THE LATE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, L'ro TIIE EDITOlt OF TEE
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SIR,—To trace a resemblance between the late Duke and George Washington may seem a little fantastic. Yet the resemblance exists, not of course as to achievements or career, but as to character and bent of mind, and in some degree as to the fundamentals of temperament. Let me append some sentences from Jefferson's sketch of Washington :—
" His mind was great and powerful, without being of the very first order ; his penetration strong, though not so acute as that of a Newton, Bacon, or Locke ; and as far as he saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It was slow in operation, being little aided by invention or imagination, but sure in conclusion. Hence the common remark of his officers, of the advantage he derived from councils of war, where, bearing all suggestions, he selected whatever was best; and certainly no general ever planned his battles more judiciously. But if deranged during the course of the action if any member of his plan was dis- located by sudden circumstances, he was slow in a readjust-
ment Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until every circumstance, every con- sideration, was maturely weighed ; refraining if he saw a doubt, but when once decided, going through with his purpose, whatever obstacles opposed. His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known ; no motives of interest or con- sanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision.. He was, indeed, in every sense of the word, a wise, a good and a great man."
Mutatis mutandis, there is scarcely a phrase or sentence or idea in all this that might not find its appropriate place in an estimate of the late Duke.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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