tres of those forces which keep civilization from
becoming stupid. I do not say which is the _post_ and which the _propter_
in this inference; but I do say that the two things have been almost
invariably associated.

One word as to commerce in another relation which touches me more
nearly. Commerce and the rights and advantages of commerce, ill
understood and ignorantly interpreted, have often been the cause of
animosities between nations. But commerce rightly understood is a great
pacificator; it brings men face to face for barter. It is the great
corrector of the eccentricities and enormities of nature and of the
seasons, so that a bad harvest and a bad season in England is a good
season for Minnesota, Kansas, and Manitoba.

But, gentlemen, I will not detain you longer. It gives me great pleasure
to propose, as the representative of the United States, the toast of
"The Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom and of the Whole World,"
with which I associate the names of Mr. C. M. Norwood, M. P.,
vice-president of the Associated Chambers of the United Kingdom, and the
Hon. F. Strutt, president of the Derby Chamber. [Cheers.]

* * * * *

AFTER-DINNER SPEAKING

[Speech of James Russell Lowell at a banquet given to Sir Henry Irving,
London, July 4, 1883, in view of his impending departure for a
professional tour of America. Lord Coleridge, Lord Chief Justice of
England, occupied the chair. The toast, "Literature, Science, and
Art," was proposed by Viscount Bury, and Mr. Lowell was called upon to
respond for Literature. Professor Tyndall replied on behalf of
Science, and Alma Tadema for Art.]

MY LORD COLERIDGE, MY LORDS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:--I confess
that my mind was a little relieved when I found that the toast to which
I am to respond rolled three gentlemen, Cerberus-like, into one
[laughter], and when I saw Science pulling impatiently at the leash on
my left, and Art on my right, and that therefore the responsibility of
only a third part of the acknowledgment has fallen to me. You, my lord,
have alluded to the difficulties of after-dinner oratory. I must say
that I am one of those who feel them more keenly the more after-dinner
speeches I make. [Laughter.] There are a great many difficulties in the
way, and there are three principal ones, I think. The first is the
having too much to say, so that the words, hurrying to escape, bear down
and trample out the life