Abraham Lincoln Today 
 
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 A War-f imc Tribute 
 
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ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 Painted from life, 1864-65, by Mr. G, W. F, Travers. 
 
 Owned by Mr. George Prince. 
 
Abraham Lincoln Today 
 
 A War-Time Tribute 
 
^Abraham Lincoln Today 
 
 A War-Time Tribute ^.^-^ 
 
 BEING the LINCOLN DAY CONVOCATION of the 
 UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS 
 
 I g I 8 
 
 y 
 
 by 
 WILLIAM CHAUNCY LANGDON 
 
 tvith the Addresses by 
 PRESIDENT EDMUND J.JAMES ^ 
 of the University of Illinois 
 "• and 
 CAPTAIN FERNAND BALDENSPERGER X 
 of the French Army 
 
 Published by the 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Urbana, 1918 
 
>LZ7Z 
 
 
 Copyright, IQ18 
 
 By WILLIAM CHAUNCY LANG DON 
 
 and the 
 
 UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS */ 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 / 
 
 Corfvocation Edition, - - February, jgi8 
 
 Uni<versity Edition, . _ . May, igi8 
 
 j^antasrapi) Printins & ^tationerp Co. 
 
 ^loomington, 3iVHna\S 
 
 / 
 
 JUL !3lyiB ,^ 
 
 ©CLA499831 
 
 .■u<-- '^••^ 
 
Table of Contents 
 
 Page 
 
 The Persons of the Convocation . . 9 
 
 The Lincoln Day Convocation . . 11 
 
 The Lincoln Day Address 
 
 by President Edmund J. James 24 
 
 Lincoln as Regarded by the People of 
 France, Address by Captain Fer- 
 nand Baldensperger .... 36 
 
 Appendix: 
 
 On Forever, Illinois! 
 
 The Program of the Convocation 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 Page 
 
 Abraham Lincoln . Frontispiece 
 
 The Portrait Painted by G. W. F. Travers in 1864 
 
 The Convocation . . .9 
 
 America and Illinois . . 14 
 
 Abraham Lincoln . . .19 
 
 The Lambert Ambrotype, 1860 
 
 The Central Group . . 22 
 
 President Edmund Janes James 24 
 
 Captain Fernand Baldensperger 35 
 
 Sons of France and Illinois . 40 
 
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Ihe Persons of the Convocation 
 
 THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
 ILLINOIS 
 
 THE GUEST OF HONOR 
 
 CAPTAIN FERNAND BALDENSPERGER 
 
 OF THE FRENCH ARMY 
 
 THE DEANS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY WAR COMMITTEE 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY COMMANDANT 
 
 THE COMMANDANT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 SCHOOL OF MILITARY AERONAUTICS 
 
 AMERICA 
 
 ILLINOIS 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 FRANCE 
 
 THE FACULTIES AND STUDENTS OF THE 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
Abraham Lincoln Today 
 
 A War-Time Tribute 
 
 On the platform of the Auditorium of 
 the University of Illinois is raised a dais, 
 on which are three seats. In front at 
 either side are groups of seats. 
 
 The organ plays the Lincoln Music, 
 composed by John Lawrence Erb. From 
 one side there enter the President of the 
 
 University of Illinois, the Guest of Honor, 
 and the Deans of the University of Illinois. 
 From the other side there enter the War 
 Committee of the University, the University 
 Commandant, the Commandant of the 
 
 United States School of Military Aero- 
 nautics, and the Lincoln Day Committee. 
 
 They take seats at the front. The Faculties 
 and the Students of the University are 
 seated in the Auditorium. When the music 
 comes to an end, the President of the Uni- 
 versity rises. 
 
 11 
 
PRESIDENT: 
 
 Men, Women of the University, 
 My fellow-members of the Faculty, 
 And Students in these various Colleges: 
 This is the day whereon the greatest son 
 Of Illinois was born, — that kindly man 
 Who in his single-hearted self summed up 
 The best of all that — North, and South, 
 
 and East, 
 And West — we strive to be; and there- 
 fore who 
 Has well been called "The First Ameri- 
 
 can. 
 On February twelfth, in eighteen nine,. 
 Near Hodgensville, Kentucky, on a farm, 
 Was Abraham Lincoln born. 
 
 Wherefore this day 
 In all the States by law is duly held 
 In honor and in grateful memory. 
 And I today as President have called 
 The University of Illinois 
 In worthy Convocation, fittingly 
 To recognize this anniversary. 
 
 12 
 
As the President returns to his seat^ 
 all the people join in singing four stanzas 
 of the State Song, 
 
 ILLINOIS 
 
 By thy rivers gently flowing, Illinois, Illinois, 
 O'er thy prairies verdant growing, Illinois, Illinois 
 
 Comes an echo on the breeze, 
 
 Rustling through the leafy trees, 
 And its mellow tones are these, Illinois, Illinois! 
 
 Thou didst hear thy country calling, Illinois, 
 Illinois, 
 
 Mid the din of war appalling, Illinois, Illinois, 
 Then thy courage and thy will 
 Rose each heart to fire and thrill; 
 
 Brave and loyal thou are still, Illinois, Illinois! 
 
 Not without thy wondrous story, Illinois, Illinois! 
 Can be writ the nation's glory, Illinois, Illinois, 
 
 On the record of thy years 
 
 Abram Lincoln's name appears. 
 Grant and Logan and our tears, Illinois, Illinois! 
 
 While thy glory we are singing, Illinois, Illinois, 
 Loyal homage to thee bringing, Illinois, Illinois, 
 
 Let us praise His Holy name 
 
 Through Whose might all good we claim, 
 Who has wrought thy wondrous fame, Illinois 
 
 Illinois! 
 
