The Virginians Read online

  CHAPTER VI. The Virginians begin to see the World

  After the departure of her unfortunate spiritual adviser and chaplain,Madam Esmond and her son seemed to be quite reconciled: but althoughGeorge never spoke of the quarrel with his mother, it must have weighedupon the boy's mind very painfully, for he had a fever soon after thelast recounted domestic occurrences, during which illness his brainonce or twice wandered, when he shrieked out, "Broken! Broken! It never,never can be mended!" to the silent terror of his mother, who satewatching the poor child as he tossed wakeful upon his midnight bed.His malady defied her skill, and increased in spite of all the nostrumswhich the good widow kept in her closet and administered so freely toher people. She had to undergo another humiliation, and one day littleMr. Dempster beheld her at his door on horseback. She had ridden throughthe snow on her pony, to implore him to give his aid to her poor boy. "Ishall bury my resentment, madam," said he, "as your ladyship buried yourpride. Please God, I maybe time enough to help my dear young pupil!" Sohe put up his lancet, and his little provision of medicaments; calledhis only negro-boy after him, shut up his lonely hut, and once morereturned to Castlewood. That night and for some days afterwards itseemed very likely that poor Harry would become heir of Castlewood; butby Mr. Dempster's skill the fever was got over, the intermittent attacksdiminished in intensity, and George was restored almost to health again.A change of air, a voyage even to England, was recommended, but thewidow had quarrelled with her children's relatives there, and owned withcontrition that she had been too hasty. A journey to the north and eastwas determined on, and the two young gentlemen, with Mr. Dempster astheir tutor, and a couple of servants to attend them, took a voyage toNew York, and thence up the beautiful Hudson river to Albany, where theywere received by the first gentry of the province, and thence into theFrench provinces, where they had the best recommendations, and werehospitably entertained by the French gentry. Harry camped with theIndians, and took furs and shot bears. George, who never cared forfield-sports, and whose health was still delicate, was a specialfavourite with the French ladies, who were accustomed to see very fewyoung English gentlemen speaking the French language so readily as ouryoung gentlemen. George especially perfected his accent so as to be ableto pass for a Frenchman. He had the bel air completely, every personallowed. He danced the minuet elegantly. He learned the latest importedFrench catches and songs, and played them beautifully on his violin,and would have sung them too but that his voice broke at this time, andchanged from treble to bass; and, to the envy of poor Harry, who wasabsent on a bear-hunt, he even had an affair of honour with a youngensign of the regiment of Auvergne, the Chevalier de la Jabotiere, whomhe pinked in the shoulder, and with whom he afterwards swore an eternalfriendship. Madame de Mouchy, the superintendent's lady, said the motherwas blest who had such a son, and wrote a complimentary letter to MadamEsmond upon Mr. George's behaviour. I fear, Mr. Whitfield would nothave been over-pleased with the widow's elation on hearing of her son'sprowess.

  When the lads returned home at the end of ten delightful months, theirmother was surprised at their growth and improvement. George especiallywas so grown as to come up to his younger-born brother. The boys couldhardly be distinguished one from another, especially when their hair waspowdered; but that ceremony being too cumbrous for country life, eachof the gentlemen commonly wore his own hair, George his raven black, andHarry his light locks tied with a ribbon.

  The reader who has been so kind as to look over the first pages of thelad's simple biography, must have observed that Mr. George Esmond wasof a jealous and suspicious disposition, most generous and gentle andincapable of an untruth, and though too magnanimous to revenge, almostincapable of forgiving any injury. George left home with no goodwilltowards an honourable gentleman, whose name afterwards became one of themost famous in the world; and he returned from his journey not in theleast altered in his opinion of his mother's and grandfather's friend.Mr. Washington, though then but just of age, looked and felt much older.He always exhibited an extraordinary simplicity and gravity; he hadmanaged his mother's and his family's affairs from a very early age, andwas trusted by all his friends and the gentry of his county more thanpersons twice his senior.

  Mrs. Mountain, Madam Esmond's friend and companion, who dearly loved thetwo boys and her patroness, in spite of many quarrels with the latter,and daily threats of parting, was a most amusing, droll letter-writer,and used to write to the two boys on their travels. Now, Mrs. Mountainwas of a jealous turn likewise; especially she had a great turn formatch-making, and fancied that everybody had a design to marry everybodyelse. There scarce came an unmarried man to Castlewood but Mountainimagined the gentleman had an eye towards the mistress of the mansion.She was positive that odious Mr. Ward intended to make love tothe widow, and pretty sure the latter liked him. She knew that Mr.Washington wanted to be married, was certain that such a shrewd younggentleman would look out for a rich wife, and, as for the differences ofages, what matter that the Major (major was his rank in the militia)was fifteen years younger than Madam Esmond? They were used to suchmarriages in the family; my lady her mother was how many years olderthan the Colonel when she married him?--When she married him and was sojealous that she never would let the poor Colonel out of her sight.The poor Colonel! after his wife, he had been henpecked by his littledaughter. And she would take after her mother, and marry again, besure of that. Madam was a little chit of a woman, not five feet in herhighest headdress and shoes, and Mr. Washington a great tall man ofsix feet two. Great tall men always married little chits of women:therefore, Mr. W. must be looking after the widow. What could be moreclear than the deduction?

