Chapter VI: Tributes

MEMORIALS OF WASHINGTON[19]

BY HENRY B. CARRINGTON

Modern history, oratory, and poetry are so replete with tributes to the memory of Washington, that the entire progress of the civilized world for more than a century has been shaped by the influence of his life and precepts. The memorial shaft at the national capital, which is the loftiest of human structures, and is inner-faced by typical expressions of honor from nearly all nations, is a fit type of his surmounting merit. The ceremonies which attended the cornerstone consecration and signalized its completion are no less an honor to the distinguished historian and statesman who voiced the acclamations of the American people than a perpetual testimonial worthy of the subject honored by the occasion and by the monument. When the world pays willing tribute, and the most ambitious monarch on earth would covet no higher plaudit than that he served his people as faithfully as Washington served America, it is difficult to fathom the depths of memorial sentiment and place in public view those which are the most worthy of study and appreciative respect. The national life itself throbs through his transmitted life, and the aroma of his grace is as consciously breathed by statesmen and citizens to-day as the invisible atmosphere which secures physical vitality and force. Senator Vance of North Carolina, thus earnestly commends to the youth of America the brightness and beauty of the great example:

Greater soldiers, more intellectual statesmen, and profounder sages
have doubtless existed in the history of the English race, perhaps
in our own country, but not one who to great excellence in the
threefold composition of man, the physical, intellectual, and
moral, has added such exalted integrity, such unaffected piety,
such unsullied purity of soul, and such wondrous control of his own
spirit. He illustrated and adorned the civilization of
Christianity, and furnished an example of the wisdom and perfection
of its teachings which the subtlest arguments of its enemies cannot
impeach. That one grand, rounded life, full-orbed with intellectual
and moral glory, is worth, as the product of Christianity, more
than all the dogmas of all the teachers. The youth of America who
aspire to promote their own and their country's welfare should
never cease to gaze upon his great example, or to remember that the
brightest gems in the crown of his immortality, the qualities which
uphold his fame on earth and plead for him in heaven, were those
which characterized him as the patient, brave, Christian gentleman.
In this respect he was a blessing to the whole human race no less
than to his own countrymen, to the many millions who annually
celebrate the day of his birth.

Such sentiments fitly illustrate the controlling element of character which made the conduct of Washington so peerless in the field and in the chair of state. His first utterances upon assuming command of the American army before Boston, on the 2d of July, 1775, were a rebuke of religious bigotry and an impressive protest against gaming, swearing, and all immoral practices, which might forfeit divine aid in the great struggle for national independence. Succeeding orders, preparatory to the battle of Long Island, in August, 1776, breathe the same spirit,--that which transfused all his activities, as with celestial fire, until he surrendered his commission with a devout and public recognition of Almighty God as the author of his success.

FOOTNOTES:

[19] From the "Patriotic Reader." Lippincott Co.

* * * * *

FROM THE "COMMEMORATION ODE"

_World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, October 21, 1892_

BY HARRIET MONROE

WASHINGTON

When dreaming kings, at odds with swift-paced time,
Would strike that banner down,
A nobler knight than ever writ or rhyme
With fame's bright wreath did crown
Through armed hosts bore it till it floated high
Beyond the clouds, a light that cannot die!
Ah, hero of our younger race!
Great builder of a temple new!
Ruler, who sought no lordly place!
Warrior, who sheathed the sword he drew!
Lover of men, who saw afar
A world unmarred by want or war,
Who knew the path, and yet forbore
To tread, till all men should implore;
Who saw the light, and led the way
Where the gray world might greet the day;
Father and leader, prophet sure,
Whose will in vast works shall endure,
How shall we praise him on this day of days,
Great son of fame who has no need of praise?

How shall we praise him? Open wide the doors
Of the fair temple whose broad base he laid.
Through its white halls a shadowy cavalcade
Of heroes moves o'er unresounding floors--
Men whose brawned arms upraised these columns high,
And reared the towers that vanish in the sky,--
The strong who, having wrought, can never die.

