The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-04-18
WASHINGTON; rRENcHMAN
And, Incidentally, the story OF How
France Established Independence.

Paris Letter in the Sun.
French history is so replete with IL
lustrious names that 1t is not often that
Frenchman finds time or inclination
to consider the great men of other
countries; when he does, of course, he
is for that reason all the more worthy
Of attention The Petit Parisien, a
newspaper OF very large circulation, has
stepped aside in these whirling times
for France to make n few remarks,
critically appreciative.on George Wash
iugtun The Petit Parisien has always
prided itself on its foreign intelligence
and on the historical accuracy Of its
editorial remarks; and it is some proof
of the careful touch it keeps on foreign
| affairs that it remembered its duty for
| Feb. 90. The opening paragraph of its
Washington editorial was as follows:
1T Is a great anniversary-Geor
Washington having died on Feb. %
that the United States will celebrate
| today and that the American Univer-
| sity society of Paris will recall this
e\ euiug by banquet. They could not
| honor n memory more worthy. The
| American people in picturing him, see
| themselves; as he was. so are they.
| In him, as in them. megalomania got
| i'm it's work But the Yankees, in their
| ever growing greatness have become
| accustomed to being daunted at moth
| ing; they wish to reign alone, by the
| sole law of 'jingoism,' upon the CONT
| nent bathed by the Atlantic and the
| Pacific. Washington did not look so
far
| After some further remarks on Amer
lean pretensions Of the customary
French character, the editorial went
on.
| ''WaShington was certainly not n
great man. | am often Gstonished to
see him compared with men Of genius.
| With whom, indeed, has he not been
| placed in comparison? Some have
ranked him with Caesar, some with
| Charlemagne, some even with Napo-
| leon He resembles none of them in any
respect. He was not a man of trans
cendent genius such as they
when he came into the world there
was nothing in the circumstances TO
foretell the role he would play. HIS
father was farmer. He received
hardly an ordinary eduCation-merely
the rudimentary reading, writing ana
figuring; no Latin, no Greek, no SCI
ences. He spoke but one language
his own. Later. at the instance of Lord
Fairfax, he learned land surveying.
Srch was the Intellectual equipment
of the man who founded the great re-
public.
But he had brave heart and strong
common sense, together with a tenacltN
of purpose that nothing could swerNe'
one perceived those sterling qualities
quickly enough in the course of events
brought about by the tyrannical Brit
ish domination in the young colonies.
The article then went on to trace
Washington's career through the ReNo-
utionarV war, with some details Wmch
might strike American historians as
neCuliar He did not fight the English;
he only worried them. He was brave
enough. but in no sense a captain
although he had good military bear
ing and excited Lafayettc's admiration
by the way he rode horse. Thel
came this recital of history:
After having had an army Of 30,OO'
men, Washington finally found himself
with a bare 1000, and was obliged tC
take refuge beyond the Delaware. Will
this pitiful handful at his back matters
indeed looked dark; they We're all des
tined to perish if some unexpected aiC
failed to come from the outside. Th'
new states We're quarreling among
themselves: the spirit of discord over
whelmcd them. All seemed hopeless
disaster was not only imminent, bu
sure.
AT this moment France heard thu
cry of a people lighting for their lib
erty. She promptly sent to their ait
some of her best soldiers, commanded
by Rochambeau, and two fleets of war
: ships. In consequence CORVALLIS, be
; sieged at Yorktown, was forced to sur
: render"
A little further on the article pu
: forth the pretensions of France NOR
: | clearly:
Presently a cloud menaced the new
born republic. France, which had es
; tablished it by the force of her arms
now turned against her own creation
In this unexpected peril the American
people besought Washington to saw
them. But death spared him the sa
necessity of antagonizing the generou
: nation which had emancipated hi
country. A chill carried him off at tn
very beginning of hostilities, and Bona
parte, First Consul, was the first t
glorify his memory
AS the Petit Parisen is COncernin