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ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Painted from life, 1864-65, by Mr. G. W. F. Travers.
Owned by Mr. George Prince.
Abraham Lincoln Today
A War-Time Tribute
Abraham Lincoln Today
A War-Time Tribute
BEING the LINCOLN DAY CONVOCATION of the UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS
I g I 8
by WILLIAM CHAUNCY LANGDON
nvith the Addresses by
PRESIDENT EDMUND J.JAMES
of the Uni'versity of Illinois
and
CAPTAIN FERNAND BALDENSPERGER
of the French Army
Published by the
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
Urbana, 1918
Copyright, igi8
By WILLIAM CHAUNCY LANG DON
and the
UNIVERSITY of ILLINOIS
All Rights Reserojed
Corfvocation Edition, - - February, igi8
Uni'versity Edition, - - - May, igi8
l^emtasrapt Printins & Stationer? Co. Sfflootnington, 3iainaisi
Table of Contents
Page
The Persons of the Convocation . . 9
The Lincoln Day Convocation . . 11
The Lincoln Day Address
by President Edmund J. James 24
Lincoln as Regarded by the People of France, Address by Captain Fer- nand Baldensperger . . . , Tid
Appendix:
On Forever, Illinois!
The Program of the Convocation
5
List of Illustrations
Page
Abraham Lincoln . Frontispiece
The Portrait Painted by G. W. F. Travers in 1864
The Convocation . . .9
America and Illinois . . 14
Abraham Lincoln . . .19
The Lambert Ambrotype, 1860
The Central Group . . 22
President Edmund Janes James 24
Captain Fernand Baldensperger TiS
Sons of France and Illinois . 40
o
< P
o u
w X H
J he Persons of the Convocation
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
THE GUEST OF HONOR
CAPTAIN FERNAND BALDENSPERGER
OF THE FRENCH ARMY
THE DEANS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
THE UNIVERSITY WAR COMMITTEE
THE UNIVERSITY COMMANDANT
THE COMMANDANT OF THE UNITED STATES SCHOOL OF MILITARY AERONAUTICS
AMERICA
ILLINOIS
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
FRANCE
THE FACULTIES AND STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
Abraham Lincoln Today
A War-Time Tribute
On the platform of the Auditorium of the University of Illinois is raised a dais, on which are three seats. In front at either side are groups of seats.
The organ plays the Lincoln Music, composed by John Lawrence Erb. From one side there enter the President of the
University of Illinois, the Guest of Honor, and the Deans of the University of Illinois. From the other side there enter the War Committee of the University, the University Commandant, the Commandant of the
United States School of Military Aero- nautics, and the Lincoln Day Committee.
They take seats at the front. The Faculties and the Students of the University are seated in the Auditorium. When the music comes to an end, the President of the Uni- versity rises.
11
PRESIDENT:
Men, Women of the University, My fellow-members of the Faculty, And Students in these various Colleges: This is the day whereon the greatest son Of Illinois was born, — that kindly man Who in his single-hearted self summed up The best of all that — North, and South,
and East, And West — we strive to be; and there- fore who Has well been called "The First Ameri-
can. On February twelfth, in eighteen nine. Near Hodgensville, Kentucky, on a farm, Was Abraham Lincoln born.
Wherefore this day In all the States by law is duly held In honor and in grateful memory. And I today as President have called The University of Illinois In worthy Convocation, fittingly To recognize this anniversary.
12
As the President returns to his seat^ all the people join in singing four stanzas of the State Songy
ILLINOIS
By thy rivers gently flowing, Illinois, Illinois, O'er thy prairies verdant growing, Illinois, Illinois
Comes an echo on the breeze.
Rustling through the leafy trees, And its mellow tones are these, Illinois, Illinois!
Thou didst hear thy country calling, Illinois, Illinois,
Mid the din of war appalling, Illinois, Illinois, Then thy courage and thy will Rose each heart to fire and thrill;
Brave and loyal thou are still, Illinois, Illinois!
Not without thy wondrous story, Illinois, Illinois! Can be writ the nation's glory, Illinois, Illinois,
On the record of thy years
Abram Lincoln's name appears. Grant and Logan and our tears, Illinois, Illinois!
