Eulogy on the Character of the Late General George Washington

IN the solemnity of the hour, you, my FELLOW TOWNSMEN, call upon me to paint the character and to portray the virtues of the favorite SON OF COLUMBIA. Unable to rise to the height of his excellence, I must submit his merits to your knowledge of his actions; and lodge his worth in the grateful affections of your hearts.

ON this day, sixtyeight years complete their revolutions, since our WASHINGTON was given to his country. The Parent of Being endowed him with superior powers of mind and body. These by the progress of time were expanded to the most commanding features of p. 6man. His clear and comprehensive understanding was improved by a general acquaintance with science, an extensive knowledge of history, and an intimate view of human nature. Possessing these grand principles of knowledge, he early discovered a happy genius to apply them to practice. His opinions were always formed upon an high scene of observation. His capacity can be measured only by the sphere in which he moved. Elevated offices he filled with dignity▪ and difficult undertakings he accomplished with renown.

HIS youthful essay of enterprise and patriotism displayed the bold lines of his character, and gave a sure pledge of his meridian splendor. Commissioned to carry, to an encroaching enemy, on a distant frontier, the just remonstrances of his government; he sustained the fatigues and dangers of the embassy with the constancy of the veteran soldier; with Vauban's penetration he traced the site of the fortress which was to be the future protection of the country; he conciliated the irritated minds of the Indian Tribes; and, on his return, bore honorable testimony of the address and fidelity with which he executed his mission. p. 7The province of his nativity appreciated the merit of his service, and appointed him to command the troops embodied to enforce his remonstrance. His maiden sword was not unsheathed in vain: In his first campaign the laurel was entwined, that since has flourished around his temple with perennial, with encreasing verdure.

p. 7ON the next summer, General BRADDOCK commanded a well appointed army to repel the French from their encroachments, and we find WASHINGTON an extra Aiddecamp in his family. His knowledge of the country, his acquaintance with the Indian mode of warfare, enabled him to give advice, which might have insured success to the expedition: But the European General, in the pride of professional skill, spurned the advice of the American Youth; and for his temerity, he lost his life, and his defeated army was indebted to the prudence and bravery of our Young Hero for their preservation from ruin.

IN the subsequent campaigns, the fatigues of the field became oppressive to a constitution not yet grown into the firmness of manhood. Pulmonary symptoms warned him to retire to p. 8the care of his friends. This interval was employed to form and strengthen the social ties, to cultivate and exercise the social affections, and to follow the leading bias of his mind in the pursuits of philosophy and practical agriculture.

ALTHOUGH warmly attached to domestic life, and supremely happy in his family, he was not permitted to enjoy the pleasures of philosophic retirement. Heaven devoted him to the public, and the public demanded his care and labor.

FROM the close of the French war, to the commencement of public resistance to the impositions of the British Parliament, the judicial concerns of his country, and the military and legislative transactions of his province, engrossed his time. When the affairs of our country approached their crisis, and the wisdom of our nation was collected to decide her destiny, among an assembly as august and venerable as America ever saw, was our Patriot. When the appeal was made to the sword, by the unanimous will of this body, he was placed at the head of our armies. With a "band of undisciplined husbandmen," he restrained the operations of a veteran army; p. 9with nine rounds of powder to a man, he, for six months, confined them to their quarters; [See Gen. WASHINGTON'S Letter to the President of Congress.] and, when his stock of ammunition warranted the attempt, he drove them from the fortified capital of this Common wealth.

p. 9YE Veterans, who followed his standard and fought under his banner, ye best can recount the arduous conflicts of the subsequent years of his military command. Ye can inform us of the fortitude he exhibited when every heart was despondent—the abilities he displayed as a commander—the appearances he assumed to deceive the enemy at the hazard of his own reputation—the constancy with which he persisted in his own system of war, though urged to desperate enterprises by the ardent and sanguine. Ye saw his undaunted spirit, his boundless resources in the day of defeat; and beheld his moderation and humanity in the hour of victory. Ye can witness, that in him ambition was ever an incitement to the noblest actions.

HIS military triumphs complete—American Independence acknowledged, and his country visited with the beams of peace, he p. 10carried into the shade of retirement, the affection and confidence of his army, the gratitude of his country, and the applause of the world.

WE thought he had then attained the zenith of human glory. The prayer of his warmest friend, on this point, was summed in the petition, may no unpropitious event take place to fully the lustre of his atchievements; in quietness may he descend to the grave, the laurel unwithered on his brow.

NOT so the will of heaven. The decree had been registered in the divine archives, that America was free and independent: The American Joshua had led his people into the promised land: But the band was wanting which might unite the parts of the nation: Our Republic was destitute of the necessary principle, to give energy to her powers and force to her will. Among the Sages who arose to fix the centre of attraction to our political bodies, and to mark the zone, in which the sun of our national life and power should revolve, was our Patriot, first among equals. Their system we adopted, as the ark of our political safety, amidst the deluge of popular factions, whose torrents had swept every preceding Republic p. 11from the face of the earth. Through United America there was but one voice respecting the man who should preside in its administration.