The father of Washington received his education at Appleby School in
England, and, true to his alma mater, he sent his two elder sons to the
same school. His death when George was eleven prevented this son from
having the same advantage, and such education as he had was obtained in
Virginia. His old friend, and later enemy, Rev. Jonathan Boucher, said
that "George, like most people thereabouts at that time, had no education
than reading, writing and accounts which he was taught by a convict
servant whom his father bought for a schoolmaster;" but Boucher managed to
include so many inaccuracies in his account of Washington, that even if
this statement were not certainly untruthful in several respects, it could
be dismissed as valueless.
Born at Wakefield, in Washington parish, Westmoreland, which had been the
home of the Washingtons from their earliest arrival in Virginia, George
was too young while the family continued there to attend the school which
had been founded in that parish by the gift of four hundred and forty
acres from some early patron of knowledge. When the boy was about three
years old, the family removed to "Washington," as Mount Vernon was called
before it was renamed, and dwelt there from 1735 till 1739, when, owing to
the burning of the homestead, another remove was made to an estate on the
Rappahannock, nearly opposite Fredericksburg.
Here it was that the earliest education of George was received, for in an
old volume of the Bishop of Exeter's Sermons his name is written, and on a
flyleaf a note in the handwriting of a relative who inherited the library
states that this "autograph of George Washington's name is believed to be
the earliest specimen of his handwriting, when he was probably not more
than eight or nine years old." During this period, too, there came into
his possession the "Young Man's Companion," an English vade-mecum of
then enormous popularity, written "in a plain and easy stile," the title
states, "that a young Man may attain the same, without a Tutor." It would
be easier to say what this little book did not teach than to catalogue
what it did. How to read, write, and figure is but the introduction to the
larger part of the work, which taught one to write letters, wills, deeds,
and all legal forms, to measure, survey, and navigate, to build houses, to
make ink and cider, and to plant and graft, how to address letters to
people of quality, how to doctor the sick, and, finally, how to conduct
one's self in company. The evidence still exists of how carefully
Washington studied this book, in the form of copybooks, in which are
transcribed problem after problem and rule after rule, not to exclude the
famous Rules of civility, which biographers of Washington have asserted
were written by the boy himself. School-mates thought fit, after
Washington became famous, to remember his "industry and assiduity at
school as very remarkable," and the copies certainly bear out the
statement, but even these prove that the lad was as human as the man, for
scattered here and there among the logarithms, geometrical problems, and
legal forms are crude drawings of birds, faces, and other typical
school-boy attempts.
From this book, too, came two qualities which clung to him through life.
His handwriting, so easy, flowing, and legible, was modelled from the
engraved "copy" sheet, and certain forms of spelling were acquired here
that were never corrected, though not the common usage of his time. To the
end of his life, Washington wrote lie, lye; liar, lyar; ceiling, cieling;
oil, oyl; and blue, blew, as in his boyhood he had learned to do from this
book. Even in his carefully prepared will, "lye" was the form in which he
wrote the word. It must be acknowledged that, aside from these errors
which he had been taught, through his whole life Washington was a
non-conformist as regarded the King's English: struggle as he undoubtedly
did, the instinct of correct spelling was absent, and thus every now and
then a verbal slip appeared: extravagence, lettely (for lately), glew,
riffle (for rifle), latten (for Latin), immagine, winder, rief (for rife),
oppertunity, spirma citi, yellow oaker,--such are types of his lapses late
in life, while his earlier letters and journals are far more inaccurate.
It must be borne in mind, however, that of these latter we have only the
draughts, which were undoubtedly written carelessly, and the two letters
actually sent which are now known, and the text of his surveys before he
was twenty, are quite as well written as his later epistles.
