[Speech of Henry M. Stanley at a dinner given in his honor by the Lotos Club, New York City, November 27, 1886.  Whitelaw Reid, President of the Lotos Club, in welcoming Mr. Stanley, said:  “Well, gentlemen, your alarm of yesterday and last night was needless.  The Atlantic Ocean would not break even a dinner engagement for the man whom the terrors of the Congo and the Nile could not turn back, and your guest is here. [Applause.] It is fourteen years since you last gave him welcome.  Then he came to you fresh from the discovery of Livingstone.  The credulity which even doubted the records of that adventurous march or the reality of his brilliant result had hardly died out.  Our young correspondent, after seeing the war end here without his having a fair chance to win his spurs, had suddenly made a wonderful hit out of the expedition which nobody had really believed in and most people had laughed at.  We were proud of him, and right glad to see him, and a little bit uneasy, but vastly amused over his peppery dealings with the Royal Geographers. [Laughter.] In spite of our admiration for his pluck and his luck we did not take him quite seriously. [Laughter.] In fact we did not take anything very seriously in those days.  The Lotos Club at first was younger in that hearty enthusiastic reception to Stanley fourteen years ago in that gay little clubhouse next to the Academy of Music; we were thinking far more of a hearty greeting to the comrade of the quill who had been having a hard time but had scored ‘a big beat’ [laughter] than of adequate recognition to the man already well launched on a career that ranks him among the foremost explorers of the century. [Loud cheers.] It is the character in which you must welcome him now.  The Royal Geographical Society has no further doubt as to the credit to which he is entitled.  He brings its diploma of honorary membership ["Hear!  Hear!"], he bears the gold medal of Victor Emmanuel, the decorations of the Khedive, the commission of the King of the Belgians.  More than any of them he cherishes another distinction—­what American would not prize it?—­the vote of thanks of the Legislature and the recognition of his work by our Government.  The young war-correspondent has led expeditions of his own—­the man who set out merely to find Livingstone, has himself done a work greater than Livingstone’s. [Applause.] He has explored Equatorial Africa, penetrated the Dark Continent from side to side, mapped the Nile, and founded the Free State on the Congo.’ [Applause.] All honor to our returning guest!  The years have left their marks upon his frame and their honors upon his name.  Let us make him forget the fevers that have parched him, the wild beasts and the more savage men that have pursued him. ["Hear!  Hear!”] He is once more among the friends of his youth, in the land of his adoption.  Let us make him feel at home. [Applause.] I give you the health of our friend and comrade.”]

MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE LOTOS CLUB: