The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-24 00:00:00

THE BIRTHDAY OF WASHINGTON.

ne anniversary of the birthday of the founder of
the great North American Republic was celebrated
on Saturday at the Freemason's Tavern, when some
200 ladies and gentlemen, mostly citizens of the
United States, sat down to an excellent dejeuner a
la fourehette. Behind the chairman's seat was sus-
pended a portrait of George Washington, while on
either side waved the Union banner and the Union
Jack. The chair was occupied by the Right Rev,
Dr. M'ilvaine, Bishop of Ohio, who was supported
by Mr. Adams, United States' Minister; Mr. C. L.
Wilson and Mr. B. Moran, Secretaries of the United
States' Legation; Mr. F. Morse, United States'
Consul in London ; Mr. W. Moran, United States'
Consul at Bayonne; Mr. Cyrus Field, Dr. Mac-
gowan, and others. Letters of apology for non-
attendance were read from Earl Spencer, Mr.
Bright, M.P.; Mr. Scholefield, M.P. ; Mr. M. Gib-
son, M.P. ; Mr. Dayton, United States' Minister. in
Paris ; M. Kossuth, and others.
The Rev. CIIAIRMAN commenced the oratorical
portion of the proceedings by reading an ode to
Washington, composed for the occasion by a lady
who was then present.
Mr. ADAMS, the United States Minister to the
Court of St. James, then rose to propose " The
Memory of Washington." His Excellency said,—
It gives me great satisfaction on this occasion to
join, as a citizen of the United States, with so many
of our good friends in the celebration of this anni-
versary. In doing honour to the memory of the
greatest name in American history we feel that we
perform a duty to ourselves. (Cheers.) There have
been men of more brilliant genius, more profound
sages, more extraordinary warriors, more aspiring
statesmen, more enthusiastic patriots than Washing-
ton ; but in that perfect intermixture of the various
elements that conduce to the formation of a true
hero there is no mortal on record that furnishes an
example so much to be admired as his. Tetus, teres,
et rotundus is the only motto that typifies his cha-
racter in history. There is no blot. There is no flaw,
There is no crook. (Cheering.) At this time it may
do us good to refresh our recollection of what he did
and what he suffered. Called to take the command
of an army, he found himself burdened with the
task of creating one, without money, and:with very
slight provision of all the indispensable munitoins of
war ; and this in the face of an enemy abundantly
provided with all these things. (Cheers.) Yet he
overcame every obstacle, and expelled that enemy,
almost without bloodshed, from his position. Less
fortunate in other fields at a later period, he never
failed in patience to repair defeat, and to return to
the charge with a courage not even tinctured with
despair. And what privations, what disappoint-
ments, what disasters did he not experience during
the seven long years that he continued to wage
the unequal contest ! Dispised by his opponents,
sometimes distrusted even by his friends, he never-
theless held up his faith and bore right onward,
bating not a jot of heart or hope until he won the
prize. (Loud cheers.) The secret of his military
success was not that of Napoleon, for he had no
legions to throw away. It was more like that of
Fabius, in husbanding his resources, and trust-
ing to patience and perseverance for his triumph.
As a consequence, America had few brilliant vic-
tories to boast of as the fruits of the labours of her
armies ; but on the other hand, these armies had
never lost the character which attached to a people
remaining flee. (Great cheering.) And so it turned
out that the military chieftain gracefully changed
with the emergency into an organising statesman.
After an interval of weakness and exhaustion the
country, under his auspices, established a form of
free government, and by acclamation summoned
him to the work of setting it in motion. The task
was not less difficult than that which he had accom-
plished, though very different in kind. Convulsions,
foreign and domestic, threatened to destroy his work.
But he succeeded in it equally well, not by sudden
strokes or extraordinary devices, but by the exercise
of that calm patience and perseverance in a right
course which constitute the singular beauty of his
life. (Cheers.) It is well to think on these things at
all times, but never will it suit Americans to do so
better than at this moment. Our country is passing
through the trial so long foreseen and feared, the
greatest that has happened since the days of Wash-
ington at Valley Forge. It is engaged in throwing
off the burden of a malign Power, which aspires to
rule or to ruin. (Cheers.) The struggle is a fear-
ful one, but there is no alternative. The assault
upon the Government of the United States carries
with it an aggressive principle, which, if not de-
feated, must in the end be fatal to freedom. It
involves the acknowledgment of a prescriptive right
of some men to rule over their fellows, a proposition
which has ever been steadily combated by Ameri-
can patriotism. We must, then, fully re-establish
our fundamental doctrine at every hazard. It will,
doubtless, cost us a severe effort—men, money,
time, disorder, perhaps confusion. Amid such re-
flections let us go back and remember the trials
which Washington endured, and how nobly he sur-
mounted them. (Cheers.) Let us on this, his natal
day, look to his example as the bright flower of our
faith, in which sign we shall conquer. Let us trust
that we are passing through this fire of purification
only to gather, as of yore, the moral fruits of

self-devotion to honourable ends. Let us hope for
a successful issue, through the exercise of the same
great virtues which we associate with the honours
paid to the name of Washington—patience and per-
severance in the path of duq. (Loud and long con-
tinued cheering.)
The CHAIRMAN then called upon an English
clergyman, who had taken great interest in ascer-
taining facts concerning Washington's family, to
address some observations to the company.
The Rev. J. SIMPKINSON said that, as rector of
the parish of Brington, Northamptonshire, the home
of the Washington family, he had naturally taken
much interest in tracing facts in connexion with
that family. His parishioners, like himself, were
proud of Washington and claimed him as partly
their own. From researches he had made he found
that the first Washington who settled at Brington

was Lawrence, who, having been a barrister, turned

his attention to sheep-farming, and upon the

suppression of the monasteries obtained a

grant of the manor of Sulgrave. The family
subsequently became allied to the Spencers, but
fortune was not always favourable to them until the
union of one of them with a sister of George Villiers,
Duke of Buckingham, restored them to prosperity.
The younger scions of the Washington family were
constant inmates of the palace during the reign of
James 1., and therefore when the civil war broke
out it was not surprising that they adhered to the
Royal cause, and reflected credit upon the name by
their gallant exploits at Bristol and Colchester. The
family emigrated to America in 1657, and the illus-
trious George Washington became the pride and
honour of both hemispheres. The character of
that great man was untarnished by ambition, pride,
or vanity, in which respects he might be compared
with the late Prince Consort and William the
Silent. It was to be hoped that the citizens of
America would always appreciate and imitate the

example of their glorious founder, and take as their
guide the three stars of his family arms, which pro-
bably had suggested the idea of the national ban-

ner, and which symbolised truth, patriotism, and
trust in God. (Cheers.)

The toast was then drunk in solemn silence.
The CHAIRMAN, in proposing the next toast, said
—lt is the bounden duty of Americans in foreign
lands to honour the powers that be; specially it is
the duty of Americans residing in this land, pro-
tected by its laws and partaking of its privileges ;
but very specially is it the duty of Americans to
honour the powers that be when they are found in
the possession of one who to official pre-eminence
adds indisputable claims to affection and veneration
not only upon the part of her own subjects, but on
the part of all who know her name throughout the
(Cheers.) When her eldest son, as her re-
P__"_Bentative, visited America, he was received
everywhere with manifestations of esteem and re-
spedbut especially for his honoured
motherfor himself
. (Rear:) It P
was my honour to have him
as my guest in my house, and I saw much of him in
different places during
his tour in America, having
been brought perhaps into more near sociel relations
with him than any one in our laud, insomuch that
g
upon his present
when recently he was depar tin