The Champlain tercentenary

by New York . Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission; Henry Wayland Hill

IV. BANQUET AT THE WALDORF-ASTORIA HOTEL, NEW YORK CITY, MAY 1, 1912, AND PRESENTATION OF RODIN BUST “LA FRANCE”

All the members of the delegation returned to New York in the afternoon to attend the principal State banquet tendered to them under the auspices of the Lake Champlain Association and the Tercentenary Commissions of New York and Vermont at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in the evening of May 1, 1912. The Astor gallery of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel where the dinner was served, was beautifully decorated with flowers and the flags of the two nations, intertwined, emblematic of the intimate friendship existing between France and the United States. Elaborate and beautifully designed menu cards with photographs of the Champlain memorials and with the names of the French delegation were provided and all other ante-prandial arrangements had been carefully looked after by the Hon. Frank S. Witherbee and Percival Wilds, the president and secretary of the Lake Champlain Association, and by Hon. Howland Pell of the New York Tercentenary Commission, to all of whom much credit is due for the success of the banquet.

* * * * * Just in time to banquet
The illustrious company assembled here. * * *

On the dais were seated thirty-one of the distinguished guests, including President John H. Finley of the College of the City of New York, the Toastmaster, Ambassador Jusserand, Attorney-General George W. Wickersham, representing the President of the United States, General Horace Porter, former Ambassador to France, Hon. Robert Bacon, former Ambassador to France, Lieutenant-Governor Thomas F. Conway, Mayor William J. Gaynor, Hon. A. Barton Hepburn, members of the French delegation, some members of the Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commissions and others. The other members of the Tercentenary Commissions and the other guests were grouped around thirty-two separate tables, and among them were General Stewart L. Woodford, former Ambassador to Spain, Governor John A. Mead of Vermont, Hon. Francis Lynde Stetson, General Charles Davis, Adjutant-General William Verbeck, Hon. J. G. McCullough, Hon. Frank S. Witherbee, Hon. Henry W. Taft, Hon. Charles B. Alexander, Hon. McDougall Hawkes, Hon. William A. Clark, Stephen H. P. Pell, Esq., Philip Livingston, T. J. Oakley Rhinelander, Hon. Peter Barlow, Hon. Francis K. Pendleton, Hon. Rhinelander Waldo, Hon. Bird S. Coler, A. Eugene Gallatin, Hon. Edward W. Hatch, Hon. Chester B. McLaughlin, Bashford A. Dean, Esq., Hon. John F. O’Brien, Hon. Darwin P. Kingsley, Hon. Frederic R. Coudert, Dr. Lewis Francis, Viscount de Jean, Count Jacques de Portales, Count Henri de Saint Seine, Count de La Fayette, M. Étienne Marie Louis Lanel, Hon. Edward H. Butler, William P. Northrup and others.

The three hundred guests represented many of the historic families of France and America, which had played an important part in the history of the two countries. It was a notable assemblage and thoroughly representative of the official life, culture and best citizenship of the two nations.

After toasts to the President of the United States and to the President of France, the band played The Star Spangled Banner and La Marseillaise. Other national airs of France and the United States interspersed the speeches and were productive of convivial feeling.

President Finley had before him on the table the keystone taken from over the door of the birthplace of Samuel Champlain in Brouage. It was encircled by the French flags on the table. His illuminating and charming articles on “The French in the Heart of America,” commencing in Scribner’s Magazine for September, 1912, and continuing in succeeding numbers of that periodical, show the wide extent of the French settlements in America and something of America’s indebtedness to France.

Address of President John H. Finley

My selection (by those representing the two Champlain Tercentenary Commissions and by the Champlain Association, to whose officers the success of this great occasion is to be credited)—my selection for this office to-night is due to no fitness except the degree of my devotion to Champlain and the degree of my personal debt to France. So far as I know, I am the only man in New York, if not in the United States, who has ever made a pilgrimage to Champlain’s birthplace. And no man in America is more grateful to France for his own birthplace. It is not permitted me to speak my devotion to Champlain and my gratitude to France. I will let this silent stone speak for me—this fragment of rock from the coast of France, which was once a keystone in the arch over the doorway of the home in Brouage in which, by tradition, Champlain was born. I have brought it across the sea, in a French vessel, to rebuild it in some monument here or in Canada, or between the two countries. To-night it is garlanded by flowers grown in America—in tribute to that Brouage boy who has made American wildernesses blossom as the rose. And I pour upon its face a libation in the wine of the land for whose glory he dared, as a man, all perils of sea and land and died an exile beneath the gray rock of Quebec, Champlain!

This stone will speak more effectively than my strange vocabulary, the welcome I would give this most distinguished company from France to-day. Here is a bit of France, still unnaturalized, that will vibrate in all its particles with joy when it hears the voices that speak the most beautiful language on earth. (I have only a fear that it will disintegrate in its happiness.)

What I would have this stone say will have eloquent supplement in what will be said by those who represent the Nation, the States of New York and Vermont and the city of New York. These, gentlemen of France, it is my honor to present to you.

Those explorers, priests and coureurs des bois whom Champlain started out into the West gave to the world for all time (and to a new nation for some time at least) that most wonderful of all the valleys in the world, the Mississippi Valley. And it is a noteworthy fact that the three heads of the co-ordinate branches of our government come from that valley and from the banks of the rivers discovered by the French. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court comes from the River, which Sieur de La Salle with Tonty traced to the Gulf of Mexico. The Speaker of the House of Representatives comes from the banks of that tumultuous and shifting flood known as the Missouri, which Joliet and Marquette saw hurling great trees into the Mississippi. And the President of the United States comes from the banks of a river of that same valley, also discovered, in all probability, by the French,—the river along which they planted their plates of discovery, the river which they called La Belle Rivière. I propose the health of the geographical son of France, the President of the United States, who is represented here to-night by a member of his Cabinet, Attorney-General Wickersham. (Applause.)

