SPEECH IN THE SENATE, ON A JOINT RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING A CONTRACT WITH
VINNIE REAM FOR A STATUE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, JULY 27, 1866.
July 27th, on the last evening of the session, while the
galleries were thronged, Mr. Conness, of California, called
for the consideration of the joint resolution, which had
already passed the House of Representatives, “authorizing a
contract with Vinnie Ream for a statue of Abraham Lincoln.” The
following incident then occurred.
MR. SUMNER. Before that is taken up, I wish, with the
consent of the Senator, that I might be allowed to put a
joint resolution on its passage.
MR. CONNESS. This will only occupy a moment.
MR. SUMNER. It will be debated.
MR. CONNESS. Not, if you do not debate it.
MR. SUMNER. It must be debated.
MR. CONNESS. Will you debate it?
MR. SUMNER. I shall debate it.
MR. CONNESS. Let the Senator debate it now. I shall not
give way, in that case.
MR. SUMNER. I merely wish to put a joint resolution upon
its passage that will take no time.
MR. CONNESS. That is asking too much.
Mr. Chandler, of Michigan, then asked Mr. Conness “to give way
for a moment” to allow him to call up----Here he was arrested
by the answer, “I cannot give way to the Senator, after having
refused another Senator.” The joint resolution was then read:--
“_Resolved, &c._, That the Secretary of the Interior be,
and he hereby is, authorized and directed to contract with
Miss Vinnie Ream for a life-size model and statue of the
late President Abraham Lincoln, to be executed by her,
at a price not exceeding $10,000, one half payable on
completion of the model in plaster, and the remaining half
on completion of the statue in marble to his acceptance.”
Mr. Lane, of Indiana, then moved to proceed with the pension
bills that had already passed the other House, and this motion,
after debate, prevailed,--Yeas 19, Nays 18. The pension bills
and other bills were then considered, when another effort was
made for the joint resolution.
MR. WADE. I move to take up the joint resolution
authorizing a contract with Vinnie Ream for a statue of
Abraham Lincoln.
MR. SUMNER. I hope that will not be taken up.
SEVERAL SENATORS. Oh, let us vote.
MR. SUMNER. Senators say, “Oh, let us vote.” The question
is about giving away $10,000.
MR. CONNESS. Taking it up is not giving money away, I hope.
MR. SUMNER. The question is, I say, about giving away
$10,000: that is the proposition involved in this joint
resolution.
MR. CONNESS. For a statue.
MR. SUMNER. The Senator says, “For a statue”: an impossible
statue, I say,--one which cannot be made. However, I say
nothing on the merits now; that will come at another time,
if the resolution is taken up. I ask for the yeas and nays
on the question of taking up.
The question, being taken by yeas and nays, resulted, Yeas 26,
Nays 8. So the motion was agreed to, and the Senate, as in
committee of the whole, resumed the consideration of the joint
resolution. Mr. Sumner said:--
Some evenings ago, Sir, I attempted to secure an appropriation of
$10,000 for worthy public servants in one of the Departments of
the Government. In presenting that case, it was my duty to exhibit
something of their necessities. I showed you how the money was needed
by them to meet the expenses of living, which, as we all know, are
constantly increasing, while the value of money is decreasing. I
showed you also that they were entitled to this allowance by the
service they had performed. After ample discussion, extended through
several evenings, the Senate refused outright to appropriate $10,000
for distribution among public servants who, I insisted, had earned it
by faithful labor. You acted on a sentiment of economy. It was urged,
that, considering the numerous and heavy draughts upon the Treasury, we
should not be justified in such allowance, and that, if it were made,
then we should be obliged to make it in other cases, and there would be
no end to the drain upon the Treasury. You all remember the fever of
economy that broke out, and also the result. The proposition was voted
down.
Now, Sir, a proposition is brought forward to appropriate that
identical sum of $10,000 for a work of art. I speak of it in the most
general way. If there were any assurance that the work in question
could be worthy of so large a sum, if there were any reason to imagine
that the favorite who is to be the beneficiary under this resolution
were really competent to execute such a work, still, at this time and
under the circumstances by which we are surrounded, I might well object
to its passage, simply on reasons of economy. This argument is not out
of place. I present, then, as my first objection, the consideration of
economy. Do not, Sir, wastefully, inconsiderately, heedlessly give away
so much. If you are in the mood of appropriation on this scale, select
some of those public servants who have been discharging laborious
duties on an inadequate compensation, and bestow it upon them. Be just
before you are generous. Do this rather than become such sudden patrons
of art. I hope that I do not treat the question too gravely. You
treated the motion to augment compensation in the State Department very
gravely. I but follow your example.
