reflected merit, to be in the habits of correspondence and the interchange of civilities, with such an embellished and admirable personage.

He had the urbanity of a gentleman, without the littleness of pride; and in the very plenitude of his authority, would sheathe a denial so kindly, that the sting of disappointment was absorbed in the beauty of the declaration: he embraced the delegation to rule, as a great man should; not to indulge the luxury of the senses, or the insatiate aims of ambition, but for the blessed purpose of disseminating love and protection to all: he stood as a preëminent supporter in society; like a Tuscan column, with sober magnificence; plain, strong, attractive and erect: with Atlantcan properties, equal to more than the weight he had sustained: at once the vital principle and the ornament of that constitution he had sanctioned, and his fame will be coeternal with the existence of freedom.

We have never contemplated the character of a magistrate more inflexible to wrong, nor of a man so active and so spotless, in any record, either ancient or modern: he did more for imitation, and less for repentance, than any contemporary: had he derived his ideas of legislation and forbearance from the statutes of the golden age, he could not have done more to enforce innocency and mutual truth; and he confessedly lived to make mankind better, if it is in the virtue of an individual to correct our frailty.

Having followed this august statesman to the sepulchre, it now devolves upon the grateful and the provident of his countrymen, to hang it round with symbols of regard, and inscribe it with the texts of his policy: let them inform a future age, that he shunned no public question, nor omitted any duty; in the cherishing hope that other

men may copy the impressive example: and the insinuation of hope makes our delusion our joy; but, in simplicity, yet force, of language; in clearness of understanding and depth of judgment: in his disdain of any commutation with falsehood: in his contempt of trivial expedients, and his ability to make that spirit governing: in his appropriation of direct remedies for national evils, and in his majesty of character altogether, we have seriously to apprehend that he will be never equalled; he had all the decision of Cato, without his coarseness-he had raised himself, by progressive excellence, above the tooth of envy, and the desperation of malice: and was not assailable by any mortal hand:

Nec Jovis ira, nec ignes,

Nec poterit ferrum, nec edax abolere vetustas.

Ovid, Metam. Lib. 15.

THE character as above delineated, is extracted from a "Biographical outline of General George Washington," by J. M. WILLIAMS, printed in Washington's Political Legacies Boston, 1800, and also in Legacies of Washington, Trenton, 1800. The biographical outline is a simple statement of facts suited for the purpose of the publications mentioned. Of the author we have no particulars, but our extracts indicate the scholar and thinker.

MALLET DU PAN.

1800.

It may be made a question whether Washington, as a General and Statesman, equalled in genius Prince Eugene, Frederick II, or Chatham? But how is it possible with propriety to compare men who were placed in situations no wise analogous?

Were we allowed to venture an opinion on this subject, we would observe, that if Washington was inferior to some other illustrious men in extent and boldness of mind, he surpassed them by the union of qualities and talents the most rarely found together, and by a character almost faultless.

Constitution, soul, and intellect, were in him in constant harmony, and perfectly adapted to his public career. It might be said, that Providence had created him for the part he has sustained, for the people he governed, and for the circumstances in which his country stood. At Athens, his lot would have been that of Aristides or Phocion; in a a Republic well constituted and long established, his services would not have been called forth; in a corrupt Republic, he would have chosen a private station as the post of honour.

In his military and political life, wisdom was the prominent feature of his character. It is given to few men to possess that admirable moral temperature which marked all the actions of Washington. His courage and his talents for war would have been insufficient, and per

haps hurtful, without the patience, coolness, and equality of spirits, which he displayed in bad as well as good fortune.

At the head of the Republic he preserved the same uprightness and the same spirit of conduct by which he had been guided in battle. He was indebted to the excellence of his judgment, as well as to the ascendency of his public and private virtues, for the permanence of the reputation he enjoyed. His speeches, letters, actions, were always marked with the same reason, and that strong good sense which is the highest gift of Nature to a public man, and his highest merit; that good sense which alone resists the agitations of the soul, and corrects the wanderings of the understanding.

The habitual moderation of Washington; his firmness, which was ever calm and well-timed; his prudence, which neither difficulty nor passion, neither hope nor fear, could shake; his superiority to all artifice and intrigue; and his artless politics, dictated by a just estimation of times, men, and things; have never degenerated for a moment. Placed at the head of an infant Republic, he acquired all the dignity usually bestowed on high offices by the force of custom and of ages; and he preserved it as if he had ruled America for a century: his administration was better supported by respect and confidence, than by laws or armies.

He has not been charged with a vice or a weakness. No one has raised a doubt of his integrity or his disinterestedness. Free from ambition, he never would have sought superior rank, or have been anxious to make a figure: he was led to them by his services, the general esteem he attracted, and by circumstances. In him superiority was pardoned; the jealousy of his equals vanished before the admirable

simplicity of his manners, the purity of his morals, and the rectitude of his conduct. In short, neither a vain love of glory, nor the desire of distinction, nor any personal view, ever gave a bias to his patriotism, which was the principle of all his thoughts, and the spring of all his actions.

If the title, so much abused, of a great man, ought to be reserved for one whose successes never injured justice or honour, and in whom great virtues united with great talents, who shall refuse it to Washington? * * * *

General Washington has carried with him to the tomb the general esteem of Europe. His conduct had compelled even his enemies to respect him. It was reserved for the French Republicans alone to differ from the rest of the world, and to insult, as basely as grossly, the President of the United States. It is true, that he had very wisely forseen, and so early as the year 1789, the horrible career of a Revolution, which set out with overthrowing all public order; which, forming crime into theory, made patriotism to consist in assassination, and liberty in the impunity of every outrage against the freedom of the citizens.

The national gratitude of America has honoured the memory of Washington by public testimonies of grief, and by solemnizing the funeral of her illustrious Chief in the most distinguished manner.

Washington has quitted life without the slightest diminution of his glory, tranquility, and happiness. He died on fields cultivated by himself, in the bosom of his country, of his family, of his friends; and the veneration of America accompanied him to the grave.