Afoot in England | Page 8

the most striking of all
Mr. Roosevelt's foreign addresses.
The occasion was a brilliant and notable one. The ancient and splendid
Guildhall--one of the most perfect Gothic interiors in England, which
has historical associations of more than five centuries--was filled with a
representative gathering of English men and women. On the dais, or
stage, at one end of the hall, sat the Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress,
and the special guests of the occasion were conducted by ushers, in
robes and carrying maces, down a long aisle flanked with spectators on
either side and up the steps of the dais, where they were presented.
Their names were called out at the beginning of the aisle, and as the
ushers and the guest moved along, the audience applauded, little or
much, according to the popularity of the newcomer. Thus John Burns
and Mr. Balfour were greeted with enthusiastic hand-clapping and
cheers, although they belong, of course, to opposite parties. The Bishop
of London, Lord Cromer, the maker of modern Egypt, Sargent, the

painter, and Sir Edward Grey, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
were among those greeted in this way. In the front row on one side of
the dais were seated the aldermen of the city in their red robes, and
various officials in wigs and gowns lent to the scene a curiously antique
aspect to the American eye. Happily, the City of London has carefully
preserved the historical traditions connected with it and with the Guilds,
or groups of merchants, which in the past had so much to do with the
management of its affairs. Among the invited guests, for example, were
the Master of the Mercers' Company, the Master of the Grocers'
Company, the Master of the Drapers' Company, the Master of the
Skinners' Company, the Master of the Haberdashers' Company, the
Master of the Salters' Company, the Master of the Ironmongers'
Company, the Master of the Vintners' Company, and the Master of the
Clothworkers' Company. These various trades, of course, are no longer
carried on by Guilds, but by private firms or corporations, and yet the
Guild organization is still maintained as a sort of social or semi-social
recognition of the days when the Guildhall was not merely a great
assembly-room, but the place in which the Guilds actually managed the
affairs of their city. It was in such a place and amid such surroundings
that Mr. Roosevelt was formally nominated and elected a Freeman of
the ancient City of London.
Mr. Roosevelt's speech was far from being extemporaneous; it had
been carefully thought out beforehand, and was based upon his
experiences during the previous March, in Egypt; it was really the
desire of influential Englishmen in Africa to have him say something
about Egyptian affairs that led him to make a speech at all. He had had
ample time to think, and he had thought a good deal, yet it was plainly
to be seen that the frankness of his utterance, his characteristic attitude
and gestures, and the pungent quality of his oratory at first startled his
audience, accustomed to more conventional methods of public
speaking. But he soon captured and carried his hearers with him, as is
indicated by the exclamations of approval on the part of the audience
which were incorporated in the verbatim report of the speech in the
London Times. It is no exaggeration to say that his speech became the
talk of England--in clubs, in private homes, and in the newspapers. Of
course there was some criticism, but, on the whole, it was received with
commendation. The extreme wing of the Liberal party, whom we

should call Anti-Imperialists, but who are in Great Britain colloquially
spoken of as "Little Englanders," took exception to it, but even their
disapproval, save in a few instances of bitter personal attack, was mild.
The London _Chronicle_, which is perhaps the most influential of the
morning newspapers representing the Anti-Imperialist view, was of the
opinion that the speech was hardly necessary, because it asserted that
the Government and the British nation have long been of Mr.
Roosevelt's own opinion. The _Westminster Gazette_, the leading
evening Liberal paper, also asserted that "none of the broad
considerations advanced by Mr. Roosevelt have been absent from the
minds of Ministers, and of Sir Edward Grey in particular. We regret
that Mr. Roosevelt should have thought it necessary to speak out
yesterday, not on the narrow ground of etiquette or precedent, but
because we cannot bring ourselves to believe that his words are
calculated to make it any easier to deal with an exceedingly difficult
problem."
The views of these two newspapers fairly express the rather mild
opposition excited by the speech among those who regard British
control in Egypt as a question of partisan politics. On the other hand,