the tears of a grateful people, voluntarily fhed over

his grave.*

*

To delineate the character of our beloved WASHINGTON is no eafy tafk. He, who is called to speak the praifes of the dead, by the general licenfe of mankind, is indulged with the privilege of concealing the faults, and of magnifying the virtues of the perfon, who is the fubject of his praife. The poverty or badnefs of his materials has generally impofed on the eufogift of the moft fcrupulous regard for truth, the neceffity of availing himself of this humane indulgence. Hence it has frequently happened, that the picture has greatly exceeded in beauty the original, and the hearer has gone away charmed with the character, who would have detefted the man to whom it is applied.

The eulogift of WASHINGTON has no vices to conceal. Instead of indulging his fancy, by excurfions into the regions of fiction in queft of materials for praife, he will find himself oppreffed by matter fo rich, as to preclude exaggeration, and fo copious, as only to embarrass him in the felection. Of him it may be truly faid, that the most faithful picture will exhibit the greatest beauty and the moft ftriking refemblance. Secure from the imputation of afcribing to the illuftrious dead unmerited praises, how can I hope to efcape the cenfure of every one of my hearers, for omitting, in the character I would delineate, fome amiable trait, which won his affections, fome favourite excellence, which commanded his admiration?

Amid all the difficulties incident to my fituation, and feeling, as I do, an almost total want of ability to execute the part your kind partiality has affigned me, in the folemn exercifes of the day, I have this confolation, that as on the one hand no exertion of talents, however great, could exalt a character, incapable of receiving any addition of praife; fo on the other, the

Cefar purchafed his popularity while living, and the tears shed over his grave with largeffes; that is, he robbed half mankind to gain the praises and the tears of the other half.

moft imperfect sketch, and the most defective execution of my defign, can in no wife leffen the public eftimation of his merits. Thanks be to GoD, his character is confummated, his glory is depofited where neither misfortune nor malevolence can tarnish nor destroy it.

To conftitute a great and perfect character, there must be an affemblage of the great and fhining qualities, which dazzle by their fplendour the popular eye, blended in exact proportion with the fofter and more gentle virtues, beneficence, humanity, moderation, piety and charity. Thefe latter, though calculated to steal the heart and win the affections, as they lie more in the fhade, are lefs known and lefs regarded. It is rare indeed to find the fplendid, the amiable, and the useful united in the fame perfon. Our WASHINGTON furnishes an exception to the general rule; and it will forever remain a question, whether he was most distinguished above all other men by the greatnefs of his talents, or the goodness of his heart; whether his noble, his ufeful, or his amiable virtues predominated; and which of thefe have been moft glorious to himfelf, or moft ferviceable to his country. If by the first he has acquired the title of our political faviour, by the latter, like Marcus Aurelius, he has merited to be ftyled, by the more endearing epithet, the father of his country.

It belongs to the hiftorian of our nation to write the life of him, who was the chief inftrument employed by Heaven in achieving our independence, His name and that of our country are infeparable.

A faithful narrative of what he did and what he fuffered, during the period of a long, a bloody, and a dubious conflict, which terminated fo gloriously, will furnish the highest eulogium on his wisdom, his virtue, and his talents.

To enter upon a field fo extensive, neither fuits my flender abilities, nor comports with the proper duties of the day. Let us be contented with a more contracted view of the illuftrious fubject of our grief in the

various characters of a foldier, a statesman, a private citizen, a man and a christian.

When in the courfe of human events the time had arrived, that the political bands, which connected us with another nation, were to be diffolved; when our venerable fathers decreed to affume an equal station among the powers of the earth, it became neceffary that they fhould defend with the fword thofe rights, they claimed for themselves and their posterity.

Among the bold and intrepid afferters of our liberties, which that ever memorable period of our history produced, the illuftrious WASHINGTON was found, That truly dignified and manly fpirit of freedom, which has fince difplayed itself in all his actions, then glowed in his breaft.

