In respect to the military portion of his work, the author rather promises correctness than novelty, but an immense pile of correspondence has been carefully examined and abridged, while the opinions, the plans, and the exertions of the general have been detailed with undeviating fidelity.

In imitation of Robertson, in his " History of the reign of the Emperor Charles V." Mr. Marshall has given an introductory volume, relative to the state of America, previously to the epoch of which he intends to treat, and we could have wished, that like the celebrated * writer to which we have just alluded, he had prefixed a title different from the body of the work. In respect to this portion of his labours, he has followed the authorities of Belknap, Hutchinson, Minot, Stith, Beverley, and Chalmer. He commences with observing, that "the discovery of America by Columbus, gave a new impulse, and in some degree a new direction, to that bold spirit of adventure which characterized the hardy age in which he lived." Our Henry VII, although a prudent and discreet Prince, was inflamed by the success of Spain, in the person of Columbus, and on the 5th of March, 1496, issued a commission to Giovanni Gaboto (John Cabot) a Venetian, who had settled at Bristol, It was not until two years after, however, that he sailed in quest of adventures, and discovered Newfoundland, after which he coasted along the continent of North America, from the fifty-sixth to the thirty-eighth degree of latitude. He was succeeded by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the great Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Richard Grenville, the celebrated Sir Francis Drake, and a multitude of adventurers, some of whom appear to have been rather attracted by the gold and silverof the Spaniards, thạn by a spirit of discovery,

At length, after many difficulties, a permanent settlement was made in Virginia, and a provincial assembly formed, The Plymouth company succeeded in an establishment at New Plymouth; Boston was also founded, and Rhode Island began to be peopled,

On the revolution those colonies which had been eyed with suspicion by the house of Stuart, were treated with kindness. Pennsylvania was granted to William Penn, and Philadelphia soon became a considerable city,

A war with the Indians here termed "savages" soon ensued; notwithstanding this, Georgia was settled, and but for the disputes with France and Spain, America under the fostering

* Dr. Robertson terms his first volume, “A view of the Progress of Society in Europe, from the subversion of the Roman Empire, te the beginning of the sixteenth century,

care of Britain, would soon have attained an envied degree of prosperity.

A war, however, long, bloody, and destructive, was now become inevitable, and at the commencement, it promised to be peculiarly inauspicious to this country. General Braddock, to whom was intrusted the command of the army, experienced a most disastrous defeat, and he himself perished. General Abercrombie was afterwards repulsed under the walls of Ticonderoga, but it was reserved for Amherst, who succeeded him, to take possession both of that place and of Crown Point, In consequence of the battle of Abraham, during which Wolfe fell in the arms of victory, Quebec the capital of Canada was forced to capitulate, and England uniformly triumphed throughout the remainder of the contest.

The second volume, commences with an account of the birth of Mr. Washington, and we shall here present our readers with an interesting extract from this portion of the work, which can alone be strictly termed biographical:

"George Washington, the third son of Augustine Washington, was born in Virginia, at Bridges Creek, in the county of Westmorland, on the 22d of February, 1732. He was the great grandson of John Washington, a gentleman of very respectable family in the north of England,* who had emigrated about the year 1657, and settled on the place where young Mr. Washington

was born.

"Very early in life the cast of his genius disclosed itself. The war in which his country was then engaged against France and Spain, first kindled those latent sparks which afterwards blazed with equal splendour and advantage; and at the age of fifteen he urged so pressingly to be permitted to enter into the British navy, that the place of midshipman was obtained for him. The interference of a timid and affectionate mother suspended for a time the commencement of his military course.

"He lost his father at the age of ten years, and received what was denominated an English education; a term which excludes the acquisition of other languages than our own. As his patrimonial estate was by no means considerable, his youth was employed in useful industry: and in the practice of his profession, as a surveyor, he had an opportunity of acquiring that information respecting vacant lands, and of forming those opinions concerning their future value, which afterwards greatly contributed to the increase of his private fortune.

"It is strong evidence of the opinion entertained of his capacity that when not more than nineteen years of age, and at a time when the militia were to be trained for actual service, he was ap

* By the pedigree in the last volume, it appears that the family residenge was at South Cave, in the cast riding of Yorkshire.

pointed one of the adjutants-general of Virginia, with the rank of major. The duties annexed to this office were performed by him for a very short time. The plan formed by France for connecting, her extensive dominions in America, by uniting Canada with Louisiana, now began to develope itself. Possession was taken of a tract of country then deemed to be within the province of Virginia, and a line of posts was commenced from the Lakes to the Ohio. The attention of Mr. Dinwiddie, the lieutenant-governor, of that province, was attracted by these supposed encroachments; and he deemed it his duty to demand, in the name of the king bis master, that they should desist from the prosecution of designs which violated, as he thought, the treaties between the two crowns. A proper person was to be selected for the performance of this duty, which, at that time, was very properly believed to be a very arduous one. A great part of the country through which the envoy was to pass was almost entirely unexplored, and inhabited only by Indians, many of whom were hostile to the English, and others of doubtful attachment. While the dangers and fatigues of the journey deterred those from undertaking it who did not extend their views to the future scenes to be exhibited in that country, or who did not wish to be actors in them, they seem to have furnished motives to Mr. Washington for desiring to be employed in this hazardous service, and he engaged in it with the utmost alacrity.

