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.

356 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. [1781.
eral Washington, directing him to march to the south,
and either meet the enemy in Virginia, or continue
onward to the southern army, as should be advised
by General Greene.
The enemy ascended the Chesapeake Bay and its
principal rivers with their small armed vessels, plundering and laying waste the property of the inhabitants.
One of these vessels came up the Potomac to Mount
Vernon; and the manager of the estate, with the hope
of saving the houses from being pillaged and burnt,
yielded to the demands of the officers in a manner,
which excited the regret and displeasure of Washington. In reply to his manager, who had informed
him of the particulars, he said; "I am very sorry
to hear of your loss; I am a little sorry to hear of
my own; but that which gives me most concern is,
that you should go on board the enemy's vessels, and
furnish them with refreshments. It would have been
a less painful circumstance to me to have heard, that,
in consequence of your non-compliance with their
request, they had burnt my house and laid the plantation in ruins. You ought to have considered yourself as my representative, and should have reflected
on the bad example of communicating with the enemy, and making a voluntary offer of refreshments to
them with a view to prevent a conflagration. It was
not in your power, I acknowledge, to prevent them
from sending a flag on shore, and you did right to
meet it; but you should, in the same instant that the
business of it was unfolded, have declared explicitly,
that it was improper for you to yield to the request;
after which, if they had proceeded to help themselves
by force, you could but have submitted; and, being
unprovided for defence, this was to be preferred to a
feeble opposition, which only serves as a pretext to