Washington and the American Republic Part 48

"Maintaining his pacific system at the expense of no duty, America, faithful to herself and unstained in her honor, continued to enjoy the delights of peace, while afflicted Europe mourns in every quarter under the acc.u.mulated miseries of an unexampled war--miseries in which our happy country must have shared had not our pre-eminent Was.h.i.+ngton been as firm in council as he was brave in the field.

"Pursuing steadfastly his course, he held safe the public happiness, preventing foreign war and quelling internal disorder, till the revolving period of a third election approached, when he executed his interrupted but inextinguishable desire of returning to the humble walks of private life.

"The promulgation of his fixed resolution stopped the anxious wishes of an affectionate people from adding a third unanimous testimonial of their unabated confidence in the man so long enthroned in their hearts. When, before, was affection like this exhibited on earth? Turn over the records of Greece--review the annals of mighty Rome--examine the volumes of modern Europe--you search in vain. America and her Was.h.i.+ngton only affords the dignified exemplification.

"The ill.u.s.trious personage, called by the national voice in succession to the arduous office of guiding a free people, had no difficulties to encounter. The amicable effort of settling our difficulties with France, begun by Was.h.i.+ngton and pursued by his successor in virtue as in station, proving abortive, America took measures of self-defence. No sooner was the public mind roused by a prospect of danger, than every eye was turned to the friend of all, though secluded from public view and gray in public service. The virtuous veteran, following his plough, received the unexpected summons with mingled emotions of indignation at the unmerited ill-treatment of his country, and of a determination once more to risk his all in her defence.

"The annunciation of these feelings, in his affecting letter to the president, accepting the command of the army, concludes his official conduct.

"_First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen_, he was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life; uniform, dignified, and commanding, his example was as edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting.

"To his equals, he was condescending; to his inferiors, kind; and to the dear object of his affections, exemplarily tender. Correct throughout, Vice shuddered in his presence, and Virtue always felt his fostering hand. The purity of his private character gave effulgence to his public virtues.

"His last scene comported with the whole tenor of his life.

Although in extreme pain, not a sigh, not a groan, escaped him; and with undisturbed serenity he closed his well-spent life. Such was the man America has lost; such was the man for whom our nation mourns.

"Methinks I see his august image, and hear falling from his venerable lips these deep-sinking words:--

"'Cease, sons of America, lamenting our separation. Go on and confirm by your wisdom the fruits of our joint councils, joint efforts, and common dangers; reverence religion; diffuse knowledge throughout your lands; patronize the arts and sciences; let Liberty and Order be inseparable companions. Control party spirit, the bane of free government; observe good faith to, and cultivate peace with, all nations; shut up every avenue to foreign influence; contract rather than extend national connections; rely on yourselves only; be Americans in thought, word, and deed.

Thus will you give immortality to that Union which was the constant object of my terrestrial labors; thus will you preserve undisturbed to the latest posterity the felicity of a people to me most dear; and thus will you supply (if my happiness is now aught to you) the only vacancy in the round of pure bliss high Heaven bestows.'"

[148] May, 1860. The following are the names and present ages of the survivors: Samuel Breck, eighty-nine; S. Palmer, eighty; S. F. Smith, eighty; Charles N. Bancker, eighty-four; Quentin Campbell, eighty-four; and John F. Watson, the annalist of Philadelphia and New York, eighty-one.

[149] "France," said Fontanes, "unbia.s.sed by those narrow prejudices which exist between nations, and admiring virtue wherever it be found, decrees this tribute of respect to the manes of Was.h.i.+ngton. At this moment she contributes to the discharge of a debt due by two nations. No government, whatever form it bears, or whatever opinions it holds, can refuse its respect to this great Father of Liberty. The people who so lately stigmatized Was.h.i.+ngton as a rebel, regard even the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of America as one of those events consecrated by history and by past ages. Such is the veneration excited by great characters.

The American Revolution, the contemporary of our own, is fixed for ever.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON began it with energy, and finished it with moderation. He knew how to maintain it, pursuing always the prosperity of his country; and his aim alone will justify, at the tribunal of the Most High, enterprises so extraordinary.