 During the first stanza the State of 
 Illinois comes in attended by a military 
 escort. She is robed in a gown of gold, 
 with overvesture and cloak of Statehood blue, 
 and carries the State Flag of Illinois. She 
 
 13 
 
goes up and stands before the right hand of 
 the two lower seats on the dais. At the 
 conclusion of the State Song she reaches 
 forth her hand with devoted pride. 
 
 ILLINOIS: 
 
 Ever at sound of his majestic name 
 Swiftly I come across the prairies, far 
 Golden with corn, or blizzard-swept and 
 
 white 
 With winter snow. So now my soul is 
 
 here 
 With you who gratefully remember him, 
 My greatest son. Observant, kindly, firm, 
 Forgetful of himself and private ends. 
 Most jocular when most heart-sunk in 
 
 sadness, 
 Strong he lifted up the grievous weight. 
 The fiery burden of distracted times. 
 And on his high, broad shoulders bore it. 
 
 What woman does not watch with loving 
 pride 
 
 The stalwart son of her young mother- 
 hood! 
 
 With fearful ecstacy she sees him grow. 
 
 Outstrip her fondest hopes, her best laid 
 plans, 
 
 And stride along, a giant among his 
 fellows. 
 
 Sol. 
 
 From out the shelter of my care he went, 
 
 14 
 
AMERICA AND ILLINOIS 
 
Beyond the waving limits of the corn. 
 He heard his Country's call; he went; he 
 
 served; 
 He wrought for her victoriously: and 
 
 died. 
 
 America! Thou Spirit Glorious! 
 Mother of all the States! Transcendent 
 
 Soul, 
 Who everywhere art present, urging us 
 To ever nobler heights of sacrifice 
 And service, and most present only there 
 Where thine ideals most are realized, 
 My son was dear to you! At thought of 
 
 him 
 Thy face, like mine, gleams forth its lov- 
 ing pride: 
 For truly was he thy son, as well as mine! 
 Reveal thyself among us, tokening 
 Thy love for him whose day we recognize! 
 
 As Illinois stretches forth her hand in 
 appeal^ the Music plays The Star- 
 Spangled Banner. Down the central 
 aisle comes the figure of America^ at- 
 tended by a military escort. She is robed 
 in white, with a golden girdle and a golden 
 Liberty cap. She carries the American 
 Flag in her right hand and wears the Shield 
 of the United States on her left shoulder. 
 She goes up the steps onto the platform ayid 
 on up the steps of the dais, taking her place 
 
 15 
 
in front of the center seat. All the people 
 of the Convocation join in singing two 
 stanzas of 
 
 THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 
 
 Oh! say, can you see by the dawn's early light, 
 What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last 
 
 gleaming, 
 Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the 
 
 perilous fight. 
 O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly 
 
 streaming. 
 And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting 
 
 in air. 
 Gave proof through the night that our flag was 
 
 still there. 
 Oh! say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave 
 O'er the land of the free and the home of the 
 
 brave ? 
 
 Oh! thus be it ever when freemen shall stand 
 Between their loved homes and wild war's deso- 
 lation; 
 Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven 
 
 rescued land 
 Praise the power that hath made and preserved 
 
 us a nation. 
 Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just. 
 And this be our motto, — "In God is our trust!" 
 And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall 
 
 wave 
 O'er the land of the free and the home of the 
 brave! 
 
 America stands in front of her seaty 
 and Illinois remains at the foot of the dais. 
 16 
 
AMERICA: 
 
 I come. 
 
 For highly do I honor Lincoln's name: 
 
 Through all the States that gather neath 
 
 the Flag, 
 Confederate South as well as Federal 
 
 North, 
 His name is held in deepest reverence. 
 
 But not in mere commemoration now 
 I come. The Flag is called across the seas, 
 To lead its hosts to fight for Liberty: 
 In peril is the Freedom of the World. 
 Arise! I call, — America! The Flag 
 Advances! See, it summons you to come! 
 Yes, every man and woman, every child 
 Is needed to redeem the stricken earth, 
 Some fighting with our Allies there in 
 
 France. 
 Some working to support them here at 
 
 home. 
 
 You honor Lincoln. Will you follow him ? 
 What would his answer be? The world 
 
 cannot 
 Endure half slave, half free. Still do his 
 
 words 
 Set fire to the deeds of Illinois? 
 Still does his spirit lead you all, as then? 
 Or does there lurk in Illinois a soul. 
 Although but one, that has not caught 
 
 the fire 
 
 17 
 
Of his imperial soul, — one poor, mean soul 
 That would not claim a share in sacrifice, 
 But fatten safely here in greedy debt 
 For life and all he has to British blood. 
 To Belgian courage, to Canadian daring 
 And the sacrifices France has made? 
 Fate had its ruthless way, and Lincoln 
 
 died; 
 But does his mighty spirit live here still 
 Among the sons and daughters of his 
 
 State? 
 
 ILLINOIS: 
 
 His spirit lives here still! 
 
 AMERICA: 
 
 Choose well your words! 
 The accolade of sacrifice straight falls 
 On all who claim them heirs of Lincoln's 
 name. 
 
 ILLINOIS: 
 
 We call upon him now to witness that 
 We consecrate ourselves, beneath the 
 
 Flag, 
 To Liberty and to its rescue! — 
 Oh Lincoln, spirit freed from earth's 
 
 strict bonds. 
 Speak once again thy words of fire, for us, 
 And once again the State of IlHnois 
 Lead with her Sister States to stake their 
 
 all 
 For Freedom and the Rights of all Man- 
 kind! 
 
