Show A J ry IMIE BY T TA E 1 installment 18 lie was cut to tile the quick that ills his own fown officers should deeni lit hlin nn 1111 ad willing to advance lila ills own power at tile lie expanse of tile tho very principles lie ho bad fought for his fits thought must havo gone bick back ut nt a bound to ills old with brother lawrence with alth tile fair faxes georgo george mason iason and tb alie 0 alecs and gill all that free collel col company lil illy of genalo gelati nien inen in tho northern neck alio w bo revered law loved liberty and hit hnton ted a usurper hut but lie he could not blink tile the just com coin lits all and real grievances of the army nor did lio lie NOBI alah to th though ough othera were angry after a manner ho he scorned lied no mans grief or indignation was as deeper than ills hla that tho the army should bo be luft left pandil penniless ess after oil nil it had suffered and dono done and bo be threatened besides with being turned adrift without reward or hope of provision for the future promises justice to the army no man possesses a more sincere wish to see ample justice done to the amy army than I 1 do he had declared to colonel nicola and as far as my power end and influence in a constitutional way extend they shall bo be employed to the ut utmost of my abilities to effect it tho the pledge was fulfilled in almost every letter he wrote private or public lie ile urged the states as he urged the congress in season and out of season to see austice done the men who had won the revolution and whom he loved as it if they had been of his bis own blood his counsel disregarded hut but even ills hla great voice went too long unheeded tile the spirit spi of party private interest slowness and notional national indolence slacken suspend and overthrow tho the best beat concerted measures the abbe robin had observed upon ills hla first coming with rochambeau and now measures were not so much na as concerted until a fina menace from tile the army brought the th country to its senses A troubled summer caroo came and went and another winter of anxious doubt and ineffectual counsel i the very approach of peace as aa it grew more certain quickened the angly fears of the army nat lest peace afi should be made a pretext when it conic came to dis disperse perso them before their demands could be driven home upon the demoralized and reluctant government they were learning to despise another ahring and the mischief so BO long maturing was ripp ripe it looked as beven if even washington could not prevent it A menace from the army it had been rumored in philadelphia while the winter held that the army had secretly determined not to i lay ilay down their arms until due provision and a satisfactory prospect should be afforded on the subject of their pay and that washington had grown unpopular among almost all ranks because of ills his hursh harshness riess against every unlawful means of se be curing justice ilta ills extreme reserve mixed some umea with a degree of asperity of i temper both of which were said to have increased of late had contributed to the decline of his popularity so 10 ran the report and it grow grew every week the more unlikely he could check tho the treasonable purposes of ills his men springing the mine in march 1783 the mine was sprung and then men learned by a now new sign what power there was in the silent man how lie ho could handle disaffection and disarm reproach an open address was spread broad east through tile the camp calling upon tile the army to use its power to obtain its rights and inviting a me ottlig of the officers to devise a way can you consent to be ba the only sufferers by this revolution if f you can go eo carry with you tho the ridicule and nd what Is worse tho the pity of the world go starve and be forgotten but it if you luave have benr enough to discover and spirit eti ough to oppose tyranny awake attend to your situ situation and yourselves yours elvea such were its it kindling phrases rind ric no man mail need deceive himself with thinking they would go unheeded eded checkmates Check mates the movement washington showed jils its tact anti and mastery by assuming immediate control of the movement witti with a sharp rebuke for such a breach of manly propriety and soldierly discipline but with no thought to stay a righteous protest prot pst HP himself summoned the officers and when they had come tO gethel stepped to the desk before them with no show of anger or offended dignity but very gravely with a sort of kalesty it moved one strangely to bee se arad taking a written paper from his pocket adjusted ills hia spectacles to read it gentleman he said very simply pl v you will permit me to put on my for I 1 have not only grown gay but almost blind in the service af my country 1 alaan a victor i str vote wet the in r ro room m no man stirred read words of admont ti alon a of counsel and of hope which bli burned wd at tile tho oar car and whon when lie ho was done all abid had withdrawn leaving thein to do what they would they did nothing of which lie ho could bo ashamed they spoke manfully as was right of what they deemed it just and lm pera operative tive tho the congress should do for them but they resolved unanimously that at tile commencement of ahn present war tile tho officers