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THE simple ceremony in which we are about 
 to engage brings us by a designed coinci- 
 dence to the base of a monument which 
 suggests, by its dignity and repose, the emi- 
 nent character that it commemorates. For 
 more than a hundred years the name of Wash- 
 ington has been honored with unquestioned 
 praise wherever our flag has gone, — and never 
 in words more fit than those of Richard Henry 
 Lee which every generation should repeat with 
 gratitude, "First in war, First in peace, and 
 First in the hearts of his countrymen." 
 
 We are not so presumptuous as to think that 
 any act of ours can add lustre to his name, nor 
 to suppose that the art of sculpture, however 
 successful it may be, can enhance the beauty of 
 that column, "simple, erect, austere, sublime," 
 near which we have placed the statue of an- 
 other soldier of the Revolution. Nevertheless, 
 it is a pleasure to associate with the name of 
 Washington, the name of a Marylander subor- 
 dinate to the great Commander, who like him 
 fought, suffered and triumphed ; in war, a hero ; 
 in peace, a servant of the state; the patriot 
 soldier, Colonel John Eager Howard. 
 
 From the days of Cincinnatus until recent; 
 times there have been commanders who laid 
 down their swords when strife was ended, and 
 who engaged in the pursuits of civil life until 
 called by their countrymen to renewed service 
 
in the councils of the government. At Anna- 
 polis, in a chamber which should be forever 
 sacred as one of the shrines of American 
 patriotism, Washington surrendered his com- 
 mission, and thence he returned, soon after- 
 wards, to his home at Mt. Vernon, where he 
 remained until the people made him President. 
 In like manner, in a less conspicuous but not 
 less patriotic way, Howard, after the years of 
 military privation and perils were passed, found 
 repose in Belvedere, his country-seat, remain- 
 ing the foremost citizen of Baltimore until he 
 was chosen first the Governor of Maryland and 
 afterwards a Senator of the United States. 
 Despondent Americans sometimes express the 
 fear, if they do not suppress the hope, that 
 from our democracy an imperial monarchy will 
 arise, and that some Caesar or Napoleon will 
 assume the power of a dictator ; but such a pos- 
 sibility, to us abhorrent, will never become a 
 reality among those who cherish the words and 
 the examples of Washington and Howard. 
 
 In travelling through this and other lands, it 
 is interesting to note the various embodiments 
 in sculpture of popular affection for heroes. 
 In Rome on the Capitoline hill stands one of 
 the noblest remains of ancient art, — the statue 
 of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, — and as if 
 stimulated by this remembrance, almost every 
 city of Italy has its statues of Garibaldi, Cavour 
 
 10 
 
and Victor Emmanuel. Near the banks of the 
 Neva, Catherine the Second placed on a mass 
 of granite the spirited figure of Peter the Great. 
 In the capital of Prussia, Frederick the Great is 
 honored by one of the finest monuments of 
 modern art, the superb work of Rauch. On 
 the Rue de Rivoli in Paris, the very sculptor 
 whose work is before us, has modelled an eques- 
 trian figure of the far-famed deliverer of 
 France, the Maid of Orleans. In London, Nel- 
 son's column overlooks Westminster. The 
 dome of St. Paul's covers the monument of the 
 Iron Duke as the dome of the Invalides in 
 Paris enshrines the remains of his antago- 
 nist. There are statues of Washington in Bos- 
 ton, New York, Philadelphia, Washington and 
 Richmond; lately also, by the generosity of 
 American women, in the capital of France. To 
 one of the greatest of living sculptors we owe 
 the memorials of Farragut and Sherman in 
 New York, of Shaw in Boston, and of Lincoln 
 in Chicago. The city of Washington has many 
 equestrian statues. Richmond has its Robert 
 E. Lee. These are but examples of the homage 
 paid to wisdom, courage and self-sacrifice, — 
 monuments, often but unfortunately not always 
 produced by artists of genius, usually if not 
 always evoked by sentiments of the loftiest 
 patriotism. 
 
 ii 
 
The statue now erected in Baltimore is cer- 
 tainly worthy to be named among those already 
 mentioned, both because of its distinction as a 
 work of art by one of the foremost sculptors in 
 the city of Paris, the focus of modern art, and 
 also because of the man commemorated. It is 
 a tribute of admiration and affection from cer- 
 tain members of the Municipal Art Society of 
 Baltimore who cherish with gratitude the 
 memory of Howard. The work of the artist, 
 M. Fremiet, sustains his high reputation. The 
 details of costume and equipment in the time 
 of the Revolutionary war have been carefully 
 reproduced. The attitude and expression of 
 the hero are dignified and spirited. Hence- 
 forward, the citizen in his daily walks, the 
 stranger as he enters the city, the student as he 
 goes to the library, the children as they gather 
 about the monument of Washington, will be 
 attracted by this figure, and as they think of 
 the person thus honored, seventy-six years af- 
 ter his death, they will learn a lesson of patriot- 
 ism, courage, public spirit and good citizenship. 
 If they inquire, they will be told that among the 
 men of Maryland, in the formative period of 
 this nation, none served the commonwealth 
 better than the friend of Washington and La- 
 fayette ; the supporter of Greene ; in "times that 
 tried men's souls," the unflinching patriot, 
 brave on many battle-fields; in the public 
 
 12 
 
councils, a wise and unblemished statesman; 
 throughout his life the public-spirited benefac- 
 tor of Baltimore. 
 
