part that is now apparent on the face of the record.  He was silent in the Congress, and if he was consulted, as he unquestionably was by the committees, there is no record of it now.  The simple fact was that his time had not come.  He saw men of the most acute minds, liberal in education, patriotic in heart, trained in law and in history, doing the work of the moment in the best possible way.  If anything had been done wrongly, or had been left undone, Washington would have found his voice quickly enough, and uttered another of the “most eloquent speeches ever made,” as he did shortly before in the Virginia convention.  He could speak in public when need was, but now there was no need and nothing to arouse him.  The work of Congress followed the line of policy adopted by the Virginia convention, and that had proceeded along the path marked out in the Fairfax resolves, so that Washington could not be other than content.  He occupied his own time, as we see by notes in his diary, in visiting the delegates from the other colonies, and in informing himself as to their ideas and purposes, and those of the people whom they represented.  He was quietly working for the future, the present being well taken care of.  Yet this silent man, going hither and thither, and chatting pleasantly with this member or that, was in some way or other impressing himself deeply on all the delegates, for Patrick Henry said:  “If you speak of solid information and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is unquestionably the greatest man on the floor.”

We have a letter, written at just this time, which shows us how Washington felt, and we see again how his spirit rose as he saw more and more clearly that the ultimate issue was inevitable.  The letter is addressed to Captain Mackenzie, a British officer at Boston, and an old friend.  “Permit me,” he began, “with the freedom of a friend (for you know I always esteemed you), to express my sorrow that fortune should place you in a service that must fix curses to the latest posterity upon the contrivers, and, if success (which, by the by, is impossible) accompanies it, execrations upon all those who have been instrumental in the execution.”  This was rather uncompromising talk and not over peaceable, it must be confessed.  He continued:  “Give me leave to add, and I think I can announce it as a fact, that it is not the wish or intent of that government [Massachusetts], or any other upon this continent, separately or collectively, to set up for independence; but this you may at the same time rely on, that none of them will ever submit to the loss of those valuable rights and privileges which are essential to the happiness of every free state, and without which life, liberty, and property are rendered totally insecure....  Again give me leave to add as my opinion that more blood will be spilled on this occasion, if the ministry are determined to push matters to extremity, than history has ever yet furnished instances of in the annals of North America, and such