Читать книгу The Student's Life of Washington; Condensed from the Larger Work of Washington Irving - Вашингтон Ирвинг, Washington Irving - Страница 12

[Before following Washington into the retirement of domestic life, we think it proper to notice the events which closed the great struggle between England and France for empire in America. Abercrombie had been superseded in command by Major-general Amherst. According to the plan of operations for 1759, General Wolfe was to ascend the St. Lawrence in a fleet of ships of war with eight thousand men, and lay siege to Quebec. General Amherst, in the meantime, was to advance against Ticonderoga and Crown Point, reduce them, and push on to the St. Lawrence to co-operate with Wolfe. A third expedition, under Brigadier-general Prideaux, aided by Sir William Johnson, was to attack Fort Niagara. Having reduced this fort he was to proceed against Montreal.

The last mentioned expedition was the first executed. The fort was invested by General Prideaux, early in July. The garrison, six hundred strong, made a resolute defence. Prideaux was killed on the 20th of July while visiting his trenches, and General Gage was sent to succeed him in command. Meantime the siege was pressed with vigor by Sir William Johnson. Learning that twelve hundred regular troops were hastening to the rescue of the besieged, he despatched a force to intercept them. They met within distant view of the fort, and after a sharp conflict the French were routed and pursued through the woods. The garrison, having now no alternative, surrendered, the terms offered being honorable.

Meanwhile, General Amherst with twelve thousand men had descended Lake George. On the 23d they debarked, and proceeded toward Ticonderoga. Montcalm was absent for the protection of Quebec. The garrison did not exceed four hundred men. A defence against Amherst's overwhelming force would have been madness; and Bourlamarque, who was in command, consequently dismantled the fortifications, as he did likewise those of Crown Point, and retreated down the lake. Instead of following him up and hastening to co-operate with Wolfe, General Amherst proceeded to repair the forts, though neither was in present danger of being attacked. His delay enabled the enemy to rally their forces at Isle Aux Noix, and deprive Wolfe of the aid essential to the general success of the campaign.

Wolfe ascended the St. Lawrence in June. With him were Colonel Guy Carlton, and Lieutenant-Colonel William Howe, both destined to achieve celebrity in the annals of the American Revolution. The troops debarked on the Isle of Orleans, a little below Quebec. Quebec is built around the point of a rocky promontory, and flanked by precipices. The St. Lawrence sweeps by it on the right, and the St. Charles on the left. The place was not then, as now, rendered impregnable by fortifications. Montcalm commanded the post. His forces were drawn out along the northern shore below the city, from the St. Charles to the Falls of Montmorency, and their position was secured by intrenchments. Wolfe established batteries at the west point of the Isle of Orleans, and at Point Levi, on the south bank of the St. Lawrence, within cannon range of the city. From Point Levi the city was cannonaded; the lower town was reduced to rubbish, and many houses in the upper town were fired. Anxious for a decisive action, Wolfe, on the 9th of July crossed to the north bank of the St. Lawrence, and encamped below the Montmorency. He determined to attack Montcalm in his camp, however difficult to be approached, and however strongly posted. The plan of attack was complicated; orders were misunderstood; confusion ensued; and the attack proved a disastrous failure. News was now received of the capture of Fort Niagara, Ticonderoga, and Crown Point. Their successes fired the sensitive commander, and he declared he would never return without success. He made a reconnoitering expedition above Quebec. Rugged cliffs rose from the water's edge; above them was a plain called the Plains of Abraham, by which the upper town might be approached on its weakest side. It was determined to attempt reaching the Plains by scaling the cliffs at night. On the 13th of September, in flat-bottomed boats the troops passed the town undetected; landed in a cove called Cape Diamond; scrambled and struggled with difficulty up a cragged path; put to flight a sergeant's guard at the summit, and by break of day were in possession of the Plains.

Montcalm was thunderstruck when intelligence of the fact was brought to him. He hastened to the defence of the approaches to the city; a desperate battle ensued on the fated Plains. Wolfe, who was in front of the English line, was wounded in the wrist. A second ball struck him in the breast. He was borne to the rear. "It is all over with me," said he, and desired those about him to lay him down. Presently they cried, "They run! they run! see how they run!" "Who runs?" asked Wolfe eagerly, rousing from a lethargy into which he had fallen. "The enemy, sir: they give way everywhere." "Now, God be praised, I will die in peace," exclaimed the dying hero, and, turning upon his side, expired. The English had indeed obtained a complete victory; and among the enemy's losses was that of their gallant leader, Montcalm. The English, now in strong position on the Plains, hastened to fortify. Preparations were now made for the attack by both army and fleet on the upper and lower town, but the spirit of the garrison was broken, and they capitulated on the 17th of September.