 Howard does not stand alone among the 
 worthies of Maryland commemorated by their 
 grateful fellow-citizens. In the national capi- 
 tol, the legislature has placed the statues of 
 John Hanson and Charles Carroll; near the 
 state-house in Annapolis we are reminded of 
 the gallantry of that great leader of the Mary- 
 land Line, General DeKalb. There is a truly 
 speaking likeness of Chief Justice Taney in the 
 statue by our own Rinehart. The figure of 
 George Peabody has been placed in front of the 
 athenaeum which he founded. Soon, in a pub- 
 lic place, we shall see a representation of one 
 whose departure we still mourn, whose pen still 
 counsels, whose example still inspires the young 
 men of Baltimore — Severn Teackle Wallis. 
 Hereafter, others will thus be brought to re- 
 membrance by the sculptor's art. Among 
 them, there should certainly be a tribute to the 
 founder of the university and hospital which 
 have brought so much distinction and benefit 
 to this city. There are other heroes of the Rev- 
 olution, of whom we are reminded by the life 
 and services of Howard, especially participants 
 in the Southern campaign, General Gist, Gen- 
 eral Otho H. Williams, General Smallwood, 
 and Colonel John Gunby. 
 
 13 
 
In order that justice may be done to the 
 career of a man of mark, it is necessary to con- 
 sider the times in which he lived and the oppor- 
 tunities which were opened to him. If "all the 
 world's a stage and all the men and women 
 merely players," we must give heed to the 
 scenes, the accessories and the associated char- 
 acters of the drama. A great historian, whose 
 graphic style fixes the attention of every reader 
 quite as firmly as Macaulay's, has acknowl- 
 edged his obligations to Shakespeare's dramatic 
 treatment of historic events. He presents the 
 stage, the actors and the deeds. For a study 
 of the American Revolution, the material is 
 superabundant. The story of that great series 
 of events has been told again and again, not 
 only by annalists and biographers, but by his- 
 torians, many of whom had rare gifts of ex- 
 pression and knew how to omit the unessential 
 from their narratives and give emphasis to 
 important crises; therefore a few words only 
 will be needed to remind you of the circum- 
 stances under which the character of Howard 
 was developed. The pages of Lee, Marshall, 
 Tarleton, Greene, Bancroft, Fiske, Trevelyan, 
 Wilson, Doyle, and recently of McCrady are 
 accessible to those who wish for a closer study 
 of the period. In a cursory way, it may be said 
 that the Revolutionary war was fought in three 
 regions, — north of the Potomac, south of the 
 
 14 
 
Potomac and west of the Alleghanies. The 
 engagements in the west are less vividly re- 
 membered, but the work of George R. Clark 
 and his followers secured to the Americans the 
 permanent possession of the Ohio Valley. Cam- 
 paigns in the north began in 1775, in Eastern 
 Massachusetts, and continued with varying 
 results until the close of the war, chiefly on the 
 seaboard and in the natural highway to Canada 
 by the Hudson River and the Lakes George 
 and Champlain. The most decisive battle was 
 fought in October, 1777, at Saratoga, when the 
 British army met with disastrous defeat and 
 General Burgoyne surrendered. The fighting 
 continued notwithstanding this victory, and 
 the names of many a battle-field in New 
 York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania recall the 
 patience and the bravery of the American army. 
 The Southern campaigns began with the Brit- 
 ish capture of Savannah and the subsequent 
 capture of Charleston and the adjacent sea- 
 board, so that in 1780 Cornwallis was ready to 
 begin his strenuous endeavors to recover in the 
 South the prestige which Burgoyne had lost in 
 the North. His efforts were largely directed 
 toward the suppression of all patriotic senti- 
 ments among the inhabitants of Georgia and 
 the Carolinas. He was gradually led to take 
 up his position at Yorktown where the Ameri- 
 can and French forces compelled his surrender. 
 
 15 
 
By the defeat of Cornwallis the war was vir- 
 tually closed, and the independence of the 
 United Colonies, proclaimed five years before, 
 was secured. 
 
 Such was the drama of the Revolution. Let 
 us now see the entrance upon the stage of 
 Howard, the man whom we are assembled to 
 honor. 
 
 When the gales, foretold by Patrick Henry, 
 in words that every school-boy used to know by 
 heart, had swept from the north and brought 
 to the listening ears of anxious southerners the 
 clash of resounding arms, Maryland was ready 
 to do her part in support of the principles of 
 independence. Among the earliest to enlist 
 was James McHenry, who began an as army 
 surgeon and who rose by his merits to the post 
 of Secretary of War under Washington and 
 Adams. His monument is Fort McHenry, in 
 the harbor, over which the Star Spangled Ban- 
 ner "still waved" on a memorable morning in 
 1814. 
 
 Another young man, then twenty-four years 
 old, of good family and education, living in 
 circumstances of comfort if not of affluence, in 
 Baltimore County, joined the army, in 1776. 
 Even two years earlier, in November, 1774, he 
 had taken part in those patriotic proceedings 
 of the people of Maryland, which established 
 the principle of independence. He was offered 
 
 16 
 
the commission of a colonel, but with the 
 modesty which characterised his life, he de- 
 clined the responsibility of that position and 
 instead of it accepted the commission of a 
 captain, in what was called "the flying camp," 
 commanded by Colonel J. Carvel Hall. In 
 two days Captain John Eager Howard had re- 
 cruited a company and with it he marched 
 toward the scene of action in the north, where 
 his services began in the battle of White Plains. 
 Shortly afterwards his corps was dismissed, 
 and the captain was promoted to be a major in 
 one of the battalions of the line, then enlisted by 
 Congress for the war. The "Maryland Line" 
 having completed its organization in the spring 
 of 1777, Howard, with his command, joined 
 the army in New Jersey and remained with it 
 until his father's death compelled a return to 
 Baltimore. After a short respite, he went back 
 to his post and took part in the battle of Ger- 
 mantown, where Maryland troops formed a 
 considerable part of Sullivan's division on the 
 right of the army. As the colonel of his regi- 
 ment was disabled the command of it devolved 
 upon Howard. It is an oft-noted coincidence 
 that the house of Chief Justice Chew which 
 proved to be a castle for the British com- 
 mander, a temporary fortress, as it was called, 
 was the summer residence of the future Mrs. 
 Howard. The Americans were unsuccessful, 
 
 17 
 
chiefly because a dense fog hung over the 
 region and prevented the transmission of or- 
 ders and the concentration of effort. There 
 is extant a vivid account of this battle, written 
 by Colonel Howard, which distinctly shows the 
 brave and determined action of his regiment. 
 The battle of Monmouth followed and with it 
 closes the first chapter of Howard's experience. 
 
