The native American., 1838-06-02

land the political altars the customs and the preu
dices they baseIy fed Gom,
"Celam non anmum mutant qnitrans mare currunt."
TnE STATUES OF PEACE AND WAR AT THE
CAPITAL.
We endeavorel the other day, in contemplating those
two pieces OF foreign work, to trace analogy between
their appearance as embems OF the beicose and pacific
and our nation, which il is supposed they represent in
their respective characters; but could see no resem-
blance in any degree. The figure Of Peace is very
pretty, and the olive branch, which answers as sort OF
label tells her name; but her appearance so speech
less, that dstaF would have made her better hand.
maid Of Penelope than she as quiet daughter oil
Palas.
There is distncveness Of expression either in the
features the accessories OF this figure; and besides this
its position compared with natural attitude is im
possible. The posture such, that if the subject were
alive the individual who could successfully initiate it,
would be termed equiJrise for the left leg supports
the body upon diagonal line of than thirty degrees
and the Of marbeif not sustained the side
by the tenacity OF its nature, would be tumbled
the other, the pose OF the figure is entirely ont of the
line Of its centre Of gravity.
There two things however, TINT may reconcile
not only absurdtes but npossibties to us, and those
are, first that the nipersonaton is goddess and
ondly it is the elab ation OF the genius of foreigner,
made in imitation Of foreign being, and executed in
foreign land She holds the olive in the left hand, which
is entirely at variance both with the proprety Of custom
aud the convenience Of offering it, and is against the
admonition Of Shakespeare, who says
''sti'l in thy 'igAt hand carry gentle peace,
6 To silence envious tongues.
The other figure, ofWar is muscular representative,
who looks as if he could stand his ground: not however,
because of any desire TO sand Of any moral bravery
but by Of the ponderousness Of his legs which
verse the physiological notion Of animal action and sat
isfy us that so far from their being the OF motion
in the body the whole momentum Of that portion Of the
supposed being would be necessary to keep them agoing
They seem to be modelled upon the belief OF Henry
", that,
"Upon one pair Of English legs
"Dd march three Frenchmen.''
The marching part Of this hero is, however, out of the
question, as from accurate estimate made OF the rea
tive capabilities OF limbs TO action. we found that suppo
sing him to be willing to walk for wager to prize
fight his pedestriansm could not exceed mile, and
then he would halt blown up with plethora, and
able TO excaim-
~ o that this too, too solid flesh would met'
Y The amount expended upon these labors exceeded
twenty thousand dollars, which could have been better
spent in the establishment of Native School upon the
spot where the talent OF youth might have been cult
vated under the eye Of Congress- and something been pro-
duced that future history well as our people, would re-
cognise as allegories Of this country.
Ills ridiculous that we should allow ourselves to be
imposed upon, not only by uAcassca foreign taste,
but by one not suited to the nature notions of peo
ple Instead of this Roman gladiator, with tremen-
dous helmet that part and parcel of his head
and cumbersome toga, enough to weigh down the
limbs of the most active Athlete, it should have been one
of our TALL graceful aborigines, with the feathers OF The
eagle for his plume, his nimble feet cased in the light
mocasin the claws Of the bear for his gorget and the
skins of the black wolf for Lorca. Those with the
culver bow and arrows, and the firm though placid fea
lures Of the Indian, would have told all the world thai
such is the American Mars,
"In peace like the lamb
| s'Like the lion in war"
In the place Of this have Italian baro, dressed
up in partial imitation Of heather god, like The cen
trians Of play house, hastily picked up and furnshe,
with the odds and ends of 'the property man.
/ Instead of the spear with which the Roman Mar
was armed and which the citizens before going forth t.
war used TO touch crying out Mars Pigi,," this super
numerary is furnished with short sword, and with
rerl face Of such distorted features make cry
out
/ I" That such slave should bear sword
"Who bears 20 honesty
j The whole production is hoax, which might en-
deayor to escape from, if there not certain epigran
about it which reminds us constantly that the fgur
which represents war, in this country, is low buy
who has lately had his pulled, and is swagger
ing in a DRESS under the pretence of revengng tn
insult. Let any examine the facial line in 'front.' an
il will be at glance, that this feature stands $
much awry as to have undergone weak, whic
the artist, by way Of furnishing for credulity
foreign talent has worked up into piece of monumen
tai satire There it stands reproach to good sense
lburesque upon mythology and an acknowledgment ths