[Illustration Removed: Easy Copies to Write by. COPY OF PENMANSHIP BY WHICH
WASHINGTON'S HANDWRITING WAS FORMED]
On the death of his father, Washington went to live with his brother
Augustine, in order, it is presumed, that he might take advantage of a
good school near Wakefield, kept by one Williams; but after a time he
returned to his mother's, and attended the school kept by the Rev. James
Marye, in Fredericksburg. It has been universally asserted by his
biographers that he studied no foreign language, but direct proof to the
contrary exists in a copy of Patrick's Latin translation of Homer, printed
in 1742, the fly-leaf of a copy of which bears, in a school-boy hand, the
inscription:
"Hunc mihi quaeso (bone Vir) Libellum
Redde, si forsan tenues repertum
Ut Scias qui sum sine fraude Scriptum.
Est mihi nomen,
Georgio Washington,
George Washington,
Fredericksburg,
Virginia."
It is thus evident that the reverend teacher gave Washington at least the
first elements of Latin, but it is equally clear that the boy, like most
others, forgot it with the greatest facility as soon as he ceased
studying.
The end of Washington's school-days left him, if a good "cipherer," a bad
speller, and a still worse grammarian, but, fortunately, the termination
of instruction did not by any means end his education. From that time
there is to be noted a steady improvement in both these failings.
Pickering stated that "when I first became acquainted with the General (in
1777) his writing was defective in grammar, and even spelling, owing to
the insufficiency of his early education; of which, however, he gradually
got the better in the subsequent years of his life, by the official
perusal of some excellent models, particularly those of Hamilton; by
writing with care and patient attention; and reading numerous, indeed
multitudes of letters to and from his friends and correspondents. This
obvious improvement was begun during the war." In 1785 a contemporary
noted that "the General is remarked for writing a most elegant letter,"
adding that, "like the famous Addison, his writing excells his speaking,"
and Jefferson said that "he wrote readily, rather diffusely, in an easy
and correct style. This he had acquired by conversation with the world,
for his education was merely reading, writing and common arithmetic, to
which he added surveying at a later day."
There can be no doubt that Washington felt his lack of education very
keenly as he came to act upon a larger sphere than as a Virginia planter.
"I am sensible," he wrote a friend, of his letters, "that the narrations
are just, and that truth and honesty will appear in my writings; of which,
therefore, I shall not be ashamed, though criticism may censure my style."
When his secretary suggested to him that he should write his own life, he
replied, "In a former letter I informed you, my dear Humphreys, that
if I had talents for it, I have not leisure to turn my thoughts to
Commentaries. A consciousness of a defective education, and a certainty
of the want of time, unfit me for such an undertaking." On being pressed
by a French comrade-in-arms to pay France a visit, he declined, saying,
"Remember, my good friend, that I am unacquainted with your language, that
I am too far advanced in years to acquire a knowledge of it, and that, to
converse through the medium of an interpreter upon common occasions,
especially with the Ladies, must appear so extremely awkward, insipid, and
uncouth, that I can scarce bear it in idea."
In 1788, without previous warning, he was elected chancellor of William
and Mary College, a distinction by which he felt "honored and greatly
affected;" but "not knowing particularly what duties, or whether any
active services are immediately expected from the person holding the
office of chancellor, I have been greatly embarrassed in deciding upon the
public answer proper to be given.... My difficulties are briefly these. On
the one hand, nothing in this world could be farther from my heart,
than ... a refusal of the appointment ... provided its duties are not
incompatible with the mode of life to which I have entirely addicted
myself; and, on the other hand, I would not for any consideration
disappoint the just expectations of the convocation by accepting an office,
whose functions I previously knew ... I should be absolutely unable to
perform."
Perhaps the most touching proof of his own self-depreciation was something
he did when he had become conscious that his career would be written
about. Still in his possession were the letter-books in which he had kept
copies of his correspondence while in command of the Virginia regiment
between 1754 and 1759, and late in life he went through these volumes,
and, by interlining corrections, carefully built them into better literary
form. How this was done is shown here by a single facsimile.
