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WISP Ww : THE COMPOSITE WASHINGTON Embraces the Trumbull, the Savage, an Inverted negative of the Pine, the Houdon, and the Gulager. The first three portraits dominate the composite, while Houdon and Gulager are suppressed, al though they all had equal chances photographically. The result must K e satisfactory to the most ardent lover of Washington. George Washington, Southerner l BY V7ILLIAM GARROTT BROWN | THE biographical element In history Is harder to reason about than any other. It yields but little to analysis. Wo may philosophize with some satis faction on the material causes of the most widespread tendencies; we may feel that wo have explained the char acteristics of the whole peoples and civilizations. But tho individual, particularly when he is one of the marked and chosen, presents far greater difficulties. Still, there Is no part of the historian’s work more al luring to himself or more fascinating to his readers than his attempts to account for the great men. One day about a yea j ago, the same mail brought me two letters, one from Buffalo and one from New Orleans, which seemed to join in a single invitation, and gave me an ex cuse for entering upon a line of thought which, though dangerous, had often tempted me before. The first was a request for a discourse appropriate to Washington’s Birth day. The second, from a student of Southern history, asked for my opin ion on the question. What good qualities, If any, have come out of the civilization of the South to go into the permanent American char acter? The phrase “George Wash ington, Southerner,” was a quick outcome of my meditations. How far it is a truthful phrase that is to say, how much his South ern birth and breeding, his associa tions with other Virginians, his life on a groat plantation, his ownership of slaves —how much these things had to do with the character of Washington—is, of course, a ques tion we cannot answer so clearly or confidently as if It were asked of Southerners or Virginians in gen eral. It Is like analyzing for his Americanism or his Englishry, when after all he doubtless drew more of his qualities from his indre member ship in the human family than from his assignment to any particular ! branch of It. And, then, there were hlB entirely personal t belongings. Nevertheless, It may be worth our w hile —particularly the little while we all In some fashion once a year give over to celebrating our national jj ero —to consider, th vague way we can, both how far ■ he was a Southerner and also what sort of a Sonthernei he was. We may be sure that much of what was peculiar to the South and to colonial Virginia sank into his char acter, aud that no Englishman, no New England man, no Knickerbock er, could possibly be as like him as another colonial Virginian conceiv ably might have been. Seeking more particularly for the elements of strength which he took from his en vironment, wo will do best to Join him with the other strongest Vir ginians of his time. While it would be Illogical to attribute to their com mon experiences and associations the characteristics of any particular member of that extraordinary group, it is not unreasonable to suppose that any qualities which the whole ygroup displayed, particularly if they )were distinctive qualities, were in ' some measure *ue to the civilization out of which these men came. Are there, then, any respects in which k.wa And the leaders of Revolutionary Virginia—Washington and Henry and Jefferson and Mason and Mar shall and Madison and the Lees and Randolphs—taken as a group, dis tinguishable from Revolutionary leaders In general throughout the country? In -this sort of generalizing, and in this space, our reasoning can pro ceed only by a sort of common con sent, each of us modifying the con clusion in proportion to bis dissent from the premises. I am Inclined to put first a dis tinction of the Virginians which they got merely by an excess of a quality which nearly all the builders of the American nation displayed. They had more than their share of a cer tain gravity, a high seriousness, which we expect to find in every Revolutionary worthy. This may seem a surprising statement, since many of us have the impression that Southerners have always been the most light-hearted of Americans. Behind their gravity of deport-' ment was a singular constancy of sentiment and a provincial intensity of feeling. Of Washington, particu larly, it can no longer be doubted that his passional nature was ex traordinarily strong. Thanks to saner biography, the coldly correct man whom we once tried vainly to like or to admire has disappeared. He has