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Art. XV.

An Oration on the death of Gene-
ral Washington, pronounced be-
fore the Citizens of Albany, on Thurs-
day, January 9, 1800. By Wil-
liam P. Beers, Esq. pp. 17. 4to.
Albany. C. R. & G. Webster.

PERFORMANCES like the pre-
sent, which are of a temporary
and fugitive nature, are not always
expected to be elaborately wrought,
or exquisitely finished. Indeed, on
the present occasion, there is danger,
lest the imagination of the orator,
so powerfully impressed with the
magnitude and grandeur of his
subject, should lead him astray
from the path of a just and manly
eloquence. Too many of those
who have attempted to eulogize the
father of our country, have indulged
an undisciplined and lawless fancy,
which has produced nothing but
extravagant bombast, outrageous
metaphor, and splendid conceit.
Pleased with the creations or distor-
tions of their own imaginations,
they have wholly lost sight of the
noble simplicity, and true dignity
of that great man whom they wish
to honour and immortalize by their
matchless strains. His productions
would have furnished them with
models of a pure and correct style,
replete with the lessons of wisdom
and truth, the result of a keen pene-
tration and just discrimination, long
exercised on the characters and con-
duct of men.

Why should ancient and modern

history be ransacked for parallels of
heroes, warriors, or statesmen, in
which scarce a general resemblance
can be traced? The state of socie-
ty and manners, and peculiar cir-
cumstances of time and place, must
modify the characters of men.
Every man is different from every
other man. This difference is
greater in proportion to the extent
of their genius and talents. This
remark is more particularly appli-
cable to General Washington than
almost any other person of equal
fame, in the annals of history. Per-
haps no one can be found whose
character a biographer or eulogist
would find equally difficult to de-
pict in just and true colours. Thou-
sands may be selected as possessed
of more genius, learning, or science,
as more highly endowed with those
splendid qualities which strike and
dazzle the eye of the beholder. But
in the great, solid, and lasting vir-
tues which constitute the genuine
worth of man, as an active and so-
cial being, as a citizen of a free
state, as the guardian, defender, or
ruler of his country, and which are
the growth of true wisdom, few, if
any, can be found his equal. But
we must remember that it is not for
us to usurp the office of the orator
or poet, and that it is an easier
task to detect the errors of others,
than to escape censure ourselves;
to point out the manner of per-
formance, than to succeed in the
execution.

In this oration, Mr. B. takes a
very rapid and brief view of the
conduct and character of General
Washington, and of some of the
events which distinguished his long
and illustrious life. The full-drawn
and finished portrait which should
reflect the very body and image of
the great original, he leaves to the
pencil of the historian. He justly
conceived that it is only from the
study of the actions of the man,
that a true estimate can be formed

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of his worth, or an accurate deline-
ation of his virtues be made. He
therefore contents himself with the
unaffected and artless expression of
his own grief and the public sorrow,
and with a faint outline of the cha-
racter of him whose death is so
loudly lamented, and whom his
country will never cease to love, to
venerate, and to regret.

The following sketch discovers
a sound and discriminating mind,
and will serve as a specimen of the
present performance:

“Citizens! it was not the mili-
tary chief, the champion of his
country's battles, who was sum-
moned to this high station. It was
the citizen, the sage, who, by long
converse with nature and with man,
by long habits of observation and
research, and by long practice in
command, was happily calculated
“to rule the wilderness of free-
born minds,” to temper the raging
passions, and to hold in equipoise
the nice balance of public and party
interests. With what purity, with
what fidelity and ability, he dis-
charged the duties of his high office,
the whole tenor of his administra-
tion testifies. You all feel and
know that your welfare, dignity,
and peace, were incessantly the ob-
jects of his paternal care. You all
can witness, that, at a period the
most critical, and in a state of
things the most hazardous and per-
plexing, he succeeded, with admi-
rable dexterity and address, to par-
ry the assault, and defeat the machi-
nation of foreign hostility, to stifle
the voice of insurrection, to hush
the cry of clamour, and to refute
and put down the pretensions of il-
legitimate ambition. Though pliant
as the osier to the impressions of
justice and true policy, and acces-
sible as humility herself to the ap-
proaches of virtuous influence, you
well remember, with what dignity
he even reproved the errors of the
people; with what firmness, on a

late and great occasion, he withstood
the claims of a popular branch of
the government, and asserted, not
for himself, but for his country,
the constitutional rights of his de-
partment.

“If any thing now remains,
among the great and leading vir-
tues of this exalted man, which I
have failed to notice, I would at-
tempt it here. The most just and
satisfactory view of his great mind,
is gained, by considering the com-
position and contexture, rather
than the single aspect of his quali-
ties: and by regarding the whole in
relation to the public interests and
the affairs of his country. In him,
qualities of a different class were
most happily combined. In him,
moderation was always supported
by firmness, and a natural ardency
of mind forever chastised by discre-
tion. Quick to discern, and yet
patient to hear; forming his best
judgments from his own views,
and yet, ever inviting the opinions
of others, and courting contribu-
tions of knowledge from all around
him, he neglected no internal or
foreign resource to perfect his plans.
In this fine and noble compound,
his virtues, well assorted and well
adjusted, derived their highest lus-
tre from mutual reflection. But
if in the whole composition of his
character, any feature stands emi-
nently distinguished, it is that con-
summate prudence, the essence and
result of other virtues, which en-
tered into all his measures and
guarded their execution: It is that
matchless dignity of mind, which
never forsook him, in public or
private life, in all affairs, momen-
tous or familiar.”

This oration will not suffer by a
comparison with any of the publi-
cations which the same occasion
has called forth. Its characteristics
are ease, simplicity, and correctness.
We do not remark any effort to
reach a new and lofty strain of

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oratory. Mr. B. speaks like one
possessed of sensibility and taste,
and who wished to sympathise in
the real grief of his hearers, rather
than to attempt to awaken sensations
unfelt before. “Some men,” says
Ganganelli, “put themselves into
an alembic to be eloquent, when, if
they would give themselves up to
the energy of their own hearts, they
would have golden tongues.”