Harper's Weekly
August 16, 1884
Vol. XXVIII. - No.1443
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Harper's Weekly August 16, 1884 Vol. XXVIII. - No.1443 |
 LAYING THE CORNERSTONE OF THE PEDESTAL FOR THE BARTHOLDI STATUE OF LIBERTY Drawn by Schell and Hogan |
The ceremonies at the formal laying of the corner-stone for the pedestal of the BARTHOLDI monument derived their chief significance from the address of the French consul, M. Lefaivre, on the part of France, and of Mr. WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER, on behalf of the association which has been formed to erect the pedestal. The century of friendship between France and the United States has never been interrupted, nor even seriously threatened, except very soon after its formation, when an indiscreet representative of France would have made trouble but for the firmness, dignity, and good sense of WASHINGTON. An ingenious writer has recently attempted to prove tbe error of the common belief that the Declaration of Independeuce owed either its substance or its form to the French writers of the eighteenth century, ascribing both to the English political philosophers of the seventeenth. But the attempt is not convincing to those who reflect how unlike are the bold generalizations of |
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the French and the cautious and lawyer-like deductions of the contemporary English publicists, and who note how completely the French method is followed in the Declaration. The flurry created by Citizen GENET would have been impossible but for the attachment of JEFFERS0N and his followers to French political ideas, as well as for the gratitude of the new nation to the timely assistance of the French arms during WASHINGTON'S first administration, indeed, the country was divided into French and anti-French parties, who were mutually stigmatized as French infidels and British monarchists.
We are not perhaps more sympathetic with French ways of thought than are the Euglish, but distance has removed from us the facilities for misunderstanding the French which the English so abundantly enjoy, and the three several efforts to establish a republic in France, including, the latest and most auspicious, though really having little in common with our own political ideas, could scarcely fail to strengthen a feeling of good-will which had its origin in the boyish espousal of our cause by LAFAYI'TTE, and the succor brought to our arms by ROCHAMBEAU and DE GRASSE. There could not be a more fitting symbol of this feeling than that which has been devised by M. BARTHOLDI. It will be extremely discreditable to New York, now that the part of France is fully done, if our preparations for receiving and exhibiting the gift of France are not made as fast as they are needed. |
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