A Curious Scrap of History.
By John Harvey Waggoner
POLITICAL partizanship leads men to strange lengths. It is hard to realize that Washington and his administration were subject of bitter invectives by political opponents, the same as every administration within our memory. But somebody has unearthed the following, being an editorial in the Philadelphia Aurora, written on the occasion of Washington leaving the Presidency. It sounds strange in this day. It is worth preserving as a specimen of political literature :— J. H. W. " 'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,' was the pious ejaculation of a man who beheld a flood of happiness rushing in upon mankind. If ever there was a time which would license the reiteration of this exclamation, that time is now arrived; for the man who is the source of all the misfortunes of our country is this day reduced to a level with his fellow-citizens, and is no longer possessed of power to multiply evils upon the United States. If ever there was a period for rejoicing this is the moment. Every heart in unison with the freedom and happiness of the people, ought to beat high with exultation that the name of Washington from this day ceases to give currency to political iniquity and to legalized corruption. A new era is now opening upon us—an era which promises much to the people; for public measures must now stand upon their own merits, and nefarious projects can no longer be supported by a name. It is a subject of the greatest astonishment, that a single individual should have carried his design against the public liberty so far as to have put in jeopardy its very existence. Such, however are the facts; and with these staring us in the face, this day ought to be a jubilee in the United States!"