COLUMBIA LIBRARIES OFFSITE AVE^Y =INE ARTS RESTRICTED II "■ AR01 400690 Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library i£x ICibrtB pEYMOUR DURST I I When you leave, please leave this book Because ii has been said "Sver'ihmg comes t' him who wails Except a loaned book." SB^HSiiiniinMiraimnnmnnnnivMHSMfl i^m f ? ' f • i ! ffiffl Didzdi *^^%' %; i m+ ccc -U-t nr '"O ! '" ,.,!, i z UJ"" ^ -^C _U__U_D_LJ_»__UJ_ — W— - — p - 4i-4=RwdH:ffi } i^^ . 1 ^^ _u_j_c:±L_:.u.Q3 1^ ■ M LUl^IiJ: ^^^^^^^^^^^^H 1 iSigimfe.. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H|HHHHHI i^ »^^H '?■« 19 m dB^fiJiij^jHMJ iiiflMi] -^■MW ^'MiliH ' ■SB ■is r< ; w-' urn «JIH1HH iSJHI .-13 i :^ ^ \ X N^ X X \^ ^ ^^ . X ^ ^ X ^^ :^ ^x'^^\x. > - ~ - N- ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ N N INAUGURATION OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ON BEDLOW'S ISLAND, NEW YORK THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1886 Issued under the Authority of the Committee NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1887 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/inaugurationofstOOunse As it would seem that many thousand Americans should wish to possess a memorial of the magnificent ceremonial connected with the unveiling, by the Presi- dent of the United States, of Bartholdi's famous statue of *' Liberty Enlightening the World," on Bedlow's Isl- and, Thursday, October 28, 1886, the following account of the proceedings, including the addresses in full, has been prepared under the authority of the American Committee. To the above have been added a brief history of the statue, and the beautiful engraving which was executed as the invitation-card to the historic cere- monial, forming altogether a most attractive souvenir of an event of national importance, and one tending to form an enduring bond between the two great sister republics, France and the United States. New York, November, 1S86. LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD. JOINT RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE PRESIDENT TO DESIGNATE AND SET APART A SITE FOR THE COLOSSAL STATUE OF " LIBERTY EN- LIGHTENING THE WORLD," AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE PERMANENT MAINTENANCE AND PRESERVATION THEREOF. Whereas, The President has communicated to Congress the information that citizens of the French Republic propose to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of our independence by erecting, at their own cost, a colossal bronze statue of '* Liberty Enlightening the World," upon a pedestal of suitable proportions, to be built by private subscriptions, upon one of the islands be- longing to the United States, in the harbor of New York ; and Whereas, It is proper to provide for the care and preservation of this grand monument of art, / 6 INAUGURATION OF THE and of the abiding friendship of our ancient ally ; therefore Be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives of the United States of America in Con- gress assembled, That the President of the United States be and he is hereby authorized and di- rected to accept the colossal statue of " Liberty Enlightening the World," when presented by citizens of the French Republic, and to designate and set apart for the erection thereof a suitable site upon either Governor's or Bedlow's Island, in the harbor of New York, and upon the completion thereof shall cause the same to be inaugurated with such ceremonies as will serve to testify the gratitude of our people for this expressive and felicitous memorial of the sympathy of the citizens of our sister Republic; and he is hereby author- ized to cause suitable regulations to be made for its future maintenance as a beacon, and for the permanent care and preservation thereof as a monument of art, and of the continued good will of the great nation which aided us in our struggle for freedom. Approved March 3, 1877. STATUE OF LIBERTY. PROCEEDINGS IN PARIS. Americans who were so fortunate as to be in Paris on the 4th of July, 1884, witnessed perhaps the most notable celebration of the day that has ever been held in the Old World. The statue of " Liberty," by Bartholdi, cer- tainly had much to do with the greatness of the occasion. Appropriate addresses were made by M. de Lesseps and Levi P. Morton, the American Minister, and the following letter was read : Presidence du Conseil, Paris, Friday, July 4. jMy dear Mr. Morton: I have been, as per- haps you know, seriously indisposed, and in order to be equal to all my duties am obliged to care for myself to an extent to which I have not been accustomed. My labors of yesterday fa- tigued me much, and I am recommended to take to-day the most absolute repose. The Government of the Republic will be repre- sented to-day in your presence by several minis- ters. For me will remain all the regret of not 8 INAUGURATION OF THE being able to be present in person at this festival in honor of the fraternity of two great republics ; but you are assured that I shall be there in spirit, heart, and soul. Accept, my dear Mr. Morton, my entire de- votion. Jules Ferry. THE PROCES-VERBAL. The following is a translation of the pro- ds-verbal of the proceedings at the presenta- tion, which was contained in a box, in itself a marvelous specimen of the French gold- smith's art. The 4th of July, 1884, anniversary day of American Independence. In the presence of M. Jules Ferry, Minister of Foreign Affairs of France, and President of the Council of Ministers. Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, in the name of the Committee of the Franco-American Union, and of the national manifestation of which that committee has been the organ, has presented the colossal statue of '* Liberty Enlightening the STATUE OF LIBERTY. 9 World," the work of the sculptor Bartholdi, to his Excellency Mr. Morton, United States Minister at Paris, praying him to be the interpreter of the national sentiment of which this work is the ex- pression. Mr. Morton, in the name of his compatriots, thanks the French-American Union for this testi- mony of sympathy from the French people ; he declares that in virtue of the powers conferred upon him by the President of the United States, and the committee of the work in America, repre- sented by its honorable President, Mr. William M. Evarts, he accepts the statue, and that it shall be erected in conformity with the vote of Congress of the 22d of February, 1877, in the harbor of New York as a souvenir of the unalterable friend- ship of two nations. In faith of which there have signed : In the name of France, M. Jules Ferry, Minister of Foreign Affairs. In the name of the United States, Mr. Morton, Minister of the United States. In the name of the French-American Committee, M. Ferdinand de Lesseps. lO INAUGURATION OF THE This prochS'Verbal was taken to M. Jules Ferry in order to obtain his signature, he, as previously stated, being unable to be present. The French frigate I sere arrived in the Lower Bay of New York, on Wednesday, June 17, 1885, and two days later she was escorted, with imposing ceremonies, by a large American squadron, to Bedlow's Island, where Bartholdi's famous statue of Liberty was safely landed on the afternoon of June 19th. The naval display, with the advantage of perfect weather, was brilliant and successful. Admiral Lacombe and his staif witnessed a fine military and civic procession in honor of the occasion, and were officially received by the mayor of the city of New York. STATUE OF LIBERTY. n War Department, i Washington City, September 27, 1886. ) General: Among the requirements of the Joint Resolution of Congress, approved March 3, 1877, authorizing the President to assign and set apart a site on which to erect the colossal statue of '' Liberty Enlightening the World," is one that, after the completion of certain preliminaries, the President shall cause the statue to be inaugurated with such ceremonies ''as will serve to testify the gratitude of our people," etc. As the proper performance of this duty would require of the President frequent personal confer- ences with the Committee charged with making arrangements for the inauguration of the statue, of which the conveniences of the public business re- quiring his personal attention would not admit, he has designated you to represent him on the occa- sion of the inauguration of the statue, and desires you to consult freely with the Committee having charge of the ceremonies, and act in accord with their views and wishes in carrying out the programme which that Committee may agree upon. As the use of the military force in the harbor of New York may be asked to take part in the cere- monies of the occasion, you are at liberty to give 12 INAUGURATION OF THE orders to all troops, whether under your command as Division Commander or not, to participate to the extent required of them. Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, (Signed) R. C. Drum, Acting Secretary of War. Major-General J. M. Schofield, Commanding Division of the Atlantic, Governor s Island, New York Harbor, INAUGURATION CEREMONIES. The following general outline of a plan for the ceremonies attending the inauguration of the statue of '' Liberty Enlightening the World " has been approved by Major-General Schofield, to take place Thursday, October 28, 1886: First. — A military, naval, and civic parade in New York City. The march of the column to ter- minate at the Battery, and at other piers in the lower part of the city, where steamers will be taken for Bedlow's Island. The positions of the various organizations in the column will be such that, in turning off to the piers from which they are to em- STATUE OF LIBERTY. 13 bark, there will be no crossing of columns or delay in the march. Second. — At a given signal the steamers, pre- ceded by such ships of war as may be present, will move in a prescribed order to Bedlow's Island, and will occupy their designated positions. Note. — The limited area and wharfage of the island will only permit of the landing of a comparatively small proportion of those who may wish to take part in the ceremonies. Hence, the lead- ing steamers only will touch at the wharf, while all the others will be assigned positions from which the ceremonies may be seen. Third. — Appropriate ceremonies at the base of the statue to be concluded near the hour of sun- set. Fourth. — A national salute from all the batteries in the harbor, ashore and afloat. During the sa- lute the guests and others on the island will re- embark, and the vessels of the fleet will return to their wharves. Fifth. — The ceremonies will be concluded by the illumination of the statue. All military, naval, and civic societies and or- ganizations which desire to take part in the parade will make early application to the American Com- mittee, at No. 33 Mercer Street, New York City, or to the Grand Marshal, No. i Broadway, so that places may be assigned them in the column, and 14 INAUGURATION OF THE the detailed programme of the parade made public in due time. The Committee will furnish transportation only for those who are to take part in the ceremonies at the statue, and those guests who are provided with tickets admitting them to seats upon the platform. All others who may wish to take passage upon the bay will provide their own transportation. Approved : (Signed) J. M. Schofield, Major- General. Published by order of the American Committee of the Statue of Liberty. (Signed) RicHARD Butler, Secretary. General Charles P. Stone has been appointed Grand Marshal of the parade to take place in the City of New York. The senior officer of the U. S. Navy who may be present is expected to act as Admiral of the Fleet, and direct the movements of all vessels tak- ing part in the parade upon the bay. Official: J. P. Sanger, Brevet Major U. S. Annyy Aide-de-Camp, STATUE OF LIBERTY. 15 MEMBERS OF THE FRENCH DELEGATION PRESENT AT THE CEREMONIES. Mr. le Comte Ferdinand de Lesseps, Prisident du Comite de I ' Union Franco- Americai7ie, Mr. and Mme. Aug. Bartholdi. Mr. I'Amiral Jaures, Senateur, Mr. le General Pelissier, Senateur, Delegues par le Senat. Mr. E. Spuller, Depute, Mr. Desmons, Depute, Deleguds par la Chambre des Depittis. Mr. Villegente, Lieut, de Vaisseau, Aide-de-camp du Minisire de la Marine. Mr. le Colonel Bureau de Pusy, DkliguS par le Minisire de la Guerre. Mr. le Colonel Laussedat, Directeur de I'Ecole des Arts et Metiers. Mr. Leon Robert, Chef de Cabinet du Ministre de V Instruction Publique, Mr. Deschamps, Vice-President du Conseil Municipal de Paris. Mr. Hielard, Membre delegue de la Chambre de Commerce de Paris. j6 inauguration of the Mr. GiROUD, Ancien Depute, deldgicd du Mznz'stre dn Commerce. Mr. Charles Bigot, Deldgui par la presse de Paris. Mr. Napoleon Ney, President de la Societi de Geographie Commerciale. Mr. Leon Meunier, Membre correspondant de V Union Franco-Americaitie. ORDER OF EXERCISES. ON BEDLOWS ISLAND, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1886. I. Music during the landing and seating of the assembly. II. Signal-gun. III. Prayer by Rev. Richard S. Storrs, D. D. IV. Count Ferdinand de Lessees, on behalf of Franco-American Union. V. Presentation Address, Hon. William M. Evarts. VI. Unveiling. VII. Salute. A salvo from all the guns in the harbor. VIII. Music. STATUE OF LIBERTY, ly IX. Acceptance of the Statue by the President. X. Representative on behalf of the Republic of France, le Ministre Plenipotentiaire, Delegue Extraordinaire, A. Lefaivre. XI. Music. XII. Commemorative Address, Hon. Chauncey M. Depew. XIII. Music. Doxology — Tune, Old Hundred — in which the assembly is invited to join. Praise God, from whom all blessings flow ; Praise Him, all creatures here below ; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host ; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. — AiJien. XIV. Benediction, Right Rev. Henry C. Pot- ter, D. D. The assembly upon the island will be dismissed with the Benediction, and will re-embark upon the steam- ers, which will return to their piers in the city, join- ing with the batteries in the general salute. XV. National salute. To be fired simultane- ously from all the batteries in the har- bor, ashore and afloat. XVI. Illumination of the Statue, with fireworks on Bedlow's and Governor's Islands, and the Battery. The music by Gilmore's Twenty-second Regiment Band. P. S. Gilmore, Musical Director. 1 8 INAUGURATION OF THE After the arrival of the President of the United States, accompanied by Hon. T. F. Bayard, Secretary of State, Hon. William C. Whitney, Secretary of the Navy, Hon. Will- iam C. Endicott, Secretary of War, Hon. L Q. C. Lamar, Secretary of the Interior, and the French visitors and other distinguished guests, the meeting was called to order by General Schofield, who presided during the ceremonial. This was followed by the PRAYER OF REV. RICHARD S. STORRS, D. D. Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who art of an infinite majesty and mercy, by whose counsel and might the courses of the worlds are wisely or- dained and irresistibly established, yet who takest thought of the children of men, and to whom our homage in all our works is justly due: We bless and praise Thee for the knowledge and under- standing which Thou bestowest upon man, and for the spirit of constancy and courage born within him of Thy inspiration. We glorify Thee for the command which Thou dost give him over treas- ures of the mine and the strenfT:th of the hills, that STATUE OF LIBERTY. ig he may make them the ministers of lessons of a gra- cious significance ; and we humbly and gratefully recognize Thy presence in all which he achieves of beauty and power. The mind to devise, and the will to accomplish, both are of Thee. From Thee Cometh the artificer's skill ; and to Thee the pa- tience of faithful workmen, in whatever dexterous labor of the hands, equally renders laud and praise. It is in Thy favor, and through the operation of the Gospel of Thy grace, that cities stand in quiet prosperity ; that peaceful commerce covers the seas ; that peoples and nations separated by oceans are not severed in spirit, but continue allied, in common desire and in mutual regard, with happy recollections and with happier hopes. It is in the benign appointment of Thy will that Liberty and Light, attending each other, advance always to a surer supremacy, amid the manifold tumult of the world, and that the time comes constantly nearer when the earth shall rest in righteousness and peace. We give Thee thanks and praise this day for the lofty memorial here set up of the kindly affec- tion of one great people for another ; for the sym- pathies which prompted, and the skill which has wrought it, and for all which it signifies of rcmem- 20 INAUGURATION OF THE brance and of promise. We pray that Thou, who enablest man to mold the metal and make light- nings his servants, wilt accept the dedication of this monument to Thee ; and that here it ma)'' abide, undisturbed by tempest, its munition of rocks not shaken by earthquake, while waters encircle it, and the light of the morning returns to greet it. We pray that the Liberty which it represents may continue to enlighten with beneficent instruc- tion, and to bless with majestic and wide bene- diction, the nations which have part in this work of renown ; that it may stand a symbol of per- petual concord between them ; and that walking m the paths of knowledge and freedom they may constantly advance in the wisdom of their coun- cils, in magnanimous enterprise, and in the noble and salutary arts which are cherished by peace. We pray for those who bear office in these nations ; that ruling in Thy faith and fear they may partake of the fullness of Thy favor ; that in all things personal, prosperity may attend them ; and that whatsoever in public affairs they do or design may be so guided and furthered in Thy providence that what before has been beautiful and fruitful in the history of these nations, while joyfully remembered, shall be also continually surpassed. STATUE OF LIBERTY. 