Part 34

"In conclusion, let me express the hope that this great undertaking, and the many occasions for friendly intercourse with our fellow-subjects from India and the Colonies which it will afford, may convey to them the assurance that, while we are deeply moved by the spirit of patriotism they have lately shown in desiring to bear their share in the graver trials of the country, we on our part wish to participate in every effort to further and develop their material interests--interests which we feel to be inseparably bound up with the prosperity of the Empire. We must remember that, as regards the Colonies, they are the legitimate and natural homes, in future, of the more adventurous and energetic portion of the population of these Islands. Their progress, and their power of providing all that makes life comfortable and attractive, cannot, therefore, but be a matter of serious concern to us all. And, as regards India, the increasing knowledge of that vast Empire and the rapid and easy means of communication to all parts of it which now exist, render its remarkable and varied products and its social and political condition a source of yearly increasing interest and importance to us.

"For the attainment of the purposes I have indicated, I am sure I may rely on your friendly co-operation and assistance, in your several localities, and within the sphere of your individual influence. Although it has been impossible from the pressure of their duties elsewhere for some members of the Commission to be present at this meeting, I am gratified by the assurance from them that we may none the less rely on their practical and earnest assistance on every occasion in furthering the work which has been entrusted to us, and achieving the important ends which I trust may flow from its successful accomplishment."

_May 3rd, 1886._

A meeting of the Royal Commission was again held on the 3rd of May, in the Durbar Hall of the Indian Palace, when the Prince of Wales, as the Executive President, addressed the audience. He gave an interesting report on all the chief matters that had engaged the attention of the Royal Commissioners; and referred to the co-operation received from the Colonies and India. He stated that the guarantee fund had reached the amount of £218,430, of which the City of London had voted £10,000. A vote of thanks was proposed by the Duke of Cambridge, seconded by Lord Granville, to the Prince of Wales for the able and energetic manner in which he acted on behalf of the Commission as their President. "It is not the first time that His Royal Highness has acted as President in undertakings of this nature, and it is very difficult for any individual to praise him in his presence without appearing fulsome, but it is not fulsome to say that he has always devoted his whole energies to bringing everything to a successful issue with which he is connected."

The Prince, in his reply, said:--

He hoped that the Exhibition would be not only entertaining to the eye, and that it will prove of material benefit to our own countrymen, but that it will also tend to strengthen the bond of brotherly love between ourselves and the rest of Her Majesty's subjects.

_April 30th, 1887._

At the final meeting of the Royal Commission, held at Marlborough House on the 30th of April, 1887, the minutes of the previous meeting, held on the 3rd of May, 1886, having been read, the Prince of Wales addressed the meeting:--

"Your Royal Highness, my Lords and Gentlemen,--I have asked you to meet me to-day, in order that I might submit for your approval a Report which I have drawn up upon the work of the Royal Commission for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, a draft of which has already been forwarded to each of you for consideration.

"The contents of this Report are so exhaustive, and the information afforded so full and complete, that it seems scarcely necessary that I should detain you with many explanatory remarks.

"You will remember that the last occasion on which I had the pleasure of meeting you was on the eve of the opening of the Exhibition by Her Majesty the Queen. You are all aware of the success of that opening, and you, I am sure, appreciated the keen interest which the Queen took in the Exhibition, both by performing that imposing ceremony, and by the frequent visits which Her Majesty afterwards paid to the various Sections.

"The great importance attached to the objects of this Exhibition was evidenced by the striking manner in which it was visited by the public. You will have seen by the Report that it was attended by no fewer than 5,550,745 persons. Of this number, a large proportion were admitted under schemes in which I took a deep personal interest, by means of which admission was granted to provincial and metropolitan artisans, with their wives and families, at greatly reduced rates.

"It may safely be asserted that a vast amount of public good has arisen from the holding of this Exhibition. No one can have failed to notice the earnest attention paid by all classes of the visitors to the contents of the Exhibition; and the instruction which was derived from an examination of the varied objects displayed therein cannot but tend to a better knowledge of the outlying portions of the Empire, among the inhabitants of the mother country.

