The following is an extract of a private letter written to his nephew, Bushrod Washington, then a student of law in Philadelphia, and afterwards heir of Mount Vernon, and an associate judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. It will be found to contain a forcible reiteration of views, presented in our previous citations. "NEWBURGH, 15th Jan. 1783.

"Dear Bushrod,

"Let the object, which carried you to Philadelphia, be always before your eyes. Remember, that it is not the mere study of the law, but to become eminent in the profession of it, that is to yield honour and profit. The first was your choice; let the second be your ambition. Dissipation is incompatible with both; the company in which you will improve most, will be the least expensive to you; and yet I am not such a stoic as to suppose that you will, or to think it right that you should, always be in company with senators and philosophers; but of the juvenile kind, let me advise you to be choice. It is easy to make acquaintances, but very difficult to shake them off, however irksome and unprofitable they are found, after we have once committed ourselves to them. The

ed for a stone, and finding a suitable onc, took two or three quick steps, and giving it a jerk, it seemed to take wings, and scaling a considerable distance almost horizontally, struck the water, at least a rod from the shore. All the troops witnessed the feat, and gave three spontaneous cheers, when the General, without the least appearance of having made an exertion, remounted and returned to the camp. It would be difficult to describe the sensations felt by the spectators, of this feat of muscular strength, however trivial, performed by the idol of the army."

indiscretions, which very often they involuntary lead one into, prove equally distressing and disgraceful.

"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.

"Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distresses of every one, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse; remembering always the estimation of the widow's mite, but, that it is not every one that asketh, that deserveth charity; all, however, are worthy of the inquiry, or the deserving may suffer.

"Do not conceive that fine clothes make fine men, any more than fine feathers make fine birds. A plain genteel dress is more admired, and obtains more credit, than lace and embroidery, in the eyes of the judicious and sensible.

"The last thing which I shall mention, is first in importance; and that is, to avoid gaming. This is a vice which is productive of every possible evil; equally injurious to the morals and health of its votaries. It is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and father of mischief. It has been the ruin of many worthy families, the loss of many a man's honour, and the cause of suicide. To all those who enter the lists, it is equally fascinating. The successful gamester pushes his good fortune, till it is overtaken by a reverse. The losing gamester, in hopes of retrieving past misfortunes, goes on from bad to worse, till grown desperate, he pushes at every thing and loses his all. In a word, few gain by this abominable practice, while thousands are injured.

"Perhaps you will say, 'My conduct has anticipated the advice,' and, 'not one of the cases applies to me.' I shall be heartily glad of it. It will add not a little to my happiness, to find those to whom I am so nearly connected, pursuing the right walk of life; it will be the sure road to my favour, and to those honours and places of profit, which their country can bestow; as merit rarely goes unrewarded. I am, dear Bushrod, your affectionate uncle."

Thus strong and emphatic was the condemnation, which these vices incurred at the hands of the Father of his Country. Nor will any, who have carefully marked the tone and spirit of his admonitions, be disposed to ascribe his opposition to a mere love of order, or concern for the interests of the service in which he was engaged. It is manifest that his disapprobation was cordial, springing from a real and fixed aversion to the habits themselves. They were offensive to his sense of moral and religious propriety, and therefore discouraged, from principle, through every period of his life. It need scarcely be added, that his example was in harmony with his precepts, and was always considered as fully authorizing the decision and zeal with which he censured vice in those who were in any way subject to his command.

CHAPTER XV.

HIS VIEWS OF WAR.

THERE is no fruit of human corruption more strongly marked with the impress of its unholy origin, than aggressive war. Few practices known in our world, can be for a moment compared with this, for its essential malignity of purpose, and its desolation of human happiness and virtue. It exhibits at once the strongest proof of human depravity, and the fearful connexion established between vice and suffering. For it is indeed "the day of the Lord, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger." It is a case in which retribution pursues transgression with unwonted rapidity. In many instances of human folly and sin, vengeance slumbers for a season. But here, as if to deter mankind from an iniquity thus monstrous and fatal, the punishment is so blended with the offence, that the delusive hope of impunity can never be cherished. If the worst effects of the storm are not encountered, yet to pass through entirely unscathed is next to an impossibility. If the physical evils are escaped, yet the moral will not be. If the body is not sacrificed, yet will

a more costly offering be made in the immolation of the spirit, in the loss of its virtue and its happiness.

"War," says a celebrated writer, * "may be considered in two views, as it affects the happiness, and as it affects the virtue of mankind; as a source of misery, and as a source of crimes.

"1. Though we must all die, as the woman of Tekoa said, and are as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up, yet it is impossible for a human mind to contemplate the rapid extinction of innumerable lives without concern. To perish in a moment, to be hurried instantaneously, without preparation and without warning, into the presence of the Supreme Judge, has something in it inexpressibly awful and affecting. War is the work, the element, or rather the sport and triumph of death, who glories, not only in the strength of his conquests, but in the richness of his spoil. In the other methods of attack, in the other forms which death assumes, the feeble and the aged, who at the best can live but a short time, are usually the victims; here it is the vigorous and the strong. It is remarked by an ancient historian, that 'in peace children bury their parents, in war parents bury their children :' nor is the difference small. Children lament their parents, sincerely indeed, but with that moderate and tranquil sorrow which it is natural for those to feel who are conscious of retaining many tender ties, many animating prospects. Parents mourn for their children with the bitterness of despair; the aged parent, the widowed mother, loses, when she is deprived of her children,

*Robert Hall.