The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-02-14
KNGzZNOIJ1W NM
AZS SzKZZJ

tribute to his love of freedom, his wisdom ana
kindness of heart. All of them show why ne
never failed in anything of consequence ne unuer-
took. Without exception, they bear witness 10
the thought, the careful consideration, the sounu
judgment of the writer.
With these qualities dominant, there is lacking,
as a matter Of course, the bias, the egotism, the
proneness to give way to the passions, that nave
caused SO many able men to fail.
Above all, there is an Astounding love OF free
dom, an all-powerful desire to serve the best in
terests of his ~fellowmen, that cannot fail to touch
the heart of any one who cares to read the old
volumes that have been shelved in favor of so
much less worthy material.
Take him, for instance, as a soldier. His
earlier 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 divided
and subdivided by the claims of the various col
onies that the troops they raised should be de-
voted to their own defense. AS he wrote to the
governor Of Connecticut:
Il am by no means insensible to the situation
OF the people on the coast. l wish l could extend
protection to all, but the numerous ~detachments
necessary to remedy the evil would amount to a
dissolution of the army, or make the most i'm
portant operations of the campaign depend upon
the p~iratical operations of two or three menof-
war and Transports"
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
secretary, Joseph Reed, one of the closest of his
friends, he wrote:
Such dearth of public spirit, and such want of
virtue, ouch stock jobbing, and fertility in all the
low arts to obtain advantage of one knid or an
other in this great change of military arrange
ment, l never saw before, and l pray Gods mercy
l may never see again. What will be the end of
these maneouvers is beyond my scan. l tremble
at the prospect. Gould / have foreseen
what l have experienced and am likely to ex-
perience, no consideration upon earth should have
induced me to accept this command"
His letters during the winter at Valley Forge
are models of their kind. But nothing he wrote,
during his period of command, bears higher trib-
ute to his character as a man than his letters to
General Gage that the officers engaged in the
cause of liberty and their country, who by the
fortune of war have fallen into your hands, have
been thrown Unfortunately into a common Jail.
appropriated to felons."
General Gage insolently replied that but for his
clemency the captured men would have been
hanged, and made counter-charges that British
captives were mistreated.. To this Washington
replied with the following letter:
II addressed you, sir, on the 18th instant. in
terms which gave the fairest scope for that hui
manity and politeness which were supposed to
form a part of your character. | demonstrated
with you on the unworthy treatment shown to
the officers and citizens of America whom the
fortune OF war, chance or a mistaken confidence
had thrown into your hands. Whether British or
American mercy, fortitude, and patience are most
prominent; whether our virtuous citizens whom
the hand OF Tyranny has forced into arms to de-
fend their wives, their children, and their proper
ty. or the merciless instruments Of lawless domi-
nation. avarice, and revenge, bes: deserve the
appellation of rebels and the punishment of that
cord, which your affected clemency has forborne
to infict: whether the authority under which !
act is usurped or founded upon the genuine prin-
ciples of liberty, were altogether foreign to the
subject. / p%urposely avoided all political discus
sion, nor shall l now avail myself of those adj
~vantages which the sacred cause of my country,
of liberty, and of human nature give me over
you; much less shall l stoop TO retort and in