eventually either bring on a separation of them from us, or a war between the United States and one or the other of those powers, most probably with the Spaniards."

At this time the State of Virginia, being large and powerful, stretching on one side to the Atlantic ocean. and on the other to the western waters, and having in its bosom two noble rivers descending from the summits of the Alleganies, he thought the most favorably situated for beginning the great work. He recommended, therefore, as a preliminary step, that commissioners should be appointed to survey the Potomac and James Rivers from tide-water to their sources, and the portages between them and the principal western streams, following these streams to their junction with the Ohio, measuring with accuracy the distances, noting the obstructions to be removed, and estimating the probable expense. He also advised a similar survey of the rivers west of the Ohio as far as Detroit. "These things being done," said he, "I shall be mistaken if prejudice does not yield to facts, jealousy to candor, and finally, if reason and nature, thus aided, do not dictate what is right and proper to be done." The governor laid this letter before the legislature. It was the first suggestion of the great system of internal improvements, which has since been pursued in the United States.

A short time before his journey to the west, Washington had the satisfaction of receiving at Mount Vernon the Marquis de Lafayette, for whom he cherished the warmest friendship, heightened by gratitude for the disinterestedness and ardor with which he had espoused the cause of American freedom, and the signal services he had rendered. Two or three months were passed by Lafayette in the middle and eastern

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States, and in November he arrived at Richmond in Virginia. Washington met him at that place, where they were both received with public honors by the legislature then in session. They returned together to Mount Vernon; and, when Lafayette's visit was concluded, Washington accompanied him on his way to Annapolis. In a letter to Lafayette's wife he said; "We restore the Marquis to you in good health, crowned with wreaths of love and respect from every part of the Union." The parting of the two friends was affecting, and showed the strength of the ties by which they were united. As soon as he reached home, Washington wrote to him as follows. "In the moment of our separation, upon the road as I travelled, and every hour since, I have felt all that love, respect, and attachment for you, with which length of years, close connexion, and your merits have inspired me. I often asked myself, as our carriages separated, whether that was the last sight I ever should have of you? And, though I wished to say No, my fears answered Yes. I called to mind the days of my youth, and found they had long since fled to return no more; that I was now descending the hill I had been fiftytwo years climbing, and that, though I was blest with a good constitution, I was of a short-lived family, and might soon expect to be entombed in the mansion of my fathers. These thoughts darkened the shades, and gave a gloom to the picture, and consequently to my prospect of seeing you again." This melancholy presage was fulfilled. They never met afterwards. But their attachment remained indissoluble, and Washington lived to sympathize in the misfortunes of his friend, and to have the consolation of using all the means in his power to rescue him from the sufferings he so long endured in a cruel imprisonment.

The hopes of General Washington, in regard to his favorite scheme of internal navigation were more than realized. The legislature of Virginia, after duly considering his letter to the governor, not only appointed the commission for surveys, but organized two companies, called the Potomac Company and the James River Company, for the purpose of carrying the plan into effect. They moreover complimented him, without a dissenting voice, by a donation of fifty shares in the former company, and one hundred shares in the latter; the fifty shares being estimated at ten thousand dollars, and the others at five thousand pounds sterling. Aware of his delicacy on the subject of receiving money from the public, the legislature contrived to frame the preamble of the act in such language, as, it was hoped, would remove his scruples. "It is the desire of the representatives of this commonwealth to embrace every suitable occasion of testifying their sense of the unexampled merits of George Washington towards his country; and it is their wish in particular, that those great works for its improvement, which, both as springing from the liberty which he has been so instrumental in establishing, and as encouraged by his patronage, will be durable monuments of his glory, may be made monuments also of the gratitude of his country."

If he was highly gratified, as he must have been, with this public testimony of affection and respect, he was scarcely less embarrassed by it. Not that he hesitated, as to the course he should pursue; but the grant had been made in so liberal a manner, and from motives so pure, that he feared a refusal might be regarded in an unfavorable light, as evincing either ingratitude to his friends, or a disposition to gain applause by a show of disinterestedness, unusual if not unnecessary. He stated his difficulties freely in

private letters to the governor, and to some of the principal members of the legislature; declaring, at the same time, that he could not, consistently with his principles, accept the proffered gift in such a way, that he should derive from it any emolument to himself. A positive decision was not required till the next session of the legislature, when he wrote officially to the governor declining the grant, but, lest the operations of the companies should be retarded by withdrawing the subscriptions for the shares, which had been made by the treasurer on his account, he suggested, that, if the Assembly should think proper to submit to him the appropriation of them for some object of a public nature, he would accept the trust. His proposition was cheerfully acceded to; and, by an act of the Assembly, the shares were assigned to such public objects, as he should direct during his life, or by his last will and testament.

The purpose, which he first had in view, was the encouragement of education, and this purpose was ultimately accomplished. Some time before his death he made over the shares in the James River Company to an institution in Rockbridge County, then called Liberty Hall Academy. Academy. The name has since been changed to Washington College. The fifty shares in the Potomac Company he bequeathed in perpetuity for the endowment of a university in the District of Columbia, under the auspices of the government; and, if such a seminary should not be established by the government, the fund was to increase till it should be adequate, with such other resources as might be obtained, for the accomplishment of the design. The establishing of a national university was always one of his favorite schemes. He recommended it in his messages to Congress, and often in his letters spoke

of the advantages which would be derived from it to the nation.*

It may here be added, that he was a zealous advocate for schools and literary institutions of every kind, and sought to promote them, whenever an opportunity offered, by his public addresses and by private benefactions. In this spirit he accepted the chancellorship of William and Mary College, being earnestly solicited by the trustees. In his answer to them, accepting the appointment, he said; "I rely fully in your strenuous endeavours for placing the system on such a basis, as will render it most beneficial to the State and the republic of letters, as well as to the more extensive interests of humanity and religion." The chancellor's duty consisted chiefly in suggesting and approving measures for the management of the college, and in recommending professors and teachers to fill vacancies in the departments of instruction.

The acts of charity by which he contributed from his private means to foster education were not few nor small. During many years, he gave fifty pounds annually for the instruction of indigent children in Alexandria; and by will he left a legacy of four thousand dollars, the net income of which was to be used for the same benevolent object for ever. Two or three instances are known, in which he offered to pay the expenses of young men through their collegiate course. When General Greene died, he proposed to take under his protection one of the sons of his departed friend,

* The donation to Washington College has been productive, and the proceeds arising from it have contributed essential aid to that institution. No part of the other fund has been as yet employed for literary purposes. The Potomac Company seems to have been merged in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company. The shares appropriated by Washington's will are doubtless held in trust by the latter company for their destined object.