64 LORD READING

experience of sea life, and gave quite a personal touch to the
proceedings by a fragment of autobiography. " It has been
my lot in life/' he said, ''.among many and varied occupa-
tions to have been a sailorboy. Very early in life, when,
perhaps, there was not so much comfort as there is now,
when to sail in the foc'sle of a sailing vessel was not exactly
living in a drawing-room, the lessons of the sea were taught
me, and there remained with me a sympathy for the sailorman
which I shall never forget/'

Lord Reading was equally felicitous in his later speeches.
He presided at the civic luncheon, given under the auspices
of the English-Speaking Union, and also spoke at a meeting
in the Guildhall, one of a number arranged by the Union to
express " the national tribute " to the Pilgrim Fathers.
There was a crowded audience, and the Lord Chief Justice
gave a fervent message that became at times impassioned.
The Mayor presided. The tone of the meeting was not
exuberant. It was one of more import, quiet, serious and
attentive. Lord Reading spoke in strong and ringing tones,
and in simple language. He examined the history of the
Pilgrims from their flight to Holland until they were estab-
lished in the New World, and the gist of his arguments was
this—that the Pilgrims had two great outstanding charac-
teristics—faith in a high cause and tenacity to hold to it;
that England had the same characteristics, evidenced by her
response to the call in 1914, and that the principles of liberty
upon which the American Constitution was based were
nurtured in England. The old characteristics of England
were the dominant note of America, and upon this sound
basis for the creation of a common purpose he made an
eloquent plea for unity between the two great English-
speaking peoples to maintain the peace of the world.

Among the Ambassadors who represented the United
States in England, Mr. Davis was the most successful and
the most accomplished. Lord Reading presided over the
banquet given by the English-Speaking Union in November,
1919, when an illuminated address of goodwill was presented
to the Ambassador. When in a little more than a year
later the time for his departure arrived he was entertained