The remarkable degree of admiration and awe that was felt by every one, upon the first approach to Washington, evidences the imposing power and sublimity which belongs to real greatness. Even the frequenters of the courts of princes were sensible of this exalted feeling, when in the presence of the hero, who, formed for the highest destinies, bore an impress from nature, which declared him to be one among the noblest of her works.* Those who have only seen him as the leader of armies and the chief magistrate of the republic, can have but an imperfect idea of him when merged into the retired citizen, embosomed among his family and friends, cultivating the social and domestic virtues, and dispensing pleasure and happiness to all around him. Persons in general have been in error, in supposing that there belonged to this dignified man nothing of the gentler sort" no tear for pity." In the master-spirit in the direction of those vast events which gave a new empire to the world, the austerity of command could never destroy those kindlier feelings in which he delighted to indulge himself, and to inspire them in others. Stern he was, to all whom he deemed wanting in those high moral requisites, which dignify and adorn our natures-stern he was, to the disturbers of the repose of society, the violators of those institutions which promote peace and good will among men; but he was for *It is related of the Honorable Gouverneur Morris, who was remarkable for his freedom of deportment toward his friends, that on one occasion he offered a wager that he could treat General Washington with the same familiarity as he did others. This challenge was accepted, and the performance tried. Mr. Morris slapped Washington familiarly on the shoulder, and said, "How are you, this morning, general?" Washington made no reply, but turned his eyes upon Mr. Morris with a glance that fairly withered him. He afterward acknowledged, that nothing could induce him to attempt the same thing again. bearing toward the imperfections of human kind, where they arose from the passions only, and not from the depravity of the heart. He was reserved toward the many; but there were a chosen few, who, having passed that barrier, were wooed by his kindly friendship to push their fortunes, till they finally gained footing in the citadel of his esteem. He was tender, compassionate, and sympathizing. We have seen him shed tears of parental solicitude over the manifold errors and follies of our unworthy youth.* He shed a tear of sorrow for his suffering country in the dark hour of her destiny; and a tear of joy and gratitude to heaven for her deliverance, when, in 1789, he crossed the bridge of Trenton, where the hands of freemen "reared for him triumphal bowers," while a choir of innocents, with seraph chant, "welcomed the mighty chief once more," and "virgins fair, and matrons grave, strewed the hero's way with flowers."+ The journey of the first president to the seat of gov ernment was one continued triumph; but nowhere was it of so feeling a character as at the bridge of Trenton. That was, indeed, a classic ground. It was there, on a frozen surface, that, in 1776, was achieved the glorious event which restored the fast-failing fortunes of liberty, and gave to her drooping eagles a renewed and bolder flight. What a contrast to the chief must have been this spot in 1789, when no longer "a mercenary foe aimed against him the fatal blow;" when no more was heard 66 *See the correspondence between Washington and young Custis during the collegiate days of the latter, appended to the Memoir. † A more minute account of Washington's reception at Trenton, when on his way to New York, in the spring of 1789, to be inaugurated the first president of the United States, will be found in another chapter. the roar of combat, the shouts of the victors, the groans of the dying-but the welcome of thousands to liberty's great defender-the heartfelt homage of freemen to the deliverer of his country. The president alighted from his carriage, and approached the bridge uncovered. As he passed under the triumphal arch, a cherub, in the form of a young girl, perched amid the foliage that covered it, crowned him with laurel which will never fade, while the sweetest minstrelsy from human lips filled the air, as the hero trod on his way of flowers. Washington then shed tears-tears of the deepest emotion. The merit of these appropriate and classical decorations is due to the late Mrs. Stockton, of Princeton, a lady of superior literary acquirements and refined taste. She was familiarly called duchess, from her elegance and dignity of manners. She was a most ardent patriot during the War of the Revolution, and, with the Stockton family, was marked for persecution on the ruthless invasion of the Jerseys. This distinguished lady was the * Like others of the signers of the great Declaration, Mr. Stockton was marked for peculiar vengeance by the enemy. So suddenly did the flying Americans pass by Princeton, in the autumn of 1776, and so soon were the Hessian vultures and their British companions on the trail, that he had barely time to remove his family to a place of safety before his beautiful mansion was filled with rude soldiery. The house was pillaged; the horses and stock were driven away; the furniture was converted into fuel; the choice old wines in the cellar were drunk; the valuable library and all the papers of Mr. Stockton were committed to the flames, and the estate was laid waste. The plate had been hastily buried in the woods, in boxes. A treacherous