As Dr. Finley poured a few drops of champagne over the stone the banqueters went to their feet and cheered enthusiastically. President Finley then presented Attorney-General Wickersham, delegated to represent the President, who spoke as follows:

Address of Attorney-General George W. Wickersham

Mr. Toastmaster, Mr. Ambassador, Members of the French Delegation, Ladies and Gentlemen.—In July, 1909, representatives of France, Canada and the United States, and of the several states bordering on Lake Champlain, united in celebrating the three hundredth anniversary of the discovery of that lake by the great pioneer, whose name it bears. That discovery itself was but the occasion for a savage combat between the Indians, whom Champlain accompanied and the ferocious Iroquois whom they encountered. Only one ray of light struggles through the miserable tale of barbaric celebration of the victory which the French firearms enabled the Hurons to win over their enemies. That ray was the half successful effort made by Champlain to check the infliction by his Indian companions of the usual fiendish tortures upon their prisoners.

Je leur remonstrois que nous n’usions point de ces cruautez, wrote Champlain in the account of his Journeys (Voyages), et que nous les faisions mourir tout d’un coup, et que s’ils vouloyent que je luy donnasse un coup d’arquebuse, j’en serois content. Ils dirent que non, et qu’il ne sentiroit point de mal. Je m’en allay d’avec eux comme fasché de voir tant de cruautez qu’ils exercoient sur ce corps. Comme ils virent que je n’en estois contant, ils m’appelerent et me dirent que je luy donnasse un coup d’arquebuse: ce que je fis, sans qu’il en vist rien; et luy fis passer tous les tourmens qu’il devoit souffrir, d’un coup, plustost que de la voir tyranniser. (Voyages, Oeuvres de Champlain, III, pp. 197-8. Quebec, 1870.)

(I objected that we did not practice these cruelties, and that we killed our enemies with one blow; that I would be content if they would let me shoot him with my arquebuse. They said no; that he felt no pain. I turned away from them as though angered at such cruelty as they were inflicting upon the wretch. Seeing that I was vexed, they called me back and said I could shoot him with my arquebuse, which I did, without his knowing anything, thus ending the agony which he was suffering at one shot, rather than to see him further tormented.)

In all the history of this man we find him the same—brave, simple, humane, unselfish; the embodiment of patriotism and piety—an example of the finest manly qualities.

It was, therefore, fitting that in perpetual memory of Samuel Champlain there should be erected at the scene of the combat that signalized the discovery of this lake—that same Crown Point that a century and a quarter later was one of the first places to fall before the arms of American colonials in the War of Independence—a lighthouse, whose beams shining through the darkness of the night, even as the compassion of the good Champlain lightened the path of Stygian horrors to the poor suffering savage whose miseries he ended, may warn and guide the mariners on those dangerous waters, through dark and stormy nights, to the safe haven where they would be.

And it is, therefore, a worthy object that brings this Embassy of the French Nation from over seas to install at that lighthouse a bronze bas-relief of France, wrought by the hands of one of the greatest of living sculptors—that Rodin, whose name is as well known in America as in his native country; a token which will remain there as an abiding symbol of the intimate part and mighty influence which the French people have had in the history and development of America.

How many illustrious French names are written in the history of this continent, from the earliest days of struggle with the miseries of rigorous climate and savage aborigines, down to the cession by Napoleon of the vast territory of Louisiana! What a roll of noble names of men who sacrificed all that makes life pleasant, in the pursuit of ideals in which no thought of self entered, save the hope and vision of that day when they should be greeted with the words:

Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

The names of Cartier, Le Jeune, Brébeuf, Lalemant, La Salle, Joliet, Frontenac, Hennepin, Marquette, Champlain, and many others rise before us. But among them all, none is more worthy to be remembered than that of Samuel de Champlain. When, in 1640, Père Le Jeune visited a place in the country of the Hurons where Champlain had stopped longest in a journey he had made there twenty-two years before, he recorded that,

sa reputation vit encore dans l’esprit de ces peuples barbares, qui honorent mesme après tant d’années plusieurs belles vertus qu’ils admiroient en luy, et particulierement sa chasteté et continence envers les femmes.

(his reputation still lives in the minds of these barbarous peoples, who honor, even after so many years, many excellent virtues which they admired in him, and in particular his chastity and continence with respect to the women).

And the good Le Jeune exclaims:

Pleust à Dieu que tous les François qui les premiers sont venus en ces contrées lui eussent esté semblables. (Jesuit Relations, Vol. XX, p. 18.)

(Would to God that all the French who came first to this country had been like unto him.)

In 1599, several years before coming to Canada, Champlain visited the Isthmus of Panama, and noted that if a canal were cut across it one could pass from one ocean to the other, thus shortening the distance from Spain to Peru by more than fifteen hundred leagues. And as this Frenchman was the first[2] to lay that project of the Panama Canal before the world, so another great Frenchman, de Lesseps, was the first to put the idea into practical application; and after proving that its accomplishment was only possible if undertaken by a Government, to hand it over to the traditional friend of France,—its successor in the ownership of the great territory of Louisiana—to complete the divorcement of the continent, which, as Champlain wrote, would divide America into two islands: one from Panama to the Straits of Magellan, and the other from Panama to the new lands (Terres Noeufves).

In 1878 we celebrated the centennial anniversary of the Treaty of Alliance, and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, with France.

In 1903 we celebrated the centennial anniversary of the Treaty of Cession of Louisiana.

In 1904 we concluded the purchase from the French Panama Canal Company of its interests in the Isthmian Canal.

In 1909 we celebrated the three hundredth anniversary of the discovery by Champlain of the great lake with which his name is forever linked.

To-night, in the name and on behalf of the President of the United States, I welcome the Embassy from the French people that brings to the American people a token of the perpetual friendship which an indissoluble union in the past makes sure of continuance in the future.

No more distinguished or representative Embassy has ever come bearing the greetings of one people to another. Glancing over the names of those that comprise it, one sees those of the most distinguished exponents of all that is best in French national life. History, Literature, Art, Journalism; the cause of International Peace, and Arms, which ensure its continuance; Industry, Commerce and Sport—all these are represented. To one and all of you, America extends a welcome. And in the name, and on behalf, of the President of the United States I accept this bronze relief of France, which will be erected on the lighthouse at Crown Point, as a perpetual reminder of the good will of that people who are united with us by the memory of many evidences of disinterested friendship in the past and of a common devotion to Republican principles in the present. (Applause.)

President Finley then introduced Ambassador Jusserand as follows:

We welcome the special embassies that come from time to time, but that is partly because of our affection and admiration for the permanent Ambassador from the Republic of France. It was rumored a few days ago that he was to be promoted to another court. Of course, in our opinion transfer to another court is not a promotion. But in any event, we are sure of this: that court is the most fortunate to whose sovereign he is accredited. I propose the health of the sovereign who has accredited him to us, the President of the French Republic.

Address of Ambassador Jusserand

I have been accredited to the United States almost ten years, and although this beats the record of any of my predecessors, from the founding of this Republic, this space of time, spent in such a friendly country, among a people that has never allowed me to feel that I was not in my own land, has passed for me like a day. What has just been said by our Chairman, an historian, a thinker, a man of action, a scientist who has delighted the French of to-day by his studies of the French of the past, showing to both a similar broad sympathy, touches me deeply. I cannot imagine with the sound of his words in my ears, what amount of time would ever seem long to me, in a post where the President of the French Republic and his representative are spoken of in such a fashion by such a friend.

It was my privilege, three years ago, to attend, in the society of the President of the United States, memorable ceremonies, lasting several days, held by the Sons of America in honor of a son of France, Samuel Champlain. The year was a busy one for President Taft, since it was a tariff year, yet he did not hesitate to lend his presence to festivities for which, in every bay, on every promontory, in every city, his eloquence, good humor and good grace were in ceaseless request. He had been advised that one speech would be expected of him, and I had received the same notification; so we had each prepared one, but he had to deliver six and I five; Ambassador Bryce had a similar fate, such being the way of the world, and especially of the New World.

Many of you, I am sure, remember the grandeur of the ceremonies to which a peerless landscape lent its lovely background, and the summer sun its splendor, and the Champlain Commission the charms of a most gracious hospitality; the visits to Ticonderoga just rising from its ruins, to Bluff Point, Plattsburgh, Burlington; the excellent addresses of President Taft, of Ambassador Bryce, Senator Root, Mr. Lemieux of Canada and so many others, and you remember too with what alacrity New York and Vermont vied with each other, Governor Hughes and Governor Prouty making everybody welcome and delighting innumerable hearers with the wit and wisdom of their speeches.

But this was not enough, and with that warmth of heart so characteristic of this nation, you have desired that permanent memorials should, to the end of time, bear testimony to the gratitude due to Champlain, not only for the discoveries he made, but also for the examples he left us. When this intention became known to my compatriots, it profoundly touched them, and they begged permission to take part in these homages, thus evidencing once more, the unity of feeling between the two Republics east and west of the great Ocean. Hence the coming to these shores of the Delegation headed by Mr. Hanotaux which you are welcoming to-night, a representative one, where the French Academy, the French Parliament, the French Army, French art, science, industry, commerce, press and, let us not forget that Franco-American art, aviation, have their spokesmen.

The news of your intentions moved the more deeply the hearts of my compatriots that, after a long interruption, the task of Champlain, that task so well described by our Chairman of to-night, President Finley, in his Sorbonne lectures, has been resumed in the same spirit by our Republic of to-day.

“The French,” wrote in the sixteenth century the great Italian poet Tasso, “are by nature unable to stand still and do nothing. When they cease to be in action, they wither like the mechanism of a clock that gets rusty if not in use.” We have been in no danger in these latter years, of rusting. If, on several continents, success has attended our efforts, it is because we took our inspiration from the precepts and examples left by the far-off ancestors, Champlain and his peers. Justice, friendliness, a desire to help and improve, must ever be among the chief articles of the colonist’s creed. The one sense to which throughout the world, even the lowest type of humanity responds, is the sense of Justice.

Such was the opinion of your leaders too, of Washington above all others, who wrote to Lafayette: “The basis of our proceedings with the Indian nations has been and shall be Justice.” And, at this day, in the distant Philippine Islands, where schools have so much multiplied and President Taft has left, as a Governor, such noteworthy examples, this rule is known to be your rule.

As for our own men they felt in the same way, that the contact with the white man ought to be a blessing, not a bane, to the less advanced races. Champlain, Joliet, La Salle were of one mind and opposed to the best of their ability the sale of “fire-water” to the natives; and a similar principle continues in force to-day in your Indian reservations. As to the development of the country by slave labor or by that of hired servants, Charlevoix wrote those memorable words: “I should prefer the last. When the time of their service is expired, they become inhabitants and increase the number of the King’s natural subjects, whereas the first are always strangers: and who can be assured that, by continually increasing in our colonies, they will not one day become formidable enemies? Can we depend upon slaves who are only attached to us by fear and for whom the very land where they are born has not the dear name of Mother-country?”

In this, as is so often the case, interest and virtue combine: both give the colonist the same advice; which, as mankind progresses, it will be more and more dangerous to discard. The measure of success we have reached is, I hope, founded on no less stable a basis. What this success has been and whether we are or not worthy compatriots of Champlain, let those determine who have recently visited our colonial empire; and I for one would gladly abide by the judgment of such American travelers as Edgar Allen Forbes, in his Land of the White Helmet.

By this delegation an image is brought to you, the image of France. More than once before, under one form or another, when the struggle was for independence or for greatness, it appeared on these shores, and was a good omen. The exchange of tokens of friendship between two nations with so much in common in the past, so much in the future, with their similar aims, has been ceaseless. Be assured that our hearts beat in unison with yours, and will ever remember with gratitude what is now being done to honor a son of France by the states of New York and Vermont, and by that generous, hospitable, tireless committee, the Champlain Committee.

The ancients used to place amulets as harbingers of good luck in the foundations of their great buildings. The figure of France to be placed on the base of the Champlain monument is being offered to you, not merely as a thing of beauty, but also as an amulet to bring luck to a nation whom we have never ceased to love. (Applause.)

In presenting the next speaker, President Finley said:

A few weeks ago I was in great peril of losing my life by falling off the western boundary of the State of New York into the Niagara river. I was trying to follow the path of the Frenchmen who carried from Lake Ontario to a point several miles above the Falls, the equipment for the first sailing vessel to navigate the waters of the Upper Lakes. While I was climbing to a narrow ledge of rock covered with ice, a hundred feet above the river, I appreciated as never before the hardihood of the French explorers and the dearness of the soil of New York to me. I have a particular satisfaction in being able to stand here to-night and to introduce to you the Acting Governor of this Empire State, Governor Conway.

