E207 12 L2 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DDDQ3Et,534D *^ ,«^ .*>y^- ^^^ .*" ►!:; *^^<'' *-.,^* ^* .. -V -•>.-v-'-'\^' .«*^ 'V, .1' o ,*^ ■^-..^^'' f -"o. /^;> .^< .HO, ^ '•n«.o< ^-^'^ • 0' ^^ *,-;.." o,v -^o v^ % .^' c5 °x. : ♦ cv .0' ♦! V* .•!.M'* C^^ <0' ^""^.. V -^Ao^ -ov^ ^ •* .^ t-0^ '" .^°'^^- .* ^^^ C^ ** ^^^^^'^ 0^ ». .^^"-. ** ^^ .0' '. •'^<«. A-^'^ z;^^;-^ ^^. .^"^'^v ^0 ^-^ '^e C" ♦* "^^^ *'''^*' ^^ ... °.^. '"' ^^ l"^^- ^€'^f/ ,V ^^ ..'•- -^o V I. » * "^ c°v>i^'/°-.. ./\-^<:\. ,c°"/>i^-;°o.. ./.-^ iiir. sn * -oV ^ %.*" ««K: "-^/ -s.-' .! *■ » 'i j> ' » « » " ^v> v^ - o • * - V * "^j. *■* » « • * «G .* .4^- .A'-' ^^ ... V^ .♦*V1'* «!* LAFAYETTE , MAJOR GENERAL U. S. A. Born September 6th, LAFAYETTE 1757 DAY 1916 Published under the Ausp ices of the LAFAYETTE DAY NATIONAL COMMITTEE | Charles W. Eliot Theoi) IRE Roosevelt 1 MOORPIELU SlOKEY William D. Guthrie | Caspar F. Uoodkich Henrv Watterson 1 Jl'Dson Harmon Charles J. Bonaparte 1 Myron T. Herrick Charles P. Johnson I Joseph H. Choate W. R. Hodges GEORGE Haven Putnam Chas. Stewart Davison, Hon. Sec'r. George W. Wickersham Uavru E Leon, Recording Sec'y. and the LAFAYETTE DAY CITIZENS' COAIMITTEE OF NEW YORK | Lawrence F. Abbott Job E. Hedges Charles Scribner b'l-fderick H. Allen lion. George C. Holt Isaac N. Seligman Peter T. Barlow Henry Holt P. Tecumseh Sherman Georg-e Gordon Battle Andrew Beaumont Humphrey Rev. Dr. Joseph Silverman James M. Beck Robert Underwood Johnson Frank H. Simonds August Belmont Francis C. Jones William Sloane S. Reading Bertron Lucien Jouvaud Francis Lynde Stetson Fiaiiklin Q. Brown Boudinot Keith John A. Stevens t.eorge W. Burleigh Col. William Whitehead Ladd Frederick Boyd Stevenson | James Byrne M. B. Leahy John A. Stewart Joseph H. Choate Maurice Leon Willard D. Straight William Conant Church E. Hubert Litchfield Oscar S. Straus \\illiam A. Coffin DeWitt M. Lockman Edward Trenchaid Joseph P. Cotlon Will H. Low Paul Tuckerman F. Cunliffe-Owen E. S. Martin Guy Van Amringe Chas. Stewart Davison Alexander T. Mason Nathan B. Van Etten Robert W. DeForest John G. Milburn John C. Van Dyke William Curtis Uemorest Charles R. Miller William Van Ingen F. S. Grand d'Uauteville Hon. John Purroy Mitchel Frank A. Vanderlip Cliarles DeRham J. Pierpont Morgan J. Alden Weir Cleveland H. Dodge Robert C. Morris T. Tileston Wells Hon. Frank L. Dowling Carlisle Norwood George W. Wickersham Charles A. Downer Robert Olyphant William G, Wilco.x Allen W. Evarts Talbot Olyphant George T. Wilson William Bailey Fa.xon E. H. Outerbridge Louis Wiley John Flanagan Alton B. Parker Beekman Winthrop .John H. Finley William Barclay Parsons Dr. Stephen S. Wise Frederick DePeyster Foster George Foster Peabody James A. Wright Amos Tuck French Hon. Francis K. Pendleton Rev. T. Wucher branklin H. Giddings George A. Plimpton Mrs. Arthur M. Dodge Lawrence Godkin George Haven Putnam Mrs. Hamilton R. Fairfax Richard Gottheil John Quinn Jlrs. J. Borden Harriman Hon. Samuel Greenbaum Theodore Roosevelt Mrs. Frederick Nathan William D. Guthrie Talbot Root Mrs. Livingston Row Sdiuyler -Montgomery Hallowell Robert Underwood Johnson Mrs. V. G. Simkhovitch Henry Winthop Hardon William Jay Schieflfelin Mrs. George Wilson Smith McDougall Hawkes Mortimer L. Schiff Miss Lillian D. Wald , L Z Li Z By the courtesy of the American Scenic and His- toric Preservation Society the contents of this booklet insofar as they relate to the ceremonies which took place at the City Hall in New York will be included in its next annual report which, upon transmission to the Legislature of the State of New York, is regularly printed as a state document. / ^CI,A44G112 Copyrirjht 19 IG by Lafayette Day National Committee 60 Wall Street, New York nCT 13 1916 SEPTEMBER 6, 1757-1914. u /^ \ ■li^x. ."^ •.^. J.TrsE Ms^ Silfc. ' XAfAy.1^ ' 'N From the Nezv York Tribune oi Sept. 6, 1916. next to an editorial entitled : Lafayette and Marne Day. The Outlook in its issue of September 20th, 1916 published the photograph shown opposite this page with the following descriptive text: "Honoring the Services to America of the Marquis de Lafayette. ' ' To honor the French nobleman who fought for America's freedom in the Revolution, and inci- dentally to testify to their appreciation of France's attitude in the present war, a multitude of Americans joined in celebrating the 159th an- niversary of Lafayette's birth, September 6th. The principal celebration was held in the City Hall, New^ York, where Lafayette was officially wel- comed in 1824. In the center of the picture are M. Jusserand, French Ambassador to the United States (at the right of the standard) and Mme. Jusserand, who is looking toward Mr. Sharp, American Ambassador to France. Judge Alton B. Parker stands next to Ambassador Sharp. At the right of Ambassador Jusserand is Dr. John Finley, Commissioner of Education of the State of New York. At the extreme left, in profile is Mr. Robert Bacon, former Ambassador to France." [The same number of the Outlook contains a de- tailed account of the ceremonies at City Hall, an edi- torial devoted to Lafayette Day, entitled ' ' The French Spirit", as also Dr. Finley 's poem and Mr. Bacon's address as published in this booklet.] The photograph opposite this page was taken in front of City Hall after the Lafayette Day Ceremonies, and shows the three principal guests of honor, namely : Mme. Jusserand at the center of the picture, the French Ambassador at her left and at the extreme left Mr. Gaston Liebert, Consul General of France in New York, who is looking toward his two daughters, Miles. Liebert. To the right of Mme. Jusserand are Mr. George W. Burleigh, Prof. Charles A. Downer and Mr. Maurice Leon and, at the extreme right, Hon. Alton B. Parker. D^^il illk^^^^^!3i^^^^ttl r 1 m' ^'"^ ^^* --'' i m ibfc«*-> ' "^ :.'• Ii««- -^r^ 5 & t' «v J The Lafayette btatue unveiled at l^all iviver x\iass., ^epieniber 4, il;)16. li to THE /vj^ /Vn^Y o^ ^^-^V^r^^ HIS IS9XH BIRTHDAY Copr. by Life Pub. Co. From LIFE, (3ctober 5, 1916 Bust of Lafayette unveiled in Lafayette Park, New Orleans, on Lafayette Day, Sept. 6, 1916. The Lafayette Statue in Union Square, New York, decorated on the occasion of Lafayette Day, Sept. 6, 1916. LAFAYETTE DAY, 1916. On July 14tli 1916 the following was published in the daily press throughout the country : "That the nation may remember this year, as it did last year, the anniversary of Lafayette's birth, September 6th, 1757, the undersigned again commend the opportunity thus afforded to honor the memory and commemorate the deeds of one of the noblest heroes of the American Kevolution, thanks to whose efforts France's sympathy for the cause of freedom was given effective expression at a crucial period of the struggle for American Independence. Last year the press at large contributed to the ever-renewed patriotic interest of our people in the personality and achieve- ments of Lafayette by means of leading articles pub- lished on or near the day of the anniversary and it is hoped it will do so again this year; and patriotic societies are urged to hold suitable exercises upon that day, particularly in our principal cities, many of which possess statues of Lafayette. "Issuing this call on July 14th, when France com- memorates her struggles for liberty, we are not un- mindful that by honoring Lafayette upon his anni- versary, a date made doubly memorable by the Battle of the Marne, we will be giving expression to the senti- ment of fraternal regard for our sister republic which exists among all elements of our people. Charles W. Eliot (Mass.) Moorfield Storey " Joseph H. Choate (N. Y.) Theodore Roosevelt " George W. Wickersham " George Haven Putnam " William D. Guthrie " Henry Watterson (Ky.) Charles J. Bonaparte (Md.) Caspar F. Goodrich (Conn.) W. R. Hodges (Mo.) Charles P. Johnson '' Judson Harmon (Ohio) Myron T. Herrick '' Charles Stewart Davison (N. Y.) " The previous call, to which reference is made, was published in August 1915, signed by the same commit- tee; its terms were similar to those of the first part of this year's call and being addressed to the press at large it had resulted in a gratifying response in the form of leading articles devoted to the achievements of Lafayette published throughout the country on his anniversary, while thousands of Lafayette tricolor buttons were sold that day at the San Francisco Expo- sition for the benefit of the Lafayette Fund which this year placed them on sale throughout New York and in other cities. The result produced by the publication of these two calls may be judged by the following: Reports which have reached the Lafayette Day National Committee (composed of the signers of the two calls already referred to) show that exercises marked by patriotic fervor were held in a number of our large cities, besides those held in New York which are fully reported in this book. Boston. The commemoration was begun on Sunday, Sep- tember 3rd, by a memorial service which was held in St. Paul's Cathedral, Boston. The cathedral on that occasion was decorated with the colors of the United States and France. The church was crowded, the at- tendance including many members of patriotic organi- zations and the French Consular representative in Boston, Mr. Flamand; so crowded in fact that many desirous of attending were unable to find space in the church. The memorial sermon was delivered by the Rev. Edward T. Sullivan, who selected as his theme * ' Our Debt to Lafayette ' '. The following passages are taken from the conclusion of his address: ''Few will say w^e could have won without the aid of France, and in the entrance of France into the war, Lafayette's was a paramount influence, for the youth had stirred his country quite as much as he had the colonies." "The greatness of his character impressed all who knew him, and he was admired for what he w^as, even more than for what he did. So long as people love liberty, his name will be honored, and his fame will be secure." Fall River. On the following day, which was Labor Day, the commemoration was continued at Lafayette Park, Fall River, Mass., where a bronze equestrian statue of Lafayette was unveiled in the presence of Mr. Jusserand, the French Ambassador, Hon. Samuel W. McCall, Governor of Massachusetts, Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, senior United States Senator from Massachu- setts, Ex-Governor Aram J. Pothier, of Rhode Island, and Mayor James H. Kay of Fall River, all of whom made addresses, and Hon. Hugo A. Dubuque, who de- livered the presentation address. Prior to the unveil- ing of the monument four thousand members of vari- ous organizations among the residents of Fall River of French-Canadian descent marched through the streets of the city. The appearance of the French Ambassador w^as the