his eminent military talents, he may be considered the founder.

The virtues which distinguish him from all others who have united the fame of statesman and captain, were two-fold, and they are as great as they are rare. He refused power which his own merit had placed within his reach, constantly persisting in the preference of a republican to a monarchial form of government, as the most congenial to liherty when it is not incompatible with the habits of the people and the circumstances of society; and he even declined to continue longer than his years seemed to permit at the head of that commonwealth which he had founded. This subjugation of all ambitious feelings to the paramount sense of duty is his first excellence; it is the sacrifice of his own aggrandisement to his country's freedom. The next is like unto it; his constant love of peace when placed at the head of affairs: this was the sacrifice of the worthless glory which ordinary men prize the most, to the tranquillity and happiness of mankind. Wherefore to all ages and in all climes, they who most love public virtue will hold in eternal remembrance the name of

George Washington; never pronouncing it but with gratitude and awe, as designating a mortal removed above the ordinary lot of human frailty.

The words of his last will in bequeathing his sword to his nephews-the sword which he had worn in the sacred war of libertyought to be graven in letters of gold over every palace in the world: "This sword they shall never draw but in defence of freedom, or of their country, or of their kindred; and when thus drawn, they shall prefer falling with it in their hands to the relinquishment thereof."

For farther information we refer to the works of Ramsay and Marshall; and to the Correspondence of Washington, published by Mr. Sparkes.

NATHANIEL GREENE,

MAJOR-GENERAL IN THE AMERICAN ARMY.

GENERAL GREENE, although descended from ancestors of elevated standing, was not indebted to the condition of his family for any part of the real lustre and reputation he possessed. He was literally the founder of his own fortune, and the author of his own fame. He was the second son of Nathaniel Greene, a member of the society of Friends, an anchor-smith.

He was born in the year 1741, in the town of Warwick, and county of Kent, in the province of Rhode Island. Being intended by his father for the business which he himself pursued, young Greene received at school nothing but the elements of a common English education. But to him, an education so limited was unsatisfactory. With such funds as he was able to raise, he purchased a small, but well-selected library, and spent his evenings, and all the time he could redeem from his father's business, in regular study.

At a period of life unusually early, Greene was elevated, by a very flattering suffrage, to a

seat in the legislature of his native colony. This was the commencement of a public career, which, heightening as it advanced, and flourishing in the midst of difficulties, closed with a lustre that was peculiarly dazzling.

Thus introduced into the councils of his country, at a time when the rights of the subject, and the powers of the ruler, were beginning to be topics of liberal discussion, he felt it his duty to avow his sentiments on the momentous question. Nor did he pause or waver, as to the principles he should adopt, and the decision he should form. He was inflexibly opposed to tyranny and oppression in every shape, and manfully avowed it. But his character, although forming, was not completely developed until the commencement of the troubles which terminated in our independence. It was then that he aspired to a head in the public councils; and throwing from him, as unsuitable to the times, the peaceful habits in which he had been educated, sternly declared for a redress of grievances, or open resistance. This open departure from the sectarian principles in which he had been educated, was followed, of course, by his immediate dismission from the society of Friends.

The sword was earliest unsheathed in the colony of Massachusetts; and on the plains of Lexington and Concord, the blood of British soldiers and American subjects mingled first in hostile strife. Nor was Rhode Island, after that sanguinary affair, behind her sister colonies, in gallantry of spirit and promptitude of preparation.

Greene commenced his military pupilage in the capacity of a private soldier, in October, 1774, in a military association, commanded by James M. Varnum, afterward brigadier-general. But Rhode Island having, in the month of May, 1775, raised three regiments of militia, she placed them under the command of Greene, who, without loss of time, conducted them to head-quarters, in the village of Cambridge.

On the 2d of July, 1775, General Washington, invested by Congress with the command in chief of the armies of his country, arrived at Boston. Greene availed himself of an early opportunity, amid the public demonstration of joy, to welcome the commander-in-chief, in a personal address, in which, with much warmth of feeling and kindness of expression, he avowed his attachment to his person, and the high gratification he derived from the prospect