of our day. He was in advance of his age; it is a question if we have
quite caught up with him. Of the two plans of his mature years and
ripened experience, one has been realized, the West Point idea, which
brings together, from every State and Territory of the Union, young men
to be trained for military service; that other plan of a National
University, with schools of administration and statesmanship, is yet
being considered.
Washington shared neither the least nor the most of the educational
advantages of his colony. The elder brothers, Lawrence and Augustine,
had realized their father's hopes, and had been sent to England for
their schooling as he had been for his, but the early death of the
father defeated that plan for George, so he obtained the early
preparation for his life work from the "home university," over which
Mary Washington presided, a loving and wise head. At times George was
with his brother Augustine at Bridges Creek, to be near the best parish
school, and then he was at home; but all the time he was advancing
rapidly in that school of men and affairs. "He was above all things
else, a capable, executive boy," says Woodrow Wilson in his biography.
"He loved mastery and he relished acquiring the most effective means of
mastery in all practical affairs. His very exercise books, used at
school, gave proof of it." As he did these things with care and
industry, so he followed with zest the spirited diversions of the hunt
and the life in fields and forests. Very early he put his knowledge of
the surveyor's art to practical test, and applied the chain and
logarithm to the reaches of the family lands. His skill came to the
notice of Lord Fairfax, who wished to know the extent of the lands he
had inherited in the New World. Washington, though but sixteen, was
equal to the task; in a month's time, after fording swollen streams and
penetrating the forests, he presented to Lord Fairfax maps and figures
which showed him the extent and boundaries of his estate. For three
years Washington followed this fascinating yet perilous work, and then,
being strongly recommended by Lord Fairfax, and himself being able to
show in clear, round style his mastery of the art and science of
surveying, he received in 1748 from the President of William and Mary
College the appointment as official surveyor for Culpeper County; such a
certificate was equivalent to a degree of civil engineer in those days.
Thus from an institution of higher learning, George Washington received
the first public recognition of service, and of merit. It was the
turning point in his life; it opened up fully the path to those
experiences which equipped him for that efficient service in the French
and Indian War, and the Revolution.
The honorable position of Chancellor had been held by the Bishops of
London from the foundation of the College in 1693 to the Revolution. The
old statute defining the duties of the office is interesting: "The
Chancellor is to be the Mæcenas, or patron of the College; such a one
as by his favor with the King and by his interest with all other persons
in England may be enabled to help in all the College affairs. His advice
is to be taken, especially in such arduous and momentous affairs as the
College shall have to do in England. If the College has any petitions at
any time to the King, let them be presented by the Chancellor." We can
imagine a grim smile on Washington's countenance as he read the
provisions made concerning the functions of his office, especially that
of conferring with the King.
In his letter to Samuel Griffin, Esq., Rector of the College, accepting
his appointment, he says: "Influenced by a heartfelt desire to promote
the cause of science in general and the prosperity of the College of
William and Mary in particular, I accept the office of Chancellor in the
same, and request you will be pleased to give official notice thereof to
the learned body who have thought proper to honor me with the
appointment. I confide fully in their strenuous endeavors for placing
the system of education on such a basis as will render it most
beneficial to the State, and the Republic of letters, as well as to the
more extensive interests of humanity and religion." This call to the
leadership of education in his own State antedated his election to the
Presidency of the new Republic by a year, and he continued in that
service to the College of William and Mary until the close of his life.
