The Champlain tercentenary

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

VI. FRENCH VISITORS AND CHAMPLAIN COMMISSIONERS ENTERTAINED AT TICONDEROGA, LATER INSPECT CHAMPLAIN MEMORIAL LIGHTHOUSE AT CROWN POINT, WHERE THEY FORMALLY PLACE THE BUST “LA FRANCE” AND THEN JOURNEY TO PLATTSBURGH. REPORT TO PARIS

The members of the New York and Vermont Lake Champlain Commissions accompanied by His Excellency, M. Jusserand, the French Ambassador, Governor Mead of Vermont and the members of the French delegation left New York on the night train, May 2d, in special cars, which were detached from the train the next morning at Fort Ticonderoga station. The French visitors were entertained at breakfast by Mr. and Mrs. Stephen H. P. Pell at “The Pavilion,” their summer home, while the members of the Joint Commissions were entertained at breakfast by Commissioner Howland Pell in the Block House, rebuilt by him in the Germain Redoubt overlooking the Lake. Several hours were spent in looking over the ruins, fortifications and restorations, the details of which were explained by Mr. and Mrs. Stephen H. P. Pell, who own Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence. The visitors were greatly interested in all they saw, and especially the French lines, the scene of Montcalm’s victory in 1758 and the place where the battle occurred. The ancient flag of France with the Fleur-de-lis was displayed together with the Tri-color and each was saluted with formality.

Members of the delegation and Ambassador Jusserand called on Commissioner Pell at the Block House in the Germain Redoubt, where light refreshments were served.

General Lebon and other members of the delegation were quick to see the strategic importance of Ticonderoga as a military fortification to command the passage of vessels up and down the lake as well as the passage of troops through the valley. In their judgment France made no mistake in taking possession of Ticonderoga and taking her stand there and at Crown Point in her efforts to control this entire territory. The history of the struggle has been graphically described by Parkman and others and the thrilling events, culminating in and about this “Gateway of the Country,” have been given realistic settings by Ira Allen, Hon. Lucius E. Chittenden, Rev. Joseph Cook, Dr. Hamilton W. Mabie, Percy MacKaye and others. These were well known to most of the visiting savants, who were profoundly impressed with Ticonderoga and the overtowering Mount Defiance on the southwest and the commanding position of Mount Independence across the narrow lake on the southeast. All these were occupied by military forces at times during the struggle for the control of the territory.

The Commissioners and visitors left on a special train at 11.30 A. M. for Port Henry, where they were met by Commissioner Walter C. Witherbee, Hon. Frank S. Witherbee, Lieut.-Gov. Thomas F. Conway and others. While going from Ticonderoga to Port Henry, lunch was served on the train, so that upon their arrival at Port Henry, while they were being escorted to the steamer, the Witherbee band played the Marseillaise, and to the delight of the French guests, it also played the airs of several French folk songs familiar to the visitors and known to their grandparents. They proceeded directly to Crown Point Forts. This was their first experience on Lake Champlain, their first view of the memorial in the process of construction. It was far enough along, however, to reveal its stateliness and artistic design. The impression it made on M. Fernand Cormon, President of the French Academy, and on M. René Bazin, M. Étienne Lamy, M. Gabriel Hanotaux and other members of the French Academy may be drawn from the remarks of M. Hanotaux and others. Suffice it to say here that the visitors were pleased with the artistic memorial lighthouse, which, in addition to its utilitarian uses, is designed to symbolize the illumination of the light of civilization first shed in the valley by Champlain and his followers. After inspecting the memorial they suggested the permanent location for the bust “La France,” which had been temporarily placed in position and was inspected by the people from all parts of the Champlain valley. The bust was draped with the flags of the United States and the Tri-color of France and from all parts of the memorial lighthouse floated pennants and the Stars and Stripes in profusion.

Ambassador Jusserand and French Delegation disembarking at Crown Point Memorial, May 3, 1912

By courtesy of the Troy Times

Chairman H. Wallace Knapp presided at the formal exercises and in his opening address said:

Gentlemen: The course of the Tercentenary observations has received an interruption by a voice from across the sea. It is a friendly voice. It is a voice that is heard wherever men struggle to be free or seek to advance their welfare. It is the voice of France that spoke to us in the dark days of our early history, and bade us be of good cheer.