But, Sir, there is another aspect to which I allude, with your pardon.
I enter upon it with great reluctance. I am unwilling to utter a word
that would bear hard upon any one, least of all upon a youthful artist,
where sex imposes reserve, if not on her part, at least on mine; but
when a proposition like this is brought forward, I am bound to meet it
frankly.
Each Senator will act on his own judgment and the evidence before
him. Each will be responsible to his own conscience for the vote he
gives. Now, Sir, with the little knowledge I have of such things, with
the small opportunities I have enjoyed of observing works of art, and
with the moderate acquaintance I have formed among artists, I am bound
to express a confident opinion that this candidate is not competent
to produce the work you propose to order. You might as well place her
on the staff of General Grant, or, putting him aside, place her on
horseback in his stead. She cannot do it. She might as well contract
to furnish an epic poem, or the draft of a bankrupt bill. I am pained
to be constrained into these remarks; but, when you press a vote, you
leave me no alternative. Admit that she may make a statue; she cannot
make one that you will be justified in placing here. Promise is not
performance; but what she has done thus far comes under the former head
rather than the latter. Surely this National Capitol, so beautiful
and interesting, and already historic, should not be opened to the
rude experiment of untried talent. Only the finished artist should be
admitted here.
Sir, I doubt if you consider enough the character of the edifice in
which we are assembled. Possessing the advantage of an incomparable
situation, it is among the first-class structures of the world.
Surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills, with the Potomac at its feet,
it may remind you of the Capitol in Rome, with the Alban and the Sabine
hills in sight, and with the Tiber at its feet. But the situation is
grander than that of the Roman Capitol. The edifice itself is not
unworthy of the situation. It has beauty of form and sublimity in
proportion, even if it lacks originality in conception. In itself it
is a work of art. It should not receive in the way of ornamentation
anything which is not a work of art. Unhappily, this rule is too often
forgotten, or there would not be so few pictures and marbles about us
which we are glad to recognize. But bad pictures and ordinary marbles
warn us against adding to their number.
Pardon me, if I call attention for one moment to the few works of
art in the Capitol which we might care to preserve. Beginning with
the Vice-President’s room, which is nearest, we find an excellent and
finished portrait of Washington, by Peale. This is much less known than
the familiar portrait by Stuart, but it is well worthy to be cherished.
I never enter that room without feeling its presence. Traversing the
corridors, we find ourselves in the spacious rotunda, where are four
pictures by Trumbull, truly historic in character, by which great
scenes live again before us. These works have a merit of their own
which will always justify the place they occupy. Mr. Randolph, with
ignorant levity, once characterized that which represents the signing
of the Declaration of Independence as a “shin-piece.” He should have
known that there is probably no picture, having so many portraits,
less obnoxious to such a gibe. If these pictures do not belong to
the highest art, they can never fail in interest for the patriot
citizen, while the artist will not be indifferent to them. One other
picture in the rotunda is not without merit: I refer to the Landing
of the Pilgrims, by Weir, where there is a certain beauty of color
and a religious sentiment: but this picture has always seemed to me
exaggerated, rather than natural. Passing from the rotunda to the House
of Representatives, we stand before a picture which, as a work of art,
is perhaps the choicest of all in the Capitol. It is the portrait of
Lafayette, by that consummate artist, who was one of the glories of
France, Ary Scheffer. He sympathized with our institutions; and this
portrait of the early friend of our country was a present from the
artist to the people of the United States. Few who look at it, by the
side of the Speaker’s chair, are aware that it is the production of
the rare genius which gave to mankind the Christus Consolator and the
Francesca da Rimini.
Turning from painting to sculpture, we find further reason for
caution. The lesson is taught especially by that work of the Italian
Persico, on the steps of the Capitol, called by him Columbus, but
called by others “a man rolling nine-pins,”--for the attitude and the
ball he holds suggest this game. Near to this is a remarkable group
by Greenough, where the early settler is struggling with the savage;
while opposite in the yard is the statue of Washington by the same
artist, which has found little favor because it is nude, but which
shows a mastery of art. There also are the works of Crawford,--the
_alto-rilievo_ which fills the pediment over the great door of the
Senate Chamber, and the statue of Liberty which looks down from the top
of the dome,--attesting a genius that must always command admiration.
