few and simple. The first was an entire and indisputable impartiality
towards foreign States.[23] He adhered to this rule of public conduct,
against very strong inducements to depart from it, and when the
popularity of the moment seemed to favor such a departure. In the next
place, he maintained true dignity and unsullied honor in all
communications with foreign States. It was among the high duties
devolved upon him to introduce our new government into the circle of
civilized States and powerful nations. Not arrogant or assuming, with no
unbecoming or supercilious bearing, he yet exacted for it from all
others entire and punctilious respect. He demanded, and he obtained at
once, a standing of perfect equality for his country in the society of
nations; nor was there a prince or potentate of his day, whose personal
character carried with it, into the intercourse of other States, a
greater degree of respect and veneration.
He regarded other nations only as they stood in political relations to
us. With their internal affairs, their political parties and
dissensions, he scrupulously abstained from all interference; and, on
the other hand, he repelled with spirit all such interference by others
with us or our concerns. His sternest rebuke, the most indignant
measure of his whole administration, was aimed against such an attempted
interference. He felt it as an attempt to wound the national honor, and
resented it accordingly.
_Foreign Influence a Foe of Republican Government_
The reiterated admonitions in his Farewell Address show his deep fears
that foreign influence would insinuate itself into our counsels through
the channels of domestic dissension, and obtain a sympathy with our own
temporary parties. Against all such dangers he most earnestly entreats
the country to guard itself. He appeals to its patriotism, to its
self-respect, to its own honor, to every consideration connected with
its welfare and happiness, to resist, at the very beginning, all
tendencies toward such connection of foreign interests with our own
affairs. With a tone of earnestness nowhere else found, even in his last
affectionate farewell advice to his countrymen, he says, "Against the
insidious wiles of foreign influence, (I conjure you to believe me,
fellow-citizens,) the jealousy of a free people ought to be _constantly_
awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one
of the most baneful foes of republican government."
_The Advantages of American Isolation_
Lastly, on the subject of foreign relations, Washington never forgot
that we had interests peculiar to ourselves. The primary political
concerns of Europe, he saw, did not affect us. We had nothing to do
with her balance of power, her family compacts, or her successions to
thrones. We were placed in a condition favorable to neutrality during
European wars, and to the enjoyment of all the great advantages of that
relation. "Why, then," he asks us, "why forego the advantages of so
peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground?
Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe,
entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition,
rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?"
Indeed, Gentlemen, Washington's Farewell Address is full of truths
important at all times, and particularly deserving consideration at the
present. With a sagacity which brought the future before him, and made
it like the present, he saw and pointed out the dangers that even at
this moment most imminently threaten us. I hardly know how a greater
service of that kind could now be done to the community, than by a
renewed and wide diffusion of that admirable paper, and an earnest
invitation to every man in the country to reperuse and consider it. Its
political maxims are invaluable; its exhortations to love of country and
to brotherly affection among citizens, touching; and the solemnity with
which it urges the observance of moral duties, and impresses the power
of religious obligation, gives to it the highest character of truly
disinterested, sincere, parental advice.
_Washington's Domestic Policy_
The domestic policy of Washington found its pole-star in the avowed
objects of the Constitution itself. He sought so to administer that
Constitution as to form more perfect union, establish justice, insure
domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the
general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty. These were objects
interesting in the highest degree, to the whole country, and his policy
embraced the whole country.
Among his earliest and most important duties was the organization of the
government itself, the choice of his confidential advisers, and the
various appointments to office. This duty, so important and delicate,
when a whole government was to be organized, and all its offices for the
first time filled, was yet not difficult to him, for he had no sinister
ends to accomplish, no clamorous partisans to gratify, no pledges to
redeem, no object to be regarded but simply the public good. It was a
plain, straightforward matter, a mere honest choice of good men for the
public service.
_His First Cabinet_
His own singleness of purpose, his disinterested patriotism, were
evinced by the selection of his first cabinet, and by the manner in
which he felled the seats of justice, and other places of high trust. He
sought for men fit for offices; not for offices which might suit them.
