The Life of George Washington, Vol. 1 | Page 2

to view them in the extremes of adverse and prosperous
fortune, to trace their progress through all the difficulties they have
surmounted, and to contemplate their whole conduct, at a time when,
the power and the pomp of office having disappeared, it may be
presented to us in the simple garb of truth.
If among those exalted characters which are produced in every age,
none can have a fairer claim to the attention and recollection of
mankind than those under whose auspices great empires have been
founded, or political institutions deserving to be permanent, established;
a faithful representation of the various important events connected with
the life of the favourite son of America, cannot be unworthy of the
general regard. Among his own countrymen it will unquestionably
excite the deepest interest.
As if the chosen instrument of Heaven, selected for the purpose of
effecting the great designs of Providence respecting this our western
hemisphere, it was the peculiar lot of this distinguished man, at every
epoch when the destinies of his country seemed dependent on the
measures adopted, to be called by the united voice of his fellow citizens
to those high stations on which the success of those measures
principally depended. It was his peculiar lot to be equally useful in
obtaining the independence, and consolidating the civil institutions, of
his country. We perceive him at the head of her armies, during a most
arduous and perilous war on the events of which her national existence
was staked, supporting with invincible fortitude the unequal conflict.
That war being happily terminated, and the political revolutions of
America requiring that he should once more relinquish his beloved

retirement, we find him guiding her councils with the same firmness,
wisdom, and virtue, which had, long and successfully, been displayed
in the field. We behold him her chief magistrate at a time when her
happiness, her liberty, perhaps her preservation depended on so
administering the affairs of the Union, that a government standing
entirely on the public favour, which had with infinite difficulty been
adopted, and against which the most inveterate prejudices had been
excited, should conciliate public opinion, and acquire a firmness and
stability that would enable it to resist the rude shocks it was destined to
sustain. It was too his peculiar fortune to afford the brightest examples
of moderation and patriotism, by voluntarily divesting himself of the
highest military and civil honours when the public interests no longer
demanded that he should retain them. We find him retiring from the
head of a victorious and discontented army which adored him, so soon
as the object for which arms had been taken up was accomplished; and
withdrawing from the highest office an American citizen can hold, as
soon as his influence, his character, and his talents ceased to be
necessary to the maintenance of that government which had been
established under his auspices.
He was indeed, "first in war,[1] first in peace, and first in the hearts of
his fellow citizens."
[Footnote 1: The expressions of a resolution prepared by general Lee,
and passed in the house of representatives of the United States, on their
being informed of the death of general Washington.]
A faithful detail of the transactions of a person so pre-eminently
distinguished will be looked for with avidity, and the author laments his
inability to present to the public a work which may gratify the
expectations that have been raised. In addition to that just diffidence of
himself which he very sincerely feels, two causes beyond his control
combine to excite this apprehension.
Accustomed to look in the page of history for incidents in themselves
of great magnitude, to find immense exertions attended with
inconsiderable effects, and vast means employed in producing
unimportant ends, we are in the habit of bestowing on the recital of

military actions, a degree of consideration proportioned to the numbers
engaged in them. When the struggle has terminated, and the agitations
felt during its suspense have subsided, it is difficult to attach to
enterprises, in which small numbers have been concerned, that
admiration which is often merited by the talents displayed in their
execution, or that interest which belongs to the consequences that have
arisen from them.
The long and distressing contest between Great Britain and these states
did not abound in those great battles which are so frequent in the wars
of Europe. Those who expect a continued succession of victories and
defeats; who can only feel engaged in the movements of vast armies,
and who believe that a Hero must be perpetually in action, will be
disappointed in almost every page of the following history. Seldom was
the American chief in a condition to indulge his native courage in those
brilliant achievements to which he was stimulated by his own feelings,
and a