2 1 We pray for all the nations of the earth ; that in equity and charity their sure foundations may be established ; that in piety and wisdom they may find a true welfare, in obedience to Thee glory and praise ; and that, in all the enlarge- ments of their power, they may be ever the joyful servants of Him to whose holy dominion and kingdom shall be no end. Finally, be pleased, we humbly beseech Thee, to grant Thy blessing unto the cities, with the multitudes of their households, before which arises this monument of peace ; and unto us, from dif- ferent lands and of various tongues, who are here gathered ; that all our doings, being moved by Thy spirit and submitted to Thy governance, may be crowned with Thy favor ; and that, having walked in gladness and faithfulness in the light which Thou givest, through nature and art and man's device, and most of all through the Word of Thy truth, we may come in Thy grace to the perfect light and the glorious liberty of the Heav- enly estate. We offer all praises, and seek all blessings, with contrite confession of our sins and short- comings, in the Name of Him who loved us and sought us, and who Himself hath taught us to pray, saying ; 22 INAUGURATION OF THE Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name ; Thy Kingdom come ; Thy Will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven ; Give us this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our tres- passes, as we forgive those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil ; For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever, Amen. COUNT FERDINAND DE LESSEPS, ON BEHALF OF FRANCO-AMERICAN UNION. Count Ferdinand de Lesseps was then pre- sented to the audience, and was received with <^rcat enthusiasm. As the venerable but alert and handsome old man, with head uncovered, although raining, stepped forward to address the vast assemblage, the noise of whistles in- creased and became deafening. M. de Lesseps waved his hand as if to stop the noise, and laughingly remarked, " Steam was invented as a benefit, and its progress is wonderful, but at present it is an evil and retards the progress of my speech." Great applause followed this STATUE OF LIBERTY. 23 mot, and as soon as the steam-whistles of the tugs and steamers had subsided, M. de Les- seps said : Citizens of America ! I have hastened to ac- cept the gracious invitation accorded me by the Government of the great American Repubhc, to be present to-day. It was a generous thought of those who presided at the erection of the Statue of Liberty. She has honored equally those w^ho have conceived this spirit of hospitality and those who took great pleasure in accepting it. '* Lib- erty Enlightening the World ! " A grand beacon raised in the midst of the waves at the threshold of free America ! In landing under the rays of her kindly light we know that we have reached the country where the individual initiative is developed in all its power ; where progress is religion ; where large fortunes become the property of the people, to endow charities, to encourage education, to de- velop science, and to sow for the future seeds of greater benefit. You have reason, citizens of America, to be proud of your '' go ahead." (Applause.) You have made great headway during one hundred years. All honor to this motto of yours, because you 24 INAUGURATION OF THE have been invincible in 3*our intrepidity ! In speaking to you thus of the sympathy that France feels for you, I am expressing the sentiments of each and every one of my compatriots. There are no disagreeable or sorrowful recollections be- tween the two nations. They have but one rival- ry — that is, progress. We accept your inventions as you accept ours, without envy. The men who deserve and who persevere are to your heart. I say, like you — go ahead. (Ap- plause.) We understand each other when we speak in this language. I feel that I am in my own family when I am among you. (Applause.) Illustrious descendants of French nobility who crossed the Atlantic a century ago in the dawn of your independence, the embassadors of our sympathy and regard for you in that noble strug- gle, had bright visions of your great future. Their dreams have come to pass. (Applause.) At the lapse of a century our feelings for you remain the same. The representatives of France deem Amer- ica powerful and free to-day, and present to her this emblem to proclaim that she is now the personification of liberty. Hepworth Dixon, an English historian, in his work on the " New America," after saying thrat your Constitution is neither native, nor does it owe its origin to Eng- STATUE OF LIBERTY. 25 land, adds, '' It is an exotic, born in the atmosphere of France." Notwithstanding this opinion of Dix- on, I beUeve that your laws are exclusively Ameri- can, though I should be proud to trace their origin to France. It is a pleasure for me to speak to you thus openly, and to feel that my words are re- ceived as those of an old and tried friend. At no distant occasion, gentlemen, we will meet to celebrate a new conquest and one of peace. Farewell until we meet at Panama, where the flag bearing the thirty-eight stars of the United States shall float next to the banners of the republics of South America, and beget in this New World, for the good of humanity, an eternal friendship be- tween the Franco-Latin and the Anglo-Saxon races. PRESENTATION ADDRESS, BY HON. WILLIAM M. EVARTS. Mr. President : The scene upon which this vast assemblage is collected displays a transaction in human affairs which finds no precedent or record in the past, nor in the long future, we may feel as- sured, will it ever confront its own counterpart or parallel. How can we fitly frame in words the sen- 26 INAUGURATION OF THE timents, the motives, the emotions which have filled and moved the hearts and minds of two great na- tions, in the birth of the noble conception, the grand embodiment, the complete execution of this stupendous monument, now unveiled to the ad- miring gaze of men, and emblazoned, in its corona- tion of the finished work, with the plaudits of the world ? What ornaments of speech, what eloquence of human voice, what costly gifts of gold, frankin- cense, and myrrh of our hearts' tribute can we bring to the celebration of this consummate triumph of genius, of skill, of labor, which speaks to-day, and will speak forever, the thoughts, the feelings, the friendships of these two populous, powerful, and free republics, knit together in their pride and joy at their own established freedom and in their hope and purpose that the glad Light of Liberty shall Enlighten the World? For this arduous theme the American Commit- tee has had the good fortune to present an eminent citizen and accomplished orator, from grateful and pleased attention to whose eloquence the simple office the committee has asked me to discharge will not long detain this expectant multitude. In the conflict which agitated and divided the people of the United States, and aroused the loyalty and patriotism of the country to the maintenance STATUE OF LIBERTY, 27 of our constituted liberties, the liberty-loving peo- ple of France felt an intense and solicitous interest. When the issue of the struggle upheld and con- firmed the Government, maintained its unbroken unity, and made all its people equal and free, the liberty-loving people of France hailed the triumph with an immense and vivid enthusiasm. Nor was this enthusiasm to be satisfied, but by some ade- quate and permanent expression of their sympath}^ in our fiery trial, and congratulations at the abso- lute supremacy of the principles and institutions which had been put in peril and had come out from it without the smell of fire upon their gar- ments. To this energetic movement of the French people there was added their historic and moment- ous friendship in securing our independence, and the reciprocal influences which had shaped and con- firmed the free and equal institutions of the two countries ; and to the working of all these motives and