The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1914-02-12

tribute to his love of freedom, his WISDOM anu
kindness of heart All of them snow why ne
never failed in anything of consequence ne unuei
took. Without exception, they bear witness 10
the thought the careful consideration the SOUND
Judgment of the writer
With these qualities dominant, there Is lacking
as a matter Of course the bias, the egotlsm' the
proneness to give way to the passions that nave
caused many able men to fail.
Above all, there is an abounding love OF free
dom, an allpowerfu 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 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 insensibe to the situation
of the people on the coast. l wish could extend
protection to ALL but the numerous detachments
necessary to remedy the evil would amount to
dissolution of the army or make the most i'm
pcrtant operations Of the campaign depend upon
the piratcal operations of two or three men-of-
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 such 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, never saw before, and pray Gods mercy
I may never see again What will be the end Of
these maneouvers is beyond my scan. tremble
at the prospect. , Could have foreseen
what I have eXnprienced and am likely to
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 common Jail,
appropriated to felons."
General Gage insoIently replied that but for his
cemency the captured would have been
hanged and made countercharges that British
lcaptives were mistreated. To this Washington
replied with the following letter:
Il addressed you, sir, on the 18th instant, In
terms which gave the fairest scope for that hu-
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 or war, cnance or a mistaken confluence
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, best deserve the
appellation of rebels and the punishment of that
cord, which your affected clemency has forborne
to infict; whether the authority under which
art is usurDpd Or founded uDOn the genuine Drln-
cples of liberty, we're altogether foreign to the
subject l purposely avoided all political discus
sion, nor shall now avail myself of those ad-
vantages which the sacred cause of my country,
of liberty, and Of human nature give me over
you much less shall stoop to retort and In