The Medallic History of the United States of America Part 2

_Reverse_: America, recognizable by her shield, rests her left hand upon a trophy of arms and of flags, and with her right crowns the general, who bends before her.

_Legend_: DANIELI MORGAN DUCI EXERCITUS.

_Exergue_: COMITIA AMERICANA.

_Medal for Rear-Admiral John Paul Jones, of twenty-four lignes._

_Device_: His head (M. Houdon will furnish the bust in plaster).

_Legend_: JOANNI PAULO JONES CLa.s.sIS PRAEFECTO.

_Exergue_: COMITIA AMERICANA.

_Reverse_: Naval Engagement.

_Legend_: HOSTIUM NAVIBUS CAPTIS AUT FUGATIS.

_Exergue_: AD ORAM SCOTIAE 23 SEPT. 1779.

The following, from the same to the same, bearing date February 15, 1789, throws some light on the prices of the medals engraved by M.

Dupre:

To M. DUPRe, Engraver of Medals, Paris.

Mr. Jefferson has the honour to observe to M. Dupre that he pays only twenty-four hundred _livres_ to M. Duvivier or to M.

Gatteaux for medals which measure twenty-four _lignes_, that he paid the same sum to M. Dupre himself for that of General Greene, and that recently M. Dupre asked no higher price for that of General Morgan. Mr. Jefferson cannot, therefore, consent to give more. For that sum he would expect to have the best work of M.

Dupre and not that of inferior artists. As regards time, perhaps it may be possible to prolong it somewhat in regard to the medal for Admiral Paul Jones, that officer being at present in Europe.

Mr. Jefferson will have the honour to await M. Dupre's answer, and will be happy to conclude this arrangement with him.[9]

February 15, 1789.

[Footnote 9: For the French original see F, page xlv.]

It is to be supposed that Dupre accepted these conditions, since he is the engraver of the John Paul Jones medal, one of the finest specimens in our collection. The Daniel Morgan piece is no less remarkable as an effort of numismatic skill. The fight at the Cowpens, on the reverse, is a striking example of the boldness with which Dupre enlarged the limits of his art, and, in defiance of all traditional rules, successfully represented several planes in the background.

I cannot do better than to give the opinion, concerning this and the other of Dupre's American medals, of M. Charles Blanc,[10] from whom I quote freely in the following:

[Footnote 10: INSt.i.tUT DE FRANCE--ACADeMIE DES BEAUX-ARTS _Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages d'Augustin Dupre, Graveur-General des Monnoies de la Republique. Lue dans la seance trimestrielle des cinq cla.s.ses de l'Inst.i.tut, le 26 Octobre, 1870, par M. Charles Blanc_.]

The Morgan medal, says this eminent French critic, seems to vibrate beneath the rush of cavalry and the tread of infantry flying in the background, indicated by the almost imperceptible lines of the metal where the smoke of the cannonade is vanishing away in air. In the Libertas Americana medal, which recalls, if we except the evacuation of Boston, the two most memorable events of the War of Independence, namely, the capitulation of General Burgoyne, at Saratoga, in October, 1777, and that of General Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown, in October, 1781, Dupre has represented the new-born Liberty, sprung from the prairies without ancestry and without rulers, as a youthful virgin, with disheveled hair and dauntless aspect, bearing across her shoulder a pike, surmounted by the Phrygian cap. This great artist, in consequence of his intimacy with Franklin, had conceived the greatest enthusiasm for the cause of the United States. Franklin resided at Pa.s.sy, and Dupre at Auteuil. As they both went to Paris every day, they met and made acquaintance on the road--an acquaintance which soon ripened into friendship. Dupre first engraved Franklin's seal with the motto, "_In simplici salus_," and afterward his portrait. This portrait presents an _alto-rilievo_ which is well adapted for medals only; it is conceived in the spirit of the French school, which has always attached great importance to the truthful rendering of flesh.

