The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1857-02-28
,.taQ ,,ie .---,, For the Minnesotian.
Tribute TO Washington. r;d z

and although / have read the memoirs Of
this Incompatible man before, and by other
authors, yet never was so impressed with
ideas Of his transcendent goodness as at this
time. do not attribute it to more felicft!
Gus manner in. the !, authors narrative. i
think have read it with greater attention.
Perhaps no period Of the worlds history
has furnished more noble example of ex-
alted patriotism, wisdom, Judgment, pru-
dence, forbearance, disinterested kindness,
earnest asolicitude for righteous measures,
than that period which gave birth to Wash
ington. I doubt whether another can be
found in all the annals of the worlds great
history. .e-
His life exhibits character worthy the
imitation ol all ages. 1t is not attainted by
one vicious act. His conduct was always
upright. He had but one guide, and thathe
followed with tenacity never excelled-
scarcely equalled by any other public man.
That guide was righteousness. 1t is utterly
impossible to separate it from his character in
any instance. Truth was enstamped upon
the earliest actions of his youth, nor did it
shine less bright in camp or council, in nego-
ciating with his enemy, or planning his de-
feat, in deliberation while First Chief Magis-
trate or in calm retirement from the busy
affairs Of sts te, than when he confessed the
harm he had done 10 his fathers cherry tree,
and said, 81 cannot tell a lie, father, l cannot
tell lie ~
Heseemed to have grasped the whole world
in that disinterested benevolence, for which
he is characterized next to his love of truth.
His direct enemies-and they were the cne-
mics of his country-never had cause to
complain of unjust or cruel treatment from
him. Prisoners fallen into his hands were
treated with all the clcmency compatible with
his situation, as head of an opposing army, or
rather an opposing nation. He looked upon
them, not in anger, or with the least degree
of hatred, but with pity, as being the dupes
Of an arrogant and misguided policy. And
when President, eneimes appeared even in
his cabinet and council, when factions hurled
their missiles at his administration, when in
surrections and fierce parties threatened the
diss olution of union and harmony, then was
he most solicitous for that liberty which had
been his care to establish, and his after la
bors to perpetuate. He knew no party. He
knew only his country, and rewarded merit,
whether he found it among adversaries or
friends.
lie envied no position, either of wealth
or influence. His only ambition was to do
right in all things, and to be wise and just
in all emergencies. Noone could annoy him.
for it was certain that he had gained an in
fluence over the nation by his great wisdom
and calm and invincible courage, which they
could never hope to attain, and thus all, ac-
corded in granting to him sphere, which
none other could occupy.
Throughout the whole of that sanguinary
conflict which gave birth to American free
dom, both the Continental Congress and the
army looked to him for every directing meas
ure and it is remarkable fact that his
wishes, directions and suggestions were al
ways acted upon with success, never thwart-
ed, and that Congress was principally en-
ployed through the long, tedious war, upon
measures which originated in his mind. The
whole continent looked upon his conduct with
| the intensest admiration: Even England,
long the adversary of his countryside
birth place of distinguished statesmen and
scholars-acknowledged the superiority of
his talents; and no doubt the English Cabi-
net were as much hurried to their acknowl-
edgment of the States Sovereignty, by their
conviction that the invincible Washington
was at the head of the army, as that the
American people were all patriots, and de-
termined to withstand them to the last.
They we'll knew that man who could calm
ly utter the following sentence, was invinci-
BILE to anything they could bring against him.
"When asked what he would do if the ene-
my should take Philadelphia, he is reported
to have said: 'We will retreat beyond the
Susquehanna, and then, if need be, beyond
the Allegheny Mountains .e,.
His industry and solid attainments while
still a youth, won for him more than a pass
ing notice from the community in which he
lived. In his wanderings through the Vir-
ginian forests with compass and folio, he por
trayed vividly the germ of the afterwards
great man. So faultless was he in every
qualification necessary to make the public
man, that at the early age of nineteen, ht
was chosen the bearer of dispatches to thu
French commandant at Duquense, hundred
leagues distant, through dense forests, ove
lofty mountains, across rapid and dangerous
rivers, through cold and snow, and witha
through region inhabited by the wiley red
man, his treacherous and implacable foe
Yet how completely was the Office filled
The whole country looked with admiration
upon the man who had so willingly and fear
lessly hazarded his life in his country's cause
No wonder that his life became incessantl
public; we might almost say intensely pull
: lie. No wonder that his presence becam
q necessary in the colonial councils. N
J, won Ter that he was placed at the head {
f tho Ran,,hlican armies M wonder fhs