1 APRIL 1911, Page 3

A great meeting was held at the Albert Hall, on

Wednes- day night, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Authorised Version of the Bible. Lord Northampton, Presi- dent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, presided, and the principal speakers were the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Prime Minister, and the American Ambassador. One note pervaded the speeches. The Bible was spoken of as the bond which unites the whole English-speaking world. Mr. Asquith, at the end of an eloquent survey of the history of the Authorised Version, spoke of it as the chief and abiding link between the British Empire and the United States. "There surely could not be a worthier, a more appropriate, a more splendid monument of this tercentenary year than that it should witness the sealing of a solemn pact between us which would put an end once and for all to the hideous, the unthink- able possibilities of fratricidal strife." Mr. Whitelaw Reid fol- lowed the same train of thought, and read amid great applause a message from President Taft, who said that all that was best in America was inspired by the English Version of the Bible.