London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
THE AMERICAN COLONY.
But there is one race of men born outside Britain which we Englishmen can never regard as aliens. They are of the same blood as ourselves, and for a thousand years had the same history. When a foreigner ventures to put up for a West End club he must personally be very popular to secure the faintest chance of election. When a citizen of the United States seeks admission, his nationality is a recommendation. The Garrick, the Beefsteak, the Union and the Wyndham are full of our American cousins, and if they are seldom found in the Carlton or the Reform, it is because participation in national politics at those clubs is a necessary qualification. At the recent banquet in honour of Her Majesty's eightieth birthday, our American cousins took a part as representatives of England's senior colony. Not long ago I had the pleasure of conversing with Mr. Maxim, of quick-firing fame. When we discussed the relative | |
18 | positions of England and the United States, I ventured to tell him that I considered his part of the territory on the other side of the Atlantic was a branch establishment of the Mother Country, of which she had every reason to be proud. Mr. Maxim agreed with me. One of the pleasantest signs of the times at the end of the centruy is the hearty good-feeling that happily exists between the two great divisions of the English-speaking race. |
