Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-05-24
O5io Statesnan,
For the Ohio Statesman.l
New England 1deaIs of Ihe War
and OF our Historic Greatness.


New England 3deaIs of the War
and OF our Historic Greatness.
Henry Ward Beecher and | suppose he
Iiknows, is reported to have said that New
England has the brains to think for Amer
ica, and all that we of the "Great West"
have to do is to belittle ourselves to prop
er humility and take the crumbs of thought
that fall from the New England table, and
| be thankful therefor as we are presumed
to lack the classic taste and breadth of
| thought that pertain to those whose ideas
germinate and fructify at the ''hub of the
| universe"
Well, | take the "Atlantic Monthly" as
well as some other New England periodi-
Gals, desirous to be enlightened, of course, as
to what is to be the future ideals of Beauty,
Power, Excellence and Truth in our coun-
| try. And in the number for this month, a
writer who takes up (p. GlG) the "question
of monuments" drplOres that rim the null
| tiplicity of our rude affairs" only 'sOme oc-
cnrrence of very terrible, vile or grotesque
| effect can take our minds from our busi-
ness" And so, to correct our corrupt and
! vile American taste, the writer expresses
the "hope that the people will not altOgeth
| er relnqush the purpose of monumental
cOmmemOratiOn of the war; And our
"School Houses" "Monuments," "TOwu
| Halls" Temples, g., should be conceived
and executed in that way that would devel-
| op the beautiful, with the aid of the best
| genius that can be procured at home or
| abroad. But then, of course, the writer does
not leave us in ignorance wholly how this
is to be done, especia ly as all this should
! be done with view of cOmmemOr-
ating the glorious deeds and herOism of the
war. Oh no; he is not insensible TO our
need of instruction, nor are his ways of do
ing it as our unthoughtful and benighted
thoughts would lead us to think, conceive
and act. He says: "a commemorative
edilce must first be beautiful, since a shah
| by or ugly gateway, fountain or church
would dislfOnOr tho e to whom it was ded-
| icated; school house or town hall built to
proclaim pride and reverence cannot be a
wooden box. but all must be structures of
enduring material and stately architecture.
| All should, il possible, have some signii-
cant piece of statuary within or upon
them, or at least some place tor 1t to be at
forwards filled, and all should be enriched
and beauttted to the full extent OF the peO-
pies money and the artists faculty. Thus
|
memory of our dead soldiers should be pre-
served as a heritage OF valor and glory. We
| thank New England "brains" for the idea,
| if not altogether new. And so far, "let us
| be thankful and with honest SanchO, God
| bless the giver nor look the gilt horse in
! the mouth " But now tor the statuary
| New England brains and taste dictate.
| As our Legislature has passed "A law "tO au-
| thorZe the Commissioners of the several
| counties of the State to receive be-
quests, donations and gifts, and TO
erect monuments to the memory of
soldiers who died or were killed in the war
of 1861" it is important that we should
learn the b, st means and way to eXpend
these bequests and gifts! Let the Atlantic"
writer answer, and forget not that the idea
hepropOses is loyal Union Republican con-
ceptiOn; not ours, certainly!
"The idea of our war" "shOuld
be represented in every memorial work of
the time" "A sublime parable,
LIKE WARDS STATUE OF THE FREEDMAN is
THE FULL EXPRESSION OF THE ONE IDEA
| THAT SHOULD BE COMMUNICATED, and lgDuLa
| better celebrate the great deeds Of oar soldiers
than GdS- reLietS Of 6dttieS and statues Of cap
| tdtRS, and groups Of prtUdteS, or many SCdnttty
drGped, improper figures, hdPptty called Liber-
ties" OF course, the writer suggests no
other idea or subject for cOmmemoration !
Doubtless the New Englanders are the
modern people chosen to keep alive the
instinct of the beautiful" as this writer
hints. And here is evidence of their fit
ness for the divine mission. This writer
says in effect-The beautiful demands no
likeness to be perpetuated of Mcclellan, of
Sheridan, of Grant, or of Sherman; no
marble sfmilitudes of our gallant captains
who sealed with their blood heir devotion
to country, nor groups Of those noble men,
privates, who with no name to win, but
only life to lose, gave life and all TOR coun-
| try-and those ideals of our past " "liberty'-
| goddess, who with the war has become an
improper figure" in New England eyes and
hearts-least of all should our new ideals be
contrasted and nsulted by her presence and
scant draperies. Well, If such must be,
let us then forget that we ever learned of
the ideals OF Greek beauty, of the creations
of Italian painters and sculptors, set Powers
Greek Slave in the corner, forget our Cen
erals, Captains and privates' forms and tea-
lures, but over school house and town hall,
monument and temple, place gigantic and
sphinX-like figures of the "Freedmen," ne
gro figures in ebony blackness, let the
dusky eye be raised surrounded with its
cloudy white, give full expression and eX-
tension to the thick lips and pugnaoious
jaws of our negroes, aud hencetorth make
tht m the models of American ideal excel
lence-the Apollo Belvideres of our new
era, so that the growing American race of
the west shall fully drink in the new and
savory conception of beauty created by
New England brains.
Some western Copperhead who has not
been Hodgi, who only knows the plain
rules of common sense, and is ignorant OF
aesthetic culture, might probably grumble
and say that the ancients made gods ol
their Nations heroes and idealiZed their
conception in worship of their great quail
ties might claim that what our ''grOUps OF
soldiers" fought for was the preservation Of
our mighty Federative Government Of
States in Union, and for the integrity o.
that Union-that the Stars of our Flag EN-.
blemized to their fancy the noble memo
ries of the heroes and patriots of ouI
revolutionary history--that the integrity
of our country, of our Union, and o
our history, were the ideals of the
western soldier, he fought to preserve
unsevered and unbroken; that to his mine
emancipation was but possible incident o
| the contest, and that the features of be-
loved general, or comrade, or even the idea
figure of that grand and priceless liberty hC
fought for would to him and to his children
he more capable of making in the mind fit
ting thoughts and cultivating purer tast'
than the black and deformed figures of al
the negro " freedmen" on earth. But tina
would be disloyal, and New England say
the negro freedman shall be the ornamen
of our school houses, town halls, monu
ments and churches, and to this aesthetic