So the years rolled by; the war came and then the making of the government, and Washington’s thoughts were turned more and more, as was the case with all the men of his time in that era of change and of new ideas, to the consideration of human slavery in its moral, political, and social aspects.  To trace the course of his opinions in detail is needless.  It is sufficient to summarize them, for the results of his reflection and observation are more important than the processes by which they were reached.  Washington became convinced that the whole system was thoroughly bad, as well as utterly repugnant to the ideas upon which the Revolution was fought and the government of the United States founded.  With a prescience wonderful for those days and on that subject, he saw that slavery meant the up-growth in the United States of two systems so radically hostile, both socially and economically, that they could lead only to a struggle for political supremacy, which in its course he feared would imperil the Union.  For this reason he deprecated the introduction of the slavery question into the debates of the first Congress, because he realized its character, and he did not believe that the Union or the government at that early day could bear the strain which in this way would be produced.  At the same time he felt that a right solution must be found or inconceivable evils would ensue.  The inherent and everlasting wrong of the system made its continuance, to his mind, impossible.  While it existed, he believed that the laws which surrounded it should be maintained, because he thought that to violate these only added one wrong to another.  He also doubted, as will be seen in a later chapter, where his conversation with John Bernard is quoted, whether the negroes could be immediately emancipated with safety either to themselves or to the whites, in their actual condition of ignorance, illiteracy, and helplessness.  The plan which he favored, and which, it would seem, was his hope and reliance, was first the checking of importation, followed by a gradual emancipation, with proper compensation to the owners and suitable preparation and education for the slaves.  He told the clergymen Asbury and Coke, when they visited him for that purpose, that he was in favor of emancipation, and was ready to write a letter to the assembly to that effect.[1] He wished fervently that such a spirit might take possession of the people of the country, but he wrote to Lafayette that he despaired of seeing it.  When he died he did all that lay within his power to impress his views upon his countrymen by directing that all his slaves should be set free on the death of his wife.  His precepts and his example in this grave matter went unheeded for many years by the generations which came after him.  But now that slavery is dead, to the joy of all men, it is well to remember that on this terrible question Washington’s opinions were those of a humane man, impatient of wrong, and of a noble and far-seeing statesman, watchful of the evils that threatened his country.[2]