The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-14

what WOulu ne 90 IL tHey were not
shined to suit him?" asked Wise.
He damned me over de head wild EN-
all through de hail." was the reply.
Yet Washington's negroes were devoted
to him. Far in advance of his time in
sagacity and morality he grew before the
end of his life to hate the whole system
OF slavery. In one of his letters we find
him applauding Lafayette's plan of eman-
cipation, and in another declaring that was
he not principled against selling negroes,
as one would cattle at market. he would
not In a year from date be possessed or
one, as a slave, He never exported but
one slave, and by his will freed every one
that belonged to him. providing at the
time for the helpless.
When Washington once told John Mar
shall that he had been making personal
sacrifices for the public all his life he
but spoke the truth. After the revolu-
ton regarding the establishment of easier
commercial connection between the East
and the West of the first Importance, he
laid out a line of communication through
the valley of the Potomac to Ohio, along
which the Chesapeake and Ohio canal and
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad have
since been constructed. For his services
in surveying this line the state of Vir-
ginia offered him stock in the company
he formed, the cash value of which
amounted to $4,000, but he declined TO ac-
cept it unless he should be permitted to
give it to an educational institution This
was az time, too, when his estate mad
suffered greatly in consequence of his
eight years absence in the army, during
the entire period of which he only visited
Mount Vernon once, and remained but a
few hours
a little earlier he had refused to accept
pay for his military services, keeping an
account of his personal expenditures with
the accuracy of a bank cashier vet de-
Ginning to accept a cent from Congress be-
yond 1T, though he was often pressed for
money and had to borrow 50 500 when he
was elected President to discharge certain
small obligations and pay his expenses
to New York. More than that, 1t is well
known that while the army was at Valley
Forge, Washington loaned to the govern
ment $4,000 In gold, not a penny of which
was ever returned to him. 1t is true
that James Madison, in 1872, did propose
to the General to introduce a bill in Con-
gresS looking to the return of this money
But Gen Washington received me so
haughtily," said Madison, when 1 called
upon him to learn his wishes in regard
20 the matter that thereafter 1 forbore.'
Nor were these sacrifices made by a man
of large means. Washington's wife was
rich, but not the General and there was
never year after his retirement from
public life that he did not have to en-
croach upon his private fortune to make
both ends meet. When he died, in 1899 he
was worth less than $4,000 in his own
right. Had he lived ten years longer he
must have been bankrupt Washington
literally wrecked his own fortunes to build
those Of the republic.
Washingtons whole life affords consol-
ing proof of the power that there is in
absolutely integrity. II do not recollect."
we find him writing at the end of forty
years, fun of business, II do not recollect
that in the course Of my life | ever for
feited my word, or broke a promise made
to any one" His too. was thai spirit of
perfect justice, and there is no scene I'm
equity which is the nearest approach to
romance more powerful or more affecting
than Tobias Lear's account Of Washing
ton, then President, receiving the awful
news, in the midst of a dinner party, of
the surprise and massacre of st. Glars
troops by the Ohio Indians; how ne re-
turned to the table with unchanged coun-
tenance; after dinner calmly going
through all the ceremonious proceedings
of Mrs Washington's reception, preserv-
ing his usual serenity and urbanity of de-
meanor, until he found himself alone with
his secretary.
Then. and not till then, he uttered a cry
of mingled grief and indignation: IT'S all
over. st. Clair's defeated-routed. The
officers nearly all killed: the men by
wholesale-the rout complete Too shock
ing to think of, and surprise in the bar
gain His anger grew as he recalled the
parting scene: Here on this very spot
/ took leave Of him. / wished him success
and honor. You have your Instructions
l said, from the Secretary of War; | had
a strict eye to them. and viii adj but one
word-beware OF n surprise | repeat It,
beware of a surprise. You know how the
Indians fight " He heaped impreca tons
upon the unfortunate general: "Oh, Cod
Oh, God He's worse than a murderer.
How can he answer 1t TO his country"
But the storm subsidized ere long. The man
had spoken and the commander in-chief
resumed Gen. st. Clair shall have jus
tice have looked hastily through the
dispatches. saw all the disaster. but not all
the particulars; I will receive him without
dspleasure; viii hear him without preju-
dice; he shall have full Justice"
Washington was not a genius in the
common acceptation Of that much-abused
term. He belonged. instead, to that lit
tie group of men. a group including In
coin and william the Silent, each Of whom
possessed a balance Of powers so serenely
perfect as to constitute genius of perhaps
the highest order. Greene and Wayre
may have been more skillful generals tha1
Washington; Morris and Hamilton better
flnanciers; Madison, Jay and Wilson his
superiors In statecraft, and jefferson en-
bowed with more profound and subtle in
telect; but not one Of these able ana pa
triotic men was his equal In dignity. stead
fastness, patience breadth and wisdom
Calm, grave, self-content. this silent dosr
OF deeds. master Of himself as he was OF
each new emergency, went IN ANA out
among his fellows-the greatest OF them
all Washington was the gfardest figure
Of the revolutionary period; his name is