The Washington herald., 1911-02-11
Story of Famous London Statues.

statue of George ", i'm Trafalgar Square,
| is an Improvement, but 1t would be appre-
ciated better were it on the place for
which it originally was intended the top
of the marble arch,, before the removal
Buckingham Palace.
Another Chantrey statue of some dig
nifty is that of William Pitt, in Caven-
dish Square; that is, so far as one can
see it. In its present filthy condition it
has the appearance of chimney sweep
Who is responsible for the maintenance
/ of the statue? Why not turn out the fire
brigade with their hose to clean away
the disgraceful incrustation? No stranger
language could be used about the Albert
Memorial than that applied to it in the
Burlington Magazine for January. where
1t is referred to as a 'grotesque tumble
which now fills the English with shame
and disgust"
Nearer the city. in the eastern corner
of Hyde Park, stands the ugiiest statue
in all the world. the monstrous Achilles,
raised to the memory of the Duke of
Wellington by the women of England and
cast from cannon taken in the victories
OF Salamanca, Toulouse, Vittoria, and
Waterloo. What base use TO make of
weapons that played so great a part in
European history? Let il be thrown into
the melting pot and turned into bullets
to be used against an enemy One won
ders that the Duke of Wellington al
lowed it to be erected in sight of his own
house.
n 10 1aff = fc =.
Byron. in Hamilton Gardens. which seen
through the iron ratings looks like a
convict in prison. This, the latest of these
statues, was erected before the new
movement in British sculpture But do
those of the present day show anv artis-
tic advance over their prototypes?
doubt it. English sculptOrs have not vet
developed the monumental sense that
CharaCterizcs the Italians Of the Renais-
sance or of the French.
What Britain needs is a naturalization
Of English sculpture. 1t is to be hoped
that II the memorial to the late King
Edward assumes the shape of a plastic
monument the deplOrable lessons of the
past will move those in authority to Sc
cure designs from the best men in Eng
land. and. what is OF equal Importance, to
call together a jury Of representative
sculptors-not necessarily EngIishmen-to
pass upon the designs.
The recent death OF Lord Swavth-
ling. head Of the famous banking
houS" Of Montagu-SamueI-M Montagu. re-
moved from ThrOEmOrtOn and Thread
needle street circles one of Rritain's
leading fnanciers. There was. It Is
said, no love lost between Lord Swayth-
ling and Lord Rothschild. The for
mer peer belonged to a far strfcter
section Of the Jewish community than
the latter. this despite Lord Roth
schilds rigid maintenance Of his firms
tradition that no business. save A min
lmum. be transacted on Saturday Lord
SwaythlinE used to remind his friends
that the Rothschilds had had three
generations in which to build their
business. whereas l am the first"
While on the subject OF leading
Jewish finanCiers. just over forty wears
ago the son of Cologne banker came
to England to seek employment as a
clerk. 1t was Sir Ernest Cassel. the ia
nous finanCier, philanthropist, and
friend OF the late King Edward. Sc
curing a situation in the Office Of
Liverpool grain merchant. he stayed
there for three years, and at the end
OF that time was earning only - shillings
per week. Then he came to London.
entered A financial house. and. before
he was thirty had established an in
ternational reputation as a shrewd, far
sighted. and successful finanCier
Among his most important achieve
ments are the Inauguration of the
Central London Railway. the raising
of China's big loan. after her defeat
by Japan. and the negotiations for
financing the Nile irrigation works. He
was one of the first men to see the i'm
mense possibilities of Egypt.
FLANECR.
CCopyrsht, 1911. by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate)