for he was a man to whom the approbation of his fellow

men was very precious.

At this unhappy juncture, Governor Livingston, of New Jersey, wrote him:

"I can easily form some idea of the difficulties under which you labor, particularly of one for which the public can make no allowance, because your prudence and fidelity to the cause will not suffer you to reveal it to the public; an instance of magnanimity superior, perhaps, to any that can be shown in battle. But depend upon it, my dear sir, the impartial world will do you ample justice before long. May God support you under that fatigue, both of body and mind, to which you must be constantly exposed."

It was at the chief's own request that General Lee had been entrusted with a command next in dignity and importance to his own, although objections had been felt by others, grounded both on Lee's traits of character and his being an Englishman.

Washington was, as we have seen, aware of his hot and ungoverned temper, but thought his military skill invaluable to an inexperienced army, and so always paid great deference to his opinion. This helped to make Lee more and more conceited, and seems to have confirmed him in the notion that he was the better general of the two.

Mr. Irving says-" It is evident that Lee considered Washington's star to be on the decline, and his own in the ascendant." And no wonder, when we find Reed

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writing to him: "I do not mean to flatter or praise you, at the expense of any other; but I do think it is entirely owing to you, that this army, and the liberties of America so far as they are dependent on it, are not entirely cut off. You have decision, a quality often wanting in minds otherwise valuable; and I ascribe to this our escape from York Island, King's Bridge, and the Plains; and I have no doubt, had you been here, the garrison of Mount Washington would now have composed a part of this army."

Colonel Reed in after times saw his error, and found a "place of repentance," having "sought it earnestly, with tears." Washington could forgive even his own familiar friend for a momentary treachery, for the best people learn by self-knowledge to be merciful to the faults of others, but at the time it was evidently a sore blow to him.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Lee's advice-His jealousy of Washington-Delays in obeying orders-Endeavoring to make an independent movement, to the injury of the Commander-in-chiefCabals against Washington-Lee's capture by the British-Retreat across the Jerseys-Position and prospects of the Army-New powers granted by Congress.

LEE's characteristic advice, with respect to the interminable delays of Congress in granting the necessary supplies, was that Washington should threaten to lay down his commission, which would probably have been the very thing most men would have thought of. But such an idea seems never to have been entertained, even at the darkest hour, by the man whose heroic soul had the whole weight of responsibility to bear; and he bore it, not as a hireling, but as one whose dearest interests were bound up in the common cause. Lee's jealousy of Washington, and his desire to find an opportunity of supplanting him, added greatly to all the difficulties of this period. Not only did he delay, under various pretences, marching to the succor of the commander-in-chief, when the army in Jersey was on the point of annihilation, but he was secretly undermining his influence, and the respect instinctively felt

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ATTEMPTS AT UNDERMINING.

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for him throughout the country, by letters in every direction, containing such passages as these :-"Indecision bids fair for tumbling down the goodly fabric of American freedom, and with it, the rights of mankind. 'Twas indecision of Congress prevented our having a noble army, and on an excellent footing. Twas inde. cision in our military councils which cost us the garrison of Fort Washington, the consequence of which must be fatal, unless remedied in time by a contrary spirit.

"Enclosed, I send you an extract of a letter from the general, on which you will make your comments; and I have no doubt you will concur with me in the necessity of raising immediately an army to save us from perdition."

This to General Heath :

"I perceive that you have formed an idea that, should General Washington remove to the Straits of Magellan, the instructions he left with you, upon a particular occasion, have, to all intents and purposes, invested you with a command separate from, and independent of any other superiors."

To Reed he writes :-"I received your most obliging, flattering letter; lament with you that fatal indecision of mind, which in war is a much greater disqualification than stupidity, or even want of personal courage. Accident may put a decisive blunderer in the right; but eternal defeat and miscarriage must at

tend the man of the best parts, if cursed with indecision."

Afterwards, to Governor Cooke, of Rhode Island :"Theory joined to practice, or a heaven-born genius, can alone constitute a general. As to the latter, God Almighty indulges the modern world very rarely with the spectacle; and I do not know, from what I have seen, that he has been more profuse of this ethereal spirit to the Americans than to other nations."

All this time Lee was making every possible and impossible excuse to avoid aiding Washington with his troops; the chief in the dignity of his own honesty trying, to the last, to believe in Lee, and to rely upon his

statements.

It has been said that Washington was never deceived in a man whom he had a fair opportunity of knowing; and we can hardly say whether or not this case should be considered an exception. It would seem that Washington continued to rely upon his second in command as an officer, after he had become fully aware of his defects as a man. It was not long before Lee discovered himself so fully as to lose even his military reputation.

Three weeks did Washington wait, hope and urge. Philadelphia was evidently the immediate object of the enemy. "Do come on," he writes to Lee; "your arrival may be fortunate, and, if it can be effected without delay, may be the means of preserving a city,