Above personal considerations, above local considerations, above party
considerations, he felt that he could only discharge the sacred trust
which the country had placed in his hands, by a diligent inquiry after
real merit, and a conscientious preference of virtue and talent. The
whole country was the field of his selection. He explored that whole
field, looking only for whatever it contained most worthy and
distinguished. He was, indeed, most successful, and he deserved success
for the purity of his motives, the liberality of his sentiments, and his
enlarged and manly policy.
_Important Measures of His Administrations_
Washington's administration established the national credit, made
provision for the public debt, and for that patriotic army whose
interests and welfare were always so dear to him; and, by laws wisely
framed, and of admirable effect, raised the commerce and navigation of
the country, almost at once, from depression and ruin to a state of
prosperity. Nor were his eyes open to these interests alone. He viewed
with equal concern its agriculture and manufactures, and, so far as they
came within the regular exercise of the powers of this government, they
experienced regard and favor.
It should not be omitted, even in this slight reference to the general
measures and general principles of the First President, that he saw and
felt the full value and importance of the judicial department of the
government. An upright and able administration of the laws he held to be
alike indispensable to private happiness and public liberty. The temple
of justice, in his opinion, was a sacred place, and he would profane and
pollute it who should call any to minister in it, not spotless in
character, not incorruptible in integrity, not competent by talent and
learning, not a fit object of unhesitating trust.
_His Opinion of the Dangers of Party Spirit_
Among other admonitions Washington has left us, in his last
communication to his country, an exhortation against the excesses of
party spirit. A fire not to be quenched, he yet conjures us not to fan
and feed the flame. Undoubtedly, Gentlemen, it is the greatest danger of
our system and of our time. Undoubtedly, if that system should be
overthrown, it will be the work of excessive party spirit, acting on the
government, which is dangerous enough, or acting in the government,
which is a thousand times more dangerous; for government then becomes
nothing but organized party, and, in the strange vicissitudes of human
affairs, it may come at last, perhaps, to exhibit the singular paradox
of government itself being in opposition to its own powers, at war with
the very elements of its own existence. Such cases are hopeless. As men
may be protected against murder, but cannot be guarded against suicide,
so government may be shielded from the assaults of external foes, but
nothing can save it when it chooses to lay violent hands on itself.
_His Love of the Union_
Finally, Gentlemen, there was in the breast of Washington one sentiment
so deeply felt, so constantly uppermost, that no proper occasion escaped
without its utterance. From the letter which he signed in behalf of the
Convention when the Constitution was sent out to the people, to the
moment when he put his hand to that last paper in which he addressed his
countrymen, the Union,--the Union was the great object of his thoughts.
In that first letter he tells them that to him and his brethren of the
Convention, union appears to be the greatest interest of every true
American; and in that last paper he conjures them to regard that unity
of government which constitutes them one people as the very palladium of
their prosperity and safety, and the security of liberty itself. He
regarded the union of these States less as one of our blessings, than as
the great treasure-house which contained them all. Here, in his
judgment, was the great magazine of all our means of prosperity; here as
he thought, and as every true American still thinks, are deposited all
our animating prospects, all our solid hopes for future greatness. He
has taught us to maintain this union, not by seeking to enlarge the
powers of the government, on the one hand, nor by surrendering them, on
the other; but by an administration of them at once firm and moderate,
pursuing objects truly national, and carried on in a spirit of justice
and equity.
_The American Nation Unique_
The extreme solicitude for the preservation of the Union, at all times
manifested by him, shows not only the opinion he entertained of its
importance, but his clear perception of those causes which were likely
to spring up to endanger it, and which, if once they should overthrow
the present system, would leave little hope of any future beneficial
reunion. Of all the presumptions indulged by presumptuous men, that is
one of the rashest which looks for repeated and favorable opportunities
for the deliberate establishment of a united government over distinct
and widely extended communities. Such a thing has happened once in human
affairs, and but once; the event stands out as a prominent exception to
all ordinary history; and unless we suppose ourselves running into an
age of miracles, we may not expect its repetition.
