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Show THE BULLETIN His Painting of a Battle in the American Revolution Became the Passport That Took Him Out of Danger in the French Revolution By ELMO SCOTT WATSON (Bales by Wcitera Newspaper Union.) THE afternoon of 17, 1775, a young teacher who had enlisted in the Patriot army at the outbreak of the Revolution and become adjutant of a Connecticut regiment stationed at Roxbury, stood on a hill there and gazed upon a battle scene which he was to help make immortal. He saw 3,000 British redcoats march up Breed's Hill. '. . . battalions in an extended front of men three deep, with volley firing by platoons in regular sequence. He saw the 1,200 New England's miliTHE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL tia, crouching behind their (Froa tat fUatiui by John Trumbull im (ft Yalt Ait Callny ) hastily -- erected fortifications on the hill, holding their fire compliment to the young Ameri- him, adding that the Americans can. must pay money for any favors "until you can see the whites Thomas Jefferson, American a nation that they got from of their eyes." minister to France, also saw the the French. ON He saw the long lines of scarlet-cla- d men crumble under the murderous hail of lead, reel back down the hill, then reform and, with bulldog courage, advance once more. He saw them beaten back again but once more they came on this time with bayonets. And because the supply of ammunition, of the defenders of the hill was exhausted, this time the attackers were successful. But their victory was dearly won they had lost 1,054 men killed and wounded, among them 89 commissioned officers, as compared to the Patriot's loss of 420 killed and wounded and 30 prisoners. Praised by Copley. Years later this young schoolteacher was to paint that memorable scene and, by a strange quirk of fate, this very painting was to save his life during a revolutionary struggle in another land. For this young Connecticut Yankee was John Trumbull, who as a student at Harvard had won the praise of the distinguished artist, John Singleton Copley, for his skill at painting. That skill was soon put to good use. When George Washington arrived at Cambridge to take command of the newly formed Trumbull Continental army learned that he wished an accurate drawing of the enemy's position. So at the risk of his life he crept close to British lines and made sketches which pleased Washington so much that he appointed Trumbull his second aide-de-cam- p. The young artist next attracted the attention of General Gates and, when Gates went to Ticon-deroto assume command of the Northern department, Trumbull went along as his adjutant-generwith the rank of colonel. In 1778 he accompanied General Sullivan as a volunteer on his expedition against the British in Rhode Island. When it proved unsuccessful, Trumbull returned to Boston, resolved to give up his career as a soldier permanently and devote his life to painting. In May, 1780, he sailed for Paris where he called on Benjamin Franklin and told him of his desire to study under the great Benjamin West in London. Armed with a letter of introduction he went to London and West put him to work. When Major Andre, the British in America, was adjutant-genercaught and hanged, the young painter who had been an Amerseemed to ican adjutant-genera- l, the British to be the logical map to be used for reprisal. Trumbull might well have, pleaded that there was little similarity between his case and Andre's, that he was in London only as a paint er and that he was there by per mission of Lord Germain, the In British foreign minister. Yankee truculent the young stead, boasted that he had been aide to that "arch rebel," George Wash ington, and that he was proud of it. In an English Prison. Confined in Tuthill Bridewell, Trumbull may have had some un easy moments as to what his fate would be. But if he did have them, he gave no sign and calmly went on with his painting. Mean while, his Tory friends, West and Copley, were working in his in terests and after seven months succeeded in gaining his release, Trumbull returned to America immediately but when hostilities ended he went back to London again to work under West. With the spell of his country's victory still fresh upon him he conceived the idea of commemo rating the principal events of the Revolution in a series of large paintings. His first was the pic ture of one he had seen, even though it was from a distance the Battle of Bunker Hill. The great Sir Joshua Reynolds, visit ing West s studio, saw this pic ture and. believing it to be West's work, praised him for it a high ga al al painting when he visited London and immediately recognized the genius of his compatriot. He invited Trumbull to come to Paris as his. guest and introduced him to some of the leading French painters and sculptors. For some time Trumbull had been planning to paint the most important scene in the history of the Revolution the Signing of the Declaration of