 18 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 The Lambert Ambrotype, 18G0 
 
 From the Photograph in the Home of Lincoln, in Springfield, 
 
 by courtesy of Mrs. Albert S. Edwards. 
 
Again the Organ plays the Lincoln 
 Music. From one side Lincoln enters. 
 Illinois^ the first to see him, raises her flag. 
 Lincoln removing his high stove-pipe hat, 
 bows. The people on the platform rise. 
 Lincoln advances a few steps, then turns 
 and bows, paying his tribute to America. 
 He then stands inotionless, his hat in his 
 hand, until the music is finished. Then 
 he raises his hand and speaks. Illinois 
 remaiyjs standing at the foot of the dais. 
 
 LINCOLN: 
 
 I cannot fly from my thoughts; my 
 solicitude for this great country follows 
 me wherever I go. 
 
 Our popular government has often 
 been called an experiment. Two points 
 in it our people have already settled — the 
 successful establishing and the successful 
 administering of it. One still remains — 
 its successful maintenance against a for- 
 midable attempt to overthrow it. Such 
 will be a great lesson of peace, teaching 
 all the folly of being the beginners of a 
 war. 
 
 This is essentially a people's contest, 
 and this issue embraces more than the 
 fate of these United States. It presents 
 to the whole family of man the question 
 whether a constitutional republic, or a 
 democracy — a government of the people 
 
 19 
 
by the same people — can or can not 
 maintain its territorial integrity against 
 its foes. It forces us to ask, Is there in 
 all republics this inherent and fatal weak- 
 ness? Must a government of necessity 
 be too strong for the liberties of its own 
 people, or too weak to maintain its own 
 existence ? 
 
 Fellow-citizens, we can not escape 
 history. We will be remembered in spite 
 of ourselves. No personal significance or 
 insignificance can spare one or another 
 of us. The fiery trial through which we 
 pass will light us down in honor or dis- 
 honor to the latest generation. We, even 
 we here, hold the power and bear the 
 responsibility. We shall nobly save or 
 meanly lose the last best hope of earth. 
 
 We have been the recipients of the 
 choicest bounties of Heaven; we have 
 been preserved these many years in peace 
 and prosperity; we have grown in num- 
 bers, wealth, and power as no other 
 nation has ever grown. But we have 
 forgotten God. We have forgotten the 
 gracious hand which preserved us in 
 peace and multiplied and enriched and 
 strengthened us, and we have vainly 
 imagined, in the deceitfulness of our 
 hearts, that all these blessings were pro- 
 duced by some superior wisdom and vir- 
 tue of our own. Intoxicated with un- 
 
 20 
 
broken success, we have become too self- 
 sufficient to feel the necessity of redeem- 
 ing and preserving grace, too proud to 
 pray to the God that made us. 
 
 It behooves us then to humble our- 
 selves before the offended Power, to con- 
 fess our national sins, and to pray for 
 clemency and forgiveness. It is for us 
 here to be dedicated to the great task 
 remaining before us; that we here highly 
 resolve that this nation shall have a new 
 birth of freedom; and that government 
 of the people, by the people, and for the 
 people, shall not perish from the earth. 
 And having thus chosen our course, with- 
 out guile and with pure purpose, let us 
 renew our trust in God and go forward 
 without fear and with manly hearts. Let 
 us have faith that right makes might, 
 and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare 
 to do our duty as we understand it. 
 
 Fondly do we hope, fervently do we 
 pray, that this mighty stourge of war 
 may speedily pass away. Yet, if God 
 wills that it continue, as was said three 
 thousand years ago, so still it must be 
 said, "The judgments of the Lord are 
 true and righteous altogether." 
 
 With malice toward none, with 
 charity toward all, with firmness in the 
 right as God gives us to see the right, let 
 us strive on to finish the work we are in, 
 
 21 
 
to bind up the nation's wounds, to care 
 for him who shall have borne the battle 
 and for his widow and his orphan, to do 
 all which may achieve and cherish a just 
 and lasting peace among ourselves and 
 with all nations. 
 
 I now leave, not knowing when, or 
 whether ever I may return, with a task 
 before me greater than that which rested 
 upon Washington. Without the aid of 
 that Divine Being who ever attended 
 him, we cannot succeed. With that as- 
 sistance we cannot fail. Trusting in Him 
 who can go with me and remain with you, 
 and be everywhere for good, let us con- 
 fidently hope that all will yet be well. To 
 His care commending you, as I hope in 
 your prayers you will commend me, I 
 bid you, friends and neighbors, an affec- 
 tionate farewell. 
 
 Lincoln bows in tribute to America 
 and departs. The Organ at once plays and 
 all the people rise and sing 
 
 THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC 
 
 Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of 
 
 the Lord; 
 He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes 
 
 of wrath are stored! 
 He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible 
 swift sword: 
 His truth is marching on! 
 Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is 
 marching on! 
 22 
 
I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred 
 
 circling camps; 
 They have builded Him an altar in the evening 
 
 dews and damps; 
 I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and 
 flaring lamps; 
 His day is marching on! 
 Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! 
 His day is marching on! 
 
 He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never 
 
 call retreat; 
 He is sifting out the hearts of men before His 
 
 judgment seat; 
 Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, 
 my feet! 
 Our God is marching on! 
 Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! 
 Our God is marching on! 
 
 In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across 
 
 the sea. 
 With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you 
 
 and me; 
 As He died to make men holy, let us die to make 
 men free. 
 While God is marching on! 
 Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! 
 While God is marching on! 
 
