The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-11-26
some Suggestions as TO Statues of
General Lee.

UGHGEdA ACcs
Editors of the Dispatch:
Will you kindly grant nae space in your
columns that l may present briefly my views
on matter Of public interest!
There seems TO be settled determination
in the mind Of this community to erect at
once graud equestrian statue and monu-
ment in memory of General Lee like that
of Washington which adorAs our Capitol
erounds-a scheme deem utterly impracti.
cable in our day and generation for reasons L
shall undertake to demonstrate, and at the
same time to suggest one that will meet the
appreciation Of large majority when they
come to weigh the feasibility of the two
plans.
can best convey my idea by an ilustra.
ton 10 point: No sooner was our National
Government set upon sure foundation than
the universal desire possessed the people to
attest their sense Of the uneXampled merits
of George Washington. Therefore, in pur.
suance Of resolutions of the General Assem-.
bly,, voluntary donations towards defray.
ing the expenses Of erecting monument
were made to considerable extent. and paid
into the public treasury, where it remained
reproductive, out always distinguished BILE as
the Washington Monument fund.-" In
1873 this fund had accumulated to S13 0G3.10,
when the General Assembly directed it to be
invested at interest, and such interest to be
reinvested. In 1915 ifty years after Wash
ing!on's death) it had only increased to S41. =
7634i. Various schemes were devised and
set aloot for its further augmentation, with
meagre Success, when the General Assem- bly,
cime to the rescue with I'm appropriation, 10
amount, inclusive of the voluntary fInd, to
100000 (which paid for the granite. work
aIunel, and preparations were ordered for
laying the cornerstone. Time and again
during its erection additional appropriations
were made from the same source until, in SS5S,
it was completed aud inaugnrated at cost OF
$3.50, 900, and no participant ut that cere-
moDy, that know Of, ever saw the Father Of
his Country except che venerable mother OF
Judge Kalyburton, now long gone to her
final rest.
Tue General Assembly, considering tie
strailened circumstances OF the young State
just emerged from life. and dea;h-strug!le
for Liberty, and wisely anticipating this in
cvitable delay, while they never Tor q mo-
ment relinquished the purpose Of erecting,
as they did, magnificent cenotsph in
,saeuory of their world.rcEs~ned hero, de-
telNined on an imMedi&se expression OF
their love and admiration tor hiln, 10 which
bis contemporaries might participate. &C.
cordingly, by n resolution adopted june,
IL :" the Executive was requested TO TAX.
measures for procuring statAe Of General
Washington, to be OF the fiuest marble and
she bsst workmanship" the provisions OF
which resolution Governor Benjamin Harri.
son ,dsnuted Thomas Jefferson, then our
Minister TO Paris to execute. Ihe result
WAS the 'Eoble pedestrian statue that now
sraees the rotunda Of our CaptGG, iby Eou-
dun, one Of the greatest sculstors 0f bis time,
erected IN R7SS, when the lineaHents aad
presence the man were familiar teell aud
hence admiration for the ettigy CARRIED with
it the personal sympathy aud reverence for
the gseat original.
Similarly, Il would have those now Iiviag
and those 10 cQfGe after us to keep steszsSssfty
il view the prospect Of a pFoud equestrian
mSnumeat in mennsry of General Lee will
his great generals clustered around hiu (;
but surely the writes is not alone in eXpGass-
ing the sertimeGt ,tfat, as one who bfdae
rived inspiration frosR bis preserce, and saw
the light Of battle on aIs face at Spotsylss-
MIA, ard who wept with b i'm at Appomattox,
be longs to join in such q tlIumphsi celebrs.
ton to the great ca ptain &c just now thrilled
ais bosom 10 honor OF his great lieutenant.
Indeed, equestrial portraits wefe not of
the classic age; the Greeks and Romans
portrayed their gods and hero.'s on foot. OF
heroic or colossal size; for those of Peter
the Great, at s.. Petersburgh, and Frede-
rich, at Berlin, are among the f. ct, II not the
first. ever erected; and even In or day sueh
WORKS Of art are designed more ,Ns nonu-
ments In honor than likenesses of the sub
jec.s. Moreover, where the portal 'ure is
never'so faithful, the horse, being mu, b the
larger and unIsual subject. fasteus the e5e
almost TO The exclusion oil the human 6gu.r.
Again, We cannot and ought not to leo,,N
for State aid 10 this project. II would be :
her disgrace, and therefore no honor to her
hero, to eXrend hundreds Of thousands OF
dollars on monument when she Is pleod.
log poverty to her bondholders; paying
Jour per cent. when she should be declaring
six per cent. interest on her public debt:
and 1t is understood that the Governor. in
his next message to the Legislature, will re.
port deficit 10 that payment. Were this
o be done. we might well imsgine the spirit
II Robert Il. Leo, the soul OF chiyalry and
,onor, rising from his grave to rebuke the
follow mockery; and under its shadow q
firginlan might hang his head In shame Ia
presence Of foreign bondholier.
Move the Lee Monument Association has
D hand fourteen thousand dollars. which
nay be directed TO the end proposed. OF
lacins By the side of Jackson's a fine pedes.