1 
 
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Cornell University Library 
 
 NB 1291.S3M34 
 Saratoga monument :historic sculpture : 
 
 3 1924 020 543 967 
 
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 Cornell University 
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 the Cornell University Library. 
 
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SARATOGA MONUMENT: ■ 
 
 HISTORIG SG;ULPTURE. 
 
 ' , TOGETHER WITH 
 
 - A e!rief,'jr.eference TO/SoKiteOF the 
 
 QEI^feRAly ANt) BLKMENTAHY 
 
 principles rINVOLVED IN,A^ ' , ' 
 
 NATIONAL ART,' 
 
 ■•And. .the le$,ding;;pHaf:aCtei4stic&' .and uses ;of Art in ge.neral 
 
 BY 
 
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 Ithaca, New York, i88 
 
SaFatoga Monumen 
 
 u. 
 
 3esGriDtive Index « HistoriGSGuMufe 
 
aOPYEIQHTKD 'bY J. C. MARKHAM, 
 IN 1886. 
 
"]esGf iDtive Index of HistoriG Seuluture 
 
 IN THE 
 
 Saratoga Monumen 
 
 u. 
 
 [From the Saratoga Daily JouRNAr,.] 
 As the battle of Saratoga is regarded as marking the grand crisis iu the transition from despotic to 
 popular government among men, bo the Saratoga monument ought to mark a crisis in monumental art. 
 And as art is justly regarded as one of the most efficient agents in the development of civilized 
 nations, the work now so quietly progressing on this monument is possessed ot a deep and lasting 
 interest. It is not only an imperishable history of the event commemorated, a history written in 
 granite and bronze, but it is also an enduring exponent and record of our past and present civilization 
 as indicated by our national art. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, the work has hitherto progressed eo quietly in the hands of the architect, 
 the sculptor, the granite cutter and the bronze founders, that it has attracted very little attention. 
 Thus, while the populace goes wild over the result of a horse race, or the exploits of an imbecile 
 anarchist, the development of a national art and a national character goes on unheeded. 
 
 But now, as the granite and the bronze assume their sculptured form and a national art begins 
 to address itself to the popular mind, it may not be inappropriate to briefly refer to the general idea, 
 scope and Intention of the work. 
 
 Assuming that revolts and revolutions have their origin in the injustice and wrongs of established 
 institutions, and that in the instance here commemorated, the inequality in the condition of the people 
 resulting from the unjust taxation of the producing, by the governing class, was the primary cause of 
 the revolution, the artist has endeavored to illustrate this inequality of condition, the temper and action 
 of the people concerned and the logical result. 
 
 Wit^ this in view, upon the interior surface of the walls of the monument is placed a series ot 36 
 bronze sculptures representing in low relief characters, scenes and incidents of. the history beginning 
 with the two groups, "The Women of the Revolution," and the "Ladies of the British Court," the 
 first, industrious, frugal, self denying; feeding and clothing themselves and families and affording 
 ~ aid and comfort to their husbands, sons and brothers, who were engaged in the defence of their 
 country and their homes. The second, idle, effeminate, sensuous, wasteful and extravagant, demand- 
 ing the unjust taxation of the colonists, for their support, 
 
 Next comes the contrast of the king and his ministers devising methods for taxing the colonists 
 and the town meeting which was an essential element or incident in the formation of a popular 
 defence and a popular government. 
 
 In representing tbe social and domestic condition of the women of the contending forces in the 
 days of the Revolution, it is not intended to characterize any nationality or even any class, but to 
 set forth the facts of history. And if these facts show the importance ot a subordination of the 
 sensuous^ to the spiritual, the material to tbe ideal, then one of the high missions of art has been 
 reached. Also, in representing the different agents engaged in the contest, it has seemed convenient 
 and appropriate that in the monarchical or aristocratic forms of government individuals should be 
 
made conspicuous, while in the popular republic general characteristics of peoples appear. In 
 neither case has it been deemed essential to confine the work to a literal representation of special 
 incidents, but to give such general truths as would best illustrate the spirit and meaning of the history. 
 
 The order of succession in the arrangement of the groups around the interior of the walls of the 
 different chambers, has been slightly deranged by a desire to arrive at a satisfactory result in the first 
 16 groups, the remaining 30 groups being deferred for the want of means necessary for their present 
 execution. 
 
 With this explanation, a simple index of the groups in the order of their arrangement may 
 be as much as is thought necessary to say in reference to the photographs of the groups now 
 complete and herewith presented. 
 
 Following the groups representing Royalty on one side and Bepublicanism on the other, the 
 natural succession of events would be the forcible impressing of the soldier by the minions of the 
 government as opposed to the voluntary rally of the people for self defence, and then the long march 
 of the invading army, both by sea and land; but, for the reason just mentioned, most of this has 
 been reserved for future work. 
 
 The Bally of the People and one group I'epresenting the wives of the British officers accompany- 
 ing the army in its march through the wilderness, brings us to the scenes most immediately connected 
 with the combat on the plains of Saratoga ; the massacre of Jane McCrea ; Eurgoyne reprimanding 
 the Indians for their barbarities and their revolt and desertion. Gen. Schuyler felling trees to 
 obstruct the progress of the British army, while his patriot wife sets fire to their fields of wheat, 
 to prevent its falling into the hands of the inyaders. Then comes the transfer of command, in con- 
 formity with the demands of a jealous people, from the faithful, but aristocratic Schuyler, to the 
 less familiar Gen. Gates. Following tbis is a scene representing the death of Gen. Frasier; and 
 next the wounding of the heroic, but impetuous and unfortunate Arnold, who won the battle but 
 lost the glory that it might be given to the people. The next scene illustrates the heroic constancy of 
 Lady Harriet Acland that stormy night after the battle of September 19, 1777, securing a flag of 
 truce and embarking in an open boat with her parson, her maid and her husband's valet, to join 
 her husband, wounded and a prisoner in the American camp. And the series closes with the burial 
 of Gen. Fraserand the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne to Gen. Gates. J. 0. MARKHAM, 
 
u 
 
 PON issuing the first volume of Historic Sculptures from the Saratoga 
 Monument, I omitted referring to the promoters and builders of the 
 Monument, together with much other interesting matter connected with the 
 history of the work, intending to supply all this information in another volume 
 which I intended to devote to the architectural character of the monument, is 
 which I design giving not only the names and portraits of the members of 
 the Monument Association, but a reference to the many patriotic individuals 
 throtighout the country who have given aid and support to the great 
 National work. 
 
