appreciated. It was the generous sympathy and understanding of our difficulties from one who himself had experienced similar conditions that heartened us up in a wonderful manner at a time when we were inclined to be disappointed at our lack of success. I shall be loth to rank myself with "those globetrotters who require dissuading from standing on a public platform"; in conclusion, then, I will only say how deeply I appreciate the very signal honour that has been done me in awarding me the Founder's Medal. As a friend of mine wrote to me, in these piping times of peace it is the highest prize to which a man can aspire. Dr. JOHN BALL: I should like to express my very hearty thanks for the kind words in which Colonel Howard-Bury has spoken of me and my work, and for the very kind reception which you have given to this toast. I may remind you that this is the second occasion on which the Victoria Medal has been awarded by the Royal Geographical Society for survey-work in Egypt. The first occasion was about fifteen years ago, when it was given to my distinguished former chief, Colonel Lyons. A very great deal of what we have been able to accomplish in these latter years is based on the excellent foundations which were laid by Colonel Lyons; and speaking for myself, I have found that the experience which I gained while working under his direction has proved of the utmost value in subsequent endeavours. There still remains a very considerable amount of surveying to be done in Egypt before completely satisfactory maps can be made of the whole of that country, or the full extent of the economic resources of its deserts made known. But I shall return to my labours with an added zest from your kindness; and I am sure I may say, on behalf of those who are now associated with me in the exploration of the deserts, that if anything can add to the enthusiasm with which they pursue their researches, it will be the interest which this great Society has so clearly shown in the work we are doing. Lord RONALDSHAY, in proposing the toast of "The Guests," said: A banquet of the Royal Geographical Society is always honoured by many distinguished guests, but it seems to me-I may perhaps be prejudiced-that on this occasion we are even more highly honoured than we have been in the past, for there is scarcely a branch of human activity upon this planet which is not represented by one or more of its most distinguished figures. I have said upon this planet," but with Mr. Alan Cobham sitting on my left I should perhaps have said " on and above this planet," for by his flights to India and back and to the Cape and back he has shown that he is capable of rising altogether superior to the ties which bind us ordinary mortals to the surface of the globe. With some little doubts as to the propriety of my doing so, I venture to offer him the congratulations of this Society upon his achievement. I said "with some little doubts as to the propriety" of doing so because it seems to me that Mr. Cobham is fast rendering obsolete much of the work in which we, as members of this Society, are chiefly interested. Indeed, if mankind at large were to acquire the same easy command of the air as Mr. Cobham, it is obvious that the old-fashioned traveller, and indeed the map-maker, would very soon become as extinct as the dinosaur whose eggs, I believe, were recently discovered in Mongolia as the result of the prescience of another of our guests, Prof. Fairfield Osborn. I do not know how Prof. Osborn knew that that group of mammals, which is known to scientists by the pleasant name of amblypods, used to besport themselves on the plains of Mongolia two million years ago. All I know is that he did know that they did, and in order to prove that he was right he visited Mongolia not long ago and brought back in triumph from one of its sand-heaps the tooth of a choryphodon, which might be described, I suppose, as one of the last of the amblypods. Science and the arts are indeed richly represented at our board to-night. London for this one night has spared to us the Director of the British Museum, Sir Frederic Kenyon, who must, I think, at one time or another, have been the President of more erudite societies than any other living man. And London has also spared to us the Vice-Chancellor of its University, Dr. Gardner, who has laid bare to the world so much of the history of ancient Greece by his archæological researches. And in Mr. Ray we have present amongst us the greatest living authority upon the languages of the Pacific Islands. Amongst the older of the Universities, Oxford has sent us to-night the Warden of one of its most eminent and famous colleges, Mr. Fisher; whilst in Sir Charles Eliot we have a representative of the newer Universities in Sheffield and Hong Kong. These two eminent representatives of the academic world have shown how easy it is for a really first-class brain to excel not merely in letters but in administration; ay, not merely in administration but in state-craft and diplomacy, for they have shown us that they are equally at home, the one of them in the