PROJECT FOE A MEMORIAL STATUE. 399 



at Stoke-upon- Trent, on Monday, January 24th, 1859, John 

 Eidgway, Esq.,* in the chair, when it was resolved 



"I. That the lapse of more than sixty years since the death of 

 Josiah Wedgwood, F.E.S., has applied the test of time to 

 his works, and shown that they possess the lasting power of 

 pleasing, not dependent on having been suited to the fashion 

 of his day ; which, combined with the permanent and general 

 usefulness of his labours, seems to point him out as a fit 

 subject for a public monument. 



" II. That a statue be erected to his honour by public subscrip- 

 tion, the character and locality to be left to the decision of 

 the subscribers. 



" Among the distinguished men who have too long waited for 

 a befitting recognition of their worth and services stands pre- 

 eminently Josiah Wedgwood. Prance has long honoured her 

 Palissy ; Germany her Boettcher ; Italy her Lucca del Eobbia ; 

 and all those countries assign equal honour to our Wedgwood. 

 Only his own country has, however, hitherto seemed reluctant to pro- 

 vide that memorial which his genius, his moral worth, his personal 

 example, and his signal services to his countrymen justly deserve. 

 Wedgwood, however, has never been forgotten ; and recently a tide 

 of reaction in favour of permanently honouring his memory by a 

 national monument has steadily set in ; and the lovers of genius, 

 art, practical sagacity, and moral earnestness, will be inexcusably 

 to blame if, before that tide ebbs, they have not secured a lasting 

 public tribute to his memory. At first sight, it may seem that 

 to put the monument into the shape of a handsome building devoted 

 to some useful public purpose would answer the double end of 

 honouring the dead, and furthering the welfare of the living ; but, 

 to do anything well, we must be content to kill one bird with one 

 stone ; and this scheme is no exception to the rule. The utility 

 must be suited to the present time, and therefore liable to grow out 

 of use. It must needs be connected with a considerable yearly 

 outlay, which must be met either by annual or occasional subscrip- 

 tion, or an endowment. If in the first way, perpetual trouble, 

 anxiety, and failure are entailed on the trustees, and certain 

 eventual ruin, or at best its separation from all monumental pur- 

 poses. If in the second way, will the general public be willing to 

 raise so large a sum as will be needed for purposes which, to be 



* Mr. Eidgway was the first mayor of Hanley. 



