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THE 
 
 WASHINGTONIANA 
 
 PRIVATELY REPRINTED. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 E. Dexter & Son 
 
 564 Broadway, 
 1865. 
 
Edition loo copies 8vo. 
 50 " 4to. 
 
 
 
THE 
 
 WA S///NG T O NIA NA 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 OF THE LATE 
 
 ©en. ©coi'^e ^asfjut^ttin, 
 
 WITH VARIOUS 
 
 OUTLINES OF HIS CHARACTER, 
 
 From the pens of different eminent writers, both in Europe 
 and America; 
 
 An Account of the various Funeral Honors devoted 
 to his Memory. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ANNEXED 
 
 HIS WILL AND SCHEDULE OF HIS PROPERTY. 
 
 Embellished with a good Likeness. 
 
 BALTIMORE: 
 
 Printed and sold by Samuel Sower, No. 190, 
 
 Market-street, m,dccc. 
 
V^H Washington! thou hero, patriot, fage ! 
 
 'Friend of all climes, and pride of every age! 
 
 Were thine the laurels, every foil could raife. 
 
 The mighty harveft w^ere penurious praife. 
 
 Well may our realms, thy Fabian wifdom boaft ; 
 
 Thy prudence fav'd, what bravery had loft. 
 
 Yet e'er hadft thou, by Heaven's feverer fates. 
 
 Like Sparta's hero at the Grecian ftraits. 
 
 Been doomed to meet, in arms, a world of foes. 
 
 Whom (kill could not defeat, nor walls oppofe. 
 
 Then had thy breaft, by danger ne'er fubdued. 
 
 The mighty Buckler of thy country ftood ; 
 
 Proud of its wounds, each piercing fpear would blefs, 
 
 Which left Columbia'' s foes one javelin lefs ; 
 
 Nor felt one pang — but, in the glorious deed. 
 
 Thy little band of heroes too, muft bleed; 
 
 Nor throbb'd one fear— but, that fome poifon'd dart 
 
 Thy breaft might pafs, and reach thy Countrfs heart ! 
 
 PAINE. 
 
Contents 
 
 Bi 
 
 Page. 
 HOGRAPHICAL SKETCH of G. George 
 
 Washington ... 9 
 
 Wafhington's appointment to the American army 46 
 
 Orders on the cefsation of hollilities 49 
 
 Circular letter to the Governors of the 
 
 feveral Hates, at the conclufion of the Revolutionary 
 
 War . . . . 55 
 The addrefs of Congrefs to him, acknowledging his 
 
 eminent fervices ... 78 
 
 His anfwer .... 79 
 
 His farewell orders to the army . . 81 
 
 The anfwer .... 90 
 His addrefs to Congrefs, on refigning his military 
 
 commifsion . . . , 95 
 The anfwer .... 97 
 His inaugural fpeech to Congrefs — in 1789 100 
 His valediftory addrefs to his fellow-citizens . 108 
 His letter to Prefident Adams, on accepting the com- 
 mand of the American army — in 1798 . 144 
 Death of Wafhington . . . 148 
 Gen. Marfhall's addrefs to the Houfe of Reprefenta- 
 tives, on the report of the death of Gen. Wafhing- 
 ton . . . • . 150 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 The Prefident's mefsage to Congrefs, inclofing Co- 
 lonel Lear's letter, announcing the death of General 
 Wafliington . . . . 151 
 
 Gen. Marlhall's fecond addrefs to Congrefs . 153 
 
 Refolutions of Congrefs, relpefting the manner of 
 paying fuitable honors to the memory of Gen. 
 Wafhington . . . . 156 
 
 Addrefs of condolence, from the H. of Reprefenta- 
 
 tives to the Prefident . . . 157 
 
 The Prefident's anfwer . . . 158 
 
 Addrefs of condolence, from the Senate to the Prefi- 
 dent . . . . 159 
 His anfwer . . . . 161 
 Refolutions of Congrefs for perpetuating the memory 
 
 of Gen. Wafhington . . . 163 
 
 The Prefident's proclamation . . 166 
 
 Gen. Hamilton's introduction to his orders refpefting 
 
 the funeral folemnities to be paid by the army 167 
 
 Refolves of Congrefs refpedting the obfervation of 
 
 February 22, 1800 . . . 173 
 
 The Prefident's fecond proclamation . 174 
 
 Particular account of the laft illnefs and death of 
 
 Gen. Wafhington . . . 175 
 
 His funeral . . . . 179 
 
 Funeral procefsion at Philadelphia . . 183 
 
 Funeral oration delivered by the Hon. Henry Lee, 
 
 M. C. . . . . 194 
 
 Performances at the New Theatre in Philadelphia 212 
 
 Funeral procefsion of the Free Mafons in ditto 216 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Vll 
 
 Funeral procefsion in New York 
 
 in Baltimore 
 
 Funeral procefsion of feveral Lodges in Baltimore 
 Refolves of the General Afsembly of Maryland 
 The Governor's Proclamation 
 Refolves of the Legiflature of Virginia 
 Funeral procefsion in Alexandria 
 Dr. Elifha C. Dick's oration 
 Lines — by Dr. G. PfeifFer, at Natches 
 The Prefident's mefsage to Congrefs, communicating 
 Mrs. Wafhington's letter 
 
 zi8 
 
 234 
 254 
 256 
 258 
 261 
 262 
 
 275 
 289 
 
 290 
 
 Notice taken of General Washington in different parts of 
 Europe, i^c. 
 
 Orders to the Confular Guards, and all the troops of 
 the French Republic, refpefting the death of Gen- 
 eral Wafhington . . . 293 
 
 Funeral oration on Wafhington, delivered in the 
 
 Temple of Mars, by Louis Fortanes . 294 
 
 Homage paid to Wafhington at Amfterdam . 303 
 
 Eulogium delivered before the American Officers and 
 Sailors in the port of London, on the charafler 
 and virtues of Wafhington . . 307 
 
 The charafter of Wafhington elegantly drawn and 
 
 publifhed in London . . . 312 
 
 Tribute to the memory of Washington among our citizens 
 abroad. 
 
 At the Havanna . 
 
 319 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 At Port Republican . . . 320 
 St. Jago de Cuba . . . 322 
 
 Fugitive Pieces. 
 Mr. Fox's eulogy on Gen. Wafhington in the Houfe 
 
 of Commons, in 1794 . . . 323 
 
 A Poem written on Wafhington by Dr. Aiken, in 
 
 England .... 326 
 
 Apoftrophe on Wafhington by a Citizen of Amilerdam Hid 
 Tribute to Wafhington by the Lay Preacher . 328 
 
 Portrait of Gen. Wafhington, by the Marquis Chaflel- 
 
 leux . . . . . 330 
 
 Annecdotes of Gen. Wafhington — from Brifsot's Trav- 
 els in North America . . . 333 
 Charafter of Wafhington, written by W. P. Carey, 
 
 of Dublin .... 340 
 
 Gen. Wafhington's Will . . . 347 
 
 Correfpondence with the Earl of 
 
 Buchan, refpefting the box mentioned in the Will 391 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 or 
 
 ^tiurd §tu^t SSasjjington, 
 
 By Jedidiah Morse, D. D. 
 Pastor of the Church in Charlestown. 
 
 X HE death of this great man has rendered 
 an account of his life particularly defirable. To 
 a nation whofe feelings feem to be abforbed by 
 this affliding event, whofe attention is chiefly 
 directed to the contemplation of the refplendent 
 virtues of the deceafed father of his country, 
 every circumftance of his life has become in- 
 terefl:ing. 
 
 I have not the vanity to afsume to be the 
 biographer of General Washington. This ardu- 
 ous, honorable and ufeful talk, is probably af- 
 figned by proper authority, to a man competent 
 to its execution, and who is already, or will be, 
 in pofsefsion of all the requifite documents for fo 
 important a work. But having heretofore given 
 to the public, in a work'^' defigned for their ufe, 
 
 * The American Geography. 
 
 2 
 
lO BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 a brief fketch of his life, I hope they will not 
 confider it as prefumption in me, if, with a view 
 to fatisfy, in fome degree, folicitous inquiries on 
 the fubjed, and as a humble tribute to the mem- 
 ory of the firjt of men ^ I revife and enlarge this 
 fketch, and in an improved form, at this mo- 
 ment of general feeling, offer it to their perufal. 
 
 The late General Washington was born in 
 the pari fh of Wafhington, Weftmoreland county, 
 in Virginia, February 22d, 1732. He was the 
 third fon of Mr. Augustine Washington, a 
 planter or farmer of refpedable talents, diftin- 
 guifhed reputation, and large eftate in Virginia. 
 The anceftors of this gentleman, about the year 
 1657, removed from Yorkfhire in England, to 
 Virginia, and fettled in King George's county, 
 where, at the commencement of our revolution, 
 the general had three brothers living, viz., 
 Samuel, John and Charles, all gentlemen of 
 confiderable landed property, and a fifter, the 
 wife of Colonel Fielding Lewis.* 
 
 * Sec a letter lurhten at an earl^ period of the American Revolution, by 
 jfohn Bell, Efq., of Maryland, to a friend in Europe, and publijhed in tht 
 Maffachujetti Magazine for March, 1 79 1. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. FI 
 
 The General was the firft fruit of a fecond 
 marriage. His early education, conduced by a 
 private tutor, under the direction of his father, 
 was fuch as favored the produ6lion of an ath- 
 letic and vigorous body, and the formation of a 
 corred: and folid mind. Inhaling a pure moun- 
 tain air, accuftomed to the healthful occupations 
 of rural life, and to the manly toils of the chafe, 
 his limbs expanded to an unufual, robuft, but 
 well proportioned and graceful fize, adapted to 
 endure the fatigues of his future life, and to fuf- 
 tain the adive energies of his noble foul. 
 
 By his tutor he was taught the rudiments 
 of the Latin language, Englifh grammar, and 
 the elements of the mathematics. At the age of 
 ten years, his father died, and the charge of a 
 numerous family devolved on his eldeft brother, 
 Mr. Lawrence Washington. This brother, a 
 young gentleman of moft promifing talents, had 
 a captain's command in the colonial troops, 
 employed againft Carthagena, under Admiral 
 Vernon. On his return from this expedition, 
 he married the daughter of the Hon. Wm. Fair- 
 
12 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 fax, of Belvoir, and fettled on his patrimonial 
 eftate, which he called Mount Vernon, in honor 
 of his admiral, from whom he had received many- 
 civilities. He was afterwards made adjutant- 
 general of the militia of Virginia, but did not 
 long furvive his appointment. He left one 
 daughter, who dying young, and his fecond 
 brother alfo having deceafed without iffue, the 
 General fucceeded to the family feat, and to a 
 very confiderable landed eftate. 
 
 It is a circumftance which ought not to be 
 here omitted, that, at the age of fifteen, he was 
 entered a midfhipman on board a Britifh fhip of 
 war ftationed on the coaft of Virginia, and his 
 baggage prepared for embarkation ; but his 
 mother, then a widow, exprefsing her reludance 
 at his engaging in that profefsion, the plan was 
 abandoned. 
 
 The office of adjutant-general, made vacant 
 by the death of his brother, in confequence of 
 the extenfive limits of the province, was now 
 divided into three diftridis ; the future hero 
 of America, before he had completed his twen- 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. I^ 
 
 tieth year, began his military fervice by a princi- 
 pal appointment in that department, with the 
 rank of Major. 
 
 ' When he was little more than twenty years 
 of age, an event occurred which called forth his 
 great talents into public notice and exercife. In 
 1753, the French from Canada, aided by the 
 Indians, whom they engaged for the purpofe, 
 made inroads and encroachments upon the 
 weftern frontiers, along the Allegany and Ohio 
 rivers. Orders were received from England, by 
 the Governor" and Council of Virginia, to repel 
 by force thefe encroachments. It was however 
 thought a prudent preliminary ftep, to make an 
 effort to prevent open hoftilities, by friendly 
 and fpirited remonftrances to the French, and 
 conciliatory overtures to the Indians. Major 
 Washington was deputed to undertake this im- 
 portant and perilous embafsy. Accordingly he 
 was difpatched by the Governor, with a letter to 
 the Commander in Chief of the French on the 
 Ohio, complaining of the infradtions of the trea- 
 
 * Lieut. Governor Din'widdie at this time adminiftered the Go-vernment. 
 
14 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 ties fubfifting between the two crowns ; and with 
 inftruftions and plenary powers to treat with the 
 Six Nations and other tribes of Weftern Indians, 
 and to fecure their attachment to England. He 
 commenced his journey late in Od;ober, with 
 about fifteen attendants, and endured the fa- 
 tigues, and performed the duties of his mifsion, 
 with Angular fortitude, induftry, intelligence and 
 addrefs. When he returned with Monfieur de 
 St. Piere's anfwer, and gave information of his 
 fuccefs in his negotiations with the Indians, he 
 received the approbation and thanks of his 
 country. His journal'-' and report to Governor 
 Dinwiddle, which were publifhed at the time, 
 early announced to the world, that ftrength and 
 corre6tnefs of mind, eafe and manlinefs of ftile, 
 and that judgment, method, and accuracy in 
 doing bufinefs, which have fince charafterifed 
 him in conducing more arduous affairs. His 
 journal for many years after, proved of efsential 
 fervice to travellers into that weftern wilder- 
 nefs. 
 
 * This "Journal ivas publijhed in the Mafsac/iufetts Magazine for "Jum and 
 July, \1%^,from a copy Jent to the ivriter of this, from his corrcfpondent in 
 Virginia. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 15 
 
 Notwithftanding the remonftrances made 
 by the government of Virginia to the French 
 commander on the Ohio, through Major Wash- 
 ington, hoftile operations in that quarter were 
 ftill continued, as part of a meditated plan of 
 general attack upon the then Britifh colonies. 
 In this ftate of things, orders were received from 
 the mother countrv, for the colonies to unite, 
 and prepare to defend themfelves. The affembly 
 of Virginia took the lead ; and early in tlie year 
 1754, voted a fum of money for the public fer- 
 vice, and agreed to raife a regiment of 400 men 
 for the defence of the frontiers of that colony. 
 Mr. Fry, one of the profefsors of the college of 
 William and Mary, was appointed Colonel of 
 this regiment, and Major Washington, then 
 about twenty-three years of age, received the 
 commifsion of Lieut. Colonel. Col. Fry died 
 fhortly after his appointment, and left his regi- 
 ment and rank to the fecond in command. 
 
 Col. Washington now was indefatigable in 
 his efforts to form his regiment, to eftablifh 
 magazines, and open roads fo as to pre-occupy 
 
1 6 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 the advantageous poft at the confluence of the 
 Allegany and Monongahela rivers (now Pitts- 
 burg) which he recommended for that purpofe, 
 in his report the preceding year. Imprefsed with 
 the necefsity of expedition in accomplifhing this 
 important objed:, without waiting for a detach- 
 ment of independent regulars, and fome compa- 
 nies of provincials from the neighboring colonies, 
 who were expedied to join him, he commenced 
 his march in the month of May. 
 
 On his way, at a place called Red Stone, he 
 met a ftrong party of the French and Indians, 
 which he engaged and routed, after killing and 
 capturing fifty of the enemy. Among the prifon- 
 ers was the celebrated Monf. de la Force, and 
 two other officers, from whom Col. Washington 
 received intelligence, that the French forces on 
 the Ohio confifted of upwards of looo regulars, 
 and feveral hundred Indians, and that they had 
 already eredled a fort at the poft he had intended 
 to occupy, which they called Fort du Ouefne. 
 Upon this intelligence, he took his ftation at a 
 place called Great Meadows, for the convenience 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 17 
 
 of forage and fupplies, where he built a tempo- 
 rary ftockade, to cover his ftores, and named it 
 Fort Necefsity. Here he waited the arrival of 
 expefted fuccours from New-York and Pennfyl- 
 vania, but was joined by Capt. M'Kay's regu- 
 lars, only, which increafed his force to about 400 
 effective men. He remained unmolefted till 
 July, when he received information from his 
 fcouts, that a confiderable party of the enemy 
 was approaching to reconnoitre his poft ; he 
 Tallied and defeated them; but in return was 
 attacked by an army, of French and Indians, 
 computed to have been 15CO ftrong, under the 
 command of the Sieur de Villiers. The little 
 garrifon made a gallant defence, of feveral hours, 
 during which they killed nearly 200 of the 
 enemy, and more than one third of their own 
 number were either killed or wounded. The 
 French commander, difcouraged by fuch bold 
 oppofition, propofed a parley, which terminated 
 in an honorable capitulation. Col. Washing- 
 ton, at the head of his troops, quitted the Fort 
 with the honors of war, agreeable to the articles 
 of capitulation, and carried with him his military 
 
 3 
 
1 8 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 ftores, and baggage ; but the French commander, 
 either unable or unwilling, did not reftrain his 
 Indian auxiliaries from plundering the provin- 
 cials, and making a confiderable flaughter of 
 men, cattle, and horfes. After this difafter, the 
 remains of the Virginia regiment returned to 
 Alexandria to recruit. 
 
 The Britilh ambafsador at the court of Ver- 
 failles was direded to remonftrate to the French 
 government againft the breach of the articles of 
 capitulation above mentioned ; and this may be 
 confidered as the period when the French court 
 began to unmaflc, and to difcover that the con- 
 dud: of its governors and officers in America, 
 was in conformity to their orders. After this, 
 warlike preparations on the frontiers were made 
 by the French with redoubled adivity, and were 
 continued through the winter of 1754, and the 
 fpring of 1755. 
 
 During this period the government of Vir- 
 ginia raifed an additional number of troops, who 
 built Fort Cumberland, and Fort Loudon, and 
 formed a camp at Wills Creek, a fituation con- 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 1 9 
 
 venient for the annoyance of the enemy on the 
 Ohio. In all thefe fervices, and particularly in 
 the eredion of the forts, Col. Washington was 
 adlively and principally employed. 
 
 At this time, May 1755, Gen. Braddock 
 arrived at Alexandria, from England, with two 
 veteran regiments from Ireland, to which were 
 joined the independent and provincial corps in 
 America, and at the head of this army he was to 
 repel the invaders of the colonial frontiers. 
 Upon the royal arrangement of rank, by which 
 " no officer who did not immediately derive his 
 commifsion from the king, could command one 
 who did," Col. Washington refigned his com- 
 mifsion, and as a volunteer and extra Aid-de- 
 Camp, joined Gen. Braddock. The army 
 marched direftly for Fort du Quefne, by the 
 route of Wills Creek. No perfon was fo well 
 acquainted with this route as Col. Washington, 
 and no other officer in the colony, at this time, 
 fuftained fo high and well eftablifhed a military 
 reputation; and had his counfel been fufficiently 
 regarded, there is reafon to believe the misfor- 
 
20 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 tunes which followed would have been prevented. 
 In his route Gen. Braddock unexpededly, and 
 of confequence, unpreparedly, met a large body 
 of the enemy. Without detailing minutely the 
 particulars of the hard fought and bloody battle 
 which enfued, and which terminated in the total 
 defeat of Braddock's army, which confifted of 
 2000 regular BritiHi forces, and nearly 800 pro- 
 vincials, I fliall only fay, in the words of the 
 refpeftable and corred: writer, '■' to whom I am 
 indebted for many of the fads contained in this 
 flcetch, that "it is allowed on all fides, that the 
 haughty behavior of Gen. Braddock, his high 
 contempt of the provincial officers and foldiers, " 
 and his difdainful obftinacy in rejeding their 
 advice, were the caufes of this fatal difafter. 
 With what refolution and fteadinefs the provin- 
 cials, and their gallant commander (Col. Wash- 
 ington) behaved on this trying occafion, and in 
 covering the confufed retreat of the army,-)- let 
 every Britifh officer and foldier confefs, who were 
 
 * Jo/U! Bc/I, Efj. 
 
 ■f Sec Caft. Ormcs Letter to Go'v. Dinividdie, and also the other accounts 
 oj that day. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 21 
 
 refcued from flaughter on that calamitous day by 
 their valor and condu6l." 
 
 To this information it is proper to add, that 
 Col. Washington was the only officer whofe 
 duty obliged him to be on horfeback during the 
 battle, who was not either killed or wounded. 
 Providence feemed to referve him to fave from 
 utter deftrudion the wreck of a defeated army. 
 Having fecured their pafsage over the ford of the 
 Monongahela, and finding the enemy did not 
 purfue their vi(5lory, Col. Washington haftened 
 to concert meafures for their further fecurity, 
 with Col. Dunbar, who had remained fome dif- 
 tance in the rear, with the fecond divifion of the 
 army and the heavy baggage. To effed; this, he 
 travelled, with two guides all night, through a 
 dreary wildernefs, notwithftanding the fatigues of 
 the preceding day, and the enfeebled ftate of his 
 health, having but imperfecflly recovered from 
 ficknefs. So exhaufted was he in the morning, 
 that he was obliged to be fupported with cuiliions 
 on his horfe. The public accounts of this affair, 
 both in England and America, were not parfimo- 
 
22 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 nious of applaufe for the efsential fervice he 
 rendered his country on fo trying an occafion. 
 
 Not long after this time, the regulation of 
 rank, which had been fo injurious to the colonial 
 officers, was changed to their fatisfadion, in con- 
 fequence of the difcontent of the officers and the 
 remonftrance of Col. Washington; and the 
 government of Virginia, imprefsed with a due 
 fenfe of his merits, gave him, in a new and exten- 
 five commifsion, the command of all the troops 
 raifed and to be raifed in that colony. This 
 commifsion he held with fignal credit to himfelf, 
 and advantage to his country, till 1759; when 
 tranquillity being reftored on the frontiers of the 
 middle colonies, and his conftitution having 
 become extremely enfeebled and endangered by 
 an inveterate pulmonary complaint, he refigned 
 his military appointment. Impartial hiftorians 
 will do juftice to his character, in detailing the 
 judicious plans he fuggefted, and the fyftem he 
 purfued for defending the frontiers, and his per- 
 fonal hazards, bravery and achievements, pre- 
 vioufly to the period of his refignation. Nor are 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 27 
 
 authentic documents wanting to fhew the tender 
 regret which the Virginia line exprefsed at part- 
 ing with their Commander, and the afFedlionate 
 regard which He entertained for them. 
 
 From this period till the year 1775, he cul- 
 tivated the arts of peace. Soon after he refigned 
 his commifsion in 1759, ^^^ health having been 
 gradually re-eftablifhed, he married the prefent 
 Mrs. Washington, then Mrs. Martha Custis,* 
 an amiable and beautiful young widow, " with 
 whom he had a fortune of twenty thoufand 
 pounds fterling in her own right, befides her 
 dower in one of the principal eftates in Virgi- 
 nia,"f and fettled as a Planter and Farmer at his 
 favorite, delightful feat, the far-famed Mount 
 Vernon. 
 
 General Washington was the largeft land- 
 holder, probably, in the United States. Befides 
 the large eftates which came into his pofsefsion 
 by his marriage, and by the death of Mrs. Wash- 
 
 * GENERAL and Mrs. WASHINGTON -were born in the same year. 
 f Bell's Letter. 
 
24 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 ington's only daughter (amounting in the whole 
 to thirty thoufand pounds fterling) he owned 
 large trafts of excellent land in different parts of 
 the ftate, which, in early life, while he was Sur- 
 veyor, he had taken up for himfelf, or purchafed 
 of officers who had land allotted them for their 
 fervices. He alfo made large additions to his 
 eftate at Mount Vernon; which, in 1787, con- 
 fifted of about nine thoufand acres, under his 
 own cultivation. His income from his eftates 
 was reckoned, in 1776, to amount at leaft to four . 
 thoufand povjids Jterling a year; and it was then 
 fuppofed they would have fold for more than one 
 hundred and fixty thoufand pownds^-' of the fame 
 money, equal to upwards of 666,000 dollars. 
 There can be no doubt, that under his fuperin- 
 tendance and admirable management, his pro- 
 perty has fmce much increafed. 
 
 General Washington was not lefs diftin- 
 guifhed as a Farmer^ than as a Warrior and a 
 Statefman. He undertook every thing on a great 
 fcale, proportioned to his great and comprehen- 
 
 * BelPs Letter. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 25 
 
 five mind; and his exad; and exemplary method 
 in tranfadling all his bufinefs, enabled him to 
 accomplifh more, and in a more perfedl and 
 advantageous manner, than perhaps any other 
 man of the age. He has raifed feven thoufand 
 bufhels of wheat, and ten thoufand of Indian 
 corn in one year, on his eftate at Mount Vernon. 
 In a fucceeding year he raifed two hundred lambs, 
 fowed twenty-feven bufhels of flax-feed, and 
 planted more than feven hundred bufhels of 
 potatoes. At the fame time he had manufactured 
 under his eye, by his domeftics, linen and 
 woolen cloth fufiicient for his houfehold, which 
 confifted of nearly a thoufand fouls. — His land, 
 defigned for cultivation, he had enclofed in lots 
 of equal dimenfions, and crops afsigned to each 
 for many years. On Saturday in the afternoon, 
 every week, he was accuftomed to receive reports 
 from all his overfeers (and thefe reports, I have 
 been informed, were received and attended to 
 conftantly, during the periods of his command 
 of our armies, and his prefidency of the United 
 States) which reports were correctly regiftered in 
 books kept for the purpofe ; fo that, at the end 
 
 4 
 
26 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 of the year, he was able accurately to afcertain 
 the quantity of labor beftowed on each of the 
 feveral lots, and the amount of the produce. 
 Order and economy were eftabliilied in all the 
 departments within and without doors. 
 
 Agriculture was his favorite employment, and 
 he purfued it in a manner worthy of himfelf. 
 One great objed which he ever kept in view, 
 was to introduce or augment the culture of thofe 
 articles which he conceived would be the moft 
 beneficial in their confequences to his country. 
 Upon this principle, he early gave up planting 
 tobacco, and went altogether into the farming 
 bufinefs. To acquire and communicate practical 
 knowledge, he correfponded with the celebrated 
 Mr. Arthur Young, of England, and with many 
 agricultural gentlemen in this country. As im- 
 provement was known to be his objedt, he was 
 in the habit of receiving rare feeds, and refults 
 of new proje6ls from every quarter. He like- 
 wife made copious notes, relative to his own ex- 
 periments, the ftate of the feafons, the nature of 
 foils, of which he was an excellent judge, and 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 27 
 
 the effedts of different kinds of manure, and fuch 
 other topics, as tended to the improvement of 
 agriculture. 
 
 While he was thus ufefully occupied as a 
 Farmer, and giving to all around him, and to 
 pofterity, a noble example of induftry, economy, 
 and good management, he was, at the fame time, 
 affiduous in ferving the ftate. From the time 
 he left the army, in 1759, until the year 1774, 
 he was conftantly a member of affembly ; he was 
 alfo a magiftrate of the county in which he lived, 
 and a judge of the court. He was elecSted a del- 
 egate to the firft congrefs in 1774, and to that 
 which aflembled in the year following. 
 
 It was while he was a member of this afsem- 
 bly of the wifeft men in America, that he was, 
 on the 15th of June, 1775, by their unanimous 
 vote, appointed Commander in Chief of all the 
 forces raifed, or to be raifed for the defence of 
 the then colonies. He accepted his appoint- 
 ment ; with what diffidence and difintereftednefs, 
 his reply to the prelident of Congrefs, when his 
 appointment was announced to him, witnefses 
 
28 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 "It was a fortunate circumftance, attending his 
 eledion, that it was accompanied with no com- 
 petition, and followed by no envy. That fame 
 general impulfe on the public mind, which led 
 the colonifts to agree in many other particulars 
 pointed to him as the moft proper perfon for 
 prefiding over the military arrangements of 
 America. Not only Congrefs, but the inhabi- 
 tants in the eaft and weft, in the north and the 
 fouth, as well before as at the time of embody- 
 ing a continental army, were in a great degree 
 unanimous in his favor.'"'' "The very high 
 eftimation he ftood in for integrity and honor, 
 his engaging in the caufe of his country from 
 fentiment and a convidion of her wrongs ; his 
 moderation in politics, his extenfive property, 
 and his approved abilities as a military com- 
 mander, were motives which obliged the choice 
 of America to fall upon him."-)- 
 
 We have now arrived at a period in the life 
 of this great man, fince which, the events of it 
 have been more confpicuous and more generally 
 
 * RAMSAY'S Hist. Rev. 'uol. i. p. 192. 
 t Beirs Letter. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 2g 
 
 intereftlng; and it is the lefs neceflary to par- 
 ticularize them in this place, becaufe they have 
 been often detailed, and are familiar to almoft 
 every perfon. I will only obferve, that General 
 Washington arrived at the camp in Cambridge, 
 and took the fupreme command of the Ameri- 
 can army, July 2, 1776. "He was received 
 with that heart-felt exultation, which fuperior 
 merit alone can infpire, after having, in his pro- 
 grefs through the ftates, been honored with 
 every mark of afFed;ion and efteem which they 
 conceived were due to the man, whom the whole 
 continent looked up to for fafety and freedom."''' 
 
 It is hoped pofterity will be taught, in what 
 manner he transformed an undifciplined bodv of 
 peafantry into a regular army of foldiers. Com- 
 mentaries on his campaigns would undoubtedly 
 be highly interefting and inftrudive to future 
 generations. The condud: of the firft campaign, 
 in compelling the Britifh troops to abandon 
 Bofton by a bloodlefs vidory, will merit a mi- 
 nute narration. But a volume would fcarcely 
 
 * Beli's Letter. 
 
30 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 contain the mortifications he experienced, and 
 the hazards to which he was expofed in 1776 and 
 1777, in contending againft the prowefs of Brit- 
 ain, with an inadequate force. His good deftiny 
 and confummate prudence, prevented want of 
 fuccefs from producing want of confidence on 
 the part of the public ; for want of fuccefs is apt 
 to lead to the adoption of pernicious counfels 
 through the verfatility of the people, or the am- 
 bition of demagogues. — Shortly after this period, 
 fprang up the only cabal that ever exifted during 
 his public life, to rob him of his reputation and 
 command. It proved as impotent in efFed, as it 
 was audacious in defign. In the three fucceed- 
 ing years the germ of difcipline unfolded ; and 
 the refources of America having been called into 
 co-operation with the land and naval forces of 
 France, produced the glorious conclufion of the 
 campaign in 178 1. From this time the gloom 
 began to difappear from our political horizon, 
 and the affairs of the union proceeded in a meli- 
 orating train, until a peace was moft ably nego- 
 ciated by our ambaifadors in Europe in 1783. 
 
 No perfon, who had not the advantage of 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 3 I 
 
 being prefent when General Washington re- 
 ceived the intelligence of peace, and who did not 
 accompany him to his domeftic retirement, can 
 defcribe the relief which that joyful event brought 
 to his laboring mind, or the fupreme fatisfadlion 
 with which he withdrew to private life. From 
 his triumphal entry into New-York, upon the 
 evacuation of that city by the Britifh army, to 
 his arrival at Mount Vernon, after the refigna- 
 tion of his commifsion to Congrefs, feftive crowds 
 impeded his pafsage through all the populous 
 towns, the devotion of a whole people purfued 
 him with prayers to Heaven for blefsings on his 
 head, while their gratitude fought the moft ex- 
 prefsive language of manifefting itfelf to him as 
 their common father and benefaftor. When he 
 became a private citizen, he had the unufual 
 felicity to find that his native ftate was among 
 the moft zealous to do juftice to his merits; 
 and that ftronger demonftrations of affedlionate 
 efteem (if pofsiblej were given by the citizens of 
 his neighborhood, than by any other defcription 
 of men on the continent. But he conftantly 
 declined accepting any compenfation for his fer- 
 
32 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 vices or provifion for the augmented expenfes 
 incurred in confequence of his public employ- 
 ment, although propofals were made him in the 
 moft delicate manner, particularly by the ftates 
 of Virginia and Pennfylvania. 
 
 The virtuous fimplicity which diftinguifhed 
 the private life of General Washington, though 
 lefs known than the dazzling fplendor of his 
 military achievements, is not lefs edifying in 
 example, or worthy the attention of his country- 
 men. The confpicuous character he afted on the 
 theatre of human affairs, the uniform dignity 
 with which he fuftained his part amidft difficulties 
 of the moft difcouraging nature, and the glory 
 of having arrived through them at the hour of 
 triumph, made many official and literary perfons, 
 on both fides of the ocean, ambitious of a corres- 
 pondence with him. Thefe correfpondencies 
 unavoidably engrofsed a great portion of his 
 time ; and the communications contained in 
 them, combined with the numerous periodical 
 publications and newfpapers which he perufed, 
 rendered him, as it were, the focus of political in- 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 33 
 
 telligence for the new world. — Nor were his con- 
 verfations with well informed men lefs conducive 
 to bring him acquainted with the various events 
 which happened in different countries of the 
 globe. Every foreigner of diftinftion, who trav- 
 elled in America, made it a point to vifit him. 
 Members of Congrefs and other dignified per- 
 fonages, did not pafs his houfe without calling 
 to pay him their refpedis. As another fource of 
 information it may be mentioned, that many 
 literary productions were fent to him annually 
 by their authors in Europe ; and that there was 
 fcarcely one work written in America on any art, 
 fcience, or fubjed:, which did not feek. his pro- 
 ted:ion, or which was not offered to him as a 
 token of gratitude. Mechanical inventions were 
 frequently fubmitted to him for his approbation, 
 and natural curiofities prefented for his invefti- 
 gation. But the multiplicity of epiftolary appli- 
 cations, often on the remains of fome bufinefs 
 which happened when he was commander in 
 chief; fometimes on fubjedis foreign to his (itu- 
 ation, frivolous in their nature, and intended 
 merely to gratify the vanity of the writers by 
 
 5 
 
34 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 drawing anfwers from him, was truly diftrefsing 
 and almoft incredible. His benignity in anfwer- 
 ing, perhaps, increafed the number. Had he 
 not hufbanded every moment to the beft ad- 
 vantage, it would not have been in his. power to 
 have noticed the vaft variety of fubjeds that 
 claimed his attention. 
 
 In this manner he fpent his time, from the 
 peace of 1783, till he was eleded a member of 
 the convention who framed, in Philadelphia, in 
 the fummer of 1787, the prefent Conftitution of 
 the United States. Of this convention of fages, 
 he was chofen Prefident, and with his name he 
 has fandioned the Conftitution of their and his 
 country's choice. 
 
 When this Conftitution, adopted by the 
 nation, was to be organized and put into opera- 
 tion, by an eledion of the proper officers, the 
 United States, " ftedfaft in their preference, with 
 one voice fummoned their beloved Washing- 
 ton, unpradifed as he was, in the duties of civil 
 adminiftration," to the chair of government. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. ^S 
 
 He heard their voice "with veneration and 
 love," and with that felf diffidence and modefty, 
 which ever accompany pre-eminent merit, he 
 obeyed their fummons. On the 30th of April, 
 1789, he was inaugurated Prefident of the Uni- 
 ted States, in the city of New-York, amidft the 
 acclamations of thoufands of fpedators. " It 
 feemed, by the number of witnefses," fays one, 
 who beheld the interefting fcene, "to be a folemn 
 appeal to heaven and earth at once. Upon the 
 fubjed; of this great and good man, I may perhaps 
 be an enthufiaft : but I confefs, I was under an 
 awful and religious perfuafion, that the gracious 
 Ruler of the Univerfe was looking down at that 
 moment, with peculiar complacency, on an a6l, 
 which, to a part of his creatures, was fo very im- 
 portant. Under this imprefsion, when the chan- 
 cellor pronounced in a very feeling manner, 
 'Long live George Washington,' my fenfi- 
 bility was wound up to fuch a pitch, that I could 
 do no more than wave my hat with the reft, 
 without the power of joining in the repeated ac- 
 clamations which rent the air." 
 
^6 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 In the autumn after his induction into 
 office, he vifited the eaftern ftates ; with how 
 much delight and advantage to the people, and 
 fatisfaftion to his own mind, let the volume of 
 their addrefses and his anfwers teftify. 
 
 With what dignity, wifdom, firmnefs, in- 
 tegrity, and high general approbation, he per- 
 formed the duties of his moft arduous, elevated, 
 and refponfible office, during his eight years ad- 
 miniftration, his eulogifts have eloquently an- 
 nounced, and hiftorians will record with pride 
 and admiration. " Commencing his adminiftra- 
 tion, what heart is not charmed with the recol- 
 lediion of the pure and wife principles announced 
 by himfelf, as the balls of his political life. He 
 beft underftood the indifsoluble union between 
 virtue and happinefs, between duty and advan- 
 tage, between the genuine maxims of an honeft 
 and magnanimous policy, and the folid rewards 
 of public profperity and individual felicity : 
 watching with an equal and comprehenfive eye 
 over this great afsemblage of communities and 
 interefts, he laid the foundation of our national 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 31 
 
 policy, in the unerring and immutable principles 
 of morality, bafed on religion, exemplifying the 
 pre-eminence of free government, by all the 
 attributes which win the affedlions of its citizens, 
 or command the refpeft of the world."* 
 
 During his adminiftration as our fupreme 
 executive magiftrate, " his talents and his virtues 
 increafed with his cares. His foul seemed not 
 to bear the limits of office a moment after the 
 obligations of duty and patriotifm withdrew 
 their reftraints from his univerfal love When 
 the mifguided favages of the wildernefs, after 
 feeling his chaftifement, had fued for peace ; he 
 feemed to labor for their happinefs as the com- 
 mon reprefentative of mankind. Infurreftion 
 was fo ftruck at his countenance, that it fled 
 from the fhock of his arms. Intrigue attempted 
 to entangle him in her poifonous web, but he 
 burft it with gigantic ftrength, and crufhed her 
 labours. Anarchy looked out from her cavern, 
 and was dafhed into oblivion, as we truft, for- 
 ever. The nations of Europe faw the wifdom of 
 
 * Major Gen. Henry Lee^s Funeral Oration, 
 
38 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 our laws, the vigour of our meafures, the juftice 
 of our policy, the firmnefs of our government, 
 and acquiefced in the neutrality of our ftation."* 
 
 Twice elected by the unanimous voice of 
 his country to the Prefidential chair, when the 
 period for a third eledlion arrived, in September 
 1796, when the ftate of his country was fuch that 
 he confidered it no longer necefsary for him to 
 facrifice his inclination to his duty, he announced 
 to his fellow-citizens, in an Addrefs which will be 
 immortal as his name, his determination to 
 retire, and requefting them not to confider him 
 as a candidate for their future fuffrages; thus 
 preventing "the anxious wifhes of an affectionate 
 people, from adding a third unanimous teftimo- 
 nial of their unabated confidence in the man fo 
 long enthroned in their hearts." Having fpent 
 forty-five years of his life in the fervice of his 
 country, he confoled himfelf with the hope that 
 he was now quitting forever "the boundlefs field 
 of public a6lion, incefsant trouble and high re- 
 fponfibility," in which he had fo long a6led a 
 
 * J'^dge Minoi's Eulogy, p. 15. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 39 
 
 principal part: but this fond hope was not real- 
 ized. He had not yet arrived at the pinnacle of 
 human greatnefs. One afcending ftep yet re- 
 mained untaken. From March 1797 to July 
 1798, he lived in peace at his beloved retreat, 
 difcharging the duties of a private citizen with a 
 condefcenfion and greatnefs of mind peculiar to 
 himfelf. At the latter period, "when every thing 
 we hold dear and facred was feriously threat- 
 ened,"* the voice of his conntrymen was raifed 
 to him, as the Inftrument, under Providence, for 
 their protection ; he heard it and inftantly 
 obeyed ; and thus advanced the laft afcending 
 ftep in the career of earthly glory. On this high 
 and commanding ground he ftood, venerable in 
 fervices as in years, the cement and the bulwark 
 of our nation, till the 14th of December 1799, 
 when he was fummoned above to join that noble 
 company of the " wife, who fhall fhine as the 
 brightnefs of the firmament, and as the ftars for- 
 ever and ever." 
 
 His laft {icknefs was fhort and painful. On 
 
 * GENERAL WASHINGTON'S Later of Acceptance. 
 
40 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 Thurfday the 12th, he was abroad on one of his 
 plantations. — The day was rainy and he took 
 cold; which, on Friday, produced a violent in- 
 flammation in the throat. The following night 
 his difeafe became very alarming, and he was 
 urged to fend to Alexandria for his phyfician. 
 His humanity for his fervants prevented it till 
 the next morning. At 1 1 o'clock on Saturday 
 his phyfician arrived. It was too late. The hand 
 of death was already upon him. Though his 
 diftrefs was extreme, he was calm and refigned. 
 "He informed his attendants that his affairs were 
 in good order ; that he had made his will, and 
 that his public bufinefs was but two days behind 
 hand." A very fhort time before he died, he 
 faid to his phyfician, " Do^or, what is the clock? 
 How long am I to remain in this fituationV The 
 Do6tor replied, ''^ Not long^ Jir." He then re- 
 joined with the firmeft countenance, "/ have no 
 fear, Do^or, to die'' His breathing foon grew 
 fhorter ; and prefently after he expired without 
 a figh or a groan. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 4I 
 
 "When keeneft anguifli rack'd his mighty mind, 
 And the fond heart the joys of life refign'd, 
 No guilt nor terror ftretch'd its hard controul, 
 No doubt obfcur'd the funfhine of the foul. 
 Prepared for death, his calm and fteady eye, 
 Look'd fearlefs upward to a peaceful Iky ; 
 While wondering angels point the airy road. 
 Which leads the Chriftian to the Throne of God." 
 
 General Washington in his perfon was 
 tall, upright, and well made ; in his manners 
 eafy and unaffefted. His eyes were of a bluifh 
 caft, not prominent, indicative of deep thought- 
 fulnefs, and when in aftion, on great cccafions, 
 remarkably lively. His features ftrong, manly, 
 and commanding ; his temper referved and fe- 
 rious ; his countenance grave, compofed, and 
 fenfible. There was in his whole appearance an 
 unufual dignity and gracefulnefs which at once 
 fecured for him profound refped;, and cordial 
 efteem. He feemed born to command his fel- 
 low men. In his official capacity he received 
 applicants for favors, and anfwered their requefts 
 with fo much eafe, condefcenfion and kindnefs, 
 as that each retired, believing himfelf a favorite 
 of his chief. He had an excellent and well cul- 
 
 6 
 
42 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, 
 
 tivated underftanding ; a corred, difcerning, and 
 comprehenfive mind ; a memory remarkably re- 
 tentive; energetic pafsions under perfeftcontroul; 
 a judgment fober, deliberate, and found. He was 
 a man of the ftridleft honor and honefty, fair and 
 honorable in his dealings ; and punctual to his 
 engagements. His difpofition was mild, kind, 
 and generous. Candour, fincerity, moderation, 
 and fimplicity, were, in common, prominent 
 features in his chara6ler ; but when an occafion 
 called, he was capable of difplaying the molt de- 
 termined bravery, firmnefs, and independence. 
 He was an affe6lionate hufband, a faithful friend, 
 a humane mailer, and a father to the poor. He 
 lived in the unvarying habits of regularity, tem- 
 perance, and industry. He fteadily rofe at the 
 dawn of day, and retired to reft ufually at 9 
 o'clock in the evening. The intermediate hours 
 all had their proper bulinefs afsigned them. In 
 his allotments for the revolving hours, religion 
 was not forgotten. Feeling, what he fo often 
 publicly acknowledged, his entire dependence on 
 God, he daily, at ftated feafons, retired to his 
 clofet, to worfhip, at his footftool, and to afk his 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 43 
 
 divine blefsing. He was remarkable for his 
 ftrid; obfervation of the fabbath, and exemplary 
 in his attendance on public worfhip. 
 
 Of his faith in the truth and excellence of 
 the holy fcriptures, he gave evidence, not only 
 by his excellent and moft exemplary life, but in 
 his writings ; efpecially when he afcribes the me- 
 liorated condition of mankind, and the increafed 
 blefsing of fociety, '■'■above all^ to the pure and 
 benign light of revelation ;" and when he oifers to 
 God, his earnefl; prayer " that he would moft 
 gracioufly be pleafed to difpofe us all to do 
 juftice, to love mercy, and to demean ourfelves 
 with that charity, humility, and pacific temper 
 of mind, which were the charadteriftics of the 
 divine author of our blejsed religion ; without an 
 humble imitation of whofe example, in thefe 
 things, we can never hope to be a happy na- 
 tion."''' In an addrefs to him, immediately after 
 he commenced his Prefidency over the United 
 States, from a venerable and refpedable body of 
 
 * See the Condufion of hh Circular Letter. 
 
44 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 men, who were in the beft fituation to know his 
 religious charader, and who, no doubt, exprefsed 
 what they knew, is the following teftimony to his 
 faith in chriftianity. "But we derive a prefage," 
 fay they, " even more flattering, from the piety 
 of your charafter. Public virtue is the mod 
 certain mean of public felicity ; and religion is 
 the fureft bafis of virtue. We therefore efl:eem 
 it a peculiar happinefs to behold in our chief 
 magiflirate, a fteady, uniform, avowed friend of 
 the chriftian religion ; who has commenced his 
 adminiftration in rational and exalted fentiments 
 of piety, and who, in his private condu6l, adorns 
 "the dodirines of the gofpel of Chrifl;." Grounded 
 on thefe pure and excellent dodirines, to which 
 his life was fo conformable ; copying, as he did, 
 with fuch exemplary ftridinefs and uniformity, 
 the precepts of Chrifl, we have flrong confola- 
 tion and joy in believing, that ere this, he has 
 heard from, his God and Saviour, this enrap- 
 turing fentence, Well done good and faithful Jer- 
 vant^ enter into the Joy of your Lord. 
 
 What a blefsing to the world, what an honor 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 45 
 
 to human nature, Is a charafter thus " through- 
 out fublime ?" What a bright exemplar for 
 kings, princes, for rulers of every name, for war- 
 riors, for farmers, for christians, for mankind ? 
 Thanks be to God for fo rich a gift; praife to 
 his name for bellowing it on our nation, and 
 thus diftinguifhing it above all others on the 
 globe, and let all the people of Columbia, with 
 one voice ^ Jay amen. 
 
46 
 
 GENERAL WASHINGTON'S 
 
 APPOINTMENT TO THE COMMAND OF THE 
 AMERICAN ARMY. 
 
 IN CONGRESS, 
 Thurfday, June 15, 1 77 5. 
 
 rvESOLVED, That a General be ap- 
 pointed to command all the continental forces, 
 raifed, or to be raifed, for the defence of Ameri- 
 can liberty. ' 
 
 That five hundred dollars per month be 
 allowed for the pay and expences of the General. 
 
 The Congrefs then proceeded to the choice 
 of a General, by ballot, and George Washing- 
 ton, ESQ. was unanimoufly elefted. 
 
 Friday, June 16, 1 77 5. 
 
 The Prefident informed Colonel Washing- 
 ton, that the Congrefs had, yefterday, unani- 
 
WASHINGTON'S APPOINTMENT. 47 
 
 moufly made choice of him to be General and 
 commander in chief of the American forces, and 
 requefted he would accept of that employment; 
 to which Colonel Washington, ftanding in his 
 place, as a member of the houfe, anfwered : 
 
 " Mr. Prefident^ 
 
 " Though I am truly fenfible of the high 
 honor done me in this appointment, yet I feel 
 great diftrefs, from a confcioufnefs that my abili- 
 ties and military experience may not be equal to 
 the extenfive and important truft : however, as 
 the Congrefs defire it, I will enter upon the mo- 
 mentous duty, and exert every power I pofsefs, 
 in their fervice, for the fupport of the glorious 
 caufe. I beg they will accept my moft cordial 
 thanks for this diftinguifhed teftimony of their 
 approbation. 
 
 " But, left fome event fhould happen unfa- 
 vorable to my reputation, I beg it may be re- 
 membered by every gentleman in the room, that 
 I, this day, declare with the utmoft fincerity, I 
 do not think myfelf equal to the command I am 
 honored with. 
 
48 WASHINGTON'S APPOINTMENT. 
 
 " With refpedl to pay, fir, I muft beg leave 
 to afsure Congrefs, that as no pecuniary confid- 
 eration could have tempted me to accept this 
 arduous employment, at the expence of my do- 
 meftic eafe and happinefs, I do not wifh to make 
 any profit from it. I will keep an exad: account 
 of my expences. Thofe I doubt not they will 
 difcharge, and that is all I defire." 
 
WASHINGTON'S ORDERS. 
 
 49 
 
 ON THE CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES, GEN. 
 
 WASHINGTON ISSUED THE FOLLOWING 
 
 ORDERS: 
 
 Hcad-^luartcrs, Ncivbiirgh, April 18, 1 78 3. 
 
 X HE commander in chief orders the cef- 
 fation of hostilities between the United States 
 of America and the king of Great Britain, to be 
 publicly proclaimed to-morrow at 12 o'clock, at 
 the new building; and that the proclamation 
 which will be communicated herewith, be read 
 to-morrow evening, at the head of every regi- 
 ment and corps of the army ; after which, the 
 chaplains, with the feveral brigades, will render 
 thanks to Almighty God for all his mercies, par- 
 ticularly for his over-ruling the wrath of man to 
 his own glory, and caufing the rage of war to 
 ceafe amongft the nations. 
 
 Although the proclamation before alluded 
 to, extends only to the prohibition of hoftilities, 
 and not to the annunciation of a general peace, 
 yet it muft afford the moft rational and fincere 
 
 7 
 
so 
 
 WASHINGTON'S ORDERS. 
 
 fatlsfadion to every benevolent mind, as it puts 
 a period to a long and doubtful conteft — ftop 
 the efFufion of human blood — opens the prof- 
 ped to a more fplendid fcene — and, like another 
 morning ftar, promifes the approach of a brighter 
 day than has hitherto illuminated this weftern 
 hemifphere ! On fuch a happy day — a day 
 which is the harbinger of peace — a day which 
 completes the eighth year of the war, it would 
 be ingratitude not to rejoice: it would be infen- 
 fibility not to participate in the general felicity. 
 
 The commander in chief, far from endea- 
 voring to ftifle the feelings of joy in his own 
 bofom, offers his most cordial congratulations on 
 the occafion, to all the officers of every denomi- 
 nation — to all the troops of the United States 
 in general, and in particular to thofe gallant and 
 perfevering men, who had refolved to defend the 
 rights of their invaded country fo long as the 
 war fhould continue ; for thefe are men who 
 ought to be confidered as the pride and boaft of 
 the American army, and who, crowned with well- 
 earned laurels, may foon withdraw from the field 
 of glory to the more tranquil walks of civil life. 
 
WASHINGTON S ORDERS. 5I . 
 
 While the General recolledis the almoft infi- 
 nite variety of fcenes through which we have 
 pafsed with a mixture of pleafure, aftonifhment 
 and gratitude — while he contemplates the prof- 
 pefts before us with rapture — he cannot help 
 wifhing that all the brave men, of whatever con- 
 dition they may be, who have fhared in the toils 
 and dangers of effeding this glorious revolution, 
 of refcuing millions from the hands of oppref- 
 fion, and of laying the foundation of a great 
 empire, might be imprefsed with a proper idea 
 of the dignified part they have been called to ad; 
 (under the smiles of providence) on the ftage of 
 human affairs ; for happy, thrice happy, fhall 
 they be pronounced hereafter, who have contri- 
 buted any thing, who have performed the mean- , 
 eft ofiice in ereding this Stupendous fabric of 
 Freedom and Empire^ on the broad bafis of inde- 
 pendency ; who have afsifted in proteding the I 
 rights of human nature, and eftablifhing an I 
 afylum for the poor and opprefsed of all nations 
 and religions. 
 
 The glorious talk for which we firft flew to 
 
52 WASHINGTON S ORDERS. 
 
 arms, being thus accomplifhed — the liberties of 
 our country being fully acknowledged and firmly 
 fecured, by the fmiles of Heaven, on the purity 
 of our caufe, and the honeft exertion of a feeble 
 people, determined to be free, againft a powerful 
 nation difpofed to opprefs them ; and the cha- 
 rafter of thofe who have perfevered through 
 every extremity of hardfhip, fufFering, and dan- 
 ger, being immortalized by the illuftrious appel- 
 lation of the Patriot Army, nothing now remains 
 but for the adors of this mighty fcene to pre- 
 ferve a perfe6t, unvarying confiftency of charader 
 through the very laft ad; to clofe the drama 
 with applaufe ; and to retire from the military 
 theatre with the fame approbation of angels and 
 men, which have crowned all their former virtu- 
 ous adions. 
 