  She communicated these sage opinions to her boy, as she called George,who begged her, for Heaven's sake, to hold her tongue. This she said shecould do, but she could not keep her eyes always shut; and she narrateda hundred circumstances which had occurred in the young gentleman'sabsence, and which tended, as she thought, to confirm her notions. HadMountain imparted these pretty suspicions to his brother? George askedsternly. No. George was her boy; Harry was his mother's boy. "She likeshim best, and I like you best, George," cries Mountain. "Besides, if Iwere to speak to him, he would tell your mother in a minute. Poor Harrycan keep nothing quiet, and then there would be a pretty quarrel betweenMadam and me!"

  "I beg you to keep this quiet, Mountain," said Mr. George, with greatdignity, "or you and I shall quarrel too. Neither to me nor to any oneelse in the world must you mention such an absurd suspicion."

  Absurd! Why absurd? Mr. Washington was constantly with the widow. Hisname was forever in her mouth. She was never tired of pointing out hisvirtues and examples to her sons. She consulted him on every questionrespecting her estate and its management. She never bought a horseor sold a barrel of tobacco without his opinion. There was a room atCastlewood regularly called Mr. Washington's room. "He actually leaveshis clothes here and his portmanteau when he goes away. Ah! George,George! One day will come when he won't go away," groaned Mountain, who,of course, always returned to the subject of which she was forbiddento speak. Meanwhile Mr. George adopted towards his mother's favourite afrigid courtesy, at which the honest gentleman chafed but did not careto remonstrate, or a stinging sarcasm, which he would break through ashe would burst through so many brambles on those hunting excursionsin which he and Harry Warrington rode so constantly together; whilstGeorge, retreating to his tents, read mathematics, and French, andLatin, and sulked in his book-room more and more lonely.

  Harry was away from home with some other sporting friends (it is to befeared the young gentleman's acquaintances were not all as eligible asMr. Washington), when the latter came to pay a visit at Castlewood. Hewas so peculiarly tender and kind to the mistress there, and received byher with such special cordiality, that George Warrington's jealousy hadwell-nigh broken out in open rupture. But the visit was one of adieu, asit appeared.

  Major Washington was going on a long and dangerous journey, quite to thewestern Virginia frontier and beyond i
t. The French had been for sometime past making inroads into our territory. The government at home,as well as those of Virginia and Pennsylvania, were alarmed at thisaggressive spirit of the Lords of Canada and Louisiana. Some of oursettlers had already been driven from their holdings by Frenchmen inarms, and the governors of the British provinces were desirous to stoptheir incursions, or at any rate to protest against their invasion.

  We chose to hold our American colonies by a law that was at leastconvenient for its framers. The maxim was, that whoever possessed thecoast had a right to all the territory inland as far as the Pacific; sothat the British charters only laid down the limits of the colonies fromnorth to south, leaving them quite free from east to west. The French,meanwhile, had their colonies to the north and south, and aimed atconnecting them by the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence and the greatintermediate lakes and waters lying to the westward of the Britishpossessions. In the year 1748, though peace was signed between thetwo European kingdoms, the colonial question remained unsettled, to beopened again when either party should be strong enough to urge it. Inthe year 1753, it came to an issue, on the Ohio river, where the Britishand French settlers met. To be sure, there existed other people besidesFrench and British, who thought they had a title to the territory aboutwhich the children of their White Fathers were battling, namely, thenative Indians and proprietors of the soil. But the logicians of St.James's and Versailles wisely chose to consider the matter in disputeas a European and not a Red-man's question, eliminating him from theargument, but employing his tomahawk as it might serve the turn ofeither litigant.

  A company, called the Ohio Company, having grants from the Virginiagovernment of lands along that river, found themselves invaded in theirsettlements by French military detachments, who roughly ejected theBritons from their holdings. These latter applied for protection to Mr.Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia, who determined upon sendingan ambassador to the French commanding officer on the Ohio, demandingthat the French should desist from their inroads upon the territories ofhis Majesty King George.

  Young Mr. Washington jumped eagerly at the chance of distinction whichthis service afforded him, and volunteered to leave his home and hisrural and professional pursuits in Virginia, to carry the governor'smessage to the French officer. Taking a guide, an interpreter, and afew attendants, and following the Indian tracks, in the fall of the year1753, the intrepid young envoy made his way from Williamsburg almostto the shores of Lake Erie, and found the French commander at Fort leBoeuf. That officer's reply was brief: his orders were to hold the placeand drive all the English from it. The French avowed their intention oftaking possession of the Ohio. And with this rough answer the messengerfrom Virginia had to return through danger and difficulty, across lonelyforest and frozen river, shaping his course by the compass, and campingat night in the snow by the forest fires.

