Remarks on the Occasion of Introducing the Russian and Japanese Peace Envoys on Board the Mayflower Near Oyster Bay, New York

Gentlemen:

I propose a toast to which there will be no answer, and to which I ask you to drink in silence standing. I drink to the welfare and prosperity of the sovereigns and peoples of the two great nations whose representatives have met one another on this ship. It is my most earnest hope and prayer, in the interest of not only these two great powers, but of all mankind, that a just and lasting peace may be speedily concluded between them.