* * * * *

WASHINGTON'S STATUE

BY HENRY THEODORE TUCKERMAN

The quarry whence thy form majestic sprung
Has peopled earth with grace,
Heroes and gods that elder bards have sung,
A bright and peerless race;
But from its sleeping veins ne'er rose before
A shape of loftier name
Than his, who Glory's wreath with meekness wore,
The noblest son of Fame.
Sheathed is the sword that Passion never stained;
His gaze around is cast,
As if the joys of Freedom, newly gained,
Before his vision passed;
As if a nation's shout of love and pride
With music filled the air,
And his calm soul was lifted on the tide
Of deep and grateful prayer;
As if the crystal mirror of his life
To fancy sweetly came,
With scenes of patient toil and noble strife,
Undimmed by doubt or shame;
As if the lofty purpose of his soul
Expression would betray--
The high resolve Ambition to control,
And thrust her crown away!
O, it was well in marble firm and white
To carve our hero's form,
Whose angel guidance was our strength in fight,
Our star amid the storm!
Whose matchless truth has made his name divine
And human freedom sure,
His country great, his tomb earth's dearest shrine.
While man and time endure!
And it is well to place his image there
Upon the soil he blest:
Let meaner spirits, who its councils share,
Revere that silent guest!
Let us go up with high and sacred love
To look on his pure brow,
And as, with solemn grace, he points above,
Renew the patriot's vow!

TRIBUTES

_Extract from an address by President Gary of the Union League Club, at the celebration of Washington's Birthday at the Auditorium, Chicago, February 22, 1900_

It is needless to dispute with others as to Washington's rank in minor things. We know that for us and for our country his is the greatest name that lives; that in the grand struggle and march for freedom he was humanity's greatest leader, and that through us as a nation he gave to the world its chiefest example of republican self-government And now that his greatness is acknowledged and his praises sung the world round, our hearts swell with pride and gratitude that he is ours; our countryman; our great American; our Washington. Not the safe and invincible general merely, not the wise first President, but George Washington, the sublime personality, greatest seen when all props and scaffoldings of rank and station are torn away.

* * * * *

From Green's "_History of the English People_":

No nobler figure ever stood in the forefront of a nation's life. Washington was grave and courteous in address; his manners were simple and unpretending; his silence and the serene calmness of his temper spoke of a perfect self-mastery; but little there was in his outer bearing to reveal the grandeur of soul which lifts his figure with all the simple majesty of an ancient statue, out of the smaller passions, the meaner impulses of the world around him.

It was only as the weary fight went on that the colonists learned, little by little, the greatness of their leader--his clear judgment, his calmness in the hour of danger or defeat; the patience with which he waited, the quickness and hardness with which he struck, the lofty and serene sense of duty that never swerved from its task through resentment or jealousy, that never, through war or peace, felt the touch of a meaner ambition; that knew no aim save that of guarding the freedom of his fellow-countrymen; and no personal longing save that of returning to his own fireside when their freedom was secured.

It was almost unconsciously that men learned to cling to Washington with a trust and faith such as few other men have won, and to regard him with reverence which still hushes us in presence of his memory.

* * * * *

Washington's is the mightiest name of earth--long since mightiest in the cause of civil liberty; still mightiest in moral reformation. On that name no eulogy is expected. It cannot be. To add brightness to the sun, or glory to the name of Washington, is alike impossible. Let none attempt it. In solemn awe pronounce the name, and in its naked deathless splendor leave it shining on.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

* * * * *

Washington cannot be stripped of any part of his credit for patriotism, wisdom, and courage; for the union of enterprise with prudence; for integrity and truthfulness; for simply dignity of character; for tact and forbearance in dealing with men; above all for serene fortitude in the darkest hour of his cause, and under trials from the perversity, insubordination, jealousy, and perfidy of those around him, severer than any defeat.

