§ MR. C. BERKELEYI rise to ask the noble Lord at the head of the Woods and Forests, whether any application has been made to him by the committee of the Wellington Statue to remove the scaffolding now remaining round the arch at Hyde Park corner; if so, at whose expense such removal is to take place; and whether any stipulation has been made with the committee for the re-erection of the scaffolding, and the ultimate removal of the statue?
§ VISCOUNT MORPETHIn answer to the hon. Member, I beg to state that I have received an intimation from the sub-committee of the Wellington Statue, that they have given directions to the sculptor to remove the remaining portion of the scaffolding which obstructs the view from Piccadilly on the north side. The sub-committee express an opinion that a sufficiently fair view of the statue cannot be obtained at present to enable the Government and the public to form a correct judgment as to the merits of the position of the statue. We certainly thought that a sufficiently fair view of the statue had already been obtained; but that is a question which we must leave to the decision of the sub-committee and the sculptor. The sub-committee stated, at the same time, that if, upon the removal of the remaining portion of the scaffolding, the opinion of the Government should still continue adverse to the statue continuing on its present site, they will, of course, hold themselves bound to defray the expense of the removal of the scaffolding. I think it unwise to incur fresh expense in connexion with the subject; but, as the sub-committee undertake the removal of the scaffolding on their own account, I do not feel called upon to object to it. It is the opinion of the Government that, upon the whole, the best site for the statue is the north side of Waterloo-place, where the light will be most advantageous to it.
§ MR. MACKINNONIs the noble Lord aware that, amongst the ancients, it was held to be a great indignity to an individual, either during his life or after his death, to remove any statue or trophy erected to his honour? Is the noble Lord also aware of another circumstance? I am about to put a question, though I ought to apologize for proposing it to so distinguished a classic. Is the noble Lord aware that, at Pompeii, an equestrian statue was erected over an arch in the same attitude 1356 as that of the Duke of Wellington? I have a print of the statue, and will let the noble Lord see it.
§ VISCOUNT MORPETHWhatever may have been the opinion of antiquity on the subject, it cannot, in modern times, be thought an indignity to any person to remove his statue from a place which is reckoned positively disadvantageous to its effect. With respect to what the hon. Member has said of Pompeii, I may observe, that art is not supposed to have been in its most palmy state when most structures in that city were raised, and that they were also liable to more violent modes of displacement than works of the present age.