To Americans his memory will always be precious. His birthday is celebrated every year throughout our broad land; and the bell of every steamer that glides along the quiet Potomac tolls as it slowly passes Mount Vernon, the last resting-place of George Washington!
Mount Vernon, the Home of Washington.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION IN THE SOUTH.
217. Utter Failure thus far to subdue the Colonists.—Midway in the war of the Revolution there was a period of over two years when active fighting was for the most part suspended. After the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, the English seemed to lose heart. A feeble effort was even made by the British government to secure peace. England would yield everything except the claim of the colonies to independence. This was the very thing that now, after three years of fighting, the colonies would not yield.
Each side seemed to be tired of bloodshed. The patriots were in a bad enough way, and England had her troubles with other nations.
Of all the territory the British had occupied during three years, the only spot they now held was New York, and even there Washington's superb generalship with his small but active army was giving them constant trouble.
218. The British now attempt to subdue the Southern Colonies.—Thus it became necessary for the British to contrive some plan that would offer better results. They now proposed to go south, subdue one colony after another, and so push their conquests northward.