The herald., 1898-02-23

Doctor. of Laws conferred upon him Il
17SS-an honor doubtless the more ap
Ipreciated when he recalled the event
which gave him closer peculiar attach
ment to the city of Philadelphia.
No wonder that your great universit.
has made the 22d of February its mos
n impressive ceremonial and devoted it
annual exercises to special tributes t.
the memory of the first President of tn,
United States and the patriotic themes
which cluster thickly about his life ant
work. 1 rejoice with you in the day
rejoice also that throughout this broad
land the birthday of the patriotic leader
is faithfully observed and celebrated
with an enthusiasm and earnestness
which testify to the virtue and gratitude
of the American people. 1t would not
be possible in the comparatively short
time to which these exercises must to-
day be limited to follow Washington in
his long and distinguished services al
the head of the army and as Chief Ex-
ecutive of the government. My purpose
is simply to call to your attention few
points in Washington's career which
have singularly impressed me and re-
fer to some passages in his writings that
seem peculiarly appropriate for the
guidance of the people, who, under our
form of government, have in their keep
ing the we'll being of the country.
| In its entirety Washington's public
| life is as familiar to the American stu
dent as the history of the United States.
They are associated in holy and indis-
soluble bonds. The one is incomplete
without the other. Washington's char
acter and achievements have been part
of the school books of the nation for
more than a century and have moved
American youth and American man
hood to aspire to the highest ideals of
responsible citizenship. With enduring
fame as a great soldier, the world has
recognized his equal accomplishments
in the paths of craftsmanship. AS a
soldier he was peerless in the time in
which he lived and as a statesman his
rank is fixed with the most illustrious in
any country or in any age.
GEORGES GENIUS
With all our pride in Washington we
for his marvellous genius as construc-
tive statesman. We are constantly in
danger of losing sight of the sweep and
CledlIl6SS VI iiS IOiLpi NHiIL
accurately grasped the problems of the
remote future and knew how to formu-
late the best means for their solution.
1t was committed to Washington to
launch our ship of state. He had neither
precedent nor predecessor TO help him;
he welded the scattered and at times
antagonistic colonies into an inde-
structible union and inculcated the les
60
ternity which have cemented the States
into still closer bonds of interest and
sympathy.
From the hour when Washington de-
clared in his Virginia home that he
would raise a thousand men and equip
them at his own expense to march to
the defense of Boston, he became the
masterful spirit of the Continental army
and the mightiest single factor in the
constant struggle for liberty and indie
pendencc. Apparently without personal
ambition, spurning royal honors when
they were suggested to him, he fulfilled
still more glorious destiny as the
guiding force of a civilization freer and
mighter than the history of man had
ever known.
Though Washingtons exalted charac-
ter and the most striking acts of his
brilliant record are too familiar to be
recounted here, where so many times
they have received eloquent and de-
served eulogy, yet often as the story is
retold it engages our love and admira-
ton and interest. We love to recall his
noble unselfishness, his heroic purposes,
the powers of his magnificent PERSONAL
ity, his glorious achievements for man
kind and his stalwart and unf1inching
devotion to independence, liberty and
union. Those cannot be too often told
or be too familiarly known. A slave
holder himself, he yet hated slavery and
provided in his will for the emancipation
of his slaves.
Not college graduate, he was al
ways enthusiastically the friend of lib
eral education. He used on every suit
able occasion to impress upon Congress
and the country the Importance of a
high standard of general education and
characterized the diffusion of knowledge
as the most essential element of strength
in the system of free government. That
learning should go with liberty, and
that liberty is never endangered so long
as it is in the keeping of intelligent
citizens, was the ideal civic code which
his frequent utterances never failed to
enforce.
And how reverent always was this
great man, how prompt and generous
his recognition of the guiding hand of
divine providence in establishing and
controlling the destinies of the colonies
and the republic! Again and again-in
his talks. in his letters, in his state pa
pers and formal addresses-he reveals
this side of his character, the force of
which we still feel, and trust we always
will.
At the very height of his success and
reward as he emerged from the revolu-
tion, receiving by unanimous acclaim the
plaudits of the people and commanding
the respect and admiration of the civil
lied world, he did not forget that his
first official act as President should be
fervent supplication to the Almighty
Being who ruled the universe. 1t is He
who presdes in the councils of nations
and whose providential aid car supply
every human defect. 1t is His benedic-
ton which we most want and which can
and will consecrate the liberties and
happiness of the people of the United
States. With His help the instruments
of the citizens employed to carry out
their purposes will succeed in the func-
tions allotted to public life.
NON N-SECTARIANISM
But Washington on this occasion went
further and spoke for the people, assum-
ing that he but voiced the sentiment of
the young nation in thus placing faith