"To p.r.o.nounce the eulogy of the hero of America, requires the sublimest eloquence of the first of orators. I reflect, with sentiments of admiration, that this Temple, ornamented with the trophies of valor, was raised up in an age of genius--an age which produced as many great writers as ill.u.s.trious commanders. Then, the memory of heroes was intrusted to orators whose genius gave immortality. Now, military glory s.h.i.+nes with l.u.s.tre, and in every country the glory of the fine arts is shrouded in darkness. My voice is too feeble to be heard on an occasion so solemn and momentous, and so new to me. But as that voice is pure--as it has never flattered any species of tyranny--it has never been rendered unworthy of celebrating heroism and virtue."

"Nevertheless, these funeral and military honors will speak to all hearts. It needs not the aid of speech, to raise strong and indescribable emotions. The mourning which the First Consul orders for WAs.h.i.+NGTON, declares to France that Was.h.i.+ngton's example is not lost. It is less for the ill.u.s.trious general, than for the benefactor and friend of a great people, that the c.r.a.pe of mourning now covers our banners and the uniform of our warriors. Neither do we prepare that unmeaning pomp, so contrary to policy and humanity, in which insult is offered to misfortune, contempt to venerable ruins, and calumny to the tomb. Every exalted idea, every useful truth, is seen in this a.s.sembly. I speak, before warriors, the honorable praise of a warrior, firm in adversity, modest in victory, and magnanimous in every stage of fortune.

"Before the ministers of the French republic I speak the praises of a man whom ambition never swayed and whose every care tended to the welfare of his country; a man who, unlike others that have changed empires, lived in peace in his native land; and in that land which he had freed, and in which he had held the highest rank, died as a simple individual.

"General WAs.h.i.+NGTON offers examples not less worthy of imitation. Amid all the disorders of camps, amid all the excesses inseparable from a civil war, humanity took refuge in his tent, and was never repulsed. In triumph and in defeat, he was always as tranquil as wisdom, as simple as virtue. The finer feelings of the heart never abandoned him, even in those moments when his own interest would seem to justify a recurrence to the laws of vengeance....

"It is these extraordinary men, who appear at intervals on this vast scene, with characters commanding and ill.u.s.trious. An unknown and superior cause sends them when it is fit, to lay the foundations of new or to build up the ruins of old empires. It is in vain that these men step aside or mingle with the crowd. Destiny leads them on; they are carried from obstacle to obstacle, from triumph to triumph, until they arrive at the summit of power. Something supernatural animates all their thoughts. An irresistible movement is given to all their enterprises.

The mult.i.tude still seek them among themselves, and find them not; they raise their eyes, and see in a sphere, dazzling with light and glory, those whom their ignorance and envy would call rash.

"WAs.h.i.+NGTON had not those high and commanding traits which strike every mind. He displayed more order and justice, than force and elevation, in his ideas. He possessed, above all, in an eminent degree, that quality which some call vulgar, but which very few possess--that quality not less useful to the government of states than to the conduct of life, and which gives more tranquillity than emotion to the soul, and more happiness than glory to those who possess it. It is of good sense that I speak. Audacity destroys, genius elevates, good sense preserves and perfects. Genius is charged with the glory of empires; but good sense alone a.s.sures their safety and repose. His end portrayed all the domestic virtues, as his life had been an ill.u.s.trious example in war and politics. America regarded with respect the mansion which contained her defender. From that retreat, where so much glory dwelt, sage counsels issued, which had no less weight than in the days of his power. But death has swept all away; he died in the midst of those occupations which sweeten domestic life, and support us in the infirmities of age.

