themselves in companies. What a glorious spectacle! From twelve strong viceroyalties, containing an aggregate population of almost three millions of people, the best and the wisest among them, obedient to the public will, were on their way, through vast forests, and over rugged mountains, across broad rivers, and broader morasses, and through richly cultivated districts, cheerful villages, and expanding cities, to a common goal, there to meet, deliberate, and confederate, for the welfare, not only of a continent, but of the world! It was a moral spectacle such as had been hitherto unrecorded by the pen of history.

On Wednesday morning, the 31st of August, 1774, two men approached Mount Vernon on horseback. One of them was a slender man, very plainly dressed in a suit of ministers' gray, and about forty years of age. The other was his senior in years, likewise of slender form, and a face remarkable for its expression of unclouded intelligence. He was more carefully dressed, more polished in manners, and much more fluent in conversation than his companion. They reached Mount Vernon at seven o'clock, and after an exchange of salutations with Washington and his family, and partaking of breakfast, the three retired to the library and were soon deeply absorbed in the discussion of the great questions then agitating the people of the colonies. The two travellers were Patrick Henry and Edmund Pendleton. A third, the silver-tongued Cicero of Virginia, Richard Henry Lee, was expected with them, but he had been detained at Chantilly, his seat in Westmoreland.

All day long these three eminent Virginians were in council; and early the next morning they set out on horseback for Philadelphia, to meet the patriots from other colonies there. Will Lee, Washington's huntsman, and favorite body servant, now that

Bishop had become too old and infirm to be active, was the only attendant upon his master. They crossed the Potomac at the Falls (now Georgetown), and rode far on toward Baltimore, before the twilight. On the 4th of September, the day before the opening of the Congress, they breakfasted at Christina Ferry (now Wilmington), and dined at Chester; and that night Washington, according to his diary, "lodged at Doctor Shippen's, in Philadelphia, after supping at the New Tavern." At that house of public entertainment he had lodged nearly two years before, while on his way to New York to place young Custis in King's (now Columbia) College.

At ten o'clock on Monday morning, the 5th of September, 1774, the First Continental Congress commenced its sessions

in Carpenter's Hall, in Philadelphia. The members first assembled at the City Tavern, and marched in procession to the Hall. They organized the congress by choosing Peyton Randolph-a large, fleshy, good-looking Virginian, five-and-forty years of age-as president; and for secretary they appointed Charles Thomson, a lean man, with hollow, sparkling eyes, hair quite thin and gray, and a year younger than the president, though bearing marks of premature old age. Thomson was an accomplished Pennsylvanian; and, notwithstanding he appeared so old at the age of forty-four, he lived fifty years longer, while the florid, healthful-looking Randolph died the very next year, within an hour after eating a hearty dinner at Richard Hill's country seat, near Philadelphia.

The business of the congress was opened by Patrick Henry, and the session continued until the 26th of October, when they had laid the foundations of a new Republic, deep in the principles of Truth and Justice. They debated great questions with the dignity and wisdom of sages, and, by a large majority adopted the following resolution-a resolution which reaffirmed all previous resolves of the Americans to fight for freedom rather than submit to inglorious political servitude:

"Resolved,-THAT THIS CONGRESS APPROVE THE OPPOSITION OF THE INHABITANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY TO THE EXECUTION OF THE LATE ACTS OF PARLIAMENT; AND IF THE SAME SHALL BE ATTEMPTED TO BE CARRIED INTO EXECUTION BY FORCE, IN SUCH CASE, ALL AMERICA OUGHT TO SUPPORT THEM IN THEIR OPPOSITION.

The Congress closed their important labors by putting forth some of the most remarkable state papers that ever appeared

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in the annals of the nations. The perusal of them drew from the Earl of Chatham the most enthusiastic encomiums, in a speech in the House of Lords. "When your lordships," he said, "look at the papers transmitted to us from America; when you consider their decency, firmness, and wisdom, you cannot but respect their cause, and wish to make it your own. self, I must declare and avow, that in all my reading and study of history (and it has been my favorite study-I have read Thucydides, and have studied and admired the master states of the world), that for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusions, under such a complication of circumstances, no nation or body of men can stand in preference to the Congress at Philadelphia.'

It was in a congress composed of such men that Washington distinguished himself. Although he did not engage in the public debates (for he had no talent for extempore speaking), and his name does not appear in the published proceedings of the Congress as a member of any committee during the session, his diary shows that he was assiduous in his attendance at Carpenter's Hall; and there is ample evidence that his mind had much to do in the general conduct of the business, and especially in the preparation of the state papers alluded to. When Patrick Henry was asked, on his return from Philadelphia, whom he considered the greatest man in the congress, he replied: "If you speak of eloquence, Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina is by far the greatest orator; but if you speak of solid information and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is unquestionably the greatest man on that floor."

When the Congress adjourned, Washington returned to Mount Vernon, full of desires for a reconciliation with the

parent government, and for peacefulness in the bosom of his family; yet without any well-grounded hope. The hand of inexorable circumstances was then making many and great changes in and around his beautiful home. The sunshine upon the fields, the forests and the river were as bright as ever; and the flowers bloomed as beautifully, and the birds sang as sweetly as ever, when another spring came, like the angel of the resurrection, to call forth the sleepers in the bosom of mother earth. But in the mansion death had left the memorial footsteps of its recent visit; and the discord of clashing opin ions had almost hushed into silence the sweet voices of the social circle in which he had been accustomed to move. His friend of Belvoir was a loyalist and beyond the ocean; and that fine mansion, wherein the Washingtons and Fairfaxes had held generous intercommunication for a quarter of a century, was soon afterward consumed by fire. Its owner never returned to America, and the social intercourse of two long-tried friends was closed forever. George Washington and George William Fairfax never met again on the earth.

The Congress of 1774, doubtful concerning reconciliation with Great Britain upon terms to which the colonists could accede, adjourned, to meet again at the same place on the tenth of May following, unless the desired redress of grievances should speedily take place, and render another national council unnecessary. But the people, taught by long and bitter experience, expected no justice from a blinded ministry, and prepared for inevitable war. They aroused themselves, and organized into military companies for the purpose of discipline.

Suddenly, as if by magic, a vast army was formed. It was, as we have elsewhere observed, "strong, determined, generous,