 Yet, in order to give some idea of the authority for the work, I here- 
 with submit the following report of the Congressional Committee of 1884, 
 as being most immediately connected with this volume which represents sixteen 
 of the " bronze tablets the sketches and, drawings for which have been exhibited 
 to this Committee." 
 
 48th Congress, ) HOUSE OF EEPEESENTATIVES. J Eeport 
 
 1st Session, j \ No. 929. 
 
 TABLETS FOE SAEATOGA MONUMENT. 
 
 March 19, 1884.— Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the 
 
 Union and ordered to be printed. 
 
 Mr. Singleton, from the Committee on the Library, submitted the following 
 
 REPORT: 
 
 [To accompany bill H. R. 3337.] 
 The Committee on the Library having had under consideration the bill {H. E. 
 
 3337) appropriating $40,000 to provide statuary and historical tablets for 
 
 the Saratoga Monument, respectfully report : 
 
 It appears that the State of New York incorporated, under perpetual 
 charter, "The Saratoga Monument Association," with a purpose to suitably 
 commemorate the surrender of the British army by General Burgoyne, A. D. 1777. 
 
That association lias acquired title to four acres of land within the lines 
 of Burgoyne's intrenched camp, overlooking the field of the surrender, and has 
 also erected thereon a beautiful monumental shaft, 155 ft. high. The structure 
 is completed, and is ready now for statues of the generals who commanded the 
 Continental Army, and for the historic tablets in bronze, which, according to 
 the designs of the monument association, shall record in words and allegorical 
 pictures the events and circumstances of the Eevolutionary struggle at the period 
 of the battles on and near the plains of Saratoga. 
 
 The battle at Saratoga was beyond doubt the most momentous battle of 
 the Eevolutionary war, and most decisive in results. It peculiarly combined 
 the soldiers from colonies North and South, and united them more than ever. 
 Its victory lead instantly to the alliance of France. In every respect the 
 event appeals to Congress for special recognition of its historic import. To 
 meet the expense of their work the association have received $25,000 from 
 the State of Nev York, $30,000 from the United States, and about 810,000 
 from individual contributors, making $65,000. This appears to have been 
 expended judiciously and economically. 
 
 Your committee approve the designs for adding to the monument suitable 
 descriptive features, in statues and bronze tablets, the sketches and drawings 
 for which have been exhibited to this committee. 
 
 To enable the association to carry out these designs they require a sum 
 equal at least to that already expended. They intend to apply to the State 
 of New York and to its citizens for all except $40,000, which they ask that 
 Congress shall appropriate. 
 
 In view of the dignity of the event to be noted, the appropriateness of 
 the plans adopted, the favorable progress of the design to the present time 
 and the liigh character of the monument association, your committee recommend 
 the passage of the bill. 
 
 As a fuller statement of the considerations which prompted tlae committee 
 to report this bill, we beg leave to append as an exhibit the proceedings of 
 and statements made before this committee at its meeting on the 15th of 
 February, ultimo. 
 
Exhibit A. 
 
 Washington, February 15, 1884. 
 
 At a meeting of the Committee on the Library, having under consideration 
 the bill authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to pay to the president of 
 the Saratoga Monument Association the sum of $40,000 to complete the statuary 
 and historic tablets of the Saratoga monument, a committee was present on 
 behalf of said association, viz, Hon. John H. Starin, Hon. William J. Bacon, 
 Mr. D. S. Potter, and Mr. Algernon S. Sullivan. Mr. George William Curtis 
 a member of the committee, could not be present, but sent a letter, to be read, 
 favoring the proposed bill. 
 
 At the request of Mr. Starin, Mr. Sullivan made the following statement : 
 We exhibit to the Library Committee a photograph of the Saratoga 
 Battle Monument as it stands completed in granite to-daj'. It is 155 feet high, 
 and stands within the lines of the battle-field, on a bluff 300 feet above and 
 overlooking the Hudson, thus giving it an actual height above the river level 
 of 455 feet. In its base is a room twenty feet square, with entrances on all 
 sides. A staircase of oak leads from this room to the top, from which can be 
 seen the entire region between Lake George, the Green Mountains and the 
 Catskills. 
 
 On each of the four sides of the exterior of the monument, at the second 
 story, a niche is constructed for a statue. 
 
 Over the entrances gables rise to the height of 42 feet, and at a height 
 of 29 feet at each corner of the monument a granite eagle, with folded wings, 
 and measuring 7 feet across the back, has been placed. The cornices of each 
 of the doors and windows are supported by pillars of polished black granite 
 from Maine, with carved capitals ; in all there are forty pillars. All that 
 remains to be added are the bronze statues in the outside niches, and the 
 sculptured decoration inside. This sculpture will represent an alto relievo 
 historical and allegorical scenes connected with the earlier period of the 
 Eevolution. 
 
 In the second story will be tablets bearing the names of the past and 
 present officers of the monument association. In the outside niches on three 
 
sides, statues of General Sclmyler, General Gates, and General Morgan will 
 be placed, the fourth niche being unfilled, with the name "Arnold" carved 
 underneath. The statue of Morgan will represent him as a backwoodsman 
 attired in buckskin, and holding by the barrel a long rifle, the stock of 
 which rests on the ground. 
 
 THE GROUNDS. 
 
 The grounds of the association are about four acres in extent, and are 
 already tastefully laid out with carriage-roads and foot-paths through them, 
 and running around a monument which stands in a circle there. 
 
 The cost of the grounds, grading, &c., amounting to about $10,000, has 
 been paid by private subscription of the trustees of the association and by 
 citizens of Schuylerville. 
 
 THE DESIGN OF THE MONUMENT. 
 