  Harry Warrington cursed his ill-fortune that he had been absent fromhome on a cock-fight, when he might have had chance of sport so muchnobler; and on his return from his expedition, which he had conductedwith an heroic energy and simplicity, Major Washington was a greaterfavourite than ever with the lady of Castlewood. She pointed him outas a model to both her sons. "Ah, Harry!" she would say, "think of you,with your cock-fighting and your racing-matches, and the Major awaythere in the wilderness, watching the French, and battling with thefrozen rivers! Ah, George! learning may be a very good thing, but I wishmy eldest son were doing something in the service of his country!"

  "I desire no better than to go home and seek for employment, ma'am,"says George. "You surely will not have me serve under Mr. Washington, inhis new regiment, or ask a commission from Mr. Dinwiddie?"

  "An Esmond can only serve with the king's commission," says Madam, "andas for asking a favour from Mr. Lieutenant-Governor Dinwiddie, I wouldrather beg my bread."

  Mr. Washington was at this time raising such a regiment as, with thescanty pay and patronage of the Virginian government, he could gettogether, and proposed, with the help of these men-of-war, to put a moreperemptory veto upon the French invaders than the solitary ambassadorhad been enabled to lay. A small force under another officer, ColonelTrent, had been already despatched to the west, with orders to fortifythemselves so as to be able to resist any attack of the enemy. TheFrench troops, greatly outnumbering ours, came up with the Englishoutposts, who were fortifying themselves at a place on the confines ofPennsylvania where the great city of Pittsburg now stands. A Virginianofficer with but forty men was in no condition to resist twenty timesthat number of Canadians, who appeared before his incomplete works. Hewas suffered to draw back without molestation; and the French, takingpossession of his fort, strengthened it, and christened it by the nameof the Canadian governor, Du Quesne. Up to this time no actual blow ofwar had been struck. The troops representing the hostile nations were inpresence--the guns were loaded, but no one as yet had cried "Fire." Itwas strange, that in a savage forest of Pennsylvania, a young Virginianofficer should fire a shot, and waken up a war which was to last forsixty years, which was to cover his own country and pass into Europe, tocost France her American colonies, to sever ours from us, and create thegreat Western republic; to rage over the Old World when extinguished inthe New; and, of all the myriads engaged in the vast contest, to leavethe prize of the greatest fame with him who struck the first blow!

  He little knew of the fate in store for him. A simple gentleman, anxiousto serve his king and do his duty, he volunteered for the first service,and executed it with admirable fidelity. In the ensuing year he took thecommand of the small body of provincial troops with which he marched torepel the Frenchmen. He came up with their advanced guard and fired uponthem, killing their leader. After this he had himself to fall backwith his troops, and was compelled to capitulate to the superior Frenchforce. On the 4th of July, 1754, the Colonel marched out with his troopsfrom the little fort where he had hastily entrenched himself (and whichthey called Fort Necessity), gave up the place to the conqueror, andtook his way home.

  His command was over: his regiment disbanded after the fruitless,inglorious march and defeat. Saddened and humbled in spirit, theyoung officer presented himself after a while to his old friends atCastlewood. He was very young: before he set forth on his first campaignhe may have indulged in exaggerated hopes of success, and uttered them."I was angry when I parted from you," he said to George Warrington,holding out his hand, which the other eagerly took. "You seemed toscorn me and my regiment, George. I thought you laughed at us, and yourridicule made me angry. I boasted too much of what we would do."

  "Nay, you have done your best, George," says the other, who quite forgothis previous jealousy in his old comrade's misfortune. "Everybody knowsthat a hundred and fifty starving men, with scarce a round of ammunitionleft, could not face five times their number perfectly armed, andeverybody who knows Mr. Washington knows that he would do his duty.Harry and I saw the French in Canada last year. They obey but one will:in our provinces each governor has his own. They were royal troops theFrench sent against you..."

  "Oh, but that some of ours were here!" cries Madam Esmond, tossing herhead up. "I promise you a few good English regiments would make thewhite-coats run."

  "You think nothing of the provincials: and I must say nothing now wehave been so unlucky," said the Colonel, gloomily. "You made much of mewhen I was here before. Don't you remember what victories you prophesiedfor me--how much I boasted myself very likely over your good wine? Allthose fine dreams are over now. 'Tis kind of your ladyship to receive apoor beaten fellow as you do:" and the young soldier hung down his head.

  George Warrington, with his extreme acute sensibility, was touched atthe other's emotion and simple testimony of sorrow under defeat. He wasabout to say something friendly to Mr. Washington, had not his mother,to whom the Colonel had been speaking, replied herself: "Kind of us toreceive you, Colonel Washington!" said the widow. "I never heard thatwhen men were unhappy, our sex were less their friends."

  And she made the Colonel a
very fine curtsey, which straightway causedher son to be more jealous of him than ever.