They owe it to those who may come after them, that
they so manifest their gratitude that it will inspire succeeding
generations with a due sense of patriotism, and be an incentive to them
to rise above narrow and sinister purposes to the plane of exalted
virtues, and be stimulated to the performance of great actions.
Citizens of South Kingstown, the town in which he was born,--of
Newport, where he was reared, had his home in mature life, and is
buried;--together with the State and people at large, who have
participated in his glory, have been impelled by this common sense of
obligation to undertake the erection of a memorial statue of Commodore
Perry, a task, the execution of which was committed to a native artist,
and here is the artist's finished work.
The statue is designed to represent Perry, not as he was superintending
the cutting down of the forest for the construction of his ships; not as
he was meditating the plan of the battle of Lake Erie or the order of
its execution; not as he appeared the evening previous to the action
advising his subordinate commanders in the words of Nelson, "No captain
can do wrong if he places his ship alongside of that of an enemy;" nor
as he was opening the battle flag which bore upon its folds the dying
words of a gallant captain; not as he was leaving his wrecked ship with
the deck strewed with his dead and dying comrades, when by the received
cannons of naval warfare the Lawrence and the battle were lost; but as
he appeared in that supreme moment of his life, when he had just gained
the deck of the Niagara, before he had recovered his knocked-off cap,
and while in distinct succession he was giving orders to "Back the
main-top-sail," "Brail-up the main-try-sail," "Helm up" "Square the
yards," "Bear down on the enemy's line," "Set the top-gallant-sail,"
"Hoist the signal for close action," orders which infused new enthusiasm
into all the American crews; and as pendant answered pendant, from
mast-head to mast-head indicating the reception of the order to break
the enemy's lines, hearty cheers went up from the entire American force
with a fervor that presaged the result of the impending death struggle.
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