III. SOCIAL FUNCTIONS AND HOSPITALITIES EXTENDED TO THE FRENCH VISITORS IN NEW YORK, WASHINGTON, PHILADELPHIA, BOSTON AND ELSEWHERE

Upon their disembarkation, the visitors took rooms in the Hotel Vanderbilt. In the evening, they witnessed “Les Fourberies de Scapin” of Molière, played by the students of French in the College of the City of New York at the Carnegie Lyceum, and also the French version of an English play. On April 27, 1912, Mayor Gaynor received the delegation in the City Hall of New York and expressed his pleasure at their safe arrival in the city. M. Hanotaux replied that it was an honor to present their respects to the first citizen of the great city of New York. On the same day, members of the French delegation and members of the Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commissions were tendered a luncheon at the Metropolitan Club in New York by Hon. McDougall Hawkes, chairman of the American Board of the French Institute in the United States. Mr. Hawkes in a graceful address welcomed the guests and extended an invitation to the First Loan Exhibit of the Institute that afternoon. In the course of his address he said:

Your visit, Mons. Hanotaux, with other distinguished delegates from France, who have come on so flattering and pleasing a mission, will constitute a strong landmark in what has been so interestingly termed by the distinguished librarian of the city of Paris, Marcel Poëte, the intellectual expansion of France in the United States. This so-called expansion, based on intellectual relations between the two countries, is in fact a natural corollary to other relations, which for more than three centuries and a half, have inclined each towards the other in common sympathies. (Applause.)

He was followed by Ambassador Jusserand, Mayor Gaynor, Baron D’Estournelles de Constant, M. Louis Barthou, Mr. Paul Fuller, who spoke in French, and others. At the Loan Exposition that followed in the East Gallery of the building of the American Arts Society, John W. Alexander, President of the National Academy of Design and a Trustee of the French Institute in the United States, in a brief address spoke of the cordial reception given in France to students of art from this country and welcomed the delegation in a most cordial manner to the Institute. M. Fernand Cormon, President of the Fine Arts Academy of France, expressed his thanks for the cordial welcome they had received and declared that

such occasions as the opening of the Museum of French Art in this country would do much to bring artists of the two countries into closer communication and would multiply the means and the occasions, through which Americans and the French could better know and appreciate one another. For this good work, which has been so auspiciously begun to-day, you will have our active co-operation and I extend to you our sincere thanks. (Applause.)

On the following morning the members of the French delegation and the members of the Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commissions were received by former Senator William A. Clark at his Fifth Avenue home and shown through his unique and valuable art collections, in which the visitors expressed deep interest. They were surprised to find so extensive and rare a collection in private hands, and congratulated Senator Clark upon his acquisition and possession of it.

Members of the delegation took the afternoon train for Washington, where they were met by Mr. Chandler Hale, Third Assistant Secretary of State, an aide-de-camp of the President, and Count de Peretti de la Rocca, Counsellor to the French Ambassador. On April 29th they were accompanied by Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson, Major-General Leonard Wood, General Oliver and others on the Dolphin to Mount Vernon, where M. Hanotaux on behalf of his compatriots placed a wreath of flowers on the tomb of President Washington.

By courtesy of Byron, N. Y. City

On their return to Washington, Ambassador and Mme. Jusserand tendered them a reception at the French Embassy, which was attended by the diplomatic corps and others, and later the National Press Club also gave them a reception. In the evening Ambassador and Mrs. Jusserand gave them a dinner at the French Embassy, which was followed by a ball given by Mr. John Barrett at the Pan-American Building.

On Tuesday morning, April 30th, they visited the Congressional Library, the Supreme Court, the Senate and the House of Representatives and were then entertained at luncheon at the White House by President and Mrs. Taft, where informal expressions of good will concluded the Washington visit.

They returned to New York in the afternoon and were given a reception and dinner by La Compagnie Générale Transatlantique on board the new steamship France, said to be one of the most artistically decorated vessels that ever entered the harbor of New York and flying the largest American flag ever unfurled from the masthead of any vessel, the gift of Ambassador Robert Bacon to this ship on her maiden voyage. Members of the Champlain Tercentenary Commissions were also guests at the dinner, at which M. Paul Faguet, general agent of the company, presided. Among the speakers were M. J. Dal Piaz, director-general of the company, Ambassador Jusserand, M. Gabriel Hanotaux and others. Later in the evening, the Society of the Cincinnati held a reception at the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Alexander at No. 4 West 58th Street, at which the members of the French delegation and the members of the Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commissions were guests. On the following day, some members of the French delegation accompanied by Ambassador Robert Bacon went to Boston and were met by Prof. W. H. Schofield of Harvard and William Rotch, president of the Alliance Française at the south station. They were entertained at breakfast by Prof. Schofield and at luncheon by President Lowell of Harvard, where they addressed the students in French. Later in the afternoon they visited the State House and were presented to Governor Foss. Other members of the delegation went to Philadelphia, visited the University of Pennsylvania and Independence Hall, where they saw many portraits of notable persons, including those of Marquis de Lafayette, Count de Rochambeau, Count Matthieu Dumas, the general’s aide, and others, in which they were deeply interested. They were then entertained at luncheon by the Hon. Charlemagne Tower, former Ambassador to Germany, and Mrs. Tower, at which luncheon were Dr. and Mrs. S. Weir Mitchell, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Rosengarten and others.