 For this purpofe, no diforder or licentious- 
 nefs muft be tolerated ; every confiderate and 
 well-difpofed foldier muft remember, it will be 
 abfolutely necefsary to wait with pations, until 
 peace fiiall be declared, or Congrefs fhall be 
 enabled to take proper meafures for the fecurity 
 
WASHINGTON S ORDERS. ^^ 
 
 of the public ftores, &c. As foon as thefe ar- 
 rangements fhall be made, the General is confi- 
 dent there will be no delay in difcharging, with 
 every mark of diftinftion and honor, all the men 
 enlifted for the war, who will then have faithfully 
 performed their engagements with the public. 
 The General has already interefted himfelf in 
 their behalf; and he thinks he need not repeat 
 the afsurances of his difpofition to be ufeful to 
 them on the prefent, and every other proper 
 occafion. In the mean time he is determined 
 that no military neglects or excefses fliall go un- 
 punifhed, while he retains the command of the 
 army. 
 
 The Adjutant-General will have fuch work- 
 ing parties detatched to afsift in making the 
 preparations for a general rejoicing, as the chief 
 engineer, with the army, fhall call for ; and the 
 quarter-mafter-general will alfo furnifh fuch 
 materials as he may want. The quarter-mafter- 
 general will, without delay, procure fuch a num- 
 ber of difcharges to be printed as will be fuffi- 
 cient for all the men enlifted for the war; he will 
 pleafe to apply to head-quarters for the form. 
 
54 WASHINGTON S ORDERS. 
 
 An extra ration of liquor to be ifsued to 
 every man to-morrow, to drink perpetual 
 
 PEACE, INDEPENDENCE, AND HAPPINESS, TO 
 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
S5 
 
 A CIRCULAR LErrER, 
 
 FROM HIS EXCELLENCY GEORGE WASHINGTON, COM- 
 MANDER IN CHIEF OF THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED 
 STATES OF AMERICA, TO THE GOVERNORS OF THE 
 SEVERAL STATES. 
 
 Head-Q^artcn, Nciuhurgh, June 1 8, 1 78 3. 
 SIR, 
 
 J. HE great objed for which I had the 
 honor to hold an appointment in the fervice of 
 my country, being accomplilTied, I am now pre- 
 paring to refign it into the hands of Congrefs, 
 and return to that domeftic retirement, which, it 
 is well known, I left with the greateft reludance; 
 a retirement for which I have never ceafed to 
 figh through a long and painful abfence, in 
 which (remote from the noife and trouble of the 
 world) I meditate to pafs the remainder of life 
 in a ftate of undifturbed repofe ; but, before I 
 carry this refolution into effed:, think it a duty 
 incumbent on me to make this my laft official 
 communication, to congratulate you on the 
 glorious events which heaven has been pleafed to 
 
56 Washington's 
 
 produce in our favor, to offer my fentiments re- 
 fpeding fome important fubjedls, which appear 
 to me to be intimately connedled with the tran- 
 quillity of the United States, to take my leave 
 of your Excellency as a public charad:er, and to 
 give my final blefsing to that country in whofe 
 fervice I have fpent the prime of my life ; for 
 whofe fake I have confumed fo many anxious 
 days and watchful nights ; and whofe happinefs 
 being extremely dear to me, will always confti- 
 tute no inconfiderable part of my own. 
 
 Imprefsed with the livelieft fenfibility on 
 this pleafing occafion, I will claim the indul- 
 gence of dilating the more copioufly on the fub- 
 jed; of our mutual felicitation. When we con- 
 fider the magnitude of the price we contended 
 for, the doubtful nature of the conteft, and the 
 favorable manner in which it has terminated ; we 
 fhall find the greateft pofsible reafon for grati- 
 tude and rejoicing: this is a theme that will 
 afford infinite delight to every benevolent and 
 liberal mind, whether the event in contempla- 
 tion be confidered as a fource of prefent enjoy- 
 
CIRCULAR LETTER. 57 
 
 ment, or the parent of future happinefs ; and 
 we fhall have equal occafion to felicitate ourfelves 
 on the lot which providence has afsigned us, 
 whether we view it in a ilatural, a political, or 
 moral point of view. 
 
 The citizens of America, placed in the moft 
 enviable condition, as the fole lords and proprie- 
 tors of a vaft trad of continent, comprehending 
 all the various foils and climates of the world, 
 and abounding with all the necefsaries and con- 
 veniences of life, are now, by the late fatisfac- 
 tory pacification, acknowledged to be pofsefsed 
 of abfolute freedom and independency; they are, 
 from this period to be confidcred as the adors 
 on a moft confpicuous theatre, which feems to 
 be peculiarly defigned by providence for the dis- 
 play of human greatnefs and felicity : here they 
 are not only furrounded with every thing that 
 can contribute to the completion of private and 
 domeftic enjoyment, but heaven has crowned all 
 its other blefsings, by giving a furer opportunity 
 for political happinefs than any other nation has 
 ever been favored with. Nothing can illuftrate 
 
58 Washington's 
 
 thefe obfervations more forcibly than the recol- 
 leftion of the happy conjefture of times and cir- 
 cumftances, under which our republic afsumed 
 its rank among the nations. The foundation of 
 our empire was not laid in a gloomy age of ig- 
 norance and fuperftition, but at an epoch when 
 the rights of mankind were better underftood, 
 and more clearly defined than at any former 
 period: refearches of the human mind after 
 focial happinefs have been carried to a great ex- 
 tent : the treafures of knowledge acquired by 
 the labours of philofophers, fages, and legifla- 
 tors, through a long fuccefsion of years, are laid 
 open for us, and their colleded wifdom may be 
 happily applied in the eftablifhment of our torms 
 of government : the free cultivation of letters, 
 the unbounded extenfion of commerce, the pro- 
 grefsive refinement of manners, the growing lib- 
 erality of fentiment, and, above all, the pure and 
 benign light of revelation, have had a meliora- 
 ting influence on mankind, and increafed the 
 blefsings of fociety. ±\t this aufpicious period 
 the United States came into exiftence as a na- 
 tion, and if their citizens Hiould not be com- 
 
CIRCULAR LETTER. 59 
 
 pletely free and happy, the fault will be en- 
 tirely their own. 
 
 Such is our fituation, and fuch are our 
 profpedls ; but notwithftanding the cup of blefs- 
 ing is thus reached out to us — notwithftanding 
 happinefs is ours, if we have a difpofition to 
 feize the occafion, and make it our own ; yet it 
 appears to me, there is an option ftill left to 
 the United States of America, whether they will 
 be refped:able and profperous, or contemptible 
 and miferable as a nation. This is the time of 
 their political probation ; this is the moment, 
 when the eyes of the whole world are turned 
 upon them ; this is the time to eftablifh or ruin 
 their national character forever ; this is the fa- 
 vorable moment to give fuch a tone to the fede- 
 ral government as will enable it to anfwer the 
 ends of its inftitution ; or this may be the ill-fated 
 moment for relaxing the powers of the union, 
 annihilating the cement of the confederation, and 
 expofing us to become the fport of European 
 politics, which may play one ftate againft another, 
 to prevent growing importance, and to ferve their 
 
6o Washington's 
 
 own interefted purpofes. For, according to the 
 fyftem of policy the flates fhall adopt at this mo- 
 ment, they will fland or fall ; and, by their con- 
 firmation or lapfe, it is yet to be decided, whether 
 the revolution muft ultimately be confidered as 
 a blefsing or a curfe; a blefsing or a curfe, not 
 to the prefent age alone, for with our fate will 
 the deftiny of unborn millions be involved. 
 
 With this convidion of the importance of 
 the prefent crifis, filence in me would be a crime. 
 I will therefore fpeak to your Excellency the lan- 
 guage of freedom and fincerity without difguife. 
 I am aware, however, thofe who differ from me 
 in political fentiments may perhaps remark, I am 
 ftepping out of the proper line of my duty ; and 
 they may pofsibly afcribe to arrogance or often- 
 tation, what I know is alone the refult of the 
 pureft intention ; but the rediitude of my own 
 heart, which difdains fuch unworthy motives — 
 the part I have hitherto aded in life — the deter- 
 mination I have formed of not taking any fhare 
 in public bufinefs hereafter — the ardent defire I 
 feel and fhall continue to manifeft, of quietly 
 
CIRCULAR LETTER. 6l 
 
 enjoying in private life, after all the toils of war, 
 the benefits of a wife and liberal government — 
 will, I flatter myfelf, fooner or latet-, convince 
 my countrymen, that I fhould have no finifter 
 views in delivering, with fo little referve, the 
 opinions contained in this address. 
 
 There are four things which I humbly con- 
 ceive are efsential to the well-being, I may even 
 venture to fay, to the exiftence of the United 
 States, as an independent power. 
 
 I ft. An indifsoluble union of the ftates 
 under one federal head. 
 
 2dly. A facred regard to public juftice. 
 
 jdly. The adoption of a proper peace eftab- 
 lifhment. And, 
 
 4thly. The prevalence of that pacific and 
 friendly difpolition among the people of the 
 United States, which will induce them to forget 
 their local prejudices and policies, to make thofe 
 mutual concefsions which are requifite to the 
 
62 Washington's 
 
 general profperity, and, in fome inftance, to fac- 
 rifice their individual advantages to the intereft 
 of the community. 
 
 There are pillars on which the glorious 
 fabric of our independency and national character 
 muft be fupported. Liberty is the bafis, and 
 whoever would dare to fap the foundation, or 
 overturn the ftrudure, under whatever fpecious 
 pretext he may attempt it, will merit the bitter- 
 eft execration and the fevereft punifhment which 
 can be inflided by his injured country. 
 
 On the three firft articles I will make a few 
 obfervations, leaving the laft to the good fenfe 
 and ferious confideration of thofe immediately 
 concerned. 
 
 Under the iirft head, although it may not 
 be necefsary or proper for me in this place to 
 enter into a particular difquifition of the prin- 
 ciples of the union, and to take up the great 
 queftion which has been frequently agitated, 
 whether it be expedient and requifite for the 
 ftates to delegate a large proportion of power 
 
CIRCULAR LETTER. 6^ 
 
 to Congress, or not ; yet it will be a part of my 
 duty, and that of every true patriot, to afsert, 
 without referve, and to infift upon the following 
 pofitions. — That unlefs the ftates will fuffer Con- 
 grefs to exercife thofe prerogatives they are un- 
 doubtedly invefted with by the conftitution, 
 every thing muft very rapidly tend to anarchy 
 and confufion. That it is indifpenfible to the 
 happinefs of the individual ftates, that there 
 fhould be lodged, fomewhere, a fupreme power, 
 to regulate and govern the general concerns of 
 the confederated republic, without which the 
 union cannot be of long duration. That there 
 muft be a faithful and pointed compliance on the 
 part of every ftate with the late propofals and 
 demands of Congrefs, or the moft fatal confe- 
 quences will enfue. That whatever meafures 
 have a tendency to difsolve the union, or contri- 
 bute to violate or lefsen the fovereign authority, 
 ought to be confidered as hoftile to the liberty 
 and independency of America, and the authors of 
 them treated accordingly. And laftly, that unlefs 
 we can be enabled by the concurrence of the 
 ftates, to participate of the fruits of the revolu- 
 
64 Washington's 
 
 tion, and enjoy the efsential benefits of civil 
 fociety, under a form of government fo free and 
 uncorrupted, fo happily guarded againft the 
 danger of opprefsion, as has been devifed and 
 adopted by the articles of confederation, it will 
 be a fubjed of regret, that fo much blood and 
 treafure have been lavifhed for no purpofe ; that 
 fo many fufferings have been encountered with- 
 out a compenfation, and that fo many facrifices 
 have been made in vain. Many other confidera- 
 tions might here be adduced to prove, that with- 
 out an entire conformity to the fpirit of the 
 union, we cannot exift as an independent power. 
 It will be fufficient for my purpofe to mention 
 but one or two, which feem to me of the greateft 
 importance. It is only in our united character, 
 as an empire, that our independence is acknowl- 
 edged, that our power can be regarded, or our 
 credit fupported among foreign nations. The 
 treaties of the European powers with the United 
 States of America, will have no validity on the 
 difsolution of the union. We fhall be left nearly 
 in a ftate of nature; or we may find, by our own 
 unhappy experience, that there is a natural and 
 
CIRCULAR LETTER. 6^ 
 
 necefsary progrefsion from the extreme of anarchy 
 to the extreme of tyranny ; and that arbitrary 
 power is moft eafily eftablifhed on the ruins of 
 liberty abufed to licentioufnefs. 
 
 As to the fecond article, which refpefts the 
 performance of public juftice, Congrefs have, in 
 their late Addrefs to the United States, almoft 
 exhaufted the fubje6l ; they have explained their 
 ideas fo fully, and have enforced the obligations 
 the ftates are under to render complete juftice to 
 all the public creditors, with fo much dignity and 
 energy, that in my opinion, no real friend to the 
 honor and independency of America can hefttate 
 a fingle moment refpefting the propriety of com- 
 plying with the juft and honorable meafures 
 propofed. If their arguments do not produce 
 convidlion, I know of nothing that will have 
 greater influence, efpecially when we reflect that 
 the fyftem referred to, being the refult of the 
 collefted wifdom of the continent, muft be 
 efteemed, if not perfect, certainly the leaft ob- 
 jedtionable of any that could be devifed ; and 
 that, if it fhould not be carried into immediate 
 
 9 
 
66 Washington's 
 
 execution, a national bankruptcy, with all its 
 deplorable confequences, will take place, before 
 any different plan can pofsibly be propofed or 
 adopted ; fo prefsing are the prefent circum- 
 ftances, and fuch is the alternative now offered 
 to the ftates. 
 
 The ability of the country to difcharge the 
 debts which have been incurred in its defence, is 
 not to be doubted. An inclination, I flatter 
 myfelf, will not be wanting; the path of our duty 
 is plain before us ; honefty will be found, on 
 every experiment, to be the beft and only true 
 policy. Let us then, as a nation, be juft; let us 
 fulfill the public contra6ls which Congrefs had 
 undoubtedly a right to make for the purpofe of 
 carrying on the war, with the fame good faith we 
 fuppofe ourfelves bound to perform our private 
 engagements. In the mean time let an attention 
 to the cheerful performance of their proper bufi- 
 nefs, as individuals, and as members of fociety, 
 be earneftly inculcated on the citizens of America; 
 then will they ftrengthen the bands of govern- 
 ment, and be happy under its proteflion. Every 
 
CIRCULAR LETTER. 67 
 
 one will reap the fruit of his labors ; every one 
 will enjoy his own acquifitions, without molefta- 
 tion and without danger. 
 
 In this ftate of abfolute freedom and perfedt 
 fecurity, who will grudge to yield a very little of 
 his property to fupport the common interefts of 
 fociety, and enfure the protection of govern- 
 ment ? Who does not remember the frequent 
 declarations at the commencement of the war, 
 that we fhould be completely fatisfied, if at the 
 expenfe of one half, we could defend the remain- 
 der of our pofsefsions? Where is the man to be 
 found, who wifhes to remain indebted for the 
 defence of his own perfon and property to the 
 exertions, the bravery, and the blood of others, 
 without making one generous effort to pay the 
 debt of honor and of gratitude? In what part 
 of the continent fliall we find any man, or body 
 of men, who would not blufh to ftand up, and 
 propofe meafures purpofely calculated to rob 
 the foldier of his ftipend, and the public creditor 
 of his due ? And were it pofsible that fuch a 
 flagrant inftance of injuftice could ever happen, 
 
68 Washington's 
 
 would it not excite the general indignation, and 
 tend to bring down upon the authors of fuch 
 meafureSj the aggravated -vengeance of heaven? 
 If, after all, a fpirit of difunion, or a temper of 
 obftinacy and perverfenefs fhould manifeft itfelf 
 in any of the ftates; if fuch an ungracious difpo- 
 fition fhould attempt to fruftrate all the happy 
 effeds that might be expected to flow from the 
 union ; if there fhould be a refufal to comply 
 with requifitions for funds to difcharge the 
 annual intereft of the public debts, and if that 
 refufal fhould revive all thofe jealoufies, and 
 produce all thofe evils which are now happily 
 removed — Congrefs who have in all their tranf- 
 adions fhewn a great degree of magnanimity and 
 juftice, will ftand juftified in the fight of God 
 and man ! And that ftate alone, which puts 
 itfelf in oppofition to aggregate wifdom of the, 
 continent, and follows fuch miftaken and perni- 
 cious councils, will be refponfible for all the 
 confequences. 
 
 For my own part, confcious of having afted, 
 while a fervant of the public, in the manner I 
 
CIRCULAR LETTER. 69 
 
 conceived beft fuited to promote the real inter- 
 efts of my country ; having, in confequence of 
 my fixed belief, in fome meafure, pledged myfelf 
 to the army, that their country would finally do 
 them complete and ample juftice, and not wil- 
 ling to conceal any inftance of my official condudl 
 from the eyes of the world, I have thought proper 
 to tranfmit to your Excellency the inclofed col- 
 ledlion of papers relative to the half-pay and 
 commutation granted by Congrefs to the officers 
 of the army: from thefe communications, my 
 decided fentiment will be clearly comprehended, 
 together with the conclufive reafons, which in- 
 duced me at an early period, to recommend the 
 adoption of this meafure in the moft earneft and 
 ferious manner. As the proceedings of Con- 
 grefs, the army, and myfelf, are open to all, and 
 contain, in my opinion, fufficient information 
 to remove the prejudice and errors which may 
 have been entertained by any, I think it unne- 
 cefsary to fay any thing more, than juft to 
 obferve, that the refolutions of Congrefs, now 
 alluded to, are as undoubtedly and abfolutely 
 
70 WASHINGTON S 
 
 binding upon the United States as the moft 
 folemn a6ls of confederation or legiflation. 
 
 As to the idea, which I am informed, has 
 in fome inftances prevailed, that the half-pay 
 and commutation are to be regarded merely in 
 the odious light of a penfion, it ought to be 
 exploded forever : that proviiion fhould be 
 viewed, as it really was, a reafonable compenfa- 
 tion offered by Congrefs, at a time when they 
 had nothing elfe to give to officers of the army, 
 for fervices then to be performed : it was the 
 only means to prevent a total deriliftion of the 
 fervice ; it was a part of their hire. I may be 
 allowed to fay, it was the price of their blood, 
 and of your independency ; it is therefore more 
 than a common debt, it is a debt of honor ; it 
 can never be confidered as a penfion or gratuity, 
 nor cancelled until it is fairly difcharged. 
 
 With regard to the diftin6lion between 
 officers and foldiers, it is fufficient that the 
 uniform experience of every nation of the world, 
 combined with our own, proves the utility and 
 
CIRCULAR LETTER. 7I 
 
 propriety of the difcrimination. Rewards, in 
 proportion to the aid the public draws from 
 them, are unqueftionably due to all its fervants. 
 In fome lines, the foldiers have perhaps generally 
 had as ample compenfation for their fervices, by 
 the large bounties which have been paid themj 
 as their officers will receive in the propofed com- 
 mutation ; in others, if befides the donation of 
 land, the payment of arrearages of clothing and 
 wages (in which articles all the component parts 
 of the army muft be put upon the fame footing) 
 we take into the eftimate, the bounties many of 
 the foldiers have received, and the gratuity of 
 one year's full pay, which is promifed to all, 
 pofsibly their fituation (every circumftance being 
 duly confidered) will not be deemed lefs eligible 
 than that of the officers. Should a farther 
 reward, how^ever, be judged equitable, I will 
 venture to affert, no man will enjoy greater 
 fatisfa6lion than myfelf, in an exemption from 
 taxes for a limited time (which has been petitioned 
 for in fome inftances) or any other adequate im- 
 munity or compenfation granted to the brave 
 defenders of their country's caufe : but neither 
 
72 WASHINGTON S 
 
 the adoption or rejeftion of this propofition 
 will, in any manner affed:, much lefs militate 
 againft the a6t of Congrefs, by which they have 
 offered five years full pay, in lieu of the half-pay 
 for life, which had been before promifed to the 
 officers of the army. 
 
 Before I conclude the fubjeft on public 
 juflice, I cannot omit to mention the obligations 
 this country is under to that meritorious clafs 
 of veterans, the non-commifsioned officers and 
 privates, who have been difcharged for inability, 
 in confequence of the refolution of Congrefs, of 
 the 23d of April, 1782, on an annual penfion for 
 life. Their peculiar fufferings, their fingular 
 merits and claims to that provifion, need only 
 to be known, to interefl the feelings of humanity 
 in their behalf. Nothing but a punctual pay- 
 ment of their annual allowance can refcue them 
 from the mofl complicated mifery ; and nothing 
 could be a more melancholy and diflrefsing fight, 
 than to behold thofe who have fhed their blood, 
 or loft their limbs in the fervice of their country, 
 without a fhelter, without a friend, and without 
 
CIRCULAR LETTER. 73 
 
 the means of obtaining any of the comforts or 
 necefsaries of life, compelled to beg their daily 
 bread from door to door. Suffer me to recom- 
 mend thofe of this defcription, belonging to 
 your flate, to the warmeft patronage of your 
 Excellency and your legiflature. 
 
 It is necefsary to fay but a few words on the 
 third topic which was propofed, and which regards 
 particularly the defence of the republic. As there 
 can be little doubt but Congrefs will recommend 
 a proper peace eftablilliment for the United States, 
 in which a due attention will be paid to the im- 
 portance of placing the militia of the union upon 
 a regular and refpeftable footing; if this fhould 
 be the cafe, I fhould beg leave to urge the great 
 advantage of it in the ftrongeft terms. 
 
 The militia of this country muft be confid- 
 ered as the palladium of our fecurity, and the 
 firft effecftual refort in cafe of hoftility : it is efsen- 
 tial, therefore, that the fame fyftem fliould per- 
 vade the whole ; that the formation and dif- 
 cipline of the militia of the continent fhould be 
 abfolutely uniform ; and that the fame fpecies of 
 
 10 
 
74 WASHINGTON S 
 
 arms, accoutrements, and military apparatus, 
 fhould be introduced in every part of the United 
 States. No one, who has not learned it from 
 experience, can conceive the difficulty, expenfe, 
 and confufion which refult from a contrary fyftem, 
 or the vague arrangements which have hitherto 
 prevailed. 
 
 If, in treating of political points, a greater 
 latitude than ufual has been taken in the courfe 
 of the Addrefs, the importance of the crifis, and 
 the magnitude of the objeds in difcufsion, muft 
 be my apology ; it is, however, neither my wifh 
 nor expedation, that the preceding obfervations 
 fhould claim any regard, except fo far as they 
 fhall appear to be didated by a good intention ; 
 confonant to the immutable rules of juftice; cal- 
 culated to produce a liberal fyftem of policy, and 
 founded on whatever experience may have been 
 acquired by a long and clofe attention to public 
 bufinefs. Here I might fpeak with more confi- 
 dence, from my aftual obfervations ; and if it 
 would not fwell this letter (already too prolix) 
 beyond the bounds I had prefcribed myfelf, 1 
 could demonftrate to every mind, open to con- 
 
CIRCULAR LETTER. 
 
 75 
 
 vidlion, that in lefs time, and with much lefs ex- 
 penfe than has been incurred, the war might have 
 been brought to the fame happy conclufion, if 
 the refources of the continent could have been 
 properly called forth ; that the diftrefses and dif- 
 appointments which have very often occurred, 
 have, in too many inftances, refulted more from 
 a want of energy in the continental government, 
 than a deficiency of means in the particular ftates: 
 that the inefficacy of the meafures, arifing from 
 the want of an adequate authority in the fupreme 
 power, from a partial compliance with the requi- 
 fitions of Congrefs in fome of the flates, and from 
 a failure of pundiuality in others, while they 
 tended to damp the zeal of thofe who were more 
 willing to exert themfelves, ferved alfo to accu- 
 mulate the expenfes of the war, and to fruftrate 
 the beft concerted plans; and that the difcourage- 
 ment occafioned by the complicated difficulties 
 and embarrafsments, in which our affairs were by 
 this means involved, would have long ago pro- 
 duced the difsolution of any army, lefs patient, 
 lefs virtuous, and lefs perfevering than that which 
 I have had the honor to command. But while I 
 
76 Washington's 
 
 mention thofe things, which are notorious fafts, 
 as the defe6ls of our federal conftitution, partic- 
 ularly in the profecution of a war, I beg it may 
 be underftood, that as I have ever taken a pleaf- 
 ure in gratefully acknowledging the afsiftance and 
 fupport I have derived from every clafs of citi- 
 zens ; fo fhall I always be happy to do juftice to 
 the unparalleled exertions of the individual ftates, 
 on many interefting occafions. 
 
 I have thus freely difclofed what ] wifhed to 
 make known before I furrendered up my public 
 truft to thofe who committed it to me : the tafk 
 is now accomplifhed. I now bid adieu to your 
 Excellency, as the chief magiftrate of your ftate : 
 at the fame time I bid a laft farewell to the cares 
 of office, and all the employments of public life. 
 
 It remains, then, to be my final and only 
 requeft, that your excellency will communicate 
 thefe fentiments to your legiflature at their next 
 meeting ; and that they may be confidered as the 
 legacy of one who has ardently wifhed, on all oc- 
 cafions, to be ufeful to his country, and who, 
 even in the fhade of retirement, will not fail to 
 implore the divine benedidion upon it. 
 
CIRCULAR LETTER. 
 
 77 
 
 I now make it my earneft prayer, that God 
 would have you, and the ftate over which you 
 prefide, in his holy protection ; that he would 
 incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a 
 fpirit of fubordination and obedience to govern- 
 ment ; to entertain a brotherly affedion and love 
 for one another, for their fellow-citizens of the 
 United States at large ; and particularly for their 
 brethren who have ferved in the field ; and 
 finally, that he would moft gracioufly be pleafed 
 to difpofe us all to do juftice, to love mercy, 
 and to demean ourfelves with that charity, hu- 
 mility, and pacific temper of the mind, which 
 were the charafteriftics of the divine Author of 
 our blefsed religion; without an humble imita- 
 tion of whofe example, in thefe things, we can 
 never hope to be a happy nation. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 with much efteem and refped:, 
 fir, 
 
 your Excellency's moft obedient 
 and moft humble fervant, 
 
 G. WASHINGTON. 
 
yS congress' address. 
 
 UNirED STATES, 
 
 IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED. 
 
 Princeton, Auguft 26, 1783. 
 
 According to order. Genera/ W ashington attended, 
 
 and being introduced by two members, the Preftdent 
 addrejsed him as follows: 
 
 SIR, 
 
 v^ONGRESS feel particular pleafure in 
 feeing your Excellency, and in congratulating 
 you on the fuccefs of a war, in which you have 
 adled fo confpicuous a part. 
 
 It has been the fingular happinefs of the 
 United States, that during a war fo long, fo dan- 
 gerous, and fo important. Providence has been 
 gracioufly pleafed to preferve the life of a Gene- 
 ral, who has merited and pofsefsed the uninter- 
 rupted confidence and affection of his fellow- 
 citizens. In other nations many have performed 
 fervices, for which they have deferved and re- 
 ceived the thanks of the public ; but to you, fir, 
 
WASHINGTON S ANSWER. 
 
 79 
 
 peculiar praife is due. Your fervices have been 
 efsential in acquiring and eftablifhing the freedom 
 and independence of your country. They de- 
 ferve the grateful acknowledgments of a free and 
 independent- nation. Thofe acknowledgments 
 Congrefs have the fatisfadion of exprefsing to 
 your Excellency. 
 
 Hoftilities have now ceafed, but your coun- 
 try ftill needs your fervices. She wifhes to avail 
 herfelf of your talents in forming the arrange- 
 ments which will be necefsary for her in the time 
 of peace. For this reafon your attendance at 
 Congrefs has been requefted. A committee is 
 appointed to confer with your Excellency, and 
 to receive your afsiftance in preparing and digeft- 
 ing plans relative to thofe important objedis. 
 
 r HE ANSWER. 
 Mr. President, 
 
 1 AM too fenfible of the honorable recep- 
 tion I have now experienced, not to be pene- 
 trated with the deepeft feelings of gratitude. 
 
8o Washington's answer. 
 
 Notwlthftanding Congrefs appear to efti- 
 mate the value of my H^e beyond any fervices I 
 have been able to render the United States, yet 
 I muft be permitted to confider the wifdom and 
 unanimity of our national councils, the firmnefs 
 of our citizens and the patience and bravery of 
 our troops, which have produced fo happy a 
 termination of the war, as the moft confpicuous 
 effed; of the divine interpofition, and the fureft 
 prefage of our future happinefs. 
 
 Highly gratified by the favorable fentiments 
 which Congrefs are pleafed to exprefs of my paft 
 condu6l, and amply rewarded by the confidence 
 and affedion of my fellow-citizens ; I cannot 
 hefitate to contribute my befl: endeavors towards 
 the eftablifhment of the national fecurity in what- 
 ever m.anner the fovereign power may think 
 proper to diredl, until the ratification of the 
 definitive treaty of peace, or the final evacuation 
 of our country by the Britifh forces ; after either 
 of which events, I fhall afk permifsion to retire 
 to the peaceful fhade of private life. 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS. 8l 
 
 Perhaps, fir, no occafion may offer more 
 fuitable than the prefent, to exprefs my humble 
 thanks to God and my grateful acknowledgments 
 to my country, for the great and uniform fupport 
 I have received in every vicifsitude of fortune, 
 and for the many diftinguifhed honors which Con- 
 grefs have been pleafed to confer upon me in the 
 courfe of the war. 
 
 FAREWELL ADDRESS 
 
 OF GENERAL fVASHI NGT ON TO THE ARMIES 
 OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Ti 
 
 Rocky-Hill, near Princeton, Nov. 2, 1 78 3. 
 
 HE United States in Congrefs afsem- 
 bled, after giving the moft honorable teftimony 
 to the merits of the federal armies, and prefenting 
 them with the thanks of their country, for their 
 long, eminent and faithful fervice, having thought 
 proper, by their proclamation bearing date the 
 1 8th of Odober laft, to difcharge fuch part of the 
 troops as were engaged for the war, and to per- 
 
 II 
 
82 Washington's 
 
 mit the officers on furlough to retire from fervlce, 
 from and after to-morrow, which proclamation 
 having being communicated in the public papers, 
 for the information and government of all con- 
 cerned, it only remains for the Commander in 
 Chief to addrefs himfelf once more, and that for 
 the laft time, to the armies of the United States 
 (however widely difperfed individuals who com- 
 pofe them may be) and to bid them an affedion- 
 ate — a long farewell. 
 
 But before the Commander in Chief takes 
 his final leave of thofe he holds moil dear, he 
 wilhes to indulge himfelf a few moments in call- 
 ing to mind a flight view of the paft : — he will 
 then take the liberty of exploring, with his mili- 
 tary friends, their future profpeds ; of advifing 
 the general line of condud: which in his opinion 
 ought to be purfued ; and he will conclude the 
 Addrefs, by exprefsing the obligations he feels 
 himfelf under for the fpirited and able afsiftance 
 he has experienced from them, in the performance 
 of an arduous office. 
 
 A contemplation of the complete attainment 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS. 83 
 
 (at a period earlier than could have been expedled) 
 of the objed: for which we contended, againft fo 
 formidable a power, cannot but infpire us with 
 aftonifhment and gratitude. The difadvantage- 
 ous circumftances on our part, under which the 
 war was undertaken, can never be forgotten. 
 The (ignal interpofition of Providence, in» our 
 feeble condition, were fuch as could fcarcely 
 efcape the attention of the moft unobferving; 
 while the unparalleled perfeverance of the armies 
 of the United States, through almoft every pof- 
 fible fuffering and difcouragement, for the fpace 
 of eight long years, was little ihort of a ftanding 
 miracle. 
 
 It is not the meaning, nor within the com- 
 pafs of this Addrefs, to detail the hardfhips pe- 
 culiarly incident to our fervice, or to defcribe the 
 diftrefses which in feveral inftances have refulted 
 from the extremes of hunger and nakednefs, 
 combined with the rigours of an inclement fea- 
 fon : nor is it necefsary to dwell on the dark 
 fide of our paft affairs. 
 
 Every American officer and foldier muft now 
 
'84 Washington's 
 
 confole himfelf for any unpleafant circumftance 
 which may have occurred, by a recoUedion of 
 the uncommon fcenes in which he has been 
 called to a6l no inglorious part, and the aftonifh- 
 ing events of which he has been a witnefs ; 
 events which have feldom if ever before, taken 
 place on the ftage of human adlion, nor can they 
 probably ever happen again. For who has 
 before feen a difciplined army formed at once 
 from fuch raw materials ? Who that was not a 
 witnefs could imagine that the moft violent local 
 prejudices ' would ceafe fo foon, and that men 
 who came from the different parts of the conti- 
 nent, ftrongly difpofed by the habits of education 
 to defpife and quarrel with each other, would 
 inftantly become but one patriotic band of 
 brothers ? Or who that was not on the fpot, 
 can trace the fteps by which fuch a wonderful 
 revolution has been effeded, and fuch a glorious 
 period put to all our warlike toils ? 
 
 It is univerfally acknowledged, that the 
 enlarged profpefts of happinefs, opened by the 
 confirmation of our independence and fover- 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS. 85 
 
 eignty, almoft exceed the power of defcrlption : 
 and fhall not the brave men who have contrib- 
 uted To efsentially to thefe ineftimable acquifi- 
 tions, retiring vid:orious from the field of war to 
 the field of agriculture, participate in all the 
 blefsings which have been obtained? In fuch a 
 republic, who will exclude them from the rights 
 of citizens, and the fruits of their labours? In 
 fuch a country, fo happily circumftanced, the 
 purfuits of commerce, and the cultivation of the 
 foil, will unfold to induftry the certain road to 
 competence. — To thofe hardy foldiers who are 
 adluated by the fpirit of adventure, the fifheries 
 will afford ample and profitable employment : 
 and the extenfive and fertile regions of the Weft, 
 will yield a moft happy afylum to thofe who, 
 fond of domeftic enjoyment, are feeking per- 
 fonal independence. Nor is it pofsible to con- 
 ceive that any one of the United States will pre- 
 fer a national bankruptcy, and the difsolution of 
 the union, to a compliance with the requifitions 
 of Congrefs, and the payment of its juft debts; 
 fo that the officers and foldiers may exped con- 
 fiderable afsiftance, in recommencing their civil 
 
86 Washington's 
 
 occupations, from the fums due to them from 
 the public, which muft and will moft inevitably 
 be paid. 
 
 In order to efFed this defirable purpofe, and 
 remove the prejudices which may have taken 
 pofsefsion of the minds of any of the good 
 people of the ftates, it is earneftly recommended 
 to all the troops, that with ftrong attachment to 
 the union, they fhould carry with them into civil 
 fociety, the moft conciliating difpofitions, and 
 that they fhould prove themfelves not lefs virtu- 
 ous and ufeful as citizens, than they have been 
 victorious as foldiers. What though there fhould 
 be fome envious individuals, who are unwilling 
 to pay the debt the public has contradled, or to 
 yield the tribute due to merit, yet, let fuch un- 
 worthy treatment produce no unworthy invec- 
 tive, or any inftance of intemperate condud:. 
 Let it be remembered, that the unbiafsed voice 
 of the free citizens of the United States, has 
 promifed the juft reward, and given the merited 
 applaufe. Let it be known and remembered, 
 that the reputation of the federal armies is ef- 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS. S^ 
 
 tablifhed beyond the reach of malevolence; and 
 let a confciousnefs of their achievements and 
 fame, ftill excite the men who compofed them to 
 honorable adions, under the perfuafion that the 
 private virtues of economy, prudence and induf- 
 try, will not be lefs amiable in civil life, than 
 the more fplendid qualities of valour, perfever- 
 ance, and enterprize were in the field. Every 
 one may reft afsured that much, very much of 
 the future happinefs of the officers and men, will 
 depend upon the wife and manly condu6t which 
 fhall be adopted by them, when they are mingled 
 with the great body of the community. And 
 although the General has fo frequently given it 
 as his opinion, in the moft public and explicit 
 manner, that unlefs the principles of the federal 
 government were properly fupported, and the 
 powers of the union encreafed, the honor, dig- 
 nity, and juftice of the nation would be loft for- 
 ever : yet he cannot help repeating on this occa- 
 fion fo interefting a fentiment, and leaving it as 
 his laft injunction to every officer and every 
 foldier who may view the fubjedl in the fame 
 ferious point of light, to add his beft endeavors 
 
88 WASHINGTON S 
 
 to thofe of his worthy fellow-citizens, towards 
 effeding thefe great and valuable purpofes, on 
 which our very exiftence as a nation fo materially 
 depends. 
 
 The Commander in Chief conceives little is 
 now wanting to enable the foldier to change the 
 military charadler into that of the citizen ; but 
 that fteady, decent tenor of behaviour, which 
 has generally diftinguifhed not only the army 
 under his command, but the different detach- 
 ments and armies through the courfe of the war. 
 From their good fenfe and prudence he antici- 
 pates the happieft confequences ; and while he 
 congratulates them on the glorious occafion 
 which renders their fervices in the field no longer 
 necefsary, he wifhes to exprefs the ftrong obliga- 
 tions he feels himfelf under for the afsiftance he 
 has received from every clafs, and in every in- 
 ftance. He prefents his thanks in the moft feri- 
 ous and affedionate manner, to the general 
 officers, as well for their councils on many in- 
 terefting occafions, as for their ardor in promot- 
 ing the fuccefs of the plans he had adopted. 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESS. 89 
 
 To the commandants of regiments and corps, 
 and to the other officers for their zeal and at- 
 tention in carrying his orders promptly into ex- 
 ecution — to the ftaff for their alacrity and exad:- 
 nefs in performing the duties of their feveral de- 
 partments; and to the non-commifsioned officers 
 and private foldiers, for their extraordinary pa- 
 tience and fuffering, as well as their invincible 
 fortitude in a(5lion. To the various branches of 
 the army, the General takes this laft and folemn 
 opportunity of profefsing his inviolable attach- 
 ment and friendfhip. — He wifhes more than bare 
 profefsions were in his power, that he was really 
 able to be ufeful to them all, in future life. He 
 flatters himfelf, however, they will do him the 
 juftice to believe that whatever could with pro- 
 priety be attempted by him, has been done. 
 
 And being now to conclude thefe his laft 
 public orders, to take his ultimate leave in a fhort 
 time of the military charafter, and to bid a final 
 adieu to the armies he has fo long had the honor 
 to command, he can only again offer in their be- 
 half, his recommendations to their grateful coun- 
 
 12 
 
90 
 
 THE ANSWER TO 
 
 try, and his prayers to the God of armies. May 
 ample juftice be done them here, and may the 
 choiceft of Heaven's favors, both here and here- 
 after attend thofe, who under the divine aufpices, 
 have fecured innumerable blefsings for others. 
 With thefe wifhes, and this benedidion, the Com- 
 mander in Chief is about to retire from fervice. 
 The curtain of feparation will foon be drawn, 
 and the military fcene to him will be clofed for- 
 ever. 
 
 THE A N S W ER. 
 
 W E the officers of the part of the army 
 * remaining on the banks of the Hudfon, have re- 
 ceived your Excellency's ferious and farewell Ad- 
 drefs to the armies of the United States. We 
 beg you to accept our unfeigned thanks for the 
 communication, and your afFedionate afsurances 
 of inviolable attachment and friendfhip. If your 
 attempts to enfure to the armies the juft, the 
 promifed rewards, of their long, fevere, and dan- 
 
WASHINGTON S ADDRESS. 9I 
 
 gerous fervices, have failed of fuccefs, we believe 
 it has arifen from caufes not in your Excellency's 
 power to controul. With extreme regret do we 
 refled: on the occafion which called for fuch en- 
 deavors. But while we thank your Excellency 
 for thefe exertions in favor of the troops you have 
 fo fuccefsfully commanded, we pray it may be 
 believed, that in this fentiment our own particu- 
 lar interefts have but a fecondary place; and that 
 even the ultimate ingratitude of the people (were 
 that pofsible) could not fhake the patriotifm of 
 thofe who fuffer by it. Still with pleafing won- 
 der and grateful joy fhall we contemplate the glo- 
 rious conclufion of our labours. To that merit 
 in the revolution which, under the aufpices of 
 Heaven, the armies have difplayed, pofterity will 
 do juftice; and the fons will blufh whofe fathers 
 were their foes. 
 
 Moft gladly would we caft a veil on every 
 ad: which fuUies the reputation of our country — 
 never fhould the page of hiftory be ftained with 
 its difhonor — even from our memories fhould 
 the idea be erafed. We lament theoppofition to 
 
92 
 
 THE ANSWER TO 
 
 thofe falutary meafures which the wifdom of the 
 union has planned; meafures which alone can 
 recover and fix on a permanent bafis the credit of 
 the ftates ; meafures which are efsential to the 
 juftice, the honor, and intereft of the nation. 
 While fhe was giving the nobleft proofs of mag- 
 nanimity, with confcious pride we faw her grow- 
 ing fame; and, regardlefs of prefent fufferings, 
 we looked forward to the end of our toils and 
 dangers, to brighter fcenes in profped. There 
 we beheld the genius of our country dignified by 
 fovereignty and independence, fupported by juf- 
 tice, and adorned with every liberal virtue. There 
 we faw patient hufbandry fearlefs extend her 
 cultured fields, and animated commerce fpread 
 her fails to every wind. There we beheld fair 
 fcience lift her head, with all the arts attending in 
 her train. There, bleft with freedom, we faw the 
 human mind expand ; and, throwing afide the 
 refliraints which confined it to the narrow bounds 
 of country, it embraced the world. Such were 
 our fond hopes, and with fuch delightful prof- 
 peds did they prefent us. Nor are we difap- 
 pointed. Thofe animating profpeds are now 
 
WASHINGTON S ADDRESS. 93 
 
 changed and changing to realities ; and adively 
 to have contributed to their production is our 
 pride, our glory. But juftice alone can give them 
 {lability. In that juftice we ftill believe. Still 
 we hope that the prejudices of the mifinformed 
 will be removed, and the arts of falfe and felfifh 
 popularity, addrefsed to the feelings of avarice, 
 defeated : or, in the worft event, the world, we 
 hope, will make thejuft diftindlion : we truft the 
 difingenuoufnefs of a few will not fully the repu- 
 tation, the honor, and dignity, of the great and 
 refpe6table majority of the ftates. 
 
 We are happy in the opportunity juft pre- 
 fented of congratulating your Excellency on the 
 certain conclufion of the definitive treaty of peace. 
 Relieved at length from long fufpenfe, our warm- 
 eft wifh is to return to the bofom of our coun- 
 try, to refume the character of citizens ; and it 
 will be our higheft ambition to become ufeful 
 ones. To your Excellency this great event muft 
 be peculiarly pleafing : for while at the head of 
 her armies, urged by patriot virtues and magna- 
 nimity, you perfevered, under the prefsure of 
 
94 THE ANSWER TO WASHINGTON S ADDRESS. 
 
 every pofsible difficulty and difcouragement, in 
 the purfuit of the great objefts of the war — the 
 freedom and fafety of your country ; — your heart 
 panted for the tranquil enjoyments of peace. 
 We cordially rejoice with you that the period of 
 indulging them has arrived fo foon. In contem- 
 plating the blefsings of liberty and independence, 
 the rich prize of eight years hard adventure, paft 
 fufFerings will be forgotten ; or if remembered, 
 the recolledion will ferve to heighten the relifh 
 of prefent happinefs. We fincerely pray God 
 this happinefs may long be your's; and that when 
 you quit the ftage of human life, you may receive 
 from the unerring Judge, the rewards of valor 
 exerted to fave ttie opprefsed, of patriotifm, and 
 difinterefted virtue. 
 
9S 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 OF GENERAL WASHINGTON TO CONGRESS, 
 ON RESIGNING HIS MILITARY COMMIS- 
 SION. 
 
 December 23, 1783. 
 
 Mr. President, 
 
 JL HE great events on which my refigna- 
 tion depended having at length taken place, I 
 have now the honor of offering my fincere con- 
 gratulations to Congrefs, and of prefenting 
 myfelf before them, to furrender into their hands 
 the truft committed to me, and to claim the 
 indulgence of retiring from the fervice of my 
 country. 
 
 Happy in the confirmation of our independ- 
 ence and fovereignty, and pleafed with the 
 opportunity afforded the United States, of be- 
 coming a refpedtable nation, I refign with fatif- 
 fadlion the appointment I accepted with diffidence 
 — a diffidence in my abilities to accompliffi fo 
 arduous a tafk ; which however was fuperceded 
 
g6 Washington's address to congress. 
 
 by a confidence in the reftitude of our caufe, the 
 fupport of the fupreme power of the union, and 
 the patronage of Heaven. 
 
 The fuccefsful termination of the war has 
 verified the moft fanguine expectations; and my 
 gratitude for the interpofition of Providence, 
 and the afsiftance I have received from my 
 countrymen, increafes with every review of the 
 momentous conteft. 
 
 While I repeat my obligations to the army 
 in general, I fhould do injuftice to my own feel- 
 ings not to acknowledge, in this place, the 
 peculiar fervices and diftinguifhed merits of the 
 gentlemen who have been attached to my perfon 
 during the war. It was impofsible the choice of 
 confidential officers to compofe my family fhould 
 have been more fortunate. Permit me, fir, to 
 recommend in particular, thofe who have con- 
 tinued in the fervice to the prefent moment, as 
 worthy of the favorable notice and patronage of 
 Congrefs. 
 
 I confider it an indifpenfible duty to clofe 
 this laft a6l of my ofiicial life by commending 
 
CONGRESS ANSWER TO WASHINGTON. 97 
 
 the interefts of our deareft country to the pro- 
 teftion of Almighty God, and thofe who have 
 the fuperintendence of them to his holy keep- 
 ing. 
 
 Having now finifhed the work afsigned me, 
 I retire from the great theatre of action, and 
 bidding an affedionate farewell to this auguft 
 body, under whofe orders I have fo long ad:ed, 
 I here offer my commifsion, and take my leave 
 of all the employments of public life. 
 
 THE ANSWER. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 X HE United States in Congrefs afsem- 
 bled receive, with emotions too affedling for 
 utterance, the folemn refignation of the authori- 
 ties under which you have led their troops with 
 fuccefs through a perilous and a doubtful war. — 
 Called upon by your country to defend its 
 invaded rights, you accepted the facred charge, 
 
 '3 
 
pS congress' answer to WASHINGTON. 
 
 before it had formed alliances, and whilfl: it was 
 without funds or a government to fupport you. 
 You have conduded the great military conteft 
 with wifdom and fortitude, invariably regarding 
 the rights of the civil power through all difafters 
 and changes. You have, by the love and con- 
 fidence of your fellow-citizens, enabled them to 
 difplay their martial genius, and tranfmit their 
 fame to pofterity. You have perfevered, till 
 thefe United States, aided by a magnanimous 
 king and nation, have been enabled, under a juft 
 Providence, to clofe the war in freedom, fafety 
 and independence ; on which happy event we 
 fincerely join you in congratulations. 
 
 Having defended the ftandard of liberty in 
 this new world ; having taught a lefson ufeful to 
 thofe who inflid, and to thofe who feel oppref- 
 fion, you retire from the great theatre of action, 
 with the blefsings of your fellow-citizens — but 
 the glory of your virtues will not terminate with 
 your military command ; it will continue to 
 animate remoteft ages. 
 
CONGRESS ANSWER TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 99 
 
 We feel with you our obligations to the army 
 in general, and will particularly charge ourfelves 
 with the interefts of thofe confidential officers, 
 who have attended your perfon to this affeding 
 moment. 
 
 We join you in commending the intereft of 
 our deareft country to the proteftion of Al- 
 mighty God, befeeching him to difpofe the hearts 
 and minds of its citizens, to improve the oppor- 
 tunity afforded them, of becoming a happy and 
 refpedable nation. And for you we addrefs to 
 him our earneft prayers, that a life fo beloved, 
 may be foftered with all his care; that your days 
 may be happy as they have been illuftrious; and 
 that he will finally give you that reward which 
 this world cannot give. 
 
lOO WASHINGTON S 
 
 INAUGURAL SPEECH 
 
 OF PRESIDENT WASHINGTON TO CONGRESS, 
 
 April 30, 1789. 
 
 FelIoiu-citi%ens of the Senate, 
 
 and of the Hoiife of Reprefcntati'ves, 
 
 J^MONG the vicifsitudes incident to life, 
 no event could have filled me with greater anxie- 
 ties, than that of which the notification was tranf- 
 mitted by your order, and received on the 14th 
 day of the prefent month. On the one hand I 
 was fummoned by my country, whofe voice I 
 can never hear but with veneration and love, 
 from a retreat which I had chofen with the 
 fondeft predileftion, and in my flattering hopes, 
 with an immutable decifion, as the afylum of 
 my declining years ; a retreat which was ren- 
 dered every day more necefsary as well as more 
 dear to me, by the addition of habit to inclina- 
 tion, and of frequent interruptions in my health 
 to the gradual wafte committed on it by time. — 
 On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty 
 of the truft to which the voice of my country 
 
INAUGURAL SPEECH. lOI 
 
 called me, being fufficient to awaken in the 
 wifeft and moft experienced of her citizens, a 
 diftruftful fcrutiny into his qualifications, could 
 not but overwhelm with defpondence, one, who, 
 inheriting inferior endowments from nature, and 
 unpraftifed in the duties of civil adminiftration, 
 ought to be peculiarly confcious of his own de 
 ficiencies. In this conflift of emotions, all I 
 dare aver, is, that it has been my faithful ftudy 
 to colle(5t my duty from a juft appreciation of 
 every circumftance, by which it might be affeded. 
 All I dare hope, is, that if in executing this tafk, 
 I have been too much fwayed by a grateful re- 
 membrance of former inftances, or by an affec- 
 tionate fenfibility to this tranfcendant proof of 
 the confidence of my fellow-citizens ; and have 
 thence too little confulted my incapacity as well 
 as difinclination, for the weighty and untried 
 cares before me ; my error will be palliated by 
 the motives which mifled me, and its confe- 
 quences be judged by my country, with fome 
 fhare of the partiality in which they originated. 
 
 Such being the imprefsion under which I 
 
I02 WASHINGTON S 
 
 have, in obedience to the public fummons, re- 
 paired to the prefent ftation ; it would be pecu- 
 liarly improper to omit in this firft official ad:, 
 my fervent applications to that Almighty Being 
 who rules over the univerfe : who prefides in 
 the councils of nations, and whofe providential 
 aids can fupply every human defed, that his 
 benediftion may confecrate to the liberties and 
 happinefs of the people of the United States, a 
 government inftituted by themfelves for thefe 
 efsential purpofes ; and may enable every inftru- 
 ment employed in its administration, to execute 
 with fuccefs, the functions alloted to his ciiarge. 
 In tendering this homage to the great author of 
 every public and private good, I afsure myfelf 
 that it exprefses your fentiments not lefs than 
 my own ; nor thofe of my fellow-citizens at 
 large, lefs than either. No people can be bound 
 to acknowledge and adore the inviiible hand, 
 which condufts the affairs of men, more than the 
 people of the United States. Every ftep by 
 which they have advanced to the charader of an 
 independent nation, feems to have been diftin- 
 guifhed by fome token of providential agency. 
 
INAUGURAL SPEECH. lOJ 
 
 And in the important revolution juft accom- 
 plifhed in the fyftem of their united government, 
 the tranquil deliberation, and voluntary confent 
 of To many diftind communities, from which the 
 event has refulted, cannot be compared with the 
 means by which moft governments have been 
 eftablifhed, without fome return of pious grati- 
 tude along with an humble anticipation of " the 
 future blefsings which the paft feem to prefage. 
 Thefe refledlions arifing out of the prefent crifis, 
 have forced themfelves too ftrongly on my mind 
 to be fupprefsed. You will join with me, I 
 truft, in thinking that there are none under the 
 influence of which, the proceedings of a new and 
 free government can more aufpiciouily com- 
 mence. 
 
 By the article eftabliiliing the executive de- 
 partment, it is made the duty of the Prefident 
 to "recommend to your confideration, fuch mea- 
 fures as he fhall judge necefsary and expedient." 
 The circumftances under which I now meet you, 
 will acquit me from entering into that fubjed, 
 farther than to refer to the great conftitutional 
 
I04 WASHINGTON S 
 
 charter under which you are afsembled, and 
 which, in defining your powers., defignates the 
 objects to which your attention is to be given. 
 It will be more confiftent with thofe circumftan- 
 ces, and far more congenial with the feelings 
 which ad:uate me, to fubftitute, in place of a 
 recommendation of particular meafures, the trib- 
 ute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and 
 the patriotifm which adorn the charadlers felefted 
 to devife and adopt them. In thofe honorable 
 qualifications, I beheld the fureft pledges, that 
 as on one fide no local prejudices, or attach- 
 ments — no feparate views, no party animofities, 
 will mifdire6l the comprehenfive and equal eye 
 which ought to watch over this great afsemblage 
 of communities and interefts ; fo, on the other, 
 that the foundations of our national policy will 
 be laid in the pure and immutable principles of 
 private morality ; and the pre-eminence of free 
 government, be exemplified by all the attributes 
 which can win the afFed:ions of its citizens, and 
 command the refpedl of the world — I dwell on 
 this profped with every fatisfadlion which an 
 ardent love of my country can infpire. Since 
 
INAUGURAL SPEECH. I05 
 
 there is no truth more thoroughly eftabliflied, 
 than that there exifts in the economy and courfe 
 of nature, an indifsoluble union between virtue 
 and happinefs ; between duty and advantage, be- 
 tween genuine maxims of an honeft and magnan- 
 imous policy, and the folid rewards of public 
 profperity and felicity. Since we ought to be 
 no lefs perfuaded that the propitious fmiles 
 of Heaven, can never be expefted on a nation 
 that difregards the eternal rules of order and 
 right, which Heaven itfelf has ordained. And 
 fince the prefervation of the facred fire of liberty, 
 and the deftiny of the republican model of gov- 
 ernment, are juftly confidered as deeply, perhaps 
 as finally ftaked on the experiment entrufted to 
 the hands of the American people. 
 