All through the critical periods of our history the French people and their Government have been our friends. They join us to-day in memorializing our past. They have the right to do so, for France and America have suffered and triumphed together for the same high cause and the memory of our debt to this liberty-loving people can never be forgotten. It is fitting that they place the Memorial Tablet here. It expresses to us love and friendship and they may be assured that we will guard it with proud and zealous care.

I now take great pleasure in introducing to you the acting Governor, Lieutenant-Governor Conway.

Lieut.-Gov. Thomas F. Conway in the course of his address of welcome said:

Gentlemen: I had the pleasure on Wednesday evening of extending to you on the part of the State of New York the appreciation of its citizens at your coming to our shores, but it is a double pleasure to welcome you to Lake Champlain, rich in French history and the pride of every one who may rightfully claim the Champlain valley as his birthplace. We believe that you will find this one of the most charming lakes you have ever visited and we trust that you will appreciate its beauties as do its inhabitants and its many visitors.

Chairman Knapp then introduced Gov. John A. Mead of Vermont.

Governor Mead in welcoming the visitors said:

The people of the Green Mountain State join with the people of the Empire State in welcoming the members of the distinguished delegation from France who have come to bring the seal of the Mother-Country to the memorial of one of her most distinguished sons. The Vermont Commission in order to do honor to that distinguished son, Samuel Champlain, united with the New York Commission in erecting this stately joint memorial to commemorate his memory, which is revered by the people of both states. We count it the greatest privilege that can fall to the lot of any man to be born along the shores of this beautiful lake, which Champlain considered worthy to bear his name.

Chairman Knapp then presented the French delegation, saying: Many Commissions have come from France to us, but all of France has never been so well represented as it is by our guests to-day. They bring in their hands the gift that has been contributed by all the classes of all the French people.

I have the pleasure of introducing to you the Chairman of the Delegation, M. Gabriel Hanotaux.

Address of Albert Auguste Gabriel Hanotaux

The states of Vermont and New York raise this monument, torch-bearer to the glory of the first Europeans who saw their territories and who foresaw their future prosperity. A French delegation has come to thank the constructors of this magnificent monument and to seal upon its base, as a sign of gratitude, an image of France.

This work of one of our greatest sculptors, Rodin, is of modest size, but it certainly expresses well what we have wished to say; it will bear testimony among you of the quality of French taste; it will depict to you France, such as we Frenchmen conceive it, such as we love it. See this countenance, smiling and at the same time grave, these delicate and pure features, these full cheeks indicating health, this firm look expressing resolution and sincerity. It is France as she wishes to be and as she is.

French Delegation and Commissioners at Crown Point Memorial, May 3, 1912

The France of the Crusades, the France of Joan of Arc, of Louis XIV and of Napoleon, of the Revolution, the France of the Richelieus and of the Champlains, that France cannot forget those who have worked and suffered for her, she gathers together their memory, she thanks those who remember. To the friendships and smiles that are offered her, she replies by a smile and a sincere and faithful friendship.

To mention only the most recent events: In 1910, a statue of the great Washington was offered to Versailles by the State of Virginia; in December, the Surrender of Yorktown, by J. P. Laurens, was solemnly inaugurated in the Court House of Baltimore. In 1911, commemorative monuments were erected at Savannah, at Annapolis, at Mobile. Everywhere we find memorable proofs of American sympathy. How could we do otherwise than respond?

And it is for this reason, these acts and so many similar ones having been noted through the vigilance of the Ambassador of France at Washington, that the Committee of France-America, encouraged by the French Government, took the initiative of a subscription in order to bring to the lighthouse of Champlain a souvenir of French gratitude. The subscription includes, in the first rank, the President of the French Republic, Mr. Fallières; the President of the Council of Ministers, Raymond Poincaré, the Ambassador of France at Washington, Mr. Jusserand, the majority of the French ministers and a great number of our fellow-countrymen, anxious to express their gratitude and their sympathy to the American Republic.

