By promoting a repeal Of the Stamp Act, Shall sooner destroy This mark of their esteem Than Erase from their minds Their just sense of his patriotic virtues. [THE NEW INSCRIPTION] Upon the new panel, placed on the opposite side of the pedestal, is the fol lowing inscription : This statue was voted in May, 1766, On motion of Rawlins Lowndes, Esq., and was erected at the intersection of Broad and Meeting streets July 5th, 1769, The right arm was destroyed by the fire of the English batteries on James Island during the siege of Charlestown in 1780. It was removed March 13th, 1794, and Re-erected by the Board of Commissioners of the Orphanhouse in front of that building in 1808. At the request of the South Carolina Historical Society, The City Council of Charleston, Hon: Wm. A. Courtenay, Mayor, NOTE-The New York Statue to the Earl Chatham now stands in a mutilated condition in the Refectory of the New York Historical Society. A full account of it may be found in Stevens' Progress of New York in a Century, an address delivered before the New York Historical Society December 5, 1876, and published for it. So much of it as con cerned the statue was reprinted in the Magazine (VII, 67) as a reply to a query on the subject. LORD CHATHAM'S STATUE Extracts from the Southern Literary Journal, Vol. 1, No. 5, for January, 1836 The news of the repeal of the Stamp Act was received in Charleston on Saturday, the 3d of May, 1766. It was brought by Captain Josiah Dickinson, in the sloop Sukey and Nancy, from Barbadoes. "As soon," says the South Carolina Gazette, of the 6th of May, 1766, “as the foregoing very agreeable and important intelligence was known, a general joy appeared in the countenance of every well wisher of his country, and the glorious cause of liberty. At four o'clock, in the afternoon, the artillery company, commanded by Christopher Gadsden, Esq., and the company of light infantry, commanded by Thomas. Savage, Esq., appeared under arms, and went through their exercise, firing, &c. In the evening, the town was handsomely illuminated, and the day closed. with loyalty and mirth, echoing with. loyal toasts to his majesty king George III., the great patriot, Mr. Pitt, and our worthy friends in England." The town was also illuminated on the evening of the 5th; but the gratitude of the people of the province did not stop here. The Commons House of Assembly, which was in session at this time, unanimously resolved, "that they would make provision for defraying the expense of procuring, from England, a marble statute of the Right Honorable William Pitt, to be erected in this province as a memorial and testimony of the great veneration and respect they have for his person, and the obligations they lie under, in common with the rest of his majesty's American subjects, as well for his services in general to his king and country, as for his noble, disinterested and generous assistance towards obtaining the REPEAL of the STAMP ACT; and it was referred to the committee of correspondence, as soon as may be, to write to the agent to procure the same, to be done in the most finished and elegant manner."-South Carolina Gazette, May 13, 1766. Rawlins Lowndes, Esq., was the mover of this resolution. In the tax act of 1766, the House of Assembly granted the sum of seven thousand pounds, Carolina currency, to procure this statue. I have never seen all the correspondence on this subject, which ensued between the committee of the House and Charles Garth, Esq., who was, at that time, agent of the province in England; but, in looking over some old papers, the other day, in the Secretary of State's office, I accidentally found the following letter of this gentlemen, addressed, without doubt, to the committee of correspondence: LONDON, July 9, 1766 Gentlemen: On the 1st inst. I had the honor of your favor of the 13th of May. I need not say that I had a very particular pleasure in hearing the joyful reception which the repeal of the Stamp Act has met with in America; as needless will it be to tell you how much I approve and am pleased with the commission you have given me to procure, for you, a statue of Mr. Pitt. It is a mark of grateful respect, in my opinion, extremely judiciously pointed. Taking the lead, and expressing his opinions in that able and spirited manner he did on the 14th of January, 1766, ought ever to be held in remem brance by every true friend and well wisher to the liberty, the peace and welfare of his majesty's dominions. By the first post I wrote to Mr. Pitt to apprise him of the compliment passed in your House of Assembly, enclosed him their resolutions, and an extract from your letter to me in relation to this subject. I am pleased as this is not only the first but the most distinguished compliment paid to him from America. Other colonies, I hear, approving the thing, set on foot private subscriptions, a plan infinitely short of your's in nobleness and dignity. You may be assured, gent'emen, it shall be my earnest endeavor that your orders be obeyed in the completest manner possible. I have, since the receipt of your epistle, been employed in making the most diligent