One cannot speak of the French Alliance without recalling the services of Benjamin Franklin in connection with it.  When he was in Paris and was received in a public assemblage, not understanding anything of the language, and believing, very properly, that it was a good thing always to follow the example of the French in society, he vociferously applauded every time the rest of them applauded, and he did not learn until it was all over that the applause was, in each instance, elicited by a reference to his name and distinguished public services, and so, during the eloquent speech of our friend, Mr. Coudert, I could not but look upon the American members of this assemblage, and notice that they applauded most vociferously when they supposed that the speaker was alluding particularly to their arduous services as members of the Chamber of Commerce. [Laughter.]

I congratulate our friends from abroad, who do not understand our language, upon the very great privilege they enjoy here to-night, a privilege that is not enjoyed by Americans or by Englishmen who come among us.  It is the rare and precious privilege at an American banquet of not being expected to pay the slightest attention to the remarks of the after-dinner speakers. [Laughter.] If there is one thing I feel I can enjoy more than another, it is standing upon firm land and speaking to those whose life is on the sea, to these “toilers of the deep.”  There is in this a sort of poetic justice, a sentimental retribution; for on their element I am never able to stand up, and, owing to certain gastronomic uncertainties, my feelings on that element are just the reverse of those I experience at the present moment.  For in the agonies of a storm I have so much on my mind that I have nothing whatever on my stomach.  But after this feast to-night I have so much on my stomach that I fear I have nothing whatever on my mind.  And when I next go to sea I want to go as the great statue of Liberty:  first being taken all apart with the pieces carefully stored amidships. [Laughter.]

While they were building the statue in France, we were preparing slowly for the pedestal.  You cannot hurry constructions of this kind; they must have time to settle.  We long ago prepared the stones for that pedestal, and we first secured the services of the most useful, most precious stone of all—­the Pasha from Egypt. [Laughter.] We felt that his services in Egypt had particularly fitted him for this task.  There is a popular belief in this country, which I have never once heard contradicted, that he took a prominent part in laying the foundations of the great Pyramids, that he assisted in placing the Egyptian Sphinx in position, and that he even had something to do with Cleopatra’s Needle. [Laughter.]

When Napoleon was in Egypt he said to his people:  “Forty centuries are looking down upon you.”  We say to General Stone, as he stands upon that pedestal:  “Fifty-five millions of people are looking up to you! and some of them have contributed to the fund.” [Laughter.] When we read of the size of that statue, we were troubled, particularly when we saw the gigantic dimensions of the Goddess’s nose, but our minds were relieved when we found that that nose was to face southward, and not in the direction of Hunter’s Point. [Laughter and applause.]