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anthem of gratitude which may no more be heard from their mute lips: "The grave cannot praise Thee; death cannot celebrate Thee; but the living, the living, they shall praise Thee, as we do this day!"
Of the public services of Washington to our own country, for which he was thus prepared and preserved, it is enough to say, that in the three great epochs of our national history he stands forth pre-eminent and peerless, the master-spirit of the time.
In the war of the Revolution we see him the Leader of our Armies.
In the formation of the Constitution, we see him the President of our Councils.
In the organization of the Federal Government, we see him the Chief Magistrate of our Republic.
Indeed, from the memorable day when, under the unheard but by no means inauspicious salute of both British and American batteries, engaged in no holiday exercise on Bunker Hill, it was unanimously resolved, that, George Washington having been chosen commander-in-chief of such forces as are or shall be raised for the maintenance and preservation of American liberty, "This Congress doth now declare that they will maintain and assist him, and adhere to him, the said George Washington, with their lives and fortunes in the same cause;" from this ever-memorable 17th of June, 1775—a day on which (as has been well said[1]) Providence kept an even balance with the cause, and while it took from us a Warren gave us a Washington—to the 14th day of December
- ↑ By Edward Everett.
