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upon all those who are here to-day to give a practical proof of their earnest enthusiasm with regard to this memorial, by making handsome contributions to this fund, and so make a good beginning to the great work which we have already taken in hand. The Lord Mayor : The resolution proposed by Lord Granville, and seconded by Mr. Plunket, is as follows : " That this meeting, desirous to express its grateful recognition of the blessings which have been affordetl to this country during Her Majesty's reign, resolves that a memorial, worthy to record the completion of fifty years of that reign, should be erected by means of the voluntary contributions of the Queen's subjects throughout her dominions." The resolution was put to the meeting and carried. The Loed Mayor : Gentleman—l am sorry to say I have a telegram from Lord Iddlesleigh from the Foreign Office saying that he is prevented from attending the meeting owing to a sudden indisposition. You will all agree with me that we verv much regret his absence and the occasion of it. The Eight Hon. G. J. Goschen (Chancellor of the Exchequer): My Lords and gentlemen —All of us must deeply regret the absence of Lord Iddlesleigh on this occasion, having heard the cause of his detention ; but, besides that, we have every occasion to deplore that we have not his advocacy of the cause which we are here to-day to promote. Personally, I must say that I regret that his absence has put me in a position where otherwise I should not have been, of having to propose an important resolution—for it is a most important resolution, if I may say so—the business resolution of to-day. Now, gentlemen, there has been a much greater accord and unanimity hitherto, upon the subject that the Queen's Jubilee ought to be celebrated in a most worthy manner, than in the earlier stages of these proceedings with regard to the best method of carrying out our wish to celebrate that Jubilee. As was very natural, a very large number of persons thought that this Jubilee was a most excellent opportunity to combine the promotion of some cause which they had specially at heart with the celebration of the Jubilee itself ; and so various plans have been proposed, and there are many localities in which gentlemen seem to wish to have local celebrations of the movement. I am sure no one would wish to discourage local celebrations, but I believe everyone would wish that no support of the local celebrations should diminish the possibility of giving one great national Imperial mark of the way in which the Empire at large wishes to celebrate this Jubilee. What is the main idea which has influenced His Eoyal Highness the Prince of Wales in proposing this plan ? It is this, to have a plan in which not only Great Britain and Ireland should take a part, but in which all parts of the Empire should bear a share, and it is certain that enthusiastically as the celebration of the Jubilee has been taken up at home, the enthusiasm of the colonies and their loyal desire to do honour to the Queen on this occasion is equal to that of any part of the Empire; and therefore, one of the first conditions of the problem was this : what methods were there to combine all the parts of the Empire in one great national effort ? What methods were there ? Then there came the idea that this should be done by a great Imperial Institute, in which India and the colonies, as well as the United Kingdom and Ireland, should take part, and I have seen no other plan that combines that which I consider to be an essential condition of a truly national celebration. Now, I think it will be proved—it has been proved I trust by the report of the committee which has been appointed to deal with the matter —that while we have been anxious to give effect to a natural and a powerful sentiment, at the same time we have been anxious to put it in a practical and useful form. Personally, I should not have been sorry to have heard the speech of five minutes which was proposed to be made by a gentleman in this room, because I saw the point that he had in his mind was this : that in time of great national distress there should be no great expenditure of wealth, as he put it, upon this Institute. But those who have studied this proposal, those who have gone into these plans, believe that, while at the same time they are going to do honour to the Queen, they are going to promote an institution which will be most favourable to the industrial, to the commercial, and to the social interests of this country as well as of the colonies. I venture to say the Prince of Wales is one of the first in this country who looks to the interests of the working-classes. If he had sought out the best means by which he could promote some celebration of this joyful Jubilee which should at the same time promote the interest of the masses in this country, he would have fixed upon an Institute where you are going to bring together the colonies and the subjects of the Queen who live in Great Britain and Ireland, so that we at home may see what the colonies W 7ant, and the colonies may know what they can get from the Mother-country, what they can get not only in the way of material assistance, not only by the export of produce, but by seeing that the desire for emigration which exists in many parts may be wisely and happily directed, and that great outlet for our national activity may not be destroyed, or may not be weakened by any imperfect organization. I trust that for the purposes of this Institute there will not only be great and powerful subscribers in this City of London, but I trust that the working-classes may take up this question, and that they, with their pence and their shillings, may bear their share also in this great national demonstration, as we may hope it may be. There is some sentiment, no doubt, which has guided those who have promoted this plan, and we ought not to be ashamed that on an occasion like this sentiment should play some part. Sentiment has often provoked cruel wars, but let sentiment also take its part in the development of great works of peace. We are not ashamed of sentiment, or of the sentimental ties, as they are sometimes called, which bind the colonies to the Mother-country. It often happens that in the history of families there comes a moment when the relations between the father and the sons which were first parental are afterwards exchanged for what may be called a frank friendship upon almost equal terms. We have arrived at that period during the last fifty years. If the Queen looks back to the beginning of her reign and thinks what the colonies were then, arid contemplates now those vast possessions, flourishing as they are and loyal as they are, which have so largely added to the power and to the magnificence of her Empire, she must see what a difference of tone and what a difference of sentiment animates it now to what was the case many years ago. There was a period, perhaps,