^aJe University Library

ADDRESS

JOHN G. MILBURN

Saturn Club of Buffalo

NEW YORK,

FEBRUARY 22, 1902.

ADDRESS

JOHN G- MILBURN

Saturn Club of Buffalo

NEW YORK,

FEBRUARY 22, 1902.

Gentlemen : Emerson says that "we cannot find the smallest
part of the personal weight of Washington in the narrative
of his exploits." To say that of a man who did so much seems
almost paradoxical. Surely his exploits during the pre-revolu-
tionary period, the war of independence, the settlement of the
constitution, and the eight years of his presidency, are sufiicient
in mass and quality to account for his preeminence ! Yet Emer
son's utterance lingers in the mind ; challenges one again and
again to compare the record of articulated deeds with the trans
cendent influence of the man; and with what result? We read
the annals of Virginia from Grenville's first Act of colonial tax
ation in 1764 to the Continental Congress of 1775, and find that
the creative policies are those of other minds. From the time
that he took command of the army in June, 1775, to the real
ending of the war after Yorktown in 1781, he won no such vic
tories as establish the military fame of Frederick the Great,
Napoleon and Wellington. No line of the Constitution is trace
able to him, nor did he contribute to that mighty argument in
the pages of the Federalist which did so much to secure its
adoption bytheStates. During the eight years of his presidency
is it not the organizing genius of Hamilton which shines across
the pages of history as the brilliant performance of the era?
And yet when all this is admitted it is Washington who is pre
eminent, so accorded by the voice of his own time as well as
the voice of history ; it is Washington who is the illustrious
figure in the establishment of this republic among the nations
of the earth. ' Why he was so is no mystery, and if I dwell upon
it to-night it is not as an explanation of his position and in
fluence, but as a test of ourselves, perhaps not inopportunely
applied.

Lecky, in his History of the Eighteenth Century, gives an
estimate of Washington from which I venture to quote
liberally because of its force and excellence. He says :
"In civil as in military life he was preeminent among his
contemporaries for the clearness and soundness of his judg
ment, for his perfect moderation and self-control, for the quiet
dignity and the indomitable firmness with which he pursued
every path he had deliberately chosen. Of all the great men in
history he was the most invariably judicious, and there is
scarcely a. rash word or action or judgment recorded of him.
Those who knew him well, noticed that he had keen sensibilities
and strong passions, but his power of self-command never failed
him, and no act of his public life can be traced to personal
caprice, ambition or resentment. In the despondency of long
failure, in the elation of sudden success, at times when his
soldiers were deserting by hundreds, and when malignant plots
were formed against his reputation, amid the constant
quarrels, rivalries and jealousies of his subordinates, in the
dark hour of national ingratitude, and in the midst of the most
universal and intoxicating flattery, he was always the same
calm, wise, just and single-minded man, pursuing the course
which he believed to be right, without fear, or favor, or fanati
cism ; equally free from the passions that spring from interest,
and from the passions that spring from imagination. He was
in the highest sense of the words a gentleman and a man of
honour, and he carried into public life the severest standard of
private morals. It was at first the constant dread of large
sections of the American people that if the old government
were overthrown they would fall into the hands of military
adventurers, and undergo the yoke of military despotism. It
was mainly the transparent integrity of the character of
Washington that dispelled the fear. It was always known by
his friends, and it was soon acknowledged by the whole nation
and by the English themselves that in Washington America
had found a leader who could be induced by no earthly motive
to tell a falsehood, or to break an engagement, or to commit
any dishonorable act. There is scarcely another instance in
history of such a man having reached and maintained the