While thy glory we are singing, Illinois, Illinois, Loyal homage to thee bringing, Illinois, Illinois,
Let us praise His Holy name
Through Whose might all good we claim. Who has wrought thy wondrous fame, Illinois
Illinois!
During the first stanza the State of Illinois comes in attended by a military escort. She is robed in a gown of gold, with overvesture and cloak of Statehood blue, and carries the State Flag of Illinois. She
13
goes up and stands before the right hand of the two lower seats on the dais. At the conclusion of the State Song she reaches forth her hand with devoted pride.
ILLINOIS:
Ever at sound of his majestic name Swiftly I come across the prairies, far Golden with corn, or blizzard-swept and
white With winter snow. So now my soul is
here With you who gratefully remember him, My greatest son. Observant, kindly, firm, Forgetful of himself and private ends. Most jocular when most heart-sunk in
sadness, Strong he lifted up the grievous weight. The fiery burden of distracted times. And on his high, broad shoulders bore it.
What woman does not watch with loving pride
The stalwart son of her young mother- hood!
With fearful ecstacy she sees him grow.
Outstrip her fondest hopes, her best laid plans.
And stride along, a giant among his fellows.
Sol.
From out the shelter of my care he went,
14
AMERICA AND ILLINOIS
Beyond the waving limits of the corn. He heard his Country's call; he went; he
served; He wrought for her victoriously; and
died.
America! Thou Spirit Glorious! Mother of all the States! Transcendent
Soul, Who everywhere art present, urging us To ever nobler heights of sacrifice And service, and most present only there Where thine ideals most are realized. My son was dear to you! At thought of
him Thy face, like mine, gleams forth its lov- ing pride: For truly was he thy son, as well as mine! Reveal thyself among us, tokening Thy love for him whose day we recognize!
As Illinois stretches forth her hand in appeal^ the Music plays The Star- Spangled Banner. Down the central aisle comes the figure of America, at- tended by a military escort. She is robed in white, with a golden girdle and a golden Liberty cap. She carries the American Flag in her right hand and wears the Shield of the United States on her left shoulder. She goes up the steps onto the platform and on up the steps of the dais, taking her place
15
in front of the center seat. All the people of the Convocation join in singing two stanzas of
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
Oh! say, can you see by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last
gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the
perilous fight. O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly
streaming. And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting
in air. Gave proof through the night that our flag was
still there. Oh! say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the
brave?
Oh! thus be it ever when freemen shall stand Between their loved homes and wild war's deso- lation; Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven
rescued land Praise the power that hath made and preserved
us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just. And this be our motto, — "In God is our trust!" And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall
wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
America stands in front of her seat^ and Illinois remains at the foot of the dais.
16
AMERICA:
I come.
For highly do I honor Lincoln's name:
Through all the States that gather neath
the Flag, Confederate South as well as Federal
North, His name is held in deepest reverence.
But not in mere commemoration now I come. The Flag is called across the seas, To lead its hosts to fight for Liberty: In peril is the Freedom of the World. Arise! I call, — America! The Flag Advances! See, it summons you to come! Yes, every man and woman, every child Is needed to redeem the stricken earth, Some fighting with our Allies there in
France. Some working to support them here at
home.
You honor Lincoln. Will you follow him ? What would his answer be.^ The world
cannot Endure half slave, half free. Still do his
words Set fire to the deeds of Illinois ? Still does his spirit lead you all, as then? Or does there lurk in Illinois a soul, Although but one, that has not caught
the fire
17
Of his imperial soul, — one poor, mean soul That would not claim a share in sacrifice, But fatten safely here in greedy debt For life and all he has to British blood. To Belgian courage, to Canadian daring And the sacrifices France has made? Fate had its ruthless way, and Lincoln
died; But does his mighty spirit live here still Among the sons and daughters of his
State?
ILLINOIS:
His spirit lives here still!
AMERICA:
Choose well your words! The accolade of sacrifice straight falls On all who claim them heirs of Lincoln's name.
ILLINOIS:
We call upon him now to witness that We consecrate ourselves, beneath the
Flag, To Liberty and to its rescue! — Oh Lincoln, spirit freed from earth's
strict bonds. Speak once again thy words of fire, for us. And once again the State of Illinois Lead with her Sister States to stake their
all For Freedom and the Rights of all Man- kind!
