treat of the
British troops, and saved them from destruction. Subsequently, when the
French were driven from Canada and the war was over, Washington quitted
the army, and began his political life as a member of the general
assembly, to which honour his valour had been the chief instrument of
raising him. Shortly after his retirement he married a young lady, who
brought him a large fortune, and for sixteen years his attention was
principally divided between the management of his estates and his
duties as a member of the provincial legislature. When the quarrel first
commenced between America and the mother country he took no decided
part, and when it became serious, he was one of those who still hoped
to preserve the ties of allegiance which bound the colonies to the parent
state unbroken. When the rupture became inevitable, however--when the
sword had been drawn and blood had been shed, Washington stood forward
as the champion of independence. Perhaps he was the more induced to take
this step from an innate love of rank and power. He had joined the first
congress at Philadelphia, and his high character and the conspicuous
part he had borne in the Canadian war, caused him then to be appointed
on all committees where military knowledge was requisite. Doubtless he
foresaw that should matters be brought to extremities he would be called
upon to take a prominent part in the strife. And in this view he was not
mistaken. As before related, at the second general congress, when it
was necessary to select a commander, he was unanimously chosen by his
colleagues to the high office. It is said that he accepted the command
with great diffidence, and it is certain that he did so in the spirit
of a true patriot, for he declined all compensation beyond his actual
expenses.

The choice which congress made of a commander was favourable to the
cause of American independence. At this time Washington was in the prime
and vigour of life, and his fame and deportment were such that he could
command reverence even from the most fanatical part of the American
troops, who were disposed to own no other leader except "the Lord of
Hosts." His bravery was proverbial, and his after operations sustained
his fame. It was immediately after the battle of Bunker's Hill that he
was appointed commander-in-chief, and when he arrived at head-quarters
in Cambridge, he found the blockading army considerably discouraged by
the defeat sustained, and otherwise in n