Address of Lieutenant-Governor Thomas F. Conway

The discovery of Lake Champlain, the tercentenary of which we celebrate, was an event of transcendent importance. Viewed from the standpoint of scenic grandeur, this magnificent body of water with its setting of mountains, valleys and islands, presents a picture of unrivaled beauty and sublimity unsurpassed upon the face of the earth. Viewed from the standpoint of history, the Champlain Valley was, from the time of its discovery until the close of the Revolution, the scene of events of world-wide interest; events that have had an important bearing upon the history of modern times. It was upon its shores the first battle between Champlain and the Iroquois was fought and, according to the most authentic evidence, at this identical spot that the plaque “La France” is to be placed. It was also upon its shores, near Ticonderoga, that the intrepid Montcalm defeated Lord Abercromby and, for the time, stayed the aggression of the English in their efforts to control the destinies of the Western world. It was upon its waters the first naval battle of the Revolution was fought, at Valcour, between Benedict Arnold, commanding the American fleet, and Sir Guy Carleton, commanding the British squadron. It was also upon its waters, in Plattsburgh Bay, that the last naval battle of the war of 1812 took place between the American fleet commanded by the brave Commodore Macdonough, and the British by the equally intrepid commander, Downie—a battle which is now considered one of the decisive battles of the world.

Its discovery, therefore, and the events surrounding and following it richly merited its tercentenary celebration and this, its culminating and crowning feature. Indeed, this celebration in itself is an event of striking significance. It stamps indelibly upon the life and work of Samuel Champlain the world’s verdict. It attests its judgment of their nobility and value and vindicates the judgment of his contemporaries in conferring high honor and commendation upon him.

It demonstrates in a most impressive manner the fact that nobility of character and unselfish devotion to ideals and purposes which lead upward and onward in human progress, constitute the true path to immortality of fame. Actuated by a desire to bring to the New World a knowledge of the faith, the philosophy and the civilization of his native land, more than by motives of conquest, or to extend its territorial dominion, he exemplified in his conduct the distinguishing traits of the colonial policy of his nation, which then and ever since has been characterized by a desire to confer benefits upon new subjects while acquiring dominion without bloodshed or destruction; its recognition of the right of every people to give expression to their ideals, their genius and their national aspirations in laws and institutions established by themselves.

The influence of his example and the effect of his work have been profound and abiding.

The first white man to set foot within the borders of what has become the Empire State of the Union, he doubtless was fired with the ambition to make it a part of New France. He found it peopled by the most powerful native tribes inhabiting the New World.

The Five Nations, represented in the Long House of the Iroquois, dominated the region, and were, and had been for more than a century thoroughly organized for defense and aggression. Its confederation evinced political genius of a high order. In their warfare with the Algonquians of the St. Lawrence Valley, and other native tribes, they had made the beautiful Champlain an almost constant scene of conflict and carnage; so much so that its fertile valleys and beautiful shores ceased to be inhabited, except as the various warrior bands camped upon them temporarily in their expeditions of plunder and destruction.

Later, in the prolonged struggles of the two greatest nations of the time, France and England, to establish their authority and enforce their respective civilizations upon the New World, the alliance of the Long House of the Iroquois with the English forces determined the conflict in their favor and thus ended the effort inaugurated by Champlain to establish the dominion of France over a large territory of which he was the discoverer.

While, as a result, the civic policy of the country was thereafter dominated by British power and influence down to the time of the Revolution, nevertheless, the memory of the valor and the heroism of explorers like Champlain and of missionaries like Marquette, La Salle, and their co-workers, left their enduring impress for good, not only upon the civilization of our State, but upon that of our whole country.

For all this we owe a debt of gratitude to France, hardly less than the debt we owe it for its unselfish and priceless assistance in our struggle for independence.

In the three hundred years since the discovery of the lake and region identified with the name of Champlain, the world has witnessed a greater advance in intelligence, in human progress, in the principle of liberty and in the recognition and protection by governments of the rights of the ordinary man, than in any similar period in recorded history.

To the intelligent observer it is evident that this advance is to-day progressing with undiminished force on the basis of individual freedom, individual responsibility and self-imposed restraint, which constitute the inspiration, the steadying force and the vitalizing principle of true progress.

Proof of all this confronts us in every land to-day; but, as convincing and pertinent evidence on this occasion, reference need only be made to progress in the region with which the name and fame of Samuel Champlain are imperishably associated.

I am glad that our distinguished guests from France are to visit that region and especially the beautiful lake bearing his name, and contrast existing conditions with the earlier scenes of savage warfare and bloodshed there enacted by the natives prior to Champlain’s advent, and subsequently, during the struggle for supremacy between the two great contending nations of that day.

We would have you see the peaceful and tranquil aspect of that beautiful lake now with its bosom dotted with splendid steamers, the instrumentalities of pleasure and commerce; the well equipped railroads skirting its shores, required and maintained by the enterprise and business activities there existing; the prosperous cities, the thriving villages, the well-kept and productive farms; the contented and happy homes; the schools, the churches, the hospitals, the charitable organizations; in short, every institution in which a most advanced civilization finds its best expression and through which it performs its best and most elevating service for mankind.

It will enable you to better understand and appreciate the depth of our gratitude to your great countryman and the meaning we attach to this celebration commemorating his achievements.

On behalf of the state of New York and its upwards of nine millions of inhabitants, for whom I have the privilege and honor to speak on this occasion, I extend to our distinguished guests from France a most cordial and heartfelt welcome.

And, if I may be permitted to anticipate a little, I will convey to them in advance and, through them, to their country, the appreciation and gratitude of our state and its people for the gift they bring and the honor they do us. It is the conception of a great artist, admirably typifying the ideals and aspirations of a great nation. I beg to assure you, our honored guests, that we will ever treasure it as an expression of the good will and friendship of our sister republic—France—placing the seal of its approval and appreciation on this celebration honoring the achievements of Samuel Champlain.

In closing, permit me to say that the recollection of your visit to our state and the motives that inspired it will ever be associated with the gift of your country, lending to it an element of personal interest as pleasing as it will be permanent in the minds and hearts of all who may have the privilege of meeting you during your visit. (Applause.)

By courtesy of Shover, Montpelier, Vt.