About the close of the Revolution, the State of Maryland began to
broaden its educational institutions. The School of Kent County at
Chestertown was placed in 1780 under the charge of the Rev. Dr. William
Smith, the minister of the parish who had been President of the College
of Philadelphia until its charter was revoked. Dr. Smith conducted the
Academy at Chestertown with great energy and ability, and in 1782 the
Visitors of the Academy asked that it be made a college; the legislature
made provision that when a total endowment of five thousand pounds
currency should be provided for the school, it should be incorporated
into a college, with enlarged courses of study and suitable professors,
and should be denominated Washington College, "in honorable and
perpetual memory of his Excellency, General Washington, the illustrious
and virtuous Commander-in-Chief, of the armies of the United States." In
five months the energetic trustees raised $14,000; Washington
contributed fifty guineas. The College was at once incorporated, and in
the following year, at its first commencement, its endowment had
increased to $28,000. It was the first college in Maryland; Washington
was elected as a member of the first Board of Visitors, but being with
the army at Newburgh, was unable to take his place on the Board, until
the second commencement of the College in 1784. Five years later, the
College bestowed upon Washington the degree of Doctor of Laws; his
letter of acknowledgment expressed the sentiment that, "in civilized
societies the welfare of the state and the happiness of the people are
advanced or retarded in proportion as the morals and education of the
youth are attended to. I cannot forbear on this occasion to express the
satisfaction which I feel on seeing the increase of our seminaries of
learning through the extensive country, and the general wish which seems
to prevail for establishing and maintaining these valuable
institutions." The old College has suffered by fire, and the
vicissitudes of fortune, yet it has lived through the years, and is
to-day doing a prosperous and noble work.
The Potomac and Virginia Company, and the James River Company were among
those organizations for transportation which Washington aided for the
opening up of the country. There was a recognition of his services to
the country, and the legislature of Virginia in 1785, through Patrick
Henry, then Governor, gave Washington fifty shares in the Potomac and
Virginia Company, and one hundred shares in the James River Company.
Washington replied that he had resolutely shut his hand against every
pecuniary recompense during the revolutionary struggle; and that he
could not change that position. He added that, if the legislature would
allow him to turn the gifts from his own private emolument to objects of
a public nature, he would endeavor to select objects which would meet
the most enlightened and patriotic views of the Assembly of Virginia.
The proposition met with hearty approval, and Washington held the stock
in both companies, awaiting the time when proper and worthy objects
should be found for the benefactions.
In 1785 he proposed to Edmund Randolph and Thomas Jefferson, that the
revenue of the stock in those companies be used for the establishment of
two schools, one upon each river, for the education of poor children,
particularly those whose parents had fallen in the struggle for liberty.
The idea was a noble one, yet Washington's call to the large service of
the College of William and Mary as its Chancellor, and to the country as
its President, prevented him from carrying it out. He carried out the
spirit of his idea by giving fifty pounds a year for the instruction of
poor children in Alexandria, and by making large provision for the
education of the sons of soldiers. In 1783 he honored a Princeton
commencement by his presence, and bestowed upon the College a gift of
fifty pounds. A tour through Georgia in 1790 gave him opportunity to
visit and approve of the Academy of Augusta. About the same time the
indomitable Kirkland, missionary to the Iroquois, was trying every
source of influence and money in behalf of an academy in Oneida County,
New York, to be located near the old Property Line, where both the sons
of the settlers and the children of the forest might be educated. His
visit to Philadelphia secured a generous benefaction from Washington,
and at the same time his influence and that of others, so that Congress
appropriated $15,000 yearly to "instruct the Iroquois in agriculture and
the useful arts."
Washington had now matured his idea of a national university. He was
ready to lay it before the country, and to be the first contributor to
its endowment. Virginia was taking new interest in its schools and the
influence of William and Mary College was widening: there was a demand
for more thoroughly equipped academies. The school at Augusta, which the
Revolution had been the means of christening Liberty Hall, had become
prominent. In 1796 Washington settled upon Liberty Hall as the proper
recipient of the one hundred shares in the James River Company to
augment its endowment. In accepting the gift the name of the academy was
changed, and the trustees were able to sign themselves, "the trustees of
Washington Academy, late Liberty Hall." Washington was greatly touched
by the honor, and ascribed his ability to make the donation to "the
generosity of the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia."
