Chapter VII: Washington's Place in History

THE HIGHEST PEDESTAL

BY WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE

When I first read in detail the life of Washington, I was profoundly impressed with the moral elevation and greatness of his character, and I found myself at a loss to name among the statesmen of any age or country many, or possibly any, who could be his rival. In saying this I mean no disparagement to the class of politicians, the men of my own craft and cloth, whom in my own land, and my own experience, I have found no less worthy than other men of love and admiration. I could name among them those who seem to me to come near even to him. But I will shut out the last half century from the comparison. I will then say that if, among all the pedestals supplied by history for public characters of extraordinary nobility and purity, I saw one higher than all the rest, and if I were required at a moment's notice to name the fittest occupant for it, I think my choice at any time during the last forty-five years would have lighted, as it would now light, upon Washington.

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WASHINGTON IN HISTORY

BY CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW

No man ever stood for so much to his country and to mankind as George Washington. Hamilton, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, and Jay each represented some of the elements which formed the Union. Washington embodied them all.

The superiority of Washington's character and genius were more conspicuous in the formation of our government and in putting it on indestructible foundations than leading armies to victory and conquering the independence of his country. "The Union in any event" is the central thought of the "Farewell Address," and all the years of his grand life were devoted to its formation and preservation.

Do his countrymen exaggerate his virtues? Listen to Guizot, the historian of civilization: "Washington did the two greatest things which in politics it is permitted to man to attempt. He maintained by peace the independence of his country, which he conquered by war. He founded a free government in the name of the principles of order, and by re-establishing their sway."

Hear Lord Erskine, the most famous of English advocates: "You are the only being for whom I have an awful reverence."

Remember the tribute of Charles James Fox, the greatest parliamentary orator who ever swayed the British House of Commons: "Illustrious man, before whom all borrowed greatness sinks into insignificance."

Contemplate the character of Lord Brougham, pre-eminent for two generations in every department of human thought and activity, and then impress upon the memories of your children his deliberate judgment: "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."

Blot out from the page of history the names of all the great actors of his time in the drama of nations, and preserve the name of Washington, and the century would be renowned.

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TO THE SHADE OF WASHINGTON

BY RICHARD ALSOP

Exalted chief, in thy superior mind
What vast resource, what various talents joined!
Tempered with social virtue's milder rays,
There patriot worth diffused a purer blaze;
Formed to command respect, esteem, inspire,
Midst statesmen grave, or midst the social choir,
With equal skill the sword or pen to wield,
In council great, unequaled in the field,
Mid glittering courts or rural walks to please,
Polite with grandeur, dignified with ease;
Before the splendors of thy high renown
How fade the glow-worn lusters of a crown;
How sink diminished in that radiance lost
The glare of conquest, and of power the boast.
Let Greece her Alexander's deeds proclaim;
Or Caesar's triumphs gild the Roman name;
Stripped of the dazzling glare around them cast,
Shrinks at their crimes humanity aghast;
With equal claim to honor's glorious meed.
See Attila his course of havoc lead!
O'er Asia's realms, in one vast ruin hurled.
See furious Zingis' bloody flag unfurled.
On base far different from the conqueror's claim
Rests the unsullied column of thy fame;
His on the woes of millions proudly based,
With blood cemented and with tears defaced;
Thine on a nation's welfare fixed sublime,
By freedom strengthened and revered by time.
He, as the Comet, whose portentous light
Spreads baleful splendor o'er the glooms of night,
With chill amazement fills the startled breast.
While storms and earthquakes dire its course attest,
And nature trembles, lest, in chaos hurled,
Should sink the tottering fabric of the world.
Thou, like the Sun, whose kind propitious ray
Opes the glad morn and lights the fields of day,
Dispels the wintry storm, the chilling rain,
With rich abundance clothes the smiling plain,
Gives all creation to rejoice around,
And life and light extends o'er nature's utmost bound.
Though shone thy life a model bright of praise,
Not less the example bright thy death portrays,
When, plunged in deepest we, around thy bed,
Each eye was fixed, despairing sunk each head,
While nature struggled with severest pain,
And scarce could life's last lingering powers retain:
In that dread moment, awfully serene,
No trace of suffering marked thy placid mien,
No groan, no murmuring plaint, escaped thy tongue,
No lowering shadows on thy brow were hung;
But calm in Christian hope, undamped with fear,
Thou sawest the high reward of virtue near,
On that bright meed in sweetest trust reposed,
As thy firm hand thine eyes expiring closed,
Pleased, to the will of heaven resigned thy breath,
And smiled as nature's struggles closed in death.