of tho the amerlean american army anny engaged in tho the service ot of their country front from the purest love anti and attachment to the rights and liberties of human nature which motives till exist in the highest degree and that no circumstances of distress or danger shall induce a conduct that may tend to sully tho the reputation and 9 lory glory which they have acquired at the petco of their blood and eig eight lit years faithful services urges congress bongren to act washington know knew nevertheless how flow black a danger lurked among those these distressed men did not fall to speak plainly of it to the congress and breathed freely again only when the soldiers just demands had nt last in some come matsure been met by at any rate the proper legislation ile ho grow weary with longing tot fot peace when the work seemed done and his fits thoughts and leisure to turn towards his homo home again put but once lit in all the lengthened days of fighting had he seen mount vernon lie he had turned aside to spend a night or two there on his way to yorktown and lie he had seen the loved place again for a little after the victory was win now am amidst profitless days daya at newburgh or in counsel with the committees of the congress upon business that fiat was never finished while affairs stood as it were in a sort of paralysis Iv waiting alting upon the interminable con ferencis feren feret cBS ices of at the three powers who haggled over definitive terms of peace at home seemed to him in his hie weariness more to be desired desired than ever before sorrow at mount vernon private had stricken him at tho the very moment ot of his triumph scarcely had tho the victory at yorktown been celebrated when ho be was called november lugii 1781 to the death bed of jack custis his wayward but dearly loved stepson and had there to endure tho the sight of his cifes grief and the young widows hopeless sorrow added to ills his own the two youngest children he claimed for himself with that wistful fatherly longing that lad had always marked him and mount vernon seemed to him more like a haven than ever where to seek rest and solace the two years ho be had yet to wait may well have seemed to him the longest of ills his life and may have added a touch of their own to what strangers deemed ills his sternness WaB washington hIngton had seldom seemed so stern as in one incident of those trying months an of the american army had been taken in a skirmish and the english had permitted a brutal company of loyalists under tinder one captain lippincott to take him from his prison lit in new york and wantonly hang him in broad daylight on an the heights near middletown washington at once notified the british commander that unless the murderers were delivered up tip to be punI punished shod a british officer would be chosen by lot front from amborg his prisoners to suffer in their stead and when reparation was withheld proceeded without hesitation to carry his threat into execution tho the lot fell upon captain charles asgill lin an engaging youth of only nineteen tho the heir of a great family I 1 lady ady asgill ahm ladel ands mother did no not stop short of moving morins the very french court itself to intervene to save tier soil and at last the congress counseled ills hla release th tho english conini commander suder having diva rowed the act of tho the murderers mur derera ers lit in whose place placa lie he wits was to stiffer and washington himself having asked to be directed what he should do captain asgill has been released washington arote to vergennes in answer to the great ministers intercession 1 I havo have no right to assume any particular merit from tile the lenient manner in which this disagreeable affair lias has terminated hut but I 1 beg you vou to believe sit that I 1 most sincerely rejoice not only because your humane intentions aro are gratified but because the event accords with the wishes of his bis most christian majesty 1 A great weight lifted it lifted a great weight from his heart to have tho the innocent boy to go unhurt from ills his hands and lie he wrote almost tenderly to him in acquainting qua inting him with its his release but it was of his simple nature to have sent the lad to tile the gallows nevertheless had things continued to stand as they were at first lie ho was inexorable to check perfidy and vindicate the just rules of war men alen were reminded while the affair of the hanging of andre arnolds british confederate in treason and how pitiless the commander ln in chief had bad seemed in sending the frank accomplished lovable gentleman to his fits disgraceful death like ilka any corn mon spy opy granting him not evan even the favor to be shot like a soldier it seemed scorned hard to learn tile the inflexible lines upon which that consistent mind worked as if it had zono sono to school to fate rate goodby to his officers nut but no one deemed him hard ur or stern or so much as a thought moro more or less leaa than human when nt at last the british had withdrawn from new nev york and ho he stood amidst life offic r tit in fraunces coB tavern to say cay goodby ito iio could hardly speak bacak for emotion ito ho could only lift hla his glass and say with a heart full of lovo love and gratt gratl tude I 1 now take my leave ot of you