s on every
side.

His marvelous preservation was the subject of general remark; Mr.
Davies, later President of Princeton College, used these words in an
address a few weeks after the Braddock defeat:

That heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom I cannot but hope
Providence has hitherto preserved in so signal a manner for some
important service to his country.

_Escape from a Marriage_

The next apparently providential intervention in the affairs of the hero
of the Revolution is connected with very different scenes from those of
battle and carnage; it may, perhaps, be fairly described as a narrow
escape from a marriage which, while it might have proved a happy
alliance in so far as Washington himself was concerned, would almost
certainly have resulted in the loss of his inestimable services to his
country.

Washington's attachment to Mary Philipse is a fact beyond reasonable
question; his offer of marriage to that young lady is somewhat
traditional. It is certain, however, that during his necessary absence
on military duty, Captain Morris, his associate aide-de-camp in the
Monongahela engagement, became a successful suitor for the hand of Miss
Philipse.

What is far less generally known is the fact that, had Washington been
successful in his early matrimonial aspirations, he would certainly
have remained a loyal adherent of the royal cause, and would thus have
been lost to his native land. Evidences of the justice of this theory
are by no means lacking. The relatives and friends of the lady were
nearly all devoted to the cause of England; Washington was the associate
of many of them; and Captain Morris, his successful rival, remained in
the British service during his life. There can be, I think, little doubt
that, in the event of his marriage with Miss Philipse, Washington, like
Captain Morris, would have returned to England and been forever lost to
America. Mrs. Morris survived her illustrious admirer twenty-five years,
dying about the year 1825.

_Washington Unrewarded_

A striking historical fact,--as strange as it is authentic--is the
treatment of Washington by the English Government after the death of
Braddock. Had General Braddock survived his terrible misfortune the
result might well have been very different; for it is matter of history
that the youthful officer had the undivided confidence of his commander.
But by the British Ministry, and even by the King himself, the young
hero