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.

APPENDIX.1 DEATH OF JUMONVILLE. 453
inducement for recording such deceptions among the broken minutes
of his daily transactions, which were intended for no eye but his own.
Let it now be asked, what ground there can be for calling the
death of Jumonville in this skirmish an assassination, or affixing to
it the stigma of a crime, with which it has been marked by the
French historians? Is this charge authorized either by the act itself,
or by the nature of the causes, which led to it?
As to the act itself, it differs in no respect from that of any other
commander, who leads his men into an engagement, in which some
of the enemy are slain. It was a conflict into which both parties
entered, with such means of annoyance as they could command.
One of Washington's men was killed by the French, and others were
wounded. There would be just as much justice in calling the death
of this man an assassination, as that of M..de Jumonville. It is true,
as M. de Contrecceur wrote to the Marquis Duquesne, that Washington came upon the French by surprise; but this circumstance, so far
from being a matter of censure, is not only considered allowable
among the stratagems of honorable warfare, but an object of praise in
the commander who effects it with success. The report of the Canadian, that the reading of the summons was begun by M. de Jumonville's order, and of the savages, that he was killed while the
interpreter was reading it, are manifestly fictions, as these incidents
are nowhere else mentioned. Some of the prisoners said, after they
were taken, that, when the firing commenced, the French called out
to the English, with the design to make known the object of their
mission, and the purport of the'summons brought by M. de Jumonville. This was not told to Washington by the prisoners, nor was he
informed of it till after their departure. He wrote to the Governor,
however, stating that he had heard such a report, and affirming it to
be false. The same particulars and the same affirmation were entered
in his journal. As he was at the head of his men, and the first person seen by the French, he believed it impossible that any such call
should have been made without his hearing it, which was not the
case, but, on the contrary, he saw them run to their arms and they
immediately commenced firing.
In regard to the causes, which led to the attack, it has been presumed by the French writers, that hostilities had not been committed,
and that war did not in reality exist. Without discussing the abstract
merits of the question, it is certain that the Governor and people of.
Virginia looked upon the frontiers as at that time in a state "of war,
and supposed it lawful to repel by force the French, and Indians in
league with them, wherever found. M. de Contrecceur had appeared