The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1898-02-25

ribly conducted Especially after his return
from Philadelphia then the seat of Congress,
do his letters from Middlebrook ring with
Indignation against the growing 'mon-
trous evis,' as he terms them. To Thomas
Nelson in March. 1910. "Unanimity in our
councils, disinterestedness in pursuits,
steady perseverance in our national duty are
the only means to avoid misfortunes. If they
come upon us after these, we shall have the
consolation of knowing that we have done
our BEST The rest is with the gods" And in
a similar strain he writes to his neighbor,
George Mason. But his warnings and appeals
are not sent to Virginians alone. From
Middlebrook on the last day of March, to
James Warren of Massachusetts, he pours out
complaints of the speculation, the deprecia-
ton of the currency, of stock-j Ibbing and
party dissensions." Let vigorous measures
be adopted. not to limit prices, for this is in
consistent with the very nature of things; but
but to punish spectators, above all to sink
| the money by heavy taxes, to promote public
and private economy. Our cause is the cause
of mankind" That cry is not yet changed
into shout of victory. Washington's battle
for mankind is still unwon.
To Reed then president of Pennsylvania he
sends like letter a week later To John Jay
from Middlebrook in May. 1T is a melan-
cholly consideration that any concerned in
the conduct of public affairs should discover
! q. e. show an indifference to the state of our
| d
| Il never was, much less reason have now to
be. afraid of the enemy's arms, but have
never seen the time when our affairs were
| at so low an ebb' THE hour is come
when party differences and disputes
should subsde, when every man and
especially those in office should with one
hand and one heart, pull the same way and
with all their strength" With general con-
sent the experiences of the winter at Valley
Forge have been termed the most heroic phase
of the war. But the sufferings there were
mostly physical: in the comfort of the mild
winter and lovely spring at Middlebrook,
am not sure but that the test of heart and soul
was greater and the pathos deeper
The next winter at Morristown was for a
time trying. The army was on the point of
dissolution for want of provisions. ''the most
distressing in that respect since the begin
ming of the war. But Washington testifies
that the exertions of the people of New Jersey
were great and cheerful" They more than
met the acquisitions, he said. and kept the
army together" In the ensuing campain he
| expresses his expresses his admiration for the
zeal ahd conduct of the Jersey militia. Our
State had learned it's lesson through four
years of hard experience. and was fitted to re-
ceive its degree ia the school of patriotism
Washington, too, has been in training He
gives evidence of clearer views of the necessity
and method of reform in the government.
| 1880, to his intimate friend Joseph Jones OF
| Virginia, he confesses his conviction of the
necessity that the States vest in Congress COM
petent powers. This conviction. he says, is
the result of ''long thinking close
application and strict observation he would
have congress the supreme Controlling
Power" yet he sees no less clearly the equal
necessity that the strengthened union must
have a truly federal character. Six weeks
later from Bergen County he writes THE
States should vest Congress with absolute
power in all matters relative to the great pur-
poses of war and of general concern by which
the states are unitedly affected, reserving to
themselves all matters of local and internal
polity for the regulation of order and good
government. The words are a great advance
on the Articles of Confederation then await
| ing ratification and they are the earliest words
of equal significance.
Including two short stays in New Jersey in
the summer and fall of this same year Wash.
| ington spent more than half of the four years
succeeding the Declaration of Independence in
our State. He came again in August 1888,
| after peace had been declared, summoned by
| Congress to Princeton, where it then sat. The
! Presiding officer, Elias Boudnot. of New Jer-
sey, offered the congratulations of Congress
on the peace secured and in the same breath
| asked of Washington his aid in devi,ing plans
| for the future. The next two months he spent
at Rocky Hill. The last among his published
writings which were written in New Jersey.
was his Farewell Orders to the Armies of
the United States,f in which he left as his
last injunction that every officer and every
soldier add his best endeavor to support the
! principles of the Federal Government.
| to increase the powers of the Union
and the honor. dignity and justice of the ma
! ton. May not take pride in the words and
work of Washington in New Jersey? Gap
! plause)
! And vet the work done in New Jersey was
an unfinished work, in him and by him and in
! and by his country. Thus viewed it is repre-
| sentative; it is an epitome of our country's
| history from its founding TO to-day Do l
force parallel in comparing the course of the
/ Revolution up to the first passing into New
/ Jersey with the nations history up to the be
| ginning of the Retreat of the American people
| before the slavery power? Trenton may stand
! for the Civil War; Princeton, for the last
| amendments to the Constitution securing free
! dom and equality of civil rights; Monmouth
| for the great deeds since; for the composing of
sectional differences, for the preservation of
| good faith by the resumption of specie pay
ments and otherwise, for the progress in the
reform of the civil service aud in education
/ and in charity-for the manifold good which
! our generation has wrought. But Monmouth
was not completed victory and there are yet
armies of the aliens to be put to flight; there
are still unsettled questions the place of labor
! in the modern industrial structures; of city COY
! eminent in a self-ruling republic; of party or
! ganization. so necessary. but so fraught with
danger when led by craft or self-seeking: of diff
ferences of race; of an extra continental pol
| icy of the wise use of individual and national
/ prosperity; of the perfecting of simple
money system to meet complex needs; of the
| yoking of erudeness and culture, and of rich
and poor.
| On the It'll of August. 1888, congress voted to
erect a statue TO Washington. On the base of
the pedestal were to be represented the chief
events where Washington commanded in per-
son. The evacuation of Boston; The capture
of the Hessians at Trenton; The battle of
| Princeton; The action at Monmouth and The
surrender at York; three of the five. New Jer-
sey events The statue has never been erect
ed In this respect it is typical He did his
full part in the battle for mankind, but his
work is greater because it is part of that un-
won battle
The other day competent critic said Of Will
liam the Silent that The was no great gener-
ALL but adds that Ibis life of failures is the
very foundation of permanent victory and
l&I,o