 The second chapter is more eventful. The 
 troops of Maryland and Delaware were ordered 
 to the relief of Charleston, and Howard, then 
 lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Maryland Regi- 
 ment in the army of the United States, pre- 
 pared to go with them. Several hotly contested 
 battles were fought with alternating defeats 
 and victories, Cornwallis trying to secure com- 
 plete control of the Carolinas, before carrying 
 the war into Virginia. The result was York- 
 town. 
 
 The country traversed by the contending 
 forces includes the States of Georgia, North 
 and South Carolina, and a part of Southern 
 Virginia. It lies east of the mountains and 
 descends from a piedmont or plateau region to 
 the seaboard, where the harbors already named 
 attracted the enemy. The tract is crossed by 
 many streams, flowing to the ocean in a south- 
 easterly direction and easily crossed by fords in 
 their upper courses. In this region, beside the 
 cities of the coast, the strategic points were 
 
 18 
 
Camden, Augusta, and Ninety-Six, where im- 
 portant roads converged. The inhabitants of 
 this country were not of one mind. Many of 
 them were loyal to the crown; more espoused 
 the cause of independence and liberty; some 
 were on both sides, — according to the fortunes 
 of war. Indeed the campaigns had many of 
 the saddest characteristics of a civil war. In 
 this up-river country there were marches and 
 counter-marches of the hostile forces leading to 
 engagements which were severe but not de- 
 cisive. 
 
 Two foreigners who took part in the South- 
 ern campaign are worthy of remembrance here 
 and now, Pulaski and DeKalb, the Pole and the 
 German. One fell in the siege of Savannah, 
 one in the battle of Camden ; both deserve our 
 grateful homage. DeKalb brought the prestige 
 of one who had been trained in the best of 
 European schools, — an Alsatian who had been 
 a brigadier in the French army, had been en- 
 couraged by Franklin and Silas Deane to join 
 the American forces, and had been intrusted 
 by Washington with important commands. A 
 little imagination will suggest the impression 
 made by this famous soldier upon the young 
 men of Maryland. 
 
 There is a contemporary account of the cam- 
 paigns of 1 780- 1 so short that none need pass 
 it by, so trustworthy that all may accept it. It 
 
 19 
 
comes from the pen of one of the best writers 
 and one of the greatest statesmen of the period, 
 — James Madison, then recently graduated 
 from Princeton College and afterwards Presi- 
 dent of the United States. 
 
 With the ultimate victory, it is well to bring 
 into contrast the previous desperation. When 
 Greene had been in command about six weeks, 
 eight days before Cowpens, he was so dismayed 
 that he wrote these words : — "The wants of 
 this army are no numerous and various that 
 the shortest way of telling you is to inform 
 you that we have nothing. We are living upon 
 charity and subsist by daily collections." There 
 had been a series of changes and misfortunes. 
 Pulaski was killed at Savannah, Lincoln had 
 been succeeded by DeKalb, DeKalb had given 
 way to Gates, the hero of Saratoga, and Gates 
 gave way to Greene. 
 
 The campaigns in the interior begin with 
 the battle of Camden, in the northern part of 
 South Carolina, where Gates met Cornwallis. 
 It is no pleasure to recall that battle, for in it 
 the Americans were wofully beaten. One his- 
 torian says : "Never was victory more complete 
 or defeat more total ;" too strong a statement, 
 for, although the Americans were driven back 
 after a bloody encounter, the enemy was not 
 equal to pursuit. We have also the satisfaction 
 
 20 
 
of knowing that the Maryland soldiers were 
 not wanting in discipline and courage. 
 
 Soon followed the battle of King's Moun- 
 tain (October 7, 1780) when the tide turned. 
 Major Ferguson had been sent by Cornwallis 
 to scour the western part of South Carolina 
 and join him at Charlotte, N. C. This brilliant 
 partisan leader was pursued by a body of 
 patriot forces irregular but determined, who 
 found him posted on King's Mountain. Here 
 Ferguson, after a desperate resistance, was 
 completely routed and he fell at the head of his 
 regulars, shot by seven bullets. By this bril- 
 liant victory the Americans made up for their 
 defeat at Camden. 
 
 Upon the third engagement I ask you to 
 dwell, partly because of its great importance, 
 partly because in it the Baltimore colonel won 
 his greatest distinction, — the battle of Cow- 
 pens. In the northwest corner of South Caro- 
 lina, near the boundary line, the opposing 
 forces met at a place then called Hannah's Cow 
 Pens, — part of a grazing establishment belong- 
 ing to a man named Hannah. 
 
 Tarleton, the lieutenant of Cornwallis, and 
 the subsequent historian of his Southern cam- 
 paigns, commanded the British, and Morgan, 
 brave General Daniel Morgan of Saratoga 
 fame, was the lieutenant of General Greene. 
 Many valiant men were there assembled. 
 