Had Amherst followed up his successors, the year's campaign would have ended in the subjugation of Canada. His delay gave De Levi, the successor of Montcalm, time to rally and struggle for the salvation of the province. He laid siege to Quebec in the spring, and was on the eve of success, when the arrival of a British fleet reversed the scene. The besieging army retreated, and made a last stand at Montreal; but being invested with an overwhelming force, defence was hopeless. On the 8th of September, Montreal, and with it all Canada, surrendered, and the contest between France and England for dominion in America was ended.]

For three months after his marriage, Washington resided with his bride at the White House. During his sojourn there, he repaired to Williamsburg, to take his seat in the House of Burgesses. By a vote of the House it had been determined to greet his installation by a signal testimonial of respect. Accordingly, as soon as he took his seat, Mr. Robinson, the Speaker, in eloquent language, dictated by the warmth of private friendship, returned thanks, on behalf of the colony, for the distinguished military services he had rendered to his country. Washington rose to reply; blushed – stammered – trembled, and could not utter a word. "Sit down, Mr. Washington," said the Speaker, with a smile, "your modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses the power of any language I possess." Such was Washington's first launch into civil life, in which he was to be distinguished by the same judgment, devotion, courage, and magnanimity exhibited in his military career. He attended the House frequently during the remainder of the session, after which he conducted his bride to his favorite abode of Mount Vernon. "I am now, I believe," he writes, "fixed in this seat, with an agreeable partner for life, and I hope to find more happiness in retirement than I ever experienced in the wide and bustling world."

Mount Vernon was his harbor of repose, where he repeatedly furled his sail, and fancied himself anchored for life. No impulse of ambition tempted him thence; nothing but the call of his country and his devotion to the public good. The place was endeared to him by the remembrance of his brother Lawrence, and of the happy days he had passed here with that brother in the days of boyhood: but it was a delightful place in itself, and well calculated to inspire the rural feeling. The mansion was beautifully situated on a swelling height, crowned with wood, and commanding a magnificent view up and down the Potomac. The grounds immediately about it were laid out somewhat in the English taste. The estate was apportioned into separate farms, devoted to different kinds of culture, each having its allotted laborers. Much, however, was still covered with wild woods, seamed with deep dells and runs of water, and indented with inlets; haunts of deer, and lurking-places of foxes.

These were, as yet, the aristocratical days of Virginia. The estates were large, and continued in the same families by entails. Many of the wealthy planters were connected with old families in England. The young men, especially the elder sons, were often sent to finish their education there, and on their return brought out the tastes and habits of the mother country. The governors of Virginia were from the higher ranks of society, and maintained a corresponding state. A style of living prevailed that has long since faded away. The houses were spacious, commodious, liberal in all their appointments, and fitted to cope with the free-handed, open hearted hospitality of the owners. Nothing was more common than to see handsome services of plate, elegant equipages, and superb carriage-horses – all imported from England.

Washington, by his marriage, had added above one hundred thousand dollars to his already considerable fortune, and was enabled to live in ample and dignified style. His intimacy with the Fairfaxes, and his intercourse with British officers of rank, had perhaps had their influence on his mode of living. He had his chariot and four, with black postilions in livery, for the use of Mrs. Washington and her lady visitors. As for himself, he always appeared on horseback. His stable was well filled and admirably regulated. His stud was thoroughbred and in excellent order.

A large Virginia estate, in those days, was a little empire. The mansion-house was the seat of government, with its numerous dependencies, such as kitchens, smoke-house, workshops and stables. In this mansion the planter ruled supreme; his steward or overseer was his prime minister and executive officer; he had his legion of house negroes for domestic service, and his host of field negroes for the culture of tobacco, Indian corn, and other crops, and for other out-of-door labor. Their quarter formed a kind of hamlet apart, composed of various huts, with little gardens and poultry yards, all well stocked, and swarms of little negroes gambolling in the sunshine. Then there were large wooden edifices for curing tobacco, the staple and most profitable production, and mills for grinding wheat and Indian corn, of which large fields were cultivated for the supply of the family and the maintenance of the negroes.

Washington carried into his rural affairs the same method, activity and circumspection that had distinguished him in military life. He kept his own accounts, posted up his books and balanced them with mercantile exactness. The products of his estate became so noted for the faithfulness, as to quality and quantity, with which they were put up, that it is said any barrel of flour that bore the brand of George Washington, Mount Vernon, was exempted from the customary inspection in the West India ports.

