with pleasure that the author adds that the
+result of his study has only served to make Washington the greater to him.
+
+The writer is under the greatest obligation to his brother, Worthington
+Chauncey Ford, not merely for his numerous books on Washington, of which
+his "Writings of George Washington" is easily first in importance of all
+works relating to the great American, but also for much manuscript
+material which he has placed at the author's service. Hitherto unpublished
+facts have been drawn from many other sources, but notably from the rich
+collection of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New York, from the Department
+of State in Washington, and from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
+To Mr. S.M. Hamilton, of the former institution, and to Mr. Frederick D.
+Stone, of the latter, the writer is particularly indebted for assistance.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I.--FAMILY RELATIONS
+
+II.--PHYSIQUE
+
+III.--EDUCATION
+
+IV.--RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX
+
+V.--FARMER AND PROPRIETOR
+
+VI.--MASTER AND EMPLOYER
+
+VII.--SOCIAL LIFE
+
+VIII.--TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS
+
+IX.--FRIENDS
+
+X.--ENEMIES
+
+XI.--SOLDIER
+
+XII.--CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER
+
+
+
+List of Illustrations with Notes
+
+
+
+MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON. By JAMES SHARPLESS
+
+Painted for Washington in 1795, and presented by him to Nelly (Calvert)
+Stuart, widow of John Parke Custis, Washington's adopted son. Her son
+George Washington Parke Custis, in whose presence the sittings were made,
+often spoke of the likeness as "almost perfect."
+
+
+MEMORIAL TABLET OF LAURENCE AND AMEE WASHINGTON, IN SULGRAVE CHURCH,
+NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
+
+The injury of the effigy of Laurence Washington and the entire
+disappearance of the effigy of Amee antedate the early part of the present
+century, and probably were done in the Puritan period. Since the above
+tracing was made the brasses of the eleven children have been stolen,
+leaving nothing but the lettering and the shield of the Washington arms.
+
+
+BETTY WASHINGTON, WIFE OF FIELDING LEWIS
+
+Painted about 1750, and erroneously alleged to be by Copley. Original in
+the possession of Mr. R. Byrd Lewis, of Marmion, Virginia.
+
+
+JOHN AND MARTHA CUSTIS
+
+Original in the possession of General G.W. Custis Lee, of Lexington,
+Virginia.
+
+
+MINIATURE OF ELEANOR PARKE CUSTIS
+
+From the miniature by Gilbert Stuart, in the possession of her grandson,
+Edward Parke Lewis Custis, of Hoboken, New Jersey.
+
+
+FICTITIOUS PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON
+
+The lettering reads, "Done from an original Drawn from the Life, by Alex'r
+Campbell of Williamsburg in Virginia. Published as the act directs
+9 Sept'r 1775 by C. Shepherd." It is the first engraved portrait of
+Washington, and was issued to satisfy the English curiosity concerning the
+new commander-in-chief of the rebels. From the original print in the
+possession of Mr. W.F. Havemeyer, of New York.
+
+
+COPY SHEET FROM YOUNG MAN'S COMPANION
+
+The sheet from which Washington modelled his handwriting, and to which his
+earliest script shows a marked resemblance. From the original in the
+possession of the author.
+
+
+LETTER TO MRS. FAIRFAX
+
+Showing changes and corrections made by Washington at a later date. From
+original copy-book in the Washington MSS. in the Department of State.
+
+
+PORTRAIT OF MARY PHILIPSE
+
+From the original formerly in the possession of Mr. Frederick Philipse.
+
+
+PORTRAIT OF MARTHA CUSTIS
+
+Alleged to have been painted by Woolaston about 1757. It has been asserted
+by Mr. L.W. Washington and Mr. Moncure D. Conway that this is a portrait
+of Betty Washington Lewis, but in this they are wholly in error, as proof
+exists that it is a portrait of Mrs. Washington before her second
+marriage.
+
+
+SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON HILLS
+
+Made by Washington as a boy, and one of the earliest specimens of his
+work. The small drawing of the house represents it as it was before
+Washington enlarged it, and is the only picture of it known. Original in
+the Department of State.
+
+
+MOUNTAIN ROAD LOTTERY TICKET
+
+From the original in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
+
+
+FAMILY GROUP
+
+Painted by Edward Savage about 1795, and issued as a large engraving in
+1798. The original picture is now in the possession of Mr. William F.
+Havemeyer, of New York.
+
+
+DINNER INVITATION
+
+The official invitation while President, from the original in the
+possession of the author.
+
+
+DANCING AGREEMENT
+
+This gives only the first few names, many more following. The original was
+formerly in the possession of Mr. Thomas Biddle, of Philadelphia.
+
+
+BOOK-PLATE OF WASHINGTON
+
+This is a slight variation from the true Washington coat of arms, the
+changes being introduced by Washington. From the original in the
+possession of the author.
+
+
+SURVEY OF WAKEFIELD
+
+Washington's birthplace. The survey was made in 1743, on the property
+coming into the possession of Augustine Washington (second) from his
+father, with the object of readjusting the boundary-lines. Original in the
+possession of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New York.
+
+
+WASHINGTON FAMILY BIBLE
+
+This record, with the exception of the interlined note concerning Betty
+Washington Lewis, is in the handwriting of George Washington, and was
+written when he was about sixteen years old. Original in the possession of
+Mrs. Lewis Washington, of Charlestown, West Virginia.
+
+
+MINIATURE OF MRS. WASHINGTON
+
+By an unknown artist. From the original in the possession of General G.W.
+Custis Lee, of Lexington, Virginia.
+
+
+EARLIEST AUTOGRAPH OF WASHINGTON
+
+On a fly-leaf of the volume to which this title belongs is written, "This
+autograph of Genl. Washington's name is believed to be the earliest
+specimen of his writing, when he was probably not more than 8 or 9 years
+of age." This is a note by G.C. Washington, to whom Washington's library
+descended. Original in the possession of the Boston Athenaeum.
+
+
+RULES OF CIVILITY
+
+First page of Washington's boyish transcript, written when he was about
+thirteen years of age. Used here by courtesy of Mr. S.M. Hamilton and
+"Public Opinion," who are preparing a fac-simile edition of the entire
+rules.
+
+
+LIFE MASK BY HOUDON
+
+Taken by Houdon in October, 1785. From the replica in the Historical
+Society of Pennsylvania.
+
+
+TITLE-PAGE OF JOURNAL OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1754
+
+Of this first edition but two copies are known. From the original in the
+Lenox Library.
+
+
+PRESIDENTIAL HOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA
+
+Philadelphia offered to furnish the house for the President during the
+time Congress sat in that city, but Washington "wholly declined living in
+any public building," and rented this house from Robert Morris. Though it
+was considered one of the finest in the city, Washington several times
+complained of being cramped.
+
+
+
+
+THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON
+
+
+I
+
+FAMILY RELATIONS
+
+
+Although Washington wrote that the history of his ancestors was, in his
+opinion, "of very little moment," and "a subject to which I confess I have
+paid very little attention," few Americans can prove a better pedigree.
+The earliest of his forebears yet discovered was described as "gentleman,"
+the family were granted lands by Henry the Eighth, held various offices of
+honor, married into good families, and under the Stuarts two were knighted
+and a third served as page to Prince Charles. Lawrence, a brother of the
+three thus distinguished, matriculated at Oxford as a "generosi filius"
+(the intermediate class between sons of the nobility, "armigeri filius,"
+and of the people, "plebeii filius"), or as of the minor gentry. In time
+he became a fellow and lector of Brasenose College, and presently obtained
+the good living of Purleigh. Strong royalists, the fortunes of the family
+waned along with King Charles, and sank into insignificance with the
+passing of the Stuart dynasty. Not the least sufferer was the rector of
+Purleigh, for the Puritan Parliament ejected him from his living, on the
+charge "that he was a common frequenter of ale-houses, not only himself
+sitting dayly tippling there ... but hath oft been drunk,"--a charge
+indignantly denied by the royalists, who asserted that he was a "worthy
+Pious man, ... always ... a very Modest, Sober Person;" and this latter
+claim is supported by the fact that though the Puritans sequestered the
+rich living, they made no objection to his serving as rector at Brixted
+Parva, where the living was "such a Poor and Miserable one that it was
+always with difficulty that any one was persuaded to accept of it."
+
+Poverty resulting, John, the eldest son of this rector, early took to the
+sea, and in 1656 assisted "as second man in Sayleing ye Vessel to
+Virginia." Here he settled, took up land, presently became a county
+officer, a burgess, and a colonel of militia. In this latter function he
+commanded the Virginia troops during the Indian war of 1675, and when his
+great-grandson, George, on his first arrival on the frontier, was called
+by the Indians "Conotocarius," or "devourer of villages," the formidable
+but inappropriate title for the newly-fledged officer is supposed to have
+been due to the reputation that John Washington had won for his name among
+the Indians eighty years before.
+
+[Illustration: TABLET TO LAURENCE WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY IN SULGRAVE
+CHURCH]
+
+Both John's son, Lawrence, and Lawrence's son, Augustine, describe
+themselves in their wills as "gentlemen," and both intermarried with the
+"gentry families" of Virginia. Augustine was educated at Appleby School,
+in England, like his grandfather followed the sea for a time, was
+interested in iron mines, and in other ways proved himself far more than
+the average Virginia planter of his day. He was twice married,--which
+marriages, with unconscious humor, he describes in his will as "several
+Ventures,"--had ten children, and died in 1743, when George, his fifth
+child and the first by his second "Venture," was a boy of eleven. The
+father thus took little part in the life of the lad, and almost the only
+mention of him by his son still extant is the one recorded in Washington's
+round school-boy hand in the family Bible, to the effect that "Augustine
+Washington and Mary Ball was Married the Sixth of March 17-30/31.
+Augustine Washington Departed this Life ye 12th Day of April 1743, Aged 49
+Years."
+
+The mother, Mary Washington, was more of a factor, though chiefly by mere
+length of life, for she lived to be eighty-three, and died but ten years
+before her son. That Washington owed his personal appearance to the Balls
+is true, but otherwise the sentimentality that has been lavished about the
+relations between the two and her influence upon him, partakes of fiction
+rather than of truth. After his father's death the boy passed most of his
+time at the homes of his two elder brothers, and this was fortunate, for
+they were educated men, of some colonial consequence, while his mother
+lived in comparatively straitened circumstances, was illiterate and
+untidy, and, moreover, if tradition is to be believed, smoked a pipe. Her
+course with the lad was blamed by a contemporary as "fond and unthinking,"
+and this is borne out by such facts as can be gleaned, for when his
+brothers wished to send him to sea she made "trifling objections," and
+prevented his taking what they thought an advantageous opening; when the
+brilliant offer of a position on Braddock's staff was tendered to
+Washington, his mother, "alarmed at the report," hurried to Mount Vernon
+and endeavored to prevent him from accepting it; still again, after
+Braddock's defeat, she so wearied her son with pleas not to risk the
+dangers of another campaign that Washington finally wrote her, "It would
+reflect dishonor upon me to refuse; and _that_, I am sure, must or _ought_
+to give you greater uneasiness, than my going in an honorable command."
+After he inherited Mount Vernon the two seem to have seen little of each
+other, though, when occasion took him near Fredericksburg, he usually
+stopped to see her for a few hours, or even for a night.
+
+Though Washington always wrote to his mother as "Honored Madam," and
+signed himself "your dutiful and aff. son," she none the less tried him
+not a little. He never claimed from her a part of the share of his
+father's estate which was his due on becoming of age, and, in addition,
+"a year or two before I left Virginia (to make her latter days comfortable
+and free from care) I did, at her request, but at my own expence,
+purchase a commodious house, garden and Lotts (of her own choosing) in
+Fredericksburg, that she might be near my sister Lewis, her only
+daughter,--and did moreover agree to take her land and negroes at a
+certain yearly rent, to be fixed by Colo Lewis and others (of her own
+nomination) which has been an annual expence to me ever since, as the
+estate never raised one half the rent I was to pay. Before I left Virginia
+I answered all her calls for money; and since that period have directed my
+steward to do the same." Furthermore, he gave her a phaeton, and when she
+complained of her want of comfort he wrote her, "My house is at your
+service, and [I] would press you most sincerely and most devoutly to
+accept it, but I am sure, and candor requires me to say, it will never
+answer your purposes in any shape whatsoever. For in truth it may be
+compared to a well resorted tavern, as scarcely any strangers who are
+going from north to south, or from south to north, do not spend a day or
+two at it. This would, were you to be an inhabitant of it, oblige you to
+do one of 3 things: 1st, to be always dressing to appear in company; 2d,
+to come into [the room] in a dishabille, or 3d to be as it were a prisoner
+in your own chamber. The first you'ld not like; indeed, for a person at
+your time of life it would be too fatiguing. The 2d, I should not like,
+because those who resort here are, as I observed before, strangers and
+people of the first distinction. And the 3d, more than probably, would not
+be pleasing to either of us."
+
+Under these circumstances it was with real indignation that Washington
+learned that complaints of hers that she "never lived soe poore in all my
+life" were so well known that there was a project to grant her a pension.
+The pain this caused a man who always showed such intense dislike to
+taking even money earned from public coffers, and who refused everything
+in the nature of a gift, can easily be understood. He at once wrote a
+letter to a friend in the Virginia Assembly, in which, after reciting
+enough of what he had done for her to prove that she was under no
+necessity of a pension,--"or, in other words, receiving charity from the
+public,"--he continued, "But putting these things aside, which I could not
+avoid mentioning in exculpation of a presumptive want of duty on my part;
+confident I am that she has not a child that would not divide the last
+sixpence to relieve her from real distress. This she has been repeatedly
+assured of by me; and all of us, I am certain, would feel much hurt, at
+having our mother a pensioner, while we had the means of supporting her;
+but in fact she has an ample income of her own. I lament accordingly that
+your letter, which conveyed the first hint of this matter, did not come to
+my hands sooner; but I request, in pointed terms, if the matter is now in
+agitation in your Assembly, that all proceedings on it may be stopped, or
+in case of a decision in her favor, that it may be done away and repealed
+at my request."
+
+Still greater mortification was in store for him, when he was told that
+she was borrowing and accepting gifts from her neighbors, and learned "on
+good authority that she is, upon all occasions and in all companies,
+complaining ... of her wants and difficulties; and if not in direct terms,
+at least by strong innuendoes, endeavors to excite a belief that times
+are much altered, &c., &c., which not only makes _her_ appear in an
+unfavorable point of view, but _those also_ who are connected with her."
+To save her feelings he did not express the "pain" he felt to her, but he
+wrote a brother asking him to ascertain if there was the slightest basis
+in her complaints, and "see what is necessary to make her comfortable,"
+for "while I have anything I will part with it to make her so;" but
+begging him "at the same time ... to represent to her in delicate terms,
+the impropriety of her complaints, and _acceptance_ of favors, even when
+they are voluntarily offered, from any but relations." Though he did not
+"touch upon this subject in a letter to her," he was enough fretted to end
+the renting of her plantation, not because "I mean ... to withhold any aid
+or support I can give from you; for whilst I have a shilling left, you
+shall have part," but because "what I shall then give, I shall have credit
+for," and not be "viewed as a delinquent, and considered perhaps by the
+world as [an] unjust and undutiful son."
+
+In the last years of her life a cancer developed, which she refused to
+have "dressed," and over which, as her doctor wrote Washington, the "Old
+Lady" and he had "a small battle every day." Once Washington was summoned
+by an express to her bedside "to bid, as I was prepared to expect, the
+last adieu to an honored parent," but it was a false alarm. Her health was
+so bad, however, that just before he started to New York to be inaugurated
+he rode to Fredericksburg, "and took a final leave of my mother, never
+expecting to see her more," a surmise that proved correct.
+
+Only Elizabeth--or "Betty"--of Washington's sisters grew to womanhood, and
+it is said that she was so strikingly like her brother that, disguised
+with a long cloak and a military hat, the difference between them was
+scarcely detectable. She married Fielding Lewis, and lived at "Kenmore
+House" on the Rappahannock, where Washington spent many a night, as did
+the Lewises at Mount Vernon. During the Revolution, while visiting there,
+she wrote her brother, "Oh, when will that day arrive when we shall meet
+again. Trust in the lord it will be soon,--till when, you have the prayers
+and kind wishes for your health and happiness of your loving and sincerely
+affectionate sister." Her husband died "much indebted," and from that time
+her brother gave her occasional sums of money, and helped her in other
+ways.
+
+Her eldest son followed in his father's footsteps, and displeased
+Washington with requests for loans. He angered him still more by conduct
+concerning which Washington wrote to him as follows:
+
+
+"Sir, Your letter of the 11th of Octor. never came to my hands 'till
+yesterday. Altho' your disrespectful conduct towards me, in coming into
+this country and spending weeks therein without ever coming near me,
+entitled you to very little notice or favor from me; yet I consent that
+you may get timber from off my Land in Fauquier County to build a house on
+your Lott in Rectertown. Having granted this, now let me ask you what your
+views were in purchasing a Lott in a place which, I presume, originated
+with and will end in two or three Gin shops, which probably will exist no
+longer than they serve to ruin the proprietors, and those who make the
+most frequent applications to them. I am, &c."
+
+[Illustration: MRS FIELDING LEWIS (BETTY WASHINGTON)]
+
+Other of the Lewis boys pleased him better, and he appointed one an
+officer in his own "Life Guard." Of another he wrote, when President, to
+his sister, "If your son Howell is living with you, and not usefully
+employed in your own affairs, and should incline to spend a few months
+with me, as a writer in my office (if he is fit for it) I will allow him
+at the rate of three hundred dollars a year, provided he is diligent in
+discharging the duties of it from breakfast until dinner--Sundays
+excepted. This sum will be punctually paid him, and I am particular in
+declaring beforehand what I require, and what he may expect, that there
+may be no disappointment, or false expectations on either side. He will
+live in the family in the same manner his brother Robert did." This Robert
+had been for some time one of his secretaries, and at another time was
+employed as a rent-collector.
+
+Still another son, Lawrence, also served him in these dual capacities, and
+Washington, on his retirement from the Presidency, offered him a home at
+Mount Vernon. This led to a marriage with Mrs. Washington's grandchild,
+Eleanor Custis, a match which so pleased Washington that he made
+arrangements for Lawrence to build on the Mount Vernon estate, in his will
+named him an executor, and left the couple a part of this property, as
+well as a portion of the residuary estate.
+
+As already noted, much of Washington's early life was passed at the homes
+of his elder (half-) brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, who lived
+respectively at Mount Vernon and Wakefield. When Lawrence developed
+consumption, George was his travelling companion in a trip to Barbadoes,
+and from him, when he died of that disease, in 1752, came the bequest of
+Mount Vernon to "my loveing brother George." To Augustine, in the only
+letter now extant, Washington wrote, "The pleasure of your company at
+Mount Vernon always did, and always will afford me infinite satisfaction,"
+and signed himself "your most affectionate brother." Surviving this
+brother, he left handsome bequests to all his children.
+
+Samuel, the eldest of his own brothers, and his junior by but two years,
+though constantly corresponded with, was not a favorite. He seems to have
+had extravagant tendencies, variously indicated by five marriages, and by
+(perhaps as a consequence) pecuniary difficulties. In 1781, Washington
+wrote to another brother, "In God's name how did my brother Samuel get
+himself so enormously in debt?" Very quickly requests for loans followed,
+than which nothing was more irritating to Washington. Yet, though he
+replied that it would be "very inconvenient" to him, his ledger shows that
+at least two thousand dollars were advanced, and in a letter to this
+brother, on the danger of borrowing at interest, Washington wrote, "I do
+not make these observations on account of the money I purpose to lend you,
+because all I shall require is that you return the net sum when in your
+power, without interest." Better even than this, in his will Washington
+discharged the debt.
+
+To the family of Samuel, Washington was equally helpful. For the eldest
+son he obtained an ensigncy, and "to save Thornton and you [Samuel] the
+expence of buying a horse to ride home on, I have lent him a mare." Two
+other sons he assumed all the expenses of, and showed an almost fatherly
+interest in them. He placed them at school, and when the lads proved
+somewhat unruly he wrote them long admonitory letters, which became stern
+when actual misconduct ensued, and when one of them ran away to Mount
+Vernon to escape a whipping, Washington himself prepared "to correct him,
+but he begged so earnestly and promised so faithfully that there should be
+no cause for complaint in the future, that I have suspended punishment."
+Later the two were sent to college, and in all cost Washington "near five
+thousand dollars."
+
+An even greater trouble was their sister Harriot, whose care was assumed
+in 1785, and who was a member of Washington's household, with only a
+slight interruption, till her marriage in 1796. Her chief failing was "no
+disposition ... to be careful of her cloathes," which were "dabbed about
+in every hole and corner and her best things always in use," so that
+Washington said "she costs me enough!" To her uncle she wrote on one
+occasion, "How shall I apologise to my dear and Honor'd for intruding on
+his goodness so soon again, but being sensible for your kindness to me
+which I shall ever remember with the most heartfelt gratitude induces me
+to make known my wants. I have not had a pair of stays since I first came
+here: if you could let me have a pair I should be very much obleiged to
+you, and also a hat and a few other articles. I hope my dear Uncle will
+not think me extravagant for really I take as much care of my cloaths as I
+possibly can." Probably the expense that pleased him best in her case was
+that which he recorded in his ledger "By Miss Harriot Washington gave her
+to buy wedding clothes $100."
+
+His second and favorite brother, John Augustine, who was four years his
+junior, Washington described as "the intimate companion of my youth and
+the friend of my ripened age." While the Virginia colonel was on the
+frontier, from 1754 to 1759, he left John in charge of all his business
+affairs, giving him a residence at and management of Mount Vernon. With
+this brother he constantly corresponded, addressing him as "Dear Jack,"
+and writing in the most intimate and affectionate terms, not merely to
+him, but when John had taken unto himself a wife, to her, and to "the
+little ones," and signing himself "your loving brother." Visits between
+the two were frequent, and invitations for the same still more so, and in
+one letter, written during the most trying moment of the Revolution,
+Washington said, "God grant you all health and happiness. Nothing in this
+world could contribute so to mine as to be fixed among you." John died in
+1787, and Washington wrote with simple but undisguised grief of the death
+of "my beloved brother."
+
+The eldest son of this brother, Bushrod, was his favorite nephew, and
+Washington took much interest in his career, getting the lad admitted to
+study law with Judge James Wilson, in Philadelphia, and taking genuine
+pride in him when he became a lawyer and judge of repute. He made this
+nephew his travelling companion in the Western journey of 1784, and at
+other times not merely sent him money, but wrote him letters of advice,
+dwelling on the dangers that beset young men, though confessing that he
+was himself "not such a Stoic" as to expect too much of youthful blood. To
+Bushrod, also, he appealed on legal matters, adding, "You may think me an
+unprofitable applicant in asking opinions and requiring services of you
+without dousing my money, but pay day may come," and in this he was as
+good as his word, for in his will Washington left Bushrod, "partly in
+consideration of an intimation to his deceased father, while we were
+bachelors and he had kindly undertaken to superintend my Estates, during
+my military services in the former war between Great Britain and France,
+that if I should fall therein, Mt. Vernon ... should become his property,"
+the home and "mansion-house farm," one share of the residuary estate, his
+private papers, and his library, and named him an executor of the
+instrument.
+
+Of Washington's relations with his youngest brother, Charles, little can
+be learned. He was the last of his brothers to die, and Washington
+outlived him so short a time that he was named in his will, though only
+for a mere token of remembrance. "I add nothing to it because of the ample
+provision I have made for his issue." Of the children so mentioned,
+Washington was particularly fond of George Augustine Washington. As a mere
+lad he used his influence to procure for him an ensigncy in a Virginia
+regiment, and an appointment on Lafayette's staff. When in 1784 the young
+fellow was threatened with consumption, his uncle's purse supplied him
+with the funds by which he was enabled to travel, even while Washington
+wrote, "Poor fellow! his pursuit after health is, I fear, altogether
+fruitless." When better health came, and with it a renewal of a troth with
+a niece of Mrs. Washington's, the marriage was made possible by Washington
+appointing the young fellow his manager, and not merely did it take place
+at Mount Vernon, but the young couple took up their home there. More than
+this, that their outlook might be "more stable and pleasing," Washington
+promised them that on his death they should not be forgotten. When the
+disease again developed, Washington wrote his nephew in genuine anxiety,
+and ended his letter, "At all times and under all circumstances you and
+yours will possess my affectionate regards." Only a few days later the
+news of his nephew's death reached him, and he wrote his widow, "To you
+who so well know the affectionate regard I had for our departed friend, it
+is unnecessary to describe the sorrow with which I was afflicted at the
+news of his death." He asked her and her children "to return to your old
+habitation at Mount Vernon. You can go to no place where you can be more
+welcome, nor to any where you can live at less expence and trouble," an
+offer, he adds, "made to you with my whole heart." Furthermore, Washington
+served as executor, assumed the expense of educating one of the sons, and
+in his will left the two children part of the Mount Vernon estate, as
+well as other bequests, "on account of the affection I had for, and the
+obligation I was under to their father when living, who from his youth
+attached himself to my person, and followed my fortunes through the
+vicissitudes of the late Revolution, afterwards devoting his time for many
+years whilst my public employments rendered it impracticable for me to do
+it myself, thereby affording me essential services and always performing
+them in a manner the most filial and respectful."
+
+Of his wife's kith and kin Washington was equally fond. Both alone and
+with Mrs. Washington he often visited her mother, Mrs. Dandridge, and in
+1773 he wrote to a brother-in-law that he wished "I was master of
+Arguments powerful enough to prevail upon Mrs. Dandridge to make this
+place her entire and absolute home. I should think as she lives a lonesome
+life (Betsey being married) it might suit her well, & be agreeable, both
+to herself & my Wife, to me most assuredly it would." Washington was also
+a frequent visitor at "Eltham," the home of Colonel Bassett, who had
+married his wife's sister, and constantly corresponded with these
+relatives. He asked this whole family to be his guests at the Warm
+Springs, and, as this meant camping out in tents, he wrote, "You will have
+occasion to provide nothing, if I can be advised of your intentions, so
+that I may provide accordingly." To another brother-in-law, Bartholomew
+Dandridge, he lent money, and forgave the debt to the widow in his will,
+also giving her the use during her life of the thirty-three negroes he had
+bid in at the bankruptcy sale of her husband's property.
+
+The pleasantest glimpses of family feeling are gained, however, in his
+relations with his wife's children and grandchildren. John Parke and
+Martha Parke Custis--or "Jack" and "Patsey," as he called them--were
+at the date of his marriage respectively six and four years of age, and in
+the first invoice of goods to be shipped to him from London after he had
+become their step-father, Washington ordered "10 shillings worth of Toys,"
+"6 little books for children beginning to read," and "1 fashionable-dressed
+baby to cost 10 shillings." When this latter shared the usual fate, he
+further wrote for "1 fashionable dress Doll to cost a guinea," and for "A
+box of Gingerbread Toys & Sugar Images or Comfits." A little later he
+ordered a Bible and Prayer-Book for each, "neatly bound in Turkey," with
+names "in gilt letters on the inside of the cover," followed ere long by an
+order for "1 very good Spinet" As Patsy grew to girlhood she developed
+fits, and "solely on her account to try (by the advice of her Physician)
+the effect of the waters on her Complaint," Washington took the family over
+the mountains and camped at the "Warm Springs" in 1769, with "little
+benefit," for, after ailing four years longer, "she was seized with one of
+her usual Fits & expired in it, in less than two minutes, without uttering
+a word, or groan, or scarce a sigh." "The Sweet Innocent Girl," Washington
+wrote, "entered into a more happy & peaceful abode than she has met with in
+the afflicted Path she has hitherto trod," but none the less "it is an
+easier matter to conceive than to describe the distress of this family" at
+the loss of "dear Patsy Custis."
+
+[Illustration: JOHN AND MARTHA PARKE CUSTIS]
+
+The care of Jack Custis was a worry to Washington in quite another way. As
+a lad, Custis signed his letters to him as "your most affectionate and
+dutiful son," "yet I conceive," Washington wrote, "there is much greater
+circumspection to be observed by a guardian than a natural parent." Soon
+after assuming charge of the boy, a tutor was secured, who lived at Mount
+Vernon, but the boy showed little inclination to study, and when fourteen,
+Washington wrote that "his mind [is] ... more turned ... to Dogs, Horses
+and Guns, indeed upon Dress and equipage." "Having his well being much at
+heart," Washington wished to make him "fit for more useful purposes than
+[a] horse racer," and so Jack was placed with a clergyman, who agreed to
+instruct him, and with him he lived, except for some home visits, for
+three years. Unfortunately, the lad, like the true Virginian planter of
+his day, had no taste for study, and had "a propensity for the [fair]
+sex." After two or three flirtations, he engaged himself, without the
+knowledge of his mother or guardian, to Nellie Calvert, a match to which
+no objection could be made, except that, owing to his "youth and
+fickleness," "he may either change and therefore injure the young lady; or
+that it may precipitate him into a marriage before, I am certain, he has
+ever bestowed a serious thought of the consequences; by which means his
+education is interrupted." To avoid this danger, Washington took his ward
+to New York and entered him in King's College, but the death of Patsy
+Custis put a termination to study, for Mrs. Washington could not bear to
+have the lad at such a distance, and Washington "did not care, as he is
+the last of the family, to push my opposition too far." Accordingly, Jack
+returned to Virginia and promptly married.
+
+The young couple were much at Mount Vernon from this time on, and
+Washington wrote to "Dear Jack," "I am always pleased with yours and
+Nelly's abidance at Mount Vernon." When the winter snows made the siege of
+Boston purely passive, the couple journeyed with Mrs. Washington to
+Cambridge, and visited at head-quarters for some months. The arrival of
+children prevented the repetition of such visits, but frequent letters,
+which rarely failed to send love to "Nelly and the little girls," were
+exchanged. The acceptance of command compelled Washington to resign the
+care of Custis's estate, for which service "I have never charged him or
+his sister, from the day of my connexion with them to this hour, one
+farthing for all the trouble I have had in managing their estates, nor for
+any expense they have been to me, notwithstanding some hundreds of pounds
+would not reimburse the moneys I have actually paid in attending the
+public meetings in Williamsburg to collect their debts, and transact these
+several matters appertaining to the respective estates." Washington,
+however, continued his advice as to its management, and in other letters
+advised him concerning his conduct when Custis was elected a member of the
+Virginia House of Delegates. In the siege of Yorktown Jack served as an
+officer of militia, and the exposure proved too much for him. Immediately
+after the surrender, news reached Washington of his serious illness, and
+by riding thirty miles in one day he succeeded in reaching Eltham in "time
+enough to see poor Mr. Custis breath his last," leaving behind him "four
+lovely children, three girls and a boy."
+
+Owing to his public employment, Washington refused to be guardian for
+these "little ones," writing "that it would be injurious to the children
+and madness in me, to undertake, _as a principle_, a trust which I could
+not discharge. Such aid, however, as it ever may be with me to give to the
+children especially the boy, I will afford with all my heart, and on this
+assurance you may rely." Yet "from their earliest infancy" two of Jack's
+children, George Washington Parke and Eleanor Parke Custis, lived at Mount
+Vernon, for, as Washington wrote in his will, "it has always been my
+intention, since my expectation of having issue has ceased, to consider
+the grandchildren of my wife in the same light as my own relations, and to
+act a friendly part by them." Though the cares of war prevented his
+watching their property interests, his eight years' absence could not make
+him forget them, and on his way to Annapolis, in 1783, to tender Congress
+his resignation, he spent sundry hours of his time in the purchase of
+gifts obviously intended to increase the joy of his homecoming to the
+family circle at Mount Vernon; set forth in his note-book as follows:
+
+"By Sundries bo't. in Phil'a.
+
+    A Locket                         L5  5
+    3 Small Pockt. Books              1 10
+    3 Sashes                          1  5 0
+    Dress Cap                         2  8
+    Hatt                              3 10
+    Handkerchief                      1
+    Childrens Books                      4 6
+    Whirligig                            1 6
+    Fiddle                               2 6
+    Quadrille Boxes                   1 17 6."
+
+Indeed, in every way Washington showed how entirely he considered himself
+as a father, not merely speaking of them frequently as "the children," but
+even alluding to himself in a letter to the boy as "your papa." Both were
+much his companions during the Presidency. A frequent sight in New York
+and Philadelphia was Washington taking "exercise in the coach with Mrs.
+Washington and the two children," and several times they were taken to the
+theatre and on picnics.
+
+For Eleanor, or "Nelly," who grew into a great beauty, Washington showed
+the utmost tenderness, and on occasion interfered to save her from her
+grandmother, who at moments was inclined to be severe, in one case to
+bring the storm upon himself. For her was bought a "Forte piano,"
+and later, at the cost of a thousand dollars, a very fine imported
+harpsichord, and one of Washington's great pleasures was to have her play
+and sing to him. His ledger constantly shows gifts to her ranging from
+"The Wayworn traveller, a song for Miss Custis," to "a pr. of gold
+eardrops" and a watch. The two corresponded. One letter from Washington
+merits quotation:
+
+[Illustration: ELLANOR (NELLY) CUSTIS]
+
+"Let me touch a little now on your Georgetown ball, and happy, thrice
+happy, for the fair who assembled on the occasion, that there was a man to
+spare; for had there been 79 ladies and only 78 gentlemen, there might, in
+the course of the evening have been some disorder among the caps;
+notwithstanding the apathy which _one_ of the company entertains for the
+'_youth_' of the present day, and her determination 'Never to give herself
+a moment's uneasiness on account of any of them.' A hint here; men and
+women feel the same inclinations towards each other _now_ that they always
+have done, and which they will continue to do until there is a new order
+of things, and _you_, as others have done, may find, perhaps, that the
+passions of your sex are easier raised than allayed. Do not therefore
+boast too soon or too strongly of your insensibility to, or resistance of,
+its powers. In the composition of the human frame there is a good deal of
+inflammable matter, however dormant it may lie for a time, and like an
+intimate acquaintance of yours, when the torch is put to it, _that_ which
+is _within you_ may burst into a blaze; for which reason and especially
+too, as I have entered upon the chapter of advices, I will read you a
+lecture from this text."
+
+
+Not long after this was written, Nelly, as already
+mentioned, was married at Mount Vernon to Washington's
+nephew, Lawrence Lewis, and in time became
+joint-owner with her husband of part of that
+place.
+
+As early as 1785 a tutor was wanted for "little Washington," as the lad
+was called, and Washington wrote to England to ask if some "worthy man of
+the cloth could not be obtained," "for the boy is a remarkably fine one,
+and my intention is to give him a liberal education." His training became
+part of the private secretary's duty, both at Mount Vernon and New York
+and Philadelphia, but the lad inherited his father's traits, and "from his
+infancy ... discovered an almost unconquerable disposition to indolence."
+This led to failures which gave Washington "extreme disquietude," and in
+vain he "exhorted him in the most parental and friendly manner." Custis
+would express "sorrow and repentance" and do no better. Successively he
+was sent to the College of Philadelphia, the College of New Jersey, and
+that at Annapolis, but from each he was expelled, or had to be withdrawn.
+Irritating as it must have been, his guardian never in his letters
+expressed anything but affection, shielded the lad from the anger of his
+step-father, and saw that he was properly supplied with money, of which he
+asked him to keep a careful account,--though this, as Washington wrote,
+was "not because I want to know how you spend your money." After the last
+college failure a private tutor was once more engaged, but a very few
+weeks served to give Washington "a thorough conviction that it was in vain
+to keep Washington Custis to any literary pursuits, either in a public
+Seminary or at home," and, as the next best thing, he procured him a
+cornetcy in the provisional army. Even here, balance was shown; for, out
+of compliment and friendship to Washington, "the Major Generals were
+desirous of placing him as lieutenant in the first instance; but his age
+considered, I thought it more eligible that he should enter into the
+lowest grade."
+
+In this connection one side of Washington's course with his relations
+deserves especial notice. As early as 1756 he applied for a commission in
+the Virginia forces for his brother, and, as already shown, he placed
+several of his nephews and other connections in the Revolutionary or
+provisional armies. But he made clear distinction between military and
+civil appointments, and was very scrupulous about the latter. When his
+favorite nephew asked for a Federal appointment, Washington answered,--
+
+
+"You cannot doubt my wishes to see you appointed to any office of honor or
+emolument in the new government, to the duties of which you are competent;
+but however deserving you may be of the one you have suggested, your
+standing at the bar would not justify my nomination of you as attorney to
+the Federal District Court in preference to some of the oldest and most
+esteemed general court lawyers in your State, who are desirous of this
+appointment. My political conduct in nominations, even if I were
+uninfluenced by principle, must be exceedingly circumspect and proof
+against just criticism; for the eyes of Argus are upon me, and no slip
+will pass unnoticed, that can be improved into a supposed partiality for
+friends or relations."
+
+
+And that in this policy he was consistent is shown by a letter of
+Jefferson, who wrote to an office-seeking relative, "The public will never
+be made to believe that an appointment of a relative is made on the ground
+of merit alone, uninfluenced by family views; nor can they ever see with
+approbation offices, the disposal of which they entrust to their
+Presidents for public purposes, divided out as family property. Mr. Adams
+degraded himself infinitely by his conduct on this subject, as Genl.
+Washington had done himself the greatest honor. With two such examples to
+proceed by, I should be doubly inexcusable to err."
+
+There were many other more distant relatives with whom pleasant relations
+were maintained, but enough has been said to indicate the intercourse.
+Frequent were the house-parties at Mount Vernon, and how unstinted
+hospitality was to kith and kin is shown by many entries in Washington's
+diary, a single one of which will indicate the rest: "I set out for my
+return home--at which I arrived a little after noon--And found my Brother
+Jon Augustine his Wife; Daughter Milly, & Sons Bushrod & Corbin, & the
+Wife of the first. Mr. Willm Washington & his Wife and 4 Children."
+
+His will left bequests to forty-one of his own and his wife's relations.
+"God left him childless that he might be the father of his country."
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+PHYSIQUE
+
+
+Writing to his London tailor for clothes, in 1763, Washington directed him
+to "take measure of a gentleman who wares well-made cloaths of the
+following size: to wit, 6 feet high and proportionably made--if anything
+rather slender than thick, for a person of that highth, with pretty long
+arms and thighs. You will take care to make the breeches longer than those
+you sent me last, and I would have you keep the measure of the cloaths you
+now make, by you, and if any alteration is required in my next it shall be
+pointed out." About this time, too, he ordered "6 pr. Man's riding
+Gloves--rather large than the middle size,"... and several dozen pairs of
+stockings, "to be long, and tolerably large."
+
+The earliest known description of Washington was written in 1760 by his
+companion-in-arms and friend George Mercer, who attempted a "portraiture"
+in the following words: "He may be described as being as straight as an
+Indian, measuring six feet two inches in his stockings, and weighing 175
+pounds when he took his seat in the House of Burgesses in 1759. His frame
+is padded with well-developed muscles, indicating great strength. His
+bones and joints are large, as are his feet and hands. He is wide
+shouldered, but has not a deep or round chest; is neat waisted, but is
+broad across the hips, and has rather long legs and arms. His head is well
+shaped though not large, but is gracefully poised on a superb neck. A
+large and straight rather than prominent nose; blue-gray penetrating eyes,
+which are widely separated and overhung by a heavy brow. His face is long
+rather than broad, with high round cheek bones, and terminates in a good
+firm chin. He has a clear though rather a colorless pale skin, which burns
+with the sun. A pleasing, benevolent, though a commanding countenance,
+dark brown hair, which he wears in a cue. His mouth is large and generally
+firmly closed, but which from time to time discloses some defective teeth.
+His features are regular and placid, with all the muscles of his face
+under perfect control, though flexible and expressive of deep feeling when
+moved by emotion. In conversation he looks you full in the face, is
+deliberate, deferential and engaging. His voice is agreeable rather than
+strong. His demeanor at all times composed and dignified. His movements
+and gestures are graceful, his walk majestic, and he is a splendid
+horseman."
+
+Dr. James Thacher, writing in 1778, depicted him as "remarkably tall, full
+six feet, erect and well proportioned. The strength and proportion of his
+joints and muscles, appear to be commensurate with the pre-eminent powers
+of his mind. The serenity of his countenance, and majestic gracefulness of
+his deportment, impart a strong impression of that dignity and grandeur,
+which are his peculiar characteristics, and no one can stand in his
+presence without feeling the ascendancy of his mind, and associating with
+his countenance the idea of wisdom, philanthropy, magnanimity and
+patriotism. There is a fine symmetry in the features of his face,
+indicative of a benign and dignified spirit. His nose is straight, and his
+eye inclined to blue. He wears his hair in a becoming cue, and from his
+forehead it is turned back and powdered in a manner which adds to the
+military air of his appearance. He displays a native gravity, but devoid
+of all appearance of ostentation." In this same year a friend wrote,
+"General Washington is now in the forty-seventh year of his age; he is a
+well-made man, rather large boned, and has a tolerably genteel address;
+his features are manly and bold, his eyes of a bluish cast and very
+lively; his hair a deep brown, his face rather long and marked with the
+small-pox; his complexion sunburnt and without much color, and his
+countenance sensible, composed and thoughtful; there is a remarkable air
+of dignity about him, with a striking degree of gracefulness."
+
+In 1789 Senator Maclay saw "him as he really is. In stature about six
+feet, with an unexceptionable make, but lax appearance. His frame would
+seem to want filling up. His motions rather slow than lively, though he
+showed no signs of having suffered by gout or rheumatism. His complexion
+pale, nay, almost cadaverous. His voice hollow and indistinct, owing, as I
+believe, to artificial teeth before his upper jaw, which occasions a
+flatness."
+
+From frequent opportunity of seeing Washington between 1794 and 1797,
+William Sullivan described him as "over six feet in stature; of strong,
+bony, muscular frame, without fullness of covering, well-formed and
+straight. He was a man of most extraordinary strength. In his own house,
+his action was calm, deliberate, and dignified, without pretension to
+gracefulness, or peculiar manner, but merely natural, and such as one
+would think it should be in such a man. When walking in the street, his
+movement had not the soldierly air which might be expected. His habitual
+motions had been formed, long before he took command of the American
+Armies, in the wars of the interior and in the surveying of wilderness
+lands, employments in which grace and elegance were not likely to be
+acquired. At the age of sixty-five, time had done nothing towards bending
+him out of his natural erectness. His deportment was invariably grave; it
+was sobriety that stopped short of sadness."
+
+The French officers and travellers supply other descriptions. The Abbe
+Robin found him of "tall and noble stature, well proportioned, a fine,
+cheerful, open countenance, a simple and modest carriage; and his whole
+mien has something in it that interests the French, the Americans, and
+even enemies themselves in his favor."
+
+The Marquis de Chastellux wrote enthusiastically, "In speaking of this
+perfect whole of which General Washington furnishes the idea, I have not
+excluded exterior form. His stature is noble and lofty, he is well made,
+and exactly proportionate; his physiognomy mild and agreeable, but such as
+to render it impossible to speak particularly of any of his features, so
+that in quitting him you have only the recollection of a fine face. He has
+neither a grave nor a familiar face, his brow is sometimes marked with
+thought, but never with inquietude; in inspiring respect he inspires
+confidence, and his smile is always the smile of benevolence."
+
+To this description, however, Brissot de Warville took exception, and
+supplied his own picture by writing in 1791, "You have often heard me
+blame M. Chastellux for putting too much sprightliness in the character he
+has drawn of this general. To give pretensions to the portrait of a man
+who has none is truly absurd. The General's goodness appears in his looks.
+They have nothing of that brilliancy which his officers found in them when
+he was at the head of his army; but in conversation they become animated.
+He has no characteristic traits in his figure, and this has rendered it
+always so difficult to describe it: there are few portraits which resemble
+him. All his answers are pertinent; he shows the utmost reserve, and is
+very diffident; but, at the same time, he is firm and unchangeable in
+whatever he undertakes. His modesty must be very astonishing, especially
+to a Frenchman."
+
+British travellers have left a number of pen-portraits. An anonymous
+writer in 1790 declared that in meeting him "it was not necessary to
+announce his name, for his peculiar appearance, his firm forehead, Roman
+nose, and a projection of the lower jaw, his height and figure, could not
+be mistaken by any one who had seen a full-length picture of him, and yet
+no picture accurately resembled him in the minute traits of his person.
+His features, however, were so marked by prominent characteristics, which
+appear in all likenesses of him, that a stranger could not be mistaken in
+the man; he was remarkably dignified in his manners, and had an air
+of benignity over his features which his visitant did not expect,
+being rather prepared for sternness of countenance.... his smile was
+extraordinarily attractive. It was observed to me that there was an
+expression in Washington's face that no painter had succeeded in taking.
+It struck me no man could be better formed for command. A stature of six
+feet, a robust, but well-proportioned frame, calculated to sustain
+fatigue, without that heaviness which generally attends great muscular
+strength, and abates active exertion, displayed bodily power of no mean
+standard. A light eye and full--the very eye of genius and reflection
+rather than of blind passionate impulse. His nose appeared thick, and
+though it befitted his other features, was too coarsely and strongly
+formed to be the handsomest of its class. His mouth was like no other that
+I ever saw; the lips firm and the under jaw seeming to grasp the upper
+with force, as if its muscles were in full action when he sat still."
+
+Two years later, an English diplomat wrote of him, "His person is tall and
+sufficiently graceful; his face well formed, his complexion rather pale,
+with a mild philosophic gravity in the expression of it In his air and
+manner he displays much natural dignity; in his address he is cold,
+reserved, and even phlegmatic, though without the least appearance of
+haughtiness or ill-nature; it is the effect, I imagine, of constitutional
+diffidence. That caution and circumspection which form so striking and
+well known a feature in his military, and, indeed, in his political
+character, is very strongly marked in his countenance, for his eyes retire
+inward (do you understand me?) and have nothing of fire of animation or
+openness in their expression."
+
+Wansey, who visited Mount Vernon in 1795, portrayed "The President in his
+person" as "tall and thin, but erect; rather of an engaging than a
+dignified presence. He appears very thoughtful, is slow in delivering
+himself, which occasions some to conclude him reserved, but it is rather,
+I apprehend, the effect of much thinking and reflection, for there is
+great appearance to me of affability and accommodation. He was at this
+time in his sixty-third year ... but he has very little the appearance of
+age, having been all his life long so exceeding temperate."
+
+In 1797, Weld wrote, "his chest is full; and his limbs, though rather
+slender, well shaped and muscular. His head is small, in which respect he
+resembles the make of a great number of his countrymen. His eyes are of a
+light grey colour; and in proportion to the length of his face, his nose
+is long. Mr. Stewart, the eminent portrait painter, told me, that there
+were features in his face totally different from what he ever observed in
+that of any other human being; the sockets for the eyes, for instance, are
+larger than what he ever met with before, and the upper part of the nose
+broader. All his features, he observed, were indicative of the strongest
+and most ungovernable passions, and had he been born in the forests, it
+was his opinion that he would have been the fiercest man among the savage
+tribes."
+
+Other and briefer descriptions contain a few phrases worth quoting. Samuel
+Sterns said, "His countenance commonly carries the impression of a serious
+cast;" Maclay, that "the President seemed to bear in his countenance a
+settled aspect of melancholy;" and the Prince de Broglie wrote, "His
+pensive eyes seem more attentive than sparkling, but their expression is
+benevolent, noble and self-possessed." Silas Deane in 1775 said he had "a
+very young look and an easy soldier-like air and gesture," and in the same
+year Curwen mentioned his "fine figure" and "easy and agreeable address."
+Nathaniel Lawrence noted in 1783 that "the General weighs commonly about
+210 pounds." After death, Lear reports that "Doctor Dick measured the
+body, which was as follows--In length 6 ft. 3-1/2 inches exact. Across the
+shoulders 1.9. Across the elbows 2.1." The pleasantest description is
+Jefferson's: "His person, you know, was fine, his stature exactly what one
+would wish, his deportment easy, erect and noble."
+
+How far the portraits of Washington conveyed his expression is open to
+question. The quotation already given which said that no picture
+accurately resembled him in the minute traits of his person is
+worth noting. Furthermore, his expression varied much according to
+circumstances, and the painter saw it only in repose. The first time he
+was drawn, he wrote a friend, "Inclination having yielded to Importunity,
+I am now contrary to all expectation under the hands of Mr. Peale; but in
+so grave--so sullen a mood--and now and then under the influence of
+Morpheus, when some critical strokes are making, that I fancy the skill of
+this Gentleman's Pencil will be put to it, in describing to the World what
+manner of man I am." This passiveness seems to have seized him at other
+sittings, for in 1785 he wrote to a friend who asked him to be painted,
+"_In for a penny, in for a Pound_, is an old adage. I am so hackneyed to
+the touches of the painter's pencil that I am now altogether at their
+beck; and sit 'like Patience on a monument,' whilst they are delineating
+the lines of 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 of the saddle. The next time I
+submitted very reluctantly, but with less flouncing. Now, no dray-horse
+moves more readily to his thills than I to the painter's chair." His aide,
+Laurens, bears this out by writing of a miniature, "The defects of this
+portrait are, that the visage is too long, and old age is too strongly
+marked in it. He is not altogether mistaken, with respect to the languor
+of the general's eye; for altho' his countenance when affected either by
+joy or anger, is full of expression, yet when the muscles are in a state
+of repose, his eye certainly wants animation."
+
+[Illustration: FIRST (FICTITIOUS) ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON]
+
+One portrait which furnished Washington not a little amusement was an
+engraving issued in London in 1775, when interest in the "rebel General"
+was great. This likeness, it is needless to say, was entirely spurious,
+and when Reed sent a copy to head-quarters, Washington wrote to him, "Mrs.
+Washington desires I will thank you for the picture sent her. Mr.
+Campbell, whom I never saw, to my knowledge, has made a very formidable
+figure of the Commander-in-chief, giving him a sufficient portion of
+terror in his countenance."
+
+The physical strength mentioned by nearly every one who described
+Washington is so undoubted that the traditions of his climbing the walls
+of the Natural Bridge, throwing a stone across the Rappahannock at
+Fredericksburg, and another into the Hudson from the top of the Palisades,
+pass current more from the supposed muscular power of the man than from
+any direct evidence. In addition to this, Washington in 1755 claimed to
+have "one of the best of constitutions," and again he wrote, "for my own
+part I can answer, I have a constitution hardy enough to encounter and
+undergo the most severe trials."
+
+This vigor was not the least reason of Washington's success. In the
+retreat from Brooklyn, "for forty-eight hours preceeding that I had hardly
+been off my horse," and between the 13th and the 19th of June of 1777 "I
+was almost constantly on horseback." After the battle of Monmouth, as told
+elsewhere, he passed the night on a blanket; the first night of the siege
+of York "he slept under a mulberry tree, the root serving for a pillow,"
+and another time he lay "all night in my Great Coat & Boots, in a birth
+not long enough for me by the head, & much cramped." Besides the physical
+strain there was a mental one. During the siege of Boston he wrote that
+"The reflection on my situation and that of this army, produces many an
+uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep." Humphreys relates
+that at Newburg in 1783 a revolt of the whole army seemed imminent, and
+"when General Washington rose from bed on the morning of the meeting, he
+told the writer his anxiety had prevented him from sleeping one moment the
+preceeding night." Washington observed, in a letter written after the
+Revolution, "strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true, that it was
+not until lately I could get the better of my usual custom of ruminating
+as soon as I awoke in the morning, on the business of the ensuing day; and
+of my surprise at finding, after revolving many things in my mind that I
+was no longer a public man, or had any thing to do with public
+transactions."
+
+Despite his strength and constitution, Washington was frequently the
+victim of illness. What diseases of childhood he suffered are not known,
+but presumably measles was among them, for when his wife within the first
+year of married life had an attack he cared for her without catching the
+complaint. The first of his known illnesses was "Ague and Feaver, which I
+had to an extremity" about 1748, or when he was sixteen.
+
+In the sea voyage to Barbadoes in 1751, the seamen told Washington that
+"they had never seen such weather before," and he says in his diary that
+the sea "made the Ship rowl much and me very sick." While in the island,
+he went to dine with a friend "with great reluctance, as the small-pox was
+in his family." A fortnight later Washington "was strongly attacked with
+the small Pox," which confined him for nearly a month, and, as already
+noted, marked his face for life. Shortly after the return voyage he was
+"taken with a violent pleurise, which ... reduced me very low."