 Befides the ordinary objeds fubmitted to 
 your care, it will remain with your judgment to 
 decide, how far an exercife of the occafional 
 power delegated by the fifth article of the confti- 
 tution is rendered expedient at the prefent junc- 
 ture by the nature of objedlions which have been 
 urged againft the fyftem, or by the degree of in- 
 quietude which has given birth to them. 
 
 14 
 
io6 Washington's 
 
 Inftead of undertaking particular recom- 
 mendations on this fubjed, in which I could be 
 guided by no lights derived from official oppor- 
 tunities, I fhall again give way to my entire con- 
 fidence in your difcernment and purfuit of the 
 public good. 
 
 For I afsure myfelf that whilft you carefully 
 avoid alteration which might endanger the ben- 
 efits of an united and effedive government, or 
 which ought to await the future lefson of expe- 
 rience ; a reverence for the chara6teriftic rights 
 of free men, and a regard for the public har- 
 mony, will fufficiently influence your delibera- 
 tions on the queftion how far the former can be 
 more impregnably fortified, or the latter be fafely 
 and advantageoufly promoted. 
 
 To the preceding obfervations I have one 
 to add, which will be moft properly addrefsed to 
 the Houfe of Reprefentatives, it concerns myfelf, 
 and will therefore be as brief as pofsible. 
 
 When I was firft honored with a call into 
 the fervice of my country, then on the eve of an 
 
INAUGURAL SPEECH. IO7 
 
 arduous ftruggle for its liberties, the light in 
 which I contemplated my duty required that I 
 fhould renounce every pecuniary compenfation. 
 From this refolution I have in no inftance de- 
 parted. And being ftill under the imprefsions 
 which produced it, I muft decline as inapplicable 
 to myfelf, any fhare in the perfonal emoluments, 
 which may be indifpenfibly concluded in a per- 
 manent provifion for the executive department ; 
 and muft accordingly pray, that the pecuniary 
 eftimates for the ftation in which I am placed, 
 may, during my continuance in it, be limited to 
 fuch adlual expenditures as the public good may 
 be thought to require. 
 
 Having thus imparted to you my fenti- 
 ments, as they have been awakened by the occa- 
 fion which brings us together — I fhall take my 
 prefent leave ; but not without reforting once 
 more to the benign parent of the human race, in 
 humble fupplication, that fince he has been 
 pleafed to favor the American people with 
 opportunities for deliberating in perfed: tran- 
 quility, and difpofitions for deciding with unpar- 
 
io8 Washington's 
 
 alleled unanimity on a form of government, for 
 the fecurity of their union, and the advancement 
 of their happinefs; fo his blefsing may be equally 
 confpicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate 
 confultations, and the wife meafures on which 
 the fuccefs of this government muft depend. 
 
 VALEDICrORT ADDRESS 
 
 OF PRESIDENT WASHINGTON TO THE PEOPLE OF 
 THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Friends and Felloiu-Cit'vzcns, 
 
 JL HE period for a new eleftion of a citi- 
 zen, to adminifter the executive government of 
 the United States being not far diftant, and the 
 time actually arrived when your thoughts muft 
 be employed in defignating the perfon, who is to 
 be cloathed with that important truft, it appears 
 to me proper, efpecially as it may conduce to a 
 more diftin6t exprefsion of the public voice, that 
 I lliould now apprife you of the refolution I have 
 formed, to decline being confidered among the 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 109 
 
 number of thofe out of whom a choice is to be 
 made.' 
 
 r beg you at the iame time to do me the 
 juftice to be afsured, that this refolution has not 
 been taken, without a ftrid; regard to all the 
 confiderations appertaining to the relation which 
 binds a dutiful citizen to his country ; and that 
 in withdrawing the tender of fervice which iilence 
 in my fituation will imply, I am influenced by 
 no diminution of zeal for your future intereft ; 
 no deficiency of grateful refped: for your paft 
 kindnefs; but am fupported by a full convidion, 
 that the ftep is compatible with both. 
 
 The acceptance of, and continuance hither- 
 to, in the office to which your fuffrages has twice 
 called me, have been an uniform facrifice of in- 
 clination to the opinion of duty, and to a defer- 
 ence for what appeared to be your delire. I 
 conftantly hoped that it would have been much 
 earlier in my power, confidently with motives, 
 which I was not at liberty to difregard, to return 
 to that retirement from which I had been reluc- 
 
no WASHINGTON S 
 
 tantly drawn. The ftrength of my inclination 
 to do this, previous to the laft eledion, had 
 even led to the preparation of an Addrefs to de- 
 clare it to you ; but mature reflexion on the 
 then perplexed and critical pofture of our affairs 
 with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice 
 of perfons entitled to my confidence, impelled 
 me to abandon the idea. 
 
 I rejoice that the ftate of your concerns, 
 external as well as internal, no longer renders 
 the purfuit of inclination incompatible with the 
 fentiment of duty or propriety : and am per- 
 fuaded whatever partiality may be retained for 
 my fervices, that in the prefent circumftances of 
 our country, you will not difapprove of my de- 
 termination to retire. 
 
 The imprefsions with which I firft under- 
 took the arduous truft, were explained on the 
 proper occafion. — In the difcharge of this truft 
 I will only fay, that I have with good intentions 
 contributed towards the organization and admin- 
 iftration of the government, the beft exertions 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. Ill 
 
 of which a very fallible judgment was capable. 
 Not unconfcious, in the out-fet, of the inferi- 
 ority of qualifications, experience in my own 
 eyes, perhaps ftill more in the eyes of others, 
 has ftrengthened the motives to diffidence of 
 myfelf ; and every day the encreafing weight of 
 years admonifhes me more and more, that the 
 fhade of retirement is as necefsary to me as it 
 will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circum- 
 ftance have given peculiar value to my fervices, 
 they were temporary, I have the confolation to 
 believe, that while choice and prudence invite 
 me to quit the political fcene, patriotifm does 
 not forbid it. 
 
 In looking forward to the moment which is 
 intended to terminate the career of my public 
 life, my feelings do not permit me to fufpend 
 the deep acknowledgment of that debt of grati- 
 tude which I owe to my beloved country, for the 
 many honors it has conferred upon me ; fl:ill 
 more for the fteadfafl: confidence with which it 
 has fupported me; and for the opportunities I 
 have thence enjoyed of manifefting my inviolable 
 
112 WASHINGTON S 
 
 attachment, by fervices faithful and perfevering, 
 though in ufefuhiefs unequal to my zeal. If 
 benefits have refulted to our country from thefe 
 fervices, let it always be remembered to your 
 praife, and as an inftrudive example in our 
 annals, that under circumftances in which the 
 pafsions, agitated in every diredion, were liable 
 to miflead amidft appearances fometimes dubious 
 — vicifsitudes of fortune often difcouraging — in 
 fituations in which not unfrequently want of 
 fuccefs has countenanced the fpirit of criticifm — 
 the conftancy of your fupport was the efsential 
 prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans 
 by which they were effected. Profoundly pene- 
 trated with this idea, I fhall carry it with me to 
 my grave, as a ftrong incitement to unceafing 
 wifhes, that Heaven may continue to you the 
 choiceft tokens of its beneficence — that your 
 union and brotherly affeftion may -be perpetual 
 — that the free conftitution, which is the work of 
 your hands, may be facredly maintained — that 
 its adminiftration in every department may be 
 ftamped with wifdom and virtue — that in fine, 
 the happinefs of the people of thefe ftates, under 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. IIJ 
 
 the aufpices of liberty, may be made complete, 
 by fo careful a prefervation and fo prudent a ufe 
 of this blefsing, as will acquire to them the glory 
 of recommending it to the applaufe, the affedion, 
 and the adoption of every nation which is yet a 
 ftranger to it. 
 
 Here, perhaps, I ought to ftop. But a folici- 
 tude for your welfare, which cannot end but with 
 my life, and the apprehenfion of danger, natural 
 to that folicitude, urge me, on an occafion like 
 the prefent, to offer to your folemn contempla- 
 tion, and to recommend to your frequent review, 
 fome fentiments, which are the refult of much 
 reflexion, of no inconfiderable obfervation, and 
 which appear to me all important to the perma- 
 nency of your felicity as a people. Thefe will 
 be offered to you with the more freedom, as you 
 can only fee in them the difinterefted warnings 
 of a parting friend, who can pofsibly have no 
 perfonal motive to bias his counfel. Nor can I 
 forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent 
 reception of my fentiments on a former and not 
 difsimilar occafion. 
 
 15 
 
114 WASHINGTON S 
 
 Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every 
 ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of 
 mine is necefsary to fortify or confirm the at- 
 tachment. 
 
 The unity of government, which conftitutes 
 
 you one people, is alfo now dear to you. It is 
 
 juftly fo ; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of 
 
 your real independence ; the fupport of your 
 
 tranquility at home ; your peace abroad ; of 
 
 your fafety, of your profperity ; of that very 
 
 liberty which you fo highly prize. But as it is 
 
 eafy to forefee, that from different caufes and 
 
 from different quarters, much pains will be taken, 
 
 many artifices employed to weaken in your 
 
 minds the conviction of this truth. As this is 
 
 the point in your political fortrefs againft which 
 
 the batteries of internal and external enemies 
 
 will be moft conftantly and aftively (though 
 
 often covertly and infidioufly) directed, it is 
 
 of infinite moment, that you fhould properly 
 
 efiiimate the immenfe value of your national 
 
 union, to your coUedive and individual happi- 
 
 nefs ; that you fhould cherifh a cordial, habitual, 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. II5 
 
 and immovable attachment to it ; accuftoming 
 yourfelves to think and fpeak of it as of the 
 palladium of your political fafety and prof- 
 perity, watching for its prefervation with jealous 
 anxiety ; difcountenancing whatever may fuggeft 
 even a fufpicion that it can in any event be 
 abandoned ; and indignantly frowning upon the 
 firft dawning of every attempt to alienate any 
 portion of our country from the reft, or to 
 enfeeble the facred ties which now link together 
 the various parts. 
 
 For this you have every inducement of fym- 
 pathy and intereft. Citizens by birth or choice, 
 of a common country, that country has a right 
 to concentrate your affedions. The name of 
 American, which belongs to you in your 
 national capacity, muft always exalt the juft 
 pride of patriotifm, more than any appelation 
 derived from local difcriminations. With flight 
 fhades of difference, you have the fame religion, 
 manners, habits, and political principles. You 
 have in a common caufe fought and triumphed 
 together; the independence and liberty you pof- 
 
ii6 Washington's 
 
 fefs, are the work of joint councils, and joint 
 efforts of common dangers, fufferings and fuc- 
 cefses. 
 
 But thefe confiderations, however powerfully 
 they addrefs themfelves to your fenfibility, are 
 greatly out-weighed by thofe which apply more 
 immediately to your intereft. Here every por- 
 tion of our country finds the moft commanding 
 motives for carefully guarding and preferving 
 the union of the whole. 
 
 The north, in an unreftrained intercourfe with 
 the fouth, protected by the equal laws of a com- 
 mon government, finds in the productions of 
 the latter, great additional refources of maritime 
 and commercial enterprize and precious materials 
 of m an u fa (flu ring induftry. The fouth in the 
 fame intercourfe, benefiting by the agency of the 
 north, fees its agriculture grow and its commerce 
 expand. Turning partly into its own channels 
 the feamen of the north, it finds its peculiar 
 navigation invigorated — and while it contributes, 
 in different ways, to nourifh and increafe the 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. I I7 
 
 general mafs of the national navigation, it looks 
 forward to the prote6tion of a maritime ftrength, 
 to which itfelf is unequally adapted. The eaft, 
 in like intercourfe with the weft, already finds, 
 and in the progrefsive improvement of interior 
 communications, by land and water, will more 
 and more find a valuable vent for the commodi- 
 ties which it brings from abroad, or manufactures 
 at home. The weft derives from the eaft fup- 
 plies requifite to its growth and comfort — and 
 what is perhaps of ftill greater confequence, it 
 muft of necefsity owe the fecure enjoyment of 
 indifpenfible outlets for its own productions to 
 to the weight, influence, and the future maritime 
 ftrength of the Atlantic fide of the union, di- 
 rected by an indifsoluble community of intereft 
 as one nation. Any other tenure by which the 
 weft can hold this efsential advantage, whether 
 derived from its own feparate ftrength, or from 
 an apoftate and unnatural connection with any 
 foreign power muft be intrinfically precarious. 
 
 While then every part of our country thus 
 feels an immediate and particular intereft in 
 
ii8 Washington's 
 
 union, all the parties combined cannot fail to 
 find in the united mafs of means and efforts, 
 greater ftrength, greater refource, proportionably 
 greater fecurity from external danger, a lefs fre- 
 quent interruption of their peace by foreign na- 
 tions; and what is of ineftimable value they 
 muft derive from union an exemption from thofe 
 broils and wars between themfelves which fo fre- 
 quently afflid; neighboring countries, not tied to- 
 gether by the fame government; which their own 
 rivalfhips alone would be fufficient to produce, 
 but which oppofite foreign alliances, attachments 
 and intrigues, would ftimulate and embitter. 
 Hence likewife they will avoid the necefsity of 
 thofe overgrown military eftablifhments, which 
 under any form of government are inaufpicious 
 to liberty, and which are to be regarded as par- 
 ticularly hoftile to republican liberty: In this 
 fenfe it is, that your union ought to be confid- 
 ered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the 
 love of the one ought to endear to you the pre- 
 fervation of the other. 
 
 Thefe confiderations fpeak a perfuafive Ian- 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. \lg 
 
 guage to every refled:ing and virtuous mind, and 
 exhibit the continuance of the union as a pri- 
 mary objedl of patriotic defire. Is there a doubt 
 whether a common government can embrace fo 
 large a fphere ? Let experience folve it. To 
 liften to mere fpeculation in fuch a cafe were 
 criminal. We are authorifed to hope that a 
 proper organization of the whole, with the aux- 
 iliary agency of governments for the refpeftive 
 fubdivifions, will afford a happy ifsue to the ex- 
 periment. 'Tis well worth a fair and full exper- 
 iment. With fuch powerful and obvious 
 motives to union, affefting all parts of our coun- 
 try, while experience fhall not have demonftrated 
 its imprafticability, there will always be reafon 
 to diftruft the patriotifm of thofe, who in any 
 quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands. 
 
 In contemplating the caufes which may dif- 
 turb our union, it occurs as a matter of ferious 
 concern, that any ground fhould have been fur- 
 nifhed for charadlerifing parties by geographical 
 difcriminations — northern and fouthern — atlantic 
 and weftern : whence defigning men may endea- 
 
I20 WASHINGTON S 
 
 vor to excite a belief that there is a real differ- 
 ence of local interefts and views. One of the 
 expedients of party to acquire influence, within 
 particular diftrifts, is to mifreprefent the opin- 
 ions and aims of other diftrids. You cannot 
 fhield yourfelves too much againft the jealoufies 
 and heart burnings which fpring from thefe mif- 
 reprefentations: they tend to render alien to each 
 other, thofe who ought to be bound together by 
 fraternal affeftion. The inhabitants of our 
 weftern country have lately had a ufeful lefson 
 on this head : they have feen, in the negociation 
 by the Executive, and in the unanimous ratifica- 
 tion by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and 
 in the univerfal fatisfa6tion at that event, 
 throughout the United States, a decifive proof 
 how unfounded were the fufpicions propagated 
 among them of a policy in the general govern- 
 ment, and in the Atlantic ftates, unfriendly to 
 their interefts in regard to the Mifsifsippi : they 
 have been witnefses to the formation of two 
 treaties, that with Great Britain and that with 
 Spain, which fecure to them every thing they 
 could defire, in refped to our foreign relations. 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 121 
 
 towards confirming their profperity. Will it not 
 be their wifdom to rely for the prefervation of 
 thefe advantages on the union by which they were 
 procured ? Will they not henceforth be deaf to 
 thofe advifers, if fuch there are, who would fever 
 them from their brethren, and connect them with 
 aliens ? 
 
 To the efficacy and permanency of your 
 union, a government for the whole is indifpen- 
 fible. No alliances, however ftrid, between the 
 parts can be an adequate fubftitute ; they muft in- 
 evitably experience the infractions and interrup- 
 tions which all alliances in all times have expe- 
 rienced. Senfible of this momentous truth, you 
 have improved upon your firft efsay, by the 
 adoption of a constitution of government, better 
 calculated than your former, for an intimate 
 union, and for the efficacious management or 
 your common concerns. This government, the 
 offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and 
 unawed, adopted upon full inveftigation and 
 mature deliberation, completely free in its prin- 
 ciples, in the diftribution of its powers, uniting 
 
 i6 
 
122 WASHINGTON S 
 
 fecurity with energy, and cotaining within itfelf 
 a provifion for its own amendments, has a juft 
 claim to your confidence and your fupport. — 
 Refped; for its authority, compliance with its 
 laws, acquiefcence in its meafures, are duties 
 enjoyed by the fundamental maxims of true 
 liberty. The bafis of our political fyftems is 
 the right of the people to make and to alter 
 their conftitutions of government — But the con- 
 ftitution which at any time exifts, until changed 
 by an explicit and authentic adl of the whole 
 people, is facredly obligatory upon all. The 
 very idea of the power and the right of the peo- 
 ple to eftablifh a government, prefuppofes the 
 duty of every individual to obey the eftablifhed 
 government. 
 
 All obftructions to the execution of the laws, 
 all combinations and afs'ociations, under what- 
 ever plaufible charafter, with the real defign to 
 diredl, controul, counteradt, or awe the regular 
 deliberation and a6lion of the conftituted au- 
 thorities, are deftrudtive of this fundamental 
 principle, and of fatal tendency. They ferve to 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 123 
 
 organize fadion, to give it an artificial and ex- 
 traordinary force, to put in the place of the 
 delegated will of the nation, the will of a 
 party, often a fmall, but artful and enterprifing 
 minority of the community ; and according 
 to the alternate triumphs of different parties, 
 to make the public adminiftration, the mirror 
 of the ill-concerted and incongruous projed:s 
 of faction, rather than the organ of confiftent 
 and wholefome plans, digefted by common coun- 
 cils, and modified by mutual interefts. 
 
 However combinations or afsociations of 
 the above defcription may now and then anfwer 
 popular ends, they are likely in the courfe of 
 time and things to become potent engines, by 
 which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men 
 will be enabled to fubvert the power of the 
 people, and to ufurp for themfelves the reins 
 of government ; destroying afterwards the very 
 engines which have lifted them to unjuft do- 
 minion. 
 
 Towards the prefervation of your govern- 
 
124 WASHINGTON S 
 
 ment, and the permanency of your prefent happy 
 ftate, it is requifite not only that you fpeedily 
 difcountenance irregular oppofitions to its ac- 
 knowledged authority, but alfo that you refift 
 with care the fpirit of innovation upon its prin- 
 ciples, however fpecious the pretexts. One 
 method of afsault may be to effed: in the forms 
 of the conftitution alterations which will impair 
 the energy of the fyftem, and thus to undermine 
 what cannot be direftly overthrown. In all the 
 changes to which you may be invited, remember 
 that time and habit are at leaft as necefsary to 
 fix the true charadler of governments, as of 
 other human institutions — that experience is the 
 fureft ftandard, by which to teft the real ten- 
 dency of the exifting conftitution of a country — 
 that facility in changes upon the credit of mere 
 hypothecs and opinion, expofes to perpetual 
 change, from the endlefs variety of hypothesis 
 and opinion ; and remember, efpecially that for 
 the efficient management of your common in- 
 terefts, in a country fo extenfive as ours, a 
 government of as much vigor as is confiftent 
 with the perfed: fecurity of liberty, is indifpenfi- 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. I25 
 
 ble. Liberty itfelf will find in fuch a govern- 
 ment, with powers properly diftributed and 
 adjufted, its fureft guardian. It is indeed, little 
 elfe than a name, where the government is too 
 feeble to withftand the enterprifes of fadion, to 
 confine each member of the fociety within the 
 limits prefcribed by the laws, and to maintain all 
 in the fecure and tranquil enjoyment of the 
 rights of perfon and property. 
 
 I have already intimated to you, the danger 
 of parties in the ftate, with particular reference 
 to the founding of them on geopraphical dif- 
 criminations. Let me now take a more com- 
 prehenfive view, and warn you in the moft 
 folemn manner againft the baneful effefts of the 
 fpirit of party, generally. 
 
 This fpirit, unfortunately, is infeparable 
 from our nature, having its root in the ftrongeft 
 pafsions of the human mind. It exifts under 
 different fhapes in all governments, more or lefs 
 ftifled, controuled, or reprefsed ; but in thofe of 
 the popular form, it is feen in its greateft rank- 
 nefs, and is truly their worft enemy. 
 
126 Washington's 
 
 The alternate domination of one fadion 
 over another, fharpened by the fpirit of revenge, 
 natural to party difsenfion, which in different 
 ages and countries has penetrated the moft 
 horrid enormities, is itfelf a frightful defpotifm. 
 But this leads at length to a more formal 
 and permanent defpotifm. The diforders and 
 miferies which refult, gradually incline the minds 
 of men to feek fecurity and repofe in the abfo- 
 lute power of an individual; and fooner or later 
 the chief of fome prevailing fadion, more able 
 or more fortunate than his competitors, turns 
 this difpofition to the purpofes of his own eleva- 
 tion, on the ruins of public liberty. 
 
 Without looking forward to an extremity 
 of this kind (which neverthelefs ought not to be 
 out of fight) the common and continual mifchiefs 
 of the fpirit of party are fufficient-to make it the 
 intereft and duty of a wife people to difcourage 
 and reftrain it. 
 
 It ferves always to diftrad the public coun- 
 cils and enfeeble the public adminiftration. It 
 agitates the community with ill-founded jeal- 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. ll'J 
 
 oufies and falfe alarms; kindles the animofity of 
 one part againft another, foments occafionally 
 riot and infurreftion. It opens the door to 
 foreign influence and corruption, which find a 
 facilitated accefs to the government itfelf through 
 the channels of party pafsions. Thus the policy 
 and the will of one country are fubjed:ed to the 
 policy and will of another. 
 
 There is an opinion that parties in free 
 countries are ufeful checks upon the adminift ra- 
 tion of the government, and ferve to keep alive 
 the fpirit of liberty. This within certain limits 
 is probably true; and in governments of a mon- 
 archial caft, patriotifm may look with indulgence, 
 if not with favor upon the fpirit of party. But 
 in thofe of the popular chara6ler, in governments 
 purely eledive, it is a fpirit not to be encouraged. 
 From their natural tendency, it is certain there 
 will always be enough of that fpirit for every fal- 
 utary purpofe. And there being conftant danger 
 of excefs, the effort ought to be, by force of pub- 
 lic opinion to m.itigate and afsuage it. A fire 
 not to be quenched; it demands a uniform vigi- 
 
128 Washington's 
 
 lance to prevent its burfting into a flame, left 
 inftead of warming it fliould confume. 
 
 It is important likewife, that the habits of 
 thinking in a free country, fhould infpire cau- 
 tion, in thofe intrufted with its adminiftration, 
 to confine themfelves within their refpe6live con- 
 ftitutional fpheres, avoiding in the exercife of the 
 powers of one department to encroach upon 
 another. — The fpirit of encroachment tends to 
 confolidate the powers of all the departments in 
 one, and thus to create, whatever the form of 
 government, a real defpotifm. A juft eftimate 
 of that love of power, and pronenefs to abufe it, 
 which predominates in the human heart, is fuf- 
 ficient to fatisfy us of the truth of this pofition. 
 The necefsity of reciprocal checks in the exercife 
 of political power; by dividing and diftributing 
 it into different depofitaries, and conftituting 
 each the guardian of the public weal againft in- 
 vafions by the others, has been evinced by ex- 
 periments ancient and modern ; fome of them 
 in our country and under our own eyes. To 
 preferve them muft be as necefsary as to inftitute 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. I 29 
 
 them. If in the opinion of the people, the dif- 
 tribution or modification of the conftitutional 
 powers, be in any particular wrong, let it be 
 corredled by an amendment in the way which 
 the conftitution defignates. But let there be no 
 change by ufurpation ; for though this in one 
 inftance, may be the inftrument of good, it is 
 the cuftomary weapon by which free govern- 
 ments are deftroyed. The precedent muft al- 
 ways greatly overbalance in permanent evil, any 
 partial or transient benefit which the ufe can at 
 any time yield. 
 
 Of all the difpofitions and habits which lead 
 to political profperity, religion and morality are 
 indifpenfible fupports. In vain would that man 
 claim the tribute of patriotifm, who fhould labor 
 to fubvert thefe great pillars of human happinefs, 
 thefe firmeft props of the duties of men and citi- 
 zens. The mere politician, equally with the 
 pious man, ought to refped: and to cherifh them. 
 A volume could not trace all their connexions 
 with private and public felicity. Let it fimply 
 be alked, where is the fecurity for property, for 
 
 17 
 
IJO WASHINGTON S 
 
 reputation, for life, if the fenfe of religious obli- 
 gation defert the oaths, which are the inftru- 
 ments of inveftigation in courts ofjuftice? And 
 let us with caution indulge the fuppofition, that 
 morality can be maintained without religion. 
 Whatever may be conceded to the influence of 
 refined education on minds of peculiar ftrudure; 
 reafon and experience both forbid us to exped 
 that national morality can prevail in exclufion of 
 religious principles. 
 
 It is fubftantially true, that virtue or mo- 
 rality is a necefsary fpring of popular govern- 
 ment. The rule indeed extends with more or 
 lefs force to every fpecies of free government. 
 Who that is a fincere friend to it can look with 
 indifference upon attempts to fhake the founda- 
 tion of the fabric ? 
 
 Promote then, as_^an objed of primary im- 
 portance, inftitutions for the general difFufion of 
 knowledge. In proportion as the ftru6lure of a 
 government gives force to public opinion, it is 
 efsential that public opinion fhould be enlight- 
 ened. 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. I3I 
 
 As a very important fource of ftrength and 
 fecurity, cherifh public credit. One method of 
 preferving it is to ufe it as fparingly as pofsible ; 
 avoiding occafions of expence by cultivating 
 peace, but remembering alfo that timely difburfe- 
 ments to prepare for danger, frequently prevent 
 much greater difburfements to repel it; avoiding 
 likewife the accumulation of debt, not only by 
 fhunning occafions of expence, but by vigorous 
 exertions in time of peace to difcharge the debts 
 which unavoidable wars may have occafioned, 
 not ungeneroufly throwing upon pofterity the 
 burthen which we ourfelves ought to bear. The 
 execution of thefe maxims belongs to your rep- 
 refentatives, but it is necefsary that public 
 opinion fhould co-operate. To facilitate to 
 them the performance of their duty, it is efsen- 
 tial that you fhould pradically bear in mind, 
 that towards the payment of debts there muft be 
 revenue ; that to have revenue there muft be 
 taxes ; that no taxes can be devifed which are 
 not more or lefs inconvenient and unpleafant ; 
 that the intrinfic embarrafsment infeparable from 
 the fele6lion of the proper objeds (which is 
 
132 WASHINGTON S 
 
 always a choice of difficulties) ought to be a 
 decifive motive for a candid conftru6tion of the 
 condud: of the government in making it, and for 
 a fpirit of acquiefcence in the meafures for obtain- 
 ing revenue which the public exigencies may at 
 any time didiate. 
 
 Obferve good faith and juftice towards all 
 nations, cultivate peace and harmony with all ; 
 religion and morality enjoin this conduft; and 
 can it be that good policy does not equally en- 
 join it ? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, 
 and at no diftant period a great nation, to give 
 to mankind the magnanimous and too novel 
 example of a people always guided by an exalted 
 juftice and benevolence. — Who can doubt that 
 in the courfe of time and things the fruits of fuch 
 a plan would richly repay any temporary ad- 
 vantages which might be loft by a fteady ad- 
 herence to it ? Can it be, that Providence has 
 not conne6led the permanent felicity of a nation 
 with its virtue ? The experiment, at leaft, is 
 recommended by every fentiment which ennobles 
 human nature. Alas ! it is rendered impofsible 
 by its vices .? 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. I33 
 
 In the execution of fuch a plan, nothing is 
 more efsential than that permanent, inveterate 
 antipathies againft particular nations, and paf- 
 fionate attachments for others fhould be ex- 
 cluded ; and that in place of them juft and amic- 
 able feelings towards all fhould be cultivated. 
 The nation, which indulges towards another an 
 habitual hatred, or an habitual fondnefs, is in 
 fome degree a flave. It is a flave to its animofi- 
 ty or to its affedion, either of which is fuffi- 
 cient to lead it aftray from its duty and its intereft. 
 Antipathy in one nation againft another, difpofes 
 each more readily to offer infult and injury, to 
 lay hold of flight caufes of umbrage, and to be 
 haughty and intradlable, when accidental or 
 trifling occafions of difpute occur. 
 
 Hence frequent collifions, obftinate, en- 
 venomed, and bloody contefts. The nation, 
 prompted by ill will and refentment, fometimes 
 impels to war the government, contrary to the 
 beft calculations of policy. The government 
 fometimes participates in the national propen- 
 fity, and adopts through pafsion what reafon 
 
\ 
 
 134 WASHINGTON S 
 
 would rejed; at other times, it makes the ani- 
 mofity of the nation fubfervient to projedls of 
 hoftility inftigated by pride, ambition, and other 
 finifter and pernicious motives. The peace 
 often, and fometimes, perhaps, the liberty of 
 nations has been the vidiim. 
 
 So likewife, a pafsionate attachment of one 
 nation for another, produces a variety of evils. 
 Sympathy for the favorite nation facilitating the 
 illufion of an imaginary common intereft in 
 cafes where no real common interefts exifts, 
 and infufing into one the enmities of the other, 
 betrays the former into a participation in the 
 quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate 
 inducement or juftification. It leads alfo to 
 concefsions to the favorite nation of privileges 
 denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure 
 the nation making the concefsions ; by unnecef- 
 farily parting with what ought to have been 
 retained; and by exciting jealoufy, ill will, and a 
 difpofition to retaliate, in the parties from whom 
 equal privileges are withheld : and it gives to 
 ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who 
 devote themfeives to the favorite nation) facility 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. I35 
 
 to betray, or facrifice the interefts of their own 
 country, without odium, fomtimes even with 
 popularity; gilding with -the appearance of a 
 virtuous fenfe of obligation, a commendable 
 deference for public opinion, or laudable zeal 
 ^^^ for public good, the bafe i&f foolifh compliances 
 of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. 
 
 As avenues to foreign influence in innumer- 
 able ways, fuch attachments are particularly 
 alarming to the truly enlightened and independ- 
 ent patriot. How many opportunities do they 
 afford to tamper with domefl:ic fa6lions, to prac- 
 tice the arts of fedudlion, to miflead public 
 opinion, to influence or awe the public councils ? 
 Such an attachment of a fmall or weak, towards 
 a great and powerful nation, dooms the former 
 to be the fatellite of the latter. Againfl: the in- 
 fiduous wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you 
 to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealoufy of a 
 free people ought to be conftantly awake ; fince 
 hifl:ory and experience prove that foreign influ- 
 ence is one of the mofl: baneful foes of republican 
 government. But that jealoufy to be ufeful 
 
136 Washington's 
 
 muft be impartial ; elfe it becomes the inftru- 
 ment of the very influence to be avoided, inftead 
 of a defence againfl: it. Excefsive partiality for 
 one foreign nation, and excefsive diflike of an- 
 other, caufe thofe whom they aftuate to fee dan- 
 ger only on one fide, and ferve to veil and even 
 fecond the arts of influence on the other. Real 
 patriots, who may refifl: the intrigues of the 
 favorite, are liable to become fufpedled and 
 odious ; while its tools and dupes ufurp the 
 applaufe and confidence of the people, to fur- 
 render their interefl:s. 
 
 The great rule of condud: for us, in regard 
 to foreign nations, is in extending our commer- 
 cial relations, to have with them as little politi- 
 cal connexion as pofsible. So far as we have 
 already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled 
 with perfed: good faith. Here let us ftop. 
 
 Europe has a fet of primary interefts, which 
 to us have none, or a very remote relation. 
 Hence flie muft be engaged in frequent contro- 
 verfies, the caufes of which are efsentially foreign 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. - I37 
 
 to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it muft be 
 unwife in us to implicate ourfelves by artificial 
 ties, in the ordinary vicifsitudes of her politics, 
 or the ordinary combinations and coUifions of 
 her friendihips or enmities. 
 
 Our detached and diftant fituation, invites 
 and enables us to purfue a different courfe. If 
 we remain one people, under an efficient gov- 
 ernment, the period is not far off, when we may 
 defy material injury from external annoyance; 
 when we may take fuch an attitude as will caufe 
 the neutrality we may at any time refolve upon, 
 to be 'fcrupuloufly refpedled ; when belligerent 
 nations, under the impofsibility of making aqui- 
 fitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the 
 giving us provocation ; when we may choofe 
 peace or war, as our intereft, guided by jufticCj, 
 fhall counfel. 
 
 Why forego the advantages of fo peculiar 
 a fituation ? Whv quit our own fi:and upon 
 foreign ground ? Why, by interweaving our 
 defl;iny with that of any part of Europe, entan- 
 
 18 
 
138 Washington's 
 
 gle our peace and profperity in the toils of 
 European ambition, rivalfhip, intereft, humor 
 or caprice ? 
 
 'Tis our true policy to fleer clear of perma- 
 nent alliances with any portion of the foreign 
 world ; fo far, I mean, as we are now at liberty 
 to do it ; for let me not be underftood as capable 
 of patronifing- infidelity to exifting engagements. 
 I hold the maxim no lefs applicable to public 
 than to private affairs, that honefty is always the 
 beft policy. I repeat it, therefore, let thofe en- 
 gagements be obferved in their genuine fenfe. 
 But in my opinion, it is unnecefsary, and would 
 be unwife to extend them. 
 
 Taking care always to keep ourfelves, by 
 fuitable eftablifhments, on a refpedable defenfive 
 pofture, we may fafely truft to temporary alliances 
 for extraordinary emergencies. 
 
 Harmony, liberal intercourfe with all na- 
 tions, are recommended by policy, humanity, 
 and intereft. But even our commercial policy 
 fhould hold an equal and impartial hand ; neither 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. I39 
 
 feeking nor granting exclufive favors or prefer- 
 ences ; confulting the natural courfe of things ; 
 diffufing and diverfifyng by gentle means the 
 ftreams of commerce, but forcing nothing ; eftab- 
 lifhing, with powers fo difpofed, in order, to give 
 trade a ftable courfe, to define the rights of our 
 merchants, and to enable the government to 
 fupport them ; conventional rules of intercourfe, 
 the bed that prefent circumftances and mutual 
 opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable 
 to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as 
 experience and circumftances fhall didate ; con- 
 ftantly keeping in view, that it is folly in one 
 nation to look for difinterefted favors from an- 
 other ; that it muft pay with a portion of its 
 independence for whatever it may accept under 
 that charafter ; that by fuch acceptance, it may 
 pleafe itfelf in the condition of having given 
 equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being 
 reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. 
 There can be no greater error than to exped:, or 
 calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. 
 'Tis an illufion which experience mufl cure, which 
 a juft pride ought to difcard. 
 
140 WASHINGTON S 
 
 In offering to you, my countrymen, thefe 
 counfels of an old and affedionate friend, I dare 
 not hope they will make the ftrong and lafting 
 imprefsion I could wifh — that they will controul 
 the ufual current of pafsions, or prevent our na- 
 tion from running the courfe which has hitherto 
 
 o 
 
 marked the deftiny of nations. But if I may 
 even flatter myfelf, that they may be produ6live 
 of fome partial benefit, fome occafional good ; 
 that they may now and then recur to moderate 
 the fury of party fpirit, to warn againft the mif- 
 chiefs of foreign intrigues, to guard againft the 
 impoftures of pretended patriotifm ; this hope 
 will be a full recompence for the folicitude for 
 your welfare, by which they have been dilated. 
 
 How far in the difcharge of my official 
 duties, I have been guided by the principles which 
 have been delineated, the public records and 
 other evidences of my condudl muft witnefs to 
 you and to the world. To myfelf, the afsurance 
 of my own confcience is, that I have at leaft 
 believed myfelf to be guided by them. 
 
 In relation to the ftill fubfifting war in Eu- 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. I4I 
 
 rope, my proclamation of the 22d of April, 1793, 
 is the index to my plan. Sanftioned by your 
 approving voice, and by that of your Reprefen- 
 tatives in both Houfes of Congrefs, the fpirit of 
 that meafure has continually governed me ; unin- 
 fluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me 
 from it. 
 
 After deliberate examination with the aid 
 of the beft lights I could obtain, I was well fatif- 
 fied that our country, under all the circumftances 
 of the cafe, had a right to take, and was bound 
 in duty and intereft, to take a neutral pofition. 
 Having taken it, I determined, as far as fhould 
 depend upon me, to maintain it, with modera- 
 tion, perfeverance and firmnefs. 
 
 The confiderations which refpecfl the right 
 to hold this condu6l, it is not necefsary on this 
 occafion to detail. I will only obferve, that ac- 
 cording to my underftanding of the matter, that 
 right, fo far from being denied by any of the 
 belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted 
 by all. 
 
142 WASHINGTON S 
 
 The duty of holding a neutral conduct may 
 be inferred, without any thing more, from the 
 obligation which juftice and humanity impofe on 
 every nation, in cafes in which it is free to ad;, 
 to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and 
 amity towards other nations. 
 
 The inducements of intereft for obferving 
 that conduct will be the beft referred to your own 
 reflexions and experience. With me, a predom- 
 inant motive has Been to endeavor to gain time 
 to our country to fettle and mature its yet recent 
 inftitutions, and to progrefs without interruption, 
 to that degree of ftrength and confiftency, which 
 is necefsary to give it, humanly fpeaking, the 
 command of its own fortunes. 
 
 Though in reviewing the incidents of my 
 adminifl:ration, I am unconfcious of intentional 
 error: I am neverthelefs too fenfible of my 
 defeds not to think it probable that I may have 
 committed many errors. Whatever they may 
 be, I fervently befeech the Almighty to avert or 
 mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I 
 fliall alfo carry with me the hope that my country 
 
VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. I43 
 
 will never ceafe to view them with indulgence; 
 and that after forty-five years of my life dedicated 
 to its fervice, with an upright zeal, the faults of 
 incompetent abilities will be configned to obliv- 
 ion, as myfelf muft foon be to the manfions 
 of reft. 
 
 Relying on its kindnefs in this as in other 
 things, and actuated by that fervent love towards 
 it, which is fo natural to a man who views in it 
 the native foil of himfelf and his progenitors for 
 feveral generations ; I anticipate with plealing 
 expectations that retreat, in which I promife my- 
 felf to realize, without alloy, the fweet enjoyment 
 of partaking, in the midft of my fellow-citizens, 
 the benign influence of good laws under a free 
 government — the ever favorite objedl of my heart, 
 and the happy reward and truft, of our mutual 
 cares, labors and dangers. 
 
 United States, Sept. 17, 1796. 
 
144 
 
 A let: r E R 
 
 FROM HIS EXCELLENCY GEORGE WASHINGTON, TO THE 
 PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ON ACCEPTING 
 THE APPOINTMENT OF COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE 
 ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Mount Vernon, July 13, 1798. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 X HAD the honor on the evening of the 
 nth inftant, to receive from the hand of the 
 fecretary of war, your favor of the yth, announcing 
 that you had, with the advice and confent of the 
 Senate, appointed me "Lieutenant-General and 
 Commander in Chief of all the armies raifed or 
 to be raifed for the fervice of the United States." 
 
 I cannot exprefs how greatly affedled I am 
 at this new proof of public confidence, and the 
 highly flattering manner in which you have been 
 pleafed to make the communication; at the fame 
 time I muft not conceal from you my earnefl 
 wifh, that the choice had fallen upon a man lefs 
 declined in years, and better qualified to encoun- 
 ter the ufual vicifsitudes of war. 
 
WASHINGTON S LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. I45 
 
 You know, fir, what calculation I had made 
 relative to the probable courfe of events, on my 
 retiring from office, and the determination I had 
 confoled myfelf with, of clofmg the remnant of 
 my days in my prefent peaceful abode : you will 
 therefore be at no lofs to conceive and appreciate 
 the fenfation I mud have experienced, to bring 
 my mind to any conclufion that would pledge me, 
 at fo late a period of life, to leave fcenes I fin- 
 cerely love, to enter upon the boundlefs field of 
 public adion, incefsant trouble, and high refpon- 
 fibility. 
 
 It was not pofsible for me to remain igno- 
 rant of, or indifferent to recent tranfadlions. The 
 conduft of the Direftory of France towards our 
 country; their infidious hoftility to its govern- 
 ment; their various pradices to withdraw the 
 affedions of the people from it ; the evident ten- 
 dency of their ads and thofe of their agents to 
 countenance and invigorate oppofition ; their dif- 
 regard of folemn treaties and the laws of nations ; 
 their war upon our defencelefs commerce ; their 
 treatment of our minifters of peace ; and their 
 
 19 
 
146 Washington's letter 
 
 demands amounting to tribute, could not fail to 
 excite in me correfponding fentiments with thofe 
 my countrymen have fo generally exprefsed in 
 their affedionate addrefses to you. Beleive me, 
 fir, no one can more cordially approve of your 
 adminiftration. — They ought to infpire univerfal 
 confidence, and will, no doubt, combined with the 
 flate of things, call from Congrefs fuch laws and 
 means as will enable you to meet the full force 
 and extent of the crifis. 
 
 Satisfied, therefore, that you have fincerely 
 wifhed and endeavored to avert war, and ex- 
 haufted, to the laftdrop, the cup of reconciliation, 
 we can with pure hearts appeal to Heaven for the 
 juflice of our caufe, and may confidently truft 
 the final refult to that kind Providence who has 
 heretofore, and fo often, fignally favored the 
 people of thefe United States. 
 
 Thinking in this manner, and feeling how 
 incumbent it is upon every perfon of every de- 
 fcription, to contribute at all times to his country's 
 welfare, and efpecially in a moment like the pre- 
 fent, when every thing we hold dear and facred 
 
TO THE PRESIDENT. I47 
 
 is To ferioufly threatened ; I have finally deter- 
 mined to accept the commifsion of Commander 
 in Chief of the armies of the United States ; with 
 the referve only, that I fhall not be called into 
 the field until the army is in a fituation to require 
 my prefence, or it becomes indifpenfible by the 
 urgency of circumftances. 
 
 In making this refervation, I beg it to be 
 underftood, that I do not mean to withhold any 
 afsiftance to arrange and organize the army, which 
 you may think I can afford. I take the liberty 
 alfo to mention, that I muft decline having my 
 acceptance confidered as drawing after it any im- 
 mediate charge upon the public ; or that I can 
 receive any emoluments annexed to the appoint- 
 ment, before entering into a fituation to incur ex- 
 pence. 
 
 The Secretary of War being anxious to return 
 to the feat of government, I have detained him 
 no longer than was necefsary to a full communi- 
 cation upon the feveral points he had in charge. 
 I have the honor to be, &c. &c. 
 
 G. WASHINGTON. 
 
148 
 
 On the \\th of December^ ^l99-> died Juddenly, 
 at his feat in Virginia^ Gen. George Washing- 
 ton, Commander in Chief of the armies of the United 
 States of America; 
 
 MATURE IN YEARS, 
 
 COVERED WITH GLORY, AND 
 
 RICH IN THE AFFECTIONS OF THE 
 
 AMERICAN PEOPLE. 
 
 W HEN men of common character are 
 fwept from the theatre of life, they die without 
 the tribute of public notice or concern, as they 
 had lived without a claim to public efteem. 
 When perfonages of more exalted worth are fum- 
 moned from the fcenes of fublunary exiftence, 
 their death calls forth a burft of general regret, 
 and invigorates the flame of public gratitude. In 
 obedience to the wifhes, and to the voice of their 
 country, the orator, the poet, and the hiftorian. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 149 
 
 combine to do juftice to the virtues of their 
 charafter, while the labors of the painter, the 
 fculptor, and the ftatuary, in perpetuating their 
 likenefs, do homage to their memory. 
 
 But, when, in compliance with Heaven's 
 high mandate, the hero of the age lies num- 
 bered with the dead — when the reverend fage, the 
 auguft ftatefman, the father of his country, has 
 refigned his breath — when the Idol of an Empire, 
 the envy and admiration of diftant nations, and 
 the brighteft ornament of human nature — when 
 WASHINGTON IS NO MORE ! let a fenfc of the gen- 
 eral lofs be teftified by the badges of a general 
 mourning ; but let not the voice of eulogy be 
 heard, leaft the weaknefs of talents, and the defi- 
 ciency of language, do injuftice to the luftre and 
 fame of the deceafed ! 
 
 From Vernon's Mount behold the Hero rife ! 
 Refplendent forms attend him thro' the fkies ! 
 The fliades of war-worn veterans round him throng, 
 And lead, enwrapt, their honored Chief along ! 
 A laurel wreath th' immortal IVarren bears, 
 An arch triumphal Mercer i hand prepares, 
 
I50 
 
 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Young Laurence 'erft th' avenging bolt of war, 
 With port majeftic guides the glittering car, 
 Montgomery'' s godlike form diredls the way, 
 And Green unfolds the gates of endlefs day ! 
 While angels, " trumpet-tongued," proclaim thro' air, 
 " Due honors for the first of men prepare." 
 
 [TVtte Amer.'\ 
 
 'The jirji information of the death of General Wash- 
 ington, was given to Congrefs on the iSth of 
 December, in the following manner : 
 
 Mr. MARSHALL, in a voice that be- 
 fpoke the anguifh of his mind, and a countenance 
 exprefsive of the deepeft regret, rofe, and deliver- 
 ed himfelf as follows : 
 
 MR. SPEAKER, 
 
 " Information has jufl: been received, that 
 our illuftrious fellow-citizen, the Commander in 
 Chief of the American Armies and the late Pre- 
 lident of the United States, is no more. 
 
 Though this diftrefsing intelligence is not 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. I5I 
 
 certain, there is too much reafon to believe its 
 truth. After receiving information of this na- 
 tional calamity, fo heavy and fo afflicting, the 
 Houfe of Reprefentatives can be but ill fitted for 
 public bufinefs. 1 move you, therefore, they ad- 
 journ." 
 
 The motion was unanimoufly agreed to ; 
 and the Houfe adjourned till to-morrow morn- 
 ing, II o'clock. 
 
 December 19. 
 
 This event was confirmed officially by a mef- 
 fage from the Prefident communicating a letter 
 from Tobias Lear, Efq. private fecret^ry to Gen- 
 eral Washington. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Senate, 
 
 and of the House of Representati-ves, 
 
 The letter herewith tranfmitted will inform 
 you that it has pleafed Divine Providence to re- 
 move from this life, our excellent fellow-citizen 
 George Washington, by the purity of his 
 charadler and a long feries of fervices to his 
 
1^2 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 country, rendered illuftrious through the world. 
 It remains for an affeftionate and grateful peo- 
 ple, in whofe hearts he can never die, to pay 
 fuitable honor to his memory. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Mount Vernon, December i6, 1799. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 It is with inexprefsible grief that I have to 
 announce to you the death of the great and good 
 General Washington. He died laft evening 
 between lo and ii o'clock, after a fhort illnefs 
 of about 24 hours. His diforder was an inflam- 
 atory fore throat, which proceeded from a cold, 
 of which he made but little complaint on Friday. 
 On Saturday morning about 3 o'clock he became 
 ill. Doftor Dick attended him in the morning, 
 and Dr. Craick, of Alexandria, and Dr. Brown, 
 of Port Tobacco, were foon after called in. 
 Every medical afsiftance was offered, but without 
 the defired effed;. His laft fcene correfponded 
 with the whole tenor of his life. Not a groan 
 or a complaint efcaped him, in extreme diftrefs. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 1 53 
 
 with perfedt refignation and a full pofsefsion of 
 his reafon he clofed his well fpent life. ^ 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c. 
 
 TOBIAS LEAR. 
 
 Mr. Marfhall with deep forrow on his coun- 
 tenance, and in a low, pathetic tone of voice, 
 rofe and addrefsed the Houfe as follows : 
 
 The melancholy event which was yefterday 
 announced with doubt, has been rendered but too 
 certain. Our Washington is no more ! The 
 hero, the fage, and the patriot of America — the 
 man on whom in times of danger every eye was 
 turned and all hopes were placed, lives now, only 
 in his own great actions, and in the hearts of an 
 affedlionate and afflid:ed people. 
 
 If, fir, it had even not been ufual openly to 
 teftify refped for the memory of thofe whom 
 Heaven had feleded as its inftruments for dif- 
 penfing good to men, yet fuch has been the un- 
 common worth, and fuch the extraordinary inci- 
 dents which have marked the life of him whofe 
 
 20 
 
154 
 
 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 lofs we all deplore, that the whole American 
 nation, impelled by the fame feelings, would call 
 with one voice for a public manifeftation of that 
 forrow which is fo deep and fo univerfal. 
 
 More than any other individual, and as 
 much as to one individual was pofsible, has he 
 contributed to found this our wide fpreading em- 
 pire, and to give to the weftern world its inde- 
 pendence and its freedom. 
 
 Having effedled the great objeft for which 
 he was placed at the head of our armies, we have 
 feen him convert the fword into the ploughfhare, 
 and voluntarily fink the foldier into the citizen. 
 
 When the debility of our federal fyftem had 
 become manifeft, and the bonds which conneded 
 the parts of this vaft continent were difsolving, 
 we have feen him the chief of thofe patriots who 
 formed for us a conftitution, which, by preferving 
 the union, will, I truft, fubftantiate and perpet- 
 uate thofe blefsings our revolution had promifed 
 to beftow. 
 
 In obedience to the general voice of his 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 1 55 
 
 country, calling on him to prefide over a great 
 people, we have feen him once more quit the re- 
 tirement he loved, and in a feafon more ftormy 
 and tempeftuous than war itfelf, with calm and 
 wife determination, purfue the true interefts of 
 the nation, and contribute more than any other 
 could contribute, to the eftablifhment of that 
 fyftem of policy, which will, I truft, yet preferve 
 our peace, our honor and our independence. 
 
 Having been twice unanimoufly chofen the 
 chief magiftrate of a free people, we fee him, at 
 a time when his re-eledion with the univerfal fuf- 
 frage could not have been doubted, affording to 
 the world a rare inftance of moderation, by with- 
 drawing from his high ftation to the peaceful 
 walks of private life. 
 
 However the public confidence may change, 
 and the public affecflion may fluctuate with re- 
 fpeft to others, yet with refped to him they have, 
 in war and in peace, in public and in private life, 
 been as fteady as his own firm mind, and as con- 
 ftant as his own exalted virtues. 
 
156 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Let us then, Mr. Speaker, pay the laft trib- 
 ute of refpedl and affedion to our departed friend. 
 Let the grand council of the nation difplay thofe 
 fentiments which the nation feels. 
 
 For this purpofe, I hold in my hand fome 
 refolutions which I will take the liberty to offer 
 to* the Houfe. 
 
 " Refolved, That this Houfe will wait on 
 the Prefident of the United States, in condolence 
 of this mournful event. 
 
 " Refolved, That the Speaker's chair be 
 fhrouded with black, and that the members and 
 officers of the Houfe wear black during the 
 
 fefsion. 
 
 « 
 
 " Refolved, That a committee in conjunc- 
 tion with one from the Senate, be appointed to 
 conlider on the moft fuitable manner of paying 
 honor to the memory of the man, firft in war, 
 firft in peace, and firft in the hearts of his country. 
 
 " Refolved, That this Houfe when it ad- 
 journ, do adjourn to Monday." 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 1 57 
 
 Thefe refolutions were unanimoufly agreed 
 to. — Sixteen members were appointed on the 
 third refolution. 
 
