Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-03-18
of great, free people who does not adop,
his principles and emulate his example.

his principles and emulate his example.
!; Drawing his sword from patriotic i'm.
pulse, without ambition and without malice,
he welded it without vindicativeness and
sheathed it without reproach. All that hu-
manity could conceive, he did to suppress
the cruelties of war, and soothe its SORROWS.
He never struck coward's blow. To him
age, infancy, and helplessress were ever
sacred. He tolerated no extremity unless
to curb the excesses of his enemy. and he
never poisoned the sting of defeat by the
exuitatios of the conqueror.
| Peace he welcomed as the heaven sen I
herald of Friendship; and no country has
given him greater honor than that which
he defeated, for England has been glad t.
claim him as the scion of her blood; proud,
like our sister American States, to divide
with Virginia the honor of producing him.
Fascinated by the perfection of the man
we are loath to break the mirror of admira-
tion into the fragments of analysis. But.
10! as we attempt it, every fragment be-
comes the miniature of such sublimity and
beauty, that the destructive hand can only
multiply the forms of Immortality.
Grand and manifold as were its phases,
there is yet no difficulty in under tauding
the character of Washington. He was no
Yelled Prophet. He never acted part
Simple, natural and unaffected, his life lies
before us-a fair and open manuscript. H.
disdained the arts which wrap power in
mystery in order to magnify it. He prac
tlced the profound diplomacy of truthful
speech-the consummate tact of direct at
tention. Looking ever to the All Wise Dis
poser of events, he relied on that Providenc.
which helps men by giving them high hearts
and hopes to help themselves with the meant
which their Creator has put at their service.
There was no infirmity in his conduct over
which Charity must fling its veil; tain
of selfishness from which Purity averts her
gaze; no dark recess of intrigue that must
be lit up with colored panegyric; no subter
ranean passage to be trod in trembling les
there be stirred the ghost of buried crime
A true son of nature was George Wash
ington-of nature in her brightest ntelli
gence and noblest mould; and difficulty, il
such there be in comprehending him, is only
that of reviewing from single standpoint
the vast procession of those civil and mill
tary achievements which filled nearly half
a-century of his life, and in realizing the
magnitude of those qualities which were re-
quisite to their performance-the difficult,
of fashioning in our minds a pedestal broad
enough to bear the towering figure, who's,
greatness is diminished by nothing but th,
perfection of its proportions. If the ex
terior-in calm, grave and resolute repos'
ever impressed the casual observer as
austere and cold, it was only because be
did not reflect that no great heart like hi
could have lived unbroken unless bound by
iron nerves in an iron frame. The Com
mander of Armies, the Chief of People, the
Hope of Nations, could not wear his hear
upon his sleeve; and yet his sternest viii
could not conceal its high and warm pulsa
ti,ns. Under the enemy guns al Boston
h did not forget to instruct his agent T.
administer generously of charity TO his
needy neighbors at home. The suffering
of women and children, thrown aarift b.
war, and of his bleeding comrades, pierced
his soul. And the moist eye and trembling
voice with which be babe farewell 10 hi,
veterans, bespoke the undefiyiag tenderness
of bis nature, even as the stprm-win makes
music in it's uudertones.
Disinterested Patriot, he would receive
no pay for his military services. Refusing
gifts, he was glad to guide the benefaction
of grateful State to educate the childrel
of his fallen braves in the institution al
Lexington, which yet bears his name.
Without any of the blemishes that mark
the tyrant, he appealed so loftily to the vir-
tuous element in man, that he almost crea-
ted the qualities of which his country need
ed the exercise; and yet he was so mag
unanimous and forbearing to the weaknesses
of others, that he often obliterated the vice
of which he feared the consequence. But
his virtue was more than this. 1t was of
that daring, intrepid kind, that, seizing
principle with giants grasp, assumes re
sponsibility at any hazard, suffers sacrifice
without pretense to martyrdom, bears cal
umny without reply, imposes superior W Il
and understanding on all around it, capitu-
lates to no unworthy trump, but must
carry all things at the point of clear and
blameless conscience.
Invested with the powers of Dictator,
the country bestowing them felt no distrus'
of his integrity; he, receiving them. gave
assurance that, as the sword was the last
resort to Liberty. SO it should be the first
thing laid aside when Liberty was won.-
And keeping the faith in all things, he left
mankind bewildered whether to admire him
most for what he was, or wnat he would
not be Over and above all his virtues was
the matchless manhood of personal honor,
to which Confidence gave in safety the key
of every treasure, on which Temptation
dared not smile; on which Suspicion never
cast fIown. And why prolong the cata-
que? If you are presented with medals OF
Caesar, of Trajan, or Alexander, on exam
ining their features ou are still led to ask,
what was their stature ard the forms OF
their persons but if 20" discover in heap
of ruins the head or the limb of an antique
Apollo, be not anxious about the other
parts, but rest ASSURED that they were all
conformable to those of a god.
LONG LIVE OUR COUNTRY.
Encompassed by the inviolate seas stands
to-day the American Republic which he
fou lded "a free Greater Britain-uplifted
above the powers and principalities of the
earth, even as his monument is uplifted
over roof and dome and spire of the mutt
tudinous city.
Long live the Republic Of Washington
f Respected by mankind, beloved of all its
sons. long may it he the asylum of the poor
and oppressed of all lands and religions