Abraham Lincoln today : a war-time tribute : being the Lincoln Day Convocation of the University of Illinois, 1918

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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

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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.

40

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!

42

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!

43

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.

44

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

46

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.

47

ll.ZOO^. 01'