highest position in the convulsions of civil war and of a great
popular agitation."
To that estimate I cannot help adding the eloquent words
of Frederic Harrison spoken in Chicago just a year ago
to-night :
"The grand endowment of Washington was character, not
imagination; judgment, not subtlety; not brilliancy, but
wisdom. The wisdom of Washington was the genius of com
mon sense, glorified into unerring truth of view. He had that
true courage, physical and moral, that purity of soul, that cool
judgment which is bred in the bone of the English-speaking
race. But in Washington these qualities, not rare on either
side of the Atlantic, were developed to a supreme degree and
were found in absolute perfection. He thus became the trans
figuration of the stalwart, just, truthful, prudent citizen, hav
ing that essence of good sense which amounts to wise genius,
that perfection of courage which is true heroism ; that trans
parent unselfisimess which seems to us the special mark of the
saint." These estimates express the practically universal judgment
not only of his contemporaries but of all succeeding gener
ations. Men may dominate in affairs by intellectual force, or
by moral force, or by a combination of both. Hamilton and
Webster at once come into our minds as the highest types of
intellectual power that our country has produced, just as
Washington does as the highest type of moral power, and of
combined intellectual and moral power. He represents to us
virtue in public life in its highest sense; but virtue combined
with a consummate power of achievement. He is the national
exemplar of truthfulness, personal honor, resolution, steadfast
ness, courage, moderation, magnanimity, serenity, tact, mod
esty, dignity, applied to the conduct of life through all of its
stages and on all of its planes, and to the management of pub
lic affairs, whatever their magnitude. It was these traits of
character, with his clear-headedness, insight and judgment,
which brought him to the front and established him in a
supreme way in the confidence of his fellow men at every turn
of events from his youth onwards. Though slow to reach

conclusions, when once formed they became articles of a
living, burning, creative faith. No considerations of personal
interest or preference were ever allowed to stand in the way of
his duty. He went forth at every summons with the simple,
quiet determination to do whatever lay in his power ; to pur
sue what he deemed the best course ; to hold on his way despite
difficulties, opposition or criticism ; and to act in every emer
gency according to the light of his conscience and his judg
ment. He sought no personal advantage; pursued no selfish
aims ; and grew steadily in virtue, strength, power and in
fluence through a long life devoted almost entirely to the
service of his country. Always greater than what he did was
the man himself. His deeds have to be supplemented by the
results of the immense influence of his personality over others
to fill out the full measure of his achievement. It was an
omnipresent, incalculable force drawing men to right views
and right action. To the potency of this far-reaching, in
exhaustible influence of the man the success of the revolution
was due more than to any other factor, and there is no more
striking instance in history of the power of human character in
shaping events and moulding the destinies of a nation. A few
incidents from his career will bring more vividly home to us
the truth of these general statements.
Washington was a true son of colonial Virginia, and a prod
uct of her life and conditions. He came of good stock, and his
origins and associations were those of a gentleman. His educa
tion was simple and rudimentary, and ended when he was
sixteen. He was then tall, powerful and handsome, fond of out-
of-doors life, a hard rider to hounds and good shot — a high-
spirited, capable, eflicient youth. Even as a boy he impressed men
as straightforward, frank, executive and manly, and won their
confidence. At sixteen. Lord Fairfax entrusted him to survey
his large estates beyond the Blue Kidge. At nineteen he was
appointed a Major and District Adjutant of Militia, and at
twenty Major and Adjutant-General of one of the four military
districts of the Colony. In 1753, when he was twenty-one, Din
widdle, the Governor of the Colony, was directed by the Home
Government to warn the French, who were establishing forts

on the Ohio River, to desist from their encroachments on British
territory. It was a difficult and dangerous mission, and it
shows the esteem in which Washington was held at that early
age that the Governor spoke of him as "a person of distinc
tion" and committed it to him. Where others had failed he
succeeded, and the warning was given. From that time he
was a marked man in the Colony. The next five years wit
nessed the struggle between England and France for supremacy
on this continent, and through it all Washington was a con
spicuous figure. In 1754 there was the incident of his fight
with the Frenchman, De Jumonville, which made such a stir
although there were only forty men on a side. Thackeray
dramatically says of it that "it was strange that in a savage
forest of Pennsylvania a young Virginian officer should fire a
shot and waken up a war that was to last for sixty years,
which was to cover his own country and pass into Europe, to
cost France her American colonies, to sever ours from us, and
create the great Western Republic ; to range over the old world
when extinguished in the new ; and of all the myriads engaged
in the vast contest to leave the prize of the greatest fame with
him who struck the first blow." The fatal campaign of Brad-
dock, in which Washington showed superb bravery, courage
and fortitude, occurred in 1755, and was followed by three
years more of good and capable work on his part as a com
manding officer on the frontier and the final fall of the French
power, when he returned to his home at Mount Vernon at the
age of twenty-six highly distinguished as an officer and a
man. At the first session of the House of Burgesses after his
return he was publicly thanked for his services. He tried to
acknowledge the honor thus paid him, but in vain. "Sit down,
Mr. Washington," said Speaker Robinson, "your modesty is
equal to your valour, and that surpasses the power of any
language I possess " — words which present the scene to our
eyes and show us the true man far more vividly than the most
eloquent speech that could have been spoken.
From 1764 on for ten years we all know what happened —
taxation of the colonies by Parliament ; protests, appeals and
memorials from this side; the policy of non-importation; the