The delegation here present bears no official character, but Mr. Jusserand accompanies it as the representative of the French Government and the Count de Chambrun appears in it as the representative of the President of the Council. The greatest French institutions also have their representatives therein; The Institut de France, the Parliament, the French army, the State Council, the University, Industry, Commerce, the Press; finally, the descendants of three of the families that have, from the very beginning, shown their sympathy for the Franco-American cause.

Friendship—it is with this word that I wish to close, as it expresses the real character of the sentiment that animates the Committee of France-America and which its delegation has endeavored to convey in coming to you. We are friends of the great American democracy; we come toward it with outstretched hands, saying: Accept this friendship that is offered you and in return grant us yours. We have nothing more to offer you than this image of that which we love best in the world, France; and we ask nothing more of you than to understand how lively, spontaneous and sincere this sentiment is.

Since the American democracy is at the head of the great human civilizations, since it always marches forward, without, however, forgetting the bonds that bind it to the past; since it has a noble heart, a generous soul, and since, according to the word of the Latin writer, nothing human is foreign to it, we come to remind it that these sentiments are also those that animate the French democracy; and, as the two ideas are to-day united in the same monument, so may the two words be drawn closer together in the name of our Committee, France-America. We beg of you not to allow the memory of this ceremony to be effaced from your hearts, since the memory of Champlain is commemorated by you. We now confide to you the image of our beautiful France. Watch over it as over an eternal pledge of gratitude, of devotion, and of friendship. (Long applause.)

Commissioner Louis C. Lafontaine was then introduced and received the gift in the following manner, speaking in the French language:

Excellence, Messieurs de la Délégation Française, Mesdames, Messieurs: C’est un grand honneur pour moi, comme membre de la Commission du Troisième Centenaire de la découverte du Lac Champlain, et au nom de mes collègues, de recevoir le buste “La France” dont vous avez mission du peuple Français de venir déposer au pied du Mémorial Champlain.

La Commission se plaît à voir dans ce beau geste de la mère-patrie de Champlain le couronnement de ses efforts pour la glorification de l’un des plus illustres fils de la France.

Votre mission est maintenant remplie, mais nous vous prions de vouloir bien en accepter une autre, celle de transmettre à la nation française, les remerciements les plus sincères et les plus cordiaux de la Commission Champlain pour l’honneur qu’elle lui a fait en choisissant un si grand nombre parmi les plus illustres de ses enfants pour leur conférer l’honneur de venir apposer ce cachet d’amitié au Mémorial Porte-Lumière destiné à perpétuer le souvenir du Grand Champlain!

This concluded the formal exercises.

The visitors were then shown the ruins of Fort St. Frédéric and of the English Forts, now included in the state reservation known as the Crown Point Reservation, which are among the best preserved original fortifications of the country.

M. Hanotaux speaking at Crown Point Forts, May 3, 1912

M. Hanotaux speaking at Crown Point Memorial, May 3, 1912

The discoveries which are being made in and about the old French Fort under the direction of Annie E. (Mrs. Walter C.) Witherbee, are such as may lead to the rewriting of a description of these forts. She has located the ovens and found the oven doors, candle-sticks, snuffers, glassware, blue and white china of Fort St. Frédéric, built in 1731, the underground drain, from the English Forts, built of stone two and one-half feet high, resting on a solid rock and twenty inches in width in perfect condition. She has also found the casemate and bastions around the English Forts, which were built in 1759 by Amherst. She has opened up the old forge and found many relics such as a gun-carriage, chairs, knives, spades, iron bars, bolts and other articles. The most remarkable discovery from a geological point of view was that of a glacier mill 14 feet and 7 inches in depth, containing spherical stones, unknown in the vicinity. Mrs. Witherbee has procured copies of old charts and maps from British archives relating to the region. She is also making a valuable historical collection of books, manuscripts and autographs of persons, who have written about or have been occupants of the forts now in ruins, but included in the State Reservation. These will throw new light on the history of the region to the lasting credit of Mrs. Witherbee, who intends to continue her researches in this hitherto unexplored field.