The artist has indicated the flat parts, the relaxation of the muscles, and, as it were, the quivering of the flesh, so as to convey an exact idea of the age of the model. He has conscientiously represented the lines which the finger of Time imprints on the countenance, but, above all, he has given us with wonderful fidelity the physiognomy of the American sage, his shrewd simplicity, his sagacity, and his expression of serene uprightness. A Latin hexameter from the pen of Turgot became the well-known legend of this medal: "_Eripuit coelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis._"

The four pieces executed by Duvivier are no less remarkable for beauty and excellence of workmanship. They all figured at the exhibitions of the members of the Royal Academy of Paris, that of the Chevalier de Fleury, as mentioned before, in the exhibition of 1781, and those of of General and of Lieutenant-Colonel Washington, and Lieutenant-Colonel Howard, in that of 1789.[11]

[Footnote 11: See G, page xlv.]

In those by Gatteaux, the personification of America as an Indian queen with an alligator at her feet is noteworthy.

With the exception of the Treaty of Commerce medal (1822), and perhaps of that of Captain Truxtun, our medals after the War of Independence were engraved and struck at home. Before that time, indeed, the one voted in 1779 to Major Henry Lee had been made by John Wright, of Philadelphia. From the close of the eighteenth century down to 1840 John Reich and subsequently Moritz Furst were the engravers of the national medals. Reich's works are valued; unfortunately they are few in number. They consist of the medal voted in 1805 to Captain Edward Preble for his naval operations against Tripoli, of another voted in 1813 to Captain Isaac Hull for the capture of the British frigate Guerriere, and of those of Presidents Jefferson and Madison.

That of President Jefferson especially deserves attention for its beauty.

But little can be said in commendation of the works of Furst, whose numerous medals are very inferior to Reich's, and still less worthy of being compared with those of the French engravers. While wishing to avoid undue severity, I cannot but endorse the opinion of General Scott, given in a communication addressed to the Honorable William L.

Marcy, Secretary of War, in regard to the medal voted to General Zachary Taylor, for victories on the Rio Grande:

To the Honourable HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, William L. MARCY, Washington, July 25, 1846.

Secretary of War.

As medals are among the surest monuments of history, as well as muniments of individual distinction, there should be given to them, besides intrinsic value and durability of material, the utmost grace of design, with the highest finish in mechanical execution. All this is necessary to give the greater or advent.i.tious value; as in the present instance, the medal is to be, at once, an historical record and a reward of distinguished merit. The credit of the donor thus becomes even more than that of the receiver interested in obtaining a perfect specimen in the fine arts.

The within resolution prescribes _gold_ as the material of the medal. The general form (circular) may be considered as equally settled by our own practice, and that of most nations, ancient and modern. There is, however, some little diversity in _diameter_ and _thickness_ in the medals heretofore ordered by Congress, at different periods, as may be seen in the cabinets of the War and Navy Departments. Diversity in dimensions is even greater in other countries.

The specific character of the medal is shown by its two faces, or the _face_ and the _reverse_. The within resolution directs appropriate devices and inscriptions thereon.

For the _face_, a bust likeness is needed, to give, with the name and the rank of the donee, _individuality_. To obtain the likeness, a first-rate miniature painter should, of course, be employed.

The _reverse_ receives the device, appropriate to the events commemorated. To obtain this, it is suggested that the resolutions and despatches, belonging to the subject, be transmitted to a master in the art of design--say Prof. Weir, at West Point--for a drawing--including, if practicable, this inscription:

PALO ALTO; RESACA DE LA PALMA: MAY 8 AND 9, 1846.

A third artist--all to be well paid--is next to be employed--a die-sinker. The mint of the United States will do the coinage.

Copies, in cheaper metal, of all our gold medals, should be given to the libraries of the Federal and State Governments, to those of the colleges, etc.

The medals voted by the Revolutionary Congress were executed--designs and dies--under the superintendence of Mr.