"He commenced his journey from Williamsburg the day on which he was commissioned, and arrived on the 14th of November at Willis's Creek, then the extreme frontier settlement of the English. Guides were there engaged to conduct him over the Aleghany mountains, the passage of which, at that season of the year, began to be extremely difficult. After surmounting considerable impediments from the snow and high waters, he reached the mouth of Turtle Creek on the Monongahela, on the 22d, where he learned from an Indian trader, that the French general was dead, and that the major part of the army had retired into winter quarters. Pursuing his route, he examined. the country with a military eye, and selected the forks of the Monongahela and Aleghany rivers, the place where Fort du Quesne, now Fort Pitt, was afterwards erected by the French, as an advantageous and commanding position, which it would be adviseable to take possession of immediately, and to fortify.

"After employing a few days among the Indians in that neigh bourhood, and procuring some of their chiefs, whose fidelity he took the most judicious means for securing, to accompany him, he ascended the Aleghany river, and at the mouth of French Creek found the first fort occupied by the troops of France. Proceeding farther up the creek to another fort, he was received by Monsieur Je Gardeur de St. Pierre, the commanding officer on the Ohio, to whom he delivered the letter of Mr. Dinwiddie: and having re

ceived an answer from him, returned with infinite fatigue, and much danger from the hostile Indians, to Williamsburg. The exertions made by Mr. Washington on this occasion, the perseve rance with which he surmounted the difficulties of the journey, and the judgment displayed in his conduct towards the Indians, raised him very much in the public opinion, as well as in that of the lieutenant governor. His journal, drawn up for the inspection of Mr. Dinwiddie, was published, and generally considered as strongly evincing the solidity of his judgment, and the fortitude of his mind.

"As the answer from the commandant of the French forces on the Ohio indicated no disposition to withdraw from that country, it was deemed necessary to make some preparations to maintain the right asserted over it by the British crown: and the assembly of Virginia determined to authorize the governor, with the advice of council, to raise a regiment for that purpose, to consist of three hundred men. The command of this regiment was given to a Mr, Frye, a gentleman supposed to be well acquainted with the western country; and Major Washington was appointed lieutenant colonel."

On this, the subject of the present history advanced with two companies to the Great Meadows, and having surprized a detachment under M. Jumonville, he erected a small stockade, called Fort Necessity, for the purpose of securing his provisions. They then proceeded against another body of the enemy, but on reaching the fort of Laurel Hill, intelligence was received from some friendly Indians that the French "were advancing as numerous as the pigeons in the woods:" On this the troops returned to Fort Necessity, and began a ditch, but before it was completed, about fifteen hundred men advanced under the cominand of Monsieur de Villiers, and commenced a furious attack, The engagement was continued with great resolution from ten in the morning until dark, when a parley was demanded by the assailants, and an honourable capitulation offered, which after some difficulty, was acceded to,

A short time posterior to this event, Mr. Lawrence Washington died, He had served during the expedi tion against Carthagena, and having called an estate on the Potomack, "Mount Vernon," after the admiral of that name, it was bequeathed to his younger brother, who withdrew thither, with a resolution "to devote all his future attention to the avocations of private life."

But his martial spirit was not so easily subdued, for although he had been greatly disgusted by a late regulation, "that all officers commissioned by the king, or by his general, commanding in chief in North America, should take rank of

all officers commissioned by the governors of the respective provinces, and that the general and field officers of the provincial troops should have no rank when serving with the general and field officers commissioned by the crown," yet the mind of Washington was bent on a military life.

The colonel, accordingly yielded soon after to the solicitations of General Braddock, who was apprized of his merit, and he agreed to make one campaign in the character of his Aide de Camp. Having joined the British army at Willis's Creek, he immediately suggested the propriety of using pack horses instead of waggons, for conveying the baggage. Although seized with a fever, that disabled him from riding on horseback, yet while confined within a "covered waggon," he pointed out the folly of attempting to proceed with heavy artillery, over such a country, and demonstrated that the enemy could be defeated by rapid marches alone. But so far from following this advice, four days were consumed in a march of nineteen miles, "and instead of pushing on with vigour, without regarding a little rough road, they were halting to level every mole hill, and to erect bridges over every brook."

During the unfortunate skirmish at Monongahela, Washington assisted in person, and escaped as if by a miracle, according to the following passage, the latter part of which is undoubtedly marked with too much severity, in respect to the regular British army.

"In a very short time after the action had commenced he was the only aid remaining alive and unwounded. On him alone devolved, in an engagement with marksmen who selected officers, and especially those on horseback, for their objects, the whole duty of carrying the orders of the commander in chief. Under these difficult circumstances he manifested that coolness, that self-possession and fearlessness of danger which ever distinguished him, and which are so necessary to the character of a consummate soldier. He had two horses killed under him, and four balls through his coat; but, to the astonishment of all, escaped unhurt, while every other officer on horseback was either killed or wounded. 'I expected every moment,' says an eye-witness, to see him fall.' His duty and situation exposed him to every danger. Nothing but the superintending care of Providence could have saved him from the fate of all around him,

"At length, after an action of near three hours, General Braddock, under whom three horses had been killed, received a mortal wound, and his troops gave way in all directions. The efforts made to rally them were ineffectual till they had crossed the Monongahela; when, being no longer pursued by the enemy, for the Indians were stopped by the plunder, they halted, and were again