do. He urged that restraints of conscience were cruel, and injurious to the country imposing them, and he wrote:
I may quote as example England, Holland,
and Prussia, and, much more, Pennsylvania, which
has flourished under that delightful liberty, so as
to become the admiration of every man who considers
the short time it has been settled, whereas
Virginia has increased by slow degrees, although
much older.
There, on our borders, as Lord Fairfax
said, was much powder, and only one spark
needed to set it off. Meanwhile Mr. Gist
set out to survey the grant of the Ohio
Company, on the south side of the Ohio
River, all of which was greatly to concern
my life.
Virginia and Pennsylvania were, at that time, much stirred up by the hostile threats of France, and efforts began to be made to prepare for hostilities on the frontier. About this time, but the exact date I fail to recall, my brother Lawrence abandoned all concern in the military line of life, and arranged that his place of major in the militia should be given up to me, and that I should also take his position as district adjutant.