With the appointment to command the Continental Army, a secretary was
secured, and in an absence of this assistant he complained to him that "my
business increases very fast, and my distresses for want of you along with
it. Mr. Harrison is the only gentleman of my family, that can afford me
the least assistance in writing. He and Mr. Moylan,... have heretofore
afforded me their aid; and ... they have really had a great deal of
trouble."
Most of Washington's correspondence during the Revolution was written by
his aides. Pickering said,--
"As to the public letters bearing his signature, it is certain that he
could not have maintained so extensive a correspondence with his own pen,
even if he had possessed the ability and promptness of Hamilton.
That he would, sometimes with propriety, observe upon, correct, and add to
any draught submitted for his examination and signature, I have no doubt.
And yet I doubt whether many, if any, of the letters ... are his own
draught.... I have even reason to believe that not only the composition,
the clothing of the ideas, but the ideas themselves, originated
generally with the writers; that Hamilton and Harrison, in particular,
were scarcely in any degree his amanuenses. I remember, when at
head-quarters one day, at Valley Forge, Colonel Harrison came down
from the General's chamber, with his brows knit, and thus accosted me, 'I
wish to the Lord the General would give me the heads or some idea, of what
he would have me write.'"
[Illustration Removed: CORRECTED LETTER OF WASHINGTON SHOWING LATER CHANGES.]
After the Revolution, a visitor at Mount Vernon said, "It's astonishing
the packet of letters that daily comes for him from all parts of the
world, which employ him most of the morning to answer." A secretary was
employed, but not so much to do the actual writing as the copying and
filing, and at this time Washington complained "that my numerous
correspondencies are daily becoming irksome to me." Yet there can be
little question that he richly enjoyed writing when it was not for the
public eye. "It is not the letters of my friends which give me trouble,"
he wrote to one correspondent; to another he said, "I began with telling
you that I should not write a lengthy letter but the result has been to
contradict it;" and to a third, "when I look back to the length of this
letter, I am so much astonished and frightened at it myself that I
have not the courage to give it a careful reading for the purpose of
correction. You must, therefore, receive it with all its imperfections,
accompanied with this assurance, that, though there may be inaccuracies in
the letter, there is not a single defect in the friendship." Occasionally
there was, as here, an apology: "I am persuaded you will excuse this
scratch'd scrawl, when I assure you it is with difficulty I write at all,"
he ended a letter in 1777, and in 1792 of another said, "You must receive
it blotted and scratched as you find it for I have not time to copy it. It
is now ten o'clock at night, after my usual hour for retiring to rest, and
the mail will be closed early to-morrow morning."
To his overseer, who neglected to reply to some of his questions, he told
his method of writing, which is worth quoting:
"Whenever I set down to write you, I read your letter, or letters
carefully over, and as soon as I come to a part that requires to be
noticed, I make a short note on the cover of a letter or piece of waste
paper;--then read on the next, noting that in like manner;--and so on
until I have got through the whole letter and reports. Then in writing my
letter to you, as soon as I have finished what I have to say on one of
these notes I draw my pen through it and proceed to another and another
until the whole is done--crossing each as I go on, by which means if I am
called off twenty times whilst I am writing, I can never with these notes
before me finished or unfinished, omit anything I wanted to say; and
they serve me also, as I keep no copies of letters I wrote to you, as
Memorandums of what has been written if I should have occasion at any time
to refer to them."
Another indication of his own knowledge of defects is shown by his fear
about his public papers. When his Journal to the Ohio was printed by order
of the governor, in 1754, in the preface the young author said, "I think I
can do no less than apologize, in some Measure, for the numberless
imperfections of it. There intervened but one Day between my Arrival in
Williamsburg, and the Time for the Council's Meeting, for me to prepare
and transcribe, from the rough Minutes I had taken in my Travels, this
Journal; the writing of which only was sufficient to employ me closely the
whole Time, consequently admitted of no Leisure to consult of a new and
proper Form to offer it in, or to correct or amend the Diction of the
old." Boucher states that the publication, "in Virginia at least, drew on
him some ridicule."
