Part 30 (1/2)
In conducting the affairs of the Potomac company, he took an active part; to that formed for opening the navigation of the James, he could only give his counsel.
While Was.h.i.+ngton was at Richmond attending to the interests of internal navigation he had been joined by Lafayette, who, since his recent visit to Mount Vernon, had accompanied the commissioners to Fort Schuyler to make a treaty with the Indians, and had a.s.sisted on that occasion.
He had subsequently made a tour in the eastern States, where he was received with much distinction and he was now on his return to pay a farewell visit to Was.h.i.+ngton at Mount Vernon.
He remained only a week at Mount Vernon. Was.h.i.+ngton accompanied him to Annapolis, where Lafayette was honored with a public reception and address by the Legislature of Maryland, and there, on the 30th of November, 1784, these distinguished men took leave of each other. From Annapolis Lafayette proceeded to Trenton, where Congress was then in session, and on Christmas day he embarked at New York for France in the frigate Nymphe. The following is an extract from a letter written by Was.h.i.+ngton to Lafayette on his return to Mount Vernon:
”The peregrination of the day in which I parted from you ended at Maryborough. The next day, bad as it was, I got home before dinner.
”In the moment of separation, upon the road as I traveled, and every hour since, I have felt all that love, respect, and attachment for you, with which length of years, close connection, and your merits have inspired me. I often asked myself, as our carriages separated, whether that was the last sight I ever should have of you? And though I wished to say No, my fears answered Yes. I called to mind the days of my youth, and found they had long since fled to return no more; that I was now descending the hill I had been fifty-two years climbing, and that, though I was blest with a good const.i.tution, I was of a short-lived family, and might soon expect to be entombed in the mansion of my fathers. These thoughts darkened the shades, and gave a gloom to the picture, and consequently to my prospect of seeing you again. But I will not repine; I have had my day.
”Nothing of importance has occurred since I parted with you. I found my family well, and am now immersed in company; notwithstanding which, I have in haste produced a few more letters to give you the trouble of, rather inclining to commit them to your care, than to pa.s.s them through many and unknown hands.”
Among the letters referred to in the above extract was one to the Marchioness de Lafayette and another to her little daughter. In the former he writes: ”The Marquis returns to you with all the warmth and ardor of a newly-inspired lover. We restore him to you in good health, crowned with wreaths of love and respect from every part of the Union.”
1. Footnote: This statue was executed by Houdon, and stands in the capitol at Richmond. It is in the costume of commander-in-chief of the army, and is considered an excellent likeness. Another statue of Was.h.i.+ngton, by Canova, was in the Roman costume, and in a sitting posture. It was made for the State of North Carolina, and was unfortunately destroyed when the capitol was burnt. Another statue stands in the statehouse at Boston. It was the result of a private subscription. A fourth, by Greenough, adorns the grounds of the capitol at Was.h.i.+ngton.
2. Footnote: Custis, ”Memoir of Martha Was.h.i.+ngton.”
3. Footnote: Sparks.
CHAPTER II.
WAs.h.i.+NGTON PRESIDES AT THE FORMATION OP THE CONSt.i.tUTION. 1785-1788.
On first retiring to Mount Vernon (1785), Was.h.i.+ngton had devoted his attention to the restoration of his estate to that high condition of order and productiveness which had been maintained under his own personal superintendence previous to the war. During his absence of nine years he had constantly corresponded with his manager and given particular directions respecting its cultivation. But it had suffered much in his absence, and he was determined to renovate it by a.s.siduous care. He gave up the cultivation of tobacco because it had a tendency to exhaust the soil, and planted wheat in its stead, giving attention at the same time to the production of gra.s.s, maize, potatoes, and oats, and pursuing the system of rotation in crops now considered so indispensable by intelligent farmers.
When this system was well established he commenced planting and adorning with trees the grounds surrounding the mansion-house. His diary shows that he paid great attention to this object, directing the setting out of a great number and variety of ornamental trees, some of them being obtained in the neighboring woods and others brought from a great distance. He also replenished his gardens, orchards, and green-houses with choice fruits and flowers which were confided to the care of skilful gardeners.
Meantime the number of guests entertained at Mount Vernon was ever on the increase. Many were known to have crossed the Atlantic for the sole purpose of visiting the founder of the Republic. Among these was Mrs.
Catharine Macauley Graham. By the principles contained in her ”History of the Stuarts,” this lady had acquired much reputation in republican America and by all was received with marked attention. She was cordially received at Mount Vernon, and, if her letters may be credited, the exalted opinion she had formed of its proprietor was ”not diminished by a personal acquaintance with him.”
The French military and naval officers, Lafayette, Rochambeau, D'Estaing, and others, gave letters of introduction to be presented to Was.h.i.+ngton by their friends whenever any of them came to America, and those letters were always duly honored by hospitable attentions to those who bore them. His own compatriots were still more numerous and more a.s.siduous in attention to the retired commander. Officers who had served with him in the old French war and in the Revolution, members of Congress, politicians, and magistrates from distant States, were among the guests at Mount Vernon; so that Was.h.i.+ngton's time would thus have been completely taken up but for the efficient aid which he received in discharging the duties of hospitality from the ease, urbanity, and excellent management of his accomplished lady.