"At a previous Meeting I referred to the appointment of the Finance Committee, to its enlargement, and to the manner in which its labours were being conducted, and I would now specially draw your attention to the Report they have presented to me. The accounts now before you, which have been circulated for your information, have been subject to a continuous and careful audit. They have been made up at the earliest possible day consistent with the proper realization of the assets belonging to the Royal Commission, and with the settlement of the many and varied claims presented after the close of the Exhibition, and which the Finance Committee had necessarily to adjust. You will see that the fullest information in ample detail is given under appropriate heads of the entire receipts and expenditure of the Royal Commission up to the 23rd April, and I am sure that you will share my satisfaction at the gratifying result of a substantial surplus of £35,235 7_s._ 8_d._ remaining in the hands of the Royal Commission.

"I am anxious that the appropriation of this surplus, and the objects to which it should be devoted, should be in harmony with the wishes of the entire body of the Royal Commission. I desire, therefore, to draw your attention to a paragraph in the Report of the Finance Committee, to the effect that in view of the fact that this Exhibition, and those which preceded it, have to a certain extent been considered as one series, consideration might be given to the requirements of any former Exhibition, the financial results of which have been less satisfactory than those of the present undertaking. In this recommendation I entirely concur, and a Resolution in that sense will be submitted for your approval.

"I would also suggest to you the advisability of retaining for the present a certain sum for the purpose of meeting any unforeseen contingencies; which sum should for the next few years remain vested in the names of trustees, but should ultimately be applied to the same purpose as that to which the residue is devoted.

"As regards the balance of the surplus, I would commend to your consideration the propriety of transferring it to the funds of the Imperial Institute of the United Kingdom, the Colonies, and India (in the promotion of which the Queen and I both take so warm an interest), the more especially as we may regard the Institute, to a certain extent, as the outcome of the Exhibition which was closed in November last.

"Before moving resolutions to this effect, I would wish to express to you my deep gratitude for the support which you have at all times given to me in the duties which I, as your Executive President, have had so much pleasure in performing; and I am sure you will join with me at this our last Meeting in expressing most heartily our appreciation of the co-operation which the Royal Commission received from the Colonies and India, and of the exertions of the gentlemen representing these Governments, which tended in so marked a degree to the success of the past Exhibition.

"The enthusiastic manner in which the proposal for holding this Exhibition was received in all portions of Her Majesty's Empire, the energy displayed in realising the views of the Royal Commission, and the continued support rendered to us by the Colonial and Indian Governments and their representatives in London, resulted in the achievement of a work of which all those who participated in it may be justly proud, and which formed a fitting prelude to an undertaking intended to commemorate the Jubilee of Her Majesty's reign, by permanently gathering together in one building the varied productions of the whole of the British Empire, in the interchange of which its past prosperity is so much due, and by which its future development may be promoted.

"In closing these observations, I would desire to convey to the gentlemen composing the Finance Committee, my warm personal acknowledgments for their unremitting attention, and the great services they have rendered, at so much sacrifice to their time and convenience. I equally desire to acknowledge the admirable and efficient arrangements made throughout by the Executive Secretary, and to return my thanks to the whole staff employed on the Exhibition. Their zeal and readiness at all times to promote its success demand special recognition at our hands. In all this, I feel assured I give expression to the sentiments of every member of the Royal Commission."

In the speeches of those who moved and seconded the resolutions submitted to the meeting, reference was repeatedly made to the permanent Imperial Institute, of which the Indo-Colonial Exhibition seemed the precursor. The Prince, in acknowledging the vote of thanks at the conclusion of the meeting, said:--"I most truly hope that the words which fell from Lord Derby and Lord Kimberley with respect to the Imperial Institute may come true. If I may use the allegory, now that we have, as it were, burnt the late Exhibition to-day, I hope the Imperial Institute may be a Phoenix arising out of its ashes. I trust that it may be a lasting memorial, not only of that but of the Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen."

The Exhibition was opened by Her Majesty on the 4th of May, and those who were present will not readily forget the impressive nature of the proceedings on that memorable day. The Official Report of the Royal Commission (printed and published, as all the Exhibition Reports have been, by W. Clowes & Sons) is a most valuable manual on all matters relating to the Exhibition--the most imposing and interesting of any since that of 1851. It was also the most successful as to finance, there being a surplus of no less than £35,285 7_s._ 8_d._ Of this £25,000 was voted to the Imperial Institute fund, and the remainder applied to liquidate the debt remaining from the Inventions Exhibition, and the formation of a reserve fund connected with other Exhibitions.

THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE.

_January 12th, 1887._

The Imperial Institute, while it will be the grandest and most enduring memorial of the Queen's Jubilee, will also be associated in history with the name of the Prince of Wales. It was by him that the idea was first entertained, and the proposal first made; and to his zealous and persevering efforts the successful carrying out of the project is due. There had been various circumstances preparing this way for the great undertaking, but it was the success of the Indo-Colonial Exhibition, held in 1886, that led to the proposal of a permanent Imperial Institute. It would be a visible emblem of the unity of the Empire, and a place for illustrating its vast resources; a museum for exhibiting its manifold products and industries; a centre of information and communication for all the countries throughout the world under the British sovereignty; and be helpful to the increase and the distribution of the wealth of the nation. It would co-operate and not conflict with older institutions of tried utility, such as Colonial museums and exchanges, emigration societies, technical colleges, and other organizations for the welfare of the people. The scheme was worthy of being adopted as a national memorial of the Jubilee of the Queen's reign, and was fittingly inaugurated by the heir apparent to the throne.

Of the progress of the movement, and of the home for the Institute at South Kensington, it is not necessary here to speak, but the following speech of the Prince of Wales, at St. James's Palace, on the 12th of January, 1887, gives the best summary of all that is designed and expected in regard to the Imperial Institute.

Letters had been sent out inviting many influential persons to meet His Royal Highness as chairman, and the members of the organizing committee of the Institute. The banqueting room at the old Palace was filled with an audience such as has rarely been brought together on any occasion in recent years. Many of the most distinguished men in all departments of public life, the Lord Mayors of London and York, with nearly 200 Mayors, Provosts, and Chief Magistrates of English and Scottish boroughs, Masters and Wardens of City Companies, and Directors of great corporate bodies and societies were present. The Prince of Wales, on entering the room, accompanied by Prince Albert Victor, was warmly received; and thus he addressed the meeting:--

"My Lords and Gentlemen,--You are doubtless aware of the general feeling on the part of the public that some signal proof of the love and loyalty of Her Majesty's subjects throughout her widely extended Empire should be given to the Queen when she celebrates the fiftieth year of her happy reign. In order to afford to the Queen the fullest satisfaction, the proposed memorial should not be merely personal in its character, but should tend to serve the interests of the entire Empire and to promote a feeling of unity among the whole of Her Majesty's subjects. The desire to find fitting means of drawing our colonies and India into closer bonds with the mother country, a desire which of late has been clearly expressed, meets, I am sure, with the Queen's warmest sympathy. It occurred to me that the recent Colonial and Indian Exhibition, which presented a most successful display of the material resources of the colonies and India, might suggest the basis for an institute which should afford a permanent representation of the products and manufactures of the whole of the Queen's dominions. I therefore appointed a committee of eminent men to consider and report to me upon the best means of carrying out this idea.

"Upon the report of the committee being submitted to me, and after giving every clause my full consideration, it so entirely met with my approval that I accepted all its suggestions, and I therefore directed that a copy of that report should be sent to each of you. As I trust you have mastered the suggestions of that report, I do not purpose re-stating them to you in detail, but I would remind you that I propose that the memorial should bear the name of the Imperial Institute of the United Kingdom, the Colonies, and India, and that it must find its home within buildings of a character worthy to commemorate the Jubilee year of the Queen's reign.

"My proposals also are that the Imperial Institute should be an emblem of the unity of the Empire, and should illustrate the resources and capabilities of every section of her Majesty's dominions. By these means every one may become acquainted with the marvellous growth of the Queen's colonial and Indian possessions during her reign, and will be enabled to mark by the opportunities afforded for contrast how steadily these possessions have advanced in manufacturing skill and enterprise step by step with the mother country. A representative institute of this kind must necessarily be situated in London, but its organization will, I trust, be such that benefits will be equally conferred upon our provincial communities as well as upon the colonial and Indian subjects of the Crown. It is my hope that the institute will form a practical means of communication between our colonial settlers and those persons at home who may benefit by emigration. Much information and even instruction may beneficially be imparted to those who need guidance in respect to emigration.

