when the Speaker introduced Mr. Balfour. Two or three times Mr. Balfour hesitated for a word, which seemed to emphasize the sincerity of his address and the cordiality and sympathy with which his audience listened. Through all the cheering the President joined vigorously. When Mr. Balfour had finished and was standing below the rostrum with General Bridges, Admiral de Chair, and the British Ambassador, and shaking hands with members as they filed past, Mr. Wilson again surprized every one by slipping downstairs quietly and taking his place in the line with the Congressmen, to greet Mr. Balfour. The galleries were packed, and a large crowd was waiting outside. On May 8 Mr. Balfour and his colleagues paid a visit to the Senate, and were received with an enthusiasm which, with the welcome accorded by the same body to the French Mission, stood out in high relief above the ordinarily staid minutes of the Senate. Mr. Balfour's speech lasted almost twenty-five minutes and promised to be remembered as one of the great official utterances of the war. The visits of the Italians, Russians, Belgians, and Japanese were attended by ceremony and greetings that were almost exact reproductions of those which had been bestowed upon the British and French. Each mission was taken down to Mount Vernon and there deposited floral offerings on Washington's tomb, and each was formally received in the Senate and House, where great enthusiasm was displayed and speeches made. Only when the Japanese Commission came was a new feature introduced into the greetings. This was a social reception and garden party at the Pan-American Union Building given by the Secretary of State and Mrs. Lansing on August 29, and attended by the President and Mrs. Wilson. It was declared to be the most elaborate affair of its kind ever given in the national capital. The most distinguished society of the country was in attendance, the beautiful Pan-American buildings, brilliantly illuminated and decorated, and the Aztec Garden and Venetian Pool of the grounds adorned with varicolored lights casting rainbows across the water, with the gardens hung with rows of Japanese lanterns, outside stairways to the garden having green feathery foliage, with tall bunches of white hydrangea in graceful baskets hanging from balustrades. Small tables were set on the terrace overlooking the Aztec Garden. A military band played and the weather was ideal. Diplomats of all nations, high officials, Senators, and Representatives, members of the numerous war-boards and their wives, passed through the patio to the gardens, where supper was served. All the public utterances made by Viscount Ishii were so sympathetic and noble in character that none of the visitors seemed to have been more fortunate in their spokesmen. There was something French in his lucidity, something of Burke in his philosophical eloquence. M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre left Washington by special train on May 3 for a tour of Middle Western States, extending over 3,200 miles, with Chicago the first place visited. The half-day that followed their arrival there was crowded with patriotic outbursts, beginning with a motor-ride from the station through deep-canyoned city streets overhung with the tricolor of France, the Stars and Stripes, and the British flag. Women, equally with men, formed vast crowds. Children not infrequently saluted the hero of the Marne with a shrill, "Vive la France!" which brought always a smile and a salute from the great soldier. At a meeting in the Auditorium pandemonium for a time reigned, and it was with great difficulty that the crowd was subdued, as was again the case in the evening, when a dinner took place in the goldroom of the Congress Hotel. M. Viviani referred to the first onrush of the German army almost to the door of Paris, and the order of General Joffre to the French army to take the historic offensive that drove the Germans back thirty miles an eloquent narrative which made the hero of the Marne brush tears away with his clenched fist and rise impulsively to embrace the orator. Marshal Joffre urged by repeated and vociferous demands, then made his first speech in America, and brought cheering throngs to their feet amid waving flags. Among the others cities visited were Kansas City, St. Louis, and Springfield. The Italian and Belgian. Commissioners also made a tour in the West. At Springfield Marshal Joffre and M. Viviani, with bowed and uncovered heads, filed into the tomb of Lincoln with military and civil officials, deposited a wreath and left with THE BRITISH AND FRENCH WAR COMMISSIONERS AT MT. VERNON IV. out a word. At the State Capitol an official reception was arranged for them. From the moment when they stept from their train at Springfield until they departed, an hour and a half later, they were met everywhere with cheers and waving tricolors. Soldiers who lined the streets stood at attention. Lines of school children waved flags and cheered MARSHAL JOFFRE AND M. VIVIANI AT LINCOLN'S TOMB enthusiastically as they passed. As their train in leaving drew out of the station, Marshal Joffre stooped down from the platform and kissed two little girls drest to represent the United States and France. On May 9 in Philadelphia M. Viviani hailed Independence Hall, in which he then stood, as the "Birthplace of the Liberty of the World." He and Marshal Joffre had been escorted from the Broad Street station through flag-draped and closely packed lanes of cheering humanity to the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed. They afterward stood in silence for |