Year: 1876

two events are indissoluble in history The
American people have been taught to look
up to him with reverence as the Father of
his Country, and it would be almost impos-
sible for us to imagine the creation OF the
Republic without his aid. Conjectures
about history are generally fruitless. and 1t
would be idle to speculate upon what form
the Revolution would have taken, and what
its end might have been, had not Washing
ton been its leader. When the time comes
for people to be free and independent fate
hurries the event irresistibly, and men seem
TO become only the instruments of mystic
rious and omnipotent spirit This was seen
in our late rebellion, which rapidly passed
beyond human control, and it was equally
plain in our Revolution against Great Britain.
Washington did not precipitate the struggle.
New England, New York and Virginia had
long been restless under taxes imposed by
the British Parliament upon the American
colonies, and he was but one of many loyal
subjects of the Crown who were anxious
to reconcile their allegiance and their lib
erty. He was q member of the Virginia
House of Burgesses in 1765, when Patrick
Henry declared that the Assembly had the
exclusive right to tax the people, and that
whoever else claimed the right deserved to
be held as an enemy. There is no question
that he sympathized with this doctrine.
In 1774 he was elected delegate to the first
American Congress Even then he was no
more of rebel than his companions, and
ok CO
rick Henry He was unable to say where
the line between Great Britain and her colo
MES should be drawn, but he was ''clearly
of opinion that one ought to be drawn and
our rights clearly ascertained." Even in Oc-
tober of that year he wrote to British Off
Ger :-"Although you are taught to believe
that the people of Massachusetts are rebel
hous-setting up for independence and what
not-give me leave, my good friend, to
tell you that you are grossly abused
Give me leave to add-and
1 think can announce it as a
fact-that it is not the wish or interest of that
government, or of any other on this conti-
nent, separately or collectively, to set up for
independence But this you may at the
same time rely on, that none of them will
ever submit to the loss of those valuable
rights and privileges which are essential to
the happiness of every free State, and with
out which life, liberty and property are rem
dered utterly insecure. These are express
sions which show that at this time Washing
ton was no rebel, but, on the contrary,
good subject, trying to avert rebellion.
Thousands of good patriots were with him
in this endeavor but it was useless. The
separation of the colonies from the Grown
was decreed and if Washington had not ex-
listed the Declaration of Independence must
have been made We do not owe to him,
therefore, nor to any man, our independence,
our freedom or our Union. The people won
these blessings for themselves, and that they
only can win what is worth having is a truth
which it is we'll to remember in our hero wor-
Ship no matter how illustrious our heroes
may be-


But, although in the absence of Washing
ton from the council and the field the Revo-
luton would have probably ended success
fully, and at some time or other the Union
would have been established much as it was,
we must not forget the immeasurable value of
his presence. Claim as much as we may for
the people, we must still pay our debt to the
hero If we do not know exactly what could
have been achieved without him we do per-
ceive the extreme usefulness of his personal
services to the cause Washington could no
more be left out Of the Revolution than
Achilles out of the conquest of Troy. At the
end of hundred years his great figure
towers above all others, distinct and dilated,
against the fiery sunrise of American free
dom. From those who would now dwarf his
greatness let his countrymen appeal to the
Judgment of his own time. America had
many q noble son and liberty many
devoted lover, but none of them
were chosen to do his work. There
were Adams and jefferson and Frank
lin and Hamilton and Rutledge and
Lee and Henry and Greene and Warren and
Putnam, and others, some one of whom might
have commanded in his absence, but could
not while he was present. Some of these
leaders were statesmen, such as Adams and
Franklin; others were soldiers, such as
Greene and Lee; but Washington was the
only man in whose military and civil abilities
the colonies had perfect confidence. Like
Lear, he seemed to have that in his nature
which men would fain call master-authority.
The acknowledgment of his superiority by
his contemporaries is binding upon us. The
greatness of Washington is no delusion.
Others had more genius for politics and
finance, but none equalled him in strength
or wisdom.


The personal character of Washington was
of inestimable value to the American cause.
AS we look back now upon the Revolution
we see that the faith of the people in their