 21 
 
Morgan was splendid in his courage, wisdom, 
 reputation and patriotism. So was William 
 Washington, kinsman of the Father of his 
 country, a gallant leader of the cavalry. A lit- 
 tle boy of fourteen saw the battle, — one who 
 became the hero of New Orleans, General An- 
 drew Jackson. The grandfather of Edwin 
 Warfield, now Governor of Maryland, com- 
 manded a company. The fight continued but a 
 short time. While it lasted, it was fierce. 
 Howard, with his regiment of Marylanders, 
 held the key to the situation and they took good 
 care that the lock should not be forced by the 
 soldiers of George the Third. The Maryland 
 colonel proved himself equal to his opportunity. 
 A moment's hesitation, a timid advance, a half- 
 hearted leader might have lost everything. But 
 Howard was quick to think, bold in action, in- 
 spiring as a leader. He won the battle, and it 
 was won by the use of that formidable weapon, 
 — the bayonet. The report of the commanding 
 officer. General Greene, tells the story tersely. 
 At a critical moment, he says, when the British 
 were pressing hard upon the Americans, "Colo- 
 nel Howard, observing this, gave orders to 
 charge bayonets which was done with such ad- 
 dress that the enemy fled with the utmost pre- 
 cipitation and abandoned their artillery." Al- 
 though afterwards freely employed by the 
 Maryland line, we have the authority of Henry 
 
 22 
 
Lee for the statement that "at Cowpens the 
 bayonet was first resorted to in the war;" and 
 that of Morgan, the commanding officer, for 
 saying that when the enemy showed signs of 
 disorder, it was Colonel Howard who "gave 
 orders for the line to charge bayonets, which 
 was done with such address that the enemy 
 fled with the utmost precipitation. At the close 
 of the engagement the swords of seven British 
 officers were in the hands of Howard." 
 
 All the historians are agreed upon the impor- 
 tance of this engagement. It is characterized by 
 Bancroft as the most astonishing victory of the 
 war, and by Fiske in words of equal weight, as 
 the most brilliant battle of the war of independ- 
 ence. Congress was delighted. After days of 
 cloud and hurricane, sunshine had appeared. 
 Courage and hope took the place of anxiety. 
 Without delay, as an expression of gratitude, 
 a gold medal was voted to Morgan and silver 
 medals to William Washington and Howard. 
 I hold before you the original Howard medal. 
 On the obverse, a mounted horseman galloping 
 forward, follows the flag of his country, while 
 the angel of victory hovers near, ready to be- 
 stow a wreath of laurels. The inscriptions are 
 in Latin. On one side it reads, — To John 
 Eager Howard, leader of the infantry, — (thus 
 in contrast with the medal given to William 
 Washington as leader of the cavalry;) and on 
 
 23 
 
the reverse it declares that the medal is be- 
 stowed upon the recipient because he gave a 
 brilliant example of military valor by his sud- 
 den attack upon the enemy, in the battle of 
 Cowpens, January 17, 1781. There is good 
 authority for saying that the French Academy 
 was requested to furnish a design for this 
 medal, and that its skillful execution is the 
 work of the artist Duvivier. A replica of the 
 medal I will ask Governor Warfield to accept 
 as a memento of this celebration and also of 
 the victory in which his ancestor took part. 
 
 Three months after the engagement at the 
 Cowpens the contending forces met again at 
 Guilford Court House, where Marylanders of 
 our day have placed a monument to commem- 
 orate the valor of their countrymen. The story 
 has been recently told by those who are well 
 qualified to do justice to the bravery there dis- 
 played on the fifteenth of March, 1781. How- 
 ard and Gunby led the first Maryland Regi- 
 ment, again using the bayonet. Although 
 Greene left the battle-field in British possession, 
 the battle of Guilford "marks the end of British 
 power in North Carolina." So says Bancroft. 
 Fiske is even more explicit. "Guilford, tacti- 
 cally a defeat, strategetically a decisive victory, 
 the most important since the capture of Bur- 
 goyne." A British historian truly says that the 
 victory was so fruitless and the losses so severe 
 
 24 
 
that the battle may be considered "as the first 
 step in a series of movements which terminated 
 in the overthrow of the British power in Amer- 
 ica." 
 
 Six weeks later, the armies met again (April 
 25), at Hobkirk's Hill, two miles from Cam- 
 den, so that the engagement has been called the 
 second battle of Camden. Again the British 
 gained the field but they did not hold it, and the 
 commander, Lord Rawdon, retired toward 
 Charleston. 
 
 In the early autumn the battle of Eutaw 
 Springs was fought (September 8). Gen. 
 Greene, following the enemy, came upon them 
 under Lieut.-Colonel Stewart, about sixty miles 
 from Charleston. Two severe engagements 
 ensued with heavy losses on both sides, the 
 Americans at first successful, then the British. 
 As had happened before, the invaders retreated 
 toward their base at Charleston, where they 
 were shut up until the end came. Gen. Greene's 
 tribute to the Maryland line is this : — 
 
 "Nothing could exceed the gallantry of the 
 Maryland line. Cols. Williams, Howard, and 
 all the officers exhibited acts of uncommon 
 bravery; and the free use of the bayonet gave 
 us the victory. Many brave fellows have fal- 
 len, and a great number of officers are wounded. 
 Among the number is Lieut.-Col. Howard. 
 The Maryland line made a charge that ex- 
 
 25 
 
ceedecl anything I ever saw. But, alas! their 
 ranks are thin, and their officers are few." 
 
 The wound in the shoulder which Howard 
 received in this battle was so severe that he was 
 compelled to go home for surgical treatment, 
 and thus he was unable to take part in the final 
 scenes of the drama. The curtain fell when the 
 combined armies of the north and south, with 
 the aid of the fleet, met Cornwallis on the his- 
 toric peninsula between the York and the 
 James, and the war of Independence was over. 
 
