The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-19

pedestal is inscribed the famous tribute of Gen Henry Lee: First In war, first In peace and first in the hearts of his coun- trymen.
 The somewhat picturesque history of this statue dates from 1852, when Con gress authorized the president to employ Horatio Greenough, of Massachusetts, to execute in marble n full-length statue of Washington to be placed in the center of the rotunda of the Capitol The statue, which weighs fully o1 tons, was chiseled fin Florence, Italy, and upon It's completion the problem of bringing 1t safely to Amer lea proved q perplexing one. Commodore Hull was sent with United States man. ofwar to bring the statue to this country, but when he found that 1t would be neces- sary to rip up the ships decks in order to place the cumbersome burden in the hold he objected and q merchant ship had to be chartered for the purpose and partly re- constructed to answer the purpose.
 Moreover, when. after innumerable troubles and delays, the ponderous me norial finally reached Washington, 1t was found to be too large to pass through any of the doorways at the Capitol and ma sorry had to be cut away in order to en- able 1t to reach It's resting place in the rotunda. Finally. the new acquisition, which cost the government more than S42,uoO, had hardly been more than nicely settled in the home of the legislative branch of Uncle Sam's government than there came storm of protest because of the lack of drapery which characterlzes the figure, and in deference to these critl- cisms the statue was eventually removed 10 it's present location.
 In Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol-the Westminster Abbey of Amer ica-therc stands amidst the sculptured tlons of the nations most noted men Il statue of Washington which came into the possession of the government through the good offices of Thomas Jeffer- son, and Is accounted by many persons the most interesting of all this class of me morials to the leader of the Continental Army. This statue Is believed to have been one of the models which the sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon made as studies for the marble statne of Washington now in the rotunda of the Statehouse at Rich mond. and which many persons hope to one day see transferred to the presiden- tial mansion at Washington. On the pedestal is an inscription In tribute to Washington. which Is said to have been penned off-hand by James Madison, who rested sheet of paper on his knee while he wrote this graceful eulogy.
 The fact that the statues chlseled by Houdon were the only ones ever made from Washington's person makes this one particularly interesting and valuable. Washington was 54 years of age when Houdon visited Mount Vernon. Every opportunity was afforded the sculptor to study his subject, and he was permitted not only to take accurate measurements of Washington, but to take mold of the face, head and chest. Washington him self suggested the costume-whlch is the Continental unform-whlch he was ac- customed to wear us commander-in-ch chief and in which he was attired when he re- signed his commission at Annapolis. How well this statue satisfied the men who knew Washington personally may be judged from the comment of John Mar shall, who said: ''It represents the origi- nal as perfectly as living man could be represented In marble"
 At the Capitol also is the d'Angers bust of George Washington. which last year arrived in this country us gift to the American nation from the people of France. This bust, which Is of bronze, replaces one of marble. of which 1t Is an exact duplicate, which was presented to O.. government by the French people as nation in 1928, but which was destroyed when the Capitol at Washington was burned in 1851. When Comte de Rocham- beau, Marquis de Lafayette and Marquis de Grasse-the descendants of the men who aided General Washington-visited the United States few years since to attend the unveiling of the statue of Rochambeau they were most hospitably received, and upon their return home they decided to evidence their appreciation by raising a fund to replace the Washington