+
+During the Braddock march, "immediately upon our leaving the camp at
+George's Creek, on the 14th, ... I was seized with violent fevers and
+pains in my head, which continued without intermission 'till the 23d
+following, when I was relieved, by the General's [Braddock] absolutely
+ordering the physicians to give me Dr. James' powders (one of the most
+excellent medicines in the world), for it gave me immediate ease, and
+removed my fevers and other complaints in four days' time. My illness was
+too violent to suffer me to ride; therefore I was indebted to a covered
+wagon for some part of my transportation; but even in this I could not
+continue far, for the jolting was so great, I was left upon the road with
+a guard, and necessaries, to wait the arrival of Colonel Dunbar's
+detachment which was two days' march behind us, the General giving me his
+word of honor, that I should be brought up, before he reached the French
+fort. This _promise_, and the doctor's _threats_, that, if I persevered
+in my attempts to get on, in the condition I was, my life would be
+endangered, determined me to halt for the above detachment." Immediately
+upon his return from that campaign, he told a brother, "I am not able,
+were I ever so willing, to meet you in town, for I assure you it is with
+some difficulty, and with much fatigue, that I visit my plantations in the
+Neck; so much has a sickness of five weeks' continuance reduced me."
+
+On the frontier, towards the end of 1757, he was seized with a violent
+attack of dysentery and fever, which compelled him to leave the army
+and retire to Mount Vernon. Three months later he said, "I have never
+been able to return to my command, ... my disorder at times returning
+obstinately upon me, in spite of the efforts of all the sons of
+Aesculapius, whom I have hitherto consulted. At certain periods I have
+been reduced to great extremity, and have too much reason to apprehend
+an approaching decay, being visited with several symptoms of such a
+disease.... I am now under a strict regimen, and shall set out to-morrow
+for Williamsburg to receive the advice of the best physician there. My
+constitution is certainly greatly impaired, and ... nothing can retrieve
+it, but the greatest care and the most circumspect conduct." It was in
+this journey that he met his future wife, and either she or the doctor
+cured him, for nothing more is heard of his approaching "decay."
+
+In 1761 he was attacked with a disease which seems incidental to new
+settlements, known in Virginia at that time as the "river fever," and a
+hundred years later, farther west, as the "break-bone fever," and which,
+in a far milder form, is to-day known as malaria. Hoping to cure it, he
+went over the mountains to the Warm Springs, being "much overcome with the
+fatigue of the ride and weather together. However, I think my fevers are a
+good deal abated, although my pains grow rather worse, and my sleep
+equally disturbed. What effect the waters may have upon me I can't say at
+present, but I expect nothing from the air--this certainly must be
+unwholesome. I purpose staying here a fortnight and longer if benefitted."
+After writing this, a relapse brought him "very near my last gasp. The
+indisposition ... increased upon me, and I fell into a very low and
+dangerous state. I once thought the grim king would certainly master my
+utmost efforts, and that I must sink, in spite of a noble struggle; but
+thank God, I have now got the better of the disorder, and shall soon be
+restored, I hope, to perfect health again."
+
+During the Revolution, fortunately, he seems to have been wonderfully
+exempt from illness, and not till his retirement to Mount Vernon did an
+old enemy, the ague, reappear. In 1786 he said, in a letter, "I write to
+you with a very aching head and disordered frame.... Saturday last, by an
+imprudent act, I brought on an ague and fever on Sunday, which returned
+with violence Tuesday and Thursday; and, if Dr. Craik's efforts are
+ineffectual I shall have them again this day." His diary gives the
+treatment: "Seized with an ague before 6 o'clock this morning after having
+laboured under a fever all night--Sent for Dr. Craik who arrived just as
+we were setting down to dinner; who, when he thought my fever sufficiently
+abated gave me cathartick and directed the Bark to be applied in the
+Morning. September 2. Kept close to the House to day, being my fit day in
+course least any exposure might bring it on,--happily missed it September
+14. At home all day repeating dozes of Bark of which I took 4 with an
+interval of 2 hours between."
+
+With 1787 a new foe appeared in the form of "a rheumatic complaint which
+has followed me more than six months, is frequently so bad that it is
+sometimes with difficulty I can raise my hand to my head or turn myself in
+bed."
+
+During the Presidency Washington had several dangerous illnesses, but the
+earliest one had a comic side. In his tour through New England in 1789, so
+Sullivan states, "owing to some mismanagement in the reception ceremonials
+at Cambridge, Washington was detained a long time, and the weather being
+inclement, he took cold. For several days afterward a severe influenza
+prevailed at Boston and its vicinity, and was called the _Washington
+Influenza_." He himself writes of this attack: "Myself much disordered by
+a cold, and inflammation in the left eye."
+
+Six months later, in New York, he was "indisposed with a bad cold, and at
+home all day writing letters on private business," and this was the
+beginning of "a severe illness," which, according to McVickar, was "a case
+of anthrax, so malignant as for several days to threaten mortification.
+During this period Dr. Bard never quitted him. On one occasion, being left
+alone with him, General Washington, looking steadily in his face, desired
+his 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, acknowledged his
+apprehensions. The President replied, 'Whether to-night or twenty years
+hence, makes no difference.'" It was of this that Maclay wrote, "Called to
+see the President. Every eye full of tears. His life despaired of. Dr.
+MacKnight told me he would trifle neither with his own character nor the
+public expectation; his danger was imminent, and every reason to expect
+that the event of his disorder would be unfortunate."
+
+During his convalescence the President wrote to a correspondent, "I have
+the pleasure to inform you, that my health is restored, but a feebleness
+still hangs upon me, and I am much incommoded by the incision, which was
+made in a very large and painful tumor on the protuberance of my thigh.
+This prevents me from walking or sitting. However, the physicians assure
+me that it has had a happy effect in removing my fever, and will tend very
+much to the establishment of my general health; it is in a fair way of
+healing, and time and patience only are wanting to remove this evil. I am
+able to take exercise in my coach, by having it so contrived as to extend
+myself the full length of it." He himself seems to have thought this
+succession of illness due to the fatigues of office, for he said,--
+
+
+"Public meetings, and a dinner once a week to as many as my table will
+hold, with the references _to and from_ the different department of state
+and _other_ communications with _all_ parts of the Union, are as much, if
+not more, than I am able to undergo; for I have already had within less
+than a year, two severe attacks, the last worst than the first. A third,
+more than probable, will put me to sleep with my fathers. At what distance
+this may be I know not. Within the last twelve months I have undergone
+more and severer sickness, than thirty preceding years afflicted me with.
+Put it all together I have abundant reason, however, to be thankful that I
+am so well recovered; though I still feel the remains of the violent
+affection of my lungs; the cough, pain in my breast, and shortness in
+breathing not having entirely left me."
+
+
+While at Mount Vernon in 1794, "an exertion to save myself and horse from
+falling among the rocks at the Lower Falls of the Potomac (whither I went
+on Sunday morning to see the canal and locks),... wrenched my back in
+such a manner as to prevent my riding;" the "hurt" "confined me whilst I
+was at Mount Vernon," and it was some time before he could "again ride
+with ease and safety." In this same year Washington was operated on by Dr.
+Tate for cancer,--the same disorder from which his mother had suffered.
+
+After his retirement from office, in 1798, he "was seized with a fever, of
+which I took little notice until I was obliged to call for the aid of
+medicine; and with difficulty a remission thereof was so far effected as
+to dose me all night on thursday with Bark--which having stopped it, and
+weakness only remaining, will soon wear off as my appetite is returning;"
+and to a correspondent he apologized for not sooner replying, and pleaded
+"debilitated health, occasioned by the fever wch. deprived me of 20 lbs.
+of the weight I had when you and I were at Troy Mills Scales, and rendered
+writing irksome."
+
+A glance at Washington's medical knowledge and opinions may not lack
+interest. In the "Rules of civility" he had taken so to heart, the boy had
+been taught that "In visiting the Sick, do not Presently play the
+Physician if you be not Knowing therein," but plantation life trained
+every man to a certain extent in physicking, and the yearly invoice sent
+to London always ordered such drugs as were needed,--ipecacuanha, jalap,
+Venice treacle, rhubarb, diacordium, etc., as well as medicines for horses
+and dogs. In 1755 Washington received great benefit from one quack
+medicine, "Dr. James's Powders;" he once bought a quantity of another,
+"Godfrey's Cordial;" and at a later time Mrs. Washington tried a third,
+"Annatipic Pills." More unenlightened still was a treatment prescribed for
+Patsy Custis, when "Joshua Evans who came here last night, put a [metal]
+ring on Patsey (for Fits)." A not much higher order of treatment was
+Washington sending for Dr. Laurie to bleed his wife, and, as his diary
+notes, the doctor "came here, I may add, drunk," so that a night's sleep
+was necessary before the service could be rendered. When the small-pox was
+raging in the Continental Army, even Washington's earnest request could
+not get the Virginia Assembly to repeal a law which forbade inoculation,
+and he had to urge his wife for over four years before he could bring her
+to the point of submitting to the operation. One quality which implies
+greatness is told by a visitor, who states that in his call "an allusion
+was made to a serious fit of illness he had recently suffered; but he took
+no notice of it" Custis notes that "his aversion to the use of medicine
+was extreme; and, even when in great suffering, it was only by the
+entreaties of his lady, and the respectful, yet beseeching look of his
+oldest friend and companion in arms (Dr. James Craik) that he could be
+prevailed upon to take the slightest preparation of medicine." In line
+with this was his refusal to take anything for a cold, saying, "Let it go
+as it came," though this good sense was apparently restricted to his own
+colds, for Watson relates that in a visit to Mount Vernon "I was extremely
+oppressed by a severe cold and excessive coughing, contracted by the
+exposure of a harsh 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 bedside, with a bowl of hot tea in his hand."
+
+The acute attacks of illness already touched upon by no means represent
+all the physical debility and suffering of Washington's life. During the
+Revolution his sight became poor, so that in 1778 he first put on glasses
+for reading, and Cobb relates that in the officers' meeting in 1783, which
+Washington attended In order to check an appeal to arms, "When the General
+took his station at the desk or pulpit, which, you may recollect, was in
+the Temple, he took out his written address from his coat pocket and then
+addressed the officers in the following manner: 'Gentlemen, you will
+permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray, but
+almost blind, in the service of my country.' This little address, with the
+mode and manner of delivering it, drew tears from [many] of the officers."
+
+Nor did his hearing remain entirely good. Maclay noted, at one of the
+President's dinners in 1789, that "he seemed in more good humor than I
+ever saw him, though he was so deaf that I believe he heard little of the
+conversation," and three years later the President is reported as saying
+to Jefferson that he was "sensible, too, of a decay of his hearing,
+perhaps his other faculties might fall off and he not be sensible of it."
+
+Washington's teeth were even more troublesome. Mercer in 1760 alluded to
+his showing, when his mouth was open, "some defective teeth," and as early
+as 1754 one of his teeth was extracted. From this time toothache, usually
+followed by the extraction of the guilty member, became almost of yearly
+recurrence, and his diary reiterates, with verbal variations, "indisposed
+with an aching tooth, and swelled and inflamed gum," while his ledger
+contains many items typified by "To Dr. Watson drawing a tooth 5/." By
+1789 he was using false teeth, and he lost his last tooth in 1795. At
+first these substitutes were very badly fitted, and when Stuart painted
+his famous picture he tried to remedy the malformation they gave the mouth
+by padding under the lips with cotton. The result was to make bad worse,
+and to give, in that otherwise fine portrait, a feature at once poor and
+unlike Washington, and for this reason alone the Sharpless miniature,
+which in all else approximates so closely to Stuart's masterpiece, is
+preferable. In 1796 Washington was furnished with two sets of "sea-horse"
+(_i.e._, hippopotamus) ivory teeth, and they were so much better fitted
+that the distortion of the mouth ceased to be noticeable.
+
+Washington's final illness began December 12, 1799, in a severe cold taken
+by riding about his plantation while "rain, hail and snow" were "falling
+alternately, with a cold wind." When he came in late in the afternoon,
+Lear "observed to him that I was afraid that he had got wet, he said no
+his great coat had kept him dry; but his neck appeared to be wet and the
+snow was hanging on his hair." The next day he had a cold, "and complained
+of having a sore throat," yet, though it was snowing, none the less he
+"went out in the afternoon ... to mark some trees which were to be cut
+down." "He had a hoarseness which increased in the evening; but he made
+light of it as he would never take anything to carry off a cold, always
+observing, 'let it go as it came.'" At two o'clock the following morning
+he was seized with a severe ague, and as soon as the house was stirring he
+sent for an overseer and ordered the man to bleed him, and about half a
+pint of blood was taken from him. At this time he could "swallow nothing,"
+"appeared to be distressed, convulsed and almost suffocated."
+
+There can be scarcely a doubt that the treatment of his last illness by
+the doctors was little short of murder. Although he had been bled once
+already, after they took charge of the case they prescribed "two pretty
+copious bleedings," and finally a third, "when about 32 ounces of blood
+were drawn," or the equivalent of a quart. Of the three doctors, one
+disapproved of this treatment, and a second wrote, only a few days after
+Washington's death, to the third, "you must remember" Dr. Dick "was averse
+to bleeding the General, and I have often thought that if we had acted
+according to his suggestion when he said, 'he needs all his strength--
+bleeding will diminish it,' and taken no more blood from him, our good
+friend might have been alive now. But we were governed by the best light
+we had; we thought we were right, and so we are justified."
+
+Shortly after this last bleeding Washington seemed to have resigned
+himself, for he gave some directions concerning his will, and said, "I
+find I am going," and, "smiling," added, that, "as it was the debt which
+we must all pay, he looked to the event with perfect resignation." From
+this time on "he appeared to be in great pain and distress," and said,
+"Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go. I believed from my first
+attack that I should not survive it." A little later he said, "I feel
+myself going. I thank you for your attention, you had better not take any
+more trouble about me; but let me go off quietly." The last words he said
+were, "'Tis well." "About ten minutes before he expired, his breathing
+became much easier--he lay quietly--... and felt his own pulse.... The
+general's hand fell from his wrist,... and he expired without a struggle
+or a Sigh."
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+EDUCATION
+
+
+The father of Washington received his education at Appleby School in
+England, and, true to his alma mater, he sent his two elder sons to the
+same school. His death when George was eleven prevented this son from
+having the same advantage, and such education as he had was obtained in
+Virginia. His old friend, and later enemy, Rev. Jonathan Boucher, said
+that "George, like most people thereabouts at that time, had no education
+than reading, writing and accounts which he was taught by a convict
+servant whom his father bought for a schoolmaster;" but Boucher managed to
+include so many inaccuracies in his account of Washington, that even if
+this statement were not certainly untruthful in several respects, it could
+be dismissed as valueless.
+
+Born at Wakefield, in Washington parish, Westmoreland, which had been the
+home of the Washingtons from their earliest arrival in Virginia, George
+was too young while the family continued there to attend the school which
+had been founded in that parish by the gift of four hundred and forty
+acres from some early patron of knowledge. When the boy was about three
+years old, the family removed to "Washington," as Mount Vernon was called
+before it was renamed, and dwelt there from 1735 till 1739, when, owing to
+the burning of the homestead, another remove was made to an estate on the
+Rappahannock, nearly opposite Fredericksburg.
+
+Here it was that the earliest education of George was received, for in an
+old volume of the Bishop of Exeter's Sermons his name is written, and on a
+flyleaf a note in the handwriting of a relative who inherited the library
+states that this "autograph of George Washington's name is believed to be
+the earliest specimen of his handwriting, when he was probably not more
+than eight or nine years old." During this period, too, there came into
+his possession the "Young Man's Companion," an English _vade-mecum_ of
+then enormous popularity, written "in a plain and easy stile," the title
+states, "that a young Man may attain the same, without a Tutor." It would
+be easier to say what this little book did not teach than to catalogue
+what it did. How to read, write, and figure is but the introduction to the
+larger part of the work, which taught one to write letters, wills, deeds,
+and all legal forms, to measure, survey, and navigate, to build houses, to
+make ink and cider, and to plant and graft, how to address letters to
+people of quality, how to doctor the sick, and, finally, how to conduct
+one's self in company. The evidence still exists of how carefully
+Washington studied this book, in the form of copybooks, in which are
+transcribed problem after problem and rule after rule, not to exclude the
+famous Rules of civility, which biographers of Washington have asserted
+were written by the boy himself. School-mates thought fit, after
+Washington became famous, to remember his "industry and assiduity at
+school as very remarkable," and the copies certainly bear out the
+statement, but even these prove that the lad was as human as the man, for
+scattered here and there among the logarithms, geometrical problems, and
+legal forms are crude drawings of birds, faces, and other typical
+school-boy attempts.
+
+From this book, too, came two qualities which clung to him through life.
+His handwriting, so easy, flowing, and legible, was modelled from the
+engraved "copy" sheet, and certain forms of spelling were acquired here
+that were never corrected, though not the common usage of his time. To the
+end of his life, Washington wrote lie, lye; liar, lyar; ceiling, cieling;
+oil, oyl; and blue, blew, as in his boyhood he had learned to do from this
+book. Even in his carefully prepared will, "lye" was the form in which he
+wrote the word. It must be acknowledged that, aside from these errors
+which he had been taught, through his whole life Washington was a
+non-conformist as regarded the King's English: struggle as he undoubtedly
+did, the instinct of correct spelling was absent, and thus every now and
+then a verbal slip appeared: extravagence, lettely (for lately), glew,
+riffle (for rifle), latten (for Latin), immagine, winder, rief (for rife),
+oppertunity, spirma citi, yellow oaker,--such are types of his lapses late
+in life, while his earlier letters and journals are far more inaccurate.
+It must be borne in mind, however, that of these latter we have only the
+draughts, which were undoubtedly written carelessly, and the two letters
+actually sent which are now known, and the text of his surveys before he
+was twenty, are quite as well written as his later epistles.
+
+[Illustration: _Easy Copies to Write by_. COPY OF PENMANSHIP BY WHICH
+WASHINGTON'S HANDWRITING WAS FORMED]
+
+On the death of his father, Washington went to live with his brother
+Augustine, in order, it is presumed, that he might take advantage of a
+good school near Wakefield, kept by one Williams; but after a time he
+returned to his mother's, and attended the school kept by the Rev. James
+Marye, in Fredericksburg. It has been universally asserted by his
+biographers that he studied no foreign language, but direct proof to the
+contrary exists in a copy of Patrick's Latin translation of Homer, printed
+in 1742, the fly-leaf of a copy of which bears, in a school-boy hand, the
+inscription:
+
+
+"Hunc mihi quaeso (bone Vir) Libellum
+Redde, si forsan tenues repertum
+Ut Scias qui sum sine fraude Scriptum.
+
+                           Est mihi nomen,
+                                 Georgio Washington,
+                                     George Washington,
+                                         Fredericksburg,
+                                                  Virginia."
+
+
+It is thus evident that the reverend teacher gave Washington at least the
+first elements of Latin, but it is equally clear that the boy, like most
+others, forgot it with the greatest facility as soon as he ceased
+studying.
+
+The end of Washington's school-days left him, if a good "cipherer," a bad
+speller, and a still worse grammarian, but, fortunately, the termination
+of instruction did not by any means end his education. From that time
+there is to be noted a steady improvement in both these failings.
+Pickering stated that "when I first became acquainted with the General (in
+1777) his writing was defective in grammar, and even spelling, owing to
+the insufficiency of his early education; of which, however, he gradually
+got the better in the subsequent years of his life, by the official
+perusal of some excellent models, particularly those of Hamilton; by
+writing with care and patient attention; and reading numerous, indeed
+multitudes of letters to and from his friends and correspondents. This
+obvious improvement was begun during the war." In 1785 a contemporary
+noted that "the General is remarked for writing a most elegant letter,"
+adding that, "like the famous Addison, his writing excells his speaking,"
+and Jefferson said that "he wrote readily, rather diffusely, in an easy
+and correct style. This he had acquired by conversation with the world,
+for his education was merely reading, writing and common arithmetic, to
+which he added surveying at a later day."
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington felt his lack of education very
+keenly as he came to act upon a larger sphere than as a Virginia planter.
+"I am sensible," he wrote a friend, of his letters, "that the narrations
+are just, and that truth and honesty will appear in my writings; of which,
+therefore, I shall not be ashamed, though criticism may censure my style."
+When his secretary suggested to him that he should write his own life, he
+replied, "In a former letter I informed you, my dear Humphreys, that
+if I had _talents_ for it, I have not leisure to turn my thoughts to
+Commentaries. A consciousness of a defective education, and a certainty
+of the want of time, unfit me for such an undertaking." On being pressed
+by a French comrade-in-arms to pay France a visit, he declined, saying,
+"Remember, my good friend, that I am unacquainted with your language, that
+I am too far advanced in years to acquire a knowledge of it, and that, to
+converse through the medium of an interpreter upon common occasions,
+especially with the Ladies, must appear so extremely awkward, insipid, and
+uncouth, that I can scarce bear it in idea."
+
+In 1788, without previous warning, he was elected chancellor of William
+and Mary College, a distinction by which he felt "honored and greatly
+affected;" but "not knowing particularly what duties, or whether any
+active services are immediately expected from the person holding the
+office of chancellor, I have been greatly embarrassed in deciding upon the
+public answer proper to be given.... My difficulties are briefly these. On
+the one hand, nothing in this world could be farther from my heart,
+than ... a refusal of the appointment ... provided its duties are not
+incompatible with the mode of life to which I have entirely addicted
+myself; and, on the other hand, I would not for any consideration
+disappoint the just expectations of the convocation by accepting an office,
+whose functions I previously knew ... I should be absolutely unable to
+perform."
+
+Perhaps the most touching proof of his own self-depreciation was something
+he did when he had become conscious that his career would be written
+about. Still in his possession were the letter-books in which he had kept
+copies of his correspondence while in command of the Virginia regiment
+between 1754 and 1759, and late in life he went through these volumes,
+and, by interlining corrections, carefully built them into better literary
+form. How this was done is shown here by a single facsimile.
+
+With the appointment to command the Continental Army, a secretary was
+secured, and in an absence of this assistant he complained to him that "my
+business increases very fast, and my distresses for want of you along with
+it. Mr. Harrison is the only gentleman of my family, that can afford me
+the least assistance in writing. He and Mr. Moylan,... have heretofore
+afforded me their aid; and ... they have really had a great deal of
+trouble."
+
+Most of Washington's correspondence during the Revolution was written by
+his aides. Pickering said,--
+
+
+"As to the public letters bearing his signature, it is certain that he
+could not have maintained so extensive a correspondence with his own pen,
+even if he had possessed the ability and promptness of Hamilton.
+That he would, sometimes with propriety, observe upon, correct, and add to
+any draught submitted for his examination and signature, I have no doubt.
+And yet I doubt whether many, if any, of the letters ... are his own
+draught.... I have even reason to believe that not only the _composition_,
+the _clothing of the ideas_, but the _ideas themselves_, originated
+generally with the writers; that Hamilton and Harrison, in particular,
+were scarcely in any degree his amanuenses. I remember, when at
+head-quarters one day, at Valley Forge, Colonel Harrison came down
+from the General's chamber, with his brows knit, and thus accosted me, 'I
+wish to the Lord the General would give me the heads or some idea, of what
+he would have me write.'"
+
+
+[Illustration: CORRECTED LETTER OF WASHINGTON SHOWING LATER CHANGES.]
+
+
+After the Revolution, a visitor at Mount Vernon said, "It's astonishing
+the packet of letters that daily comes for him from all parts of the
+world, which employ him most of the morning to answer." A secretary was
+employed, but not so much to do the actual writing as the copying and
+filing, and at this time Washington complained "that my numerous
+correspondencies are daily becoming irksome to me." Yet there can be
+little question that he richly enjoyed writing when it was not for the
+public eye. "It is not the letters of my friends which give me trouble,"
+he wrote to one correspondent; to another he said, "I began with telling
+you that I should not write a lengthy letter but the result has been to
+contradict it;" and to a third, "when I look back to the length of this
+letter, I am so much astonished and frightened at it myself that I
+have not the courage to give it a careful reading for the purpose of
+correction. You must, therefore, receive it with all its imperfections,
+accompanied with this assurance, that, though there may be inaccuracies in
+the letter, there is not a single defect in the friendship." Occasionally
+there was, as here, an apology: "I am persuaded you will excuse this
+scratch'd scrawl, when I assure you it is with difficulty I write at all,"
+he ended a letter in 1777, and in 1792 of another said, "You must receive
+it blotted and scratched as you find it for I have not time to copy it. It
+is now ten o'clock at night, after my usual hour for retiring to rest, and
+the mail will be closed early to-morrow morning."
+
+To his overseer, who neglected to reply to some of his questions, he told
+his method of writing, which is worth quoting:
+
+
+"Whenever I set down to write you, I read your letter, or letters
+carefully over, and as soon as I come to a part that requires to be
+noticed, I make a short note on the cover of a letter or piece of waste
+paper;--then read on the next, noting that in like manner;--and so on
+until I have got through the whole letter and reports. Then in writing my
+letter to you, as soon as I have finished what I have to say on one of
+these notes I draw my pen through it and proceed to another and another
+until the whole is done--crossing each as I go on, by which means if I am
+called off twenty times whilst I am writing, I can never with these notes
+before me finished or unfinished, omit anything I wanted to say; and
+they serve me also, as I keep no copies of letters I wrote to you, as
+Memorandums of what has been written if I should have occasion at any time
+to refer to them."
+
+
+Another indication of his own knowledge of defects is shown by his fear
+about his public papers. When his Journal to the Ohio was printed by order
+of the governor, in 1754, in the preface the young author said, "I think I
+can do no less than apologize, in some Measure, for the numberless
+imperfections of it. There intervened but one Day between my Arrival in
+Williamsburg, and the Time for the Council's Meeting, for me to prepare
+and transcribe, from the rough Minutes I had taken in my Travels, this
+Journal; the writing of which only was sufficient to employ me closely the
+whole Time, consequently admitted of no Leisure to consult of a new and
+proper Form to offer it in, or to correct or amend the Diction of the
+old." Boucher states that the publication, "in Virginia at least, drew on
+him some ridicule."
+
+This anxiety about his writings was shown all through life, and led
+Washington to rely greatly on such of his friends as would assist him,
+even to the point, so Reed thought, that he "sometimes adopted draughts of
+writing when his own would have been better ... from an extreme diffidence
+in himself," and Pickering said, in writing to an aide,--
+
+
+"Although the General's private correspondence was doubtless, for the most
+part, his own, and extremely acceptable to the persons addressed; yet, in
+regard to whatever was destined to meet the public eye, he seems to have
+been fearful to exhibit his own compositions, relying too much on the
+judgment of his friends, and sometimes adopted draughts that were
+exceptionable. Some parts of his private correspondence must have
+essentially differed from other parts in the style of composition. You
+mention your own aids to the General in this line. Now, if I had your
+draughts before me, mingled with the General's to the same persons,
+nothing would be more easy than to assign to each his own proper
+offspring. You could neither restrain your _courser_, nor conceal your
+imagery, nor express your ideas otherwise than in the language of a
+scholar. The General's compositions would be perfectly plain and didactic,
+and not always correct."
+
+
+During the Presidency, scarcely anything of a public nature was penned by
+Washington,--Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and Randolph acting as his
+draughtsmen. "We are approaching the first Monday in December by hasty
+strides," he wrote to Jefferson. "I pray you, therefore, to revolve in
+your mind such matters as may be proper for me to lay before Congress, not
+only in your own department, (if any there be,) but such others of a
+general nature, as may happen to occur to you, that I may be prepared to
+open the session with such communication, as shall appear to merit
+attention." Two years later he said to the same, "I pray you to note down
+or rather to frame into paragraphs or sections, such matters as may occur
+to you as fit and proper for general communication at the opening of the
+next session of Congress, not only in the department of state, but on any
+other subject applicable to the occasion, that I may in due time have
+everything before me." To Hamilton he wrote in 1795, "Having desired the
+late Secretary of State to note down every matter as it occurred, proper
+either for the speech at the opening of the session, or for messages
+afterwards, the inclosed paper contains everything I could extract from
+that office. Aid me, I pray you, with your sentiments on these points, and
+such others as may have occurred to you relative to my communications to
+Congress."
+
+The best instance is furnished in the preparation of the Farewell Address.
+First Madison was asked to prepare a draft, and from this Washington drew
+up a paper, which he submitted to Hamilton and Jay, with the request that
+"even if you should think it best to throw the whole into a different
+form, let me request, notwithstanding, that my draught may be returned to
+me (along with yours) with such amendments and corrections as to render it
+as perfect as the formation is susceptible of; curtailed if too verbose;
+and relieved of all tautology not necessary to enforce the ideas in the
+original or quoted part. My wish is that the whole may appear in a plain
+style, and be handed to the public in an honest, unaffected, simple part."
+Accordingly, Hamilton prepared what was almost a new instrument in form,
+though not in substance, which, after "several serious and attentive
+readings," Washington wrote that he preferred "greatly to the other
+draughts, being more copious on material points, more dignified on the
+whole, and with less egotism; of course, less exposed to criticism,
+and better calculated to meet the eye of discerning readers (foreigners
+particularly, whose curiosity I have little doubt will lead them
+to inspect it attentively, and to pronounce their opinions on the
+performance)." The paper was then, according to Pickering, "put into the
+hands of Wolcott, McHenry, and myself ... with a request that we would
+examine it, and note any alterations and corrections which we should think
+best. We did so; but our notes, as well as I recollect, were very few, and
+regarded chiefly the grammar and composition." Finally, Washington revised
+the whole, and it was then made public.
+
+Confirmatory of this sense of imperfect cultivation are the pains he took
+that his adopted son and grandson should be well educated. As already
+noted, tutors for both were secured at the proper ages, and when Jack was
+placed with the Rev. Mr. Boucher, Washington wrote: "In respect to the
+kinds, & manner of his Studying I leave it wholely to your better
+Judgment--had he begun, or rather pursued his study of the Greek Language,
+I should have thought it no bad acquisition; but whether if he acquire
+this now, he may not forego some useful branches of learning, is a matter
+worthy of consideration. To be acquainted with the French Tongue is become
+part of polite Education; and to a man who has the prospect of mixing in a
+large Circle absolutely necessary. Without Arithmetick, the common affairs
+of Life are not to be managed with success. The study of Geometry,
+and the Mathematics (with due regard to the limites of it) is equally
+advantageous. The principles of Philosophy Moral, Natural, &c. I should
+think a very desirable knowledge for a Gentleman." So, too, he wrote to
+Washington Custis, "I do not hear you mention anything of geography or
+mathematics as parts of your study; both these are necessary branches of
+useful knowledge. Nor ought you to let your knowledge of the Latin
+language and grammatical rules escape you. And the French language is now
+so universal, and so necessary with foreigners, or in a foreign country,
+that I think you would be injudicious not to make yourself master of it."
+It is worth noting in connection with this last sentence that Washington
+used only a single French expression with any frequency, and that he
+always wrote "faupas."
+
+Quite as indicative of the value he put on education was the aid he gave
+towards sending his young relatives and others to college, his annual
+contribution to an orphan school, his subscriptions to academies, and his
+wish for a national university. In 1795 he said,--
+
+
+"It has always been a source of serious reflection and sincere regret with
+me, that the youth of the United States should be sent to foreign
+countries for the purpose of education.... For this reason I have greatly
+wished to see a plan adopted, by which the arts, sciences, and
+belles-lettres could be taught in their _fullest_ extent, thereby embracing
+_all_ the advantages of European tuition, with the means of acquiring the
+liberal knowledge, which is necessary to qualify our citizens for the
+exigencies of public as well as private life; and (which with me is a
+consideration of great magnitude) by assembling the youth from the
+different parts of this rising republic, contributing from their
+intercourse and interchange of information to the removal of prejudices,
+which might perhaps sometimes arise from local circumstances."
+
+
+In framing his Farewell Address, "revolving ... on the various matters it
+contained and on the first expression of the advice or recommendation
+which was given in it, I have regretted that another subject (which in my
+estimation is of interesting concern to the well-being of this country)
+was not touched upon also; I mean education generally, as one of the
+surest means of enlightening and giving just ways of thinking to our
+citizens, but particularly the establishment of a university; where the
+youth from all parts of the United States might receive the polish of
+erudition in the arts, sciences and belles-lettres." Eventually he reduced
+this idea to a plea for the people to "promote, then, as an object of
+primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge,"
+because "in proportion as the structure of a government gives force
+to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be
+enlightened." By his will he left to the endowment of a university in the
+District of Columbia the shares in the Potomac Company which had been
+given him by the State of Virginia, but the clause was never carried into
+effect.
+
+It was in 1745 that Washington's school-days came to an end. His share of
+his father's property being his mother's till he was twenty-one, a
+livelihood had to be found, and so at about fourteen years of age the work
+of life began. Like a true boy, the lad wanted to go to sea, despite his
+uncle's warning "that I think he had better be put apprentice to a tinker;
+for a common sailor before the mast has by no means the liberty of the
+subject; for they will press him from a ship where he has fifty shillings
+a month; and make him take twenty-three, and cut and slash, and use him
+like a negro, or rather like a dog." His mother, however, would not
+consent, and to this was due his becoming a surveyor.
+
+From his "Young Man's Companion" Washington had already learned the use of
+Gunter's rule and how it should be used in surveying, and to complete his
+knowledge he seems to have taken lessons of the licensed surveyor of
+Westmoreland County, James Genn, for transcripts of some of the surveys
+drawn by Genn still exist in the handwriting of his pupil. This implied a
+distinct and very valuable addition to his knowledge, and a large number
+of his surveys still extant are marvels of neatness and careful drawing.
+As a profession it was followed for only four years (1747-1751), but all
+through life he often used his knowledge in measuring or platting his own
+property. Far more important is the service it was to him in public life.
+In 1755 he sent to Braddock's secretary a map of the "back country," and
+to the governor of Virginia plans of two forts. During the Revolution it
+helped him not merely in the study of maps, but also in the facility it
+gave him to take in the topographical features of the country. Very
+largely, too, was the selection of the admirable site for the capital due
+to his supervising: all the plans for the city were submitted to him,
+and nowhere do the good sense and balance of the man appear to better
+advantage than in his correspondence with the Federal city commissioners.
+
+In Washington's earliest account-book there is an item when he was sixteen
+years old, "To cash pd ye Musick Master for my Entrance 3/9." It is
+commonly said that he played the flute, but this is as great a libel on
+him as any Tom Paine wrote, and though he often went to concerts, and
+though fond of hearing his granddaughter Nelly play and sing, he never
+was himself a performer, and the above entry probably refers to the
+singing-master whom the boys and girls of that day made the excuse for
+evening frolics.
+
+Mention is made elsewhere of his taking lessons in the sword exercise from
+Van Braam in these earlier years, and in 1756 he paid to Sergeant Wood,
+fencing-master, the sum of L1.1.6. When he received the offer of a
+position on Braddock's staff, he acknowledged, in accepting, that "I must
+be ingenuous enough to confess, that I am not a little biassed by selfish
+considerations. To explain, Sir, I wish earnestly to attain some knowledge
+in the military profession, and, believing a more favorable opportunity
+cannot offer, than to serve under a gentleman of General Braddock's
+abilities and experience, it does ... not a little contribute to influence
+my choice." Hamilton is quoted as saying that Washington "never read any
+book upon the art of war but Sim's Military Guide," and an anonymous
+author asserted that "he never read a book in the art of war of higher
+value than Bland's Exercises." Certain it is that nearly all the military
+knowledge he possessed was derived from practice rather than from books,
+and though, late in life, he purchased a number of works on the subject,
+it was after his army service was over.
+
+One factor in Washington's education which must not go unnoticed was his
+religious belief. When only two months old he was baptized, presumably by
+the Rev. Lawrence De Butts, the clergyman of Washington parish. The
+removal from that locality prevented any further religious influence from
+this clergyman, and it probably first came from the Rev. Charles Green, of
+Truro parish, who had received his appointment through the friendship of
+Washington's father, and who later was on such friendly terms with
+Washington that he doctored Mrs. Washington in an attack of the measles,
+and caught and returned two of his parishioner's runaway slaves. As early
+as 1724 the clergyman of the parish in which Mount Vernon was situated
+reported that he catechised the youth of his congregation "in Lent and a
+great part of the Summer," and George, as the son of one of his vestrymen,
+undoubtedly received a due amount of questioning.
+
+From 1748 till 1759 there was little church-going for the young surveyor
+or soldier, but after his marriage and settling at Mount Vernon he was
+elected vestryman in the two parishes of Truro and Fairfax, and from that
+election he was quite active in church affairs. It may be worth noting
+that in the elections of 1765 the new vestryman stood third in popularity
+in the Truro church and fifth in that of Fairfax. He drew the plans for a
+new church in Truro, and subscribed to its building, intending "to lay the
+foundation of a family pew," but by a vote of the vestry it was decided
+that there should be no private pews, and this breach of contract angered
+Washington so greatly that he withdrew from the church in 1773. Sparks
+quotes Madison to the effect that "there was a tradition that, when he
+[Washington] belonged to the vestry of a church in his neighborhood, and
+several little difficulties grew out of some division of the society, he
+sometimes spoke with great force, animation, and eloquence on the topics
+that came before them." After this withdrawal he bought a pew in Christ
+Church in Alexandria (Fairfax parish), paying L36.10, which was the
+largest price paid by any parishioner. To this church he was quite
+liberal, subscribing several times towards repairs, etc.
+
+The Rev. Lee Massey, who was rector at Pohick (Truro) Church before the
+Revolution, is quoted by Bishop Meade as saying that
+
+
+"I never knew so constant an attendant in church as Washington. And his
+behavior in the house of God was ever so deeply reverential that it
+produced the happiest effect on my congregation, and greatly assisted me
+in my pulpit labors. No company ever withheld him from church. I have
+often been at Mount Vernon on Sabbath morning, when his breakfast table
+was filled with guests; but to him they furnished no pretext for
+neglecting his God and losing the satisfaction of setting a good example.
+For instead of staying at home, out of false complaisance to them, he used
+constantly to invite them to accompany him."
+
+
+This seems to have been written more with an eye to its influence on
+others than to its strict accuracy. During the time Washington attended at
+Pohick Church he was by no means a regular church-goer. His daily "where
+and how my time is spent" enables us to know exactly how often he attended
+church, and in the year 1760 he went just sixteen times, and in 1768 he
+went fourteen, these years being fairly typical of the period 1760-1773.
+During the Presidency a sense of duty made him attend St Paul's and Christ
+churches while in New York and Philadelphia, but at Mount Vernon, when the
+public eye was not upon him, he was no more regular than he had always
+been, and in the last year of his life he wrote, "Six days do I labor, or,
+in other words, take exercise and devote my time to various occupations in
+Husbandry, and about my mansion. On the seventh, now called the first day,
+for want of a place of Worship (within less than nine miles) such letters
+as do not require immediate acknowledgment I give answers to.... But it
+hath so happened, that on the two last Sundays--call them the first or the
+seventh as you please, I have been unable to perform the latter duty on
+account of visits from Strangers, with whom I could not use the freedom to
+leave alone, or recommend to the care of each other, for their amusement."
+
+What he said here was more or less typical of his whole life. Sunday was
+always the day on which he wrote his private letters,--even prepared his
+invoices,--and he wrote to one of his overseers that his letters should
+be mailed so as to reach him Saturday, as by so doing they could be
+answered the following day. Nor did he limit himself to this, for he
+entertained company, closed land purchases, sold wheat, and, while a
+Virginia planter, went foxhunting, on Sunday. It is to be noted, however,
+that he considered the scruples of others as to the day. When he went
+among his western tenants, rent-collecting, he entered in his diary that,
+it "being Sunday and the People living on my Land _apparently_ very
+religious, it was thought best to postpone going among them till
+to-morrow," and in his journey through New England, because it was
+"contrary to the law and disagreeable to the People of this State
+(Connecticut) to travel on the Sabbath day--and my horses, after passing
+through such intolerable roads, wanting rest, I stayed at Perkins' tavern
+(which, by the bye, is not a good one) all day--and a meetinghouse being
+within a few rods of the door, I attended the morning and evening
+services, and heard very lame discourses from a Mr. Pond." It is of this
+experience that tradition says the President started to travel, but was
+promptly arrested by a Connecticut tithing-man. The story, however, lacks
+authentication.
+
+There can be no doubt that religious intolerance was not a part of
+Washington's character. In 1775, when the New England troops intended to
+celebrate Guy Fawkes day, as usual, the General Orders declared that "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 of common sense, as not to see
+the impropriety of such a step." When trying to secure some servants, too,
+he wrote that "if they are good workmen, they may be from Asia, Africa, or
+Europe; they may be Mahometans, Jews, or Christians of any sect, or they
+may be Atheists." When the bill taxing all the people of Virginia to
+support the Episcopal Church (his own) was under discussion, he threw his
+weight against it, as far as concerned the taxing of other sectaries, but
+adding:
+
+
+"Although no man's sentiments are more opposed to any kind of restraint
+upon religious principles than mine are, yet I must confess, that I am not
+amongst the number of those, who are so much alarmed at the thoughts of
+making people pay towards the support of that which they profess, if
+of the denomination, of Christians, or to declare themselves Jews,
+Mahometans, or otherwise, and thereby obtain proper relief. As the matter
+now stands, I wish an assessment had never been agitated, and as it has
+gone so far, that the bill could die an easy death; because I think it
+will be productive of more quiet to the State, than by enacting it into a
+law, which in my opinion would be impolitic, admitting there is a decided
+majority for it, to the disquiet of a respectable minority. In the former
+case, the matter will soon subside; in the latter, it will rankle and
+perhaps convulse the State."
+
+
+Again in a letter he says,--
+
+
+"Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are
+caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most
+inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in
+hopes, that the lightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present
+age, would at least have reconciled _Christians_ of every denomination so
+far, that we should never again see their religious disputes carried to
+such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society."
+
+
+And to Lafayette, alluding to the proceedings of the Assembly of Notables,
+he wrote,--
+
+
+"I am not less ardent in my wish, that you may succeed in your plan of
+toleration in religious matters. Being no bigot myself, I am disposed to
+indulge the professors of Christianity in the church with that road to
+Heaven, which to them shall seem the most direct, plainest, easiest, and
+least liable to exception."
+
+
+What Washington believed has been a source of much dispute. Jefferson
+states "that Gouverneur Morris, who pretended to be in his secrets, and
+believed himself to be so, has often told me that General Washington
+believed no more of that system than he himself did," and Morris, it is
+scarcely necessary to state, was an atheist. The same authority quotes
+Rush, to the effect that "when the clergy addressed General Washington on
+his departure from the government, it was observed in their consultation,
+that he had never, on any occasion, said a word to the public which showed
+a belief in the Christian religion, and they thought they should so pen
+their address, as to force him at length to declare publicly whether he
+was a Christian or not They did so. But, he observed, the old fox was too
+cunning for them. He answered every article of their address particularly
+except that, which he passed over without notice."
+
+Whatever his belief, in all public ways Washington threw his influence in
+favor of religion, and kept what he really believed a secret, and in only
+one thing did he disclose his real thoughts. It is asserted that before
+the Revolution he partook of the sacrament, but this is only affirmed by
+hearsay, and better evidence contradicts it. After that war he did not, it
+is certain. Nelly Custis states that on "communion Sundays he left the
+church with me, after the blessing, and returned home, and we sent the
+carriage back for my grandmother." And the assistant minister of Christ
+Church in Philadelphia states that--
+
+
+"Observing that on Sacrament Sundays, Gen'l Washington, immediately after
+the Desk and Pulpit services, went out with the greater part of the
+congregation, always leaving Mrs. Washington with the communicants, she
+_invariably_ being one, I considered it my duty, in a sermon on Public
+Worship, to state the unhappy tendency of _example_, particularly those in
+elevated stations, who invariably turned their backs upon the celebration
+of the Lord's Supper. I acknowledge the remark was intended for the
+President, as such, he received it. A few days after, in conversation
+with, I believe, a Senator of the U.S. he told me he had dined the day
+before with the President, who in the course of the conversation at the
+table, said, that on the preceding Sunday, he had received a very just
+reproof from the pulpit, for always leaving the church before the
+administration of the Sacrament; that he honored the preacher for his
+integrity and candour; that he had never considered the influence of his
+example; that he would never again give cause for the repetition of the
+reproof; and that, as he had never been a communicant, were he to become
+one then, it would be imputed to an ostentatious display of religious zeal
+arising altogether from his elevated station. Accordingly he afterwards
+never came on the morning of Sacrament Sunday, tho' at other times, a
+constant attendant in the morning."
+
+
+Nelly Custis, too, tells us that Washington always "stood during the
+devotional part of the service," and Bishop White states that "his
+behavior was always serious and attentive; but, as your letter seems to
+intend an inquiry on the point of kneeling during the service, I owe it to
+the truth to declare, that I never saw him in the said attitude." Probably
+his true position is described by Madison, who is quoted as saying that he
+did "not suppose that Washington had ever attended to the arguments for
+Christianity, and for the different systems of religion, or in fact that
+he had formed definite opinions on the subject. But he took these things
+as he found them existing, and was constant in his observances of worship
+according to the received forms of the Episcopal Church, in which he was
+brought up."
+
+If there was proof needed that it is mind and not education which pushes a
+man to the front, it is to be found in the case of Washington. Despite his
+want of education, he had, so Bell states, "an excellent understanding."
+Patrick Henry is quoted as saying of the members of the Congress of 1774--
+the body of which Adams claimed that "every man in it is a great man, an
+orator, a critic, a statesman"--that "if you speak of solid information
+and sound judgment Colonel Washington is unquestionably the greatest man
+on the floor;" while Jefferson asserted that "his mind was great and
+powerful, without being of the very first order; his penetration strong,
+though not so acute as that of a Newton, Bacon, or Locke; and as far as he
+saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It was slow in operation, being little
+aided by invention or imagination, but sure in conclusion."
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX
+
+
+The book from which Washington derived almost the whole of his education
+warned its readers,--
+
+
+"Young Men have ever more a special care That Womanish Allurements prove
+not a snare;"
+
+
+but, however carefully the lad studied the rest, this particular
+admonition took little root in his mind. There can be no doubt that
+Washington during the whole of his life had a soft heart for women, and
+especially for good-looking ones, and both in his personal intercourse and
+in his letters he shows himself very much more at ease with them than in
+his relations with his own sex. Late in life, when the strong passions of
+his earlier years were under better control, he was able to write,--
+
+
+"Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore,
+contended that it cannot be resisted. This is true in part only, for like
+all things else, when nourished and supplied plentifully with aliment, it
+is rapid in its progress; but let these be withdrawn and it may be stifled
+in its birth or much stinted in its growth. For example, a woman (the same
+may be said of the other sex) all beautiful and accomplished will, while
+her hand and heart are undisposed of, turn the heads and set the circle in
+which she moves on fire. Let her marry, and what is the consequence? The
+madness _ceases_ and all is quiet again. Why? not because there is any
+diminution in the charms of the lady, but because there is an end of hope.
+Hence it follows, that love may and therefore ought to be under the
+guidance of reason, for although we cannot avoid first impressions, we may
+assuredly place them under guard."
+
+
+To write thus in one's sixty-sixth year and to practise one's theory in
+youth were, however, very different undertakings. Even while discussing
+love so philosophically, the writer had to acknowledge that "in the
+composition of the human frame, there is a good deal of inflammable
+matter," and few have had better cause to know it. When he saw in the
+premature engagement of his ward, Jack Custis, the one advantage that it
+would "in a great measure avoid those little flirtations with other young
+ladies that may, by dividing the attention, contribute not a little to
+divide the affection," it is easy to think of him as looking back to his
+own boyhood, and remembering, it is to be hoped with a smile, the
+sufferings he owed to pretty faces and neatly turned ankles.
+
+While still a school-boy, Washington was one day caught "romping with one
+of the largest girls," and very quickly more serious likings followed. As
+early as 1748, when only sixteen years of age, his heart was so engaged
+that while at Lord Fairfax's and enjoying the society of Mary Cary he
+poured out his feelings to his youthful correspondents "Dear Robin" and
+"Dear John" and "Dear Sally" as follows:
+
+
+"My place of Residence is at present at His Lordships where I might was my
+heart disengag'd pass my time very pleasantly as theres a very agreeable
+Young Lady Lives in the same house (Colo George Fairfax's Wife's Sister)
+but as thats only adding Fuel to fire it makes me the more uneasy for by
+often and unavoidably being in Company with her revives my former Passion
+for your Low Land Beauty whereas was I to live more retired from young
+Women I might in some measure eliviate my sorrows by burying that chast
+and troublesome Passion in the grave of oblivion or etarnall forgetfulness
+for as I am very well assured thats the only antidote or remedy that I
+shall be releivd by or only recess that can administer any cure or help to
+me as I am well convinced was I ever to attempt any thing I should only
+get a denial which would be only adding grief to uneasiness."
+
+
+"Was my affections disengaged I might perhaps form some pleasure in the
+conversation of an agreeable Young Lady as theres one now Lives in the
+same house with me but as that is only nourishment to my former affecn for
+by often seeing her brings the other into my remembrance whereas perhaps
+was she not often & (unavoidably) presenting herself to my view I might in
+some measure aliviate my sorrows by burying the other in the grave of
+Oblivion I am well convinced my heart stands in defiance of all others but
+only she thats given it cause enough to dread a second assault and from a
+different Quarter tho' I well know let it have as many attacks as it will
+from others they cant be more fierce than it has been."
+
+
+"I Pass the time of[f] much more agreeabler than what I imagined I should
+as there's a very agrewable Young Lady lives in the same house where I
+reside (Colo George Fairfax's Wife's Sister) that in a great Measure
+cheats my thoughts altogether from your Parts I could wish to be with you
+down there with all my heart but as it is a thing almost Impractakable
+shall rest myself where I am with hopes of shortly having some Minutes of
+your transactions in your Parts which will be very welcomely receiv'd."
+
+
+Who this "Low Land Beauty" was has been the source of much speculation,
+but the question is still unsolved, every suggested damsel--Lucy Grymes,
+Mary Bland, Betsy Fauntleroy, _et al._--being either impossible or the
+evidence wholly inadequate. But in the same journal which contains the
+draughts of these letters is a motto poem--
+
+
+"Twas Perfect Love before
+But Now I do adore"--
+
+
+followed by the words "Young M.A. his W[ife?]," and as it was a fashion
+of the time to couple the initials of one's well-beloved with such
+sentiments, a slight clue is possibly furnished. Nor was this the only
+rhyme that his emotions led to his inscribing in his journal: and he
+confided to it the following:
+
+
+"Oh Ye Gods why should my Poor Resistless Heart
+  Stand to oppose thy might and Power
+At Last surrender to cupids feather'd Dart
+  And now lays Bleeding every Hour
+For her that's Pityless of my grief and Woes
+  And will not on me Pity take
+He sleep amongst my most inveterate Foes
+  And with gladness never wish to wake
+In deluding sleepings let my Eyelids close
+  That in an enraptured Dream I may
+In a soft lulling sleep and gentle repose
+  Possess those joys denied by Day."
+
+
+However woe-begone the young lover was, he does not seem to have been
+wholly lost to others of the sex, and at this same time he was able to
+indite an acrostic to another charmer, which, if incomplete, nevertheless
+proves that there was a "midland" beauty as well, the lady being
+presumptively some member of the family of Alexanders, who had a
+plantation near Mount Vernon.
+
+
+"From your bright sparkling Eyes I was undone;
+Rays, you have; more transperent than the Sun.
+Amidst its glory in the rising Day
+None can you equal in your bright array;
+Constant in your calm and unspotted Mind;
+Equal to all, but will to none Prove kind,
+So knowing, seldom one so Young, you'l Find.
+
+Ah! woe's me, that I should Love and conceal
+Long have I wish'd, but never dare reveal,
+Even though severely Loves Pains I feel;
+Xerxes that great, was't free from Cupids Dart,
+And all the greatest Heroes, felt the smart."
+
+
+When visiting Barbadoes, in 1751, Washington noted in his journal his
+meeting a Miss Roberts, "an agreeable young lady," and later he went with
+her to see some fireworks on Guy Fawkes day. Apparently, however, the
+ladies of that island made little impression on him, for he further noted,
+"The Ladys Generally are very agreeable but by ill custom or w[ha]t effect
+the Negro style." This sudden insensibility is explained by a letter he
+wrote to William Fauntleroy a few weeks after his return to Virginia:
+
+
+"Sir: I should have been down long before this, but my business in
+Frederick detained me somewhat longer than I expected, and immediately
+upon my return from thence I was taken with a violent Pleurise, but
+purpose as soon as I recover my strength, to wait on Miss Betsy, in hopes
+of a revocation of the former cruel sentence, and see if I can meet with
+any alteration in my favor. I have enclosed a letter to her, which should
+be much obliged to you for the delivery of it. I have nothing to add but
+my best respects to your good lady and family, and that I am, Sir, Your
+most ob't humble serv't."
+
+
+Because of this letter it has been positively asserted that Betsy
+Fauntleroy was the Low-Land Beauty of the earlier time; but as Washington
+wrote of his love for the latter in 1748, when Betsy was only eleven, the
+absurdity of the claim is obvious.
