Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1855-12-28

cents; Would you tell him 1T was worth only sc
many dollars to have these statues, What would
any gentleman in this House give for the exac. i'm
age Of his dead father? What would you give i
you could call up in marble the exact image of thai
| fatherf He has gone from you: you will see hii
face no more. He bad virtues. He was your guar
dian and the author of your being, and you have
! followed his precepss What would you give i
you could call him back thus, and place him in some
| corner of your dwelling? Suppose he (Mr B had
such an image of his dead father in HE house. and
come man, looking upon it with admiration
| specimen Of art, should ask him what be would
take for it. He would hardly know how to answer
such question. 1t is worth more, would he not
say, than your money can buy? Aye, because il
| speaks to him-every day, aud every night, and
| always when he contemplated it, The same words
which his father had uttered in life still speak to
him-hs soul and bis heart Shall it be said that
count the cost of our public mes? He himself might
| not be here when these statues were completed
! but he had some ambition to be here now when il
was TO be resolved by our people to do this work
| He hoped the House would say: We will do this
for the benefit Of posterity. And when our success
sors shall come looming up toward this Capitol think
you not that our poor names will be remembered by
them, as they shall tread these halls of Legislation
| and look upon the devices and sentiments which We
had the sagacity to select and preserveS 1t would
cost $4,000 or 500, 000 Should we stop for cost?
He spoke for himself; no man could make him think
that the people of Tennessee would hesitate and
refuse the appropriation for this object Il was an
appeal TO their sensblities and they would never
close their eyes against the proprety and justice
well as the policy of this measure.
de was one of those who believed that it would
require about all we can do, and about all that
successors can do to preserve the integrity of this
Union. He did not believe the time near when the
Constitution would be destroyed but it might be
come dead letter; and herein was our hope. But
the idea and the effort were to sustain and support
its administration in the spirit thereof and in the
integrity OF its trainers. And what stronger and
more permanent indictments to this object, than
these great men speaking in marblei These men
were all devoted to the Union. None sought its
perpetulty with more earnestness than these four
No man could point to single paragraph SEN
tence in which these men had appeared otherwise
than loyal to the Union. They loved the Union,
and deprecated fanaticism of all Sorts He took
pleasure in honoring such men. He would honor
none other-no, Sirl He would not vote statue
70 man who had not been true to the Constitu.
tion-no Sirl If the angel Gabriel were before US
If ne had preached in this country against the Con
stitution, he might go without Il statue 1t was for
principles, as well as men, that be would set I'D
these monuments
At last, Sir, il only question Of dollars and
cents. he did not mean to say that other men
were not equally brave, intelligent and all that; but
show him other Tennesseeans that have been Presi-
dent. They were few and far between who ever
got nomination for the Presidency Let us erect
a bronze equestrian statue of Washington, and be-
gin to 6ll the inches in this Capitol with Jackson,
Polk and White. and there leave the work of fill
ing the remainder to succeeding Legislatures
There was another thing in this we were pecu.
harly situated in the advocacy OF this bill Sup
pose you take in these four, you satisfy the claims
of every part of the State. Here would be one
distinguished man from East Tennessee-here were
to be two from middle Tennessee, and here also,
would be Gen. Washington for the whole State
Here Polk and White, contemporaries, and
leaders OF conflicting parties. These it seemed
10 him, beautifully set off each other and com
manded the passions of men to be quiet He was
orcibly reminded in recurring to the character and
positions of Mr.. Polk and Judge White at the
head respectively OF political parties in Tennessee
OF the beautiful lines of the great Scottish poet
the occasion of the death of Pitt and Fox, who
had been fierce rivals at the head of power.
"Drop upon Fox's grave the tear
Twill trickle to his rivals bier;
Der Pitts the mOurnful requ sound
And Fox's will the notes rebound
Rest, ardent spirits till the cries
OF dying Nature bid you rise:
Not even your country's groans pierce
The eaden silence OF your hearse"
These two men stood for long time in oppOsi-
remember how 6ercely we battled with them. But
the din of the conflict has passed away, and We
feel its force more. And the winds OF heaven
still blow, and the still shines on the globe
vOlves-the government survives; and new men
are on the stage, with new antagonisms, and other
Captains General lead on their divisions
But let us learn another lesson here OF more
solemn and personal import, that even these great
men had TO die. They gone from among the
EVnp-thav hint siy faat nj prOuud
lesson of mortality here comes teeming up from
the sepuchre, and appeals to all Let us make
the occasion profitable to ourselves, whilst are
transmitting these lessons of virtue and patriotism
to posterity. Let invoke The marble, that it may
speak to US and to our children the great lessons
Of life.
But there was another consideration-the claims
of science. Our countrymen had learned the art
OF making the marble speak, and we must do some
thing for them Should not Tennessee make her
contribution to the progress OF American genius?
The stars that twinkle in the frmament-tbe leaves
that tlutter in the forest-and the mines in the
bowels of the earth, all subject 70 the analv
sea of her men of science, and understood and APP
preciated in all her borders; but here one art
above all arts-the art Of moulding marble into life,
now seeking the patronage OF the State At
Rome you might look upon statues two thousand
years old "a fresh as when they came from the
ties Of all, and standing the pride and glory OF that
people, exciting in every beholder admiration for
her heroes well as for her sons of genius. If he
were to recall a single incident Of his life, having
more influence than any other upon his mind and
character, it would be this Early in his life he
visited a company of play actors, having with them
4 statue of Washington; and the contemplation of
that figure first aroused and determined him to
study the history of that great man The same
eff ot statnary was rarngnized nv all II
with language that puts eloQuenCe 70 blush. Ii
was for this reason, principally, he desired TO have
statues put up IN the Capitol 1t was like a pro-
position TO construct a family VAULT was not
soon DONE Il was not the work OF day nor OF a
year, nor Of any fixed period Of time. In such a
work you leave place for yourself and another
for your son, and 80 on-the vault is never com
pleed until il receives the dust of all its tenants
Jutt so il was with this Capitol il would never be
completed until these inches were all filed with
statues. II might be finished and furnished in all
It's parts but wanting asatue in of these inches
il would be incomplete. The appeal is to the sem
sibilties of men, and there was not man in Ten
nessee but would feel the force Of it, and recognise
the wisdom OF setting up these helps to the
mon enlightenment, along with all that we can do
for the interests Of agriculture aud commerce, to
stimulate the virtues and patriotism of our sons
aud lead them on TO glorious des,iny--to the at.
tainment of the love of the beautiful and the al
miration of goodness and TRUTH through their con-
temptations OF the greatness and glory Of the past
The accommodation Of the committee was non
concured in and the bill passed on its second read.
ing in the following shape
B,lI TO PrOvids for the Erection Of Statues Of Gen
Washington, Gen. Jackson, ,Jlnss Il. PVLk, Hugh
Latosoa Waite and John Sewer
Be IL enacted BY ths General Assr,nbiy Of tks State
of TStneSare That there shall be procured and