1775. MEETING OF THE SECOND CONGRESS.

41

of the Assembly of the province he was added to the number of its delegates to Congress. Considering how long he had resided in the mother country, and how many of her leading statesmen he had seen and known, his testimony as to their real views and feelings was of course much relied on. And throwing as he did promptly and keenly his whole weight into the scale most adverse to Great Britain, his unfavourable representations and predictions had probably no little influence in making that scale preponderate.

Inflamed still further by the recent events at Lexington, the second Congress met in no complying humour. They chose for their President first Peyton Randolph, and on his retirement soon afterwards John Hancock, the owner of the Liberty sloop at Boston. They assumed as their future title THE UNITED COLONIES. They rejected with little ceremony the conciliatory proposition of Lord North, which indeed had been already tossed aside by most of the Provincial Assemblies. They prohibited the export of provisions to the British fisheries, or to any Colony which still continued in obedience to Great Britain, a measure which, as they intended, was productive for the time of great distress. In like manner they forbade the supply of any necessaries to the British army or navy in Massachusetts Bay, and the negotiation of bills of exchange drawn by any British officer. They declared that no obedience was due to the Act of Parliament repealing the Charter of Massachusetts, and they recommended to the people of that province until their Charter should be restored to elect an Assembly and Council, and exercise all powers of government on their own authority.

Votes such as these, especially with the temper by this time raised in England, could not be maintained without supplies both of men and money. For these the Congress early made provision. With respect to pecuniary means they decided to issue notes on their joint credit, or, as it was termed, Continental paper money, to the amount in the first instance of two millions of Spanish dollars. Such was the resource on which, rather than on free gifts or fresh taxes, the Americans mainly relied during the remainder of the contest. Considering the subsequent extension of their national

wealth, and the great pride which they have ever felt in the origin and event of their Revolutionary War, it might be supposed that all the obligations contracted in and for that war had been promptly and punctually discharged. This, however, has by no means been the case. So lately as 1818 an English traveller in the United States observes: "The nation have not redeemed their "notes, nor I presume will they ever. I boarded at the "house of a widow lady in America whose whole family "had been utterly ruined by holding these notes.”*

With respect to a military force the Congress began with an unanimous vote "that these Colonies be immedi'ately put into a state of defence." They determined to raise and take into their pay new bodies of men to be distinguished from the Provincial Militia of each Colony, and to be called the Continental Troops, a distinction and a name which it is essential to bear in mind through the whole remaining period of this war. Their next object was to appoint some person Commander-in-Chief not only of their principal army now engaged in the blockade of Boston, but also of all other armies raised or to be raised in North America. The right choice of such an officer was indeed, as they felt it, most vitally important to them, the very corner-stone in the new structure that they sought to rear. Such a choice if well-directed might prosper, but if injudicious could not fail utterly to sink and ruin, their design. It was in a happy hour for themselves, and for their cause, that their choice fell on Colonel George Washington.

George Washington was born in 1732. His great grandfather, John Washington, had settled in Virginia about eighty years before, and was descended from an old gentleman's family in England. There was a common descent between them and the Earls of Ferrers †,

* Fearon's Sketches of America, p. 154. ed. 1819. From June 1775 till November 1779 the total amount of the paper money emitted by the Congress was nominally two hundred millions of dollars. The real depreciation did not commence till the spring of 1777, but increased so rapidly that the last issue of ten millions in November 1779 was held equivalent at most to only 259,000 in specie. See some further details in the Memoirs and Correspondence of Jefferson, vol. i. p. 412.

† Extract from the STEMMATA SHIRLEIANA as communicated to

1775.

GENERAL WASHINGTON.

43

whose ancient device-three Mullets above two Bars Argentas blazoned in the Heralds' College, and as borne by that line of Earls, appears no less on the seal of the American General. He was the eldest son of his father's second marriage, and lost that father when only eleven years of age. His education was almost confined to geometry, trigonometry, and surveying, since his friends, it appears, when they could not prevail on his mother that he should enter the Royal Navy, designed and prepared him for the profession of Surveyor, one of the most lucrative in a newly settled country, though happily for that country the profession of arms was finally preferred. No aid was derived by him at any period from any other than his native tongue. He never even commenced the study of the ancient classics. The latest and best of his biographers informs us that when in the Revolutionary war the French officers came over he bestowed some attention on their language, but at no time could write or converse in it, or translate any paper from it.*