”His habits,” says Mr. Sparks, ”were uniform and nearly the same as they had been previously to the war. He arose before the sun and employed himself in his study writing letters or reading till the hour of breakfast. When breakfast was over his horse was ready at the door, and he rode to his farms and gave directions for the day to the managers and laborers. Horses were likewise prepared for his guests whenever they chose to accompany him, or to amuse themselves by excursions into the country. Returning from his fields and dispatching such business as happened to be on hand, he went again to his study, and continued there till 3 o'clock, when he was summoned to dinner. The remainder of the day and the evening were devoted to company or to recreation in the family circle. At 10 he retired to rest. From these habits he seldom deviated unless compelled to do so by particular circ.u.mstances.” [1]
In a delightful memoir [2] of his own life and times by Mr. Elkanah Watson, we find the following interesting notice of Was.h.i.+ngton at home, and we also learn what subject chiefly occupied his thoughts at the time of which we are writing:
”I had feasted my imagination for several days,” says Mr. Watson, ”on the near prospect of a visit to Mount Vernon--the seat of Was.h.i.+ngton. No pilgrim ever approached Mecca with deeper enthusiasm. I arrived there on the afternoon of January 23d, 1785. I was the bearer of a letter from General Greene, with another from Colonel Fitzgerald, one of the former aides of Was.h.i.+ngton, and also the books from Granville Sharpe. Although a.s.sured that these credentials would secure me a respectful reception, I felt an unaccountable diffidence as I came into the presence of the great man. I found him at table with Mrs. Was.h.i.+ngton and his private family, and was received with the native dignity and urbanity so peculiarly combined in the character of a soldier and eminent private gentleman. He soon put me at ease, by unbending in a free and affable conversation.
”The cautious reserve which wisdom and policy dictated whilst engaged in rearing the glorious fabric of our independence was evidently the result of consummate prudence and not characteristic of his nature. Although I had frequently seen him in the progress of the Revolution and had corresponded with him from France in 1781 and 1782, this was the first occasion on which I had contemplated him in his private relations. I observed a peculiarity in his smile which seemed to illuminate his eye; his whole countenance beamed with intelligence, while it commanded confidence and respect. The gentleman who had accompanied me from Alexandria left in the evening, and I remained alone in the enjoyment of the society of Was.h.i.+ngton for two of the richest days of my life. I saw him reaping the reward of his ill.u.s.trious deeds in the quiet shade of his beloved retirement. He was at the matured age of fifty-three.
Alexander died before he reached that period of life and he had immortalized his name. How much stronger and n.o.bler the claims of Was.h.i.+ngton to immortality! In the impulses of mad, selfish ambition, Alexander acquired fame by wading to the conquest of the world through seas of blood. Was.h.i.+ngton, on the contrary, was parsimonious of the blood of his countrymen, stood forth the pure and virtuous champion of their rights, and formed for them, not himself, a mighty empire.
”To have communed with such a man in the bosom of his family I shall always regard as one of the highest privileges and most cherished incidents of my life. I found him kind and benignant in the domestic circle, revered and beloved by all around him, agreeably social, without ostentation; delighting in anecdote and adventures, without a.s.sumption; his domestic arrangements harmonious and systematic. His servants seemed to watch his eye, and to antic.i.p.ate his every wish; hence a look was equivalent to a command. His servant Billy, the faithful companion of his military career, was always at his side. Smiling content animated and beamed on every countenance in his presence.
”The first evening I spent under the wing of his hospitality we sat a full hour at table, by ourselves, without the least interruption, after the family had retired. I was extremely oppressed with a severe cold and excessive coughing, contracted from the exposure of a harsh winter journey. He pressed me to use some remedies, but I declined doing so. As usual after retiring my cough increased. When some time had elapsed the door of my room was gently opened, and on drawing my bed-curtains, to my utter astonishment, I beheld Was.h.i.+ngton himself standing at my bedside with a bowl of hot tea in his hand. I was mortified and distressed beyond expression. This little incident, occurring in common life with an ordinary man would not have been noticed, but as a trait of the benevolence and the private virtue of Was.h.i.+ngton it deserves to be recorded.
”He modestly waived all allusions to the events in which he had acted so glorious and conspicuous a part. Much of his conversation had reference to the interior country and to the opening of the navigation of the Potomac, by ca.n.a.ls and locks at the Seneca, the Great, and the Little Falls. His mind appeared to be deeply absorbed in that object, then in earnest contemplation. He allowed me to take minutes from his former journal on this subject, of which the following is a partial summary:
”'The stock of the company is divided into 500 shares at 50 sterling each. The ca.n.a.l company has been incorporated by both Maryland and Virginia.' Was.h.i.+ngton had accepted the presidency of it. 'The preliminary preparations are in full train, to commence operations in the ensuing spring, not only to remove the obstacles in the Potomac to a boat navigation from Georgetown to Fort c.u.mberland, a distance of 190 miles, but to the ultimate construction of a ca.n.a.l to Lake Erie, which is intended not only to give a direction to the fur trade from Detroit to Alexandria, but to attract the eventual trade of the country north of the Ohio which now slumbers in a state of nature.' This scheme was worthy of the comprehensive mind of Was.h.i.+ngton.