correfponding fentiments with thofe my countrymen have fo generally expreffed in their affectionate addreffes to you.

7. Believe me, fir, no one can more cordially approve of the wife and prudent measures of your administration. They ought to infpire univerfal confidence, and will, no doubt, combined with the state of things, call from congrefs fuch laws and means as will enable you to meet the full force and extent of the crifis.

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8. Satisfied, therefore, that you have fincerely wished and endeavored to avert war, and exhausted, to the last drop, the cup of reconciliation, we can with pure hearts peal to heaven for the juftice of our caufe; and may confidently truft the final refult to that kind Providence who has heretofore, and so often, fignally favored the people of thefe United States.

9. Thinking in this manner, and feeling how incumbent it is upon every perfon, of every defeription, to contribute at all times to his country's welfare, and especially, in a moment like the present, when every thing we hold dear and facred, is fo feriously threatened ;

10. I have finally determined to accept the commiffion of commander in chief of the armies of the United States; with the reserve only, that I fhall not be called into the field till the army is in a fituation to require my presence, or it becomes indifpenfable by the urgency of circumftances.

11. In making this refervation, I beg it to be underftood, that I do not mean to withhold any affiftance to arrange and organize the army, which you may think I can afford.

12. I take the liberty alfo to mention that I must decline having my acceptance confidered as drawing after it any immediate charge upon the public, or that I can receive any emoluments annexed to the appointment, before entering into a fituation to incur expenfe.

13. The fecretary of war being anxious to return to the feat of government, I have detained him no longer than was neceffary to a full communication on the feveral points he had in charge. With very great refpect, I have the honor to be, &c.

GEORGE WASHINGTON. JOHN ADAMS, prefident of the United States.

EXTRACT FROM GENERAL HENRY LEE'S ORATION ON THE DEATH OF GENERAL WASHINGTON.

1. THE annunciation of these feelings, in his affecting letter to the prefident, accepting the command of the army, concludes his official conduct.

2. Firft in war-firft in peace-and firft in the hearts of his countrymen, he was fecond to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life; pious, juft, humane, temperate and fincere; uniform, dignified, and commanding, his example was as edifying to all around him, as were the effects of that example lafting.

3. To his equals he was condefcending, to his inferiors kind, and to the dear object of his affections, exemplarily tender; correct throughout, vice fhuddered in his prefence, and virtue always felt his foftering hand; the purity of his private character gave effulgence to his public virtues.

4. His laft fcene comported with the whole tenor of his life-Although in extreme pain, not a figh, not a groan efcaped him, and with undisturbed ferenity he clofed his well spent life. Such was the man America has loft-such was the man for whom our nation mourns.

5. Methinks I fee his auguft image, and hear falling from his venerable lips thefe deep finking words: "Ceafe, fons of America, lamenting our feparation: Go on, and confirm by your wisdom the fruits of your joint councils, joint efforts, and common dangers reverence religion; diffufe knowledge throughout your land; patronize the arts and fciences; let liberty and order be infeparable companions.

6. Control party fpirit, the bane of free government; obferve good faith to, and cultivate peace with all nations; fhut up every avenue to foreign influence; contract rather than extend national connection; rely on yourselves only : be Americans in thought, word, and deed.

7. Thus will you give immortality to that union, which was the conftant object of my terrestrial labors; thus will you preferve undisturbed to the latest pofterity, the felicity of a people to me most dear; and thus will you fupply (if my happiness is now aught to you) the only vacancy in the round of pure bliss high heaven bestows."

EXTRACT FROM THE CONDOLENCE OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

1. WITH patriotic pride we review the life of our WASHINGTON, and compare him with thofe of other countries who have been pre-eminent in fame. Ancient and modern names are diminished before him. Greatnefs and guilt have too often been allied; but his fame is whiter than it is brilliant. The deftroyers of nations stood abafhed at the majefty of his virtues.

2. It reproved the intemperance of their ambition, and darkened the fplendor of victory. The fcene is closed, and we are no longer anxious left misfortune fhould fully his glory; he has travelled to the end of his journey, and carried with him an increasing weight of glory: he has depofited it fafely, where misfortune cannot tarnish it, where malice cannot blast it.

Favored of heaven, he departed without exhibiting the weakness of humanity; magnanimous in death, the darkness of the grave could not obfcure his brightness.

4. Such was the man whom we deplore. Thanks to God, his glory is confummated; WASHINGTON yet lives on earth in his fpotlefs example-his fpirit is in heaven.