There are other statues, by a living artist. There are also the bronze
doors by Rogers, on which he labored long and well. They belong to a
class of which there are only a few specimens in the world, and I have
sometimes thought they might vie with those famous doors at Florence,
which Michel Angelo hailed as worthy to be the gates of Paradise.
Our artist has pictured the whole life of Columbus in bronze, while
portraits of contemporary princes, and of great authors who have
illustrated the life of the great discoverer, add to the completeness
of this artistic work.
Now, Sir, the chambers of the Capitol are to open again for the
reception of a work of art. It is to be the statue of our martyred
President. He deserves a statue, and it should be here in Washington.
But you cannot expect to have, even of him, more than one statue
here in Washington. Such a repetition or reduplication would be out
of place. It would be too much. There is one statue of Washington.
There is also a statue of Jefferson: I refer to the excellent statue
in front of the Executive Mansion, by the French sculptor, David.
There is also one statue of Jackson. It is now proposed to add a
statue of Lincoln. I suppose you do not contemplate two statues, or
three, but only one. Who now shall make that one, to find hospitality
in the National Capitol? Surely, whoever undertakes the work must
be of ripe genius, with ample knowledge of art, and of unquestioned
capacity,--the whole informed and inspired by a prevailing sympathy
with the martyr and the cause for which he lived and died. Are you
satisfied that this youthful candidate, without ripeness of genius or
ample knowledge of art or unquestioned capacity, and not so situated
as to feel the full inspiration of his life and character, should
receive this remarkable trust? She has never made a statue. Shall she
experiment on the historic dead, and place her attempt under this dome?
I am unwilling. When the statue of that beloved President is set up
here, where we shall look upon it daily, and gather from it courage and
consolation, I wish it to be a work of art in truth and reality, with
living features animated by living soul, so that we shall all hail it
as the man immortal by his life, doubly immortal through art. Anything
short of this, even if through your indulgence it finds a transient
resting-place here, will be removed whenever a correct taste asserts
its just prerogative.
Therefore, Sir, for the sake of economy, that you may not heedlessly
lavish the national treasure,--for the sake of this Capitol, itself a
work of art, that it may not have anything in the way of ornamentation
which is not a work of art,--for the sake of the martyred President,
whose statue should be by a finished artist,--and for the sake of
art throughout the whole country, that we may not set a pernicious
example,--I ask you to reject this resolution. When I speak for art
generally, I open a tempting theme; but I forbear. Suffice it to say
that art throughout the whole country must suffer, if Congress crowns
with its patronage anything which is not truly artistic. By such
patronage you will discourage where you ought to encourage.
Mr. President, I make these remarks with sincere reluctance; I am
distressed in making them; but such an appropriation, engineered so
vigorously, and having in its support such a concerted strength, must
be met plainly and directly. Do not condemn the frankness you compel.
If you wish to bestow a charity or a gift, do it openly, without
pretence of any patronage bestowed upon art, or pretence of homage to a
deceased President. Bring forward your resolution appropriating $10,000
to this youthful candidate. This I can deal with. I can listen to your
argument for charity, and I assure you that I shall never be insensible
to it. But when you propose this large sum for a work of art in the
National Capitol in memory of the illustrious dead, I am obliged to
consider the character of the artist. I wish it were otherwise, but I
cannot help it.
The remarks of Mr. Sumner were opposed by Mr. Nesmith, of
Oregon, Mr. McDougall and Mr. Conness, of California, Mr.
Yates and Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, Mr. Wade, of Ohio, and
Mr. Cowan, of Pennsylvania. In the course of the debate, Mr.
Edmunds, of Vermont, moved an amendment, requiring, that,
before the first instalment of $5,000 should be paid, the model
should be to the “acceptance” of the Secretary of the Interior.
On this motion Mr. Sumner spoke again.
I think this amendment had better be adopted. It is only a reasonable
precaution. The Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. HOWE] alluded to a contract
with Mr. Stone. He is a known sculptor, whose works are at the very
doors of the Senate Chamber. The committee who employed him must
have been perfectly aware of his character. When they entered into a
contract with him, there was no element of chance; they knew what they
were contracting for. But in the present case there is nothing but
chance, if there be not the certainty of failure.