sentiments of an ardent and generous people, we owe, the world owes, this visible and perpetual embodiment of the love of liberty animating the two nations which stands before us and the world to-day. To this realization the people of France brought the fervor and inspiration of Laboulaye and Hen- ri Martin, the Lafayettes and their illustrious com- 28 INAUGURATION OF THE panions, to spread abroad in all intelligent and up- right minds the zeal of their own high purposes. They drew from the well-furnished numbers of their accomplished and distinguished artists the genius, the courage, the devotion of spirit, the in- domitable will of the great sculptor, Bartholdi, whose well-earned fame justified the trust com- mitted to him, and whose work covers with its splendors the gifted artist, his illustrious art, and the happy country which gave him and his labors to this work. They furnished the exquisite arti- sanship and the constructive skill and scientific training and honest and hearty labor w^hich have together wrought out, in stubborn brass and iron, the artist's dream, the airy conception of his mind, the shapely sculpture of his cunning hand, till here it stands upon its firm base as if a natural playmate of the elements, fearing no harm from all the winds that blow. This people of France, too, contributed from many slender means, and of their free-will, the aggregated wealth demanded for so vast an undertaking, all from their hearts as well as from their purses, and all for love of liberty at home and love of liberty abroad, and in hearty homage to the friendship of these great republics. The committee have no occasion to insist upon the share which the people of the United States STATUE OF LIBERTY, 29 have taken in the humbler office of furnishing a pedestal not unworthy of the statue, nor unworthy of our grateful acceptance of this noble gift and appreciation of the generous disposition which prompted it. In the perfected and completed work of the pedestal, the genius of the architect ; the sagacity, the varied scientific and practical accomplishments of the engineer-in-chief ; the con- structive faculty and experience of the builder ; and the manifold and masterly performances of the skilled workmen upon this prodigious structure, and in the elevation and security of the statue, have all been combined to set out the statue for the admiration of our own people and of all com- ers to our shores. As with the French people, so with our own, the whole means for the great expenditures of the work have come from the free contributions of the people themselves, and thus the common people of both nations may justly point to a greater, a nobler monument, in and of the history and prog- ress and welfare of the human race than emperors or kings or governments have ever raised. Mr. President: Upon the recommendation of the President of the United States, Congress au- thorized and directed the President *' to accept the colossal statue of ' Liberty Enlightening the 30 INAUGURATION OF THE World ' when presented by citizens of the French Republic, and to designate and set apart for the erection thereof a suitable site upon either Gov- ernor's or Bedlow's Island, in the harbor of New York; and upon the completion thereof shall cause the same to be inaugurated with such ceremonies as will serve to testify the gratitude of our people for the expressive and felicitous memorial of the sympathy of the citizens of our sister republic." The statue on the 4th of July, 1884, ^^ Paris, was delivered to and accepted by this Govern- ment, by the authority of the President of the United States, delegated to and executed by Min- ister Morton. To-day, in the name of the citizens of the United States, who have completed the ped- estal and raised thereon the statue, and of the vol- untary committee w^ho have executed the will of their fellow-citizens, I declare, in your presence, and in the presence of these distinguished guests from France, and of this august assemblage of the honorable and honored men of our land, and of this countless multitude, that this pedestal, and the united work of the two republics, is completed, and surrendered to the care and keeping of the Government and the people of the United States. STATUE OF LIBERTY. 31 At the close of Mr. Evarts's speech, M. Bar- tholdi, assisted by Mr. D. H. King, Jr., removed the French flag, which had covered the face of the statue, which was the signal for another enthusiastic outburst of the steam-whistles from the flotilla anchored in front of the island, and a national salute from the ships of war, drown- ing completely, by the volume of sound, the strains of the Marseiflaise from the band. It was full fifteen minutes before there was suffi- cient silence to permit of any more speaking, and then repeated rounds of cheering, as Presi- dent Cleveland came forward, prevented his being heard at the beginning of his remarks. ACCEPTED BY THE PRESIDENT. He waited quietly with a smile on his coun- tenance, until the enthusiasm of the audience had spent itself, and then accepted, on behalf of the nation, the completed statue in the fol- lowing words: 32 INAUGURATION OF THE The people of the United States accept with gratitude from their brethren of the French Re- public the grand and completed work of art we here inaugurate. This token of the affection and consideration of the people of France demonstrates the kinship of republics, and conveys to us the as- surance that in our efforts to commend to mankind the excellence of a government resting upon popu- lar will, we still have beyond the American conti- nent a steadfast ally. We are not here to-day to bow before the representation of a fierce and war- like god, filled with wrath and vengeance, but we joyously contemplate instead our own deity keep- ing watch and ward before the open gates of America, and greater than all that have been cele- brated in ancient song. Instead of grasping in her hand thunderbolts of terror and of death, she holds aloft the light which illumines the way to man's en- franchisement. We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home ; nor shall her chosen altar be neglected. Willing votaries will constant- ly keep alive its fires, and these shall gleam upon the shores of our sister republic in the East. Re- flected thence, and joined with answering rays, a stream of light shall pierce the darkness of igno- rance and man's oppression, until liberty enlightens the world. STATUE OF LIBERTY, 33 A WORD FROM THE FRENCH NATION. The President was followed on behalf of the Republic of France by W. A. Lefaivre, the accredited representative of the French na- tion, who spoke in English as follows : Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Commit- tee, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Great American Republic : In presence of so imposing an assembly, and as a prelude of a ceremony which consolidates the secular friendship of two great na- tions, it is an honor and a hearty pleasure to pre- sent to you, in the name of the French Government and of the entire French nation, the sincere and warm assurance of a sympathetic participation. The inauguration of to-day is one attended with solemn and impressive import, for it is one of those which form an epoch in history. To the American nation it is the crowning work of a century of no- ble efforts and glorious triumphs. To other na- tions it eloquently affirms human dignity. For the friends of progress and science and justice it justi- fies the most sanguine ambitions. This colossal statue of Liberty, molded by a great artist, would 34 INAUGURATION OF THE anywhere attract attention and deference. But here on American soil it evinces special signifi- cance, symbolizing the existence and development of your nation during more than one hundred years. It embodies the merits you have displayed before the world during that long period in the achievement of liberty. Impressed by this great fact and in remem- brance of the same, a committee of French citizens conceived the idea of embodying under this strik- ing form the beneficial work your republic has accomplished in modern society, and of erecting at the entrance of this magnificent harbor this emblem of progress for the instruction of the world. To us, Americans and Frenchmen, liberty is not only a common doctrine, it is also a family tie. From the alliance between the two nations sprang forth its most dazzling manifestation, its expansion and radiance through the universe. It will be an eternal honor to France to have sec- onded the effort of your heroism, and to have understood in the first dawn the sublime prospects which were promised to mankind by your gener- ous ardor. The whole French nation five years ago associated herself with your glorious York- town Centennial, and with deep emotion the grandsons of Lafayette, Rochambeau, De Grasse, STATUE OF LIBERTY. 