 The design for the monument, originally suggested by ' Hamilton Fish 
 and Horatio Seymour, was to combine the character of the Egyptian obelisk 
 with the gothic style of architecture.* Accordingly, in 1873, a committee of 
 design commissioned Mr. J. 0. Markham, their architect, to furnish a design 
 for a monument which should be much more imposing than that which has 
 been constructed. The design originally furnished was for a monnment the 
 estimated cost of which was $500,000. Discovering the difficulty of raising 
 such a sum, the association was compelled to modify thier plans in accordance 
 with the monument as it now exists. But to compensate for the reduction 
 in size, two elements were substituted: The first was that of a lofty and 
 independent shaft or tower overlooking the classic plains of Saratoga and 
 the battle-fields of Bemis Heights, and being expressive, of victory only. The 
 second and more important element of this design was the statuary to be 
 placed in the niches and the tower, and historic sculpture which was to line 
 the . interior of its walls to the height of 65 ' feet, with bronze staircases 
 and floors of a costly tile of original historic design. This gives scope for 
 the partial realization of the design of 1873, and it is this element of the 
 monument which Horatio Seymour refers to when, in one of his most telling 
 
 * The Obelisk was suggested, but Ibe gotliic character was due entiiely to the architect. 
 
speeches, delivered at the laying of tlie corner-stone, standing, in fact, at 
 the time on its corner-stone, he says: "National monuments not only mark 
 but make the civilization of the people." It is for this historic sculpture that 
 your committee urge the passage of the bill which has been introduced in 
 Congress at their request. 
 
 In 1880 the state of New York had appropriated $25,000 for the monument, 
 and the president of the Saratoga Monument Association, Hon. John H. 
 Starin, appeared before Congress, asking for $30,000 to complete the structure, 
 and he represented that that sum would accomplish the work. 
 
 His word has been made good. Indeed, so strongly did he feel upon 
 
 this point, and so' determined that it should be made good, that before he 
 would, as president of the association, sign the requisite vouchers to obtain 
 the warrant from the Treasurer of the United States, he said that if that 
 sum were not sufficient to carry the tower to completion, rather than go to 
 Congress for more money he would, in order to place the capstone upon the 
 monument, give $5,0(J0 in person. The $30,000 from Congress, added to the 
 $25,000 from, the state of New York, and the sum. of about $10,000 for 
 ground and other expeases, has bee i sufficient to pay for the monument, as you 
 now see it, and in fact it is 16 feet higher than the original design. 
 
 THE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 In 1859 Hamilton Fish, Horatio Seymour, William L- Stone, Benson J. 
 Lossing, and John A. Corey organized the Saratoga Monument Association 
 under a perpetual charter from the state of New York. The object was to 
 engage a fitting memorial on the site of Burgoyne's surrender. That association, 
 has pursued its object amid many difficulties. They laid the corner-stone of 
 the structure on the centennial of the surrender, and the capstone was placed 
 in position on November 3, 1882. The site is almost identical with that 
 where General Burgoyne surrendered the flower of the British army to the 
 American General Gates, 
 
 Among the active trustees and members of the association are Horatio 
 Seymour, Warner Miller, E. G. Lapham, S. 8. Cox, J. Watts De Peyster, 
 Charles K. Graham, James M. Marvin, Edward Wemple, Douglass Campbell, 
 
"William L. Stone, Benson J. Lossing, George William Curtis, William J. 
 Bacon, Giles B. Slocum, D. S. Potter, and many other distinguished citizens 
 of New York, S. D. Kirk, W. W. Sale, Charles H. Simonton and Samuel 
 Dibble, of South Carolina, and Isaac N. Arnold, of Illinois, whose character 
 assures the country that any sum appropriated by the bill under consideration 
 will be faithfully applied to the object for which it is asked. 
 
 , THIS APPLICATION. 
 
 It is due to the dignity of the association that we should call attention 
 to that which we regard as the exceptional nature of this application and 
 justifying it. In such a case as that interesting centennial celebration 
 which recently took place in New York City, that is, the commemoration 
 of the final desarture of British troops from America, and the erection 
 of a statue of Washington on the very spot where he took the first oath 
 of office as President, the citizens of New York cheerfully subscribed the 
 money needed to carry out the object without any application to Congress. 
 In a great degree the event was of local importance. So again, in marking 
 another historical event, namely, setting up a tablet at the point on the 
 Battery where Washington took barge, after his farewell to his officers, on his 
 journey to Annapolis to surrender his commission and to retire to private 
 life at Mount Vernon, the citizens of New York did not besiege Congress 
 for contribution towards the expense thus incurred, and so they act in scores 
 of like cases. But the event at Saratoga were so wide-reaching and of such 
 general historical interest that we have felt, of themselves, they would commend 
 this application to Congress. On the I7th of October, 1777, Burgoyne 
 surrendered on the plains of Saratoga, and with that event closed the most 
 mportant chapter of the American Eevolution. The elaborate preparation and 
 departure of the finest army that ever left the shores of England, the 
 arrogant proclamations that heralded the approach, the successful advance, 
 the terror inspired by its savage allies, the early consternation and discomfiture 
 of the colonies, the subsequent desperation, the indecisive conflict of September 
 19, the disastrous defeat of the Britons October 7, all culminated at Schuyler- 
 ville in the capitulation of his entire army and the thanksgiving of the 
 nation for its glorious deliverance. 
 
Sir Edward Creasy in his authoritative book characterizes this action as 
 one of the fifteen decisive battles of the world, and justly. It changed the 
 nature of the war of the Eevolution. It secured for us the French alliance, 
 it lifted the cloud of moral and financial gloom that had settled upon the 
 hearts of the people, dampening the hopes of the leaders of the Eevolution, 
 and wringing despairing words from the hopeful Washington. From that day 
 belief in the ultimate triumph of American liberty never abandoned the 
 nation till it was realized and sealed four years later, almost to a day, in the 
 final surrender at Yorktown. More than a century lias elapsed since that 
 illustrious event. All the actors therein are gone ; we are sharing the rewards 
 of their devotion and suffering, and we may well listen to the claims for 
 commemoration of the first decisive triumph which vindicated the Declaration 
 of Independence and secured the integrity of the Confederation, and in which 
 the men of New England, of the Middle States, and of the South stood 
 side by side. 
 