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THE MAJESTIC EMINENCE OF WASHINGTON

BY CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW

_In an Address, February 22, 1888_

"Time's noblest offspring is the last."

As the human race has moved along down the centuries, the vigorous and ambitious, the dissenters from blind obedience and the original thinkers, the colonists and state builders, have broken camp with the morning, and followed the sun till the close of day. They have left behind narrow and degrading laws, traditions, and castes. Their triumphant success is pushing behind every bayonet carried at the order of Kaiser or Czar; men, who, in doing their own thinking, will one day decide for themselves the problems of peace and war.

The scenes of the fifth act of the grand drama are changing, but all attention remains riveted upon one majestic figure. He stands the noblest leader who ever was intrusted with his country's life. His patience under provocation, his calmness in danger, and lofty courage when all others despaired, his prudent delays when delay was best, and his quick and resistless blows when action was possible, his magnanimity to defamers and generosity to his foes, his ambition for his country and unselfishness for himself, his sole desire of freedom and independence for America, and his only wish to return after victory to private life, have all combined to make him, by the unanimous judgment of the world, the foremost figure of history.

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FOR A LITTLE PUPIL

ANONYMOUS

"Napoleon was great, I know,
And Julius Caesar, and all the rest,
But they didn't belong to us, and so
I like George Washington the best."

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WASHINGTON'S FAME

BY ASHER ROBBINS

It is the peculiar good fortune of this country to have given birth to a citizen whose name everywhere produces a sentiment of regard for his country itself. In other countries, whenever and wherever this is spoken of to be praised, it is called the country of Washington. I believe there is no people, civilized or savage, in any place however remote, where the name of Washington has not been heard, and where it is not respected with the fondest admiration. We are told that the Arab of the desert talks of Washington in his tent, and that his name is familiar to the wandering Scythian. He seems, indeed, to be the delight of humankind, as their beau-ideal of human nature. No American, in any part of the world, but has found the regard for himself increased by his connection with Washington, as his fellow-countryman; and who has not felt a pride, and has occasion to exult, in the fortunate connection?

A century and more has now passed away since he came upon the stage, and his fame first broke upon the world; for it broke like the blaze of day from the rising sun--almost as sudden, and seemingly as universal. The eventful period since that era has teemed with great men, who have crossed the scene and passed off. Some of them have arrested great attention--very great. Still Washington retains his preeminent place in the minds of men; still his peerless name is cherished by them in the same freshness of delight as in the morn of its glory. History will keep a record of his fame; but history is not necessary to perpetuate it. In regions where history is not read, where letters are unknown, it lives, and will go down from age to age, in all future time, in their traditionary lore. Who would exchange this fame, the common inheritance of our country, for the fame of any individual which any country of any time can boast? I would not; with my sentiments I could not.

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WASHINGTON

_The Brightest Name on History's Page_

BY ELIZA COOK

Land of the West! though passing brief the record of thine age,
Thou hast a name that darkens all on history's wide page!
Let all the blasts of Fame ring out,--thine shall be loudest far;
Let others boast their satellites,--thou hast the planet star.
Thou hast a name whose characters of light shall ne'er depart;
'Tis stamped upon the dullest brain, and warms the coldest heart;
A war-cry fit for any land where freedom's to be won;
Land of the West! it stands alone,--it is thy Washington!

