Evening star., 1911-08-25

guarded by F. D. Richardson, the clerk
of the court. 1t is kept in steel fire.
proof safe, and when visitors come to the
out-of-the-way courthouse the will is
taken from it's resting place and proudly
exhibited. It has been bound in hand
some leather binding and may be scanned
easily by the visitors.
Written in 1899.
The will was written by Gen. Washing
ton himself at Mount Vernon, July Q.
1899. 1t was presented for probate in the
Fairfax county courthouse, January 20.
1900, little over six months after Gen.
Washington had completed writing the
document.
There are forty-two pages Of manu-
script in the will, including the actual
will and notes made by Gen. Washington
for the better explanation of provisions
of the will. At the bottom Of each page
Washington signed his name, by this
means obvdating the necessity of having
the will witnessed.
The first thought of the father of his
country when he made his last will was
that all of his debts should be paid. and
after the first paragraph, In which he
states his name and that he was lately
President of the United States" he says:
'All of my debts, of which there are
but few and none of any magnitude. are
to be punctually and speedily paid"
The first item of the will, however, is
as follows:
ITO my dearly beloved wife. Martha
Washington. l give and bequeath the use.
profit and benefit of my whole estate,
real and personal. for the term OF her
natural life. except such parts thereof
Views on Slavery.
The very next item in the will shows
beyond peradventure that Gen. Washing
ton was inclined to do away with slavery
in this country. He says:
Upon the decease of my wife it is my
will and desire that all the slaves which
hold In my own right shall receive their
freedom. To emancipate them during
her life would. though earnestly wished
by me. be attended with such insuper-
able difficulties. on account Of their inter-
mixture by marriages with the dover
sensations. If not disagreeable conse-
quences from the latter. while both de-
scriptions are in the occupancy of the
same proprietor. it not being in my
power under the tenure by which the
dover negroes are held to manumit them.
And whereas among those who will re-
ceive freedom, according to this devise.
there may be some who from old age or
bodily infirmities and others who on ac-
count of their infancy that will be unable
desire that all who come under the first
and second descriptions shall be COM
fortably clothed and fed by my heirs
while they live, and that such of the
latter description as have no parents liv-
ing. or If living are unable or unwilling
to provide for them, shall be bound by
the court until they shall arrive at the
age of twenty-five years, and in cases
where no record can be produced where
by their ages can be ascertained, the
judgment Of the court upon its own view
of the subject shall be adequate and final
The negroes thus bound are Thy their
masters or mistresseS to be taught to
read and write and to be. brought up to
some useful occupation, agreeably to the
laws of the commonwealth of Virginia.
providing for the support Of orphans and
other poor children, and | hereby ex-
pressly forbid the sale or transportati ton
out Of the said commonwealth of any
slave / may die possessed of, under any
pretense whatsoever"
Gave $4,000 to School.
Gen. Washington bequeathed $4,000 to-
ward the support Of a free school estab-
lished at and annexed to the Alexandria
Academy.
The value of inland waterways to the
United States was foreseen by Gen.
Washington. In his will he mentions the
fact that at his suggestion the Virginia
legislature enacted a law for the purpose
of extending the navigation of James
river from tideWater to the mountains,
and also a law for opening the navigation
Of the Potomac river from tidewater to
Fort Cumberland
Virginia presented to Gen. Washington
100 shares in the company which was to
develop the James river and fifty shares
in the company which was to develop the
Potomac river, as token of the esteem
of the commonwealth. But Gen. Wash
ington. as he declared in his will. refused
to accept these shares for his own use.
but agreed to take them and use their
proceeds for the public benefit He says
In his will:
Stock Was Refused.
."The acceptance Of these shares of
stock was refused, as inconsistent with
principle which 1 had adopted and had
never departed from. namely. not to re-
ceive pecuniary compensation for any
services could render my country in its
arduous struggle with Great Britain, for
its rights. and because ! had evaded
similar propositions from other states In
the Union,
Gen. Washington then launches into
pet hobby, the establishment Of a great
national university at the seat of govern
ment, the District Of Columbia. and de-
'clared that he would leave the nfty
aid in establishing that university. He
says:
THAT as it has always been a source of
serious regret with me to see the youth
of these United States sent to foreign
countries for the purpose of education,
often before their minds were formed or
they had imbibed any adequate ideas OF
the happiness of their own. contracting
too frequently not only habits of dissipa-
ton and extravaganza. but principles un-
friendly to republican government and to
the true and genuine liberties of man
kind. which thereafter are rarely over
come.
For these reasons 1t has been my
ardent wish to see plan devised on
liberal scale which would have a
tendency to spread systematic ideas
through all parts of this rising empire.
thereby to do away local attachments
and state prejudices as far as the nature
of things would. or indeed. ought to ad-
NIT, from our national councils.
Favored Great University.
Looking anxiously forward to the ac-