At three-forty o’clock, P. M., the Commissioners, accompanied by His Excellency Ambassador Jusserand and the French delegation, boarded the special train for Plattsburgh under the escort of Hon. John H. Booth and Hon. John B. Riley. Upon their arrival at Plattsburgh, they were officially welcomed by Mayor Andrew G. Senecal, the Guard of Honor, and St. Jean Baptiste Society in full uniform. The depot was trimmed with the American and French flags and the U. S. Reservation at Plattsburgh Barracks had been put in readiness by Colonel Cowles, Post Commandant, for the reception of the visitors to witness a dress parade in their honor. As they entered the Reservation, a national salute was fired and the regimental band played La Marseillaise and the Star Spangled Banner. The Fifth Infantry in full dress uniform was drawn up and saluted the distinguished visitors with military honors. Colonel Cowles and his staff were formally presented by Hon. H. Wallace Knapp to Ambassador Jusserand, M. Gabriel Hanotaux, General Lebon, Count de Chambrun, M. Étienne Lamy and others. The visitors were escorted to the temporary platform, whereupon the Hon. V. F. Boire, speaking in French in behalf of the people of Plattsburgh, welcomed the visitors. The English version of his address is substantially as follows:

Gentlemen: It is a great pleasure as well as a special privilege to welcome you to the city of Plattsburgh and the county of Clinton on this important occasion of your peace errand. It is a pleasure to welcome you for many reasons. The personnel of your delegation has so many illustrious and honored names; so many of them dear to the hearts of the American people, that we welcome you individually and personally, and we feel that you should be at home here. In the average American heart, there is enshrined on either side of George Washington the memory of Rochambeau and Lafayette, so no man bearing either name is a stranger in the country of Washington, nor is he a stranger here, who is accredited from their native land.

As representatives of the great French Republic, you are welcome to the nation that the old France sustained and befriended in the hour of its almost hopeless struggle for liberty. You are twice welcome in this particular spot; discovered and explored by the great Champlain, trodden by the intrepid foot of Montcalm, and sought out by the zealous heart of Jogues. It would be impossible to honor us more than to permit us to see and hear representatives of so many branches of French activities and learning, of men and institutions that have made for the progress and enlightenment of the world; and in this particular locality, where there are so many descendants of the French, this occasion affords an entirely distinct and peculiar pleasure to the people.

Significant at this time and indirectly connected with your visit, and of interest in connection with your visit, are the great peace projects now planned between the United States and the British Empire. One is the Quebec-Miami International Highway which is an assured fact, as a result of which a great International Highway is actually being built, connecting the southern part of Florida with the city of Quebec, and linking Canada and the United States with a strong bond of friendship and good will. This road will pass through the city of Plattsburgh and its length will be dotted with monuments dedicated to peace. And it is intended that all travellers of this highway between Canada and the United States will pass beneath an arch dedicated in the hope that no hostile foot will ever tread beneath. This we believe to be a practical peace pact.

The monuments and arch just referred to are part of the second and most widely known of the peace projects. By that I mean, the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of peace between the English speaking peoples (which also seems to be an assured fact), to occur in 1914. By a singular coincidence, the year 1914 will also mark the one hundredth anniversary of the last war between French speaking and English speaking peoples. It would seem to me a most lamentable thing if this celebration were not made a double celebration in commemoration of the one hundred years of peace between the great French speaking peoples and English speaking peoples as well as between the English speaking peoples. And let us hope that the year 1914 will also witness the adoption of all the Arbitration Treaties under French speaking nations and English speaking nations;—and thus we may hope that the year 1914 will not only be as a monument to the century of peace in the past, but that it will also be a monument for the peace of the centuries that are to come.

The visitors demonstrated their pleasure over his remarks by vigorous applause. M. Étienne Lamy was then introduced and, speaking in French, told of the pleasure of himself and his associates at the hearty reception they had received at every place they had visited since coming to America and said that at no place was the reception more cordial than at Plattsburgh. General Lebon was the next speaker and his remarks were also in French. He spoke of the great achievements of the French people in all walks of life and especially in the military sphere. Count de Chambrun spoke in English and told of the great friendship which has existed between France and the United States ever since the first blow was struck by the colonies for liberty; how the Republic of the East, through him and his associates, sent greetings and promises of everlasting friendship to the Republic of the West. M. Gabriel Hanotaux spoke briefly in French and Ambassador Jusserand made a few remarks in both English and French, expressing his pleasure in again visiting Plattsburgh. The Saranac Chapter of the D. A. R. turned out in force with their regent. Mrs. George F. Tuttle, and were accompanied by the Nathan Beman Chapter of the Children of the American Revolution bearing the American colors. The D. A. R. delegation was seated on the grandstand at the left of the French visitors.

Mrs. George F. Tuttle, the regent of the Saranac Chapter, D. A. R., and president of the Nathan Beman Chapter, D. A. R., of Plattsburgh, both of which organizations took part in the reception of the French Delegation, expressed her pleasure and that of her Chapter at taking part in welcoming the visitors, and also said:

The Saranac Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution and Nathan Beman Society, Children of the American Revolution wish to extend greetings to the French delegation who have so honored us by their presence. It may be of interest to one of this distinguished company, the Count de Chambrun, to know that among the Daughters who listened with delight to his remarks, was one whose mother, Mrs. Frederick Sailly, had the pleasure of entertaining, as the wife of Major Russell, at Fort Niagara, the Count’s honored ancestor, General Lafayette.

After regimental dress parade the visitors were returned to the depot by automobile and left for Montreal on the regular 6 o’clock train, expressing themselves enthusiastically in appreciation of the festivities arranged in their honor in this country.

One of the French delegation, M. Gaston Deschamps, on May 3, 1912, reported to Le Temps, published in Paris, the exercises at Crown Point and Plattsburgh, which is a graphic description of the impressions made upon the visitors on that occasion. From that report we excerpt the following, giving the English instead of the French original:

People have come from all the cities and towns about Port Henry; from all the villages and hamlets near the Canadian frontier, to greet the French delegation. A band of musicians advances and plays the “Marseillaise”—a Marseillaise slow, sweet, as though languishing from the affectionate and cajoling tenderness of our friends in the United States and New France. Our Marseillaise lends itself admirably to that metamorphosis, and the warlike march of the Army of the Rhine easily becomes, when one beats adagio maestoso time, a hymn of solemn measure and touchingly religious.

Hon. Walter C. Witherbee, one of the most distinguished citizens of Port Henry, is the President of the Inauguration Committee of the Champlain Monument at Crown Point. For several years he has devoted the best part of his time and his efforts to the work of the American and French commemorations of which we to-day see the happy outcome. He has applied himself with all his heart to this intellectual and moral enterprise, and he has brought to the service of his tenacious idealism all the practical judgment of an excellent business man. I have learned—not from him, for Mr. Witherbee is modesty itself—all that he has done for the celebration of the third centenary of Champlain. Treasurer of the New York Commission, he is the one especially who, with Senator Henry W. Hill and Mr. John R. Myers, put through the necessary measures before the Government at Washington, to the end that the commemorative festivities might be exceptionally brilliant.

Mr. Clinton Scollard has sung the glory of Champlain:

A valiant son of that intrepid line

Which gave fair lustre to the fame of France.

Another poet, Mr. Percy MacKaye, has celebrated in his “Ballad of Ticonderoga” the heroic defenders of Fort Carillon. Dr. Daniel L. Cady has dedicated a whole bouquet of lyric verses to the picturesque beauties of Lake Champlain and to the bravery of the good sailor of Saintonge:

