greatest of the sons of men,
Our glorious Washington was born!

* * * * *

Amid the wreck of thrones shall live
Unmarred, undimmed, our hero's fame,
And years succeeding years shall give
Increase of honors to his name.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

* * * * *

Washington, the warrior and legislator! In war contending, by the wager
of battle, for the independence of his country, and for the freedom of
the human race; ever manifesting amidst its horrors, by precept and
example, his reverence for the laws of peace and the tenderest
sympathies of humanity: in peace soothing the ferocious spirit of
discord among his countrymen into harmony and union; and giving to that
very sword, now presented to his country, a charm more potent than that
attributed in ancient times to the lyre of Orpheus.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

* * * * *

George Washington may justly be pronounced one of the greatest men whom
the world has produced. Greater soldiers, more intellectual statesmen,
and profounder sages have doubtlessly existed in the history of the
English race--perhaps in our own country--but no one who to great
excellence in each of these fields has added such exalted integrity,
such unaffected piety, such unsullied purity of soul, and such wondrous
control of his own spirit. That one grand rounded life, full-orbed with
intellectual and moral glory, is worth, as the product of Christianity,
more than all the dogmas of all the teachers. He was a blessing to the
whole human race, no less than to his own countrymen--to the many
millions who celebrate the day of his birth.

ZEBULON B. VANCE.

* * * * *

First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen, he
was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life;
pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere, uniform, dignified, and
commanding, his example was as edifying to all around him, as were the
effects of that example lasting.

HENRY LEE.

* * * * *

Happy was it for America, happy for the world, that a great name, a
guardian genius, presided over her destinies in war. The hero of America
was the conqueror only of his country's foes, and the hearts of his
countrymen. To the one he was a terror, and in the other he gained an
ascendency, supreme, unrivaled, the triumph of admiri