Rome had its Caesar, great and brave, but stain was on his wreath;
He lived the heartless conqueror, and died the tyrant's death.
France had its eagle, but his wings, though lofty they might soar,
Were spread in false ambition's flight, and dipped in murder's gore.
Those hero-gods, whose mighty sway would fain have chained the waves--
Who flashed their blades with tiger zeal to make a world of slaves--
Who, though their kindred barred the path, still fiercely waded on,
Oh, where shall be _their_ "glory" by the side of Washington!

He fought, but not with love of strife; he struck but to defend;
And ere he turned a people's foe, he sought to be a friend;
He strove to keep his country's right by reason's gentle word,
And sighed when fell injustice threw the challenge sword to sword.
He stood the firm, the wise, the patriot, and the sage;
He showed no deep, avenging hate, no burst of despot rage;
He stood for Liberty and Truth, and daringly led on
Till shouts of victory gave forth the name of Washington.

No car of triumph bore him through a city filled with grief;
No groaning captives at the wheels proclaimed him victor-chief;
He broke the gyves of slavery with strong and high disdain,
But cast no scepter from the links when he had rent the chain.
He saved his land, but did not lay his soldier trappings down
To change them for a regal vest and don a kingly crown.
Fame was too earnest in her joy, too proud of such a son,
To let a robe and title mask her noble Washington.

England, my heart is truly thine, my loved, my native earth,--
The land that holds a mother's grave and gave that mother birth!
Oh, keenly sad would be the fate that thrust me from thy shore
And faltering my breath that sighed, "Farewell for evermore!"
But did I meet such adverse lot, I would not seek to dwell
Where olden heroes wrought the deeds for Homer's song to tell.
"Away, thou gallant ship!" I'd cry, "and bear me safely on,
But bear me from my own fair land to that of Washington."

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WASHINGTON, THE PATRIOT

_An extract from President McKinley's address on Washington, taken from a report in the Cleveland Leader_

Washington and the American Republic are inseparable. You cannot study history without having the name of Washington come to you unbidden. Bancroft said, "But for Washington the Republic would never have been conceived; the Constitution would not have been formed, and the Federal Government would never have been put in operation." Washington felt that the Revolution was a struggle for freedom, and it was by his strong character and wonderful patriotism that the army was held together during the prolonged and perilous war. In all the public affairs of the colonies Washington was the champion of right. His military career has never been equaled. He continued at the head of his army until the close of the war, overcoming jealousies and intrigues, which only the greatest courage and the sublimest wisdom could do. The ideal he had ever cherished was one in which the individual could have the greatest liberty, consistent with the country's best interests, and it was with this ideal constantly in mind that he carried on the war and embodied the principles of liberty within the government. Washington had many temptations, but the greatest of them came after the victory was achieved. At the time when the army was in revolt, when there was dissatisfaction in Congress, and consternation and distress throughout the colonies, it was proposed that the original plan of government be abandoned and that Washington be chosen as the military ruler or dictator. Washington's strong reproval of such proposals and his insistence upon the stronger government, showed his unselfish regard for the country. A weaker man might have weakened, a bad one would, but Washington was determined to embody into the government all that had been achieved by the war. Washington in what he did had no precedents. He and his associates made the chart which assisted them in guiding the new government. He established credit, put the army and navy on a permanent basis, fostered commerce, and was ever on the side of education.

Everything that he did demonstrates his marvelous foresight. We cannot afford to spare the inspiration that comes from Washington. It promotes patriotism and gives vigor to national life. Washington's views on slavery were characterized by a high sense of justice and an exalted conscience. He was the owner of slaves by inheritance, all his interests were affected by slavery, yet he was opposed to it, and in his will he provided for the liberation of his slaves. He set the example for emancipation. He hoped for, prayed for, and was willing to vote for what Lincoln afterward accomplished.