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 contributions 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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