WASHINGTON A MODEL FOR CHARACTER. 169 them. On the darker firmament of history, ancient and modern, they form a galaxy resplendent with their lustre. To go no further back, look for your model to the signers of our declaration of independence. You see revived in these men the spirit of ancient Rome in Rome's best day; for they were willing, with Curtius, to leap into the flaming gulf, which the oracle of their own wisdom had assured them could be closed in no other way. There was one, however, whose name is not among those signers, but who must not, nay, can not, be forgotten; for, when a great and decided patriot is the theme, his name is not far off. Gentlemen, you need not go to past ages, nor to distant countries. You need not turn your eyes to ancient Greece, or Rome, or to modern Europe. You have, in your own Washington, a recent model, whom you have only to imitate to become immortal. Nor must you suppose that he owed his greatness to the peculiar crisis which called out his virtues, and despair of such another crisis for the display of your own. His more than Roman virtues, his consummate prudence, his powerful intellect, and his dauntless decision and dignity of character, would have made him illustrious in any age. The crisis would have done nothing for him, had not his character stood ready to match it. Acquire his character, and fear not the recurrence of a crisis to show forth its glory. Look at the elements of commotion that are already at work in this vast republic, and threatening us with a moral earthquake that will convulse it to its foundation. Look at the political degeneracy which pervades the country, and which has already borne us so far away from the golden age of the Revolution; look at all "the signs of the times," and you will see but little cause to indulge the hope that no crisis is likely to recur to give full scope for the exercise of the most heroic virtues. Hence it is, that I so anxiously hold up to you the model of Washington. Form yourselves on that noble model. Strive to acquire his modesty, his disinterestedness, his singleness of heart, his determined devotion to his country, his candor in deliberation, his accuracy of judgment, his invincible firmness of resolve, and then may you hope to be in your own age what he was in his,—“first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of your countrymen." Commencing your career with this high standard of character, your course will be as steady as the needle to the pole. Your end will always be virtuous, your means always noble. You will adorn as well as bless your country. You will exalt and illustrate the age in which you live. Your example will shake, like a tempest, that pestilential pool in which the virtues of our people are already beginning to stagnate, and restore the waters and the atmosphere to their revolutionary purity. Ex. CV.-WASHINGTON. ELIZA COOK. LAND of the west! though passing brief the record of thine age, Thou hast a name that darkens all on history's wide page! Let all the blasts of fame ring out-thine shall be loudest far; Let others boast their satellites-thou hast the planet star. Thou hast a name whose characters of light shall ne'er depart; 'Tis stamped upon the dullest brain, and warms the coldest heart; any A war-cry fit for land where Freedom's to be won; Land of the West! it stands alone-it is thy Washington! Rome had its Cæsar, great and brave; but stain was on his wreath; He lived the heartless conqueror, and died the tyrant's death; France had its eagle; but his wings, though lofty they might soar, Were spread in false ambition's flight, and dipped in murderer's gore. Those hero-gods, whose mighty sway would fain have chained the waves Who fleshed their blades with tiger zeal, to make a world of slaves Who, though their kindred barred the path, still fiercely waded on- Oh! where shall be their glory by the side of Washington ? EULOGIUM ON WASHINGTON. 171 He fought, but not with love of strife; he struck but to defend; And ere he turned a people's foe, he sought to be a friend. He strove to keep his country's right by reason's gentle word, And sighed when fell injustice threw the challenge, sword to sword. He stood the firm, the calm, the wise-the patriot and sage; No car of triumph bore him through a city filled with grief; No groaning captives at the wheels proclaimed the victor chief; He broke the gyves of slavery with strong and high disdain, And cast no sceptre from the links when he had crushed the chain. He saved his land, but did not lay his soldier trappings down To change them for the regal vest, and don a kingly crown. Fame was too earnest in her joy--too proud of such a son, To let a robe and title mask a noble Washington. Ex. CVI.—EULOGIUM ON WASHINGTON. CHARLES PHILLIPS.