Washington's point of view as a ruler of men was unique at that period in the world's history.
We need to teach from the life of Washington that same respect for English ideals of government which he maintained and defended, even by revolting against the English king. Too many of our people have grown up in hatred of England, through the story of the Revolution and the War of 1812, and the unfortunate attitude of aristocratic England in our Civil War.
How does England, the heart and brain of England, regard us? If we know that she sympathizes with our ideals and her heart has been with us all the time, shall we not feel safe with her, and find in Englishmen brothers with whom we may work for the good of the world?
English historians have an appreciation of Washington which we cannot surpass. Writing English history for the instruction of English boys and girls, and men and women, they justify our Revolution and laud our national hero as a world hero. No American orator has ever magnified Washington in more laudatory terms than are to be found in Green's "History of England." Green says: "Washington more than any of his fellow colonists represented the clinging of the Virginia land owner to the Mother Country, and his acceptance of the command proved that even the most moderate of them had no hope now save in arms."
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.]
For the future we shall need a better understanding of our English brothers. This cannot better be attained than by knowing well that our ideals are held in the same regard by them as by ourselves.
There was one man who was the chief instrument in the hands of Providence for conducting the war, by his energy, prudence, and constancy, to that triumphant assertion of Independence which has built up the great North American republic. To Washington the historian naturally turns, as to the grandest object of contemplation, when he laid aside his victorious sword--that sword which, with those he had worn in his earlier career, he bequeathed to his nephews with words characteristic of his nobleness: "These swords are accompanied with an injunction not to unsheathe them for the purpose of shedding blood, except it be for self-defence, or in defence of their Country and its rights, and in the latter case to keep them unsheathed, and prefer falling with them in their hands to the relinquishment thereof."