The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1913-07-11

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nothing of which he could be ashamed.
They spoke manfully. as was right,
of what they deemed it just and i'm
perative the congress should do for
them, but they Resolved, unanimous
| ly, that at the commencement of the |
present war the officers of the Amer
lean army engaged in the service OF
their country from the purest love
and attachment to the rights and lib
critics of human nature, which motives
still exist in the highest degree; and
that no circumstances of distress or
danger shall induce conduct that
may tend to sully the reputation and
glory which they have acquired at the
price of their blood and eight years
faithful services"
Urges Congress to Act.
Washington knew, nevertheless,
how black danger lurked among
these distressed men; did not fail to
speak plainly of 1t to the congress;
and breathed freely again only when
the soldiers just demands had at last
in some measure been met. by at any
rate the proper legislation.
He grew weary with longing for
peace. when the work seemed done
and his thoughts and leisure to turn
towards his home again.
But once in all the heightened days
of fighting had he seen Mount Yer
non. He had turned aside to spend
night or two there on his way to
Yorktown, and he had seen the loved
place again for little after the vic
tory was won.
Now, amidst profitless days at New
burgh, or in counsel with the commit
tees of the congress upon business
that was never finished, while affairs
stood as it were in a sort of paralysis,
waiting upon the interminable con,
ferences OF the three powers who bag
gled over definitive terms of peace at
Paris, home seemed to him. in his
WEAKNESS, more to be desired than
ever before.
Sorrow at Mount Vernon.
Private griefs had stricken him at
! the very moment of his triumph.
Scarcely had the victory at Yorktown
been celebrated when he was called
November, 17S1) to the death bed of
, Jack Custis, his hayward but dearly
loved stepson, and had there to en-
: dure the sight of his wife's grief and
, the young widows hopeless sorrow
added to his own.
The two youngest children he
claimed for himself with that wistful
fatherly longing that had always mark
ed him; and Mount Vernon seemed to
him more like a haven than ever,
where to seek rest and solace.
The two years he had yet to wait
may well have seemed to him the
: longest of his life, and may have add
ed a touch of their own to what
: strangers deemed his sternness.
! Washington had seldom seemed so
= stern as in one incident of those try
4 ing months.
: An officer of the American army
had been taken in skirmish, and the
English had permitted brutal com
pany of loyalists, under one Captain
: Lippincott. to take him from his pris-
: on in New York and wantonly hang
him in broad daylight on the heights
near Middletown.
Washington at once notified the
British commander that unless the
= murderers were delivered up to be
. punished. a British officer would be
chosen by lot from amoLg his pris
oners to suffer in their stead and
% when reparation was withheld, pro
d ceeded without hesitation to carry his
L threat into execution.
g The lot fell upon Captain Charles
Asgill, an engaging youth of only
J. nineteen, the heir of a great English
1 family.
Lady Asgill, the lads mother, die
u not stop short of moving the very
French court itself to intervene tt
y save her son. and at last the congress
: counseled his release, the English
n commander having disavowed the &C
e. of the murderers in whose place hi
q was to suffer, and Washington him
e self having asked to be directed wha
II he should do.
Captain Asgill has beer released,
ID Washington wrote to Vergennes, il
Is answer to the great minister's inter
"a cession. Il have no right to assume
" any particular merit from the lenien
manner in which this disagreeable al
fair has terminated. But l beg yol
Id to believe. sir. that l most sincerel,
n rejoice. not only because your hu
rp name intentions are gratified, but be
~ cause the event accords with tn
ut wishes of his most Christian ma
IS jesty."
A Great Weight Lifted.
s, 1t lifted a great weight from hi
er heart to have the innocent boy t
tn go unhurt from his hands, and h
y wrote almost tenderly to him in az
Of quainting him with his release; bu
e, 1t was of his simple nature to hav
is sent the lad to the gallows, nevertht
ad less, had things continued to stand a
m they were at first.
ny He was memorable to check perfid
vn and vindicate the just rules of wa
ce Men we're reminded, while the affai
pended. of the hanging Of Andre, A