+
+In 1753, while on his mission to deliver the governor's letter to the
+French, one duty which fell to the young soldier was a visit to royalty,
+in the person of Queen Aliquippa, an Indian majesty who had "expressed
+great Concern" that she had formerly been slighted. Washington records
+that "I made her a Present of a Match-coat and a Bottle of Rum; which
+latter was thought much the best Present of the Two," and thus (externally
+and internally) restored warmth to her majesty's feelings.
+
+When returned from his first campaign, and resting at Mount Vernon, the
+time seems to have been beguiled by some charmer, for one of Washington's
+officers and intimates writes from Williamsburg, "I imagine you By this
+time plung'd in the midst of delight heaven can afford & enchanted By
+Charmes even Stranger to the Ciprian Dame," and a footnote by the same
+hand only excites further curiosity concerning this latter personage by
+indefinitely naming her as "Mrs. Neil."
+
+With whatever heart-affairs the winter was passed, with the spring the
+young man's fancy turned not to love, but again to war, and only when the
+defeat of Braddock brought Washington back to Mount Vernon to recover from
+the fatigues of that campaign was his intercourse with the gentler sex
+resumed. Now, however, he was not merely a good-looking young fellow, but
+was a hero who had had horses shot from under him and had stood firm when
+scarlet-coated men had run away. No longer did he have to sue for the
+favor of the fair ones, and Fairfax wrote him that "if a Satterday Nights
+Rest cannot be sufficient to enable your coming hither to-morrow, the
+Lady's will try to get Horses to equip our Chair or attempt their strength
+on Foot to Salute you, so desirous are they with loving Speed to have an
+occular Demonstration of your being the same Identical Gent--that lately
+departed to defend his Country's Cause." Furthermore, to this letter was
+appended the following:
+
+
+"DEAR SIR,--After thanking Heaven for your safe return I must accuse you
+of great unkindness in refusing us the pleasure of seeing you this night.
+I do assure you nothing but our being satisfied that our company would be
+disagreeable should prevent us from trying if our Legs would not carry us
+to Mount Vernon this night, but if you will not come to us to-morrow
+morning very early we shall be at Mount Vernon.
+
+"S[ALLY] FAIRFAX,
+"ANN SPEARING.
+"ELIZ'TH DENT."
+
+
+Nor is this the only feminine postscript of this time, for in the
+postscript of a letter from Archibald Cary, a leading Virginian, he is
+told that "Mrs. Cary & Miss Randolph joyn in wishing you that sort of
+Glory which will most Indear you to the Fair Sex."
+
+In 1756 Washington had occasion to journey on military business to Boston,
+and both in coming and in going he tarried in New York, passing ten days
+in his first visit and about a week on his return. This time was spent
+with a Virginian friend, Beverly Robinson, who had had the good luck to
+marry Susannah Philipse, a daughter of Frederick Philipse, one of the
+largest landed proprietors of the colony of New York. Here he met the
+sister, Mary Philipse, then a girl of twenty-five, and, short as was the
+time, it was sufficient to engage his heart. To this interest no doubt are
+due the entries in his accounts of sundry pounds spent "for treating
+Ladies," and for the large tailors' bills then incurred. But neither
+treats nor clothes won the lady, who declined his proposals, and gave her
+heart two years later to Lieutenant-Colonel Roger Morris. A curious sequel
+to this disappointment was the accident that made the Roger Morris house
+Washington's head-quarters in 1776, both Morris and his wife being
+fugitive Tories. Again Washington was a chance visitor in 1790, when, as
+part of a picnic, he "dined on a dinner provided by Mr. Marriner at the
+House lately Colo. Roger Morris, but confiscated and in the occupation of
+a common Farmer."
+
+[Illustration: MARY PHILIPSE]
+
+It has been asserted that Washington loved the wife of his friend George
+William Fairfax, but the evidence has not been produced. On the contrary,
+though the two corresponded, it was in a purely platonic fashion, very
+different from the strain of lovers, and that the correspondence implied
+nothing is to be found in the fact that he and Sally Carlyle (another
+Fairfax daughter) also wrote each other quite as frequently and on
+the same friendly footing; indeed, Washington evidently classed them
+in the same category, when he stated that "I have wrote to my two
+female correspondents." Thus the claim seems due, like many another of
+Washington's mythical love-affairs, rather to the desire of descendants to
+link their family "to a star" than to more substantial basis. Washington
+did, indeed, write to Sally Fairfax from the frontier, "I should think our
+time more agreeably spent, believe me, in playing a part in Cato, with the
+company you mention, and myself doubly happy in being the Juba to such a
+Marcia, as you must make," but private theatricals then no more than now
+implied "passionate love." What is more, Mrs. Fairfax was at this very
+time teasing him about another woman, and to her hints Washington
+replied,--
+
+
+"If you allow that any honor can be derived from my opposition ... you
+destroy the merit of it entirely in me by attributing my anxiety to the
+animating prospect of possessing Mrs. Custis, when--I need not tell you,
+guess yourself. Should not my own Honor and country's welfare be the
+excitement? 'Tis true I profess myself a votary of love. I acknowledge
+that a lady is in the case, and further I confess that this lady is known
+to you. Yes, Madame, as well as she is to one who is too sensible of her
+charms to deny the Power whose influence he feels and must ever submit to.
+I feel the force of her amiable beauties in the recollection of a thousand
+tender passages that I could wish to obliterate, till I am bid to revive
+them. But experience, alas! sadly reminds me how impossible this is, and
+evinces an opinion which I have long entertained that there is a Destiny
+which has the control of our actions, not to be resisted by the strongest
+efforts of Human Nature. You have drawn me, dear Madame, or rather I have
+drawn myself, into an honest confession of a simple Fact. Misconstrue not
+my meaning; doubt it not, nor expose it. The world has no business to know
+the object of my Love, declared in this manner to you, when I want to
+conceal it. One thing above all things in this world I wish to know, and
+only one person of your acquaintance can solve me that, or guess my
+meaning."
+
+
+The love-affair thus alluded to had begun in March, 1758, when ill health
+had taken Washington to Williamsburg to consult physicians, thinking,
+indeed, of himself as a doomed man. In this trip he met Mrs. Martha
+(Dandridge) Custis, widow of Daniel Parke Custis, one of the wealthiest
+planters of the colony. She was at this time twenty-six years of age, or
+Washington's senior by nine months, and had been a widow but seven, yet in
+spite of this fact, and of his own expected "decay," he pressed his
+love-making with an impetuosity akin to that with which he had urged his
+suit of Miss Philipse, and (widows being proverbial) with better success.
+The invalid had left Mount Vernon on March 5, and by April 1 he was back
+at Fort Loudon, an engaged man, having as well so far recovered his health
+as to be able to join his command. Early in May he ordered a ring from
+Philadelphia, at a cost of L2.16.0; soon after receiving it he found
+that army affairs once more called him down to Williamsburg, and, as
+love-making is generally considered a military duty, the excuse was
+sufficient. But sterner duties on the frontier were awaiting him, and very
+quickly he was back there and writing to his _fiancee_,--
+
+
+"We have begun our march for the Ohio. A courier is starting for
+Williamsburg, and I embrace the opportunity to send a few words to one
+whose life is now inseparable from mine. Since that happy hour when we
+made our pledges to each other, my thoughts have been continually going to
+you as another Self. That an all-powerful Providence may keep us both in
+safety is the prayer of your ever faithful and affectionate friend."
+
+
+Five months after this letter was written, Washington was able to date
+another from Fort Duquesne, and, the fall of that post putting an end to
+his military service, only four weeks later he was back in Williamsburg,
+and on January 6, 1759, he was married.
+
+Very little is really known of his wife, beyond the facts that she was
+petite, over-fond, hot-tempered, obstinate, and a poor speller. In 1778
+she was described as "a sociable, pretty kind of woman," and she seems to
+have been but little more. One who knew her well described her as "not
+possessing much sense, though a perfect lady and remarkably well
+calculated for her position," and confirmatory of this is the opinion of
+an English traveller that "there was nothing remarkable in the person of
+the lady of the President; she was matronly and kind, with perfect good
+breeding." None the less she satisfied Washington; even after the
+proverbial six months were over he refused to wander from Mount Vernon,
+writing that "I am now, I believe, fixed at this seat with an agreeable
+Consort for life," and in 1783 he spoke of her as the "partner of all my
+Domestic enjoyments."
+
+John Adams, in one of his recurrent moods of bitterness and jealousy
+towards Washington, demanded, "Would Washington have ever been commander
+of the revolutionary army or president of the United States if he had not
+married the rich widow of Mr. Custis?" To ask such a question is to
+overlook the fact that Washington's colonial military fame was entirely
+achieved before his marriage. It is not to be denied that the match was a
+good one from a worldly point of view, Mrs. Washington's third of the
+Custis property equalling "fifteen thousand acres of land, a good part of
+it adjoining the city of Williamsburg; several lots in the said city;
+between two and three hundred negroes; and about eight or ten thousand
+pounds upon bond," estimated at the time as about twenty thousand pounds
+in all, which was further increased on the death of Patsy Custis in 1773
+by a half of her fortune, which added ten thousand pounds to the sum.
+Nevertheless the advantage was fairly equal, for Mrs. Custis's lawyer had
+written before her marriage of the impossibility of her managing the
+property, advising that she "employ a trusty steward, and as the estate is
+large and very extensive, it is Mr. Wallers and my own opinion, that you
+had better not engage any but a very able man, though he should require
+large wages." Of the management of this property, to which, indeed, she
+was unequal, Washington entirely relieved her, taking charge also of her
+children's share and acting for their interests with the same care with
+which he managed the part he was more directly concerned in.
+
+He further saved her much of the detail of ordering her own clothing, and
+we find him sending for "A Salmon-colored Tabby of the enclosed pattern,
+with satin flowers, to be made in a sack," "1 Cap, Handkerchief, Tucker
+and Ruffles, to be made of Brussels lace or point, proper to wear with the
+above negligee, to cost L20," "1 pair black, and 1 pair white Satin Shoes,
+of the smallest," and "1 black mask." Again he writes his London agent,
+"Mrs. Washington sends home a green sack to get cleaned, or fresh dyed of
+the same color; made up into a handsome sack again, would be her choice;
+but if the cloth won't afford that, then to be thrown into a genteel Night
+Gown." At another time he wants a pair of clogs, and when the wrong kind
+are sent he writes that "she intended to have leathern Gloshoes." When she
+was asked to present a pair of colors to a company, he attended to every
+detail of obtaining the flag, and when "Mrs. Washington ... perceived the
+Tomb of her Father ... to be much out of Sorts" he wrote to get a workman
+to repair it. The care of the Mount Vernon household proving beyond his
+wife's ability, a housekeeper was very quickly engaged, and when one who
+filled this position was on the point of leaving, Washington wrote his
+agent to find another without the least delay, for the vacancy would
+"throw a great additional weight on Mrs. Washington;" again, writing in
+another domestic difficulty, "Your aunt's distresses for want of a good
+housekeeper are such as to render the wages demanded by Mrs. Forbes
+(though unusually high) of no consideration." Her letters of form, which
+required better orthography than she was mistress of, he draughted for
+her, pen-weary though he was.
+
+It has already been shown how he fathered her "little progeny," as he once
+called them. Mrs. Washington was a worrying mother, as is shown by a
+letter to her sister, speaking of a visit in which "I carried my little
+patt with me and left Jacky at home for a trial to see how well I could
+stay without him though we were gon but wone fortnight I was quite
+impatient to get home. If I at aney time heard the doggs barke or a noise
+out, I thought thair was a person sent for me. I often fancied he was sick
+or some accident had happened to him so that I think it is impossible
+for me to leave him as long as Mr. Washington must stay when he comes
+down." To spare her anxiety, therefore, when the time came for "Jacky" to
+be inoculated, Washington "withheld from her the information ... &
+purpose, if possible, to keep her in total ignorance ... till I hear of
+his return, or perfect recovery;... she having often wished that Jack
+wou'd take & go through the disorder without her knowing of it, that she
+might escape those Tortures which suspense wd throw her into." And on the
+death of Patsy he wrote, "This sudden and unexpected blow, I scarce need
+add has almost reduced my poor Wife to the lowest ebb of Misery; which is
+encreas'd by the absence of her son."
+
+When Washington left Mount Vernon, in May, 1775, to attend the Continental
+Congress, he did not foresee his appointment as commander-in-chief, and as
+soon as it occurred he wrote his wife,--
+
+
+"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 for the
+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 Patsey, when I assure 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 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.... I shall feel no
+pain from the toil or danger of the campaign; my unhappiness will flow
+from the uneasiness I know you will feel from being left alone."
+
+
+To prevent this loneliness as far as possible, he wrote at the same time
+to different members of the two families as follows:
+
+
+"My great concern upon this occasion is, the thought of leaving your
+mother under the uneasiness which I fear this affair will throw her into;
+I therefore hope, expect, and indeed have no doubt, of your using every
+means in your power to keep up her spirits, by doing everything in your
+power to promote her quiet. I have, I must confess, very uneasy feelings
+on her account, but as it has been a kind of unavoidable necessity which
+has led me into this appointment, I shall more readily hope that success
+will attend it and crown our meetings with happiness."
+
+
+"I entreat you and Mrs. Bassett if possible to visit at Mt. Vernon, as
+also my wife's other friends. I could wish you to take her down, as I have
+no expectation of returning till winter & feel great uneasiness at her
+lonesome situation."
+
+
+"I shall hope that my friends will visit and endeavor to keep up the
+spirits of my wife, as much as they can, as my departure will, I know, be
+a cutting stroke upon her; and on this account alone I have many very
+disagreeable sensations. I hope you and my sister, (although the distance
+is great), will find as much leisure this summer as to spend a little time
+at Mount Vernon."
+
+
+When, six months later, the war at Boston settled into a mere siege,
+Washington wrote that "seeing no prospect of returning to my family and
+friends this winter, I have sent an invitation to Mrs. Washington to come
+to me," adding, "I have laid a state of difficulties, however, which must
+attend the journey before her, and left it to her own choice." His wife
+replied in the affirmative, and one of Washington's aides presently wrote
+concerning some prize goods to the effect that "There are limes, lemons
+and oranges on board, which, being perishable, you must sell immediately.
+The General will want some of each, as well of the sweetmeats and pickles
+that are on board, as his lady will be here to-day or to-morrow. You will
+please to pick up such things on board as you think will be acceptable to
+her, and send them as soon as possible; he does not mean to receive
+anything without payment."
+
+Lodged at head-quarters, then the Craigie house in Cambridge, the
+discomforts of war were reduced to a minimum, but none the less it was a
+trying time to Mrs. Washington, who complained that she could not get used
+to the distant cannonading, and she marvelled that those about her paid so
+little heed to it. With the opening of the campaign in the following
+summer she returned to Mount Vernon, but when the army was safely in
+winter quarters at Valley Forge she once more journeyed northward, a trip
+alluded to by Washington in a letter to Jack, as follows: "Your Mamma is
+not yet arrived, but ... expected every hour. [My aide] Meade set off
+yesterday (as soon as I got notice of her intention) to meet her. We are
+in a dreary kind of place, and uncomfortably provided." And of this
+reunion Mrs. Washington wrote, "I came to this place, some time about the
+first of February where I found the General very well,... in camp in what
+is called the great valley on the Banks of the Schuylkill. Officers and
+men are chiefly in Hutts, which they say is tolerably comfortable; the
+army are as healthy as can be well expected in general. The General's
+apartment is very small; he has had a log cabin built to dine in, which
+has made our quarters much more tolerable than they were at first"
+
+Such "winterings" became the regular custom, and brief references in
+various letters serve to illustrate them. Thus, in 1779, Washington
+informed a friend that "Mrs. Washington, according to custom marched home
+when the campaign was about to open;" in July, 1782, he noted that his
+wife "sets out this day for Mount Vernon," and later in the same year he
+wrote, "as I despair of seeing my home this Winter, I have sent for Mrs.
+Washington;" and finally, in a letter he draughted for his wife, he made
+her describe herself as "a kind of perambulator, during eight or nine
+years of the war."
+
+Another pleasant glimpse during these stormy years is the couple, during a
+brief stay in Philadelphia, being entertained almost to death, described
+as follows by Franklin's daughter in a letter to her father: "I have
+lately been several times abroad with the General and Mrs. Washington. He
+always inquires after you in the most affectionate manner, and speaks of
+you highly. We danced at Mrs. Powell's your birthday, or night I should
+say, in company together, and he told me it was the anniversary of his
+marriage; it was just twenty years that night" Again there was junketing
+in Philadelphia after the surrender at Yorktown, and one bit of this is
+shadowed in a line from Washington to Robert Morris, telling the latter
+that "Mrs. Washington, myself and family, will have the honor of dining
+with you in the way proposed, to-morrow, being Christmas day."
+
+With the retirement to Mount Vernon at the close of the war, little more
+companionship was obtained, for, as already stated, Washington could only
+describe his home henceforth as a "well resorted tavern," and two years
+after his return he entered in his diary, "Dined with only Mrs. Washington
+which I believe is the first instance of it since my retirement from
+public life."
+
+Even this was only a furlough, for in six years they were both in public
+life again. Mrs. Washington was inclined to sulk over the necessary
+restraints of official life, writing to a friend, "Mrs. Sins will give you
+a better account of the fashions than I can--I live a very dull life hear
+and know nothing that passes in the town--I never goe to any public
+place--indeed I think I am more like a State prisoner than anything else;
+there is certain bounds set for me which I must not depart from--and as I
+cannot doe as I like, I am obstinate and stay at home a great deal."
+
+
+[Illustration: MRS. DANIEL PARKE CUSTIS, LATER MRS. WASHINGTON]
+
+
+None the less she did her duties well, and in these "Lady Washington" was
+more at home, for, according to Thacher, she combined "in an uncommon
+degree, great dignity of manner with most pleasing affability," though
+possessing "no striking marks of beauty," and there is no doubt that she
+lightened Washington's shoulders of social demands materially. At the
+receptions of Mrs. Washington, which were held every Friday evening, so a
+contemporary states, "the President did not consider himself as visited.
+On these occasions he appeared as a private gentleman, with neither hat
+nor sword, conversing without restraint."
+
+From other formal society Mrs. Washington also saved her husband, for a
+visitor on New Year's tells of her setting "'the General' (by which title
+she always designated her husband)" at liberty: "Mrs. Washington had stood
+by his side as the visitors arrived and were presented, and when the clock
+in the hall was heard striking nine, she advanced and with a complacent
+smile said, 'The General always retires at nine, and I usually precede
+him,' upon which all arose, made their parting salutations, and withdrew."
+Nor was it only from the fatigues of formal entertaining that the wife
+saved her husband, Washington writing in 1793, "We remain in Philadelphia
+until the 10th instant. It was my wish to have continued there longer; but
+as Mrs. Washington was unwilling to leave me surrounded by the malignant
+fever which prevailed, I could not think of hazarding her, and the
+Children any longer by _my_ continuance in the City, the house in which we
+live being in a manner blockaded by the disorder, and was becoming every
+day more and more fatal; I therefore came off with them."
+
+Finally from these "scenes more busy, tho' not more happy, than the
+tranquil enjoyment of rural life," they returned to Mount Vernon, hoping
+that in the latter their "days will close." Not quite three years of this
+life brought an end to their forty years of married life. On the night
+that Washington's illness first became serious his secretary narrates that
+"Between 2 and 3 o'clk on Saturday morning he [Washington] awoke Mrs.
+Washington & told her he was very unwell, and had had an ague.
+She ... would have got up to call a servant; but he would not permit her
+lest she should take cold." As a consequence of this care for her, her
+husband lay for nearly four hours in a chill in a cold bedroom before
+receiving any attention, or before even a fire was lighted. When death
+came, she said, "Tis well--All is now over--I have no more trials to pass
+through--I shall soon follow him." In his will he left "to my dearly
+beloved wife" the use of his whole property, and named her an executrix.
+
+As a man's views of matrimony are more or less colored by his personal
+experience, what Washington had to say on the institution is of interest.
+As concerned himself he wrote to his nephew, "If Mrs. Washington should
+survive me, there is a moral certainty of my dying without issue: and
+should I be the longest liver, the matter in my opinion, is hardly less
+certain; for while I retain the faculty of reasoning, I shall never marry
+a girl; and it is not probable that I should have children by a woman of
+an age suitable to my own, should I be disposed to enter into a second
+marriage." And in a less personal sense he wrote to Chastellux,--
+
+
+"In reading your very friendly and acceptable letter,... I was, as you
+may well suppose, not less delighted than surprised to meet the plain
+American words, 'my 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. Now 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 same, like the small pox
+or the plague, a man can have only once in his life; because it commonly
+lasts him (at least with us in America--I don't know how you manage these
+matters in France) for his whole life time. And yet after all the
+maledictions you so richly merit on the subject, the worst wish which I
+can find in my heart to make against Madame de Chastellux and yourself is,
+that you may neither of you ever get the better of this same domestic
+felicity during the entire course of your mortal existence."
+
+
+Furthermore, he wrote to an old friend, whose wife stubbornly refused to
+sign a deed, "I think, any Gentleman, possessed of but a very moderate
+degree of influence with his wife, might, in the course of five or six
+years (for I think it is at least that time) have prevailed upon her to do
+an act of justice, in fulfiling his Bargains and complying with his
+wishes, if he had been really in earnest in requesting the matter of her;
+especially, as the inducement which you thought would have a powerful
+operation on Mrs. Alexander, namely the birth of a child, has been
+doubled, and tripled."
+
+However well Washington thought of "the honorable state," he was
+no match-maker, and when asked to give advice to the widow of Jack Custis,
+replied, "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 advise 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 disapprobation, 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.'" Again he wrote:
+
+
+"It has ever been a maxim with me through life, neither to promote nor to
+prevent a matrimonial connection, unless there should be something
+indispensably requiring interference in the latter. I have always
+considered marriage as the most interesting event of one's life, the
+foundation of happiness or misery. To be instrumental therefore in
+bringing two people together, who are indifferent to each other, and may
+soon become objects of disgust; or to prevent a union, which is prompted
+by the affections of the mind, is what I never could reconcile with
+reason, and therefore neither directly nor indirectly have I ever said a
+word to Fanny or George, upon the subject of their intended connection."
+
+
+The question whether Washington was a faithful husband might well be left
+to the facts already given, were it not that stories of his immorality are
+bandied about in clubs, a well-known clergyman has vouched for their
+truth, and a United States senator has given further currency to them by
+claiming special knowledge on the subject. Since such are the facts, it
+seems best to consider the question and show what evidence there actually
+is for these stories, that at least the pretended "letters," etc., which
+are always being cited, and are never produced, may no longer have
+credence put in them, and the true basis for all the stories may be known
+and valued at its worth.
+
+In the year 1776 there was printed in London a small pamphlet entitled
+"Minutes of the Trial and Examination of Certain Persons in the Province
+of New York," which purported to be the records of the examination of the
+conspirators of the "Hickey plot" (to murder Washington) before a
+committee of the Provincial Congress of New York. The manuscript of this
+was claimed in the preface to have been "discovered (on the late capture
+of New York by the British troops) among the papers of a person who
+appears to have been secretary to the committee." As part of the evidence
+the following was printed:
+
+
+"William Cooper, soldier, sworn.
+
+
+"Court. Inform us what conversation you heard at the Serjeant's Arms?
+
+"Cooper. Being there the 21st of May, I heard John Clayford inform the
+company, that Mary Gibbons was thoroughly in their interest, and that the
+whole would be safe. I learnt from enquiry that Mary Gibbons was a girl
+from New Jersey, of whom General Washington was very fond, that he
+maintained her genteelly at a house near Mr. Skinner's,--at the North
+River; that he came there very often late at night in disguise; he learnt
+also that this woman was very intimate with Clayford, and made him
+presents, and told him of what General Washington said.
+
+"Court. Did you hear Mr. Clayford say any thing himself that night?
+
+"Cooper. Yes; that he was the day before with Judith, so he called her,
+and that she told him, Washington had often said he wished his hands were
+clear of the dirty New-Englanders, and words to that effect.
+
+"Court. Did you hear no mention made of any scheme to betray or seize him?
+
+"Cooper. Mr. Clayford said he could easily be seized and put on board a
+boat, and carried off, as his female friend had promised she would assist:
+but all present thought it would be hazardous."
+
+
+"William Savage, sworn.
+
+"Court. Was you at the Serjeant's Arms on the 21st of May? Did you hear
+any thing of this nature?
+
+"Savage. I did, and nearly as the last evidence has declared; the society
+in general refused to be concerned in it, and thought it a mad scheme.
+
+"Mr. Abeel. Pray, Mr. Savage, have not you heard nothing of an information
+that was to be given to Governor Tryon?
+
+"Savage. Yes; papers and letters were at different times shewn to the
+society, which were taken out of General Washington's pockets by Mrs.
+Gibbons, and given (as she pretended some occasion of going out) to Mr.
+Clayford, who always copied them, and they were put into his pockets
+again."
+
+
+The authenticity of this pamphlet thus becomes of importance, and over
+this little time need be spent. The committee named in it differs from the
+committee really named by the Provincial Congress, and the proceedings
+nowhere implicate the men actually proved guilty. In other words, the
+whole publication is a clumsy Tory forgery, put forward with the same idle
+story of "captured papers" employed in the "spurious letters" of
+Washington, and sent forth from the same press (J. Bew) from which that
+forgery and several others issued.
+
+The source from which the English fabricator drew this scandal is
+fortunately known. In 1775 a letter to Washington from his friend Benjamin
+Harrison was intercepted by the British, and at once printed broadcast in
+the newspapers. In this the writer gossips to Washington "to amuse you and
+unbend your minds from the cares of war," as follows: "As I was in the
+pleasing task of writing to you, a little noise occasioned me to turn my
+head around, and who should appear but pretty little Kate, the
+Washer-woman's daughter over the way, clean, trim and as rosy as the
+morning. I snatched the golden, glorious opportunity, and, but for the
+cursed antidote to love, Sukey, I had fitted her for my general against his
+return. We were obliged to part, but not till we had contrived to meet
+again: if she keeps the appointment, I shall relish a week's longer stay."
+From this originated the stories of Washington's infidelity as already
+given, and also a coarser version of the same, printed in 1776 in a Tory
+farce entitled "The Battle of Brooklyn."
+
+Jonathan Boucher, who knew Washington well before the Revolution, yet who,
+as a loyalist, wrote in no friendly spirit of him, asserted that "in his
+moral character, he is regular." A man who disliked him far more, General
+Charles Lee, in the excess of his hatred, charged Washington in 1778 with
+immorality,--a rather amusing impeachment, since at the very time Lee was
+flaunting the evidence of his own incontinence without apparent shame,--and
+a mutual friend of the accused and accuser, Joseph Reed, whose service on
+Washington's staff enabled him to speak wittingly, advised that Lee
+"forbear any Reflections upon the Commander in Chief, of whom for the
+first time I have heard Slander on his private Character, viz., great
+cruelty to his Slaves in Virginia & Immorality of Life, tho' they
+acknowledge so very secret that it is difficult to detect. To me who have
+had so good opportunities to know the Purity of the latter & equally
+believing the Falsehood of the former from the known excellence of his
+disposition, it appears so nearly bordering upon frenzy, that I can pity
+the wretches rather than despise them."
+
+Washington was too much of a man, however, to have his marriage lessen his
+liking for other women; and Yeates repeats that "Mr. Washington once told
+me, on a charge which I once made against the President at his own Table,
+that the admiration he warmly professed for Mrs. Hartley, was a Proof of
+his Homage to the worthy Part of the Sex, and highly respectful to his
+Wife." Every now and then there is an allusion in his letters which shows
+his appreciation of beauty, as when he wrote to General Schuyler, "Your
+fair daughter, for whose visit Mrs. Washington and myself are greatly
+obliged," and again, to one of his aides, "The fair hand, to whom your
+letter ... was committed presented it safe."
+
+His diary, in the notes of the balls and assemblies which he attended,
+usually had a word for the sex, as exampled in: "at which there were
+between 60 & 70 well dressed ladies;" "at which there was about 100 well
+dressed and handsome ladies;" "at which were 256 elegantly dressed
+ladies;" "where there was a select Company of ladies;" "where (it is said)
+there were upwards of 100 ladies; their appearance was elegant, and many
+of them very handsome;" "at wch. there were about 400 ladies the number
+and appearance of wch. exceeded anything of the kind I have ever seen;"
+"where there were about 75 well dressed, and many of them very handsome
+ladies--among whom (as was also the case at the Salem and Boston
+assemblies) were a greater proportion with much blacker hair than are
+usually seen in the Southern States."
+
+At his wife's receptions, as already said, Washington did not view himself
+as host, and "conversed without restraint, generally with women, who
+rarely had other opportunity of seeing him," which perhaps accounts for
+the statement of another eye-witness that Washington "looked very much
+more at ease than at his own official levees." Sullivan adds that "the
+young ladies used to throng around him, and engaged him in conversation.
+There were some of the well-remembered belles of the day who imagined
+themselves to be favorites with him. As these were the only opportunities
+which they had of conversing with him, they were disposed to use them." In
+his Southern trip of 1791 Washington noted, with evident pleasure, that he
+"was visited about 2 o'clock, by a great number of the most respectable
+ladies of Charleston--the first honor of the kind I had ever experienced
+and it was flattering as it was singular." And that this attention was not
+merely the respect due to a great man is shown in the letter of a
+Virginian woman, who wrote to her correspondent in 1777, that when
+"General Washington throws off the Hero and takes up the chatty agreeable
+Companion--he can be down right impudent sometimes--such impudence, Fanny,
+as you and I like."
+
+Another feminine compliment paid him was a highly laudatory poem which was
+enclosed to him, with a letter begging forgiveness, to which he playfully
+answered,--
+
+
+"You apply to me, my dear Madam, for absolution as tho' I was your father
+Confessor; and as tho' you had committed a crime, great in itself, yet of
+the venial class. You have reason good--for I find myself strangely
+disposed to be a very indulgent ghostly adviser on this occasion; and,
+notwithstanding 'you are the most offending Soul alive' (that is, if it is
+a crime to write elegant Poetry,) yet if you will come and dine with me on
+Thursday, and go thro' the proper course of penitence which shall be
+prescribed I will strive hard to assist you in expiating these poetical
+trespasses on this side of purgatory. Nay more, if it rests with me
+to direct your future lucubrations, I shall certainly urge you to a
+repetition of the same conduct, on purpose to shew what an admirable knack
+you have at confession and reformation; and so without more hesitation, I
+shall venture to command the muse, not to be restrained by ill-grounded
+timidity, but to go on and prosper. You see, Madam, when once the woman
+has tempted us, and we have tasted the forbidden fruit, there is no such
+thing as checking our appetites, whatever the consequences may be. You
+will, I dare say, recognize our being the genuine Descendants of those who
+are reputed to be our great Progenitors."
+
+
+Nor was Washington open only to beauty and flattery. From the rude
+frontier in 1756 he wrote, "The supplicating tears of the women,... melt
+me into such deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my own
+mind, I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy,
+provided that would contribute to the people's ease." And in 1776 he said,
+"When I consider that the city of New York will in all human probability
+very soon be the scene of a bloody conflict, I cannot but view the great
+numbers of women, children, and infirm persons remaining in it, with the
+most melancholy concern. When the men-of-war passed up the river, the
+shrieks and cries of these poor creatures running every way with their
+children, were truly distressing.... Can no method be devised for their
+removal?"
+
+Nevertheless, though liked by and liking the fair sex, Washington was
+human, and after experience concluded that "I never again will have two
+women in my house when I am there myself."
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+FARMER AND PROPRIETOR
+
+
+The earliest known Washington coat of arms had blazoned upon it "3 Cinque
+foiles," which was the herald's way of saying that the bearer was a
+landholder and cultivator, and when Washington had a book-plate made for
+himself he added to the conventional design of the arms spears of wheat
+and other plants, as an indication of his favorite labor. During his
+career he acted several parts, but in none did he find such pleasure as in
+farming, and late in life he said, "I think with you, that the life of a
+husbandman of all others is the most delectable. It is honorable, it is
+amusing, and, with judicious management, it is profitable. To see plants
+rise from the earth and flourish by the superior skill and bounty of the
+laborer fills a contemplative mind with ideas which are more easy to be
+conceived than expressed." "Agriculture has ever been the most favorite
+amusement of my life," he wrote after the Revolution, and he informed
+another correspondent that "the more I am acquainted with agricultural
+affairs, the better pleased I am with them; insomuch, that I can no where
+find so great satisfaction as in those innocent and useful pursuits: In
+indulging these feelings, I am led to reflect how much more delightful to
+an undebauched mind is the task of making improvements on the earth, than
+all the vain glory which can be acquired from ravaging it, by the most
+uninterrupted career of conquests." A visitor to Mount Vernon in 1785
+states that his host's "greatest pride is, to be thought the first farmer
+in America. He is quite a Cincinnatus."
+
+Undoubtedly a part of this liking flowed from his strong affection for
+Mount Vernon. Such was his feeling for the place that he never seems to
+have been entirely happy away from it, and over and over again, during his
+various and enforced absences, he "sighs" or "pants" for his "own vine and
+fig tree." In writing to an English correspondent, he shows his feeling
+for the place by saying, "No estate in United America, is more pleasantly
+situated than this. It lies in a high, dry and healthy country, three
+hundred miles by water from the sea, and, as you will see by the plan, on
+one of the finest rivers in the world."
+
+The history of the Mount Vernon estate begins in 1674, when Lord Culpepper
+conveyed to Nicholas Spencer and Lieutenant-Colonel John Washington five
+thousand acres of land "scytuate Lying and being within the said terrytory
+in the County of Stafford in the ffreshes of the Pottomocke River
+and ... bounded betwixt two Creeks." Colonel John's half was bequeathed to
+his son Lawrence, and by Lawrence's will it was left to his daughter
+Mildred. She sold it to the father of George, who by his will left it to
+his son Lawrence, with a reversion to George should Lawrence die without
+issue. The original house was built about 1740, and the place was named
+Mount Vernon by Lawrence, in honor of Admiral Vernon, under whom he had
+served at Carthagena. After the death of Lawrence, the estate of
+twenty-five hundred acres came under Washington's management, and from 1754
+it was his home, as it had been practically even in his brother's life.
+
+Twice Washington materially enlarged the house at Mount Vernon, the first
+time in 1760 and the second in 1785, and a visitor reports, what his host
+must have told him, that "its a pity he did not build a new one at
+once, for it has cost him nearly as much to repair his old one." These
+alterations consisted in the addition of a banquet-hall at one end (by far
+the finest room in the house), and a library and dining-room at the other,
+with the addition of an entire story to the whole.
+
+The grounds, too, were very much improved. A fine approach, or bowling
+green, was laid out, a "botanical garden," a "shrubbery," and greenhouses
+were added, and in every way possible the place was improved. A deer
+paddock was laid out and stocked, gifts of Chinese pheasants and geese,
+French partridges, and guinea-pigs were sent him, and were gratefully
+acknowledged, and from all the world over came curious, useful, or
+beautiful plants.
+
+The original tract did not satisfy the ambition of the farmer, and from
+the time he came into the possession of Mount Vernon he was a persistent
+purchaser of lands adjoining the property. In 1760 he bargained with one
+Clifton for "a tract called Brents," of eighteen hundred and six acres,
+but after the agreement was closed the seller, "under pretence of his wife
+not consenting to acknowledge her right of dower wanted to disengage
+himself ... and by his shuffling behavior convinced me of his being the
+trifling body represented." Presently Washington heard that Clifton had
+sold his lands to another for twelve hundred pounds, which "fully
+unravelled his conduct ... and convinced me that he was nothing less than
+a thorough pac'd rascall." Meeting the "rascall" at a court, "much
+discourse," Washington states, "happened between him and I concerning his
+ungenerous treatment of me, the whole turning to little account, 'tis not
+worth reciting." After much more friction, the land was finally sold at
+public auction, and "I bought it for L1210 Sterling, [and] under many
+threats and disadvantages paid the money."
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON, CIRCA 1746]
+
+
+In 1778, when some other land was offered, Washington wrote to his agent,
+"I have premised these things to shew my inability, not my unwillingness
+to purchase the Lands in my own Neck at (almost) any price--& this I am
+very desirous of doing if it could be accomplished by any means in my
+power, in ye way of Barter for other Land--for Negroes ... or in short--for
+any thing else ... but for money I cannot, I want the means." Again, in
+1782, he wrote, "Inform Mr. Dulany,... that I look upon L2000 to be a
+great price for his land; that my wishes to obtain it do not proceed from
+its intrinsic value, but from the motives I have candidly assigned in my
+other letter. That to indulge this fancy, (for in truth there is more
+fancy than judgment in it) I have submitted, or am willing to submit, to
+the disadvantage of borrowing as large a sum as I think this Land is
+worth, in order to come at it"
+
+By thus purchasing whenever an opportunity occurred, the property was
+increased from the twenty-five hundred acres which had come into
+Washington's possession by inheritance to an estate exceeding eight
+thousand acres, of which over thirty-two hundred were actually under
+cultivation during the latter part of its owner's life.
+
+To manage so vast a tract, the property was subdivided into several
+tracts, called "Mansion House Farm," "River Farm," "Union Farm," "Muddy
+Hole Farm," and "Dogue Run Farm," each having an overseer to manage it,
+and each being operated as a separate plantation, though a general
+overseer controlled the whole, and each farm derived common benefit from
+the property as a whole. "On Saturday in the afternoon, every week,
+reports are made by all his overseers, and registered in books kept for
+the purpose," and these accounts were so schemed as to show how every
+negro's and laborer's time had been employed during the whole week, what
+crops had been planted or gathered, what increase or loss of stock had
+occurred, and every other detail of farm-work. During Washington's
+absences from Mount Vernon his chief overseer sent him these reports, as
+well as wrote himself, and weekly the manager received in return long
+letters of instruction, sometimes to the length of sixteen pages, which
+showed most wonderful familiarity with every acre of the estate and the
+character of every laborer, and are little short of marvellous when
+account is taken of the pressure of public affairs that rested upon their
+writer as he framed them.
+
+When Washington became a farmer, but one system of agriculture, so far as
+Virginia was concerned, existed, which he described long after as follows:
+
+
+"A piece of land is cut down, and kept under constant cultivation, first
+in tobacco, and then in Indian corn (two very exhausting plants), until it
+will yield scarcely any thing; a second piece is cleared, and treated in
+the same manner; then a third and so on, until probably there is but
+little more to clear. When this happens, the owner finds himself reduced
+to the choice of one of three things--either to recover the land which he
+has ruined, to accomplish which, he has perhaps neither the skill, the
+industry, nor the means; or to retire beyond the mountains; or to
+substitute quantity for quality, in order to raise something. The latter
+has been generally adopted, and, with the assistance of horses, he
+scratches over much ground, and seeds it, to very little purpose."
+
+
+Knowing no better, Washington adopted this one-crop system, even to the
+extent of buying corn and hogs to feed his hands. Though following in the
+beaten track, he experimented in different kinds of tobacco, so that, "by
+comparing then the loss of the one with the extra price of the other, I
+shall be able to determine which is the best to pursue." The largest crop
+he ever seems to have produced, "being all sweet-scented and neatly
+managed," was one hundred and fifteen hogsheads, which averaged in sale
+twelve pounds each.
+
+From a very early time Washington had been a careful student of such books
+on agriculture as he could obtain, even preparing lengthy abstracts of
+them, and the knowledge he thus obtained, combined with his own practical
+experience, soon convinced him that the Virginian system was wrong. "I
+never ride on my plantations," he wrote, "without seeing something which
+makes me regret having continued so long in the ruinous mode of farming,
+which we are in," and he soon "discontinued the growth of tobacco myself;
+[and] except at a plantation or two upon York River, I make no more of
+that article than barely serves to furnish me with goods."
+
+From this time (1765) "the whole of my force [was] in a manner confined to
+the growth of wheat and manufacturing of it into flour," and before long
+he boasted that "the wheat from some of my plantations, by one pair of
+steelyards, will weigh upwards of sixty pounds,... and better wheat than
+I now have I do not expect to make." After the Revolution he claimed that
+"no wheat that has ever yet fallen under my observation exceeds the wheat
+which some years ago I cultivated extensively but which, from inattention
+during my absence of almost nine years from home, has got so mixed or
+degenerated as scarcely to retain any of its original characteristics
+properly." In 1768 he was able to sell over nineteen hundred bushels, and
+how greatly his product was increased after this is shown by the fact that
+in this same year he sowed four hundred and ninety bushels.
+
+Still further study and experimentation led him to conclude that "my
+countrymen are too much used to corn blades and corn shucks; and have too
+little knowledge of the profit of grass lands," and after his final
+home-coming to Mount Vernon, he said, "I have had it in contemplation ever
+since I returned home to turn my farms to grazing principally, as fast as
+I can cover the fields sufficiently with grass. Labor and of course
+expence will be considerably diminished by this change, the nett profit as
+great and my attention less divided, whilst the fields will be improving."
+That this was only an abandonment of a "one crop" system is shown by the
+fact that in 1792 he grew over five thousand bushels of wheat, valued at
+four shillings the bushel, and in 1799 he said, "as a farmer, wheat and
+flour are my principal concerns." And though, in abandoning the growth of
+tobacco, Washington also tried "to grow as little Indian corn as may be,"
+yet in 1795 his crop was over sixteen hundred barrels, and the quantity
+needed for his own negroes and stock is shown in a year when his crop
+failed, which "obliged me to purchase upwards of eight hundred barrels of
+corn."
+
+In connection with this change of system, Washington became an early
+convert to the rotation of crops, and drew up elaborate tables sometimes
+covering periods of five years, so that the quantity of each crop should
+not vary, yet by which his fields should have constant change. This system
+naturally very much diversified the product of his estate, and flax, hay,
+clover, buckwheat, turnips, and potatoes became large crops. The scale on
+which this was done is shown by the facts that in one year he sowed
+twenty-seven bushels of flaxseed and planted over three hundred bushels of
+potatoes.
+
+Early and late Washington preached to his overseers the value of
+fertilization; in one case, when looking for a new overseer, he said the
+man must be, "above all, Midas like, one who can convert everything he
+touches into manure, as the first transmutation towards gold;--in a word
+one who can bring worn out and gullied Lands into good tilth in the
+shortest time." Equally emphatic was his urging of constant ploughing and
+grubbing, and he even invented a deep soil plough, which he used till he
+found a better one in the English Rotheran plough, which he promptly
+imported, as he did all other improved farming tools and machinery of
+which he could learn. To save his woodlands, and for appearance's sake, he
+insisted on live fences, though he had to acknowledge that "no hedge,
+alone, will, I am persuaded, do for an outer inclosure, where _two_ or
+four footed hogs find it convenient to open passage." In all things he was
+an experimentalist, carefully trying different kinds of tobacco and wheat,
+various kinds of plants for hedges, and various kinds of manure for
+fertilizers; he had tests made to see whether he could sell his wheat to
+best advantage in the grain or when made into flour, and he bred from
+selected horses, cattle, and sheep. "In short I shall begrudge no
+reasonable expence that will contribute to the improvement and neatness of
+my Farms;--for nothing pleases me better than to see them in good order,
+and everything trim, handsome, and thriving about them."
+
+The magnitude of the charge of such an estate can be better understood
+when the condition of a Virginia plantation is realized. Before the
+Revolution practically everything the plantation could not produce was
+ordered yearly from Great Britain, and after the annual delivery
+of the invoices the estate could look for little outside help. Nor did
+this change rapidly after the Revolution, and during the period of
+Washington's management almost everything was bought in yearly supplies.
+This system compelled each plantation to be a little world unto itself;
+indeed, the three hundred souls on the Mount Vernon estate went far to
+make it a distinct and self-supporting community, and one of Washington's
+standing orders to his overseers was to "buy nothing you can make within
+yourselves." Thus the planting and gathering of the crops were but a small
+part of the work to be done.
+
+A corps of workmen--some negroes, some indentured servants, and some hired
+laborers--were kept on the estate. A blacksmith-shop occupied some, doing
+not merely the work of the plantation, but whatever business was brought
+to them from outside; and a wood-burner kept them and the mansion-house
+supplied with charcoal. A gang of carpenters were kept busy, and their
+spare time was utilized in framing houses to be put up in Alexandria, or
+in the "Federal city," as Washington was called before the death of its
+namesake. A brick-maker, too, was kept constantly employed, and masons
+utilized the product of his labor. The gardener's gang had charge of the
+kitchen-garden, and set out thousands of grape-vines, fruit-trees, and
+hedge-plants.
+
+A water-mill, with its staff, not merely ground meal for the hands, but
+produced a fine flour that commanded extra price in the market In 1786
+Washington asserted that his flour was "equal, I believe, in quality to
+any made in this country," and the Mount Vernon brand was of such value
+that some money was made by buying outside wheat and grinding it into
+flour. The coopers of the estate made the barrels in which it was packed,
+and Washington's schooner carried it to market.
+
+The estate had its own shoemaker, and in time a staff of weavers was
+trained. Before this was obtained, in 1760, though with only a modicum of
+the force he presently had, Washington ordered from London "450 ells of
+Osnabrig, 4 pieces of Brown Wools, 350 yards of Kendall Cotton, and 100
+yards of Dutch blanket." By 1768 he was manufacturing the chief part of
+his requirements, for in that year his weavers produced eight hundred and
+fifteen and three-quarter yards of linen, three hundred and sixty-five and
+one-quarter yards of woollen, one hundred and forty-four yards of linsey,
+and forty yards of cotton, or a total of thirteen hundred and sixty-five
+and one-half yards, one man and five negro girls having been employed.
+When once the looms were well organized an infinite variety of cloths was
+produced, the accounts mentioning "striped woollen, woolen plaided, cotton
+striped, linen, wool-birdseye, cotton filled with wool, linsey, M.'s &
+O.'s, cotton-India dimity, cotton jump stripe, linen filled with tow,
+cotton striped with silk, Roman M., Janes twilled, huccabac, broadcloth,
+counterpain, birdseye diaper, Kirsey wool, barragon, fustian, bed-ticking,
+herring-box, and shalloon."
+
+One of the most important features of the estate was its fishery, for the
+catch, salted down, largely served in place of meat for the negroes' food.
+Of this advantage Washington wrote, "This river,... is well supplied with
+various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year; and, in the spring, with
+the greatest profusion of shad, herrings, bass, carp, perch, sturgeon, &c.
+Several valuable fisheries appertain to the estate; the whole shore, in
+short, is one entire fishery." Whenever there was a run of fish, the seine
+was drawn, chiefly for herring and shad, and in good years this not merely
+amply supplied the home requirements, but allowed of sales; four or five
+shillings the thousand for herring and ten shillings the hundred for shad
+were the average prices, and sales of as high as eighty-five thousand
+herring were made in a single year.
+
+In 1795, when the United States passed an excise law, distilling became
+particularly profitable, and a still was set up on the plantation. In
+this whiskey was made from "Rye chiefly and Indian corn in a certain
+proportion," and this not merely used much of the estate's product of
+those two grains, but quantities were purchased from elsewhere. In 1798
+the profit from the distillery was three hundred and forty-four pounds
+twelve shillings and seven and three-quarter pence, with a stock carried
+over of seven hundred and fifty-five and one-quarter gallons; but this was
+the most successful year. Cider, too, was made in large quantities.
+
+A stud stable was from an early time maintained, and the Virginia papers
+regularly advertised that the stud horse "Samson," "Magnolia," "Leonidas,"
+"Traveller," or whatever the reigning stallion of the moment might be,
+would "cover" mares at Mount Vernon, with pasturage and a guarantee of
+foal, if their owners so elected. During the Revolution Washington bought
+twenty-seven of the army mares that had been "worn-down so as to render it
+beneficial to the public to have them sold," not even objecting to those
+"low in flesh or even crippled," because "I have many large Farms and am
+improving a good deal of Land into Meadow and Pasture, which cannot fail
+of being profited by a number of Brood Mares." In addition to the stud,
+there were, in 1793, fifty-four draught horses on the estate.
+
+A unique feature of this stud was the possession of two jackasses, of
+which the history was curious. At that time there was a law in Spain
+(where the best breed was to be found) which forbade the exportation of
+asses, but the king, hearing of Washington's wish to possess a jack,
+sent him one of the finest obtainable as a present, which was promptly
+christened "Royal Gift." The sea-voyage and the change of climate,
+however, so affected him that for a time he proved of little value
+to his owner, except as a source of amusement, for Washington wrote
+Lafayette, "The Jack I have already received from Spain in appearance is
+fine, but his late Royal master, tho' past his grand climacteric cannot be
+less moved by female allurements than he is; or when prompted, can proceed
+with more deliberation and majestic solemnity to the work of procreation."
+This reluctance to play his part Washington concluded was a sign of
+aristocracy, and he wrote a nephew, "If Royal Gift will administer, he
+shall be at the service of your Mares, but at present he seems too full of
+Royalty, to have anything to do with a plebeian Race," and to Fitzhugh he
+said, "particular attention shall be paid to the mares which your servant
+brought, and when my Jack is in the humor, they shall derive all the
+benefit of his labor, for labor it appears to be. At present tho' young,
+he follows what may be supposed to be the example of his late Royal
+Master, who can not, tho' past his grand climacteric, perform seldomer or
+with more majestic solemnity than he does. However I am not without hope
+that when he becomes a little better acquainted with republican enjoyment,
+he will amend his manners, and fall into a better and more expeditious
+mode of doing business." This fortunately proved to be the case, and his
+master not merely secured such mules as he needed for his own use, but
+gained from him considerable profit by covering mares in the neighborhood.
+He even sent him on a tour through the South, and Royal Gift passed a
+whole winter in Charleston, South Carolina, with a resulting profit of six
+hundred and seventy-eight dollars to his owner. In 1799 there were on the
+estate "2 Covering Jacks & 3 young ones, 10 she asses, 42 working mules
+and 15 younger ones."
+
+Of cattle there were in 1793 a total of three hundred and seventeen head,
+including "a sufficiency of oxen broke to the yoke," and a dairy was
+operated separate from the farms, and some butter was made, but Washington
+had occasion to say, "It is hoped, and will be expected, that more
+effectual measures will be pursued to make butter another year; for it is
+almost beyond belief, that from 101 cows actually reported on a late
+enumeration of the cattle, that I am obliged to _buy butter_ for the use
+of my family."
+
+Sheep were an unusual adjunct of a Virginia plantation, and of his flock
+Washington wrote, "From the beginning of the year 1784 when I returned
+from the army, until shearing time of 1788, I improved the breed of my
+sheep so much by buying and selecting the best formed and most promising
+Rams, and putting them to my best ewes, by keeping them always well culled
+and clean, and by other attentions, that they averaged me ... rather over
+than under five pounds of washed wool each." In another letter he said,
+"I ... was proud in being able to produce perhaps the largest mutton and
+the greatest quantity of wool from my sheep that could be produced. But I
+was not satisfied with this; and contemplated further improvements both in
+the flesh and wool by the introduction of other breeds, which I should by
+this time have carried into effect, had I been permitted to pursue my
+favorite occupation." In 1789, however, "I was again called from home, and
+have not had it in my power since to pay any attention to my farms. The
+consequence of which is, that my sheep at the last shearing, yielded me not
+more than 2-1/2" pounds. In 1793 he had six hundred and thirty-four in his
+flock, from which he obtained fourteen hundred and-fifty-seven pounds of
+fleece. Of hogs he had "many," but "as these run pretty much at large in
+the woodland, the number is uncertain." In 1799 his manager valued his
+entire live-stock at seven thousand pounds.
+
+A separate account was kept of each farm, and of many of these separate
+departments, and whenever there was a surplus of any product an account
+was opened to cover it. Thus in various years there are accounts raised
+dealing with cattle, hay, flour, flax, cord-wood, shoats, fish, whiskey,
+pork, etc., and his secretary, Shaw, told a visitor that the "books were
+as regular as any merchant whatever." It is proper to note, however, that
+sometimes they would not balance, and twice at least Washington could only
+force one, by entering "By cash supposed to be paid away & not credited
+_L_17.6.2," and "By cash lost, stolen or paid away without charging
+_L_143.15.2." All these accounts were tabulated at the end of the year
+and the net results obtained. Those for a single year are here given:
+
+
+BALANCE OF GAIN AND LOSS, 1798.
