The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1885-07-17
A SPEECH By MR. PHELPS.
What the American Minister Had to Say at
the Lord Mayors Banquet.

the Lord Mayors Banquet
At a recent banquet given by the
lord mayor of London to her majesty's
Judges. MIR. Phelps being present, the
host proposed the health of the Amer.
lean minister. Mr.. Phelps responded
as follows: am much indebted to the
lord mayor for the kind and generous
way in which he has presented my
name, and to this distinguished COM
pany for the cordial manner in which
the toast has been received. | do not
assume to myself the honor OF this re-
ception, for | am, as yet, but a stran-
ger within the gates OF England and l
have no such claim upon your personal
consideration as my distinguished pre-
decessor had. But it is more crafty
ing than any personal compliment you
could pay me to see in this another
proof, in addition to the many that
have been pressed upon me on all
hands since | have landed on your
shores, of the hearty feeling of SYM
pathy which exists among the English
people toward the country L have the
great honor to represent. When an
American minister comes here he finds
it is no foreign mission on which he
has been sent. On both sides of the
Atlantic he is equally at home; he has
changed the sky but not the hearts by
which he is surrounded, and he feels
that, though he comes as a stranger,
he is soon established as a friend. 1t
is an undeniable fact, and, In my judg-
ment, it is a most important and sig
~niiicant as we'll rs a gratifying fact,
that the relations between the people
Of these two great countries are grow
ing more cordial every day. In my
behalf they never were so cordial as
thev are at the present moment. In
ternationai prejudices are usually the
offspring of international misunder-
standings; international m'sunder-
STANDINGS rapidly perish under the in
luenco of large and liberal lnterna-
tional intercourse; and those are the
means, under providence, which are
bringing these peoples nearer and
nearer toward each other. Steam and
electricity have bridged tho Atlantic,
and each country is full of the citizens
of the other. Many Americans live
here and many Englishmen live in the
United States, and every summer each
country Is o%verspread with travellers
from the other. How cordially on our
side If the Atlantic the feeling to
which | have alluded is reciprocated
those who have Travelled in the United
States will know, and those who have
not been there | freely invite IN the
name of my countrymen to 60, for it
is that intercourse which has brought
the peoples together in the to
which | have adverted. The relations
between governments, and especially
the governments of great nations, are
most important, undoubtedly, and we
are to be felicitated ON the fact that
the relations between the governments
of England and the United States are
now so happy that there is nothing to
be said on the subject. But,
after all, the fraternity that
should exist between nations de-
ponds not Upon the relations of the
governments, and is not to be brought
about by diplomacy or by treaties; 1T
depends upon the personal sympathy
and feelings OF the people themselves.
And if l may be permitted to
refer to recent events, L can
assure YOU that when it was
perceived in America that the
clouds of war which threatened to set
tie down upon your country began to
be dissipated-a hope in the realiza-
ton of which l pray God we may not
be disappointed-and when it began
to be seen that the sunshine of con-
tinued peace was likely to fall unob-
structed upon the multiplied indus
tries of England, there were no people
in all the range of humanity by whom
that conclusion was received with
more sincere and complete satisfac-
ton and gratitude than by the people
of the United States. Especially, as
1T seems to me, should the fraternity
between these two great nations find
expression on this occasion and IN this
place, where you, my lord mayor,
preside in your official capacity as
chief magistrate of the greatest city in
the world-a city whose commerce
has more than put a girdle around the
earth. 1t is there exactly that you
touch us most nearly. America is
emphatically a country of industry
and of business; in no country IN the
world do hat class called business
men possess so large a snare anu III
fiuence in the affairs of the govern
ment. America is able to offer a
home to all, simply because it offers
work to all. 1t is pre-eminetly the
home of the worker and not of the
idler, and therefore here, more than
anywhere else, is 1t appropriate that
expression should be given to the rela-
tons which subsist between the two
countries. There IS another reason
why an American representative, and
above all an American lawyer, should
be glad to come here on this OCCASION
and that is the common share which
we claim and tho common admlra-
ton which we feel for the distinguish
ed men who are your guests tonight
the judges of England. We claim
them as ours, as brethren of u pro-
fession in America, one and all. III
hundreds of courts and among thou
sands of lawyers and judges who
never saw and never will see the faces
of the English judges, their names
to-day are household words, and the1