VII.

Address at the Union League Club Meeting in the Auditorium at Chicago, Saturday, February 22, 1908.

This day has summoned us to render grateful tribute to supreme patriotic service. With the progress of the years and the development of our National life swells the obligation to him through whose military genius independence was won and through whose statesmanship the foundations of the National structure were securely laid.

But we do not simply commemorate victories, even though they advanced a noble cause. We do not gather merely to praise tactics of strategy or daring, however brilliant the exploit or notable the result. Nor is it the skill of statecraft only which commands our homage. These may have their appropriate recognition. But this day has a deeper import. The victories of war and the leadership of peace were alike glorified by the character of the victor and leader.

We venerate Washington because in supreme test he vindicated manhood. The standards of liberty were unsullied in his hands. Whether amid the hardships of long and discouraging campaigns or in the hours of triumph, whether as burden-bearer or idol of the people, he invariably exhibited the same purity of motive, the same patriotic devotion. Against all that is sordid and mean, against all that is petty and unworthy, against the ignoble contrivances and manipulations of the cunning and the artful, against the graspings of avarice and the schemings of selfishness, against every effort to make power and office contribute to personal gain, against all that is or has been hateful and harmful in our political life, stands in majestic contrast the character of Washington,—an example and a benediction, a treasury of memory and a security of hope, a character, the revelation of which ennobled humanity and enriched the world.

The lesson of this life may be wholly missed by those who call with pride the battle-roll of the Revolution or who recount his distinctions and offices. It may make but slight impression upon those who in the conventional manner exult in his deeds. It is a lesson we must

all take to heart if we are to realize American ideals. It is the lesson of the supremacy of duty. It is the lesson of honor, of fidelity to trust. It must be enforced in executive chambers, in legislative halls, in courts of justice, in newspaper offices, in banks, in trust and insurance companies, in professional and commercial life, in the marts of trade, in the counting-room, and in the shop, by employer and employed.

There is no legislative road to character. If the spirit of Washington could permeate our public and private life, we should neither need nor seek governmental panacea. And it is only in so far as in fact this spirit imbues administration that the government of a free people can perform its function. We shall largely lose the value of the celebrations of this day if we give our thought exclusively to questions of governmental policy and omit to emphasize the moral sources from which a just government must derive its strength.

Washington did not seek power or preferment. The sense of responsibility outweighed the appreciation of distinction. When he was appointed to the command of the Continental forces he wrote to the President of Congress:

"Though I am truly sensible of the high honor done

me in this appointment, yet I feel great distress from the consciousness that my abilities and military experience may not be equal to the extensive and important trust. However, as the Congress desire it, I will enter upon the momentous duty and exert every power I possess in the service for the support of the glorious cause.

... As

to pay, Sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress that as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to accept this arduous employment at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit from it. I will keep an exact account of my expenses. Those I doubt not they will discharge, and that is all I desire."

With tenacity of purpose that has never been excelled, and an unconquerable spirit, he addressed himself to his task; and when, after years of struggle, victory was won, he scorned the temptations of power and yearned for peaceful retirement. Perils could not terrify him; defeat could not dishearten him; exertion did not exhaust him. Nor could success undermine him or victory disturb his poise. Duty never made her imperious demands upon him in vain. But that he should turn an opportunity for service or the advantages of performance to his personal gain, was to him unthinkable.

When prompted by the discontent of an army which despite its victories Congress neglected, the suggestion that his successes and

prestige might enable him by the exercise of monarchial power to establish a firm and just government, he replied: "Let me conjure you,

if you have any regard for your country, concern for yourself or posterity, or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your mind and never communicate as from yourself or any one else, a sentiment of the like nature."

Ending his military labors, he expected, as he told his friends, to "move gently down the stream of life until he slept with his fathers." And when, after the adoption of the Constitution, he was called as the head of the new government to the constructive labors of peace, he manifested the same modest dignity and the same patriotic devotion which characterized him when he had taken command of the army. As he said: "When I had judged, upon the best appreciation I was able to form of the circumstances which related to myself, that it was my duty to embark again on the tempestuous and uncertain ocean of public life, I gave up all expectations of private happiness in this world." And through the two terms of service that followed, but one purpose ran; and that was firmly to establish the government and to leave nothing undone upon his part which could promote the welfare of his