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.)