of origin. A French priest, Father Guttin, professor in the
College of Saint-Michel at Burlington, on the other shore of Lake
Champlain, told me that Henri Pigeon is one of many children of a
very honorable and hard-working Canadian family. The father of that
child works in the mines at Port Henry.
PLATTSBURGH, Same Day, _May 3, 1912_, 5:30 o’clock.
The train, since leaving Port Henry, has traversed the left bank of
Lake Champlain. As we pass I notice shores of golden sand, hills
thickly shaded by foliage, pines, whose brilliant verdure glows on
the azure of the blue water. Here is the island of Valcour. * * *
What a pity not to be able to stop at all the stations on that
railroad, with its many villages with French names.
Plattsburgh is nearly the last American town before reaching
the Canadian frontier. It is full of remembrances of the War of
Independence. The Federal Government of the United States has
established a strong garrison there. Here again swift automobiles
await us. The owner of one of these brilliant vehicles literally
carries me to the threshold of the station, at a lively pace, and
on the way said to me, in a calm, jolly voice:
“I am French, Monsieur; this is my son Raymond. We have only half
an hour to see our countrymen. And, well, we want to make the best
of it.”
All this was said with a pleasing country accent. It is the accent
we use in our country. * * * The auto stops at the entrance to
a training field, where the Fifth Regiment of Infantry of the
Regular Army of the United States is ranged in order of battle. The
American Government wishes, at that last station in her territory,
to do us great honor, due, no doubt, to the presence as a member of
our delegation of General Lebon, former Commander-in-Chief of our
First Army Corps.
The General takes his place on a platform in front of the
public stand. The regiment band plays the Marseillaise, which
is followed by the solemn notes of the American hymn, the Star
Spangled Banner. The Mayor of Plattsburgh addresses us in
French, bidding us welcome. The procession starts immediately.
A very excellent showing of troops, by a young colonel (Calvin
D. Cowles), who manages a fiery horse most excellently, and who
is surrounded by a body-guard of officers dressed in uniforms
heavily adorned with gold braid and shoulder pieces of blue
silk. A faultless procession; the sections well in line, the
pace lively, the carriage very military. When the starry flag
passed, everybody stood up and removed their hats. This scene
is framed in a background of mountains and the blue line of the
lake, now lighted by the slanting rays of the setting sun. After
the military carriages had passed the colonel, accompanied by
his staff, came and stood before the stand, and with a sweeping
gesture saluted us with his sword. The American nation could not
bid a more magnificent farewell to a delegation in which figure the
descendants of Rochambeau and Lafayette, and who belong to a nation
faithful to the traditions of a memorable fraternity in arms.
SAINT JEAN, Same Day, _May 3, 1912_, 7 o’clock.
We have crossed the frontier. The evening falls over the Canadian
fields. From a clock exactly like those in the French parishes
there comes the aerial call of the Angelus. * * * Instantly, in
the station of Saint Jean there is heard a great clamor. “Vive
la France!” Imagine an immense crowd, packed around the train,
preventing it from starting; waving three-colored banners; singing
at the top of their lungs the songs of this land and of the home
land; the songs which, among us, are sung to welcome parents and
friends. Hands are extended; eyes seek other eyes. One might call
it the reunion of a family a long time separated. We are happy to
meet again. We detain each other. * * * There are so many things
to say to each other. * * * Everyone who has been present at this
Canadian welcome will treasure in the depths of his heart the
remembrance of that moment never to be forgotten.
This journey has been fertile in rapid and diverse impressions,
carried away, alas! too quickly by the flight of time. It was at
times like artificial fire; too quickly vanished. * * * But this
here—and I purposely make use of a familiar phrase, which will be
well understood by the French on both shores of the Atlantic—this,
is in truth the bouquet! (Ceci, c’est véritablement le bouquet).
GASTON DESCHAMPS.
