ing broken out between England and France, Gen. Braddock was sent to command the English forces in America. Washington, who had then attained the rank of colonel, volunteered as an aide-de-camp to that general in his expedition against the French and Indians. In the battle that ensued (July 9, 1755) the English were totally defeated, and_Braddock was mortally wounded. During the engagement and retreat Washington gained great distinction for his coolness and courage, and for the skill he displayed in border warfare. In the same year he was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces of Virginia, and in 1758 served under Gen. Forbes in the capture of Fort Duquesne. In 1759 he married Mrs. Martha Custis, a widow, by whom he obtained a large estate.

Washington sat for many years in the House of Burgesses of Virginia, was in 1774 elected to the General Congress at Philadelphia, and the year following was appointed commander-in-chief of all the forces of the United Colonies.

The biography of Washington for the next eight years is really the history of the Revolutionary war, but only the principal events in it can be stated here. When he reached Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he fixed his headquarters, he found his effective force one of less than fifteen thousand men, without military organization, stores, clothing, or even ammunition. In addition to these embarrassments, he had to contend with a party in Congress that professed itself suspicious of a military dictatorship and opposed the organization that alone could make the army powerful and any concession of power to the commander-in-chief. Another difficulty was the jealousies of the different colonial governments; and thus Washington had to deal not only with the men under his command, not only with Congress even, but with the authorities and the Legislatures of the different colonies; and

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the correspondence that he had to carry on was almost as great as the extent of the difficulties he had to overcome. His patience and perseverance found their first reward in the evacuation of Boston by the British, on March 17, 1776. He then marched his army to New York, but, having been defeated on Long Island (August 27) by Gen. Howe, he was compelled to evacuate that city, retreating through New Jersey to the west side of the Delaware. Congress now gave him authority to enlist soldiers to serve during the war or for a period of not less than three years, and something like dictatorial power was conferred on him for six months.

Recrossing the Delaware, and after engagements at Trenton (December 26, 1776) and at Princeton (January 4, 1777), Washington recovered almost the whole of New Jersey. Of the campaign of 1777, the chief events were the defeat of Washington by Howe at the battles of Brandywine (September 11) and of Germantown (October 3). On the 6th of February, 1778, a treaty of alliance between France and the United States was signed at Paris, and after two campaigns, during which Washington acted chiefly on the defensive, in July, 1780, arrived a French force of five thousand men under Rochambeau. The British, under Lord Cornwallis, were then overrunning the Carolínas. A year elapsed before the armies of Washington and Rochambeau formed an effective junction, and the two commanders determined to act in concert against Cornwallis, then in Virginia. The latter entrenched himself at Yorktown, which was completely invested by Washington and Rochambeau on the 30th of September. On the 19th of October, 1781, Cornwallis capitulated

an event which virtually ended the war, though some time elapsed before a peace was definitively settled.

A treaty having been signed September 3, 1783, Gen. Washington re

One of his first measures was to make peace with the Indians. The negotiations with Spain terminated in her allowing the free navigation of the Mississippi. The differences with Great Britain, after much agitation, were finally settled by a treaty signed by Mr. Jay, at London, in 1794. Meanwhile, in 1793, his term of office having expired, Washington was re-elected to the Presidency; and he again took the oath of office on the 4th of March. During his administration the progress of the United States was very rapid. The public debts were funded, and ample means were provided for paying the interest and for gradually discharging the principal. Agriculture and commerce were extended far beyond all former limits, and no contests remained with foreign states, with the exception of France, which, under the violent counsels of the Directory, persisted in infringing the rights of the Americans as an independent people.

At the expiration of his second term of office there was a general desire among the American people that he should serve for still another term, but he announced that he should positively retire from public life at that time. His Farewell Address to the People of the United States, which was published in the fall of 1796, caused profound impression, and he retired from office March 4, 1797, returning to the comforts of

cultural pursuits. From this state of privacy he was, however, called by the anticipation of a war with France, and in May, 1798, was reappointed commander-in-chief of the American armies. On the 12th of December, 1799, he was exposed in the saddle for several hours to cold and snow, and was attacked with acute laryngitis, for which he was repeatedly bled, but sank_rapidly, and died December 14. He left a widow, but no children. In person he was tall and well proportioned. His passions were naturally strong, but he had obtained a full command over them. He was simple, truthful, sincere, patriotic, and served his country with an energy, perseverance, and patience equal to his disinterestedness. The character of Washington shone brightest in defeat and adversity, and there is no time at which he appears to greater advantage than while in winter-quarters at Valley Forge, when the American cause seemed almost hopeless and the army suffered such great hardships for want of clothing and other necessaries. He was justly eulogized as "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

Watelet, Claude Henri, an art-writer; born in Paris in 1718; was chosen a member of the French Academy in 1760. He etched some portraits which were greatly admired, was the author of The Art of Painting, a poem, A Dictionary of the Arts of Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving, and of other works. Died 1786.

Watt, James, an eminent Scottish engineer and inventor; born at Greenock, January 19, 1736; became a maker of mathematical instruments, and settled in Glasgow. Being employed in 1764 to repair a model of Newcomen's steam-engine, he proceeded to experiment with steam, and subsequently invented such improvements upon the steam-engine as to render it a wonderful and complete