18
ABRAHAM LINCOLN The Lambert Ambrotype, 18G0
From the Photograph in the Home of Lincoln, in Springfield, by courtesy of Mrs. Albert S. Edwards.
Again the Organ plays the Lincoln Music. From one side Lincoln enters. Illinois^ the first to see him^ raises her flag. Lincoln removing his high stove-pipe haty bows. The people on the platform rise. Lincoln advances a few steps, then turns and bows, paying his tribute to America. He then stands motionless, his hat in his hand, until the music is finished. Then he raises his hand and speaks. Illinois remains standing at the foot of the dais.
LINCOLN:
I cannot fly from my thoughts; my sohcitude for this great country follows me wherever I go.
Our popular government has often been called an experiment. Two points in it our people have already settled — the successful establishing and the successful administering of it. One still remains — its successful maintenance against a for- midable attempt to overthrow it. Such will be a great lesson of peace, teaching all the folly of being the beginners of a war.
This is essentially a people's contest, and this issue embraces more than the fate of these United States. It presents to the whole family of man the question whether a constitutional republic, or a democracy — a government of the people
19
by the same people — can or can not maintain its territorial integrity against its foes. It forces us to ask, Is there in all republics this inherent and fatal weak- ness? Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?
Fellow-citizens, we can not escape history. We will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dis- honor to the latest generation. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth.
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in num- bers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were pro- duced by some superior wisdom and vir- tue of our own. Intoxicated with un-
20
broken success, we have become too self- sufficient to feel the necessity of redeem- ing and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
It behooves us then to humble our- selves before the offended Power, to con- fess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. It is for us here to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that we here highly resolve that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth. And having thus chosen our course, with- out guile and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God and go forward without fear and with manly hearts. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty stourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
With malice toward none, with charity toward all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in,
21
to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the aid of that Divine Being who ever attended him, we cannot succeed. With that as- sistance we cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us con- fidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you, friends and neighbors, an affec- tionate farewell.
Lincoln bows in tribute to America and departs. The Organ at once plays and all the people rise and sing
THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of
the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes
of wrath are stored! He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on! 22
Oh
D O
Pi
H Z
til
CJ
-U
I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred
circling camps; They have builded Him an altar in the evening
dews and damps; I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps; His day is marching on! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His day is marching on!
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never
call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His
judgment seat; Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on!
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across
the sea. With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you
and me; As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free. While God is marching on! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on!
President Edmund Janes James of the University of Illinois then rises and delivers
23
THE LINCOLN DAY ADDRESS
Men and Women of Illinois :
We are gathered here today to do honor to the memory of Abraham Lin- coln. Some one has said that you may judge a nation well by its heroes — the men in whom it sees incarnated its ideas and its ideals.
If this be true, and who will not agree that it contains much truth, we Americans are peculiarly fortunate. George Washington and Abraham Lin- coln are by common consent enrolled not only among the greatest Americans but among the greatest men of all time and all nations — and we selected them for the greatest honor and the highest office within our gift to confer.
It has been said that in the wide domain of European civilization the birthday of no other man than George Washington has been so long celebrated or by more people. This is a significant fact and one of which we Americans may well be proud.
It is also certain that no name is more widely known or more deeply re- vered among all lovers of liberty on the the face of the earth than that of Abra- ham Lincoln. Surely this may fill our
24
PRESIDENT EDMUND JANES JAMES
hearts with pride and joy, for he was of our very household. He rode the circuit of which Urbana was a part. He prac- ticed law in this city. He got his growth, physical, intellectual and moral here in this cornbelt. His career shows how unimportant to the really great man the training of the schools is. He passed much of his youth and early manhood in the smallest and meanest of frontier towns surrounded by the most sordid conditions of life, hardly able to earn, I will not say a decent living, but even enough to keep soul and body together. And yet when he came to stand, I will not say before Kings, but among Kings, he towered in moral majesty head and shoulders above them all.
We have a special love for him here in this institution. As President of the United States he signed the bill out of which this institution grew and his memory will abide with us. The beau- tiful structure across the way is named in his honor and ranks among the im- portant monuments of this country to his memory.
