as: cas tannininh ta Shiga The Huguenot -Walloon oo Tercentenary Vv rete Sein ANTONIA H. FROENDT Zh eee LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON. N. J. PRESENTED BY The Huguenot -\Walloon New Netherland Com. | ——s } ; A Division. A a ‘| sige snl att ‘ +f of HE HUGUENOT-WALLOON NEW NETHERLAND ComMISSION,. (Insti tuted by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America), for the Celebra- tion of the 300th Anniversary of the Settling in New Netherland of Walloons (French and Belgian Huguenots) by the Dutch West India Company, in 1624, now, at the close of the ‘Tercentenary Year, dedicates to its members and friends this simple memorial volume, prepared with a view solely toward putting into perma- nent form the record of the Tercentenary Cele- brations and their historical and religious signifi- cance for our nation. | By Antonia H. Froendt, Secretary 1624 No 1924 Na — As fi THE STORY OF THE HUGUENOT- WALLOON SET TEEMENG: THE SHIP NEW NETHERLAND (From James Grant Wilson’s “Memorial History of New York’’) 7 NNIVERSARIES, in the history of a nation, as in _/ | the life of an individual, inspire recollections, pleasant _/ | or stirring, as the case may be, of those events which have become landmarks on the long road of progress, and we dwell with reverent regard on the memories of those other days and the people who figured in them. Such recollections are “the tribute which posterity pays to the illus- trious dead.” It is fitting therefore, in recording the various celebrations held in honor of the Huguenot-Walloon New Nether- land Tercentenary that we stop for a moment to survey briefly the historical environment surrounding the events we have been commemorating. THE EUROPEAN BACKGROUND Europe, three hundred years ago, presented a scene of chaos. The Thirty Years’ War had just begun. Spiritual ideals, lofty principles, the welfare of nations, religion itself seemed lost in a medley of conflicting interests, trodden under the feet of the warring armies that surged back and forth over almost the entire Continent. Against this background of storm and stress, in the shadow of its dominating personalities, it is difficult at first to discern the signs of a better age to come, when the final establish- ment of the Reformation should bring in its wake the priceless gifts of freedom of conscience and the beginning of political emancipation. And yet, such seeds of progress were already de- veloping. Even in the midst of the turbulent days before the storm broke, Europe, following on the heels of its explorers, was preparing for its conquest of the New World. The “forward look” was there. THE DAWN OF THE COLONIAL ERA—EARLY HUGUENOT COLONIES The little colony in whose fate we are so deeply interested was not an isolated fact, explained by some local disturbance in an insignificant corner of Europe; nor was it.a passing dissatisfaction with conditions, which drove people forth into dangers and hard- ships to seek new homes in a new world. A great impulse toward the West had set in among the European peoples, stirred to unrest by the religious and political upheavals of the period. The subject of colonization in the ‘““New Indies,” was very much a question of the day. As early as 1562, Admiral Coligny of France made an attempt to gain a foothold in America, and provide thereby a refuge for his fellow “heretics” whose long decades of martyrdom he foresaw only too clearly. Under Jean Ribaut, intrepid old Huguenot campaigner, one hundred and fifty men set out from Dieppe in “two Dutch 3-masters, small vessels of 117 and 60 tons,” respectively, and “a large sloop, besides two smaller ones which were carried aboard the large vessels while at sea.” The expedition arrived safely at the mouth of the present St. John’s River, Florida, then named by the Huguenots “Ye Riuer Mai” after the date of its discovery. A stone column carven with the arms of France was erected and the flotilla cruised along the coast to investigate further sites for settlements. On what is now Parris Island (South Carolina), “Charlesfort,” a crude log stockade was built, which was eventually abandoned, but which had neverthe- less been constructed of such durable stuff that it was recently unearthed (all record of the location having been lost in the meantime), under the direction of General Eli K. Cole, by the 3 Marine Corps stationed on the island. A colony subsequently planted at “Fort Caroline” on the St. Johns River, was massacred to a man by the Spaniards, in 1565, after Ribaut’s fleet had been wrecked off the coast in a severe storm. Another protagonist of colonization was William the Silent, Stadtholder of the Netherlands, the “Liberator,” under whose leadership the “Eighty Years War” for freedom from Spanish overlordship was begun. His premature death by assassination prevented his taking any active part in the early colonial enter- prises, but he, the champion and protector of the Huguenots, pointed the way which was so successfully followed by his coun- trymen later on when Holland became one of the foremost of the colonizing nations. From the colonies of refugees always within her hospitable borders, the navigators of Holland readily drew adventurous recruits for their voyages of exploration and their colonial ex- periments. Usselinx, a Walloon who had settled in the Nether- lands, was a determined agitator for colonization in North America, and it was he who really formulated the plan on which the famous Dutch West India Company was organized in 1622, i.e., on the principle of combining trading and colonizing, the traders to open the way for the colonists, and the colonists to provide new markets for trade while enjoying a fair share of the resultant prosperity, a policy which was only imperfectly carried out, however. WILLIAM THE SILENT JESSE DE Forest In the meantime (about 1615) a band of Walloon refugees, who had fled from what is now Belgium and northern France,* settled in Leyden, the same city which sheltered the Pilgrims before their final emigration to America. The spirit of adventure was in the air. The sea called to the huddled groups of emigres, pent up in the crowded towns. All that was wanting to start them off was determined, purposeful leadership, and this was found in the person of Jesse de Forest, a French Walloon and a native of Avesnes, France, who rallied around him a sufficient number of his countrymen to encourage him to outline a definite plan for the emigration of his adherents, and their settlement as a separate colony, somewhere in “West India” as the two Americas were still called. On July 31, 1621, Jesse de Forest presented a - petition to the British Ambassador at The Hague, signed by fifty- six men, mostly heads of families, the whole number comprising two hundred and twenty-seven men, women and children, “as well Walloons as French, all of the reformed religion,” who desired to settle in Virginia under certain conditions set forth in the petition. These conditions, principally the one stipulating that the colonists should be permitted to retain their racial as well as their religious entity, proved unacceptable to the British Government and the Virginia Company and the project, for a time, was halted. Nothing daunted by this first set-back, however, the Walloons now carried their petition to the States of Holland and West Friesland, where they found a more sympathetic hearing for their plans. The time was indeed most propitious. The Dutch West India Company had just been formed, its stockholders were eager to make an experiment in colonization, and so Jesse de Forest was authorized “to enroll for the colonies all the families having the qualification . . . and to transport the same to the West Indies.”’ Tue New GUINEA EXPEDITION It now became necessary to make a preliminary survey of the territory, with a view to discovering an advantageous site for a first settlement, for it must be remembered that European notions of the western hemisphere were of the vaguest, and the claims of rival nations and trading companies overlapped to a consider- able extent, though in general, England modestly claimed every- thing that was west of Europe and east of Japan, and Spain did likewise. Possibly some word had by this time come back to Leyden of the sufferings of the Pilgrims who had gone on before * The “Walloon Provinces” comprise the French Departments of Nord, Aisne, Ardenne and Calais, and the Belgian Provinces of Hainaut, Namur, Liege, Brabant, and Luxembourg. 5 THE LANDING OF THE WALLOONS AT ALBANY (From Mrs. Lamb’s History of New York) (1620) to make their homes on the storm-beaten coast of New England, because when the scouting expedition in charge of the indomitable Jesse set forth on July 1, 1623, it turned south, making for what was known as the “Wild Coast,” now (roughly speaking ) New Guinea. The adventurous voyage was safely made, but Jesse de Forest never saw Leyden again. He had been seized by a malignant tropical fever, and died in New Guinea. THE SETTLEMENT OF NEw NETHERLAND The leader was dead, but his work went on. The Dutch West India Company decided to make a permanent settlement on the banks of the “Mauritius” (now Hudson) River, where some trad- ing stations were already established, and in March, 1624, thirty- two families “mostly Walloons,”’ embarked in the “new ship Nieu Nederland,” reaching their destination in May. Their landing was not altogether without incident. A small French sloop lay in the harbor, about to take possession of the land for the King of France, but her crew mistook the “Nieu Nederland,” which was accompanied by two smaller vessels, for the vanguard of a Dutch fleet, and hastily withdrew. Concerning the distribution of these colonists over the terri- tory then known as “New Netherland,’ nothing positive is recorded. It seems fairly certain, though, than most of them went up to Fort Orange, the present city of Albany, while, several found their way to Delaware and Connecticut, and a few were undoubtedly left on Manhattan Island, where a rough trading depot had already been constructed. It remains a mooted ques- 6 tion, therefore, whether this settlement also marked the founding of New Amsterdam which grew into the great metropolis of New York. Certainly it formed a nucleus of its now vast popu- lation. No list of names of the first thirty families has been preserved. Not until fifteen years have passed and New Amsterdam has in the meantime sprung up on Manhattan Island, do we find in legal and other documents surnames which figured in the original “round robin” drawn up by Jesse de Forest in 1621. Besides that of de Forest, we find such names as Corneille, Campion, Catoir, Damont, De Carpentier, De Croy, De Crenne, Du Four, De la Motte, Du Pon, De Trou, Gaspar, Chiselin, Gille, Lambert, Le Roy, Le Rou, Maton, Maryin. Sarah Rapalje is said to be the first girl born in the colony. In 1626, however, came Peter Minuit, the first Governor of New Netherland, and his secretary Isaac de Rasieres. Both were Walloons. The colony was now a duly organized province of the Netherlands, under the Latin name “Terra Nova Belgica.”’ The scattered settlements up and down the river, on the Connecticut and the Delaware, were con- solidated at New Amsterdam. THE Lost WALLOONS So obscure are the circumstances surrounding this first perma- nent Huguenot settlement on American soil, that the date of its consummation has been a bone of contention among historians. down to this very day. Succeeding waves of Dutch, French, German and Swedish immigrants, the subsequent absorption of the colony by the English, as well as the loss of most of the early records, have caused to lapse into forgetfulness the names and indeed the race of its founders. ‘Walloon’ is a term which will hardly be found in the modern textbook on American history. The repara- tion of this oversight, the filling in of this gap with the corrected data brought to light by modern research, is a task still to be accomplished. RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE In the ecclesiastical history of our country, this colony has the distinction of laying the foundations of the Reformed Church in America. The colonists were accompanied on their momentous journey by Jansen Krol, a lay chaplain provided for them by the Classis of Amsterdam. He faithfully conducted services all the way over, married four couples on shipboard (or so tradition says!) ; and on his arrival in Fort Orange instituted regular re- ligious services for the settlers. Nor did the Dutch West India Company itself fail to provide for the spiritual welfare of its emigrant flock. At the morning session of the Assembly of , Nineteen, March 28, 1624, “provisional conditions on which respective colo- nists are sent out to New Netherland in the service of the West India Com- pany to take their abode on the River of Prince Maurice (the Hudson) or at’ such other places as shall be assigned to them by the Commander and his Council,” for the government of the colonists who were to be enrolled the following day, were read and adopted. Article II of these provisions reads EMBLEM OF THE as follows: REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA “Within their territory they (Arms of William the Silent shall only worship according and Ecclesiastical Pillars) to the true Reformed Religion, as it is done within this country, (Holland), at present, and by a good Christian life they shall try to attract the Indians and other blind persons to the knowl- edge of God and his Word, without however committing any religious persecution, but freedom of conscience shall be left to every one, but if any one of them, or if any one within their territory shall intentionally curse or speak blasphemy against the name of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, he shall be punished by the Commander and his Council according to circumstances.” The italicized words in the passage quoted above embody a sentiment which was revolutionary for that age, but which eventually became the rock on which our great Republic of today was founded. Neither Pilgrim nor Puritan possessed so broad a spirit of tolerance. The Reformation had come to the Nether- lands by the Huguenot gate and in turn they passed on to the New World, by the hands of these first Huguenot settlers, the torch of religious freedom. Sidney Lee, the English man of letters, in an article published in Scribner’s for June, 1907, says this: “Tt was in the Huguenot spirit that the Puritans of England. when penal legislation drove them from their homes, leoked to America for protection and salvation. The vision of religious liberty in the new world was a Huguenot creation. It was slow to acquire stern enough sway over the minds of the Englishmen to move them to action. But under stress of events the ex- periences of English Puritans fell into closer agreement with those of the French Huguenots. Then the word written and spoken in France of the Calvinist colonies did penetrating work in England. The beginnings of New England were cast in the Huguenot mould. The great American project of Puritan Eng- land differed from the French schemes in Brazil and Florida 8 neither in motive nor in principle, but in practical achievement and enduring triumph. From the colonial failures of Protestant France followed the colonial success of Protestant England.” Bancroft writes: “He that will not honor the memory of John Calvin knows little of the origin of American liberty.” STATUE OF COLIGNY AT PARIS BIBLIOGRAPHY General THE ICONOGRAPHY OF MANHATTAN ISLAND, 1498-1909. Com- piled from Original Sources and illustrated by Photo-Intaglio Repro- ductions of Important Maps, Plans, Views and Documents in Public and Private Collections. Volume IV. By I. N. Phelps Stokes, New York. Robert H. Dodd. Out of Print, copy found in New York Public Library. THE YEAR BOOK OF THE HOLLAND SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA. By Lucian J. Fosdick, pub- lished by The Gotham Press. Price, $3.00. THE HUGUENOTS OF AMERICA. By Henry M. Baird, published by Scribner’s. Out of print, copies in most of the Libraries. THE BI-CENTENARY OF THE REVOCATION OF THE EDICE OF NANTES. Published by the Huguenot Society of America. Price, $5.00. MEMORIALS OF THE HUGUENOTS IN AMERICA. By Ammon Stapleton, D.D. (Tercentenary Edition). Price, $4.00. FAMOUS PLACES OF THE REFORMED CHURCHES. By James I. Good, D.D., Heidelberg Press, 1910. Price, $1.50. FAMOUS REFORMERS. By James I. Good, D.D., Heidelberg Press. MANUAL OF THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA. By C. E. Corwin. HANDBOOK OF FRENCH AND BELGIAN PROTESTANTISM. By Louise Seymour Houghton. By the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, 1919. Price, $1.00. Published for the Tercentenary A WALLOON FAMILY IN AMERICA. By Mrs. Robert W. de Forest, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 1914, 2 volumes. This work contains the Jesse de Forest Journal. Price, $5.00. THE HUGUENOT-WALLOONS. At Home, in Lands of Exile and in America (1544-1700). By William Elliott Griffis, D.D. Price, $2.00. THE DE FORESTS AND THE WALLOON FOUNDING OF NEW AMSTERDAM. By Lucy Garrison Green. THE BELGIANS AS FIRST SETTLERS IN NEW YORK. By Prof. Henry G. Bayer. JESSE DE FOREST. By Robert W. de Forest, published by the National Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission. Price, 25 cents. THE TERCENTENARY OF NEW YORK CITY IN 1924. ‘By Louis Effingham de Forest, published by the National Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission. Price, 50 cents. THE HUGUENOT CROSS. By Rev. John Baer Stoudt. Price, 25 cents. 10 THE HUGUENOT-WALLOON NEW NETHER- LAND COMMISSION, INCORPORATED Instituted by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America for the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the settling in New Netherland of Walloons (French and Belgian Huguenots), by the Dutch West India Company, in the spring of 1624. tiyyy|N CONSTITUTING the membership of the Commis- 77) sion, an effort was made to make it truly representa- tive, not only of the threefold racial interest of the Tercentenary—Walloon, French, and Dutch—and of its religious aspect, but also of its civic significance— local, national, and international. This was achieved first of all -in the acceptance of honorary chairmanship by the President of the United States (successively by the late President Harding and by President Coolidge), the Queen of the Netherlands, the King of the Belgians, and the President of France (first by President Millerand, then by President Doumergue). The Chairman of the Executive Committee, Dr. Macfarland, on personally pre- senting this matter, in 1922, in the three European countries most concerned, was very graciously received by these heads of govern- ments and found the warmest interest in the plan to celebrate in some fitting way the significant events of three centuries ago which were destined to have such a far-reaching effect on the shaping of the American nation. The messages from the Com- mission and the answers from the chief executives respectively of Holland, Belgium and France, will be found elsewhere in this volume. The Commission was fortunate in securing as its Chairman, Robert W. de Forest, Vice President of the American Red Cross, and a direct descendant of the indomitable Jesse de Forest, the organizer of the colony, whose momentous journey to the New World has been the subject of these Tercentenary celebrations. Nor was his chairmanship a perfunctory one. Most of the meet- ings of the executive group had the benefit of his wise counsel and the inspiration of his presence. In the arrangement and carrying out of the program he took an active part. The Chairman of the Executive Committee, Rev. Charles S. Macfarland, was the liaison officer in the Commission’s dealings with the twenty-eight great Protestant bodies composing the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. As Gen- eral Secretary of that body Dr. Macfarland secured representatives on the Commission from most of the church bodies, as well as religious organizations such as the American Bible Society, the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. Through his personal con- nections with the religious leaders abroad, he helped to arouse to it effective action the interest of the church federations in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and the Waldensian groups in northern Italy, so that national committees were formed in these countries to cooperate in the subsequent “Huguenot Pilgrimage” a descrip- tion of which will be found in a separate chapter. In Holland, the Leyden Pilgrim Fathers Society was enlisted to the same end. A very happy “find” on the part of the Commission, was the discovery that a direct descendant of Gaspard de Coligny, cham- pion of the Huguenots, was living in this