But in so general a matter as Washington’s treatment of his slaves, we must be careful not to take a solitary case and argue from it as if it were habitual.  By common report his slaves were so well treated that they regretted it if there was talk of transferring them to other planters.  We have many instances cited which show his unusual kindness.  When he found, for instance, that a mulatto woman, who had lived many years with one of the negroes, had been transferred to another part of his domain and that the negro pined for her, he arranged to have her brought back so that they might pass their old age together.  The old negro was his servant, Billy Lee, who suffered an accident to his knee, which made him a cripple for the rest of his life.  This he spent at Mount Vernon well cared for.  Washington continued to the end the old custom of supplying a hogshead of rum for the negroes to drink at harvest time, always premising that they must partake of it sparingly.

Washington’s religious beliefs and practices have also occasioned much controversy.  If we accept his own statements at their plain value, we must regard him as a Church of England man.  I do not discover that he was in any sense an ardent believer.  He preferred to say “Providence” rather than “God,” probably because it was less definite.  He attended divine service on Sundays, whenever a church was near, but for a considerable period at one part of his life he did not attend communion.  He thoroughly believed in the good which came from church-going in the army and he always arranged to have a service on Sundays during his campaigns.  When at Mount Vernon, on days when he did not go out to the service, he spent several hours alone in meditation in his study.  The religious precepts which he had been taught in childhood remained strong in him through life.  He believed moral truths, and belief with him meant putting in practice what he professed.  While he had imbibed much of the deistic spirit of the middle of the eighteenth century it would be inaccurate to infer that he was not fundamentally a Christian.

After Washington withdrew to Mount Vernon, early in the spring of 1797, his time was chiefly devoted to agriculture and the renewing of his life as a planter.  He declined all public undertakings except that which President Adams begged him to assume—­the supreme command of the army in case of the expected war with France.  That new duty undoubtedly was good for him, for it proved to him that at least all his official relations with the Government had not ceased, and it also served to cheer the people of the country to know that in case of military trouble their old commander would lead them once more.  Washington gave so much attention to this work, which could be in the earlier stages arranged at Mount Vernon, that he felt justified in accepting part of the salary which the President allotted to him.  But the war did not come.  As Washington prophesied, the French thought better of their truculence.  The new genius who was ruling France had in mind something more grandiose than a war with the American Republic.