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It is by imitating only, that you can truly honor him, and perpetuate the image of his virtues. Let statues and paintings exhibit his noble port, express his manly countenance, and convey to posterity the features of the man so honored, so beloved by his cotemporaries, and who, by future ages, will forever be ranked among the greatest benefactors of mankind. But, it is not by a lifeless mould, or the chisels of art-it is not by the products of the quarry or the mine, that the soul of a patriot can be represented, but by his spirit, and his actions, transmit. ted to posterity through a successson of wise, brave, and virtuous, legislators and heroes.

I CANNOT forbear to remark the singular felicity of that excellent citizen whose memory we honor by the obsequies of this day. The malignant attacks of envy, which elevation and merit only provoke, he has almost wholly escaped. If faction has sometimes ventured to rear her head, and shoot out her sting against him, abashed by his virtue, she has instantly shrunk back, and retired into her own coil.He has read his fame in the histories of his own, and of other nations-he has enjoyed the suffrage of posterity-he has seen himself in that light in which he shall be contemplated by the remotest periods of the world he has possessed ages of honor before his death.-Dying, his felicity has still followed him. Has the history of nations ever exhibited such a scene of voluntary honors, of universal affliction, of sincere and mournful homage ?-Illustrious hero deign also to accept the unfeigned homage of our grief! -Friends of humanity and of liberty throughout the world! it is for you to weep. Though America was the favored land which gave him birth, and is therefore entitled to be the first in grief, yet he was born for the human race.

WHILE Washington lived, the people believed that their guardian angel was still among them. By the mysterious decree of heaven he is taken from their vows and hopes in a moment when the tempest, that has so long beat upon the old world, threatens more and more to extend its fury to the new. mighty God! all events, and the hearts of all men, are in thy hands-save us from the cruel designs of hostile nations, who

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may now gather presumption from the death of him who was accustomed to humble them! Save us from the curse of divided councils, which his influence tended to unite! Save us from the blind and intemperate rage of factious passions, which his presence has so often overawed! Confirm among the people that union of sentiment, and that submission to the laws, which have been so long aided by the commanding ascendant of his genius!Our prayers are heard. Divine providence which prepares those great souls who are the defenders and saviors of nations, will continue the succession of them, while those nations continue to respect religion and virtue-and, though Moses be removed, Joshua shall be left.

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FINALLY, every thing serves to remind us of our departed and beloved chief, and to renew continually in our breasts the most grateful, along with the most afflicting, recollections. If the husbandman tills his lands, and calls them his own, have they not been gained by his wisdom and valor? Do we enjoy our hearths, and our altars, in peace? Have they not been purchased by his toils, and his dangers? There is not a village, not a field, not a stream which he has not stained with the blood of our enemies, or where he has not inscribed on the earth with his sword the characters of American liberty.—Ah! by how many dear and tender ties does he hold possession of our hearts! Wives and mothers think they have lost him who preserved to them their husbands and their infants-the young think they have lost in him a father-fathers that they have lost more than their children the republic that she has lost her founder, and her savior-every citizen fears lest the peace, the union, the glory of America, is entombed with him.-No my fellow-citizens! This fear shall not be realized. Washington, though dead, is not lost. His ashes shall defend the republic that contains them-the capitol, that rests upon his remains shall be immortal-his example shall live to instruct posterity-his virtues shall descend as a precious inheritance to future ages-the future lawgivers and rulers of America shall come

* This is almost literally true of all the middle counties of New-Jersey.

to his tomb to reanimate their own virtues. And, if it be true that the wise and good, amidst the supreme felicities of their celestial existence, are still occupied with the cares, and sometimes made the guardians, of that which was the dearest to them upon earth, O spirit of Washington! will not thy beloved country still be thy care?

Oration upon the death of general GEORGE WASHINGTON, delivered by captain SAMUEL WHITE,* of the 11th regiment, to the Union Brigade, consisting of the 11th, 12th and 13th regiments, near Scotch Plains, New-Jersey.

Friends and fellow-soldiers,

TH

HE honor of addressing you on this occasion was by me unsought for whilst I acknowledge the compliment, I am ready to shrink from the responsibility of the task, and with extreme diffidence solicit, for a few moments, your attention and indulgence, while I attempt to discharge the important duty assigned me.

