The historian may whiten or blacken, the critic may weigh and dissect, the form of the judgment may be altered, but the central fact remains, and with the man, whom the world in its vague way has pronounced great, history must reckon one way or the other, whether for good or ill.
When we come to such a man as Washington, the case is still stronger.
Men seem to have agreed that here was greatness which no one could question, and character which no one could fail to respect.

Around other leaders of men, even around the greatest of them, sharp controversies have arisen, and they have their partisans dead as they had them living.

Washington had enemies who assailed him, and friends whom he loved, but in death as in life he seems to stand alone, above conflict and superior to malice.

In his own country there is no dispute as to his greatness or his worth.

Englishmen, the most unsparing censors of everything American, have paid homage to Washington, from the days of Fox and Byron to those of Tennyson and Gladstone.