 Generals Marfhall and Smith were appointed 
 to wait on the Prefident to know at what time it 
 would be convenient to receive the Houfe. 
 
 Generals Marfhall and Smith having waited 
 on the Prefident with the iirft refolution, reported, 
 that the Prefident would be ready to receive them 
 at one o'clock this day. The Houfe accordingly 
 waited on him. 
 
 The Speaker addrefsed the Prefident in the 
 following words : 
 
 SIR, 
 
 The Houfe of Reprefentatives, penetrated 
 with a fenfe of the irreparable lofs fuftained by the 
 nation, by the death of that great and good man, 
 the illuftrious and beloved Washington, wait on 
 you, fir, to exprefs their condolence on this mel- 
 ancholy and diftrefsing event. 
 
158 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 To which the Prefident made the following 
 anfwer : 
 
 Gentlemen of the Houje of Reprefentatives^ 
 
 I receive with great refpeft and affedtion the 
 condolence of the Houfe of Reprefentatives on 
 the melancholy and afflicting event in the death 
 of the moft illuftrious and beloved perfonage 
 which this country ever produced. I fympathize 
 with you, with the nation, and with good men 
 through the world, in this irreparable lofs fuf- 
 tained by us all. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 A mefsage was received from the Senate, 
 informing the Houfe that they had agreed to the 
 appointment of a joint committee, to coniider a 
 fuitable manner of paying honor to the memory 
 of the man firft in war, firft in peace, and firft in 
 the hearts of his country, and that they had ap- 
 pointed {^.Y^n members to join a committee of 
 the Houfe for that purpofe. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 1 59 
 
 SENATE. 
 
 December 23, 
 
 Agreeably to the firft refolution the Houfe 
 waited on the Prefident, whom they addrefsed in 
 the following words : 
 
 The Senate of the United States refpedfully 
 take leave, fir, to exprefs to you their deep re- 
 gret for the lofs their country fuftains in the 
 death of General George Washington. 
 
 This event, fo diftrefsing to all our fellow- 
 citizens, muft be peculiary heavy to you, who 
 have long been afsociated with him in deeds of 
 patriotifm. Permit us, fir, to mingle our tears 
 with yours : on this occafion it is manly to weep. 
 To lofe fuch a man at fuch a crifis is no common 
 calamity to the world : our country mourns her 
 father. The Almighty difpofer of human events 
 has taken from us our greateft benefadlor and or- 
 nament. It becomes us to fubmit with rever- 
 ence to him, who *'maketh darknefs his pavilion." 
 
 With patriotic pride we review the life of 
 our Washington^ and compare him with thofe of 
 
l6o DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Other countries who have been pre-eminent in , 
 fame. Ancient and modern names are diminifhed 
 before him. Greatnefs and guilt have too often 
 been allied ; but his fame is whiter than it is bril- 
 liant. The deftroyers of nations ftood abafhed 
 at the majefty of his virtue. It reproved the 
 intemperance of their ambition and darkened the 
 fplendor of vidory. The fcene is clofed, and we 
 are no longer anxious left misfortune fhould fully 
 his glory; he has travelled on to the end of his 
 journey and carried with him an encreafing weight 
 of honor ; he has depofited it fafely, where mif- 
 fortune cannot tarnifh it, where malice cannot 
 blaft it. Favored of Heaven, he departed with- 
 out exhibiting the weaknefs of humanity ; mag- 
 nanimous in death, the darknefs of the grave 
 could not obfcure his brightnefs. 
 
 Such was the man whom we deplore. Thanks 
 to God, his glory is confummated. Washington 
 yet lives on earth in his fpotlefs example — his . 
 fpirit is in Heaven. 
 
 Let his countrymen confecrate the memory 
 of the heroic general, the patriotic ftatefman, and 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. l6l 
 
 the virtuous fage : let them teach their children 
 never to forget that the fruits of his labors, and 
 his example are their inheritance. 
 
 To which the Prefident returned the follow- 
 ing anfwer : 
 
 Gentlemen of the Senate^ 
 
 I receive with the moft refpedlful and affec- 
 tionate fentiments, in this imprefsive addrefs, the 
 obliging exprefsions of your regret for the lofs 
 our country has fuftained, in the death of her 
 moft efteemed, beloved, and admired citizen. 
 
 In the multitude of my thoughts and recol- 
 ledions, on this melancholy event, you will per- 
 mit me only to fay, that I have feen him in the 
 days of adverfity, in fome of the fcenes of his 
 deepeft and moft trying perplexities ; I have alfo 
 attended him in his higheft elevation and moft 
 profperous felicity ; with uniform admiration of 
 his wifdom, moderation and conftancy. 
 
 Among all our original afsociates, in that 
 memorable league of the continent in 1774, which 
 firft exprefsed the fovereign will of a free nation 
 
 21 
 
1 62 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 in America, he was the only one remaining in the 
 general government. Although, with a conftitu- 
 tion more enfeebled than his, at an age when he 
 thought It necefsary to prepare for retirement, I 
 feel myfelf alone, bereaved of my laft brother ; 
 yet I derive a ftrong confolation from the unani- 
 mous difpofition, which appears In all ages and 
 clafses, to mingle their forrows with mine, on this 
 common calamity to the world. 
 
 The life of our Washington cannot fuffer 
 by a comparifon with thofe of other countries, 
 who have been moft celebrated and exalted by 
 fame. The attributes and decorations of royalty, 
 <. could have only ferved to ecllpfe the majefty of 
 thofe virtues, which made him, from being a mo- 
 deft citizen, a more refplendent luminary. Mif- 
 fortune, had he lived, could hereafter have fullied 
 his glory only with thofe fuperficial minds, who, 
 believing that charafters and adllons are marked 
 by fuccefs alone, rarely deferve to enjoy it. Ma- 
 lice could never blaft his honor, and envy made 
 him a fingular exception to her unlverfal rule. 
 For himfelf he had lived enough, to life and to 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 1 63 
 
 glory. For his fellow-citizens, if their prayers 
 could have been anfwered, he would have been 
 immortal. For me, his departure is at a moil 
 unfortunate moment. — Trufting, however, in the 
 wife and righteous dominion of Providence over 
 the pafsions of men, and the refults of their coun- 
 cils and actions, as well as over their lives, and 
 nothing remains for me, but humble refignation. 
 
 His example is now complete, and it will 
 teach wifdom and virtue to magiftrates, citizens, 
 and men, not only in the prefent age, but in fu- 
 ture generations, as long as our hiftory fhall be 
 read. If a Trajan found a Pliny, a Marcus Au- 
 relius can never want biographers, eulogills or 
 hiftorians. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 In the Houfe of Reprefentatives General 
 Marfhall made a report from the joint committee 
 appointed to confider a fuitable mode of com- 
 memorating the death of General PP^shington. 
 
 He reported the following refolutions : 
 
164 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Refolved by the Senate and Houje of Reprejent- 
 atives of the United States of America in Congrejs 
 ajsemhled^ That a marble monument be ere6led by 
 the United States at the capitol of the city of 
 Wafhington, and that the family of General 
 M'^SHiNGTON be requefted to permit his body to 
 be depofited under it, and that the monument 
 be fo defigned as to commemorate the great events 
 of his military and political life. 
 
 And be it further refolved^ That there be a 
 funeral procefsion from Congrefs hall to the Ger- 
 man Lutheran church, in memory of General 
 George ^f^SHiNOTON, on Thurfday the 26th inft. 
 and that an oration be prepared at the requeft 
 of Congrefs, to be delivered before both Houfes 
 that day; and that the Prefident of the Senate, and 
 Speaker of the Houfe of Reprefentatives, be de- 
 fired to requeft one of the members of Congrefs 
 to prepare and deliver the fame. 
 
 And be it further rejohed. That it be recom- 
 mended to the people of the United States, to 
 wear crape on their left arm, as mourning, for 
 thirty days. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 1 65 
 
 And be it further rejolved^ That the Prefident 
 of the United States be requefted to dired; a copy 
 of thefe refolutions to be tranfmitted to Mrs. 
 Wafhington, afsuring her of the profound refped; 
 Congrefs will ever bear for her perfon and 
 charafter, of their condolence on the late affedt- 
 ing difpenfation of Providence, and entreating 
 her afsent to the interment of the remains of 
 General Wishington in the manner exprefsed in 
 the firft refolution. 
 
 And be it further refohed, That the Prefident 
 of the United States be requefted to ifsue his pro- 
 clamation, notifying to the people throughout 
 the United States, the recommendation contained 
 in the third refolution. 
 
 Thefe refolutions pafsed both Houfes unan- 
 imoufly. 
 
l66 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 A PROCLAMATION. 
 
 BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 Whereas the Congrefs of the United 
 States "in honor of the memory of General 
 George Washington^'' have this day refolved, 
 " That it be recommended to the people of the 
 United States, to wear crape on the left arm as 
 mourning, for thirty days ;" and, " That the Pre- 
 {ident of the United States be requefhed to ifsue 
 a proclamation, notifying to the people through- 
 out the United States the faid recommenda- 
 tion." Now, therefore, I, JOHN ADAMS, 
 Prefident of the United States, do hereby pro- 
 claim the fame accordingly. 
 
 Given under my hand and the feal of the 
 United States, at Philadelphia, the twenty- 
 fourth day of December, in the year of our 
 Lord, one thoufand {(tv^w hundred and 
 ninety-nine, and of the independence of 
 the United States the twenty-fourth. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 By the Prefident, 
 Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 167 
 
 Adjutant gencraFs Offc(, 
 Ncio-York, December 24, 1 799. 
 
 IVlAJOR General Hamilton, has received, 
 thro' the Secretary of War, the following order 
 from the Prefident of the United States. 
 
 The Prefident, with deep regret, announces 
 to the army, the death of its beloved chief, 
 General George Washington. Sharing in the 
 grief which every heart muft feel for fo heavy 
 and afflidling a public lofs, and defirous to exprefs 
 his high fenfe of the vaft debt of gratitude which 
 is due to the virtues, talents and ever memorable 
 fervices of the illuftrious deceafed, he direds that 
 funeral honors be paid to him at all the military 
 ftations, and that the officers of the army and of 
 the feveral corps of volunteers, wear crape on the 
 left arm, by way of mourning, for fix months. 
 Major General Hamilton will give the necefsary 
 orders for carrying into efFed: the foregoing direc- 
 tions. 
 
 The imprefsive terms, in which this great 
 national calamity is announced by the Prefident, 
 
l68 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 could receive no new force from any thing that 
 might be added. The voice of praife would in 
 vain endeavor to exalt a charadler, unrivalled 
 on the lift of true glory. Words would in vain 
 attempt to give utterance to that profound and 
 reverential grief, which will penetrate every 
 American bofom, and engage the fympathy of an 
 admiring world. If the fad privilege of pre-em- 
 inence in forrow may juftly be claimed by the 
 companions in arms of our lamented chief, their 
 affedions will fpontaneoufly perform the dear, 
 though painful duty. It is only for me to 
 mingle my tears, with thofe of my fellow-foldiers, 
 cheriftiing with them the precious recolledlion, 
 that while others are paying a merited tribute to 
 "the man of the age," we in particular, allied as 
 we are to him by a clofe tie, are called to mourn 
 the irreparable lofs of a kind and venerable pa- 
 tron and father ! 
 
 In obedience to the directions of the Prefi- 
 dent, the following funeral honors will be paid 
 at the feveral ftations of the army. 
 
 At day break fixteen guns will be fired in 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 1 69 
 
 quick fuccefsion, and one gun at the diftance of 
 each half hour until fun fet. 
 
 During the procefsion of the troops to the 
 place reprefenting that of the interment, and 
 until the conclufion of the ceremonial, minute 
 guns will be fired. 
 
 The bier will be received by the troops 
 formed in line, prefenting their arms, and the 
 officers, drums and colors faluting; after this the 
 procefsion will begin ; the troops marching by 
 platoons in inverted order, and with arms re- 
 verfed to the place of interment — the drums 
 muffled, and the mufic playing a dead march. 
 
 The bier carried by four ferjeants, and at- 
 tended by fix pall-bearers, where there is cavalry, 
 will be preceded by the cavalry and will be fol- 
 lowed by the troops on foot. — Where there is 
 no cavalry, a detachment of infantry will precede 
 the bier, which itfelf will in every cafe be pre- 
 ceded by fuch of the clergy as may be prefent. 
 The officers of the general fl:aff will immediately 
 fucceed the bier. 
 
 22 
 
lyO DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Where a numerous body of citizens fhall be 
 united with the military in the procefsion, the 
 whole of the troops will precede the bier, which 
 will then be followed by the citizens. 
 
 When arrived near the place of interment, 
 the procefsion will halt. The troops in front of 
 the bier, will form in line, and opening their 
 ranks will face inwards, to admit the pafsage of 
 the bier, which will then pafs through the ranks, 
 the troops leaning on their arms reverfed while 
 the bier pafses ! When the bier fhall have 
 pafsed, the troops will refume their pofition in 
 line, and reverfing their arms, will remain lean- 
 ing upon them until the ceremonial fhall be 
 clofed. 
 
 The mufic will now perform a folemn air, 
 after which the introductory part of this order 
 fhall be read. 
 
 At the end of this, a detachment of infantry 
 appointed for the purpofe, will advance and fire 
 three vollies over the bier. The troops will 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. I^I 
 
 then return ; the mufic playing the Prefident's 
 march, the drums previoufly unmuffled. 
 
 The uniform companies of militia are in- 
 vited to join in arms the volunteer corps. 
 
 The commanders at particular ftations, con- 
 forming generally to this plan, will make fuch 
 exceptions as will accommodate it to fituation. 
 At places where procefsions of unarmed citizens 
 fhall take place, it is the wifh of the Major- 
 General that the military ceremonial fhould be 
 united. And the particular commanders at thofe 
 places are authorifed to vary the plan, fo as to 
 adapt it to the circumftances. 
 
 Brigadier General Macpherfon is charged 
 to fuperintend the ceremonial in the city of Phil- 
 adelphia. Major Toufsard will attend to Fort 
 Mifflin, and will co-operate with him. 
 
 The day of performing the ceremonial at 
 each ftation is left to the particular commanders. 
 
 Major General Pinckney will make fuch 
 
lyi DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 further arrangements within his diftrid as he 
 fhall deem expedient. 
 
 W. NORTH, Ad. Gen. 
 
 December 24, 1799. 
 
 The Speaker informed the Houfe, that in 
 conformity to the fecond refolution pafsed on 
 Monday, Major-General Lee had been ap- 
 pointed by the Prefident of the Senate, and he 
 Speaker of the Houfe of Reprefentatives, to 
 prepare and deliver the oration in honor of our 
 late illuftrious commander in chief, on Thurfday 
 next, which appointment he had been pleafed to 
 accept. 
 
 A mefsage was received from the Prefident 
 of the United States, notifying the Houfe that 
 ne had agreed to the refolutions pafsed on Mon- 
 day, in honor of the memory of General Wash- 
 ington, and depofited them among the rolls and 
 records of the United States. 
 
 Mr. Marfhall, from the joint committee 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 1 73 
 
 appointed to confider and report what meafures 
 ought to be adopted in honor of the memory of 
 General Washington, made another report in 
 part, which was unanimoufly agreed to by the 
 Houfe, in the words following, to wit: 
 
 Refohedy by the Senate and Houfe of Repre- 
 Jentatives of the United States in Congrejs ajsembled^ 
 That it be recommended to the people of the 
 United States, to afsemble on the twenty-fecond 
 day of February next, in fuch numbers and 
 manner as may be convenient, publicly to teftify 
 their grief for the death of General George 
 Washington, by fuitable eulogies, orations, and 
 difcourfes ; or by public prayers. 
 
 And be it further refohed. That the Prefident 
 of the United States be requefted to recommend 
 the fame, by a proclamation for that purpofe. 
 
174 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 A PROCLAMATION. 
 
 BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF 
 AMERICA. 
 
 Whereas the Congrefs of the United 
 States have this day refoived, "That it be re- 
 commended to the people of the United States, 
 to afsemble on the twenty-fecond day of Feb- 
 ruary next, in fuch numbers and manner as may 
 be convenient, pubicly to teftify their grief for 
 the death of General George Washington, by 
 fuitable eulogies, orations and difcourfes, or by 
 public prayers ;" and, " That the Prefident be 
 requefted to ifsue a proclamation for the pur- 
 pofe of carrying the foregoing refolution into 
 efFe6l." Now, therefore, I, JOHN ADAMS, 
 Prefident of the United States of America, do 
 hereby proclaim the fame accordingly. 
 
 Given under my hand and the feal of the 
 United States, at Philadelphia, the fixth day 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. I75 
 
 of January, in the year of our Lord, one 
 thoufand eight hundred and of the independ- 
 ence of the faid ftates the twenty-fourth. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 By the Prefident, 
 Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State. 
 
 Alexandria {^irg.) December 21, 1799. 
 
 PARTICULAR ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE LATE ILLNESS AND DEATH OF 
 
 ^m^i Slctsl|iitgtoii 
 
 OOME time in the night of Friday, the 
 loth inftant, having been expofed to a rain on 
 the preceeding day, General Washington was 
 attacked with an inflammatory affeftion of the 
 upper part of the wind pipe, called in technical 
 language Cynache Trachealis. — The difeafe 
 commenced with a violent ague, accompanied 
 with fome pain in the upper and fore part of the 
 throat, a fenfe of ftridlure in the fame part, a 
 cough, and a difficult, rather than a painful deg- 
 
176 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 lutition, which were foon fucceeded by fever and 
 a quick and laborious refpiration. The necefsity 
 of blood-letting fuggefting itfelf to the General, 
 he procured a bleeder in the neighbourhood, 
 who took from his arm in the night twelve or 
 fourteen ounces of blood. He could not by 
 any means be prevailed on by the family to fend 
 for the attending phyfician till the following 
 morning, who arrived at Mount Vernon at about 
 1 1 o'clock on Saturday. Difcovering the cafe 
 to be highly alarming, and forefeeing the fatal 
 tendency of the difeafe, two confulting phyficians. 
 were immediately fent for, who arrived, one at 
 half after three, and the other at four o'clock in 
 the afternoon : in the mean time were employed 
 two pretty copious bleedings, a blifter was ap- 
 plied to the part affefted, two moderate dofes of 
 calomel were given, and an injeftion was ad- 
 miniftered, which operated on the lower intef- 
 tines, but all without any perceptible advantage, 
 the refpiration becoming ftill more difficult and 
 diftrefsing. Upon the arrival of the firft of the 
 confulting phyficians, it was agreed, as there 
 were yet no figns of accumulation in the bron- 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. lyy 
 
 chial vefsels of the lungs, to try the refult of 
 another bleeding, when about thirty-two ounces 
 of blood were drawn, without the fmalleft ap- 
 parent alleviation of the difeafe. Vapours of 
 vinegar and water were frequently inhaled, ten 
 grains of calomel were given, fucceeded by re- 
 peated dofes of emetic tartar, amounting in all 
 to five or fix grains, with no other effed: than a 
 copious difcharge from the bowels. The powers 
 of life feemed now manifestly yielding to the 
 force of the diforder; blifters were applied to 
 the extremities, together with a cataplafm of 
 bran and vinegar to the throat. Speaking, which 
 was painful from the beginning, now became al- 
 moft imprafticable ; refpiration grew more and 
 more contracted and imperfed:, till half after 1 1 
 on Saturday night, retaining the full pofsefsion 
 of his intellect — when he expired without a 
 ftruggle. 
 
 Pie was fully imprefsed at the beginning of 
 his complaint, as well as through every fucceed- 
 ing ftage of it, that its conclufion would be mor- 
 tal ; fubmitting to the feveral exertions made for 
 
 23 
 
lyS DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 his recovery, rather as a duty, than from any ex- 
 pedation of their efficacy. He confidered the 
 operations of death upon his fyftem as coeval 
 with the difeafe ; and feveral hours before his 
 death, after repeated efforts to be underftood, fuc- 
 ceeded in exprefsing a defire that he might be 
 permitted to die without further interruption. 
 
 During the fhort period of his iUnefs, he 
 economized his time, in the arrangement of fuch 
 few concerns as required his attention, with the 
 utmoft ferenity ; and anticipated his approaching 
 difsolution with every demonftration of that 
 equanimity for which his whole life has been fo 
 uniformly and fingularly confpicious. 
 
 JAMES CRAICK, Attending Phyfician. 
 ELISHA C. DICK, Confulting Phyfician. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. IJ^ 
 
 Masjjinntons Jfmunil. 
 
 Extract of a letter from a correfpondent in Alexan- 
 dria^ dated December 19, 1799. 
 
 cc Yesterday I attended the funeral 
 of the favior of our country at Mount Vernon ; 
 and had the honor of being one who carried his 
 body to the vault. — He was borne by military 
 gentlemen, and brethern of our lodge, of which 
 he was formerly .mafter. I inclofe you a fketch 
 of the procefsion. To defcribe the fcene is im- 
 pofsible. — The coffin bore his fword and apron ; 
 and the members of the lodge walked as mourn- 
 ers. His horfe was led, properly caprifoned, by 
 two of his fervants, in mourning. 
 
 " As I helped place his body in the vault, 
 and flood at the door while the funeral fervice 
 was performing, I had the beft opportunity of 
 obferving the countenances of all. Every one 
 was affedied, but none fo much as his domeftics 
 of all ages. 
 
l8o DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Interiiitiit. 
 
 George-Town, December 20, 1799. 
 
 \JN Wednefday laft, the mortal part of 
 Washington the great — the father of his country 
 and the friend of man, was configned to the tomb, 
 with folemn honors and funeral pomp. 
 
 A multitude of perfons afsembled, from 
 many miles around, at Mount Vernon, the choice 
 abode and laft refidence of the illuftrious chief. 
 There were the groves, the fpacious avenues, the 
 beautiful and fublime fcenes, the noble manfion ; 
 but alas ! the auguft inhabitant was now no more. 
 That great foul was gone. PI is mortal part was 
 there indeed ; but ah ! how affedling ! how aw- 
 ful the fpedacle of fuch worth and greatnefs, thus, 
 to mortal eyes, fallen : yes ! fallen ! fallen ! 
 
 In the long and lofty portico, where oft the 
 hero walked in all his glory, now lay the fhrouded 
 corpfe. — The countenance ftill compofed and 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. l8l 
 
 ferene, feemed to exprefs the dignity of the fpirit 
 which lately dwelt in that lifelefs form. There 
 thofe who paid the laft fad honors to the bene- 
 faftor of his country, took an imprefsive, a fare- 
 well view. 
 
 On the ornament, at the head of the coffin, 
 was infcribed Surge ad Judicium: about the 
 middle of the coffin, Gloria Deo ; and on the 
 filver plate, 
 
 . §mxi\\ (fiScorgc Sltitsljingtoir. 
 
 departed this life, on the 14th dec. 1799, 
 ^t. 68. 
 
 Between three and four o'clock, the found 
 of artillery from a vefsel in the river, firing min- 
 ute guns, awoke afrefh our folemn forrow : the 
 corpfe was moved ; a band of mufic with mourn- 
 ful melody, melted the foul into all the tender- 
 nefs of woe. 
 
 The procefsion was formed and moved on 
 in the following order : 
 
1 82 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 ava ry^ \ ^^^j^ ^^^^ r ever fed. \ Guards 
 Infantry, J j ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Music, 
 
 Clergy, 
 
 The GeneraV s horje^ with his Jaadle, holfters, and 
 pijiols. 
 
 Col. SiMMS, ^ Col. Gilpin, 
 
 Col. Ramsay, ^ Col. Marsteller, 
 
 Col. Payne, S Col. Little. 
 
 Mourners, 
 
 MASONIC Brethren, 
 
 Citizens. 
 
 When the procefsion had arrived at the bot- 
 tom of the elevated lawn, on the banks of the 
 Potomac, where the family vault is placed, the 
 cavalry halted, the infantry marched towards the 
 Mount and formed the inlines ; the clergy, the 
 mafonic brothers, and the citizens defcended to 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 1 83 
 
 » 
 
 the vault, and the funeral fervlce of the church 
 was performed. The firing was repeated from 
 the vefsel in the river, and the founds echoed from 
 the woods and the hills around. 
 
 Three general difcharges by the infantry, the 
 cavalry, and eleven pieces of artillery, which lined 
 the banks of the Potomac back, of the vault, paid 
 the laft tribute to the entombed commander in 
 chief of the armies of the United States, and to 
 the venerable departed hero. 
 
 The fun was now fitting. Alas ! the Jim of 
 glory was fet forever. No — the name of Wash- 
 ington, the American Prefident and General will 
 triumph over death ; the unclouded brightnefs of 
 his glory will illuminate future ages. 
 
 FUNERAL PROCESSION AT PHILADEL- 
 PHIA. 
 
 Philadelphia, December 27. 
 
 I ESTERDAY was obferved in this city 
 as a day of mourning for the lofs of the Father 
 
184 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 of our Country. Bufinefs was fufpended, the 
 citizens appeared in the habiliments of grief — and 
 the tones of the deep muffled bells afcended on 
 high — while Philadelphia paid a merited tribute 
 of refped to our beloved Washington, by pom- 
 pous funeral honors — and genuine grief. 
 
 At the dawn of day, fixteen guns were fired 
 in quick fuccefsion, and one gun at each half hour 
 till funfet. At noon, the bier was received by 
 the troops forming in line, prefenting their arms, 
 and the officers, drums, and colors faluting, after 
 which the procefsion formed and moved to the 
 German Lutheran Church in the following order 
 — Minute guns firing at diftance. 
 
 Trumpeter, 
 
 Playing a dead march. 
 
 A detachment of Captains Wharton and 
 
 M'Kean's troops — 
 
 Standards of the troops in the centre, covered 
 
 with black crape. 
 
 General Macpherfon 
 
 AND 
 
 His aid-de camp. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. j g r 
 
 Militia legion of Pennfylvania, 
 Marching by platoons, in inverted order, with 
 arms reverfed — flandards covered withblackcrape. 
 
 Macpherfon's Blues, 
 Marching by platoons, in inverted order, with 
 arms reverfed — ftandards covered with black crape. 
 
 Captain Singer's Troop, 
 Swords drawn — marching in open file, in in- 
 verted order, ftandard and mufic in mourning. 
 
 Captain Leiper's Troop, 
 Swords drawn — marching in open file, in in- 
 verted order, ftandard and mufic in mourning. 
 
 Captain Morrel's Troop, 
 Swords drawn — marching in open file, in in- 
 verted order, ftandard and mufic in mourning.- 
 
 Captain Dunlap's Troop, 
 Swords drawn — marching in open file, in in- 
 verted order, ftandard and mufic in mourning. 
 
 County Troop, 
 Swords drawn — marching in open file, in in- 
 verted order, ftandard and mufic in mourning. 
 
 Militia Ofiicers, 
 24 
 
J 86: DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Officers of the Navy. 
 
 Thirty-three Clergymen — with white Scarfs. 
 
 A White Horfe covered with black crape, 
 with faddle, holfters and piftols — white and black 
 plumes on his head. 
 
 Maj. Jackson ^ Maj. Toussard 
 
 Maj. Hopkins Maj. Moylan 
 
 <^ 
 Benj. Stoddard j^ Jas. M'Henry. 
 
 Marfhal of the United States, 
 In deep mourning with a white wand encircled 
 with black crape. 
 
 Sergeant at arms of the Senate of the 
 
 United States, 
 
 With a white wand encircled with black crape. 
 
 Prefident and fecretary of the fenate, and mem- 
 bers of the fenate, two and two. 
 With white fcarfs, tied in a bow on the left 
 fhoulder- — in the centre of the bow a rofe of 
 black ribbon. 
 
 Sergeant at arms of theHoufe of Reprefentatives, 
 With a white wand encircled with black crape. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 187 
 
 Speaker and Clerk of the Houfe of Reprefenta- 
 tives and Members of the Houfe of Repre- 
 fentatives two and two, 
 
 With white fcarfs tied in a bow on the fhoulder — 
 in the centre of the bow, a rofe of black ribbon. 
 
 Heads of Departments. 
 
 Judiciary of the United States. 
 
 American Commifsioners under the 6th article of 
 the Britifh treaty, with their agent. 
 
 American Commifsioners under the treaty 
 with Spain. 
 
 Poft-mafter General and Comptroller of treafury. 
 Auditor and Treafurer. 
 
 Regifter and Commifsioner of Revenue. 
 
 Purveyor and Commifsiary of military ftores. 
 
 Deputy Poftmafter-General and Accountants of 
 War and Navy. 
 
 Colleftor, Naval Officer and Surveyor of the Port 
 
 of Philadelphia, Society of Cincinnati. 
 
 Mafons. 
 
 Officers of the Army, Navy, and Militia, not on 
 duty. 
 
I 88 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Mayor and Recorder of the City. 
 Aldermen. 
 
 Members of the Seled and Common Councils. 
 Citizens. 
 
 On the arrival of the front Platoon at the 
 Church the Procefsion halted. The troops in 
 front of the Bier formed in line; and opening 
 their ranks, made an avenue, through which the 
 Bier and remainder of the procefsion pafsed — 
 the troops leaning on their arms reverfed. 
 
 As the procefsion entered the church, the 
 folemn peals of the deep-toned organ imprefsed 
 the mind with the utmoft folemnity, and well 
 prepared it for the mournful occafion ; and, when 
 the Orator of the day painted in glowing colours 
 the illuftrious deeds and virtues of the deceafed, 
 the public grief burft into unreftrained lamen- 
 tation. 
 
 When he had ceafed to fpeak, the mournful 
 founds of the organ again " foftened the foul to 
 all the tendernefs of woe," while the following 
 lines were chaunted by the Thefpian choir. 
 
death of washin'gton. 
 Miss HUNTLT. 
 
 I ft. — Serious ^ir and Chorui. 
 
 Columbia's Sons may now lament, 
 
 Their I'pear is broke, their bow unbent. 
 
 Their glory fled j 
 
 Amongft the dead Gr tAUfV ASH I N GT N Vxt^i, 
 
 Forever doled his eyes. 
 
 Glorious Hero ! may thy grave 
 Peace and Honor ever have ; 
 After all thy pains and woes, 
 Reft eternal, Iweet repole : 
 Bring the Laurels, bring the Bays, 
 Strew his hearle, and ftrew the ways. 
 
 DA CAPO. 
 
 Mr. barley. 
 
 His glorious deeds infpired my tongue, 
 Whilft airs of joy from thence did flow, 
 To forrows now I tune my fong 
 And fet my Harp to notes of woe. 
 
 Miss BROABHURST. 
 
 I ft. 
 
 Sad, fad are the tidings rumour tells, 
 A grateful people mourn his end ; 
 Amidft the brave and juft he dwells, 
 His country's Father and its Friend. 
 
 189 
 
190 
 
 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 ad. 
 With honor crowned, mature in age, 
 He fell the wonder of mankind ; 
 Laden with laurels left the ftage, 
 Nor leaves alas his like behind. 
 
 3d. 
 Seated in blifs fupreme on high, 
 O ! Spirit dear attend our prayer, 
 Our Guardian Angel ftill be nigh. 
 Make thy lov'd land thy Heav'nly care. 
 
 Mrs. OLDMIXON. 
 4th. 
 
 Angels ever bright and fair, 
 Take, Oh take him to your care; 
 Speed to your own courts his flight. 
 Clad in robes of virgin white, 
 Angels ever bright and fair. 
 Take, Oh take him to your care. 
 
 Mr. CARR. 
 
 5th. 
 Lord remember thy people, 
 Make us to know thy ways ; 
 O guide our tongues with meeknels. 
 Daily to fing thy praife. 
 
 ■ Mrs. WARRELL. 
 
 Pious orgies, pious airs, 
 Decent forrows decent prayers, 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Will to the Lord afcend ; 
 And move his pity, 
 And regain his love. 
 
 His body is buried in peace, 
 But his name liveth evermore. 
 
 191 
 
 When the chaunting had ceafed, the Bier was 
 borne to its deftined fpot amidft folemn martial 
 mufic and the repeated vgllies of mufquetry. 
 After which the troops forming again in line, re- 
 turned to their refpeftive parades in proper order. 
 
 IN SENATE. 
 
 Friday, December 27. 
 
 On motion, 
 
 Refohedy That the thanks of the Senate be 
 communicated, through its Prefident, to General 
 Henry Lee, for the elegant and imprefsive Oration 
 to the memory of General George Washington, 
 which he prepared and delivered at the requeft of 
 Congrefs. 
 
 Rejohed^ That the Secretary be direded to 
 apply to General Lee for a copy of the fame. 
 
IQ2 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 December 30. 
 
 The fpeaker read to the houfe the following 
 letters : 
 
 Philadelphia, z^th Dec, 1 799. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 The inclofed refolutions, which unanimoufly 
 pafsed the Houfe of Reprefentatives this day, 
 will make known to you how highly they have 
 been gratified with the manner in which you have 
 performed the fervice afsigned to you, in prepar- 
 ing and delivering a funeral oration on the death 
 of General M^shington. That our conftituents 
 may participate in the gratification we have re- 
 ceived, from your having fo well exprefsed the fen- 
 timents of refped; for the character, of gratitude 
 for the fervice, and of grief for the death of that 
 illuftrious perfonage ; I flatter myfelf you will 
 not hefitate to comply with the requeft of the 
 houfe, by furnifhing a copy of your oration to be 
 taken for publication. Allow me, while perform- 
 ing this pleafing tafk of ofhicial duty, in commu- 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. I 93 
 
 nicating an ad of the Reprefentatives of the 
 people, fo juft to you, and fo honorable to them- 
 felves, to embrace the opportunity to declare that 
 
 I am, perfonally, 
 With great efteem 
 and fincere regard, 
 Dear Sir, 
 Your friend and obedient fervant, 
 
 THEODORE SEDGWICK. 
 
 The hon. Maj. Gen. Lee. 
 
 Franklin Court, Dec. 28, '99. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I owe to the goodnefs of the Houfe of Rep- 
 refentatives, the honor which their refpedive 
 refolutions confer on my humble efforts to exe- 
 cute their wifh. 
 
 I can never difobey their will, and therefore 
 will furniili a copy of the oration delivered on 
 the late affliding occafion, much as I had flat- 
 tered myfelf with a different difpofition of it. 
 
 25 
 
194 
 
 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Sincerely reciprocating the perfonal con- 
 fiderations with which you honor me, 
 I am very refpedlfully, fir, 
 your friend and ob't fervant 
 
 HENRY LEE. 
 
 The Speaker of the Houfe 
 of Reprefentatives. 
 
 Ji Hitcriil ©ration 
 
 ON THE DEATH OF GENERAL 
 WASHING'TON, 
 
 DELIVERED BY THE HON. MR. LEE, M. C. 
 
 ' AN obedience to your-' will, I rife your 
 humble organ, with a hope of executing a part 
 of the fyftem of public mourning which you 
 have been pleafed to adopt, commemorative of 
 the death of the moft illuftrious and moft be- 
 loved perfonage this country has ever produced; 
 
 * The iwo Houfes of Congrefs. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 195 
 
 and when, while it tranfmits to pofterity your 
 fenfe of the awful event, faithfully reprefents 
 your knowledge of the confummate excellence 
 you fo cordially honor. 
 
 Defperate indeed is any attempt on earth 
 to meet correfpondently this difpenfation of 
 heaven ; for, while with pious refignation we 
 fubmit to the will of an all-gracious Providence, 
 we can never ceafe lamenting in our finite view 
 of Omnipotent wifdom, the heart-rending priva- 
 tion for which our nation weeps. When the 
 civilized world fhakes to its centre ; when every 
 moment gives birth to ftrange and momentous 
 changes; when our peaceful quarter of the globe, 
 exempt as it happily has been from any fhare in 
 the {laughter of the human race, may yet be 
 compelled to abandon her pacific policy, and to 
 rifk the doleful cafualties of war: What limit is 
 there to the extent of our lofs ^ — None within 
 the reach of my words to exprefs : none which 
 your feelings will not difavow. 
 
 The founder of our federal republic — our 
 bulwark in war, our guide in peace, is no more. 
 
196 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Oh that this was but queftionable ! Hope, the 
 comforter of the wretched, would pour into our 
 agonized hearts its balmy dew. But alas ! there 
 is no hope for us; our Washington, is removed 
 forever. Pofsefsing the ftouteft frame, the pureft 
 mind, he had pafsed nearly to his fixty-eighth 
 year, in the enjoyment of high health, when hab- 
 ituated by his care of us to negled himfelf, a 
 flight cold, difregarded, became inconvenient on 
 Friday, opprefsive on Saturday, and defying 
 every medical interpofition, before the morning 
 of Sunday, put an end to the beft of men. An 
 end did I iay — His fame furvives ! bounded 
 only by the limits of the earth, and by the ex- 
 tent of the human mind. He furvives in our 
 hearts, in the growing knowledge of our chil- 
 dren, in the affedion of the good throughout the 
 world ; and when our monuments will be done 
 away ; when nations now exifling fhall be no 
 more ; when even our young and far-fpreading 
 empire fhall have perifhed, ftill will our Wash- 
 ington's glory unfaded (liine, and die not, until 
 love of virtue ceafe on earth, or earth itfelf finks 
 into chaos. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 197 
 
 How, my fellow-citizens, fliall I fmgle to 
 your grateful hearts his pre-eminent worth ! 
 Where fliall I begin in opening to your view a 
 charadler throughout fublime. Shall I fpeak of 
 his warlike atchievements, all fpringing from 
 obedience to his country's will — all directed to 
 his country's good ? 
 
 Will you go with me to the banks of the 
 Monongahela, to fee your youthful Washing- 
 ton, fupporting in the difmal hour of Indian 
 viftory, the ill fated Braddock, and faving by 
 his judgement and by his valor, the remains of a 
 defeated army, prefsed by the conquering favage 
 foe ? Or, when opprefsed America, nobly re- 
 folving to rifk her all in defence of her violated 
 rights, he was elevated by the unanimous voice 
 of Congrefs to the command of her armies: 
 Will you follow him to the high grounds of Bos- 
 ton, where to an undifciplined, courageous and 
 virtuous yeomanry, his prefence gave the ftabil- 
 * ity of fyftem, and infufed the invincibility of 
 love of country : Or fliall I carry you to the 
 painful fcenes of Long-Iiland, York-Ifland and 
 
IgS DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 New-Jerfey, when combating fuperior and gallant 
 armies, aided by powerful fleets, and led by chiefs 
 high in the roll of fame, he flood the bulwark of 
 our fafety ; undifmayed by difafler ; unchanged 
 by change of fortune. — Or will you view him in 
 the precarious fields of Trenton, where deep 
 gloom unnerving every arm, reigned triumphant 
 through our thinned, worn down unaided ranks : 
 himfelf unmoved. — Dreadful was the night; it 
 was about this time of winter — The ftorm raged — 
 the Delaware rolling furioufly with floating ice 
 forbad the approach of man. Washington, felf 
 collefted, viewed the dreadful fcene — his country 
 called ; unappalled by furrounding dangers, he 
 pafsed to the hoftile fliore ; he fought ; he con- 
 quered. The morning fun cheered the American 
 world. Our country rofe on the event ; and her 
 dauntlefs chief purfuing his blow, completed in 
 the lawns of Princeton, what his vafl: foul had 
 conceived on the fliores of Delaware. 
 
 Thence to the ftrong grounds of Morrif- 
 Town he led his fmall but gallant band ; and 
 through an eventful winter, by the high efforts of 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 199 
 
 his genius, whofe matchlefs force was meafurable 
 only by the growth of difficulties, he held in 
 check formidable hoftile legions, conduded by a 
 Chief experienced in the art of war, and famed 
 for his valor on the ever-memorable heights of 
 Abraham, where fell Wolfe, Montcalm, and 
 fince our much lamented Montgomery ; all 
 covered with glory. In this fortunate interval, 
 produced by his mafterly condudl, our fathers, 
 ourfelves, animated by his refiftlefs example, 
 rallied round our country's ftandard, and con- 
 tinued to follow her beloved Chief, throughout 
 the various and trying fcenes to which the defti- 
 nies of our union led. Who is there that has 
 forgotten the vales of Brandywine, the fields of 
 Germantown, or the plains of Monmouth; 
 every where prefent, wants of every kind ob- 
 ftru6ling, numerous and valliant armies en- 
 countering, himfelf a hoft, he afsuaged our fuf- 
 ferings, limited our privations, and upheld our 
 tottering republic. Shall I difplay to you the 
 fpread of the fire of his foul, by rehearfing the 
 praifes of the hero of Saratoga, and his much 
 loved compeer of the Carolina's ? No ; our 
 
200 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Washington wears not borrowed glory : to 
 Gates — to Greene, he gave without referve the 
 applaufe due to their eminent merit ; and long 
 may the Chiefs of Saratoga, and of Eutaws, re- 
 ceive the grateful refpe6l of a grateful people. 
 
 Moving in his own orbit, he imparted heat 
 and light to his moft diftant fatelites ; and com- 
 bining the phyfical and moral force of all within 
 his fphere, with irrefiftable weight he took his 
 courfe, commiferating folly, difdaining vice, dif- 
 maying treafon and invigorating defpondency, 
 until the aufpicious hour arrived, when, united 
 with the intrepid forces of a potent and mag- 
 nanimous ally, he brought to fubmifsion the 
 fince conqueror of India; thus finifliing his long 
 career of military glory with a luftre correfpond- 
 ing to his great name, and in this laft a6l of war 
 affixing the feal of fate to our nation's birth. 
 
 To the horrid din of battle fweet peace fuc- 
 ceeded, and our virtuous chief, mindful only of 
 the common good, in a moment tempting per- 
 fonal aggrandizement, hufhed the difcontents of 
 growing fedition, and furrounding his power 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 20I 
 
 into the hands from which he had received it, 
 converted his fword into a ploughfhare, teaching 
 an admiring world that to be truly great, you 
 muft be truly good. 
 
 Was I to ftop here, the pidlure would be 
 incomplete, and the tafk impofed unfinifhed — 
 Great was our Washington in war, and much as 
 did that greatnefs contribute to produce the 
 American Republic, it is not in war alone his 
 pre-eminence ftands confpicuous ; his various 
 talents combining all the capacities of a ftates- 
 man with thofe of the foldier, fitted him alike to 
 guide the councils and the armies of our nation. 
 Scarcely had *he refted from his martial toils, 
 while his invaluable parental advice was ftill 
 founding in our ears, when he who had been our 
 fhield and our fword, was called forth to a6t a 
 lefs fplendid but more important part. 
 
 Pofsefsing a clear and penetrating mind, a 
 ftrong and a found judgment, calmnefs and tem- 
 per for deliberation, with invincible firmnefs and 
 perfeverance in refolutions maturely formed, 
 
 26 
 
202 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 drawing information from all, afting from him- 
 ,felf with incorruptible integrity and unvarying 
 patriotifm : his own fuperiority and the public 
 confidence alike marked him as the man deligned 
 by Heaven to lead in the great political as well 
 as military events which have diftinguifhed the 
 ^ra of his life. 
 
 The finger of an overruling Providence, 
 pointing at Washington, was neither mistaken 
 nor unobferved : when to realize the vaft hopes to 
 which our revolution had given birth, a change of 
 political fyftem became indifpenfible. 
 
 How novel, how grand the fpeduacle, inde- 
 pendent ftates ftretched over an immenfe territory, 
 and known only by common difficulty, clinging 
 to their union as the rock of their fafety, decid- 
 ing by frank comparifon of their relative condi- 
 tion, to rear on that rock, under the guidance of 
 reafon, a common government through whofe 
 commanding prote6lion, liberty and order, with 
 their long train of blefsings fhould be fafe to them- 
 felves, and the fure inheritance of their pofterity. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON, 203 
 
 This arduous tafk devolved on citizens fe- 
 ledled by the people, from knowledge of their 
 wifdoni and confidence in their virtue. In this 
 auguft afsembly of fages and patriots, M^shing- 
 TON of courfe was found — and, as if acknowledg- 
 ed to be the moft wife, where all were wife, with 
 one voice he was declared their chief. How well 
 he merited his rare diftinftion, how faithful were 
 the labors of himfelf and his companions, the 
 work of their hands and our union, ftrength and 
 profperity, the fruits of that work, beft atteft. 
 
 But to have efsentially aided in prefenting to 
 his country this confummation of her hopes, 
 neither fatisfied the claims of his fellow-citizens 
 on his talents, nor thofe duties which the pofsef- 
 fion of thofe talents impofed. Heaven had not 
 infufed into his mind fuch an uncommon fliare 
 of its ^therial fpirit to remain unemployed, now 
 beftowed on him his genius unaccompanied with 
 the coi-refponding duty of devoting it to the com- 
 mon good. To have framed a conftitution, was^. 
 fhewing only, without realizing the general hap- 
 pinefs. This great work remained to be done, 
 
204 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 and America, ftedfaft in her preference, with one 
 voice fummoned her beloved Washington^ un- 
 praftifed as he was in the duties of civil adminif- 
 tration, to execute this laft a6t in the completion 
 of the national felicity. Obedient to her call, he 
 afsumed the high office with that felf diftruft pe- 
 culiar to his innate modefty, the conftant attend- 
 ant of pre-eminent virtue. What was the burft 
 of joy through our anxious land on this exhile- 
 rating event is known to us all. The aged, the 
 young, the brave, the fair, rivalled each other in 
 demonstrations of their gratitude ; and this high 
 wrought delightful fcene was heightened in its ef- 
 feft, by the fmgular conteft between the zeal of 
 the beftowers and the avoidance of the receiver 
 of the honors beftowed. Corfimencing his ad- 
 miniftration, what heart is not charmed with the 
 pure and wife principles announced byhimfelf as 
 the bafis of his political life. He beft under- 
 ftood the indifsoluble union between virtue and 
 happinefs, between duty and advantage, between 
 •the genuine maxims of an honeft and magnani- 
 mous policy, and the folid rewards of public 
 profperity and individual felicity : watching with 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 205 
 
 an equal and comprehenfive eye over this great 
 afsemblage of communities and interefts, he laid 
 the foundations of our national policy in the un- 
 erring immutable principles of morality, bafed 
 on religion, exemplifying the pre-eminence of 
 free government, by all the attributes which win 
 the affedlions of its citizens or command the re- 
 fpe6l of the world. 
 
 " fortunatui njmium, fua si bona norint /" • 
 
 Leading through the complicated difficulties 
 produced by previous obligations and conflicting 
 interefts, feconded by fucceeding houfes of Con- 
 grefs, enlightened and patriotic, he furmounted 
 all original obftru6tions, and brightened the path 
 of our national felicity. 
 
 The prefidential term expiring, his folicitud'e 
 to exchange exaltation for humility returned, 
 with a force encreafed with increafe of age,, and 
 he had prepared his farewell addrefs to his coun- 
 trymen, proclaiming his intention, when the 
 united interpofition of all around him, enforced 
 by the eventful profped:s of the epoch, produced 
 
2o6 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 a further facrifice of inclination to duty. The 
 eledlion'^of Prefident followed, and Washington^ 
 by the unanimous vote of the nation, was called 
 to refume the chief magiftracy: what a wonderful 
 fixure of confidence ! Which attrad:s moft our 
 admiration, a people fo corredl, or a citizen com- 
 bining an afemblage ot talents forbidding rivalry, 
 and ftiflino- even envy itfelf ? Such a nation oup-ht 
 to be happy, fu'ch a chief muft be forever revered. 
 
 War, long menaced by the Indian tribes, 
 now broke out ; and the terrible conflid: delug- 
 ing Europe witK blood, began to fhed its baneful 
 influence over our happy land. To the firft, out- 
 ftretching his invincible arm, under the orders 
 of the gallant Wayne, the American Eagle foared 
 triumphant through diftant forefts. Peace fol- 
 lowing vi6lory, and the melioration of the con- 
 dition of the enemy followed peace. Godlike 
 virtue which uplifts even the fubdued favage. 
 
 To the fecond he oppofed himfelf New 
 and delicate was the conjufture, and great was 
 the ftake. Soon did his penetrating mind difcern 
 
DEATH. OF WASHINGTON. 10'] 
 
 and feize the only courfe, continuing to us all, 
 the felicity enjoyed. He ifsued his proclamation 
 of neutrality. This index to him whofe fubfe- 
 .quent conduct, was fanftioned by the approbation 
 of both Houfes of Congrefs, and the approving 
 voice of the people. 
 
 To this fublime policy he inviolably adher- 
 ed, unmoved by foreign intrufion, unfhaken by 
 ■'domeftic turbulence. 
 
 " J^ijiu'i ct tenaccm propofni -virtim 
 •' JVon ci'vium ardor pra'va jubcnuum^ . 
 " Non "vultas inftanth tyrann'i 
 " Mente quatit jolida." 
 
 Maintaining his pacific fyftem at the expence 
 of no duty, America faithful to herfelf and un- 
 ftained in her honor, continued to enjoy the de- 
 lights of peace, while afflided Europe mourns in 
 every quarter, under the accumulated miferies of 
 an unexampled war ; miferies in which our happy 
 country muft have fhared, had not our pre-em- 
 inent Pf^sHiNGTON been as firm in council as he 
 was brave in the field. 
 
208 DEATH OF WASHIN,GTON. 
 
 Purfuing ftedfaftly his courfe, he held fafe 
 the public happinefs, preventing foreign war, 
 and quelling internal difcord, till the revolving 
 period of a third eledion approached, when he . 
 executed his interrupted but inextinguifhable 
 defire of returning to the humble walks of pri- 
 vate life. 
 
 The promulgation of his fixed refolution, 
 flopped the anxious wifhes of an affedtionate * 
 people from adding a third unanimous teftimo- 
 nial of the unabated confidence in the man fo 
 long enthroned in their hearts. When, before 
 was affedlion like this exhibited on earth? — Turn 
 over the records of ancient Greece. Review the 
 annals of mighty Rome, — exarnine the volumes 
 of modern Europe ; you fearch in vain. Amer- 
 ica and her Washington only afford the dignified 
 exemplification. ^ 
 
 The illuftrious perfonage called by the na- 
 tional voice in fuccefsion to the arduous office of 
 guiding a free people, had new difficulties to en- 
 counter: the amicable effort of fettling our dif- 
 
 P 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 20g 
 
 ficulties with France, begun by Washington^ and 
 purfued by his fuccefsor in virtue as in ftation, 
 proving abortive, America took meafures of felf 
 defence. No fooner was the public mind roufed 
 by a profpe<5t of danger, than every eye was 
 turned to the friend of all, though fecluded from 
 public view, and grey in public fervice ; the 
 virtuous veteran, following his plough,* received 
 the unexpected fummons with mingled emotions 
 of indignation at the unmerited ill treatment of 
 his country, and of a determination once more 
 to rifk his all in her fervice. 
 
 The annunciation of thefe feelings, in his 
 affediing letter to the Prefident accepting the 
 command of the army, concludes his official con- 
 dud. 
 
 First in war — firft in peace — and firft in the 
 hearts of his countrymen, he was feconded to 
 
 * GENERAL WASHINGTON though opulent, ga-ve much of hn 
 time and attention to fraBical agriculture. 
 
 27 
 
2IO DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 none in the humble and endearing fcenes of pri- 
 vate life, pious, humane, temperate and fincere ; 
 uniform, dignified and commanding, his example 
 was as edifying to all around him, as were the ef- 
 fects of that example lafting. 
 
 To his equals he was condefcending, to his 
 inferiors kind, and to the dear objed of his affec- 
 tions examplarily tender : corred: throughout, 
 vice fhuddered in his prefence, and virtue always 
 felt his foftering hand ; the purity of his private 
 charader gave effulgence to his public virtues. 
 
 His laft fcene comported with the whole 
 tenor of his life. Although in extreme pain, not 
 a figh, not a groan efcaped him ; and with un- 
 difturbed ferenity he clofed his well fpent life — 
 Such was the man America has loft — Such was 
 the man for whom our nation mourns. 
 
 Methinks I fee his auguft image, and hear 
 falling from his venerable lips thefe deep finking 
 words : 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 211 
 
 " Ceafe, Tons of America, lamenting our 
 reparation : go on, and confirm by your wifdom 
 the fruits of your joint councils, joint efforts, 
 and common dangers ; Reverence religion, dif- 
 fufe knowledge throughout your land, patronize 
 the arts and fciences ; let Liberty and Order be 
 infeparable companions, controul party fpirit, 
 the bane of free governments; obferve good faith 
 to, and cultivate peace with all nations, fhut up 
 every avenue to foreign influence, contra(5l rather 
 than extend national connection, rely on your- 
 felves only ; Be American in thought, word, and 
 deed — Thus will you give immortality to that 
 union, which was the conftant objedl of my 
 terreftrial labours ; thus will you preferve un- 
 difturbed to the lateft pofterity, the felicity of a 
 people to me moil: dear, and thus will you fupply 
 (if my happinefs is now aught to you) the only 
 vacancy in the round of pure blifs high Heaven 
 beflows." 
 
ai2 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 THE THEATRE. 
 