The Brouage sailor * * *

* * * Long live the Xaintongeois * * *

It seems to me that at certain times “Young America” is in truth “Old France.” This impression is strengthened still more after we have embarked on the steamer which is to take us to the opposite shore of the lake, to the promontory where the monument to the heroes of this magnificent fête is erected. This monument is not yet finished. But the figure of the “Lord of Champlain, geographer to the King, and captain of the Navy of the West,” is present in all minds because on the pedestal of granite, under the gleam of the lighthouse, it is visible from top to toe in the eyes of all sailors in quest of a good route in these parts. Here he is, with his good face, a trifle broad, and very strong, his moustache curled up at the ends, and his small pointed beard in the fashion of Louis XIII.; his lips, prompt to reply, but skillful in keeping a secret; his large, thoughtful forehead, his eyes full of dreaminess, and at the same time skilled in the exact knowledge of men and things by the habit of his profession of watching the caprices of the inconstant sea, of the changing heavens, and of the varying breezes. His lake, that “Sea of the Iroquois,” whose Odysseyan distances he skimmed in birch-bark canoes paddled by tattooed Hurons, with whom he felt at home—being, in the words of a narrator of his voyages, “a man who was astonished at nothing, and a ready talker, knowing how to accost these people tactfully and to accommodate himself to their ways”—his lake we overlook to-day from the bulwarks of a steamer decorated with all the splendor of holidays. His work is finished. What he foresaw, what he predicted, what he prepared, has been realized. Civilization has laid hold upon all these countries where he was the first explorer and of which he foretold in his writings the future harvest. Here is the landscape whose picture he has described so vividly that one can, after having read his “Voyages and Discoveries”, easily find one’s way and recognize the different points; the immensity of this lake, whose fertile shores stretch in endless perspective; the hillsides covered with forests; the islands “where there are plenty of walnuts and vines and pretty meadows.” * * * In place of the encampments stockaded by the Iroquois or by the Mohegans, filled with the noise of the tom-tom and the war dance, there are now pleasant country houses where men and women of a less turbulent race can henceforth enjoy a happiness which is no longer menaced by the unreasoned impulses of a primitive and barbarous humanity.

As our steamer pulls out from the port and traverses the waves, gilded by the sun, in the track which the achievements of Champlain have traced, we see the buildings of Port Henry rise one above the other like an amphitheatre among the forests in the woodland clearing. On the battlefield where the conqueror, peaceful and brave, was forced to use his blunderbuss, there are now shipbuilders’ yards, warehouses, factory chimneys. * * * The horizon, under the vast dome of the blue sky, is beautified by the whiteness of the snows, which shine with a silvery splendor on the tops of the Adirondack Mountains and of those Green Mountains which have given their ancient French name to the American State Vert Mont (Vermont).

The weather is marvellous. This is the most beautiful day of our trip; a day of brightness and of glory; what the Americans call a “glorious day.” A fine breeze which comes from afar makes the gay colors of the oriflamme flutter from the halyards of the ship. The French delegation is gay. We are happy to see this admirable scenery, which was discovered by the eyes of a Frenchman. One of our number is especially captivated by the beauty of this spectacle; it is the great painter Cormon, appointed more than any one else, as one who could understand and feel the charm of this vision, because his art is exercised and triumphs by turns in the magnificent understanding of primitive times and in the fine meaning of the beauties imagined by the modern æsthetic. We are happy to see that his ready and true pencil has caught in passing some of the scenes from the fairyland before us. Our notes on the trip will thus be much more accurate because of a true, exact and sincere illustration, which would have been the delight of honest Champlain.

In honor of the heroes of this festival, and to please us, Mr. Witherbee’s musicians play the airs which were most pleasing to the good mariners who came with Champlain from Saintonge or from Aunis—the old songs of Old France. “C’est le roi Dagobert,” “J’ai du bon tabac dans ma tabatière,” “La bonne aventure, ô gué.” * * *

Apropos of this, a Canadian whom I met at this delightful festival of French remembrance told me that these songs, brought by Champlain’s sailors, preserved by Montcalm’s sailors, still exist among “our people” all through the country.

“Among us are still played on the hurdy-gurdy those refrains of long ago. We transmit them in the family, from father to son, like a charming echo of the far away mother country. If you come to our French villages in Canada, Monsieur, to Beauharnais, to Saint Hilaire, to Maisonneuve, to Sorel, to Trois-Rivières, you will hear all sorts of pleasant couplets which come in a direct line from Angoumois, from Normandy, from Saintonge, from Poitou—and I, too, come from Poitou.

“So, then. Monsieur,” adds my Canadian questioner, laughingly, “We will sing you some Poitevine songs, which will recall your childhood days and the quaint melodies of the country-folk over there. We have a good collection of them. You will only have the embarrassment of choice.”

And that good Frenchman of Canada begins to name over for me a whole string of ancient sayings, which have retained the perfume and, as it were, the melancholy softness of the gardens of the past. First of all a “danse ronde”:

Dans ma main droite y-a-t-un rosier

Qui fleurira, manon lon la,

Qui fleurira au mois de mai.

Entrez en danse, joli rosier!

Et embrassez, manon lon la,

Et embrassez qui vous plaira.

Indeed, I have heard that ingenious melody at home. To hear again, so far from home, the words and the spirit of our old rural France, hard-working all the week and always ready to dance and to “baller” during the Sunday leisure, is an impression not to be forgotten and which at first seems like a dream.

“We also have,” my Canadian said to me, “the ‘Clear Fountain.’ Everybody in Canada knows that romance, which came from Normandy. We also have some ‘chansons de filasse’ (flax songs) sung in tremulous voice by our good grandmothers: ‘En filant ma quenouille.’ Our Bretons have preserved their sea songs: ‘A Saint-Malo, beau port de mer.’ Or ‘Dans les prisons de Nantes.’ And also:

Fringue, fringue sur la rivière

Fringue, fringue sur l’aviron.”

While thus, in that fine light, on the limpid water, under the tender blue of a crystal sky, the heroic and charming soul of our ancestors was evoked, our ship, surrounded by a whole fleet of decorated barks, draws near the pier at Crown Point and stops in front of the monument of Champlain. This monument is a lighthouse, of gray granite, sparkling with grains of mica which shine in the sun like the facets of precious stones. The location of that edifice is well adapted to the calling and the glory of him who was in these parts the guide of navigators. In front of that lighthouse, on the prow of a symbolic vessel, there stands upright the figure of the good pilot whose wake we have followed. * * * While awaiting the completion of the statue, which has been begun, we have fastened to the pedestal the image of France, modelled with infinitely delicate love by the strong hand of the sculptor Rodin. That will be a token and, as it were, the sign of the mother country on the monument which commemorates and consecrates a French achievement.

At the moment when that image, veiled by the flags of France and of the United States, is uncovered, appears to the gaze of the assembled crowd, the Marseillaise vibrates in the resonant light. Our American friends and the Canadians present applaud and cheer. We are deeply moved, we Frenchmen, before this figure, where we recognize clearly the force and the sweetness of the mother country, the uprightness of her thoughts, the loftiness of her sentiments, the nobility of her generous desires. Never has an artist’s idea better expressed by the sovereign gift of art all that there is of depth, of rarity, of the unique, in hearts animated by the imperative desire to maintain the dominion of France; to enhance her glory. The head of the French delegation, M. Gabriel Hanotaux, of the French Academy, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, accompanied by the French Ambassador and the Governors of the States of New York and of Vermont, delivers that precious pledge of remembrance and of hope to the friendship of the American people. His eloquent words are most appropriate to the occasion which reunites us, to the decorations which astonish us, to the character of the great man whose admirable work gives us, at the end of three centuries, the joy of seeing in this place the infinite results of a French undertaking. The orator, in reviewing the life and work of Champlain, points out how similar to Corneille was the soul of that contemporary of Richelieu, and how this discoverer of new ways, this builder of towns, this initiator of civilization into the New World, this idealist, prompt in the realization of his ideas, has succeeded by the power of a thoughtful desire, preparing his projects far in advance by prudent thought, wisely conceived, rapidly executed—having, in a word, as a historian has said in the temperate and forceful language of long ago, “the intentions of all he did.”

After M. Hanotaux, the Governors of New York and Vermont spoke. Their excellent discourses, warmly applauded, reminded me again how well the history of Champlain is known in America. In him they honor by turns the incarnation of the genius of France; the honor and chivalry of France. To that explorer, to that colonizer, they give that beautiful name of “honest man” which our ancestors of the seventeenth century claimed more passionately than any other title: navigator, explorer, honest man. * * *

After that moving ceremony we were taken in automobiles to the ruins of Fort Frédéric, which was constructed in 1731 by the Marquis de Beauharnois. The whole population of Port Henry comes with us; they surround us, showing us every courtesy.

