every where sees hearts eager to render him homage; if he enters a town, or if he passes through a village, old and young men, women and children, all follow him with acclamations; all load him with. blessings; in every heart he has a temple consecrated to respect and friendship. How I love to imagine to myself the French general, (M. de Rochambeau) equally the idol and the hero of his army, saying at table as he sat near Washington, that he had never known what true glory was, nor a truly great man, until he became acquainted with him. When America, overthrown by the dreadful revolutions of nature shall no longer exist, it will be remembered of Washington, that he was the defender of liberty, the friend of man, and the avenger of an oppressed people.

JOSEPH MANDRILLON was born at Bourg-en-Bresse, France, in 1742. Having embraced the mercantile profession, he established himself at Amsterdam, from whence he made a voyage to the United States, and afterwards published the results of his observations in a 12mo. Volume, entitled "Le Spectateur Américain,” Amsterdam, 1784. Our translation of his Portrait of Washington is from a copy of the book, presented by him to the "American Philosophical Society," of which he was elected a member, January 22d, 1785. A contemporary translation was published in the Columbian Magazine, January 1787. After his return to Holland, his opposition to the Stadtholder made him unpopular, and he went to France. The independence of his character caused him to be suspected by Robespierre, and he was guillotined January 7th, 1794.

MARQUIS DE CHASTELLUX.

1786.

HERE would be the proper place to give the portrait of General Washington: but what can my testimony add to the idea already formed of him? The continent of North America, from Boston to Charles Town, is a great volume, every page of which presents his eulogium. I know, that having had the opportunity of a near inspection, and of closely observing him, some more particular details may be expected from me; but the strongest characteristic of this respectable man is the perfect union which reigns between the physical and moral qualities which compose the individual, one alone will enable you to judge of all the rest. If you are presented with medals of Cæsar, of Trajan, or Alexander, on examining their features, you will still be led to ask what was their stature, and the form of their persons; but if you discover, in a heap of ruins, the head or the limb of an antique Apollo, be not curious about the other parts, but rest assured that they all were conformable to those of a God. Let not this comparison be attributed to enthusiasm! It is not my intention. to exaggerate, I wish only to express the impression General Washington has left on my mind; the idea of a perfect whole, that cannot be the produce of enthusiasm, which rather would reject it, since the effect of proportion is to diminish the idea of greatness. Brave without temerity, laborious without ambition, generous without prodi

gality, noble without pride, virtuous without severity; he seems always to have confined himself within those limits, where the virtues, by clothing themselves in more lively, but more changeable and doubtful colours, may be mistaken for faults. This is the seventh year that he has commanded the army, and that he has obeyed the Congress; more need not be said, especially in America, where they know how to appreciate all the merit contained in this simple fact. Let it be repeated that Conde was intrepid, Turenne prudent, Eugene adroit, Catinat disinterested. It is not thus that Washington will be characterized. It will be said of him, AT THE END OF A LONG CIVIL WAR, HE HAD NOTHING If any thing can be more

WITH WHICH HE COULD REPROACH HIMSELF.

marvellous than such a character, it is the unanimity of the public suffrages in his favour. Soldier, magistrate, people, all love and admire him; all speak of him in terms of tenderness and veneration. Does there then exist a virtue capable of restraining the injustice of mankind; or are glory and happiness too recently established in America, for Envy to have deigned to pass the seas?

In speaking of this perfect whole of which General Washington furnishes the idea, I have not excluded exterior form. His stature is noble and lofty, he is well made, and exactly proportioned; his physiognomy mild and agreeable, but such as to render it impossible to speak particularly of any of his features, so that in quitting him, you have only the recollection of a fine face. He has neither a grave nor a familiar face, his brow is sometimes marked with thought, but never with inquietude; in inspiring respect, he inspires confidence, and his smile is always the smile of benevolence.

But above all, it is in the midst of his General Officers, that it is

interesting to behold him. General in a republic, he has not the imposing stateliness of a Marechal de France who gives the order; a hero in a republic, he excites another sort of respect, which seems to spring from the sole idea, that the safety of each individual, is attached to his person. As for the rest, I must observe on this occasion, that the General Officers of the American army, have a very military and a very becoming carriage; that even all the officers, whose characters were brought into public view, unite much politeness to a great deal of capacity; that the headquarters of this army, in short, neither present the image of want, nor inexperience. When one sees the battalion of the General's guards encamped within the precincts of his house; nine waggons, destined to carry his baggage, ranged in his court; a great number of grooms taking care of very fine horses belonging to the General Officers and their Aides de Camp; when one observes the perfect order that reigns within these precincts, where the guards are exactly stationed, and where the drums beat an alarm, and a particular retreat, one is tempted to apply to the Americans what Pyrrhus said of the Romans: Truly these people have nothing barbarous in their discipline!

FRANCOIS JEAN, Marquis de CHASTELLUX was born at Paris, in 1734, and died there October 28, 1788. He was elected in 1775, one of the forty members of the French Academy, and in 1780 came to America as a Major General in the French army under the Count de Rochambeau. He gained the particular friendship of Washington, of whom he was a great admirer, and while on a tour through the country, passed several days with him at his headquarters near Passaic Falls, N. J., in the latter part of November, 1780. The well-known pen-portrait of Washington, in his "Voyage dans l'Amérique Septentrionale dans les Années 1780-2," Paris 1786, and which we quote from a translation published at London in 1787, closes his relation of this visit. The translator, George Greive, an Englishman, who was in

America in 1781-2, and frequently in the company of Washington, referring in a note (vol. I, p. 139) to this portrait, says: "It is impossible for any man who has had the happiness to approach the General, not to admire the accuracy of this description, and the justness and happiness with which it is developed, or to read it without the strongest emotion. It is here above all, the translator must apologize to his author; it is not possible to do justice to the original, to feel all its elegance it must be read in the language in which it was written. Posterity, future historians, will be grateful to the Marquis de Chastellux for this exquisite portrait; every feature, and every tint of which will stand the test of the severest scrutiny, and be handed down to distant ages in never fading colours."