Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1858-09-11

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guage and grace.
When the frontiers on the West became
disturbed, he at nineteen was commissioned
an adjutant-general, with the rank Of ma.
jor. AT twenty-one he went as the envoy
of Virginia to the council of Indian chiefs
on the Ohio and to the French officers near
Lake Erie. Fnme waited upon him from
his youth, and no one of his Colony was so
much spoken of He conducted the irst
military expedition that crossed the ALE
ghanies. Braddock selected him as an aid,
and be was the only man who came out OF
the disastrous defeat near the Mcnongahe-
Ia with increased reputation, which extend.
ed to England. The next year, when he
was but four aud twenty, "the great es-
teen" in which he was held in Virginia,
and his real merit" led the Lieutenant
Governor Of Maryland to request that he
might be commissioned and appointed Sc
cond in command" of the army designed to
march to the Ohio; and Shirley, the com
mander in chief heard the proposal with
great satisfaction and pleasure" for "he
knew no provincial officer upon the conti-
neut TO whom he would so readily give it
as to Washington" In 1853, he acted
under Forbes as a brigadier, and but for
him that general would never have been
able to cross the mountains.
Courage, was so uatural to him, that it
was hardly spoken of to his praise; no one
ever at any moment of his life discovered in
him the least shrinking in danger; and be
had hardihood Of daring which escaped
notice, because it was so enveloped by su-
perior ealmness aud wisdom.
He was as cheerful as he was spirited.
frank and communicate in the society of
friends, fond of the fox-chase and the dance,
often sportive in his letters, and liked a
hearty laugh. This joyousness of disposi-
tion remained to the last, though the vast
ness OF his responsibilities was soon to take
from him the right of displaying the i'm
pnlsive qualities Of his nature, and the
weight which he was to bear mp was TO
oveslny aud repress his gravity and open
ness.
His hand was liberal; giving quietly and
without observation, as though he was
ashamed of nothing but being discovered
in doing good He was kindly and com
passionate, and Of lively sensibility TO the
sorrows Of others; so that if his country
had only needed a victim for its relief he
would have willingly offered himself as a
sacrifice. But while he was prodigal of
himself, he was considerate for others 4;
ever parsimonious of the blood of his coun-
trymen.
He was prudent in the management of
bis private affairs, purchased rich lands
from the Mohawk Valley to the fats of
the Kanawha, and improved his fortune by
the correctness of his Judgement; but as a
public man he knew no other aim than the
good of his country, and in the hour of his
country'S poverty, he refused personal emo-
ument for his service.
His faculties were so well balanced and
combined that bis constitution, free from
excess, was tempered evenly with all the
elements of activity, ard his mind resembled
wellordered commonwealth; his passions,
which had the intensest vigor, owned allie
glance 10 reason; and, with all the fiery
quckness of his spirit, his impetnouS and
massive will was held in check by consum-
mate judgment. He had in his compost
tion a calm, which gave him in moments of
highest excitement patience, even when
he had most cause for disgust. Washing
ton was offered command when there was
little to bring out the unorganzed resour-
ces of the continent but his own influence,
and authority was connected with the peo-
pie by the most frail, most attenuated.
scarcely discernible threads; yet vehement
as was his nature, impassioned as was his
courage, he so restrained bis ardor that he
never failed continuously to exert the at
tracing power of that influence, and never
exerted It SO sharply as to break its force
In secrecy he was unsurpassed; but his
secrecy bad the character of prudent re-
serve, not of cunning or concealment
HIS understanding was lucid and his
judgment accurate, so that his conduct nev-
er betrayed hurry OF confusion. No detail
was too minute for his personal inquiry aud
continued supervision; and, at the same
time, he comprehended events in their wild
est aspects aud relations. He never seem
ed above the object that engaged his at
tention, and he was always equal, without
an effort to the solution Of the highest
questions, even when there existed no pre-
cedents to guide his decision.
In this way he never drew to himself ad-
miration for the possession Of any one quail
ity in excess, never made in council any one
suggestion that was sublime but impracti-
cable, never in action took to himself the
praise or the blame of undertakings aston
ishing in conception, but beyond his means
of execution. II was the most wonderful
accomplishment of this man that, placed
upon the largest theater of erents, at the
head OF the greatest revolution 10 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.
A slight tinge in his character, percepti-
BILE only to the close observer, revealed the
region from which he sprung, and he might
be described as the best specimen of man
hood as developed in the South; but his
qualities were so faultlessly proportioned
that his whole country rather claimed him
as its choicest representative, the most com
plete expression Of all its attainments and
aspirations. He studied his country and
conformed to it. His conntrymen felt that
he was the best type of America, and re-
joiced in il, and were proud Of it. They
lived in bis life and made his success and his
Draise their own