Year: 1879

OUR erudite contemporary, the
World, celebrated the 22d of February
by announcing in a paragraph by it
self that Washington was once a
rebel Brigadier" The venom of this
pointed little paragraph is manifest
enough. Washington was a rebel Brig
adler, and he was also one of the no
blest and purest men known to history;
his having been rebel and Briga-
dier are nothing against him; but, on
the contrary, he was, by his rebellious-
ness and his rigadiership, bene-
factor to his country, of which his sig
nal services in the field and in council
caused him to be called the Father.
This being admitted by all men, of
course, the suggestion is very pertinent
on the birthday of this rebel Brigadier,
that by parity of reasoning certain
other rebel Brigadiers, too numerous
to mention, were, or at least may have
been, of the grand and noble type of
manhood; that their Righteousness and
their brigadierships ought not to be
reckoned against them; and that, in
brief, the apprehension of evil eonse-
quences, if Congress should fall into
the power of rebel Brigadiers, is not
only foolish, but manifest setting st
naught of the blessings which might be
bestowed upon the country by the
presence of such a noble army in its
councils.


Now, of course, it is undeniable that
Washington was once a rebel and a
General; unquestionably, he "fit into
the Revolution" if no one else did; and
there is now no one, even among the
British people, who questions his pa
triotism, his purity or his sagacity.
But to draw, or to imply, or even to
suggest, a parallel between George
Washington and those other rebel Brig
adiers, too numerous to mention, GER
tainly requires degree of unshame-
facedness which is beyond estimation.
1t quite surpasses and utterly extin-
guishes Fluellen's well-worn compari-
son of the river in Macedon and the
river in Monmouth. There was - salm-
ons in both" these rivers, and in the
other case both parties in comparison
were rebel Brigadiers. The comparison
suggested implies that the virtue in re.
bellion lies in the mere rebelling. But
there are rebellions and rebellions; and
there are also brigadiers and brigadiers.
There is tradition of a very great re-
belliOn which is celebrated by MIR. John
Milton in a somewhat famous poem,
the hero of which, if he did not bear
the title of Brigadier or of General,
certainly commanded many battalions.
But the character of this eminent per
sonage is not held in very high es-
TEEN, although he was rebel and a
commander, and also has the distinc-
ton, which he shares with those other
rebel Brigadiers too numerous too men,
ton, of having been defeated not be-
cause of any lack of bravery or skill on
his part, but simply because the power
against which he rose in arms was toe
mighty for him. Between this eminent
rebel and those others there is also this
| likeness in the cause of the rebellion
! His cause like theirs, was disappointed
ambition; his policy like theirs
rule or ruin. As he said: bettel
rule in hell than serve in heaven
so they said, better rule in f,
slave confederacy than be equal in
union of freemen. After his defeat h'
still rebelled, still cursed, still de6ed
and attempted by plot, and intrigue
and falsehood, and temptation, to at
tain some semblance of the power th'
reality of which he had lost forever
but whether there is in this course o
conduct continuation of the Likeness


which appears in other respects we shall
/ not now undertake TO say, but shal
leave that point TO be discussed in Con
gress, in the Cabinet, or at the Execu


tive Mansion.


Between the so-callcd rebel Briga
der who was born on the 22d of Feb