The institution prospered. About 1802 a new charter was granted with
larger powers, under the name of Washington College. John Robinson, a
soldier of the Revolution under Washington, gave, in emulation of his
illustrious commander, his entire estate to Washington College; from it
the trustees realized $40,000 toward the endowment. The stock of the
James River Company, which Washington transferred to the College, to-day
yields an income of six per cent, on $50,000, and, after prospering
years, the College has now a productive endowment of $600,000, and a
property worth $800,000. The country has passed through many critical
periods since Washington's day, and the Union is stronger than ever. The
old College is a witness to the all-healing power of time and kinship,
for its name has again been added to: it is Washington and Lee
University now; and thus is joined with the name of the Father of His
Country the name of one whom the South has ever loved, whom the North
long since forgave, and whose memory the country will ever cherish.
The Revolutionary War was a costly experiment of education in military
affairs in the field; it cost heavily in blood and treasure. Washington
realized that preparation for service in the army must be had in
military schools.
From the very beginning of the war until the end of his life, by
official message and by letter, Washington urged the importance of
military instruction. In his message to Congress in 1796 he said: "The
institution of a military academy is recommended by cogent reasons.
However pacific the general policy of a nation may be, it ought never to
be without an adequate stock of military knowledge for emergencies. In
proportion as the observance from the necessity of practicing the rules
of the military art, ought to be its care in preserving and transmitting
by proper establishments the knowledge of that art. A thorough
examination of the subject will evince that the art of war is extensive
and complicated; that it demands much previous study; and that the
possession of it in its most important and perfect state is always of
great moment to the security of a nation." Congress did make provision
for the carrying out of many of the President's recommendations; it
created a new grade in the army, that of _Cadet_, to which young men
exclusively were admitted, and money was appropriated for their
education in the science of war that they might be prepared for
positions of command. But Congress delayed the potential part of the
plan; it did not collect the regiment of artillerists and engineers at a
single station, nor did it erect buildings for the uses of education.
The idea did not die; in 1802 Congress made the first of those
provisions for a military academy with the plan and scope which
Washington had so persistently urged. West Point was chosen as the place
of its location. That academy has more than once demonstrated the
wisdom of the far-seeing Washington.
West Point is the realization of Washington's plans for a national
school of military instruction. To-day it represents to the country the
important features of that plan for a National University. By his last
will and testament, Washington bequeathed the fifty shares of stock in
the Potomac Company to the establishment of a National University in the
central part of the United States; he made provision that until such a
university should be founded the fund should be self-accumulating by the
use of the dividends in the purchase of more stock, to still further
augment the endowment fund. In the transfers and changes of commercial
life apparent record of that stock has been lost, yet that last will
bequeathed an ideal which in indirect ways is still inspiring our
national educational system.
Let us take our place by the side of a student of our national history
and institutions, as after a walk through the buildings across that
noble plain at West Point he sits down to meditate, on the granite steps
of the "Battle Monument." He is where the history of yesterday abides,
but about him is represented the strength and life of the nation, and
the strong military figures of officers, cadets, and soldiers from every
section of our country. He feels the wisdom of that great desire of
Washington's that the life and thought of the widely separated sections
of the rising empire should become homogeneous and unified by the
meeting of the young men of the land in a central school, during the
years of training for the country's service at arms. This student of
history would feel how that hope had been fulfilled by the loyal service
which the sons of West Point to so large a degree rendered the Union in
its days of peril; and with deep gratitude would he acknowledge that
enthusiastic loyalty with which the North and South, the East and West,
as represented at West Point and throughout the country, rushed to its
service to release those islands of the sea from the thraldom and
tyranny of a medieval monarchy.
Then the vista of the future would open before him, and he would see
that larger hope and plan of Washington's realized in the city of his
name. There in that center in the Nation's life he would see young men
assembling in the national schools of administration, commerce, consular
service, and finance, to study questions of government and international
relations. He would see reaching to all the lands of earth a peace more
beautiful than that of the river below him; and wider and deeper than
that Western ocean where now is flying our flag of hope and promise.
* * * * *
ADDRESS AT THE DEDICATION OF THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT
BY JOHN W. DANIEL
_Delivered in the Hall of the House of Representatives, February 21,
1885_
Mr. President of the United States, Senators, Representatives, Judges,
Mr. Chairman, and My Countrymen:--Alone in its grandeur stands forth the
character of Washington in history; alone like some peak that has no
fellow in the mountain range of greatness.