signal for a remarkable demonstration of en- thusiasm. In a temporary grandstand bordering on the park about 10,000 persons had assembled. The fol- lowing passages are taken from the Ambassador's address as reported in the public press: To-day, when all Europe is in flames, French- men are giving their blood for the right of men to govern themselves. At this grave hour in the history of France the active sympathies, the precious words of approbation which come to us from this great republic are most comforting, and to Frenchmen it is a joy to meet at times in the immense furrow which goes from Belfort to the sea, those splendid soldiers from over the ocean, men who have covered themselves with glory in every encounter; men who speak the same lan- guage as ourselves: the Canadian French." "These French Canadians are men of good ex- ample ; they have shown us in France how to real- ize that very important factor in the development of liberal ideals in the world, namely the friend- ship of England and the alliance mth England. They have given tangible evidence of this alliance. French Canadians and English-Canadians, rivals in courage, descendants of two great peoples, have united in forming this powerful army of volun- teers which to-day is three times more numerous than the total of the troops Napoleon had at Waterloo. "France to-day is bleeding, her provinces are invaded, her sanctuaries outraged, her people have been driven from their homes and reduced to a form of slavery, France will rise again, the sun will reappear, Liberty, whose statue has been erected by us in New York harbor, will continue to enlighten the world. "In the name of one of the countries of Lafay- ette, I bring to you Canadians, men of his blood, and to you Americans, descendants of those with whom he fought, the thanks of France. Let us be of good courage, even as was Lafayette, and con- fident of the triumph of the ideal which was dear to him and which is to-day that of our republic: liberty, equality and all in good time, fraternity. ' ' In a brief speech the Governor congratulated Fall River upon its appreciation of "a great patriot, liberator and gentleman" and prolonged cheers greeted his reference to American men and women now heroically working in war-torn France in the am- bulances and hospitals, in aviation and in the Foreign Legion ranks. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge expressed a close per- sonal interest in the ceremonies as due to an inci- dent which occurred many years after Lafayette fought with Washington at Brandj^wine and York- town : when the Revolution in France was at its zenith, Lafayette sent his only son, George Washington Lafayette, to this country for safety. The young Lafayette was sent by Gen. Washington to Boston and entrusted to the care of Senator George Cabot, the great-grandfather of Senator Lodge. It was in the Cabot home that the lad studied English and was cared for until the events in Paris permitted his return to France. Senator Lodge concluded his address in French with an eloquent tribute to Lafayette, to the chivalry of his example which was inspired by the deeds of the crusaders who were his forbears; and, amid great applause, he spoke of the young Americans who had enlisted in the French ranks as wishing to do their share toward paying the debt for the help which Lafayette once gave their country without stint. Ex-Governor Pothier, who likewise spoke in French, felicitated the people of Fall River for their patriotism and declared himself honored by his asso- ciation with the ceremony. Eighteen divisions and 15 bands of music marched in the procession. Visiting delegations from Provi- dence, New Bedford, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Woon- socket, Worcester, Boston, Brockton, Warren and other cities were in the parade, as also United States Army and Naw contingents. The ceremony was followed by a banquet in the State Armory attended by nearly 1,000 guests, which was addressed by United States Senator John W. Weeks, Lieutenant Governor Calvin Coolidge and Ex- Governor David I. Walsh; Colonel Vignal, the French Military Attache, spoke of life in the trenches. On Lafayette Day exercises were held simultane- ously in New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Washington D. C, and elsewhere. New Orleans. The ceremonies at New Orleans were participated in officially by the municipal authorities. A reception was held at the City Hall, which was attended by state and city officials, members of the different committees of organizations conducting the Lafayette celebration, patriotic organizations of the City of New Orleans and the public in general. It was followed by the unveiling of a bust of Lafayette in Lafayette Square, the inaugural address being delivered by Judge Joseph A. Breaux. In the evening exercises were held at The Cabildo where Lafayette was entertained when he visited New Orleans in 1825, under the honorary chair- manship of Hon. Martin Behrman, Mayor of New Orleans and the chairmanship of Hon. A. G. Eicks, acting mayor of the City of New Orleans, who used a gavel made from the branch of a magnolia tree planted at Mount Vernon by Laf aj^ette in 1824. As the chimes of the New Orleans Cathedral were being sounded the invocation was given by Rev. A. Gordon Bakewell; addresses were made by Mr. E. Genoyer, acting Consul General of France, Col. H. J. de la Vergne and Judge Henry Renshaw. Mr. W. 0. Hart read "The Key of the Bastille"; Mr. J. J. A. Fortier read President Jacksons' Tribute to Lafayette. An original poem, written for the occasion by Mr. Rixford J. Lincoln, poet laureate of the Louisiana Historical Society, en- titled "A Soldier of the Revolution" was read by Mr. J. F. C. Waldro; "America," The "Marseillaise" and the "Chant du Depart" were sung and, after the benediction given by the Very Rev. F. Racine, the "Star Spangled Banner". TVashington. The exercises at Washington were arranged by the following patriotic organizations: Army and Navy Union, Order of Washington, Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution, Daughters of 1812, Daughters of the Confederacy, Sons of the Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution, Society of Colonial Wars, Sons of Confederate A^eterans, National Lineal Society of the Spanish War, Founders and Patriots, Huguenots of South Carolina. They were attended by a dis- tinguished audience which included Thomas Campbell Washington, a descendant of John Augustine Wash- ington, C. C. Calhoun, president of the Southern Society and Vicomte Dejean, counsellor of the French Embassy, and addresses were made by Messrs Joseph A. Meeker, R. Wayne Parker, and Joseph G. Cannon, all representatives in Congress, General H. Odin Lake, commander of the Army and Navy Union, vice-chair- man and Dr. J. G. Bulloch of the Order of Washington, chairman of the committee, and Mr. Claude N. Bennett, while the invocation and benediction were pronounced by the Rev. Harry D. Mitchell. Alfred Barbour Dent acted as secretary of the committee. Floral wreaths were placed on the Lafayette monument in Lafayette Square by the Order of Washington and Daughters of the American Revolution. San Francisco. In San Francisco the exercises were held under the auspices of the Friends of France, whose officers are William B. Bourn, Esq., president; Bruce Porter, Esq., vice-president; William H. Crocker, Esq., treasurer, Selah Chamberlain, Esq. and Osgood Putnam, Esq., directors, and Porter Garnett, Esq., secretary. An admission fee was charged, the proceeds of which are to be devoted to a memorial of Lafayette to be placed in the San Francisco Public Library. Promdence. In Providence exercises were held by the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American Revolution in the North Burial Ground where lie 200 French soldiers, some of them Lafayette's companions who perished in their camp in Providence at the close of the Revolutionary "War. Rev. Charles F. Roper de- livered the invocation and an address, and President Frederick D. Carr read Jackson's proclamation upon the death of Lafayette. The Star Spangled Banner, America and the Marseillaise were played. A floral w^reath and American and French flags decorated the plot where the French soldiers are Furied. Flags were displayed on all the city buildings and at the Dexter Training Ground in honor of Lafayette. Tacoma, Wash. In recognition of Lafayette Day the third of the Oregon trail markers was unveiled at Tenino on that date by Governor Ernest Lister, assisted by members of the Daughters and Sons of the American Revolu- tion, before an attendance of 500 persons. Philadelphia. The Philadelphia newspapers of September 7th reported that Lafayette Day had been celebrated by the flying of the American and French flags; that the "Album" flag had been hoisted on Independence Hall with the "Pelican" flag of Louisiana, which was pre- sented to the city on Flag Day by Mayor Behrman of New Orleans. Hope was expressed in various quarters that the patriotic organizations would make provision for a more adequate observance next year, in keeping with the traditions of the city. The Philadelphia news- papers devoted stirring editorials to Lafayette Day. New York. A full report of the exercises at City Hall in New York follows this introduction, Tliey were arranged under the auspices of a Citizens' Committee of 111 members, whose names are given below, and attended by a large and distinguished audience. The guests of honor were : His Excellency, the French Ambassador and Mme. Jusserand and Mr. Gaston Liebert, Consul General of France in New York, as also the staffs of the Ambassador and Consul General, including Col. Vignal, Military Attache and Mme. Vignal, Commander Antonin Martin, Naval Attache, Mr. Maurice Heil- mann, Commercial Attache, the Misses Liebert, daughters of the Consul General of France, Mr. Nette- ment, the Consul of France, and his sister Mile. Nette- ment, Mr. Stanislas d'Halewyn, Vice Consul of France, and Mme. d'Halewyn. They were greeted in the Governor's room and, to the strains of the Marseillaise and Star Spangled Banner played by the Lafayette Guards' Band, escorted to the Aldermanic Chamber where Morse's portrait of Lafayette had been placed over the platform, amidst decorations in the colors of both countries, which also surrounded Washington's portrait while the gallery and also the rotunda were draped in those colors. In the assemblage were present the members of the Lafayette Day Citizens Committee, representatives of patriotic organizations and numerous guests, among whom the British Naval Attache and several visiting French officers and journalists. Following the exercises, a message was cabled to Mr. Poincare, president of the French Republic, as follows : ''On