The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-10-29

onstrates the knship OF republics and conveys
to us the assurance that in our efforts to COM
ment resting upon popular will, We still
have beyond the American continent stsadfast
ally. We are not here to-day to bow before the
representatives OF fierce end warlike god, filled
with wrath and vengeance, but we 1oyously con-
template, instead, our own deity keeping watch
and ward before the open gates of America; and,
greater than all that have been celebrated in
ancient Troy, instead of grasping In her hand
thunderbolts of terror and of DEATH she holds
aloft the light which Eliminates the way to
mans reimbursement We will not forget
that Liberty has here made her home, nor shall
her chosen altar be neglected. Willing votares
will constantly keep alive its fires. and these
shall CLEAN upon the shores Of our sister repub-
lie in the East. Reflected thence and Joined
with answering rays, a stream of light shall
pierce the darkness of ignorance and mans OPP
preston until Liberty enlightens the World"
After President Cleveland came NJ. A. LIE
Faivre, minister plenipotentiary, who spoke as
the representative of the Republic of France
He said: ~ .,e.t.-
SIN the presence of so imposing an assembly,
and prelude to q ceremony which CONSOLE
dates the secular friendship of two great nations
it is an honor and hearty pleasure to me to
present to you, in the name Of the French gov
eminent and Of the entire French nation, the
sincere and warm assurance Of sympathetic par
tlcipation. The Inauguration OF to-day Is one
splendid with solemn and impressive import, for
it is one of those which form an epoch in his
tory This colossal statue of Liberty, nodded by
great artist. would anywhere attract attention
and Difference. But here, on American soil, it
evinces special significance, sym bolizing the ex-
isrence and development OF your Nation during
more than one hundred years To US, Ameri-
cans and Frenchmen, liberty is not only COM
mon doctrine-it is also family tie. From the
alliance between the two nations sprang forth
the most dazzling manifestation of its expan-
sion and radiance through the universe 1t will
be an eternal honor to France to have seconded
the effort of your heroism, and to have under
stood, in the first dawn, the sublime prospects
which were promised to mankind by your gen.
erous ardor. This symbol which we inaugurate
to-day ia not mere allegory. Pledge of fra
ternal union between the two greatest republics
in the world. it is greeted simultaneously
by more than one hundred million Of
free men who tender friendly hands TO each
other across the ocean. Among the thousands
OF Europeans who are daily conveyed to these
hospitable shores, no one will PASS before this
glorious emblem without Immediately perceiving
Its moral greatness, or without greeting 1t with
respect and thankfulness."
The memorial address was delivered by Hon.
Chaurcey M. Depew, as follows:
1--WE dedicate this statue to the friendship of
nations and the peace of the world. The spirit
erhood: it voices in all languages the same needs
and aspirations. The full power of its expan-
sve and progressive influence cannot be reached
until wars cease armies are disbanded and in
ternational DISPUTES are settled by lawful tribu-
nails and the principles OF justice. Then the
people of every nation, secure from invasion and
free from the burden and menace of great arma-
ments, can calmly and dispassionately promote
their own happiness and prosperity. The mar
velous development and progress of this Repub-
lie is due to the fact that in rigdly adhering to
the advice of Washington for absolute neutral
ity and non-interference in the politics and pol
icies of other governments. we have avoided the
necessity of depicting our industries to feed our
army. Of taxing and impoverishing our re-
sources to carry on war. and or
limiting our liberties to concentrate power
in our government. Our great civil strife, with
all its expenditure of blood and treasure, was a
terrible sacrifice for freedom. The results are
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 the
full measure Of home rule and accorded to them
an equal share of imperial power was the in
spratlon 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 illum-
nate century of unbroken friendship between
France and the United States. Peace and its
opportunities for material progress and the ex-
panson of popular liberties send from here a
fruitful and noble lesson to all the world. 1t
will teach the people of all countries that in
curbing the ambitions aud dynastic purposes of
princes and privileged classes. and in cultivating
the brotherhood of man, lies the true road TO
their enfranchsement. The friendship of ind-
viduals. their unselfsh devotion to each other,
their willingness to die in each others 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 love be-
gotten in gratitude, and strengthening as they
increase In power and assimlate in their institu-
tons and liberties. The French alliance which
enabled US to win our independence is the ro-
nance of history. It overcame improbabilites
impossible in fiction. and its results surpass the
dreams Of imagination. The most despotic of
kings, surrounded by the most exclusive of feud-
dial aristocracies. sending fleets and armies Off
cered by the scions of the proudest of nobili-
ties to fight for subjects in revolt and
the liberties of the common people, is paradox
beyond the power of mere human energy TO
have wrought or solved The march OF this
medieval chivalry across our States, respecting
persons and property as soldiers never had be-
fore, never taking an apple or touching fence
rail without permission and payment, treating
the ragged continentals as IL they were knights
in armor and of noble ancestry, captivating our
grandmothers by their gallantry and our grand
fathers by their courage, remains uneQualed in
the poetry of war; AS the centuries roll by, and
in the fuilness OF time the rays of libertys
torch are the beacon lights of the world, the
central inches in the earth's pantheon of free
dom will be filed by the figures of Washington
and Lafayette. The story of this young French
mobiles life is the history OF the time which made
possible this statue, and his spirit is the very
soul of this celebration"
Here the speaker gave brief biographical
sketch of Lafayette; of his chivalric resolve to
aid the colonies in their struggles against Great
Britain; of the obstacles which he overcame IN
order to made tender of his services to Wash
ington, and added:
1T is idle now to speculate whether our
fathers could have succeeded without the French
alliance. The struggle would undoubtedly have
been indefinitely prolonged, and probably COM
promised. But the alliance assured our tri-
umph, and Lafayette secured the alliance. The
tabled argosies OF the ancients. and the armadas
and fleets of modern times, were commonplace
voyages compared with the mission enshrined
in this inspired boy"
Mr.. Depew next gave brilliant and eloquent
resume of the events of the revolutionary war,
subsequent to the arrival of Lafayette; the
friendship which sprung up between him and
Washington; the surrender of Burgoyne; Lafay-
cites return, on leave of absence, to France.
bringing back the army Of Rochambeau and the
feet of De Grasse, and continued as follows:
'"The flower of the young aristocracy OF