Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-06-03
NEW SERIES, NO. I27.
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activity, and his mind resembled well-ordered
commonwealth his passions, which had the
lntensest vigor, owned allegiance to reason:
and' with all the fiery quickness of his spirit,
his lmpetuous and massive will was held in
check by consummate Judgment Hehad in his
composition calm which gave him, in moments
OF highest excitement, the power of selEcontrol,
and enabled him to excel in patience, even when
he had most cause for disgust Washington was
offered command when there was little to bring
out the unorganized resources of the continent
but his own influence and authority was con-
nected with the people by the most frail, most
attenuated, scarcely discernable threads; yet,
vehement as was his nature, ,impassoned was his
courage, he SO restrained his ardor that he never
failed continuously to exert the attracting pow
er of that influence, and never exerted it so
sharply as to break its force
In secresy he was unsurpassed; but his Sc
cresy had the character Of prudent reserve, not
of cunning or concealment.
His understanding was lucid and his Judgment
accurate, so that his conduct never betrayed
hurry or confusion. No detail WAS too minute
for his personal inquiry and continued supervis-
lOn and, at the same time, he comprehended
events in their widest aspects and relations
He never seemed above the object which engag-
ed his attention, and he wasalways equal with
out an effort to the solution of the highest
questions, even when there existed no procedents
to guide his decision
In this way, he never drew to himself adni-
ration tor the possession of any one quality in
excess, never made in council any one sugges-
ton that was sublime but impractcable, never
took to himself the praise or blame of under
takings astonishing in conception but beyond
his means of execution. 1t was the most won-
deriul accomplishment of this man, that, placed
upon the largest theatre of events, at the head
of the greatest revolution in human affairs, he
never failed to observe all that was possible,
and at the same time to bound his aspirations
by that which was possible
slight tingc in his character, perceptbe
only to the close observer, revealed the region
from which he sprang, and he might be des-
cribed as the best specimen of maRhond as de-
Iveloped in the South but his qualities were SO
faultessly proportional that his whole country
rather clamedhim as its choicest representative,
the most complete expression of all its attain
ments and aspirations. He studied lis country
and conformed to it. His countrymen felt that
he was the best type of America, and rejoiced
in it, and were proud Of it. They lived in his
life, and made his success and his praise their
own.
Profoundly impressed with confidence in Gods
Providence, and exemplary in his respect for the
forms of public worship, no philosopher of the
eighteenth century was more firm in the sup
port of freedom of religious opinion; none
more tolerant or more remote from bigotry
but belief in God and trust in His overruling
power, formed the essence of his character
Divine wisdom not only illumines the spirit, it
inspires the will.
Washington was a man of action, and not of
theory or words his creed appears in his life,
not in his professions, which burst from him
very rarely, and only at those great moments
of crisis in the fortunes of his country when
earth and heaven seemed actually to meet, and
his emotions became too intense for suppression;
but his whole being was one continued act Of
faith in the eternal, intelligent moral order of
the universe. Integrity was so completely the
law of his nature, that planet would sooner
, have shot from its sphere than he have departed
from his uprightness, which was so constant
that it often seemed to be almost mp2rsonal
They say of Gotto, that he introduced good
} ness into the art of painting Washington car
ried it with HIM into the camp and the cabinet,
and established a new criterion of human great
: ness The purity of his will confirmed his for
titude; and as he never faltered in his faith in
| be just, free from illusions, never detected by
: the apprehension of the difficulties and perils
! that went before him, and drawing the promise
of success from the Justice of his cause. Hence
, he was persevering, leaving nothing unfinished,
I free from all taint of obstinacy in his frmness,
seeking and gladly receiving advice, but immov-
S able in his deyotodness to right.
Z OF retiring modesty and habtual reserve, V
his ambition was not more than the conscious
: ness of his power, and was subordinate to his
t sense of duty he took the foremost place, for
be knew, from inborn magnaimity, that it be-
longed to him, and he dared not withhold the
service reqired of him so that, with all his
> humility he was by necessity the first, though
a never for himself or for private ends. He lovod
: fame, the approval of coming generations, the
g good opinion of his fellow men of his own
S time, and he desired to make his conduct coin
: eide with their wishes but not fear of censure,
d nor the prospect of applause, could tempt him
o to swerve from rectitude; and the praise which
he coveted was the sympathy of that moral
d sentiment which exists in every human breast,
d and goes forth only to the welcome of virtue.
|. There have been soldiers who have achieved
! mightier victories in the field, and made con.
quests more nearly corresponding to the bound
- essness OF selfish ambition statesmen who have
IS been connected with more startling unheaval
If of society; but it is the greatness Of Washing
If ton, that in public trusts he used power solel,
for the public good that he was the life. ane
II moderator, and stay, of the most momentou
revolution in human affairs, its moving impuls
is and restraining power. Combining the cendtrip
re etal and centrifugal forces in their utmos
strength, and in perfect relations, with greatly,
:, grandeur of instinct he held ruin in check. anc
ot renewed and perfected the institutions of hi
W country. Finding the colonies discontented ant
l. dependent, he left them such united and well
a ordered commonwealth as no visionary had he