The Washington herald., 1914-01-04
WELCOME HOME
FOR MIR. BRYCE
Former Ambassador Guest Of
National Liberal Club
m London.
PAYS TRIBUTE TO ROOT
Calls Him the Greatest and Best Sec.
retary Of State the United
States Ever Had.

London Correspondence Of the New York Post-)
He is like a battleship that has been
engaged in a peaceful mission. The mis-
sion has been accomplished, and he Is
now free, IL he likes, to clear his decks
for action" With this striking simiie
Sir Edward Grey. speaking at dinner
of the National Liberal Club, welcomed
Mr.. Bryce back to active participation in
the political life of the United Kingdom.
No returning Ambassador has ever lis
tened TO a similar appeal. for no British
statesman-within recent times, at any
rate-has been taken straight from the
cabinet to represent the. Crown in Tor
eign country. This great pacificator,
as Sir Edward fifty called him, rendered
great service to the Liberal party. in
some of its hardest and most troubled
DAYS. and those who assembled to do
honor to him on Friday night showed
Enthusiastically their delight at being able
to count him once more among their
counselors and leaders.
Sir Edward Grey pointedly invited the
guest of the evening to offer some COM
ment on the situation at home. What
does he think of us? Do We look older
than when he went away? DO We seem
wiser?" The foreign secretary is an ex-
pert angler, but in this instance the nsn
did not rise. When he went to wash
would not express any opinion upon
either British American politics our,
ing the whole term of his Office as Ann
bassador and for six months after his re-
turn Unluckily, he did not land IN Eng
land until two or three months ago, so
he was still under the duress of this
self-denying ordinance.
Applause Is Hearty.
Rut what he was not yet free to say,
they were free to say for him, and they
did So by the applause-the loudest and
most persistent of the whole evening
with which they GREETED one OF his re-
marks about the British dominions IN
Australasia and Canada. In those lands
he said the executive is strong, and law
and order are well maintained. This was
largely due to the example set by the
home country.
Although the burning questions OF DO
nestic politics were thus excluded from
Mr. B-yce's speech, it did not fail to
hold the close interest of his hearers for
nearly three-quarters of an hour. 1t re-
vealed the same James Bryce whom his
fellow-countrymen knew SO well before
his Washington embassy-the piercing
eyes, the alert and eager manner. the
wide range of interests, the sense of
ample resou- of thought and knowi-
edge at thu bac.i of the utterance OF the
momer;, and, above all, the intense en-
thusiasm for the cause of freedom and
progress in every land This was espe-
ciaIly notable in the almost boyish ardor
Of his reference to China. d
But the longest and weightiest section
Of the address was. devoted to the prob
lens of the British Empire outside the
United Kingdom. This included an esti-
mate Of the present condition of public
life in the self-governing dominions, an
appeal for closer intercourse between
them and the mother country, strong
Affirmation of the value of the imperial
connection, and a warning of the urgent
need of finding some means of reconcfling
the rights of imperial citizenship for all
British subjects with the principle that
each self-governing dominion should be
master in its own house.
Tribute to Mr.. Root.
In spite of the claims of such subjects
as these, Mr.. Bryce contrived to find
room in his address for good deal that
should be of special interest to his friends
in America. In proposing the toast of
his health, Sir Edward Grey had men,
toned that il was from a sense of public
duty-and, il he remembered rightly.
with some reluctance to leave the in
terests in which he was engaged at home
that the guest of the club went to
Washington six years ago.
In his reply, Mr.. Bryce practically in
dorsed Sir Edwards opinion. At the
time of his appointment he was happy
in the membership of a united cabinet
with whom It was a pleasure to work
1t was a privilege. too, to be able to do
something for ireland, and especially for