WAS 



WAS 



took pleafiire in fuggefting and accompllrtiing any fcheme 

 that tended to the improvement of the country. Accord- 

 ingly, he zealoufly promoted a plin of inland navigation ; 

 and in gratitude for his ferviccs, the legillatiirt of Virginia 

 palVed an aft in order to veil in him 150 Iharea in the naviga- 

 tion of the rivers James and Potowmac. But this grant he 

 would not accept, a^ he had refolved to decline all perfonal 

 recompence for his fervices ; but he confented to the aft on 

 condition of appropriating the proceeds to the maintenance 

 of a feminary of learning in the vicinity of each river ; 

 which appropriation he confirmed by his laft will. 



When a general convention was agreed upon for revifing 

 the federal fyftem of government, this convention affembled 

 at Philadelphia in 1787, and unanimoufly chofe Wafhing- 

 ton as prehdent ; and when the new form of government 

 was fettled, the late commander-in-chief was unanimoufly 

 elefted the fivll Prelident of the United States, the honour 

 of which eleftion was announced to him at mount Vernon 

 on the 14th of April, 1789. Independently of his re- 

 luftance to embark again in the toils of public life, he fore- 

 faw peculiar difliculties that would embarrafs the meafures 

 of government in the firft fettlcment of the American dates. 

 Neverthelefs, having for many years devoted his time and 

 fervices to the public caufe, he itill confulted the welfare of 

 his country, in preference to all confiderations of perfonal 

 tranquillity and retired enjoyment. With thefe views lie ac- 

 cepted the arduous office that had been fo honourably 

 afligned to him, and immediately commenced, as he faith- 

 fully continued, the difcharge of its important duties. 

 " After having (leered the vei^A of the ftate," fays one of 

 his biographers, " during an unq-uiet period of eight years, 

 being now in the fixty-iixth year of his age, he thought 

 proper to dechne a new eleftion to his high oiBce. He an- 

 nounced this intention in a long and minute addrefs to the 

 people of the United States, replete with the moll excellent 

 advice for their future conduft, and the foundeft views of 

 ■ their political ilate. It was a legacy of wildom, which fet 

 the feal to all his paft iervices." — " It was in the beginning 

 of 1797 that Wafhington refigned his authority to liis fuc- 

 celTor, Mr. Adams ; on which occafion, whatever might be 

 the feelings of a few party-zealots, he received abundant 

 proofs of the g^-neral efteem and atfeclion. He returned 

 •with pleafure to the comforts of domeftic life, and refumed 

 his agricultural and literary purfuits. From this ftate of 

 privacy, however, he was called in the following year by 

 the aggravated injuries of the French rulers, which pro- 

 duced a determination in Congrefs to arm by fea and land 

 for a dcfenfive war; and in confequence Wafliington was 

 once more nominated to the chief command of the armies of 

 the United States. The countenance, however, thus 

 aflumed, and the fubfequent depofition of the Direftory by 

 Buonaparte, brought on an accommodation, and all mili- 

 tary preparations were at an end." 



When the fervices of this truly " great man," unparal- 

 leled perhaps in the hiftory of the world, terminated, his 

 life was haftening to a clofe. Having expofed himfelf to 

 the rain, December 13, 1799, in attending to fome improve- 

 ments at mount Vernon, he was feized with an inflamma- 

 tory affeftion of the wind-pipe, attended with fever, which 

 baffled tlie efforts of his phyficians, and terminated his life 

 within thirty-five hours after his firft feizure, without a 

 ftruggle, and in the full pofleflion of his reafon, in the fixty- 

 eightii year of his age. H^ left a widow, but no children. 

