Part 40 (1/2)

On that occasion, and on his arrival in 1789, Was.h.i.+ngton was received, as is well known, by the elder Clinton, who was at both periods Governor of the State.

In the following extract, from a reliable source, we have a fine description of the effect produced by Was.h.i.+ngton's personal appearance and manners on the mind of a highly intelligent observer:

”The beautiful effusion which the reader will find below is the production of the chaste and cla.s.sic mind of the late venerable and distinguished senator from Rhode Island, Mr. Robbins, and was occasioned by the following circ.u.mstances. During the session of 1837-8, Mr.

Webster entertained a large party of friends at dinner, among them the venerable senator we have named. The evening pa.s.sed off with much hilarity, enlivened with wit and sentiment, but, during the greater part of the time, Mr. Robbins maintained that grave but placid silence which was his habit. While thus apparently abstracted, someone suddenly called on him for a toast, which call was seconded by the company. He rose, and in his surprise asked if they were serious in making such a demand of so old a man, and being a.s.sured that they were, he said, if they would suspend their hilarity for a few moments, he would give them a toast and preface it with a few observations. Having thus secured a breathless stillness, he went on to remark, that they were then on the verge of the 22d of February, the anniversary of the birth of the great patriot and statesman of our country, whom all delighted to remember and to honor, and he hoped he might be allowed the privilege of an aged man to recur, for a few moments, to past events connected with his character and history. He then proceeded and delivered in the most happy and impressive manner the beautiful speech which now graces our columns. The whole company were electrified by his patriotic enthusiasm, and one of the guests, before they separated, begged that he would take the trouble to put on paper what he had so happily expressed and furnish a copy for publication. Mr. Robbins obligingly complied with this request on the following day, but by some accident the ma.n.u.script got mislaid and eluded all search for it until a few days ago, when it was unexpectedly recovered, and is now presented to our readers.

”'On the near approach of that calendar-day which gave birth to Was.h.i.+ngton, I feel rekindling within me some of those emotions always connected with the recollection of that hallowed name. Permit me to indulge them, on this occasion, for a moment, in a few remarks, as preliminary to a sentiment which I shall beg leave to propose.

”'I consider it as one of the consolations of my age, that I am old enough and fortunate enough to have seen that wonderful man. This happiness is still common to so many yet among the living, that less is thought of it now than will be in after-times; but it is no less a happiness to me on that account.

”'While a boy at school, I saw him for the first time; it was when he was pa.s.sing through New England, to take command in chief of the American armies at Cambridge. Never shall I forget the impression his imposing presence then made upon my young imagination, so superior did he seem to me to all that I had seen or imagined of the human form for striking effect. I remember with what delight, in my after studies, I came to the line in Virgil that expressed all the enthusiasm of my own feelings, as inspired by that presence, and which I could not often enough repeat:

”'I saw him again at his interview with Rochambeau, when they met to settle the plan of combined operations between the French fleet and the American armies against the British on the Chesapeake, and then I saw the immense crowd drawn together from all the neighboring towns, to get, if possible, one look at the man who had throned himself in every heart.

Not one of that immense crowd doubted the final triumph of his country in her arduous conflict, for everyone saw, or thought he saw, in Was.h.i.+ngton, her guardian angel, commissioned by Heaven to insure her that triumph. 'Nil desperandum' was the motto with everyone.

”'In after-life, when the judgment corrects the extravagance of early impressions, I saw him on several occasions, but saw nothing to admonish me of any extravagance in my early impressions. ”Credo equidem, nee vana fides, genus esse Deorum.” [10]

”'”Nil desperandum, Teucro duce, et auspice Teucro.” [11] The impression was still the same; I had the same overpowering sense of standing in the presence of some superior being.

”'It is indeed remarkable, and I believe unique, in the history of men, that Was.h.i.+ngton made the same impression upon all minds, at all places, and at once. When his fame first broke upon the world, it spread at once over the whole world. By the consent of mankind, by the universal sentiment, he was placed at the head of the human species; above all envy, because above all emulation; for no one then pretended, or has pretended to be--at least who has been allowed to be--the co-rival of Was.h.i.+ngton in fame.

”'When the great Frederick of Prussia sent his portrait to Was.h.i.+ngton, with this inscription upon it--”From the oldest general in Europe to the greatest general in the world,” he did but echo the sentiment of all the chivalry of Europe. Nor was the sentiment confined to Europe, nor to the bounds of civilization; for the Arab of the desert talked of Was.h.i.+ngton in his tent; his name wandered with the wandering Scythian, and was cherished by him as a household word in all his migrations. No clime was so barbarous as to be a stranger to the name, but everywhere, and by all men, that name was placed at the same point of elevation, and above compare. As it was in the beginning, so it is now; of the future we cannot speak with certainty. Some future age, in the endless revolutions of time, may produce another Was.h.i.+ngton, but the greater probability is, that he is destined to remain forever, as he now is, the Phoenix of human kind.

”'What a possession to his country is such a fame! Such a ”Clarum et venerabile nomen gentibus?” [12]

”'To all his countrymen it gives, and forever will give, a pa.s.sport to respect wherever they go, to whatever part of the globe, for his country is in every other identified with that fame.

”'What, then, is inc.u.mbent upon us, his countrymen? Why, to be such a people as shall be worthy of such a fame--a people of whom it shall be said, ”No wonder such a people have produced such a man as Was.h.i.+ngton.”

I give you, therefore, this sentiment:

”'The memory of Was.h.i.+ngton: May his countrymen prove themselves a people worthy of his fame.'”

1. Footnote: Memoir of Martha Was.h.i.+ngton in Longacre's Gallery.

2. Footnote: Mrs. Ellet, ”Women of the Revolution”

3. Footnote: One of the first topics of debate in Congress was the t.i.tle by which the President should be addressed. Such t.i.tle as ”His Highness,” ”His Mightiness,” etc., having been discussed, it was finally and very properly determined that the t.i.tle of ”President of the United States” should be used; and it was accordingly used in the answers to the inaugural address. No t.i.tle could be more dignified.

4. Footnote: Marshall

5. Footnote: Pitkin.

6. Footnote: Tucker's ”Life of Jefferson.”

7. Footnote: ”Essay on the Character and Influence of Was.h.i.+ngton.”