the fourteenth of July fifteen private citizens of seven different states of the Union and constituting the Lafayette Day National Com- mittee issued a request to the American people to suitably observe the anniversary of Lafayette's birth September sixth. The form of the request was similar to the one issued last year by the same 10 group with the addition of the following: ''Issu- ing this call on July 14th when France commem- orates her struggles for liberty we are not un- mindful that by honoring Lafayette upon his an- niversary, a date made doubly memorable by the Battle of the Marne, we will be giving expression to the sentiment of fraternal regard for our sister republic which exists among all elements of our people." This request has met with general sjmipathetic recognition and Lafayette Day bids fair to become a recognized American anniversary. A large number of patriotic societies have evi- denced deep interest therein and in a number of cities, New Orleans, San Francisco, Boston and elsew^here commemorative ceremonies were held. In this city many buildings were decorated with the colors of both countries, as were the statutes of Washington and of Lafayette and the municipal authorities gave their official aid and recognition tendering for the purpose the City Hall in which Lafayette was, welcomed on his last visit to America. An official escort conducted the Ambas- sador of France and Madame Jusserand, the Consul General of France and their respective staffs to the City Hall where they were received by the Acting Mayor. The meeting was presided over by Alton B. Parker, former chief judge of the Court of Appeals and after a formal welcome by the City authorities, addresses were delivered by Mr. Bacon, sometime Ambassador to France, Mr. Sharp, the present ambassador to France and President Finley, the head of the State Depart- ment of Education, The Ambassador of France, who received throughout the day a continuous ovation such as has seldom if ever been accorded here to the envoy of any nation, closed the occa- sion by responding on behalf of the French Republic. We take gratification in conveying in- formation of these matters to you testifying as 11 they do to the sincere friendship of the American people for France. Detailed reports of all the various ceremonies which occurred will be forwarded later through the French Ambassa- dor." (Signed) : "Alton B. Parker, Chairman of the meeting; Joseph H. Choate, honorary president; Charles Stewart Davison, honorary secretary ; Henry Winthrop Hardon, treasurer; Frank A. Vanderlip ; Maurice Leon; William D. Guthrie; George W. Burleigh; . William A. Coffin. Heads of Committees for Lafayette Day." The following reply thereto was received by Hon. Alton B. Parker, chairman of the meeting from His Excellency, the French Ambassador: "My dear Mr. Chairman, My Government informs me that the Lafayette Committee were so good as to cable to the Presi- dent of the French Republic an account of the manifestations of sympathy towards France which have taken j^lace in New York and in other cities on the occasion of the birthday of the celebrated French patriot and friend of America. "In accordance with the instructions I have just received, I have the honor to tender to you and to all those who united their efforts to yours, the sincere thanks of President Poincare who desires also that his congratulations be conveyed to you for the admirable way in which you thus help to bring nearer together the French and the American peoples. "Allow me to add in my personal name the ex- pression of my gratitude and compliments for 12 the commemoration which it was my privilege to witness in the historical City Hall. The speeches by Ambassador Sharp, by ex-ambassador Bacon and by Dr. Finley ought, with yours, to be pre- served ; all that took place was worthy of the occa- sion ; no one was worthier than our Chairman who presided the meeting with so much eloquence and dignity. "I have the honor to be, with best regards, etc. (Signed) "Jusserand." The Lafayette room at the Washington Head- quarters, which is in the care of a group of the Daugh- ters of the American Revolution ( Morris- Jumel Man- sion) was visited by many persons on Lafayette Day. Tricolor wreaths were placed on the Lafayette statue in Union Square and the Washington statue in front of the Sub-Treasury in Wall Street. In the evening a Lafayette Day banquet was held at the Waldorf-Astoria under the auspices of the France-America Society which was attended by some 350 representative citizens, and at which addresses were delivered under the chairmanship of Mr. F. Cunliffe-Owen, the main addresses being those of the French Ambassador and Mr. James M. Beck. The Ambassador's address is included in this book with his kind permission and will be found following the report of the exercises at City Hall. Messages were read at the banquet from the President of the United States, Mr. Briand, president of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs of France, and Messrs. Joseph H. Choate, Theodore Roosevelt and Charles Stewart Davison, all three members of the Lafayette Day National Committee and Lafayette Day Citizens Committee of New York. The record of Lafayette Day would not be com- plete without mention of the newspapers and other publications which devoted editorial comments and special articles to Lafayette Day, a number of them 13 with pictorial features, others with patriotic drawings by well known cartoonists; while it is not possible to give a complete list of them, it may be stated that among the important articles devoted to Lafayette Day are those which appeared in the following publica- tions. Alabama: Birmingham Age-Herald * ' Journal Arizona : Yuma Daily Examiner California: Los Angeles Express San Francisco Argonaut Bulletin Chronicle Connecticut: Bridgeport Telegram District of Washington Herald Columbia :Washington Star Washington Times Georgia: Augusta Chronicle Cordele Dispatch Illinois : Chicago Journal Chicago News Indiana: Indianapolis News Kentucky: Louisville Courrier- Journal Times Louisiana: L'Abeille de Nouvelle-Orleans New Orleans American Times-Picayune States Maine : Bangor Commercial Maryland: Baltimore American News Sun Star Massachusetts : Boston Christian Science Monitor Globe Herald * ' Journal Post 14 Michigan : Minnesota: Missouri: New Jersey ; New York : Boston Record '* Transcript Fall River News Lynn Daily Item Springfield Republican ' ' Union Detroit Free Press Duluth Herald St. Joseph News Press St. Louis Post Dispatch Atlantic City Union Elizabeth Journal Hackensack Record Newark News Albany Journal Albany Knickerbocker Press Brooklyn Citizen Brooklyn Eagle '' Times '' Standard Union Buffalo Enquirer * ' News " Times Elmira Star Gazette Jamestown Morning Post Hudson Observer Middletown Daily Argus New York American ' ' * ' Courrier des Etats-Unis li a Christian Intelligencer *' *' Evening Journal '' *' Evening Mail '* *' Evening Post *' " Evening Sun *' " Evening Telegram '' Evening World " Globe '* '' Herald ' ' ' ' Journal of Commerce 15 Ohio; Oregon : Pennsylvania : Rhode Island: Texas : Washington : New York Life '' Outlook '' Sun '' Times '' <' Town Topics a a Tribune '' World Rochester Post Express Times St. George, S. I. Zone Scottish American Troy Times Utica Daily Press Westchester News Watertown Times Cincinnati Commercial Tribune ' ' Enquirer Cleveland Plain Dealer Eugene Guard Allentown Item Harrisburg Star-Independent Pittsburg Leader ' ' Dispatch Philadelphia Evening Bulletin Evening Telegraph Inquirer Item Press Public Ledger Record Providence Evening Tribune * ' Journal Houston Post Tacoma News-Ledger Seattle Post Intelligencer 16 LAFAYETTE DAY EXERCISES held at Aldermanic Chambee, City Hall, New York City, September 6, 1916 Hon. Alton B. Parkee, Presiding. Me. Paeker: Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen: In common with others of our fellow citizens in different parts of the United States, we meet to-day in appreciation and honor of one who as Major-Gen- eral of the United States Army and in other ways, rendered such service to our country in our great struggle for liberty, that while this Nation lives, his memory will be fondly cherished — General Lafayette. (Applause.) In the light of that service it is with thankful hearts that we recall his last visit to us. He came in pursu- ance of an invitation of Congress to visit the United States of America as its guest. That invitation was followed by a letter from the President offering to place a war vessel at his command. He accepted the invitation to be our guest, but declined the vessel. After his arrival, the President and Congress, all of the Governors and the Legislatures of the States, the Mayors of the cities and other officials of cities and towns, together with all the citizens joined in present- ing him a welcome such as no one else ever received in this country. When he reached the City of New York, the people turned out en masse to welcome him. Among many celebrations and entertainments which were given in his honor was the notable banquet on his sixty-seventh birthday. This was described in the press of the time as surpassing in brilliancy the many banquets of the past in this city given in honor of men whose public services endeared them to the people. 