|
Chapter II [excerpt]
In responding, the Mayor
of Winchester, having expressed the goodwill of the English National
Committee and the pleasure it afforded them to be represented on
the occasion, said that the English-speaking race might be likened
to a great tide surging ever onward, and that their power and influence
for good in future ages would be immense, “a potentiality immeasurable.”
Continuing, he said—
We of the other hemisphere recognise
the vast progress of the people of America. We watch the rapid
rise and immense expansion brought home to us continually by
the development of the cities and [164][165]
towns of the United States. Our debt, and great it is, for the
example set us we fully recognise and appreciate. Our home celebration,
held at Winchester, the ancient and royal capital of England,
cradle of the greatness of the English-speaking race, was not
entirely free from great shadows of distress, of sorrow, and
we deeply lamented the terrible end of your much-respected President,
Mr. M’Kinley. He had written to me in the early days of this
commemoration, and expressed his personal and cordial sympathy
with the movement. The proceedings on the day of the funeral
were at once entirely altered in character.
This severe blow was not the only
one sustained during the arrangements of our celebration. Our
own beloved, great, and good Queen Victoria had passed to her
last rest midst the mourning of the peoples of the civilised
globe. The record of the lives of Victoria and M’Kinley and
of the life of King Alfred will be an ever-treasured memory
and far-reaching influence for good.
May the example of King Alfred’s
career remain ever before our peoples. May the present good
feeling existing between the United States and Great Britain
endure throughout the ages still to come.
The Mayor acknowledged
in the course of his remarks that the striking success of the English
celebration was in a large measure due to American sympathy, and
referred with great pleasure to the circumstance that the two peoples
had together celebrated the memory of Alfred both in the old country
and in the new.
|