 I had hoped that my associate on the committee, Mr. George William 
 Curtis, would be present to represent our cause. In his absence I take pleasure 
 in reading his letter on the subject. 
 
 West New Beighton, Staten Island, N. Y., 
 
 February 13, 1884. 
 
 My Dear Sie : It is most unfortunate that I am so entangled with a 
 series of unavoidable engagements that I cannot possibly find the time to 
 accompany you to Washington, as I had intended and should most gladly 
 do, to assist you in advocating the grant for the completion of the monument 
 at Saratoga. 
 
 Yet I am sure that Congress ought not to need much urging to add the 
 final grace and decoration to a memorial of the great military event in which 
 the Eevolution culminated, the surrender of Burgoyne. The event which, in 
 our familiar phrase, " broke the back " of the British power on this continent, 
 secured open recognition and aid from France, and so prepared the final victory 
 at Yorktown, is an exceptional event of supreme interest and importance to 
 the whole country, and its worthy commemoration upon the spot where it 
 
occurred is properly a National care. 
 
 This has been recognized by Congress, and all that we now ask is that 
 a work which has been brought almost to completion in the most honest and 
 satisfactory way shall be finished appropriately by statues of the two or 
 three chief American leaders upon the field, and by memorial tablets which, 
 in imperishable lines, shall tell the story of the. heroic day. I think that 
 the committee may be assured from the character of the gentlemen to whom 
 the disposition of the grant will be intrusted, and from the manner in which 
 the work has been hitherto performed, that the grant would be devoted most 
 carefully and intelligently to the proper purpose, and I should regret my 
 inability to accompany you still more if I could suppose that my absence 
 could be attributed to any lack of personal interest in the work. As Patrick 
 Henry said when he made "the cause of the Kevolution his own, "I am not 
 a Virginian, I am an American," so I hope that the committee will feel that 
 the completion of a great Eevolutionary memorial is not the cause of a State 
 but of the country. Very truly, yours, 
 
 GEOEGE WILLIAM CUETIS. 
 
 The first part of the design, as I have stated, namely, the erection and 
 completion of the monument itself, is now an accomplished fact. It is pro- 
 nounced by President Andrew D. White, ex-Governor A. B. Cornell, Eev. Dr. 
 Ireneus Prime, and other competent judges, the finest independent tower in 
 America. "Having much traveled over the world," writes President White in 
 reference to this monument, "and seen many monuments erected in honor of 
 distinguished men, and in commemoration of noted events, I have difficulty 
 in recalling one more interesting than that of the Saratoga monument. It 
 presents in its intended sculpture decoration one of the happiest ideas ever 
 embodied in a similar structure, namely, statues of the three generals who served 
 the country at a most critical period of its history, and the niche left vacant 
 where would have been the statue of the fourth had he not become a traitor 
 to his country." 
 
 The construction of the monument and its contemplated ornamentation are 
 not only purely gothic, but are of the best style of that style of architecture, 
 
exhibiting as it does the elements of power, repose and elegant simplicity, 
 combined with that of rugged strength peculiarly . expressive of the young 
 Eepublic, and which gives in fact to gothic art one of its greatest charms. 
 
 It now stands as an accomplished work, ' a fitting receptacle for the sculp- 
 tured history of the nation's early life, and while marking a spot sacred to 
 the American people, its tablets and statues will legibly record the significant 
 events of the American struggle for independence. 
 
 The appropriations made by Congress already amount to $30,000 for this 
 work. The legislature of New York appropriated $25,000. That amount and 
 $10,000 additional have been expended. The association needs further appro- 
 priations to complete the statuary, the interior finish, the brass and bronze 
 work, the plate-glass and tile. The statuary consists of the statues of General 
 Schuyler, General Gates, and General Morgan, each at least 7 feet in height, 
 for the exterior niches. There will be sixteen pieces of history sculptured 
 in the interior of the first two stories, three pieces in the third story, sixteen 
 pieces in the fourth and fifth stories, bronze or brass stairs in the first 
 story, and iron above, terra-cotta symbolic friezes, and bronze or brass 
 carriages for the , guns to be placed on the pediments, some of which will be 
 those captured on the battle-field. 
 
 * The entire expense of this suitable completion of the work which has 
 been intrusted to us will be from $60,000 to $75,000. We have every reason 
 to justify us in stating to your committee that the sum needed additional to 
 that which we ask Congress to now appropriate will be promptly furnished 
 by the legislature and citizens of the State of New York.** 
 
 We therefore respectfully submit that our application is one which should 
 receive a favorable report from your committee and favorable action by Con- 
 gress. 
 
 * The architect's estimate of the cost of this work was over |100,000. 
 
 **An applications hitherto made in behalf of the Saratoga Momiment, either to Congress or the 
 State Legislature, have been responded to with patriotic enthusiapm — yet when the committee met 
 at Albany for the purpose of making the application for the amount referred to in the foregoing 
 report, they were prevented by some mysterious trickery, from obtaining a hearing, thereby defeat- 
 ing the evident will of the Legislature and necesitaling a temporary su.speusion of the work. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In presenting to the American people this series of illustrations of historic 
 sculptures from the National Monument, which marks the grand crisis in the 
 transition from despotic to democratic government among men, it seems 
 appropriate that we should briefly refer to some of the general and element- 
 ary principles involved in a National Monumental Art, and also that we 
 should note some of the leading characteristics and uses of art in general. 
 
 And as the average American is pre-eminently absorbed in the idea of the 
 useful we will here make the perhaps starting assertion that a general knowl- 
 edge of the nature and mission of art, and of the business methods connected 
 with commerce in the works of art, would save millions of dollars annually 
 to the American people, for there is more money squandered every year in 
 vulgar opulence, that is not art, than is invested in a real permanent wealth. 
 
