 |
| XLVI. |
| XLVII. |
| XLVIII. |
| XLIX. |
| L. |
| LI. |
| LII. |
| LIII. |
| LIV. |
| LV. |
| LVI. |
| LVII. |
| LVIII. |
| LIX. |
| LX. |
| LXI. |
| LXII. |
| LXIII. |
| LXIV. |
| LXV. |
| LXVI. |
| LXVII. |
| LXVIII. |
| LXIX. |
| LXX. |
| LXXI. |
| LXXII. |
| LXXIII. |
| LXXIV. |
| LXXV. |
| LXXVI. |
| LXXVII. |
| LXXVIII. |
| LXXIX. |
| LXXX. |
|
| I. |
|
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
| XIII. |
| XIV. |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
| XVII. |
| XVIII. |
| XIX. |
| XX. |
| XXI. |
| XXII. |
| XXIII. | No. XXIII. |
| XXIV. |
| XXV. |
 | Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia. |  |
No. XXIII.
Further Statements concerning the Religious Character of
Washington and the Question whether he was a Communicant
or not.
Extract from a letter of the Rev. Dr. Berrian, of New York, to Mrs.
Jane Washington, of Mount Vernon, in answer to some inquiries about
General Washington during his residence in New York as President of
the United States:—
"About a fortnight since I was administering the Communion to a sick
daughter of Major Popham, and, after the service was over, happening to
speak on this subject, I was greatly rejoiced to obtain the information
which you so earnestly desired.
"Major Popham served under General Washington during the Revolutionary
War, and I believe he was brought as near to him as their difference
of rank would admit, being himself a man of great respectability, and
connected by marriage with the Morrises, one of the first families in the
country. He has still an erect and military air, and a body but little
broken at his advanced age. His memory does not seem to be impaired
nor his mind to be enfeebled."
To the above I can add my own testimony, having in different ways
become acquainted with the character of Major Popham, and having
visited him about the same time mentioned by Dr. Berrian.
Extract from Major Popham's Letter to Mrs. Jane Washington
You will doubtless be not a little surprised at receiving
a letter from an individual whose name may possibly never have
pleasure of introducing myself to your notice. In a conversation with the
Rev. Dr. Berrian a few days since, he informed me that he had lately paid
a visit to Mount Vernon, and that Mrs. Washington had expressed a wish
to have a doubt removed from her mind, which had long oppressed her,
as to the certainty of the General's having attended the Communion while
residing in the city of New York subsequent to the Revolution. As nearly
all the remnants of those days are now sleeping with their fathers, it is
not very probable that at this late day an individual can be found who
could satisfy this pious wish of your virtuous heart, except the writer. It
was my great good fortune to have attended St. Paul's Church in this city
with the General during the whole period of his residence in New York
as President of the United States. The pew of Chief-Justice Morris was
situated next to that of the President, close to whom I constantly sat in
Judge Morris's pew, and I am as confident as a memory now labouring under
the pressure of fourscore years and seven can make me, that the President
had more than once—I believe I may say often—attended at the sacramental
table, at which I had the privilege and happiness to kneel with
him. And I am aided in my associations by my elder daughter, who distinctly
recollects her grandmamma—Mrs. Morris—often mention that fact
with great pleasure. Indeed, I am further confirmed in my assurance by
the perfect recollection of the President's uniform deportment during
divine service in church. The steady seriousness of his manner, the solemn,
audible, but subdued tone of voice in which he read and repeated the
responses, the Christian humility which overspread and adorned the native
dignity of the saviour of his country, at once exhibited him a pattern to
all who had the honour of access to him. It was my good fortune, my
dear madam, to have had frequent intercourse with him. It is my pride
and boast to have seen him in various situations,—in the flush of victory,
in the field and in the tent,—in the church and at the altar, always himself,
ever the same.
Letter from General Lewis, of Augusta county, Virginia, to the Rev. Mr.
Dana, of Alexandria.