* Ir matters very little what immediate spot may be the birth-place of such a man as WASHINGTON. No people can claim, no country can appropriate him; the boon of Providence to the human race, his fame is eternity, and his residence creation. Though it was the defeat of our arms and the disgrace of our policy, I almost bless the convulsion in which he had his origin. If the heavens thundered and the earth rocked, yet, when the storm passed, how pure was the climate that it cleared; how bright in the brow of the firmament was the planet which it revealed to us!. In the production of Washington it does really appear as if nature was endeavoring to improve upon herself, and that all the virtues of the ancient world were but so many studies preparatory to the patriot of the new. *A celebrated Irish barrister, Individual instances no doubt there were-splendid exemplifications of some single qualification; Cæsar was merciful, Scipio was continent, Hannibal was patient; but it was reserved for Washington to blend them all in one, and like the lovely chef d'œuvre of the Grecian artist, to exhibit in one glow of associated beauty, the pride of every model, and the perfection of every master. As a general, he marshalled the peasant into a veteran, and supplied by discipline the absence of experience; as a statesman, he enlarged the policy of the cabinet into the most comprehensive system of general advantage; and such was the wisdom of his views, and the philosophy of his counsels, that to the soldier and the statesman he almost added the character of the sage! A conqueror, he was untainted with the crime of blood; a revolutionist, he was free from any stain of treason; for aggression commenced the contest, and his country called him to the command. Liberty unsheathed his sword, necessity stained, victory returned it. If he had paused here, history might have doubted what station to assign him; whether at the head of her citizens or her soldiers-her heroes or her patriots. But the last glorious act crowns his career and banishes all hesitation. Who, like Washington, after having emancipated a hemisphere, resigned its crown, and preferred the retirement of domestic life to the adoration of a land he might be almost said to have created? "How shall we rank thee upon glory's page, Thou more than soldier and just less than sage; Such, Sir, is the testimony of one not to be accused of partiality in his estimate of America. Happy, proud America! The lightnings of Heaven yielded to your philosophy! The temptations of earth could not seduce your patriotism! Ex. CVII.-GENIUS OF WASHINGTON. EDWIN P. WHIPPLE. THIS illustrious man, at once the world's admiration and enigma, we are taught by a fine instinet to venerate, and by GENIUS OF WASHINGTON. 173 a wrong opinion to misjudge. The might of his character has taken strong hold upon the feelings of great masses of men; but in translating this universal sentiment into an intelligent form, the intellectual element of his wonderful nature is as much depressed as the moral element is exalted, and consequently we are apt to misunderstand both. How many times have we been told that he was not a man of genius, but a person of "excellent common sense," of "admirable judgment," of " rare virtues!" and, by a constant repetition of this, we have nearly succeeded in divorcing comprehension from his sense, insight from his judgment, force from his virtues, and life from the man. 66 He had no genius, it seems. Oh, no! genius, we must suppose, is the peculiar and shining attribute of some orator, whose tongue can spout patriotic speeches, or some versifier, whose muse can "Hail Columbia," but not of the man who supported states on his arm, and carried America in his brain. What is genius? Is it worth anything? Is splendid folly the measure of its inspiration? Is wisdom its base and summit, that which it recedes from, or tends towards? And by what definition do you award the name to the creator of an epic, and deny it to the creator of a country? On what principle is it to be lavished on him who sculptures in perishing marble the image of possible excellence, and withheld from him who built up in himself a transcendent character, indestructible as the obligations of duty, and beautiful as her rewards? Indeed, if by the genius of action you mean will enlightened by intelligence, and intelligence energized by will,if force and insight be its characteristics, and influence its test, and, especially, if great effects suppose a cause proportionably great, that is, a vital, causative mind,-then is Washington most assuredly a man of genius, and one whom no other American has equalled in the power of working morally and mentally on other minds. His genius, it is true, was of a peculiar kind; the genius of character, of thought and the objects of thought solidified and concentrated into active faculty. He belongs to that rare class of men,-rare as Homers and Miltons,-rare as Platos and Newtons,-who have impressed their characters upon nations without pampering national vices. Such men have natures broad enough to include all the facts of a people's practical life, and deep enough to discern the spiritual laws which underlie, animate, and govern those facts. |