"Zi^isX'rj.A-g'i ,sy<a

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 07156 1824

,-#^

'.-'>;

S^/ /- "^v"!'^

#^l^tt-'#^^

>h^'' ' -.'»

Huh. .'.ntJiCiiy Vc.;i. „yck.
.•Uinual .iddrc;L-.i3 Ijeforc tliG State 'iEtorij.^1
Societ;- oi' '.isoonsin.
'.'adison, Y,'is. 1867.

'r / ,1
"-''V' '
im
¦itX^M^*
:m^
¦r<"j-
.?>^^\.
I "I give t^e/e Books
I far. the faM-ndiKg <if d-CiUegi in this Colorly'

Gift of

ANNUAL ADDEESS

fHE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

wiscoNsm,

WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 23, 1867

" HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE, AS ILLUSTRATED BY THEIR MONUMENTS."
BY HON. ANTHONY YAN WYCK.

PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATURE,

MADISON, WIS. :
ATWOOD & EUBLEE, STATE PEINTEKS, JOURNAIi OFFICE.
1867.

JUDGE VAN WYCK'S ADDRESS,
JANUARY 23, 186T,

The crowded Assembly Hall attested the interest of the occasion.
The exercises were interspersed with most excellent music by the
Madison Brass Band, Hon, Increase A, Lapham, LL, D,, Presi
dent of the Society, after some felicitous remarks on the growth of
the Society and the pablic usefulness of its collections, introduced
to the audience the Hon. Anthony Van Wyck, of Kenosha, who
delivered the following address:
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Society :
It is allotted to some men, and to some generations, to achieve great
deeds, and to others to record or garner the memories of them in
fitting treasuries for bright example in the future.
The historian, like the bard of old, is charged with the sacred office
of so recalling the achievements of the past, that they shall incite
those whom he addresses, to equally high endeavor- Scarcely less
valuable service do they render who collect and preserve historic
materials for the use, in after times, of the gifted few who shall cull
from them precious and enduring lessons of wisdom.
It ia a subject of congratulation, for us, that in the infancy of our
State, an institution has been organized and successfully conducted,
which is so well calculated to preserve the mementos of its origin,
when as yet there linger some of the " race of yore," who have partici
pated in the stirring and interesting events which attended its early
settlement. Especially do we appreciate the advantage of its exis
tence at a period when " history has been making so fast" — when,
" in an age on ages telling," events daily transpire which seem des
tined to mould the future of our nation and of this continent, and
many of which will doubtless be to future scholars the subject of
diligent study and research.
It adds not a little to the interest of such an organization that the
edifice in which, by the munificence of our State, its collections are
to be permanently deposited, is, in itself, in a manner, associated
with the memory of heroic deeds, which this Society shall, perhaps,
most desire to commemorate. Through all the stormy period of the

great war which has so happily terminated, stone by stone, layer by
layer, the walls of this Capitol have risen mid its " fierce alarums,"
and anon amid the loud huzzas of returning and triumphant freemen,
in themselves potent as the lyre of Amphion, until almost complete
in its harmonious proportions, it stands forth a noble monument of
the activity and patriotic devotion of a great free people.
In presence of this splendid memorial of the people's resources
and generous spirit, amid great perils, and under unwonted public
burthens, I have thought it might not be unfitting to occupy the
Jaour assigned to me on this occasion in presenting a few considera
tions upon
" the history of the people as illustrated by their monu
ments,"
It is a trite reflection that written history has often failed to give
us a correct idea of the true life of the people — their employments,
amusements, hopes and fears, pleasures and sorrows. It has portray
ed to us heroes and kings, ad nauseam, but has taken little notice of
the humbler ways of those who constitute the mass of nations, and
give to them their distinctive character. The ruling spirit of the
particular race and age has sometimes been more effectively concen
trated in their monuments than in their written records. Art at a sin
gle epoch has told the story of a people more successfully and truth
fully even than language. While laboring as Sismondi has express
ed it, " to take possession of future ages by edifices destined to an
eternal duration," the people have uniformly wrought into these and
impressed the character of their own.
The historian has also commonly presented the story of our race
as of detached and isolated nations, which have appeared, flourished for
a time, and then perished, with little account of the relations they
bore to those which preceded or followed them.
The monuments reveal to us, especially in the line of those great
representative nations through which our civilization has been trans
mitted, a continuous and almost constantly progressive society, one
in its interests and aspirations — each nation but another form of de
velopment—inheriting the acquisitions of earlier ages — adding to the
rich legacy of the past its own contributions, and then bequeathing
the choicest of its accumulations to the next — the people as in fact
but. one, developing in different ages and countries under varied forms
which simply mark their order of progression.

The pyramids of Egypt, the vast temples and colonnades of Kar-
nak and Luxor, the obelisks, the Sphinx, inform us as clearly as
the writings of Strabo and Ptolemy, of the energy and patient indus
try of that mighty race which first occupied the valley of the Nile,
and was first in the order of civilization — of the grandeur of their
conceptions, their deep religious sentiments and longings after some
thing higher and nobler than themselves. But there are many things
which the ancient travelers and historians thought it beneath their
dignity to record, that the sculptured and pictured walls of their
temples and tombs communicate to us, with an eloquence more im
pressive than the most finished periods of written history. How this
mysterious life of ours, whose enigmas they so labored to solve or
symbolize, flowed on in humbler walks away from courts and pala
ces, we study with an interest no language can inspire as we trace in
the colored sculptures atKioum Orabos, the people toiling in all the
processes of agriculture, ploughing, sowing, reaping, threshing with
implements but little simpler than those quite recently discarded by
modern nations, or on the walls of the tomb of the great Osiris at
Thebes, as we see them engaged in all the various trades and arts of
handicraft, with a skill and use of tools inconceivable to those who
think the world began with this boasted nineteenth century. Deep
in the mountain side, on the walls and ceilings of the royal sepulchers
which were, in fact, subterranean palaces, four thousand years ago, the
Egyptians stored evidences of a civilization so advanced that but for
the steam engine, the telegraph, the photograph, it might chal
lenge equality with our own. There still you may observe the var
ious processes of agriculture, commerce, and most of the useful and
ornamental arts. In painted sculpture, relief or intaglio, the plough
man urges those beautiful and agile oxen, types of which linger still
along the Mediterranean. With measured steps the sower scatters
the seed, and reapers binding sheaves "fill the bosom." Still the
harper sounds his ancient melodies, and the sailor spreads to the in
constant breezes of the ISTile the tri-angular sail that, under the name
of latteen, yet wafts the commerce of the East. The zodiac signs
" recording the ages as they rolled," attest their close observation of
nature and their early science, while the representation of ancient
fables, like that of " Charon and the river Styx," betray the later
plagiarism of Greece.
The remains of this great people everywhere show that with all

