The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1889-12-05

from the Nov yorE World
ID Is a popular idea that tho grownlpa
statue on the enCltellgE ten9 Rn,2,oVConJ.
dess Of Liberty, Congressman n p, NuA
and Randall, of pCunsylynnlh Whn hhtu
passed undor thIa great dnme Tor a gnhE
lar of "A centiiry, sny The figure u llip bpu'
dess of Liberty. M, Cox said We borrow,
od the idenllzitIOn from the Nreehhi hnu
thnt tho lmuers0uatlnn h classical Hurh
is moi the rhse. ID iH "a matter ~ grave
do,,bt whether Wo have any Goddess OF
Lherty. But if We have, ll should rrflhlli'
ly q ,Dwn thO dome OF our National lhll'nh
w iut h thH figure on iho dome llNl ~
nipposod tp he our Ideal gpldrHa " woe
deaigund by Crawford ln Rome il 1900 ~
h tho figure nfa female, WIN we lEnt
hand resllug ON ihp hul OF hlhNu'u "
syor1. tho lufi On "a shield HuO holding Nh
ollyo wreath. on the head iB "a lNlWrl
Will crost Of eagle Qullls, Tho llWptlY
h pathoFod about tic waist hy q blnprh
bearing the letters ~, ~"
It iB tho figure nt woman, We sworn
and ehleld ol u soldier ana the fhpElNn
belmpt 0f "a pngnu, Who conceived hu'l'
an ideallzntIon la crown the National lupi'
toi Ola repuhllo2 The history nl THIS &C.
marlluhle cnucpptluu HpppHrH io DO liluu
understood, but ID ih iull ~ Interest," Nuu
every citizen ought 10 understand lL Ihlh
great statue II not the creation Of tuW
ford, II h true he made lho Wedcl, hut y
was by instruction., The llnl photograph
Of "a model, aout by Crawford Ia 100,
from Rome, was an entirely dlWcs
ont creation, TINS was lhe Ngure ol
a woman, with liberty cap ON her
head. blnsed with thirteen stars, repre-
Bcntng the thirteen original States, Tho
drnpeIy was gathered about the waist hy u
holt benrlng stars for all tho States 0f the
Union, Jefferson DnyIH, OF Mlhhlahipph
was then Secretary Of War; and he rciuH'
cd 10 accept this model because the liberty
cap was Fymboic Of a freed slave, llo
claimed that statue with the liberty cap
ON tho dome Of the Capitol for a people
half FREQ and half slave was q menace 20
tho South A correspondence cnuucd Do
tween Davis aud Crawford, roHultlng
finally, after many protests on the part OF
Crawford, la the present statue, The
photograph ~ this statue wna received by
Secretary Of War Davis early In January,
1855. This statue Davis accepted, ~ will
be seen by the following letter addressed
20 Capt, MolgH, who was then In charge OF
the Capitol VXtonhloni
WAR DEPARTMENT
WAsmguToN, Jan, 10, 1855.
Capt, NJ, g, Melga, In charge of Capitol
Extension, Washington Ciiyi
Sm; Tho second photograph OF the
statue with which Il IN proposed 20 crown
th0 dome OF the Capitol impreHaea me most
fayorAbly. lia general grace and power
striking NJ first yiow, has grown ON me M
iatudicd its details.
A. 10 the cap, can only say, without
intending 10 press the objection formerly
made, that u sccmn 10 me ila history rcn-
dcrs u inappropriate 10 u people who
were born FREQ and would dnot be- onsloyod.
Tho language Of art, Ike all living
tongues, N subject 10 change; thus the
bundle Of roda Il no longer employed 20
Hnggpat the functions of the Roman
Lictor, may lose the symbolic character
derived thCroirom, and hO confined 20
tho single sgnillcntiou drawn from itN
other source the fable teaching the In
utructyo lesson that In union there N
strength, But tho liberty cap has an
established origin In ltA use, UH the badge
OF tho freed slave aud though Il should
have another omhlcmatlc meaning to-day,
n recurrence tn that origin may give To
II In tho future the snmu popular ucccpta-
ton which Il had In the past
Why should not armed Liberty wear q
hclmot2 Her conflict being over, her
cause triumphant "a shown hy the other
cmblcma Of the statue, the visor would ho
up 80 nA 90 permit, us In Che photograph,
tho display Of "a circle Of stars, expressive
OF ondlcss cXistoucCaud OF heavenly birth.
with these remarks leave the matter a.
the Judgment Of Mr., Crawford and need
hardly Fny 10 you, who know my very high
appreciation OF him, that certainly would
not venture, on "a question Of art, TO array
my opinion against him. Very respect
fully, your ohcdiCnt servant,
JEFFERSON DAVIS,
Secretary OF War.
twill bc gcon that this lcttcr rofcrs 20
the objections expressed IN former cor
rcspondcncc, He repeats IN brief his OH
joctions To the liberty cap but why The
stars representing The States wcrc omitted
docs not appear Ia this letter.
II will now be- seen that the present
statue was intended 10 pcrsonntc armed
Liberty, Davis snyB; "Why should not
armed Liberty wear hClmotYn We
might ask, with proprcty' Why should
armed Liberty be pcaonnicd bya woman
Women have fought no battles for liberty
since the dawn Of the Chrlgtiun op. N
This statue is to pOrsOuuto armed Liberty
II should represent man with limbs Of
iron aud ucrvCH OF gicpl; with laCo aud
breast gnshcd docp with the scars ofmany
wars.
Mr.. Davis letter establishes the fact
that We have no Goddess Of Liberty on
our National Capitol. We have the figure
OF o woman that symbollyng nothing
omhlomg that represent nothing precious
or sncrcd 10 Liberty aud bearing the lO.
fonsivo nrmor 90 Il burbaric aud Pagan
ngo. We have mOnsltogitH
Another question arIscM llovo we nuy
such statue In this country ge Che Goddess
of Libcrly2 II 20, whore did we borrow
Tho idea? Certainly not from thc classics.
Tho G"ncka had no Goddess of Liberty.
The II ortns OF the Greeks pcrsonutcl
freedman, or slave who had been freed
by hia muster or the state, Tho Liborius
OF the Romans was the representation ofa
mature mniron, in robes OF pure white,
holding rod In ono huud and q
liberty cap IN The other, This was orig
inally Ia Romc statue TO The citizen who
had liberated his slaves. Later II was
worslippcd ns divinity. But I'm both
Greece and Rome, Libcrtas wns an infc-
rior goddess and belonged 10 the class OF
gonii. After Cpsnr's conquests in Spain
temple was dedicated 20 Libortus by the
Roman Senate and her statue set up In
the Forum. But this statue bcrsonatod
aggression, power, rather tbnn
Liberty.
We probably borrowed our ideas OF a
Goddess OF Liberty from The French Rev
o ulion, and this II why woman is per-
Rountcd. Under both Louis XIV and Louis
XVI women were nj the front OF affairs IN
both the court and the rabblc. "Undcr
Louis XVI Theirs snys, "tho most impor-
liant functions OF government were car
ried on In the boudoirs OF mistrcsses.n II
wng the mstrcsscs who ruled the Court
even under Louis XVI, and Il was the wo-
mon OF the rnbblc, Wild fierce and des.
poratc, who intensified the fury Of the
French Revolution. We remember, In
lhe October OF 1859, when q mob OF 5000
desperate Fronch women rushed out OF
Paris and took tho road to the Kings pal