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HOME LIFE AND PRIVATE INTERESTS.

OME at last! Probably the words and the thought which they embody, were never more sweet to any man, than were they to Washington when he returned to Mount Vernon, and again took up the thread of the pleasant rural life, which had been so rudely interrupted by the call to arms. Surely no one ever settled more naturally and quietly, from the guardianship of a nation to agriculture. In fact, all through the war Washington had carried the map of his plantation with him, and had directed, if he could not personally administer, his affairs. He had known every season what crops each farm was devoted to, what the yield, price and profit or loss, so exact and methodical was he, even in the field. It is not possible to follow minutely in this work, the life of the late commander and coming president, in the interval between the past which he had relinquished and the future which he did not suspect. His house was open with its old-time generous yet simple hospitality. He entertained all who came with any shadow of title to recognition, and these were more and more, as the months and years passed. Washington, by fighting with France and against England, had become a man of note in the two leading nations of Europe, thence his repute had spread over the continent, and his house was besieged by tourists of every name and nationality; then, too, there came the leading men of America, and, last and most. welcome, those whom he loved as his own brothers,—his old associates in arms. He possessed a liberal estate, but it had not prospered as in the old days when he had superintended its conduct, and there was free exportation of its tobacco; he was cramped for money, and did not cease to be so for some years. What was at first but an unconvenience, became, with the continual demands upon his hospitality, a positive embarrassment. The Pennsylvania legislature, knowing of the constant throng of visitors coming to his door, thoughtfully called the attention of

Congress to the facts, and recommended that some action be taken for his relief. News of this movement came to him while he was in real anxiety, and, to many men, would have come as a piece of good fortune, but he respectfully and gratefully declined it, his pride of independence, and his especial determination that his service of his country should be gratuitous, standing as repellant sentinels at the opening of his empty purse. How serious this embarrassment later became, is best illustrated by certain letters published for the first time in Bancroft's History of the United States. The first of these, addressed to his mother under date of February 17, 1787, is as follows:

'HONORED MADAM:-I have now demands upon me for more than five hundred pounds, three hundred and forty odd of which are due for the tax of 1786, and I know not where or when I shall receive one shilling with which to pay it."

The second letter is addressed to his family physician, to whom he was indebted in the sum of sixty pounds. It enclosed thirty pounds, and apologized for not remitting the whole amount of the debt:

"I wish it was in my power to send the like sum for the other year, which is now about or near due; and that I could discharge your account for attendance and ministries to the sick of my family, but really it is not, for with much truth, I can say I never felt the want of money so sensibly since I was a boy fifteen years old, as I have for the last twelve months, and probably shall for twelve months more to come."

The last, and, evidently, to Washington, the most humiliating of these letters, is addressed to Richard Conway, of New York city. It was written on the 4th day of March, 1789, after his election to the presidency, for the purpose of securing a loan from Conway, to enable him to pay the expense of his inauguration, and is as follows:

"DEAR SIR-Never, till within these two years, have I experienced the want of money. Short crops, and other causes, not entirely within my control, make me feel it now very sensibly. Under this statement I am inclined to do what I never expected to be driven to—that is, to borrow money on interest. Five hundred pounds would enable me to discharge what I owe in Alexandria, etc. Having thus fully and candidly explained myself, permit me to ask if it is in your power to supply me with the above or a smaller sum. Any security you may like I can give, and you may be assured that it is no more my inclination than it can be yours, to let it remain long unpaid."

At the moment when this letter was written, the United States owed Washington not far from fifty thousand dollars, which it was ready to pay, and he refused to accept. In the year of grace, 1887, there is, in the city which bears his name, a monument to his memory which for many years

was uncompleted for lack of funds; and yet the Government has had the use of the sum named for one hundred years.

In the month of September, 1784, Washington, in company with his old friend, Dr. Clark, made a tour of inspection, which was at first intended to cover all his lands west of the mountains, including extensive tracts upon the Ohio and Kanawha. These he designed to survey and map, so that they might be available for settlement or sale. The unquiet and dangerous condition of the Indian tribes rendered the penetration of the wilder ness beyond Fort Pitt too hazardous to be attempted, and the two, with their servants and pack-horses, contented themselves with proceeding as far as that point, then made a rough march over the mountains, and, descending into the Shenandoah, reached Mount Vernon, having, in little more than a month, traveled more than six hundred miles, sleeping, for the most part, in a tent, and renewing the experiences of the campaigning of more than thirty years before, in the same region.

The expedition had another object beyond its private purpose, and one of vastly more importance. Washington was thoroughly imbued with the belief of the Roman emperors, that a road is the best civilizer. He saw the magnificent resources of the West, lying, like diamonds in a Brazilian river bed, only waiting to be uncovered and brought to the doors of the settlement, to bring to America a vast population and wealth that should make the shining shores of the Indies seem pitiful. He saw, too, the dangers arising from the existence of alien populations on either hand, the British to the northward, with the command of the great lakes; the Spanish to the southward, with the Mississippi offering so easy a highway to the sea. In all these he saw that the time might one day come when America should lose by the finesse and natural advantages of her neighbors, what she had won at so great cost of blood and treasure, -the whole of her vast interior trade. Beyond this, he feared for the political allegiance of the communities which were yet to come into being in the wilderness, should their commercial connections be with foreign and possibly hostile nations. He was no prophet, and could not foretell the intervention of steam in the settlement of the great problem. His view comprehended the rising of a mighty people, which should grow from year to year, indefinitely, and that the improvement of water communication, and the extension of the great highway system, were the only possibilities of providing for this great growth.