When (some weeks ago) I had the pleasure
of seeing you in Alexandria, and in our conversation the subject of the
religious opinions and character of General Washington was spoken of, I
repeated to you the substance of what I had heard from the late General
Robert Porterfield, of Augusta, and which at your request I promised to
reduce to writing at some leisure moment and send to you. I proceed
now to redeem the promise. Some short time before the death of General
Porterfield, I made him a visit and spent a night at his house. He related
many interesting facts that had occurred within his own observation in
encampment of the army at Valley Forge. He said that his official duty
(being brigade-inspector) frequently brought him in contact with General
Washington. Upon one occasion, some emergency (which he mentioned)
induced him to dispense with the usual formality, and he went directly to
General Washington's apartment, where he found him on his knees, engaged
in his morning's devotions. He said that he mentioned the circumstance
to General Hamilton, who replied that such was his constant
habit. I remarked that I had lately heard Mr. — say, on the authority
of Mr. —, that General Washington was subject to violent fits of passion,
and that he then swore terribly. General Porterfield said the charge was
false; that he had known General Washington personally for many years,
had frequently been in his presence under very exciting circumstances,
and had never heard him swear an oath, or in any way to profane the
name of God. "Tell Mr. — from me," said he, "that he had much
better be reading his Bible than repeating such slanders on the character
of General Washington. General Washington," said he, "was a pious
man, and a member of your Church, [the Episcopal.] I saw him myself on
his knees receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in — Church, in
Philadelphia." He specified the time and place. My impression is that
Christ Church was the place, and Bishop White, as he afterward was, the
minister. This is, to the best of my recollection, an accurate statement
of what I heard from General Porterfield on the subject.
[In relation to what is said about the paroxysms of passion and terrible
swearing of General Washington, we have something very special to say.
We have heard of this many years since, and think we are able to trace
it to its true source.
The following extract from a late synopsis of General Washington's
private letters to his secretary,—Mr. Tobias Lear,—by the Hon. Richard
Rush, of Philadelphia, will throw some light on the subject:—]
"An anecdote I derived from Colonel Lear shortly before his death in
1816 may here be related, showing the height to which his [General
Washington's] passion would rise, yet be controlled. It belongs to his
domestic life which I am dealing with, having occurred under his own
roof, whilst it marks public feeling the most intense and points to the
moral of his life. I give it in Colonel Lear's words as nearly as I can,
having made a note of them at the time.
Toward the close of a winter's day in 1791, an officer in uniform was
seen to dismount in front of the President's in Philadelphia, and, giving
the bridle to his servant, knock at the door of his mansion. Learning
from the porter that the President was at dinner, he said he was on public
business and had despatches for the President. A servant was sent into
and went into the hall, when the officer repeated what he had said. Mr.
Lear replied that, as the President's secretary, he would take charge of
the despatches and deliver them at the proper time. The officer made
answer that he had just arrived from the Western army, and his orders
were to deliver it with all promptitude, and to the President in person;
but that he would wait his directions. Mr. Lear returned, and in a whisper
imparted to the President what had passed. General Washington rose
from the table and went to the officer. He was back in a short time and
made a word of apology for his absence, but no allusion to the cause of it.
He had company that day. Every thing went on as usual. Dinner over,
the gentlemen passed into the drawing-room of Mrs. Washington, which
was open in the evening. The General spoke courteously to every lady in
the room, as was his custom. His hours were early, and by ten all the
company had gone. Mrs. Washington and Mr. Lear remained. Soon Mrs.
Washington left the room. The General now walked backward and forward
slowly for some minutes without speaking. Then he sat down on a
sofa by the fire, telling Mr. Lear to sit down. To this moment there had
been no change in his manner since his interruption at table. Mr. Lear
now perceived emotion. This rising in him, he broke out suddenly:—"It's
all over! St. Clair's defeated,—routed; the officers nearly all killed, the
men by wholesale; the rout complete. Too shocking to think of;—and a
surprise into the bargain!" He uttered all this with great vehemence.
