Bill for Statute for General Washington at Williamsburg

In a bill to the Virginia General Assembly, George Wythe proposes renaming the College of William & Mary to the "Washington University," in honor of George Washington. Wythe also proposes erecting a statute of Washington in the university chapel and provides a design and inscription for the statue.

Manuscript text, 1783

Page 1

In grateful remembrance of of benefits, which, it is hoped, will be moreso permanent than they are extensive, be it enacted, that this university shall from hereafter be called Washington; that of the personage; after whom it is named, a marble statute, of the most exquisite sculpture which can be procured, be erected in the chapel, with the inscription upon the foot of the pedestal, to wit:

The students of this university,

affected with veneration for true nobility, the primordial and only genuine offspring of transcendent virtues and universal benevolence; and contemplating, with admiration, a character to which history perhaps doth not furnish a parallel, and to the glory of which panegyric cannot add splendor;

have devoted this monument to
Georgia Washington, a virginian,
who,
having delivered nations from tyranny,
in which achievement he performed every part of
a consummate general
an honest politician and
a good man
retiring to the private stations of
a patriot in the commonwealth, and
a citizen of the world,
beloved, applauded, revered,
content with the approbation of a mind conscious of its own purity and rectitude,
adorned with that wisdom which learning cannot bestow, and with more dignity than
the regal diadem or imperial purple can impart,
exhibited the rare example of
an accomplished hero."

That on the right hand side of the pedestal be a figure of Virtue, with a temple of fame, on the opposite side a figure of Concordia, followed by that of Frelicitas, and on the other side a representation of the reduction of York; and that, on the anniversary of that memorable event, namely the seventeenth day of October, the praises of that excellent and renowned prince be celebrated in an oration, to be pronounced by one of the students, and transmitted by the professors to the general assembly.

On Reverse

Bill for statute for Gen^l. Washington at W^msburg 1783

for the commemoration of general Washington

from the Honble. Mr. Wythe