The Capitol Dome

18 the victory at Yorktown (October 1781) showed what allied French and American forces could accomplish. Morris was no doubt hinting what might yet be expected from Spain. 2 On 8 May 1783, while in Philadelphia to settle his public accounts with the Confederation government (which included money borrowed from Gálvez), Pollock wrote Congress's President Elias Boudinot about the Spanish general's "signal Attachment . . . to the Interest of the United States and the repeated services he rendered to their Cause." Activated by "the liveliest sense of Gratitude" and "Penetrated with respectfull Attachment[,] I requested & obtained his Excellency's Portrait with the view of pre- senting it to the United States. I flattered myself that the representation of so early & so warm a friend could be agree- able to Congress, and under that Conception I pray leave now Sir to Solicite their Acceptance of it." Congress ordered Boudinot to inform Pollock "that Congress in consider- ation of the early and zealous friendship of Don B. de Galvez late govr of Louisiana do accept the present of his Portrait," and "Resolved, at the Secretary do cause the same to be placed in the room in which Congress meet." e next day, Boudinot wrote to Pollock "that Congress have chearfully accepted the portrait [italics added]." Another letter Boudi- not wrote just a few weeks later bears a timely significance: addressed to Gálvez himself, it requested "your Excellency's patronage and interposition" in Pollock's executing his duties as Congress's newly-appointed commercial agent in Havana, Cuba. 3 at is how Gálvez's portrait fits into the tradition of portrait diplomacy. Everyone got something out of the trans- action: Gálvez favored Pollock and the Congress by giving them his portrait; Pollock then favored Congress by giing the portrait to the very men who were tasked with settling his public accounts (ideally, in Pollock's and Gálvez's favor); Congress favored Gálvez by graciously accepting the por- trait and displaying it where it loudly broadcast Spain's friendship while signaling Congress's hope for even closer relations with Gálvez—and his boss, Carlos III. But what of the portrait itself? In the same letter acknowledging Congress's receipt, and only one day aer the portrait was ordered to be hung in their meeting place, Boudinot mentions a mysterious new twist—informing Pollock that Congress "have directed me to cause it to be hung up in the Hall of the Presidents House." Boudinot's new instructions are unjournalized; indeed, aer 8 May, no other action on the portrait is recorded in the Journal of the Confederation Congress. Perhaps the resolution of 8 May was intended to be of short duration—placing the painting on temporary display in Congress's meeting room (in Inde- pendence Hall) until a more permanent location could be found (in Boudinot's residence). Or perhaps "the Presidents House" itself was deemed merely a temporary location. e Mutiny of 1783 probably determined just how tem- porary it would be. When units of the Continental Army's Pennsylvania Line demanded back pay from the state legisla- ture by surrounding its meeting place (Independence Hall), just weeks aer Gálvez's portrait was received in its meeting room upstairs, Congress decided it ought not to rely on a state government for its security and moved temporarily to Princeton, New Jersey. Whether the portrait made it into or out of Princeton is unknown. In March 1785, shortly aer Congress convened for the rest of its short existence in New York City, omas Lee Shippen wrote a vivid description of the decor, dining, and domestic life within the "Palace" occupied by his uncle, President Richard Henry Lee. He makes no reference to Gálvez's portrait. 4 Within months, John Jay was involved in tortured and ultimately unsuc- cessful negotiations with Spanish diplomats over a treaty that would have to wait another ten years before settling long-standing boundary and commercial issues. Meanwhile, Gálvez's portrait remained a victim of neglect; Boudinot's letter of 9 May 1783 remains the last known reference to anyone's seeing Oliver Pollock's portrait of Bernardo de Gálvez. -William diGiacomantonio A GIFT RESTORED D ecember 2014 was a good month for Bernardo de Gálvez. Aer 231 years, Congress honored a promise made in 1783 to hang a portrait of Gálvez in the U.S. Capitol. Two days later, Congress also granted honorary citizenship to the Spanish hero of the American Revolutionary War. In the words of the enacting legislation, "honorary citi- zenship is and should remain an extraordinary honor not lightly conferred nor frequently granted." In fact, only seven individuals had been so honored prior to Gálvez, begin- ning with Britain's most famous prime minister of modern times, Winston Churchill, in 1963. e others include two Revolutionar y War heroes (the Marquis de Lafayette and Poland's Casimir Pulaski), two humanitarian leaders (Raoul Wallenberg and Mother Teresa), and a husband- wife team who lived decades before there was even a United States in which to claim citizenship (Pennsylvania's colonial founder William Penn and Anna Callowhill Penn). No legal rights or privileges are granted by honorary citizenship; for example, it does not confer the right to a U.S. passport. But THE CAPITOL DOME

• Cover