fter the centuries of immortal
names already enshrined there has had the proud although most melancholy
honor of adding in one decade--scarcely more than ten years--the names
of Macaulay, Grote, Dickens, Thackeray, and Lytton? [Cheers.] They are
our contemporaries, not our countrymen; but we cannot afford to resign
our claim to some portion of their glory as illustrators of our common
language. And I would fain believe that you take a fraternal interest in
the fame of those whom we too have lost, and who were our especial
garland--Washington Irving, Fenimore Cooper, Everett, Hawthorne, and
Prescott.

But I have trespassed far longer upon your attention than I meant to do
when I arose; and I shall therefore only once more thank you for the
great kindness with which you have received the toast of the Literature
of the United States. [Cheers.]

JOHN PHILIP NEWMAN

COMMERCE

[Speech of Rev. Dr. John P. Newman, at the 115th annual banquet of the
Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, May 8, 1883. The
President, George W. Lane, presided, and said: "Gentlemen, I give you
the fifth regular toast: 'Commerce--distributing to all regions the
productions of each, and, providing for the wants of all, it combines
in friendly intercourse the nations of the earth.' To this toast the
Rev. Dr. Newman will respond."]

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF NEW
YORK:--This is a beautiful toast--beautiful both in structure and
sentiment and would that it were true. [Applause.] It is true in theory
but not in history. It may be the voice of prophecy whose fulfilment
shall be a sublime fact. It is in the highest degree worthy of this
Chamber of Commerce and cannot fail in its peaceful mission among the
nations of the earth. [Applause.] But the ages testify that selfishness
and greed have marked the commercial history of the world. How splendid
have been the achievements of commerce, and how deplorable its failure
to realize its legitimate mission--to unify the human race. "Get all you
can, and keep all you get," were the selfish maxims that influenced the
Dutch merchants in Sumatra, Java, and Ceylon. The renowned merchants of
Portugal planted their commercial colonies on the rich coasts of
Malabar, took possession of the Persian Gulf and transformed the barren
island of Ormus into a paradise of wealth and luxury. But of that
far-famed island Milton sung in these truthful and immortal lines