17 Not only the Governor, the Mayor and other prominent officers of state and city, but also more than foriy of the survivors of the Army were present to greet the last surviving Major-Ueneral of the War of the Bevo- lution. All over the country he went, visiting every single state, grown from the thirteen states when he first came to us, to twenty-four prosperous and popu- lous states. His sixty-eighth birthday was fittingly celebrated at the White House, where for several days he was the guest of President Adams. This occurred on the day preceding the one on which he sailed for home. The words of farewell were spoken on the Eastern steps of the White House in the presence of a multitude of people by the President, in the course of which he said: "Your visit has been to the people of the Union, a time of uninterrupted festivity and enjoyment in- spired by your presence." Congress appropriated $200,000. "in part payment" for the services which he had rendered to the people of the United States and the Government sent him home in a new frigate, named after the battlefield on which he was wounded — Bran- dywine. He sailed away to the home he loved with a heart overflowing with thankfulness that he had been able to serve us so well and assured of the affection, admiration and gratitude of all of the people of the United States, by evidence, the like of which had never before been presented to any other man in this country. Now we meet in honor of that great friend of the people of the United States. The celebration of ninety- two years ago in this city is one that it has been deter- mined shall be continued from time to time on his birthday. It began last year. It is to go on in this country so long that people will understand that Re- publics are not ungrateful to those who serve them both well and unselfishly. (Applause.) This great city of ours, with a population more than two millions greater than that of the thirteen states when he came to us extends to you a hearty welcome and for that pur- 18 pose, our Acting Mayor, Mr. Dowling, will now pre- sent to you the good wishes and the welcome of the City of New York. (Applause.) Mr. Dowling: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: In behalf of the City of New York I welcome this apportunity to greet this distinguished assemblage, gathered here to-day to do honor to a great French- man, whose single-hearted devotion to the principles of liberty led him to give his personal aid and undoubt- ed influence to the cause of freedom in this country at the most critical period in our national history. His services, his example, were of \atal importance to the struggling Colonies. I am glad to be one of those pres- ent to-day to do tribute to his memory. I hope that the Lafayette Day Celebration will be most successful. (Applause.) Mr. Parker: Mr. Acting Mayor: We thank the city for its wel- come and we beg you to be assured of our appreciation of your courteous expression of its kindly welcome and greeting. I now have the pleasure of presenting to you our neighbor and friend, Mr. Robert Bacon, who has among his other public services, represented the United States in France as our Ambassador, and I would ask him if he will be so good as to extend a welcome to the Am- bassador from France to the United States. (Ap- plause.) Mr. Bacon : Mr. Ambassador, Mr. Acting Mayor, and Mr. Presi- dent : It is a very great pleasure and privilege for me to speak to you here today. I appreciate more than I can 19 tell you the honor that is done to me in asking me to speak to you briefly of Lafayette. As for the welcome to the Ambassador, my friend, I may say, I can add very little to the eloquent words of your President, and of the Acting Mayor, but he knows, I think — I am sure — that my heart goes out to him. (Applause.) On the sixth day of September, in the year 1757, a day honored by the peoples of two republics, and des- tined to be a day set apart in the history of mankind, a child was born, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the realization of political freedom. By birth a sub- ject of France, by Act of Congress an American citi- zen, his name is "sweet as honey on the lips of men." Of proud and ancient lineage, reared in the lap of luxury, he discerned across an ocean the flush of liberty as of a sun strangely rising — not setting — in the west, and putting aside place and position as unworthy of ambition, he associated himself with the lowly and oppressed of the new world. ''When I heard your cause my heart enlisted. ' ' But although he came single handed, as it were, offering his services without rank and without pay, and his life a sacrifice, if need be, yet through him and his devotion to that cause, France and the United States fought shoulder to shoulder at Yorktown, and through their co-operation, the inde- pendence of the struggling colonies was realized, and the liberty of a whole continent assured. At this great and crowning moment, Lafayette and Rochambeau stood shoulder to shoulder, and to-day they stand shoulder to shoulder in the city which bears the name of their great companion in arms, facing the White- house, and reminding by their presence the successors of Washington in the Presidency of that perpetual alli- ance of two peoples evidenced, indeed, by no scrap of paper, but inscribed in the hearts of every American. (Applause.) When the independence of the United States was formally proclaimed on the 4th of July, 1776, Lafayette was less than 19 years of age. On the 26th day of 20 March, 1777, he sailed from Bordeaux in a vessel of his own furnishing, but his departure was delayed by royal command. He escaped to Spain, whence, on the 20th of April, with DeKalb, later to fall in the cause they espoused, with some chosen companions, he put to sea in his vessel, aptly called the "Victory." Still a youth of 19, he reached the coast of South Carolina the 13th day of June. He made his way under difficulties to Philadelphia, then the capital of the country, where he arrived on the 27th day of July. The little city swarmed with adventurers, eager for high command in return for real or alleged experience. Commissions to foreigners meant lack of commissions to deserving Americans, and the reception of Lafayette was, as he himself said, "more like a dismissal than a welcome," but Lafayette had come in the interests of a cause, and he was not to be deprived of the opportunity of serving it. He adressed the Congress, setting forth his circum- stances, and the reasons which had impelled him to cross the ocean to offer his services to the young coun- try. He felt that he had earned the right to serve, say- ing that, "After the sacrifices that I have made in this cause, I have the right to ask two favors at your hands : the one is, to serve without pay, at my own expense; and the other, that I be allowed to serve at first as a volunteer." (Applause.) Congress could not resist such an appeal. It therefore resolved that, "his serv- ices be accepted, and that in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connections, he have rank and commission of major general in the army of the United States." The commission, however, was meant by Congress to be honorary, leaving it to Washington to avail himself of Lafayette's services, or to appoint him to such command as events should justify. His zeal for the cause was sincere, his courage, shown at Brandywine, was unquestioned ; his tact was even greater than either. Upon his arrival at Camp, Washington had said: "It is somewhat embarrassing to us to show ourselves to an officer who has just come 21 from the army of France." To which delicate compli- ment Lafayette finely replied: "I am here to learn, not to teach." He not only felt his youth and inexperience, but the embarrassment that his presence in high command might create. He overcame every difficulty. ' ' I read, ' ' he said, "I study, I examine, I listen, I reflect, and upon the result of all of this I make an effort to form my opinion and to put into it as much common sense as I can. I am cautious not to talk much, lest I should say some foolish thing, and still more cautious in my ac- tions lest I should do some foolish thing, for I do not want to disappoint the confidence that the Americans have so kindly placed in me." His conduct at Brandy wine, and the further evi- dence of skill, as well as courage, in the affair at Glou- cester, coupled with his faultless devotion to the cause, in which his heart was enlisted, led Washington to recommend to Congress, within less than six months after his arrival in America, that he be appointed to the command of a Division and Congress resolved that, "General Washington be informed it is highly agree- able to Congress that the Marquis de Lafayette be ap- pointed to the command of a Division in the Continen- tal Army." He was accordingly put in command of a Virginia Division, and he shared the hardships of de- feat and the sweets of victory with his men. He went through the trying winter at Valley Forge, where, as he tells us, "The unfortunate soldiers were in want of everything; they had neither coats nor hats, nor shirts, nor shoes; their feet and legs froze until they grew black, and it was often necessary to amputate them. * ♦ * The army frequently passed whole days w^ithout food, and the patient endurance of both soldiers and officers was a miracle which every mo- ment seemed to renew." The recognition of the independence of the United States by France, and the defensive alliance of the 22 6th day of February, 1778, due in no small measure to Lafayette's influence, put an end to gloom and de- spondency. Great Britain declared war against France for its support of the cause in which not only Lafayette, but France, was now enlisted, and the United Colonies found themselves possessed of an ally, as powerful as it was sympathetic, generous, and high minded. The wants of Valley Forge were made good. Clothing and equipment came for the men, ammunition and supplies for the troops. A French army, under Rochambeau, was landed ; a French fleet stationed itself in American waters. The Virginia Division under Lafayette, out- manoeuvered Cornwallis. The allied armies of Wash- ington and of Rochambeau marched south to join La- fayette. The French fleet, under DeGrasse cut otf escape by water from Yorktown, and beseiged alike by land and sea, Cornwallis, on October 19th, 1781, sur- rendered his army to Washington, and the independ- ence of the United States, — thanks to the kindly aid of our first, our great, and our only ally, — became a fact. To-day as we celebrate the birth of Lafayette, his devoted country is taking part once more in a war of independence, a war which will save, and has already saved, civilization and free institutions from the impo- sition of a theory of government in the hands of a dominant sovereign will, just as, on an October day in the year 732, Charles, surnamed Martel, halted an in- vading army at Tours, thus preserving France and western Europe from an alien and militant civilization. The battle of the Marne, fought and won by Lafayette's countryman, Joffre, on Lafayette's birthday (great applause and cheers), makes of the 6th day of Sep- tember a date memorable, not only in the history of our country, but in the annals of civilization. In commemorating the services of Lafayette, the friend of liberty, the friend of America, and the friend of Washington, our hearts go out to France (great ap- plause), in her struggle for mankind, for ideals — for our American ideals — (great applause and cheers) 23 and, as Rochambeau said to Washington in 1781, so to-day I say to you, sir, the Ambassador of the glorious country of Lafayette and of Rochambeau : " Entre vous, entre nous, a la vie, a la fnort." (Long continued applause.) Mr. Paeker: When the Committee came to consider who should be invited to deliver the principal address on this occa- sion, Dr. John H. Finley, the head of the Department of Education was quickly and unanimously chosen. (Applause.) While it was perfectly easy to agree to invite him, it was not so easy to have the invitation find him. It seems that the good Doctor in need of a well earned vacation, had wandered into the New Hampshire Mountains and