 Fighting ended, peace declared, the troops 
 disbanded, Howard remained on his ancestral 
 property in Baltimore, — a town of possibly 
 twenty thousand inhabitants, quite eclipsed in 
 dignity by the capital, Annapolis. Although 
 we have no such picture of colonial life in Bal- 
 timore as that which is given respecting Al- 
 bany, by Mrs. Grant, in her Letters, — Mr. 
 John P. Kennedy, in his address on "Baltimore 
 long ago," gives a picture of the place not far 
 from the year 1800. William Wirt, as late as 
 1822, describes the Washington monument as 
 "indescribably striking from the touching soli- 
 tude of the scene from which it lifts its head." 
 Overlooking a rapid water course (which might 
 have been 'a joy forever' instead of a cloaca 
 maxima), stood Belvedere, a spacious mansion 
 surrounded by a wooded park, which extended 
 from Jones's Falls beyond the site of the monu- 
 
 26 
 
ment on the south, and beyond Howard Street 
 on the west. Here was Howard's home dur- 
 ing the later years of his life. 1 Here he re- 
 ceived his neighbors and friends, as well as his 
 companions in arms, who were passing through 
 town on the great highway between the south 
 and the north. Lafayette was the most distin- 
 guished of them all after Washington. The 
 veteran of Belvedere was not idle. Personal 
 affairs required much attention; but they did 
 not preclude obedience to public duties. 
 
 The readiness with which the voters in this; 
 republic turn to those who have won distinction 
 in military action, when leaders are required, 
 is certainly remarkable. Soldiers of the Revo- 
 lution, of the war of 1812, of the Mexican war, 
 of the Civil war, and of the Cuban war, have 
 successfully been candidates for exalted stations 
 in civil life, and in several instances have risen 
 to the very highest posts. Nor does this indi- 
 cate an extravagant admiration of military re- 
 nown. Interference with civil rights or usurpa- 
 tion, in any form, would be met with summary 
 resistance, — no matter how great a favorite of 
 the people might venture on this forbidden 
 path. But these preferences for heroes are an 
 
 x He was born at the place settled by his grandfather 
 in the "Garrison Forest." Belvedere was built on the 
 property which came to him from his mother. — Note by 
 Mr. McHenry Howard, to whom the speaker zvas indebt- 
 ed for much valuable information. 
 
 27 
 
indication that qualities developed in the serv- 
 ice of the army, — courage, endurance, self-for- 
 getfulness, power to control one's self and one's 
 subordinates, obedience to authority and the 
 subjection to the public good of all personal 
 considerations, — command the confidence and 
 receive the homage of the people when these 
 qualities are brought clearly to their notice. 
 
 At frequent intervals Colonel Howard was 
 called to the discharge of important civil func- 
 tions. When only thirty-six years old, he was 
 chosen Governor of Maryland, and at forty- 
 two he became a Senator of the United States. 
 The duties of both high stations were per- 
 formed acceptably and faithfully. He declined 
 the orifice of Secretary of War urged upon him 
 by Washington. Few of us will hesitate to say 
 that the services of Howard rendered to the 
 commonwealth in the advancing years of his 
 life, when a wounded soldier might have claim- 
 ed a dignified rest, are as worthy of remem- 
 brance as those of his military campaigns. Just 
 think of them. An honorable descendant of 
 this honorable man has placed in my hands a 
 list of the stations to which Col. Howard was 
 called after 1783. It is a remarkable list, — one 
 that is seldom equalled in the annals of 
 American biography. Let me enumerate the 
 more significant places : — more than once a 
 justice of the county court ; a justice of the 
 
 28 
 
orphans court ; a delegate to the congress of the 
 Confederation; thrice Governor; for five years 
 a State Senator; a presidential elector; a major- 
 general of the militia of Maryland; president 
 of the Maryland Society of the Cincinnati for 
 twenty-three years ; for seven years, a Senator 
 of the United States; brigadier-general in the 
 United States army when a foreign war was 
 expected; in the war of 1812, one of the Com- 
 mittee of vigilance and defense. When the 
 capitulation of Baltimore was suggested the 
 aged hero said that he had four sons in the field 
 and as much property at stake as most persons, 
 but would rather see his sons slain and his 
 property reduced to ashes than so far disgrace 
 his country. 
 
 Not many manuscripts of Howard are 
 known to me, except such as have been printed. 
 The following letter, addressed to Robert Gil- 
 mor, from Philadelphia, June 26, 1788, de- 
 serves to be given, particularly because it shows 
 the attitude of the writer respecting the adop- 
 tion of the Federal Constitution. 
 
 "I congratulate you on the interesting event of the 
 ratification of the Federal Government by the state of 
 New Hampshire. It now becomes a question with the 
 states that have not adopted the Government, whether 
 they will make a part of the union or not. In the pres- 
 ent situation of affairs this is with them a serious ques- 
 tion. Notwithstanding the objections to the Govern- 
 ment that it will swallow up the state Governments, no 
 person uninfluenced by selfish views can think that any 
 state by withdrawing itself from the union will be in a 
 
 29 
 
more eligible situation than those in the union. The 
 Government once established they in my opinion will 
 soon become petitioners to be admitted, except those 
 under the influence of turbulent men who wish to be at 
 the head of a faction, or those whose interest it is to be 
 without any Government. If Virginia follows the exam- 
 ple of New Hampshire, we shall I hope secure to this 
 country the blessings of peace and become respectable, 
 which I hardly expect without some struggle." 
 
