Page:Modern Eloquence - Volume 1.djvu/60

Rh and indelibly written on the page of history. Not that I wish to speak platitudes about war. It has been necessary to human progress; it has bred and preserved noble virtues; it has been inevitable, and may be again; but it belongs to a low civilization. Other countries have, perhaps, not yet reached that point of intimate contact and rational advance, but for us two, at least, the time seems to have come when violent decisions, and even talk of them, should be as much abolished between us as cannibalism.

I ventured, when in Washington, to propose to President Harrison that we should some day, the sooner the better, choose five men of public worth in the United States, and five in England; give them gold coats if you please, and a handsome salary, and establish them as a standing and supreme tribunal of arbitration, referring to them the little family fallings-out of America and of England, whenever something goes wrong between us about a sealskin in Behring Strait, a lobster pot, an ambassador's letter, a border tariff, or an Irish vote. He showed himself very well disposed toward my suggestion. [Laughter.]

Mr. President, in the sacred hope that you take me to be a better poet than orator, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your reception to-night, and personally pray for the tranquillity and prosperity of this free and magnificent republic.

Under the circumstances, one word may perhaps be permitted, before a company so intellectual and representative, as to my purpose in visiting your States. I had the inclination to try this literary experiment, whether a poet might not, with a certain degree of success, himself read the poems which he had composed and best understands, as the promulgator of his own ideas. The boldness of such an enterprise really covers a sincere compliment to America, for that which was possible and even popular in ancient Greece could be nowhere again possible if not in America, which has many great characteristics, and where the audiences are so patient, generous and enlightened. We shall see. Heartily, gratefully, and with a mind from which the memory of this glorious evening will never be effaced, I thank you for the very friendly and favorable omens of this banquet. [Applause.]