movement of troops here ; the threatened trial of colonists in
England; constant collisions between colonial governors and
colonial assemblies; the suspension of colonial legislatures;
the closing of Boston as a port ; the Continental Congress of
1774 with its memorials and addresses ; Lexington and Con
cord; the Congress of 1775, and flnally, war. During all of
this time Washington was a member of the Virginia House of
Burgesses. He took little part in its discussions but he watched
the course of events, and thought deeply and seriously. "His
looks," so we are told, " bespoke a mind absorbed in medita
tion on his country's fate." He was deeply attached to the
mother country, and accepted war, and finally independence,
as a solution only through the logic of events. He stood
with such men as Peyton Randolph, Edmund Pendleton and
Robert Carter Nicholas, tempering and moderating the fiery
eloquence of Patrick Henry with his resolutions of defiance.
But all through he was a firm believer in the liberties of the
colonies, and on that belief he acted at every stage of the
controversy. He moved the non-importation resolution in the
Virginia Assembly of 1769, and always observed it in his own
practice. The year 1774 was a critical time. The port of
Boston was closed and an English army was assembled there.
It was proposed to hold a Congress to which all the colonies
should send representatives. Virginia held a convention as her
House of Burgesses was not allowed to meet. There was
eloquent and ardent oratory. Washington was there, as
always, quiet, thoughtful, grave. But at the right moment
he declared his position in a few words which a delegate from
South Carolina, who stopped at Williamsburgh on his way
to the Congress at Philadelphia, pronounced the most eloquent
speech that ever was made. "I will raise one thousand men,
subsist them at my own expense, and march myself at their head
for the relief of Boston." There could truly have been no more
eloquent speech. In those few words were concentrated the
whole spirit and needs of the situation. The time for deeds
was at hand unless the mother country reversed her policy, and
deeds meant an army in the field. That, Washington the man
of action, saw clearly ; he said it and that was all there was

to say ; and what he said came from the depths of his soul after
long travail and questioning. We can easily imagine the pro
found irapression the words made as they fell from his lips.
The first Continental Congress held in 1774 yielded only
memorials and appeals. The second met at Philadelphia in
May, 1775. In the meantime the last hope of reconciliation
had vanished. A state of war practically existed. Washing
ton, slow to reach such a conclusion, had come to see that it
was inevitable. As he himself expressed it, a virtuous man
could not hesitate in his choice. So he appeared at the Congress
in the blue and buff uniform of a Virginia Colonel ready for
the sort of duty which the situation demanded. Congress
vacillated but at last came to the same view, and, adopting the
army at Cambridge,appointed Washington its general. John
Adams, when he first suggested the appointment, spoke of him,
as " a gentleman from Virginia who was among us, and very well
known to all of us ; a gentleman whose skill and experience as
an officer, whose independent fortune, great talents, and excel
lent universal character would command the approbation of
all America and unite the cordial exertions of all the Colonies
better than any other person in the Union." The appointment
was made on June 15th. In accepting it the next day Wash
ington said: "I beg it may be remembered by every gentle
man in this room, that I this day declare with the utmost
sincerity I do not think myself equal to the command I am
honored with"; and on the 21st he rode away to join the
army, not to see his well-loved Mount Vernon again until after
the surrender of CornwaUis at Yorktown. There is no event
in Washington's life more intensely impressive than this of his
appointment to the command of the Colonial army. His
military service, in which he had neither led armies nor won
famous victories, had covered a period of five years and
closed when he was twenty-six. Seventeen years had elapsed
since that time which had been employed in the management
of his estates and the discharge of his duties as a member of
the Virginia House of Burgesses. He had never asserted him
self as a leader in colonial politics or public affairs. He was
modest, reserved and conservative. Yet he had so firmly and