In alluding to the Governor of Vermont, President Finley remarked:

The Governor of Vermont, with rare forbearance, wishes to be excused from speaking. But as Jacques Cartier, nearly a century before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, saw, first of Europeans, the peaks of the Green mountains, so I wish you, from the land of the pilot of St. Malo, to see the topmost peak in Vermont to-day, its Governor, the Hon. John A. Mead.

Governor Mead stood and bowed to the audience. (Applause.)

The Toastmaster then introduced Mayor William J. Gaynor of New York City.

When in the most beautiful and largest city in the southwest of France a year ago (Bordeaux), I learned, to my surprise, that the great philosopher and essayist, Montaigne, had been its mayor. And it is possible that generations hence the distinction of Mr. Gaynor as Mayor may be surpassed even by his fame as a philosopher. Certainly no man in public life to-day is writing in his everyday letters with such pungency and appeal on some of the problems of life, which continue to disturb mankind.

Address of Mayor William J. Gaynor

I am sure, said the Mayor, I am quite willing to say nothing and to write another letter. (Laughter and applause.) This is the third time I have greeted the delegation from France. Once was at the City Hall and the other time was at a luncheon at the Metropolitan Club. And I am very anxious to hear M. Hanotaux. The coming of these gentlemen will cause us to think a great deal about what we owe to France and to the French people.

You women, the Mayor added, with his eyes twinkling, might well consider the economy of the woman of France. She knows her market prices and she goes to market. (Laughter and applause.) I think if some of you will follow her example the cost of living will begin to come down right away. (Laughter.)

There never was a time, I believe, when in the hearts of the American people there was any danger of forgetting what we owe to France. (Applause.)

President Finley then presented the French delegation as follows:

And now, ladies and gentlemen, how shall I characterize to you the men who constitute this notable delegation? I wish I were able to do so in my own tongue as did Baron d’Estournelles de Constant so eloquently a few days ago in an acquired tongue,—to tell you how this great historian and statesman, Hanotaux, has, with an art which only a Greek or a Frenchman could command, gathered into this company men representing every high interest of France to carry this symbol of international good will to our Republic and affix it to our monument, in eternal memory of their countryman.

Two members of the French Academy, M. René Bazin and M. Lamy; a foremost representative of the art of France, M. Cormon; two members of Parliament, one already our well-beloved friend, Sénateur Baron d’Estournelles de Constant, and M. Louis Barthou; the great geographer, Vidal de la Blache; General Lebon; the riders of the sea and the riders of the air; and then, the representatives of two great families who have been especially distinguished in America’s service. What art of selection! I must, however, be content simply to name to you the speakers already so well introduced to you. I present first, M. Gabriel Hanotaux.

M. Hanotaux responded in French, but he supplied the following English version of his address.

Address of His Excellency, Albert Auguste Gabrielle Hanotaux

Gentlemen.—The French Delegation you have so cordially welcomed is fully aware that this is the most important stage of its journey. For, albeit we are going to Lake Champlain to personally place in the hands of the architects of the monument, the bust of “La France” which is to be fixed there as a seal of friendship and gratitude, it is here that we make the formal presentation to the Commissions and, through them, to the world of friends which France has in the United States.

Here in New York, in this Empire City, where so much of past effort and present energy are concentrated, where five millions of human hearts beat in unison for the greater glory and ultimate triumph of humanity, we have met with a touching, affectionate and splendid reception which speaks to us of the warm-heartedness of the Great American Republic.

From the moment we placed foot upon this soil we have been captivated and carried away by such a whirlwind of cordiality and good-fellowship that we scarce have had time to recover ourselves. First of all the American branches of the Comité France-Amérique were there to receive us, and, at once, we recognized within their ranks the eminent men who by reason of their origin, their connections or their particularly elegant culture have linked themselves of their own accord with our beloved France. Nothing could have touched us more than this first reception. France, France itself before us, beyond the mighty ocean we had just crossed under such thrilling conditions on the morrow of an awful disaster. On the other hand, and you, gentlemen, will not, I trust, forget it, the first vessel which came to you, after so dire a catastrophe, bearing words of comfort and hope was named “France.”

Our welcome, already so touching, grew apace. Our eminent ambassador to the United States, Monsieur Jusserand, who has given so much of his time and taken so much trouble, to organize this mission, which he himself conceived, informed Mr. Taft, the President of the United States, of our desire to present to him the respectful homage of the delegation.

The President, despite his overwhelming occupations, received us at his table; in the very kindest manner he honored, in our persons, the thought which has brought us here. He was so kind as to give us personally, in connection with our visit, assurances of his encouragement and approval; which have been for us an ample reward. These countless acts of friendship of all kinds we have looked upon—and rightly so—as being addressed to our beloved Mother-Country and to the Government of the French Republic, which has so splendidly encouraged and aided us in the accomplishment of our mission.

Travelling through a part of the American continent on our way to Washington, we were able to admire the ever-increasing progress and masterful civilization of your Republic. We left the city of five million souls, so concentrated in its immensity that in a manner it rises skyward upon itself; we passed through an admirable country, looking, at this season of the year, like some great garden dotted with cottages and shrubs and trees; we crossed majestic rivers which evoked the finest pages of Chateaubriand, the protagonist of the French writers of America; the steel cars carried us with prodigious speed through long tunnels and over iron bridges which groaned beneath the onrushing train; we barely caught sight of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, for a space at once the citadel and the keystone of American liberty; and we were in another city, a city beautiful, a city verdant, whose noble proportions are worthy of the great nation of which it is the capital, a city planned, we are proud to recall, by an officer of the French army: Major L’Enfant. We were taken to Mount Vernon and there we were thrilled by a greater sight than any we had yet seen: the shrine where you cherish in the most impressive simplicity the memory of the Man whose life was naught else than the constant blending of greatness and simplicity.

And, gentlemen, when on our return here we think of all this greatness, of the endless and unceasing activity, of these wonders heaped upon wonders, when we think of the hundred million human beings living in the United States, earning their substance here, finding here their work, their pleasures, their luxuries and their ideal; loving this land they themselves have created, which belongs to them and to which they belong, proud of an admirable past, confident in a future which gives promise of even greater things, how could our imagination fail to go back to the men who were the first pioneers in this country, to the men who dared its perils and wrested from it its secrets when there were no other European inhabitants.

