The Champlain tercentenary

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

The Commission takes this occasion to acknowledge its obligations in this respect to the distinguished visitors and Foreign Governments, which they severally represented, for their assistance and co-operation in giving the Tercentenary Celebration its international character and some of its most charming features.

We cannot close this report without again expressing our grateful appreciation to the people of France for their thoughtfulness and generosity in sending to this country a work of art by one of their most distinguished sculptors, to embellish the Memorial Lighthouse erected by the States of New York and Vermont to commemorate the life of Samuel Champlain. It was a delicate and beautiful expression of appreciation on the part of the leaders of thought and culture in our sister Republic across the sea to present a bust of such symbolism as “La France” as the seal of their approval of our efforts in this regard.

As far as we have been able to do so, we have preserved in this report the addresses of M. Hanotaux and others, as well as some of their reports on their return to Paris, embodying their views and expressing their feelings toward the people of this nation, which throw new light on the sympathetic character and generous impulses of the French people. The coming of a delegation of so many distinguished Frenchmen was a great compliment to the people of this nation. This in itself was a testimonial of good will, appreciated fully as keenly as the work of art. The people of the Champlain valley and elsewhere will not be likely to forget the fact that in addition to the distinguished line of great Frenchmen from Champlain to Ambassador Jusserand, who have visited the Champlain valley, there came to that valley in the month of May, 1912, a delegation of the most distinguished Frenchmen representing industry, commerce, science, literature and art, as well as civil and military affairs, jurisprudence, statesmanship and diplomacy, that ever visited this country. They came to place the seal of France upon the Crown Point Memorial Lighthouse to Samuel Champlain, and to convey to the people of this country the appreciation of the French Nation for what was being done to commemorate the life and character of one of their countrymen. The names of this delegation have already appeared, but let record be herein made of the fact that Fernand Cormon, member of the Institute and President of the Academy of Fine Arts, was one of the delegation that brought the Rodin allegorical bust from France and directed its location on the Champlain Memorial Lighthouse.

The President of the United States, William Howard Taft, Governor Charles E. Hughes, Governor George H. Prouty, Secretary of War Jacob M. Dickinson, Senator Elihu Root, Congressmen George R. Malby, David J. Foster, Frank Plumley and the other speakers, the poets and the clergymen who participated in the Celebration as well as Governor John A. Dix of New York and Governor John A. Mead of Vermont and other speakers and clergymen, who took part in the dedication of the two Champlain memorials, not only put the members of the two Champlain Commissions, but the people of the Champlain valley under obligations to them for their contributions to the excellence and high quality of the literary exercises.

Col. Calvin D. Cowles and staff of officers and the Fifth U. S. Infantry; Col. William Paulding and staff of officers and the Twenty-fourth U. S. Infantry; Captain William T. Littebrant and staff of officers and the Fifteenth U. S. Cavalry; Brigadier-General J. H. Lloyd and staff of officers of the Third Brigade of the National Guard, New York; Col. James W. Lester and staff of officers and enlisted men of the Second Regiment of the National Guard, New York; Col. John I. Pruyn and staff of officers and enlisted men of the Tenth Infantry of the National Guard, New York; and the Canadian Military Organizations heretofore referred to and the Flotilla, comprising the torpedo boat Manley and two steam cutters named Plattsburgh and Burlington, respectively, under command of Lieut. G. W. Steele, Jr., with Midshipman Gerard Bradford second in command, and L. O. Armstrong, with his company of 150 Indians, descendants of the tribes originally occupying the Champlain valley, were important factors in the military, naval and pageant features of the Tercentenary Celebration contributing materially to its success. The maneuvering of these troops in the Champlain valley was suggestive of the military expeditions and fierce engagements that characterized its history for nearly two hundred years after the discovery of the lake by Samuel Champlain.

This Commission takes this occasion to acknowledge its obligations in this direction to the commissioned and other officers and members of these various military organizations as well as to the Brigadier-General, Major-General and other officers and members of the National Guard of New York, who took part in the celebration and in the dedicatory ceremonies of the two memorials in July, 1912.

The Commission is also grateful to Hon. Robert Bacon, former Ambassador to France, to Paul Fuller, Jr., Secretary of Franco-American Committee, to Hon. Frank S. Witherbee, President and to the members of the Lake Champlain Association, to President John H. Finley of the College of the City of New York, to Hon. McDougall Hawkes, Chairman of the American Board of the French Institute in the United States, to Hon. Charles B. Alexander, to former Senator William A. Clark of New York, to Hon. A. Barton Hepburn, President of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York and to all others, who assisted in the entertainment of the French Delegation on their visit to this country in April-May, 1912.

Acknowledgment is also made of the entertainment of the members of the Preliminary Champlain Commission by the Hon. and Mrs. Nelson W. Fisk at their home at Isle La Motte on September 7, 1907, and of the transportation of the members of that Commission on the Valcour, owned by Hon. Joseph C. Sibley, to Burlington in the afternoon of that day, where they were entertained by the Ethan Allen Club in the evening. Representative Sibley also placed his yacht, Valcour, at the disposition of the Commission during the week of the Celebration.