ested the warmth of feeling which
animated the American bosom. This unexampled tribute of voluntary
applause, paid by a whole people, to an individual no longer in power,
made no impression on the unassuming modesty of his character and
deportment. The same firmness of mind, the same steady and well
tempered judgment, which had guided him through the most perilous
seasons of the war, still regulated his conduct; and the enthusiastic
applauses of an admiring nation served only to cherish sentiments of
gratitude, and to give greater activity to the desire still further to
contribute to the general prosperity.

[Sidenote: Resolves of Congress and of the legislature of Virginia for
erecting statues in honour of him.]

It was not by addresses alone that his country manifested its
attachment to him. Soon after peace was proclaimed, congress
unanimously passed a resolution for the erection of an equestrian
statue of their general,[19] at the place which should be established
for the residence of the government.

[Footnote 19: "Resolved that the statue be of bronze: the
general to be represented in a Roman dress, holding a
truncheon in his right hand, and his head encircled with a
laurel wreath. The statue to be supported by a marble
pedestal on which are to be represented, in basso relievo,
the following principal events of the war, in which General
Washington commanded in person: the evacuation of
Boston:--the capture of the Hessians at Trenton:--the battle
of Princeton:--the action of Monmouth:--and the surrender of
York.--On the upper part of the front of the pedestal to be
engraved as follows: the United States in congress
assembled, ordered this statue to be erected in the year of
our Lord 1783, in honour of George Washington, the
illustrious Commander-in-chief of the armies of the United
States of America, during the war which vindicated and
secured their liberty, sovereignty and independence."]

The legislature of Virginia too, at its first session after his
resignation, passed the following resolution.[20]

[Footnote 20: This resolution has been carried into
execution. The statue it ordained now stands in the capitol
of Virginia, in a spacious area in the centre of the
building. A bust of the Marquis de Lafayette, which was also
directed by the legislature, is placed in a niche of the
wall in the same p