+
+_Dr. gained._
+
+Dogue Run Farm.      397.11.02
+Union Farm .....     529.10.11-1/2
+River Farm .....     234. 4.11
+Smith's Shop....      34.12.09 1/2
+Distillery .....      83.13.01
+Jacks ..........      56.01
+Traveller (studhorse)  9.17
+Shoemaker.......      28.17.01
+Fishery ........     165.12.0-3/4
+Dairy ..........      30.12.03
+
+_Cr. lost._
+
+Mansion House...     466.18.02-1/2
+Muddy Hole Farm       60.01.03-1/2
+Spinning .......      51.02.0
+Hire of head
+   overseer ....     140.00.0
+
+By Clear gain on
+ the Estate. _L_898.16.4-1/4
+
+
+A pretty poor showing for an estate and negroes which had certainly cost
+him over fifty thousand dollars, and on which there was livestock which at
+the lowest estimation was worth fifteen thousand dollars more. It is not
+strange that in 1793 Washington attempted to find tenants for all but the
+Mansion farm. This he reserved for my "own residence, occupation and
+amusement," as Washington held that "idleness is disreputable," and in
+1798 he told his chief overseer he did not choose to "discontinue my rides
+or become a cipher on my own estate."
+
+When at Mount Vernon, as this indicated, Washington rode daily about his
+estate, and he has left a pleasant description of his life immediately
+after retiring from the Presidency: "I begin my diurnal course with the
+sun;... if my hirelings are not in their places at that time I send them
+messages expressive of my sorrow for their indisposition;... having put
+these wheels in motion, I examine the state of things further; and the
+more they are probed, the deeper I find the wounds are which my buildings
+have sustained by my absence and neglect of eight years; by the time
+I have accomplished these matters, breakfast (a little after seven
+o'clock)... is ready;... this being over, I mount my horse and ride round
+my farms, which employs me until it is time to dress for dinner." A
+visitor at this time is authority for the statement that the master "often
+works with his men himself--strips off his coat and labors like a common
+man. The General has a great turn for mechanics. It's astonishing with
+what niceness he directs everything in the building way, condescending
+even to measure the things himself, that all may be perfectly uniform."
+
+This personal attention Washington was able to give only with very serious
+interruptions. From 1754 till 1759 he was most of the time on the
+frontier; for nearly nine years his Revolutionary service separated him
+absolutely from his property; and during the two terms of his Presidency
+he had only brief and infrequent visits. Just one-half of his forty-six
+years' occupancy of Mount Vernon was given to public service.
+
+The result was that in 1757 he wrote, "I am so little acquainted with the
+business relative to my private affairs that I can scarce give you any
+information concerning it," and this was hardly less true of the whole
+period of his absences. In 1775 he engaged overseers to manage his various
+estates in his absence "upon shares," but during the whole war the
+plantations barely supported themselves, even with depletion of stock and
+fertility, and he was able to draw nothing from them. One overseer, and a
+confederate, he wrote, "I believe, divided the profits of my Estate on the
+York River, tolerably betwn. them, for the devil of any thing do I get."
+Well might he advise knowingly that "I have no doubt myself but that
+middling land under a man's own eyes, is more profitable than rich land at
+a distance." "No Virginia Estate (except a very few under the best of
+management) can stand simple Interest," he declared, and went even further
+when he wrote, "the nature of a Virginia Estate being such, that without
+close application, it never fails bringing the proprietors in Debt
+annually." "To speak within bounds," he said, "ten thousand pounds will
+not compensate the losses I might have avoided by being at home, &
+attending a little to my own concerns" during the Revolution.
+
+Fortunately for the farmer, the Mount Vernon estate was but a small part
+of his property. His father had left him a plantation of two hundred and
+eighty acres on the Rappahannock, "one Moiety of my Land lying on Deep
+Run," three lots in Frederick "with all the houses and Appurtenances
+thereto belonging," and one quarter of the residuary estate. While
+surveying for Lord Fairfax in 1748, as part of his compensation Washington
+patented a tract of five hundred and fifty acres in Frederick County,
+which he always spoke of as "My Bull-skin plantation."
+
+As a military bounty in the French and Indian War the governor of Virginia
+issued a proclamation granting Western lands to the soldiers, and under
+this Washington not merely secured fifteen thousand acres in his own
+right, but by buying the claims of some of his fellow officers doubled
+that quantity. A further tract was also obtained under the kindred
+proclamation of 1763, "5000 Acres of Land in my own right, & by purchase
+from Captn. Roots, Posey, & some other officers, I obtained rights to
+several thousand more." In 1786, after sales, he had over thirty thousand
+acres, which he then offered to sell at thirty thousand guineas, and in
+1799, when still more had been sold, his inventory valued the holdings at
+nearly three hundred thousand dollars.
+
+In addition, Washington was a partner in several great land
+speculations,--the Ohio Company, the Walpole Grant, the Mississippi
+Company, the Military Company of Adventures, and the Dismal Swamp Company;
+but all these ventures except the last collapsed at the beginning of the
+Revolution and proved valueless. His interest in the Dismal Swamp Company
+he held at the time of his death, and it was valued in the inventory at
+twenty thousand dollars.
+
+The properties that came to him from his brother Lawrence and with his
+wife have already been described. It may be worth noting that with the
+widow of Lawrence there was a dispute over the will, but apparently it was
+never carried into the courts, and that owing to the great depreciation of
+paper money during the Revolution the Custis personal property was
+materially lessened, for "I am now receiving a shilling in the pound in
+discharge of Bonds which ought to have been paid me, & would have been
+realized before I left Virginia, but for my indulgences to the debtors,"
+Washington wrote, and in 1778 he said, "by the comparitive worth of money,
+six or seven thousand pounds which I have in Bonds upon Interest is now
+reduced to as many hundreds because I can get no more for a thousand at
+this day than a hundred would have fetched when I left Virginia, Bonds,
+debts, Rents, &c. undergoing no change while the currency is depreciating
+in value and for ought I know may in a little time be totally sunk."
+Indeed, in 1781 he complained "that I have totally neglected all my
+private concerns, which are declining every day, and may, possibly, end in
+capital losses, if not absolute ruin, before I am at liberty to look after
+them."
+
+In 1784 he became partner with George Clinton in some land purchases in
+the State of New York with the expectation of buying the "mineral springs
+at Saratoga; and ... the Oriskany tract, on which Fort Schuyler stands."
+In this they were disappointed, but six thousand acres in the Mohawk
+valley were obtained "amazingly cheap." Washington's share cost him,
+including interest, eighteen hundred and seventy-five pounds, and in 1793
+two-thirds of the land had been sold for three thousand four hundred
+pounds, and in his inventory of 1799 Washington valued what he still held
+of the property at six thousand dollars.
+
+In 1790, having inside information that the capital was to be removed from
+New York to Philadelphia, Washington tried to purchase a farm near that
+city, foreseeing a speedy rise in value. In this apparently he did not
+succeed. Later he purchased lots in the new Federal city, and built houses
+on two of them. He also had town lots in Williamsburg, Alexandria,
+Winchester, and Bath. In addition to all this property there were many
+smaller holdings. Much was sold or traded, yet when he died, besides his
+wife's real estate and the Mount Vernon property, he possessed fifty-one
+thousand three hundred and ninety-five acres, exclusive of town property.
+A contemporary said "that General Washington is, perhaps, the greatest
+landholder in America."
+
+All these lands, except Mount Vernon, were, so far as possible, rented,
+but the net income was not large. Rent agents were employed to look after
+the tenants, but low rents, war, paper money, a shifting population, and
+Washington's dislike of lawsuits all tended to reduce the receipts, and
+the landlord did not get simple interest on his investments. Thus, in 1799
+he complains of slow payments from tenants in Washington and Lafayette
+Counties (Pennsylvania). Instead of an expected six thousand dollars, due
+June 1, but seventeen hundred dollars were received.
+
+Income, however, had not been his object in loading himself with such a
+vast property, as Washington believed that he was certain to become
+rich. "For proof of" the rise of land, he wrote in 1767, "only look to
+Frederick, [county] and see what fortunes were made by the ... first
+taking up of those lands. Nay, how the greatest estates we have in this
+colony were made. Was it not by taking up and purchasing at very low rates
+the rich back lands, which were thought nothing of in those days, but are
+now the most valuable land we possess?"
+
+In this he was correct, but in the mean time he was more or less
+land-poor. To a friend in 1763 he wrote that the stocking and repairing of
+his plantations "and other matters ... swallowed up before I well knew
+where I was, all the moneys I got by marriage, nay more, brought me in
+debt" In 1775, replying to a request for a loan, he declared that "so far
+am I from having L200 to lend ... I would gladly borrow that sum myself
+for a few months." When offered land adjoining Mount Vernon for three
+thousand pounds in 1778, he could only reply that it was "a sum I have
+little chance, if I had inclination, to pay; & therefore would not engage
+it, as I am resolved not to incumber myself with Debt." In 1782, to secure
+a much desired tract he was forced to borrow two thousand pounds York
+currency at the rate of seven per cent.
+
+In 1788, "the total loss of my crop last year by the drought" "with
+necessary demands for cash" "have caused me much perplexity and given me
+more uneasiness than I ever experienced before from want of money," and a
+year later, just before setting out to be inaugurated, he tried to borrow
+five hundred pounds "to discharge what I owe" and to pay the expenses of
+the journey to New York, but was "unable to obtain more than half of it,
+(though it was not much I required), and this at an advanced interest with
+other rigid conditions," though at this time "could I get in one fourth
+part of what is due me on Bonds" "without the intervention of suits" there
+would have been ample funds. In 1795 the President said, "my friends
+entertain a very erroneous idea of my particular resources, when they set
+me down for a money lender, or one who (now) has a command of it. You may
+believe me when I assert that the bonds which were due to me before the
+Revolution, were discharged during the progress of it--with a few
+exceptions in depreciated paper (in some instances as low as a shilling in
+the pound). That such has been the management of the Estate, for many
+years past, especially since my absence from home, now six years, as
+scarcely to support itself. That my public allowance (whatever the world
+may think of it) is inadequate to the expence of living in this City; to
+such an extravagant height has the necessaries as well as the conveniences
+of life arisen. And, moreover that to keep myself out of debt; I have
+found it expedient now and then to sell Lands, or something else to effect
+this purpose."
+
+
+[Illustration: LOTTERY TICKET SIGNED BY WASHINGTON]
+
+
+As these extensive land ventures bespoke a national characteristic, so a
+liking for other forms of speculation was innate in the great American.
+During the Revolution he tried to secure an interest in a privateer. One
+of his favorite flyers was chances in lotteries and raffles, which, if now
+found only in association with church fairs, were then not merely
+respectable, but even fashionable. In 1760 five pounds and ten shillings
+were invested in one lottery. Five pounds purchased five tickets in
+Strother's lottery in 1763. Three years later six pounds were risked in
+the York lottery and produced prizes to the extent of sixteen pounds.
+Fifty pounds were put into Colonel Byrd's lottery in 1769, and drew a
+half-acre lot in the town of Manchester, but out of this Washington was
+defrauded. In 1791 John Potts was paid four pounds and four shillings "in
+part for 20 Lottery tickets in the Alexa. street Lottery at 6/ each, 14
+Dollrs. the Bal. was discharged by 2.3 Lotr prizes." Twenty tickets of
+Peregrine and Fitzhugh's lottery cost one hundred and eighty-eight dollars
+in 1794. And these are but samples of innumerable instances. So, too, in
+raffles, the entries are constant,--"for glasses 20/," "for a Necklace
+L1.," "by profit & loss in two chances in raffling for Encyclopadia
+Britannica, which I did not win L1.4," two tickets were taken in the
+raffle of Mrs. Dawson's coach, as were chances for a pair of silver
+buckles, for a watch, and for a gun; such and many others were smaller
+ventures Washington took.
+
+There were other sources of income or loss besides. Before the Revolution
+he had a good sized holding of Bank of England stock, and an annuity in
+the funds, besides considerable property on bond, the larger part of
+which, as already noted, was liquidated in depreciated paper money. This
+paper money was for the most part put into United States securities, and
+eventually the "at least L10,000 Virginia money" proved to be worth six
+thousand two hundred and forty-six dollars in government six per cents and
+three per cents. A great believer in the Potomac Canal Company, Washington
+invested twenty-four hundred pounds sterling in the stock, which produced
+no income, and in time showed a heavy shrinkage. Another and smaller loss
+was an investment in the James River Canal Company. Stock holdings in the
+Bank of Columbia and in the Bank of Alexandria proved profitable
+investments.
+
+None the less Washington was a successful businessman. Though his property
+rarely produced a net income, and though he served the public with
+practically no profit (except as regards bounty lands), and thus was
+compelled frequently to dip into his capital to pay current expenses, yet,
+from being a surveyor only too glad to earn a doubloon (seven dollars and
+forty cents) a day, he grew steadily in wealth, and when he died his
+property, exclusive of his wife's and the Mount Vernon estate, was valued
+at five hundred and thirty thousand dollars. This made him one of the
+wealthiest Americans of his time, and it is to be questioned if a fortune
+was ever more honestly acquired or more thoroughly deserved.
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+MASTER AND EMPLOYER
+
+
+In his "rules of civility" Washington enjoined that "those of high Degree
+ought to treat" "Artificers & Persons of low Degree" "with affibility &
+Courtesie, without Arrogancy," and it was a needed lesson to every young
+Virginian, for, as Jefferson wrote, "the whole commerce between master and
+slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most
+insulting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the
+other."
+
+Augustine Washington's will left to his son George "Ten negro Slaves,"
+with an additional share of those "not herein particularly Devised," but
+all to remain in the possession of Mary Washington until the boy was
+twenty-one years of age. With his taking possession of the Mount Vernon
+estate in his twenty-second year eighteen more came under Washington's
+direction. In 1754 he bought a "fellow" for L40.5, another (Jack) for
+L52.5, and a negro woman (Clio) for L50. In 1756 he purchased of the
+governor a negro woman and child for L60, and two years later a fellow
+(Gregory) for L60.9. In the following year (the year of his marriage) he
+bought largely: a negro (Will) for L50; another for L60; nine for L406, an
+average of L45; and a woman (Hannah) and child, L80. In 1762 he added to
+the number by purchasing seven of Lee Massey for L300 (an average of L43),
+and two of Colonel Fielding Lewis at L115, or L57.10 apiece. From the
+estate of Francis Hobbs he bought, in 1764, Ben, L72; Lewis, L36.10; and
+Sarah, L20. Another fellow, bought of Sarah Alexander, cost him L76; and a
+negro (Judy) and child, sold by Garvin Corbin, L63. In 1768 Mary Lee sold
+him two mulattoes (Will and Frank) for L61.15 and L50, respectively; and
+two boys (negroes), Adam and Frank, for L19 apiece. Five more were
+purchased in 1772, and after that no more were bought. In 1760 Washington
+paid tithes on forty-nine slaves, five years later on seventy-eight, in
+1770 on eighty-seven, and in 1774 on one hundred and thirty-five; besides
+which must be included the "dower slaves" of his wife. Soon after this
+there was an overplus, and Washington in 1778 offered to barter for some
+land "Negroes, of whom I every day long more to get clear of," and even
+before this he had learned the economic fact that except on the richest of
+soils slaves "only add to the Expence."
+
+In 1791 he had one hundred and fifteen "hands" on the Mount Vernon estate,
+besides house servants, and De Warville, describing his estate in the same
+year, speaks of his having three hundred negroes. At this time Washington
+declared that "I never mean (unless some particular circumstance compel me
+to it) to possess another slave by purchase," but this intention was
+broken, for "The running off of my cook has been a most inconvenient thing
+to this family, and what rendered it more disagreeable, is that I had
+resolved never to become the Master of another slave by purchase, but this
+resolution I fear I must break. I have endeavored to hire, black or white,
+but am not yet supplied."
+
+A few more slaves were taken in payment of a debt, but it was from
+necessity rather than choice, for at this very time Washington had decided
+that "it is demonstratively clear, that on this Estate (Mount Vernon) I
+have more working negros by a full moiety, than can be employed to any
+advantage in the farming system, and I shall never turn Planter thereon.
+To sell the overplus I cannot, because I am principled against this kind
+of traffic in the human species. To hire them out, is almost as bad,
+because they could not be disposed of in families to any advantage, and to
+disperse the families I have an aversion. What then is to be done?
+Something must or I shall be ruined; for all the money (in addition to
+what I raise by crops, and rents) that have been _received_ for Lands,
+sold within the last four years, to the amount of Fifty thousand dollars,
+has scarcely been able to keep me afloat." And writing of one set he said,
+"it would be for my interest to set them free, rather than give them
+victuals and cloaths."
+
+The loss by runaways was not apparently large. In October, 1760, his
+ledger contains an item of seven shillings "To the Printing Office ... for
+Advertising a run-a-way Negro." In 1761 he pays his clergyman, Rev. Mr.
+Green, "for taking up one of my Runaway Negroes L4." In 1766 rewards are
+paid for the "taking up" of "Negro Tom" and "Negro Bett." The "taking up
+of Harry when Runaway" in 1771 cost L1.16. When the British invaded
+Virginia in 1781, a number escaped or were carried away by the enemy. By
+the treaty of peace these should have been returned, and their owner
+wrote, "Some of my own slaves, and those of Mr. Lund Washington who lives
+at my house may probably be in New York, but I am unable to give you their
+description--their names being so easily changed, will be fruitless to
+give you. If by chance you should come at the knowledge of any of them, I
+will be much obliged by your securing them, so that I may obtain them
+again."
+
+In 1796 a girl absconded to New England, and Washington made inquiries of
+a friend as to the possibility of recovering her, adding, "however well
+disposed I might be to a gradual abolition, or even to an entire
+emancipation of that description of people (if the latter was in itself
+practicable) at this moment, it would neither be politic nor just to
+reward unfaithfulness with a premature preference, and thereby discontent
+beforehand the minds of all her fellow servants, who, by their steady
+attachment, are far more deserving than herself of favor," and at this
+time Washington wrote to a relative, "I am sorry to hear of the loss of
+your servant; but it is my opinion these elopements will be much more,
+before they are less frequent; and that the persons making them should
+never be retained--if they are recovered, as they are sure to contaminate
+and discontent others."
+
+Another source of loss was sickness, which, in spite of all Washington
+could do, made constant inroads on the numbers. A doctor to care for them
+was engaged by the year, and in the contracts with his overseers clauses
+were always inserted that each was "to take all necessary and proper care
+of the Negroes committed to his management using them with proper humanity
+and descretion," or that "he will take all necessary and proper care of
+the negroes committed to his management, treating them with humanity and
+tenderness when sick, and preventing them when well, from running about
+and visiting without his consent; as also forbid strange negroes
+frequenting their quarters without lawful excuses for so doing."
+
+Furthermore, in writing to his manager, while absent from Mount Vernon,
+Washington reiterated that "although it is last mentioned it is foremost
+in my thoughts, to desire you will be particularly attentive to my negros
+in their sickness; and to order every overseer _positively_ to be so
+likewise; for I am sorry to observe that the generality of them view these
+poor creatures in scarcely any other light than they do a draught horse or
+ox; neglecting them as much when they are unable to work; instead of
+comforting and nursing them when they lye on a sick bed." And in another
+letter he added, "When I recommended care of, and attention to my negros
+in sickness, it was that the first stage of, and the whole progress
+through the disorders with which they might be seized (if more than a
+slight indisposition) should be closely watched, and timely applications
+and remedies be administered; especially in the pleurisies, and all
+inflammatory disorders accompanied with pain, when a few days' neglect, or
+want of bleeding might render the ailment incurable. In such cases
+sweeten'd teas, broths and (according to the nature of the complaint, and
+the doctor's prescription) sometimes a little wine, may be necessary to
+nourish and restore the patient; and these I am perfectly willing to
+allow, when it is requisite. My fear is, as I expressed to you in a former
+letter, that the under overseers are so unfeeling, in short viewing the
+negros in no other light than as a better kind of cattle, the moment they
+cease to work, they cease their care of them."
+
+At Mount Vernon his care for the slaves was more personal. At a time when
+the small-pox was rife in Virginia he instructed his overseer "what to do
+if the Small pox should come amongst them," and when he "received letters
+from Winchester, informing me that the Small pox had got among my quarters
+in Frederick; [I] determin'd ... to leave town as soon as possible, and
+proceed up to them.... After taking the Doctors directions in regard to my
+people ... I set out for my quarters about 12 oclock, time enough to go
+over them and found every thing in the utmost confusion, disorder and
+backwardness.... Got Blankets and every other requisite from Winchester,
+and settl'd things on the best footing I cou'd, ... Val Crawford agreeing
+if any of those at the upper quarter got it, to have them remov'd into my
+room and the Nurse sent for."
+
+Other sickness was equally attended to, as the following entries in his
+diary show: "visited my Plantations and found two negroes sick ... ordered
+them to be blooded;" "found that lightening had struck my quarters and
+near 10 Negroes in it, some very bad but with letting blood they
+recover'd;" "ordered Lucy down to the House to be Physikd," and "found the
+new negro Cupid, ill of a pleurisy at Dogue Run Quarter and had him brot
+home in a cart for better care of him.... Cupid extremely Ill all this day
+and at night when I went to bed I thought him within a few hours of
+breathing his last."
+
+This matter of sickness, however, had another phase, which caused
+Washington much irritation at times when he could not personally look into
+the cases, but heard of them through the reports of his overseers. Thus,
+he complained on one occasion, "I find by reports that Sam is, in a
+manner, always returned sick; Doll at the Ferry, and several of the
+spinners very frequently so, for a week at a stretch; and ditcher Charles
+often laid up with lameness. I never wish my people to work when they are
+really sick, or unfit for it; on the contrary, that all necessary care
+should be taken of them when they are so; but if you do not examine into
+their complaints, they will lay by when no more ails them, than all those
+who stick to their business, and are not complaining from the fatigue and
+drowsiness which they feel as the effect of night walking and other
+practices which unfit them for the duties of the day." And again he asked,
+"Is there anything particular in the cases of Ruth, Hannah and Pegg, that
+they have been returned sick for several weeks together? Ruth I know is
+extremely deceitful; she has been aiming for some time past to get into
+the house, exempt from work; but if they are not made to do what their age
+and strength will enable them, it will be a bad example for others--none
+of whom would work if by pretexts they can avoid it"
+
+Other causes than running away and death depleted the stock. One negro was
+taken by the State for some crime and executed, an allowance of sixty-nine
+pounds being made to his master. In 1766 an unruly negro was shipped to
+the West Indies (as was then the custom), Washington writing the captain
+of the vessel,--
+
+
+"With this letter comes a negro (Tom) which I beg the favor of you to sell
+in any of the islands you may go to, for whatever he will fetch, and bring
+me in return for him
+   "One hhd of best molasses
+   "One ditto of best rum
+   "One barrel of lymes, if good and cheap
+   "One pot of tamarinds, containing about 10 lbs.
+   "Two small ditto of mixed sweetmeats, about 5 lbs. each.
+And the residue, much or little, in good old spirits. That this fellow is
+both a rogue and a runaway (tho' he was by no means remarkable for the
+former, and never practised the latter till of late) I shall not pretend
+to deny. But that he is exceeding healthy, strong, and good at the hoe,
+the whole neighborhood can testify, and particularly Mr. Johnson and his
+son, who have both had him under them as foreman of the gang; which gives
+me reason to hope he may with your good management sell well, if kept
+clean and trim'd up a little when offered for sale."
+
+
+Another "misbehaving fellow" was shipped off in 1791, and was sold for
+"one pipe and Quarter Cask of wine from the West Indies." Sometimes only
+the threat of such riddance was used, as when an overseer complained of
+one slave, and his master replied, "I am very sorry that so likely a
+fellow as Matilda's Ben should addict himself to such courses as he is
+pursuing. If he should be guilty of any atrocious crime, that would effect
+his life, he might be given up to the civil authority for trial; but for
+such offences as most of his color are guilty of, you had better try
+further correction, accompanied with admonition and advice. The two latter
+sometimes succeed where the first has failed. He, his father and mother
+(who I dare say are his receivers) may be told in explicit language, that
+if a stop is not put to his rogueries and other villainies, by fair means
+and shortly, that I will ship him off (as I did Wagoner Jack) for the West
+Indies, where he will have no opportunity of playing such pranks as he is
+at present engaged in."
+
+It is interesting to note, in connection with this conclusion, that
+"admonition and advice" were able to do what "correction" sometimes failed
+to achieve, that there is not a single order to whip, and that the above
+case, and that which follows, are the only known cases where punishment
+was approved. "The correction you gave Ben, for his assault on Sambo, was
+just and proper. It is my earnest desire that quarrels may be stopped or
+punishment of both parties follow, unless it shall appear _clearly_,
+that one only is to blame, and the other forced into [a quarrel] from
+self-defence." In one other instance Washington wrote, "If Isaac had his
+deserts he would receive a severe punishment for the house, tools and
+seasoned stuff, which has been burned by his carelessness." But instead of
+ordering the "deserts" he continued, "I wish you to inform him, that I
+sustain injury enough by their idleness; they need not add to it by their
+carelessness."
+
+This is the more remarkable, because his slaves gave him constant
+annoyance by their wastefulness and sloth and dishonesty. Thus, "Paris has
+grown to be so lazy and self-willed" that his master does not know what to
+with him; "Doll at the Ferry must be taught to knit, and _made_ to do a
+sufficient day's work of it--otherwise (if suffered to be idle) many more
+will walk in her steps"; "it is observed by the weekly reports, that the
+sewers make only six shirts a week, and the last week Carolina (without
+being sick) made only five. Mrs. Washington says their usual task was to
+make nine with shoulder straps and good sewing. Tell them therefore from
+me, that what _has_ been done, _shall_ be done"; "none I think call louder
+for [attention] than the smiths, who, from a variety of instances which
+fell within my own observation whilst I was at home, I take to be two very
+idle fellows. A daily account (which ought to be regularly) taken of their
+work, would alone go a great way towards checking their idleness." And the
+overseer was told to watch closely "the people who are at work with the
+gardener, some of whom I know to be as lazy and deceitful as any in the
+world (Sam particularly)."
+
+Furthermore, the overseers were warned to "endeavor to make the Servants
+and Negroes take care of their cloathes;" to give them "a weekly
+allowance of Meat ... because the annual one is not taken care of but
+either profusely used or stolen"; and to note "the delivery to and the
+application of nails by the carpenters,... [for] I cannot conceive how it
+is possible that 6000 twelve penny nails could be used in the corn house
+at River Plantation; but of one thing I have no great doubt, and that is,
+if they can be applied to other uses, or converted into cash, rum or other
+things there will be no scruple in doing it."
+
+When robbed of some potatoes, Washington complained that "the
+deception ... is of a piece with other practices of a similar kind by which
+I have suffered hitherto; and may serve to evince to you, in strong colors,
+first how little confidence can be placed in any one round you; and
+secondly the necessity of an accurate inspection into these things
+yourself,--for to be plain, Alexandria is such a recepticle for every thing
+that can be filched from the right owners, by either blacks or whites; and
+I have such an opinion of my negros (two or three only excepted), and not
+much better of some of the whites, that I am perfectly sure not a single
+thing that can be disposed of at any price, at that place, that will not,
+and is not stolen, where it is possible; and carried thither to some of the
+underlying keepers, who support themselves by this kind of traffick." He
+dared not leave wine unlocked, even for the use of his guests, "because
+the knowledge I have of my servants is such, as to believe, that if
+opportunities are given them, they will take off two glasses of wine for
+every one that is drank by such visitors, and tell you they were used by
+them." And when he had some work to do requiring very ordinary qualities,
+he had to confess that "I know not a negro among all mine, whose capacity,
+integrity and attention could be relied on for such a trust as this."
+
+Whatever his opinion of his slaves, Washington was a kind master. In one
+case he wrote a letter for one of them when the "fellow" was parted from
+his wife in the service of his master, and at another time he enclosed
+letters to a wife and to James's "del Toboso," for two of his servants, to
+save them postage. In reference to their rations he wrote, "whether this
+addition ... is sufficient, I will not undertake to decide;--but in most
+explicit language I desire they may have plenty; for I will not have my
+feelings hurt with complaints of this sort, nor lye under the imputation
+of starving my negros, and thereby driving them to the necessity of
+thieving to supply the deficiency. To prevent waste or embezzlement is the
+only inducement to allowancing of them at all--for if, instead of a peck
+they could eat a bushel of meal a week fairly, and required it, I would
+not withhold or begrudge it them." At Christmas-time there are entries in
+his ledger for whiskey or rum for "the negroes," and towards the end of
+his life he ordered the overseer, "although others are getting out of the
+practice of using spirits at Harvest, yet, as my people have always been
+accustomed to it, a hogshead of Rum must be purchased; but I request at
+the same time, that it may be used sparingly."
+
+A greater kindness of his was, in 1787, when he very much desired a negro
+mason offered for sale, yet directed his agent that "if he has a family,
+with which he is to be sold; or from whom he would reluctantly part, I
+decline the purchase; his feelings I would not be the means of hurting in
+the latter case, nor _at any rate_ be incumbered with the former."
+
+The kindness thus indicated bore fruit in a real attachment of the slaves
+for their master. In Humphreys's poem on Washington the poet alluded to
+the negroes at Mount Vernon in the lines,--
+
+
+"Where that foul stain of manhood, slavery, flow'd
+Through Afric's sons transmitted in the blood;
+Hereditary slaves his kindness shar'd,
+For manumission by degrees prepar'd:
+Return'd from war, I saw them round him press,
+And all their speechless glee by artless signs express."
+
+
+And in a foot-note the writer added, "The interesting scene of his return
+home, at which the author was present, is described exactly as it
+existed."
+
+A single one of these slaves deserves further notice. His body-servant
+"Billy" was purchased by Washington in 1768 for sixty-eight pounds and
+fifteen shillings, and was his constant companion during the war, even
+riding after his master at reviews; and this servant was so associated
+with the General that it was alleged in the preface to the "forged
+letters" that they had been captured by the British from "Billy," "an old
+servant of General Washington's." When Savage painted his well-known
+"family group," this was the one slave included in the picture. In 1784
+Washington told his Philadelphia agent that "The mulatto fellow, William,
+who has been with me all the war, is attached (married he says) to one of
+his own color, a free woman, who during the war, was also of my family.
+She has been in an infirm condition for some time, and I had conceived
+that the connexion between them had ceased; but I am mistaken it seems;
+they are both applying to get her here, and tho' I never wished to see her
+more, I cannot refuse his request (if it can be complied with on
+reasonable terms) as he has served me faithfully for many years. After
+premising this much, I have to beg the favor of you to procure her a
+passage to Alexandria."
+
+
+[Illustration: SAVAGE'S PICTURE OF THE WASHINGTON FAMILY]
+
+
+When acting as chain-bearer in 1785, while Washington was surveying a
+tract of land, William fell and broke his knee-pan, "which put a stop to
+my surveying; and with much difficulty I was able to get him to Abington,
+being obliged to get a sled to carry him on, as he could neither walk,
+stand or ride." From this injury Lee never quite recovered, yet he started
+to accompany his master to New York in 1789, only to give out on the road.
+He was left at Philadelphia, and Lear wrote to Washington's agent that
+"The President will thank you to propose it to Will to return to Mount
+Vernon when he can be removed for he cannot be of any service here, and
+perhaps will require a person to attend upon him constantly. If he should
+incline to return to Mount Vernon, you will be so kind as to have him sent
+in the first Vessel that sails for Alexandria after he can be moved with
+safety--but if he is still anxious to come on here the President would
+gratify him, altho' he will be troublesome--He has been an old and
+faithful Servant, this is enough for the President to gratify him in every
+reasonable wish."
+
+By his will Washington gave Lee his "immediate freedom or if he should
+prefer it (on account of the accidents which have befallen him and which
+have rendered him incapable of walking or of any active employment) to
+remain in the situation he now is, it shall be optional in him to do so--
+In either case however I allow him an annuity of thirty dollars during his
+natural life which shall be independent of the victuals and _cloaths_ he
+has been accustomed to receive; if he _chuses_ the last alternative, but
+in full with his freedom, if he prefers the first, and this I give him as
+a testimony of my sense of his attachment to me and for his faithful
+services during the Revolutionary War."
+
+Two small incidents connected with Washington's last illness are worth
+noting. The afternoon before the night he was taken ill, although he had
+himself been superintending his affairs on horseback in the storm most of
+the day, yet when his secretary "carried some letters to him to frank,
+intending to send them to the Post Office in the evening," Lear tells us
+"he franked the letters; but said the weather was too bad to send a
+servant up to the office that evening." Lear continues, "The General's
+servant, Christopher, attended his bed side & in the room, when he was
+sitting up, through his whole illness.... In the [last] afternoon the
+General observing that Christopher had been standing by his bed side for a
+long time--made a motion for him to sit in a chair which stood by the bed
+side."
+
+A clause in Washington's will directed that
+
+
+"Upon the decease of my wife it is my will and desire that all the
+slaves which I hold in _my own right_ shall receive their freedom--To
+emancipate them during her life, would, tho' earnestly wished by me, be
+attended with such insuperable difficulties, on account of their
+intermixture of marriages with the Dower negroes as to excite the most
+painful sensations--if not disagreeable consequences from the latter,
+while both descriptions 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--And whereas among those who will receive freedom
+according to this devise there may be some who from old age, or bodily
+infirmities & others who on account of their infancy, that will be unable
+to support themselves, it is my will and desire that all who come under
+the first and second description shall be comfortably cloathed and fed by
+my heirs while they live and that such of the latter description as have
+no parents living, or if living are unable or unwilling to provide for
+them, shall be bound by the Court until they shall arrive at the age of
+twenty five years.... The negroes thus bound are (by their masters and
+mistresses) to be taught to read and write and to be brought up to some
+useful occupation."
+
+
+In this connection Washington's sentiments on slavery as an institution
+may be glanced at. As early as 1784 he replied to Lafayette, when told of
+a colonizing plan, "The scheme, my dear Marqs., which you propose as a
+precedent to encourage the emancipation of the black people of this
+Country from that state of Bondage in wch. they are held, is a striking
+evidence of the benevolence of your Heart. I shall be happy to join you in
+so laudable a work; but will defer going into a detail of the business,
+till I have the pleasure of seeing you." A year later, when Francis Asbury
+was spending a day in Mount Vernon, the clergyman asked his host if he
+thought it wise to sign a petition for the emancipation of slaves.
+Washington replied that it would not be proper for him, but added, "If the
+Maryland Assembly discusses the matter; I will address a letter to that
+body on the subject, as I have always approved of it."
+
+When South Carolina refused to pass an act to end the slave-trade, he
+wrote to a friend in that State, "I must say that I lament the decision of
+your legislature upon the question of importing slaves after March 1793. I
+was in hopes that motives of policy as well as other good reasons,
+supported by the direful effects of slavery, which at this moment are
+presented, would have operated to produce a total prohibition of the
+importation of slaves, whenever the question came to be agitated in any
+State, that might be interested in the measure." For his own State he
+expressed the "wish from my soul that the Legislature of this State could
+see the policy of a gradual Abolition of Slavery; it would prev't much
+future mischief." And to a Pennsylvanian he expressed the sentiment, "I
+hope it will not be conceived from these observations, that it is my wish
+to hold the unhappy people, who are the subject of this letter, in
+slavery. I can only say, that 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 legislative authority; and this, as far
+as my suffrage will go, shall never be wanting."
+
+Washington by no means restricted himself to slave servitors. Early in
+life he took into his service John Alton at thirteen pounds per annum, and
+this white man served as his body-servant in the Braddock campaign, and
+Washington found in the march that "A most serious inconvenience attended
+me in my sickness, and that was the losing the use of my servant, for poor
+John Alton was taken about the same time that I was, and with nearly the
+same disorder, and was confined as long; so that we did not see each other
+for several days." As elsewhere noticed, Washington succeeded to the
+services of Braddock's body-servant, Thomas Bishop, on the death of the
+general, paying the man ten pounds a year.
+
+These two were his servants in his trip to Boston in 1756, and in
+preparation for that journey Washington ordered his English agent to send
+him "2 complete livery suits for servants; with a spare cloak and all
+other necessary trimmings for two suits more. I would have you choose the
+livery by our arms, only as the field of the arms is white, I think the
+clothes had better not be quite so, but nearly like the inclosed. The
+trimmings and facings of scarlet, and a scarlet waist coat. If livery lace
+is not quite disused, I should be glad to have the cloaks laced. I like
+that fashion best, and two silver laced hats for the above servants."
+
+For some reason Bishop left his employment, but in 1760 Washington "wrote
+to my old servant Bishop to return to me again if he was not otherwise
+engaged," and, the man being "very desirous of returning," the old
+relation was reassumed. Alton in the mean time had been promoted to be
+overseer of one of the plantations. In 1785 their master noted in his
+diary, "Last night Jno Alton an Overseer of mine in the Neck--an old &
+faithful Servant who has lived with me 30 odd years died--and this evening
+the wife of Thos. Bishop, another old Servant who had lived with me an
+equal number of years also died." Both were remembered in his will by a
+clause giving "To Sarah Green daughter of the deceased Thomas Bishop, and
+to Ann Walker, daughter of John Alton, also deceased I give each one
+hundred dollars, in consideration of the attachment of their father[s] to
+me, each of whom having lived nearly forty years in my family."
+
+Of Washington's general treatment of the serving class a few facts can be
+gleaned. He told one of his overseers, in reference to the sub-overseers,
+that "to treat them civilly is no more than what all men are entitled to,
+but my advice to you is, to keep them at a proper distance; for they will
+grow upon familiarity, in proportion as you will sink in authority if you
+do not." To a housekeeper he promised "a warm, decent and comfortable room
+to herself, to lodge in, and will eat of the victuals of our Table, but
+not set at it, or at any time _with us_ be her appearance what it may; for
+if this was _once admitted_ no line satisfactory to either party, perhaps
+could be drawn thereafter."
+
+In visiting he feed liberally, good examples of which are given in the
+cash account of the visit to Boston in 1756, when he "Gave to Servants on
+ye Road 10/." "By Cash Mr. Malbones servants L4.0.0." "The Chambermaid
+L1.2.6." When the wife of his old steward, Fraunces, came to need, he gave
+her "for Charity L1.17.6." The majority will sympathize rather than
+disapprove of his opinion when he wrote, "Workmen in most Countries I
+believe are necessary plagues;---in this where entreaties as well as money
+must be used to obtain their work and keep them to their duty they baffle
+all calculation in the accomplishment of any plan or repairs they are
+engaged in;--and require more attention to and looking after than can be
+well conceived."
+
+The overseers of his many plantations, and his "master" carpenters,
+millers, and gardeners, were quite as great trials as his slaves. First
+"young Stephens" gave him much trouble, which his diary reports in
+a number of sententious entries: "visited my Plantation. Severely
+reprimanded young Stephens for his Indolence, and his father for suffering
+it;" "forbid Stephens keeping any horses upon my expence;" "visited my
+quarters & ye Mill, according to custom found young Stephens absent;"
+"visited my Plantation and found to my great surprise Stephens constantly
+at work;" "rid out to my Plantn. and to my Carpenters. Found Richard
+Stephens hard at work with an ax--Very extraordinary this!"
+
+Again he records, "Visited my Plantations--found Foster had been absent
+from his charge since the 28th ulto. Left orders for him to come
+immediately to me upon his return, and repremanded him severely." Of
+another, Simpson, "I never hear ... without a degree of warmth & vexation
+at his extreme stupidity," and elsewhere he expresses his disgust at "that
+confounded fellow Simpson." A third spent all the fall and half the winter
+in getting in his crop, and "if there was any way of making such a rascal
+as Garner pay for such conduct, no punishment would be too great for him.
+I suppose he never turned out of mornings until the sun had warmed the
+earth, and if _he_ did not, the _negros_ would not." His chief overseer
+was directed to "Let Mr. Crow know that I view with a very evil eye the
+frequent reports made by him of sheep dying;... frequent _natural deaths_
+is a very strong evidence to my mind of the want of care or something
+worse."
+
+Curious distinctions were made oftentimes. Thus, in the contract with an
+overseer, one clause was inserted to the effect, "And whereas there are a
+number of whiskey stills very contiguous to the said Plantations, and many
+idle, drunken and dissolute People continually resorting to the same,
+priding themselves in debauching sober and well-inclined Persons, the said
+Edd Voilett doth promise as well for his own sake as his employers to
+avoid them as he ought." To the contrary, in hiring a gardener, it was
+agreed as part of the compensation that the man should have "four dollars
+at Christmas, with which he may be drunk for four days and four nights;
+two dollars at Easter to effect the same purpose; two dollars at
+Whitsuntide to be drunk for two days; a dram in the morning, and a drink
+of grog at dinner at noon."
+
+With more true kindness Washington wrote to one of his underlings, "I was
+very glad to receive your letter of the 31st ultimo, because I was afraid,
+from the accounts given me of your spitting blood,... that you would
+hardly have been able to have written at all. And it is my request that
+you will not, by attempting more than you are able to undergo, with safety
+and convenience, injure yourself, and thereby render me a disservice....
+I had rather therefore hear that you had nursed than exposed yourself. And
+the things which I sent from this place (I mean the wine, tea, coffee and
+sugar) and such other matters as you may lay in by the doctor's direction
+for the use of the sick, I desire you will make use of as your own
+personal occasions may require."
+
+Of one Butler he had employed to overlook his gardeners, but who proved
+hopelessly unfit, Washington said, "sure I am, there is no obligation upon
+me to retain him from charitable motives; when he ought rather to be
+punished as an imposter: for he well knew the services he had to perform,
+and which he promised to fulfil with zeal, activity, and intelligence."
+Yet when the man was discharged his employer gave him a "character:" "If
+his activity, spirit, and ability in the management of Negroes, were equal
+to his honesty, sobriety and industry, there would not be the least
+occasion for a change," and Butler was paid his full wages, no deduction
+being made for lost time, "as I can better afford to be without the money
+than he can."
+
+Another thoroughly incompetent man was one employed to take charge of the
+negro carpenters, of whom his employer wrote, "I am apprehensive ... that
+Green never will overcome his propensity to drink; that it is this which
+occasions his frequent sickness, absences from work and poverty. And I am
+convinced, moreover, that it answers no purpose to admonish him." Yet,
+though "I am so well satisfied of Thomas Green's unfitness to look after
+Carpenters," for a time "the helpless situation in which you find his
+family, has prevailed on me to retain him," and when he finally had to be
+discharged for drinking, Washington said, "Nothing but compassion for his
+helpless family, has hitherto induced me to keep him a moment in my
+service (so bad is the example he sets); but if he has no regard for them
+himself, it is not to be expected that I am to be a continual sufferer on
+this account for his misconduct." His successor needed the house the
+family lived in, but Washington could not "bear the thought of adding to
+the distress I know they must be in, by turning them adrift;... It would
+be better therefore on all accounts if they were removed to some other
+place, even if I was to pay the rent, provided it was low, or make some
+allowance towards it."
+
+To many others, besides family, friends, and employees, Washington was
+charitable. From an early date his ledger contains frequent items covering
+gifts to the needy. To mention a tenth of them would take too much space,
+but a few typical entries are worth quoting:
+
+
+"By Cash gave a Soldiers wife 5/;" "To a crippled man 5/;" "Gave a man who
+had his House Burnt L1.;" "By a begging woman /5;" "By Cash gave for the
+Sufferers at Boston by fire L12;" "By a wounded soldier 10/;" "Alexandria
+Academy, support of a teacher of Orphan children L50;" "By Charity to an
+invalid wounded Soldier who came from Redston with a petition for Charity
+18/;" "Gave a poor man by the President's order $2;" "Delivd to the
+President to send to two distress'd french women at Newcastle $25;" "Gave
+Pothe a poor old man by the President's order $2;" "Gave a poor sailor by
+the Presdt order $1;" "Gave a poor blind man by the Presdt order $1.50;"
+"By Madame de Seguer a french Lady in distress gave her $50;" "By
+Subscription paid to Mr. Jas. Blythe towards erecting and Supporting an
+Academy in the State of Kentucky $100;" "By Subscription towards an
+Academy in the South Western Territory $100;" "By Charity sent Genl
+Charles Pinckney in Columbus Bank Notes, for the sufferers by the fire in
+Charleston So. Carolina $300;" "By Charity gave to the sufferers by fire
+in Geo. Town $10;" "By an annual Donation to the Academy at Alexandria pd.
+Dr. Cook $166.67;" "By Charity to the poor of Alexandria deld. to the
+revd. Dr. Muir $100."
+
+
+To an overseer he said, concerning a distant relative, "Mrs. Haney should
+endeavor to do what she can for herself--this is a duty incumbent on every
+one; but you must not let her suffer, as she has thrown herself upon me;
+your advances on this account will be allowed always, at settlement; and I
+agree readily to furnish her with provisions, and for the good character
+you give of her daughter make the latter a present in my name of a
+handsome but not costly gown, and other things which she may stand most in
+need of. You may charge me also with the worth of your tenement in which
+she is placed, and where perhaps it is better she should be than at a
+great distance from your attentions to her."
+
+After the terrible attack of fever in Philadelphia in 1793, Washington
+wrote to a clergyman of that city,--
+
+
+"It has been my intention ever since my return to the city, to contribute
+my mite towards the relief of the _most_ needy inhabitants of it. The
+pressure of public business hitherto has suspended, but not altered my
+resolution. I am at a loss, however, for whose benefit to apply the little
+I can give, and in whose hands to place it; whether for the use of the
+fatherless children and widows, made so by the late calamity, who may find
+it difficult, whilst provisions, wood, and other necessaries are so dear,
+to support themselves; or to other and better purposes, if any, I know
+not, and therefore have taken the liberty of asking your advice. I
+persuade myself justice will be done to my motives for giving you this
+trouble. To obtain information, and to render the little I can afford,
+without ostentation or mention of my name, are the sole objects of these
+inquiries. With great and sincere esteem and regard, I am, &c."
+
+
+His adopted grandson he advised to "never let an indigent person ask,
+without receiving _something_ if you have the means; always recollecting
+in what light the widow's mite was viewed." And when he took command of
+the army in 1775, the relative who took charge of his affairs was told to
+"let the hospitality of the house, with respect to 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."
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+SOCIAL LIFE
+
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington, like the Virginian of his time, was
+pre-eminently social. It is true that late in life he complained, as
+already quoted, that his home had become a "well resorted tavern," and
+that at his own table "I rarely miss seeing strange faces, come as they
+say out of respect for me. Pray, would not the word curiosity answer as
+well?" but even in writing this he added, "how different this from having
+a few social friends at a cheerful board!" When a surveyor he said that
+the greatest pleasure he could have would be to hear from or be with "my
+Intimate friends and acquaintances;" to one he wrote, "I hope you in
+particular will not Bauk me of what I so ardently wish for," and he
+groaned over being "amongst a parcel of barbarians." While in the Virginia
+regiment he complained of a system of rations which "deprived me of the
+pleasure of inviting an officer or friend, which to me would be more
+agreeable, than nick-nacks I shall meet with," and when he was once
+refused leave of absence by the governor, he replied bitterly, "it was not
+to enjoy a party of pleasure I wanted a leave of absence; I have been
+indulged with few of these, winter or summer!" At Mount Vernon, if a day
+was spent without company the fact was almost always noted in his diary,
+and in a visit, too, he noted that he had "a very lonesome Evening at Colo
+Champe's, not any Body favoring us with their Company but himself."
+
+The plantation system which prevented town life and put long distances
+between neighbors developed two forms of society. One of these was house
+parties, and probably nowhere else in the world was that form of
+hospitality so unstinted as in this colony. Any one of a certain social
+standing was privileged, even welcomed, to ride up to the seat of a
+planter, dismount, and thus become a guest, ceasing to be such only when
+he himself chose. Sometimes one family would go _en masse_ many miles
+to stay a week with friends, and when they set out to return their hosts
+would journey with them and in turn become guests for a week. The
+second form of social life was called clubs. At all the cross-roads and
+court-houses there sprang up taverns or ordinaries, and in these the men
+of a neighborhood would gather, and over a bowl of punch or a bottle of
+wine, the expense of which they "clubbed" to share, would spend their
+evenings.
+
+Into this life Washington entered eagerly. As a mere lad his ledger
+records expenditures: "By a club in Arrack at Mr. Gordon's 2/6;" "Club of
+a bottle of Rhenish at Mitchells 1/3;" "To part of the club at Port Royal
+1/;" "To Cash in part for a Bowl of fruit punch 1/7-1/2." So, too, he was
+a visitor at this time at some of the great Virginian houses, as elsewhere
+noted. When he came into possession of Mount Vernon he offered the same
+unstinted welcome that he had met with, and even as a bachelor he writes
+of his "having much company," and again of being occupied with "a good
+deal of Company." In two months of 1768 Washington had company to dinner,
+or to spend the night, on twenty-nine days, and dined or visited away from
+home on seven; and this is typical.
+
+Whenever, too, trips were made to Williamsburg, Annapolis, Philadelphia,
+or elsewhere, it was a rare occurrence when the various stages of the
+journey were not spent with friends, and in those cities he was dined and
+wined to a surfeit.
+
+During the Revolution all of Washington's aides and his secretary lived
+with him at head-quarters, and constituted what he always called "my
+family." In addition, many others sat down at table,--those who came
+on business from a distance, as well as bidden guests,---which frequently
+included ladies from the neighborhood, who must have been belles among
+the sixteen to twenty men who customarily sat down to dinner.
+"If ... convenient and agreeable to you to take pot luck with me to-day,"
+the General wrote John Adams in 1776, "I shall be glad of your company."
+Pot luck it was for commander-in-chief and staff. Mention has been made of
+how sometimes Washington slept on the ground, and even when under cover
+there was not occasionally much more comfort. Pickering relates that one
+night was passed in "Headquarters at Galloway's, an old log house. The
+General lodged in a bed, and his family on the floor about him. We had
+plenty of sepawn and milk, and all were contented."
+
+Oftentimes there were difficulties in the hospitality. "I have been at my
+prest. quarters since the 1st day of Decr.," Washington complained to the
+commissary-general, "and have not a Kitchen to cook a Dinner in, altho'
+the Logs have been put together some considerable time by my own Guard.
+Nor is there a place at this moment in which a servant can lodge, with the
+smallest degree of comfort. Eighteen belonging to my family, and all Mrs.
+Ford's, are crowded together in her Kitchen, and scarce one of them able
+to speak for the cold they have caught." Pickering, in telling how he
+tried to secure lodgings away from head-quarters, gave for his reasons
+that "they are exceedingly pinched for room.... Had I conceived how much
+satisfaction, quiet and even leisure, I should have enjoyed at separate
+quarters, I would have taken them six months ago. For at head-quarters
+there is a continual throng, and my room, in particular, (when I was happy
+enough to get one,) was always crowded by all that came to headquarters on
+business, because there was no other for them, we having, for the most
+part, been in such small houses."
+
+There were other difficulties. "I cannot get as much cloth," the general
+wrote, "as will make cloaths for my servants, notwithstanding one of them
+that attends my person and table is indecently and most shamefully naked."
+One of his aides said to a correspondent, jocularly, "I take your Caution
+to me in Regard to my Health very kindly, but I assure you, you need be
+under no Apprehension of my losing it on the Score of Excess of living,
+that Vice is banished from this Army and the General's Family in
+particular. We never sup, but go to bed and are early up." "Only
+conceive," Washington complained to Congress, "the mortification they
+(even the general officers) must suffer, when they cannot invite a French
+officer, a visiting friend, or a travelling acquaintance, to a better
+repast, than stinking whiskey (and not always that) and a bit of Beef
+without vegetables."
+
+At times, too, it was necessary to be an exemplar. "Our truly republican
+general," said Laurens, "has declared to his officers that he will set the
+example of passing the winter in a hut himself," and John Adams, in a time
+of famine, declared that "General Washington sets a fine example. He has
+banished wine from his table, and entertains his friends with rum and
+water."
+
+Whenever it was possible, however, there was company at head-quarters.
+"Since the General left Germantown in the middle of September last," the
+General Orders once read, "he has been without his baggage, and on that
+account is unable to receive company in the manner he could wish. He
+nevertheless desires the Generals, Field Officers and Brigades Major of
+the day, to dine with him in future, at three o'clock in the afternoon."
+Again the same vehicle informed the army that "the hurry of business often
+preventing particular invitations being given to officers to dine with the
+General; He presents his compliments to the Brigadiers and Field Officers
+of the day, and requests while the Camp continues settled in the City,
+they will favor him with their company to dinner, without further or
+special invitation."
+
+Mrs. Drinker, who went with a committee of women to camp at Valley Forge,
+has left a brief description of head-quarters hospitality: "Dinner was
+served, to which he invited us. There were 15 Officers, besides ye Gl. and
+his wife, Gen. Greene, and Gen. Lee. We had an elegant dinner, which was
+soon over, when we went out with ye Genls wife, up to her Chamber--and saw
+no more of him." Claude Blanchard, too, describes a dinner, at which
+"there was twenty-five covers used by some officers of the army and a lady
+to whom the house belonged in which the general lodged. We dined under the
+tent. I was placed along side of the general. One of his aides-de-camp did
+the honors. The table was served in the American style and pretty
+abundantly; vegetables, roast beef, lamb, chickens, salad dressed with
+nothing but vinegar, green peas, puddings, and some pie, a kind of tart,
+greatly in use in England and among the Americans, all this being put upon
+the table at the same time. They gave us on the same plate beef, green
+peas, lamb, &c."