servant revealed their place of concealment, and two of the boxes were disinterred and rifled of their contents; the other was saved. Mr. Stockton and family took refuge with a friend in Monmouth county. His place of concealment was discovered by a party of refugee loyalists, who entered the house at night, dragged him from his bed, and treating him with every indignity which malice could invent, hurried him to Amboy, and from thence to New York, where he was confined in the loathsome provost jail. There he suffered dreadfully; and when, through the interposition of grandmother of Mr. Secretary Rush, who is "doubly blessed" in his Revolutionary ancestry; both his father and grandfather having signed the Declaration of Independence-a most honored distinction, and, we believe, enjoyed by no other citizen of our extensive American empire.* Congress, he was released, his constitution was hopelessly shattered, and he did not live to see the independence of his country achieved. He died at Morven, his seat at Princeton, in February, 1781, blessed to the last with the tender and affectionate attentions of his Annis, whom he called “the best of women." Night and day she was at his bedside, and when his spirit was about to depart, she wrote, impromptu, several verses, of which the following is indicative of her feelings : "Oh, could I take the fate to him assigned, And leave the helpless family their head, Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution. Mrs. Ellet, in her Women of the Revolution, has given an interesting biography of Mrs. Annis Stockton. She relates, that when that excellent lady heard of the destruction of the library, she remarked, that "there were two books in it she would like to have saved the Bible and Young's Night Thoughts." Tradition says, that these two books were the only ones left. * Honorable Richard Rush, of Philadelphia. When Mr. Custis wrote, he was in the cabinet of President Adams, as secretary of the treasury, and in the prime of life, being about forty-seven years of age. He was graduated at Princeton college in 1797, became a lawyer, and in 1811 was appointed attorney-general of Pennsylvania. He became the United States attorney-general in 1814. He was secretary of state under President Monroe, and then succeeded John Quincy Adams as minister at the court of St. James. There he remained over seven years, when Mr. Adams called him into his cabinet. During that time he negotiated some very important treaties. At the request of President Jackson, Mr. Rush went to London, in 1836, to obtain Mr. Smithson's legacy to the United States, out of the English court of chancery. In August, 1838, he returned with the entire sum. In 1847, President Polk appointed him minister to France. After his return he remained in private life, at his beautiful seat of Sydenham, near Philadelphia, where, on the verge of octogenarian honors (having been born in 1780) he died on the 1st. of August, 1859. In 1857, Mr. Rush prepared and published a valuable little volume, entitled, Washington in Domestic Life, from original letters and manuscripts then in his possession. CHAPTER III. BATTLE OF PRINCETON AND DEATH OF GENERAL MERCER. -- ERROES OF HISTORY MANNER OF MERCER'S FALL AND RECEPTION OF DEATH-WOUNDSTAKEN TO CLARK'S HOUSE, NEAR THE BATTLE-FIELD-MAJOR LEWIS SENT to take Care Of HIM-HIS ACCUrate KnowledGE OF HIS SITUATION HIS EXPLANATION OF HIS WOUNDSHIS DEATH-HIS BURIAL-PLACE ANECDOTE OF HIS EARLY PATRIOTISM- DEATH OF CAPTAIN LESLIE-DOCTOR RUSH-THE SEVENTEENTH BRITISH REGIMENT- COMPOSITION OF THE AMERICAN ARMY-THE DIE CAST AT PRINCETON-WASHINGTON ON THE BATTLE-FIELD THERE COLONEL FITZGERALD, HIS AID-DE-CAMP. THERE has always been an erroneous impression on the public mind, concerning the death of General Mercer, who fell at the battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777.* The battle at Princeton occurred a few days after Washington's triumph at Trenton, on the morning of the twenty-sixth of December, 1776, and was the close of a melancholy, yet brilliant chapter in the history of the old War for Independence. A little while before, Washington and his army had been expelled from the east side of the Hudson river, and for the space of three weeks were flying across New Jersey before a victorious pursuer, who was so close upon him at times, that each could hear the martial music of the other. The flight ended and repose came only when the Americans had crossed the Delaware, taken all the boats with them, and placed a broad and rapid stream filled with ice, between themselves and the foe. The British formed small encampments along the Jersey side of the Delaware, from Trenton to Burlington, and below. At Trenton were a thousand Hessian and some British cavalry. On Christmas night, Washington with his refreshed troops recrossed the Delaware, eight miles above Trenton, and early in the morning, fell upon and captured those hirelings, and, with his prisoners, went back to the Pennsylvania shore. Once more Washington recrossed the Delaware, and with five thousand soldiers, encamped there. On the second of January Cornwallis, with veteran British troops, came from Princeton to attack him. There was some fighting at Trenton just at evening, when the British general, feeling sure that he could capture the whole American army in the morning, took rest for the night. The Americans were in great peril. They could not retreat across the river, and were too feeble to fight so large an army as that before them, with any chance for success. So, at midnight, |