"From every part of that America he delivered, the cry of grief is heard. It belonged to France to echo back the mournful sound; it ought to vibrate on every generous heart. The shade of WAs.h.i.+NGTON, on entering beneath this lofty dome, will find a Turenne, a Catinat, a Conde, all of whom have fixed their habitation here. If these ill.u.s.trious warriors had not served in the same cause during life, yet the fame of all will unite them in death. Opinions, subject to the caprices of the world and to time--opinions, weak and changeable, the inheritance of humanity--vanish on the tomb; but glory and virtue live for ever. When departed from this stage, the great men of every age and of every place become in some measure compatriots and contemporaries. They form but one family in the memory of the living; and their examples are renewed in every successive age. Thus, within these walls, the valor of WAs.h.i.+NGTON attracts the regard of CONDe; his modesty is applauded by TURENNE; his philosophy draws him to the bosom of CATINAT. A people who admit the ancient dogma of a transmigration of souls will often confess that the soul of Catinat dwells in the bosom of Was.h.i.+ngton.

"The voice of Republicanism, which resounds from every part of these walls, ought to please, above all, the defenders of America. Can they not love these soldiers who, after their example, repelled the enemies of their country? We approach with pleasure those veterans, whose trophies add l.u.s.tre to these walls, and some of whom have gained laurels with Was.h.i.+ngton in the wilds of Carolina and Virginia.

"But there is something more due to the memory of WAs.h.i.+NGTON: it is the union of France and America.[150] It is the happiness of each; it is peace between the two nations. It now seems to me that WAs.h.i.+NGTON calls to all France from the very summit of this dome: 'Magnanimous people!

you, who know so well how to honor glory, I have conquered for independence; the happiness of my country was the reward of that victory. Imitate not the first half of my life; it is the second that recommends me to posterity.'

"Yes, thy counsels shall be heard, O WAs.h.i.+NGTON! O warrior! O legislator! O citizen without reproach! He who, _while yet young_, rivals thee in battles, shall, like thee, with his triumphant hands, heal the wounds of his country. Even now we have his disposition, his character, for the pledge; and his warlike genius, unfortunately necessary, shall soon lead sweet Peace into this temple of War. Then the sentiment of universal joy shall obliterate the remembrance of oppression and injustice. Already the oppressed forget their ills, in looking to the future. The acclamations of every age will be offered to the hero who gives happiness to France, and seeks to restore it to a contending world."

[150] The new American envoys were then in Paris, on a mission of reconciliation and brotherhood.

CHAPTER XLIII.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S CHARACTER.

Our chronicle of the career of Was.h.i.+ngton is finished. We have traced the details of that career, from his birth through all the vicissitudes of an eventful life of more than sixty years, with conscientious fidelity to truth and justice.

We have seen him first a generous, truthful boy; and then a handsome, robust, manly youth, perfectly self-reliant, bearing the implements of a professional surveyor's vocation through the forests of Virginia, and gaining that knowledge of woodcraft which afterward proved of essential service to him.

We have seen him, at the age of twenty-one years, traversing a portion of the same wilderness and beyond, bearing the commission and responsibilities of a military officer, and intrusted with service the most delicate yet most arduous, requiring for its performance the combined abilities of pioneer, soldier, and diplomat. We have seen him returning, crowned with success, and receiving the applause of his countrymen.

We have seen him, a little later, leading a military expedition into that wilderness, to roll back a wave of French encroachment supported by deluded savages, and exhibiting the wisdom of a veteran in his marches, conflicts, and retreats. And, later still, we have seen him wisely advising a British general how to fight, but to be answered with contempt. We have seen him left to act upon the principles involved in that advice, when his commander was laid low, and permitted to save, by most brave and judicious management, the remnant of the broken army.

We have seen him in other campaigns of that old French and Indian War, always judicious, brave, and successful, and always evidently G.o.d-protected; and we have seen that devotion to his country rewarded by the love and admiration of his fellow-men, and the affections and fortune of one of the loveliest of Virginia's daughters who became his wife, and was his companion, solace, and joy, during the remaining forty years of his life.

We have seen him a chosen member of the Virginia house of burgesses year after year, always remarkable for his wisdom, his patriotism, and his prudence; always conservative, yet never lagging when a crisis demanded action--one of the most decisive when reconciliation with the mother-country was evidently impossible, and a resort to arms absolutely necessary.

We have seen him at the kindling of that war, a sage and influential member of the grand national council; and soon afterward called by that body to the supreme leaders.h.i.+p of the armies formed to fight for liberty and independence. We have seen him so devoted to the high and holy trust committed to his case, that for more than six years he never crossed the threshold of his delightful mansion on the Potomac, where he had enjoyed many long years of connubial happiness, the pleasures of social intercourse, and the delights of rural pursuits.