+
+Nor was the menage of the General unequal to unexpected calls. Chastellux
+tells of his first arrival in camp and introduction to Washington: "He
+conducted me to his house, where I found the company still at table,
+although the dinner had been long over. He presented me to the Generals
+Knox, Waine, Howe, &c. and to his _family_, then composed of Colonels
+Hamilton and Tilgman, his Secretaries and his Aides de Camp, and of Major
+Gibbs, commander of his guards; for in England and America, the Aides de
+Camp, Adjutants and other officers attached to the General, form what is
+called his _family_. A fresh dinner was prepared for me and mine; and the
+present was prolonged to keep me company." "At nine," he elsewhere writes,
+"supper was served, and when the hour of bed-time came, I found that the
+chamber, to which the General conducted me was the very parlour I speak
+of, wherein he had made them place a camp-bed." Of his hospitality
+Washington himself wrote,--
+
+
+"I have asked Mrs. Cochran & Mrs. Livingston to dine with me to-morrow;
+but am I not in honor bound to apprize them of their fate? As I hate
+deception, even where the imagination only is concerned; I will. It is
+needless to premise, that my table is large enough to hold the ladies. Of
+this they had ocular proof yesterday. To say how it is usually covered, is
+rather more essential; and this shall be the purport of my Letter.
+
+"Since our arrival at this happy spot, 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; a dish of beans, or greens, (almost imperceptible,)
+decorates the center. When the cook has a mind to cut a figure, (which, I
+presume will be the case to-morrow) we have two Beef-steak pyes, or dishes
+of crabs, in addition, one on each side of the center dish, dividing
+the space & reducing the distance between dish & dish to about 6 feet,
+which without them would be near 12 feet apart. Of late he has had the
+surprising sagacity to discover, that apples will make pyes; and its a
+question, if, in the violence of his efforts, we do not get one of apples,
+instead of having both of Beef-steaks. If the ladies can put up with such
+entertainment, and will submit to partake of it in plates, once Tin but
+now Iron--(not become so by the labor of scouring), I shall be happy to
+see them."
+
+
+Dinners were not the only form of entertaining. In Cambridge, when Mrs.
+Washington and Mrs. Jack Custis were at head-quarters, a reception was
+held on the anniversary of Washington's marriage, and at other times when
+there was anything to celebrate,--the capitulation of Burgoyne, the
+alliance with France, the birth of a dauphin, etc.,--parades, balls,
+receptions, "feux-de-joie," or cold collations were given. Perhaps the
+most ambitious attempt was a dinner given on September 21, 1782, in a
+large tent, to which ninety sat down, while a "band of American music"
+added to the "gaiety of the company."
+
+Whenever occasion called the General to attend on Congress there was
+much junketing. "My time," he wrote, "during my winter's residence in
+Philadelphia, was unusually (for me) divided between parties of pleasure
+and parties of business." When Reed pressed him to pass the period of
+winter quarters in visiting him in Philadelphia, he replied, "were I to
+give in 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."
+
+While President, a more elaborate hospitality was maintained. Both in New
+York and Philadelphia the best houses procurable were rented as the
+Presidential home,--for Washington "wholly declined living in any public
+building,"--and a steward and fourteen lower servants attended to all
+details, though a watchful supervision was kept by the President over
+them, and in the midst of his public duties he found time to keep a minute
+account of the daily use of all supplies, with their cost. His payments to
+his stewards for mere servants' wages and food (exclusive of wine) were
+over six hundred dollars a month, and there can be little doubt that
+Washington, who had no expense paid by the public, more than spent his
+salary during his term of office.
+
+It was the President's custom to give a public dinner once a week "to as
+many as my table will hold," and there was also a bi-weekly levee,
+to which any one might come, as well as evening receptions by Mrs.
+Washington, which were more distinctly social and far more exclusive.
+Ashbel Green states that "Washington's dining parties were entertained in
+a very handsome style. His weekly dining day for company was Thursday, and
+his dining hour was always four o'clock in the afternoon. His rule was to
+allow five minutes for the variations of clocks and watches, and then go
+to the table, be present or absent, whoever might. He kept his own clock
+in the hall, just within the outward door, and always exactly regulated.
+When lagging members of Congress came in, as they often did, after
+the guests had sat down to dinner, the president's only apology was,
+'Gentlemen (or sir) we are too punctual for you. I have a cook who never
+asks whether the company has come, but whether the hour has come.' The
+company usually assembled in the drawing-room, about fifteen or twenty
+minutes before dinner, and the president spoke to every guest personally
+on entering the room."
+
+Maclay attended several of the dinners, and has left descriptions of them.
+"Dined this day with the President," he writes. "It was a great dinner--
+all in the tastes of high life. I considered it as a part of my duty as a
+Senator to submit to it, and am glad it is over. The President is a cold,
+formal man; but I must declare that he treated me with great attention. I
+was the first person with whom he drank a glass of wine. I was often
+spoken to by him." Again he says,--
+
+
+"At dinner, after my second plate had been taken away, the President
+offered to help me to part of a dish which stood before him. Was ever
+anything so unlucky? I had just before declined being helped to anything
+more, with some expression that denoted my having made up my dinner. Had,
+of course, for the sake of consistency, to thank him negatively, but when
+the dessert came, and he was distributing a pudding, he gave me a look of
+interrogation, and I returned the thanks positive. He soon after asked me
+to drink a glass of wine with him." On another occasion he "went to the
+President's to dinner.... The President and Mrs. Washington sat opposite
+each other in the middle of the table; the two secretaries, one at
+each end. It was a great dinner, and the best of the kind I ever
+was at. The room, however, was disagreeably warm. First the soup; fish
+roasted and boiled; meats, sammon, fowls, etc.... The middle of the table
+was garnished in the usual tasty way, with small images, flowers,
+(artificial), etc. The dessert was, apple pies, pudding, etc.; then iced
+creams, jellies, etc.; then water-melons, musk-melons, apples, peaches,
+nuts. It was the most solemn dinner I ever was at. Not a health drank;
+scarce a word was said until the cloth was taken away. Then the President
+filling a glass of wine, with great formality drank to the health of every
+individual by name round the table. Everybody imitated him, charged
+glasses, and such a buzz of 'health, sir,' and 'health, madam,' and 'thank
+you, sir,' and 'thank you, madam,' never had I heard before.... The ladies
+sat a good while, and the bottles passed about; but there was a dead
+silence almost. Mrs. Washington at last withdrew with the ladies. I
+expected the men would now begin, but the same stillness remained. The
+President told of a New England clergyman who had lost a hat and wig in
+passing a river called the Brunks. He smiled, and everybody else laughed.
+He now and then said a sentence or two on some common subject, and what he
+said was not amiss.... The President ... played with the fork, striking on
+the edge of the table with it. We did not sit long after the ladies
+retired. The President rose, went up-stairs to drink coffee; the company
+followed."
+
+
+[Illustration: PRESIDENTIAL DINNER INVITATION]
+
+
+Bradbury gives the menu of a dinner at which he was, where "there was an
+elegant variety of roast beef, veal, turkey, ducks, fowls, hams, &c.;
+puddings, jellies, oranges, apples, nuts, almonds, figs, raisins, and a
+variety of wines and punch. We took our leave at six, more than an hour
+after the candles were introduced. No lady but Mrs. Washington dined with
+us. We were waited on by four or five men servants dressed in livery." At
+the last official dinner the President gave, Bishop White was present, and
+relates that "to this dinner as many were invited as could be accommodated
+at the President's table.... Much hilarity prevailed; but on the removal
+of the cloth it was put an end to by the President--certainly without
+design. Having filled his glass, he addressed the company, with a smile on
+his countenance, saying: 'Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last time I
+shall drink your health, as a public man. I do it with sincerity, and
+wishing you all possible happiness.' There was an end of all pleasantry."
+
+A glance at Mrs. Washington's receptions has been given, but the levees of
+the President remain to be described. William Sullivan, who attended many,
+wrote,--
+
+
+"At three o'clock or at any time within a quarter of an hour afterward,
+the visitor was conducted to this dining room, from which all seats had
+been removed for the time. On entering, he saw" Washington, who "stood
+always in front of the fire-place, with his face towards the door of
+entrance. The visitor was conducted to him, and he required to have the
+name so distinctly pronounced that he could hear it. He had the very
+uncommon faculty of associating a man's name, and personal appearance, so
+durably in his memory, as to be able to call one by name, who made him a
+second visit. He received his visitor with a dignified bow, while his
+hands were so disposed of as to indicate, that the salutation was not to
+be accompanied with shaking hands. This ceremony never occurred in these
+visits, even with his most near friends, that no distinction might be
+made. As visitors came in, they formed a circle round the room. At a
+quarter past three, the door was closed, and the circle was formed for
+that day. He then began on the right, and spoke to each visitor, calling
+him by name, and exchanging a few words with him. When he had completed
+his circuit, he resumed his first position, and the visitors approached
+him in succession, bowed and retired. By four o'clock the ceremony was
+over."
+
+
+The ceremony of the dinners and levees and the liveried servants were
+favorite impeachments of the President among the early Democrats before
+they had better material, and Washington was charged with trying to
+constitute a court, and with conducting himself like a king. Even his bow
+was a source of criticism, and Washington wrote in no little irritation in
+regard to this, "that I have not been able to make bows to the taste of
+poor Colonel Bland, (who, by the by, I believe, never saw one of them), is
+to be regretted, especially too, as (upon those occasions), they were
+indiscriminately bestowed, and the best I was master of, would it not have
+been better to throw the veil of charity over them, ascribing their
+stiffness to the effects of age, or to the unskillfulness of my teacher,
+than to pride and dignity of office, which God knows has no charms for me?
+For I can truly say, I had rather be at Mount Vernon 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."
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington hated ceremony as much as the
+Democrats, and yielded to it only from his sense of fitness and the
+opinions of those about him. Jefferson and Madison both relate how such
+unnecessary form was used at the first levee by the master of ceremonies
+as to make it ridiculous, and Washington, appreciating this, is quoted as
+saying to the amateur chamberlain, "Well, you have taken me in once, but,
+by God, you shall never take me in a second time." His secretary, in
+writing to secure lodgings in Philadelphia, when the President and family
+were on their way to Mount Vernon, said, "I must repeat, what I observed
+in a former letter, that as little ceremony & parade may be made as
+possible, for the President wishes to command his own time, which these
+things always forbid in a greater or less degree, and they are to him
+fatiguing and oftentimes painful. He wishes not to exclude himself from
+the sight or conversation of his fellow citizens, but their eagerness to
+show their affection frequently imposes a heavy tax on him."
+
+This was still further shown in his diary of his tours through New England
+and the Southern States. Nothing would do but for Boston to receive him
+with troops, etc., and Washington noted, "finding this ceremony not to be
+avoided, though I had made every effort to do it, I named the hour." In
+leaving Portsmouth he went "quietly, and without any attendance, having
+earnestly entreated that all parade and ceremony might be avoided on my
+return." When travelling through North Carolina, "a small party of horse
+under one Simpson met us at Greenville, and in spite of every endeavor
+which could comport with decent civility, to excuse myself from it, they
+would attend me to Newburn."
+
+During the few years that Washington was at Mount Vernon subsequent to the
+Revolution, the same unbounded hospitality was dispensed as in earlier
+times, while a far greater demand was made upon it, and one so variegated
+that at times the host was not a little embarrassed. Thus he notes
+that "a Gentleman calling himself the Count de Cheiza D'Artigan Officer
+of the French Guards came here to dinner; but bringing no letters of
+introduction, nor any authentic testimonials of his being either; I was at
+a loss how to receive or treat him,--he stayed to dinner and the evening,"
+and the next day departed in Washington's carriage to Alexandria. "A
+farmer came here to see," he says, "my drill plow, and staid all night."
+In another instance he records that a woman whose "name was unknown to me
+dined here." Only once were visitors frowned on, and this was when a
+British marauding party came to Mount Vernon during the Revolution. Even
+they, in Washington's absence, were entertained by his overseer, but his
+master wrote him, on hearing of this, "I am little sorry of my own [loss];
+but that which gives me most concern is, that you should go on board the
+enemy'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-compliance 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 making a voluntary offer of refreshments
+to them with a view to prevent a conflagration."
+
+The hospitality at Mount Vernon was perfectly simple. A traveller relates
+that he was taken there by a friend, and, as Washington was "viewing his
+laborers," we "were desired to tarry." "When the President returned he
+received us very politely. Dr. Croker introduced me to him as a gentleman
+from Massachusetts who wished to see the country and pay his respects. He
+thanked us, desired us to be seated, and to excuse him a few
+moments.... The President came and desired us to walk in to dinner and
+directed us where to sit, (no grace was said).... The dinner was very good,
+a small roasted pigg, boiled leg of lamb, roasted fowles, beef, peas,
+lettice, cucumbers, artichokes, etc., puddings, tarts, etc., etc. We were
+desired to call for what drink we chose. He took a glass of wine with Mrs.
+Law first, which example was followed by Dr. Croker and Mrs. Washington,
+myself and Mrs. Peters, Mr. Fayette and the young lady whose name is
+Custis. When the cloth was taken away the President gave 'All our
+Friends,'"
+
+Another visitor tells that he was received by Washington, and,
+"after ... half an hour, the General came in again, with his hair neatly
+powdered, a clean shirt on, a new plain drab coat, white waistcoat and
+white silk stockings. At three, dinner was on the table, and we were shown
+by the General into another room, where everything was set off with a
+peculiar taste and at the same time neat and plain. The General sent the
+bottle about pretty freely after dinner, and gave success to the navigation
+of the Potomac for his toasts, which he has very much at heart.... After
+Tea General Washington retired to his study and left us with the ... rest
+of the Company. If he had not been anxious to hear the news of Congress
+from Mr. Lee, most probably he would not have returned to supper, but gone
+to bed at his usual hour, nine o'clock, for he seldom makes any ceremony.
+We had a very elegant supper about that time. The General with a few
+glasses of champagne got quite merry, and being with his intimate friends
+laughed and talked a good deal. Before strangers he is very reserved, and
+seldom says a word. I was fortunate in being in his company with his
+particular acquaintances.... At 12 I had the honor of being lighted up to
+my bedroom by the General himself."
+
+This break on the evening hours was quite unusual, Washington himself
+saying in one place that nine o'clock was his bedtime, and he wrote of his
+hours after dinner, "the usual time of setting at table, a walk, and tea,
+brings me within the dawn of candlelight; previous to which, if not
+prevented by company I resolve, that as soon as the glimmering taper
+supplies the place of the great luminary, I will retire to my writing
+table and acknowledge the letters I have received; but when the lights
+were brought, I feel tired and disinclined to engage in this work,
+conceiving that the next night will do as well. The next comes, and with
+it the same causes for postponement, and effect, and so on."
+
+The foregoing allusion to Washington's conversation is undoubtedly just.
+All who met him formally spoke of him as taciturn, but this was not a
+natural quality. Jefferson states that "in the circle of his friends,
+where he might be unreserved with safety, he took a free share in
+conversation," and Madison told Sparks that, though "Washington was not
+fluent nor ready in conversation, and was inclined to be taciturn in
+general society," yet "in the company of two or three intimate friends, he
+was talkative, and when a little excited was sometimes fluent and even
+eloquent" "The story so often repeated of his never laughing," Madison
+said, was "wholly untrue; no man seemed more to enjoy gay conversation,
+though he took little part in it himself. He was particularly pleased with
+the jokes, good humor, and hilarity of his companions."
+
+Washington certainly did enjoy a joke. Nelly Custis said, "I have
+sometimes made him laugh most heartily from sympathy with my joyous and
+extravagant spirits," and many other instances of his laughing are
+recorded. He himself wrote in 1775 concerning the running away of some
+British soldiers, "we laugh at his idea of chasing the Royal Fusileers
+with the stores. Does he consider them as inanimate, or as treasure?" When
+the British in Boston sent out a bundle of the king's speech, "farcical
+enough, we gave great joy to them, (the red coats I mean), without knowing
+or intending it; for on that day, the day which gave being to the new
+army, (but before the proclamation came to hand,) we had hoisted the union
+flag in compliment to the United Colonies. But, behold, it was received in
+Boston as a token of the deep impression the speech had made upon us, and
+as a signal of submission."
+
+At times Washington would joke himself, though it was always somewhat
+labored, as in the case of the Jack already cited. "Without a coinage," he
+wrote, "or unless a stop can be put to the cutting and clipping of money,
+our dollars, pistareens, &c., will be converted, as Teague says, into
+_five_ quarters." When the Democrats were charging the Federalists with
+having stolen from the treasury, he wrote to a Cabinet official, "and
+pray, my good sir, what part of the $800.000 have come to your share? As
+you are high in Office, I hope you did not disgrace yourself in the
+acceptance of a paltry bribe--a $100.000 perhaps." He once even attempted
+a pun, by writing, "our enterprise will be ruined, and we shall be stopped
+at the Laurel Hill this winter; but not to gather laurels, (except of the
+kind that covers the mountains)."
+
+Probably the neatest turn was his course on one occasion with General
+Tryon, who sent him some British proclamations with the request, "that
+through your means, the officers and men under your command may be
+acquainted with their contents." Washington promptly replied that he had
+given them "free currency among the officers and men under my command,"
+and enclosed to Tryon a lot of the counter-proclamation, asking him to "be
+instrumental in communicating its contents, so far as it may be in your
+power, to the persons who are the objects of its operation. The benevolent
+purpose it is intended to answer will I persuade myself, sufficiently
+recommend it to your candor."
+
+To a poetess who had sent him some laudatory verses about himself he
+expressed his thanks, and added, "Fiction is to be sure the very life and
+Soul of Poetry--all Poets and Poetesses have been indulged in the free and
+indisputable use of it, time out of mind. And to oblige you to make such
+an excellent Poem on such a subject without any materials but those of
+simple reality, would be as cruel as the Edict of Pharoah which compelled
+the children of Israel to manufacture Bricks without the necessary
+Ingredients."
+
+Twice he joked about his own death. "As I have heard," he said after
+Braddock's defeat, "since my arrival at this place, a circumstancial
+account of my death and dying speech, I take this early opportunity of
+contradicting the first, and of assuring you, that I have not as yet
+composed the latter." Many years later, in draughting a letter for his
+wife, he wrote,--
+
+
+"I am now by desire of the General to add a few words on his behalf; which
+he desires may be expressed in the terms following, that is to say,--that
+despairing of hearing what may be said of him, if he should really go off
+in an apoplectic, or any other fit (for he thinks all fits that issue in
+death are worse than a love fit, a fit of laughter, and many other kinds
+which he could name)--he is glad to hear _beforehand_ what will be said of
+him on that occasion; conceiving that nothing extra will happen between
+_this_ and _then_ to make a change in his character for better, or for
+worse. And besides, as he has entered into an engagement ... not to quit
+_this_ world before the year 1800, it may be _relied upon_ that no breach
+of contract shall be laid to him on that account, unless dire necessity
+should bring it about, maugre all his exertions to the contrary. In that
+same, he shall hope they would do by him as he would do by them--excuse
+it. At present there seems to be no danger of his thus giving them the
+slip, as neither his health nor spirits, were ever in greater flow,
+notwithstanding, he adds, he is descending, and has almost reached the
+bottom of the hill; or in other words, the shades below. For your
+particular good wishes on this occasion he charges me to say that he feels
+highly obliged, and that he reciprocates them with great cordiality."
+
+
+Other social qualities of the man cannot be passed over. A marked trait
+was his extreme fondness of afternoon tea. "Dined at Mr. Langdon's, and
+drank Tea there, with a large circle of Ladies;" "in the afternoon drank
+Tea ... with about 20 ladies, who had been assembled for the occasion;"
+"exercised between 5 & 7 o'clock in the morning & drank Tea with Mrs.
+Clinton (the Governor's Lady) in the afternoon;" "Drank tea at the Chief
+Justice's of the U. States;" "Dined with the Citizens in public; and in
+the afternoon, was introduced to upwards of 50 ladies who had assembled
+(at a Tea party) on the occasion;" "Dined and drank tea at Mr. Bingham's
+in great splendor." Such are the entries in his diary whenever the was
+"kettle-a-boiling-be" was within reach. Pickering's journal shows that
+tea served regularly at head-quarters, and at Mount Vernon it was drunk
+in summer on the veranda. In writing to Knox of his visit to Boston,
+Washington mentioned his recollection of the chats over tea-drinking, and
+of how "social and gay" they were.
+
+A fondness for picnics was another social liking. "Rid with Fanny Bassett,
+Mr. Taylor and Mr. Shaw to meet a Party from Alexandria at Johnsons
+Spring ... where we dined on a cold dinner brought from Town by water and
+spent the Afternoon agreeably--Returning home by Sun down or a little after
+it," is noted in his diary on one occasion, and on another he wrote,
+"Having formed a Party, consisting of the Vice-President, his lady, Son &
+Miss Smith; the Secretaries of State, Treasury & War, and the ladies of the
+two latter; with all the Gentlemen of my family, Mrs. Lear & the two
+Children, we visited the old position of Fort Washington and afterwards
+dined on a dinner provided by Mr. Mariner." Launchings, barbecues,
+clambakes, and turtle dinners were other forms of social dissipations.
+
+A distinct weakness was dancing. When on the frontier he sighed, "the
+hours at present are melancholy dull. Neither the rugged toils of war, nor
+the gentler conflict of A[ssembly] B[alls,] is in my choice." His diary
+shows him at balls and "Routs" frequently; when he was President he was a
+constant attendant at the regular "Dancing Assemblies" in New York and
+Philadelphia, and when at Mount Vernon he frequently went ten miles to
+Alexandria to attend dances. Of one of these Alexandria balls he has left
+an amusing description: "Went to a ball at Alexandria, where Musick and
+dancing was the chief Entertainment, however in a convenient room detached
+for the purpose abounded great plenty of bread and butter, some biscuits,
+with tea and coffee, which the drinkers of could not distinguish from hot
+water sweet'ned--Be it remembered that pocket handkerchiefs servd the
+purposes of Table cloths & Napkins and that no apologies were made for
+either. I shall therefore distinguish this ball by the stile and title of
+the Bread & Butter Ball."
+
+During the Revolution, too, he killed many a weary hour of winter quarters
+by dancing. When the camp spent a day rejoicing over the French alliance,
+"the celebration," according to Thacher, "was concluded by a splendid ball
+opened by his Excellency General Washington, having for his partner the
+lady of General Knox." Greene describes how "we had a little dance at my
+quarters a few evenings past. His Excellency and Mrs. Greene danced
+upwards of three hours without once sitting down." Knox, too, tells of "a
+most genteel entertainment given by self and officers" at which Washington
+danced. "Everybody allows it to be the first of the kind ever exhibited in
+this State at least. We had above seventy ladies, all of the first ton in
+the State, and between three and four hundred gentlemen. We danced all
+night--an elegant room, the illuminating, fireworks, &c., were more
+than pretty." And at Newport, when Rochambeau gave a ball, by request
+it was opened by Washington. The dance selected by his partner was "A
+Successful Campaign," then in high favor, and the French officers took
+the instruments from the musicians and played while he danced the first
+figure.
+
+
+[Illustration: AGREEMENT FOR DANCING ASSEMBLY]
+
+
+While in winter quarters he subscribed four hundred dollars (paper money,
+equal to eleven dollars in gold) to get up a series of balls, of which
+Greene wrote, "We have opened an assembly in Camp. From this apparent
+ease, I suppose it is thought we must be in happy circumstances. I wish it
+was so, but, alas, it is not. Our provisions are in a manner, gone. We
+have not a ton of hay at command, nor magazine to draw from. Money is
+extremely scarce and worth little when we get it. We have been so poor in
+camp for a fortnight, that we could not forward the public dispatches, for
+want of cash to support the expresses." At the farewell ball given at
+Annapolis, when the commander-in-chief resigned his command, Tilton
+relates that "the General danced in every set, that all the ladies might
+have the pleasure of dancing with him; or as it has since been handsomely
+expressed, 'get a touch of him.'" He still danced in 1796, when sixty-four
+years of age, but when invited to the Alexandria Assembly in 1799, he
+wrote to the managers, "Mrs. Washington and myself have been honored with
+your polite invitation to the assemblies of Alexandria this winter, and
+thank you for this mark of your attention. But, alas! our dancing days are
+no more. We wish, however all those who have a relish for so agreeable and
+innocent an amusement all the pleasure the season will afford them; and I
+am, gentlemen,
+
+"Your most obedient and obliged humble servant,
+
+"GEO. WASHINGTON."
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+
+TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS
+
+
+A market trait of Washington's character was his particularity about his
+clothes; there can be little question that he was early in life a good
+deal of a dandy, and that this liking for fine feathers never quite left
+him. When he was about sixteen years old he wrote in his journal,
+"Memorandum to have my Coat made by the following Directions to be made a
+Frock with a Lapel Breast the Lapel to Contain on each side six Button
+Holes and to be about 5 or 6 Inches wide all the way equal and to turn as
+the Breast on the Coat does to have it made very long Waisted and in
+Length to come down to or below the bent of the knee the Waist from the
+armpit to the Fold to be exactly as long or Longer than from thence to the
+Bottom not to have more than one fold in the Skirt and the top to be made
+just to turn in and three Button Holes the Lapel at the top to turn as the
+Cape of the Coat and Bottom to Come Parallel with the Button Holes the
+Last Button hole in the Breast to be right opposite to the Button on the
+Hip."
+
+In 1754 he bought "a Superfine blue broad cloth Coat, with Silver
+Trimmings," "a fine Scarlet Waistcoat full Lac'd," and a quantity of
+"silver lace for a Hatt," and from another source it is learned that at
+this time he was the possessor of ruffled shirts. A little later he
+ordered from London "As much of the best superfine blue 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," and other orders at different times were
+for "6 prs. of the Very neatest shoes," "A riding waistcoat of superfine
+scarlet cloth and gold Lace," "2 prs. of fashionable mix'd or marble
+Color'd Silk Hose," "1 piece of finest and fashionable Stock Tape," "1
+Suit of the finest Cloth & fashionable colour," "a New Market Great Coat
+with a loose hood to it, made of Bleu Drab or broad cloth, with straps
+before according to the present taste," "3 gold and scarlet sword-knots,
+3 silver and blue do, 1 fashionable gold-laced hat."
+
+As these orders indicated, the young fellow strove to be in the fashion.
+In 1755 he wrote his brother, "as wearing boots is quite the mode, and
+mine are in a declining state, I must beg the favor of you to procure me a
+pair that is good and neat." "Whatever goods you may send me," he wrote
+his London agent, "let them be fashionable, neat and good of their several
+kinds." It was a great trial to him that his clothes did not fit him. "I
+should have enclosed you my measure," he wrote to London, "but in a
+general way they are so badly taken here, that I am convinced that it
+would be of very little service." "I have hitherto had my clothes made by
+one Charles Lawrence in Old Fish Street," he wrote his English factor.
+"But whether it be the fault of the tailor, or the measure sent, I can't
+say, but, certain it is, my clothes have never fitted me well."
+
+It must not be inferred, however, that Washington carried his dandyism to
+weakness. When fine clothes were not in place, they were promptly
+discarded. In his trip to the Ohio in 1753 he states that "I put myself in
+an Indian walking Dress," and "tied myself up in a Match Coat,"--that is,
+an Indian blanket. In the campaign of 1758 he wrote to his superior
+officer "that were I left to pursue my own Inclinations, I would not only
+order the Men to adopt the Indian dress, but cause the Officers to do it
+also, and be at the first to set the example myself. Nothing but the
+uncertainty of its taking with the General causes me to hesitate a moment
+at leaving my Regimentals at this place, and proceeding as light as any
+Indian in the Woods. 'T is an unbecoming dress, I confess, for an officer;
+but convenience, rather than shew, I think should be consulted." And this
+was such good sense that the general gave him leave, and it was done.
+
+With increase of years his taste in clothes became softened and more
+sober. "On the other side is an invoice of clothes which I beg the favor
+of you to purchase for me," he wrote to London. "As they are designed for
+wearing apparel for myself, I have committed the choice of them to your
+fancy, having the best opinion of your taste. I want neither lace nor
+embroidery. Plain clothes, with a gold or silver button (if worn in
+genteel dress) are all I desire." "Do not conceive," he told his nephew in
+1783, "that fine clothes make fine men more than fine feathers make fine
+Birds. A plain genteel dress is more admired, and obtains more credit than
+lace and embroidery, in the Eyes of the judicious and sensible." And in
+connection with the provisional army he decided that "on reconsidering the
+uniform of the Commander in Chief, it has become a matter of doubt with
+me, (although, as it respects myself _personally_, I was against _all_
+embroidery,) whether embroidery on the Cape, Cuffs, and Pockets of the
+Coat, and none on the buff waistcoat would not have a disjointed and
+awkward appearance." Probably nowhere did he show his good taste more than
+in his treatment of the idea of putting him in classic garments when his
+bust was made by Houdon.
+
+
+"In answer to your obliging inquiries respecting the dress, attitude,
+&c.," he wrote, "which I would wish to have given to the statue in
+question, I have only to observe, that, not having sufficient knowledge in
+the art of sculpture to oppose my judgment to the taste of connoisseurs, I
+do not desire to dictate in the matter. On the contrary I shall be
+perfectly satisfied with whatever may be judged decent and proper. I
+should even scarcely have ventured to suggest, that perhaps a servile
+adherence to the garb of antiquity might not be altogether so expedient,
+as some little deviation in favor of the modern costume."
+
+
+Washington, as noted, bought his clothes in England; but it was
+from necessity more than choice. "If there be any homespun Cloths in
+Philadelphia which are tolerably fine, that you can come reasonably at,"
+he said to his Philadelphia agent in 1784, "I would be obliged to you to
+send me patterns of some of the best kinds--I should prefer that which is
+mixed in the grain, because it will not so readily discover its quality as
+a plain cloth." Before he was inaugurated he wrote "General Knox this day
+to procure me homespun broadcloth of the Hartford fabric, to make a suit
+of clothes for myself," adding, "I hope it will not be a great while
+before it will be unfashionable for a gentleman to appear in any
+other dress. Indeed, we have already been too long subject to British
+prejudices." At another time he noted in his diary with evident pride, "on
+this occasion I was dressed in a suit made at the Woolen Manufactory at
+Hartford, as the buttons also were." But then, as now, the foreign clothes
+were so much finer that his taste overcame his patriotism, and his
+secretary wrote that "the President is desireous of getting as much
+superfine blk broad Cloth as will make him a suit of Clothes, and desires
+me to request that you would send him that quantity ... The best superfine
+French or Dutch black--exceedingly fine--of a soft, silky texture--not
+glossy like the Engh cloths."
+
+A caller during the Presidency spoke of him as dressed in purple satin,
+and at his levees he is described by Sullivan as "clad in black velvet;
+his hair in full dress, powdered and gathered behind in a large silk bag;
+yellow gloves on his hands; holding a cocked hat with a cockade in it, and
+the edges adorned with a black feather about an inch deep. He wore knee
+and shoe buckles; and a long sword, with a finely wrought and polished
+steel hilt, which appeared at the left hip; the coat worn over the sword,
+so that the hilt, and the part below the coat behind, were in view. The
+scabbard was white polished leather."
+
+About his person Washington was as neat as he desired his clothes to be.
+At seventeen when surveying he records that he was
+
+
+"Lighted into a Room & I not being so good a Woodsman as ye rest of my
+Company striped myself very orderly & went in to ye Bed as they called it
+when to my Surprize I found it to be nothing but a Little Straw--Matted
+together without Sheets or any thing else but only one thread Bear blanket
+with double its Weight of Vermin such as Lice, Fleas &c. I was glad to get
+up (as soon as ye Light was carried from us) I put on my Cloths & Lay as
+my Companions. Had we not have been very tired I am sure we should not
+have slep'd much that night. I made a Promise not to Sleep so from that
+time forward chusing rather to sleep in ye open Air before a fire as will
+appear hereafter." The next day he notes that the party "Travell'd up to
+Frederick Town where our Baggage came to us we cleaned ourselves (to get
+Rid of ye Game we had catched y. Night before)" and slept in "a good
+Feather Bed with clean Sheets which was a very agreeable regale."
+
+
+Wherever he happened to be, the laundress was in constant demand. His
+bill from the washer-lady for the week succeeding his inauguration as
+President, and before his domestic menage was in running order, was for "6
+Ruffled shirts, 2 plain shirts, 8 stocks, 3 pair Silk Hose, 2 White hand.
+2 Silk Handks. 1 pr. Flanl. Drawers, 1 Hair nett."
+
+The barber, too, was a constant need, and Washington's ledger shows
+constant expenditures for perfumed hair-powder and pomatum, and also for
+powder bags and puffs. Apparently the services of this individual were
+only for the arranging of his hair, for he seems never to have shaved
+Washington, that being done either by himself or by his valet. Of this
+latter individual Washington said (when the injury to William Lee unfitted
+him for the service), "I do not as yet know whether I shall get a
+substitute for William: nothing short of excellent qualities and a man of
+good appearance, would induce me to do it--and under my present view of
+the matter, too, who would employ himself otherwise than William did--that
+is as a butler as well as a valette, for my wants of the latter are so
+trifling that any man (as William was) would soon be ruined by idleness,
+who had only them to attend to."
+
+In food Washington took what came with philosophy. "If you meet with
+collegiate fare, it will be unmanly to complain," he told his grandson,
+though he once complained in camp that "we are debarred from the pleasure
+of good living; which, Sir, (I dare say with me you will concur,) to one
+who has always been used to it, must go somewhat hard to be confined to a
+little salt provision and water." Usually, however, poor fare was taken as
+a matter of course. "When we came to Supper," he said in his journal of
+1748, "there was neither a Cloth upon ye Table nor a Knife to eat with but
+as good luck would have it we had Knives of our own," and again he wrote,
+"we pull'd out our Knapsack in order to Recruit ourselves every one was
+his own Cook our Spits was Forked Sticks our Plates was a Large Chip as
+for Dishes we had none." Nor was he squeamish about what he ate. In the
+voyage to Barbadoes he several times ate dolphin; he notes that the bread
+was almost "eaten up by Weavel & Maggots," and became quite enthusiastic
+over some "very fine Bristol tripe" and "a fine Irish Ling & Potatoes."
+But all this may have been due to the proverbial sea appetite.
+
+Samuel Stearns states that Washington "breakfasts about seven o'clock on
+three small Indian hoe-cakes, and as many dishes of tea," and Custis
+relates that "Indian cakes, honey, and tea formed this temperate repast."
+These two writers tell us that at dinner "he ate heartily, but was not
+particular in his diet, with the exception of fish, of which he was
+excessively fond. He partook sparingly of dessert, drank a home-made
+beverage, and from four to five glasses of Madeira wine" (Custis), and
+that "he dines, commonly on a single dish, and drinks from half a
+pint to a pint of Madeira wine. This, with one small glass of punch, a
+draught of beer, and two dishes of tea (which he takes half an hour before
+sun-setting) constitutes his whole sustenance till the next day."
+(Stearns.) Ashbel Green relates that at the state banquets during the
+Presidency Washington "generally dined on one single dish, and that of a
+very simple kind. If offered something either in the first or second
+course which was very rich, his usual reply was--'That is too good for
+me.'" It is worth noting that he religiously observed the fasts proclaimed
+in 1774 and 1777, going without food the entire day.
+
+A special liking is mentioned above. In 1782 Richard Varick wrote to a
+friend, "General Washington dines with me to-morrow; he is exceedingly fond
+of salt fish; I have some coming up, & tho' it will be here in a few days,
+it will not be here in time--If you could conveniently lend me as much
+fish as would serve a pretty large company to-morrow (at least for one
+Dish), it will oblige me, and shall in a very few days be returned in as
+good Dun Fish as ever you see. Excuse this freedom, and it will add to the
+favor. Could you not prevail upon somebody to catch some Trout for me
+early to-morrow morning?" When procurable, salt codfish was Washington's
+regular Sunday dinner.
+
+A second liking was honey. His ledger several times mentions purchases of
+this, and in 1789 his sister wrote him, "when I last had the Pleasure of
+seeing you I observ'd your fondness for Honey; I have got a large Pot of
+very fine in the comb, which I shall send by the first opportunity." Among
+his purchases "sugar candy" is several times mentioned, but this may have
+been for children, and not for himself. He was a frequent buyer of fruit
+of all kinds and of melons.
+
+He was very fond of nuts, buying hazelnuts and shellbarks by the barrel,
+and he wrote his overseer in 1792 to "tell house Frank I expect he will
+lay up a more plenteous store of the black common walnuts than he usually
+does." The Prince de Broglie states that "at dessert he eats an enormous
+quantity of nuts, and when the conversation is entertaining he keeps
+eating through a couple of hours, from time to time giving sundry healths,
+according to the English and American custom. It is what they call
+'toasting.'"
+
+Washington was from boyhood passionately fond of horsemanship, and when
+but seventeen owned a horse. Humphreys states that "all those who have
+seen General Washington on horseback, at the head of his army, will
+doubtless bear testimony with the author that they never saw a more
+graceful or dignified person," and Jefferson said of him that he was "the
+best horseman of his age, and the most graceful figure that could be seen
+on horseback." His diary shows that he rode on various occasions as much
+as sixty miles in a day, and Lawrence reports that he "usually rode from
+Rockingham to Princeton, which is five miles, in forty minutes." John
+Hunter, in a visit to Mount Vernon in 1785, writes that he went
+
+
+"to see his famous race-horse Magnolia--a most beautiful creature. A whole
+length of his was taken a while ago, (mounted on Magnolia) by a famous man
+from Europe on copper.... I afterwards went to his stables, where among an
+amazing number of horses, I saw old Nelson, now 22 years of age, that
+carried the General almost always during the war; Blueskin, another fine
+old horse next to him, now and then had that honor. Shaw also shewed me
+his old servant, that was reported to have been taken, with a number of
+the General's papers about him. They have heard the roaring of many a
+cannon in their time. Blueskin was not the favorite, on account of his not
+standing fire so well as venerable old Nelson."
+
+
+Chastellux relates, "he was so attentive as to give me the horse he rode,
+the day of my arrival, which I had greatly commended--I found him as good
+as he is handsome; but above all, perfectly well broke, and well trained,
+having a good mouth, easy in hand and stopping short in a gallop without
+bearing the bit--I mention these minute particulars, because it is the
+general himself who breaks all his own horses; and he is a very excellent
+and bold horseman, leaping the highest fences, and going extremely quick,
+without standing upon his stirrups, bearing on the bridle, or letting his
+horse run wild."
+
+As a matter of course this liking for horses made Washington fond of
+racing, and he not only subscribed liberally to most of the racing purses,
+but ran horses at them, attending in person, and betting moderately on the
+results. So, too, he was fond of riding to the hounds, and when at Mount
+Vernon it was a favorite pastime. From his diary excerpts of runs are,--
+
+
+"Went a Fox hunting with the Gentlemen who came here yesterday.... after
+a very early breakfast--found a Fox just back of Muddy hole Plantation and
+after a Chase of an hour and a quarter with my Dogs, & eight couple of
+Doctor Smiths (brought by Mr. Phil Alexander) we put him into a hollow
+tree, in which we fastened him, and in the Pincushion put up another Fox
+which, in an hour & 13 Minutes was killed--We then after allowing the Fox
+in the hole half an hour put the Dogs upon his trail & in half a Mile he
+took to another hollow tree and was again put out of it but he did not go
+600 yards before he had recourse to the same shift--finding therefore that
+he was a conquered Fox we took the Dogs off, and came home to Dinner."
+
+"After an early breakfast [my nephew] George Washington, Mr. Shaw and
+Myself went into the Woods back of Muddy hole Plantation a hunting and
+were joined by Mr. Lund Washington and Mr. William Peake. About half after
+ten Oclock (being first plagued with the Dogs running Hogs) we found a fox
+near Colo Masons Plantation on little Hunting Creek (West fork) having
+followed on his Drag more than half a Mile; and run him with Eight Dogs
+(the other 4 getting, as was supposed after a Second Fox) close and well
+for an hour. When the Dogs came to a fault and to cold Hunting until 20
+minutes after when being joined by the missing Dogs they put him up afresh
+and in about 50 Minutes killed up in an open field of Colo Mason's every
+Rider & every Dog being present at the Death."
+
+
+During the Revolution, when opportunity offered, he rode to the hounds,
+for Hiltzheimer wrote in 1781, "My son Robert [having] been on a Hunt at
+Frankfort says that His Excel'y Gen. Washington was there."
+
+This liking made dogs an interest to him, and he took much pains to
+improve the breed of his hounds. On one occasion he "anointed all my
+Hounds (as well old Dogs as Puppies) which have the mange, with Hogs Lard
+& Brimstone." Mopsey, Pilot, Tartar, Jupiter, Trueman, Tipler, Truelove,
+Juno, Dutchess, Ragman, Countess, Lady, Searcher, Rover, Sweetlips,
+Vulcan, Singer, Music, Tiyal, and Forrester are some of the names he gave
+them. In 1794, in the fall of his horse, as already mentioned, he wrenched
+his back, and in consequence, when he returned to Mount Vernon, this
+pastime was never resumed, and his pack was given up.
+
+Kindred to this taste for riding to the hounds was one for gunning. A few
+entries in his diary tell the nature of his sport. "Went a ducking between
+breakfast and dinner and kill'd 2 Mallards & 5 bald faces." "I went to the
+Creek but not across it. Kill'd 2 ducks, viz. a sprig tail and a Teal."
+"Rid out with my gun but kill'd nothing." In 1787 a man asked for
+permission to shoot over Mount Vernon, and Washington refused it because
+
+
+"my fixed determination is, that no person whatever shall hunt upon my
+grounds or waters--To grant leave to one and refuse another would not only
+be drawing a line of discrimination which would be offensive, but would
+subject one to great inconvenience--for my strict and positive orders to
+all my people are if they hear a gun fired upon my Land to go immediately
+in pursuit of it.... Besides, as I have not lost my relish for this sport
+when I find time to indulge myself in it, and Gentlemen who come to the
+House are pleased with it, it is my wish not to have game within my
+jurisdiction disturbed."
+
+
+Fishing was another pastime. He "went a dragging for Sturgeon" frequently,
+and sometimes "catch'd one" and sometimes "catch'd none." While in
+Philadelphia in 1787 he went up to the old camp at Valley Forge and spent
+a day fishing, and in 1789 at Portsmouth, "having lines, we proceeded to
+the Fishing Banks a little without the Harbour and fished for Cod; but it
+not being a proper time of tide, we only caught two." After his serious
+sickness in 1790 a newspaper reports that "yesterday afternoon the
+President of the United States returned from Sandy Hook and the fishing
+banks, where he had been for the benefit of the sea air, and to amuse
+himself in the delightful recreation of fishing. We are told he has had
+excellent sport, having himself caught a great number of sea-bass and
+black fish--the weather proved remarkably fine, which, together with the
+salubrity of the air and wholesome exercise, rendered this little voyage
+extremely agreeable, and cannot fail, we hope, of being serviceable to a
+speedy and complete restoration of his health."
+
+Washington was fond of cards, and in bad weather even records "at home all
+day, over cards." How much time must have been spent in this way is shown
+by the innumerable purchases of "1 dozen packs playing cards" noted in his
+ledger. In 1748, when he was sixteen years old, he won two shillings and
+threepence from his sister-in-law at whist and five shillings at "Loo"
+(or, as he sometimes spells it, "Lue") from his brother, and he seems
+always to have played for small stakes, which sometimes mounted into
+fairly sizable sums. The largest gain found is three pounds, and the
+largest loss nine pounds fourteen shillings and ninepence. He seems to
+have lost oftener than he won.
+
+Billiards was a rival of cards, and a game of which he seems to have been
+fond. In his seventeenth year he won one shilling and threepence by the
+cue, and from that time won and lost more or less money in this way. Here,
+too, he seems to have been out of pocket, though not for so much money,
+his largest winning noted being only seven shillings and sixpence, and his
+largest loss being one pound and ten shillings.
+
+In 1751, at Barbadoes, Washington "was treated with a play ticket to see
+the Tragedy of George Barnwell acted: the character of Barnwell and
+several others was said to be well perform'd there was Musick a Dapted and
+regularly conducted." This presumptively was the lad's first visit to the
+playhouse, but from that time it was one of his favorite amusements. At
+first his ledger shows expenditures of "Cash at the Play House 1/3," which
+proves that his purse would bear the cost of only the cheapest seats;
+but later he became more extravagant in this respect, and during the
+Presidency he used the drama for entertaining, his ledger giving many
+items of tickets bought. A type entry in Washington's diary is, "Went
+to the play in the evening--sent tickets to the following ladies and
+gentlemen and invited them to seats in my box, viz:--Mrs. Adams (lady of
+the Vice-President,) General Schuyler and lady, Mr. King and lady, Majr.
+Butler and lady, Colo Hamilton and lady, Mrs. Green--all of whom accepted
+and came except Mrs. Butler, who was indisposed."
+
+Maclay describes the first of these theatre parties as follows: "I
+received a ticket from the President of the United States to use his box
+this evening at the theatre, being the first of his appearances at the
+playhouse since his entering on his office. Went The President, Governor
+of the State, foreign Ministers, Senators from New Hampshire, Connecticut,
+Pennsylvania, M.[aryland] and South Carolina; and some ladies in the same
+box. I am old, and notices or attentions are lost on me. I could have
+wished some of my dear children in my place; they are young and would have
+enjoyed it. Long might they live to boast of having been seated in
+the same box with the first Character in the world. The play was the
+'School for Scandal,' I never liked it; indeed, I think it an indecent
+representation before ladies of character and virtue. Farce, the 'Old
+Soldier.' The house greatly crowded, and I thought the players acted well;
+but I wish we had seen the _Conscious Lovers_, or some one that inculcated
+more prudential manners."
+
+Of the play, or rather interlude, of the "Old Soldier" its author, Dunlap,
+gives an amusing story. It turned on the home-coming of an old soldier,
+and, like the topical song of to-day, touched on local affairs:
+
+
+"When Wignell, as Darby, recounts what had befallen him in America, in New
+York, at the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and the inauguration of
+the president, the interest expressed by the audience in the looks and the
+changes of countenance of this great man [Washington] became intense. He
+smiled at these lines, alluding to the change in the government--
+
+
+  There too I saw some mighty pretty shows;
+  A revolution, without blood or blows,
+  For, as I understood, the cunning elves,
+  The people all revolted from themselves.
+
+
+But at the lines--
+
+
+  A man who fought to free the land from we,
+  _Like me_, had left his farm, a-soldiering to go:
+  But having gain'd his point, he had _like me_,
+  Return'd his own potato ground to see.
+  But there he could not rest. With one accord
+  He's called to be a kind of--not a lord--
+  I don't know what, he's not a _great man_, sure,
+  For poor men love him just as he were poor.
+  They love him like a father or a brother,
+                  DERMOT.
+  As we poor Irishmen love one another.
+
+
+The president looked serious; and when Kathleen asked,
+
+
+  How looked he, Darby? Was he short or tall?
+
+
+his countenance showed embarrassment, from the expectation or one of those
+eulogiums which, he had been obliged to hear on many public occasions, and
+which must doubtless have been a severe trial to his feelings: but Darby's
+answer that he had _not seen him_, because he had mistaken a man 'all lace
+and glitter, botherum and shine,' for him, until all the show had passed,
+relieved the hero from apprehension of farther personality, and he
+indulged in that which was with him extremely rare, a hearty laugh."
+
+
+Washington did not even despise amateur performances. As already
+mentioned, he expressed a wish to take part in "Cato" himself in 1758, and
+a year before he had subscribed to the regimental "players at Fort
+Cumberland," His diary shows that in 1768 the couple at Mount Vernon "& ye
+two children were up to Alexandria to see the Inconstant or 'the way to win
+him' acted," which was probably an amateur performance. Furthermore, Duer
+tells us that "I was not only frequently admitted to the presence of this
+most august of men, in _propria persona_, but once had the honor of
+appearing before him as one of the _dramatis personae_ in the tragedy of
+Julius Caesar, enacted by a young 'American Company,' (the theatrical
+corps then performing in New York being called the 'Old American Company')
+in the garret of the Presidential mansion, wherein before the magnates of
+the land and the elite of the city, I performed the part of Brutus to the
+Cassius of my old school-fellow, Washington Custis."
+
+The theatre was by no means the only show that appealed to Washington. He
+went to the circus when opportunity offered, gave nine shillings to a "man
+who brought an elk as a show," three shillings and ninepence "to hear the
+Armonica," two dollars for tickets "to see the automatum," treated the
+"Ladies to ye Microcosm" and paid to see waxworks, puppet shows, a dancing
+bear, and a lioness and tiger. Nor did he avoid a favorite Virginia
+pastime, but attended cockfights when able. His frequent going to concerts
+has been already mentioned.
+
+Washington seems to have been little of a reader except of books on
+agriculture, which he bought, read, and even made careful abstracts of
+many, and on this subject alone did he ever seem to write from pleasure.
+As a lad, he notes in his journal that he is reading _The Spectator_ and a
+history of England, but after those two brief entries there is no further
+mention of books or reading in his daily memorandum of "where and how my
+time is spent." In his ledger, too, almost the least common expenditure
+entered is one for books. Nor do his London invoices, so far as extant,
+order any books but those which treated of farming and horses. In the
+settlement of the Custis estate, "I had no particular reason for keeping
+and handing down to his son, the books of the late Colo Custis saving that
+I thought it would be taking the advantage of a low appraisement, to make
+them my own property at it, and that to sell them was not an object."
+
+With the broadening that resulted from the command of the army more
+attention was paid to books, and immediately upon the close of the
+Revolution Washington ordered the following works: "Life of Charles the
+Twelfth," "Life of Louis the Fifteenth," "Life and Reign of Peter the
+Great," Robertson's "History of America," Voltaire's "Letters," Vertot's
+"Revolution of Rome" and "Revolution of Portugal," "Life of Gustavus
+Adolphus," Sully's "Memoirs," Goldsmith's "Natural History," "Campaigns of
+Marshal Turenne," Chambaud's "French and English Dictionary," Locke "on
+the Human Understanding," and Robertson's "Charles the Fifth." From this
+time on he was a fairly constant book-buyer, and subscribed as a "patron"
+to a good many forthcoming works, while many were sent him as gifts. On
+politics he seems to have now read with interest; yet in 1797, after his
+retirement from the Presidency, in writing of the manner in which he spent
+his hours, he said, "it may strike you that in this detail no mention is
+made of any portion of time allotted to reading. The remark would be just,
+for I have not looked into a book since I came home, nor shall I be able
+to do it until I have discharged my workmen; probably not before the
+nights grow long when possibly I may be looking into Doomsday book." There
+can be no doubt that through all his life Washington gave to reading only
+the time he could not use on more practical affairs.
+
+His library was a curious medley of books, if those on military science
+and agriculture are omitted. There is a fair amount of the standard
+history of the day, a little theology, so ill assorted as to suggest gifts
+rather than purchases, a miscellany of contemporary politics, and a very
+little belles-lettres. In political science the only works in the
+slightest degree noticeable are Smith's "Wealth of Nations," "The
+Federalist," and Rousseau's "Social Compact," and, as the latter was in
+French, it could not have been read. In lighter literature Homer,
+Shakespeare, and Burns, Lord Chesterfield, Swift, Smollett, Fielding, and
+Sterne, and "Don Quixote," are the only ones deserving notice. It is
+worthy of mention that Washington's favorite quotation was Addison's "'Tis
+not in mortals to command success," but he also utilized with considerable
+aptitude quotations from Shakespeare and Sterne. There were half a dozen
+of the ephemeral novels of the day, but these were probably Mrs.
+Washington's, as her name is written in one, and her husband's in none.
+Writing to his grandson, Washington warned him that "light reading (by
+this, I mean books of little importance) may amuse for the moment, but
+leaves nothing solid behind."
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S BOOK-PLATE]
+
+
+One element of Washington's reading which cannot be passed over without
+notice is that of newspapers. In his early life he presumably read the
+only local paper of the time (the _Virginia Gazette_), for when an
+anonymous writer, "Centinel," in 1756, charged that Washington's regiment
+was given over to drunkenness and other misbehavior, he drew up a reply,
+which he sent with ten shillings to the newspaper, but the printer
+apparently declined to print it, for it never appeared.
