From Farm House to the White House - 912 Freedom Library

Farm House to the White House, by William M. Thayer 208
as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it which is so natural to a man who views in it the
native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that
retreat, in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of
my fellow citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government--the ever favorite object of my
heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
On closing his presidential career, March 4, 1797, Washington retired to Mount Vernon, to spend the remnant
of his days in retirement. It was not long, however, before the prospect of a war with France prompted the
nation to ask him to take command of its armies, to which he consented, although he declared that there would
be no war--a conclusion which subsequent events fully justified. John Adams was president, and he wrote to
Washington:
"We must have your name, if you will in any case permit us to use it. There will be more efficacy in it than in
many an army."
Having said nothing particularly concerning Washington as a slave-holder, we may add, in closing this
chapter, that he believed, with Jefferson, that slavery was a cruel wrong, and ought to be abolished. He said to
Jefferson, before he was president:
"I never mean, unless some particular circumstances should compel me to it, to possess another slave by
purchase; it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be
abolished by law." In another letter he says, "I can only say there is not a man living who wishes more
sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it; but there is only one proper and effectual mode
by which it can be accomplished, and that is by legislative authority, and this, as far as my suffrage will go,
shall never be wanting."
During his presidency in New York, Mrs. Washington's favorite maid Ovey ran away, and she besought her
husband to take measures to find her. Laughing, Washington replied:
"I, who have been fighting for liberty, would appear finely in pursuit of a runaway slave!"
He freely expressed his abhorrence of slavery to Lafayette during the war; and when the latter purchased an
estate in Cayenne, with the intention of freeing the slaves upon it, Washington wrote to him:
"Your late purchase is a generous and noble proof of your humanity. Would to God a like spirit might diffuse
itself generally in the minds of the people of this country!"
His will provided for the emancipation of his slaves, so far as possible. "Under the tenure by which the dower
negroes are held he could not manumit them." But the will ran thus:
"Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will and desire that all the slaves whom I hold in my own right shall
receive their freedom."
After his death, Mrs. Washington proceeded to emancipate the slaves, agreeable to his wishes, at expressed in
his last "will and testament."
XXIV.
DEATH, AND FUNERAL CEREMONIES.