We have seen him at the close of a successful seven years' war for independence, venerated and almost wors.h.i.+pped by a grateful people, refusing a proffered crown, resigning his commission into the hands of the power that gave it, and retiring to private life at his own dear Mount Vernon. And we have seen him in that delightful retreat, entertaining friends and strangers with the most generous hospitality, and receiving the homage of the great and the good of all lands.

We have seen him called from that retirement to take the lead in the formation of a new code of organic laws for the government of the infant nation in whose nativity he had performed the most conspicuous part; and then, by the spontaneous voice of the whole people, summoned to the helm of state under that more perfect form of government which he and his compatriots had devised. We have seen him as the chief magistrate of the republic, firm almost beyond precedent in his loyalty to the best interests of his country, unmoved by the appeals of sympathy, unseduced by the wiles of politicians, unappalled by the shocks of faction and the surges of popular commotions. We have seen him leave the cares and honors of office, even while the nation was imploring him to remain, and retiring to private life with the blessed a.s.surance of repose and a serene old age. We have seen him leaving that repose at the call of the people, and again cheerfully preparing to serve his country, as the leader of its armies, to repel hostile invasion. And we have seen him go down into the grave, without any of the infirmities of old age--with step elastic, eye undimmed, countenance fresh and youthful in appearance, and intellect unclouded, until the last--leaving to his countrymen the image of an almost perfect man, in all the beautiful proportions of mental, moral, and physical vigor, while the world lamented, and eulogy found him one of its n.o.blest and most suggestive themes.

It remains for us now to consider his character and his habits of life in the social relations. Historians, biographers, essayists, and personal friends, have drawn pictures of that wonderful man (whose proportions, in comparison of others, grow more colossal every day) with pencils somewhat partial, perhaps, as is natural, but graphic and generally truthful. It is not for us, at this remote distance from the period and theatre of his life, to attempt to delineate him with any expectation of improving upon these originals. We will be content to group some of their pictures, in whole and in part, in such a way, that all knowledge essential to a just appreciation of the _whole_ character of WAs.h.i.+NGTON may be obtained by the reader who may have followed us in the long narrative of his public life, recorded on the pages of these volumes. In making up the group, we shall borrow freely from the limners, beginning with the graphic outline of one of his most devoted and well-appreciated personal friends, and his first biographer, Chief-Justice Marshall.

"His manners were rather reserved than free, though they partook nothing of that dryness and sternness which accompany reserve when carried to an extreme; and on all proper occasions he could relax sufficiently to show how highly he was gratified by the charms of conversation and the pleasures of society. His person and whole deportment exhibited an unaffected and indescribable dignity, unmingled with haughtiness, of which all who approached him were sensible; and the attachment of those who possessed his friends.h.i.+p and enjoyed his intimacy was ardent, but always respectful. His temper was humane, benevolent, and conciliatory; but there was a quickness in his sensibility to anything apparently offensive, which experience had taught him to watch and to correct.

"In the management of his private affairs he exhibited an exact yet liberal economy. His funds were not prodigally wasted on capricious and ill-examined schemes, nor refused to beneficial though costly improvements. They remained, therefore, competent to that expensive establishment which his reputation, added to a hospitable temper, had in some measure imposed upon him, and to those donations which real distress has a right to claim from opulence. He made no pretensions to that vivacity which fascinates, or to that wit which dazzles, and frequently imposes on the understanding. More solid than brilliant, judgment rather than genius const.i.tuted the most prominent feature of his character. Without making ostentatious professions of religion, he was a sincere believer in the Christian faith, and a truly devout man.

"As a military man, he was brave, enterprising, and cautious. That malignity which has sought to strip him of all the higher qualities of a general, has conceded to him personal courage, and a firmness of resolution which neither dangers nor difficulty could shake. But candor will allow him other great and valuable endowments. If his military course does not abound with splendid achievements, it exhibits a series of judicious measures adapted to circ.u.mstances, which probably saved his country.

