CHAPTER XI. Character of Washington. THE lives of great and good men who have become illustrious for services to their country and the world, are principally valuable in showing by the exercise of what great qualities they were enabled thus to become the benefactors of mankind. In this manner their example is carried down to posterity, and in addition to the benefits derived immediately from their actions, they become useful to all succeeding ages, by exciting the desire of imitation, through the medium of admiration and love. It is not too much to say, that no character on record furnishes a safer or more noble object for the imitation of every class of mankind, from the ruler of nations to the humblest citizen, than that of Washington, Equally admirable both in a public and private station, as a military chief, a civil ruler, and a useful citizen, nothing but good can arise from the contemplation of his example, in every circumstance and situation of his life. Those who follow in his footsteps can never go astray. Though the simple relation which has been given furnishes the best exemplification of his great qualities, and would seem to render an analysis of his character unnecessary, yet addressing myself, as I do, to the youth of my country, it may not be useless to them if I attempt to point out, one by one, those virtues and talents which to me seem to have contributed most to his own glory, and to the salvation of his country. All are exemplified in his life and actions, but they cannot be too often or too distinctly presented to the notice of my youthful readers. Every thing truly good and beautiful becomes the more so by study and contemplation. It is impossible to read the speeches and letters of Washington, and follow his whole course of life, without receiving the conviction of his steady, rational, and exalted piety. Everywhere he places his chief reliance, in the difficult, almost hopeless circumstances in which he was so often involved, on the justice of that great Being who holds the fate of men. and of nations in the hollow of his hand. hopes for his country are always founded on His the righteousness of its cause, and the blessing of Heaven. His was the belief of reason and revelation; and that belief was illustrated and exemplified in all his actions. No parade accompanied its exercise, no declamation its exhibition; for it was his opinion that a man who is always boasting of his religion, is like one who continually proclaims his honesty-he would trust neither one nor the other. He was not accustomed to argue points of faith, but on one occasion, in reply to a gentleman who expressed doubts on the subject, thus gave his sentiments : "It is impossible to account for the creation of the universe without the agency of a Supreme Being. "It is impossible to govern the universe. without the aid of a Supreme Being. "It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being. Religion is as necessary to reason, as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other. A reasoning being would lose his reason in attempting to account for the great phenomena of nature, had he not a Supreme Being to refer to; and well has it been said, that if there had been no God, mankind would have been obliged to imagine one." On this basis of piety was erected the superstructure of his virtues. He perceived the harmonious affinity subsisting between the duties we owe to Heaven and those we are called upon to sustain on earth, and made his faith the foundation of his moral obligations. He cherished the homely but invaluable maxim, that honesty is the best policy," and held the temporal as well as eternal happiness of mankind, could never be separated from the performance of their duties to Heaven and their fellow-creatures. He believed it to be an inflexible law, that, sooner or later, a departure from the strict obligations of truth and justice would bring with it the loss of the confidence of mankind, and thus deprive us of our best support for prosperity in this world, as well as our best hope of happiness in that to come. In short, he believed and practised on the high principle, that the invariable consequence of the performance of a duty was an increase of happiness. What others call good fortune, he ascribed to a great and universal law, establishing an indissoluble connection between actions and their conse quences, and making every man responsible to himself for his good or ill success in this world. Under that superintending Providence which shapes the ends of men, his sentiments and actions show that he believed, that, as a general rule, every rational being was the architect of his own happiness. Ninety-nine times in a hundred, the stone that falls on our heads is thrown up by ourselves. If we trace the noble course of Washington, we shall find these truths exemplified at every step of his rising greatness. When, at the age of fourteen, he sacrificed his most cherished hopes, and resigned his warrant as a midshipman in the British navy, to filial piety, he laid the foundation of all his future greatness. This act of duty prepared the way for that career which ended in freeing a nation, and earning the noblest of all titles, that of Father of his country.. So, in like manner, we see this great principle exemplified in the consequences growing directly out of his early habits of life. His manly steadiness of character, his attention to study for the purpose of supplying the deficiencies of his early education, his fraternal |