As a member of the Illinois Legis- lature he stood for education and the up- building of educational institutions.
But after all his real longing was to aid in the spread of freedom and liberty.
25
One of his earliest resolutions and vows, made to himself it is true but none the less sacred for that, was that if the chance ever came he would deal the in- stitution of African Slavery in the coun- try a death blow. Before he died he did this and in doing so gave a new meaning among us to the divine doctrine of the Declaration of Independence.
He is ours in a special sense for what he did for this and similar institutions; for what he did for this commonwealth; for what he did for this nation; for what he did for humanity; and we should be lifted into new and higher regions of self- sacrifice and devoted to interests of humanity by the contemplation of his character.
We are fortunate today to have with us as a guest from one of the allied coun- tries a distinguished scholar who is going to tell us how this man, Abraham Lin- coln, this rail-splitter, this country law- yer, this member of the lower house of the Illinois Legislature, this son of the cornbelt without the benefit of the schools or colleges or universities, with no social influence, with little social grace — seems to the highly cultivated society of the most highly cultivated of modern nations.
But I can not let this opportunity
26
pass without expressing our warm feelings of consideration for the country he repre- sents. Such an occasion, Sir, brings with peculiar vividness to the mind of every student of human history the pre-eminent services of the French nation to that common civilization, which is the most precious heritage of us all. For five hundred years France has been the center of Europe in a sense which can be asserted of no other country. She has been the schoolmaster of the world in all that makes for culture and refinement. The debt of the modern world to France is reflected in every aspect of modern life, thought, taste and action.
Every department of human achieve- ment has fallen in turn under her domi- nation, and at times all of them together. No other nation has led on so many dif- ferent ways. She has entered every road leading to the heights of human effort, and has entered only to lead. Arms, politics, art, literature, science, industry — in all she has been equally pre-eminent — in all she has laid humanity under lasting obligations. We deem it. Sir, a great pleasure to acknowledge thus our debt to this wonderful people and to con- gratulate you. Sir, as the representative of this nation, upon the long line of gen- erals, statesmen, thinkers, artists, litter-
27
ateurs, who have worked out these great results. They belong, not merely to France, or to Europe, but to the whole world, and their deeds are a common heritage of which we are all proud, and to which we are all heirs and joint-heirs with you.
But it is not merely as citizens of the world, as joint-heirs in this common heritage to which your people have con- tributed so much that we gladly welcome you here today. As men, as citizens of sister republics, devoted to the same high ideal of human welfare, we welcome you as the representative of workers and co- workers in a common cause — the cause of ever-advancing, ever-spreading de- mocracy— adherents and devotees of the same principle of human freedom and equality — a principle which, under God, is destined to turn and overturn until humanity is redeemed.
If it was our high privilege to be the first to announce in the immortal Declara- tion of Independence the principle that all men are born equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it was yours to accept, for the first time in all human history, as a rule of political
28
action, the doctrine of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity for all men.
By the acceptance of this doctrine at the outbreak of your revolution you converted what might have been a mere incident in internal French politics into an epoch-making event in world devel- opment. You made it a turning point in human history — a passageway from darkness into light, toward which all past development seemed to have been con- verging, and out of which all further advance seems to have issued. On that celebrated August night you made an irreparable breach in the walls of privi- lege and caste and opened the way for the floodtide of modern liberty and progress. And from that time to this, Sir, amidst storm and stress, in apathy and indif- ference, against selfishness and reaction, through bitter conflict and weary waiting, decade by decade, with never wearying persistence, our two nations have ad- vanced this solemn and holy standard, calling all men to flock to its banner, to array themselves on our side in this great struggle for equality of opportunity for all human kind.
But, this is not merely an occasion for congratulation on victory thus far achieved, but an opportunity to pledge ourselves anew for the coming conflicts.
29
We have been up to the time of the Great War in the midst of a certain worldwide reaction. We heard doubts expressed of the feasibility and durability of democ- racy. Royalty seemed to have taken a new lease of life; privilege and caste were again rearing their hydra-headed forms in even the freest countries. To us, Sir, in a peculiar way to France and America, is committed the ark of the covenant. Ours should be the task to safeguard it and carry it forward to its final resting place in the holy of holies — the everlasting, all-embracing temple of human freedom.