To commemorate the birth, and pay a just tribute of respect to the memory of our late illustrious and beloved commander; and in obedience to the orders of the president of the United States, "to testify publicly our grief for the death of general George Washington ;" you are now assembled. This so often welcomed as the natal day of the greatest, and the best of men, since the establishment of American Independence, never before returned without gladdening every heart; but, alas!-how changed the scene! The solemnity of our martial music,your pensive and dejected countenances; declare that it is not as usual the anniversary of festivity and joy, but a day of sadness and of melancholy.

Now senator of the United States,

I AM not conversant in the style of panegyric, and only aspire to address you in the plain, unvarnished language of a soldier. Our country at this moment presents the novel spectacle of an orphan republic, mourning the loss of a departed father.-Washington, the illustrious Washington-formed in the profusion of nature, and given to earth for universal good;-in whom all worth and virtue were united; so lately the living object of your esteem and love, rests now in the silent tomb, and has passed from time to eternity-has exchanged for a state more congenial to his exalted mind. In this exchange the great society of man has sustained a loss. To you, fellow-soldiers, and to your country, it seems almost irreparable. Were I here to indulge my feelings, I should pause, and leave to some abler friend the discharge of this arduous duty. To become the eulogist of a Washington requires a glow of fancy, a fertility of genius, an expanded range of thought, and powers of elocution that I am conscious I do not possess-language is too weak to do ample justice to his memory; but I flatter myself his venerable shade will not revolt at the humble testimonies of a soldier's grief. Alike regretted by all, the soldier and the citizen unite to mingle their sorrows together, and nobly vie with each other in the evidences of their affection. Wheresoever your eyes are turned, whatever hour of your lives is retraced, presents you with some new remembrancer of Washington, your father and your friend. The freedom you enjoy; the wisely constructed fabrick of your government, are his lasting monuments of worth and patriotism.

WHEN the insolence of power, aided by proud ambition, presented its hideous front; when tame submission to the iron rod of despotism, or resistance, apparently desperate, was the only alternative, then flamed the patriot's spirit high. Washington roused to vengeance by his country's wrongs, stood boldly forth the champion of her rights, and rendered to the cause of liberty the most essential service, in times of its greatest peril. In days that tried men's souls, when danger and death were at the door, and difficulties pressed on every side ; Washington, born to command, to "ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm," discovered to the astonished world, that in the wilds of America had been reared a hero, to eclipse in glory the

Alexanders of Greece, the Cæsars of Rome and the Hamdens of Britain unrivalled in talents, and equal to the mighty task of working the salvation of his country.

RECUR, my fellow-soldiers, to the winter of 1776; an æra ever memorable in the annals of America; when this state, nay the yery site of this cantonment, was the theatre of his military honors; when, from the summit of yonder lofty mountain* he often reconnoitered the position, and viewed the maneuvres of the invading foe. This, fellow-soldiers, was the most trying time your country ever knew. The smothered flame of patriotism was near expiring; dismay had seized some of the stoutest hearts, and a brave people, despairing of success, were ready to sink under increasing misfortunes and yield to their hard fate.. Such, before the battle of Trenton, was the lowering aspect of affairs; when in one night the brave, the gallant Washington, ever vigilant and prompt at expedients in moments of the greatest adversity, by his distinguished generalship, changed the whole aspect of the war and rescued his country from impending ruin. By this success, and the train of victories that followed, and resulted from it, he cheered the drooping spirits of his countrymen and infused new life and vigor into the cause of liberty. I cite this only as the great crisis of the war: to recapitulate the splendid feats, the hard-fought battles and prominent exploits of Washington, to you who know them, would be superfluous, and swell this address beyond its proper limits. Contending against superior force, experienced generals, and troops inured to the hardships of the field; he surmounted every obstacle, triumphed over an enemy that had proud-ly affected to despise his efforts, and settled permanently the liberties you now enjoy.-Heaven grant they may be sacredly guarded" and transmitted as pure as they have been given !" Had this unfortunately been the period of his life; had the

* The cantonment was immediately at the foot of the SouthMountain, on the summit of which is a rock called "Washington's Rock," from the circumstance of the General's frequently resorting there to view the enemy, particularly during the battle of Shortkills.

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