 When rupture with France was imminent at 
 the close of the century, he was offered the ap- 
 pointment of brigadier-general under Wash- 
 ington, who was expected to command once 
 more the United States army. When Balti- 
 more was threatened by the British, in 1814, 
 Howard, already more than sixty years old, 
 came at once to the front. Thus interchanging 
 the repose of a private citizen with the respon- 
 sibilities, of a public servant, he passed on to the 
 age of seventy-five years and then, after a brief 
 illness, expired. "During the summer his 
 strength had been evidently declining and his 
 desire for life grew less and less. On the 3d of 
 October he rode out on horseback and took 
 cold, after which he was under the constant 
 care of his physicians and of his family until he 
 was released by death," October 12, 1827. 
 
 The funeral was attended from Belvedere 
 and the procession moved, as the papers say, 
 "through the park," Centre street, Calvert 
 street, and Baltimore street to the cemetery of 
 St. Paul's Church where a simple monument 
 marks his resting place. Next day, the Balti- 
 
 30 
 
more American contained an appreciative ac- 
 count of his life, evidently carefully prepared 
 by a skillful writer, probably an eminent prel- 
 ate. Some passages of it have been incorpora- 
 ted in almost all the notices of Colonel Howard 
 that have since appeared. 
 
 On this occasion, after such a review, what 
 words can be so fitting as those of General 
 Nathanael Greene, second to Washington in 
 the army of the Revolution, who expressed, in 
 a letter which should be treasured as a priceless 
 heirloom, more valuable than a patent of nobil- 
 ity, the sentiment — ''Howard deserves a statue 
 no less than the Roman and Grecian heroes. " 
 
 The influence of this memorial will be peren- 
 nial. If a foreign foe should ever again bring 
 alarm to North Point, or if civic disorder or 
 domestic anarchy should disturb these quiet 
 streets, — the young men of Baltimore, trained 
 in the national guard of the commonwealth, 
 and thus accustomed to habits of obedience, 
 fortitude and concerted action, will be inspired 
 by the remembrance of the hero of Cowpens, 
 and will emulate his valor. 
 
 Nor is that the only influence radiating 
 from Monument Square. We are not all de- 
 scended from the heroes of the Revolution, nor 
 can all of us bear arms in the defence of liberty 
 and law. A large proportion of the inhabitants 
 of Baltimore are of foreign birth; the parents 
 
 31 
 
of many more passed their childhood in distant 
 lands. It is nobody's fault that they did not 
 learn in the nursery to revere the name of 
 Washington; that to them the burning of the 
 "Peggy Stewart" has no significance ; that Val- 
 ley Forge awakens no sad memories, and York- 
 town no exultation ; that they know not the 
 bridge where the embattled farmers stood who 
 "fired the shot heard round the world;" and 
 that the Cowpens is like a word in an unknown 
 tongue. Shall I say it is their misfortune? No, 
 rather say good fortune brought them to a land 
 where civil and religious freedom, secured by 
 the wisdom of great statesmen and defended by 
 brave men, has produced conditions under 
 which every man may worship God according 
 to his own conscience, every child may receive 
 a public education, may rise according to his 
 virtue, industry and talents, to thrift and con- 
 tentment, and be qualified to take some part, if 
 it be only the humble part of a voter, in main- 
 taining the principles of good government. As 
 they look upon the figure of Howard, let them 
 be reminded that among his fellow soldiers in 
 the war of Independence were Montgomery, the 
 Irishman; Kosciusko and Pulaski, the Poles; 
 DeKalb and Steuben, the Germans; Rocham- 
 beau and Lafayette, the Frenchmen ; and let 
 them determine that the government, secured 
 by such men, shall receive from their compa- 
 
 32 
 
triots in the twentieth century the defence and 
 support which are due to a priceless inheritance. 
 We cannot be too mindful that on education, 
 morality and religion, and on conscientious 
 and self-sacrificing devotion to the public serv- 
 ice, the State depends. 
 
 Still further gain may be expected from the 
 transactions of this day. A complete century 
 has passed since the man whom we commemo- 
 rate served his countrymen on the battle-field 
 and in the senate. The entire country has profi- 
 ted by the exertions of Howard and his col- 
 leagues, and the Republic has not been ungrate- 
 ful. Baltimore is especially indebted to him for 
 the gifts which secured to us these beautiful 
 squares and the monument which crowns them ; 
 and more than this, for the public spirit shown 
 in his devotion to the city of his lifelong resi- 
 dence, to his native state, and to the national 
 government which he helped to found. May 
 future generations admire his character and 
 emulate his virtues. They constitute "a mon- 
 ument more enduring than brass." Gratitude, 
 perpetual gratitude, is due from us and from 
 our successors and descendants to those wise 
 men among whom our hero served. 
 
 A great orator, closing his tribute to one who 
 was in his time the greatest American states- 
 man, remarks that in the relations of civilized 
 life, there is no higher service which man can 
 
 33 
 
render to man, than to preserve a wise consti- 
 tutional government in healthful action; and 
 he quotes from that "admirable treatise on the 
 Republic of which some previous chapters have 
 been restored to us after having been lost for 
 ages," a sentence where Cicero "does not hesi- 
 tate to affirm that there is nothing in which 
 human virtue approaches nearer the divine than 
 in establishing and preserving states," — civi- 
 tates ant condere novas, aut conservare jam 
 conditas. 
 
