Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-02-23
Z yIRGINIAN'S TEIRrTE TO UISH-
INsTpN.
Extract Som the Monumental Grafton Of uon.
John W. DANIEL

Extract HoM the Monumental Grafton ot Hon
John W. Daniel.
No sum could now I've made of Wa~hington's
character that did not exhaust language of
its tributes, sud repeat virtue by all her
names, No sum could I've made Of his
achievements that did not unfold the history
of his country and its institulionS-,ho his
tory of his age and its rrogrc>s--thc history
of man aud his destiny to hc free. But
whether character or achievement he re-
gardcd, the riches before us only expose the
poverty of praise. So clear was he in his
office that no ideal of the leader or ruler can
be formed that does not shrink 10y the side
of the reality. And so has he impressed
himself upon the minds ofmCn that no man
can justly aspire to be the chief of great
free people who does not adopt his principles
and emulates his example. Drawing his sword
from patriotic impulse, without ambition
and without malice, he welded it without
vindctivcnc>s and shCathCd il without re-
preach. All that humanity could conceive
he did to suppress the CruClliCS of war and
soothe its SORROWS. lie never struck a
towards blow To him age, infancy and
helplesSneSS were ever sacred. He tolerated
no extremity unless to curb the eNCCSseS of
| his enemy, and he never poisoned the sting
| of defeat by the eNultation OF the cOnqucror.
Peace he welcome aS the hCdvCn.Sent herald
| of friendship; and no country has given him
greater honor than that which he defeated
| for England has been glad to claim him as
| the scion of her blood proud, like our
| sister American states, to divide with Virginia
the honor of producing him.
| Fascinated 10y the perfection of the man,
| We are 10th to break the mirror of admiration
| into the fragments of analysis But, 10! as
| we attempt 1t, every fragment becomes the
| miniature of such subimity and beauty that
the destructive hand can only multiply the
| forms of immortality. Grand and manitold
| as were its phases, there j. no difficulty in
| understanding the character of Washington.
| He was no veiled prophet. lie never acted a
| part. Simple, natural ana unaffected, his
| life lies before uS-a fair and open manuscript.
| He disdained the arts which wrap power III
| mystery in order to magnify it. He practiced
| the profound diplomacy OF truthful speech
| the consummate tact OF direct attention.
| Looking ever to the All-Wise DiSpoSer OF
| events he relied on that providence which
| helps men, by giving them high hearts and
| hopes, to help themselves with the means
| which their creator has put at their service.
| There was no intirmity in this conduct over
| which charity must fling its veil; no tant OF
! seltishness from which purity averts her
gaze no dark recess of intrigue that must bC
htup with culOrcd paneg ric; no subter'
ranean passage to be trOd in trembling lest
there be stirred the ghost OF a buried crime
| Brilliant will not call him, If the bright
ness o. the ripping river exceed the solemn
glory of old ocean. Brilliant / Will not cal
|
to display the light for he had none Of tina
rocket-like brilliancy which flames in iustan
coruscation across the black brow of night
and then is not. But Of steady, untlicNernG
flame, slow rising to its lofty sphere, higl
hung in the heavens of contemplation, dis
pensing far and wide its rays, revealing al
things on which it shines in due proportions
and in large relations, making right, duty
and destiny 50 plain that IN the vision we a.,
scarce conscious of the light--f this he bril-
| liancy-then the genius OF Washington Wa
as tull-orbed and luminous as the god OF tia,
| in his zenith.
Atlast was the crowming work Of Wash
ington accomplished. out of the tcnIrc>ts L
war, and the tumultS Of civil COmmotion
the ages bore their fruit, the long yearning G
humanity was answered. "ROme To Amer
ica'' is the eloquent inscription on one stOn
of your colossal shait-rather from the an
} cient temple OF peace that once stood hard b.
} the palace Of the Caesars. lprisen from tn
} sea Of revolution, fabricated from the ruin
of battered bastiles, and dismantIcd palace
} of unhalloved power, stand forth now, tn
republic Of republics the nation of nations
the constitution of constitutions. to which al
lands and times and tongues contributed {
: their wisdom.