country. Col. W. Gaspard de Coligny, soldier and writer, besides taking the keenest active interest in the events of the Tercentenary, became the Chair- man of the Advisory Committee. The plan of an adequate commemoration of the Huguenot- Walloon New Netherland Tercentenary by religious and civic bodies was first brought to the attention of the Federal Council by the Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania, and it was therefore peculiarly appropriate that its President, Rev. John Baer Stoudt, should be chosen as the Director of the Commission to mobilize for the program of the Commission the Huguenot, historical, patriotic and civic societies throughout the country. The organ- izations having official representation on the Commission will be found listed on page 20. Besides such representative members, the Commission was increased by “members-at-large,’ among whom were a number bearing names distinguished in our early colonial history, and several who were direct descendants of the original thirty-two families forming the Huguenot-Walloon colony of 1624. NATIONAL RECOGNITION Knowing that the Tercentenary exercises themselves must nec- essarily be local in character and that relatively only a small pro- portion of the whole population could attend them, the Commission bent its energies to securing such recognition of the historic significance of this anniversary by the U. S. Government as would not only spread the story of the Tercentenary all over the nation but would result in lasting memorials for all those inter- ested. THE HUGUENOT-WALLOON MEMORIAL COIN AND THE TERCENTENARY STAMPS The first of these tangible expressions of tribute to the Wal- loon pioneers of 1624 was the striking of the Huguenot-Walloon Memorial Half Dollar by the U. S. Treasury Department; the second was the issuing of three special memorial stamps by the U. S. Post Office Department, the Commission in each case furnishing the designs. 12 < In selecting subjects for these designs, the guiding thought was to include as much of the three-fold significance of the Tercentenary as possible—religious, historic, and racial. The memorial coin shows on its obverse side the profiles of two great Huguenot leaders—Wil- THE NEW NETHERLAND STAMP liam the Silent of Holland, and his friend and ally, Admiral Coligny, of France—both of whom were deeply interested in projects for the colonization of the New World. The reverse bears the ship “Nieu Nederland,” the sturdy Dutch vessel which carried the first boatload of Huguenot-Walloons from their refuge in the Nether- lands on that memorable voyage across the as yet little known and much feared ocean. Of the stamps, it is the green one-cent stamp which again displays the gallant little ship and acknowledges the debt of gratitude which the Huguenots owed to the Netherlands for the protection they enjoyed there in the days of persecution. The red two-cent stamp is dis- tinctively Walloon in spirit. It shows the landing of the Walloons at Albany (their first settlement), and introduces to the public, which has had little knowledge of them heretofore, a new racial element in THE WALLOON STAMP our colonial period. The drawing used as the basis for the design was found in an old history of New York, now many years out of print. Huguenot in character is the five-cent stamp, which carries the message of the Tercen- tenary around the world. On it is a drawing of the Ribaut monu- ment at Mayport, Florida, whose dedication in the Tercentenary year (May 2, 1924), was one of the outstanding features of the local celebrations. New York STATE The Governor of New York, the Hon. Alfred E. Smith, expressed the great interest of the State of New York in the anniversary by a special proclamation, reproduced in facsimile on another page in this volume. An account of the Albany THE RIBAUT STAMP celebration is given on a later page. 13 THe TERCENTENARY HISTORIAN It will be recalled that in the spring of 1923, when this Com- mission first announced its program for the celebration of the Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary, a great deal of discussion, some of it rather acrimoniously argumentative, was evoked over the. contemplated date of the anniversary—1924. The Commission | in its literature, has avoided entering into this historical conflict, confining itself to the statement of such facts as leading historians considered incontrovertible. The date fixed upon for the exercises, both as to year and month, was the most accurate according to the data then available. It is quite possible that some rectification, chronologically, may become necessary in the future, but this will not diminish the glory of the Walloon achievement, nor affect materially the main facts of their story. Recent publications of old MSS (such as the Huntington MS) have tended to confirm 1624 as the correct date for the arrival of the Huguenot-Walloon settlers in New Netherland. In order to have an authoritative historical account to precede the commemorative gatherings in the spring of 1924, the Commis- sion was glad to avail itself of the opportunity to appoint as its historian Dr. William Elliott Griffis, writer, historian and lecturer. In his book, written specially for the Tercentenary, “The Hugue- not-Walloons,” he has not only set down most of the data avail- able at the date of publication in 1923, but has also woven into his story much of the lovable tradition and romance which sur- rounds the early days of New Netherland. A condensed, but very scholarly, account of the Huguenot- Walloon Colony is contained in Major Louis Effingharn de Forest’s monograph, “The Tercentenary of New York City in 1924,” published by the Commission. SUMMARY The general significance and import of the Tercentenary cele- brations are well summed up in Dr. Macfarland’s address at May- port (see page 31), it remains only to say that the distribution of this memorial volume among universities and public libraries will further aid in making a part of our national history the facts concerning the Walloon settlement of New Netherland which these Tercentenary celebrations have brought to public notice. The Commission is deeply indebted to its Director, Dr. Stoudt, first of all for the conception and initiation of the idea of the Tercentenary celebrations, and his service in bringing to light historical events of great significance which had been lost to view, and for his untiring service in the practical realization of the Tercentenary program. 14 IN MEMORIAM The Commission records with deep regret the pass- ing of five of its members before the consummation of the work to the success of which they had bent their efforts : THE HON. JOHN WANAMAKER, one of the first members of the Commission and its first Patron, after the Chairman, Mr. de Forest; THE REV. JAMES I. GOOD, representative of the Reformed Church in the United States, who assisted materially in rousing interest among the pastors of that denomination on behalf of the Tercentenary ; MRS. FLORENCE MURPHY COOLEY, chair- man of the Ribaut Committee of Florida, who first suggested to the Florida D. A. R. the propriety of erecting a monument to the memory of Ribaut, and under whose supervision the task was so effectively accomplished ; COL. GEORGE P. LAWTON,’ representa- tive of the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New York, to whose good offices in se- curing the cooperation of state and municipal au- thorities the Commission is greatly indebted ; THE HON. PIERRE MALI, Belgian Consul General in New York, an influential and loyal friend of the Commis- THE HON. PIERRE MALI sion, and who worked Late Consul General of Belgi ae fan REARS t Sestak dea untiringly in its behalf. OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES — Honorary Chairmen THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES H. M. THE QUEEN OF THE NETHERLANDS H. M. THE KING OF THE BELGIANS His EXcELLENCY, THE PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC Honorary Vice-Chairmen BARON DE CARTIER DE MARCHIENNE Hon. ALFRED FE, SMITH Hon. JuLes J. JUSSERAND Hon. WILLIAM PHILLIPS Hon. A. D. C. DE GRAEFF Hon. HERBERT HOOVER Hon. RicHArp N. Tosin Hon. BRAND WHITLOCK Advisory Committee Cot, WILLIAM GASPARD DE COoLicNy, Chairman Pror. A. J. BARNOUW J. JOHNSTON MALI HAMILTON HOoLt J. PERRET Hon. J. B. HUBRECHT Hon. GIFForp PINCHOT Hon. GASTON LIEBERT Rev. HENry VAN DYKE Hon. Pierre MALI (deceased) Hon. JoHN R. VooruHIS Hon. Cary A. HARDEE Officers Ropert W. DE FOREST Chairman General Commission Rev. CHARLES S. MACFARLAND Chairman Executive Committee Vice-Chairmen Hon. T. W. Bacot Hon. J. S. FRELINGHUYSEN Hon. Howarp R. BAYNE JoHN L. MERRILL WILLIAM SLOANE COFFIN Hon. WILLIAM J. SCHIEFFELIN Rr. Rev. JAMes H. DARLINGTON Dr. Ropert E, SPEER Executive Committee Tunis G. BERGEN C. V. HisBarp Rev. W. I. CHAMBERLAIN Dr. GeorGE F, Kunz Louis E. bE Forest Cot. GEoRGE P. Lawton (deceased) Dr. Joun H. FINLEY Miss SAarAH LYON Rev. JAMES H. FRANKLIN Dr. JoHN R. Mott Rev. SIpNEY L. GULICK Rev. FRANK Mason NortH : Rev. WILiiAMmM I. Haven Rev. GeEorGE W. RICHARDS Rev. JAMES I. VANCE ALFRED R. KIMBALL Treasurer Rev. JOHN BAER STOUDT Director Miss ANTONIA H. FROENDT Secretary 16 Rosert W. ve Forest Rev. Caries S. MacraRLAND Chairman General Commission Chairman Executive Committee Rev. Joun Baer Stoupr = = —- Cot. W.. Gasparp be Coticny Director S Chairman Advisory ‘Committee MEMBERS Mrs. ANSON ATTERBURY Levi A. AULT Hon. T. W. Bacor Dr. GEORGE FALES BAKER Pror. A. J. BARNoUW Rey. ALLEN R, BARTHOLOMEW Hon. THomAs F, BAYARD Hon. Howarp R. BAYNE Rev. SYLVESTER W, BEACH HENRY HARPER BENEDICT Tunis G. BERGEN FRED T. BoNTECOU Dr. HERBERT L. BRIDGMAN W.R. Britton Rev. ARTHUR J. BROWN Rev. F. W. BuRNHAM CHARLES NEWTON CANDEE Rev. SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT Rev. W. I. CHAMBERLAIN ReEv. SAMUEL H,. CHESTER Rey. FRANcIs E. CLARK Hon. ALPHONSO CLEARWATER Miss CATHERINE P. CLIVETTE WILLIAM SLOANE COFFIN GENERAL ELI K. Coie Mrs. JAMES C, COLGATE Mrs. FLoreENcE M. Coo.tey (deceased ) CHARLES E. Corwin Mrs. JAMES A. CRAIG Rev. W. STUART CRAMER R. FULTON CUTTING Rt. Rev. JAMES H. DARLINGTON WILLIAM T. Davis Louts P. DE BoER BARON DE CARTIER DE MARCHIENNE Cot. W. GASPARD DE COLIGNY Louis E. DE ForEST Ropert W. DE ForREST Hon. A. D. C. DE GRAEFF Pres. W. H. S. DEMAREST Hon. CHAUNCEY DEPEW Rey. PAUL DE SCHWEINITZ EDWARD DE WITT Dr. Howarp DUFFIELD HERBERT DUPUY Mrs. Wricut P. EpGERTON