Library of the Worlds Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Volume 4 | Page 6

connected with the people by the
most frail, most attenuated, scarcely discernible threads; yet, vehement
as was his nature, impassioned as was his courage, he so retained his
ardor that he never failed continuously to exert the attractive power of
that influence, and never exerted it so sharply as to break its force.
In secrecy he was unsurpassed; but his secrecy had the character of
prudent reserve, not of cunning or concealment. His great natural
power of vigilance had been developed by his life in the wilderness.
His understanding was lucid, and his judgment accurate; so that his
conduct never betrayed hurry or confusion. No detail was too minute
for his personal inquiry and continued supervision; and at the same
time he comprehended events in their widest aspects and relations. He
never seemed above the object that engaged his attention, and he was
always equal, without an effort, to the solution of the highest questions,
even when there existed no precedents to guide his decision. In the
perfection of the reflective powers, which he used habitually, he had no
peer.
In this way he never drew to himself admiration for the possession of
any one quality in excess, never made in council any one suggestion
that was sublime but impracticable, never in action took to himself the
praise or the blame of undertakings astonishing in conception, but
beyond his means of execution. It was the most wonderful
accomplishment of this man that, placed upon the largest theatre of
events, at the head of the greatest revolution in human affairs, he never
failed to observe all that was possible, and at the same time to bound
his aspirations by that which was possible.
A slight tinge in his character, perceptible only to the close observer,

revealed the region from which he sprung, and he might be described as
the best specimen of manhood as developed in the South; but his
qualities were so faultlessly proportioned that his whole country rather
claimed him as its choicest representative, the most complete
expression of all its attainments and aspirations. He studied his country
and conformed to it. His countrymen felt that he was the best type of
America, and rejoiced in it, and were proud of it. They lived in his life,
and made his success and his praise their own.
Profoundly impressed with confidence in God's providence, and
exemplary in his respect for the forms of public worship, no
philosopher of the eighteenth century was more firm in the support of
freedom of religious opinion, none more remote from bigotry; but
belief in God, and trust in his overruling power, formed the essence of
his character. Divine wisdom not only illumines the spirit, it inspires
the will. Washington was a man of action, and not of theory or words;
his creed appears in his life, not in his professions, which burst from
him very rarely, and only at those great moments of crisis in the
fortunes of his country, when earth and heaven seemed actually to meet,
and his emotions became too intense for suppression; but his whole
being was one continued act of faith in the eternal, intelligent, moral
order of the universe. Integrity was so completely the law of his nature,
that a planet would sooner have shot from its sphere than he have
departed from his uprightness, which was so constant that it often
seemed to be almost impersonal. "His integrity was the most pure, his
justice the most inflexible I have ever known," writes Jefferson; "no
motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able
to bias his decision."
They say of Giotto that he introduced goodness into the art of painting;
Washington carried it with him to the camp and the Cabinet, and
established a new criterion of human greatness. The purity of his will
confirmed his fortitude: and as he never faltered in his faith in virtue,
he stood fast by that which he knew to be just; free from illusions;
never dejected by the apprehension of the difficulties and perils that
went before him, and drawing the promise of success from the justice
of his cause. Hence he was persevering, leaving nothing unfinished;

devoid of all taint of obstinacy in his firmness; seeking and gladly
receiving advice, but immovable in his devotedness to right.
Of a "retiring modesty and habitual reserve," his ambition was no more
than the consciousness of his power, and was subordinate to his sense
of duty; he took the foremost place, for he knew from inborn
magnanimity that it belonged to him, and he dared not withhold the
service required of him; so that, with all his humility, he was by
necessity the first, though never for himself or for private ends. He
loved fame, the approval of coming generations, the good