situation, than from the dignity of his mind! Grateful to France for the assistance received from her in that great contest which secured the independence of America, he yet did not choose to give up the system of neutrality in her favor. Having once laid down the line of conduct most proper to be pursued, not all the insults and provocations of the French minister, Genet, could at all put him out of his way or bend him from his purpose. It must indeed create astonishment that, placed in circumstances so critical, and filling a station so conspicuous, the the character of Washington should never once have been called in question; that he should in no one instance have been accused of improper insolence or of mean submission in his transactions with foreign nations. It has been reserved for him to run the race of glory without experiencing the smallest interruption to the brilliancy of his career. The breath of censure has not dared to impeach the purity of his conduct, nor the eye of envy to raise its malignant glance to the elevation of his virtues. Such has been the transcendent merit and the unparalleled fate of this illustrious man. How did he act when insulted by Genet? Did he consider it as necessary to avenge himself for the misconduct or madness of an individual by involving a whole continent in the horrors of war? No; he contented himself with procuring satisfaction for the insult by causing Genet to be recalled, and thus at once consulted his own dignity and the interests of his country. Happy Americans! while the whirlwind flies over one quarter of the globe, and spreads everywhere desolation, you remain protected from its baleful effects by your own virtues and the wisdom of your government. Separated from Europe by an immense ocean, you feel not the effects of those prejudices and passions which convert the boasted seats of civilization into scenes of horror and bloodshed. You profit by the folly and madness of the contending nations, and afford, in your more congenial clime, an asylum to those blessings and virtues which they wantonly contemn, or wickedly exclude from their bosom. Cultivating the arts of peace under the influence of freedom, you advance by rapid strides to opulence and distinction; and if by any accident you should be compelled to take part in the present unhappy contest-if you should find it necessary to avenge insult or repel injurythe world will bear witness to the equity of your sentiments and the moderation of your views; and the success of your arms will, no doubt, be proportioned to the justice of your cause. CHARLES JAMES Fox. JEFFERSON'S ESTIMATE OF WASHINGTON. His mind was great and powerful, without being of the very first order; his penetration strong, though not so acute as that of a Newton, Bacon, or Locke; and, as far as he saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It was slow in operation, being little aided by invention or imagination, but sure in conclusion. Hence the common remark of his officers, of the advantage he derived from councils of war, where, hearing all suggestions, he selected whatever was best; and certainly no general ever planned his battles more judiciously. But if deranged during the course of the action, if any member of his plan was dislocated by sudden circumstances, he was slow in a re-adjustment. The consequence was that he often failed in the field and rarely against an enemy in station, as at Boston and York. He was incapable of fear, meeting personal danger with the calmest unconcern. Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until every circumstance, every consideration was maturely weighed, refraining, if he saw a doubt; but, when once decided, going through with his purpose, whatever obstacles opposed. His integrity was most pure; his justice the most inflexible; no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was, in every sense of the word, a wise, a good, and a great man. His temper was naturally irritable and high-toned; but reflection and resolution had obtained a firm and habitual ascendancy over it. If ever, however, it broke forth, he was most tremendous in his wrath. In his expenses he was honorable, but exact; liberal in contributions to whatever promised utility, but frowning and unyielding in all visionary projects, and all unworthy calls on his charity. His heart was not warm in its affections; but he exactly calculated every man's value, and gave him a solid esteem proportionate to it. His person was fine; his stature exactly what one could wish; his deportment easy, erect and noble-the best horseman of his age, and the most graceful figure that could be seen on horseback. Although in the circle of his friends, where he might be unreserved with safety, he took a free share in conversation, his colloquial talents were not above mediocrity, possessing neither copiousness of ideas nor fluency of words. In public, when called upon for a sudden opinion, he was unready, short and embarrassed. Yet he wrote readily, rather diffusely, in an easy and correct style. This he acquired by conversation with the world, for his education was merely reading, writing and common arithmetic, to which he added surveying at a later day. His time was employed in action. chiefly, reading little, and that only in agriculture and English history. His correspondence became necessarily extensive, and, with journalizing his agricultural proceedings, occupied most of his leisure within doors. On the whole, his character was in its mass perfect, in nothing bad, in a few points indifferent, and it may truly be said that never did nature and fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great and to place him in the same constellation with whatever worthies have merited from man an everlasting remembrance. For his was the singular destiny and merit of leading the armies of his country successfully through an arduous war for the establishment of its independence; of conducting its councils through the birth of a government, new in its forms and principles, until it had settled down into a quiet and orderly train; and of scrupulously obeying the laws through the whole of his career, civil and military, of which the history of the world furnishes no other example.— T. JEFFERSON. WASHINGTON. Great were the hearts, and strong the minds, The immortal league of love that binds And deep the gladness of the hour, That noble race has gone; the suns Wide-as our own free race increase Wide shall extend the elastic chain -W. C. BRYANT. CHANTREY'S STATUE OF WASHINGTON. Father and Chief, how calm thou stand'st once more Upon thine own free land, thou wonn'st with toil! Seest thou upon thy country's robe a soil, As she comes down to greet thee on the shore? For thought in that fine brow is living still,- Such thought as then possessed thee, when was laid Hast heard our strivings, that thou look'st away For round those lips dwells sweetness, breathing good To sad men's souls, and bidding them take heart, Nor live the shame of those who bore their part When round the towering chief they banded stood. No swelling pride in that firm, ample chest! 'Tis like thee: Such repose thy living form Wrapped round. Though some chained passion, breaking forth, At times swept o'er thee like the fierce, dread north, Yet calmer, nobler, cam'st thou from the storm. O mystery past thought! that the cold stone Should live to us, take shape, and to us speak,That he, in mind, in grandeur, like the Greek, And he, our pride, stand here, the two in one! There's awe in thy still form. Come hither, then, |