The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1914-02-21

fury, there has come tendency to depreciate the
ability OF the one man who more than any other,
would naturally be exalted: For long time it was
neid tnat his fame was furnished because he swore
real oaths at the battle of Monmouth That was
succeeded by the present epoch, which has chosen
to regard him as lovable gentleman, with enough
horse sense not to make fool OF himself and by
a series of events over which he had control,
to become the father of his country.
And yet it is doubtful if another character of
the age is more to be admired forits many-sided
exce1Iencies. AS a man, warrior and statesman,
Washington yields to no figure of his time.
What place Washington held, in his own day,
must now become matter Of interest. Shortly
after his death, Felix Faulcon voiced the opinion
OF the French parlfaInentarians when he ad-
dressed the legislative assembly as follows:
The tomb has claimed him who the model
OF republican perfection. This is not the time
trace all this truly great man has accomplished
for the liberties of America, the generous inspira-
tons which he impaired to the French who were
attracted to his school of arms; the sublime act
which will ever add 1uster to his memory, when,
after having exerted his talents in giving liberty
to his country, he voluntarily relinquished SUI
preme power to conceal his glory in the obscurity
of private life"
Naturally, Napoleon attracted to the great
general who led an army Of ragamuftins to vic
tory, after long campaign of almost unparalleled
vicissitudes, and whose power attested by
the fact that none of his general, except Wayne,
accomplished much after they left him. When
the news of his death reached France, the first
consul issued the following order:
Washington is more! That great
fought against tyranny. He firmly established the
liberty Of his country. His memory will ever be
dear to the French people, it must be to every
friend of freedom in two worlds and especially
to the French soldiers, who, like him and the
Americans, bravely fight for liberty and equality
The first consul, in consequence orders that. for
ten days, black crepe shall be suspended all the
standards and flags of the republic
At almost the same the Gazette de France said:
Washington is deadi The news in the time
of the directory it would have been imprudent
to announce. Now, the heart may with conf
dence abandon itself to all the generous emotions
of the SOUL and may dare to weep at the tomb
of great man. A general funeral service has
been ordered in America, and this will be OBJ
served By the citizens of every nation. No period
has sustained loss irreparable as the end of
the eighteenth century
This concil' ding sentence may be taken as gen
orally expressing the estimation In which the
father of his country was then held. Since
then with that fash tendency to appreciate high
sounding phrases rather than sound statesman
Ship it has become the fashion rather to exalt
the orators and the writers, who chad secondary
roles than to accept the verdict of colonial times
It is doubly strange too, that in a country
whose citizenship is rapidly altering, because of
lands, should have great work, not even
an essay, which vitality and vigorously presents
the character of its first great general statesman
and citizen.
seems strange that his correspondence should
never have excited more attention study. sBy
comparison they are almost unknown when one
considers for example how much attention and.
controversy has been directed OF late years. tos
lives and writings of Hamilton and Burr.
Very strange It. is indeed that the CORE
spondence Of commanding character as
Washington should be so little known TO the
ninety and more millions OF people who their
Liberty and prosperity to him And to the fact