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Draft.

Mr. President, as the representative of His Majesty the
King I welcome most warmly to this ancient capital the First Citizen
of the United States. Canada welcomes you for your own sake as an
old acquaintance - for I think you know well our Eastern coasts - and
as one of the major forces today in the statesmanship of the world .
She welcomes you not less as the ruler of a people to whom she is bound
by many old ties of blood and tradition, a people whose problems today
she shares, and whose future is closely linked to her own. We are a
North American nation and our destiny is inseparable from yours.
We have much in common with you, but we are also very unlike you, and
differences understood and respected are the best foundation for
friendship.

Canada is a free and sovereign nation, and for generations
she has dwelt side by side with you in perfect amity - an example to
all the world of how civilised neighbours should live together. She
is also a principal constituent part of the British Empire, and as
such she is a link between your great Republic and that Commonwealth
of Nations which covers a third of the habitable globe. Mr . President,
it is my earnest hope - and I know that it is also yours - that our
friendship and goodwill may grow to a still closer understanding,
and become that strongest of human creations, a thing about which men
do not argue, but which they can take for granted. It is my prayer
that not by any formal alliance, but through thinking the same
thoughts and pursuing the same purpose, the Republic of the United States and
the British Commonwealth may have to restore the shaken liberties of mankind.