20 GEORGE
WASHINGTON.
trip was a perilous one, and several times he came
near losing his life, yet he returned in safety and
furnished a full and useful report of his expedition.
A regiment of 300 men was raised in Virginia and put
in command of Col. Joshua Fry, and Major Washington
was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. Active war was
then begun against the French and Indians, in which
Washington took a most important part. In the
memorable event of July 9, 1755, known as Braddock's
defeat, Washington was almost the only officer of
distinction who escaped from the calamities of the day
with life and honor. The other aids of Braddock were
disabled early in the action, and Washington alone was
left in that capacity on the field. In a letter to his
brother he says: "I had four bullets through my coat,
and two horses shot under me, yet I escaped unhurt,
though death was leveling my companions on every
side." An Indian sharpshooter said he was not born to
be killed by a bullet, for he had taken direct aim at
him seventeen times, and failed to hit him.
After having been five years in the
military service, and vainly sought promotion in the
royal army, he took advantage of the fall of Fort
Duquesne and the expulsion of the French from the
valley of the Ohio, to resign his commission. Soon
after he entered the Legislature, where, although not
a leader, he took an active and important part.
January 17, 1759, he married Mrs. Martha (Dandridge)
Custis, the wealthy widow of John Parke Custis.
When the British Parliament had
closed the port of Boston, the cry went up throughout
the provinces that "The cause of Boston is the cause
of us all." It was then, at the suggestion of
Virginia, that a Congress of all the colonies was
called to meet at Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1774, to
secure their common liberties, peaceably if possible.
To this Congress Col. Washington was sent as a
delegate. On May 10, 1775, the Congress re-assembled,
when the hostile intentions of England were plainly
apparent. The battles of Concord and Lexington had
been fought. Among the first acts of this Congress was
the election of a commander-in-chief of the colonial
forces. This high and responsible office was conferred
upon Washington, who was still a member of the
Congress. He accepted it on June 19, but upon the
express condition that he receive no salary. He would
keep an exact account of expenses and expect Congress
to pay them and nothing more. It is not the object of
this sketch to trace the military acts of Washington,
to whom the fortunes and liberties of the people of
this country were so long confided. The war was
conducted by him under every possible disadvantage,
and while his forces often met with reverses, yet he
overcame every obstacle, and after seven years of
heroic devotion and matchless skill he gained liberty
for the greatest nation of earth. On Dec. 23, 1783,
Washington, in a parting address of surpassing beauty,
resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the
army to to (sic) the Continental Congress sitting at
Annapolis. He retired immediately to Mount Vernon and
resumed his occupation as a farmer and planter,
shunning all connection with public life.
In February, 1789, Washington was
unanimously elected President. In his presidential
career he was subject to the peculiar trials
incidental to a new government; trials from lack of
confidence on the part of other governments; trials
from want of harmony between the different sections of
our own country; trials from the impoverished
condition of the country, owing to the war and want of
credit; trials front the beginnings of party strife.
He was no partisan. His clear judgment could discern
the golden mean; and while perhaps this alone kept our
government from sinking at the very outset, it left
him exposed to attacks from both sides, which were
often bitter and very annoying.
At the expiration of his first term
he was unanimously re-elected. At the end of this term
many were anxious that he be re-elected, but he
absolutely refused a third nomination. On the fourth.
of March, 1797, at the expiraton (sic) of his second
term as President, he returned to his home, hoping to
pass there his few remaining years free from the
annoyances of public life. Later in the year, however,
his repose seemed likely to be interrupted by war with
France. At the prospect of such a war he was again
urged to take command of the armies. He chose his
subordinate officers and left to them the charge of
matters in the field, which he superintended from his
home. In accepting the command he made the reservation
that he was not to be in the field until it was
necessary. In the midst of these preparations his life
was suddenly cut off. December 12, he took a severe
cold from a ride in the rain, which, settling in his
throat, produced inflammation, and terminated fatally
on the night of the fourteenth. On the eighteenth his
body was borne with military honors to its final
resting place, and interred in the family vault at
Mount Vernon.
Of the character of Washington it is
impossible to speak but in terms of the highest
respect and admiration. The more we see of the
operations of our government, and the more deeply we
feel the difficulty of uniting all opinions in a
common interest, the more highly we must estimate the
force of his talent and character, which have been
able to challenge the reverence of all parties, and
principles, and nations, and to win a fame as extended
as the limits of the globe, and which we cannot but
believe will he as lasting as the existence of
man.
The person of Washington was
unusally (sic) tan, erect and well proportioned. His
muscular strength was great. His features were of a
beautiful symmetry.
He commanded respect without any
appearance of haughtiness, and ever serious without
being dull.
|
