Encyclopaedia Americana: a popular dictionary of arts, sciences, literature, history, politics and biography, brought down to the present time : including a copious collection of original articles in American biography : on the basis of the seventh edition of the German Conversations-Lexicon (Volume 13).
- Date:
- 1830-33
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Encyclopaedia Americana: a popular dictionary of arts, sciences, literature, history, politics and biography, brought down to the present time : including a copious collection of original articles in American biography : on the basis of the seventh edition of the German Conversations-Lexicon (Volume 13). Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![character. He could not have been iriore enterprising without endangering the cause he defended, nor have put more to hazard without incurring justly the imputation of rashness. Not relying up- on those chances which sometimes give a favorable issue to attempts apparently desperate, his conduct was regulated by calculations made upon the capacities of his army, and the real situation of his country. When called a second time to command the armies of the U. States, a change of circumstances had taken place, and he meditated a corresponding change of conduct. In modelling the army of 1798, he sought for men distinguished for their boldness of execution, not less than for their prudence in council, and con- templated a system of continued attack. ' The enemy,' said the general in his pri- vate letters, ' must never be permitted to gain foothold on our shores.' In his civil administration, as in his military career, were exhibited ample and repeated proofs of that practical good sense, of that sound judgment, which is, perhaps, the most rare, and is ceitainly the most valuable quality of the human mind. Devoting himself to the duties of his station, and [)ursuing no object distinct from the pub- ic good, he was accustomed to contem- plate, at a distance, those critical situations in which the U. States might probably be placed, and to digest, before the occasion required action, the line of conduct which it would be proper to observe. Taught to distrust first impressions, he sought to ac- quire all the information which was at- tainable, and to hear, without prejudice, all the reasons which could be urged for or against a particular measure. His own judgment was suspended until it became necessary to determine; and his decisions, thus maturely made, were seldom, if ever, to be shaken. His conduct, therefore, was systematic, and the great objects of his administration were steadily pursued. Respecting, as the first magistrate in a free government must ever do, the real and deliberate sentiments of the people, their gusts of passion passed over without ruffling the smooth surface of his mind. Trusting to the reflecting good sense of the nation for approbation and support, he had the magnanimity to pursue its real interests, in opposition to its temporary prejudices; and, though far from being regardless of popular favor, he could liever stoop to retain by deserving to lose it. In more instances than one, we find him committing his whole popularity to hazard, and pursuing steadily, in opposi- tion to a torrent, which would have over- whelmed a man of ordinary firmness, that course which had been dictated by a sense of duty. In speculation, he was a real republican, devoted to the constitu- tion of his country, and to that system of equal political rights on which it is founded. But between a balanced repub- lic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos. Real lib- erty, he thought, was to be preserved only by preserving the authority of the laws, and maintaining the energy of govern- ment. Scarcely did society present two characters, which, in his o][)inion, less re- sembled each other, than a patriot and a demagogue. No man has ever appeared upon the theatre of public action whose integrity was more incorruptible, or whose principles were more perfectly free from the contamination of those selfish and un- worthy passions which find their nour- ishment in the conflicts of party. Having no views which required concealment, his real and avowed motives were the same; and his whole correspondence does not furnish a single case from which even an enemy would infer that he was capable, under any circumstances, of stooping to the employment of duplicity. No truth can be uttered with more confi- dence than that his ends were always upright, and his means always pure. He exhibits the rare example of a politician to whom wiles were absolutely unkno^vn, and whose professions to foreign govern- ments, and to his own countrymen, were always sincere. In him was fully ex- emplified the real distinction which for ever exists between wisdom and cunning, and the importance as well as truth of the maxim that 'honesty is the best poli- cy.' If Washington possessed ambition, that passion was, in his bosom, so regu- lated by principles, or controlled by cir- cumstances, that it was neither vicious nor turbulent. Intrigue was never em- ployed as the means of its gratification; nor was personal aggrandizement its ob- ject. The various high and important stations to which he was called by the public voice, were unsought by himself; and, in consenting to fill them, he seems rather to have yielded to a general con- viction, that the interests of his country would be thereby promoted, than to his particular inclination. Neither the extra- ordinary partiality of the American peo- ple, the extravagant praises which were bestowed upon him, nor the inveterate opj)osition and malignant calumnies which he experienced, had any visible](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21136828_0084.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