 We fhall c' )fe this article with the following delineation of his 

 charafttr by one of his biographers. " His moral and in- 

 telleftual quaUties were fo happily blended, that he might 

 leem exprefsly formed for the part afligned to him on the 



theatre of the world. His firm mind, equally inacccflible to 

 the flatteries of hope and the fuggeftions of defpondence, 

 was kept fteady by the grand principles of love to his coun- 

 try, and a religious attachment to moral duty. In him even 

 fame, glory, and reputation, were fubordinate to the per- 

 formance of the tadc impofed upon him ; and no one ever 

 pafted through the ordeal of power more free from the re- 

 moteft fufpicion of felfiih or ambitious defigns. Capable 

 of ftrong and decilive meafures when neceflary, they were 

 tempered with the lenity which flows from true benevolence. 

 In perfon he was tall and well proportioned. His form was 

 dignified, and his port majeftic. His paffions were naturally 

 ftrong, but he had obtained a full command over them. In 

 the charafter of his intelleft, judgment predominated ; to 

 fancy and vivacity he had no pretenfion ; but good fenfe dif- 

 played itfelf in all that he faid or wrote. It was a proof 

 of ftrong powers of acquifition, that, fcanty as his literary 

 education had been, by a careful ftudy of the EngliiTi lan- 

 guage in its beft models, he became mafter of a ftyle at 

 once pure, elegant, and energetic ; and few better fpeci- 

 mens of public addrefles can be (hewn than in the produfts 

 of his pen. Many more brilliant charafters appear in the 

 pages of hiftory and biography ; fcarcely any fo thoroughly 

 eftimable." Ramfay's and Marftiall's Lives of Waftiing- 

 ton. Gen. Biog. 



Washington, in Geography, a county of the United 

 States, in the diftritl of Maine, bounded on the N. by 

 Lower Canada, on the E. by New Brunfwick, and on the 

 S. by the Atlantic. The chief town is Machias, which 

 conttins 1570 inhabitants. The population of the whole 

 county confifts of 7870 perfons. — Alfo, a town of Mafla- 

 chufetts, in the county of Berkfliire, containing 942 inhai- 

 bitants. 



Washington, Mount, a town of Maftachufctts, in the 

 county of Berkfhire, containing 474 inhabitants. 



Washington, a town of New Hampftiire, in the county 



of Chefhire, containing 820 inhabitants Alfo, a town of 



Vermont, in the county ot Orange, containing 1040 inha- 

 bitants. — Alfo, a town of Connefticut, in the county of 



Litchfield, containing 1575 inhabitants Alfo, a county of 



New York, which received its prefent name in 1784, in ho- 

 nour of George Wafhington, having been before called 

 Charlotte county, when it alfo included a part of the prefent 

 ftate of Vermont. It was organized in 1788 and 1,^01. 

 It is bounded N. by Efl^ex county, E. by the ftate of Ver- 

 mont, S. by Renftelaer and Saratoga counties, and W. by 

 Saratoga and Montgomery. Its form is irregular, being 

 ih its greateft length, N. and S. 59 miles, and greatefl 

 breadth, 45. The area is about 161 2 fquare miles, or 

 1,031,680 acres, including the waters. It is fituated be- 

 tween 42° 55' and 43° 48' N. lat,, and 45' E. and 12' W. 

 long, from New York. It includes 2 1 towns, of which 

 the capitals are Kingftjury and Salem. In 18 10 its popula- 

 tion confifted of 44,289 perfons, and its fenatorial eleftors 

 were 4079. The country round lake George is hilly, and, 

 efpecially in the northern part, prefents fummits of 6, 8, 

 900 to 1 100 feet altitude ; but the hills are interfperfed with 

 valleys, that afford a tolerable good foil for farming. But 

 the fouthern part contains a large proportion of arable land, 

 with a warm light foil. The agriculture of the fouthern 

 part of Wafliington county is very refpeftable and produc- 

 tive. In the northern part the pine foreils fupply large 

 quantities of lumber, in logs, fquare timber, boards, 

 ftiingles, &c., that defcend the Hudfon in rafts. Few 

 counties produce more of clothing from houfehold induf- 

 try. The mineralogy of this county includes flate, lime- 

 ftone, marble, bog iroa-orc, lead-ore, and fome mineral 



fprings. 



