ed in the notes of a sermon preached by Samuel Davies, on the 17th August, 1755, to Capt. Overton's independent company of volunteers, raised in Hanover county, Virginia. "As a remarkable instance of patriotism, I may point out to the public that heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved in so signal a manner, for some important service to his country." What renders this prophecy the more worthy of notice, is its having been delivered about twenty years prior to the commencement of the war, which terminated in the American Independence.

In the year 1758, Washington commanded the van brigade of the army under General Forbes, and distinguished himself by the capture of Fort Du Quesne. During, this successful campaign, he acquired a perfect knowledge of tactics. His frequent skirmishes with the French and Indians, in the woody regions along the frontiers, taught him vigilance and circumspection, and roused that spirit of enterprize, which is ever ready to seize the crisis that leads to victory. The troops under his command were gradually inured in that most difficult kind of warfare called bush-fighting, while the activity of the French, and ferocity of the Indians,

were overcome by his superior valour. After the enemy had been defeated in several battles, and compelled to retreat far beyond the colonial boundaries, General Forbes left a sufficient garrison in the different forts which he had captured along the banks of the Ohio, and returned with the army into winter quarters.

In the course of this decisive campaign, which restored the tranquillity and security of the middle colonies, Washington had suffered many hardships, which impaired his health. He was afflicted with an inveterate pulmonary complaint, and extremely debilitated, insomuch that in the spring of 1759, he resigned his commission, and retired to Mount Vernon. The Virginia line expressed their high sense of his merit, by an affectionate address on this occasion; and his answer was marked with that modesty and magnanimity, which were the most prominent traits of his mind.

By a due attention to regimen, in the quiet and salubrious bowers of Mount Vernon, he gradually recovered from his indisposition. But as during the tedious period of his con-valescence, the British arms had been victorious, his country had no further occasion for the exertion of his military talents. In the

year 1761, love invaded his retirement. The object of his choice was an amiable young widow, whose maiden name was Dandridge. She was descended from a reputable family, and two of her brothers were officers in the British navy. This lady was the widow of Colonel Custis, who had left her sole executrix to his extensive possessions, and guardian. to his two children. The union of Washington with this accomplished woman*, was productive of their mutual felicity; and as he incessantly pursued agricultural improvements, he embellished and enriched the fertile fields around Mount Vernon. Meanwhile he was appointed a magistrate, a member of the assembly of that state, and a judge of the court. These honourable avocations kept the powers of his mind in a state of activity; he attended to his civil duties with exemplary propriety; and gave a convincing proof, that the simplicity of the farmer is homogeneal with the more dignified views of the senator.

But the moment approached, in which Washington was to relinquish those honourable civil avocations, and one of the most remarkable events recorded in history, obliged him to act a conspicuous part on the great theatre of the world. The American revo* Mrs. Washington was born in the year 1732.

lution originated in the errors of a few British politicians, and the joint exertions of a number of public spirited men among the colonists, who incited their countrymen to resist parliamentary taxation. A more remote and obscure cause, however, contributed to rear the edifice of this new republic. In order to trace this secret spring of action to its source, it will be necessary to take a cursory retrospective view of the colonization, improvement and state of North America, previous to the commencement of hostilities with Great Britain.

The first emigrants from England to North America, especially those who settled in New-England, had left their native country to avoid persecution. Supported by enthusiasm, they relinquished all the endearing delights and comforts of society, and braved every hardship incident to a worse climate, an uncultivated soil, hunger, and the extremes of heat and cold. Besides these miseries, they had the sanguinary ferocity of the ancient inhabitants to contend with.Their perseverance and fortitude surmounted those numerous obstacles, and they established themselves in a country where they enjoyed that political and religious liberty so dear to them, and which had been violated

in their native country, by the tyranny of the house of Stuart.

The principles that animated the first emigrants from Great Britain had been carefully transmitted to their posterity, who, though they had divested themselves of their religious enthusiasm, yet their ardent zeal for republicanism remained in full vigour.

The mother country in planting her colonies in North America, had endowed them with every privilege employed by her subjects at home. She left them at full liberty to govern themselves by whatever laws the wisdom of their own provincial assemblies might think expedient; and she empowered them to pursue their respective interests, but claimed the exclusive benefit of their trade, and their allegiance to the same sovereign.

The Americans on the other hand, cherished the most tender veneration for the mother country; the name of an Englishman gave them an idea of every thing that was great and estimable in human nature, and they considered the rest of mankind as barbarous, compared with the people from whom they were descended. The colonists had of ten experienced the protection of Britons, and witnessed their valour with admiration; as the contest with France had been begun