 President Edmund Janes James of 
 the University of Illinois then rises and 
 delivers 
 
 23 
 
THE LINCOLN DAY ADDRESS 
 
 Men and Women of Illinois : 
 
 We are gathered here today to do 
 honor to the memory of Abraham Lin- 
 coln. Some one has said that you may 
 judge a nation well by its heroes — the 
 men in whom it sees incarnated its ideas 
 and its ideals. 
 
 If this be true, and who will not 
 agree that it contains much truth, we 
 Americans are peculiarly fortunate. 
 George Washington and Abraham Lin- 
 coln are by common consent enrolled not 
 only among the greatest Americans but 
 among the greatest men of all time and 
 all nations — and we selected them for the 
 greatest honor and the highest office 
 within our gift to confer. 
 
 It has been said that in the wide 
 domain of European civilization the 
 birthday of no other man than George 
 Washington has been so long celebrated 
 or by more people. This is a significant 
 fact and one of which we Americans may 
 well be proud. 
 
 It is also certain that no name is 
 more widely known or more deeply re- 
 vered among all lovers of liberty on the 
 the face of the earth than that of Abra- 
 ham Lincoln. Surely this may fill our 
 
 24 
 
PRESlDLxNT EDMUND JANES JAMES 
 
hearts with pride and joy, for he was of 
 our very household. He rode the circuit 
 of which Urbana was a part. He prac- 
 ticed law in this city. He got his 
 growth, physical, intellectual and moral 
 here in this cornbelt. His career shows 
 how unimportant to the really great man 
 the training of the schools is. He passed 
 much of his youth and early manhood in 
 the smallest and meanest of frontier 
 towns surrounded by the most sordid 
 conditions of life, hardly able to earn, I 
 will not say a decent living, but even 
 enough to keep soul and body together. 
 And yet when he came to stand, I will 
 not say before Kings, but among Kings, 
 he towered in moral majesty head and 
 shoulders above them all. 
 
 We have a special love for him here 
 in this institution. As President of the 
 United States he signed the bill out of 
 which this institution grew and his 
 memory will abide with us. The beau- 
 tiful structure across the way is named 
 in his honor and ranks among the im- 
 portant monuments of this country to 
 his memory. 
 
 As a member of the Illinois Legis- 
 lature he stood for education and the up- 
 building of educational institutions. 
 
 But after all his real longing was to 
 aid in the spread of freedom and liberty. 
 
 25 
 
One of his earliest resolutions and vows, 
 made to himself it is true but none the 
 less sacred for that, was that if the 
 chance ever came he would deal the in- 
 stitution of African Slavery in the coun- 
 try a death blow. Before he died he did 
 this and in doing so gave a new meaning 
 among us to the divine doctrine of the 
 Declaration of Independence. 
 
 He is ours in a special sense for what 
 he did for this and similar institutions; 
 for what he did for this commonwealth; 
 for what he did for this nation; for what 
 he did for humanity; and we should be 
 lifted into new and higher regions of self- 
 sacrifice and devoted to interests of 
 humanity by the contemplation of his 
 character. 
 
 We are fortunate today to have with 
 us as a guest from one of the allied coun- 
 tries a distinguished scholar who is going 
 to tell us how this man, Abraham Lin- 
 coln, this rail-splitter, this country law- 
 yer, this member of the lower house of 
 the Illinois Legislature, this son of the 
 cornbelt without the benefit of the 
 schools or colleges or universities, with no 
 social influence, with little social grace — 
 seems to the highly cultivated society of 
 the most highly cultivated of modern 
 nations. 
 
 But I can not let this opportunity 
 26 
 
pass without expressing our warm feelings 
 of consideration for the country he repre- 
 sents. Such an occasion, Sir, brings with 
 peculiar vividness to the mind of every 
 student of human history the pre-eminent 
 services of the French nation to that 
 common civilization, which is the most 
 precious heritage of us all. For five 
 hundred years France has been the center 
 of Europe in a sense which can be asserted 
 of no other country. She has been the 
 schoolmaster of the world in all that 
 makes for culture and refinement. The 
 debt of the modern world to France is 
 reflected in every aspect of modern life, 
 thought, taste and action. 
 
 Every department of human achieve- 
 ment has fallen in turn under her domi- 
 nation, and at times all of them together. 
 No other nation has led on so many dif- 
 ferent ways. She has entered every road 
 leading to the heights of human effort, 
 and has entered only to lead. Arms, 
 politics, art, literature, science, industry 
 — in all she has been equally pre-eminent 
 — in all she has laid humanity under 
 lasting obligations. We deem it. Sir, a 
 great pleasure to acknowledge thus our 
 debt to this wonderful people and to con- 
 gratulate you. Sir, as the representative 
 of this nation, upon the long line of gen- 
 erals, statesmen, thinkers, artists, litter- 
 
 27 
 
ateurs, who have worked out these great 
 results. They belong, not merely to 
 France, or to Europe, but to the whole 
 world, and their deeds are a common 
 heritage of which we are all proud, and 
 to which we are all heirs and joint-heirs 
 with you. 
 
 But it is not merely as citizens of 
 the world, as joint-heirs in this common 
 heritage to which your people have con- 
 tributed so much that we gladly welcome 
 you here today. As men, as citizens of 
 sister republics, devoted to the same high 
 ideal of human welfare, we welcome you 
 as the representative of workers and co- 
 workers in a common cause — the cause 
 of ever-advancing, ever-spreading de- 
 mocracy — adherents and devotees of the 
 same principle of human freedom and 
 equality — a principle which, under God, 
 is destined to turn and overturn until 
 humanity is redeemed. 
 