"You are aware that the competition of industry all over the world has become keen, while commerce and manufactures have been profoundly affected by the recent rapid progress of science and the increased facilities of inter-communication offered by steam and the electric telegraph. In consequence of these changes all nations are using strenuous efforts to produce a trained intelligence among their people. The working classes of this country have not been slow to show their desire for improvement in this direction. They wish to place themselves in a position of intellectual power by using all opportunities offered to them to secure an understanding of the principles as well as of the practice of the work in which they are engaged. No less than 16,000,000 persons from all parts of the kingdom have attended the four exhibitions over which I presided, representing fisheries, public health, inventions, and the colonies and India, and I assure you I would not have undertaken the labour attending their administration had I not felt a deep conviction that such exhibitions added to the knowledge of the people and stimulated the industries of the country.

"I have on more than one occasion expressed my own views, founded upon those so often enunciated by my lamented father, that it is of the greatest importance to do everything within our power to advance the knowledge as well as the practical skill of the productive classes of the Empire. I therefore commend to you as the leading idea I entertain that the institute should be regarded as a centre for extending knowledge in relation to the industrial resources and commerce of the Queen's dominions. With this view it should be in constant touch, not only with the chief manufacturing districts of this country, but also with all the colonies and India. Such objects are large in their scope, and must necessarily be so, if this institute is worthily to represent the unity of the Empire.

"To some minds the scheme may not be sufficiently comprehensive, because it does not provide for systematic courses of technical instruction in connection with the collections and libraries of the proposed institute. I would be the last person to undervalue this suggestion. I am well aware that the advantages we have enjoyed in the competition of the world by the possession of fuel, combined with large mineral resources and by the maritime habits of our people, are now becoming of less importance, as trained intellect has in other countries been more and more applied to productive industry. But I know that this truth has already penetrated our centres of manufacturing activity, for many of the large towns have founded colleges and schools of science and art to increase the intellectual factor of production. London, also, has taken important steps in the same direction. The Imperial Institute should be a supplement to, and not a competitor with, other institutions for technical education in science and art both at home and in the colonies. At the same time, I trust that the institute will be able to stimulate and aid local efforts by directing scholarships for the working-classes into suitable channels, and by other similar means.

"Though the institute does not engage in the direct object of systematic technical education, it may well be the means of promoting it, as its purpose is to extend an exact knowledge of the industrial resources of the Empire. It will be a place of study and resort for producers and consumers from the colonies and India when they visit this country for business or pleasure, and they, as well as the merchants and manufacturers of the United Kingdom, will find in its collections, libraries, conference and intelligence rooms, the means of extending the commerce and of improving the manufacturing industries of the Empire. I trust, too, that colonial and Indian subjects visiting this country will find some sort of social welcome within the proposed building. This institute will thus be an emblem, as well as a practical exponent, of the community of interests and the unity of feeling throughout the extended dominions of the Queen.

"From the close relation in which I stand to the Queen, there can be no impropriety in my stating that if her subjects desire, on the occasion of the celebration of her fiftieth year as Sovereign of this great Empire, to offer her a memorial of their love and loyalty, she would specially value one which would promote the industrial and commercial resources of her dominions in various parts of the world, and which would be expressive of that unity and co-operation which Her Majesty desires should prevail among all classes and races of her extended Empire.

"My lords and gentlemen, I have invited you to meet on this occasion in order that I may appeal to you to give me your assistance in establishing and maintaining the Imperial Institute. If you approve of the views I have expressed, I am certain I may rely upon your strenuous co-operation to carry them into effect. I admit that it has not been without anxiety that I resolved to make the propositions I submitted to you, but confidence and support have come to me in the knowledge that I can appeal to you, and through you to the whole country, to give your aid to a work which I believe will be of lasting benefit to this and future generations."

Resolutions were proposed and speeches made by Earl Spencer, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Viscount Hampden, the Lord Mayor of London, the Mayor of Newcastle, and the Marquis of Lorne, approving the scheme, and promising hearty support. The Lord Mayor proposed a vote of thanks to the Prince, who tendered his thanks for the attendance at the meeting, and the approval given to the proposal.