IF THE BOY GEORGE WASHINGTON HAD BECOME A BRITISH MIDSHIPMAN
One summer day, in 1746, a British ship of war lay in the Potomac River
below the place where the city of Washington now stands. The officers of
the ship had been visiting at Mount Vernon, which was the residence of
Major Lawrence Washington, adjutant-general of Virginia.
No vessel of the royal navy entered the Potomac River without a visit on
the part of its officers to Major Washington's house. He had been in the
king's service at the siege of Cartagena and elsewhere. Admiral Vernon
was his friend; Major Washington's estate on the Potomac had been named
after the admiral. Lawrence Washington's acquaintance with the men of
both army and navy was wide, and his popularity among them great. A
visit to his hospitable residence, where he entertained them with true
Virginian lavishness, was always a bright spot in any naval officer's
life at that day.
At Lawrence Washington's table, for two or three years prior to 1746,
had sat his younger brother, George by name. This lad, who was a
gentleman and a soldier in miniature, had often listened to stories of
the exploits of the navy--of the capture of Porto Bello, of the
bombardment of Cartagena, and of cruisings and battles along the Spanish
Main. These stories and personal contact with their heroes had inspired
him with an eager desire to enter the naval service. His father was
dead, and his brother, who had virtually taken the father's place,
favored the boy's design. His mother had opposed it. But at last she had
been induced to give her consent. A midshipman's warrant was obtained
for young George Washington, and on the summer day in 1746 of which we
have spoken his luggage had actually been sent on board the ship lying
in the river.
But at the last moment Mary Washington flatly rebelled. She could not
bear the thought of her boy's going to sea. She foresaw a time when she
would need him at home. She withdrew her consent; and as her signature
was necessary to his enlistment, it was impossible for him to join the
ship, and his luggage was sent back to Mount Vernon.
So thus it happened that George Washington did not, at the age of
fourteen, enter the British navy, and embark upon a career which would
probably have held him fast all the rest of his life.
It was a real contingency--that of the possible commitment of George
Washington to the royal cause. Every influence that bore upon him, up to
the date of his brother Lawrence's death, in 1752, was royalist. This
brother was married to the daughter of George William Fairfax, cousin
and manager of the great American estates of Lord Fairfax. Lord Fairfax
himself, removing to Virginia, became the patron, friend and mentor of
young George Washington. The young man was in constant association with
Englishmen, and always more or less under official influence.
The Fairfaxes remained loyal to the British power when the war of
independence was declared. If Lawrence Washington had lived it is quite
conceivable--aye, probable--that he would have gone with them. If George
Washington had not been thrown much into contact after that with his
Virginian neighbors, among whom the spirit of rebellion had been
propagated from Massachusetts--if he had not himself become a colonial
soldier and commander--there can be little question that he would have
clung to the English side.
In the meantime, undoubtedly, he would have been advanced to rather high
rank in the naval service, if he had joined it. The years between 1746,
when the midshipman's warrant was obtained for Washington, and 1774,
when the colonies began to flame up into revolt, had been of great
activity at sea.
The young officer might have participated in the destruction of the
French fleet at Cape Finisterre; in the victory off Lagos; in the great
decisive combat in Quiberon Bay; in the capture of Havana, and in many
other sea fights. He would have fought by the side of Boscawen, Sir
Edward Hawke, Lord Howe, Duff and Rodney, and very likely have won
laurels such as theirs. Nothing colonial could have separated him from
the flag which he had thus served, any more than the influence of his
native state could have separated Farragut from the Stars and Stripes in
1861.
Is it too much to say that the American republic would have been
fatherless without Washington? Perhaps an arm might have been
found--though that is doubtful--that could have wielded his sword. But
where was the brain, the patience, the tact, the determination, that
would have composed the differences in the American councils, and have
kept the discordant colonies and the jealous commanders together?
That another man, that any combination of men, could have done what he
did, is inconceivable. In the grandeur of his character and in the
genius with which he accomplished a tremendous work, he is uncompanioned
not only in America, but in the history of the world. Without his
steadying hand in the war, the American army would have followed a
devious course to death, and the young republic one to its destruction.
As to the decisive part which he played in the formation of the union of
the States after the war, the word of his companions in the Federal
Constituent Convention is conclusive. "Were it not for one great
character in America," said Grayson of Virginia, referring to
Washington, "so many men would not be for this government; we do not
fear while he lives, but who besides him can concentrate the confidence
and affection of all Americans?" No one else ever could have
concentrated them. Monroe reported to Jefferson, "Be assured
Washington's influence carried this government." And Bancroft has put
this judgment on record: "The country was an instrument with thirteen
strings, and the only master who could bring out all their harmonious
thought was Washington. Had the idea prevailed that he would not accept
the Presidency, it would have proved fatal."
Washington was the pivot upon which all things turned. Lacking such a
pivot, the machinery of the American republic would have tumbled into
ruin. Happy the choice of the Virginian mother who could not spare her
boy on that summer day, and sent aboard the man-of-war in Potomac's
stream for his dunnage!