This anxiety about his writings was shown all through life, and led
Washington to rely greatly on such of his friends as would assist him,
even to the point, so Reed thought, that he "sometimes adopted draughts of
writing when his own would have been better ... from an extreme diffidence
in himself," and Pickering said, in writing to an aide,--
"Although the General's private correspondence was doubtless, for the most
part, his own, and extremely acceptable to the persons addressed; yet, in
regard to whatever was destined to meet the public eye, he seems to have
been fearful to exhibit his own compositions, relying too much on the
judgment of his friends, and sometimes adopted draughts that were
exceptionable. Some parts of his private correspondence must have
essentially differed from other parts in the style of composition. You
mention your own aids to the General in this line. Now, if I had your
draughts before me, mingled with the General's to the same persons,
nothing would be more easy than to assign to each his own proper
offspring. You could neither restrain your courser, nor conceal your
imagery, nor express your ideas otherwise than in the language of a
scholar. The General's compositions would be perfectly plain and didactic,
and not always correct."
During the Presidency, scarcely anything of a public nature was penned by
Washington,--Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and Randolph acting as his
draughtsmen. "We are approaching the first Monday in December by hasty
strides," he wrote to Jefferson. "I pray you, therefore, to revolve in
your mind such matters as may be proper for me to lay before Congress, not
only in your own department, (if any there be,) but such others of a
general nature, as may happen to occur to you, that I may be prepared to
open the session with such communication, as shall appear to merit
attention." Two years later he said to the same, "I pray you to note down
or rather to frame into paragraphs or sections, such matters as may occur
to you as fit and proper for general communication at the opening of the
next session of Congress, not only in the department of state, but on any
other subject applicable to the occasion, that I may in due time have
everything before me." To Hamilton he wrote in 1795, "Having desired the
late Secretary of State to note down every matter as it occurred, proper
either for the speech at the opening of the session, or for messages
afterwards, the inclosed paper contains everything I could extract from
that office. Aid me, I pray you, with your sentiments on these points, and
such others as may have occurred to you relative to my communications to
Congress."
The best instance is furnished in the preparation of the Farewell Address.
First Madison was asked to prepare a draft, and from this Washington drew
up a paper, which he submitted to Hamilton and Jay, with the request that
"even if you should think it best to throw the whole into a different
form, let me request, notwithstanding, that my draught may be returned to
me (along with yours) with such amendments and corrections as to render it
as perfect as the formation is susceptible of; curtailed if too verbose;
and relieved of all tautology not necessary to enforce the ideas in the
original or quoted part. My wish is that the whole may appear in a plain
style, and be handed to the public in an honest, unaffected, simple part."
Accordingly, Hamilton prepared what was almost a new instrument in form,
though not in substance, which, after "several serious and attentive
readings," Washington wrote that he preferred "greatly to the other
draughts, being more copious on material points, more dignified on the
whole, and with less egotism; of course, less exposed to criticism,
and better calculated to meet the eye of discerning readers (foreigners
particularly, whose curiosity I have little doubt will lead them
to inspect it attentively, and to pronounce their opinions on the
performance)." The paper was then, according to Pickering, "put into the
hands of Wolcott, McHenry, and myself ... with a request that we would
examine it, and note any alterations and corrections which we should think
best. We did so; but our notes, as well as I recollect, were very few, and
regarded chiefly the grammar and composition." Finally, Washington revised
the whole, and it was then made public.
