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Show COUNTRYS DEBT ((Asm TO J Probably the Only Man Who Could Have Won Liberty' Difficulties Which He Hadlo Eneoun-- , ter .Were Almost Insurmountable Lsck of Proper Training In Washington, George knew the of the American better than any-- . erected, but of value against armament, successfully resisted two attacks of and disciplined British veterans, with a loss to the latter of 1,054 killed and wounded. But these same troops, by lrtue not of superior individual courage, hut of their combined valor and discipline, were rallied hy their officers, made a third charge, and, although outnumbered, succeeded in driving the Americans, at the point of the bayonet, from their trenches, their supply of powder being exhausted and their muskets not having bayonets. . The American force was Justly proud of its resistance and of the Iheavy punishment it had inflicted, but the result was, in spite of its good fight, a defeat to its arms perhaps ionly through failure in the quartermaster's department The British, however, carried the hill on account f the better discipline of their line, the better control of their officers, and because- their supply of ammunition was not exhausted. And they thereby prevented the success of the colonial military plan. Continental Weakness. This story in various ways was many times repeated in the war of the revolution, always with- the same result-- In spite of the brilliant genGreene, eralship of Washington, Schuyler, Lee and others, the Americans did not win a single victory over the British regular troops when the latter were not outnumbered. A brief examination of the powers of the Continental Congress will show what were the chief causes of this weakness in our armies that led so near to the .ccllapse of our national defense and caused the Intense anxiety and distress to Washington and the and fourteen ago May 21, 1802 Washington, wife of Georgs Washington, died at Mount Vernon, at the age of seventy yeara. Martha Custls met Colonel Washington about a year after the death of her husband, Daniel Parke Custia, a wealthy planter. She was then nearing her twenty sixth year, and Washington was about three months her senior. She was the daughter of Col. John Dandrldge and had been well trained in the accomplishment of young women of her social station. The engagement lasted for nearly a year, Washington being absent for a long time on a military campaign. ONE hundred . U d Vi - 61 , - - - fell Continental Artillery,, K f X J777-178- thirty five hundred men. the last of this month our tes will be so weakened that the S about . . After lnutemen and militia must be called for our defense, and these, being ider no kind of government, will the little subordination I have sen laboring to establish and run' me to one evil while I am endeavoring avoid another. But the less must i chosen. After five years of experience in mmand of the armies, Washington us expressed himself in a letter to e president of the congress, dated ugust 20, 1780: Had we formed a permanent army e the beginning, which, by the of the same men in service, id been capable of discipline, we iver should have had to retreat with handful of men across.the Delaware 1776, trembling for the fate cf Amer-a- , which nothing but the Infatuation the enemy could have saved; we g lould not have remained all the winter at their mercy, with imetimes acarcely a sufficient body men to mount the ordinary guard. re should not have been at Valley nrge, destitute of everything, in a tuation neither to resist nor to re-rWe should not have' seen the mntry ravaged, our towns burned, e Inhabitants plundered, abused, urdered, with impunity. Army Expenses Doubled. "The derangement of our finances ia isentlally to be ascribed to it The epenses of the war and the emissions paper money have been greatly ultiplied by it We have a great part the time had two sets of men to ed and to pay the discharged men ing borne and the levies coining in. "Our discipline has been much hurt, not ruined, by such constant isngea. There is .every reason to jlieve that the war has been on this account. A little later Washington wrote that defeat of General Gatea : Camden: "Regular troop alone are cf modem war to the exigencies jual ire, as well for defense as offeuso,1 id wherever a substitute Is attempt-it must prove illusory and ruinous. "In my ideas of ths true system of ar, the object ought to be to have a sod army rather than a large one. During the entire war the lack of ioney entailed greatest entering upon 1 le arm, but the men of the eontinen-one of the with exception grmy, r two regiments, were true to the ad through hunger, cold, sickness, de-;g- t grerty St home, nakedaees and For this fidelity there were three and gsons patriotism, - training Washington. aerge de-ro- y sue-ledln- ! pro-acte- g band of patriots about him in the army and in congress. The congress presented as able and devoted men as were ever gathered in single body, but they were not trained in the systematic methods cf great deliberative bodies; and above all represented one of the very weakest forms of governmental power a mere confederacy or league of several states or colonies and without real governmental functions. Although it assumed both executive aad legislative powers, it had no authority to raise revenue and could only emit bins of credit their redemption being pledged by the twelve "United Colonies" It is not singular that the States refused to surrender to this loosely connected congress the control of the esffltia, with officers of state elect, gathered by sacrifice, for thegroUctoS of its own state, not fore- Lerd Byron. Martha Washington. e. Commander In Chief. Aide do Camp and Line Officers, 1779-178- The Gncinnatua of ths West, Whom envy dared not hate. Bequeath the name of Washington, To make men blush there waa but one! Where may thd'wearied eye repose When gating on the Crest; Where neither guilty glory glows. Nor despicable state ) Yes one the first the last the best d , 1799 WASHINGTON 1732 n low-pow- i : Forty Years of Happiness Followed Union of Washington and Martha Custis. t - one else the offensive and defensive value of the forces under him; and he has left a vivid written record of the relative value of untrained short-termen and of a disciplined long-terbody made of Individuals of the same class. He plainly expressed his opinion, fully confirmed by military men since his time, of the army needed hy this country when, soon after the disaster at Camden, he wrote to congress: "What we need is a good army, not a large one. Probably no war was ever carried on where the one side was represented in the field by so great a proportion of unorganized troops, not under a central national control, and no great commander before or sineehas ever succeeded with so rapidly shifting a body of badly equipped men. Bunker Hill Anslyzed.'x At the battle of Bunker Hill, an army of untrained American minute men and militia, under the command, however, of veteran officers like Prescott, 8tark, Putnam and Knowlton of the higher rank, and among the lower' officers a sprinkling of men experienced In the French and English wars, from behind intrenchments hastily well-traine- IDEAL LOVE HATCH x for the People. Hampered Continentals All Their Battles. eeelng, as wa3 proved eventually, thst victory for the colonies could be won on.y by the longterm organized and disciplined continentals, composing a small but good army. Squabble Over Officers. Congress In the winter of 1775. recognizing the necessity of raising troops o take the place of those whose terms expired, resolved to provide twenty-siregiments, with power to Washington to select the officers, which resulted In many perplexities for him and his general officers, for. as Washington wrote. Connecticut wanted no Massachusetts man in her corps. Mas- sachusetts could see no necessity for Having a Rhode Island man tn hers and New Hampshire says It Is very hard .that her experienced officers should be discarded because her own regiments cannot provide for them November 11 he wroteMany of the officers eipected promotion, others stood aloof to see what advantage they could make for themselves. The difficulty with the soldiers was greater, if possible, than with the officers They refused to enlist unless they knew their colonel, lieutenant colonel, major and captain. Put Washington In Dilemma. Up to November 19 only 966 men had enlisted. By November 28 they had reached 2,500, and they all wanted furlough. Washington wrote: Our situation is truly alarming, and of this General Howe is well apprised, it being the common topic of conversation when the people left, Boston last Friday. In a private letter of the same time he wrote : Such a dearth of public spirit, such stock Jobbing and all the tow arts to obtain advantages in this great change of military arrangement, I pray Gods mercy I may never see again. What will be the end of these maneuvers is beyond my scan.- 1 tremble at the prospect. We have been until this time enllst- - ggwfht Brotherhood of Man. whole My first Irish U to soe the Inhabitants the and wld at peace, f It as ona band of brothers, striving Mel should Boost con trihuts to the Wash applnees of mankind. George Washington himself was a man of large property, and the wedding was one of the most brilliant that had ever been seen in a church In Virginia. Bride and bridegroom were attired In all the magnificence which' the fashions of that period made possible. When she was married to Washington, Mrs. Custia had two children surviving of the four of which she had been the mother. To these two children, Washington, who had none- of his own. was a devoted fathecJ Later In life these children died and Washington adopted two of Mrs. Washingtons grandchildren. Mrs. Washingtons faith in the wisdom and firmneas of her husband's patriotic course preceding and during the Revolution never failed. She had discovered the greatness of her husband long before the people that were so signally to honor him had found it out in all Its splendid proportions. During the ws7 Washington visited Mount Vernon only twice, but Mrs. Washington was with him in New York and Philadelphia and Joined him in camp whenever It was possible. In the years following their marriage and previous to the Revolution the Washingtons lived in Virginia after the style of the English aristoo-racy- , but throughout the war Mrs. Washington was wont to "set an ex-- HAS SUFFERED FROMMTION Modem Writer Gives Us New Version of the Character of Washington. Great Soldier aa Ho Is Universally Acknowledged, He Was Also a fissr Dsathlses Champion of ths Rights of Humanity. ORE than any other American statesman, more than any other American, Washington has suffered from tradition, writes John D. Barry in the Washington Times. In fact, I cant think of any other great man in the history of tbe world who has been damaged in Just tbe same way, through being made to appear so good. .The reason Js that be bas been preeminently tbe children's bero. Ho is a distinguished victim of tbe deceit we practice on children in the name of education. Only the very good boys and girls csro for the story of Washington and 7., tbs cherry tree. Tho ethers, the majority, are bored, or amused, or puzzled. r. dinned la tbe And then there saying, KSr. Into tbe ears of American childhood, "Washington never told a He. It alone alienates vast numbers of In their children from Washington. little . hearts it finds no answering First Presidential Mansion, New York echo, no enthusiastic desire for emulation. ample of economy to the .women of For truth telling, much aa we love the revolution in her attire and mods It in children, and much as wo labor of living. to graft It oa those highly Imaglnatlv After Independence bad been won, is often a virtue that develops she bore herself with great personal minds, with yeara, related to intellionly dignity aa befitted her station as the gence and to mature character. wife of the first citizen. r It derives its largely from Washington was approaching hia association with beanty more other