their intelligence and unexampled fertility of invention, they had an
imperfect idea of the just distribution of political power, and were
weighed down by a tyrannical priesthood and royalty.
" Enormous cruel wonders crushed the land;
For one vile carcass countless thousands died."
How the masses at times found relief and " smoothed the wrinkled
brow of care," we can conjecture, as in the tombs of Beni-Souef we
gaze upon the representations of the athletes and acrobates of those
days, in all the extraordinary postures which seem yet the highest
attainment and ambition of those artists. How they had all of hu
man weakness, and loved to assist at the pompous shows of the mon-
archs and priests, whom, in the quarries of Ghebel Silsilis, they cari
catured with bitter scorn,
— "climbing up to walls and battlements,
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney tops,"
to greet returning heroes, we may infer from the scenes depicted on
the palace of Sesostris at Medinet Abou — one of the most remarka
ble fragments of ancient Thebes.
One stands amazed in Egypt, even now, after all the triumphs of
modern n ations, at the greatness of their achievements, the immensi
ty of their structures, the antiquity of their art, the many evidences
of a well diversified system of labor and great administrative ability.
The people of Egypt were distinguished among surrounding nations
for their wisdom, and, across the lapse of intervening ages, they com
mand our grateful reverence for the broad and solid foundations on
which they laid the civilization of our race.
It is doubtful, however, if the people existed, in our sense of a po
litical power as well as order, in the state, until the genial climate
and genius of Greece favored the development of some of the
brightest examples in history in her small but brilliant republics.
The storied monuments there, "commingling slowly with heroic
earth," were the product not only of the labor of the people but their
conception, and under their magic hand, the marble was endowed with
an intelligence and power of significance that speak yet to us of the
brilliant history, the lively fancy, and inimitable grace of the gifted
men who made their country, for all time, " the eye " and the school
of the world.
Had we not read of Cecrops, the horizontal lines in their architec
ture, and even the Doric column, would have suggested the Egyptian
origin of their early teachers and leaders. Yet whatever they in-

herited or borrowed from others was transmuted into forms of ex
cellence, unmistakably their own. The gloomy and mystic temples
of Egypt are transformed on Grecian soil to small but elegant
shrines— adorned with columns whose splendid shafts rival the
graceful proportions of the cedar or the palm, and impress you as
with the harmony of sound — enriched with sculpture that in foliage,
and flower, and human form, repeats on long walls the finish and
beauty of their statuary. The hawk-headed deities and mythic
symbols, which charaqterize the sculpture of the Nile, are here ex
changed for Gods in human form and types all human and familiar.
The Greeks worshipped our humanity. With exuberant fancy they
idealized tfeeir conceptions of power and wisdom, of love and beau-
tj) tbe graces and the muses. Air, earth and ocean were peopled
with deified human beings.
"Phoebus Apollo in his golden car
In silent glory swept the fields of Heaven.
On yonder hill the Oread was adored ;
In yonder tree the Dryad held her home,
And from her Urn the gentle Naiad poured
The wavelet's silver foam."
The chief interest for us, in the monuments of Greece, is perhaps
in the indications everywhere existing of the free, untrammeled ac
tion of the people. No hierarchy here consecrate certain forms and
colors, and, restraining artists to the use of those, repress invention,
and compel mediocrity. Free to select from nature or the art of
others, erecting temples or theatres at will, the very license of their
art illustrates their freedom. The remains, if we except the tomb
of Agamemnon and some similar relics, are of structures that were
erected soon after the Persian war, and the achievement of their na
tional independence. They are impressed with the enthusiasm of
that great success. The energies which the mighty struggle had
evoked, expended themselves in constructing great monuments.
With patriotic pride, and in obedience to the lingering religious sen
timent of the age, they reared splendid temples in memory of their
victories. The temple of Theseus, the glories of the Acropolis, per
petuate the people's joy in their triumph.
At Athens have been preserved some of the most interesting me
morials of the Grecian history and life. A few remains near the
Forum, or as it was then termed the Agora, mark its location and
suggest the love of public resorts for which the Athenians in later
ages had an unenviable name. But the '' Pnyx," the rendevous of

