Page:The Life of George Washington, Volume 1.djvu/15

Rh of victories and defeats; who can only feel engaged in the movements of vast armies; and who believe that a Hero must be perpetually in action; will be disappointed in almost every page of the following history. Seldom was the American chief in a condition to indulge his native courage in those brilliant achievements to which he was stimulated by his own feelings, and a detail of which interests, enraptures, and astonishes the reader. Had he not often checked his natural disposition, had he not tempered his ardour with caution, the war he conducted would probably have been of short duration, and the United States would still have been colonies. At the head of troops most of whom were perpetually raw because they were perpetually changing; who were neither well fed, paid, clothed, nor armed; and who were generally inferior, even in numbers, to the enemy; he derives no small title to glory from the consideration, that he never despaired of the public safety; that he was able at all times to preserve the appearance of an army; and that, in the most desperate situation of American affairs, he did not, for an instant, cease to be formidable. To estimate rightly his worth, we must contemplate his difficulties. We must examine the means placed in his hands, and the use he made