Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z
History
Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z
Speeches, addresses, etc.
And so I have gone in and out among you these four years and have come
to know you well. I have taken part in many gratifying public functions;
I have been the guest at many homes; and my heart has gone out with
yours in memorable jubilee of that Sovereign Lady whom all Englishmen
love and all Americans honor. I have stood with you by some unforgotten
graves; I have shared in many joys; and I have tried as well as I could
through it all, in my small way, to promote constantly a better
understanding, a fuller and more accurate knowledge, a more genuine
sympathy between the people of the two countries. [Cheers.]
And this leads me to say a word on the nature of these relations. The
moral intercourse between the governments is most important to be
maintained, and its value is not to be overlooked or disregarded. But
the real significance of the attitude of nations depends in these days
upon the feelings which the general intelligence of their inhabitants
entertains toward each other. The time has long passed when kings or
rulers can involve their nations in hostilities to gratify their own
ambition or caprice. There can be no war nowadays between civilized
nations, nor any peace that is not hollow and delusive, unless sustained
and backed up by the sentiment of the people who are parties to it.
[Cheers.] Before nations can quarrel, their inhabitants must first
become hostile. Then a cause of quarrel is not far to seek. The men of
our race are not likely to become hostile until they begin to
misunderstand each other. [Cheers.] There are no dragon's teeth so
prolific as mutual misunderstandings. It is in the great and constantly
increasing intercourse between England and America, in its
reciprocities, and its amenities, that the security against
misunderstanding must be found. While that continues, they cannot be
otherwise than friendly. Unlucky incidents may sometimes happen;
interests may conflict; mistakes may be made on one side or on the
other, and sharp words may occasionally be spoken by unguarded or
ignorant tongues. The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make
anything. [Cheers and laughter.] The nation that comes to be without
fault will have reached the millennium, and will have little further
concern with the storm-swept geography of this imperfect world. But
these things are all ephemeral; they do not touch the great heart of
either people; they float for a moment on the surface and in the wind,
and then they disappear and are gone--"in the deep bosom of the ocean
buried."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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