GEORGE WASHINGTON

[George Washington was born, of old English stock, in Westmoreland Co., Va., on Feb. 22, 1732. He was brought up chiefly by his mother, received a limited education, and was early thrown upon his own resources as a surveyor. The prosecution of his profession brought him into contact with frontier life and led finally to his taking an active part in the campaigns against the French and Indians for the possession of the Ohio region. After his marriage with Mrs. Custis in 1759, he settled at Mt. Vernon as a prosperous planter. Having sympathized from the first with the colonies in their contentions with the mother country, he was made a member of the first Continental Congress, and in 1775 became Commander-in-chief of the American forces. It is now generally acknowledged that his prudence, determination, and military skill were the greatest single factor in bringing the Revolution to a successful issue. After the close of the war he retired to Mt. Vernon, where he took an active interest in the efforts made to strengthen the union of states. He presided over the Convention of 1787, and was subsequently elected first President under the new constitution. He served with great wisdom for two terms (1789-1797), declining reëlection in his famous Farewell Address. After his retirement he was appointed lieutenant-general of the American forces, in view of the war that seemed impending with France. He lived only a year longer, dying of laryngitis and bad medical attention, on Dec. 14, 1799. The best edition of his works is that of W. C. Ford, in fourteen volumes; but that of Jared Sparks, in twelve volumes, is also valuable. The best biography, in moderate compass, is that by Henry Cabot Lodge.

THE appearance of Washington's name in a volume devoted to the chief prose-writers of America seems to need some explanation. He was extremely diffident of his own powers as a writer, and although his fame has been growing steadily for over a century, few of his admirers have ever ventured to claim for him the honors of authorship. His Farewell Address has been assigned in considerable part to Hamilton, and at least one editor of his letters has felt obliged to correct his orthography and to elevate his diction. His style, when at its best, possesses little grace or variety; his voluminous writings are read by few who are not historical students; he does not need the added prestige of being considered

a man of letters, even if his lack of general culture does not preclude him from acquiring it;- why, then, is he made to keep company with Franklin and Jefferson?

This question may be answered by one word, character. Washington's character was so great and noble that whatever he wrote became great and noble also. No defects of early training, no lack of the elements of style, no shrinking from authorship, could prevent such a man from producing, whenever he wrote down what was uppermost in his mind and heart, literature marked by the most important of all qualities,—“high seriousness." If, as we must believe, true literature, the "literature of power," is separated from pseudo-literature, the literature of mere knowledge, by the fact that it appeals powerfully to the emotions, then Washington's writings are in the main literature of no mean order. It is impossible to read his more important letters, or his proclamations to his soldiers, or such documents as his address to the governors of all the states on the occasion of his laying down his command, or the rough draft of his Farewell Address, without feeling emotions of the most elevated kind. It is true that these emotions are moral and intellectual rather than æsthetic in character, yet at times they are æsthetic too, for the sonorous and stately dignity of some of his pages gives a pleasure that is not unconnected with pure charm. The noble simplicity of the superb address of 1783, which follows this criticism, a document which it would be impossible to praise too highly for its spirit and, one might almost add, for its style-will illustrate the truth of the contention here made.

Character, then, in the highest sense of the term, is what makes Washington's writings live as literature to those who have learned to revere him after long and zealous study. It is character combined with one splendid opportunity that gives Lincoln fame as a literary man, and it is by no means certain that Washington did not have his splendid opportunity when he disbanded his troops, even if we do not go further and attribute to him the only qualities that make the Farewell Address an ever memorable document. Washington, with his character, and perhaps his two great opportunities to express this character in words that move us still, is as truly a literary man as Lincoln, and should stand with the latter

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in a class apart from all our other writers. Criticism of these two great men, certainly the technical criticism of the student of rhetoric, is almost an impertinence; yet it would be equally an impertinence for the student of history to claim them for his own behoof, since they not merely did noble deeds, but uttered and recorded noble words, that will stir mankind as long as sublime characters inspire reverent admiration.

W. P. TRENT

TO THE GOVERNORS OF ALL THE STATES

HEAD-QUARTERS, Newburg, 8 June, 1783.

SIR: The great object, for which I had the honor to hold an appointment in the service of my country, being accomplished, I am now preparing to resign it into the hands of Congress, and to return to that domestic retirement, which, it is well known, I left with the greatest reluctance; a retirement for which I have never ceased to sigh, through a long and painful absence, and in which (remote from the noise and trouble of the world) I meditate to pass the remainder of life, in a state of undisturbed repose. But before I carry this resolution into effect, I think it a duty incumbent on me to make this my last official communication; to congratulate you on the glorious events which Heaven has been pleased to produce in our favor; to offer my sentiments respecting some important subjects, which appear to me to be intimately connected with the tranquillity of the United States; to take my leave of your Excellency as a public character; and to give my final blessing to that country, in whose service I have spent the prime of my life, for whose sake I have consumed so many anxious days and watchful nights, and whose happiness, being extremely dear to me, will always constitute no inconsiderable part of my own.

Impressed with the liveliest sensibility on this pleasing occasion, I will claim the indulgence of dilating the more copiously on the ubjects of our mutual felicitations. When we consider the magnitude of the prize we contended for, the doubtful nature of the tontest, and the favorable manner in which it has terminated, we hall find the greatest possible reason for gratitude and rejoicing. This is a theme that will afford infinite delight to every benevolent nd liberal mind, whether the event in contemplation be considered s the source of present enjoyment, or the parent of future happiess; and we shall have equal occasion to felicitate ourselves on he lot which Providence has assigned us, whether we view it in a atural, a political, or a moral point of light.

The citizens of America, placed in the most enviable condition, s the sole lords and proprietors of a vast tract of continent, com

prehending all the various soils and climates of the world, and abounding with all the necessaries and conveniences of life, are now, by the late satisfactory pacification, acknowledged to be possessed of absolute freedom and independency. They are, from this period, to be considered as the actors on a most conspicuous theatre, which seems to be peculiarly designated by Providence for the display of human greatness and felicity. Here they are not only surrounded with every thing, which can contribute to the completion of private and domestic enjoyment; but Heaven has crowned all its other blessings, by giving a fairer opportunity for political happiness, than any other nation has ever been favored with. Nothing can illustrate these observations more forcibly, than a recollection of the happy conjuncture of times and circumstances, under which our republic assumed its rank among the nations. The foundation of our empire was not laid in the gloomy age of ignorance and superstition; but at an epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period. The researches of the human mind after social happiness have been carried to a great extent; the treasures of knowledge, acquired by the labors of philosophers, sages, and legislators, through a long succession of years, are laid open for our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the establishment of our forms of government. The free cultivation of letters, the unbounded extension of commerce, the progressive refinement of manners, the growing liberality of sentiment, and, above all, the pure and benign light of Revelation, have had a meliorating influence on mankind and increased the blessings of society. At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a nation; and, if their citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own.

Such is our situation, and such are our prospects; but notwithstanding the cup of blessing is thus reached out to us; notwithstanding happiness is ours, if we have a disposition to seize the occasion and make it our own; yet it appears to me there is an option still left to the United States of America, that it is in their choice, and depends upon their conduct, whether they will be respectable and prosperous, or contemptible and miserable, as a nation. This is the time of their political probation; this is