British Commonwealth of Nations: At the Guildhall

At London many a great baron of beef* was roasted. Many a vast tureen of steaming turtle soup was carried to that annual and immemorial feast, the Lord Mayor’s banquet at Guildhall. This year the “new” Lord Mayor is Sir William Pryke, aged 78† and “spry as Peter Pan.”

In his youth he drudged 12 hours a day, at a salary of 4 shillings a week ($1.00). Last week he welcomed to the sumptuous mayoral board a company of diners plenipotent and distinguished. Foreign Secretary Austen Chamberlain, and the German Ambassador to Britain, Herr Doktor Sthamer, sat next each other and exchanged friendly pledges in a great loving cup. Premier Baldwin, Admiral Lord Beatty, a host of foreign Ambassadors, and many notable Britons from every walk of life, completed the gathering. As usual the banqueters were regaled with speeches of considerable political significance. Since the Foreign Secretary spoke publicly for the first time since his return from Locarno (TIME, Nov. 2), he was well harkened to.

Mr. Chamberlain’s Speech. “My Lord Mayor, thanks to your hospitality I have drunk tonight of your loving cup with the German Ambassador. What we have done this evening may the nations do tomorrow. We will work in the spirit of Locarno. . . . I am confident that the Locarno accords will be ratified by every country there represented. No statesman dare take the responsibility before history of dashing from our lips the cup of hope that Locarno has presented!” Continuing amid applause, he concluded, “I . . . hope that the same spirit of mutual understanding and mutual goodwill which prevailed . . . at Locarno may prevail among the powers now meeting at Peking [see CHINA] . . . [and establish] peace as firmly in the East as we hope we are in the course of establishing it in the West.”

Premier Baldwin was cheered to the echo for asserting of Foreign Minister Chamberlain, “Every one of us [in the Cabinet] is proud of him!” Continuing, he launched into an assurance that British industry is at last recovering from its long standing period of depression. ”The waters are falling and our spirits are rising . . . [but] I should have thought that those . . . whose one unfailing remedy is the strike or lockout . . . would have learned more from the Great War. . . . In home affairs the speeches of too many leaders smack of the sword and battle axe. . . . Differences there must be . . . but I have yet to be convinced that they are not capable of resolution by reason and without resort to force.”

Admiral Lord Beatty called attention somewhat bluntly to “the facts which demand the existence of an adequate British navy.” Said he: “The worldwide trade routes upon which we are dependent for our food and raw materials . . . are no shorter or less complicated than in 1914.” He demanded that the new program of ship replacements, which is expected to cost eventually some £70,000,000 ($340,000,000), be proceeded with. He added:

“The task of the British sea lords during the last few years has at periods been carried through with personal feelings of bitter regret. It has been their duty to reduce the fleet from a magnificent and incomparable force to modest dimensions, at which it now stands, and concurrently to deprive of their professional livelihood thousands of zealous, highly efficient and loyal officers and men.”

*Two loins or sirloins not cut asunder at the backbone.

†He was only recently elected Lord Mayor, and his “installation” took place last week with the customary pageantry and display. Riding through the streets in his great coach, like a wizened Cinderella man, he was followed by a series of floats and exhibits, “a little Wembley on wheels.”