+
+After the Revolution he complained to his Philadelphia agent, "I have such
+a number of Gazettes, crowded upon me (many without orders) that they are
+not only expensive, but really useless; as my other avocations will not
+afford me time to read them oftentimes, and when I do attempt it, find
+them more troublesome, than profitable; I have therefore to beg, if you
+Should get Money into your hands on Acct of the Inclosed Certificate, that
+you would be so good as to pay what I am owing to Messrs Dunlap &
+Claypoole, Mr. Oswald & Mr. Humphrey's. If they consider me however as
+engaged for the year, I am Content to let the matter run on to the
+Expiration of it" During the Presidency he subscribed to the _Gazette of
+the United States_, Brown's _Gazette_, Dunlap's _American Advertiser_, the
+_Pennsylvania Gazette_, Bache's _Aurora_, and the _New York Magazine_,
+Carey's _Museum_, and the _Universal Asylum_, though at this time he
+"lamented that the editors of the different gazettes in the Union do not
+more generally and more correctly (instead of stuffing their papers with
+scurrility and nonsensical declamation, which few would read if they were
+apprised of the contents,) publish the debates in Congress on all great
+national questions."
+
+Presently, for personal and party reasons, certain of the papers began to
+attack him, and Jefferson wrote to Madison that the President was
+"extremely affected by the attacks made and kept up on him in the public
+papers. I think he feels these things more than any person I ever met
+with." Later the Secretary of State noted that at an interview Washington
+"adverted to a piece in Freneau's paper of yesterday, he said that he
+despised all their attacks on him personally, but that there never had
+been an act of government ... that paper had not abused ... He was
+evidently sore and warm." At a cabinet meeting, too, according to the same
+writer, "the Presidt was much inflamed, got into one of those passions
+when he cannot command himself, ran on much on the personal abuse which
+had been bestowed on him, defied any man on earth to produce a single act
+of his since he had been in the govmt which was not done on the purest
+motives, that he had never repented but once the having slipped the moment
+of resigning his office, & that was every moment since, that _by god_ he
+had rather be in his grave than in his present situation. That he had
+rather be on his farm than to be made _emperor of the world_ and yet that
+they were charging him with wanting to be a king. That that _rascal
+Freneau_ sent him 3 of his papers every day, as if he thought he would
+become the distributor of his papers, that he could see in this nothing
+but an impudent design to insult him. He ended in this high tone. There
+was a pause."
+
+To correspondents, too, Washington showed how keenly he felt the attacks
+upon him, writing that "the publications in Freneau's and Bache's papers
+are outrages on common decency; and they progress in that style in
+proportion as their pieces are treated with contempt, and are passed by in
+silence, by those at whom they are aimed," and asked "in what will this
+abuse terminate? The result, as it respects myself, I care not; for I have
+consolation within, that no earthly efforts can deprive me of, and that
+is, that neither ambitious nor interested motives have influenced my
+conduct. The arrows of malevolence, therefore however barbed and well
+pointed, never can reach the most vulnerable part of me; though, whilst I
+am _up_ as a _mark_, they will be continually aimed."
+
+On another occasion he said, "I am beginning to receive, what I had
+made my mind up for on this occasion, the abuse of Mr. Bache, and his
+correspondents." He wrote a friend, "if you read the Aurora of this city,
+or those gazettes, which are under the same influence, you cannot but have
+perceived with what malignant industry and persevering falsehoods I am
+assailed, in order to weaken if not destroy the confidence of the public."
+
+When he retired from office he apparently cut off his subscriptions to
+papers, for a few months later he inquired, "what is the character of
+Porcupine's Gazette? I had thought when I left Philadelphia, of ordering
+it to be sent to me; then again, I thought it best not to do it; and
+altho' I should like to see both his and Bache's, the latter may, under
+all circumstances, be the best decision; I mean not subscribing to either
+of them." This decision to have no more to do with papers did not last,
+for on the night he was seized with his last illness Lear describes how
+"in the evening the papers having come from the post office, he sat in the
+room with Mrs. Washington and myself, reading them, till about nine
+o'clock when Mrs. Washington went up into Mrs. Lewis's room, who was
+confined, and left the General and myself reading the papers. He was very
+cheerful; and, when he met with anything which he thought diverting or
+interesting, he would read it aloud as well as his hoarseness would
+permit. He desired me to read to him the debates of the Virginia Assembly,
+on the election of a Senator and Governor; which I did--and, on hearing
+Mr. Madison's observations respecting Mr. Monroe, he appeared much
+affected, and spoke with some degree of asperity on the subject, which I
+endeavored to moderate, as I always did on such occasions."
+
+
+
+IX
+
+
+FRIENDS
+
+
+The frequently repeated statement that Washington was a man without
+friends is not the least curious of the myths that have obtained general
+credence. That it should be asserted only goes to show how absolutely his
+private life has been neglected in the study of his public career.
+
+In his will Washington left tokens of remembrance "to the acquaintances
+and friends of my juvenile years, Lawrence Washington and Robert
+Washington of Chotanck," the latter presumably the "dear Robin" of his
+earliest letter, and these two very distant kinsmen, whom he had come to
+know while staying at Wakefield, are the earliest friends of whom any
+record exists. Contemporary with them was a "Dear Richard," whose letters
+gave Washington "unspeakable pleasure, as I am convinced I am still in the
+memory of so worthy a friend,--a friendship I shall ever be proud of
+increasing."
+
+Next in time came his intimacy with the Fairfaxes and Carlyles, which
+began with Washington's visits to his brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon.
+About four miles from that place, at Belvoir, lived the Fairfaxes; and
+their kinspeople, the Carlyles, lived at Alexandria. Lawrence Washington
+had married Ann Fairfax, and through his influence his brother George was
+taken into the employment of Lord Fairfax, half as clerk and half as
+surveyor of his great tract of land, "the northern neck," which he had
+obtained by marriage with a daughter of Lord Culpeper, who in turn had
+obtained it from the "Merrie Monarch" by means so disreputable that they
+are best left unstated. From that time till his death Washington
+corresponded with several of the family and was a constant visitor at
+Belvoir, as the Fairfaxes were at Mount Vernon.
+
+
+[Illustration: SURVEY OF WASHINGTON'S BIRTHPLACE (WAKEFIELD), 1743]
+
+
+In 1755 Washington told his brother that "to that family I am under many
+obligations, particularly the old gentleman," but as time went on he more
+than paid the debt. In 1757 he acted as pallbearer to William Fairfax, and
+twelve years later his diary records, "Set off with Mrs. Washington and
+Patsey,... in order to stand for Mr. B. Fairfax's third son, which I did
+together with my wife, Mr. Warner Washington and his lady." For one of the
+family he obtained an army commission, and for another he undertook the
+care of his property during a visit to England; a care which unexpectedly
+lengthened, and was resigned only when Washington's time became public
+property. Nor did that lessen his services or the Fairfaxes' need of them,
+for in the Revolution that family were loyalists. Despite this, "the
+friendship," Washington assured them, "which I ever professed and felt for
+you, met no diminution from the difference in our political sentiments,"
+and in 1778 he was able to secure the safety of Lord Fairfax from
+persecution at the hands of the Whigs, a service acknowledged by his
+lordship in the following words:
+
+
+"There are times when favors conferred make a greater impression than at
+others, for, though I have received many, I hope I have not been unmindful
+of them; yet that, at a time your popularity was at the highest and mine
+at the lowest, and when it is so common for men's resentments to run up
+high against those, who differ from them in opinion, you should act with
+your wonted kindness towards me, has affected me more than any favor I
+have received; and could not be believed by some in New York, it being
+above the run of common minds."
+
+
+In behalf of another member of the family, threatened with confiscation,
+he wrote to a member of the House of Delegates, "I hope, I trust, that no
+act of Legislation in the State of Virginia has affected, or can affect,
+the properly of this gentleman, otherwise than in common with that of
+every good and well disposed citizen of America," and this was sufficient
+to put an end to the project At the close of the war he wrote to this
+absentee, "There was nothing wanting in [your] Letter to give compleat
+satisfaction to Mrs. Washington and myself but some expression to induce
+us to believe you would once more become our neighbors. Your house at
+Belvoir I am sorry to add is no more, but mine (which is enlarged since
+you saw it), is most sincerely and heartily at your service till you could
+rebuild it. As the path, after being closed by a long, arduous, and
+painful contest, is to use an Indian metaphor, now opened and made smooth,
+I shall please myself with the hope of hearing from you frequently; and
+till you forbid me to indulge the wish, I shall not despair of seeing you
+and Mrs. Fairfax once more the inhabitants of Belvoir, and greeting you
+both there the intimate companions of our old age, as you have been of our
+younger years." And to another he left a token of remembrance in his will.
+
+One of the most curious circle of friends was that composed of Indians.
+After his mission among them in 1753, Washington wrote to a tribe and
+signed himself "your friend and brother." In a less general sense he
+requested an Indian agent to "recommend me kindly to Mononcatoocha and
+others; tell them how happy it would make Conotocarius to have an
+opportunity of taking them by the hand." A little later he had this
+pleasure, and he wrote the governor, "the Indians are all around teasing
+and perplexing me for one thing or another, so that I scarce know what I
+write." When Washington left the frontier this intercourse ceased, but he
+was not forgotten, for in descending the Ohio in his Western trip of 1770
+a hunting party was met, and "in the person of Kiashuto I found an old
+acquaintance, he being one of the Indians that went [with me] to the
+French in 1753. He expressed satisfaction at seeing me, and treated us
+with great kindness, giving us a quarter of very fine buffalo. He insisted
+upon our spending that night with him, and, in order to retard us as
+little as possible moved his camp down the river."
+
+With his appointment to the Virginia regiment came military friends. From
+the earliest of these--Van Braam, who had served under Lawrence Washington
+in the Carthagena expedition of 1742, and who had come to live at Mount
+Vernon--Washington had previously taken lessons in fencing, and when
+appointed the bearer of a letter to the French commander on the Ohio he
+took Van Braam with him as interpreter. A little later, on receiving his
+majority, Washington appointed Van Braam his recruiting lieutenant, and
+recommended him to the governor for a captain's commission on the grounds
+that he was "an experienced good officer." To Van Braam fell the duty of
+translating the capitulation to the French at Fort Necessity, and to his
+reading was laid the blunder by which Washington signed a statement
+acknowledging himself as an "assassin." Inconsequence he became the
+scapegoat of the expedition, was charged by the governor with being a
+"poltroon" and traitor, and was omitted from the Assembly's vote of thanks
+and extra pay to the regiment. But Washington stood by him, and when
+himself burgess succeeded in getting this latter vote rescinded.
+
+Another friend of the same period was the Chevalier Peyroney, whom
+Washington first made an ensign, and then urged the governor to advance
+him, promising that if the governor "should be pleased to indulge me in
+this request, I shall look upon it in a very particular light." Peyroney
+was badly wounded at Fort Necessity and was furloughed, during which he
+wrote his commander, "I have made my particular Business to tray if any
+had some Bad intention against you here Below; But thank God I meet
+allowais with a good wish for you from evry Mouth each one entertining
+such Caracter of you as I have the honour to do myself." He served again
+in the Braddock march, and in that fiasco, Washington wrote, "Captain
+Peyroney and all his officers down to a corporal, was killed."
+
+With Captain Stewart--"a gentleman whose assiduity and military capacity
+are second to none in our Service"--Washington was intimate enough to have
+Stewart apply in 1763 for four hundred pounds to aid him to purchase a
+commission, a sum Washington did not have at his disposal. But because of
+"a regard of that high nature that I could never see you uneasy without
+feeling a part and wishing to remove the cause," Washington lent him three
+hundred pounds towards it, apparently without much return, for some years
+later he wrote to a friend that he was "very glad to learn that my friend
+Stewart was well when you left London. I have not had a letter from him
+these five years." At the close of the Revolution he received a letter
+from Stewart containing "affectionate and flattering expressions," which
+gave Washington "much pleasure," as it "removed an apprehension I had long
+labored under, of your having taken your departure for the land of
+Spirits. How else could I account for a silence of 15 years. I shall
+always be happy to see you at Mt. Vernon."
+
+His friend William Ramsay--"well known, well-esteemed, and of unblemished
+character"--he appointed commissary, and long after, in 1769, wrote,--
+
+
+"Having once or twice of late heard you speak highly in praise of the
+Jersey College, as if you had a desire of sending your son William
+there ... I should be glad, if you have no other objection to it than what
+may arise from the expense, if you would send him there as soon as it is
+convenient, and depend on me for twenty-five pounds this currency a year
+for his support, so long as it may be necessary for the completion of his
+education. If I live to see the accomplishment of this term, the sum here
+stipulated shall he annually paid; and if I die in the mean while, this
+letter shall be obligatory upon my heirs, or executors, to do it according
+to the true intent and meaning hereof. No other return is expected, or
+wished, for this offer, than that you will accept it with the same freedom
+and good will, with which it is made, and that you may not even consider
+it in the light of an obligation or mention it as such; for, be assured,
+that from me it will never be known."
+
+
+The dearest friendship formed in these years was with the doctor of the
+regiment, James Craik, who in the course of his duties attended Washington
+in two serious illnesses, and when the war was ended settled near Mount
+Vernon. He was frequently a visitor there, and soon became the family
+medical attendant. When appointed General, Washington wrote, "tell Doctor
+Craik that I should be very glad to see him here if there was anything
+worth his acceptance; but the Massachusetts people suffer nothing to
+go by them that they lay hands upon." In 1777 the General secured his
+appointment as deputy surgeon-general of the Middle Department, and three
+years later, when the hospital service was being reformed, he used his
+influence to have him retained. Craik was one of those instrumental in
+warning the commander-in-chief of the existence of the Conway Cabal,
+because "my attachment to your person is such, my friendship is so
+sincere, that every hint which has a tendency to hurt your honor, wounds
+me most sensibly." The doctor was Washington's companion, by invitation,
+in both his later trips to the Ohio, and his trust in him was so strong
+that he put under his care the two nephews whose charge he had assumed. In
+Washington's ledger an entry tells of another piece of friendliness, to
+the effect, "Dr. James Craik, paid him, being a donation to his son, Geo.
+Washington Craik for his education L30," and after graduating the young
+man for a time served as one of his private secretaries. After a serious
+illness in 1789, Washington wrote to the doctor, "persuaded as I am, that
+the case has been treated with skill, and with as much tenderness as the
+nature of the complaint would admit, yet I confess I often wished for your
+inspection of it," and later he wrote, "if I should ever have occasion for
+a Physician or Surgeon, I should prefer my old Surgeon, Dr. Craik, who,
+from 40 years' experience, is better qualified than a Dozen of them put
+together." Craik was the first of the doctors to reach Washington's
+bedside in his last illness, and when the dying man predicted his own
+death, "the Doctor pressed his hand but could not utter a word. He retired
+from the bedside and sat by the fire absorbed in grief." In Washington's
+will he left "to my compatriot in arms and old and intimate friend, Doctor
+Craik I give my Bureau (or as the Cabinet makers called it, Tambour
+Secretary) and the circular chair, an appendage of my study."
+
+The arrival of Braddock and his army at Alexandria brought a new circle of
+military friends. Washington "was very particularly noticed by that
+General, was taken into his family as an extra aid, offered a Captain's
+commission by _brevet_ (which was the highest grade he had it in his power
+to bestow) and had the compliment of several blank Ensigncies given him to
+dispose of to the Young Gentlemen of his acquaintance." In this position
+he was treated "with much complaisance ... especially from the General,"
+which meant much, as Braddock seems to have had nothing but curses for
+nearly every one else, and the more as Washington and he "had frequent
+disputes," which were "maintained with warmth on both sides, especially on
+his." But the general, "though his enmities were strong," in "his
+attachments" was "warm," and grew to like and trust the young volunteer,
+and had he "survived his unfortunate defeat, I should have met with
+preferment," having "his promise to that effect." Washington was by the
+general when he was wounded in the lungs, lifted him into a covered cart,
+and "brought him over the _first_ ford of the Monongahela," into temporary
+safety. Three days later Braddock died of his wounds, bequeathing to
+Washington his favorite horse and his body-servant as tokens of his
+gratitude. Over him Washington read the funeral service, and it was left
+to him to see that "the poor general" was interred "with the honors of
+war."
+
+Even before public service had made him known, Washington was a friend and
+guest of many of the leading Virginians. Between 1747 and 1754 he visited
+the Carters of Shirley, Nomony, and Sabine Hall, the Lewises of Warner
+Hall, the Lees of Stratford, and the Byrds of Westover, and there was
+acquaintance at least with the Spotswoods, Fauntleroys, Corbins,
+Randolphs, Harrisons, Robinsons, Nicholases, and other prominent families.
+In fact, one friend wrote him, "your health and good fortune are the toast
+of every table," and another that "the Council and Burgesses are mostly
+your friends," and those two bodies included every Virginian of real
+influence. It was Richard Corbin who enclosed him his first commission, in
+a brief note, beginning "Dear George" and ending "your friend," but in
+time relations became more or less strained, and Washington suspected him
+"of representing my character ... with ungentlemanly freedom." With
+John Robinson, "Speaker" and Treasurer of Virginia, who wrote Washington
+in 1756, "our hopes, dear George, are all fixed on you," a close
+correspondence was maintained, and when Washington complained of the
+governor's course towards him Robinson replied, "I beg dear friend, that
+you will bear, so far as a man of honor ought, the discouragements and
+slights you have too often met with." The son, Beverly Robinson, was a
+fellow-soldier, and, as already mentioned, was Washington's host on his
+visit to New York in 1756. The Revolution interrupted the friendship, but
+it is alleged that Robinson (who was deep in the Arnold plot) made an
+appeal to the old-time relation in an endeavor to save Andre. The appeal
+was in vain, but auld lang syne had its influence, for the sons of
+Beverly, British officers taken prisoners in 1779, were promptly
+exchanged, so one of them asserted, "in consequence of the embers of
+friendship that still remained unextinguished in the breasts of my father
+and General Washington."
+
+Outside of his own colony, too, Washington made friends of many prominent
+families, with whom there was more or less interchange of hospitality.
+Before the Revolution there had been visiting or breaking of bread with
+the Galloways, Dulaneys, Carrolls, Calverts, Jenifers, Edens, Ringgolds,
+and Tilghmans of Maryland, the Penns, Cadwaladers, Morrises, Shippens,
+Aliens, Dickinsons, Chews, and Willings of Pennsylvania, and the De
+Lanceys and Bayards of New York.
+
+Election to the Continental Congress strengthened some friendships and
+added new ones. With Benjamin Harrison he was already on terms of
+intimacy, and as long as the latter was in Congress he was the member most
+in the confidence of the General. Later they differed in politics, but
+Washington assured Harrison that "my friendship is not in the least
+lessened by the difference, which has taken place in our political
+sentiments, nor is my regard for you diminished by the part you have
+acted." Joseph Jones and Patrick Henry both took his part against the
+Cabal, and the latter did him especial service in forwarding to him the
+famous anonymous letter, an act for which Washington felt "most grateful
+obligations." Henry and Washington differed later in politics, and it was
+reported that the latter spoke disparagingly of the former, but this
+Washington denied, and not long after offered Henry the Secretaryship of
+State. Still later he made a personal appeal to him to come forward and
+combat the Virginia resolutions of 1798, an appeal to which Henry
+responded. The intimacy with Robert Morris was close, and, as already
+noted, Washington and his family were several times inmates of his home.
+Gouverneur Morris was one of his most trusted advisers, and, it is
+claimed, gave the casting vote which saved Washington from being arrested
+in 1778, when the Cabal was fiercest. While President, Washington sent him
+on a most important mission to Great Britain, and on its completion made
+him Minister to France. From that post the President was, at the request
+of France, compelled to recall him; but in doing so Washington wrote him a
+private letter assuring Morris that he "held the same place in my
+estimation" as ever, and signed himself "yours affectionately." Charles
+Carroll of Carrollton was a partisan of the General, and very much
+disgusted a member of the Cabal by telling him "almost literally that
+anybody who displeased or did not admire the Commander-in-chief, ought not
+to be kept in the army." And to Edward Rutledge Washington wrote, "I can
+but love and thank you, and I do it sincerely for your polite and friendly
+letter.... The sentiments contained in it are such as have uniformly
+flowed from your pen, and they are not the less flattering than pleasing
+to me."
+
+The command of the Continental army brought a new kind of friend, in the
+young aides of his staff. One of his earliest appointments was Joseph
+Reed, and, though he remained but five months in the service, a close
+friendship was formed. Almost weekly Washington wrote him in the most
+confidential and affectionate manner, and twice he appealed to Reed to
+take the position once more, in one instance adding that if "you are
+disposed to continue with me, I shall think myself too fortunate and
+happy to wish for a change." Yet Washington none the less sent Reed
+congratulations on his election to the Pennsylvania Assembly, "although I
+consider it the coup-de-grace to my ever seeing you" again a "member of my
+family," to help him he asked a friend to endeavor to get Reed legal
+business, and when all law business ceased and the would-be lawyer was
+without occupation or means of support, he used his influence to secure
+him the appointment of adjutant.
+
+Reed kept him informed as to the news of Philadelphia, and wrote even
+such adverse criticism of the General as he heard, which Washington
+"gratefully" acknowledged. But one criticism Reed did not write was what
+he himself was saying of his general after the fall of Fort Washington,
+for which he blamed the commander-in-chief in a letter to Lee, and
+probably to others, for when later Reed and Arnold quarrelled, the latter
+boasted that "I can say I never basked in the sunshine of my general's
+favor, and courted him to his face, when I was at the same time treating
+him with the greatest disrespect and villifying his character when absent.
+This is more than a ruling member of the Council of Pennsylvania can say."
+Washington learned of this criticism in a letter from Lee to Reed, which
+was opened at head-quarters on the supposition that it was on army
+matters, and "with no idea of its being a private letter, much less the
+tendency of the correspondence," as Washington explained in a letter to
+Reed, which had not a word of reproach for the double-dealing that must
+have cut the General keenly, coming as it did at a moment of misfortune
+and discouragement. Reed wrote a lame explanation and apology, and later
+sought to "regain" the "lost friendship" by an earnest appeal to
+Washington's generosity. Nor did he appeal in vain, for the General
+replied that though "I felt myself hurt by a certain letter ... I was
+hurt ... because the same sentiments were not communicated immediately to
+myself." The old-time intimacy was renewed, and how little his personal
+feeling had influenced Washington is shown in the fact that even previous
+to this peace-making he had secured for Reed the appointment to command
+one of the choicest brigades in the army. Perhaps the friendship was never
+quite as close, but in writing him Washington still signed himself "yours
+affectionately."
+
+John Laurens, appointed an aide in 1777, quickly endeared himself to
+Washington, and conceived the most ardent affection for his chief. The
+young officer of twenty-four used all his influence with his father (then
+President of Congress) against the Cabal, and in 1778, when Charles Lee
+was abusing the commander-in-chief, Laurens thought himself bound to
+resent it, "as well on account of the relation he bore to General
+Washington, as from motives of personal friendship and respect for his
+character," and he challenged the defamer and put a bullet into him. To
+his commander he signed himself "with the greatest veneration and
+attachment your Excellency's Faithful Aid," and Washington in his letters
+always addressed him as "my dear Laurens." After his death in battle,
+Washington wrote, in reply to an inquiry,--
+
+
+"You ask if the character of Colonel John Laurens, as drawn in the
+_Independent Chronicle_ of 2d of December last, is just. I answer, that
+such parts of the drawing as have fallen under my observation, is
+literally so; and that it is my firm belief his merits and worth richly
+entitle him to the whole picture. No man possessed more of the _amor
+patriae_. In a word, he had not a fault, that I could discover, unless
+intrepidity bordering upon rashness could come under that denomination;
+and to this he was excited by the purest motives."
+
+
+Of another aide, Tench Tilghman, Washington said, "he has been a zealous
+servant and slave to the public, and a faithful assistant to me for near
+five years, great part of which time he refused to receive pay. Honor
+and gratitude interest me in his favor." As an instance of this, the
+commander-in-chief gave to him the distinction of bearing to Congress the
+news of the surrender of Cornwallis, with the request to that body that
+Tilghman should be honored in some manner. And in acknowledging a letter
+Washington said, "I receive with great sensibility and pleasure your
+assurances of affection and regard. It would be but a renewal of what I
+have often repeated to you, that there are few men in the world to whom I
+am more attached by inclination than I am to you. With the Cause, I
+hope--most devoutly hope--there will be an end to my Military Service, when
+as our places of residence will not be far apart, I shall never be more
+happy than in your Company at Mt. Vernon. I shall always be glad to hear
+from, and keep up a correspondence with you." When Tilghman died,
+Washington asserted that
+
+
+"He had left as fair a reputation as ever belonged to a human character,"
+and to his father he wrote, "Of all the numerous acquaintances of your
+lately deceased son, & midst all the sorrowings that are mingled on that
+melancholy occasion, I may venture to assert that (excepting those of his
+nearest relatives) none could have felt his death with more regret than I
+did, because no one entertained a higher opinion of his worth, or had
+imbibed sentiments of greater friendship for him than I had done.... Midst
+all your grief, there is this consolation to be drawn;--that while living,
+no man could be more esteemed, and since dead, none more lamented than
+Colo. Tilghman."
+
+
+To David Humphreys, a member of the staff, Washington gave the honor of
+carrying to Congress the standards captured at Yorktown, recommending him
+to the notice of that body for his "attention, fidelity, and good
+services." This aide escorted Washington to Mount Vernon at the close of
+the Revolution, and was "the last officer belonging to the army" who
+parted from "the Commander-in-chief." Shortly after, Humphreys returned to
+Mount Vernon, half as secretary and half as visitor and companion, and he
+alluded to this time in his poem of "Mount Vernon," when he said,--
+
+
+"Twas mine, return'd from Europe's courts
+To share his thoughts, partake his sports."
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON FAMILY RECORD]
+
+
+When Washington was accused of cruelty in the Asgill case, Humphreys
+published an account of the affair, completely vindicating his friend, for
+which he was warmly thanked. He was frequently urged to come to Mount
+Vernon, and Washington on one occasion lamented "the cause which has
+deprived us of your aid in the attack of Christmas pies," and on another
+assured Humphreys of his "great pleasure [when] I received the intimation
+of your spending the winter under this Roof. The invitation was not less
+sincere, than the reception will be cordial. The only stipulations I shall
+contend for are, that in all things you shall do as you please--I will do
+the same; and that no ceremony may be used or any restraint be imposed on
+any one." Humphreys was visiting him when the notification of his election
+as President was received, and was the only person, except servants, who
+accompanied Washington to New York. Here he continued for a time to give
+his assistance, and was successively appointed Indian commissioner,
+informal agent to Spain, and finally Minister to Portugal. While holding
+this latter position Washington wrote to him, "When you shall think with
+the poet that 'the post of honor is a private station'--& may be inclined
+to enjoy yourself in my shades ... I can only tell you that you will meet
+with the same cordial reception at Mount Vernon that you have always
+experienced at that place," and when Humphreys answered that his coming
+marriage made the visit impossible, Washington replied, "The desire of a
+companion in my latter days, in whom I could confide ... induced me to
+express too strongly ... the hope of having you as an inmate." On the
+death of Washington, Humphreys published a poem expressing the deepest
+affection and admiration for "my friend."
+
+The longest and closest connection was that with Hamilton. This very young
+and obscure officer attracted Washington's attention in the campaign of
+1776, early in the next year was appointed to the staff, and quickly
+became so much a favorite that Washington spoke of him as "my boy."
+Whatever friendliness this implied was not, however, reciprocated by
+Hamilton. After four years of service, he resigned, under circumstances to
+which he pledged Washington to secrecy, and then himself, in evident
+irritation, wrote as follows:
+
+"Two days ago, the General and I passed each other on the stairs. He told
+me he wanted to speak to me. I answered that I would wait upon him
+immediately. I went below, and delivered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be sent
+to the commissary, containing an order of a pressing and interesting
+nature. Returning to the General, I was stopped on the way by the Marquis
+de 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. Instead of finding the General, as is usual, in his room, I met
+him at the head of the stairs, where, 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, but with decision: '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 this 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, usefulness, etc, and
+of his desire, in a candid conversation, to heal a difference which could
+not have happened but in a moment of passion. I requested Mr Tilghman to
+tell him--1st. That I had taken my resolution in a manner not to be
+revoked ... Thus we stand ... Perhaps you may think I was precipitate in
+rejecting the overture made by the General to an accomodation. I assure
+you, my dear sir, it was not the effect of resentment; it was the
+deliberate result of maxims I had long formed for the government of my own
+conduct.... I believe you know the place I held in the General's
+confidence and counsels, which will make more extraordinary to you to
+learn that for three years past I have felt no friendship for him and have
+professed none. The truth is, our dispositions are the opposites of each
+other, and the pride of my temper would not suffer me to profess what I
+did not feel. Indeed, when advances of this kind have been made to me on
+his part, they were received in a manner that showed at least that I had
+no desire to court them, and that I desired to stand rather upon a footing
+of military confidence than of private attachment."
+
+Had Washington been the man this letter described he would never have
+forgiven this treatment. On the contrary, only two months later, when
+compelled to refuse for military reasons a favor Hamilton asked, he said
+that "my principal concern arises from an apprehension that you will
+impute my refusal to your request to other motives." On this refusal
+Hamilton enclosed his commission to Washington, but "Tilghman came to me
+in his name, pressed me to retain my commission, with an assurance that he
+would endeavor, by all means, to give me a command." Later Washington did
+more than Hamilton himself had asked, when he gave him the leading of the
+storming party at Yorktown, a post envied by every officer in the army.
+
+Apparently this generosity lessened Hamilton's resentment, for a
+correspondence on public affairs was maintained from this time on, though
+Madison stated long after "that Hamilton often spoke disparagingly of
+Washington's talents, particularly after the Revolution and at the first
+part of the presidentcy," and Benjamin Rush confirms this by a note to the
+effect that "Hamilton often spoke with contempt of General Washington. He
+said that ... his heart was a stone." The rumor of the ill feeling was
+turned to advantage by Hamilton's political opponents in 1787, and
+compelled the former to appeal to Washington to save him from the injury
+the story was doing. In response Washington wrote a letter intended for
+public use, in which he said,--
+
+
+"As you say it is insinuated by some of your political adversaries,
+and may obtain credit, 'that you _palmed_ yourself upon me, and was
+_dismissed_ from my family,' and call upon me to do you justice by a
+recital of the facts, I do therefore explicitly declare, that both charges
+are entirely unfounded. With respect to the first, I have no cause to
+believe, that you took a single step to accomplish, or had the most
+distant idea of receiving an appointment in my family till you were
+invited in it; and, with respect to the second, that your quitting it was
+altogether the effect of your own choice."
+
+
+With the appointment as Secretary of the Treasury warmer feelings were
+developed. Hamilton became the President's most trusted official, and was
+tireless in the aid he gave his superior. Even after he left office he
+performed many services equivalent to official ones, for which Washington
+did "not know how to thank" him "sufficiently," and the President leaned
+on his judgment to an otherwise unexampled extent. This service produced
+affection and respect, and in 1792 Washington wrote from Mount Vernon, "We
+have learnt ... that you have some thoughts of taking a trip this way. I
+felt pleasure at hearing it, and hope it is unnecessary to add, that it
+would be considerably increased by seeing you under this roof; for you may
+be assured of the sincere and affectionate regard of yours, &c." and
+signed other letters "always and affectionately yours," or "very
+affectionately," while Hamilton reciprocated by sending "affectionate
+attachment."
+
+On being appointed lieutenant-general in 1798, Washington at once sought
+the aid of Hamilton for the highest position under him, assuring the
+Secretary of War that "of the abilities and fitness of the gentleman you
+have named for a high command in the _provisional army_, I think as you
+do, and that his services ought to be secured at almost any price." To
+this the President, who hated Hamilton, objected, but Washington refused
+to take the command unless this wish was granted, and Adams had to give
+way. They stood in this relation when Washington died, and almost the last
+letter he penned was to this friend. On learning of the death, Hamilton
+wrote of "our beloved Commander-in-chief,"--
+
+
+"The very painful event ... filled my heart with bitterness. Perhaps no
+man in this community has equal cause with myself to deplore the loss. I
+have been much indebted to the kindness of the General, and he was an
+_AEgis very essential to me_. But regrets are unavailing. For great
+misfortunes it is the business of reason to seek consolation. The friends
+of General Washington have very noble ones. If virtue can secure happiness
+in another world, he is happy."
+
+
+Knox was the earliest army friend of those who rose to the rank of
+general, and was honored by Washington with absolute trust. After the war
+the two corresponded, and Knox expressed "unalterable affection" for the
+"thousand evidences of your friendship." He was appointed Secretary of War
+in the first administration, and in taking command of the provisional army
+Washington secured his appointment as a major-general, and at this time
+asserted that, "with respect to General Knox I can say with truth there is
+no man in the United States with whom I have been in habits of greater
+intimacy, no one whom I have loved more sincerely nor any for whom I have
+had a greater friendship."
+
+Greene was perhaps the closest to Washington of all the generals, and
+their relations might be dwelt upon at much length. But the best evidence
+of friendship is in Washington's treatment of a story involving his
+financial honesty, of which he said, "persuaded as I always have been of
+Genl Greene's integrity and worth, I spurned those reports which tended to
+calumniate his conduct ... being perfectly convinced that whenever the
+matter should be investigated, his motives ... would appear pure and
+unimpeachable." When on Greene's death Washington heard that his family
+was left in embarrassed circumstances, he offered, if Mrs. Greene would
+"entrust my namesake G. Washington Greene to my care, I will give him as
+good an education as this country (I mean the United States) will afford,
+and will bring him up to either of the genteel professions that his frds.
+may chuse, or his own inclination shall lead him to pursue, at my own cost
+& expence."
+
+For "Light-horse Harry" Lee an affection more like that given to the
+youngsters of the staff was felt Long after the war was over, Lee began a
+letter to him "Dear General," and then continued,--
+
+
+"Although the exalted station, which your love of us and our love of you
+has placed you in, calls for change in mode of address, yet I cannot so
+quickly relinquish the old manner. Your military rank holds its place in
+my mind, notwithstanding your civic glory; and, whenever I do abandon the
+title which used to distinguish you, I shall do it with awkwardness.... My
+reluctance to trespass a moment on your time would have operated to a
+further procrastination of my wishes, had I not been roused above every
+feeling of ceremony by the heart rending intelligence, received yesterday,
+that your life was despaired of. Had I had wings in the moment, I should
+have wafted myself to your bedside, only again to see the first of men;
+but alas! despairing as I was, from the account received, after the
+affliction of one day and night, I was made most happy by receiving a
+letter, now before me from New York, announcing the restoration of your
+health. May heaven preserve it!"
+
+
+It was Lee who first warned Washington that Jefferson was slandering him
+in secret, and who kept him closely informed as to the political manuvres
+in Virginia. Washington intrusted to him the command of the army in the
+Whiskey Insurrection, and gave him an appointment in the provisional army.
+Lee was in Congress when the death of the great American was announced to
+that body, and it was he who coined the famous "First in war, first in
+peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
+
+As need hardly be said, however, the strongest affection among the general
+officers was that between Washington and Lafayette. In the advent of this
+young Frenchman the commander saw only "embarassment," but he received
+"the young volunteer," so Lafayette said, "in the most friendly manner,"
+invited him to reside in his house as a member of his military family, and
+as soon as he came to know him he recommended Congress to give him a
+command. As Lafayette became popular with the army, an endeavor was
+made by the Cabal to win him to their faction by bribing him with an
+appointment to lead an expedition against Canada, independent of control
+by Washington. Lafayette promptly declined the command, unless subject to
+the General, and furthermore he "braved the whole party (Cabal) and threw
+them into confusion by making them drink the health of their general." At
+the battle of Monmouth Washington gave the command of the attacking party
+to Lafayette, and after the conflict the two, according to the latter,
+"passed the night lying on the same mantle, talking." In the same way
+Washington distinguished him by giving him the command of the expedition
+to rescue Virginia from Cornwallis, and to his division was given the
+most honorable position at Yorktown. When the siege of that place was
+completed, Lafayette applied for leave of absence to spend the winter in
+France, and as he was on the point of sailing he received a personal
+letter from Washington, for "I owe it to friendship and to my affectionate
+regard for you my dear Marquis, not to let you leave this country without
+carrying fresh marks of my attachment to you," and in his absence
+Washington wrote that a mutual friend who bore a letter "can tell you more
+forcibly, than I can express how much we all love and wish to embrace
+you."
+
+A reunion came in 1784, looked forward to by Lafayette with an eagerness
+of which he wrote, "by Sunday or Monday, I hope at last to be blessed with
+a sight of my dear General. There is no rest for me till I go to Mount
+Vernon. I long for the pleasure to embrace you, my dear General; and the
+happiness of being once more with you will be so great, that no words can
+ever express it. Adieu, my dear General; in a few days I shall be at Mount
+Vernon, and I do already feel delighted with so charming a prospect."
+After this visit was over Washington wrote, "In the moment of our
+separation, upon the road as I travelled, and every hour since, I have
+felt all that love, respect and attachment for you, with which length of
+years, close connexion, and your merits have inspired me. I often asked
+myself, as our carriages separated, whether that was the last sight I ever
+should have of you?" And to this letter Lafayette replied,--
+
+
+"No my beloved General, our late parting was not by any means a last
+interview. My whole soul revolts at the idea; and could I harbour it an
+instant, indeed, my dear General, it would make me miserable. I well see
+you will never go to France. The inexpressible pleasure of embracing you
+in my own house, of welcoming you in a family where your name is adored, I
+do not much expect to experience; but to you I shall return, and, within
+the walls of Mount Vernon, we shall yet speak of olden times. My firm plan
+is to visit now and then my friend on this side of the Atlantic; and the
+most beloved of all friends I ever had, or ever shall have anywhere, is
+too strong an inducement for me to return to him, not to think that
+whenever it is possible I shall renew my so pleasing visits to Mount
+Vernon.... Adieu, adieu, my dear General. It is with inexpressible pain
+that I feel I am going to be severed from you by the Atlantic. Everything,
+that admiration, respect, gratitude, friendship, and fillial love, can
+inspire, is combined in my affectionate heart to devote me most tenderly
+to you. In your friendship I find a delight which words cannot express.
+Adieu, my dear General. It is not without emotion that I write this word,
+although I know I shall soon visit you again. Be attentive to your health.
+Let me hear from you every month. Adieu, adieu."
+
+
+The correspondence begged was maintained, but Lafayette complained that
+"To one who so tenderly loves you, who so happily enjoyed the times we
+have passed together, and who never, on any part of the globe, even in his
+own house, could feel himself so perfectly at home as in your family, it
+must be confessed that an irregular, lengthy correspondence is quite
+insufficient I beseech you, in the name of our friendship, of that
+paternal concern of yours for my happiness, not to miss any opportunity to
+let me hear from my dear General."
+
+One letter from Washington told Lafayette of his recovery from a serious
+illness, and Lafayette responded, "What could have been my feelings, had
+the news of your illness reached me before I knew my beloved General, my
+adopted father, was out of danger? I was struck at the idea of the
+situation you have been in, while I, uninformed and so distant from you,
+was anticipating the long-waited-for pleasure to hear from you, and the
+still more endearing prospect of visiting you and presenting you the
+tribute of a revolution, one of your first offsprings. For God's sake, my
+dear General, take care of your health!"
+
+Presently, as the French Revolution gathered force, the anxiety was
+reversed, Washington writing that "The lively interest which I take in
+your welfare, my dear Sir, keeps my mind in constant anxiety for your
+personal safety." This fear was only too well founded, for shortly after
+Lafayette was a captive in an Austrian prison and his wife was appealing
+to her husband's friend for help. Our ministers were told to do all they
+could to secure his liberty, and Washington wrote a personal letter to the
+Emperor of Austria. Before receiving her letter, on the first news of the
+"truly affecting" condition of "poor Madame Lafayette," he had written to
+her his sympathy, and, supposing that money was needed, had deposited at
+Amsterdam two hundred guineas "subject to your orders."
+
+When she and her daughters joined her husband in prison, Lafayette's son,
+and Washington's godson, came to America; an arrival of which the
+godfather wrote that, "to express all the sensibility, which has been
+excited in my breast by the receipt of young Lafayette's letter, from the
+recollection of his father's merits, services, and sufferings, from my
+friendship for him, and from my wishes to become a friend and father to
+his son is unnecessary." The lad became a member of the family, and a
+visitor at this time records that "I was particularly struck with the
+marks of affection which the General showed his pupil, his adopted son of
+Marquis de Lafayette. Seated opposite to him, he looked at him with
+pleasure, and listened to him with manifest interest." With Washington he
+continued till the final release of his father, and a simple business note
+in Washington's ledger serves to show both his delicacy and his generosity
+to the boy: "By Geo. W. Fayette, gave for the purpose of his getting
+himself such small articles of Clothing as he might not choose to ask for
+$100." Another item in the accounts was three hundred dollars "to defray
+his exps. to France," and by him Washington sent a line to his old friend,
+saying, "this letter I hope and expect will be presented to you by your
+son, who is highly deserving of such parents as you and your amiable
+lady."
+
+Long previous to this, too, a letter had been sent to Virginia Lafayette,
+couched in the following terms:
+
+
+"Permit me to thank my dear little correspondent for the favor of her
+letter of the 18 of June last, and to impress her with the idea of
+the pleasure I shall derive from a continuance of them. Her papa is
+restored to her with all the good health, paternal affection, and honors,
+which her tender heart could wish. He will carry a kiss to her from me
+(which might be more agreeable from a pretty boy), and give her assurances
+of the affectionate regard with which I have the pleasure of being her
+well-wisher,
+
+George Washington."
+
+
+In this connection it is worth glancing at Washington's relations with
+children, the more that it has been frequently asserted that he had no
+liking for them. As already shown, at different times he adopted or
+assumed the expenses and charge of not less than nine of the children of
+his kith and kin, and to his relations with children he seldom wrote a
+letter without a line about the "little ones." His kindnesses to the sons
+of Ramsay, Craik, Greene, and Lafayette have already been noticed.
+Furthermore, whenever death or illness came among the children of his
+friends there was sympathy expressed. Dumas relates of his visit to
+Providence with Washington, that "we arrived there at night; the whole of
+the population had assembled from the suburbs; we were surrounded by a
+crowd of children carrying torches, reiterating the acclamations of the
+citizens; all were eager to approach the person of him whom they called
+their father, and pressed so closely around us that they hindered us from
+proceeding. General Washington was much affected, stopped a few moments,
+and, pressing my hand, said, 'We may be beaten by the English; it is the
+chance of war; but behold an army which they can never conquer,'"
+
+In his journey through New England, not being able to get lodgings at an
+inn, Washington spent a night in a private house, and when all payment was
+refused, he wrote his host from his next stopping-place,--
+
+
+"Being informed that you have given my name to one of your sons, and
+called another after Mrs. Washington's family, and being moreover very
+much pleased with the modest and innocent looks of your two daughters,
+Patty and Polly, I do for these reasons send each of these girls a piece
+of chintz; and to Patty, who bears the name of Mrs. Washington, and who
+waited upon us more than Polly did, I send five guineas, with which she
+may buy herself any little ornaments she may want, or she may dispose of
+them in any other manner more agreeable to herself. As I do not give these
+things with a view to have it talked of, or even of its being known, the
+less there is said about the matter the better you will please me; but,
+that I may be sure the chintz and money have got safe to hand, let Patty,
+who I dare say is equal to it, write me a line informing me thereof,
+directed to 'The President of the United States at New York.'"
+
+
+Miss Stuart relates that "One morning while Mr. Washington was sitting for
+his picture, a little brother of mine ran into the room, when my father
+thinking it would annoy the General, told him he must leave; but the
+General took him upon his knee, held him for some time, and had quite a
+little chat with him, and, in fact, they seemed to be pleased with each
+other. My brother remembered with pride, as long as he lived, that
+Washington had talked with him."
+
+For the son of his secretary, Lear, there seems to have been great
+fondness, and in one instance the father was told that "It gave Mrs.
+Washington, myself and all who know him, sincere pleasure to hear that our
+little favorite had arrived safe, and was in good health at Portsmouth. We
+sincerely wish him a long continuance of the latter--that he may always be
+as charming and promising as he now is--and that he may live to be a
+comfort and blessing to you, and an ornament to his country. As a
+testimony of my affection for him I send him a ticket in the lottery which
+is now drawing in the Federal City; and if it should be his fortune to
+draw the hotel it will add to the pleasure I have in giving it." A second
+letter condoled with "little Lincoln," because owing to the collapse of
+the lottery the "poor little fellow" will not even get enough to "build
+him a baby house."
+
+For the father, Tobias Lear, who came into his employment in 1786 and
+remained with him till his death, Washington felt the greatest affection
+and trust. It was he who sent for the doctor in the beginning of the last
+illness, and he was in the sickroom most of the time. Holding Washington's
+hand, he received from him his last orders, and later when Washington
+"appeared to be in great pain and distress from the difficulty of
+breathing ... I lay upon the bed and endeavored to raise him, and turn him
+with as much ease as possible. He appeared penetrated with gratitude for
+my attentions, and often said 'I am afraid I shall fatigue you too much.'"
+Still later Lear "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." At the
+final moment Lear took his hand "and laid it upon his breast." When all
+was over, "I kissed the cold hand, laid it down, and was ... lost in
+profound grief."
+
+
+
+X
+
+
+ENEMIES
+
+
+Any man of force is to be known quite as much by the character of his
+enemies as by that of his friends, and this is true of Washington. The
+subject offers some difficulties, for most of his enemies later in life
+went out of their way to deny all antagonism, and took pains to destroy
+such proof as they could come at of ill-feeling towards him. Yet enough
+remains to show who were in opposition to him, and on what grounds.
+
+The first of those now known to be opposed to him was George Muse,
+lieutenant-colonel in 1754 under Washington. At Fort Necessity he was
+guilty of cowardice, he was discharged in disgrace, and his name was
+omitted from the Assembly's vote of thanks to the regiment. Stung by this
+action, he took his revenge in a manner related by Peyroney, who wrote
+Washington,--
+
+
+"Many enquired to me about Muse's Braveries, poor Body I had pity him
+ha'nt he had the weakness to Confes his Coardise himself, & the impudence
+to taxe all the reste of the oficers without exception of the same
+imperfection for he said to many of the Consulars and Burgeses that he was
+Bad But th' the reste was as Bad as he--To speak francly, had I been in
+town at that time I cou'nt help'd to make use of my horses [whip] whereas
+for to vindicate the injury of that vilain. He Contrived his Business so
+that several ask me if it was true that he had Challeng'd you to fight: My
+Answer was no other But that he should rather chuse to go to hell than
+doing of it--for he had Such thing declar'd: that was his Sure Road."
+
+
+Washington seems to have cherished no personal ill-will for Muse's
+conduct, and when the division of the "bounty lands" was being pushed, he
+used his influence that the broken officer should receive a quotum. Not
+knowing this, or else being ungrateful, Muse seems to have written a
+letter to Washington which angered him, for he replied,--
+
+
+"Sir, Your impertinent letter was delivered to me yesterday. As I am not
+accustomed to receive such from any man, nor would have taken the same
+language from you personally, without letting you feel some marks of my
+resentment, I would advise you to be cautious in writing me a second of
+the same tenor. But for your stupidity and sottishness you might have
+known, by attending to the public gazette, that you had your full quantity
+of ten thousand acres of land allowed you, that is, nine thousand and
+seventy-three acres in the great tract, and the remainder in the small
+tract. But suppose you had really fallen short, do you think your
+superlative merit entitles you to greater indulgence than others? Or, if
+it did, that I was to make it good to you, when it was at the option of
+the Governor and Council to allow but five hundred acres in the whole, if
+they had been so inclined? If either of these should happen to be your
+opinion, I am very well convinced that you will be singular in it; and all
+my concern is, that I ever engaged in behalf of so ungrateful a fellow as
+you are. But you may still be in need of my assistance, as I can inform
+you, that your affairs, in respect to these lands, do not stand upon so
+solid a basis as you imagine, and this you may take by way of hint. I
+wrote to you a few days ago concerning the other distribution, proposing
+an easy method of dividing our lands; but since I find in what temper you
+are, I am sorry I took the trouble of mentioning the land or your name in
+a letter, as I do not think you merit the least assistance from me."
+
+
+The Braddock campaign brought acquaintance with one which did not end in
+friendship, however amicable the beginning. There can be little doubt
+that there was cameraderie with the then Lieutenant-Colonel Gage, for in
+1773, when in New York for four days, Washington "Dined with Gen. Gage,"
+and also "dined at the entertainment given by the citizens of New
+York to Genl. Gage." When next intercourse was resumed, it was by
+formal correspondence between the commanders-in-chief of two hostile
+armies, Washington inquiring as to the treatment of prisoners, and
+as a satisfactory reply was not obtained, he wrote again, threatening
+retaliation, and "closing my correspondence with you, perhaps forever,"
+--a letter which Charles Lee thought "a very good one, but Gage certainly
+deserved a stronger one, such as it was before it was softened." One
+cannot but wonder what part the old friendship played in this "softening."
+
+Relations with the Howes began badly by a letter from Lord Howe addressed
+"George Washington, Esq.," which Washington declined to receive as not
+recognizing his official position. A second one to "George Washington,
+Esq. &c. &c. &c." met with the same fate, and brought the British officer
+"to change my superscription." A little after this brief war of forms, a
+letter from Washington to his wife was intercepted with others by the
+enemy, and General Howe enclosed it, "happy to return it without the least
+attempt being made to discover any part of the contents." This courtesy
+the American commander presently was able to reciprocate by sending
+"General Washington's compliments to General Howe,--does himself the
+pleasure to return to him a dog, which accidentally fell into his hands,
+and, by the inscription on the collar, appears to belong to General Howe."
+Even politeness had its objections, however, at moments, and Washington
+once had to write Sir William,--
+
+
+"There is one passage of your letter, which I cannot forbear taking
+particular notice of. No expression of personal politeness to me can be
+acceptable, accompanied by reflections on the representatives of a free
+people, under whose authority I have the honor to act. The delicacy I have
+observed, in refraining from everything offensive in this way, entitles me
+to expect a similar treatment from you. I have not indulged myself in
+invective against the present rulers of Great Britain, in the course of
+our correspondence, nor will I even now avail myself of so fruitful a
+theme."
+
+
+Apparently when Sir Henry Clinton succeeded to the command of the British
+army the same old device to insult the General was again tried, for Dumas
+states that Washington "received a despatch from Sir Henry Clinton,
+addressed to 'Mr. Washington.' Taking it from the hands of the flag of
+truce, and seeing the direction, 'This letter,' said he, 'is directed to a
+planter of the state of Virginia. I shall have it delivered to him after
+the end of the war; till that time it shall not be opened.' A second
+despatch was addressed to his Excellency General Washington." A better
+lesson in courtesy was contained in a letter from Washington to him,
+complaining of "wanton, unprecedented and inhuman murder," which closed
+with the following: "I beg your Excellency to be persuaded, that it cannot
+be more disagreeable to you to be addressed in this language, than it is
+to me to offer it; but the subject requires frankness and decision."
+
+Quite as firm was one addressed to Cornwallis, which read,--
+
+
+"It is with infinite regret, I am again compelled to remonstrate against
+that spirit of wanton cruelty, that has in several instances influenced
+the conduct of your soldiery. A recent exercise of it towards an unhappy
+officer of ours, Lieutenant Harris, convinces me, that my former
+representations on this subject have been unavailing. That Gentleman by
+the fortunes of war, on Saturday last was thrown into the hands of a party
+of your horse, and unnecessarily murdered with the most aggravated
+circumstances of barbarity. I wish not to wound your Lordship's feelings,
+by commenting on this event; but I think it my duty to send his mangled
+body to your lines as an undeniable testimony of the fact, should it be
+doubted, and as the best appeal to your humanity for the justice of our
+complaint."
+
+
+A pleasanter intercourse came with the surrender of Yorktown, after which
+not merely were Cornwallis and his officers saved the mortification of
+surrendering their swords, but the chief among them were entertained at
+dinner by Washington. At this meal, so a contemporary account states,
+"Rochhambeau, being asked for a toast, gave _'The United States'_.
+Washington gave _'The King of France'_. Lord Cornwallis, simply _'The
+King'_; but Washington, putting that toast, added, _'of England'_, and
+facetiously, _'confine him there, I'll drink him a full bumper'_, filling
+his glass till it ran over. Rochambeau, with great politeness, was still
+so French, that he would every now and then be touching on points that
+were improper, and a breach of real politeness. Washington often checked
+him, and showed in a more saturnine manner, the infinite esteem he had for
+his gallant prisoner, whose private qualities the Americans admired even
+in a foe, that had so often filled them with the most cruel alarms." Many
+years later, when Cornwallis was governor-general of India, he sent a
+verbal message to his old foe, wishing "General Washington a long
+enjoyment of tranquility and happiness," adding that for himself he
+"continued in troubled waters."
+
+
+[Illustration: MRS WASHINGTON]
+
+
+Turning from these public rather than personal foes, a very different type
+of enemies is encountered in those inimical to Washington in his own army.
