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guest, which had a remarkable origin. It originally began in a
bitter dispute about a bridge. The disputants, instead of resorting
to fisticuffs, or an action at law, very wisely decided that it
would be better to dine together and talk it over, with the result
that a most flourishing dining club was formed, whicb has continued
for two hundred years. That has always seemed to me an excellent
precedent. It is a precedent which has been followed by the
famous livery companies in the City of London, whose supreme virtue
is hospitality. In good times and in bad times they gather their
friends about them, a happy custom which does much to sweeten public
life. They show a true catholicity in their invitations. When
Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector he was given a sumptuous dinner
by the City Companies and presented with a service of plate. When
Cromwell passed, and King Charles II came to his own, he, too, was
royally entertained. In all that there was no inconsistency.
The London City Companies held the sound view that whether a man, or
a ruler, was bad or good, he would be a better man and a better
ruler if he were given an excellent dinner.

May I add one word in a more serious vein? I have come
to Canada with the most complete enthusiasm and interest for the
work whicb lies before me. I have many ties of kinship with the
Dominion. All my life I have had many Canadian friends. I already
know something of the beauty and charm of the land, and for me to
come to Canada is to feel something of the holiday spirit. But
much more than that I feel that I have come to a land which, in a
sense, is the laboratory of a great experiment. The world is pass-