The Washington herald., 1907-06-02

Even il this little -tfoot imitation pa
CODA, so pauy when compared with Gen
Grants Tomb on Riverside drive, or with
the Nelson Column in Trafalgar Square.
London by the writer of the letter from
N8Easaki, had been a great national
monument. and bad been f0robIy carried
Off from Seoul by the japanese govern
mont instead Of forming the subject ot "a
sale between the private citizen. To whom
10 belonged. and Eisr0u1t Tanaka. the
japanese would have had plenty of West
era precedegts for such action. There
are few capitals i'm Europe where the
national museums and galleries, as well
as the palaces OF the rulers. are not
adorned with works of art. and Wits
monuments that are held as trophies
of victory In fact. there are few cele-
hrated art collections belonging either %
the crown or the state which would not
b- lamentably depleted and robbed i'm
deed. of their most precious treasures
were they 10 be forced To surrender all
that had been taken in war. or as n fruit
Of tic latter. No victorious commander
however carried l0otlnC % quite the same
length rs the First Napoleon During the
sixteen years that preceded the battle n
Waterloo. when his deSDotiC SWAY ev-
tended over the length and breadth oF
continental Europe. ne took advantage of
his power o. desp0l public institutions
royal and private palaces. and even re-
lisi1us ediices iu Spain. Italy. Germany.
Austria. the Netherlands. and Russil OF
their finest art treasures. carrying them
off 10 Paris. his depredati0ns I'm this re-
speCt extending even 70 the land OF the
Nile. After hIs downfall and the oceu-
patton of the French capital by the al
lied forces the latter az once took steps
90 resume possession Of their national
chef De OcUvres Of art and archaeology
discovered in the Tuileries at FDntalno-
bcaG. at Compegne and i'm the various
public buildings Of the Galic metropolis.
I'm this way Venice recovered her famous
bronze horses. which she herself had
plundored a Constantnople in 1906. and
which for near 500 years had surm0untci
the entrance Of her cathedral Of San
Marco. until Napoleon bore them off as
part and parcel OF his loot 10 Paris. TO
crown the triumphal arch in the Car
rousel from 1927 20 1Sl5 In the same
manner Raphaers grandcst masterpiece.
The TRANSPORTATION was restored % IL,
place on the walls Of the Vatican, after
an absence Of fifteen years in Paris.
There were many such treasures. how
ever. which We're beyond recovery. which |
had been presented 10y Napoleon 20 his
generals. or which he had allowed them to
retain al the time of the victory as their
share in the plunder. and which they had
subsequently sold 20 third parties. II was
thus that the entire collection Of Spanish
old masters, which Marshal Soult had car
ricd of from Madrid and other cities of
the lherian peninsula. was irretrievabIy /
lost 10 Spain. Perhaps the grandest
painting of the lot was Nurillos "Immac- /
ulate Conception" which had belonged /
for centuries 90 the Hospital de los Ven /
erabiles Sacerdotes. at Seville Soult /
seized IL, took il back with him 20 France |
sold it there. and, after remaining I'm phi I
v4te hands for a couple Of decades cr /
so-that is 10 say, until long after the /
allies had Withdrawn from Paris, Il was .
acquired through a perfectly legitimate /
purchase 10y the Louvre, where II is now
regarded as one of the principal art treas /
ures Of Frances great national museum.
Those paintings which had escaped Mar
shal SOult We're seized by King Joseph
Bonaparte. whose plumber represented /
many of the most valuab!- old masters of
the National Gallery of Madrid When
King Joseph was driven by the English 20
abandon his Spanish crown, and 10 re-
treat to France. he carried with him these
paintings in his immense baggage train.