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I would recommend to you the practice of the great livery companies
of the City of London. All through the vicissitudes of
English history they have gone on dining and inviting to dine.
Who shall say that they have not played a great part in breaking
down barriers and harmonising discords? When Oliver Cromwell
became Lord Protector the livery companies of the City of London
gave him a great banquet and presented him with a handsome service
of plate. When Cromwell died and Charles II. returned to the
throne the livery companies of the City of London entertained him
at a great banquet and again presented a handsome service of plate.
There was no inconsistency, for the companies believed in a sound
doctrine which has always been at the bottom of British policy -
that contradictories can usually be reconciled if they are handled
in the proper way, and that however dubious a man's character or
policy may be, he will be all the better for a good dinner.