inquiry as to the repute and estimation in which the several artists in this way stand, and next in going to them to take a view of their works and to collect from their several opinions as well as to the manner in which your directions may be carried into execution, as to the price and the time requisite for finishing the same. Rouvillac is dead; Risbach has left off business; of the several that remain, Mr. Wilton and Mr. Reid are of the first note and eminence. Both appear to have great skill, but the preference, I find, is given to the former. I have, therefore, made choice of him to give my orders to, to which I have been the rather induced, as he has signalized himself remarkably by a statue of Mr. Pitt, finished this spring, for the city of Cork, and admired by every body here before sent to Ireland. The city of Cork, when they asked the above favor of Mr. Pi't, begged his recommendation of the person he would choose it should be done by, and Mr. Wilton was honored therewith. In this gentleman's offices, I saw, likewise, two busts of him, to be sent to Ireland very shortly; and which, for likeness and workmanship both, are very greatly admired. I mention these circumstances that you may know the motives for the preference I have given-being myself extremely anxious to have your's finished in the most elegant style, though I have been a good deal perplexed notwithstanding, your letter not being sufficiently explicit where to be placed, this being a circum stance that must make a very material difference in the execution. If to be set in any room, or niche in any building, the figure must be less in size than if placed in a square or open area; so likewise the pedestal, in order to produce a good effect in the open air. These are the sentiments of Mr. Wilton, and of all the artists in general. At present I have given in your directions to have him at full length, in a speaking attitude and suitable dress, with a roll in one hand, inscribed Magna Charta, and a proper pedestal to it, that he may turn in his mind in what design to execute it. In the mean time I may learn either from some correspondent to the merchants of tolerable authority, or from persons who are lately come, or may arrive by the next vessels, what the idea and intention are at Charleston. As to the expense, I cannot send you any precise information. The artists vary in their accounts, but much must depend on the design. In general they talk of from five to eight hundred guineas, if it be set in an open square, which seems the noblest scheme. Till a model of the design is finished, there is no making any agreement with propriety, as that might be a means of limiting his fancy in the ornamental part about the pedesdal. I don't find it practicable to finish the models of the statue and pedestal, and, afterwards, the marble therefrom, in less than fifteen or eighteen months. ***** I am, gentlemen, with great respect, your very faithful and most obedient humble servant CHARLES GARTH I understand that the whole of Mr. Garth's correspondence, as agent of the colony, with the Provincial House of Commons, is in existence at Columbia. consideration, being the first business entered upon this meeting. It was then determined by the House to have it fixed in the most public part of our town, where two of the broadest and longest of our streets that run east and west and north and south, intersect each other at right angles, one of which is sixty, the other seventy feet wide, and both as straight as an arrow. In the cross-way of these two streets the statue is proposed to be erected, and will have our New Church, our New Market, the State House and Armory, all public buildings, at the several corners of it. Mr. Wilton's form, designed for an open space, is thought rather too stiff in its attitude. However, we have no additional directions to give on this matter, further than that you will consult the best connoisseurs, and have it finished in the most elegant manner, excepting that too great care cannot be taken to have the marble as hard, solid, and smoothly polished as possible, because of the many sudden and violent showers of rain that happen here in the summer time, and those frequently followed by such piercing and intense heat of the sun, as would (without such precaution) quickly penetrate into cracks and less solid parts, and, hereby, soon spoil the beauty of the statue." There were two designs of the proposed statue by Mr. Wilton sent out to Charleston by Mr. Garth, which are now in the possession of that admirable artist and accomplished gentleman, Charles Fraser, Esq. The provincial House of Assembly became quite impatient for the arrival of the statue, for, on the 4th of July, 1769, they disagreed to a petition to retain it some time in England, and ordered it to be sent out to Charleston as soon as finished. The supplement to the South Carolina Gazette of May 17th, 1770, contains the following paragraph: "This day arrived here in the ship Carolina Packet, Captain William White, from London, in 38 days, the marble statue of that celebrated English patriot, the Right Honorable William |