He was an early riser, often before daybreak in the winter when the nights were long. He breakfasted at seven in summer, at eight in winter. Two small cups of tea and three or four cakes of Indian meal (called hoe cakes), formed his frugal repast. Immediately after breakfast he mounted his horse and visited those parts of the estate where any work was going on, seeing to every thing with his own eyes, and often aiding with his own hand. Dinner was served at two o'clock. He ate heartily, but was no epicure, nor critical about his food. His beverage was small beer or cider, and two glasses of old Madeira. He took tea, of which he was very fond, early in the evening, and retired for the night about nine o'clock.

Washington delighted in the chase. In the hunting season, when he rode out early in the morning to visit distant parts of the estate where work was going on, he often took some of the dogs with him for the chance of starting a fox, which he occasionally did, though he was not always successful in killing him. He was a bold rider and an admirable horseman, though he never claimed the merit of being an accomplished fox-hunter. In the height of the season, however, he would be out with the fox-hounds two or three times a week, accompanied by his guests at Mount Vernon and the gentlemen of the neighborhood, especially the Fairfaxes of Belvoir, of which estate his friend George William Fairfax was now the proprietor. On such occasions there would be a hunting dinner at one or other of those establishments, at which convivial repasts Washington is said to have enjoyed himself with unwonted hilarity.

The waters of the Potomac also afforded occasional amusement in fishing and shooting. The fishing was sometimes on a grand scale, when the herrings came up the river in shoals, and the negroes of Mount Vernon were marshalled forth to draw the seine, which was generally done with great success. Canvas-back ducks abounded at the proper season, and the shooting of them was one of Washington's favorite recreations. The river border of his domain, however, was somewhat subject to invasion. An oysterman once anchored his craft at the landing-place, and disturbed the quiet of the neighborhood by the insolent and disorderly conduct of himself and crew. It took a campaign of three days to expel these invaders from the premises. A more summary course was pursued with another interloper. This was a vagabond who infested the creeks and inlets which bordered the estate, lurking in a canoe among the reeds and bushes, and making great havoc among the canvas-back ducks. He had been warned off repeatedly, but without effect. As Washington was one day riding about the estate he heard the report of a gun from the margin of the river. Spurring in that direction he dashed through the bushes and came upon the culprit just as he was pushing his canoe from shore. The latter raised his gun with a menacing look; but Washington rode into the stream, seized the painter of the canoe, drew it to shore, sprang from his horse, wrested the gun from the hands of the astonished delinquent, and inflicted on him a lesson in "Lynch law" that effectually cured him of all inclination to trespass again on these forbidden shores.

Occasionally he and Mrs. Washington would pay a visit to Annapolis, at that time the seat of government of Maryland, and partake of the gayeties which prevailed during the session of the legislature. Dinners and balls abounded, and there were occasional attempts at theatricals. The latter was an amusement for which Washington always had a relish, though he never had an opportunity of gratifying it effectually. Neither was he disinclined to mingle in the dance, and we remember to have heard venerable ladies, who had been belles in his day, pride themselves on having had him for a partner, though, they added, he was apt to be a ceremonious and grave one.

In this round of rural occupation, rural amusements and social intercourse, Washington passed several tranquil years, the halcyon season of his life. His marriage was unblessed with children; but those of Mrs. Washington experienced from him parental care and affection, and the formation of their minds and manners was one of the dearest objects of his attention. His domestic concerns and social enjoyments, however, were not permitted to interfere with his public duties. He was active by nature, and eminently a man of business by habit. As judge of the county court, and member of the House of Burgesses, he had numerous calls upon his time and thoughts, and was often drawn from home; for whatever trust he undertook, he was sure to fulfil with scrupulous exactness.

About this time we find him engaged, with other men of enterprise, in a project to drain the great Dismal Swamp, and render it capable of cultivation. This vast morass was about thirty miles long, and ten miles wide, and its interior but little known. With his usual zeal and hardihood he explored it on horseback and on foot. In many parts it was covered with dark and gloomy woods of cedar, cypress, and hemlock, or deciduous trees, the branches of which were hung with long, drooping moss. Other parts were almost inaccessible, from the density of brakes and thickets, entangled with vines, briers and creeping plants, and intersected by creeks and standing pools. In the centre of the morass he came to a great piece of water, six miles long, and three broad, called Drummond's Pond, but more poetically celebrated as the Lake of the Dismal Swamp. It was more elevated than any other part of the swamp, and capable of feeding canals, by which the whole might be traversed. Having made the circuit of it and noted all its characteristics, he encamped for the night upon the firm land which bordered it, and finished his explorations on the following day. In the ensuing session of the Virginia Legislature, the association in behalf of which he had acted was chartered under the name of the Dismal Swamp Company; and to his observations and forecast may be traced the subsequent improvement and prosperity of that once desolate region.