the only reward, the love of his fellow-citizens, and the consciousness of his own heart.

His whole character was consistent. Equally industrious with his plough as with his sword, he esteemed idleness and inutility the greatest disgrace of man, whose powers attain perfection only by constant and vigorous action, and who is placed by providence in so many social relations, only to do good.Every thing round him was marked with a dignified simplicity. While so many affect fastidiously to display their wealth in sumptuous edifices, and splendid equipages, and incur infinitely more expense to be envied and hated, than would be sufficient to make themselves adored, his mansion was as modest as his heart. Strangers from all nations, who visited it, went, not to to admire a magnificent pile, but to gratify a noble curiosity in seeing the first man in the world. Palaces, and columns, and porticos, would have shrunk beside him, and scarcely have been seen. Like the imperial palace of Marcus Aurelius at Rome, the plain and modest walls resembled some august temple, which has no ornament but the Diety that inhabits it.* You approached it with reference as the retreat of a HERO, the venerable abode of all the VIRTUES. He had no need to seek a false glory by any exterior display of magnificence, who possessed such intrinsic worth and grandeur of soul. Every where he goes without any attendants but his virtues-he travels without pomp; but every one surrounds him, in imagination, with his victories, his triumphs, his glorious toils, his public services. How sublime is this simplicity! How superior to all the fastuous magnificence of luxury! Thus he lived, discharging, without ostentation, all the civil, social, and domestic, offices of life -temperate in his desires-faithful to his duties retiring from fame, which every where pursued him-living like a beneficent deity in the bosom of his family, its delight, and its glory.

AMIABLE woman! sole partner of his dearest pleasures, who enjoyed most intimately, and who best knew, his worth, your

* A speech put by Mr. Thomas into the mouth of Apollonius a philosopher, and the friend of Marcus.

overwhelming griefs, the desolation of your heart, under this stroke, testify the preciousness of what you have lost. In the full tide of happiness, in a moment, in one terrible instant, more than empires has been ravished from your embrace. Oh! if a nation's tears can yield you any consolation, the tears of a nation are mingled with yours. But, alas! while they console, they remind you, by a new proof, of the value of what heaven has taken-has taken, perhaps in mercy, that, when your Savior shall call also for you, earth may not have a rival to him in your heart.

BUT, my fellow-citizens, among the noblest ornaments of this extraordinary man, was his humility and his respect for religion. Humility was the veil thro' which his virtues shone with a more amiable, because less dazzling, lustre. Never, in conversation, did you hear him mention those illustrious achievements, which had rendered his name so famous throughout the world. In reading his official letters, in which he is obliged by his duty to announce his successes, you would hardly suppose that any part of them was to be ascribed to his valor, or his skill. You are even in doubt if fame herself has not mistaken in attributing to him such great actions.*

WHAT a spirit of piety, what a constant acknowledgement of the agency and goodness of divine providence, breathes through all his public addresses to his army, to his fellow-citizens, to congress! Ah! how difficult is it to receive the applause of nations with humility! to be exalted almost to heaven on the voice of fame, and not to feel that elation of mind, which raises a mortal above the lowly place which every creature ought to hold in the presence of Almighty God! Something there is in the command of armies, where one man wields the force of thousands, in the tumult of battles, in the splendor of triumphs, that is apt to intoxicate the heart, and to elevate it beyond itself. But this great general, after his victories, was always found modest and humble before the throne of the eternal. Like Moses, in the presence of God, he alone seemed not to be

* This was said also of the Marshal Turenne. I i

conscious of the splendor that surrounded himself.* The same veneration for religion, and the same profound respect for its institutions, marked all his private deportment: And we have seen with what a serene and steady lustre his hopes from it shone in the concluding scene of life.

THE talents of this great citizen we have now to exhibit in a new light as a LEGISLATOR-and the CIVIL CHIEF of the American confederacy.-If it affords a subject less brilliant to the orator than his military career, it is not less instructive to mankind.

