The Morning herald., 1876-02-22
WILMINGTON, FEBRUARY o. 1875.
aroRaE. wAsHIAaroN.

.aod made him childless that Ma
Ion might call him Father" s...g.. |
To-day We celebrate the one hundred
md forty.fourth anniversary Of the birth
pf Washington. 1t is meet that 1t should
" celebrated with Ill the pomp and ecla'
possible; thereby burning into the minds
il every dtisen a rsverendal admir- alton
for the foremost man Of the eighteenth
century. Nay, We may say in the political
order the foremost man in history.
Would to God his example could 20 ope-
rass upon the mind Of the man who nowtlls
the chair that he sat in, as to lead him to
follow the illustrious example Of the first
President Of our Republic; not that We
hsve any hope or idea that Grant, even
BY the closest following Of Washington's
example, could rise to anybody like his
proportions, but such following would be
plenary to save our present chief magls-
trste from the clouds Of suspicion which
ower Ger him.
1t is only upon great occasions, and
when the needs Of a nation demand re-
dress, that such man as Washington is
given to the world to carry out the de-
signs Of beneicent God. In look
ing back through the long past up to
the frontier line, where fact is mixed
up with fable, we can only find few
characters that will bear comparison with
Washington and Of course such must be
sought in the history Of free peoples
Greece has given to the world Pericles
and Aristides, til ir mission lay more
in their ma sha % popular force than
in the, fou d. n of state,or nation;
hence the political stature Of those Gre
clan patriots as measured by the results
fall infinitely sport Of the American
Washington.
lis very true that even if Washington
had never been Providentially given to us
that the American revolution would have
been fought and in all probability fought
to successful conclusion; but the great
danger, indeed, a deadlier one to liberty,
than that beaten down at Yorktown,
lurked in success. In the Supreme mo-
msut of victory the ambition Of the leader
would be more !. sorely tempted,
and We know enough Of the political de-
moralization that largely existed in the
old Continental army to be thankful that
. Washington was the leader. The true
greatness Of Washington lay in his ability
TO draw the line Of demarcation broadly
and clearly between the duties Of the sol
der and the functions Of the politica
Leader. Standing first In the land, hon.
ored by all, his name household word
with power to win aught that he Nigh
eek, he set the example to the world o
laying down the conquering sword ant
taking rank as the simple citizen Of tn
Republic he founded.
Rome, with all its glamour Of grea
names, beginning with Julius Brutus an
ending W. Caesar, has given to the worl
many b. iy mt examples Of patriotic Dc
yotion to Roman interests. But the
were all Of di ifsrent order Of greatnes
70 that Of Washington. Each and a
Of them labored for the mere idea
Roman supremacy and Roman conquest
and had no thought or idea Of foune
ing a Republic where the plebeia
could a,pire to equality with tt
patrieian; hence, although we read
Coriolianus, whose powers saved
ungrateful city, laying down h
sword and taking up the plow, yet b
combat was quite as much in the intere
ofthe Patrieian order as it was in that
the Roman people, If not more.
The Grachi, who so bravely fought, al
who performed such valorous deeds in Il
name and interests Of freedom, and WI
have been apostrophised as the noble
examples Of political virtue in t
by-gone times, were simply great par
leaders, who sought much more diligen'
to tear down the Patrician order than
lift up the people. Perhaps the origin
conceptions Of Cesar in gathering und
one government where all wou
be equal, Roman, Gaul, Celt, a
Asiatic, and all alik' hedged rou
with the sacred privilege Of Roman ci
zsnship, deserves to rank highest in poi
lar favor; but even Cesar, with those ct
csptions and ideas, cannot be compared