VII. THEY VISIT CANADA, NIAGARA FALLS AND SAIL FOR FRANCE.
IMPRESSIONS AND COMMENTS BY FRENCH VISITORS ON EXPERIENCES IN AMERICA
Their reception by the Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce and
Citizens Association in Montreal was very hospitable. A banquet was
tendered the visiting delegation in the evening of May 4th and on
the following day a luncheon was given them by the Franco-American
Committee of Canada. Their reception at Quebec on May 6th was also
very cordial. They were greatly interested in the city founded three
centuries back by Samuel Champlain. They visited its churches, its
Parliament buildings, the Heights of Abraham, and placed a wreath
of flowers on the tomb of Montcalm. They were pleased with the
majestic sweep of the St. Lawrence, the Falls of Montmorency and
with the bracing air of Quebec, whose surrounding hills were white
with snow. Among the many who united in entertaining them while in
Canada were Senator Raoul Dandurand, President of the Franco-American
Committee of Canada, Sir Lomer Gouin, Premier of the Province, M.
Monk, Minister of Public Works, Lieutenant-Governor Langelier, M.
Montagu Allan, Vice-President of the Franco-American Committee of
Montreal, Mgr. Bégin of Laval University, Messrs. R. W. Reford and
Chaput, Presidents of the Canadian Chambers of Commerce, M. Revol,
President of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, M. Montpetit and M.
de Crèvecœur, M. Ferdinand Roy, President of the Canadian Institute
at Quebec, and many others. The mental exhilaration of the visitors
increased as they moved about amid the French speaking people of
the Province, where the descendants of French colonists with French
customs dominated its language, its laws and its institutions. On
their return to France they spoke very appreciatively of their
visit to the Dominion of Canada, its hospitable people and of its
possibilities.
On their return from Canada via Niagara Falls, they were met
there by Senator Henry W. Hill, Secretary of the Commission, and
were entertained at luncheon by General Francis V. Greene, who in
faultless Parisian French paid a glowing tribute to their countrymen.
He escorted them about the Falls and showed them the power plants on
the Canadian shore and took them in a special car around the Gorge
Route. They were deeply interested in the Falls, the Whirlpool and
power houses. They took the evening train for New York, where they
embarked on _La Provence_, May 9th, for France.
Commissioners Howland Pell and Senator James A. Foley and Viscount
de Jean of the French Embassy at Washington, Senator Raoul Dandurand
of Montreal and others were on the dock to bid them “farewell” and
“bon voyage.” Each gentleman of the delegation was presented with
a photograph of the Waldorf-Astoria banquet and each lady with a
bouquet of La France roses.
All the delegates were charmed with the cordiality of their
reception, both in the United States and Canada, and most of them
expressed their intention of coming again.
M. Gabriel Hanotaux, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and president
of the delegation, in a conversation before _La Provence_ left the
quay, said:
I believe that the time has come for closer relations to be
developed between France and America from many points of view.
There is one point beyond doubt. We have seen recently that when
France withdraws her financial support from any international
project the carrying out of the project is at any rate delayed.
France is a rich country, and has money to invest, but she must
first see that her interests are safeguarded. In America the thing
that struck me and most of the delegation was the prodigious
activity everywhere. Everything in the country gives evidence of
unique strength which must play a great rôle in the world. I am
really charmed with my first visit to the United States and Canada
and hope to have an opportunity of coming again. We in France
are convinced that trade can be improved to a great extent. The
present statistics do not, however, give France her proper place,
as a great deal of the French trade passes across the Atlantic
on British, Belgian and German vessels and is credited to the
first port of debarkation, although many of the American exports
eventually go to France.
M. Gabriel Hanotaux, in referring to French literature, said:
The greatest error appears to exist in American and British minds
on the subject of French literature. I myself know that the French
love a pure literature and I am certain that that kind of writing
is the only kind that is profitable in France itself. All the
modern French writers, too, are of the same opinion. The indelicate
French books appear to be written only for the foreigner, for they
have no vogue whatever in France.
