He had the widest acquaintance among men of different sorts.

He heard all opinions, but never sacrificed his own.
As I have said earlier, he was the most _actual_ statesman of his time; the people in Virginia came very early to regard him as a man apart; this was true of the later days when the Government sat in New York and Philadelphia.

If they sought a reason, they usually agreed that Washington excelled by his character, and if you analyze most closely you will never get deeper than that.

Reserved he was, and not a loose or glib talker, but he always showed his interest and gave close attention.

After Yorktown, when the United States proclaimed to the world that they were an independent Republic, Europe recognized that this was indeed a Republic unlike all those which had preceded it during antiquity and the Middle Age.