OUR LONDON LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 7298, 24 August 1887, Page 1

OUR LONDON LETTER.

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES. Our London correspondent, writing via San Francisco on July the 13th, says:— The ceremonies in connection with the laying of the foundation stone of the Imperial Institute came at the fag end of a long course of Jubilee rejoicings, and just when everyone, from Her Majesty downwards, felt sick of state and pageantry. Probably this was why there was hardly any enthusiasm either along the line of the Queen's route from Paddington to South Kensington or within the Institute pavilion itself, and why the whole affair struck most of us as flat, stale, and-unimpressionable to a degree. The pavilion contained about 11,000 people, and was far from crowded. Tickets, in point of fact, though nominally difficult to obtain, were being offered right and left to. people on Saturday and Sunday. The usual mob of Royalties, ambassadors, and members of the Government, of coarse, put in an appearance; but the company as a whole were not half so smart as on the occasion of the opening' of the “ Colindies,’’ The Queen looked (as eke doubtless' felt) hot and tired. Her face was very red, and something ; seemed to have temporarily attained the roy|l jumper.

Morris’s ode reads well, but "" Arthur Sullivan has scarcely been ah successful with the musical setting he was with Tennyson’s Exhibition stanzas. Nevertheless the musical portion of the ceremony was far the moat exhilarating. We cheered Her Majesty, of course, but decorously, and without any of that fervor that marked the popular greetings on Jubilee Day. The ‘ Daily News ’ gives the following details of the scene in the Institute pavilion on the Queen’s arrival “ The Queen having taken her place in front of the chair of state, with the Prince of Wales on her right hand and the other members of the Royal Family on either side, flanked by the officers of state and people connected with the Household, and the National Anthem having been sung by the Royal Albert Hall Choral Society and the pupils of the Royal College of Music, the Prince of Wales reads an address from the Organising Committee of the Imperial Institute. We are at this stage compelled to confess that the representatives of the Press have to rely upon the information of friends, imparted when the ceremony is over, as to what actually occurs after the arrival of the Royal party upon the dais. They are now, «s at so,no other Royal ceremonies, relegated to places where they can neither see nor hear. The unhappy observers for the public hav ® a fine view of the stalwart shoulders of equerries and of the back hair of the younger Princesses; for the rest, they have to obtain their information as best they can. The programme as published is carried out. The voice of the Prince of Wales in reading the above address can be heard fairly well, but the Queen is almost inaudible. Nothing but the soft voice of a lady, supplemented by cheers from a host of people, can be made out. The Queen’s reply to the Organising Committee as furnished officially is as follows: ‘lt is with infinite satisfaction that I receive the address in which you give expression to your loyal attachment my throne and person, and develop the views that have led to the creation of the Imperial Institute. 1 concur with you in thinking that the counsels and exertions of my beloved husband initiated a movement which gave increased vigor to commercial activity and produced marked and lasting improvements in industrial efforts. One indirect result of that movement has been to bring more vividly before the minds of men the vast and various resources of the Empire over which Providence has willed that I should reign during fifty prosperous years. I believe and hope that the Imperial Institute will play a useful part in combining those resources for the common advantage of all my subjects, and in conducing towards the welding of the Colonies, India, and the Mother Country into one harmonious and united community. In laying the foundation stone of the building devoted to your labors, I heartily wish you God speed in your undertaking. # A new ode, written for the occasion by Mr Lewis Morris, and composed by Sir Arthur Sullivan, is now performed by the Royal Albert Hall Choral Society and full orchestra, assisted by the pupils of the Royal College of Music, under the conductorship of Sir Arthur himself. VVe give here the ode, written for the occasion by Mr Lewis Morris: With soaring voice and solemn music sing, High to Heaven’s gate let pealing trumpets ring. To-day our hands consolidate Tho Empire of a thousand years Delusive hopes, distracting fears, Have passed, and left her great. For Britain, Britain, we our jubilant anthems Uplift your voices all, worthy is she of praise!

Oar Britain, issuing at the call of Fate From her lone islets in the Northern Sea, Donned her Imperial robe, assumed her crowned state, Took the sole sceptre of the I- rec ; Mid clang of arms her crescent glory rose, By shattered fleet and flaming town, Victorious at the last o’er all her foes, Embattled rolls her splendid story down. Soldier and seaman side by side Her strong sons greatly dared and biavely died. Close on their steps her dauntless toilers went O’er unknown sea and pathless continent, Till when the centuries of strife were done They left the greatest Realm beneath the sun . Praise them and her, your grateful voices raise! Mother of Freedom! Thou art worthy of our praise. No more we seek our Realm's increase By War’s red rapine, but by white-winged Peace; To-day we seek to bind in one. Till all our Britain’s work be done— Through wider knowledge closer grown. As each fait slater by the test is known, And mutual Commerce, mighty to efface The envious bars of Time and Place, Deep-pulsing from a common heart And through a common speech expressed— From North to South, from Ewt to West, Oar great World Empire’s every part; A universal Britain strong To raise up Right and beat down Wrong— Let this thing be ! who fhall our realm divide ? Ever we stand together, Kinsmen, side by side I To-day we would make free Our millions of their glorious heritage ; Here, Labor crowds in hopeless misery, There, is unbounded work and ready wage. The salt breeze calling stirs out Northern blood. Lead we the toilers to their certain good. Guide we their feet to where fs spread for those who dare A happier Britain ’neath an ampler air. Uprise, oh, Palace fair! ’ With ordered knowledge of each far-off land for all to understand ! Uprise oh, Palace fair, where for the poor shall be Wise thought and love to guide o’er the dividing seal First Lady of our British Race ! ’Tie well that with thy peaceful Jubilee This glorious dream begins to be, This thy lost Consort would, this would thy Son, Who has seen all thy Empire lace to face And fane would leave It One. Ob may the Hand which rules our Fate Keep this our Britain great < We cannot tell, we can but pray Heaven’s blessing on our work ta-day,. Uprise, oh, Palace lair, where every eye may see This proud embodied Unity! For Britain and our Queen one voice we raise, Laud them, rejoice, peal forth, worthy are they of praise!! THE NEW HEBRIDES DIFFICULTY, Replying to Mr Bryce on Thursday last, Sir James Ferguson practically admitted that the Government could not—or rather did not mean to—press the French authorities to immediately conclude the negotiations re the New Hebrides. He hoped, he said, that the matter would soon be brought to a satisfactory end, and the detachments withdrawn, but he could not fix a date for that much-to-be-desired consummation. The ‘ Morning Post ’ says : secret in French commercial circles that the New Hebrides is looked, upon as the legitimate place for French colonisation in the Western Pacific, and the place where to recruit the fortunes of those who have been unsuccessful in New Caledonia, in which island the soil is fast being worked out, the mines having failed, and the laud unable to produce vegetable products sufficient to support the present population. Whatever the ultimate designs of Prance may be with regard to the New Hebrides, it is certain that the Anglo-French agreement of 1878, confirmed by the Note Verbal of the 9th July, 1883, prevents any interference in the independent conditions of those islands dither by Great Britain, France, or . the Australian colonies. Meanwhile the present position of affairs is strange, and Australian statesmen look upon the continued military occupation of these islands with some degree of irritation, and not a little amount of surprise.” ______