Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1909-07-08
President Taft, speaking next, al.
took UP the theme Of peace.
PRES. TAET'S SprCcrY


England. I could not but congratulate
the United States on the implied com
piment that those two countries had
paid to her by sending here, as the
personal representatives Of their re-
spectivc chief executives. men so dis
tinRuished In literature. history. in
| statesmanship and diplomacy.
another thing that came to me as
7 sat here and looked at that embat-
tied. hill. was that the State of New
York and tho state of Vermont were
most fortunate in being able to find
a place upon which three nations could
| celebrate the past with entire consist
ency and with great Joy: because, ex-
ercising proper discrimination, they
can find deeds OF valor and success
for each nation on every spot about
This lake.
"Champlain was man whom oil
nations can honor. He is not a man
with respect to whose history you
have to pass over something In 81
lence. All his life could bear the
closest examination. and he brings
out in the strongest way those Won
derful qualities shown In tho fifteenth
and seventeenth cen:curies by Span
iards. Engllshmen. Frenchmen and
Portuguese, who braved those dread
ful terrors Of the sea. circumnavigated
the globe in little cooked shells and
carried the standard of the then CIV
| il.zation INTO the fnrthest forests and
nito the dangers OF the most distant
tropics.
II nm a good sailor don't mind
the waves of the sea, but / should
think that those that do mind them
would not believe the stories of the
Magellan, Of Champlain. OF Cortes,
| and OF those who came over In craft
that seem no larger than skiffs to-day.
| IT think II IS we'll for us to go back
| through tho history of all nations. in
order that our own neads. a little swell
| ed with modern progress, may be al
minshed bit In the proper appreciation
| of what was done by nations before us.
| under conditions that seemed tn limit
| the possibility OF human achievement,
| but limitations that were overcome by
| the bravery, the courage and tho reli-
gious faith OF nations that preceded US
in developing the world.
There were MOntcalm and Wolfe,
| two great Christians back to whom you
trace whole history Of lower Canada. It
! Is true Wolfe conquered Montcam on
tho Plains of Abraham. but there is
still IN all the region of lower Canada
a population purely French, a population
| Industrious, God-fearing and loyal to the
| flag under whose government they live
That fact Is n compliment not only tc
| the far seeing craftsmanship of the Eng
lsh colonial statesman who frames the
government under which they live. but
! II is compliment to the present in
dustrial domestic virtues of the French
nation.
For sixteen years it was my good
fortune to go to Murray bay in Canada
for the summer There is a limitation
however, upon the presidential office
that now prevents It, While there
| learned some things and one was that
while the Murray Highlanders and other
soldiers of England conquered on the
plains of Abraham quite number OF
those soldiers went down the St. Law
| renee and were induced to settle on the
| French seigneuries which lie some Sc
miles below Quebec. There were Black
burns and Warrens and MacNeils and
Fraziers and Nairns, and all the Scotch
| names that bring back tho memory OF
the Murray Highlanders. And what did
they do? They had the good sense tc
marry French women. And what hap
pened? That country is full of Black
burns and Fraziers and MacNeils and
Warrens and Nairns to-day and they
don't any of them speak a word OF
| English.
There are other ways of conquering
n people than merely by guns
This valley In which we are, In the
300 years since 1t was discovered by
| Champlain has furnished almost as much
Of battle ground for the three nations
and the Indians who were on all sides,
as Belgium in Europe, and one does not
have to seek far for the reason II YOU
will read the account given by Benedict
| Arnold OF his attempt to reach Quebec
| through Maine, you will understand why
| everybody else that went that way went
| by Lake Champlain. The truth is it was
the only passage way and AS the st.
| Lawrence on the one hand offered a
great place for settlement. and the Hud-
| son on the other and ali the Atlantic
| coast, In order TO reach the two this was
the passageway, and here were fought
the battles, continued for no years, and
as we now say. never to recur again.
They d!d not occur In the Civil War l
believe except a little adventure by some
| rash representatives o! the Confederacy
who tried TO break bank In st. Adams,
| but with that exception We have to go
back TO the War Of 1912 for the use Of
| this rs battle-ground.
~ echo and emphasize the statements
Of two ambassadors and repeat Their
prayer that never gain may this great
;alley be given name In history BY
reason of It's being the seat Of bloody
war"
ADDRESS OF M JUsSERAED,
~ Jusserand, the French ambassador
;o,nci with others who have been pay
inc tribute to the memory Of Samuel de
Charnplain this week, speaking here to-
hav in connection with the tercentenhry
celebration.
Tho address concerned principally tbs
history of battles between tho French and
English In years gone by, In this vicinity
and the bravery of S1ontcalm, the French
soldier and victor at Ticonderosa Isl
years ago. He said in part:
In this same month of July, three cen
turtles ago, this lake with the fine forests
bordering II. then on every side. was
seen for the nrst time by a white man
as good representative as one could
| wish of the white race, Samuel dc Cham
plain, the navigator the explorer. the
honest man, the founder OF Quebec. In
n half ago. was fought on this same spot
| one Of those battles where so much valor
was shown on both sides that the van
/ tod NIT ~ I<