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they have been illustrious; and that he will finally give you that reward which this world cannot give."

History presents no more sublime scene than that of a successful hero, at the close of a long war, giving up his power, and a nation which has just achieved its independence, in the solemn act of dissolving its military state, all uniting in ascribing praise to God. "It seems impossible to contemplate the scene just sketched," remarks Mr. Paulding, "without feeling the heart to swell with the noblest, most affecting emotions. The event itself, so simple yet so grand; the example of a great and virtuous man, who, having fulfilled the duties for which he was raised to power, voluntarily comes forward to surrender it into the hands of the representatives of the people; the character and dignity of that august assembly to whom the trust was surrendered, and of the man who thus easily divested himself of authority; the piety, fervour, and simplicity of the address and the reply; and the recollection of the events which preceded and followed the consummation of the independence of a great nation-all combine to form a picture to which few of this world present a parallel. Here, as in all the acts of his life, Washington exhibited an example which will be much oftener admired than imitated

THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY. I

ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

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Here, as in all other circumstances, he stands almost alone in the world-great, without seeming to be great, because he performed great actions with such ease and simplicity, with such a total absence of alı apparent effort, that, until we examine them critically, they appear like those of ordinary men."

When Washington had resigned the title of Commander-in-chief, he took that of private citizen, and retired to his peaceful home. The satisfaction he felt in doing so was expressed in a letter to his friend Lafayette, who had returned to France soon after the surrender of Cornwallis. "At length," he wrote, "I have become a private citizen, on the banks of the Potomac, and under the shade of my ' own vine and my own fig-tree,' and free from the bustle of a camp and the busy cares of public life. I have not only retired from all public employments, but am retiring within myself, and shall be able to view the solitary walk, and tread the paths of private life, with heartfelt satisfaction." To General Knox he wrote,-"I feel now, as I conceive a weary traveller must do, who, after treading many a painful step, with a heavy burden on his shoulders, is eased of the latter, having reached the haven to which all the former were directed, and from his house-top, in looking back and tracing with eager

eye, the meanders by which he has escaped the quicksands and mires which lay in his way, and into which none but the all-powerful Guide and Dispenser of human events could have prevented his falling." -For months after his return, he received, almost every day, addresses from all parts of the union, expressing the affection and gratitude of his countrymen.

He was at this time fifty-one years of age, with a vigorous frame, and a constitution unbroken by the vicissitudes of a hard service of eight arduous years, notwithstanding in some of his letters he alludes to his being occasionally afflicted with rheumatic pains, the consequence of his former exposures in the field. His pleasure was in the performance of his duties. His employment was agriculture. He wished to set an example of successful farming to all who were within the sphere of his influence, and his long absence from the care of his estate left ample room for improvements. Accordingly, he opened a correspondence with the most distinguished agriculturists of England and the United States, and availed himself on all occasions of their experience, whenever he thought it applicable to the condition or the means of his countrymen and neighbours.

Every morning he was abroad in the fields, direct

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