*OXF LIBRARY DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO WIT. SEAL. BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the thirteenth day of February, in the twenty-eighth year of the Independence of the United States of America, CALEB P. WAYNE, of the said District, hath deposited in this Office the Title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the words following, to wit:.... "The Life of George Washington, Commander in Chief of the "American Forces, during the War which established the Indepen"dence of his country, and First President of the United States.... "Compiled under the inspection of the Honourable Bushrod Wash"ington, from original papers bequeathed to him by his deceased "Relative, and now in possession of the Author. To which is pre"fixed, an Introduction, containing a compendious View of the "Colonies planted by the English on the Continent of North Ame. "rica, from their settlement to the commencement of that war which “terminated in their Independence. By JOHN MARSHALL.” In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States entituled "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned....And also to the Act entituled " An act Supplementary to an Act entituled "An act for the encouragement of learning by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." D. CALDWELL, Clerk of the PREFACE, BY THE AUTHOR. A DESIRE to know intimately those illustrious personages, who have performed a conspicuous part on the great theatre of the world, is, perhaps, implanted in every human bosom. We delight to follow them through the various critical and perilous situations in which they have been placed, to view them in the extremes of adverse and prosperous fortune, to trace their progress through all the difficulties they have surmounted, and to contemplate their whole conduct at a time when, the power and the pomp of office having disappeared, it may be presented to us in the simple garb of truth. If among those exalted characters which are produced in every age, none can have a faircr claim to the attention and recollection of mankind than those under whose auspices great empires have been founded, or political institutions deserving to be permanent, established; a faithful representation of the various important events connected with the life of the favourite Son of America, cannot be unworthy of the general regard. Among his own countrymen it will unquestionably excite the deepest interest. As if the chosen instrument of Heaven, selected for the purpose of effecting the great designs of Providence respecting this our western hemisphere, it was the peculiar lot of this distinguished man, at every epoch when the destinies of his country seemed dependent on the measures adopted, to be called by the united voice of his fellow citizens to those high stations on which the success of those measures principally depended. It was his peculiar lot to be equally useful in obtaining the independence, and consolidating the civil institutions, of his country. We perceive him at the head of her armies, during a most arduous and perilous war on the events of which her national existence was staked, supporting with invincible fortitude the unequal conflict. That war being happily terminated, and the political revolutions of America requiring that he should once more relinquish his beloved retirement, we find him guiding her councils with the same firmness, wisdom, and virtue, which had, long and successfully, been displayed in the field. We behold him her chief magistrate at a time when her happiness, her liberty, perhaps her preservation depended on so administering the affairs of the Union, that a government standing entirely on the public favour, which had with infinite difficulty been adopted, and against which the most inveterate prejudices had been excited, should conciliate public opinion, and acquire a firmness and stability that would enable it to resist the rude shocks it was destined to sustain. It was too his peculiar fortune to afford the brightest examples of moderation and patriotism, by voluntarily divesting himself of the highest military and civil honours when the public interests no longer demanded that he should retain them. We find him retiring from the head of a victorious and discontented army which adored him, so soon as the object for which arms had been taken up was accomplished; and withdrawing from the highest office an American citizen can hold, as soon as his influence, his character, and his talents, ceased to be necessary to the maintenance of that government which had been established under his auspices. He was indeed "first in war,: *first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow citizens." A faithful detail of the transactions of a person so pre-eminently distinguished will be looked for with avidity, and the author laments his inability to present to the public a work which may gratify the expectations that have been raised. In addition to that just diffidence of himself which he very sincerely feels, two causes beyond his control combine to excite this apprehension. Accustomed to look in the page of history for incidents in themselves of great magnitude, to find immense exertions attended with inconsiderable effects, and vast means employed in producing unimportant ends, we are in the habit of bestowing on the recital of military actions, a degree of consideration proportioned to the numbers engaged in them. When the struggle has terminated, and the agitations felt during its suspense have subsided, it is difficult to attach to enterprises, in which small numbers *The expressions of a resolution prepared by general Lee and passed in the house of representatives of the United States, on their being informed of the death of general Washington. |