In the early period of his life he had distinguished himself as a foldier, and had given an earnest of those military talents, which have fince burst upon the world with fo much fplendour,. But at that period his fame was neither fo brilliant, nor fo extenfive, as to mark him out to the public as the fittest among the thousands of his valiant countrymen, to exercise a command fo new, fo difficult, and fo hazardous. I mention this, not with any defign to depreciate his early fame, but to lead us to afcribe his unanimous election to the fupreme command of our armies, to the invifible agency of that Almighty Being, to whom we are alike indebted for our existence as an independent nation, and for the means by which it was accomplished.

It must give us pleasure, and I am fure it will afford us inftruction, to recur to this memorable period of our annals and of his glory.

Who is not ftruck with admiration at the modeft diffidence, with which he accepted the command of our armies? The truly great are truly humble. His able discharge of the important truft no lefs clearly proves the former, than the whole tenor of his life evinces the latter.

I have faid, that this firft diftinguished teftimony of public approbation, as it refpected him, was both haz ardous and difficult. His life, his fortune, and, what was dearer than both, his untarnished honour, were ftaked on the event.

Even at this short distance of time, it is not eafy juftly to appreciate the difficulties he had to encounter. Our country prefented to the world the novel spectacle of thirteen independent Colonies, different in their habits, manners, and in their interefts; connected only by a fenfe of common danger; without alliances, without funds, without a government; opposed in arms by a nation as brave as fhe was powerful; a nation, flufhed with conqueft, and obftinately determined on our fubjugation. To engage in a conteft fo arduous, and to every human eye fo unequal, required the zeal of a martyr; to conduct it, wildom and firmness apparently more than human; to bring it to a happy and fuccefsful conclufion, we are conftrained to acknowledge, that it required the powerful agency of Providence, co-operating with the fublimeft exertions of human virtue.

Who has forgotten the gloomy afpect of our affairs at an early period of the war, when our army was fuc ceffively driven from all their strong holds by our triumphant and exulting foe? At this period, to adopt the language of our excellent Prefident, we behold our magnanimous Chief in adverfity; in the deepest dif tress, and most trying perplexities. The gods witness with pleasure a brave man ftruggling with the ftorms of fate. To us, fhort-fighted mortals, it would feem that they sometimes delight in raifing the tempeft, and thickening the cloud, that their favourites may emerge to more refplendent glory.

The joy, univerfally diffused by the brilliant fucceffes at Trenton and Princeton, at the close of this memorable year, was no doubt heightened by the gloomy contraft, which the preceding fummer afforded. From this day our profpects brightened, but they were not

All

always bright. Our beloved Chief paffed through a thoufand fcenes of diftrefs and danger, with a fpirit unbroken by adverfity-a fpirit, which not only enabled him to fuftain the weight of cares which devolved on him, but ferved to revive and animate his fainting troops. At the outfet in his military career, he had to contend with difficulties of an unufual nature. his foldiers, and with few exceptions, his fubordinate officers, were wholly undifciplined. They were brave, and each poffeffed a portion of the fame ardour for liberty, which animated their illuftrious leader; but they were impatient of control, because unaccustomed to the restraints of military life. But he was born to furmount difficulties never furmounted before.

His perfonal merit, and the confidence infpired by his virtues, enabled him to conquer his own troops, that with them he might conquer the enemy. His own conduct gave a fanction to the rules he prefcribed for others. He practifed himself the difficult leffons he taught, and every foldier dreaded a Chief, who had learned to obey, and therefore was worthy to command,

It cannot, therefore, excite our wonder fo much as our admiration of his virtues, that our citizens were fo foon converted into foldiers, when to acquire the approbation and efteem of their beloved General was the motive, and the poffeffion of that esteem the neverfailing reward, of military merit, though found in the lowest grade.

The brilliant victories and fucceffes, which attended the American arms, from the period of which we have been speaking, to the final triumph at York Town, must be afcribed, under Heaven, to the able defigns of our illuftrious Chief, formed in a masterly manner, and executed with a proportionate degree of skill and prudence, no less than to the bravery and fpirit of his troops.

I must not omit to mention, while confidering the military character of the illustrious dead, his uniform attention, in all disasters and changes, to the rights of the civil