Independence. There in the home of its author, and aided by that author's suggestions, he made the first sketches of the picture. Returning to London Trumbull arranged the composition so that he could add the portraits of the signers as the opportunity offered. John Adams was just leaving his post as ambassador to the Court of St. Fifty years after Bunker Hill, the earner stone of the monument which marks the site of the battle was laid. Lafayette was present But the outstanding figure there was Daniel Webster, then rising to his heights as public speaker, who was chosen to give the dedicatory address, which has become one of the classics of American oratory. From an eye witness, Samuel Griswold Goodrich, we have this description of that historic event and the "man of the hour": The first time I ever saw Mr. Webster was on the seventeenth of June, 1825, at the laying of the corner stone of the Bunker Hill monument I shall never forget his' appearance as he strode across the open area, encircled by some fifty thousand persons-m- en and women waiting for the "Orator of the Day," nor the shout that simultaneously burst forth, as he was recognized, carrying up to the skies the name of "Webster!" "Webster!" "Web Modem Iraq, Adam's Home ster!" It was one of those lovely days in June, when the sun is bright, the air clear, and the breath of nature so sweet and pure as to fill every bosom with a grateful joy in the mere consciousness of existence. There were present long files of soldiers in their holi day attire; there were many associations, with their mottoed banners: there were lodges and grand lodges, in white aprons and blue scarfs; there were miles of citizens from the town and the country round about; there were 200 d men, remnants of the days of the Revolution; there was among them a stranger, of great mildness and dignity of appearance, on whom all eyes rested, and when his name was known the air echoed with the cry "Welcome, welcome, Lafayette!" Around all this scene was a rainbow of beauty such as New England alone can furnish. I have seen many public festivi ties and ceremonials, but never one, taken all together, of more general interest than this. Web ster was in the very zenith of his fame and powers. There was grandeur in his form, an intelligence in his deep dark eye, a loftiness in his expansive brow, a significance in his arched up, ' altogether beyond those of any other human being I ever saw. And these, on the occasion to which I allude, had their full expression and interpretation. In general the oration was seri ous, lull of weighty thought ana Occasionally deep reflection. there were flashes of fine imagination, and several passages of deep, overwhelming emotion. was near the speaker, and not only heard every word, but I saw every movement of his countenance. When he came to address the few scarred and time-wor-n veterans some forty in number who had shared in the bloody scene which all had now gathered to commemorate, he paused a Appeals to Plnckney. Nor could Charles C. Pinckney of South Carolina. American minister to France, (who was later to be credited with the immortal "Millions for defense but not one cent for tribute 1" in re ply to another French blackmail ing demand) do anything for him, In fact, he told Trumbull that both .of them were as likely as not to find themselves in the Tem ple prison and on the way to the guillotine! Then Trumbull decided to go to see Louis David, his old friend r. and David was how a subordinate of Robespierre and, although Trumbull regarded him as much a murderer as Robespierre, he regarded David's intercession, as his only hope. He found the French paint er at the Louvre and was greeted When David learned warmly. that Trumbull had his Bunker hui painting with him he ex claimed: "That picture is worth many passports! So he urged Trumbull to hurry to his hotel and get the painting (which was small enough for him to carry under his arm) and then come with him to the police pre fecture. As they entered, every one stood aside respectfully for the "great Republican 'painter, David," and gazed curiously at bis companion, the "notorious suspect." Showing the picture to the chief of police, David stated that the American with him had been in this battle against the hated English and ended his voluble explanation with the declara JOHN TRUMBULL tion: "He is as good a Revolu James and his was the first por- tionist as any of us! trait painted in. A few months 'His Blood Run Cold.' later the painter went back to Although Trumbull later said Paris and added Jefferson s. that it made his blood run cold Then the French. Revolution to hear himself described as the put an end to Trumbull's work in same type of Revolutionist as his Paris. In October, 1789, both he friend (who had told him that it and Jefferson returned to Amer would have been better for the ica. Arriving in New York Trum Republic if 5,000 more aristocrats bull found that the Constitution had been guillotined), he was had been adopted