The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1907-02-21
GEORGE WASHINGTON.

On February %, 1732-one hundred and
seventy-five years ago to-morrow-on
Pope's Creek, in Westmoreland County.
Virginia. almost in sight of the Potomac,
and about thirty miles from Chesapeake
Bay, George Washington was born, and it
was at the historic and much-loved Mount
Vernon that he passed away, December IA,
1799 The achievements bound in those
sixty seven years of Washington's life are
recorded in every history of the United
States. The record of Washington's ca
reer is, indeed, the history of early Amer
ica
No party can claim Washington; no
section monopolize his glory. He was the
'"Father OF his Country and of no Sec
ton thereof Nor do the boundaries of
this or any land circumscribe his fame.
The speaking people take pride in
him because he was of their blood and
lineage, and in every land where patriotism
and things that are true and honest and
just and pure and of good report are held
in esteem among men the name of Wash
ington is honored and revered.
We are apt to look upon Washington not
as man of flesh and blood, but as great
figure in history which we can look up to
and admire, but too high up for US to hope
to initiate This is not as it should be. He
was a man Of like passions with ourselves.
In fact, he was man of strong passion and
quick temper, but it is his chief honor that
he governed himself. In every pathway of
life in which he walked he is pattern and
model for Americans. In every public and
private relation he did his duty. AS boy he
was dutiful; as young man he was reve-
rent and active and Industrious; las soldier
he was brave and faithful; as farmer he
did all he could by intelligent investigation
to advance the interests of his calling; as a
statesman he was wise and prudent, and as
apatriot he stands pre-eminent among men.
sit was always known by his friends, .
says an English historian, ''.and it was
soon acknowledged by the whole nation
and by the English themselves, that in
Washington America had found a leader
who could be induced by no earthly motive
to tell falsehood, or to break an engage
ment, or to commit any dishonorable act.
Men of this moral type are happily not
rare. and we have all met them in our ex-
perience, but there is scarcely another
instance in history of such man having
reached and maintained the highest posi-
ton in the commissions of civil war and of
great popular agitation. Itmay be truly
said of him." says the same writer, that
many successive campaigns, and before
the end of the struggle he had outlived all
rivalry and almost all envy"
When we consider the disadvantages
under which Washington labored his final
success seems almost miraculous and es-
tablishes his fame as one of the great mill
tary commanders of the world. His army
was ragged undisciplined and often starv-
ing, and it was pitted against the thoroughly
equipped veterans of Europe. Behind
him was no government and no united
people. The Congress was but debating
society, with no power to raise one dollar
by taxation for the support of the army.
Its powers for mischief were more consid-
cradle and these were often occupied in
lntflgues to compass the ruin of the COM
manderin chief. The State governments
were largely occupied in plans for evading
the responsibilities they had assumed. All
these things in the rear gave Washington
more trouble than the enemy in front. But
he triumphed over all and finally succeeded
where it is more than probable any other
man would have failed.
Washington possessed no spark of elo-
quence nor any of those qualities which
ordinarily make men conspicuous in DELHI |
erative and legislative assemblies. And vet
in his Colonial Assembly and in the Cont
mental Congress, and later on in the Consti-
tutional Convention, his influence was al /
most supreme. IF you speak of solid infor-
nation or sound judgment" said Patrick
Henry, Colonel Washington is unques-
honably the greatest man in the Congress"
And that Congress contained many great
men. His strongest characteristics were
his conservatism, his earnestness and his
patriotism. His love of country was in
tense, and it is shown in almost every
public utterance. All his ends were his
countryss. He had borne King Georges
commission. and his reluctance to take
arms against the mother country was as
great as Robert E. Lees to fight the gov