The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1912-02-22
THE WASHINGTON
WHO NEVER FAILED

quest MADE Dy congress-, WHICH you
have had the goodness to transmit to
me: and in doing this. I need not, I
cannot, say what a sacrifice to indi-
vidual feeling l make to a sense of
public duty"
But it is only by a careful study Of
Washington's less important CORES
pondence that an insight is gained into
his faculty for careful thought and ex-
preston. However insignificant the
epistle, there seems as much care In
its expression as IL 1t We're a document
Of state.
When reading the first presidents
letters, 1t seems strange that his cor
respondence should never have excited
more attention or study. By COMPARE
son, they are almost unknown, when
one considers, for example, how much
attention and controversy has been di-
rectad Of late years to lives and writ
tings OF Hamilton and Burr.
Very strange 1t L., indeed, that the
correspondence Of 30 commanding a
character as Washington should be SO
little known to the 90 and more mill
ions of people who owe their liberty and
prosperity to him. And to the fact that
his letters are SO little read may be at
tributed the further fact that his fame
Is that of q successful general rather
than Of q broad, constructive genius,
whose ~all-seeing craftsmanship guided
= nov HosAoh' u As o"h AiohAAs' ~
greatness.
Also. 1t 10 probable that no man who
wrote as much as he did put 80 little
on paper that Is open to criticism.
Read q dozen or more volumes Of his
correspondence, az compiled by Sparks,
and YOU will find not n epistle which
does not bear tribute to his love of
freedom, his wisdom and his kindness
Of heart. All Of them show why he
never failed In anything Of consequence
he undertook. without exception, they
bear witness to the thought. the careful
consideration, the sound judgment OF
the writer. .
with these qualities dominant. there
II lacking. " q matter OF course, the
bias, the egotism, the p~roneness to give
way to the passions, that have caused
20 many able men to fall.
A. q Soldier.
Take him. for instance, as q soldier,
His earlier letters show that he realized
fully the difficulties OF the tasks ahead
Of him. First Of all. his breadth OF
vision prevented his army from being
Of the various colonies that the troops
they raised should be devoted to their
own defense.
Again, when he was recruiting his
forces, he was dismayed by the fact
that not all the people were animated
by motives as high as his. To his sec
rotary, Joseph Reed, one Of the closest
Of his friends, he wrote:
"Such dearth Of public spirit, and
such want Of virtue, such stock job
bling, and fertility in all the low arts
to obtain advantage Of one kind or an
other in this great change of military
arrangement. l never saw before, and
pray Gods mercy I may never SCI
again. What will be the end OF these
!, maneuvers Is beyond my a trem.
BILE at the prospect. Could
have foreseen what I have experienced
and am likely to experience, no consid'
Grafton upon earth should have induced
me to accept his command"
r His letters during the winter at Val
ley Forge are models Of their kind. Blu
nothing he wrote, during his period o
command, bears higher tribut to hi!
) character as a nan than his letters Z
General Gage in the opening campaign
Then the revolutionists were considered
r rebels, and Washington had written t,
General Gage that "the officers engage
f in the cause Of liberty and their o u
try, who by the fortune Of war hav
fallen into your hands, have beel
thrown indiscriminately into a common
S jail, appropriated to felons."
$ General Gage insolently replied tina
but for his clemency the captured mel
would have been hanged. and mad
= counter-charges that British captive
G were mistreated. To this Washington
s replied with the following letter:
81 addressed you, sir, on the 18th in
slant. in terms which gave the fairies
S scope for that humanity and p~olitenes
e which were supposed to form a part o
e your character. l demonstrated wit
= YOU on the unworthy treatment show
to the officers and citizens of Americ'
whom the fortune of war, chance or
n mistaken confidence had thrown int
e your hands. Whether British or Amer
lean mercy, fortitude and patience ar
most prominent; whether our virtuou
y citizens, whom the hand Of tyranny ha
forced into arms to defend their wives
their children, and their property, o
q the merciless instruments OF lawles
4 domination, avarice, n eVenge, bes
deserve the appellation Of rebels an
the punishment OF tina cord Wnicn you
affected clemency has forborne to in
dict: whether the authority undo
. which I act is usurped, or founded upo
y the genuine principles of liberty, Wer
= altogether foreign to the subject.
- purposely avoided all political discus
sion, nor shall I now avail myself {
those advantages which the sacre
cause of my country. Of liberty, an
II of human nature give me over you
much less shall I stoop to retort an
- invective, but the intelligence o sa
you have received from our army de
serves q reply. l nave taken time, 81
to make a strict inquiry. n find 1t ha
II not the least foundation in truth. Nc
e only your officers and soldiers hav
le been treated with the tenderness due
~ fellow citizens and brethren, but eve
u those execrable paracides, whose cour
= sells and aid have delnged their countr
Il with blood, have been protected frol
IA the fury of a justly enraged people. Fs
y from compelling or permitting their a
VI %sistance, I am embarrassed with tt
- numbers who crowd to u camp, an
mated with the purest principles Of vii
& tue and love to their country.
"You affect, sir, to despise all ran
i not derived from the same source wit
~ your own. I cannot conceive one MOI
i honorable, than that which flows fro
10 the interrupted choice Of a brave ar
i free people, the purest source and Of
10 iginal fountain Of all power. Far fro
- making II a plea for purity, a III
. true magnaminity and enlarged ides
l. would comprehend and respect It.
r What may have been the minist
\ rial views which AVE precipitated II
3, present crisis, lexington, Concord ar
~ Charlestown can best declare. Ma
that God, to whom you, too, appes
IS Judge between America and you. Und'
= his providence those who influence Il
councils of America, and all the 9th
~ inhabitants Of the united colonies,
y the hazard Of their lives, are dete
a. mined to hand down to posterity tho
", just and invaluable privileges whiS
30 they received from their ancestors"
err As Man and Gentleman.
ne To Washington's high personal cha
acter, and his lack Of small YEA
sh nesses, his correspondence all hears te