174 WITH MR. CHAMBERLAIN IN THE 



with which I have always regarded the affairs and 

 the people of America. (Applause.) It would 

 have been very strange had it been otherwise, for 

 during my stay here I have received from everybody 

 with whom I have been brought into contact, per- 

 sonal kindness and encouraging hospitality and 

 generous consideration, which have left behind a 

 sentiment of overwhelming gratitude and good will. 

 (Applause.) 



Mr. President, in your opening remarks you have 

 alluded to the Mission which brought me to this 

 country. You are aware of the object which I had 

 in view, and, as you have said, this gathering is 

 specially interested in it. I don't suppose that 

 either in Canada or in the United States of America 

 there is any person so bitter or so absurd as to dis- 

 pute the importance of good relations between 

 Great Britain and the United States of America, 

 and especially between the United States of America 

 and the Dominion of Canada. (Cries of Hear, hear, 

 and applause.) 



For thousands of miles an invisible frontier line 

 separates the domains of the greatest of England's 

 colonies from the vast territories of the United 

 States, and in spite of everything that political 

 science or political ignorance (laughter) can do to 

 erect barriers between nations, this social and com- 

 mercial intercourse between the two countries is 

 great and is continually extending. The railway 

 systems are so interlocked that any disturbance of 

 existing relations would constitute something ap- 

 proaching disaster, and might imperil hundreds of 