 J__/AST evening joined in the public tef- 
 timony of regret for the lofs of America's hero. 
 The houfe, which was "full to overflowing," dif- 
 played a fcene calculated to imprefs the mind with 
 the utmoft folemnity and forrow. The pillars 
 fupporting the boxes were encircled with black 
 crape, the chandeliers were decorated with the 
 infignia of woe, and the audience, particularly the 
 female part, appeared covered with the badges of 
 mourning. — About 7 o'clock the band ftruck up 
 " Washington's march," after which a folemn 
 dirge was played, when the curtain flowly rifing, 
 difcovered a tomb in the centre of the fl:age, in 
 the Grecian ftyle of architecflure, fupported by 
 trufses. In the centre of it was a portrait of the 
 general, encircled by a wreath of oaken leaves ; 
 under the portrait a fword, fliield, and helmet, 
 and the colors of the United States. The top 
 was in the form of a Pyramid, in the front of 
 which appeared the American Eagle, weeping 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 21^ 
 
 tears of blood for the lofs of her General, and 
 holding in her beak a fcroll, on which was in- 
 fcribed "^ nation s tears'' 
 
 The fides of the ftage were decorated with 
 black banners, containing the names of the feveral 
 ftates of the union, in golden letters, over which 
 mourning trophies were fufpended. A monody 
 was recited by Mr. Wignell, accompanied with 
 the following airs. 
 
 The tragedy of the Roman Father, which 
 concluded the performances of the evening, gave 
 general fatisfadiion. 
 
 yiIRS IN THE MONODY. 
 
 AIR I. 
 
 SLOWLY ftrike the folemn bsU, 
 Nature found thy deepeft knell, 
 Power of Mufic ! touch the heart, 
 Nature there will do her part. 
 God of melancholy come ! 
 Penfive o'er the Hero's tomb. 
 In faddeft ftrains his lofs deplore, 
 With piercing cries rend ev'ry fhore, 
 For Washington is now no more. 
 
214 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 AIR II. 
 
 GLORY, bring thy faired: wreath, 
 Place it on thy hero's urn, 
 MERCY, in foft accents breathe 
 " He never made this bofom mourn." 
 Ev'ry virtue here attend, 
 Bending o'er his facred earth ; 
 GRATITUDE, thy influence lend. 
 Make us feel his mighty worth. 
 
 AIR in. 
 
 Hold not back the facred tear, 
 Give to him the figh fincere. 
 
 Who living, liv'd for all. 
 Sorrow take the folemn hour ! 
 Proftrate to thy melting power. 
 
 Let humble mortals fall. 
 Come fable Goddefs, take the foul 
 Devoted to thy dark controul ; 
 Come take our hearts, and prefs them deep, 
 Angels may joy, but man mull weep. 
 
 ^Philadelphia, Feb. 24. 
 
 VyN Saturday laft the 22d inft. being ap- 
 pointed by Congrefs as a day of mourning 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 21 5 
 
 throughout the United States, for the death of 
 George Washington : a great number of the 
 citizens kept their houfes fhut, and abftained 
 from all bufinefs during the day. 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Carr delivered an eu- 
 logium on the charader of Washington^ to a 
 crouded audience, at St. Mary's Roman Catholic 
 church in Fourth ftreet at eleven o'clock. 
 
 At 12 o'clock, the Society of the Cincinnati 
 afsembled at the State-Houfe, and proceeded to 
 the German Lutheran Church, preceded by 
 feveral military corps. 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI. 
 
 Officers of the Army and Navy. 
 
 Officers of the Militia of the City and County of 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 Having reached the church, after folemn 
 vocal and inftrumental mufic, and prayers by the 
 Rev. Dr. Rogers, a very eloquent Oration, on 
 the life and character of the departed hero, was 
 
2l6 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 delivered by Major Wm. Jackson, one of the 
 members of the Society of the Cincinnati. 
 
 The ancient fociety of Free Mafons, of 
 which General Washington was a brother, formed 
 their procefsion at the State Houfe, at one o'clock, 
 and moved through the principal ftreets to Zion 
 Church, in Fourth, above Arch ftreet, in the fol- 
 lowing order : 
 
 Tyler with drawn Sword, 
 
 Entered apprentices, two and two. 
 
 Fellow Crafts, two and two, 
 
 Mafter Mafons, two and two. 
 
 Deacons with their wands tipt with filver. 
 
 Secretary and Treafurer, 
 
 Wardens. 
 
 Paft Mailers, two and two. 
 
 Mafter. 
 
 After the Subordinate Lodges, the Grand Lodge, 
 
 preceded by Mufic, as follows. 
 
 MUSIC. 
 
 Grand Tyler with drawn Sword, 
 
 Twelve Paft-Mafters, two and two, bearing wands 
 
 tipt with filver. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 217 
 
 Grand Sword Bearer, with drawn fword, 
 Grand Secretary with fcroU, and Grand 
 
 Treafurer. 
 
 Grand Warden, bearing their Columns. 
 
 Three lights extinguifhed, borne by three 
 
 Paft Mafters. 
 
 Holy Bible, Square and Compafs, borne by a 
 
 Paft Mafter. 
 
 Grand Chaplain fupported by two Paft Mafters. 
 
 Grand M'after and Deputy Grand Mafter. 
 
 Grand purfuivant, with drawn fword. 
 
 Four Deacons of the Grand Lodge, two and 
 
 two, bearing wands tipt with gold. 
 
 In the centre of the procefsion was ex- 
 hibited a in honor of Washington, borne by 
 four Paft Mafters — its bafe white marble, in- 
 fcribed on the four corners Washington lodge. 
 No. I. — fupporting a golden Urn, furmounted 
 with an Eagle, with wings expanded, holding in 
 his beak a fcroll, in the figure of a heart, with a 
 fuitable infcription. 
 
 The Grand Lodge preceded by the Urn, 
 entered the church, when an Eulogium was pro- 
 
 28 
 
21 8 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 nounced by the Rev. Samuel Magaw, D. D. to 
 a large audience. 
 
 Although thoufands of fpedators afsembled 
 upon the occafion, no accident took place ; all 
 were anxious to witnefs the ceremonies of the 
 day — and although all could not be gratified, the 
 arrangements made were fuch as gave the great- 
 eft pofsible fatisfadion — and tended to preferve 
 that harmony, fo much wifhed for, by thofe who 
 partook of the laft Jad tribute of rejpe^ paid by a 
 grateful people to the memory of the man fo juftly 
 ftiled the founder of the American empire. 
 
 In the evening, Mr. W. C. Peale exhibited 
 at his mufeum, a tranfparent painting of the 
 General, as large as life, which excited the at- 
 tention of a great concourfe of fpedtators. 
 
 FUNERAL PROCESSION at NEW-TORK. 
 
 V>IN the 31ft of December, 1799, the day 
 appointed by the citizens of New-York, to pay 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 219 
 
 the moft Solemn Funeral Honors to the Mem- 
 ory of their beloved Chief and Fellow-Citizen 
 General George Washington, every kind of bull- 
 nefs ce'afed, and every thought was employed in 
 preparation for the melancholy folemnity — the 
 order of which had been announced on the pre- 
 ceding day by the committee of arrangement. The 
 citizens, in their military and civil habiliments, 
 with the foreigners of various nations, all eager 
 to join in teftimonies of veneration for the Great 
 Deceajed, having afsembled in their appointed 
 order, the Procefsion moved under the guidance 
 of Signals, to the hiournful found of minute 
 guns and muffled bells, in the following order: 
 
 Officer and 
 
 Eight Dragoons. 
 
 Sixth regiment, in platoons, by the left, with arms 
 
 reverfed — Colors, drums, &c. in mourning. 
 The regiment of artillery with eight field pieces, 
 taken from the Britifh army, in the different 
 adtions, where General Washington immedi- 
 ately commanded. 
 
 Cavalry. 
 
220 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Rifle Company. 
 
 Militia Officers. 
 
 Officers of the Navy of tiie United States. 
 
 Officers of the Army of the United States. 
 
 Adjutant General of the United States and Suite. 
 
 Major General Hamilton and Suite. 
 
 Citizens. 
 
 St. Stephen's Society. 
 
 Tammany Society. 
 In the following order : 
 
 TAMMANY SOCIETY, or COLUM- 
 BIAN ORDER. 
 
 I ft. The Wijkinkie fupporting the Cap of 
 Liberty, veiled in crape. 
 
 2d. The Sagamore bearing the great ftandard 
 of the fociety, covered with black cloth; on the 
 front the reprefentation of a marble monument 
 founded on a rock. Sixteen pillars fupporting a 
 Dome, the centre of which falling inward, reft.s 
 on thirteen columns within, emblematical of the 
 thirteen original States. The tomb, which con- 
 tains the mortal part of our great Chieftain, ap- 
 pears through the columns in the centre of the 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 221 
 
 thirteen. On a circular pedeftal on the top of 
 the Dome, is an obelifk, its weight refting on 
 the thirteen inner pillars. On the tablets of the 
 obelifk and round the pedeftal are inferted the 
 moft remarkable events in the life of the Heroic 
 Washington. — On the reverfe of the great ft and- 
 ard, the arms of the United States incircled with 
 black — the two mafters of ceremonies^ on either 
 fide the Sagamore, bearing the filken label (en- 
 twined with mourning) on which was written the 
 name of the Order. 
 
 3d. The Grand Sachem wearing the in- 
 fignia of his office ; on his right the treafurer 
 carrying a Golden Key and ftring of Wampum, 
 on his left the Secretary with the book of Laws, 
 all decorated with the fymbols of mourning. 
 
 4th. The father of the council in black, 
 wearing his badge of office, and carrying the 
 Great Calumet of peace, decorated in the moft 
 folemn and appropriate manner, agreeable to the 
 aboriginal cuftom. 
 
 5 th. The Thirteen Tribes — the banners (which 
 
222r 
 
 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 are beautifully painted with the Armorial bear- 
 ings of the thirteen ftates) covered with black 
 cloth and ornamented with knots of crape. On 
 the front of each a black marble Urn on a white 
 field, repofitory of the afhes of the departed 
 heroes and ftatefmen who were the companions 
 of our Washington in the late glorious and rev- 
 olutionary war, viz., Warren, Montgomery, 
 Mercer, Franklin, Hancock, Greene, Woofter, 
 Laurens, M'Dougal, Livingfton, Putnam, Stu- 
 ben, Sullivan. 
 
 ORDERS. 
 
 1. New-HampHiire Tribe, headed by the 
 warrior, bearing the banner ere^ — the Sachem 
 followed by the body of the tribe four abreaft, 
 each Brother with the Buck's tail in his hat and 
 crape round his left arm. 
 
 2. Mafsachufetts tribe, in the fame order. 
 
 3. Rhode-Ifland tribe, do. 
 
 4. Connefticut tribe, do. 
 
 5. New-York tribe, do. 
 
 6. New-Jerfey tribe, do. 
 
 7. Pennfylvania tribe, do. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 223 
 
 8. Delaware tribe, in the fame order. 
 
 9. Maryland tribe, do. 
 
 10. Virginia tribe, headed by the warrior, 
 bearing the banner reverfed. (Our beloved 
 WASHINGTON being a native of Virginia, and al- 
 ways coniidered as an honorary member of that 
 tribe.) 
 
 11. North Carolina tribe, the banner ered. 
 
 12. South Carolina tribe, do. 
 
 13. Georgia tribe, do. 
 6th. The Scribe of the Council, carrying the 
 
 conftitution, and fupported on the right and left 
 by two of the Alanks in the badges of their 
 office. 
 
 Mechanic Society, 
 
 Mafonic Lodges, 
 
 In the following order : 
 
 The Knights Templars. 
 
 The Lodges under the jurifdiftion of the 
 
 Grand Lodge on the ftate of New-York, in the 
 
 city of New-York, viz. 
 
 I. Lodge L' Union Francaife, No. 14. 
 The Tyler with a drawn fword, the handle 
 covered with black crape. 
 
224 
 
 DEATH OF WASHINGTON 
 
 The members, two and two. 
 
 Secretary and Treafurer. 
 
 Paft Mafters. 
 
 Senior and Junior Wardens. 
 
 A Mafter Mafon, carrying the Warrant of the 
 
 Lodge on a black Cufhion. 
 
 Deacon. Mafter. Deacon. 
 
 The other Lodges in the order above defcribed. 
 
 2. Phoenix Lodge, No. ii, 
 
 3. Trinity Lodge, 
 
 4. Howard Lodge, 
 
 5. Holland Lodge, 
 
 6. Hiram Lodge, 
 
 7. St. John's Lodge, 
 
 8. St. Andrew's Lodge, 
 
 9. Independent Royal Arch Lodge, 
 
 10. St. John's Lodge, 
 
 Three mafter Mafons, each carrying a ftandard, 
 on which was a pendant of white, bordered with 
 black, and written thereupon the Cardinal Virtues 
 of Mafonry, 
 
 Faith, Hope, Charity. 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 8 
 
 7 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 225 
 
 The Reverend Chaplains of the Grand 
 Lodge. 
 
 Three mafter Mafons, each carrying aftandard, 
 on which was written the charaderiftics of mafonry, 
 
 Wifdom, Strength, Beauty. 
 
 The worfhipful Brother Cadwallader D, Col- 
 den, in mourning, in his hand a fhort ftandard, 
 with a white pendant, trimmed with black, on 
 which was written. Brother Washington — the 
 great — the wife — the virtuous ; exprefsing alfo, 
 the figure of an hour glafs run out, and a fickle. 
 
 The Grand Tyler, in mourning, carrying a 
 fword, the handle covered with crape. 
 
 The Grand Secretary, in mourning, carrying 
 in his hands an Urn, walking under the Dome 
 of a Temple, fupported by five columns on an 
 equal fquare ; at the circle of the Dome was 
 written, 
 
 Temple of Virtue, Seat of Majonry, 
 29 
 
22,6 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 On the front of that fquare — " Blefsed are the 
 dead who die In the Lord," — On the one fide — 
 " They reft from their Labor," — on the other — 
 " Their works follow them." 
 
 The Grand Treafurer, in mourning, holding 
 in one hand, Incenfe; in the other Flowers. 
 
 The Paft Grand Officers. 
 The Senior and Junior Grand Wardens. 
 
 The Grand Purfuivant, carrying the Bible, 
 fquare, and compafs, on a black cufhion, fupport- 
 ed by two Deacons. The Bible carried upon this 
 occafion, was the Bible upon which General 
 Washington took his Oath of Office when fixft 
 inaugurated as Prefident of the United States. 
 
 The Grand Mafter, or his Deputy, fupported 
 by two Deacons. 
 
 Manhattan Company. 
 
 New-York Infurance Company. 
 
 United Infurance Company. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 227 
 
 Branch Bank. 
 
 Bank of New-York. 
 
 Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 Marine Society. 
 
 Collegians. 
 
 Regents of the Univerfity. 
 
 Truftees of Columbia College. 
 
 Prefident and Profefsors of ditto. 
 
 Phyficians and Surgeons. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Bar. 
 
 Civil Officers of the city. 
 
 Civil Officers of the ftate. 
 
 Lieutenant Governor. 
 
 Civil Officers of the United States. 
 
 Government. 
 
 His Catholic Majefty's Conful and 
 
 Gentlemen of that nation. 
 His Britannic Majefty's Conful and 
 
 Gentlemen of that nation. 
 
 Mufic. 
 
228 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Anacreontic and Philharmonic Societies, in com- 
 plete mourning — the grand officers bearing 
 wands, decorated with crape — the members 
 wearing their badges with crape and bows of 
 love ribbon. 
 
 Clergy, in full drefs, with white Scarfs. 
 
 Twentv-four girls, in white robes, with white 
 
 furplufses and turbans, ftrewing laurels 
 
 during the Procefsion. 
 
 Committee of Arrangement. 
 
 Cols. Giles, ♦• Cols. Troup, 
 
 -£> 
 Fish, j^q B. Livingston, 
 
 WiLLET, -e^ Gens. Stevens, 
 
 Mayor of the City. ^^ Clarkson. 
 
 Each Pall-Bearer was accompanied by a 
 member of the Cincinnati in full mourning, 
 with a white crape bow on the left ward arm, 
 and bearing a black Banner, denoting fome im- 
 portant ad of the deceafed. The pall bearers 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 229 
 
 and members of the committee of arrangement, 
 wore the badges of the Cincinnati and black 
 fcarfs with white rofes on the bows. THE 
 URN, with its attendant decorations, was fup- 
 ported by eight foldiers (with others attending 
 for their relief) upon a Bier in form of a Palan- 
 quin, fix feet by four. This elegant afsemblage 
 of Emblems, confifted of a Funeral Urn, three 
 feet in height, of burnifhed gold, with the name 
 of Washington in black upon the flat-band ; be- 
 hind which, the American Eagle, four feet high, 
 cloud-borne, with extended but drooping*wings, 
 appeared to hover over the afhes of the Hero, 
 holding in his beak a laurel wreath ; thefe 
 Figures were fupported by a rich pedeftal and 
 cornifhed burnifhed gold — Underneath was a 
 fecond pedeftal, rifing from the Bier, covered 
 with black, on the front and rear of which, the 
 laurel wreath was reprefented, tied together with 
 the American Stripes, and crowned by the 
 American Confliellation, the whole on a ground 
 of Black — The fides were adorned with military 
 trophies, compofed of military ftandards. Caval- 
 ry, and Infantry, with the Standards of the Unit- 
 
230 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 ed States, and of the fociety of the Cincinnati. 
 In the centre of the Trophies was reprefented 
 the Eagle, with the other emblems and mottos 
 of the fociety, furrounded by branches of laurel 
 ' — the whole decorated with black drapery, fring- 
 ed and feftooned. This fuperb and appropriate 
 ornament formed an elegant Mafs of thirteen 
 feet in height. The various colors of the float- 
 ing Standards, mingled with the metallic fplendor 
 of the URN, and the mournful folemnity of the 
 furrounding black, formed one Grand Image 
 truly fublime and affed:ing. 
 
 Immediately followed, 
 
 The General's Horfe, in Mourning, 
 
 Led by two black Servants, in complete 
 
 mourning, with white Turbans. 
 
 Cincinnati as Chief Mourners, 
 
 and other officers of the late war. 
 
 Corporation of the City. 
 
 Eight Dragoons. 
 
 Officer. 
 
 On the arrival of the Procefsion at Saint 
 Paul's Church, the military halted, and opening 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 23 I 
 
 the ranks, made an avenue, through which the 
 Bier and thofe immediately attendant on it, 
 pafsed into the church — The troops leaning on 
 their reverfe arms. 
 
 After the Funeral Oration, and other folemn 
 fervices of the Temple, their Bier was depofited 
 in the Cemetry, and the laft Military Honors 
 performed over it. 
 
 The following are the words of Sacred 
 Mufic performed on the 31ft ult. at St. Paul's 
 Church, by the Anacreontic and Philharmonic 
 Societies : 
 
 SOLO. 
 
 Sons of Columbia, now lament, 
 
 Your fpear is broke, your bow's unbent. 
 
 Your glory's fled 
 
 Amongft the dead; 
 
 Your Hero lies 
 
 Ever, forever clof'd his eyes. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 Columbia weep ! weep ftill in louder moan, 
 Your Hero, Patriot, Friend and Father's gone. 
 
232 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 DEAD MARCH. 
 
 RECITATIVE SOLO. 
 
 The body comes ! we'll meet it on the way, 
 With laurels ever green, and branching Palm, 
 Then lay it on his Monument; hung round 
 With all his trophies and great ads enrolled 
 In Verfe Heroic, or fweet lyric fong. 
 There ftall Columbia's valiant youth refort : 
 And from his memory, inflame their breads 
 To matchlefs valor, whilft they ling his praife. 
 
 FEMALE VOICES. 
 
 Bring the laurels, bring the bays j 
 Strew his Hearie, and ftrew the ways. 
 
 GENERAL CHORUS. 
 
 Glorious Hero, may thy Grave, 
 Peace and honor ever have; 
 After all thy pains and woes, 
 Reft eternal, fweet repofe. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Mourn, mourn, Columbians ? mourn in folemn ftrains. 
 The name of him you lov'd, alone remains ! 
 Your hopes in his fupport, from hence give o'er, 
 Your Hero, Friend, and Father is no more. 
 
 SECOND PART. 
 
 ELECT. 
 
 How fleep the brave, who fink to reft 
 By all their country's wifhes bleft ? 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. I^^ 
 
 By fairy bands, their knell is rung, 
 By forms unfeen, their Dirge is fung : 
 There honor comes ! a Pilgrim grey, 
 To blefs the turf that wraps their clayj 
 And Freedom, fhall awhile repair, 
 To dwell, a weeping Hermit there. 
 When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, 
 Returns to deck their hallow'd mould; 
 She there fhall drels a fweeter fod, 
 Than fancy's feet have ever trod. 
 
 RECITATIVE SOLO. 
 
 Not vain is all this ftorm of grief 
 
 To vent our forrows, give relief; 
 
 But yet, let not Columbia's race, 
 
 Misfortune with defponding arms embrace. 
 
 Diftrading doubt and defperation, 
 
 111 become the chofen nation ; 
 
 Chofen by the great, I AM, 
 
 The Lord of Hofts, who ftill the fame. 
 
 We truft, will give attentive ear. 
 
 To the fincerity of prayer. 
 
 SONG. 
 
 Pious orgies, pious airs, 
 
 Decent forrow, decent prayers, 
 
 Will to the Lord afcend, 
 
 And move his pity, and regain his love. 
 
 GRAND CHORUS. 
 
 The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth ! 
 For the kingdom of this world is become 
 The kingdom of our Lord and Chrift, 
 And he fhall reign, for ever and ever. 
 
 Hallelujah ! 
 
 30 
 
234 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 FUNERAL PROCESSION IN BALTIMORE. 
 
 X HE firft day of the new Century was 
 
 chofen by the citizens of Baltimore to teftify 
 their refped for the memory of the illuftrious 
 Washington whofe beloved and renowned fame 
 fhall furvive the revolutions of time, and perifh 
 only with the laft veftige of human recolledion. 
 
 At funrife the artillery at Fort M 'Henry 
 faluted with fixteen guns in quick fuccefsion, and 
 continued firing each half hour until funfet. The 
 vefsels in the harbor hoifted colors at half maft, 
 and the bells of the different churches of the city 
 tolled through the day. A total fufpenfion of 
 bufinefs, and the general appearance of every fex, 
 age and condition in mourning prefented their 
 deep and univerfal forrow for that lofs which 
 they were afsembled to venerate and deplore. 
 
 At nine o'clock the military paraded in Bal- 
 timore ftreet, to whom were attached the United 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 1^^ 
 
 States corps of artillerifts and engineers, com- 
 manded by captain Morris, under the order of 
 lieutenant Landais. 
 
 The bier was received on the right of the 
 line formed in open ranks, with prefented arms, 
 the officers, bands and colors faluting, and moved 
 to the left — minute guns firing at a diftance. 
 
 When it reached the left of the line, the 
 troops formed, wheeled in platoons and marched 
 in the following order till their van had reached 
 the public fquare at the weft end of the city, (the 
 place appointed for performing the funeral 
 honors) the bands playing flow and folemn 
 dirges ; the bier, mourners, &c. following the 
 rear of the military — 
 
 Captain Bentalou s 'Troops 
 
 In quarter ranks, fwords flieathed, ftandard 
 in deep mourning, trumpeter playing a dead 
 march. 
 
 (General Swan's indifpofition, prevented his at- 
 tendance.) 
 
236 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Captain Shrims Light Infantry. 
 Appointed to perform funeral honors, 
 marching with arms reverfed. 
 
 6th regiment, commanded by Major Stodder, 
 Marching in platoons, in inverted order, 
 with arms reverfed, ftandards and mufic in 
 mourning. 
 
 27M regiment. Col. 1'aylor, 
 
 Marching in platoons, in inverted order, 
 with arms reverfed, ftandards and mufic in 
 mourning — its band playing Dr. Boyce's dead 
 march, fi^SHiNGTON'S march, &c. 
 
 39/// regifnent, Col. MoJJier, 
 
 Marching in platoons, in inverted order, 
 with arms reverfed, ftandards and mufic in 
 mourning. 
 
 5M regiment, commanded by major Mackenheimer, 
 col. Strieker being appointed commanding officer of 
 the day. 
 
 Marching in platoons, in inverted order, 
 with arms reverfed, ftandards and mufic in mourn- 
 ing — its band playing the dead march in Saul, &c. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 237 
 
 United States corps of Artillerifts and Engineers^ 
 With arms reverfed and mufic in mourning. 
 
 Captain Barry s Troops 
 Swords drawn, ftandard in mourning. 
 
 Captain Biays's Troop, 
 Swords drawn, ftandard in mourning. 
 
 Capt. HollingswortFs Troop, 
 
 Swords drawn, ftandard in mourning. 
 
 Staff of the Brigade. 
 
 The General's Horfe, 
 White, with faddle, holfters and piftols, led by 
 a private of the corps of artillerifts and engineers. 
 
 BIER, 
 
 Supported by four fergeants of the corps of artil- 
 
 
 
 lerifts 
 
 and engineers. 
 
 
 
 'Cols. Rogers 
 
 5-^ 
 
 Capt. Morris^ 
 
 
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 Capt. Kilty 
 
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 Ramsay 
 
 
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 Gen. Smith. 
 
 
 The Rev. Glergy of the city. 
 With white fcarfs and bands, and black crape rofes. 
 
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 238 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 The order of Cincinnati. 
 .^ ^The Marfhall of the diftrid in deep 
 mourning, with a wand covered 
 
 with crape. 
 Judiciary of the United States. 
 The ftate Judiciary, 
 ^.t: The Bar, two and two, in deep 
 ^ S mourning. 
 
 ^ S The Coiledlor of the cuftoms and the 
 ^ ^ furveyor of the port of Baltimore 
 in deep mourning. 
 
 (The mayor's fevere indifpofition prevented his 
 joining the Procefsion.) 
 
 u Prefident of the fecond branch of city Q 
 ^5 council, and Regifter. "^ 
 
 •M oJ Members of the fecond branch of the § o 
 
 fe u City council four and four. ^* s^ 
 
 "£ jd Prefident of the firft branch of city g^ '^ 
 
 'S •- -1 y 
 
 \^ ^ council. ^ ^ 
 
 -ii "^ Members of the firft branch of the city 1=^ ^ 
 
 jS _^ , council four and four. 2 ^ 
 
 o g Clerks of the two branches. <t ^' 
 
 ;>^ Door keepers of the branches. 2^ 
 
 rj Citizens fix abreaft. ni 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 239 
 
 When the van of the military reached the 
 public fquare, the procefsion halted, the troops 
 formed in line with opened ranks, refting on their 
 arms reverfed, and the procefsion following the 
 bier pafsed through to the fquare. 
 
 When the bier had arrived at the public 
 fquare, a moft elegant and affecting addrefs was 
 delivered by the Rev. Doctor Allison, in nearly 
 the following words : 
 
 To die, my forrowful friends, is the great 
 debt every one by nature owes, and which he 
 mufl; one time or other undoubtedly pay. 
 Among them that are born of women, an ex- 
 ception will not be found. Here the great and 
 the fmall, the rich and the poor, fland on the 
 fame level. No exception can be pleaded, what- 
 ever ranfom is propofed. — The filver cord muft 
 be loofed, the golden bowl muft be broken 
 in every inftance. Prayers and fupplications, 
 tears and intreaties, will not ftay the fpoiler's 
 hand, or difarm his infatiate rage. Could the 
 prayers and the intreaties of an imploring na- 
 
240 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 tion have prevailed, he would not have fheathed 
 his arrow in the pride of our ftrength, and pre- 
 cipitated the prefent fad folemnity. O Death, 
 how rich thy vid:im ! how favage the violence of 
 thy triumph, in rending from our wounded 
 hearts their fondeft earthly hope ! The glory is 
 departed — Washington is gone ! United Amer- 
 ica hears the doleful knell, and bewails the lofs 
 in all her borders. As it was among the He- 
 brews of old, when all Judah and Jerufalem 
 mourned for Jofiah, fo is it now — it is more, the 
 lamentation is reverberated from every diftant 
 fhore to which the melancholy tidings extend. 
 Washington is gone ! Ah, fatal night in which 
 he fell ! Let darknefs feize upon it — Let it not 
 be joined unto the days of the year — Let it not 
 come into the number of the months. Lo, let 
 that night be folitary — Let no joyful voice come 
 near it. Such are the effufions of inconfolable 
 grief, in the firft tranfports of pardonable excefs 
 — but returning refledion moderates the ex- 
 treme, and difsuades its continuance. The un- 
 changeable decree of Heaven is, that there (liall 
 be no difcharge in this war, and furely none may 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 24I 
 
 arraign the high authority. The author of life 
 is likewife the finifher, and fhali we fay to him — 
 What haft thou done, or why haft thou done 
 this? No. Notwithftanding the anguifti of our 
 fouls, we bend in fubmifsion to the fovereign 
 pleafure of God, who will always perform what 
 is right. We thank him devoutly for having 
 raifed up among us this fingular man — a benefit 
 to mankind in general — a precious blefsing to 
 the people of our own land in particular. We 
 fay, the will of the Lord be done — when he re- 
 moves his mighty fpirit to another ftate ; even 
 when he lays the defire of our eyes in the grave, 
 and blends his mortal part with common clay. 
 Hard tafk, deplorable cataftrophe, we confefs ! 
 When the ear heard him, then it blefsed him — 
 When the eye faw him, then it gave witnefs to 
 him. Now his noble and majeftic frame mould- 
 ers unconfcious into kindred duft. He hears 
 not the fighs and groans of his bereaved country, 
 whofe happinefs lay fo near his heart. To him 
 the voice of Fame's fweet trumpet founds in 
 vain. Yet he has heard its loud and pleafing 
 notes reiterated on a thoufand occafions, and it 
 
 31 
 
242 ' DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 fhall be tuned to his praife through every re- 
 volving age. But further, the ileeping duft 
 fhall awake, for they that are in their graves 
 fhall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and fhall 
 come forth — O, Death ! I will be thy plagues, 
 O, Grave, I will be thy deftrudion, Repentance 
 fhall be hid from mine eyes. Do any of you 
 yet demand why was he taken away — Rather 
 afk, why was he given and continued fo long? — 
 the anfwer will prefcribe the confiderations proper 
 to be entertained. No period can be mentioned 
 in the long lapfe of recorded time, wherein the 
 magnitude of the crifis was fo admirably com- 
 bined with an afsemblage of rare and valuable 
 talents demanded by it. which fbone in him 
 through the fuccefsive ftages of a fplendid life. 
 Recommended to marked attention in private 
 walks by a manly dignified condud, public 
 honors gradually crouded round him, till he rofe 
 to the higheft his country could beftow, and he 
 wore them with diftinguifhed applaufe. View him 
 in the feveral charaders of legiflator and leader, 
 of ftatefman and warrior — Behold him guiding 
 the complicated operations of a vidorious army. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON, 243 
 
 concluding the civil adminiftration of a powerful 
 nation, defcending voluntarily from the moft 
 elevated fphere to beloved retirement, and after- 
 wards promptly fubmitting to an inferior ftation 
 with patriotic humility. Contemplate him in 
 thefe different and diverfified relations — proclaim 
 him great in all. 
 
 But I travel beyond my prefent limits — 
 neither the feafon nor the place, nor the circum- 
 ftances permit me to enlarge. I mean not here 
 to detail his fervices and to delineate his virtues, 
 for which a particular day is appointed, and to 
 which the arduous attempt is properly adjourn- 
 ed — I only add, what my intention is to repeat 
 then — Should a remembrance of our grand na- 
 tional tranfadtions reach an approaching world, 
 and reflexions on them fliare in its exalted em- 
 ployments — thofe fervices and thofe virtues, 
 now configned to the perifhable records of time, 
 will furvive the laft flame, and live in the annals 
 of eternity. 
 
 Captain Shrim's company of light infantry 
 
244 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 then fired twice and with a precifion that was 
 never exceeded. 
 
 The procefsion, civil and military, after this 
 returned through Fayette and Howard-ftreets, 
 and down Baltimore-ftreet, until the right of 
 the military touched Chrift church, when they 
 halted, formed in line with open ranks and arms 
 reverfed, and the bier (with the procefsion fol- 
 lowing it) pafsed through to the church, where 
 it was depofited and a funeral fervice adapted 
 with great propriety to the mournful occafion, 
 was performed by the Rev. Mr. Bend, as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 The bier was introduced into the church 
 with the following fentence from fcripture : " I 
 am the refurredion and the life: He that be- 
 lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet fhall he 
 live ; and whofoever liveth and believeth in me 
 fhall never die." 
 
 A mournful air was then played on the 
 organ, after which an anthem feleded from the 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 245 
 
 39th and 90th pfalms was read and a lefson, 
 taken from i Cor. xv. v. 20. 
 
 The lefson being concluded, the following 
 hymn was fung by feveral gentlemen, accom- 
 panied by the organ : 
 
 1. HERE, what the Voice from Heav'n declares 
 To thofe in Chrift who die ! 
 
 " Releas'd from all their earthly Cares, 
 " They reign with him on high." 
 
 2. Then, why lament departed Friends, 
 Or (hake at Death's Alarms ? 
 
 Death's but the Servant Jefus fends 
 To call us to his Arms. 
 
 3. If Sin be pardon'd, we're fecure. 
 Death hath no Sting befide; 
 
 The Law gave Sin its Strength and Pow'r; 
 But Chrift, our Ranfom, died ! 
 
 4. The Graves of all his Saints be blefs'd, 
 When in the Grave he lay ; 
 
 And rifing thence their Hopes he rais'd 
 To everlafting Day ! 
 
 5. Then, joyfully, while Life we have. 
 To Chrift, our life, we'll fing — 
 
 " Where is thy Viaory, O Grave ? 
 " And where, O Death, thy Sting ? 
 
246 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 After the hymn, the following prayers were 
 addrefsed to the throne of grace : 
 
 Almighty God, who haft ftamped the greateft 
 uncertainty on the duration of the human exift- 
 ence, exempting not from thy decree the moft 
 virtuous and valuable of the children of men, 
 grant to us confolation and fupport under all 
 the ativerfe and forrowful difpenfations of thy 
 providence. We confefs our manifold fins and 
 tranfgrefsions committed againft thee ; yet, O 
 Lord God moft holy, O God moft mighty, who, 
 for thefe our fins, are juftly difpleafed, blot them 
 forever out of the records of heaven, and deliver 
 us not into the bitter pains of eternal death. 
 While we mourn the difsolution of thofe whorn 
 we love, enable us to cherifh the hope of rejoin- 
 ing them in the regions of blifs ; and gracioufly 
 grant, that, in our laft hour, no pains of death 
 may caufe us to fwerve from thee ; but that we 
 may be able to welcome our difsolution, as the 
 pafsage to thy glorious and blefse^d prefence. 
 Grant this, O Father, for the fake of Jefus 
 Chrift, our Saviour. Amen. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 247 
 
 Almighty God, with whom do live the fpirits 
 of thofe, who depart hence in the Lord, and with 
 whom the fouls of the faithful, after they are 
 delivered from the burden of the flefh, are in joy 
 and felicity ; we give thee hearty thanks for the 
 good examples of all thofe thy fervants, who, 
 having finifhed their courfe in faith, do now reft 
 from their labors — and we particularly praife and 
 magnify thy holy name, for the very illuftrious 
 and edifying example, afforded us in the life and 
 a(5tions of thy deceafed fervant, for whofe lofs we 
 this day folemnly teftify our deep and heartfelt 
 forrow. Grant, merciful father, that his bright 
 virtues, his memorable deeds and important fer- 
 vices may live in the hearts and minds of all the 
 ifihabitants of our land, and of their lateft and 
 moft remote pofterity. May they always remem- 
 ber with affectionate gratitude the great civil and 
 political blefsings which thou haft conferred upon 
 them through him, thy chofen inftrument, and 
 may each ftrive, as far as opportunity mav be 
 prefented him, to imitate his glorious and admi- 
 rable condudl. Give to us all courage to brave, 
 like him, the moft grievous fatigues, the moft 
 
248 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 diftrefsful hardfhips, the moft imminent perils, 
 and even death itfelf, when our beloved country 
 may require our exertions ; and let neither 
 menaces terrify, nor promifes feduce us from the 
 difcharge of our duty. Like him may all relin- 
 quifh, with generous promptitude, the moft 
 beloved fcenes of domeftic enjoyment, when 
 called to difcharge ^a public fun6lion ; and he, 
 who hath filled the higheft ftation to which his 
 country can raife him, cheerfully confent to ad; 
 in a fubordinate capacity. Like him may ftates- 
 men difcern with wifdom the true interefts of the 
 people, and with unyielding firmnefs, purfue it, 
 and magiftrates exercife their authority for the 
 protedion and benefit of thofe committed to 
 their care for the true and impartial adminiftra- 
 tion of juftice, for the punifhment of wickednefs 
 and vice, for the maintenance of thy true religion 
 and virtue. And may all of us, whatever may 
 be the charader or relation which we may fuftain, 
 ftrive to emulate his excellent qualities — and we 
 befeech thee, O Lord, that we, with our deceafed 
 friend and benefad:or, and all others, who are 
 departed in the true faith of thy holy name, may 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 2^g 
 
 have our perfed; confummatlon and blifs, both 
 in body and foul, in thy eternal and everlafting 
 glory, through Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen. 
 
 Moft merciful God, who haft, in thy deep 
 and unfearchable wifdom, grievoufly afflided our 
 country, in removing from it its moft valuable 
 and beloved citizen, and at a time, when his long 
 tried talents and valuable fervices were aeain 
 necefsary to thy people, we acknowledge the juf- 
 tice of thy mournful dispenfation, as far as it 
 affeds our national interefts. But, O Lord, in 
 the midft of judgment, remember mercy. Suf- 
 fer us not to become a prey to thofe, who wifh 
 us evil ; but fo diredt their councils, and difpofe 
 their hearts that they may fincerely endeavor to 
 cultivate towards us the relations of amity and 
 peace. Unite in the bonds of harmony all the 
 inhabitants of the land ; and may their principal 
 conteft be, who fhall moft promote the good of 
 their country! Fire their hearts with a difinter- 
 efted love for her, and heroic firmness in her 
 caufe ; that fhouldft thou ever again permit the 
 defolating fword to be drawn in our land, we may 
 
 32 
 
250 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 never want a Washington to guide us with his 
 councils, and to lead us to vi6lory. Behold with 
 thy favor thy fervant the Prefident of the United 
 States, both the houfes of Congrefs, and all 
 others vefted with authority — fo replenifh them 
 with the grace of thy holy fpirit, that they may 
 always incline to thy will, and walk in thy way. 
 Grant them in health and profperity, long to live: 
 may all things be fo ordered and fettled, by their 
 endeavors, upon the beft and fureft foundations, 
 that peace and happinefs, truth and juftice, reli- 
 gion and piety, may be eftabliifhed among us for 
 all generations ! In this manner alleviate unto 
 us, O Lord, the irreparable lofs which we have 
 fuffered, and to thy name be glory and praife for 
 ever, through Jefus Chrift thy fon. Amen. 
 
 O merciful God, the Father of our Lord 
 Jefus Chrift, who is the refurrecftion and the life, 
 and who hath taught us by his holy apoftle St. 
 Paul, not to be forry, as men without hope, for 
 thofe who deep in him, we praife and adore thy 
 name for the comfort, which, under our great na- 
 tional lofs, we are enabled to' draw from the cha- 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 25I 
 
 rader of the departed father of his country, and 
 friend of mankind. May we all, while we drop 
 the tear and heave the figh of forrow, call to mind 
 the great fliare of blifs which he enjoyed below, 
 the univerfal efteem and afFedion which were his 
 portion, the exemplary tenor of his life, the fhort- 
 nefs of his laft fufferings, and the glory and feli- 
 city, to the fruition of which he hath been tranflat- 
 ed, and may the power of thy grace triumph over 
 the weaknefs of our nature, and our forrow for 
 our own lofs be fwallowed up of fpiritual joy, for 
 his final triumph and exaltation. Be particularly 
 gracious unto his venerable relid, late the partner 
 of his joys and cares. — Sorely, O Lord, haft thou 
 afflided her ; but grant that fhe may not, on this 
 trying occafion, be forfaken by the confolations of 
 that blefsed religion, which fhe fo eminently 
 adorns, but may enjoy them in a high degree. 
 Preferve her from evil, fpiritual and temporal ; 
 crown her with thy loving kindnefs ; and when 
 her great and folemn hour fhall come, and wing 
 her myflic flight to other worlds, grant her, O 
 Father, to behold with him the light of thy re- 
 conciled countenance. And may all prefent be 
 
252 . DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 found in the laft day, acceptable in thy fight, and 
 receive that blefsing, which thy well beloved Son 
 ftiall then pronounce to all who love and fear 
 thee, faying. Come, ye blefsed children of my 
 Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you 
 from the beginning of the world. Thefe things 
 we beg for Jefus Chrift's fake, our Mediator and 
 Redeemer. 
 
 The minifter then pronounced the following 
 pafsages of fcripture : " I heard a voice from 
 Heaven faying unto me, write from henceforth 
 blefsed are the dead who die in the Lord : even 
 fo faith the fpirit, for they reft from their labors, ' 
 and their works do follow them." 
 
 " The grace of our Lord Jefus Chrift, and 
 the love of God and the fellowfhip of the Holy 
 Ghoft, be with us all evermore. Amen." 
 
 The ceremonies being concluded, the bier 
 was taken out of the church, amidft folemn mufic, 
 performed upon the organ accompanied by the 5th 
 regiment's band, when captain Shrim's company of 
 light infantry performed the laft military honors, 
 by firing over it with their accuftomed accuracy. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 '^^3 
 
 After which the military marched to their 
 refpediive rendezvous grounds and difmifsed. 
 
 The citizens afsembled then retired to their 
 refpediive homes. 
 
 During the whole time of the procefsion, 
 captain Brown's company of artillery formed at 
 the head of Baltimore ftreet, fired minute guns. 
 
 The appearance of the military did them 
 great honor, and it is to be regretted that the ne- 
 cefsary arrangements prevented them from going 
 into the church. It is fuppofed there were at the 
 leaft fourteen hundred men under arms. There 
 were near five thoufand in the procefsion ; and it 
 is probable there appeared in Baltimore-ftreet, at 
 one time, not lefs than twenty thoufand fouls. 
 A number of gentlemen from the county and 
 diftant parts of the ftate attended and joined in 
 the procefsion, anxious to exprefs their venera- 
 tion for him, who once great and good, is now no 
 more — *' The man of the age" — " the firft in war, 
 the firfl: in peace, and the firft in the hearts of his 
 country." 
 
254 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 At a meeting of the Mafters^ Wardens and Repre- 
 fentatives of the Jeveral Lodges of this cit)\ held 
 at Concordia Lodge Room^ on W ednefday ^ the 
 \%th inf. 
 
 XT was refolved, that a tribute of the higheft 
 refpeft in their power to evince fhould be paid 
 to the memory of their deceafed Brother General 
 Washington. — For this purpofe it was deter- 
 mined that a procefsion fhould be made from 
 WsHiNGTON Lodge Room, Fell's Point, on Sun- 
 day next, at 1 1 o'clock A. M. 
 
 A committee was then nominated to carry 
 into effed this laudable intention. The faid 
 committee recommend that all the members of 
 conftituted Lodges fhould attend punctually at 
 the hour and place above mentioned, from 
 whence they are to proceed, according to fenior- 
 ity, in the ufual mode, under the diredion of. 
 the grand Marfhal. The committee take this 
 opportunity moft earneftly to invite every regu- 
 lar Mafon in the city, to join their brethren, for 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 255 
 
 a purpofe which muft awaken the feelings of 
 every heart pofsefsed of a fpark of fenfibility. 
 Such Mafons will be received as vifitors and take 
 their ftation accordingly. The committee con- 
 fidering the great uncertainty of the weather, 
 recommend, that, if it prove unfavorable, thofe 
 who refide in town, fhould proceed in ftages 
 which will in that cafe attend. — It is expeded 
 that the Brethren appear in white aprons and 
 gloves, with crape round their arms and hats. 
 At the time of meeting, information will be 
 given of a proper place where a Brother will 
 deliver an oration fuitable to the folemn occa- 
 fion. 
 
 HAMILTON GRAHAM, 
 Secretary pro. tem. 
 
 MONDAY, December 23. 
 
 According to previous notice the members 
 of the Masonic Institution, in the city of Bal- 
 timore, met yefterday at W ashington Lodge- 
 Room, No. 3, Fell's Point, from whence, at 
 
256 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 about half paft 1 1 o'clock, they proceeded in 
 folemn procefsion, (the gentlemen of the Volun- 
 teer Band, attached to the 27th regiment, attend- 
 ing, who performed feveral dirges, fuitable to the 
 occafion) to the Prefbyterian Meeting-houfe, 
 where an excellent Oration, calculated to imprefs 
 on the minds of the auditors, a lafting fenfe of 
 the virtues of their deceafed Friend and Brother 
 General George Washington^ was delivered by a 
 member of the Amicable Lodge, No. 25. 
 
 By the General Assembly of Maryland, 
 December 17, 1799. 
 
 \. O give the people a public opportunity 
 of regretting the irreparable lofs which their 
 country hath fuftained by the Death of General 
 George Washington, 
 
 Refolved unanimoujiy , That a mefsage from 
 the legiflature be communicated to the governor, 
 requefting him to appoint, by proclamation, a 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 257 
 
 day of mourning, humiliation and prayer, 
 throughout this ftate, and to recommend it to 
 the citizens thereof to afsemble in their refpec- 
 tive places of worfhip, to teftify, in the moft pub- 
 lic manner, their veneration for his memory, 
 and to derive, from the juft eulogiums of his 
 meritorious fervices, the beft motives for the 
 imitation of his virtues. 
 
 The General Afsembly of Maryland feel- 
 ing the moft undifsembled forrow for the irrepa- 
 rable lofs of the illuftrious J^shington^ and 
 anxious to pay every tribute of refped: to the 
 memory of the departed friend to his country, 
 do refolve unanimouily, That there be immedi- 
 ately furnifhed a fcarf and hatband for the gov- 
 ernor, the prefident of the fenate, and each of 
 the attending members of the fenate, the fpeaker, 
 and each of the attending members of the houfe 
 of delegates, and members of the council, each 
 of the officers and clerks attached to the fenate 
 and houfe of delegates, the chancellor, and fuch 
 of the judges of the general court, and all other 
 officers of the ftate and general governments as 
 
 33 
 
258 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 are now in the city of Annapolis, to be worn 
 during the fefsion as the external mark of their 
 unfeigned grief. 
 
 W. HARWOOD, CI. Ho. Bel. 
 A. VAN-HORN, CI. Sen. 
 
 By his Excellency 
 
 BENJAMIN OGLE, Esq^. 
 
 Governor of Maryland. 
 
 A PROCLAM ATI ON. 
 
 Whereas the legiflature of this ftate, 
 penetrated with regret for the death of the illuf- 
 trious patriot, general George Washington^ and 
 zealous to exprefs their high refped; and venera- 
 tion for his eminent virtues and diftinguifhed 
 fervices to his country, have, by a refolution 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON.. 259 
 
 unanimoufly afsented to on the feventeenth in- 
 ftant, requefted me " to appoint, by a procla- 
 mation, a day of mourning, humiliation and 
 prayer throughout this ftate, and to recommend 
 it to the citizens thereof to afsemble in their 
 refpeftive places of worfhip, to teftify in the 
 m.oft public manner, their veneration for his 
 memory ; and to derive, from the juft eulogiums 
 of his meritorious fervices, the beft motives for 
 the imitation of his virtues." 
 
 And whereas I entirely accord with the 
 honorable legiflature in the meafure propofed, 
 and am anxious to co-operate with them in pay- 
 ing this laft tribute of grateful refpeft to the 
 merits and long tried patriotifm of our deceafed 
 fellow citizen, I have therefore thought proper 
 to recommend and advife, and do hereby recom- 
 mend and advife accordingly, that the twenty- 
 second DAY OF February next, be obferved 
 throughout this ftate, as a day of mourning, hu- 
 miliation and prayer for the deceafed ; that the 
 citizens on that day, go into mourning, and ab- 
 ftaining, as far as may be, from their fecular oc- 
 
l6o DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 cupations, devote the time to the facred duties 
 of religion; that they call to mind the virtues, 
 public fervices and unfhaken patriotifm of the 
 deceafed, and admiring, endeavor to imitate 
 them ; that they implore the moft high God to 
 fupply his lofs, by infpiring them with a love of 
 true liberty and pure religion, and by difpenfing 
 the blefsings of peace and knowledge throughout 
 the land ; and that he would grant to the people 
 of this, and the United States, that the wifdom 
 and virtues of a Washington may never ceafe 
 to influence and dired: our public councils. 
 
 Given in the council chamber, at the city 
 of Annapolis, under the feal of the ftate 
 of Maryland, this eighteenth day of De- 
 cember, in the year of our Lord one 
 thoufand feven hundred and ninety-nine. 
 BENJAMIN OGLE. 
 By the governor, 
 
 NiNIAN PiNKNEY, 
 
 Clerk of the governor and council. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 261 
 
 VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE. 
 
 IN THE SENATE. 
 
 WEDNESDAY, December 18. 
 
 Ti 
 
 HE fpeaker informed the houfe he had 
 received a paper publifhed in Alexandria, called 
 the " Times," announcing the death of General 
 WASHINGTON ; whereupon on the motion of Mr. 
 Taylor, 
 
 // was unanimoujly refohed^ That the mem- 
 bers of this houfe, will in teftimony of the moft 
 fincere efteem for the illuftrious chara6ler of 
 their late fellow citizen George Washington^ go 
 into mourning, by wearing on the left arm a 
 fcarf of black crape, during the remainder of the 
 fefsion. 
 
 And in further teftimony of refped, the 
 houfe, without proceeding to any other bufinefs 
 adjourned till to-morrow twelve o'clock. 
 
262 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Yefterday his excellency James Monroe, 
 Efq., qualified as governor of this common- 
 wealth for one year. . As foon as a board of the 
 members of the executive council was convened, 
 we are told that. 
 
 The Governor obferved that refolutions 
 had unanimoufly pafsed both branches of the 
 legiflature of the commonwealth agreeing to 
 wear a badge of mourning for the lofs of our 
 illuftrious and beloved fellow citizen, George 
 Washington ; and propofed to the members, 
 that they fhould follow the example. To which 
 propofition, they agreed unanimoufly. 
 
 FUNERAL PROCESSION IN ALEXANDRIJ. 
 
 THE XXII OF February. 
 
 America's jubilee, is pafsed— and the 
 day of gladnefs is now cloathed in mourning, for 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 263 
 
 him who we moft loved and delighted to honor. 
 Though the day of mirth has been transformed 
 into a day of forrow, it afforded one elevating 
 confideration to the citizens of Alexandria — that 
 they fhould once more publicly manifeft their 
 grief for the lofs and refped; for the memory of 
 their illuftrious neighbor General George Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 The morning of "the day of mourning" 
 was announced by a difcharge of i6 rounds by 
 captain Harper's company of artillery and a pro- 
 cefsion was formed in King-ftreet, precifely at 1 1 
 o'clock (from a fignal gun) by colonel Deneale 
 who was appointed to marfhal the procefsion, 
 which was in the following order : 
 
 Officer of dragoons four paces in front, 
 fword drawn. 
 
 Eight dragoons difmounted, two abreaft, fwords 
 drawn. 
 
 16 Mifses from 9 to 12 years old, with white 
 veils and fcarfs trimmed with black, and linked to- 
 gether with garlands of ever-green, two abreaft. 
 
264 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Major William Johnfton, an old continental 
 officer, who ferved with reputation during the 
 revolutionary war, and who difmifsed at the con- 
 clufion thereof, the laft of the Virginia line, bear- 
 ing a ftand of colors of the nth Virginia regiment, 
 which was ufed in the war and preferved by him, 
 and produced on this folemn occalion. 
 
 16 Boys in complete uniform of blue and 
 buff, from 7 to 9 years old, each having an infan- 
 try cap, with a motto in letters of gold, in front 
 Washington our modeP' — and an efpontoon fhoul- 
 dered — marching by files. 
 
 Captain Simms's company of Silver Greys, 
 by platoons. 
 
 Orator of the day and clergy. 
 
 Children of the free-fchool fupported by the 
 bounty of the illuftrious d^ceafed, cloathed in a 
 new fuit of mourning (at the expence of the cor- 
 poration) two abreaft, headed by their teacher. 
 
