If we compare him with the great men who were his contemporaries throughout the nation; in an age of extraordinary personages, Washington was unquestionably the first man of the time in ability.  Review the correspondence of General Washington—­that sublime monument of intelligence and integrity—­scrutinize the public history and the public men of that era, and you will find that in all the wisdom that was accomplished or was attempted, Washington was before every man in his suggestions of the plan, and beyond every one in the extent to which he contributed to its adoption.  In the field, all the able generals acknowledged his superiority, and looked up to him with loyalty, reliance, and reverence; the others, who doubted his ability, or conspired against his sovereignty, illustrated, in their own conduct, their incapacity to be either his judges or his rivals.  In the state, Adams, Jay, Rutledge, Pinckney, Morris—­these are great names; but there is not one whose wisdom does not vail to his.  His superiority was felt by all these persons, and was felt by Washington himself, as a simple matter of fact, as little a subject of question, or a cause of vanity, as the eminence of his personal stature.  His appointment as commander-in-chief was the result of no design on his part; and of no efforts on the part of his friends; it seemed to take place spontaneously.  He moved into the position, because there was a vacuum which no other could supply:  in it, he was not sustained by government, by a party, or by connections; he sustained himself; and then he sustained everything else.  He sustained Congress against the army, and the army against the injustice of Congress.  The brightest mind among his contemporaries was Hamilton’s; a character which cannot be contemplated without frequent admiration, and constant affection.  His talents took the form of genius, which Washington’s did not.  But active, various, and brilliant, as the faculties of Hamilton were, whether viewed in the precocity of youth, or in the all-accomplished elegance of maturer life—­lightning-quick as his intelligence was to see through every subject that came before it, and vigorous as it was in constructing the argumentation by which other minds were to be led, as upon a shapely bridge, over the obscure depths across which his had flashed in a moment—­fertile and sound in schemes, ready in action, splendid in display, as he was—­nothing is more obvious and certain than that when Mr. Hamilton approached Washington, he came into the presence of one who surpassed him in the extent, in the comprehension, the elevation, the sagacity, the force, and the ponderousness of his mind, as much as he did in the majesty of his aspect and the grandeur of his step.  The genius of Hamilton was a flower, which gratifies, surprises, and enchants; the intelligence of Washington was a stately tree, which in the rarity and true dignity of its beauty is as superior as it is in its dimensions.

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