It is like an emperor lying in wait to rob a phenix's nest, and waiting the necessary century to get the chance.
AFTER-DINNER SPEECH [AT A FOURTH OF JULY GATHERING, IN LONDON, OF AMERICANS] MR.

CHAIRMAN AND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I thank you for the compliment which has just been tendered me, and to show my appreciation of it I will not afflict you with many words.

It is pleasant to celebrate in this peaceful way, upon this old mother soil, the anniversary of an experiment which was born of war with this same land so long ago, and wrought out to a successful issue by the devotion of our ancestors.

It has taken nearly a hundred years to bring the English and Americans into kindly and mutually appreciative relations, but I believe it has been accomplished at last.

It was a great step when the two last misunderstandings were settled by arbitration instead of cannon.