|
| THE STATUE OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC - At the
edge of Columbia Avenue, the street of nations in the Manufactures
Building - a thoroughfare, under roof, that had many resemblances to
Midway Plaisance - a short distance south of the central clock-tower,
on the east side, as the visitor entered by the main portal of the
French facade, he came directly upon the heroic statue which is
portrayed in the engraving. It was cast in the bluish bronze which
is favored by the sculptors of northern Europe, and represented
France commanding, by moral force, the respect of the world for the
Rights of Man, but prepared by the sword she held in reverse to
protect that sacred ordinance, which was written on the tablet in her
arms. Few patriots saw this noble monument without sentiments of
gratitude to the nation which confirmed Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin
Franklin, James Monroe and James Madison in their love of liberty,
equality, and fraternity, and by the tragedies of a century liberated
mankind from the seignorial rights of the middle ages. To see the
French Republic freed from the veto-power, ruled by representatives
elected by the people, and responsible to them; and to see that
people, the makers of this most splendid exhibit, so true to the
principles that have been the dream of poets and philosophers since
Buddha - these things, seen in Chicago by the freest de facto people
of the world, and promising de facto freedom in France, were among
the most notable sights of the Exposition. |