cloisters of Oxford and the purlieus of Whitehall, the other in the senate house of the University and in the ambassadorial chair. And not far from me on my right I see a very reverend dean, by no means gloomy, whose recent hegira, if I may so describe it, from York to Westminster is undoubtedly a matter for lamentation in the northern capital, but is equally undoubtedly a cause of satisfaction here, for it will be responsible for him rising in a few moments to reply, in part at any rate, on behalf of the guests. In General Sir William Furse we welcome the recently appointed Director of the Imperial Institute, and in Colonel Lane, the Master of one of those great mercantile city guilds which have played so large a part in the history of the British people. Of Sir Austen Chamberlain I perhaps need say nothing except this, that by his conduct of the affairs of this country in all parts of the world he adds daily to the load of gratitude which every citizen of the British Empire owes to him. How gladly would we have listened to him to-night ! The riddle of why we are not to do so I am wholly unable to solve. Certainly it cannot be due to indolence, for he is the most industrious of men. At the same time he is the most retiring of men, and we must therefore presume, I suppose, that it is due to innate modesty. In conclusion, I turn for a moment to the fighting services. I welcome, on your behalf, a breezy admiral and a gallant soldier and administrator. Admiral Sir John de Robeck well maintains the traditions of His Majesty's Navy, traditions of thoroughness in work and enthusiasm in play. As President of the M.C.C. he has proved that he is as much at home on the cricket pitch as he was on the quarter-deck of his ships when he commanded them in Gallipoli and, more recently, when he commanded the Atlantic Fleet. It is perhaps not so surprising, as at first sight it may seem to be, that he should be equally at home in these two very different spheres, for during the summers to which we in these happy islands have become enured, it is undoubtedly the fact that the cricket pitch is as often under water as the quarter-deck. And then I turn to the other distinguished guest who, with the Very Reverend the Dean of Westminster, I couple with this toast, Field-Marshal Lord Allenby. A very gallant soldier who has so often led his troops to victory, who has conquered Palestine and has ruled Egypt, a man whose many honours for he holds, amongst others, the Grand Cordon of the Striped Tiger of China, and of the White Eagle of Serbia, together with that of the Redeemer of Greece and of the Rising Sun of Japan-bear eloquent testimony to the wide geographical distribution of his activities and his achievements. Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to drink in all heartiness the health of our guests to-night, coupled with the name of Field-Marshal Lord Allenby and the Very Reverend the Dean of Westminster. Viscount ALLENBY: The President said earlier that perhaps some of those privileged to speak later would feel it somewhat of a burden or be frightened. I am not frightened, but I am sorry for you who have to listen to me, because I am no speaker. I shall not keep you long, because I am going to be followed in my pleasant task of responding to the toast of "The Guests" by a very eloquent speaker indeed. I came here to-night expecting to hear something about geography, and I have heard a good deal. I heard a little about it, when I was a child, from the lips of my governess. She used to tell me that Africa was a sandy desert; that India was a coral strand; that Greenland had icy mountains; and that Ceylon had a population that was vile. I have been to some of those places since and found that my governess was wrong! However, for a considerable portion of my life I did not know she was wrong, but of course you knew all your lives, although you may not have known her. Now she knows a good deal more because she has gone where she can know! But now it is easy enough for children to know the world, because the Royal Geographical Society has, by the brains, intelligence and industry of its members, sent out maps of the world which really can be trusted. The science of geography is an exact, a trustworthy science, except where it becomes complicated by political geography. There, naturally, it is very inexact. Compare a map of fifteen years ago with one of the same country to-day, of somewhere towards the East, especially the south-east of Europe, and you will find yourself very mixed up. The Royal Geographical Society goes on working hard and surveying the surface of the globe, and it is now, as has been said to-night, assisted by the Air Force. Not only do they map the surface of the world from the crust of the Earth, but from the air. I know that very well, because I had the honour to command the troops in the Palestine campaign, and we worked then on the old map made by Lord Kitchener many years ago when he was a young officer of Engineers. That map, which was very accurate at the time it was made, was made absolutely accurate by the activities