 If it was our high privilege to be the 
 first to announce in the immortal Declara- 
 tion of Independence the principle that 
 all men are born equal, that they are 
 endowed by their Creator with certain 
 inalienable rights, among which are life, 
 liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it 
 was yours to accept, for the first time in 
 all human history, as a rule of political 
 
 28 
 
action, the doctrine of Liberty, Equality, 
 and Fraternity for all men. 
 
 By the acceptance of this doctrine 
 at the outbreak of your revolution you 
 converted what might have been a mere 
 incident in internal French politics into 
 an epoch-making event in world devel- 
 opment. You made it a turning point 
 in human history — a passageway from 
 darkness into light, toward which all past 
 development seemed to have been con- 
 verging, and out of which all further 
 advance seems to have issued. On that 
 celebrated August night you made an 
 irreparable breach in the walls of privi- 
 lege and caste and opened the way for the 
 floodtide of modern liberty and progress. 
 And from that time to this, Sir, amidst 
 storm and stress, in apathy and indif- 
 ference, against selfishness and reaction, 
 through bitter conflict and weary waiting, 
 decade by decade, with never wearying 
 persistence, our two nations have ad- 
 vanced this solemn and holy standard, 
 calling all men to flock to its banner, to 
 array themselves on our side in this great 
 struggle for equality of opportunity for 
 all human kind. 
 
 But, this is not merely an occasion 
 
 for congratulation on victory thus far 
 
 achieved, but an opportunity to pledge 
 
 ourselves anew for the coming conflicts. 
 
 29 
 
We have been up to the time of the Great 
 War in the midst of a certain worldwide 
 reaction. We heard doubts expressed of 
 the feasibility and durability of democ- 
 racy. Royalty seemed to have taken a 
 new lease of life; privilege and caste 
 were again rearing their hydra-headed 
 forms in even the freest countries. To 
 us, Sir, in a peculiar way to France and 
 America, is committed the ark of the 
 covenant. Ours should be the task to 
 safeguard it and carry it forward to its 
 final resting place in the holy of holies — 
 the everlasting, all-embracing temple of 
 human freedom. 
 
 Americans and Frenchmen, wherever 
 they meet, under whatever skies, on 
 whatever occasions, should dedicate them- 
 selves anew to the cause for which their 
 fathers and brothers died decades ago and 
 are dying today. We should take up with 
 ever fresh energy the contest for the 
 realization of that government for the 
 people, of the people and by the people 
 — which is the only sure pledge of the 
 reign of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity 
 — the reign of equal opportunity, of 
 peace, and of love. 
 
 But, Sir, no American could greet a 
 representative of the French people with- 
 out again uttering that which perhaps, 
 after all, needs no utterance, because it 
 
 30 
 
is ever in his heart and ever on his tongue 
 when the name of France is mentioned. 
 No American can ever forget that it was 
 France which assured the early and suc- 
 cessful outcome of that opening struggle 
 in the long drama of human freedom, 
 which began on the heights of Bunker 
 Hill and ended on the plains of York- 
 town. We can never forget that noble 
 band of generous Frenchmen who laid 
 down their swords, their services and 
 some of them, alas! their lives, upon the 
 altar of our country, achieving liberty, 
 guaranteeing our independence. How 
 deep. Sir, this sense of obligation has sunk 
 into the national heart, how it has fired 
 our imagination and kindled our grati- 
 tude, is best shown by the veneration in 
 which he is held who to us incorporated 
 in his own person the services of his 
 country — the immortal LaFayette! If 
 an American utters the name of Wash- 
 ington in admiration and love — lo, the 
 name of LaFayette trembles on his lips! 
 These two names — one and indivisible — - 
 never to be uttered or thought of apart 
 — symbolize in their union the deep-felt 
 love and sympathy of this people for 
 yours, and will carry down to nations yet 
 unborn the high and holy tradition of the 
 time when, hand in hand, we began that 
 struggle for human freedom which may 
 then, God willing, be complete. 
 
 31 
 
In closing, Sir, I may be permitted 
 to voice again a sentiment which has 
 often been expressed here before — viz., 
 that the universities of France and the 
 United States may co-operate in ever- 
 increasing measure to promote that 
 better mutual understanding which is at 
 once the basis and one of the surest 
 guaranties of international sympathy and 
 peace. They would seem to be pecu- 
 liarly called to this office by their essential 
 function. The higher educational in- 
 stitutions of a counrty bring together the 
 youth at the time of most generous 
 emotion, when the youth are most capa- 
 ble of understanding and appreciating 
 the character and services of other coun- 
 tries and other races. France has been 
 in a peculiar sense the schoolmaster of 
 this country in all that pertains to art and 
 beauty. It was that we needed most, 
 and that which France gave most un- 
 grudgingly. The treasures of countless 
 generations of toil and effort were ours 
 without money and without price — your 
 only reward being the heartfelt thanks of 
 thousands of grateful students. Of late, 
 again, the universities have opened still 
 wider their doors, have made it still easier 
 for us to enter in and reap where we have 
 not sown, to gather where we have not 
 scattered. Is it too much to hope. Sir, 
 that this new generosity may in its turn 
 
 32 
 
beget a new gratitude which will do its 
 further part in removing misunder- 
 standing and begetting mutual con- 
 fidence? 
 
