overty of praise. So clear was he in his great office that no ideal
of the leader or ruler can be formed that does not shrink by the side of
the reality. And so has he impressed himself upon the minds of men, that
no man can justly aspire to be the chief of a great, free people, who
does not adopt his principles and emulate his example. We look with
amazement on such eccentric characters as Alexander, Caesar, Cromwell,
Frederick, and Napoleon, but when Washington's face rises before us,
instinctively mankind exclaims: "This is the man for nations to trust
and reverence, and for rulers to follow."

Drawing his sword from patriotic impulse, without ambition and without
malice, he wielded it without vindictiveness, and sheathed it without
reproach. All that humanity could conceive he did to suppress the
cruelties of war and soothe its sorrows. He never struck a coward's
blow. To him age, infancy, and helplessness were ever sacred. He
tolerated no extremity unless to curb the excesses of his enemy, and he
never poisoned the sting of defeat by the exultation of the conqueror.

Peace he welcomed as a heaven-sent herald of friendship; and no country
has given him greater honor than that which he defeated; for England has
been glad to claim him as the scion of her blood, and proud, like our
sister American States, to divide with Virginia the honor of producing
him.

Fascinated by the perfection of the man, we are loath to break the
mirror of admiration into the fragments of analysis. But, lo! as we
attempt it, every fragment becomes the miniature of such sublimity and
beauty that the destructive hand can only multiply the forms of
immortality.

Grand and manifold as were its phases, there is yet no difficulty in
understanding the character of Washington. He was no Veiled Prophet. He
never acted a part. Simple, natural, and unaffected, his life lies
before us--a fair and open manuscript. He disdained the arts which wrap
power in mystery in order to magnify it. He practiced the profound
diplomacy of truthful speech--the consummate tact of direct attention.
Looking ever to the All-Wise Disposer of events, he relied on that
Providence which helps men by giving them high hearts and hopes to help
themselves with the means which their Creator has put at their service.
There was no infirmity in his conduct over which charity must fling its
veil; no taint of selfishness from which purity averts her gaze; no dark
recess of intrigue t