Americans and Frenchmen, wherever they meet, under whatever skies, on whatever occasions, should dedicate them- selves anew to the cause for which their fathers and brothers died decades ago and are dying today. We should take up with ever fresh energy the contest for the realization of that government for the people, of the people and by the people — which is the only sure pledge of the reign of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity — the reign of equal opportunity, of peace, and of love.
But, Sir, no American could greet a representative of the French people with- out again uttering that which perhaps, after all, needs no utterance, because it 30
is ever in his heart and ever on his tongue when the name of France is mentioned. No American can ever forget that it was France which assured the early and suc- cessful outcome of that opening struggle in the long drama of human freedom, which began on the heights of Bunker Hill and ended on the plains of York- town. We can never forget that noble band of generous Frenchmen who laid down their swords, their services and some of them, alas! their lives, upon the altar of our country, achieving liberty, guaranteeing our independence. How deep, Sir, this sense of obligation has sunk into the national heart, how it has fired our imagination and kindled our grati- tude, is best shown by the veneration in which he is held who to us incorporated in his own person the services of his country — the immortal LaFayette! If an American utters the name of Wash- ington in admiration and love — lo, the name of LaFayette trembles on his lips! These two names — one and indivisible — never to be uttered or thought of apart — symbolize in their union the deep-felt love and sympathy of this people for yours, and will carry down to nations yet unborn the high and holy tradition of the time when, hand in hand, we began that struggle for human freedom which may then, God willing, be complete.
31
In closing, Sir, I may be permitted to voice again a sentiment which has often been expressed here before — viz., that the universities of France and the United States may co-operate in ever- increasing measure to promote that better mutual understanding which is at once the basis and one of the surest guaranties of international sympathy and peace. They would seem to be pecu- liarly called to this office by their essential function. The higher educational in- stitutions of a counrty bring together the youth at the time of most generous emotion, when the youth are most capa- ble of understanding and appreciating the character and services of other coun- tries and other races. France has been in a peculiar sense the schoolmaster of this country in all that pertains to art and beauty. It was that we needed most, and that which France gave most un- grudgingly. The treasures of countless generations of toil and effort were ours without money and without price — your only reward being the heartfelt thanks of thousands of grateful students. Of late, again, the universities have opened still wider their doors, have made it still easier for us to enter in and reap where we have not sown, to gather where we have not scattered. Is it too much to hope. Sir, that this new generosity may in its turn
32
beget a new gratitude which will do its further part in removing misunder- standing and begetting mutual con- fidence ?
But the university in its other great function of advancing human science is especially called to this high office of promoting international peace and unity. We are standing face to face with the greatest problems that have ever con- fronted the race. With the new century has begun, in a truer sense than ever before, the history of the world as dis- tinct from the history of a country, or a continent, or a civilization. Whether after the winning of this war in the new era which will open before us the advance is to be steady, peaceful and uninter- rupted, or whether amidst the fierce conflict of struggling armies the race is again to begin the weary task of Sisyphus, rolling up the ball of civilization only to see it slip back again through the ranks of warring and angry men, who united might have landed it on high, far above the reach of danger; whether, in a word, peace and good-will to men can be made the practical motto of the race is yet to be determined. In this work the uni- versities should have a great part. The university is devoted to science, and science is universal and benefits all men
33
alike. It is devoted to philosophy and philosophy is universal and draws all men together. In the atmosphere of these institutions, in this great republic of letters and science, stretching through all countries and all climes, international jealousies, and suspicions, and rivalries, and heart-burnings should die away. Our only ambition should be to aid the race; our only rivalry that of generous service. Is it too much to hope that we may thus make a considerable contribution to the better mutual understanding and appre- ciation from which peace and good-will may flow.^
And finally. Sir, permit me to ex- press the gratification of this institution and of this community for one of the great compensations of this war. It has already led to a deeper and larger under- standing of France and the French people in this country. It has already spread abroad a larger knowledge of the French language, history, literature, institutions and character. We who love and admire French genius, we who believe in the mission of France to the modern world, are convinced that others will share our love and admiration when they share our knowledge. To know her is to admire and to love. We are happy to be the agents in this effort to extend and deepen 34
that knowledge which can only increase the hold France has exercised for genera- tions on every other race and country; because a knowledge which will increase our respect for all that is great and good in the French people — a knowledge which will make for peace and harmony, for liberty and freedom; because a knowledge which will sweep away misunderstandings and prejudice and lead to an ever-in- creasing appreciation and emphasis of the things which bind us together!
