of history does not present to our view a character upon which we can dwell with such entire and unmixed admiration. The long life of general Washington is not stained by a single blot. He was indeed a man of such rare endowments, and such fortunate temperament, that every action he performed was equally exempted from the charge of vice or weakness. Whatever he said or did, or wrote, was stamped with a striking and peculiar propriety. His qualities were so happily blended and so nicely harmonized, that the result was a great and perfect whole. The power of his mind and the dispositions of his heart were admirably suited to each other. It was the union of the most consummate prudence with the most perfect moderation. His views though large and liberal were never extravagant: his virtues, though comprehensive and beneficent, were discriminating, judicious and practical.

"YET his character, though regular and uniform, possessed none of the littleness which may sometimes belong to these descriptions of men. It formed a majestic pile, the effect of which was not impaired but improved by order and symmetry. There was nothing in it to dazzle by wildness, and surprise by eccentricity. It was of a higher species of moral beauty. It contained every thing great and elevated, but it had no false and tinsel ornament. It was not the model cried up by fashion and circumstance: its excellence was adapted to the true and just moral taste, incapable of change from the varying accidents of manners, of opinions and times. General Washington is not the idol of a day, but the hero of ages!

"PLACED in circumstances of the most trying difficulty at the commencement of the American contest, he accepted that situation which was pre-eminent in danger and responsibility. His perseverance overcame every obstacle; his moderation conciliated every opposition; his genius supplied every resource; his enlarged view could plan, revise and improve every branch of civil and military operation. He had the superior courage which can act, or forbear to act, as true policy dictates, careless of the reproaches of ignorance, either in power or out of power. He knew how to conquer by waiting, in spite of ob

loquy, for the moment of victory; and he merited true praise by despising undeserved censure. In the most arduous moments of the contest, his prudent firmness proved the salvation of the cause which he supported. His conduct was, on all occasions, guided by the most pure disinterestedness. Far superior to low and grovelling motives, he seemed even to be uninfluenced by that ambition, which has justly been called the instinct of great souls. He acted ever as if his country's welfare, and that alone, was the moving spring. His excellent mind needed not even the stimulus of ambition, or the prospect of fame. Glory was but a secondary consideration. He performed great actions; he persevered in a course of laborious utility, with an equanimity that neither sought distinction, nor was flattered by it. His reward was in the consciousness of his own rectitude, and in the success of his patriotic efforts. As his elevation to the chief power was the unbiassed choice of his countrymen, his exercise of it was agreeable to the purity of its origin. As he had neither solicited nor usurped dominion, he had neither to contend with the opposition of rivals, nor the revenge of enemies. As his authority was undisputed, so it required not jealous precautions, no rigorous severity.

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"His government was mild and gentle; it was beneficient and liberal; it was wise and just. His prudent administration consolidated and enlarged the dominion of an infant republic.

"INVOLUNTARILY resigning the magistracy which he had filled with such distinguished honor, he enjoyed the unequalled satisfaction of leaving to the state he had contributed to establish, the fruits of his wisdom and the example of his virtues.

"It is some consolation, amidst the violence of ambition and the criminal thirst of power, of which so many instances occur around us, to find a character whom it is honorable to admire, and virtuous to imitate-a conqueror for the freedom of his country! a legislator for its security! a magistrate for its happiness! His glories were never sullied by those excesses into which the highest qualities are apt to degenerate. With the greatest virtues he was exempt from the corresponding vices.

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He was a man in whom the elements were so mixed, that " ture might have stood up to all the world" and owned him as her work. His fame, bounded by no country, will be confined to no age. The character of general Washington, which his cotemporaries regret and admire, will be transmitted to posterity; and the memory of his virtues, while patriotism and virtue are held sacred among men, will remain undiminished."

Tribute by doctor AIKEN.

POINT of that pyramid, whose solid base
Rests firmly founded on a nation's trust,
Which, while the gorgeous palace sinks in dust,
Shall stand sublime, and fill its ample space :

Elected chief of freemen!-greater far

Than kings, whose glittering parts are fix'd by birth; Nam'd by thy country's voice for long try'd worth, Her crown in peace, as once her shield in war!

Deign, WASHINGTON, to hear a British lyre,
That ardent greets thee with applausive lays,
And to the patriot hero homage pays.

O, would the muse immortal strains inspire,
That high beyond all Greek and Roman fame,
Might soar to times unborn, thy purer, nobler name!

D

THE

WASHINGTONIANA.

ORATIONS.

Funeral oration on the death of general WASHINGTON, delivered in Philadelphia, at the request of congress ;--By major-general HENRY LEE, member of congress from Virginia.

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N obedience to your will, I rise, your humble organ, with the hope of executing a part of the system of public mourning which you have been pleased to adopt, commemorative of the death of the most illustrious and most beloved personage this country has ever produced; and which, while it transmits to posterity your sense of the awful event, faintly represents your knowledge of the consummate excellence you so cordially honor.

DESPERATE indeed is any attempt on earth to meet correspondently this dispensation of heaven: for, while with pious resignation we submit to the will of an all-gracious Providence, we can never cease lamenting in our finite view of Omnipotent Wisdom, the heart-rending privation for which our nation weeps. When the civilized world shakes to its centre; when every moment gives birth to strange and momentous changes; when our peaceful quarter of the globe, exempt as it happily has been from any share in the slaughter of the human race, may yet be compelled to abandon her pacific policy, and to risk the doleful casualties of war: What limit is there to the extent of our loss? None within the reach of my words to express; none which your feelings will not disavow.

THE founder of our fœderate republic-our bulwark in war, our guide in peace, is no more. Oh that this was but questionable! Hope, the comforter of the wretched, would pour into * The two houses of congress.