the Athenian Democracy in times of civil agitation, witb its semi
circular rows of seats, its pulpit or rostrum cut in the solid rock, en
during as the marble hill itself, expresses tous, with a significance no
other monument of Athens conveys, the interesting story of this tur
bulent and ingenious people. The very place asserts the proud de
mand of a free and spirited community to be convinced before called
to act. Though but typified in stone, there is the earliest declaration
of the people's right of thought. Some remains, like those of the
Persian Wall and the mound at Marathon, in their situation, suggest
the great conflicts which have been waged over the consecrated
ground, and which have given to the men of Greece an imperishable
name in the annals of Freedom. With mute intelligence
" They point to strangers eye
The graves of those that cannot die."
Judged simply by their monuments, the Greeks had culled from an
earlier civilization its choicest fruits, had refined what they received
from others in the delicate alembic of their own genius, and added
to its volume their graceful conceptions of truth, power and beauty,
in nature or art. " Yet to the remnants of that splendor past
Shall Pilgrims pensive but unwearied throng ;
Long shall the voyager with the Ionian blast
Hail the bright clime of battle and of song."
The Egyptian and the Greek met on the soil of Italy. The Etrus
can tombs and vases assure us of the one, and the temples at Pces-
tum and many other Grecian ruins attest the latter. Amid their
combined influence grew the Eoman, in himself as in his art, uniting
some of the qualities of each — the massive solidity of the Egyptian
with the more cheerful and graceful nature of the Greek,
Wherever the Eoman monuments are found in Italy, in Southern
France, on the Ehine, by the Danube, in Egypt or in Asia, there is
always impressed on them the sense of order and majesty which
characterized that master race. The highways laid with massive
stones, and a nice art, which eighteen centuries have been unable to
unsettle — the solid towers remaining of her old camps — the walls
which have to be blasted in order to be removed — the arches so ex
pressive of her imperial strength and unity of many lands under her
dominion — epluribus unum — indicate the system and order of the
Eoman people no less clearly than her code of law, and the records of
her historians. It is not upon religious edifices that this race have
stamped their individuality. In temples and tombs they were chief-

ly imitators. The arches which glorify their heroes — the amphithe
atres which furnished place for their cruel sports — the long aque
ducts which in ruin impart such a touching sadness to their land
scapes — the baths which with colonnades and libraries, indicate the
munificence of their governments — their camps, their walls, preserve
to us with marked significance the martial but liberal and lofty spir
it of that haughty "Populus Eomanus,"
In every age, the grandeur of their genius is imprinted on their
monuments. The Mamertine Prison, the Cloaca Maxima, assert the
bold conception and thorough execution of their earliest efforts.
The emissary of the Alban Lake whose massive stones with masonry
undisturbed, lie interlaced to-day with the gnarled roots of mighty
oaks, the size of which convinces us of their own long history, evi
dences the robust energy which by such labors was disciplined for
the siege of Veil and many subsequent achievements. There linger
yet many remains of that early age strongly marked with the influ
ence of the Etruscan, perhaps even Egyptian art. But amid the
general wreck, the eye turns with deeper interest to trace on their
columns the record of their brilliant victories — their all- conquering
might — represented in stone by still existing imagery of their suc
cesses over regions extending from the Ehine to the Euphrates.
Their exultation in their triumph ; their disdain of the people
they conquered ; their arrogant pretensions of Eoman supremacy,
are depicted in every line. The statues known as "the Dacian
Slaves," which still adorn the Arch of Constantine, and which were
plundered for that purpose from the earlier Arch of Trojan, repre
sent these sentiments in a very striking manner. They stand mana
cled, and in mournful attitude, contemplatingapparently the misery
of their captivity, and are unexampled for the touching pathos with
which they speak of their own wrongs, and the crushing ambition of
imperial Eome.
The seven hills are strewn with the remains of immense edifices
which were erected during the brilliant period of her successes, — the
Caesars .Palace on the Palatine
 " hillocks heaped
On what were chambers, arch crushed, column strewn
In fragments, choked up vaults and frescoes steeped
In subterranean damps "
— the Colisseum, " Arches on arches, as it were that Eome,
Collecting the chief trophies of her line,
Would build up all her triumphs in one dome,"

10
— baths, from whose mass, miles in extent,
"Walls, palaces, half cities have been reared."
The pen of the historian could not more clearly describe to us the
extent of her dominion, the accumulated wealth, the decay of her
virtue, her magnificence, her enormous expenditure in luxuries, and
her cruelty in her amusements. In plainest characters are written
" The great rehearsal of the past :
First freedom and then glory — when that fails.
Wealth, vice, corruption."
Eather would we linger in the forum whose crumbling temples,
broken arches, prostrate columns assure us of the storied
"field of faction, fame and blood
Where a proud people's passions were exhaled,"
" Where the immortal accents glow.
And still the air breathes, burns with Cicero."
The great contribution which the people of Eome made to our
common civilization were their laws, their language, and the orderly
system of administration in their government, which their monu
ments so plainly suggest. In speaking of their permanent influence,
D'Aguesseau has remarked " that the grand destinies of Eome are
not yet accomplished ; she reigns throughout the world by her rea
son, after having ceased to reign by her authority."
Some homes of the Eoman people may be seen yet at Pompeii.
They doubtless show the influence of the civilization which had
been introduced into Southern Italy from Greece, yet are unique in
interest as the only remains of the class to which they belong, and
probably represent to us the domestic life which prevailed at that
epoch throughout the Eoman empire. From these we may infer
that the people had arrived at a condition of culture and comfort, to
which long centuries have been employed in restoring modern socie
ty. Admitting that the houses thus far uncovered were those of the
wealthier class, and that the common people, like the lazzaroni, lived
under the colonnades and around the open squares, it is highly cred
itable to the early civilization of the world that so many in that
small provincial town were of that class and enjoyed the comfort
there indicated. Although having properly but one story, and there
fore destitute of the more imposing effect of modern city houses,
they covered a larger area than most of th^se, and with their arrange .
ment of successive courts adorned with fountains ; of rooms prepar
ed for libraries and art collections ; of pleasant dining halls and col
onnades for exercise in cold or rainy weather ; and the cheerful
adornment of all with painting and sculpture, they prove a great