The passion of love, but of a pure and lofty kind, found early entrance in his breast. When only sixteen, and on a visit to Lord Fairfax in Virginia, he writes as follows to a friend: "There is a very agreeable young lady in "the house. But that only adds fuel to the fire, as being ❝often and unavoidably in company with her revives my "former passion for your Lowland beauty; whereas were "I to live more retired from young women I might in some measure alleviate my sorrow by burying that chaste "and troublesome passion in oblivion; and I am very "well assured that this will be the only antidote or "remedy."†

For three years at this period, that is until almost twenty, Washington was constantly occupied, when the season would allow, in surveying wild lands among the Allegany mountains, or on the southern branches of the Potomac. He says in one passage of his correspondence: me by Evelyn Philip Shirley, Esq. Both the late and the present Earls Ferrers (the former born in 1760) were christened Wash

INGTON.

*Life by Jared Sparks, p. 10. ed. 1839.

Writings edited by Sparks, vol. ii. p. 419.

"Since you received my letter of October last I have not slept above three or four nights in a bed, but after walking a good deal all the day I have lain down before "the fire upon a little hay, straw fodder, or a bear-skin, "whichever was to be had, with man, wife, and children, "like dogs and cats, and happy is he who gets the berth "nearest the fire!"

*

Engaging at nineteen in the Virginian Militia Washington was forthwith appointed Adjutant General of one of the districts, with the rank of Major and the pay of 150l. a year. In his first campaign of 1754 I have already had occasion to relate how he was overpowered and compelled to capitulate by a party of French. But no blame attached to his conduct; on the contrary, the House of Burgesses of Virginia passed a vote of thanks to him and his officers "for their bravery and gallant defence.” Next year he was a witness of Braddock's disaster, but again with honour to himself; he had four bullets through his coat and two horses killed under him.† Almost immediately afterwards he was named Colonel and commander of the whole Virginian force. In this post his behaviour was such as to gain the respect and affection of all his officers, who presented to him an address expressive of their deep regret when at the close of 1758 he determined on resigning his commission and retiring into private life.

A few days later-in January 1759-the main motive of his resolution became apparent by his marriage with Mrs. Martha Custis, a widow, who is described by his biographer as both handsome and accomplished. To his fortune, already not inconsiderable, she brought an accession of above one hundred thousand dollars. With this lady Washington established himself at his countryhouse on the banks of the Potomac, which he had inherited from his elder brother, and which in compliment to the Admiral under whom that brother served at Carthagena had been named Mount Vernon. Mrs. Washington had no children by the Colonel a title that he still retained. He was always tenderly attached

* Vol. iv. p. 44.

† To his brother, July 18. 1755.

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GENERAL WASHINGTON.

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to her, and exemplary in that relation of life as in every other.

In his correspondence of that period he says: "I am now, I believe, fixed at this seat with an agreeable partner for life, and I hope to find more happiness in "retirement than I ever experienced amidst the wide "and bustling world." He mentions in the same letter, "the longing desire which for many years I have had of "visiting the great metropolis of England."-" But," he adds, "I am now tied and must set inclination aside."*

It is remarkable that his letters at that time, and until the Colonial storm had burst, frequently use the word "home" to designate the mother country.f

During many years did Washington continue to enjoy the pleasures and fulfil the duties of an independent country gentleman. Field-sports divided his time with the cultivation and improvement of his land and the sales of his tobacco; he showed kindness to his dependents, and hospitality to his friends; and having been elected one of the House of Burgesses in Virginia, he was, whenever that House met, exact in his attendance. To that well-regulated mind nothing within the course of its ordinary and appointed avocations seemed unworthy of its care. His ledgers and day-books were kept by himself; he took note of all the houses where he partook of hospitality, so that not even the smallest courtesies might pass by unremembered; and until his press of business in the Revolutionary War he was wont every evening to set down the variations of the weather during the preceding day. It was also his habit through life, whenever he wished to possess himself perfectly of the contents of any paper, to transcribe it in his own hand, and apparently with deliberation, so that no point might escape his notice. Many copies of this kind were after his death found among his manuscripts.

We may observe, however, that in the mind of Washington punctuality and precision did not, as we often find them, turn in any degree to selfishness. On the contrary,

* To Richard Washington, September 20. 1759. † As April 5. 1769, and in several other passages.

Writings, vol. ii. p. 505. and Introduction to that volume, p. xii,