Ladies and Gentlemen; permit me to introduce:
CAPTAIN FERNAND BALDENSPERGER
of the French Army, Professor in the Sorbonne.
As the Guest of Honor rises to ac- knowledge the introduction of the President of the University, the Organ strikes up The Marseillaise. All the people of the Con- vocation rise to their feet in honor of France and in respect for the representative of their Ally present. Down the center aisle comes the figure of France, dressed in blue and wearing the red Liberty Cap with the cock- ade and carrying the Tricolor of France. America and Illinois come down from the dais to meet her. As France comes up on
35
to the platform America embraces her and then invites her to a seat beside her on the dais. America^ France and Illinois go up on to the dais and as The Marseillaise comes to an end take their seats.
The Guest of Honor, Captain Fer- nand Baldensperger of the French Army, Professor in the Sorbonne, then deliveres his address.
LINCOLN AS REGARDED BY THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE
Fellow-citizens of Abraham Lincoln, American friends!
My very first knowledge of Lincoln, if I remember well, was conveyed to me, when I was a boy of nine or ten, by a biography given as a prize-book for work at school. It was certainly the spirit of adventure in the history of your great man, the river and the prairie, rather than the democratic spirit which pervades it, that seemed attractive to a young French- man about the year 1880. And yet the mere fact that a primary school in a pro- vincial town of France should choose a biography of Abraham Lincoln as suit- able reading matter for a boy's summer holiday shows in its way the real im-
36
CAPTAIN FERNAND BALDENSPERGER
portance given to your great country- man by Republican France.
The significance and, if I may say so, the legend of Lincoln have indeed been connected from the very beginning with the hopes and the outlooks of democracy in my country. When he died in 1865, the Second Empire in France was doomed, having still, however, an exterior appear- ance of strength: and part of that strength was due to the fact that with the exception of Switzerland there was no republic in Europe, — as if Western de- mocracies after more or less enduring attempts had given up the ambition of political self-assertion. There was another republic over the sea: but your Federa- tion, to many observers, seemed to have become a mere conglomerate of provinces, ready for dissolution and led astray from the original destinies of the United States.
It was owing to Abraham Lincoln that the belief, the faith in a lasting de- mocracy,— even in a democracy able to wage war without changing its char- acter,— was kept alive in the heart of Liberal France. And so it is not to be wondered at if, directly after your Presi- dent's shocking death, the praise of France reached its climax in the Liberal circles. Of course the government of
37
Napoleon the Third worded officially to Washington, on April 28, its offi- cial sympathy and grief; both Senate and Chamber of Representatives, through their presidents and by way of their orders of the day, expressed the same general feeling; Empress Eugenie, — at the present hour the only sovereign of those remote times who is still alive, — sent a message to Mrs. Lincoln. But such offi- cial declarations amount to nothing sub- stantial, if we think that at the same moment a close confident of the Napoleonic court, Merimee, wrote to a friend that all that "fuss," as he says, showed merely that the government was afraid of America.
Entirely different, genuine and en- thusiastic and sincere, were the marks of admiration and sympathy given by the Liberal opposition. The silk weavers of Lyons, those sturdy and independent workmen, cooperated in waving a re- membrance flag in honor of the fallen President and sent it to the American Congress. I was specially thinking of that virile and poetic sign a few minutes ago, when I saw my flag, the French Tricolor, coming up this crowded hall and mingling its colors with the Stars and Stripes. A golden medal was cast on behalf of 40,000 small subscribers
38
from every corner of France, and sent in 1866 to Mrs. Lincoln. "If France," said the address joined to the gift, "had the freedom enjoyed by republican America, not thousands but millions among us would have been counted as admirers of Lincoln and believers in the opinions for which he devoted his life and which his death has consecrated." Victor Hugo, the grand exile, Edgar Quinet, Louis Blanc, Schoelcher, Flocon, — all of them proscribed for their political faith, — Michelet, Littre, expressed their high appreciation and eulogy, as they felt that their cause was in fact the cause of Lin- coln's America. The American Minister in Paris, Mr. Bigelow, transmitting to his government other testimonies of the same feeling, — the address of 2,000 students of the College de France, a note signed by the contributors of four Liberal papers, — mentioned frankly "how deep a hold Abraham Lincoln had taken upon the respect and affections of the French people."