11
refinement among a large proportion of its population — a population
which would compare favorably with that of cities of equal size in
our own time.
As you walk the well preserved pavements amid the long lines of
existing edifices — pausing often in the open squares to remark the
many evidences of the sudden arrest of this popular life of old, with
all the touching scenes that attended, — you will wonder why this
civilization, so thoroughly organized, was destined to that overwhelm
ing destruction of which the lava tide that buried this ancient city
was but the premonition and the type. Yet closer study of its frescoed
walls and amphitheatre furnishes ample explanation.
The wisdom of Egypt, the art of Greece, and the law, order and
stern virtue of Eome, had culminated in a state of society little less
offensive to the eye of the wise and holy Euler 6f all, than that
upon which he had poured his vengeance in the ancient vale of Sid-
dim, and left that silent, lifeless sea as its only monument. The
crumbling ruins justify the fearful doom of its ancient occupants,
and bear witness that to the barbarians who avenged their own
wrong on this cruel and polluted society, in its almost entire destruc
tion, we owe most that is noble in our manhood and the beauty and
purity of our christian homes.
Perhaps there are no more interesting monuments associated with
the progress of our race than those which exist in the catacombs at
Eome, and some of which probably were formed ere yet the lava
crust had cooled over the buried cities of the south. In the dark
subterranean chambers, beneath and around that city, which had
been excavated in earlier ages for useful purposes, hundreds of men
and women, who had joyfully exchanged the uncertainties of their
old belief for the strong hopes of the new faith which was to empty
the Pantheon of its idols, had sought refuge from persecution as in
an ark of safety. The tablets with which the walls of these apart
ments were inlaid, the multitudinous niches in which were deposited
their dead, the many symbols carved or pictured on these stony re
cords, preserve the memory of their sufferings and the new hopes
which inspired them with such heroic constancy and devotion. There,
beneath the very palace of Nero and Caligula, it may be, you will
trace the beginnings of a new people, who, with thousands scattered
throughout the Empire, hidden in the dens and caverns of the earth,
were secretly organizing forces which were soon to revolutionize so-

12
ciety and build up a new civilization. For these the sensualism of
the past had no charms,— its uncertainty and hopelessness no further
perplexity. Every line traced on these walls breathes the animation
of the great hope they had found, and the earnestness of men who
felt themselves called to the noblest service of their kind.
The triumph of this new society, the influence of its members in
camp and council, you may recognize in the many churches which
rise on all sides through Italy and the East, decked with the spoil of
old temples and basilicas. In some of these at Eome, you will find
columns from the bed chamber ot Augustus — trophies from the tem
ple of Jupiter Capitolinus — here noblest Corinthian and Ionic, up
turned in utter ignorance of artistic rules, the base above, the capital
at bottom — there, floors composed of fragments of mosaic from earli
er structures, thS mythic symbols covered or disguised in Christian
awe of the heathen superstition. Many of them were erected over
scenes of martyrdom, the column at which the early believers were
tortured, the bath in whoso boiling fluid they were plunged, having
been preserved to attest the painful story. Some like St. John
Lateran, and the basement of St. Peters, give evidence of the final
success, when, emerging from its secure retreats, Christianity, under
Constantine, took possession of the court and empire, and Christen
dom began. It is noticeable in these remains how anxiously this new
people sought to inform the masses. The two pulpils in the old
church of St. Clement, the ancient balcony looking out upon the
court, indicate the solicitude of these early Christian teachers for the
right instruction of their flocks. Education, the diffusion of knowl
edge, were essential elements of this new civilization.
It seems as though the beneficent Disposer of all had determined
that a thorough effort should be made to reform the ancient world
by means of the new principles before it should be abandoned to the
destroyer. Many remaining monuments attest th'e rapid and wide
spread influence of Christianity under the later Emperors before the
irruption of the Barbarians. There is no more interesting memento
of that epoch than the old Eoman Cemetery, at Aries, in Southern
France. In the adjoining territory, linger yet many remains
of which the " Maison Carrei," at Nismes, and the Pont du Garde are
well known examples, that still bear testimony to the high civiliza
tion of Eoman Gaul.
Outside of this ancient capital, rudely divided now by the railway

18
to Marseilles, is a burial ground of several acres, containing yet many
mausolea, which are inscribed with touching epitaphs and emblems
of the early Christian, Through all this region had spread the ti
dings of the new faith. The enthusiasm it had awakened seems to
radiate yet from the glowing inscriptions and imagery they have
traced upon the marble, while some refinement in language, even
more than the expensive structure, shows its acceptance by the po
lite and afliuent, as well as the unlearned and needy.
This cemetery is said to have existed in a nearly perfect condi
tion until the 12th century. Mutilated and crumbling, the interest
ing fragments still testify to the earnest endeavor that was made to
renovate the old society, in the vigor of new thought, mingled with
the graceful forms of ancient art and culture.
For reasons that none may now fully comprehend,«the storm burst
at last on this devoted people. " Temple and tower went down,"
and the labor of centuries seemed to have perished in a chaos of
ruins. The fierce hordes of barbarians, so long restrained by Eoman
legions and massive walls, and even their traditional reverence for
for the majesty of Eome, moved by some superhuman impulse, burst
all barriers, and, animated by bitterest memories of wrong and out
rage, poured in devastating torrents through all the Empire.
The fragments which remain of the monuments that first follow
this epoch, are unusually significant in their expression. The rude
stone structures built above or attached to the ancient temples,
baths or theatres — -the elegant columns of the Eoman masoned in
the rough wall — the inlaid fragments of sculpture — -the broken arch,
express, with a pathos language is incapable of, the great convulsion.
As the broken strata and fragmentary deposits reveal to the geolo
gist the upheavals and convulsions of an earlier age, so these
mingled masses of statuary and unskillful masonry, declare to the
antiquary the social disorder and revolution of that age. You seem
to see the people in all the agony of their changed condition — the
polished, accomplished Eoman jostled, pushed aside, crushed in this
rude press of the barbarian — you see his pleasant home consigned,
portioned off, allotted one third part to himself, another to the Goth,
a third to the Lombard or Burgundian— his family flying to the
church for safety — himself a slave on his own fields, or an unwilling
soldier. Vengeance had come at last for the thousand Dacians,
Goths, Germans of every tribe, " butchered to make a Eoman holi-