and Washing greatly relieved when informed ton elected President. Here the that he would be given a passport portraits of Richard Henry Lee, out of France. He set out imme Francis Lewis, George Clinton. diately for Calais so as to be Lewis Morris and Roger Sher safely aboard a ship for England man were soon added to his can before the police could change vas. their minds and have him arrest ed. He arrived there safely and More Portraits Added. The next spring the artist went never again returned to France, Trumbull was in England durto Philadelphia where he spent the War of 1812 and then reing more three months adding porhis moment, and, as he uttered the traits. During the fall of 1790 turned to America to finish men," his Trumbull was in Boston and New painting of "The Signing of the words "Venerable of Independence voice trembled, and I could see a Hampshire, painting the portraits Declaration cloud pass over the sea of faces of John Hancock, Samuel Adams, that turned upon the speaker, Robert Treat Paine, Josiah Bart-le- tt When at last, alluding to the death and on subsequent visits to of Warren, he said "But ah, Charleston, S. C, Philadelphia, Him! the first great martyr of New York and Boston added this great cause. Him, the patri others. otic victim of his own The end of Trumbull's great ing heart Him, cut off by Provi project was almost in sight when dence in the hour of overwhelm political troubles at home and ing anxiety and thick gloom; fallwar abroad turned his interest of ing ere he saw the star of his friends his and the interest country rise how shall I struggle from the arts to these more presswith the emotions that stifle the ing problems. In 1794 Trumbull utterance of thy name!" Here was appointed secretary to John the eyes of the veterans- around to him and accompanied Jay little accustomed to tears, were England to aid in the negotiations filled to the brim, and some of which resulted in the famous them "sobbed aloud in their full For the next Jay's Treaty. ness of heart." The orator went decade he was not a painter but on: in American an agent Europe, "Our poor work may perish, commisa time as of the part but thine shall endure; this mon sioner carrying out the stipulaument may moulder away, the tions of that treaty. Solid ground it rests upon may At this point his painting of the Battle of Bunker Hill conies back and three others "The Surren sink down to the level of the sea into the story in one of the most der, of General Burgoyne," "The but thy memory shall not fail dramatic incidents in the life of Surrender of Lord Cornwallis," Wherever among men a heart that beats to. the any artist. In 1797 Trumbull was and "Washington Resigning His shall be found and libof patriotism transports in Paris on his way back from Commission." His last years claim shall its aspirations erty, Stuttgart, Germany, where a cer- were saddened by illness and kindred with thy spirit!" tain Ilerr Mullcr had made an poverty. Finally in 1831, he arI have never seen such an ef engraving of his Bunker Hill pic- ranged with Yale college to give ture. that institution his unsold paint- fect, from a single passage; Robespierre was in power and ings for an annuity of $1,000 for moment before, every bosom the Reign of Terror had started. the remainder of his life, which bent, every brow was clouded every eye was dim. Lifted as by Suddenly the American painter ended on November 10, 1843. found himself on the "suspect That is why the Yale art gal inspiration, every breast seemed list" (possibly because of his lery is today one of America's now to expand, every gaze to turn For above, every face to beam with part in negotiating the Jay treaty greatest patriotic shrines. which was very unpopular in on its walls hang several of John a holy yet exulting enthusiasm, among It was the omnipotence of eloFrance) and not allowed to leave Trumbull's paintings, the country. Trumbull appealed them, "The Battle of Bunker quence, which, like the agitated to Talleyrand, the French foreign Hill" which once served as a sea. carries a host upon its minister, who was affable enough "passport" out of Revolutionary waves, sinking and swelling with its irresistible undulations. but said he could do nothing for France. gray-haire- fellow-painte- - self-dev- IlasNewKing Garden of Eden. Babel Tower Once Found In Country. Society, Prepared by National Gencraphie WNU Service. Washing too, D. C The death of King Ghazl the First of Iraq on April 4, resulting from an automobile crash, placed his small son on the throne under the guidance of a regent Little King Feisal II, four years old, now Is sovereign over the newest government in one of the oldest lands of history, for Iraq is the traditional homeland of Adam and Eve. The rich Mesopotamlan region, which was set up after the World war as Iraq, was one of the first lands to see the dawn of civilization. Scholars of ancient history designate a region in this country as the GarHere is His Majesty King Feisal den of Eden, point