 The high fheriff of the county, and juftices of 
 the peace, the fheriff bearing a white ftaff. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 26^ 
 
 The mayor, aldermen, and common council- 
 men of Alexandria, preceded by the fergeant with 
 a ftafF. 
 
 The gentlemen of the Bar. 
 
 The prefident and diredors of the Potomac 
 company. 
 
 The. officers and brethren of Lodge No. 22, with 
 their regalia properly fhrouded. 
 
 The officers and Brethren of Lodge No. 27. 
 Band of Mufic. 
 
 Militia officers of the county of Fairfax, belong- 
 ing to the 60th regiment — by fe6lions. 
 
 The uniform companies of the 106 regiment in 
 order — by fedlions. 
 
 Captains and mates of vefsels, two abreaft, 
 bearing two globes, a chart, fliip completely rigged, 
 Quadrants, Log, Reel, &c. &c. 
 
 Mechanics of the Town. 
 
 Taylors with a flag emblematic of the profef- 
 sion, borne by Mr. John Longdon, who has fol- 
 
 34 
 
l66 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 lowed his profefsion for upwards of 30 years, and 
 who ferved as a dragoon in the revolutionary 
 war. 
 
 Citizens four abreaft. 
 
 After the line was formed, captain Simms's 
 company of Silver Greys. were fent for major 
 Johnfon and his ftand of colors; they approached 
 the line on the left, and pafsed in review to their 
 ftation in the line, when the whole were wheeled 
 to the right, and marched down King-flreet, up 
 Royal-ftreet, through Cameron-ftreet, and down 
 Fairfax-ftreet to the Prefbyterian church, which 
 had been previoufly handfomely drefsed in mourn- 
 ing, and which, for the prefent occaiion, was 
 additionally ornamented in the following manner: 
 
 On the front of the pulpit was affixed in gold 
 a large W. 
 
 The roftrum, which accommodated the Ora- 
 tor, three officiating Clergymen, the Mafter and 
 Wardens of Lodge No. 22, was raifed in front of 
 the pulpit, and covered with black. Two large 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 267 
 
 arches were raifed on the Eaft and Weft galleries, 
 and handfomely ornamented with evergreen, on 
 the key ftones of each appeared in gold the letter 
 W. — Under the arches, on the fide, were arranged 
 the ladies drefsed in white, with white veils and 
 fcarfs, wreaths, &c., who obligingly afsifted in the 
 mufical part of the ceremony ; and under thofe 
 on the oppofite fide were arranged the i6 mifses, 
 as defcribed in the order of the procefsion their 
 wreaths hanging in feftoons in front of the gallefy. 
 In their rear appeared the i6 little boys in uni- 
 form before mentioned. On the front of the 
 Eaft, South and Weft gallery was fufpended a por- 
 trait of the illuftrious Washington^ with the fol- 
 lowing infcriptions annexed to each of them. 
 
 East Side. 
 
 *' The ornament, Example, and defence 
 
 of our Nation. 
 
 South. 
 
 " Firft in War — firft in Peace — firft in the hearts 
 
 of his Countrymen. 
 
 West. 
 
 Millions unborn ftiall venerate thy name, and call 
 
 thee Saviour of their country. 
 
268 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 The fervice of the day commenced, with an 
 anthem accompanied by inftrumental mufic, after 
 which the Rev. Mr. Davis, delivered a prayer 
 calculated to lead the devotions of the audience 
 to that God, whofe beneficence had beftowed and 
 fo long continued the invaluable life of our now 
 lamented, and ever to be remembered Washing- 
 ton — Vocal and inftrumental Mufic. — A narra- 
 tive of the honors ufually paid to the memory 
 of diftinguifhed charaders, by the Rev. Mr. 
 Muir — Mufic and Anthem. — Eulogy by Do6lor 
 Dick; Mufic and Anthem. The Throne of 
 Grace was addrefsed in an affectionate prayer, by 
 the Rev. Mr. Maffit — Inftrumental Mufic. 
 
 Major Johnfon advancing the ftand of 
 colours, the little boys faluted them, uttering 
 the words "Hail Sacred Relift," after which 
 they were prefented to the i6 young mifses, in 
 rotation, who ornamented them with their 
 wreaths, pronouncing at the fame time the fol- 
 lowing appropriate fentences : 
 
 I. Thus we offer our tribute to the memory 
 of Washington. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 269 
 
 2. The Daughters of America fhall long la- 
 
 ment thy lofs. 
 
 3. He was acceptable as the return of Spring. 
 
 4. He was ornamental as the flowers of Sum- 
 
 mer. 
 
 5. He was beneficial as the fruits of Autumn. 
 
 6. He was terrible to opprefsors as the fliorms 
 
 of Winter, 
 
 7. Washington was a fl:ately oak. 
 
 8. Washington as a Sun illuminated the Weft- 
 
 ern Hemifphere. 
 
 9. The Sun fet, and gloom o'erfpread the 
 
 land. 
 
 10. Washington fleeps with his fathers. 
 
 11. Let the willow (hade his grave. 
 
 12. Let the grafs mantle it. 
 
 13. Let the fragrant herb perfume. 
 
 14. Let the birds of the wood ferenade it. 
 
 15. Let human voice chant a melancholy 
 
 dirge. 
 
 16. Let the fons of Columbia emulate the 
 
 charafter of Washington. 
 
 The procefsion returned from the Meeting 
 
270 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 houfe, in the fame order to King-ftreet, where 
 the whole were difmifsed, except the military, 
 who were formed with a piece of artillery on the 
 right and left, and captain Simpfon's company 
 of Dragoons on the right of the whole, where 
 they fired 16 rounds, each, by divifions and 
 platoons, with military exaftnefs. 
 
 ODES 
 
 By the Ladies who ajjifted in the mufical part of the 
 ceremonies. 
 
 Come, Sifters, of the tuneful train. 
 
 In numbers fad and flow, 
 Now fwell the melancholy ftrain 
 
 In notes attun'd to woe : 
 
 As chief, immerf 'd in grief profound, 
 
 Melpomene appear. 
 And bid the melting, plaintive found 
 
 Afsail the lift'ning ear. 
 No cheerful theme our thoughts purfue. 
 
 No hopes our minds accoft, 
 A gloom of forrow veil our view. 
 
 For Nature's Treafure's loft ! 
 
 With ftrains of anguifh let thy band 
 
 Arreft Creation's car : 
 Let diftant worlds, at thy command, 
 
 Now flied the mournful tear. 
 
 * * 
 * 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 'Lorn Genius of a weeping land ! 
 Your Freemen, in one fun'ral band, 
 With grief each feeling bofom torn, 
 Confsfs a WA&HINGION you mourn. 
 
 lUuftrious Chief! thy natal day 
 No more awakes, the feftive lay ; 
 No more the viol's joyous found 
 Excites to mirth's fantaftic round. 
 
 See ! 'mid empyrean fpheres of light. 
 The Hero from his heav'nly height 
 Our ftreaming agonies appeafe, 
 And bid our vain lamenting ceafe. 
 
 To him, whole wife and dauntlefs foul, 
 Could the world's wayward fate controul j 
 To him, let glory's altar blaze, 
 To him, the foaring anthem raife. 
 
 * * 
 
 "Slowly ftrike the folemn bell j 
 Nature, found thy deepeft knell — 
 Pow'r of Mufic ! touch the heart. 
 Nature there will do her part. 
 God of melancholy, come, 
 Penfive o'er the Hero's tomb; 
 In faddeft ftrains his lofs deplore, 
 With piercing cries rend ev'ry (hore 
 For WASHINGTON'S no more ! ) 
 
 271 
 
 4 
 
n-jl DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Glory, bring thy fairefl: wreath, 
 
 Place it on thy Hero's urn : 
 Mercy, in foft accents breathe, 
 
 He ne'er made this bofom mourn, 
 God of Melancholy, &c. 
 
 Hold not back the facreJ tear, 
 Give to him a figh fmcere. 
 Sorrow ! our grateful hearts preys deep ; 
 Angels may joy, but Man muft weep. 
 God of Melancholy, &c." 
 
 * * 
 * 
 
 "How happy he, who finks to reft, 
 By all regretted, lov'd and bleft. 
 For him the Orphan's pray'r fhall rife 
 And waft his fpirit to the fkies. 
 
 To deck his grave fhall Virtue bring 
 The earlieft tribute of the Spring ; 
 Whilft in our hearts we'll raile a tomb. 
 Round which immortal wreaths fhall bloom. 
 
 Peace to his foul ! the fatal hour is pafb. 
 And filence o'er him has her mantle caft. 
 His deeds, his virtues, are enroll'd by Fame; 
 Nor (hall oblivion ever fhroud his name. 
 
 Whilft the fad train, in foft and folemn lays 
 Dwells on his merit and records his praile; 
 Let the full chord to yon blue arch arife, 
 Our WASHINGTON'S, tranflated to the (kies ! 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. iyj 
 
 Illuftrious fliade ! accept thefe artle.'s lays, 
 The Mufe this tribute to thy mem'ry pays. 
 No more to thee by mortal can be given, 
 Much honor'd fliade — the reft is left to Heaven. 
 
 Oh ! to thy country oft diredl a ray 
 Of guardian light, from thy celeftial day 
 Infpire her Statefmen, and inftrudt her Youth 
 To follow thee in Innocence and Truth." 
 
 Alexandria, February 24. 
 
 DoBor Elijha Culkn Dick. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 The Committee appointed to make arrange- 
 ments for the 2 2d of February, take pleafure in 
 exprefsing to you the entire approbation of the 
 Eulogy pronounced by you, on our late illuftrious 
 Neighbor and Fellow Citizen, which they are well 
 afsured gave general fatisfadion to your Fellow 
 
 3S 
 
274 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Citizens ; and they requeft your permifsion to 
 have it publifhed. 
 
 We are, 
 
 Very refpedfully, 
 Your obed't ferv'ts, 
 
 WILLIAM FITZHUGH, 
 CHARLES SIMMS, 
 JAMES MUIR, 
 THOMAS MARSHAL, 
 GEORGE DENEALE, 
 JONATHAN SWIFT. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 The approbation which you have been pleaf- 
 ed to exprefs, of the Eulogy pronounced by me, 
 on our late illuftrious Neighbor, and the afsur- 
 ances you entertain of the general fatisfadion of 
 the audience, afford me ample teftimony of the 
 good wifhes of my Fellow Citizens, and produce 
 in my mind the moft lively and appropriate im- 
 prefsions. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 275 
 
 Without confidering it as pofsefsing any in- 
 trinfic title to publicity, I feel bound to comply 
 with your requeft, and fend you a copy for pub- 
 lication. 
 
 I am, Gentlemen, 
 With great refped:. 
 Your obed't ferv't, 
 
 ELISHA C. DICK. 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 In attempting to execute the part afsigned 
 me by your committee, on this forrowful occa- 
 fion, I rife with a confidence in your indulgence, 
 upon which I reft an only hope, that my humble 
 efforts may be found in any degree commenfu- 
 rate with your moft moderate expediations. 
 
 The people of America are this day afsem- 
 bled in multitudes, to mingle in grief, and to ex- 
 prefs to the world in one united voice, the caufe 
 of their afflidlions : — to cherifli the recolledion of 
 
276 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 departed worth ; and to evince to diftant nations, 
 that they are grateful to a benefa(5lor. 
 
 If there be an animating thought, while yet 
 the tear of forrow hangs upon the cheek, may it 
 not be drawn from an imaginary viev/ of that 
 moft interefting pidlure, which America would at 
 this moment exhibit, were it pofsible to be com- 
 prifed within the fcope of viiion ? 
 
 Four millions of the human race, free in 
 their thoughts and affections — unreftrained in 
 their a(5tions, widely difperfed over an extenfive 
 portion of the habitable globe, are feen devoted 
 to a fingle purpofe ; — A people detached by local 
 caufes — aduated in common life by oppofite 
 views, or rivals in the purfuit of fimilar objeds ; 
 — jealous in all other matters of general concern 
 — are offering the tribute of affedion to the mem- 
 ory of their common friend. In vain fhall we 
 examine the records of antiquity for its parallel. 
 Worth fo tranfcendent as to merit univerfal hom- 
 age, with a correfpondent defire to beftow it, 
 .mark an event in the hiftory of our country, that 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 277 
 
 may be confidered as a phenomenon in the annals 
 of man. 
 
 The inftitution of games, the denomination 
 of cities and empires, the eredlion of monuments 
 of marble and bronze, have feverally ferved to 
 perpetuate the memory of illuftrious chara6lers ; 
 but how often may the parentage of their celebri- 
 ty be traced to either a fingle accident, or to a 
 fortuitous combination of circumftances. To 
 which of the Sages, Patriots, or Heroes of paft 
 ages, fhall we recur for an example of that un- 
 common afsemblage of virtues and talents that 
 were blended in the charadler of our beloved 
 WiSHiNGTON ? Be it the privilege of pofterity, 
 when it fhall defire to honor unufual merit, by 
 comparative commendation, to employ his name 
 as a term of fuperlative applaufe ; but let us no 
 longer mutilate his well earned fame, by looking 
 back to antiquity for his model. His early man- 
 ifeftation of extraordinary capacity — his uni- 
 form preference of the public good to private 
 enjoyment — his unwearied labours in the fervice 
 of his country, for upwards of forty years, de- 
 
278 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 fervedly place him on the highefl point of human 
 exaltation. 
 
 Pre-eminence in focial life, is more frequent- 
 ly the effed: of exertion than of unufual talents ; 
 and moft men might have been wifer and better 
 than they are, had improvement at all times been 
 their fixed purpofe : but the individual whom a 
 beneficent Providence feledied, as his favorite 
 infl:rument to difpenfe the blefsings of political 
 life and liberty to his country, feemed peculiarly 
 fitted for that refplendent commifsion, by the mu- 
 nificent hand of nature. Prefages of his future 
 eminence were to be drawn from his earliefl: life. 
 While yet at fchool, his deportment was fuch as 
 to procure him the confidence and refped: of his 
 young companions : He was the common arbi- 
 ter of their juvenile difputations, and his deci- 
 fions were conclufive and fatisfadory. 
 
 Pofsefsing a mind peculiarly colle6led in its 
 ftrufture, elevated in its views, and firm in its 
 purpofes, he faw at once the importance of in- 
 telledual afcendency, and foon acquired the ab- 
 folute dominion of himfelf. — Endowments fo 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 279 
 
 rare and ineftimable drew him early into general 
 view, and attraded the notice of the constituted 
 authorities. At the age of twenty-one years, 
 bearing a major's commifsion in the provincial 
 forces, he is feleded by the Colonial executive of 
 Virginia, for the performance of a critical and 
 momentous embafsy to the French commander 
 on the Ohio. He engages in the perilous and 
 refponfible enterprize. Undaunted by the chill 
 blafts of winter — undifmayed bv a view of the 
 pathlefs wild that lay before him, he takes his 
 departure from Williamfburg, and moves on 
 with unfhaken purpofe to his point of deftina- 
 tion. Having produced his credentials and re- 
 monftrated ineffedually againft the incurfions of 
 the French, we fee him on his return, environed 
 by imminent and complicated dangers, from 
 which the providential hand of Heaven alone can 
 extricate him. He has already efcaped the mur- 
 deroufly meditated volley of the favage in am- 
 bufh — he is now contending with the elements. 
 Embarked with his few attendants on a haftily 
 conftruded raft, the impetuofity of the torrent, 
 with afsailing bodies of ice, bear him along their 
 
loo DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 turbulent courfe, and threaten inevitable deflruc- 
 tion. The youthful hero, oppofing his utmoft 
 ftrength to the wayward current, is plunged into 
 its icy bofom. For a moment he is invifible, 
 and his difconfolate companions deplore the lofs 
 of their leader; — But he rifes again, and buffet- 
 ing the angry furface of the flood, recovers the 
 raft, which is arreflied in its progrefs by an infu- 
 lated cluflier of rocks. The night approaches 
 and patiently to wait the return of day is a 
 point of necefsity. Difconfolate and drear the 
 abode, but more terrible the furrounding prof- 
 ped:. The intenfe feverity of the weather in 
 recompenfe for his fufl^erings prefented in the 
 morning an animated fpeftacle. The ice locked 
 and firm, enables him to proceed in fafety to the 
 deftined fhore, and he purfues without further 
 impediment his homeward way. 
 
 The extraordinary capacity, firfl: exemplified 
 in the profecution of this inaugural mifsion, was 
 afterwards more amply difplayed on the Banks 
 of Monongahela. — On that occafion, the feveral 
 important properties efsential to military com- 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON, 28 1 
 
 mand, were manifefted in the prefervation of the 
 remnant of a vanquifhed army. A youth un- 
 tutored in the fchools of war — by the peculiar 
 ftrength and ingenuity of his own mind, effeded 
 an atchievement, that would have given addi- 
 tional luflre to the fame of a diflinsuifhed vet- 
 eran. 
 
 An eventful page in the book of fate, was 
 yet undifclofed. An era approached when the 
 hero of Monongahela, was to be introduced to 
 an admiring world ; — A memorable epoch, that 
 was at once to give exiftence to one of the moft ex- 
 tenfive empires on earth, and to ftamp a brilliant 
 immortality on the individual, who was chofen 
 by Heaven to execute its mighty mandate. The 
 American colonies, the legitimate offspring of 
 Britain, feel the hand that fhould fofter, become 
 opprefsive and fevere. They venture but affec- 
 tionately to complain. — The parent rebukes, 
 urges fubmifsion, impofes with augmented rigor 
 and threatens coerfion. Petitions and refpedful 
 expoftulations are tried ineffedually. In pacific, 
 but in more dignified terms, they now remon- 
 
 36 
 
202 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 ftrate. — They appeal to reafon, to juftice and 
 truth. Parental difpleafure is kindling into 
 wrath and revenge. They view at a diftance the 
 gathering ftorm and prepare to encounter it. 
 Dreadful the impending conflid; and incalculable 
 the ifsue ; but the price of victory is inefti- 
 mable. A fenfe of common injury, common 
 danger, and common intereft, infpire union and 
 energy. They colledt their little army, untried, 
 undifciplined. In the hands of their beloved 
 WkmiNGTON^ they at the fame moment depofit the 
 chief command and their hopes of fuccefs. — 
 Pledged to himfelf, his fellow citizens and to his 
 God, he accepts the facred trull:, and determines 
 to give liberty to his country, or perifh in the 
 enterprize. Thus prepared and thus headed, 
 making a folemn appeal to the ihhabitants of the 
 earth, they implore the Almighty aid, and enter 
 upon the unequal and terrible combat. 
 
 It is unnecefsary to our prefent purpofe to 
 trace minutely the chain of fucceeding incidents. 
 The ifsue at once gave birth to our wide fpread- 
 ing empire, and crowned the hero with wreaths 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 283 
 
 of immortal glory. Gazing nations pafsing in 
 wonder from the mao-nificent work to its author, 
 are unfettled as to their chief point of admiration; 
 while Columbia, growing with celeftial rapture, 
 greets with boundlefs gratitude and affedion her 
 favorite Son. 
 
 The Saviour of his country, difbanding his 
 martial ranks, tenders his fage advice to his fel- 
 low citizens, bellows a benedidion on his com- 
 panions in arms, and retires to the calm retreat 
 of private life. 
 
 Smiling peace refumes her gentle reign. 
 Agriculture and commerce, reviving from their 
 bed of anguifli, lead on in triumph to the altar 
 of liberty, their long train of national blefsings. 
 A plan for the prefervation of the altar, and the 
 equitable diftribution of its blefsings, requires 
 the aid of the aggregate wifdom of the United 
 States. Amidft this brilliant afsemblage, this 
 conftellation of enlightened minds, the father of 
 his people again appears and fhines fupremely re- 
 fulgent. Reftraining by his harmonizing pre- 
 
284 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 fence, the difcordant operation of focial interefts, 
 tempering the ardor of difcufsion, and holding 
 up to view the balance of relative rights, he faw 
 their united labors terminate in the produftion 
 of a fyftem or general government, which, re- 
 ceiving the fanction of his approbation, became 
 the palladium of the national independence. 
 
 Once more, in obedience to the united fuf- 
 frage of his country, he foregoes the enjoyment 
 of domeftic fcenes, and accepts the fuperintend- 
 ency of the great and mighty concerns of the em- 
 pire. Events arife in the courfe of his adminif- 
 tration that call forth frefh demonflrations of his 
 fuperior wifdom. 
 
 The exifting relations between America and 
 the two great contending nations of Europe, 
 necefsarily placed the former in a fituation pecu- 
 liarly hazardous and embarrafsing. Devotees in 
 the caufe of republicanifm, it was impofsible for 
 its citizens to become unconcerned fpeftators of 
 the eventful conteft. Lively imprefsions of gra- 
 titude ftill remained for the magnanimous fuc- 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 285 
 
 cors formerly received from one of the powers, 
 which naturally infpired a warm intereft in the 
 ifsue ot the war, and had a ftrong tendency to 
 draw them ultimately within its deftructive vor- 
 tex. But the vigilant guardian of his country's 
 fafety, by bafing his pofition on the broad and 
 commanding ground of neutrality, moft effedlu- 
 ally fecuring our peace, our honor, and our in- 
 dependence. 
 
 After eight fuccefsive years, in the autumn 
 of his life, exclufively devoted to the national 
 intereft, he is permitted to r-epofe a while his 
 venerable head on the pillow of domeftic eafe ; 
 and but a little while is his repofe free from in- 
 terruption. The eftablifhment of a military 
 force is deemed necefsary tor the public fafety, 
 and the laureled veteran is folicited, and agrees 
 to take the provifional command. But the fleet- 
 ing and variegated fcenes of his probationary ex- 
 igence were drawing to a clofe. The inaufpi- 
 cious gloom which had excited the apprehenfion 
 of America having, in a great meafure, dilap- 
 p eared — the foul of ibis great and good man took 
 its final departure to the manfions of eternal reft. 
 
286 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 To his furvivors, in the unexampled tenor 
 of his aftions, he has bequeathed a legacy of in- 
 eftimable value. In the walks of private life, 
 he was no lefs exemplary than in the more con- 
 fpicuous fcenes of public employment. His 
 private friendfhip terminated only with his lateft 
 breath. Modeft and unafsuming, yet dignified 
 in his manners — accefsable and communicative ; 
 yet fuperior to familiarity, he infpired and pre- 
 ferved the love and refped: of all who knew him. 
 For the promotion of all public and ufeful under- 
 taking, he was fingularly munificent. The indi- 
 gent and diftrefsed, were at all times fubjeds of 
 his fympathy and concern. His charity flowed 
 in quiet but conftant ftreams, from a fountain 
 that was at no time fufi^ered to fuftain the fmalleft 
 diminution. No purfuit or avocation, however 
 momentous, was permitted to interrupt his 
 fyftematic attention to the children of want. 
 His anxious folicitude on this fcore is patheti- 
 cally exemplified in a letter written in 1775, at a 
 time when the unorganized ftate of the army 
 might have demanded his exclufive concern. 
 Addrefsing himfelf to the late Lund Wafhington, 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 287 
 
 he writes — " Let the hofpitality of the houfe be 
 " kept with refped: to the poor. Let no one go 
 " away hungry. If any of this kind of people 
 *' fliould be in want of corn, fupply their necef- 
 " fities, provided it does not encourage them in 
 " idlenefs. I have no objedion to your giving 
 " my money in charity, when you think it will 
 *' be well beftowed. I mean that it is my defire, 
 " that it fhould be done. You are to confider 
 " that neither myfelf nor my wife are now in the 
 " way to do thefe good offices." 
 
 Such, my fellow citizens, was the man whofe 
 memory we have afsembled to honor. It has 
 been your peculiar felicity often to have feen him 
 on the footing of focial intimacy. That the 
 inhabitants of Alexandria, held a diftinguifhed 
 place in his affe6tion, you have had repeated 
 teftimony. You have feen his fenfibility awakened, 
 on occafions calculated to call forth a difplay of 
 his partiality. The laft time we met to offer our 
 falutations, and exprefs our inviolable attach- 
 ment to the venerable fage, on his retiring from 
 the chief Magiftracy of the Union, you may 
 
288 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 remember that in telling you how peculiarly 
 grateful were your exprefsions, the vifible emo- 
 tions of his great foul, had almoft deprived him 
 of the power of utterance. 
 
 But heaven has reclaimed its treafure, and 
 America has loft its firft of patriots and beft of 
 men — its fhield in war ; in peace its brighteft 
 ornament, the avenger of its wrongs, the oracle 
 of its wifdom and the mirror of its perfeftion. 
 His fair fame, fecure in its immortality, fhall 
 fhine thro' countlefs ages with undiminifhed 
 luftre. ""' It fhall be the ftateman's polar-ftar, the 
 hero's deftiny ; the boaft of age ; the companion 
 of maturity, and the goal of youth. It fhall be 
 the laft national office of hoary dotage, to teach 
 the infant that hangs on his trembling knee, to 
 lifp the name of Washington. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 289 
 
 NatchIS, February 21, l8oo. 
 
 LINES BY Doctor G. PFEIFFER. 
 
 Sacred to the memory of the late and much lamented General 
 GEORGE IVASHINGTON, to be fung at the Chapel, 
 on this day. 
 
 I. 
 
 HAIL Glinted fpirit of unrivall'd worth! 
 Hail glorious chiellain, who gave to freedom birth ! 
 How did the Heavens with joyful peals refound, 
 When thy death tidings, roll'd the fpheres around ! 
 
 II. 
 
 But ah ! How different is the fcene below, 
 Where lofs of thee, has fill'd each heart with woe ! 
 Ye mufes, all your chciceft incenfe bring. 
 And round his hallow'd tomb, foft dirges fing. 
 
 III. 
 
 Daughters of Heav'n fair freedom's genius weep ; 
 And at his flirine, unceafing vigils keep — 
 Let diftant ages learn his matchlefs fame, 
 And unborn millions venerate his name. 
 
 31 
 
29O DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. 
 
 Mr. Shaw, fecretary to the Prefident, com- 
 municated the following mefsage : 
 
 Gentlemen of the Senate^ 
 
 and of the houfe of ReprefentativeSj 
 
 In compliance with the requeft in one of 
 the refolutions of Congrefs of the 21ft of Decem- 
 ber laft, I tranfmitted a copy of thofe refolutions 
 by my fecretary, Mr. Shaw, to Mrs. Washington^ 
 afsuring her of the profound refped Congrefs will 
 ever bear to her perfon and chara6ler ; of their 
 condolence in the late affliding difpenfation of 
 Providence, and intreating her afsent to the in- 
 terment of the remains of General George U^sh- 
 iNGTONj in the manner exprefsed in the firft refo- 
 lution. — As the fentiments of that virtuous lady, 
 not lefs beloved by this nation than fhe is at 
 prefent afflidled, can never be fo well exprefsed as 
 in her own words ; I tranfmit to Congrefs her 
 original letter. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 2gi 
 
 It would be an attempt of too much delicacy 
 to make any comments upon it; but there can 
 be no doubt, that the nation at large, as well as 
 all the branches of the government, will be highly 
 gratified by any arrangement which may diminifh 
 the facrifice llie makes of her individual feelings. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 United States, Jan. 8, 1800. 
 
 Mr5. WASHINGTON'S LETTER. 
 
 Mount-VcrKcn, Dec. 31, 1799. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 W HILE I feel with keeneft anguifh, the 
 late difpenfation of Divine Providence, I cannot 
 be infenfible to the mournful tributes of refpedl 
 and veneration, which are paid to the memory of 
 my dear deceafed hufband ; and, as his beft fer- 
 vices and moft anxious wifhes, were always devot- 
 ed to the welfare and happinefs of his country, 
 to know that they were truly appreciated, and 
 
2^2 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 gratefully remembered, affords no inconfiderable 
 confolation. 
 
 Taught by the great example, which I have 
 fo long had before me, never to oppofe my private 
 wifhes to the public will, I muft confent to the 
 requeft made by Congrefs, which you have had 
 the goodnefs to tranfmit me, and in doing this, 
 I need not, I cannot fay, what a facrifice of indi- 
 vidual feeling I make to a {QnCe of public duty. 
 
 With grateful acknowledgment, and un- 
 feigned thanks for the perfonal refpedl, and evi- 
 dences of condolence, exprefsed by Congrefs and 
 yourfelf, 
 
 I remain very refpedfully, 
 Sir, 
 
 Your moft obedient. 
 And humble fervant, 
 
 MARTHA WASHINGTON. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 NOTICE 
 
 293 
 
 TAKEN OF 
 
 05tii. (fJtorgc ©litsjjington, 
 
 IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF EUROPE, ^C. 
 
 PARIS, February 11. 
 ORDER OF THE DAT:^ 
 
 For the confular guard, and all the troops of the 
 Republic. 
 
 Washington is no more. That 
 
 great man fought againft tyranny. He firmly 
 eftablifhed the liberty of his country. His 
 memory will be ever dear to the French people, 
 as it muft be to every friend of freedom in the 
 two worlds, and efpecially to the French foldiers, 
 
 * Wajh'ington i birth day. 
 
294 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 who like him and the Americans, bravely fight 
 for Liberty and Equality. 
 
 The firft conful in confequence orders, that 
 for ten days black crapes fhall be fufpended to 
 all the ftandards and flags of the Republic. 
 
 Funeral Oration on Washington^ delivered in 
 the temple of Mars^ by Louis Fortanes^ the 
 loth Feb. 
 
 P RANGE, unbiafsed by thofe narrow 
 prejudices which exift between nations, and ad- 
 miring virtue wherever it be found, decrees this 
 tribute of refped to the manes of Washington. 
 At this moment fhe contributes to the difcharge 
 of a debt due by two nations. No government, 
 whatever form it bears, or whatever opinion it 
 holds, can refufe its refped to this great father 
 of liberty. The people who fo lately ftigmatized 
 Washington as a rebel, regard even the enfran- 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 2o C 
 
 chifement of America, as one of thofe events 
 confecrated by hiftory and by paft ages. Such is 
 the veneration excited by great chara6ters. The 
 American revolution, the contemporary of our 
 own, is fixed forever. Washington began it with 
 energy, and finifhed it with moderation — He 
 knew how to maintain it, purfuing always the 
 profperity of his country ; and this aim alone 
 can juftify at the tribunal of the Moft High, 
 enterprifes fo extraordinary. 
 
 To fpeak the eulogy of the hero of Amer- 
 ica, requires the fublimeft eloquence of the firft 
 of orators. I reflecfl with fentiments of admira- 
 tion, that this temple, ornamented with the 
 trophies of valor, was raifed up in an age of genius, 
 an age which produced as many great writers as 
 illuftrious commanders. Then, the memory of 
 heroes was entrufted to orators whofe genius gave 
 immortality. Now, glory fhines with luftre 
 \_eclaf\ ; and in every country the glory of the fine 
 arts is fhrouded in darknefs. My voice is too 
 feeble to be heard on an occafion fo folemn and 
 momentous, and fo new to me. But as that 
 
296 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 voice is pure ; as it has never flattered any fpecies 
 of tyranny ; it has never been rendered unworthy 
 of celebrating heroifm and virtue. 
 
 Neverthelefs, thefe funeral and military 
 honors will fpeak to all hearts ; it needs not the 
 aid of fpeech, to raife ftrong and undefcribable 
 emotions. The mourning which the firft conful 
 orders for Washington declares to France that 
 Wi&HiNGTON example is not loft. It is lefs for 
 the illuftrious general, than for the benefador 
 and the friend of a great people, that the crape 
 of mourning now covers our banners and the 
 uniform of our warriors. Neither do we pre- 
 pare that unmeaning pomp, fo contrary to policy 
 and humanity, in which infult is offered to hu- 
 manity, contempt to venerable ruins, and calum- 
 ny to the tomb. Every exalted idea, every ufeful 
 truth, is {q,^\\ in this afsembly. I fpeak before 
 warriors, the honorable praifes of a warrior firm 
 in adverfity, modeft in vidory, and humane in. 
 every ftage of fortune. Before the minifters of 
 the French republic, I fpeak the praifes of a man 
 whom ambition never fwayed, and whofe every 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 297' 
 
 care tended to the welfare of his country ; a man 
 who unlike others have changed empires, lived in 
 peace in his native land ; that land which he had 
 freed, and in which he had held the higheft rank ; 
 and died as a fimple individual. 
 
 An affedling piece afsociates the fhade of 
 Franklin with the eulogy of Washington^ and re 
 calls to mind the amiable virtues of that fage, fo 
 celebrated in France, whom pofterity will regard as 
 the brother of the hero of America. 
 
 In that piece, the orator finds tints of a finer 
 hue, to paint the virtues of the hero. 
 
 " ff-^SHiNGToNj Cays he, offers examples not 
 lefs worthy of imitation. Amidft all the diforder 
 of camps ; amidft all the excefses infeparable from 
 a civil war, humanity took refuge in his tent, and 
 was never repulfed. In triumph and in defeat, 
 he was always as tranquil as wifdon, as fimple as 
 virtue. The finer feelings of the heart never aban- 
 doned him, even in thofe moments when his own 
 intereft would feem to juftify a recurrence to the 
 
 38 
 
298 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 laws of vengeance. This I call thee to atteft, O 
 youthful Afgill ! thou whofe misfortunes have 
 interefted England, France, and America ! With 
 what afsiduous care did I^shington endeavor to 
 delay a fentence which the laws of war would have 
 precipitated ! He expeded that a voice, then all 
 powerful, would have been heard acrofs the expan- 
 five ocean, and demanded a pardon which could 
 not be refufed. That voice, fo conformable to 
 the feelings of his heart, was heard and felt; and 
 the day which faved an innocent vidim ought to 
 be infcribed among the moft glorious of vidorious 
 and independent America." 
 
 Here the author feems to elevate himfelf, or 
 rather to foar with the great men, whofe necefsary 
 courfe and inevitable deftiny he fo admirably de- 
 fcribes. 
 
 " It is thefe extraordinary men who appear 
 at intervals on this vaft fcene, with chara6lers 
 commanding and illuftrious. An unknown and 
 fuperior caufe fends them when it is fit, to lay 
 the foundations of new, or to build up the ruins 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 299 
 
 of old empires. It is in vain that thefe men 
 ftep afide, or mingle in the crowd : deftiny leads 
 them on ; they are carried from obftacle to ob- 
 ftacle, from triumph to triumph, until they ar- 
 rive at the fummit of power. Something fuper- 
 natural animates all their thoughts : an irrefift- 
 able movement is given to all their enterprifes. 
 The multitude ftill feeking them among them- 
 felves, and find them not : they raife their eyes, 
 and fee in a fphere, dazzling with light and 
 glory, thofe whom their ignorance and envy 
 would call rafh. Washington had not thofe high 
 and commanding traits which ftrike every mind: 
 he difplayed more order and juftice, than force 
 and elevation in his ideas. He pofsefsed above 
 all, in a fuperior degree, that quality which fome 
 call vulgar, but which very few pofsefs ; that 
 quality not lefs ufeful to the government of 
 ftates than to the condud of life, and which 
 gives more tranquility than emotion to the foul, 
 and more happinefs than glory to thofe who 
 pofsefs it : — it is of good fenfe that I fpeak." — 
 " Audacity deftroys. Genius elevates, good fenfe 
 preferves and perfeds. Genius is charged with 
 
300 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 the glory of empires ; but good fenfe alone 
 afsures their fafety and repofe." 
 
 So many interefts are here united with the 
 pleafure of once more finding French eloquence, 
 that we are fure of the attention of our audience, 
 by multiplying quotations. 
 
 " His end pourtrayed all the domeftic vir- 
 tues — as his life had been an illuftrious ex- 
 ample in war and politics. America regarded 
 with refpedt the manfion which contained her 
 defender : from that retreat, where fo much 
 glory dwelt, fage counfels ifsued, which had not 
 lefs weight than in the days of his power ; but 
 death has fwept all away ; he died in the midft 
 of thofe occupations which fweeten domeftic life, 
 and fupport us in ^he infirmities of age. 
 
 " From every part of that America which 
 he has delivered, the cry of grief is heard. It 
 belonged to France to echo back the mournful 
 found ; it ought to vibrate on every generous 
 heart;. The fhade. of M^shingtoNj on entering 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 301 
 
 beneath this lofty dome, will find a Turenne, a 
 Catinat, a Conde, all of whom have fixed their 
 habitation here. If thefe illuftrious warriors 
 have not ferved in the fame caufe during life, 
 yet the fame of all will unite them in death. 
 Opinions fubje(5l to the caprices of the world 
 and to time; opinions, weak and changeable, 
 the inheritance of humanity, vanifh in the tomb: 
 but glory and virtue live forever. When de- 
 parted from this ftage, the great men of every 
 age and of everv place, become, in fome meaf- 
 ure, compatriots and cotemporaries — They form 
 but one family in the memory of the living ; 
 and their examples are renewed in every fuccef- 
 five age. Thus, within thefe walls, the valor of 
 Washington attrads the regard of Conde ; his 
 modefty is applauded by Turenne; his philofo- 
 phy draws him to the bofom of Citinat ; a 
 people who admit the ancient dogma of a tranf- 
 migration of fouls, will often confefs that the 
 foul of Catinat dwells in the bofom of Wshing- 
 
 TON. 
 
 " The voice of Republicanifm, which re- 
 founds from every part of thefe walls, ought to 
 
302 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 pleafe, above all, the defenders of America. Can 
 they not love those foldiers who after their exam- 
 ple, repelled the enemies of their country ? We 
 approach with pleafure thofe veterans, whofe tro- 
 phies add luftre to thefe walls, and fome of whom 
 have gained laurels with Washington^ in the wilds 
 of Carolina and Virginia. 
 
 " But there is fomething more due to the 
 memory of Washington ; it is the union of 
 France and America ; it is the happinefs of each ; 
 it is Peace between the two nations. It now 
 feems to me, that Washington calls to all France, 
 from the very fummit of his dome — " Magnani- 
 mous People ! — you who know fo well how to 
 honor glory, I have conquered for independence; 
 the happinefs of my country was the reward of 
 that vidory. Imitate not the firft half of my 
 life ; it is the fecond that recommends me to 
 pofterity. 
 
 " Yes, thy councils fliall be heard, O 
 WiSHiNGTON ! O Warrior ! O Legillator ! O Cit- 
 izen, without reproach. He who while yet youngs 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 3O3 
 
 furpafses thee in battles, fhall, like thee, with his 
 triumphant hands, heal the wounds of his coun- 
 try. Even now we have his difpofition, his cha- 
 rader, for the .pledge : and his warlike genius, 
 unfortunately necefsary, fhall foon lead fweet 
 peace into this temple of war : then the fentiment 
 of univerfal joy fhall obliterate the remembrance 
 of opprefsion and injuftice. — Already the op- 
 prefsed forget their ills, in looking to the future. 
 The acclamations of every age will be offered to 
 the hero who gives happinefs to France, and feeks 
 to reftore it in the contending world. 
 
 Amsterdam, March 23. 
 
 cc/ilM1DST the homage in Europe, paid 
 to the memory of the illuftrious Washington^ 
 that by the fociety, known by the name of Felix 
 Mentis (an afsociation of friends to the arts and 
 fciences, eftablifhed in this city) holds a dif- 
 tinguifhed rank." The following are the moft 
 prominent traits : 
 
304 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 On Friday, the 22d of March, this refpect- 
 able fociety, paid its tribute of refpecfi: to the 
 manes of that venerable man, by a funeral cere- 
 monial, accompanied with the moft exprefsive 
 emblems of refped and afflidion. 
 
 At the bottom of the hall ftood a tomb in 
 the form, of an obelifl-c, with the buft of Washing- 
 ton^ on one fide the emblem of the fociety 
 crowned him with laurels ; on the oppofite, the 
 genius of humanity in tears, bewailing his lofs ; 
 in front of the monument was (ttn the following 
 infcription : This fociety honors the merits of fo 
 great a jnan, whofe death humanity deplores!'' 
 
 The majeftic ceremony commenced by a 
 difcourfe delivered by Mr. I. Kinker, a celebrat- 
 ed advocate of this city, introdudlory to the 
 funeral ceremonial ; this was followed by a 
 folemn hymn, compofed by R. I. Uilenbrack, 
 and fet to plaintive mufic, adapted to the melan- 
 choly occafion, by Mr. B. Ruloffs — after which 
 Mr. Kinker pronounced an elegy, replete with 
 fentiments worthy of the fubjed, and with that 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTOM. 
 
 105 
 
 eloquent fenfibility that did equal honor to the 
 hero and legiilator, the objc6l thereof, and to its 
 learned author. All the Americans prefent In 
 the city attended on the occafion. The ceremo- 
 nial terminated by an analogous difcourfe, de- 
 livered by Mr, Bourne, conful general of the 
 United States of America, in the following 
 terms : — 
 
 Citizens of the American nation prefent, It 
 Is with emotions of the moft lively fenfibility, 
 that I have been witnefs to the diftinguifhed 
 marks of homage that this refpeftable fociety 
 have paid the great, the illuftrlous IVazhington^ 
 the model of patriotifm, the father of his coun- 
 try, and the ornament of his age. If America 
 alone can boaft. of having given birth to him, 
 other nations are jealous of the glory of render- 
 ing to him the eulogium due to his genius and 
 talents, and to mingle their regrets with thofe of 
 a grateful people, who fo afflI6ling lament his 
 death. Such teftlmonlals of regret fpeak the un- 
 feigned language of the heart — the true eloquence 
 of the foul. 
 
 39 
 
306 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Such is the noble triumph of virtue, and 
 the fvveet reward of a life devoted to the happi- 
 nefs of mankind — Such is the effed: of that moral 
 ele(5lricity, that it animates every liberal and en- 
 lightened mind, and gives new force to the bonds 
 of focial order, uniting, by a principle of frater- 
 nal fympathy, nations, that oceans would in vain 
 divide. This folemn and auguft ceremony re- 
 calls to mind a feries of events that will be dear 
 to the citizens of the United States — they will 
 fee in it, a new and interefting token of friend- 
 fhip on the part of the Batavian nation, which 
 can never be effaced as long as the name of 
 WASHINGTON fhall be remembered in America, 
 and the eclat of his charafter admired in the world 
 — And when the v/eeping Cyprus that over-fhades 
 his venerable manes fhall be reduced to duft, and 
 when not a fingle veftige fhall remain of the 
 proud marble that now ornaments his tomb, he 
 will ftill live in the affections of a generous and 
 grateful people, and his memory will be cher- 
 ifhed by every friend to freedom and virtue. 
 
 Penetrated by your attention on the occa- 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 307 
 
 fion, as memorable in the annals of hiftory, as 
 afRifting to humanity, 1 offer you, in the name 
 of my fellow-citizens, the tribute of our grateful 
 acknowledgment, and moft ardent wifhes for your 
 happinefs — May the termination of the eight- 
 eenth century, fo fertile in important events, at 
 once give peace to Europe, clofe the wounds of 
 a long and deftrucflive war, and again open to 
 the Batavian nation thofe fruitful fources of com- 
 merce and general profperity, which in the hands 
 of an intelligent, induftrious and moral people, 
 exceed all calculation." 
 
 E U L O G I U M 
 
 Delivered before the American Officers and sailors 
 in the port of London^ on the char oMer and virtues 
 of our deceqfed PFashington. 
 
 J. HE officers and failors of the American 
 fhips in the port of London, yefterday paid a juft 
 refped: to the memory of their deceafed friend 
 
308 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 General Mvishington^ by attending at St. John's 
 Church, Wapping, in naval mourning. We dare 
 not record his death without attempting to pro- 
 nounce his panegyric. This mournful office is 
 both our duty and our inclination ; but we con- 
 fefs, that we feel our powers opprefsed into flug- 
 giflinefs by the fenfe of its difficulty. To build 
 up goodly phrafes into rhetorical periods, and 
 attach to the name of Washington all fplendid 
 generalities of praife, were indeed an eafy talk. 
 But fuch vague declamation, at all times an un- 
 worthy offering to the memory of the departed, 
 is peculiarly unappropriate to the fober and def- 
 inite greatnefs of his charader. Tranquil and 
 firm he moved with one pace in one path, and 
 neither vaulted or tottered. — He pofsefsed from 
 his earlieft years that prophetic confcioufnefs of 
 his future being, which both makes and marks 
 the few great men of the world, who combine a 
 deep fenfe of internal power, with imaginations 
 capable of bodying forth lofty undertakings. 
 His feelings, conftitutionally profound and 
 vehement, (and which, if uncounteraded by the 
 majefty of his views, would have been wild and 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 3O9 
 
 ferocious j gave him a perpetual energy; while the 
 necefsity of counteradling and curbing thefe feelings 
 gradually difciplined his foul to that auftere felf- 
 command, which informed and moulded the whole 
 man, his acflions, his countenance, his every 
 gefture. Thus, fympathizing inwardly with man, 
 as an ideal, not with men as companions, he per- 
 fec5lcd in himfelf that charafter, which all are 
 compelled to feel, though few are capable of an- 
 alyfing, the character of a commanding genius. 
 His fuccefses, therefore, great in themfelves, and 
 fublime in the eifefts which followed them, were 
 ftill greater, ftill more fublime, from the means 
 by which they were attained. It may be affirmed, 
 witn truth, that if fortune and felicity of accident 
 were to refume from his fuccefses all which they 
 had contributed,- more would remain to him than 
 perhaps to anv man equallv celebrated ; his fuc- 
 cefses were but the outward and vifible lan2;uao;e 
 of that which had pre-exifted in his mind. But 
 this charader and thefc praifes others have ap- 
 proached or attained, who, great in the detail of 
 their condu61:forthe purpofesof perfonalambition, 
 had fubdued and fettered their feeble pafsions, 
 
310 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 only to become more entirely the (laves of a 
 darker and more pernicious influence. In 
 Washington this principle and habit of felf 
 fubjugation never degenerated into a mere in- 
 ftrument ; it pofsefsed itfelf of his whole nature; 
 he ripened his intelledual into moral greatnefs, 
 intenfely energetic yet perfeveringly innocent, his 
 hope, the happinefs of mankind; and God, and 
 his own confcience, his end ! Hence among a 
 people eminently querulous and already impreg- 
 nated with the germs of difcordant parties, he 
 direded the executive power firmly and unoften- 
 tatioufly. He hg.d no vain conceit of being him- 
 felf all; and did thofe things only which he only 
 could do. 
 
 And finally he retired, his country half re- 
 ludant yet proud in the tefl:imony which her 
 conftitution and liberty received from his retire- 
 ment. He became entirely the hufband and 
 the maflier of his family: and the lines which 
 Santeul compofed for the flatue of the great 
 Conde in the gardens of Chantilly were yet more 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. JH 
 
 applicable to the father and hero of the Ameri- 
 can Republic. 
 
 Quem modo pallcban fugitives fludibus amncs 
 Terrbilcm. bcUo, nunc doifta per ctia princeps 
 Pacii amans, leatos dat in lioftes ludsie fontes. 
 
 Tf^SHiNGTCN thought, felt, and aded in and 
 for his age and country; the fame temper- 
 ance prefided over his opinions as his aftions. 
 He fympathifed with the moral and religious 
 feelings of the great mafs of his fellow-citizens, 
 and was that fincerely, which others afsuming 
 politically, have betrayed hypocrify, when they 
 meant to have exhibited condefcending greatnefs. 
 He neither ruilied before his age and country, 
 nor vet attempted to under-a6l himfelf; his 
 aftions, from the leift to the greateft, he infpired 
 with one high and facred charm, by being always 
 in earneft ! Pofterity will adjudge to him the 
 title of Great, with more found and heart-felt 
 fuffrage, becaufe he appeared no greater. 
 
312 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 The following elegantly drawn chara^er^ of Gen- 
 eral Washington^ was publiJJied in London, Jan. 
 24, 1800. 
 
 J. HE melancholy account of the death of 
 General Washington, was brought by a vefsel 
 from Baltimore, which has arrived off Dover. 
 
 General Washington, was, we believe, in his 
 68th year. The height of his perfon was about 
 five feet eleven ; his cheft full ; and his limbs, 
 though rather {lender, well fliaped and mufcular. 
 His head was fmall, in which refped: he refem- 
 bled the make of a great number of his country-. 
 men. H:is eyes were of a light grey color; and, 
 in proportion to the length of his face, his nofe 
 was long. Mr. Stewart, the eminent portrait 
 painter, ufed to fay, there were features in his 
 face totally different from what he had obferved 
 in that of any other human being, the fockets of 
 the eyes, for inftance, were Larger than what he 
 ever met with before, and the upper part of his 
 nofe^ broader. All his features, he obferved, 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. JIJ 
 
 were indicative of the ftrongeft pafsions ; yet, 
 like Socrates, his judgment and great felf-com- 
 mand have always made him appear a man of a 
 different caft in the eyes of the world. He 
 always fpoke with great diffidence, and fometimes 
 hefitated for a word ; but it was always to find 
 one particularly well adapted to his meaning. His 
 language was manly and exprefsive. At levee, 
 his difcourfe with ftrangers turned principally 
 upon the fubjed of America; and if they had 
 been through any remarkable places, his conver- 
 fation was free and particularly interefting, for 
 he was intimately acquainted with every part of 
 the country. He was much more open and free 
 in his behaviour at levee than in private, and in 
 the company of ladies ftill more fo than when 
 folely with men. 
 
 Few perfons ever found themfelves for the 
 firft time in the prefence of general U^shingion^ 
 without being imprefsed with a certain degree of 
 veneration and awe ; nor did thofe emotions 
 fubfide on a clofer acquaintance; on the con- 
 trary, his perfon and deportment were fuch as 
 
 40 
 
JI4 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 rather tended to augment them. The hard 
 fervice he had feen, the important and laborious 
 offices he had filled, gave a kind of aufterity to 
 his countenance, and a referve to his manners : 
 yet he was the kindeft hufband, the moft humane 
 mafter, the fteadieft friend. 
 
 The whole range of hiftory does not prefent 
 to our view a character upon which we can dwell 
 with fuch entire and unmixed admiration. The 
 long life of General Washington is not ftained 
 by a fingle blot. He was indeed a man of fuch 
 rare endowments, and fuch fortunate tempera- 
 ment, that every adlion he performed was equally 
 exempted from the charge of vice or weaknefs. — 
 Whatever he faid or did, or wrote, was ftamped 
 with a ftriking or peculiar propriety. His quali- 
 ties were fo happily blended, and fo nicely har- 
 monifed, that the refult was a great and perfecfl 
 whole. The powers of his mind, and the difpo- 
 fitions, of his heart, were admirably fuited to 
 each other. It was a union of the moft con- 
 fummate prudence with the moft perfed: modera- 
 tion. His views, though large and liberal, were 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 315 
 
 never extravagant : his virtues, though compre- 
 henfive and beneficent, were difcriminating, ju- 
 dicious and pradical. 
 
 Yet his charader, though regular and uni- 
 form, pofsefsed none of the littlenefs which may 
 fometimes belong to thefe defcriptions of men. 
 It formed a majeftic pile, the effe(5t of which was 
 not impaired, but improved by order and fym- 
 metry. There was nothing in it to dazzle by 
 wildnefs, and furprife by eccentricity. It was of 
 a higher fpecies of moral beauty. It contained 
 every thing great and elevated, but it had no 
 falfe and tinfel ornament. It was not the model 
 cried by the fafhion and circumftance : its excel- 
 lence was adapted to the true and juft moral 
 tafte, incapable of change from the varying acci- 
 dents of manners, of opinions and times. — Gen- 
 eral Washington is not the idol of a day, but the 
 hero of ages ! 
 
 Placed in circumftances of the moft trying 
 difficulty at the commencement of the American 
 conteft, he accepted that fituation which was pre- 
 
3l6 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 eminent in danger and refponfibility. His per- 
 feverance overcome every obftacle ; his modera- 
 tion conciliated every oppofition ; his genius 
 fupplied every refource ; his enlarged view could 
 plan, revife, and improve every branch of civil 
 and military operation. He had the fuperior 
 courage which can adl or forbear to a6l, as true 
 policy dicflates, carelefs of the reproaches of 
 ignorance either in power or out of power. He 
 knew how to conquer by waiting, in fpite of 
 obloquy, for the moment of vid:ory ; and he 
 merited true praife by defpifing undeferved cen- 
 fure. In the moft arduous moments of the con- 
 teft, his prudent firmnefs proved the falvation of 
 the caufe which he fupported. 
 
 His condudt was, on all occafions, guided 
 by the moft pure difintereftednefs. Far fuperior 
 to low and groveling motives, he feemed even 
 to be uninfluenced by that ambition, which has 
 juftly been called the inftinft of great fouls. He 
 a(5led ever as if his country's welfare, and that 
 alone, was the moving fpring. His excellent 
 mind needed not even the ftimulus of ambition, 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 317 
 
 or the profped of fame. Glory was but a fec- 
 ondary confideration. He performed great ac- 
 tions, he perfevered in a courfe of laborious 
 utility, with an equanimity that neither fought 
 diftindion, nor was flattered by it. His reward 
 was in the confcioufnefs of his own reditude, 
 and in the fuccefs of his patriotic efforts. 
 