35 and other illustrious warriors, gazed upon the portraits of their ancestors on the commemorative pictures of your glory, and read their names in- scribed among the heroes and founders of your national independence. Before such images every French heart is moved by the same feeling, for these are not merely historical and matter-of-fact exhibitions — there is the assertion of brotherhood, formed on the battle-field and strengthened by the conformity of institutions, by the communion of faith in the same principle. But more powerful than mere monuments and inscriptions will be this majestic statue, which symbolizes the principle itself, and which not only recalls a glorious past, but spreads its luminous light upon the present and over the future. The republics of the past were debased by hostility toward foreigners, by arbitrary and brutal power, and by slavery. Even in the mod- ern world, liberty was during long ages the mo- nopoly of privileged castes or races. Far differ- ent is our liberty, which relies upon the equality of rights and duties for all citizens, which se- cures for each the same protection and extends to all a maternal solicitude without distinction oi birth, wealth, opinion, or color. Consequently, this symbol which we inaugurate to-day is not a 36 INAUGURATION OF THE chimeric allegory. Pledge of a fraternal union between the two greatest republics of the world, it is greeted simultaneously by more than one hundred millions of free men who tender friendly hands to each other across the ocean. Admira- ble spectacle which appeals to the meditation of thinkers, because it means the triumph of reason and of justice over the material dominion ! It means, in brief, the extinction of bloody struggles and the union of all peoples, through the study of science, the respect of the law, and sympathy for the weak. Yes, such are the truths which our statue of Liberty is proclaiming. Such are the rays which beam from her torch to illuminate the whole world. Among the thousands of Euro- peans who are daily conveyed to these hospi- table shores, no one will pass before this glorious emblem without immediately perceiving its moral greatness, and without greeting it with respect and thankfulness. STATUE CF LIBERTY. 37 COMMEMORATIVE ADDRESS, BY HON. CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW. We dedicate this statue to the friendship ol nations and the peace of the world. The spirit of liberty embraces all races in common brother- hood ; it voices in all languages the same needs and aspirations. The full power of its expansive and progressive influence can not be reached un- til wars cease, armies are disbanded, and interna- tional disputes are settled by lawful tribunals and the principles of justice. Then the people of every nation, secure from invasion, and free from the burden and menace of great armaments, can calmly and dispassionately promote their own hap- piness and prosperity. The marvelous develop- ment and progress of this republic are due to the fact that, in rigidly adhering to the advice of Washington for absolute neutrality and non-inter- ference in the politics and policies of other gov- ernments, we have avoided the necessity of deplet- ing our industries to feed our armies, of taxing and impoverishing our resources to carry on war, and of limiting our liberties to concentrate power in our government. Our great civil strife, with 38 INAUGURATION OF THE all its expenditure of blood and treasure, was a terrible sacrifice for freedom. The results are so immeasurably great that, by comparison, the cost is insignificant. The development of Liberty was impossible while she was shackled to the slave. The divine thought which intrusted to the con- quered the full measure of home rule, and accorded to them an equal share of imperial power, was the inspiration of God. With sublime trust it left to liberty the elevation of the freedmen to political rights and the conversion of the rebel to patriotic citizenship. The rays from this torch illuminate a century of unbroken friendship between France and the United States. Peace, and its opportunities for material prog- ress and the expansion of popular liberties, sends from here a fruitful and noble lesson to all the world. It will teach the peoples of all countries that in curbing the ambitions and dynastic pur- poses of princes and privileged classes, and in cul- tivating the brotherhood of man, lie the true road to their enfranchisement. The friendship of indi- viduals, their unselfish devotion to each other, their willingness to die in each other's stead, are the most tender and touching of human records; they are the inspiration of youth and the solace of age ; but nothing human is so beautiful and sublime as STATUE OF LIBERTY, 39 two great peoples of alien race and language trans- mitting down the ages a love begotten in gratitude, and strengthening as they increase in power and assimilate in their institutions and liberties. The French alliance which enabled us to win our independence is the romance of history. It overcame improbabilities impossible in fiction, and its results surpass the dreams of imagination. The most despotic of kings, surrounded by the most ex- clusive of feudal aristocracies, sending fleets and armies officered by the scions of the proudest of nobilities, to fight for subjects in revolt and the liberties of the common people, is a paradox be- yond the power of mere human energy to have wrought or solved. The march of this mediaeval chivalry across our States, respecting persons and property as soldiers never had before, never taking an apple or touching a fence-rail without permis- sion and payment, treating the ragged Continentals as if they were knights in armor and of noble ancestry, captivating our grandmothers by their courtesy and our grandfathers by their courage, remains unequaled in the poetry of war. It is the most magnificent tribute in history to the volcanic force of ideas and the dynamitic power of truth, though the crust of the globe imprison them. In the same ignorance and fearlessness with which a 40 INAUGURATION OF THE savage plays about a powder-magazine with a torch, the Bourbon king and his court, buttressed by the consent of centuries and the unquestioned possession of every power of the state, sought re- Hef from cloying pleasures and vigor for enervated minds, in permitting and encouraging the loftiest genius and the most impassioned eloquence of the time to discuss the rights and liberties of man. With the orator the themes were theories which fired only his imagination, and with the courtiers they were pastimes or jests. Neither speakers nor listeners saw any application of these ennobling sentiments to the common mass and groveling herd, whose industries they squandered in riot and debauch, and whose bodies they hurled against battlement and battery to gratify ambition or ca- price. But these revelations illuminated many an ingenuous soul among the young aristocracy, and with distorted rays penetrated the Cimmerian darkness which enveloped the people. They bore fruit in the heart and mind of one youth to whom America owes much and France everything — the Marquis de Lafayette. As the centuries roll by, and in the fullness of time the rays of Liberty's torch are the beacon- lights of the world, the central niches in the earth's Pantheon of Freedom will be filled by the STATUE OF LIBERTY, 41 figures of Washington and Lafayette. The story of this young French noble's life is the history of the time which made possible this statue, and his spirit is the very soul of this celebration. He was the heir of one of the most ancient and noble families of France ; he had inherited a fortune which made him one of the richest men in his country, and he had enlarged and strengthened his aristocratic position by marriage, at the early age of sixteen, with a daughter of the ducal house of Noailles. Before him were pleasure and pro- motion at court and the most brilliant opportu- nities in the army, the state, and the diplomatic service. He was a young officer of nineteen, stationed at Metz, when he met at the table of his commander the Duke of Gloucester, the brother oi George III. The Duke brought news of an insurrection which had broken out in the Ameri- can colonies, and read to the amazement of his hearers the strange dogmas and fantastic theories which these " insurgents," as he called them, had put forth in what they styled their Declaration of