The Howard union. (Glasgow, Mo.) 1865-1866, 1865-07-27
MBER r.
WASHINGTON AND CESAR,

81 wrote, sixteen years ago." Byron
exclaims at the the close Of his "Ode 10
Napoleon" "Where shall the eye rest,
weary Of gazing on the great, where find
glory that is not criminal, a pomp that is
not contemplate +? Yes, there is a man,
the first, the last the best Of all, the Gin
clnnatus Of the West, whom envy itself
does not hate. The name Of Washington
has been bequeathed 10 us to make humanity
blush that such man is alone in history"
Is Washington as great as Byron makes
him? Yes, as we shall soon see il we
compare him with the most illustrious per-
sonages. Take, Tor example, that Cesar
who has dazzled men to such degree that
each vies with the other in pardoning his
crimes and bowing before the greatness Of
his misdeeds. Washington does not pale
before this hero of the Roman empire.
Doubtless, the American general had
neither the mind nor the resources Of the
conqueror of Pharasalia; he lived in poor
and frugal community, and his fellow
citizens resembled the contemporaries Of
Cincnnatus more than those Of Cicero; but
what moral difference is there between
those two men, and, considering only
political genius, how great i, the one and
how small the other!
If, in these two rivals, we consider what
belongs to the man, and not what belongs
to the nature or TO the age, mean the will,
Washington does not yield to Cesar.
Once entered upon their career, neither
ever quilted it, or drew back, Caesar
sought to impose his will on the world, and
to expel therelrom the very name of liberty;
nothing restroined him; he slew million Of
men to attain his end. Washington sought
to defend and consolidate the liberty Of his
country, and nothing arrested him either;
he braved the halter and igncminy to free
his menaced country; he rejected with
contempt the crown which his army offered
him, and which he might have accepted
) without being taxed with ambition. A
no other love than the republic. Caesar and
Washington both succeeded; both founded
an empire, and be queathed 10 the future
their example and their idea; their work will
Judge them. The despotsm that Caesar
established gave the omnipotence to ono
master and condemned whole people to
live by the will of single man. This
reign of day, by founding the empire, cost
the world five centuries Of irresistible
decline. The Imperial administration, one
of the best planned systems ever invented,
wore out Roman society to such degree
that even Christianity did not revive it; new
races were needed 10 regenerate the ex-
hausted blood.
Washington established wise and we'll.
ordered republic; he left to the future, not
the fatal example of triumphant crime, but
the benefcen. example of patriotism and
virtue. In less than fifty years, thanks to
the powerful impetus of liberty, we have
witnessed the rise of an empire founded not
on conquest, but on peace and industry; an
empire which, before the end of the century,
will be the greatest state in the civilized
world, and which, if it remains faithful to
the idea of of its founders, if ambition does
, not arrest the tide of its fortune, will offer
TO the world the unheard Of spectacle Of a
= republic of hundred millions of men,
= richer, happier and more brilliant than the
), monarchies of the Old World, This is the
i work of Washington! Despite all the
" lustre of his genius, Caesar has lelta sinister
name, which is the symbol of despotism
The name of Washington is much more
than that of the founder of an empire
h Washington opens new era in history
n Greater than Caesar, he has undope the
n work Of the Roman; he has put an end tc
lie the fatal divorce which Caesar introduced
upon the earth; he has resuscitated the
sr world and liberty.-[ LabOulaye's Criticism
IN on Napoleon's Caesar.