Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-07-02
#tisteItamsolls geading.
FREDERICK AND WASHINGTON.
why the Statue offered by William
Mixht be Accepted.

from a monarchy and set up In Its ma :
tional capital a statue Of king; 1t may
be urged in this instance, where the
king is Frederick the Great Of Prussia,
that he did nothing for this country,
and 1t may be urged also that Louis
XVI, Of France, did, and that we have
some reason then for setting up mis-
statue; but when all these arguments
are threshed over, proven to the satis-
faction of those who offer them. and
apparently settled, the real reason why
bronze of Frederick the Great should
prove acceptable Is the great adm1ra-
ton Frederick and Washington ha'
for each other.
That Frederick's bust occupied a
place of honor in Washington's home Is
unuuestioned. This was not given TO
our immortal president and general;
was not placed in his hands In such
way that courtesy would prompt pay
ing It some honor. It was ordered by
him personally, paid for and placed IN
its niche of esteem in 1773, long before
Frederick the Great had ever dreamed
that there was such a soldier on the
face of this globe as Washington, the
colonial, who thus testified at consid-
erable financial cost to himself the high
regard in which he held the Prussian
monarch. Six great generals and mon
archs were Washington's especial he
roes. all six Of them he honored by
placing their busts in his home; Fred
erick was the only one who was con-
temporary with him, and to Frederick
bust was accorded the particular place
of honor above them all, the place IN
the drawing room, the most pubic
place in the house, where 1t could
scarcely fail to fall within the range or
vision of all those who entered. so
high was Washington's regard for
Frederick that the bust went with him
wherever he went, to each Of his sew
eral homes; from Mount Vernon to
New York, to Philadelphia, and back
again to Mount Vernon, where 1t was
when he died.
Turning to Frederick's side Of this,
what do we find? Many open and
ayowed acts of friendship and all that
sort of thing? No; but we do find IN
those dark days of 1777 he declared that
Washington's campaign in New Jer-
sew from December rs. 1776, to Janua-
ry 4, 1777, was the most brilliant ever
conducted in the worlds history. NOT
many in this country and few In Eu-
rope would have made that assertion
or would have believed 1t. Why should
our hearts not warm little, therefore
to the old king who could see our first
great citizen as we see him. as the
world now sees him. and frankly state
what he thought at the time?
Concerning the stories Of his gift of
sword to Washington. Of the gift OF
portrait and Of the correspondence
carried on between them, 1t must be
admitted that there is so much haze
around them 1t Is hard to unravel facts.
Tradition has 1t that Frederick sent
beautiful sword to Washington with
the Inscription craven upon 1t. From
the oldest general to the greatest" The
New York state library authorities
own a sword Of Washington's. the
sword he wore most frequently when
in New York city, a plain sword with
hilt and chain Of polished steel. orna-
mented with steel beads, and the claim
has been made that this was the sword
given by Frederick, but the claim was
manifestly absurd on its face. The
sword Is too plain for a gift: 1t Is al
most cheap, and is devoid of any in
scription at all, when in nearly every
instance such things are always placed
on gift swords. M. D. Conway. who at
tempted to explode the sword story IN
an elaborate treatise in the Century
ten years ago, accepted this claim and
built all his arguments around this
sword. But it appears perfectly clear
that If Frederick ever gave sword to
Washington 1t was the one selected by
Bushrod Washington from his uncle's
collection after his death.
This sword Is now at Mount Vernon,
and when it was in good condition 1t
was certainly a fairly good gift for
monarch to make. It's hilt was Of sill
yer, handsomely chased; its scabbard
of fine black leather, mounted with
gold, and the blade Of the best temper
ed steel, had on one side the inscription
in gold inlaid letters "Recti Fac Etice'
(do what Is right, and on the other
"Neminem Timeas'' (fear no man,
All the traditions of the Frederick
sword cluster around this sword. Next
to his service sword this was the one
Washington appeared to value the
most. He wore it nearly always on
formal occasions during his incumben-
cy Of the presidential chair. Appar-
emily none knew how it came into
Washingtons possession. 1t does not
figure among his properties until af-
ter 1880, the year in which the legend
has it the gift was made.
| At Bushrod Washington's death the
sword passed to his brother. George
Corbin Washington, from whom 1t de-
scended to his son, Colonel Lewis Will
liam Washington, in 1854. Colonel
Washingtons home was at Bel Air,
Halltown, Harpers Ferry, and at the
time of John Browns raid that worthy
conceived the idea of securing the
sword to use in his undertaking, and
1t is significant that he wanted it be-
cause 1T was the sword given to
Washington by Frederick the Great
He purloined the sword, but 1t was
recovered later. During the civil war
+ba nracious reIic WAS Dlaced in the