 In our day, many clouds hang over the skies. 
 Problems of unprecedented perplexity present 
 themselves to the consideration of thoughtful 
 citizens. The student of history sometimes 
 wonders whether popular government will 
 prove adequate to the new demands. For one, 
 I believe that it will. Already in the most dis- 
 tant of our possessions we have seen the intro- 
 duction of sound political principles and meth- 
 ods, and the most ancient of empires bears wit- 
 ness to the conciliatory influence of American 
 diplomacy. This benign influence will in the 
 long run depend upon the action of the people. 
 Let them keep informed of and adhere to the 
 principles of the founders of the republic; let 
 the example and services be forever cherished 
 of those who were the friends, colleagues, and 
 co-workers with John Eager Howard. 
 
 34 
 
Emmanuel jfremiet 
 
 3. Xettos Timbite 
 
THE Statue of General Howard is the work 
 of Mr. Emmanuel Fremiet, who for 
 many years has been recognized as the 
 leading sculptor of equestrian statues, and the 
 head of his profession in France. 
 
 The history of his life is both interesting 
 and instructive. 
 
 His first exhibit, the plaster cast of a gazelle, 
 was sent to the annual Paris Salon of 1843, 
 and his first horse was bought by the Govern- 
 ment in 1853. But there were many subse- 
 quent years of trial and disappointment before 
 he attained to that complete success which had 
 long been his due. 
 
 Mr. T. H. Bartlett the art critic, the father 
 of the well known American sculptor, Mr. 
 Paul Weyland Bartlett, who was a pupil of Fre- 
 miet, has written a most interesting sketch of 
 the early life and struggles of his son's teacher. 
 
 At a very early age he showed a decided tal- 
 ent for drawing, and received his first lessons 
 from his cousin, a remarkable woman, who 
 became the wife of the well known sculptor 
 Rude. 
 
 He distinguished himself under mediocre 
 teachers, at a school of drawing, and at the age 
 of 15 it was decided that he should adopt some 
 regular profession. His father, a man of intel- 
 lect, but erratic, would have made a printer of 
 him ; fortunately his mother would not hear of 
 this. 
 
 37 
 
Herself a bread winner, and a woman of 
 strong character, she resolved to make every 
 sacrifice in order to secure for her son the call- 
 ing of his choice. 
 
 He was placed with Vernet, a lithographer 
 and painter of Natural History who was then 
 employed at the Jardin des Plantes, the great 
 Zoological Gardens of Paris. Here he re- 
 ceived the handsome salary of one dollar a 
 month, for eight hours work of a most tedious 
 and exacting character. This consisted in 
 drawing upon stone the bones of various ani- 
 mals with scientific accuracy, often with the 
 aid of a microscope. 
 
 The early light found him daily at work, al- 
 though it was only at a later date that he real- 
 ized what a valuable training for eye and hand 
 he had secured through this drudgery. 
 
 Very soon, as the reward of faithful service, 
 Vernet gave him his afternoons free, and this 
 spare time was now employed in making plas- 
 ter casts from all sorts of dead nature for Or- 
 fila, a celebrated physician who was then form- 
 ing his since famous Museum of Comparative 
 Anatomy. 
 
 Such occupation, however valuable as train- 
 ing, could lead to nothing. And when, after 
 leaving Orfila, the boy was found, like Barye, 
 making clay models of the inmates of the great 
 menagerie, his mother urged him to go to 
 Rude. 
 
 38 
 
The boy of 17 was invited by his kinsman to 
 attend his studio; but an insuperable obstacle 
 at once arose : Who was to provide the $20 
 for the banquet with which each newcomer was 
 expected to entertain his companions? The 
 problem was solved by a mother's love; her 
 deft fingers completed, during the hours of rest, 
 an order for shirts to the required amount. 
 
 The relations between mother and son were 
 most tender and beautiful. For many years 
 she was his sole companion, sharing, with 
 never failing sympathy, both his trials and suc- 
 cess. Her spirit may be seen in that untiring 
 energy, that indomitable perseverance, which 
 offer at least one explanation of his remarkable 
 career. 
 
 Rude soon recognized his pupil's talent and 
 brought him to his private studio for more 
 careful instruction. 
 
 This well known sculptor was through life 
 in constant opposition to the schools of his 
 day, he denounced tradition as enslaving and 
 constantly impressed upon his pupils the need 
 of following nature alone as a model. From 
 him, Mr. Fremiet learnt that independence 
 which has been at the same time a source of 
 strength and the cause of much tribulation. 
 
 His first exhibit in 1843 was followed by 
 others in rapid succession, and before his 27th 
 year he had sold three of his works to the 
 
 39 
 
State, one of them for $1,000, and had won 
 two medals as well as a considerable reputation. 
 
 But the real struggle was still to come: It 
 soon became necessary for him to fall back 
 upon his early experience, and with character- 
 istic versatility he began to make little models 
 for the jewelers, sketches for illustrated papers 
 and for the doctors, without any pause in his 
 own artistic work. 
 
 One day as h,e was crossing the Pont Royal, 
 the young artist's eye was caught by a passing 
 light horseman, of whom he made a statuette. 
 Count de Nieuwerkerke, a sculptor, was then 
 Superintendent of Fine Arts, as well as Court 
 Chamberlain. The statuette was taken to him 
 and by. him shown to the Emperor. Both were 
 delighted, and the result was an order for a 
 series of similar statuettes in plaster to the 
 number of seventy, representing every army 
 and navy corps. 
 
 It is characteristic of Mr. Fremiet's con- 
 scientious methods that he was only able to 
 produce six of these statuettes during the year. 
 For each one he received $200, one half of 
 which was swallowed up by the expenses. So 
 that for eleven years, his best talents were de- 
 voted to this undertaking, which brought in 
 merely $50 a month, and prevented all original 
 work. 
 
 40 
 
As many of these statuettes were equestrian, 
 the Imperial stables were placed entirely at his 
 disposal. It is easy to see what an incalculable 
 benefit was conferred upon the future sculptor 
 of equestrian statues, by this unique opportu- 
 nity to study at leisure so many horses of every 
 race and type. 
 