Confirmatory of this sense of imperfect cultivation are the pains he took
that his adopted son and grandson should be well educated. As already
noted, tutors for both were secured at the proper ages, and when Jack was
placed with the Rev. Mr. Boucher, Washington wrote: "In respect to the
kinds, & manner of his Studying I leave it wholely to your better
Judgment--had he begun, or rather pursued his study of the Greek Language,
I should have thought it no bad acquisition; but whether if he acquire
this now, he may not forego some useful branches of learning, is a matter
worthy of consideration. To be acquainted with the French Tongue is become
part of polite Education; and to a man who has the prospect of mixing in a
large Circle absolutely necessary. Without Arithmetick, the common affairs
of Life are not to be managed with success. The study of Geometry,
and the Mathematics (with due regard to the limites of it) is equally
advantageous. The principles of Philosophy Moral, Natural, &c. I should
think a very desirable knowledge for a Gentleman." So, too, he wrote to
Washington Custis, "I do not hear you mention anything of geography or
mathematics as parts of your study; both these are necessary branches of
useful knowledge. Nor ought you to let your knowledge of the Latin
language and grammatical rules escape you. And the French language is now
so universal, and so necessary with foreigners, or in a foreign country,
that I think you would be injudicious not to make yourself master of it."
It is worth noting in connection with this last sentence that Washington
used only a single French expression with any frequency, and that he
always wrote "faupas."
Quite as indicative of the value he put on education was the aid he gave
towards sending his young relatives and others to college, his annual
contribution to an orphan school, his subscriptions to academies, and his
wish for a national university. In 1795 he said,--
"It has always been a source of serious reflection and sincere regret with
me, that the youth of the United States should be sent to foreign
countries for the purpose of education.... For this reason I have greatly
wished to see a plan adopted, by which the arts, sciences, and
belles-lettres could be taught in their fullest extent, thereby embracing
all the advantages of European tuition, with the means of acquiring the
liberal knowledge, which is necessary to qualify our citizens for the
exigencies of public as well as private life; and (which with me is a
consideration of great magnitude) by assembling the youth from the
different parts of this rising republic, contributing from their
intercourse and interchange of information to the removal of prejudices,
which might perhaps sometimes arise from local circumstances."
In framing his Farewell Address, "revolving ... on the various matters it
contained and on the first expression of the advice or recommendation
which was given in it, I have regretted that another subject (which in my
estimation is of interesting concern to the well-being of this country)
was not touched upon also; I mean education generally, as one of the
surest means of enlightening and giving just ways of thinking to our
citizens, but particularly the establishment of a university; where the
youth from all parts of the United States might receive the polish of
erudition in the arts, sciences and belles-lettres." Eventually he reduced
this idea to a plea for the people to "promote, then, as an object of
primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge,"
because "in proportion as the structure of a government gives force
to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be
enlightened." By his will he left to the endowment of a university in the
District of Columbia the shares in the Potomac Company which had been
given him by the State of Virginia, but the clause was never carried into
effect.
It was in 1745 that Washington's school-days came to an end. His share of
his father's property being his mother's till he was twenty-one, a
livelihood had to be found, and so at about fourteen years of age the work
of life began. Like a true boy, the lad wanted to go to sea, despite his
uncle's warning "that I think he had better be put apprentice to a tinker;
for a common sailor before the mast has by no means the liberty of the
subject; for they will press him from a ship where he has fifty shillings
a month; and make him take twenty-three, and cut and slash, and use him
like a negro, or rather like a dog." His mother, however, would not
consent, and to this was due his becoming a surveyor.
From his "Young Man's Companion" Washington had already learned the use of
Gunter's rule and how it should be used in surveying, and to complete his
knowledge he seems to have taken lessons of the licensed surveyor of
Westmoreland County, James Genn, for transcripts of some of the surveys
drawn by Genn still exist in the handwriting of his pupil. This implied a
distinct and very valuable addition to his knowledge, and a large number
of his surveys still extant are marvels of neatness and careful drawing.
As a profession it was followed for only four years (1747-1751), but all
through life he often used his knowledge in measuring or platting his own
property. Far more important is the service it was to him in public life.
In 1755 he sent to Braddock's secretary a map of the "back country," and
to the governor of Virginia plans of two forts. During the Revolution it
helped him not merely in the study of maps, but also in the facility it
gave him to take in the topographical features of the country. Very
largely, too, was the selection of the admirable site for the capital due
to his supervising: all the plans for the city were submitted to him,
and nowhere do the good sense and balance of the man appear to better
advantage than in his correspondence with the Federal city commissioners.