 As his elevation to the chief power was the 
 unbiafsed choice of his countrymen, his exercife 
 of it was agreeable to the purity of its origin. 
 As he had neither folicited nor ufurped domin- 
 ion, he had neither to contend with the oppo- 
 fition of rivals, nor the revenge of enemies. As 
 his authority was undifputed, fo it required no 
 jealous precautions, no rigorous feverity. His 
 government was mild and gentle; it was benefi- 
 cent and liberal ; it was wife and juft. His pru- 
 dent adminiftration confolidated and enlarged 
 the dominion of an infant republic. In volun- 
 tarily refigning the magiftracy which he had filled 
 with fuch diftinguifhed honor, he enjoyed the 
 unequalled fatisfadion of leaving to the ftate he 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 had contributed to eftablifh, the fruits of his 
 wifdom and the example of his virtues. 
 
 It is fome confolation, amidft the violence 
 of ambition and the criminal thirft of power, of 
 which fo many inftances occur around us, to find 
 a charadler whom it is honorable to admire, and 
 virtuous to imitate. A Conqueror, for the free- 
 dom of his country ! A legiflator for its fe- 
 curity ! A magiftrate, for its happinefs ! His 
 glories were never fullied by thofe excefses into 
 which the higheft qualities are apt to degenerate. 
 With the greateft virtues he was exempt from 
 the correfponding vices. He was a man in 
 whom the elements were fo mixed that " Nature 
 might have ftood up to all the world" and owned 
 him as her work. His fame, bounded by no 
 country, will be confined to no age. The cha- 
 ra6ler of General Washington^ which his cotem- 
 poraries regret and admire, will be tranfmitted 
 to pofterity ; and the memory of his virtues, 
 while patriotifm and virtue are held facred among 
 men, will remain undiminifhed. 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. JlQ 
 
 TRIBUTE 
 
 7*0 THE MEMORT OF GeNERAL GeORGE WASHINGTON, 
 AMONG OUR CITIZENS ABROAD. 
 
 VyN the 14th of January the intelligence 
 refpeding the death of general Washington 
 reached the* Havanna. * The grief occasioned 
 thereby was moft ftrongly evinced. Mr. Morton, 
 our conful at that city, immediately ifsued an 
 addrefs to the Americans ; fuggefting the public 
 evidences to be given of their forrow on the 
 mournful occaiion. The numerous vefsels in the 
 harbor (about one hundred fail) were direded to 
 fufpend their flags half-maft high for three fuc- 
 cefsive days ; and the citizens to wear crape on 
 their left arms, both things which were inftantly 
 and univerfally complied with. 
 
 The United States floop of war Norfolk, 
 captain Bainbridge, then in harbor, the private 
 armed fliips, Superior, captain Cunningham, 
 Good Friends, captain Earl, brig Liberty, cap- 
 tain Henderfon, with feveral others difcharged 
 minute guns throughout the day. 
 
320 DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 The conful alfo communicated the intelli- 
 gence by letter to the Spanifh governor (the mar- 
 quis de Somervellos) who returned a polite and 
 condoling anfwer, declaring the fympathetic in- 
 tereft he took therein, with every admirer of 
 thofe " exalted virtues and patriotifm " of which 
 the world was bereaved in the lofs of our illuf- 
 trious citizen. 
 
 P ORT-RePUBLICAN, January ^th, 1800. 
 
 I'd the commanders of the American vejsels in this 
 port. 
 
 Having a confirmation of the melancholy 
 news of the death of General George Washing- 
 ton^ you are hereby defired as a teftimony of 
 refpe6l to his memory, and an evidence of the 
 deep regret we all as American citizens muft feel 
 at the lofs of fo great and good a man, to hoift 
 your flags half mafl: for three days fuccefsively. 
 It is alfo requefted that thofe vefsels that are 
 armed will commence after twelve o'clock, dif- 
 
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 32 1 
 
 charging minute guns in rotation — Setting afide 
 for a moment how peculiarly endeared his char- 
 adler is to every American, and the eftimation it 
 is held in by all the world, his being commander 
 in chief of the armies of the United States, 
 demands this attention being paid to his memory. 
 All the citizens of the United States that are 
 now here will wear black crape on their left arm 
 for three days. 
 
 ROBERT RITCHIE. 
 
 This recommendation as foon as ifsued was 
 promptly executed ; upon a given fignal all the 
 American vefsels in the harbor difplayed their 
 flags half mafl: ; and at 12 o'clock, the fnow 
 Charlotte of Baltimore, captain Moaffet com- 
 menced difcharging minute guns, proclaiming 
 afar the melancholy tidings. This vefsel was 
 followed by the fchooner Adventure, captain 
 Deveraux, of Philadelphia, and feveral others ; 
 all the American citizens appeared with crape on 
 their arms and every teftimony of regret was 
 exhibited at the lofs of the beloved and illuf- 
 trious Washington. 
 
 41 
 
322 DEATH OF WASHINGTOIf. 
 
 St. Jagode Cuba, January 22, 1800. 
 
 On the 15th we received at this city the 
 awful and diftrefsing account, of the death of 
 that friend of mankind — the great — the good — 
 George Washington. — The Americans in port 
 wear crape for 13 days, during which time the 
 American flag is raifed half maft. On the firfl 
 day of mourning, two American vefsels in port, 
 fired in the morning, at noon and in the evening 
 13 minute guns. Many refpedlable fl;rangers 
 here, requeflied permifsion and join us in the 
 folemn tribute of refped — Reflexions the moft 
 ferious, feem to have taken pofsefsion of every 
 countenance — In a gloomy filence, each inhabi- 
 tant appeared enveloped — In a fearful gloom 
 the whole city feem to fet, infhrouded. 
 
 JOSIAH BLAKELEY, 
 
 Conjul of the United States. 
 B. Lincoln J Efq. 
 
FUGITIVE PIECES ON WASHINGTON. 323 
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES. 
 
 Mr. FOX'S EULOGY. 
 
 D 
 
 'URING the Revolutionary War, it 
 may eafily be imagined, that to applaud General 
 Washington^ or any of his compatriots, was not 
 permitted in the Britifh dominions — After the 
 peace of 1783, his condud received the open and 
 almoft unanimous approbation of all parties and 
 clafses of men — but, in 1789, when the French 
 Revolution commenced, the Englifh Rulers 
 again difcouraged all opinions favorable to 
 Liberty, particularly thofe refpecting America^ 
 which they confidered as the parent, or. fource, of 
 thofe political tenets which have fince become fo 
 hateful to the Monarchs of Europe — and, when 
 the French nation chofe another form of govern- 
 ment, every perfon approving of Republicanifm, 
 or its principles, was deemed guilty of treafon, 
 and punifhed either with imprifonment or banifh- 
 ment. It was then that Mr. Fox, with that 
 
324 FUGITIVE PIECES 
 
 open, undifguifed candor, which charadlerifes all 
 his opinions and adions, had the courage to 
 avow his fentiments being decidedly in favor of 
 the French Revolution, and, in the Houfe of 
 Commons, in the year 1794, to pronounce the 
 following elegant eulogium on the American 
 Patriot : 
 
 " Illuftrious Man ! — deriving honor 
 
 lefs from the fplendor of his fituation, than from 
 the dignity of his mind, before whom all borrow- 
 ed Greatnefs finks into infignificance ! — I cannot, 
 indeed, help admiring the wifdom and the fortune 
 of this Great Man — Not by the exprefsion For- 
 tune, I mean to derogate from his merit ; but 
 notwithftanding his extraordinary talents and 
 exalted integrity, it muft be confidered as fingu- 
 larly fortunate, that he fhould have experienced 
 a lot which fo feldom falls to the portion of hu- 
 manity, and have pafsed through fuch a variety 
 of fcenes without ftain and without reproach ! — 
 It muft indeed create aftoniiliment, that, placed 
 in circumftances fo critical, and filling, for a feries 
 of time, a ftation fo confpicuous, his charader 
 
ON WASHINGTON. 325 
 
 fhould never once have been called in queftion — 
 that he fhould in no one inftance have been accuf- 
 ed either of peevifh infolence, or of mean fub- 
 mifsion, in his tranfadions with foreign Nations 
 — It has been referved for Him to run the race 
 of glory, without experiencing the fmalleft inter- 
 ruption to the brilliancy of his career ! — The 
 breath of Cenfure has not dared to impeach the 
 purity of his condu6l, nor the eye of Envy to 
 raife its malignant glance to the elevation of his 
 virtue — Such has been the tranfcendant merit and 
 the unparalleled fate of this illuftrious Man ! — 
 
 A clafsical writer, in a late paper, fpeaking 
 of general W^shington^ fays, he united in his 
 character, " the intrepidity of Ariftides, the pa- 
 triotifm of Cato, the military pendence of Cefar, 
 and the humanity of Scipio. He was to the 
 American Republic what Themiftocles and Solon 
 were to the Grecian States ; what Numa and Ca- 
 millus were to the Roman Commonwealth." 
 
3 2^ FUGITIVE PIECES 
 
 The following beautiful Poem was written by Do5lor 
 Aiken^ an Englifhman^ refiding in England-^— to 
 celebrate the virtues of the Republican Sage and 
 Hero of America. 
 
 To HIS Excellency GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
 Preftdent of the United States of America. 
 
 POINT of that Pyramid, whofe folid bafe 
 
 Refts firmly founded on a Nation's truft, 
 
 Which, while the gorgeous palace finks in duft, 
 Shall ftand fublime, and fill its ample fpace : 
 
 EleEicd Chief of Freemen ! — Greater far 
 
 Than kings, whofe glittering parts are fix'd by birth j 
 Nam'd by thy Country's voice for long-try 'd worth, 
 
 Her crown in peace, as once her fhield in war ! 
 
 Deign, WASHINGTON, to hear a Brhift^ lyre, 
 
 That ardent greets thee with applaufive lays, 
 
 And to the Patriot Hero homage pays. 
 O, would the Mule immortal (trains infpire, 
 That high beyond all Greek and Roman fame. 
 Might loar to times unborn, thy purer. n.)bler Name ! 
 
 At the entertainment given at Amfterdam 
 a few years fince, the portrait of our beloved 
 IVashington was exhibited as the chief decoration 
 
ON WASHINGTON. ^1J 
 
 of the room. — When his health was drank, a Ba- 
 tavian rifing up, in his native language made the 
 following apoftrophe ; which an American gentle- 
 man prefent, requested might be tranflated — That 
 gentleman has handed us a copy, which we here 
 prefent : — " See here a true likenefs of a great 
 and gallant Hero : Approach with due refped, 
 oh ! — Human friend, and read in this republican, 
 a Cato in council ; a Caefar in the field ; a fecond 
 Solon, in his country's caufe ; a Hercules in the 
 political tempeft ; a compliant Farmer, when 
 olive branches blofsom ; the fcourge and admira- 
 tion of proud Albion — A hero who fought tre- 
 mendous ; but who knew by his care, to prevent 
 the fpilling of human blood — Columbia's bul- 
 wark, an unclouded Sun : a Mars, who by his 
 knowledge and courage, liberated a fourth part 
 of the globe — the beft friend to Virtue, the Greai 
 Washington I 
 
328 FUGITIVE PIECES 
 
 {T^ he following from the penof the '^'^ Lay Preacher" 
 is couched in words fo energetic and exprefsive, 
 that among the different tributes paid to the 
 memory of Washington^ this deferves particular 
 notice.) 
 
 " It is an occurrence not lefs interefting 
 than extraordinary, that the departure of a fingle 
 man fhould command the unaffeded and in- 
 difcriminate lamentation of five millions of people. 
 It is an event the like of which the world has 
 never witnefsed ; that the death of an individual 
 fhould fo touch an whole nation, that " the joy 
 of the heart fhould ceafe, and the dance be turned 
 into mourning." 
 
 " The mighty monarch, whofe throne is 
 furrounded by armies numerous as the locufts of 
 fummer, and refiftlefs as the blafts of peftilence, 
 goes down to the tomb amid the execrations of 
 opprefsed fubjefts ; or fteps in the grave, as un- 
 heeded, as when flumbering on his bed of down. 
 The prince, whofe beneficence has whitened the 
 
ON WASHINGTON. 
 
 3^9 
 
 plains of his country "walks the way of" nature," 
 and his fubjeds "mourn in black," but "not in 
 blood," becaufe they fear "an Amm-ah fucceeds." 
 The pomp and power of royalty may caufe 
 "monuments to go about the ftreets," and for- 
 rovv may fo " royally appear," that thoufands 
 will "put the fafhion on," and yet none wear it 
 in the heart." 
 
 Moft eminently, hath the "crown fallen from 
 our head." Moft emphatically, are " the tents 
 of Cufhan in afflidlion." — "The father to his 
 children will make knov>'n" the mournful ftory. 
 The veteran, who fought by his fide "in the 
 heat and burden of the day" of our deliverance 
 will know, that "for this the heart is faint," that 
 " for thefe things the eyes are dim." The ex- 
 tenfive nation which has received liberty from 
 the valor, and happinefs from the counfel, of 
 him who has fallen, will feel that this is " the 
 rod of anger and the ftaff of indignation." 
 
 "His deeds exceed all fpeech." His fame 
 is "written with a pen of iron, with the point of 
 
 42 
 
330 FUGITIVE PIECES 
 
 a diamond." His counfel is "graven on the 
 table of our hearts." His deeds, his fame and 
 counfel, will endure till " the great globe itfelf ; 
 yea, all which it inherit, fhall difsolve." 
 
 Portrait of General I^shington, 
 Br MARSipis Chastelleux. 
 
 The marquis having arrived at General 
 WksHiNGTON'S head quarters, was introduced to 
 the American Cincinnatus, of whom he fpeaks 
 in the following elegant and animated language : 
 
 Here would be the proper place to 
 
 give the portrait of General PKishington ; but 
 what can my teftimony add to the idea already 
 formed of him ? The continent of North-Amer- 
 ica, from Bofton to Charlefton, is a great vol- 
 ume, every page of which prefents his eulogium. 
 I know, that having had the opportunity of a 
 near infpedion, and of clofely obferving him, 
 fome more particular details may be expeded 
 
ON WASHINGTON. 33 I 
 
 from me ; but the ftrongeft charad;erlftic of this 
 refpeclable man, is the perfed: union which reigns 
 between the phyfical and moral qualities which 
 compofe the individual : one alone will enable 
 you to judge of all the reft. If you are pre- 
 fented with medals of Caefar, of Trajan, or Alex- 
 ander, on examining their features, you will ftill 
 be led to afk what was their ftature, and the form 
 of their perfons : but if you difcover, in a heap 
 of ruins, the head or the limb of an antique 
 Apollo, be not curious about the other parts, but 
 reft afsured that they all were comformable to 
 thofe of a God. 
 
 Let not this comparifon be attributed to 
 enthufiafm ! It is not my intention to exagger- 
 ate ; I wilh only to exprefs the imprefsion Gen- 
 eral H^iSHiNGTON has left on my mind — the idea 
 of a perfed whole, which cannot be the produft 
 of enthufiafm, which rather would rejed it, fmce 
 the effed: of proportion is to diminilli the idea 
 of greatnefs. 
 
 Brave without temerity — laborious without 
 
22'2. FUGITIVE PIECES 
 
 ambition — generous without prodigality — noble 
 without pride — virtuous without feverity — he 
 feems always to have confined himfelf within 
 thofe limits, where the virtues, by clothing them- 
 felves in more lively, but more changeable and 
 doubtful colors, may be miftaken for faults. — 
 This is the feventh year that he has commanded 
 the army, and that he has obeyed the congrefs. 
 More need not be faid, efpecially in America, 
 where they know how to appreciate all the m.erit 
 contained in this fimple ad. Let it be repeated 
 that Conde was intrepid, Turenne prudent, Eu- 
 gene adroit, and Catinet difinterefted. It is not 
 thus that PKiSHiNGTON will be charafterifed. It 
 will be faid of him, at the end of a long civil 
 war, he had nothing with which he could reproach 
 himfelf If any thing can be more marvellous 
 than fuch a charader, it is the unanimity of the 
 public fuffrages in his favour. Soldier, magif- 
 trate, people, all love and admire him ; all fpeak 
 of him in terms of tendernefs and veneration. 
 Does there then exift a virtue capable of retrain- 
 ing the injuftice of mankind ; or, are glory and 
 happinefs too recently eftablifhed in America, 
 for envy to have deigned to pafs the feas ? 
 
ON WASHINGTON. ^33 
 
 In fpeaking of this perfed; whole, of which 
 General Washington furnifhes the idea, I have 
 not excluded exterior form. His ftatvire is noble 
 and lofty ; he is well made and exaftly propor- 
 tioned ; his phyfiognomy mild and agreeable, but 
 fuch as renders it impofsible to fpeak particularly 
 of any of his features, fo that in quitting him, 
 you have only the recollection of a fine face. He 
 has neither a grave nor a familiar air ; his brow 
 is fometimes marked with thought, but never 
 with inquietude. Infpiring refped:, he infpires 
 confidence, and his fmile is always the fmile of 
 benevolence. 
 
 Anecdotes of General Washington, 
 written in 1788. 
 
 From BRISSOT'S TRAVELS in NORTH 
 AMERICA. 
 
 THE moment I arrived at Alexandria, I 
 
 * 
 
334 FUGITIVE PIECES 
 
 was eager to repair to Mount Vernon, a beauti- 
 ful feat of General J^shington, fituated ten miles 
 lower down the river. — On the road to it we pafs 
 through a great deal of wood ; and after having 
 mounted two hills, we difcover the houfe, ele- 
 gant, though fimple, and of a pleafing afpe6l. 
 Before it is a neat lawn : on one fide (tables for 
 horfes and cattle : on the other a green-houfe, 
 and buildings where the negroes work. In a 
 kind of yard are perceived ducks, geefe, turkeys, 
 and other poultry. The houfe commands a view 
 of the Potowmac, and enjoys a moft beautiful 
 profpeft. On the fide towards that river it has 
 a large and lofty portico. The plan of the houfe 
 is well-conceived and convenient. Without, it 
 is covered with a kind of varnifh, a cement that 
 renders it almoft impenetrable by the rain. It 
 was evening when the General arrived, fatigued 
 by a tour through a part of his eftate, where he 
 was tracing out a road. You have frequently 
 heard him compared to Cincinnatus : the com- 
 parifon is juft. The celebrated general is now 
 more than a good farmer, conftantly employed 
 in the management of his farm, in improving his 
 
ON WASHINGTON. 
 
 33S 
 
 lands, and in building barns. He fhewed me one 
 not yet finifhed. It is a vaft pile, about a hun- 
 dred feet long, and ftill more in width, defigned 
 as a ftOre-houfe for his corn, potatoes, turnips, 
 &c. Around it are conftruded ftables for all his 
 cattle, his horfes, his afses, the breed of which, 
 unknown in this country, he is endeavouring to 
 increafe. The plan of the building is fo judi- 
 cioufly contrived, that a man may quickly fill the 
 racks with hay or potatoes without the leaft dan- 
 ger. The General informed me, that he had 
 built it after a plan fent him by the celebrated 
 Englifh hufbandman, Arthur Young, but which 
 he had confiderably improved. This building is 
 of brick made on the fpot ; and every part of it, 
 except the joifts of the roof, and the fhingles that 
 cover it, which for want of time he was forced to 
 buy, is the produce of the eftate. He told me, 
 that it did not coft him above three hundred 
 pounds. In France it would have coft upwards 
 of 80,000 livres {3,333^- fterling.) That year he 
 had planted feven hundred builiels of potatoes. 
 All this was quite new to Virginia, where there 
 are neither barns nor provifions for cattle. 
 
2^6 FUGITIVE PIECES 
 
 His liorfes, his afses, his mules, were wan- 
 dering in the neighboring paftures. He told us, 
 that it was his intention to fet his country the 
 example of cultivating artificial meadows, To rare 
 in it, yet fo necefsary, as in winter the cattle are 
 frequently in want of fodder. He had a noble 
 flallion, which will keep up the breed of good 
 horfes in the country, and fhowed us two fine 
 afses from Malta and Spain. 
 
 His three hundred negroes were distributed 
 in log houfes fcattered over the eftate, which in 
 that part contains upwards of ten thoufand acres. 
 
 Colonel Humphrys, the poet, of whom I 
 have already fpoken, and who lives with him in 
 the quality of his fecretary, afsured me, that his 
 pofsefsions in different places, confifted of more 
 than two hundred thoufand acres. 
 
 The General had invited over from England 
 a' good Englifh farmer, with his family, and 
 placed him at the head of his hufbandry. 
 
 Every thing in the General's houfe is fimple. 
 
ON WASHINGTON. 337 
 
 His table is well fupplied, but without oftenta- 
 tion. Mrs. Wafhington fuperintends every thing, 
 and, with the qualities of an excellent farmer's 
 wife, unites that fimple dignity which ought to 
 diftinguifli a woman whofe hufband has filled the 
 greateft ftation. To thefe fhe adds alfo that 
 fweetnefs, and that attention to ftrangers, which 
 renders hofpitality fo agreeable. The fame vir- 
 tues are pofsefsed by her engaging niece, whofe 
 health, unhappily, appears to be verv delicate. 
 
 You have heard me blame Mr. Chaftelleux 
 for having difplayed fo much within the portrait 
 he has given of the General. An artful portrait 
 of an artlefs man is totally out of the charader. 
 The General's goodnefs beams in his eyes. They 
 have no longer that fire which his officers found 
 in them when at the head of his army ; but they 
 brighten in converfation. In his countenance 
 there are no ftriking features ; hence it is difficult 
 to catch a likenefs of him, for few of his por- 
 traits refemble him. All his anfwers difcover 
 good fenfe, confummate prudence, and great diffi- 
 dence of himfelf; but at the fame time, an un- 
 
 43 
 
338 FUGITIVE PIECES 
 
 alterable firmnefs in the part he has once em- 
 braced. His modefty cannot but be particularly 
 aftonifhing to a Frenchman. He fpeaks of the 
 American war, as if he had not been the conduc- 
 tor of it; and of his vidories with an indiffer- 
 ence with which no ftranger could mention them. 
 I never faw him grow warm, or depart from that 
 coolnefs which charadlerifes him, except when 
 talking on the prefent ftate of America. The 
 divifions of his country rend his foul. He feels 
 the necefsity of rallying all the friends of liberty 
 around a central point, and of giving energy to 
 the government. To his country he is ftill ready 
 to facrifice that quiet which constitutes his 
 happinefs. Happinefs, faid he to me, is not in 
 grandeur, is not in the buftle of life. This phi- 
 lofopher was fo thoroughly convinced of the 
 truth of this, that from the moment of his re- 
 treat, he broke off every political connexion, and 
 renounced everyplace in the government; yet 
 in fpite of fuch a renunciation, of fuch difmter- 
 eftednefs, of fuch modefty, this aftonifhing man 
 has enemies ! He has been villified in the newf- 
 papers ; he has been accufed of ambition, of in- 
 
ON WASHINGTON. 
 
 339 
 
 trigue, when all his life, when all America, can 
 witnefs his difintereftednefs, and the reditude of 
 his condud : Virginia is perhaps the fole coun- 
 try where he has enemies ; for no where elfe have 
 I heard his name pronounced but with refped, 
 mixed with affedion and gratitude. You would 
 think the Americans were fpeaking of their fa- 
 ther. It would be wrong, perhaps, to compare 
 H^SHiNGTON with the moft celebrated warriors : 
 but he is the model of a republican ; difplaying 
 all the qualities, all the virtues of one. 
 
 He fpoke to me of Mr. La Fayette with 
 tendernefs. He confidered him as his fon ; and 
 faw with joy mixed with anxiety, the part he was 
 about to play in the revolution preparing in 
 France. Of the ifsue of that revolution he had 
 his doubts : if he knew, on the one hand, the 
 ardour of the French in ruiliing into extremes, 
 he knew on the other their profound idolatry for 
 their ancient government and their monarchy, 
 the inviolability of which appeared to him ridi- 
 culous. 
 
340 
 
 FUGITIVE PIECES 
 
 After having fpent about three days in the 
 houfe of that celebrated man, who loaded me 
 witli civilities, and gave me much information 
 refpedting both the late war and the prefent fitu- 
 ation of the United States, I returned with re- 
 gret to Alexandria. 
 
 Extra£l frovi n periodical publication, entitled the " Mifcelh'- 
 nifl,^'' zvritten in Dublin, by W. P. Carey. 
 
 ABOVE the cruel views of the conqueror 
 who, adluated by the luft of fame, fhuts his ears 
 to the fupplications of pity, and hardening his 
 heart for the work of devaftation, wars to eftab- 
 lifh a fhining infamy, by the deftrudion of his 
 fellow-creatures, on the fmoking ruins of defo- 
 lated kingdoms, the great Washington fought to 
 befriend and fave mankind, in defence of what- 
 ever is moft dear to the generous breaft of en- 
 lightened patriotifm. Diftinguiflied, in an emi- 
 nent degree, for the great qualities of the Mace- 
 
ON WASHINGTON. 34I 
 
 donian and Swedifh heroes, yet unfullied by the 
 favage cruelty and intemperance of the one, or 
 mad ambition and obftinacy of the oth^r, he 
 pofsefsed the rare gift of uniting all the fublime 
 talents requifite in the founder of a mighty em- 
 pire, with the polifhed refinements of civilized 
 fociety, and the fofteft feelings of humanity. A 
 ftranger to profufion, yet generous in every 
 inftance where liberality was a virtue ; during the 
 late troubles, his fortune was employed in fuc- 
 couring merit, rewarding bravery, promoting dif- 
 cipline in the foldiery, and fubordination to 
 the new eftablifhed government, in the citizens. 
 At a time when the calamities incident to a ftate 
 of civil warfare, fell heavy on all ranks, but prin- 
 cipally on the middle clafs of his countrymen, 
 his beneficence, which feemed to fhun the public 
 eye, would in all probability be loft in oblivion, 
 but for the voice of thofe whom he freed from the 
 accumulated miferies of famine, ficknefs, and im- 
 prifonment. Many of his good deeds are pafsed 
 over by the writers of his time, amidft the ftrik- 
 ing details of battles, of fieges, and military 
 manoeuvres, with which the general curiofity is 
 
34^ FUGITIVE PIECES 
 
 often more pleafed, than with the lefs glaring 
 portrait of private virtue. Born with abilities to 
 unite the jarring interefts of a number of ftates, 
 and be the leader of a brave and injured people, 
 nature has not been lefs favorable to him in cor- 
 poral than in mental endowments. His perfon 
 is majeftic and ftriking, his phyfiognomy is pre- 
 pofsefsing, and ftrongly exprefsive of the noble 
 qualities of his foul : the dignity of his appear- 
 ance infpires an awe, which keeps the unac- 
 quainted beholder at a refpeftful diftance, until the 
 eafy politenefs of his manner, formed to gain the 
 afFeftions without artifice, and the modeft frank- 
 nefs of his converfation, fraught with judicious 
 reflexions, founded on a thorough knowledge of 
 human nature, infenfibly banifli the coldnefs of 
 referve, and induce the philofopher, the foldier, 
 and polifhed gentleman, to quit his company with 
 regret, filled with fentiments of enthufiaftic rever- 
 ence and admiration. 
 
 Having purfued the blefsings of peace 
 through the horrors of war, he forced an eulo- 
 gium on his condud:, from the mouths of his 
 
ON WASHINGTON, 343 
 
 enemies ; and, on the ruins of BritiOi tyranny, 
 founded the immortal fabric of his country's in- 
 dependence ; leaving this falutary monition to all 
 ruling powers, never in the exulting moment of 
 national profperity, to force an injured people 
 from their allegiance, by forgetting that the pro- 
 tection of the community was the primary caufe 
 of the eledlion of individuals to the delegated 
 fceptre of majefty. The fatal effecfls which Eng- 
 land has juftly felt from her own difgraceful and 
 opprefsive fchemes againft America, fhould ferve 
 as a caution to prevent all ftatefmen from purfu- 
 ing the narrow policy and bafe purpofes of illibe- 
 ral fadlion: it fhould inftrud: them never to facri- 
 fice the interefts of one body of fubjeds to the 
 unjuft aggrandifement of another ; but equally to 
 extend the benefits of a wife and wholefome legif- 
 lation to all parts of the empire; as a contrary 
 conduct will inevitably return the blow aimed at 
 the rights of fociety, in tenfold ruin, on the 
 guilty opprefsors, by weakening the ftate with 
 jealoufies and civil difsentions, which will leave 
 it an eafy prey to a foreign enemy, or infenfibly 
 difmember and finally fubvert the eftabliflied 
 government. 
 
344 FUGITIVE PIECES 
 
 Having equalled the greateft heroes of an- 
 tiquity in glory, the illuftrious Washington fur- 
 pafsed them in virtue and exemplary moderation ; 
 when his fellow-foldiers laid afide the fword to 
 add luftre to the arts — to cultivate their native 
 fields, and to enrich the United States, by a bene- 
 ficial commerce — when the child lefs father, the 
 lone orphan, and the widowed mourner, reftored 
 to the bofom of peace, and the blefsings of plenty, 
 forgot their forrows, and ceafed to weep over the 
 means of their flaughtered relations — the Ameri- 
 can hero refigned his command ; he refufed the 
 liberal rewards offered him by his grateful coun- 
 try ; he was contented with the juft approbation 
 of a virtuous confcience, and quitting the fplendid 
 honors of a public life, he retired to the ftation 
 of a private citizen. 
 
 In whatever light we view the charadler of this 
 truly great man, we are ftruck with frefh caufe for 
 efteem and admiration ; we every moment dif- 
 cover new and fhining traits of humanity, of wif- 
 dom, and difinterefted. heroifm : we fee united in 
 him the diftinguifhed virtues of a good citizen, 
 
ON WASHINGTON. 345 
 
 an experienced general, an upright fenator, and a 
 wife politician ; we behold him rifing fuperior to 
 every mean confideration of felf-love, hazarding 
 his fortune in the caufe of freedom, chearfully 
 fubmitting to bear the name of rebel, and brav- 
 ing an ignominious death, to which he would 
 inevitably have fallen a facrifice had Britain tri- 
 umphed in the conteft ; we behold him furnifhing 
 an example the moft glorious to the world, the 
 moft animating to the nations which yet groan 
 beneath the arm of opprefsion, an example the 
 moft interefting to humanity, and capable of 
 nerving the palfied arm of age, or even of cow- 
 ardice itfelf ; we behold him like another Aaron, 
 the facred delegate of heaven, leading to the field 
 a brave but ill, appointed and new raifed army, to 
 contend with the ableft generals and beft difci- 
 plined troops of the mightieft empire in the uni- 
 verfe ; we behold him often without money, and 
 ill fupplied with provifions, braving the accumu- 
 lated feverities of an American winter's cam- 
 paign, inuring his foldiers to fatigue, and train- 
 ing them by the pradice of military evolutions, 
 to defeat the attacks of a powerful enemy ; we 
 
 44 
 
^46 FUGITIVE PIECES ON WASHINGTON. 
 
 view him ftedfaftly purfuing the great line of" 
 condud; which he had marked out at the com- 
 mencement of hoftilities, mitigating the calami- 
 ties of war, preventing the efFufion of human 
 blood, wafting the forces of his adverfaries, tir- 
 ing out the Britifh nation by avoiding a decifive 
 a<5lion ; and finally triumphing over every ob- 
 ftacle which feemed infurmountably to oppofe 
 the progrefs of his arms, and the freedom of his 
 country. The rafh and unthinking, who eftimate 
 a commander by the multitudes whom he has 
 deftroyed, by the cities which he has facked, and 
 the provinces which he has defolated, may choofe 
 fome ferocious conquerer for the idol of their 
 reverence. The philanthropift, who laments the 
 miferies which fall on mankind by the ufurpation 
 and ambition of kings, and the philofopher, who 
 judges of the abilities of a general by the tenor 
 of his plans ; and their confiftence with his fitu- 
 ation and refources, will not hefitate to pro- 
 nounce the Great Washington equal, if not 
 fuperior to the moft fhining charaders in ancient 
 or modern hiftory. 
 
WASHINGTON S WILL. 347 
 
 (Sen e;i.5Jjiiigtoii's aiilL 
 
 VIRGINIA, Fairfax ss. 
 
 /, George Deneale, Clerk of Fairfax County 
 Court, do Certify, That the fubfequent Copy of 
 the laft Will and Tefta7nent of George Wash- 
 ington, deceajed, late Preftdent of the United 
 States of America, ivith the Schedule annexed, is 
 a true Copy from the original recorded in my 
 Office. 
 
 In Teftimony Whereof, I have hereunto fet my 
 hand this i^d day of January, 1800. 
 
 GEO. DENEALE, C. F. C. 
 
 IN THE NAME OF GoD, AmEN. 
 
 I GEORGE WASHINGTON, of 
 
 Mount Vernon, a Citizen of the United States, 
 
348 Washington's will. 
 
 and lately Prefident of the fame, Do make, 
 ordain, and declare this inftrument, which is 
 written with mv own hand, and every page there- 
 of fubfcribed with my name,"' to be my Last 
 Will and Testament, revoking all others. 
 
 Imprimus — All my debts, of which there are 
 but few, and none of magnitude, are to be punc- 
 tually and fpeedily paid; and the legacies herein 
 after bequeathed, are to be difcharged as foon as 
 circumftances will permit, and in the manner 
 direfled. 
 
 Item — To my dearly beloved Vv'ife Martha 
 WaJJiington^ I give and bequeath the ufe, profit, 
 and benefit of my whole eftate, real and perfonal, 
 for the term of her natural life, except fuch parts 
 thereof as are fpecially difpofed of hereafter. 
 My improved lot in the town of Alexandria, 
 fituated on Pitt and Cameron-flreets, I give to 
 her and her heirs forever ; as I alfo do my houfe- 
 hold and kitchen furniture of- every fort and 
 
 */n the original manufcript, GEORGE TVASHINGTON'S name is 
 •written at the bottom of every fage. 
 
WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 349 
 
 kind, with the liquors and groceries which may 
 be on hand at the time of mv deceafe, to be ufed 
 and difpofed of as Hie may think proper. 
 
 Item — Upon the deceafe of my wife, it is 
 my will and defire, that all the flaves which I 
 hold in my own right, fhall receive their freedom. 
 To emancipate them during her life, would, tho' 
 earneftly wifhed by me, be attended with fuch 
 infuperable difficulties on account of their inter- 
 mixture by marriages with the dower negroes, as 
 to excite the moft painful fenfations, if not dif- 
 agreeable confequences to the latter, while both 
 defcriptions are in the occupancy of the fame pro- 
 prietor, it not being in my power, under the 
 tenure by which the dower negroes are held, to 
 manumit them. And whereas among thofe who 
 will receive freedom according to this devife, 
 there may be fome who, from old age, or bodily 
 infirmities, and others, who, on account of their 
 infancy, will be unable to fupport themfelves, it 
 is my will and defire, that all who come under 
 the firft and fecond defcription, fliall be comfort- 
 ably cloathed and fed by my heirs while they 
 
350 WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 live ; and that fuch of the latter defcrlption as 
 have no parents living, or, if living, are unable 
 or unwilling to provide for them, fhall be bound . 
 by the Court until they fhall arrive at the age of 
 25 years: and in cafes where no record can be 
 produced, whereby their ages can be afcertained, 
 the judgment of the Court, upon its own views 
 of the fubjeft, fliall be adequate and final. The 
 negroes thus bound, are (by their mafters or 
 miftrefses) to be taught to read and write, and be 
 brought up to fome ufeful occupation, agreeably 
 to the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia 
 providing for the fupport of orphan and other 
 poor children. And 1 do hereby exprefsly for- 
 bid the fale or tranfportation out of the faid 
 Commonwealth, of any flave I may die pofsefsed 
 of under any pretence whatfoever. And I do 
 moreover moft pointedly and moft folemnly en- 
 join it upon my Executors hereafter named, 
 or the furvivor of them, to fee that this claufe 
 refpeding flaves, and every part thereof, be re- 
 ligioufly fulfilled at the epoch at which it is 
 directed to take place, without evafion, negled, 
 or delay, after the crops which may then be on 
 
WASHINGTON S WILL. 35I 
 
 the ground are harvefted, particularly as it re- 
 fpeifls the aged and infirm ; feeing that a regular 
 .and permanent fund be eftablifhed for their fup- 
 port, as long as there are fubjedls requiring it, 
 not trufting to the uncertain provifion made by 
 individuals. — And, to my mulatto man William 
 (calling himfelf JVjh, Lee,) I give immediate free- 
 dom, or if he ihould prefer it (on account of the 
 accidents which have befallen him, and which 
 have rendered him incapable of walking or of any 
 adive employment) to remain in the fituation he 
 now is, it fhall be optional in him to do fo ; in 
 either cafe, however, I allow him an annuity of 
 30 dollars during his natural life, which fhall be 
 independent of the viduals and cloathes he has 
 been accuftomed to receive, it he chufes the laft 
 alternative ; but in full with his freedom, if he 
 prefers the firft ; and this I give him as a tefti- 
 mony of my fenfe of his attachment to me, and 
 for his faithful fervices during the Revolutionary 
 War. 
 
 Item — To the Truftees (Governors, or by 
 whatfoever other name they may be defignated) 
 
2^2 WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 of the Academy in the town of Alexandria, I 
 give and bequeath, in truft, 4000 dollars, or, in 
 other words, 20 of the fhares which I hold in the 
 bank of Alexandria, towards the fupport of a 
 Free School, eftablifhed at, and annexed to, the 
 faid Academy, for the purpofe of educating or- 
 phan children, or the children of fuch other poor 
 and indigent perfons, as are unable to accom- 
 plifli it with their own means, and who, in the 
 judgment of the Truftees of tlie faid Seminary, 
 are beft entitled to the benefit of this donation. 
 The aforefaid 20 fhares I give and bequeath in 
 perpetuity ; the dividends only of which are to 
 be drawn for, and applied by the faid Truftees, 
 for the time being, for the ufes above men- 
 tioned ; the ftock to remain entire and un- 
 touched, unlefs indications of failure of the faid 
 bank fhould be fo apparent, or a difcontinuance 
 thereof, fliould render a removal of this fund 
 necefsary. In either of thefe cafes, the amount 
 of the ftock here devifed is to be vefted in fome 
 other bank, or public inftitution, whereby the 
 intereft may with regularity and certainty be 
 drawn and applied as above. And, to prevent 
 
WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 353 
 
 mifconception, my meaning Is, and is hereby de- 
 clared to be, that thefe 20 fhares are in lieu of, 
 and not in addition to, the loool. given by a 
 mifsive letter fome years ago, in confequence 
 whereof, an annuity of 50I. has fince been paid 
 towards the fupport of this inftitution. 
 
 Item — Whereas by a law of the Common- 
 wealth of Virginia, enadted in the year 1785, the 
 Legiflature thereof was pleafed (as an evidence 
 of its approbation of the fervices 1 had rendered 
 the public during the Revolution, and partly, I 
 believe, in confideration of my having fuggefted 
 the vaft advantages which the community would 
 derive from the extenfion of its inland naviga- 
 tion under Legiilative patronage) to prefent me 
 with 100 fhares of 100 dollars each, in the in- 
 corporated Company eftablifhed for the purpofe 
 of extending the navigation of James River from 
 the tide-water to the mountains ; and alfo with 
 50 fhares of lool. fterling each in the corpora- 
 tion of another Company likewife eftablifhed for 
 the fimilar purpofe of opening the navigation of 
 the river Potowmac from the tide-water to Fort 
 
 45 
 
354 WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 Cumberland ; the acceptance of which, altho' the 
 offer was highly honourable and grateful to my 
 feelings was refufed as inconfiftent with a prin- 
 ciple which I had adopted, and had never de- 
 parted from — namely, not to receive pecuniary 
 compenfation for any fervices I could render 
 my country in its arduous ftruggle with Great 
 Britain for its rights, and becaufe I had evaded 
 fimilar proportions from other States in the 
 Union : Adding to this refufal, however, an in- 
 timation, that, if it fhould be the pleafure of the 
 Legiflature to permit me to appropriate the 
 faid fhares to Public Ufes, I would receive them 
 on thofe terms with due fenlibility ; and this it 
 having confented to, in flattering terms, as will 
 appear by a fubfequent law and fundry refolu- 
 tions, in the moft ample and honourable manner 
 ' — I proceed, after this recital, for the more cor- 
 red; underftanding of the cafe, to declare. That 
 as it has always been a fource of ferious regret 
 with me, to fee the youth of thefe United States 
 fent to foreign countries for the purpofes of Ed- 
 ucation, often before their minds were formed, 
 or they had imbibed any adequate ideas of the 
 
WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 3S5 
 
 happinefs of their own, contradling, too fre- 
 quently, not only habits of difsipation and ex- 
 travagance, i^ut principles unfriendly to Republican ■ 
 Government, and to the true and genuine Liberties 
 of Mankind, which, thereafter are rarely, over- 
 come — For thefe reafons, it has been my ardent 
 wifh to fee a plan devifed, on a liberal fcale, 
 which would have a tendency to fpread fyftematic 
 ideas through all parts of this riiing Empire, 
 thereby to do away local attachments and ftate 
 prejudices, as far as the nature of things would, 
 or indeed ought to admit from our national 
 Councils. Looking anxiouily forward to the 
 accomplifhment of fo defirable an objeft as this 
 is (in my eftimation) my mind has not been able 
 to contemplate any plan more likely to efFed: the 
 meafure, than the eftablifhment of a University 
 in a central part of the United States, to which 
 the youths of fortune and talents from all parts 
 thereof might be fent for the completion of their 
 education in all the branches of polite Litera- 
 ture, in the Arts and Sciences, in acquiring 
 knowledge in the principles of Politics and good 
 Government, and, as a matter of infinite im- 
 
2^6 Washington's will. 
 
 portance in my judgment, by afsociating with 
 each other, and forming friendfhips in juvenile 
 ■years, be enabled to free themfelves, in a proper 
 degree, from thofe local prejudices and habitual 
 jealoufies which have juft been mentioned, and 
 which, when carried to excefs, are never. failing 
 fources of difquietude to the public mind, and 
 pregnant of mifchievous confequences to this 
 country. — Under thefe imprefsions, fo fully 
 dilated. 
 
 Item — I give and bequeath, in perpetuity, 
 the 50 fhares which I hold in the Potowmac 
 company (under the aforefaid Ads of the Legifla- 
 ture of Virginia) towards the endowment of a 
 University, to be eftablifhed within the limits 
 of the Diftri6l o^ Columbia^ under the aufpices of 
 the General Government, if that Government 
 fhould incline to extend a foftering hand towards 
 it; and until fuch Seminary is eftablifhed, and 
 the funds arifing on thefe fhares fhall be required 
 for its fupport, my further will and defire is, 
 that the profit accruing therefrom, fhall, when- 
 ever the dividends are made, be laid out in 
 
• WASHINGTON S WILL. 257 
 
 purchafing ftock in the Bank of Columbia^ or 
 fame other bank, at the difcretion of my Execu- 
 tors, or by the Treafurer of the United States 
 for the time being, under the diredion of Con- 
 grefs, provided that honourable Body fhould pa- 
 tronize the meafure ; and the dividends proceed- 
 ing from the purchafe of fuch ftock are to be 
 vefted in more ftock, and fo on, until a fum 
 adequate to the accomplifhment of the objed is 
 obtained, of which I have not the fmalleft doubt 
 before many years pafs away, even if no aid or 
 encouragement is given by legiflative authority, 
 or from any other fource. 
 
 Item — The hundred fhares which I hold in 
 the James River Company, I have given, and 
 now confirm, in perpetuity, to and for the ufe 
 and benefit of Liberty Hall Academy^ in the 
 County of Rockbridge, in the Commonwealth 
 of Virginia. 
 
 Item — I releafe, exonerate, and difcharge 
 the eftate of my deceafed brother, Samuel Wafli- 
 ington^ from the payment of the money which is 
 
2^S Washington's will. 
 
 due to me for the land I fold to Philip Pendle- 
 ton (lying in the county of Berkeley,) who 
 afsigned the fame to him, the faid Samuel, who, 
 by agreement, was to pay me therefor : And 
 whereas by fome contradl (the purport of which 
 was never communicated to me) between the 
 faid Samuel and his fon I'hornton Wajhington, the 
 latter became pofsefsed of the aforefaid land, 
 without any conveyance having pafsed from me, 
 either to the faid Pendleton, the faid Samuel, or 
 the faid Thornton, and without any confideration 
 having been made, by which negledl, neither the 
 legal nor equitable title has been alienated, it 
 refts therefore with me, to declare my intentions 
 concerning the premifes ; and thefe are, to give 
 and bequeath the faid land to whomfoever the 
 faid Thornton JVaJJiington (who is alfo dead) de- 
 vifed the fame, or to his heirs forever, if he died 
 inteftate, exonerating the eftate of the faid 'Thorn- 
 ton, equally with that of the faid Samuel, from 
 payment of the purchafe money, which, with 
 intereft, agreeably to the original contrail with 
 the faid Pendleton, would amount to more than 
 loool. And whereas two other fons of my faid 
 
WASHINGTON S WILL. 359 
 
 deceafed brother, Samuel^ namely, George Steptoe 
 IVa/hington and Lawrence Auguftine IVaJIiington^ 
 were, by the deceafe of thofe to whofe care they 
 were committed, brought under my prote6lion, 
 and, in confequence, have occafioned advances 
 on my part for their education at college and 
 other fchools, and for their board, cloathing, and 
 other incidental expences, to the amount of near 
 5000 dollars, over and above the funis furnifhed 
 by their eftate, which fum it may be inconvenient 
 for them or their father's eftate to refund — I do, 
 for thefe reafons, acquit them and the faid eftate 
 from the payment thereof, my intentions being, 
 that all accounts between them and me, and their 
 father's eftate and me, fhall ftand balanced. 
 
 Item — The balance due to me from the eftate 
 of Bartholomew Dandridge, deceafed (my wife's 
 brother) and which amounted, on the firft day of 
 Odober 1795, to 425I. (as will appear by an 
 account rendered by his deceafed fon, John 
 Dandridge, who was the afting executor of his 
 father's will) I releafe and acquit from the payment 
 thereof. And the Negroes (then ;^;^ in number) 
 
j6o Washington's will. 
 
 formerly belonging to the faid eftate, who were 
 taken in execution, fold, and purchafed in on my 
 account in the year , and ever fince have re- 
 mained in the pofsefsion and to the ufe o^ Mary^ 
 widow of the faid Barth. Dandridge, with their in- 
 creafe, it is my will and defire, fhall continue and be 
 in her pofsefsion, without paying hire, or making 
 compenfation for the fame, for the time paft or 
 to come, during her natural life ; at the expira- 
 tion of which, I direft, that all of them who are 
 40 years old and upwards, fhall receive their 
 freedom; all under that age and above 16, fhall 
 ferve 7 years, and no longer; and all under 16 
 years fhall ferve until they are 25 years of age, 
 and then be free. And to avoid difputes refped- 
 ing the ages of any of thefe Negroes, they are to 
 be taken into the Court of the County in which 
 they refide, and the judgment thereof, in this 
 relation fhall be final, & record thereof made, 
 which may be adduced as evidence at any time 
 thereafter, if difputes fhould arife concerning the 
 fame. And I further dired, that the heirs of 
 the faid Barth. Dandridge fhall, equally, fhare the 
 benefits arifing from the fervices of the faid 
 
Washington's will. 361 
 
 negroes, according to the tenor of this devife, 
 upon the deceafe of their mother. 
 
 Item — If Charles Carter, who intermarried 
 with my niece Betty Lewis, is not fufficiently 
 fecured in the title to the lots he had of me in the 
 town of Frederickfburg, it is my will and defire, 
 that my executors fhall make fuch conveyances of 
 them as the law requires to render it perfecft. 
 
 Item — To my nephew William Augujtine 
 Wajhington, and his heirs (if he fhould conceive 
 them to be obje6ls worth proiecuting) a lot in the 
 town of Manchefter (oppofite to Richmond) No. 
 265, drawn on my fole account, and alfo the tenth 
 of I or 200 acre lots, and two or three half-acre 
 lots, in the city and vicinity of Richmond, drawn 
 in partnerfhip with nine others, all in Lottery of 
 the deceafed William Byrd, are given ; as is alfo 
 a lot which I purchafed of John Hood, conveyed 
 by William Willie and Sam. Gordon, truftees of 
 the faid John Hood, numbered 139, in the town 
 of Edinburgh, in the county of Prince George, 
 ftate of Virginia. 
 
 46 
 
362 Washington's will. 
 
 Item — To my nephew Bujlirod Wafhingtoriy 
 I give and bequeath all the papers in my pof- 
 fefsion which relate to my civil and military 
 adminiftration of the affairs of this Covmtry ; I 
 leave to him alfo fuch of my private papers as 
 are worth preferving ; and at the deceafe of my 
 wife, and before, if fhe is not inclined to retain 
 them, I give and bequeath my library of books 
 and pamphlets of every kind. 
 
 Item — Having fold lands which I pofsefsed in 
 the ftate of Pennfylvania, and part of a trad 
 held in equal right with George Clinton, late 
 Governor of New York, in the ftate of New York, 
 my fhare of land and intereft in the Great Difmal 
 Swamp, and a tradl of land which I owned in the 
 County of Gloucester — withholding the legal 
 titles thereto, until the confideration-money 
 fhould be paid — and having moreover leafed, 
 and conditionally fold (as will appear by the 
 tenor of the faid leafes) all my lands upon the 
 Great Kenhawa, and a trad upon Difficult Run 
 in the county of Loudon, it is my will and 
 diredion, that whenfoever the contrads are fully 
 
Washington's will. ^6;;^ 
 
 and refpedively complied with, according to the 
 fpirit, true intent and meaning thereof, on the 
 part of the purchafers, their heirs or afsigns, 
 that then, and in that cafe, conveyances are to 
 be made, agreeable to the terms of the faid con- 
 trafts, and the money arifing therefrom, when 
 paid, to be veiled in bank ftock; the dividends 
 whereof, as of that alfo which is already vefted 
 therein, is to inure to my faid wife during her 
 life, but the ftock itfelf is to remain and be fub- 
 jeft to the general diftribution hereafter direded. 
 
 lieni — To theEari of Buchan 1 re-commit " the 
 Box made of the Oak that fheltered the brave 
 Sir William Wallace after the battle of Falkirk", 
 prefented to me by his Lordfhip in terms too 
 flattering for me to repeat, with a requefl: " to 
 pafs it, on the event of my deceafe to the man in 
 my country who fhould appear to merit it beft, 
 upon the fame conditions that have induced him 
 to fend it to me." — Whether eafy or not, to 
 fele(5l THE Man who might comport with his 
 Lordfhip's opinion in this refpedl, is not for me 
 to fay ; but conceiving that no difpofition of 
 
364 Washington's will. 
 
 this valuable curiofity can be more eligible than 
 the recommitment of it to his own cabinet, 
 agreeably to the original defign of the Gold- 
 smiths, Company of Edinburg, who prefented It 
 to him, and, at his requeft, confented that it 
 fhould be transferred to me — I do give and be- 
 queath the fame to his Lordfhip ; and, in cafe 
 of his deceafe, to his heir, with my greatful 
 thanks for the diftinguifhed honour of prefenting 
 It to me, and more efpeclally for the favourable 
 fentiments with which he accompanied it. 
 