qualities when Mrs. he died. year sympathetic. Washington accepted the separation Do Real Damage to Truth. calmly, only observing that ahe would often soon Join him. She survived him two do seem character. in rigid They and half. a years That she could have at all times a great damage to truth by making It view cf his grave on the lawn, she seem, not oeautlful, as it should be, moved to an attic room that over- but hideous Even in minds of matnrity, to the looked the spot, which she occupied until her own death. For the easier reputation of Washington there still ' coming and going of a favorite cat a clings a suggestion of tbe comic. hole was cut near the bottom of tho Thackeray did not help the situation when he introduced the youthful door of this apartment Before aha died Mrs. Washington Washington Into "The Virginians as and priggish destroyed her entire correspondence a highly with General Washington, "for she eokwlaL would not permit that the confidence There la a fine chance for a new they had shared together should be historian of Washington, one who win made public. bring out tbe rial man. Tbe marriage of George Washington Owen Wlster made a start some and Martha Cnstls was aa example of years ago, when he published a little the Ideal love match, aad was followed book, emphasising Washington's more by forty yeare of genuine happiness. human qualities. But the book was too slight to be comprehensive. Mr. tick to Yoor F Hondo. Wlster may yet write the complete If yon ha vo a friend, stick to him Alstory needed by the world.ef today. Vbr today, ti all times, the world aad always try to do him good only, -- IHtur V :.! J sixty-eight- , - truth-teller- s Ufa were ariatocratic should be re garded as the father of American da mocracy. And to the present-dapoint of view it ia all tbe mors strange when we recall the reproach made against Washington that the great Virginian held slaves." But Washington, to be judged fairly, Ilka everyone else, must be considered with reference to bis time and surrounding conditions. Washington deserves little credit for not yielding to tbe temptations to assert bis aristocratic lineage by becoming a tory. He waa directly affected by the unfair attitude of the 'mother country In Imposing taxation without representation. Wbat he did waa a natural outcome of what be was. Wbera be did merit tbe highest honor was In bis rising so magnificently to bis responsibilities and opportunities. A man selfish and arrogant might have exacted more tor himself, might have striven to establish himself as a per manent power over the nation he had helped to create. But there is no evidence thst Washington ever felt such a temptation. Aristocrat as he was and slaveholder, he was all the more extraordinary In being able to turn from tbe prejudices of bis training to realization of tbe democratic ideal. Perhaps we can reach a little clearer understanding of what Washington saw complications. On the surface It seems strange that was. and of what be did by placing a man whose inheritance and ways of bimln our own time. 'It was as If, at tbe present time, a man of distinguished position and of wealth, were REFLECTION OF MONUMENT to become a teller In tbe labor movement For, from tbe point of view of England, tbe colonials were bumble folk, mainly tlllera of tbe field, workers In small enterprises. To their Cl cause Washington gave dlgn!t7, ae well aa marvelous personal courage. A , With his tattered, poorly tralnod troops he defeated the professional soldiers of England and the Hessian mercenaries. He had, of course, thb euperlatlve advantage bf being sustained by the power of a sublime moral Idea, all tbe more effective l because it was opposed by the weakness thst goes with and contemptuous superiority. Really Oeasrvet More Credit. Washington has not been accorded by the world the credit he deserves for hia share in establishing democracy as a working force in a nation. We are likely to forget- that democracy, while hd fought for it, waa not accepted by the. world as practicable. J To a few it was a beautiful theory,' an , Ideal. To the many It waa lmpracti- a denial of what they regarded 31e, natural unfitness of human her logs in. large masse to jfovern them-- ' selvesjUFrom France, mainly through Rousseau, had come tbe great democratic theory. But France had yet to seek its establishment in the blood of the French revolution. Our next Washington la not likely to be a He will not lead in a war between nations or between foes Identified wttk any geographical limits. He wfj give dignity Far a certain period of the day, when aad coherence and organisation to a. the awn la shining, tha reflection bf cause now In need of n powerful chamtho Washington msmsrtal In tha pion. He will strive, not U Inst taxaw stars of tha Fatomao f plainly tion without reprercitijnn, but visible. Tha plctura ahowa tha nmlnst prodictfc iritis ought to reflect on the service of Washington in the making of this nation and on the attitude of Washington toward the future of this nation. Waahlngton a Sear. Since the Spanish war the Farewell Address, once a classic aad apparently just about as much alive ss most classics, baa fallen into disfavor. We dont bear of its being "pointed to with pride as often aa ws did. Ferbapa if wp do go back to It we ball find that Washington-,- besides being a soldier and a statesman, was a seer. And a seer Is much more interesting than a little boy that cbopa down a cherry tree or a man that baa never told a 11a. A aeer baa a way of projecting himself into the future and finding a new life there. Aa a prophet Washington is a vital force today. But. he la a force that has been consciously and deliberately disregarded. Washington, the hero of Valley Forge, was essentially a man of peace. He saw that tbe bapplneea and security of this country lay, juat as tbe happiness of an individual did, tn a policy of noninterference. And as soon as this country ceased to follow this policy Washington fore, - half-fed- s I,.. ft?''' VA,,S - Or soldier-statesma- n. eam-pezzaati- , . |