The Kanzas news., 1859-02-19

Itonishment that four pecks of grain should
make FIVE pecks of meal One year be was
lin the Virginia Assembly, where he made
no speeches longer than ten minutes, but
was distinguished for quiet aud dignifed In
tegrity. At the coming of evil rumors
from the North, he was not the first to move
Ia 1863 he was ready te raise and equip 9
thousand men, pay them, aud march them
to Boston. = p"
1t is not difficult. said Mr.. P, to under
stand a character which is SO plain. the fea-
lures SO distinct and strongly marked
Look at his intellect He had not great rea-
son-the philosophic power which loves
universal laws and scientific truths, resting
upon them for ends. He was not specula-
tive man he did not turn his thought to
ideas. He had no tendency to science did
not look for causes, modes of operation, gen
eral laws-only for facts. He was eTned
for measures, not with principles. He had
not much imagin8tion, that poetic power
which rests in ideal beauty for its ends
There was little of the ideal element in
/ him. He took no notice of the handsome
things in nature, art or literature I re-
member but one reference to anything of
the kind, and that is the ''lowland beauty
who SO charmed him in boyhood, where
the attraction, probably, was not purely
scientific. (Laughter.)
He wrote much. 1t is not always easy
to ascertain what came from his own pen,
and what from his secretary's Almost all
his great state papers were partly, if not
wholly, the work of other men. The cele-
brated Farewell Address must be referred
to Mr. Madison, who made the first draft
in 1899, when Washington intended to re-
tire. and to Mr.. Hamilton-possibly yet
abler man-who, in '97, wrote it over again.
Washington wrote it over anew with his
own hand, and made alterations still, I
think the substance of the work came from
Madison and Hamilton.
| Commonly, his style is conventional,
tame, dull. 1t is refreshing to find that
he sometimes departed from this language
He calls the British soldiers "reG coats;
Gen. Putnam, ''Old Put" talks of s'kick-
ing up some dust in New England and
''mak:ng rumpus in Massachusetts, COM
plains that men are nominated for high pla-
ces "who are not fit to be shoe -blacks;''
speaks of s'the rascally tories,'' and talks
! of e'the scoundrel from Marblehead;" but,
in general, his style is plain, like,
without fancy or figure of speech, or even
of wrath. 1t is not grass, that you pick up
by handfuls growing in the fields, but hay,
which you pull down from the NOW in the
barn, ready for use.
Washington had not much imagination.
He had great understanding, and uncom-
mon common sense; that admirable balance
of faculties which we call good judgment
| IL y IL I'M
way of doing what must be done a quality
find more rare than what we call genius.
Yet his understanding was not of wide
range, but limited to few principles that
pertain to practical affairs. Although thus
gifted, he was not great originator.
think he invented nothing, discovered moth
ing-in politics, war, or agriculture He
was soldier sixteen years. do not find
affairs. He sat in the Virginia Assembly
and in the Convention to frame the Consti-
tuition but do not find that he brought
forward any new idea, or even proposed a
new measure. He was eight years Presi-
dent, and left behind him no more marks of
originating, inventive talent.
But he was a good organizer naturally
systematic. industrious, regular, by early
habit, he had the art to make things take
the orderly shape to serve the purpose he
had in view. Thus, his large farm was or
ganized with mastery skill. In the French
and Indian wars. he took the raw material
and organized it into companies and regi-
ments, making snug little army. In the
war of the Revolution he did the same
thing, on larger scale and under greater
difficulties than before. He laid out the
plan of battle with great good sense.
think there was no originality in his mode.
He followed the old schemes, and always
took abundent counsel. As President, he
had much of this organizing work to attend
to, and it was admirably done but with
the help of John Adams, Jefferson, Hamil-
ton, Jay, and other great men. He had a
mastery talent for laying his hands on great
men and setting them to do their proper
work. and of knowing when it was well
done. He did not invent, but found out
who could invent, and knew when he dis
covered the right thing. His great talent
was that of administration. He. had that
rare combination of Judgment, capacity
and courage which made him able to man
age all things well. He was fond of de-
tails no little thing was too minute for his
delicate eye.
Some pleasant anecdotes were told in l.
lustration of this trait Of character, one of
which was to the effeut that Washington,
distrusting the capacity of the negro to Be
ia good soldier, or, at any rate, to be placed
on guard, one night put on an unmiiitaFy
coat and advanced to colored sentry. and
heard the challenge, ''Who goes there %
GA friend" Friend, advance. without
arms, and give the countersign." Wash
ington said ''Roxbury." ssNo, sare- p
"Medford.'' ''No, sare.''' Boston p
"No. sare. tell you what, Massa Wash
Iington. no man go by here without he say
Cambridge. Laughter and applause. i