tator, or whatever title he might wish,
and that the army, which had won the independence of the country, would
support him. Washington's response was prompt and decisive.

"Let me conjure you," he wrote, "if you have any regard for your
country, concern for yourself, or respect for me, to banish these
thoughts from your mind, and never communicate, as from yourself or any
one else, a sentiment of like nature."

It was perhaps the first time in the history of the world that men had
witnessed the like. Soon afterwards, the army was disbanded, and
Washington, proceeding to Annapolis, where the Congress was in session,
resigned his commission as commander-in-chief. There are some who
consider that the greatest scene in history--the hero sheathing his
sword "after a life of spotless honor, a purity unreproached, a courage
indomitable, and a consummate victory."

A private citizen again, Washington returned quietly to his
estate at Mount Vernon. But he could not remain there--the country
needed him too badly, and his great work was yet to do. For let us
remember that his great work was not the leading of the American army to
victory, not the securing of independence, but the establishment of this
Republic. More than of any other man was this the work of Washington. He
saw the feeble Confederation breaking to pieces, now that the stress of
danger was removed; he beheld the warring interests and petty jealousies
of statesmen who yet remained colonial; but he was determined that out
of these thirteen jarring colonies should come a nation; and when the
convention to form a constitution met at Philadelphia, he presided over
it, and it was his commanding will which brought a constitution out of a
turmoil of selfish interests, through difficulties and past obstacles
which would have discouraged any other man.

And, the Constitution once adopted, all men turned to Washington to
start the new Nation on her great voyage. Remember, there was no
government, only some written pages saying that a government was to be;
it was Washington who converted that idea into a reality, who brought
that government into existence. It was a venture new to history; a
Republic founded upon principles which, however admirable in the
abstract, had been declared impossible to embody in the life of a
nation. And yet, eight years later, when Washington retired from the
presidency, he left behind him an effective government, with an
established revenue, a