The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1855-06-30
MONUMENT TO WASHINGTON.

may desire.
MONUMENT TO WASHINGTON.
The N. Y. Times has long editorial "re'
ing the construction of a monumentto wAsh
ington in the city of New York. Ii en'o''e'
ITS appeal by the usual stereotype.
ments upon the subject of monuments
The object is one which the country VIII
approve. OF the propriety OF efec'ips
monument to Washington in the chief city Oh
the federal Union, there can be no doubt
But there is another work, far more oin1cui'
of execution, which those who follow the
teachings of such journals as the N. I. Times
and Tribune would do well first to perform:
1. is simply to build a monument to George
Washington in their hearts and conduct
1t is an impious mockery and shameful IN
suit to his glorious memory, to faoricate an
outward symbol of reverence for his deeds
whilst their hearts are full of treason to the
Union, the greatest of all monuments of his
fame, and their hands are daily laboring TO
render barren the precious fruits of all his
tolls. A proposition from Judas lscariot to
build a monument in honor of Christianity
could not have been more inconsistent than
an appeal from abolitionists and sectionalists
ia beh alf of monument to Washington, the
Father of Nation, and whose last words
warned his countrymen against the bane OF
sectional division, as the chief peril to their
Union.
We are in favor of monuments here ana
everywhere to the illustrious dead, but they
should be the outward and visible signs Oh
an inward spirit of reverence and love-
Otherwise, they are monuments ofhypocrisy'
of falsehood, of the shame of those VINO
build them. 1t is only in this point OF vie"
that we can see any reason why free-soli
sectionalists should build monument 10
Washington. In honoring patriotism ana
loyalty, they dishonor sectionalism and trea-
son; they confess to the world their own in
fanny, and as long as the monument lssts' II
will indicate the departure ofthose who rear
ed it from the principles and character OF the
man in whose honor it is raised. 1t Will re-
mind generation after generation, not only OF
the viii tues of Washington, but of the crimes
of traitors. Ages hence, amid the observer
ed fragments of the confederacy, the subjects
of future monarchies will be reminded by
the enduring stone of the priceless boon they
have lost, and curse the treason that sacri'
feed to its own paltry and sectional purposes
the worlds last hope of civil liberty.
We have no faith in monuments, when they
do not represent the inward spirit. They are
like the ceremonial observances of religion
when destitute of its inward graces. At Bun
ker Hill, there is a monument, the most ma
iestic ever reared in this country, and which,
unless destroyed by violence, will last for
centuries But it would have been better
if the pile had never been erected. The
spirit which gave sanctity to the spot has
deserted it. The selfsacrifcipg love of lib
erty which made it holy has been expelled
who welcomed Shareholders to their assist
ance "as angels from Heaven" are succeed
ed by men who denounce Shareholders as
fiends from hell. The patriots of Bunker
Hill rebelled against British oppression and
pioneered the march to the establishment of
q free government; the men who now live
benz ath the shadow of Bunker Hill are open
rebels against the free government which
their fathers aided to esta blish, and are abet
ted and comforted by British influence, as
the tories were in the Revolution.
The Bunker Hill monument proclaims at
once the glory and the shame of Massachu
sets. Who can look upon it without think
ing of the contrast between the past and the
present. Who can forget that q few short
years ago, Daniel Webster, amid the ap
plause of multitudes, stood like great high
priest before this altar of freedom, consecra-
ting it with the holy oil of genius and patri
otism, and towering upwards in his own in
tellectual majesty, a loftier monument than
any the hands of man could raise -? And
who does not remember how the same Web
sterthe illustrious embodiment ofthe Ameri
can spirit, was persecuted, denounced, and fol
lowedto the grave with obloquy and reproach
cd because he would not surrender the broad,
national character which gave dignity and
impressiveness to his Bunker Hill Grafton !?
Upon that mighty pile should now be written,
1.-THE glory is departed" Let us have M
more monuments, if they are only to 90
down to future ages as the gravestones of
patriotism and public virtue.
MODERN BARBARISMS
A Philadelphia paper has Soma So,s;h,