Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-03-07
President Eliot's Address.

President Eliot Of Harvard University is
to be congratulated on the address he de-
llvered in comforting the degree OF doctor
of laws on Prince Henry. 1t was gen.
Take this paragraph:
1--WE gladly welcome here today worthy
representative of German greatness worthy
in station, profession AND character. we
in him. however. something more than
the representative of a superb nationality
and an imperial ruler. Universities have
long memories. Forty years ago the Ameri-
can Union was in deadly peril. and thou
sands of it's young men were bleeding and
dying for it. 1t is credbly reported that at
a very critical moment the Queen of Eng
land said to her prime minister:
My lord, you must understand that /
shall sign no papers which mean war with
the United States
1.-The grandson Of that illustrious woman
is sitting with us here.
There were few London editors who
tried to be very disagreeable at the time
Prince Henry sailed. They could see in his
visit nothing but an anti-English demon
stration on the Fart Of his brother, and
they were prepared to gauge anti-English
sentiment in the United States by the fer
vor of the princes reception. In their eyes
he would stand for nothing in this country
but Germany. They quite forgot the En-
g1ish blood In his veins. But President
Eliot did not forget 1t, and referred to it
In a way which must have pleased the dis
tinguished visitor. 1t gives us all some
thing to think about for 1t emphasizes at a
most appropriate time how strong the bonds
are which bind three great nations together
in friendship.
Then take this Paragraph:
"Our people have the profoundest sym
pathy with the unficatiOn OF Germany. We
all believe in great union Of federated
states. bound together by a common lam
guage, by unrestricted mutual trade. by
common currency, mails means of CON-
rnunication, courts of justice and institu-
tiOns of credit and finance, and inspired by
a passionate patriotism. Such is the VEN
cradle American Union; such the young
German empire.
This turned the tables in the friendliest
way and in the best of taste on Europe.
AS rule We hear about the old world and
the new world. Nothing Is mature on this
side the Atlantic as yet. We are often
reminded. with an air of patronage, as was
David Copperfield" by his friends valet,
that we are very young" One might sup
pose us to be nation in knickerbockCrs,
promising enough in new field, but with
everything to learn. President Eliot points
out that We are ''venerable;" that We have
been showing the way in the matter Of gov
eminent. and that Germany's present power
and future prospects rest, as our own do, on
"a great union Of federated states" We
speak from our hundred and more years to
empire less than a third Of that age.
And We could with equal right hold the
language Of an ancient and sage In ad-
dressing either France or Italy. Both of
those governments are young when COM
pared with ours.
What Prince Henry will have to tell his
royal brother upon his return home there
government over here, but to "vener-
able" organization. doing business on an
enormous scale, and watching the young
sters of Europe with friendly eyes, and a
feeling of thorough good will.