10
universally established himself in the esteem and confidence of
men that when the supreme time of action came— when the
best, the ablest, the surest man was wanted — every eye turned
to him. There was no doubt as to the fittest man ; no striv
ing for the place ; no alacrity or egotism in the assumption of
it. It fell to him because of his incomparable fitness, and he
accepted it as a solemn duty with a modesty which ennobles
the scene for all time.
From a letter of that time, written to John Adams by his
wife, we have a pleasant picture of him as he appeared to the
keen eye of that clever woman on his arrival at Cambridge : "I
was struck with General Washington. You had prepared me
to entertain a favorable opinion of him, but I thought the half
was not told me. Dignity, with ease and complacency, the
gentleman and soldier, looked agreeably blended in him. Mod
esty marks every line and feature of his face."
Just eight years and a half after this — on the 23d day of
December, 1783 — he appears again before the Congress, this
time at Annapolis, and his mission then is best expressed in his
own words: "The great events on which my resignation
depended having at length taken place, I have now the honour of
offering my sincere congratulations to Congress and of present
ing myself before them to surrender into their hands the trust
committed to me, and to claim the indulgence of retiring from
the service of my country. Happy in the confirmation of our
independence and sovereignty, and pleased with the oppor
tunity afforded the United States of becoming a respectable
nation, I resign with satisfaction the appointment I accepted
with diffidence— a diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so
arduous a task, which, however, was superseded by a con
fidence in the rectitude of our cause, the support of the supreme
power of the Union, and the patronage of Heaven. The suc
cessful termination of the war has verified the most sanguine
expectations ; and my gratitude for the interposition of Provi
dence and the assistance I have received from my countrymen
increases with every review of the momentous contest. * * *
I consider it my indispensable duty to close this last solemn act
of my official life by commending the interests of our dearest

11
country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who
have the superintendence of them to His holy keeping. Having
now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great
theater of action, and bidding an affectionate farewell to this
august body, under whose orders I have so long acted, I here
offer my commission and take my leave of all the employments
of public life." The war was ended, independence had been
won, and a nation founded, and the man under whose guidance
and direction this great work had been accomplished with these
simple but sublime words signalized its completion. There
was no ringing note of triumph; no exaltation of self; no
humiliation of a beaten foe. How much he might have said
about the enormous strain of those years of war with an army
to make and remake over and over again ; an inefficient, med
dling, and oftentimes discordant civil power ; treason, perfidy,
cabals, plots and jealousies ; the long, dreadful winter at Valley
Forge, which has been fitly characterized as "the most heroic
episode of the war"; and much more with which you are all
familiar. Many years afterwards Gouverneur Morris said to
Jay : "What a set of damned scoundrels we had in that second
Congress ! " "Yes, we had," said Jay, knocking the ashes from
his pipe; — a little pleasantry which throws a flood of light on
the government to which Washington was subject so many
years. The truth is that Washington had to keep his army
together and the war going under conditions which only his
faith, flrmness, patience, determination and indomitable cour
age could have overcome ; and atthe close there was only mag
nanimity and devout humility in his heart.
However much he wished it — and he did heartily and sin
cerely wish it — there was no detachment from the service of his
country for Washington. Independence had been won, but
what was to follow — a group of weak States in a loose con
federation or an indissoluble union under a strong and firm
government? The unfailing sagacity of Washington allowed
no hesitation on that subject. In a letter issued to the Ameri
can people not long before he laid down his command of
the army, he had urged the necessity of such an union of
the States under one federal head. Then followed what John

