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Show u HANDS ACROSS TO FRANCE. The daily papers of Sunday last were replete with accounts of Fourth of July celebrations in various cities of the Union and a few capitals of the old world. Only two, however, could attract the attention of the American who was born during the Mexican war; who was taught the story of the revolutionary war along with his A, B, C's in the little red school house; who, growing up to matured manhood, is either animated with patriotic fervor fer-vor or overcome with dismay when he analyzes what is taking place in the hearts and souls of the American people peo-ple since he was a boy. One of those celebrations was held on the White House grounds at Washington Wash-ington after the dismissal of the grand parade the first time in the long history his-tory of the executive mansion. The other took place at a banquet in London, Lon-don, England England, America's hereditary foe. Mark the wide difference differ-ence of those two celebrations. The one in London no stretch of the imagination imag-ination could conjure less than an anomaly, attended by the descendants of those who vainly sought to fasten the chains of slavery on the American colonies even as they have successfully success-fully bound the fetters about Ireland and the republics of South Africa. Amid the clinking of glasses at this t incongruous gathering of Tories and silk-stocking Americans, arose Justice Sir William Grantham. He proposed the health of Ambassador Choate, our American minister to Great Britain. If Sir William had sat down after this act and said no more, the patriotic people on this side of the water would pay little heed to what took place in London on Fourth of July. ' But Sir William did not sit down, but kept right on talking and throwing bouquets bou-quets at the American minister. A keen Briton as Sir William undoubtedly undoubt-edly is, knows how susceptible to flattery flat-tery is the toady Anglo-American. He punctured the Americanism of Ambassador Ambas-sador Choate, which, after all, is only skin deep. Therefore, when in the course of his laudatory toast, Sir William Wil-liam ventured to say that Ambassador Choate was regarded in England as an Englishman, no mane of displeasure crossed the countenance of the person supposed to represent American interests inter-ests and American manhood in Great Britain. He did not resent such an insinuation from English lips as Benjamin Ben-jamin Franklin would have done, or John Jay would have done, or any other plenipotentiary would have done who lived in the dismal days of Valley Forge, made glorious by the triumph at Yorktown. Quite the contrary did Ambassador Choate. In most di.cet tones, he denied de-nied the soft impeachment regarding his nationality, but In speech so dissembling dis-sembling as not to offend, but rather to jolly the Britons sitting around the table. "I cannot claim or admit that I have become an Englishman," he said. "If it is so, I am an Englishman of the seventeenth century." Well said, Ambassador Choate. You are certainly cer-tainly not an American of the seventeenth seven-teenth century, nor of the eighteenth century. Tories and Benedict Arnold lived in those days to aid the enemy and harass the colonists. Had you also lived in those times, your sycophancy syco-phancy as ambassador to Great Brit- ' ' ' ) t ain leaves no doubt in the minds of many patriotic Americans as to the side you would take after the Declaration Declar-ation of Independence by the thirteen colonies. The cable tells us that Mr. Choate struck a serious not, in the course of his speech by declaring that all the talk of Anglo-American unity ought to be more than talk, and he advocated the erection of a statue of Washington Washing-ton in London in the "mutual admiration admira-tion of both countries." "It is hard to say," continued the ambassador, "for which country Washington Wash-ington did most. I also want to see a statue of the great Queen Victoria in Washington. At a critical moment she absolutely saved us from a conflict con-flict with Europe." In this way, he said, he hoped tha an Anglo-American compact would be sealed. Oh, what an abortion is the Americanism Ameri-canism that inspires such sentiments in the hearing of tbe enemies of our country! Oh, what a lie on the lips of an American ambassador as he declares de-clares that the last British queen "absolutely "ab-solutely saved us from a conflict with Europe," when the falsehood has been disclosed by other nations of Europe. Of course, in this declaration, he included in-cluded France. Turn we now to the Fourth of July celebration upon the White House grounds at Washington. Among the published list of dignitaries present, do we find an English representative or officer, or even a distinguished British civilian? Not one. But France is represented, bonnie blue France. France, at whose tourt Benjamin Franklin did not plead in vain, after being haughtily denied justice at the court where sits our Ambassador Choate, France, our only ally in those dark days when raw, barefooted col onists with flintlock muskets were pitted against a disciplined army, and the halter hung near the neck of the continental congress. France, whose king dispatched a fleet and battalions of infantry to the Hid of the Americans. Ameri-cans. France, the country of Lafayette, Lafay-ette, the friend of Washington. Who of us cannot love France? Religious persecutions may come and go, piling sorrow upon sorrow for France, but no Catholic American can forget the nation na-tion which rendered such signal aid to our forefathers" and made possible the final victory which gave our country independence and established the grandest nation of the earth. The dispatches give us a synopsis of the speech of the French ambassador, ambassa-dor, M. Jusserand, who was present at the celebration in company with Vi-comte Vi-comte Charles de Chambran, a great grandson of the Marquis de Lafayette, but we have space only for one little sentiment. "The continental congress," con-gress," he said, "decided that an appeal ap-peal should be made to the foreign nations na-tions for an alliance. Amid the silence of nations one voice was? heard tn sav. 'Adsum' the voice of France." Secretary Moody, on behalf of the national government, reminded his hearers that without the co-operation of the French fleet under De Grasse, the victory over Cornwallis at York-town, York-town, which virtually determined the independence of the colonies, would never have been won. How unlike these French-American utterances is the gabble delivered at the banquet in London. What a body blow they ought to give to Choate's "Anglo-American aliance." It is celebrations cele-brations like that at Washington which keeps patriotism alive, and stirs within our souls the voice: "Long live the two republics! God save France!" |