5. Let his countrymen confecrate the memory of the heroic general, the patriotic statesman, and the virtuous fage: let them teach their children never to forget that the fruits of his labors, and his example, are their inheritance.

EXTRACT FROM DR. WHARTON'S SERMON ON THE DEATH OF GEN. WASHINGTON.

1. WHEREAS the tranfcendent accomplishments and unparalleled tranfactions of our great deliverer, stand recorded on the pages of multiplied history, and are become even already the objects of admiration and applaufe among all civilized nations. Well, therefore, may I be excused

from entering on a detail fo familiar to every fon and daugh ter of America; fo familiar to the universe ;

2. Well may I be excufed from attempting to throw any additional luftre on the brilliancy of that character, which for fo many years has fwelled the fweeteft notes of the trumpet of fame, and, borne on the wings of unadulterat ed glory, has exhibited to mankind the first great spectacle of the most exalted heroifm accompanied with dove-like modefty; of the most indefatigable patriotifm untainted with felfishness-of the foft irradiations of genuine magna. nimity and greatness, eclipfing the obtrufive glare of pride, and effectually oppreffing the fwell of arrogance and prefumption.

3. At the grand and foothing idea, that this greatest inftance of human perfectability, this confpicuous phenomenon of human elevation and grandeur, fhould have been permitted to rise first on the horizon of America, every citizen of these states must feel his bofom beat with raptur ous and honeft pride, tempered with reverential gratitude to the great author and fource of all perfection.

4. He will be penetrated with astonishment, and kindled into thanksgiving, when he reflects that our globe had existed fix thousand years before a Washington appeared on the theatre of the world; and that he was then destined to appear in America-to be the ornament, the deliverer, the protector, the delight ! ! !

5. But alas! he is now no longer among us; he is gone, to his death bed, inclosed in the filent tomb; and all that is now left us, is "like all Ifrael, to make great lamentation for him, and to mourn many days, faying, how is the val iant man fallen that delivered Ifrael."

6. My brethren, had the character of Washington refted folely on the bafis of military achievements, and politi cal fagacity; had the vast fabric of his immortal reputation been fupported merely by the hollow columns of univerfal applause, and perfumed with no other fweets than the incenfe of adulation, proffered by the wayward multitude to merit, often as falfe as it is glaring ;

7. Had the virtues of the man been stained by the vices of the hero, or the chriftian difappeared amidit the pretenfions of the philofopher, with whatever delight you might

have listened to his panegyrifts in other places, you would have heard no tribute paid to his memory in this. The temple of God is not defigned to difplay the importance and fascination of human glory and pre-eminance, but rather to exhibit the tranfient glory and emptiness of both.

8. And yet, O holy and divine religion! who prefidest within thefe walls, I trust it will be deemed no violation of thy fanctuary to have just hinted at the genuine glory and unparalleled pre-eminence of character which adorned the great deliverer and beloved father of our country.

9. His refpect for thee, was uninterrupted and fincere. In private and in public, his conduct and conversation were marked with an awful reverence for thy truths and ordinances; nothing profane ever dropt from his lips; nothing irreligious ever appeared in his behavior; to Providence he afcribed all his fuccefs and his glory;

10. He depofited all his laurels at the foot of the altar, and the affectionate addreffes of his fellow-citizens, joined with the applauses of distant nations, instead of swelling his great foul with the fumes of vain glory, seemed only to deprefs every sense of felf-sufficiency, and rivet more firmly his confidence in the Almighty.

11. In his laft pathetic addrefs to his country, he bears open and ample teftimony to the fanctions of revelation; and affures us all, that without religion, neither the wisdom of laws, nor the precepts of morality will be able to preserve a. ftate from deftruction.

12. Let this fentiment, my hearers, reft permanently on our minds. It is the important legacy of our beloved Wafhington, calculated to promote our worldly and eternal happiness; and I trust that he now enjoys the bleffed effects of its adoption. And now let us, from the death of this good and wonderful man, endeavor to learn wisdom.

13. A View of his life must fill every citizen with aston. ishment, veneration and love-while his death conveys the moft affecting leffons to a christian. Let us prefume to follow his disembodied foul into the depths of eternity. There he now is alone with his God.

14. What a fudden revolution takes place in all his fentiments and ideas! What avails him now, that he lived a folitary example of uninterrupted admiration and worldly