 But the university in its other great 
 function of advancing human science is 
 especially called to this high office of 
 promoting international peace and unity. 
 We are standing face to face with the 
 greatest problems that have ever con- 
 fronted the race. With the new century 
 has begun, in a truer sense than ever 
 before, the history of the world as dis- 
 tinct from the history of a country, or a 
 continent, or a civilization. Whether 
 after the winning of this war in the new 
 era which will open before us the advance 
 is to be steady, peaceful and uninter- 
 rupted, or whether amidst the fierce 
 conflict of struggling armies the race is 
 again to begin the weary task of Sisyphus, 
 rolling up the ball of civilization only to 
 see it slip back again through the ranks 
 of warring and angry men, who united 
 might have landed it on high, far above 
 the reach of danger; whether, in a word, 
 peace and good-will to men can be made 
 the practical motto of the race is yet to 
 be determined. In this work the uni- 
 versities should have a great part. The 
 university is devoted to science, and 
 science is universal and benefits all men 
 
 33 
 
alike. It is devoted to philosophy and 
 philosophy is universal and draws all men 
 together. In the atmosphere of these 
 institutions, in this great republic of 
 letters and science, stretching through all 
 countries and all climes, international 
 jealousies, and suspicions, and rivalries, 
 and heart-burnings should die away. Our 
 only ambition should be to aid the race; 
 our only rivalry that of generous service. 
 Is it too much to hope that we may thus 
 make a considerable contribution to the 
 better mutual understanding and appre- 
 ciation from which peace and good-will 
 may flow.? 
 
 And finally, Sir, permit me to ex- 
 press the gratification of this institution 
 and of this community for one of the 
 great compensations of this war. It has 
 already led to a deeper and larger under- 
 standing of France and the French people 
 in this country. It has already spread 
 abroad a larger knowledge of the French 
 language, history, literature, institutions 
 and character. We who love and admire 
 French genius, we who believe in the 
 mission of France to the modern world, 
 are convinced that others will share our 
 love and admiration when they share our 
 knowledge. To know her is to admire 
 and to love. We are happy to be the 
 agents in this effort to extend and deepen 
 34 
 
that knowledge which can only increase 
 the hold France has exercised for genera- 
 tions on every other race and country; 
 because a knowledge which will increase 
 our respect for all that is great and good 
 in the French people — a knowledge which 
 will make for peace and harmony, for 
 liberty and freedom; because a knowledge 
 which will sweep away misunderstandings 
 and prejudice and lead to an ever-in- 
 creasing appreciation and emphasis of 
 the things which bind us together! 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen; permit me to 
 introduce: 
 
 CAPTAIN FERNAND BALDENSPERGER 
 
 of the 
 French Army, Professor in the Sorbonne. 
 
 As the Guest of Honor rises to ac- 
 knowledge the introduction of the President 
 of the University ^ the Organ strikes up The 
 Marseillaise. All the people of the Con- 
 vocation rise to their feet in honor of France 
 and in respect for the representative of their 
 Ally present. Down the center aisle comes 
 the figure of France, dressed in blue and 
 wearing the red Liberty Cap with the cock- 
 ade and carrying the Tricolor of France. 
 America and Illinois come down from the 
 dais to meet her. As France comes up on 
 
 35 
 
to the platform America embraces her and 
 then invites her to a seat beside her on the 
 dais. America^ France and Illinois go up 
 on to the dais and as The Marseillaise 
 comes to an end take their seats. 
 
 The Guest of Honor, Captain Fer- 
 nand Baldensperger of the French Army, 
 Professor in the Sorbonne, then deliveres 
 his address. 
 
 LINCOLN AS REGARDED BY THE 
 PEOPLE OF FRANCE 
 
 Fellow-citizens of Abraham Lincoln, 
 American friends! 
 
 My very first knowledge of Lincoln, 
 if I remember well, was conveyed to me, 
 when I was a boy of nine or ten, by a 
 biography given as a prize-book for work 
 at school. It was certainly the spirit of 
 adventure in the history of your great 
 man, the river and the prairie, rather than 
 the democratic spirit which pervades it, 
 that seemed attractive to a young French- 
 man about the year 1880. And yet the 
 mere fact that a primary school in a pro- 
 vincial town of France should choose a 
 biography of Abraham Lincoln as suit- 
 able reading matter for a boy's summer 
 holiday shows in its way the real im- 
 
 36 
 
m 
 
 
 CAPTAIN FERNAND BALDENSPERGER 
 
portance given to your great country- 
 man by Republican France. 
 
 The significance and, if I may say so, 
 the legend of Lincoln have indeed been 
 connected from the very beginning with 
 the hopes and the outlooks of democracy 
 in my country. When he died in 1865, 
 the Second Empire in France was doomed, 
 having still, however, an exterior appear- 
 ance of strength: and part of that 
 strength was due to the fact that with the 
 exception of Switzerland there was no 
 republic in Europe, — as if Western de- 
 mocracies after more or less enduring 
 attempts had given up the ambition of 
 political self-assertion. There was another 
 republic over the sea: but your Federa- 
 tion, to many observers, seemed to have 
 become a mere conglomerate of provinces, 
 ready for dissolution and led astray from 
 the original destinies of the United States. 
 
 It was owing to Abraham Lincoln 
 that the belief, the faith in a lasting de- 
 mocracy, — even in a democracy able to 
 wage war without changing its char- 
 acter, — was kept alive in the heart of 
 Liberal France. And so it is not to be 
 wondered at if, directly after your Presi- 
 dent's shocking death, the praise of 
 France reached its climax in the Liberal 
 circles. Of course the government of 
 
 37 
 
Napoleon the Third worded officially to 
 Washington, on April 28, its offi- 
 cial sympathy and grief; both Senate 
 and Chamber of Representatives, through 
 their presidents and by way of their 
 orders of the day, expressed the same 
 general feeling; Empress Eugenie, — at the 
 present hour the only sovereign of those 
 remote times who is still alive, — sent a 
 message to Mrs. Lincoln. But such offi- 
 cial declarations amount to nothing sub- 
 stantial, if we think that at the same 
 moment a close confident of the 
 Napoleonic court, Merimee, wrote to a 
 friend that all that "fuss," as he says, 
 showed merely that the government was 
 afraid of America. 
 
