“_Provided_, That no contract shall be made, until after
a competition among the artists of the country, all of
whom shall have an opportunity of offering themselves as
candidates, and of exhibiting designs for the proposed
picture; and the committee shall postpone any contract
with Mr. Powell, until they shall be satisfied, after such
competition, that he is the most meritorious artist.”
This also was lost,--Yeas 15, Nays 23,--as also another
amendment, to purchase of F. B. Carpenter his picture of “The
Emancipation Proclamation,” instead of a picture from Mr.
Powell, for which there were only two votes. The resolution was
then passed.
* * * * *
Among those who expressed sympathy with Mr. Sumner on this
occasion was General Robert Anderson, who commanded at Fort
Sumter. He wrote:--
“I am glad to see that you, like myself, are looking
forward to the time when this Rebellion shall end, and do
not wish to see perpetuated, on canvas or in marble, a
trace of its having existed.”[181]