Lincoln, the man, the self-made man in the full sense of the word, with his honesty, his candor, his practical ideal- ism, the horrible fatality which made a child of the people meet the end com- monly reserved to tyrants, — these fea- tures of your President in life and death,
39
kept before the eyes of the French public, were eagerly accepted by our masses. Two of the first French biographers of Lincoln in fact had seen him personally. Jouaultj who happened to be in Wash- ington on the 4th of March, 1865, when the President renewed after his reelection his pledge to the Constitution, described that "strange man," clumsy, meagre, careless in his appearance but with his magnificent black eyes, out of which streamed the love of humanity. Laugel had visited Lincoln in the White House and spent an evening with him in the presidential box in the same Ford Theatre which was to be the scene of ihis death; and he was specially struck by the kind voice and the everready sensitiveness contrasting in the great man with all the signs of a powerful and concentrated will.
So you see that Lincoln's personality was not at all a mere phantom for France, when the French Academy in 1867 pro- posed as the subject of a prize poem The Death of President Lincoln. A young friend of Lamartine, Edouard Grenier, was the winner of the prize. And indeed we feel that Lamartine himself, our great practical idealist of 1848, the poet who then prevented our democratic Revolu- tion from splintering, would have been the best possible singer of your great
leader.
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SONS OF FRANCE AND ILLINOIS
Since the days when the pathos of a tragic death was added to the significance of Lincoln's personahty, his memory in France has remained what the clearest minds of 1865 had foreseen, "the austere and sacred personification of a great epoch, the truest expression of democ- racy." In the words of Henri Martin, the historian, "Lincoln's ability to steer a great Republic through a crisis without reverting to laws of exception," showed forever the possibility of a really efficient, even a war-making democracy. And if France has been able, as you mentioned it so beautifully, to play her part in the great struggle for civilization, it is partly because her generous mind had been thrilled to new energies by a fate which had its cradle in the heart of your country.
For the significance of Lincoln for France has not vanished in more recent days. We know the verses by which an American poet celebrated "his Captain." It was a French medallist, Roine, who made the Lincoln Centennial Medal. And Ambassador Jusserand, when he brought France's greeting to Springfield in 1909, gave a new testimony to the old feeling, when he showed that the belief in an unsplintered American Union had been a part of that democratic faith which, by and by, was bringing my
41
country so very close to yours that they are sure now to walk hand in hand to- wards their new destinies.
At the conclusion of the Addresses^ )eople of the Convocation sing the Illi- son 9-^
the peo nois song.
ON FOREVER, ILLINOIS!
Illinois! Above the prairie
High thine eagle wings his flight, Watching, vigilant and wary,
Over human toil and right! Eagle-pinioned, on with joy!
On forever, Illinois! Through the storm sweep on with joy!
On forever, Illinois!
Illinois! The times are calling
Souls that fear no sacrifice! Men for Liberty are falling;
Will your sons refuse the price? Scorning danger, on with joy!
On forever, Illinois! On through death! On, on with joy!
On forever, Illinois!
Illinois! Thy meed of glory
That all men, till years are dust, Shall thy sons, high famed in story.
Silent, heaven-borne eagles trust! On through death! On, on with joy!
On forever, Illinois! Eagle-pinioned, on with joy!
On forever, Illinois!
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The Benediction is then pronounced by the President of the University.
PRESIDENT:
Now may He who breathes the breath of life into all men breathe His Spirit into the State of Illinois, and into the United States of America, and into All the Peoples of the Earth, inspiring them to do His Holy Will under the per- fect Law of Liberty. Amen.