14
day," The dying gladiators, whose tortures had entertained so
often the Eoman crowds, had now their ample revenge.
Yet truth is immortal. "The eternal years of God are hers,"
and it is interesting to observe amid the great overthrow, how
much that was valuable in the old society survived in church and
convent — how long fragments of the old civilization lingered, until
the new was ready to adopt and apply their suggestions — -how many
precious things lay buried in this immensity of ruin, until long cen
turies had developed a society capable of appreciating and using
them. Although some arts may have been lost in that vast wreck,
it is probable that the most valuable inventions, and ideas even, of
the ancients, have been preserved or recovered. The invaders were
themselves penetrated with reverence for the wonderful productions
of the race they subdued. The conquerors were in a manner made
captive. Theodoric the Goth, scarcely completes his conquest before
he erects on Eoman or Byzantine models, his palace, still existing at
Eavenna. With humble imitation, though " in irony severe," he
erects a Eoman arch to commemorate his own triumph over Eome.
The first original development of this mingled people which suc
ceeded to the Eoman, and constituted the new nationalities of Chris
tendom, indicated their religious spirit, and, as in the first civiliza
tion, manifested itself in religious edifices.
The great cathedrals and immense churches which dominate
the cities they constructed, and in which they embodied their
sentiment, fascinate us still with their spiritual influence, and are yet
the noblest expression of Christian art. Then, as now, these edifices
were not only the temples but the palaces of the people, where, while
performing the offices of religion, they gratified in outward forms
their sense of beauty. They lavished upon them their wealth of
genius. They repeated in sculpture, or on colored glass, the sacred
stories. They formed glowing images of celestial visions in pictures
of saint or angel, and the heavenly hosts. They enforced lessons of
wisdom with long allegories in stone. They even shed upon them
the humor of the time, adding often in cornice or capital the £gures
of jolly friar or grinning demon. Through all, they sought to cast
"the dim religious light," and filled it with "service high, and an
thems clear" that might "dissolve to ecstacies,"
These mediseval remains every where represent to us the earnest
ness of this new people, their robust energy, their cheerful fancy,

15
their free elastic spirit, their delicate sentiment,out of all which are to
grow the graces of chivalry and the enterprise and blessed charities
of the present. Simultaneously with the erection of cathedrals, the
castles which then bristled on almost every height in Europe, and
where "Power had long dwelt amidst her passions," began to assume
a more homelike and habitable air, where, with hawk and hound and
horn, " gallant knights and ladies fair" with fine art, relieved the
sternness imposed by the long iron ages which had preceded. The
commodious chateau nestling close below the grim old tower which
stands "like wary sentinel," tells the story of this social change, as
perfected in the domestic life of one class at least.
Nothing could interest us more than the homes and employments
of the people who first worshipped in these old cathedrals. Of the
dwellings then occupied, few probably remain. That of Dandolo at
Venice and "of Eienzi," so called, at Eome, are probably among
the oldest private residences in Europe, and those represent a class of
society much superior to that of the laborer. The big frame houses,
roughly filled in with stone and mortar, with overhanging eaves and
quaint symbols, and even mottos carved above the lintels, such as we
may see yet in Normandy, in parts of Germany, in Chester and many
other old towns of England, are probably fair specimens of those the
people in northern Europe occupied. Security and comfort were all
they sought for, and this is the chief meaning of these relics of their
art. If, so late as the reign of Henry VIII, as related by Erasmus,
the houses of the nobility even in England, were unfurnished with
carpets, but were rendered comfortable by " daily provision of clean
straw or rushes," we can imagine the condition of those of the com
mon people. How long before the elements of a high civilization
permeate the masses !
Their employments were chiefly agricultural, though doubtless
the armor worn made the varied arts of the smith of great import
ance, and enlivened the towns with the music of
" Busy hammers closing rivets up,"
Some elements still were wanting to complete the equipment of
the new civilization for the grand career in which it was to achieve
such brilliant successes. It had originated and been thus far
matured under the animating influences of the new religion.
It had inherited much of Eoman law and administrative
order. There was to be added an infusion of the old art from

16
Constantinople in which had lingered, comparatively undisturbed, the
manners and the arts of antiquity. Commerce was needed to bind
and interweave more closely the various families of Christendom,
A new world was to furnish safe retreat for freedom of thought and
ample field for the enterprise of all.
The monuments which are coeval with the revival of art illustrate
the delight that attended its restoration. In Italy, churches, palaces,
dwellings quickly put on the graceful forms of old. The revived
memories of the ancient luxuries incite to new wants and greater
sumptuousness. With these stimulants manufactures grow apace.
From Florence, Venice, Milan, the new fashions run to Ghent and
Bruges, Paris and London. And now the popular love of Freedom,
which Feudalism had never wholly extinguished, finds expression in
town halls and guild halls, which were to become to the new people
as useful and sacred as the forum of the ancient populace, Luther
has but to point the way for the more complete emancipation of
thought, and the people, armed with far mightier agencies than had
been possessed by ancient society, are prepared for the splendid, and,
we trust unending, career of grand achievement which marks the
present age.
It were possible to trace by many monuments, the later progress of
the people, though the fine arts, since the days of the " Eenaissance,"
have failed to express the characteristics of the particular race or pe
riod with the distinctness of their early development.
It is indeed extraordinary, that of the many great creations of taste,
within the last four centuries, so few should represent the spirit of
the age or people among whom they have risen. The most are but
reproductions of the classic or gothic, in modified forms, which might
often have surprised both Greek and Goth. Even St. Peters the
wonder and pride of the modern world, with all its grandeur unsur
passed, " Of temples old or altars new,"
is but the Pantheon " placed high in air" upon the ancient Basilica,
devoid of all significance of modern life or principle, and St. Paul
has but repeated the unmeaning marvels of St. Peter, in diminished
size, and divested of the rich accessories that Italy only can furnish.
****** ^
This appears more distinctly when we consider how few of the
great monuments of which the world now boasts, would remain were

