THE PEACE CENTENARY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 79, 7 August 1913, Page 4

THE PEACE CENTENARY.

The British Committee set up for the* celebration of the one-hundreth year of peace among English-speaking peoples issued its first public appeal for funds recently, in the course of which it is stated that the British delegation, headed by Lord Weardale, which recently completed its successful and memorable visit to the United States for the purpose of conferring with the American and Canadian Committees •on the subject of the approaching celebration of the first century of peace between the British Empire and the American Commonwealth, brought back glowing reports of the enthusiasm with which it was received by the American Government, cities, and people, and of the activity both in America and in Canada' with which the preparations for the centenary are being advanced. It thinks therefore, that the moment has arrived when it becomes necessary for funds to carry out the important projects included in the British programme. Both the American and Canadian Committees are arranging their separate programmes for the commemoration of the hundred years' peace, and these will involve the expenditure- of large sums upon permanent monuments, works, and. endowments of an educational character. The British programme has been carefully considered by a committee of a most representative character, and forms, it is believed, a comprehensive and far-reach-ing scheme for commemorating " #n event great in the annals of civilisation and in the history of the two peoples, and worthy of a splendid celebration. The proposals include: (1) The erection of a memorial of the centenary of peace in Westminister Abbey. (Permission has been Obtained from the Dean and Chapter.) (2) The purchase of Sulgrave Manor, Northants, the ancestral home of tlm Washington family, and its maintenance as a place of pijgrimmage for Americans in England, and. as a'friutful symbol of ;the kinship of the two ,peoples.: An option . on this historic property ( has been secured. : (3) The foundation of, a permanent .Chair of Anglo-American History, and the .endowment,of a scheme, of, annual prizes in the ~ elementary. and, secondary schools,,for. essays, on. topics, germane tio the objects of the,... celebration, This programme will involve an expenditure of'between• • £so,ooo:'and £60,000.