Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, For heathen heart that puts her trust And, guarding, calls not Thee to guard,For frantic boast and foolish word, Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord! AMEN. Confident of the greatness of his own country, he does not build his hopes of her future upon expectations of the patronage of any foreign power. Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen: T HE other day a man walked into my office and said: "We are going to have a meet 66 ing in sympathy with the Boers, and we want to use your name as a Vice-President." I answered instantly, "Use it!" Then I looked at him and said, "But you are an Irishman." "Oh, yes," he replied; "most of us in this movement are Irish." But why not leave it to the Dutch in America to hold the meeting?" I inquired. "Sure," said he, "if we left it to the Dutch, the war would be over before the meeting was held, and then we would n't have a fist in the fight!" Gentlemen, if the Holland Society has any doubt about which end of the British lion to tackle, there are other citizens in this community who will gladly relieve them of the responsibility. I am accustomed, gentlemen, to say what I mean, and to mean what I say. I don't quarrel with anybody if he differs with me. He has as much right to his opinion as I have to mine, and it is an equal chance that he is right and I am wrong; but I have my conviction and I must stand by it. So if, in drawing a picture of what I think is the True American, I may run counter to your opinion, I mean no offence. If I did not say what I mean I should make no speech at all. If you had left it to me to choose my toast tonight, I could not have picked one to suit me better, for there is nothing which appeals to me so much as the True American. Let me drink to him! Let me drink in warm, red wine- the symbol of the blood that is driven by his brave heart through his vigorous arteries. Not blue blood, but red bloodthe red blood of the aggregate people of America -blood that tingles with patriotism; blood that burns with love of liberty; blood that seethes with hatred of oppression. It is the blood of no one people of the old world. Not Dutch, nor English, nor Scotch, nor Irish, nor German, nor Italian, but the mixture of the best blood of all the nations of the earth, for it is the blood of the liberty-loving, freedom-seeking people of all the earth. It is the cream of the nations. It is this blood, drawn from all the sources of freedom in the world, that has produced the True American, and in producing him has built up the greatest republic the world has ever seen. The True American stands to-day the young Colossus of civilization. The nations are watching to see what he will do. Oppression and tyranny tremble in his presence, and freedom and liberty come to him as a friend and a champion. He is broad and liberal in all his views. He is firm in his convictions and is courageous in his opinions, but he does not assume that other men have not the right to differ with him. He is keenly alert to the interests of his own country, and he is sympathetic with other countries that are struggling to attain the greatness of his own along lines that led to that greatness. His birth, his breeding, and his education make him a democrat in principle and a republican in government. He does not envy a richer man and he does not scorn a poorer one. He believes in a condition of affairs that shall leave the field wide open for individual endeavor, so that the best man may win without fear or favor. It has always been his proudest boast that the poorest boy in the land may grow into the greatest man; that the humblest child may some day sit in the nation's presidential chair. He looks askance at any proposition or any tendency of the times that shall make it impossible for this condition to continue. As between republican and monarchical forms of government, the True American is always republican on general principles. He remembers the history of his country, and in any conflict between a monarchy and a republic he is for the republic. As between a superior monarchical force invading a country, and an inferior republican force defending it, he is for the defenders. As between a battalion crossing the seas and marching in solid phalanx, and an individual shooting from his fireside to protect his home, he is for the individual. If ever he is otherwise there must be some abnormal cause for his position. The True American is generous. He is charitable. We hear much of late about "hands across the sea." The True American has his hands across the sea. They are not stretched forth so much to grasp other strong hands as they are stretched forth to uplift weak hands. Wherever there has been hunger and famine and pestilence and peril, the hand of the True American has stretched across the sea. It has not borne sword or musket, but it has been laden with bread for the starving and medicine for the sick. It mattered not where the distress might be. Whenever the cry for help was heard, the hand was extended. To Ireland, to Armenia, to Africa, to South America, - wherever it might be, when the true American knew that a fellow-being was suffering, he took of what he had and shared it with his brother without thought of race, or creed, or color. He only cared to know that a human being was in distress and that he could aid him. The True American is progressive in national as well as in private matters. Even as he stands first among the men of the world in intellectual effort and for progressive commercial achievement, so he stands in the conduct of his government. He has no patience with those carping critics that ever hark back to 1776 for rules and lines on which to form the government of 1900. He does not ride backwards on a wagon, unable to see anything until it is past. He looks all matters squarely in the face. Only the past is behind him. He stands firmly in the present, and all the energy of his nature is bent towards seeing what the future holds and how to meet it. He recognizes in nations, as in human beings, that the rules governing childhood must change when man's estate is reached. He sees his country to-day standing firmly upon |