[Speech of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at the 115th annual banquet of the
Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, May 8, 1883. George W.
Lane, President of the Chamber of Commerce, presided, and announced as
the first regular toast: "The United States--the great modern
Republic--the home of a new cosmopolitan race; may those who seek the
blessings of its free institutions and the protection of its flag
remember the obligations they impose." The orchestra played "The
Star-Spangled Banner," and General Grant, who was called upon to
respond to this toast, was received with great enthusiasm.]
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND
GUESTS:--I am very much obliged to your President for calling upon
me first, because the agony will soon be over and I shall enjoy the
misery of the rest of you. [Laughter.]
The first part of this toast--The United States--would be a voluminous
one to respond to on a single occasion. Bancroft commenced to publish
his notes on the History of the United States, starting even before
President Lane established this Chamber, which I think was something
over one hundred years ago. [Laughter.] Bancroft, I say, commenced
earlier, and I am not prepared to dispute his word if he should say that
he had kept an accurate journal from the time he commenced to write
about the country to the present, because there has been no period of
time when I have been alive that I have not heard of Bancroft, and I
should be equally credulous if President Lane should tell me that he was
here at the founding of this Institution. [Laughter.] But instead of
bringing those volumes of Bancroft's here, and reading them to you on
this occasion, I will let the reporters publish them as the prelude to
what I am going to say. [Laughter.]
I think Bancroft has finished up to a little after the time that
President Lane established this Chamber of Commerce, and I will let you
take the records of what he [Lane] has written and what he has said in
their monthly meetings and publish them as the second chapter of my
speech. And, gentlemen, those two chapters you will find the longest;
they will not amount to much more than what I have to say taking up the
subject at the present time. [Laughter.]
But in speaking of the United States, we who are native-born have a
country of which we may well be proud. Those of us who have been abroad
are better able, perhaps, to make the comparison of our enjoyments and
our comforts than those who have always stayed at home. [Applause.] It
has been the fortune, I presume, of the majority here to compare the
life and the circumstances of the average people abroad with ours here.
We have here a country that affords room for all and room for every
enterprise. We have institutions which encourage every man who has
industry and ability to rise from the position in which he may find
himself to any position in the land. [Applause.] It is hardly worth my
while to dwell upon the subject, but there is one point which I notice
in the toast, that I would like to say a word about--"May those who
seek the blessings of its free institutions and the protection of its
flag remember the obligations they impose." I think there is a text that
my friend Mr. Beecher,[4] on the left, or my friend Dr. Newman,[5] on
the right, might well preach a long sermon upon. I shall say only a few
words.
We offer an asylum to every man of foreign birth who chooses to come
here and settle upon our soil; we make of him, after a few years'
residence only, a citizen endowed with all the rights that any of us
have, except perhaps the single one of being elected to the Presidency
of the United States. There is no other privilege that a native, no
matter what he has done for the country, has that the adopted citizen of
five years' standing has not got. [Applause.] I contend that that places
upon him an obligation which, I am sorry to say, many of them do not
seem to feel. [Applause,]
We have witnessed on many occasions here the foreign, the adopted,
citizen claiming many rights and privileges because he was an adopted
citizen. That is all wrong. Let him come here and enjoy all the
privileges that we enjoy, but let him fulfil all the obligations that we
are expected to fulfil. [Loud applause.] After he has adopted it, let
this be his country--a country that he will fight for, and die for, if
necessary. I am glad to say that the great majority of them do it, but
some of them who mingle in politics seem to bank largely on the fact
that they are adopted citizens; and that class I am opposed to as much
as I am opposed to many other things that I see are popular now.
[Applause.]
I know that other speakers will come forward, and when Mr. Beecher and
Dr. Newman speak, I hope they will say a few words on the text which I
read. [Applause.]