New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-04-28
WASHINGTON.
A RETROSPECT By Ex-JUDGE NOAH DAVIS
THE CAREER AND CHARACTER OF THE GREAT
vIRGiNIAN - SUGGESTIONS OF THE
COMING CELEBRATION.

| COMING CELEBRATION.
Ex-Judge Noah Davis contributes to the
Centennial number of The sunday Tribune
/ an eloquent and impressive estimate Of Wash
| ington's character Is general. a statesman
and a patriotic citizen WaShingtons career
is sketched in outline and n keen analysis Is
made Of his public and private virtues and his
inestmabIe and unselfish services to the Re-
public. But the Article which follows will
speak for itself as an altogether judicial and
unforced statement Of those, qualities which
make the first President the foremost figure
in American history.
The Inauguration Of the first resident OF the
| United States differs from all its SUCCESSORS N
| that it the final act by which new Gov
| eminent took its place among the States Of the
wOild. Through hundred years 81 sunshine and
storm that Government has kept lis place. The
| people who created it have maintained 1t; and
the centennial recurrence of the day upon which
| they first placed upon M uncrowned head the
soverei gnty and majesty Of their Constitution
| finds that event deed to be celebrated. The
event itself the nest significant fact Of
tho century in which it took place 1t WIS the
! birth of nation, experimental in i,' chief qIall-
| ties, taking its sole right to be and to continue
| from the consent of the governed, and measured
| in all its powers by the written charter winch
they conferred. The divine right of kings
| ignored The divine right OF the people as the
sole legitimate source of the power govern
was alone recognized The great questions Of
mans right opened by sclf-govcrnmcnt were PIT
in the scale Of broad National experiment.
Grand as was the event, an incident of it
| gave higher tone to It's grandeur That Incl
| dent WAS the man in whose Inauguration the
! people saw tine prophecy of success. When WASH
! ington in awc-Strucll tones repeated the solemn
| OATH bent to impress his his, upon IN" Holy
| Book and again raised himself to hi, full stature
the people saw in him the majestic magistrate
who not only represented the vast power Of
their Government, but held their own immcasur-
| able confidence and love- That scene had never
| before had its parallel. The conjunction Of such
! an event and such man, for such IA purpose,
! was unknown in history. 1t was u providence OF
| God
But it is the nan Of which this paper is ~
! speak, rather than the event. His name has
become the synonyme of all that is truly great
and good in man. The enlightened world now
recognizes this truth. His great life sanctioned
| it; and bis death set an eternal seal to that
| sanction But il is for to look AZ him now
as he stood upon that auSpicioUS day, the first
of the Presidents Of America. The events th1t
preceded the Revolution, the Revolution itself
and the events ana failures that followed It, were
all fresh in the popular memory By the uni
vcrsal consent Of America, Washington was then
the accepted Father of his Country Unlike
most popular idols he had earned this homage
by his public deeds, his hcroism, PATRIOTISM and
! his private virtues.
A brief glance at his antecelcnts will Justify
III. in thp az an car
age had marked him as brave and capable
soldier, possessed of elements that might make
him leader of armies. In Virginia and wherever
he was best known, those soldierly t:ais bad
won for him DISTINGUISHED honors, and when the
foremost statesman Of Massachusetts, nominated
him on the floor of the Continental Congress rs
! Commander-in-C thief Of the armies raised and TO
he raised in defence Of the liberties Of America,
every member Of that body, whatever preference
he NAV have had for another, recognized the
wisdom OF the choice. From the moment OF his
acceptance he stood to England and TO the world
outside of the Colonies the foremost OF rebels.
Had the arms of England triumphcd then, or soon
ufter his doom might and probably would nave
been like that Of Wallace, the hero Of Scotland
/ We can now easily see what the long war Of the
Revolution most needed in its chef commander
/ II needed that its leader should be one IN whom
! its majestic elements should DE 50 mixed ana
wrought that all other actors in the drama
could see in him an incarnation of itn principles
and aims. Heroic valor, patient endurance, SELL
devotion, serene judgment in victory and IN
defcat. soldicrly skill and example sublime virtue
and marvellous power Of sclf-control, were all
demanded in that leader. There were many men
in that era whose greatness cannot he dimm"d
bv the lu>trc Of nnothers glory. II is no small
mart Of their lust fame. that with common accord
each of those men took his STAT ~ the feet %
WASHINGTON Some of them lis superiOrs
in clooucncc; some in StateSInHn>hlp: others III
Diplomacy: others in legislation: others in finance;
some were his equals IN courage and IN military
experience and perhaps all IN patFCtNin; bnf III
whom else were these eXccilcnccs mingled in the
lust proportion that the cXigcncics OF the lieNou-
ton demanded?
What an army n was called to lead. The
forces Of The patriots Mt Cambridge, when ne
assumed the command, were destitute of al
things but the resolution OF patriotic courage.
/ Washington soon infused into them the Organilt-
ton and order Of an army. II was Tho lesson OF
Bunker Hill that had kept them from destruction
for the months in which they had not the arms
or ammunition even 10 repeat that lesson. The
terrible scenes and sutfrngS Of the eight years of
the war need not De depicted When Napoleon
srecrcd to Lafayette at the scanty armies Of the
! Revolution, Sire said the gallant Frenchmnn.
| II was the nOblest Of causes won by skirmI>hes
of ontposts and sentinels" The answer was true
OF some periods Of thc struggle, but other occasions
rose 70 the dignity Of battles that have ike" the
d. srinv of the world. The great characteristics
OF the war it has often been sad. we're tho
grandeur Of is Objects the weakness OF the neth,
TO accomplish them. the steady forriiude and the
Iatient long-suierns of III" armies on march. IN
camp. in sickness, nalc,lnesS and famine II hAd
occasional great victories in battle; but oftcner
dcfcnt> and still oftener victorious retreats ms
Glory of Wasling ton is found mostly IN the fact
that through it all he WAS the ey'r-pre>ent head
OF the army, the slHrcr OF It's toil>. cNposUr"s
dancers and sulfcring>. always lending all his