Woods where he might gain it without interference and so it happened that the in- vitation of the Committee did not succeed in reaching him until Sunday last. However, his loyal and patriotic heart and his great admiration for Lafayette have com- pelled him to forego the remainder of his short vaca- tion and come to us. I have now the great pleasure of introducing our friend. Dr. Finley. Mr. Finley: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Acting Mayor, Mr. Ambassador to France that is, Mr. Ambassador to France that was, Mr. Ambassador from France that was, that is and that is to be, and Mme. Jusserand, Ladies and Gentle- men: I need not say to you who have just heard the elo- quent and stirring address of Mr. Bacon, that despite the gracious announcement of our honored Chairman, the ''principal address" of this occasion has already been made. When I received the invitation, a few days ago, to take part in these exercises, I had just crossed, from Old Fort Ticonderoga, the lake which bears the name 24 of that indomitable son of France and pioneer in Amer- ica, Cbamplain, and had made my way on foot through a pass in the Green Mountains into the valleys which look up to the greater ranges beyond, — ranges whose peaks were doubtless seen by Frenchmen, first of Euro- peans : Verezzano perhaps, when under commission from Francis the First, Jacques Cartier from the crest of Mont Real and Champlain from the New England coast which he explored while some of the Pilgrim Fathers were still in childhood or youth. Highest rises the Presidential Range, with Mount Washington commanding; aloof, austere, rugged, with its summit often enveloped in cloud; and fronting it a parallel range of alien name, remembering perhaps some Fran- conian association or perhaps some Carlovingian leg- end, with Mount LaFayette standing in picturesque prominence, highest of the group. It was a happy and prescient christening that M^rote in the baptismal record of the eternal hills the names of those who had noblest part in the founding of this republic: Washington's first, of Americans; Lafay- ette's first, of Europeans. I had wished to celebrate the natal day of Lafayette by taking a road into some nearer valley or climbing by trail to some neighboring peak, in order to see the Mountain Lafayette in all its early autumn glory, with the cross which it wears, as it were America's Cross of Honor hanging from its shoulders. But I have followed the example of one of the White Mountaineers, in 1824. One now living in that same mountaineer's house, himself a lover of these same mountains, said that his uncle drove in 1824 to Ports- mouth seventy miles away to see Lafayette, and added : "Lafayette is the only hero whom this republic has loved without reserve." There in the mountains they keep the visible eternal symbol of our memory of Amer- ica 's dearest friend. But, as the mountaineer, T have come to the city, to the very place where Lafayette stood in 1824, to find in the hearts of a remembering 25 people an even more sublime and as immutable a me- morial, invisible, but none the less real, which we must make imperishable, by leading our youth, through the valleys of our own appreciation, or up to the summits of great lives of his day, to see and to love. It is our happy duty to keep that valorous life as distinct upon the horizon of the youth of America as the Mountain Lafayette is to one who walks up the Pemigewasset Valley in a clear autumn day. And Lafayette in youth, not in age ; for it was La- fayette the rich, titled, homely, lank, red-haired young man of nineteen and "of modest, even embarrassed, demeanor," whom this republic has reason to remem- ber today, not the courtly man of sixty-seven as paint- ed by Morse in the portrait above us, — except as the older includes the younger. It was a youth no older than most freshmen in Am- erican colleges (though he was himself a graduate of a French college in the usual academical course) who hearing at a dinner party in Metz that "the remote, scattered and unprotected settlers of the wilderness had solemnly declared themselves an independent peo- ple," resolved to abandon the pleasures of the "gayest court and capital of the world, ' ' to leave his young wife and child, and to risk his life and fortune in the cause for which his heart "at once enlisted." It was a youth, still at nineteen, who undismayed by the news of the retreat of Washington's "ragged and suffering army" across New Jersey, purchased a vessel (over which he was "horribly cheated") and, escaping by embarkation from a Spanish port, roused French sentiment to an expression of sympathy so pronounced that it advanced the alliance with the new nation which a sovereign and ministry, fearful of dis- astrous consequences, might well seek to avert. It was a youth, not even yet out of his teens, who landing in South Carolina, a Black Musketeer of King Louis' household, rode 600 miles to make proffer of his service as a volunteer, and without pay,' to Congress, 26 (who unceremoniously kept him waiting in the street at first as an adventurer, but afterward gave him a commission as a major-general, "a brevet of immor- tality" it seemed to him), and then to Washington, who adopted him as a member of his military family, admitted him into his war council by the side of Greene from his forge, Stark from the forests and granite hills, and Putnam from the farm; invited him to share dinners which were hardly comparable with those at Versailles, and drew him into what proved to be the most beautiful friendship in all American history. In- deed, says Trevelyan: ''The history of the world has seldom had to tell of a more honorable connection be- tween two men, more conscientiously devoted to great principles." It was a young man, just turned twenty, who at the Battle of Brandywine, hastened in the "direction of the music to the sound of which so many of his progen- itors had died" and fought with such ardor as to make him insensible to the wound he had received in battle, a mere boy of twenty who strengthened the morale of the army, even at Valley Forge, and gave heart to the whole people by his gallant spirit, for in that splendid incarnation of youth, France herself seemed to be fight- ing for the independence of this nascent nation. It was a young man of only twenty-one who de- clined the seductive glory of coordinate command with his revered Washington, and who w^as thanked by Con- gress for his splendid service in bringing the French and American armies into harmonious feeling after an unsuccessful expedition in New England. It was a young man of but twenty-two who went back to France and did what no else could have done to give occasion for that popular demonstration which evoked the substantial and disinterested aid that made victory for the Colonists possible — an assistance which even with hundreds of millions of dollars we cannot repay! (Great applause.) And it was, finally, a young man, just past his twen- 27 ty-fourtli birthday who, having taken a vitally import- ant part, as Mr. Bacon has clearly set forth, in the concluding campaign of the Revolutionary War, was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Thus the great service of Lafayette to America was consummated before most young American college men have begun seriously to think of public responsi- bility or to take a possessing interest in the world's affairs. France has given this New World explorers, sold- iers and priests whose adventures and endurances lighted with splendors of valor and faith all the f orest- and prairie-and water-paths of New France, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico; but here has she set before the youth of America the genius of her own youth, forever to intimate the virtues which are undying in her, — in her who, (as an English his- torian said before the present war), has always "drawn her sword in behalf of the weak, — for the Pole, the Greek, for struggling Italy, for the insurgent North American colonies," and whose "people have never turned from a friendly compact at the call of their in- terests." (Great applause.) Here, in Lafayette, is the incarnation of her per- petual youth. Disinterested in purpose! Thinking not of cost or sacrifice if the cause be just, even though it seems to be lost! Ever beginning again with un- quenchable spirit ! "In the peasants' huts," said Voltaire, with what seems now remarkable divination, "the spirit of France never changes, — it is always the same ; it is for all time. You English, nor all otheis, can not blow out that candle which is the spirit of France. * * * The spirit of France is the candle of Europe, and you English will be its screen against the blowing out, though in spasms of stupidity you flaunt the exting- uisher." But here was the spirit of France's unquenchable, unca^cuhiting, impulsive, generous spirit exhibited in 28 her noblest family, — in castle as in hut. And if, as a modern French philosopher has said, youth is the me- dium through which the qualities of a society are best to show themselves, how preciously is the worth of France appraised by this illustrious youth whose birth- day we celebrate in common with her who is immortal through such youth. We fear at times to apply this test of our ov\ti youth to ourselves. But when one reads, as I have been read- ing, of the offering of our young men, and especially college men, in France, in trench and ambulance and aviation corps, one cannot doubt that the spirit of La- fayette is among our youth. But our supreme task is to make that spirit universal, as it is in France today, to stir every youth to see that here we have the glorious thing for which Lafayette offered and risked his all, and to make every youth ready and willing to give his all for this "glorious thing," which must daily be lifted from the commonplace. (Applause) Edward Everett, himself a young man, delivering his eulogy on Lafayette in Faneuil Hall, "at the re- quest of the young men of Boston" in 1836, said of the youth, Lafayette, "He comes unprepared, because he comes to a great Preparation of Liberty. * * * He comes in youth to the great monitorial School of Freedom to imbibe its holy doctrine from an authentic source — from the lips of the Pure Master." Here is still in existence that Place of Preparation of Liberty, that great monitorial School of Freedom, and though the Pure and Austere Master, to whom Lafayette was both pupil and son, has gone, we have still for our youth the memory of his pure tuition and the glorious example of one who gave his all to study the perilous lessons of freedom in this greatest school of democracy, established by the aid of France, in the earth, for the teachin'f of all nations. Prepared the youth Lafayette w^as in spirit to en- dure