On a prior occasion M. Gabriel Hanotaux expressed the pleasure of
the delegation at the reception given it in this country, saying
that from the moment they had placed foot upon this soil they have
been captivated and carried away in a whirlwind of cordiality and
good-fellowship. About the reception by President Taft the French
statesman said:
The President, despite his overwhelming occupations, received
us at his table; in the very kindest manner he honored, in our
persons, the thought which has brought us here. He was so kind as
to give us personally, in connection with our visit, assurances of
his encouragement and approval; which have been for us an ample
reward. These countless acts of friendship of all kinds we have
looked upon—and rightly so—as being addressed to our beloved mother
country and to the Government of the French Republic which has so
splendidly encouraged and aided us in the accomplishment of our
mission.
On its return from America, the French delegation which had attended
the Champlain exercises, was entertained in Paris at a grand dinner,
on June 17, 1912. It was a truly brilliant assemblage, presided
over by M. Raymond Poincaré, President of the Council, and Minister
of Foreign Affairs. Prominent among the large number at the tables
were the sculptor, Rodin; Paul Hervieu, of the French Academy;
Louis Barthou, deputy and former Minister; General Brugère, former
vice-president of the Conseil Supérieur of War, and president of the
United States section of the Franco-American Committee; and many
others eminent in the official, military, naval, financial, literary
and art circles of France. The aviator, Blériot, was a guest,
representative of a putative new science. Many ladies also graced the
occasion.
Among the Americans in attendance was the American Ambassador, the
Hon. Myron Herrick, to whom the presiding officer, M. Poincaré, in
his opening remarks, most happily referred as having come “to testify
that his country, less near to us by parentage than is Canada, is
still just as near at heart.” American hospitality, he said, which
surprises and charms the French, whenever they cross the ocean, is
but an expression of a constant memory. “As Monsignor Ireland so well
says: ‘The United States forget nothing. In learning the history of
his own country, an American learns to love France. The Past has
not ceased to be felt in the Present. American sentiment is unable
to detach itself from France. Emigrants, it is true, arrive in vast
numbers on our soil; but there is a something, I know not what, in
the air we breathe, that assimilates them in less than a generation.
And the new-comers become like the earlier ones.’”
M. Gabriel Hanotaux, of the French Academy, President of the
Franco-American Committee, reviewed the experiences of the French
delegation in their journey to Lake Champlain, and in his very
felicitous remarks, “addressed, across the seas, a salutation of
thanks and of gratitude, on the part of France to the United States
of America and to the Dominion of Canada, in response to the welcome
extended by these two countries, last month, to the French delegation
visiting Lake Champlain.” He drew a lively picture of incidents of
the journey, especially of the arrival at Ticonderoga:
“It is impossible to express the emotion which we felt when we saw
that there was the goal of our journey; that our feet would tread
in the footsteps of our great compatriots of by-gone ages; that
this little bay was where Champlain embarked, in the Indian canoes,
to go to discover, southwards, the land where sprang up Boston and
New York; that here were those famous passes, defended, later on,
foot by foot by the French heroes of the 17th and 18th centuries;
that these ruins are of Fort Carillon; that these fields, these
hills and woods, were the battle ground where Montcalm had fought
and conquered; and that here, in a word, was the lake toward which
we had fared all these weeks, and where we came to enshrine, at
the foot of the commemorative monument, the image which we had
brought, with precious care—from the land of France, on the ship
_La France_, the image of France!”
The speaker paid graceful tribute to the genius of Rodin; dwelt upon
the welcome which the delegation had met with in Canada; thanked all
who had contributed to the pleasure and success of the mission, and
concluded by proposing the health of the President of the United
States, His Majesty George the Fifth, the people of all Latin
America, of the delegation’s hosts in the United States and Canada,
and of the Franco-American Committee.
He was followed by Senator Dandurand, President of the
Franco-American Committee of Montreal, who spoke of Canadian
development, and of the relations of Canada and the United States.
At the close of his address he was invested with the insignia of the
Legion of Honor.
