His very frame shook. It was
awful, said Mr. Lear. More than once he threw his hands up as he hurled
imprecations upon St. Clair. Mr. Lear remained speechless; awed into
breathless silence.
The roused Chief sat down on the sofa once more. He seemed conscious of
his passion, and uncomfortable. He was silent. His warmth beginning to
subside, he at length said in an altered voice: "_This must not go
beyond this room_." Another pause followed--a longer one--when he said
in a tone quite low, "_General St. Clair shall have justice; I looked
hastily through the dispatches, saw the whole disaster but not all the
particulars; I will receive him without displeasure; I will hear him
without prejudice; he shall have full justice_."
He was now, said Mr. Lear, perfectly calm. Half an hour had gone by. The
storm was over; and no sign of it was afterwards seen in his conduct or
heard in his conversation. The result is known. The whole case was
investigated by Congress. St. Clair was exculpated and regained the
confidence Washington had in him when appointing him to that command. He
had put himself into the thickest of the fight and escaped unhurt,
though so ill as to be carried on a litter, and unable to mount his
horse without help.
A passage from one of Mr. Jefferson's letters which the historian Sparks
records, may here be given, as its spirit covers the private as well as
public life of Washington.
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