Dr. SAMUEL A. ELior Rev. PAUL D. ELSESSER WILLIAM PHELPS ENO W. VAN RENSSELAER ERVING R. DoucLass EWELL Hon. Epwarp R. FINCH Hon. JoHN H. FINLEY ERNEST FLAGG Lucian J. Fospick Mrs. Lucian J, Fospick Rev. WILLIAM H, FouLkeEs Rev. J. H. FRANKLIN ALDEN FREEMAN Hon. J. S, FRELINGHUYSEN ALGERNON S, FRISSELL Miss ANTONIA H, FROENDT Rev. Henry D., Frost WILLIAM B. GAILLARD Hon. F, D. GALLATIN Hon. Frep. B. GERNERD C. M. GorETHE Rev. WILLIAM ELLioTT GRIFFIS Rev. SIDNEY L. GULICK HAGAMAN HALL Hon. Cary A. HARDEE Hon. GILpert D. B. Hasprouck Rev. WILLIAM I, HAVEN Mrs. JOSEPHINE HEATHCOTE Mrs. A. BARTON HEPBURN C. V. HiBBARD Pror. ARTHUR H. HirsH HAMILTON HOLT Hon. HErBert C, Hoover Hon. J. B. Husrecut A. E. HUNGERFORD Rev. JAMES Boyp HUNTER HENryY E. HUNTINGTON PHOENIX INGRAHAM Hon. JULEs J. JUSSERAND ALFRED R, KIMBALL W. F. H. Koetscu CorRNELIUS G, KoLFr Dr. GeorGE F, Kunz Co. GEoRGE P. LAwton (deceased) Mrs. Georce P, LAwTon CHARLES W. LENG Mrs. RicHArpD V. LINDABURY Hon. WALTER F. LINEBERGER Rev. FREDERICK LYNCH ~ Miss SARAH Lyon Hon. GASTON LIEBERT Rev. CHARLES S, MACFARLAND Mrs. MAry P. MACFARLAND Rev. TH. D. MALAN J. JOHNSTON MALI Hon. Pierre Matti (deceased) REUBEN LESLIE MAYNARD REGINALD L. MCALL Rey. H. G. MENDENHALL JOHN LEONARD MERRILL Rev. GEORGE R. MONTGOMERY THOMAS MONTGOMERY Rev. JoHN M. Moore Mrs. Puixtie N. Moore Davip MOREHOUSE Dr. JoHN R. Morr MEMBERS JosEPpH A, NASH Mrs. H. S. PRENTISS NICHOLS Mrs. R. ARMSTRONG NIEHAUS Rey. FRANK MASON NorTH Mrs. Mary L. Norton J. PERRET Capt. N. TAYLOR PHILLIPS Hon. WILLIAM PHILLIPS Hon. GIFFoRD PINCHOT Rev. W. W. PINSON Dr. WILLIAM PRALL Miss RutH PuTNAM DANIEL RAVENEL Hon. Davin A. REED -W. A. HERBERT REIDER Rev. GeorGcE W., RICHARDS JosEPH D, SAWYER Rev. C. E. SCHAEFFER Cort. ARTHUR F, SCHERMERHORN Hon WILLIAM J. SCHIEFFELIN Morcan H. SEAcorD Mrs. Louis LivINGSTON SEAMAN Mrs. E. G. SEWELL Pror, CAROLINE SHELDON Cot. Henry W. SHOEMAKER Hon. ALFRED E.' SMITH Rev. FRANK C. SMITH Dr. Ropert E. SPEER JoHN B. STETSON Rev. JoHN BArER Stouptr Mrs. Evizasetu A. Stoupt Hon. R. BEAVER STRASSBURGER Mrs. THEODORE STRAWN WILLIAM H. TAYLorR Mrs. CHARLES E, TEFFT Mrs. WILLIAM F. THACHER Rev. WortH M. Tippy Hon. RicHarp N. Topin FENNELL P. TURNER Rev. JAMES I, VANCE Miss Mase, VAN DuSEN Rev. HENRY VAN DYKE Rev. TERTIUS VAN DYKE Rev. JOHN VAN SCHAICK WILLIAM GorDON VER PLANCK Hon. AvBert H. VESTAL Miss KATHERINE K, VIELE Hon. JoHN R. Vooruts Isaac H. VrRooMAN, JR. Cot. JOHN W.,.VRoOMAN Rev. FLoRIAN VURPILLOT Hon. JOHN WANAMAKER (deceased ) Rey. GEorGE S. WEBSTER Hon. Branp WHITLOCK ARTHUR T. WILLIAMS Moritz WorMSER THE HUGUENOT CROSS “LHe CHURCH UNDER THE CROSS” COOPERATING ORGANIZATIONS List of cooperating societies in addition to those represented in the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America: Huguenot Society of America. Huguenot Society of South Carolina. Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania. Huguenot Society of New Jersey. Huguenot Society of New Rochelle. Historical Society of the Reformed Church in the U. S. Holland Society of New York. Society of the Daughters of the Holland Dames. St. Nicholas Society. Historical Society of Staten Island. Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences. Daughters of the American Revolution. Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New York. American Scenic and Historic Site Preservation Society. N. Y. State Historical Association. Society of the Founders of Manahkin. Albany Tercentenary Committee. Huguenot Tercentenary Committee of New Paltz, N. Y. Monmouth County Historical Association. Tercentenary Committee of New Oxford, Mass. Historical Society of Pennsylvania. American Numismatic Association. EUROPEAN ORGANIZATIONS Société de l’Histoire du Protestantisme Frangais. Société d’Histoire du Protestantisme Belge. National Tercentenary Committee of Belgium. The Leyden Pilgrim Society. Huguenot Society of London. French Protestant Federation. The Waldensian Synod. Société Jean Calvin. The Swiss Evangelical Church Federation. 20 (uIsnyy Vv © ystqie adeosourieu ueisjog 24} Aq Surljured e wor) «LiOd NOIAXYOA V NI CNVTaYAHCHN NOYIN, AHL, 21 CALVIN COOLIDGE President of the United States THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON September 27, 1925. My dear Destor stouat: z soe received, with much pleasure, your invi- tation te aecest the Honorary Presidensy of the ib tional Fusuenct Ff se Ror ST ee ren ae \ f “in ae 4 : : Le é ae GA ged ae: Le a aay a ; nev. Join Baer Stoudt, 2 Ghe Rationsl Huguenot-valloon, New Uethsriand Comission, 105 EH. 22nd Street, New York City. ( PRESIDENT. COOLIDGE’S |LETTER ACCEPTING HONORARY CHAIRMANSHIP OF THE COMMISSION 23 WARREN G. HARDING Late President of the United States 24 PRESIDENT HARDING’S LETTER ACCEPTING HONORARY CHAIRMANSHIP OF THE COMMISSION 25 ‘The Queen’s Message To Dr. MACFARLAND: ae Receive my thanks for the attention you have paid me, in presenting me personally with the message of the Huguenot-Walloon Commission. Your visit affords me the opportunity of testifying to the great interest I take in the commemorative celebration of the settlement of the Walloons in your country. [ thank you for the words you spoke regarding the indissoluble links which unite my country and the United States,—a unity rooted in the principles of faith and liberty which the settlers brought with them from The Netherlands. : For these and many other reasons it would be of great interest to me to find, some day, the opportunity of visiting your country. Accept my very best wishes for the success of the commemorative festivities and for the Huguenot-Walloon Commission especially. 26 Palais de Bruxelles, Brussels, the 15th of February, 1923. Rev. JoHN BAER Stoupt, Director of the National Huguenot-Walloon Commission, New York. My dear Dr. Stoudt: It was a matter of gratification to me to hear that plans were being made in the United States for the Tercentenary Celebration of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers of Huguenot-Walloon origin. Belgium wishes to participate in the commemoration of this remarkable event and to pay tribute to the wise and fearless contribution of her sons to the founding on the shores of the Hudson of one of the greatest and most prosperous cities in the world. My fellow citizens deeply appreciate the interest taken in this celebra- tion which can only strengthen the bonds of friendship existing between our two countries. I welcome this opportunity to extend the expression of my personal sympathy and of the wishes which we all heartily form for its welfare and prosperity. Believe me, my dear Dr. Stoudt, Yours sincerely, iH PRESIDENT MILLERAND OF FRANCE The Letter of Ambassador Jusserand DEAR SIR: Referring to previous correspondence, I beg to say that I have just received an answer to the cable I had sent to my Government and I am glad to inform you that President Millerand accepts with great pleasure the patronage of the Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary commemoration. Believe me, Sincerely yours, JUSSERAND. Washington, December 16, 1922. (C4pnojg savg uyor ‘aay “favs ap *) °C “PR “MO ‘auuaryoavpy ap 4a44v7 ap uoavg punjivjmvy “S Sajavyy “aay “quapisadd ay. puvdassne “f Sajneg “UoH ‘paofAabuny “gq “Pp ‘uosyoyy, ‘OC "aay :4yb1s 03 4fa] worz) ‘peor ‘Iz AYVNATAA ‘NOLONIHSVM NOISSINWOO HHL dO SYHOIAO Ad AOAITOOO LNACISaad OL UVTIOd AIVH LONANONA AO NOILVINASAAd 29 THE RIBAUT MEMORIAL AT MAYPORT, FLORIDA This monument reproduces the original marker bearing the arms of France set up by Jean Ribaut at this point in 1562; erected by the Florida Daughters of the American Revolution, under the direction of Mrs. Florence M. Cooley and Mrs. James A. Craig. THE REMAINS OF JEAN RIBAUT’S STOCKADE : at Parris Island, S. C., showing section of moat. The original cedar logs composing the fort were excavated by U. S. Marines stationed on the Island, under the direction of General Eli K. Cole, Commandant of U. S. Marine Corps at Parris Island. Concrete markers distinctly show the lines of the old fortifications. 30 THES TERGENTENAR Y= CELEBRATIONS UNDAY, April 27, 1924, was the opening date of the Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Tercentenary observances in this country. As the Huguenot-Wal- loons sought the new World, inspired by a religious motive, it was fitting that the exercises commemorat- ing the 300th aniversary of their coming should be inaugurated by religious observances in the American Churches. In many cases the entire morning service was devoted to the Tercentenary. FLORIDA The initial civic functions of the Tercentenary took place at Mayport, Fla., on May 1, under the auspices of the Florida Daughters of the American Revolution. The occasion was the unveiling of the Ribaut Memorial, marking the spot at or near which landed the first Huguenot colonists, sent out by Admiral Coligny in 1562 under the command of Jean Ribaut, the first colonial enterprise to these shores, of which any record has been preserved. The new monument is a replica of the marker set up by Ribaut. Erected on a hillock (the only eminence for miles around), the plain hexagonal shaft of stone, 12 feet in height, bearing the old 16th century arms of France, those of the D. A. R. and a bronze shield telling the story of the lost colony, has a commanding position, visible from the St. John’s River, the country for several miles around, and from the Atlantic. The Florida Committee was fortunate in having present to unveil the monument Colonel William Gaspard de Coligny, whose distinguished ancestor, Gaspard de Coligny, was the originator of this colonial enterprise at “Ye Riuer Mai.” The chief address on the program was that of Rev. Charles S. Macfarland, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Huguenot-Walloon Commission, who dedicated the monument. In a stirring speech, often interrupted by applause, he pointed out the significance of the early attempt at Mayport to found a refuge for the oppressed, on American shores. Dr. MACFARLAND’S ADDRESS “Among the enduring values of such events as this Ter- centenary is the occasion which it offers us to review our national life; to evaluate its moral and spiritual possessions; to follow the course over which it has passed in the attainment of its higher ideals and to search back and rediscover those fundamental prin- ciples upon which its foundations have been laid. 31 “T shall, therefore, ask you to traverse with me today, the path which our American Nation has trod in order that we may first witness the enduring nature of the work and life of the Huguenots and the Walloons. Such a review of history is essential in order to pay fitting tribute to those who laid the foundations three hundred years ago, as we express to you, their sons and daughters, the deepened gratitude which we have come to feel for what they did and what they dared to do. “When, in the course of human events, the story of America comes to be written in the undiminished and clarified light of historical perspective, it will be marked by four great and dis- tinct epochs, all shadowed and hallowed by great conflicts, their issues born of righteous judgments and determination and their ends attained by human suffering and sacrifice. “The first of these great eras was that of the nation’s birth. The issue of that consecrated hour of the world’s life was that of individual liberty and the structure of our nation rests upon the divine right of the individual human spirit, in the inviolable solitude of personality, to stand face to face with the divine reality; upon the imperial privilege of the human soul itself. “The first words of the Declaration of Independence were in- scribed on Plymouth Rock by Pilgrims and were boldly written all along our shore from North to South by the same Huguenot hands that had carved in the prison tower of Constance the im- mortal word ‘Resistez!’ “The conflict with which this era was marked was not only won with flesh and blood, but with the battles of uncharted seas, the stern resistance of hostile shores, was marked indelibly with dar- ing, with fortitude and with sublime faith, which forever broke the dominance of human masters with their boastful claims of a divine right to fetter and enslave the minds and souls of men. “The vital and the fundamental law of this first era of the nation’s history, lasting for a century and a half, was that to make a free nation you first must have free men. “The second of these great epochs were the days in which these free souls were formed into a free nation. Re-reading the history of those little colonies in the light of the issues then determined, comparing and contrasting them with the American nation as it is today, we witness the gradual translation of the Declaration of Independence into the Constitution of the United States, which has defied the assaults of a century and a half of human vicis- situdes. This second great era witnessed the establishment of an order of human society by which more than a hundred million people made up of men and women from all climes and: nations of the earth, have been able to live together in a body politic so constituted as to induce unity with liberty. It was the bringing forth not only of a new nation, but a new type of nation conceived 32 in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. “The second great epoch was also associated with severe and bitter conflict, the War of American Independence. Its achteve- ment was that of liberty under law. “Then came the third great era of our national life, to test these eternal principles. Was a government of the people, for the people, by the people, equal to its task? Could it go on weaving the mantle of human freedom, large enough to cover the race? “Could the nation perpetuate individual liberty and yet preserve and maintain the integrity insured to it by the Declaration and the Constitution which was its sequel? Were these several states bound by the solemn seal and covenant of a consecrated compact to maintain that union in which alone there is the strength which alone can eternally maintain righteousness and truth? Could a nation of free souls live in unity under law? And the answer to that question today is one and the same in both North and South. The first epoch: The ideal of individual human free- dom The second epoch: The establishment of this human freedom under law The third epoch: The principle that freedom could endure only in the sacred and indivisible union of free souls “\nd now today, my friends, we are in the midst of the fourth great cra of our history. That era began in 1917 but it did not end in 1918; that was but the beginning of its profound issues. “These other three outstanding periods of our national ex- istence were mainly concerned with our own internal life. In the era upon which we have now entered, we are seeking to find and to establish some principle of human freedom which will ex- tend to the unity and the mutual duties of all the nations. The United States now faces her fourth great decision and it is no less significant than the other three: What is her place of duty, of opportunity, of service in the life and the order of the world of all mankind? “There are those who say, unthinkingly, that the political processes by which humanity seeks the unity in freedom which we established for ourselves in 1776, must stop at the boundary of national lines. They forget that even back in those rather shadowy days of 150 years ago, we had forecasts of those eternal principles of world unity now struggling for a right and just solution. They forget that the British Army was reinforced by Hessians. Those who are inclined to be contemptuous today towards peoples across the sea, now stretching forth their hands 33 and asking for our political help, seem to forget that away back in those early days, the American nation sent Benjamin Franklin to Paris on precisely that same errand, and that he returned with Lafayette and Rochambeau. It seems to have escaped their memory that again, in the days of 1861, when the cause of national unity seemed in danger of being lost because our internal con- flict interfered with other nations whose interests were involved, we sent our political emissaries, very much as Lord Robert Cecil has just come to us, to Great Britain, among them notably a man named Henry Ward Beecher with the open and avowed purpose of propaganda, in a true and lofty sense. These historic cir- cumstances are absolutely parallel, both in principle and fact. France and Great Britain, today, are doing exactly what we did ourselves in ’76 and ’61. “We are thus called today to answer the question as to whether or not the consecration of the nation at its birth into institutions of free constitutional government, its final seal and covenant in 1861 confirming forever the freedom and unity of its own life, now lead us on by the inevitable path of law, of logic and of human experience to a new consecration to precisely these same principles in the constitution of the human order throughout the world. If these ideals are the principles on which a nation must be built, are they also the basis of a world order? Thus these eras pass from one into the other with ceaseless and unbroken march. “America in 1918 began to do her part to liberate the world. A great deal has been said, with truth, about the valor of our soldiers and yet it is rather an open secret that our contribution to the armed force of the allied powers was rather a moderate offering, for which our friends of France and Great Britain and Belgium have been very gracious in their computations. The real influence that the United States brought into the War was a moral influence and when the day of armistice had come, the United States stood where the world offered her an honorable place in its moral and its spiritual leadership. And then what happened? We had entered upon the field of battle, its devasta- tion we had shared, but we came back and we left our comrades on the other side of the sea to clear up all the wreckage of the battlefields. We are, my friends, still seeking and we shall yet find our way back. “About three years ago, it was my privilege to participate in two great moving scenes, which were so impressive that they be- came a part of my very life. They followed upon successive days. They were wonderfully suited to each other. Those experiences came to me as I followed the remains of the unknown soldier on its way to Arlington and heard our President as he offered our Lord’s Prayer at that sacred moment, and then the next day, as he stood before the assembled representatives of the other 34 nations and offered our hearty and unreserved service in the effort to solve their deeply perplexing problems. The Conference at Washington was our first step back towards the path of national opportunity and duty. I suspect few of our people know how momentous it was or what grave possibilities it averted. We must now find some way to do for all the world what we did then for part of it. “As I once passed out from the Assembly of the Nations in Geneva in the historic Hall of the Reformation, in company with one of the greatest statesmen and one of the finest spirits in the public life of the world today, we passed that picture so familiar to us all, of the young man standing before the Master with the title under it, “The Great Decision.’ This man stopped and as he pointed to it he said as his voice shook with deep emotion, “The Great Decision, America is in the process of making it today.’ “Thank God, our opportunity is still before us. On a beauti- ful September day last year, as I walked the banks of the peaceful lake in Switzerland with one of the most real and genuine statesmen in the world of affairs today, he pointed to the building from which we had just emerged and turning to me with a trembling voice said, ‘If that breaks down (I do not believe it will) but if that breaks down, your United States must bear the responsibility: for its failure. But on the other hand, were the United States here with us, that body could command the moral consent of the civilized world.’ “A few days later, in the beautiful French capital, after I had talked for a few moments with one of the great military leaders who had been expressing the hope of all Europe that some strong clear expression might come from across the sea from us, he turned to me and said with tears in his eyes, ‘If not, and Europe goes down with a mighty crash, a large measure of moral re- sponsibility will rest on America,’ and then with his face suddenly lighting up he said, ‘but, on the other hand, any reasonable and just proposal from your country could command the universal assent and compliance of mankind. Let the American Govern- ment say to the nations across the sea—We will sit down with you, all of us together, friend and foe, to determine together the just and righteous settlement of all our mutual problems—the response would be universal and light would break like the morn- ing sun.’ “That, my hearers, is where our nation stands today in the world’s esteem and life. To me it is a solemnizing thought. “My friends and fellow citizens, I have thus endeavored to interpret today the pathway which our nation has trod, to re- mind you that it has led us to this vision because our faces were set towards that light from the beginning. The structure has been enduring and has been reared erect to its lofty height, with- 35 out tottering, because its moral foundations were laid deep and strong by the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock, by the Walloons at the great center of our nation’s life; enduring foundations which extended to these southern shores where the brave Huguenots, by their earlier sacrifice, had led the way and had set here this symbol of liberty which we today restore and dedicate again. . “Here, upon these shores, under the inspiration of Gaspard de Coligny, was planted the first standard more than half a century before the coming of Pilgrim and Walloon. Menendez and his faithless ruler thought that they had put out the fire of liberty, but the volcano simply broke out again in other places on the northern shore. “Ribaut and his intrepid colonists were the pioneers of pioneers. They were the John the Baptists of Pilgrim and Walloon. “Year by year and generation after generation, foremost and frequent among the names that have shed lustre on our national history have been those of the Huguenots who followed them. “Thus Huguenot of France, Pilgrim of England and Walloon of Belgium, with the help of the liberty-loving men and women of Holland, have woven themselves enduringly into the structure of our national life. No one people of those making up our nation has exercised such influence down through the centuries as those found worthy to inherit their mantles. “They were not mere seekers of material gain through trade and commerce. They braved the seas seeking liberty; their impulses were deep and abiding because profoundly spiritual, they had been tried in the fires of persecution and they added a needed. touch of light and color to the sombre Puritans. “Daughters of the American Revolution, this touch of senti- ment upon your part was needed to complete the landscape as we approach America from across the sea. Today our coast line is marked by two beacons of liberty one at each extreme—the rock of the Pilgrims and this shaft restored in memory of the Hugue- nots, while in between them, within a few days, another sign and symbol will be reared in memory of their spiritual brothers, the Walloons. One year ago we only had one Plymouth Rock, today we have three Plymouth Rocks. “Tt is appropriate that a representative of the Churches of America should bring to you this message for here in America liberty was the gift of religion. American Evangelical Chris- tianity is one of many priceless gifts that have come to us from. France. This spot has a sacredness that is unique. Here we walk in the footsteps of the first of those who, on this continent,, died for the principle of that first epoch of our nation, the proposition that a free nation must be a commonwealth of free men. “But, my friends, let us do more today than to devote this monument to them. Let us dedicate ourselves, let us consecrate 36 our children and our children’s children. Let us kneel here before Almighty God, as they did and hallow our nation to that same spirit as our nation, today, faces its momentous responsibilities. to all mankind. “As we thus dedicate this shaft of liberty, if we yield our- selves to the better sentiments of the hour and give ourselves to its holy sanctions, releasing our hearts to its most sacred in- fluences, we shall feel ourselves lifted for a little out of the com- mon drudgery of life, our conscience will be searched, penetrated and explored, our hearts renewed, our feverish complaining ways composed, our sordid desires shamed, our hope deepened and our faith in God and humanity enlarged and quickened. We shall then best render our homage to those over whose fallen forms we have achieved our national heritage, by setting before our eyes the vision of their immortal ideals, as we remember that our life and liberty were bought with the price they paid. “Four great epochs in the life of a great nation. Each one of them leads and merges into its successor. And we are privileged to live in the greatest of those eras. The first great decision, that the human soul should eternally possess its freedom. The second great decision, that there should be a nation living in freedom under law. The third great decision, that it was the moral duty of a free people to live in unbroken. unity to maintain that free- dom under law. The fourth great decision, to accept humbly, reverently, without pharasaism, with the sense of a human weak- ness which reaches out for a divine strength, to accept moral leadership in a disordered world in obedience to the call of humanity, that the ideals which were a legacy to us, from those whose immortal spirits we can feel today upon this sacred spot, shall become the heritage of all mankind. “Never shall I forget the new life in that old war-worn human- ity across the sea when the word came to them at last—America is here! And those same shattered forces still await the word— America has come back again. The first great era: The freedom of the human soul The second great era: The assurance of that free- dom by law and constitution The third great era: Its maintenance in unity and union The fourth great era: The transmission of all of these eternal principles into the life of the world “Thank God, America was equal to the others. Will she now fail? God forbid. 37 ‘Thy great world lesson all shall learn, The nations in thy school shall sit, Earth’s farthest mountain-tops shall burn With watch-fires from thy own uplit.’ “In yonder northern port, close to the spot where the Huguenot- Walloon Commission will soon erect the Walloon memorial from brave little Belgium, there stands a massive figure appropriately sculptured by a son of France, a modern Huguenot by name Bartholdi. God grant that it may ever be a veracious symbol of America: The eternal light of Liberty, of Liberty enlightening the world!” After the benediction, spoken in French by Rev. Georges Lauga, the representative of the French Churches, the guests were entertained at tea in the hospitable home of Mrs. J. Starke, who gave the land on which the Ribaut monument stands. THE GATHERING AROUND THE RIBAUT MONUMENT AFTER THE DEDICATION, MAYPORT, MAY 1, 1924 SoutTH CAROLINA The Tercentenary celebrations in South Carolina were con- ducted by the Huguenot Society of South Carolina. On May 3 the visitors were the guests of the officers of the South Carolina Huguenot Society at a dinner in the Hotel Francis 38 Marion. On Sunday morning a special service was held in the old Huguenot Church, at which M. Lauga preached the sermon and Dr. Macfarland and Rev. John Baer Stoudt assisted the pastor, Rev. Florian Vurpillot, and the congregation joined in the singing of well known Huguenot hymns. In the afternoon a pilgrimage was made to places of historic Huguenot interest near Charleston, among others, the site of the historic “Goose Creek” Church. Accompanied by nearly a score of the members of the Hugue- not Society of South Carolina, the visiting delegation went to Parris Island, the site of the second colony established by Jean Ribaut in 1562. Mutiny and sickness caused the abandonment of the colony, but a rude stockade built to withstand Indian at- tacks, was of such sound construction that its site was recently discovered by Col. John Millis of the United States Army. Gen. Eli K. Cole, Commandant of the United States Marine Corps now stationed on the island, caused the structure to be excavated and the great cedar logs which formed the beams and uprights were found to be practically intact throughout. Gen- eral Cole has had concrete markers set up over the old posts, serving the double purpose of preserving the logs from exposure and decay and showing plainly the outlines of the fort itself. It was to place the last marker, bearing a memorial tablet in brass, that the Tercentenary Commission and the various Huguenot societies visited Parris Island and assisted at the ceremony of marking this historic spot which holds the remains of what is Ree Sse oe MARKING THE RIBAUT FORT AT PARRIS ISLAND, S. C. 39 probably the oldest trace of the white man’s handiwork in this ‘country. The official program started with an invocation by Lieut. Alfred de Groot Vogler, the post chaplain, followed by an ad- dress of welcome by General Cole, which was replied to on behalf of the Huguenot-Walloon Commission by Mr. Stoudt. ‘Thomas W. Bacot, president of the Huguenot Society of South ‘Carolina, delivered a brief address. The marker was then swung into place amid the applause of those present while the assembled regiment of United States Marines stood at salute and the bugles played the French Defile. ‘The audience joined in the singing of “Faith of Our Fathers,” following which Mr. Stoudt, on behalf of the Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania, presented to General Cole the Huguenot Cross in recognition of his services in preserving to posterity a historic landmark of our early colonial period. WASHINGTON, D. C. Sunday, May 11th, was the date of the national memorial service in Washington, D. C. It took place in the Reformed Church of which President Roosevelt was a member, and was attended by Ambassador Jusserand of France, Ambassador de —Henry Miller News Picture Service, Inc. OBSERVING TERCENTENARY AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL The Ambassadors of the three European Nations most interested in the Tercentenary and the foreign delegates. Left to right: Chaplain Georges Lauga, representing France and the French Protestant Churches; Jonkheer A. D. C. de Graeff, Minister of the Nether- lands; Baron de Cartier, the Belgian Ambassador; Jules J. Jusserand, Ambassador of France; and Pastor Leonard Hoyois, of Belgium. 