 But what is Art ? I believe it is now generally conceded that art is the 
 ('.rpression of emotions, sentiments or ideas, a universal language; and that 
 the true value of a work of art consists in the beauty, nobility, grandeur or 
 sublimity of these emotions, sentiments or ideas, more than in the technical 
 execution, that technique is to art what elocution is to language. True, it is 
 wonderful to note how much depends upon how a thing is said ; the way of 
 saying a thing being more than what is really said. So in art, the technical 
 quality gives power or weakness to the expression, but art is often used to say 
 things that had far better not have been said, as is the case at the present time 
 with almost all of French art, the character of which while it forms, also 
 i-eflects, the character of the people ; and unless there is a predominance of 
 character' not expressed in the examples of French art with which we are 
 supplied. The French Republic has a terrible struggle yet before it, and unless 
 the currents of taste and the standards of value in America are guided in a 
 different course, we shall be in constant danger of disorder and dissolution. 
 What is it that gives character and stability to famihes or nations, but their 
 traditions as expressed and preserved in the treasures of art. 
 
Even decorative art, though it may possess no positive expression ; if 
 designed in pure taste or high aspiration, which is the only origin of a high 
 style, is of real value in its influence in forming the individual character of 
 those by whom it is surrounded. 
 
 But regarding art as the most efficient agent known to civilized man for 
 raising him from the material to the ideal, from the brutish to the manly, 
 from the sensuous to the spiritual, I hope in the following pages to do some- 
 thing to promote the onward and upward progress of the American Republic. 
 
 It is not possible, if it were desirable, for me at this time to enter into any 
 thing like an exhaustive exposition or even a complete statement of the prin- 
 ciples or characteristics of art. My principal object being only to give a few 
 such hints as might tend as a guide to the popular mind and taste towards 
 some of what I regard as the most essential elementary ideas regarding these 
 subjects. 
 
NATIONAL ART MONUMENTAL. 
 
 Hitherto national monuments have been little more than monuments 
 erected by monarchs and despots to commemorate and to glorify themselves 
 and their families. And it is by these that art has been chiefly patronized and 
 preserved, both as an instrument and minister of worship and as a sign and 
 indication of wealth and power, impressing and subordinating the people. 
 And ever true to its natural function the art of all times expresses the character 
 of its authors. Among the early monuments of Egypt we find one erected 
 by a noble woman, desecrated by her brother, who erasing his sister's illustri- 
 ous name, inscribed his own, thus commemorating his everlasting infamy. 
 And similar practices among succeeding despots, while indicating the moral 
 degradation, have often been a cause of confusion and doubt regarding facts 
 of history. So, also, altars and temples erected to the worship of one religion, 
 have, with little change, been consecrated to that of another, but as civiliza- 
 tion advances and in proportion as mankind rises out of the animal and selfish, 
 into the ideal and spiritual life, these precious records of man's development, 
 are more and more appreciated and preserved, until, the simple idea of com- 
 memoration, continuity, immortality, which at first took form in the rude 
 mound,' the rough monolith or the uncut pile reared in silent mystery, gradu- 
 ally assumes higher forms of expression. The loftiest ideals of beauty, gran- 
 deur and sublimity are symbolized in abstract forms , the highest attributes of 
 man are idealized in the human form ; and finally, under popular forms of 
 government, as man rises in intelligence, and asserts his natural rights, and 
 assumes his natural obligations, establishes systems of government and of 
 worship, of labor and commerce. So does man's history, the patient industry, 
 the human sympathy, the lofty aspiration, the patriotic devotion, the courage, 
 the energy, the heroic life and glorious death, as recorded and embalmed in 
 the immortal foi-ms of art, assume a nobler character and function, a greater 
 significance and a vastly higher value. Hence it is that monuments erected 
 by the Republic should have a broader character and a far deeper interest 
 
than those of a monarchy. Being truly the work of the people, they should 
 , so record the traditions of the people as to build up a true national art, a 
 high tone and spirit, a pride of nationalitj^, and a pure and lofty patriotism. 
 
 Hence it will be seen that we have no precedents to guide us in our monu- 
 ments ; that like our constitutions and our laws, they must grow out of the 
 character and requirements of the people ; and that above all things a national 
 monumental art must express the history and spirit of the life and times to 
 which it belongs ; it can never be derived from the art of the past ; no i^epro- 
 duction of Egyptian, Moorish, Greek or Roman, can ever form a truly national 
 art, any more than a reproduction of ancient forms of worship can express 
 the rehgious convictions and aspirations of the present day. 
 
 Abstract forms may symbolize and express abstract emotions ; as of beauty, 
 grandeur or sublimity ; but the true historical expression of noble deeds and 
 noble lives, by which the "hves of great men all remind us we can make oui' 
 lives sublime, " must be a truthful representation of such lives ; and to express 
 the whole truth of character and life, in such a manner as to prolong and per- 
 petuate the true spirit of our Republic ; the work must not only represent the 
 material facts, but the ideal spirit of the times. For the great fundamental 
 truth that the art not only marks but moulds the character of the people, 
 implies also the still more important and fundamental truth that art is the 
 grand universal language of the soul ; that if man is to give material evidence 
 of his transition from the animal to the spiritual life, from the narrow selfish 
 instincts of his brute nature to the loftier ideals of honor, truth, justice, 
 benevolence and patriotism, his emotions and impulses must be repaired and 
 elevated through the lofty influence of art. 
 
 In view of this great truth, the present transition of the Republic, from 
 the material and practical, to the aesthetic and spiritual, as expressed in its 
 life, literature and art, is quite as important as was the transition from Mon- 
 archy to the Republic. 
 
OF ART L\ GENERAL. 
 
