Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1861-03-14
SPEECH DELIVERED BEFORE THE WASH
INGTON SOCIETY AT HALL
FEBRUARY 22ND, 1S61.-By w. H. MITCHELL

SPEECH DELIVERED BEFORE THE WASH
INGTON SOCIETY AT CHARLOTTE-HALL,
FEBRUARY 22ND, lS6l.-By w. H. MITCHELL,
OF CHARLES County.
In the spirit of the Highlander who, with
foot upon his native heath, drinks in the rich
air of the morning, and sips afresh from the
fountains of his early home, join you in the
ceremonies of to-day accepting an appointment
as unexpected as it was unmerited, and as gen.
erous in others as it is embarrassing to myself.
Ages ago, Mr.. President, there were carved
upon the splendid tomb of Persian these words
30 man! whatsoever thou art and whenceso-
ever thou contest flor come / know thou Wilt
am Cyrus, founder Of the Persian Empire"
Alexander paused above the labelled dust, and
wept over the vanity, the nothingness Of earth.
Upon the brink of a neghboring river, shut
in by the shades he loved, there sleeps to-day
a greater man than Cyrus. And they have
written upon the coffin lid his simple name, and
hung upon the arches round, no words hot from
the chisel of king, not the "Mene Tekel" that
smote the knees and startled the vision of Belt
shazzer, but the glad words of Martha's Cod
Il am the resurrection and the life, he that be-
lieveth in me though he were dead, yet shall he
live"
The conquerors of Babylon have long since
|crumbled with her ctadels and silver altars
while the spirit Of your Washington moves eter-
nal along the corridors of time melting the mists
that blind us and betting the world with light.
1t is not for me, Mr.. Chairman, to freshen the
bays upon such brow or lend a polish to such
a name. Paans to Washington are but as
"sounding brass and tinkling cymbas." Hon
ors to him are but as fireworks, falling from the
sky they would invade, to pale and cripple be-
fore the finer glores of his splendid Immortality.
The history of the man, replete with the evil
dences of his motives, has long been indelibly
written on your hearts, and has exhibited to the
world model of pure benevolence and self
created greatness:
'sAbove all Greek, above all Roman praise.''
He was patriot in the most unlimited and
exalted sense of the word From the first dawn
ing of manhood to the very instant of his dsso-
luton, he was distinguished by every quality,
which characterzes the great, the wise, the good.
His history is emphatically the history Of his
nation. 1t is a chain Of noble acts from the be-
ginning to the end It is the Koran of his peo-
pie, and God grant that it may prove the glad
Shekinah through the howlings of this storm.
The analyst or student of Washington's life,
while charmed with it's beautiful consistency, is
often at a loss to discover the eliminating point
Of his greatness When and where was he at
the acme of his glory? Was it when fresh
faced boy, more than hundred years ago,
marching up to the strict line of duty, he pierced
the trackless forrest or stemmed the ice-driftS
and swelling waters Of the Allegheny? Was
lit at the battle Of the Monongahela, when he
barred bis bosom to the rife, the knife, riskipg
all in the cause Of the Crowd that scornea him