26 
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
nations. In tracing that history, it is gratifying to perceive that 
while literature and the arts contribute so largely to improve and 
refine mankind, they have flourished most in those countries 
where free institutions prevailed, and where liberty loved to 
dwell. In other countries, a taste for literature and the fine 
arts is confined to a favored few — the aristocracy of birth, of 
wealth, or of talent; and there such a distribution is natural and 
may be sufficient, because these classes alone govern those 
countries. Here, the people reign — all power is centered in 
them ; and if we would have them not only maintain their ascend- 
ency, but use their power discreetly, no expense or pains should 
be spared to inspire them with a love of literature, and a taste 
for the fine arts. To effect this, the effort must be made here. 
It must originate at the seat of Government, and spread from 
this place over the populous plains and fertile valleys of the 
land. Could a greater curse fall upon this country than that 
the sons of the intelligent, and enlightened, and virtuous men 
who achieved our independence and secured our freedom, 
should become less intelligent, less enlightened, and less vir- 
tuous than their sires? That these valleys and plains, instead 
of teeming with a race burning with the love of freedom, and 
ever ready and able to vindicate their rights, should be filled by 
a people supine and ignorant, the fitting tools of demagogues 
and tyrants? 
“In a free country, literature may and will flourish by the 
well directed efforts of individuals; but the arts require the pro- 
tecting hand of Government. They owe their origin, their 
progress, and their present condition to that source and to reli- 
gious enthusiasm. Their first object was to personify the god- 
like forms of heathen idolatry, and to hand down to posterity 
the image of the heroes to whom a nation owed its gratitude. 
They subsequently became the means of recording the miracles 
of the true faith, and of spreading the history of the Christian 
church over the world. In our favored land, they would com- 
memorate the heroic deeds of our forefathers, their achieve- 
ments and sacrifices in the cause of independence, their deep 
devotion to the freedom of their country. To a certain extent, 
this has been effected by the liberality of Government; statues 
have been erected, paintings executed, and medals struck by 
