The Washington times., 1904-03-16

nermost thoughts of a man so ruth
lessly laid bare as have been those Of
the philosopher of Sanssouei by the
learned disputants of the press and
Senate. Never has this crafty des-
pot" this frugal tradesman.' this
''bloody buteher"-we can't recall at
the moment all the names flung at
him-been "shown up" in his true
light as he has been by these watch
full guardians Of our political moral
ity. We were amazed, we admit, at
our ignorance. We thought. for in
stance, that Frederick was King OF
Prussia only, but here comes one
Moncure d. Conway, and, while hold
ing up to scorn and ridicule poor Sen
ator Stewart for browning Frederick
with the laurels of Peter" speaks
himself of Liston, George the Thirds
representative at the court of Berlin,
as the English ambassador in Ger
many" and boldly holds the Prussian
King responsible because recognition
of our independence never came
from Germany" He seems blissfully
ignorant of the fact that as King in
Prussia Frederick was no German
prince at all We say, we are
grateful for these stray bits of infor-
grateful, because they have
contributed to the general gayety and
because they are offered by our
learned contemporaries with much
Owlish solemnity.
Far be it from us 20 enter the lists
in a spirit of levity. In advance w
beg TO apologize for living. Yet,
since we are told that "a monument
to Tamerlane or Attila would look as
well and mean as much in Washing
ton" as a monument to Frederick the
Great, we beg to inquire whether II
would not be in order to remove at
once the statue erected to the memory
of Hahnemann, in Scott Circle. Tam
erlane and Attila, it is true, never
were suspected of being quacks, and
Hahnemann was and is-by allopaths,
at least-but all three, so many peo-
pie think, and other coryphees Of the
medical profession besides, take high
rank among the butchers of man
kind. If Frederick, therefore, APP
pears Objectionable because he
slaughtered his subjects and the sub
jects of other kings, we respectfully
submit that no monument hereafter
should be erected to q member of the
medical profession. We might 60
even a step MISUNDERSTANDING
the havoc wrought once by the jaw
bone of an ass, we should feel I'M
PEELED to protest against monuments
to the memory Of men whose
speeches, when living, we were unable
to escape. IN a sense, they, too, were
butchers
Speaking a little more seriously,
this whole discussion seems TO us a
trife far-fetched, anyway. Here is a
gift, offered in good faith. Whether
it was we'll chosen or not is neither
here nor there. The President ac-
cepted it, and it is to be erected, along
with other statues of great soldiers.
in the grounds of a War College.
That's where it belongs. Calling
Frederick a 'bloody butcher" doe
not alter the fact that the school he
will face Is devoted to the task Of
rearing other butchers" If, thee.
his presence in bronze. or marble, or
whatever the pesky material out of
which the blamed thing Is made,
may be-if his presence, we say, will
inspire our young warriors to emu
late the military record left by the
greatest captain of the eighteenth
century, the statue will have done all
BIT may legitimately be expected to do.
As TO Its meeting, or not meeting,
''the approval of enlightened and in
formed Americans or enjoy the sane
ton of logic and propriety" we
think that that Is mostly tommyrot.
Enlightened and informed people