The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-11-25
THANKSGIVING ABROAD.
The Day Observed at Berlin and
London.
AN ANGLO-AMERICAN LOVE FEAST
AT BRITISH CAPITAL.

Three Hundred Americans and English
men Sit at Table Decorated by En-
twined Flags of Two Countries
Eioquence of Sir Edwin Arnoid-Em-
peror and President Toasted at Berlin.
London, November 24.-The Thanksgiv-
ing banquet of the American Society IN
London which was held at the Hotel
Cecil this evening, was.a g1or1hcat1on OF
Anglo-American friendship. Three hun
dred Americans and their English guests
sat at tables under the entwined flags
of the two nations. Two notable speech
es We're made, one by Mr.. Henry White,
the American charge d'affaires, and the
other by Sir Edwin Arnold. who was
supposed to be nearly at the point OF
death from paralysis, who dragged him.
self into the banquet hall against the or
ders of his physician, leaning on the arm
of his Japanese wife and supportedsby
cane.
Mr.. j. L. Taylor, president OF the soci-
ETY., proposed as a toast Her Majesty. the
Queen, and to President Mckinley, and
Mr.. B. G. Van Duzer, the secretary, read
President McKinley's Thanksgiving pro-
clamation.
Mr.. w. II Osborne. the American consul
general, in proposing the health OF the
charge d'affaires, paid high tribute to
Mr.. Whites long service.
Mr.. White responding to the toast
ssThapksgiving Day evoked enthusiast
4 (y,1 IJax
erly American am bassador and now Unit
ed States Secretary of State, whose slo-
quence, he said, had been the chief attrac-
tfons of the gatherings of the society.
Speaking of the first foreign war in fifty
years, which Americans had been COM
pelled to wage in the interests Of human
ity and civilization, - the charge d'affaires
congratulated the nation that, as in a
previous crisis, it had been guided by
q President possessed of the wisdom and
courage necessary to surmOunt the diff
euIties of the crisis. The war had proved
ssShat the fire OF patriotism burns as
brightly in the hearts of our citizens as
1t ever did and that sectional differences
have disappeared. We have emerged from
the conflict a united people among the
nations of the earth, ready to assume the
responsibilities unexpectedly thrust upon
us.
The speaker referred to the change
which had come over the feelings Of The
two aetions with respect to each other,
cas- based upon no alliance at present,
nor hope, to come, but upon unity OF
feeling.
Il would be difficult, he said, to fore
tell the consequences should the two
countries ever decide upon joint action
in any part Of the world. 1t would be q
combination difficult to defeat and tend
ing to the advancement of the human
race.
The Earl Halsbury, the lord chancellor,
e1tolled the Anglo-American friendship
which, he said, WAS not "vain ttnsel,
but what the race believed was. a duty to
be DONE"
These two nations, he declared, had de-
stroyed the idea that it was right for one
man to make another his property. The
American people, at the risk OF tearing
asunder the great empire they had found
ed. had determined that every man un-
der the Stars and Stripes should be free.
The two nations. together might defy the
world. Their alliance might be an idea
and dream, but it was noble idea AND
splendid dream.
Sir Edwin Arnold concluded the speech.
making with an address. the manner oi
which was SO eloquent that it could not
be reproduced. No man, he said. could
visit America and not express the graft
tude. attachment and hopes that nlled his
heart. He concluded:
'.Your guests salute you. Only one
who has known Holmes, Emerson. Long
fellow and Whitman can tell how secretly
and shyly Englishmen love Americas.