NOT FORGOTTEN IN ENGLAND.
THE great papers of the United States all overlooked the anniversary of the death of George Washington, December 14; but the London Daily News of that date made the following reference to that event:— On this day, in the year 1799, died, in his sixty-eighth year, George Washington, first President of the United States, and (as the resolution of the House of Representatives on his death described him) "first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen." The ex-President had retired from office in 1797, and devoted himself to his plantation at Mount Vernon, when, a year later, he was re-appointed Commander-in-Chief, a war with France becoming probable. While busied over military details, he caught a cold, and died of a sore throat within twenty-four hours. There was no theatrical scene; he talked business to the last, and his final words were, apropos of arrangements for his funeral, "It is well." Napoleon, as First Consul, put the French army into mourning for him. The British fleet off Torbay lowered its colors to half-mast on receipt of the news. Washington was a slave-owner, but he looked forward to abolition. When independence was won, he resolved never to acquire possession of a new slave, and he wished from his soul that his State (Virginia) might abolish slavery: "It might prevent much future mischief." Regarding his attitude concerning the institution of slavery, it is worthy of note that all his slaves came to him by inheritance, were all well cared for during his ownership, and by his last will were all set free.