All then join in singing two stanzas of
AMERICA
My Country, 'tis of thee, Sweet Land of Liberty,
Of thee I sing! Land where my fathers died. Land of the Pilgrims' pride, From every mountain side
Let Freedom ring!
Our fathers* God, to Thee, Author of Liberty,
To Thee we sing: Long may our land be bright With Freedom's holy light; Protect us by Thy might.
Great God, our King!
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To the Lincoln Music, now played as a Recessional March, the President of the University, the Guest of Honor, the Deans of the University, and the Committees de- scend from the platform in procession and go out by the center aisle, followed by America, France, and Illinois, attended by the escort of University Cadets.
Note — The Address of Abraham Lincoln herein presented is a compilation from Lincoln's writings. Noth- ing has been written in to adapt what he said to the present purpose. The only change is in the last paragraph, taken from the Springfield Farewell, in which the pronoun "I" has been changed to "we." The passages used are, in order, from
Letter to J. T. Mills, 1864;
Special Session Message to Congress, 1861;
Second Annual Message to Congress, 1862;
Proclamation for Day of Prayer, 1863;
The Gettysburg Address, 1863;
Special Session Message, 1861;
Cooper Union Address, 1860;
Second Inaugural Address, 1865;
The Springfield Farewell, 1861. W. C. L.
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ON FOREVER, ILLINOIS! Word3 by W. C. Langdon Mualc by J. Lawrence Brt>
4, 1-
Ill-1-nols; A-bove the pral-rle High thine ea-gle wlngrfhls flight.
/■-^'^rt^HlN^rpFf niryj
Watch-lng, vlg^i-iant and wa - ry, 0 -ver ruBnr«n toll and rlghtl
-^ -^^
Ea-gle pln-loned, on with Joy! On for-ev-er. 111 - 1 - nolal
Through the, atorm sweep on with ' joy!
for - eV, -ler, tIll-1- nols !
(Copyright, 1918, by W. C. Langdon and J. L. Erb)
Illinois! The times are calling
Souls that fear no sacrifice! Men for Liberty are falling;
Will your sons refuse the price? Scorning danger, on with joy!
On forever, Illinois! On through death! On, on with joy!
On forever, Illinois!
Illinois! Thy meed of glory
That all men, till years are dust, Shall thy sons, high famed in story.
Silent, heaven-borne eagles, trust! On through death! On, on with joy!
On forever, Illinois! Eagle-pinioned, on with joy!
On forever, Illinois!
45
THE LINCOLN DAY CONVOCATION
FOR THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
was presented in the Auditorium, February 12, 1918, by the Committee on Con- vocations and under the auspices of the University War Committee,
THE PERSONS IN THE CONVOCATION
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLI- NOIS
THE GUEST OF HONOR, CAPTAIN FERNAND BALDENSPERGER OF THE FRENCH ARMY
THE DEANS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
THE UNIVERSITY WAR COMMITTEE
THE UNIVERSITY COMMANDANT
THE COMMANDANT OF THE UNITED STATES SCHOOL OF MILITARY AERONAUTICS
THE LINCOLN DAY COMMITTEE
THE FACULTIES AND STUDENTS OF THE UNI- VERSITY OF ILLINOIS
AMERICA Mildred V. Strong
ILLINOIS Lucille Peirson
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ABRAHAM LINCOLN . . . Kenneth McKenzie
FRANCE Lois M.Scott
THE MUSIC FOR THE CONVOCATION under the direction of J. Lawrence Erb, F.A.G.O. The Lincoln Music and the song, On Forever, Illinois! were com- posed by him.
THE COSTUMES of America and Illinois were designed by Mrs. William Chauncy Langdon.
THE UNIVERSITY WAR COMMITTEE: David Kin- ley, Chairman; Eugene Davenport, Stephen Alfred Forbes, Frederick Haynes Newell, Stuart Pratt Sherman, Charles Alton Ellis, Charles Manfred Thompson.
THE COMMITTEE ON LINCOLN DAY CONVOCA- TION: Daniel Kilham Dodge, Chairman; Ernest Bernbaum, Harry Franklin Harrington, William Chauncy Langdon, Rex R. Thompson.
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