Middletown transcript., 1915-02-20
GEORGE WASHINGTON

ReNOiuIOnaHy pdIHAObS W WhOh
we owe our liberties and the Republic,
Washington, Franklin, the two Adamses,
Otis, Henry, jefferson, Morris, Hamil
ton, Paine and Lafayette, Washington
only may be said to have been, in the
providence of God, absolutely indispen-
sable, the one man without whose
labors and wisdom the united efforts of
the rest would have been in vain.
That under God, George Washington
was specially destined to accomplish a
great and far-reaching work for man
kind whose benefits should endure to
the remotest ages, many incidents thru
out his career from boyhood up, conclu-
sively prove to the satisfaction of any
but the blindest of infidels.
To cite but one of the many curious
proofs of the special Providence that
was plainly reserving him for some
great task,-his strange escape at the
fatal defeat of Braddock in 1755, when
So out of Sc officers, and Ola out of 1870
soldiers, were killed and wounded.
After Braddock's fall, Washington
put himself at the head OF the Colonials
and saved the rest of the army, and al
though one Indian admitted shooting al
him sixteen times, and although several
bullets pierced his clothing, g,-he escaped
unhurt
Here are some of the qualities that
made him great both as a general
through eight trying years of warfare,
and through eight hardly less difficult
years as a statesman-president.
His gentle birth and large wealth
gave him social and financial prestige
and influence. He was, moreover, {
born master of men. Early in his owl
life he had won his greatest victory
the conquest of himself. He that Il
slow to anger is better than the mighty
and he that ruleth his spirit than h
that taketh a city,"
z. His long and thorough militar
training and experience, joined to hi
native genius as a soldier, fitted hir
above any other to be the leader of tn
Revolutionary forces.
He had, indeed, so early as his 2ls
year won his spurs at Fort d
Quesne. His skilful retreat acros
ersey after Charles Lees treasOnab
disobedience; his brilliant stroke o
Christmas Eve l776 at Trenton tn;
electrified his dropping cOuntrymen; h
wise retreats not less than his splend
vicuories-the whole Fabian policy /
pursued, the only one that could haV
won; his sublime patience and forbea
ance when to the horrors of Valley FOrp
were added the treachery of the Coz
way Cabal, the treasons of Gates, Lei
and later, those of Benedict Arnold-a
these things attest at once his militar
and his moral greatness. The world
ablest warriors have pronounced h
resourceful campaigns models worth
: of study and imitation. General Joffre
, retleat upon Paris, that saved Franc
and the Allies, is an instan.e in poin
. S.-Again, no living man but Was
ington could have averted the seriol
mutiny in 1888 at Newburg which Vi
checked might well have wrecked q
NJ the benefits of the war and reanimat'
,r the British to fresh assault.
n $50, too, at that crucial momel
at the close of the Revolution, whC
te the weak Confederation was crumblin
Us his mighty and revered name compos,
w the jealousies that threatened fat
or disunion, and made the Constitution
ut Convention possible, wherein his jud
ment and moderation as its Preside
as brought its stormy sessions to the hap
d. issue which is our priceless inheritAn
he as the Great Charter.
as Finally, he again gave to his count
as its first President during its cal
'oO years when many perils beset it, t
In benefits of his ripe wisdom and expe
o~ ence, in a manner that sent it saf,
forward on its great career, an added
AZ new luster to his own fame as the {
me American who for all time should
ws First in war, first in peace, and fl
in the hearts of his countrymen."
ChnA D0~~S