Then followed the address of the Deputy, Louis Barthou, which
sparkled with wit and happy hits. The speaker paid particular tribute
to M. Hanotaux; dwelt upon the enthusiasm with which their delegation
had been met, and made repeated acknowledgment of the courtesies
they had received. His Excellency, M. Puga-Borne, Minister from
Chili, spoke briefly, and was followed by the American Ambassador,
Mr. Herrick, who happily acknowledged the compliments and courtesies
bestowed upon him and his country, and closed by proposing the health
of the President of the French Republic. The exercises were concluded
by a brief address from the presiding officer, M. Raymond Poincaré,
who referred to the part which the Franco-American Committee had
borne in the carrying out of the Champlain commemorative project.
On May 25, 1912, the newly-appointed Ambassador from the United
States to France, Mr. Myron T. Herrick, and Mrs. Herrick, gave a
reception at the American Embassy to the French delegation which
represented France in the Champlain ceremonies. Some seventy guests
were present, and were welcomed by the Ambassador in a felicitous
speech, to which M. Hanotaux replied most happily in behalf of the
delegation. M. Antonin Dubost also spoke on the unbroken amity so
long existing between France and the United States.
The _Courrier des États-Unis_ of November 10, 1912, published an
address delivered at the annual meeting of the Five Academies by
M. Paul Vidal de la Blache, delegate of the Academy of Moral and
Political Science. On the occasion referred to, M. Frédéric Masson,
of the French Academy, presided. M. de la Blache said in opening his
address:
“_Gentlemen_: In the course of a journey which a French delegation
made last spring, to pay homage to the memory of Samuel Champlain,
there was one day interesting above all others. I am sure none
of our company will lose the memory of it. Many have eloquently
expressed the impression which they cherish. Impressions of travel
are usually fleeting; they become dim by their very multiplicity,
and the daily train of events soon relegates them to the limbo of
the forgotten. However, the memory of this day has not ceased after
several months to spring freshly to mind. Such is the quality of
countries which are stamped by the seal of history. To know the
regions upon which the eyes of Champlain rested, to press under
foot the fragments of palisades upon which was spilled the blood of
the soldiers of Montcalm, is assuredly a moving experience.”
The speaker found that a visit to places thus endowed with
associations, was like reviewing history condensed. He sketched
the course of history in the Champlain valley, recalled the scenes
of strife between Iroquois and Huron, English and French, English
and “Americans of the Union.” “These memories,” he said, “crowded
upon our thought and took form as we visited the scene which served
to frame them.” The speaker lightly reviewed the varied scene as
presented to the French visitors passing northward from New York
to Ticonderoga. When he found himself on the battlefield of July
8, 1758, he exclaimed: “How fiction pales before history!” The
memories of Montcalm and his army are so vivid that he sees again the
memorable conflict of the old days. “This corner of historic earth,”
he said, “by turn the property of the State of New York and of
Columbia University, in 1818 passed into the hands of an old New York
family. The descendants of Mr. William F. Pell honor themselves in
preserving the souvenirs of the past, which they have in keeping.” He
described the work of restoration which has been done at Ticonderoga,
and dwelt with pleasure on the reception accorded the visitors at the
old house with its souvenirs, its old furniture, pictures and relics,
and with its distinctive portico, or veranda, which M. de la Blache
found an interesting feature of Anglo-American Colonial architecture,
from New England to Virginia.
Crossing to Crown Point, he reviewed in like strain the scenes and
the associations of the place. At Crown Point, the speaker was
overwhelmed by the memory that here, in 1609, came Champlain with his
Algonquin allies. In a few picturesque sentences, he sketched the
first conflict in this region, of white man against Iroquois, not
forgetting to emphasize the higher mission which Champlain sought to
accomplish.
Of the exercises which were held at this point, where M. Hanotaux
delivered a notable address, M. de la Blache spoke at length. It
was, he said, a ceremony very beautiful in its simplicity. “Around
us familiarly crowded the people of the neighborhood, worthy farmers
with something of a Puritan aspect, an attentive throng in which
mingled many French Canadians; for we had come near to the actual
boundary line of the languages.” “While the orator recalled the
expressions by which Champlain described the country which revealed
itself to us, our attention sought and found the distinctive features
in the setting of this scene. Opposite, on the western shore, reared
the massive granite of the Adirondacks, wooded, and partly covered
with snow, the silhouette of which recalled, in grander proportion,
that of the mountains of Morvan, seen from the south. On the other
side, the more distant outline of the Green mountains, bathed in the
luminous calm of a spring-time day.”