given place to a man of truly terrific passions, wonderfully con trolled. Of all the Incidents and anecdotes, none perhaps illustrates better the extent of liis self-rule than the story of the officer whom he ordered across the Delaware, and who returned and reported that the river could not be crossed. Instant ly Washington hurled at the man’s head the heavy inkstand from which he was writing, exclaiming in a burst of ungovernable fury, “Then go back and send me a man!” In this com pelling combination of will and pas sion he had no rival among his fel lows; but all save Madison impress the student of their lives with their capacity for a great and single devo tion to causes and to men. My own belief is that in this capacity the Southern planters have always cx WASHINGTON WALKING FOR THE LAST TIME AT MOUNT VERNON, WITH HIS CONSTANT COM PANION NELLY CUSTIS. “At Mount Vernon, Feb. 22, The Revd. Mr. Davis and Mr. Geo. Calvert came to dinner and Mfcs Cnstis waj married abt. candle light tc Mr. Laws Lewis.”—Washington’s Diary. celled. It Is a characteristic of pro vincials, particularly if they be coun try-bred. Along with it there went In these Virginians, who were nearly all well bred and trained in a good school of hospitality, a capacity for cordial personal relationships which was also of great advantage in their public careers. It is generally agreed that their social equipment was superior to that of most men whom they en countered at congresses and conven tions and in the army. Their speech was sweeter; their manners easier and more cordial. It is even reason able to believe that their individual characteristics, their personalities, were more marked and therefore more attractive; that they were, as one says nowadays, more “interest ing” than the average colonial states man and captain. For this is what most travelers in America in that period seem to have found, and it is what a comparison of the great plan tation with other American communi ties would lead us to expect. These fine qualities were all, in one way or another, sources of power and leadership. Back of them was that which used and informed them all—the habit of leadership, the con stant expectation and desire of power. And this was the gift of the slave. Of all the reasons why Wash ington and his neighbors took the highest places during the Revolution and for several decades thereafter, none was more potent than their beipg used to so much authority at home; and of all the causes of that habit of their lives, no other was nearly so important as slavery. When Washington took command of the army at Cambridge, he was surprised to find how little respect the Massa chusetts officers got, or seemed even to expect, from the men. He wrote back to Richard Henry Lee that SUPPOSED PORTRAIT OP MARY, MOTHER OP GEORGE WASHINGTON. they were, apparently, “mainly of the same kidney with the privates.” That, evidently, was not the way things were done in Virginia. If we should seek now in America a class comparable to the great slave owners for naturalness in command, for masterfulness, we should find their closest counterparts in the men who, all over the country, are at the head of the greatest industries—in the managers of corporate enter prise. Here, then, were certain qualities in Washington which I think we may attribute in some measure, probably in a great measure, to his being a Southerner, and of the class upper most In that society. Most cf us will think them admirable qualities, and they were all conducive to his rise and eminence. But when we try to estimate the cost of breeding men like him we come upon a darker view of the colonial South; and whe..t we read his own words concerning the Southern question of the day it appears that no one in the country, unless it w*as Jefferson, saw more clearly than he what was at fault in his own Virginia and on his own plantations. “I never mean,” he wrote to one correspondent, “unless some particu lar circumstances should compel me to it, to possess another slave by purchase, it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be abolished by law.” He would not sell the overplus of his own slaves, because he was “principled against this kind of traffic in the human species,” nor hire them out, because they could not be disposed in fami lies, and he had an aversio., to dis perse a family. He heartily sup ported Lafayette’s scheme of coloni zation. His will gave freedom to his own slaves so soon as his wife’s death should free a much larger mass with which some of them had formed family ties. His desire was ror gradual eman cipation by State legislation, but he foresaw many hardships, and an utterly anomalous