 Entirely different, genuine and en- 
 thusiastic and sincere, were the marks of 
 admiration and sympathy given by the 
 Liberal opposition. The silk weavers of 
 Lyons, those sturdy and independent 
 workmen, cooperated in waving a re- 
 membrance flag in honor of the fallen 
 President and sent it to the American 
 Congress. I was specially thinking of 
 that virile and poetic sign a few minutes 
 ago, when I saw my flag, the French 
 Tricolor, coming up this crowded hall 
 and mingling its colors with the Stars 
 and Stripes. A golden medal was cast 
 on behalf of 40,000 small subscribers 
 
 38 
 
from every corner of France, and sent 
 in 1866 to Mrs. Lincoln. "If France," 
 said the address joined to the gift, "had 
 the freedom enjoyed by repubHcan 
 America, not thousands but miUions 
 among us would have been counted as 
 admirers of Lincoln and believers in the 
 opinions for which he devoted his life and 
 which his death has consecrated." Victor 
 Hugo, the grand exile, Edgar Quinet, 
 Louis Blanc, Schoelcher, Flocon, — all of 
 them proscribed for their political faith, — 
 Michelet, Littre, expressed their high 
 appreciation and eulogy, as they felt that 
 their cause was in fact the cause of Lin- 
 coln's America. The American Minister 
 in Paris, Mr. Bigelow, transmitting to his 
 government other testimonies of the same 
 feeling, — the address of 2,000 students of 
 the College de France, a note signed by 
 the contributors of four Liberal papers, 
 — mentioned frankly "how deep a hold 
 Abraham Lincoln had taken upon the 
 respect and affections of the French 
 people." 
 
 Lincoln, the man, the self-made man 
 in the full sense of the word, with his 
 honesty, his candor, his practical ideal- 
 ism, the horrible fatality which made a 
 child of the people meet the end com- 
 monly reserved to tyrants, — these fea- 
 tures of your President in life and death, 
 
 39 
 
kept before the eyes of the French public, 
 were eagerly accepted by our masses. 
 Two of the first French biographers of 
 Lincoln in fact had seen him personally. 
 Jouault, who happened to be in Wash- 
 ington on the 4th of March, 1865, when 
 the President renewed after his reelection 
 his pledge to the Constitution, described 
 that "strange man," clumsy, meagre, 
 careless in his appearance but with his 
 magnificent black eyes, out of which 
 streamed the love of humanity. Laugel 
 had visited Lincoln in the White House 
 and spent an evening with him in the 
 presidential box in the same Ford Theatre 
 which was to be the scene of his death; 
 and he was specially struck by the kind 
 voice and the everready sensitiveness 
 contrasting in the great man with all the 
 signs of a powerful and concentrated will. 
 
 So you see that Lincoln's personality 
 was not at all a mere phantom for France, 
 when the French Academy in 1867 pro- 
 posed as the subject of a prize poem The 
 Death of President Lincoln. A young 
 friend of Lamartine, Edouard Grenier, 
 was the winner of the prize. And indeed 
 we feel that Lamartine himself, our great 
 practical idealist of 1848, the poet who 
 then prevented our democratic Revolu- 
 tion from splintering, would have been 
 the best possible singer of your great 
 
 leader. 
 
 40 
 
SONS OF FRANCE AND ILLINOIS 
 
Since the days when the pathos of a 
 tragic death was added to the significance 
 of Lincoln's personality, his memory in 
 France has remained what the clearest 
 minds of 1865 had foreseen, "the austere 
 and sacred personification of a great 
 epoch, the truest expression of democ- 
 racy." In the words of Henri Martin, 
 the historian, "Lincoln's ability to steer 
 a great Republic through a crisis without 
 reverting to laws of exception," showed 
 forever the possibility of a really efficient, 
 even a war-making democracy. And if 
 France has been able, as you mentioned 
 it so beautifully, to play her part in the 
 great struggle for civilization, it is partly 
 because her generous mind had been 
 thrilled to new energies by a fate which 
 had its cradle in the heart of your country. 
 
 For the significance of Lincoln for 
 France has not vanished in more recent 
 days. We know the verses by which an 
 American poet celebrated "his Captain." 
 It was a French medallist, Roine, who 
 made the Lincoln Centennial Medal. 
 And Ambassador Jusserand, when he 
 brought France's greeting to Springfield 
 in 1909, gave a new testimony to the old 
 feeling, when he showed that the belief 
 in an unsplintered American Union had 
 been a part of that democratic faith 
 which, by and by, was bringing my 
 
 41 
 
country so very close to yours that they 
 are sure now to walk hand in hand to- 
 wards their new destinies. 
 
 At the conclusion of the Addresses^ 
 the people of the Convocation sing the Illi- 
 nois songy 
 
 ON FOREVER, ILLINOIS! 
 
 Illinois! Above the prairie 
 
 High thine eagle wings his flight, 
 Watching, vigilant and wary. 
 
 Over human toil and right! 
 Eagle-pinioned, on with joy! 
 
 On forever, Illinois! 
 Through the storm sweep on with joy! 
 
 On forever, Illinois! 
 
 Illinois! The times are calling 
 
 Souls that fear no sacrifice! 
 Men for Liberty are falling; 
 
 Will your sons refuse the price? 
 Scorning danger, on with joy! 
 