of our airmen, who by means of air-photographs altered and corrected that map till we had at the end of the campaign as good a map as any one could have. As witness to that I can call upon Colonel Meinertzhagen, who is here and who did such magnificent service in mapping the country and in applying that map to the incidents of the campaign. I have been happy to know that the Royal Geographical Society is proceeding with those efforts; but I have been rather disturbed in mind to-night. I thought when I came here to-night that the science of geography was only concerned with the crust of the Earth. Now I find that it not only ascends to the heights of the mountains but goes to the depths of the sea. That is getting into too deep water altogether for me. I will conclude by thanking you, on my behalf, for the way in which you have responded to the toast of "The Guests," and I ask you to accept the expression of my admiration for the adventure, for the daring, of the geographers who have the mapping of the world in their hands. I shall not dare to descend into the depths or to ascend the heights to which they venture, but I know that whatever they do attempt they will carry through. The DEAN OF WESTMINSTER: As I survey great congregations from the pulpit I often wonder at the patience with which they listen to the whole of the sermon. Are you aware that to-night you have already listened to ten speeches ? I think if I were to give notice that in the Abbey next Sunday morning there would be eleven sermons instead of one the audience would be thin. I am quite sure that as speech followed speech, especially as you listened to the last two speakers, your sympathy with me has been increasing. Therefore I speak with great comfort and confidence because I know I have your sympathy. A great many years ago-Sir Frederic Kenyon could probably tell you how many, I believe five thousand—there was a book written which is probably one of the oldest of books and is now published. It contains the "instructions of a certain important personage in Egypt to his son, who was going out into the world, somewhat as follows: "Owing to the position that I have won for you in society you will mix with many able men. You will at first be depressed because you will feel 'everybody is an expert' except thyself. But the good God is very fair in his gifts, and you will in time find that you also, like other men, have your gifts." I have been listening to speech after speech and considering some of the great things that the speeches meant, and I feel, as I am quite certain very many of my fellow-guests have felt, that everybody here is an expert except myself. I wondered whether, after all, Providence had been so good and whether anything had been left for me. However, Lord Allenby has told me what my gift is, though neither I nor anybody else has ever found it out before. I am an eloquent speaker"! If practice makes for eloquence I have every right to the title. Some time ago one of our most distinguished and able counsel was examining a witness. He looked at the witness and observed that the central feature of his physiognomy was a brighter colour than the rest. And he said to the witness, “ Answer me now: I think you take as much intoxicating liquor as is good for you? The witness replied, "That is my business." Yes," said counsel; "have you any other?" Owing to the unstinted hospitality of this great city I have dined at so many public dinners and made so many speeches of the kind that I am making now that I am beginning to wonder-and I know my friends are too-whether I have any other business. 66 Well, I have. I am here to-night to return thanks in the name of my fellow-guests, and I would hardly venture to voice the gratitude of those distinguished men whose names have been specifically mentioned. I speak rather in the name of the others, and there must be many here to-night, who feel, as a friend of mine once said in similar circumstances, they are nothing but notorieties amongst celebrities." I have another business besides speaking at public dinners, and that is the reason, as I am well aware, why such great hospitality has been accorded to me during the last few months. I am in charge of the Abbey, and it is for the Abbey's sake that you are kind to me. I sometimes think that the Abbey represents the very converse, as it were, to that which is represented by the Royal Geographical Society. You push out into all parts of the world; with your expeditions and your scientific research you reach to the ends of the Earth. All parts of the world and the ends of the Earth come back to the Abbey. My having come from York to London has been mentioned by Lord Ronaldshay, and it falls to few men to have the privilege of having the charge, first, of such a place as York Minster, and then of Westminster Abbey. I thank you for your hospitality in my own name: I thank you also in the name of all those other guests who are here to-night for what I know they feel, as I do-the honour as well as the great pleasure of having been allowed a share in your great gathering. |