cer. This the Speaker did in
glowing terms, quite unexpectedly to Washington. Washington rose to
reply. His face flushed; he struggled to speak; but could only stammer,
and stood speechless and trembling. "Sit down, Mr. Washington," said the
Speaker, with a smile. "Your modesty equals your valor, and that
surpasses the power of any language that I possess."

After Washington had been some ten years at Mount Vernon, looking
forward to the peaceful and easy life of a wealthy farmer, certain
things happened which seemed then of small account, but which were to
lead to a great change in his career. The government of Great Britain
undertook to raise money in America for use on the other side of the
ocean. This government was made up of the King and the Parliament, and
the Parliament was for the most part chosen by the people of England.
The people of America were not allowed to choose any of its members, and
when the British government declared that the Americans must raise money
for it, the Americans had no one to vote for them or speak for them on
that question. They thought that this was not fair. They were willing to
pay the expenses of their own governments, because they had some voice
in them, but they would not help pay the expenses of the British
government, in which they had no voice.

The British government passed an act which said that every written
promise to pay money must be upon stamped paper, which could only be got
by buying it from British officers. If the promise was not on this kind
of paper, the man who signed it need not pay. The British thought this
would bring in a good deal of money. But the Americans would not use the
stamped paper. They seized that which was sent over, and burned it.
Other kinds of taxes were tried, but the Americans would pay none of
them. Washington took the side of his countrymen with great zeal. He
wrote to a friend: "I think the Parliament of Great Britain have no more
right to put their hands into my pocket, without my consent, than I have
to put my hands into yours." But the British government insisted, and
sent over troops to Boston to try and force the people to submit.

Washington was one of a number who proposed that a Congress, or great
meeting, should be called to arrange for resisting the taxes, and he
was chosen to go to the Congress, which was held at Philadelphia in
September, 1774. Meanwhile more soldiers were sent over. An attempt was
made on the 19th of April,