+Chief of these was Horatio Gates, with whom Washington had become
+acquainted in the Braddock campaign, and with whom there was friendly
+intercourse from that time until the Revolution. In 1775, at Washington's
+express solicitation, Gates was appointed adjutant- and brigadier-general,
+and in a letter thanking Washington for the favor he professed to have
+"the greatest respect for your character and the sincerest attachment to
+your person." Nevertheless, he very early in the war suggested that a
+committee of Congress be sent to camp to keep watch on Washington, and as
+soon as he was in a separate command he began to curry favor with Congress
+and scheme against his commander. This was not unknown to Washington, who
+afterwards wrote, "I discovered very early in the war symptoms of coldness
+& constraint in General Gates' behavior to me. These increased as he rose
+into greater consequence."
+
+When Burgoyne capitulated to Gates, he sent the news to Congress and not
+to Washington, and though he had no further need for troops the
+commander-in-chief had sent him, he endeavored to prevent their return at a
+moment when every man was needed in the main army. His attitude towards
+Washington was so notorious that his friends curried favor with him by
+letters criticising the commander, and when, by chance, the General
+learned of the contents of one of these letters, and news to that effect
+reached the ears of Gates, he practically charged Washington with having
+obtained his knowledge by dishonorable means; but Washington more than
+repaid the insult, in telling Gates how he had learned of the affair, by
+adding that he had "considered the information as coming from yourself,
+and given with a friendly view to forewarn and consequently forearm me,
+against a secret enemy ... but in this, as in other matters of late, I
+have found myself mistaken." Driven to the wall, Gates wrote to Washington
+a denial that the letter contained the passage in question, which was an
+absolute lie, and this untruth typifies his character. Without expressing
+either belief or disbelief in this denial, Washington replied,--
+
+
+"I am as averse to controversy as any man, and had I not been forced into
+it, you never would have had occasion to impute to me, even the shadow of
+disposition towards it. Your repeatedly and solemnly disclaiming any
+offensive views in those matters, which have been the subject of our past
+correspondence makes me willing to close with the desire, you express, of
+burying them hereafter in silence, and, as far as future events will
+permit, oblivion. My temper leads me to peace and harmony with all men;
+and it is peculiarly my wish to avoid any personal feuds or dissentions
+with those who are embarked in the same great national interest with,
+myself; as every difference of this kind must in its consequence be very
+injurious."
+
+
+After this affair subsided, Washington said,--
+
+
+"I made a point of treating Gen. Gates with all the attention and
+cordiality in my power, as well from a sincere desire of harmony, as from
+an unwillingness to give any cause of triumph among ourselves. I can
+appeal to the world, and to the whole army, whether I have not cautiously
+avoided offending Gen. Gates in any way. I am sorry his conduct to me has
+not been equally generous, and that he is continually giving me fresh
+proofs of malevolence and opposition. It will not be doing him injustice
+to say, that, besides the little underhand intrigues which he is
+frequently practising, there has hardly been any great military question,
+in which his advice has been asked, that it has not been given in an
+equivocal and designing manner, apparently calculated to afford him an
+opportunity of censuring me, on the failure of whatever measures might be
+adopted."
+
+
+After the defeat of Gates at Camden, the Prince de Broglie wrote that "I
+saw General Gates at the house of General Washington, with whom he had had
+a misunderstanding.... This interview excited the curiosity of both
+armies. It passed with a most perfect propriety on the part of both
+gentlemen. Mr. Washington treated Mr. Gates with a politeness which had a
+frank and easy air, while the other responded with that shade of respect
+which was proper towards his general." And how fair-minded Washington
+was is shown by his refusal to interfere in an army matter, because,
+"considering the delicate situation in which I stand with respect to
+General Gates, I feel an unwillingness to give any opinion (even in a
+confidential way) in a matter in which he is concerned, lest my sentiments
+(being known) should have unfavorable interpretations ascribed to them by
+illiberal Minds." Yet the friendship was never restored, and when the two
+after the war were associated in the Potomac company, Washington's sense
+of the old treachery was still so keen that he alluded to the appointment
+of "my bosom friend Genl G-tes, who being at Richmond, contrived to edge
+himself in to the commission."
+
+Thomas Conway was Washington's traducer to Gates. He was an Irish-French
+soldier of fortune who unfortunately had been made a brigadier-general in
+the Continental army. Having made friends of the New England delegates in
+Congress, it was then proposed by them to advance him to the rank of
+major-general, which Washington opposed, on the grounds that "his merit
+and importance exist more in his imagination than in reality." For the
+moment this was sufficient to prevent Conway's promotion, and even if he
+had not before been opposed to his commander, he now became his bitter
+enemy. To more than Gates he said or wrote, "A great & good God has
+decreed that America shall be free, or Washington and weak counsellors
+would have ruined her long ago." Upon word of this reaching Washington, so
+Laurens tells, "The genl immediately copied the contents of the paper,
+introducing them with 'sir,' and concluding with, 'I am your humble
+servt,' and sent this copy in the form of a letter to Genl Conway. This
+drew an answer, in which he first attempts to deny the fact, and then in a
+most shameless manner, to explain away the matter. The perplexity of his
+style, and evident insincerity of his compliments, betray his weak
+sentiments, and expose his guilt."
+
+Yet, though detected, Conway complained to the Continental Congress that
+Washington was not treating him properly, and in reply to an inquiry from
+a member the General acknowledged that,--
+
+
+"If General Conway means by cool receptions mentioned in the last
+paragraph of his letter of the 31st ultimo, that I did not receive him in
+the language of a warm and cordial friend, I readily confess the charge. I
+did not, nor shall I ever, till I am capable of the arts of dissimulation.
+These I despise, and my feelings will not permit me to make professions of
+friendship to the man I deem my enemy, and whose system of conduct forbids
+it. At the same time, truth authorizes me to say, that he was received and
+treated with proper respect to his official character, and that he has had
+no cause to justify the assertion, that he could not expect any support
+for fulfilling the duties of his appointment."
+
+
+In spite of Washington's opposition, Conway's friends were numerous enough
+in the Congress finally to elect him major-general, at the same time
+appointing him inspector-general. Elated with this evident partiality of
+the majority of that body for him, he went even further, and Laurens
+states that he was guilty of a "base insult" to Washington, which "affects
+the General very sensibly," and he continues,--
+
+
+"It is such an affront as Conway would never have dared to offer, if the
+General's situation had not assured him of the impossibility of its being
+revenged in a private way. The Genl, therefore, has determined to return
+him no answer at all, but to lay the whole matter before Congress; they
+will determine whether Genl W. is to be sacrificed to Genl. C., for the
+former can never consent to be concern'd in any transaction with the
+latter, from whom he has received such unpardonable insults."
+
+
+Fortunately, Conway did not limit his "insulting letters" to the
+commander-in-chief alone, and presently he sent one to Congress
+threatening to resign, which so angered that body that they took him at
+his word. Moreover, his open abuse of Washington led an old-time friend of
+the latter to challenge him, and to lodge a ball, with almost poetic
+justice, in Conway's mouth. Thinking himself on the point of death, he
+wrote a farewell line to Washington "expressing my sincere grief for
+having done, written or said anything disagreeable to your
+Excellency.... You are in my eyes a great and good man." And with this
+recantation he disappeared from the army. A third officer in this "cabal"
+was Thomas Mifflin. He was the first man appointed on Washington's staff at
+the beginning of the war, but did not long remain in that position, being
+promoted by Washington to be quartermaster-general. In this position the
+rumor reached the General that Mifflin was "concerned in trade," and
+Washington took "occasion to hint" the suspicion to him, only to get a
+denial from the officer. Whether this inquiry was a cause for ill-feeling
+or not, Mifflin was one of the most outspoken against the
+commander-in-chief as his opponents gathered force, and Washington informed
+Henry that he "bore the second part in the cabal." Mifflin resigned from
+the army and took a position on the board of war, but when the influence of
+that body broke down with the collapse of the Cabal, he applied for a
+reappointment,--a course described by Washington in plain English as
+follows:
+
+
+"I was not a little surprised to find a certain gentleman, who, some time
+ago (when a cloud of darkness hung heavy over us, and our affairs looked
+gloomy,) was desirous of resigning, now stepping forward in the line of
+the army. But if he can reconcile such conduct to his own, feelings, as an
+officer and a man of honor, and Congress hath no objections to his leaving
+his seat in another department, I have nothing personally to oppose it.
+Yet I must think, that gentleman's stepping in and out, as the sun happens
+to beam forth or obscure, is not _quite_ the thing, nor _quite_ just, with
+respect to those officers, who take ye bitter with the sweet."
+
+
+Not long after Greene wrote that "I learn that General Mifflin has
+publicly declared that he looked upon his Excellency as the best friend he
+ever had in his life, so that is a plain sign that the Junto has given up
+all ideas of supplanting our excellent general from a confidence of the
+impracticability of such an attempt."
+
+A very minor but most malignant enemy was Dr. Benjamin Rush. In 1774
+Washington dined with him in Philadelphia, which implied friendship.
+Very early in the war, however, an attempt was made to remove the
+director-general of hospitals, in which, so John Armstrong claimed,
+"Morgan was the ostensible--Rush the real prosecutor of Shippen--the
+former acting from revenge,... the latter from a desire to obtain the
+directorship. In approving the sentence of the court, Washington
+stigmatized the prosecution as one originating in bad motives, which made
+Rush his enemy and defamer as long as he lived." Certain it is he wrote
+savage letters of criticism about his commander-in-chief of which the
+following extract is a sample:
+
+
+"I have heard several officers who have served under General Gates compare
+his army to a well regulated family. The same gentlemen have compared
+Gen'l Washington's imitation of an army to an unformed mob. Look at the
+characters of both! The one on the pinnacle of military glory--exulting in
+the success of schemes planned with wisdom, & executed with vigor and
+bravery--and above all see a country saved by his exertions. See the other
+outgeneral'd and twice heated--obliged to witness the march of a body of
+men only half their number thro' 140 Miles of a thick settled country--
+forced to give up a city the capitol of a state & after all outwitted by
+the same army in a retreat."
+
+
+Had Rush written only this, there would be no grounds for questioning his
+methods; but, not content with spreading his opinions among his friends,
+he took to anonymous letter-writing, and sent an unsigned letter abusing
+Washington to the governor of Virginia (and probably to others), with the
+request that the letter should be burned. Instead of this, Henry sent it
+to Washington, who recognized at once the handwriting, and wrote to Henry
+that Rush "has been elaborate and studied in his professions of regard to
+me, and long since the letter to you." An amusing sequel to this incident
+is to be found in Rush moving heaven and earth on the publication of
+Marshall's "Life of Washington" to prevent his name from appearing as one
+of the commander-in-chief's enemies.
+
+After the collapse of the attempt Washington wrote to a friend, "I thank
+you sincerely for the part you acted at York respecting C---y, and believe
+with you that matters have and will turn out very different to what that
+party expected. G---s has involved himself in his letters to me in the
+most absurd contradictions. M--- has brought himself into a scrape that he
+does not know how to get out of with a gentleman of this State, and C---,
+as you know is sent upon an expedition which all the world knew, and the
+event has proved, was not practicable. In a word, I have a good deal of
+reason to believe that the machination of this junta will recoil upon
+their own heads, and be a means of bringing some matters to light which,
+by getting me out of the way, some of them thought to conceal."
+
+Undoubtedly the most serious army antagonist was General Charles Lee, and,
+but for what seem almost fatalistic chances, he would have been a
+dangerous rival. He was second in command very early in the war, and at
+this time he asserted that "no man loves, respects and reverences another
+more than I do General Washington. I esteem his virtues, private and
+public. I know him to be a man of sense, courage and firmness." But four
+months later he was lamenting Washington's "fatal indecision," and by
+inference was calling him "a blunderer." In another month he wrote,
+"_entre nous_ a certain great man is most damnably deficient." At this
+point, fortunately, Lee was captured by the British, so that his influence
+for the time being was destroyed. While a prisoner he drew up a plan for
+the English general, showing how America could be conquered.
+
+When he had been exchanged, and led the American advance at the battle of
+Monmouth, he seems to have endeavored to aid the British in another way,
+for after barely engaging, he ordered a retreat, which quickly developed
+into a rout, and would have ended in a serious defeat had not, as Laurens
+wrote, "fortunately for the honor of the army, and the welfare of America,
+Genl Washington met the troops retreating in disorder, and without any
+plan to make an opposition. He ordered some pieces of artillery to be
+brought up to defend the pass, and some troops to form and defend the
+pieces. The artillery was too distant to be brought up readily, so that
+there was but little opposition given here. A few shot though, and a
+little skirmishing in the wood checked the enemy's career. The Genl
+expressed his astonishment at this unaccountable retreat Mr. Lee
+indecently replied that the attack was contrary to his advice and opinion
+in council."
+
+In a fit of temper Lee wrote Washington two imprudent letters, expressed
+"in terms [so] highly improper" that he was ordered under arrest and tried
+by a court-martial, which promptly found him guilty of disobedience and
+disrespect, as well as of making a "disorderly and unnecessary retreat."
+To this Lee retorted, "I aver that his Excellencies letter was from
+beginning to the end a most abominable lie--I aver that my conduct will
+stand the strictest scrutiny of every military judge--I aver that my Court
+Martial was a Court of Inquisition--that there was not a single member
+with a military idea--at least if I may pronounce from the different
+questions they put to the evidences."
+
+In this connection it is of interest to note a letter from Washington's
+friend Mason, which said, "You express a fear that General Lee will
+challenge our friend. Indulge in no such apprehensions, for he too well
+knows the sentiments of General Washington on the subject of duelling.
+From his earliest manhood I have heard him express his contempt of the man
+who sends and the man who accepts a challenge, for he regards such acts as
+no proof of moral courage; and the practice he abhors as a relic of old
+barbarisms, repugnant alike to sound morality and Christian
+enlightenment."
+
+A little later, still smarting from this court-martial, Lee wrote to a
+newspaper a savage attack on his late commander, apparently in the belief,
+as he said in a private letter, that "there is ... a visible
+revolution ... in the minds of men, I mean that our Great Gargantua, or
+Lama Babak (for I know not which Title is the properest) begins to be no
+longer consider'd as an infallible Divinity--and that those who have been
+sacrificed or near sacrific'd on his altar, begin to be esteem'd as
+wantonly and foolishly offer'd up." Lee very quickly found his mistake,
+for the editor of the paper which contained his attack was compelled by a
+committee of citizens to publish an acknowledgment that in printing it "I
+have transgressed against truth, justice and my duty as a good citizen,"
+and, as Washington wrote to a friend, "the author of the Queries,
+'Political and Military,' has had no cause to exult in the favorable
+reception of them by the public." With Lee's disappearance the last army
+rival dropped from the ranks, and from that time there was no question as
+to who should command the armies of America. Long after, a would-be editor
+of Lee's papers wrote to Washington to ask if he had any wishes in regard
+to the publication, and was told in the reply that,--
+
+
+"I never had a difference with that gentleman, but on public ground, and
+my conduct towards him upon this occasion was such only, as I conceived
+myself indispensably bound to adopt in discharge of the public trust
+reposed in me. If this produced in him unfavorable sentiments of me, I yet
+can never consider the conduct I pursued, with respect to him, either
+wrong or improper, however I may regret that it may have been differently
+viewed by him and that it excited his censure and animadversions. Should
+there appear in General Lee's writings any thing injurious or unfriendly
+to me, the impartial and dispassionate world must decide how far I
+deserved it from the general tenor of my conduct."
+
+
+These attempts to undermine Washington owed their real vitality to the
+Continental Congress, and it is safe to say that but for Washington's
+political enemies no army rival would have ventured to push forward. In
+what the opposition in that body consisted, and to what length it went,
+are discussed elsewhere, but a glance at the reasons of hostility to him
+is proper here.
+
+John Adams declared himself "sick of the Fabian systems," and in writing
+of the thanksgiving for the Saratoga Convention, he said that "one cause
+of it ought to be that the glory of turning the tide of arms is not
+immediately due to the commander-in-chief.... If it had, idolatry and
+adulation would have been unbounded." James Lovell asserted that "Our
+affairs are Fabiused into a very disagreeable posture," and wrote that
+"depend upon it for every ten soldiers placed under the command of our
+Fabius, five recruits will be wanted annually during the war." William
+Williams agreed with Jonathan Trumbull that the time had come when "a much
+exalted character should make way for a _general_" and suggested if this
+was not done "voluntarily," those to whom the public looked should "see to
+it." Abraham Clark thought "we may talk of the Enemy's Cruelty as we will,
+but we have no greater Cruelty to complain of than the Management of our
+Army." Jonathan D. Sargent asserted that "we want a general--thousands of
+Lives & Millions of Property are yearly sacrificed to the Insufficiency
+of our Commander-in-Chief--Two Battles he has lost for us by two such
+Blunders as might have disgraced a Soldier of three months standing, and
+yet we are so attached to this Man that I fear we shall rather sink
+with him than throw him off our Shoulders. And sink we must under his
+Management. Such Feebleness, & Want of Authority, such Confusion & Want of
+Discipline, such Waste, such destruction would exhaust the Wealth of both
+the Indies & annihilate the armies of all Europe and Asia." Richard
+Henry Lee agreed with Mifflin that Gates was needed to "procure the
+indispensable changes in our Army." Other Congressmen who were inimical to
+Washington, either by openly expressed opinion or by vote, were Elbridge
+Gerry, Samuel Adams, William Ellery, Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sherman, Samuel
+Chase, and F.L. Lee. Later, when Washington's position was more secure,
+Gerry and R.H. Lee wrote to him affirming their friendship, and to both
+the General replied without a suggestion of ill-feeling, nor does he seem,
+in later life, to have felt a trace of personal animosity towards any one
+of the men who had been in opposition to him in Congress. Of this enmity
+in the army and Congress Washington wrote,--
+
+
+"It is easy to bear the first, and even the devices of private enemies
+whose ill will only arises from their common hatred to the cause we are
+engaged in, are to me tolerable; yet, I confess, I cannot help feeling the
+most painful sensations, whenever I have reason to believe I am the object
+of persecution to men, who are embarked in the same general interest, and
+whose friendship my heart does not reproach me with, ever having done any
+thing to forfeit. But with many, it is a sufficient cause to hate and wish
+the ruin of a man, because he has been happy enough, to be the object of
+_his country's_ favor."
+
+
+The political course of Washington while President produced the alienation
+of the two Virginians whom he most closely associated with himself in the
+early part of his administration. With Madison the break does not seem to
+have come from any positive ill-feeling, but was rather an abandonment of
+intercourse as the differences of opinion became more pronounced. The
+disagreement with Jefferson was more acute, though probably never forced
+to an open rupture. To his political friends Jefferson in 1796 wrote that
+the measures pursued by the administration were carried out "under the
+sanction of a name which has done too much good not to be sufficient to
+cover harm also," and that he hoped the President's "honesty and his
+political errors may not furnish a second occasion to exclaim, 'curse on
+his virtues, they've undone his country.'" Henry Lee warned Washington of
+the undercurrent of criticism, and when Jefferson heard indirectly of this
+he wrote his former chief that "I learn that [Lee] has thought it worth
+his while to try to sow tares between you and me, by representing me as
+still engaged in the bustle of politics & in turbulence & intrigue against
+the government. I never believed for a moment that this could make any
+impression on you, or that your knowledge of me would not overweigh the
+slander of an intriguer dirtily employed in sifting the conversations of
+my table." To this Washington replied,--
+
+
+"As you have mentioned the subject yourself, it would not be frank, candid
+or friendly to conceal, that your conduct has been represented as
+derogating from that opinion _I_ had conceived you entertained of me;
+that, to your particular friends and connexions you have described, and
+they have denounced me as a person under a dangerous influence; and that,
+if I would listen more to some _other_ opinions, all would be well. My
+answer invariably has been, that I had never discovered any thing in
+the conduct of Mr. Jefferson to raise suspicions in my mind of his
+insincerity; that, if he would retrace my public conduct while he was in
+the administration, abundant proofs would occur to him, that truth and
+right decisions were the _sole_ objects of my pursuit; that there was as
+many instances within his own knowledge of my having decided _against_ as
+in _favor_ of the opinions of the person evidently alluded to; and, I was
+no believer in the infallibility of the politics or measures of _any man
+living_. In short that I was no party man myself and the first wish of my
+heart was, if parties did exist, to reconcile them."
+
+
+As proof upon proof of Jefferson's secret enmity accumulated, Washington
+ceased to trust his disclaimers, and finally wrote to one of his
+informants, "Nothing short of the evidence you have adduced, corroborative
+of intimations which I had received long before through another channel,
+could have shaken my belief in the sincerity of a friendship, which I had
+conceived as possessed for me by the person to whom you allude. But
+attempts to injure those, who are supposed to stand well in the estimation
+of the people, and are stumbling blocks in the way, by misrepresenting
+their political tenets, thereby to destroy all confidence in them, are
+among the means by which the government is to be assailed, and the
+constitution destroyed."
+
+Once convinced, all relations with Jefferson were terminated. It is
+interesting in this connection to note something repeated by Madison, to
+the effect that "General Lafayette related to me the following anecdote,
+which I shall repeat as nearly as I can in his own words. 'When I last saw
+Mr. Jefferson,' he observed, 'we conversed a good deal about General
+Washington, and Mr. Jefferson expressed high admiration of his character.
+He remarked particularly that he and Hamilton often disagreed when they
+were members of the Cabinet, and that General Washington would sometimes
+favor the opinion of one and sometimes the other, with an apparent strict
+impartiality. And Mr. Jefferson added that, so sound was Washington's
+judgment, that he was commonly convinced afterwards of the accuracy of his
+decision, whether it accorded with the opinion he had himself first
+advanced or not.'"
+
+
+[Illustration: EARLIEST SIGNATURE OF WASHINGTON]
+
+
+A third Virginian who was almost as closely associated was Edmund
+Randolph. There had been a friendship with his father, until he turned
+Tory and went to England, when, according to Washington's belief, he wrote
+the "forged letters" which gave Washington so much trouble. For the sake
+of the old friendship, however, he gave the son a position on his staff,
+and from that time was his friend and correspondent. In the first
+administration he was made Attorney-General, and when Jefferson retired
+from office he became Secretary of State. In this position he was charged
+with political dishonesty. Washington gave him a chance to explain,
+but instead he resigned from office and published what he called "a
+vindication," in which he charged the President with "prejudging,"
+"concealment," and "want of generosity." Continuing, he said,
+"never ... could I have believed that in addressing you ... I should use
+any other language than that of a friend. From my early period of life, I
+was taught to esteem you--as I advanced in years, I was habituated to
+revere you:--you strengthened my prepossessions by marks of attention." And
+in another place he acknowledged the weakness of his attack by saying,
+"still however, those very objections, the very reputation which you have
+acquired, will cause it to be asked, why you should be suspected of acting
+towards me, in any other manner, than deliberately, justly and even
+kindly?"
+
+In the preparation of this pamphlet Randolph wrote the President a letter
+which the latter asserted was "full of innuendoes," and one statement in
+the pamphlet he denounced as being "as impudent and insolent an assertion
+as it is false." And his irritation at this treatment from one he had
+always befriended gave rise to an incident, narrated by James Ross, at a
+breakfast at the President's, when "after a little while the Secretary of
+War came in, and said to Washington, 'Have you seen Mr. Randolph's
+pamphlet?' 'I have,' said Washington, 'and, by the eternal God, he is the
+damnedest liar on the face of the earth!' and as he spoke he brought his
+fist down upon the table with all his strength, and with a violence which
+made the cups and plates start from their places." Fortunately, the attack
+was ineffective; indeed, Hamilton wrote that "I consider it as amounting
+to a confession of guilt; and I am persuaded this will be the universal
+opinion. His attempts against you are viewed by all whom I have seen, as
+base. They will certainly fail of their aim, and will do good rather than
+harm, to the public cause and to yourself. It appears to me that, by you,
+no notice can be, or ought to be, taken of the publication. It contains
+its own antidote."
+
+Not content with this double giving up of what to any man of honor was
+confidential, Randolph, a little later, rested under Washington's
+suspicions of a third time breaking the seal of official secrecy by
+sending a Cabinet paper to the newspapers for no other purpose than to
+stir up feeling against Washington. But after his former patron's death
+regret came, and Randolph wrote to Bushrod Washington, "If I could now
+present myself before your venerated uncle it would be my pride to confess
+my contrition that I suffered my irritation, be the cause what it might,
+to use some of those expressions respecting him which, at this moment ... I
+wish to recall as being inconsistent with my subsequent convictions."
+
+Another type of enemy, more or less the result of this differing with
+Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Randolph, was sundry editors and writers
+who gathered under their patronage and received aids of money or of secret
+information. One who prospered for a time by abusing Washington was Philip
+Freneau. He was a college friend of Madison's, and was induced to
+undertake the task by his and Jefferson's urging, though the latter denied
+this later. As aid to the undertaking, Jefferson, then Secretary of State,
+gave Freneau an office, and thus produced the curious condition of a clerk
+in the government writing and printing savage attacks on the President.
+Washington was much irritated at the abuse, and Jefferson in his "Anas"
+said that he "was evidently sore & warm and I took his intention to be
+that I should interpose in some way with Freneau, perhaps withdraw his
+appointment of translating clerk to my office. But I will not do it."
+According to the French minister, some of the worst of these articles were
+written by Jefferson himself, and Freneau is reported to have said, late
+in life, that many of them were written by the Secretary of State.
+
+Far more indecent was the paper conducted by Benjamin Franklin Bache, who,
+early in the Presidency, applied for a place in the government, which for
+some reason not now known was refused. According to Cobbett, who hated
+him, "this ... scoundrel ... spent several years in hunting offices under
+the Federal Government, and being constantly rejected, he at last became
+its most bitter foe. Hence his abuse of General Washington, whom at the
+time he was soliciting a place he panegyrized up to the third heaven."
+Certain it is that under his editorship the _General Advertiser_ and
+_Aurora_ took the lead in all criticisms of Washington, and not content
+with these opportunities for daily and weekly abuse, Bache (though the
+fact that they were forgeries was notorious) reprinted the "spurious
+letters which issued from a certain press in New York during the war, with
+a view to destroy the confidence which the army and community might have
+had in my political principles,--and which have lately been republished
+with greater avidity and perseverance than ever, by Mr. Bache to answer
+the same nefarious purpose with the latter," and Washington added that
+"immense pains has been taken by this said Mr. Bache, who is no more than
+the agent or tool of those who are endeavoring to destroy the confidence
+of the people, in the officers of Government (chosen by themselves) to
+disseminate these counterfeit letters." In addition Bache wrote a
+pamphlet, with the avowal that "the design of these remarks is to prove
+the want of claim in Mr. Washington either to the gratitude or confidence
+of his country.... Our chief object ... is to _destroy undue impressions
+in favor of Mr. Washington_." Accordingly it charged that Washington was
+"treacherous," "mischievous," "inefficient;" dwelt upon his "farce of
+disinterestedness," his "stately journeyings through the American
+continent in search of personal incense," his "ostentatious professions
+of piety," his "pusillanimous neglect," his "little passions," his
+"ingratitude," his "want of merit," his "insignificance," and his
+"spurious fame."
+
+The successor of Bache as editor of these two journals, William Duane,
+came to the office with an equal hatred of Washington, having already
+written a savage pamphlet against him. In this the President was charged
+with "treacherous mazes of passion," and with having "discharged the
+loathings of a sick mind." Furthermore it asserted "that had you obtained
+promotion ... after Braddock's defeat, your sword would have been drawn
+against your country," that Washington "retained the barbarous usages of
+the feudal system and kept men in Livery," and that "posterity will in
+vain search for the monuments of wisdom in your administration;" the
+purpose of the pamphlet, by the author's own statement, being "to expose
+the _Personal Idolatry_ into which we have been heedlessly running," and
+to show the people the "fallibility of the most favored of men."
+
+A fourth in this quartet of editors was the notorious James Thomson
+Callender, whose publications were numerous, as were also his impeachments
+against Washington. By his own account, this writer maintained, "Mr.
+Washington has been twice a traitor," has "authorized the robbery and ruin
+of the remnants of his own army," has "broke the constitution," and
+Callender fumes over "the vileness of the adulation which has been paid"
+to him, claiming that "the extravagant popularity possessed by this
+citizen reflects the utmost ridicule on the discernment of America."
+
+The bitterest attack, however, was penned by Thomas Paine. For many years
+there was good feeling between the two, and in 1782, when Paine was in
+financial distress, Washington used his influence to secure him a position
+"out of friendship for me," as Paine acknowledged. Furthermore, Washington
+tried to get the Virginia Legislature to pension Paine or give him a grant
+of land, an endeavor for which the latter was "exceedingly obliged." When
+Paine published his "Rights of Man" he dedicated it to Washington, with an
+inscription dwelling on his "exemplary virtue" and his "benevolence;"
+while in the body of the work he asserted that no monarch of Europe had a
+character to compare with Washington's, which was such as to "put all
+those men called kings to shame." Shortly after this, however, Washington
+refused to appoint him Postmaster-General; and still later, when Paine had
+involved himself with the French, the President, after consideration,
+decided that governmental interference was not proper. Enraged by these
+two acts, Paine published a pamphlet in which he charged Washington with
+"encouraging and swallowing the greatest adulation," with being "the
+patron of fraud," with a "mean and servile submission to the insults of
+one nation, treachery and ingratitude to another," with "falsehood,"
+"ingratitude," and "pusillanimity;" and finally, after alleging that the
+General had not "served America with more disinterestedness or greater
+zeal, than myself, and I know not if with better effect," Paine closed his
+attack by the assertion, "and as to you, sir, _treacherous in private
+friendship_, and a _hypocrite_ in public life, the world will be puzzled
+to decide, whether you are an _apostate_ or an _impostor_; whether you
+have _abandoned good principles_, or whether _you ever had any?_"
+
+Washington never, in any situation, took public notice of these attacks,
+and he wrote of a possible one, "I am gliding down the stream of life, and
+wish, as is natural, that my remaining days may be undisturbed and
+tranquil; and, conscious of my integrity, I would willingly hope, that
+nothing would occur tending to give me anxiety; but should anything
+present itself in this or any other publication, I shall never undertake
+the painful task of recrimination, nor do I know that I should even enter
+upon my justification." To a friend he said, "my temper leads me to peace
+and harmony with all men; and it is peculiarly my wish to avoid any feuds
+or dissentions with those who are embarked in the same great national
+interest with myself; as every difference of this kind must in its
+consequence be very injurious."
+
+
+
+XI
+
+
+SOLDIER
+
+
+"My inclinations," wrote Washington at twenty-three, "are strongly bent to
+arms," and the tendency was a natural one, coming not merely from his
+Indian-fighting great-grandfather, but from his elder brother Lawrence,
+who had held a king's commission in the Carthagena expedition, and was one
+of the few officers who gained repute in that ill-fated attempt. At Mount
+Vernon George must have heard much of fighting as a lad, and when the ill
+health of Lawrence compelled resignation of command of the district
+militia, the younger brother succeeded to the adjutancy. This quickly led
+to the command of the first Virginia regiment when the French and Indian
+War was brewing. Twice Washington resigned in disgust during the course of
+the war, but each time his natural bent, or "glowing zeal," as he phrased
+it, drew him back into the service. The moment the news of Lexington
+reached Virginia he took the lead in organizing an armed force, and in the
+Virginia Convention of 1775, according to Lynch, he "made the most
+eloquent speech ... that ever was made. Says he, 'I will raise one
+thousand men, enlist them at my own expense, and march myself at their
+head for the relief of Boston.'" At fifty-three, in speaking of war,
+Washington said, "my first wish is to see this plague to mankind banished
+from off the earth;" but during his whole life, when there was fighting to
+be done, he was among those who volunteered for the service.
+
+The personal courage of the man was very great. Jefferson, indeed, said
+"he was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calmest
+unconcern." Before he had ever been in action, he noted of a certain
+position that it was "a charming field for an encounter," and his first
+engagement he described as follows: "I fortunately escaped without any
+wound, for the right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and received all
+the enemy's fire, and it was the part where the man was killed, and the
+rest wounded. I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there is
+something charming in the sound." In his second battle, though he knew
+that he was "to be attacked and by unequal numbers," he promised
+beforehand to "withstand" them "if there are five to one," adding, "I
+doubt not, but if you hear I am beaten, but you will, at the same [time,]
+hear that we have done our duty, in fighting as long [as] there was a
+possibility of hope," and in this he was as good as his word. When
+sickness detained him in the Braddock march, he halted only on condition
+that he should receive timely notice of when the fighting was to begin,
+and in that engagement he exposed himself so that "I had four bullets
+through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, altho'
+death was levelling my companions on every side of me!" Not content with
+such an experience, in the second march on Fort Duquesne he "prayed" the
+interest of a friend to have his regiment part of the "light troops" that
+were to push forward in advance of the main army.
+
+The same carelessness of personal danger was shown all through the
+Revolution. At the battle of Brooklyn, on New York Island, at Trenton,
+Germantown, and Monmouth, he exposed himself to the enemy's fire, and at
+the siege of Yorktown an eyewitness relates that "during the assault, the
+British kept up an incessant firing of cannon and musketry from their
+whole line. His Excellency General Washington, Generals Lincoln and Knox
+with their aids, having dismounted, were standing in an exposed situation
+waiting the result. Colonel Cobb, one of General Washington's aids,
+solicitous for his safety, said to his Excellency, 'Sir, you are too much
+exposed here, had you not better step back a little?' 'Colonel Cobb,'
+replied his Excellency, 'if you are afraid, you have liberty to step
+back.'" It is no cause for wonder that an officer wrote, "our army love
+their General very much, but they have one thing against him, which is the
+little care he takes of himself in any action. His personal bravery, and
+the desire he has of animating his troops by example, make him fearless of
+danger. This occasions us much uneasiness."
+
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S TRANSCRIPT OF THE RULES OF CIVILITY, CIRCA
+1744]
+
+
+This fearlessness was equally shown by his hatred and, indeed,
+non-comprehension of cowardice. In his first battle, upon the French
+surrendering, he wrote to the governor, "if the whole Detach't of the
+French behave with no more Resolution than this chosen Party did, I
+flatter myself we shall have no g't trouble in driving them to the d---."
+At Braddock's defeat, though the regiment he had commanded "behaved like
+men and died like soldiers," he could hardly find words to express his
+contempt for the conduct of the British "cowardly regulars," writing of
+their "dastardly behavior" when they "broke and ran as sheep before
+hounds," and raging over being "most scandalously" and "shamefully
+beaten." When the British first landed on New York Island, and two New
+England brigades ran away from "a small party of the enemy," numbering
+about fifty, without firing a shot, he completely lost his self-control at
+their "dastardly behavior," and riding in among them, it is related, he
+laid his cane over the officers' backs, "damned them for cowardly
+rascals," and, drawing his sword, struck the soldiers right and left with
+the flat of it, while snapping his pistols at them. Greene states that the
+fugitives "left his Excellency on the ground within eighty yards of the
+enemy, so vexed at the infamous conduct of the troops, that he sought
+death rather than life," and Gordon adds that the General was only saved
+from his "hazardous position" by his aides, who "caught the bridle of his
+horse and gave him a different direction." At Monmouth an aide stated that
+when he met a man running away he was "exasperated ... and threatened the
+man ... he would have him whipped," and General Scott says that on finding
+Lee retreating, "he swore like an angel from heaven." Wherever in his
+letters he alludes to cowardice it is nearly always coupled with the
+adjectives "infamous," "scandalous," or others equally indicative of loss
+of temper.
+
+There can be no doubt that Washington had a high temper. Hamilton's
+allusion to his not being remarkable for "good temper" has already been
+quoted, as has also Stuart's remark that "all his features were indicative
+of the strongest and most ungovernable passions, and had he been born in
+the forests, he would have been the fiercest man among the savage tribes."
+Again Stuart is quoted by his daughter as follows:
+
+
+"While talking one day with General Lee, my father happened to remark that
+Washington had a tremendous temper, but held it under wonderful control.
+General Lee breakfasted with the President and Mrs. Washington a few days
+afterwards.
+
+"'I saw your portrait the other day,' said the General, 'but Stuart says
+you have a tremendous temper.'
+
+"'Upon my word,' said Mrs. Washington, coloring, 'Mr. Stuart takes a great
+deal upon himself to make such a remark.'
+
+"'But stay, my dear lady,' said General Lee, 'he added that the president
+had it under wonderful control.'
+
+"With something like a smile, General Washington remarked, 'He is right.'"
+
+
+Lear, too, mentions an outburst of temper when he heard of the defeat of
+St. Clair, and elsewhere records that in reading politics aloud to
+Washington "he appeared much affected, and spoke with some degree of
+asperity on the subject, which I endeavored to moderate, as I always did
+on such occasions." How he swore at Randolph and at Freneau is mentioned
+elsewhere. Jefferson is evidence that "his temper was naturally irritable
+and high-toned, but reflection and resolution had obtained a firm and
+habitual ascendency over it. If however it broke its bonds, he was most
+tremendous in his wrath."
+
+Strikingly at variance with these personal qualities of courage and hot
+blood is the "Fabian" policy for which he is so generally credited, and a
+study of his military career goes far to dispel the conception that
+Washington was the cautious commander that he is usually pictured.
+
+In the first campaign, though near a vastly superior French force,
+Washington precipitated the conflict by attacking and capturing an advance
+party, though the delay of a few days would have brought him large
+reinforcements. As a consequence he was very quickly surrounded, and after
+a day's fighting was compelled to surrender. In what light his conduct was
+viewed at the time is shown in two letters, Dr. William Smith writing,
+"the British cause,... has received a fatal Blow by the entire defeat of
+Washington, whom I cannot but accuse of Foolhardiness to have ventured so
+near a vigilant enemy without being certain of their numbers, or waiting
+for Junction of some hundreds of our best Forces, who are within a few
+Days' March of him," and Ann Willing echoed this by saying, "the
+melancholy news has just arrived of the loss of sixty men belonging to
+Col. Washington's Company, who were killed on the spot, and of the Colonel
+and Half-King being taken prisoners, all owing to the obstinacy of
+Washington, who would not wait for the arrival of reinforcements."
+
+Hardly less venturesome was he in the Braddock campaign, for "the General
+(before they met in council,) asked my opinion concerning the expedition.
+I urged it, in the warmest terms I was able, to push forward, if we even
+did it with a small but chosen band, with such artillery and light stores
+as were absolutely necessary; leaving the heavy artillery, baggage, &c.
+with the rear division of the army, to follow by slow and easy marches,
+which they might do safely, while we were advanced in front." How far the
+defeat of that force was due to the division thus urged it is not possible
+to say, but it undoubtedly made the French bolder and the English more
+subject to panic.
+
+The same spirit was manifested in the Revolution. During the siege of
+Boston he wrote to Reed, "I proposed [an assault] in council; but behold,
+though we had been waiting all the year for this favorable event the
+enterprise was thought too dangerous. Perhaps it was; perhaps the
+irksomeness of my situation led me to undertake more than could be
+warranted by prudence. I did not think so, and I am sure yet, that the
+enterprise, if it had been undertaken with resolution, must have
+succeeded." He added that "the enclosed council of war:... being
+almost unanimous, I must suppose it to be right; although, from a
+thorough conviction of the necessity of attempting something against the
+ministerial troops before a reinforcement should arrive, and while we were
+favored with the ice, I was not only ready but willing, and desirous of
+making the assault," and a little later he said that had he but foreseen
+certain contingencies "all the generals upon earth should not have
+convinced me of the propriety of delaying an attack upon Boston."
+
+In the defence of New York there was no chance to attack, but even when
+our lines at Brooklyn had been broken and the best brigades in the army
+captured, Washington hurried troops across the river, and intended to
+contest the ground, ordering a retreat only when it was voted in the
+affirmative by a council of war. At Harlem plains he was the attacking
+party.
+
+How with a handful of troops he turned the tide of defeat by attacking at
+Trenton and Princeton is too well known to need recital. At Germantown,
+too, though having but a few days before suffered defeat, he attacked and
+well-nigh won a brilliant victory, because the British officers did not
+dream that his vanquished army could possibly take the initiative. When
+the foe settled down into winter quarters in Philadelphia Laurens wrote,
+"our Commander-in-chief wishing ardently to gratify the public expectation
+by making an attack upon the enemy ... went yesterday to view the works."
+On submitting the project to a council, however, they stood eleven to four
+against the attempt.
+
+The most marked instance of Washington's un-Fabian preferences, and proof
+of the old saying that "councils of war never fight," is furnished in the
+occurrences connected with the battle of Monmouth. When the British began
+their retreat across New Jersey, according to Hamilton "the General
+unluckily called a council of war, the result of which would have done
+honor to the most honorable society of mid-wives and to them only. The
+purport was, that we should keep at a comfortable distance from the enemy,
+and keep up a vain parade of annoying them by detachment ... The General,
+on mature reconsideration of what had been resolved on, determined to
+pursue a different line of conduct at all hazards." Concerning this
+decision Pickering wrote,--
+
+
+"His great caution in respect to the enemy, acquired him the name of the
+American Fabius. From this _governing_ policy he is said to have departed,
+when" at Monmouth he "indulged the most anxious desire to close with his
+antagonist in general action. Opposed to his wishes was the advice of
+his general officers. To this he for a time yielded; but as soon as he
+discovered that the enemy had reached Monmouth Court House, not more than
+twelve miles from the heights of Middletown, he determined that he should
+not escape without a blow."
+
+
+Pickering considered this a "departure" from Washington's "usual practice
+and policy," and cites Wadsworth, who said, in reference to the battle of
+Monmouth, that the General appeared, on that occasion, "to act from the
+impulses of his own mind."
+
+Thrice during the next three years plans for an attack on the enemy's
+lines at New York were matured, one of which had to be abandoned because
+the British had timely notice of it by the treachery of an American
+general, a second because the other generals disapproved the attempt, and,
+on the authority of Humphreys, "the accidental intervention of some
+vessels prevented [another] attempt, which was more than once resumed
+afterwards. Notwithstanding this favorite project was not ultimately
+effected, it was evidently not less bold in conception or feasible in
+accomplishment, than that attempted so successfully at Trenton, or than
+that which was brought to so glorious an issue in the successful siege of
+Yorktown."
+
+As this _resume_ indicates, the most noticeable trait of Washington's
+military career was a tendency to surrender his own opinions and wishes to
+those over whom he had been placed, and this resulted in a general
+agreement not merely that he was disposed to avoid action, but that he
+lacked decision. Thus his own aide, Reed, in obvious contrast to
+Washington, praised Lee because "you have decision, a quality often wanted
+in minds otherwise valuable," continuing, "Oh! General, an indecisive mind
+is one of the greatest misfortunes that can befall an army; how often have
+I lamented it this campaign," and Lee in reply alluded to "that fatal
+indecision of mind." Pickering relates meeting General Greene and saying
+to him, "'I had once conceived an exalted opinion of General Washington's
+military talents; but since I have been with the army, I have seen nothing
+to increase that opinion.' Greene answered, 'Why, the General does want
+decision: for my part, I decide in a moment.' I used the word 'increase,'
+though I meant 'support,' but did not dare speak it." Wayne exclaimed "if
+our worthy general will but follow his own good judgment without listening
+too much to some counsel!" Edward Thornton, probably repeating the
+prevailing public estimate of the time rather than his own conclusion,
+said, "a certain degree of indecision, however, a want of vigor and
+energy, may be observed in some of his actions, and are indeed the obvious
+result of too refined caution."
+
+Undoubtedly this leaning on others and the want of decision were not
+merely due to a constitutional mistrust of his own ability, but also in a
+measure to real lack of knowledge. The French and Indian War, being almost
+wholly "bush-fighting," was not of a kind to teach strategic warfare, and
+in his speech accepting the command Washington requested that "it may be
+remembered by every gentleman in the room, that I this day declare with
+the utmost sincerity I do not think myself equal to the command I am
+honored with." Indeed, he very well described himself and his generals
+when he wrote of one officer, "his wants are common to us all--the want of
+experience to move upon a large scale, for the limited and contracted
+knowledge, which any of us have in military matters, stands in very little
+stead." There can be no question that in most of the "field" engagements
+of the Revolution Washington was out-generalled by the British, and
+Jefferson made a just distinction when he spoke of his having often
+"failed in the field, and rarely against an enemy in station, as at Boston
+and York."
+
+The lack of great military genius in the commander-in-chief has led
+British writers to ascribe the results of the war to the want of ability
+in their own generals, their view being well summed up by a writer in
+1778, who said, "in short, I am of the opinion ... that any other General
+in the world than General Howe would have beaten General Washington; and
+any other General in the world than General Washington would have beaten
+General Howe."
+
+This is, in effect, to overlook the true nature of the contest, for it was
+their very victories that defeated the British. They conquered New Jersey,
+to meet defeat; they captured Philadelphia, only to find it a danger; they
+established posts in North Carolina, only to abandon them; they overran
+Virginia, to lay down their arms at Yorktown. As Washington early in the
+war divined, the Revolution was "a war of posts," and he urged the danger
+of "dividing and subdividing our Force too much [so that] we shall have no
+one post sufficiently guarded," saying, "it is a military observation
+strongly supported by experience, 'that a superior army may fall a
+sacrifice to an inferior, by an injudicious division.'" It was exactly
+this which defeated the British; every conquest they made weakened their
+force, and the war was not a third through when Washington said, "I am
+well convinced myself, that the enemy, long ere this, are perfectly well
+satisfied, that the possession of our towns, while we have an army in the
+field, will avail them little." As Franklin said, when the news was
+announced that Howe had captured Philadelphia, "No, Philadelphia has
+captured Howe."
+
+The problem of the Revolution was not one of military strategy,
+but of keeping an army in existence, and it was in this that the
+commander-in-chief's great ability showed itself. The British could and
+did repeatedly beat the Continental army, but they could not beat the
+General, and so long as he was in the field there was a rallying ground
+for whatever fighting spirit there was.
+
+The difficulty of this task can hardly be over-magnified. When Washington
+assumed command of the forces before Boston, he "found a mixed multitude
+of people ... under very little discipline, order, or government," and
+"confusion and disorder reigned in every department, which, in a little
+time, must have ended either in the separation of the army or fatal
+contests with one another." Before he was well in the saddle his general
+officers were quarrelling over rank, and resigning; there was such a
+scarcity of powder that it was out of the question for some months to do
+anything; and the British sent people infected with small-pox to the
+Continental army, with a consequent outbreak of that pest.
+
+Hardly had he brought order out of chaos when the army he had taken such
+pains to discipline began to melt away, having been by political folly
+recruited for short terms, and the work was to be all done over. Again and
+again during the war regiments which had been enlisted for short periods
+left him at the most critical moment. Very typical occurrences he himself
+tells of, when Connecticut troops could "not be prevailed upon to stay
+longer than their term (saving those who have enlisted for the next
+campaign, and mostly on furlough), and such a dirty, mercenary spirit
+pervades the whole, that I should not be at all surprised at any disaster
+that may happen," and when he described how in his retreat through New
+Jersey, "The militia, instead of calling forth their utmost efforts to a
+brave and manly opposition in order to repair our losses, are dismayed,
+intractable, and impatient to return. Great numbers of them have gone off;
+in some instances, almost by whole regiments, by half ones, and by
+companies at a time." Another instance of this evil occurred when "the
+Continental regiments from the eastern governments ... agreed to stay six
+weeks beyond their term of enlistment.... For this extraordinary mark of
+their attachment to their country, I have agreed to give them a bounty of
+ten dollars per man, besides their pay running on." The men took the
+bounty, and nearly one-half went off a few days after.
+
+Nor was this the only evil of the policy of short enlistments. Another was
+that the new troops not merely were green soldiers, but were without
+discipline. At New York Tilghman wrote that after the battle of Brooklyn
+the "Eastern" soldiers were "plundering everything that comes in their
+way," and Washington in describing the condition said, "every Hour brings
+the most distressing complaints of the Ravages of our own Troops who are
+become infinitely more formidable to the poor Farmers and Inhabitants than
+the common Enemy. Horses are taken out of the Continental Teams; the
+Baggage of Officers and the Hospital Stores, even the Quarters of General
+Officers are not exempt from Rapine." At the most critical moment of the
+war the New Jersey militia not merely deserted, but captured and took with
+them nearly the whole stores of the army. As the General truly wrote, "the
+Dependence which the Congress have placed upon the militia, has already
+greatly injured, and I fear will totally ruin our cause. Being subject to
+no controul themselves, they introduce disorder among the troops, whom you
+have attempted to discipline, while the change in their living brings
+on sickness; this makes them Impatient to get home, which spreads
+universally, and introduces abominable desertions." "The collecting
+militia," he said elsewhere, "depends entirely upon the prospects of the
+day. If favorable they throng in to you; if not, they will not move."
+
+To make matters worse, politics were allowed to play a prominent part in
+the selection of officers, and Washington complained that "the different
+States [were], without regard to the qualifications of an officer,
+quarrelling about the appointments, and nominating such as are not fit to
+be shoeblacks, from the attachments of this or that member of Assembly."
+As a result, so he wrote of New England, "their officers are generally of
+the lowest class of the people; and, instead of setting a good example to
+their men, are leading them into every kind of mischief, one species of
+which is plundering the inhabitants, under the pretence of their being
+Tories." To this political motive he himself would not yield, and a sample
+of his appointments was given when a man was named "because he stands
+unconnected with either of these Governments; or with this, or that or
+tother man; for between you and me there is more in this than you can
+easily imagine," and he asserted that "I will not have any Gentn.
+introduced from family connexion, or local attachments, to the prejudice
+of the Service."
+
+To misbehaving soldiers Washington showed little mercy. In his first
+service he had deserters and plunderers "flogged," and threatened that if
+he could "lay hands" on one particular culprit, "I would try the effect of
+1000 lashes." At another time he had "a Gallows near 40 feet high erected
+(which has terrified the _rest_ exceedingly) and I am determined if I can
+be justified in the proceeding, to hang two or three on it, as an example
+to others." When he took command of the Continental army he "made a pretty
+good slam among such kind of officers as the Massachusetts Government
+abound in since I came to this Camp, having broke one Colo, and two
+Captains for cowardly behavior in the action on Bunker's Hill,--two
+Captains for drawing more provisions and pay than they had men in their
+Company--and one for being absent from his Post when the Enemy appeared
+there and burnt a House just by it Besides these, I have at this time--one
+Colo., one Major, one Captn., & two subalterns under arrest for tryal--In
+short I spare none yet fear it will not at all do as these People seem to
+be too inattentive to every thing but their Interest" "I am sorry," he
+wrote, "to be under a Necessity of making frequent Examples among the
+Officers," but "as nothing can be more fatal to an Army, than Crimes of
+this kind, I am determined by every Motive of Reward and Punishment to
+prevent them in future." Even when plundering was avoided there were short
+commons for those who clung to the General. The commander-in-chief wrote
+Congress that "they have often, very often, been reduced to the necessity
+of Eating Salt Porke, or Beef not for a day, or a week but months
+together without Vegetables, or money to buy them;" and again, he
+complained that "the Soldiers [were forced to] eat every kind of horse
+food but Hay. Buckwheat, common wheat, Rye and Indn. Corn was the
+composition of the Meal which made their bread. As an Army they bore it,
+[but] accompanied by the want of Cloaths, Blankets, &c., will produce
+frequent desertions in all armies and so it happens with us, tho' it did
+not excite a mutiny." Even the horses suffered, and Washington wrote to
+the quartermaster-general, "Sir, my horses I am told have not had a
+mouthful of long or short forage for three days. They have eaten up their
+mangers and are now, (though wanted for immediate use,) scarcely able to
+stand."
+
+Two results were sickness and discontent. At times one-fourth of the
+soldiers were on the sick-list. Three times portions of the army mutinied,
+and nothing but Washington's influence prevented the disorder from
+spreading. At the end of the war, when, according to Hamilton, "the army
+had secretly determined not to lay down their arms until due provision and
+a satisfactory prospect should be offered on the subject of their pay,"
+the commander-in-chief urged Congress to do them justice, writing, "the
+fortitude--the long, & great suffering of this army is unexampled in
+history; but there is an end to all things & I fear we are very near to
+this. Which, more than probably will oblige me to stick very close to my
+flock this winter, & try like a careful physician, to prevent, if
+possible, the disorders getting to an incurable height." In this he judged
+rightly, for by his influence alone was the army prevented from adopting
+other than peaceful measures to secure itself justice.
+
+A chief part of these difficulties the Continental Congress is directly
+responsible for, and the reason for their conduct is to be found largely
+in the circumstances of Washington's appointment to the command.
+
+
+[Illustration: Life Mask of Washington]
+
+
+When the Second Congress met, in May, 1775, the battle of Lexington had
+been fought, and twenty thousand minute-men were assembled about Boston.