Independence. That document put in practice the theories which Jefferson had studied with the French philosophers. It fired at once the train which they had laid in the mind of this young nobleman of France. Henceforth his life was 42 INAUGURATION OF THE dedicated to " Liberty Enlightening the World." The American Commissioners at Paris tried to dissuade this volunteer by telling him that their credit was gone, that they could not furnish him transportation, and by handing him the dispatches announcing the reverses which had befallen Wash- ington, the retreat of his disheartened and broken army across New Jersey, and the almost hopeless condition of their cause. But he replied in these memorable words : '' Thus far you have seen my zeal only; now it shall be something more. 1 will purchase and equip a vessel myself. It is while danger presses that I wish to join your for- tunes." The King prohibits his sailing ; he eludes the guards sent for his arrest; his family interpose every obstacle, and only his heroic young wife shares his enthusiasm and seconds his resolution to give his life and fortune to liberty. When on the ocean, battling with the captain, who fears to take him to America, and pursued by British cruisers specially instructed for his capture, he writes to her this loving and pathetic letter : " I hope, for my sake, you will become a good Ameri- can. This is a sentiment proper for virtuous hearts. Intimately allied to the happiness of the whole human family is that of America, destined to become the respectable and sure asylum of STATUE OF LIBERTY. 43 virtue, honesty, toleration, equality, and of tranquil liberty." Except the Mayflower, no ship ever sailed across the ocean from the Old World to the New carrying passengers of such moment to the future of mankind. It is idle now to speculate whether our fathers could have succeeded without the French alliance. The struggle would undoubtedly have been in- definitely prolonged and probably compromised. But the alliance assured our triumph, and Lafayette secured the alliance. The fabled argosies of an- cient and the armadas and fleets of modern times were commonplace voyages compared with the mission enshrined in this inspired boy. He stood before the Continental Congress and said, *' I wish to serve you as a volunteer and without pay," and at twenty took his place with Gates and Greene and Lincoln as a major-general in the Continental Army. As a member of Washington's military family, sharing with that incomparable man his board and bed and blanket, Lafayette won his first and greatest distinction in receiving from the American chief a friendship which was closer than that bestowed upon any other of his compatriots, and which ended only in death. The great com- mander saw in the reckless daring with which he carried his wound to rally the flying troops at 44 INAUGURATION OF THE Brandjwine, the steady nerve with which he held the column wavering under a faithless general at Monmouth, the wisdom and caution with which he manoeuvred inferior forces in the face of the enemy, his willingness to share every privation of the ill- clad and starving soldiery, and to pledge his fortune and credit to relieve their privations — a commander upon whom he could rely, a patriot he could trust, a man he could love. The surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga was the first decisive event of the war. It defeated the British plan to divide the country by a chain of forts up the Hudson and conquer it in detail. It inspired hope at home and confidence abroad. It seconded the passionate appeals of Lafayette and the marvelous diplomacy of Benjamin Franklm ; it overcame the prudent counsels of Necker, warning the king against this experiment, and won the Treaty of Alliance between the old monarchy and the young republic. Lafayette now saw that his mission was in France. He said, " I can help the cause more at home than here," and asked for leave of absence. Congress voted him a sword, and presented it with a resolution of gratitude, and he returned, bearing this letter from that conven- tion of patriots to his king : "We recommend this young nobleman to your Majesty's notice, as one STATUE OF LIBERTY. 45 whom we know to be wise in council, gallant in the field, and patient under the hardships of war." It was a certificate which Marlborough might have coveted, and Gustavus might have worn as the proudest of his decorations. But though king and court vied with each other in doing him honor, though he was welcomed as no Frenchman had ever been by triumphant processions in cities and fetes in villages, by addresses and popular ap- plause, he reckoned them of value only in the power they gave him to procure aid for Liberty's fight in America. " France is now committed to war," he argued, " and her enemy's weak point for attack is in America. Send there your money and men," and he returned with the army of Rocham- beau and the fleet of De Grasse. *' It is fortunate," said De Maurepas, the Prime Minister, *' that Lafayette did not want to strip Versailles of its furniture for his dear Americans, for nobody could withstand his ardor." None too soon did this assistance arrive, for Washington's letter to the American Commissioners in Paris passed it on the way, in which he made this urgent appeal : " If France denies a timely and powerful aid in the critical posture of our affairs, it will avail us nothing should she attempt it hereafter. We are at this hour suspended in the balance. 46 INAUGURATION OF THE In a word, we are at the end of our tether, and now or never deliverance must come." General Washington saw in the allied forces now at his disposal that the triumph of independence was assured. The long, dark night of doubt and de- spair was illuminated by the dawn of a hope. The material was at hand to carry out the comprehen- sive plans so long matured, so long deferred, so patiently kept. That majestic dignity which had never bent to adversity, that lofty and awe-inspir- ing reserve which presented an impenetrable bar- rier to familiarity, either in council or at the fes- tive board, so dissolved in the welcome of these decisive visitors that the delighted French and astounded American soldiers saw Washington for the first and only time in his life express his happi- ness with all the joyous effervescence of hilarious youth. The flower of the young aristocracy of France in their brilliant uniforms, and the farmers and frontiersmen of America in their faded Continent- als, bound by a common baptism of blood, became brothers in the knighthood of Liberty. With emu- lous eagerness to be first in at the death, while they shared the glory, they stormed the redoubts at Yorktown and compelled the surrender of Corn- wallis and his army. While this practically ended STATUE OF LIBERTY. 47 the war, it strengthened the alliance and cemented the friendship between the two great peoples. The mutual confidence and chivalric courtesy which characterized their relations has no like example in international comity. When an officer from Gen- eral Carleton, the British commander-in-chief, came to headquarters with an offer of peace and inde- pendence, if the Americans would renounce the French alliance, Washington refused to receive him ; Congress spurned Carleton's secretary, bear- ing a like message ; and the States, led by Mary- land, denounced all who entertained propositions of peace which were not approved by France, as public enemies. And peace with independence meant prosperity and happiness to a people in the very depths of poverty and despair. France, on the other hand, though sorely pressed for money, said in the romantic spirit which permeated this wonderful Union : " Of the twenty-seven million livres we have loaned you, we forgive you nine millions as a gift of friendship ; and when with years there comes prosperity, you can pay the balance without interest." With the fall of Yorktown Lafayette felt that he could do more for peace and independence in the diplomacy of Europe than in the war in Amer- ica. His arrival in France shook the Continent. 