Arrival of the Statue of Washington. - The statue of Washington, recently captured by Gen. Hunter a Lexington, Va., arrived on Saturday evening and will be on exhibition at the fair buildings today. It is the first bronze statue ever cast of Washington. It will be one of the greatest features of the exhibition today. Let every person who reveres the memory of the great and good Washington avail themselves of this opportunity to see him as he appeared in the height of his glory and usefulness.
A bronze tablet accompanies the statue on which is the following inscription:
"The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, have caused this statue to be erected as a monument of affection and gratitude to George Washington, who uniting to the endowments of the Hero, the virtues of the Patriot, and exerting both in establishing the liberties of his county, has endeared his name to his fellow citizens, and given to the world an immortal example of true glory."
"Done in the year of Christ 1788, and n the year of the Commonwealth the 12th."
In our Sanitary Fair is to be seen a bronze statue of Washington that formerly stood in the town of Lexington. This statue was taken down from its ancient pedestal by our troops and transported in a wagon to Webster, from which point it was brought hither on Saturday. We must confess that we see nothing in the enterprise to command. We could not feel like congratulating the fair on Saturday night in the possession of this trophy. The bringing of it away from Lexington was an act of vandalism that must be objectionable to all right thinking people, irrespective of their hatred for the rebels who, have manifested so little appreciation of the usages of civilized war. Napoleon robbed the great galleries of Italy, stripping even the monasteries and churches of that ill-fated land of their works of art, and for so doing impartial history has severely condemned him. And so it will this act of Gen'l Hunter's, if he, indeed, is responsible for it. We hope that the government will not endorse the act by ordering the status to West Point, its reported destination. We have not even the poor excuse for such a performance that Napoleon had, who was waging war in a foreign people.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: July 1864