escape, he came forth from his hiding-place, and surrendered himself, invoking his clemency. He was remanded to prison, but experienced no additional severity. He was subsequently shipped by the governor from Quebec to England, and never returned to Virginia. It is this treatment of Van Braam, more than anything else, which convinces us that the suspicion of his being in collusion with the French in regard to the misinterpretation of the articles of capitulation, was groundless. He was simply a blunderer.

Beturn to quiet Life. - French and English prepare for Hos-
tilities. - Plan of a Campaign. - General Braddock. — His
Character.- Sir John St. Clair, Quartermaster-general. —
His Tour of Inspection. - Projected Roads - Arrival of
Braddock. Military Consultations and Plans. -Com-
modore Keppel and his Seamen. - Ships and Troops at
Alexandria.- Excitement of Washington. - Invited to
Join the Staff of Braddock. - A Mother's Objections.-
Washington at Alexandria. - Grand Council of Governors,
-Military Arrangements. - Colonel William Johnson.
Sir John St. Clair at Fort Cumberland - His Explosions
Wrath.- Their Effects. - Indians to be Enlisted.
Captain Jack and his Band of Bush-beaters.

AVING resigned his commission, and disengaged himself from public affairs, Washington's first care was to visit his mother, inquire into the state of domestic concerns, and attend to the welfare of his brothers and sisters. In these matters he was ever his mother's adjunct and counselor, discharging faithfully the duties of an eldest son, who should consider him* Recond father to the family.

He now took up his abode at Mount Vernon, prepared to engage in those agricultural purfr for which, even in his youthful days, he had **keen relish as for the profession of arms. reland he entered upon his rural occupations,

MILITARY PREPARATIONS.

161

however, when the service of his country once more called him to the field.

The court

The disastrous affair at the Great Meadows, and the other acts of French hostility on the Ohio, had roused the attention of the British ministry Their ambassador at Paris was instructed to com plain of those violations of the peace. of Versailles amused him with genéral assurances of amity, and a strict adherence to treaties. Their ambassador at the court of St. James, the Marquis de Mirepoix, on the faith of his instructions, gave the same assurances. French ships were barked, to carry out ment in America.

In the mean time, however, fitted out, and troops emthe schemes of the governSo profound was the dissimulation of the court of Versailles, that even their own ambassador is said to have been kept in ignorance of their real designs, and of the hostile game they were playing, while he was exerting himself in good faith, to lull the suspicions of England, and maintain the international peace. When his eyes, however, were opened, he returned indignantly to France, and upbraided the cabinet with the duplicity of which he had been made the unconscious instrument.

The British government now prepared for military operations in America; none of them professedly aggressive, but rather to resist and counteract aggressions. A plan of campaign was devised for 1755, having four objects.

To eject the French from lands which they held unjustly, in the province of Nova Scotia. To dislodge them from a fortress which they

had erected at Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, thin what was claimed as British territory.

To dispossess them of the fort which they had Constructed at Niagara, between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

To drive them from the frontiers of PennsylYania and Virginia, and recover the valley of the Ohio

The Duke of Cumberland, captain-general of the British army, had the organization of this campaign; and through his patronage, Major-gendock was intrusted with the exappointed generalissimo of all olonies.

a veteran in service, and had forty years in the Guards, that discipline and technical punctilio. no held a commission in the Guards, ed to its routine, may have considfitted, by his skill and preciseness mand in a new country, nee, to bring its raw those questions of where regular and

Such an opinion. rienced officer; tine, and renate, impatient In the books,"

ew country,"

ave been

ANECDOTES OF BRADDOCK.

163

brilliant on parade, was a constant obstacle to alert action in the wilderness.1

Braddock was to lead in person the grand enterprise of the campaign, that destined for the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania; it was the enterprise in which Washington became enlisted, and, therefore, claims our especial attention.

Prior to the arrival of Braddock, came out from England Lieutenant-colonel Sir John St. Clair, deputy quartermaster-general, eager to make himf acquainted with the field of operations. He de a tour of inspection, in company with Govor Sharpe, of Maryland, and appears to have en dismayed at sight of the impracticable wil

Horace Walpole, in his letters, relates some anecdotes of addock, which give a familiar picture of him in the fashionle life in which he had mingled in London, and are of value, letting us into the private character of a man whose name as become proverbial in American history. "Braddock," ays Walpole, "is a very Iroquois in disposition. He had a sister, who, having gamed away all her little fortune at Bath, hanged herself with a truly English deliberation, leaving a note on the table with these lines: 'To die is landing on some silent shore,' etc. When Braddock was told of it, he only said: 'Poor Fanny! I always thought she would play till she would be forced to tuck herself up.'"

Braddock himself had been somewhat of a spendthrift. He was touchy also, and punctilious. "He once had a duel," says Walpole, "with Colonel Glumley, Lady Bath's brother, who had been his great friend. As they were going to engage, Glumley, who had good humor and wit (Braddock had the latter) said: Braddock, you are a poor dog! here, take my ourse; if you kill me you will be forced to run away, and then you will not have a shilling to support you.' Braddock refused the purse, insisted on the duel, was disarmed, and would not even ask for his life."