Then he paused, got up from the sofa, and walked about the room several
times, agitated, but saying nothing. Near the door he stopped short and
stood still for a few seconds, when his wrath became terrible. "Yes," he
burst forth, "here, on this very spot, I took leave of him. I wished him
success and honour. `You have your instructions,' I said, `from the Secretary
of War: I had a strict eye to them, and will add but one word,—beware
of a surprise! I repeat it, beware of a surprise; you know how the Indians
fight us.' He went off with that as my last solemn warning thrown into
his ears. And yet to suffer that army to be cut to pieces, hacked,
butchered, tomahawked, by a surprise,—the very thing I guarded him
against! O God! O God! he's worse than a murderer! How can he answer
it to his country? The blood of the slain is upon him,—the curse of
the widows and orphans,—the curse of Heaven!" This torrent came out
in tones appalling. His very frame shook. "It was awful," said Mr. Lear.
More than once he threw his hands up as he hurled imprecations upon St.
Clair. Mr. Lear remained speechless, awed into breathless silence. The
roused chief sat down on the sofa once more. He seemed conscious of his
passion, and uncomfortable. He was silent. His warmth beginning to
[OMITTED] he at length said, in an altered voice, "This must not go beyond
this room." Another pause followed,—a longer one,—when he said, in a
tone quite low, "General St. Clair shall have justice: I looked hastily
through the despatches, saw the whole disaster, but not all the particulars.
he shall have full justice." He was now (said Mr. Lear) perfectly calm.
Half an hour had gone by. The storm was over; and no sign of it was
seen in his conduct or heard in his conversation. The whole case was
investigated by Congress. St. Clair was exculpated, and regained the
confidence Washington had in him when appointing him to command. He
had put himself into the thickest of the fight, and escaped unhurt, though
so ill as to be carried on a litter and unable to mount his horse without
help.
In relation to the above, let it be granted that Mr. Lear, (who did not
sympathize with General Washington's religious opinions,) after the lapse
of more than twenty years, retained an accurate recollection of all his
words, and that Mr. Rush fully understood them and truly recorded them,
as doubtless he did: yet what do they amount to? Is the exclamation "O
God! O God!" under his aroused feeling, that swearing since imputed to
him, but which from his youth up he had so emphatically condemned in
his soldiers as impious and ungentlemanly?[10]
If it be said that some doubt still rests on the question of General
Washington's being a communicant, by reason of the testimony of Bishop
White, as mentioned in a previous part of this book, such doubt may be
removed in the following manner:—Here are two most respectable officers
under General Washington, who testify to the fact of having seen him
commune in New York and Philadelphia. He may have communed in
Philadelphia on some occasion and yet not been seen by Bishop White, who
had the care of two or three churches, at which he officiated alternately in
conjunction with one or more ministers. He may have retired, and doubtless
did, at other times, and was seen by Bishop White. If it be asked how
we can reconcile this leaving of the church at any time of the celebration
of the Lord's Supper with a religious character, we reply by stating a well-known
too prevalent both in England and America, that it was not so necessary
in the professors of religion to communicate at all times, but that in this
respect persons might be regulated by their feelings, and perhaps by the
circumstances in which they were placed. I have had occasion to see
much of this in my researches into the habits of the members of the old
Church of Virginia. Into this error of opinion and practice General
Washington may have fallen, especially at a time when he was peculiarly
engaged with the cares of government and a multiplicity of engagements,
and when his piety may have suffered some loss thereby.
The Rev. Dr. McGuire, of Fredericksburg, while preparing his volume on the
Religious Opinions and Character of Washington, having heard this report emanating
from some of the enemies of Washington and too readily admitted by some
of his friends, made a particular personal inquiry of Mr. Robert Lewis, of Fredericksburg,
and Mr. Laurence Lewis, of Woodlawn, two gentlemen as competent to
know the private habits of Washington as any others in the land. They were
nephews of General Washington. The former lived in the family of Washington
for some time as private secretary: the latter was his near neighbour, living on a
farm given him by the General. Both of them were men of the highest character,
and pious members of our Church, and both declared that they had never heard
an oath from the lips of their uncle. To this testimony, and those of General
Porterfield and Major Popham, is to be opposed that of Mr. Tobias Lear's account
of one of Washington's paroxysms, as given above, and which, according to his
own showing, was never to go beyond the room in which it occurred. The testimony
of one who had betrayed a sacred trust of Washington on another occasion
besides this should be received with doubt.
| Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia. | |