Washington

bSV tCJzMfóiihk lnan ma.v Per" KafjlH liaps, more acjLJÍt$2E[ curately t h a n Ljjifé$yi (1 i n a n y other mw g3fdv& ?. way le gauged ' ií&3&iííiL ' y t'ie esteern WJL) I lield - not in his scb o w n country, not by men of z?S=== his o w n race s22 and nation, not ty the pusillanimous thronpf that is ever swayed by petty externals, as willing1 to strew palms in liis pathway as to set up the cry: Crucify him! No; -the esteem in whieh he is held by the noblest and best of other nations, by dlstinguished men of other races and blood. And nothing, surely, shows Georg-e Washington's greatness of soul, the lovablcness of his personal eharacter so conclusivcly as the inanifold testimoniáis to his transcendent worth given by noble strangers and by the greatest of living men in other lands. First and foremost, of eourse, in this gulaxy of noble foreigiiers stands fayette. }is filial devotion to the great American is wellknown, and I propose to illustrate it here by but a few limnings. The affeetion of those two was like that oí Jonathan and David. On the niffht of the tle of Monrnouth, Washington wrapped Lafayette - then Elill a uicre youth in years - in his own cloak, and the two then lay down side by side on the scorching earth. c : i:ai ing of the rïire need of the coantr und ■ f the inexhaustible strength of their iirnmon foe tmtil weariness closed their eyes and they both feil into a sound sleep. At the end of March, 1783, the French hero wrote: "Mï Dear General: Were you but sueh a man as Julius Ceasar or the King of Prussia, I should be almost sorrj for you at the end of thia great drama where you are actlnir such a part. But you, I know, rejoice at the blessiDs of peace when oar noble ends have been 8eoured. ♦ Happy, ten times happy, shall I be in embracing my dear General, my father, my best friend, whom I love with an affection nJ respect which I too well feel not to know thatlt is impossible for me to expresa it." After his return to his native land, the Marquis was asked by Queen Marie toinette, whom he had enthused about his uugust American friend and chief, as to what terms t o address Washington by in sending him a gift of honor. The lovely Queen, ultra royalist that she was, knew of no better way to express her admiration of Washington than to address him in terms such as she had been wont to choose in writing to brother monarchs. But Lafayette eald to her: "They, madame, were only kings. Washington is the chief of a free nation." And in writing himselí to Washington just about this time he said: "Though I am to re-enter the Freneh line as a field-marshnl, from the date of Lord Cornwullis' surrender, 1 will moreover keep my American uniform, and the outside as well as the inside of an American soldier, and wlll wateh ior the happy moment when I may agaia joln our beloved colors." The French revolution had broken out. In January, 1790, Lafayette wrote: "How often, my well-beloved General, have I missed your sage adrice and. trien dl y support. We have advanced in the cause of the revolution without the vessel óf state belng weoked against the rocks of aristocracy or laction. At present that which existed has been destroyed. . . . The result will, I hope, be happy for my country and forhumanity." Thus, at every important crisis of his eventful life - until the death of his beloved chief - Lafajette era ved first the approbation of the man across the sea, whom he had learned to reveré. And his son w ii s named after h 1 m - O eorge Washington de Lafayette. The t vr o greatest soldiers of Rurope - Frederiek the Great of Prussia nnd Napoleon the Qréat of France - were one in recogniziug the genius oí the great American soklier-statesman. During the darkest hours of the heroic struggle for American inaependence, Frederiek the (rent never wavered in his admiration for tha lsader. Such expressions as "That hero," "Thut man cast in Roman bronze," "Washington has the trua aiettle of the great General," etc., feil from his lips. 11e sternly refused passage through his dominions ti tliü Hessian hirelings of linfjliiiid. He sent Washington m magnificent Bword of honor, and, afterpeace was declared, he vas the first to deflnitely conclude a treaty with the yonng Republic - on September 10, 1785. The first article of tlils t : . itly read as follows: d universal peao iween bis Me I 's, buO' '' 9801 I 'il tlio VijiiCiJ Stat rus on I ccëptlons ut persons or pi. ((■.." And a few vers after this greatest Biiropean soldier of his mm time had d ied, the great Corscian ' eonqueror testiBed to the worth of the American so 1 il i e r and statesman in an order of the day, Issued to his ariny of invincibles just after a series of victorious campaigns, on February T, 1800. I his order was as folio ws: "Washington is ileuii. Tliis 'roat man fought apainst tyranny. lic broughi about the liberty of his cou:itiv. His meznoxy witl always be dear to thr French iieoile, and especially to French s tldters, who, like American soldiere, fiRlit for liberty and equality. Consequrntly, the FJrst Qounsel directe that for the next ten tlays ail the st-antlards and pennons of the Kepublic shall be vested in wape." Tliis was at a time when Napoleon had not yet made up liis mind to kill liberty in France. In fact, at that time, he still looked npou Wasliinglon as his model and ideal. Among other ioreigners of distinction who, attractedby tlie renown oí George Wasbjiigton's name, hastened aeross the water to fight under the banner of American liberty, the noblest of them all fairlj venerated tliis preat Commander-in-Chiel Kosemsko, Stenben. Kalb, Pulaski, Roehambeau, de ürasse - all have left letters behind them how they worshiped the great American patriot. At Valley Forge, at a, time when intrigues were rife among1 his snbordinate Generáis - Americana like himself - those noble foreigners did miich to frústrate tile plans of selfish schemers. "What do you seek here?" 'Vashington asked of young Kosciusko, who carne with a letter from Benjamin Franklin. "To fight for American independeré," said the Pole. "What can you do?" "Try me!" And Washington at once made him an aid-de-camp, and Kosciusko throughout the war was one of Washington's most enthusiastic worshipers. It was similar with Baron Steuben, a distinguished General under Frederick the Great, who was made Inspector-General of the American army, and who drilled them into discipline and milita ry obedienee. To his d y i n g hour - five years before that of his g r e a t chief arrived - this Germ a n disciple of the gTeat Frederick remained the faithful and admiring friend of Washington. A letter which Washington wrote - dated Annapolis, December 23, 1783- to Steuben, a few hours before he resigned his office as Commander-inChief of the American army, gives touching evidence of the generosity of soul and tender affection feit by the great American chieftain for this noblehearted stranger. As to the other Germán volunteers of distinction, Baron de Kalb, Washington visited his tomb on the battlefield oí Camden, years after the war, and broke out into these words: "There lies the brave de Kalb, that generous stranger who carne from a distant land to fight our battles, and to water with his blood the tree of liberty. Would to God he had lived to share with ub its fruits!" The dying words of de Kalb, as he feil pierced with eleven bullets, were a message of love and respect to his past commander. The correspondence mentioned between Washington and Bochambeau, de Grasse, d'Estaing, Chastellux and other distinguished leaders of his French allies likewise reveáis a unanimous feeling of the highest respect, coupled with glowing admiration, feit by these men of noble lineage for the untitled chief of a nation just on the eve of its birth.