the tuition ; and our supreme need is of this prep- aration of spirit in our youth. All else will come with 29 it, but the vigorous training, the universal discipline, must come, too. Lescarbot, the young French barrister, who came to our savage shores three centuries ago (1606), in an apostrophe to France, said: "You must make alliance, dear Mother, in imitation of the course of the sun." In Lafayette did the French spirit make Westward alliance beyond the binding of any treaty; and in the teaching of our youth to keep in their hearts such chiv- alry, such "adorable faith," such passion for justice and liberty as Lafayette showed, shall we keep forever this spiritual treaty. (Great applause) But I must not turn aside to speak to our own youth. Our faces and theirs must be turned all, this day, toward the person and service of this heroic young Frenchman whom ever we would keep in shin- ing memory. As I have ridden in my journey to the city through the night into the light of this day, my own thought of him has found its expression in a homage which I as- sume to make our common tribute and the appraisal of all time: Septembek 6. "Whose day shall this day be?" I heard one cry At dawn, this morning, through the gray sea mist That hid the towers and tenements, as if The city were again the huddled town; ' ' Who '11 win for aye this precious bit of time, "Which, ere it ends, will make Earth's habitants, "(Or such of them as stay in their clay huts), * ' Older by some two thousand thousand years, "But richer by a thousand million deeds? — "What am I offered for this autumn day? "Who'll make a bid? Ere morrow it must go "To him who bids the most. Time cannot wait "Though he would fain 'bid in' its growing light "That soon will turn to warm and golden noon, 30 ''And paint the earth against the misty skies, "As if Corot had come again to life; — "Fain keep its genial heat to warm the heart "And hearth when snows are deep on Vosges and Alp. "Wake men and bid! See how its conquering glow "Makes all the circling rivers amulets "Of argent; cities varicolored gems, "And land and sea a tranquil tapestry! "What am I bid?" And one, ere others could, Cried out: "I fling unnumbered lives of men ' * To buy it in the planet 's calendar ; "To crush a planet-capital and make "A holiday for millions. This, my bid!" ****** " 'Unnumbered lives of others' am I bid, "Thousands of human skulls and skeletons. — "Does anyone bid more?" ' ' I give my own, ' ' "Je donne ma vie!" As many thousand cried In answering deed of self-forgetfulness, Or, choking, gasped in death, beside the Marne. * ***** Then rose a loud confusion, as when men Bid in a stock exchange; one off 'ring this. One that : an epaulet, a bag of gold A name, a serum or a victory. *****# All day the bidding ran, on into hours When labor, knocking at the doors of dawn. Was silent and the captains ceased command. When only scholars bid, bent o'er their books. Mothers o'er babes or nurses o'er the sick; Till late, there rose the ghost of one long dead, Our first "Immortal," who for millions spoke: "0 Author of all Days! There lived a youth, "A tall and slender boy, of flaming crown. 31 ''A son of France, but dear as ever son *'0f own could be to one whom I have heard ''A people call their country's father. — He, "He was a gallant youth, noble of birth, "But noble also in the noblest use "Of that surpassing word. He risked his all; "His fortune, home and life; not for his king, "Or country; not for rank or rich reward; "But for an alien and a kingless land, * ' Struggling despairfully but with just cause "For that sweet liberty, through which alone "Mankind can rise. — And by the unbought aid "Of this French youth, this boy of flaming crown "And flaming heart, came victory at last, "Came victory and liberty for us. "He could but bid his fortune and his life, — "We add to his brave all, what we, in turn, * ' A great, lank, youth-republic, now may give * ' In kind, and do of love engage to give, * ' So long as Thou, who didst appoint the lights "Of heav'n for signs and seasons, days and years, ' ' Shalt yearly bring September sixth to bless "In endless calendar this whirling earth.'* * * * * * m The hammer on the bell of midnight fell. "Going," he said, the Ancient One of Days, "Going," and, with the last sonorous stroke. Cried "Gone." "This day is his, forever his, "The son of France, the friend of Washington, "The brave god-brother of America, "The youth, youth-summoning, de Lafayette!" (Great and continued applause.) Mr. Parker: The Ambassador from France to the United States has a warm place in the hearts of our people. (Long continued applause.) He has been with us many years, so long that even those who do not know him person- ally have come to love him. It is a great delight to us 32 that he honors us this day by his presence here. He has expressed a wish to acknowledge the addresses of welcome which have been presented here by the Acting Mayor of the City, by Mr. Bacon, and others, and at the same time to express his appreciation that this country honors Lafayette. I take pleasure in presenting the Ambassador from France. (The audience rises. Long continued ap- plause.) M. Jusseeand: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Acting Mayor, and my dear friends, the American Ambassadors to France, ladies and gentlemen: Of all the tasks that were ever given to any man mine is certainly the sweetest. I have to express a sentiment with which my heart is full, grati- tude for that Committee of American citizens which in these days of trial for the ally of old, remembers the time when that young officer Lafayette came over and did something for the republic on this side of the wa- ter: two republics are now fronting each other on the two shores of the ocean. I feel indeed full of gratitude toward our eloquent chairman for what he has so well said of the hero of the day and of his country, and for what he has unde- servedly said of the present representative of that country; toward the Acting Mayor who interrupted for us his important duties in the immense city en- trusted to his care, and toward the authors of ''the two addresses of the day", Mr. Bacon and Dr. Finley; Mr. Bacon, my diplomatic brother, a very dear friend for many years (applause); and with him that worthy colleague of ours, Mr. Sharp, now Ambassador to France who has come such a long way from his home to bring us a message of warm-hearted sympathy ; both worthy continuators of the first envoy who represented your country in France and who have emulated him in that same feeling for her manifested by that famous American, Benjamin Franklin. To 33 Franklin, when he had returned to Philadelphia, Ro- chambeau's aide, Chastellux once wrote: "When you were in France it w^as useless to praise the Americans ; we had only to say 'Look, here is one.' " (Applause.) His successors have not lost sight of this example. With that double power which is his, as an historian and a poet. President Finley has vividly brought back to our minds the events which took place 140 years ago ; we think of the immense change, of that small strug- gling nation scarcely yet a nation, who Vv^anted to be free, confronted by such perils, possessed, as it seemed of such inadequate means. And we think of that tall, thin, rather shy, practically unknown young man of twenty, who wanted to help a great cause and seemed so unlikely to be of use, that, as Doctor Finley has re- minded us, when he presented himself to Congress at Philadelphia, he was received in the street, and not invited to come in. And now what do we see? An immense nation, a development so prodigious that in all the history of the world nothing like it has occurred. And what do we see, too ? The fame of the unknown young man, has kept pace with the growth of the nation ; he has become one of the most illustrious men in the world, one of those to whom have been raised the most statues. The nation grew as trees grow when they have the necessary sap and soil; it grew because it possessed not only the splendid resources of its territory and climate, but because it had the sap, those resources of more import consisting in force of character, pluck, energy, inventiveness, capacity for enthusiasm and abnegation, all those noble feelings which men who are the molders of the future, — and no one has more of the future in his hands than one who like Dr. Finley is at the head of a university, — are careful to instill into the new generations. Two things are indispensable for the efficiency of a gun, something to put in it and some one to put be- hind it. Lafayette was, at the time of your severest 34 trial, one of the men behind the gun ; not undeservedly his fame has grown with yours. What he could do at twenty is a wonder, and has been called a miracle ; not a unique one however. For twenty was the age of that other French defender of liberty, that model being, that saint, the maid of Lor- raine, Joan of Arc. (Great applause.) At the same age, fighting for our people, Joan of Arc succeeded, and now the saint to whom you of New York recently raised a noble statue, still from afar, from above, watches over France; her spirit is with our armies. (Great applause and cheers.) You honor Lafayette and we honor him too, because we owe him much. We owe to him the first Declara- tion of Eights that was drawn up in our Revolution, and we owe to him a thing for which we are more grate- ful than for anything else, our flag, the tricolor, the flag of Valmy (applause), the flag of the Marne (great applause), the flag of Verdun (great applause and cheers). Repeating the words of your national an- them: And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there, * * * O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave, — we are proud to think that half a year and more has passed, and the tricolor is still waving and will continue to wave over the shattered city. (Applause.) Franklin, when he had returned to Philadelphia, was once watching flies which seemed to be dead, and a whiff of air came and they revived, and he said, '^I should like to be like those flies, to go to sleep for a time (for a hundred years) and then return to Amer- ica and see what has taken place. ' ' And he described, indeed very accurately, what he thought would have taken place ; the vast changes, the wilderness replaced by prosperous cities, roads and canals connecting the remotest parts of the land, immense towns, an immense 35 population, inexhaustible resources, a vast navy, a country immense in everything. If he should return to-day, he would find indeed wonderful changes, and yet he would notice many things that have not changed, the best things, the chief ones: that love of liberty which is extended to men and nations who have the same