 In order to a comprehensive understanding of the nature and mission 
 of art, it will be necessary to refer to the nature of man and the origin of 
 emotions, sentiments and ideas in the human soul ; and regarding this it has 
 appeared to me that man is composed of three distinct elements : the material, 
 the intellectual and the spiritual. The material element in man is common to 
 both the vegetable and the animal world, it is the same in the rock, the tree 
 and the brute as in man ; simple inert matter. The intellectual element is that 
 power by which man is enabled to realize and comprehend the existence and 
 phenomena of the material world with which he is surrounded. It recognizes 
 the action of the senses, and is dependent upon them for its manifestation 
 it has, or is the power of measuring, comparing, combining and calculating 
 the dimensions, forces and actions of the material world ; it has also the power 
 of reasoning. The intellectual element in man has often been confounded 
 with the spiritual, and the education of the intellect has been supposed to 
 include also the development of the spiritual ; but no greater fallacy could be 
 imagined. The education of the intellect is derived from observation and 
 experiment ; that of the spirit through psychic absorption or unconscious 
 inspiration ; the operations of the intellect are active and positive ; those of 
 the spirit passive and negative, so far as concerns the individual man ; experi- 
 ence, learning, calculation, are intellectual ; conceptions, sentiments, and ideas 
 are spiritual. Emotions and impulses appear to be the result of the action of 
 
the spiritual upon the material nature, and through this action the spiritual 
 acts upon the intellectual. Thus it appears that the spiritual is the original 
 controlling power ; and this conforms with the general idea of all men and all 
 nations, of the attributes of the One Great Spirit, or Essence ; the creator and 
 governor of all things ; known to the Egyptians as The Essence of all things, 
 the one Infinite Spirit, creator of all that is, the generative principle ; as typi- 
 fied in the. sun and symbolized in the obelisk, as typical of the rays of the 
 sun, etc. The mysterious infiuence dimly seen by the American aboriginal as 
 the Great Spirit. It is universally known to man through certain peculiai- 
 manifestations generally referred to as supernatural phenomena. It is the 
 same mysterious power whose manifestations, among our colonial ancestors, 
 were superstitiously denominated as witchcraft, and now generally regarded 
 among us as spiritual phenomena. It is the same as was partially recognized 
 by Socrates as his demon or guardian spirit. Eeferred to by the Greeks as the 
 unknown God. Recognized by St. John as the "word, the light of the world, 
 that lighteth every man that cometh into the world ;" known by Christians as 
 the Spirit of God. The manifestations of the Spirit are as different from those 
 of the intellect, as those of the intellect are different from those of the mate- 
 rial world, only they are not so palpable to the senses. It is the spirit that 
 forms the body and the mind. In the same way art is first conceived in the 
 soul before it assumes material form. In every original work that rises above 
 mere mechanism, it is the spirit manifestation that raises it, and makes it true 
 art. It is the spirit that manifests itself in the unconscious effect of one mind 
 upon another, often affecting the individual character and even changing the 
 material form. It is this same spirit manifestation that idealizes art ; and the 
 character of the ideahzation is governed by the character of the individual 
 through whom it acts ; even the temporary physical condition of the artist 
 effects the ideal character of his work. A portrait painted by an artist while 
 in a half intoxicated condition, while physically a true likeness, represented 
 the subject as if in the condition of the artist at the time. So the work of the 
 
sensuous and vulgar will bear the unmistakable characteristics of its author. 
 On the contrary, the work of a Eaphael or an Angelo bears the ideal impress 
 of the grand moral and spiritual character of the author, and this impress of 
 character is carried over and reproduced in and upon the beholder. 
 
 This is the grand sum and substance of all that is worth preserving in 
 art. This power of moral and spiritual impression upon the emotions, senti- 
 ments and ideas, and through these upon the character, life and destiny of 
 individuals, communities and nations. 
 
 But while the character of a people is so much moulded and formed by 
 the arts ; so also is the character of the arts formed and moulded by the 
 people. While ideal spiritual influences are constantly operating to elevate, 
 so are the beastly and sensual acting to degrade mankind. So that where the 
 gross and sensual predominates in the character of a people, so will the char- 
 acter of their art become gross and sensual, and while the animal propensities 
 are of necessity most active and ungovernable in the young and inexperienced, 
 so also ought the moral and spiritual to be the active and controlling agencies 
 in the older and more intellegent. And both history and philosophy demon- 
 strate the truth that a reckless abandonment to the sensuous and animal always 
 leads to moral and physical ruin, while the subordination of the sensuous to 
 the moral and spiritual always leads to greatness and power in both individuals 
 and nations. 
 
 But at this moment occurs an incident which seems to me so corroborative 
 of what I have just now written, as to justify its notice here. It is simply 
 the fact that since writing the above, supposing it to be an original conception 
 of my own, that the intellect and spirit were two distinct elements of power, 
 I find in the "Esoteric Buddhism," as just translated by Sinnett, the same 
 theory fully set forth, and though it may not be regarded as positive evidence 
 of the truth of a statement of this kind. 
 
Yet when a doctrine like this having been held by a great people for hun- 
 dreds of years, is revealed to another through the action or agency of some 
 povirer entirely independent of the known intellectual methods, it seems quite 
 strongly corroborative of its truth, and I also regard it as satisfactory evidence 
 of the truth of the theory of the spiritual origin, and nature of all that de- 
 serves the name of art ; for it is here clearly held not only that the spiritual is 
 a distinct element, but that spiritual pictures or clairvoyant visions, and not 
 words, are the means of enlightenment, adopted in the cultivation of science 
 in its higher aspects. But I must beg leave to refer the reader, who may 
 desire to pursue this part of the subject further, to the above named work, 
 where I think will be found satisfactory proof of the correctness of the posi- 
 tion, which notwithstanding the tautology I must beg leave to repeat. 
 
