THE BATTLE OF BRONZE.
THE parlour of the Mansionhouse has been the field of a bloodless battle, fought not with but for cannon ; ballot-balls being used instead of bullets. The combatants were the Committee men of the City Wellington Statue ; who are divided into two opposing parties—the one led by the Duke of RUTLAND and his Lieutenant (General) Sir FREDE- RICK TRENCH, commanding WYATT'S horse ; the other marshalled by the officers of the Nelson Column. The contending forces being equal, the result was a drawn battle ; though the Lord Mayor drew the City sword on the side of justice. The contest is certain to be renewed, however ; and each party is beating up for recruits : Nelson at the mast-head and Wellington on horseback being the standards round which the respective forces rally. The bone of contention is a mass of gun-metal, the surplus produce of some brass cannon taken during the campaigns of WELLINGTON, and placed by Go- vernment at the disposal of the Committee for erecting the bronze equestrian statue of the hero in the City. The Nelson Committee urge their claim to the metal on the score of poverty : not having gold enough, they beg for brass. The Duke of RUTLAND, in preferring the claim of his protégé, Mr. WYATT, who is making the bronze equestrian statue of Wellington, to be set up on the triumphal arch opposite A psley House, cannot plead any deficiency of either gold or brass ; but the cannon, being the spoils of WELLINGTON'S victories, it is urged, with some show of reason, would be the most appropriate material of which to form a trophy to the conqueror. Apparently, the West- end Wellington statue should have the preference ; but really the Nelson column is the most worthy, as we shall presently show. It is just five years ago since Mr. MATTHEW COTES WYATT—better known by the sobriquet of " Pigtail Wyatt," bestowed on him by the Times for his ridiculous statue of George the Third in Pall Mall East— was, by the shabby manoeuvre of a packed meeting, voted sculptor of the equestrian statue of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner. The inde- pendent members of the Committee, in whose absence the vote was smuggled through, were so disgusted at the trick practised on them and the public, that several, Sir ROBERT PEEL among the number, withdrew their names and subscriptions ; and the list of subscribers received no further additions in consequence. Upwards of twenty-five thousand pounds, however, had teen previously collected : this was more than enough for the purpose, seeing that the triumphal arch saved the expense of a base, and that WESTMACOTT'S colossal equestrian statue of George the Third in Windsor Park cost but 19,0001. What Mr. WYATT has been about all this while, that he should not have finished his statue, seems a mystery ; indeed, for aught that is known to the contrary, the bronze figure may be completed. From time to time reports have been assiduously spread of disasters in the casting, and delays for want of bronze : from which we infer that the cannon in question were coveted by Mr. WYATT at the outset, and, for sufficient reasons, refused. Some time since, a panegyric upon the statue ap- peared in a convenient print ; at which time it was stated, if we recol- lect rightly, that the horse and boots, the head and cocked hat of the figure, were cast in bronze. Surely the body might have been added ere now,—unless the sculptor has delayed his work to study the anatomy of the human form, of which his pig-tail effigy of George the Third showed him to be ignorant. But whether the statue be finished or not, twenty-five or twenty-six thousand pounds is about one-third more than the greatest sculptor of the day would require for a colossal equestrian statue, for which a base was already provided : Sir FRANCIS CHANTREY agreed to furnish the City statue for less than half that sum. In short, the Rutland-Wyatt-Wellington statue is a rank job : we denounced it as such at the time. Its history is briefly told. The Duke of RUTLAND, being bent on patronizing Mr. WYATT at the public expense, made the Duke of WELLINGTON a stalking-horse for his purpose : he set on foot a subscription for a Wellington statue in the City ; but, failing in his attempt to get his protégé appointed sculptor—WYATT lost by the casting-vote of the Lord Mayor being given in favour of CHANTREY- he started another for the West-end ; and there be succeeded, by steal- ing a march on the Committee. Not content with putting five or six and twenty thousand pounds into Mr. WvAres pocket, the Duke of RUT- LAND must needs procure him a bonus of bronze into the bargain. This is too bad. If there were no other claimant Mr. WYATT ought not to have the metal—at least not without paying for it. But the Nelson Monu- ment has paramount claims it was the result—however unsatisfac- tory—of two public competitions; and the sum subscribed was so in- adequate to the completion of the design, that the column has been shorn of its lofty proportions. The foliage of the Corinthian c .pital may perhaps be completed, at least it is in progress ; but the statue on the summit, the bassi relievi on the base, the colossal lions at the angles, and the trophies on the pedestals at the corners of the open space, yet remain to be excuted ; and for all these the weight of bronze (about 17 tons and a half) at the disposal of the Committee of the City Wellington Statue will not be too much. We trust, therefore, the can- non captured by WELLINGTON NI ill be cast into a national memorial of NELSON ; who took, or sunk, cannon enough to erect a pyramid of bronze to his memory. It is bad enough that WELLINGTON should be libelled by a bad effigy, set up to serve an unworthy purpose ; but to devote the spoils of his victories to the perpetration of the pitiful job, would be a dishonour indeed.
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