The Feliciana Democrat., 1858-03-20
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ing his commission he makes the significant
remark, that "the French with whom we have
now to contend) have adopted the practice,
with great and astonishing success, Of appoint
ing generals of juvenile years to command
their armies" He had every reason to sup
pose at that time and doubtless did suppose
that in the event of French invasion, the ar
mics of France would have been commanded
by the hero of Arcola and Lodi, the youngest
and most successful of these youthful generals.
Sir, the occasion which has brought us to-
gether is, in my Judgment, Of far greater i'm
portance and significance than any mere popu-
lar pageant. Virginia has been called, and
Justly, the mother of States and of statesmen;
but this is an honor which she shares with her
sister republics. From Maine to Georgia,
every one Of the old thirteen, has sent her
children to lay the foundation of new rcpnb-
lies in the rising West; every one of the con.
federated States has its list of the wise, the
honored and the brave among its children
But to Virginia alone belongs the honor of
giving birth to the one man. whose pre-emi-
nence all acknowledge without envy, i'll whose
fame all other States are proud as fellow
.countrymen to claim a share.
I rejoice that in consecrating q monument
to this pure and bright name, you have found
an American artist equal to its conception and
execution. Oh, that he could have witnessed
his triumphant day May its success carry
consolation to the heart of his bereaved part.
ner He has left behind him monument to
his own taste and genius, not less than to his
illustrious subject And, sir, when contem-
plate the career Of this gifted artist from its
commencement to its closes when trace him
through the earlier productions Of his chisel
the busts Of living rotemporares; the lovely
idolatries Of ancient mythology, Orpheus, Ga
nymcde, Hebe; his maturcr creations the
statue Of Beethoven, the group for the pedi
ment Of the Southern wing Of the extension of
the capitol; the figures of Henry and Jeiler-
son, which adorn the ascending platforms of
your great recommendation | see him thus
raising by steady progress to the summit of his
art and his fame, in the more than imperial
form and face of Washngton-his true eye
guiding his cunning hand from labor to labor
and from triumph to triumph like Phidas of
old, who 'carved the gods and came to Jovc,"
can almost fancy that the delicate sense was
overpowered. at last, by the transcendcnt
glories Of that matchless countenance; that
the vision of the accomplished artist beholding
far more than the ordinary observer under the
same outlines and lincaments--penetratin
deeper into the mysteries of expression--rising
higher, with rapt gaze, into the brightest hea.
ven Of thought, and feeling, and character, as
they flow through the portals of scnsc-a re-
volution successfully conducted Constitution
wisely framed; a Government happily admi-
nstered, raging out in each divine glance, |
can almost fancy that the gifted sculptor, like
the gifted poet,
"Saw, and blasted with excess of light
Closed his eyes in endless night"
Sir, l believe in monuments believe in
them even as works of art. To carve the
speaking marble, to mould the breathing
bronze, is one Of the noblest efforts of genius
and taste; but patriotic monument is far
nobler work. 1t embodies patriotism, truth
and faith; it gives form and expression to the
best feelings of our nature-and while the
noble work which you have this day inaugu-
rated shall brave the SHOWS of winter and
heats of summer, that brazen arm shall point
the unerring road to the welfare of the coun-
try more surely than any arm of living flesh
and fercier thunder than that of the ele-
ments shall clothe the neck of the monumental
war horse, and strike terror to the hearts of
the enemies of the Constitution and the Union