40 Cartier of Belgium, and Dr. A. D. C. de Graeff, Minister of the Netherlands, as well as many other representatives of official Washington. M. Lauga preached the sermon, and Dr. Hoyois and Mr. Stoudt assisted the pastor, Rev. Henry H. Ranck, in the service, and brought brief messages of greeting. VALLEY FORGE The Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania, as its share in the Tercentenary, arranged a special meeting at the Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge, Pa. The chief speakers were the two foreign guests, Rev. Georges Lauga of France; Rev. Leonard Hoyois, who had in the meantime arrived from Belgium, representing the Belgian Churches and the municipality of Mons in the Province of Hainaut, and Dr. Macfarland who gave the historical address. Huguenot crosses were conferred upon Messrs. Lauga and Hoyois, Chaplain-in-Chief John T. Axton of the United States Army, Capt. Evan B. Scott, Chaplain-in-Chief of the United States Navy, and the Hon. Fred B. Gernerd, each of whom spoke briefly on subjects connected with the Tercentenary. THE NEw YorK PROGRAM The first event in the Tercentenary program of New York was the historical pilgrimage around Staten Island under the auspices of the Staten Island Historical Society and the local chapter of the Holland Society, held on Saturday, May 17, at 2:30 p. m. Autos bearing placards with the legend ‘““Huguenot-Walloon Ter- centenary, Staten Island Historical Pilgrimage’ awaited the guests at St. George and excellent police arrangements along the route showed the care with which the tour had been planned. At every landmark placards called attention to the Tercentenary and gave brief sketches of the history of the site marked. A short halt was made at the Perine House, recently purchased and restored by the Historical Society, and the guests were wel- comed by Charles W. Leng, the curator of the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences and Mrs. C. E. Tefft, a member of the Institute. The president of the Staten Island Institute, the Hon. Howard R. Bayne, greeted the guests, a number of whom informally addressed the large gathering. Among those who spoke were Bishop James H. Darlington of Pennsylvania, M. Lauga, M. Hoyois, William T. Davis, President of the Staten Island Historical Society; Charles Newton Candee, of Toronto, Canada, a descendant of the Condé family, and Leander d’Entremont, a lineal descendant of Admiral Coligny of France. At 8:30 in the evening the Staten Island Institute held its annual meeting, its principal speaker, R. W. Vossburgh, de- voting his address to the Tercentenary. 41 Sunday, May 18, brought two exceedingly interesting and in- spiring services. First of all, 20 French athletes, from the French Y. M. C. A. and four ladies from the French Y. W. C. A., undertook to duplicate the “walk to Church” performed 300 years ago by the Huguenots of New Rochelle, when there was no Church in their settlement and they had to come to New Amster- dam to hear the Gospel preached. Eleven o’clock on Saturday night was the hour of starting from the City Hall of New Rochelle and promptly at 10:30 they marched into the French Evangelical Church in West Sixteenth Street, to be greeted by the pastor, Rev. Paul Elsesser, and the assembled congregation. The beautiful and impressive French service had drawn many visitors and the quaint building was packed. The principal features were the sermon in French by M. Lauga of the French Protestant Federation in Paris, and the singing of old Huguenot hymns by the well-trained choir. M. Hoyois, Dr. Macfarland, Bishop Darlington, Mr. Stoudt and Mr. Emile Twyeffort, who arranged the “hike” from New Rochelle, gave brief messages of greeting. In the afternoon the Tercentenary exercises once more shifted to Staten Island, to the dedication of the Huguenot Memorial Church in a memorable service. The building itself, designed by the noted architect, Ernest Flagg, was a revelation in its unique stone work, picturesque setting and beauty of line. Nearly all the Huguenot societies of America were represented. Dr. A. D. C. de Graeff, the Netherlands Minister, brought a warm message of sympathy from the Queen of the Netherlands, who expressed her gratification at the Tercentenary exercises and her recognition of the appropriateness of the designs on the Hu- guenot half dollar. He said: “T am convinced that no memorial for this celebration could please Her Majesty more than the erection of a Huguenot Church near the historical spot where three centuries ago the Dutch ship ‘Nieu Nederland’ landed these sturdy Protestants who, escaping from religious persecutions, found shelter in Holland and after- wards offered their services to the Dutch West India Company in order to form part of the first batch of people who were shipped by this company to be settlers in the New World. Indeed, this Huguenot Church is the most fitting memorial, not only for the historic fact of the arrival in 1624 of the Dutch ship ‘Nieu Nederland,’ but also for the principles for which the people on board this ship stood and suffered.” The dedicatory service was, in part, as follows: Tue INvocaTION AND SALUTATION, Bishop Darlington ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE EDIFICE AS A NATIONAL MEMORIAL, by Rev. John Baer Stoudt, Director of the Tercentenary 42 PROCLAMATION WHEREAS, the people of the State of New York have the custom of commemorating the important events in its history, which celebrations are calculated to promote Barca ee and good will: and WHEREAS, the first colony sent out by the West India Company, chartered by the States General of the United Netherlands to make permanent settlements in New Netherland reached the FPudson River country in the Ship "New Netherland" in the month of May, 1624, the said colony consisting of thirty-two families, mostly Walloons; and WHEREAS, the Founding of the colony of New Netherland, now the State of New York, was one of the important steps in the making of America: NOW, THEREFORE, I, Alfred E. Smith, Governor of the State of New York, do designate and set apart the month of May, 1924, for the observance of the Tercentenary of the Founding of New Netherland, and do hereby call upon the people of the State of New York to celebrate this important historical event with appropriate exercises and ceremonies in their schools, churches, civic bodies and municipalities. GIVEN under my hand and the Privy Seal of the State at the Capitol in the City of Albany this seventh day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand nine Hundred and twenty-four. BY THE GOVERNOR: Mtl Men Mena —_ Secyetary to the Governor. 43 ‘anyipa yIAnyd quasadd JY}? YPA UOl4JAUU0I U1 pauuUD]G a4D aSUDIU PUD spunosB uoynarsas ‘KADAQUT [Didomapy zouanbn yur 4aquar Apunmuos p “Kjzupysuor apput Buraq adD s]VIAOWaW asay} OF SUOI{IPPD ‘pvOAQD PUD a4ay YIOG ‘K4oqsvy qouanbny ur SadnbY Umouy-]]aM ayDsoUamuor SADI]Ig PUD ‘sayI4D ‘SMOPUIM [DIOWAWY “VId4aUMp UI pa}qqas aavDYy OYM sayuunf{ zouanbnyy “java ayy fo puv'sayai20g youanbnzy ayz fO S]pidomawm surwyuos ‘Hbviq Saud FIAMYIAD PajoU ayt €q pajza4a puv paubisap ‘yoIAnyr Sif aoisvg ‘LSOUd ‘Cd AUNAH “ADU “AN “I'S ‘MUVd LONANDOHX ‘HOUNHO TIVIYOWAW LONANDOA IVNOILVN AHL 44 Letter from President Coolidge Personal Greetings from —The representatives of participating countries: BARON DE CARTIER DE MARCHIENNE, Ambassador from Belgium Hon. JuLtes J. JusSERAND, Ambassador from France Hon. A. D. C. pe Graerr, Netherland Minister to the United States —The Reformed Church in America, by Rev. WM. I. CHAMBERLAIN, Pu.D., Chairman of General Synod’s Committee for the Tercente- nary —The Federal Council of Churches in America, by Rev. Cuartes S. MAcFARLAND, D.D. —The Greek Orthodox Church, by ArcHBISHOP ALEXANDER SERMON: By Rev. Henry Evertson Cobb, D.D., Vice-President of General Synod UNVEILING OF REFORMED CHURCH WINDOW By Mr. William L. Brower, Senior Elder of Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church PRESENTATION OF COMMUNION TABLE: By Mr. Cortlandt S. Van Renssaelaer, Chairman of Committee of Huguenot Society of America GREETINGS FROM NEW JERSEY AND PENNSYLVANIA HUGUENOT SOCIETIES: By Mr. John Lenord Merrill and Dr. George Fales Baker THE GiFTs OF THE DomeEsTIc Mission BoArps: By Mrs. John S. Allen UNVEILING oF MEMorRIAL CoLUMNS: In memory of Jesse de Forest David des Marest Pierre Billiou Pierre Baudouin and Christian Deyo John Jay Nicholas Bayard With greetings by ; Major Louis E. de Forest, of New York City The Hon. and Rey. William Prall, D.D. Hon. William Jay Schieffelin, President of Huguenot Society of America Rev. W. H. S. Demarest, D.D., LL.D., President of Rutgers College Judge Alphonso T. Clearwater, of Kingston, N. Y. Mr. R. Fulton Cutting, of New York City BENEDICTION, by Rev. Henry D. Frost, Pastor of Huguenot Church Commemorative functions of a more civic and _ historical, rather than religious character, were resumed on Monday, May 19th, when the Huguenot League, a newly formed organization of several of the outstanding Huguenot Societies in the United States, met in the rooms of the Huguenot Society of America at 2 West Forty-fifth Street at 3 p.m. This historic meeting, the first of its kind, was followed by a reception to the visiting dele- gates by the Huguenot Society of America in the Hotel Plaza, Dr. William Jay Schieffelin, President of the Society, and Miss Margaret A. Jackson, its Secretary, receiving the guests. DEDICATION OF THE WALLOON MONUMENT (May 18, 1924) The most notable civic event of the Tercentenary in New York was the dedication of the Hainaut Memorial, a monument to the Walloon pioneers of 1624, presented by the Belgian Province of Hainaut. Baron de Cartier de Marchienne, representing the 45 Belgian King and Government, presented the monument to Mayor John F. Hylan, for the City of New York, after the guests of honor had been received at the City Hall. The participants pro- ceeded to Battery Park, where the memorial had in the mean- time been erected. Immediately after the presentation address, Miss Priscilla Mary de Forest (aged three years), a descendant in the ninth generation of Jesse de Forest, pulled the cords which held the coverings of the monument, and revealed the plain shaft of stone, bearing the arms of Hainaut, and the inscription: PRESENTED TO THE CITY OF NEW YORK BY otis “CONSEIL PROVINCIAL DU HAINAUT” IN MEMORY OF THE WALLOON SETTLERS WHO CAME OVER TO AMERICA IN THE “NIEU NEDERLAND” UNDER THE INSPIRATION OF JESSE DE FOREST OF AVESNES THEN COUNTY OF HAINAUT ONE OF THE XVII PROVINCES a BS 5 2 OS . a : UNVEILING THE WALLOON MONUMENT IN NEW YORK In foreground, Mayor John F. Hylan and M. Hoyois A plain band of oak leaves is chiseled into the stone above the lettering; the base has the figures 1624-1924, and contains a casket of earth from the Province of Hainaut. Baron de Cartier’s address of presentation and the acceptance by Mayor Hylan were frequently interrupted by bursts of applause from the immense crowd which had been attracted by the ceremony. The benediction was pronounced by Rev. Lauga in French, after which the band played the National Anthems of the United States and Belgium, concluding the program. 