Washington, therefore, could regard, and did regard nothing as a
paramount political interest but the integrity of the Union itself. With
a united government, well administered, he saw that we had nothing to
fear; and without it, nothing to hope. The sentiment is just, and its
momentous truth should solemnly impress the whole country. If we might
regard our country as personated in the spirit of Washington, if we
might consider him as representing her, in her past renown, her present
prosperity, and her future career, and as in that character demanding of
us all to account for our conduct, as political men or as private
citizens, how should he answer him who has ventured to talk of disunion
and dismemberment? Oh how should he answer him who dwells perpetually on
local interests, and fans every kindling flame of local prejudice? How
should he answer him who would array State against State, interest
against interest, and party against party, careless of the continuance
of that unity of government which constitutes us one people?
The political prosperity which this country has attained, and which it
now enjoys, has been acquired mainly through the instrumentality of the
present government. While this agent continues, the capacity of
attaining to still higher degrees of prosperity exists also. We have,
while this lasts, a political life capable of beneficial exertion, with
power to resist or overcome misfortunes, to sustain us against the
ordinary accidents of human affairs, and to promote, by active efforts,
every public interest. But dismemberment strikes at the very being which
preserves these faculties. It would lay its rude and ruthless hand on
this great agent itself. It would sweep away, not only what we possess,
but all power of regaining lost, or acquiring new possessions. It would
leave the country not only bereft of its prosperity and happiness, but
without limbs, or organs, or faculties, by which to exert itself
hereafter in the pursuit of that prosperity and happiness.
_Dismemberment of the United States the Greatest of Evils_
Other misfortunes may be borne, or their effects overcome. If disastrous
war should sweep our commerce from the ocean, another generation may
renew it; if it exhaust our treasury, future industry may replenish it;
if it desolate and lay waste our fields, still, under a new cultivation,
they will grow green again, and ripen to future harvests. It were but a
trifle even if the walls of yonder Capitol were to crumble, if its lofty
pillars should fall, and its gorgeous decorations be all covered by the
dust of the valley. All these might be rebuilt. But who shall
reconstruct the fabric of demolished government? Who shall rear again
the well-proportioned columns of constitutional liberty? Who shall frame
together the skillful architecture which unites national sovereignty
with State rights, individual security, and public prosperity? No, if
these columns fall, they will be raised not again. Like the Coliseum and
the Parthenon, they will be destined to a mournful, a melancholy
immortality. Bitterer tears, however, will flow over them than were ever
shed over the monuments of Roman or Grecian art; for they will be the
remnants of a more glorious edifice than Greece or Rome ever saw, the
edifice of constitutional American liberty.
But let us hope for better things. Let us trust in that gracious Being
who has hitherto held our country as in the hollow of his hand. Let us
trust to the virtue and the intelligence of the people, and to the
efficacy of religious obligation. Let us trust to the influence of
Washington's example. Let us hope that that fear of Heaven which expels
all other fear, and that regard to duty which transcends all other
regard, may influence public men and private citizens, and lead our
country still onward in her happy career. Full of these gratifying
anticipations and hopes, let us look forward to the end of that century
which is now commenced. A hundred years hence, other disciples of
Washington will celebrate his birth, with no less of sincere admiration
than we now commemorate it. When they shall meet, as we now meet, to do
themselves and him that honor, so surely as they shall see the blue
summits of his native mountains rise in the horizon, so surely as they
shall behold the river on whose banks he lived, and on whose banks he
rests, still flowing on toward the sea, so surely may they see, as we
now see, the flag of the Union floating on the top of the Capitol; and
then, as now, may the sun in his course visit no land more free, more
happy, more lovely, than this our own country!
FOOTNOTES:
[21] At the beginning of the nineteenth century Marcus Tullius Cicero
was often called Tully.
[22] A remark by Fisher Ames (1758-1808), of Massachusetts,--perhaps the
extremest Federalist of his time.
[23] The famous phrase, "honest friendship with all nations, entangling
alliances with none," was not Washington's but Jefferson's.