 With the exception of seven statuettes, 
 which were preserved in bronze by the sculp- 
 tor, this entire series was destroyed by fire, 
 with the Tuileries, in 1871. 
 
 The close of the second Empire saw the be- 
 ginning of that remarkable series of equestrian 
 statues of which the latest will be unveiled to- 
 day. To this period belong the Napoleon I, 
 now at Grenoble, which was Mr. Fremiet's 
 first life size equestrian statue; also the bronze 
 horsemen of old Rome and early Gaul, now in 
 the Museum of St. Germain ; and above all the 
 beautiful representation of the Duke of Or- 
 leans, brother of the luckless Charles VI, in 
 tilting armour, which was placed by Viollet-le- 
 Duc in the Court of Honor of the Duke's own 
 castle of Pierrefonds, then recently restored 
 
 Probably no work of art ever had such a 
 history as the famous equestrian statue of Joan 
 of Arc. One day in 1873 Mr. Fremiet, accom- 
 panied by his devoted friend Gerome, took the 
 sketch of the proposed statue to Jules Simon, 
 then Minister of Fine Arts. He was delighted ; 
 
 4i 
 
the order was given at once ; and at a later date, 
 without notice or ceremony of any sort, the 
 statue was erected on the Place des Pyramides, 
 on the spot where the maid of Orleans is said 
 to have scaled the ramparts of Paris. 
 
 It was to be expected that the pupil of Rude 
 would meet with great opposition, but no one 
 could foresee the storm of criticism and abuse 
 which greeted this apparition. 
 
 The artistic world, with a few notable ex- 
 ceptions, joined in condemning it from every 
 point of view. It was even proposed to offer 
 a petition to the City Council, requesting the 
 removal of the offending statue. Some of these 
 criticisms are astonishing, and must have 
 made unpleasant reading for their authors at a 
 later date. 
 
 Seventeen years later, the conscientious art- 
 ist, wishing to make one or two slight altera- 
 tions, sent to the annual Salon a new Joan of 
 Arc; and now the critics all united in saying 
 that the first statue of the Place des Pyramides 
 was so nearly perfect, that it would be a crime 
 to substitute for it any other, however excel- 
 lent; and the strongest opposition was raised 
 to any suggestion of substitution. 
 
 The strange reception accorded to his first 
 Joan of Arc was a severe blow to Mr. Fremiet, 
 and these were perhaps his darkest hours ; but 
 the dawn was at hand. Orders began to suc- 
 
 42 
 
ceed each other rapidly, as well as honours, 
 long deferred. 
 
 On the death of Barye, he was elected to fill 
 the vacant chair of Professor of modelling at 
 the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes. The 
 Gold Medal of Honor was at last awarded to 
 him, for practically the same remarkable group, 
 "the gorilla," which had been refused admis- 
 sion to the Salon twenty years before. Those 
 doors of the Institute of France, which had 
 always remained closed to Rude, now opened 
 wide to receive his pupil and champion. 
 
 The Garden of the Trocadero must have an 
 elephant by him ; and the Fountain of the Ob- 
 servatory, a group of marine horses. The 
 mounted Torch Bearer was made, in order to 
 mount guard at the entrance to the grand stair- 
 way of the new Hotel de Ville. And when an 
 equestrian statue of the Grand Conde appeared 
 at the Salon, the Due d'Aumale said to the 
 artist that it was obviously intended for him, 
 and soon the great general was standing upon 
 the broad terrace of his own chateau of Chan- 
 tilly, which his heir has since bequeathed with 
 all its treasures to the Nation. 
 
 A government architect restored the ruined 
 spire of the great fortress abbey of the Mont 
 St. Michel, and declared that nothing should 
 stand upon the giddy pinnacle, if it were not 
 
 43 
 
Fremiet's Archangel Michael, perhaps the most 
 beautiful single figure he has ever made. 
 
 From distant Roumania came an order rep- 
 resenting $26,000; and others from different 
 parts of France, from Philadelphia, and Suez, 
 where a colossal Lesseps looks down upon the 
 Canal of his own creation. 
 
 Mention must at least be made of the won- 
 derful equestrian group of St. George trans- 
 fixing the Dragon, also of the equestrian stat- 
 ues of those two doughty warriors of the Hun- 
 dred Years War, Oliver de Clisson and 
 Duguesclin; the latter made for the town of 
 Dinan, the former an order from the great Con- 
 stable's descendant, the Due de Rohan, to be 
 placed in the Court of his old chateau de Josse- 
 lin, which still crowns its lofty rock in Brit- 
 tany. 
 
 Scattered about through a variety of public 
 and private buildings, there is a vast amount 
 of decorative and other work by Mr. Fremiet, 
 which alone would have sufficed to make the 
 reputation of a sculptor. 
 
 By common consent the world of art has 
 classed together as the "three great equestrian 
 statues," the Marcus Aurelius in Rome, the 
 Gattamelata of Donatello in Padua and the 
 Colleone of Verrochic in Venice. Over these 
 Mr. Bartlett claims for Mr. Fremiet's eques- 
 
 44 
 
trian statues superiority in the following 
 points : 
 
 "His horses are living, natural and of fine 
 "type. 
 
 "When they are intended to move they do 
 "so ; have moved, are moving and will continue 
 "to move. 
 
 "They are thoroughly and elegantly con- 
 structed ; firmly and beautifully modelled. 
 
 "They compose with their riders in every 
 "respect, in type, action, proportion and sym- 
 pathy, producing a perfect whole, in character 
 "with the subject." 
 
 45 
 
LE N '!0