MR. CONNESS. How was it in the case of Mr. Powell?
MR. SUMNER. I am speaking of the present case. One at a time, if you
please. The person that you propose to contract with notoriously has
never made a statue. All who have the most moderate acquaintance with
art know that it is one thing to make a bust and quite another to make
a statue. One may make a bust and yet be entirely unable to make a
statue,--just as one may write a poem in the corner of a newspaper and
not be able to produce an epic. A statue is art in one of its highest
forms. There have been very few artists competent to make a statue.
There is as yet but one instance that I recall of a woman reasonably
successful in such an undertaking. But the eminent and precocious
person to whom I refer had shown a peculiar genius very early in life,
had enjoyed the rarest opportunities of culture, and had vindicated her
title as artist before she attempted this difficult task. Conversing,
as I sometimes have, with sculptors, I remember how they always dwell
upon the difficulty of such a work. It is no small labor to set a
man on his legs, with proper drapery and accessories, in stone or in
bronze. Not many have been able to do it, and all these had already
experience in art. Now there is no such experience here. Notoriously
this candidate is without it. There is no reason to suppose that she
can succeed. Therefore the Senator from Vermont [Mr. EDMUNDS] is wise,
when he proposes, that, before the nation pays $5,000 on account, it
shall have some assurance that the work is not absolutely a failure.
Voltaire was in the habit of exclaiming, in coarse Italian words,
that “a woman cannot produce a tragedy.” In the face of what has been
accomplished by Miss Hosmer, I do not venture on the remark that a
woman cannot produce a statue; but I am sure that in the present case
you ought to take every reasonable precaution. Anything for this
Capitol must be “above suspicion.”
Sir, I did not intend, when I rose, to say anything except directly
upon the motion of the Senator from Vermont; but, as I am on the floor,
perhaps I may be pardoned, if I advert for one moment----
MR. HOWE. Will the Senator allow me to ask him one question,
for information?
MR. SUMNER. Certainly.
MR. HOWE. It is, whether he supposes that by the examination
of a plaster model he could get any assurance that the work in
marble would be satisfactory.
MR. SUMNER. Obviously; for the chief work of the artist is in the
model. When this is done, the work is more than half done,--almost all
done. What remains requires mechanical skill rather than genius. In
Italy, where are accomplished workmen in marble, the artist leaves his
model in their hands, contenting himself with a few finishing strokes
of the chisel. Sometimes he does not touch the marble.
I was about to say, when interrupted, that I hoped to be pardoned, if
I adverted for one moment to the onslaught made upon what I have said
in this debate. I do not understand it. I do not know why Senators have
given such rein to the passion for personality. I made no criticism on
any Senator, and no allusion, even, to any Senator. I addressed myself
directly to the question, and endeavored to treat it with all the
reserve consistent with proper frankness. Senators, one after another,
have attacked me personally. The Senator from Oregon [Mr. NESMITH]
seemed to riot in the business. The Senator from California [Mr.
CONNESS], from whom I had reason to expect something better, caught the
spirit of the other Pacific Senator. Sir, there was nothing in what I
said to justify such attack. But I will not proceed in the comments
their speeches invite; I turn away. There was, however, one remark of
the Senator from Oregon to which I will refer. He complained that I was
unwilling to patronize native art, and that I dwelt on the productions
of foreign artists to the disparagement of our own.
I am at a loss for the motive of this singular misrepresentation.
Let the Senator quote a sentence or word which fell from me in
disparagement of native art. He cannot. I know the art of my country
too well, and think of it with too much of patriotic pride. I alluded
to only one foreign artist, and he was that sympathetic and gifted
Frenchman who has endowed the Capitol with the portrait of Lafayette.
The other artists that I praised were all of my own country. There
was Rembrandt Peale, of Philadelphia, to whom we are indebted for
the portrait of Washington. There was Trumbull, the companion of
Washington, and one of his military staff, who, quitting the toils
of war, gave himself to painting, under the inspiration of West,
himself an American, and produced works which I pronounced the chief
treasure of the rotunda. There also was Greenough, the earliest
American sculptor, and, until Story took the chisel, unquestionably
the most accomplished of all in the list of American sculptors. He was
a scholar, versed in the languages of antiquity and modern times, who
studied the art he practised in the literature of every tongue. Of him
I never fail to speak in praise. There also was Crawford, an American
sculptor, born in New York, and my own intimate personal friend,
whose early triumphs I witnessed and enjoyed. He was a true genius,
versatile, fertile, bold. His short life was crowned by the honors
of his profession, and he was hailed at home and abroad as a great
sculptor. How can I speak of this friend of my early life except with
admiration and love? I alluded also to Rogers, an American artist, from
the West,--yes, Sir, from the West----
MR. HOWARD. Who was educated in Michigan.