GOLDWIN SMITH.

* * * * *

The life of our Washington cannot suffer by a comparison with those of other countries who have been most celebrated and exalted by fame. The attributes and decorations of royalty could have only served to eclipse the majesty of those virtues which made him, from being a modest citizen, a more resplendent luminary.

Malice could never blast his honor, and envy made him a single exception to her universal rule. For himself he had lived enough to life and to glory. For his fellow-citizens, if their prayers could have been answered, he would have been immortal. His example is complete, and it will teach wisdom and virtue to magistrates, citizens, and men, not only in the present age, but in future generations, as long as our history shall be read.

JOHN ADAMS.

* * * * *

His character, though regular and uniform, possessed none of the littleness which may sometimes belong to these descriptions of men. It formed a majestic pile, the effect of which was not inspired, but improved, by order and symmetry. There was nothing in it to dazzle by wildness, and surprise by eccentricity. It was of a higher species of moral beauty. It contained everything great and elevated, but it had no false or trivial ornament. It was not the model cried up by fashion and circumstance: its excellence was adapted to the true and just moral taste, incapable of change from the varying accidents of manners, of opinions, and times. General Washington is not the idol of a day, but the hero of ages.

ANONYMOUS.

* * * * *

Washington stands alone and unapproachable like a snow peak rising above its fellows into the clear air of morning, with a dignity, constancy, and purity which have made him the ideal type of civic virtue to succeeding generations.

JAMES BRYCE.

* * * * *

Pale is the February sky,
And brief the midday's sunny hours;
The wind-swept forest seems to sigh
For the sweet time of leaves and flowers.

Yet has no month a prouder day,
Not even when the Summer broods
O'er meadows in their fresh array,
Or Autumn tints the glowing woods.

For this chill season now again
Brings, in its annual round, the morn
When, greatest of the sons of men,
Our glorious Washington was born!

* * * * *

Amid the wreck of thrones shall live
Unmarred, undimmed, our hero's fame,
And years succeeding years shall give
Increase of honors to his name.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

* * * * *

Washington, the warrior and legislator! In war contending, by the wager of battle, for the independence of his country, and for the freedom of the human race; ever manifesting amidst its horrors, by precept and example, his reverence for the laws of peace and the tenderest sympathies of humanity: in peace soothing the ferocious spirit of discord among his countrymen into harmony and union; and giving to that very sword, now presented to his country, a charm more potent than that attributed in ancient times to the lyre of Orpheus.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

* * * * *

George Washington may justly be pronounced one of the greatest men whom the world has produced. Greater soldiers, more intellectual statesmen, and profounder sages have doubtlessly existed in the history of the English race--perhaps in our own country--but no one who to great excellence in each of these fields has added such exalted integrity, such unaffected piety, such unsullied purity of soul, and such wondrous control of his own spirit. That one grand rounded life, full-orbed with intellectual and moral glory, is worth, as the product of Christianity, more than all the dogmas of all the teachers. He was a blessing to the whole human race, no less than to his own countrymen--to the many millions who celebrate the day of his birth.

ZEBULON B. VANCE.

* * * * *

First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life; pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere, uniform, dignified, and commanding, his example was as edifying to all around him, as were the effects of that example lasting.

HENRY LEE.

* * * * *

Happy was it for America, happy for the world, that a great name, a guardian genius, presided over her destinies in war. The hero of America was the conqueror only of his country's foes, and the hearts of his countrymen. To the one he was a terror, and in the other he gained an ascendency, supreme, unrivaled, the triumph of admiring gratitude, the reward of a nation's love.

JARED SPARKS.

