220 DAVIS 



of a nation's life," and that men learned to cling to him <* with 

 a trust and faith such as few other men have won, and to regard 

 him with a reverence which still hushes us in the presence of 

 his memory." To Patrick Henry in 1795 he spoke one dear 

 wish of his heart in the memorable words, " I want an Ameri- 

 can character; " and in his will, devising a portion of his prop- 

 erty for the founding of a National University here, he ex- 

 pressed his " ardent wish to see a plan devised on a liberal 

 scale, which would have a tendency to spread systematic ideas 

 through all parts of this rising empire, thereby to do away with 

 local attachments and State prejudices, as far as the nature of 

 things would or indeed ought to admit, from our National 

 Councils." If you seek Washington's true monument, look 

 upon your ideal city, at once the training school of the Ameri- 

 can character and the University of his dream. 