46 M. Hoyois, representing the municipality of Mons, presented to the Mayor a silver medal struck for the occasion, and a parch- ment address, beautifully illuminated and contained in an orna- mental leather case. Further brief addresses were made by the Hon. Francis D. Gallatin, President of the Park Board of the City of New York; Mr. Robert W. de Forest, Chairman of the Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission, and the Hon. Frank L. Polk, of the Society of the “Friends of Belgium.” The rendering of National Anthems by the One Hundred and Sixth Regiment Band, as the troops stood at attention, closed the program. The bene- diction was pronounced by Rev. Georges Lauga, who also pre- sented a message from Ambassador Jusserand, of France, and from the Hon. Gaston Doumergue, President of the French Senate (now President of France). At a dinner given in his honor the same evening at the Uni- versity Club, Ambassador de Cartier made Mr. Robert W. de Forest, the Chairman of the Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission, a Commander of the Order of Leopold, in recogni- tion of his services to the Beligan nation. ASSEMBLY AT CITY COLLEGE The College of the City of New York held a special com- memorative assembly in honor of the Tercentenary on May 22, on which occasion the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Huguenot-Walloon Commission, Dr. Macfarland, delivered the principal address. The Belgian Ambassador, amid the en- thusiastic applause of the students and guests, bestowed decorations from the Royal Belgian Government, upon both Dr. Macfarland and Rev. John Baer Stoudt, the Director of the Tercentenary Commission. New ROCHELLE The Huguenot Society of New Rochelle entertained a delega- tion from the Commission, and the foreign guests, at a reception in the Thomas Paine Memorial House at New Rochelle. After the formal function, the guests were taken to various places of historic interest in the city under the guidance of Mr. Flandreaux, the Secretary of the Society. NEW @PATLTZ, oN 4 Yo Another old Huguenot town to stage special exercises was New Paltz, New York. A historic pageant illustrative of early local history was performed by the students of the New Paltz High School, the scenes being laid where the actual events oc- curred nearly three hundred years before. 47 THE TERCENTENARY OF ALBANY Religious and civic exercises extending over 3 days, marked the 300th birthday of the city of Albany. A pageant “The Land- ing of the Walloons’” drew thousands of spectators to the banks of the Hudson. The special memorial medal issued for the event shows the first seal of the Province. A great water festival con- cluded the celebrations on June 3rd. CELEBRATIONS ABROAD During the week in May when the New York celebrations reached their climax, the European Committees in France and Belgium held special Tercentenary meetings largely attended by religious and civil authorities and honored by the presence of official representatives of their respective national governments. Messages of greeting were received from most of the European groups. BARON DE CARTIER’S ADDRESS (Battery Park, May 18) “We are gathered together here today to commemorate one of the earliest and most significant events in the history of the friendly intercourse between Belgium and America. “Three hundred years ago a small group of my compatriots arrived at the mouth of the Hudson, seeking to establish new homes in a land where they might enjoy a greater measure of freedom than could, at that period, be found anywhere in the Old World. “These Belgians came under the protection of the friendly flag of the Dutch Republic, in the West India Company ship the Nieu Nederland. They were ac- companied by some of their French neighbors, Huguenots, from the northern provinces of France. “Historians, such as John De Laet and Wassenaer, tell us that this little band of pilgrims who had enjoyed the generous hos- pitality of their co-religionists in Leyden and elsewhere in Hol- land, and who were to be the first ae home - builders on Manhattan BARON pr CARTIER ve MARCHIENNE Island, consisted of about thirty Belgian Ambassador to the U. S. families, mostly Walloons from 48 the Belgian province of Hainaut. Today, therefore, it is specially fitting that the people of Belgium should pay tribute to the memory of their fellow-countrymen whom Providence led to play an historic part in the beginning of the first permanent settlement of the great city of New York. “Men of many creeds and many nationalities have had their part in the early settlement of America. To each is due his meed of praise according to his works, but it is the American people themselves to whom is due the glory of having, under God’s guidance, made America the great country that it is today. “Nevertheless, it is no small honor to a nation to have con- tributed, in however modest a way, to the early settlement of this mighty metropolis. “Tt is, therefore, with a proper and just pride that the whole Belgian Nation, all our people, of every creed and from every one of our nine provinces, from our beloved King to the most humble of his subjects, join in this commemoration of the landing of their fellow-countrymen on Manhattan Island. “Those Belgians, who came to your shores three hundred years ago, under the inspiration of Jesse de Forest, brought with them but little of this world’s goods, but they brought brave hearts and strong and willing hands. Above all, they brought that sincere loye of civil and religious liberty which is the heritage of all our race. Those who remained behind in Belgium, were no less imbued with the love of freedom. “From time to time the Torch of Liberty has seemed, with us, almost extinguished, as under the Roman conquest, as under the despotism of Philip the Second of Spain, as under the late German invasion, but we have fought the good fight, we have kept the faith, and we are still today, thank God, a free and independent people under the leadership of one of the bravest, greatest and most beloved kings who ever graced a throne. “We are proud to know that, however little or however much those Belgian pioneers may have contributed to the making of America, they brought in their hearts that love of freedom which alone could make them worthy to participate in the foundation of a country whose very name stands as the synonym of Liberty. “As those Belgian pioneers came chiefly from the Province of Hainaut, their fellow-countrymen of that province wish to pay a special tribute to their memory, and at the same time to give a token of their friendship to America, by presenting to your City a monument to be set up as a lasting memorial of the landing of the Walloon-Huguenots on Manhattan Island. “For this purpose the Province of Hainaut has sent this com- memorative stone, carved and fashioned from the granite of Hainaut by the sons of Hainaut, and contained in a coffer of 49 Hainaut metal a handful of the soil of Hainaut—the native soil of these Belgians who had the good fortune to be numbered among the first citizens of your great city. “On behalf of the Provincial Council of the Province of Hainaut, I have the honor to present this memorial to the City of New York. “T also have the honor, on behalf of the Belgian Government, to communicate to the Committee which has organized this Ter- centenary Celebration the following message from Mr. Hymans, Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs: “On this three-hundredth anniversary of the arrival ie my compatriots in America, I gladly avail myself of the opportunity to convey my cordial greetings to the Committee whose dis- tinguished members have so brilliantly succeeded in celebrating the memory of one of the most interesting features of the found- ing of this great Republic. ““T congratulate them on the great success which has crowned their efforts, and I hope that the memory of the event which has connected the name of Belgium with the birth of your glorious city of New York may be ever perpetuated in the annals of history. ““Our two countries, which are already so happily connected by ties of blood, of mutual intercourse, and of friendship, will, I am confident, be even more closely united by the memory of the historic event which your Committee has evoked by this Ter- centenary Celebration.’ “His Majesty King Albert would have liked to be present on this occasion, but unfortunately affairs of State have made it im- impossible for him to accept the cordial invitation extended him by His Excellency the Governor of New York. “In these circumstances His Majesty has been graciously pleased to appoint me as his special representative at these cere- monies and has instructed me to read to you, in his name, the following message: ““Tt gives me great pleasure to join in this celebration which perpetuates the memory of the many spiritual ties which for generations have united our two nations animated by the same ideals of Justice, of Liberty and peaceful Progress. ““The bonds of friendship between America and Belgium have been still further confirmed and strengthened in recent years , by many circumstances, and especially by the gratitude of the Belgian people for the generous aid given to them by the Com- mission for Relief in Belgium, under the guidance of Mr. Herbert Hoover. “*The Belgian Nation will never forget the moral support as well as the material aid thus given them, nor will they ever forget the heroism of the American soldiers who fought in Belgium side by side with our troops. The memory of their brave deeds will 50 always remain green in our hearts and the graves of those that fell on our soil will always be hallowed ground. “Belgium is glad to participate in such a great historical event as the founding of the City of New York, where the Queen and I were so cordially received during our visit to the United States. “