12
Fiske calls the critical period of American history, and a critical
period it truly was. The sentiment in favor of a strong central
government was so weak that the States drew away from each
other, each jealous of its own independence, and the country
drifted towards anarchy. But a true patriotism at last asserted
itself and the convention of 1787 met at Philadelphia. Vir
ginia sent Washington as one of her delegates. " As soon as
this was known," says Fiske, "there was an outburst of joy
throughout the land." Such is the power of character! He
was made President of the Convention and took the chair
lamenting his want of better qualifications. He was not
an active participant in the constructive work of the conven
tion, but there have come down to us some immortal words
of his spoken at a critical juncture which made it possible to
do the work so that it would endure. Timid and fearful,
the Convention was drifting towards half measures and
abortive compromises, and there was need of a commanding
utterance. "It is too probable that no plan we propose will
be adopted. Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be sus
tained. If, to please the people, we offer what we ourselves
disapprove how can we afterward defend our work. Let us
raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can
repair; the event is in the hand of God." The scene was one of
great solemnity; Washington spoke with deep feeling and
emotion; and thenceforth a new spirit dominated the conven
tion. The seven years of war scarcely accomplished more for
the establishment of this Republic than this terribly earnest,
inspiring and illuminating invocation of the Convention to
the fearless performance of its duty.
It is marvelous how in every crisis of that time there is
some saving utterance of Washington's which spread through
the land, carrying conviction with it, arousing the conscience
of men, and lifting them out of indecision into lofty and patri
otic action. Should the constitution be adopted or not was
the question after the Convention, and for a time the issue was
seriously in doubt. A dangerous agitation sprang up to hold
another convention for its amendment before final adoption,
which if successful would have had fatal consequences. Again

13
the voice of Washington was heard pointing out the path
of duty. "If another Federal Convention is attempted its
members will be more discordant, and will agree upon no gen
eral plan. The Constitution is the best that can be obtained at
this time. The Constitution or disunion are before us to choose
from. If the Constitution is our choice a constitutional door is
open for amendments, and they may be adopted in a peaceable
manner, without tumult or disorder." Even at this day we
can feel the irresistible force of such a declaration; how it
brought men face to face with the grim realities of the crisis ;
how it defined the true course of patriotism and left them no
alternative. Again, and more reluctantly than ever because of his desire
for retirement and doubts about his fitness for the management
of civil affairs, and only under the persuasion of Hamilton
that it was his duty to take part in the institution of the new
government, he left Mount Vernon, this time as the first Presi
dent of the United States. He wrote in his diary — "About ten
I bade adieu to Mount Vernon, to private life, and domestic
felicity, and with a mind oppressed with more painful sensa
tions than I have words to express set out for New York."
In no period of his life did the great qualities of Washington
more clearly reveal themselves than now. It was not only
that there were grave problems to solve in the establishment
of the government as a working machine, but acute differences
of opinion set in as to its powers, dividing men into parties
with their controversies and conflicts. But the time of severest
trial came with the settlement of the attitude of this country
in the war between France and England which followed the
French revolution, and the adjustment of the open questions be
tween us and England. France had been our ally with ships
and men in the darkest time of the revolutionary war, and the
popular feeling was all in her favor and strongly against
England. Washington, however, saw the true interests of the
country, and the same patriotism, courage and fortitude which
had sustained him in all the crises of the past twenty years sus
tained him now in unpopular policies. He kept this country
neutral notwithstanding the sympathy for France and

14
the desire to help her, and thereby saved us from the
almost unimaginable consequences of being embroiled in a
European war ; and he faced undaunted, deeply as it hurt him,
the popular resentment which Jay's treaty with England
aroused. These were both measures of the highest order of
statesmanship, profoundly affecting the welfare of the country,
which only Washington could have carried through. That it
was this determined, farsighted, upright, fearless, veracious
man, with his firm belief in the indispensableness of a strong
central government, his resolution to establish it on that
basis, and his supreme place in the confidence of the people
enabling him to carry out wise policies both at home and
abroad, who filled the presidential office for the first eight
years is one of the greatest blessings that has befallen the
American people.
Just a word in passing to avoid the inference from the
emphasis laid on Washington's moral qualities that I attribute
to him perfection on the one hand or depreciate his mental
endowment on the other. Fortunately for a real human inter
est in him he was not flawless. Jefferson says that though his
passions were naturally strong his reason was generally
stronger. We cannot help hoping it is true that when an offi
cer failed in his errand to cross a river and obtain information
about the enemy Washington hurled an inkstand at him with
a good round oath and told him to send him a man. When
asked if Washington ever swore one of his officers said : " It was
at Monmouth and on a day that would have made any man
swear. Yes, sir, he swore on that day till the leaves shook on
the trees, charming, delightful. Never have I enjoyed such
swearing before or since. Sir, on that ever memorable day he
swore like an angel from Heaven. " Such glimpses of him,
and there are many, supply the human touch of a man with
his feet on earth rather than a legendary hero. He was not a
man of intellectual tastes and pursuits, though he had a pow
erful and well balanced mind. His life was spent in practical
affairs, and his faculty for looking on every side of them,
seeing things as they really were, grasping the essence of
them, and forming correct judgments, did not fall short of

15
true genius. Referring to the flrst Continental Congress,
Patrick Henry said : " If you speak of solid information and
sound judgment Colonel Washington is unquestionably the
greatest man on that floor." Jefferson writes in his auto
biography, referring to Franklin and Washington: "I never
heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time or to any but
the main point which was to decide the question. They laid
their shoulders to the great points, knowing that the little
ones would follow of themselves." In his first inaugural there
was this pregnant utterance: "All I dare aver is that it has
been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just apprecia
tion of every circumsta.nce by which it might be affected."
His military campaigns were watched and admired by the
great Frederick. But without any tributes whatever, his
power and force of mind are attested by what he actually
accomplished in war and statesmanship. Great deeds do not
flow from small minds.
I have not presented to you an estimate of Washington, or
selected these various incidents from his life, as a mere study of
a great personality, because that has been much more ade
quately done many times over on such occasions as this. My
object has been rather to provoke a certain self-examination
on our part in their light. A suggestive writer has recently
in the consideration of national ideals drawn a contrast
between the ideal of character and the ideal of intellect.
Under the ideal of character he places justice, fairplay,
straightforwardness, simplicity, truthfulness, courage, with
the absence of all excess, loudness or boastfulness. Under
the ideal of intellect he places energy, initiative, originality,
rapidity, flexibility, invention. Where the ideal of intellect is
in the ascendant it is the latter class of qualities and capacities
which absorb the interest, attention and ambition of men.
Where the ideal of character is in the ascendant it is the quali
ties and characteristics which constitute it that are held in
most esteem. The highest type of national life and civilization
is obviously in a combination of both in due proportion.
Since Washington's time steam and electricity and their
application to locomotion and the arts have wrought vast

16
changes in our civilization, modifying national as well as
individual characteristics. From a few millions of population
engaged in agriculture or business In a small way, we have
become a nation of eighty millions with industrialism the
most potent and influential factor in our national life and
development. Across the intervening time has not the pendu
lum swung gradually from character to intellect as the domi
nating ideal, from straightforwardness, simplicity, modesty
and duty, as the main concern of men, to energy, push, commer
cialism, wealth and power? Washington personifled preem
inently the forces of character. He recognized to the fullest
extent that he owed himself to his country first; the claims
of self, of family, of business came after. What his duty to his
country was he collected, to use his own language again "from
a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might
be affected." He spared no pains to reach correct and dis
interested conclusions on all public questions. Even when
the constitution was before the country for adoption he read
what was written both for and against it. When he saw
what his duty was he did it; his convictions resolved them
selves into action ; they did not evaporate in emotion, profes
sions, apologies or regrets. Disinterestedness, clear and strong
convictions, action at the call of duty, personal honor of the
same obligation in public as in private affairs, that is the ideal
of citizenship by which Washington lived and worked in the
service of his country with such momentous results from
his journey across the mountains to give the note of warning
to the French commander on the Ohio when he was twenty-one
years of age to his farewell address to the American public
forty-three years afterwards.
Are we living up to that ideal or in its light? Do we place
public duty first or last? Do we strive disinterestedly, pa
tiently, soberly for just and right views as to public questions,
or does interest or predilection or indolence govern us? How
much of conviction is with us converted into conduct? Do we
act at the call of duty, or do we spend ourselves in protest
and denunciation, or in vain regrets that the demands of
business are so absorbing ? Do we insist upon the same stand-

