Patrick Henry, then Governor of Virginia, where inoculation was forbidden by law:

"You will pardon my observations on Small Pox, because I know it is more destructive to the army, in the natural way, than the enimies' sword, and because I shudder whenever I reflect upon the difficulties of keeping it out!"

Such was the fearful character of the danger from which Washington was protected from the age of nineteen. The loathsome pestilence, which in 1751 menaced the life of the youthful Virginian traveller in Barbadoes, was in reality at charm which rendered the Beloved Commander of the American Armies in 1775, and in the following years of the contest, all but invulnerable, in the presence of a foe more destructive than the enemy's sword." If to refer this to an overruling Providence be a superstition, I desire to be accounted superstitious.

On the memorable expedition of Major Washington to the post of the French military Governor at Venango in 1753 -his first entrance into active public duty of that kind-he was exposed to dangers from which his escape was all but miraculous. The journey of five or six hundred miles was made in the winter season, through a country as yet unsettled, and a considerable part of it still traversed by the natives of the continent, many of whom were under French influence. Perils of no ordinary kind attended him every step of the way. Few persons, probably, at the present day have an adequate idea of the danger, which at that time attended any excursion from the settled portions of the country into the districts still occupied by the native tribes. Frontier war even among civilized races is ever unrelenting; the collisions of the civilized and barbarous races in the mutual reactions of provocation and vengeance, have in all times been deplorably merciless. In 1753 a new element was added to the bitterness of border warfare, by the efforts of the Provincial

governments both of France and England to secure the cooperation of the natives in the approaching struggle. It is scarcely necessary to say to those who are familiar with the dark accounts and traditions of Indian warfare, what this cooperation implied. The native races, not yet broken by the power nor enervated by the contact of the dominant races, still practised those revolting cruelties on their prisoners, which cannot be read without sickening horror. After Braddock's defeat-two years later than General Washington's journey to Venango, the English soldiers who surrendered. themselves as prisoners, were, within sight and hearing of Fort Duquesne, made to undergo at the stake for hours, the most exquisite tortures which the human frame could support, or savage ingenuity inflict. Such were the perils to which Washington was exposed, in voluntarily undertaking this dangerous expedition. Traders from the Anglo-American settlements had already been made prisoners, in some cases sent to France, in some, it was said, put to death in the wilderness, where a life more or less, even in time of peace, was of little account.

Having fulfilled his mission, and fearing that sinister influences might be exerted over the Indians on his return, he was compelled to accelerate his departure. As he traversed the woods with his pack on his back, attended by a single companion, their treacherous savage guide at night-fall turned, and at a distance of fifteen paces, fired but without result, at Washington and his companion. Escaped from this imminent peril, but well knowing that the Indians were on their trail, they pursued their journey foot-sore for the whole of a December night, till they reached the Alleghany river then filled with drift ice. It could be crossed only on a raft which they labored all day with one poor hatchet" to construct. In attempting to cross the river on this raft, Washington while using the setting pole, was thrown with violence into. the water where it was ten feet deep, and saved his life only

by clinging to a log. Unable to force the raft to either shore they passed the night, in garments which froze to their bodies, upon an island in the middle of the stream. Had the morning found them there, unable to reach the left bank, the tomahawk and the scalping knife would, in all human probability, have been their fate. But the cold which was so intense, that Washington's companion-hardy woodman as he was, froze his feet-froze the river between the Island, where they had passed the night, and the left bank of the Alleghany, and at dawn they crossed in safety.

I have no metaphysics to bandy with those who can reflect on the career which was in reserve for Washington, and who can see nothing in his escape from the rifle of his guide, from capture from the pursuing savages, from imminent danger of drowning, and from his unsheltered exposure in frozen garments for a livelong December night, but the ordinary adventures of a bold young man on the wilderness frontier. I see rather in these perils and in these escapes, the hand of Providence ;-and hear in them a voice, which in the language of the devout poet, announced the high purpose:

"To exercise him in the Wilderness:

There shall be first lay down the rudiments
Of his great warfare, ere I send him forth
To conquer."

NUMBER THIRTY-SEVEN.

SEVEN CRITICAL OCCASIONS AND INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF WASHINGTON.

Braddock's expedition in 1755-Washington a volunteer aid-Falls ill on the way and sent back to the reserve-Joins the army the day before the engagementBeautiful scene of war on the morning of the battle-Surprise and total defeat of General Braddock's army-Gallant conduct of Colonel Washington throughout the engagement-Great danger to which he was exposed-Interview with an Indian Chieftain on the Kanawha in 1770-Prediction in 1755 of his future careerReflection by Mr. Sparks-Washington's visit to New York in 1756, where he is the guest of Beverley Robinson-Makes the acquaintance of Mary Philipse-She marries Captain Orme and adheres with her family to the royal cause.

THE next instance of a Providential interposition in the life of Washington, to which I shall allude, took place two years later. The mission to Venango, which I mentioned in my last Number, was undertaken by direction of the Governor of Virginia, for the purpose of ascertaining the strength of the French on the north-western frontier, and their probable designs in that quarter. The following year, (1754,) though the war was not declared in Europe till 1756, a small military force was sent in that direction, under Colonel Washington, which after some partial success, was forced by the greatly superior strength of the enemy to a disastrous retreat. It is mentioned by the historians as a striking coincidence, that he was compelled, under capitulation, to evacuate "Fort Necessity," (so called to indicate the straits to which he had been reduced,) on the 4th of July 1754;-the day to be afterwards rendered, and in no small degree by his inestimable services, forever memorable in the annals of America.

Such were the courage, skill, and energy displayed by the youthful commander in these trying scenes, that he came out of the campaign not only without reproach but with enhanced reputation.

The

The following year a great effort was made by the mother country to repair the disasters of 1754, and to secure an ascendency on the banks of the Ohio; for this was the limit of Anglo-American ambition before the seven years' war. wildest imagination had not yet grasped the mighty domain which stretches westward to the peaceful ocean and the setting sun. Early in the spring of 1755, two regiments of regular British troops, commanded by General Braddock, a brave and experienced officer, but arrogant, passionate, and selfwilled, arrived in Virginia, and were moved westward toward the passes through the Alleghanies. Colonel Washington had retired from the army, disgusted by the regulations, which gave precedence to officers holding under the royal commission over their seniors of the same rank in the provincial service, thus placing him under those whom he had commanded in the former campaign. Influenced, however, by strong attraction toward military life, and animated by fervent patriotic zeal, he accepted the invitation of General Braddock, (to whom he had been made known by reputation, as the officer of the greatest experience and ability in the provincial service,) to join his military family as a volunteer aid. On the passage through the mountains Colonel Washington was attacked by a fever, with such violence that the surgeon was alarmed for his life, and the General required him to fall back upon the reserve, which was proceeding slowly with the baggage and heavy artillery. To this Washington consented, only on condition that he should be allowed to join the main body before an engagement. Placed under the care of the surgeon in a wagon, reduced by disease, and suffering from the uneasy motion of the vehicle, he remained with the reserve two weeks, and was only able to return to Head Quar