17
modern Europe and our own country to 'undergo a devastation simi
lar to that of the Eoman empire, which could give to the future
tourist (from New Zealand or Timbuctoo, it may be,) an inteUigent
idea of the character of the modern nations. In France, were the
column of Napoleon and the arch to survive the wreck, how natur
ally these would be ascribed to early Eoman efforts, unless the can
non and costume should perplex their pre-conceived theories of the
classic. Notre Dame might speak of the grand ideas of a later age,
the iron bridges hint even the ingenuity and activity of the present,
but could scarce express the merry life of that gayest of cities. Not
a vestige of theatre, operas, splendid shops, restaurant or magasin
des modes, which might represent the people as they are. England
would doubtless preserve the tower, Westminster, and St. James, but
how imperfectly her modern structures, churches or edifices, intend
ed for public use and ornament, would convey to the learned travel
ers a just idea of her characteristic genius and real greatness. Should
our country be included in their tour, oddly our Greek and Gothic
would image to them our life and manners, unless, perchance, some
mummified, "desiccated" Yankee turned up with whittling stick and
jack-knife to show the real " cut" of the nation.
Yet let none misunderstand me. The age is not without its mon
uments, nor the great countries I have named without fitting and
even enduring representation of their varied systems of develop
ment, though no longer in the form of cathedrals, palaces or town
halls. Although France may not hope to perpetuate, in stone, the
memory of those finer arts and graces, for which, during the last two
centuries she has been distinguished, and this year is to display with
patriotic pride before the assembled nations, some fragment of the
Louvre, some remnant of her colleges, her hospitals, her museums
would hint the story of her munificent provision for the comfort and
education of the people, and of their eagerness after knowledge and
reputation. In all probability, England would unwillingly risk her reputation
in art on her National Academy, or that extraordinary statue of her
Iron Duke, yet she has many monuments grander even than her
gothic, which shall fitly tell of the enterprise, and skill, and noble
purpose of her people. That wonderful bridge across the Menai
straits alone, might glorify her people as proudly as Parthenon or
Pantheon. Hsr mills, her mines, her dock yards, her machinery,
3

18
which give to her little island the productive power of one third the
population of the globe, her numerous and noble charities, some
rusting engine, some shattered printing press, would ages hence pro
claim her noble mission and its proud fulfilment.
In our new life, composed as it is of imported elements froni the
Old World, we can less readily fix on works already wrought, which
could worthily represent to others the spirit and enterprise of our
people. Yet the track of our canals, the tunnels penetrating our
mountains, the traces of our gold diggings, of our wells of oil, would
attest the energy and rapid development of our nation. Some crumb
ling hotel, some dilapidated railway station, would suggest our mi
gratory habits, while hospitals and munificent charities might perpet
uate the memory of the large public spirit and benevolence of our
countrymen. Other monuments would testify to other features in
our character. Some dragging anchor might bring to light that won
drous cable of which two nations have the honor, which this year has
united the Old World and the New, and through " the ooze of the salt
deep," has transmitted the thought of two continents. A half sunk
en monitor, some buried Columbiad, the mutilated stones at Gettys
burg or Antietam, shall reveal our might in war, and devotion to high
principle. Even the fine arts shall contribute a suggestive and en
during monument to our national spirit, when below the dome of
the capitol, the gifted artist of Zenobia shall place her tribute to that
martyred one, "Whose noblest monument shall be,
The broken fetters of the slave,"
Thus it may be seen how existing monuments have preserved the
memory of many of the most important events and influences in the
progress of our race. It will be readily conceded, however, that there
are many rich portions of history which can only be satisfactorily
filled by the written records. Significant as sculpture or architec
ture may be, it is doubtless their office to corroborate, rather than
supersede, the accounts of the historian. It is an encouraging fact
for those engaged in the writing of history, or the collection of his
toric materials, that amid all the convulsions of society the written
records have been preserved almost as entire as the monuments.
The papyri of Egypt, old as its obelisks, are treasured still in many
continental libraries. The Hand which guides the nations has not
left the knowledge of our progress dependent upon the often incom
plete evidence of mutilated monuments. In collections like that the

19
germ of which is laid in yonder library, the world will still prefer to
store the recollections of its achievement.
The review of the people's history, even by their monuments, con
vinces us of the great advance which has been made, and of their
constantly increasing attainments. Where, for a time, that progress
appeared interrupted by untoward influences, which seemed to have
wrecked the Eoman civilization, amid the seeming chaos, new prin
ciples were permeating the masses, new forces evolving whi(jh were
to give unprecedented power and grace to our modem civilization.
When the world at last recovered all that had seemed lost in law,
science and art, it was to pour the rich affluence of ancient genius
into new societies, imbued with an undying love of freedom, animat
ed with noblest aspirations after the good and true. To this new
civilization the perils of the past seem impossible. Standing on the
high vantage ground of the accumulated wisdom and skill of forty
centuries, the course of the people must be, as happily expressed in
the motto of our State, "Forward," and the extent of their develop
ment inconceivably grand.
There is a singular charm to the American in taking an out-look,
like this upon the life and work of the earlier nations, and then, in the
conscious possession by his country of the accumulated light of their
wisdom and culture, to form visions of its future upon a new theatre
of action, removed afar from the debris of old institutions, and en
dowed with such unparalleled affluence of resources. The philo
sophic historian will study with peculiar interest our progress under
these great advantages, and will hold us to a fearful responsibility for
their use.
The most striking feature of popular progress in modern times, has
been the development of the individual Man as the true method of se
curing the advance of the whole society.
Guizot has indeed asserted that " civilization is the attainment by
the society of the most complete development of which the individ
ual is capable." It has been the privilege and prerogative of our
country to have promulgated this grand idea of manhood right and
development, with an emphasis unknown in the past, and which each
year is gaining wider recognition among the nations as the true basis
of Government and of social progess.
The historian who has so ably, though voluminously, detailed the
history of our nation, has dwelt long upon the preparations which