The accounts of their travels depict them to us, with all their daring, with all their perseverance, their hardships and sufferings and sacrifices; but finally with their slow and hard-won victories over Nature and Fate.

We know that the first among them, fired by the discovery of mines in South America, especially in Peru, sought only gold. Gold there was in very truth, but not where they were looking for it. What a prodigious misunderstanding the mirage of gold caused between this land of plenty and the men who landed here; it cannot be exaggerated, and how little it would have been to the honor of the human race if, at the same time, there had not been another and entirely different mirage born of human determination and intelligence and worthy of the highest aspirations of Man. It is an historical fact that while the conquistadores were seeking gold and only gold, other explorers, the advance guard of science, the conquistadores of the ideal, were sacrificing themselves to a worthier aim: the finding of the northwest passage which around North America was to lead them to China and India. The ones were only discovering new lands that they might mine and impoverish them, the others that they might better know and develop them!

Both mirages, and illusions on both sides; but in the end practical results; so true is it that the dream of the impossible is at times the most active instrument of immediate and useful achievement.

The practical results we have before our eyes; and they came about through the efforts of a third set of explorers whom I will now attempt to recall because one of the most characteristic among them was our illustrious fellow-Frenchman whose memory we are gathered here to honor, Samuel Champlain.

Landing on this new continent, these men were immediately struck by one thing: to how great a degree it resembled the European countries which had given them birth. I want to lay stress upon this point for, to their observant eyes, it was at once a revelation and a surprise. They had to make an effort—can you believe it—to convince themselves that they were not falling upon an imaginary and legendary land, a land of fabulous dreams, a land of the Arabian Nights. Everything here was like their homes and, it is literally true, they could not believe their own eyes.

For you must not forget that the first accounts published about the new world had described it as prodigious, fantastic and out of proportion to anything ever before known. These legends were believed by the credulity of the Middle-Ages, from which we were only just emerging, they were strengthened by the tales so blithely told by travellers for, as the old saying has it, “falsehood is easy to one who comes from afar.” But above all, these legends had been sunk into the minds of men by the startling facts of the early discoveries. In the heavens

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a wonderful light, the torrid climes of Central America, Nature so powerful as to be actually deadly, the impenetrable forests, the strange vegetation, the prodigious width of the rivers rolling to the sea, everything combined, but above all Gold, Gold everywhere, Gold in the daily life of all, Gold in the temples, Gold on the ground, Gold in the bowels of the earth, Gold seen and Gold unseen, that is what exalted their overwrought imaginations to madness. It was impossible to admit that this land could be a land like other lands. So that it needed extraordinary common sense (if these two words may be used together), it needed an almost miraculous self-control in these pioneers, in this third set of explorers of which I am speaking, to forsake their preconceived notions and get down to earth again and see that this land was after all a land just like other lands, like the lands from which they had sprung, loamy and fertile and fruitful, where the trees were like European trees, with clusters of vines hanging from the branches; where wheat grew naturally; where the fish of the rivers and sea were the same fish that they had at home, a land where the cattle of the Mother-country waxed fat, and where at the accustomed seasons the welcome sward stretched its mantle of green bedecked with flowers to the very threshold of the abodes of man; where in the fall the countryside was crowned with Gold; where the rule of life was the normal and accustomed rule. Gold was lacking, at least the Gold so greedily sought, but on the other hand in the soil and on the soil Gold there was in very truth and in untold abundance, the Gold of natural wealth—a civilizing, not a destructive Gold. I mean the Gold of labor, the Gold of human brawn, the Gold of intellect, the Gold of inspiration, the Gold which is forever being created by the mind and will of Man; but which was only to open up its ideal mine of surpassing wealth after centuries of sacrifice, of labor, of tenacity, and in exchange for an immense toll of energy.

These new conquistadores, the conquistadores of labor, who set their sails not for the land of dreams, but for the land of the Things-As-They-Are, were the real founders of the mighty civilization which surrounds us, and once again, in the very forefront of their ranks, stands our great fellow-countryman Samuel Champlain.

It was not that these men were lacking in imagination, for imagination is the creative faculty in Man, and especially so in the statesman. To do things is to see ahead. He had indeed a wonderful imagination, a genius for foresight which was uncanny, this extraordinary man who foretold the future of America, who pointed out the location of the Panama Canal, who sketched the development of the great Republic of the United States, who fixed the sites of Boston, Montreal, Quebec and so many other great and prosperous cities. His imagination was active, yes, but his activities were always devoted to useful achievement and love of justice.

He was the first to see that any colony on the American continent would have to be self-supporting, those are his own words. He builded, he planted, he sowed crops, he raised stockades and laid out roads, as a man relying solely upon himself. Having shattered the flimsy phantasy of fabulous Gold he quite simply became a farmer, a soldier, an engineer; and, when upon this land he laid the corner-stone of the first building, he laid at the same time the foundation of a new civilization and created an empire. Once again the nobility of labor had saved the world from the idle vanity of dreams.

Labor!—There is the true basis of American civilization, as founded by those pioneers who understood, such was their common sense, the great things that could be done in the land where they had come to stay.—Labor, the Father of Liberty, the Father of Independence, the Father of Equality and of Justice; in a word the only solid basis of Society.

This, then, is the characteristic—henceforth unchangeable—of your American civilization. Everybody works, and there is work for every one and for all, but there is no room for the idle. The ceaseless activity of your lives shows it. The physical and mental strain to which the richest as well as the poorest of your citizens voluntarily subject themselves proves it. A glance at your way of living shows that you have remained faithful to the principle of your founders. The intense activity we have witnessed during our short trip through your country, and which we find at its highest pitch in this Empire City of New York, what is it but a complete devotion to the duty imposed upon man by the opening words of the Book of Books: “Thou shalt earn thy bread by the sweat of thy brow.” Hence your incomparable greatness.

Blessed be Labor, gentlemen. Go on setting the example of labor to the world. It is not Gold that counts; it is the constant and never ceasing employment of all the faculties of Man. You have already accomplished a prodigious work,—your future achievements will be even more extraordinary. No one can say what the future of this continent will be when the Isthmus of Panama is cut in twain, when the waters of the two oceans shall be joined and the coasts of the two Americas brought together as the leaves of a closing book. It is a new source of wealth, it is a new field of activity and a still wider field of authority and responsibility. Between Asia and Europe your Republic certainly stands as the dividing line of the world. You are at the fulcrum of the scale. The balance of the world’s power will in future rest with you.

