The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1913-06-27


considered; and even his secretaries,
though they handled the multitude of
his papers, weFe-left oftentimes- to
wonder and speculate about~the man
himself-so frank and yet so reserved,
so straightforward and simple and yet
so proud and self-contained, revealing
powers, but somehow not revealing
himself
Il must have seemed at times to
those who followed him and pondered
what they saw that ne had caught
from nature her own manner while he
took his breeding as a boy and his
preparation as a man amidst the for
ests Of a wild frontier; that his char
acter spoke in what he did and with
out self consciousness; that he had
no moods but those of action.
A Man Without Reproach.
Nor. did men know him for what
he reaifyawas until the war was over.
HIS owns officers then found they
had something. more to learn of the
man they had fought under for six
years-and those six, all of them,
such as lay bare the characters Of
men.
What remained to be done during
the two trying, anxious years, 1882
and 1888, seemed as if intended for
supreme and final test of the auali-
ties of the man whose genius and
character had made the Revolution.
possible. AT the end of a long civil
war;" said the Marquis de Chastellux,
with noble pride for his friend, he
had nothing with which he could re-
preach himself; but it was these last
years which were to crown this per
feet praise with its full meaning.
In the absence of any real govern
/ ment. Washington proved almost the
only prop of authority and law What
/ the crisis was no one knew quite so
4 thoroughly or so particularly as he.
( II consisted in the Ominous fact that
the army was the only organized and
central power in the country, and that
it had deep reason for discomfort and
/ characterization.
When once it had served it's pur-
post greatly at Yorktown, and the war
seemed ended at a stroke, the country
turned from it in indifference-left it
without money; talked of disbanding
II without further ceremony, and with
/ no provision made for arrears of pay;
! seemed almost to challenge it to in
! dignation and mutiny.
The Army on War Footing.
It was necessary, for every reason
Of prudence and good craftsmanship,
1 10 keep the army still upon a war foot
ing. There are sure signs of peace.
no doubt, but no man could foretell
what might be the course of politics
ere England should have compounded
her quarrel with France and Spain.
and ended the wars with which the
Revolution had become inextricably
involved.
Twere folly to leave the English
army at New York unchecked Pre-
mature confidence that peace had
come might bring some sudden dis
aster of arms, should the enemy take
the field again.
The army must be ready to fight, if
only to make fighting unnecessary.
No Power to Raise Money.
Washington would have assumed
the offensive again, would have crush
ed Clinton where he lay in New York !;
and the congress was not slack-as
slackness was counted therein sus-
tanning his counsels. But the con.
gress had no power to raise money;
had no power to command.
The states alone could make it pos
sible to tax the country to pay the
army; their thirteen governments
we're the only civil authority, and they
took the needs and the discontents
of the army very lightly, deemed peace
secure and war expenses unnecessary
and let matters drift as they would.
They came very near drifting to an.
other revolution-a revolution such as
politicians had left out of their reck
oning. and only Washington could
avert.
Washington Helps Congress.
After Yorktown, Washington spent
four months in Philadelphia, helping
the congress forward with the Dusi
ness of the winter; but as March Of
the new year Q7S2) drew towards its
close, he rejoined the army at New
burgh, to resume his watch upon New
York.
He had been scarcely two months a
his post when a letter was placed il
his hands which revealed, more full!
than any observations of his owl
could have revealed it, the pass tx
which affairs had come.
An UnWelcome Letter.
! The letter was from Colonel Lewis
Nicola, an old and respected officer
: who stood nearer than did most of hi
fellow officers to the commandment
: chief in intimacy and affection anC
who felt it his privilege to speak plain
: ly. The letter was calm in temper