In Washington's earliest account-book there is an item when he was sixteen
years old, "To cash pd ye Musick Master for my Entrance 3/9." It is
commonly said that he played the flute, but this is as great a libel on
him as any Tom Paine wrote, and though he often went to concerts, and
though fond of hearing his granddaughter Nelly play and sing, he never
was himself a performer, and the above entry probably refers to the
singing-master whom the boys and girls of that day made the excuse for
evening frolics.
Mention is made elsewhere of his taking lessons in the sword exercise from
Van Braam in these earlier years, and in 1756 he paid to Sergeant Wood,
fencing-master, the sum of £1.1.6. When he received the offer of a
position on Braddock's staff, he acknowledged, in accepting, that "I must
be ingenuous enough to confess, that I am not a little biassed by selfish
considerations. To explain, Sir, I wish earnestly to attain some knowledge
in the military profession, and, believing a more favorable opportunity
cannot offer, than to serve under a gentleman of General Braddock's
abilities and experience, it does ... not a little contribute to influence
my choice." Hamilton is quoted as saying that Washington "never read any
book upon the art of war but Sim's Military Guide," and an anonymous
author asserted that "he never read a book in the art of war of higher
value than Bland's Exercises." Certain it is that nearly all the military
knowledge he possessed was derived from practice rather than from books,
and though, late in life, he purchased a number of works on the subject,
it was after his army service was over.
One factor in Washington's education which must not go unnoticed was his
religious belief. When only two months old he was baptized, presumably by
the Rev. Lawrence De Butts, the clergyman of Washington parish. The
removal from that locality prevented any further religious influence from
this clergyman, and it probably first came from the Rev. Charles Green, of
Truro parish, who had received his appointment through the friendship of
Washington's father, and who later was on such friendly terms with
Washington that he doctored Mrs. Washington in an attack of the measles,
and caught and returned two of his parishioner's runaway slaves. As early
as 1724 the clergyman of the parish in which Mount Vernon was situated
reported that he catechised the youth of his congregation "in Lent and a
great part of the Summer," and George, as the son of one of his vestrymen,
undoubtedly received a due amount of questioning.
From 1748 till 1759 there was little church-going for the young surveyor
or soldier, but after his marriage and settling at Mount Vernon he was
elected vestryman in the two parishes of Truro and Fairfax, and from that
election he was quite active in church affairs. It may be worth noting
that in the elections of 1765 the new vestryman stood third in popularity
in the Truro church and fifth in that of Fairfax. He drew the plans for a
new church in Truro, and subscribed to its building, intending "to lay the
foundation of a family pew," but by a vote of the vestry it was decided
that there should be no private pews, and this breach of contract angered
Washington so greatly that he withdrew from the church in 1773. Sparks
quotes Madison to the effect that "there was a tradition that, when he
[Washington] belonged to the vestry of a church in his neighborhood, and
several little difficulties grew out of some division of the society, he
sometimes spoke with great force, animation, and eloquence on the topics
that came before them." After this withdrawal he bought a pew in Christ
Church in Alexandria (Fairfax parish), paying £36.10, which was the
largest price paid by any parishioner. To this church he was quite
liberal, subscribing several times towards repairs, etc.
The Rev. Lee Massey, who was rector at Pohick (Truro) Church before the
Revolution, is quoted by Bishop Meade as saying that
"I never knew so constant an attendant in church as Washington. And his
behavior in the house of God was ever so deeply reverential that it
produced the happiest effect on my congregation, and greatly assisted me
in my pulpit labors. No company ever withheld him from church. I have
often been at Mount Vernon on Sabbath morning, when his breakfast table
was filled with guests; but to him they furnished no pretext for
neglecting his God and losing the satisfaction of setting a good example.
For instead of staying at home, out of false complaisance to them, he used
constantly to invite them to accompany him."