But now, at this very time, other problems confront you, and, first of all, let us face it frankly, the problem of the government of the great democracies by themselves.

All this stirs you, occupies your thoughts, and arouses your passions. All this moves, deeply, those who come to visit you. To use the words of the poet of old. They see clearly that in you is being born something greater than an Iliad: “Aliquod majus nascitur Iliade.”

In these troublous times, gentlemen, remain true to the law of labor, to the law of those who first planned and laid out your future life. Look back upon those pioneers who, face to face with the early difficulties, foreseeing the growth that was to come and how complex it was to be, bequeathed to you, in order that you might carry out the work, a single and a simple law: the law of labor.

Your commemoration of Champlain, to take our modest part in which we have crossed the ocean, proves how faithful and devoted you are to the memory of the founders.

Courage, Labor, Justice, Faith in the Ideal, such the reasons for these useful lives. We are proud that among them one of the most glorious was that of our fellow-countryman—Champlain. We thank you for cherishing his memory.

And it is to show that France herself joins in these sentiments that we are come here, in such numbers, to bring you for the Champlain monument, erected by the States of New York and Vermont, a bust born of the genius of our illustrious fellow-countryman Rodin, an image of that which we hold most dear: France.

In the mighty structure of American civilization there is something of France—allow us to believe gentlemen that you will not forget it—and on the monument you are erecting this image will remain forever sealed to recall and symbolize that fact. This image we give to you as Champlain, our fellow-countryman, gave the best of his life to this land of yours. We give it to the United States, we give it to the States of New York and Vermont, the builders of the lighthouse rising upon the shores of the lake which bears Champlain’s name; we give it to these Commissions which have so graciously invited us here; we give it to all the friends of France in America.

I raise my glass, gentlemen, to the Lake Champlain Association and the Tercentenary Commissions, and I drink to the imperishable and brotherly union of our two countries: France and America. (Long applause.)

President Finley then presented M. Louis Barthou, who was not on the programme, but who made a most favorable impression on all who had the good fortune to meet him and listen to his charming eloquence. His glowing and felicitous tribute was listened to with rapt attention. Unfortunately his address was not reported and no copy has been obtainable, much to the regret of all who have known him and his prominent position in the affairs of the French Republic. At one time he was the Minister of Justice in the Cabinet and is a noted lawyer as well as one of the leading parliamentarians of the Chamber of Deputies.

President Finley then introduced Baron d’Estournelles de Constant, who spoke in English in his usual felicitous manner in appreciation of the reception tendered to the delegation from France and the hospitality accorded to them in the various American cities which they had visited. The Baron is well known in America, where he has advocated International Peace, and spoke in terms of affection of his friends in America and what they were doing to promote International Peace. It is a matter of regret that his speech was not reported in full so that it could be included in this Final Report.

President Finley then introduced Senator Henry W. Hill, the Secretary of the New York Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commission, who on behalf of the two Commissions received the gift of the people of France and expressed the cordial feelings of appreciation with which the beautiful and appropriate bust is received in the following address:

Address of Senator Henry W. Hill

Ambassador Jusserand, Your Excellency Albert Auguste Gabriel Hanotaux, and other Members of the Delegation from France, and Gentlemen of the New York and Vermont Tercentenary Commissions, and of the New York Champlain Association: This is a fitting postlude to the Bi-State programme of International Tercentenary exercises in commemoration of the discovery of one of the most charming lakes in America by the brave and high-minded Samuel Champlain, who believed that “the salvation of one soul is of more value than the conquest of an enemy.” The light of civilization impersonated in his entrance into the Champlain valley and thus first gleaming through the darkness of savagery is to be symbolized in a memorial lighthouse erected by the states of New York and Vermont on property of the United States Government at Crown Point Forts, that location being for 150 years one of the strategic points of the French possessions in America, and the life work of the discoverer is to be further perpetuated by an heroic size statue by the New York sculptor, Carl Augustus Heber, at Plattsburgh. The people of the two States in grateful appreciation of the life, services and high moral character of the discoverer of the lake which bears his name, and who was the first white man to set foot on the soil of New York and Vermont, eleven years before the Pilgrims entered Plymouth Bay, and two months before Henry Hudson discovered the river bearing his name, flowing into this beautiful harbor of New York, conceived and carried forward the Champlain Tercentenary Celebration of 1909, which has awakened deep interest in the principles and common purposes of two Republics, and done much to strengthen the friendship between them, that prompted France to shed across the seas its kindly and beneficent influence upon this Republic in its infancy. In the conduct of that Tercentenary now considered as one of the most noted American commemorative celebrations, the Republic of France represented by its gifted and eloquent patriot and scholar, Ambassador Jusserand, the Kingdom of Great Britain by its distinguished Ambassador Right Honorable James Bryce, the Dominion of Canada by its noted Postmaster-General Lemieux, the Province of Quebec by its gifted Premier Sir Lomer Gouin, the Empire of Japan by its Vice-Admiral, Uriu, and the United States by its President and Secretary of War, and some members of its Senate and House of Representatives, and representatives of the Army and Navy, participated with the States of New York and Vermont, and thus gave it an international character, worthy the important events which it was designed to commemorate.