* * * * *

The sword of Washington! The staff of Franklin! Oh sir, what associations are linked in adamant with these names! Washington, whose sword, as my friend has said, was never drawn but in the cause of his country, and never sheathed when wielded in his country's cause. Franklin, the philosopher of the thunderbolt, the printing-press, and the plowshare.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

* * * * *

Others of our great men have been appreciated,--many admired by all. But him we love. Him we all love. About and around him we call up no dissentient and discordant and dissatisfied elements, no sectional prejudice nor bias, no party, no creed, no dogma of politics. None of these shall assail him. When the storm of battle blows darkest and rages highest, the memory of Washington shall nerve every American arm and cheer every American heart. It shall relume that Promethean fire, that sublime flame of patriotism, that devoted love of country, which his words have commended, which his example has consecrated.

RUFUS CHOATE.

* * * * *

Where may the wearied eyes repose
When gazing on the great,
Where neither guilty glory glows
Nor despicable state?
Yes,--one, the first, the last, the best,
The Cincinnatus of the West,
Whom envy dared not hate,
Bequeathed the name of Washington
To make men blush there was but one.

LORD BYRON.

* * * * *

_From "Washington's Vow," by John Greenleaf Whittier, read at the dedication of the Washington Arch, at New York City, 1889_

How felt the land in every part
The strong throb of a nation's heart?
As its great leader gave, with reverent awe,
His pledge to Union, Liberty, and Law!

That pledge the heavens above him heard,
That vow the sleep of centuries stirred.
In world-wide wonder listening peoples bent
Their gaze on Freedom's great experiment.

* * * * *

Thank God! the people's choice was just!
The one man equal to his trust.
Wise without lore, and without weakness good,
Calm in the strength of flawless rectitude.

* * * * *

Our first and Best--his ashes lie
Beneath his own Virginia sky.
Forgive, forget, oh! true and just and brave,
The storm that swept above thy sacred grave.

* * * * *

Then let the sovereign millions where
Our banner floats in sun and air,
From the warm palm-lands to Alaska's cold,
Repeat with us the pledge, a century old!

Let a man fasten himself to some great idea, some large truth, some noble cause, even in the affairs of this world, and it will send him forward with energy, with steadfastness, with confidence. This is what Emerson meant when he said: "Hitch your wagon to a star." These are the potent, the commanding, the enduring men,--in our own history, men like Washington and Lincoln. They may fail, they may be defeated, they may perish; but onward moves the cause, and their souls go marching on with it, for they are part of it, they have believed in it.

HENRY VAN DYKE.

* * * * *

O name forever to thy country dear!
Still wreath'd with pride, "still uttered with a tear!"
Thou that could'st rouse a nation's host to arms,
Could'st calm the spreading tumult of alarms,
Of civil discord, awe the threatening force
And check even Anarchy's licentious course!
Long as exalted worth commands applause,
Long as the virtuous bow to virtue's laws,
Long as thy reverence and honor join'd,
Long as the hero's glory warms the mind,
Long as the flame of gratitude shall burn,
Or human tears bedew the patriot's urn,
Thy sound shall dwell on each Columbian tongue
And live lamented in elegiac song!
Till some bold bard, inspired with Delphic rage!
Shall with thy lusters fire his epic page!

In Fate's vast chronicle of future time,
The mystic mirror of events sublime
Where deeds of virtue gild each pregnant page
And some grand epoch makes each coming age,
Where germs of future history strike the eye
And empires' rise and fall in embryo lie,
Though statesmen, heroes, sages, chiefs abound
Yet none of worth like Washington's are found!

* * * * *

Rear to his name a monument sublime!
Bid art and genius all their powers bestow,
And let the pile with life and grandeur glow.
High on the top let Fame with trumpet's sound,
Announce his god-like deeds to worlds around!
Let Pallas lead her hero to the field,
In Wisdom's train, and cover with her shield.
A sword present to dazzle from afar
And flash bright terrors through the ranks of war.
With port august let oak-wreath'd Freedom stand
And hail him father of the chosen land;
With laurels deck him, with due honors greet,
And crowns and scepters place beneath his feet;
Let Peace, her olive blooming like the morn,
And kindred Plenty with her teeming horn,
With Commerce, child, and regent of the main,
While Arts and Agriculture join the train,
Rear a sad altar, bend around his urn,
And to their guardian, grateful incense burn!
Let History calm, in thoughtful mood reclin'd,
Record his actions to enrich mankind,
And Poesy divine his deeds rehearse
In all the energy of epic verse!

