LAYING FOUNDATION STONE
HAILE SELASSIE I UNIVERSITY
….In the field of education, We take
great pleasure in the fact that the opening of Ethiopia’s first University is
near at hand. Henceforth, students who have demonstrated their capacity and
ability will no longer leave their homeland to pursue higher education. The
University’s faculty is being recruited and its physical plant is being
established. We Ourself have presented Our Guennete Leul Palace and its
grounds, inherited from Our beloved father, as a free gift to the nation, to
serve as the nucleus of the University’s physical facilities, and a formal
ceremony for the handing over of the Palace will be held in the near future …..
The population of Our Capital, Addis
Ababa, have expressed through their Mayor, their desire to erect a monument to
Our honour, that they on their own initiative, have started raising funds, and
have requested that We lay the foundation stone of this memorial today.
It has also been confirmed that the whole people of
Ethiopia have joined hands with the people of Addis Ababa in this effort.
As was indicated on the occasion of Our
Birthday Anniversary on July 23rd last, We shall now make known to you Our
intentions in reference to this monument.
We wish first of
all to state that Our heart was touched with Our beloved people’s desire to
erect in Our honour a statue in recognition of services which We have rendered
to them and to Our country. There can be no better way for a people to show
their deep gratitude to their Sovereign.
By what means can
man’s achievements in this world be best remembered? Many people believe that
this could be done by the erection of physical and material structures; others
believe that their works are in themselves lasting monuments. We, for Our part,
think that man’s contribu-tions which live to influence the life and progress
of posterity, are the most permanent monuments that can ever be erected.
It is now 32 years
since We assumed the high service of aiding and guiding the destinies of Our
people, counting from Our Regency, when We were destined to the Imperial Throne
of Ethiopia. During this period of Our Reign, a series of problems and trials
have had to be faced.
There can be no
better testimony to the recognition of Our devotion to the cause of Our country
and to the welfare of Our people, entrusted to Our care, from the day when We
were chosen with the Grace of Almighty God the anointed Emperor of Ethiopia,
than this expression of noble sentiments from Our beloved and loyal people.
We have abiding
faith that the Almighty, Who has vouchsafed Us the privilege to reach this
present stage, will grant to Ethiopia a bright future and an enduring destiny.
Now, when Our people are
willing to erect a statue in Our image, We feel it a duty on Our part to
consider what would be the most appropriate means of incorporating in a
concrete and lasting manner the sentiments of Our people.
University: A Symbol of Mutual
Gratitude
Any monument to be left for
Our people, to be permanent, must be erected upon spiritual foundations. It is
widely known that during Our reign, We spared no effort to promote and extend
education and to cultivate the spirit and mind of Our people.
It is Our sincere
wish to intimately connect the statue Our people intend to erect in Our image
and in Our honour with a living monument in remembrance of Our people’s
goodwill, which will go down in history from generation to generation linking
together perennially the affection of a people to its Sovereign.
Our beloved people,
in contemplating the erection of a monument in Our honour, and We, on Our part,
to express Our satisfaction and recognize this gratitude, have decided that on
this same spot, where Our people have resolved to build with the funds
voluntarily subscribed a statue to Us, that a University be erected and established
for the education of Ethiopia’s youth so as to allow them and future
generations to benefit from this happy event.
While giving this
site for the building and establishment of a University to represent at the
same time a monument to your Emperor, for the service and the benefit of your
children and the future generations and to stand as a symbol of mutual
gratitude between your Sovereign and His people, We now lay the foundation
stone of the University.
The salvation of
Our country, Ethiopia, as We have repeatedly stated to you, lies primarily in
education. As Ethiopia is one, all Ethiopians are also one, and education is
the only way to maintain this condition.
Nov. 7, 1949.
Selected Speeches of His
Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie - page 1 -
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| HIM QHS surrounded by HAILE SELASSIE I UNIVERSITY Graduates |
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| HAILE SELASSIE I UNIVERSITY |
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| Nowadays known as Addis Ababa University |
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