"Placed, without having studied the theory or been taught in the school of experience the practice of war, at the head of an undisciplined, ill-organized mult.i.tude, which was impatient of the restraints and unacquainted with the ordinary duties of the camp, without the aid of officers possessing those lights which the commander-in-chief was yet to acquire, it would have been a miracle indeed had his conduct been absolutely faultless. But, possessing an energetic and distinguis.h.i.+ng mind, on which the lessons of experience were never lost, his errors, if he committed any, were quickly repaired; and those measures which the state of things rendered most advisable, were seldom if ever neglected.

Inferior to his adversary in the number, the equipment, and in the discipline of his troops, it is evidence of real merit that no great and decisive advantages were ever obtained over him; and that the opportunity to strike an important blow never pa.s.sed away unused. He has been termed the American Fabius; but those who compare his actions with his means, will perceive at least as much of Marcellus as Fabius in his character. He could not have been more enterprising, without endangering the cause he defended; nor have put more to hazard, without incurring justly the imputation of rashness. Not relying upon those chances which sometimes give a favorable issue to attempts apparently desperate, his conduct was regulated by calculations made upon the capacities of his army and the real situation of his country.

"In his civil administration, as in his military career, ample and repeated proofs were exhibited of that practical good sense, of that sound judgment, which is perhaps the most rare and is certainly the most valuable quality of the human mind. Devoting himself to the duties of his station, and pursuing no object distinct from the public good, he was accustomed to contemplate at a distance those critical situations in which the United States might probably be placed; and to digest, before the occasion required action, the line of conduct which it would be proper to observe. Taught to distrust first impressions, he sought to acquire all the information which was attainable, and to hear, without prejudice, all the reasons which could be urged for or against a particular measure. His own judgment was suspended until it became necessary to determine; and his decisions, thus maturely made, were seldom if ever to be shaken. His conduct therefore was systematic, and the great objects of his administration were steadily pursued.

"Respecting, as the first magistrate of a free government must ever do, the real and deliberate sentiments of the people, their gusts of pa.s.sion pa.s.sed over without ruffling the smooth surface of his mind. Trusting to the reflecting good sense of the nation for approbation and support, he had the magnanimity to pursue its real interests, in opposition to its temporary prejudices; and, though far from being regardless of popular favor, he could never stoop to retain, by deserving to lose it. In more instances than one, we find him committing his whole popularity to hazard, and pursuing steadily, in opposition to a torrent that would have overwhelmed a man of ordinary firmness, that course which had been dictated by a sense of duty.

"In speculation, he was a real republican, devoted to the const.i.tution of his country, and to that system of equal political rights on which it is founded. But between a balanced republic and a democracy the difference is like that between order and chaos. Real liberty, he thought, was to be preserved only by preserving the authority of the laws and maintaining the energy of government. Scarcely did society present two characters which, in his opinion, less resembled each other, than a patriot and a demagogue.

"No man has ever appeared upon the theatre of public action whose integrity was more incorruptible, or whose principles were more perfectly free from the contaminations of those selfish and unworthy pa.s.sions which find their nourishment in the conflicts of party. Having no views which required concealment, his real and avowed motives were the same; and his whole correspondence does not furnish a single case from which even an enemy would infer that he was capable, under any circ.u.mstances, of stooping to the employment of duplicity. No truth can be uttered with more confidence than that his ends were always upright, and his means always pure. He exhibits the rare example of a politician to whom wiles were absolutely unknown, and whose professions to foreign governments and to his own countrymen were always sincere. In him was fully exemplified the real distinction which for ever exists between wisdom and cunning, and the importance as well as truth of the maxim, 'Honesty is the best policy.'

"If Was.h.i.+ngton possessed ambition, that pa.s.sion was, in his bosom, so regulated by principles or controlled by circ.u.mstances, that it was neither vicious nor turbulent. Intrigue was never employed as the means of its gratification, nor was personal aggrandizement its object. The various high and important stations to which he was called by the public voice, were unsought by himself; and, in consenting to fill them, he seems rather to have yielded to a general conviction that the interests of his country would be thereby promoted, than to an avidity for power.