This seems to have been written more with an eye to its influence on
others than to its strict accuracy. During the time Washington attended at
Pohick Church he was by no means a regular church-goer. His daily "where
and how my time is spent" enables us to know exactly how often he attended
church, and in the year 1760 he went just sixteen times, and in 1768 he
went fourteen, these years being fairly typical of the period 1760-1773.
During the Presidency a sense of duty made him attend St Paul's and Christ
churches while in New York and Philadelphia, but at Mount Vernon, when the
public eye was not upon him, he was no more regular than he had always
been, and in the last year of his life he wrote, "Six days do I labor, or,
in other words, take exercise and devote my time to various occupations in
Husbandry, and about my mansion. On the seventh, now called the first day,
for want of a place of Worship (within less than nine miles) such letters
as do not require immediate acknowledgment I give answers to.... But it
hath so happened, that on the two last Sundays--call them the first or the
seventh as you please, I have been unable to perform the latter duty on
account of visits from Strangers, with whom I could not use the freedom to
leave alone, or recommend to the care of each other, for their amusement."
What he said here was more or less typical of his whole life. Sunday was
always the day on which he wrote his private letters,--even prepared his
invoices,--and he wrote to one of his overseers that his letters should
be mailed so as to reach him Saturday, as by so doing they could be
answered the following day. Nor did he limit himself to this, for he
entertained company, closed land purchases, sold wheat, and, while a
Virginia planter, went foxhunting, on Sunday. It is to be noted, however,
that he considered the scruples of others as to the day. When he went
among his western tenants, rent-collecting, he entered in his diary that,
it "being Sunday and the People living on my Land apparently very
religious, it was thought best to postpone going among them till
to-morrow," and in his journey through New England, because it was
"contrary to the law and disagreeable to the People of this State
(Connecticut) to travel on the Sabbath day--and my horses, after passing
through such intolerable roads, wanting rest, I stayed at Perkins' tavern
(which, by the bye, is not a good one) all day--and a meetinghouse being
within a few rods of the door, I attended the morning and evening
services, and heard very lame discourses from a Mr. Pond." It is of this
experience that tradition says the President started to travel, but was
promptly arrested by a Connecticut tithing-man. The story, however, lacks
authentication.
There can be no doubt that religious intolerance was not a part of
Washington's character. In 1775, when the New England troops intended to
celebrate Guy Fawkes day, as usual, the General Orders declared that "as
the Commander in chief has been apprised of a design, formed for the
observance of that ridiculous and childish custom of burning the effigy of
the Pope, he cannot help expressing his surprise, that there should be
officers and soldiers in this army so void of common sense, as not to see
the impropriety of such a step." When trying to secure some servants, too,
he wrote that "if they are good workmen, they may be from Asia, Africa, or
Europe; they may be Mahometans, Jews, or Christians of any sect, or they
may be Atheists." When the bill taxing all the people of Virginia to
support the Episcopal Church (his own) was under discussion, he threw his
weight against it, as far as concerned the taxing of other sectaries, but
adding:
"Although no man's sentiments are more opposed to any kind of restraint
upon religious principles than mine are, yet I must confess, that I am not
amongst the number of those, who are so much alarmed at the thoughts of
making people pay towards the support of that which they profess, if
of the denomination, of Christians, or to declare themselves Jews,
Mahometans, or otherwise, and thereby obtain proper relief. As the matter
now stands, I wish an assessment had never been agitated, and as it has
gone so far, that the bill could die an easy death; because I think it
will be productive of more quiet to the State, than by enacting it into a
law, which in my opinion would be impolitic, admitting there is a decided
majority for it, to the disquiet of a respectable minority. In the former
case, the matter will soon subside; in the latter, it will rankle and
perhaps convulse the State."
Again in a letter he says,--
"Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are
caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most
inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in
hopes, that the lightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present
age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so
far, that we should never again see their religious disputes carried to
such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society."
