A revenue was to be raised, the judiciary system to be organized, its officers to be appointed, a cabinet to be formed and every department of government to be established on a basis at once firm, impartial, just and humane. In performing these various and arduous duties he exhibited great wisdom, a sound discretion, a clear head and good heart. In the cabinet, as in the field, prudence and deliberation guided his every action. He was found equal to every emergency and duty that his country demanded at his hands—he acted up to, but never exceeded the bounds of delegated authority—an angel could do no more—Washington did no less. During his administration of eight years he put forth the noblest energies of his lucid mind to advance the prosperity of his country—meliorate the condition of those who were suffering from the effects of a protracted war—improve the state of society, arts, science, agriculture and commerce—disseminate general intelligence—allay local difficulties—and render the infant republic as happy and glorious as it was free and independent.
His exertions were crowned with success; his fondest anticipations were realized; he finished the work his country had called him to perform; the government stood on a basis firm as the rock of ages, and, on the 4th of March, 1797, he resigned his power to the sovereign people, retired from public life, honoured and loved by his fellow-citizens, respected and admired by a gazing world, and crowned with an unsullied fame that will endure unimpaired the revolutions of time.
He then retired to Mount Vernon to enjoy once more the felicity of domestic retirement and the sweets of his own fireside. He had served his country long and ably; he could look back upon a life well and nobly spent in the cause of human rights, liberal principles and universal philanthropy.
For his arduous services during the revolution Washington took no compensation, and virtually paid about three-fourths of his own expenses. He only charged his actual disbursements, for each item of which he produced a written voucher. He made a book entry of every business transaction with as much system as if he had enjoyed the quiet of a counting-room. A fac simile of his journal is now before me, which has been politely furnished by Timothy Caldwell, Esq. of the city of Philadelphia, one of the few survivors of “the times that tried men’s souls.”
The first entry is dated the 22nd of June, 1775, and marked No. 1. £239. It commences with the outfit of the commander-in-chief and his staff at Philadelphia, and the expenses of the journey to Cambridge, immediately after his appointment by Congress, amounting to £466 2s. 10d. lawful money. But £3 of this amount was drawn from government at that time. The balance was furnished from his own pocket and credit, having received from Thomas Mifflin, Esq., £129 8s. 2d. The account current which is before me runs through a period of eight years, at the end of which time a balance was due to him of £1972 9s. 4d. His expenses for the eight years amounted to £16311 17s. 1d. He received $104,364 paper money, after March 1780, and passed it to the credit of the United States at forty for one, agreeably to the scale of depreciation, for which he did not obtain one for a hundred, by reason of which a large proportion of his expenses were actually paid with his own private money, for which he refused any remuneration. His expenses during his presidential terms exceeded his salary over five thousand dollars a year, which he paid from his private funds.
Had I time and power to trace the fair lines of Washington’s private worth and routine of life, I would present the picture of a man graced with native dignity, reducing all things around him to as perfect a system of order, economy, harmony and peace, as was ever devised by man. It should be chastened with sterling merit and magnanimity, and mellowed with benevolence and charity. It should be enlivened by the richest colours of virtue and consistency, and finished with the finest touches of a master’s hand. I would crown it with an amaranthine bouquet, richer and sweeter than the epic or civic wreath that decked his brow in the public view of an admiring world. He was a pattern of all that was great and good—the widow’s solace, the orphan’s father, the bountiful benefactor, the faithful friend, the kind husband, the true patriot, the humble christian, the worthy citizen and the honest man.
With the exception of his appointment to preside over the American army in 1798, when France threatened an invasion, Washington was relieved from any further participation in public affairs. He continued to live at Vernon’s sacred mount until the 14th of December, 1799, when his immortal spirit left its tenement of clay, soared aloft on angel’s wings to realms of ceaseless bliss, there to receive a crown of unfading glory, as the reward of a spotless life spent in the service of his country and his God.
His body was deposited in the family tomb, where its ashes slumber in peace, amidst the groves of his loved retreat.[I] This hallowed spot is visited yearly by large numbers, who approach it with veneration, gratitude and awe. Foreigners are proud to say they have visited the tomb of Washington—all nations revere his memory, unborn millions will perpetuate his praise.
[I] Since writing this sketch I have been informed, that when the remains of Washington were placed in the sarcophagus prepared for their reception, in the autumn of 1837, his face retained its fleshy appearance and was but slightly changed—a fact as remarkable as the history of his life.
His history, like that of our nation, is without a parallel. Unblemished virtue marked his whole career, philanthropy his whole course, justice and integrity his every action. A calm resignation, to the will of God, under the most trying circumstances and under every dispensation, added a brilliant lustre to all his amiable qualities. His course was not tarnished with bold strides of misguided ambition, or base attempts at self-aggrandizement. He was consistent to the last. His character, like a blazing luminary, outdazzles the surrounding stars, and illuminates, with meridian splendour, the horizon of biography. His brilliant achievements were not stained with that unnecessary effusion of human blood which characterized the ambitious Cæsar, the conquering Alexander and the disappointed Bonaparte. His fame is beyond the reach of slander or the attacks of malice. He has left an example of human conduct worthy the contemplation and imitation of all who move in the private walks of life or figure on the stage of public action. His sacred memory will live through the rolling ages of time, until the wreck of worlds and the dissolution of nature shall close the drama of human action, Gabriel’s dread clarion rend the vaulted tomb, awake the sleeping dead, and proclaim to astonished millions—TIME SHALL BE NO LONGER.