love; that pluck and energy to which nothing is impossible; that feeling for France which had been his. Many American citizens have shown that in this respect there has been no change, that the beauty of the American heart has re- mained what it was in his time; the man behind the gun is the same man he had known ; and we of France feel a gratitude that will not die towards those many Americans who have sent help to our victims of the war, those youths who have succored our wounded or who have actually enlisted as the French had done in '76, and for those bold heroes whom one of the suc- cessors of George Washington has called ' ' The Laf ay- ettes of the Air." President Finley wrote one of the books in which we French take most pride, about our former explorers of the valley of the Mississippi ; he gave it a title with two meanings, so one may choose : ' ' The French in the Heart of America." After this war and when what has been done by so many American citizens shall be better known, a book will be written in France which will be called, "Amer- ica in the Heart of the French." (Great applause.) (The address delivered by the French Ambassador at the Lafayette Day banquet given in the evening by the France-America Society, and at which he was the guest of honor, is included at pp. 39-46 with his kind permission.) Mr. Parker: The Ambassador from the United States to France, being in this country on a much needed vacation, has 36 come all the way from liis home, 600 miles, to greet his friend, the Ambassador from France, and to join with us in celebrating the birthday of Lafayette. He has no place on the program. Indeed I did not know that he would be here until we were about to assemble. Under the circumstances we can hardly ask him to make an address, but I do hope that he will join us in greeting our distinguished guests. Mr. Sharp: I have a feeling of gratitude towards your Honor- able Chairman to-day for letting me down so easily; for if you had expected much of a speech from me at this eleventh hour, he has certainly found a way of providing a most excellent excuse, in better form than I could have done. It is a little difficult to make an address before such a distinguished audience as is here to-day without some preparation. It is more dif- ficult and trjdng when what you thought you would say about France of to-day has been ruthlessly taken from under you, as it was taken away by the distinguished gentleman, Mr. Finley, who has just preceded me. For I did want to say something, not so much about Lafay- ette, of more than a century ago — though that is an inspiring subject to an American audience always — but I did want to say a few words about his noble coun- try and its noble people of today. (Applause.) It is true that my coming was in a way unheralded. When I received the invitation, rather delayed in com- ing to me, I at first thought that I might not have the time to spend on account of the shortness of my vaca- tion; but when I revolved over in my mind the many courtesies and many acts of kindness that the Govern- ment of France has uniformly shown me — and I am glad to say on every occasion manifested likewise to the Government of the United States and to the people of the United States — and actuated by the additional motive of again seeing the distinguished Ambassador 37 from France to America, who typifies in so many ways the nobility of the French people (great applause), I decided to be present here today. The gentleman who preceded me just hit upon one theme that I was going to take a few minutes to speak of, and that is when he pointed out that the French sen- timent, and French inspiration, if I may call it such, that is demonstrated today — I may not use his exact language, but the thought is the same — was not born today, nor yesterday, but is inmate and inherent in that noble race. (Applause.) No one could live among the French people without testifying to that fact and observing it everywhere. As you walk in the parks and upon the boulevards and upon the streets, you are impressed more than ever with the truth of the old saying that the child is verily father to the man ; because no race of people can show the solicitude for the proper training of the heart and mind of a child as France does without producing a great and perpetually strong nation. (Applause.) You see it manifested everywhere, and what I say to- day in praise of the French people, their courage, their patriotism, their sense of justice, their politeness that we sometimes misconstrue on this side of the Atlantic and confuse with a superficial veneering when it reaches to the heart and from the heart outward, all those words of praise, every neutral government on the face of the earth and even those who are fighting against France today, are willing to accord to that great country. (Applause.) As I sat here today and learned that this is a com- paratively new event, I believed inaugurated last year for the first time, I was glad that there is a promise for its perpetuity. It calls to my mind a scene across the Atlantic in the outskirts of Paris, in one of those num- erous cemeteries, inconspicuous in size as well as local- ity, where all that is mortal of Lafayette is buried, a simple tomb, as indeed the tomb is simple of his great compatriot, George Washington, at Mount Vernon. At 38 the side of that tomb it has been the custom for many years past for the representatives of the American colony in Paris to gather on the 4th day of July and deposit a beautiful wreath of flowers and commemorate the services of that great patriot. I am glad that you are about to inaugurate the same custom here, and I hope that it will grow and continue in popular favor. I hope it will do much to cement in fraternal ties of affection the two great peoples of the two great repub- lics. (Applause.) Mr. Paeker: Mr. Ambassador: We are grateful for your pres- ence and thank you for your address. The great con- flict beyond the seas which saddens all hearts in Amer- ica and which we hope will soon cease, does not prevent us from allowing our affection to stray where it will. Our country is neutral but that neutrality does not compel us to forget — aye, we could not forget if we would — the fact that France first recognized our gov- ernment. (Great applause.) We could not forget if we would that it was closely followed by two treaties, one of them of alliance and of vital importance to the United States, and certainly we never will forget while the life of the United States lasts your fleet in our har- bor and your soldiers at Yorktown. (Great applause.) May I in closing the exercises read a few sentences from the order of President Jackson, issued to the Army and Navy upon receiving news of the death of Lafayette : "Lafayette was a citizen of France but he was "a distinguished friend of the United States. In ''his early life he embarked in that contest which "secured freedom and independence to our coun- "try. His services and sacrifices constitute part "of our Revolutionary history, and his memory "will be second only to that of Washington in the "hearts of the American people. In his own coun- 39 "'try and in ours he was a zealous and uniform ''friend and advocate of rational liberty. Consist- "ent in his principles and conduct, he never dur- "ing a long life committed an act which exposed ''him to just accusation or which will expose his "memory to reproach. Engaged in many of the "important events which fixed the attention of "the world and invited to guide the destinies of "France at two of the most momentous eras of "her history, his political integrity and personal "disinterestedness have not been called into ques- "tion. "He came in his youth to defend our country. "He came in the maturity of his age to witness "her growth, in all the elements of prosperity, "and while witnessing these he received those "testimonials of national gratitude, which proved "how strong was his hold upon the affections of "the American people. In ordering this homage "to be paid to the memory of one so honorable "in the field, so wise in council, so endeared in "private life and so well and favorably known to "both hemispheres, the president feels assured "that he is anticipating the sentiments not of the "Army and Navy only, but of the whole Ameri- "can people." (Applause.) The meeting is now adjourned. SPEECH OF THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR at the Lafayette Day Banquet given in New York on the evening of September 6th, 1916 bv the France- America Society. When Lafayette visited this country for the last time in 1824 and received a welcome unparalleled in history, banquets without number were offered him in which toasts were drunk, also without number. The 40 rule had been in olden days of thirteen toasts in honor of the thirteen original states, but the rule was dis- carded then and American ingenuity knew no limits. Among so many toasts, the most original perhaps was one to the souls of Phocion, Themistocles and the other victims of republican ingratitude, so that they might know in heaven that what was true in their days was not in ours. Indeed it was not. If there is, among the virtues of the American nation, one which cannot be contested by any, it is her gratitude and the pleasure she takes in being grateful. The last in date of the innumerable tokens of American love towards Lafayette is the present com- memoration, due to the initiative of patriotic citizens, and honored by the presence of so many men whose heart and mind are ever ready to uphold any noble cause. The first in date was obtained by Lafayette shortly after he had landed, at twenty, on these shores, and was indeed the greatest recompense America ever bestowed on him: that was the friendship of General Washington. That friendship, so deep, so tender, was from the first emblematic of the feeling of Lafayette for Amer- ica and of America for Lafayette. Between him and this country it was really a case of love at first sight. He was scarcely landed, after his risky journey on his tiny ship, the best part of which was its name. La Victoire, than he was writing to his youthful wife, his "dear heart", as he calls her, telling her of his first impressions, which were as follows: "I must now speak to you of the country, my dear heart, and of its inhabitants. They are as lovable as my enthusiasm had fancied them to be. Simplicity of manners, a desire to oblige, love of country and of liberty, a sweet equality reign here among all people. The richest man and the poor- est are on a level, and though there are very large 41 fortunes in this country, no one could detect the slightest difference in their manners towards one another * * * American women are very pretty and simple * * * What delights me