The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

72 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. [1755.
this time held by his countrymen, and of the hopes it
had raised.
Another and more substantial proof soon followed.
The Virginia legislature voted forty thousand pounds
fobr the public service, and enlarged their regiment to
sixteen companies. Three hundred pounds were likewise granted to Colonel Washington, and proportional
sums to the other officers and privates, "for their gallant behaviour and losses" at the battle of the Monongahela.
While the bill was pending, his friends in the Assembly wrote to him, urging his attendance at Williamsburg, and expressing their wishes, that he might
be appointed to the command of the army under its
new organization. Interest was made for another person, which was known to be countenanced by the
governor's predilections. To these letters, and particularly to one from his elder brother, then a member
of the Assembly, he replied in language worthy of
himself, dignified, disinterested, firm. He said that he
had served two campaigns, besides performing a perilous journey, had suffered much in his health and
affairs, had been deprived of his commission in a way
to wound his feelings, had gone out and fought as a
volunteer, and that the result of the whole was vexation and disappointment. He added, however, "I am
always willing and ready to render my country any
services that I am capable of, but never upon the terms
I have done." He did not absolutely refuse to accept
the command, if it should be offered, but said he would
not seek what he did not covet, nor be thought to
solicit what he would receive only as voluntarily bestowed by his countrymen. Standing on this high
ground, he prescribed several conditions as essential;
among others, a voice in choosing his officers, a better