Essay on the Character and Influence of Washington in the Revolution of the United States of America

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty, by James Munroe & Co., in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

The following Essay is a translation of the Introduction, by M. Guizot, to a French version of Sparks's Life of Washington, and of selected portions of Washington's Writings, which has recently appeared in Paris, in six octavo volumes. M. Guizot is well known, not only as the author of many valuable historical works, but as a practical statesman himself, and therefore peculiarly qualified to appreciate the character of Washington, and to estimate his claims to the gratitude of his country, and the admiration of mankind. The Essay can hardly fail to be read with interest by every countryman of the illustrious man who forms its subject. It is a performance remarkable for the knowledge which it evinces of our own history, for its great political wisdom, its elevated moral tone, and its just discrimination in regard to the character of Washington. Every American citizen must be highly gratified to find his own veneration for the name of Washington confirmed by this unbiassed tribute from a foreigner so distinguished in literature and politics, as M. Guizot. Nothing has ever been written concerning him in Europe, so accurate, so just, and so profound as this; and it will serve to justify and strengthen that admiration, which has been accorded to him in foreign countries, hardly less than in his own.
George S. Hillard.


It is now forty years since this great man has been reposing, to use his own expression, in the mansions of rest, at Mount Vernon, by the side of his fathers. But his country has recently reared to him the noblest of monuments, in the publication of his Works , consisting of his Letters, Discourses, and Messages, comprising what was written and spoken by him in the midst of his active career, and forming indeed his lively image and the true history of his life.