Arizona republican., 1893-06-14

Although brave and gallant soldier
 in his younger days, he had never com
 manded any large body of men, or an
 army in the field. The difficulties of | his position at the head of the revolu- | tionary army were formidable and
 immense. He had no organized gov | ernment or nation behind him, but
 only few scattered colonies, sparsely populated, stretching along the At tantic coast from Canada on the north to the Gulf of Mexico on the south. He
 had no army, even, worthy of the
 name; only few thousand patriotic,
 but hastily gathered, poorly equipped,
 undisciplined militia. Without gov ernment, without treasury, without
 money or q military chest; without an
 organized and disciplined army, but
 with only brave and patriotic people.
 fired by oppression into revolt and re-
 volution-with all these tremendous
 difficulties, Washington entered upon
 that momentous struggle with the
 oldest, richest and most powerful gov
 ernment in Europe-a government that
 Y
 ernment with a treasury filled by
 tribute from the untold riches of India
 and the commerce of the world; a gov
 ernment with a standing army of
 veterans, with a navy that had thun-
 dered in power and victory on every
 sea; government which under the
 genius of the elder Pitt had only
 rppnnflu Al
 tnent itself from the power of
 France on the Heights of Quebec
 where Wolfe met that death of glory.
 It was against such a power as this, I say, that this untried revolutionary commander, with such scanty prepara- ton and means. was to contend. What could he do with his raw, undisciplined. unpaid, ragged, barefooted levies against the dogged and disciplined valor of British regulars-the soldiers that could return to the charge for the third time through that murderous fire from the blazing breastworks of Bunker Hill? How was he to meet the successive armies of Howe, of Clinton, of Burgoyne, of Cornwallis, which that proud and ample navy landed upon our devoted shores? It was n herculoau task, and not another man but Wash lngton, in all America. could have per. formed it. Greene could have come nearest to it, but even his rare good Judgment, caution and skill would have fallen short somewhere in the long trial. It is no wonder that the great leader himself should have been re- peatedly defeated; that his little army. though full of courage and patriotism. should have Qua;lcd and rctrcatcd so many times before such foe. With all our patriotic Fourth of July boasts and exultation over the defeat of the Brit ish red coats," let us not forget what soldiers those "red coats" were. Gates would not have conquered at Saratoga II Burgoyne had not been compelled to |. rely upon llessians and Indians. |
 Here and there in the conflict, as at | trenton and Princeton, by his courage and dash, Washington showed himself the great soldier, ready to seize and i'm prove opportunities; but it was not in such deeds as these, or in battle any, where, that his consummate leadership was seen' Beyond his approved cour- age, hls ardent patriotism and rare good Judgment, it was here, as everywhere. py force of his moral greatness. his greatness or character, that Washing con won. In the face of defeat and dis. ! hster' Tn the retreat through the Jcr- 'eys' in that rout on the banks of the