The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-06-26
THE GIFT OF FRANCE.
Formal Reception of BarthOldi's
Statue of Liberty.
An Imposing Naval and Civic Pa.
rade at New York.
The statues Arrival.

The statues Arrival.
The French transport vessel Isere. with the
Bartholdi statue on board, arrived safely in
the port of New York on the 18th. When
the vessel came to anchor at Sandy Hook
Captain de Saunne, her commander, sent
the following telegram to General Stone, the
acting secretary of the Bartholdi Statue COM
mittee:
'~Isere, carrying statue, waiting instruc-
tons to remove. Answer immediately
To this General Stone sent the following
reply:
"a thousand welcomes. l will 90 to see
you Immediately"
General Stone and Agent de Bebian, of
the French line of steamers, at once started
for the Castle Garden dock, where Il tug was
in readiness to take them to the 1sere. As they
were about putting off President of the Board
of Aldermen Adolph Sanger, who was also
president of the aldermunic reception COM
nllttee, came running up to the ~stringpiece
and jumped aboard. This was about 10
o'clock in the forenoon. When they reached
the lsere they found that they had been pre-
coded by the acting French consul and some
other French gentlemen. A steam launch
from the United States ship Omaha had
also come down from the naval station
at Gravesend, where the vessel was nm
chored, with an invitation TO the Isere to
come up to she anchorage. Commander de
Saunne's response to the invitation was that
he should first receive the president of the
American committee. When General Stone ar
rived he seconded the suggestion of the Oma-
has commander, and it was arranged that
the lsere should proceed to Gravesond late in
the afternoon.
The greeting between the visitors and those
VINO had gone to meet them was naturally a
cordial one. Commander de Saunne took
from a cabinet an elegantly engrossed pre-
sentation address signed by Bartholdi and by
Count Ferdinand de LessePs, chairman of the
French committee, and handed it to General
Stone, representing the American committee.
1t was i'll French on vellum. AT one side was
an Illuminated white silk badge, with a pic
turc of the statue upon it, and at the top the
words, "La France a rAlnerique.n This was
known as the document of transfer. 1t read
GENTLEMEN:-The colossal statue of LIB
erty Enlighting the World' is this morning
embarked on the national ship lsere, and will
soon arrive in its new tatherland. The
French government has kindly joined in the
work OF the Franco-American union, taking
upon itself its transportation.
Tn official flag of the French republic
thus comes to complete the popular action
and the great manifestation OF friendship for
the countrymen of Lafayette. The official
transfer of the statue having been made TO his
excellency Mr.. Morton, minister plenipoten-
tiary of the United States at Paris, we have
the honor of recalling to you now the terms
OF this solemn act which, carrying the official
signatures, has been contided to the hands of
the representation of the republic of the
United States i'll the year 1854, on the It'll of
July, on the anniversary of the American
day of Independence, in the presence of
NJ. Jules Ferry, president of the
council of ministers and minister of
foreign affairs, Count Ferdinand de Lesseps
in the name OF the Franco-American COM
mittee and the national manifestation of
which that committee has been the organ
that presented the colossal statue of Liberty
Enli2hteninS the World, the work of the
sculptor Bartholdi, to Mr.. Morton, minister
plenipotentiary OF the United States, request
ing him to be the interpreter of the national
sentiment of which tins work is the express
sion.
Mr.. Morton, in the name of his countrymen,
thanks the Franco American union for this
testimonial of the sympathy of the French
people. he declares that in virtue of the
powers which have been coniided to him by
the President of the United States, the Amer
lean committee represented by its president,
Mr.. William Nj. Evarts, he accepts the statue,
and that it will be erected in conformity with
the joint resolution of Congress of February
%, 1877, in the port of New York, as a beacon
of the ancient friendship existing between the
two nations.
(Signed)
In the name of France:
JULES FERRY.
BRISsoN.
President of the Chamber of Deputies.
In the name of the United States:
MORTON.
In the name of the Franco American Union
Committee:
FERDINAND DE LEssEPs.
E.. DE LA FAYETTE.
Shortly before seven O'clock in the evening
the lsere came to anchor off Gravesend,
alongside the Omaha. Commander de Saunne
at once had his gig lowered and paid a visit
TO the American commander. A number of
steam yachts circled alb nut the new arri-
val until shutdown, each one as they
passed firing a salute of one gun.
The crew of the lsere numbers 10 all told.
She is a transport vessel, carrying no guns.
about 80 feet beam and 2l5 feet long. Her
last journey before coming to America was in
conveying French troops to Tonquin. She is
of go tons burden.
The colossal statue weighs 220 tons, and
was packed away below decks in PIP boxes
some OF them twenty feet long. 1t took
seventeen days to stow them away so as to
prevent shifting when the vessel rolled and
tossed in the tremendous pillows. The work
was well done, for Lieutenant Amet, of the
lSere, SAID that not a box moved from its
place, though in the early part of the
voyage there was ample provocation.
Inc hold OF the vessel was n curious sight.
huge crates, each containing many tons of
metal, were packed away as neatly and with
as much economy of space as SO many bricks
on IA Hudson river scow. The diadem was in
all ar'heu rama large enough for Il horse
and wagon to drive under. Other pieces,
hardly recognizable from the careful
manner in which they were packed,
We're pressed close beneath it
until it looked as though the iron sides of the
vessel would bulge out under the enormous
weight. Tn eyes and nose filled one crate,
the forehead another, an ear and part of the
crown another, until every foot of space
seemed to be utilized. A sheet iron curl
looked large enough FOR the smokcstack of a
small steam launch. A sailor said that it
was eight ieet long.
The Reception Ger monies.
New York bay never before presented such
a magnificent scene as was witnes ,ed at half
past eleven O'Clock in the forenoon of the 18th,
when the great naval hotilla accompanying
the French national steamship, tn, lsere,
bearing the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty,
started from Gravesend Bay for Bedloe's
Island. Ihe Long Islnnd and Stat, IN Islnnd