To future ages there let Mercy own
He never from her bosom forc'd a groan;
Here let a statesman, there a reverend sage
To mark and emulate his steps engage,
Columbia widow'd, count his virtues o'er,
Around his tomb her pearly sorrows pour,
And mild Religion of celestial mien
Point to her patron's place, in realms unseen!
Then stamp in gold the monument above
The mournful tribute of a nation's love!
But not alone in scenes where glory fir'd,
He mov'd, no less, in civic walks admir'd!
Though long a warrior, choice of human blood,
As Brutus noble, and as Titus good!
To all that formed the hero of the age,
He joined the patriot and the peaceful sage,
The statesman powerful and the ruler just,
No less illustrious than the chief august;
And to condense his characters in one,
The god-like Father of his Country shone!

_From an old Magazine_.

* * * * *

Hail, brightest banner that floats on the gale,
Flag of the country of Washington, hail!
Red are thy stripes with the blood of the brave;
Bright are thy stars as the sun on the wave;
Wrapt in thy folds are the hopes of the free.
Banner of Washington!--blessings on thee!

Traitors shall perish and treason shall fail;
Kingdoms and thrones in thy glory grow pale!
Thou shalt live on, and thy people shall own
Loyalty's sweet, when each heart is thy throne;
Union and Freedom thine heritage be.
Country of Washington!--blessings on thee!

WILLIAM S. ROBINSON.

* * * * *

Point of that pyramid whose solid base
Rests firmly founded on a nation's trust,
Which, While the gorgeous palace sinks in dust,
Shall stand sublime, and fill its ample space.

Elected chief of freemen! greater far
Than kings whose glittering parts are fixed by birth--
Nam'd by thy country's voice for long try'd worth,
Her crown in peace, as once her shield in war!

Deign, Washington, to hear a British lyre,
That ardent greets thee with applausive lays,
And to the patriot hero homage pays.

O, would the muse immortal strains inspire,
That high beyond all Greek and Roman fame,
Might soar to times unborn, thy purer, nobler name!

DOCTOR AIKIN.

* * * * *

Had he, a mortal, the failings attached to man?--Was he the slave of avarice? No. Wealth was an object too mean for his regard, and yet economy presided over his domestic concerns; for his mind was too lofty to brook dependence. Was he ambitious? No. His spirit soared beyond ambition's reach. He saw a crown high above all human grandeur. He sought, he gained, and wore that crown. But he had indeed one frailty--the weakness of great minds. He was fond of fame, and had reared a colossal reputation. It stood on the rock of his virtue. This was dear to his heart. There was but one thing dearer. He loved glory, but still more he loved his country. That was the master passion, and with resistless might it ruled his every thought and word and deed.

GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.

* * * * *

Washington! Father and deliverer of his country! What sweetness dwells in his name--a name sounded by million-tongued fame through her golden trumpet into distant worlds. The sooty African that traverses Niger's sandy waste--the Algerian desperate in fight--the half-lived Laplander--the Arabian, swift as the wind--the Scythian--the inoffensive Brahmin,--have all heard it, and when mentioned, revere it.

WILLIAM CLARK FRAZER.

* * * * *

Three times Washington's character saved the country; once by keeping up the courage of the nation till the Revolutionary War was ended; then, by uniting the nation in the acceptance of the Federal Constitution; thirdly, by saving it from being swept away into anarchy and civil war during the immense excitement of the French Revolution. Such was the gift of Washington, a gift of God to the nation, as far beyond any other of God's gifts as virtue is more than genius, as character is more than intellect, as wise conduct is better than outward prosperity.

JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE.