"Washington," said Guizot, "Washington did the two greatest things which
in politics it is permitted to man to attempt. He maintained by peace
the independence of his country, which he had conquered by war. He
founded a free government in the name of the principles of order and by
re-establishing their sway." Washington did, indeed, do these things.
But he did more. Out of disconnected fragments, he molded a whole, and
made it a country. He achieved his country's independence by the sword.
He maintained that independence by peace as by war. He finally
established both his country and its freedom in an enduring frame of
constitutional government, fashioned to make liberty and union one and
inseparable. These four things together constitute the unexampled
achievement of Washington.
The world has ratified the profound remark of Fisher Ames, that "he
changed mankind's ideas of political greatness." It has approved the
opinion of Edward Everett, that he was "the greatest of good men, and
the best of great men." It has felt for him, with Erskine, "an awful
reverence." It has attested the declaration of Brougham that he was
"the greatest man of his own or of any age."...
Conquerors who have stretched your scepter over boundless territories;
founders of empires who have held your dominions in the reign of law;
reformers who have cried aloud in the wilderness of oppression; teachers
who have striven to cast down false doctrines, heresy, and schism;
statesmen whose brains have throbbed with mighty plans for the
amelioration of human society; scar-crowned vikings of the sea,
illustrious heroes of the land, who have borne the standards of siege
and battle, come forth in bright array from your glorious fanes, and
would ye be measured by the measure of his stature? Behold you not in
him a more illustrious and more venerable presence? Statesman, soldier,
patriot, sage, reformer of creeds; teacher of truth and justice,
achiever and preserver of liberty, the first of men, founder and saviour
of his country, father of his people--this is he, solitary and
unapproachable in his grandeur!
Oh, felicitous Providence that gave to America our Washington!
High soars into the sky to-day, higher than the pyramid or the dome of
St. Paul's or St. Peter's--the loftiest and most imposing structure
that man has ever reared--high soars into the sky to where--"Earth
highest yearns to meet a star" the monument which "We the people of the
United States" have uplifted to his memory. It is a fitting monument,
more fitting than any statue. For his image could only display him in
some one phase of his varied character. So art has fitly typified his
exalted life in yon plain, lofty shaft. Such is his greatness, that only
by a symbol could it be represented. As Justice must be blind in order
to be whole in contemplation, so History must be silent that by this
mighty sign she may disclose the amplitude of her story.
No sum could now be made of Washington's character that did not exhaust
language of its tributes and repeat virtue by all her names. No sum
could be made of his achievements that did not unfold the history of his
country and its institutions--the history of his age and its
progress--the history of man and his destiny to be free. But, whether
character or achievement be regarded, the riches before us only expose
the poverty 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, Cæsar, 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 that must be lit up with colored panegyric; no
subterranean passage to be trod in trembling, lest there be stirred the
ghost of a buried crime.
A true son of nature was George Washington--of nature in her brightest
intelligence and noblest mold; and the difficulty, if such there be, in
comprehending him, is only that of reviewing from a single standpoint
the vast procession of those civil and military achievements which
filled nearly half a century of his life, and in realizing the magnitude
of those qualities which were requisite to their performance--the
difficulty of fashioning in our minds a pedestal broad enough to bear
the towering figure, whose greatness is diminished by nothing but the
perfection of its proportions. If his exterior--in calm, grave, and
resolute repose--ever impressed the casual observer as austere and cold,
it was only because he did not reflect that no great heart like his
could have lived unbroken unless bound by iron nerves in an iron frame.
The Commander of Armies, the Chief of a People, the Hope of Nations
could not wear his heart upon his sleeve; and yet his sternest will
could not conceal its high and warm pulsations. Under the enemy's guns
at Boston he did not forget to instruct his agent to administer
generously of charity to his needy neighbors at home. The sufferings of
women and children thrown adrift by war, and of his bleeding comrades,
pierced his soul. And the moist eye and trembling voice with which he
bade farewell to his veterans bespoke the underlying tenderness of his
nature, even as the storm-wind makes music in its undertones.