The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1913-06-10

temper mistaken, was slowly coming
to a clear vision OF affairs In all their
significance. Fox hunting did not
cease. He was much in the saddle
and at table with the Fairfaxes, whom
nothing could shake from their allie
glance. and who looked with sad fore
bodings upon the temper the colony
was in.
1t was proper they should speak so
II they denied Il 3nst, and Washington
had no inSoiefanAe for what they
urged. But George Mason, the neigh
Dor whom he most trusted, was of
very different mind, and strengthened
and confirmed him In other counsels.
Mason was Eix years his senior;
man, too, cast by nature to under
stand men and events, how they must
go and how be guided. They con-
ferred constantly, at every turn of
their intimate life, In the field or in
the library, mounted or afoot in the
forests, and came very deliberately
and soberly to their statesman's view.
Randolph and Pendleton and Wythe
and Bland had themselves turned,
after the first hesitation, to act with
ardent men like Lee in framing the
memorials to king, lords and commons
which were to go from the burgesses
along with the resolutions of the
stamp act congress tnNew York; and
Washington, who had never hesitated,
but had only gone slowly and with his
eyes open, with that self poise men
had found so striking in him from the
first, came steadily with the rest to
the at last common purpose of reso-
lutte opposition.
Repeal Of the Act.
The repeal of the act came to all
like a great deliverance.
Governor Fauquier had deemed it
his duty to dissolve the assembly
upon the passage of Henry's resolu-
tons, but he had acted without pas
sion in the matter, and had kept the
respect of the men he dealt with. He
was not man, indeed, to take public
business very seriously, having been
bred a man Of fashion and courtier
rather than a master of affairs. He
loved gay company and the deep ex-
citement of the gaming table, not the
round of official routine. Affable, gen.
erous elegant, a scholar and real lover
of letters, he vastly preferred the
talk of vivacious women and accom-
plished men to the business of the
general court, and was a man to be
liked rather than consulted.
A RoyaIist Governor.
Washington, always admitted to the
intimacy of official circles at Will
iamsburg, very likely relished the gal
liant Fauquier better than the too Off
cious Dinwiddie 1t was, unhappily,
no portent to see man still devoted
to dissipation at sixty-two, even
though he were governor of one of his
majesty's colonies and trusted ser
want of the crown; and Fauquier's
gifts as man Of wit and of instructed
tastes made his companionship no less
acceptable to Washington than to the
other men Of discernment who fire.
quented the bathrooms and receptions,
ate formal dinners, and played quiet
games of cards during the brief season
at the little capital.
1t did not seriously disturb life there
that the governor upheld the power
of parliament to tax, while the bur.
gesses strenuously opposed it. Wash
ington, for one, did not hesitate on
that account to be seen often in
friendly talk with the governor, or to
accept frequent invitations to the
palace" He was of the temper
which has so distinguished the nobler
sort of Englishmen in politics; he
might regard opposition as public
duty, but he never made 1t a ground
of personal feeling or private spite.
A Man of Influence.
In a sense, indeed, he had long been
regarded as belonging to official cir
cles in the colony, more intimately
than any other man who did not hold
! office. He has been put forward by
the Fairfaxes in his youth; men in
the council and at the head Of affairs
had been his sponsors and friends
from the first; he had been always
like his brother before him, member
of one of the chief groups in the col
ony for influence and a confidential
connection with the public business