* * * * *

Patriots of America--and military officers of every name, view the great example that is set before you. Emulate the virtues of Washington, and in due time your heads will also be adorned with the wreath of honor. Here you learn what is true and unfading glory. You will see that it is not the man who is led on by the blind impulse of ambition; who rushes into the midst of embattled hosts, merely to show his contempt of death; or who wastes fair cities or depopulates rich provinces,--to spread far the terrors of his name--who is admired and praised as the true hero and friend of mankind;--but the man, who, in obedience to the public voice, appears in arms for the salvation of his country, shuns no perils in a just cause, endeavors to alleviate instead of increase the calamities of war, and whose aim is to strengthen and adorn the temple of liberty, as resting on the immovable basis of virtue and religion. The voice of justice and the voice of suffering humanity forbid us to bestow the palm of true valor on the mad exploits of the destroyers of mankind.

Washington's delight was to save, not to destroy. His greatest glory is that with small armies and the loss of few lives--compared with the wastes of other wars--he made his country free and happy.

ROBERT DAVIDSON.

* * * * *

Brave without temerity, laborious without ambition, generous without prodigality, noble without pride, virtuous without severity--Washington seems always to have confined himself within those limits where the virtues, by clothing themselves in more lively but more changeable and doubtful colors, may be mistaken for faults. Inspiring respect, he inspires confidence, and his smile is always the smile of benevolence.

MARQUIS CHASTELLEUX.

* * * * *

God has given this nation many precious gifts; but the chief gift of all, the one, we may say, which has added something to every other one, is the gift of this great soldier, this great statesman, this great and good man, this greatest of all Americans, past, present--past, if not to come. Our heritage from him is illustrious above all others.

ANONYMOUS.

* * * * *

Great without pomp, without ambition brave,
Proud, not to conquer fellow-men, but save;
Friend to the weak, a foe to none but those
Who plan their greatness on their brethrens' woes;
Aw'd by no titles--undefil'd by lust--
Free without faction--obstinately just;
Warm'd by religion's sacred, genuine ray,
That points to future bliss the unerring way;
Yet ne'er control'd by superstition's laws,
That worst of tyrants in the noblest cause.

--_From a London Newspaper_.

* * * * *

Extract from a translation of a Dutch Ode to Washington. Dr. O'Calla has made a literal translation; Alfred B. Street, of Albany, the poetical translation.

No lofty monument thy greatness needs;
The freedom which America from thee
Received, and happiness of thy great deeds
The everlasting monument shall be.

Thy proud foot trampled on the British chain;
But O! beware lest some false foreign power
Rivet his fetters on thy land again,
For despots smile while waiting for their hour.

How deeply touched, Humanity! your soul,
When you beheld the grateful tears that rained
Down a glad Nation's cheek, as Freedom's goal
Was by that Nation's might in triumph gained.

O, Fatherland, whoever loves thy fame,
Sighing shall mourn thy glory lost, when won;
Freedom, when leaving thee, lit up her flame
Within the patriot heart of Washington.

When Time shall sink in everlasting gloom,
And Death with Time shall cease for evermore;
When the dead burst the cerements of the tomb,
As the last trumpet breaks in thunder o'er;

Then as it feels its pulses once more free,
Let every heart Columbia claims as son
Beat first for God, but let its next throb be
For the eternal bliss of Washington.

* * * * *

The character of Washington! Who can delineate it worthily? Modest, disinterested, generous, just, of clean hands and a pure heart, self-denying and self-sacrificing, seeking nothing for himself, declining all remuneration beyond the reimbursement of his outlays, scrupulous to a farthing in keeping his accounts, of spotless integrity, scorning gifts, charitable to the needy, forgiving injuries and injustices, brave, fearless, heroic, with a prudence ever governing his impulses, a wisdom ever guiding his valor, true to his friends, true to his country, true to himself, fearing God, no stranger to private devotion or public worship, but ever recognizing a divine aid and direction in all that he accomplished. His magnetism was that of merit, superior, surpassing merit; the merit of spotless integrity, of recognized ability, and of unwearied willingness to spend and be spent in the service of his country.

