Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1872-12-12
Anecdotes ofPublic Men.
BY COL. ]. w. FoRNEY.

| bA COL. y. W. FORNEE. .--..-..
From the Washington Sunday chronicIe.l
We shall have many interesting his.
torical developmements during our
preparations for the Great Centennial,
The men and measures of the Revolu-
tion illfeappear in new light. and
the contrast between the Past and Pres
ent will be drawn in radiant colors. In
reaching over a few of the periodicals Of
the last quarter of the last century I
found some incidents and passages in
the lives of Washington, Jefferson, and
Franklin, that may have been forgot
ten by the very old and have certainly
never been read by the very Young,
One of these is the following original
letter of General Washington to the dis
tinguished Matthew Carey whose no
less distinguished son, Henry @. CaYev.
isstill living in Philadelphia.l at an
advanced age, the centre of a circle Of
loving friends: als.-t -sa i.s.si
| ,,..n MOUNT VERNON, July u, 17sS.
SIR III had more leisure T. should
i most willingly give you any sneh COM
munIeatl ions that might be within my
reaehl as would serve to keep up. the
reputation of your Museum AT pres-
ent, occupied as am with agrieuilure
and correspondence I can promise Lit
tie. Perhaps some gentleman connect
ed with me may make some selections
7from my repositories; and II beg Won
will be persuaded that / can have no
reluctance to permit anything. to- be
communicated; that might, tendto es-
tahlish truth, extend knowledge, excite
virtue, and promote happiness among
i NTH best wishes for SUCCESS, I am
15sir, your most eb't bleservIt.,slx9--i :
I .euf,e-c dTTI GEO.e WAsHINGFoN..
2 MR. MATHEW CAREY. = s,.I ,s,iii.-
Y Editor of the american Muse.trq.fa
Here are the qualities that make the
+ modern philosopher and journalist.
Matthew Carey was ambitious to pre-
serve for p0sterity the treasures that
George Washington had collected in
his Illustrations career, and Washing
+ corresponds gracefully to the request.
7 The closing Sentencein italics is WASH
I ington's ideal of the creed of a patriot.
and a line index of his own character.
! Jefferson's, tribute to Washington is
! very beautiful: -. s-,.,..'7I- 80
II own" he says, "I regard it though
but a single view, of the, character Of
! Washington, as one of transcendent
| 4impoEtance, that the commencement
of the Revolution fOnnd him already
/ prepared and mature for the work. and
that ON the day which his commission
was signed by John Han eocEEthe i'm
| mortal seventeenth Of June. I7754a ,iayv
on which Providence kept an even hal
4 aIlce with the cause, and while il took
from US Warren, gave US a Washing
! tonEhe was JuStias eonsumIi1ate a lead
er fofspeaee as for war, as when, eight
years AFTER he resigned that commits
! sion at Annapolis. .s'iaii1fq s.ssrs1tifl
But he did not hesitate toeoupsel and
even to critieise his chief, as the follow
ing will show: }a 5acte. . a -
s.ll........,... 81. - - PARIS, May 2, 17ss..
70 Genesdl Wash i,sqtoa:: l1 Il 'A'
Il had Intended to have written word
to your f,xeellency nthe subject of the
new Constitution, but have already
spun out my letter to an immoderate
length. i viii just observe, therefore,
/ that according to my ideas, there is a
I great, dell of good in it. There are two
things. however, which I dislike
4 strongly: go. -l;s-, e.f..,a saf
First. The want of declaration oi
rights.
Tam infopes the opposition in Viz
ginia will remedy this, and produce
such a declaration. jhii - . H'.-.i'.-5
Second. rhe perpetual re-eligibiIity
/ of the President. 7ia et4'= s'i..i'.o
! This, fear, will make that an Office
/ for life, first, and Their hereditary. /
was such an enemy to fnonarchies be-
/ fore came to Europe, am ten thous-
and times more so since I have seen
what they are. There is scarcely an
evil known in these countries which
may not be traced to their king as its
source; nor Z good which isnot derived
from the small hbres of republicanisIl
existing among them l can further
say, with safety, that there is not a
| crowned head in Europe whose talents
or merits eealf eHtitle him to be elect
ed'a1vestryrnasn by the people of any
parish in AmerieafGGj 1yof esl sll-
-tiNYhata picture he1dfaws of the Eu-
ropeaR soVereigns in j789: Z 70 g jls.. 10.
I often aiIrnse myself twithsco tenn
\ plating the characters of .theIi then
reigning sovereigns of Europe. Louis
XVI. was fool, of my own knowledge
and in despite of the answers made for
him at his trial. The King of Spain
/ was "a fool, he nof Naples the same.
They passed their lives in hunting, and
/ despatched two couriers a week one
\ thousand miles to let each other know
what game they had killed the preced-
ing days. The King of Sardinia was a
fool. All these were Bourbons. The
Queen of Portugal, a BrAkanza, was an
/ iiiiOt by nature, and so WAS the King ol
/ Denmark. Their sons, as regentsgexer
eised the powers of government: I The
/ King of Prussia, successor to the great
/ Frederick, was mere hog in body as
welllasin in mind. Gustayus of Sweden
and Joseph ofAustria were really crazy
and George of England you know, was
/ in a straight Waistc0at. There remain.
i ed, them none but old. Catharine,i who
had been too lately picked up to have
lost her common sense. In this state
Bonaparte found Europe, and it was
this state of its. rulers which lost itwitI
4 scarce struggle. E.ss s.....ii,,fg,f
i Reluctant to undertake a public toul
while President, he seems TO have hat
pretty much the notion of Washington
| in that respect, that our people have o
Grant: ,I ssl- [ .
/ l;45Gi WASHINGTON, Jnne ~, 1871.
TO Governor SstlIiUGa: ia .
With respect TO the tour my friends
to the North have proposed that
should make in that quarter, / have no
made up my final opinion. The course
of life which General Washington hac
run, civil and military, the services ht
had rendered, and the space he there
fore occupied in the affections Of hi:
fellow-citizens, take from his examples
the weight of precedents for Others
because no Others can arrogate to them
selves the claims which he had on tn,
public homage.