“The general assembly of the commonwealth of Virginia have caused this statue to be erected as a monument of affection and gratitude to GEORGE WASHINGTON, who, uniting to the endowments of the HERO, the virtues of the PATRIOT, and exerting both in establishing the Liberties of his Country, has rendered his name dear to his fellow-citizens, and given the world an immortal example of true glory.” This resolution was afterwards carried into effect: the statue which it decreed was executed by Houdon, and occupies a conspicuous place, in a spacious area in the centre of the capital at Richmond, in Virginia. ----- This was an honourable testimony of the gratitude and affectionate respect of the nation, towards the Hero and Patriot, who so eminently merited both; and it was a sincere effusion of the heart, in the representatives of the American people, while the transcendent virtues of a WASHINGTON, and his then recent services in his country’s cause, yet inspired every generous breast with a faithful remembrance of his worth: It was a laudable proof of the patriotism that actuated the public mind, at a period, when, in the words of an enlightened historian,[282] “the glow of expression in which the high sense universally entertained of his services was conveyed, manifested a warmth of feeling seldom equalled in the history of man.” ----- Footnote 282: Chief-Justice Marshall, in his _Life of George Washington_. ----- The fascination which the revolution of France spread over a large portion of Europe and America, for some time after its commencement, and during the time it yet bore the semblance of a virtuous cause,—while it seemed to enchant the true friends of freedom every where; and the oft-resounded and captivating _name_ of “Liberty,” produced in men of ardent tempers, and speculative notions, ideas of its _reality_ of the most extravagant nature, and in numerous instances of very mischievous tendency. Among those of the latter description was Joseph Ceracchi, an Italian artist of celebrity. Mr. Ceracchi was a statuary, of great eminence in his profession; and to the manners and accomplishments of a gentleman, he united much genius and taste. Though born and bred in the dominions of the papal see, he fostered the principles of a republican. Conceiving that the genius of a free government comported with these alone, he became an enthusiastic admirer of the French _republic_. Finding the turbulent state of France, at the beginning of her troubles, unfavourable to the exercise of his art, in that country; and believing as he did, that the tranquil and prosperous condition of the United States would afford full employment for his talents, in a manner congenial to his inclinations, as well as beneficial to his private interest; he arrived, with his wife—a German lady of some distinction—at Philadelphia, then the seat of the national government, sometime (it is supposed) in the year 1793.