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A.—9

her counsels those advisers whom she had reason to believe represented the public opinion of her people. In so doing she has trusted her people and her people have trusted her. In that mutual trust between the Sovereign and the pecple lies the secret of the popularity of the Queen. But apart from these considerations cf the constitutional action of the Sovereign, the popularity of Her Majesty with the millions of her subjects through all parts of the globe is due in a great measure to the experience which her people have had of the domestic life of the Queen. They have witnessed her career as our Sovereign—first as a wife and mother, the light and life of a happy, wellordered English home-- and they have seen her subsequently bowed down by the sorrow arising from the death of the Prince Consort of honoured memory. Since that event the heart of her people has gone out to the Queen in sympathy with her and her sorrow and affliction The resolution which has been placed in my hands invites an appeal to all the subjects of Her Majesty throughout her dominions in support of the object which His Royal Highness has now brought to our consideration. We must bear in mind that with the large extent of the dominions of the Queen, beginning with Canada on the west, with India and Australasia on the east, with the Cape in the south, and with islands in almost every sea, we have an extent of Her Majesty's dominions which surpasses even the extent of the old Empire of Rome. It has been said that in area the Queen's dominions cover one-fifth of the habitable globe. We have no very certain statistics with regard to the population subject to the Queen's sceptre, but I shall be within the rank if I put it at upwards of three hundred million souls. These figures show at once the magnitude of the responsibilities of this great Empire. The resolution which I shall have the honour to propose to you invites you to make an appeal to all the subjects of Her Majesty in these wide dominions. lam persuaded of this, that distance does not affect the loyalty of the Queen's subjects. We shall find as much loyalty at the antipodes and at the extremities of the Queen's Empire as we find even in this chamber. It is no part of my duty to invite you now to consider the organization by which this appeal shall be made ; but I think one result of an organization properly constituted should be that every household throughout the Queen's dominions should be invited to respond to this appeal. I was delighted to hear from His Royal Highness that the organization contemplated by this Institute would be extended to provincial communities, and I gathered from the observations of His Royal Highness that ample provision was being made for that object. And now, my Lords and gentlemen, it remains for me to submit to you the resolution which has been placed in my hands. It is in these words : "That an appeal be made to the subjects of the Queen throughout Her Majesty's dominions to give a generous support to the establishment and maintenance of such Imperial Institute." The Right Hon. the Lord Mayor of York (J. Terry, Esq., J.P.) : May it please your Royal Highness, my Lords and gentlemen —The applause of those in this room who have attended this morning I fully interpret as being a most significant manifestation of their perfect accord with the elaborate statement which has proceeded from your Royal Highness. As an individual I feel very thankful that a suggestion has been made in this distinct and complete form. The subjects of Her Majesty, in their devoted love and loyalty, are seeking day by day to perpetuate this glorious year of her reign. The trouble and difficulties connected with the selection of a suitable emblem of their loyal devotion are removed by the conception of this most pleasing proposition. No scheme in my mind could approach this in completeness, and as a sequel to those great Exhibitions that have been held under your Royal Highness's auspices. The Exhibition of last year exceeded those of the previous years in importance, and was most gratifying in its results as exemplifying, I think, in a striking manner the very great progress made in all parts of Her Majesty's dominions. It is certainly most desirable that, upon the attainment of Her Majesty to this important period of her reign, the history of this progress should be perpetuated by an Imperial Institute of the United Kingdom, the Colonies, and India. Whatever loyalty may be manifested in England and in the United Kingdom, I know, by a close friendship and acquaintance with far-off lands, that the subjects of Her Majesty there have a loyalty as devoted and an affection as warm as our own. lam pleased and delighted at the manner in which the proposition has been accepted by this largo representation of the municipalities of the United Kingdom. It testifies that it is most earnestly desired that the municipalities should move in a distinct way and with one mind, and that the proposal of this organisation will be commended and will be taken up and promoted in such a manner as will render it efficient and complete. We may therefore shortly realize that the manifestations of loyalty on the part of Her Majesty's subjects —a loyalty which is most unmistakable — will result in the permanent establishment of an institution that will draw together, in mutual good-will, not only the immediate subjects of Her Majesty, but those of distant colonies and of the Empire of India. I think, your Royal Highness, the resolution in every way is commendable to our judgment and to our loyalty, and I have the greatest pleasure in seconding it. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales then put the resolution to the meeting and declared it to have been carried unanimously. The Lord Mayor of London (Sir Reginald Hanson, Kt., F.S.A.): Your Royal Highness, my Lords, and gentlemen—l have been honoured by the suggestion that I should propose the next and the last resolution, and it is one which needs no words on my part to recommend to your notice, because lam quite certain that you will receive it with acclamation. It is " That the best thanks of this meeting be expressed to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales for his exertions in framing and presenting the scheme of an Imperial Institute, which, in the opinion of this meeting, will, if established, confer great and important benefits on the subjects of the Queen." Now, we know very well how much time^how much thought, and how much labour the Prince of Wales has given to the conception and the maturing of this scheme in which he is so much interested. We know it is the natural outcome of the Exhibitions which he has told us he has presided over during the past four years, and which have been of so much advantage to the many millions of Her Majesty's subjects. lam quite certain that the presence of so many representatives of the municipal authorities, both of town and country coming from all parts of Great Britain, shows the