“[T]here is no truth more thoroughly established, than
that there exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union
between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, between the genuine
maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public
prosperity and felicity: Since we ought to be no less persuaded that the
propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards
the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained: And
since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the
Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as
finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American
people.” —President George Washington (1732-1799), “
First Inaugural Address,”
April 30, 1789
In New York City nearly 235 years ago, George
Washington demonstrated the qualities Americans hoped for in their President.
In a New York City courtroom yesterday, a former and still-aspiring occupant of his office was found to be notably wanting in virtue and sense of duty.
It was frustrating to watch this latter individual
fill that job with neither a sense of decorum nor of honesty. But maybe now,
the “eternal rules of order and right” that Washington hailed will at long last
begin to be vindicated.
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