And to Lafayette, alluding to the proceedings of the Assembly of Notables,
he wrote,--
"I am not less ardent in my wish, that you may succeed in your plan of
toleration in religious matters. Being no bigot myself, I am disposed to
indulge the professors of Christianity in the church with that road to
Heaven, which to them shall seem the most direct, plainest, easiest, and
least liable to exception."
What Washington believed has been a source of much dispute. Jefferson
states "that Gouverneur Morris, who pretended to be in his secrets, and
believed himself to be so, has often told me that General Washington
believed no more of that system than he himself did," and Morris, it is
scarcely necessary to state, was an atheist. The same authority quotes
Rush, to the effect that "when the clergy addressed General Washington on
his departure from the government, it was observed in their consultation,
that he had never, on any occasion, said a word to the public which showed
a belief in the Christian religion, and they thought they should so pen
their address, as to force him at length to declare publicly whether he
was a Christian or not They did so. But, he observed, the old fox was too
cunning for them. He answered every article of their address particularly
except that, which he passed over without notice."
Whatever his belief, in all public ways Washington threw his influence in
favor of religion, and kept what he really believed a secret, and in only
one thing did he disclose his real thoughts. It is asserted that before
the Revolution he partook of the sacrament, but this is only affirmed by
hearsay, and better evidence contradicts it. After that war he did not, it
is certain. Nelly Custis states that on "communion Sundays he left the
church with me, after the blessing, and returned home, and we sent the
carriage back for my grandmother." And the assistant minister of Christ
Church in Philadelphia states that--
"Observing that on Sacrament Sundays, Gen'l Washington, immediately after
the Desk and Pulpit services, went out with the greater part of the
congregation, always leaving Mrs. Washington with the communicants, she
invariably being one, I considered it my duty, in a sermon on Public
Worship, to state the unhappy tendency of example, particularly those in
elevated stations, who invariably turned their backs upon the celebration
of the Lord's Supper. I acknowledge the remark was intended for the
President, as such, he received it. A few days after, in conversation
with, I believe, a Senator of the U.S. he told me he had dined the day
before with the President, who in the course of the conversation at the
table, said, that on the preceding Sunday, he had received a very just
reproof from the pulpit, for always leaving the church before the
administration of the Sacrament; that he honored the preacher for his
integrity and candour; that he had never considered the influence of his
example; that he would never again give cause for the repetition of the
reproof; and that, as he had never been a communicant, were he to become
one then, it would be imputed to an ostentatious display of religious zeal
arising altogether from his elevated station. Accordingly he afterwards
never came on the morning of Sacrament Sunday, tho' at other times, a
constant attendant in the morning."
Nelly Custis, too, tells us that Washington always "stood during the
devotional part of the service," and Bishop White states that "his
behavior was always serious and attentive; but, as your letter seems to
intend an inquiry on the point of kneeling during the service, I owe it to
the truth to declare, that I never saw him in the said attitude." Probably
his true position is described by Madison, who is quoted as saying that he
did "not suppose that Washington had ever attended to the arguments for
Christianity, and for the different systems of religion, or in fact that
he had formed definite opinions on the subject. But he took these things
as he found them existing, and was constant in his observances of worship
according to the received forms of the Episcopal Church, in which he was
brought up."
If there was proof needed that it is mind and not education which pushes a
man to the front, it is to be found in the case of Washington. Despite his
want of education, he had, so Bell states, "an excellent understanding."
Patrick Henry is quoted as saying of the members of the Congress of 1774--
the body of which Adams claimed that "every man in it is a great man, an
orator, a critic, a statesman"--that "if you speak of solid information
and sound judgment Colonel Washington is unquestionably the greatest man
on the floor;" while Jefferson asserted that "his mind was great and
powerful, without being of the very first order; his penetration strong,
though not so acute as that of a Newton, Bacon, or Locke; and as far as he
saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It was slow in operation, being little
aided by invention or imagination, but sure in conclusion."