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to those who were his bitter opponents. Though he was a man of action, he thought deeply on many subjects. "Never," said Jefferson, "did nature and fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great, and to place him in the same constellation with whatever worthies have merited from man an everlasting remembrance."

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THE MOUNT VERNON TRIBUTE 1

WASHINGTON

The Defender of His Country, The Founder of Liberty, THE FRIEND OF MAN.

History and Tradition are Explored in Vain for a Parallel to His Character.

IN THE ANNALS OF MODERN GREATNESS, HE STANDS ALONE, And the Noblest Names of Antiquity Lose Their Lustre In His Presence. Born the Benefactor of Mankind, He United All The Qualities Necessary to An Illustrious Career.

NATURE MADE HIM GREAT;

He made himself virtuous.

Called By His Country To The Defence of Her Liberties, He Triumphantly Vindicated The Rights of Humanity, And on The Pillars of National Independence Laid the

'The author of this inscription is not known. It has been transcribed from a manuscript copy written on the back of a picture-frame, in which is set a miniature likeness of Washington, and which hangs in one of the rooms of the mansion at Mount Vernon, where it was left some time after Washington's death.-H. B. CARRINGTON.

Foundations Of A Great Republic. Twice Invested With the Supreme Magistracy, By the Unanimous Voice of a Free People, He Surpassed In The Cabinet

THE GLORIES OF THE FIELD,

And Voluntarily Resigning the Sceptre and the Sword, Retired to the Shades of Private Life. A Spectacle So New and So Sublime Was Contemplated With the Profoundest Admiration; And the Name of

WASHINGTON,

Adding New Lustre to Humanity, Resounded To The Remotest Regions Of the Earth. Magnanimous in Youth,

GLORIOUS THROUGH LIFE,
GREAT IN DEATH,

His Highest Ambition the Happiness of Mankind, His Noblest Victory the Conquest of Himself, Bequeathing to Posterity the Inheritance of His Fame, And Building His Monument in the Hearts of His Countrymen,

He Lived the Ornament Of the Eighteenth Century, and Died Regretted By a Mourning World.

THE WORDS OF WASHINGTON

BY DANIEL WEBSTER

Delivered at the laying of the cornerstone of the new wing of the Capitol at Washington, July 4, 1851

Washington! Methinks I see his venerable form now before me. He is dignified and grave; but concern and anxiety seem to soften the lineaments of

his countenance. The government over which he presides is yet in the crisis of experiment. Not free from troubles at home, he sees the world in commotion and arms all around him. He sees that imposing foreign powers are half disposed to try the strength of the recently established American Government. Mighty thoughts, mingled with fears as well as with hopes, are struggling within him. He heads a short procession over these then naked fields; he crosses yonder stream on a fallen tree; he ascends to the top of this eminence, whose orig、 inal oaks of the forest stand as thick around him as if the spot had been devoted to Druidical worship, and here he performs the appointed duty of the day.

And now, if this vision were a reality; if Washington now were actually amongst us, and if he could draw around him the shades of the great public men of his own day, patriots and warriors, orators and statesmen, and were to address us in their presence, would he not say to us:

"Ye men of this generation, I rejoice and thank God for being able to see that our labors, and toils, and sacrifices, were not in vain. You are prosperous, you are happy, you are grateful. The fire of liberty burns brightly and steadily in your hearts, while duty and the law restrain it from bursting forth in wild and destructive conflagration. Cherish liberty, as you love it; cherish its securities, as you wish to preserve it. Maintain the Constitution which we labored so painfully to establish, and which has been to you such a source of inestimable blessings. Preserve the Union of the States, ce

mented as it was by our prayers, our tears, and our blood. Be true to God, to your country, and to your duty. So shall the whole Eastern world follow the morning sun, so contemplate you as a nation; so shall all generations honor you, as they honor us; and so shall that Almighty power which so graciously protected us, and which now protects you, shower its everlasting blessings upon you and your posterity!"

Great Father of your Country! We need your words; we feel their force, as if you now uttered them with lips of flesh and blood. Your example teaches us, your affectionate addresses teach us, your public life teaches us, your sense of the value of the blessings of the Union. Those blessings our fathers have tasted, and we have tasted, and still taste. Nor do we intend that those who come after us shall be denied the same high function. Our honor, as well as our happiness, is concerned. We cannot, we dare not, we will not, betray our sacred trust. We will not filch from posterity the treasure placed in our hands to be transmitted to other generations. The bow that gilds the clouds in the heavens, the pillars that uphold the firmament, may disappear and fall away in the hour appointed by the will of God; but, until that day comes, or so long as our lives may last, no ruthless hand shall undermine that bright arch of Union and Liberty which spans the continent from Washington to California!

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