ROBERT C. WINTHROP.

* * * * *

One of the best of modern Americans, James Russell Lowell, who was born on the same day of the month as Washington, February 22d, 1819, wrote shortly before his death, to a schoolgirl, whose class proposed noticing his own birthday: "Whatever else you do on the twenty-second of February, recollect, first of all, that on that day a really great man was born, and do not fail to warm your hearts with the memory of his service, and to brace your minds with the contemplation of his character. The rest of us must wait uncovered till he be served."

ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS.

* * * * *

The fame of Washington stands apart from every other in history, shining with a truer luster and a more benignant glory. With us his memory remains a national property, where all sympathies, throughout our widely extended and diversified empire meet in unison. Under all dissensions and amid all the storms of party, his precepts and example speak to us from the grave with a paternal appeal; and his name--by all revered--forms a universal brotherhood, a watchword of our Union.

IRVING AND FISKE.

* * * * *

The soul of Washington was one of the grandest of all ages that takes its equal rank with Greek and Roman and Hebrew names of renown for humane and prime worth, names that seem written not in our poor records, but on the sky's arch--names in the broad sunshine of whose moral glory, spreading through the world, all the little fires which men have made with the kindling of words from abstract conceptions,--go out. For however otherwise a man may be distinguished--unless there be in him a spirit of love, devotion, and self-sacrifice, we feel he lacks the very pith and beauty of manhood; and though he may be a great performer with his pen as one plays well on a musical instrument, a Great Being he is not.

_Christian Examiner_.

* * * * *

It will be the duty of the historian and the sage of all nations to let no occasion pass of commemorating this illustrious man; and until time shall be no more, will a test of the progress which our race has made in wisdom and virtue, be derived from the veneration paid to the immortal name of Washington.

LORD BROUGHAM.

* * * * *

The character of Washington may want some of those poetical elements, but it possessed fewer inequalities and a rarer union of virtues than perhaps ever fell to the lot of any other man. Prudence, firmness, sagacity, moderation, an overruling judgment, an immovable justice, courage that never faltered, patience that never wearied, truth that disdained all artifice, magnanimity without alloy. It seems as if Providence had endowed him in a pre-eminent degree with the qualities requisite to fit him for the high destiny he was called upon to fulfill.

IRVING AND FISKE.

* * * * *

WASHINGTON'S NAME IN THE HALL OF FAME

BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER

Republics are ungrateful, but ours, its best-loved son
Still keeps in memory green, and wreathes the name of Washington.
As year by year returns the day that saw the patriot's birth,
With boom of gun and beat of drum and peals of joy and mirth,
And songs of children in the streets and march of men-at-arms,
We honor pay to him who stood serene 'mid war's alarms;
And with his ragged volunteers long kept the foe at bay,
And bore the flag to victory in many a battle's day.

We were a little nation then; so mighty have we grown
That scarce would Washington believe to-day we were his own.
With ships that sail on every sea, and sons in every port,
And harvest-fields to feed the world, wherever food is short,
And if at council-board our chiefs are now discreet and wise,
And if to great estate and high, our farmers' lads may rise,
We owe a debt to him who set the fashion of our fame,
And never more may we forget our loftiest hero's name.

Great knightly soul who came in time to serve his country's need,
To serve her with the timely word and with the valiant deed,
Along the ages brightening as endless cycles run
Undimmed and gaining luster in the twentieth century's sun,
First in our Hall of Fame we write the name all folk may ken,
As first in war, and first in peace, first with his countrymen.

* * * * *

ESTIMATES OF WASHINGTON

George Washington, the brave, the wise, the good. Supreme in war, in council, and in peace. Washington, valiant, without ambition; discreet, without fear; confident, without presumption.