MR. SUMNER. Educated in Michigan,--who has given to his country and to
art those bronze doors, which I did not hesitate to compare with the
immortal doors of Ghiberti in the Baptistery of Florence. These, Sir,
were the artists to whom I referred, and such was the spirit in which
I spoke. How, then, can any Senator complain that I praised foreign
artists at the expense of artists at home? The remark, permit me to
say, is absolutely without foundation.
It is because I would not have the art of my own country suffer, and
because I would have its honors follow merit, that I oppose the largess
you offer. If you really wish to set up a statue of our martyred
President, select an acknowledged sculptor of your own country. Do not
go to a foreigner, and do not go to the unknown. There are sculptors
born among us and already famous. Take one of them. There is Powers, an
artist of rarest skill with the chisel, of exquisite finish,--perhaps
with less variety and freshness than some other artists, perhaps
with less originality, but having in himself many and peculiar
characteristics as a remarkable artist. Summon him. He has been tried.
Contracting with him, you know in advance that you will have a statue
not entirely unworthy of the appropriation or of the place.
There is another sculptor of our country, whom I should name first of
all, if I were to express freely my unbiased choice: I mean Story.
He is the son of the great jurist, and began life with his father’s
mantle resting upon him. His works of jurisprudence are quoted daily
in your courts. He is also a man of letters. His contributions to
literature in prose and verse are in your libraries. To these he adds
unquestioned fame as sculptor. In the great exhibitions of Europe his
Cleopatra and his Saul have been recognized as equal in art to the best
of our time, and in the opinion of many as better than the best. He
brings to sculpture not only the genius of an artist, but scholarship,
literature, study, and talent of every kind. Take him. Let his name be
associated with the Capitol by a statue which I am sure will be the
source of national pride and honor.
I might mention other sculptors of our country already known, and
others giving assurance of fame. My friend who sits beside me, the
distinguished Senator from New York [Mr. MORGAN], very properly
reminds me of the sculptor who does so much honor to his own State.
Palmer has a beautiful genius, which he has cultivated for many years
with sedulous care. He has experience. The seal of success is upon
his works. Let him make your statue. There is still another artist,
whose home is New York, whom I would not forget: I refer to Brown,
author of the equestrian statue of Washington in New York. Of all
equestrian statues in our country this is the best, unless Crawford’s
statue at Richmond is its rival. It need not shrink from comparison
with equestrian statues in the Old World. The talent that could
seat the great chief so easily in that bronze saddle ought to find
welcome in this Capitol. There are yet other sculptors; but I confine
my enumeration to those who have done something more than promise
excellence. And now you turn from this native talent, already famous,
to offer a difficult and honorable duty to an untried person, whose
friends can claim for her nothing more than the uncertain promise of
such excellence in sculpture as is consistent with the condition of her
sex. Sir, I will not say anything more.
The amendment of Mr. Edmunds was voted down,--Yeas 7, Nays
22,--and the joint resolution passed the Senate,--Yeas 23, Nays
9.[57]
* * * * *
It was understood that the fair artist had received promises of
support from Senators in advance. The spirit of the debate on
their part belongs to the history of the case. Mr. Nesmith, of
Oregon, said:--
“Mr. President, if this was a mere matter of research, I
should be very much inclined to defer to the judgment of
the Senator from Massachusetts; but, as it is not, and as
it requires no great learning, no particular devotion to
reading, to discover what is an exact imitation of Nature,
I claim that my judgment on such a subject is as good as
his own.… He objects to this young artist,--this young
scion of the West, from the same land from which Lincoln
came,--a young person who manifests intuitive genius, and
who is able to copy the works of Nature without having
perused the immense tomes and the grand volumes of which
the Senator may boast,--a person who was born and raised in
the wilds of the West, and who is able to copy its great
works.”
And much more in a worse vein.
* * * * *