 That art in its true sense is a material manifestation of the spirit, and that 
 in every work that rises above mere mechanism it is this spirit manifestation 
 that raises it. This proposition being estabhshed, it becomes apparent that 
 technical execution is of quite secondary importance, although technical exe- 
 cution is not by any means to be disregarded, there is such a subtle, indefinable, 
 indispensable connection between the execution and the expression of a work 
 of art, that the untrained hand, like an untuned instrument, fails to convey 
 the spiritual significance of its work. Yet above all, in order to the production 
 of any great art work, the first and indispensable requisite is high moral and 
 spiritual character ; without this the conception of a great work is utterly 
 impossible ; and the artist who overlooks or disregards this first requisite, no 
 matter how proficient, how exquisite, his technical ability, his work can nevei- 
 rise into the realm of high art, it may charm the common multitude ; it may 
 even please the intellectually cultured and refined, and it often does in the 
 hands of cunning craftsmen, attain to an enormous fictitious commercial value. 
 But without a right spiritual significance it is a dangerous investment ; it has 
 little real value, in fact it may be worse than valueless. But here to avoid 
 
misunderstanding, I quote from the book of Binnett, before alluded to, as to 
 the meaning of the word spiritual : ' ' Spirituality in the ocult sense has little 
 or nothing to do with feeling devout ; it has to do with the capacity for assimi- 
 lating knowledge, at the fountain head of knowledge itself ; of absolute knowl- 
 edge instead of by the circuitous and laborious process of ratiocination." It is 
 for this reason that an artist will sometimes work for days from an intellectual 
 stand, and with the keenest intellectual appreciation but without any satisfac- 
 tory result ; when under an unconscious spiritual influence, suddenly and with 
 surprise to himself, he will strike the key note, and the spirit of truth and hfe 
 will flow out into the work, which now becomes a living utterance of the 
 spirit. To recognize and save this inspired work, is one of the most essential 
 parts of an art education. For the artist to know when to work and when to 
 rest ; and for the patron to know what to discard and what to preserve, is one 
 of the things at this moment most needed among us. So in the commercial 
 and material world, this is the essence, the real spirit of all that is of value 
 in what is called civil service reform ; and it is at the bottom of all the real 
 disputes between what is crudely denominated capital and labor ; but which in 
 fact is only another form of the old hostility between how to do and how not 
 to do ; between inteUigence and ignorance. For after aU, art in its material 
 aspect, its commercial relations, is only a form of industry ; and so long as the 
 value of ai't work is measured in dollars and cents, or by the standard of a 
 government currency, and so long as the artist must eat or starve according to 
 the value thus placed upon his work, and while works of art cannot be esti- 
 mated by the foot or yard, but must be valued for their ideal or spiritual 
 meaning and effect. The right perception and appreciation of this quality is 
 of the very highest importance. And it is this ability to truly estimate the 
 value of ah human effort ; and to see that it is justly requited and protected ; 
 that must save us from those uprisings, revolts and revolutions, which have so 
 long disturbed the nations, and which this work of historic art is intended to 
 illustrate, and so far as possible help us in the future to avoid. The American 
 
Republic is the result of the declaration of the equal rights of man to the 
 natural world, and the establishment of laws to protect these rights. Titles to 
 land are of themselves not real wealth, it is the well directed labor that gives 
 the value. Invested capital is not wealth, except so far as it represents and 
 controls the products of industry and art. Eailroads and steamboats even are 
 valueless without the aid of wise heads and trusty hands to use them. Land 
 titles and invested capital, like railroads and steamboats, are only the vehicles 
 to a higher civilization. 
 
 The true permanent wealth, the real estate of families and nations is their 
 traditions as preserved in their literature and art. It is through the influences 
 of ai-t, as seen in the sublime creations of architecture, sculpture, painting, 
 music and poetry, with which the controlling classes have always surrounded 
 themselves ; that churches, dynasties and national governments have been 
 sustained. It is through the moulding influence of art upon the emotions, 
 sentiments and ideas of peoples that the highest conditions of civilization have 
 been reached. 
 
 For these reasons have we given so much attention to that which doubtless 
 will be regarded by the thoughtless as visionary and chemerical ; but which 
 will surely be received by a large and rapidly increasing class of advanced 
 thinkers and students as of the most vital importance. And if what we have 
 here said should be the means of causing the thousands who are now aspiring 
 to become artists, to be sure by all means to acquire the first indispensable 
 requisite, a high character, one great good wiU have been accomplished, and 
 not only the artist but the citizen has much to do in order to the production of 
 a high school of art. For no one profession can rise very much above the 
 community by which it is surrounded. The tyranny of thoughtlessness and 
 ignorance that naturally grows out of the sharp competitions of commercial 
 pursuits, is most destructive to the moral and aesthetic faculties. And although 
 
self preservation is doubtless the first law of animal life, a second and higher 
 law is that intelligent nobility that without self sacrifice, can extend a gener- 
 ous confidence and support to those around it, and while among artists them- 
 selves there is nothing that so degrades and belittles them as narrow personal 
 jealousies : So there is nothing in their surroundings so discouraging and deaden- 
 ing as the jealousy, suspicion and distrust of the communities in which they live. 
 
 I have said the American Republic is the result of the declaration of the 
 equal rights of man to the natural world, and the establishment of laws to 
 protect those rights. But this declaration of rights and establishment of laws 
 is not the republic. The Eepublic is composed of the people, and the character 
 of the Eepublic is that which predominates in the character of the people. If 
 the predominating character of the people is narrow and mercenary that will 
 be the character of the nation. If the controlling characteristics of the people 
 are unjust and oppressive the national character will assume these traits, and no 
 matter how complacently demagogues and schemers may regard their unjust 
 usurpation and oppression ; no matter how ostentatiously the counterfeiters of 
 corporate capital may display their ill-gotten opulence, the final result will be 
 revolt and revolution with all its train of misery. For the great people of this 
 western civilization, if not equal to the Orient in the ocult philosophies, are 
 of such intellectual character that they will never patiently submit to the 
 degrading serfdom of Europe. Therefore it becomes equally important to the 
 cunning financiers, as well as to the entei-prising managers of industry, to 
 the liberal conductors of science and the whole mass of the people, that all the 
 infiuences that mould the disposition and form the character shall be such as 
 to raise man above a narrow, selfish and material injustice, into a broad, gen- 
 erous, liberal magnauimity that shall insist upon equal justice to all. But 
 equal justice implies knowledge and power ; a knowledge of what is right and 
 power to enforce it. Now although it is more than a century since this nation 
 declared its independence of aristocratic power, there are those who prostrate 
 
