[Footnote 150: Poulin de Lumina, _Histoire de la Guerre contre les
Anglois_, 15.]
Coolness of judgment, a profound sense of public duty, and a strong
self-control, were even then the characteristics of Washington; but he
was scarcely twenty-two, was full of military ardor, and was vehement
and fiery by nature. Yet it is far from certain that, even when age and
experience had ripened him, he would have forborne to act as he did, for
there was every reason for believing that the designs of the French were
hostile; and though by passively waiting the event he would have thrown
upon them the responsibility of striking the first blow, he would have
exposed his small party to capture or destruction by giving them time to
gain reinforcements from Fort Duquesne. It was inevitable that the
killing of Jumonville should be greeted in France by an outcry of real
or assumed horror; but the Chevalier de Levis, second in command to
Montcalm, probably expresses the true opinion of Frenchmen best fitted
to judge when he calls it "a pretended assassination."[151] Judge it as
we may, this obscure skirmish began the war that set the world on
fire.[152]
[Footnote 151: Levis, _Memoire sur la Guerre du Canada_.]
[Footnote 152: On this affair, Sparks, _Writings of Washington_, II.
25-48, 447. _Dinwiddie Papers. Letter of Contrecoeur_ in _Precis des
Faits. Journal of Washington, Ibid. Washington to Dinwiddie, 3 June,
1754_.
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