17
ards of honor in public affairsthat are observed in private life?
Is it not true that the spirit of the age, with its industrialism
and its commercialism, has its grasp on all of us to such a
degree as to leave only an infinitesimal portion of the energies,
power and conscience of the individual free for the duties of
citizenship ? I do not flnd that as a general thing men apply
themselves seriously to public questions to form correct and
just judgments. Who among us has with such intent investi
gated the economic policy of the country, with its tariffs and
reciprocity treaties and taxation, or foreign policies, or the
organization of capital, or the organization of labor, or the
relations of capital and labor, or the administrative service,
or even municipal government? Yet we express opinions on
these subjects and act on them, and expect wisdom, order and
beneficence in the result. When things go wrong it is not
regarded as an operation of the law of cause and effect to be
probed to the last analysis, but as a personal delinquency, or
an incident of universal suffrage, or a state of transition, or
as inevitable. There are recurring cycles of commercial pros
perity and depression but they do not seem to yield any perma
nent political or economical instruction or guidance. The causes
of political corruption may be perfectly obvious, without any
clear realization or formulation of them in our minds.
Even the conditions of municipal government right under
our eyes at all times do not seem to suggest calm, ra
tional and fruitful inquiry, or the formation of a body of
public opinion based on such an inquiry, expressing itself with
irresistible force. We are amazed at disorder in the finances
of a city and are content to allow their management to con
tinue as the spoils of politics. I fear we do not clearly recog
nize that deliberate, conscientious, disinterested convictions
about all such matters are inseparable from true citizenship,
and that there rests upon all of us the duty of appropriating
the time and energy that may be necessary to possess ourselves
of such convictions.
The professional politician is a great coward and yet he
tyrannizes over us and mainly has his way. He at any rate
has learned from experience that the average man is so

18
absorbed in his private affairs that his inaction in the main in
public affairs can be safely assumed. Public duty has become
more a matter of theory than a matter of practice. We meet
with wearisome frequency and discuss its obligations as I am
doing now, and that seems to suffice. What we see and feel
and know does not crystallize into conduct. Perhaps the re
sult of so much discussion is that we have come to regard a pro
fession of faith as sufficient without works of any kind. But
it is what is done that counts and not civic or political virtue
in the abstract. The truth is that the sense of public duty as
something to be actually performed has grown weaker and
weaker with the increasing demands of business and social
intercourse upon our energies; and this is the most serious
departure of all from the ideal of life and character and citi
zenship which we glorify and celebrate every recurring twenty-
second day of February. So too it is a frequent comment by
observers at home and abroad that the moral standards of our
national life as a whole are not to be judged by the moral stand
ards of our political life; in other words, that politics here are on
a lower moral plane than business or society. That is not, ex
pressed with such generality, my own belief. I believe that in the
main the public service compares favorably in tone, efficiency,
and honesty with any other service. But so far as policies
are concerned, whenever principle or national honor conflict
with powerful business interests there is reason for the accusa
tion. Under such conditions the issue of the struggle between
morality and justice on the one hand and selflsh interests on
the other, is sometimes very uncertain, and the public conscience
is slow to be aroused. We have such an instance in our com
mercial relations with Cuba to-day. The duty of the nation
in the observance of honor and good faith is perfectly clear,
and the President is standing for it ably and powerfully, but
against such ignoble and selfish influences that a settlement
comes slowly. He is standing where Washington would have
stood with his ideal of national virtue, and if we felt that ideal
as a vital and living thing there would be such a manifesta
tion of public opinion that the question would be settled at
once.

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I have tried — and I hope not in vain — to lift up to-night
for our inspiration and guidance, theideal of Washington, which
is the ideal of character, the most precious possession of a
nation, and the true safeguard of its liberties and its civiliza
tion.

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