themselves in abject sevility to the dictates of a spurious aristocracy, and its 
 cabals and combinations in commercial art. There are those who laud sensu- 
 ahty and shame, if clothed in the mechanical technique of a vitiated taste, 
 while the noblest heroism and the loftiest magnanimity expressed in an art 
 that scorns the effeminate luxury of a sensuous touch, or a magical mechanism 
 is hardly recognized. So the whole face of our broad and beautiful land is 
 disfigured by the succeeding waves of vanity in decorative art : First barren 
 imitations of the Greek temple, then of the sharp pointed gothic ; then of 
 the Elizabethian ; then the Queen Ann and all their thousands of gi'otesque 
 imitations and caricatures, until almost the only rehef to the sickened sight is 
 the old dutch barn or the simplest straight sided farm-house, for these give 
 expression of force and integrity ; that force and integrity of character which 
 has brought us to a state wherein a most extraordinary material development 
 now affords opportunity for either idleness or dissipation, to drag us down to 
 degradation and decay, or for culture and disciphne to raise us to a civihzation 
 that shall be a fit advance and result of that of Egypt and Babylon, of Greece 
 and Eome. This is the interesting epoch at which our nation now stands, and 
 now it is that we are invited on the one hand to the frivolous and gaudy ex- 
 pression of sensuahty, and on the other to the plain and simple expression of 
 common sense independent character and integrity, which is the only founda- 
 tion of the truly beautiful and sublime. Now it is that we are to either assert 
 and maintain our intellectual and spiritual independence, and express it in our 
 art, or we are to abandon our own character, our own history, our own hfe, 
 our own art, and adopt those of another. Our students of art return from 
 abroad with heads and hands fiUed with stories of the oriental, and thoroughly 
 convinced that all the fit subjects of art are in foreign lands. That we have 
 none of the material required. That. we have no traditions to illustrate; no 
 character to express ; no history to record ; no scenery to portray. But when 
 we open our eyes to the indescribable realities around us we are appalled at 
 their hopeless imbecihty, and ask in amazement how can these things ' be ? 
 
9 
 
 How can American common sense be so blinded as to the simplest of material 
 facts ? How can American independence be so subordinated to foreign influ- 
 ence and intrigue ? But the explanation is clear and simple. People hitherto 
 so absorbed in the accumulation of capital as never to have thought of the 
 higher forms of wealth, until suddenly transformed by the magnitude of their 
 investments, out of their native sphere into that of a more refined and cul- 
 tured class, and seeing that class surrounded with works of art, they at once 
 are ready to purchase that which seems so essential a part of a higher style of 
 life. So they become the most liberal patrons of foreign art, and the American 
 artist finds himself compelled to become a foreigner in order to secure the 
 patronage of his fellow citizens. Thus it comes that instead of honoring their 
 own history and life and country, in all the beauty and grandeur of the immortal 
 forms of art, they ignore their own ancestry, their own nationality, their own 
 civilization, and instead of being like the Roman citizen proud of his citizen- 
 ship, they become fawning sycophants, a disgrace to themselves and to their 
 country. But the time is at hand when all this ignoble sycophancy is passing 
 away. The time has come when the American citizens can begin to appreciate 
 American life, with its history and its art ; and when he is earnestly 
 studying the nature of his immediate surroundings, of the country he inhabits, 
 of the vast and varied peoples who form his nation, and of whom he is a part. 
 Of the political, civil and religious institutions ; of the ' ' nature and uses of 
 individual property, of the co-operation of capital and labor, of the self- 
 destructiveness of Sordid Wealth of Labor and Leisure, the necessity for recre- 
 ation, "of the nature of art" not as a "bread winner" only, but chiefly as a 
 great moral force raising the people and the nation from a sordid self destruc- 
 tion to a higher sense, to higher aspirations and ambitions, to higher standards 
 of respectability, to a juster sense of the damages of idleness and of the bene- 
 fits of industry, to a truer sense of the correct relations of things, in short to 
 higher conditions of thought and life ; to a higher civilization. 
 
$ I- 
 
s 
 
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 WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION, 1776, 
 
/iff." 
 
 - f f, r ■ ' ■ 
 
 , '-/'■</■ ■ '^:.,-ll /:..y/l 
 
 LADIES OF THE BRITISH COURT, 
 
EARL OF BUTE. 
 cha's TOWNSEND. 
 
 LORD NORTH. 
 
 ARCH BISHOP MARKHAM. 
 
 WM. PITT. 
 
 GEO. Ill, AND HIS MINISTERS, 
 
 GEO. III. 
 
\L '''"'^l^ > •! ,"'11 
 
 ;;■-'- to. 
 
 
 
 THE TOWN MEETING, 
 
THE RfiLLY, 1777, 
 
;? f/i^Zi' 
 
 LADIES ACCOMPANYING THE BRITISH ARMY IN ITS MARCH THROUGH 
 
 THE WILDERNESS, 
 
i^~- -^ir- 
 
 THE MfiSSflCRE OF JINE McCREfi, 
 
GEN. BURGOYNE REPRIMANDING THE INDIANS FOR THEIR BflRBflRITIES, 
 THEIR REVOLT AND DESERTION, 
 

 GEN, SCHUYLER FELLING TREES TO OBSTRUCT THE PROGRESS OF THE 
 
 BRITISH ARMY, 
 

 
 ^^^v^^^f^a^ss^ 
 
 MRS. GEN, SCHUYLER SETTING FIRE TO HER WHEAT FIELD TO PREVENT 
 ITS USE BY THE INVADING ARMY. 
 
GEN, SCHUYLER TRSNSFERING HIS COMMAND TO GEN, GATES, 
 
THE DESTH OF GEN, FRSZER. 
 
THE WOUNDING OF GEN, ARNOLD. 
 
LIDY HIRRIET RCIMD PASSING FROM TME BRITISH TO THE IMERICSN 
 CAMP, THE STORMY NIGHT AFTER THE BATTLE, 
 
•jif.mu a n zr-t ^:^^tr'- 
 
 THE BURISL OF GEN. FRSZER, 
 
V ■ r*£»' 
 
 ^ <^ 
 
 THE SURRENDER. 
 
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