ervices almost
invited him to empire; on the other, the liberty to whose protection his
life had been devoted, was the ornament and boon of human nature.

Washington could not depart from his own great self. His country was
free. He was no longer a general. Sublime spectacle! more elevating to
the pride of virtue than the sovereignty of the globe united to the
scepter of the ages! Enthroned in the hearts of his countrymen, the
gorgeous pageantry of prerogative was unworthy the majesty of his
dominion. That effulgence of military character which in ancient states
has blasted the rights of the people whose renown it had brightened, was
not here permitted, by the hero from whom it emanated, to shine with so
destructive a luster. Its beams, though intensely resplendent, did not
wither the young blossoms of our Independence; and Liberty, like the
burning bush, flourished, unconsumed by the glory which surrounded it.

To the illustrious founder of our Republic it was reserved to exhibit
the example of a magnanimity that commanded victory, of a moderation
that retired from triumph. Unlike the erratic meteors of ambition, whose
flaming path sheds a disastrous light on the pages of history, his
bright orb, eclipsing the luminaries among which it rolled, never
portended "fearful change" to religion, nor from its "golded tresses"
shook pestilence on empire.

What to other heroes has been glory, would to Washington have been
disgrace. To his intrepidity it would have added no honorary trophy, to
have waded, like the conqueror of Peru, through the blood of credulous
millions, to plant the standard of triumph at the burning mouth of a
volcano. To his fame, it would have erected no auxiliary monument to
have invaded, like the ravager of Egypt, an innocent though barbarous
nation, to inscribe his name on the pillar of Pompey.

* * * * *

THE GENIUS OF WASHINGTON[24]

BY EDWIN P. WHIPPLE

The history, so sad and so glorious, which chronicles the stern struggle
in which our rights and liberties passed through the awful baptism of
fire and blood, is eloquent with the deeds of many patriots, warriors,
and statesmen; but these all fall into relations to one prominent and
commanding figure, towering up above the whole group in unapproachable
majesty, whose exalted character, warm and bright with every public and
private virtue, and vital with the essential spirit of wisdom, has burst
all sectional and n