In similar vein, the speaker described his progress down the lake to
Plattsburgh, where he recalled the associations of 1814. Thence on
to the first Canadian town of St. John: “The fading day permitted us
only to dimly see in the shadows of evening the Grand Isle, Isle La
Motte, Isle aux Noix, which Champlain describes as ‘These beautiful
islands filled with the finest woods and prairies,’” etc. The speaker
passed on in his address to recall his visit to Montreal and Quebec,
with tributes to the heroes of France who have made this region
famous. “There remains to-day in our minds,” he says, “a sentiment
of high regard for those who inspired in 1909 the commemoration
of the tercentenary of Champlain’s discovery. Resulting from the
initiative of the states of New York and Vermont, and endorsed by
Federal authority and later honored by the participation of France,
this celebration has taken a more general character than the mere
glorification of a great man. It signifies the adoption by America
of all the heroes who have contributed to our greatness. This homage
was not confined to Champlain; it is shared with Montcalm, it is
addressed to La Salle, to Marquette, whose statue appears in the
Capitol at Washington; to Maisonneuve, the founder of Montreal,
to whom is reared a statue upon one of the city places; to La
Clède, whose statue is reared in one of the parks of St. Louis; to
Joliet, to d’Iberville, to Hennepin and Duluth, and to many others
who, on Lake Champlain, on the Ohio, on the Great Lakes, or on the
Mississippi, were the pioneers of a dominion, which should come to
be realized some day, but far after them and otherwise than they
would have conceived. Doubtless America honors herself in honoring
and adopting our glories. With this act of courtesy mingles a strong
sentiment of pride. It costs us nothing, however, to associate
ourselves with an homage which concerns us, and from which we can
draw a sense of consolation.
“The names which I have recalled are more popular in America than
in their own country. We show ourselves forgetful of their fame,
as if to make their memories bear the blame of our failings. A
somewhat pusillanimous feeling makes us neglect this part of our
historic inheritance, as one turns aside from painful memories, the
bitterness of which he fears. These regrets assuredly are justified.
‘_Sic vos non vobis_’: such is the phrase which springs to the lips.
I do not believe, however, that such should be the last word, nor the
final sentiment at which we ought to stop. In an address delivered
three years ago, July 4, 1909, on the occasion of the Champlain
Tercentenary fêtes, Cardinal Gibbons said: ‘We are much indebted
to France for the great men whom she has sent to our country.’
Must one see in these words only a passing compliment? Rather do I
perceive therein the emphasis of history. These Frenchmen, above all
others, had prophetic vision of the extent and dimensions which this
continent could afford to political domination. They perceived with
larger vision than the tenacious colonists who applied their Puritan
virtue and their practical sense to inlaying their settlements,
one by one, between the sea and the Appalachians. These were the
founders; but we may ask whether, without the perspectives opened
by our countrymen, without their example and the emulation which it
stimulated, this powerful unity, of which our epoch has seen the
accomplishment from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Great Lakes
to the Gulf of Mexico, would be realized. There is a something in
the views, the plans, of this generalizing spirit, characteristic of
our compatriots. Thinking of France, they have outlived the grandeur
of the United States. Since by commemorations and by monuments,
America honors herself by reminding us that in her eyes, as happy
inheritor, a part of her present grandeur is the work of Frenchmen
of other days, it becomes us to take her at her word. In the work of
civilization, as it evolves, each bit of metal which the old nations
throw into the crucible adds a quality and communicates its own
resonance to the ingot which comes out. Doubtless it is to recover
this past, which arouses hope within us—something besides the memory
of deceit, the sense of having lost what the heroic contemporaries
of Richelieu and Colbert caught sight of, for their country. Our
American work is not to be summed up as a failure. It is the
Americans themselves who recognize this and who say it.”
VIII. IMPRESSIONS OF M. RENÉ BAZIN