The Sun.
London, England, 1838-06-27 00:00:00

THE WELLINGTON MEMORIAL.

(From the Times.)
It is a week or ten days since we raised our voice against
one of the most mischievous, offensive, and revolting jobs that
ever disgraced this country, so fertile in them. t behoves
us, we see, to try our hand again; and if the noblest of the
fine arts can yet he rescued from insult, or the memory of the
greatest living Englishman from desecration, it is our bounden
duty—in the discharge of which we earnestly claim, nay, sup-
plicate, the cordial help and support of all our brethren of the
press, without distinction of politics or party—to denounce
and reprobate, in the face of the whole world, the monstrous
attempt upon human patience which is now in progress, and
of which the authorship rests, as our correspondents, and in-
deed the printed reports inform us, with Sir Frederick Trench.
The job in question is no other than the consignment of the
Wellington Memorial," for the western end of the metro-
polis, to a certain Mr. Wyatt, to whom we are indebted for
that burlesque effigy miscalled an " equestrian statue " of
George 111., which adorns a part of Westminster formerly
known as Cockspur-street, but latterly, through the good
offices of the said Mr. Wyatt, distinguished as " Pigtail-
place."

The choice of an artist for this work lay tvith a Committee
of sixty-one noblemen and gentlemon, appointed (self-ap-
pinted, we pre,;urno) from amongst the gross number of sub-
scribers to the statue.

We write from information furnished to us by correspond-
ents, and therefore trust to them for the truth of the state.
meat—a statement which, if true, is not the most creditable
to somebody—that when it was in "somebody's" contemplation
to have an artist named, notices were sent round to the mem-
bers of the Committee, but without specifying the object for
which they were to assemble, which was therefore unknown to
all but a particular section or junta in the immediate interest
of one or two active individuals.
At the meeting thus, to speak plain English, " packed," a
ready acceptance was found for the proposition that Chantry
should be set aside, and Wyatt (hereafter to be called " Sir
Pigtail Wyatt") selected, instead of that graceful, dignified,
and expressive sculptor. Lord Aberdeen, a nobleman of fine
judgment in the arts, protested against this absurd and mise-
rable abuse of power by an unfair majority ; but with his three
or four supporters the Noble Earl was outvoted. This act,
however, of the Rutland and Trench coterie became promptly
known, and provoked, as was natural, the severe displeasure
of the real majority of those composing the Committee, by
whom, and by a great and powerful body of the subscribers,
measures (which we shall specify anon) have been already set
on foot to obliterate such a reproach from the records of this na-
tional undertaking. The history of whatever seems unsatis-
factory throughout the business is described to us as follows When the subscription for the city memorial to Wellington
was going forward, Sir F. Trench evinced much anxiety to
get the execution of the statue intrusted to the Duke of Rut-
land's architect and his own protege, the Mr. Wyatt in ques-
tion. We had ourselves never heard of this person being re-
markable for any piece of original statuary, but a " monu-
ment," as it was misnamed, to the Princess Charlotte, wherein,
the body of the deceased appears dripping under a wet sheet,
as if just dragged out of the Thames—and her corpulent spi-
rit (a separate portion of the same group) mounting with pain-
ful difficulty, pretty much after the fashion of a prize calf at
Smithfield. surely such a piece of lumbering feebleness and
animal vulgarity never yet disgraced a sculptor's chisel, or
deformed, as it now does, the interior of a Christian church.
But more certainly still, the production of one such scarecrow
would in any other country than England have stood as a per-
petual warning against the employment of the same bungler
upon any future occasion. But to the point. The patron or pa-
trons of Mr. Wyatt were defeated in the city by the casting
voice of the Lord Mayor. A memorial at the west end next
offered itself to the beaten patty as a possible set-off against
their disappointment in the city. Now, we do not agree with.
our correspondent, who insists that no motive but that of serv-
ing Ms. Wyatt would have influenced certain persons to take a
part o active is getting up a subscription for a second statue. -
On the contrary, we are quite sure mat the gentleman chiefly
alluded to has feelings of reverence and admiration fur
the Duke of Wellington, which, apart from any other
cause, would have rendered bins a zealous promoter
of any scheme whose object was to do honour to that il-
lustrious nobleman. What we do fear is, that the enthusiasm
for art by which Sir Frederick Trench has given proofs that
h is animated may have degenerated in his case, as it has not
unfrequantly in that of °tilers, into a headlong passion for
speeifi excel!eacies which he imagines in tile works of an in-
dividual artist, and absolute blindness to his defects. Nothing
skort of such a monomania can adequately account for the
pertinacious diligence with which the gallant gentleman and
some of his friends are described to us as having pushed the
nomination of Mr. Wyatt against all opposition and impe-
diment. Be this as it may, the provisional appointment of the
above artist by a Committee consisting of less than half its
proper amount roused at once the vigilance of mans/ of its
leading members, and produced a requisition to the Duke of
Rutland—Chairman, we arc told, of the Committee—calling
noon his Grace to summon another meeting, that the untoward
proceeding
• of the former one might be revised, and the choice
of an artist re-opened. To this requisition there were im-
portant names annexed—viz., Northumberland, Richmond,
liucclengli, Anglesey, Lvnedoch, Hill, Tavistock, the Bishop
of London, and others. A requisition so authenticated it would
seem almost incredible that the Duke of Rutland has actually
refused to comply with !—a requisition signed by noblemen
and gentlemen of quite as high estimation with the country as
the Noble Duke himself ! Under what unworthy prejudice,
or what injudicious advice, Ile has done so, it is not for us to
ask, or for the public to deem worth examining; but the con-
sequence is obvious, and the remedy in the hands of the requi-
sitionists themselves, who have only to call a general meeting
of the subscribers, which we trust will be effected without an
hour's delay, and the proper steps at once taken to rescind the
above mischievous resolution. We had almost forgotten, what
justice to Lord Melbourne requires us to add, that his Lord-
ship made, individually, the same request to the Duke of Rut-
land as had been presented to his Grace from the other quar-
ter, and that he too, the Minister, at whose instance, probably,
the Queen herself had sent the munificent subscription of
600/. , was loftily refused by the Noble Chairman, who seems,
quoth one of our informants, to be in-trenched in his unforta-
nate resolution. It is tolerably plain, however, that the evil
o ill now cure itself.

Races at Norwich may be considered almost a
novelty, for although there has been a fine open space of ground ou
Moust.ho:d Heath, bearing the name of the Course, no use, or at least so
little use has been made of it for many y ears, that a large proportion of
the inhabitants do not even know where it is. The sports of the turf
are, however, to be introduced amongst the popular amusements fcr the
Coronation week. —Nurful ; Chronicle.