Nor could he, in his modest estimate of himself, know that for a distant posterity his character and his words would have compelling authority.

What Washington's countryman, Motley, said of William of Orange is true of Washington himself: "As long as he lived he was the guiding star of a brave nation and when he died the little children cried in the streets." But this is not all.

To this day in the domestic and foreign affairs of the United States the words of Washington, the policies which he favored, have a living and almost binding force.

This attitude of mind is not without its dangers, for nations require to make new adjustments of policy, and the past is only in part the master of the present; but it is the tribute of a grateful nation to the noble character of its chief founder.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE In Winsor, "Narrative and Critical History of America", vol.VI (1889), and in Larned (editor), "Literature of American History", pp.

111-152 (1902), the authorities are critically estimated.