without funds or a government to support you. You have conducted the great military contest with wisdom and fortitude, invariably regarding the rights of the civil power through all disasters and changes. You have, by the love and confidence of your fellow-citizens, enabled them to display their martial genius, and transmit their fame to posterity. You have persevered until these United States, aided by a magnanimous king and nation, have been enabled, under a just Providence, to close the war in freedom, safety, and independence; on which happy event we sincerely join you in congratulations.

"Having defended the standard of liberty in this new world; having taught a lesson, useful to those who inflict and to those who feel oppression, you retire from the great theatre of action with the blessings of your fellow-citizens. But the glory of your virtues will not terminate with your military command; it will continue to animate remotest ages.

"We feel with you our obligations to the army in general, and will particularly charge ourselves with the interests of those confidential officers who have attended your person to this affecting moment We ioin you in commend

ing the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, beseeching him to dispose the hearts and minds of our citizens to improve the opportunity afforded them of becoming a happy and respectable nation. And for you we address to him our earnest prayers that a life so beloved may be fostered with all his care; that your days may be as happy as they have been illustrious, and that he will finally give that reward which this world cannot bestow."

Thus closed the military career of Washington, in a manner worthy of him, of his country, and of its constituted authorities. It seems impossible to contemplate the scene I have just sketched, without feeling the heart to swell with the noblest, most affecting emotions. The event itself, so simple yet so grand; the example of a great and virtuous man, who, having fulfilled the duties for which he was raised to power, voluntarily comes forward to surrender it into the hands of the representatives of the people; the character and dignity of that august assembly to whom the trust was surrendered, and of the man who thus easily

divested himself of authority; the piety, fervour, and simplicity of the address and the reply; and the recollection of the events which preceded and followed the consummation of the independence of a great nation— ́ all combine to form a picture to which few of this world present a parallel. Here, as in all the acts of his life, Washington exhibited an example which will be much oftener admired than imitated. Here, as in all other circumstances, he stands almost alone in the world-great without seeming to be great, because he performed great actions with such ease and simplicity, with such a total absence of all apparent effort, that, until we examine them critically, they appear like those of ordinary men.

Having performed this act of moderation and patriotism; having served his country through good and evil fortune, through perils and unnumbered storms, and brought her safely into the haven of repose and security, Washington now retired to Mount Vernon, there to enjoy in quiet the sweets of domestic intercourse, and the pleasures of rural life, followed by the blessings of grateful millions.

CHAPTER VIII.

Washington at Mount Vernon.

THE good man carries his happiness with him wheresoever he goes, for it is the inmate of his bosom. Its source is in the consciousness of virtue and the approval of Heaven. This is the only sure basis of independence, for it places us above the world and all its accidents, which are otherwise beyond our control. I have generally observed that men of eminent purity of life, and distinguished for the exercise of the higher virtues, were happy and blessed in the possession of what they most desired. They were perhaps neither rich nor great; but if they were not so, it was because they coveted neither. But they possessed what they valued far above these-a serenity and quietness of mind, a calm contented acquiescence in the bounties of Heaven, whether

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bestowed or withheld. If they were not great, they were honoured by the esteem. of others; and if subjected to misfortunes and reproaches, it was apparent to all that they enjoyed what is above all things most precious-a composed, cheerful, and resigned spirit, a divine contentment, such as placed them far above the influence of all this world can give or take away, and clearly proved that virtue is not without its reward even in the extremity of its hardest trials.

If ever man possessed these means of happiness, it would seem to have been Washington. During his whole course of life his actions corresponded with his faith and his principles; the one was the natural result of the other. We see him on all occasions modestly and unaffectedly distrusting his own powers, promising nothing but honest exertions and integrity of purpose, and uniformly relying for the attainment of just ends on the aid of a just Providence. Everywhere, and at all times, he exhibits this high-souled dependence, and while he carried with him into retirement the recollection of having employed his past life in the performance of useful and glorious actions, he