48 INAUGURATION OF THE Though one of the most practical and self-poised of men, his romantic career in the New World had captivated courts and peoples. In the formidable league which he had quickly formed with Spain and France, England saw humiliation and defeat, and made a treaty of peace, by which she recog- nized the independence of the Republic of the United States. In this treaty were laid the deep, broad, and in- destructible foundations for the great statue we this day dedicate. It left to the American people the working out of the problem of self-government. Without king to rule or class to follow, they were to try the experiment of building a nation upon the sovereignty of the individual and the equality of all men before the law. Their only guide and trust and hope were God and Liberty. In the fraternal greetings of this hour sixty millions of witnesses bear testimony to their wisdom, and the foremost and freest Government in the world is their monu- ment. The fight for liberty in America was won. Its future here was threatened with but one danger, the slavery of the negro. The soul of Lafayette, purified by battle and suffering, saw the inconsist- ency and the peril, and he returned to this coun- try to plead with State Legislatures and with Con- STATUE OF LIBERTY. 49 gress for the liberation of what he termed " my brethren, the blacks." But now the hundred years' war for liberty in France Avas to begin. America was its inspiration, Lafayette its apostle, and the returning French army its emissaries. Be- neath the trees by day and in the halls at night, at Mount Vernon, Lafayette gathered from Wash- ington the gospel of freedom. It was to sustain and guide him in after-years against the tempta- tions of power and the despair of the dungeon. He carried the lessons and the grand example through all the trials and tribulations of his desperate strug- gle and partial victory lor the enfranchisement of his country. From the ship on departing he wrote to his great chief, whom he was never to see again, this touching good-by : '' You are the most be- loved of all the friends I ever had or shall have anywhere. I regret that I can not have the inex- pressible pleasure of embracing you in my own house, and welcoming you in a family where your name is adored. Everything that admiration, re- spect, gratitude, friendship, and filial love can in- spire is combined in my affectionate heart to de- vote me most tenderly to you. In your friendship I find a delight which no words can express." His farewell to Congress w^as a trumpet-blast which resounded round a world then bound in 4 50 INAUGURATION OF THE the chains of despotism and caste. Every govern- ment on the Continent was an absolute monarchy, and no language can describe the poverty and wretchedness of the people. Taxes levied with- out law exhausted their property, they were ar- rested without warrant and rotted in the Bastile without trial, and they were shot at as game and tortured without redress, at the caprice or pleasure of their feudal lords. Into court and camp this message came like the handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar's feast. Hear his words : '' May this immense temple of freedom ever stand a lesson to oppressors, an example to the oppressed, a sanc- tuary for the rights of mankind, and may these happy United States attain that complete splendor and prosperity which will illustrate the blessings of their Government, and for ages to come rejoice the departed souls of its founders ! " Well might Louis XVI, more far-sighted than his ministers, exclaim, " After fourteen hundred years of power the old monarchy is doomed ! " While the principles of the American Revolu- tion were fermenting in France, Lafayette, the hero and favorite of the hour, was an honored guest at royal tables and royal camps. The proud Spaniard and Great Frederick of Germany alike welcomed him, and everywhere he announced his STATUE OF LIBERTY, 51 faith in government founded on the American idea. The financial crisis in the affairs of King Louis on the one hand, and the rising tide of popular passion on the other, compelled the summons of the Assembly of Notables at Versailles. All the great officers of state, the aristocracy, the titled clergy, the royal princes were there, but no rep- resentative of the people. Lafayette spoke for them, and, fearless of the effort of the brother of the King to put him down, he demanded religious toleration, equal taxes, just and equal administra- tion of the laws, and the reduction of royal ex- penditures to fixed and reasonable limits. This overturned the whole feudal fabric which had been in course of construction for a thousand years. To make effectual and permanent this tremendous stride toward the American experiment, he para- lyzed the Court and Cabinet by the call for a National Assembly, an assembly of the people. Through that Assembly he carried a Declaration of Rights, founded upon the natural liberties of man, a concession of popular privilege never be- fore secured in the modern history of Europe, and, going as far as he believed the times would admit toward his idea of an American Republic, he builded upon the ruins of absolutism a constitu- tional monarchy. 52 INAUGURATION OF THE But French democracy had not been trained and educated in the schools of the Puritan or the colonist. Ages of tyranny, of suppression, repres- sion, and torture, had developed the tiger and dwarfed the man. Democracy had not learned the first rudiments of liberty, self-restraint and self- government. It beheaded king and queen, it drenched the land with the blood of the noblest and best, in its indiscriminate frenzy and madness it spared neither age nor sex, virtue nor merit, and drove its benefactor, because he denounced its excesses and tried to stem them, into e^xile and the dungeon of Olmatz. Thus ended, in the horrors of the French Revolution, Lafayette's first fight for liberty at home. After live years of untold suffer- ings, spurning release at the price of his allegiance to monarchy, holding with sublime faith, amid the most disheartening and discouraging surroundings, to the principles of freedom for all, he was released by the sword of Napoleon Bonaparte, to find that the untamed ferocity of the Revolution had been trained to the service of the most brilliant, capti- vating, and resistless of military despotisms by the mighty genius of the great Dictator. He only was neither dazzled nor dismayed, and, when he had re- jected every offer of recognition and honor. Napo- leon said : '* Lafayette alone in France holds fast to STATUE OF LIBERTY. 53 his original idea of liberty. Though tranquil now, he will reappear if occasion offers." Against the First Consulate of Bonaparte he voted '' No, un- less with guarantees of freedom." When Europe lay helpless at the feet of the conqueror, and in the frenzy of military glory France neither saw nor felt the chains he was forging upon her, La- fayette, from his retirement of Lagrange, pleaded with the Emperor for republican principles, hold- ing up to him the retributions always meted out to tyrants, and the pure, undying fame of the immortal few who patriotically decide, when upon them alone rests the awful verdict, whether they shall be the enslavers or the saviors of their country. The sun of Austerlitz set in blood at Waterloo, the swords of allied kings placed the Bourbon once more on the throne of France. In the popular tempest of July the nation rose against the intoler- able tyranny of the King, and, calling upon this unfaltering friend of liberty, said with one voice : " You alone can save France from despotism on the one hand and the orgies of the Jacobin mob on the other; take absolute power, be marshal, gen- eral, dictator if you will ! " But in assuming com- mand of the National Guard the old soldier and patriot answered amid the hail of shot and shell, 54 INAUGURATION OF THE "• Liberty shall triumph, or we all perish togeth- er ! " He dethroned and drove out Charles X, and France, contented with any destiny he might accord to her, with unquestioning faith left her future in his hands. He knew that the French people were not yet ready to take and faithfully keep American liberty. He believed that in the school of constitutional government they would rapidly learn, and in the fullness of time adopt its principles, and he gave them a King who was the popular choice, and surrounded him with the re- straints of charter and an Assembly of the people. And now this friend of mankind, expressing with his last breath a fervent prayer that his beloved France might speedily enjoy the liberty and equali- ty and the republican institutions of his adored America, entered peacefully into rest. United in a common sorrow and a common sentiment, the people of France and the people of the United States watered his grave with their tears and wafted his soul to God with their gratitude. To-day, in the gift by the one, and the accept- ance by the other, of this colossal statue, the peo- ple of the two countries celebrate their unity in re- publican institutions, in government founded upon the American idea, and in their devotion to liberty. Together they rejoice that its spirit has penetrated STATUE OF LIBERTY, 55 all lands and is the hopeful