 On forever, Illinois! 
 On through death! On, on with joy! 
 
 On forever, Illinois! 
 
 Illinois! Thy meed of glory 
 
 That all men, till years are dust. 
 Shall thy sons, high famed in story, 
 
 Silent, heaven-borne eagles trust! 
 On through death! On, on with joy! 
 
 On forever, Illinois! 
 Eagle-pinioned, on with joy! 
 
 On forever, Illinois! 
 
 42 
 
The Benediction is then pronounced 
 by the President of the University. 
 
 PRESIDENT: 
 
 Now may He who breathes the 
 breath of life into all men breathe His 
 Spirit into the State of Illinois, and into 
 the United States of America, and into 
 All the Peoples of the Earth, inspiring 
 them to do His Holy Will under the per- 
 fect Law of Liberty. Amen. 
 
 All then join in singing two stanzas of 
 
 AMERICA 
 
 My Country, 'tis of thee, 
 Sweet Land of Liberty, 
 
 Of thee I sing! 
 Land where my fathers died, 
 Land of the Pilgrims' pride. 
 From every mountain side 
 
 Let Freedom ring! 
 
 Our fathers' God, to Thee, 
 Author of Liberty, 
 
 To Thee we sing: 
 Long may our land be bright 
 With Freedom's holy light; 
 Protect us by Thy might. 
 
 Great God, our King! 
 43 
 
To the Lincoln Music, now played as 
 a Recessional March, the President of the 
 University, the Guest of Honor, the Deans 
 of the University, and the Committees de- 
 scend from the platform in procession and 
 go out by the center aisle, followed by 
 America, France, and Illinois, attended by 
 the escort of University Cadets. 
 
 Note — The Address of Abraham Lincoln herein 
 presented is a compilation from Lincoln's writings. Noth- 
 ing has been written in to adapt what he said to the present 
 purpose. The only change is in the last paragraph, taken 
 from the Springfield Farewell, in which the pronoun "I" 
 has been changed to "we." The passages used are, in 
 order, from 
 
 Letter to J. T. Mills, 1864; 
 
 Special Session Message to Congress, 1861; 
 
 Second Annual Message to Congress, 1862; 
 
 Proclamation for Day of Prayer, 1863; 
 
 The Gettysburg Address, 1863; 
 
 Special Session Message, 1861; 
 
 Cooper Union Address, 1860; 
 
 Second Inaugural Address, 1865; 
 
 The Springfield Farewell, 1861. W. C. L. 
 
 44 
 
ON FOREVER, ILLINOIS: 
 Word3 by H. C. Langdon Music toy J- Lawrence Brt> 
 
 Ill-l-nolsl A-bove the pral-rle High thine ea-gle wlngs-hls flight, 
 *•• *- * J ^ -<*• « A ■» 
 
 Watch-lng, vlg-1-Iant and wa - ry, --ver nxBtn-an toll and right'. 
 
 Ea-gle pln-loned, on with joyl On for-ev-er, 111 - 1 - nolsl 
 
 (Copyright, 1918, by W. C. Langdon and J. L. Erb) 
 
 Illinois! The times are calling 
 
 Souls that fear no sacrifice! 
 Men for Liberty are falling; 
 
 Will your sons refuse the price? 
 Scorning danger, on with joy! 
 
 On forever, Illinois! 
 On through death! . On, on with joy! 
 
 On forever, Illinois! 
 
 Illinois! Thy meed of glory 
 
 That all men, till years are dust. 
 Shall thy sons, high famed in story. 
 
 Silent, heaven-borne eagles, trust! 
 On through death! On, on with joy! 
 
 On forever, Illinois! 
 Eagle-pinioned, on with joy! 
 
 On forever, Illinois! 
 
 45 
 
THE LINCOLN DAY CONVOCATION 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 was presented in the Auditorium^ February 
 12, 1918, by the Committee on Con- 
 vocations and under the auspices 
 of the University War 
 Committee. 
 
 THE PERSONS IN THE CONVOCATION 
 
 THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLI- 
 NOIS 
 
 THE GUEST OF HONOR, CAPTAIN FERNAND 
 BALDENSPERGER OF THE FRENCH ARMY 
 
 THE DEANS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY WAR COMMITTEE 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY COMMANDANT 
 
 THE COMMANDANT OF THE UNITED STATES 
 SCHOOL OF MILITARY AERONAUTICS 
 
 THE LINCOLN DAY COMMITTEE 
 
 THE FACULTIES AND STUDENTS OF THE UNI- 
 VERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 AMERICA Mildred V. Strong 
 
 ILLINOIS Lucille Peirson 
 
 46 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN . . . Kenneth McKcnzie 
 
 FRANCE Lois M. Scott 
 
 THE MUSIC FOR THE CONVOCATION under the 
 direction of J. Lawrence Erb, F.A.G.O. The Lincoln 
 Music and the song, On Forever, lUinoisl were com- 
 posed by him. 
 
 THE COSTUMES of America and Illinois were designed 
 by Mrs. William Chauncy Langdon. 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY WAR COMMITTEE: David Kin- 
 ley. Chairman; Eugene Davenport, Stephen Alfred 
 Forbes, Frederick Haynes Newell, Stuart Pratt 
 Sherman, Charles Alton Ellis, Charles Manfred 
 Thompson. 
 
 THE COMMITTEE ON LINCOLN DAY CONVOCA- 
 TION: Daniel Kilham Dodge, Chairman; Ernest 
 Bernbaum, Harry Franklin Harrington, William 
 Chauncy Langdon, Rex R. Thompson. 
 
 47 
 
J6 7 ii