20
were made for its inauguration and establishment — the various modes
by which European society was sifted to furnish for its founders the
choicest and the best — the extraordinary manner in which this con
tinent, with its boundless stores, had been reserved for their use and
occupation. It has been his pleasant office to describe their advance,
amid the retirement and self-i'eliant habits of the wilderness, until at
last they were fitted to present the world with its justest conception
of Freedom, and supplement the Magna Charta of their fathers with
the most perfect declaration of human right. Even now we hear
the mutterings of those long slumbering forces of the people, which,
as the sound passed from land to land, the enunciation of that has
evoked in all the people of Christendom. In the rejoicings which
attend the restoration of Italian freedom — in the roar of battles
which this summer, on the Bohemian hills, have struck down the ob
stacles to German unity, and abrogated the atrocious compact of al
lied monarchs at Vienna — and even in the loud demands, the great
processions, the intense agitation of conservative England, may be
recognized the continued influence of that impulse which was given
to modern society in 1776.
It will be the office of the future Historian, for whose service as
sociations like this gather the rich materials, to describe the perils
which even on this virgin soil have at one epoch environed our
young liberty — to paint, in all its just proportions, the enormity and
venemous nature of the reptile that had, in its infancy, been suffered
to slumber undisturbed beside the cradle of our Eepublic. He will
detail how at last the free descendants of a freedom-loving ancestrv
comprehended the danger, and, rising in their might, crushed the mon
ster in the dust. He will love to linger over the heroic ardor, the
generous sacrifices, the munificent provision for the soldier and his
orphans, with which a free people vindicated during this great con
flict their own attachment to the principles of their institutions, and
their broad love of one common humanity.
Whatever monuments we may rear in grateful recognition of the
noble services which have secured to us our united country and our
freedom, none are needed to preserve to this generation the memory
of that sad epoch. The mutilated forms, the vacant chair, the broken
circle, will ever speak to us with touching pathos of the great strug
gle and its numerous victims.
. For those who sleep in humble graves beside "the prison pens "

21
of the South, it will be sweetest tribute, if history shall have to re
cord, that the good cause for which they died proved wholly victori
ous — that they did not fail.
" They never fail who die
In a Great Cause ; the block may soak their gore,
Their heads may sodden in the sun ; their limbs
Be strung to city gates and castle walls—
But still their spirits walk abroad. Though years
Elapse, and others share as dark a doom,
They but augment the deep and sweeping thoughts
Which overpower all others and conduct
The world at last to Freedom."
In the valley of the Lebanon, at Baalbec, is a mass of ruin, which
seems, with striking significance, to illustrate the course of history
and of Human Progress.
There, in the early ages, an unknown race, imbued with the colos
sal ideas of that ancient people who built, as Champollion has ex
pressed it, " as though they were one hundred feet in height," laying
huge stones more than sixty feet in length, and fifteen in breadth
and thickness, deposited the massive foundations of some temple
which they reared, probably to Baal. In some later century, Greece
and Eome sweeping by in their career of conquest, had overthrown
the superstructure, and piled upon the great foundations other tem
ples expressive yet, in their lofty and graceful columns, alike of Eo
man grandeur and of the harmonious art of Greece. Long after
wards, the Saracen had found the Eoman work in partial ruin, and
placed among the rubbish some light fantastic specimens of his own,
as pleasing and ephemeral as his transient and brilliant civilization.
Thus this single spot has come to possess relics of all those early
workmen who have most contributed to the volume of our civiliza
tion, and the lofty Corinthian colonnade towering o'er the wreck in its
symmetrical proportions, and elegance of finish and adornment, rest
ing on the massive base, fitly suggests the progress of society from
strength to grace and culture.
And so the modern people of every land, building their institu
tions on the massive and eternal foundations of truth and justice,
shall rear social structures of which their monuments, like the colon
nade of Baalbec, shall illustrate to distant ages their power and ex
cellence.

APPENDIX.
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE SOCIETY.
EXTRACT FROM THE SOCIETY'S ANNUAL REPORT, OF JAN. 8, 1867.
Gratified, as we are, with the happy change and improved appear
ance of our collections, we must feel doubly so when we realize that
these attractions and conveniences draw, as they have, a largely in
creased number of visitors to our rooms — thus greatly augmenting
the popularity and usefulness of the institution. The large attend
ance on the occasion of the dedication of our new rooms, on the 24th
of January last, when President Lapham and ex-Gov. Salomon de
livered appropriate addresses, proved but a precursor of the steady
interest manifested in the library and collections during the entire
year. While in our old rooms, the visitors, from the data kept by
the Librarian, numbered from ten to twelve thousand annually ; and,
during the past year, the number could scarcely have been less than
fifteen or twenty thousand. The unflagging interest thus manifested
is the best evidence of the worth and usefulness of the Society ; and
this will be the better appreciated, when it is contrasted with the
comparatively few visitors to similar institutions in some of the older
States. When your Secretary, a few years since, visited one of them,
where some forty thousand dollars had been expended in providing
a fine library building, he asked the custodian of the attractive rooms
and valuable collection, how many visitors, during the year, honored
themselves and the library with their presence ? The reply was,
"about one hundred and fifty."
PUBLICATION OF TRANSACTIONS.
Another event of no small importance to the usefulness and growth
of the Society, occurring the past year, deserves special notice — the
authorization by the Legislature of the re-commencement of the
publication of our Eeports and Collections, on good paper ; not a full
volume a year as formerly, but a hundred and fifty pages, so that
three successive yearly installments will serve to form a full volume.
By the exercise of careful scrutiny in the admission of none but re
ally valuable historical papers, we shall be able to publish much
useful information pertaining to the early settlement and progressive
improvement of Wisconsin, and the worthy part our State and peo
ple have taken in the late war for the preservation of the Union.
The regular publication of our Collections, commencing with the
present year, will tend to stimulate, we may fondly hope, the con
tribution of much valuable historic matter which would otherwise

