As I bring these volumes to a close I am conscious that they speak, so far as they speak at all, in a tone of almost unbroken praise of the great man they attempt to portray. If this be so, it is because I could come to no other conclusions. For many years I have studied minutely the career of Washington, and with every step the greatness of the man has grown upon me, for analysis has failed to discover the act of his life which, under the conditions of the time, I could unhesitatingly pronounce to have been an error. Such has been my experience, and although my deductions may be wrong, they at least have been carefully and slowly made. I see in Washington a great soldier who fought a trying war to a successful end impossible without him; a great statesman who did more than all other men to lay the foundations of a republic which has endured in prosperity for more than a century. I find in him a marvelous judgment which was never at fault, a penetrating vision which beheld the future of America when it was dim to other eyes, a great intellectual force, a will of iron, an unyielding grasp of facts, and an unequaled strength of patriotic purpose. I see in him too a pure and high-minded gentleman of dauntless courage and stainless honor, simple and stately of manner, kind and generous of heart. Such he was in truth. The historian and the biographer may fail to do him justice, but the instinct of mankind will not fail. The real hero needs not books to give him worshipers. George Washington will always hold the love and reverence of men because they see embodied in him the noblest possibilities of humanity. INDEX for Volumes I & II ACKERSON, DAVID, describes Washington's personal appearance, ii. 386-388. Adams, Abigail, on Washington's appearance in 1775, i. 137. Adams, John, moves appointment of Washington as commander-in-chief, i. 134; on political necessity for his appointment, 135; and objections to it, 135; statement as to Washington's difficulties, 163; over-sanguine as to American prospects, 171; finds fault with Washington, 214, 215; one of few national statesmen, 252; on Washington's opinion of titles, ii. 52; advocates ceremony, 54; returns to United States, 137; attacked by Jefferson as a monarchist, 226; praised by Democrats as superior to Washington, 251; his administration upheld by Washington, 259; advised by Washington, 260; his inauguration, 276; sends special mission to France, 284; urges Washington to take command of provisional army, 285; wishes to make Knox senior to Hamilton, 286; censured by Washington, gives way, 287; lack of sympathy with Washington, 287; his nomination of Murray disapproved by Washington, 292, 293; letter of Washington to, on immigration, 326. Adams, J.Q., on weights and measures, ii. 81.