The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-27
QUIPS AND TOASTS
FOR THE AMERICAN COLONY IN
THE BRITISH CAPITAL.
THANKSGIVING OBSERVED.
CHOATE AND BRYAN WE'RE PROM
INENT SPEAKERS.

Good Natured Repartee Marked the
Speeches-ChOate and Bryan Did a
Bit of "JOllying''-ChOate COnsid-
ers That Entire Approval Is Given
Such Matches as Marlborough
MRde-Bryan Made Some HumOr-
Gus AIIusiOns.
London. Nov. 26-Thanksgiving Day
was celebrated by the American So
ciety in London at a banquet given
at the Hotel Cecil tonight. There
We're over 400 covers. William Jen-
nings Bryan was the guest of honor.
The speeches, while favored by the
usual seasonal cheer and references to
Anglo American friendliness, developed
particularly into a duel of repartee,
good-natured, but almost sub-acid be-
tween Mr.. Bryan and Ambassador
Choate.
There were a number Of notable
guests at the banquet, including the
Duke of Marlborough and all the am
bassadors in London.
The Duke of Marlborough proposed
a toast to President Roosevelt, and
addressing himself to the interests
which England and the United States
have in common, referred in terms
of the highest praise to President
Roosevelt.
Ambassador Choate, responding to
the toast to his health, which was
proposed in complimentary terms by
Lord Davey took up the Duke of
Marlboroughs reference to the mutual
sympathies of the American and Brit
ish peoples and said that there had
been reason heretofore to suspect some
such sentiment on the part of the Duke
since he had set an example in one
form of the Anglo-American alliance
on which the people of both countries
were able to look with entire approval.
Had "JOIIy'' for Bryan.
Turning to Mr.. Bryan, Mr.. Choate
said it was the custom of Americans,
torn from their native shores, to gath
err annually and return thanks. The
American Society in London had now
among them another of these exiles
for whom personally he. as ambassa-
dor, had been doing the best he could.
He had taken Mr.. Bryan to visit the
Bank of England, where he was able
to study the fiscal question in its ma
tive lair.
The company would be edited, said
Mr.. Choate, had they heard Mr.. Bryan
ss-examining the governor of the
Bank of England. The ambassador
said he had aided Mr.. Bryan to hear
Mr.. Asquith, Mr.. Chamberlain, Lord
Goschen and Lord Rosebery, all with
in forty-eight hours, so if his views on
the fiscal questions were not utterly
mixed they would appreciate at least
the quality of the man they had before
them.
The speech of the ambassador was
followed by an ovation to Mr.. Bryan,
which lasted several minutes. Mr..
Bryan, in responding, paid a graceful
tribute to the English guests of the
society. He said the highest compli-
ment he was able to pay was that in
looking over the tables he was unable
to distinguish from the American wom-
en- present.
PIeasantries from Bryan.
He thanked the British nation for
the kindly clearance it had shown
in receiving 1.-THE protectionists for
letting him land at all, and the gold
bugs for not having deported him i'm
mediately after his arrival.
MT. bryan Sdlu he Hdu pIOHICu CA
ceedingly by his visit to the Bank of
England. He wanted to call attention,
however to the fact that the murder
Gus attack by an insane man with a
revolver on Kenneth Grahame, the Sec
rotary of the bank, occurred the day
before he called.
Touching the theme of Thanksgiving
Day, Mr.. Bryan spoke eloquently of
the natural resources and advantages
of the United States, for which the
people must return thanks to God, and
of the ideals of liberty and progress,
for which they must thank their Eng
fish progenitors. He urged the neces-
sity of the present generation be-
queathing to posterity some gift COM
mensurate with the blessings they had
received from their ancestors, and sug-
gested that they bequeath the ideal of
international amity, of which The
Hague arbitration tribunal was a last
ing monument.
"Hail to the nation" concluded Mr..
Bryan, whatever her name, who leads
the world towards this higher ideal for
the lasting good of all humanity"
Observed in