[Speech of Henry E. Howland at a banquet given by the Chamber of
Commerce of the State of New York, April 28, 1893, to the Officers of
foreign and United States vessels escorting the Spanish caravels to
the harbor of New York City. The President of the Chamber of Commerce,
Alexander E. Orr, in introducing Judge Howland, said: "Gentlemen, our
next toast is 'Russia' and will be responded to by the Hon. Henry E.
Howland."]
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN:--The pleasing duty is assigned me
of recognizing the largest and one of the famous powers of Europe,
accompanied by the suggestion that my time is limited. The situation is
like that of the clergyman who was sent for in great haste by a man who
was very ill, and thought the end was approaching. He said to the
minister, when he arrived: "I have been a great sinner, I am pretty
sick, and I am afraid my time is short, and I want you to pray with me.
You must be brief but fervent." [Laughter.]
Most of us who sit at this table, judging from the opportunities I have
had of hearing them discourse, fulfil the requirement of Mr. Disraeli's
great traveller in that they have seen more than they have remembered
and remembered more than they have seen. [Laughter.] But I doubt if in
all their experiences they ever sat in a more genial and attractive
company than this. We have here in this year of peace the chosen
representatives of ten nations, with all the romance of the sea, the
splendid histories and traditions of their countries, and their own
personal distinction and fame to make them welcome and interesting.
Already have you conquered the land, and from the time you effected a
lodgment at Fortress Monroe until you are hull down on the horizon, on
your homeward voyages, your progress will prove to have been a
triumphant march into the hearts and homes of the people. [Applause.]
You have stores of wisdom and most agreeable experiences to accumulate.
Judging from press reports you may have thought you met a fair type of
the girls of America at Hampton Roads. [Laughter.] Wait till the
wonderful resources of this country in this its richest and unparalleled
product are spread before you. [Laughter.] Then you will not wonder at
the mysterious power of Helen of Troy, who set nations by the ears, or
the fascination of the Queen of the Nile, who made heroes forget their
duty and their homes. If you should take any for themselves, alone, we
should commend your choice, and though parting with them reluctantly,
should wish you God-speed. But if their money should be your object we
are just now objecting to the exportation of gold and trying to maintain
our reserves. [Laughter.]
Whatever your nationality, you will find a large and prosperous
contingent of it in this city, the majority of whose municipal officers,
however, belong to that race which looks to Mr. Gladstone as its
saviour, and believes that when an Irishman dies it's because there is
an angel short. [Great laughter.] You will find here a wonderful power
of brag which develops as you seek the setting sun. Some inquiring
spirits will be moved to ask you what you think of this country, and, if
you visit the World's Fair some adventurous person may ask your opinion
of Chicago. It is needless to say that a favorable opinion cannot be too
highly colored, and if tinted with vermilion, will conduce to the
pleasure of your stay. [Laughter.] You will have little opportunity to
admire the wonders of our natural scenery save at Niagara. You will be
able to appreciate the reply of an American Naval officer to an English
friend in Italy when each had been maintaining the superiority of his
own country. Finally the grand spectacle of Mount Vesuvius in eruption,
throwing its brilliant rays across the Bay of Naples, burst upon their
astonished gaze.
"Now, look at that," said the Englishman. "You haven't got anything in
America that comes anywhere near that."
"No," replied the Yankee, "we haven't got Vesuvius, but we have got a
waterfall that could put that thing out in less than five minutes."
[Laughter.]
At Chicago your professional instinct will lead you to admire the
magnificent turreted battleship which, in consequence of a convention
with England that neither shall maintain a fleet upon the Great Lakes,
is built upon piles, and of such substantial material that there are
fears it cannot withstand the atmospheric concussion from the fire of
the big Krupp gun. But I need not rehearse the experiences to come. You
would weary in their telling. We shall keep you as long as possible and
be loath to part with you. And if we have our way, your experience will
be like that of the old lady, who was travelling on the underground
railroad in London. Just as they were approaching a station, she said to
a gentleman, in the compartment with her: "Will you assist me to alight
at this station, sir? I am, as you see, rather stout, and I have a
physical infirmity which makes it necessary for me to step out
backwards, and every time I try to get out the guard bundles me back
into the car, shouts 'All aboard,' shuts the door, and I have gone
around this line three times already." [Great laughter.]
At this gate of the continent we begin the pageant of the Columbian
Exposition. By the cruel irony of fate the promoters and sponsor of this
great display cannot have any hand in the Fair. The Spaniards have a
proverb that you can't at the same time ring the bell and be in the
procession [laughter]; and although you can make Chicago a seaport by
Act of Congress, you cannot get a fleet of six thousand ton ironclads
over 1,000 miles of land, even on the Chicago Limited, or the Empire
Express. [Laughter.] And so we New Yorkers appropriate this as our
private, peculiar, particular Exhibition; as Touchstone says, "A poor
thing, sir, but our own."
It is not given to many men in their experience to see such a sight as
is now spread before us on the waters of the harbor of New York. The
might and majesty of the great nations of the earth are here represented
in their fleets which typify the country afloat, as the valor, the
ability and the distinction of their officers represent that of their
peoples. Former antagonists here float side by side; peace broods over
the armored sides of battleships and the feverish lips of their guns
speak only salutes of friendship and courtesy. It is a pity that it is
not always so.
Among the flags that float from the mastheads of the fleet in yonder
harbor there is one--the blue St. Andrew's Cross--that represents an
empire of over 8,000,000 square miles, of more diversified races than
any other in Europe; that reaches from the Baltic to the Pacific--from
the Arctic to the Black Sea; that receives the allegiance of 103,000,000
of people, and from its great white throne on the shores of the Gulf of
Finland directs the destinies of its subjects and shapes the policy of
Europe. [Applause.]
That flag is not unfamiliar in these waters. In the battle summer of
1863--thirty years ago--while we were engaged in a life-and-death
struggle for national existence and the preservation of the Union, it
floated over the fleet of Admiral Lissoffski in this harbor--a signal of
friendship, encouragement and protection against foreign interference,
pending the settlement of the issues of our Civil War. No diplomatic
declaration was made, no threat was uttered, no sign was given; we only
knew the flag was there, and if it meant anything, that the power of one
of the mightiest nations of Europe was behind it. We now know from what
it saved us:--
"When darkness hid the starry skies,
In war's long winter night,
One ray still cheered our straining eyes,
The far-off Northern Light."
No American who loves his country can forget that incident in our hour
of agony, nor the friendly significance of that flag. It was an American
captain who used the expression which has become historic, when he went
to the relief of his English brother-in-arms at the storming of the
Pei-Ho forts, that "blood is thicker than water," and while it courses
in the veins of a loyal American, he will remember with grateful
appreciation the sympathy and the moral support, more powerful than
armed battalions or cruisers, of Alexander II, who, like our Lincoln,
freed his serfs, and like him, while serving his people, fell by the
hand of an assassin.
Gentlemen, who serve His Imperial Majesty the Czar, we salute you and
your flag under whatever skies or on whatever sea it floats. We remind
you that we are not ungrateful. The best we have is yours; the Nation
presents arms as you pass in review, and as our borders approach each
other in the frozen zone so when we meet you here:--
"Though our hearts were dry as the shell on the sand,
They would fill like the goblet I hold in my hand."
"Bleak are our shores in the blast of December,
Fettered and chill is the rivulet's flow,
Throbbing and warm are the hearts that remember
Who was our friend when the world was our foe.
"Fires of the North, in eternal communion
Blend your broad flashes with evening's bright star,
God bless the Empire that loves our great Union!
Strength to her people! Long life to the Czar!"
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