 Item — To my brother Charles Wajhington^ I 
 give and bequeath the gold-headed Cane left me 
 by Dr. Franklin, in his will. I add nothing to 
 it, becaufe of the ample provifion I have made 
 for his ifsue. To the acquaintances and friends 
 of my juvenile years, Lawrence Wajhington and 
 Robert IVafhington, of Chotanck, I give my other 
 two gold-headed Canes, having my arms en- 
 graved on them ; and to each (as they will be 
 ufeful where they live) 1 leave one of the Spy 
 Glafses, which conftituted part of my equipage 
 during the late war. To my compatriot in arms 
 
Washington's will. 2^^ 
 
 and old and intimate friend, Dr. Craik, I give 
 my Bureau or, as the Cabinet Makers call it, 
 Tambour Secretary and the circular Chair an ap- 
 pendage of my Study. To Dr. David Stuart, I 
 give my large Shaving and Drefsing Table, and 
 my Telefcope. To the Reverend, now, Bryan 
 Lord Fairfax, I give a Bible in three large folio 
 volumes, with notes, prefented to me by the Rt. 
 Rev. Thomas Wiljon, Bifhop of Sodor and Man. 
 To General De la Fayette, I give a pair of finely 
 wrought Steel Piftols, taken from the enemy in 
 the Revolutionary War. To my fifters in Law, 
 Hannah Wajhington and Mildred JVa/hington- — to 
 mv friends Eleanor Stuart, Hannah Wafliington, 
 of Fairfield, and Elizabeth Wajhington of Hay- 
 field, I give, each, a Mourning Ring of the value 
 of 100 dollars. Thefe bequefts are not made 
 for the intrinfic value of them, but as memen- 
 toes of my efteem and regard. To 'Tobias Lear, 
 I give the ufe of the farm which he now holds, 
 in virtue of a leafe from me to him and his de- 
 ceafed wife (for and during their natural lives) 
 free from rent during his life; at the expiration 
 of which, it is to be difpofed of as is herein after 
 
^66 Washington's will. 
 
 dired:ed. To Sai/y B. Haynie (a diftant relation 
 of mine) I give and bequeath 300 dollars. To 
 Sarah Green, daughter of the deceafed Thomas 
 Bifliop, and to Ann Walker, daughter of John Al- 
 ton, alfo deceafed, I give each 100 dollars, in 
 confideration of the attachment of their fathers 
 to me, each of whom having lived nearly forty 
 years in my family. To each of my Nephews, 
 Williayn Augujtine Wafliington, George Lewis, 
 George Stepioe Wajhington, Bu/hrod Wajhington, 
 and Samuel Wafliington, I give one of the Swords, 
 or Cutteaux, of which I may die pofsefsed ; and 
 they are to choofe in the order they are named. 
 Thefe fwords are accompanied with an injunc- 
 tion, not to unfheath them for the purpofe of 
 fhedding blood, except it be for felf-defence, or 
 in defence of their Country and its Rights ; and 
 in the latter cafe, to keep them unfheathed, and 
 prefer falling with them in their hands to the 
 relinquifhment thereof. 
 
 And now, having gone through thefe fpecific 
 Devifes, with explanations for the more correct 
 underftanding of the meaning and defign of 
 
Washington's will. 367 
 
 them, I proceed to the diftribution of the more 
 important parts of my Eftate, in manner follow- 
 ing :— 
 
 Firft — To my nephew, Bu/Jirod Wajhington, 
 and his heirs, (partly in confideration of an inti- 
 mation to his deceafed father, while we were bach- 
 elors, and he had kindly undertaken to fuperin- 
 tend my eftate during my military fervices in the 
 former war between Great Britain and France, 
 that if I fhould fall therein. Mount Vernon, then 
 lefs extenfive in domain than at prefent fhould 
 become his property) I give and bequeath all 
 that part thereof which is comprehended within 
 the following limits, viz. Beginning at the ford 
 of Dogue Run near my mill, and extending along 
 the road, and bounded thereby, as it now goes 
 and ever has gone fince m.y recoUecftion of it, 
 to the ford of Little Hunting Creek, at the Gum 
 Spring, until it comes to a knowl oppofite to an 
 old road which formerly pafsed through the lower 
 field of Muddy-hole Farm, at which, on the north 
 fide of the faid road, are three red or Spanifh oaks 
 marked as a corner, and a ftone placed — thence 
 
368 Washington's will. 
 
 by a line of trees to be marked redangular, to 
 the back line or outer boundary of the track be- 
 tween Thomas Mafon and myfelf — thence with 
 that line eafterly (now double ditching, with a 
 poft-and rail fence thereon) to the run of Little 
 Hunting Creek — thence with that run which is 
 the boundary between the lands of the late H. 
 Peake and me, to the tide water of the faid 
 creek — thence by that water to Potowmac River 
 — thence with the river to the mouth of Dogue 
 Creek — and thence with the faid Dogue Creek 
 to the place of beginning at the aforefaid ford ; 
 containing upwards of 4000 acres, be the fame 
 more or lefs, together with the Manfion Houfe 
 and all other buildings and improvements 
 thereon. 
 
 Second — In confideration of the confanguin- 
 ity between them and my wife, being as nearly 
 related to her as to myfelf, as on account of the 
 afFe(5lion I had for, and the obligation I was un- 
 der to, their father, when living, who, from his 
 youth, had attached himfelf to my perfon, and 
 followed my fortunes through the vicifsitudes of 
 
Washington's will. 369 
 
 the late Revolution, afterwards devoting his 
 time to the fuperintendance of my private con- 
 cerns for many years, whilft my public employ- 
 ments rendered it impradicable for me to do it 
 myfelf, thereby affording me efsential fervices, 
 and always performing them in a manner the 
 moft filial and refpedful — For thefe reafons, I 
 fay, I give and bequeath to George Fayette Wajh- 
 ington and Lawrence Augujtine Wajlilngton^ and 
 their heirs, my eftate eaft of Little Hunting 
 Creek, lying on the river Potowmac, including 
 the farm of 360 acres, leafed to Tobias Lear^ as 
 noticed before, and containing in the whole, by 
 deed, two ihoufand and twenty-feven acres, be 
 it more or less ; which faid eftate it is my will 
 and defire, fhould be equitably and advantage- 
 oufly divided between them, according to quan- 
 tity, quality, and other circumftances, when the 
 youngeft fhall have arrived at the age of 21 
 years, by three judicious and difinterefted men ; 
 one to be chofen by each of the brothers, and 
 the third by thefe two. In the mean time, if the 
 termination of my wife's intereft therein fliouid 
 
 47 
 
^yO WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 have ceafed, the profits arifing therefrom are to 
 be applied for their joint ufes and benefit. 
 
 T'hird — And whereas it has always been my 
 intention, fince my expectation of having ifsue 
 has ceafed, to confider the grand-children of my 
 wife, in the fame light as I do my own relations, 
 and to a<5l a friendly part by them, more efpe- 
 cially by the two whom we have raifed from their 
 earlieft infancy — namely, Eleanor Park CuftiSy and 
 George Wajhingtoyi Park Cuftis. And whereas 
 the former of thefe hath lately intermarried with 
 Lawrence Lewis, a fon of my deceafed fifter, 
 Betty Lewis, by which union the inducement to 
 provide for them both has been increafed, Where- 
 fore I give and bequeath to the faid Lawrence 
 Lewis and Eleanor Park Lewis, his wife, and 
 their heirs, the refidue of my Mount Vernon 
 eftate, not already devifed to my Nephew, Bujh- 
 rod Wajiiington, comprehended within the follow- 
 ing defcription, viz. All the land north of the 
 road leading from the ford of Dogue Run to the 
 Gum Spring, as defcribed in the devife of the 
 other part of the tracfl to Bu/hrod Wajhington 
 
WASHINGTON S WILL. 37I 
 
 until it comes to the ftone and three red or 
 Spanifh oaks on the knovvl; thence with the 
 redlangular line to the back line (between Mr. 
 Mafon and me) thence with that line wefterly 
 along the new double ditch to Dogue Run by 
 the tumbling dam of my mill ; thence with the 
 faid run to the ford afore mentioned; to which 
 I add all the land I pofsefs weft of the faid 
 Dogue Run and Dogue Creek, bounded eafterly 
 and foutherly thereby ; together with the mill, 
 diftillery, and all other houfes and improvements 
 on the premifes ; making together about 2000 
 acres, be it more or lefs. 
 
 Fourth — A6luated by the principle already 
 mentioned, I give and bequeath to George Wafli- 
 ington Park Cuftis^ the grandfon of my wife, and 
 my ward, and to his heirs, the trad I hold on 
 Four Mile Run, in the vicinity of Alexandria, 
 containing 1200 acres, more or lefs, and my en- 
 tire fquare. No. 21, in the city of Wafhington. 
 
 Fifth — All the reft and refidue of my eftate, 
 real and perfonal, not difpofed of in manner 
 
372 WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 aforefaid, in whatfoever confifting, wherefoever 
 lying, and wherefoever found, (a Schedule of 
 which as far as is recolledled, with a reafonable 
 eftimate of its value, is hereunto annexed) I de- 
 fire may be fold by my Executors, at fuch times, 
 in fuch manner, and on fuch credits (if an equal, 
 valid, and fatisfa6lory diftribution of the fpeciiic 
 property cannot be made without) as in their 
 judgment fhall be moft conducive to the intereft 
 of the parties concerned, and the monies arifing 
 therefrom to be divided into 23 equal parts, and 
 applied as follows, viz. To William Augujtine 
 Wajhington^ Elizabeth Spot/wood, Jane T'kornton, 
 and the heirs of Ann Affiton^ fon and daughters 
 of my deceafed brother Augujtine Wajhington^ I 
 give and bequeath four parts, that is, one part to 
 each of them : To Fielding Lewis^ George Lewis^ 
 Robert Lewis, Howell Lewis, and Betty Carter, 
 fons and daughter of my deceafed fifter Betty 
 Lewis, I give and bequeath five other parts, one 
 to each of them : To George Steptoe WaJJiington, 
 Lawrence A. JVa/Iiington, Harriot Parks, and the 
 heirs of 'Thornton Wajliington, fons and daughter 
 of my deceafed brother Samuel Wafhington, I give 
 
WASHINGTON S WILL. 373 
 
 and bequeath the other four parts, one part to 
 each of them : To Corbin WaJJiington^ and the 
 heirs of Jane JVa/Iiington, fon and daughter of 
 mv deceafed brother Joh?i A. Wafhington^ I give 
 and bequeath two parts, one part to each of 
 them : To Samuel IVaJhington^ Frances Ball^ and 
 Wildred Hammond^ fon and daughters of by bro- 
 ther Cha. Wajliington^ I give and bequeath three 
 parts, one part to each of them ; and to Geo. F. 
 JVaJJiington^ Cha. Aug. IVa/Iiington^ and Maria 
 Wafliington^ fons and daughter of my deceafed 
 nephew, Geo. A. Wajhington^ I give one other 
 part, that is, to each a third of that part: To 
 Elix. Park Law^ Martha Park Peter^ and Eleanor 
 Park Lewis, I give and bequeath three other 
 parts, that is, a part to each of them : And, to 
 my nephews, Bujhrod IVa/hington and Law. 
 Lewis, and to my Ward, the grand-fon of my 
 wife, 1 give and bequeath one other part, that is, 
 a third thereof to each of them. And if it 
 fhould fo happen, that any of the perfons whofe 
 names are here enumerated (unk.no\yn to me) 
 fhould now be dead, or fhould die before me, 
 that in either of thefe cafes, the heirs of fuch 
 
374 WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 deceafed perfons fhall, notwithftanding, derive all 
 the benefits of the bequeft, in fame manner as if 
 he or fhe was aftually living at the time. And, 
 by way of advice, I recommend to my Execu- 
 tors not to be precipitate in difpofing of the landed 
 property (therein direfted to be fold) if from 
 temporary caufes the fale thereof fhould be dull; 
 experience having fully evinced, that the price of 
 land, efpecially above the falls of the rivers and 
 on the weftern waters, have been progrefsively 
 rifing and cannot be long checked in its increaf- 
 ing value. And I particularly recommend it to 
 fuch of the Legatees (under this claufe of my 
 will) as can make it convenient to take each a 
 fhare of my ftock in the Potomac Company, in 
 preference to the amount of what it might fell 
 for — being thoroughly convinced myfelf, that no 
 ufes to which the money can be applied, will be 
 fo produftive as the tolls arifing from this navi- 
 gation when in full operation (and this from the 
 nature of things it muft be ere long) and more 
 efpecially if that of the Shenandoah is added 
 thereto. 
 
WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 375 
 
 The Family Vault at Mount Vernon^ requir- 
 ing repairs, and being improperly fituated befides, 
 I defire that a new one of brick, and upon a 
 larger fcale, may be built at the foot of what is 
 commonly called the Vineyard inclofure, on the 
 ground which is marked out — In which my re- 
 mains, with thofe of my deceafed relations (now 
 in the old Vault) and fuch others of my Family 
 as may chufe to be entombed there, may be 
 depofited. And it is my exprefs defire, that 
 my corps may be interred in a private manner, 
 without parade or funeral oration. 
 
 Laftly — I conftitute and appoint my dearly 
 beloved wife Martha Wajhington^ my nephews 
 William Aiiguftine WaJJiington^ Bujhrod JVaJJmig- 
 ton^ George Steptoe Wa/Jiington, Samuel Wa/hington^ 
 and Lawreyice Lewis^ and my Ward George Wajh- 
 ington Park Cujlis (when he fhall have arrived at 
 the age of 20 years) Executrix and Executors of 
 this my Will and Testament — In the con- 
 ftrudlion of which, it will readily be perceived, 
 that no profefsional charader has been confulted, 
 or has had any agency in the draught ; and, that 
 
^yS Washington's will. 
 
 although it has occupied many of my leifure 
 hours to digeft, and to throw it into its prefent 
 form, it may notwithftanding, appear crude and 
 incorred — but having endeavoured to be plain 
 and explicit in all the Devifes, even at the ex- 
 pence of prolixity, perhaps of tautology, I hope 
 and truft, that no difputes will arife concerning 
 them ; but if, contrary to exped:ation, the cafe 
 fhould be otherwife from the want of legal expref- 
 fion, or the ufual technical terms, or becaufe too 
 much or too little has been faid on any of the 
 Devifes to be confonant with law, my Will and 
 Direftion exprefsly is, that all difputes (if un- 
 happily any fhould arife) fhall be decided by 
 three impartial and intelligent men, known for 
 their probity and good underftanding — two to be 
 chofen by the difputants, each having the choice 
 of one, and the third by thofe two — which three 
 men thus chofen fhall, unfettered by law or legal 
 conftrudions, declare the fenfe of the teftator's 
 intentions ; and fuch decifion is, to all intents 
 and purpofes, to be as binding on the parties as 
 if it had been given in the Supreme Court of 
 the U. States. 
 
WASHINGTON S WILL. J77 
 
 IN JVITNESS of all and each of the things 
 herein contained, I have fet my Hand and 
 Seal, this ninth Day of July, in the Tear 
 
 one thoujand feven hundred and ninety '•' 
 
 and of the Independence of the United States 
 the twenty-fourth. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 SCHEDULE 
 
 Of property comprekended in the foregoing will, direEled to be 
 fold, and fome of it conditionally is fold, with- difriptive and 
 explanatory notes thereto. 
 
 
 IN 
 
 VIRGINIA. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 acre:. 
 
 fiice. dollars. 
 
 Loudon CO. Difficult Run, 
 
 
 
 300 
 
 
 6,666^ 
 
 Loudon and Faquier, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Aihby's Bent, 
 
 
 
 2481 
 
 lod. 
 
 24.S10. 
 7,080 J 
 
 Chattin's Run, 
 
 
 
 885 
 
 8 
 
 Berkley, S. fork of Bouli/kin, 
 
 
 1600 
 
 
 
 Head of Evan's m. 
 
 
 
 453 
 
 
 
 In Wormlcy's line, 
 
 
 
 183 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2236 
 
 20 
 
 44,720f 
 
 * It appears the Teftator omitted the word nine. 
 
378 Washington's will. 
 
 Frederick, bo't from Mercer, 571 io Il,i^.zod 
 
 Hampihire, on Potomac river above B, 2,40 240 15 3,6DOe 
 
 Gloucefter, on North river, 400 a/>out 3,600/" 
 
 Nanfcmond, near Suffolk, one third of 1,119 ^cres, 373 373 8 2,984^ 
 
 Great Difmal Swamp, my divident thereof, aboui 20,ooo>4 
 
 Ohio river. Round Bottom, 587 
 
 Little Kanhawa, ^314 
 
 2901 
 Sixteen miles lower down, 244-8 
 
 Oppofite Big Bent, 4395 
 
 dollars. 
 
 8741. 10 97.44c' 
 
 GREAT KANHAWA. 
 
 Near the North Weft, 10,180 
 
 Eaft fide above, 7>-76 
 
 Mouth of Cjle river, 2,000 
 
 Oppofite thereto, 2,950 -j 
 Burning Spring, 125] 
 
 3.-75 
 
 MARYLAND. 
 
 2OO,C00^ 
 
 Charles County, 600 6 3,600/ 
 
 Montgomery ditto, 519 12 6,229»» 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Great Meadows, 234 5 X,404'' 
 
 NEW-YORK._ 
 
 Mohawk river, . about icoo 6 6,0000 
 
WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 NORTH WEST TERRITORY. 
 On little Miami, 335 
 
 Ditto, 
 Ditto, 
 
 977 
 
 379 
 
 KENTUCKY. 
 
 Rough Creek, 
 Ditto adjoining, 
 
 3251 S 
 
 3003 
 
 20DD 
 
 15,251/. 
 
 50DD 2 
 
 LOTS, -ciz. 
 CITY OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 Two near the capitol, fquarc 634, coft 963 dollars, and 
 
 \v!th bull lings, 
 Nos. -5, 12. 13, and 14, the three lad: ware;- lots on the 
 
 Eaftern Branch, in fquare 667, containing together 
 
 34,438 fquare feet, at twelve cents, 
 
 ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 Corner of Pitt and Prince ftrcets, half an acre laid out intJ 
 buildings, three or four of which arc let on ground rent 
 at three dollars per foot, 
 
 WINCHESTER. 
 
 A lot in the town of half an acre, and another in the 
 commons of about fix acres fuppofel 
 
 BATH OR WARM SPRINGS. 
 
 Two well fituated, and had buildings to the amount. of 150I. 
 
 10,003/ 
 
 1 500c 
 
 41321 
 
 4ooof 
 
 400U 
 
 SoG-a 
 
380 Washington's will. 
 
 STOCK. 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 Six per cent. 3>746 
 
 Ditto deferred, 1,87 1 ) 
 Three per cent, 2,946 J '■' 
 
 6246W 
 
 POTOMAC COMPANY. 
 
 Twenty-four fhares coft each lool. fterling 10666^? 
 
 JAMES RIVER COMPANY. 
 
 Five fhares, each coft 100 dollars. Sooy 
 
 BANK OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 One hundred and fevent/ fhare3, coft 40 dollars each. 68002; 
 
 BANK OF ALEXANDRIA. looo 
 
 Befides 20 fhares to the free school — 5 
 
 STOCK LIVING, vi%. 
 
 One covering horfe, five carriage horfes, four riding ditto, 
 fix brood mares, 20 working horfes and mares, 2 covering 
 jacks, and 3 young ones, 10 flie afses, 42 working mules, 
 15 younger one-, 329 head of horned cattle, 640 head of 
 flieep, and a large ftock of hogs, the precife number 
 unknown — JJ^^'My manager has eftimat;d this live 
 ftock at 7,oool. but I fhall fet it down in order to make 
 a round fum, at ^5653 
 
 Aggregate amount, 530,000 
 
Washington's will. 381 
 
 N r ES . 
 
 a. This trad, for the fize of it is valuable, 
 more for its fituation than the quality of its foil, 
 though that is good for farming; with a con- 
 fiderable proportion of ground, that might very 
 eafily be improved into meadow. It lies on the 
 great road from the city of Wafhington, Alex- 
 andria, and George-Town, to Leefburgh and 
 Winchefter, at Difficult Bridge, nineteen miles 
 from Alexandria, lefs from the city and George- 
 Town, and not more than three from Matilda- 
 ville, at the great falls of Potomac. There is a 
 valuable feat on the premifes, and the whole is 
 conditionally fold for the fum annexed in the 
 fchedule. 
 
 b. What the felling prices of lands in the 
 vicinity of thefe two trafts are, I know not; but 
 compared with thofe above the ridge, and others 
 below it, the value annexed will appear moderate ; 
 a lefs one would not obtain them from me. 
 
 c. The furrounding land not fuperior in foil. 
 
3o2 WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 fituation or properties of any fort, fells currently 
 at from twenty to thirty dollars an acre. The 
 loweft price is affixed to thefe. 
 
 d. The obfervations made in the laft note, 
 apply equally to this tracft, being in the vicinity 
 of them, and of fimilar quality although it lies 
 in another county. 
 
 e. This tracft, though fmall, is extremely valu- 
 able. It lies on Potomac river, about twelve 
 miles above the town of Bath (or Warm Springs) 
 and is in the fhape of a horfe-dioe, the river 
 runnino; almofl around it. Tvvo hundred acres 
 of it are rich low grounds, with a great abun- 
 dance of the larged; and fineft walnut trees, which 
 with the produce of the foil, might (by means of 
 the improved navigation of the Potomac) be 
 brought to a fnipping port with more eafe, and 
 at a fmaller expence, than that which is tranf- 
 ported thirty miles only by land. 
 
 f. This trad; is of fecond rate Gloucefter low 
 grounds. It has no improvements thereon, but 
 lies on navigable water, abounding in fifh and 
 
Washington's will. 383 
 
 oyfters. It was received in payment of a debt 
 (carrying intereft) and valued in the year 1789 
 
 by an impartial gentleman, at 800I. N. B. 
 
 It has lately been fold, and there is due thereon 
 a balance equal to what is annexed in the fched- 
 ule. 
 
 g. Thefe 373 acres are the third part of undi- 
 vided purchafes made by the deceafed Fielding 
 Lewis, Thos. Walker and myfelf, on full con- 
 vi6lion that they would become valuable. — The 
 land lies on the road from Suffolk to Norfolk, 
 touches (if I am not miftaken) fome part of the 
 navigable water of Nanfemond river: the rich 
 Difmal Swamp is capable of great improvement, 
 and, from its fituation, muft become extremely 
 valuable. 
 
 h. This is an undivided intereft which I held 
 in the great Difmal Swamp Company, contain- 
 ing about 4000 acres, with my part of the plan- 
 tation and ftock thereon, belonging to the com- 
 pany in the faid Swamp. 
 
 i. Thefe feveral tradls of land are of the firft 
 
384 Washington's will. 
 
 quality on tlie Ohio river, in the parts where 
 they are fituated, being almoft, if not altogether, 
 river bottoms. The fmallefl of thefe trads is 
 a(5tually fold at ten dollars an acre, but the con- 
 fideration therefor not received. 'l"he reft are 
 equally valuable, and will fell as high, efpecially 
 that which lies juft below the Little Kanhawa; 
 and is oppofite a thick fettlement on the weft 
 iide of the river. The four trads have an aggre- 
 gate breadth upon the river of fixteen miles, and 
 are bounded there by that diftance. 
 
 k. Thefe tracts are fituated upon the Great 
 Kanhawa river, and the firft four are bounded 
 thereby for more than 40 miles. It is acknowl- 
 edged by all who have feen them (and of the 
 tra(5l containing 10990 acres, which I have been 
 on myfelf, I can afsert) that there is no richer or 
 more valuable land in all that region. They are 
 conditionally fold for the fum mentioned in the 
 fchedule, that is, 200000 dollars, and if the terms 
 of that fale are not complied with, they will com- 
 mand confiderable more — The traft, of which 
 the 125 acres is a moity, was taken up by Gen- 
 
Washington's will. 385 
 
 eral Andrew Lewis and myfelf, for, and on ac- 
 count of a bitumenous fpring which it contains, 
 of fo inflamable a nature, as to burn as freely as 
 fpirits, and is nearly as difficult to txtinguifli. 
 
 /. I am but little acquainted with this land, 
 altho' I have once been on it. It was received 
 (many years fince) in difcharge of a debt due to 
 me from Daniel Jenifer Adams, at the value an- 
 nexed thereto, and muft be worth more. It is 
 very level — lies near the river Potomac. 
 
 m. This tracft lies about 30 miles above the 
 city of Wafhington, not far from Kitto6l.in. It 
 is good farming land, and by thofe who are well 
 acquainted with it, I am informed that it would 
 fell at twelve or fifteen dollars per acre. 
 
 n. This land is valuable on account of its local 
 fituation and other properties. It affords an ex- 
 ceeding good ftand on Braddock's road from 
 Fort Cumberland to Pittfburg; and befides a 
 fertile foil, pofsefses a large quantity of natural 
 meadow, fit for the fey the. It is diftinguifhed by 
 the appellation of the Great Meadows, where the 
 
 49 
 
386 Washington's will. 
 
 firft adiioii with the French, in tlie year 1754, 
 was fought. 
 
 0. This is the moiety of about 2000 acres 
 which remains unfold, of 6071 acres on the Mo- 
 hawk river (Montgomery county) in a patent 
 granted to Daniel Coxe, in the towniliip of Coxe- 
 borough and Carolina, as will appear by deed, 
 from Marinus Willet and wife, to George Clin- 
 ton (late governor of New York) and myfelf. 
 The latter fales have been at fix dollars an acre, 
 and what remains unfold will fetch that or more. 
 
 p. The quality of thefe lands and their fitua- 
 tion, may be known by the furveyor's certifi- 
 cates, which are filed along with the patents. 
 They lie in the vicinity of Cincinnati ; one tra(5l 
 near the mouth of the little Miami; another 
 feven, and the third ten miles up the fame. I 
 have been informed that they will readily com- 
 mand more than they are eftimated at. 
 
 q. For the defcription of thofe trads in detail, 
 fee General Spotfwood's letters filed with the 
 other papers relating to them. Befides the gen- 
 
Washington's will. 387 
 
 eral good quality of the land, there is a valuable 
 bank of iron ore thereon, which, when the fettle- 
 ment becomes more populous (and fettlers are 
 moving that way very faft) will be found very 
 valuable, as the Rough Creek, a branch of Green 
 River, affords ample water for furnaces and 
 forges. 
 
 LOTS, viz. 
 
 CITY OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 r. The two lots near the capitol, in fquare 
 634, coft me 963 dollars only; but in this price 
 I was favored, on condition that I fhould build 
 two brick houfes three ftory high each : without 
 this redudtion the felling prices of thefe lots 
 would have coft me about 1350 dollars. Thefe 
 lots, with the buildings on them when completed, 
 will ftand me in 15,000 dollars at leaft. 
 
 s. Lots Nos. 5, 12, 13 and 14, on the eaftern 
 branch, are advantageoully fituated on the water ; 
 and although many lots much lefs convenient 
 have fold a great deal higher, I will rate thefe at 
 12 cents the fquare foot only. 
 
388 Washington's will. 
 
 ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 /. For this lot, though unimproved, I have 
 refufed 3500 dollars. It has fince been laid off 
 into proper fized lots for building on, three or 
 four of which are let on ground rent for ever, at 
 three dollars a foot on the ftreet ; and this price 
 is afked for both fronts on Pitt and Prince-flreet. 
 
 WINCHESTER. 
 
 u. As neither the lot in the town or common 
 have any improvements on them, it is not eafy 
 to fix a price; but as both are well fituated, it is 
 prefumed the price annexed to them in the fched- 
 ule is a reafonable valuation. 
 
 BATH. 
 
 V. The lots in Bath (two adjoining) coft me 
 to the beft of my recolledlion between 50 and 60 
 pounds, 20 years ago; and the buildings thereon 
 150I. more. Whether property there has in- 
 creafed or decreafed in its value, and in what 
 conditions the houfes are, I am ignorant — but 
 fuppofe they are not valued too high. 
 
Washington's will. 389 
 
 STOCK. 
 
 w. Thefe are the fums which are adlually fund- 
 ed, and though no more in the aggregate than 
 7,566 dollars, ftand me in at leaft ten thoufand 
 pounds, Virginia money ; being the amount of 
 bonded and other debts due to me, and difcharg- 
 ed during the war, when money had depreciated 
 in that rate — H^^ and was fo fettled by public 
 authority. 
 
 X. The value annexed to thefe fliares is what 
 they aftuallv coft me, and is the price affixed by 
 law; and although the prefent felling price is 
 under par, my advice to the Legatees (for whofe 
 benefit they are intended, efpecially thofe who 
 can afford to lie out of the money) is that each 
 fhould take and hold one — there being a moral 
 certainty of a great and increafing profit arifing 
 from them in the courfe of a few years. 
 
 y. It is fuppofed that the fhares in the James 
 River Company muft alfo be produdlive : But 
 of this I can give no decided opinion, for want 
 of more accurate information. 
 
2gO WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 z. Thefe are the nominal prices of the lliares 
 in the Banks of Alexandria and Columbia; the 
 felling prices vary according to circumftances ; 
 but as the ftock ufually divides from eight to ten 
 per cent per annum, they muft be worth the for- 
 mer, at leaft, fo long as the Banks are conceived 
 to be fecure, altho' circumftances may fometimes 
 make them below it. 
 
 The value of the live ftock depends more 
 upon the quality than quantity of the different 
 fpecies of it; and this again upon the demand 
 and judgment, or fancy of purchafers. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Mount Vernon^ 
 July 9, 1799. 
 
WASHINGTON S WILL. 39I 
 
 General Washington's Correfpondence with hord 
 BucHAN, refpe^ing the Box\ mentioned in his 
 
 Will. 
 
 Philadelphia, Jan. 4, 1792. 
 On Friday was prefented to the Prefident of 
 the United States, George Washington, a Box, 
 elegantly mounted with filver, and made of the 
 celebrated oak tree that llieltered the patriotic Sir 
 William W^allace of Scotland, after the unfor- 
 tunate battle of Falkirk about the year 1300. 
 This very curious and charadleriftical prefent is 
 from the Earl of Buchan, by the hand of Mr. 
 Archibald Robertfon, a Scotch gentleman, and a 
 portrait painter, who arrived in America fome 
 months ago. The Box was prefented to Lord 
 Buchan by the Goldfmith's Company of Edin- 
 burg, from whom his Lordfhip requefted, and 
 obtained leave, to make it over to the Man 
 whom he deemed more deferving of it than him- 
 felf, and George Washington was the Man. 
 
 We further learn, that Lord Buchan has re- 
 
39- 
 
 WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 quefted of the Prefident, that, on the event of 
 his deceafe, he will confign the Box to that Man, 
 in this Country, who fhall appear, in his judgment, 
 to merit it beft, upon the fame confiderations 
 that induced him to fend it to America. [See 
 the Will, p. 2^2.'] 
 
 Upon the Box, which is curioufly wrought, is 
 ia filver plate with the following infcription : — 
 " Prejented by the Goldjmiths of Edinburgh to 
 David Stewart ErJJ^ine, Earl of Buchan, with the 
 freedom of their Corporation, by their Deacon — 
 A. D. 1792." 
 
 Copy of the Letter from Lord Buchan to 
 General Washington, accompanying the 
 Box. 
 
 Dry burgh Abbey, June 28, 1791. 
 
 *'SlR, 
 
 " I had the honour to receive your Excel- 
 lency's letter, relating to the advertifement of 
 Dr. Anderfon's periodi-cal publication, in the 
 Gazette of the United States ; which attention 
 
WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 393 
 
 to my recommendation I feel very fenfibly, and 
 return you my grateful acknowledgments. 
 
 " In the 2ift No. of that Litterary Mifcel- 
 lany, I inferted a monitary paper refpeding 
 America, which I flatter myfelf, may, if attended 
 to on the other fide the Atlantic, be produdive 
 of good confequences. 
 
 " To ufe your own emphatic words, " May 
 that Almighty Being who rules over the Uni- 
 verfe — who prefides in the Councils of nations — 
 and whofe providential aid can fupply every 
 human defed, confecrate to the Liberties and 
 Happinefs of the American people, a govern- 
 ment inftituted by themfelves for public and 
 private fecurity, upon the bafis of Law and equal 
 adminifliration of juftice, preferving to every 
 individual as much civil and political freedom as 
 is confiftent with the fafety of the nation." — 
 And may HE be pleafed to continue your life 
 and ftrength as long as you can be in any way 
 ufeful to your Country ! 
 
 " I have entrufted this fheet inclofed in a 
 50 
 
394 WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 Box, made of the Oak that fheltered our Great 
 Sir William Wallace, after the battle of Falkirk, 
 to Mr. Robertfon, of Aberdeen, a Painter, with 
 the hope of his having the honour of delivering 
 it into your hands ; recommending him as an 
 able Artift, feeking for fortune and fame in the 
 New World. This box was prefented to me by 
 the Goldsmith's Company at Edinburgh, to 
 whom, feeling my own unworthinefs to receive 
 this magnificently fignificant prefent, I requefted 
 and obtained leave to make it over to the man 
 in the world to whom I thought it moft juftly 
 due. Into your hands I commit it, requefting 
 of you to pafs it, on the event of your deceafe, 
 to the Man, in your own country who fhall 
 appear to your judgment to merit it beft, upon 
 the fame confiderations that have induced me to 
 fend it to your Excellency. 
 
 " I am. Sir, with the higheft efteem, 
 Your Excellency's moft obedient 
 And obliged humble fervant, 
 
 BUCHAN. 
 
 " General Washington, Prefident | 
 of the United States of America. ) 
 
WASHINGTON S WILLI 395 
 
 " P. S — I beg your Excellency will have 
 the goodnefs to fend me your Portrait, that I 
 may place it among thofe I moft honour, and I 
 would wifh it from the pencil of Mr. Robert- 
 fon. I beg leave to recommend him to your 
 countenance ; as he has been mentioned to me 
 favourably by my worthy friend, Profefsor Oglive, 
 of King's College, Aberdeen. 
 
 Two Letters from General Washington to 
 Lord BucHAN. 
 
 Philadelphia J May i, 1792. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 " I fhould have had the honour of acknowl- 
 edging fooner the receipt of your letter of the 
 28th of June laft, had I not concluded to defer 
 doing it till I could announce to you the tranf- 
 mifsion of my portrait, which has juft been fin- 
 ifhed by Mr. Robertfon (of New-York) who has 
 alfo undertaken to forward it. The manner of 
 the execution of it does no difcredit, I am told, 
 
396 Washington's will. 
 
 to the artift, of whofe fkill favourable mention 
 has been made to me. I was further induced to 
 entruft the execution of it to Mr. Robertfon, 
 from his having informed me that he had drawn 
 others for your Lordfhip, and knew the fize which 
 beft fuited your coUedion. 
 
 " I accept, with fenfibility and with fatisfac- 
 tion, the fignificant prefent of the box which ac- 
 companied your Lordfhip's letter. 
 
 "In yielding the tribute due from every 
 lover of mankind to the patriotic and heroic vir- 
 tues of which it is commemorative, I eftimate, 
 as I ought, the additional value which it derives 
 from the hand that fent it, and my obligation for 
 the fentiments that induced the transfer. 
 
 " I will, however, afk, that you will exempt 
 me from the compliance with the requeft relating 
 to its eventual deftination. 
 
 " In an attempt to execute your wifh in this 
 particular, I fhould feel embarrafsment, from a 
 
^WASHINGTON S WILL. 397 
 
 juft comparifon of relative pretenfions, and fear 
 to riik injuftice by fo marked a preference. 
 
 "With fentiments of the trued efteem 
 and confideration, I remain your Lord- 
 fhip's moft obedient fervant, 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 Earl of BucHAN. 
 
 Philadelphia^ April 22, 1793. 
 "My Lord, 
 " The favourable wifhes which your Lord- 
 fhip has exprefsed for the profperity of this young 
 and rifing country, cannot but be gratefully re- 
 ceived by all its Citizens, and every lover of it ; 
 one mean to the contribution of which, and its 
 happinefs, is very judicioufly pourtrayed in the 
 following words of your letter, " To be little 
 heard of in the great world of politics." Thefe 
 words, I can afsure your Lordlliip, are expref- 
 five of my fentiments on this head ; and I be- 
 lieve it is the fincere wilh of United America, to 
 
39^ Washington's will, 
 
 have nothing to do with the political intrigues or 
 the fquabbles of European nations ; but, on the 
 contrary, to exchange commodities, and live in 
 peace and amity with all the inhabitants of the 
 earth ; and this I am perfuaded they will do, if 
 rightfully it can be done. To adminifter juftice 
 to, and receive it from every power they are con- 
 neded with, will, I hope, be always found the 
 moft prominent feature in the adminiftration of 
 this Country ; and I flatter myfelf that nothing 
 fhort of imperious necefsity can occafion a breach 
 with any of them. Under fuch a fyftem, if we 
 are allowed to purfue it, the agriculture and me- 
 chanical arts — the wealth and population of thefe 
 States, will increafe with that degree of rapidity, 
 as to baflle all calculation ; and muft furpafs any 
 idea your Lordfhip can, hitherto, have enter- 
 tained on the occalion. 
 
 " To evince that our views (whether real- 
 ized or not) are expanded, I take the liberty of 
 fending you the plan of a new City, Htuated 
 about the centre of the union of thefe States, 
 which is defigned for the permanent feat of the 
 
WASHINGTON S WILL. 
 
 399 
 
 Government ; and we are this moment deeply 
 engaged, and far advanced in extending the in- 
 land navigation of the river (Potomac) on which 
 it ftands, and the branches thereof, through a 
 trad of as rich country for hundreds of miles, 
 as any in the world. Nor is this a folitary in- 
 ftance of attempts of the kind, although it is the 
 only one which is near completion, and in par- 
 tial ufe. Several other important ones are com- 
 menced, and little doubt is entertained, that in 
 ten years, if left undifliurbed, we fhall open a 
 communication by water with all the Lakes 
 northward and weftward of us with which we 
 have territorial connections ; and an inland navi- 
 gation, in a few years more, may be carried into 
 efFedl from Rhode-Ifland to Georgia, partly by 
 cuts between the great Bays and Sounds, and 
 partly between the iflands and the main, from 
 Albemarle Sound to St. Mary's river. To thefe 
 fhould be added, the erection of bridges over 
 rivers, and the making of turnpike roads, as 
 further indications of improvements." 
 
SUBSCRIBER'S NAMES. 
 
 ±SAAC ANDREWS. 
 Jofeph Aborn. 
 James All, lifq. 
 Samuel AUberger. 
 Prefby Andrews. 
 Richard Appleton. 
 Benjamin Armitage. 
 David Armour. 
 William Armftrong. 
 James Afh, d. l. 
 Campbell S. A(kcw. 
 
 B 
 
 Mrs. Ann Barney. 
 Enoch Baily, 2 copies. 
 John Bailie. 
 John Baker. 
 Ely Balderftcn. 
 John Ballard. 
 John Banncrman. 
 Gabriel Barnhill. 
 Whitby Barnes. 
 Richard Barry. 
 Chrifcian Baum. 
 Robert Bcath. 
 Richard Bsll. 
 William Belton. 
 Lewis Benncr. 
 Richard Benfon. 
 George Betz. 
 Peregrine Biddle. 
 Gilbert Bigger. 
 John Bittinger. 
 James Bjlley. 
 John B:)lley. 
 Auguftus Boughan. 
 Jamej Boultcad. 
 Andrew Boyd, Ten. 
 James P. Boyd, Efq. 
 John Boyer. 
 
 R. N. Boycr. 
 Jofeph Brown. 
 Juftus Brown. 
 Mathew Brown. 
 Stewart Brown. 
 James Bryden. 
 Edward Buchannan. 
 George Buchannan, Efq. 
 Robert Buchannan. 
 Lawrence Buckley. 
 Jarrett Bull. 
 Edward Burns. 
 Charles Burrell, Efq. 
 Robert C. Burten. 
 George Bufch. 
 Thomas Buify. 
 
 c 
 
 James Calh:;un", Efq. 
 John R. Caldwell. 
 Andrew Calhoun. 
 James Campbell. 
 William Campbell. 
 John Carew. 
 Andrew Carfon. 
 Robert Cafey. 
 Jacob Cafner. 
 James Chalmers, jun. 
 Mathew Chambers. 
 Abfolom Chansy. 
 Edmund Channcll. 
 Samuel Chafe, Efq. 
 Thomas Chafe, Elq. 
 William Chrift. 
 James Clerk. 
 Jofeph Clerk. 
 James H. Clerkc. 
 Jacob Clinc. 
 John Clinefeldcr. 
 Andrew Cloppcr. 
 
SUBSCRIBER S NAMES. 
 
 John Cloppcr. 
 Peter Clopper. 
 Richard Coale. 
 John Coffie. 
 Jacob Cole. 
 John Cole. 
 Samuel Cole. 
 R. C. Combs. 
 Samuel Combs. 
 James Cookfey. 
 Thomas Cornthvvait. 
 Abner Crane. 
 John Crevey. 
 Henry Crift. 
 Jofhua Cromwell. 
 Charles Crook. 
 George Crook. 
 
 Crclby. 
 
 Jcfiah Croflcy. 
 Thomas Culberfon. 
 Richard Culverwell. 
 John Cunningham. 
 
 D 
 
 John Duer. 
 
 John Dalrymplc. 
 
 Anna Davidfon. 
 
 James Davidfon. 
 
 Henry Dcagan. 
 
 George Decker. 
 
 John M. Dcnnilon. 
 
 Jacob Deveter. 
 
 Philip Dew. 
 
 Thomas Dcwitt. 
 
 John Dift'enderffer. 
 
 Stephen Difhawon. 
 
 Archibald Dobbin. 
 
 Thomas Dobbin. 
 
 George Dobbin. 
 
 Robert Dobbin. 
 
 Daniel Dodge. 
 
 Daniel Donovan. 
 
 Valcnine Donovan. 
 
 Owen Dorfey, Efq. 
 
 Thomas B. Dorley, Bait. County. 
 
 John Dougherty, 
 
 George Douglafs. 
 
 Mylby Dryden. 
 
 George Duff, Bait. County. 
 
 Dr. Duffey. 
 
 P. T. Dumefnell. 
 
 George Dunbar. 
 
 James Dunning. 
 
 E 
 
 John P. Ebbecke. 
 Samuel Ecles. 
 Thomas Ecrefs. 
 Thomas Egnew. 
 Martin Eichelberger. 
 William Elliott. 
 William Elviens. 
 Hartman Ely. 
 Andrew Skinner Ennalls. 
 Philip Entler. 
 
 F 
 
 Peter Forney. 
 William Fathern. 
 Lewis Feight. 
 Thomas Fenning. 
 Joieph Fenour. 
 Ebenezer Finley. 
 John Filher. 
 Robert Fifher. 
 William Frazier. 
 Dominic French. 
 Peter Frick. 
 James R. Foard. 
 David Forney. 
 Samuel Foudrey. 
 James Foulds. 
 William Fulton, 
 
 G 
 
 WiLLI.AM GVVYNN, Efq. 
 
 James Gault. 
 Peter Gault. 
 John Georgia. 
 Jacob W. Giles. 
 G. Gittings. 
 
SUBSCRIBER S NAMES. 
 
 James Glenn. 
 
 John W. Gleun. 
 
 Robert Goifuch, Efq. 
 
 Stephen Gorton. 
 
 James Gould. 
 
 Charles Gvvin, Bait. County. 
 
 H 
 
 David Harris, Efq. 
 Edward Hall. 
 I. J. Hamilton. 
 Abraham G. Hammond. 
 Ephraim Hand. 
 Edward Hannah. 
 John F. Harris. 
 Lewis Hart. 
 James Hart. 
 Paul Hartman. 
 John H. Hafkins. 
 John Hawkins. 
 Peter Y. Helan. 
 H. S. Henry. 
 H. M. Henry, Efq. 
 Anthony Hill. 
 John H'. Hill. 
 Jonathan Hincks. 
 Peter Hoffman, fen. 
 Jeremiah Hoffman. 
 Ifaac Hollingfworth. 
 John Hooke. 
 John Hopkins, jun. 
 Peter Horn. 
 Frederick Hofs. 
 David Hoftettcr. 
 John Houlton. 
 Thomas Charles How. 
 John Howard. 
 Jolhua Howard. 
 William Hubbard. 
 Mefsrs. Hughes. 
 Chriftopher Hughes. 
 Nicholas Hutchins. 
 Nathaniel Hynfon. 
 
 J 
 
 Moses Jacobs. 
 
 Charles Irwen. 
 Edward Jenkins. 
 Thomas W. Jenkins. 
 Walter Jenkins. 
 William Jefsop. 
 Samuel Johnfton. 
 Charles Jones. 
 Ifaac Tones. 
 
 K 
 
 John Keller. 
 John Kandall. 
 Zachariah Keen. 
 George P. Keeports. 
 John Kilmcyer. 
 John King. 
 Thomas Kirby. 
 Felix Kirk. 
 
 L 
 
 John Lee. 
 Daniel Lammot. 
 Jofeph Lampart. 
 Henry Langtry. 
 David Larrabec. 
 Frederick Laudeman. 
 Hugh Lecky. 
 John Lemmon. 
 Frederick Lenhart. 
 Peter Lcret. 
 John Letourncaux. 
 Peter Lettig. 
 John Levering. 
 E. & J. Levering. 
 William Y. Lewis. 
 Lilly and Wheeler. 
 John Linville. 
 William Lloyd. 
 Peter Little. 
 Arnold Livers. 
 John Lowry. 
 John Lyeth. 
 
 M 
 
 John Miller. 
 Evans and M'Cabc 
 George Mackinzie, 
 
SUBSCRIBER S NAMES. 
 
 John Malkcr. 
 Charles Malloy. 
 John Mafs. 
 James Mafsey. 
 Jofeph Mather. 
 William Mathers. 
 William Mattiibn. 
 James Mawberry. 
 Alexander Maydwell. 
 Robert Maxwell. 
 John M'Claughlin. 
 William M'Cleary. 
 Robert M'Clellan. 
 James M'Cook. 
 Samuel M'Crea. 
 James M'Daniel. 
 William McDonald. 
 George M'DowcIl. 
 Hugh M'Doul. 
 Patrick Melone. 
 Jacob Meyers. 
 George Meyer. 
 John M'Gavven. 
 F. D. M'Henry. 
 Dennis M'Henry. 
 John Mickle. 
 Robert Mickle. 
 John Miles. 
 Thomas M'llroy. 
 Alexander M'llvain. 
 John M'Intire. 
 Alexander Miller. 
 Alexander Mitchell. 
 Francis I. Mitchell. 
 Peter Mitchell. 
 George Miltenbergcr, 
 John M'Keen. 
 Samuel M'Kim. 
 John M'Kinnel. 
 William M'Mcchan, Efq. 
 John B. M'Neir. 
 Noah Moffit. 
 John Moffitt. 
 Jacob Moore. 
 John Moore. 
 
 Ifaac Mordicai. 
 Samuel Mordicai. 
 Thomas Morgan. 
 James Mofher. 
 Philip Mofher. 
 William M'Pherfon. 
 H. M. Muller. 
 Benjamin H. Mullikin. 
 David Mummy. 
 Thomas Mummy. 
 
 N 
 
 Henry Nagle. 
 W. B. Nelms. 
 Jofeph Norman. 
 John Norris. 
 
 o 
 
 Daniel O'Brion. 
 
 Auguftus G. Oemler, a copies. 
 
 Samuel O'Hara. 
 
 J. Oldham. 
 
 Peter Orndorff. 
 
 Jofeph Olburn. 
 
 K. Owen, 
 
 John Owings, Bait. County. 
 
 P 
 
 William Payfon. 
 
 William Patterfon, Efq., 2 copies. 
 
 William Pcchin. 
 
 H. Peck. 
 
 John Pcirce. 
 
 liVacl Peirce. 
 
 Francis Pepper. 
 
 John H. Peyton, Efq. 
 
 Thomas Philpott. 
 
 John Pidgeon. 
 
 Thomas Pierpoint. 
 
 Jofeph Pierpoint. 
 
 George Pietfch. 
 
 John Pindall. 
 
 James Point. 
 
 David Porter. 
 
 Alexander Prentice. 
 
 Thomas Preftman. 
 
 Herman Printz. 
 
SUBSCRIBER S NAMES. 
 
 R 
 
 Thomas Ross. 
 John Rcigart. 
 John Rettig. 
 James Ridgely. 
 Jofeph Roach. 
 James Roberts. 
 Daniel A. Robinfon. 
 Jacob Rogers. 
 Nicholas Rogers. 
 George Rohrbach. 
 Stephen Rofe. 
 John Rothrock. 
 John Roy. 
 Robert Rufk. 
 Moles R utter. 
 Jeremiah P. Ryan. 
 
 s 
 
 Jacob Steiger. 
 Jofeph Saddler. 
 Francis Sampfon. 
 George Sampfon. 
 Elias Sampfon. 
 Saunder and Snyder. 
 Patrick P. Savage. 
 Jacob Schley. 
 Henry Schroeder. 
 William Shardal. 
 Philip Shartle. 
 Jacob Shryack. 
 Jofeph Scott. 
 Albert Seekamp. 
 Dennis Shaw. 
 Daniel Sheppard. 
 David Shield. 
 John Shrim. 
 Andrew Simmond. 
 Robert Smith, Efq. 
 Nelfon Smith. 
 William Smith. 
 William Smith. 
 James Smith. 
 Zedekiah Snow. 
 Jofeph Snowden. 
 Samuel Snowden. 
 
 John Snyder. 
 Andrew Snyder. 
 Thomas Sollers. 
 Stephen Southern. 
 John Sperry. 
 Edward H. Stall. 
 Thomas Stanlbury. 
 William Stanlbury. 
 Henry Star. 
 Jefse Starr. 
 Jofliua Stephenfon. 
 Samuel Stephenfon. 
 John Stephenlon. 
 John Stewart. 
 John Stewart. 
 Richardfon Stewart. 
 James Stewart. 
 Edward Stone. 
 James Strong. 
 John Stump. 
 James D. Summers. 
 William Summers. 
 Elias Sweeny. 
 
 T 
 
 William Thompson. 
 P. L. Tanner. 
 William Taylor. 
 John Thompson. 
 Thomas Tibbels. 
 Jofeph and John Trimble. 
 Jacob Trimble. 
 Michael Tiernan. 
 James Timmons. 
 Daniel Trulock. 
 
 u 
 
 Philip Uhler. 
 William B. Underwood. 
 
 w 
 
 Robert Wilson, Efq. 
 William Walker. 
 Michael Wall. 
 John Walraven. 
 Clement Waliham. 
 Peter Walter. 
 
SUBSCRIBER S NAMES. 
 
 Jeremiah "Vamagon. 
 
 Daniel Warfield. 
 
 Warner and Hanna. 
 
 William Waters. 
 
 John Waters. 
 
 Waterman Waters. 
 
 Lawrence Waterhoufe, 
 
 Jacob Wethernton. 
 
 Captain Charles G. Watkins. 
 
 Jacob Weaver. 
 
 Lewis Weaver. 
 
 P. G. Welmore. 
 
 William Wellmore. 
 
 Alexander Welih. 
 
 William Weft. 
 
 Jefse Wheeler. 
 
 Ephraim Whitney. 
 
 John Wier. 
 
 John Wiley. 
 
 James Wiley. 
 
 John Sprigg Bell. 
 Benjamin Berry, jun. 
 Robert Cour. 
 A. Dorfey. 
 Edward H. Dorfey. 
 Lloyd Dorfey. 
 John Donovan. 
 James Edglin, jun. 
 James Froft. 
 Jofhua Griffin, jun. 
 Philip Griffin, jun. 
 William Hammond. 
 
 N. F. Williams. 
 
 William Williams. 
 
 William Willy. 
 
 Henry Arnold Wilms. 
 
 William Wilfon. 
 
 John Wilfon. 
 
 Jacob Winand. 
 
 Jacob Winard. 
 
 George K. Wife. 
 
 Peter Worel. 
 
 Thomas Worthington, Bait. County. 
 
 John Worthington, Bait. County. 
 
 Charles D. Wood. 
 
 Ifaac Woodworth. 
 
 Y 
 
 Leonard Yundt. 
 Jonas Yoner. 
 
 z 
 
 John Zi 
 
 E LKR I DG E 
 
 Horatio Johnfon, 
 James Marriott. 
 John Norwood, 
 Michael Porter. 
 Jacob Read, jun. 
 John Steiger. 
 Michael Scott. 
 Larkin Shipley. 
 Jonathan Woollis. 
 James Walker. 
 Matthew Walker. 
 
 AN N JP O LIS 
 
 Samuel B. Archer. 
 Nicholas Brewer. 
 William Brewer. 
 Thomas Garnett. 
 Lewis Gafsaway. 
 William S. Green. 
 George Howard. 
 
 Peter Kirkwood 
 
 Thrufton M. Taylor. 
 
 Elizabeth Thompfon. 
 
 Henry Thompfon. 
 
 John Thomplbn. 
 
 William H. Brown, Virginia. 
 
 Chriftopher Jackfon. 
 
I 
 
 SUBSCRIBER S NAMES. 
 
 HANOVER. {Pennsylvania.) 
 
 Adam Ault. Levi M'Peak. 
 
 Philip Beltz. George Nace. 
 
 Daniel Clapfadle. David Newman, 
 
 Mathias Dolmick. Chriftian Wirt. 
 
 Jacob Eichelberger, jun. Andrew Will. 
 
 Adam Forney. Michael Slagle. 
 
 Daniel Gobrecht. Richard Seabrooks. 
 
 David Gobrecht. John Slagle. 
 
 Martin Helman. William Smith. 
 
 Michael Helman. Jacob Winrut. 
 
 Jacob Metzger. Jacob Rudifell, Efq. 
 
 g@* The Lift of the Subfcriber'i Names for EASTON and part tf 
 
 ANN ARUNDEL, &c. is not come to hand. 
 
ui