Jefferson,[12] in Paris, about the year 1786. Those struck in honour of victories, in our War of 1812, were all--at least so far as it respected the land service--done at home, and not one of them presented, I think, earlier than the end of Mr. Monroe's administration (1825). The delay princ.i.p.ally resulted from the want of good die-sinkers. There was only one of mediocre merit (and he a foreigner) found for the army. What the state of this art may now be in the United States I know not. But I beg leave again to suggest that the honour of the country requires that medals, voted by Congress, should always exhibit the arts involved, in their highest state of perfection _wherever_ found: for letters, science, and the fine arts const.i.tute but _one_ republic, embracing the world. So thought our early Government, and Mr. Jefferson--a distinguished member of that general republic.

All which is respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War.

[Footnote 12: This is an error. See page xi.]

Whatever may be the weight of General Scott's opinion on such a subject, and whether or not it is important, as he insists, that medals should possess high artistic value, in order that they may be not only the rewards of merit and monuments of history, but also favorable specimens of contemporary art, it must be acknowledged that those struck since 1840 differ widely, in many respects, from those of the preceding period. While the earlier works are of a pure and lofty style, the later ones are not always in good taste. The former are conceived generally in strict observance of cla.s.sical rules, and will bear comparison with the numismatic masterpieces of antiquity; the latter reflect the realistic tendency of their day.

The Indian medals, with the exception of that of President Jefferson and a few others, which are very fine, possess only an historic value.

These pieces owe their origin to the custom, in the colonial times, of distributing to the chiefs of Indian tribes, with whom treaties were concluded, medals bearing on the obverse the effigy of the reigning British sovereign, and on the reverse friendly legends and emblems of peace. Mr. Kean, member of the Continental Congress from South Carolina, on April 20, 1786, moved: "That the Board of Treasury ascertain the number and value of the medals received by the commissioners appointed to treat with the Indians, from said Indians, and have an equal number, with the arms of the United States, made of silver, and returned to the chiefs from whom they were received." The result was the Indian series, which bear on their obverses the busts of the respective Presidents under whom they were issued (none exists of President Harrison, who died a month after his inauguration); but it should be borne in mind that these are mere Indian peace tokens, struck only for distribution as presents to friendly chiefs.

I have called in question the discernment of some of the Federal administrations in their choice of engravers; unfortunately, I have also to draw attention to an unaccountable delay in the execution of one of the medals. It seems scarcely credible that the one voted in 1857 to Dr. Elisha Kent Kane for his discoveries in the Arctic Seas has not yet been struck. Elder, in his "Life of E. K. Kane" (page 228), says:

"Congress having failed at its first session after his (Kane's) return to appropriate, by a national recognition, the honors he had won for his country, had no other opportunity for repairing the neglect till after his death; then a gold medal was ordered, of which, I believe, nothing has been heard since the pa.s.sage of the resolution."

To complete my undertaking, it was necessary not only to study the composition and history of all our national medals, but also to have plates of them engraved, which could only be done from the originals or copies, or, as a last resort, from casts.

My first step was to apply to the Mint in Philadelphia for bronze copies of all the medals. In 1855 the director of that establishment had been authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury, to strike from the original dies, copies of the medals for sale, as is the custom at the Paris Mint. But when he sought to avail himself of this authorization, it was discovered that many of the dies were missing.

It was thought probable that those of the medals which had been struck in France during the War of Independence would be found there, and the French Government was communicated with, in 1861, in regard to the following: "Washington before Boston; General Wayne, for capture of Stony Point; Colonel Fleury, for same; Captain Stewart, for same; Major Lee, for capture of Paulus Hook; Colonel John Eager Howard, for Cowpens; Colonel William Washington, for same; Major-General Greene, for Eutaw Springs; Captain John Paul Jones, for capture of the Serapis by the Bonhomme Richard."[13]

[Footnote 13: See H, page xlvii.]

But the Paris Mint possessed only the dies of the two Washington, of the Howard, and of the John Paul Jones medals; moreover, the rules of that establishment did not permit them to be given up. Bronze copies of the four were obtained, however, and from them Messrs. George Eckfeldt and R. Jefferson of the Philadelphia Mint cut new dies.