winning, by crushing the forces of anarchy and separation, and bringing order and unity out of confusion.  From the surrender of Yorktown to the day of his retirement from the Presidency, he worked unceasingly to establish union and strong government in the country he had made independent.  He accomplished this great labor more successfully by honest and lawful methods than if he had taken the path of the strong-handed savior of society, and his work in this field did more for the welfare of his country than all his battles.  To have restored order at the head of the army was much easier than to effect it in the slow and law-abiding fashion which he adopted.  To have refused supreme rule, and then to have effected in the spirit and under the forms of free government all and more than the most brilliant of military chiefs could have achieved by absolute power, is a glory which belongs to Washington alone.

Nevertheless, at that particular juncture it was, as he himself had said, “high time for a peace.”  The danger at Newburgh had been averted by his commanding influence and the patriotic conduct of the army.  But it had been averted only, not removed.  The snake was scotched, not killed.  The finishing stroke was still needed in the form of an end to hostilities, and it was therefore fortunate for the United States that a fortnight later, on March 23, news came that a general treaty of peace had been signed.  This final consummation of his work, in addition to the passage by Congress of the half-pay commutation and the settlement of the army accounts, filled Washington with deep rejoicing.  He felt that in a short time, a few weeks at most, he would be free to withdraw to the quiet life at Mount Vernon for which he longed.  But public bodies move slowly, and one delay after another occurred to keep him still in the harness.  He chafed under the postponement, but it was not possible to him to remain idle even when he awaited in almost daily expectation the hour of dismissal.  He saw with the instinctive glance of statesmanship that the dangerous point in the treaty of peace was in the provisions as to the western posts on the one side, and those relating to British debts on the other.  A month therefore had not passed before he brought to the attention of Congress the importance of getting immediate possession of those posts, and a little later he succeeded in having Steuben sent out as a special envoy to obtain their surrender.  The mission was vain, as he had feared.  He was not destined to extract this thorn for many years, and then only after many trials and troubles.  Soon afterward he made a journey with Governor Clinton to Ticonderoga, and along the valley of the Mohawk, “to wear away the time,” as he wrote to Congress.  He wore away time to more purpose than most people, for where he traveled he observed closely, and his observations were lessons which he never forgot.  On this trip he had the western posts and the Indians always in mind, and familiarized himself with the conditions of a part of the country where these matters were of great importance.