You would be likely to form a more adequate conception of the magnitude of the Tercentenary Celebration, if you were to picture the Champlain valley, one hundred miles in length, and twenty-five miles in width, with the lake, as stated by Dr. Cady, “a prismed pendant dropped from out the skies,” interspersed with beautiful islands, and buttressed by prominent headlands, as an arena with overtowering mountains on either side, forming a background of superb natural beauty and suggesting ideals of the true and sublime in nature and a sky of Italian beauty vaulting a lake of crystal waters, where five great scenes were presented to thronging thousands of interested spectators—one at Crown Point which projects into the lake so far as nearly to sever it into two sections, where was erected at vast expenditure of money, in 1731, by the French, Fort Frédéric, in honor of the French Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Frédéric Maurepas, under the supervision of the Marquis de Beauharnois, Governor-General of Canada, and later were also erected the English forts by the forces under General Amherst, the forts now forming a grand ruin; another scene twenty miles distant, on the following day, at Ticonderoga, “the Gateway of the Nation,” where was built Fort Carillon, in 1755-6, around which struggled the flower of contending armies of three sovereign nations for its control; another scene, sixty miles distant, at Plattsburgh Barracks, on a plateau overlooking Valcour Island, where occurred one of the chief naval engagements of the Revolution, the report of which electrified the Continental Congress, and also overlooking Plattsburgh Bay, where occurred the decisive naval engagement of the War of 1812, in which the American fleet under Macdonough defeated and routed the British fleet under Downie; and still another scene twenty-five miles distant, on the following day, in the city of Burlington, under the shadow of the university which had been burned during the War of 1812, and whose corner-stone was relaid by Marquis de Lafayette in 1825, and where stands a statue erected to his memory, on a sloping hillside overlooking Burlington Bay, that beautiful Baiae of our inland sea, and the clear waters of the historic lake walled in on the west by the rugged and occasionally snow-capped peaks of the Adirondacks; and the fifth scene, forty-five miles distant, on the following day, at beautiful Isle La Motte, which was the first land in the Champlain valley visited by Samuel Champlain, which had been for two centuries or more the common meeting place of warring Indian tribes, and which became the rendezvous of missionaries, and where in 1666, was built Fort Ste. Anne, and where High Mass was first celebrated in the State of Vermont, and where was stationed the Carignan-Salières Regiment of 600 French veterans. At each of these scenes were Indian pageants, moved from place to place on a floating island, participated in by 150 descendants of the native aboriginal tribes that occupied the Champlain valley, and enlivened by military and naval forces, with formal addresses, speeches and poems, by the President of the United States and the distinguished diplomats, orators and poets in attendance, presenting anew the story and thrilling events that have transpired in the Champlain valley since its discovery three centuries ago. This will afford some conception of the great drama of the Champlain Tercentenary Celebration, in which Samuel Champlain, the navigator, colonizer and apostle of civilization in that valley, Chevalier sans peur et sans reproche, was the hero and central figure.

On this occasion we are profoundly touched at the generosity and friendship of President Fallières and the French people, exhibited in the presentation by the distinguished delegation who have come from France, of this allegorical bust “La France,” by Auguste Rodin, and we gratefully accept the same in the name of the New York and Vermont Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commissions, in behalf of the people of the two states, as well as of the people of the United States, and through you, Monsieur Hanotaux, and other members of your delegation from France, we tender to President Fallières and the people of France, who have so generously contributed to the purchase and presentation of this beautiful bust, our grateful appreciation and acknowledgments.

This work of art, coming as a voluntary expression of the good will and cordial feelings of the French people for Americans who have shown some appreciation of the discoveries and services for humanity of one of the most noted French explorers among many, who were first to open up the interior of this continent to the onward march of civilization, is an imperishable testimonial of that abiding friendship existing between the peoples of the two foremost Republics in the world, which have done so much for the liberty, equality and fraternity of mankind. When we reflect upon the evolution of French institutions from Charlemagne to Fallières, the progress of the French people in the arts and sciences within the last century, and the contributions that they have made to these, and to literature and to art, as well as to the world’s diplomacy and intellectual development, we do not wonder that the Republic across the sea, which you represent, gentlemen, is aglow with vitality and energized by new and expanding ideas, and is forging forward as one of the most progressive and powerful nations in the world. Had not the French people been open to new ideas, possibly they would not have responded to the appeals of Franklin and our other patriots during the Revolution, and the Marquis de Lafayette, Count de Rochambeau, with his 6,000 soldiers, Count de Grasse, with his fleet, and others, would not have crossed the Atlantic to aid the Colonies in their struggle for independence.

Lafayette and others carried back with them something of the inspiration which they had derived from their experience in this country and from their contact with General Washington and other patriots, and their reports did something to arouse the National Assembly of France, and the princes and potentates of European nations to a realization of the evidences of the Republican movement in America as well as in Europe, which culminated in making most of the nations of western Europe more democratic and responsive to popular liberties. On the establishment of a Republican form of government in France in 1848, the President of the United States transmitted a message to Congress, in which he said: “We can never forget that France was our early friend in our eventful Revolution, and generously aided us in shaking off a foreign yoke and becoming a free and independent people. We have enjoyed the blessing of our system of well regulated self-government for nearly three-fourths of a century, and can properly appreciate its value. Our ardent and sincere congratulations are extended to the patriotic people of France upon their noble and thus far successful efforts to found for their future government liberal institutions similar to our own. It is not doubtful that under the benign influence of free institutions the enlightened statesmen of Republican France will find it to be for her true interests and permanent glory to cultivate with the United States the most liberal principles of international intercourse and commercial reciprocity, whereby the happiness and prosperity of both nations will be promoted.” A fitting response to this was made by the National Assembly of France, and there have from that time forth existed cordial relations between the two sister Republics. These relations were emphasized in the presentation by the French people of the colossal statue “Liberty Enlightening the World,” by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, unveiled with elaborate ceremonies on Bedloe’s Island in New York harbor, on October 28, 1886. When the Rodin allegorical bust “La France” is in its permanent home by the Champlain Memorial Light at the Crown Point Forts near the head of Lake Champlain, it will be on the highway of travel by water between New York harbor and Lake Champlain, through the enlarged and improved Champlain Canal nearing completion, and so be brought into communication with the statue of Liberty, and will do something to restore the interest of travelers as well as of our French-American citizens, in the history of that region, for 150 years under control of the French nation, and within a few miles of which at Ticonderoga, Montcalm and others achieved imperishable fame, and will be a further lasting expression of the artistic temperament and proverbial generosity of the French people toward the people of this nation, the genius of whose institutions has been more or less reflected in the evolution of French institutions during the last century. As an expression of one of your most renowned sculptors, it will awaken a deeper interest of the people in that valley in art, which has been ideally expressed in this allegorical bust “La France,” in a way to symbolize the marvelous genius of the French people.

The members of New York and Vermont Lake Champlain Tercentenary Commissions bid you, gentlemen of the French delegation, a most cordial welcome to our shores, and tender to you their deep appreciation of the gift which you bring from your people. (Applause.)