* * * * *
MOUNT VERNON, THE HOME OF
WASHINGTON
BY WILLIAM DAY
_The following lines were written on the back of a picture at Mount
Vernon_:
There dwelt the Man, the flower of human kind,
Whose visage mild bespoke his nobler mind.
There dwelt the Soldier, who his sword ne'er drew
But in a righteous cause, to Freedom true.
There dwelt the Hero, who ne'er killed for fame,
Yet gained more glory than a Cæsar's name.
There dwelt the Statesman, who, devoid of art,
Gave soundest counsels from an upright heart;
And, O Columbia, by thy sons caressed,
There dwelt the Father of the realms he blessed;
Who no wish felt to make his mighty praise,
Like other chiefs, the means himself to raise;
But there retiring, breathed in pure renown,
And felt a grandeur that disdained a crown.
* * * * *
THE UNSELFISHNESS OF WASHINGTON
BY ROBERT TREAT PAINE
To the pen of the historian must be resigned the more arduous and
elaborate tribute of justice to those efforts of heroic and political
virtue which conducted the American people to peace and liberty. The
vanquished foe retired from our shores, and left to the controlling
genius who repelled them the gratitude of his own country, and the
admiration of the world. The time had now arrived which was to apply the
touchstone to his integrity, which was to assay the affinity of his
principles to the standard of immutable right.
On the one hand, a realm to which he was endeared by his services 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 national bounds, and made the name of Washington the
property of all mankind.
This illustrious man, at once the world's admiration and enigma, we are
taught by a fine instinct to venerate, and by 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. Mediocrity has a bad
trick of idealizing itself in eulogizing him, and drags him down to its
own level while assuming to lift him to the skies. 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 odious cant, we have nearly succeeded in
divorcing comprehension from his sense, insight from his judgment, force
from his virtues, and life from the man. Accordingly, in the panegyric
of cold spirits, Washington disappears in a cloud of commonplaces; in
the rhodomontade of boiling patriots, he expires in the agonies of rant.
Now, the sooner this bundle of mediocre talents and moral qualities,
which its contrivers have the audacity to call George Washington, is
hissed out of existence, the better it will be for the cause of talent
and the cause of morals; contempt of that is the condition of insight.
He had no genius, it seems. O 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. The madcap Charles Townshend, the motion of whose
pyrotechnic mind was like the whiz of a hundred rockets, is a man of
genius; but George Washington raised up above the level of even eminent
statesmen, and with a nature moving with the still and orderly celerity
of a planet round the sun,--he dwindles, in comparison, into a kind of
angelic dunce! What is genius? Is it worth anything. Is splendid folly
the measure of its inspiration? Is wisdom 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 proportionately great, that is, a vital
causative mind,--then is Washington most assuredly a man of genius, and
one whom no other American has equaled 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.
Washington, in short, had that greatness of character which is the
highest expression and last result of greatness of mind; for there is no
method of building up character except through mind. Indeed, character
like his is not _built_ up, stone upon stone, precept upon precept, but
_grows_ up, through an actual contact of thought with things,--the
assimilative mind transmuting the impalpable but potent spirit of public
sentiment, and the life of visible facts, and the power of spiritual
laws, into individual life and power, so that their mighty energies put
on personality, as it were, and act through one centralizing human will.
This process may not, if you please, make the great philosopher or the
great poet; but it does make the great _man_,--the man in whom thought
and judgment seem identical with volition,--the man whose vital
expression is not in words, but deeds,--the man whose sublime ideas
issue necessarily in sublime acts, not in sublime art. It was because
Washington's character was thus composed of the inmost substance and
power of facts and principles, that men instinctively felt the perfect
reality of his comprehensive manhood. This reality enforced universal
respect, married strength to repose, and threw into his face that
commanding majesty which made men of the speculative audacity of
Jefferson, and the lucid genius of Hamilton, recognize, with unwonted
meekness, his awful superiority.
FOOTNOTES:
[24] From "Character and Characteristic Men." Published by Houghton,
Mifflin & Co.
* * * * *
WASHINGTON'S SERVICE TO EDUCATION
BY CHARLES W.E. CHAPIN