Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1857-01-28
Cromwell, william III. and washington.

Cromwell, William III. and Washington.
Guzot, the well known French statesman and
historian, has published work, which has re-
Gently been translated ir England, ION the Cau-
ses of the Success of the English and American
Revolutions" In one of our recent London
papers we find the following extract, giving
portraits of the leading men of three Revolu.
tons:
"Three great men, Cromwell, William III,
and Washington, remain in history as the leaders
and representatives of those critical occurren-
ces which decided the fate of two great nations
For extent and natural talents Cromwell is per-
haps the most remarkable OF the three His
mind was marvellously prompt, firm, supple,
inventive and perspicacious. He possessed q
vigor of character which no obstacle could dis
courage and no conflict could tire. lie pursued
his plans with an ardor as inexhaustible as his
patience travelling sometimes by the longest
and most circutous roads, sometimes by the
shortest and most PERCEPTIONS paths. lie ex-
celled equally in gaining and ruling men in per-
sona and familiar intercourse and he was e.
qually skilled in organizing and conducting an
army or party. He had the instinct of popu-
larity and the gift Of authority, and he was a.
bic, with the same boldness, to let loose or quell
factions But born in the midst of a revolution
and carried by successive commissions on to SUI
preme power, his genius was by nature and al
WAYS remained essentially revolutionary. He
had learned to undertand the necessity OF order
and government, but he was unable either
to respect or practice moral and permanent
laws. In consequence of the effectiveness of
his nature, or the vicOusness of his situation,
he wanted regularity and serenity in the exer-
else of power; had immediate recourse to ex-
IRENE measures, like a man continually assailed
by mortal dangers, and perpetuated or aggra-
waited, by the violence OF his remedies, the vio-
lent evils that he wished to cure. The founda-
ton of a Government is task that requires
proceedings of q more regular character, aud
more in conformity to the eternal laws Of NOR
al order. Cromwell was able to subdue the
revolution tina. he had made but he could not
succeed in establishing it.
LESS powerful perhaps thar Cromwell by
natural gifts William Ill. and Washington sue
ceeded in the enterprise in which he failed
they fixed the destiny and established the gov
eminent of their country. This may be &C.
counted for by tile the fact that even in the
midst of revolution, they never accepted por
practised q revolutionary policy; they never
were placed in the fatal situation of having at
first anarchial Violence as a stepping stone, and
III
power. They found themselves at the very
outset in the regular way, and under permanent
conditions, OF government.
''William was an ambitious prince. 1t is pu-
Grille to believe that, until the appeal was made
to him in 1888, he had remained free from all
desire of ascending the throne of England, and
ignorant of the scheres which had long been on
foot for raising him TO it. William followed
step by step the progress of the scene without
it; giving its authors no
but all the time attording
them all the protection in his power. His
ambition has also the characteristic OF being
associated with the triumph OF a great aud
Just cause.-the cause of religious liberty aud
the European balance of power. No man ever
made great political design more thoroughly
the idea and exclusive object of his life than
William did. He was ardently devoted to the
work which he was accomplishing, and he con-
sidered his own ACKNOWLEDGEMENT as merely
means of that end. In his designs upon the
Crown Of England he did not succeed by vio-
lence or disorder; his mind was too lofty and
too well regulated to be ignorant of the in
durable vciousness of such success. and to SUBJ
init to its yoke. But when the career was O.
pened to him by England herself he gave no
more heed to the scruples OF the private !ndi-
Nluudl , ilc Was dUAIOus tildI UiS Cuusc
triumph. A glorious mixture OF ability and
faith of ambition and devotedness.
washington had no ambition. His country
had need of him he became great to serve her,
from duty rather than choice, and sometimes e.
ven with painful effort. His experiences Of
punllc life were bitter, and he preferred the in
dependence of private lite and the repose ofinind
to the exercise of power. But he unhesitating-
ly accepted the task imposed upon him by his
country, and, in performing it, he allowed no
concessions to be made either towards his coun-
try or himself, for the purpose of tightening his
burden. Born to govern, though he took no
pleasure in it, he told the American people what
he thought was the truth, and maintained, in
governing them, what he thought was wise,with
simple but immovable frmness, and sacrifice
of popularity, which was all the more meritori-
Gus because 1t was not compensated by the joys
of dominion. The servant ola nascent republic,
in which the democratic spirit prevailed, he OBJ
tanned its confidence and secured its triumph by
sustaining its interests against its inclinations,
and by practi;ing that modest and severe, reserv-
ed and Independent policy which seems only TO
belong to the leader of an aristocratic Senate
placed at the head of an ancient State. His sue
cess was remarkable, and does equal honor to
Washington and to his country"
VINO ARE TIE GUILTY CoNGREssMEN2-A
Washington correspondent of the Philadelphia
North American answers the question. He says