23
be finally buried in the grave with their possessors ; and while such
an annual Eeport goes forth, it will bear upon its face the evidence
that ours is a live Society, doing well its part in garnering and pre
serving the past and passing history of our portion of the Great Ee
public. And it will, furthermore, furnish a means of literary ex
change with historical and scientific associations, as well as individ
uals, and thus enable our Society to add largely to its library and
other collections. PRO&RESSIVE LIBRARY INCREASE.
The past and present condition of the Library are shown in the
following table :

Years.

Volumes added.

Documents &
Pamphlets.

Both togeth
er.

Total in Li
brary.

1864, January 1, 

60
1,000
1,065
1 ,005
1,0241,1071,800 837
610 544
248 520368
923

60
2,0003,06 1,3051,9881,607
2,528 1,971 1,321
2,917 604746
1,174
3,784

60

1855, January 2, 

1,0002,000 300
959 500723
1,134 711
2,373 356
226 806
2,811

2 050

1856, January 1, 

5 115

1857, January 6, 

6,420 8 403

1859, January 4, 

10 010

1860, January 3, 

12,535

1861, January 2, 

14 504

1862, January 2, 

16 825

1863, January 2, 

18,742

1 864, January 2, 

19 346

1865, January 8, 

20 092

1866, January 2, 

21 '266

1867, January 3, 

25 000

Totals, 

11,101

13,899

25,000

EXTRACT FROM GOV. FAIRCHILD'S MESSAGE, JAN, 10, 1867.
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
In no former year has the State Historical Society added so many
works to its library. The addition during the year amounted to
over 3,500 books, pamphlets and documents, making the present
number in its possession 25,000. The Society since the removal of
its library to the beautiful suit of rooms set apart for it in the Capitol,
has grown rapidly in popular favor, and a new interest has been
awakened in its large and valuable collections.
In securing a large donation of books of a scientific and historical
character, now in Europe, and another large collection from the
British government, the Society will need, and should receive, the
aid of the State in meeting freight charges. It reflects great credit
on our people, is a source of just pride to all, and is well entitled to
assistance.
OFFICERS OF THE SO CIET Y--1866-'7.

PRESIDENT :
INCREASE A. LAPHAM, LL.D,, Milwaukee.
VICE PRESIDENTS :
Gen. WM. R. SMITH, Mineral Point, Hon. JAS. T. LEWIS, Columbus,
Hon. HENRY S. BAIRD, Green Bay, Hon. HARLOW S. ORTON, Menasha,
Hon. ED. SALOMON, Milwaukee, Hon. L. J. FARWELL, Westport,
Hon. JAS. R. DOOLITTLE, Racine, Hon. ANGUS CAMERON, La Crosse,
Hon. WALTER D. McINDOE, Wausau, Hon. WM. A. LAWRENCE, Janesville.
HONORARY VICE PRESIDENTS :
1. Hon. CYRUS WOODMAN, Mass., 3. Hon. HENRY S. IJANDALL, N. Y,
2. Hon. PERRY H. SMITH, 111., 4. Hon. JOHN CATLIN, N. J.,
6. Hon. STEPHEN TAYLOR, Penn.
Recording Secretary — Col. S. V. SHIPMAN.
Corresponding Secretary — LYMAN C. DRAPER.
Treasurer— 0. M. GONOVER.
Lilrarian—DMilEL S. DURRIE.

Hon. L. PAIRCHILD, Governor.
For One Year,
Dr. C. B. CHAPMAN,
Hon. D. J. POWERS,
Dr. JOS. BOBBINS,
Gen, SIMEON MILLS,
F. G. TDBBITS,
Dr. A. H. VAN NOSTRAND
Gen. G. P. DELAPLAINE,
S. U. PINNEY,
Hon. GEO. B. SMITH,

CURATORS :
Ex-Offlclo,
Hon. THOS. S. ALLEN,
Secretary of State.
For Two Tears,
Gov. L. PAIRCHILD,
Hon. E. B. DEAN, Jr.,
Prof. E. S. OARR,
JOHN H. CLARK,
Col.,E. A. CALKINS,
,Col. F. H. FIRMIN,
Hon. L. B. VILAS,
Gen. D ATWOOD,
HORACE RUBLEE,

Hon. W. E. SMITH,
State Treasurer.
For Three Tears,
Hon. JAMES ROSS,
Prof. J. D. BUTLER,
S. G. BENEDICT,
S. H. CARPENTER,
E. W. SKINNER,
Hon. GEO. HYER,
J. D. GURNEE,
N. B. VAN SLYKE,
Hon. D. WORTHINGTON,

Objects of Collection,— The Society earnestly solicits of every editor and pub
lisher of a newspaper or periodical in the State the regular transmission of such
publication; Books and pamphlets on all subjects of interest or reference; Maga
zines; Newspaper Files; Maps; Engravings; Portraits of Wisconsin pioneers and
other prominent personages ; War and Indian relics, and other curiosities ; Narra
tives of Early Settlement, Hardships, Border Wars, and of incidents connected with
the part borne by Wisconsin men in the late war of the rebellion.

m4\

;; ^^' ^\>^^ -.'^-^-.^^^'^ *.-.-^:;v''""'

-"-,. J