future of all peoples. American liberty has been for a century a beacon- light for the nations. Under its teachings and by the force of its example, the Italians have expelled their petty and arbitrary princelings, and united under a parliamentary government ; the gloomy despotism of Spain has been dispelled by the repre- sentatives of the people and a free press ; the great German race have demonstrated their power for empire and their ability to govern themselves. The Austrian monarch, who when a hundred years ago Washington pleaded with him across the seas for the release of Lafayette from the dungeon of Olmlitz, replied that " he had not the power," because the safety of his throne and his pledges to his royal brethren of Europe compelled him to keep confined the one man who represented the enfranchisement of the people of every race and country, is to-day, in the person of his succes- sor, rejoicing with his subjects in the limitations of a Constitution which guarantees liberties, and a Congress which protects and enlarges them. Magna Charta, won at Runnymede for English- men, and developing into the principles of the Declaration of Independence with their descend- ants, has returned to the mother-country to bear fruit in an open Parliament, a free press, the loss of 56 INAUGURATION OF THE royal prerogative, and the passage of power from the classes to the masses. The sentiment is sublime which moves the people of France and America, the blood of whose fathers, commingling upon the battle-fields of the Revolution, made possible this magnificent march of liberty, and their own republics, to commem- orate the results of the past and typify the hopes of the future in this noble work of art. The de. scendants of Lafayette, Rochambeau, and De Grasse, who fought for us in our first struggle, and Laboulaye, Henri Martin, De Lesseps, and other grand and brilliant men, whose eloquent voices and powerful sympathies were with us in our last, conceived the idea, and it has received majestic form and expression through the genius of Bartholdi. In all ages the achievements of man and his aspirations have been represented in symbols. Races have disappeared, and no record remains of their rise or fall, but by their monuments we know of their history. The huge monoliths of the As- syrians and the obelisks of the Egyptians tell their stories of forgotten civilizations, but the sole purpose of their erection was to glorify rulers and preserve the boasts of conquerors. They teach sad lessons of the vanity of ambition, the cruelty of STATUE OF LIBERTY, 57 arbitrary power, and the miseries of mankind. The Olympian Jupiter enthroned in the Parthenon ex- pressed in ivory and gold the awful majesty of the Greek idea of the King of the gods ; the bronze statue of Minerva on the Acropolis offered the protection of the patron goddess of Athens to the mariners who steered their ships by her helmet and spear ; and in the Colossus of Rhodes, famed as one of the wonders of the world, the Lord of the Sun welcomed the commerce of the East to the city of his worship. But they were all dwarfs in size and pygmies in spirit beside this mighty struct- ure and its inspiring thought. Higher than the monument in Trafalgar Square which commem- orates the victories of Nelson on the sea ; higher than the Column Vendome which perpetuates the triumphs of Napoleon on the land ; higher than the towers of the Brooklyn Bridge, which exhibit the latest and grandest results of science, invention, and industrial progress, this statue of Liberty rises toward the heavens to illustrate an idea which nerved the three hundred at Thermopylae and armed the ten thousand at Marathon, which drove Tarquin from Rome and aimed the arrow of Tell, which charged with Cromwell and his Ironsides and accompanied Sidney to the block, which fired the farmer's gun at Lexington and razed the Bas 58 INAUGURATION OF THE tile in Paris, which inspired the charter in the cabin of the Mayflower and the Declaration of In- dependence from the Continental Congress. It means that with the abolition of privileges to the few and the enfranchisement of the individual, the equality of all men before the law, and uni- versal suffrage, the ballot secure from fraud and the voter from intimidation, the press free and education furnished by the state for all, liberty of worship and free speech, the right to rise, and an equal opportunity for honor and fortune, the problems of labor and capital, of social regenera- tion and moral growth, of property and poverty, will work themselves out under the benign influ- ence of enlightened law-making and law-abiding liberty, without the aid of kings and armies, or of anarchists and bombs. Through the Obelisk, so strangely recalling to us of yesterday the past of twenty centuries, a forgotten monarch says, '' I am the Great King, the Conqueror, the Chastiser of Nations," and I expect, as a monument of antiquity, it conveys no meaning and touches no chord of human sympa- thy. But for unnumbered centuries to come, as Liberty levels up the people to higher standards and a broader life, this statue will grow in the ad- miration and affection of mankind. When Frank- STATUE OF LIBERTY. 59 lin drew the lightning- from the clouds, he little dreamed that in the evolution of science his dis- covery would illuminate the torch of Liberty for France and America. The rays from this beacon, lighting this gateway to the continent, will welcome the poor and the persecuted with the hope and promise of homes and citizenship. It will teach them that there are room and brotherhood for all who will support our institutions and aid in our development ; but that those who come to disturb our peace and dethrone our laws are aliens and enemies forever. I devoutly believe that from the unseen and the unknown two great souls have come to participate in this celebration. The faith in which they died fulfilled, the cause for which they battled triumphant, the people they loved in the full enjoyment of the rights for which they labored and fought and suffered, the spirit-voices of Washington and Lafayette join in the glad ac- claim of France and the United States to Liberty Enlightening the World. At the close of Mr. Depew's address, the whole audience rose and sang the Doxology, with the accompaniment of the band, which was very effective, and the exercises were con- cluded with a benediction by the Right Rev. 6o INAUGURATION OF THE Henry C. Potter, D. D. As the President and party embarked from the island, the yards of the men-of-war were again manned, while once more the guns thundered forth a national sa- lute, which was returned from all the harbor batteries. The embarkation from the island of the vast crowd there assembled was happily accom- plished with but slight confusion, the arrange- ments of the committee being excellent, and they were ably seconded by the police force. The only thing that at all marred the entire success of the occasion was the disagreeable weather, which was an insuperable obstacle to the completion of the programme, that was to terminate with a brilliant display of fireworks on the Battery, Bedlow's and Governor's Isl- ands. These were witnessed a few evenings later by a large assemblage of many thousands. STATUE OF LIBERTY. 6l THE BARTHOLDI STATUE, BY JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. The land, that, from the rule of kings, In freeing us, itself made free, Our Old World Sister, to us brings Her sculptured Dream of Liberty : Unlike the shapes on Egypt's sands Uplifted by the toil-worn slave, On Freedom's soil with freemen's hands We rear the symbol free hands gave. O France, the beautiful ! to thee Once more a debt of love we owe : In peace beneath thy fleur-de-lis, We hail a later Rochambeau ! Rise, stately Symbol ! holding forth Thy light and hope to all Avho sit In chains and darkness ! Belt the earth With watch-fires from thy torch uplit! 62 INAUGURATION OF THE STATUE. Reveal the primal mandate still Which Chaos heard and ceased to be, Trace on mid-air th' Eternal Will In signs of fire : '' Let man be free ! " Shine far, shine free, a guiding light To Reason's ways and Virtue's aim, A lightning-flash the wretch to smite Who shields his license with thy name! INSCRIPTION IN THE EASTERN DOOR-WAY OF THE PEDESTAL OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY. A GIFT FROM THE PEOPLE OF THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, THIS STATUE OF LIBERTY ENLKiHTENING THE \VORLI) COMMEMORATES THE ALLLVNCE OF IHE TWO NATIONS IN ACHIEVING THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND ATTESTS THEIR AI5IDING FRIENDSHIP. 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