OF Gold Medal to France 99 



and charm of your country's history — when all the 

 world does homage to your literature, your art, your 

 exact science, your philosophic thought — we smile with 

 pleasure, for we feel, if we do not say: " Yes, these are 

 old friends of ours; they were very fond of our Ben 

 Franklin and he of them." 



Made more appreciative, perhaps, by what France 

 did for us when this old philosopher came to you, a 

 stranger, bearing the burdens of our early poverty and 

 distress, we feel that the enormous value of France to 

 civilization should lead every lover of mankind, in 

 whatever land, earnestly to desire the peace, the pros- 

 perity, the permanence, and the unchecked develop- 

 ment, of your national life. 



We, at least, can not feel otherwise; for what you 

 were to Franklin, we would be— we are— to you: always 

 true and loyal friends. 



Reception of the Franklin Medal 

 By His Excellency, M. J. J. Jusserand, 



The French Ambassador 



On behalf of the French Republic, with feelings of 

 deepest gratitude, I receive the gift offered to my coun- 

 try, this masterful portrait of Franklin, which a law of 

 Congress ordered to be made and which is signed with 

 the name, twice famous, of Saint-Gaudens. 



