virtuous wisdom of its leaders, the infant republic was experiencing the horrors of a civil war. [Footnote 16: Marshall's _Life of Washington_, Vol. II. p. 240.] Evils and dangers, still more serious, were every day springing from the national party itself. The motives which led to the insurrection were pure; too pure to consist for any length of time, among the mass at least, with the imperfections of humanity. {41} When the people were appealed to in the name of rights, to be maintained, and honor to be saved, the first impulse was a general one. But, however great may be the favor of Providence in such great enterprises, the toil is severe, success is slow, and the generality of men soon become exhausted through weariness or impatience. The colonists had not taken up arms to escape from any atrocious tyranny; they had not, like their ancestors in fleeing from England, the first privileges of life to regain, personal security and religious toleration. They were no longer stimulated by any urgent personal motive; there were no social spoils to be divided, no old and deep-seated passions to gratify. The contest was prolonged without creating in thousands of retired families those powerful interests, those coarse but strong ties, which, in our old and violent Europe, have so often given to revolutions their force and their misery. Every day, almost every step towards success, on the contrary, called for new efforts and new sacrifices. {42} "I believe, or at least I hope," wrote Washington, "that there is public virtue enough left among us to deny ourselves every thing but the bare necessaries of life, to accomplish this end." [Footnote 17] [Footnote 17: Letter to Bryan Fairfax; _Washington's Writings_, Vol. II. p. 395.]