especially is that all citizens are brothers * * * All the inhab- itants own some property and all have rights equal to those of the most powerful landowners of the country. ' ' Nothing impressed him more than that absence of classes so new and congenial to him. Liberty was bet- ter understood in Europe than equality. Owing to the French thinkers of the 18th century, Liberty had be- come a religion for the upholding of which many were ready to die, as they did shortly after. Those thinkers (and that was one early and powerful connecting link between France and England) rendered full justice to their British predecessors. Summing up his opinions on the English, Voltaire had said: "The English, as it seems to me, have not such good historians as we have; they have no regular tragedies, but they have charming comedies, admirable pieces of poetry — and philosophers who ought to be the preceptors of man- kind." But in England as in France there remained classes, while in America that wonder was to be seen : Liberty in practice and withal no ranks and everybody con- tented. The lesson was not lost upon the young man, who having gone back to France, began to exert him- self in favor of reforms. "Heaven saw fit", as Daniel Webster said, "that the electric spark of liberty should be conducted, through Lafayette, from the New World to the Old." And it is a touching thing to see him at work in France with the same ardent sincerity which had brought him to the United States, buying estates in our colony of Cayenne just to liberate the negroes on them, and exerting himself, several years before our Eevolution, for an equality of rights to be granted to Protestants. "You will be glad to hear", he wrote 42 to Washington, in 1786, ''that I have great hopes to see the situation of Protestants in my country consider- ably improved, not as much, to be sure, as it should; but at the least the absurd and so cruel laws of Louis XIV will be greatly mended." When our Revolution came he was of the first to declare for equality. An enemy of the English, he was, so to say, a model enemy. Before sailing for America on his ship La Victoire, he had paid a visit to his uncle the Marquis de Noailles, then French Ambassador to the Court of St. James; everybody welcomed him and he was of- fered every facility to visit the ports and arsenals and see the ships that were building. He refused, rightly thinking it would be to take an undue advantage. No one knew of his set purpose to go to America, but he knew and that was enough. After Yorktown, he vied with the officers of Ro- chambeau's army in his courtesy towards Cornwallis, the same who once had thought himself so sure of cap- turing ' ' the boy ". "I pity Lord Cornwallis ' ', he wrote to his "dear heart" after the capitulation, "I have the highest opinion of him, and he is so good as to show me some esteem." Like Rochambeau's house in Paris, Lafayette's soon became a place of meeting for both Americans and English, and thus a friendly intercourse was be- ginning between representatives of the three nations which had met in arms at Yorktown. "Since the war is over and we have won it", he wrote to Washington in 1786, "I have, I confess, an extreme pleasure in meeting English people * * * Either as a French- man, or a soldier, or an American, or a mere individual, I find myself without embarrassment in the midst of that proud nation." And he tells of a dinner he had just given to which Mr. Pitt was present, "supported by five Englishmen ; and there was, too, a dozen rebels (that is Americans) including ladies * * * Mr. Pitt has left me delighted with his wit, his modesty, his nobility, and a character as interesting as the part to 43 which his position destines him." The way, how- ever, in which he played later that part, unavoidably modified Lafayette's dispositions. England repaid him handsomely;, among the many poems inspired by Lafayette's career, none surpasses the famous sonnet of Coleridge written when the de- fender of liberty was for five long years the prisoner of the Austrian enemy at Olmutz: Thou, Fayette, who didst wake with startling voice Life's better Sun from that long wintry night. Thus in thy Country's triumphs shalt rejoice And mock with raptures high the dungeon's night: For lo! the morning struggles into day, And Slavery's spectres shriek and vanish from the ray. Adverting to Lafayette's part in the French revo- lution it is pleasant to remember that all the best re- forms, those destined to survive, were advocated by him who had ever present to his mind the American example ; that when he was elected by the acclamation of the multitude, on the day after the Bastille, Com- mander in chief of the National Guard, as he was not present at the Hotel de Ville, it was to the marble bust of him, given to Paris by the State of Virginia, that Moreau de Saint-Mery pointed in order to have him elected by the crowd; and that the most daring and romantic attempt to free him from his prison was due to those two bold Americans, Bollman and Huger, Well may the shades of Phocion and Themistocles rest assured that a change has occurred since their days in the behavior of republics. Once more in the history of mankind war is rending the soil, rending the waters and the air. France and other nations ready for the works of peace, insufficiently ready (but that has been mended) for the works of war, are suf- fering unprecedented calamities. No tokens of friend- ship, of sympathy, of good will, have touched France 44 more deeply than those coming from this republic, who persists in remembering Lafayette and his com- panions. Under very many forms, American citizens have shown what they feel for the old Ally; their ap- proval, eloquently worded, has been for us a comfort. They understood that what is at stake is that same question of indei)endence for nations, of freedom for citizens, for which our common ancestors had fought the same fight ; they took pride in seeing that to make a good stand, to arrest the invader, to act unanimously with a single purpose, men needed no autocratic or- ganization holding them together ; the love of country, the attachment to sound principles, is between them the strongest of ties. People there be who fancy that a democracy is good enough for peace times; but you have shown that it can be equal to any task, in times of stress as in periods of prosperity. You proved it anew in the days of Lincoln, and we are trying to prove it again to-day: we a democracy like yours, a democracy that can defend its hearths and it prin- ciples to the utmost, but a democracy that is humane and is not vitiated by any militaristic spirit. A char- acteristic fact it is that we have never celebrated up to now, the anniversary of any of our victories, each victory being another people's defeat. You understood too that the France to whom your approval went, was not a new being, fallen so to speak from heaven, and which might possibly vanish as quickly as it came. No, the fighting, the bleeding France of to-day, is the France of all times, that of yesterday and that of to-morrow, that of Joan of Arc, of Bayard, Turenne, Hoche, Lafayette: the same as that of Joffre. Some have wondered that the French pretty well known for their dash, could in this war also show endurance : but this was to forget that France fought a hundred years' war, and won it. No such mistakes in that library of books written, just as it pleased them, by free Americans ; many of tliese works masterpieces of thought, of sentiment, of 45 language, and which are, each of them, as a leaf of laurel on the brow of old France, of ever young France. Never, in my country, will the American volunteers of the Great War be forgotten; some, according to their power, offering their pen, or their money, or their help to our wounded, or their life. There is not one form of suffering, among the innumerable kinds of calamities caused by a merciless enemy, that some American work has not tried to assuage. In the hospi- tals, in the schools for the maimed and blind, in the ruins of formerly prosperous villages, on the battle- fields, in the trenches, nay in the air, with your plucky aviators, the American name is blessed : in the trenches — where those kits named after the hero of to-day, the Lafayette Kits, have brought comfort to so many sol- diers, in remembrance of what Lafayette himself had done in his time. You are indeed a nation that remembers. When Lafayette revisited West Point in 1825, one of the orators alluded to his having provided shoes for the army at Valley Forge and proposed this toast: "To the noble Frenchman who placed the Army of the Revolution on a new and better footing." More than one of our soldiers is, owing to you, on a better foot- ing. Serving in the Ambulances, serving in the Legion, serving in the air, serving Liberty, obeying the same impulse as that which brought Lafayette to these shores, many young Americans leaving family and home, have offered to France their lives. Those lives many have lost and never, even in antique times, was there shown such abnegation and generosity, such firmness of character; men like that Victor Chapman who died to rescue his American and French co-avi- ators nearly overcome by a more numerous enemy, and whose father, so justly admired for his gifts of mind and heart, decided that his son's remains should lie buried where he had fallen: "Let him rest with his 46 comrades " ; or that Richard Hall, killed by a shell while on the search for our wounded, and whose mother hesitated to accept a permit to visit his flower- wreathed tomb at the front "because French mothers are not allowed to do so " ; or that Harvard graduate, the poet of the Legion, Alan Seeger, who felt that his hour could not be far remote and who, in expectation of it, had written from the blood-soaked battlefield where he had fought for liberty : ' ' The Frenchman who goes up is possessed with a passion beside which any of the other forms of experience that are reckoned to make life worth while seem pale in comparison * * * It is a privilege to march at his side — so much so that no- thing that the world could give could make me wish myself anywhere else than where I am." Addressing my country, on behalf of those dead American volunteers whose number he was so soon to increase, he had also written: Nay, rather, France, to you they rendered thanks (Seeing they came for honor, not for gain), Who, opening to them your glorious ranks. Gave them that grand occasion to excel. That chance to live the life most free from stain, And that rare privilege of dying well. An American Plutarch of the future will one day collect together such sayings, inspired by the great soul of the American nation. 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