+To pay and feed such a horde was wholly beyond the ability of New England,
+and her delegates came to the Congress bent upon getting that body to
+assume the expense, or, as the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts
+naively put it, "we have the greatest Confidence in the Wisdom and Ability
+of the Continent to support us."
+
+The other colonies saw this in a different light. Massachusetts, without
+our advice, has begun a war and embodied an army; let Massachusetts pay
+her own bills, was their point of view. "I have found this Congress like
+the last," wrote John Adams. "When we first came together, I found a
+strong jealousy of us from New England, and the Massachusettes in
+particular, suspicions entertained of designs of independency, an American
+republic, Presbyterian principles, and twenty other things. Our sentiments
+were heard in Congress with great caution, and seemed to make but little
+impression." Yet "every post brought me letters from my friends ... urging
+in pathetic terms the impossibility of keeping their men together without
+the assistance of Congress." "I was daily urging all these things, but we
+were embarrassed with more than one difficulty, not only with the party in
+favor of the petition to the King, and the party who were zealous of
+independence, but a third party, which was a southern party against a
+Northern, and a jealousy against a New England army under the command of a
+New England General."
+
+Under these circumstances a political deal was resorted to, and Virginia
+was offered by John and Samuel Adams, as the price of an adoption and
+support of the New England army, the appointment of commander-in-chief,
+though the offer was not made with over-good grace, and only because "we
+could carry nothing without conceding it." There was some dissension
+among the Virginia delegates as to who should receive the appointment,
+Washington himself recommending an old companion in arms, General Andrew
+Lewis, and "more than one," Adams says of the Virginia delegates, were
+"very cool about the appointment of Washington, and particularly Mr.
+Pendleton was very clear and full against it" Washington himself said the
+appointment was due to "partiality of the Congress, joined to a political
+motive;" and, hard as it is to realize, it was only the grinding political
+necessity of the New England colonies which secured to Washington the
+place for which in the light of to-day he seems to have been created.
+
+As a matter of course, there was not the strongest liking felt for the
+General thus chosen by the New England delegates, and this was steadily
+lessened by Washington's frank criticism of the New England soldiers and
+officers already noticed. Equally bitter to the New England delegates and
+their allies were certain army measures that Washington pressed upon the
+attention of Congress. He urged and urged that the troops should be
+enlisted for the war, that promotions should be made from the army as a
+whole, and not from the colony- or State-line alone, and most unpopular of
+all, that since Continental soldiers could not otherwise be obtained, a
+bounty should be given to secure them, and that as compensation for their
+inadequate pay half-pay should be given them after the war. He eventually
+carried these points, but at the price of an entire alienation of the
+democratic party in the Congress, who wished to have the war fought with
+militia, to have all the officers elected annually, and to whom the very
+suggestion of pensions was like a red rag to a bull.
+
+A part of their motive in this was unquestionably to prevent the danger of
+a standing army, and of allowing the commander-in-chief to become popular
+with the soldiers. Very early in the war Washington noted "the _jealousy_
+which Congress unhappily entertain of the army, and which, if reports are
+right, some members labor to establish." And he complained that "I see a
+distrust and jealousy of military power, that the commander-in-chief has
+not an opportunity, even by recommendation, to give the least assurance of
+reward for the most essential services." The French minister told his
+government that when a committee was appointed to institute certain army
+reforms, delegates in Congress "insisted on the danger of associating the
+Commander-in-chief with it, whose influence, it was stated, was already
+too great," and when France sent money to aid the American cause, with the
+provision that it should be subject to the order of the General, it
+aroused, a writer states, "the jealousy of Congress, the members of which
+were not satisfied that the head of the army should possess such an agency
+in addition to his military power."
+
+His enemies in the Congress took various means to lessen his influence and
+mortify him. Burke states that in the discussion of one question "Jersey,
+Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina voted for expunging it;
+the four Eastern States, Virginia and Georgia for retaining it. There
+appeared through this whole debate a great desire, in some of the
+delegates from the Eastern States, and in one from New Jersey, to insult
+the General," and a little later the Congress passed a "resolve which,"
+according to James Lovell, "was meant to rap a Demi G--over the knuckles."
+Nor was it by commission, but as well by omission, that they showed their
+ill feeling. John Laurens told his father that
+
+
+"there is a conduct observed towards" the General "by certain great men,
+which as it is humiliating, must abate his happiness.... The Commander in
+Chief of this army is not sufficiently informed of all that is known by
+Congress of European affairs. Is it not a galling circumstance, for him to
+collect the most important intelligence piecemeal, and as they choose to
+give it, from gentlemen who come from York? Apart from the chagrin which
+he must necessarily feel at such an appearance of slight, it should be
+considered that in order to settle his plan of operations for the ensuing
+campaign, he should take into view the present state of European affairs,
+and Congress should not leave him in the dark."
+
+
+Furthermore, as already noted, Washington was criticised for his Fabian
+policy, and in his indignation he wrote to Congress, "I am informed that
+it is a matter of amazement, and that reflections have been thrown out
+against this army, for not being more active and enterprising than, in the
+opinion of some, they ought to have been. If the charge is just, the best
+way to account for it will be to refer you to the returns of our strength,
+and those which I can produce of the enemy, and to the enclosed abstract
+of the clothing now actually wanting for the army." "I can assure those
+gentlemen," he said, in reply to political criticism, "that it is a much
+easier and less distressing thing to draw remonstrances in a comfortable
+room by a good fireside, than to occupy a cold, bleak hill, and sleep
+under frost and snow, without clothes or blankets."
+
+The ill feeling did not end with insults. With the defeats of the years
+1776 and 1777 it gathered force, and towards the end of the latter year it
+crystallized in what has been known in history as the Conway Cabal. The
+story of this conspiracy is so involved in shadow that little is known
+concerning its adherents or its endeavors. But in a general way it has
+been discovered that the New England delegates again sought the aid of the
+Lee faction in Virginia, and that this coalition, with the aid of such
+votes as they could obtain, schemed several methods which should lessen
+the influence of Washington, if they did not force him to resign. Separate
+and detached commands were created, which were made independent of the
+commander-in-chief, and for this purpose even a scheme which the General
+called "a child of folly" was undertaken. Officers notoriously inimical to
+Washington, yet upon whom he would be forced to rely, were promoted. A
+board of war made up of his enemies, with powers "in effect paramount,"
+Hamilton says, "to those of the commander-in-chief," was created It is
+even asserted that it was moved in Congress that a committee should be
+appointed to arrest Washington, which was defeated only by the timely
+arrival of a new delegate, by which the balance of power was lost to the
+Cabal.
+
+Even with the collapse of the army Cabal the opposition in Congress was
+maintained. "I am very confident," wrote General Greene, "that there is
+party business going on again, and, as Mifflin is connected with it, I
+doubt not its being a revival of the old scheme;" again writing, "General
+Schuyler and others consider it a plan of Mifflin's to injure your
+Excellency's operations. I am now fully convinced of the reality of what I
+suggested to you before I came away." In 1779 John Sullivan, then a member
+of Congress, wrote,--
+
+
+"Permit me to inform your Excellency, that the faction raised against you
+in 1777, is not yet destroyed. The members are waiting to collect
+strength, and seize some favorable moment to appear in force. I speak not
+from conjecture, but from certain knowledge. Their plan is to take every
+method of proving the danger arising from a commander, who enjoys the full
+and unlimited confidence of his army, and alarm the people with the
+prospects of imaginary evils; nay, they will endeavor to convert your
+virtue into arrows, with which, they will seek to wound you."
+
+
+But Washington could not be forced into a resignation, ill-treat and
+slight him as they would, and at no time were they strong enough to vote
+him out of office. For once a Congressional "deal" between New England and
+Virginia did not succeed, and as Washington himself wrote, "I have a good
+deal of reason to believe that the machination of this junto will recoil
+on their own heads, and be a means of bringing some matters to light which
+by getting me out of the way, some of them thought to conceal," In this he
+was right, for the re-elections of both Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee
+were put in danger, and for some time they were discredited even in their
+own colonies. "I have happily had," Washington said to a correspondent,
+"but few differences with those with whom I have had the honor of being
+connected in the service. With whom, and of what nature these have been,
+you know. I bore much for the sake of peace and the public good"
+
+As is well known, Washington served without pay during his eight years of
+command, and, as he said, "fifty thousand pounds would not induce me again
+to undergo what I have done." No wonder he declared "that the God of
+armies may incline the hearts of my American brethren to support the
+present contest, and bestow sufficient abilities on me to bring it to a
+speedy and happy conclusion, thereby enabling me to sink into sweet
+retirement, and the full enjoyment of that peace and happiness, which will
+accompany a domestic life, is the first wish and most fervent prayer of my
+soul."
+
+The day finally came when his work was finished, and he could be, as he
+phrased it, "translated into a private citizen." Marshall describes the
+scene as follows: "At noon, the principal officers of the army assembled
+at Frances' tavern; soon after which, their beloved commander entered the
+room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed. Filling a glass, he
+turned to them and said, 'With a heart full of love and gratitude, I
+now take leave of you; I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be
+as prosperous and happy, as your former ones have been glorious and
+honorable.' Having drunk, he added, 'I cannot come to each of you to take
+my leave; but shall be obliged to you, if each of you will come and take
+me by the hand.' General Knox, being nearest, turned to him. Incapable of
+utterance, Washington grasped his hand, and embraced him. In the same
+affectionate manner he took leave of each succeeding officer. In every eye
+was the tear of dignified sensibility, and not a word was articulated to
+interrupt the majestic silence, and the tenderness of the scene. Leaving
+the room, he passed through the corps of light infantry, and walked to
+Whitehall, where a barge waited to convey him to Powles-hook. The
+whole company followed in mute and solemn procession, with dejected
+countenance ... Having entered the barge, he turned to the company, and,
+waving his hat, bade them a silent adieu."
+
+
+
+XII
+
+
+CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER
+
+
+Washington became a government servant before he became a voter, by
+receiving in 1749, or when he was seventeen years of age, the appointment
+of official surveyor of Culpepper County, the salary of which, according
+to Boucher, was about fifty pounds Virginia currency a year. The office
+was certainly not a very fat berth, for it required the holder to live in
+a frontier county, to travel at times, as Washington in his journal noted,
+over "ye worst Road that ever was trod by Man or Beast," to sometimes lie
+on straw, which once "catch'd a Fire," and we "was luckily Preserved by
+one of our Mens waking," sometimes under a tent, which occasionally "was
+Carried quite of[f] with ye Wind and" we "was obliged to Lie ye Latter
+part of ye night without covering," and at other times driven from under
+the tent by smoke. Indeed, one period of surveying Washington described to
+a friend by writing,--
+
+
+"[Since] October Last I have not sleep'd above three Nights or four in a
+bed but after Walking a good deal all the Day lay down before the fire
+upon a Little Hay Straw Fodder or bearskin which-ever is to be had with
+Man Wife and Children like a Parcel of Dogs or Catts & happy's he that
+gets the Birth nearest the fire there's nothing would make it pass of
+tolerably but a good Reward a Dubbleloon is my constant gain every Day
+that the Weather will permit my going out and some time Six Pistoles the
+coldness of the Weather will not allow my making a long stay as the
+Lodging is rather too cold for the time of Year. I have never had my
+Cloths of but lay and sleep in them like a Negro except the few Nights I
+have lay'n in Frederick Town."
+
+
+In 1751, when he was nineteen, Washington bettered his lot by becoming
+adjutant of one of the four military districts of Virginia, with a salary
+of one hundred pounds and a far less toilsome occupation. This in turn led
+up to his military appointment in 1754, which he held almost continuously
+till 1759, when he resigned from the service.
+
+Next to a position on the Virginia council, a seat in the House of
+Burgesses, or lower branch of the Legislature, was most sought, and this
+position had been held by Washington's great-grandfather, father, and
+elder brother. It was only natural, therefore, that in becoming the head
+of the family George should desire the position. As early as 1755, while
+on the frontier, he wrote to his brother in charge of Mount Vernon
+inquiring about the election to be held in the county, and asking him to
+"come at Colo Fairfax's intentions, and let me know whether he purposes to
+offer himself as a candidate." "If he does not, I should be glad to take a
+poll, if I thought my chance tolerably good." His friend Carlyle,
+Washington wrote, had "mentioned it to me in Williamsburg in a bantering
+way," and he begged his brother to "discover Major Carlyle's real
+sentiments on this head," as also those of the other prominent men of the
+county, and especially of the clergymen. "_Sound_ their pulse," he wrote,
+"with an air of indifference and unconcern ... without disclosing much of
+_mine_." "If they seem inclinable to promote my interest, and things
+should be drawing to a crisis, you may declare my intention and beg their
+assistance. If on the contrary you find them more inclined to favor some
+other, I would have the affair entirely dropped." Apparently the county
+magnates disapproved, for Washington did not stand for the county.
+
+In 1757 an election for burgesses was held in Frederick County, in which
+Washington then was (with his soldiers), and for which he offered himself
+as a candidate. The act was hardly a wise one, for, though he had saved
+Winchester and the surrounding country from being overrun by the Indians,
+he was not popular. Not merely was he held responsible for the massacres
+of outlying inhabitants, whom it was impossible to protect, but in this
+very defence he had given cause for ill-feeling. He himself confessed that
+he had several times "strained the law,"--he had been forced to impress
+the horses and wagons of the district, and had in other ways so angered
+some of the people that they had threatened "to blow out my brains." But
+he had been guilty of a far worse crime still in a political sense.
+Virginia elections were based on liquor, and Washington had written to the
+governor, representing "the great nuisance the number of tippling houses
+in Winchester are to the soldiers, who by this means, in spite of the
+utmost care and vigilance, are, so long as their pay holds, incessantly
+drunk and unfit for service," and he wished that "the new commission for
+this county may have the intended effect," for "the number of tippling
+houses kept here is a great grievance." As already noted, the Virginia
+regiment was accused in the papers of drunkenness, and under the sting of
+that accusation Washington declared war on the publicans. He whipped his
+men when they became drunk, kept them away from the ordinaries, and even
+closed by force one tavern which was especially culpable. "Were it not too
+tedious," he wrote the governor, "I cou'd give your Honor such instances
+of the villainous Behavior of those Tippling House-keepers, as wou'd
+astonish any person."
+
+The conduct was admirable, but it was not good politics, and as soon as he
+offered himself as a candidate, the saloon element, under the leadership
+of one Lindsay, whose family were tavern-keepers in Winchester for at
+least one hundred years, united to oppose him. Against the would-be
+burgess they set up one Captain Thomas Swearingen, whom Washington later
+described as "a man of great weight among the meaner class of people, and
+supposed by them to possess extensive knowledge." As a result, the poll
+showed Swearingen elected by two hundred and seventy votes, and Washington
+defeated with but forty ballots.
+
+This sharp experience in practical politics seems to have taught the young
+candidate a lesson, for when a new election came in 1758 he took a leaf
+from his enemy's book, and fought them with their own weapons. The
+friendly aid of the county boss, Colonel John Wood, was secured, as also
+that of Gabriel Jones, a man of much local force and popularity. Scarcely
+less important were the sinews of war employed, told of in the following
+detailed account. A law at that time stood on the Virginia statutes
+forbidding all treating or giving of what were called "ticklers" to the
+voters, and declaring illegal all elections which were thus influenced.
+None the less, the voters of Frederick enjoyed at Washington's charge--
+
+
+40 gallons of Rum Punch @ 3/6 pr. galn                 7   0   0
+15 gallons of Wine @ 10/ pr. galn                      7  10   0
+Dinner for your Friends                                3   0   0
+13-1/2 gallons of Wine @ 10/                           6  15
+3-1/2 pts. of Brandy @ 1/3                                 4   4-1/2
+13 Galls. Beer @ 1/3                                      16   3
+8  qts. Cyder Royl @ 1/6                               0  12   0
+Punch                                                      3   9
+30 gallns. of strong beer @ 8d pr. gall                    1   0
+1 hhd & 1 Barrell of Punch, consisting of
+       26 gals. best Barbadoes rum, 5/                 6  10   0
+       12 lbs. S. Refd. Sugar 1/6                         18   9
+3 galls. and 3 quarts of Beer @ 1/ pr. gall                3   9
+10 Bowls of Punch @ 2/6 each                           1   5   0
+9 half pints of rum @ 7-1/2 d. each                        5   7-1/2
+1 pint of wine                                             1   6
+
+
+After the election was over, Washington wrote Wood that "I hope no
+Exception was taken to any that voted against me, but that all were alike
+treated, and all had enough. My only fear is that you spent with too
+sparing a hand." It is hardly necessary to say that such methods reversed
+the former election; Washington secured three hundred and ten votes, and
+Swearingen received forty-five. What is more, so far from now threatening
+to blow out his brains, there was "a general applause and huzzaing for
+Colonel Washington."
+
+From this time until he took command of the army Washington was a
+burgess. Once again he was elected from Frederick County, and then, in
+1765, he stood for Fairfax, in which Mount Vernon was located. Here he
+received two hundred and eight votes, his colleague getting but one
+hundred and forty-eight, and in the election of 1768 he received one
+hundred and eighty-five, and his colleague only one hundred and forty-two.
+Washington spent between forty and seventy-five pounds at each of these
+elections, and usually gave a ball to the voters on the night he was
+chosen. Some of the miscellaneous election expenses noted in his ledger
+are, "54 gallons of Strong Beer," "52 Do. of Ale," "L1.0.0. to Mr. John
+Muir for his fiddler," and "For cakes at the Election L7.11.1."
+
+The first duty which fell to the new burgess was service on a committee to
+draught a law to prevent hogs from running at large in Winchester. He was
+very regular in his attendance; and though he took little part in the
+proceedings, yet in some way he made his influence felt, so that when the
+time came to elect deputies to the First Congress he stood third in order
+among the seven appointed to attend that body, and a year later, in the
+delegation to the Continental Congress, he stood second, Peyton Randolph
+receiving one more vote only, and all the other delegates less.
+
+This distinction was due to the sound judgment of the man rather than to
+those qualities that are considered senatorial. Jefferson said, "I served
+with General Washington in the legislature of Virginia before the
+revolution, and, during it, with Dr. Franklin in Congress. I never heard
+either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the main point
+which was to decide the question. They laid their shoulders to the great
+points, knowing that the little ones would follow of themselves."
+
+Through all his life Washington was no speechmaker. In 1758, by an
+order of the Assembly, Speaker Robinson was directed to return its thanks
+to Colonel Washington, on behalf of the colony, for the distinguished
+military services which he had rendered to the country. As soon as he
+took his seat in the House, the Speaker performed this duty in such
+glowing terms as quite overwhelmed him. Washington rose to express his
+acknowledgments for the honor, but was so disconcerted as to be unable to
+articulate a word distinctly. He blushed and faltered for a moment, when
+the Speaker relieved him from his embarrassment by saying, "Sit down, Mr.
+Washington, your modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses the power
+of any language that I possess."
+
+This stage-fright seems to have clung to him. When Adams hinted that
+Congress should "appoint a General," and added, "I had no hesitation to
+declare that I had but one gentleman in my mind for that important
+command, and that was 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 exertions of all the Colonies better than any other person in the
+Union," he relates that "Mr. Washington who happened to sit near the door,
+as soon as he heard me allude to him, from his usual modesty, darted into
+the library-room."
+
+So, too, at his inauguration as President, Maclay noted that "this great
+man was agitated and embarrassed more than ever he was by the leveled
+cannon or pointed musket. He trembled, and several times could scarce make
+out to read [his speech], though it must be supposed he had often read it
+before," and Fisher Ames wrote, "He addressed the two Houses in the
+Senate-chamber; it was a very touching scene and quite of a solemn kind.
+His aspect grave, almost to sadness; his modesty actually shaking; his
+voice deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to call for close
+attention,"
+
+There can be little doubt that this non-speech-making ability was not
+merely the result of inaptitude, but was also a principle, for when his
+favorite nephew was elected a burgess, and made a well-thought-of speech
+in his first attempt, his uncle wrote him, "You have, I find, broke the
+ice. The only advice I will offer to you on the occasion (if you have a
+mind to command the attention of the House,) is to speak seldom, but
+to important subjects, except such as particularly relate to your
+constituents; and, in the former case, make yourself perfectly master of
+the subject. Never exceed a decent warmth, and submit your sentiments with
+diffidence. A dictatorial stile, though it may carry conviction, is always
+accompanied with disgust." To a friend writing of this same speech he
+said, "with great pleasure I received the information respecting the
+commencement of my nephew's political course. I hope he will not be so
+bouyed by the favorable impression it has made, as to become a babbler."
+
+Even more indicative of his own conceptions of senatorial conduct is
+advice given in a letter to Jack Custis, when the latter, too, achieved an
+election to the Assembly.
+
+
+"I do not suppose," he wrote, "that so young a senator as you are, little
+versed in political disquisitions, can yet have much influence in a
+populous assembly, composed of Gentln. of various talents and of different
+views. But it is in your power to be punctual in your attendance (and duty
+to the trust reposed in you exacts it of you), to hear dispassionately and
+determine coolly all great questions. To be disgusted at the decision of
+questions, because they are not consonant to your own ideas, and to
+withdraw ourselves from public assemblies, or to neglect our attendance at
+them, upon suspicion that there is a party formed, who are inimical to our
+cause, and to the true interest of our country, is wrong, because these
+things may originate in a difference of opinion; but, supposing the fact
+is otherwise, and that our suspicions are well founded, it is the
+indispensable duty of every patriot to counteract them by the most steady
+and uniform opposition."
+
+
+In the Continental Congress, Randolph states, "Washington was prominent,
+though silent. His looks bespoke a mind absorbed in meditation on his
+country's fate; but a positive concert between him and Henry could not
+more effectually have exhibited him to view, than when Henry ridiculed the
+idea of peace 'when there was no peace,' and enlarged on the duty of
+preparing for war." Very quickly his attendance on that body was ended by
+its appointing him general.
+
+His political relations to the Congress have been touched upon elsewhere,
+but his attitude towards Great Britain is worth attention. Very early he
+had said, "At a time when our lordly masters in Great Britain will be
+satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation of American freedom, it
+seems highly necessary that something should be done to avert the stroke,
+and maintain the liberty, which we have derived from our ancestors. But
+the manner of doing it, to answer the purpose effectually, is the point in
+question. That no man should scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use a--s in
+defence of so valuable a blessing, on which all the good and evil of life
+depends, is clearly my opinion." When actual war ensued, he was among the
+first to begin to collect and drill a force, even while he wrote, "unhappy
+it is, though to reflect, that a brother's sword has been sheathed in a
+brother's breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America
+are either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad
+alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?"
+
+Not till early in 1776 did he become a convert to independence, and
+then only by such "flaming arguments as were exhibited at Falmouth and
+Norfolk," which had been burned by the British. At one time, in 1776, he
+thought "the game will be pretty well up," but "under a full persuasion of
+the justice of our cause, I cannot entertain an Idea, that it will finally
+sink, tho' it may remain for some time under a cloud," and even in this
+time of terrible discouragement he maintained that "nothing short of
+independence, it appears to me, can possibly do. A peace on other terms
+would, if I may be allowed the expression, be a peace of war."
+
+Pickering, who placed a low estimate on his military ability, said that,
+"upon the whole, I have no hesitation in saying that General Washington's
+talents were much better adapted to the Presidency of the United States
+than to the command of their armies," and this is probably true. The
+diplomatist Thornton said of the President, that if his "circumspection is
+accompanied by discernment and penetration, as I am informed it is, and as
+I should be inclined to believe from the judicious choice he has generally
+made of persons to fill public stations, he possesses the two great
+requisites of a statesman, the faculty of concealing his own sentiments
+and of discovering those of other men."
+
+To follow his course while President is outside of the scope of this work,
+but a few facts are worth noting. Allusion has already been made to his
+use of the appointing power, but how clearly he held it as a "public
+trust" is shown in a letter to his longtime friend Benjamin Harrison, who
+asked him for an office. "I will go to the chair," he replied, "under no
+pre-engagement of any kind or nature whatsoever. But, when in it, to the
+best of my judgment, discharge the duties of the office with that
+impartiality and zeal for the public good, which ought never to suffer
+connection of blood or friendship to intermingle so as to have the least
+sway on the decision of a public nature." This position was held to
+firmly. John Adams wrote an office-seeker, "I must caution you, my dear
+Sir, against having any dependence on my influence or that of any other
+person. No man, I believe, has influence with the President. He seeks
+information from all quarters, and judges more independently than any man
+I ever knew. It is of so much importance to the public that he should
+preserve this superiority, that I hope I shall never see the time that any
+man will have influence with him beyond the powers of reason and
+argument."
+
+Long after, when political strife was running high, Adams said,
+"Washington appointed a multitude of democrats and jacobins of the deepest
+die. I have been more cautious in this respect; but there is danger of
+proscribing under imputations of democracy, some of the ablest, most
+influential, and best characters in the Union." In this he was quite
+correct, for the first President's appointments were made with a view to
+destroy party and not create it, his object being to gather all the talent
+of the country in support of the national government, and he bore many
+things which personally were disagreeable in an endeavor to do this.
+
+Twice during Washington's terms he was forced to act counter to the public
+sentiment. The first time was when a strenuous attempt was made by the
+French minister to break through the neutrality that had been proclaimed,
+when, according to John Adams, "ten thousand people in the streets of
+Philadelphia, day after day, threatened to drag Washington out of his
+house, and effect a revolution in the government, or compel it to declare
+in favor of the French revolution and against England." The second time
+was when he signed the treaty of 1795 with Great Britain, which produced a
+popular outburst from one end of the country to the other. In neither case
+did Washington swerve an iota from what he thought right, writing, "these
+are unpleasant things, but they must be met with firmness." Eventually the
+people always came back to their leader, and Jefferson sighed over the
+fact that "such is the popularity of the President that the people will
+support him in whatever he will do or will not do, without appealing to
+their own reason or to anything but their feelings towards him."
+
+
+[Illustration: PRESIDENTIAL MANSION, PHILADELPHIA]
+
+
+It is not to be supposed from this that Washington was above considering
+the popular bent, or was lacking in political astuteness. John Adams
+asserted that "General Washington, one of the most attentive men in the
+world to the manner of doing things, owed a great proportion of his
+celebrity to this circumstance," and frequently he is to be found
+considering the popularity or expediency of courses. In 1776 he said, "I
+have found it of importance and highly expedient to yield to many points
+in fact, without seeming to have done it, and this to avoid bringing on a
+too frequent discussion of matters which in a political view ought to be
+kept a little behind the curtain, and not to be made too much the subjects
+of disquisition. Time only can eradicate and overcome customs and
+prejudices of long standing--they must be got the better of by slow and
+gradual advances."
+
+Elsewhere he wrote, "In a word, if a man cannot act in all respects as he
+would wish, he must do what appears best, under the circumstances he is
+in. This I aim at, however short I may fall of the end;" of a certain
+measure he thought, "it has, however, like many other things in which I
+have been involved, two edges, neither of which can be avoided without
+falling on the other;" and that even in small things he tried to be
+politic is shown in his journey through New England, when he accepted an
+invitation to a large public dinner at Portsmouth, and the next day, being
+at Exeter, he wrote in his diary, "a jealousy subsists between this town
+(where the Legislature alternately sits) and Portsmouth; which, had I
+known it in time, would have made it necessary to have accepted an
+invitation to a public dinner, but my arrangements having been otherwise
+made, I could not."
+
+Nor was Washington entirely lacking in finesse. He offered Patrick Henry a
+position after having first ascertained in a roundabout manner that it
+would be refused, and in many other ways showed that he understood good
+politics. Perhaps the neatest of his dodges was made when the French
+revolutionist Volney asked him for a general letter of introduction to the
+American people. This was not, for political and personal reasons, a thing
+Washington cared to give, yet he did not choose to refuse, so he wrote on
+a sheet of paper,--
+
+
+"C. Volney
+     needs no recommendation from
+                      Geo. Washington."
+
+
+There is a very general belief that success in politics and truthfulness
+are incompatible, yet, as already shown, Washington prospered in politics,
+and the Rev. Mason L. Weems is authority for the popular statement that at
+six years of age George could not tell a lie. Whether this was so, or
+whether Mr. Weems was drawing on his imagination for his facts, it seems
+probable that Washington partially outgrew the disability in his more
+mature years.
+
+When trying to win the Indians to the English cause in 1754, Washington in
+his journal states that he "let the young Indians who were in our camp
+know that the French wanted to kill the Half King," a diplomatic statement
+he hardly believed, which the writer says "had its desired effect," and
+which the French editor declared to be an "imposture." In this same
+campaign he was forced to sign a capitulation which acknowledged that he
+had been guilty of assassination, and this raised such a storm in Virginia
+when it became known that Washington hastened to deny all knowledge of the
+charge having been contained among the articles, and alleged that it had
+not been made clear to him when the paper had been translated and read.
+On the contrary, another officer present at the reading states that
+he refused to "sign the Capitulation because they charged us with
+Assasination in it."
+
+In writing to an Indian agent in 1755, Washington was "greatly enraptured"
+at hearing of his approach, dwelt upon the man's "hearty attachment to our
+glorious Cause" and his "Courage of which I have had very great proofs."
+Inclosing a copy of the letter to the governor, Washington said, "the
+letter savors a little of flattery &c., &c., but this, I hope is
+justifiable on such an occasion."
+
+With his London agent there was a little difficulty in 1771, and
+Washington objected to a letter received "because there is one paragraph
+in particular in it ... which appears to me to contain an implication of
+my having deviated from the truth." A more general charge was Charles
+Lee's: "I aver that his Excellencies letter was from beginning to the end
+a most abominable lie."
+
+As a _ruse de guerre_ Washington drew up for a spy in 1779 a series of
+false statements as to the position and number of his army for him to
+report to the British. And in preparation for the campaign of 1781 "much
+trouble was taken and finesse used to misguide and bewilder Sir Henry
+Clinton by making a deceptive provision of ovens, forage and boats in his
+neighborhood." "Nor were less pains taken to deceive our own army," and
+even "the highest military as well as civil officers" were deceived at
+this time, not merely that the secret should not leak out, but also "for
+the important purpose of inducing the eastern and middle states to make
+greater exertions."
+
+When travelling through the South in 1791, Washington entered in his
+diary, "Having suffered very much by the dust yesterday--and finding that
+parties of Horse, & a number of other Gentlemen were intending to attend
+me part of the way to-day, I caused their enquiries respecting the time of
+my setting out, to be answered that, I should endeavor to do it before
+eight o'clock; but I did it a little after five, by which means I avoided
+the inconveniences above mentioned."
+
+Weld, in his "Travels in America," published that "General Washington told
+me that he never was so much annoyed by the mosquitos in any part of
+America as in Skenesborough, for that they used to bite through the
+thickest boot." When this anecdote appeared in print, good old Dr. Dwight,
+shocked at the taradiddle, and fearing its evil influence on Washington's
+fame, spoiled the joke by explaining in a book that "a gentleman of
+great respectability, who was present when General Washington made the
+observation referred to, told me that he said, when describing those
+mosquitoes to Mr. Weld, that they 'bit through his stockings above the
+boots.'" Whoever invented the explanation should also have evolved a type
+of boots other than those worn by Washington, for unfortunately for the
+story Washington's military boots went above his "small clothes," giving
+not even an inch of stocking for either mosquito or explanation. In 1786,
+Washington declared that "I do not recollect that in the course of my
+life, I ever forfeited my word, or broke a promise made to any one," and
+at another time he wrote, "I never say any thing of a Man that I have the
+smallest scruple of saying _to him_."
+
+From 1749 till 1784, and from 1789 till 1797, or a period of forty years,
+Washington filled offices of one kind or another, and when he died he
+still held a commission. Thus, excluding his boyhood, there were but seven
+years of his life in which he was not engaged in the public service. Even
+after his retirement from the Presidency he served on a grand jury, and
+before this he had several times acted as petit juror. In another way he
+was a good citizen, for when at Mount Vernon he invariably attended the
+election, rain or shine, though it was a ride of ten miles to the polling
+town.
+
+Both his enemies and his friends bore evidence to his honesty. Jefferson
+said, "his integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have
+ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity or friendship or
+hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was indeed in every sense of
+the words, a wise, a good, and a great man." Pickering wrote that "to the
+excellency of his _virtues_ I am not disposed to set any limits. All his
+views were upright, all his actions just" Hamilton asserted that "the
+General is a very honest Man;" and Tilghman spoke of him as "the honestest
+man that I believe ever adorned human nature."
+
+
+
+Index.
+
+
+ADAMS, John, opinion of Washington,
+  use of appointing power,
+  deal arranged by,
+  dislike of Washington,
+  quoted,
+
+----, Samuel, opposed to Washington,
+
+Agriculture, Washington's fondness for,
+Ague, Washington's attacks of,
+
+ALEXANDER, Frances,
+
+Alexandria, assemblies at,
+  Washington builds in,
+  lots in,
+
+ALIQUIPPA, Queen,
+
+Alton, John,
+
+Ames, Fisher, quoted,
+
+Appleby school,
+
+ARMSTRONG, John, quoted,
+
+ARNOLD, B.,
+
+Asses, breeding of,
+
+_Aurora_,
+
+
+BACHE, B.F., writes against Washington,
+
+BALLS, maternal ancestors of Washington,
+
+Balls,
+
+Bank-stock, holdings of,
+
+Barbadoes, Washington's visit to,
+
+BARD, Dr., quoted,
+
+BASSETT, Burwell,
+
+----, Frances,
+
+Bath, Virginia, lots in,
+
+_Battle of Brooklyn_, a farce,
+
+Billiards,
+
+BISHOP, Thomas,
+
+BLAND, Mary,
+
+----, T., criticises Washington's bow,
+
+"Blueskin,"
+
+Books,
+
+Boston, siege of,
+
+BOUCHER, Rev. J., quoted,
+  mentioned,
+
+Bounties,
+
+BRADDOCK, Edward, Washington and,
+  defeat of,
+  march of,
+  mentioned,
+
+Brasenose College, Lawrence Washington a fellow of,
+
+BRISSOT de Warville, quoted,
+
+British forgeries,
+
+Brixted Parva, Lawrence Washington rector of,
+
+BROGLIE, Prince de, quoted,
+
+Brooklyn, battle of,
+
+
+CALLENDER, James Thomson, publications of,
+
+CALVERT, Eleanor, marriage with Jack Custis,
+  visit to Cambridge,
+  remarriage,
+
+Cambridge, head-quarters at,
+  mentioned,
+
+CAMPBELL, A., portrait of Washington by,
+
+Cancer, George Washington's,
+  Mary Washington's,
+
+Capital. _See_ Washington City.
+
+Cards,
+
+CARLYLE, Washington's friendship for,
+
+----, Major,
+
+----, Sally,
+
+CARROLL, Charles,
+
+CARY, Mary,
+
+"Cato,"
+
+"Centinel,"
+
+Charity, Washington's,
+
+Charleston, ladies of, visit Washington,
+  jackass at,
+
+CHASTELLUX, Marquis de, quoted,
+  marriage of,
+
+Children and Washington,
+
+Christ Church,
+
+Christianity, Washington's view of,
+
+CLARK, Abraham, opinion of Washington,
+
+CLINTON, George, Washington's investment with,
+
+----, Sir H.,
+  Washington's relations with,
+
+Clothes, Washington's taste in,
+
+Clubs, Washington's share in,
+
+COBB, David, quoted,
+  at Yorktown,
+
+COBBETT, William, quoted,
+
+Colds, Washington's treatment of,
+
+Commissariat,
+
+Congress, Continental, Washington's relations with,
+  jealousy of Washington and the army,
+  endeavors to insult Washington,
+  part in the Conway cabal,
+  Washington's election to,
+  Washington in,
+
+Connecticut troops, misconduct of,
+
+"Conotocarius," Indian name for Washington,
+
+Continental army,
+  sickness of,
+  farewell to,
+  small-pox in,
+  threatened mutiny of,
+
+Conway Cabal,
+
+CONWAY, Thomas, Washington's relations with,
+
+CORBIN, Richard,
+
+CORNWALLIS, Lord, Washington's relations with,
+
+Craigie house,
+
+CRAIK, Dr. James, Washington's friendship for,
+  bleeds Washington,
+
+CULPEPER, Lord,
+
+Culpeper County,
+
+CUSTIS, Eleanor P.,
+  marriage to L. Lewis,
+  quoted,
+
+----, G.W.P., education,
+  quoted,
+  acts,
+
+----, John Parke, relations with Washington,
+  education,
+
+----, Martha. _See_ Washington, Martha.
+
+----, Martha ("Patsy"), relations of Washington with,
+  death,
+  treatment of,
+  property,
+
+---- property,
+
+Dancing, Washington's fondness of,
+
+DANDRIDGE, Bartholomew,
+
+----, Martha. _See_ Washington, Martha.
+
+----, Mrs.
+
+DEANE, Silas, quoted,
+
+DE BUTTS, Lawrence,
+
+Democratic criticism of Washington,
+
+DENT, Elizabeth,
+
+DICK, Dr., quoted,
+
+Dismal Swamp Company,
+
+Distillery at Mount Vernon,
+
+District of Columbia,
+
+Dogs,
+
+DUANE, William, writes against Washington,
+
+Duelling, Washington's views on,
+  threatened,
+
+DUER, W.A., quoted,
+
+DUMAS, M., quoted,
+
+DUNLAP, W., quoted,
+
+Duquesne, Fort,
+
+
+"Eltham,"
+
+Exeter, Bishop of, Sermons,
+
+
+FAIRFAX, Ann,
+
+----, Bryan, Lord,
+
+----, George William,
+
+----, Sally, 90-1,
+
+----, Thomas, Lord,
+
+----, William,
+
+Fairfax County,
+
+Fairfax Parish,
+
+Farewell Address,
+  drafting of,
+
+Fauntleroy, Betsy,
+  William,
+
+Federal city. _See_ Washington City.
+
+Fees, Washington's gifts of,
+
+Fertilization, Washington's value of,
+
+Fish, Washington's fondness of,
+
+Fishery at Mount Vernon,
+
+Fishing,
+
+Flour, Washington's pride in his,
+
+Forged letters,
+  authorship of,
+  Bache reprints,
+
+Fort Necessity,
+
+Fox hunting,
+
+FRANKLIN, B., quoted,
+
+Frederick County, Washington stands for,
+
+Fredericksburg,
+  residence of Mary Washington,
+
+French and Indian War,
+
+French language, Washington on,
+
+FRENEAU, P., writes against Washington,
+
+
+GAGE, Thomas, relations with Washington,
+
+GATES, Horatio, Washington's relations with,
+  mentioned,
+
+General orders, quotations from,
+
+Genet episode,
+
+GENN, James, Washington learns surveying from,
+
+Germantown, battle of,
+
+GERRY, Elbridge, attitude towards Washington,
+
+GIBBONS, Mary, scandal concerning,
+
+GORDON, Rev. W., quoted,
+
+Great Britain, Washington's attitude towards,
+
+GREEN, Rev. Charles,
+
+GREENE, N., friendship with Washington,
+  quoted,
+
+GRYMES, Lucy,
+
+
+Half-King,
+
+HAMILTON, A., mentioned,
+  quoted,
+  Washington's relations with,
+
+HARRISON, Benjamin,
+  letter of,
+  asks office,
+
+----, R.H.,
+
+HENRY Eighth grants lands to Washingtons,
+
+HENRY, Patrick, quoted,
+  mentioned,
+  offered office,
+
+Herring, sales of,
+
+Hickey plot,
+
+Horses, stud at Mount Vernon,
+
+Houdon bust,
+
+HOWE, Lord, and Sir William, Washington's relations with,
+
+Humphreys, D., quoted,
+  relations with Washington,
+
+HUNTER, J., quoted,
+
+Hunting,
+
+
+Independence, Washington on,
+
+Indians,
+  Washington's diplomacy with,
+
+
+James River Land Company, Washington's interest in,
+
+Jay treaty,
+
+JEFFERSON, Thomas, Washington's relations with,
+  opinion of Washington,
+  helps Freneau,
+  quoted,
+  mentioned,
+
+JONES, Gabriel,
+
+
+Kenmore House,
+
+KNOX, Henry,
+  relations with Washington,
+
+
+LAFAYETTE, Marquis de,
+  Washington's relations with,
+  quoted,
+
+----, G.W.,
+
+----, Virginia,
+
+Land bounties,
+
+---- companies,
+
+Latin, Washington's knowledge of,
+
+LAURENS, John, Washington's relations with,
+  quoted,
+
+LAWRENCE, Nathaniel, quoted,
+
+Lawsuits, Washington's dislike of,
+
+LEAR, T., friendship for,
+  quoted,
+
+LEE, Charles, Washington's relations with,
+  libels Washington,
+  quoted,
+
+----, Henry, friendship for Washington,
+  anecdote of,
+  warns Washington of Jefferson's conduct,
+
+----, R.H., opinion of Washington,
+  re-election of,
+
+----, William, Washington's body-servant,
+
+LEWIS, Elizabeth,
+
+----, Fielding,
+
+----, ----. Jr.,
+
+----, Howell,
+
+----, Lewis,
+
+----, Robert,
+
+Lexington, battle of,
+
+Liveried servants,
+
+Lotteries, Washington's liking for,
+
+LOVELL, John, opinion of Washington,
+  quoted, 288.
+
+"Lowland Beauty,"
+
+LYNCH, Thomas, quoted,
+
+
+McHENRY, James,
+
+McKNIGHT, Dr. C., quoted,
+
+MACLAY, W., quoted,
+
+MADISON, James, relations with Washington,
+  quoted,
+  drafts papers,
+
+"Magnolia,"
+
+MARSHALL, J., quoted,
+
+MARYE, Rev. T., Washington's teacher,
+
+MASON, George, quoted,
+
+Massachusetts, difficulties of,
+  "slam" at officers of,
+
+MASSEY, Rev. Lee, quoted,
+
+Mather's _Young Man's Companion_,
+
+Matrimony, Washington's views on,
+
+Medical knowledge of Washington,
+  treatment of last illness,
+
+Medicine, Washington's aversion to,
+
+MERCER, George, quoted,
+
+MIFFLIN, Thomas, Washington's relations with,
+  mentioned,
+
+Military Company of Adventurers,
+
+---- science, books on,
+  Washington's knowledge of,
+
+Militia, evils of,
+
+"Minutes of the Trial,"
+  authority of,
+
+Mississippi Company,
+
+Monmouth, battle of,
+  allusions to,
+
+MORRIS, Gouverneur, quoted,
+  friendship with,
+
+----, Robert,
+
+----, Roger,
+
+Mount Vernon, boyhood home of Washington,
+  division of estate by will,
+  invitation to visit,
+  history of,
+  name,
+  house at,
+  grounds,
+  additions to land,
+  management of,
+  absence of Washington from,
+  system at,
+  work at,
+  fishery of,
+  distillery at,
+  stud stable of,
+  live stock of,
+  profits of,
+  desire to rent farms of,
+  Washington's superintendence of,
+  Washington's life at,
+  slaves at,
+  overseers of,
+  British visit to,
+  hunting at,
+  shooting at,
+
+MOYLAN, S.,
+
+MUSE, George, relations with Washington,
+
+Music, Washington's fondness of,
+
+"Nelson,"
+
+Nepotism, Washington's views on,
+
+Newburg, threatened revolt of army at,
+New England, opposition to Washington,
+  jealousy of,
+  arranges deal,
+  journey in,
+  conduct of troops,
+  officers,
+
+New Jersey troops, desertion of,
+
+New York, Washington's visit to,
+  borrows money for journey to,
+  head-quarters at,
+  warfare at,
+  _Minutes of the Trial in_,
+  proposed attack on,
+  farewell to army at,
+  presidential house at,
+
+Newspapers,
+
+Nuts, Washington's fondness for,
+
+
+Oaths, Washington's use of,
+
+Office-seekers,
+
+Ohio, march to,
+  journey to,
+  _Journal_,
+
+Ohio Company,
+
+_Old Soldier_,
+
+
+PAINE, Thomas, relations with Washington,
+
+Paper money, depreciation of,
+
+Pension of Mary Washington,
+
+PEYRONEY, Chevalier,
+
+Philadelphia, visit to,
+  fever at,
+  proposed attack on,
+  capture of,
+  Presidential house in,
+  Washington's attempted purchase near,
+
+PHILIPSE, Mary,
+
+PICKERING, Timothy, quoted,
+
+Pohick Church,
+
+Potomac Canal Company,
+
+Presidency, Washington in the,
+  duties of,
+  hospitality of,
+
+Privateer, Washington tries to secure share in,
+
+Purleigh, Lawrence Washington, rector of,
+
+
+Raffles, Washington's liking for,
+
+RAMSAY, W.,
+
+RANDOLPH, Edmund, Washington's relations with,
+  quoted,
+
+----, John, forges letters,
+
+REED, Joseph, sends print to Washington,
+  relations with Washington,
+  quoted,
+
+Revolution, Washington's service in,
+
+ROBIN, Abbe, quoted,
+
+ROBINSON, Beverly,
+
+----, John,
+
+ROCHAMBEAU, Count,
+
+Ross, James, quoted,
+
+"Royal Gift," jackass,
+
+Rules of civility,
+
+RUSH, Benjamin, anonymous letter of,
+  Washington's relations with,
+  quoted,
+
+RUTLEDGE, E.,
+
+
+St. Clair's defeat,
+
+St. Paul's Church,
+
+SARGENT, J.D., opinion of Washington,
+
+SCOTT, Charles, quoted,
+
+Servants, Washington's,
+
+Shad, sales of,
+
+Sharpless portrait,
+
+Sheep at Mount Vernon,
+
+Shooting,
+
+Skenesborough, mosquitoes at,
+
+Slavery, Washington's views on,
+
+Slaves, Washington's,
+  runaway,
+  carried off by British,
+  sickness,
+  laziness,
+  punishment,
+  rations of,
+  thieving by,
+
+Small-pox, Washington's attack of,
+
+SMITH, Rev. W., quoted,
+
+Southern tour,
+
+Spain, king of, gift of jackass to Washington,
+
+SPEARING, Ann,
+
+STEARN, Samuel, quoted,
+
+STEWART, R.,
+
+STUART, Gilbert, opinion on Washington's face,
+  quoted,
+
+Stuart portrait,
+
+Stud stable at Mount Vernon,
+
+SULLIVAN, John, quoted,
+
+----, W., quoted,
+
+Sunday, Washington's observance of,
+
+SWEARINGEN, Thomas,
+
+
+Taverns, Washington's view of,
+
+Tea, Washington's fondness for,
+
+THACHER, Dr. James, quoted,
+
+Theatre,
+
+THORNTON, Edward, quoted,
+
+TILGHMAN, Tench, Washington's relations with,
+  quoted,
+
+Tobacco, Washington's crop of,
+
+Trenton, battle of,
+
+TRUMBULL, Jonathan, wishes Washington removed,
+
+Truro Parish,
+
+
+University, National, Washington's wish for,
+
+
+Valley Forge,
+
+VAN BRAAM, J.,
+
+VARICK, Richard,
+
+VERNON, Admiral E., Mount Vernon named after,
+
+Virginia, social life of,
+  clubs,
+  British invasion of,
+  convention,
+  land bounties,
+  elections,
+  agricultural system of,
+  deal with New England,
+  Washington's office-holding in,
+  estates, Washington's opinion of,
+
+---- Regiment, drunkenness of,
+
+VOLNEY, C., Washington's diplomacy with,
+
+
+WADSWORTH, J., quoted,
+
+"Wakefield,"
+
+Walpole grant,
+
+WANSEY, H., quoted,
+
+Warm Springs, visit to,
+
+WASHINGTON, Augustine,
+
+----, Augustine (Jr.),
+
+----, Bushrod,
+  letter to,
+
+----, Charles,
+
+----, Elizabeth (Betty). _See_ Fielding.
+
+----, Frances,
+
+----, George, ancestors of,
+  birth of,
+  his resemblance to the Balls,
+  relations with his mother,
+  his dislike of public recompense,
+  views on public office,
+  financial help to relatives,
+  will of,
+  views on drinking,
+  loans,
+  care of Custis property,
+  adoption of Custis children,
+  physique,
+  weight,
+  eyes,
+  hair,
+  teeth,
+  nose,
+  height,
+  mouth,
+  expression,
+  gracefulness,
+  complexion,
+  pock-marked,
+  modesty,
+  manners,
+  portraits of,
+  strength,
+  illnesses of,
+  his last,
+  medicine, his dislike of,
+  fall of,
+  hearing,
+  education,
+  handwriting,
+  spelling,
+  surveyor,
+  secretaries of,
+  journal to the Ohio,
+  messages,
+  farewell address,
+  languages,
+  music,
+  reading,
+  religion,
+  church attendance,
+  Sunday conduct,
+  hunting,
+  tolerance,
+  love affairs,
+  poetry,
+  Barbadoes, visit to,
+  Ohio, mission to,
+  Boston, visit to, (1756)
+  New York, visit to, (1773)
+  marriage,
+  appointed commander-in-chief,
+  matrimony, his views on,
+  morality,
+  forged letters,
+  agriculture, fondness for,
+  [agriculture] system,
+  [agriculture] study of,
+  coat-of-arms of,
+  as farmer,
+  land purchases of,
+  invents a plow,
+  humor,
+  income,
+  accounts,
+  property of,
+  bounty lands of,
+  investments in land companies,
+  borrower,
+  speculation, liking for,
+  lotteries, liking for,
+  raffles, liking for,
+  interest in Potomac Canal Company,
+  wealth of,
+  slaves of,
+  [slaves] care of,
+  slavery, views on,
+  charity,
+  social life,
+  headquarters life,
+  dinners,
+  levees,
+  bows,
+  ceremony, hatred of,
+  conversation,
+  tea, liking for,
+  dancing, fondness of,
+  staff,
+  simple habits,
+  dress of,
+  Rules of Civility,
+  neatness of,
+  food,
+  horsemanship,
+  fishing, fondness for,
+  card-playing,
+  theatre, fondness for,
+  embarrassment,
+  library of,
+  newspapers,
+  abuse, sensitiveness to,
+  friendships of,
+  godfather,
+  pall-bearer,
+  Indian friends,
+  [Indian] name,
+  assassin,
+  temper,
+  quarrel of Hamilton with,
+  children, relations with,
+  enemies,
+  [enemies] duelling and,
+  drinks toasts,
+  intrigues against,
+  attacks on,
+  insulted,
+  Presidency,
+  judgment,
+  liveried servants of,
+  courage of,
+  swears,
+  Fabian policy,
+  rashness of,
+  indecision of,
+  lack of military knowledge,
+  generalship,
+  severity to soldiers,
+  relations with Continental Congress,
+  New England, dislike of,
+  farewell to army,
+  adjutant of Virginia,
+  burgess,
+  stands for Frederick County,
+  elected,
+  election expenses of,
+  drafts law,
+  inability to make speeches,
+  stage fright,
+  inauguration,
+  in the Continental Congress,
+  attitude towards Great Britain,
+  threatened,
+  popularity of,
+  diplomacy of,
+  truthfulness,
+  serves on jury,
+  attends elections,
+  honesty,
+
+----, George Augustine,
+
+----, Harriot,
+
+----, John,
+
+----, John Augustine,
+
+----, Lawrence, Rev. (1st),
+
+----, Lawrence (2d),
+
+----, Lawrence, Major (3d),
+
+----, Lawrence, of Chotanck (4th),
+
+----, Lund,
+
+----, Martha, sickness of,
+  meets Washington,
+  engaged,
+  Washington's letters to,
+  marriage,
+  character,
+  Washington's fondness for,
+  wealth,
+  clothing,
+  housekeeper for,
+  orthography, 93,
+  children,
+  visits to head-quarters,
+  social life,
+  mentioned,
+  dower slaves,
+  drafts of letters for,
+  receptions,
+
+----, Mary (Ball),
+
+----, Mildred,
+
+----, Robert,
+
+----, Samuel,
+
+----, Thornton,
+
+Washington City,
+
+WATSON, Elkanah, quoted,
+
+WAYNE, Anthony, quoted,
+
+Weaving at Mount Vernon,
+
+WEEMS, M.L., quoted,
+
+WELD, Isaac, quoted,
+
+Wheat, Washington's production of,
+
+Whiskey, distilling of, at Mount Vernon,
+
+WHITE, Rev. W., quoted,
+
+William and Mary College,
+
+Williamsburg,
+  lots in,
+  Washington goes to, for medical advice,
+
+WILLIAMS, William, wishes Washington removed,
+
+WILLING, Ann, quoted,
+
+Winchester, lots in,
+  election at, 295,
+
+WOLCOTT, Oliver,
+
+WOOD, John,
+
+
+Yorktown, siege of,
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The True George Washington [10th Ed.]
+by Paul Leicester Ford
+
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