place in society for the freedmen. The minute pro visions in his wilb for the care of the very young, the aged, and the infirm among his own blacks show that, though an abolitionist, he was by no means deluded into the notion that abolition would prove a solu tion of the race problem. His con stant practice of justice, kindress, and mercy in all his relations ith negroes shows better than could any words how he thought individual Southerners could ameliorate a situ ation which even to-day we have found no means essentially to change. This, in crude brevity, is what we know of Washington, the Southern er; of what Southern civilization did for him, and what he did and would have done for the South. Looking at the matter from both points of view, one feels that no better South erner has ever lived.—The Indepen dent. Sixty years ago there were 150,- 000 children at school in India. Now there are over 4,000,000. STOP AT THU..... Zettlej? -House, The best SI.OO a day house in the city* 253 Fourth Street, MACON, QA Mbs. A. L. Zettler, Proprietriwifj BUY THE SEWING MACHINE Do not be deceived by those who ad vertise a SBO.OO Sewing Machine for $20.00. This kind of a machine car be bought from us or any of our dealers from $15.00 to SIB.OO - MAKE A VARiETY. THE NEW HOME IS THE BEST. The Feed determines the strength or weakness of Sewing Machines. The Double Feed combined with other strong points makes the Mouse the best Sewing Machine to buy. Write for CIRCULARS SiSaS we manufacture and prices before purchasing THE HEW HOMS SEWING MACHINE SO. ORANGE, MASS. 28 Union Sq. N. Y., Chicago, 111., Atlanta, Ga., St. Louis,Mo., Dallas, Tex., San Francisco, Gal F-->R SALE BY A IMNGtK 10 (lit SObllt Is Anti-Japanese Clause Contained In the Innn.grcHiun Uni. A Washington special says: The Democratic senators further uncover ed the real dangers hidden in the immigration bill reported by the con ference committee at Saturday’s set- sion. It was shown that the bill would undoubtedly restrict southern immi gration and retard the growth and expansion of southern industries. Sen ator Dußoise, of Idaho, made the point that it was direct legislation on the part of the president, and Senator Tillman showed that its ehect was to give six men, the conferees, the power that is supposed to reside in ninety senators and three hundred and eighty-odd representatives. Senator Culberson said if it tvas proposed to exclude the Japanese, the conferees could introduce a joint reso lution which could promptly be pass ed and which would exclude Japa nese immigration. The clause which is incorporated in the bill leaves the entire matter in the hands of the president, and he is thus made master of the situa tion and is free to deal with the entire international question growing out of the San Francisco school mat ter as he sees fit. It is understood Mayor Schmidt, of San Francisco, is satisfied with this solution. Senator Bacon, of Georgia, brought up the rumors that he and Senator Tillman had been coerced into sub mission by threats of the opposition reducing the river and harbor appro priations for Georgia and South Caro lina. He expressed his frank belief that the rumor was unfounded. Sena tor Aldrich promptly disclaimed any responsibility or knowledge of the suggested attempt to force the sub mission of Senators Bacon and Till man to the passage of the immigra tion bill. Most of the Democrats fear the outcome of the measure dealing with immigration and the only outspoken one on the other side was Senator Simmons, of .North Carolina, who de clared he did not believe the south would suffer in consequence of the new enactment. The conference report, as adopted, contains a provision which authorizes the president to exclude Japanese la borers from the United States at his discretion. The report will now go to the bouse for its approval, which, as has been stated, is assured. BLOW ADltll A i Hit iOLIH. House Casses Resolution Anent the Intro duction oi loreiqn Lebor On motion of Mr. Gardner, of Mas sachusetts, the house Saturday passed a resolution requiring the secretary of commerce and labor to send to the house any information relative to the introduction of foreign laborer* into South Carolina by Labor Com missioner Watson and the opinion of the solicitor of the department wheth er said laborers w r ere lawfully ab mitted. 10 ESCAPE NEGRO TROOPS. Many Brownsville Citizens Crossed the Line Into Mexico. W. F Dennett; a prominent citizen of Brov nsville, Tex., testified before the Penrose courtmartial at San An tonio that a number of families ot Brownsville had fled to Mexico, seek ing protection from the negro soldiers of the United States army.