DR. ANDREW LEE.

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More than any other individual, and as much as to one individual was possible, has he contributed to found this, our wide spreading empire, and to give to the Western World independence and freedom.

CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL.

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Let him who looks for a monument to Washington look around the United States. Your freedom, your independence, your national power, your prosperity, and your prodigious growth are a monument to him.

KOSSUTH.

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More than all, and above all, Washington was master of himself. If there be one quality more than another in his character which may exercise a useful control over the men of the present hour, it is the total disregard of self when in the most elevated positions for influence and example.

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

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WASHINGTON'S RELIGIOUS CHARACTER

BY WILLIAM M'KINLEY

_In an Address, February 22, 1898_

Though Washington's exalted character and the most striking acts of his brilliant record are too familiar to be recounted here, yet often as the story is retold, it engages our love and admiration and interest. We love to record his noble unselfishness, his heroic purposes, the power of his magnificent personality, his glorious achievements for mankind, and his stalwart and unflinching devotion to independence, liberty, and union. These cannot be too often told or be too familiarly known.

A slaveholder himself, he yet hated slavery, and provided in his will for the emancipation of his slaves. Not a college graduate, he was always enthusiastically the friend of liberal education....

And how reverent always was this great man, how prompt and generous his recognition of the guiding hand of Divine Providence in establishing and controlling the destinies of the colonies and the Republic....

Washington states the reasons of his belief in language so exalted that it should be graven deep in the mind of every patriot:

No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand
which conducts the affairs of man more than the people of the
United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the
character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished
by some token of providential agency; and in the important
revolution just accomplished in the system of their united
government the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consents of so
many distinguished communities from which the events resulted
cannot be compared with the means by which most governments have
been established, without some return of pious gratitude, along
with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the same
seems to presage. The reflections arising out of the present crisis
have forced themselves strongly upon my mind. You will join me, I
trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which
the proceedings of a new and free government are more auspiciously
commenced.

In his Farewell Address, Washington contends in part:

(1) For the promotion of institutions of learning;

(2) for cherishing the public credit;

(3) for the observance of good faith and justice toward all nations....

At no point in his administration does Washington appear in grander proportions than when he enunciates his ideas in regard to the foreign policy of the government:

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations; cultivate peace
and harmony with all; religion and morality enjoin this conduct.
Can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be
worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great
nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of
a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence.

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WASHINGTON

ANONYMOUS

We are met to testify our regard for him whose name is intimately blended with whatever belongs most essentially to the prosperity, the liberty, the free institutions, and the renown of our country. That name was a power to rally a nation in the hour of thick-thronging public disasters and calamities; that name shone amid the storm of war, a beacon light to cheer and guide the country's friends; its flame, too, like a meteor, to repel her foes. That name in the days of peace was a loadstone, attracting to itself a whole people's confidence, a whole people's love, and the whole world's respect; that name, descending with all time, spread over the whole earth, and uttered in all the languages belonging to the tribes and races of men, will forever be pronounced with affectionate gratitude by everyone in whose breast there shall arise an aspiration for human rights and human liberty.

Washington stands at the commencement of a new era, as well as at the head of the New World. A century from the birth of Washington has changed the world. The country of Washington has been the theater on which a great part of that change has been wrought, and Washington himself a principal agent by which it has been accomplished. His age and his country are equally full of wonders, and of both he is the chief.

It is the spirit of human freedom, the new elevation of individual man, in his moral, social, and political character, leading the whole long train of other improvements, which has most remarkably distinguished the era. Society has assumed a new character; it has raised itself from beneath governments to a participation in governments; it has mixed moral and political objects with the daily pursuits of individual men, and, with a freedom and strength before altogether unknown, it has applied to these objects the whole power of the human understanding. It has been the era, in short, when the social principle has triumphed over the feudal principle; when society has maintained its rights against military power, and established on foundations never hereafter to be shaken its competency to govern itself.