The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-12-13
Washington and Cesar.

wrote sixteen years ago: Byron exclaims
at the close of his "Ode to Napoleon.
Where shall the eye rest, weary Of gazing
on the great. where find glory that is not
criminal, pomp that is not contemplate !?
Yes, there is a man, the first, the last, the best
of all, the Cincinnatus Of The West, whom
envy itself does not hate The name OF
Washington has been bequeathed to US to make
humanity blush that such man is alone in
history
Is Washington as great az Byron makes
him? Yes, as we shall soon see, if we com.
pare him with the most illustious personages.
lake, for example, that Caesar, who has daz.
zled men to such degree that each vies with
the other in pardoning his crimes and bowling
down before the greatness of his misdeeds.
Washington does not pale before this hero of
the Roman Empire. Doubtless the Ameri.
can General had neither the mind nor the re-
sources of the conqueror of PbarsaliA he
ived in poor and frugal community, and his
fellow-eitizens resembled the contemporaries
OF Clnelnnatus more than those of Cicero;
but what Q moral difference 10 there between
these two men, and considering only political
genius, now great is the one and how small. is
the other. 81 sF $3.50 9s4t
If, in these two rivals, we consider wba, ho.
longs to the man, and not what belongs TO the
nature or to the age. | meanthe niil. Wash.
ington does not yield TO Caesar. Once en-
Tered upon their career, neither ever Quilted
or drew back Cesar sought to impose his
Will on the world, and to expel therefrom the
very name Of liberty, nothing retained him
he slew million of men to attain his end,
Washington sought to defend and consolidate
the liberty OF mis- country, and nothing mres.
tea MN either he braved the halter and ig-
noniiny 10 Tree ms menaced country; he re-
Va th Al
army offered him, and which he might have
accepted without being taxed with ambition
dictator. h. had no other care than liberty
no other love than the Republic. Caesar and
Washington both succeeded; both founded an
q EMPIRE, and bequeathed toSthe future their
example and their idea; their work will
judge them. The despotsm that Cmsar
abolished gavethe omnipotence to one master.
and condemned whole people to live Inv the
will of single man. Their reign of q ,av
by founding the Empire, cost the world FIVE
centuries OF irresistible decline. The imne.
RAJ administration, one of the best planned
systems ever invented. wore out the Roman
society. TO such degree'that even Chr;stian.
ity did not revive it; new races were nsaJaa
to regenerate the exhausted blood.
Washington established wise and we'll ar.
defed Repsblc, he left the future, not the
iatal example OF triumphant crime, but the
benefcent example of patriotism and viz
tue. Ia less than fifty years, thanks 10 the
Powerful impetus ofiberty, we have witness.
ed the rise of an Empire founded, not ON con.
- quest, but on peace and industry; an EN-
Plre which, before the end Of the century will
be the Greatest State in the civilized ysprld.
and which if it remains faithful to NS IDEA 81
its founders, ifambition does not arrest the
tide of its fortune, will offer to the world the
unheard-of spectacle Of . Republic Of a hun.
dred millions Of men richer, happier and
Tore brilliant than the monarchies Of the old
World. This is the work Of Washington.
81 has left that which 10 the symbol Of despo.
tism. The name of Washington il much
more than that Of the founder Of an Empire
Washington opens new era in history.
81 Greater than Caesar, he has unaons the &ork
tie Rohsani. he has put ~ end TO the fLte]
divorce which Cesar Introduced upon IS