In a group of children I see a pretty little boy with blue eyes.

“Doest thou know French”?

“Yes, sir.”

“What is thy name”?

“Henri Pigeon.”

With a name so extremely French one does not need a certificate of origin. A French priest, Father Guttin, professor in the College of Saint-Michel at Burlington, on the other shore of Lake Champlain, told me that Henri Pigeon is one of many children of a very honorable and hard-working Canadian family. The father of that child works in the mines at Port Henry.

Plattsburgh, Same Day, May 3, 1912, 5:30 o’clock.

The train, since leaving Port Henry, has traversed the left bank of Lake Champlain. As we pass I notice shores of golden sand, hills thickly shaded by foliage, pines, whose brilliant verdure glows on the azure of the blue water. Here is the island of Valcour. * * * What a pity not to be able to stop at all the stations on that railroad, with its many villages with French names.

Plattsburgh is nearly the last American town before reaching the Canadian frontier. It is full of remembrances of the War of Independence. The Federal Government of the United States has established a strong garrison there. Here again swift automobiles await us. The owner of one of these brilliant vehicles literally carries me to the threshold of the station, at a lively pace, and on the way said to me, in a calm, jolly voice:

“I am French, Monsieur; this is my son Raymond. We have only half an hour to see our countrymen. And, well, we want to make the best of it.”

All this was said with a pleasing country accent. It is the accent we use in our country. * * * The auto stops at the entrance to a training field, where the Fifth Regiment of Infantry of the Regular Army of the United States is ranged in order of battle. The American Government wishes, at that last station in her territory, to do us great honor, due, no doubt, to the presence as a member of our delegation of General Lebon, former Commander-in-Chief of our First Army Corps.

The General takes his place on a platform in front of the public stand. The regiment band plays the Marseillaise, which is followed by the solemn notes of the American hymn, the Star Spangled Banner. The Mayor of Plattsburgh addresses us in French, bidding us welcome. The procession starts immediately. A very excellent showing of troops, by a young colonel (Calvin D. Cowles), who manages a fiery horse most excellently, and who is surrounded by a body-guard of officers dressed in uniforms heavily adorned with gold braid and shoulder pieces of blue silk. A faultless procession; the sections well in line, the pace lively, the carriage very military. When the starry flag passed, everybody stood up and removed their hats. This scene is framed in a background of mountains and the blue line of the lake, now lighted by the slanting rays of the setting sun. After the military carriages had passed the colonel, accompanied by his staff, came and stood before the stand, and with a sweeping gesture saluted us with his sword. The American nation could not bid a more magnificent farewell to a delegation in which figure the descendants of Rochambeau and Lafayette, and who belong to a nation faithful to the traditions of a memorable fraternity in arms.

Saint Jean, Same Day, May 3, 1912, 7 o’clock.

We have crossed the frontier. The evening falls over the Canadian fields. From a clock exactly like those in the French parishes there comes the aerial call of the Angelus. * * * Instantly, in the station of Saint Jean there is heard a great clamor. “Vive la France!” Imagine an immense crowd, packed around the train, preventing it from starting; waving three-colored banners; singing at the top of their lungs the songs of this land and of the home land; the songs which, among us, are sung to welcome parents and friends. Hands are extended; eyes seek other eyes. One might call it the reunion of a family a long time separated. We are happy to meet again. We detain each other. * * * There are so many things to say to each other. * * * Everyone who has been present at this Canadian welcome will treasure in the depths of his heart the remembrance of that moment never to be forgotten.

This journey has been fertile in rapid and diverse impressions, carried away, alas! too quickly by the flight of time. It was at times like artificial fire; too quickly vanished. * * * But this here—and I purposely make use of a familiar phrase, which will be well understood by the French on both shores of the Atlantic—this, is in truth the bouquet! ( Ceci, c’est véritablement le bouquet).

Gaston Deschamps.