The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-03-14
From the Brooklyn Eagle.
Garry O'Lanus's Epistle.

have lust got over celebrating Wash
ington's birthday. -,
If he had lived till yesterday he would
have been hundred and thirty-tive years
old.
Just think Of that.
II il about the age of the oldest inhabi-
tant.
washington was great man.
He was first in war, first in peace, and
first in the hearts of his countrymen, and
belonged to one of the first families OF Vir-
ginia.
He was likewise the Father of his Coun-
If he was alive now l don't think he
would feel proud of his offspring.
Had he still continued to reside up to
this time at Mount Vernon he would not
be eligible to seat in Congress.
That lovely patriot Thad. Stevens would
consign him to martial law and disfran-
chisement.
The soil on which he was born and On
which his bones rest is no longer of the
land of the free, but crushed and diSmem-
bered Virginia wears more Calling chains
than those which fell from her limbs when
the last foreign foe yielded at Yorktown.
Pennsylvania, where rebellion first dis
turbed the peace of the Young Republic,
has spawned forth an arch malignant, q
lineal descendant of the whisky rioters
whom Washington crushed, to riot in the
degradation of the State ennobled as the
birthplace Of Washington.
OF course you have heard Of the little
dog and the dead lion.
What are the glories Of the past CON-
pared with the glories of the present
Or the great men of the Revolution, since
greater have arisen who know so much
more about government and the funda-
mental principles of republicanism.
If Washington lived in this generation
he couldn't have been great man.
One Of the earliest traits Of his charac-
ter was his inability to tell lie.
That alone would have ruined his poll
tical prospects.
As a general, he wouldn't have done
either.
He never expressed an intention of fight
ing it out all the summer on any particular
line.
Then we don't hear of anybody making
fortunes by army contracts for beef and
shoddy in his day.
A Republican administration never could
have tolerated such commander-in-chief.
Then his farewell address would have
been fatal to his reputation.
The principles he enunciated would
have shocked the Radical press, and he
would have been denounced as Copper
head.
He was open to suspicion of free trade
proclivities because he affiliated with
Boston party who refused to pay the duty
on tea.
Consequently the Tribune would have
been down on him.
Some men are born too soon, some too
late. Washington was born about the
right time.
People didn't know so much in his day.
Or, at least, they didn't send such wise
men to Congress.
People were satisfied with the Union
under the Constitution then, entertaining
a very foolish respect for the Constitution
without the amendments.
There are several anecdotes Of Washing
ton extant.
One Of which is about British sentinel
VINO was on picket duty one night when he
saw q mana tall man--ride by. This
BRUSH sentinel, who was strictly loyal to
ms government, thought he would shoot
Inc tail man. As the idea occurred to
Nun, no raised his gun to carry 1t out. Just
before he pulled the trigger the British
senlinei altered his mind and didn't shoot.
The tall man who wasn't shot was
Washington. So ~ va
lie never knew 1t until somebody told of
II afterwards. tlF -. : :.
such wss the greatness Of his mind.