most devoutly wishing that your latter days may be as aa prosperous and happy as your former ones have bavo been glorious and honorable 1 11 cannot come to each of you and take my leave he said but shall be obliged it if you will come and take me by the hand A fervent parting when general knox who stood blood nearest approached him he drew him to him with a sudden impulse and kissed hirs him and not a soldier among them all went away without an embrace from this man who was deemed cold and distant dla tant after tile tho parting they followed him in silence to whitehall hall perry and saw him take boat tor for his bis journey and then standing before the congress congreso at annapolis to resign his commission pe he added the crow crowning nine touch or of simplicity to hla his just repute as a man beyond others noble and sincere resigns his commission 1 I have now the honor of offering my sincere congratulations to congress lie he said as he stood amidst the august scene they had prepared tor for him and of presenting myself before them to surrender into their hands the trust committed to me and to claim the indulgence of retiring from the service of my country happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty and pleased with the opportunity afforded the united states of becoming a respectable nation I 1 resign with satisfaction is faction the appointment I 1 accepted accept 0 d with diffidence a diffidence in my iny abilities to accomplish so arduous a task which however was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of our oar cause the support of the supreme power of the union and the patronage of heaven the successful ful termination of the war has verified the most sanguine ex ei and my gratitude for the interposition of providence and the assistance si stance I 1 have received from my countrymen increases with every review of the momentous contest I 1 consider it my indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my official life by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of almighty god and those who have the superintendence of them to his holy keeping it was asif aalf s spoken on the morrow of the day upon which lie he accepted hla his commission the same eama diffidence the same trust in a power greater and higher than hla his own an idol and a hero the pl plaudits audits that had but just now filled hla his cars at every stage of hla his long journey from new york seemed utterly forgotten lie beefed not to know how his fellow countrymen had find made of him an idol and a hero hla his simplicity was once again his acthen i tic badge of 0 genuineness lie he knew i it would seem no other way in which which to act A little child remembered afterwards how lie he had ila prayed prated at her fathers house upon the ove eve of battle I 1 how ha ba lad had taken scripture scriP turn out of joshua and had crim the lord god ot of sod the lord god of rods gods he Un anti israel lie ho shall know kilow if it bi ba in rebellion or jf if in slon lon si lali the lard sato u da net this day I 1 thero there war aa hero the banle note nota of solemnity and of self forgetful force t fill devotion as if duty anti and honor wro wore alike inevitable on oil christmas eve I 1 washington was once inore at mount vernon Ver tion to resume the life lie ho loved loed more t than ban victory anti power j lie he had a zest for tile the means and the labor of succeeding but bit not for the more contant of lie he put the revolution resolution behind him av as lie would have laid aside a book that was read turned froin it as quietly as lie he had turned from receiving tho the surrender or of cornwallis Corn wallia at yorktown interested in victory actori not nol as a pageant and field of glory glor but only as a means to ia end lie he looked to find very ery sweet satisfaction in the peace which war had earned as sufficient a scope for h bis Is powers at home as in the field once more lie he would be a virginian and join his strength to his neighbors in all tile the tasks of good aitt zenshin zen ship ile he had sen seen nothing of the old familiar places since that faraway far away spring in the year 1776 1775 when ho he had left his fa and his fox hunting amidst rumors of war to attend the congress which was to send him to cambridge ile he had bad halted at fred ericksburg indeed with the count da rochambeau imbeau two years ago ere he followed his hie army from york to its ite posts upon the hudson mrs amro lewis ills his sister had returned one day from visiting a neighbor in the quiet town to look in astonish astonishing int at upon an officers horses and attendants at her door and had entered to find her beloved brother stretched upon tier hor own bed within sound asleep in his bis clothes like a boy return I 1 from hunting takes his mother to a ball there had been a formal ball given too in celebration of the victory before tile tho french officers and the commander ln in chief loft fredericksburg to KO go northward again and washington had had tho alio joy of entering the room in the face of the gay company w with I 1 tit life aged mother on his arm not a whit bont bent for all her seventy four years and as quiet as a queen at receiving tile the homage of bar sons com comrade raden an fn ti a anis ile he had |