out where the Tower of Babnl rose and crumbled II, who U four yean old. lie sucwith the fan of Babylon, and Identify ceeded to the throne of Iraq on the ruined city from which Father the death of hit 'father, King Abraham set forth for the Land of Ghazi, who was hilled in an autoCanaan. Biblical and Persian eras mobile accident. were supplanted by the later times d of the Arabian Nights, when Iraq has discovered In recent the Sailor sailed from Basra years such accessories of the maand All Baba caught bis Forty chine age as airplanes, radios and Thieves In Baghdad. electric clocks; movies, and motor transport Now Produces OIL At (ancient capital of Baghdad The strip of Asia so familiar un routes der its old names has been making Iraq) converge three air whose modern "Magic Carpet" a new name for Itself as an increas passengers and mail from ingly important producer of oil to brings West the meet the machine age's rising peAmerican Busses Used. troleum thirst . Since 1933, Iraq's Where old caravan trails led, output of petroleum has quadrupled. busses with Two pipe lines have been built to American-mad- e motors now chug. In the carry oil over 600 miles from Kir-kuk. In northeastern Iraq, to the Garden of Eden is heard the whisports of Tripoli and Haifa on the tle of passing railway trains. Mediterranean. Much of the oil pro Though Germany's dream of a duction is under the control of railway was Interests. never realized, transportation by Ruled now by kings who trace rail and bus takes travelers from their ancestry to Mohammed, Iraq western Europe across Iraq to the is an Arabic- - peaking Mohammedan nation's No. 1 port of Basra, near country liberated by the World war the Persian gulf. .. Modern Irrigafrom Turkey. In size it ranks be tion projects are bringing tween New Mexico and Arizona, but moisture to land made desert by it has seven or eight times the pop Mongol destruction of early irrigaulation of either. tion works. Sin-ba- air-cool- ed Anglo-- "Berlin-to-Baghda- Iranian life-givi- Germany, Larger Than in 1914, Covets Pre-Wa- r World Empire With Germany's colonial demands expected to be pressed against European democracies momentarily, a comparison of modern Germany with the pre-wempire of Kaiser Wilhelm becomes newsworthy. la Europe proper, points out the National Geographic society, the Third Belch's empire now exceeds that of the Kaiser, thanks to acquisition of 65,031 square miles of territory containing1 18,000,100 people la the short period from 1935 to 1939. Bat Germany's overseas empire Is nil, having been mandated at Versailles to Britain, France, Japan, Belgium, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa, Valuable for their natural resources, the colonies If returned to Hitler would make Germany a dominant world power. The following charts outline the Belch's gains and losses through out the past 25 years: ar GERMANY'S VARYING SIZE SILHOUETTED IN STATISTICS (Table I) Bate Area in Square Miles Population 208,780 Germany, pre-w(Europe) German Empire, 1914, including possessions.. 1,239,064 180,961 Germany, 245.992 Germany, April 28, 1839 Post-wa- r gains in Europe 65,031 status Net gain over 37.212 Including a natural population Increase of 5.788.164. 84.925.993 77,382,637 60.242,327; 84,067.876 23.825.040 ar post-Veriaill- ei pre-w- ar TO THE ENLARGED GERMANY OF 1929 (Table II) STEPPING-STONE- S errltory Pate Sq. Miles 1935 738 Saar ...19,141.374 ' Former Rule Pop. Assets 820,000 League of Nations CoaL steel industry (German terri-- tory In 1914) Austria 1938 32.369 6,760,000 Independent Foodstuffs, fodder. timber, coal. Iron Sudetenland 1938 11,500 3,500,000 Czecho-Skrvaki- a Iron, Bohemia- - 1939 19,325 6.804,876 Czecho-Slovaki- a Foodstuffs, iron, ber, factories, hops, Memel 1939 radium, tim-ber, china, clay, coal, factories tim-Mora- silver, gold 152,000 Lithuania 1,099 (German terri-- tory in 1 Total Baltic shipping 1914) 65.031 18,036.876 PREFAB GERMANY'S OVERSEAS EMPIRE (Table III) Territory Camerooni Square Exported to Location Miles Population Germany West Africa 191,130 2,650,591 Palm Oil, rubber, ivory, - Caroline, Pclew and Pacific 806 52,264 Copra, cocoa Present Great BriU ain-Fran- ce phosphate Japan Marianne Is. Africa German 383,180 7,651,106 Africa German New Guinea New Guinea 97,660 (Bis- - marck Arch., Is.) Pacific German Samoa German S. W Africa Africa Kiaochow (including Tsingtao) England-Ea- st ivory, coffee, Belgium- sisal, Insect wax Portugal 753,000 Coffee, copra, Australia rubber, sandal wood, tortoise-Solomo- n shell . China lease Pacific Marshall Islands (24) Pacific Nauru 1.000 322,450 200 34,579 Copra, cocoa West Africa Total New Zealand 96.479 Guano Union of copper ore, animal prod- - So. Africa ucts, diamonds , 168.900 Shantung pongee. Japan silk, peanut and (Conquest) bean oil, straw braid 99-ye- Togoland Rubber, copra, 150 8 15,179 Japan Great Britain phosphates oil. Great Cocoa, palm Britain cotton, rubber 2,200 Copra 33.700 1.032,346 1,030,264 Phosphate 12.456.644 |