SCARCELY had he begun to enjoy his beloved repose when the imbecility of that system, under which the states had originally confederated, discovered itself by so many pernicious consequences, destructive of national honor and prosperity, and dangerous to national existence, that it became necessary to frame a government invested with greater energy, more justly balanced, and able to act more directly upon all parts of the Union. This necessity his penetrating judgment had long foreseen, while he was yet commander of the army, and the wisdom of giving a new form to the confederacy he had frequently urged. America, always enlightened, and wise even in the midst of her errors, resolved, at length, to pursue this sage policy: And Washington, whose prowess in the field had so conspicuously contributed to establish her liberty, was the first among that band of patriots who met to render it secure by placing it under the protection of the most admirable laws. Here he displayed the talents of a great legislator, and proved himself to be as wise in council, as he had been glorious in arms. The excellence of that constitution which was the illustrious fruit of their labors, and which republican France, in repeated efforts, has, hitherto, vainly attempted to imitate, has now been confirmed by the happy experience of ten years. Public credit has been restoredindustry has received a new spring-commercial enterprize is ex

* Ab. Flech. orais. funeb. Mar. Tur,

tended to every spot upon the globe-agriculture flourishestowns and cities are daily founded, extended, and beautifiedpopulation and riches increase-and even the debts of the revolutionary war are converted into a species of wealth.

BUT, antecedently to that experience which now justifies its wisdom, the name of Washington was necessary to give it authority, and to recommend it to the confidence of the American people. By their unanimous voice, throughout a region of fifteen hundred miles in extent, he was called to hold the first magistracy in the confederated republic.-Merciful God! what a felicity to my country, that this revered and beloved citizen was yet preserved to assume, with his firm and resolute hand, the helm of government in such a perilous and doubtful season! Inestimable patriot! who wast willing to put to risk a reputation which it was believed, already above all addition, could only be diminished by any change. Ah! thy fellow-citizens were ignorant of the full extent of those talents which they have since beheld, with astonishment, as great in peace, as in war, in deliberation, as in execution-One of the noblest acts, in a life full of illustrious actions, was the resolution to stake his unexampled fame, and to employ the whole force of his unbounded popularity, to rescue his country from the degraded and imbecile state into which it had fallen under the old system, and to give an operation, and efficiency, that would overcome all opposition, to a government which he regarded as essentially connected with its prosperity and glory.

On this high and untried office he entered with that modesty which is one criterion of great minds, and which marked his whole character through life-he executed it with that unshaken firmness which is the result of conscious rectitude, of ripe and wise deliberation, and of the imperious sentiment of duty in a virtuous heart. Less splendor and eclat, indeed, attend the retired labors of the cabinet, than the march of armies, the capture of towns, and the triumph of victories; but often they require talents of a superior kind, and often possess an influence more extensive on the felicity of nations.

1

UNDER his administration, the United States enjoyed prospe rity and happiness at home, and, by the energy of the govern ment, regained, in the old world, that importance and reputation which, by its weakness, they had lost.-Arduous was his task-innumerable were the difficulties he had to encounter, from the passions, the conflicting interests, the ambition, and the disappointment of men. His own virtue, and the confidence of the nation, supported him. And, amidst all the clamours which the violence of faction, or individual chagrin, have raised against the general administration, none have ever dared to impeach the purity of his patriotism, or his incorruptible integrity.

His retreat at Mount-Vernon, grown so dear to him by inclination, by habit, and by that love of repose natural to advancing years, he had forsaken only to serve the republic, and to give, to a new and untried government, a firm tone, and a steady operation. At the expiration of the first period of his magistracy, therefore, he was desirous of returning to that private life which was dearer to him than all things else, except America. Ambition had no charms for him. His felicity was to see his country happy; and his modesty led him to hope that her happiness might now be equally secure in other hands. All true Americans, at this moment, resisted his inclinations with the most affectionate importunity; and he was persuaded to resume the arduous cares of the state.

THE crisis was important. An universal war raged in Europe, and was carried on with the most rancorous and exterminating passions. The hostile nations, inflamed against each other with a fury beyond all former example, for they fought for their existence, would scarcely endure a neutral. America was, every moment, threatened, by force, or by intrigue, to be drawn into the vortex. Strong parties in her own bosom rendered the danger more imminent; and it required a government firm, temperate, but inflexible, to prevent the evil. This great and heroic magistrate, charged with all her foreign relations, was not to be moved from her true interests. His object was America. And her interest, in the midst of this terrible con