The leader-enterprise. [volume] (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1912-1915, 1913-05-16

so striking an air of mastery. 1t was
not simply because the Massachusetts
delegates kept themselves prudently
in the background and the rest yield
ed to her pretensions that Virginia
was accorded primacy in the con-
gress: it was also because her repre-
sentatives were men to whom power
naturally fell, and because she had
won so honorable place of leader
ship already in the common affairs Of
the continent.
Washington Not a Leader.
Colonel Washington, striking and
forcible man though he was, did not
figure as leader among the Virginian
delegates.
Peyton Randolph was elected presi-
dent of the congress; Richard Henry
Lee and Patrick Henry stood forth as
the Virginian leaders on the floor.
"If you speak of solid information
and sound judgment, Colonel Washing
ton is unquestionably the greatest man
on that floor" was Henry's confident
and generous verdict; but Washington
was no politician, and did not stand in
exactly the same class with the rest.
He had headed committees and pre-
sided over popular meetings among
his own neighbors in Fairfax, and had
been prompt to join them in speaking
with high spirit against the course of
the ministry in England. He had been
forward in urging and punctiliously
careful in practicing non-importation.
He had declared Cages conduct in
Boston more becoming Turkish ba-
shaw than an English governor"
Deeds and Not Words.
But he was a man of action, rather
than of parliament. 81 will raise one
thousand men, enlist them at my own
expense, and march myself at their
head for the relief of Boston," had
been his impetuous utterance in the
Virginia convention-"the most elo-
quent speech that was ever made" Mr..
Lynch declared 81 have heard he
said," reported an admiring Philadel,
phian-T have heard he said he
wished to God the liberties of Amer
lea were to be determined by single
combat between himself and George!"
But his fellow Virginians understood
him better. They had chosen him for
force and sobriety; not as an orator,
but as the first soldier and one of the
first characters of the commonwealth;
and he had made the impression they
expected.
Not a Committee Man.
He had not been put upon their
committee of correspondence, or been
appointed with Nicholas and Pendle-
ton and Lee and Henry to draw reso-
lutions and circumstances; but when
it came to choosing those who should
represent the Old Dominion in the con-
gress, but two names stood before
his in the vote. Peyton Randolph,
104; Richard Henry Lee, 100; George
Washington, SO; Patrick Henry, SO;
Richard Bland, 70; Benjamin Harri-
son, Sc; Edmund Pendleton, 62-such
had been the preference of the con-
vention.
Admired by Northerners.
The northern delegates admired his
''easy. soldier-like air and gesture"
and his modest and "cool but deter
mined style and accent when he
spoke; and wondered to see him look
scarce forty, when they recalled how
his name had gone through the colo
MES twenty years ago, when he had
met the French SO CALAMITY at Great
Meadows, and with Braddock at the
forks of the Ohio.
The Massachusetts delegates had
reason to admire his manly openness,
too, and straightforward candor. An
old comrade in arms whom he es-
teemed-a Virginian now in regular
commission, and stationed with the
troops in Boston-had written him
very damaging things about the pa
triot" leaders of the beset town; of
their "tyrannical oppression over one
another" and their fixed aim at total
independence" and had charged them
roundly with being no better than
demagogues and rebels.
Investigates for Himself.
Washington went at once to the men
accused, to learn from their own lips
their principles and intentions, taking
Richard Henry Lee and discreet DR..
Cbi0pon along with him as his SnOn-