Washington the Soldier

by Henry B. Carrington

The blending of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries comes at a moment of such marked transition in all that directs human activity and relationship, that the promise of Washington’s benediction, with which he proclaimed peace, seems about to be verified with a fuller, grander, and more universal scope of responsibility and example than even his sublime faith encompassed.

“A stupendous fabric of freedom and empire on the broad basis of independency,” has already been established. The present generation and its actors in every department of public duty—including Washington’s successor in the Presidential Chair; the American Congress in both Houses; Governors of all the States; and responsible agencies in all sections—have seemed to unify their efforts to maintain the empire thus established. Those now living are the heirs to be made “happy, happy, thrice happy,” through the legacy of his life; if they do their part in “protecting the rights of human nature, and in establishing an asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and religions.”

Nothing in the career of Washington the Soldier was more sovereign in its sway over citizens under arms, than his constant appeal to a Divine Providence as the truest ally of the soul, in hours of grave responsibility and peril. This narrative would lose much of its value to America and to mankind, if the passages reflecting Washington’s religious faith were to be lightly passed over; and if he were to be measured only as a distinguished representative of the military profession.

He has, indeed, been tested by the sternest maxims of the military art. He has been found responsive to their most exacting demands. But all such tests are largely those of mere intellectual power—not disclosing excellence in moral and social relations, except as these illustrate “Statesmanship in War,” and complement other qualifications of the Ideal Soldier. But Washington was more than a soldier. It is no ill-conceived paradox to assert that the ideal soldier, the greatest soldier, is not the man who most literally represents knowledge of the military art. It is asserted in the Word of Life, that “he that ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city.” It is not to be forgotten that the only proper function of War is, to eliminate disturbants of the public peace. To give life for country is to partake of the Divine prerogative of giving life for humanity.

And the soldiers who fought under Washington were not mere men, of certain ages, to be handled well in battle, as parts of a machine. They were not hirelings, discounting the chances of life and death for money. Peace and its domesticities represented the goal of their pursuit; and self-sacrifice, even of life, to secure that peace, was their conscious service to family, to country, and to God. The people, as a people, had no unholy frenzy for war as a source of purely military glory. Only barbarous nations, or the devotees of some great conqueror or fanatical religionist, can thus pervert the patriotic sentiment to the instincts of the beast.

Washington’s army was strong, because strong at home. Country, was the aggregate of homes many. Never did the term patriotism have a more radiant reflection of its intrinsic glory; and Washington, as “Pater Patriæ,” was so paternal in his trust, that his army was filial as well as loyal, in the highest quality of duty to their great Captain. His faith in his country’s future was based upon the intelligence of the people; and his army was both intelligent and religious, because respect for law and religion was the basis of the first settlement of the American Colonies as well as the foundation upon which they established all domestic and political concerns.

In 1780, Thomas Pownall, once royal Governor of Massachusetts, pronounced “American Independence as fixed as fate”; adding: “North America has become a new Primary planet, which, while it takes its own course, in its own orbit, must shift the common centre of gravity.” He added this significant inquiry: “Will that most enterprising spirit be stopped at Cape Horn; or, not pass beyond the Cape of Good Hope? Before long, they will be found trading in the South Sea, in the Spice Islands, and in China. Commerce will open the door to emigration. By constant intercommunication, America will every day approach nearer and nearer to Europe.”

But this “independency of freedom and empire,” predicted by Washington, is not independency of moral obligation, or relation. It carries with its exercise an independent control of both moral and physical activities with which to insist that its inalienable rights shall be universally respected.

The associated prediction of Washington has also been realized—in “the establishment of an asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and religions.” America must therefore bear the responsibility of protecting her wards everywhere, and penetrate the earth with the conviction that wrong done to one, is wrong done to all. Oceans are but lakes. Distances are but steps. Neither light nor sound outspeed the cry of suffering humanity; and neither light nor sound must be allowed to outrun the speed of wise relief. Beneficiaries of this Empire-Asylum, between the great seas, have become elements of our wealth and power. They have ceased to be foreign elements in crystalized society; and blend, as integral forces in the body politic, just as the elements of air and water invisibly combine. Countless messages—of happiness, prosperity, and peace—cross the great seas by every steamship, to cheer their former countrymen with the hope of like liberties, in times not far distant, which they also shall enjoy. The prayers of a Christian people for all mankind, which Heaven doth “gather in vials, as sweet odors,” are not lost between earth and sky; but other peoples, inhaling wafted fragrance, dream of the Land of Washington.

Whatever may be the jealousies or dislikes of personal or dynastic rule abroad, no truly enlightened nation can long remain insensible to that exhibition of moral and industrial power under which America is fully equipped for the support of her honor and her flag. Her indwelling peace matures and conserves financial independence; and infinitely multiplies capacity and resources with which to meet every just obligation to all mankind. Her peace, while enriching herself, blesses all nations. Her products of the shop and farm have become indispensable to the good of all. This new “centre of gravity,” has become, as Egypt once chanced to be, the famine magazine, the granary of relief, to the famishing millions of every land. The ability of America to spring from the repose of peaceful industry and protect her rights and the rights of humanity wherever assailed, has compelled the world’s consideration and respect.