The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-02-28
ENGLIaH BALDKRDASH

A REMARKABLY fine specimen of English bal
derdash has just been flashed across the
calle, in the despatch which apprises the
American people of the opinions cherished by
the Pail Mall Gazette of the character and
capacity of General Washington and his pro-
bable views of the present state of American
affairs. We are told that that journal has
given publicity to the following sentence: -
Though General Washington was man OF mar
row views, neither wise nor acute yet he would be
lost and astounded at the spectacle OF affairs at the
American national capital now."
Ninety years ago, when Washington was
still fighting the battles of the Revolution,
the British journals of that day said much
more savage things of him than the Gazette
ventures to utter now. There was at that
time a bare possibility that the lustre of his
fame might be diminished in European cir
cles by such denunciations. But in this era
English writer's initiate the folly of the saw
ages who shoot arrows at the sun when they
attempt to disparage the man who was the
leading instrument in wrestling this country
from Great Britain. 1t is q matter of pro-
found indifference whether they laud or de-
nounce him, and all the diatribes they can
crowd into their columns will not produce
the slightest modification of the verdict of
impartial history.
The only interest attached to the comments
of the Gazette is that which arises from their
absurdity. When it says that Washington
was "a man of narrow views, neither wise
nor acute, it makes itself supremely ridicu
lous. The man who, tried by the severest
ordeals, achieved the most brilliant success in
civil as well as military life, and who not only
justified the unbounded confidence reposed
in him by his countrynen during quarter Of
a century pregnant with momentous events,
but deservedly won the plaudits of the whole
civilized world, gave by his career a greater
proof of practical wisdom than the wisest
statesmen of Great Britain have ever fur
nished If he had been a man of marrow
views, his policy and his admonitions would
have perished with himself; but his utter
ances and his example have furnished, in in
Vulnerable instances since his death, the best
guides in our great public exigencies, and it
is not men of marrow views" who, after
creating and governing nations, open up a
sure path for their future prosperity.
The concluding portion of the extract from
the Gazette is, if possible, even more absurd
Whether Washington was wise or foolish, we
see no special reason why she would be lost
and astounded at the spectacle of affairs at
the American national capital now" He
would no doubt see some things there which
would not command his approval, and some
things to regret, but no ruler of a past age
who returned to this mundane sphere could
be greeted here with more marvellous evil
dences of the fruition of his labors and of the
realization of his brightest dreams. He might
wonder at the expansion of the Union, the
extension of civilization across the continent,
the growth of population from three to forty
millions, the increase of wealth, the accom-
plishment Of his strong desire that slavery
should be abolished, and the estab-
lishment of the Government on the
impregnable principles of universal freedom,
but instead of being 'lost and astounded" at
this spectacle, it would be infinitely more
rational to conclude that his heart would
swell with satisfaction and gratitude. When
he learned that the nation which in his day
was barely able, by extraneous assistance, to
vanquish the invading armies of Great Britain
after an eight-years struggle, now ranks
among the frst-class powers, and that It far
surpasses England in military strength, he
| might we'll wonder at her relative decline in
the scale of nationalities, but if he was "lost''
or ''astounded" it would only be on account
of the wonderful rapidity with which America
had been gaining prestige while her old
oppressor was losing it.
The COMMITTEE appointed to investigate