Magazine of American History
January 1887
VOL. XVII - No. I - 6
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Magazine of American History January 1887 VOL. XVII - No. I - 6 |
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STATUE OF LIBERTY - HARVARD COLLEGE ANNIVERSARY Within a few weeks two events of historic significance have engaged public attention. With imposing ceremonies the gigantic Bartholdi statue on Bedlow's Island has proclaimed its completion to the world. On the 28th of October, 1886, New York city was in holiday attire, and a monster procession paraded from Fifth Avenue to the Battery, witnesse'd by hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic spectators along the route. The naval procession numbered several hundred vessels, large and small, and had the day been clear the marine display would have been one of the finest ever witnessed in New York harbor. Unfortunately for all, an unwelcome mist and drizzling rain prevailed. The gift of France was unveiled in the presence of the French delegation, the President of the United States and his Cabinet, and a concourse of distinguished guests; and amid a deafening roar of artillery on every side. It was an impressive scene, and the graceful eloquence it inspired was never excelled. The Honorable Chauncey M. Depew said : "The friendship of individuals, 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 two great peoples, of alien race and language, transmitting 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 improbabilites impossible in fiction, and its results surpass the dreams of imagination." The Honorable William M. Evarts closed his brilliant address with the following: " To-day, in the name of the citizens of the United States who have completed the pedestal, and raised thereon the statue, and of the voluntary committee who 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. To this President Cleveland responded: "The people of the United States accept from their brethren of the French Republic, with gratitude, this grand and imposing work of art here dedicated. It is a token of the gratitude and appreciation of France, assuring us that in our efforts to commend to the world a government by a free people, we have a steadfast ally, and can demonstrate the kinship of republics. We are not met to bow before a severe and warlike god, but to honor our own peaceful deity, keeping watch and ward before the gates of America. Instead of grasping the thunderbolts of Jupiter Tonans, she holds aloft a light to illumine the way to man's enfranchisement - to the home of Liberty. And here it is that Liberty has her altars, and their fires will be kept alive by willing votaries. Her light will gleam as a beacon to our sister peoples of the East, and shall penetrate the darkness of man's oppression, until Liberty shall, in truth, enlighten the world." Harvard College, the oldest institution of the kind on this continent, a few days later celebrated her two hundred and fiftieth birthday, in a series of exercises covering four days, the most important of which was the memorable 8th of November, 1886. Gathered upon the platform on that occasion were the distinguished leaders in literature, science, theology, and public life; white-haired men whose intellectual labors have done so much for American scholarship, and the President of the United States and his Cabinet. James Russell Lowell, whose oration was the great literary feature of the day, said of the college: "Surely never were the bases of such a structure as this has become, and was meant to be, laid by a community of men so poor, in circumstances so unprecedented, and under what seemed such sullen and averted stars. The colony was in danger of an Indian war, was in the throes of that Antinomian controversy which threatened its very existence, yet the leaders of opinion on both sides were united in the resolve that sound learning and an educated clergy should never cease from among them or their descendants in the commonwealth they were building up." There were numerous scholarly addresses from gentlemen of the highest eminence. The poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes was one of his finest efforts. The President of the nation addressed the vast assemblage, saying: " The splendid destiny which awaits a patriotic effort in behalf of our country will be sooner reached, if the best of our thinkers and edu- cated men shall deem it a solemn duty to citizenship to actively and practically engage in political affairs, and if the force and power of their thought and learning shall be, willingly or unwillingly, acknowledged in party management. If I am to speak of the President of the United States, I desire to mention as the most pleasant and characteristic feature of our system of government, the nearness of the people to their President and other high officials. A close view afforded our citizens of the acts and conduct of those to whom they have intrusted their interests, serves as a regulator and check upon temptation and pressure in office, and is a constant reminder that diligence and faithfulness are the measure of public duty; and such a relation between President and people ought to leave but little room in popular judgment and conscience for unjust and false accusations, and for malicious slanders invented for the purpose of undermining the people's trust and confidence in the administration of their government. No public officer should desire to check the utmost freedom of criticism as to all official acts, but every right-thinking man must concede that the President of the United States should not be put beyond the protection which American love of fair play and decency accords to every American citizen. This trait of bur national character would not encourage, if their extent and tendency were fully appreciated, the silly, mean and cowardly lies that every day are found in the columns of certain newspapers, which violate every instinct of American manlinegs, and in ghoulish glee desecrate every sacred relation of private life. There is nothing in the highest office that the American people can confer which necessarily makes their President altogether selfish, scheming, and untrustworthy. On the contrary, the solemn duties which confront him te?d.to a sober sense of responsibility. The trust of the American people, and an appreciation of their mission among the nations of the earth, should make him a patriotic man, and the tales of distress which reach him from the humble and lowly and needy and afflicted in every corner of the land cannot fail to quicken within him every kind impulse and tender sensibility."   |
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