The sequence, which did not occur to me until I read recently the diary of
that trans-Alleghany journey, gives Washington a new, if a homelier,
majesty.
Napoleon the Great has spoken his praise of Washington as a general. Many
of our own historians agree that it is very doubtful if without Washington
the struggle for independence would have succeeded. Other men were
important. He was indispensable. This intimates the occasion we have for
gratitude that the commander of the French let him march out of Fort
Necessity in 1754.
The world has for a century been repeating the eulogies that have outlived
the invective of his day--and that are only now becoming humanized by the
new school of historians who will not sacrifice facts to glowing periods.
Washington is now more of a human being and less of a god than the
Washington whom Lincoln found in Weems's "Life."
Yet with all the humanizing is he the austere, rugged, inaccessible
mountain, its fiery passions hidden, its head above the forests.
Pages:
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481