Before the Revolution Washington had carefully considered the subject of inland communication, and had become convinced of the feasibility of easy and cheap communication between the waters of the Potomac and James rivers and those of the Monongahela and Ohio, and thence, by the construction of canals, to the great lakes. He had great confidence that this alone was necessary to attract to Virginia a great volume of trade, at

once to develop the new West and add to the commerce of his beloved state. His plan was discussed in private circles, and received with so much favor, that he was led to visit Richmond and lay the matter before the state legislature. He arrived at the capital on the 15th of November, 1784, and was met by a committee of five members of the House, headed by Patrick Henry, which received him with every demonstration of profound respect and affection. His suggestions were received, and the action which resulted was the first systematic step in the great series of internal improvements undertaken by Virginia, and afterward imitated by every state in the country. He later attended a meeting, held at Annapolis, by committees from the states of Maryland and Virginia, to devise means for the improvement of the navigation of the James and Potomac rivers. Two companies were formed for the purpose, and he was made president of each. In addition, it was voted that forty shares of stock of the James company, and one hundred shares of that of the Potomac company, be set aside for him, as an indication of indebtedness to him for his services in the matter. He had thus far refrained from accepting money, or its equivalent. for any public service, yet he felt that to decline outright the generous offer thus made would be to slight the men who were so evidently sincere. Hence he compromised by accepting the stock, which was worth about forty thousand dollars, in trust for some educational purpose. Thus it was eventually bestowed.

Washington's home life was like that of any other private gentleman of Virginia, save for the added duties of hospitality and business which the veneration and love of his countrymen and of the world forced upon him. His correspondence was immense, and he was obliged to employ a private secretary. Constant demands that he should sit for his portrait were complied with, and, as a result, the world has a magnificent collection of representations of his face. He tells, in answer to a letter begging for a sitting, how he was at first restive as a colt under the saddle, when submitting to the process; how he acceded to the second request with regret, but had at last come to go to the artist's chair as docilely as any dray horse to the thills. To his farms, of more than three thousand six hundred acres of cultivated land, he gave his personal attention, arising before dawn, and immediately after breakfast making a tour of his various fields in the saddle. Socially he was wont to be grave, yet would often unbend and sometimes laugh most heartily; he was a most courteous host; by his family and servants he was loved and respected, never feared. His will was so absolutely the law of the household, that those about him were unconscious of the happy despotism under which they lived. He stocked his farm with deer; he occasionally followed the hounds as, when but a stripling, he rode beside the sturdy old Fairfax. As he had proved equal to the emergencies of war, so now, with rarer greatness, he settled himself to a quiet and unostenta

tious life of peace. His letters during that period are full of the odor of the fields; he seems entirely happy in his life and, in at least one letter, avows his determination to pass the remainder of his days in the comfort of domestic life. How little he foresaw the future! Already events without the charmed environment of the Mt. Vernon life, had aroused his deep solici tude. The Confederation was little more than a shadow. Congress, the creature of the states, was powerless to enforce its own measures. The states which had been parties by representation, to the peace compact, refused to recognize their treaty obligations. Wild schemes of agrarianism and for an irredeemable paper currency gained consideration. Washington kept up a large correspondence with Knox, Lee, and others; writing purely as a private citizen, and arrogating to himself no especial influence, he urged a more substantial union, and the endowment of Congress with sufficient powers to give that body dignity and authority.

The result of the public agitation arising from the abuses of government, was to lead to the forming of a project for a convention, to devise a form of government, and to frame a constitution for the United States. This ripened, and Washington was named to head the Virginia delegation. His first desire was to evade the duty, but many considerations—not the least of which was that the popular feeling imputed monarchial sympathies to such as did not take an active part in advancing the aims of the convention-united in causing him to alter his mind, and accept the appointment. He set out from his home on the 9th of May to attend the convention. It was his desire to travel without any ostentation, but the spontaneous demonstrations of the people could not be avoided. He was not suffered to pass through any town without some indication of enthusiasm, and when he reached the environs of Philadelphia, was met by an escort of cavalry, under General St. Clair, and was constrained to mount a beautiful white horse, led for his use, and make a kind of triumphal entry.

The history of the convention, which was tardy in beginning its deliberations, and continued them during seven hours of each day for four months, is given at length in a later portion of this work. Washington was unanimously chosen its president, and was by that fact cut off from any great active part in the deliberations and debates of the body. Yet his influence was doubtless efficiently given to the promotion of the objects which he deemed most important to be accomplished.

After the adjournment of the convention, Washington returned to Mount Vernon, and awaited anxiously the necessary ratification of the Constitution by nine of the thirteen colonies. This, in due time, came, much to his relief. Even before the ratification, there had been unmistakable indications of a popular desire to make Washington president of the new United States. This was a new source of anxiety, and there is no question that he sincerely considered the necessity of facing the question,